Chapter 13

-- Fear --

The desert sands were just as rough and unforgiving as ever. My new companions and I had made good time after we left the ruined building. Ratchet gave me some more detailed directions to our destination. It was actually nice to have his expertise on the area. Moonlight kept hovering over me like a mother hen, looking over my injuries from my fight with Achlys.

I had taken a healing potion and fixed most of the damage, my eye was no longer swollen, and most of the pain was gone. My leg was still sore from the fall I took when Achlys dragged me out of the office. Moonlight said I definitely pulled some muscles, and I was lucky my leg didn’t pop out of its socket. But I could manage, especially with the Med-X she gave me.

“So Ratchet, any other settlements out here? We’ve got a long way to the raider base.” I asked, looking over to him.

“Oh yeah, there’s a town about a day’s walk from here. It’s called Sandpit, it’s a trade hub for caravans in the northern part of the Badlands.” Ratchet said, pointing in the direction we were heading.

Moonlight’s ears perked at that, “So they have a lot of supplies for sale? Medical supplies, perhaps?”

Ratchet turned back to smile at her, “You bet Moonlight. They got just about everything for sale. They also got lots of stuff to do in town. A casino, a brothel, and other attractions to entertain travelers.”

“Sounds like a pretty successful settlement. We can rest there and prepare for the raider base.” I said, looking forward to seeing this place.

“Sounds like a plan partner, but we got a lot of walking before we get there. And it’s gonna be dark soon.” Ratchet said, looking to the sky.

I looked up at the grey clouds, seeing no sunlight or any indication of the time of day.

“How can you tell? The sky looks the same as it always does.” I asked him.

“It’s hard to tell if you haven’t lived out here all your life, I guess. You get a sense of the time of day. Best way to tell is the temperature. It’ll start to cool down more in the next hour or so, so we should look for some shelter and get a fire going.” Ratchet said, looking back to me.

Moonlight moved to catch up with us, having tripped a little in the sand.

“I’ve heard that the desert gets more dangerous at night. A lot of the animals prefer hunting when it’s dark, right?” Moonlight said, looking nervous.

“You heard right, Moonlight. Geckos tend to hunt at any time of the day, but the real predators come out at night, and they are much worse.” Ratchet said, keeping his gaze ahead of us.

“What other creatures can you run into out here, Ratchet?” I asked.

“Oh, you got radscorpions, radsnakes, mountain lions, giant ant lions, coyotes. The usual critters you’d find in a desert.” Ratchet said.

Moonlight tensed up, “Did… did you say mountain lions?”

Ratchet and I turned to see Moonlight shaking, her eyes darting in every direction. I moved to put a hoof on her shoulder. Her head snapped to meet my eyes, and she seemed to calm down a little.

“It’s alright, Moonlight. Nothing out here is going to hurt you. If I can take on a couple of bloodwings in a cave, then a big cat won’t be much of a problem.” I said, trying to comfort her.

It seemed to work as she smiled back at me and stopped shaking. We started walking again; though, something else Ratchet said had caught my attention.

“Ratchet, you said something about giant ant lions? What are those?” I asked.

“They’re one of the worst things to run into out here; worse than any mountain lion. The larvae bury themselves in the sand, and ambush anything that comes too close. The sand around them pulls you in, and is near impossible to escape from. Then they start throwing sand at you till they snatch ya in their huge jaws. They can get around the size of a brahmin.” Ratchet said, making my spine tingle with anxiety.

Moonlight was shaking again, “And… what about the adults?”

“Well, thankfully, they take a long time to mature. Some say it takes 20 years or so cause they’re so big. The adults are a lot worse, since they can fly. They are like giant flying kites of death that float along the sky and dive down on anything that moves. Seen one take out a hellhound once.” Ratchet said, waving his hooves in the air.

Moonlight was visibly paling now, and I wasn’t doing much better. I coughed into my mouth to get his attention. It worked, and when he saw Moonlight, he quickly stopped his rant.

“Right, sorry about that. But now don’t y’all worry. Like I said, they are quite rare. Most larvae don’t survive the first decade, whether by starvation or a well-placed grenade. Plus, you usually see the adults before they see you.” Ratchet said, trying to calm our thestral friend.

