Fallout Equestria: A Light Shining in Darkness

Chapter Five
“That sorta thing is just bad for business… bad all the way around.”

We made our way up the Long Stretch, Umeme and Tahka pulling the wagon carrying the corpses, the kids and Argus, Ophia took up in front and Mashhad and I flanked the sides.

Before we left I had looked over the Foalbanks’ guns on the racks, having picked out the cream of the crop. I was now carrying two very heavy duffle bags over my shoulders containing five lever action rifles and six shotguns, three dozen revolvers of 357 Magnum, 38 Special, 44 Special and Magnum, 45 Long, and 45-70 and enough ammunition to sell.

Argus carried one revolver in a holster under his chest with a few spare magazines and a double barrel shotgun. I learned that the stallion was a Foalbanks, but at least not in the way that Jackchips and Bitterchips had been. Apparently his mom was from a long dead family further south near the ruins of New Horseleans and she was kidnapped by the Foalbanks when she was a filly, but she died shortly after he was born.

Years later he was taken prisoner by the Outcasts when they captured a massive chunk of Foalbanks Land, he met Kaldi and the two became friends, married and had Prysm over a decade or so ago.

*** *** ***

The hours rolled by slowly as we trudged down the road and it was close to midnight when we reached the safety of Clearview’s walls. We were greeted by the townsfolk and about five hundred Outcasts led by Legate Eadayiy.

“Legate Amandla, the General sent us to assist you and your squad, but it seems as though you have already taken care of everything, again.”

“It seems so, Legate Eadayiy,” Umeme returned with similar coldness, “Of course you’re used to coming late, aren’t you?”

From the way he almost savored his words, I could tell the two stallions had a shared dislike of the other.

A few of his soldiers snickered and the Legate briskly ordered those soldiers to take over pulling the wagon for Umeme and Tahka before we continued on to the Castrum. It was late in the morning the next day when we finally reached the gate, a lot of Outcasts came out to greet us and cheer our return but the fanfare halted almost immediately when they saw the wagon.

Saluem pushed her way through the crowd and checked on each of us before reaching me, “What happened?”

“Q’osk… He’s dead,” I mumbled, staring at the ground, “t-they had a m-missile launcher-”

“It’s not your fault, Ozzy,” the mare quietly reassured me, placing a hoof on my shoulder and pulled me into a firm hug, I slowly returned it and my heart felt a little better.

“Let me through! Let me through!” a voice shouted as Q’ale pushed her way through the crowd, but she stopped in her tracks upon seeing the wagon.

Umeme tried to speak with her but she pushed past him and stared at her father’s shrouded corpse, she placed her hoof on the sheet and her lips started to tremble. A shorter zebra stallion came to her side and wrapped his foreleg over her shoulders, the mare broke down into sobs as she was taken away.

“Papa!” Prysm shouted as she ran through the crowd and jumped into Argus’ arms.

“Sugar Cube!” the stallion shouted as he held the filly tightly.

The crowd parted and the General and a few of his guards stepped up, he looked over the wagon, the kids, then us before stopping on his son. Umeme stood there staring up at the giant stoically.

“Your room, now,” the General growled coldly, Umeme stoically stepped into the crowd and entered the Castrum.

“Lucius,” Saluem started, but the General held up a hoof to stop her.

“Inside now.”

*** *** ***

We all stood in the General’s court room, the General listened as we explained what happened, about how Umeme changed the plans, how I insisted on saving the enslaved kids, how we cleared the town, Jackchip’s and Q’osk’s deaths, and finding Argus. Saluem stood beside him and her ears perked up when Ophia declared that I couldn’t kill the Foalbanks kids.

The General wasn’t happy, “Where is she then?”

“Sturmkaller,” Argus answered, the room murmured quietly, “Uncle Jack had Shortstops take her up to the Regulators to sell for better firepower.”

“You’re certain?” The General stared down at his brother-in-law, “Then what do you plan?”

“You know damn well, Lucius,” the Swampfolk growled angrily.

“Argus, think about this,” the General warned, “Prysm just got you back after nearly four years.”

“And now Ah’m gittin’ Kaldi back, even if Ah gotta pluck the fuckin’ wings off that cunt.”

Well, at least I knew where Prysm got her vocabulary from.

The General called my attention, “Yes, Sir?”

“Ozzy, tomorrow you will assist Umeme and Argus, you have four days.”

‘Just hold up your end of the bargain,’ I thought, “Of course, General.”

The General turned to one of his guards and ordered him to bring Umeme, Saluem tried to argue with him but he shot her down. After a few minutes Umeme came into the room, a couple of guards restrained his forelegs as a third stripped him of his uniform.

“Umeme, my Legate, my son,” the General started, Umeme stood there stoically, “You may have destabilized the Foalbanks for the foreseeable future and recovered your mother’s pelt, but in doing so, Q’osk was killed in the following onslaught, what do you say in your defense?”

Umeme looked up into his father’s eye and asked, “Is it any different than what you did?”

Every Outcast in the room went stone cold as the General stepped forward inches from Umeme’s face, “I did not get my squad killed when we purged the Leathernecks.”

The General leaned back and grabbed a lance from a guard, the point sparked with magical energy as the giant slammed the point into Umeme’s chest. A swarming cloud of yellow and white sparks slammed into the young stallion, burning down to his hide and filling the room with a sickening smell of burnt hair and flesh.

Umeme didn’t scream or grunt in pain at first, but soon it was too much for him to bear and he let out the most blood chilling cry filled with so much pain and anguish I still haven’t heard anything like it to this day. The General only stopped and pulled back his weapon when he had carved a runic symbol over Umeme’s heart that vaguely resembled an eagle.

“Rise, Speculatores,” the General rumbled with a low voice, there was a collective gasp as Umeme somehow slowly got to his hooves, “You have five days.”

“Yes… my General,” Umeme struggled to say before he turned and left the room followed closely by Ophia and Saluem.

*** *** ***

I sold all of the guns and ammunition I didn’t need to some merchants and they gave me just over a couple thousand bucks. I was left with Light and the brush gun with enough ammunition for both.

I looked down at the small gold coins, they were about the size of pre-war bits with one, five, twenty and one hundred dollar coins. The faces had the same words around the outline of a seven pointed star each tipped with a small five pointed star with the dollar value, the words said: GiatÍ o Pólemos Polemátai gia aftó pou Pistéveis.

‘Because war is fought for what you believe,’ I realized the language was the same as what was written on Light and I questioned yet again how I knew that.

The tail of each coin was decorated with a different image, the one dollar had the portrait of an earth pony stallion with the words, Y. Evergreen, First High Councilor. The five dollar had a scene of ponies and zebras wearing armor and overlooking the distant ruins of a large cityscape with the words, The Time of Emergence. The twenty dollar had a battlefield where hundreds of armor encased soldiers fought with the words, The First Emergence War. Finally the one hundred dollar had the shape of a very tall spire outlined by a shining sun with the words, The Future.

Arhem had stitched up my suit and reinforced the hoofball pads of my armor with shoulder pauldrons and foreleg guards made of shaped blued and blackened steel to better match with my suit. He assured me that it would offer better protection from intermediate caliber firearms, shrapnel and blunt force trauma compared to just my armor and my suit. I paid him for his work, around four hundred bucks.

“Hey, Ozzy,” Tahka called to me across the cafeteria, I sat down beside the stallion and Prime Axius, the bandages on his foreleg had been removed, “How about that drink?”

Axius handed me a bottle filled with red clear fluid, a quick sip told me that it was some kind of spicy wine, “So you were gonna tell me about yourself.”

“Right, well one day years ago my gang had just extorted a trading caravan near some slum town called Arbu… I think, anyway, we made our way back across the Harbor to our hangout, a tall apartment building that was half slumping into the irradiated seawater. When we got there we found HER.”

“Her?” I glanced at Axius who shrugged.

“Her,” Tahka repeated like I was supposed to understand, “Despite how many thousands of miles I’ve put between myself and Manehattan, I’ll never forget Her.”

“She looked like a twisted visage of Celestia, tall, dark green mane and coat, long spiraled horn, massive wings, deathly graceful and her fucking laugh, I’ll never forget the cruelty in her laugh when she slaughtered my old gang. Gudd got lifted up and ripped him in half, we tried to fight back but our weapons did nothing against her magic. I hid under a desk and nearly pissed myself, I was so scared.”

“Finally, Maddyx shouted at me to run for it before she rushed Her with a balefire egg. She nailed her with an I beam in response, but Maddyx had thrown the egg at Her before her death, I had just barely made it outside when the explosion rocked the building and brought the remaining upper floors down on Her, I like to think She died.”

He took a swing of his drink before continuing, “Taking the event as a sign, I packed up some supplies and left to find a better life. I traveled to a place called The Nest, used to be an old griffon Talon base before some mare killed some Talon leader called Malys Grimfeathers. I followed the caravan trails and eventually met Cydia Chukk-chukk down at the Palatine, the rest is history.”

*** *** ***

After sharing a drink, I continued aimlessly walking around the Castrum for hours, many Outcasts congratulated me for killing Jackchips. I thought about what I was gonna do after getting Kaldi back, what if the General didn’t give me the information and demanded I join his forces? What if his information didn’t help me? What could I do with it anyways? I couldn’t just wander around the Wastes praying to stumble upon Mom… could I? Or maybe I should join the Outcasts and settle down here?

