Still In The Dark

Chapter 7: Scorched Earth

As soon as I saw Twilight and Rarity's horns ignite I raised a barrier between us and them, Finna quickly beside us adding her own magic to it. Charon had both axes draw and Noir had vanished from sight. The sound of the three other gatling guns spinning up very quickly had them backing down. As soon as their magic dissipated I had my knife and revolver in hand before stomping up to Twilight. She shook like a leaf as I place the barrel of the weapon under my chin.

"If you ever raise a hand against one of my brothers or sisters, I will put a hole in that dense skull of yours." I pressed the barrel harder. "Am I clear?" She nodded.

With a grunt I walked back to the Jeep.

No one else said a word as we packed our belongings into the storage compartments and loaded in. Me, Twilight, Spike, Symbiote, and the Gnoll Pvt named Shank packed into the lead vehicle. The Noir, Charon, and Finna loaded with the others into the following units, Kodo opted to instead keep pace outside. I took the wheel as Pvt Shank manned the turret and Symbiote road shotgun, Twilight and Spike sat in the back looking at all of the equipment.

Turning the ignition on the engine roared to life with a deep rolling hum, hearing the other three start up I shifted into gear and speed off into the sands. I could barely contain my excitement as I drove over each dune and mound, it had been years since I was last behind the wheel of any kind of transport. The ride was smooth and there seemed to be no control or electronics issues, it was a notch above any human model. Looking in the rear view I saw Twilight and Spike clinging to the sides for dear life, behind us the other three transports took a similar approach and speed over each little bump and mound. To the left of us Kodo was finally able to stretch his legs as he easily ran at pace with us, while he was older than all of us it didn't show when in the desert.

"I take it these things didn't have any issues getting out to us!" I called to Symbiote over the wind.

"None we're aware of! Apart from a few minor sssetback at the departure, they covered more ground than any of our airships ever could in so little time!" She called back.

Falling in pace with the other drivers I looked to them and they each gave a thumbs up.

Never doubted the boys in R&D for a minute. I thought to myself.

"T-this kind of thing is normal for you people?!" Twilight whimpered as she watched the dunes zip past us.

"It will be if these things pass their final inspections, then mass production and distribution can begin. As for the excitement of it all, it comes standard with the job." I chuckled as Spike lost his grip and was sent scrambling in his seat.

Noting the radio in the dashboard I flicked it on and tuned to the cities one music broadcast, the signal was still to far but I could faintly make out the sounds of drums.

"They ever manage to get FM radios working?" I asked Sym.

"Not in the time you've been gone no, they've managed to increase range on AM and have made civilian radios properly functional but that's about it." She said tuning the station.

"I'm really impressed at how quickly The Brink has picked up things that took my people decade to understand." I smiled knowing it was slightly because of me.

"The theories and science existed before you came along, but without the designs you made it would have taken just as long." With a sharp pop the station's frequency rang loud and clear.

"To all the folks out there in the wastes, we here at S&CB radio wish you the best and wait for your return to The Brink. Today's broadcast is brought you by Long Haul Trading Co. "For all you're shipping needs." And now, time for some music to ease those nerves." A roaming band of musicians found their way to us a few years back, and to my infinite pleasure they had slightly modified covers of Glenn Miller. I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me as Moonlight Serenade played over the speakers.

Twilight and Spike had forgotten their fears as they looked in awe at the radio and listened to the music. Sym had here eyes closed and gently rocked her head to the rhythm. I couldn't help but gentle swerve through the dunes as the song played, the rolling waves of sand and gentle music almost made me forget I was in a different world than my own.

We road on listening to the various songs and rants played by the DJ, Twilight and Spike had calmed down and resigned themselves to watch the passing landscape and various creatures. The sun had passed it's height and had now begun it's decent, I gave a quick check to make sure the rest of the caravan was still with us. Before long the sun had shifted to a yellow hue and the tall rock formations of the Badlands cast their long shadows. I didn't like staying out in the open and had hoped to spot an outpost, but when one of the drivers pulled in front of me with his lights flashing those hopes were quickly stomped out.

Once he fell back I diverted our path for one of the rock formations, circling it a few times and making sure there were no nest we tucked ourselves against it's still illuminated side. With the rears of our Jeeps all facing the stone we filed out. Stepping out onto the sandstone ground I stretched wide and felt a few joints pop. I stopped Twilight and Spike doing the same, Sym and the other couple of changelings took a quick stretch flight around the perimeter. Twilight and her friends gathered in the middle and began assisting the other soldiers in setting up a few barricades between the Jeeps as well as a large fire pit.

