Chapter 12

-- Encounter --

The sand was everywhere, like a never-ending sea. Rock formations and the occasional cacti were the only things I found other than sand. The desert was vast, and the winds would occasionally kick up the grit, blurring my vision. Despite all these hardships, I persevered and continued in the direction of my goal.

It had been several hours since I left Hydra Junction. Since then, I encountered no life in the desert. None of the lizards like the ones I ran into on the way to Hydra Junction, or any other ponies. I should have expected as much; from what I had seen, most ponies stayed inside their settlements and fortifications to avoid the harsh sand and the creatures of the Wasteland.

As I moved across the dunes that made up my path, I noticed that the wind had changed direction. I looked around, seeing the sand shift, I had a bad feeling in the back of my mind.

The feeling had made me turn to look to my right, and in that moment, my eyes grew wide with fear. Though I had not seen one with my own eyes, the large cloud of sand that was barreling towards me from the distance was unmistakable.

A sandstorm. Shit!

I bolted in the opposite direction, my eyes darting from left to right, looking for some form of shelter. I was panicking as the storm chased after me. I was in trouble, and I was praying to the Goddess Luna that some miracle would save me.

She must have been listening to my inner pleas, because as I moved over a rather large dune, I saw a building not too far off, half-buried in the sand. I had to get there, or this storm would tear me apart.

As I ran down the dune and towards the building, I dared to look behind me. The storm was gaining on me. I pushed my body harder, running with all my enhanced strength and speed. By the time I got to the building, I was breathing heavily, but I pushed further and bashed my shoulder through the glass window of the building, and quickly ducked behind a nearby desk.

The storm hit, and the wind screamed as if it was a mad animal. The sand blew through the building, some hitting my back. I stayed down and waited. After several minutes had passed, the wind slowly began to calm. I waited until the sand stopped landing on my back before lifting my head and peering over the desk. The sand had piled everywhere, almost as if the desert was trying to reach in after me.

I jumped back over my barricade and looked around. The hallway I landed in was almost bare, other than the desk I had hidden behind. Most of the doors were blocked by debris or had piles of sand in front of them.

I remembered that Ratchet had told me that ruined buildings could house supplies and other goods for wastelanders. Strange, thinking about him after I ditched him and Moonlight back in Hydra Junction. I felt guilty for my actions but did not regret them. It was better this way. I shook my head and moved towards the end of the hallway, and the only door still intact.

As I opened the door, I found myself in a large room, the middle opening into a floor made of sand obviously built up from the bottom floor, as this building was buried in the sand. I moved to the side rail and looked up, seeing multiple stories leading up to the roof. Some floors had parts of their walkways collapsed, the rubble nowhere to be found. Most likely buried under the sand below.

Seeing the rest of my current floor collapsed and empty, I moved to find a staircase. Quickly finding one in the corner, it led up to the next level.

“Well, I guess I better get started,” I said to myself to break this silence. This place was abandoned, with no life or sound at all.

The first two floors were mostly collapsed, only a few rooms were accessible. I found some bottle caps in the desks and a bottle of Sparkle-Cola in one of the refrigerators. I had read about the soda in the stable, but we didn’t have the means of making it ourselves. I put it in my saddlebags to sample later.

Going up another floor, the hairs on my neck stood up as something moved down one of the hallways. The figure moved out into the light, and I soon found myself staring at something mechanical, no clue of what it was. It had a dome head with several arms extending from each side of it. A burst of flame underneath it was keeping it afloat as it moved out of the hallway.

It turned its head to me, “Unauthorized personnel detected. Die Zebra Scum!”

It moved one of its arms to point at me, a bolt of green energy flying from its tip straight for me. I quickly jumped out of the way, moving to the side. I drew Venta from its sheath and ran towards the thing. It fired at me again, but I dodged it again, the bolt barely grazing my shoulder. The burn stung a bit, but I powered through and took a swipe at its arm. My sword cut through the thin appendage, and it fell to the ground.

