Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Eighty Three

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I hit the dirt ground with a rather unceremonial thud, my face first in the ground, my flank in the air over me. Pushing my body straight and back up, I was confused to find myself in a green field as far as the eye could see. Doting the hills were brightly colored trees made of crystals, with gems growing from them like fruit, and the sky was a clear warm blue with a soft sun looking at me.

It was… beautiful.

"Hello new friend!" A whimsical voice called out to me. It was a small pony that magically flew over, with a body seemingly made of mist, and brightly colored transparent wings. "Welcome to our home."

I was considerably confused. "And where is this… home?"

Another of these mist ponies appeared, giggling as though I just made a joke. "Home is here, home is Elysium, a place of eternal joy."

That… didn't sound right to me, not at all. But everything here looked just so beautiful. It made me want to frolic through the grass, roll in it even. Then I remembered why I was here. "Sorry, but I can't just say and have fun, there's a bad pony here that I need to stop. You might have seen him. Swav, but with a fucked up eye, likely running around with a black book."

The two mist ponies looked at each other and giggled again. "Oh we have seen him, he is this way, so follow us."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, but be careful, he has a mind control device."

Checking to see if I still had the protective glasses, I did not. But they weren't hard to find, even though it was in some tall grass. Everything around it was strangely gray and lifeless, which seemed odd. Cutting the grass away with my claws, and putting on the glasses, I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that I was again safe from the mezmetron's magic.

I held my breath as I looked through the glasses, seeing only a wasteland. Everything was a mix of gray and black, as though permanently burnt. The grass was more like razors, cutting through my duster wherever it brushed up on it. The trees were nothing more than the twisted black crystals that I had passed through to get here. But then I looked up at the foreboding dark purple sky, seeing a malevolent golden eye in the place of the sun, looking back down at me.

"Hurry up." Said the mist pony, it's voice twisted, as though it was a warped recording of a pony saying that. Its form looked more like dark smoke and shadows twisting into a mocking form of a pony. "Just down this way little pony." It then laughed, or more, cackled malevolently.

Quickly finding my hat and putting it on, strangely the big eye in the sky then looked away, as though losing sight of me.

So I followed the shadow ponies, thankfully my gauntlets protected me from this razor grass as I passed through it. And as I crested over a hill, I saw a dark and foreboding castle, it made of the same crystals as everything else. But without my glasses, the castle was like the ones I imagined as a filly, pretending to be a princess waiting for my prince. With my glasses, it was like out of a nightmare, a place in which would contain a rape dungeon and a cannibalistic cult.

As I finally left the razor grass, and onto a path made of dark crystals, each step echoed forebodingly. And as I entered the structure and was surrounded by the crystals, everywhere I looked I saw a dark reflection of myself. It was like a hallway of black mirrors, in which my reflections mocked me.

Sometimes I saw the old me, the reflection unmarred by my time in the wasteland, but as I passed each crystal panel, my reflection took on more injuries. A black eye here, a cut there, thinner and thinner I became, until I looked worse than a ghoul, a pony ready for death.

Looking away, I saw another reflection, but now I was clearly a raider. My tongue split, piercings on top of piercings. Blood trickled from my crotch as I smiled at me with jagged yellowed teeth.

"Almost there." The shadow pony told me, and I refocus on it daring to not look at my reflections here. It had taken me to a grand hall, in which music played seemingly from nowhere, grand, yet slightly off tune. A long black crystal table sat with black crystals like fruits decorating all along it. Along the walls were crystal statu of ponies, expertly carved and each looking angry and ready to attack. At the far end, set up like an altar, was another statue, but this one of a massive black dragon, holding a cracked and aged jar and looking down at it with golden eyes that radiated evil.

I lifted the glasses to just to see what the illusion was, and I was not disappointed. Everything looked cut out of pure white marble, and radiated warmth. The statues were laughing and friendly. My reflection showed me in the most beautiful of dresses. And the grand statue at the end of the table was of beautify golden mare holding the exact same jar.

