> Through Fire and Darkness
>  by Mr Wool
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In just a matter of hours it would be midnight, ending the one year anniversary of the day both Shadow Runner and his friend Overburner, or 'O.B', as he preferred to be called, escaped. Although the two of them didn't celebrate the day, the fact that they had been on the run for a year  without any problems was worth noting and even smiling about.  

When they were much younger both of them were kidnapped by a man named Solas. Because they were so young details about the days they were kidnapped were vague and after all the years they couldn't remember anything about their families or where they once lived. Even their names were different. Solas had given them the names Shadow Runner and Overburner after he conducted an experiment on them. This resulted in them gaining magic powers. They were given the names based on the elements they could now use, fire and darkness. But it wasn't just the two of them he did it to. Solas used his own daughter and three other children he kidnapped, each gaining similar abilities based on different elements. He himself had these powers as well.

The last  year was spent moving from place to place. Their reasoning being was that they knew the others would come looking for them no matter how far they would run. Shadow Runner had planned their escape which involved destroying the portal that they escaped through and any supplies that might be needed to fix it. It may have seemed simple enough but the plan involved only destroying the supplies the he knew were there. For all he knew Solas could have had more. Even with that in mind both knew it would be a long time before it could be rebuilt and that was more than enough for them to get far away.

Right now Shadow Runner sat at the table alone in the small one bedroom apartment they rented out; Overburner was asleep in the bedroom after overexerting himself from trying to increase the intensity of his fire, resulting in him being exhausted. In his hand he was fiddling with a small cube that looked like it was made of a small red and purple ocean that flowed through it. Easily losing interest in it he returned the cube into a small bag on the table filled with more like it and looked outside window; hoping to find something that might catch his attention until Overburner was up.

Shadow Runner had always considered the fact that he never had to sleep to be the greatest advantage he had. It gave him the time to practice his magic or fighting for longer than usual. It was because of this he was able to plan the escape and learn everything he needed in order for it to work.

Suddenly he felt a change in the atmosphere. It was the unmistakable presence of magic energy becoming active, coming from Overburner as he slept; something that wasn't unfamiliar. In the last year this sleeping habit seemed to become much more frequent, Overburner was unintentionally setting himself on fire. Because of this Shadow Runner already had something prepared.

He got up from the table and walked towards the room, grabbing a fire extinguisher that he had placed near the door. Upon opening the door and entering the room he was greeted by a wave of heat. This was the first, his body would then erupt in an inferno. Without bothering to aim he simply sprayed the fire extinguisher, waking up Overburner before he set himself on fire.

"Not even a day into our new place." he teased."Is there something that's bothering you ?"

"What makes you think that something is bothering me ?"

"You're setting yourself on fire in your sleep more than usual."

"It only happens every few weeks."

"When compared to every few months before we ran away. I remember you went nearly a year without it happening."

"It's something that just happens."

"If you say so." 

There was a moments silence between the before Shadow Runner walked out of the room and returned to the table. Shortly after he was followed by Overburner who had changed into a clean pair of clothes and switched on the lights.

"You seem bored." Overburner said.

"That happens when you have to stay up all night on your own."

"Please don't tell me you spend the nights doing absolutely nothing."

"No." Shadow Runner groaned."It just get boring doing the same thing over and over again. At least we're in a new place so when I go for a walk tomorrow night I can get lost for a while."

He stopped looking at Overburner and returned his attention to outside the window, only for the presence of magic to grab his attention again.

"Hey are you messing with some fire in your hand ?"

"No."

"But I can sense some magic energy. I thought it might be yours."

"I thought it was yours."

"Wait can you feel that. There's another one."

Shadow Runner felt his heart begin to beat faster. 

"No." he muttered under his breath.

Both knew what the other was thinking.  Was this the moment they knew would happen. Could they really be here ? After a year on the run did  Solas and the others finally catch up to them? A third one had now joined the other two.

"What do you think they're doing ?" Overburner asked.