“Anyway, let’s find some shelter and get some rest. Moonlight, could you fly up and see if there is any shelter around?” I asked her.

She was hesitant, but nodded as she took to the air. She flew up a good distance and looked around. After about a minute or so, she came back down.

She pointed in a direction slightly off our course, “There’s an old ruined building that way. Looks abandoned, and the roof is intact.”

“Sounds like a good place to hunker down for the night. Come on, let’s see what we got.” Ratchet said, leading the way.

We moved over the dunes, and across the ocean of sand as we soon caught sight of the building in question. It was only a two-story building, the roof intact like Moonlight said. Several windows were shattered, and the front doors looked like they were still intact. There was some writing on the building, but it was too faded to make anything out.

“Well, no point in just staring at it. Come on, partners.” Ratchet said, leading the way yet again.

We made it to the front doors, and I pulled out my sword just in case. Ratchet’s battle saddle clicked as the safety was disengaged. He and I moved to the sides of the door, Moonlight moving behind me.

I nodded to Ratchet, and he nodded back. I kicked the door open and looked inside. The place looked abandoned, no sign of movement whatsoever. The room was a large lobby area, an empty space taking the majority of the room where I assumed furniture had been at one point. There was a large desk in the back with a hallway entrance behind it. After a minute of looking around the room, we relaxed. My EFS wasn’t picking up anything, so we began to set up camp. Moonlight gathered a bunch of old chairs and some rotten wood for the fire, allowing me to light it. With all the windows opened on this floor, we didn’t have to worry about the smoke.

Ratchet had laid down and taken off his battle saddle. He took out a bunch of tools from his saddlebags and began to work on his railway rifle. I sat down by the fire, Moonlight lying next to me.

“Hey Shadow, toss me your guns. I’ll give em a once over for ya.” Ratchet said, still tinkering with his own rifle.

“Sure thing. Thanks, Ratchet,” I said, levitating my shotgun and Desert Rose over to him.

He took my shotgun in his hooves first, looking it over and eyeing it with detail. Taking out some more tools from his saddlebags, he started taking it apart.

“Blackberry sure did a good job on this thing. I remember seeing it when we were dragging you out of the caverns. It was a beat-up piece of junk.” Ratchet said before taking a screwdriver in his mouth.

“It came in pretty handy when I fought some robots back in that last building. Even gave Achlys a good hit, though it didn’t kill her.” I said.

After taking out some screws, he spat out the screwdriver, “Yeah, these things pack quite the kick at close range, but aren’t that great at longer ranges.”

He looked up at me while he was oiling some parts, “So you didn’t bring any guns from your stable? Not a smart idea, Shadow.”

I rubbed the back of my head, “Well, we were raided before I came out, and they made off with a lot of our guns. Plus, I wasn’t really the best shot in the stable.”

“Well, that stinks. Shotguns are nice, but won’t help you much against enemies with rifles.” Ratchet said, finishing the cleanup.

He put the gun back together, it looked almost as good as new. He passed it back to me and took the revolver in his hooves next.

“Now, this is a thing of beauty. A .357 magnum with a nice ivory grip in great condition.” Ratchet said, looking over the gun.

He stopped around the base of the hammer, just above the grip. He took out a magnifying glass, and was quiet for a few seconds.

“Oh ho ho, I knew I recognized this craftsmanship. Shadow, come over here and take a look at this.” Ratchet said excitedly.

I walked over to him, and he passed me the magnifying glass. Taking it in my magical grip, I looked to where he pointed and found something. It looked like a brand, in the form of a hammer striking an anvil.

“That brand right there belongs to the finest blacksmith in all the Badlands, Hephaestus.” Ratchet said, sounding like a fanboy.

“Guess he’s pretty famous around here, huh?” I asked, smirking at him as he got a dreamy look in his eye.

“Of course he’s famous! He lives in Olympia, and makes the best weapons and armor in the world. Guns, armor, swords, he can make anything.” Ratchet said, beaming with admiration.

“Sounds like you really admire him?” I said, still smirking.

He blushed a little and rubbed the back of his head, “Well, yeah. I’ve always wanted to meet him. I know I’ll never be as good as he is, but I’ve always dreamed of learning under his teachings.”

His shoulders slumped, “But it’ll never happen. I’ll never get to Olympia, let alone get a chance to meet him.”

