Fallout Equestria: A Light Shining in Darkness

Chapter Eight
“It’s not that simple…”

“Ow! Watch it!” I snapped.

“Oh be quiet,” Specialist Velour chastised me, focusing her magic on removing the bullets and fixing the bruising.

I was lying on my side on a ruined bench in the offices, with my environment suit pulled down so the healer could attend to my flank. I suppose I should’ve been grateful that my suit’s armor plates did their job blocking the worst of the damage and that the power armored raider hadn’t been using armor-piercing rounds. But the searing pain was making it difficult. Umeme was talking with one of the heavy troopers with a pair of grenade machine guns when Captain Fafnira came up.

“Second Lieutenant Vyacheslavovich,” Captain Fafnira ordered a heavy trooper, “Take the troops and push the raiders back to the power station, take no prisoners.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the trooper brought his forehoof in a salute before barking orders to the soldiers to move out.

“So,” the Captain said, turning to address Umeme and I, “Mind telling me why a couple of mercs ventured into an active war zone?”

“Well, uh… Ma’am,” I started, glancing up at the fearsome dragon, “Colonel Basken hired us to find your company and bring you back to the Wall.”

“Of course Gus wouldn’t send us any more soldiers,” the dragon muttered bitterly to herself, “Listen, we’re on the edge of finally destroying these filthy Ashbourne for good, if you fight with us I will personally double whatever the Colonel has promised you.”

My ears perked up at that, the Colonel promised us one way passage through The Fringe…. Umeme and I exchanged looks, he silently nodded.

I climbed to my hooves and looked at the dragon in her sulfur yellow eyes, “You have a deal, Captain.”

*** *** ***

BOOM!

The side of a tall building exploded, raining a shower of splintered wood, crumbling bricks, and shattered concrete on some Ashbourne as the Old Guard’s onslaught pushed the raiders down the street. We were a couple of blocks northeast of the clothing store and we’d already killed dozens of raiders on our push toward a set of double columns looming in the distance.

But we had hit a roadblock, literally.

The Ashbourne had erected a massive barricade of twisted rusty steel, building rubble, wrecked vehicles, and a massive billboard advertising a company called Enteron Waste Management Services.

“Keep pushing!” Captain Fafnira shouted as she charged into the gunfire, her heavy machine gun spitting bursts of lead.

I ducked behind a rusty wagon and reloaded my combat shotgun before leaning out and firing at an Ashbourne machine gun nest.

BLAM!

One of the raiders was clipped and collapsed behind the barricade, dropping the ammo box they were carrying. The machine gunner turned on me before I could target them, I ducked back into cover. As bullets sliced into my cover, a heavy trooper with a pair of machine guns came up motioning a hoof for me to get behind them. As I did, a large box in the side of their battle saddle sprung open, unleashing a carrot shaped rocket that arrowed through the air toward the building above the nest leaving a series of red contrails in their wake.

KA-BOOM!

The side of the building exploded in a shower of debris as it collapsed on the raiders, crushing them and clearing a path through the barricade.

“CHARGE!” Captain Fafnira shouted, jumping up from cover.

The soldiers charged, the raiders desperately tried to hold their ground, but just like at the bank and the clothing store it would be in vain as they were slaughtered. The soldiers licked their wounds before we marched for several blocks of increasingly crowded, collapsing buildings before coming onto a massive forest full of long dead trees surrounding a massive building with the two columns defiantly jutting into the sky as the storm approached.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Power station,” a soldier answered, “Massive furnaces that burned coal or boiled oil to generate power to operate a lot of non-magical conveniences that came out of Equestria’s technological revolution. Scattered records indicate that there were hundreds dotted around the Wastelands.”

He pointed an armored hoof to a marching trail of giant rusty metal towers holding up long cables shifting around in the wind and ash, several had collapsed, “Those carried the generated power to Baltimare.”

Wow. I thought about that statement, the spark generators back in Stable Fifty-Two were once rated to produce enough electricity for over a thousand years, in reality though….

“Okay, round up,” Captain Fafnira ordered, everyone circled around the dragon, “We push on to the power station. Now we don’t know how many of the bastards are left, could be a dozen, could be a thousand, though I doubt that, be ready for anything. We will split into two groups, half will follow me into the belly of the beast while the other half will go with Gunnery Sergeant Bucket to act as bombardment and back up. Any questions?”

“What’s so important about this place, Ma’am?” Umeme asked, raising his hoof, a question that I hadn’t considered when taking this job.

“Good question, merc,” the dragon commented, “Our intelligence indicates that the Ashbourne have uncovered a powerful weapon believed to have been lost following the Last Day. Our job is to locate and recover it. If there aren't any other questions, prepare yourselves.”

As everyone got ready, a thought wedged itself in my mind. With how technologically advanced the Old Guard seemed to be and how powerful Baltimare was in the North Shore, what kind of weapon could they possibly fear?

*** *** ***

Umeme and I followed Mel’s squad and Captain Fafnira’s half of the company as we pushed up the forest to a massive hill where the slumbering beast of the decaying power plant towered over everything. The Ashbourne were putting up a desperate struggle with hastily dug trenches and erected barricades made from long dead tree husks, scrap metal, and crumbling concrete that would ultimately do very little to impede their upcoming slaughter.

“Listen up, this’ll be just like the bank, one squad will sneak in through the back while the rest of us will serve as a distraction. Any volunteers?” the Captain asked before pointing her tail tip at Umeme and me, “You two will go around through the back and get that weapon!”

We nodded and hurried around to the plant’s northeast side as the rest of the soldiers commenced their assault. My PipBuck’s map told me there was an entrance to the service tunnels; we found it at the bottom of a smoldering crater.

