The outside of Manehattan was desolate, with nothing but barren dirt in almost all directions, the only direction where civilization was being behind them. Fluttershy, along with her friends and their new companions, had pushed forward for about a day now, and it was getting dark.

They all seemed to get along just okay. Tricks, Brute, Fiddler, Lucky Break, Dusk Feather, and Zone were all seemingly quiet, not knowing each other too well. Fluttershy stayed closer to Zone than the other strangers, as she knew Zone a little bit more.

“We will eventually come across a village,” warned Zone. “They won’t exactly be welcoming.”

“I trust you to help us,” said Fluttershy.

“You are playing a dangerous game, Miss Shy,” Zone stated. “A freak of nature like me is sure to get us killed sooner than you can say zebragon.”

“Zebragon?” repeated Fluttershy.

“A name my tribe made up for my own hybrid kind,” she said. “A zebra and a dragon make a zebragon.”

“Weird name.” Taipan said as something caught her attention in the air. “I smell fresh food.”

Zone sighed. “You’re not going hunting again, are you?”

“...Maybe,” Taipan replied.

“Stop running off,” said Zone. “You’ve gotten us in enough trouble. I don’t want to find out a zebra village is after us because you went in looking for some hateling.”

“Land is filled with them, good place to put down territory when done,” Taipan said, mostly ignoring Zone as the scorpony kept sniffing and following her nose. “Might be hive near. be on guard.”

Zone raised a brow. “What am I going to do with you?”

Taipan gave a cheeky smile and replied, “Dunno,” before she turned to the others in the group. “Hmm, you tall one,” she said as she pointed to brute “Tired?”

The large hellhound looked her way with a grunt, his eyes glaring. “Brute not tired. Don’t bother Brute with dumb questions.”

Rarity chuckled nervously. “Oh, I’m sure she’s just concerned with your health.”

“Brute not need help from ponies, not even half ponies,” he said.

“Good, Get ready fight coming,” Taipan cut in. “I think Zebra are following us, using hateling scent to throw off my nose.”

Zone looked around herself. “It’s not uncommon to mask our scent with another creature’s. It’s a tactic we use in hunting.”

“It’s annoying,” Taipan complained as she slammed her tail on the ground.

Fiddler rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah never thought I’d die because of a zebra. Ah always thought it’d be from pissin’ off the wrong mare.”

“Smart to fear mares,” said Dusk.

“Get ready,” said Zone, pointing ahead. “There’s a few coming our way.”

As Fluttershy squinted her eyes to focus her vision, she could see three zebras, two of them following one with extra markings on her face. As they approached, the marked zebra took one look at Zone and spat on the ground in her direction. “You are dangerously close to our village.”

“We are merely passing through,” Zone replied.

“That’s not our concern,” the marked zebra replied. “What matters is that you are in a land whose people do not want you here.”

Zone’s gaze strayed from eye contact “I am zebr--”

“You are not zebra,” the marked one replied.

Taipan stepped up, looking a little upset with her tail raised in an aggressive manner. “Who you to tell her what she isn’t.”

“A real zebra warrior,” the marked zebra proclaimed. “She’s a filthy hybrid.”

Taipan snorted. “Warriors judge skill, not race.”

“Who asked you, creature?” the zebra replied. “A scorpony with an attitude too big for her. I’ve hunted your kind down before.”

Taipan did not like this zebra, she did not like this zebra at all. She did not say anything. The zebra looked to her two companions and waved a hoof dismissively, the two stepping back. She looked at Taipan, then at Zone. “How about… you and the freak against only me?” suggested the zebra. “I’ll have you know that I’ve trained with my village leader’s daughter, who is one of the best warriors in all the zebra lands.”

“Deal,” Taipan accepted.

Fluttershy whispered to her, “Are you sure you and Zone want to do this? We came here to make peace with the zebras.”

Zone, overhearing, said, “There are some zebra worth negotiating with, but in my opinion, most will do everything in their power to kill you if you are not their own. Killing one wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “K-Kill? Oh, no no! You can’t just kill somepony!”

“We do what we need to in order to progress,” said Zone. “That is simply how we do things in the wasteland.”

The zebra stepped a little ways away, wanting a clear space to fight in. “I won’t wait all day, foreigners. You will be dealt with swiftly.”

Taipan nudged Zone. “You first. Me wanna learn her style.”

Zone, looked back at her friend, growled in a bit of annoyance. “Hmph… fine. I’ll make sure to take her down before then,” she said in pride.

As Zone approached the zebra, she remained silent, an aura of professionalism about her. The zebra stood up on her two hind legs, her body in a fighting stance. Fluttershy had never seen Zecora do anything like this. Whether or not this was part of Zecora’s culture back home was a mystery, as it was clear that a lot of things in this universe were different.

Zone didn’t stand up, however, her large draconic tail slamming against the ground multiple times. Was this her own form of fighting style? The stranger quickly dashed in, hooves poised for a deadly strike. Zone twirled in a near-instant, her heavy tail taking the hits before knocking the enemy back.

“How is she able to lug that heavy tail around so easily?” asked Dash.

“Zebras are already incredibly strong on their own,” said Dusk. “It might not seem like the case, but Zone has had it her whole life. It’s not a surprise she’d be able to pull off this kind of feat.”

Zone jumped into the air, spinning before slamming her tail downwards, which the enemy evaded through a quick jump out of the way. The ground where the zebra had once stood cracked from the weight of Zone’s mutant addition.

