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            Fallout Equestria: Forgotten Relics            
                       -by NoxNexus-                       
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                    Prologue: Brothers                     
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Prologue: Brothers
Prologue: Brothers
                                                        *  * 10,000 years before the war for resources *  *
In a time far before Starswirl the bearded and the reign of the two sisters, two special unicorn colts were born, the youngest brother had a dark charcoal coat and red eyes with a dark blue and dark goldenrod mane and tail, the eldest brother had a white coat and baby blue eyes with an azure-ish white and silver mane and tail, there names were Dark Spectre and Eternal Light, Eternal Light was the eldest and was only a year older than his brother.
The brothers were inseparable, wherever you see the elder brother the younger brother was always near by and they never once had a fight or disagreement, their family where simple commoners so they had no nobility.
The brothers were about five and four years old when three grand wizard masters came to their home. The wizards had told the two brother's parents that the brothers had very high potential and that the grand wizard council can train the brothers and help them hone their skills.
The parents agreed believing that their sons can become great wizards and grant wealth and nobility to their family. As the brothers left their home they brought everything that they loved, the eldest brother brought his favourite white cape with silver stars, while the youngest brought his favourite scarf that his mother had knitted for him, the scarf was striped with dark blue and dark goldenrod to be just like his mane and tail.
As the brothers left they waved goodbye to their parents before heading off with the three grand wizards. On their journey to the wizard temple the brothers saw many things they would never see living a normal life with their parents, they saw Jackalopes running through the woods, Timber Wolves on the prowl ready to catch their prey, but these thing did not interest the elder brother in any way but the same can not be said for the younger brother as he was watching every creature he saw with fascination.
In due time the brothers and the three grand wizard masters had finally made it to the Grand Wizard Temple where the brothers will learn about magic for almost the rest of their lives. Many unicorns would have to study their whole life to become great wizards, but the same cannot be said for the brothers as they have very powerful hidden magic.
                                                                                                    *  *  *  *
For the first year at the wizard temple the two brothers had to learn the basic of magic. There were many ups and downs but for the elder brother there was nothing that he couldn't do, but on the other hoof the younger brother was having trouble with his magic but the wizard masters had all told him that he was still young so his magic has not developed yet. The the younger brother just ignored the wizard masters and continued his training.
One day a wizard master came up to the younger brother and told him that he will be learning under him from that day on. This wizard master also had a charcoal coat but his mane and tail were charcoal black and dark blue and his named is Dark Star. Dark Star only taught dark magic something that every other unicorn is unable to use. Dark magic is a little different than black magic, because dark magic is the use of darker magic natures than normal magic whereas black magic has the uses of necromancy and demonic summoning.
                                                                                                   *  *  *  *
For the last half of the year the younger brother learned dark magic under Dark Star. The younger brother had almost caught up to his elder brother who trained in the use of light magic which sounds exactly like what it is, but he was hated by many of the other apprentices as he is the only apprentice to use dark magic. Being hated by some of his fellow apprentices the younger brother secluded himself to study more dark magic and alchemy, being that an apprentice had to be in living quarters with other apprentices the younger brother was given a room of his own due to the turmoil he would cause. Since the younger brother had a room to himself no pony but Dark Star knew what he does in the room not even his own brother.
                                                                                         *  * two years later *  *
one day when the younger brother was out on a trip with his master the elder brother and two of his friends decided to sneak into his younger brother's room which was guarded by two dark sentinel. Dark sentinels were different from a normal sentinel since dark sentinels were naturally aggressive, but luckily for the wizard temple these sentinels were not very hostile since they were summoned by an experienced dark magic user.
As the elder brother and his two friends were able to get past the sentinels they happily entered the room unexpecting to the horrors that they will see. As the elder brother and his friends opened their eyes to see what secrets the younger brother was hiding they were horrified by the sight. Sitting in the middle of the room was a star that was in a circle both drawn with blood with a bloodied pony skull on a stick at the very top of the star, and at the four points of the star floating candles were lit with a strange blue flame. The three young wizards were disgusted and horrified as they ran out of the room and out to the temple courtyard where all three of them simultaneously vomited violently, but little did they know that what they saw was a ritual used to speak with deceased masters to dark magic, as the eldest brother's friends told other apprentices about what they saw rumors about the younger brother being a necromancer began to spread like wildfire.
                                                                                                       *  *  *  *
As the younger brother returned from his short trip with his master he got stares of anger, and disgust from all his fellow apprentices except his brother who was looking worried as three grand wizard masters approached him asking if the rumors of him being a necromancer was true or not, the younger brother was shocked but didn't hesitate to show the wizards to his room, as they walked in the wizards were shocked at the sight but Dark Star assured the wizards that the ritual was for communicating with the deceased masters of dark magic and that learning the teachings of the deceased masters was the best way for the younger brother to learn, the three wizards were no longer worried about what the ritual was for, but they asked where the blood and bloodied skull came from, to which the younger brother answered the wizards telling them that the blood was from a Jackalope and that the pony skull was one from Dark Star's collection and the blood on it was also the Jackalope's blood.
                                                                                                          *  *  *  *
After being falsely accused of necromancy the younger brother was driven deeper into the darkness, but one day an apprentice whom known to be a bully challenged the younger brother to a magic duel, this will soon become what unicorns use to settle disagreements as the condition of the battle is that each unicorn would have to give up something. I
n this duel the younger brother agreed that if he lost he would leave the wizard temple and the bully agreed leave as was if he had lost, but the younger brother was not going to lose very easily. The bully made his move first and casted a spell that would prevent the victim from moving as he casted a magic bullet but the younger brother was able to summon something before the bullet hit, and so the bullet did not hit as it was blocked by a large shield wielded by a large unicorn in armor but this unicorn was not alive since the unicorn was a large black mass in armor made from the deepest pits to darkness.
The bully was surprised that the younger brother was able to summon a creature of darkness known only as the Dark Guardian, a guardian is a spectral being that can be summoned to guard tombs or protect ponies, but the Dark guardian is summoned for one purpose, to kill anypony that will harm the Dark guardian's summoner, but the younger brother restricted to Dark guardian from killing his opponent, as the younger brother broke free from the bully's paralysis spell he stared into the eyes of the bully with his own eyes emotionless as he made his move against the bully, the younger brother casted a spell called the dome of darkness, this spell trapped the bully in a dome of shadow where no light can shine not even the light spell could light the dome.
As the dome was slowly dispersed by it's caster the bully emerged as a changed pony, the bully was lying on the ground in a fetus position with pin pricked eyes shaking in fear as to what he saw in the dome, but the younger brother just stared at him with his emotionless eyes and with no remorse in his heart as he walked away victorious.
                                                                                             *  * Ten years later *  *
It has been ten years since his duel with the bully and the younger brother has not been bothered by his fellow apprentices since all of the more older adept wizards know of his power and what it can do to a pony, but many of the new apprentices do not know of his power and try to approach him anyway, one day in particular an apprentice ran up to the younger brother and asked him if he could make a potion that would give a pony stronger magic, at this strange request the younger brother just smiled and walked away telling the apprentice to just keep practicing.
The younger brother wanted more power to become as powerful as his older brother so to become stronger the younger brother looked through scrolls and books of ancient arcane arts but found nothing, but after the passing of his late master he was left to study dark magic on his own.
One day the younger brother set out to explore an ancient tomb of long dead dark magic masters, on his way down there were many traps guarding the tombs of the masters but they were traps that only another dark magic user can avoid, the younger brother came to this tomb because his late master had told him about all the different types of dark magic spells that could be found before he passed away.
So with his wits he descended deeper into the tomb avoiding traps and falling down some stairs, as the young wizard finally reached the last floor he was first greeted by the ghost of the old dark magic masters and being close to the level of a dark magic master they welcomed the young wizard with open hooves.
As he approached an ancient library one master in particular was relentless with trying to get the young wizard to read open a certain book called the Book of Lilitu, as the spirit became more relentless the young wizard searched for the book to make the spirit stop bothering him, but little did he know that it was a trap, as young wizard opened the book the spirits of the deceased masters tried to stop him but was too late as a dark mist appeared out of the book and flew straight into the young wizard, this dark mist was the spirit of Lilitu, Lilitu was once a pony but now he is a spirit that can only possess any dark magic users.
In possession of the young wizard's body Lilitu left the tomb and headed straight for the wizard temple, as Lilitu was heading towards the temple he went to an old battlefield where many had died, he was there because he needed an army and so he rose an army of undead.
As Lilitu was now just in front of the temple, he looked at all the apprentices with disgust as he had a flashback, Lilitu's spirit was imprisoned in a book after his defeat by the hooves of another dark magic user, he was once a specialist in dark magic but he was too good to the point that he believed that dark magic is the only magic ever needed so he started killing many unicorns that couldn't use dark magic, but to his surprise all the dark magic masters of his time did not share in his belief and brought down the mad wizard, but it would seem that history was about to repeat itself as Lilitu commanded his undead army to attack the temple, but the elder brother of the wizard that he was possessing confronted him.
" What have you done brother!?" the elder brother shouted.
" I have no brother!" Lilitu replied back in the younger brother's voice.
" What has happened to you!?" the elder brother asked.
" I have been enlightened to the false reality of this world." Lilitu answered in the younger brother's voice.
It was then that the elder brother realized that it truly wasn't his younger brother that he was talking to, but before he could get anymore answers, Lilitu teleported away, but he told the elder brother where they will meet again. As the elder brother shook himself out of shock, he quickly ran to the aid of the other wizards.
                                                                                                  *  *  *  *
After getting rid of the undead army the wounded were given treatment, luckily no pony died, but with what had happened the wizards of the grand wizard council gathered to a meeting, the elder brother was the youngest of the grand wizard council.
" Was that truly Dark Spectre?" one of the grand wizard masters questioned.
" No, I have talked to him and he did not sound like the brother I knew." the elder brother replied to the grand wizard master.
" Of course he is not, the actions he has made were exactly similar to Lilitu." an elder grand wizard replied.
" Who is Lilitu elder grand master?" the elder brother asked.
" Lilitu was once a powerful dark magic user like your brother, but he is not like your brother, he wishes that all unicorns that do not use dark magic to perish." the elder grand master answered.
" How can we stop him and get my brother back?" the elder brother asked.
" The only way to stop Lilitu is to seal him away and that means your brother as well, if Lilitu does not have a host then he will die." the elder grand wizard answered leaving the elder brother in shock. The elder grand wizard gave the elder brother a banishment spell to use on his brother and Lilitu since the elder brother uses light magic the polar opposite of dark magic. With a clear goal in mind the elder brother headed out to seek his brother and try to reason with him against the elder grand master's wishes.
                                                                                                   *  *  *  *
The elder brother had ventured over mountains and ended at a frozen land later known as the Crystal Empire, and standing on the edge of a glacier was the demon that possessed his brother, the elder brother teleported himself to the top of the cliff to stand on equal ground with his younger brother.