I then recognized the jar as the one in Pentagram's collection. The Jar of Secrets. But the reason why it was here eluded me, as did the connection between it, that black dragon, or the golden mare.

"Sit, sit! We will get you something to eat, friend." The shadow pony said, still pretending to be something more friendly, as another dropped a basket of fruit in front of me.

Looking up, there was no ceiling, only sky and the sun. Putting the glasses back on, again I saw the golden eye again. It was still looking for me, almost as though I was invisible to it. Turning my eyes to the fruit, I was not the least bit surprised to see fruit shaped crystals, with one having a crack, which was bleeding what looked to be black blood.

"Eat up, friend, it's good." The shadow pony said with a grin that only oozed malevolence.

I slowly pushed it away. "Sorry, I mean no offense. But I was told not to eat food of other realms, or I become part of it." I paused as I tried to remember who told me this, but couldn't. Yet I knew it was an important rule to know and to follow.

"Fine then." The shadow pony said with a frown, and took the basket away.

Another came around, holding jewelry made from the same black crystals. "Take these, they will look beautiful on you."

I shook my head. "I'm sure they would, but I have no need for jewelry."

And another came with more behind it, offering me wine, though the iron smell reminded me more of blood then booze. "Drink, I implore you. It is the finest of all drinks, none like it in all existence."

I lightly, but firmly, put my hoof down. "No, I will not drink, eat, or take anything from here. What is your game you malevolent shadows! Just bring me Tripwire so that I can kill him!"

All the shadow ponies in the room then stopped and then snarled at me, like a storm they began zipping around wildly as though throwing a temper tantrum.

One, a bigger of their kind, then landed on the table in front of me. "So you see us for what we are! What is it that gives you such a sight?" The thing studied me, its eyes slowly scanning me. "Such marvelous magic you have on you, giving you protection from us. The champions grizzly gauntlets, which are engraved onto your soul. The blessing of Dionysus that protects one from addiction. And the guiding light of the hopeful and dead, which is a shard of Hades helm. Then there is the terrible embrace of the dread queen Persephone herself, may she suffer for denying us."

That all felt familiar, yet I didn't know what it was on about, and didn't feel to care to ask about it. "Whatever, now what are you, and where am I really."

The shadow pony huffed at me as though it was a dumb question, "you are in the Umbral Plains, and we are the Umbra. True rulers of your world, and servants of the first nightmare. We were there when the magic was wild and young. When you ponies were but clay dolls made for a lonely and pathetic filly goddess. We were to inherit all, become part of the magics, yet it was stolen from us by that titan and it was given to your kind!"

I… didn't understand any of that. "Umm… can you tell me it in a way that I can understand?"

The Umbra slammed its hoof on the table, cracking it. "You ignorant sow, mentally deficient fool. We wish to return to your world and take your magic that was originally ours. We will replace you all with ourselves, and become the rightful rulers as it should have always been!"

"Ahh, so you bad ponies, got it." I then reached for the pony, but it moved away. This got me to smirk. "What's wrong, scared of me?"

It snarled out. "I fear you not, nothing you can do to me is permanent. But the protection over you prevents us from truly harming you either."

"So a stalemate then." I said.

Tapping its hoof on the table, all the other Umbra stopped zipping around. "Bring out the champion of Strife. It is clear this day is not yet ours, and we must wait ever more." It then looked at me and smiled. "Little pony, your… accidental intrusion upon the Umbral Plains has been a fine distraction, but now we grow tired of you. Take your hunt and go. Do with him as you please, and never bother us again."

Then they all just vanished, leaving me alone.

Hoofsteps echoed ever closer, and from the other end of the room, Tripwire dressed in a black crystal covered robe trotted in, his eye wild with madness, and holding the black book. "Oh, so you actually came, how wonderful!"

I drew my Whisky Shot.

But Tripwire held up the book in front of him. "Oh come now, doing the same thing and expecting something different is the definition of madness."

I holstered the revolver. "What's your game, why are you here!"

He laughed. "What else, I seek answers from these fine ponies."

"Monsters you mean." I said with a snarl.