I thought I was safe, but the stream of fire that barely missed me proved me wrong. I knew my sword would most likely not be able to cut clean through its dome, but I could disable its weapons. Dodging the flames, I cut its other arm off. Yet again, it had another weapon, a buzzsaw moved towards me. I blocked it with Venta, sparks flying as I held it. I took the opportunity to call on my magic and pull out the sawed-off shotgun I had gotten from Bloodwing Caverns. Pointing it right in the center of its dome-shaped head, I fired. The impact sent it flying backward, metal and screws cascading everywhere.

It laid there unmoving, its thruster no longer burning. The blast had made a sizable hole in the dome, parts exposed for all to see. I was not an expert on pre-war robotics, it was always more of Silver's interest, rather than mine.

I did not put my weapons away. If there was one of these things, there might be more. Reloading my shotgun, I moved with greater care. More rooms were accessible on this floor, giving me more room to explore. I found more shotgun shells in a filing cabinet, no idea why somepony would put ammunition there.

I moved to the next floor, and for my efforts, a blast of green energy struck me in the chest. The pain was excruciating, if it weren’t for my improved barding, it could have been a lot worse. I jumped back, avoiding another blast. Two of those things were attacking me now, firing green bolts of energy.

I quickly tried to clear the distance to them but had difficulty dodging the shots. I was thankful for my enhanced reflexes, as they were keeping me alive in this situation.

I found myself in front of the first one and moved to put it between me and the other robot. It tried to spew fire at me, but a blast from my shotgun stopped its attack. It crashed into its partner, knocking both to the ground. I took the opportunity to strike at the other one, stabbing my blade into the center of its head, causing sparks to fly. It moved its arms for a few seconds before it went limp.

Pulling my sword out, I was thankful that there wasn’t much damage. I couldn’t cut clean through these things, but my sword was strong enough to pierce the metal enough to be effective. Probably shouldn’t do it too much and risk damaging my blade. I had no means of repairing it, and I couldn’t risk losing it.

The burn on my chest hurt, but nothing too serious. I decided to move onward. The floor had offered no supplies, as did the next few. After a few more robot encounters, I reached the second floor from the top. It was there that I noticed something, I foul stench in the air, one I knew too well. Blood.

I saw a trail leading to the next staircase. Looking closely at it, I determined that it was at least a day old. The blood had dried but was still visible. The stench of decay was coming from the top floor. I carefully made my way up the stairs. The floor had one hallway, leading to a large set of double doors. The doors were slightly open, with the blood trail leading inside.

Opening the doors as quietly as possible, I looked inside to find quite the scene. Dried blood caked the floor, making a line straight to the desk on the other side of the room.

Slumped against the desk was a corpse, the stench was foul and burned my nose. Reaching into my saddlebags, I found a cloth and wrapped it around my muzzle. Moving closer to inspect the corpse, I discovered it to be that of a unicorn stallion. His leg was twisted in an awkward angle, leading me to believe he was attacked by something. No accident could cause an injury like that.

The corpse appeared to be a few days old from the state of decay. I noticed something lying at his hooves, two items in pristine condition. One was a revolver, a .357 magnum with an ivory grip. Picking up the weapon in my magic, I noticed it had a rose engraved on the handle, and under it was a message, it read...“My Desert Rose.”

Putting the revolver down where I found it, I picked up the other object, an audio recording. Thinking it could give me an idea of who this was, I popped it into my pipbuck and hit play. The voice sounded like a middle-aged stallion, rasping like he was struggling to talk.

Come on, Sage, you can do this. You have to.

Hello, my name is Sage Brush, Sergeant Sage Brush of the Badlands Desert Rangers. If you are listening to this, I am probably already dead. My leg is severely broken, and I’ve lost a lot of blood. There’s no getting out of this for me.

To whoever is listening to this, I hope you will accept this favor I am about to ask. Please take this recording and my revolver to my brethren at Ranger HQ near Lake Trough. Find General Marble Stone, Leader of the Rangers. She will handle the rest and ensure you are rewarded for your efforts.

Now, if you do not wish to hear a dying stallion’s last words to his family, you can go ahead and turn this off.

To my son, Tumbleweed. My dear boy, I am so sorry to leave you without a father. I failed you, and I hope you can forgive me. Please take care of your mother, she is my treasure, and help her raise your new baby sibling to be strong and kind. You are my legacy, and I have always been proud of you.