" Greetings to you, brother." Lilitu greeted in his own deep voice.
" If you're still in there you have to fight him brother!" the elder brother shouted.
" It is no use, your brother belongs to-" Lilitu replied but was cut off.
" I do not belong to you demon!" the younger brother shouted to himself.
" Can you not stop him brother?" the elder brother asked.
" No I cannot, his will is too strong brothe-" the younger brother tried to warn but was cut off.
" You have no power over me!" Lilitu shouted to himself.
" Give me my brother back you fiend!" the elder brother shouted.
" If you want him back then you will have to take him by force!" Lilitu shouted back as he shot a shadow bullet.
" I will get my brother back!" the elder brother shouted as he shot a bullet of pure light.
                                                                                                            *  *  *  *
Lilitu and the elder brother battled each other as the elder brother tried to weaken Lilitu long enough for his brother to take over. As the two fought neither of them weakened or tired. But the elder brother was caught off guard and was trapped in a box of shadow but he broke the spell with his magic and sheer will to save his brother.
As Lilitu was shot by the elder brother's spell the Spear of Heaven he was weakened enough to lose control to the younger brother.
" It's no use brother, you must seal me with him!" the younger brother shouted.
" I will not seal you awa-" the elder brother replied but was cut off.
" If you do not seal me away you will endanger all unicorns and possibly all of Eques!" the younger brother interjected. " We may be brothers but please, let me do something good for once in my life." the younger brother begged.
The elder brother was shocked with his younger brother's request but knew the consequences if he didn't seal his brother away, with all the will that he could muster he sealed his brother away in the glacier, but little did the elder brother knew that Lilitu left the younger brother's body just before he was fully sealed but pieces of him was still in the younger brother's body, with Lilitu gone some of his power was sealed away with the younger brother's body in an eternal tomb.
The elder brother was praised by all as a hero while his younger brother was known only as a fallen wizard that went mad, but the wizards of the grand wizard council and the brother's parents respected him as a hero for committing the ultimate sacrifice by letting himself be sealed away from the living to prevent Lilitu from possessing any other pony, since he was the last dark magic user to live Lilitu will eventually die without a host.
                                                                              *  * 200 years after the war for resource *  *
As the Crystal Glacier of the Crystal Empire started to melt away an ancient being lies in wait behind the ice in the form of a slumbering wizard. This is the Wasteland of Equestria, a place that will be all new to the this wizard, a place that will test his wits, courage, and will.
* End Of Prologue *

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                Chapter One: The Awakening                 
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Chapter One: The Awakening
Chapter One: The Awakening
I have slumbered for a time unknown but I have slowly awakened ever since I felt the world shake as the world is slowly being poisoned, but as time flowed I slowly awoke from my slumber. I do not know where I am but through a now thin layer of ice I saw strange looking ponies with stripes breaking the ice, I wanted to tell them to stop but couldn't as they broke me free from a prison of ice.
" You are fools to release me." I said in a weakened voice.
" It does not matter, the war between zebras and ponies has long since been over." the figure said in a strange accent.
" What war?" I asked.
" Do you not know about the war between zebras and ponies?" the figure asked.
" I am sorry, but I do not know of a war." I replied.
The group of strange ponies brought me with them on their journey to a land they call Equestria and brought me to a strange castle called Tenpony tower, I saw many strange things on our adventure but sadly couldn't study them, they told me that I should look for the library in the castle. As I approached the castle ponies in strange armor approached asking for any weapons, I told them that I was a wizard and that I had no weapons, the two ponies looked at one another and finally told me that I could enter but if the zebras were not with me they could not enter as the ponies pointed towards the strange ponies behind me, I never knew they were zebra but they seemed to have no intention of entering. I have never met a zebra before but I have been told by master Dark Star that zebras were a strong and proud warrior race.
As I entered the castle I was greeted by more ponies in strange clothing but I knew that I was still on a quest to find this library.
I searched the castle for five hours and I have yet to find the library of Tenpony, but I eventually found the library of Tenpony a few minutes later and as I entered a majestic golden owl flew down to me.
" Hello, how may I help you?" the golden owl asked.
" Ahem, yes I would like to know when the war between ponies and zebras took place." I replied.
" The war had happened about 196 years from today." the golden owl answered, 196 years? Was I truly asleep for that long? " You look familiar, what is your name?" the golden owl asked.
" My apologies, my name is Dark Spectre dark magic master, or close to master." I answered.
" So you have finally awaken from such a long sleep." the golden owl said before flying up to a shelf and grabbing two books. When the golden owl flew back down the owl was carrying two books, the title of the books were surprising to me since it read ' The Fall of a Brother and The Rise of a Hero ' both written by Eternal Light. " Your name has been mentioned many times in both of these books, but they were written over 10,000 years ago." the golden owl said.
10,000 years I was asleep, I have nothing to say other than the fact that my brother got fame from ponies while I was labeled as a mad wizard who went crazy with power.
I said my goodbyes to the majestic golden owl before I left the castle of Tenpony. Waiting outside were the zebras that broke me out of my ice prison, I'm happy that I know they were zebras. As I approached them a lot of ponies that past them gave the zebras a very familiar stare.
" So um, I thank you for releasing me from my ice slumber so if there is anything I can help you with then I am happy to help." I said to the zebras.
" It is okay, but sadly we can not have you follow us since many zebras will try to kill you." an older looking zebra replied.
The zebras left waving to me so I happily waved back. Here I was all alone again, I headed off in a random direction since I knew nothing about Equestria.
I was walking for only 1 hour and 48 minutes before a bunch of ponies in yet again strange armor or clothing attacked me and then they put shackles on me and told me to start walking, I don't know what their problem was since they were being very forceful.
About 12 hours later and I ended up in a place that the ponies keep calling Appleloosa, but I didn't like the fact that they put a strange collar on me as they shoved me into a bloody cage, but inside the cage with me was a zebra mare, I needed to know more about this new world so I decided to talk to the zebra.
" Hello friend, do you mind telling me what this metal collar around my neck is?" I asked politely to the zebra.
" It is a bomb collar." the zebra answered calmly.
" What is a bomb?" I asked the zebra again.
" Are you stupid?" the zebra mare asked rather rudely.
" Well you see, I've been in a very long slumber being trapped in ice for 10,000 years so I don't know much about this new world." I answered receiving a shocked look from the zebra.
" Well if you really want to know, the metal ring that is currently around your neck and my neck is called a bomb collar, it will explode if we slaves tried to escape." the zebra mare explained.
" Will they explode if they are attached to somepony other than us?" I asked, the zebra mare just nodded.
So I thought of a new idea, back when I was in the wizard temple I did learn normal spells that other apprentices learned and one of them I find useful in this situation, a very simple transportation spell, it allows me to teleport any object to another area or even onto another pony.
There were two ponies guarding the exit and we needed a distraction, so I teleported the collars from me and the zebra mare on to the necks of the two guards, as I saw their heads get blown off I quickly casted a teleportation spell on me and the zebra mare.
The spell transported the zebra and I to a hill that was possibly one or one and a half miles away from the town. I quickly use a molding magic spell to make a key for our shackles, when we got the shackles off I ran in a random direction again.
" You fool, if you go that way you'll end up in New Appleloosa, they are allies with the slavers." the zebra mare warned.
Awe I feel loved, never before in my life has anypony ever cared for me except for my brother and parents, now a zebra is caring for me. The two of us ran for 3 hours north into a forest.
We ran deeper and deeper into the forest until we saw the edge of the forest where a small hut or a very small house stood near the edge of the forest.
" We will stay there for the night." the zebra mare suggested.
The two of us entered the dusty old home, and to my surprise it was in good shape compared to a lot of other places, but there was only one bed room and one couch. Being the gentlecolt that I am I told her that she can take the bed and that I'll sleep on the couch, she just looked at me funny.
" Do you think you can make a fire?" the zebra asked pointing at the fireplace.
" No problem at all." I replied casting a simple fire spell. " So, my name is Dark Spectre what is yours?" I asked, the zebra mare looked at me with a 'why do you want to know' face, but she answered anyway.
" My name is Mala, in zebra it means to be as fast as the wind." the zebra answered.
" Well it is nice to meet you Mala, I can not say that it is the first time I have met a zebra." I said half laughing.
" And they did not try to kill you?" Mala asked.
" No, but they did free me from my 10,000 years slumber in ice." I answered, Mala looked at me with a very small smile.
" Well I guess I shall warm up here before I sleep." Mala said sitting in front of the fireplace, I noticed that she had lots of cuts and bruises on her, so I did something that my brother would do as I walked up to her to use my magic to heal her, but the results were different since Mala jumped back getting really defensive.
" What do you think you are doing?" Mala asked.
" Please calm down Mala." I asked, Mala was still on the defensive. " I'm not going to do anything bad to you, I only want to heal your wounds." I said calmly. As I approached her I used the spell on one of her cuts, Mala just watched in awe as the wound closed up. That seemed to have did the trick as Mala calmed down and sat near the fire again.
" Well, I'll let you heal my wounds, but nothing else." she said in a cautious manner.
" I promise." I said before getting down to healing her wounds.
I had found many wounds on Mala, which made me mad for the first time, why would anypony do something like this. Mala got up after a few minutes and told me to put out the fire, so I used a fire extinguishing spell to put it out, but I noticed that Mala pulled out a blanket and laid there instead.
" You don't want the bed?" I asked Mala.
" I am used to sleeping on the ground." Mala replied.
" Then I shall stay and keep an eye out for the slavers." I said before walking over to look at the window that was facing the forest we had just left.
I had been watching the forest for a couple hours to the point that I was starting to get tired myself, so I just summoned a few dark sentinels to do teh job. I walked back to the couch and laid there to rest, I have forgotten how great it felt to sleep on a soft surface.
                                                                                                          *  *  *  *
" Hey, wake up."  a voice whispered to me. " Come on, you need to wake up." the voice said a little louder.
" What is going on." I asked tiredly.
" We need to get going, we can not stay here any longer." Mala said while trying to get me moving. I got up after the fifth time she pushed me since I landed on the ground face first.
" Alright I am awake, what is happening Mala?" I asked again, Mala just told me to stay quiet as we walked out of the hut.
" We are near Ponyville, there will be raiders." Mala said quietly, if my knowledge is correct, a raider in my time lived in deserts and would rob you blind or kill you, so raiders in this time must be worse.
We walked around for a little longer until we approached a large town, I saw other ponies walking around the town so I attempted to walk up to one of them to ask for directions, but Mala stopped me from doing so.
" Are you mad!?" Mala asked, last time I checked I was not crazy. " Those are raiders, this town is raider territory, if a raider sees you they will kill you and eat you." Mala explained, ponies eating other ponies, that was either very disturbing or very intriguing.
" So what do you suggest we do?" I asked Mala.
" We should get you a weapon first." Mala answered, I am a proud wizard so I use my magic to fight. But before I could tell her I saw her sneaking off into the town. For twenty minutes we were sneaking until we reached a part of the town with only a few raiders.