*** *** ***

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

My combat shotgun rang out through the rusty metal hallways as Umeme and I fought through at a very slow pace. The tunnels were very badly damaged and Ashbourne had set up traps and land mines. Looks like they learned from the bank. We followed the tunnel to a locked door when suddenly the whole tunnel shook from the battle above us causing me to almost lose my footing.

Suddenly my E.F.S. flashed a red blip as the door hissed open and a raider charged at us… with a fucking chainsaw!

“YOUSE GONNA GET IT NOW, CITY BOYS!” she shouted over the almost deafening screech of her makeshift weapon.

I reflexively raised up my combat shotgun to protect myself, the jagged blade sliced into my weapon, biting deep and shooting out sparks. Umeme pulled me out of the way just before the screeching chainsaw could slice through my defense, my combat shotgun clattered to the floor. The chainsaw slashed into the wall, sending up a shower of sparks. Umeme had his knife out, slashing at our attacker and striking her reinforced hoofball helmet. The raider recoiled back, letting go of the chainsaw so it tumbled to the metal floor with a loud CLANG!

“Grab it!” Umeme shouted, slashing at the raider, pushing her back toward the doorway.

I focused my magic on the makeshift weapon, there were dozens of spikes haphazardly welded onto the chain to rip into armor and flesh better. Picking up the weapon, I yanked on the cord one, two, three times before it roared back to life.

“Get outta the way!” I shouted, charging the raider.

Umeme jumped into a side hallway just before the chainsaw’s wicked blade slammed between the raider’s shoulder and neck. Ripping through her thinner armor and slicing into her flesh and bone underneath.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” The raider screeched in pain as blood and metal sparks flew in every direction painting me, the walls, the ceiling, and the floor.

Eventually, the chainsaw ran out of fuel and the blade got caught and jammed in the raider’s mangled armor and tattered flesh. I released my magic and the mangled remains of the raider and the weapon collapsed into the open doorway, blood still bubbling out onto the floor where it pooled.

“Holy shit,” I breathed, wiping the blood off of my visor and staring down at what I just did.

I looked down at my blood drenched hooves, the world slowed for a moment before a voice called my attention, “What?”

“I said, ‘Not bad,’” Umeme repeated, handing me my combat shotgun, “Let’s go.”

I took my shotgun and checked it over, the receiver was ruined, a massive gash trailed down from the bolt to the trigger housing. Nothing that I could repair. I pulled out the magazine and stashed in my saddle bag for later. Unholstering Light and my revolver, I followed Umeme through the room where the raider came from.

The room was mostly full of broken machinery that sparked and sputtered as light and ash drifted in from the open doorway in the south wall. Looking around, my E.F.S. suddenly flashed another red blip as a raider jumped out of the doorway, double barrel shotgun raised.

“GIT OUT!” he shouted, firing both rounds.

BLAM! BLAM!

Buckshot peppered the wall as we ducked out of the way. I slid into S.A.T.S. time slowing as I targeted him.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Light roared out as time corrected, bullets slicing the stuffy air and striking the raider’s shoulder and neck. He stumbled and collapsed into a rusty broken machine. I picked up the shotgun, it was in far better condition than I was expecting. The dark wood stock and the barrels both had been sawed off so it was far more compact and a pair of hammers struck the firing pins which detonated the shells. I opened the breech and ejected the spent shells, 12 Gauge thank the Goddesses. I reloaded my new weapon with red band shells, cocked back the hammers, and held it up to the ready as I followed Umeme up the stairs.

The stairs lead up to a set of offices adjacent to an employee break room. While Umeme took the offices, I checked the break room. The room had a stove, countertops, a fridge, a couple of old tables, scattered chairs, and a broken window letting in ash and eerie harsh light. Beside the window were a couple of posters, one declared that Pinkie Pie was still watching me. The other showed a worker pony with a welding torch working on a suit of Mark One power armor:

Paving the way toward a brighter Future!

Detrot Industrial

An Orion Solutions Inc Company

Opening the old rusty fridge I weirdly found a small sack and an ammo box sitting inside. Taking them out I opened the sack and found it was full of grenades! Most were frag or magical plasma, marked by a green pin, the three that caught my attention were about the size of a can of beans and marked by a white pin. I wrapped my magic around one, but my magic kept dissolving. I finally picked it up with my hooves and looked it over, noticing that the writing on the side wasn’t Ponish, but instead Roamani.

“Zebras had grenades?” I mused, it made sense.

I turned my attention to the ammo box and tried to open it but I found it locked up tight.

“I should learn to pick these damn things,” I muttered to myself, “Maybe Umeme could teach me?”

I was about to go find Umeme when suddenly a voice called out, “Hey, Cinnamon, you dealt with those damn crickets yet?”

Shit!

I spun around, getting behind the fridge door and lifting up my shotgun at the ready. A griffon raider stepped through the doorway and he had an old battered hunting shotgun in his armored hands. He glanced around the room like he couldn’t quite see for some reason.

“Whatcha doing in there, Cinnamon?” he asked, disgruntled, “Willow ‘ill have yer hooves if she catches yah.”

I swallowed hard before getting up, shotgun raised.

“What the fuck?” the raider asked, surprised.

BLAM! BLAM!

The raider’s chest was peppered by incendiary buckshot causing him to drop his rifle and fall backward. He twitched and groaned, struggling to reach his weapon. My magic reached out around it and pushed it out of his reach as I approached. The raider glared up at me as I broke open my shotgun and reloaded, cocking the hammers back.