“Hmph. You don’t even move with grace!” said the stranger. “You move clumsily!”

Zone didn’t reply, only continuing to pour on her attempts to attack. She had gotten a few strikes in with her hooves, but what she really needed was that one death blow with her tail to end the fight. Because of this, she didn’t seem to be focused on incapacitating in a non-lethal way as Fluttershy had hoped.

The stranger quickly cleared the distance between them both with a punch to Zone’s gut and a quick take-down onto the ground, pinning the hybrid. “Say uncle and I might spare you, freak,” whispered the zebra.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” said Zone. “I just want to end you quickly.”

“Look at your position!” shouted the stranger.

That was when Fluttershy noticed an anomaly. Zone’s stripes were green instead of their usual gray. “Um… Zone?”

The stranger suddenly let go, the fur on her legs falling off. “What the hell?!”

Zone’s stripes quickly faded back into their regular gray. “I don’t want to make this slow,” she said. “I’ve told you before and you didn’t liste--”

Before Zone could even react, the stranger had come at her with startling, scary speeds, delivering a kick to the hybrid’s face and sending her skidding across the ground. “That burned! What the hell was that?!” shouted the zebra. “You’re worse than I thought! You need to be put down!”

Zone slowly rose back onto her hooves, her face dripping with a small bit of red from her nostrils. She thudded her tail against the ground three times. “Forfeit,” she demanded.

The zebra simply smirked and rushed forward, her hooves making an easy impact against Zone’s body and beating her senseless. Fluttershy was in shock, watching the senseless violence. “Stop it!”

“They’re not going to,” said Dusk Feather. “Zebra will fight to the death. It’s their sense of honor that makes them like this.”

“Cover Fluttershy’s eyes or bring her away, she no need be here,” Taipan ordered, a cold anger clear in her voice.

“None o’ this is right,” said Applejack. “Yer tellin’ us that this is how zebras are with each other? Ah don’t see any honor in that.”

“Is Zone going to be okay?” asked Starlight. “She definitely doesn’t look like she’s doing very well. I’d step in, but I don’t have my magic.”

“I’d go in, but I don’t want to chip a hoof,” said Trixie. “Besides, it’s not like the whole ‘to the death’ thing is real, right?”

Dusk turned her head, looking in Trixie’s direction with a serious glare.

Trixie’s brain took a moment to register the gesture. “Wait, what?!”

Tricks, the abyssinian who had accompanied them all on the journey as well, stayed quiet in the back, his glance casting downward. Brute seemed to notice this, but he stayed silent as well, watching the fight continue on.

Fluttershy had to do something. Zone was in danger. “Taipan, can’t you step in?” she asked. “You understand their reasoning, right?”

Taipan didn’t reply right away as she watched Zone land a decent hit, only to get immediately knocked onto her back. “Yes, and I will, but not right time,” was her reply, her voice still in that cold anger.

Zone stood up, her breathing heavy. “I… forfeit,” she said. “We will leave.”

The other zebra looked at her in sudden disgust. “What?! You don’t get to forfeit! You know how a true warrior’s fight plays out!”

The zebra quickly rushed Zone, carefully-placed hits sending Zone’s body into paralysis. The hybrid fell over, unable to move further. As she tried to move, she caught the zebra’s gaze as the enemy towered over her.

“You may have lived as a disgraceful freak, but do not worry. I will make sure you die honorably,” said the zebra, raising herself up on her hind legs, hooves ready to slam down.

Taipan quickly fired a few of her pins near the two, startling the zebra and causing her to go off-balance. ”My turn,” Taipan stated as she walked towards the zebra, her tail poised and ready for action.

The zebra stared at this creature who dared to interrupt her certain victory. “Oh, you’re approaching me?” she asked, approaching the scorpony. “Instead of running away, you’re facing me?”

“I can’t hit you unless I get closer,” Taipan said as she readied herself for a fight.

“Then, by all means, fight me with everything you have!” replied the enemy. Without prior warning, she closed in, hooves moving fast.

Taipan was quick with her reactions and jumped to the left and quickly fired off some pin missiles, all of which the zebra gracefully dodged before moving in again with another hoof. Fluttershy ran over to Zone as the two fought, helping the hybrid up and helping her get back to the group, but as it seemed like she was about to make it, the other two zebra stepped out in front of her.

A male zebra looked down at her. “Leave your friend to die or you’ll suffer the same, pony. We shed enough blood during the war.”

That was when Applejack and Rainbow Dash ran up to him. “Hey, leave her alone!” shouted Dash.

“We won’t ask ya twice,” said Applejack.

The zebra male looked at them in a stare. He then looked at the group behind them. After careful consideration, he seemed to back down, stepping out of Fluttershy’s way. “Hmph… You are lucky there are more of you.”

Fluttershy smiled at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “Thank you,” she said. “Please, help me get Zone to safety so we can help her.”

Meanwhile Taipan was in a heated fight, being forced to maneuver a lot in order to keep from being hit. It was intense, even when neither had hit each other just yet.

Taipan jumped back, trying to keep as much distance as she could. She needed the zebra to make one misstep, a single stumble, a trip, anything for this fight to swing in her favor. If that happened, she could end it in one blow, but for now, she had to play it safe and try to take as little damage as possible, but she was running out of steam fast.

