Hello, ModernDayBard here! Just a reminder: most of this fic will be the actual CosmiColts story that Twilight's adapting, so it will feature more oc's than show characters, but I hope you like it anyway! Of course, I don't own MLP or its associated characters; just my OC's and plot idea.
Once again, Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship sneaked into the library of her new castle with just her pet owl for company. Spike's birthday was exactly a week away, and she was only half-done transcribing his favorite comic book. Knowing time was short, the lavender-furred alicorn levitated the pages from where she stored them, then dipped a quill in her ink. She scanned the page to find where she was, and then concentrated to recall what happened next. As she was drawn into the world of the story, she began to write, words coming fast and hard once more.
The first sensation to return was touch—the first ting Jinx could tell was that he was lying on his right side, cheek pressed to cool, damp cement. The grey-furred colt kept his sky-blue eyes closed, focusing on what his nose and ears could tell him. The air around him was heavy and musty—underground, maybe?—and lightly tinged with salt, though he noted he couldn't hear the sea. However, he could hear the creak and groan of metal moving and settling, and, based on the harshness of the sound, it was metal that hadn't been tended to in a while.
*Abandoned factory or warehouse in the dock area, maybe?*
Then the young earth pony heard a sound that made him sit upright, then scrambled to his hooves, a chill running down his spine—off in the distance, he could barely make out the frightened and pain-filled voices of his friends.
Jinx's eyes flew open, though for a moment, it was as though they hadn't. When he finally adjusted to the gloom, he took in the small cell he was in—bare walls and floor with a single large door. He rattled it hopefully, but it seemed that their captor did not underestimate him that much—it was, in fact, locked. Desperation and fear welled up in his chest, and he kicked the door in frustration. It didn't simply fly open as he'd dared to half-hope, but he did feel something give way.
Emotions now back in check, and his analytical mind regaining control, Jinx started to press on the door, trying to determine what it was he had felt. After a few moments, he could tell that the lock was loose in the cement where it was attached to the wall. Now with a plan in mind, he put his shoulder to the door and shoved as hard as he could with what little traction he had. The door gave a little, then a little more, then he threw his whole weight against it, and the crumbling cement could take no more. The door flung open, sending Jinx stumbling out into the corridor.
The young technician pulled up short, gathering himself. He took in is surroundings: a claustrophobic, musty, tunnel-like hallway that stretched both ways, though the tunnel to the right took a sharp turn just a little further down. Jinx concentrated, straining his senses to search for a clue as to the location of his friends. The turn to the right lit up with a fiery glow, and he heard Tele-pony cry out with pain and fear.
Almost before rational thought could process what the sound and sight meant, the grey earth pony took off running in the direction they'd come from. He skidded to a halt in front of a cell vastly different from the one he'd woken up in.
Its form didn't seem solid or constant, nor did its composition. As Jinx watched, the flames that formed the walls, bars and door darkened, shifting into solid shadows, then seething sand, impenetrable ice, and back again. The grey colt could still hear Tele-pony, though it was hard to see her. She sounded more frightened than he'd ever heard her; given her weakness to elemental attacks and the fact that a cell like this likely blocked all her psychic abilities, Jinx figured that Tel had been severely shaken from her normal confidence.
In spite of the dire circumstances, Jinx had to smile to himself: he liked it when the solutions were obvious, given previous clues—it made him feel like he was beating the villains with his wit. Waiting for the flames to become darkness again, the techie thrust out a forehoof, just touching the ever-changing bars. The shock of his—well, his jinx—ran up his spine and the whole cell dissipated, just as he had expected it to. He trotted up to Tele-pony, who was lying on the ground, front hooves covering her head.
Jinx knelt next to the lavender-furred unicorn, tentatively putting a hoof over her shoulder, suddenly a lot less sure of himself and the proper course of action. The telepath started at his touch, looking up to meet his concerned gaze, then quickly dropping her indigo eyes. Realizing what she was doing—what she needed to do—J said nothing, holding her silently while she reconstructed her confident mask. At last, she started to stand, and he helped her to her hooves. Even without Tel using her psychic abilities, a silent agreement was reached that Jinx was not to tell the others about her breakdown—to forget it, if he could.