“Ya… fucker!” he spat at me.

Pressing my shotgun’s muzzle against the raider’s head, I telekinetically pulled the trigger.

BLAM!

Bits of brain, skull, and blood sprayed across the floor. I silently reloaded as Umeme came running.

“What happened?” Umeme asked panting, glancing down at the dead raider, “You okay?”

“Yeah, I found an ammo box that’s locked,” I opened the grenade sack, “And there’s these.”

He whistled appreciatively, taking out the can shaped grenade, “Antimagic, heard about these being used to disable pony magic defensive positions if you want to take prisoners.”

“Antimagic,” I whispered to myself, shuddering slightly.

“Here, take them,” I said, offering the sack, “You’re better with explosives than me.”

My magic meant everything to me, I didn’t like the idea of losing it to some grenade.

Umeme took a look at the rusty box and shook his head, “Lock’s rusted shut, no way to open it.”

“Damn,” I muttered.

I glanced over the cooling raider corpse, taking some 12 Gauge shotgun shells that looked more like solid bullets than buckshot. Looking at the brass head I noticed it said SLUG on it with the gauge. I broke open my shotgun and replaced one incendiary shell with a slug.

“C’mon,” Umeme said, “We still have a weapon to find.”

We followed another staircase up to another set of offices with windows overlooking the power plant’s main floor, full of ancient massive generators lined up in five aisles and wall furnaces that once generated power for Baltimare with massive windows allowing light and ash to swirl in from the storm outside. A number of metal catwalks bisected the space above leading up to more office boxes and what looked like the Overseer’s office box that had a massive circular company logo of a hippo (that looked like the Riggers’ logo) slowly peeling away over the circular window:

Hippocampus Energy:

Hydroelectric, Coal, Sewage

Fortunately the floor seemed mostly deserted, most of the raiders must’ve been outside defending against the battle. As if on cue an explosion rocked the building causing a couple of catwalks to collapse and fall.

“What now?” I asked, quietly.

Umeme looked around the room thinking, “Okay, you go down to the floor, look around for anything resembling the weapon. I’ll search the offices upstairs. We find it then we get the hell out of here.”

I nodded, but then asked, “Wait, you don’t know what the weapon is?”

“No,” he quietly admitted, “but just look around for anything really dangerous looking.”

I couldn’t really argue with that, Umeme pulled up his cloak’s hood and vanished into thin air. I glanced down at the floor again before looking for a way down. Eventually spotting a mostly intact staircase across the room.

*** *** ***

I held my shotgun at the ready as I explored more offices, the windows were blocked off by ruined desks made into makeshift barricades, in one office I found the blasted remains of a brainbot and a few piles of red ash. I rounded a corner and found the staircase. Taking it down, I was on the plant’s main floor.

Some of the machinery clicked and hummed as they desperately struggled to chug along toward their original functions. Maybe the Ashbourne somehow managed to repair some machines, or maybe this place wasn’t damaged as badly from two centuries of neglect and decay.

I didn’t really know which one I preferred.

I checked under every machine for anything of value, mostly finding trash that had blown in from outside. I checked some rooms but found nothing of use until I checked the last room where I noticed a small pegasus skeleton dressed in a faded ragged suit huddled in the corner beside a blown up control panel that said Ubercite Only. I knelt beside the skeleton to check it, then I remembered back to the Orion Solutions First Offices.

“You must be Ms Jonagold,” I quietly murmured, “I don’t know if you did your job, but thank you, I guess.”

Getting up I went back to the main room. What was I going to do, I hadn’t found anything even remotely resembling a big scary weapon. Hopefully Umeme was having better luck upstairs.

Suddenly, a window shattered inward and a large figure loomed in its place. I ducked behind a generator as a pair of bright spotlights pierced the ash and shined around the room, looking. The floor shook as the figure jumped down and broken glass crackled as it stepped around.

SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!

I backed up and crawled under the generator before the spotlights flooded my aisle, my heart thundered in my ears before the lights moved on. I carefully shimmied out of my hiding spot into the next aisle and gingerly made my way to the stairs.

“Where are you?!” a very deep gravelly voice filled my ears and sent cold shivers up my spine.

What the fucking fuck was this damn thing?! My mind was racing a mile a minute trying desperately to think up a way out of this. I ducked under another piece of machinery just before the spotlights flew past my aisle again. Glancing up I figured that the stairs couldn’t have been more than a dozen feet away.

“You can do this,” I quietly whispered to myself, slowly shimmying under the generators.

Suddenly the generator I was just under crumpled like tissue paper!

CRUNCH!

“Where are you?!” the low gravelly voice shouted in frustration, filling the room.

Carefully glancing up, I felt my heart stop in dread. The figure was easily as tall as the Soul of Judgement and able to stand back on its hindlegs. Its armor loosely resembled Q’osk’s lorica segmentata in style, but it was clearly related to the Soul of Judgement in function with a massive spiraled horn that glowed with bloody red magic and a pair of strong mechanical wings several feet in length.

“Come out!”

As they looked around the room I saw their helmet was enclosed with a stoic face molded from blackened aged steel with long feathering scars starting at the right corner of their slightly parted steel lips, trailed across the right side of their muzzle, down the interlocking plates of its strong mechanical neck, and disappearing below the chest plate’s collar. Its hindlegs were covered by a long tattered skirt that was so stained with multicolored ash I couldn’t tell what its original color was.

“Come out of your hiding.”

They dropped down to the floor in my aisle. I saw a wicked looking sword spear hybrid thing about my body length with a broken spiraling handle of dark wood and a blade made of a spiraling watery looking metal that was stained in thick blood that dripped onto the floor as they stomped past my hiding spot. My heart was thundering in my ears and my suit became stifling. I shimmied out from my generator and carefully moved toward the stairs.