I smiled at him, “Never say never, Ratchet. I’m sure you’ll get there one day. I have to say, this Hephaestus sounds a lot like my Uncle Forge in the stable. He made my sword and dagger.”

Ratchet’s ears perked up at that, “Is that so? I don’t have much experience in forging swords yet, but they do look impressive.”

We talked for a bit longer as he finished cleaning Desert Rose. He eventually finished, and I took my seat back over by Moonlight. She hadn’t noticed me yet, as she had her nose stuck in a book. So I did what I used to do to Silver back in the stable, I leaned over her shoulder.

“So whatcha reading there?” I said, right next to her.

She jumped a little, and turned to me with a pout, “Shadow, you scared me.”

I chuckled and pulled away, “Alright, I'm sorry. I used to do that to my cousin back home, she reacted a lot like you just did. Only it usually resulted in me getting my head smacked with a book.”

She giggled a little and went back to reading. I peeked at the cover, and saw the title “Herbs of the Desert, Survivor’s Guide.”

“Reading up on the local flora?” I asked.

She nodded but didn’t look away from the book, “There are a lot of interesting plants in the desert, despite what ponies might think. Some soothe pain, some help with coughing, and some even help with snake bites.”

My ears perked up, “Fascinating. I wonder what kind of potions I can make out of them?”

She turned to me, “You’re an alchemist?”

I smiled proudly, “Sure. Taught by two of the best masters in Stable 100, my mother being one of them.”

She smiled and bookmarked her spot before putting her book down, “I guess I should have expected as much. Zebras were always well-known for their alchemy skills.”

I nodded, “that’s true, but not all tribes were experts in it. The Mendi tribe were most famous for their healing brews. Others, like the Roamani and the Achu, were more focused on developing their fighting capabilities.”

Moonlight looked to me curiously, “I had no idea the zebras had such a diverse culture between the different tribes.”

“Not many ponies know about the different tribes. Most just remember the ones that fought on the front lines for the Caesar.” I said solemnly.

Moonlight sighed but then looked to me again, “So what tribe are you from?”

I smiled at her, “Well, my tribe is a bit complicated. We weren’t technically a part of Zebrica, and weren’t all zebras either.”

Both she and Ratchet looked at me with confusion.

I started to grow uncomfortable, “Please don’t take this the wrong way, you two, but I’m really not supposed to talk about my tribe or my stable with outsiders.”

“Well, I guess since you got attacked, y’all wouldn’t be very trusting. I’ll let it slide for now.” Ratchet said, shrugging it off.

“I understand Shadow, but I’d love to hear more of the other tribes if you can tell us about them. Maybe more about this Mendi tribe?” Moonlight said, looking at me with hopeful eyes.

I chuckled and nodded, going into more detail on the Mendi and how they grew to be so famous with their healing brews and medicine.

As we kept talking into the night, we started to feel drowsy. We all agreed to get some sleep and trade watch every few hours. I took the first watch, and the others soon fell asleep.

The night was peaceful in the light and warmth of the fire. I only wished that I could see the light of the moon. I had only read about it in books, and I longed to feel the light of our goddess Luna on my fur.

Suddenly, I heard something behind me. Further inside the building, a pile of rocks had moved, not enough to wake the others, but my trained hearing picked it up. I got up slowly, picking up my equipment quietly and made my way towards the source of the noise. It was past a doorway leading back into a long hallway in the back of the building.

Moving through the hallway, another noise caught my ear. Movement in one of the side rooms, and sounds of shuffling. I walked quietly but quickly to the door leading to the room in question, hugging the wall and peeking inside. The light was faint in the room, so I could not see clearly, but what I could see was a figure in the back.

It seemed to be a pony, hunched over and looking away from me. The light still wasn’t great, so I couldn’t make out anything. They didn’t seem hostile, so I decided to get closer.

“Hello, are you alright?” I asked, reaching out cautiously to the figure.

To my horror, the figure turned to reveal empty white eyes, void of intelligence, and life. The creature looked like a pony, but as my eyes adjusted, I could see it wasn’t right. The fur was nearly gone, the skin was brown like it had been dried out in the sun, flaking in places. When it opened its maw to growl at me, its teeth were jagged and pointed.

