The Krastos Logs

by Sinderen7

Stratos's Report (Cobalt Flash) Part 1: Equire

Name: Cobalt Flash
Species: Pony – Unicorn
Gender: Male
Coat Color: “Light” Black (Night Black? I really need a color/shade chart.)
Mane Color: Cobalt (go figure)
Eye Color: Grey
Cutie Mark: A Spark With A Pegasus Wing (of all things) On It.

Abilities: He uses his magic to greatly enhance his speed, strength, and overall athletic prowess. And for a unicorn, heck for any pony, he is an amazing athlete. His physical abilities in almost all areas are nearly unmatched. Particularly his reflexes and reaction time are amazingly acute. He also heals rather quickly from any injury. Beyond that, he is a nearly unbeatable magic user that even Esper has a hard time matching.

Unique Features: By all accounts he looks like a normal pony. His bones are more durable than normal but this is probably due to all of that training. I guess the one thing is that he is always energetic. I’ve never seen him run out of energy, that’s for sure.

Meeting Cobalt: Manipulation (Year 989)

It was around five years since the beginning of my stay in Equestria when Elly came to me with a newspaper.

This particular edition of the Equestria Daily had an article relating to a recent race and its participants. Apparently the annual Running Rapids Competition (RRC) had a higher-than-expected turn out.

Before I go on, the RRC is an incredibly rigorous competition and perhaps the most dangerous on Equestria even if it is rarely lethal. But because of the risks, the winners of the RRC are awarded a good deal of prize money, a royal audience, and get their name engraved on a plaque that also has the Princess’s signature. This plaque is a huge source of pride to many.

The Unknown Guardians have to secure the route and make sure it is monster-free every year. Additionally, we tried to see if we could recruit new members from the winners but it rarely worked out.

That’s one reason why I was so indifferent to seeing that year’s article. I had seen the competition every year and have grown rather bored of it. Besides, at that time, to me, it seemed mostly like a fluff article but Elly was adamant that I should look at a particular individual involved in the race.

The almost seventh-place winner was a young male unicorn, Cobalt Flash, who was not much older than Esper. He had stunned everyone with his performance, but his exhaustion lead to a critical injury and he was unable to continue.

Yet his actions had sparked a burst of interest. The thing was, he did not use any magic whatsoever. He was competing with the others using only his physical talents and, as said before, unicorns are not as good as their other counterparts physically. Moreover, he was considerably younger than the average participant. All these factors made his performance rather impressive.

Many wanted to know who he was and what happened to him but, by the time the competition was over, he had long since left for home.

Our investigation into the colt’s background revealed that he was from Equire and lived on his own after moving out of the home of the local innkeeper. His talent seemed to be exercise or physical activity.

Most importantly, he did not use magic because he could not use magic. (His horn was always cracked and could not be healed.)

As far as I was concerned, that immediately struck him from the list of possible additions to our division of the Unknown Guardians. A unicorn who cannot use magic and who can only do physical actions was, unfortunately, useless to us at that moment. That goes for any pony whose talents are solely related to physical activity. We can train them to fight but special talents are still irreplicable.

That’s what I thought regarding Cobalt, but Elly had a different idea.

Cobalt had led a tough life and was always picked on by ponies his own age. He was not hated but he did not have any companions. Needless to say, Elly felt bad for him and wanted to help.

Stratos: Give me one good reason.

Elly: But Stratos—

Stratos: No, seriously, give me one good reason.

Elly: Oh.

*PAUSE*

Elly: What if we could teach him magic?

Stratos: So?

Elly: If we understood magic better, we could bring back the old types of battle magic. As he learns more about magic, so would we. Someday maybe even you could use magic.

Stratos: Alright. That’s a pretty good reason.

*Elly began happily bounding around the room*

Stratos: *Yawn* Listen, Zed and I have to go on a mission with Celestia. If you want to try and spend the intervening time trying to gain a new ally then I am all for it. There is one condition however.

Elly: *Stops jumping* Yes?

Stratos: I want Esper to be the team leader.

Esper: Really?

Stratos: Yes. It is about time that you got to lead a mission. You’re old enough and certainly smart enough. You okay with that Elly?