SNAP! CRICKLE!

The sound of glass breaking was deafening in the room’s stillness.

“THERE YOU ARE!” the voice cackled triumphantly.

I ran.

SHLING!

A swift breeze happened behind me as the generators around me exploded in showers of sparks as they were sliced in halves. I ran up the staircase, my attacker slashing at my haunches, only slicing the metal staircase I had just been.

“FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” I shouted, as I sprinted past the offices.

SHLING! SHLING! SHLING!

My attacker slashed and sliced at the walls separating us like the metal and wood was melting butter. My heart thundered in my ears, my lungs burned with exhaustion, but my legs kept running. I rounded a corner and sprinted up another set of catwalk stairs toward the Overseer’s office box at the top.

“YOU CAN'T RUN!” my attacker roared.

Time slowed as I slipped into S.A.T.S. I swiveled around and targeted the giant.

BLAM! BLAM!

Time corrected and the slug and incendiary shell blasted at the armored giant, only to melt across a powerful bloody red magical shield that seemingly came out of nowhere!

SHIT!

The armored giant cackled loudly, lifting their spear to slice me in two.

Ka-BOOM!

Suddenly an explosion wrapped around the back of the shield, shooting out sparks of melted shrapnel causing the shield to flicker ever so slightly. The armored giant swerved around for their attacker, I looked up and spotted Umeme standing beside the Overseer’s office holding another grenade.

“Ozzy, run!” he shouted, chucking down the antimagic grenade.

I sprinted up the catwalk as best as my legs would allow me as the grenade plummeted down. The armored giant grabbed the grenade just before it erupted in a cloud of staticy colorless smoke that quickly flooded the room.

BOOM!

The wisps of the smoke touched my hindquarters and I felt my telekinetic grip on my shotgun weakened considerably, I just barely managed to stick it into my saddle bag before my magic gave out. The armored giant writhed in anger and pain before rocketing out of the cloud and crashing through a window to the outside. I just barely made up to Umeme when the staircase collapsed behind me, falling down to the plant floor below.

“What is that damn thing?!” I panted, desperately trying to catch my breath.

“No idea, but it was big and angry-” he started before stopping gesturing to my backside, “-and you might want to check your tail.”

I looked at him confused before glancing at my backside… only to find that my suit had been sliced open so my tail was sticking out, then I noticed that my tail had been cut by at least two thirds of its original length leaving only six inches left.

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!” I screamed angrily, holding up my stubby tail, “FUCK!”

Umeme was desperately struggling to keep a straight face… and he was failing. Suddenly the room shook with a vicious screeching roar as a window exploded inward as the armored giant swooped in, its magical shield barely flickering.

“I thought you said the grenade worked on magical shielding,” I shrieked in terror.

“They should,” Umeme insisted, pulling out and chucking another frag grenade, “This way!”

Ka-BOOM!

We sprinted down a staircase and out a door into a mostly ruined hallway with peeling wallpaper and flickering fluorescent lights. These must’ve been the main offices for the power plant, but most rooms were boarded up keeping out the worst of the ash and debris. We carefully made our way down the hallway till we hit a T section, our way went straight while the other turned south. We turned the corner and reached a locked rusty door labeled by a caution sign and a soft glow seeping out from the cracks.

“We gotta go,” a voice desperately shouted from inside, “That thing’s gonna rip this place apart.”

“You make a go for that door and I’ll rip your gizzard out through your fucking throat!” another voice shouted in response, “Willow said this’ll finally break open that fucking Wall!”

“It won’t mean shit if we’re fucking dead!” the first voice shouted, “We gotta get out of here!”

Umeme handed me his rifle before he pulled out a bobby pin and his knife and got to work. The raiders on the other side continued their debating.

“I swear to your Egg, I will fucking kill you if you move for that fucking door!” the second voice shouted, “Besides ain’t nobody even knows we’re back here!”

“Ready?” Umeme asked.

I nodded, flicking off the safety.

CLICK

The lock clicked and I pushed through the door open, time slowed as I slipped into S.A.T.S. I targeted the two raiders (one griffon and one earth pony) before time continued.

BLAM! BLAM!

The bullets sliced through the air, phasing through their armor, and slicing through their flesh. The griffon’s neck exploded and he fell back onto the floor dead, but the earth pony stumbled back onto a crate, blood seeping out through the gaps in his suit on his shoulder. He tried to grab a knife but another couple of bullets killed him.

I looked around the room, it was somewhat small with a boarded up window facing east covered up by a ratty ancient Equestrian flag and a small table in the center holding up what the raiders were guarding. It was about the size of a bushel of apples, geometrically shaped, and its surface was covered with dozens of swirling patterns that seemed to twist through each other as it glowed a sickening array of almost mesmerizing colors.

As I stared at the enchanting device, I realized it was drawing me in and it took a great amount of effort to look away for something to cover it up with. Pulling down the ancient flag I threw it over the device, muting the glowing colors and swirling patterns just enough to lose the mesmerizing and stomach churning feeling.

“What is that thing?” I asked, when there was silence I glanced at my friend, “Umeme?”

He was blankly staring at the swirling lights glowing from the bundle under the flag, I shook his shoulders and shouted, “Umeme!”

“Huh, what?” he asked confusedly and looked at me like he just noticed I was there.

“I asked, ‘What is that thing?’” I repeated, gesturing to the bundle.

“That?” he asked in disbelief, “That… that is a… a megaspell.”

*** *** ***

A megaspell.

