Fade Away

“Dropped out of The Wonderbolt Academy and got a job as a mail pony, mostly just to piss off my parents. I was somepony you’d never notice, just a stallion that delivered packages to folks you’d never know. One day, the package found me”

The air was still, ponies trotted about the streets of Hoofington in their usual bustling business or social manners. All was calm on this sunny afternoon, however, this was short lived. Out of nowhere, a pulse of electricity bolted through the lamps that occupied the streets before a loud boom busted the eardrums of several ponies… but that was least of anypony’s concern. The loud bang was accompanied by some form of expanding blue orb. Fire rained down, exploding from the ever growing light source. The dome of light continued to grow to an exponential size, covering almost a third of the city it’s disturbing cyan glow. Buildings crumbled, ponies ran, screaming, panicking with good reason.

“Hundreds died, five square blocks, smashed into rubble and at the centre, was me. Alive but changed. Nopony could’ve seen it was coming”

All was black to the vision of a singular pegasus stallion, a young colt who laid upon a tall pillar protruding from the large crater, left by the final explosion.

“Activation plus six minutes, pulse forty-five, respiration ten…looking good, Vortex” a voice, a deep, croaky voice spoke in the darkness. The yellow Pegasus’s crimson eyes shot open after a moment. His fur and sling saddlebag: scathed, his eyes: blackened, his wings: broken aswell as his right foreleg. Bloodied scars decorated his form, his feathers laid tattered on the ground. The colt’s breathing was heavy as he clenched his teeth in pain before attempting to rise to his hooves.

“What in…the hay happened…?” the pegasus managed to let out, his voice was deep and scratchy. He staggered a bit before regaining what little composure he had before taking a look at the damage around him. He jaw dropped as far it would go without causing more pain at the sight. The ground was shattered, lines of glowing red could be seen through the cracks in the earth. Large pieces of concrete laid chaotically on the ground, jagged and misplaced. The sky was red and cloudy, buildings were left just barely standing on what was left of them. Fires burned throughout the entire seen, in short…it was Tartarus that day. “Sweet Celestia…” he said in awe, gazing around at the horrific sight.

The stallion took a small step forward only to clench his shoulder in pain before gasping out of pure shock.

“C’mon, Vortex…move, move” he encouraged himself before limping towards what looked like a safe path out on the canyon. His movements were surprisingly quick despite his condition, he paid little mind as he focused on escape. The ground quaked before an eruptions of fire and lightning burst out from each of his sides. He gasped in surprise before realising he was unscathed by the event and kept moving. The destroyed road was hard to trek, small explosions erupted from the ground and from what used to be something of an electrical public device that was unrecognisable at the moment. Even still, the blasts had little effect, allowing Vortex to press on. The incapacitated stallion made it up to a hill before a small beeping sound caught his attention.

“Tex…TEX, YOU THERE?! C’mon, dude, Pick up!” a familiar voice called out from his chest, Vortex looked down to see that his cell phone that was kept on the strap, wrapping around his torso was still working. He looked back to see that his favourite sling saddlebag was almost entirely bucked yet the phone strapped to his chest still functioned. It was then, when Vortex put a name to the voice aswell as a face, he instantly put a hoof to a small green button, there was an identifying beep noise.

“Shade?…By Faust’s horn, what happened?…I think there was an explosion” he answered as he made his way up towards a hill, into what used to be the second story of a building.

“NO SHIT THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION! C’mon, meet at the bridge!” Shade replied before the same beep occurred, indication of a hang up. After only a few seconds, Vortex noticed an electrical current in the wall beside him. His eyes widened before in a flash of light, it  struck him. He may be a pegasus but that does not make him lightning proof. The stallion shook violently as he embraced the surging current. However, after a moment, he tightened his muscles, the lightning dissipated before coursing and lapping around the colt’s yellow coat. He gritted his teeth, thinking that this was his end but even so, the electricity simply vanished, leaving him awestruck and even more confused, he looked down at his hooves.

“What in Tartarus?…I should be dead…” he let out. Tex directed his gaze back up in front of him, feeling a familiar realisation, he had to keep moving. The building was run down and decrepit but that didn’t stop him, he trekked on through the ruins. Another explosion went off. “Oh buck” he said out loud, trying desperately to keep going. He made it a couple more metres before he was exposed to another explosion directly hitting him however, he seemed to alright so he kept moving. The makeshift bridge the next building crumbled as soon as he stepped up to it, he looked around to see that an exposed pipe system had the same purpose. He crossed it with surprisingly less difficulty than thought before turning a corner only to be shocked once more by an untamed lightning current.

“Argh!” he grunted, taking in the painful sensation only to find that the sharp pain he expected was replaced by something he couldn’t describe. The same effect, no effect, it’s almost as if his coat absorbed the energy fore he now just realised that he felt less in pain than before the electrocution. This time though, the surrounding electrical appliances or whatever used to be one sparked in a haze of blue electricity. “Whoah!” Vortex yelped in surprise before the resulting lightning current caused the just barely stable platform to crumble in an explosion, making a makeshift ramp. “What the hay is happening to me?”

Vortex jumped the distance between the first floor of the desecrated building and the ground with ease, once again, he was surprise by his athleticism even in his current condition. The scathed pegasus limped down the street to see that the bridge was somewhat intact, at least it was crossable. Vortex limped toward the structure and found a familiar heavy, light blue, earth pony stallion, sporting a black, spiked mane with his signature golden  ‘shades’ on was on the other side. The blue colt waved over to his winged friend.

“TEX! OVER HERE, BROTHER! WE GOTTA GO!” he shouted. Vortex complied, trying to get his body to move a little more. Suddenly a  sparking sound caught his attention, he barely had time to react before from each side of him, two lightning strikes violently connected with his body.

“ARGH! NO!” he grunted, taking in the familiar feeling to the best of his ability. However, his body shook as the electricity grasped his form like a vice. After a moment, Vortex stood up on his back legs, feeling something coursing around his front hooves. He looked down to see that lightning lapped violently at his legs, he yelled as he embraced a new kind of sharp pain throughout his body.

The sky blackened as a burst of blue electricity violently struck the ground. The clouds practically bombarded the ground with anger, bolt after bolt struck the ground as Vortex gritted his teeth, his hooves on either side of him, his wings flared as best as they could manage. The yellow pegasus regained what little control he had and pressed on, his hooves still blazing with energy despite how he galloped across the bridge. The structure was dangerously unstable but the stallion paid little attention, he ran, jumped, did everything he could to get to the other side as fast as possible all the while as the continuous discharges hit the ground with enough force to kill a Manticore.

Vortex’s vision dimmed as he got closer to the other side, his hearing became enveloped in an irritating ringing sound. He could see his friend, Shade rush up to him, shouting something inaudible. The pegasus looked down to see that his hooves were now baron of energy before he collapsed and his world became dark.

“While sliding into unconsciousness, I could somehow…I dunno, hear the voices of the dying…Hundreds crushed by falling buildings or burned alive in the fires…Terra lost her sister, almost lost me, Shade was always there, somehow sure that I’d wake up…while outside the city fell apart, a plague struck, followed by rioting, theft, rape, civilisation committing suicide…Cops are all but gone off the streets, either gone or too chicken shit to stand against the gangs that control things now…outside, things were bad…but inside, inside me…something was beginning, scary as hell at first, ya gotta understand that there was nopony, no experts to consult…but with time, I’m learning to control it…master it…Just hope it’s not too late”