• Published 27th May 2012
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Fallout Equestria : New Roam - Delvius



The city of Roam is tortured by ambient and open hostility. Finally, a Praetorian arises to protect the city like the Legionnaires of old, and nothing will stop him. Nothing but himself, that is.

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Chapter 16 - Idealism

Chapter 16
Idealism
"This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object."





The streets of Roam were layered with so much dust and rubble and blood and skeletons from past battles that they looked like a magnificent graveyard that had lost it's opulence long ago. Ruined and crumbling structures from the ancient empire and more recent structures alike groaned under the stress of war -- of constant shelling and fighting and explosions. More than once did we find ourselves needing to jump over a huge split or chasm in the roads, and in the latter there were many carcasses of military and civilian vehicles and skeletons. All of them seemed like they were heading east, just like the trains in the underground.

And then there was the fighting. Every single second there was at least one gunshot, explosion, fwoosh of a rocket, or the rumble of distant vehicles. We ourselves had yet to encounter anything along that road that had intent to attack us, and for that I was grateful. Still, I kept my guard up in case we did come across anything. The only thing I saw for a duration of time was the distant form of a zebra wearing cobbled together leather armor run hastily into one of the buildings. Predator paid him no attention; probably just a scavenger. Despite our relative safety, we all still kept our weapons out; even Myst, who looked around at the surrounding buildings with a look very much disturbed and tense on her face.

Predator hadn't said a single word ever since we finally left the underground ten minutes ago, and really I don't think any of us were in the mood for conversation. Skyfire hung back with Myst, but she gave her a wide berth and didn't try to make any physical contact; she just looked on with a look of concern, only occasionally doing anything else. Doodle trotted along, a slightly sad expression on her usually cheery face.

My mind, now no longer being flooded with worry of the potential death of my friends at the claws of telepathic chimeras controlled by Tod, finally allowed all of the questions festering within it to flow forth freely. What EXACTLY were those things, beyond being chimeras of some sort? What was Predator's involvement with them? Was he actually one of them, or something similar but different? And what exactly were Tom and Tod, besides what I already speculated of them? What exactly were they, and what did they want?

And most of all, what were they doing to me and my friends?

I shivered at that, despite the noon sun's heat. That was a question I had been pondering ever since the ZSI HQ, and I had yet to come across a definite answer. Were they trying to... to mutate us? Oh, that thought churned my stomach. Or were they trying to get a message to us through all my contact with them? If so, what and why? And what was so important about me that I was in the middle of their conflict?

I groaned softly and shook my head. "Too many questions."

I decided to stop thinking for a bit and let my subconscious -- if that was still intact, amidst all the mind-fucking I had gotten -- automatically think on my problems. I had read a year or so back that sometimes our subconsciousness can decipher problems when we couldn't, and I was seriously hoping that that was true, because I really didn't want to think at the moment.

I glanced back at the three mares trotting along in the dust behind me. Myst still couldn't meet my gaze, nor the gazes of Skyfire or Doodle. She just trotted along like dead weight, unspeaking. I sighed and took a few steps back to them.

"Myst, you're really going to have to let us help, you know," I said simply, to which she immediately raised her head and cringed. I saw the look of guilt and fear in her eyes. "Look... what you did back there... that wasn't you. All of us are under a lot of stress, and I honestly don't blame you." Her eyes looked down to the ground, a little bit angrily.

"Neither do I," Skyfire finally said, getting up next to me. Myst clenched her eyes shut and grit her teeth at that. "You know I really don't have anything against you." She let out in a little chuckle, "Hell, if it were me, I think I would actually have shot first! So, as you can see, none of that was your faul-..."

"No!" Myst yelled, getting up off the ground and fixing both of us with a pained glare. "Why do you both say it wasn't my fault?" She gestured her hoof at us in an arc before her, saying, "I hit both of you! You're my friends and you were just trying to help me, and I hit you! What kind of friend am I for doing that?"

"The kind that is obviously under a lot of stress," Predator said at last, appearing out of nowhere behind Myst (Wasn't he in front of us?). She jumped up and turned around in surprise, as did Doodle, who had been watching our little argument without a word. "I'm quite sure that under normal circumstances you wouldn't have done that. What you did was obviously triggered by stress."

"And how would you know that?" Myst asked softly yet threateningly. "Do you know what I saw in there? Were you beaten and thrown into a dank room, only to see what the four of us saw?" She asked shakily, taking a step forward.

"Yes, yes, I know what you saw. You saw some stallion get abused, and you're afraid that it might happen to you," Predator pointed out without a hint of hesitation. "Since it was a mare who was the rapist, you reacted to Skyfire's contact more violently. Simple, and it really wasn't that hard to discern."

'Damn it!' I thought, berating myself. That was right, my friends had in fact seen that as well. I couldn't believe that I forgot they had. To think, I was trying to comfort Myst on the thought that she was under simply under a lot of stress, yet I completely forgot to take the fact that she saw that into account. I wonder how it would have gone if I talked to her without remembering she had witnessed it...

Myst stared at him with a wide-eyed, shocked, and somewhat angry look. Then she hung her head and sighed, looking behind her at us with a look of resignation. Then she turned away and closed her eyes. "I just... I just don't want to think that it might happen to me. I don't want to believe the truth that it can happen almost any time, and to anyone," She said quietly.

Doodle nodded once, then said in agreement, "Why would anypony do that?" Her tone was that of such genuine sorrow and innocence the likes of which I only heard from her now.

"You saw that?" Predator asked in a rush.

Doodle looked up at him. "I... I heard what they were doing. I heard screaming and... other noises." She took in a shallow, shaky breath. "I can't believe they were beating him up like that."

He murmured softly, "Beating him up..."

"Yeah," She replied softly. "Miss Myst and miss Skyfire told me how they were beating that stallion up, but they didn't let me see."

He looked at the bowed filly's head, a soft growl rumbling from his helmet. Just as soon as it came up, there was a catch in his breath and he looked away, shaking his head. When he turned it back to face us, he saw my gaze. Without words, I understood; a part of him was aching to kill her.

I felt a little pang of terror at that. If some part of him wanted to kill her, then that meant -- and I was using what I knew of his predicament come to this conclusion -- that the evil Doodle had witnessed was something Predator knew would most likely be permanent. I remembered his words days back: 'I won't hurt her as long as she doesn't suffer permanent emotional and psychological damage.'

He kept his gaze on me, and once again I understood; I should be more careful with what I let happen to Doodle, or else. I gulped and nodded in understanding, and he returned the nod.

"So... you won't talk to us, then?" Skyfire asked disappointedly, ears drooping.

"I... I can, and I will," Myst replied in a stutter. "Just... please, no touching. Okay? I don't really trust... myself right now."

"You sure you'll be okay?" I asked out of concern.

She took in a shaky little breath, then replied with an uneasy smile, "Don't worry, I'll handle this. I can deal with just one problem." Then her ears drooped and she looked to the ground. "Somehow..." She said forlornly.

Skyfire and I looked to one another, then nodded tentatively; except for Doodle, I think that Myst was okay with her. Predator looked at her, but didn't nod. After that, he turned around and began trotting again. We followed suit, Myst now looking just a little more comfortable. Doodle likewise cheered up; I suppose that at least part of Doodle's sadness was due to Myst's distress.

We moved on, turning a corner of what must have been an office building of some sort. The glass windows were all cracked, revealing all the disorderly and ruined contents in the form of office chairs and desks, with quite a lot of papers and wrappers either flying around in the soft wind or piled up on the ground, rotting. Skyfire told me what she was going to do and flew up into the building, checking out one of the floors. A little later, when we turned the building's other corner and were on a road that looked like a highway, if all the cars and military vehicles, all heading east, were any indication, she glided down from the broken side and landed next to me. Myst gave her a quizzical look, but she just shrugged in response.

'Eh,' I thought, 'Not all exploration yields good results, I guess.'

I turned my attention to Predator trotting wordlessly a little in front of me, the clanking of his equipment the only noise coming from him aside from his breathing. "Well?" I asked, "What about you telling me what the fuck happened down there? I'm not going to endanger my friends by traveling with you to this dam unless I get at least a little context here."

He took in a deep breath and exhaled, but didn't say a word for a moment. Then, slowly, he said, "I hope you'll excuse me, but I am trying to find out some answers as well." He glanced behind his shoulder at me. "You can tell Skyfire that she'll have to wait for her answers, because I don't have them. Or at least, not all of them."

"Then tell me the ones you do have," I replied. "In the past three weeks, I've experienced things that will forever change my life. I don't know how I am able to... to continue living without thinking about them all the time, but really I think that's good; I can only imagine what it would be like if I spent all my time regretting and in sadness. But that doesn't change the fact that Tom and Tod are the most puzzling and fucking annoying phenomena I've encountered." I trotted a little faster, getting right up next to him. "And YOU'VE known them longer than I have, so YOU'LL tell me all you know about them."

"And I will," He replied, a slight edge to his voice. "I will. But not now. If I tell you now, you might get involved in all this mess even more. That wouldn't be good. In fact, it's better that you do your best to stay away from them; the more you contact them, the more hopelessly you're getting yourself intertwined in this. As it is, you can still not get involved."

I groaned, "How long do you intend to keep putting this off? Predator, my friends and I have nearly died following you! I do not want another incident, and so I demand that you tell me. And as for my involvement, I am this city's Praetorian, and as such all matters regarding Roam's citizens' safety concerns me."

He kept quiet for a moment, then lowered his head a little and looked at me. "I will put this off as for as long as I can, because you do not NEED to be involved. And if you really MUST know, then you will be wise to wait until I am willing to tell you, understand?" He said sharply. Then he turned around and murmured, shaking his head slightly, "Roam's citizens..."

I glared at him for a moment, my mind disapproving of the thought of conceding. My friends safety depended on this. Hell, I needed to know. Too many questions and too many dangers were coming up, and a great many of them were about Tom and Tod.

But he had the answers, and pissing him off was not going to help me get them. "Just hurry up then," I said, practicing great restraint on my part; oh, how I SO much wanted to demand further.

"Good," He replied with a tired sigh, lifting his head up. I was astonished at how exhausted he sounded, and being one that nearly gave up because of being tired (an action which I still loathe myself for), I could find a little room in my head for giving him some slack.

Giving up. Yeah, that's how I felt back down there -- tired of everything and just wanting my life back. I remembered how ready I was to let it all go. And to think, all I was doing to account for my friends was hope that they would be let go. Yeah, like that was going to happen; but I was actually going to leave them to chance. Damn, was I really that selfish?

But when I thought about my stable... about killing the piece of shit that murdered my close friend... I snapped out of it. A fire within me that I had not felt burning reignited, and I knew I couldn't let go yet. I still had someone to avenge, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let that go because of some sadistic asshole named Tod.

After all, whoever impersonated me was the person responsible for thrusting me out into the wasteland.

*** Magnus et Potens Roamanus ***

After a few minutes, we passed underneath a large concrete arc that upheld a narrow bridge which came out from the alleys of two ruined buildings on each side of the street. I looked up at it and examined it; it was far too thin to be a bridge, unless it was a bridge that just one pony or zebra to use at a time. Filthy water dripped off it's broken sides, piling up in pools on the broken road in front of us. Some pools had gone stagnant, and within them I saw very large tadpoles swimming about.

"Wow, what is that?" Doodle asked in a voice a little too loud for my liking; not that we were exactly sneaking to the dam at this point, because if we were then I suppose Predator would have made us pass into the buildings. Still, I didn't want to draw any attention to us.

"That is an aqueduct, Doodle. They were an ancient Roaman invention used to bring water across great distances from mountains and valleys to their cities," Predator responded in a tone filled with a surprising amount of vigor; I suppose he loved talking about Roam. Doodle's eyes widened in awe as she stared at the aqueduct, then cantered to Predator with a look as if asking for more information.

"What?" Predator asked.

"Tell. Me. More!" Doodle said gleefully, eyes widening and taking a step forward with each word.

Predator looked at her for a moment, then chuckled, "You remind me of someone I knew. Not that that matters, so..." He reached behind him and put a hoof into his backpack. He pulled out one of the strange silver boxes and laid it down, before turning it over. At once, dozens of books of all shapes and sizes fell out and onto the dusty streets. Predator picked one up and handed it to Doodle. "Read that. It's a foal' book about the ancient Roaman civilization, I think you'll like it." After that, he went to pushing the remaining books into the box, and as they entered it they shrank and became small as mini figures.

Doodle looked at the book in her hooves with curiosity only a foal could have. Her eyes widened so much as she looked at the colorful cover of 'The Ancient Roamans' children's book (which showed a great many legionnaires marching underneath an aqueduct) that they seemed like gleaming glass orbs.

Then, with a squeal of delight, she rushed Predator and jumped at one of his forelegs, taking it in an embrace. "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU mister Predator!" She said over and over again as she clung on, despite the very shocked and frozen posture he had.

"Uh... I... well... gah..." He stuttered uncharacteristically, much to the surprise and amusement of the filly, who giggled playfully as he tried gently shaking her off. Finally, he managed to retrieve his composure (or, you know, whatever 'composure' he had). "You're welcome," He said, still a little disturbed.

She squeaked and got off, trotting away and looking at the book in her hooves happily. She did that until she reached Myst, and when she did she simply got onto Myst's back, placed the book on the mare's head, and flipped the book open. Myst seemed only a little bit uncomfortable with Doodle on her back and the book on her head, but the look of quiet hatred she gave Predator seemed to tell me she didn't think Predator had any right to interact with the filly. He returned that look with a blank stare for a moment, before turning around and trotting again. Skyfire and I looked to each other, as if wondering if we both saw that.

After a little while, I trotted ahead of the others and got up next to Predator. "What was that about?" I asked quietly.

"You're going to have to be more specific," He deadpanned.

I suppressed a groan and elaborated, "You know, why'd you give her that book? And why'd you even entertain her question with vigor, when you seem content to answer us with only the most necessary details?" It was true; Predator had quite thoroughly entertained Doodle's questions while we were underground, but only answered us with laconic sentences.

He took in a breath. "I see you've picked up on the fact that I enjoy her presence," He said simply. "Well, I'm not one to lie -- except for the exception you know of -- so I'll just say it. I happen to like Doodle. She... she gives me a little bit to look forward to in the darkness of my existence. And she seems to like me back, despite the fact that I nearly killed her before." He hung his head a little. "I know I don't quite deserve her forgiveness or her presence... but I can make exceptions to my own rules, including my rule to not let myself indulge in joys I don't deserve."

Wow. Well... that was... more than I wanted to know. That tended to happen a lot when I talked to people, as I said before.

I took that in, glancing behind me at Doodle still happily reading the book. Skyfire seemed curious about Roam as well, as she was trotting along right beside Myst with her eyes glued to the book's pages. She made sure not to make any actual physical contact, though. "Who does she remind you of?" I asked plaintively; not that I was sad or anything, but thing is, whenever I talked to Predator there just seemed to be this aura of general sadness around him.

"You don't need to know," He replied sharply, and I was shocked at his tone. He didn't relent, saying in as sharp a tone, "That topic will bring me many good memories which I do not deserve to remember. It would be an injustice I myself would permit if I remembered them. That, and I simply don't want to tell you."

"Why do you say you don't deserve anything good?" I asked, interrupting him before he could say anything else. "If it's because you killed all those people, then again I should say it wasn't entirely your fault. Weakness or not, I don't think I'd be able to resist Tod if he exerted as much effort on me as he did on you." I sighed, shaking my head, "You don't have to take the blame for everything. Not everything that happens is your responsibility."

"Haha," He chuckled darkly in response. "You know, those are exactly the same words that your friends over there told you. But there's a difference that separates you and me," He said, then stopped trotting and whirled on me. "For you, it is true that not everything that happens is your responsibility. I don't fully know from what part of your psychology that aspect of your character comes from -- whether it's from your desire to live up to your Praetorian title, that other mentality of yours that says that for your flaws must be punished, or something else -- but that is the truth, and do not think otherwise."

He trotted forward slowly, proclaiming as he gestured at the city around him with one of his hooves, "But for me it truly is my responsibility, my fault. What I've done has caused immeasurable suffering, and nothing can change that. I have taken up an oath to protect this nation; you haven't." He lowered his hoof, and glanced behind his shoulder at me.

"You are simply one of the many individuals that do not deserve the life you are suffering. Had I not done what I did... everyone's life could have been different. You could have had a family; maybe Doodle would be in school, or Myst having a job, or Skyfire in the true Equestrian military. Because all this?" He waved his hoof once more at the city about us. "All this is my fault. All this was my responsibility. And because of what I did... I don't deserve the simple joys that people like you partake in. My punishment must be more severe; my only penance my unending struggle to undo what I've done. Nothing else will suffice. If I could, I'd give up my soul to atone for it all."

I stared at him for a moment, disturbed at the conviction of his tone. The others were right behind us, looking on with a gaze of confusion and uncertainty. Clearly, they were wondering why we had stopped and what we were talking about (except for Doodle, who's attention was focused completely on the book).

