Shadow of Equestria

I was apprehensive about the legitimacy of Money Bags’s info, stemming entirely from my forced reliance on this fat mare. Surely, she’d find some way to fuck me over, one way or another. When I reached the top of the bunker, a thought crossed my mind. She never gave me specifics about where to find those bandits.

Damn it.

She gave me a mission and probably thought I was capable of finding out where these bandits were. How could I have missed the most important detail of any job? I heaved yet another sigh, feeling quite annoyed and toyed with. Maybe I could ask Pathfinder where these bandits were hiding out.

My search for Pathfinder ended as soon as it started when I spotted her waiting expectantly a few paces away from Money Bags’s bunker. The look on her face told me she wanted answers again, and I hoped it wasn’t about my identity. We’d already been through a traumatizing first impression.

“Did you finish your chat with her?” Pathfinder inquired.

“Yeah. She’s sending my ‘pretty tush’ on a mission,” I said with a snort. “Wants me to bring back some precious cargo that somepony named Fox Meat was delivering.”

Pathfinder grunted, raising a hoof up to her temple. I wasn’t sure if she simply had a headache or if she hated what I told her. Maybe it was both.

“Yob tvoyu… You’re with me and the gang over there,” she said finally, lowering her hoof.

I raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Pathfinder shifted uncomfortably and mumbled, “Unfortunately.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, biting my bottom lip with a vengeance. Why the fuck does everypony have to be so difficult? Is it really that hard to try to pretend somepony else isn’t just a stain on their lives?

“Are you alright?” she asked cautiously.

“Yeah,” I said, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a hiss. “I’m fine.”

“Alright…” she said, though it was clear that she wasn’t convinced.

“I need some time alone,” I said, stepping around her. I certainly needed time to think. There was just too much on my mind to keep myself sane, especially amidst the clear animosity towards me.

A tug at my tail stopped me in my tracks. “Hof’ ahn,” I heard Pathfinder say before she spat my tail out from her mouth and groaned in disgust. “I understand you feel obligated to hide, but some of these ponies actually want to talk with you. Make an effort, if only for the sake of unit cohesion; they won’t care for a pure stranger’s life in the thick of things,” she said without a smile. She was likely being honest. I liked that. At least I could trust her to be true and dour instead of false and cheery.

I took another deep breath, bringing my own hoof to my forehead and trying to rub away the irritation and distaste. Maybe I was just acting like a foal. I’m sure nopony else would want to be treated like a menace just because they didn’t know you. What would others have done if they were put in my horseshoes?

As we approached the group, my legs wobbled uncertainly, perhaps out of nervousness, perhaps out of fear. Their eyes turned on me again once I came within spitting distance, and I froze, though only for a short moment before I felt a gentle jab against my rear. I tried not to make eye contact as I stepped closer, but everywhere I glanced, there was a pair of eyes that met my own.

“Hey! New Meat! Salaga!” a voice called out to me. A yellow pegasus with a blue mane and a wide grin waved frantically at me, her hoof a blur. Once she got my attention, she set her hoof down, still bouncing excitedly. “Come sit near me!”

I hesitated, of course. One wrong move and I could send each of these ponies into a hissy fit. I maneuvered cautiously across the many tin cans and lunch plates scattered over the dirt, taking special care not to disturb anything. It felt almost as if I had stepped into a dragon’s den. Once I had gotten close to my destination, I leapt and landed beside the yellow pegasus without touching any pony or thing that belonged to them.

“Wow,” was all she could say.

I squirmed under her stare. “Did you need something?” I hesitantly asked.

“Nope. I’m just amazed! Oh, wait, I got a lot of questions to throw your way!” The yellow pegasus fidgeted weirder than usual. Her expression twisted and morphed before my very eyes. I anticipated what she was about to ask me, preparing a classic I-don’t-know, or a few eyebrow raisers. So bright without reason. Was she mocking me?