"I don't know. They could be tearing the place up looking for us." Shadow Runner blurted out, sounding almost panicky.

By now the two were becoming afraid. They were nearly in shock knowing that the people they had spent all this time running away from were probably outside. No matter how much they practiced their magic, how strong they got or how powerful their magic could be, if all of them were there at the same time both him and Overburner didn't stand a chance.

Then something happened that changed everything. Three more magic signatures had joined them now.

"There's six ?" Overburner questioned. "There should only be five."

"There is no way they could have a new one. Not in a year."

The thought of these magic signatures being Solas and the others now began to dwindle. They were the only ones the two of them knew could use magic. The possibility that there could be more people out there that could use magic had went over their minds.
"I'm going to go outside to see whats happening." Shadow Runner said standing up, grabbing the small bag off the table.

"I'll come with you."

"No stay here."

"I'm coming with you." he protested.

"It's only to check things out."

Before Overburner could say anything else Shadow Runner had already left. He looked out the window and watched his friend run off before giving a frustrated sigh.

Several hours later.

Morning had arrived and Overburner woke up to a note from Shadow Runner. Written in messy but still readable handwriting the note read.

I'm gone back out, might be a while.

"Why would he go back out ?" he asked himself.

He had fallen asleep before Shadow Runner returned during the night. By now he used to waking up with Shadow Runner gone; whether it was to get food or he had gotten bored and decided to go for a walk. That was expected of him. But given what had happened last night he felt a sense of unease from not knowing what the situation was. Knowing that Shadow Runner returned last night and taking his absence right now into consideration meant that whatever was after happening had caught enough of his interest for him to go back.

The sound of a key unlocking the door then got his attention. As Shadow Runner entered the first thing Overburner noticed that was a grin on his face accompanied by a brief chuckle. This unexplained happiness made him feel awkward.

"Whats going on ?"

There was no answer from him, adding to the awkwardness.

"Are you gonna fill me in anytime soon ?"

Shadow Runner looked at him before sitting down at the table. Overburner followed him in suit.

"I think I looked like a complete psycho to anyone I passed by." he said before laughing for a moment.

"You looked like a psycho when you came in."

"It doesn't matter; the best possible thing has happened. We're never going to worry about Solas again."

Overburner then realized that he had seen Shadow Runner like this before. It was the night both of them escaped, although this was probably more subdued. Overburner couldn't blame him for being like that, he was the same that night.

"I got to the source of the magic a while after that seventh signature joined."

"Then they all fused into one. Like the two of us can do with ours." Overburner interrupted.

"Yeah. It created a light that so bright I could see it before I reached it. When I got there the magic signatures were after going back to seven. Those signatures were coming from seven girls, probably around the same age we are."

"What were they doing ?"

"Well..." he sounded like he thought that what he was about to say next sounded weird. "They were playing music at some concert."

"Playing music ?"

"Yeah. When I first saw them they all and what looked like tails and some weird looking ears, three of them even had wings. From what I saw it looked like their magic was connected to them playing their music, once they stopped playing they returned to normal and their magic signatures began to go down."

"So their magic was coming from their instruments ?"

"No of course not, if it was then we wouldn't have been able to sense it. Anyway I stayed there until everything was over and followed them while they were going home."

"You were stalking a bunch of girls ?" Overburner mocked.

"Laugh it up. Shadow Runner retorted. "I was listening to them talk and one of them spoke about having to go back to some place called Equestria this morning."

"So we're gonna go to Equestria."

"Yeah and here's what was making me smile. I went back to where they were staying for the night at the first sign of sunrise and followed them to what I assume is their school." Shadow Runner grinned once again. "Equestria is on the other side of a portal."

"It's another world like where we were kept."

"Yes. The portal is in a statue outside of the school."

"I know where this is going."

"Just like when we escaped; we go through the portal and before we go in you prepare   your falling star spell and just as you're about to go through you cast it and the portal is destroyed. Solas and the others will never find out and we never have to worry about them again."