To my beautiful Desert Rose, I am so sorry. I wish I could be in your embrace right now, for it is so cold here. You were always my warmth at night, my light in the dark. My heart will always belong to you. Please take care of our boy, I know this will be hard for him. And give all my love to our new foal. I am so ashamed that I will never see her beautiful face as she opens her eyes to see the world we brought her into. I know you didn’t want to check the gender, but I just have a feeling it’ll be a filly, and I know she will be as beautiful as her mother.

It hurts to talk now, and I’ve lost all feeling in most of my body. This is goodbye.

To the General, I am sorry I failed you.

To my family, be safe and healthy in this Celestia damned Wasteland.

This is Sergeant Sage Brush, of the Badlands Desert Rangers signing off.

The recording ended, and I couldn’t help but shed a tear. This stallion had a family, and he died alone and afraid. I picked up the revolver once more, seeing the engravings and the detail this stallion put into them. I put the gun in my saddlebag for safekeeping as well as the recording. I knew my mission, but I couldn’t leave this behind. He deserved closure, and I would give it to him.

Suddenly I felt something wrap around my hind leg, and before I could turn to look behind me, I was pulling forcefully backward. I grabbed at the frame of the door as I was dragged across the room and nearly outside. I looked to see a chain was wrapped around my leg, digging into my coat, and it hurt like hell. Where did this thing come from?

The frame cracked from the pressure, and I lost my grip on it. I was pulled across the ground and into the opening at the center of the building that led all the way down to the ground floor. I screamed as I fell, but as the last few floors came into view, I suddenly stopped. The inertia nearly pulling my leg out of its socket, the pain was excruciating.

“Haha! Look at you! You look like a piñata, how exciting. And it isn’t even my cute-ceañera!” A voice said from above me.

I struggled to free myself despite the pain and shouted, “Who are you? What do you want?”

The voice gave a feminine giggle, “Oh, Shadow, come on. Why do you have to ask such boring questions? I thought you would be more fun than that.”

I froze, how did she know my name? This feeling I had, I had felt it before. In my stable, during the attack.

Before I could speak again, the chain released my leg and I fell to the ground floor, impacting with a thud, thankfully the sand cushioned my fall or it could have been a lot worse. My leg was burning with pain, but I got to my hooves and looked up to my attacker.

A pony sat on one of the old beams that had been used for the light fixtures of this floor, judging from her figure and the voice, I guessed a mare. She wore a black cloak like the one the mare wore in my stable. The mare had a weapon dangling from her hooves. A chain with a kama at the end in her hoof, the chain was long and swung slightly underneath her.

“Interesting weapon you’ve got there. Didn’t think I’d see one like it outside my stable.” I said, standing my ground.

“You like it? It’s my favorite, custom made just for me. I call her Torment, cause she’s so much fun.” The mare giggled, swinging the chain around like a toy.

“I ask again, what do you want from me?” I asked.

“Oh fine, spoilsport. I wanted to see you. Algea told us about you and the fun you two had in the stable. So I decided to come play with you myself. Wastelanders are just no fun anymore.” She said, sitting on her haunches on the beam, swinging her legs back and forth.

I looked up at her in confusion, “Who is Algea? And for that matter, who are you?”

She gasped, “She didn’t introduce herself. How rude. But I suppose we can forgive her, she must have been too excited.”

She then took to the air, doing a backflip, “As for me, I am Achlys. Goddess of misery and sadness. I will be your tormentor today.”

She then dove at me, chain spinning as she closed in. I jumped to the side at the last minute, dodging the chain and rolling across the sand.

As I picked myself up, I pulled out Venta and Umbra, both weapons pointed right at her as she turned in the air and hovered.

“You are pretty quick, but let’s see how you do in close combat.” Achlys said, wrapping the chain around her hoof. She took the kama end, and swung it into her mouth, grinning around the grip.

She charged me with great speed, swinging her head to try and cleave off my own. I ducked under her and was about to jab at her neck with my horn, but I saw the chain at the last second and jumped away from her.