Shaking his head, Tripwire tutted at me. "A bit harsh don't you think? Unlike the rest of you fools, they recognize my greatness, and their inferiority. Subservient to my will, and only my will, with no hint of thinking beyond their station. A refreshing change from all of you, who scheme endlessly, thinking you're all so smart."

He then opened the book, flipping through the pages. "Amazing, Pentagram used this book to develop the memory orb, but then sealed it away… Such a waist. But in my hooves I can do so much more! And my genius amazes even me. Before I could barely decipher even the first page. Only scratched the surface, but now thanks to the Umbra simple guidance, I understand it all." He let out a laugh and showed the open book to me. "Look you ignorant fuck, see what my ancestors could not understand, and weep. Pentagram was a fool to fear it, my father an imbasil for keeping it locked away. Even the necromancer that cursed the mountain to get this book would never fully comprehend it. Yet I understand it all."

A black acrid mist formed around his horn, staurating it. From the table a crystal formed, then shaped into that of a helmet. It looked aggressive and evil, and by just looking at it felt as though it was trying to strip my free will away.

Grabbing it with his hooves, Tripwire then threw it at me, and I swatted it away with my gauntlets. But by just touching it, for only a split second, It felt just like the mezmetron. No worse, for that moment in time, it stripped me of everything.

"You felt it didn't you, the raw power at my hooves. Pentagram attempted to use that power to heal. My father wanted to use it to save himself." Tripwire then made another helmet. "But I… I'll use it for its true purpose. I'll make myself into the immortal emperor of Equestria. No, of the world!"

And I was done listening to this braman shit!

Jumping onto the table, I charged at him, claws digging into the crystals, cracking it. He responded by tossing another helmet at me, along with several shards of the dark crystals. But I didn't care, and just powered through it. Each hit drained me of my will, but I had will to spare. Enough will to power through this and crush him!

He then formed a wall of the crystals and I had to slide to a stop, then pulled out Last Dance and fired. I didn't stop firing until I heard the ping of its clip flying out of the chamber and hitting the table. The fragile crystal wall was now riddled with holes and began to crumble, so I put my rifle away and jumped into a dashed.

It shattered under my hoof, throwing shards of black crystals everywhere. My eyes locked onto Tripwire's as he again pointed his pistol at me, and began firing wildly. Several shots hit, most thudding hard into the metal plates of my armor, but two got in, they burnt into my flesh and were logging inside of me. But they didn't hit anything vital, and it was no rifle round, so I didn't stop.

With a swipe, I knocked the gun away, and with another swipe I sent Tripwire to the floor. "We're done here Tripwire, I win!."

He snarled as his horn crackled with dark magic. Just then, Will-o-Wisp appeared, and frantically danced in a spot to my left. Trusting her, I lept to my left. Several spikes of black crystals shot up from where I had just been, causing Tripwire to snarl again. "Why won't you die already!" He shouted, his horn crackling again.

Will-o-Wisp jumped to another spot and I followed as more of the crystals shot us behind me.

A growl came from Tripwire, and when Will-o-Wisp again jumped, a cage of crystals formed around her. "Ha! You think you outsmarted me! Think ag-"

As he gloated I dashed forward, and before he could cast another spell, I aimed at his horn with my gauntlets.

As the claws made contact, a spark of magic erupted, setting Tripwire's face on fire as his horn shattered. The stallion threw himself to the floor screaming, wildly trying to put the fire out. Trotting after him, Tripwire whipped his cut up and burnt face at me, his broken horn crackling again as he glared with pure hate. But not wasting even a moment I stomped on his face, breaking his nose and spraying his putrid blood onto the ground

Breathing heavily, Tripwire struggled to get back up, only to slip on his own blood and fall over.

"Why? Why do any of this, Tripwire? Was all the death and pain worth it? The lives ruined, the foals left without their parents?" I asked angrily, cracking the ground with a stomp. "You had a fucking family for Celestia's sake! I'm sure that bitch Onyx would have loved to pretend to be normal ponies with you and Cable. With how smart you are, you could have rebuilt your damn family from scratch, or changed your image like Grizzly!"