" Do you see that raider up there?" Mala asked pointing at a rooftop, I looked up and saw a raider on the rooftop wielding a strange weapon. I focused my magic to clamp his mouth shut as I pulled him down from the roof. " Good, now take this sniper rifle." Mala ordered, I looked at the strange object floating in front of me. " Please tell me you know how to use it?" Mala asked.
" 10,000 years remember, but I will use a history spell to find out how to use it." I assured her, as I casted the spell on the object, but I didn't learn about just this weapon, I re-lived the war 200 years ago and saw the evolution of weapons and technology, and holy Solaris were these weapons powerful. But not only did I learn the history of this world's weapons and technology, but I kinda picked up the slang ponies spoke in this era.
" So, do you know how to use it now?" Mala asked.
" Yeah, and I like the long range on this weapon." I replied.
" Let's get going, if we go this way we will ended up at Glyphmark." Mala said walking north-east.
We walked about 1 mile away from the town and we haven't met any raiders, I would love to study what makes a pony a raider but I would need a living specimen to do that. We were walking near some train tracks with lots of trees on either side of us, I didn't really like the feeling I was getting from all of these trees, I felt as if I was being watched. Then my suspicions were proven right when a few zebras jumped out of the woods pointing guns at us and shouted at us.
" Si hoja au sisi risasi!" one of the zebras shouted, they just said do not move or we shoot, I am so happy that master Dark Star made me learn so many languages.
" Tuna maana wewe hakuna madhara!" I shouted in their native tongue not to shoot us.
" Jinsi gani unajua lugha yetu?" a zebra asked me how I knew how to speak their language.
" Mimi kujifunza jinsi ya kuzungumza lugha yako kwa sababu mimi alivutiwa na punda milia kama mtoto mdogo." I told the zebras that when I was young I was fascinated with them so I learned their language.
" Then if you truly mean us no harm then follow me." another more older zebra said walking off in the same direction we were headed.
" Then if I were to gain your trust shouldn't I give you my weapon first?" I asked. The older looking zebra just smiled a little but continued walking.
We walked for five more hours before we reached a settlement that was thriving with zebras, by this time I had to cast a painkiller spell on my own legs to make my tired legs stop hurting. Then something caught my eye, a sign that read Glyphdale in the zebra language but I just thought it was just a mistake.
" This is not Glyphmark." Mala whispered to me.
" What do you mean it's not Glyphmark?" I asked.
" I mean it is not Glpyhmark!" Mala whispered to me louder.
" Of course this is not Glyphmark, this is Glyphdale." a zebra replied.
" Where are we?" I asked.
" Like I said this is glyphdale." the same zebra said again.
" Well to be specific this the base of foal mountain." the elder looking zebra corrected. " Why is there a pony here?" the old zebra asked.
" He speaks in our tongue elder." the zebra whispered to the older one.
" Then we shall welcome this pony to our home!" the elder zebra shouted.
" Um, thank you very much for your hospitality." I said to the elder zebra.
For the rest of the night the zebras played music around a large bonfire chanting in zebra in a kind of call and response style.
Hoja haraka: Move quickly
juu ya vilima: on the hills
ndani ya treni ya Zebrica: aboard trains of Zebrica
Wewe ni mbio mbali: You're running away
juu ya vilima: on the hills
ndani ya treni ya Zebrica: aboard trains of Zebrica.
I didn't understand what most of the song meant but to the zebras it was something that must be very special to them. After the night of playing music and singing around the bonfire some zebras guided Mala and I to a small hut. I thought the hut was nice but Mala probably didn't want to be this close to me. We sat inside the small hut for a few more minutes before we both laid down to rest, but I wasn't very tired due to being asleep for 10,000 years, the thought of sleeping for that long still surprises me.
" Hey Mala." I called to the zebra mare lying down next to me.
" What do you want?" Mala asked.
" Do you have any family?" I asked.
" No, not anymore." Mala answered.
" What happened to them?" I asked.
" Slavers happened, they got caught and sold to Fillydelphia." Mala answered bitterly.
" So do you want to save them?" I asked Mala.
" I wish I could, but I can't teleport and I don't even know if they are still alive." Mala replied, but then thought of something.
" I am a unicorn after all, if I couldn't use a simple teleportation spell then what kind of unicorn would I be." I said in a fancy accent.
" Well if you think it is possible." Mala replied. " What about your family Dark Spectre?" Mala asked.
" My parents are long gone since the last time I saw them was over 10,000 years ago and my older brother sealed me in ice for 10,000 years because I got possessed by a crazy spirit." I answered.
" That sounds rough." Mala replied.
The two of us talked a little longer before going to sleep, after we went to sleep I was still not very tired, I looked over to Mala and now that I got a closer look the stripes on her back were like a tree and tree branches, there was a large black line going all the way down her back and each stripe would split into two stripes, she had two stripes pointing down above her eyes and two pointing up under her eye. The one thing about a zebra that fascinate me the most is their glyphs, Mala's glyph looks like wind symbols, but I guess I'll ask her about it some other time.
                                                                                                  *  *  *  *
When I woke up Mala was not sleeping in her wool bed so I jumped out of bed and ran outside of the hut. I looked around but couldn't see her anywhere.
" Hey have you've seen Mala?" I asked one of the zebra guards.
" Yes, she went to clean herself in a nearby pond." the zebra answered.
" And you let her go alone!?" I said with a worried tone in my voice, I can't believe they would let her go alone, what if she were spotted by slavers.
I grabbed my rifle and headed toward the direction of the pond that Mala went to. I just know something bad is going to happen since the hair on the back of my neck in standing on end. After I ran for about a couple of minutes I eventually found the pond that Mala was at, it was more like a large pond though. Mala was on the opposite end of the pond from where I was and to make it worse I saw two ponies carrying chains and shackles slowly creeping up on her. I couldn't just let them capture her but I didn't have time to think as I held up my rifle with my magic and took aim. With two steady shots I took down the two ponies and the rifle was loud enough that Mala heard it and looked at me, she gave me a shocked look as she covered her chest and nethers, I don't know why ponies and now zebras do that since we don't usually wear clothes.
" What the hell are you shooting at!?" Mala shouted at me.
" I was protecting you!" I shouted back teleporting to her.
"I don't need you to protec-" Mala tried be shout back but I quickly shushed her.
" Hurry, this way quick." I whispered loudly.
" Why?" she whispered back.
" There were slavers" I whispered point to the bodies behind her, she looked back to where she was and saw the two bodies lying there. We walked for thirteen minutes before we finally made it back to Glyphdale. Once there we were able to tell the zebras that slavers might be nearby, the elder zebra told us that they could handle the slavers themselves. Then two zebras walked up to the two of us and dropped two saddlebags in front of us.
" This is for the two of you." the elder zebra said.
We happily accepted the gifts as I picked up the bags with my magic and sat them on my back and Mala's back. As we left Glyphdale we waved goodbye to the kind zebras before heading off to Fillydelphia to rescue some ponies and zebras.
* in Fillydelphia *
" What do you mean she escaped!?" a shadowy pony shouted.
" I'm sorry sir but this unicorn was there with her." a blue unicorn said rather nervously.
" Well you better get her back or else you'll have to fight in the pit with my pet." the shadowy pony warned.
" Y-yes sir." the blue unicorn replied.
" When I get my hooves on that unicorn I swear I'm gonna feed him limb from limb to the hellhounds." the shadowy pony said before breaking into a menacing laugh.
* End of chapter one *

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                Chapter Two: Making Friends                
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Chapter Two: Making Friends
Chapter Two: Making Friends
Slavery is something that should never happen no matter how poisoned the world is and it is something that had made me furious. I thought that all slavers should die for what they have done to others and I intend to make that happen someday.
" Are you alright?" a voice called out to me. " Hello?" a zebra mare said waving her hoof in front of my face.
" Sorry, did you say something?" I asked Mala shaking my head.
" Yes indeed, how do you suppose you are going to get in there and rescue my parents and any other slaves?" Mala asked.
" Well that also depends if your parents are there or not." I replied.
" Well what is the plan because we are almost close to Fillydelphia." my zebra companion asked.
" Well I am going to use a transformation spell to turn myself into a dragon and sneak in as a slave." I answered.
" Are you crazy they will kill you!?" Mala shouted at me.
"Don't worry about it, I will have you far out here while I go in.." I told her. " If you are worried about the slavers killing me then you can rest easy, it will more than a few bullets to kill me after all." I assured her.
" That is not the problem." Mala said quietly.
" Then what is?" I asked her. " If we are friends then you can tell me anything." I reminded her.
" I-i'm-" Mala hesitated. " I'm worried that you would run the second you get!" Mala cried, I have never seen her cry before, if I was truly her friend then I have to make sure she doesn't cry like this.
" Mala, please look at me." I asked her, she slowly looked up to me but was still crying." I said that I was going to rescue your folks no matter what, and I will tell you that I will never let slavers capture you ever again." I told her in a calm yet strong voice.
" How do I know for sure?" Mala asked with a lot of sniffling.
" I never go back on my word." I assured her before giving her a big hug. " So don't worry since I will be right back, but it might take a while to actually find your parents." I added, with that Mala slowed her crying as I walked off towards Fillydelphia.
It was around dusk currently and I was finally approaching Fillydelphia so I began to cast my spell to turn into a dragon, but my plan didn't go so well since I turned into a dragon pony hybrid instead. I was not finished perfecting this spell so I knew I was going to mess up something, I just don't know what went wrong since it worked perfectly on my lab rats back at the wizard temple.
" Hey dude look over there!" I heard a pony shout.
" Hell yeah, that'll fetch a high price." I heard another pony shouting.
I didn't have time to react as a net was shot at me, I am still amazed at the evolution of technology over the 10,000 years, if we had this during my time it would have been easier to catch specimens to use in my studies. The ponies were sounding quite happy that they captured me by the sound of them mumbling to each other about how many caps they will get, I do not know what a cap is but it must be very valuable here.
" Hey check it out we caught you guys a dragon pony!" one of my captors shouted to a pony standing by a gate. When we got close to the gate the pony standing guard just looked at me and smiled.
" Good work, you two may enter." the pony said before opening the gate.
As I was dragged in I saw slaves of all kind from foals to adults and even a few pegasi but I was dragged fairly far away from the other ponies that I saw since I was dragged down some steps and then through a hallway full of cages. Then I was thrown into what I thought was an arena of some sorts.
" Hey boss check out what we found." my other captor called, a large pony in the shadows on a throne of some sort leaned forward a little to get a closer look at me but I couldn't get a good look at him, too bad I don't have night vision.
" Well well well, a dragon pony." a deep voice replied slowly from the shadows. " Throw him in with the other one, I want them to get a good look at each other before tomorrow's match." the voice said.