“Are you tired yet?” asked the zebra as she moved. “I’ve hunted your kind before. I know all your tricks! You’re nothing but a nuisance to me!”

“I’m good. How's leg? Friend did number on it,” said Taipan with a smirk, as she had noticed the zebra had been keeping her weight off of her right hind leg throughout the entire fight.

The zebra continued fighting without a word, her speed increasing as the battle carried on. Taipan just needed one shot. She needed to be patient. As a few hooves whizzed past her.

Whilst she dodged, she began to see a pattern in their movement. There was a careful balance between attack and defense, one that was familiar in older scorpony tactics. While the moves were primarily zebra, the transitions between attack and defense were clearly consistent in scorpony understanding.

Taipan came up with a quick idea after seeing this pattern, though it was risky. “So slow, so weak,” she taunted. The zebra struck quickly, with Taipan deflecting with her tail, but in Taipan’s mind, she found that it didn’t seem to be worth it, as it did a serious number on her.

The zebra, however, was now pissed, annoyed with this bug. “I will finish you quickly and you will find your tail as a trophy in my home!”

“You can try,” Taipan said as she plunged her tail into the ground. From the tail itself, roundish purple goop seeped out from beneath, glowing as it spread out beneath the zebra. The zebra jumped back and out of its radius, but her two hind legs had taken some damage.

She shivered, stepping back. “Hhggghh… Fine. You may pass! I need to get my potions…”

Taipan was not having this level of hypocrisy. She ran up and stung the shivering zebra with full intent to kill. “Honorable death, isn’t that right?” she whispered in the fallen zebra’s ear.

“That move you u-used… is not a normal tactic,” the zebra forced out.

“My pack dealt with hellhounds, got creative.” She answered as the others rushed over. “Rest, and may the pack guide you,” Taipan whispered quietly to herself. She turned to her friends. “Let's go.”

“I just need to finish helping Zone,” said Fluttershy.

. . . M e a n w h i l e . . .

Hindsight wasn’t pleased with the recent turn of events. He was certain Twilight would’ve taken him up on his offer, but he was rejected, humiliated almost. During his flight on the way back to his stable, he’d been thinking about how to proceed with his plans.

When Lord Bale had shown him the visions, it had shown him Equestria in all its previous glory with the six guardians of friendship there. What had he done wrong? Perhaps he’d misinterpreted? Perhaps there was a step in his plan he was missing?

The visions had also shown him taking over the wasteland through force, so there was no doubt that he needed to continue with his current goals. He gritted his teeth as he entered the stable, a headache getting to him. “I need to talk to Tech Wiz,” he muttered.

Walking into the hallway towards Tech’s assigned quarters, he could already hear the filly they had recently brought over from another universe. Puppysmiles had been pestering Tech Wiz with countless questions recently, and it seemed as though she was still doing so.

“Why is this glowing?” Puppysmiles asked.

“Don’t touch that,” said Tech Wiz.

“Can I push this button?” the filly wondered again.

“Don’t touch that,” the unicorn growled.

“Is this food?” Puppysmiles’ eyes widened.

“Don’t. Touch. That,” warned Tech.

Hindsight walked in, seeing Puppysmiles standing next to Tech Wiz as the science mare mixed together two vials. She also seemed to be inputting data from the results into a small terminal next to her on the desk to her right.

“Tech Wiz, we need to talk,” said Hindsight, putting his blindfold back on. He’d seen Tech’s sins before, and he’d rather not do it again. The details were unpleasant to him. Still, it was odd to him that Puppysmiles had nothing to regret, not a single sin within her.

“May I ask what the problem is?” asked Tech, still focused on her terminal.

“A step in my plan has gone wrong,” he said. “I can’t seem to get Twilight to agree to my offer.”

“And this involves me… how, exactly?” questioned Tech Wiz.

“I need you to do some research for me,” he said. “Look into everything you can on the Ministry Mares and their past. I feel there’s something I may have missed that involves events prior to the megaspells.”

“I can hardly do chemistry, am only good with technology, and yet you want me to research history,” said Tech. “Isn’t there anyone else in this damned stable who’s more qualified than I am?”

“You’re one of the only few experts I was able to acquire for my projects,” said Hindsight. “The others are off elsewhere, collecting things I’ll need for the upcoming takeover.”

Tech Wiz typed into her terminal as she replied, “I don’t see how you’re able to do all this with so little expertise in this place. If I may ask, how are you able to get all of these resources? You’re just a stable dweller.”

“I’ve had my chances and I took them,” said Hindsight. “All given to me by Lord Bale.”

“Is this the religious shit I was informed of before I came here?” she muttered.

“Call it what you may,” said Hindsight. “If our goals come to fruition, then you’ll see that I am not a nutcase.”

“Uh-huh…” said Tech. “I’ll do that research as soon as I’m done with logging these samples. That visitor we brought over… the one that was literally splattered across the wasteland, I was able to scrape some of her, uhh, material off the wall. These cells look like they’ve been worn ragged, like they’ve been put back together over and over.”

“Is that… normal?” asked Hindsight. “We literally brought a creature across space and time. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were side effects.”

“Maybe,” said Tech. “I’m still not going to let this research opportunity pass me by, however…”

“I’ll… leave you to that,” said Hindsight.

He could hear a bit more of Tech’s mutterings as he left the room, but now he was focused on finding his other new “friend” who’d been helping him with the new armor he required. Making his way into his personal quarters, he went over to a speaker on the wall and pressed a button next to it.