It was a FUCKING MEGASPELL!

The weapon that the Ashbourne had stolen and were apparently going to use against the Wall was the same weapon that had destroyed the world!

The same weapon that had bathed the earth in necromantic green fire two hundred years ago!

No wonder the Old Guard were so determined to get it. This thing could easily destroy the whole city for centuries if not thousands of years!

And we had to get it out of here before the Old Guard crushed this building.

“Well…” I started, carefully not staring at the swirling lights, “Can we move it?”

“I’m far more impressed that it hasn’t detonated already,” Umeme murmured to himself, “Where did they get it?”

“Umeme, we need to get this thing out of here,” I Grabbed his shoulder to shake him out of his trance, “If there are any Ashbourne left, I don’t wanna be here when they come back for this.”

Umeme nodded in agreement, helping me tie the ancient flag into a makeshift saddle bag, then I carefully wrapped my magic around the bomb. Thankfully the antimagic grenade’s effects on me were starting to wear off, though it was still somewhat tricky so Umeme helped me lift the bomb off of the table and lower it into the flag bag before he helped to tie up the loose ends so it was more secure.

Despite being smaller than my head, the bomb was very heavy and I struggled to hold myself up correctly without Umeme’s help. I took out my shotgun and managed to break it open to reload it with new slug shells. Little by little my magic was slowly returning.

We very VERY carefully made our way back to the T section and headed east, my E.F.S. telling me that the way seemed clear enough. We followed the hallway down some cracked stairs toward the middle floors. The building occasionally shook from the battle outside, which wasn’t making our struggle to keep this Celestia damned bomb from exploding with it strapped to my side!

“Shouldn’t they be done by now?” I muttered bitterly. Umeme offered a half hearted chuckle.

We slowly, carefully made our way through some more office spaces, but it was getting very tiring because so many possible exits were either blocked by rubble or forcibly barricaded shut. We were outside a door somewhere on the ground level that was welded shut with rebar and rusty steel I beams, impossible to get through without serious firepower. I was getting very frustrated, when suddenly a couple of red blips blinked onto my compass behind us. A couple Ashbourne wearing makeshift welded power armor came running around the corner, both skidding to a halt when they spotted us.

“There they are!” the leader shouted, aiming what looked like an Anti-machine rifle, a weapon designed for destroying robots and vehicles.

The second raider aimed their twin mini guns at us as they stepped closer. I lifted up my shotgun and fired a warning shot.

BLAM!

The slug slammed into the side of the mini gun raider’s helmet, breaking their makeshift spotlight and leaving a huge streak of silver lead. But the raider continued unabated, if anything I just pissed them off.

Suddenly Umeme quickly pulled out a grenade and held it up for the raiders to see, “One more step and I’ll do it!”

“Teft,” the anti-machine rifle raider ordered, “Stop!”

The mini gun raider stopped in their tracks, seemingly unsure of what to do.

“Uhh… Dude?” I hissed wearily, “What’re you doing?!”

“Just go with it?” Umeme weakly offered.

I stared at the zebra in utter disbelief, was he really planning to do what I thought?

“There’s nowhere to run, City Boys!” the mini gun raider cackled viciously, “Give us the bomb and we’ll just kill yah!”

“Fat chance!” Umeme shouted back, moving in front of me and kicking his hindhoof.

I noticed his rifle was lying on the floor behind him, I quickly focused my magic around the rifle and hid it under the bomb out of the raiders’ lines of sight.

Suddenly Umeme threw the grenade straight into the air and dove out of the way as I slipped into S.A.T.S. targeting the raiders’ heads. Time corrected and the rifle blasted a couple of shots.

BLAM! BLAM!

Blood erupted from the gaps in the mini gun raider’s helmet, coating the floor as they collapsed under the armor’s weight. The anti-machine rifle raider however was luckier, their bullet ripped through one of the straps of their battle saddle, severing their enormous rifle which clanged on the floor kicking up some dust and ash.

Before the raider could react though, Umeme had already closed distance, spun on his forehooves, and kicked up with his hindhooves, one into the raider’s chest armor and the other into their neck plates causing the raider’s helmet to fly off.

The raider stumbled backward, dazed and confused, but Umeme didn’t let up. His hooves were blurs as he targeted specific spots across the raider’s body. A forehoof in the side of the raider’s elbow breaking it, a hindhoof in the raider’s groin making a sickening snapping sound, a forehoof into the raider’s muzzle dazing them even more, before finally ending with Umeme’s knife sticking out of the raider’s eye as they collapsed on the floor, dead.

I stared at the stallion utterly mystified as he picked up his grenade and took back his rifle, “How did you do that?”

“An old Praetorian technique Q’osk taught me, he called it Fallen Caesar.”

“Can you teach me?”

“How about after we get out of here?”

Well, it wasn’t a no at least.

*** *** ***

We made our way through some service tunnels headed south, directly under the battle if the constant explosions was any indication. It was slow going because the hallways were really cramped and Umeme couldn’t help me lift the damn thing. Eventually we came across a ladder, I put the bomb down and climbed up to see if it was clear.

Pushing the cover to the side I found myself in a broken down building somewhere on the edge of Rosedale and the forest, the sounds of the battle were far off in the distance. My E.F.S. told me it seemed clear enough. I waved Umeme up, focusing my magic on the bomb, I started lifting it as he climbed up lifting it then he came through. We reattached it before heading out.

We trudged through the ashes till we finally reached sight of the power plant, it looked like the battle was mostly over with soldiers picking over dead raiders.

“There they are!” a soldier shouted and a large group ran up.

