Chapters Cole and John looked at each other, and had an entire conversation with their glances.
“You know what to do when you get there Cole?”
“Yeah. Find the Conduits, activate them, and don’t get killed.”
“Perfect”
As John changed form, becoming the Beast, all of New Marais went dark.
Ready Cole?
Yeah. Go for it!
The Beast’s hands now rested on the ground, one on either side of Cole, surrounding him. A field of energy began to gather between them, the sphere of power encasing Cole. The charge gathered, causing Cole’s hairs to stand on end, a rare thing, as they are usually pretty electrified to begin with.
ION FIELD!
Those were the last two booming words Cole heard before he blacked out.
***Meanwhile, in Equestria***
Dark thunderclouds built over the Everfree Forest. They grew in size and number until the entire forest was covered with pitch-black clouds. A single bolt of lightning struck the ground in the middle of the Everfree. It was a few feet across, which was huge by the standards of lightning bolts. It incinerated everything within a few hundred feet of it, the sheer power behind it creating a huge blast of thunder, the force of it flattening a good chunk of the Forest.
The thunderclap was heard from Appleloosa to Manehatten, and could be heard in Canterlot as well. In the center of the blast, the origin of the destruction was one thing, one man. In the crater rested Cole MacGrath.
***Time Passes***
Cole awoke, clutching his head.
“Ugh…this is like Empire City all over again….”
After a few minutes, he struggled to his feet. He surveyed the destruction.
“Well, at least it wasn’t the heart of a city….”
His ears were ringing, and he felt completely drained. He felt like he was back in powered-down Flood Town. He looked at himself, and saw that he looked almost exactly as he did just after the Ray Sphere first detonated…but not as scarred. Even drained, he could feel his power layout had been completely mixed up. His Evil Karma Level 3 powers were still there, but so were some good Karma powers.
“Weird…”
***Meanwhile, in Canterlot***
Twilight had been woken by Celestia, and was in the center of the drama that was playing out all around her. Several ponies were accusing her of being the mastermind behind the lightning bolt that had utterly destroyed most of the Everfree Forest, but every one of those ponies fell silent when one of them suddenly collapsed, convulsing, his mane and tail smoking. Twilight disappeared in a flash of light.
***Back in the Everfree Forest***
Cole saw a flash of light, and started towards it, his Amp, dead but still useful for bashing heads, held to one side, ready to be swung if the cause of the light was another enemy. He almost swung when he felt a tap on the shoulder, but stopped himself when he saw something remarkably impossible standing in front of him. He was looking at a horse, but not just any horse… This horse had a horn and wings! He rubbed his eyes, confused.
“I must be seeing things… I thought I was done with that tar…”
“You’re not.”
Cole blinked, staring at the thing, and took a single shocked step back.
“And you can talk too. Why the hell not? This is just wonderful…. First Reapers with their conversion tar and Sasha, then the Corrupted and the Ice Men. Why not talking horses next?”
He shook his head, sighing. “Honestly…I keep getting into deeper and deeper piles of shit, don’t I?”
An 'Electric' Personality
Twilight sighed. “Great, a human. First I’m accused of calling down a huge bolt of lightning, then I find a human in the center of it.”
Cole just looked at her.
“That was probably my fault. John’s Ion Field must have overcharged.”
“How can a human even survive something of that magnitude?!”
“Well, I am rather good at dealing with electricity, being a Conduit and all.”
“A what?”
“A Conduit. It means I have a special gene that lets me be an electrokinetic, or so the science people say.”
“You? An electrokinetic? Those are only rumors here….”
“Well, I am. Also, where’s the nearest electric thing that I can recharge from?”
“Uh…there’s a generator in town.”
“Cool. Lead the way.”
The human and alicorn walked in silence, and then made for the center of town, where the generator was housed.
A generator glowed with electricity. Cole smiled, and put his hands on it, draining it of a good chunk of its initial charge to replenish his Battery Cores. He recharged it with a few non-draining lightning shots, and it was good to go again.
“Ah…much better.”
“Now, tell me who you are, electric man.”
“The name’s MacGrath. Cole MacGrath.”
“Well MacGrath? How in the name of Celestia did you get here?”
“I already told you. John White sent me here through a portal he opened. Speaking of which, where am I?”
“You’re in Ponyville. Who’s this ‘John White’?”
“Well, at least the Ion Field worked then… and he’s also known as the Beast.”
“Wow…never heard of him.”
A mint green unicorn stared at him from afar for a bit before approaching Cole.
“A human….”
The pony vanished after that.
“So, where are you from Cole?”
“Originally, Empire City. But after they cast me out, calling me the Demon of Empire City, I went down south to New Marais. Spent some time there, killed Bertrand, the governor of the place, but he was evil, so it was justified, saved the Conduits, and ended up here thanks to John.”
“Why did this ‘John’ send you here?”
“He sent me here to activate any and every Conduit I could find, if there even are any.”
"I see. Now, you said you were an electrokinetic. Prove it.”
Cole pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger, sighing.
“Fine.”
His hand was instantly haloed by electricity and he fired off an Alpha Bolt at a nearby tree. The shot struck true, and left a scorch mark on the tree.
“Whoa…”
Even for Twilight, whose horn continuously exuded electricity, seeing a small bolt of lightning being discharged from a human’s hand was impressive.
“Okay, I believe you.”
“Good. Anything else you’re wanting me to do?”
Twilight noted the sarcasm in his voice. “Nope.”
“Good.” He sighed. “So, where am I going to be staying?”
“Um, what?”
“Well, it’s not like I’m only here for a few hours. I’m going to be here for a good long while.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Twilight turned to face the massive crowd that had gathered, having heard the thunder coming from the Alpha Bolt.
“Will anypony be willing to house the newcomer?”
Two voices shouted in unison, “I’LL DO IT!!!”
“Pinkie and Lyra…Why does this not surprise me…at all?”
She waited for a moment, but not a single other hoof went up.
“Well Cole, your choice.”
“Uh…Lyra, I guess.”
A squeal of delight echoed through the quiet town, and Lyra was standing next to Cole in less than 10 seconds.
“My very own human! Eeee!!!”
“Hold on a minute Lyra. I’m not anyone’s ‘human.’”
“Oh…”
Twilight sighed. “Anyhow, welcome to Equestria.”
Lyra led Cole back to her house on the outskirts of town, and Twilight disappeared in another flash of violet light.
As time went on, Twilight’s friends began to fade. First, Rarity passed on. Then from there, her other friends died. Rainbow, followed quickly by Fluttershy, Applejack, and lastly, a few years after AJ, Pinkie moved on too.
Cole had become pretty well-known, and well-loved, by the residents of Ponyville. Equestria, or at least Ponyville, seemed to have changed Cole. No longer was he the evil man he once was, killing everyone and everything in sight. Now, he was helping each pony how he could, usually with an electrical short. And if Twilight ended up having an off day and Ponyville lost power, Cole could usually spark the generator. The biggest issue was that traditional spark. Each day, Twilight had to spark the three generators in Equestria, but there were days she could only manage two.