"the others?" she asked at last, still sounding hoarse and more than a little shaken.
J shook his head. "I thought I might have heard them earlier, but you were the first I could find."
"What are we up against?"
"As near as I can tell, someone who either knows or can detect our weaknesses..." The techie's voice trailed off as he remembered the now-dissipated cell. *Fire... Shadows... Earth... Ice... Fire... Shadows... Earth... Ice...Shadows—Shade... Earth—Rock Solid... Ice—Snowstorm... Fire—Forest Fire? And then there's the psychic attack he used against me...*
"J, what is it?" Tele-pony asked, as it was obvious from his stance that the grey colt had thought of something huge.
J shook his head slowly as the implications continued to sink in. "H-He doesn't just know our weaknesses—I think he can learn, imitate, acquire, or duplicate our powers and abilities!" The two held each other's gaze for a moment, and J saw his own train of thought reflected in the telepath's indigo eyes.
"So, the more of us he took out—" She began.
"—the more tools he had to fight the rest of us with!" the earth pony finished. "If he still has our powers—plus Forest Fire's and who knows who else's—he'll be tough to fight!"
The unicorn stood up straighter, face set. "And that's why we need the others." She closed her eyes, concentrating, then opened them almost immediately with a frightened expression. "Snow's nearby—but she's panicking! I've never felt this much emotion from anypony before; it's like every feeling she's ever suppressed has been released at the same time. Her mind's completely clouded—she's beyond reason."
J didn't even hesitate. "Which way?" When Tele-pony pointed, he set off immediately.
The telepath trotted to keep up, giving Jinx occasional directions when they came to forks or turns, but soon there was no need of her psychic directions—all they had to do was make straight for the howling ice storm. Tel had long ago determined that Snowstorm's powers were linked to her emotions, so with them out of control, her powers were no longer held back...by anything.
J saw the young mare hesitate on the edge of the melee, and gestured for her to wait. She put out a hoof to stop him, and he tried to put her mind at ease. "Hey, I'll be alright. Just trust the jinx."
Tele-pony frowned. "But those ice shards are dagger-sharp. Could—Can your jinx really stop one from impaling you?"
"...Y-Yeah! ...I think so." Neither his words, nor his hesitation that came before reassured her, but he pulled away and forged ahead before she could stop him again.
When the first ice-blade sliced his cheek, the grey colt began to seriously doubt his plan. He threw up a forehoof over his face, knowing it wouldn't help him much if one of the icicles became embedded in his heart. All at once, the stinging impacts halted, and Jinx raised his head to see the wind parting just in front of him, blowing ice and snow to either side. He gaped for just a moment—for obvious reasons, none of the CosmiColts had dared to test the limits of his jinx, so its power kept surprising him. Heartened, the techie forged on.
Soon enough, he came to the source of the chaos—Snowstorm was hovering a few inches off the ground, without moving her wings. The silver-furred pegasus was buoyed up by the howling winds, eyes as blank as the ice crystals swirling around her. Now, the ice-elementalist seemed to always have a dead-pan expression, but this was different: otherworldly, lacking warmth, but not danger. Jinx had been nervous around his teammate before, but now he was genuinely scared. "Snowstorm!" J called, but the mare didn't respond. "SNOW!" Jinx shouted, louder. He reached out a hoof, intending to shake her by the shoulder, but the instant he made contact, his jinx went into overdrive.
In a single shock, Jinx absorbed the swirling energy of the storm, and it proved too much for the jinx to simply neutralize. Instead, it released it outward, expelling the excess power. The ensuing shock-wave knocked the young technician off his hooves and caused spots to dance before his eyes.
When he could see clearly again, Snowstorm stood, hooves on the floor, her face still blank, but it was her usual, dispassionate expression, not the frighteningly blank creature that'd been standing in the center of the ice storm.