The captors then dragged me off again and then they threw me into a cage. Honestly they could be a bit more gentle with the dragging and throwing. I looked around the room to see if I could find Mala's parents. Then I saw an opening to another cell so I peeked through only to find a few ponies lying about in the cage but no zebras. Then I looked across my cage and then I saw a zebra mare leaning close to the back wall, it was dark but I could make out large scar in the shape of and X on her right cheek.
" Are you by chance related to a zebra named Mala?" I whispered loudly to the zebra mare.
" Y-yes I am?" the zebra mare asked. " W-who are you?" the mare asked.
" I am a friend of hers." I replied, in a way I was her friend. " Is your husband still here?" I asked, the mare just shook her head and started to cry. Hearing her cry like that was one of the most horrible things I have ever heard since being in this land, I will teach these slavers a lesson for committing such atrocities.
It was starting to get late so I looked around some more before I found a mattress lying in a corner. As I approached the bed I realized that something was already on it and that something just noticed me and jumped up from the bed. I looked closer at the figure now standing in front of me and I realized that it had scales.
" Who are you?" the figure asked in a female voice.
" I am a friend." I told the female creature.
" You look like me." the female creature said.
" What do you mean like you?" I asked her.
" Aren't you a dragon pony?" the figure asked.
" Yes I am." I lied. " What are you doing in here?" I asked her.
" Well I was captured and imprisoned here." the figure replied. " Just like you I was captured and imprisoned here." the figure said, I could not understand her at all, she sounds quite shy but at the same time look intimidating due to her size, but I guess all dragon ponies were big considering that I was quite big myself.
" Don't you want to be freed?" I questioned.
" I would like to but if I tried to leave they would hurt me." the figure answered. " I'm going back to sleep now." she said before laying back down to curl up and sleep.
" So even creatures that are as big as her were afraid of slavers." I said to myself, I didn't get a good look at her since I thought that a female dragon pony would prefer more space to herself due to past experiences with dragons. I was also getting too tired to stay awake so I justed pulled out a mattress that she was not using, I laid down on the mattress and curled up as I drifted off to sleep.
The next morning I awoke to find myself to being dragged again, but this time I think I should pretend to be like a dragon pony hybrid and luckily this spell allows me to perfectly imitate the creature or pony that I was transformed into. I started to move around frantically trying to kick at the ponies dragging me.
" Wow you're a feisty one." one of the slavers said.
" Better be careful Chopper, last time a pony was too relaxed around one of these guys got his head ripped off." another slaver warned.
" Holy shit are they really that dangerous Slicer?" Chopper asked.
" Yep, so don't let yer guard down." Slicer replied.
I honestly didn't like being dragged so I let out a hardy dragon roar to get them to stop dragging me, but they just keep dragging.
" Holy shit what the hell was that!?" I heard somepony shout. Then I heard another dragon roar, a female dragon's roar, must be my new body telling me that it was a female since that was how dragons would be able to find a mate during mating season.
" You've got to be kidding me there's two of them!?" I heard the pony shout again. " Please boss you've gotta let me out of here, please boss I'll do anything!" I heard the pony begging for his life. I was now just approaching the steel gate to an arena but I was about to be put in smaller cage now, as the ponies threw me into the cage they quickly took the net off of me and ran for a steel door behind and closing it behind them. Well I guess I am going to have to play along with their game for now.
" Welcome slavers and all to the arena, today we have a slaver that tried to scam us and a zebra who are going to fight our top beast and a new addition to the arena!" the same deep voice announced. " Let the fight begin!" the voice shouted as the gate to my small cage opened. There was a pony standing in the center of the arena with the zebra mare I saw from last night. I stepped out of my cage and so did another dragon pony hybrid, she must have been the figure I was talking to last night. She was all bloodied so I can't get a good look at her, but the two of us started circling the zebra and ex-slaver waiting for the right moment to attack. Then the other dragon pony jumped for the zebra, I too jumped for the zebra but it was not to attack the zebra but it was to protect the zebra.
" What do you think you're doing!" the dragon pony growled to me.
" She is mine you, but can have the other!" I growled back, I feel like I am turning more dragon than a pony the longer I was like this.
" What's this a fight between the hybrids?" a pony said in the background.
" Unless you don't want to get out of here then just play along." I whispered to the dragon pony.
The dragon pony just looked at me as if I were crazy, but luckily for me none of us were wearing bomb collars or shackles, these slaver must have really stupid to not put bomb collars on us. All I have to do is teleport us out of this place, but a part of me wanted to get rid of the slaver leader. The crowd that was watching us were starting to get really rowdy causing the slaver guards to control the crowd, maybe now was the best time to teleport us out of here. I focused onto the the zebra, dragon pony and myself and teleported us out of the arena and away from the city.
" Wait what about me!?" the ex-slaver shouted at nothing and everything.
" AAARRGGHHH! Find them!" the deep voice commanded.
" You know they won't find them Bloodhooves dear." a white unicorn with a blue mane and tail said from behind him.
" They'd better." Bloodhooves said under his breath.
The teleportation spell was on target as it teleported me to where I left Mala. Praise Solaris for this wonderful outcome, this was one of my first ever success in teleporting directly on target since entering the wastelands.
" Mother!" I heard Mala called.
" Oh my child." I heard the zebra mare cry to her daughter.
" Where is father?" Mala asked.
" I am sorry Mala, but I did not see him there." I apologised to her.
" He tried to protect me and another but died for doing so." the zebra mare said before starting to cry. " He was a true warrior to the end." Mala's mother cried, indeed I will acknowledge his bravery for what he did, I did not know the full detail but he must have been a far more better being than what I was.
" We should get out of here before the slavers get here, I recommend going to the Tower of Tenpony." I said to the zebras and dragon pony. The three nodded to me and we began to run northeast again, and for a second I thought I saw some slavers running at us but went south instead.
" So when are you going to stop looking like a dragon pony?" Mala asked me.
" I kind of like this so I will keep the look for awhile." I replied.
" So you are not a dragon pony like me?" the female dragon pony asked.
" Well in a way no, but my DNA is currently made to match that of a dragon pony so I am also kind of like a dragon pony." I replied.
" How does that work?" Mala asked.
" Changelings have been around for a very long time so when I decided to study them I learned a thing or two about their transformation ability." I replied. " I found out that when a changeling transforms into something else they also change their DNA, so I figured out how to make my own spell from it but it is still a work in process since if I think of a creature that I have the DNA of I tend mix the creature's DNA with my own turning myself into a halfbreed." I explained while still running like there was no tomorrow.
" That sounds complicated." the dragon pony said.
" Very complicated." I replied, " but knowledge is not always easy to learn or fabricate." I added.
We were running for a couple more minutes until we were far away from Fillydelphia but we were still far away from the Tower of Tenpony. So after walking around for a few minutes I saw a small town with the name Ashtown. It was a very small town close to the ocean but was dead center between the Tower of Tenpony and Fillydelphia, it had a few houses and to my surprise there were a few ponies living here, so I decided to greet them.
" Uh, hello fellow ponies." I called to the ponies, but at the sight me they all ran off. " Did I say something wrong?" I asked nopony in particular.
" I think it is because they see two zebras and two dragon pony hybrids." Mala replied.
" Well that is kind of speciesist." I replied hanging my head down in depression, first I get ridiculed for using dark magic and now for looking like another species. " We mean you ponies no harm!" I said really loudly to no pony in particular again.
" How do we know you ain't lyin'?" a female pony wearing a star on her duster said stepping out from cover, I've seen some cowponies in my day and boy did she look like one.
" Please we need some food and possibly a bath for these two since they had just escaped slavers." I said to the mare.
" Alright but only if you help us in return." the mare said, help them with what though?
" Whatever you need help with I am sure I can help." I replied.
" Not to far from here is a power plant that we use to power our town, but some alicorns moved in and took over the power plant so we need somepony to get rid of them." the mare said, oh joy I get to study an alicorn.
" Why do you guys not do it yourselves before?" I asked.
" Well that's 'cause we need to be here protectin' our own." the cowpony replied.
" Do they know that you live here?" I asked the mare.
" Yep, they'll drop into our town and take away ponies every now and then." the mare replied.
" Well you sure sound worried about them." I whispered to myself sarcastically. " I will see if I can free your ponies too." I said to the mare. " Do you have anypony here that knows how to work the power plant?" I asked the mare.
" Yep, he's over there." the mare replied pointing to a unicorn colt sitting near a campfire. I walked over to the colt to ask for his help but his reaction was not what I was hoping for.
" AHHH!" he screamed curling into a ball, I swear that younglings at the wizard temple were more braver than him. " Please don't eat me!" he begged.
" I am not going to eat you." I said with a small growl in my voice, I was starting to sound more like a dragon pony than ever and I love it.
" Y-you're not?" the colt replied.
" No, but I need you to come with me since I do not know how to operate your power plants." I said to the colt.
" Oh is that all?" the colt asked. " Then let's get going." the colt said cheerfully.  I told him that my plan was to get rid of the alicorns occupying the power plant to get the power back and rescue any pony we can, but he did not seem interested in the alicorns.
About a half hour later we were on our way to the power plant, and not surprising enough the colt was scared about approaching it.
" So I heard that you are a unicorn?" the colt asked.
" Yes indeed." I replied.
" Prove it." the colt shot a 'if you don't prove it then you are a liar' look at me/
"Fine I'll just change back." I said to the colt before trying to use my spell. " Oh no." I said to myself.
" What's wrong?" the colt asked. " Can use magic?" the colt taunted, if I could I would show this colt the horrors of my experiments, then again he lives out here in the wasteland so my experiments would look like anything else in the wasteland.
" My spell won't change me back." I replied panicking, great my spell backfires on me, but that is what I get for not testing this spell in reverse on another pony." Well it appears to be that I am stuck in this form." I said to the colt.
" You mean you can't use magic." the colt replied.
" Oh I can do magic." I said to the colt casting a high level ice spell, the colt watched in awe as a large ice sculpture of a dragon appeared out of the ground from where I shot an ice blue beam.
" Woah." the colt said in amazement. " What else can you do." the colt asked.
" I do have magic limits so I can only cast so many spells and they also depend on the level of the spell as well." I replied. " But I would like your name young one." I requested.
" My name is Bolts." the colt answered. I have no comments, does he use lightning spells or something? " Anyway we're just about there." Bolts said pointing at a building.
" Well my name is Dark Spectre." I introduced back before we were right in front of the building. " Stay close behind me." I told the colt, he did not even question me as he quickly hid behind me.
As we entered the building I was expecting something very horrific to appear before me, but there was nothing here since the building was completely empty. We walked around to find the captured ponies but there was nothing on the first floor, I stayed cautious and never dropped my guard for one second. Then the two of us found the stairs down to the second floor and when I opened the door we were immediately hit by the smell of death.
" What the hell do you think is down there?" Bolts asked.
" Whatever is down there it is not good." I told the colt.