Elly: Why wouldn’t I be?

Stratos: Alright, Esper, you’re in charge.

Esper: So what should I do?

Stratos: I said you’re in charge. From here on out it is all up to you.

The magic thing would be kind of nice. Legends say the Athereal Knights could use light magic and Colbert said he could use holy powers though I’m not sure if the stories meant actual magic or just magical items. Regardless, I can only use Barn’s enchantments and poorly at that. Sometimes it is kind of a bother to be resistant to magic.

Now, regarding why I was not worried about Esper’s age, ponies grow up a little faster than humans (though not by much). While she was very young when I met her she was at least a teenager by human standards.

Moreover, Esper would have to gather up everyone and lead them to do what I thought at the time was a relatively easy mission. They would just have to recruit someone. Even if Cobalt was not cut out for being an official member, by then I had already worked with Plum and the Princess on extending the Unknown Guardians to include other divisions of competent agents. He would be useful for that.

That train of thought proved to be unnecessary in the long run. Besides, Esper’s mission proved to be a lot more eventful than expected.

In the meantime, Zed and I had to complete our own task. While our friends went for Cobalt, we got to meet and talk with Reaper.

If you remember, Reaper was one of the immortals Celestia said was more powerful than her. Apparently Celestia somehow got into contact with Reaper and was able to convince it to see us. Judging by her words, Zed and I being humans (or like a human) had something to do with it.

I’m going to say (type) this right now, even with Celestia there for protection, holy crap is Reaper intimidating. Zed and I, heck even Celestia, were very wary and worried standing near it. Even just recalling that thing scares me.

I can barely remember what it looks like but I do remember the meeting. As soon as it arrived, light seemed to be pulled away. When it appeared, it was constantly covered in a dark haze making it harder to track its movements. Its presence seems to distort both magic and technology. Not to the level that they do not work, for example Zed, but enough that the recorder failed me.

Not sure how well the recorder would have worked anyways. Reaper's voice seemed to come and echo from nowhere. It appeared to try and speak like a human. There are sometimes when I could tell it could no longer keep up the performance and it would drop into a dull, monotone, slow speech.

As I said, I cannot fully remember what it looked like but I recall thinking that it was as if some kind of modern solider decided to impersonate the Grim Reaper.

It looks human but I know it is not. It wore a smooth, black mask with no eye holes or places to breathe through. When it took off this mask, it had the most unsettling eyes I had ever seen. They seem to be constantly shifting through a spectrum of both dull and vibrant colors. Moreover, its skin was almost, but not quite, pale white, while its hair was impossibly black.

If Princess Celestia can be trusted, it has always looked like this to her. Knowing how this world works, that’s got to mean something symbolic but I have no idea what.

I say all of that, but that’s not what scares me. This thing just feels powerful. Of course, it helps that it is powerful. To prove it was the immortal Reaper, it effortlessly stole Zed’s sword and jabbed the blade through its own head. There was no blood or any kind of initial reaction really. That done, it wrenched the blade out and tossed it back to Zed. Reaper instantly healed its wounds with a black mist. Its healing almost reminded me of that wolf but it was different it a way I cannot explain. Regardless, the Immortal Slayer blade could not kill it or even permanently wound it. That is hardly the extent of Reaper's abilities.

Attached to Reaper’s back is a large scythe (or scythes) that it can generate out of thin air.

It moves like a ghost. It could appear and disappear at a moment’s notice.

It could reach out with one hand and an object would be cut to pieces.

It has access to a plethora of magic and can surround an area in darkness.

It can use some kind of barrier to preventing anything natural from getting close to it.

It seems to alter reality itself.

I know it can do a great deal more but that was all it would demonstrate for the time being.

I’ve never felt anything else like it before or since. It feels out of place and I wonder whether or not it is even of this world.

Sorry, I need to stop focusing on this thing but you need to understand that it made an impression on me.

Just like Celestia said, it seems to really enjoy watching humans. That is why it tries to emulate human actions. It thinks that it is humanity’s personified belief of death. I’m not sure what to think about that.

Unfortunately, it does not care about our situation and is not sympathetic to our plight. It does not know what is causing these events nor does it care.