The spectacle that had occurred during the night did not go unnoticed by just Shadow Runner and Overburner. Not too far from Canterlot one Person had managed to get a reading on the magic that had been produced, Twilight Sparkle. While she did not have any magical powers of her own, or any previous experience with magic, she was a bright and very gifted person, creating a machine that was able to detect the magic even though she had no idea what it was.

After a nearly sleepless night due to eagerness to get back to her work, Twilight made sure she got up as early as possible. Once she got dressed quickly she then rushed down the stairs, wanting to get to work as soon as possible. Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs a small purple dog happily came running over to her barking with excitement.

"Good morning Spike." she cheerfully greeted him as she crouched down to pet him, which he happily accepted, jumping into her arms. "Okay, Okay calm down we're going for a walk. I need to get some fresh supplies, it's gonna be a long day of research ahead."
Upon hearing that he was going out for a walk Spike broke out in an even bigger burst of excitement. In a matter of minutes the two were outside, with Spike running ahead while Twilight held onto the lead trying to keep up.

"Spike slow down."

Her word fell on deaf ears. Her companion was fixated on chasing a butterfly that had come into his field of vision; following it to a nearby bush.

"Come on Spike." Twilight said pulling at his lead. "Spike please. I want to get home as soon as possible. I promise once I finish with my research I'll take you for a much longer walk."

Once she got Spike to comply with her she thought about her research. In the last few days she had detected those strange energy signatures that were originating from Canterlot High, and last nights one was much bigger than all of them, with the only one coming close being the first one she detected a while back. Since then she devoted every moment she could to finding out everything about them; what they were, what caused them and what she could do with her research. Her biggest hope was that her work would get her into an independent study program.

As she approached the shop Twilight remained unaware that she had spoken her thoughts out loud, attracting some unwanted attention from somebody she walked by. Her stalker followed her to the shop and watched as she tied Spikes lead outside while she entered.
With everything she needed  purchased Twilight exited the store to the sight of Spike growling at seemingly nothing.

"Whats wrong Spike ?"

The dog just began barking angrily and tried to run, only to be hindered by his leash.

"Don't worry Spike it's nothing." Twilight said untying the leash. The moment it came undone Spike ran off in the direction he was barking at, dragging her with him. "No Spike !"

As Twilight pulled the lead in an attempt to get Spike to stop it snapped, allowing him to run off freely."

"Spike come back !"

Fortunately for her he didn't run too far ahead, turning into the alleyway between the shop and the building next to it. Once she entered the alleyway Spike had already stopped halfway through, still barking at whatever had him acting like this. As she approached him she looked at the wall he was barking at, there was nothing there however she did notice a security camera belonging to the store that was shattered, just recently as indicated from the sparking wires. Seeing this made her grow nervous and made her run in order to get him.
"Spike come here !"

Suddenly she felt something strike her feet. What followed was a cold feeling that began working its way up from her feet to her legs. She then realized something, she couldn't move. Looking down she saw that a chunk of ice had formed around her legs, freezing her to the ground, making her scream. Spike heard this and stopped barking, running over to her only for the same thing to happen to him, resulting in the lower half of his body and his two front legs being frozen.

"Spike !" Twilight cried out.

Looking again in the direction he was previously barking at Twilight's heart skipped a beat at what she saw. On the roof of the shop was a cloud of swirling ice, descending sown towards her. It stopped in front of her, while she began shaking with fear and with her eyes feeling like they were on the verge of tears.

Then the voice of a young male, sounding like it was from someone her age, came from it.
"Don't start crying."

Twilight was nearly speechless. What was in front of her defied everything she knew about how things work. Despite her fear she managed to speak."

"Y-You can talk ?"

"How smart of you." it said mocking her. "Now listen I have to be somewhere soon so I want to make this quick and to the point. I heard you talking to yourself about 'strange energy signatures' and the research that you were doing on them. Tell me what you know."

"Well not very much."

In her fear Twilight knew that it was best to give whoever this was what he wanted.

"I only detected them. The most recent one was last night. I-I was going to do some proper research on them today."
"Where did you detect them ?"