Since she knew Cole could do it, she would always save Ponyville for last in case she couldn’t muster the spark. The electricity sent to the generators, however, was a completely unconscious thing for Twilight. Her body just naturally let off the electricity.
One day though, something in Twilight just…snapped. Seeing her friends die, knowing that she outlived them, and would outlive all of their descendants…that was the thing that broke her last tenuous connection to reality, and her sanity gave way, collapsing under the emotional distress. Her horn stopped glowing, and all of Equestria went dark.
******
Ponies survived for a time in the dark, but things slowly became worse. Cole was completely drained. He had been trying to restart the generators, but it never worked.
Soon, riots broke out all over Equestria. Gangs began to form as ponies united to steal food and supplies for themselves, and their kind. There were three main gangs, one based in each of the three pony species. There the Terras, the Earth Ponies, the Maegi, the Unicorns, and the Aeros, the Pegasi. The Princesses tried to keep the peace, but eventually, even they fled.
Every one of the four Princesses fled, save for one. Twilight remained behind in the throne room, trapped in a blue crystal, put in there by Celestia, sealed in there by Cadence, and then Luna shut the throne room doors, locking it with an electrical lock, and she drained it, permanently locking it, as no pony could generate the amount of electricity needed to recharge it and reopen the door. It was their last act as Princesses before they fled Equestria, leaving the now-insane Twilight behind, frozen in time.
***A month passes***
Equestria had been ravaged by the gangs, and Ponyville was no exception. Every window was boarded up, and the library was practically a fortress.
Spike knew he had to preserve the contents of the library, as well as what little food he had left, from the ponies that sought to trash the place, take the food, and burn the books for warmth. He had sent multiple letters to Twilight, but he never got a response.
Cole had retreated to the Everfree, having been pursued by members from all three gangs, as they all believed he was the source of the blackout.
A week passed, and another thunderstorm brewed over the Forest. Lightning jumped from cloud to cloud, but never touched the ground. Cole saw the chance, and took it. He used the Gigawatt Drain, and the lightning struck the ground, and struck him as he was recharged by it, filling his Battery Cores completely, and even giving him an overcharge that wasn’t discharged into the ground. He felt his Ion Powers returning, and he knew he could call down an Ion Storm now.
Cole smiled to himself, knowing he could defend himself now, and he walked into Ponyville with his head held high. And he lowered his head just as quickly, barely avoiding getting his head fried by a bolt of magic. He looked up, and saw a horn poking over the top of a roof. He slipped into Precision Mode, and fired a single shot, draining three of his Cores, but the storm was overhead still, even though he was in Ponyville. It had expanded. The shot hit the tip of the horn, and a scream echoed through the quiet-as-death town. The pony convulsed, and slid off of the roof, landing with minimal grace, and Cole ran over to the pony, and used the Arc Restraints on it, staking it to the ground with electricity. There was one bond on each leg, and one on its horn to prevent any cowardly sneak attacks.
It was only after this that Cole realized what the pony was wearing. He had looked out of the forest often enough to recognize the different gang uniforms. The Terras had leather vests, the Maegi had purple robes, and the Aeros had nothing but their own coats, as they knew anything else would slow them down. This Unicorn was not wearing a purple robe. Instead, he had a leather vest on.
“A Terra that’s a Unicorn? And so far from their hometown of Appleloosa? Weird. But, in a land of magical, or flying, talking horses, I guess it takes a lot for something to be weird.”
Cole looked up to the sky, and saw a thing hurtling towards him. He launched a Punch Blast, a Shockwave with enough force to deflect anything it can’t stop. The Pegasus was knocked off course, and it slammed into a wall nearby. Cole cringed as he heard the sound of multiple bones snapping and shattering. Luckily though, the Pegasus was almost dead. Cole grabbed its head, and sucked the remaining life out of it, recharging his Cores. Cole was looking around, checking for any more enemies, and he saw a familiar indigo glow.
“A Blast Core?”
He ran over to it, managing to not run in to any traps or ambushes, and he grabbed it.
(9 Shards until next Battery Core)
He felt his breath leave him in a rush as he was knocked to the ground by a bacon-colored Terra. He was slammed into the ground, and the powerful-looking, rather pissed off Terra stood over him.
“You killed my father, you asshole!”
“What? Who the hell are you?”
“My name is Sly. And I know precisely who you are, Cole MacGrath.”
“Okay…But I don’t know who your father is!”
“His name was Flim.” Sly snarled at Cole. “And when the blackout happened, the hospital’s equipment that was keeping him alive died. He went into cardiac arrest!”
His hoof crashed into Cole’s stomach, knocking out what little air there was in there.
“That wasn’t me!”
“Yes! It! WAS!”
Each word was punctuated by a blow to the chest.
“Alright…that’s enough kid.”
Cole growled and flipped both hands up, and launched him into the air with a Punch Blast, and then he shot the pony three times with a Pincer Bolt, fully frying him. He fell to the ground, smoking, dead.
“Bacon’s done.”
Cole set off an electrical pulse, and for once, he got a ping. He set off in the direction of the ping, and he soon arrived at the train tracks. He set off another ping, and got an extremely quiet response from the west. Cole hopped on the live tracks, and set off towards whatever the next city south of Ponyville was, electrically grinding his way there, recharging his Cores along the way.
***Time Passes***
Cole arrived in Appleloosa after an hour’s ride on the rails. He looked around, comparing what he saw to what he had heard of it from other Ponyvillians. He saw the town was aglow with power.
“How the hell…?”
He saw black panels on every rooftop.
“Solar power. These ponies are smarter than I thought.”
He looked towards the center of town, and saw the generator just sitting there, unguarded
“There you are….”
He walked towards the generator, on guard, ready and expecting an ambush. When he got to the generator, he looked around furtively, looking for any signs of Terra activity. He was about to set his hand on the generator to fire off a Tesla Missile to recharge the generator in Ponyville when he was knocked on top of the generator by a powerful blow to the back, one that would have killed a normal human or pony.
He spun around, and fired off a Bolt at the nearest Terra, sending it flying, and the rest converged on him at once, all piling on top of him to pummel him into the ground. Cole curled up defensively, then, after a moment, he called on his Ionic Powers, sacrificing one of his three Ion Charges to call down an Ion Storm, which fries everything on top of him, and around him, electrocuting every single pony in a ten foot radius. Once the twitching stops, he blasted them off of him with a pair of Shockwaves, and he stepped out of the miniature crater created by the blast. He stood up, and felt a rock hit him in the side.
He whirled to face that direction, and saw a pony duck under cover just in time to avoid getting fried. He sighs, and then lobs an Electrocution Grenade over the barricade, and the pony behind it jittered as the electricity discharged from the Grenade skittered through him, stunning him, immobilizing him, and it stopped just a split second before the Grenade exploded, and the pony is sent skyward, only to come crashing down a few seconds later.
“There. I think that does it.”
