Fade Away II: To Glory

by JoeBobWhitney

Chapter 2 - Act V - Finale

It was cold. Very cold.

The once baby-blue sky was now painted a brooding dark, pale blue-gray. A thick blanket of crunchy snow had covered the entirety of the ground, leaving only a blinding white to be seen for miles to come. A monstrous blizzard of deadly hail and freezing snow had formed a "barrier" of ice, blocking a large area off from anybody entering or leaving.

Semi-buried within the deep snow were the remains of a once-prosperous crystallized city. There were houses, huts and even large spires of pure gemstone that had crashed and fell, leaving a haunting image of what used to be a "golden" city behind. A lone pony stood in the midst of it all, a dusty brown cloak over her body, a thin layer of snow and frost acting as a camouflage. She glanced around her, seemingly checking if she was alone before she smirked under her hood and turned towards the ground. She began pushing aside the deep snow with her magic.

The snow revealed a peculiar symbol in the ground. Her horn flared to life again as the symbol pulsed red before it began to faintly glow, emanating a soft warmth.

"Master. The time is almost at hand." She spoke, her breath caught between the warm and the cold. "Your resurrection will come soon."

"Good. Do not delay, my child."

"Yes, Master." The symbol's glow then faded as she pushed the soft snow over it again, hiding and covering it from any prying eyes. Once the symbol had disappeared under the snow, she turned and began running, eager to find the last key item needed for his long-awaited resurrection.

Elsewhere...

Cole awoke to the rude sound of birds chirping away happily and Equestria's bright sun - in all it's intensity - beaming down on him. Groaning in aggravation, he turned in his bed and pulled the soft blanket over his head, attempting to block out the sun. This did little to stop the light and instead of helping, he began to suffocate. He ripped the blanket from him, rolled over to the side of the bed and sat up.

He was not a morning person. Not in the slightest.

He stood up from the bed and began stretching - just as a loud, tired yawn quickly escaped his mouth. He heard multiple small bones pop back in the proper place. Once he satisfied, he grabbed a pair of clothes from the large, wooden dresser adjacent from his bed and slipped on a pair of simple, but classic clothes consisting of a faded black and yellow T-shirt and charcoal-gray pants.

He then headed downstairs to prepare breakfast - and by that, cereal. He wasn't really in the mood to make anything special or significant like eggs or such. After eating, Cole walked outside, wanting to escape the house for a bit. Just as he opened the door, the blinding light of the sun hit once again, aggravating setting deep within.

Again.

"Fuck you, sun." He groaned.

After cursing out the sun - again, he just started walking in no certain direction. He'd probably bump into one of the many, many ponies who walked these streets as well and would make some talk with him. As he walked around town, he felt a sickening sugar rush-like wave of nostalgia enter him. What seemed like days ago, he was walking these very streets, Zeke by his side complaining about how there was no pizza and the such.

A small smile came to his face for a moment.

"Well, well, well - what do we have here?" He froze in place at the sound of the voice. Cole slowly turned his head to the right, looking right at the discombobulated mess of various animal parts that was the draconequus, Discord. His bright yellow eyes accompanied by the crimson irises added to his overall oddity.

"Discord."

"Cole."

"How have you been, dear friend? I've been swell myself."

"Eh. Could be worse." Cole replied.

"Absolutely! It could hailing golfballs from the skies or there could be a arid drought!" Discord proclaimed, pulling a golfball from his fur and then a bucket of water which upon touching the ground sizzled away like a piece of bacon.

"Yeah. What's been going on with you?" Cole asked.

"You know - the usual. Having tea parties with Fluttershy, doing daily tests with Sparkle - the usual."

"So you've been good then?"

"Oh please. I could've been declared an angel." Discord boasted, a golden halo appearing over his head.

"Sure." Cole crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "And I'm the Princess of Equestria." Discord snapped his claws as Cole was placed in a long, alabaster gown that ran down to his ankles with a golden encrusted tiara atop his head.

"Really?" Cole deadpanned.

"No, Cole - I think that's Princess Celestia." Discord corrected as he snapped his fingers, causing the dress to disappear. "Duh."

"What do you want anyway?"

"What? I can't say 'hi' to an old friend?"

"Friend? Don't even get me started, Discord."

"Maybe you're right. Eh, old...accomplice?"

"I hate you."

"No you don't. You love me." Just as he about to continue, he realized something. "Ah, I'm afraid I must bid you goodbye. You see, I've got a tea date with Fluttershy and I wouldn't miss it for the world. Say hi to your smoky friend, will you? Ta-ta!" In a flash, the god of chaos then disappeared in a ball of white smoke which turned blue and bolted into the sky which then exploded in a ball of fire.