A pair of fluffy arms draped around my neck as Finna hung to my back.

"Well what'd you think of the new units?" I asked as I carried her towards the middle.

"Their amazing, I've never seen something so heavy and bulky move that fast. These are common in your homeland?" She asked star eyed.

"These and more." I said placing a few prevision logs into the fire pit. "We have some that are smaller and more for luxury and class, other like this that are made for heavy duty work, and some that are made specifically for thrills and stunts."

I quickly halted the topic as I spotted Twilight and Rarity make their way to us.

"Um Mr. Foster I don't mean to be a bother but, where will we all be sleeping? I didn't see any camping equipment in those, things." The white unicorn asked.

"Well the seats collapse out into beds and we have blankets, we planned on fitting you all into the jeeps as well as our soldiers if we have room. Me and my team will be sleeping out here and taking watch with the Staff Sergeant and other officers." I frowned as she soon as she did.

"Oh well, yes I guess that's understandable. Sorry to bother you." She quickly walked off.

"Sorry about her, she's not one for roughing it." Twilight said quoting with her fingers.

"It's alright, I drew that conclusion when we meet." I said, with a snap the logs were set ablaze. " It doesn't bother me too much as long as she doesn't start bothering the soldiers. I'm also a bit stumped that we had to make a stop here, originally we had planned on staying at one of our outposts, but do to some technical difficulty we had to stop."

"We'll still make it there out of the desert right?" She asked with hesitation.

"Of course, the repairs are already almost done, but with the mobile units still in their prototype phase we can't run the risk of night movement or protection from certain natural events such as sandstorms and rad-storms."

"Rad-storms." I could almost hear her heart sink.

"Yeah, due to a lot of mining from Diamond Dogs and various creatures, large amounts of radioactive minerals have been brought to the surface. The large deposits of magnetic, magical, and reactive minerals that are found in the region can sometimes create a unique atmospheric conditions which allow for radiation to spread into the upper atmosphere and spread in a manner similar to fog and rain. Thus large sandstorm like conditions carry heavy amounts of radiation across the Badlands, but I wouldn't worry about it too much." Her head tilted deeply.

"How can I not worry, something like that could easily kill us all in a matter of minutes!" She hissed so as not to alert the others.

"Well first off the Jeeps have an in thick lead plating in between the inner and outer hull, this combined with a little arcane shielding will provide ample protection from the effects of such storms. Second Rad-Storms only occur maybe twice a month, and one passed through about a week ago." I stood up and cupped her cheeks, causing her to huff. "So quit worrying and take a look around, there's a lot of plant life and mineral deposits around here you won't find in Equestrian land."

"Fine, but you promise we'll all be safe." She said looking dead into my eyes.

"I will personally see to it you pass safely and intact into the gate of The Brink." Content with my answer she took our her notepad and quill and wandered off to the large formation that was our shelter.

After a few final check everyone had settled down around the fire with a few soldiers standing guard at the camps perimeter. Twilight was busy talking with Rarity about a number of gem deposits she wasn't familiar with deep within the rocks. Rainbow and Applejack were talking with one of the officers about his training and how strong he was because of it. Pinkie and Pvt Shank were busy cooking up something on the fire, it would probably taste good if the smell was anything to go by. Fluttershy in the meantime was content to sit against an old fallen tree cuddling a small Desert Mouse, the mouse itself seemed to find immeasurable joy in being held.

"With the plugs changed and the oil checked the Gen 1 should be riding just fine in the morning." Symbiote said showing a sketch of the problem, the Jeep's glow plug had overheated due to the energy gem providing too much power through the system. Our mechanic, a Gryphon named Dust Beak, told us we had dodged a bullet. If the crystal had forced the entire system to much it would have cause a full meltdown, and we would have been dead in the sand.

"Make sure you tell the Cpl. to ease up on the accelerator for the rest of the trip then, we'll have to remember to watch our speed until we can get R&D to work out the kinks." I said leaning back with a relived sigh. "I knew there'd be a few hiccups with the designs but I never thought about the added variables that arcane components would introduce." There were no human blueprints for how to add a crystal with the power of a small nuclear blast into a Jeep engine.