The best I could get it to do was to promise us that it would intervene in our favor in some way shape or form. Considering the sheer difference in strength, this promise was a good result of negotiations.

That said, I kind of warmed up to it after a while. It does not seem like a malicious being and it vehemently denied having any involvement in these events. In addition, it immediately questioned if Avardis had anything to do with this; of course, we don’t know the answer to that. Which reminds me; it said it would intervene if Avardis was involved in any way. And if we can get Reaper to help, even a little bit, I think that would be a great benefit.

Celestia was right; Reaper is not the kind of thing to do this. I cannot think of anything it would stand to gain from this. Fortunately, and unfortunately, that does check off both one possible culprit and one source of help to us.

Now that I think about it, I think I know why I am so caught up on Reaper. Reaper does not just scare me because of how strong it is or what it looks like. Reaper scares me because it shows me that something can be that powerful and it can look like literally anything. There are no doubt many other unthinkable creatures of unfathomable power. I’m not sure what would happen if we had to fight something like that. Heck, how am I even supposed to properly study something like that? Maybe I can’t even understand a being of that nature. Maybe we can’t fight it. Hopefully we can at least slow it down.

Sometimes I really hate knowing about Lovecraft.

Regardless, that’s what Zed and I did. It took us a few days to get there, a day to get the information, some time to work with the Princess on our organizational activities, and a few days to get back.

In the meantime, Esper went on her mission with the rest of the Unknown Guardians. In fact, she wrote a post-event report on what happened. I will admit, seeing this was what inspired me to write this record of my experiences in Equestria.

Though I did edit the first few sections of the report for convenience's sake, I think it is only fair that I let her words tell the story.

---

Esper’s Post-Mission Report

Stratos I hope you are reading this. I do not know why I cannot contact you but I know you must have a good reason for not responding.

We did it. We got Cobalt, even though a lot of unexpected things happened. I need to tell you about it. I am going to break it down.

Preparation and Journey

I left with Barn, Elly, Smith, and Plum and headed to Equire. It took us a little less than a day to get there since Smith flew all of us over in a wagon.

I planned ahead: We brought our armor with us by disassembling them and carrying them in saddlebags (really heavy saddle bags). We also brought some basic rations and a bag of bits.

Location: Equire

Local Beliefs: Equire thinks it is the first town of Equestria, predating even the colonizing of the original three tribes, and they think that Equestria was named after it.
Note: I do not think this is true.

Size: It depends on what is meant by size. Oh sure they have a lot of land but the population is tiny. Maybe like, what, one thousand citizens live there. Part of the problem is food. The ground is mostly stone so there is no good farming soil.

Culture: Those who live in Equire are uncompromisingly friendly and always enjoy company. They love to speak of their history and they pride themselves on the many mysteries this place has to offer. They want to someday restore the city to the way it once was. That will be difficult but I am sure they can pull it off.

Attractions: Honestly, I love Equire. It is has something for everypony. Many artists have created famous paintings based off the scenery. Athletes live there and train on some of the most difficult landscape in Equestria. Archeologists are common because even after hundreds of years we keep finding new wonders of the past.

History: This whole place is just one giant ruin. I am not sure how old Equire is but the writings on the city stones do not match any known civilization. Drawings show it might have been founded by some sort of bird-creatures and maybe some other species. Whoever they were, they were really advanced for the time. They had what looks to be math, art, advanced magic, and even machines! Of course it is nothing compared to what humans or ponies have today but it is impressive. Even if we do not know exactly why they disappeared, the Equirians have been able to piece together an interesting story based on some of the drawings they unearthed. To make a long story short, at the end of the drawings, some figure chased away what we recognize to be Discord. There was a celebration and then, bam, nothing. The fall must have happened so fast that they did not have time to write about it. The Equirians later came to pick up the pieces and have been living there ever since.
Note: As we found out later, it is possible that the thing we are tracking was the cause of the original civilization’s downfall.

Current Activity: The populace attempts to prevent natural decay of the structures. They made a compromise by farming plants through the ground stone but animals still refuse to live here. It is mostly barren. They have to live in houses constructed out of sparse wood and old stone patched with clay. They make do with what they have.
Opinion: The place is an odd mix of beauty and awe.