We walked down the stairs and through a dark hallway, having the same sense of smell as a dragon pony hybrid I was smelling blood and lots of it. We walked around a corner and there she was, an alicorn walking down the hallway.
" Alright I am going to take that alicorn out." I whispered to Bolts.
" Are you sure about that, it seems like a bad idea." the colt replied, I nodded and picked up my rifle to aim it,  then a loud bang was heard as I shot the alicorn in the neck. The alicorns must have heard it too since we were now surrounded.
" What are you doing here!?" a female voice shouted in my head.
" Well if you are in my head then you would know." I replied to the alicorns clearing my mind and thinking only of what I'd do if I got my hooves or claws on an alicorn.
" Y-you foul demon!" the voice shouted in my mind, the voice is giving me a bad headache. " You vile creature, you are nothing but a relic of the past!" the voice shouted. I was starting to get bored of hanging upside down, so I made my move.
" Well I will get back to work now." I said before teleporting behind an alicorn wielding a sword, I think a sword would fit better with my magic than a rifle.
" How dare yo-" was all an alicorn was able to say before I sliced her head off with the sword.
" You know what, I have been asleep for so long so please excuse me as my urge to dissect and experiment on something is starting to come back to me." I said to the alicorns, I already knew a lot about many things back in my era through books so having so many chances to study something new in this land is really exciting. " I can't wait to experiment on you." I said to the alicorns.
" What are you?" one of the alicorns asked.
" Just a pony looking for more knowledge." I replied, the alicorns were now backing away getting ready to teleport away.
" Hey they're getting away!" Bolts shouted as the alicorns disappeared in a flash. " What was that talk about wanting to dissect them or whatever, they were standing right there, if you were going to do that stuff then why didn't you kill them!?" the colt complained.
" Indeed I do want to dissect an alicorn, but the anatomy of an alicorn is very similar to that of the three races combined." I replied. " But I am not insane to the point where I would dissect and experiment on everything I see." I added.
We looked around the second floor a little longer and I was happy that there was not another floor. After a few more minutes of searching we eventually found some of the kidnapped ponies tied up by ropes. After finding the power room Bolts was able to successfully get what he called the power generators working again.
When we finished up we headed out of the power plant and walked back to Ashtown with the ponies we freed. I had to admit that seeing an alicorn was quite the experience.
" Maybe you should try to transform back to yourself again." Bolts suggested to me.
" Maybe I will." I replied, I started to cast my spell again but only for it to do nothing. " Well it would seem that I am stuck like this." I said to the colt. " Well Solaris smite thee in the ass." I cursed.
" Then it's a stupid spell." the colt said under his breath.
" I am sorry but you are not a wizard like me so you have no say in the matter." I whispered to the colt with a growl. " I guess I should have gotten my own DNA first before using my spell, but I will certainly do it for this body." I said to the colt.
" Well you better because you look awesome like that." Bolts said to me chuckling. I realized that for the first time that ever since I awoke I was met with welcoming hoofs and some hostile ponies but nonetheless I was welcomed here compared to back in my time.
The day was getting close to dusk and I was now sitting on a mattress close to a window. I wish I could turn back time to the good old days to prevent myself from entering that tomb, but changing anything in the past is never a good thing since the smallest change could change everything. I was staring out to the clouded night sky pondering my reason for being here, possibly the world wants me to start over again but that might be too much of a stretch.
" Hey are you ok?" a voice asked from behind me. I looked back to see Mala looking at me worried. " Hello?" a zebra called walking in front of me. " Eques to Spectre." the mare said waving her hoof in my face.
" I-I'm fine Mala." I said shaking my head.
" You don't look fine to me." Mala said in worried manner. Does she mean my new body or the new look on my face.
" What do you mean by that?" I asked the zebra mare.
" I mean that you look troubled." Mala replied. " Is there something wrong Dark Spectre?" Mala asked. Something was still not clear to me, I have been traveling with her for a few days now and I have yet to know what she thinks of me.
" Are we friends Mala?" I asked the zebra mare.
" If that is it then I would have to say...." Mala paused to think. " ...yes, since you have helped me more than once after all." Mala finally answered. " Remember what you said to me?" Mala asked.
" What did I say?" I asked.
" You said that if we were truly friends then we can always tell each other our problems." Mala answered.
" So I'm a friend huh?" I whispered to myself.
My first friend in my whole life was zebra, I am not complain or anything but I am sad that I found my first friend 10,000 years after being sealed away. Mala then walked over to her mother next to the fire while the dragon pony walked up to sit on the mattress with me, I guess now that I am a dragon pony she must feel more comfortable near me.
" Well Dark Spectre you have rescued me from slavers once back in Appleloosa, you saved me from being captured a second time near Glyphdale and you freed my mother today, so that is a good enough reason for me to trust you completely compared to when I first met you." Mala said out of the blue.
" What so you didn't trust me enough even though I freed you on the same day we met?" I asked in a joking matter.
" Don't forget me." the dragon pony added. I realized that we never got her name.
" By the way what is your name?" I asked the dragon pony.
" I never had a name." the dragon pony replied.
" Have you ever thought of a name?" I asked her.
" Yeah it's um..." the dragon pony started to think really hard. " I would like to be called Sapphyre with a Y." the dragon pony finally said after 10 minutes of thinking.
" That is a fine name Sapphyre." I replied, Sapphyre had a azurish white fur coat with scales underneath the fur coat, she had white scales going from her throat to her chest, her mane were light blue scales that flowed backwards, no horns so I don't think she can use magic but she did have scaled and feathered wings, and she had beautiful crystal blue eyes, for some strange reason I really liked her even though I had just met her last night.
" I like it, nice to meet Sapphyre." Mala greeted.
" So I guess we will have to find another place to go other than the Tower of Tenpony now that I can't change back to a pony." I said to Mala and her mother.
" Why don't we go west from here, there is a zebra settlement that way." Mala's mother suggested.
" How do you know that there is a settlement that way?" I asked her.
" That is the settlement that I used to live in before I left to explore the wastelands." Mala's mother replied.
" Oh by the way what is your name?" I asked her.
" Oh yes, my name is Zuri." the mother answered.
" I never got to ask but how did you meet your husband?" I asked.
" Oh that was such a romantic tale." Zuri replied.
" Oh please tell us the story!" Mala and Sapphyre said at the same time.
" Alright girls, I met Mala's father on my fifth day out of my home when I was attacked by slavers, I thought I was done for but when all of a sudden a brave strong zebra appeared out of nowhere and defeated the slavers and as I looked into his eyes I felt a spark, after that day the two of us ran off to start our own settlement together, the end." Zuri told the story with passion as the two girls looked at her with those big watery eyes, then they looked at me funny.
" I don't know why you two are looking at me like that but I am a lone wizard." I stated, that seemed to make them stop staring at me with the 'I want you' face. " Well it is good to finally know your name, and some of your history, but are you certain that there is a settlement to the west of here?" I asked her, Zuri just nodded in response. " Then we should get some sleep since we will be on a long adventure tomorrow." I said to everypony or everybody, I don't know anymore since none of us are ponies. I just pushed that question to my list of things to figure out later list as I curled up like a dragon to sleep on the mattress, but some other dragon pony curled up really close to me and I was starting to feel awkward, but I somehow slept through the night just fine.
When I woke up I looked up to see Mala snickering at me, I have no idea what was so funny but it may have something to do with the heavy object lying on my back.
" What is so funn-" I was rudely interrupted by Mala shoving her hoof in my mouth shushing me and pointing at my back. I looked over to my shoulder to find Sapphyre lying on it, I was kind of embarrassed about it but I let her sleep some more.
After waiting 25 minutes for Sapphyre to wake up we started to get our stuff packed and head off, as we were leaving the town I was expecting to leave before anypony wakes up, but somepony called us from behind.
" Y'all are welcome back here any time you, got that." a pony shouted from behind us. We turned around to see a yellow coated mare with a golden mane tied into a ponytail wearing a duster with a star on it.
" Oh yeah I never got your name." I told the mare.
" Mah name is GoldenStar." the mare replied.
" We will be sure to visit every now and then." I assured her as we started to walk off to the west, we waved goodbye to GoldenStar the sheriff of Ashtown.
*Meanwhile somewhere in the wasteland*
" What are you talking about!?" a hooded mare shouted.
" I mean that you should go out there and make yourself useful and make some friends for once!" a bartender shouted back.
" I have lots of friends you jackass!" the hooded mare yelled.
" Yeah, all of the drunks in this bar, make some real friends kid." the bartender suggested. " And don't come back until you made at least two friends!" the bartender yelled to the hooded mare as she left the bar.
" Stupid old geezer, thinks I can't make any friends huh." the hooded mare said under her breath.
*End of Chapter Two*

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             Chapter Three: A Forgotten Memory             
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Chapter Three: A Forgotten Memory
Chapter Three: A Forgotten Memory
Somepony once told me that war never changes and boy did he prove me right, no matter what the era was there will always be war and it never changed even now after the world was destroyed, but there was still a glimmer of hope. I intend to make that hope grow, but I was no hero, I am no greater than any ponies or zebras that destroyed the world. If only I could change the world, but I can see that the one the world is waiting for is not me but it is another pony in another time, Solaris only knows how long that would take.
" Are you sure he's alright?" I heard somepony or a certain dragon pony whisper behind me.
" I think the wasteland is making him insane." a zebra mare whispered back. " Maybe it had something to do with being frozen, who knows the effects of being frozen for that long." the zebra whispered rather loudly, or it could be that I have the sense of hearing equal to that of a full grown dragon.
" Mala I am not insane." I replied calmly even though my mind is telling me to get mad, Mala was surprised that I heard her. " And being frozen has nothing to do with it." I said defensively.
" Are you sure?" Sapphyre asked. " You tend to daze off to Celestia knows where every now and then." Sapphyre stated.
" Yes I am fine, and who is Celestia anyway?" I asked.
" Don't you know?" Mala asked, I just shook my head since I obviously don't know." Well she was one of the rulers of this land." Mala stated.
" Ruler?" I mused. " The only ruler in my time was King Solaris." I replied.
" Did he have children?" Mala asked.
" No not before I was sealed away, but Queen Nox did announce that she was going to give birth in three months, she announced this two months before I was sealed in ice." I answered.
" Wow, sealed away one month before the royal heir was born, but there you go you now have your answer." Mala said in a way that was cheerful.
" Are we there yet?" Sapphyre asked.
" Not yet but in a few days or so we will be there." Zuri replied.
" Few days!?" Sapphyre shouted. " I can't last another minute." Sapphyre whined hanging her head down sulking.
" We have been walking for quite a while now I suppose," I said to Sapphyre and Zuri. " I suggest we find some shelter or a small non hostile town to rest at for now." I suggested.
We had been walking for one hour and thirty five minutes since we left Ashtown. We walked west like we were supposed to but we kept our eyes out for shelter or a small town to settle down at. After a long search we spotted a cave that seemed quite cozy, Mala and Sapphyre ran ahead of me towards the cave, but when I approached I noticed that something moved in the cave coming closer towards us.