I jumped back at her, Venta positioned to slash at her. But she just smiled and threw the chain around my sword, pulling it out of my magical grip. I cursed under my breath, and she took the blade in her own hooves.

“Nice blade. Good craftsmanship, not really my style, though.” Achlys said, a slightly bored expression on her face.

She threw Venta behind her, causing it to stick itself into the sand. Taking her kama back in her mouth, she leaped at me again. She was much faster this time, and I only had time to block her kama with Umbra, knocking it out of her mouth. Both our weapons slid across the sand, and she took the opportunity to tackle me.

The landing knocked the breath out of me, dazing me for a moment before I noticed the mare pinning me to the ground.

“Come on, Shadow, I’m sure you can do better than that. It’s no fun if the fight is over this quickly.” She said, grinning down at me.

I struggled to shake her off me, but she was strong. Strong enough to keep herself planted firm even with my enhanced strength. I couldn’t see a way out, both my weapons too far to reach. Then I remembered my shotgun. I quickly pulled it from my holster, and before she could react to it, I blasted her right under the chin. The shot sent her flying off me, her head hitting the beams above. After hearing a sickening crack, she fell to the sand, her body unmoving.

I got up, my leg burning with pain from the tumble I took. I limped on it a bit as I went to pick up Umbra. But as I picked up my dagger, I heard movement.

I turned back to see Achlys look back at me with an annoyed look on her face, her jaw stitching itself back together.

“Did I say you could use guns in our playtime Shadow? That really hurt.” She said, rubbing her newly reformed jaw.

My eyes grew wide as I saw her heal, just like that other mare. Shit.

I took my fighting stance, ready for her next attack. Without my sword, I had no choice but to go to unarmed combat.

She grinned maniacally at me, “Oh ho, so it’s hoof to hoof combat this time. I can get behind that idea.”

Her weapon disappeared under her cloak as she got into her own stance. She lunged at me, causing me to go on the defensive. As she drew her hoof back to strike at me, I went to block it. The force of her attack made it difficult to keep my footing, especially in the sand. She was strong, even without her weapon.

We traded blows, moving side to side, not landing any significant hits. I took to putting momentum behind my strikes, flipping over the mare to land behind her and strike at her back. What happened next shocked me, as the mare anticipated my attack and jumped upwards. What I did not see coming was when she twisted her body and hit the side of my head, using the momentum of her spin. The blow sent me flying across the room, landing on the floor and rolling into a stack of debris.

My head was spinning, I was seeing double as Achlys was walking towards me with the same sadistic glee.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Shadow? Got a headache?” Achlys said, giggling as she started hovering in the air.

The spinning was slowly subsiding, and my vision was getting back to normal. It was then that a thought occurred to me. That technique she used, no pony discipline would teach that. The flexibility, the flow of movement, the anticipation required.

I glared up at her, “That move you pulled. That’s zebra style, Fallen Caesar, to be precise. Where does a pony learn something like that?”

She just giggled again, “You recognized it. Algea said you were smart, and she wasn’t wrong. It’s just one of my many talents.”

This was bad, she had me beat in speed as a pegasus, and we were too even in strength. I had this feeling that she was not being serious about this fight either. I was running out of options. Sweat went down my brow as I tried to think of a way out of this. I saw my sword still stuck in the sand, too far to reach with magic, but I could leap towards it.

I jumped to run for my sword, but Achlys was faster than me. She wrapped her chain around my barrel, and I fell to the sand. I couldn’t move, and I tried to reach for my sword with my magic.

As my horn glowed, a sharp pain went straight through it as my magic sparked like electricity. The pain was excruciating, and went straight into my skull.

Shit. Not now!

“Aww, what’s wrong? Magic failing you? Typical unicorns, so reliant on such a fickle power.” Achlys said as I was lifted into the air, upside down. She flew me over the beams of the ceiling and wrapped the chain around the beam, causing me to dangle from it in my upside-down position.

“See, now you’re a proper piñata. Too bad I didn’t bring a cake.” Achlys said, flipping upside down to look at me face-to-face. Her smile had an innocent guise but had a clear wicked intent behind it.

“What do you want, Achlys?” I asked, not able to move due to the chains.