Summary: Equire is a small town dwarfed by the civilization of the past.

It is rather humbling.

Equire reminds me that there is still much I have to learn about my nation's history. There is both good and bad in our past and present. Any civilization, no matter how amazing, is not invincible. Good lessons to take home.

Anyways, now to Cobalt!

Arrival

We arrived in Equire and immediately took on the persona of tourists. We asked around and found a cute little inn. Everything inside and out was made out of wood which I understand is somewhat of a luxury in Equire. Not to say the inn was fancy. The tables and chairs were wood, the plates were normal hardened clay recovered and cleaned from the ruins, and the beds were comfortable enough… it was very brown except for the many paintings and potted plants. Most importantly, the food was delicious. The innkeeper grows the best flowers! On top of it all, it was cheap. Of course the real reason we decided to make that our lodging was because it was the former home of Cobalt.

Once we unpacked, I got a little tripped up mentally. You may have gotten a message I accidentally sent. Sorry about that. I reflexively tried double-checking my plans with you. It turns out I rely on you for more than I thought but I am getting better about that thanks to this mission.

I wasted a bit of time writing out our next course of action on my desk. By that I mean I spent one hour planning for the next fifteen minutes. Oh well, it is just time. I have plenty of that.
Solution: Next time I should come up with a plan before arriving. I am not good at winging it. (Maybe if I was a Pegasus…)

Not waiting for me, Plum sighed and rightly pressured Barn to talk to the innkeeper about Cobalt. Their little chat quickly brought us all into the conversation.

The innkeeper, named Rim, was an unassuming Pegasus Pony. While she does not put any effort into her looks, she is naturally pretty and sweet yet retains that pleasant homely charm I remember of Ms. Fleur. In fact, she reminds me of Barn in that she is always calm, friendly, and thoughtful. I loved talking with her. You can see it in her eyes that she cares about what you have to say. I feel bad that I did not ask enough about her but she prefers it that way. All I know is that she is not from Equire, she knows a lot of stories from across Equestria, and that she cares about Cobalt as if he was family.

Now where was I? Oh yeah. Rim asked if we planned to meet Cobalt because of the recent competition. Barn said yes and this seemed to ease her mind. Cobalt’s sudden return from the competition, his desire not to talk about it, and the lack of visitors had worried her. She sighed, flapped her wings once which I think this is a habit of hers when she is thinking about the past, and told us that he lives on the edge of the town near the old city park.

She said we would recognize Cobalt by his black coat and mane the same color as his name. His most distinguishing trait was his cracked horn. Rim stressed that we should not bother him as he was in poor spirits ever since he came back from the competition.

Elly quickly asked how Cobalt cracked his horn and Rim said that it was a private matter that Cobalt would reveal if he wanted.

We thanked her and left for the park ruins.

First Interaction

The park is a nearly sacred place. It is the only place in Equire with a lot of trees and plants. The plants of Equire are beautiful with the most wonderfully bright colors. If I recall correctly, the old civilization would breed plants for their beauty. Houses covered in plants or even made out of plants were a pride to many. Their overabundance is probably why we have any around today even after the fall of the creators. I am sure you would have loved them Stratos.

And that was not the only beauty. There are still a lot of crumbled statues littering the land. If you look at them long enough, you can tell the beauty and fine craft that went into each figure. Even as worn as they are, they are marvelous, triumphant, works of art.
Analysis: It makes sense why Cobalt wanted to live here. Not only do the rubble and plants made a great obstacle course but there is a certain energy about the place that is rejuvenating.

We found Cobalt practicing when we arrived. He was so focused on his training it was a while before he noticed us. I am starting to appreciate why you always keep an audio recorder on you. I can barely remember what was said. At least I brought a quill, ink, and paper.
Mistake/Lesson Learned: Always bring some way to actively document what is happening. This will help in post-mission analysis.

We sent some time watching Cobalt train. He would gracefully duck and weave under and around obstacles, precisely jump from platform to platform, and hurriedly climb up trees or other supportive flora. It was exhausting to watch him but mesmerizing at the same time.