Cole sets his hand on the generator, charged up, and then turns to face Ponyville, keeping his hand on the generator, and he fired off a Tesla Missile towards Ponyville, using the electrified railroad tracks to keep it going. It fried a few errant Aeros and a Terra or two on the way, but it was almost knocked out of the sky when it gets hit by a bolt of magic. It flew towards the source, and fried the Maegi that fired it, before careening around, and slamming into the generator, its nearly-full electric charge just barely sparking the generator back to life. It would need to be fully recharged before it will function.
Cole gave the Appleloosa generator a final overcharge, and it let it loose into the town’s power grid, reviving it.
‘TERRA’-TORY TAKEN
Cole set off on the rails once more, heading east, back to Ponyville. After an hour of relatively eventless (read: frying only a few Aeros) travel on the tracks, he hopped off at the Ponyville Station, and looked around. Seeing no enemies, he made for the generator.
He got there, and activates the charging sequence, barely able to dodge two bolts of magic that were shot his way, and he ducked to dodge them. They hit the generator, and actually charged it a bit more. He fired off a pair of Pincer Bolts at them, and they each fall to the ground, twitching. Then there was an all-out barrage of magical blasts directed at him, from almost every direction. He dodged some, blasted others to negate them, and let some hit the generator, charging it further. Then he unleashed an Ionic Vortex at the bulk of the ponies, frying the others with various Bolt shots. After what felt like an hour of magic and electric bolts flying everywhere, the shooting died down as the Maegi dropped like flies.
There were still several left that hadn’t been fried, and they continued firing away at Cole, using a flicker-fire technique, dropping their shields just long enough to launch a bolt at Cole, and then putting it back up immediately after. Cole chucked a Sticky Grenade at one shield, but to no avail as it just slid right off.
“Last tactic.”
He fired off a Redirect Rocket, let it soar over them, and then he shot a shield with a Magnum Bolt. The pony behind it laughed, thinking Cole had gone dumb for a moment, even though the shield was very obvious. The laughter was cut short as the Rocket re-oriented, and slammed home, blowing the Maegi into pieces…literally. The other shields dropped, and they each unleashed a full-power beam of magic at Cole, trying to overwhelm him, but he just used the Arc Lightning to counter them, barely managing to do so, but doing so nonetheless.
Once they ran out, he used the Bolt Stream, firing off blasts of energy like bullets from a Gatling gun, and it completely annihilated what was left of the Maegi resistance, or so he thought.
Several Terras, out of their territory, came charging at him, having been following him from Appleloosa, but the generator hits full charge, and lets off a pulse of energy, sending them flying into, and sometimes through, various walls. The power slowly came back on in Ponyville. The ponies that weren’t in the gangs, or dead, began to come out of their hiding places, all of them cheering for Cole, hailing him as the Guardian of Ponyville. He felt something building in him, and then he began to glow blue, his karmic ranking shifting into the first full level of Good Karma, the rank of Guardian. He felt his powers increase, and new powers open up to him. He smiled to himself, and was actually happy to have helped these ponies. He walked over to the library, and rapped on the door in a specific pattern, one that he knew the dragon inside would recognize as Cole’s own pattern.
Spike looked out the window, double checking to make sure it was who he thought it was, but then he nearly fell backwards out of shock, seeing the power back on.
“How…how is that even possible?”
He opened the door, carefully taking down the barricades he had put over it to keep the gangs from breaking in, and then he let Cole inside.
“Cole! How’d you get the power back on?! I thought you’d tried everything you could!”
“Well, everything in this town. I just went down to Appleloosa--”
“YOU WENT TO APPLELOOSA?!?! That place is overrun with Terras!”
“Well, not much anymore. I took care of them.”
“And their leader?”
“They have a leader?”
“Duh! Of course they do! Every gang has a leader. The Maegi, the Aeros, and the Terras. They all do!”
“Hmm…well, never saw the leader, but I’ll take care of him later.”
“Her. The leader’s an Earth Pony mare.”
“Great…another woman in charge of a gang. Like the Reapers and Sasha…”
He sighed to himself.
Spike would have asked, but he decided he did not even want to know.
“Oh! Cole! I have a gift for you!”
“A gift? Why?”
“Well, you did save Ponyville after all.”
“I guess I did.”
“Wait here!”
Cole did as he was told, and then Spike walked off, moving his head side to side, looking for something. He found it a moment later.
“There you are!”
Cole looked up, and saw Spike walking back with a book. He hands it to Cole, smiling.
“Here, take it. It’s a book covering electrokinesis, and has a few techniques you might not have already.”
“How did you get this?”
“Oh, Twi got it from Princess Luna a while back, and she sent it to me to keep here.”
“Ah…Well, it’s not as quick as a Blast Core, but it’ll do.”
“A what?”
“A Blast Core. It’s a chunk of metal. It glows purple, sparks, and holds enormous power.”
“What do you do with them?”
“I absorb their energy. Usually, it gives me a new power.”
“Hmm….”
Spike walked away again, heading into the back room of the library, then down into the basement, and from there down further into a room that held a large vault, a huge metal door locked shut, keeping intruders out. Spike breathed fire into a specific set of holes, and ran a single claw along a series of line segments. Everywhere his claw touched glowed a dim green, and when he was done, he had drawn a six-pointed star.
The entire door began to glow the same dim green, and then swung open, perfectly balanced. Spike walked in, and grabbed the medium-sized glass container, which was the only item inside. Spike walked out of the vault, closing it behind him, and then he made his way back upstairs, then to where Cole was.
“You mean something like this?”
Cole looked up, and then looked at the container in Spike’s claws. Contained therein was an actual Blast Core.
“Where did you get that?”
“Oh, it crashed into the library a long time ago. Twilight kept it here for as long as I can remember.”
Ray Sphere must have done more than just explode and give me powers… it seems like it affected things here too. I wonder how many other towns here have Blast Cores…
Cole took the container, cracked it open, and pulled out the Blast Core.
“Spike…don’t let the ponies kill each other, and don’t let them kill me.”
“Got it.”
Cole took a few steps back, and then he activated the Core. He grunted with effort as he absorbed the raw power contained inside of the chunk of glowing metal. He sparked and crackled as the power skittered across his frame, and dived into him, unlocking a new power.
The electricity stopped all at once, and Cole collapsed onto the floor.
Cole woke up a few hours later, and found Spike standing over him, a large stick, bordering on a rough stave, held in his claws.
“Ugh…Spike. Move.”
Spike looked down, and took a few steps away from Cole.
“Welcome back.”
“Thanks. How long was I out?”
“Just a few hours. Didn’t have any issues.”
“Good.”
Cole stood up, and ran a quick check over his powers, not noticing anything glaringly new.
“I wonder what power I got from this Core…”
Cole turned to one side, and pointed his right index finger at Spike. Rings of electricity rolled down his arm, and built at the tip of his fingers. He let the electricity loose, and a thin bolt of lightning struck Spike in the chest, and sparks danced across his scales.
“H-hey! That t-tickles!”
Cole sighed, and Spike stopped shaking with laughter as the sparks dissipated.
“So, where are you off to now?”
“Don’t know. You got a map of this place?”
“The town? Or Equestria?”
“Equestria.”
The word felt strange and heave on his tongue. Spike looked around the library for a few minutes, and then came back holding a scroll and he handed it to Cole.
