Fallout: Equestria - The Spark of Life

Chapter 2: Into the Past

I've heard they're surprisingly graceful for their size. Huh, but they're always hungry.

Despite being surrounded by them my entire life, I actively hated books of all kinds. It was one of the odd things that separated me from the fact that I had been created to once house the spirit of an alicorn who absolutely and thoroughly loved them so much she devoted entire warehouses to their storage and care. Maybe it was because I liked being a rebel, I wasn’t sure. Regardless, I found books to be the most tedious things ever. I didn’t abhor knowledge itself, obviously. There was merit in knowing things, I just hated the reading portion of gaining knowledge.

Diving into the books in the primary center, despite being indexed, was a massive challenge in itself. With Violet out of commission and still healing, it was up to Sunshine and myself to start poring through the tomes. The primary center had been chosen first because it was considered to be the prime site on any text that dealt primarily with Equestrian politics before the end of the War as well as any items on magical artifacts specifically referenced in old Equestrian texts.

Twilight was meticulous but it was clear she probably never knew what kind of care the books had actually been given by the Ministry she entrusted it to. Every book in Fort Knowledge had been haphazardly thrown into the various warehouses without regard to what they were or what they were for, but for some reason the primary center, which we’d come to call Site A, had seen a level of care not seen in the other sites. This alone made us question whether whatever answer we were looking for was here or not.

I groaned as I floated several books into the air before me. Even if these books had been well cared for, the age of time had not been kind to many of them, making a good portion of them highly illegible. I dug through several of the tomes, trying my best to use my magic to clean them up, but it was proving fruitless.

“This is useless!” I cried out in frustration. “There’s nothing here! This is just a waste of time when we could be going out and cleaning up that army.”

“Velvet has her reasons,” Sunshine said as she stepped up next to me. She had a cute little pair of glasses on the bridge of her snout. “Besides, she’s already got a recon unit from the NCR headed out to Hope Hollow. Word is, Calamity himself is leading it.”

“We should be there. We saw it all first hoof,” I said with a grimace. “Not here, poring through books that we can’t even read.”

“It’s true that Twilight Sparkle’s penchant for books upon books is going to make this difficult, but we have to try,” Sunshine said, lifting a few other tomes with her magic. “I do agree though that I wish I was out there with you. But we all have our parts to play.”

“I just hope my part ends with ripping that fucking Breeze’s wings off,” I muttered to myself before clearing my throat.

“I heard that,” Sunshine said as she walked to the table next to mine. “How is Violet doing?”

“A little better. Still not sure about her magic. I’m supposed to go be with her to try some simple tests later here,” I said, pushing aside the books I had been looking at. “She’s worried, but the doctors are hopeful that she may still have some magical ability.”

“Even if she doesn't, that doesn’t make her any less of a pony, or any less my friend,” Sunshine said. “Celestia knows I’ve had my own issues with my lack of magical ability during burnout sessions. Violet is blessed to have you and the rest of the Followers behind her.”

“Yeah… I just worry what will happen,” I said. “I mostly just wish she was okay, but I know she’ll be okay.”

I rooted through another grouping of books, looking for something or anything that might give us some clue or something that would be able to protect us. Nothing. Just more useless political bullshit. Minutes recorded of five hour long meetings at the Ministry of Arcane Science. FIVE HOURS! I couldn’t sit still for that long, personally.

My eyes drifted across the room to a book laying on Sunshine’s table. There was a symbol on the front of it that looked rather familiar. I stood, walking across to Sunshine’s table so I could get a better look.

The symbol was rough and faded, but it stirred a memory from Hope Hollow. Every pony and Storm Guard was wearing this symbol. Every single, fucking one of them. I picked up the book with my magic.

“There’s not much in that one, I checked it already,” Sunshine said without looking up from the book she was nose deep into.

“Sunshine. The symbol on the cover,” I said. “Look at it. It’s the same symbol as the raiders and pegasi wore.”

Sunshine glanced over. “Wait, where did that come from? That wasn’t there a second ago? Where’d the other book that was there go?” she asked, a bewildered look in her eyes.

“Clearly somepony wanted us to see this particular book,” I said, lifting it up and opening it.

The pages inside were tattered and I could barely make out some words here or there. What I could make out caught my immediate attention. As best as I could tell this was some historical account of an attack on the capital of Canterlot. The book didn’t say who the attacker was, as most of that had either disintegrated due to time or just was simply illegible. I did catch one important thing though. The word “King” was in several places. Was that who this shadowy figure was? Some sort of King?

“I don’t know how this helps us,” I said, turning a few more pages. The rest of the pages were filled with various maps and drawings. One of the drawings stood out. A massive towering island fortress. Below it the words “Mount Aris” had been written.

“What is Mount Aris?” Sunshine said.

“It looks like a place. But where?” I replied as I continued to skim the drawings. A map showing a vague location of the island, south and far outside the borders of Equestria. “Far. Very far.”

“Whoah,” Sunshine said. “Why would Twilight have something like this?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It seems like at some point, Canterlot was attacked by some force bearing the symbol on the cover. But I can’t read most of it, so I can’t say who that force was or why they attacked.”

“Does it say how they stopped them?” Sunshine said, taking the book from me and flipping through the pages with her magic. “Wait. What’s this?”

She flipped the book back around and pointed at one of the drawings. It was of some sort of spherical shaped object. I couldn’t make out most of the words except one.

“Weapon,” I said aloud. “They used a weapon to repel the force?”

“It would appear so,” Sunshine said. “But it doesn’t say what it even does or how it works. The real question of the century is…”

“Is it still there?” I finished for her. “This Mount Aris place seems pretty far out there, but if we can go there and find this weapon… maybe we can use it here.”