When he finally took a break and noticed us, he asked if we were tourists and if were looking for a tour of the land; it was one of his many jobs he used to support himself. I reflexively said no.
Mistake: I should have said yes because it made him very suspicious.

Cobalt cautiously scanned us and asked what we were doing here. I froze up and began acting rather suspiciously. I was not sure how to answer him.

Luckily, Plum has a lot more experience than me with dealing with townsfolk and she took over. She said how she was impressed with his athleticism and questioned how often he trained.
Lesson Learned: As a leader I should not take on all tasks. Some ponies are better at certain things than others. That is just how it works. I am not required to do everything. Let other ponies handle it when they can.

Plum’s query led to a long conversation that really was not that interesting to me and I am sure would not be interesting to you. It ended with us revealing that we saw him at the competition and were impressed with his ability.

He took this surprisingly negatively. He grunted, looked away and asked for us not to talk about it.

Incident

All of a sudden, a group of ruffians showed up and began to taunt Cobalt about his performance and injury. They were abnormally malicious. The griffons (yes Stratos, there are a few griffons in Equire) and the Pegasus laughed at how he could not fly, the Earth Ponies said Cobalt could never match their strength, and the unicorns laughed at his inability to use magic.

Cobalt did not say or do anything in response. The leader, a large unicorn, grew annoyed at Cobalt’s inaction. He chucked a large rock at Cobalt but I blew it to bits. Barn and Plum jumped in front of Cobalt and yelled at them to knock it off. Barn looked like he was ready to bite their heads off. He is scary when he is angry. I was ready to take them out myself. It would have been overkill since Elly could have clobbered them herself however it would also have been very satisfying teaching them a lesson.

Before the situation could develop further, Cobalt pushed Barn and Plum out of the way with his front hooves and told us to be quiet. He wanted to let the bullies have their fun and leave. Apparently they had been terrorizing him ever since he was little and he had learned to just take it and move on.

Still, the bullies knew not to challenge us and they left while calling Cobalt a weakling for needing others to protect him. (Because ganging up on one pony surely does prove their strength and heroism!)
Lesson Learned: Yeah, yeah, I know, you have said it before. “Do not get involved in personal affairs unless you are certain the individual wants to be helped.” Of course you break that rule all the time… hey I am just saying the obvious.

Recognized Oddity

Back to the mission: That was when I noticed something. You know how during the competition, Cobalt had received a serious injury? I am not sure you remember what it was so I will just say it. He had caught one of his front hooves between two rocks and snapped the bone. (As much as I admire hands, I do like having four legs so I can still get around even if one leg is injured.) So yeah, when he pushed Barn and Plum out of the way without screaming in pain (and let’s not forget the whole exercise routine), I knew something was up.

Less than three days after the competition he was completely fine.

I asked him if he got it healed. Cobalt shrugged and said no. He just healed quickly.
Analysis: It does not take a genius to know you do not just walk off a broken leg. And if he could heal that quickly, it did not make sense that he could not heal his horn.

Our questions ended there. I suspect he saw me look at his horn and thought I would bring it up. Cobalt excused himself and left.

As soon as he left I facehooved.
Feelings: That could have gone better. More accurately, I kind of did everything wrong. Improper introduction, unwanted assistance, and made him wary of us. Not my best job as a Guardian that is for certain.

Post Interaction Activities

Oddity: Elly seemed uneasy about the whole situation but told us nothing was wrong. As usual, if there is anything Elly is bad at, it is lying. You can see it in her eyes or how she twitches her hooves or how her mouth moves when she speaks or just her word choice. (Sorry Stratos, looks like your training in that department is not working. That or I am just really awesome at deciphering subtle movements. Which I am. Maybe it is just me.)

I immediately concluded Elly must have sensed something. I checked the satellite imagery and confirmed there were no strange signals in Equire or the surrounding area. However, I knew from gut instinct and past experience that something odd was going on in this town. And so I ordered all of us to do the most logical thing possible. Espionage!

We spent the next few hours spying on everypony.

The results were interesting to say the least.
Pattern: Everypony in the town acted completely normal until Cobalt came into view. Somehow his presence changed their thinking of him and even the way they interacted with each other. For example: I talked to a shopkeeper about Cobalt and he spoke highly of him. As soon as Cobalt walked in, the shopkeeper became irritated and easily annoyed at everything Cobalt did. Only Rim and a few others showed no change around Cobalt.