The pegasus’s face lit up and then she leaned uncomfortably close to my face. “Where did you come from? Did you kill before? You came from the Impassable East, right? You have to tell me as much as you can. Just tell me everything you know, or wait! I have a real question.” The yellow pegasus took a deep breath of air. “Do you want to kill us all?”

Called it, she’s mocking me. I had to restrain my irritation; her accent told me she’s not from where I was. Maybe she thinks this is just how you make friends?

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed discreet movement from the ponies across from me, and I could feel sweat crawl down my brow. Oh, sweet Celestia, my life was dependant on this question. What was I going to say? What were they going to believe? Pathfinder thought I was lying. There’s no way they were going to believe me.

“Uh, New Meat?”

Fuck.

“No, no, no. I’ve never considered trying to kill. I just don’t really remember anything, let alone what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know what to say.” I tried not to stumble over my words as I replied.

The yellow pegasus raised an eyebrow and giggled.

I felt a gentle tap on my back. I looked up to find a beefy purple pony with a humble smile over her lips. She wore an eyepatch, her one rosey eye gazed at me with peculiar attentiveness.

“Don’t mind my sisters, we as a group can come across as hostile.” Her soothing voice relaxed me to a certain degree. “Sisters, put your weapons away. She’s a guest.” The purple pony looked at each of her sisters with their brandished weapons, then she glanced at the yellow pegasus sitting beside me. “Lofty, leave her alone.”

The yellow pegasus named Lofty drooped her ears and said quietly, “Sorry, Trotty, I was just a little excited about our new friend here.”

“I’m excited too, my eager beaver.” The purple pony named Trotty peered downward, then looked up to me with a relaxed smile. “My gut hasn’t complained about her yet. My stomach tells me a lot about ponies. It’s a gift of mine.” She said with pride.

Lofty looked over and pointed a hoof at me. “Always trust her gut, New Meat.”

“Her gut’s a bunch of horse shit,” A unicorn across from me said under her breath,

Lofty snapped her head to the unicorn. “Hey, Kosher, Why don’t you stop being such a stuck-up bitch?” Lofty hissed.

Kosher’s face twisted into anger as she glared at Lofty. “Okay, you know what? Fuck you,” she snarled.

“Hey!” a booming voice came from behind the group. It was Pathfinder. “Cut the fucking bitching!”

Kosher crossed her forehooves together and cursed, and I had to suppress the urge to roll my eyes. Almost as kind to me as Money Bags, she was. The encounter with all of these ponies gave me a decent impression about how they saw me though. Some were cautious, some were hostile, others were indifferent. I was somewhat reassured, but I wasn’t going to feel any more comfortable sticking around with them.

I couldn’t wait to see how well we all cooperated in a fun teamwork exercise together.

With all the chit chat out of the way, the preparations for the upcoming battle were rather slow. I unpacked my old rations and had an unappetizing meal with my new group. It was a rather quiet thirty minutes around the fire. Nopony spoke much to each other, but when there was conversation, it was little more than a hushed murmur, followed by a close-mouthed chuckle. Maybe it was a joke targeted toward me? I couldn’t tell.

The group’s awkward silence was broken by the gruff voice of Pathfinder. “Okay. Start packing your shit, ladies!”

Each pony packed their stuff away, wrapping up their tins and other trash laying around into dirty cloth sheets. Watching what they were doing, I looked over to Lofty and levitated my trash over to her and asked, “Hey, mind if I put my trash with yours?”

“No prob!” she replied all too cheerfully.

I stomped on the two cans, turning them into crude discs before placing them on top of Lofty’s fine looking mess. Tartarus, even her trash looked better than mine. I grimaced at the aftertaste of my metal-laced lunch.

“Can you tie it for me?” Lofty asked. Wordlessly, I tied the piece of cloth neatly in a tight bundle and placed it into the blazing campfire, just like everypony else had done with their trash.

