I don't think Derpy's ever heard voices in her head, til now
The next morning Cole woke up, he noticed that Derpy was still sleeping, she looked really relaxed.
Cole carefully got up and got ready for the day.
He ate up and grabbed his amp, Zeke approached him.
"Hey Cole, off for some patrols?"
"Sorta, I still need to find out what the Reapers were up to, Derpy's in danger"
"You really care about that Pegasus, almost as much as you cared about Trish"
Cole winced at the name of his old girlfriend, it's always been a touchy subject for him.
"I'm just doing what I feel is right Zeke, besides there's just something about her, she comes from a place where friendship is almost like a religion, or a lifeforce, maybe it's rubbing off on me"
"It hasn't rubbed off on me", Zeke said.
Cole gave him a deadpanned look, "That's because you have natural paranoia"
Zeke raised his eyebrow, "Say what?"
"You always talk about conspiracy theories, remember Moya?"
"Who I was right about" Zeke pointed out in a matter-of-fact way.
Cole looked annoyed, "Right...anyway I'm gonna check on the city, Derpy is still asleep, when she wakes up please don't annoy her, you seem to agitate her sometimes, just keep your space"
"Fine, I'll be good", Zeke said in an almost sarcastic tone.
Cole left the place to search around, so far so good, just people working hard, with each passing day the city looked more and more improved.
As he walked, he saw a strange poster, once he examined it he saw that it looked like a drawing of Derpy, then he noticed the Reaper logo in the corner.
"Damn, they're definitely after her", Cole said.
Thankfully none of the civilians through much of a pic, just thinking it's just some random art.
As Cole searched around, a Reaper on a rooftop shot at him, luckily the shots missed and Cole reacted Quickly by using his Precision attack to hit the reaper with an electric headshot.
More Reapers came but Cole simply blasted them back and whacked a few of them with his amp before restraining them to the ground for them to be taken away by the authorities.
"I gotta find Sasha, maybe that will get rid of the Reapers, plus keep Derpy safe"
He continued to search around a bit, noticing more and more posters, then he saw a reaper put up a poster and he approached him.
"Hey you! Hold it!" Cole shouted.
The Reaper saw Cole and shot at him but Cole rolled out the way and blasted the Reaper down.
"Who's sending you to do this!? Is it Sasha!? What does she want with that Pegasus!?" Cole asked.
The Reaper backed off a little before Cole pressed his foot in his chest, "Answer the question, or you're not gonna live to see tomorrow", he charged his hand with a little electricity.
Later on, Derpy had woken up and went to the living room where she saw Zeke watching TV, munching on some snacks.
"Morning there, if you're looking for Cole, he's not here, he went out to help the town"
"Oh...when will he be back?"
Zeke kept munching, "Didn't say, why don't you just sit down and watch a little TV to pass the time, here have some candy", he poured some candy in a bowl and gave it to Derpy.
"Thanks Zeke", she started munching.
Cole arrived in the building, full of concern, "Derpy, you're awake, good"
"Hi Cole, happy to see you", Derpy said with her usual cheer.
"I know, and I'm always happy to see you, but we have an issue, I just spoke to a Reaper"
Derpy gapsed, "One of those scary people!?"
Zeke looked curious, "You got one to talk? That's impressive"
"I meant business, anyway Derpy you're in danger, The Reapers wanna take you to their leader"
Derpy looked scared, "Oh no, what do I do?"
"Well for not you can't follow me outside anymore, not even if you keep your distance, if these bastards spot you then there's gonna be trouble, so you HAVE to stay here, I gotta go out there and take out every single bastard Reaper and make sure they stay the hell away from you, plus I don't want these morons ruining this city again, this place is getting a second chance, I won't let these Reapers ruin that!" Cole said.
"But I like spending time with you", Derpy said.
"I know, but these Reapers are dangerous, especially The Conduit ones"
Derpy looked curious, "The Conduit ones?"
"Yeah, some of the Reapers have powers, not as strong as mine but some of them have powers like a conduit, their leader Sasha is also a Conduit"
Derpy looked scared, "Sounds dangerous...but I'm not sure if you should go out there, don't you have any super powered allies?"