“Seems pretty far-fetched,” Sunshine said with a sigh. “It’s riding on a lot of unknowns. What if it isn’t even there in the first place?”

“It’s like you said, Sunshine. We owe it to the others to try,” I said with a small smile.

Sunshine grimaced for a second and then nodded. “You’re right. We should investigate any avenue possible. I’ll make sure this information is delivered to Velvet Remedy. You should go see your marefriend.”

I nodded, handing the book back over to Sunshine. As I did, my eyes glanced briefly at the name of the author on the cover. It was pretty illegible overall, but I could just barely make it out.

The name was Tempest Shadow.

* * *

I walked along the street of Fort Knowledge towards the care center, that name stuck in the back of my head. Why did that name bug me? What did it mean? Who was Tempest Shadow?

I was lost in my thoughts as I made it to the care center with moments to spare. My brain kept trying to reconcile the identity of whoever this Tempest Shadow was with the feeling in my head that whoever it was, I felt like I knew them somehow. I didn’t like that feeling.

I shook it off and continued to the care center, my stomach knotting itself into pretzels as I found my way to Violet’s side. She was sitting up and eating and even smiling as I entered.

“Find anything in your research?” she said, sipping on a thing of juice with a straw. I have to admit, it was pretty cute despite the big white bandage covering her head.

“Maybe. It’s kind of a longshot, but we found some reference to a weapon, but it’s far away,” I said, plopping down to sit next to her. “Vi you wouldn’t believe how much reading we had to do.”

“I’m sure it’s good for you, sweetie,” Violet replied casually before giggling.

“Are you trying to imply that I’m not smart?” I asked with a sly grin. “Somepony must be feeling better.”

“A little better, but I’m still pretty nervous about getting the bandages off,” my marefriend said, looking down at her forehooves. “What if I don’t have any magic?”

“Then you’ll still be my Violet,” I said, reaching over and snuggling her shoulder. “No matter what happens.”

A knock at the door broke us from our snuggle session. One of the doctors was standing at the door, floating a clipboard alongside him.

“Should I come back?” he said with a smirk.

“No, you’re fine, Doctor…?” I asked. I didn’t actually know this pony’s name.

“Oh. I’m Doctor Redmane,” the unicorn replied. “I’ve been placed in charge of Miss Violet’s care. I have a lot of experience with these kinds of cases.”

I blinked, my eyes drifting upward. Doctor Redmane’s horn had been neatly severed right at the tip. And yet, it still glowed and still had magical ability. I must have been staring because I heard a cough come from him.

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly.

“No worries,” Doctor Redmane said. “I get this a lot actually, so I’m used to it. I was attacked by a group of raiders and tortured. The horn is the worst of the scars I bear because of that day.”

“But you can still use magic?” Violet said, her eyes and ears perking up.

“I can, but this isn’t going to be easy for you, Violet. Gaining access back to magic after such a traumatic injury is hard. It took me quite a while to get my own magical ability back. I’ve studied numerous unicorns who’ve had injuries quite like yourself since then, and everyone's a little different,” Redmane replied, setting the clipboard down on the desk next to the bed. “Now then, let’s see how things are healing up, shall we?”

Violet nodded, sitting still as Redmane used his magic to carefully remove the bandages. I tried not to react as they fell away, but I couldn’t keep my eyes from tearing up a little bit. The surgeons had done an immaculate job with separating the piece of horn that had been hanging off. It was clean and didn’t actually look all that bad. Looking at it just reminded me of what happened, and I didn’t like that. But I had to be strong for Violet. She would have done the same for me.

“Well. This looks pretty good,” Redmane said. “Good enough that I think another day and you’ll be able to be discharged. Do you have any feeling in it? Any conscious desire to utilize magic?”

Violet thought for a moment, looking down at her hooves before looking back up at the doctor. “I don’t feel much. Maybe a tingle,” she said. “Is that bad?”

“Not at all. Actually that’s a good sign. I would not expect you to be able to utilize your magic immediately after all. It’s going to take time, and I want you to not rush yourself either. Too fast and the healing process will become overpowered by your magical ability and that can lead to some very powerful outbursts of raw magic,” Redmane explained. “The horn is a very vital organ when it comes to magical power, much like how the wings of a pegasi are important to their magic. The horn refines the raw magical power into a functioning energy that we can shape and direct. Without that regulator, raw magic can destroy a pony.”

“So what can we actually do?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

“Well. I’ll give you a book of mental exercises to go through. Once per day if you can. They should help you strengthen your mind, which is the most important part of caring for your horn. Don’t try to use any magic yet, at least actively. As time wears on you will be able to feel it again. The damage to your horn was not so great, and I don’t believe you have lost your magical ability. You will use your magic once more, just be patient.”

Violet nodded, smiling softly. “Thank you. I actually feel a little better,” she said.

“Good. Now get some more rest. I believe we should have your discharge ready by this evening,” Redmane said. He picked up the clipboard in his magic and walked out.

I glanced over at Violet. “Well I mean… that’s good, right? Good news?”

Violet smiled and nodded. “Now tell me more about this whole weapon business? I want to hear everything you found.”

* * *

Darkness settled on Fort Knowledge as Violet and I walked out of the care center and into the town. As we walked, the hustle and bustle of Fort Knowledge made me feel a bit better now that I had Violet again and that she was going to be alright.

Still, everything wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Violet’s recovery was still a long way off, and to make matters even worse a runner had been sent to the care center to fetch me to speak to Sunshine and Velvet Remedy. Something had come up. It was urgent.

We moved through the crowd, accepting thanks and greetings from the ponies of Fort Knowledge that were simply happy enough to see Violet back on her hooves. The runner guided us over to Site A where the others were waiting. As we entered, I took stock of the room. Several guards stood around the room while a rust colored pegasus wearing a PipBuck adorned with the Element of Loyalty and metal on his wings. It was Velvet’s husband, the one and only Deadshot Calamity, Velvet Remedy, and Sunshine Sky sat at the table. Velvet looked up as we entered, and Calamity tipped his hat in greeting.