The beast lunged at me, but I was quick enough to sidestep it, and it fell to the ground. It quickly recovered and jumped at me again. I drew Venta, and with a fast slash, its head rolled to the ground, its body falling limply to the floor.

“What the hell?” I asked, looking at the decapitated creature.

A scream filled the air, one quite high in volume.

“Moonlight!” I yelled, running back down the hall towards our camp.

As I turned into the doorway leading to the open room, I saw chaos. Three of the creatures had Ratchet with his back to the wall. His railway rifle whistled, and one flew across the room as a spike dug into its chest. The others didn’t seem to mind that one of their own had been killed, and steadily kept advancing.

Another scream came as one of the creatures had pounced on Moonlight, trying to bite into her shoulder. She thrashed around, her wings fluttering as she tried to fly away. It kept trying to bite into her flesh as she attempted to escape.

Not on my watch, you son of a bitch!

I charged for them, sword glimmering in the faint light as it lunged forward, piercing its head and causing it to scream before going limp.

I threw it off of Moonlight, and she immediately clung to me. I tried to calm her down, but another shot from Ratchet reminded me it wasn’t over. I grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Moonlight, we need to help Ratchet. Here take this.” I said, handing her my new revolver.

She looked terrified and took the gun with shaky hooves. I turned and quickly reached into my pack with magic, taking out my potion case and picking out a light gray potion. Uncorking the bottle, I promptly chugged it down. The draft took effect, and my body felt like lightning had run through it.

I screamed and ran at the creatures attacking Ratchet. My sword and dagger floating by my sides, the former cleaving off the head of one of the creatures as I made it across the room. The others took notice of me and began to circle me like predators. I stood my ground, returning their growls as we sized each other up.

The first struck, charging at my right side, earning it a dagger in its eye. Two more rushed to attack, I spun my blade and cut a leg off one of them, but missed the other, my sword grazing it’s chest as it ducked back the last second. The one I missed managed to bite into my shoulder, causing me to shout in pain. It bit down hard, and I couldn’t pry it off with my weak telekinesis.

So I did the next best thing, I slammed it to the ground with my shoulder, using my weight to break its jaw, making it let go. After it let go, I stabbed it in the eye with Umbra. The next one jumped on top of me, but a quick whistle and the thing flew off me. Getting up, I saw Ratchet grinning as his gun smoked.

His face grew a look of worry as he looked behind me, “Shadow, we got more of ‘em coming from the hallway!”

I turned in the direction of the corridor, and sure enough, at least six of them were coming. Another scream pierced the air, and I turned once again to Moonlight, who had another one closing in on her.

“Ratchet, hold them off, I’ll get Moonlight!” I shouted to my friend, who nodded in response.

I quickly ran towards the thestral mare, who was fumbling with the revolver in her mouth. All she needed to do was pull the trigger.

But the shot never came as she stood there frozen.

“Moonlight, take the shot!” I shouted as I tried to move faster. My shout broke her out of her stupor, and she dropped the gun, flying upward onto an old ceiling light. The creature tried to jump after her, but it couldn’t jump high enough.

I closed the distance and picked up the revolver in my magical grip, aiming for the creature. Not wanting to trust my rusty skills, I went into SATS and lined up two shots to the head. I released the spell, my shots hitting home. The first bullet penetrating its eye while the other hit its muzzle, shattering it with a gory splatter of guts.

The creature hit the ground dead, and I turned to find more of the creatures coming. SATS had not recharged, so I had to shoot the old fashioned way. The revolver floating in my magical grip, I recalled the lessons with Master Gutshot.

I fired off four more shots, three of them hit their targets, killing two of the creatures and crippling another. As I went to reload, though, another got close and tried to bite at me. He got my sword through his skull for the effort.

Ratchet then appeared beside me and pulled out a grenade. “Fire in the hole!”

He threw the grenade at the doorway where more were coming in. I covered my ears just in time for the explosion that rang out. Blood and body parts flew everywhere as everything went quiet.

I looked at the doorway, and there were no more creatures trying to push through. No more signs of movement, no more growls and snarls. It was over.

I breathed a sigh of relief and put my weapons away. Ratchet collapsed to the floor in exhaustion.

“I hate ferals. Should have known better than to trust an abandoned building.” Ratchet said, relaxing on the floor.