I didn’t know.

“Hello there, Handsome,” a voice caught my attention, I had been so absorbed by my thoughts I didn’t even notice that I was standing in front of a large wooden shack labeled as Bathhouse with a mare dressed in scanty clothing that accented her curves.

“Hello there,” the mare beckoned me, “A handsome buck like you has some nerve being lonely tonight.”

“What… ah do you mean?” I asked, blushing slightly and looking away.

“How cute,” the mare giggled, “Just ten drachme or twenty bucks and I’ll make you forget all your troubles for the night.”

I blushed a little more as I realized what she was implying.

“Livian,” Saluem muttered dryly.

“Oh, good evening, Saluem,” the mare-of-the-evening greeted Saluem with equal dryness in her voice, “I don’t usually see you over here.”

“Only when I need to treat your… customers,” turning her gaze to me she whispered, “My brother wants to speak with you.”

“I’m quite certain our illustrious leader could see him in the morning before he goes and saves that mud dancing sister of yours,” Livian interrupted, holding onto my foreleg.

“It involves the information you wanted,” Saluem whispered into my ear, more insistently.

“I’m very sorry, uh… Ms Livian, but I’ll have to decline your… generous services for tonight.”

Livian acted like she was disappointed, but she thankfully released my foreleg, “Oh alright, but don’t be a stranger, Mr Stable Dweller.”

“Thank you,” I muttered to Saluem when we were out of earshot.

“She’s a real piece of work,” the mare whispered, “Two of her kids play with Prysm and now she has Yellow Pox.”

I resisted the sudden urge to vomit at that news, note to self avoid all mares-of-the-evening in the future. We stopped at her hut and she ushered me inside.

“I take it you lied about the General, huh?” I asked, turning back to the healer.

“Pretty obvious, I guess,” she half chuckled, “Your armor looks better now, almost proper.”

I thanked her and we stood there in awkward silence before a thought dawned on me, “How’s Umeme doing?” I asked, “And the kids?”

“He’ll carry that mark for the rest of his life, but he will survive, I’ve sealed it so infection is unlikely. Those kids however will require time to heal mentally, they might even suffer for the rest of their lives, but we will take care of them.”

“Oh right, I almost forgot,” I said, digging through my saddle bag and pulling out the books.

Saluem stared down at them in awe, “Ozzy, how did you-”

I shrugged, “Found some bookcases full of them in Dela Crow, these were in the best conditions.”

The mare looked over the covers with reverence as she carefully opened The Canterlot Journal of Health to the cover page,

“To my beloved Fahrenheit,

Do you remember when you asked me on our first date so many years ago? That was when I knew we were destined for each other. Even though our love may have soured over the War, I still think back on those days with such fondness.

I hope to see you one last time,

Your Redheart.”

She flipped to another page, “There’s hundreds of notes in the margins, this doctor was incredibly methodical.”

“There’s also this book,” pulling out the Wasteland Survival Guide, “I haven’t checked it yet.”

“Ditzy Doo!” Saluem exclaimed, taking the book from me, “My granduncle told me stories about how he guided a mare who called herself Ditzy Doo around the North Shore writing a survival guide for the Wasteland, I always thought he was joking though.”

She looked over the book for several moments, “I wonder if she’s still alive.”

“You can have them,” I explained, “I figured you’d make the best use of them, also as payment for saving my life… and stuff.”

“Thank you, Ozymandias,” Saluem placed a hoof on my foreleg, “You have no idea how helpful these will be.”

We sat in silence again for a while before Saluem closed the books and stood up.

“I also wanted to thank you for all you’ve done,” she explained in a warm voice as she sauntered over to her chest, riffled through it for a moment, and pulled out a bottle of dark red wine and two old glasses, “I’ve been saving this for a special day.”

We sat and enjoyed the wine as we read the books for a time before setting them aside and laughed and shared stories of our childhoods.

I learned that she was the youngest of her siblings, her brother was the oldest and Kaldi was almost ten years her senior, making her only seven years older than me. She had learned a lot of her medical knowledge from traveling Wasteland doctors, the most helpful if not the most pompous and arrogant of which came from a place up in Haagenheim called City Seventeen.

I told her how I was the last student in my class to get my cutie mark, because who in their right mind would give a colt a gun? She laughed at that and playfully pushed on my shoulder. As the evening went on and the bottle emptied, her jokes became more and more intimate until she was almost hanging on me.

“This was pretty nice,” I whispered, putting my empty glass aside, “But I think I should go get some sleep for tomorrow.”

“You could… you know stay here,” she whispered, leaning closer, “If you’d like.”

I looked up at her, her cheeks were bright red and she was swaying slightly. She leaned back and let her jacket and shirt pool on the floor behind her and she leaned closer to me. I’m sure my face was bright red and steam could’ve been hissing from my ears.

“Uh, you don’t have to do that,” I stammered slightly, scooting back a little, “I mean I’m just helping out to find Doctor Rose, after all.”

“No,” the mare said flatly, placing a hoof on my chest, “you didn’t have to save those kids from Dela Crow, but you did, you could’ve killed those Foalbanks kids and I wouldn’t have known, but you spared them.”

I scooted back further till I was pressed against the wall.

“I think I know exactly what you are, Ozymandias,” she slurred slightly, leaning closer and closer till just an inch separated us, I felt her hot drunken breath on my face and my heart thumped in my ears, “You’re a good stallion.”

I half chuckled nervously.

“I’ve only had a couple of lovers,” she sheepishly slurred, placing a hoof on my foreleg, “Have you…?”

“Really Saluem,” I tried to say, “You don’t have to do this.”

She pushed her lips firmly against mine, her tongue slipping past my teeth and tangoing with mine. Her lips were so soft and I couldn’t help myself but return her affections, she pulled back and a thick trail of saliva hung in the air between us.

“You’re not a bad kisser,” she mused, licking her lips, “A little inexperienced, but still nice.”

I blushed at the compliment, but I felt pangs of guilt thinking about Cobalt, “Saluem, I don’t think we should do this.”

She ignored me however, unzipping my armor’s jacket and stripped it off before grabbing my suit’s zipper and pulling it down past my crotch, my cock and balls sprang out from the now restrictive leather and slapped her cheek almost comically.

“Good spirits,” the mare breathed, looking down at my shaft, “No wonder you were so embarrassed. You’re a bit bigger than some of my previous buckfriends.”

“Saluem,” I tried to say, “I really think we should stop.”

But the mare ignored me, instead her soft lips kissed at my shaft, making me shiver. She gave my balls an experimental lick, after I moaned slightly she started kissing and sucking on them before dragging her tongue up the underside of the shaft to the head, engulfing it in her hot wet mouth and deep down her hot moist throat.

I groaned into my hoof and desperately tried to hold back as much as possible, but it was a lost cause.

“Sorry!” I grunted, grabbing the mare’s head and shoved my cock deeper as spurt after spurt shot down her throat.

The mare gagged and coughed, spilling a bit of my jizz out of her nostrils, but she held on. When I had finished, she let my cock slip out and coughed into her elbow and blew her nose into a wash rag.

“Sorry,” I mumbled sheepishly, “I shouldn’t have grab-”

“No need-” She said, holding up a hoof for me to stop, she looked up at me tears in her eyes, but she was grinning, “-to apologize, I didn’t know I was that good.”

She cleaned up my cock with the wash rag before moving to straddle my hips, her pussy rubbing against my hardening cock.

“Saluem, stop,” I said, grabbing her hips, “I don’t think we should do this.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, “Do you have a mare back home?”

I faltered slightly, “Not… anymore.”

“Then why stop?” she asked, leaning forward and kissing my lips again, her hips rubbing down on my cock harder, “We’re both adults, I think you’re pretty good looking, besides we’re just having a bit of fun, what’s so bad about that?”

“You could get pregnant,” I blurted out, cheeks reddening.

The lovely mare stared down at me for a good while before she asked, “Does that frighten you, Ozzy?”

I didn’t answer.

“I mean I’m not planning on having a family anytime soon,” her hips ground down on my cock, her juices lessening the friction and making my spine shiver, “But my mother’s tribe believes that all healthy children are blessings from the Spirits.”

I stared up at the mare incredulously, having a bit of fun was one thing, but did she really just say that she’s ok with the idea of having a kid with me?

WHAT!

“Besides” - she started, shifting around so my cock head pressed up with her pussy, I shivered at the exotic heat and wetness - “I have contraceptives I can take in the morning if you’re that serious.”

With that, she leaned down and my cock slipped inch by delicious inch into her warm embrace till she sat down on my hips, my head nestled very deep inside of her. I wanna say that it was the best experience in my short life, which I mean isn’t wrong per say. Whenever Cobalt and I had sex it was a little to rough sometimes, she was a little too aggressive.

Saluem by sheer contrast was definitely more experienced, she was far more gentle and would kiss my chest and neck and whispered pointers to me about what she liked too. I can’t say how long we fucked for, it could’ve been an hour… it could’ve been most of the night, I only remember bits and pieces really.

There was a small spot below her earlobe that made her stifle a moan. I found myself looking down at her pussy, my tongue swirling inside while my cock was balls deep in her throat, spurting seed into her stomach. I was pinning her down under me as my cock plunged into her pussy hitting a spot that made her convulse and tighten, trying to milk me.