“Radiant Star, Violet Iris,” she said with a smile. “It’s good to see you back among the living, Violet.”

“Thank you, Velvet,” Violet said, nodding.

“You both know my husband, I assume?” Velvet said.

“We haven’t formally met, no. I know who you are, of course,” I said, lifting a hoof. “Radiant Star.”

Calamity grinned widely. “Howdy! Nice t’ meet you,” he said. “Velvet’s told me quite a bit about you.”

“Good things, I hope,” I said with a chuckle.

“Let’s get to business,” Velvet said. “Calamity arrived just an hour ago from the camp outside Hope Hollow with an NCR Recon Squad.”

My eyes narrowed as I sat. “What’s the situation out there?”

“Not good,” Calamity said. “Ah’ve seen some mighty big forces in my travels, but whatever this army is… it’s headed for th’ other settlements on th’ ground already.”

“The airship?” I asked.

“Still broke in’ta pieces. Don’t look like any Enclave tech ah know about,” Calamity continued. “The pegasi ya described certainly are ex-Enclave, though. Commander Gusty Breeze was in command of one of the Raptors that attacked during the Enclave’s incursion.”

“You knew him?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“By reputation only. He used t’ compete in the Best Young Sharpshooter’s competition before ah left,” Calamity explained. “He was an asshole then, prob’ly an asshole now, but at least he’s a shit shot. Never won a damn thing the entire time.”

“Based on the intel we’ve received from Calamity’s team and the information you discovered with Sunshine, we have a clear course of action,” Velvet Remedy interjected. “The NCR is prepared to deploy units to stall this army and deal with the remains of the airship.”

“What if they’re not good enough?” I asked, already fearing the answer to come.

“Then we’ll need something else. I believe this so-called weapon merits some looking into. As much as I abhor weaponry and prefer to help ponies, we must protect the settlements we are building out there,” Velvet said. “This so-called weapon may be the only way to do so.”

“So let me guess… you want us to go find this weapon and bring it back?” Violet said shrewdly.

“Correct. Except I would greatly prefer the team that goes to consist of Star and Sunshine Sky. Violet… with your recent injury, it would be preferable if you remained behind,” Velvet said.

“No dice,” I said immediately. “Violet comes with me.”

“Star. You have to understand. We have care physicians here who can continue to help Violet’s recovery. There could be dangers.”

“I can take care of her,” I said very firmly. “You have to trust me.”

Velvet scowled and looked down at her forehooves. “This is against my better judgment, you know that right? What sort of pony would I be if I just let you go?”

“Star’s right though. I want to go,” Violet said. “I have a measure of technical knowledge that Star and Sunshine might need, and I’m the only pony who knows both ponies well enough to understand their tactics in battle should the need arise.”

Velvet nodded silently before speaking. “I hate to agree with you on this, because you are still healing. Celestia, you both are nearly as stubborn as Littlepip,” she said with a loud sigh. “Fine. But only because if I remain firm on it you’ll just figure out a way to leave the camp with them anyways.”

Sunshine looked over at us. “This trip is going to take us out of Equestria and through the Badlands. We can get far enough via a train line that exits out of Ponyville towards where the map says Mount Aris is. Based on the records I’ve managed to locate, the train line was built there before the war.”

I grimaced. Leaving Equestria when it would need me the most was not something I wished to be doing, but it was something I needed to do. I just hoped when we got to Mount Aris, that this weapon… whatever it was… was still there.

* * *

I lay dreaming once more. A rare occasion as always, I found myself soaring among the stars of an endless plane of ocean. I flew silently over the still waters, not knowing what I was even looking for. There was nothing as far as the eye could see in any direction. I began to tire, my wings burning for rest, but I couldn’t set down upon the water.

The water below began to ripple and surge as two massively blue eyes appeared in the water. A laughter could be heard from below the waves as they roiled upwards, catching my wings. I began to fall towards the torrential waves as everything went black.

I awoke in a cold sweat, breathing hard as I looked over at Violet. She was still asleep, breathing soundly. I sat up, trying to process the dream. What was the thing behind the veil? It seemed like I was being told something in my dreams, but I couldn’t place what it was. Either that or I was really fucked up with all of the stress of caring for Violet and this mission. Probably the latter.

I groaned, pushing myself to my hooves as I walked over to look out the window of our boxcar. Building proper homes had not really been a thing for a while. Ponies had adapted to their surroundings like we always had, but there was hearsay about some of the production factories being able to make actual building material for the first time in forever. Until then, it was the boxcar life for the both of us.

Violet stirred, yawning loudly. “Star? You alright? What time is it?”

“Still pretty early,” I replied softly. “I couldn’t sleep. Bad dream.”

“That’s rare for you. Are you feeling okay?” Violet said, snapping to attention. She moved next to me, placing a hoof on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I feel fine,” I said. “I think it’s just stress. I’m a little frightened, Violet. I hate leaving this place when it could need us the most. I hate what happened to you. I just… I hate all of it.”

“Hey, it’s okay to be a little frightened. I’m absolutely fucking terrified of what comes next,” Violet said with a small smile. “I may never get my magic back. That scares me.”

I smiled back at her. If there was ever a time I needed Violet, it was at that moment. She continued to be my rock, and I would do whatever it took to see her restored to her full capability.

“We should probably get back to sleep,” I said softly. “We don’t meet up with Sunshine for another three hours.”

We both moved to our bed and I pulled Violet close to me, snuggling her as hard as I could without potentially injuring her, and fell back asleep. No more dreams plagued my thoughts, but in the back of my mind I couldn’t unsee those eyes.