"At least we caught the problem, better it happen now as oppose to us being chased by something and one of our squads engines give out." She said folding up the papers and handing them to a passing soldier.

"True, just wish the problems didn't happen at all." I laughed, she chuckled and shook her head.

Before I could say anything else Finna tapped my shoulder.

"What's up?" I asked standing back up.

"We have something you need to hear." She said, looking past her I saw Charon and Noir standing at the edge of the camp.

"Alright." I gave Sym a nod which she returned before following Finna to the others.

Noir waved me over and I saw she had a letter in her hand.

"More orders?" I asked, she shook her head and handed me the paper.

"No, that message was sent to us directly from Baron Varkel. He says he knows what's been causing the disturbances in the other nations." I quickly scan over the letter, with every letter I could feel my blood boiling.

"Damn Ponies!" I growled through my teeth, I didn't need to see Charon's face to know it was holding back a storm of anger.

The letter was short, barely a paragraph, but it got the message across. In the each of the area's Celestia had asked us to investigate, a large Equestrian population was either located in the immediate area or very close by. It didn't take a genius to realize that the revolts were cause by the simplest flaw of sentient minds, racism. In the eastern nations of the Gryphons, Yaks, Beastkin, and Alpaca each of the larger riots and protests were in the middle of heavily Equestrian populated areas. It was the same for the west, south, and north. Any country or province outside Equestrian influence was perfectly fine apart from a few smaller occurrences such and general crime and civil dispute.

"We've been played." I huffed dropping the letter.

"Princess Sunbutt doesn't even realize her problems, are her own citizens." Noir said grabbing the letter and tucking it away.

"We're nothing more than fodder to them after all." Charon seethed. "If we know the causes then why are we still hear, we should be dropping those seven." He pointed to Twilight and her friends. "And drop them at the edge of the Badlands."

I paced back and forth for a good minute, scratching my head and taking deep breaths.

"Why not use this opportunity for ourselves." The three of us looked directly at Finna, she began to draw a small chart in the sand. "If the princess has given us full access and and support why not use it for our own gain. With their fund and the Directors' we could easily travel to more places to gather information and branch out our reach. Along the way we help resolve Equestria's more neutral partners problems in our own name rather than in the princess'. In doing so we could spread word about The Brink and put ourselves in the forefront of other nations good graces and slowly edge them away from Equestria while appearing innocent to the princess. So long as we can maintain an obedient soldier act."

We stared at Finna and her drawing, shocked at how quickly she spelled out what would have taken us months work out.

"That's perfect." Noir said kneeling next to the charts. "All we'd have to due is send Sunbutt the reports of our success in quelling any trouble and she won't think twice."

"We're already obedient pawns no matter how you look at it." I said grinning.

"Not to mention the more people who take interest in The Brink, the more the city it'self will grow." Charon said, he looked up and scratched his chin scales. "Should wealthy lord and noble take interest in either goods or services our economic growth could expand quickly, and with proper management large scale development and and improvements could be made. The list of complaints and construction issues would vanish rather quickly."

"Then it's a plan, as soon as we make it back we need to contact Director Nemis and give him a full report. If we're given the green light, we can make some real change for The Brink." I quickly began scrawling down our report as the others began to work out the finer details.

The Jera girl really is something. I heard Kodo's voice echo in my head.

She sure is, I'm glad to stand by her. I had to stop writing as I glance at her, her hair and eyes glimmered in the fire's light. Her crimson hair hanging limply in front of her deep blue eyes. Deep blue?

Sitting straight I blink just to make sure it wasn't a trick of the light, sure enough here eyes we a deep ocean blue.

Her eye's are green, no wait teal. I shook my head, calmly walking over to her I made sure Charon and Noir were busy.

"Hey Fi." She smiled up at me, her eyes a deep, deep blue.

"What is it." Her smile dropped as she noticed my flat expression. "What, what's wrong."

"You're eyes, they're blue." She looked confused before she glanced into one of the Jeep's mirrors. "Oh I never told you, my sight is link to my surroundings." It was my turn to look confused. "Depending on how I feel and what kind of magic is resonating near by my own magic reacts to my heterochromia."

"I thought that made a persons eye two different colors?" I asked.

"Normally it does, but not when half of my sight is formed around magic." I flinched as I realized what she meant.

"Fi, I'm sorry." I scratched my neck. "I just noticed and wanted to make sure you were okay."