"They seemed to be coming from Canterlot High, it's not too far away from here, you can get on a bus from here and be there in no time."

"Alright. You seem like a smart person, and I know that a smart persons curiosity cannot be stopped in the pursuit of new discoveries. So I want to make a deal with you."

"A deal ?"

"Yes. You see I know exactly what was causing those energy signatures. Magic."

In most circumstances Twilight would have considered this to be nonsense. By all accounts magic shouldn't exist. Yet here she was speaking to a cloud of ice.

"Magic ?" she responded quietly.

"How to you think I'm able to turn into and talk to you ? Outside of that I look like a normal human just like you."

Twilight momentarily took her attention off the cloud and looked over at Spike. He looked completely terrified as he struggled to break free from the ice whimpering. Whoever this was might not have any intention of killing her. If she wanted both herself and Spike to get free then her best option was to give in to what he wanted.

"What do you want me to do ?"

"It's simple. Me and a few 'friends' are looking for two people called Shadow Runner and Overburner. Just like me they can use magic, one uses fire and the other uses darkness. If what I'm thinking is true then you may have just detected their magical energy signatures. I want you to go to where you detected those signatures and find out whatever you can. Now I'm gonna be back in two days for whatever information you get. I also want to find out more about how you were able to detect them. If you do all that I'll tell everything I know and show you  a lot more. Imagine what you'll learn. What do you say ?"

Twilight didn't have a choice. If she said no then she would probably be killed. But then she thought about what this person said, he was looking for two people but didn't say why. They could be dangerous fugitives that were after escaping. If all she had to do was investigate Canterlot High and find the source of those energy signals then she would be fine. It was a simple task for her and she would get a lot more information for her research than she thought she would.

"I'll do it." she said, almost sounding defeated. "	When you come back I'll be at Crystal Prep High; I have my own room where I do my work. If you go in and ask for Twilight Sparkle you'll be told where to find it."

"You've made a good decision." the cloud said as it passed through the ice that had frozen her to the ground, causing it to shatter. It then did the same to the ice that had frozen Spike. Once he was free he ran over to Twilight and jumped into her arms, still whimpering.
"Don't let me down Twilight." was the last thing it said before heading back to the rooftops and disappearing.

"I won't." she replied. For a moment she stood there in silence, with a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Tears were now coming down her eyes.

"Oh Spike, what am I after getting myself into ?" she said before burying her face in her hands. 

> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is a weird looking magic gate." Overburner said as he inspected the horse statue that stood outside Canterlot High. "Why would they make it to look like a statue ?"

"Don't know. Maybe whoever designed it wanted it to stand out." Shadow Runner replied as he set his bag on the ground and began to look through it.

"So how do we activate this thing ?" Overburner asked while he scanned the area. "I don't see anything else nearby."

"From what I saw earlier all we have to is just walk through it."

"And they just have it out here in the open ? What if somebody is leaning against it and goes through by accident ?"

"I guess they'd just go back through the one on the other side. The girl I saw go through this morning said that there was another portal linked to this one on the other side."

"Do you think they use this thing for school trips ?"

"If they do then they're not gonna have them any more."

Once Shadow Runner had finished going through his bag, ensuring that everything he needed was present, threw it back up around his shoulder.

"You ready ?" he asked Overburner.

With a nod Overburner jumped up on the statue and stood on the back of the horse. He then extended his arm above his head as far as he could and produced a flame in his hand. A stream of fire then shot out from the flame and began to create a circle of fire a decent height above the statue, making sure that the radius of the circle was big enough to cover the whole thing.

"Alright now to wait a minute or two and it'll be ready." Overburner said jumping down with the stream of fire still flowing from the flame in his hand to the circle, filling it. At first glance Overburner's falling star spell didn't look like anything overly spectacular, just a simple circle being filled with fire. But for anyone who could sense magic energy it was something else. A great amount of magic energy was being sent into it; which would then make a ball of fire strong enough to destroy the statue.