“I marked the locations of the other towns that lost power since the Blackout began.”
“Manehatten and Canterlot…”
Damn those feel weird to say…
“Yeah. North of here is Canterlot, and Manehatten is east of there"
“Cool. In that case, I am bound for Manehatten.”
“Okay. I have a friend there. I’ll let him know you’re coming. Rumor is that he’s locked himself in a bunker, but he might also have another Blast Core.”
“You know where this bunker is?”
“No. All I got from him is that it is ‘Where life and death meet’”
“Great…another cemetery.”
“Manehatten is several hours from here by train, so you’d better get going.”
Spike handed him a large package that glowed with a bluish light.
“It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this.”
Cole took the package from him, and he felt the energy of several Blast Shards inside of it. He quickly drained them, leaving just the wrapping. He felt his energy reservoir increase in size.
(Battery Core obtained. 24 Shards until next Core.)
Cole opened the door, and walked out to the deafening roar of cheering coming from the hoard of ponies gathered around the library. Several burly Earth Pony stallions swept him off his feet, and paraded him around to the cries of, “Cole MacGrath! Savior of Ponyville! Electric Guy!!!”
Cole sighed to himself at the last one, but laughed a bit anyway. The ponies set him down at the train station, and Cole made his way over to the tracks. He nodded to the ponies, then hopped onto the rails, and he was off like a shot.
As Cole was riding along the rails, he saw several wires that ran alongside the tracks, and he tried to figure out where they were going. He turned his head towards the west, and saw a huge cloud there, easily the size of a small city.
“What the hell?”
Cole stopped, and then got on a wire, his balance amazing, and he grinded his way up it, defying gravity at times. He reached the giant cloud in a matter of seconds, and when he got up there, he looked around, standing on one of the few things that weren’t made of cloud.
“An entire city…made of clouds?!”
Cole carefully jumped down, using the Static Thrusters to ensure he didn’t fall through it so fast if he couldn’t stand on it, but when he touched the cloud, he stopped. It was as if it was solid concrete.
“Hmm….”
Must be the electricity keeping the cloud together under me.
He looked around, trying to find the generator, as he could feel that this place was completely out of power. After a few minutes, he gave up for a bit, and went and continued walking around, when he literally tripped over the generator. It had sunken halfway through the cloud! He sparked it some, and it began to rise up, and he continued feeding it electricity until it had risen completely. He activated it, and it began to charge, the metal mesh on top of it crackling with electricity. He hopped on top of it, and watched as the first wave of the Aeros came flying at him.
“TARGET PRACTICE!!!”
Cole launched bolt after bolt, each one knocking a Pegasus from the sky, and this continued for a moment, until the generator’s power surged, and the second wave came flying in even faster. Cole didn’t have time to target each one, so he just switched to the Bolt Stream and shot everything in sight. Pegasi were dropping like flies, and he spun around just in time to stop one from slamming into him from behind. He barely managed to get a Punch Blast off right in front of him, and it negated the Aero’s momentum, knocking it to the ground. The third wave came in right on their heels, and he sighed. “This had better be the last wave.” He uses his last Ionic Charge, and unleashes another Ionic Vortex right at them, sucking them all up, crashing them into each other, leaving their bodies behind. He felt the generator hit full charge, and it sent out a pulse of cleansing electric energy, frying all the enemies left. Cole hopped down, but then he spun around as the generator sputtered, then died.
“The hell?!”
Cole heard a feminine laugh from above him. He looked up to the rooftops, and saw a single Aero sitting on the ledge of one of them, her hind legs hanging out over the edge. He fired a bolt at her, but she just leaned out of the way. It wasn’t until he moved into Precision Mode that he saw that she was different from the other Aeros. She was wearing something on her right foreleg, a band of some sort. She laughed, having noticed him staring at her.
“Notice the band, didja?”
“Who are you?”
“The name’s Prisma.”
“And you are what, exactly, Prisma?”
She was on the ground, and knocked him down, and stood over him in the blink of an eye.
“I’m the leader of the Aeros.”
Up close, he could see her dirty, but still obviously multi-colored mane and tail, and her cerise eyes looked pretty familiar. It wasn’t until he saw the rainbow on her flank that he finally recognized who she looked like.
“You look like…Rainbow Dash…”
She cocked one eyebrow, and laughed.
“Took ya this long? Wow. I’m her granddaughter.”
“I thought Rainbow would never have done something like this!”
“Well, I’m not her, and this is a different time.”
Cole threw her off of him, as she was light, given her species. He jumped up and back, and fired bolt after bolt at her, and she dodged each and every one.
“You’re gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat me!”
He moved into Precision Mode, but even then, she was too fast, a feat normally unable to be accomplished.
“How can she move so fast…?”
“Well, I am the granddaughter of the fastest pony of her time, and the daughter of the heir to that title. It’s in my DNA!”
She zoomed by him, knocking him to the ground, and she grabbed a cloud, and gave it a good kick, and it dropped a good amount of rainwater on him, drenching him, negating his powers as they kept fizzling out. He dodged the next few showers, and dried off after a bit. He smiled, and shot a Sticky Rocket at her. It split apart right before she could dodge it, and each part stuck to her, and exploded, knocking her from the sky in a dazzling display of electricity. She fell to the ground, and almost made it back into the air, but Cole shot her with his Taser Beam, the power he gained from his first Equestria Blast Core. She shook, and then fell back to the ground, paralyzed. He took advantage of this opportunity, and used the Hellfire Rockets, completely annihilating her… or so he thought. After just a few seconds of the barrage, he cut it off as she zoomed back into the air.
“How the hell can she survive something like that??”
He blinked, and saw a little red bar above her head, that was barely chipped away at.
“This chick’s got health for days!”
He launched another Sticky Rocket at her, stunned her, and then returned to the barrage, this time stopping every so often to stun her before she can get back up again, the electricity rebounding through the cloud to keep him fully charged, and he continues firing the Hellfire Rockets with one hand, and then does something supposedly impossible… he uses his other hand, and uses the Bolt Stream on her as well, the good and evil powers mixing and intensifying the damage. By the time the barrage ends a full minute later, she has barely any health left, and is left on the ground, unable to move except to try and guard herself. He moves in, and grins darkly.
“And this is what you get for leading a terrorist gang.”
He fought her for a moment, her hooves trying to hold back his glowing hand, but they failed, and he grabbed her by the muzzle, and sucked the rest of her life out, fully charging him, and over charging him as well. Once it was done, she was lying there…dead.
“And so the Prism shatters...”
He used the extra power to recharge the generator, and Cloudsdale, knowing the name now, as he had seen a few signs, came back to life. Cole rode back down the wire, and jumped back onto the train tracks, done with the diversion now, and he raced on toward Manehatten.
Cole arrived in Manehatten sunset that day, having spent a few too many hours in the cloud city. He got off the rails, and looked around, surveying the area.
“Upscale place… needs more destruction.”
He ran towards the generator, but slammed into an invisible wall.
“The hell is that?!”