She wrapped her arms around me. "It's alright, you were worried.I should have told you I was partially blind."

I shook my head. "I should just not be paranoid." I tilted her chin up and gave her a short kiss. "Come on it's late, Charon and Sym have the first watch."

Finna and I said goodnight and Charon and Noir and made our way to our sleeping rolls, we had them tucked under a small alcove in the rocks and quickly settled in. Finn wrapped her tail and arms around me as I threw my coat over the both of us.

"There's so much happening so soon, it makes you wonder when we'll really have time for ourselves." She whispered.

"This whole trip has been a lot more hectic than it should have been, to many stops and reroutes. Not to mention we never even made it to Canterlot as we had planned. But at least our main goals were achieved and now we have a new objective in line for us." I sighed, a little disappointed that things had managed to stray to far.

"Speaking of unfulfilled plans, you never told me why you needed drinking spirits to assist you in your battle against Princess Luna." I flinched.

"Eh, ha ha about that. I never expected her to go all out like she did. I had planned on using a rather unorthodox manner of fighting as a bit of a joke, but she didn't seem to go along with it." I weakly chuckled.

From her expression I could tell she was having a hard time believing what I had said. "You had planned to fight the War Princess while intoxicated, that is the most outlandish thing I have ever heard in my entire life. You are a crazy fool Elijah Foster." She sighed and hugged me closer. "But you are my fool."

I smiled and fell into her embrace.

---4:00 AM, Badlands---

A cold touch against my ear slowly roused me awake, Noir and one of the officers stood over me and Finna.

"Come on, it's our turn." She whispered as her and the soldier stepped away.

With a simple stretch and drink I carefully crawled from under the coat, I made sure Finna was still tucked in. Lazily I made my way to Noir who was currently sitting on top of her Jeep. Climbing up next to her she handed me a cup a light coffee. Smiling I took it and quickly drank half of it.

"Anything worth mention?" I asked looking out across the sand.

"A couple of Striders passed by, but they never cause any trouble." The Dune Striders are a reptilian creature native to the Badlands, they have long legs ranging from 10 to 15 feet that are as thick as Oak trunks. Their bodies are similar to that of a buffalo, but replace the fur with six inch thick scale plates. Their heads have a more narrow and insect like appearance with a long feeler like tongue hanging down constantly. Despite their rather horrific stature, they are the gentle giants of the Badlands and have been know to protect smaller creatures and even people from some of the more hostile inhabitants. But should one ever become hostile, it would take at least a full Division team to stop it.

"Is it already time for another migration? Last I heard they were still mainly near Salt Bed Canyon." With a bit of scrying I manage to see the large tracks of the the Striders. The deep four pronged craters were unmistakable, and from the number of tracks at least three passed us by.

"No this looked like a group of younger ones, probably off trying to find their own territory." Noir said shrugging.

"So long as they don't get to close I guess it doesn't matter." I could feel the sun begin to grow warmer, it was time to go.

Turning back to camp I saw Applejack and Pinkie were already up and eating, Fluttershy and Twilight were slowly beginning to shake themselves away, Rainbow and Rarity were still dead asleep in the back of the Jeep. Shaking my head I waved for the soldiers to start loading up, the two of them would wake up when things got bumpy or during pack up.

It took a little less than an hour to pack, Rainbow and Rarity still asleep in the back of their Jeep. I noticed the driver looking and me, I gave him and knowing grin and nodded. As the rest of the gear was loaded and everyone was filed in the sound of multiple engines roaring to life earned us all two loud shrieks. As the driver laughed he took the lead and sped out into the desert, we followed as he took point the radio now playing a dancers tune.

The winds had picked up about an hour after we got back on the move, and from the winds and loose sand a small dust storm had kicked up. Visibility was pretty low and the Jeeps' fog lights were useless in the dust as it was too dense for the light to be anymore than an inconvenience. Twilight and Spike looked out from their window trying to see the lights of the other vehicles. With frequent radio chatter I assured them we had not lost the others nor our course.

"Mr. Foster?" I glanced back to see Spike had moved to a seat closer to me.

"Something on your mind?" I asked shuffling around to face him.

"Kinda, I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about your home." He asked nervously.

"Sure what do want to know, the Brink isn't that big but it has a lot to offer?" I chuckled leaning against my seat.

He shook his head. "That's not what I meant, I meant "your" home." I felt my smile shift to a sad grin.