Finally, we were on our sides, my cock was thrusting deep into her, our tongues waltzed together, but by the end, I pulled out and Saluem held me close as I spurted most of my seed onto her belly, her pussy glistening white.

She grabbed a clean wash rag and wiped me and herself off before sliding into the bedroll with me and we drifted off to sleep in each others’ arms.

As we fell asleep, I couldn’t help but have a pestering nagging feeling at the back of my fleeting mind, I knew this could have consequences.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

I opened my eyes and glanced around, I wasn’t in Saluem’s hut anymore. Instead I was sitting behind a large desk of dark red wood that was finely engraved embellishments in a large office room with bookcases full of books that nearly reached the high ceiling. The walls were covered in light colored wood panels and decorated with hundreds of framed photographs, schematics, and awards. A large logo of a blue seven pointed shooting star with a silver sword as the seventh point with engraved words on a copper plaque hung on the wall above a pair of double pale wooden doors:

Orion Solutions Inc Companies

Orion Solutions of Baltimare, KBR International of Novasibrisk, St Auburn Medical of Whinnyapolis, Agricola Foods of Chicoltgo, Shining Jade’s Custom Firearms of St Haul, Apricot Computers of Monacolt, Northern Equestrian Mining Services of Trottingham, Detrot Industrial of Detrot, and Jackpot LLC of Foaledo

A large carpet of what looked like a star chart covered the dark wooden floor and my desk was pushed up near a thick glass window showing a sprawling cityscape on the shores of a massive bay of dark gray water.

I turned away from the window and looked down at a newspaper wrapped in a glow of pink magic,

Baltimare Times

Outcry in the Swamps

Citizens of the Horseshoe Bay protest the construction of Hippocampus Energy oil and natural gas drilling operations in the Hayseed Swamp, one protestor had the absolute gaul to say…

The story dominated the front page, pushing aside lesser stories like Release of Midnight Serenade’s tribute to the Old Guard delayed due to Pink Flu and food poisoning…, Mayor Rumble to release the tribute to Flash Magnus and the Old Guard for Bimillennial Celebrations…, and The new cloudships, The Skidbladnir, Song of the North, and Stalliongrad have all been released from the Detrot Drydocks with more on the way…

I dropped the newspaper on the desk and looked at a framed photograph of an elegant pegasus mare wearing a multicolored sundress and a young unicorn colt wearing a pair of swimming trunks standing in front of a sign on a beach of clean white sand with some writing, Horsolulu, Gallopinghost Islands.

Despite my lack of knowledge of the ponies, I smiled warmly at them and tapped my hoof against the glass warmly.

“Doctor Orion?” a voice asked through an intercom on the desk, “Doctor Orion, Corporal Pumpkin Cake is here for your eight o’clock.”

I placed the photograph back and pressed a button on the intercom, “Thank you, Crystal, send her in please.”

The doors creaked open and a unicorn mare dressed in a cleaned green military uniform poked her head in, “Um, Doctor Orion?”

“Yes, hello Corporal Cake, thank you for seeing me so soon,” I said, waving the mare over to a seat across from me, “Now I’m quite certain you must have questions.”

“Yes, Doctor,” the soldier said, brushing some of her curly carrot orange mane, she tucked a black flat cap hat into one of her coat’s pockets, “I was hoping to see my brother, Lieutenant Pound Cake, but I can’t get a straight answer from my superiors.”

“Yes,” I started, getting up from my chair and stepping around the desk, “Your brother seems to have suffered multiple severe injuries, lacerations to his lungs, fractures in his radius and ulna bones in his wings, not to mention possible damage to his thoracic column, it truly is a miracle at all that he’s still breathing. We have him stabilized in an Auto-Doc right now, but if we don’t do something soon, he may as well be braindead.”

The Corporal almost cried but managed to just hold the tears back.

“Corporal Cake,” I took the soldier’s hooves in mine, “I know what it’s like to lose loved ones, but I promise you that my doctors and scientists are trying everything in their power to save your brother.”

She nodded and wiped away a tear.

“There is another option,” I said, standing up and turning to the intercom on the desk, “Doctor Windsly, can you come in?”

The doors opened and a middle aged pegasus stallion stepped in, “Hello, Corporal Cake, how are you this fine day?”

“I’ve been better.”

“My head of Research and Development, Doctor Windsly here has been working closely with both of the Ministries of Technology and Arcane Sciences respectively to improve on power armor manufacturing in Detrot, so far he has managed to increase production by over sixty percent in the last year alone. Windsly, if you will tell the Corporal here what you told me the other day.”

“Yes,” the doctor said, pushing up his glasses, “I’ve reviewed Lt Cake’s condition and I believe we have a possible solution, my team and I have developed a variant of power armor that combines the strength of the standard Mark One models with the flexibility of the Mark Twos, we are calling it Mark Three Experimental, alpha testing has shown an increase of immeasurable proportions in controlled environments, but we have yet to properly test the system in the field, however with your brother’s unfortunate but timely condition and his prior training with Mark Two power armor, we just might be able to make progress on the project once more.”

“Corporal Cake, this procedure could save not just your brother but also potentially hundreds of thousands of lives, as his last living relative, the choice is yours to make.”

The soldier looked between Doctor Windsly and I before she made her choice, “Alright, if it will save Pound.”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

I felt something tapping my shoulder ripping me from sleep. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was back in Saluem’s hut and Umeme was standing over me. Glancing over I saw Saluem was sound asleep beside me, snoring softly.

“Uh… yeah” - Quickly remembering what happened last night, I sat up - “this is pretty much what it looks like.”

The stallion didn’t say anything, instead he turned away and left the hut. Saluem mumbled something as she rolled over in her sleep. I carefully got out of the covers, quietly pulling on my gear, I looked down at the beautiful mare I’d just had a nice evening of peace with for a moment longer. What will Mom think? Cobalt would probably be screaming at me and then refuse to acknowledge my existence for weeks. I steeled my thoughts before turning to the door flap.

“Heading out?” Saluem asked, I turned to her, she was sitting up on her elbow.

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my neck with my hoof, “Umeme knows.”

“The amount of times I’ve caught him with Ophia,” she waved her hoof dismissively, “he won’t tell Lucius.”

“Right, well… last night was fun… so long,” I turned to leave again, but she stopped me.

“Be safe and protect him, ok?” she whispered.

I took her hooves in mine and kissed her lips, “I promise.”

She returned the kiss and pressed her forehead to mine, careful of my horn, we stayed like that for a few moments before I stepped out the door.

*** *** ***

“Ready?” Umeme asked, he was wearing his gear, but now his cloak had a few more bullet holes in it.

Argus was standing by the gate sharpening a several inch long hunting knife with a jawbone handle. He was wearing a dark green jacket made of heavy canvas with blackened metal shoulder and foreleg armor, one of the invisibility cloaks over his shoulders, a saddle bag, and revolver in a holster on his hip. He had also bathed, his dark gray coat and balding mane were now an ashen blond and a swampy gray green and I noticed his cutie mark was an eye made from candle flame.

“Where’re the others?” I asked, looking around the main gate.

“Not coming,” Umeme muttered, not meeting my eyes, “This is a redemption mission, my squad isn’t allowed to come.”

“You’re supposed to go alone?” I asked in disbelief, “That’s suicide.”

“I disobeyed a direct order from my General, the fact that he’s also my father is circumstantial-”

“It’s barbaric,” I interrupted, this couldn’t be happening!

“I succeed in my mission or I die trying,” he continued flatly, “Either way I’m forgiven and regain my honor once more. That is the way of the Roamani.”

“The Roamani?”

“My mother’s tribe, we who banded the other eleven and one together and forged our old empire when the First Caesar abandoned us.”

“Well, why’re we allowed to come with you?”

Argus sheathed his knife, “Not even the Goddesses could keep me from muh wife, Drylandah.”

“And you still desire the whereabouts of Doctor Rose, no?” Umeme asked.

With that, we left the Castle and journeyed north along a path through the Swamp just as sunlight pierced the distant horizon and soon disappeared above the clouds.

*** *** ***

We spent the better part of the day making our way through trees and marshes, we encountered a few overgrown pale mosquitoes nearly as big as me. Umeme called them Bloodbugs, they were unnervingly quick and it took a whole magazine to kill two of them even with S.A.T.S.

Umeme’s expert shots took out three in a single bullet and Argus whipped out his revolver and killed three of them with practiced ease and pulled out his knife and stabbed the fourth just behind its head.

“Where are we going?” I asked Argus.

“Dere’s only one way t’ git t’ the Regulators wit’out ‘em knowin’, the Onions run barges up t’ the Twin Brothers under the Regulators’ noses, since they live in Outcasts Territory Sturmkaller can’t hit ‘em, as per the treaty.”

It was late in the afternoon when we reached a high old brick wall decorated with plastic mannequin heads, teddy bears, painted white onions and a rampant zebra outlined by a blazing sun.

At least there weren’t any corpses this time.

Past the fence was a courtyard with a few stilted ramshackle shacks surrounding a very large old mansion on the banks of the same wide river I had spotted on my map when I had left Stable Fifty-Two. My PipBuck pinged, my map had labeled the place as the Onion Farmstead, I was about to give up trying to figure out this damned thing.