Blue eyes met silver ones, and J tried for a lopsided grin. "I'm guessing that's why you don't show much emotion."
Snow's reply was cut off by Tele-pony as the lavender unicorn trotted up. "Rock's just up ahead; I can sense him."
Snow stiffened, but her tone remained level. "Does anyone else smell smoke?"
The pegasus narrowed her eyes at the excited gleam in J's expression. "Of course! Fire—Geb's weakness! Lead the way girls!"
Tel shot her friend a sharp look, then explained to the pegasus mare what the two had deduced as the trio raced toward their captured leader. Snowstorm caught her breath at the sight they encountered: Rock Solid was covered in burns and soot, seemingly unconscious, surrounded by a cell of dancing, seething flames. Snow saw J start forward, but the silver-furred pegasus intervened before the techie could.
A blast of cold, snow, and ice completely encased the flames, smothering them. As soon as the smoke cleared, Snow galloped over to Rock Solid, trying to soothe his burns with cooling snow, trying out of habit to keep her fear and concern in check. Their leader groaned and began to stir, and the young mare gingerly helped him stand while Tele-pony and Jinx filled him in on the villain and their theories regarding his frightening abilities.
"The others?" The brown-furred earth pony asked, sounding hoarse, and Snow could tell that he was still in a lot of pain, but she couldn't risk any more ice without causing severe frostbite.
"We're tracking them now," Jinx replied, just as Tele-pony reported, "Herbal Remedy's close by!" As the others watched, the lavender unicorn's face fell as the awful truth came to light. "He used a brunt psychic attack! It caused a lot of damage; I-I don't know if I can completely heal her. S-She might see another psychic presence as another attack."
Worry for her sister cut Snow to the heart, but she maintained her usual cold deadpan, having no desire to lose control two times in as many days. "Will she recover on her own?"
Tele-pony knew the honest answer. "No."
"And is there any other way to heal her?"
"No."
Snow nodded once, and Tel actually found something comforting in the pegasus's blunt, mater-of-fact manner. "Then it sounds like we have no choice," the snow-elementalist decided. "We'll have to risk it."
The telepath nodded, closing her eyes and doing her best to breathe deeply and evenly. When she felt calm, she began to walk in measured strides toward the jumbled the consciousness of her best friend. As she walked, trusting J to guide her and Snow helped Rock, the CosmiColts' psychic began to try to undo the damage wreaked by the mysterious attacker—*Mysterious attacker wielding my powers.*—smoothing jagged edges, bringing together what had become disconnected, untangling what was now interwoven, and soothing what pain she could sense.
When she knew that she'd done all she could, Tele-pony opened her indigo eyes. Just in front of the disheveled group of ponies was a normal cell door. Heart hammering, Tel used her telekinesis to unlock the cell and pry it open. She was almost too sacred to look, but she forced herself to, anyway.
The unicorn almost sobbed with relief—Herbal Remedy was sitting up, looking around with an alert, calculating expression as she took in her surroundings, then noticed four of her friends stumbling toward her. It was Remedy, whole and (mostly) healed, a little shaken, but quickly pulling herself back together.
The two young mares were now face-to-face, and neither seemed to know what to say, given the final, bitter words between them. "I'm sorry," Tele-pony choked out at last.
The tan-coated pegasus only smiled. "Me, too, Tel."
To save time, the unicorn explained the situation telepathically, and found that her friend had gathered much of the story from her own, somewhat-extended encounter with the as-of-yet nameless villain. The group finally paused, shooting worried glances at their injured leader as he paused yet again.
Rock Solid winced, then felt the silver-furred pegasus mare try to put more snow on his burns. He gave her a grateful smile, whispering, "Thank you," as he tried to force himself to keep going. He was supposed to be the leader, and here he was, the one holding everypony back, letting them down with his best friend still out there, possibly hurt.
*If he is, he won't be the only one,* Rock admitted to himself, feeling his own burns and noting the bruising around Snow's and Tel's temples. They others were pushing themselves onward, but they were all running on fumes at this point.