* * *

We trotted to the edge of Fort Knowledge where we were met by both Velvet Remedy and Calamity. They both assured us that the NCR would manage to keep things well in hoof while we were gone, and Calamity even promised if he had the opportunity to shove as many bullets up Commander Breeze’s ass as he could.

I had to make do with that promise if I couldn’t deliver it on my own later. I owed that pegasus a world of hurt, but I had to do what I could to save others, and it was the stupidest idea in the world to try to go after him alone. As Violet would say, I was getting wiser. We had to go to Mount Aris to find this… this weapon, whatever it was.

Part of that bugged me as Sunshine, Violet, and I set out from Fort Knowledge. What was this weapon? What did it even do? The book detailing everything was riding in my saddlebags and I thought of the name on the cover. Tempest Shadow. Who were they? Were they a pony? So many questions swirled through my brain. So many things I needed to know.

Violet had been outfitted with a special battle saddle to assist with her weaponry, one that would hold her energy rifles and allow her to at least fire them. We still weren’t sure whether her magic would return in full, but at the very least she’d continued feeling the tingling sensation that Doctor Redmane claimed was good. The mental exercises given to her were tedious, but she had begun them in earnest. It was actually uplifting to see how positive she was being about the whole thing. Sunshine had been helping to pitch in to help her with it, being familiar with magical burnout herself and the knowledge of not pushing one’s self to recover from such a thing.

The day was bright and clear, so I took the opportunity to fly both Sunshine and Violet over the rolling hills of the new Equestrian Wasteland. We passed over several farms along the way, ponies just simply trying to get by in growing crops for food. Sunshine did not quite appreciate the gesture of flying, much to the point where I had to use my telekinesis to hold her in place as we moved. It was something that she had definitely never grown accustomed to in our time as friends.

We set down in the rolling hills just outside of Ponyville. Ponyville was once raider territory, but after the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, it had been taken over by a different breed of creature: hellhounds. Descended from their original species of creature known as Diamond Dogs, hellhounds were large predatory creatures that could tear a pony apart in mere seconds with their razor sharp claws. They were also incredibly intelligent and capable of using pony weapons with practiced ease.

In the aftermath of all that had happened however, the hellhounds, spurred on by the kindness shown to them by Velvet Remedy, had become peaceful and capable of trade. They regularly sent their kind out into the Wasteland beyond the Wasteland alongside ghouls, using their fierce presence and sharp senses to guard caravans.

It also helped that they knew who I was. Mainly because one of our friends from my adventure across Equestria was one of them. I was one of the few ponies outside of Velvet Remedy who were respected enough to set foot in Ponyville.

We crossed the bridge into Ponyville proper, still feeling the stare of the hellhound guards standing watch. I only had eyes for one of them though.

The hellhound standing at the end of the bridge grinned widely as we walked across. He stood tall, one of his arms made of prosthetic plastic and metal, a product of an attack by a gross taint monster. Despite his glowing yellow eyes and fearsome presence, Nixis was one of the best friends I had ever known and one of the most intelligent creatures I had ever met.

“Radiant Star,” he said softly. “The scouts spotted you a few miles out and informed me of your arrival. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Nixis. It’s good to see you. Unfortunately we can’t stay very long,” I said. “We are passing through to the rail line that leads south.”

“You’re going outside of Equestria?” Nixis said, his eyes narrowing. He glanced past me at Violet and Sunshine. “What happened to you, Miss Violet?”

Violet grimaced. “Long story,” she said. “I’ll be fine though.”

Nixis nodded and motioned for us to follow him. “The rail line is dangerous territory once you’re outside of Equestria proper. Many of our scouts go that way with the Ghoul caravans to seek out radiated water,” he said as we walked through the town. “If you’re going down that way, it would make sense to go with one of the caravans with some extra protection.”

“We plan to go a lot farther than the caravan can take us,” I said. “But if it’s as dangerous as you say it is, then you may be right.”

Our path wound through the town proper to the Ponyville Library. Once a haven for disgusting raiders, the place had been thoroughly cleaned and rebuilt and now served as both home and business for Nixis and his life mate, Avira. Nixis motioned for us to enter. As we did we were beset upon by three very exuberant young hellhounds. They jumped and barked and giggled loudly. One of them was a marble coloring, while the other two were black with white facial markings. It was very hard to tell the difference between those two.

“Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire! Down from our guests at once!” a female voice said from behind them. A beautiful white hellhound stood at the far end of the main library room. “Remember your manners, young ones!”

“Sorry, Mother,” all three hellhounds said in unison, sitting down in front of us. It was immensely cute as they all three wagged their tails.

“Hello there, Avira,” I said, bowing slightly to the hellhound. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Radiant Star,” Avira said. “You grace us with your presence here.”

“It’s really nothing,” I said. “We’re just passing through.”

Violet and Sunshine giggled as the three young hellhounds started playing with each other. They bounded out of the room, clearly bored of the new ponies in the room. Avira smiled softly.

“To be young and full of energy,” she said with a sigh.

Avira stepped forward, inspecting each of us in turn. She gave condolences to Violet over the loss of her horn before returning to her position. Violet blushed and nodded. Nixis stepped in, explaining our predicament. Avira smiled a toothy grin and motioned for us to come upstairs.

“Please. I insist that you spend the night and tell us of what has happened in the outside world since we last spoke. The next caravan doesn’t leave until the morning anyways,” she said. “It would make sense for you to have some rest before setting out.”

I looked over at Sunshine and Violet. They both nodded. “Okay. You’ve got it. We appreciate your hospitality.”

“Nixis, my love,” Avira said. “Please inform the caravan masters of their extra protection, would you please? And then come back and join us for dinner.”