There was a flurry of questions before Captain Fafnira slithered through the crowd, “That’s enough, all of you, get back to work!”

The crowd dispersed and the Captain looked down at the bomb with a grimacing look in her eyes. Of course she knew what it was, why wouldn’t she?

She pointed the plume of her tail away from the soldiers, she waved over a couple of heavy troopers to take the bomb.

“Now,” she started, “I’m sure you two have ques-”

“You knew what it was, didn’t you?” I sharply interrupted.

The dragon glanced toward her soldiers, before finally nodding with a heavy sigh, “I had my suspicions, but I was hoping it’d be something else.”

“Something else?” I asked in disbelief as the heavy troopers strapped the bomb to their harness and turned to take it to safety, I have to admit that I was somewhat relieved to get rid of the damn thing, “What could possibly be worse than a megaspell?”

“Do you know what kinds of weapons were even developed during the Great War, Merc?” she asked in a voice that made my skin crawl slightly, “Do you have any idea what Baltimare lost during the Last Day?”

Honestly I couldn’t. I mean if the massive sky ship, that weird dragonfly transport, and the Soul of Judgement and that armored giant existed, what else could?

“There was something else, Captain,” Umeme shifted the conversation, “When we were in the plant we were attacked by a giant equine in ancient power armor.”

The Captain’s face fell, “What did he look like?”

Ka-BOOM!

Before we could answer, one of the power plant’s smoke columns exploded outward, showering the area with ancient bricks as the armored giant shot into the stormy skies.

“Oh shit,” Captain Fafnira muttered before turning to her soldiers, “BATTLE STATIONS!”

The scene was chaotic as the soldiers dashed into any nearby cover. Umeme and I followed the Captain into a hastily dug trench where Mel and her squad had taken cover.

“Get ready!” she ordered, lifting up her machine gun.

There was an ear splitting screech as the armored giant slammed into the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of ash and dirt and digging up a crater a few feet deep. As the cloud settled the armored giant slowly stood to their full height.

“OPEN FIRE!” Captain Fafnira roared.

The scene erupted into ungodly chaos as every firearm and artillery piece unleashed hell upon the armored giant. Nothing could’ve possibly survived the torrents of lead unleashed. The Captain raised a clawed hand for everyone to cease, it took a long time for the ash, debris, and dust to settle.

But when the space cleared, what I saw froze my heart.

Every individual bullet and projectile was suspended in the ashy air surrounding the armored giant, their spiraled horn alight with bloody crimson magic. Not one bullet or artillery shell had even touched the shield.

“That’s impossible,” I felt myself whisper in utter disbelief.

Suddenly the bullets and artillery shells rotated outward and shot back from where they came from. I hit the ground narrowly avoiding the hail storm of lead. Someone collapsed on top of me, pinning me down under their weight.

My heart screamed in my ears… my body screamed in pain… I wanted to scream, but my voice had vanished. In my pain it felt like an eternity before the attack finally ended. I opened my eyes and found my visor was covered in blood, obscuring my vision. I tried to wipe the blood away, (not really succeeding) but I did manage to wipe enough away to see that the bottom of the trench was covered in fresh corpses, their red blood mixing and pooling in the ash and dirt and twisted metal.

“Who's not dead?” Captain Fafnira shouted somewhere in the distance, “Sound off!”

My E.F.S. told me that only a third of the soldiers were left!

“Spitflare’s been hit!” Specialist Velour called out desperately.

“Let me help,” Umeme said, helping up a bloodied Corporal Ruhe.

“Ozzy,” Mel coughed, crawling up beside me, “You okay?”

I nodded, “What about you?” I asked, noticing the blood splattered over her gas mask.

“I’ll be fine,” she tried to reassure me, wiping off the blood, not really succeeding in either.

Mel helped me as I pushed the corpse off of me. I glanced over the top of the trench to see where our attacker was. I spotted them still standing in the crater, magic crackling from their horn.

“CHARGE!” Staff Sergeant von Roebeak shouted, charging down at the armored giant with twenty other heavy troopers, all firing off their arsenals.

The giant’s shield flickered into view as projectile after projectile slammed into the bloody red magic, only to melt and dissolve. The giant lifted their sword spear in a wide sweeping arc, slicing through some of the heavy troopers’ armors like they were wet paper! The armored corpses collapsed into the ashy dirt, their bodies dissolving into ash that floated with the wind leaving their armor as empty shells. The giant grabbed another heavy trooper by their helmet while slicing through their machine guns. The giant’s mechanical grip tightened on the helmet, cracking the visor and leaving a massive dent before throwing the trooper aside through the air into a dead tree. The giant grabbed Staff Sergeant von Roebeak by his neck with one hand and lifted him into the air.

The griffon struggled to break free, but it was useless.

“You dare call yourself Old Guard?” the giant scorned the griffon, “The gaul!”

“SAVAS!” Captain Fafnira’s voice roared over everything as she slithered out of the trench.

The giant, or Savas, looked away from the griffon to the dragon, their grip on the griffon’s neck visibly tightening aas their voice growled in barely contained hatred and rage, “FILA FELL!”

Savas grabbed one of the griffon’s legs and ripped him in half, power armor and all!

CREEEEAAAK! POP!

Blood and entrails gashed out of Staff Sergeant von Roebeak onto the ashy dirt before Savas chucked the two halves to the side. His discarded weapon shook and flew into his open hand before he charged the dragon with lightning speed.

SHLING!

The Captain dodged the fearsome blade by mere inches, her massive tail quickly slashing at Savas’ hindlegs, wrapping around to ensnare him. The giant jumped out of the way, his massive wings carrying him dozens of feet into the air. The Captain leapt the distance, grabbing at the giant, and slamming him down into the dirt.