"If I was able to increase the intensity of my fire even more then this wouldn't take half as long."

As he watched Overburner cast his spell Shadow Runner felt a bit excitement; the same  as when the two of them were getting ready to escape. Once they went through the portal that would be it; the end of many things that persistently bothered him after they escaped.  They would no longer have to worry about the others finding them, they wouldn't have to fight them or, more importantly, they wouldn't have to face Solas.

Solas had a way of punishing them that Shadow Runner considered much worse than anything he could do with his own magic.  Everyone that Solas kidnapped, including his own daughter, had experienced it at one point, some even experiencing it more than once.  One girl, who Solas named Cya, was put through it so many times that her mind was on the borderline of insanity the last he remembered. Overburner learned that she was not being punished; it was another one of Solas's sick experiments. Shadow Runner was the only one Overburner told this to.

Knowing what it could do people made Shadow Runner feel ashamed of himself due to the fact that if they ever had to fight the others he would use it a way to buy them time to get away. Once they were on the other side of the portal he planned to destroy the bag of cubes that would let him do such a thing. 

For a while Shadow Runner was lost in his own thoughts until Overburner snapped him out of them.

"It's ready."

"Then lets go."

Without a moments hesitation Shadow Runner began to walk towards the statue. Overburner followed in suit, readying himself to release the stream of fire  from his hand and immediately follow Shadow Runner once he had gone through the portal. It was only when Shadow Runner walked straight into the statue he came to a stop,. Seeing this almost made him laugh.

"This shouldn't happen." Shadow Runner said in a slightly panicked tone. He put his hand on where he knew the portal should be and pushed at it. Nothing happened. "No."

Immediately he went to the next side and tried the same thing only to get the same result.

"No." he growled. He tried it again on the remaining two sides, still being met with the same result.

"No ! This shouldn't be happening."

He then began furious smacking the statue in a futile attempt to get something to happen.

"It was working this morning ! All she did was walk through it! That's all I saw !"

His hand was now getting sore, prompting him to stop. It then dawned on him that there was a large ball of fire powerful enough to destroy the statue and the ground it stood on suspended above his head.

"You done ? Because I don't think I can hold onto this for much longer." Overburner commented.

"Don't let it hit the portal! Can you make it shoot upwards ?"

"I don't know, I've never tried before."

A much easier idea then came to Overburner. Jumping back up onto the statue he stopped producing fire from his hand, letting the remaining stream of fire flow into the fireball, like a lit fuse on a stick of dynamite. He then extended both his arms in the air and caught the fire from his spell as it shot down towards the ground. As the inferno rained down it flowed directly to Overburner like he was a magnet for it. It wasn't long before he was completely covered in fire and he jumped back down.

Upon reaching the ground he moved forward to gain distance from the statue. Using some of the flames that covered his body Overburner created a dome of fire around him and released the remainder of it inside, doing his best to control it as it detonated like a bomb.
The whole thing was quick and once things settled down the dome disappeared. Despite keeping the burst of fire controlled so that he took the bulk of it there was still a noticeable crater where the dome was. Overburner stood in the center of the crater, unharmed. He looked back at the statue and saw that the back of the horse where he stood on was slightly melted.

Shadow Runner sighed with relief, only for that relief to quickly turn to anger at the portal that wouldn't work. In his anger he punched the statue as hard as he could and recoiled in pain after his fist made contact. He looked as his hand, blood was beginning to trickle down it.

"Oh great."

"You gonna heal it ?" Overburner asked walking up to him.

"Might as well." 

Normally Shadow Runner wouldn't use his magic to heal something that wasn't much, worrying about the others sensing him use it. He had the same attitude towards the two of them using their magic in general, believing it would make staying hidden from the others easier. But since magic was already used he figured using a tiny bit more wouldn't make a difference.

"The school isn't even open. Does that mean it only be activated on the other side ?" Shadow asked himself, still frustrated. Once again he felt compelled to hit the statue but was stopped by Overburner.