A number of Swampfolk kids were running around the courtyard playing little games or doing chores like looking after some penned in livestock, a two headed cow, a couple of lumpy pigs, and scaly chickens, at least I think they were chickens, they could’ve been strange looking lizards for all I knew.

A filly sat on a rusty sheet metal roof holding a lever rifle, when she spotted us she jumped up and started hollering, “Who y’all?!”

“I am Amandla Orthius Umeme Octavius, we are here for Myles Onion.”

“Grandpa ain’t here Outcast, so fuck off!” the filly shouted, brandishing her rifle, “Grandma already paid this season!”

Paid this season?

“I’m here for something else, child,” Umeme shouted, “Junebug Onion, get out here now!”

After a few moments a slightly pregnant mare wearing a faded denim jacket over a blue checkered dress stepped out from the manson and came up to the gate, she was followed by two younger looking mares in similar clothing, I instantly noticed that their bodies were considerably less mutated than the Foalbanks of Dela Crow, the lumps under their hides were barely noticeable, the few tumors and pustules were speratict, and they looked just overall so much healthier that they almost didn’t look like Swampfolk.

“Well howdy there, Mista Umeme,” the older mare greeted Umeme, “Ain’t seen ya in a dog’s half-life, how ya been?”

“I’m here on business, Junebug, is your grandfather here?”

Junebug looked away slightly bored, “Oh, Daddy mighta gone on down t’ the McZaphords and the Black Apples a spell back, Ah don’t rightly know when he’ll be back, if ya gots some time…”

I noticed that Umeme’s cheeks reddened slightly. I also noticed that all of the kids were different in little tiny ways, either their colors mismatched or they were different races, mostly earth ponies or unicorns but there were a few pegasi and even a couple of half zebras like Prysm and Mashhad. A colt and filly were playing with a few puppies almost like they could control them, somehow.

I glanced up at one of the younger unicorn mares by Junebug, she was wearing a faded black denim jacket with the sloppy white onion stitched into her sleeve over a grassy green dress and her shaggy muddy mane covered one of her dark brown eyes with a couple of small black rings in the brow of the visible one. I suspected that she had noticed what I had suspected of this family, because she nodded.

“Junebug, I’m on a tight schedule, now go tell your father I need to speak with him.”

“Touchy today, muh offer still stands,” Junebug giggled playfully as she went over to a shack closest to the river.

The mare who nodded at me lingered a bit, staring at my suit collar and then down at my PipBuck, her cheeks reddened when she noticed her family had left and she quickly hurried up to the mansion. Umeme reached over the fence and opened the gate so we could enter.

We crossed the courtyard and entered the mansion, the entrance room was big with a large faded rug in the center and a few chairs and sofas for sitting. A narrow staircase led up to a second floor with lots of doors, the whole place was decorated with old photographs and drawings and a few animal pelts and heads, though there weren’t any pony or zebra hides this time.

So that was a better sign at least.

A number of kids ran in from outside, past me and rounded a corner into a long corridor with even more doors. Umeme and Argus both sat down on the chairs and I picked the sofa, we waited there for quite some time, the family moved around us like we weren’t there. I was about to ask Umeme and Argus who we were waiting for when a mousy voice squeaked out something. I looked over my shoulder and found the mare who had nodded at me, she was holding a platter in a small cloud of swampy brown magic with some drinks on it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

The mare’s cheeks burned red and she squeaked again, “Wouldja like a drink, Mista?”

“Um, thank you?” I said, wrapping a bottle of dark brown liquid, Sunrise Sarsaparilla and taking a sip, I can’t really describe what it tasted like beyond its aftertaste was of wintergreen, vanilla and maybe licorice. I really liked it.

The mare handed out the other two drinks to Umeme and Argus, she stepped to the side and offered a quiet hidden smile to me.

“Jubee, leave the Stable Dwellah alone an’ help Carrot wit’ the pigs!” an elderly earth pony mare shouted from a side room.

“Yes, Grandma,” the mare squeaked out and hurried to the door, but then she stole one quick glance at me before stepping outside.

“Ya best forgit ‘bout her, Stable Dwellah!” the elderly mare shouted, brandishing a cleaver at me, “Jubee ain’t of no use t’ nopony!”

We sat there in silence again till it started getting dark, then Junebug came inside followed by the younger mares and Jubee.

“Ah’m sorry Mista Umeme, but it looks like muh Grandpa ain’t gonna show up t’night and y’all might be havin’ t’ stay cause of the storm blowin’ in,” Junebug almost sauntered up to the stallion, “Muh bed is still pretty big.”

“Ya be knocking that off, Junebug,” the elderly mare shouted from an upstairs room this time, “They’s be sleepin’ out inta barn, t’night!”

“But Grandma,” Junebug cried like a spoiled brat.

“No butts, Missie,” the mare shouted, brandishing a hairbrush at Junebug, “Ah’s still ain’t forgiven ya whorin’ ass for fuckin’ that Blacktyde buck an’ gittin’ ya’self preg’inant again! When Ah’s was ya’s age, Ah only slept with twenty bucks before Ah met ya Grandpa!”

“When ya’s was muh age the War was still goin’ on, ya dried out old bat,” Junebug muttered quietly to herself, the elderly mare chucked the hairbrush and smacked the back of Junebug’s head.

“Git goin’, Missie!” the elderly mare shouted as Junebug and her sisters followed her up the stairs and down a corridor.

“Thank you, Mrs Onion,” Umeme addressed the elderly mare, “We won’t be a burden to you or your family.”

“Eh, git goin’,” the mare replied gruffly, turning back to the upstairs room, “Fuckin’ Outcasts.”

“Well, they’re a particularly loving family, aren’t they?” I sarcastically asked to nopony in particular as we crossed the courtyard to the larger of the shacks that leaned at a slight angle.

Umeme and I pushed on the double doors and the most horrific, putrid, foul smelling, toxic disgustingness that I had ever smelled in my short life wafted out from the damp darkness, I nearly vomited.

The barn was dark and damp with wet hay, straw and feces blanketing the floor, the two headed cow and the lumpy pigs rested in stalls deeper in. A single lantern with a flickering flame was the only light in the building, casting shadows on the walls. Umeme grabbed the lantern and Argus dragged up a few crates, we sat down around the light. Umeme picked up a few bundles of dryer straw and lit them on fire making torches. I took one in my magic, slowly I gradually felt warmer. Suddenly, the clouds above started leaking as the storm hit.

It was like being back in the showers of Stable Fifty-Two, but it was everywhere outside and it wouldn’t stop. A number of cold water drops leaked through the roof, splashing us occasionally. Argus stepped outside into the rain and returned after twenty minutes with a fat three eyed fish with a big gaping mouth that he called a Big Mouth Bass. He fried it up with some of his rum and honestly it tasted pretty good. We were in the barn for hours, but the storm didn’t let up.

“So, what do we do now?” I asked, hugging my jacket closer to me and the fire, my breath fogged in the cold air.

‘Why was it getting so fucking cold?’ I thought, wishing I was back with Saluem in her bedroll.

“We go to the Regulators and save Kaldi,” Argus grumbled, checking on the livestock.

“And after that?” I asked, Umeme was looking out the crack in the doors letting cold but fresh air in.

Neither stallion answered, I pulled up my PipBuck’s radio, I didn’t want to click on Red Eye’s Broadcast again, that one time was far more than enough, so I picked a different signal.

“Chills
Chills come racing down my spine
Like a storm on my skin, with shaking hooves
I’ll guide your SWEET soul into mine
Until I feel you within
And I know
I know that it’s all about understanding
And I’m hidden inside your beautiful soul as it’s crying for love
To conquer the day slowly dawnin’
I want you to know, you’re the heart of my Temple of Thought.”

The voice and the song he sang was filled with sorrowful hopefulness that it made me go to very unhappy places.

“So when you’re restless I will calm the ocean for you
In your sorrow I will dry your tears
When you need me I will be the love beside you
I’ll take away all of your fears
Oh, I’ll take AWAY all of your fears
So you can let go all your fears

And you stay
Stay with me when I break down
Like a dream come saving I’ve
Words shall fail here
I’ll just read the way you sound
Till I know the meaning of love and life
And it could be I’m understating
What are your needs that you stand in behind
Every words you say to make my day slowly dawnin’
I want you to know you’re the heart of my Temple of Thought

So when you’re restless I will calm the ocean for you
In your sorrow I will dry your tears
When you need me I will be the love beside you
I’ll take away all of your fears
Oh, I’ll take AWAY all of your fears
So you can let go all your fears

Dreams have nothing on my reality high
On the scent of your skin
I know we’re riding endlessly into the sun
Feel the life deep within”

There was a long guitar solo before the drums returned followed by the singer,

“So when you’re restless I will calm the oceans for you
In your sorrow I will dry your tears
When you need me I will be the love beside you
I’ll take away all your fears
I’ll take AWAY all of your fears
I’ll take away all your fears
I’ll take away all of your fears
You can let go of all your fears.”

The voice slowly died away and was replaced with a new voice, “This is DJ Pon3 and that was Autumn Poet, singing about one of life’s greatest virtues, being there for that somebody special. And now time for the news for my listeners up in the North Shore. My sources tell me that the Legion of Outcasts have wiped out the leader of a group of cannibalistic raiders in the Hayseed Swamp called the Foalbanks.”