CRASH!

Ash, dirt, and debris flew everywhere as the two godly beings fought, neither gaining the upper hoof, or rather upperhand in this case.

Someone grabbed my shoulder, a soldier handed me a machine gun and a belt of ammunition, “Don’t just stand there watching, Merc, get to shooting!”

“Wait, what about the Captain?” I sputtered.

“Her scales will protect her from far worse!” the soldier shouted back, “But she won’t last against the Soul of War!”

So it was related to the Soul of Judgement. I watched as the soldiers opened fire on Savas, only for his shield to catch and melt the projectiles. The armored giant slashed and sliced at the Captain’s scales with his sword spear, hacking away the occasional scale. She wasn’t going to last long at this rate.

I lined up my machine gun’s sights and held down the trigger, a hailstorm of bullets slammed into the magical shield, doing nothing. Suddenly a heavy trooper aimed their howitzer and fired a shell.

Ka-BOOM!

A direct hit, but the shield was only flickering!

As Savas whirled around the Captain’s attacks I noticed a panel on his back that was emitting a hard red glow. Time slowed as I slipped into S.A.T.S., targeting the vent through the flickering shield.

BRRRRRRRRR!

Time corrected and the bullet burst went flying, most hitting their mark causing a shower of red sparks to shoot out and the shield to shatter.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” Savas roared in sudden pain, buckling over.

The Captain took the opportunity to land a hard hit, claws slashing into the giant’s armor, leaving massive dents and scratches. Her tail wrapped around his head and slammed him over a hundred feet up into the air. Her mouth opened and a flood of golden fire erupted, burying the giant as he slammed into the ground.

When the flames died out, the Captain slithered up laughing loudly, “You’ve lost your edge, Savas! Even Priscilla could defeat you now!”

“Priscilla?” I muttered to myself, wait… there were more of these fucking things?!

“Time to die!” The Captain opened her mouth, fire bubbling up in her throat.

Ka-BOOM!

Suddenly a cloud of black smoke exploded in the dragon’s mouth, sending her stumbling backward. The Soul of War stood, a smoking howitzer in his mechanical hands like a rifle. His armor was smoking and his skirt had burned away revealing a lining of yellow dragon scales. He picked up his sword spear and lifted it into the air.The soldiers opened fire again, but suddenly a massive wave of crimson magic erupted from the armored giant, throwing everyone back dozens of feet.

I landed hard and momentum rolled me a few feet before slamming into a dead tree. I staggered to my hooves and looked around, soldiers were scattered all around, some moving, others not. Where was the Captain? I whirled around to the battle scene, Savas was lifting his sword spear into the air.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-PANG!

Suddenly a massive bolt of bloody red lightning shot down from the heavens, striking the armored giant. His sword spear erupted into a magnificent lightning storm, blood red bolts lashing out across the ground. Savas lined up his weapon before catapulting it at the Captain. The blade slicing into her shoulder, pinning her to a dead tree, and spraying her blood across the ground.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” The dragon screamed out in pain as the armored giant walked closer, lifting his armored mechanical hands to the dragon.

“Fafnira… my have you grown strong,” the giant savored her name with a deeply sickening pleasure, “I should have killed you when you were still an egg!”

“Orion wouldn’t have given you the chance,” the Captain bitterly spat back.

Orion, like Doctor Orion? As in Orion Solutions? Did they mean the stallion from my strange dreams? How would they know about him?

The giant laughed cruelly, sadistically tracing a mechanical finger along her feathered head crest, “We both know that phantom can’t protect you now.”

The giant grabbed his sword spear and slashed it through the dragon’s chest. The Captain dropped to the ground, her blood pooling around her still body.

“Time to die, Fafnira,” the Soul of War declared, raising his sword spear high.

The dragon weakly tried to move, but her claws only dug at the dirt.

“CAPTAIN!” A soldier cried out, opening fire on the armored giant.

Bullets sliced through the ashy air, the Soul of War’s horn glowed a cloud of bloody red magic, but just as the scene reached its crescendo… an eerie cold stillness that felt very similar to when I slipped into S.A.T.S. washed over the scene. Time slowed to a crawl before finally it was frozen, even the ashes on the wind.

Suddenly a bright flash of silvering golden fire disc erupted out of thin air and a unicorn stallion stepped out. His long white mane flowed behind him in an invisible breeze and blended in with his white coat and uniform under his dark blue overcoat like the Beloved Daughter and the Vigilant Son. But his face was obscured by a modified black doctor’s bird mask.

I wanted to hide… I wanted to run... but instead I felt myself frozen in a mixture of curiosity and confusion of this stallion.

The stallion knelt beside Captain Fafnira, calmly placing his hoof upon the dragon’s forehead. A small device in his forehead beside his horn started glowing a soft pink magic that reminded me of the gentle morning sun I’d seen when I’d left Stable Fifty-Two, Goddesses that felt so long ago. A small device about the size of a flip lighter floated out from his overcoat flicking it on, a small ghostly ball of blue fire drifted up from the dragon’s mouth and into the device.

The stallion flicked it closed and his hoof caressed the side of Fafnira’s face, “Rest now, my old friend,” the stallion’s deeply remorseful voice echoed throughout the stillness, “For your long faithful service shall not go unrewarded.”

“Faithful service?” I muttered very confused.

The stallion stood and turned to leave, but stopped when he seemed to notice me. I know that my word might not mean much compared to the Lightbringer herself, but I swear upon my life that the look in his glowing pink purple eyes was that of recognition.

