Fallout Equestria: Shaping Shadow - Sagas Of Shanyisa

Shadow flew the chariot to the new village. As the Pegasus flies, it was a few hours rather than a day or more. And they didn’t have to worry about flooding if they had rain.

Shadow set the chariot down in the middle of the village. Simi jumped out as Shadow unhooked himself. Simi was wearing his new uniform.

“Rifles,” Shadow announced. “In mint conditions, still in their original crates.”

Simi pulled the crates off and Shadow opened.

“Five in this one. Five in this one. Two in this one, plus all these loaded magazines. 72 magazines, 6 a rifle. And one crate of unloaded ammunition, 1200 rounds.”

“My eyes I do not believe! Of this outcome I could not conceive!”

“We need that communication equipment,” Shadow shrugged. “And we want a alliance. Together we are stronger than we are alone.”

“We are small, little bigger than a Kraal. But I am Rangi. And we call this place Maji.”

Shadow tried to match their speech patterns. “Shanyisa is honored to become friends with Maji. And for that I have a present for free. I present you with this Type 99 machine gun.”

Shadow pulled it off the chariot where Rangi hadn’t seen it.

“This will make our enemies run. 6 magazines I have for you, and the same as the rifle this gun chews. Together we are stronger. Together we will live longer.”

Rangi bowed low in gratitude. “Yes, together we are stronger and together we will live longer.”

“I am a great warrior and I am teaching Shanyisa to create a strong barrier. I say, send two to learn, then we can really make any warlord’s stomach churn.”

“I will go!” A young stallion said stepping forward. “Can you fly with me in tow?”

“I can,” Shadow smiled. “Come, learn from me how to protect your family, your friends, your village. What is your name?”

“Izala I am known, after the spear that one can throw.”

“Choose your rifle and come!”

“Nkosi I am called. And I choose also to be led. Rangi we need this knowledge, the strain on Maji I acknowledge. With your grace I go, so this village may truly grow.”

“Go,” Rangi said. “But we had a deal. I will not let this turn to a misdeal. The relay is yours, however most is stuck indoors.”

“We will figure it out,” Shadow said with a bow. “I know you are of great clout. Even if it can not be moved, it will be improved. We need the information it can hear, perhaps Shanyisa will have to be the second tier.”

“Mtoaji, others arrive,” Simi said. “They come up from the river. But I see nothing to make us quiver.”

The villagers scattered and Shadow hid behind the cart. Simi was sent wide to create a flank. Shadow drew his pistol.

The three Zebras came into the village.

“Don’t move!” Shadow ordered as he popped up with gun drawn.

“We come in peace! With a goal of mutual increase.”

“From where?” Shadow asked.

“Further to the west is our abode. Where we are there is no road.”

“That seems common,” Shadow said, lowering his pistol. “But I am not from here either.”

“You are certainly not! Here a Pegasus is never caught.”

“I hail from Shanyisa. Here to trade and establish relations with Maji.”

“Shanyisa, what is that? Are you from where it is flat?”

“No,” Shadow said as Rangi came back out of hiding. “We are in the east. Along the cliffs. Simi and I are here for a trade.”

“Then we may visit soon. Rahisi is my tune.”

“Mtoaji is mine, meeting you is divine. But we must be gone home. Look for us where there is no loam.”

Shadow hooked himself up. Simi helped Nkosi and Izala grab a rifle and then get onto the chariot. He gave a few words of advice and then Shadow took off as gently as possible.

“Now this is a village,” Izala said as they landed. “There is no way for this to be pillaged.”

“Xys,” Shadow said as she approached. “This is Izala and Nkosi. They are here to train. To learn to use their guns in the defense of Maji. They relay is ours, but it is big. We can’t move it.”

“Erevu will be put to use. Something she will deduce.”

“I have one idea already,” Shadow said. “But I am not the best with the technology. It can wait for a bit. I am asking permission to take the next two weeks and just train these two and Simi.”

“Of course!” Xys proclaimed. “Your energy is best spent on the enforce.”

Shadow smiled back at Xys. He knew he could do it, but he preferred to ask permission. That way nothing happened without Xys knowing and there was no miscommunication.

Simi was sent to set Izala and Nkosi in one of the spare huts they had made. Shadow was taken to Erevu. He hadn’t met her in name yet. She was the one in charge of making the bricks. She hadn’t been to any of his guard trainings.

Her daughter had, Bukhali. She was quite skilled with the rifle. And her mother was passing on everything she could to her. Having a technician who could fight was a good prize.

They discussed options for listening in to DJ Pon3. Shadow would have to find equipment in Kifopiga that could communicate with the tower, but it wasn’t that difficult of a task. There had to be several communication equipment set ups in their warehouse for deployment.

“I guess I will be taking 3 with me to my next trip,” Shadow said. “We will go after I train Izala and Nkosi.”

“Bukhali,” Xys said. “I want you to train too. Making bricks requires a light crew. Train so you can take what your mother has given you, and distribute it to those who prove to be true.”

“Sun up we start,” Shadow told Bukhali. “And come with me to the storeroom. I will get you a fresh rifle.”