Nixis nodded, exiting the library. We walked up the stairs to our rooms behind Avira and deposited our gear in the room she had set aside for us.

“The children all share a room, so we have one set aside that should fit all of you,” she said.

While the others got situated, Avira and I walked out onto the balcony, looking out at Ponyville below. Things were getting better all the time it seemed. Much of the filth that had existed pre-Gardens had been cleaned up by the spell and I could see patches of growing fields throughout the town. The hellhounds had even cleaned up the building that used to be Carousel Boutique and were using it as a center of trade. Young hellhounds ran through the streets and the sounds of laughter and playfulness filled the air.

“You’ve done well here, Avira,” I said.

“It was the kindness given to us that allowed us to grow and become better,” the hellhound replied softly. “I suppose you ponies would call it the magic of friendship.”

“You just needed a little space to call your own,” I said, grimacing. I only wished that Ponyville would survive what was coming. I expected they would. Nopony would be crazy enough to mess with an entire town of hellhounds.

“Something is wrong. I can feel it in the way you carry yourself,” Avira said. “Is it about what happened to Violet?”

“It’s… it’s complicated. Violet got injured trying to help save me from an attack,” I said wistfully. “But that’s not even the crux of it. There’s an army blazing a trail through the outer rim of Equestria, devouring settlements there.”

Avira scowled, her teeth clenched and gleaming. “Do you think this army may come here?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I should be out there, facing them, but we found this reference to some sort of weapon that could aid our battle, and now… now I’m here.”

“You worry about not being able to protect ponies,” Avira said with a nod. “I feel this every day with my children and the dogs who go to protect the caravans. We can only do what we can and we must trust in others to do their part.”

I sighed, but Avira was right. We all had to play our part. I would play mine and do whatever was necessary to help protect Equestria. Even if it meant giving up personal revenge.

* * *

After a lovely dinner with Nixis and his family, I stepped out onto the balcony once more while Violet performed her exercises with Sunshine, looking down at the town. In the distance I could see the ruins of Canterlot. Despite how good things had been as of late in Equestria, Canterlot was still in pretty bad shape. Much of the efforts to actually clean up the place had been slow. I think ponies still associated the place with a lot of pain and didn’t really want to address that. After all, it was where Princess Luna had perished.

I gazed back down upon the town. The hellhounds slowly had dissipated back in the darkness to their homes, built out of the existing structures of Ponyville. The town was quiet. Outside of the town proper was a caravan camp, their fires burning into the night.

I sighed loudly and walked back inside, settling into bed beside Violet and Sunshine. Before I realized it, sleep overtook me.

I dreamed once more. It was the same dream as before, but it somehow felt more real. The drenching water, the laughter, those eyes. All of it felt so incredibly real. I felt paralyzed with fear, tossing and turning until I simply gave up.

I awoke the next morning drenched in sweat and feeling like shit. I wished I could understand why these dreams were happening. The others were still asleep, so I stood and stepped outside to dry off. When I felt I was ready to go back in, I went in to get Violet and Sunshine up.

Nixis and Avira led us out of the town over to where the caravan camp was parked. The caravan was a flurry of activity as the ghouls running the camp started packing up and getting their brahmin ready for the journey ahead. At the head of the operation was a unicorn ghoul that Nixis had said was named Trick Shot. He noticed our arrival immediately and came to meet us.

“You’re the three that are joining us?” he said, his gravelly voice gruff and tired sounding.

“Radiant Star,” I said, lifting a hoof in greeting. “These are my friends, Violet Iris and Sunshine Sky. We’re with the Followers of the Apocalypse.”

“Trick Shot,” the unicorn replied. “I handle the Ponyville to the Badlands run of Absolutely Everything’s operations down here. We make the run and acquire irradiated water to use for Aqua Cura.”

I nodded. I was fairly familiar with Ditzy’s business operations. After the casting of Gardens, the ghouls of Equestria needed a source of radiation to sustain their bodies. Aqua Cura was a repackaged product that Ditzy came up with to provide that. It required a lot of dangerous work into places beyond Equestria, however.

“We’re headed down the same railway,” I said. “But we’re not coming back to Equestria with you. We have a destination further south.”

“Further south? You’re fucking insane,” Trick Shot replied. “Do you know how dangerous it is down there? If the irradiated creatures don’t get you, those fucking Nirik will.”

“Nirik?” Sunshine interjected. “What’s a Nirik?”

“The reason we only go down as far as the edge of the Peaks of Peril,” Trick Shot said. “That mountain range is full of those things. They look like flaming ponies but they’re wicked and they spit fire from their mouths.”

Flaming ponies, I thought to myself. What the fuck.

“Don’t worry, Trick. I think Star and her friends are more than capable of taking care of themselves. I know from experience,” Nixis said. “Besides, you’ll still have a complement of dogs to watch over the caravan while you work.”

Trick grimaced. “Okay. I don’t feel right about letting some fillies run off to their deaths, but if you say you can handle it, then I’ll believe you. We leave within the hour. Be ready,” he said before running off to help get the camp packed up. Sunshine followed behind to see if she could help.

“Trick is a good pony. He’s got a lot on his plate, but he’ll see you to where you need to be,” Nixis said. “Go with blessings, Star. It was very good to see you. Hopefully you can visit with us when the fate of Equestria doesn’t hang in the balance.”

I chuckled softly. “It was good to see both of you,” I said.

“Yes, thank you for taking us in for the night,” Violet said. “We really appreciated it. Your children are absolutely adorable.”

“It was no problem,” Avira said with a smile. “I am sorry for what has happened to you, but I can see you are surrounded by much love and support, Violet. Go with blessings.”

Violet nodded, blushing. “I know.”