"And what did you do?" I asked quietly, trying to not let the others here it; not that I didn't trust them, but if Predator already didn't want to talk about this with one person, I could only imagine how he would have handled more people.

"You don't need to know," He said once again in that sharp tone of his, then turned around with a snort and began trotting again. I looked to the others; all of them save Doodle were giving me concerned and questioning looks.

I didn't think I would have gotten any more out of him than that, so I begrudgingly followed after him. Neither Tod nor Tom were in my head again, so I just had to wait for one of them (preferably the latter) to arrive before I could get any answers I might not have gotten from Predator.

Soon we were going down a road that was once wide, but because of the collapsed structures to it's sides was now almost nothing more than a narrow isle of concrete running down the middle of all the rubble.

In the distance, across a field of flattened structures and rubble, a red-glowing four-story building was steadily becoming brighter and brighter, it's form seeming to melt. After a few seconds, the completely molten structure sloshed to the ground, spreading it's lava-like remains to the surrounding area. I glanced behind me and saw the dropped mouths of Myst and Skyfire (Doodle was as oblivious as ever, reading an article about aqueducts in her new book). Seriously? Buildings that melt? Oh, fuck my life.

Predator just looked at that for a moment, before shaking his head and murmuring, "Damnatorum Excoquat Aestibus."

"'Molten Tides'?" I asked. That's what 'Excoquat Aestibus' meant, for you non-Roaman readers.

He said through gritted teeth, "A particularly large gang of raiders and ruffians who managed to break into one of the old military bunkers. The bunker they broke into just so happened to have the Roaman Legion's building-melting technology. Oh, and before you ask, no -- I don't know why the Legion commissioned building melting laser technology." He groaned and then sighed, "Worst part is, I think I inspired them. They only showed up after I burned the city a few weeks back."

I felt a little spike of anger erupt in the back of my head at the mere image of him burning the city, but I stomped it down. Instead, I shook my head in disbelief. Bad as the Legion may have been... melting buildings... all the people who might be inside... sickening. A little hope erupted in my head that, maybe, the Legion might wipe those Molten Tides out.

As I stood there, I noticed the others already moving on down the road. Skyfire was glancing over her shoulder at me, giving me a weird look. "You coming?"

"Yeah, just... a little... disturbed," I replied unevenly. 'Disturbed' was what you could have used to describe me if that melting building was what I first saw ever since coming to the outside, but after all the other things I saw and experienced -- Tod and Tom, the ZSI HQ, the super-powered Legion, the chimeras, Predator's predicament, my friends -- 'disturbed' was a damned understatement.

I was just trotting along, doing my best to keep my head as clear of those thoughts as possible, when Skyfire suddenly asked from beside me, "How are you doing?"

It took me a while to register that question, and when I did I shook my head before turning to face her. "Hm? Oh, yeah, right. I'm... doing... great, I guess," I lied. And she knew I was lying; I could see the worry on her face, and I could have sworn her eyes were glistening. I forced a smile and said, "Hey, really, I'm fine. I'm not dead, and that's what matters, right?" Her eyes glistened even more. "Hey, come on! I can take whatever crap the wasteland throws at me so long as I can deal with it effectively and efficiently and no one got hurt because of my failure; if I did fail, that is." Her eyes narrowed. "Why are you worried about me? I'm fine!" I said nervously.

She just looked at me for a long time, eyes sad and worried. "You're not okay, are you?" There was a tone in her voice. Something certain and yet uncertain at the same time.

I kept up the confident little smile for a bit, but it wavered underneath her gaze. "No, I'm not. I'm tired, Skyfire. So tired of... of failing at... at everything! You saw what I had to do down there, you saw how pathetic I was." I turned away, shaking my head out of personal loathing, a great anger stirring in me. "I just want something to go my way for once, is that so much to ask? For Celestia's sake, is it?!" I screamed at the sky, hoping that, somehow, the Goddesses were listening.

That shout of mine caused us all to stop for a moment, Predator glancing back at me with an expression I couldn't see before looking around the area, weapon raised and ready to shoot. Myst and Doodle both gave me looks of confusion and worry; or, in Doodle's case, just confusion.

I exhaled and fell down, suddenly feeling just as tired as I should have. I remembered how I had felt like this back down there, and suddenly I felt a few tears run to my eyes. I couldn't break down now, not while I still had so much to do. For fuck's sake, the others had it harder than me, and here I was breaking down in front of them? How pathetic.

"I'm sorry," I murmured as I sniffed and got up, wiping my face and shaking my head. "I... uh... I shouldn't be breaking down like this. I should be... be trying to improve on my weaknesses instead. Yeah, that's right. I should be doing that instead; make sure no one suffers because of my inability next time." I gave myself a good hard shake of the head, clearing my emotions away.

I was only starting to trot again, and Predator seemed like he was going to as well, when I felt her hoof on my shoulder. I froze at the firmness of her touch, and I slowly turned to see her fiercely disbelieving expression, which was made only worse by the startling amount of anger in it. "What is with you?" She asked in a very tense voice. "Why do you keep saying that you're inadequate? That everything bad that happens near you is your fault just because you couldn't do something about it?" She shook her head slowly, before clenching her eyes and sighing, "Why don't you ever give yourself the break you deserve?"

"Yeah," Myst chimed in, getting close enough to us that, whether I liked it or not, Doodle would most likely involve herself in the discussion. "I've noticed that about you, you know. You do so much, stress yourself out and beat yourself up, yet you never give yourself the rest you deserve." Her own eyes suddenly turned sad, even more so than they already were. "Why do you keep doing this to yourself, Goldwreath? Why don't you ever just... relax for a bit?"

"Because I don't deserve to!" I hissed, much to the shock of all three of them -- Predator might have been shocked, but I couldn't see it through his helmet. "Don't you two get it? Unless I can go into something, and actually SAVE the people involved, then I have earned no respite! Why can't you see that? Why do you have to keep trying to tell me to relax, when me relaxing would get people killed?" I stopped for breath, realizing just now how my hard-pressed my lungs were to keep up with me. Probably the spores in them.

They both looked at me for a moment, uncertain of how to continue. Then Skyfire trotted closer, and with one of her hooves patted me on the back. Without a word, she trotted ahead, and Predator promptly started moving again, sparing me only a glance. Myst likewise began moving again, and as she passed me both her and Doodle gave me cautious looks. What, did they think I was going to attack them?

'Well,' I thought, 'Considering how I sounded, they'd probably be right in being careful around me.' Yeah, they probably were. I'm no fool -- I was very... unstable back then. Much as I wouldn't have wanted to, I really would have hit them if they pressed me about it.

I saw Predator looking at the buildings as though they were going to attack. For that reason, I glanced down at my E.F.S., and in it I saw a few blue bars approaching from behind me. They were probably just scavengers curious as to who was making all the noise, but I decided to not leave it to chance. I picked up my pace and caught up to them.

*** Magnus et Potens Roamanus ***

We kept going on like that for maybe ten minutes, until we reached a portion of the city that had many of it's structures leveled and was several dozen feet lower into the ground, as though it had been built on the plains next to low hills where the rest of the city had been built on. That was most likely the case, as Roam was indeed built on a series of hills. The road leading down was cracked wide and sunk into a deep chasm on the slope down, and only Predator would be able to jump that distance; sure, Skyfire and I could have flown, but what of Myst and Doodle? Further down the road, underneath a small bridge,

The ruined and flattened structures allowed us to easily see the distant shadow of a large, still intact structure loomed in the distance, standing out like a shining beacon of structural soundness against the destruction around us. It's shadowed feet were illuminated by distant explosions and flashes, but there were dozens and dozens of them; far too many for just a little skirmish between a set of hostile parties.

"What is that place?" I asked. Doodle was looking at the structure with a look of awe and immense curiosity.

"That's the dam," Predator replied simply. "We're going to need to get to it soon; see how the assault is going. And we're going to have to move quickly; we're in Legion territory, and with the fighting they're likely going to send reinforcements that way. Which means that they might come across us."

"I see," I said in response. Then I turned to Skyfire. "Skyfire, my wings are good now, but I don't want to stress them after they just healed. I need you to do a quick fly over there and tell me what's going on. We'll meet you along the way, just watch the road."

"What?" She asked with a look of annoyance. "You want me to fly over there, LEAVE YOU GUYS BEHIND, to most likely get shot at? Uh-uh, nope. I'm going with you guys," She said indignantly.

"Well... um... I could... go there," Myst offered quietly, getting a curious peek from Doodle.

"Yeah... no," I replied, speaking to Myst. "Skyfire, if we're going to do this, we'll need to know what we're getting into. And Myst, I don't think galloping ahead of us is a good idea; Skyfire can fly, you can't. Not a lot of pegasi come down here, I don't think people will keep their eyes on the sky when they know there isn't an aircraft nearby." That actually got a look of both relief and, strangely, disappointment from Myst.

"Ugh..." Skyfire muttered out of irritation. "Why do you want ME to do this alone? You can fly, from what I can see. And why not send Predator? He knows this city better than I do, and he can't fucking die, apparently."

"Weren't you listening?" I retorted. "I said MY WINGS JUST HEALED. Are you saying you want them broken again?" Her eyes widened at my tone, and she looked to the side and bit her lip.

"I would go there, but I don't want to," Predator deadpanned, though at least it got Skyfire's attention.

"Why?" Skyfire asked sharply.

"Because I don't want to," He deadpanned once more, and Skyfire face-hoofed out of exasperation. I could have sworn I saw Myst give him a quizzical look, then roll her eyes.

I shook my head at the general uncooperativeness of my traveling companions. "Skyfire, I need you to do this. I know you don't want to, but just do it. Please," I pleaded in a tone that probably showed more of my growing stress than I had thought it would.

She looked at me concernedly for a second, probably because of my tone, before letting out a resigned sigh. "Fine. I'll do it. But if I get shot at again, and none of you are there..."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," I said with mild irritation.

She shook her head a little, "I just don't think it's such a good idea to separate, considering what happens when we do. So, I'm just saying-..."

"Then turn on your radio, you have it with you right?" I interrupted. "Mine's on, don't know about yours. If you're really worried about communication use it," I continued, really getting irritated.

She nodded and pulled out her little radio from one of her pockets; good thing Tod didn't decide to take them. She turned it on, and looked to me. "Okay, there. But... I still don't want to do this. I mean, what if I-..."

"Dammit, just go already!" I half-yelled, and I was surprised at my tone. What, was I actually angry at her? For sure, she was annoying me by not cooperating when I really would have liked her to, but was that really an excuse to shout? And heck, why WAS I so irritable right now? I was never this easily angered in the stable.

She looked at me for a moment, an expression slightly hurt and slightly concerned at the same time etched on her face. Myst and Doodle likewise looked shocked, the latter looking between me and my fellow pegasus as if wondering if one of us was going to shoot the other.

Then, without a word, Skyfire took off and started flying for the dam. On her ascent, she glanced behind her at me and the others, a look of immense concern on her face.

They just stood there for a moment, watching me as I slowly turned away from them. I felt ashamed and guilty, especially guilty. I could feel Myst's worry and Doodle's confusion (I'm not lying, I could really FEEL them; a new ability of my head which I did not like at all). I couldn't tell how Predator felt about all that though; he was already difficult to discern even when he spoke, he was even more lifeless than a corpse when he didn't.

After a long, silent moment broken only by distant booms, Doodle asked softly, "Is mister Goldwreath in trouble?"

"Not in my opinion, no," Predator replied as though nothing happened, then turned and started trotting into one of the buildings on the left side of the road -- it was a pitiable structure, an apartment from the looks of it. It had it's entire front side blown down, allowing us unimpeded access into the concrete and marble structure. Tentatively, I followed; I didn't want to, though. I just wanted to sit down and try to sort through all the feelings seeping out of that storage area inside my head. I didn't want to be near any of them at the moment.

It was for that reason that I did more than follow; I went ahead. I knew what we were doing, anyway -- exit the building on a side that got us across the cracked road. The extra distance I got from them made me feel a little less volatile.

"Well... he might be... maybe a little," Myst said to herself as they climbed the stone and dirt ramp that was once the front wall. I was already in one of the rooms. It was nothing special, just a small square space with the expected ruined furniture and papers. A poster on the ground of a Shadow Corps operative's helmet staring at me with a background of praetorian mechs on the left side and other operatives on the right, and the words 'Vestra umbras tradit te; tu non potes abscondere absconditis tuis a nobis' -- which translated into 'Your shadows betray you; you cannot hide your secrets from us' -- caught my attention, though. Then I spotted another door on the far side of the room, and made my way to it.

"Why would you say he might be in trouble?" Predator asked with a tone of disinterest. "Far as I'm concerned, Skyfire should have known better than to continue being so uncooperative when she already knew Goldwreath over here was stressed -- a fact which, by the way, is the only real reason she conceded just now."

"You know, I have to ask-..." Doodle started.

"Well, didn't you see what he said back there, and how he said it?" She hissed, as if trying to keep their conversation a secret. They were failing miserably, mostly because they were still in earshot, and also because Predator made absolutely no effort to quiet himself.

"Yes I did," He deadpanned.

Myst waited for a moment, looking at him with both eyebrows raised as they cleared the ramp and started making their way to the room Ib was in. "Sooo?" She drawled.

"So what?"

She barely suppressed her groan, instead settling for wincing and clenching her face before relaxing and saying, "So, don't you think that he might be in just a little trouble, considering what he said?"

"Um, I just want to know-..." Doodle tried again.

"Nope," He replied. "Personally, I think Skyfire would just let that one incident go. Considering how rashly she acts almost all the time and how often your friend over there forgives her, I think she'd be willing to return the favor."

"Return the favor?" She asked in a rushed, worried tone. "L-like how?"

I stopped where I was and glanced behind my shoulder, and I saw him doing the same within the doorway. I couldn't see Myst or Doodle through the doorway, though. The good thing about all this was that my curiosity for her response was replacing at least some of my irritability. "Your cheeks are a fine shade of pink right now," Predator said simply.

"Um... I... gah...." She whimpered and stammered, and if I saw her I was sure I would have seen her trying miserably to cover her face. "I mean... um, like you know, why would she..."

"Hey!" Doodle said at last, loud enough to finally get attention. "I need to ask something really, really important: what's a colosseum exactly?"

There was an odd silence for a moment as Predator just kept looking over his shoulder at them. "Heh, saved by the filly," Predator muttered with mild amusement. "Doodle, a colosseum was an ancient Roaman structure used for... well, playing games. Really big games."

"Wow! You mean like hide and seek? I love that game!" I couldn't see her, but I was sure that if I did Myst would have had an expression of absolute relief (and embarrassment) on her face. Of course if she saw me looking at her, then I was pretty sure she would have hidden her face from me. Ah, what a shy mare.

"Well... more or less, yes," He replied slowly. Clearly, he did not want to tell her that colosseums were used for en masse bloody gladiatorial combat. Still, despite everything, I couldn't help but smile as I shook my head and rolled my eyes, then pulled the door open. Ah, the curiosity of little children; a little light of good in the bleakness of wasteland existence.

"Goldwreath, wait!" Myst said in concern from the doorway, but I was already trotting through.

Oh yes, speaking of wasteland existence, did I tell you that there were lots of explosions in the wasteland?

I didn't hear myself snap the tripwire in half, and only when the grenades came tumbling down onto my helmet and down my shoulders did I know I was fucked.

I did try to run back, but I did NOT have the quickest mind (Thanks to Tod, no doubt). Really, I actually only discerned that the metallic rods on the ground below me were grenades when Myst yelled for me to run. THEN I tried running.

I got away maybe two feet when the three zebra grenades went off and filled my side with old concrete and small rocks, and I felt every single piece of shrapnel scrape into me and fill me with hot fragments. I didn't scream, though; it actually wasn't that painful, though I could feel the ripped flesh and the blood on my hide as I was sent flying back through the doorway and thudded against the wall. I winced the dust and dirt from my eyes as I fought to get myself into a position less ideal for letting my blood flow out.

Myst skidded to a stop and knelt before me, eyeing my wounds in horror. Doodle was shaking as she held her book in her hooves, a fair amount of my blood on her face and on her book. They looked me over in silent terror, clearly too shocked to help immediately. I just looked at them, then down at my eviscerated side and scraped legs; I could see the bone, and it reminded me of the night when that bestial attacked me back in Myst's outpost. Even more hideous were my organs, for though a bloody gap ripped in my abdomen I could see my bleeding stomach. My breathing became hard and frantic and my heart thundered in my ears, and only now did I feel the agonizing pain of having hundreds of hot shards within me. I could feel them searing inside my flesh, burning through me and causing permanent damage. I could even feel the sand-like pores shaking around inside me with each breath, and had my stomach been capable or my brain less used to revolting sights and feelings, I would have voided whatever I had eaten.

Myst dove into her saddlebag while Doodle got off her back. The filly just stared at me, as though remembering a distant horrifying memory. I just returned the stare, certain that at any point my lungs would give out. I winced and twitched, and no matter how I tried to calm myself by breathing only escalated as the possibility of death increased every second.