“Ferals? What were those things, Ratchet?” I asked.

He turned to me with curiosity, which turned to understanding after a few seconds, “oh right, Stable pony. Probably never seen a ghoul before.”

Moonlight then came down from the ceiling light, “Ghoul?”

“Yeah, Ghouls. Ponies who were exposed to a lot of radiation, turning them into these things. Most of their fur falls off, skin starts to flake, etc.” Ratchet said.

“Now don’t get me wrong, most ghouls are still ponies inside, not much different than us. But eventually, they lose their minds and go feral. Attacking anything that moves. They also don’t age—some of them have been around since the Great War.”

“Really? That’s interesting. What else changes? Their diet?” Moonlight asked, her voice having a hint of curiosity and interest.

“Well, ghouls technically don’t need to eat or drink; or sleep for that matter. They’re like a walking corpse, and ferals are basically zombies.” Ratchet answered.

“So these ghouls were ponies once. It’s tragic. At least they can rest in peace now.” I said, holding my shoulder where I got bit.

“Shadow! You’re hurt!” Moonlight yelled, immediately moving to look at my injury.

“It’s not too bad. I’ll be fine.” I said, trying to calm her.

She dug into her saddlebags and pulled out a vial. Smearing some salve on her hoof, she spread it along my wound, making it sting a bit. But soon, the pain ebbed away. She then wrapped it in bandages and smiled at me.

“Better?” She asked.

“Yeah, much better. Where did you get that?” I asked, looking at the vial.

“Oh, I made it. Back in Hydra Junction while you were unconscious. Healing potions are expensive and don’t really help with pain or fighting infections. This is an herbal remedy my mom taught me. It soothes pain and kills any infection.” Moonlight said, putting the vial away.

“So that’s what you were doing in the doc’s office. That’s pretty handy there, Moonlight.” Ratchet said, walking up to her and giving her a light tap on the shoulder.

She blushed and fidgeted with her braid. “It’s not that impressive. A pretty simple mixture, really.”

I chuckled at her embarrassment, “don’t sell yourself short, Moonlight. That’s a pretty useful talent you have.”

Her blush brightened, and she hid her face behind a wing, making both me and Ratchet laugh.

After a while, we decided to check the rest of the building, just to make absolutely sure there were no more ghouls. Walking down the same hallway I had checked before, we looked in room after room, and found nothing. We moved to the farthest place in the building, the back rooms.

“Hey Shadow, what was that potion you took back there?” Moonlight asked as we moved down the hallway.

“It’s called White Wood Sap, it helps my body maintain my heart rate and stamina by regulating the oxygen in my blood,” I answered her.

“No wonder you weren’t out of breath after all that fighting. But isn’t that dangerous?” Moonlight said, walking beside me.

“Only in large doses and extensive usage. My metabolism allows my body to handle changes like these, but it can still be dangerous if used lightly.” I said.

“Can I see the vial, please?” She asked me.

I nodded and passed her the vial. She took it and flapped her wings, hovering in the air so she could hold it and move. She sniffed the vial a few times, putting her hoof on her chin in thought.

“Hmm, vermilion, ribleaf, crow’s eye. And… berbercane fruit!” Moonlight said gleefully as she guessed the contents.

“That’s right. You could tell all that from the scent? I’m impressed.” I said.

“Well, my mom taught me everything she knows about herbs and medicine. Plus, we grow a bunch of these back home. I didn’t think that other places would have a wide variety of plants.” She said, passing the vial back to me and landing.

“I don’t get a single thing you two are on about. Plants are just plants to me.” Ratchet said, shaking his head at us.

We all laughed for a while, making it to the last few rooms in the back. We each took a door—Moonlight and Ratchet leaving the farthest room for me. But as I got to the door and was ready to open it, something caught my eye.

The door had some kind of plaque on it, but I couldn’t make it out because of the dust covering it. I took my hoof and rubbed out the soot from the shiny surface, and my eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.

The symbol of the door was a full moon, decorated with magic runes and glyphs. I took out my necklace from under my barding and looked back and forth between the two. A perfect match.

Why is this here?

I attempted to push the door open, but it was locked. I bashed it with my shoulder in desperation, I needed to get in.