" Get away from the cave!" I shouted to my friends, they just looked at me as if I were crazy. " What are you doing?" I asked. " There is something in there, so if you do not want to die then I suggest you get away!" I shouted again.
Mala and Sapphyre were looking back and forth at each other, eventually they turned away from the cave and slowly walked back to me, luckily Zuri was smart enough to heed my warning the first time.
" What's wrong with you Spectre?" Sapphyre asked. " This is a perfect shelter, if we don't go in then we'll drop dead from exhau-" but Sapphyre was interrupted as a large white drake or wingless dragon creature standing on it's hind legs with fresh blood covering some parts of the creature's body burst through the cave entrance like Santa had just kicked down my door shouting 'Happy hearth's warming eve motherfuckers!', hey my era was not old enough to not have a Santa Claus.
" What in Equestria is that!?" Mala shouted.
" I do not know but I think-" I paused talking as I saw the creature disappear right before my eyes, luckily I smelled the scent of fresh blood lingering in front of the cave. " Whatever it is it can turn invisible, I think only Sapphyre and I can fight this creature, so stand back Mala!" I shouted to my zebra companion.
" There is no way I will sit idle while my friend fights a creature alone!" Mala shouted back.
" Well I am not alone, I have Sapphyre and you." I replied. " Here, use this." I said handing her my rifle.
" But I-" Mala tried to speak but was silenced by my hoof covering her mouth.
" Like I said before, I am not alone." I said before giving her a smile, I now turned back to the invisible creature who was still standing at the cave entrance. " Alright you foul beast it is your time to die!" I said to the beast. "A LA VICTORIA!" I shouted as I charged towards the beast.
Fighting the beast was going to be hard since I could not see it, but I ran in the general direction of the faint smell of fresh blood. As I got closer I was able to hear the creature's breathing and movements due to all of the scales scraping on one another. As I dodged what I thought was it's claw I directed Sapphyre of the creatures position, she noticed where I was looking and snuck up behind the creature's back and jumped on it.
" What are you doing!?" I shouted to the dragon pony that was flailing around like a flag on the creature's back.
" What does it look like to you!?" the dragon pony shouted back, looks like a flag, that's what it looked like to me, well time for plan B.
" Well, time to see what this sword can do." I said as I unsheathed the sword I got from the alicorn. " Alright, now to apply a frozen effect." I mused.
" What are you doing!?" Sapphyre asked while still flying around like a flag.
" Keep our friend busy!" I shouted to the dragon pony flag. Alright, it has been awhile but I think I can cast a frost enchantment on my sword. " Here goes nothing." I said to myself out loud.
* BUZZZTT *
" Oh sweet merciful Solaris, I don't want a lightning enchantment." I said to myself sounding very disappointed. " Well, it will have to do for now.
I charged at the general spot the creature was standing at, and I drove the sword through, and in a splash of blood my sword hit the invisible creature's side and applied electricity.
I had to admit that a lightning enchantment was not what I wanted, but it was enough to make the creature lose concentration and became visible again, with the creature distracted with Sapphyre and my lightning sword I looked over to a hill not too far away from here, and I saw a flash or shimmering light from what I believed was the scope on my rifle, I signaled in the direction of the flashing light by nodding my head, and I waited for something to happen. I waited a good minute and there was still no gunfire, and just as it seemed to look grim as Sapphyre was tossed off of the creature's back and she was about to be finished off, an object wisped past my face and hit the creature dead center between the eyes, and it exploded causing the creature's head to explode like a bloody firework.
" That was *pant pant* too close." Sapphyre panted.
" Yeah, way too close." I replied chuckling.
A few minutes later we regrouped at the entrance of the cave to discuss our encounter with the strange beast and why Mala did not pull the trigger.
" Mala, may I ask why you could not pull the trigger until Sapphyre was about to be killed?" I asked
" I did not fire a single bullet, your gun was jammed." Mala replied calmly.
" Wait, if you didn't pull the trigger, then who did?" Sapphyre asked.
" I did." a short hooded mare replied.
" AHH!" Sapphyre screamed. " Who the hell are you?" Sapphyre asked.
" Well duh, I'm the pony who just saved your flank." the hooded mare sassed.
" Well we thank you for your help." I thanked the hooded mare, " by the way, do you know if there is a town near by?" I asked. The hooded mare smirked and looked over to me.
" If I agree to bring you to my town you'll be my friends right?" the mare asked.
" Friendship and trust does not work that way." Zuri replied, " what do you have in gaining our trust?" she asked.
" Well I'm not allowed back into a certain bar if I don't come back with friends." the mare answered.
" A bar you say?" I mused, " alright let's get going, I could really go for a drink right now." I cheerfully told the mare, she looked at me with a wide smile with her maw hanging down.
" Wait, really!?" the mare asked, even with a hood on I saw her eyes glow bright, and noticed that she had heterochromia, her left eye was silver but her right eye was ice blue.
" Might as well, she needs a break anyways." I replied pointing at Sapphyre, Sapphyre just puffed up her cheeks and blushed, " are you not scared that I am a dragon pony?" I asked.
" Well if you're willing to be my friend then I don't really care if you're just a dragon." she answered merrily, " plus, I've got a familiar feeling about you." the mare added.
" Well then, lead the way my little friend." I replied smiling, on the other hoof I think the little mare who was approximately one to one and a half foot shorter than me puffed up her cheeks as well, I still had to be cautious since I did not know who she is, but something tells me that I could trust her.
We walked for about two hours and ten minutes following the hooded mare to where she claims a town was located.
" So how much longer?" Sapphyre asked the hooded mare.
" Not too long, just another twenty minutes to go." the hooded mare replied cheerfully.
" Well, I would like to know your name before we get to the town." I said to the mare.
" Why do you want to know? " the mare replied all stingy like.
" Because that is the first step in making friends." I answered, I am surprised that she had no idea of how to make friends, and I had none before I was sealed away.
" W-well m-my name is Silverlight." the hooded mare replied.
" Silverlight?" I said to myself. " I swear I have heard that name before." I mused, maybe in a dream or vision?
" Well I've never met you before, so what're your names?" Silverlight asked.
" My apologies, I am Dark Spectre or just Spectre for short." I replied.
" I'm Sapphyre with a Y instead of an I." Sapphyre introduced herself in a rather simple manner.
" My name is Mala and this is my mother Zuri." Mala replied introducing herself and her mother.
" I like you names." Silverlight said with a warm cheerful smile. " Anyway we're almost there." Silverlight said pointing at trees that had many hills leading up to it.
" Is this it?" I asked.
" No silly, the town is in the woods." Silverlight replied.
" Well what are we waiting for?" Mala asked. " I can not wait any longer." Mala said merrily jumping up and down, I guess she is very tired of walking.
Silverlight nodded and looked back to the woods with a small smile, and with that we disappeared into the woods. While walking around in the woods I saw many new species of mushrooms, I thought that I could use them to make them to make some potions so I grabbed a few of them for future potion making. Entering deeper into the woods we had to enter a strange cave that was like an underground maze, and walking through the cave maze was quite scary for the girls due to the massive amount of bones littering the ground, but they were very old by the looks of it so I did not worry about deadly creatures. The end of the cave maze was glowing a beautiful crystal blue light, and upon exiting the cave maze we found ourselves in an underground town.
" Alright everyone, welcome to Hollow Shades." Silverlight said with glee in her voice, the cheerful atmosphere around her felt somewhat familiar to me.
" So where is the bar?" I asked Silverlight, I was rather impatient about going to this bar since it was a good 10,000 years since I last had a drink.
" Sure thing buddy, just follow me." Silverlight replied with a smile.
" I think we'll go look for someplace to sleep in for the night." Sapphyre suggested.
" Alright, you guys go on ahead, I need to catch up on some drinks that are calling my name." I replied smiling at the thought of alcohol in my system again.
Walking with Silverlight gave me a strange feeling that was familiar yet unfamiliar to me, that feeling was warmth. I have never felt this way in a very long time, but the thing that confused me was that I felt this warmth somewhere before I was sealed and while I was still in the wizard temple.
" Alright we're finally here." Silverlight said cheerfully. " Umm... hey Spectre are you ok?" the hooded mare asked waving her hoof in my face.
" Y-yeah, I am fine." I replied shaking my head. " So what is there to drink?" I asked.
" Oh there are lots to choose from, do you like whiskey?" the cheerful mare asked. I couldn't say no to that, too bad the only drinks I could find in bars near the wizard temple were Rum and Ale.
" Alright then make that two whiskeys." I said to the bartender, and then I realized that the bartender was not a pony but a white bat pony with red eyes, I guess that means he is albino. To be honest I have never seen a bat pony before.
" Silverlight I told you not to come back here unless you-" the bartender was about to finish, but I quickly cut him off.
" Do not worry, I will pay for the drinks." I offered.
" Sorry about that, but it's not the payment I'm concerned about, it's about her making some friends for once." the bartender replied, " I'm her legal guardian." the bartender introduced.
" Do not worry, though it may not look like it, she will gain the trust from my friends in due time, but it takes time to build that strong bond." I lectured, I can not believe that I am lecturing somepony when I barely know anything about friendship, or do I?
" Well, I thank you for being her friend, so what'll be your payment?" the bartender asked. I never thought about it but I may still have a few Bits left in my dimensional storage.
" Will this suffice?" I asked making two bits appear out of thin air.
" Well holy shit, these two bits are worth two bottles of my best whiskey." the bartender replied.
" Then we shall get two bottles of your finest whiskey." I said with a smile as the bartender quickly stored away the bits.
" How did you get those?" Silverlight asked tilting her head.
" What if I told you that I was alive over 10,000 years ago?" I asked.
" Then holy shit you are an ancient relic." Silverlight answered chuckling. " Are you like 10,000 years old?" Silverlight asked.
" Technically I am 18 years old." I corrected, " You see, I was frozen for the 10,000 years so I never aged during that time." I explained.
" Wow, your like the same age as me." the hooded mare said tapping the tip of her hooves together.
" Alright here's my finest whiskeys, White Bat Whiskey." the bartender said cheerfully. " And I've told you many time Sliverlight, no hoods on in my bar." the bartender reminded the hooded mare.
" Oh come on, you know ponies don't like the way I look White Whiskey." Silverlight whined.
" I know how you feel, but you can't be your true self if you always wear that hood." White Whiskey replied.
" Alright, I'll pull the hood down." Silverlight responded, as she pulled her hood off I saw that she had a greyish white coat with a silver mane.
" Wow..." I said dazing off into her beauty. "...you look amazing Silverlight." I complimented, my compliment seemed to have made her blush a little.
" Y-you really mean it?" she asked while getting all shy, she did not even notice that her wings were slowly stretching out.
" Of course I do." I replied sincerely. " Well no time to waste, let us drink until the break of dawn!" I shouted cheerfully.