Tripwire breathing was labored and filled with pain, yet he still managed to laugh at me. "You could never… understand. I was born… to lead… to rule over all. It's the… natural state of this… world…. There are masters, and there are… slaves. A master should never be… a slave. It is unnaturally… wrong… I can only rule… never will I dig through the dirt like a slave… for that's how things… always have been, and should always… be."

The more he spoke the more I felt pity and disgust. There was no grand plan, no ideals or an excuse. I don't know why, but I was hoping he would finally reveal to me some big secret, something to convince me that there was some good in him. Like how some others would talk of Redeye, and how he truly did want to help, but became lost along the way. No, Tripwire was different, as he had always been a bastard and he was absolutely pathetic.

"So that's it. All this just because you believed that only you are worthy to rule over all others. Because your Ma said your the fucking emperor of Equestria!" I snarled at him as I pressed my hoof onto his head. "No ideals or grand plan. Just a selfish desire to make everything yours because you just want it all!"

He again laughed, spitting up blood as he did so. "Don't tell me your… free from that…desire. Every one of… you, are just like… me. But I'm smarter, and even more clever. Given the… chance, you and all the… others would do the same. You just… pretend to care, pretend that you're not… all like me!"

"You delusional bastard." I huffed out, wondering what I ever saw in him. He seriously thinks everypony is some calculating psychopath.

Taking in a deep breath, and letting out a long and frustrated sigh, I then bent down and held his head in my hooves. "I'd love to stay and further confirm my disgust with you, but I must leave here. But first I must make sure you never return." With a twist of my hooves and a loud snap, Tripwire's body as he stopped breathing.

Rummaging through his pockets, I found the medallions, and then trotted over and picked up his pistol. At the very least, the gun now belonged to Wiretap. So putting it away, I looked at the Medallions, a wave of confusion hit me as I realized, "fuck, how do I use these?"

The sound of whispering tickled at my ears as my attention was then drawn to the black book. A book of untold power and vast knowledge, all at my hooves. It may even know how to use the medallions

Trotting over, I opened the book… only to remember that I can't read. "Well this is dumb!" I said as I tossed the book away from me.

Laughter again came from Tripwire, and it was unnatural, as he was, well… dead.

Turning to look at the body, it twitched and garaged, black ooze seeping from every orifice. Then a black hoof pushed itself out of Tripwire's mouth, and another, then pulling itself up, a head and body forced itself out.

"You, why do you keep rejecting me, how are you rejecting me!" Spoke the black entity… of which I somehow knew its name, the mad god Strife. "Again and again you deny me, deny my love and power. But no more, If you will not embrace me, I will take you by force."

She then finished pulling herself free, flopping onto the floor like some black toxic slime. As she then stood up, appearing as some large pony shaped black mass, I drew Whisky Shot, and unloaded into her. Blasting six holes through the mad god, but Strife was unaffected, the holes simply closing up once more.

"It is of no use my little pony. Here I am made manifest, and you can not destroy me. Soon we will be one, and you will be free of all pain and worry." Bending, Strife's neck extended unnaturally, and spun around, blocking any way for me to escape. "It will be quick, and very painful."

Hooves reached out all around, as though looking for me, coming close but none directly at me. Was it blind, I didn't know, but it would find me eventually. Backing up, I tripped over one of the hooves, falling over and knocking my hat off.

"There you are!" It screamed as its head rose high above and then dived down at me. But then the mad god caught on fire, her extended neck failing around as blue fire and smoke spread over its formless body.

"Lottery, this way! Run while the bitch is distracted!" A faintly familiar voice called to me as a hoof reached out through the ever growing thick smoke.

Confusion ran through my head, as I was utterly lost on what the fuck was happening. But one thing was clear to me, somepony was offering me help, reaching a hoof out to me. This time I was taking it without hesitation. This time I'll do what I should have done a long time ago.

Grabbing my hat and shoving it into my jacket, I took the hoof and pushed through the ever expanding smoke. My hooves stopped hard onto the crystal floor, digging in so as not to slow down, and each step fueling my hope to get out of this mess. When I finally cleared the smoke, I was in the long crystal hallway of the castle, far off in the distance was a mare clocked in blue fire, becoming me to come to her.