“Scalpel,” he said. “Are you available?”

A few seconds later, he received a reply. “What do you need?”

. . . M e a n w h i l e . . .

Everypony was unsettled by the death of the zebra who Zone and Taipan had faced. Much of the trip was quiet and a little depressing. As they continued walking, they came across what appeared to be an abandoned village, the homes looking more pony than zebra.

Fluttershy, her eyes glancing over each building, was the first to speak up about it. “Isn’t this zebra territory?”

“It is,” answered Zone. “These are simply remnants from before the war. When relations between pony and zebra became strained, what little ponies were left were forced out of here. Now it is only a ghost town. And some say… it is a ghost town.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy dared to ask.

“We could say the ponies were simply forced out,” said Zone. “That’s the official story that was given to the citizens, but… there’s still stories where there was bloodshed involved.”

Fluttershy shivered. “That’s awful…”

Taipan just snorted, not that she said much since the fight. “Going this way stay safe,” she muttered as she pointed to a rather normal looking set of abandoned homes from an age long past.

“Y’all thinkin’ we should stop here fer the night?” asked Applejack. “This is as good a place as any in this ruined world.”

“I guess so,” said Dash. She then had a look of mischief on her face. “Oh! We could tell ghost stories!”

Fluttershy’s ears perked up at the suggestion. “U-Um…”

“C’mon! It’ll be fun!” said Dash.

“I used to tell pretty good ghost stories back when I was little,” said Fiddler.

“If what your strange family told me is true about you, I’ll believe it,” said Dusk.

Fiddler looked Dusk’s way with a hint of annoyance. “And just what does that mean?”

“I dunno, Fibber. We only met about, what, a small while back?” explained Dusk.

“I suppose it’s better than roughing it out in this horrid wasteland. These homes are sure to have some kind of fireplace or furnace we can use, yes?” said Rarity.

Fluttershy sighed. “Alright, we’ll stop here for the night,” she said. “I just hope we don’t actually see--”

“Ghosts? Nonsense,” said Zone. “Of course, it’s… not entirely out of the realm of possibility.”

Although she didn’t feel any better about it, they stuck with the plan anyway. Everypony else seemed to be okay with taking shelter here for the night, so they settled down in a decent-sized two-story home for the night.

Upon stepping in, the home still had furniture inside, but it was obvious that the power was no longer working. With Rarity’s horn helping to light up the way, they were at least able to see. As they walked into the empty living room, Fluttershy could see pictures of the family that had used to live here. Taking the frame into her wing, she examined it.

It was the classic picture-perfect family. A father, a mother, two foals. She wondered what relations with zebras were like before the war had started. Did they simply just tolerate these ponies, or did they actually enjoy each other’s company? Many thoughts of this were floating around in her head.

“It is a sad thing, no?” asked Zone from behind. “I expect nothing less than concern from the Ministry Mare of Peace.”

Fluttershy looked at the picture a little more before turning to Zone. “Do you think the ponies here were really--”

“I’d rather not think about things like that,” said Zone. “It is not good for the state of mind if dwelled upon too much. Sure, the occasional questions pop up, but I do not let it get to me. I like to think that some escaped the conflicts just fine.”

“I’m sorry for dragging you out here,” said Fluttershy. “I appreciate that you came with us.”

“I suppose there’s a small part of me that likes to think I could help improve the relationship between ponies and zebras,” said Zone.

Fluttershy then remembered the fight between Zone and the other zebra. “If I may ask… why were you glowing during the fight?”

Zone had a look of discomfort on her face, gaze tilted down a bit. Before Fluttershy could apologize, Zone replied, “Being a freak of nature has its benefits. I seem to have this odd knack for absorbing magical radiation over time. It builds up and I sometimes need to vent it out before I collect too much.”

“What happens if you collect too much…?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well, I can still hold it, but if I try to vent it out, it’ll all come out at once, becoming no different than that of a balefire bomb,” Zone explained. “I learned that the hard way.”

“Do you know why you’re able to do this?” asked Fluttershy.

“I am not sure,” said Zone. She chuckled before saying, “There used to be rumors that went around my village that I had eaten a balefire phoenix and that it was somehow still alive inside my stomach. A silly tale, I think. We zebras have always been superstitious.”

“Well, no matter how different you are, we’ll always be friends,” said Fluttershy.

Zone smiled softly, but from what Fluttershy could see, there was still sadness in the hybrid’s eyes. “I appreciate that. Let us go see how the others are doing.”

Fluttershy and Zone could see that a few members were missing from the party, but it was only because some of them were looking around in the other parts of the house. Tricks and Brute were both in the kitchen, looking through the cabinets.

“We brought some rations with us,” Fluttershy reminded.

“Yeah, but it’s canned stuff,” said Tricks, his head in one of the lower cabinets. “Hey, cool! I found a frying pan!”

Fluttershy didn’t know too much about Tricks or Brute. They were both different from the majority of the group, seeing as how they were different species. She had hoped to improve her understanding of everyone in the party, but these two seemed to be off in their own little worlds.

“Brute smells food in here, but Brute can’t find it,” said the hellhound.

“Maybe it’s hidden,” said Tricks. “It’s something I’d do.”

Fluttershy sighed. “I’ll let you two continue your search. Just don’t stay here for too long. We’re going to distribute some of the rations soon.”