“Open your ears,” Pathfinder said, clapping her hooves. “We’re going to go over our plan of action one more time with Dossier over here—”

Kosher groaned loudly and rolled her eyes.

“Excuse me?” Pathfinder turned to Kosher. Despite not being the target of her gaze, I could still feel the intensity of her glare.

“We’ve heard it about eight times now. I’m sick of hearing shit that I already know!”

“Did you hear what I just told you? This is for Dossier. She needs to know.”

“To hell with her.”

Pathfinder didn’t say anything. She just strode up to Kosher and clocked her clean across the jaw with a resounding crack. “Next time will be with my stock.” That seemed to shut her up, and she simply heaved a deep breath before crossing her forelegs.

With the silence, I cleared my own throat and spoke. “If it makes you feel any better. I’m planning on leaving this place once I get my information,” I said, trying to reassure Kosher and the group.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that,” Trotty replied.

Lofty nodded her head in agreement. “Please stay, Dossier.”

I grimaced. It was strange how these two were acting… Well, it didn’t matter if I disappointed these two ponies. My search for Gray Steel had to come first.

“Okay,” Pathfinder grumbled, “let's get back on track. Fillies, eyebaaaallllllls!” Everypony else and I looked up at Pathfinder, who paced impatiently in front of us, not stopping until she knew she had everypony’s attention. “Here’s the plan: we split into two groups, one with the more experienced of us, and the other with the ponies who haven’t fought at all. You girls know who belongs in each group. Dossier, you’re with me and Lofty.

“Our objective is one of our outposts, an old radio tower that we turned into a lookout. You can’t miss it heading east. When we arrive at the outpost, we’ll position ourselves just outside of the tower. The rookies and I will head in first as a distraction. Get ready for my call when we make our move.

“If we do this right, we should be back home for a nice big bowl of carrot and pea soup.” Pathfinder explained.

A roar of cheers made me jump in surprise. They really liked that plan, astonishingly enough. Even Lofty seemed to approve, despite the fact that she and I were two of the ponies up front, risking our lives. This plan made my stomach churn, but I kept the concern to myself.

The girls sitting around the campfire broke apart and set out to prepare. I simply sat there, fidgeting with my gear. My knife and pistol were the only things I had to defend myself for now, and I had little in the way of preparations to make. I tried to make myself comfortable while I waited for everypony else.

Pathfinder trotted past me. “Hey, Doss. I know Money Bags didn’t give you proper gear, so I’m giving you one of my pieces,” she stated, walking into a nearby house. She came back out a few minutes later, levitating another object in her telekinesis.

It was a rifle. That was obvious enough. It looked to be nearly as old as my Telogreika. The rose wood was scarred and cracked, and the metal of this ancient bolt action rifle had no protection from the elements. It certainly had seen a lot of action, judging by the numerous stains and scratches. As she brought it closer, I recognized it as an M44 carbine. Bolt action, 5 round magazine, 7.62x54mmR. She said, “Don’t carry chambered hot; no drop safety -- just load four and run the bolt if we fight.”

Classic.

Pathfinder gave me the rifle along with a hoofful of cartridges, enough for a few magazines. They were every color from golden brass to something like bronze to a weird yellow to steel grey to even a kind of dark brown. Different tips and bands adorned them. I’d need an armorer to tell me what they all meant. I inspected the primers. All good. I stared down at the M44 with a grimace. Holy crap, this firearm had never gotten a single coat of oil on it. I almost didn’t want to look down the bore. It was probably worse than the exterior. If I shot this thing, it would likely explode in my face and kill me.

Still, I became acquainted with my new toy. When I cycled the bolt a few times, it was surprisingly… smooth.

Good old Ponipole hardware.

The girls didn’t take very long preparing for the battle. In a few short minutes, everypony met up by the campfire again. They were well equipped. Earth ponies had a type of blade device attached to their foreleg and sported a vest with throwing knives in tiny little holsters.