So digging my claws into the ground, I leapt into a run, hoping that she knew the way out.

"Pick up the pace!" The mare called out to, as she then ran herself, giving off a radiant trail of blue fire for me to follow.

I could feel my body growing cold, the gunshot from the cabin and the two just recently starting to catch up with me. But I dug down into myself and found the strength to keep going, to not give in.

Crashes and slamming could be heard all around me as the Umbra broke through the windows and walls. They started throwing chunks of crystal at me, or knocking over pillars of crystal in my path. All malevolently laughing at me as they rained down destruction.

"Slow her down!" One Umbra shouted.

"Don't let her escape!" Another demanded.

And as crystals pelted me, as I was forced to jump despite my blood loss, I didn't let them stop me, nor slow me down. Strangely, as I pushed the lighter I felt, and with each step following the trail of blue fire the coldness was pushed back.

But the sound of a roar did draw my attention, and as I looked back, a burning Strife was behind me. A black mass of putrid ooze, forming many legs which hit the floor, walls, and ceiling to push itself forward. It had many heads that formed and vanished from inside the ooze, some familiar as they snapped at me.

"You know you're nothing more than a whore!" The warped voice of Onyx shouted at me.

"A piece of meat to be used." Grinder joined in.

"A mare not worth mentioning." Angle said with his now creeper voice.

"Too stupid to see or understand the truth in front of your face!" Tripwire said calmly and coldly.

I burst out of the castle as Strife mocked me with the voices of many ponies, raiders and slavers alike. Pointing out my shortcomings, my doubts.

The mare covered the blue fire stood on top of a hill, where magic was swirling and pulsed wildly. "You're almost there! Just a bit more."

Fortunately, strife had a harder time following me out in the open, so as I slowed down, so did she.

It hurt, just to climb the hill, but as I reached near the top, the mare pulled me the rest of the way up. "There you go, I knew you had it in you." She told me as her touch seemed to slowly heal me, making me warmer and in less pain.

It was strange looking at her. Just a normal earth pony mare, gray cote, straight black mane that sat just above her shoulders. She was old, really old, yet considerably youthful. Surrounding her was a blue fire, in which the edges danced and formed both translucent wings and a horn.

The mare then looked over at Strife, disgust in her eyes. "That bitch is the epitome of cancer, never giving up, and never doing Equestria any good." She then looked at me and smiled. "Well now that you're with me, she can't get any closer, so take a breather."

Looking back for myself, she was right, Strife had stopped climbing, and when she did reach out a leg, it caught on fire. "Thanks, but… who are you?"

"Nopony you need concerning yourself with. I'm just an old mare with a convoluted history, and an important responsibility." She said with a chuckle.

"Right, I think I can understand… sorta. Well actually all this just doesn't make any sense to me." I told the mare.

She chuckled again, and as she pointed to a portal behind her, she told me. "Oh ya, you don't even know the half of it. Also, when you get back to the other side, tell Lucky Shot that she's still a bitch."

I raised an eyebrow at that, but wasn't all that surprised. It seems that my grandmother pissed off a lot of ponies. "Will do." I told her as I trotted to the rift in reality.

"Lottery!" I froze as I heard the voice of my best friend. "You ain't going to leave without saying hi to your friend are ya?" Molo asked me.

Turning, there she was, enwrapped in Strife's embrace.

"M… Molo." I whimpered.

"It's too late for her, just go already!" The mysterious mare told me.

Molo let out a sigh. "Looks like I was right, a pony like me cannot be redeemed so easily. You should listen to that mare, and run while you still have the strength."

"But why? You tried so hard to help, and because of you many lives were saved." I shouted at her.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Lottery ya fucking fool. I was a raider, a pony that did terrible things just for the laughs of it. This is the afterlife I deserve! "

"Lottery, she is nothing more than Strife's puppet. She's appealing to your better nature, trying to stall your escape. You need to go, and now!" The mare told me.