She pulled out a healing potion vial, but the container was cracked for some reason. The precious healing fluids were already half-drained, and every second it hung there the vial lost just a little more of the potion. Myst winced at the sight of it, then hurriedly opened it and shoved the container in my mouth before I could say anything. I drank down greedily on what little there was while she proceeded to get another vial; hopefully one less cracked.

I finished it and let the empty and cracked bottle fall to the ground next to me. I didn't feel any better. It seemed as though my wounds were barely even healing, and surely the bit of potion I drank should have been healing me a little better than that! All I saw was the flesh coming back together at speeds so achingly slow it looked as though I had not even taken a potion. I stared down at my torn skin with absolute bafflement and terror.

Predator trotted forward slowly into the room, eyes set on me. I could feel his presence grow stronger with each step as a faint ringing seemed to enter the room. At that Myst brought a hoof up to her head, despite having been frantically searching for an appropriate potion just a while ago. My already hard breathing became even more panicked as I tried futilely to back away from him, and the few wounds on my back stung terribly in protest as they scraped against the sharp concrete slabs.

He pushed Doodle aside without any restraint, and when Myst brought out another potion he reached up one of his hooves and stopped her from giving it to me. She snapped her head to look at him with surprise and bafflement.

"Don't," He said sternly.

She shook her head, mouth hung low. "What?" She replied with an exasperated breath. "He's dying over here! H-he... look at him! I have to help him!" She replied rebelliously, and tried to break her hoof free to get it over to me. I just winced at what was going on, too overtaken with the thought of dying to care any more than I did. You'd think that after surviving death more than once that I'd be confident I'd survive, but you'd be wrong.

"Don't waste your supplies," He replied evenly. "He doesn't need them."

"Liar!" She yelled at him. "You're just trying to get him killed, aren't you?!" She tugged against his grip, to no avail "Let me go!"

At that he tossed her over to the other side of the room, and she just barely landed on her hooves. Doodle looked between each of the three of us with wide eyes, her book lying on the ground. He took one look at each if them, then turned around to face me. His presence seemed to grow as he continued staring down at me, and the ringing became slightly more noticeable.

Then I looked down at my ruined and stinging side, and saw the flesh slowly knitting together. Little stretches of my skin reached across the different scratches and holes on my hide and latched themselves onto the other side, and then they began pulling the openings close. And very slowly, I saw the bleeding in my organs subside as the wounds closed fully. All that was left were some very ugly scars and patches of skin where my hide was absent, but as I watched was already regrowing. And then the ringing stopped, and Predator's presence moved a little distance back. I felt Myst and Doodle's presences just standing there, looking at me.

I felt filthy and unnatural. I didn't want to be injured, but compared to how disgusting I felt, I would rather have endured a little more pain and be healed conventionally. What was I? I still felt like a pony, I sounded like a pony, and I looked like one too. But there was this nagging feeling I had in my dumpster of a brain that... something, somehow, was going very very wrong. I was changing, no doubt about it, and that change was happening slowly, steadily. And who, or what, was causing it? Was it Tod and his signal? Radiation? Both? I couldn't quite tell anymore.

But what bothered me more was how much I hadn't cared and had put it off until now. I really hadn't; I was much too occupied worrying about actual events than what was going on inside me. Even during that morning in Verge, when I first started being able to detect others, I had paid it little attention; you'd think that having freaky brain powers would either scare or surprise me, but frankly I was neither. But now that I knew it's origins -- the telekinetic link with Tod, or a side effect of what he was doing in my head -- I at last paid it some more attention. And with each second I spent pondering it, I grew more and more uncomfortable.

Still, one thing that I could not deny was that the ability to detect entities was useful, and for sure being able to heal automatically was just as an advantage. I may have felt like some kind of freak, but no matter what I told myself, those were useful. And I was a practical pony in just about all matters.

After staring down at my flesh for a few moments, I looked back up at them. Predator was standing at the doorway, his MG-assault rifle hybrid in his hooves as he looked around. He seemed to spot something. He glanced over his shoulder at us, then went away back down the dirt slope back to the outside. And then I looked in front of me at Myst, who had an expression I couldn't quote fathom on her face -- something of a merge between disgust, relief, and fear.

And then I looked beside me at Doodle, who was just staring at me with the faintest glossiness on her eyes before putting her forelegs on my chest and nudging her head against my neck. I was a little surprised at that. Where was this coming from? Was it... oh... wait... ah yes, she must have viewed me with some care and admiration after I saved her. That would explain the affection.

But then, right at that moment, a thought that wiped out all of my discomfort hit me: with these changes, I could be better. I could be strong enough, quick enough, fast enough, and good enough to save people. I could do things that I couldn't do before. If Tod was doing this to me with the intent of making me feel miserable, then he was wrong. I could no longer be inadequate. I could use this!

It was that thought that put a massive grin on my face and made me laugh in relief and joy instead of making me cringe and despise myself for what I was. I felt great. No longer being so pathetic in situations that required me to be at my best, and no one suffering for my weaknesses... jubilance radiated just from the mere thought of it.

That grin and laugh, and the prerequisite phenomenon, had quite the opposite effect on Myst and Doodle, though. Doodle backed away from me like I was crazy, and Myst likewise took a few steps back, eyes wide and fearful and darting all over me as if worried I might grow tentacles and attack her.

"What?" I asked with a laugh. "Isn't it great? I'm healed! I'm not dying! And I feel great, too! Ah, such a wonderful feeling!" I said with a joy only a crazed person could have.

She looked at me with disbelief and shook her head, then backed out of the doorway. "Predator! Predator, get over here now!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, while I just got up and dusted myself off. Then I noticed that the blast had blown away all my stuff, which Doodle seemed to have gathered in a pile. She looked at me with a half-relieved, half-worried look as I trotted towards her.

I smiled down at her and patted her head, "Thanks." At least all I had to do now was pick up my stuff.

Despite looking a little uncomfortable, she managed to give me a sheepish little smile before slowly backing out the door to Myst and yelled, "Mister Predator!"

After a few seconds, he appeared behind her at the doorway and leaned against it. "Yes?" He asked.

Doodle turned with surprise, then collected herself and gulped nervously, before saying in a Myst-like tone of timidness, "Miss Myst is looking for you." Amidst all this, I just tended to my stuff, a smile of relief and joy still on my face.

He just nodded his head, and entered the room. He stopped abruptly when he saw me just checking all my stuff as if nothing had happened, and I felt a little bit of confusion in my head come from him. "Why are you confused?" I asked with a cocky little smile. He just shook his head slowly, and I felt it was more out of disbelief than out of disgust. At that I asked once more, "What?"

Myst appeared at the doorway behind him, with Doodle behind her. Myst narrowed her eyes at Predator. "You," She said in a soft yet sharp tone as she stepped into the room. When she reached him, she placed both her forelegs on his side and pushed him a little further into the room. She pointed at me, still looking at him. "Whatever you did, fix it! This... just... look at him! He's not himself! I don't know and don't care what you did to him, just fix it!"

"Damn it you three, I'm fine! I'm great! What the hell is wrong with you guys?" Come on, couldn't they understand? With all this, I could actually be something better than the mediocre protector of Roam. Couldn't they understand why I was so happy? Why were they acting like this? This was crazy!

"I know he's not acting like himself, why do you think I got this?" He replied, then showed her the memory orb in his hooves. She looked at it with confusion, then to me with a bit of understanding dawning on her expression. Then he turned to me. "Help me pin him down, he's going to struggle."

"Woah, what?" I asked as I backed away. "W-what are you going to do? You are not going to force me into that orb!" They just trotted closer. "I demand the immediate termination of your approach! I will not tolerate this heinous insubordination!" Myst flinched a little, but otherwise they just continued approaching.

"You go for the saddlebags, get the memory viewing helmet. I'll hold him down," Predator said as he and Myst trotted closer. Myst looked at me with an expression of uncertainty and apology that seemed to say both 'I'm sorry' and 'Why am I listening to this guy?' at the same time. Doodle just looked at us from the doorway, like a child watching helplessly as his or her parents quarrel and fight.

"For fuck's sake, I'm okay!" I shouted, getting both extremely annoyed and extremely disbelieving at how they were acting.

My hooves trotted backwards until my flank struck the wall. I glanced behind me to see if there was anywhere else to back away into, and found only the doorway where the grenades had been.

Then I turned my head back, only to have myself pulled out from under my hooves by Predator. He yanked my praetorian helmet off and flung it away, then began dragging me by my hindleg to the center of the room, where Myst was waiting worriedly. I struggled and kicked and yelled, a feeling of absolute betrayal forming in my head at the mutinous actions of my supposed friend and my supposed guide. Predator threw me onto the ground, before proceeding to brighten his eyes and thus freeze me in place. I mentally yelled all sorts of colorful slang into my head as I felt every part of me go stiff and cold.

"Please don't fight," Myst pleaded. "I'm just trying to help you. You're... you're not being yourself."

"Lies!" I shouted in her face through gritted teeth as she went for my saddlebags, which were still strapped on to my sides. She looked away from me as she dug her hooves around inside my bags. I hissed through my locked jaw, "You fucking traitorous bitch! When I get my hooves on you, I'll make sure your neck snaps like a toothpick, you hear me? I'll have you nailed to a fucking cross and leave you as carrion! I'll have both of you hung from a noose!" I threatened as she continued digging around inside, looking hurt yet resolute as she closed her eyes.

Finally she brought out the helmet, and my panic spiked. I tried to force my limbs to work for me, not for Predator. They were my limbs, and they weren't even paying attention to me! Even my own body was betraying me!

Predator took it from her meek hooves, and after she proceeded to trot out the doorway, sniffing as she went. Then I turned all my feelings of betrayal and rage towards the being standing before me. "I will tear you to pieces when I get the chance, you understand? All of you! All of you who threaten Roam and would have me weak when my city needs me!"

He just looked at me for a moment, shaking his head. "Boy, I don't know what manner of madness your conscious thoughts have been reduced to, but even I'm getting disturbed. And that's saying something. Anyway..." He raised the memory orb with one hoof and with the other brought up the helmet. Then he calmly placed the orb in the depression, and just as calmly lowered the helmet onto my head.

And the last thing I saw was my vision go red with rage before I lost all sight of the real world.

ooooOOOOoooo

Fuck! Forced into a memory orb by my supposed allies, huh? Well, when I get out of this memory orb...

Bah, nevermind that. There was nothing I could do about it while in here, anyway. Might as well pay attention to the memory. Now, let's see...

*** Magnus et Potens Roamanus ***

The intense light of midday flooded into my host's vision as he passed from underneath the cover of a gleaming marble arch, rendering me blind. My host himself was a zebra stallion -- if you're wondering why it's always a stallion, the Roaman Empire was male-dominated -- who stood atop what felt like a rocking platform of a sort that was being pulled by something I couldn't see; basically, a chariot. I didn't even need to see through the sun glare to know it was a chariot. He seemed to be wearing a set of rather light metal armor, thought it was still heavy enough to not feel like I was wearing sheet metal. The weight aside, it was actually quite comfortable due to the soft inner layering.

But I could still hear what I couldn't see, and all around me I heard what must have been a crowd of thousands all cheering at the top of their lungs. Joining the crowd in their monstrous choir of cheering were the sounds of constantly ringing bells echoing all over the landscape. The sound of it all vibrated in my ears, fueling my host's smile of anticipation. Were I in his position, I would've smiled if I wasn't being blinded by sunlight, not while I was.

And there were more sounds, too. Behind me was the thundering of hundreds of plated hooves marching along in near-perfect synchronization. Above me, the sounds of dozens of rotating blades and combusting engines were almost as loud as the crowd and the marching combined. And off to the sides of my host's sun glare saturated sight came the rumbling of engines; from the familiarity I had gained of them, I could tell that most of those engines were from Omni-tanks. Also, was it just me, or were those things practically mass-produced?

Then my host passed into the shadow of a tall structure and at once I gained my sight back. What I saw would have made me lose my breath just from the mere sight, but did nothing to my host, as he had clearly seen the sight before (of which I was annoyed, for I was getting tired of not getting to act of my own accord while in memory orbs and would have really liked my host to act as surprised as I was).

Thousands of zebras, lining every window and every floor of every single gleaming marble and concrete structure. The streets were filled to the brim, the sidewalks crowded -- yet not overcrowded; Roam's streets were much too big for that -- with cheering onlookers. Flower petals rained from the sky, to which my host looked up to and saw dozens of VTOL jets. The chariot on which my host stood on was being pulled by three tamed manticores; one on the right near the crowd, one on the left also near the crowd, and one on the center of the very wide marble street. On each side of the street was a whole column of armored vehicles; tanks, and almost every single one was an Omni. My host glanced behind himself, and I saw hundreds of worn and battle-hardened legionnaires marching along in uniform formation. Any centurion who saw my host's glance on them looked my way and nodded their heads in a respectful half bow, and my host returned it with a familiar smile for each of them.

Then he turned back around, and through the heat haze looked at a mountain not so far away; atop it stood a structure with a circular wall and a tall tower reaching up to touch the sky: the Forum. Looking at it once again, in all it's undamaged and shining opulence... it made me wonder exactly when I would actually get there, and what I would see when I did. Sure, I'd seen it's ghostly form in my dreams, but I never really paid attention to what it actually looked like (being hoarded around by colored fogs tended to take my attention away from looking at details).

My host just smiled and waved, and somehow that made the crowd cheer even more loudly than before. Clearly, whoever I was was either a super celebrity or the Caesar himself.

I continued on like that for a few minutes, just smiling and waving -- and fearing for my sense of hearing -- and letting my chariot pull me along, until eventually we eventually reached a raging river of clear water, over which was a wide arched marble bridge painted in bright colors. On the four corners of the bridge were red banners with the symbol of golden wreaths and the letters 'IPQR' between them. I assumed that meant 'Imperator et Populusque Roamanus', which would translate into 'the Emperor and People of Roam'.

In the distance, across maybe a hundred yards of lush green grass and garden (which was being tended to by, of all people, praetorians), was a tall metal wall with bulletproof glass windows halfway to the top, where even more praetorians stood guard; how I even missed seeing this wall when I saw the Forum in my 'dreams', I don't know. I would normally blame my rotting brain and my crappy perception, but I decided to just screw that and blame Tod. From somewhere behind me came the glorious sound of a horn, followed by the even more glorious melody of a practiced choir sung by the throats of the hundreds of professional soldiers behind me.

A responding horn sounded from the wall, and at once the massive fortification turned into light. Yes, turned into light -- the wall and it's corners, it's floors and it's nooks, and anything else placed on the different levels -- all of that became transparent and was outlined in a deep luminous gold, exposing the different praetorians standing and sitting about on the different floors. My host raised a hoof, and gestured behind him at the zebra legionnaires. One of the praetorians nodded, then brought out a holographic terminal from somewhere out of the transparent wall. A pulse of golden wave shot through the ground, creating a circular ring around every single zebra following me. At the sight of that they all looked astonished, then slowly looked up off the ground and gave my host a series of thankful smiles. Clearly, whatever this was about was important to them.

I crossed the bridge, the tanks doing well to stay behind and not test the structure's strength. The legionnaires followed, though, as did the aircraft up above. The echoing of the bells faded as we passed into the field, and the people gathered on the edges of the riverbank, still cheering us on. To their surprise and the amusement of my host, what appeared to be praetorians wearing diving gear came out of the water and waved them back. I don't know if my host saw it, but I swear I saw one of the praetorians bring out a bottle of wine and take a swig -- why they would even... oh wait, nevermind; the Roamans drank so much wine it was like water for them. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised (though I do wonder how they barely ever got drunk).

At last we reached the wall, and my host passed through the transparent fortification as if it were air, and got onto a marble path cutting across another field -- this one also a garden -- to some stairs at the foot of the mountain; the same one Veltrio had used, though I almost didn't recognize how different it looked. In fact, I don't remember seeing the river, the bridge, this field or this wall in his memory. If they added all that, well... add that as another engineering achievement for the Roamans.

The legionnaires behind me seemed a little hesitant at first, but otherwise all passed through eagerly when they found they could enter as well. A smile crept onto my host's face at the suppressed giggles of excitement and joy of the soldiers. It may not have been my own smile, but I was glad my host (whoever he was) shared my sympathies for people who'd gone through hell for others. After a minute of moving, we finally crossed the garden field and were at the stairs.

My host got off at the foot of the stairs, making sure to pet each of the manticores once before ascending. Before going any further up, my host turned around and gestured his spread out forehooves at the field. The legionnaires nodded respectfully before heading off into the field. What, were they all going to sit down there? If they were, I'm guessing those praetorian gardeners would be real pissed off.

Not long up the stairs did I climb, before I glanced behind me just in time to see two decloaking praetorians on each side. They looked at my host with smiles too familiar to suggest their relationship was purely superior-subordinate.

"That's real creepy, guys," My host said in a tone surprisingly youthful and confident.

The one on my left smirked and said, "Welcome back, Lord Cadian." Then he pulled out a bottle of wine from his side and handed it over to my host as I continued ascending the really numerous steps up.