My ears perked up, Umeme continued staring out the doors, “Though their General denied my sources the chance of an interview, I have been told that a Stable Dweller called Ozzy, was involved in the operation in some way. Hey, Kid, if you’re ever in Manehattan stop by Tenpony Tower, I’m sure Chief Grim Star might have some contracts to fulfill. Now in other news from the Griffish Isles…”

I hadn’t heard the rest, my mind was running a mile a minute and my heart started thundering in my chest. I’d been outside what little over a week now, how did this FUCKIN’ DJ know about me all the way in FUCKIN’ Manehattan? And did he really just say my name for the whole of the Wasteland to hear?

FUCK! Fuck me with Celestia’s hooves, all of them!

“...lost in transit between the settlements of Buckster and Wharf. Now for the weather, brace yourselves children, cause Winter is coming for your booties! Remember to dress warmly and stay indoors as much as possible. And now back to the music, it’s Bluejay Bond and he’s singing about the Stars of the Midnight Range.”

I shut off the radio and put my face in my hooves, Argus was almost cackling. What was I gonna do?

After a long time Umeme called my attention, I stood and looked out the doors, in the slightly heavier cold rain I thought I noticed the briefest of ghostly shimmers on top of the fence. Umeme noticed them too.

“Uncle,” Umeme whispered, Argus was already behind us, .223 pistol and knife at the ready.

I heard a rustling and turned back into the barn and held up my torch, at the back wall I thought I saw the faintest of outlines on the edge of my indirect vision, I switched on my E.F.S. and a yellow blip popped up in front of me on my compass.

“Who’re you?” I asked, the figure pulled back the hood of an invisibility cloak and Prime Axius materialized, his silenced rifle was at the ready and pointed at Umeme.

“I’m sorry, Legate Umeme,” he muttered, “It’s for the good of the Outcasts.”

“I’m sorry too, Prime Axius,” Umeme muttered, whipping around he chucked his knife across the barn and hit the soldier between his eyes.

Argus picked up the soldier’s rifle and ammo and set himself up by the back window, “More are comin’.”

Umeme pointed me to the back corner, he retrieved his knife, and closed the soldier’s eyes, “Walk the Golden Walls, Axius.”

“Did you know him?”

“I trained him, his parents had been raped and eaten by a family down near the Palatine, come on.”

Argus planted a small bag of black powder on the soldier as we left and led the livestock into the rain, we crept along the brick wall and waited about twenty feet away. After a few minutes, gunshots popped and banged and lit up the empty barn.

Suddenly the whole courtyard lit up as a couple dozen muzzle flashes lit up the barn, turning it into splintered cheese, when everything was done, the barn collapsed in on itself with a subdued cloud of dust. The mansion’s windows lit up and a ruckus was drummed up as the Onions learned of the attack, a dozen of the older stallions and mares ran out the front door brandishing lever action guns and started attacking the Outcasts Betrayers.

I unholstered my brush gun and took aim at the soldiers, my first couple of S.A.T.S. aided shots picked off two soldiers closest to the barn. Argus and Umeme jumped up into the fray, Umeme and Junebug targeted a few soldiers by the brick wall while Argus and a couple of older Onions shot up a few soldiers trying to flank us. I targeted another few soldiers, a couple of bullets ripped past my head and one struck against my metal pauldron, I dove back behind cover and checked over myself, but aside from a heavy bruise in my shoulder I was fine.

Suddenly a soldier came from around a corner and jumped on my back. I tried to get her off, slamming her against the brick wall, against a tree, I even threw myself back into the mud. I can’t remember how long we tussled, but she managed to get on top of me with her rifle. Before I could lift my brush gun or Light, her neck exploded and she collapsed to the side of me, twitching and gurgling slightly. I stared down at her for a moment before a second soldier materialized in the rain.

“Tahka?” I sputtered, wiping my mane out of my eyes.

The stallion grinned, lowering his smoking rifle, Mashhad materialized alongside Q’osk’s daughter, Q’ale wearing a heavily modified skinnier version of Q’osk’s armor with only one of his machine guns on the battle saddle. Mashhad helped me stand up.

“What’re you all doing here?” I asked.

“Helping you recover Kaldi, Kid,” Mashhad answered grinning, “Umeme just happens to be doing the same thing.”

I looked them over and grinned, “Well, I appreciate it.”

We got into the battle, Tahka taking to defending the fence, Mashhad took up a perch by the mansion and Q’ale lit up a group of Betrayers with her father’s machine gun. Umeme was tackled by a soldier and Ophia materialized and bucked the soldier’s helmet in.

Helping Umeme up, the stallion hugged the mare tightly, I wiped my mane out of my eyes and saw a soldier who was trying to rip an Onion mare’s clothes off, I took aim at the soldier and shot him in his neck, he collapsed beside the mare.

I got up and quickly crossed the chaotic courtyard and checked on the mare, to my surprise it was Jubee, she was picking up a worn looking 44 Magnum revolver in her magic.

“Are you alright?” I asked, helping her out of the mud and taking cover behind the deck, she swept some of the bloody mud out of her mane with her magic and I noticed that her covered eye was strange, it was a pale milky green, “Did that bastard do anything?”

She shook her head slightly and squeaked, “Nothin’ Ah ain’t suffered before, Mista.”

Suddenly, Mrs Onion bursted out of the mansion wielding a heavy machine gun on an old battle saddle followed by a group of middle aged stallions and mares wielding more lever action guns.

“The fuck’s happenin’ out here!?” the elderly mare shouted as she took aim at the soldiers and lit them up with shotgun shells instead of regular bullets.

Just as quickly as it had started, the battle was over, I helped Jubee up from our hiding spot and looked around. Nearly twenty Outcasts and seven Onions lay dead in the mud and cold rain.

Umeme was shouting at Ophia, Tahka, Mashhad and Q’ale, “What in the name of the First Caesar are you all doing here?!”

“Helping Ozzy, Sir,” Tahka answered.

“Well get back to the Castrum, now, I have to do this alone.”

“With all due respect, Legate Umeme, we aren’t following your orders anymore, Sir,” Q’ale started, “We’re following Centurion Ophia’s, Sir.”

Umeme stared down at the mare with a mixture of anger and pride, Ophia placed her hoof on his shoulder, “Fuck honor, I’m not letting you die.”

The nice scene was interrupted when Mrs Onion came up, shouting, “Mind explainin’ exactly what happened?”

*** *** ***

It was nearly day break when Umeme had finished explaining the situation as he saw it, Legate Eadadyiy wanted him dead or banished so he could become the next General when his father died, as Legate he was in the best spot to take his father’s place. But he couldn’t kill Umeme himself because they were both Roamani and honor meant everything to their tribe. Umeme couldn’t go back and accuse the Legate because he was Speculatores and was without power until he rescued Kaldi.

Mrs Onion and her family sat around the main room listening to Umeme as he explained, the elderly mare simply nodded and by the end she spoke with her seven children, and decided on telling her husband upon his return and then they would decide. Until his return we were allowed to sleep in a couple of upstairs rooms, but we weren’t allowed to interact with any of her family, she glared at me specifically.

It was close to noon when I woke up… at least my PipBuck told me it was noon, but the skies were still dark and it was raining even harder, the Onions had buried their dead and chucked the Outcasts Betrayers into the river after stripping them of their gear.

I pulled on my gear and walked down the corridor, I saw Jubee helping some of the younger colts and fillies into a large bathtub. I offered the young mare a smile and she blushed sheepishly, I continued downstairs. Umeme, Ophia, Tahka, Mashhad, Q’ale, and Argus were looking over a crudely drawn map of the area with one of the Onion children.

“So, that’s the short of it,” the Onion explained, gesturing a hoof at Neightick, “Sturmkaller has made a deal t’ reinforce the town wit’ Red Eye Slavers from down south, but we’s ain’t seen ‘em as of yet.”

“No contact yet, interesting,” Umeme mused to himself, “Any other defenses?”

“Standard, mostly heavy assault rifles, snipers, machine guns, shotguns, etc.”

“Any slaves?” Argus asked.

“They bein’ held in pens on the eastern bank of the Neighagra River, about thirty of ‘em, gon’ be presents for Red Eye, Ah’s reckon.”

“And Baltimare?” Ophia asked.

“High Councilor Hyacinth Dawn seems t’ have made a deal wit’ Sturmkaller, she keeps trade flowing wit’out disruption, she can sell slaves.”

The room got quiet for a moment before Umeme coughed into his hoof for attention, “All of you should get yourselves ready for tonight when Mr Onion returns this afternoon, Ophia and I will think of a plan.”

*** *** ***

Later that afternoon, I was sitting in a wicker chair on the deck out of the rain looking out over the river. A few smaller crawdads swam against the current, one of them stopped and looked in my direction for a moment before continuing on. There were some scattered gunshots in the distance that sounded like machine guns, but it was otherwise quiet. The Onions had given me a jacket liner that I wore under my suit, I felt a bit warmer at least.

I looked down at my PipBuck map and felt a chilling dread, Mom could’ve been anywhere by now, where would I even start?

A sudden creaking sound made me glance up, spotting Jubee timidly standing by the stairs.

“Ah’s sorry, Mista, Ah didn’t mean t’ interrupt yas work-”

I held up my hoof to quiet her, “No, you didn’t do anything wrong, come here.”