"Got him!" Tel called, and they were all alert once more, quickly following the telepath as she navigated hallways, dodging the exposed pipes and vents. Rock brought up the rear, he and Snow keeping an eye out for ambushes. It bothered the earth-elementalist that their captor apparently hadn't bothered to ensure that they stayed captured.
*As troubling as it is, we should concentrate on finding Shade first, then worry about the mysterious bad guy's strategy...or lack thereof.*
The door that loomed at last in front of them was not a cell door; it looked more like the door to a vault: formidable, impenetrable, and soundproof. Rock Solid glanced at Tele-pony confirmation and saw that the unicorn had gone pale. He was about to express concern about her health when she spoke.
"H-He's not alone in there. I can't tell who the other person is—possibly Forest Fire—b-but they're—they're torturing him!"
Protective rage surged through the leader of the CosmiColts, and before anypony else could react to the news, he crushed the opening mechanism with a boulder. The door swung open to reveal their missing comrade slumped against the wall as though he'd been thrown there, covered in bruises, cuts, and burns, with his hooves tied roughly together.
The thief he'd run off after—Forest Fire—was looming over the black-furred unicorn, a fireball poised to throw, but the commotion at the door distracted her, causing her to turn. It turned out that Shade was not as incapacitated as he had seemed—taking advantage of his torturer's distraction, he surged to his hooves, cutting the ropes that bound him with shadow-energy, and slamming Forest against the wall, a forehoof clamped across her throat, cutting off the orange earth pony's breath.
At the half-crazed, murderous gleam in their normally soft-spoken comrade's eyes, most of the CosmiColts pulled up short. But the dark specter in front of them was familiar to Rock Solid: this was the Shade he'd first met almost a year and a half before. As justified as the dark colt's anger may have been, the earth pony knew better than most the fine line his best friend walked every day.
Surging forward, he grabbed Shade form behind, pulling him off of Forest Fire and pinning the unicorn. Over the struggling colt's shoulder, Rock watched Snowstorm pin the fire-wielder's hooves in ice, but he didn't pay them much attention.
Ignoring the fiery lances of pain from his numerous burns, the brown-coated colt kept a tight hold on his friend as Shade fought desperately, mindlessly. "Shade—Utter Darkness—Stop! This isn't you—you don't have to be this: you're better than this!" Shade shoved back against the larger colt and Rock grunted in pain, but didn't lose his grip. "Darkness, remember what you decided after we met: why you chose the name 'Shade'." The earth pony sensed the struggling subsiding and pressed on. "You told me that Shade is the good side of darkness—protection from heat, from sun—you chose to be a protector, a hero. You chose not to be a villain!"
As Rock's voice gained strength, Shade's struggles seemed to lose it, until, at the very end of his speech, the leader of the CosmiColts felt his best friend go limp. He relaxed his grip, letting Shade sink to his knees. He hated seeing his friend like this—almost broken with the realization of what he'd early done, scared of who he'd almost become—but still, it was preferable to losing him to his own inner demons.
The others who, after securing Forest Fire, had stood still, not even pretending not to watch, glanced at each other awkwardly. They obviously were trying to avoid taking a step back, but were desperate to be somewhere, anywhere else. Final, Herbal Remedy took a few steps forward, kneeling by the two colts and put a wing around Shade. As if her simple gesture had been a signal, the others stepped forward, laying a hoof on their teammate's shuddering shoulders, silently communicating acceptance, forgiveness, and solidarity. Perhaps, Rock Solid reflected, this was what Shade had needed all along.
Once again, Owlowicious pecked at Twilight's hoof to get her to stop when he felt she'd stayed up late enough. Like the two times before, the alicorn dried the ink and hid the parchment before tip-toeing out of the library and heading for bed.
*Almost done. This is going to be his best birthday ever!*
So, yeah. Things were looking up...for a bit at least. Well, anyway: if you like it, or see something I can fix, don't hesitate to leave a review letting me know!