Confirmation: Elly went to talk with the bullies. They were surprisingly nice to her and treated her like a princess, apologizing for the bad side she saw of them earlier. (Stratos, I know where your mind is going, they did not have a crush on Elly. Some of the bullies were female and remember two were griffons. They were just showing the standard Equirian hospitality.) Elly asked them why they were so mean to Cobalt and the bullies seemed confused. The only one who seemed to remain hostile was the leader though even he could not give a clear reason. Nopony even thought it was fun to torment him.

Reactions

Like I have said, the Equirians are delightfully friendly. It was creepy to see them act hostile for no reason. Smith pointed out that they were acting like they were in a Lovecraft novel, with something influencing them. The final connection was when Barn said it reminded him of how everypony treated him on his journeys.

We could not pick it up with any technology or magic, but obviously something strange was going on in Equire.

You assigned me as leader of an easy training mission and it turns out the whole town is “cursed.” Yup, just another abnormal day as an Unknown Guardian.

Vacation!

By the time we pieced together the evidence it was kind of late. There was no evidence that anything would happen anytime soon so I called it a day and decided to try our luck with Cobalt again tomorrow.

Then, because I can, I ordered everyone to go have some fun and do what they like for a couple of hours. Seriously Stratos, you never let us have any fun on missions. When I am in charge, having fun is mandatory. (Like an Orwellian dictatorship of smiles!) Everyone went their separate ways. It was during this time I picked up a few souvenirs and learned a little more of Equirian history from Rim.

I was the first back to the inn (mostly to get more of Rim’s cooking.) I told her what happened with Cobalt and she reassured me that Cobalt was the kind of pony to forgive and forget. We just needed to catch him at the right time.

Slowly, everypony came back to the inn and we all traded stories of what we found and learned.

That night, a lot of Equirians decided to go and greet the new ponies in town. Somehow this led to a party. And we had quite the party! Even Smith had fun. Yeah, it was that good.

This convinced me to tell everyone to take the next two days off as well so we could enjoy ourselves more thoroughly.

And please don’t scold me for that. We may have been on a mission but we had plenty of time. Besides, even if they were being influenced, we needed to earn the trust of the town. We were only being good tourists.

The next few days went off without a hitch. (The only upsetting thing was the nightmares all of us kept having. I still have no idea what caused that, if anything did. So, correction, one possible hitch.) We learned a great deal about Equire and made quite the impression on the populace. It has been a while since we had that much fun.

And there was one more reason I allowed us to not focus on the mission. I knew Elly was up to something and would take matters into her own hooves if we waited. Turns out, I was right. (Yay!)

The Third Night

When everyone went to sleep, Elly secretly snuck out of her room. You might need to teach her better stealth techniques. All of us had no trouble noticing she was gone. Smith and I donned our armor, and followed her.

Barn and Plum stayed back at the inn in case something went wrong. (Correction, that would be for when something goes wrong. We need to point out our dubious track record to upcoming Guardians so they get the hint.)

Elly traveled all the way to Cobalt’s dwelling and knocked on his door. By the way, Cobalt lived within a small stone den in the park. That place was awesome. You should have seen it. Maybe I can show you a few pictures. I think it used to be some kind of ancient vault that Cobalt repurposed into a home. Turning ruins into homes is not all that unusual for Equarians but Cobalt’s home still stuck out in my mind because it was built to last. Because of its location (the side of a hill) and its overall structure (including a thick metal-reinforced stone door) it reminded me of an entrance to an underground fortress. This inside was packed with food, bits, books, training equipment, and a salvaged weapon or two. There was even a garden with running water from an underground well. It was like he was preparing for the apocalypse or something. Or maybe he was just properly paranoid. Nevertheless, forget practicality, we should totally build one when you come back.

Enough of that. Cobalt was surprised to see Elly and did not let her in. But Elly, once again showing why she is awesome, was able to get him to talk with her by sharing a few stories.

She spoke of who she was and what happened to her, carefully glossing over the part where we saved her. When she knew she had Cobalt’s interest, she added that she felt a sinister presence residing within many of the townsfolk.