He looked past the now shimmering barrier of energy, seeing a pony inside, a Unicorn. He wasn’t dressed like a Maegi. Cole banged on the barrier repeatedly, until the Unicorn turned around. The barrier faded almost immediately.
“You must be Cole MacGrath.”
“Yeah. And you are…?”
“The name’s Jim.”
“Got it. You trying to bring back the power?”
“Yes, I am. Figured I’d give it a try before you got here.”
“You knew I was coming?”
“Yeah. Spike told me.”
“So you’re that friend he mentioned.”
Jim nodded, and turned back to the generator. His horn glowed, as did the generator, but nothing happened. Cole sighed to himself, before grabbing Jim’s horn with one hand, and putting his other hand on the generator. He pulled the energy from Jim, converted it to electricity, and pumped it into the generator. It activated, and began to charge up. The world around Cole spun as he was struck from behind with a magical bolt, and he released Jim, whirling around to face the threat, and nearly losing his balance in the process. He was knocked back against the generator, and he tried to get up, but he was held down by some energy, and another unicorn leaped into the fray, putting up a dome of energy around the generator, Cole, and Jim. The unicorn fought and fought and fought some more, all in the name of Celestia, Cadence, and Luna, or so his battle cry said. He held them at bay for a good while, but he was eventually overrun, shot down, and killed. But his dome died at just the right time. Instead of reflecting the pulse back at Cole and Jim, it died right before doing so, actually amplifying it, sending all the remaining Maegi foes flying, most of them raining down outside the city, some slamming through several walls before coming to a bloody stop, and others ended up impaled on various gates and broken metal pieces.
Jim looked at the fallen unicorn, and uttered a quick prayer for his soul to be rewarded for his bravery. Cole walked over, and checked for a pulse, just in case. There wasn’t one.
“He’s dead Jim.”
Jim sighed, nodding.
“Well, he fought valiantly, and died bravely. That is all that could be asked of him.”
Cole shrugged.
“Eh….”
Jim walked off, and Cole followed him to a graveyard. Jim’s horn glowed, and so did one of the tombstones. It moved, revealing a tunnel leading underground.
“Through here.”
Cole had to crawl on hands and knees to get through the tunnel, while Jim had to just barely duck his head. But, once they reached the other side, Cole knew instantly that it was worth the crawl. There, sitting in the middle of the room, was another Blast Core.
“Hello Blast Core.”
“For restoring power, and for saving many lives, I give it unto you Cole MacGrath. Use it well.”
“Cool, thanks. You mind watching while I sleep it off?”
“Actually, by the time you wake up, I’ll be gone. The bunker is impregnable, so don’t worry about it.”
“If you say so….”
Cole stood up, and activated the Core. The smell of ozone filled the room, and everything glowed for a second before Cole collapsed again.
Cole woke up, and immediately tried to sit up, but he couldn’t.
“Ugh…that just hurt…”
He tried again, but this time he knew it wasn’t pain keeping him down. He was tied down to a table! A laugh bounced off the walls.
“Hello again Cole MacGrath…”
“Who are you?”
“Who I am does not matter at this point in time. All that matters is that you are at my mercy.”
Cole struggle, against the handcuffs that were tied to anchors under the table.
“Don’t bother struggling. Those ‘cuffs are unbreakable.”
“I can break these ‘cuffs.”
“You can’t break those ‘cuffs.”
He growled. “Watch me.”
His hands glowed brightly, and he turned on the Gigawatt Blades. He jerked his hands up, and the handcuffs snapped under the power and heat of the Blades. He broke the other straps holding him down, and he laughed.
“I just broke those ‘cuffs.”
“OH SHIIIIIITTTTT!!!!!”
He heard the sound of a pony galloping away, and he laughed again.
“Now… where the hell am I?”
Cole got up, and walked around a bit, and he smiled to himself when he found a crack in the wall.
“Hello beautiful…”
He stuck a grenade to it, and ducked behind the table that had restrained him. The grenade exploded, revealing the outside world.
“Yep, thought so. Still in Manehatten.”
He saw ponies going about their pony lives, a few noticing the explosion, but not many, and he smiled a little more.
“Well, this place is good to go.”
He stepped through the gap, and was greeted by cheering once more. He saw Jim standing a ways away.
“Hey Jim!”
Jim threaded his way through the crowd, and stood in front of Cole.
“Yeah?”
“So long, and thanks for the Blast Core.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cole leaped into the air, and soared over the admiring ponies using the Static Thrusters.
“It seems that I have to go take down the leader of the Terras… Or at least, that’s my guess.”
Cole landed on the rails, and shot back west, going faster than before, getting to Appleloosa in a fraction of the time it normally would have taken. Cole stopped, and stepped off the tracks, and he looked around. He could see that there was no longer any power.
“Oh great…”
The breath was knocked out of him as he was floored by a powerful blow that should have snapped his spine. He groaned, and then blacked out.
Cole groaned as he woke up, his head pounding.
“Ugh…what the hell was that?”
He heard a feminine laugh.
“Well, that was mah brother. He was the one that managed to knock ya out.”
Cole groaned again.
“Well, he certainly has a powerful kick…”
“Yeah, he does.”
“Who are you?”
“Ah’m Golden, but ev’ryone calls me Goldie.”
“And your brother?”
“Red.”
“The hell do you want with me anyway?”
“Well, Ah personally don’t have anything against you, but Red sure does.”
“Then would you mind bringing him in? I kind of want to talk to him.”
“No can do sugarcube. He does as he will.”
Goldie turned as she heard a masculine grunt behind her.
“Sis.”
“Yes Red?”
“Leave.”
She sighed, but acquiesced, leaving the two males behind.
“Well? What’re you doin’ back in mah town?”
“Your town? What are you the mayor or something?”
“More like the Terra Leader.”
“Huh. You don’t look like you have the brains to do that. The muscle, sure, but not the brains.”
“Shut it.”
“How about no? Put it this way…” Cole looked Red right in the eyes, “You have no chance against me. I’m here to put an end to the gangs, and then finish turning the power back on.”
“Oh, so you’re trying to fix what ya messed up, are ya?”
“It wasn’t my fault the power went out.”
“Yes, it was.”
“…”
“High noon. Town Square. Be there, or be killed.”
“Oh, a Western showdown. How…fitting.”
Red turned on his hind hooves, and left, slamming the door shut with a hard kick.
Cole got up a few minutes later, seeing an ornate clock saying that it was already eleven in the morning.
“Great, only an hour to get ready… and not a single volt of electricity, either.”
Cole got out his Amp, and gave it some juice, and it sparked back to life.
“Well, I’ve got this.”
Cole managed to open the door with a couple good shoves, and he walked out into the blazing Western sun. He kept his Amp in storage for now, leaving the current off. As soon as he stepped out into Town Square, he felt his power drain out of him, leaving him with only his Amp.
“Oh hell.”
Red finally came out of the main building in Town Square, grinning. In the sunlight, Cole could see the toned muscles and the fires of revenge in his eyes.
“This is gonna be tough.”
Cole stepped further towards him, and stopped about fifteen feet away from the Earth Pony.