"Thanks, Justinian," My host replied, and took the wine bottle from him. I looked it over. "Heh. You know, it's been a few months since I've drank some good wine. Thanks." I opened the bottle and brought the opening to my mouth, before muttering, "And you two know very well I'm not one to be called 'lord'." Then I brought it to my mouth, and my host started gulping down on the stomach-burning fermented grape juice in deep chugs. Not being a drinker, I was glad I couldn't get drunk from this.

"You're father knew you might have ran out, even if you did take half of Roam's supply of wine with you, so he sent us," The other added, then chuckled, "How long did those hundreds of bottles last you and your men, anyway?" His father, huh? Who was this guy, the Caesar's son?

My host chuckled around the bottle, "We ran out on the harbor heading for Hadrian's wall, Velian." My host pulled the bottle out and looked at the red wine inside. "So, how is my father?" Okay, I'm starting to really think my host is the Caesar's son...

"He's good. Not like he'd even need all his praetorians to defend him -- in fact, seeing as he taught all of us how to fight, I'm pretty sure he'd kick all our flanks if we turned on him," Justinian replied with a grimace. "You know the time of praetorians killing emperors is over."

Ignoring that last remark, my host asked as he took another swig, "And what is he doing right now?" Sadly the bottle was already out, so I just handed the the empty glass to Justinian. He lifted in the air on one of his hooves, and after a while it disappeared in a flash of blue accented by bright white pixels.

"He's having a meeting with his top legates. You're taking back of Hadrian's wall is setting in motion a bunch of reclamation plans. You know, stuff to kick those pony barbarians off of our land and back into their own, that sort of thing," Velain said simply.

"Mhm," Cadian replied as if in thought. "Those pony barbarians..."

There was no conversation the rest of the way up, which was not very long. The little chat had passed the time until my host was already a third of the way up, which was strange considering the mountain was tall enough to tower over the rest of the city. Surely, there must have been some kind of magic here. No one could climb this mountain without needing to take a break. Hell, the Forum's arched pavilion with the engraving 'IPQR' was already occupying my whole field of vision.

At last I stepped on the polished marble porch of the Forum, and saw the massive and intricately carved armored golden gates of an entrance. I also saw the polished-to-a-gleam marble floor and pillars, together with two gleaming marble statues of zebra praetorians next to the door. I didn't really trust how big those statues were... or why they had so much equipment. Still, I don't think a fifty foot high armored door reaching halfway to a hundred foot high arched ceiling with a surface area of a hundred meters was necessary. Even for the Roamans, that seemed a little too much... wait, what was I saying?

"Your father installed new locks, as the old three-thousand year old ones finally broke when you were gone. I'll get them to open it," Velian said, and brought out an earpiece from his belt. "Hoc est Velian, cur gehennam sit ostium non patet? Tu nosti dominus Cadian venit iterum."

My host just approached the door. "Velian, Justinian, get back to your posts." My host gave them a cocky little smile, "Chill the hell out. I got this." Then he placed his hooves on the door, and with a soft grunt forced the doors to swing inward at a speed a little too fast for my liking.

As the space within slowly opened out from in between the doors, a very surprised looking praetorian standing just far enough from the door to not get hit stared at my host with a hoof to an earpiece. I saw that Velian and Justinian were giving my host a similarly surprised look, but I just raised an eyebrow at them before getting down on all fours and trotting in. The praetorian inside gave my host a confused head shake before lowering his head in a bow.

"I assume the door wasn't really locked to begin with?" My host asked, playfully.

"Uh, it w-was, my lord," He replied, a little bit shakily. "I had just gotten Velian's notification and had opened the gate... then you pushed it open. I don't think I was ever so scared of those door's in my life."

Cadian gave him a good natured laugh, patting him on the shoulder. "Relax, don't you know the occasion?" The praetorian shook his head uncertainly. My host frowned dramatically, before raising a hoof in the air, proclaiming,"Heresy! It's the holiday of my return from Equestria! People should be celebrating! Now go, spread the word of my arrival to those of you still unaware of my presence! Honestly, this place should be alive as the city, it's so boring right now! Go, man, go and get the cake!" My host said, and lightly shoved the guard along as he started darting and huffing along down a hallway, making sure his helmet didn't fall off.

My host was about to turn and let me get a good view of the Forum -- the place I had currently spent about a month going to -- when he stopped and turned around again. "And where are my children?" He yelled, but the guard was already out of earshot. Cadian pouted and turned, walking down the hallway at a brisk pace. Still, the little Roaman fanboy in me huzzah'd in delight as I was given a good view of the interior.

To be expected of Roaman interior designs, this place was sparsely decorated yet had this sense of pure awesomeness about it. Bronze statues of animal heads were mounted off of the walls at the edges of the curved chamber, while tall marble statues of zebra heroes and emperors stood on pedestals, evenly spaced from each other on the hexagonal floor grid despite the curving nature of the structure. Finely polished wooden furniture sat near the foot of some stairs leading up, complemented well with not too brightly colored carpets underneath. Praetorians in startlingly dark iron armor patrolled without paying my host much attention, and the walls were lined with so many praetorian 'statues' -- yeah right -- I would never try to rob this place even if I could. Painted portraits of scenery hung down from pillars in the wide and spacious hall, and light entered the room from a glass-covered oculus positioned above the doorway.

"Father didn't waste any money renovating this place," My host murmured as he climbed the stairs, looking almost as awed as I would have been if I were in his place; clearly, this place had looked very different when he was last here. At least on the inside; I think the Forum had looked like it does from the outside ever since the Republic. While I should have been admiring the Forum's fairly simple beauty, I was instead wondering why the hell those black-armored praetorians were looking at my host liked that.

Ignoring them, my host continued on, eyes drawn to smaller details in decoration. There, down the even much more simply decorated middle hallway, was an even more massive armored semi-circular door jutting out of the ground, with ornamental crystal windows around the edges of it from which an ominous pulsating gold light shone through. That structural weakness was negated by the fact that those windows seemed to be made put of diamonds; oh well, even the Roamans... indulged from time to time. And while I had no doubt diamond was used for it's strength, they admittedly looked damned good in this place.

My host took in a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Clearly, this was where his father was -- whoever his father was. I was voting for the Caesar. Just as my host moved up on his hindlegs again and was about to place his hooves on the door, the noise of tripping furniture came from somewhere behind me.

"Excuse me, I need some help. I have to get this flour to the bakery; lord Cadian wants cake! Why didn't we prepare cake for him in the first place?" The praetorian from earlier huffed, sounding very tired and very in a hurry.

"Movere, morionem!" Another praetorian snarked rudely. Probably one of those suspicious looking black praetorians. "I don't have time to deal with your idiocy, I have important matters to tend to," He said darkly.

My host gasped, and glanced over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. He hissed, "Preposterous! Nothing could be more important than cake! Why, it should be made the official pastry of Saturnalia!" Then my host huffed, and his eyes just so happened to glance up the ceiling. There, small and barely noticeable above the door, was a camera looking down at my host. The sight of it just zooming in... something about that felt so Zaita. My host pointed a hoof at it, "Surely you agree with me, yes?" I'm not sure if what I saw was correct, but I think I saw the camera nod quickly in response.

Cadian nodded to himself, and returned his attention to the door in front of him and frowned. "Okay, enough screwing around. Time to meet father for the first time in three years," He said softly, and placed his hoof on the handle and pushed it down. There was an ominous echoing thump, and the door started rotating to allow me entry.

As it turns out, the door really was just half a circle, and soon I was nearly blinded once again by the golden light flowing out of the room like water. No, seriously. The light seemed to come together in the air to create motes, making it seem like I was underwater as the motes moved to and fro as I started wading into the chamber, it's crystalline floor shining as I went further. Deep into the chamber was the ghostly form of a white marble wall. The mere feeling of walking into this obviously very important place, with all this light surrounding me... it felt awesome. It wasn't long before the sounds of arguing reached my ears, though my sight was still saturated.

"... your hallow bravado does no good for Roam, Cascadiux. Your dragons only do well when they take Autherius' command, as they should," One gruff and gravelly voice argued calmly.

"I'll have you know, though, that MY legions are the ones keeping Equestria from penetrating deeper into Raveena so your legions can focus on taking the fight to them. I heard you almost lost the ninth legion, Voltarius! Why, it would have been the Teutoberg forest all over again," An oily smooth voice, I assumed it was Cascadiux, replied.

"I'm confused, isn't the Teutoberg forest the Everfree forest?" A young sounding voice -- most likely a servant or a guard recruit or something -- asked.

"Titus, you know you're not supposed to speak!" Another voice, this one fit for giving long and boring sermons, squawked. Then he sighed, "But... yes, it is."

Another voice, one very very familiar, groaned with displeasure, "Gentlecolts, you all know very well that it doesn't matter who the dragons follow, as long as their objective is accomplished. Personally, I think Cascadiux did fine with my dragons while I was on the ground, even if he did lose a few more than I would have liked."

A spark of intrigue lit up in my head at the sound of his voice. That was one of the stallions who had supposedly 'gifted' Tod to the people of Roam back during the war -- and in the process likely caused SOMETHING bad to happen. Who knows what else Autherius could have done, with his agents the Shadow Corps or otherwise? I know I didn't truly have much on him aside from him obtaining stable blueprints for... something, but I still didn't really like the guy at all, and wanted to know more about those plans of his. Maybe I should go into memory orbs more often... yeah, let's go with that.

Not long did my host wade in, when a shadow formed out of the veritable ocean of light and motes in front of me. It was approaching quickly, seeming to be holding something in it's hoof. And then, right as it stood in front of my host, it took one final step, and the form became clear.

He was a fairly lanky stallion wearing a metal torso plate that accented his chest muscles and a red cape over his back. His mane was rough and just hung from his shoulders as he stood up on his hindlegs. In his left forehoof he held what appeared to be a goblet of water.

And I recognized this SoB, too.

"Decarius?" Cadian asked, removing a hoof from his brow to allow more light to shine on the still fairly blurry form of the legate.

The old stallion's face lit up with life. "Lord Cadian! I heard you were coming back to Roam from Equestria, but so early!" He brought up his other hoof, which had a watch. "Why, it's not even the hour of ten."

My host breathed a sigh of relief, and put on a smile before patting the older stallion on the shoulder, "Ah, Decarius. My father did well to invite one of the more sensible legates -- and good friend -- to the meeting." Okay, seriously? The guy was acting like he wasn't doing anything wrong, how freaking suspicious was that? He clearly had some kind of master plan here, and yet my host didn't seem to notice. I could not believe it.

The older stallion returned the pat with a warm smile, and started trotting back into the light, still facing my host, before raising up his hoof with the goblet. "A drink? You look thirsty."

My host turned it down with his own hoof, and started trotting with him, saying, "Nah, it's fine. Velian and Justinian already gave me some of father's wine, and that's all I need." The legate smiled and shook his head sagely, then proceeded to bring the goblet to his own mouth.

We started trotting together into the light-obscured crystalline chamber, and my host said as his eyes more properly adjusted to the illumination, "So, how have things been over here? Don't tell me that I've been pushing the first legion Roamana to it's absolute limit only to have home efforts fail miserably like paper planes in the rain."

Decarius chuckled -- not a dark chuckle, much to my suspicion -- and brought the goblet down. "I assume you overheard Cascadiux's tremendous mismanagement of Autherius' dragon fleets in one of our more recent battles. That stallion had those dragons shot down like flies..."

"So everything's going to hell, then? Well, fuck my life," My host commented, shaking his head.

The legate pointed at me with gentle correction. "Now, now, there's no need to speak like that. You know your father's hearing is very good, you wouldn't want your first day back to be spoiled by a lecture, would you?" My host pouted. "Anyway, no. Not everything's going to hell. Cascadiux's failure aside, Julianix and Parthius and some of the more recent legates have been doing well keeping the Equestrians from pushing deeper into our territory. Autherius' Shadow Corps have also been undermining Equestrian companies and organizations." Then he frowned, and my scumbag mind had the audacity to actually feel sorry for him.

'That's it, my mind's officially fucked up beyond all repair,' I thought.

Cadian noticed his frown, even if it was just for a second. "Something wrong?"

Decarius snapped back to him as though coming out of a trance, and shook his head and wiped his face. "Nothing, it's just... well, when you reach my age, you tend to... fear death. It's a... a strange feeling." He sighed, "I'm not as spry as I used to be. I'm... a little concerned that, if Roam will ever need more than it does now -- if it's very existence depended on me -- I'm not sure if I can be the general that she'll need."

"Heresy!" My host said, a little loudly. "Decarius, you are the legate who destroyed seventeen griffin tribes with a gladius and one cohort. You are the commander who annihilated the modern Gaul barbarians with just two legions and no reinforcements. And most of all, you have dedicated your life -- your time, your skills, your wisdom -- to Roam. Not a day went by when I was a child that I didn't see you thrusting a pilum through one of our garden trees." I placed my hoof on his shoulder, and turned him around to face me. "Decarius, you are the kind of commander I hope to grow up to be." My host smiled at him and hiccuped.

Decarius looked genuinely shocked -- yeah right, he was probably secretly soaking all the praise up -- as he stared back at the much younger stallion before him, before a much more resolute and sincere smile on his face. "Thank you, Cadian. I'm glad to know that Roam will be in good hands when I asce-..." He stopped abruptly, blinking his eyes hard and gulping, looking up at the ceiling with crazed eyes for a moment. "When I'm gone, is what I mean," He added quickly.

I looked at him for a moment, a concerned frown on my face (I wasn't the one concerned, just so you know). Eventually, there was the sound of some large doors opening, followed by the immediate marching of a dozen or so armored hooves. The sound of chairs being dragged along the ground quickly came next. The light in the room seemed to become even brighter, and the motes multiplied.

"All legates please stand, the emperor of Roam enters the hall," A voice called out.

Cadian breathed in deep, gulping nervously. Noticing that, the legate nudged him a little further into the still blearily illuminated chamber of crystal columns and ghosts of gleaming marble statues. "Come on, Cadian. Your father wants to see you, probably why he came out of his throne room in the first place."

"You think he's lost his sense of humor? I'm going to step right in, and just wreck whatever formalities there are in that meeting," My host replied tentatively.

Decarius laughed, "Oh, I'm sure that amidst the direness of many things right now that he'd welcome his long-awaited child's humor."

As it turns out, this whole time we had been trotting along right next to the wall that I had spotted, and right around it's corner was where the meeting was taking place. Right as I tried to turn the corner, Decarius stopped me, and glanced around it first. "Okay, nothing serious has happened, they're just paying your father respects." He turned around and gave me a warm and encouraging smile. "Go and step right in, child."

I gulped nervously once again; clearly, a great deal of Cadian's feelings composed of anxiety at his return and of his emperor father's reaction. Were I in his position, I would have taken the wine as insurance that things were okay and that I was expected. Then again, I didn't even have a father anymore, so... wait, why the hell am I bringing this up?

"Okay," Cadian muttered at last. "I'm ready." Decarius smiled and gestured me to step in first. I breathed in one last time, and murmured very quietly under my breath, "Hello, father."

"Welcome back, my son," A sagely, warm voice echoed in my head. "I've missed you." While I was personally very surprised at the voice in my head, Cadian seemed to take it as a normal occurrence.

Then, without further delay, I stepped around the corner and I saw the outlines of a zebra wearing purple and white robes being approached one by one by armored legates, next to whom stood a line of praetorians.

But at my second step inside, the light overtook my vision and the motes seemed to reach into my mind. And at my third step, my vision started fading back into the real world.

ooooOOOOoooo

I opened my eyes and was greeted by the sight of dimly lit rubble in a small and cramped room, with water trickling in from a broken pipe overhead. The sounds of rapid, heavy gunfire from Predator's overpowered HMG-AR hybrid was the dominant noise, though his occasional pause did let me hear other things. The sounds of falling rubble, distant explosions, trickling water, and muffled yells were some examples.

But through one of the pauses I managed to pick out some very soft noises: the sound of a tin can being opened and closed, accompanied by the noise of someone breathing in a suppressed manner.

I turned my head and saw Myst in a corner, her face illuminated by a wan ray of light that somehow got into the building. She was sitting right next to me, yet not looking at me. And as I watched, I saw her quickly open her tin can of candy again and pop another white tablet into her mouth. Anger and murderous intent crept into my mind, and I decided to act.

I moved my hooves with the intent to come up behind her and strangle the treacherous whore before she could alert that asshole of a Specter, when metal chains tugged against my limbs. The clanking of iron that followed was tremendously clear in the fair quietness of the room. I looked down at the chains with utter bafflement. Where the hell did they get these things?

She nearly jumped up in surprise, and she spilled some of the tablets as she scuttled away. She turned and looked at me with wide and bloodshot eyes upon a sweaty face, and each breath sounded so shallow they barely made her chest puff in and out. She took in a gasp at the sight of the spilled candies on the floor, and looked between me and them with crazed eyes.