She was right, I knew she was right. "But… I can't leave Molo, not with her."

"You can and you will. Trust me when I say this, we can't save everypony, no matter how much we want to." The mare told me softly, a hint of sorrow and regret in her voice.

"ya, stop being an id- mrhhh hhrfff!" Molo yelled, only for strife to cover her mouth and pull her away.

It was stupid, so Celestia damn stupid. Molo was dead, I watched her die, but she was here, right here!

"Will-o-Wisp." I called out, and my little blue flame burst to life.

The blue flame mare thrusted a hoof in front of me. "No, you need go, your way out is closing, and soon."

I smiled. "Then this will be quick. Now Willow, take me to Molo!"

Will-o-Wisp seemed to nod at the mare, who then nodded back at her and sighed. "Fine, it's not like you ever listened to me when we were alive. So why start now. Go on, be the hero this time. May we meet again during better times." Then Will-o-Wisp shot forward and into Strife.

I followed, passing through the blue flame coated mare, who now seemed more ghost then mare. As I charged forward, the Maw of Strife opened wide, as to both embrace me and to devour me.

Then darkness.

Absolut darkness.

Yet not quite.

In the distance I could see Will-o-Wisp hanging above, and below her was Molo. My friend half submerged in black water, surrounded my hundreds, no, hundreds of thousands of ponies, if not more. It was a stagnant lake filled with the dead, a place of true hopelessness.

Black tar dripped from above like cold rain, sticking to me like the most vile of glue. So putting my hat back on, I made my way to Molo, wading into the black water… no, it was more like thick ooze. It was a struggle to trot through, and the longer it took to pull my leg up, the more I sank into it. It must have known I didn't belong, and now was trying to consume me, add me to the uncountable hopeless dead already here.

But when I used my grizzly gauntlets, they cut through the ooze, boiling it by just the touch. With them I was able to keep myself from sinking down, and move forward with even more haste. A trot became a gallop, and behind me a trial of flaming hoofprints had formed, and in between them the ooze had hardened into a bridge.

"Where are you!" Strife screamed. And looking up, I saw a shadow like a mare fly about. A crooked horn stretched out from her head, and crooked wings flapped as she flew above. She resembled Celestia, yet black as though burnt into coal, and malevolently crooked.

Her eyes fell onto me, yet it was as though she saw nothing, flying off as she screamed! "How, how did she get away again!"

Pushing on, the closer I got to Molo, the more bodies I came across. They struggled to move, trapped within the sluge-like floor, some letting out muffled and breath-like screams. I did my best to avoid them, in case they were to react and warn Strife of my location.

As I finally got to Molo, I reached out and grabbed onto her, and began to pull. Using everything I had, even as I began to feel cold, I pulled. "Stop… please just go." Molo whispered weakly, her body staying limp.

"Not going to happen!" I said through clenched teeth as slowly but surely, Molo was being pulled out.

"You will die here if you don't." She told me.

But I didn't yield. "Shut up and accept my help!"

"You idiot!" She growled weekly.

Pulling a hoof back, I then slammed it into the black ooze, holding it next to Molo. It began to bubble, and slowly Molo began to move. Then with a pop, Molo came free and we both fell over. Pushing myself up, I began to quietly chuckle to myself. "I'm dumber than you know, ya know."

"Clearly." she said as she slowly got up herself. "But now what, how do you plan on getting out of here?"

I smiled as I looked up. "Willow, it's time we go!"

Will-o-Wisp bobbed up and down excitedly, and zoomed off.

Molo sighed. "Right, follow the dead flaming pony, brilliant plan. But we'll just sink along the way."

I tapped my hoof onto the ooze, making a satisfying clop sound. "Just stay in-between the flaming hoofprints and you will be fine..

Molo did the same, tapping on the hardened ooze.

"Alright, enough talking and more running." I said as I pushed her along, we rushed after Will-o-Wisp.

I had done it, and soon Molo will be back with me, I had finally saved her! I had my best friend back! But as we ran, I began to feel colder, my vision blurred, and my strength faded.

Then I stumbled,

Then fell.