"Getting angry isn't gonna do anything."

"You're right." he sighed.

"Lets get out of here for now. We'll figure something out later."

"Yeah."

"I saw this cafe when we arrived yesterday, Sugarcube Corner I think it was called, lets get something there."

"I could do with something sweet."



When the two of them arrived at Sugarcube Corner the place was crowded. Shadow Runner was able to spot a free four person space and made his way towards it.

"I'll hold onto that spot for us, get me whatever you're having." he said handing Overburner some money.

"Sure thing."

After taking his seat Shadow Runner began looking around for a bathroom where he could wash the blood off his hand. Still on his mind was the portal, trying to figure out what he had to do to get it working. He was beginning to think that the portal wasn't put outside the school intentionally, it was something on the other side that must be making it work.  That one girl who went through this morning however seemed to be friends with those other girls, making him believe they might know something about it.

He saw Overburner coming over to him with two milkshakes in hand.

"I'm going to the bathroom to wash my hand."

"Ok." Overburner said quietly as he took a seat. The spot Shadow Runner had found was next to a window, which Overburner had taken the opportunity to sit next to. He didn't want to admit it to Shadow Runner but he was relieved that they didn't go through the portal. He didn't want to run away to some new world, he had something that he wanted to do the moment the two of them escaped but after a year he had still done nothing about.

"Sorry do you mind if we sit here ?" a girls voice asked, grabbing his a attention.

Overburner turned away from the window to the person that spoke to him. It was a girl no older than he was, with beige skin and blue and pink hair. Next to her was another girl with mint green skin and hair that was white and a lighter shade of mint green.

"It would only be for a few minutes." she pointed to another table where two people were sitting at. "They look like they'll be finished soon."

"Sure go ahead."

"Thanks." she said taking the seat next to the window across from Overburner.

"I'm Sweetie Drops by the way." she introduced. "Most people just call me Bon-Bon though."

"And I'm Lyra." the other girl said.

"Overburner. But I prefer to be called O.B. ."

"I don't think I've seen you around before are you new here ?" Bon-Bon asked.

"Yeah my friend and I moved here yesterday." Overburner replied. He then noticed Shadow Runner coming back from the bathroom. "Speak of the devil."

"Looks like someone is making friends." he commented as he sat back down. Both girls introduced themselves to him and he did the same.

"So are you two gonna be going to Canterlot High ?" Bon-Bon asked them.

Overburner didn't reply, not knowing what to say. Shadow Runner however recognized Canterlot High as the name of the school where the portal was.

"Yeah we'll be starting on Monday." he lied.

"Too bad you didn't start this week. You would've been there for the battle of the bands." Lyra said, getting an odd look from Bon-Bon.

"Actually I caught a glimpse of it last night. I saw that performance by that band with the seven girls. That was an amazing light show they did."

"You mean the Rainbooms ? That wasn't a show they were putting on they ..." Lyra was nudged by Bon-Bon to get her to stop. "Hey."

"Is something wrong ?" Shadow Runner asked.

"No. It's just... You might think its weird if we tell you." Bon-Bon said.

"Don't worry about sounding weird. Shadow Runner thinks he was abducted by aliens when he was younger." Overburner said joking. This managed to get the two girls to laugh. Shadow Runner looked at Overburner and mouthed  'I'm gonna get back at you for this' at him. Overburner couldn't help but laugh.

"Still. It's something weird I don't know how to explain it." Bon-Bon continued. "It's a long story and we don't know much about."

"That's alright. I guess we'll find out sooner or later." Shadow Runner said.

They didn't talk with the two girls for much longer; once the spot Bon-Bon had mentioned earlier was free they were gone. It was still a pleasant conversation for the two of them nonetheless. Both of them had never bothered to talk to anybody in the other places they passed through and friendliness of the two of them was a much welcome change of pace from what they usually experienced from the only other people they knew.  Shadow Runner didn't do much talking, his mind was on something else. These 'Rainbooms', as Lyra had called them, were probably the only people around who knew how to make the portal work. In his mind he ran over what they looked like and made his next plan.