Cobalt defended the townsfolk, especially Rim.

Elly apologized and said she was just concerned about him which was why she was here. She wanted to know more about him.

Hearing that, Coablt left his home and asked her to follow him. He brought her to an open patch of the park so that he could speak with Elly under the stars. (Have I mentioned that it was an absolutely gorgeous night out? Sometimes the Mare on the Moon’s presence really enhances the beauty of the surrounding stars. Princess Celestia must have been really inspired that night.)

It was really sweet seeing the two of them together like that, sitting in the middle of a patch of captivatingly florescent park plants and gazing up at the night sky. I should have gotten a picture. Too bad moments like that can’t last forever.

After a few moments of stargazing, Cobalt spoke of his past. He was too young to remember but he used to travel across Equestria with his parents. On a return trip to Equire, which was their home, they just up and disappeared. He does not really mind that that happened since he does not remember them but, when that happened, the town took him in and took care of him. Even if some of the ponies were mean to him, the town was his family and he wanted to do something for them.

Naturally, Elly asked if this was why he did not want to talk about the competition.

Cobalt denied this. He wanted to bring home the prize but he did not expect to be able to do it. He clarified that he does not care about winning. What he was angry at was not meeting his own expectations. He had trained for years and completely blew it.

And suddenly, he got angry. He complained at being a unicorn unable to use magic. How he could not fly like a Pegasus Pony or have the natural abilities of an Earth Pony. No matter how much he trained, he would never do as well as others for the same amount of effort. (I will admit that made me feel sorry for him. I cannot imagine life without my magic… probably a lot less radioactivity.)

Origin of Damaged Horn

Now here is the good part. When Cobalt finished with his rant, Elly asked if he would like to be able to use magic. Cobalt furiously shouted “NO!” and then apologized. He was visibly shaken for having yelled in her face like that. Luckily for his conscience, Elly just laughed, thereby dispelling the tension.
Quick Note: I have got to learn how Elly does that. She is brilliant at comforting ponies and getting them to open up.

Getting back to the point. Elly asked if Cobalt damaged his horn so that he would not use magic. He tapped and lightly rubbed his horn before explaining the truth. When he was young and still thought he could use magic, one day he got annoyed and focused all his efforts of calling out a spell. Something happened and he fell unconscious. He woke up moments later, with his horn in its current status. (Not suspicious at all.)

From then on he focused all of his efforts into athletics and, in some ways, wanted to become a great athlete to prove you do not need magic to be great, that there are no limits to what they can accomplish through effort. He’s just frustrated that it took more effort and luck than he wanted.

Then Elly smiled and clarified what she meant by what she sensed earlier. She said she thinks that almost everypony here in Equire is cursed, including Cobalt.

Much to my surprise, Cobalt agreed. He knew something was wrong for a long time but knew he could not trust anypony except Rim. Rim was one of the few who were not cursed and the one who pointed out the curse to him. That was one reason he did not challenge the bullies. He thought that challenging them could bring out the curse somehow.

Reveal

It was then that Elly admitted who she really was and who we really were. She pulled out the Royal Seal and held up one of the florescent flowers to show emphasize the engraved words “Equestia’s Unknown Guardians.” She told him everything and said that she wanted him to join our group but that he would have to learn magic to do so.
Mistake: This was dangerous. We should not speak so openly about our organization even if most would not believe it exists. (Wait… Stratos, why did you have Celestia magically engrave our organization’s name into Elly’s Royal Seal?)

Anyways, after seeing the Royal Seal, Cobalt did not hesitate. He smiled and said yes.

As soon as Cobalt agreed, the readings on the radar went haywire. Several large magical signals began to close in on our position.

We heard a sound I cannot completely describe. It was as if somepony took a deep breath through clenched teeth. I felt this wave of darkness pass over us and was momentarily terrified.

The cracks on Cobalt’s horn began to seep a black, glowing mist and he dropped to the ground, grabbing his horn in pain.

Seven figures wrapped in shadow charged out of the darkness. They approached and surrounded Elly and Cobalt. It took me a moment to realize who they were and the problems we now faced.