“Whoa Shadow, easy there partner. Where’s the fire?” Ratchet said as he came up behind me with Moonlight.

“Ratchet, I need to get in this room. Got any bobby pins?” I asked him with a bit of urgency.

“Sure do partner. Need me to pick that lock?” He said, pulling out a few bobby pins.

“I can get it, just didn’t have any bobby pins, thanks,” I said, grabbing a few pins in my magic.

Pulling a screwdriver out of my saddlebags, I worked the lock. Master Zala taught us how to infiltrate restricted areas to retrieve intel, so this was all too familiar to me. The tumblers fell into place, and a click told of my success. Didn’t break a single pin.

Opening the door—an office space greeted me. Ruined bookshelves lined the walls, and a desk sat to the far side of the room. On the desk was a glowing terminal. I immediately ran to the terminal, the login display was the same as in the stable.

“Shadow, what’s gotten into you?” Moonlight said, flying across the room to my side.

“The symbol on that door, it belongs to my tribe,” I said, typing at the keys to find the password.

“What’s it doing in a place like this then?” Ratchet said as he joined us.

I didn’t answer as the computer made a noise, showing me that I had picked the right password. I wasn’t as skilled with terminals as I was with locks, but this one wasn’t all that hard. The password turned out to be “Shelter.”

The files came into view, most of it was corrupted and inaccessible. But one file, in particular, was available. I clicked on it, and a journal entry came into view.

EREC Relief Center #12-101

Badlands, South of the Equestrian Border

Another day, and more victims of the war are piling in. But we are prepared to help them as is our duty. The directors came by today for an inspection. Everything is going great, of course. Their presence seemed to bring a sense of calm to the residents here. Zebras and ponies alike feel safe when they are with the EREC.

But not everything has been going well this week. Another representative of the Ministry of Peace came today. I told them that we had everything under control, and their assistance was not needed. I know Ministry Mare Fluttershy can be trusted, but we cannot allow the Ministries to get their hooves on our company.

I admire Fluttershy like any other doctor, but I’ve seen myself what the ministries are truly capable of. More news has come out of another attempt by the Ministry of Image to offer its partnership. The directors refused, of course. Have you seen what they publish in those textbooks? Zebras, with red eyes, portrayed as savages. I’ve met plenty of zebras, and they can be so sweet and helpful to others.

Honestly, I don’t trust any other ministry other than the MOP. The MOW hates zebras more than anything, and Ministry Mare Applejack wants nothing to do with the EREC. As if we need their help. As long as we have the directors, we will see this war through and help everyone we can.

Well, time to get back to it. The little ones need their bandages changed, and after Nurse Petalbrush got the flu, we have been a little overwhelmed. Poor dear.

Doctor Gingko

After reading the entry, I felt strange. Like Doctor Gingko was hiding something in her words. I wondered what had happened to her after the bombs dropped. Was she one of the ghouls we had slain?

Suddenly another option appeared on the screen. “Open safe.”

I clicked it, and a safe door opened at the bottom of the desk. I leaned down to look inside, and something I had only seen in storage at Research and Development met my gaze.

I reached inside with my hoof and pulled out a pink memory orb. Holding it in my hooves, I felt drawn to it.

“What’s that, Shadow?” Moonlight asked, looking at the orb in my hooves.

“Well hot dog, that’s a memory orb. Pretty rare around these parts.” Ratchet said, leaning against me.

“Memory orb?” Moonlight asked curiously.

“They’re magical items that store the memory of a living being. Unicorns can extract a person’s memory and make orbs like this for others to watch and experience the memory themselves.” I answered her, still looking at the orb.

“Yeah, only unicorns can watch them without some fancy tech device or something.” Ratchet said, looking through the rest of the office.

After obtaining more caps and junk, we went back to camp to get some sleep. It was difficult to sleep after both the ghoul attack and finding that office.

So the EREC still had buildings in the wasteland. Perhaps I could find more of our history. Auntie and Silver would like that.

Footnote: Level Up

New Perk added, Gunslinger.

Your experience with one-handed weapons has improved. You now gain 25% accuracy in SATS when using one-handed weapons.

Author's Note

Next chapter is finally out. Been having trouble writing, but I feel like I've gotten back into it. Enjoy you guys.

Hades