The two of them were late. After being told where they were supposed to meet up a month ago they were still late. It shouldn't even take them long. Both could turn into their respective elements which should make them get there faster. Three months ago they began the search for Shadow Runner and Overburner, deciding to split up into groups of three so they could search more places, meeting up after a month. This wouldn't even bother her if she wasn't put in charge by her father.  

Ferrous was the first out of all of them to be given magic by her father. In fact she was the only one for a few years until she was six; that was when the others came into her life. At the time she had never even met someone close to her own age. Even with the years they spent together she would hardly call any of them her friends and she had a feeling they had the same mindset as her. The only one of the she had the slightest positive opinion of was Shadow Runner.

Despite not having any luck in finding the two she remained patient. She could spend the next year looking for them and she still wouldn't lose her patience, even if she did have to keep her eyes on someone with a questionable mental state. That person currently sat in across the way from her in the corner of the room. A yellow-green skinned girl messing with her dark, leaf-green colored hair to keep herself distracted.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of yellow outside the decrepit house they were in. It was then followed quickly by a loud rumbling.

"One more left." she said to herself.

The person outside entered. He was roughly the same height as Ferrous and has white skin and spiky blonde hair.

"For someone who can turn into lightning you sure have trouble arriving on time." Ferrous chided.

"I was out having fun." he responded.

"We're not supposed to..."

"We're not supposed to have fun." he interrupted.

"I take you didn't find out anything about them or where they were ?"

"Why do you think I was out having fun ?"

"Then maybe it's a good thing you didn't find them. You do realize we're supposed to bring them back alive right ?"

"Me killing them would probably be a favor when compared to you finding them, especially for Shadow Runner. Maybe the reason he decided to leave was because he couldn't stand the thought of another moment with you."

"Watch it Golden Bolt !" Ferrous said angrily.

"Did I strike a nerve daddy's girl ? Why so defensive ? We all know about your activities together."

The argument between the two was watched by Cya who now had something else to distract her, much to her own discomfort. She put her hands to her ears in an attempt to drown out the growing hostility, hoping that Cold Streak would arrive soon which would make things quieter and her and Ferrous could then get on their way.

As if her hopes had been answered he had finally arrived. Cold Streak was shorter than Golden Bolt, had pale blue skin and darker blue, well kept hair. His eyes were also blue and were behind a pair of glasses.

"Good you're here."  Ferrous commented. "Lets get things over with."

"This won't take us too long." Cold Streak said with smugness in his voice. This gained him everyone's attention.

"You know where they are ?" Ferrous asked. 

"Not quiet. Yesterday before I left to meet up with all of you I overheard this girl talking about some strange energy signatures she detected the night before."

"What's the point of this?" Ferrous interrupted. "We can sense magic energy as well."

"This energy wasn't close enough for me to detect it and this girl doesn't have any magic powers. She was able to do so with machines she had."

"Where did they come from ?"

"Canterlot."

"And you think that's where they could be ?"

"It's our best lead."

"Then that's where we're heading."

"There's one more thing." Cold Streak said. "That girl I was talking about. She may know things that even your father doesn't know. She's definitely a smart person."

"All she did was detect magic energy further away than  we can that's all."

"I know that but it wouldn't hurt to see what else she knows. I also told her to over to Canterlot  today to find out more."

"This could be a waste of time."

"I'll take that risk. Besides she doesn't live too far away from Canterlot."

"Ok do what you want. I'll take Cya and head to Canterlot. Golden Bolt you go with Cold Streak."

"What ?!" Golden Bolt protested angrily. "I'm not staying with him while you and the freak do the fun work."

"Shut up !" Cya shouted in her raspy voice before sitting back down in her corner.

"I agree with Golden Bolt on this one. I'd much rather be with Cya than with him."

"No. Cya's poison will make capturing them easier, if they're even there. Besides I don't want to be near him any more than you do. Now get some rest if you have to, we leave in a few hours."