She grabbed her rifle from where it was being kept nearby and followed him. There was no point in using an old beat up one when he had ones in perfect condition. He needed the crew Xys was putting together to be using the best.

Shadow picked up one of the Type 99s. It was heavy. It was a light machine gun that was designed to be moved pretty easily. And it put down plenty of firepower in a split second.

Shadow jumped as Ukuzwa spoke up. “Made your decision yet? I know you need a full gun against the threat. Your others are low on ammo, and here there is no easy flow.”

“Yeah,” Shadow sighed. “It will take some tinkering though. I am not trained for free hoofing it.”

“You use the pistol well. Second nature would not be hard to sell.”

“Pistols are different,” Shadow said. “I’m sure I could learn. But what I really want, it isn’t here. Its locked far away, in Equestria, safe. The suit I came down in. But it was marked for above, and we couldn’t use them anymore, because it was known and being hunted.

“The only good rifle I have had since then is the shotgun on my battle saddle. But that will run out of ammo soon too. I had a lot of good things. And my battle saddle now, it was set up by my friend. It is special.”

“Special is just in your head. It is the memory of what he did instead.”

“The shotgun is special, rare,” Shadow added. “But I only have 60 rounds for it.”

“You have made a few transitions, with various munitions. Each change purpose was great, a change made by fate. You live in a new part of your life, change is normal so don’t make it a strife. Besides that will all change when the Light Bringer comes, I do not know what changes come with those drums. So take what you need to be Mtoaji to us, I know Xys would say the same if this came to a discuss.”

Shadow picked up the Type 99 and smirked. “Hello power. I missed you when I ran that stupid 5.56 round.”

He took it with him to his hut. When Slice had engineered his currently battle saddle, both of the guns were bolted together and then onto a mount. Shadow pulled them off and began to plan how to mount it onto the saddle. The bump bar was easy to lock into a single position.

Shadow removed the stock to lighten the gun and pulled off the bipod. Neither were useful on a battle saddle. They were a liability to get caught.

The action of the Type 99 was already a nice squared off rectangle. He would just need a way to attach it. The Type 38 rifle would be a pain to try and mount because of the action’s design. This was perfect for mounting.

There was no way to easily get a hold of nuts, bolts, and drilling materials. He would have to figure something out. He would approach Xys in the morning, after he got their training underway.

In the morning the regular trainees were there along with the new recruits.

“Alright. A minor change. I am sure most of you have heard about our guests, Izala and Nkosi. They are from Maji and now allies. I will be training them exclusively for the next two weeks, so we can get them home to pass on that knowledge to their village. Simi will be joining me exclusively as will Bukhali.

“Now, I hope you haven’t been slacking while I was gone. We are going for a short run!”

Short was a bit of an exaggeration. It was about a two mile path that Shadow had timed out and then marked. He ran alongside them, helping the normal stragglers. The young ones shaped up quickly, the older ones who hadn’t ever done this needed more care. Soft care, not yelling and screaming.

After the run they talked about tactics and proper search patterns. They were let go to get back to their work in the village, whatever that was. Not everyone was building the wall. Others had to farm and keep them fed. Losing Simi and Shadow was going to drastically slow the wall down. But Shadow had been waiting to get Simi with him all day.

“Alright you four. You got to see the soft soldier. I’m not making them soldiers, not guards. They are not going to be going with me to war. Izala and Nkosi, you have only a little time here, so we have to maximize it.

“Simi knows my background. I was an elite Pegasus soldier in the fractured Equestria, where the Pegasi reside in the clouds and don’t associate with those below. I was sent below to scope things out as a reconnaissance soldier. I got the best training, by the best, and was given the best equipment.

“I stayed below because of a communication problem and a betrayal. We tried to get a message about, but it failed. We got picked off one by one, and then I got myself into trouble and was driven out of Equestria. Going above when we were not recalled wasn’t a wise choice. There was a strong chance they were going to shoot us. I was going to take that risk right before I was driven out and almost killed.

“That’s how I ended up here. Somehow. Those details are lost to my head. I was found almost dead. That’s all I know.

“I learned from the best, and that included how to teach. I paid attention to how they taught me so I could learn to be better. Now I get to put it to practice once again with you four.

“We are going to crawl through the dirt, get muddy, learn to shoot straight at long distances and be the best. And I will yell. I will be brutal as I forge you into what you need to be. In two weeks I will mold you into a fighting group that is one together and could take out one of these so called warlords.”

Shadow left out if they didn’t it was his failure. They didn’t need to know that. Not yet.

“I said dirt so drop!”

Simi was down immediately. Shadow had worked on him with it. Once the others were down, Shadow began to show them how to crawl around properly, with their rifles cradled. Safe by ready to be used.

Then he took them to the range he had set up. They skipped 50 yards and were immediately at 100. Shadow laid down and demonstrated how to work the rifle at 100 yards. He nailed the target decently. It wasn’t his best work, but it was the center of the target. Until he got a battle saddle again, he had to learn this new technique.