She knelt down and placed some of the less dirtied tablets back into the tin and placed them carefully into her hoodie, before getting up and saying softly, slowly, "Um... hi... Goldwreath." I just kept quiet as I glared back, giving the chains a light tug. She pulled out a key from one of her pockets, saying with a broken little smile, "Um... P-predator told me not to let you go... when you woke up, but I don't like seeing you like this." I still just glared back at her. Her smile faded and turned into a frown. She sighed, "I... know your mad at me. But I'm going to let you go now, okay? So... p-please don't try anything, or I'll have to... have to..." She gulped, shaking her head and starting across the small distance towards us. I could see her shaking as she approached, exhaustion most likely. Mare looked like she'd been through hell while I was out... good, she wouldn't be able to resist the moment I was free.

Four turns of a key and the clank of chains later and I was free. She stood off a little distance from me, shaking as I got up. "Now, um... we should go get the others so we can... you know... get out of here and try to help you out, with, you know, a doctor or somethi-..."

"You're mine now, idiot," I said darkly and with a smug little smile on my face, before taking a casual step forward.

She half-cringed on the floor almost immediately. "G-goldwreath? Wha-what are you doing? Please, you're scaring me," She whimpered and took a few steps back, eyes wider than ever. Ah whimpering, what a nice sound to hear from the traitorous mare that was Myst.

I didn't respond. I just lunged forward, putting so much force into my wings that I must have broken a rib or two when I impacted her; maybe, maybe not, it didn't matter. She lost her breath immediately, yet a puff of air still came out of her mouth as I slammed her back against the wall. She tried to crawl away, placing a hoof to her chest as she did, but I pinned her down by placing all of my weight on her. She squirmed and jerked, yet couldn't wiggle her way free.

"How's it feel, huh? How do you like being forced down and being submitted to the will of others? Huh, how's it feel?!" I yelled down at her, and slowly she stopped struggling. The only sound remaining aside from the distant booming of Predator's weapon was her annoying shallow breathing.

"Please don't hurt me," She begged pathetically, and I smirked sadistically at the meekness of her tone. "I-I was just trying to help..."

"Fuck that shit, I'm going to fuck you up until you can't walk," I murmured darkly, and she immediately froze all actions as she lay pinned below me. "You know of what I speak..." I continued, and put extra emphasis on all of my weight on her; basically, dropping myself.

That got me the reaction I wanted. She started shaking, almost uncontrollably. After a while, she instead started bawling at the top of her lungs as she thrashed around, "No! No, please no!" She even started sobbing like a foal. Oh yes, did I forget to mention that I absolutely reveled in the sounds of her misery and terror? Bitch deserved it.

That went on for a few more moments, with me pinning her down and her trying uselessly to escape from underneath me. I got tired of it, and so decided to just wring her and end her struggling. I got off of her just long enough to twist her around. She tried to escape, but I already had my hooves pressing down on her throat. She started gurgling and choking almost immediately, and tried to push me off with what meager force her weakened body could muster.

Soon I started hearing her throat crackle -- such a wonderful sound -- and her eyes bulged and her hide went pale, but blue around her face. Her struggling slowly ceased, and soon all that was left was the spasmodic flail of a limb. I didn't really give a damn.

Just then she managed to choke out, "Goldwreath... I... please, let me go..." She coughed softly, eyes as bloodshot as ever, but this time with tears streaking across her face. I could see her fear, it was evident in the stress her expression showed.

I released her quickly, only realizing now the cruelty and heinousness of my actions. The realization of what I had done and what I was about to do hit my mind like a sledgehammer, forcing out all thoughts of betrayal and revenge and replacing them with an absolute feeling of guilt and wrongness. I couldn't take it, and so I took several frail steps back, tripped over and fell down on my haunches. Myst just choked and massaged her neck as the color returned to her face, and she too crawled away from me, pushing herself against the wall and pressing her hindlegs tightly together. Only then did I notice I had stepped further into the darkness of the room, while she had crawled away into the light of the doorway. It made me wonder how Predator felt, always keeping himself in check like he did, always watching from the edge of darkness at the world. And it also made me scared that I was becoming like him, too.

"Myst... I am so, so sorry, I just... I couldn't... I wouldn't..." I stammered, before placing a hoof up to my head and try to collect my thoughts. I came to one inescapable conclusion: I had to get away from her first. There was no amount of apology I could say that would undo my act of absolute, irrevocable evil, because I had actually tried to kill her over there! I had, and... and it took me that fucking long to notice? It took THAT to knock me out of my vengeful madness? What would have happened if she didn't manage to choke out those words? Oh, I don't think I would have ever forgiven myself.

She just looked back at me with an unfathomable expression -- whether filled with anger or fear, I couldn't tell -- and so I left the room, picking up my helmet as I went, and found myself facing the city of Roam through a gigantic void where the rest of the building was supposed to be. I couldn't tell where Doodle or Predator were, and honestly right then I didn't care.

Another door, this one clearly having been broken into many times before us, caught my attention, and so I made my way to it. Next to it was a dead zebra with wide open eyes wearing kevlar lorica; a Legionnaire. On the ground floor of the building, on the rubble of the chasm, were more dead Legionnaires. Predator must have done all this. I went inside the room, which was nothing more than an empty space with it's ceiling gone, replaced instead by a gaping hole where wan light flowed in. I sat myself down on some rubble, and started crying.

"What's happening to me?" I coughed in between my choking and sobbing, and hated myself for the mere memory of what I just did.

It had all been so much, so fast. Not just all of this crazy conspiracy and fog and war stuff, but what happened in the stable, too. In just one fell swoop, my whole life -- my incredibly boring but safe life -- had been taken from me. I had gotten absolutely no time to adjust, to cope, and to renew hope in a bright future. I had been under a lot of pressure, and at last that stress, magnified and enhanced by my experiences out here, was showing me just how deep the cracks were. I had been thrust almost immediately into a life of pain and hardships with little more than sympathy from my friends, and even my relationship with them right now was taxed precariously.

I was not prepared to help these people, to be the defender they needed. I wasn't ready for any of this, and my skills had never been so severely tested. I couldn't do this.

I found a little solace in banging my head against the wall repeatedly, though I still hated myself immensely. "I can't protect this place, not like this. Not while I can't even control myself, I just can't..." So what could I do about it? I had taken up the impossible task of helping this city out, and people were depending on me. I had almost nothing on my side to help me, but that was just it, wasn't it? This was what I had gotten myself into. There was nothing I could do about. There was nothing to do, but either give up or keep moving.

"Maybe I should just give up. Stop getting myself involved in this madness before more shit happens. I can't do this shit," I murmured to myself, shaking my head out of disgust. Giving up definitely sounded like the right thing to do, the sane thing to do. Who was I fooling? Just one pony and a group of idealistic friends versus a whole city with a military organization, a sentient cloud of green, and weird demon-things to the south didn't really show good odds. "Fuck, I hate my life," I groaned as I scrunched up my face, hating myself for my indecisiveness. Still, with each passing moment, my head was leaning more and more towards giving up, and I felt a part of me smile at my sane decision.

No, I couldn't! What the hell was I thinking? Fuck giving up!

I slapped myself across the face, saying, "Get it together, boy. You haven't earned that respite, don't forget that. You will stand your ground, you will do better, and you will not give up. You will put on that damned helmet of yours, and you will protect this city, understand?" I shook my head uncertainly, still, but stopped when another though came into my mind, and I said it aloud. "You are a soldier of Roam. You will not yield," I declared resolutely, and nodded my head in firm confirmation of my statement. Still, I imagined a great many disappointed brain cells voicing their disapproval in my head.

Then my eyes widened at what I just said. "Well, fuck. I actually just convinced myself to keep doing this shit." I groaned loudly, and I sighed with resignation, "Fuck my life. If this isn't a testament to my madness, it's at least a testament to my suicidal ambition." Heh, funny. Four weeks ago, the moment I learned I was on a suicidal mission, I would have given the thing more thought. Then again, I didn't know what I'd be facing.

So I did the only thing I could at the moment. I just put on my helmet and sat back down. I still didn't feel any better about myself in regards to what happened earlier, and in fact I had not finished shedding my own broken tears of stress. Still, with the thought of quitting out of the picture for the moment, I could at least concentrate all my emotion to making myself feel like the vengeful scum and worthless friend I was.

A few minutes into my self-loathing filled bawling and I felt a presence erupt in front of me. It was comparatively small to, say, Predator, but it was there. And I knew who it was. She was shy, and too scared to say anything to the one who had so badly hurt her less than ten minutes ago.

I opened my eyes and saw the light of day flow in through the open doorway, and to my side it illuminated a shadow of a mare wearing a hoodie. Her eyes were less bloodshot than earlier, though they still gave her this look of paranoid fear and desperation. I knew part of her expression was because of what I did, and especially because of what I had threatened to do.

There wasn't much to say. I wiped my tears from my face, feeling the grime wash away in muddy little drops. I sniffed, "Myst, I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me, you have to understand. That wasn't me, and I know that now. And what I threatened to do..." I shuddered and said with a shaky little exhale, "The moment I turn into a rapist is the moment I'll throw myself on a pike."

She shuddered at my words, yet strangely approached with the most queer look of concern on her face. She sat herself down on the rubble near me, dragging herself slowly closer. As she went, I could sense the uncertainty of her decision; I could see her hindlegs pressing more tightly together with each inch.

Finally she sat right next to me, and even went so far as to place a hoof on my shoulder, patting me slowly and uncertainly. Finally, she asked in a voice so strained and raspy I almost didn't recognize it to be hers, "You can talk to me, you know. I'm here for y-... I'm your friend." She almost squawked out the last few words. Clearly, she was trying to say something else. I wondered what it was.

Fine, I'll talk. I needed to talk. And so I said, "I don't know, Myst. What happened earlier... when I saw myself heal... I was jubilant. Jubilant because I thought that-that I could use that. Use that to be better, to be good enough to help these people. I've failed, Myst. You and Skyfire, hell maybe even Zaita, may not think it, and I may not believe it, but I've failed at almost everything I've done ever since being outside. Look around you, Myst. How am I supposed to fight this? How am I supposed to face this if I can't succeed at anything? If I don't have a sort of... edge over this place?" I shook and covered my face with a hoof in shame.

She just sat there for the longest moment, eyes looking around uncertainly. Then, at last, she asked softly in a strangely kind tone, "Why are you trying to save everyone here, Goldwreath? What's driving you to keep doing this to yourself? Why are you doing all this?"

I didn't think about the answer. It just came out of my mouth naturally, like I was born to pull out witty lines out of thin air. "The moment I tell myself I don't deserve the hell I'm going through is the moment I'll have told the ultimate lie. I deserve everything I get, because they challenge me to prove myself worthy of the title I've been given, this... responsibility I've taken up. I keep pushing myself because I don't want others to suffer for my inadequacies, and because I need to feel like all the time I spent bettering myself didn't go to waste. And through it all I just have to believe that it's all worthwhile because my cause is just."

She looked up at me, a look of understanding forming on her face. "Well, you don't have to face it all on your own you know. Me and Skyfire and Zaita are here for you, we're your friends. We care about you." There was a short pause, and then she said in a soft whisper as she leaned close, "I care about you, Goldwreath."

"Thanks for the sympathy. You have no idea how much I appreciate it," I replied, shaking my head, still unsure if what I was hearing was correct. Then I glanced behind me at her, and saw a strange look on her face. "Why are you looking at me like that?" She just looked back at me, keeping quiet. There was this look in her eyes, this... flame of a sort, if that makes sense. She cleared her throat and nudged herself forward a little. I gave her a quizzical look, "What's going on here?"

She still didn't respond, just looking back at me, darting her gaze between each of my eyes. At last she whispered softly, seeming a little bit worried by my obliviousness, if her biting of her lip was any indication, "I care about you, Goldwreath." Then she leaned back, seeming nervous and hopeful for my reaction. Her hooves played around each other, shuffling in an anxious manner.

I raised my eyebrow at her. "Yeah, I know, I'm your friend. What's your point?" I asked, raising my head skeptically. Seriously, this was beginning to really confuse me.

She sighed and closed her eyes, as if readying herself for something. She gulped and opened her lids, and put on a little hesitant smile on her face. "This is what I mean," She said, and half-closed her eyes and started leaning forward.

I just looked at that for a moment, eyes narrowed dumbly and mouth hung slightly out of confusion. What, was she... trying to give me a hug or something? Wait... hugs...

Then it hit me.

'Wait, where the heck is this coming from? Isn't Myst supposed to be the shy one? Di-did she forget what happened earlier?' I stammered in my head, while my physical body was left basically limp in real life. How was I supposed to deal with this? I had never even kissed a mare before, or even seen that kind of contact outside of movies and comics, what if I sucked at it? My heart started pounding in my chest and my breathing became hot in my mouth as my panic spiked, and I felt the strangest fluttering in my chest. My wings started flaring out, much to my embarrassment and shame.

Then I felt her lips on mine, and all my thoughts and panic went out the window. Even the remnants of my guilt and terror at what I had done earlier immediately went away.

My attention snapped back to reality, and my eyes went wide as I took in the sight of the mare before me. She pulled away for a moment, cheeks flaming more than ever. She nudged forward tentatively and bit her lower lip, as if unsure I wanted it. I wanted it so much, and so I pressed forward and locked her lips with mine, causing her to gasp in surprise. She recovered and pushed herself against me, and I responded by laying on my back on the rubble and letting her onto my chest, still returning the affection in the form of a passionate kiss. My helmet clattered off of my head, but I didn't mind; it was beginning to chafe my forehead, anyway. The feeling of her body against mine was the most arousing and warm sensation I had ever had. I didn't even question where she had learned to be such a great kisser.

She pulled away for a while to smile down at me with the most loving smile I had ever gotten from a mare in my life (aside from my mother, but that's different). There was this... this look of satisfaction and bliss on her face that I had never seen on her before, and it made me smile up at her because I knew I was the source of her joy. I could be something aside from a failure, who knew? My mouth opened wide as I saw reach her hooves up to her hoodie and pull it down, allowing me sight of her barely seen mane. Then she proceeded to unzip her hoodie entirely, and she put the clothing aside and lay against my chest. She was beautiful, make no mistake, and even her still bloodshot eyes didn't mar the sight of her.

I felt her breath on my face as our lips met again, her hooves stroking my cheeks. My own hooves found their way onto her back, and I caressed it, making her moan in delight and excitement. Just to hear the wondrous and extremely arousing sound again, I rubbed her hide there more vigorously, and it came even louder. I decided to make a move, and slid my hooves further along until they made contact with her flanks right beside her tail.

She gasped in surprise, and pulled away to let me see a look of uncertainty and minuscule fear on her flushing face, an expression that seemed to recall what nearly happened to her before. She bit her lip and glanced back there, before turning to look at me with a vaguely paranoid expression. "I'm sorry," I said softly, feeling stupid to have tried it in the first place; not like I would actually have done her even if I did get the chance, mind you. I pulled my hooves away urgently and rested them on her back instead, feeling a little disappointed.

She relaxed at that and gave me a grateful little smile, and I returned it as affectionately as I could. "Thank you for being considerate," She said softly, genuinely. She stroked my cheek in apparent gratitude, and kissed me again.

But among all things to run into my mind, an image of her tying me down to a chair was what gripped my attention. That wondrous fluttering in my chest was brutally murdered, and I tensed so much that I thought my muscles would sprain themselves.

My eyes shot wide open as an overwhelming sense of danger flooded into my head and killed off all feelings of bliss. Her lids fluttered open and widened at the sight of my own eyes staring at her. "No!" I gasped, and pushed her away from me. Her expression turned confused, and very much concerned.

"Goldwreath, I'm... I-I... I don't... I wouldn't ever..." She stammered as she leaned back in, seeming desperate to assuage my concern. I looked back at her with paranoia in my eyes, and pushed her away with a hoof. Then realization dawned on her face, and she breathed, "Goldwreath... I would never hurt you like that, you have to believe me." I knew that, of course. I don't think she would ever have it in her to become... that, being paranoid it would happen to her and all.

I gulped and sat up, and she got off me and sat down right by my side. I brought a hoof up to my head, massaging it while she scooted closer. "I know," I replied solemnly, before turning and looking at her anxious and desperate expression. Clearly, I wasn't the only one who didn't want that experience to end. "But... I'm sorry, this is just... really... sudden. I've... never even considered a mare would ever even hug me, much less kiss me. I... don't know how to handle it. It's... weird."

I got up and trotted slowly towards the center of the room, shaking my head in confusion. "I... need to think about this, Myst. Please," I begged despite her already saddened and even more desperate expression. Still, she didn't disagree, instead looking at the ground and whimpering. "Thanks for understanding," I said, and started for the outside.

"Goldwreath... um, I..." She said softly, almost whispering, before I closed the door behind me.

I stopped and stood at the edge of the chasm, looking out over the city and shaking my head indolently. I could still hear Predator's HMG-AR firing, almost non-stop. Then I sighed deeply and muttered to myself, "Fuck, I'm actually going to ask the guy for relationship advice." I canted my head slightly in thought and shook my head slowly, before coming to the conclusion that I was ACTUALLY going to do this.

