Fallout Equestria: Trailblazers

The travelling teacher hired by the Mayor smiled encouragingly at the small class of unicorn foals, and Noir felt a tremor of excitement. This was their first magic lesson, and she was certain she would get her cutie mark in awesome powerful magic!

“Now remember how I told you. Find the light within, and push the light into your horn. You’ll feel some pressure, but that is just because it is your first time. Every unicorn has their own well of magic, and it gets easier to use with practise.”

Noir closed her eyes, gritting her teeth as she reached inside herself for that tiny glowing ball of ‘something’. It felt good, warm and it strangely smelled of cotton candy. She began to pull on it, then pushed the warm light into her horn, imagining lifting the pencil in front of her. More motes of light joined the one inside her, each a different colour and glowing. She found her own light pulling those lights slowly into it, some of them winking out completely, others fading as their light was pulled in. It was like a sea of small stars inside her and they all were made of magic! She could feel a deep pressure in her horn, like someone was trying to squeeze it really really hard, and pushed even harder. Her face scrunched up, and she tried to pull more of the light into her horn.

She felt a pop, like a dam breaking, and opened her eyes to see the pencil floating in front of her surrounded by sparkling grey magic. She had done it! Noir could almost feel like she was cradling the pencil in her own hooves, but instead she made it zoom around her. Magic was awesome! She giggled, floating the pencil back and forth around her.

The teacher let out a groan, and Noir finally looked up, her green eyes widening in horror. Every unicorn in the classroom had collapsed, pale and sweating. The cutie marks of those that had them were fading before her very eyes, other's coats her becoming washed out. Some of them were strangely still, their bodies grey and empty looking. Noir let out a shriek in horror, trying to drop the pencil but instead the magic inside her began to glow even brighter, absorbing more of the glowing motes of light..

“Help me!” she cried, trying to run away from the pencil.

“Cut the stream inside you! Imagine a big pair of scissors and cut!” The teacher gasped out weakly, her cutie mark slowly beginning to fade.

Noir closed her eyes again, imagining a big pair of red handled blade slicing through the biggest cold and terrifying light inside her. Sobbing in fear, she hacked at it over and over until she felt the pressure in her horn release and the pencil clatter to the floor. The lights within her all faded away leaving only her own, now pulsing with new swirls of colour that felt wrong on a level she couldn’t explain. Noir curled into a ball, too terrified to open her eyes. She heard more adults crash into the room, drawn by her scream. She listened to their whispering, their cries of dismay as they checked her friends for signs of life, curling her tail around herself to hide from their terrified murmurs. She heard the scream of a mother and found herself behind hurled against a wall. Terrified, she looked into the grief maddened eyes of a Toffee’s mom.

“Give it back! You give her back right now!” Spittle landed on Noir’s face, and terror spiked into her heart at the thought she may have killed tiny Toffee Crisp. She nodded, frantically trying to pull the swirls of strange colour from the ball inside her, but it wouldnt let them go. Instead they pulsed brightly then vanished into her own light.

“I can’t,” she choked out. “It won’t let me.”

The mare dropped her, sobbing as she slipped back onto the floor cradling Toffee in her forelegs. Noir stared around the room, taking in the weak and pale teacher sipping at a water bottle, the shaking and sweaty foals, some of the foals were grey and still. She did this. Her magic took from them. The cotton candy light inside her was nothing but poison.

Her mother skidded into the room, her panicked eyes taking in Noir’s stricken face and the bodies sprawled on the floor. Her face paled and she tried to scoop Noir up, but Noir screamed and cowered away, shivering in terror.

“Don’t touch me! I’ll eat your magic too!” Noir curled into the smallest ball she could, the tears hot and wet upon her cheeks. Magic was supposed to be fun, not this. Anything but this.

A gravelly and sickly sounding voice rasped through the room. “She has void magic.” The teacher looked gravely down at the shivering foal. “She cannot create magic on her own and instead rips it from those around her. I haven’t seen this anywhere but in books.”

“Can she be cured?” Her mother asked softly, a hoof barely brushing Noir’s mane, as if she feared making the contact with her own daughter.

“Not that I know of. She will only ever be able to perform void magic.” The teacher pulled on the bottle of water again. “I’m sorry Ma’am, but she can never do magic without sucking out that of those around her.”

“They aren’t dead,” Another voice joined the chorus of concerned murmurs. The nurse. Noir breathed a sigh of relief. “The foals are alive, but barely. Their magic is almost gone but they will live.”