“Cole McGrath! I challenge you to a duel to the death! No electricity, no guns, no nothin’. Just you, me, and our physical strength.”
“I accept!”
Cole growled, and then grinned, knowing he had a secret weapon. His Amp.
One of the townsponies stepped forward, reciting the rules.
“Both duelists will rely on physical strength, power, and they are allowed a single item into the battle. Red, will you use any items?”
“Eenope.”
“Cole?”
“Just my Amp.”
“Very well. Are the duelists ready?!”
“Yeah.”
“Eeyup!”
“FIGHT!”
Red charged at Cole, whirling around at the very end, and lashing out with a powerful buck. Cole caught one leg between the prongs of the Amp, and then jolted the leg, numbing it. Red stumbled back a bit, but shook it off after a few seconds. Cole could see another one of those red bars above his head. Red charged at Cole again, and then Cole caught the same leg with the Amp, this time twisting the Amp, snapping the bone. Red didn’t even wince. He just ran at Cole, intending to tackle him, and then bash his head into the ground, but Cole sidestepped at the last second, sweeping the pony’s legs out from under him, and Cole could see his health bar drop to half as Red slammed into a metal pole. Cole fired off a single bolt of electricity using the power in the Amp, and he electrified the pole briefly, zapping Red. He jittered a bit, his muscles spasming, but he got up again.
“Health for days!”
Cole took the offensive, and unleashed a good ten-hit combo with the dead Amp, and then knocked Red to the ground, and brought the Amp down, trying to crack his skull, but Red rolled out of the way, and delivered a hard buck to Cole’s side, sending him skidding back a little, wheezing.
“Enough of this, Red. Just give up!”
“Never.”
Cole ran at the pony again, and used his absolute last bit of electricity, and activated the Gigawatt Blades, and he nailed Red with both, and they shocked him pretty well. He went flying, landing several feet away, his mane and tail smoking. He still got back up, but Cole could see the red bar was almost completely empty.
“Time to finish this.”
Cole charged at Red, and unloaded a twenty-hit combo on Red, draining his bioelectricity enough to spark the Amp, and deliver a finishing blow. Cole did a Jump Attack, pinning Red’s neck between the prongs of the Amp, and then he sparked it, paralyzing the pony, and he flipped the pony over him, slamming him into the ground, still pinned and paralyzed, and then Cole grabbed him by his neck, and squeezed, snapping his spine, but he was still not dead.
“You know what, go die.”
Cole grabbed Red by his hind legs, and then flipped him one last time, crashing his head down onto a sharp rock. Blood and skull fragments and brain matter flew everywhere.
The announcer pony took a breath before crying out, “FATALITY!”
Cole let go of the dead pony’s body, and then without another word, spun on one heel, and left the town, getting on the rails, heading back to Manehatten.
Cole rocketed back towards the almost-capital city of Manehatten, and he entered the town to find it deserted.
“Oh come on!”
Cole walked into the now ghost town, and looked around, trying to find out what happened.
He heard a single voice, a female.
“Welcome back Cole…”
He shivered. It reminded him way too much of Sasha.
“Where are you?”
A mare stepped out from the shadows, laughing.
“Right here Cole.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“My name is unimportant.”
Cole blinked, and then remembered when he’d been tied up here earlier.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You were the one that had me trussed up like a pig!”
“Indeed it was.”
Cole looked at the mare, trying to figure her out. Her light blue coat and purple mane did not seem to go together, but at the same time, they did. She wore what looked like a big purple cape, and a pendant rested on her chest, the stone in the middle a simple blue.
“Admiring me, are you? Well… let me give you more to admire.”
She hits him with a blast of magic, knocking him back a few feet, and then she grins, the stone in her pendant flashing red, and she unleashes a fiery blast at him, trying to roast him.
“Damn pyrokinetic…”
Cole dodged the next fire wave, and then he fired back, hitting her with shot after shot of electricity. Then he remembered one of his accessory powers, the Firebird Strike. He glowed with power, and then charged at her, his arms and legs aflame, and when he reaches her, he grabs onto her, carrying her for the remainder of the flight, and then he unleashes the power in a burst of fire and heat. Her health dropped to a little under half, and she unleashes her own barrage at close range, sending him flying, bolt after bolt of magic hitting him in the same place, and he slammed into a stone pillar, destroying it, and then another, destroying it as well. Cole got up with some difficulty, but once he siphoned off some electricity from the generator, which he ended up landing next to, he felt much better, and then he returned the favor, firing off an alternating stream of Hellfire and Freeze Rockets, each amplifying the previous one’s damage, until her health is pretty much nonexistent. He charged at her one last time, finishing the battle with a single electrified strike from the Amp, doing a side-flip in the process, smashing her head into the ground, and she died.
Cole sighed as he finished her off. He did not even want to have to kill the leaders, but he knew he had to. That was the only way to put a stop to the gangs themselves. Cole checked his map, seeing the only location left was the capital of this strange place. It was called Canterlot. Cole hopped onto the railroad tracks, and sped north, and he saw a mountain in his way, but then he saw Canterlot just sticking out from it.
“Ponies. They make no sense whatsoever.”
Cole saw a drop just before Canterlot, and he smiled. He launched himself up the mountain, using the Static Thrusters to get an extra boost, and then he flew into the air, soaring over a good part of Canterlot, and he landed on the spire of a building. Cole jumped down to the generator, and recharged it without any issues at all.
“Okay…that can’t be good…”
The power came on relatively soon, and the lights that filled Canterlot began to glow once more. Cole smiled to himself, and he thought his mission was done. But he soon felt that there was a portion of the city that was not electrified… Castle Canterlot. Cole looked towards the giant Castle, and he could feel some sort of evil presence inside.
“Well, one last thing to do, eh?”
Cole laughed to himself, and then started walking towards the Castle.
Once he got to the Castle’s outer gates, he noticed there were no guards there at all, and as far as he could see, the place was deserted. Cole made his way inside, and then came upon two gigantic doors that he assumed led into the throne room of the Castle. He heard a quiet beeping he never thought he would hear there, but he heard it anyway. It was the beeping of a drained electrical box.
“Wonder what that’s doing here…”
Cole charged it up after a little while of firing bolt after bolt into its receiver.
“Hungry little thing.”
He heard an ominous boom as the box became fully charged, and he felt the doors now start to give a little. He pushed on one, and it swung open. Cole walked into the throne room, wary of any traps there might be there, and then the door slammed shut behind him, locking again.
“What the hell?!”
Cole thought back to when he was talking to Spike, and remembered that Spike had said something about Twilight possibly being trapped in Canterlot.
“Twilight? Twilight Sparkle? Are you there?”
Cole looked deeper into the darkened room, and he saw a dark figure sitting on the main throne in the room. The lights flickered on, and Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Electricity, was sitting there, staring at him with a crazed look on her face.
“I must thank you, Cole MacGrath. You finally set me free from that infernal Time Crystal that I was trapped inside of.”
She casually motioned to shards of blue crystal on the floor.
“But you really shouldn’t have done that….”
Her horn glowed, and a blast of lightning struck Cole in the chest.