She tapped her chin in thought for a second, “Well, you kinda gave me a decent fight, even though you cheated. And I’m not supposed to really kill you.”

That statement caught my attention, and it got me thinking. That Algea mare in the stable, she could have easily killed Keira and me. But she just knocked us out. And here was Achlys, me at her mercy, and she was not killing me.

“Who said not to kill me? Who are you working for?” I asked.

She waved her hoof in my face, “Now now Shadow, that would be telling.”

She hovered back a bit, and struck me in the face. Pain went through my skull as her hoof made contact. And as soon as the first came, a second one followed soon after. After the fourth hit, my left eye started swelling.

“Having fun, Shadow? I sure am. Your eye looks so funny, all black and swollen like that. Tell me, how does it feel?” She said with the demeanor of a child playing with her new toy.

I simply spat in her face, not seeing anything else I could do.

That did not seem to sit well with her, as she slowly wiped the spit off her face. The smile she had was now gone, replaced by a frown that sent a shiver down my spine. She hovered there, staring at me for a minute or two. Then she slowly pulled her hoof back, and I could feel her intent change, and knew this punch would hurt a lot more than the others.

I closed my eye as her hoof flew forward, and waited for the pain. But the only thing that came was the sound of some kind of whistle.

I opened my eyes to see Achlys fly backward, pinned to the wall with a spike. She screamed in pain as the spike went into her left shoulder. More whistling noises came as more spikes pinned her limbs to the wall, causing her to scream more. As she glared my direction, her eyes widened right before a spike went through her head.

“What in Luna’s holy moon?” I said, trying to see what was happening.

Then something came into my field of vision, opposite my swollen eye. A gray coat and a leathery wing, flapping up and down.

“Merciful Luna, what did she do to you?” Moonlight said, obviously seeing my injured eye and the bruises I most likely had.

“Get him down from there, Moonlight!” A male voice yelled out from above us. I knew that voice.

“Ratchet! Moonlight! What are you two doing here?” I yelled at them, irritation clear in my voice.

“Rescuing you, now hold still.” Moonlight said, flying upwards with the other end of the chain in her hooves.

I could hear her untangling the chain from the beam, and after a while, I could feel the chain lowering. When she finally got it loose, she struggled to slowly descend with me to the sand. I landed on the ground with a soft thud, Moonlight quickly moved to help me untangle myself from the chain.

Finally, after some struggling, I was free of the chain. Ratchet had come down the stairs to meet us, and I stood across from them, a look of frustration on my face.

“What are you two doing here?” I asked them again.

“Looks like we’re saving your hide from where I’m standing.” Ratchet said, patting his railway rifle.

“Shadow, please. We can talk about this later, we need to look at those injuries.” Moonlight said, holding out a hoof in worry.

“Get out of here while you still have a chance!” I yelled at them, trying to get them to leave.

“Yes, little ponies, you should listen to him.” A voice said above us.

We all looked up to see Achlys still talking even while her head as impaled. She was frowning down at us, obviously not happy. Then she pulled at her limbs, rather than pulling the spikes out, she pulled to where the spikes passed through her flesh, blood pouring as they disappeared from sight.

Her limbs came free as large holes formed where her flesh had been pierced, her front hooves first. Then came here hind legs, leaving only the one in her shoulder and her head. She then took her hind legs and swung them up to catch the spike in her shoulder. After pulling that one out, she simply used her limbs to push off the wall, arching her back at the right angle to pull herself off the wall, the spike going through her head. The spike went out the back of her skull, but in the process of removing herself from the wall, she lost her cloak.

When she was finally freed from the spikes, she hovered down to the ground floor, her wounds already starting to heal. Without her cloak, I finally got a good look at her. Her coat was pitch black, more than any pony I had ever seen. It looked unnatural, like she was tainted. Her mane was a sickly green, tied back into a short ponytail in the back. I couldn’t see her cutie mark as she stood across from us.

“That was my favorite cloak. Now I’m gonna get sand all over me. Ugh, it’s so annoying to wash it out of my mane.” Achlys said, dusting herself off.

I stood my ground, putting myself between her and my friends. She noticed my movement and gave me an uninterested glance.