Pegasi were armed to the teeth with makeshift grenades, knives, and even the foreleg knife device. There was a select variety, not too many items, but enough to keep themselves defended against attackers while remaining mobile.

Unicorns were very minimal. Two unnamed unicorns of the experienced group had simple semi-automatic rifles slung at their side. They wore a tactical rig with what looked to be kevlar or a steel plate carrier and without helmets to not obstruct their horns. It was tough to tell.

They looked to be ready for a small scale war. Here I am, without any of their gear and going into this with a peashooter and an old rifle. I needed an armored vest and a helmet.

Yup. I was going to die.

“Get moving, Alpha group. I’ll call once we get into position,” Pathfinder said.

Half of the Rookie Haven residents started leaving the village, one by one, Alpha vanished, en route to their ordered location. It was rather quiet afterward. Just Me, Lofty and Pathfinder remained.

There wasn’t anything noteworthy to see outside the village. The walk was rather tame, and when we reached the old concrete road, I spotted the radio tower off in the distance. Despite the vast open space, I found myself feeling a touch claustrophobic. My head was on a swivel -- left, spotting nothing more than a couple of tall trees. Then right, only to see more trees, left again, trees, again right, more trees. I sigh as quietly as I could. My ears twitched at what sounded like muffled chopping in the air, I glance backward, and I caught a glimpse of something black flying through the air in the distance.

What was that?

I guess it wasn’t anything too alarming. I’m sure the girls would understand if I didn’t alert them of the black object, or will they? It’d be a feasible decision. I opened my mouth to speak, but before even my voice could escape, a distant howl from an unknown animal made the fur on my back stand up. My contemplation was broken. I took hold of my gun, keeping my rifle at the ready just in case things went south.

I watched the road carefully. There was a tiny incline ahead of us, the barking came from beyond that way. Pathfinder raised her hoof. She started moving to the right side of the road, once her hooves were on the dead grass, she tiptoed further toward the forest. Lofty and I followed along. Pathfinder made us disperse ten feet apart so we couldn’t all be killed by one attack.

“We got a pack of mutts up ahead, probably just leathery bags of skin and bones. Just be ready to fight if we need to.” Pathfinder whispered. “Fix the bayonet; they aren’t worth the ammo.”

There’s a bark once again, accompanied by tapping against the concrete road. Pathfinder has her firearm ready, she has it fixed where we couldn’t see. I mimicked her, drawing my old rifle, and peering down the iron sights to scan the incline. Where were these assholes?

And finally, they revealed themselves, cresting over the hill and snarling. Five medium-sized creatures with brown leathery skin and swollen eyes prowled toward us, only passably recognizable as dogs.

“Okay…” Pathfinder said cautiously. “We might have to get rid of them. How did the other team miss these freaks?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Lofty mumbled as she unsheathed a short blade from the device around her foreleg.

I needed something semi-auto for this encounter. I yanked the M44’s spike bayonet forward and pointed it at the closest dog, aiming down the stock and barrel. I exhaled quietly, attempting to keep my breathing steady. It would jump at me and I would catch it.

Suddenly, my PDA hissed static, and a voice crackled through the speaker.

“Hey, look. We got a group of stalkers down there. Let's light them up.”

“Hold up, who the hell was that?” Pathfinder remarked.

Before any of the blind dogs could come any closer to us, the chopping sound from earlier became thunderous and deafening, the air blowing down on us tossing up dirt.

Pathfinder bolted into the forest, Lofty followed suit like a scared puppy. I didn’t ask, just followed, think she’d know better. I threw myself against the muddy ground, right beside a couple of trees that would presumably protect me from their assault. When I landed, I rotated myself onto my stomach and remained perfectly still, anticipating what would come next.

I was able to hear their voices over the behemoth aircraft blades.

“I think we best save our ammo,” a smoother male voice replied, “Our next trip ain’t gonna be for a while.”

“Right.”

“Our boys will take care of them stalker folk down there.”