Pain erupted all over me as I felt, eyes on me.

Pushing myself up, I looked around. Everything was looking at me, absolutely everything. Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of eyes were looking at me. Then, in unison, they all wailed at me.

So loud that it hurt.

Then came laughter, and with a loud slam, Strife landed near me. Her crooked face twisted into a crooked smile, and her eyes glared at me with hunger. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you, my darling little, Lottery. You're going to stay here with me, forever and ever more. One among all my darling children, safe within my womb. "

I was where!. . . . Ew.

"Not a chance ya bitch!" Molo screamed as she jumped to me, and forced my hat back on and held me tight.

"What, how? Where did you go! My dear Lottery!!" Strife screamed loudly, the sound reverberating in my chest.

Leaning on each other, Molo and I ran as hard as we could, slipping under Strafe and rushing to Will-o-Wisp.

A deep and reverberating growler came from strive, it filled with such malevolence that I felt it in my bones. "LOTTERY, I CURSE YOU! YOU WILL NEVER BE FREE FROM ME, NEVER!Z" Her voice was so loud that my ears rang as reached the edge of the black lake, and closer to Will-o-Wisp.

As we reached Will-o-Wisp, Molo and I saw a light past her, and drawing the last bit of strength I had, web pushed past her and into the light.

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I was cold and everything hurt. But that was a good sign, as the dead felt no pain.

"Even I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself." Spoke the voice of the mysterious mare covered in blue fire. "Charging into the heart of a mad god and pulling out a claimed soul, it's beyond impressive."

"Well that's my Lottery, always doing what's least expected at the worst of times." Molo said with a laugh.

"And reckless too. No pony can hope to not only wade through that hate filled sludge, much less do so while being unseen by Strife." Lethe spoke as I got up. She then eyed me with her cold blue glowing eye sockets. "As though powers beyond our own predicted that something like this would happen."

Taking a deep breath, the air felt cold, and stale. Looking around, I was on the edge of a dark river, the ground under my hooves bone white… no not just bone white, it was made of bones! "Wh… where am I?"

"The land of the dead, Lottery, a border land between the land of the living, and the lands beyond, we're all souls are to travel to." Lethe told me as she pointed to a lone boat. "I'll be taking Miss Sparking Passion to Tartarus, where she will work off her many sins."

"What, why? I only just saved her, why must she be further punished!" I pleaded.

Molo trotted over to me, giving me a hug. "It's fine, Lottery, it will be okay."

I tried to push her away, but I had no strength left to do so. "How is it okay? Why can you come back with me? Crowned and Flashed have only just begun to accept you, and there's so much more you can do."

Patting me on the back, I could feel tears not of my own on my cheek. "I know, I know. How stupid of me to think the best thing I could do for them was die like a damned hero. But dead is dead. Anyway, thanks to you, I'll at least have a chance to see them again. And you, and the others. So long as I'm a good girl."

Molo then pulled away, wiping a tear from her eye.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

The mysterious mare stepped over, a mischievous grin on her face. "Since you went through all that trouble of recovering her soul, I decided to pull a few strings. Molo will be working as a guard of Tartarus for the next hundred or so years. It's a rather hard job from what I've been told, but the king of Tartarus is said to be a fair stallion to those who are diligent in their duty. Anyways, the underworld has been severely in need of new guards since the old ones got quite lazy due to their deal with Celestia."

"Umm, sorry, but I don't understand." I said, feeling a bit confused.

"Right, long story short, Celestia helped keep the undead in check, and entities like Lethe here stayed out of the business of the living." The mysterious mare explained. "But for the last two hundred years, Celestia hasn't been able to do her end of the bargain, and shit has been rolling down hill. Fuck, that Necromancer only got taken out because I was literally crafted as a failsafe for such events."

Then it hit me. "Wait! Your the hero of the long winter!"

Storm Rider nodded. "Yap, in the flesh… well, in the spirit actually. And sorry, all this only happened because I missed a cures the Necromancer left behind. I imagine he was after this actually." Storm then pulled out the Umbral Infinium. I still got a creepy feeling from just looking at it. "Oh, and don't worry, we will keep a close eye on this bastard. Now if we can only get our hooves on the other's before some idiot finds them."