I glanced one more time at the door, finding it unopened with Myst still inside, and started down a small dirt path on the side of the building leading down to the first floor.

From the ruined and exposed first floor, I could see that the area beyond was some kind of business district, the building I was in included. The street in front was fairly wide but cracked and broken beyond any hope of repair. Mounds of rubble and steel blocked off entire smaller roads.

I started searching the area. But as I did, a painful throbbing erupted in my head.

*** Magnus et Potens Roamanus ***

"Where in the name of Jupiter's electric thunderbolt dildo is that bastardus?" I asked out of pure exasperation as I did my second sweep of the area, not taking heed of the possible danger I was in; I was trying to clear all my thoughts for the chance that how I completely blew it earlier would be forgotten. Also, you'd think that finding a guy with a very loud and very big machine gun would be easy, yet strangely you'd be wrong. There was just this sense of confusion I had that directed me to a place where he obviously wasn't. Maybe it was the other gunshots, or something else.

I stopped for a moment, remembering the emotions and feelings of what had happened less than five minutes ago. I glanced up at the building above me, knowing that somewhere up there was a very confused and possibly very broken-hearted Myst. Guilt and confusion flooded into my mind, followed by immediate longing. So close, I was so close to getting a break, and I blew it big time. With just one illogical mental image, I completely shattered a moment that could have given both of our lives more meaning. So much for that warm feeling after first kisses, I felt cold and disappointed instead.

I decided that he was not in the immediate vicinity, and made my way to an unblocked side road, where more dead Legionnaires and a centurion lay with great bloody holes in their bodies. There was the occasional body of what appeared to be raiders or bandits of a sort wearing a uniform outfit of metal-studded barding with flame patterns painted on them. I paid them no attention; probably just some random gang of barbarians. Off to the side, about a hundred meters away, was the main highway we were trotting along earlier.

I started trotting around, towards the sounds of the gun producing the closest resembling noise to Predator's weapon. That lead me to a side street of one of the buildings right next to the one I was in, and I found the path was filled with more Legionnaire corpses, these ones charred and burned. I followed a trail of of melted metal and blackened kevlar bits, and soon I started hearing the sounds of battle; well, not really 'battle', but more like 'people shouting in a manner suggestive of battle'.

I turned the corner and took cover behind an old dumpster, and peered out from the side.

The area beyond seemed like an old parking lot. In here was a group of sixteen Legionnaires -- two controberniums -- with a centurion in the front of the group, which was pressed up against the wall of a building. All of them looked like they'd been fighting for quite a while, and some even had burn marks and blood splattered over them. Their faces were grim and hard, seeming ready for death.

Surrounding the group and keeping them from escaping was a crowd of around fifty very angry and very hysterical looking zebras, these ones wearing the same metal-studded barding as the corpses I saw earlier. They had guns and flamethrowers, yet they didn't seem to be using them; the same with the Legionnaires, minus the flamethrowers. I came to the conclusion that both sides had run out of ammo, and indeed the ground here was littered with bullet casings.

The gang group just continued to rave and laugh at the Legionnaires, occasionally stepping forward and throwing a rock or a piece of debris of some sort. Clearly, they didn't want to actually attack the Legionnaires in a melee confrontation.

But then one of them stepped in front of the others, and turned to them and raised his flamethrower in the air like a heavy stick. He shouted something in tribal zebra -- not imperial zebra, as you've heard in memory orbs from Roamans -- and began taking a few tentative steps towards the Legionnaires, occasionally turning to his comrades and urging them to come along. Soon the others joined in, and eventually they seemed like a scattered but very large wave of angry protesters charging a line of riot police.

The centurion -- I'll just call them kenturions from time to time to respect Roaman linguistics -- took a look at them, raising his head skeptically. And as the nearest ganger got within twenty feet, the centurion brought up a whistle to his mouth and blew. At the sound of it the Legionnaires brought up their shields as one, preparing for the onslaught. The kenturion brought up his own shield, a slightly smaller and circular red object with a painting of a golden eagle on it, and drew his gladius.

The ganger's flamethrower smacked against the kenturion's shield, yielding no result aside from a loud clang of metal on metal. The centurion parried the blow with his shield, before raising it up and thrusting his sword forward in a powerful stab. The blade punched through the cobbled-together zebra's barding easily, and blood exploded out of the zebra's spine.

The other gangers promptly reached the rest of the Legionnaires, who blocked their initial blow easily with a similar move as the centurion's. Soon, every front-line Legionnaire was occupied, blocking and stabbing against the savage beating of at least three of the gangers. And as they continued to block and stab and parry and slash, I could tell that warding off the onslaught of the heavy blows was beginning to take their toll. I could see the exhaustion in their faces, the fear in their eyes.

The centurion observed that as quickly as I did, and shield-bashed his attacker and quickly brought up the whistle before giving it a quick and loud blow. The other Legionnaires disregarded whatever they were doing and simply bashed their shield forward as well, pushing away their own attackers and allowing the second line of Legionnaires to replace them at the front line just as the gangers recovered and charged again.

And then they were at it again. The gangers would charge again and again like mindless fools, heedless of their casualties, while the Legionnaires maintained formation, bashing and blocking and stabbing. It was a sight to behold, seeing Roaman discipline in action. These were the tactics the ancient Roamans used to conquer the known world, and even in times where these tactics would have been rendered primitive -- during and after the war -- they were still effective. It made the Roaman fanboy in me orgasm from delight.

"Shields on me!" The centurion yelled in a masculine, rough voice, and gave the whistle a long and hard blow. The Legionnaires lunged forward, bashing whoever was in front with a rib-cracking smack of their shields, and gathered together in a tight formation resembling a dome. Soon they were completely encased in a bubble of metal, and started making their way out of the area as the gangers continued throwing themselves against the sphere like the imbeciles they were.

I had the highest hopes they would escape and get to safety, even if they would continue living to terrorize the city, when the area suddenly became very hot very fast.

Out of the corner where they would have gone to escape came a figure clad in black, with a weapon with a barrel glowing red hot and with smoke coming out of it like a stick of incense burning on the hills of Roam. The figure's eyes glowed a murderous red, and his mere presence caused the stop of all activity within the area, whether from the Legionnaires or from the gangers. And with his presence came an almost immediate sweat-inducing heat.

Predator shook his head idly at the shield formation just as Legionnaires stopped moving, while the gangers stood where they were, as if waiting for something. "So feeble," He declared plainly, and raised up one of his forehooves and pointed it at the shield formation.

A great wave of heat and piercing signal passed through the air, concentrating on the dome of shields. The mere passing of the wave caused me to lose my breath.

And then, just like that, a great fiery explosion erupted from within the dome, immolating all the Legionnaires within with fiery demise. Some of them didn't burn to an ash immediately, and started running around, screaming. The gangers laughed sadistically, beating to death any burning Legionnaires they could get their hooves on. Amidst the confusion, the centurion, his entire left foreleg burned to a crisp, crawled away and lay against the dumpster.

"Alright, Excoquat Aestibus, gather around me," Predator commanded simply, and the gangers -- the Molten Tides, if I remembered the name -- gathered around him with wild, nearly reverent vigor. Predator looked them over, declaring, "I am very disappointed with you, my children. I gave you one task, one task, to perform while I was destroying a Legion base, and you failed miserably. I am not pleased."

The crowd whimpered and cried out in disappointment, until one of them asked aloud, "What would you have us do to atone for our sins, oh great and powerful Arsonist, Son of Pyro?"

There was a mental snicker in my head, and I saw Predator turn his head to face me. 'These idiots,' he seemed to say.

He turned to look them over, proclaiming, "Your god is a merciful one, but only fire will cleanse these heinous disappointments." He gestured a hoof at each of them, "It seems your immolation will come sooner than you expected."

Despite everything, their faces lit up with joy, and so the one who spoke earlier declared once more, "We give our lives to you, Arsonist!" Then he raised his weapon, and the others followed suit, yelling at the sky with zealous enthusiasm.

'Good,' Predator spoke in my head, and another great wave of heat washed over the whole area, focusing on each of the gangers.

At once they all caught fire, still screaming at the sky with blind zeal and fury. "For Pyro!" They yelled again and again, until at last their cries died down and disappeared with their ashes into the wind.

And then Predator just stood there, shaking his head at any remaining ash. "Superstitious idiots," He said aloud, and idly trotted to my dumpster, where the centurion lay shaking and bleeding out of his fried leg. At Predator's approach he pulled out a pistol and pulled the trigger, but there was just a click.

The centurion's face turned resigned and he sighed, dropping the pistol onto the ground next to him. I could only listen as Predator approached.

"Now, now," Predator said plainly, "Let's not give up on the possibility that there's still ammo in this. You were fighting hard, it wouldn't be a surprise if your equipment jammed." There was the sound of the pistol being picked up, promptly followed by the sound of the magazine sliding out. There was a short pause. "Ah, there's your problem," He said, "The spring's jammed into this little crevice over here, see? You still have three rounds in here. This should be easy to fix." There was a twang of metal, followed by the sound of the magazine being slid back into the gun, then the cocking of a mechanism. "There we go. Now I'm going to have to kill you with this, I don't want to waste my own ammo."

Hell no. I got up and darted around the corner just in time to see Predator push the barrel against the centurion's forehead beneath his helmet's brow plate. "Predator!" I called, "You are not executing this Legionnaire. I don't care what you say, this guy's life can improve, and I will NOT let you take that from him!" I panted heavily, hoping to appear fierce or otherwise convicted enough to persuade the operative to let this one go. Funny, I don't think I would have felt the same way about this guy if I hadn't seen how good of a field officer he was.

The centurion glanced to me, face sweaty and resigned, before a little smile of hope lit up on his features, and damn me if I was going to let his trust in me die out.

Predator nodded slowly and said with a bored and indifferent tone, "Mhm... yes... I see..." He spoke a little louder, saying, "Well, if I were trying to kill him on the account of him suffering a miserable life -- which he is not -- then perhaps I would release him into your custody and let you keep your promise, and then you'd have another individual like Doodle on on your little group." I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him, wondering where he was going with this. So he spoke again, "But I am NOT trying to kill him on that account. I am going to kill him because he is my enemy." Then he pressed the barrel against the centurion's head, and without any hesitation whatsoever blew his brains out of his skull.

Well... damn me.

I stood there, shaken and frozen, until I took several steps closer to his dead body and my knees gave out, and I kneeled close to his corpse. "No... no..." I murmured, feeling tears form in my eyes as I put a hoof to his metallic mesh-clad shoulder. His face hadn't moved from it's hopeful little smile; Predator hadn't even given him the time to notice the barrel against his head. At least he died with some hope.

But I still failed to deliver, to save him. I still failed to grab an opportunity that was literally right there in front of me, an opportunity to... to SAVE someone from needless death. Roam just lost another officer.

I turned to face Predator, my eyes puffy and red and mouth agape in sorrow, and saw him loading six different units of the same HMG-AR weapon, all of them smoking and with red barrels. Where he even pulled those out of, I don't know -- his backpack? Most likely, damned thing could fit anything.

But I didn't really pay that much attention back them, feeling my heart heavy with disbelief and sadness. "W-why?" I asked, crawling a few inches away before getting up, sniffing. "Why did you do that? You... you just... without even thinking..."

"Collect your thoughts and use your reasoning, boy," Predator replied, his back not even turned to me. "Emotions cloud judgement, sympathetic value places what's less important higher on the priority list than what's actually important. Right now, your mind is festering with both." He glanced over his shoulder at me, the glow in his eyes gone. "Use your logic; had I released him, what could happen? Would he survive without his combat limb? And if he did, would he not tell the nearest Legion camp that the Arsonist and the Praetorian are together, conveniently close for one ambush? And an even more important question, would you be able to face the consequences of your... 'mercy'?"

I just looked back at him, eyes still puffy and breathing hard. I glanced behind me at the centurion, and my gaze met his dead stare. I gulped, and turned around. "He could have had a life, Predator. Something else... I don't know, with his leg gone, maybe he'd be forced to retire from service? Maybe then he could... he could do something else with his life."

Predator shook his head sagely as he glanced back at me. "So idealistic," He murmured, just loud enough for me to hear. He turned around completely, still loading one of his weapons. "Idealism, Goldwreath, is a strange thing. In the right time, under the right circumstances and with the right people to propagate it, your philosophy could have spread to every corner of the empire, published on paper and posted in the Databanks. Your words and actions could have guided any number of confused and depressed Roamans to a new of life, a new way of looking at the harshness of the world. You could have been recognized as an advocate of peace who'd been through war, and for that you could have been famous. You could have been great."

Then he finished loading his weapon, and idly stuffed it into his backpack, before proceeding to pick up another. "But idealism and philosophy in times of mental degradation, such as now, gets people killed. I have seen. Passionate and determined individuals like yourselves, charging into the mechanisms of the world's chaos, hoping to diagnose the problem and fix it. And guess what? They got caught in the gears, crushed to a pulp by the massive, unfixable corruption of the enigma that is nature." He sighed, as if for once he himself didn't like his words. "There is only adaption; it justifies all actions, good or bad. It is the only alternative."

I stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say in response. Was that true? Was I just an idealistic fool, unable to accept the reality of the world, unable to adapt? Would I indeed die because of what I believed in? For sure that was seeming more and more likely; just about everything I had suffered, specifically my many near-deaths, I suffered for the opportunity to impose justice on myself for my weaknesses and to protect Roam and my friends. And the more I thought about it, the more I couldn't help but recognize the undeniable truth: my idealism would very likely get me or someone I loved killed. What then? If I lived, would I pursue my ambition to improve the world, or would I adapt to it? And if I adapted, what would become of me? Would I become like Predator, or raiders, or something else? What would I do then?

He noticed my silence and spoke, "Ah, but you did not come here to get a lecture on wasteland life, did you? Of course you didn't." He sat down on the ground, still loading his weapons with a seemingly endless supply of 50.cal ammo. "Come, tell me of your troubles, for my mind is currently willing to listen."

My sadness and indecisiveness faded almost immediately, partially because I didn't want to feel sad (after all, who did?) and partially because the main focus of my mind was still the little scene with Myst about five minutes ago.

Shit, was I actually going to talk to him about this? Well, cover me in oil and immolate me, I was. Great, I WAS going crazy

I sat down next to him, feeling silly and foolish that I was actually going to do this. But what the heck? I was already here, and went through seeing all that for this, might as well get it over with. I breathed in deep, and let out in one full rant, "I woke up and saw Myst eating candy, and I was so fucking mad I wanted to strangle her. She noticed I was awake and let me go, and I attacked her and pinned her down, even threatening to rape her. I realized what I was doing before I strangled her to death and went to a room and broke down. Then she came in and we made out right there on the rubble. I was really confused by it, so I went to look for you so you could give me some advice. Then I saw all this and now here we are." I took in a heavy gasp of air, and closed my mouth.

He just looked at me for the longest time, unmoving. I tried to sense his emotions, but found nothing. The area became eerily silent as time went on, and I almost asked if he was paralyzed.

At last he spoke slowly with an incredulous tone, "So... let me get this straight. Your friend whom I SPECIFICALLY told not to let you go when you woke up did the exact opposite of what I told her to do, and after which you attacked her, threatened to rape her despite knowing her immense fear of said atrocity occurring to her. Afterwards, when you regained control of yourself over your rage, you then proceeded to exit the room and into another, where you then bawled like a pathetic little infant for several minutes. She then entered, and you two... made out. Now, I assume that you stopped the experience from resuming because a subconscious part of you is also terrified at being abused, and so you thought up some excuse to pardon yourself from the room. You then went out into the very dangerous streets of Roam, unarmed and unarmored, so you could ask for advice from me. Am I correct?"

"Well... yeah. So, what do you think?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't think up some kind of snide remark.

"I think that you are an extremely stupid stallion for coming out here like this and going through all that effort just to complete a VERY unimportant objective," He said, then finished loading his weapons and stuffed all of them save one into his backpack.

I rolled my eyes in slight annoyance, before saying, "No, I mean what do you think about me and Myst? She likes me, clearly, and now that I know that I'm... I think the feeling's becoming mutual. But... I don't know what to do."

"And you think that I am the best person to ask regarding this? Why don't you talk to her about it?" He replied.

"Because... well, do people do that? Talk to the one they're confused about, I mean? Doesn't seem right..." I explained. I had never been in a relationship, so I really didn't know.

He shrugged. "I had a brother and two parents who died due to cancer. My only real family was my brother's, his children specifically. No special someone, no love life." He started trotting towards me. "I don't have much experience when it comes to this sort of thing, so I really don't know. And neither do I really care; I have much more important things to concern myself with."

Oh. "I'm sorry," I said, "I know what it's like to lose parents." I sighed and changed the topic quickly, not wanting to stay on this heart-tugging one. "Anyway, so you really have nothing to say that could help me out?" I asked, ears drooping in disappointment. So I had done all this for nothing...

He was silent for moment, probably still on the whole 'sorry your family's dead' thing. At last he replied, "What advice I can give I have given. Talk to her, not me." And then he trotted away from me to begin scavenging whatever was salvageable off of the many burnt corpses in the area.