Fluttershy went back into the living room, hearing Rainbow Dash telling one of her scary ghost stories again, making Fluttershy a little stiff with worry and fear. As Fluttershy sat down next to Rarity, Dash continued her tale.

“To this day, nopony knows what happened to the ghostly mare. It’s said that after the travelers escaped, she still roamed her usual haunting grounds. She walks slowly down the hallways of the mansion, her hoofsteps echoing through the entire building. Up and down the stairs she goes, and nopony ever sees her until it’s too late.”

“If she is a ghost out for revenge, then why does she wait before attacking her victims?” asked Zone.

“What?” questioned Dash.

“From what you’ve told in her story, she was able to make her victims simply vanish,” said Zone. “So why wait?”

“I mean, I dunno, it’s just part of the story,” Dash replied, looking a little annoyed at the overanalysis. “If you’ve got a story that’s better, then you tell it.”

Zone smiled softly. “Oh, really? You wish for me to tell a tale?”

“If you think you can do it, yeah!” said Dash.

Zone sat down, her tail curling up around her a little. “Sure. I can, but be warned, little pony. It is not a tale for the faint of heart.”

Fluttershy was a little nervous now. She didn’t expect that she’d hear a scary story from Zone. Perhaps it was from Zone’s own culture as well? She went over by Rainbow Dash and sat down, her ear flicking a little as it picked up the faintest noise of a possible bug scurrying around the house somewhere. That only made her even more nervous.

“It is indeed a tale that has been spoken of through both the mouths of ponies and zebras,” said Zone with her eyes closed. “A tale of one who wanders the wasteland endlessly in search of those who do wrong.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “A little cliche, but keep goin’.”

Zone continued on. “It has been said that there is a twist in judgement within this being, a need to deliver harsh punishments to even the slightest of misdeeds. You may not even think you have done something wrong.”

“So, what does he do?” asked Dash. “Let me guess, horrible, unspeakable things?”

Zone opened an eye. “May I continue without interruption?”

Dash nodded. “Hm, alright.”

“When I was just a little filly, I had heard many a tale regarding this creature, but none had hit closer to home than the night when our local trader was found utterly mangled.”

Fluttershy’s ears flattened down against her head. “Mangled…?”

“Indeed,” Zone replied. “Her chest was found cut wide open, her ribcage spread apart! Her cold, lifeless eyes only showed hints of what was once extreme fear before she had died.”

Dash went a little pale. “A little heavy on the detail, huh…?”

Zone smiled. “Is something wrong? I thought you could handle it.”

“Uh, y-yeah, I can! I was just speaking up for Fluttershy’s sake. Sh-She can get pretty squeamish!” replied Dash.

Zone chuckled. “Of course, of course. I shall tone it down a little. The local trader was rumored to have swindled ponies before. She would sell them fake potions and even pickpocket from time to time, taking much-needed food from traveling ponies’ bags.”

“Still, that’s a little harsh for swindling ponies,” said Dash.

“The creature has done much worse to those who have done much less. Even telling small fibs could land you in your grave,~” said Zone.

Dash scooted closer to Fluttershy, peeking behind herself for a short second, paranoia growing on her.

The zebra smirked, eyeing everypony around her. “It’s been said that the creature has wandered for as long as the wasteland has existed. I would not doubt this, given that our home has also been one to many ghouls. The nicknames this creature has collected is near-endless. The Lunar Punisher, The Night’s Ally, The Sinner’s End. All who do wrong, even in the slightest degree, will find the monster’s hooves at their necks.”

Dash and Fluttershy jumped the moment they heard a sudden thud elsewhere in the house. The moment the noise sounded, Dash screamed, “IT’S HERE!”

Another thud sounded, making the pegasus’ wings spread out in preparation for escape. Fluttershy stood still, fear overtaking her as yet another thud resonated. With each thud growing louder, the two could only come to the conclusion that the creature was getting closer and closer.

And then… walked in Taipan, coated in white, making Dash scream, “IT GOT TAIPAN AND NOW SHE’S A GHOST!”

Taipan, not in the mood, just shook much like a wet dog, covering the area in white dust. “Shut up, weakling,” she mumbled as she tapped the wall with her tail to get her bearings. Shortly after, she took a seat in the corner.

Fluttershy, upon closer inspection of the white dust, said, “Flour? Were you in the kitchen, Taipan?”

“Yeah, thought food would help. Didn’t find any,” she muttered as she turned away from Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked at Dash, who was looking a little pale. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah, of course I am!” said Dash, trying to play off what had just happened. “I knew it wasn’t real!”

Twilight probably would've loved hearing these stories from Zone. Fluttershy could only imagine how the alicorn would act if given the chance to learn of folklore from zebra culture.

"I miss Twilight," Fluttershy muttered.

"I am sure she is doing fine," said Zone as she stood up, stretching. "Is that not a fair assumption, Taipan?"

“Sure, fine, alicorn's strong enough.” Taipan muttered from her corner, some sniffles coming soon after.

"Is that flour affecting your nose?" asked Zone.

Taipan quickly rubbed her nose and swiftly replied “Yes, the flow.”

"Ah, I see. Blocked airways. Here. Allow me to help you find something to drink. Certainly, there must be something leftover in these old buildings," said Zone. "Perhaps a Sparkle Cola."

"Sparkle Cola?" questioned Fluttershy.

Zone's face lit up into a smile. "Why, yes. Admittedly, I have a bit of an addiction to it. Although they are very old, they are still somewhat sweet to drink."