“You two had best catch up with Sunshine. The caravan is gearing up to go. Should you need assistance during your journey, talk to the dogs guarding. They are smart and experienced with these runs,” Nixis said. “Their leader is a fierce warrior named Rover.”

“Bit of a cliche name don’t you think?” I said with a snort. “A dog named Rover.”

“Oh he changed his name to that. It was a bit… friendlier than his birth name,” Nixis said. “Trust me… you don’t want to know what it was.”

“Before we go… Nixis. Do you think you could send a contingent of dogs to Fort Knowledge? The NCR there may need all the help they can get if this army gains traction again.” I asked.

Nixis nodded. “I’ll take them myself,” he said, glancing over at Avira. She nodded in affirmation.

“If this is as dangerous as you say it is, we must play our parts as well in protecting our home,” Avira said. “I agree with your assertion. Nixis will lead the finest contingent of dogs we have.”

“I’ll make it up to you both,” I said, reaching out and pulling both of the hulking hellhounds into a hug.

We left Nixis and Avira and headed to join Sunshine at the head of the caravan. The contingent of hellhounds guarding the caravan walked alongside the brahmin carts, spread out tactically to cover as much ground as possible. We soon found ourselves walking next to an old rail station and line.

The rail line was an old line it seemed. It didn’t have quite the technology invested into it that some of the stations we had seen in cities like Manehattan. It seemed positively ancient by comparable standards.

I found myself walking alongside where Trick Shot was commanding the caravan while Violet and Sunshine took up residence in the passenger wagons. The ghouls running the operation still needed to rest, so they had a specific set of wagons for this purpose.

“Trick,” I said from my position next to the wagon. “You mentioned before that you don’t go past the Peaks of Peril. Have you ever heard of a place called Mount Aris?”

Trick scowled, his glowing eyes narrowing at me. “That’s where this rail line goes,” he said. “But that was a long time ago.”

“Really? Do you remember anything about it?” I asked.

“Not a whole lot, unfortunately,” Trick said. “I lived in Fillydelphia, so it was quite a ways away from Ponyville. I remember reading in one of the papers about this rail line being opened up to provide service to Mount Aris.”

“Do you know why?”

“The citizens of Mount Aris were allies to Equestria. Not every race was against us. They helped us during the War,” Trick said with a sigh.

“What do you mean?”

“They were hippogriffs,” Trick said. “Powerful creatures. Part pony, part eagle. Intelligent too. Very scientific.”

“What happened to them? What happened to Mount Aris?” I asked, needing to know more and more about what we were running into.

“Don’t rightly know actually. Like I said, I lived in Fillydelphia. I was there when the megaspells came down,” the unicorn replied. “Is that where you’re going? Mount Aris?”

I nodded, floating out the journal from my saddlebags. “There’s something there that I have been tasked to acquire. At least, I hope there is something there,” I said.

Trick took the journal out of the air with his own magic and looked it over. “Huh. I’ll be damned,” he said.

“What is it?” I said.

“Tempest Shadow,” Trick replied with a surprised tone.

“You know who that is?” I said, my heart pounding in my chest. Somepony who actually knew who this pony or whatever was?

“She was a unicorn. One of the Equestrian Generals. Trusted by the Ministries and even Luna herself. I honestly don’t know where she came from,” Trick said. “Again, fuzzy memory and all. But I do know that partway through the war she left the Equestrian Army and became a freelance mercenary.”

Trick flipped through the book quickly and grimaced before speaking again. “I remember something about what this book is talking about. Some years before the War there was an attack on Canterlot, but I was too young to know anything about it at the time. I know it had to do with Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight. Of course she would be involved in something like this. The former Ministry Mare of Magic had her hooves in a lot of things during the War, so I wasn’t actually all that surprised. I took the journal back from Trick Shot and thanked him again for his assistance before dropping back to see Violet and Sunshine. I quietly relayed the same information back to them.

“If this Tempest Shadow was a unicorn, and this book was in Twilight’s libraries, does it stand to reason they knew each other?” Sunshine said, looking back over the journal. “I’ve never heard this name in any of my research into Equestrian military history.”

“I’d say that’s pretty reasonable,” Violet said. “I’ve never seen any reference to her either. Trick said she was a mercenary?”

“Before that she was an Equestrian General,” I said. “She knew all of the Ministry Mares, it seemed. But how is it that we have never heard of her before?”

“Maybe she went under an assumed name,” Sunshine muttered, catching our attention. “I mean, what if Tempest Shadow was just a made up name she used in private communication?”

“Why use it in this book then?” I asked.

“She probably had her reasons,” Sunshine said. “Maybe she didn’t want to be tied back to something about this situation, I don’t know.”

“But then, how does Trick know that she was a unicorn?” I asked.

We had no answers for that… yet.

* * *

Night fell as we made our first stop just outside the border of Equestria. Trick explained that after we crossed the border the chances to actually rest were slimmer than normal, so we would need as much rest as possible.

I wasn’t really planning on resting. I needed to talk to Trick again about Tempest Shadow. While Violet and Sunshine were getting ready for bed, I moved up towards the head of the caravan to locate Trick. The unicorn was busy fixing one of the wheels on the front wagon.

“We need to talk,” I said, stepping out of the shadows.

“And what exactly do we need to talk about?” Trick said, floating a spanner into the air.

“Tempest Shadow,” I said. “You said she was a unicorn general. There’s no record of that in any of the books on the Equestrian military forces. Believe me. Sunshine’s read all the books.”

Trick froze, putting the spanner back into his bag. “There wouldn’t be,” he said. “That wasn’t her real name.”

“You knew her,” I stated.

“I did. She was a friend,” Trick said softly. “I used to serve in the military. She was my commanding officer until she defected. First class marksman Trick Shot.”