“You see, we are rather similar. We both have the Conduit gene, and that is what allowed me to become Equestria’s Princess of Electricity, as I am an electrokinetic as well. But we differ in just as many ways. You see, you have pyrokinetic abilities, with a few stronger electrokinetic ones, but I have cryokinetic and aetheriokinetic abilities.”
To prove her point, she hurled a chunk of ice at him, followed by a bolt of subzero magic. Cole blocked the bolt with a Magnum Bolt of his own, and blasted the ice into vapor.
“Yeah. So?”
“It means you cannot defeat me.”
“You know, that’s almost the exactly what Bertrand said… right before I kicked his ass!”
Cole fired off a bolt at her, but it stopped short, slamming into a wall of lavender energy.
“Ah ah ah… you wouldn’t hurt a Princess would you?”
Her voice darkened slightly when she spoke her title.
“I would if the Princess had completely lost it!”
Cole raised his hands into the air, as if surrendering, and Twilight dropped her guard just long enough for Cole to use one of the two new powers he got from the Manehatten Blast Core. She began to glow with a lavender aura, which Cole started siphoning into himself, draining her of her energy and magic.
“Aura Leech. It’s been a long time since that appeared in Equestria.”
Her aura shifted, and suddenly grew thorns, preventing him from draining her further, but it still took away a quarter of her health. Her aura faded again, and the fight resumed.
She unleashed a barrage of magical shots, lightning bolts, and cryokinetic blasts. Cole blocked what he could, absorbed the lightning in order to recharge himself, and dodged the Ice Bolts. They left patches of frost wherever they struck. A moment passed, and the barrage began to stop.
Her horn glowed brighter, and three runes appeared in the air. One for magic, one for lightning, one for ice. They were connected by a purplish circle of magic, and then they began to spin.
“Dark Forces! Lightning, Magic, Ice! Final STRIKE!!”
A swirling beam comprised of Dark magic, Ice magic, and pure lightning surged towards Cole. Cole drew upon all three of his recovered Ion Charges, and unleashed his newest power, the Ion Beam. A blue column of lightning struck the Tri-Beam, and held its ground for a moment, but the Tri-Beam slowly advanced, beginning to overwhelm Cole.
“It’s all over Cole…Just give up!”
“Never!”
Cole reached into the innermost depths of his being, and called upon his full power. He drew from the gigantic storm that was brewing over the Castle, having been summoned by the static charge, and magic. It could not resist, and it gave Cole its power. The Ion Beam grew larger, and it took the fight back to middle ground.
“I won’t. Give up. That. EASILY!!!”
The Ion Beam pulsated once, and then began to quickly overwhelm Twilight’s final attack. She grew desperate, and called upon the Alicorn’s Gift, the gift of unrivaled power, but even that was not enough. All it could do was delay the inevitable.
“How?!”
“I have all of my power…and then some! You already used most of yours up!”
The Ion Beam finally completely defeated the Dark Beam, and it knocked Twilight back, sending her flying backwards head over hooves, and she landed on the ground, sprawled out, her energy down to just a quarter of what it was.
Cole ran to her, and grabbed her by the horn.
“You were never meant to be a Conduit.”
He held her there, making sure she couldn’t move or attack him at all.
MAJOR KARMA MOMENT
Well, I could just drain her of her powers, send them back into this place’s environment, and return her to her kind for justice… or I could take them for myself. I’d be unstoppable here! I could rule over these pathetic ponies!
(Drain her to return her? Good Karma Ending. Drain her and take over Equestria? Evil Karma Ending)
“You were never meant to be a Conduit.”
With that, he drained her completely of her powers, discharging them into the sky as a continuous stream of lightning. The unending roll of thunder was deafening. It shook the entire city. As Twilight lost her powers, her wings darkened, and decayed, eventually falling off, and turning to ash.
The lightning sputtered out, and the Princess of Electricity was gone. All that was left was an aged Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight looked up at Cole, and she smiled for a brief second before passing out.
Twilight woke up a day later on her mentor’s bed, with the Solar Princess on her left, the Lunar Princess on her right, and the Princess of Love right below her on the foot of the bed.
“Princesses? What…what happened? What am I doing here?”
Celestia opened her eyes, and smiled at Twilight.
“My student, do you remember nothing of what transpired?”
“The last thing I remember was this pony saying that it was my fault some giant lightning bolt destroyed the Everfree Forest. After that… nothing until now.”
Celestia, Luna, and Cadence looked at each other, and decided that it was best that she was not made to remember what happened, or at least, not yet.
“That was just a bad dream, Twilight.”
“Really? It felt so real…”
“It was not real. The Everfree is fine. You must have overexerted yourself. You’ve been sleeping for two days straight. But do not worry, my student. Everything is better now.”
Twilight rubbed her eyes sleepily, and smiled back at Celestia.
“Okay then.”
***In Ponyville***
Cole sat up on his bed, and sighed with relief.
“It’s over…finally….”
He felt a presence in his mind.
Cole? How is it going?
Well, I found a couple of Conduits, but nothing good came of them. Oh yeah, I saved this world too.
At it again, are you?
Cole nodded, laughing.
Yeah. I think I’ll stick around here for a while, see if the place needs saving again. Plus, with my popularity, some ponies might ask me to do something for them, kinda like those… side missions back in New Marais and Empire City.
Very well. Let me know when you are ready to come back home.
I will.
The presence faded, and Cole laid his head on his pillow again, staring at the ceiling.
“Well, looks like I’ll be here for a good long while.”
Cole laughed quietly, and walked out of the library.
inFAMOUS 3: EQUESTRIA
Cole grinned darkly, and he set to work siphoning off her powers, filling his own reservoirs, and using her precious Alicorn’s Gift to unlock even more powers. He felt his power spike, and he laughed, and he then casually tossed her now lifeless husk of a body aside, and ascended the throne himself, sitting on it, a halo of red and black electricity sitting on his head like a crown, marking him as the new ruler of this pathetic place.
The other Princesses felt the tug of the throne room being opened, and then they felt the dark presence of Twilight fade, and then disappear altogether, and it was replaced by a presence of even deeper darkness.
“What has happened?”
“I...I do not know sister.”
“Tia....”
“We must investigate.”
Luna nodded in agreement with her sister.
“Then we shall go.”
Their horns glowed, and they vanished from their hiding place in the lost Castle of the Sisters, where Nightmare Moon had her fight with the Elements of Harmony, and lost.
When the Solar and Lunar Princesses appeared in the throne room, they were shocked by what they saw. They saw Twilight in a crumpled heap in one corner of the room, as if discarded, and they saw a human sitting on the throne, with an electric halo around his head.
“Who are you?”
The human laughed.
“I am Cole Macgrath. I am the Demon of Empire City, Savior of Conduits, and Annihilator of Foes. And you are?”
“We are the Princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, Rulers of the Sun and Moon.”
“Oh, more princesses? This should be fun then. I already drained Twilight Sparkle, and I think I’ll add you two to the collection!”
He unleashes a beam of red electricity with black around the edges, symbolic of his pure evil, and a golden barrier stops it cold.