About two hours later I was being carried by Silverlight all the way to the town's inn, I can not believe that the two of us entered a drinking contest to win caps, sadly Silverlight dropped out by the fourth mug of rum due to throwing up, I however drank over thirty four or thirty eight mugs of rum and won the contest, but I passed out immediately after receiving the reward of one thousand caps.
" What happened!?" I heard Mala asked frantically.
" Don't worry about it, he just passed out from drinking too much." Silverlight assured.
" Bring him over here." Zuri directed Silverlight to a couch. " I think it is good for him to catch some rest." Zuri suggested.
As I was laid down on a bed I closed my eyes to allow myself to rest easy. I never dreamed before since I always used dream blocking spell, but I was too tired to cast it.
" HAHAHA!" a demonic voice laughed. " DO YOU REALLY THINK I aM PERMANENTLY GONE?" the voice questioned.
" I thought you died off when you left my body before I was sealed." I questioned back.
" OH I DID DIE, BUT I AM NOW A PERMANENT PART OF YOU TOO." the voice answered.
" You have no power over me so you should just stay quiet." I suggested to the voice.
" FOR NOW, BUT WHEN THY ANGER RISES THE SHADOW WILL FOLLOW." the voice replied, riddles huh? Well it makes sense for the voice to give me riddles.
" WHY ARE YOU NOT ANSWERING ME!?" the voice yelled.
" Shush, I am too sleepy to deal with you, and as you can see I am drunk so just, shush." I replied, I think the voice facehoofed just now, whatever.
I opened my eyes to a familiar room, my room in the temple. Strangely enough I was watching myself practice runes magic, and what caught my eye was a grey and silver unicorn mare sitting on my bed watching me practice my magic.
" You have been trying for two days now Spectre, you should really take a break." the mare suggested.
" I can not do that Silver, I must perfect this rune spell." my dream self replied.
" If you do not rest you will pass out from over using your magic." the mare told my dream self in a worried tone.
" I have just about perfected my spell-" my dream self said before collapsing to the ground.
" Spectre!" the mare shouted before lunging forward to stop beside my body. " Somepony please, help!" she called out to the hallway outside of my room.
" What is going on!?" an azure-ish white unicorn asked the mare in worried tone.
" It's Spectre, he's-" the mare was interrupted by the azure-ish white unicorn putting his hoof in front of her, he was now standing next to my body.
" It's alright, my brother is stronger than that, he just needs to rest." the azure-ish white unicorn assured the mare, then he stood up and looked to the mare. " Come, Silverl-" the azure-ish white unicorn was cut off from the dream beginning to end.
I was rudely woken up from my dream from hearing somepony drop something right next to me. I looked over to see Silverlight standing over a food tray with the food scattered all over the place.
" Are you alright?" I asked the bat pony mare.
" Me?" the mare paused. " What about you?" the mare said before picking up her tray.
" What do you mean me-" I was cut off when Silverlight put the tray in front of me like a mirror, and what I saw in the mirror was my dragon pony self, but I had two large scars on the left side of my face and it went over my muzzle or snout. They did not look like wounds from a sword but from a fire, it was possibly a scar from being frozen or something.
" Do not worry, I can fix this." I assured her, I did not know how to fix it completely but I was able make most of the scars go away with a regeneration spell. " How do I look?" I ask Silverlight.
" Um..Better." she replied with a smile. I looked back at my reflection on the tray and saw that my scars were now skinnier than before making them look like cuts from a blade. Then I realized that everyone was gone, I wonder if they ditched me.
" Where are my friends?" I asked, I kind of feel weird for throwing around the word friend like that. " Also, where am I?" I added.
" They're downstairs eating breakfast and you're in the Hollow INN." Silverlight answered.
" Did I do anything while I was drunk?" I asked.
" No you just passed out." Silverlight replied snickering.
Walking down the stairs was a huge problem for me, I have forgotten how it feels to have a hangover. Back in my time when I got drunk my brother would always be the one to carry me back, now I'm beginning to feel like I have taken his kindness for granted since he was the only one who was always welcoming me with open hooves, or was there another? After I was close to the bottom of the stairs I accidentally tripped on my own dragon tail and fell down to the bottom, I looked up to see my friends run to my aid, I feel useless whenever I have a hangover.
" Are you alright Spectre?" Mala asked, daw she's worried about me.
" Yep." I wheezed, falling down the stairs seemed to have knocked the wind out of me.
" Come on up you go." Sapphyre huffed, hey I am not that heavy. Sapphyre brought me over to their table while Silverlight went to get me something to flush out my hangover. After a few minutes Silverlight came back with a cup of what I presumed was coffee.
" Here drink this." Silverlight said placing the cup on the table, I picked it up to give it a sniff, then I took a sip and surprisingly enough it was really good.
" What kind of coffee is this, it is delicious." I asked the greyish white bat pony.
" It's espresso." the bat pony replied, I am guessing that since the town is deep underground the poison did not reach here and have the soil soft and damp it was perfect for farming, but how did they get a tree down here? Maybe they grew it since it has been 200 years since the poisoning of the world.
" Well I guess we should start getting ready to go, so you just sit here and enjoy your espresso while we go pack up." Mala suggested before going back up stairs.
" So what did you dream about, Spectre?" Silverlight asked.
" Why do you need to know?" I asked back.
" Well since it was my idea to enter that drinking contest the others made me keep an eye on you while you sleep, and while you slept you were tossing and turning like crazy." the greyish white bat pony answered.
" Alright let me think." I replied, wait a minute, why can I not remember." ACK! I can't remember!" I shouted to myself.
" What do you mean you can't remember!?" Silverlight shouted.
" It means I can not remember, my mind is blank!" I shouted back.
After a half hour of arguing about my dream Mala, Sapphyre and Zuri came back down with our bags. They heard us arguing so they were trying their best not to laugh, but Sapphyre couldn't hold it in.
" HAHAHAHA, you two argue like an old married couple!" Sapphyre said laughing like a maniac.
" We're not a couple!" Silverlight and I shouted simultaneously.
" Whatever, well I guess this is goodbye, Silverlight." I said to my small bat pony friend.
" No way, I'm coming with you." she objected. " I'm your friend right?" Silverlight asked, I just nodded my head to her question. " Well if I'm your friend then I can't just be left behind, you know!" she yelled.
" Alright, you can come along." I agreed. " Plus only you know the way out of here." I added. " But do not blame me if you hate it up there." I said defensively.
As we left the the town we headed towards the cave that we came in from, I guess it is too much trouble for the ponies living here to make a second cave that lead to the west. So after going through the maze of a cave we entered back into the woods. While leaving I picked up a few more mushrooms and a type of glowing herb, I think I will name them Glowshrooms and Crystal Clovers. After exiting the woods Silverlight looked back towards her home one last time before heading off on a quest with us.
" Well time to go around." I said with disappointment in my voice.
" Well if we could find a skywagon I could always fly us anywhere." Sapphyre offered.
" Where is the adventure in that my friend?" I replied smirking.
" Well we have you with us so I don't care where we go." Silverlight said fluttering her eyes at me, then Mala and Sapphyre looked over to Silverlight with death glares.
" He's mine!" Sapphyre said in a possessive tone.
" No, I met him first so he is mine!" Mala objected.
" No way, he drank with me so he's mine!" Silverlight objected as well, how does me drinking whiskey with you make me yours?
" Ladies ladies, there will be no squabbling over me." I interrupted.
" Well if one of us can't have you." Sapphyre said with a grin.
" And if there will not be any fighting over you." Mala added.
" Then we'll just have to share you." Silverlight finished, then she pulled out a knife. " Which part do you girls what?" she asked the other girls.
I quickly left them and followed closely behind Zuri, I swear they are gonna kill me in my sleep.
" Girls these days." Zuri said.
" Tell me about it." I replied. " If our next companion is another girl I am not gonna make it." I said over exaggerating it a little.
" Oh you will be fine." Zuri replied, I better be fine.
As we were heading off we went north to go around the mountains, and by the looks of it we might be at our destination later than expected. But the day was nice and cloudy like normal, mutant birds were singing, ash grass was growing, girls were arguing, and on days like these you just want to drink some whiskey and sleep wishing you could just fly away to a better place, but that is never gonna happen, luckily I bought twenty more bottles of whiskey for the road, one does not simply travel without whiskey as they walk off into the horizon.
* Elsewhere in the wastelands *
" I don't care how you do it!" a trapper shouted. " Just make sure that it doesn't get out, Ropes !" the trapper shouted.
" But this thing is hot as fuck, how will it not burn it's way out?" Ropes a trapper asked.
" That room is built to stabilize their level of heat you moron!" the lead trapper yelled smacking the back of Ropes head.
" Dust, you get to keep an eye on our prize." the lead Trapper told another trapper.
" Whatever you say, Cage." a short yellow mare replied before looking back into a dark room with a glowing blue light. " I'll come back for you." the mare whispered to the dark room when nopony was in sight.
* End of Chapter Three *

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                 Chapter Four: A New Home                  
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chapter Four: A New Home
Chapter Four: A New Home
Nine hours, that's how long it has been, for nine hours I had to listen to three mares argue with each other. One recent topic was about the creature we encountered when we first met Silverlight, the girls have been arguing about it for just about an hour now.
" No way, I think it should be called a Bloodclaw." a bat pony argued.
" Nuh uh, I think it should be called a Chameleon Drake." a white dragon pony objected.
" Why don't we just call it a Chameleon Blood Drake?" I suggested.
Yup, nine hours of these arguments, and I think if I listened to anymore arguing I'll surely lose my mind.
" Alright, a Chameleon Blood Drake it is." a Zebra mare agreed.
" Thank you." I replied, " any objections?" I asked.
My bat pony and dragon pony companions were dead silent, so I took that as a no.
" Good, now let's not argue anymore." I suggested.
" Are we there yet?" asked the dragon pony, for that I groaned at her, " hey I'm not arguing about anything."
" *sigh* You are kind of acting like a child Sapphyre, but I do not know the answered to that question." I replied.
Then I looked over to Zuri and whispered help very, very quietly. She just smiled and looked over to the Sapphyre .
" Do not worry, we will be there in about another day or so." Zuri replied half smirking.
" AHHH! I CAN'T TAKE ANOTHER HOUR OF THIS!" cried Sapphyre.
" Let me guess, you're hungry." I guessed, lately I have been picking up the way ponies in this era speak, I might be able to fit in a little better.
" YES!" replied Sapphyre, not surprising enough she was starting to cry, " I need foood!"
" Well I guess we should find some food and a place to rest then." I suggested, " Silverlight, I need you to fly up and find some place to get some food, but do not fly too high, I do not want you to be seen."
" *sigh* Alright, Mr. Bossy." Silverlight replied sarcastically, as she rose her right hoof to her forehead.