"None in Empire City, there were some in New Marais but that doesn't matter, I can handle The Reapers, I've done it before, I'll do it again"
Derpy looked concerned, "I wish I was a Conduit, so I can help you...just please be careful, if you die, I'm gonna be really, really sad"
Cole noticed the tears forming in her eyes, they met only a few days ago but their bond has really grown strong in that time, Cole wiped away a tear, "Hey I survived so far, hell I should be dead right now, but I'm not, so I can survive just about anything"
Derpy nodded, "Ok Cole"
Cole left the house, "Zeke, keep an eye on her, keep her safe, don't let her leave this house for anything!"
Zeke nodded, "I got it"
Cole nodded and left, Derpy grew concerned.
"Why can't I be there for him?"
"Cole's just worried, he cares about you probably as much as he cares about his old girlfriend", Zeke said.
"What happened to his girlfriend?" Derpy asked.
"That's something only Cole can answer", Zeke said.
Derpy sighed, "I wish I can help, I tried helping when my Country was in danger, I tried stopping a monster called Tirek...though that didn't work out too well, but everyone else failed too"
"Just let him handle it", Zeke said.
Cole went outside and looked around, keeping an eye out for Reapers and making sure nothing strange was happening, he did his usual patrols and assistance of the civilians, whom all love and appreciate Cole.
"So far so good, gotta keep an eye out"
As he walked he noticed a Reaper in an alley, doing something suspicious.
"Hey you, what the hell are you doing!?"
The Reaper turned around and tossed some tar in his face, "Aw, dammit!"
Then Cole heard a voice in his head.
"Cole, it's been a while...I've really missed you, why don't you ever call?"
Cole growled, "Get out of my head Sasha!"
"You know you want me Cole, just like I want you, you're a better man than Kessler, you're my man"
"I am NOT your man!"
Sasha let out an evil laugh, "Don't bother resisting, soon you will be mine, and that Pegasus will not keep us separated"
"You stay the hell away from Derpy! I'll kill you if you go near her!" Cole charged his hands with electricity.
"Why fight this, soon she'll hate you, just like everyone else, but I'll love you, I'll always love you", Sasha continued to taunt.
"Get out of my God Damn head!" he started shooting electricity around.
"Don't worry, I will, you need to focus after all", Sasha said.
Cole snapped out of it, "Focus on wh-" he was knocked back with a blast.
He looked up and saw a Reaper Conduit.
"Figured you bastards would show up sooner or later"
Cole got up and blasted the Reaper but it teleported away and tried blasting again but Cole rolled to the side and shot it down, Cole was used to these Conduits and they were weaker than most, compared to the Trash Men & First Son Conduits.
However two more showed up, alone they're almost no problem, in groups they can really cause an annoyance.
Cole was able to handle them by dodging their attacks and blasting them with Mega Watt hammers.
Cole then turned to see several Reapers coming, so he summoned a Lightning Strike to take them down, but it drained him of some energy.
Cole retreated a little to find a place to recharge, but more Reapers arrived and shot at him.
Fortunately for Cole some civilians arrived and tossed objects at the Reapers in an effort to help, even some policemen arrived to help.
"Times like this I'm glad to be on The Public's good side", Cole stated, then shouted, "Any place I can absorb some electricity!?"
Some on the civilians pointed to a generator, Cole went to it but a Reaper Conduit teleported in front on him and shock waved Cole back and shot at him with it's machine gun.
Soon Zeke arrived, "Hey Cole! Need a little help!?" he started shooting at the Reapers.
"Zeke? Glad you're here, is Derpy secure!?"
"Yeah, she's fine, I locked the doors", Zeke then shot at the Reapers, Cole took down The Conduit Reaper.
While fighting the Reapers, Sasha appeared on a ledge of an unfinished building.
"Cole...you will be mine", she used her powers to attack the people in the town, Cole noticed and saw Sasha, "What the hell are you doing!? You're hurting innocent people!"
"They don't appreciate you, they only want you for your powers, that's not real love and affection"
Cole attempted to blast her but she moved quickly out the way and sent some attacks to Cole, knocking him back.
"I'm gonna make you love me, even if I have to be a little tough, but you know what they say, love hurts"
Zeke shot her but it didn't do much, she simply knocked him back, "This doesn't concern you!"
Cole shot some Mega Watts and Shock Grenades, but he was starting to run low on juice and started getting exhausted.
Sasha did an evil laugh, "You're mine Cole"
At that moment Derpy arrived and rammed into Sasha, "Stay away from him!"