I nodded, still a bit confused. "I'm sure it's in good hooves then, and I do hope you find those other nasty books. Or whatever they are."

Molo then laughed. "I agree, and is it wrong that I'm glad you're illiterate, since the book couldn't enthrall you and such."

Storm rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Imagine that, an all powerful and evil book, defeated by a severe case of dyslexia. Anyways, it's time we go, as it is the same for you. But it was fun getting to talk to the living again. Actually, you remind me a bit of my granddaughter, though far less ornery and far better with the stallions."

I chuckled too, a bit glad that my inability to read once again foiled a magical trap. "Ya, meeting a legend is quite something for me as well." Turning my attention back to Molo, I gave her a hug, holding her as tightly as possible. "I won't stop missing you, ya know that."

"I feel the same Lottery. You were too good for me, but I'm glad I met you." Molo replied. Letting her go, she then trotted to the boat, where she waved at me from.

Lethe then trotted over to me, a stern look on her thin face. "I can't say this has been fun, or this went as well as it could have. But at least a great evil was averted, and we have you to thank for that. Still, I'll have to talk with my fellow reapers about all this, see if it can be done again, but with less unforeseen consequences."

"You want to do all this again?" I asked in shock.

The reaper smiled mischievously. "That is to be seen mortal. Times have changed and a new era is being born. But ghosts of the past still yet haunt Equestria. Ghosts whom will take any opportunity to rise once again. So we must prepare, for it is the job of my kind to maintain the cycle of life and death, or all will suffer." She then patted me on my shoulder with her thin, almost skeletal hoof. "As it is your job to, by user in new life. And worry not, even at your darkest moments, when you feel you are all alone and it is time to move on from life, I'll be there to trot beside you. For none should venture into the land of the dead alone."

Lethe then trotted off to the boat, leaving me feeling cold, but strangely, confronted.

"Odd things, those reapers all." Storm Rider said as she held out her hoof to me. "Alright, if you stay any longer, you'll not leave this place except by boat, so take my hoof."

"Will I remember any of this?" I then asked, reaching out my hoof.

"Some, though most of it will be nothing more than a dream. Some weird magical brahman shit that you'll barely understand. To anypony who hears of your story, it will be just another crazy Wastelander's Tale. No Strife, old gods or grim reapers. Just a hero, a villain, and an uncaring wasteland." She explained to me.

Taking a deep breath, I didn't like the idea of forgetting again, but maybe it was for the best. Less insane I felt, the easier it might be to get back to normal. So I took her hoof.

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My eyes opened wide as my veins felt like it was on fire. "OHFUCKWASTHAT!" I blurted out in a panic.

Spell Circuit let out a sigh of relief, then pulled out an absurdly long needle from my chest. "Thank Celestia that worked. I thought I lost you there."

Looking at the needle and pressing on my chest, I quickly realized he stabbed me in the heart with it. "What. Did. You. Stab. Me. With?" I asked with bearly contained energy.

"Doctor Helga gave it to me, it's a griffin resurrection serum, though I think it's just a healing potion mixed with hydra and adrenaline… oh and traces of dash." He then looked away as though guilty. "She said it will either bring you back from the brink of death, or blow up your heart."

The proto-stable then shook as the pillars of crystals cracked and crumbled.

Standing up faster than I ever had in my life, my mind was running at triple speed as I had no time to worry about being dead, that's a silly thing to worry about. "We need to go!" I said jittering. "Oh, and those ponies in the janitor's room… and other rooms too! What about the mezmetrons?"

Spell looked a bit worried, but maintained his composure, he was really good at that, like super good. "We can't go back where we came then… wait, did you grab the medallions?" I tossed him them, practically hitting him in the face, no, I did hit him in the face with them. "Good, we got a bit of time before this place collapses, so grab who you can before that energy runs out, I'll deal with the mezmetrons"

Giving him a salute, I then zipped away, the world a blurre.

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