“You know what, this isn’t fun anymore. I’m going home for a nice bath.” Achlys said, taking to the air and picking up her weapon Torment.

She flew up to one of the broken windows, but looked back at me before leaving.

“Bye Shadow, it was fun for a while. Hope to play with you again soon.” She said, gaining a bit of her cheery attitude from before.

She waved goodbye to me before disappearing out the window. I stood there staring at the window, making sure she left before I let my guard down. When I was sure, I collapsed onto the ground.

“Shadow!” Moonlight yelled, running towards me.

I was so exhausted, the adrenaline wearing off, and all the pain I felt came at once. My leg, my chest, my face, all of it hurt. Moonlight gently ran her hooves across my injuries. It was actually comforting, the feeling of her soft fur made the pain a little more tolerable.

Ratchet walked over, “Well, we sure scared her off, huh?”

I immediately turned my head towards him, making Moonlight jump. My glare was hard, making him recoil a bit.

“Do you honestly believe she left because she was scared of us? You just watched her rip herself off the wall!” I yelled at him.

Ratchet chuckled nervously, “Hey now Shadow, come on. We’re alright now and that’s what counts.”

“Why did you come? Better yet, how did you find me?” I asked.

Moonlight answered my question this time, “One of the guards saw you leave town, we followed the direction he gave us and eventually saw this building after a sandstorm blew through here.”

“I had a good idea what route you would take, plus this is one of the only shelters for several miles. Figured you would come here to hide or scavenge.” Ratchet said, coming up to sit with us.

I turned away from both of them, “You should have just moved on with your lives.”

“But why? You lied to us, and left us. Tell us why Shadow.” Moonlight pleaded.

“Because being around me is dangerous! You saw what Achlys was capable of.” I shouted at them.

“Achlys? That mare who was here earlier? What is she?” Ratchet asked curiously.

“I don’t know. She’s not a normal pony, that much I know. Magic like this is unheard of, to heal from injuries like that.” I said, looking away in thought.

“The amount of power to repair her body from all those injuries, replace the blood she lost, and keep her from going into shock from the pain is terrifying.” Moonlight said, fiddling with her braid.

“That’s why I left you both at Hydra Junction. There was a mare in my stable with the same healing ability. My friend Keira cut off her head, and she grew another one in less than a minute.” I said, trying to make them understand.

Ratchet paled slightly at my words, “There are more ponies like her?”

I nodded, “If my guess is correct, there are still more out there. Achlys called herself a Goddess. Boast or not, she certainly has power behind her words.”

“If this is true, then you most certainly can’t face them by yourself. One was tough enough, but a group of them would be a nightmare.” Moonlight said worriedly.

“Why can’t you two see that being around me is going to get you killed!” I shouted.

They both stayed quiet for a minute, but eventually Moonlight spoke up, “Why do you think you need to be alone?”

“Because it’s better for all of us. You’d be better off in Hydra Junction.” I said.

“This is the Wasteland partner. Nowhere is truly safe. Raiders, slavers, monsters of all kinds rule this land. The best way to survive is to stick together.” Ratchet said, placing a hoof on my shoulder.

I hesitated, hearing his words repeat in my head before speaking, “You two barely know me. I even tried to kill you, Moonlight. Why do you trust me?”

She put her hoof on my other shoulder, “Because you’re a good stallion. You saved the ponies of Hydra Junction twice in less than a week.”

“I did that because it was right, not to get any recognition for it,” I said.

“And that right there is another example of your character. Most stallions would be puffing out their chests and letting it go to their heads. Modesty is certainly a rare trait nowadays.” Moonlight said, smiling at me.

I sighed and shook my head, “Nothing I say will change your minds then?”

Ratchet chuckled, “‘Fraid not partner. You’re stuck with us now.”

I looked at both of them, and a smile crept onto my face, “Well, I guess I have no choice. I can’t promise your safety, but truth be told, I’d enjoy your company.”

Moonlight smiled brightly at me, and Ratchet just puffed out his chest. I got up with Moonlight’s help and moved to pick up my weapons. With all my gear tucked away, I moved to the stairs.