The mare hesitated for a long moment before timidly stepping over and sitting in a chair beside me, she timidly glanced up at my brush gun.

“Ya killed Jackchip?”

“Yeah,” I replied, glancing up, “Did you know him?”

“Ain’t no folk, pony or zebra, in the Swamp who ain’t git fucked over by ‘im or the Foalbanks.”

“Well, it should be a bit safer now.”

We sat in silence for a long time while I checked over my gear, I placed Light on the table and checked over my saddle bag, Jubee picked up Light and looked it over in her magic.

“Nice, isn’t it?”

The mare’s cheeks reddened slightly and she glanced away, carefully putting Light back, “Ah ain’t mean no harm, Mista-”

“Ozzy,” I said softly, playing out Light’s empty magazine, “And it’s fine, Jubee, it isn't loaded anyway.”

We sat in a longer silence for a while, the rain continued tapping on the roof above us.

“What’s it like here?” I asked, waiting to fill the silence.

“Oh,” Jubee squeaked, timidly fidgeting with her braid, “it ain’t t’ bad Ah reckon, safe here.”

There was a long pause before I asked, “Is it ever gonna stop raining?”

“Probably… a couple a days maybe,” Jubee squeaked, now fidgeting with her jacket.

We sat in silence again before she asked something under the rain, I asked her to repeat it.

“Where ya from?” she squeaked, “Ah mean if it’s no trouble.”

“No, it’s just most people I’ve dealt with so far usually notice that I’m a Stable Dweller is all.”

“Ya from City Seventeen? Grandpa an’ Uncle Fry do lots of business wit’ ‘em an’ the Garret Twins, they good folk.”

“The Garret Twins?”

“Yeah, one of them crime families down in Foaledo, they’s run the Balefire Wrangler, mostly buy McZaphords’ booze from us, they’s better folk than the Riches.”

“And the Riches?”

“Bad folk, run the Desperado and sell slaves fer anythin’, led by Boiled Rich, bunch of bastards. So are ya from City Seventeen?”

“No, my Stable’s up in the mountains, my Mom and I are the only ones who’ve come out since the Last Day.”

“Oh,” Jubee gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves, “Yer from that Stable!”

“That Stable?” What did she mean by that?

She nodded, “We attacked a Stable up in the mountains a long time ago, but we couldn’t git in.”

I remembered the miners who tried to blow open Stable Fifty-Two to escape the end of their world, only to die of radiation, dehydration, and starvation. “Oh, well trust me, you’re better off out here.”

There was another long pause before I asked, “Hey, can you read?”

“Ah, uh no… not much,” she admitted quietly, looking down at the river, “Muh brain can’t handle letters an’ numbers none t’ good, they jump all over the page.”

“Dyslexia,” I mused quietly, she glanced up at me confused, “I think that’s what they call it when you can’t read well.”

“Grandpa says Ah had water in muh brain when Ah was born, makes me o’ no use t’ nopony.”

“Bullshit,” I muttered, startling her, “Just because you can’t read doesn’t mean you’re useless, what’re you good at?”

“Well-” she started, but was interrupted when Junebug called for her, “Oh, sorry, yeah Sis?”

She got up to leave, but took a moment to thank me for my time before she hurried off into the house.

“Are you ready?” Umeme asked from the doorway, he had his gear on, “We’re heading out.”

*** *** ***

We were on Mr Onion’s boat, it was a cramped metal thing with a large bladed engine that ran on spark batteries bolted to the back that loudly propelled us up the river and the Swampfolk carefully guided us between debris. Rain whipped at us as we huddled together, I pulled my jacket closer.

“Here’s the plan,” Umeme said over the rain and the engine, “Ozzy, you’re going to pose as Red Eye’s representative and speak with Sturmkaller, distract her as long as possible, Uncle Argus and I will locate Aunt Kaldi, Ophia, Tahka, and Mashhad will set up explosives around to cause distractions, Q’ale, you guard Mr Onion, we pull this off, we’ll be able to go home, any questions?”

“Yeah,” I raised my hoof, “How the hell do you expect me to act like a slaver?”

“It’s simple, act threatening and like everything’s beneath you, you’ll think of something.”

“Great,” I muttered.

“One other thing,” Ophia said, “You can’t take weapons into Neightick, I might be able to hide your pistol on you well enough that they won’t be able to find it when they search you, but don’t take it out unless shit hits the fan.”

I instinctively covered my ass with my hooves.

“Not there, pervert.”

After that humorous exchange, we rounded a bend in the river and came into view of Neightick. If Dela Crow had been a town and the Castrum was… well a castle, then the slaver town was nothing short of a fucking fortress!

It was built upon a massive bridge of metal and concrete that spanned the length of the river just before it bends to the northwest toward the Twin Brothers in Haagenheim. Probably a thousand makeshift buildings were built up along the support pillars and cables with thousands of small lights dotted around and at the center of it all was a high tower with a flag fluttering in the wind and rain.

We pulled up to a small dock in the Swamp near the northern length of the Applelachian Mountains and followed a narrow hoof path for an hour up to a crumbling four lane highway like the Long Stretch that my PipBuck labeled theOld Circle.

We followed it through the blankets of rain and cold and reached a small collection of crumbling buildings before the western gate. We stopped in a building that used to be a post office so Ophia could hide Light in my suit and take it’s holster belt.

“Remember, you want them to think you’re with Red Eye, act like everything’s beneath you. Ready?”

I couldn’t find my voice so I just nodded. With that, they all pulled up their cloaks and disappeared. I swallowed hard and cautiously stepped up the road to the gate. This was quite easily the craziest and dumbest thing I’d ever agreed too. My heart thumped in my ears, sweat would’ve been pouring down my brow if it weren’t for the rain.

Suddenly, a blinding light flashed on me and I had to block it with my foreleg to keep from going blind.

“Identify yourself!” somebody shouted.

“Hey is that a fuckin’ Stable Dweller?” a second voice shouted out, “Turn that damn light off, Mic.”

“I’m from Red Eye!” I shouted over the rain, “I’ve come to speak with Sturmkaller!”

The spot light shut off and I lowered my hoof. Five Regulators stood up on the high reinforced rusting metal walls, two earth ponies, a unicorn, a zebra with green stripes and a strange red eagle/lion hybrid thing that must've been a griffon. I counted two heavy assault rifles, one combat shotgun, a magical energy pistol, and the griffon held an incredibly strange long boxy black plastic weapon system that my vast knowledge of Ironshod Firearms told me was most likely a 4.7mm Caseless Assault Rifle, it was mentioned as a purely experimental weapon system that supposedly never saw true combative use due to reliability issues with the ammunition being easily damaged.

They must’ve fixed the issues in the two hundred years since the book's publication.

A small door in the gate opened and an earth pony mare wearing a black leather armor with a black cloud and lightning bolt striking a pair of crossed heavy assault rifles painted on her gray metal shoulder pauldrons stepped out, she lifted her heavy assault rifle cautiously.

“You’re from Red Eye?” she asked, notably lacking the Swampfolk accent.

“Yes,” I muttered, trying to seem disinterested, “Is there a problem?”

“Yeah there’s a fucking problem, you’re a whole season late.”

The Regulators up at the gate watched us suspiciously, I noticed a few shimmers climbing up the support beams, I had to distract them.

Doing my best to seem like an angry slaver, I stepped toward the mare and growled in a low voice, “And this is my problem because?”

“Well, we’ve been waiting for weeks and… the slaves are-” the mare stuttered slightly, somehow not expecting this despite being a slaver.

“My Master told me to speak with your leader, not with the common rabble, now take me to your leader or I’ll be forced to tell my Master that he will have to look elsewhere… perhaps the Riches down in Foaledo-”

“No! I’ll bring you to Sturmkaller, follow me,” the mare holstered her rifle and beckoned for me to follow her.

This felt far too easy.

Inside the gates was a room with a reinforced window with a slot, a zebra stallion with blue stripes and dreadlocks sat at a desk holding a clipboard with papers and a pencil, a number of gun racks and shelves with boxes lined the room behind him.

“Good evening, sir,” the zebra greeted me, “Name and occupation please.”

“Monty Banks,” I said, quickly thinking of a fake name, damn DJ Pon3, “I represent Red Eye.”

The zebra jotted down the information, when he finished he pushed open the slot so the box was open to me, “Please place your weapons and ammunition into the box, we will return them when you leave.”

“What?” I asked, trying to sound annoyed.

“It’s for safety reasons, sir, can’t have the slaves getting guns, right?”

I glared at the zebra for a moment longer before a gun cocking got my attention, a couple of Regulators leveled magical energy rifles at me, “You will have to leave your gear here, you will get everything back when you leave.”

I glared at the guards for a moment longer before I unclasped my brush gun, holster bandolier and floated out the spare bullets from my saddle bag, I sweated slightly when the guards patted me down, but they let me go. The zebra handed me a ticket with some numbers on it, stuffing it in my saddle bag. I followed the mare through the door and out into Neightick.

*** *** ***

Neightick’s buildings were built up two, three, four and even five high forming a long wide corridor that blocked out the rain and cold with walkways, stairs, ramps and pulley lifts. Lights were strung up all over the place some were advertising bars and stores and brothels with mares and stallions in scant clothing called out services for low prices.