Sasha turned angrily to Derpy, "How dare you!" she knocked Derpy back, Cole used the distraction and the anger of Derpy getting hurt to his advantage and blasted Sasha a few times, "NEVER HURT HER!"
Sasha got up and wrapped some tar substance around Cole and squeezed.
"I will have you! You will love me!"
Derpy looked at the situation, Cole was in danger, she had to do something, but what?
Zeke turned to her, "He needs some power to drain! Find a Generator!"
Derpy looked around then asked, "Wait, any electricity will do?"
"Yeah!"
"Good!" she flew to the sky and grabbed a Cloud and brought it down.
"Wait, how'd she grab a cloud? That doesn't make any sense", Zeke asked.
Derpy then hit the cloud so Lightning would strike Cole, giving him the energy to break free from Sasha and blast her back and shoot some strong blasts, Sasha decided to retreat for now.
"I'll back Cole! You will love me!" she left the area.
Derpy approached Cole to help him, but some tar splattered into her face.
"Ew, gross", then she heard a voice in her head.
"You can't have him! He's mine, I will not let you steal him from me!"
Derpy held her head, "Get out of my head!"
"You're in way over your pretty little head you impudent Pegasus, don't play a game you have no chance of winning"
"Get out!" Derpy shouted.
Cole grabbed Derpy's head and held his against her's, "I am warning you Sasha, stay the hell away from Derpy! This is between you and me!"
"And it will remain like that, one I get rid of this little nuisance", Sasha said.
"Don't you DARE hurt her! I will kill you and each of your followers!" Cole threatened.
All they heard was her taunting laugh as it faded away.
Derpy shook her head, "That girl is scary"
"Tell me about it, and I used to date her"
"Wow, extra scary, she's like a creepy ex"
"She's the definition of a creepy ex"
Both chuckled.
"But Derpy, why are you here? You were supposed to stay put", Cole said.
"I was worried, I told you I would be really sad if you died, I don't want you to die", Derpy said.
"But it was dangerous, you can't just-"
"You're my friend Cole, friends help each other, besides you helped me when I really needed it, so now I help you when you needed it"
Cole sighed and smiled, "I guess, well it's a good thing you did, you really helped me back there, between ramming Sasha and somehow getting electricity from a cloud, maybe you can help me more, be my sidekick"
Derpy grinned, "I would love that! Especially since I get to be near you", Derpy said, she then kissed his cheek, "I really like you Cole", she had a blush when she said that.
Cole looked confused at that, but wouldn't question it, but then he noticed people forming around, confused about Derpy, so Cole spoke up.
"Listen everyone, I can see that you've noticed my friend here, no point in hiding it so I am going to make a confession, the last few days I've been harboring this Pegasus with me, I never told anyone because I feared for her safety, I know it's not easy to accept things we don't quite understand, I know first hand how that can feel, and not from a good end...but she just saved all our lives by doing what she did, standing up to Sasha & helping me get my energy back, now where she came from is a complication in it's own right...but I ask, no, I beg you all to accept her, I want to get her back home but for now she wants to help protect us...so I ask, do you accept this Pegasus into our city?"
The civilians pondered before a few spoke.
"I have no issues"
"She saved us from Sasha"
"She's so cute!"
"If Cole's ok with her, I am too!"
The civilians clapped and showed their appreciation to Derpy, who seemed really happy, because now she seems to finally have respect and love from a group of people, she didn't mess up and she did things right, this was her chance at redemption and she was gonna make the most of it.
Derpy waved to everyone and spoke, "My name is Derpy Hooves! And I'm going to protect all of you with my friend Cole!"
Some of the civilians awed at her, due to her cute voice and how cute she was acting, some even liked her for her eyes.
Cole smiled at this, but he had a lot to wonder about.
Looks like I don't need to hide Derpy anymore, the city accepts her, well I'm sure most do, but now I need to work extra hard, I need her battle ready, I didn't necessarily want this for her but she seems to need this, I won't deny her, she's finally happy. For now the Reapers have retreated, but they'll be back, they always seem to return, but now they know that Derpy isn't gonna go down without a fight, though it also means they'll work herder to bring her down, but I'll be there for her, she values the concept of friendship, I'll admit the whole 'Friendship is Magic' thing sounds really cheesy, but obviously it has a strong affect with her, so why not just deal with that. Besides, having friends is never a bad thing.
Derpy is gonna save the world! Ok maybe not the world yet, but at least Empire City.