"Don't tell me that Twilight was responsible for those. It seems a little too obvious to be her doing," said Fluttershy. "After all, Sparkle is in the name."

"Ministry Mares were rather popular," said Zone. "Their likenesses were used all over merchandise. However, I’m not sure if Twilight’s name usage was a result of those circumstances."

"Did I get my own drink?" asked Dash, grinning.

"No," answered Zone bluntly, making Dash's grin vanish. Zone chuckled. “There is a drug named after you.”

"Well, that's fine, I guess. Go ahead and help the scorpony out. Fluttershy and I will stay here. I wanted to talk to her anyway," said Dash.

"Hm… Alright," said Zone. "Come, Taipan. Let us go search for something to clear your nose."

“Alright” Taipan sniffed as she stood up to follow Zone. “Thanks.”

As the two left, Dash waited for a few minutes, making sure they were gone before she asked, "So, don't take this the wrong way, but what's with that tail of hers? Is she, like, part dragon or something"

Fluttershy rubbed the back of her neck, caught off guard by the sudden question. "Um, she's not one to talk much about herself," said Fluttershy. "I don't think I have a right to share her personal information, even if she did tell everything."

"I'm not trying to be rude about it," said Dash. "I just wanna know what's up. You just don't see many creatures like that unless it's in a comic book or something crazy like somepony's fanfiction."

Fluttershy's ear twitched as she thought deeply about it. "Well, she may be different but that doesn't exactly make her bad. I'm sure she'd rather be the one to tell you instead of me blabbing about anything."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Ugh… I'm just a little confused about whose side she's on. She didn't look like she wanted to fight that zebra back there, even though zebras were supposedly mean to her all the time. You'd think she'd want payback for all that kinda bullying."

"I wouldn't want to fight anypony either," said Fluttershy. "No matter what they did to me, I'd never think about hurting anypony."

"Yeah, but, you're you," Dash pointed out. "You're the literal bearer of kindness and stuff."

Fluttershy's gaze cast downwards as she thought more and more about it. "I guess she's the same way. At least, I'm going to think that for now. I don't know enough about her to tell what she's really thinking."

"Well, I'm keepin' an eye on her," said Dash. "No offense, but we're goin' deep into territory that can get us hurt, or even worse."

Fluttershy seemed perplexed at Dash's sudden behavior change. It seemed that, after all the lessons Dash had learned, she didn't seem to have changed at all. Hadn't Dash learned by now not to judge a book by its cover before? Was the memory merge taking effect…? Fluttershy couldn't tell just yet. She had yet to experience much of the strange phenomenon.

“Have you been okay lately, Dash?” asked Fluttershy out of curiosity and concern.

“Uh, yeah?” replied Dash. “Why?”

“Well, I couldn’t help but wonder what Discord said,” Fluttershy stated as she brushed her mane from her face. “He said we’d experience the memories of our other selves, right? Have you had anything like that happen to you?”

Dash tapped her chin as she thought about that question. After a small moment of silence, she replied, “Yeah, I did. When I came out the other end of the portal, I was confronted by Enclave ponies. Looking at their weapons, I had this weird feeling that I knew what they did, and it kinda allowed me to take the chance to get out of the way before I could get zapped.”

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy. “So soon out of the portal? That doesn’t sound good!”

“Eh, I’ll be fine,” said Dash. “It’s not like it’s changing me or anything, right?”

Fluttershy went silent, not answering. She simply nodded in false agreement. A small lie, but she didn’t want to confront Dash about it too soon. Fluttershy didn’t know what she’d say, so maybe Twilight would know how to explain it better, or better yet, Discord.

. . . M e a n w h i l e . . .

Zone and Taipan were wandering outside, going through multiple homes in search of something to clear Taipan’s nose with. The zebra hybrid seemed to be quiet most of the time, not really wanting to ruin the silence as they searched. In Zone’s mind, the silence was good. It meant there was peace.

But, sometimes, it also meant something was wrong.

As they went into another home, Zone’s stripes began to glow green, illuminating the room, the zebra a little surprised. “There’s radiation here,” she said. “I seem to have picked some up.”

A quick sneeze happened before Taipan replied, “How much?”

Zone slowly dispelled the radiation as best she could, her stripes dimming again. “I’m not sure, but it seems it was enough to make me glow a little. That would mean this particular house might not be safe. But, I wonder, why is this particular house not safe?”

Taipan walked up next to Zone and sniffed the air as best she could. “I smell nothing. Not saying much, though.”

“Perhaps we should leave this one be,” said Zone. “I might come back later to investigate myself, given the radiation won’t hurt me. Perhaps there is some kind of object, maybe… an undetonated device?”

“Agreed,” Taipan replied. “I wonder what in there, though.”

They quickly exited the strange home and went elsewhere, and as they entered a different house, Zone had a question pop up that she didn’t expect to have running through her own mind. “Might I ask you something? Why did you not let that zebra go?”

“She be trouble for us if still alive.” Taipan answered. “She get more zebra and hunt us down.”

“I suppose that is true,” said Zone. “I find something odd though... Before we met, my life was rather brutal. I killed when optional, the same way you did. But I am not sure why I suddenly didn’t want to kill my opponent. It went against everything I usually believed in. Have I grown soft in such a short time?”

Taipan shook her head and said, “Don’t think so. Think merge is affecting you. Think since others showed up, things changing, getting both peaceful and dangerous at same time.”