Dozens and dozens of ponies, zebras and a few griffons were walking around going about their business or were up in the walkways, a number of them were wearing matching black leather armor with the same black cloud and lightning bolt striking crossed heavy assault rifles.

The mare led me through the crowds to the tower in the middle of the bridge before we climbed steep stairs. When we reached the fourth landing, a pegasus Regulator threw a slave over the railing of the landing, she screamed all the way down into the crowds dozens of feet below.

“Luna dammit, Daven, she cost good bucks,” my guide berated the stallion, he flicked his wings at her in a way that must’ve been insulting.

My heart screamed at me to do something, but my brain told me to calm down and stick to the plan. We made our way up more stairs till finally we made it to the tower top, my escort opened a door for me.

“Sturmkaller’s busy with a personal task, she’ll be with you as soon as possible.”

I stepped inside the room and the door closed behind me. The room was pretty small and loosely resembled an office with a squat wardrobe, a couple of chairs, a coffee table, and a wooden desk with a terminal and a framed photograph. I stepped around the desk, the photo was of a young filly hugging an older mare, both were pegasi and the left edge of the photo was chard slightly like a part of it had been burned away.

I tapped the terminal keyboard and the screen flashed on and a password was required, I racked my head for all that I knew about Sturmkaller before deciding to just hack into it. I’m not the best at computers and hacking them is pretty tricky for me, but I had no choice.

And I was slightly disappointed when the password turned out to be Wind.

Inside was a number of nonsensical corrupted entries, but at the end was a few entries presumably written by Sturmkaller. I selected the last one.

I’ve been down here for twenty-seven years, seven months, three weeks, and six days.

I wasn’t even fifteen and yet I was judged no better than Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. All for allowing my commanding officer to get himself killed by that fucking Windigo.

Father declared I was unworthy of our name…
Mother wouldn’t even look at me during the trial…
Sturmrise was almost grinning with glee as I was slapped in chains and dragged away.

I still feel the branding melting into my flesh. I still hear the roaring laughter as I lost my voice in silent screams. I still see the surface barreling up at me as I fall, flailing toward the beast riddled ruins of Monacolt. I still remember the fear in that Blacksturm’s eyes as I drove my spear through the gaps of his armor into his lungs. I still hear the mocking catcalls and taunting slurs from those wannabe gangsters in Foaledo. I still feel the bullets shot by that Blackraven sniper that pierced my wing grounding me.

And yet, I still feel the warmth of Rose’s smile when I stumbled bleeding into her clinic in City Seventeen’s courtyard. I still remember the pride and honor radiating from Crusader Bryght Steele as he killed Tawa Sunspear over the Chariot Hotel in Detrot. I still see the bloody snow covering The Nest when we fought Malys Grimfeathers alongside Gawdyna. I still feel the warmth and the love in Iudex Umbaril’s eyes fade as he dies from the manticore slash in his side.

“Grimfeathers? The Nest?” I quietly muttered, remembering the names Tahka mentioned.

I’ve been down here for twenty-seven years, seven months, three weeks, and six days… and now I feel as though my time is nearing…

Let it come, I will not go gentle into the Darkness.

I sat back in the chair and thought about what I just read, Sturmkaller was a slaver and yet, to be blamed for a crime she didn’t even commit?

I closed out of the terminal and sat down in a chair and waited for what felt like a good hour before the door blew open and a pegasus mare downing a large bottle of whiskey stepped in.

The mare wore an old beige Enclave uniform, but it was incredibly sloppy, the few medals and awards she’d earned were defaced and the single copper bars on her collar tabs were tarnished and rusting with a slight green patina, a scratched up name tag was pinned above her asymmetrical breast pocket, Sturmkaller.

She had a necklace made from pistol and rifle bullet casings with a couple of metal dog tags with luminescent blue squares and black rubber edges, one had a large bullet hole in it. A 12.7mm pistol was holstered at her side below her cutie mark, a black cloud and lightning bolt that almost looked burned into her hide. Her long blue fusha mane was in a sloppy tri braid and tied off with a torn scrap of old red ribbon.

I was reminded of the Enclave Officer from my weird dream.

“You!” she growled, throwing her bottle over her shoulder, “You got some real fucking nerve to show up!”

“You must be Sturmkaller,” I said, standing up and offering a hoof, “My Master sends his regards.”

The mare grumbled something under her breath as she slumped down in the chair opposite me, “Getting down to business, I have about a thousand following me with another hundred up near the Twin Brothers, twenty-eight slaves are ready to go-”

Suddenly a stallion stepped in carrying a platter with a couple of liquor bottles on it, he silently placed it on the coffee table and turned to leave.

Sturmkaller picked up a glass and threw it at the stallion, who caught it, “Duke, if your brain was dynamite, you wouldn’t have enough to blow your fucking hat off!”

The stallion silently closed the door and Sturmkaller continued, “Anyways, how long will it be before we can expect Red Eye’s reinforcements?”

My heartbeat quickened in my ears as my brain raced for a believable answer, “Well, from what I’ve seen so far, I think we would be better off buying from-”

CRACK!

The mare suddenly slammed the bottle hard enough against the table to crack, spraying dark liquid all over, “So that’s how it’s going to be?”

“Well, I’d hardly say that-,” I started, my heartbeat thundering in my ears.

She lifted the bottle up, brandishing it’s jagged edge at me, “You think I enjoyed it when my loving, caring, spiteful big sister held me down as they burned away my cutie mark and then cast me down from their fucking Eden?” she bitterly spat, “Do you think I enjoy this toxic hellscape? Do you think that I haven’t made sacrifices to whip these fucking caravan guards into proper slavers?!”

“Killing Mayls Grimfeathers must’ve been interesting,” I cautiously commented, staring down at the bottle.

Sturmkaller threw back her head in cruel laughter, “What do you know of that bloody kir anyway?”

I didn’t answer for a long time before she continued.

“Where’re you from anyway?” the mare lowered the bottle and asked, staring down at my suit, “Didn’t think that Red Eye worked with Stable Dwellers.”

“It’s not something I like to talk about, I’m sure you understand.”

Strumkaller leaned closer, “Then tell me.”

Shit!

“I was lost in the Heartlands,” I started, quickly coming up with a story that hopefully sounded plausible, “One of his slavers found me one night and brought me to him. He offered me a choice, tell him where my stable was or suffer beyond anything possible. I tell myself it was an easy choice.”

The mare nodded, filling her glass again.

We talked for close to an hour, Sturmkaller seemed to calm down more, she talked about the Regulators, about how she took over and compared it to Red Eye’s own rise to power, she asked about what it was like to serve the new slaver king of Fillydelphia and I quickly came up with plausible answers. When the bottle was long since dry, Sturmkaller stood and sauntered slightly around me.

“Say, why not stay for the night?” She trailed a wing feather along my shoulder, “We can give your master his slaves in the morning.”

My cheeks reddened, “Sorry,” I said, standing up, “I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

“I didn’t ask.”

Before I could react, the crazy mare grabbed my collar and threw me against her desk. I backed up slightly, but I was trapped. She leaned far too close and without any warning pressed her lips against mine, I tasted the sour liquor as her tongue slipped into my mouth. Her lips and tongue dominated mine as her wings groped my crotch, I struggled to break free but she was too persistent. Eventually, she broke her assault and stared up into my eyes and her face flashed with a dawning of foggy realization. A wing reached up and flicked away some of my still somewhat damp mane and her realization turned into cruel dread.

She tried to say something multiple times before she whispered, “Wait, I know your eyes.”

She took a step back and covered her mouth with her wings, “You’re Rose’s son?”

I blinked a couple of times before asking, “You know my Mom?”

“She didn’t mention me?” she asked, anger sparking behind her eyes, “I’m one of her only friends left in this dead world and she didn’t fucking mention me?”

I shook my head and she grabbed her chair and threw it into the wall, “Celestia’s fucking soaking cunt!”

And I thought my profanity was getting bad, “I was there when she squeezed you out, I helped you get to that fucking hole in the mountains and yet she didn’t even bother to talk about me?!”

I shook my head again.

The mare shouted bitterly as she toppled a dresser, “After all the fun we fucking had together!?”

“What’re you talking about?” I asked, dodging a glass that flew past me and broke against the wall, the mare slumped down against the wall and held her face in her wings.

“I met Rose back in City Seventeen decades ago,” she murmured, “she never told me where she was truly from, but I knew she couldn’t possibly be a native, no she was far too kind to me.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, Mom and all of my ancestors came from Stable Fifty-Two… but then I remembered the message from my Investigator.

“Did my Mom come through here?”

Sturmkaller nodded, “Yeah, Rose came through, we talked for the better part of a day, learning about what happened since you and she were sealed in that fucking tomb, we had a fun night… before she left. I never thought you’d come here so soon.”

“Did she mention where she was headed?”

“No,” she hung her head slightly, “She mentioned that you were still in the stable and then she left for the northwest.”

The room was in dead silence for a long time before I asked, “Did you know my father?”

The mare stared up at me for a moment before nodding, “I never knew him personally, doubt anypony could. But he was a stallion of unyielding vision and Rose almost worshipped him like the Goddesses. No fucking clue what happened to him. It’s funny, really, Rose said as you grew up, you developed a look in your eyes that reminded her of him.”