I didn’t glance up, instead, I listened closely. The helicopter’s thunderous chopping became but a muffled thumping. Where did it go exactly? In the words of Lofty: Don’t know, don’t care. I wiped away the perspiration buildup at my forehead and turned my attention to my teammates. Lofty and Pathfinder were already off of the ground, they shifted uncomfortably as they walked together onto the road.

“Who were those guys?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Military,” Pathfinder said, and then audibly gulped. “We could’ve been a pile of ground pony meat if they decided on that plan.”

“Score one for scrawny budgets and corruption,” Lofty murmured.

“We’re lucky they didn’t,” Pathfinder said with a nod before looking closely at my bags. “Your PDA can pick up communication devices?”

“I didn’t know,” I replied, picking myself up from the ground while dusting off leaves and chunks of mud off of my coat.

“Could be pretty useful, Dossier.”

Hard to disagree with that, though I still felt some frustration. I had wanted to keep the full capabilities of my PDA to myself, but at least she didn’t know my PDA could also detect other devices. No one has to know that for now.

“We should probably meet up with the other group before something worse happens,” Pathfinder suggested.

“Yes, Pathfinder,” Lofty said with a wide grin, snapping off a quick salute.

Pathfinder rolled her eyes and expelled a long disappointed sigh. “Just… shut up. C’mon, let’s go!”

“Okay, Pathfinder!”

I shook my head and chuckled to myself. I found it odd that Lofty didn’t take any of this seriously.

“Don’t encourage her, Doss,” Pathfinder said sternly.

“Oh, come on!” Lofty gave a forced groan. “I’m just playing.”

Our travels took us further down the vast open road. I noticed as we traveled, the more it became littered with old vehicles of a distant time. As we approached a vehicle, my ears caught the noise of a gentle ticking within one of my pockets. I pulled out that yellow device and glanced as I attempted to keep up. The thin tapered needle pointed to a zero at first but slowly rose to the first number that came after zero and continued to crackle timidly.

I remembered… it was radiation. Radiation. A horrible invisible enemy that poisoned the land of Equestria. Where it all came from? I've yet to remember that part. But, radiation was something I wouldn't ever forget. I tried to reach into my shattered memory again, nothing came of it. My face scrunched up. I thought it’d help me remember any more useful info, but all that accomplished was a mild headache and a twinge of disappointment. I sighed, pocketed the yellow device, and looked up. The outpost tower was only a few meters away.

We made it to the outskirts of our destination. The radio tower had been haphazardly constructed from rusted sheet metal and pipes, nothing too impressive from where I stood. In fact, it looked just about ready to collapse at any moment. There are walls around the base of the tower, which could give us cover from any hostiles inside should we need it.

Pathfinder led us to an area just a few meters away from the outer walls, right behind a few bushes. Once everyone was well hidden, Pathfinder motioned to us with a hoof, and we huddled together. She pressed a button on the walkie-talkie strapped to her chest, causing a small red light to turn on.

“Trot, can you hear me?”

No answer. Pathfinder frowned at her walkie-talkie before pressing down the button again.

“Trot, are you there?”

Silence, again. Pathfinder waited a moment, and eventually, the familiar monotone voice from earlier came through.

“Yeah.”

Pathfinder snorted and rolled her eyes. “Jeez, Trot. What the hell is up with you?”

“Sorry. I was having trouble with the walkie-talkie.”

She let out a huff. “Let’s get this fire started.”

“Okay.”

Pathfinder took her hoof away from her chest and glanced at Lofty, and then me.

“Ladies?”

“I’m ready,” Lofty replied.

“I… I guess I’m ready.” I nearly stumbled in my own words.

Pathfinder left the bush, followed by Lofty, and then me. My legs nearly trembled a hoof’s length away from collapsing and stopping me from going any further. Even though I hated the idea of being tossed into a wolf pen unprepared, this is what I needed to do, no matter how horrible my decision was.

Blood would be spilled today, and I could only pray that it wasn’t mine.