I had a thousand questions each with a thousand of their own, “Who are you?”

But just as quickly he turned away and left in another eruption disc of silvering golden fire. Time corrected and the battle resumed as if nothing had possibly happened.

“Ozzy, get down!” someone shouted at me, pushing me into the ashy dirt.

I glanced up and saw Mel pinning me down. The bullets sliced into the armored giant before a thunderous roar erupted from the Soul of War as he bolted into the sky and flew away toward the north.

“Let him go!” a soldier shouted.

The Captain was still where she had fallen, her eyes were closed. The soldiers surrounded the dragon as Specialist Velour knelt and checked her over. There was a deafening silence that stretched from seconds to minutes before the medic remorsefully announced, “She’s… she’s dead.”

*** *** ***

The whole base stood in formation saluting the Captain as she was loaded into an air vehicle. Colonel Basken explained that she was to be taken to the Seven Sisters for cremation there as was an ancient dragon tradition. Seemingly to add to the collective sorrow it was drizzling, after the time in The Ashes’ constant sweltering heat the coldness of the North Shore felt more welcoming. Umeme and I stood with the Colonel, but we didn’t have to salute because we weren’t Old Guard.

“Soldiers, attention!” the Colonel shouted, “Baltimare Eternal.”

Every soldier lowered their hooves and hands and repeated, “Baltimare Eternal!”

The Colonel turned to Umeme and me, “I wanted to reward you two, come with me.”

“I’ll go,” Umeme said, placing a hoof on my shoulder, “ Go rest up, I’ll find you later.”

I could only nod. I wandered around the base before turning up at the bar in the canteen, soldiers around me celebrating their late Captain’s victories.

“I heard she fought alongside the Good Father during the First Emergence War,” one soldier declared, holding up their mug, “Roasting half a thousand of those filthy Steel Rangers!”

“You know that’s just a story, Knit,” another soldier abashed him.

“Well, I heard she fought the Soul of War before!” a third soldier said.

“That was her father,” a fourth soldier corrected, “the Captain wasn’t even ninety yet!”

“I remember when the Captain joined the Wall,” a ghoul soldier near me laughed, “she couldn’t have been much bigger than a manticore back then.”

I stared down at my Sunrise Sarsaparilla and an Islander alcoholic drink called Kraken Rum. I was enjoying it when Mel and her squad came by to congratulate me for finding the megaspell. Specialist Velour offered me a small medical manual called Paper Cuts to Broken Bones. I thanked her and put it in my saddle bag for later.

“So, are you still heading west after that mare?” Mel asked, a little drunk.

“Well yeah, Umeme and I are headed for The Fringe, then we’re off to Haagenheim, what about you?”

“We’re getting a couple replacements for Softshell, Dragher, and Spitflare… oh and Ruhe is going to be promoted to Sergeant.”

“Oh, congrats,” I offered to the stallion, he thanked me and continued drinking.

There was a silence before the squad got up to leave, Mel turned to me and quickly said, “Hey, thanks again for saving my life.”

“You’re welcome,” I responded, “And I hope you get to see your brother again someday.”

The griffon blushed slightly before quickly pecking my lips with a kiss and hurrying off to join her squad, “I hope to see you again too.”

I smiled at the warm moment before going back to my drink, after two or three Umeme sat down next to me, “Hey, Ozzy.”

He offered a small bag full of bucks, along with a circular bronze badge which featured the Old Guard’s logo on it, “The Colonel came through with our reward, ten thousand bucks for the megaspell and he suggested going through Pylon Eleven down in New Mondawmin.”

“Tell me, Umeme,” I asked looking over the badge, flicking it around in my magic, “Did we do enough?”

“What do you mean?” he asked, sipping his drink.

I put the badge in my saddle bag and stared into my drink, “Could we have saved her?”

“You shouldn’t blame yourself, Ozzy,” Umeme murmured, wrapping a foreleg around my shoulders.

Visions of the strange stallion taking the Captain’s soul away formed in my drunken mind, the way he looked at me. Was he related to the Beloved Daughter? Why would he take Captain Fafnira’s soul? Why would he recognise me of all possible people? Should I tell Umeme? Would he even believe me?

“I don’t know.”

“My Father offered me some advice after my mother died,” the stallion leaned a little closer, “We can not choose when or where Hecate’s sword cuts our threads, but we can choose how to greet the Raven of Death and Rebirth.”

I looked up at him and blinked a couple of times, “W-what?”

“The point is if death is a guarantee why worry about how you die.”

“That still doesn’t make any sense,” I teased.

“Never mind.”

“Hey, Umeme,” I said after a while, “Why’re you coming with me?”

The stallion muttered something under his breath, “You saved my life from the Soul of Judgement and again with the manticore, I intend to repay that debt.”

“You don’t -HICK- have to do that,” I slurred slightly, “Let’s just say we’re even.”

“No, our debt is not even,” he firmly said, “Besides I consider you… a friend.”

I felt my heart lift slightly at his words, this handsome dashing stallion considered someone like me a friend. I felt myself lean closer to the stallion and before he could react I pressed my lips against his. My hooves caressed his chest and arms as my tongue brushed against his teeth. But he quickly pushed me away and his hoof struck across my jaw.

In my drunken state I ended up on the floor looking up at him. He had anger in his eyes as he brushed his mouth against his sleeve.

“You fucking filius canis!” he shouted angrily before storming off, leaving me there.

I felt my heart sink as the pain in my jaw grew.

Dammit.

Did I mention I’m an idiot?

Level Up: Medical Training (level one): You’ve received training from an experienced source, your outgoing healing spells are improved by 20%.