I thought over her words, Mom never told me about my dad, not even his name, and yet this slaver, this old friend of Mom’s just told me that he was comparable to the Goddesses?

Just one more question for Mom… when I found her.

“What was his name?” I asked.

The mare was about to answer when a thunderous bellowing horn almost shook the room, calling for our attention. Sturmkaller almost flew out the door and through the buckets of cold rain we looked east.

The shadows of a massive anvil shaped pre-war air vehicle loomed hundreds of feet above us, supported by four massive black thundering clouds as it slowly drifted toward the town. A name lit up on the front, Song of the North. Dozens of smaller crafts shot out from the clouds and swooped down on Neightick.

“BATTLE STATIONS!” Sturmkaller shouted down to the crowds through a megaphone, “THE OLD GUARD IS COMING!”

The town was whipped up into a frenzy as the Regulators hastily prepared themselves for the attack.

BOOM!

Suddenly, the east gate exploded inward in a shower of sparks and splinters as dozens of soldiers wearing matching black combat armor wielding a mix of conventional and magical energy weapons thundered in through the smoke and fire. The Regulators got behind cover and returned fire on their attackers, but they were overrun easily.

Sturmkaller grabbed my collar, “Listen, go get to safety, the Old Guard don’t fuck around.”

“What about you?” I asked, she stepped over to the spare side room.

“I’ve been expecting their retaliation for a while,” her words carried a hint of pride, “now get!”

*** *** ***

Neightick was in utter chaos as I sprinted down the soaking and slick stairs with dozens of Regulators and other people toward the main floor. Bullets and magical energy bolts flew every which way around me as I ducked into a side building on one of the upper floors. Where was Umeme and the others?

Quickly thinking, I picked up a heavy assault rifle from a dead Regulator and after checking its magazine, I leaned out into the carnage. I aimed at a slaver who had climbed up to the floor just below me and shot a few S.A.T.S. aided bullets at them.

BLAM!

The rifle kicked into my shoulder hard as the first two bullets missed, but the third, fourth, and fifth bullets hit their mark in his neck and back, causing him to slip and fall over the railing into the crowds below. I ducked back into cover as a bullet grazed my shoulder pauldron, a few Regulators blew past me.

CRACK!

Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound as the building I was in started moving! I jumped up and sprinted for the doorway just as the buildings toppled down into the river. Time slowed as I jumped at the last moment and flew through the air, slamming hard into the walkway I frantically grabbed at anything as I started slipping backwards, but I couldn’t get a perch.

Suddenly, a mouth grabbed my collar and helped lift me onto the walkway, looking up I saw Umeme standing over me. My heart lifted considerably at the sight of the handsome stallion.

“Come on!” he shouted over the rain and gun fire, helping me stand, “This is no place to die!”

“Did you find Kaldi?” I shouted, wiping some of my mane out of my eyes.

“Yes, she’s at the docks now with the others, I came back for you!”

Without wasting any more time, we ran down the walkways and stairs, shooting Regulators. As we reached the main floor, we broke into a sprint for the west gate, my new rifle slung over my shoulder slapping against my side, my lungs and legs burning.

A griffon Regulator fell from an upper floor and planted in the mud ahead of me, I quickly reached down with my telekinesis and grabbed a few of his spare magazines and stored them in my saddle bag. Above us a couple of pegasi wearing blue Enclave power armor swooped down and fired multiple beams of blue magical energy killing dozens and burning buildings. Umeme and I ducked as the pegasi swooped up and came around for another pass.

Suddenly a third pegasus wearing black Enclave power armor fired multiple bolts of fiery orange magical energy at the blue counterparts and struck one that spiraled down and crashed into a building a couple of floors up, showering the main floor in splinters and smoke.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw a few air vehicles swoop down beyond the west gate, I grabbed Umeme by his cloak and quickly pulled him into a side alley just before the gate exploded inward, killing dozens.

BOOM!

We peered around the corner, a few dozen Old Guard wielding heavy weapons piled in through the newly destroyed gate and gunned down any Regulators who stood against them before a very tall, impossibly slender pony stepped in through the smoke and fire.

“It can’t be,” Umeme’s voice was full of dread.

The new pony was clad head to hoof in ancient looking, silver colored power armor draped in a battle ragged hooded cloak of dark blue fabric with a golden dragon skull crossed over a spear and a rainbow colored lightning bolt. He stared out at the crowds through the black cloudy visor that reflected back the flickering fire around him. A cloud of golden magic glowed around his long armored spiraling horn and the cloak was pulled back revealing a pair of long armored mechanical wings that flapped strong bellows of wind that sputtered the flames away from the shattered remains of the gate.

“Democitus,” Umeme breathed, mouth gawking, “The Soul of Judgement himself.”

“The What now?” I asked baffled, glancing down at the stallion.

“One of Baltimare’s greatest champions, Ophia told me that he defends the Lonely Spyre of the Bay, what’s he doing here?”

Before I could ask what the Lonely Spyre was, a second pony stepped in through the smoke.

A pegasus wearing a pure white uniform that matched their milky white coat with a heavy overcoat of thick, dark blue wool with the same dragon skull and crossed spear and rainbow lightning bolt on their collar. Their long pale golden mane had two fiery bronze streaks and was flowing behind them in the cold wind and rain, their unseen eyes looked out from the lenses of a pair of goggles, puffs of breaths came from the filters of their fancy black respirator, and a magical energy pistol was strapped in a holster on their hip.

An unnatural silence fell and the chaos halted abruptly. The Old Guard knelt respectively to the new pony as Sturmkaller swooped down and cautiously approached them.

“Beloved Daughter Anaita,” the slaver greeted the new pony with heavy snideness, “To what do I owe this… most untimely pleasure?”

The new mare, this Beloved Daughter Anaita, looked around at the corpses that littered Neightick almost like it was below her station.

“DO NOT WASTE MY TIME, STURMKALLER! YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHY I AM HERE!” she addressed the smaller slaver with a chillingly loud and magically amplified voice that nearly shook the whole bridge and had a similar accent as the voice from my Investigator, “WHERE IS DOCTOR APPLEROSE!?”

“I’m sorry, but who-”

“DO NOT TEMPT YOUR FATE, DASHITE!” Anaita drowned out anything that Sturmkaller could’ve possibly said, “I KNOW THAT DOCTOR APPLEROSE WAS SPOTTED IN YOUR PRESENCE NOT BUT TEN DAYS AGO!”

Anaita stepped closer to the pegasus and glared down at her, not unlike a disappointed parent. She growled in a far lower voice that I could just barely hear over the rain, “My Lord Father may have tolerated your pathetic childish antics with the Regulators because you kept trade flowing, but enough is enough. Tell me where my Lord Father’s old friend has gone or you will be but a footnote in the pages of Baltimare history.”

“Old friend?” I quietly questioned to myself, ‘What was she talking about?’

Sturmkaller stood there silently for far too long, she looked back to her few remaining Regulators, before she turned back to the Beloved Daughter. “You want to know something, Anaita?” she asked, giving her a sly smile, “Have you ever wondered why I was able to lead here?”

The world almost slowed to a standstill as the armored pegasus blasted at the mare with bolts of orange magical energy that were blocked by a golden magical shield generated by the Soul of Judgement.

The shield melted away slightly for Anaita to address her troops, “No Regulator survives!”

“For Baltimare and the Beloved Daughter!” The soldiers of the Old Guards shouted as one.

The town erupted into unabated chaos once again, the Old Guards on both sides opened fire into the crowds, the few Regulators desperately tried to fight them off as Sturmkaller blasted at the Beloved Daughter. Umeme grabbed my foreleg and we sprinted out into the carnage, we kept low and ducked and dived past the Regulators as they were slaughtered without remorse.

I looked up just in time to see the Soul of Judgement stand back on his hindlegs and reach out his forehooves, they transformed into fists with five mechanical fingers each, small balls of brilliant golden magic manifested into a massive archery bow nearly as tall as he was, a second ball of golden magic manifest into a long arrow nocked into the bow string and pulled it back to behind his armored cheek between two of his fingers of his off hoof.

“Guilty!” a low ancient voice thundered out through the helmet as the armored stallion loosed the arrow.

It sliced through Sturmkaller like her armor was little more than wet paper, she split in half and her corpse sizzled and evaporated into glowing ashes before her armor even hit the bridge.

Umeme and I managed to get through the gate and into the pouring rain with a few dozen other ponies, zebras and griffons. I looked over my shoulder, the Soul of Judgement lifted his bow and nocked another arrow at us.

“Guilty!” the giant thundered as the arrow loosed.

“Look out!” I shouted, jumping into Umeme’s path.

I pushed Umeme out of the way just as the arrow sliced through the rain like a scalpel through flesh, the world slowed to a near crawl as the glowing arrowhead sliced through my cheekbone, my eye, over my brow and through my mane.

My body spiraled through the air and rain from the force, but I didn’t feel any pain as the golden magic burned away my flesh.

I didn’t feel my body slam into the muddy road, quenching the flames away.

I didn’t feel the people sprinting around and over me.

I opened my eye and strained to look up, Umeme stood there staring down at me for a painfully long moment before he sprinted off with the crowd into the night and rain. Darkness took me as I laid there in the bloody mud and cold rain, a single thought flickered in my brain like a dying flame.

I failed.