My eyes widened at this revelation. “Who was she then? Why would she write this book?”

“That… I don’t actually know. Tempest was a code name she used. She never used it anywhere else,” Trick said with a grimace. “And only privately with us in the squad. It was sort of a nickname. Her real name was Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”

I blinked. “That’s a bit of a mouthful. I can see why she preferred Tempest.”

Trick chuckled. “Yes well, she was always pretty stern about anypony that made fun of her name,” he said with a sigh. “After she left the military, we lost touch. I don’t know what happened to her after that.”

I looked down at my hooves and sighed. Despite this new information it didn’t really tell us anymore than we already knew. We didn’t know why Tempest had written this book or what her connection to the symbol the army bore as its standard was. It was like we were back to square one in looking to find Mount Aris and this weapon, whatever it was.

“I know this probably doesn’t help you too much,” Trick Shot said, floating an object out of his saddlebag. “But I keep plenty of reminders of the old days and my squad. We were… close. This particular one, well it was of her.”

It was a memory orb. I looked quizzically at Trick.

“I want it back, obviously, but you’re more than welcome to view it,” he said with a grin. “Of course, I would prefer you do it on the wagon in case we need to move. I do not want to have to lift you with my magic.”

“Are you saying I’m fat?” I asked off-beat, taking the memory orb carefully and placing it into my own bag.

Trick chuckled softly. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work. Keeping these caravans going like a well oiled machine is a full time job, and ghouls in Equestria are counting on our deliveries.”

“Of course. Thank you,” I said, walking back along the caravan to the wagon where Violet and Sunshine were waiting. They perked up as soon as I entered.

“Did you find anything out?” Sunshine asked.

“It turns out… Tempest Shadow was indeed a code name for a mare named Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” I said, floating out the memory orb. “Trick Shot… served under her in the Equestrian military. Until she defected at least.”

“But he doesn’t know anything about the journal?” Violet said.

I shook my head. “He was young when this situation occurred. This Tempest was apparently a very private pony.”

“Interesting,” Sunshine said. “I’ll have to dig back into the saved records on my PipBuck and figure out if I can locate this Fizzlepop. Maybe it's worth looking into.”

“In the meantime, I’m going to watch this memory orb,” I said. “Trick gave it to me to watch, so I have to give it back when I’m done with it.”

Violet nodded. “We’ve got your back in case anything happens,” she said.

I reached in and nuzzled her cheek and smiled. “I know you do, my love. Just be careful if something does happen,” I replied. I turned and laid down at the far end of the passenger wagon. With a swish of magic I lifted the orb and focused upon it, feeling my world spin away into the darkness.

oooOOOooo

The familiar feeling of riding inside a pony’s body came to me quickly. It was something I knew pretty intimately. Memory orbs and memories in general were a thing I knew quite well. I took stock of my immediate surroundings as the memory began to play out. I was sitting in what appeared to be an armored skywagon. Several other unicorns also sat along the one side of the wagon, dressed in a ragtag assortment of Equestrian military gear. Something felt off with this group. They felt rough around the edges, not quite like a fine tuned machine the Equestrian military supposedly had been. The skywagon itself was in motion, but I couldn’t easily see where we were.

Light conversation could be heard amongst the soldiers as we flew. Talks about who was waiting back home for them. Of when we may be going home if at all. There was a palpable sense of anger and fear. Everypony felt it. Even I felt it through Trick Shot’s body. Whatever this mission was… there was a chance of nopony making it out alive.

And then she stepped up in front of everypony. I knew immediately it was her. Tempest Shadow. Her coat was a deep purple with a brilliant mane of magenta hues. Her blue eyes pierced the room with their intensity, a thin scar set over her right eye. She wore body armor that concealed much of her body, including her cutie mark. What amazed me the most was her horn. Her horn… was broken. Much like how Violet’s horn had been cut off, Tempest’s horn was craggly and gnarled but clearly broken.

Then it lit up with the intensity of a thousand moons, creating a flash of light that got everypony’s immediate attention. My host’s eyes cut through the flash of light, only focused on the mare beneath it. I had the distinct impression that he was staring at her, not at his commanding officer.

“Alright then,” Tempest said, narrowing her eyes. “Now that I have your attention. Let’s begin the briefing.”

Her broken horn glowed again, a map appearing in midair.

“This is a Special OPs mission. You know the drill. You do the work, you get ten years off your sentence,” Tempest began, drawing several lines on the map. “Our objective is to infiltrate and extract the prisoners. Nothing else. Do not engage the enemy unless they engage you.”

“Whatever happened to having a little fun, Commander Berrytwist?” one of the unicorns, a large round stallion said with a chuckle.

“Anypony, and I mean anypony, who steps out of line and does not follow orders under my command will face my judgment,” Tempest said, anger clear in her voice as she stepped up to the unicorn’s position in line. “Furthermore, while we are on the ground you are to use the codenames provided to you in your briefing instructions on your PipBuck, is that perfectly clear to you?”

The unicorn stallion straightened up immediately and saluted. “Yes, ma’am. I mean, Commander Shadow, ma’am,” he said, a twinge of fear in his voice.

“Good. Keep it that way. Now the rest of you, we’re splitting up into two teams. One team will be under my command. The other team will answer to Captain Trick Shot. You are to treat him as your commanding officer, is that clear?”

The crowd of unicorns shouted in unison. “Yes, ma'am!”

“Excellent. Remember we are behind enemy lines, and if we get caught your existence will be completely disavowed. We operate outside of the Equestrian military’s normal protocols,” Tempest said. She turned and walked over to where my host waited. My host followed her every move. Wait, is he checking her out? I thought as my host’s gaze drifted down the flanks of Tempest’s body armor. He is!

“I don’t like our odds,” my host said softly. “This mission is insane, Commander.”