Zone hadn’t considered this before. The merge, changing creatures native to the wasteland as well? If two worlds are colliding, could that mean Zone would be experiencing memories of an alternate self? She had yet to have different memories, but the possibility wasn’t off the table. She’d need to wait and see.

“If that is true, I’ll need to just charge through,” said Zone. “Have you experienced any memory merge yet?”

“No, but have been feeling weaker.” Taipan replied. She then saw something move “Did you see that?”

Zone looked in the direction Taipan was facing. “This is supposed to be a ghost town… If something is here, it could be a radroach, unless there’s something else.”

“Let’s head back. Not safe to fight unknown enemy,” Taipan advised.

Zone chuckled. “Ah, I see. You do play the wise game,” she said. “I would have investigated. You are right. Let us return to the others for now.”

. . . M e a n w h i l e . . .

Fluttershy’s mind had wandered for a bit since her conversation with Rainbow Dash. She didn’t like this place, this wasteland. It was grim, dark, gloomy, all of the above. There were no little creatures she could talk to, no green grass, no blue sky. With how everything was going, with how there was so much on the topic of death, she found it very hard to keep up her spirits. Even the occasional word from Zone and Taipan weren’t enough to keep her uplifted.

After a while of thinking, she was taken out of her trance by a noise. When her gaze navigated about her surroundings, she noticed that the others weren’t here. She couldn’t even hear them in the other rooms. With this in mind, a chill went down her spine, the pegasus not used to being alone.

She stood up, then stretched before walking into the kitchen area where Tricks and Brute had been earlier, but she found nopony there. It was empty, with only the ambient sound of wind flowing through the boarded-up window on the far end of the room by the sink.

As Fluttershy approached it, she heard it dripping, the faucet somehow seeming operable again. She didn’t know this place had running water…

When she reached the sink, her eyes found it hard to focus on the droplets. It was like she didn’t want to look at it, something in the back of her mind screaming at her not to pay attention to the details, and as she forced herself to look at the droplets, she figured out why her mind was telling her not to look directly at the faucet.

It was dripping dark red.

She stepped back, gasping in shock, but as she was about to scream, she noticed that the faucet was no longer dripping. She cautiously stepped closer, finding that the sink was bone dry. Turning the handle, she saw no water coming out whatsoever. Was her mind playing tricks on her? It had to be.

She breathed out a sigh of relief before leaving the kitchen and navigating through the living room, into the hallway. “Girls?” she called out, trying to get one of her friends to answer. Just a simple reply would’ve eased her, but there was no response. “Girls?” she said a little louder... Nothing, the only reply was her own echo.

She reached a door on the left of the hallway. There were drawings and posters on the front, something a little colt or filly would have on their bedroom door. With slight hesitancy, she opened the door, seeing the room in the condition in which it was left long ago. No furniture had been taken, no toys had been stolen. It looked like what it would’ve seemed two hundred years ago, untouched by time.

She brushed her mane out of her face as she walked over to the bed. It was tidy, neatly made, with a single doll resting on the pillow. Upon taking a closer look, taking it into her hooves, she noticed a similarity to her in this toy. Pink yarn for its mane, a dull, yellow fabric, and a single butterfly stitched into its flank.

Thinking about it, was she really so well-known that there’d be toys in her likeness? It didn’t seem likely, right? She was from the Ministry of Peace. If anything, wouldn’t Rainbow Dash be the kind of pony to have toys made in her image?

Still, the fact that there was a toy at all resembling Fluttershy made the mare smile softly. She set the doll back down, then turned to look at a bookshelf next to the bed. It seemed that this foal was an avid reader, as there were many books lined up neatly on the shelves.

But… as she kept looking, she noticed one book in particular.

She gripped onto it, pulling it out and leaving an empty gap. The book read, “The Problem with War, by Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy had written a book? She didn’t see herself as a writer, but the title of the book seemed like something she’d come up with. She carefully opened it up, cautiously flipping through two-hundred-year-old pages. There was a lot in here on zebra culture, showing comparisons to pony culture and why the two should be allowed to co-exist.

She seemed to get into it, reading it casually until she turned the page to a bloody stain on one of the pages. She let out a scream, dropping it, her heart pounding, eyes widening, pupils dilating. As she tried to regain her composure, she saw that the stain was gone. A trick of the mind again? What was up with her today…? Was she this stressed?

And then… as she turned to look at the bed, the doll was missing…

A giggle came from down the hall made her mane stand up straight. What was going on here? This place couldn’t really be haunted, could it? It had to be just a rumor. There was no such thing as ghosts, right?

Right?

“It’s in my head,” she whispered. “It’s in my head, it’s in my head, it’s in my head.”

She put the book back on the shelf, then walked out of the room, looking down the dark hallway. “I sure wish Rarity was here right now,” she said, missing the illumination the unicorn would’ve provided with magic.

She walked down the hall, her ears flicking as they picked up the sounds of foals giggling, many of them, their voices faint, but still audible enough to know they might have been real. The feeling that someone was watching her was growing bigger, the mare almost certain that there was a presence here that was not her own or her friends’.

“Mama, where are we going?” she heard a foal ask.

“Somewhere safe. Hurry up and grab your scarf. It’s cold,” replied a mare.

“You hear that?” asked a stallion. “We’ve gotta hurry!”