They worked to replicate it. Simi was almost zeroed in with the rifle. And using the new one he was drilling single shots almost as good as Shadow was doing with the three round burst.

“Come on! You don’t get this much time to take a shot when they are shoot at you!”

They went down to talk at their targets. Shadow picked them apart. But every time he picked, he also explained how to improve. Everything was designed to whittle them to a sharp point, not hack them down.

Shadow worked them well on fitness. That was something all guards needed, fitness. The only thing he couldn’t use from basic training was the wing segments.

He had them on lunch break. He needed to talk to Xys about his battle saddle.

“You are loud,” Xys smiled. “And proud. For good reason too, I know you are shaping them in a good crew.”

“I am,” Shadow smiled. “And I am having fun. It has been survival for too long. Now I get to change that. Now I get to pass on my wisdom.”

“Shanyisa’s safety comes first, but the warlords have us accursed. We will have to face them, and it will be mayhem. We must come out on top. So I want you to have the best so we do not flop.”

“I need a battle saddle,” Shadow stated. “I grabbed a Type 99 and was looking at it. I don’t know how to mount it. I don’t have nuts and bolts here. Or scrap metal. Or any tools I am used to. And worse, I want it mounted so that it can be removed and swapped out with my other set up. For Equestria.”

“I already have Erevu on it. For I need you that target to hit. And I need you at your true peak. We will get it done this week.”

“Thank you,” Shadow said with a short bow.

The rest of the day was more of the same. They hit the range again with the rest of the guards. Shadow let them go when he let the others go.

The next morning was tough as Shadow pushed all the guards on basic body weight workouts. They all hated those segments. It left Shadow smiling. Smiling like some of his instructors used to do.

Before he could get started with his little squad, he was pulled away. They needed to make final adjustments for his battle uniform. Xys wanted him looking the part at all times.

Shadow went back to work with the group. It was a tough job. And he was pushing himself as well as them while they did the physical stuff. He began to teach them hoof to hoof combat as well. He wished they could spend hours on the range, but he also had incredibly short range time because of ammunition constriction.

There was no laser pointers for him to use either. Instead of digging entrenchments, he put them to work on the wall in pairs. It was good work to be doing.

Shadow was looking over the city. It had been a week with the four of them. Xys climbed up the ladder and sat down with him.

After a while she spoke up. “I know I have spoke about needed you at your best, because we have a truly great pest. I know I can trust you to do what needs to be done, and still be to this village one. These past years have been tough, not having a strong voice has been tough. I gave it up to build this, but it is something I do not miss.

“I come from a city far away. A fight ring was their idea of play. As is much of our land. This is not the way to truly stand. It was nasty so I moved on. I don’t think anyone even knows I am gone. All around it was the same. It made me truly ashamed.

“I was enslaved at one time. Which was just fine. I had no strong will then. It had been pulled from me when I lost my zen. But it came back. And with it, I went on the attack. I killed many. In a single day it numbered twenty. As I stood tall, warlord was all I saw. I did not want that, so I destroyed that vat.

“I took who I could and ran. We were given fillies and colts as we began. Many died or suffered to be the wall for our escape. But it didn’t stop their rape. Alone I stood against their horde, and I struck down their warlord. After I decimated those with him. It was an ending that was grim.

“But we were free. I knew the cliffs would be safe place to flee. So here we built Shanyisa to shine. But it was lacking a drive which is thine.”

“What does Shanyisa mean?” Shadow asked.

“It literally means shine. I hoped the old name would be a good sign.”

“Fate sent me here,” Shadow said. “To not just keep me safe. Or rediscover something. No, it needs me here. We share the same vision.”

“I wanted a wall, but how could I make that call? I gave up the fight. It is a deep plight. I…”

“I get it,” Shadow said. “Innocent ponies died at my hooves because they knew my secret identity. They couldn’t know I was under that mask, so they paid the price. And others, other dies be association. I was tearing down the evil empires. Being there meant death.”

“Fire burns, and it chooses its own turns.”

They sat in silence for a little bit.

“Mtoaji, at some point we will have to face several true warlords. Many are under their hoof, enough to be called hoards. We can not wait for them to come. They must be stopped before they sound the war drum.”

“I will build a team,” Shadow assured her. “I will build alliances and build a strike force. We will take them out. I already have a key element.”

Shadow smiled at her tired face and went into his hut. He came out and sat down next to her. “I found a crate of these. 20 of them.”

“This will give your team the edge it needs. You will be able to undo all their deeds. Strike before they know and free the others from their throe.

Shadow chuckled. “I’ve gotten good at using mine.”

Shadow sighed. “I want Izala with me. He is good. Young enough to train to be tactfully reckless. Like me. Skilled and able to do things others couldn’t. Between Simi, Izala, and Bukhali we have a great start.”

“Ukuzwa will join you. Add her to your few. She wants to learn magic for attack. I will not hold her back. A magician in a small team… well that is the dream.”

“That will be helpful. Support and attack. Wards and spells that are working with and for me would be nice.”

“Do not speak of this to the others please. Secrecy is the key. Defense is necessary, these plans would be found scary.”

“I will not. I will find a way to hook Izala.”