Despite everything, I found myself doing the same. The savage barbarians I found no qualms in looting, though the fact that they had let themselves burn to an ash meant that whatever I would attempt to procure from their corpses would be little more than melted metal and burnt leather. They didn't even have any ammo on them, and their flamethrowers were far too numerous and heavy for me to carry (Predator might have been able carry it all, but I decided not to ask). Still, I was able to pilfer a few blackened caps and some other useful stuff: a hammer, a wire cutter, and a pair of heavy rubber hoof-boots. I placed those on and held onto my other pilfered stuff; I had forgotten my saddlebags. The Legionnaires' armor was salvageable, but the suits were too deformed and blackened to have been able to adequately protect me from anything but the weakest of attacks.

Then my gaze drifted to the dead centurion, and a great surge of a dutiful feeling filled my heart. I trotted over to him whilst Predator continued salvaging the corpses, even the ones I had picked, and kneeled down to look him over.

His helmet was scratched and bloodied, the plumes stained black from dried blood. His shield, laying several meters from him, was darkened with ash and the paint was peeling off, but otherwise was in good condition. His gladius was nicked and slightly bent from the times he had used it. His armor greatly resembled an ancient Roaman centurion's in that it consisted of a shirt of chain mail made out of synthetic metal, but this time it had shoulder and chest ceramic plates weaved in with it. Also, despite having been set ablaze, it was in fairly good condition, as the flame had only burned his flesh and not the synthetic metal mesh.

That feeling in my head drove me to begin unstrapping his armor off of him. Not only would it do me more good than it would his corpse, but maybe in wearing it I could do his leadership skills a little justice and protect Roam, like a real centurion would. That... and the fact that I felt really exposed without my Praetorian armor, I guess I kind of wanted something that resembled it in one key aspect. Next I took his shield and slung it across my back. I left his helmet and his sword alone, though; I don't think I would have been able to take them even if I wanted to. They represented what he was and what he did; he fought for Roam as her officer. I could respect him for that.

I took his whistle, too. It was this shiny little metal object on a chain necklace. It seemed useful if I wanted to control my group, and if Skyfire went nuts again, then at least I could whistle her to her senses. I put it around my neck, feeling a little bit glad to have a means of control when Skyfire went berserk.

I finally removed his armor off of him and started stepping in it. Luckily it's shirt-like nature allowed it to accommodate my size, as it would really have sucked if it couldn't, not to mention awkward as hell.

I was halfway finished with getting myself inside, when Predator said from my side, "What are you doing?" He sounded disbelieving; perhaps I had crossed some kind of moral line of some sort. Then again, if they were HIS moral lines, I wouldn't really have minded breaking them. In fact, I had to question whether or not he had any concrete moral lines at all.

"Simple. I need protection, he doesn't. This armor's no good on a corpse. It's only logical," I replied, glancing over at him with mild satisfaction. "After all, if he can't live to do his job, then I will."

Predator looked at me for a moment, and shook his head. "So sentimental," He groaned, and resumed his salvaging.

'Maybe,' I thought. 'But sentiments are what separate barbarians from civilized people.' And with that thought in mind, I resumed strapping the lorica hamata on with a small smile on my face.

*** Magnus et Potens Roamanus ***

The area was pilfered, our exit unhindered. The corners were dusty, for the wind was gusty. Predator carried, while I simply tarried. I tarried for I could not conclude, among all things, how to solve the problem of uncomfortable wings.

Now enough rhyming, I was just in the mood. The reason I said that, to put it lightly, is because my still healing wings felt really constrained tucked away underneath the mail shirt. I wouldn't have been able to fly in it, so I had to cut away circular portions for my wings to jut out of. Those wire cutters really helped. Predator was annoyed by the amount of time it took to cut, and he almost decided to just leave without me.

But at last I finished, and with my wings feeling the wind around them I felt much better.

After a while I couldn't help but bring up a conversation. "So you mind explaining what happened earlier?" I prodded as we finally started out of the area and back towards the structure where Myst was. I didn't know where Doodle was at, though. Well, surely Myst or Predator wouldn't just leave her without knowing where she was... right?

"You're going to have to be more specific; lots of things happened 'earlier'," Predator said with a tone of receding annoyance, much to my own exasperation.

"That whole 'pinning me down and forcing me into a memory orb' thing. I'd like an explanation," I replied, resisting the urge to attack the guy as a spike of rage erupted in my head over my memory of his involvement in the 'betrayal'.

"Simple," He said, "You weren't acting like yourself. I've been monitoring you ever since you passed into the city a month ago; I know you just about as well as your friends do, and I was quite disturbed at how... serene you seemed. It was... unnatural."

"Why?" I asked. "What's so very disturbing about a stallion taking joy in a little gift from Tod?"

At that he whirled on me with surprising speed and said with a correcting tone, "Taking joy in gifts is good, but not when that 'gift', intentional or not, comes from something like him. Nothing he does is good, and you would do well to remember that." He snorted, "Take it from a guy who once welcomed that piece of shit into his body with open hooves. Believe me, you do not want to be under him if he decides to betray you. Which isn't likely; he openly hates you at this point."

I huffed and sighed, feeling disappointed and wistful at the same time, and just a tad worried at what Tod would do next. I had thought that I could use it to be better, and yet here I was getting a lecture on how no gift of the like would ever be good. "But if I got hurt again, wouldn't the same thing happen? Wouldn't I just heal like earlier?" I asked as a sliver of hope ignited in my head.

"No, I tore that particular bit of his influence over your biology out of you when you were out," He said plainly, and that hope died miserably.

Well... wait, how would he... ugh, I don't even want to know. I sighed, "Fine, no point brooding over that. But at least tell me where you got the memory orb. That was one of the more interesting ones that I've viewed, actually."

"I found it in the hooves of some skeleton in some armored transport heading off to the west; strange direction, really. All of the Roaman citizens were evacuating to the east, who'd go the other way? Probably some idiot," He grumbled and shook his head. Then he slowly turned his head to look at me. "Why? Who was in there?" He asked with mild curiosity.

"Some guy named Cadian, apparently the Caesar's son. The whole orb was about him coming back from some place called Hadrian's wall," I replied, and he stopped trotting almost immediately. "What?"

"You... saw Lord Cadian?" He asked slowly. He looked up at the sky, "Then... that would mean that that skeleton..." He gasped, "If it was, then that means that I ripped off the foreleg bones of imperial royalty. Oh gods..."

He continued like that for a moment, murmuring to himself. At last I interrupted, "Uh... no. I would have, if I wasn't him, I suppose," I wondered just why Predator was so concerned. He didn't even live back... oh wait, he did. Nevermind, forgetfulness on my part.

He snapped his head to me and said in a deep breath, "You lucky bastard. It's times like this that I wish that I could get into those orbs." I gave him a shocked expression, and opened my mouth to speak. "And before you ask, I can't get into memory orbs for the reason that my head isn't... compatible with that magic. Believe me, I've tried." He took in shallow, shaky breath, "It is not an experience I want to repeat."

We continued on in silence after that, which thankfully gave me the opportunity to think about what I thought I should have been thinking about instead of focusing on my petty anger against actions that were probably good for me, anyway. Predator's murmurs about the skeleton did distract me, though. What can I say, the possibility of Cadian's remains being in that vehicle was a damned distracting little thought. I had BEEN the guy, after all.

At last we turned the corner back, and faced the front face of the building -- which from the outside looked like an open maw with teeth of concrete -- that I had woken up in. To my immense relief, I saw Doodle in the front, happily reading her book with her little pink sock in her mouth. I didn't even wonder where sue had been. At the sight of us her face lit up with excitement, and she started galloping towards us. As she went, she called out, "Miss Myst! They're back!"

There came the sound of shifting rubble, and Myst came out from the ruined doorway of the first floor, a look of immense concern and anxiety on her face. That look somewhat faded and was replaced by confusion when she saw my new outfit.

Doodle reached Predator and jumped at his leg, wrapping her little hoovsies around his limb. "Where were you mister Predator and mister Golwdreath? I was so worried! When miss Myst told me about mister Goldwreath leaving a while ago, I was real sad and a little confused because I didn't get to talk to him!" She turned to me, eyes wide. "Why'd you go away instead of talking to me?!" She cried.

"Well, Doodle... it's because... well, fu-... erm, sorry, I just... gah..." I stuttered and stammered, trying and failing to dance around the real reason I had stomped off earlier. It... wasn't really the sort of thing to explain to a filly, especially one as fairly naive as Doodle.

Predator, surprisingly, came to the rescue. "Now Doodle," He said kindly, "Goldwreath here has a lot on his mind. He has a lot to worry about, and he's still sorting through it all. So to let him finish and later on talk to you, why not talk to me first?"

Doodle looked between us for a moment, seeming a little freaked out by my nervous smile. Then at last she looked to Predator again and smiled. "Okay!" She said gleefully, and started bouncing up and down in excitement. "Tell me what happened, tell me what happened!" She repeated over and over.

"Well, it all started when I saw a group of Legionnaires in a building..." He started, and she sat down immediately, eyes going wide as bowling balls as she listened.

I smiled at that, finding her curiosity both amusing and just plain adorable. Ah children, they deserved so much better than the wasteland.

Then I turned to see Myst looking at me anxiously, scratching her left foreleg with her right one and biting her lip. Her eyes quivered with fragile uncertainty, and her body shook slightly as though she were afraid. Which, considering what I had done earlier, was fairly likely.

Taking on a preparatory breath, I started trotting over to her while Predator tried to make his slaughter of Legionnaires sound like they were playing hide and seek.

"Um... h-hi, Goldwreath," She said softly, taking a step back as I got closer. She took in a shaky breath and produced from behind the doorway my saddlebags, with all my belongings tucked neatly inside, with my weapons sticking out. Next she produced my helmet, and laid it on the ground next to my stuff.

I looked down at my helmet, only now giving it a good look since I had left the stable.

It looked like a piece of metal that had been through hell, basically. It's plumes, once bright red, were now bloodied and dark, matted down to the metal by the solidified grime. The cheek plate that had possibly saved my life when I got shot outside the ZSI HQ was little more than a piece of sharp-edged steel. The brow plate's numeral 'III' was so filthy and coated with dirt that it was difficult to tell if there was was a numeral at all. The head plate was so severely bent and scratched from the beating I had gotten from those pyromaniacs that it looked like desiccated mud. There were even burn marks along the back from when I had been set ablaze.

Through thick and thin, this thing had been with me, and saved me more than once. And with that in mind, I reverently picked it up and strapped it on with what little excuse of straps remained. Myst just looked on, sighing as she watched.

"I, um... prepared your stuff... for when you got back. So... yeah..." She said awkwardly, giving me a sheepish grin. It wavered as I looked back at her, and not with any scorn or anger, mind you.

"You mind explaining what happened back there?" I asked.

"Oh. Well, it's simple. I... wanted to have some candy while you were out," She said in a rush, giving me another nervous smile.

I gave her a blank expression. "You know what I mean, Myst." Okay, that may have come out more seriously than I intended...

She frowned and looked to the ground uncertainly. "You mean about... what happened in the room?" She asked slowly.

I nodded, "Yes, exactly."

She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out at first was a little squeak. Still, she finally managed to get out, "I... well, you just seemed so... exhausted. Tired, stressed, angry, so... unhappy. And... and so I thought that maybe if you could feel... good for just a little while, then maybe you'd be a little more... well, satisfied." She looked up at me, saying, "So I thought that, if I could... help you, then maybe you'd... I don't know..."

"And just let me ask, why did you decide to help me like... that?" I asked, a little flutter erupting in my chest at the memory.

Her eyes widened, her cheeks flushing as she gasped. "Well, I... um... oh, crap..." She started looking desperate. "I don't know. I just... wanted... well..."

I smiled an amused little smile, and interrupted her, "You wanted more than to just make me feel good, didn't you?" She stopped dead silent, and gulped a fearful little swallow and whimpered in shame. "You did, didn't you?"

She brought up a hoof to scratch the back of her hoodie uncertainly. She looked up at me with a caught-in-the-act sort of smile, and said slowly, "Well... what can I say? You're... an... attr-..." She coughed on her words, clearly wanting to continue but couldn't say it immediately. "You're a very attractive stallion, Goldwreath. I... guess I lost some control of myself after you... reciprocated..."

Then she frowned, and looked off to the sides in longing mixed with sadness. "But I guess you already knew that I liked you before, so..." Then she closed her eyes and looked at the ground.

"I did," I said with a firm little nod. I really had, you know. Ever since Home Base. I had known and... I had dismissed it. I hadn't cared for it, as I thought it was just a sort of... thing that would pass with time. Well, back then I was focused on being exasperated by Predator's presence. So, to be fair, I guess I hadn't had a lot of room in my head for Myst's feelings.

I glanced over my shoulders and saw Predator gesturing his hooves at his HMG-AR, pretending to shoot it. Doodle just watched with the most curious and wide eyes. At the sight of me, Predator wiggled his weapon and free hoof at me as if warding me off like I was some kind of annoying bird. My eyes widened at the sight of that. That was kind of creepy, not to mention weird.

I turned back and saw her looking me straight in the eye, a gaze of uncertainty piercing into my head. "So what now?" She asked carefully, scratching her hooves on the ground.

I gave her a quizzical look. "What now what?" It was kind of sad that, amidst a conversation about emotions, I didn't even know what she was talking about. At least I'm a lot more socially aware now... I think.

She gulped and said softly, "Well... we kind of kissed. And you seemed like you liked it. I definitely liked it, eheh." She blushed so heavily at the last words that her face looked like it had gotten food coloring powder on it. "So... technically... this is the sort of thing that people do that get them to... you know, get to know each other better, and... stuff..." She continued.

Okay, yeah, even I'm not stupid enough when it comes to social stuff to not know what that means.

"You wanna get in a relationship with me?" I asked, surprised. I know, I know. 'Goldwreath, of course she does!' 'Goldwreath, wasn't it obvious?' 'Goldwreath, why so surprised?' Well, I was just surprised, alright? I had never quite expected a mare to like me in this manner, that was all. I mean, sure I had known for a while now that Myst was into me, but I didn't think about it much. Back in the stable, I immediately dismissed the mere notion of getting into a relationship as fantasy; it never seemed possible. And now that it seemed possible... it was just so sudden. So many changes across just a month... it was both scary and relieving. But through it all I could conclude one thing: I didn't know how to act in this situation. I... Goddesses, I was fucking scared.

Then again... I also felt damned lonely. Not just now, but as stated even in the stable. Not once had a mare ever shown any interest in me whatsoever. Not once had I ever been the subject of anything important in the stable, save if the Overmare's lights went out. I had never ever been loved by anyone except my parents, who were dead, and Lighthouse, who was also dead. Sure I had friends, but they were few, and not even close. I had to face the fact: I hadn't gotten nearly enough attention as I would ever have liked.

So what was so wrong if I wanted a little now?

"Well... y-yes," She said in a forced tone of firmness, nodding her head, before amending quickly, "I... well, it's okay if you don't. I mean... well, you do have lots of stuff on your mind, so I guess I might just distract you." Her ears drooped at that.

I breathed in deep, knowing now was my cue. Now was the time to tell her just what I thought. My heart stared pounding and some parts of my head protested against what I was about to say next, but this was it. No turning back.

"Myst... I'm sorry, but..." I started, making her eyes widen in apparent horror. Then a devious little grin crept onto my face. "... but... yes."

She kept her eyes on me, then narrowed them a little in confusion. "Yes what?"

I swept away my devious grin and put on a smile that more truly reflected the feelings of this immensely important moment. "Yes, I would like to get to know you." There, I said it. Strange, but for someone who never quite knew how to feel at a moment like this, I felt really... glad.

She stood there for a moment, a blank expression on her face. It was that expression that incubated my mounting worry as time went on. Soon it seemed like it was a whole day since she'd spoken, and by then I was starting to sweat from anxiety. Oh Celestia, what if I said the wrong thing?

Then, slowly, a small and slightly annoyed-looking smile crept onto the corners of her lips. "You tease!" She said, a tone of a strange combination of joy and annoyance in her voice. "I was so worried there for a moment!"

I mentally released a wave of pure worry and thanked whatever good there was in the universe that I hadn't broken our relationship already. I smiled and chuckled, "Come on, it was just a little joke. You should know by now that I like teas-..."

That was all I managed to say before she wrapped her hooves around my head and drew me in an embrace, the likes of which froze my thoughts more than even that kiss earlier. I felt immensely sluggish and lost, but despite that managed to wrap my own hooves around her and drew her in tighter.

Oh, yes. I wanted this so much, more than I did most anything else. This was the break I wanted so badly. I could finally feel like I had someone out here who would care for me. Someone who'd share my worries and my cares, and help me deal with them. Someone who would understand my ambitions and sympathize with my motivations, however suicidal they may have been. Screw everything and my conflicted brain, I could actually feel good for once without feeling selfish about it! I could finally find some meaning in this life outside; something else to live for aside from Roam. Someone to care for.