“I see.” A deep, feminine voice said coldly. The mayor had joined them at some point, and Noir began shaking. She knew that tone, the mayor was only that serious when a Really Bad Pony was going to be Punished. “Is there truly no cure?”

“Void magic users are rare, and it’s usually a result of radiation or some other poison. She can’t make her own magic, and will pull magic from everyone, regardless of if they have horns or not. If they don’t have much magic t’ begin with, she’ll kill them.”

There was a shuffle of hooves and a soft presence knelt near Noir and her mother. “I am sorry, Petit, but Noir will have to leave. We can’t have a Void in our town, we have sick ponies here. Perhaps she can find her place out in the wasteland, away from other ponies.”

Noir felt her heart grow cold at those words, the pain that threatened to envelop her growing numb at the shock. The wasteland? It was full of monsters!

“She could wear a magic suppression ring! There has to be something! She didn’t kill anyone!” Mama still hadn’t touched her.

The teacher gave a long sigh. “The suppression ring would only amplify her power, I’m afraid. Void magic doesn’t follow the usual magic laws. Our magic will return eventually, thank Celestia. She didn’t kill anyone this time, but next time she may not be so lucky.”

“She can’t give Toffee’s magic back! The Void needs to leave! Or I will force her to leave!” Toffee’s mama shrieked, her tears softly falling to the floor.

“I won’t let you throw my child to the wasteland! It’ll kill her!”

“Her staying here will kill us!”

The mayor stepped between the screaming mares, her voice soft but firm. “Petit, Void needs to leave. You can stay or go, but she will not be welcomed within these walls past sundown.” She paused, almost as if she didn’t want to say the next words but had to. “If she is still here past then, I will give the order to shoot on sight. I must protect my town.”

Noir stood up, the ponies around her pulling back in fear. Even her own Mama recoiled from her in case she touched her, pain burning in her eyes. Mama was always scared of the wasteland, and now Noir had to be brave to protect her from being thrown out of her home. Her legs trembled, and so did her voice.

“Mama, I am Void. I don’t belong here, you do. Maybe I belong somewhere else. Maybe there is someone out there who can fix me. But I can’t stay.” she looked sadly at Toffee's still form, her heart breaking at what she had done. Her legs threatened to collapse but she locked her knees, trying to retain some dignity. “Can I take some stuff like food and my toys?”

The Mayor nodded. “Of course. We aren’t evil. I will guide you to what you need.” Meaning ‘I will make sure you leave this town myself’. Noir could read what her words really meant.

She paused, looking back at the room of terrified and tired ponies. She looked at her mother’s face, as if trying to memorise every hair. “I love you, Mama. I’m sorry. Be good.” Petit burst into fresh tears as Noir fled from the room, the Mayor following after.

* * *

Noir shoved supplies into her bag, the Mayor pulling food and water rations out for her to pack. Stinging tears threatened to spill, but she blinked them back.

“I’m sorry, Noir.” The mayor said quietly.

“S’ok. Just take care of Mama, she’s been sad a lot since Papi died.”

“I will.”

Noir latched her saddlebags closed, looking around the dingy makeshift home put together with scraps and remnants of the past. It wasn’t much but it was the only home she had ever known.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

Together they walked towards the gate, the Mayor signalling towards the guards to open it. They looked confused as to why a foal was being sent out alone, but they complied anyway, tugging on the ropes that pulled open the heavy scrap metal gates. The gates swung wide and Noir stepped through them on trembling hooves, the wasteland brown and empty before her. She looked back to see the mayor’s tearful face as the gate’s began to close.

“Congratulations,” The mayor said sadly. “You got your cutie mark.”

Noir looked down as the gate slammed shut to find a black hole on her flank, cracks rippling out from it. Her saddlebags thumped down in the dust, as she sagged against the gate sobbing, her legs finally giving out. She had almost killed her friends, her Mama couldn’t bear to touch her, and now she had a cutie mark that showed the world what she was. A void mark for a void pony. How did it come to this? She felt hollow. This wasn't fair. Dimly she heard the Mayor’s voice through the gate, speaking to the guards.

“Her magic is toxic to anyone around her. If she is still here at dusk, put her out of her misery. But do it quietly, I don’t want any more panic.”

“Yes Ma’am!”

Her ears sagged and she steeled her heart. She had to survive, had to find a way to get rid of this magic. Until then, she had no right to this town, this life or even her name. The pony now known as Void stepped forward onto the road, the wasteland sprawling before her hooves.