"Well, that was odd." Cole sighed. "How the hell did we reform him again?"

Delsin opened his eyes, a barren field of grass laid out before him. A light gust of wind blew through the plain as a lone tree shook in the distance. Delsin turned and scanned the world before him, but it did nothing to aid his worries. He didn't remember this place. His mind began to panic, trying to form an excuse or a reason but it could not.

"Delsin." A deep, grim voice spoke from behind him.

"Who are you?" Delsin asked, quickly turning around to face the voice. Behind him was a cloud of pure darkness hovering in the air, pulsing with red smoke.

"You will know very soon, child." It spoke again.

"What do you want and where am I?"

"You are dreaming, Delsin and what I want - is vengeance."

"Vengeance? Against who?"

"All of those damned ponies. They all deserve to suffer and you nor Cole nor Discord will be able to stop me. Once I am resurrected, it will be the beginning of end. All will bow under my hoof."

"Sure. You're just like those cartoons villains who parade around, claiming that vengeance shall be theirs. Just like them, you're gonna fail. Trust me."

"We shall see, mortal. We shall see."

Delsin then shot up from his bed, panting. He quickly glanced around, making sure he was alone. He could hear talking from downstairs, one of the voices being Cole. Delsin finally relaxed and hopped out of bed, grabbing and putting on his hoodie, a simple white T-shirt, a pair of jeans and his lucky red beanie. When he stepped downstairs, he noticed all of the Mane Six talking with Cole.

"Delsin, you up?"

"Yeah, I think. What's going on?"

"The Gryphon's left a message for Princess Celestia. We got a less than a week before they declare war against Equestria - for something we didn't even do."

"You serious?"

"Yes. After a investigation, Princess Luna discovered the wounds on the body were not hoof or claws and couldn't of been inflicted by any normal pony. It was black magic that caused the wounds."

"Black magic?" Delsin puzzled.

"Yeah. It's really dangerous stuff." Rainbow added.

"But the only pony who could even begin to use the magic is history." Twilight stated. "This doesn't add up whatsoever."

"Unless...he's alive and kicking." Cole commented.

"Is so, how? King Sombra was not imprisoned or banished, he was obliterated. Unless all tyrannical overlords can regenerate and resurrect themselves after a few years?"

"Seems so. I've heard of weirder in this world." Delsin piped up.

"If that's the case, we have a serious problem on our hooves."

"Make that two problems, we still have a Gryphon Kingdom who wants Princess Celestia gone, Twlight." Rainbow corrected.

"Right. So what do we do?"

"If uh, Sombra's back to the land of the living, we need to inform your Princess, right?"

"Delsin's right. We have to."

"Alright, I'll send a letter. Spike!"

"If we only got a week, we need to start preparing just in case of attack. Rainbow, go alert the Mayor." Cole stated.

"Yes, sir!" Rainbow saluted him before heading out the door and blasting off.

"Pinkie, we're gonna pies. Lot's of 'em."

"You got it!"

"Rarity, we're gonna some type of armor or strong protection against any Gryphon attacks."

"Can I at least keep it fashionable, dear?"

"Sure." Cole sighed.

"I'll get right on it then."

"Applejack, you're our last line of defense. If Ponyville falls, we'll fall back to your farm, alright?"

"Got'cha. Ah better start gearing up then, huh?"

"Yep."

"Finally, Fluttershy."

"Um, do I have to get involved?"

"Nope. We're gonna need animals. Tough, angry animals."

"Well, Harry gets quite grumpy when he doesn't get fed but I don't like to starve the poor thing."

"We're gonna need him to be angry, Fluttershy. Give him a buffet afterwards, okay?"

"Okay."

"That everybody?"

"Yep. So what do WE do, Captain?" Delsin joked.

"Help them win this war. If we do, that guarantees us our safe return. If we don't, we're going to rot here." Cole explained.

"Sounds great. How long?"

"A few months at most? These are ponies, so I wouldn't even say a year."

"Most likely. Should we go help or something?"

"Sounds good. Let's go."

Author's Note:

By the way, it's the Chapter Two Finale, not the end of the story.

Also, re-did the story description so it's somewhat nicer.

Comments

[Baraka Obama]

my reaction to this chapter:
oh yay! a new chap- wait....

Thankfully, nobody was in there so he stepped inside, locked the door and undressed to take a hot shower.

... HOW IS HE ALIVE!?!?!?!?!?!?!? HE SHOULD BE AN EXTRA CRISPY CONDUIT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!
derp

[JoeBobWhitney]

5725194

Ffffffuck. I ACTUALLY MENTIONED THAT IN THE LAST DAMN STORY.

I've just forgotten about inFamous, haven't I? I'll fix it pronto.