Fluttershy had this strange feeling, a sense of dread, a sense of sadness as well. She felt like she was supposed to be hiding. Reaching the living room once again, she saw a mare, a stallion, and a filly. They seemed to be in a hurry, slinging bags over their backs.

“Mama, I don’t wanna leave!” said the filly. “My friends won’t know where I went!”

“Now’s not the time!” said the mare. “If we stay here, you might never see your friends again.”

“I hear the mob,” said the stallion. “Look out the window, you can see them!”

Fluttershy then heard a pounding on the door, startling her. The apparitions vanished, leaving Fluttershy in a state of bewilderment. Were they ghosts? Was she seeing the past? What was going on? While she wondered, she noticed the doll in her likeness on the floor with one of its button eyes missing.

She gently picked it up, fear slowly building up in her to the point where she was close to having a panic attack. “What happened here?” she whispered to herself, her eyes darting across the room, the mare on her guard.

Her friends were missing, she was seeing things, and now she was close to bolting out the door to safety. Upon inching towards the front door, she could hear voices outside. They seemed to be speaking in a language that was unfamiliar to her.

Next to her, the stallion appeared, pushing on a large shelf and moving it in front of the door. Looking back, he said to the now-visible stranger mare, “I don’t think this will hold them off for long.”

“Is there no other way out?” asked the mare.

“We could try the back windows, but if they’ve got the house surrounded, we might not have much luck,” said the stallion as he walked over to her. “Damn this war… We were doing just fine before that incident! They tolerated us, but now they act like we’re a blight.”

“Mother did always tell me not to come here,” said the mare. “I thought she was just… paranoid.”

As Fluttershy listened to the ghostly conversation, she noticed that the filly had been staring at her. Fluttershy didn’t know what to assume. Was this filly really seeing her or was she just looking at the door behind her? Fluttershy reluctantly raised up her hoof, waving, and what happened next made her heart pound even faster.

The ghostly filly waved back before all three of the spectres vanished.

Was the filly trying to show Fluttershy what had happened? Was she stuck here? Was there even a way to help her move on? There were many thoughts roaming through Fluttershy’s mind, the yellow pegasus trying to make sense of things.

“H-Hello?” Fluttershy called out. “Are… Are you a f-friendly ghost?”

In response, she heard a thud from the ceiling, making her jump. There was then another thud, then another, and another, each sound following each other like hoofsteps. Wasn’t there a second floor?

Fluttershy went up the stairs slowly, and when she reached the top, she entered into a hallway where there was quite a mess…

Every door was open, the handles broken off, and in each room, furniture had been knocked over. Fluttershy felt her blood running cold at the realization that the zebras had eventually broken into the home. There was one door at the very end of the hallway that was closed, seemingly untouched.

Fluttershy cautiously crept forward towards it. She kept telling herself in her mind to stop, but her body kept going. She didn’t want to know, but she needed to know. As she reached the door and grabbed the handle, she froze, staring at the wood of the door for what felt like the longest time.

Finally, she opened it.

Sadness and fear hit hard into her heart.

Three skeletons were huddled together in the corner of the room, the smaller one with its hooves around one of the two bigger ones. Silence was all that was left. Fluttershy couldn’t even hear her own breathing. Her eyes watered up, tears slowly sliding down her cheeks and hitting the floor.

On the ground next to one of the adult skeletons was a weapon, a gun. Fluttershy could only assume that they had ended their lives on their own terms. The pegasus felt weak, her legs shaking slightly as she kept her gaze on the smaller skeleton.

“Don’t cry,” said the ghostly filly from behind. Fluttershy, with wet eyes, turned around, seeing her there, holding the doll.

“How can I not…?” asked Fluttershy, her voice breaking.

With a guilty face, the filly said, “I’m sorry… I just wanted to tell somepony at least. I never got to tell my friends where I went…”

“Where are your parents?” asked Fluttershy.

“They’re waiting for me…” said the filly. “Been waiting for a long, long time. I couldn’t go yet… Not until somepony knew. Will you tell my friends what happened?”

Fluttershy’s heart sank beneath the waves upon waves of sadness. “Do you know how long you’ve been waiting?”

The filly shook her head…

Fluttershy couldn’t break the filly’s heart. “I’ll… I’ll tell them,” she said.

The filly smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m gonna go see my parents now. My friends’ names are Zenadi and Etch. Don’t forget!”

Fluttershy hesitated before slowly nodding, and the filly vanished, finally moving on. Fluttershy dried her tears, then heard another voice.

“Fluttershy? Fluttershy! Wake up!”

The mare suddenly bolted awake, gasping. Rainbow Dash was beside her, giving her a confused look. “You okay? You were crying in your sleep. You just kinda dozed off…”

Fluttershy didn’t answer. She stood up and, without any hesitation, ran upstairs. It was the same as in her dream. All doors opened, with the final door at the end closed. As she ran up to it and put her hoof on the handle, she tried turning it, but it was locked.

“Hey, wait up!” shouted Dash as she approached from behind. “What is up with you?!”

Fluttershy had confirmation. The filly in her dream was real. “N-Nothing,” she answered.

“Nothing at all.”

Author's Note

Hello. I'm not dead. Things are going a little slow for our project It'll pick up eventually, but for now, just expect chapter updates. An audiobook is being arranged, but that may take a while before we can sort everything out.

If we're lucky, it'll happen. If we're not, it won't. Pretty simple to explain.