“They’re not the best soldiers,” Tempest replied. “But they’ll have to do. Just keep an eye on them. Our true objective is still in place.”

My host nodded. “Understood, Commander.”

The memory began to fade to white signifying that I was coming out of it.

ooooOOOOoooo

I came out of the memory feeling amazed at how in control Tempest Shadow had seemed. Despite her injury she seemed confident and powerful. The memory still didn’t answer many of the questions I still had about the mare. How had she come to write this journal? What did she know about Mount Aris?

I thought about the hippogriffs, a race of creatures that hadn’t been seen in modern Equestria in quite some time. I wondered. Did they all perish at Mount Aris?

Violet nudged me, and I smiled at her as I pushed myself up. Sunshine lay snoozing a few feet away in the wagon. It was still dark out and the caravan was not moving.

“Well? See anything interesting inside the memory?” Violet asked.

“Nothing that answers any of our pressing questions,” I said. “You, however, would be interested to know that Tempest Shadow… her horn was broken. She could still use her magic, and she was brilliant.”

Violet’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really,” I said, nuzzling her. “Keep at your exercises. You’ll get there. Trust me.”

Violet nodded and smiled again. I picked up the memory orb and placed it into my bag.

“Get some sleep. I’m going to return this to Trick Shot,” I said, turning to exit the wagon.

“Star?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks,” Violet said. “I… I needed that.”

I nodded and winked at her, stepping out onto the ground. As I made my way towards the front of the caravan, I felt something incredibly wrong in the air. I wasn’t the only one either. The dogs were up and about too, sniffing at the air. I stopped and headed back to the lead dog, Rover.

“You can sense it too, can’t you?” I said urgently.

“Ministry Mare,” Rover said, his voice sounding like a cheese grater being run across two rocks. “Yes… Something doesn’t smell right.”

One of the other dogs lifted their magical energy rifle. It growled under its breath. Out of the darkness something appeared several feet away from the caravan. It’s body was pony-like, but it’s head and hooves were wreathed in green flames and its skin was leathery, cracked. Instead of a regular pony’s tail, it had a long skeletal tail that ended in a ball of green fire. It roared a raspy throaty roar before charging at the dog with the rifle.

The hellhound didn’t have a chance to even fire before the creature was upon it. The thing dipped into its space and breathed on it, setting the dog on fire in a blaze of green flame. My PipBuck began to click wildly at the amount of radiation the thing was putting off.

As an alicorn, radiation didn’t really bother me that much. In fact, it empowered my body, and strengthened me, but it wasn’t so hot for my friends. By the time I managed to pull another dog out of the way of the thing with my telekinesis, the thing had killed one more dog the same way it brought down the first one.

“Light it up!” Rover shouted, lifting his own rifle and firing at the thing.

The shots seemed to do nothing to the creature. It actually seemed to relish and absorb them. And since all of the dogs on duty had magical energy weapons at the ready, it seemed like they were all doomed before they could switch to something more traditional. I didn’t even think a hellhound’s claws could get close enough to the thing to do any damage before the radiation did the rest.

From behind us, a shot rang out, taking the creature’s brains out of its head with a single shot. It slumped to the ground and burned out right there as the hellhounds closest to it backed off from the increasing radiation.

“Move!” Trick Shot’s voice rang out. “It’s going to blow!”

I scowled, using my magic to pull back as many dogs and ghouls nearby as I possibly could. The radiation was empowering my magic too, so I could manage multiple targets at one time very easily. I threw myself over the dead thing as it glowed even brighter. My PipBuck was clicking so fast it couldn’t keep up with itself.

Then the thing blew, spewing radioactive sludge all over me in a shower of gore. I nearly lost my lunch as I groaned and slumped onto the ground next to it.

“Fuck,” Trick Shot said, climbing down from his vantage point. The others had exited their wagons, roused by the shooting. “Radiant Star! Are you alright!”

I nodded woozily as the radiation continued to do its work throughout my system. Any damage done by the physical act of the blast had begun to subside thanks to the radiation. “I’m okay,” I said, lifting a hoof. “Just a little lit up.”

“Star!” Violet shouted, held back by one of the caravan ghouls.

“Vi, don’t come close. You know what I’m like when there’s radiation in me,” I said, pushing myself to my hooves. “Going to have to bleed it off.”

“You’re lucky you’re an alicorn,” Trick Shot said, stepping up next to me. “And you’re lucky you’re surrounded by ghouls.”

I chuckled. “What the fuck was that thing?”

“That… that was a Nirik. I’ve never seen one this close to Equestria’s borders,” Trick said. “That doesn’t bode well at all.”

My eyes widened. That thing was a Nirik?! It was like a ghoul had set itself on fire and was able to set other shit on fire just by breathing on them.

“Are the… the dogs okay?” I asked.

Trick nodded. “We lost two of them, but Rover said the other ones will recover just fine with a nice amount of Rad-Away and Rad-X,” he said. “You did good.”

I looked down at my saddlebag. It was ripped to shreds, but thankfully the only thing inside of it had been the memory orb. The downside of this was that it was turned to slag.

“Fuck… I was coming to bring this back to you,” I said, lifting the molten orb out of the bag with my magic. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Trick said, taking it in his magic and chucking it into the bushes nearby. “I just appreciate you stopping that thing from blowing up onto the caravan. Could have cost us days in travel time to get the wagons back together from that kind of attack.”

“Are you sure? I… I saw in that memory how you looked at her,” I said softly. “You loved her didn’t you?”

Trick grimaced. “It was… complicated. I’ll tell you later. For now get some rest and try to bleed off some of that radiation. Tomorrow, we leave Equestria proper.”

Author's Note

A wild Nirik appears! Let's get into the Badlands and get on the way to Mount Aris!

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