After waiting a few minutes, Silverlight returned with news of a decent sized settlement a little bit north of our position. Considering that my companions may be very tired from walking for nine hours, and the fact that Sapphyre was hungry, I thounght they deserved a good rest and a decent meal. We followed Silverlight for about an hour and a half, and when we came to a stop all of us were amazed at the sight. A beautiful waterfall that fell down the side of a cliff, and there was a rather large settlement near the falls. When we approached the settlement, I saw a sign that read, Neighagra Falls, such a peculiar name.
" Hold it right there!" a voice shouted.
" Please do not shoot." I quickly interrupted before he could continue.
" Are y'all friend or foe?" the voice asked.
" Just simple travellers, we mean you no harm." I answered.
" So y'all are friendly." the voice replied, the voice paused for a moment but gave his answer, " Alright, but no shootin' in here!"
When the gates opened all five of us were greeted by a caramel brown stallion wearing a cowpony hat, and a very worn out duster.
" Mah name's Rusty, Sheriff Rusty." the caramel stallion greeted, he pointed at a silver six pointed star on his chest, another sheriff. How many sheriffs are there in this wasteland?
" Well it's nice to meet you, do you perhaps know where we can find something to eat and somewhere to rest?" I asked.
" Sure do, just go to the Cliffhanger Saloon and INN." the sheriff directed, " Oh ah almost forgot, welcome to Neighagra Falls."
As we walked towards the Saloon and Inn, Silverlight was walking right next to me.
" So are you up for another drinking match, Spectre?" asked Silverlight.
" No, I need to look for a map to find our current location." I replied, " this way I will know how far we have strayed from our original destination."
Silverlight simply nodded, but she looked kind of down in the dumps.
" Hey are you alright?" I asked Silverlight.
" Yeah, I'm just fine." she replied.
" If there is anything wrong, please, do not be afraid to ask." I assured her. Silverlight simply nodded.
The five of us walked into the saloon, only to find that nopony was there. Since only pony there was who I thought was the manager I walked up to the pony at the front counter, I had to ask for information for why there was just about nopony here.
" Excuse me for asking, but where is everypony?" I asked a bluish grey coated earth pony mare.
" They ain't here no more, sugar cube." the mare replied.
" What does that mean?" Sapphyre asked.
" It means that nopony wants a drink or a place to stay." the mare answered.
" Is there any particular reason why nopony would come here?" I asked.
" Yeah, 'bout a month ago a group that called themselves the Beast Tamers moved in not too far from here." replied the mare.
" Is this it?" Silverlight asked. Silverlight was pointing at a large X on a map.
" Why yes it is, sugar cube." the mare replied. Why does she keep saying sugar cube?
" Perhaps we can get rid of them for you." I offered.
" Sure thing, but how much would it cost?" the mare asked.
" How about some supplies for the road." I suggested.
" Ha, well then y'all got yer selves a deal." agreed the mare," but y'all are gonna have to speak to the sheriff about it."
After eating a little we decided to rest. I told the sheriff that we were going to take down the group causing ponies to avoid this settlement, he also offered a 1,000 caps reward that I was going to decline, but Silverlight somehow made me agree to it. With everything planned out for tomorrow, I laid down on a bed and fell fast asleep.
" SO YOU'VE COME BACK ME." said a demonic voice.
" Oh not you again." I whined, " listen up Lilitu, if you want to talk to me, you should really start with that voice of yours."
" How about this?" the voice replied a little sarcastically in my voice, " look at me I'm Dark Spectre, books books books!"
" HahaHA! very funny, use your own voice and not mine." I demanded.
" Is this better?" Lilitu asked in a feminine voice. Are you trying to trick me?
" What do you want Lilitu?" I asked.
" I want a body, Spec-." Lilitu replied.
" You know that I can not simply give you my body." I interrupted.
" I don't want your body, I just want my own body." Lilitu corrected.
" And how would I give you a body that is your very own?" I asked.
" Simple, there are mares all around you." answered Lilitu. Okay I see where this is going.
" Oh that is not happening." I objected.
" Come on please Spectre, I just want my own life again." Lilitu begged.
" How do I know you won't try to control the world again?" I questioned.
" My memories and powers will be completely erased when I'm born again." Lilitu explained.
" That still doesn't answer my question." I replied, " *sigh* We will talk about this some other time, I need to rest."
With that Lilitu had stopped talking to me. I can not tell if Lilitu really means what he or she says, now that I think of it, is Lilitu a mare or a stallion. Well there is no point in asking myself that question, besides, my dreams is about to start and I really want to know who the mare in my last dream is. I opened my eyes in the dream, and to my surprise, the dream started off in a place I had not expected.
" Where are we going?" a grey and silver unicorn mare asked with my left hoof covering her eyes.
" Somewhere special." my dream self replied. As my dream self uncovered her eyes, the mare opened her eyes to a beautiful fountain.
" Town square?" the mare questioned. The mare looked over to my dreamself, who was fidgeting with his hooves.
" Um...I would like to ask you something, Silverlight." asked my dream self. Impossible, her name was also Silverlight? Was she the current Silverlight's ancestor? Or is she a reincarnation. No, it is impossible for her to be a reincarnation, or is it, maybe her name is just what my mind wants it to be. Yeah, I will assume that as my first choice.
" What would you like to ask?" she questioned.
" Well...I have done many spells on my own now, and I have injured myself on many occasions." my dream self replied.
" Where is this going?" the mare asked.
" Well, it is just that...every time I have been injured you were always there by my side," my dream self continued, " and well..what I am trying to say is, w-will you go on a date with me?" to be honest, looking at myself asking her on a date was very awkward.
" Oh my Solaris, of course I will!" the past Silverlight exclaimed as she tightly hugged my dream self, what a lucky guy. Then the dream ended there. Damn it! That is the worst place for the dream to ended!
" Wake up!" a voice called out to me. Then my face was slapped, hard.
" OW! What was that for!?" I yelled.
" You were sleep talking." a silver bat pony replied.
" And why would you slap me for that!?" I questioned.
" You were talking about dating somepony in your sleep." explained the silver bat pony.
" Whatever, what time is it Silverlight?" I asked.
" What do you mean whatever!?" Silverlight asked, " It's only 10:20a- you're avoiding my question!" I really wish she did not have to yell at me.
" Well I guess we should start heading out." I suggested.
" Why so early?" asked the bat pony.
" Well, we do want to catch them by surprise right?" I asked.
" Uh...point taken." replied Silverlight.
" Is everypony awake?" I asked my silver coated companion.
" Yeah they're downstairs right now." answered the silver mare. And so the two of us made our way down to the main floor. I saw my friends sitting at a table chatting with each other, they were chatting about something rather funny to them.
" Alright, we will need to do a weapons check, and supply check." I directed. The three mares were just snickering at me, " what's so funny?"
" *ppfftt* I-I'm sorry *inhale* but what you said in your sleep was hilarious!" exclaimed my dragon pony friend.
" What did I say?" I asked, I knew I was not going to get answers from her, so I looked over to Silverlight to get answers from her instead, " Do you know what they are talking about?" I asked.
" No not really." replied Silverlight.
" You seriously didn't hear him?" asked Sapphyre. Silverlight just shook her head. Well I guess she doesn't know either.
" Well how should I put this.." my zebra friend paused to think, " you were asking Silverlight on a date while you were asleep."
" WHAT!?" both Silverlight and I shouted. Silverlight and I were looking back and forth at each other, and then to the others, and then back to each other.
" You have no proof!" I objected. Silverlight nodded at my objection.
" Yeah, what he said!"
" Well believe us or not,  you did say that in your sleep. But that is not of importance right now, we still have a task to complete, right?" Zuri asked.
" *ahem* Yes, we need to make sure that we have ammunition, and that our gear is in good condition before we head off."
" We already did that." Mala quickly replied.
" Er...you did?" I asked
" Well of course, you're so predictable!" Sapphyre smiled.
" Well I guess we should be heading off then, let's go team." suggested Silverlight.
" I thought I was leader." I said with my head down.
" Alright then, let's move, onwards to freedom!" shouted Silverlight.
" What freedom?" Mala asked.
" Well aren't we about to fight slavers?"
" No, they are tamers, but we do not know their side of the story. We should go in with the intent to negotiate instead of attacking." I recommended.
" *sigh* Alright fine, but since they're tamer we'll ne-goat-iate with them." Silverlight joked, she said that with large ear to ear smile.
" Solaris damn it, Silver!" I yelled.
" Why to soon?"
" *sigh* No, it is just that I really hate puns." I replied, I was mentally slamming my face against a stone wall, " and what is the purpose of the goat?"
" Well since they're tamers I thought that they may try to tame goats." And so we left the Inn with our equipment packed, and with the goal to negotiate with tamers who may just be another type of slavers. I swear that the only thing I hate more than slavers is a bad pun or a pun in general.
On our way out of the town both the sheriff and the Cliffhanger's manager or boss trotted up to us.
" Wait!" shouted sheriff Rusty.
" Is something the matter sheriff?" I asked.
" Well ah was thinkin' that if you guys don't already have a home base yet. Maybe you guys could stay here if you make it back."
" It would be a pleasure to stay here, but maybe some other time." I replied.
" Well just remember that ya'll got a home here, since ya'll are gonna be helpin' this town of ours big time." said the sheriff, " oh and here's yer caps."
" Should you not wait until after we finished our job?" I asked.
" Yeah, but seein' how busy you are ah thought ah'd give it to you now instead."
" Well we thank you very much, I'll try my best to negotiate with the tamers. But if things do not go as planned I have a plan B." I gestured to Sapphyre.
" If shit goes down I'll burn them to corpses! Hehehe." I never knew Saphhyre was a crazy pyromaniac, but it fits well with my backup plan.
" Well then good luck to you, sugar cube." said the owner of the Cliffhanger saloon and inn.
" And we will make sure that we will visit, that is if we are still alive." I replied.
There was no guarantee that we will come back anytime soon, especially considering that we still had a special destination to get to. But I will be sure that my friends get out alive, since I am the leader their lives were basically in my hooves or claws. So with that thought in mind we headed of to the tamers settlement, but still unsure who or what we are about to face. And now I am getting really, really stressed about all this, so I pulled out a bottle of whiskey that I bought from Hollow Shades.
" Hey I what some of that too, Spectre!" Silverlight shouted.
" Alright here is a bottle, yeesh, you did not need to shout at me."
" Hehe, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey~" Silverlight start humming some kind of song, well she and I had something in common; we both liked whiskey. I hope that it would not be her last.
* In a nearby settlement*
" Alright now you need to train her to attack a specific target." said a white pegasus stallion, " and you've got to be care, Dust."
" I know what I'm doing Flash Freeze."
" I know that you know, but you can never be too careful."
" Besides, Blizzard listens to me more than anypony here."
" I hope so, if you say that you'll be fine then I guess I'll take my leave, but stay safe." Dust was soon surrounded by Flash Freeze's warm embrace.
" Alright Blizzard let's continue." Dust received some sort of purr from Blizzard, " alright let's have lunch first."
* End of Chapter Four *