"Ah that, I guess it's okay. Just nothing personal or related to The Brink." I glanced over to see Sym was talking over the radio, Twilight was still gazing out the window, and our Pvt Shank was passed out in his seat.

"Well what was it like, was it more like Equestria or the Badlands?" His eyes were fixed on me.

"That's a bit complicated to answer, you see I'm not from this planet at all but that's pretty obvious." He nodded. "My world is pretty similar to this one in terms of climates and geography. This world has far more variety in plants and animals thought, where I'm form things like squirrels, raccoons, cats, and dogs and what have you are common. But we don't have things like Manitcores or Ursa Majors, at worst to known science we have Grizzly Bears. We also don't have magic or arcane science." That caught him off guard

"No magic." He whispered making sure Twilight didn't hear.

"That's right, nothing but tricks and careful deceit. And before you asked my people didn't control the weather or the sun and moon." The little drakes eyes couldn't have gotten any wider. "If you follow the modern accepted version of evolution then it is to be believed that my people evolved over a few thousand or so years from stone hammering apes, to space breaching intellectuals."

"You've been to space?" He asked in wonder.

"Not me personally no, but a number of people have gone to our planets outer orbit and even to our moon." His jaw was rolling along the floor. "Since we came from nothing my species has always had a habit for change, be it good or bad. We've had our low points just like any civilization in history, and just like others we've had our grand moments."

"What about your people, are most people like you?" I chuckled and shook my head.

"I won't and can't even begin to explain humans, to put us in a simple context. We're all different apart from what makes us human, whether we get along or hate one another is all reliant on one upbringing and personal traits."

"Wow, I wish I could see your world." He sat back thinking deeply.

"Well when we get back to The Brink I'm sure you'll see a number a things I've brought over and adapted. I know the Directors and the Baron are certainly interested in Equestria, so they'll no doubt be giving you all an up close look at our more interesting developments. After all, it's not everyday and outsider is given a direct summons by the Baron himself." I smiled and turned back to the howling storm outside.

A while later received a radio ping form an outpost, it was a beacon post. In an array like pattern around The Brink eight radio outpost had been erected as an early warning system and welcoming point for returning agents. The ping was a series of Morse Code that indicated the city was within 50 miles. The stations also operated as distribution points for anyone in need of supplies or just a place to rest. Deciding it was best to give everyone a bit of time to stretch their legs Sym and I signaled for the rest of the convoy to regroup.

The facility itself was nothing to impressive to us, but I couldn't say the same for our seven passengers. The radio tower was about 8 floors high and rested on top of a two story communications center. Two bunkhouses and a mess hall surrounded it with a bathhouse in between the bunks. The grounds themselves were surrounded by a 10 foot concrete wall and a single guarded gate. As we pulled up I spotted to Gnoll sentries wave to us then to one another. With the throw of a switch the large metal gates slid open allowing us inside.

With the engine off I hopped out of the window and stretched against the side of the Jeep.

"I had hoped the boys in R&D would have tried to make the seat a bit more comfy for long drives." I said as Sym walked around the side.

"If they made everything perfect they would run out of reasssonsss for ussss to come back." She giggled.

"Well we'll only have to put up with it for a few more hours, once we get back I'm hoping for a little downtime before we get sent back out." I let out a deep sigh. "This will probably be our longest mission to date."

Sym just nodded and shrugged before going to check up on her soldiers.

As the local crew went to work on the Jeeps I located Finna and the others.

"I cannot wait to return home, I miss my library." Charon sighed looking at a small book he had long since finished and re-read.

"I miss Le Fatale." Noir huffed laying across the hood of a Jeep. Le Fatale was a rather popular high society theme lounge in the upper districts of The Brink. It was a place where you could find a bounty on a very wanted person or loose all your money on an excessively large variety of alcohol.

"I miss my damn bed, spent an entire paycheck on that mattress and I've used it all of two times." Don't judge me for not having anything better to do.

"I suppose I don't have much waiting for me there." Finna said jokingly.

"That's right you've only stated at our HQ for a couple days at best." Noir said rolling over to face her. "I suppose you'll be moving in with Eli however." She grinned like the cat she was.

"I suppose so." Finna happily replied leaning against me.

"I have no complaints, I just hope you don't mind mind the monster in my closet." I laughed, she did to. "But for real don't go in my closet, it's a pain in the ass to get the little shit back inside once's it's moving around." She stopped laughing.