“Shadow, where are you going?” Moonlight asked.

“There’s something I need to do before we leave,” I said, motioning to the stairs.

Moonlight and Ratchet followed me up to the stairs, all the way to the top floor. As they followed me into the office, I heard Moonlight gasp at the body. They moved beside as I looked at Sergeant Sage Brush’s corpse.

“Did that mare do this?” Ratchet asked.

“I’m not sure, but judging by her demeanor, I wouldn’t put it past her,” I said.

“To treat a Desert Ranger like this, it’s sickening.” Ratchet said.

I turned to him, “Who are these Desert Rangers?”

He smiled, “The finest group of ponies you’ll ever find in this part of the Badlands. They patrol the Northern Badlands, taking out raiders, monsters, and other dangers in the Wasteland.”

“They sound like a fine group of ponies, I thought everyone was out for themselves in the Wasteland.” Moonlight said, covering her face with her wing a bit. The smell was probably worse for her due to her heightened sense of smell. I just got used to it after a while.

“Most are, but the Desert Rangers are different. The mare in charge is quite the leader, and she doesn’t tolerate any corruption or wrongdoing among her ponies. And she’s perfectly fine with taking in outsiders.” Ratchet said, grinning widely.

“This mare in charge, is her name General Marble Stone?” I asked curiously.

“Sure is. How’d you know that, Shadow?” He asked me.

I pulled out the recording I had found, along with the revolver. I played it in my pipbuck for them to hear, and the look of dread and sadness on their faces were the same as mine.

“He was expecting another child, and now they will have to go without their father. It’s not right.” Moonlight said, tears forming in her eyes.

“I know it’s not, Moonlight, but that’s how the Wasteland is at times. Shoot, I never even knew my pop.” Ratchet said, hanging his head.

I looked at the body and felt sadness in my chest. I couldn’t just leave him here to rot.

“Ratchet, you got anything for starting a fire?” I asked him.

He looked to me curiously, “I got some oil I use for my rifle, why?”

“I can’t bury him in the sand, but I refuse to let him rot in this place. He deserves a proper sendoff.” I said, looking to him and then back to the Sergeant.

Ratchet and Moonlight looked to me and smiled, and all soon found ourselves making preparations. I levitated the body down to the bottom floor, Moonlight gathered wood for the fire, and Ratchet took oil from his saddlebag.

The fire was set, Sergeant Sage Brush’s body was set and ready. We three stood to the side, my friends were waiting for me to strike the fire. While I was not great with magic, I could make a decent enough spark for something like this. My horn glowed as a blast of embers waved over the oily cloth Ratchet had placed on the wood. The fire began to spread.

“Sergeant Sage Brush, while I never truly met you, I say these words in the hope you will pass in peace. I will find your family and deliver your message. May the Goddess Luna embrace you in her night sky, and cradle you in her glorious moonlight. May she guide your soul to the everafter, and roam the fields of paradise alongside the ancestors.” I said, lowering my head in respect and prayer.

The fire had engulfed the body, and the smoke rose up to the top of the building, flowing out of holes in the ceiling and the large broken windows.

Moonlight and Ratchet were at my sides, the thestral mare had tears in her eyes, while the stallion had a weak smile. As we stood there, seeing the Sergeant burn in the flames, I stood up and looked to them.
“We shouldn’t stay here, we should try and make some more ground before nightfall,” I said, both of them nodding in agreement. As we moved to the exit, I couldn’t help but feel like we were being watched, but it didn’t put me on edge.

I turned to look at our surroundings, seeing nothing but the fire, yet I could sense something. As I turned back to the door, at the corners of my vision, I could swear I saw something shimmer in the light.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk added: Shotgun Surgeon
You have gained more experience using shotguns. Regardless of ammo type, you ignore +10 of a target’s Damage threshold.

New Weapon: Desert Rose, unique .357 magnum revolver.

New Companion: Moonlight Song

Author's Note

Hey guys Hades here with another chapter.

New villain and of course Shadow's friends followed him. Moonlight is staying and so is Ratchet.

Achlys and Algea, now I know these names might sound weird but they actually have Greek origins, and fit their personalities. You'll see.

Till next time.