“You will not defeat us, not on your own.”
The human laughed again.
“You forget, I have the powers of your precious Twilight too!”
He fires another beam, this time a subzero magical beam, encased in dark electricity. It hits the golden shield, and the shield began to crack. Dark blue magic filled each crack as it appeared, and it seemed to be more resistant to the ice powers.
“Hmm...combo time!”
The human fired off three electric missiles over their heads. Luna spun to try and shoot them down, but she missed each time, and then the missiles turned around, practically stopping when they did, and they reoriented on the duo’s vulnerable backside, and Luna managed to put a shield up just in time for the rockets to slam into it, and shatter it. Celestia was not faring much better. Her shield was continuing to crack under the human’s onslaught. But Luna came up with an idea. She reinforced her sister’s shield, and then spun them both around to where the new Lunar shield was facing the human, and Luna used a flicker-fire technique, and it worked, knocking the human back a few steps. The human growled, and then charged at her. He brought some sort of electric weapon with him, and starting bashing against her shield with it, causing cracks to appear faster than Luna could fix them, and soon the shield shattered again. The human grabbed her by her horn, laughing darkly, and he yanked her away from her sister, dragging her over to the throne, and he sat back down, still holding her by her horn.
“Celestia, you will surrender, and give me your powers, or your sister dies.”
“No! Let Luna go, you monster!”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
The human laughed, and then sucked the magic out of the Lunar Princess, absorbing her darker powers, boosting his cryokinetic abilities and powers, and giving him further energy with which to fight her sister with. After a moment of this, with Celestia frozen in place with shock, Luna was nothing but a husk, similar to Twilight. He tossed her aside as well, and then glowed with dark power as his body began to transform. He began to grow hair, but all over him, and it was a dark blue, similar to the color of Luna’s coat. He began to grow a horn, something that did cause him a lot of pain, but it was long and sharp, almost as long as Celestia’s.
“Well, that makes two out of three.”
Celestia growled, and her mane and tail began to spark.
“How dare you take my sister’s powers? How dare you kill my student?! How dare you threaten my ponies, and my country!?!”
“Like this.”
He unleashed a variation on the Nightmare Blast, but it now included ice vapor, so it blinded, disoriented, stunned and froze Celestia all at once, and then the human shot up at the ceiling, hitting it enough times with enough force to break a piece of it off, and it fell down, landing on Celestia’s frozen form...except it just broke ice. Celestia was nowhere to be found.
“You about to meet with a terrible fate.”
The human looked up, and then all he saw was the sun. Its ray intensified, and began to burn everything around the human, and in the center of the blinding image, the human could see Celestia’s outline, wings unfurled, horn held high. The sunlight tried to burn him but wherever it managed to, sparks skittered over him, and fixed the damage. The human held up a single hand, and with it, shot Celestia out of the sky. She fell downwards, and landed on the chunk of the roof that would have crushed her had she not teleported out.
“No. You are!”
Cole ran at her, and then snapped her horn off of her head, and stabbed Celestia right in the heart three times, and then left it there, letting her horn absorb her own death throes of magic, and then when she had stopped moving, he removed her horn, and held it in his hands, activating it, and absorbing its magic like he would absorb electricity and powers from a Blast Core. He continued absorbing the magic held within it, and its remaining connection to its former owner was used to siphon away the remainder of her magic that her body held, leaving her without wings or horn, and he kicked her away from him, and her body just crumbled away. The human laughed and sat back on the throne, and it began to change. It glowed faintly, and morphed, moving away from its traditional shape, to a much darker one, that constantly crackled with electricity.
Days passed, becoming weeks, and months, and nothing changed. No one challenged the human, and the pony populace continued to mourn the loss of their Princesses.
But one day, there was a single rap on the doors to the human’s throne room.
“Enter.”
A single pink pony came forward, her head held high, her horn aglow with a light blue aura.
“Cole Macgrath. Your reign of terror and destruction ends. Today.”
Cole looked down, and laughed.
“So there is a fourth Princess. Time to make it four out of four then! But first, tell me this. Who are you?”
“I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, wife of Shining armor, sister-in-law of Twilight Sparkle.”
Cole raised an eyebrow.
“Well, in case you haven’t heard, Twilight’s dead.”
Cadence’s voice took on a sinister tone.
“Oh, I know. That’s why I’m here.”
She hit him with a blast of magic, and it pinned him to the ground so strongly that he could not even struggled to break free. Cadence’s eyes blazed with fires of anger and revenge.
“You killed my aunts, and my sister. You will pay for that!”
Her horn flashed, and the restraints tightened, ensuring he could not move a single inch. She slowly walked towards him, an evil grin on her normally cheerful face, and she bent her head down, and touched her horn to his forehead, and instead of draining him of his powers for her own use, she took his powers, and separated them out into what belonged to whom. When she was done, he was left completely human, not even a Conduit anymore. She took the powers, and returned them to their rightful owners, and the other Princesses shook a little as their bodies reclaimed their magic and powers, and they all opened their eyes simultaneously for a few seconds, and then passed out, going back to sleep for the next twelve hours. Cadence backed off, leaving him stuck on the ground, and she smiled.
“What has been done is undone. As ruler pro tempore, I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, sentence you to work in the Crystal Mines until you die. And from there, your soul will be taken to the depths of the depths of our hell.”
Cole looked up at her, almost pleading with her to kill him now, and then he passed out.
inFAMOUS 3: Equestria
Cole Macgrath... Demon of Empire City, Savior of the Conduits. He and John, the Beast, had activated all of the Conduits they could, curing them of the plague so that life could continue on. Many humans died in the process, but they were going to die anyway, and they made it quicker and less painful. The humans had tried to stop the duo, but the Beast's raw power, and Cole's red lightning, brought those efforts to an electrified halt. Cole had to fight Nix, but he won. Cole even had to fight Zeke, but the Conduit beat the human. The world was a desolate place now. But the Beast had found something new. A new world, free of the plague, free of visible evil, full of possible Conduits. A world called... Equestria.
inFAMOUS 3: EQUESTRIA
It has been a hundred years since the events of the Canterlot Wedding, and since then, Equestria has advanced. It has advanced economically, opening up trade with Zebrica and the Griffon Kingdom. It has advanced socially, with more and more Zebricans migrating into Equestria, and some griffons joining them. Most importantly, however, Equestria has advanced technologically. Electricity flows through almost every town and city. There was, of course, still a good amount of magic involved, namely in connecting the large generators scattered throughout Equestria. Other than that, there were wires connecting houses, and poles, and other things.
And with the advancements came other things, including a Coronation, something not seen in several thousand years. Princess Celestia's personal student, Twilight Sparkle, was crowned the fourth, and most likely final, Princess of Equestria. With her new Princesshood came new powers. Her powers gave her the ability to create electricity from magic. Her powers grew with each passing day until, a year later, something clicked. That was the day that true electricity issued forth unto the world.
Her horn now crackled and sparked with electricity constantly as she channeled her magic and powers, sending her spell to each and every generator in Equestria. Her magic turned to electricity along the way...
She was a Conduit.