"Oh, gods..." I heard Predator grumble from behind us. "Not another relationship. Can you believe this?" He asked someone, probably Doodle.

"Awwww!" Doodle said, "That's so sweet! Just like mom and dad!"

I heard Predator facehoof. "Of course..." He groaned, then sighed quietly, "I'll give it a few weeks."

I didn't mind his comments, they weren't important. Right now, this was what was important. And call me cheesy or crazy, but it felt like Roam itself was keeping quiet just to emphasize that moment. For just that moment, the wasteland was quiet.

The sound of an echoing gunshot from further along the road completely broke the moment, unfortunately. There was a resounding 'pong', and then more gunshots.

I pulled away quickly, and saw Predator lying on the ground, a massive hole punched in his helmet. He was getting up, but damn did that hole look freaking scary. Doodle screamed at the sight of something down the road, and I glanced over to that direction, as did Myst.

Ah, wasteland, you never cease to screw around with me, do you?

Two power-armored juggernauts with anti-material assault rifles on both sides of their armor stood atop a mound of piled up concrete and metal bars. Rushing onto the road ahead of them and dashing for cover were perhaps two dozen armored Legionnaires. Behind them, rolling onto the road, was an armored ca, and behind that was the unmistakable behemoth of an Omni. Two VTOLs silently hovered overhead, dropping their own Legionnaires onto the rooftops of any intact buildings in the area.

"Take cover!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, and pulled Balaclava's rifle from my saddlebags. I turned to Myst, who looked like she was still recovering from having her feelings so quickly change from joy to shock. "Get back in the building, now! Bring my saddlebags with you!" I screamed in her face, and she blinked twice before nodding jerkily, pick up my saddlebags, and rush through the front door.

I turned and aimed, then fired a burst into the head of one of the power-armored Legionnaires. It didn't do much but scratch his plating, but it did get him to recoil from the impact enough that his next shots didn't pound Doodle to a bloody pulp. Next I opened fire on the other juggernaut, just to distract him from focusing his fire on the doorway, where Myst took cover behind.

A Legionnaire with a shield in one hoof and a single-hoof shotgun in the other came out of cover, and was immediately followed by three others. They came together and formed a shield wall in front of me, but made just enough room in between the shields to point their weapons out of.

My eyes widened, and with a hard shake I dislodged the centurion's shield from my back and crouched, letting it lay against my side. Blast after blast of buckshot rammed into the shield, and it pinged painfully into my ears, but it withstood the assault. Soon I heard the unmistakable sounds of guns clicking on empty chambers.

I got up and opened fire into the gaps in between the shields before they could come together, and managed to get one of them in the cheek. His cheek plate protected him from what could have been a fatal shot, but it did knock him down. The gap he made in the shield wall exposed the other three, and I opened fire on them too. To my dismay, my rifle simply wasn't strong enough to punch through their armor, even after I had used the whole mag. It knocked them down, yes, but they weren't even bleeding. I picked up the shield and drew my gladius, before taking several quick steps back, hoping to get into cover before the rest came out.

It just so happened that while I was dealing with those guys, the rest of them had been flanking me. A piercing sting in my side signified the strike of a bullet, which was thankfully stopped by my centurion armor. The juggernauts opened fire on Predator and Doodle, but the operative managed to shield the filly until they reached cover.

I turned to see the doorway blocked by more Legionnaires, who had come from another path from around the building. Several of them were already entering the building, much to my horror. Immediately afterwards, there were echoing gunshots as Myst opened up on them.

Now these particular Legionnaires decided to come at me with their swords, putting their weapons away and breaking from their original shield formation and charging me in a very un-Roaman fashion. I brought my own shield to bare and prepared, keeping in mind what the centurion from earlier had done against this same type of attack. Except this time I was alone, of course.

'BU-BU-BU-BU-BUG!' Predator finally retaliated against his power-armored opponents, his HMG-AR competing in firepower with their anti-material assault rifles. The difference was, however, that Predator's HMG had a much larger magazine and that Predator, as usual, could not seem to be killed, even when his vest was already being eviscerated. After a few good shots to the neck, one of the Legionnaires went down in a metallic heap. The other jumped for cover as Predator advanced, and Doodle rushed to one of the windows of the building and jumped in.

The armored car at last rolled onto the road, and pointed it's autocannon at the still-advancing operative. With a loud and thunderous choir of rapid shots, it started blasting the ground around Predator, the dust created concealing him in a cloud.

I didn't have time to think, as one of the Legionnaires in front of me jumped up and brought his sword down hard on my shield, sending me staggering. I oriented my back to face the building as another did the same, once more sending me hobbling towards the door. That was what I wanted, of course; in the narrow space of the doorway, they couldn't surround me, and I could put up a better defense.

At last I stepped underneath the stone doorway, and immediately stomped my hooves down and prepared. They weren't getting past me unless they killed me, which was so not happening. I managed a glance behind me, and saw two Legionnaires with holes in their heads slumped in the dirt path I had used earlier. Outside, the armored car gave a horrific groan of metal, and fell silent.

A Legionnaire lunged forward, attempting to stab beneath my shield. I blocked it and trapped his hoof on the ground, and gave it a hard stomp. He screamed and pulled away, his gladius no longer with him. And as he staggered back, I raised my own sword and brought it down on his neck. Above me came another echoing shot, and one of my attackers went down, blood exploding out of the top of his galea (that was what the helmet of Roaman soldeirs was called).

I shot a menacing look at the other two Legionnaires. Time to let my training pay off.

Another of them stabbed, this time bringing his gladius down from above. I barely blocked that, as the blade very nearly struck my face, and my action left my lower body exposed. The other Legionnaire came up behind him quickly and lunged beneath me, but I managed to dodge it. Again I brought my hoof down hard, and so another gladius was dropped to the floor. I shoved my shield hard and pushed the other away, but as I stabbed he managed to direct my hoof towards the ground, my gladius on the other side.

I grunted loudly as they employed my own move against me. Their hooves stomped again and again, and I truly wanted drop my sword and pull away. But I didn't. I made a promise; I would never lose this thing, not while I still drew breath.

They raised their hooves again, and I made the bold move of coming out of the doorway to shove them back before they could stomp anymore. After that I stepped back through, and I felt one of their swords slam against my shield. He must have been pushing against me, because as I stepped back into the building he fell forward. I took the opportunity to stab into the back of his neck as he struggled to get up. The other grabbed his sword off the ground and rushed me, slamming his large shield into my own. My hooves scraped across the ground until I managed to stop his momentum, and we peeked over our shields to glare at each other.

Another echoing gunshot, and his head exploded in a shower of metal and bone. I looked up and saw Myst peering down her scope, before turning her attention back to a window in the broken down front wall of the building.

There were heavy hoofsteps behind me, and I turned and assumed a combat stance. But it was just Predator, his vest and weapon smoking like he had bathed himself in fire. Through the doorway, I saw the armored car smoking, with flames dancing on it's carcass.

We took cover against the wall as a barrage of bullets from the Legionnaires in the other buildings whizzed through the door. "Why the hell are these guys coming after us?!" I yelled, "Are they this violent to everyone they see on a road?!"

He yelled back with mock contemplation, "Hmm, I may have spared an officer or two back in that Legion base. Guess they decided to have some payback." Despite everything, he snickered, "This is what happens when you try to be merciful!"

"Fuck you!" I yelled back at him, and pressed harder against the doorway as a bullet scraped my helmet. That at least allowed me to see Doodle running up the stairs, looking very terrified yet somehow thrilled.

He snapped around the corner and opened fire, but stopped after just a few shots. He stood there for a moment, just taking whatever shots were fired at him like beestings. Then he turned to me. "MOVE!" He yelled, and grabbed me and jumped away from the doorway.

A deafening explosion blew the petty remains of the front wall down, and the tank shell blasted a huge hole in back of the structure, piercing into the wall of the next building. And the next building, and the next, and the next...

Predator got up off of me and fired every round into the smoke. "Get up!" He told me, "Grab that shotgun of yours!" He nodded his head over at my saddlebags, pressed neatly against the foot of the stairs. Outside, there was a power armor-enhanced shout followed by battle cries. Above us, Myst started shooting at rates suggesting aim was not her priority anymore.

I got up and clumsily hobbled over to my weapons, nearly tripping over as the Omni's treads shook the earth. As I reached them, I whipped out Tankbuster and decided to just put my saddlebags on, not wanting to reach them every time I needed something.

The power-armored Legionnaire stormed through the smoke and slammed into Predator before the operative could bring his weapon to bear. They smashed through the hole and into the next building, where Predator then kicked the juggernaut away. The last thing I saw was Predator rushing the juggernaut.

A centurion appeared from the smoke, and his eyes widened in apparent surprise upon seeing me. He narrowed his eyes and glared, then put a whistle to his mouth and blew.

Legionnaires stormed out of the smoke to his sides, and I found myself retreating to the stairs; it was a far more defensible position than the open first floor. As I went, I fired Tankbuster thrice, downing just that many. Their armor barely did anything to stop my awesomely epic shotgun.

But that was all I managed to do before I was forced to once more draw my blade and stand my ground. The six or so other Legionnaires divided into groups of four and two; the first pulling their own shotguns out, and the other two charging me. I stood my ground as the bullets pinged again and again against my shield. As the other two neared, the rest stopped their shooting.

The two of them bashed into my shield at the same time, and it took all my effort to not topple over. I backed up until my hoof found a stair step, and I used that to keep my position firm as I pushed back against them.

The juggernaut's metallic corpse flew into the room, crashing into the other four before they could move. The centurion's eyes widened as his troops, flung by the juggernaut, then crashed into him, and hell back into the smoke.

The other two facing me were temporarily distracted by that, allowing me to shove them away from the stairs. One of them tripped and fell down, while the other managed to recover and charge again. I slammed into him halfway, using my superior weight to knock him down as well. With both my opponents on the ground and trying to get up, I pulled out my shotgun. They tried to protect their heads with their shields, but the metallic plates were no match for Tankbuster.

Predator entered the room. "We're going to have to retre-..." He was saying, when a bright blast erupted from within the smoke, and a tank shell crashed into the staircase behind me, flinging me away and sending me crashing into the remains of the broken wall.

The building started groaning, the upper floor swaying precariously. Myst appeared at the edge of the second floor, eyes wide and fearful. Doodle clung to her back, shaking yet somehow looking like she had merely ridden a really intense roller coaster and had not survived a battle.

Another terrifying boom, and another tank shell smashed the remains of the back wall down, in the process causing the building beyond to begin groaning as well.

"Fuck, move! Get out of the building!" I yelled, and started galloping outside. Not through the back; the building beyond was going to collapse, too. No, I galloped into the smoke, and could only hope that if worse came to worse that the Legion would be willing to take prisoners.

They followed quickly, Predator firing his weapon blindly into the smoke. Soon he overtook me, and the last thing he did before I lost sight of him was jump through the cloud, still shooting. There were gunshots and screams, and another tank shell blasted the ground next to me, sending me flying forward and out of the smoke.

I landed hard on my side, my shield clattering away and resting against some rocks. I groaned as I strained myself to get on my back. "I think I broke my wings... again..." I grunted. That was a lie, of course; I was just in a hell lot of pain.

Just as I managed to get on my back, four Legionnaires came over to me and pointed their weapons down at me. I looked to them and said, "Oh, fuck my life." I glanced over beside me, and saw Predator had accidentally gotten himself surrounded by a great many juggernauts, and even had the tank and the aircraft above pointing their weapons at him. He wasn't dropping his weapon as they were ordering too, though.

Myst staggered out of the smoke, eyes watery from the dust cloud in her eyes. On her back, Doodle looked terribly shaken, but was otherwise alright. Myst saw me and gasped, but just as she was about to rush to me, two juggernauts decloaked next to her and grabbed her. She tried struggling for a moment, but her gaze met mine. For a while I stared, and at last I nodded. With a soft sigh, she let the two shove her along.

One of the Legionnaires grabbed me and pulled me up, saying, "Surgere, morionem!"

Once I was up I asked them in my most relaxed and diplomatic tone I could muster, "Forte casu es agnus dei excipiendos? Utinam spatiere multo appreciate is si vos faciebat." Basically, I was asking them if they'd be willing to take us prisoners.

"Silentio, ydiote!" Another of them said, and bashed my face with the butt of his rifle. I fell down again, much to their amusement. "Non utique occidere et terrore futuri sumus fine spurii semel illuc et amicis," He continued, and pushed the barrel of his weapon against my head. I gave him a hard glare, and he seemed to flinch a little. Truth was, of course, that I would die if these guys really shot me in the head, and that scared me. I didn't let that show, though.

"Exspecta, ego te putabam populo defuit me vivit?" I asked. Seriously, hadn't these guys said that they wanted me alive just, like, a week ago?

"Legatus non potest punire nobis, si numquam scit," The centurion from earlier said, getting closer and pushing his way past the others to fix me with a devious smile. The barrel was pulled away, much to my relief. "He'll never know we disobeyed," He said mischievously.

"You fucking traitorous bastards," I growled. "You'd deliberately disobey your orders just to kill me?" Oh, I so wanted out of here. I looked around the area, piecing together chances of escape. There were around sixteen total Legionnaires in the buildings, with perhaps twice that number down here. The tank and aircraft were some very serious threats, though...

"Yes, and JUST for you," He replied, breaking my train of thought, then glanced over at Predator and Myst, the former still not surrendering his weapon and the latter being held in place by the two juggernauts. "Well, for them, too," He added.

Wow, was I seriously this annoying to the Legion now?

The centurion nickered and ordered, "Caedite eos. Accedere matrem faciam." He started trotting away to tank.

The Legionnaires around me giggled and once more pressed the barrel to my head. So, was this it? Survive getting shot, burned, stabbed, shredded, paralyzed, mauled, bitten and eviscerated just to die like some POW who wasn't even taken prisoner? I'll tell you, it really felt like it at the time. I was tired, maybe not in too much pain, but tired. Ever since leaving the stable, I honestly didn't have much hope for surviving out here. You know, when you have your life taken from you, and are forced to live a life like this with no transition... well, it kinda makes a person pessimistic.

And honestly, as I felt the barrel's cold hard steel press against my head, time seemed to slow down for me, allowing me view of details I wouldn't have seen otherwise. Myst's horror as she stared at me, for example. I was sorry for that. Sorry because I had done something to make her care for me, yet I was doing little to spare her the pain. And then there was Doodle's wide-eyed but not necessarily frightened expression as she looked at the immense rifle on a juggernaut's side. And then even Predator, obstinately standing against a force even he might not be able to mow down.

But despite all my own exhaustion and pain and the suffering of my companions, I smiled. I smiled because I knew none of it was necessary. I still had one surprise up my sleeve of chain mesh.

S.A.T.S

Surprise, motherfuckers!

I cleared my throat and casually got up just as the bullet left the chamber. It's impact on the ground actually looked pretty awesome in slow-mo. Next I proceeded to cut the throats of the four closest Legionnaires. Quickly, I rummaged through their stuff as they slowly fell down and found just what I was looking for: a grenade.

I made my way to the tank and flew onto the chassis, and with Tankbuster blew the armored hatch door away. Next I pulled the pin and tossed the grenade in, and glided up towards the two aircraft. As I went, I marveled at the explosion below; it had this beauty to it, this... flower of flame sort of thing.

The aircraft were sturdily built VTOLs with combustion engines. They were the exact same model that had taken me out of Verge, so I knew that there was a spacious chamber inside with seats that could strap people down. It was a beautiful work of Roaman engineering. Too bad I had to blow up it's engines.

Half a minute of reloading and shooting later and they were very slowly making their way towards the ground. I landed amidst the juggernauts, and prepared Tankbuster for one hell of a fight.

The spell gave out just as I finished reloading. Now, unlike the first time I used this spell where I didn't know how long I had in S.A.T.S, this time I did. And this time I was prepared.

'VUJ-JING! VUJ-JING!' Two juggernauts went down to the awesomeness of Tankbuster, and the others were too surprised at my very sudden appearance to immediately notice. When they did, they bumped and smacked into one another as they all turned to face me, buying me enough time to yell, "PREDATOR!"

'BU-BU-BU-BUG!' He brought his weapon up and opened fire, catching a whole slew of very unprepared juggernauts in the back. They had about three seconds of awareness before the heavy bullets started punching their way through their armor, and soon they were collapsing in droves. I didn't even get shot, as they were much too confused to react properly. That allowed me to fire off all eight of my remaining shots, downing just that many more.

The aircraft up above spun out of control, and one of them crashed into the building we were just in, collapsing the structure with a tremendous groan and sending an enormous cloud of dust everywhere. The other managed to spin a bot longer, before hovering slowly and clumsily back down the road, and nearly hitting one of the taller buildings in the area.

Myst finally caught up to what was happening, and yanked her rifle away from a normal Legionnaire, who seemed to have been confiscating it. Next she brought it hard against his face, causing him to collapse. He looked down the barrel with terror, and his eyes managed to meet hers. Not being Skyfire, Myst simply brought the weapon down on his head again, knocking him out.

And so we were at it. I took cover in an alley off to the side and reloaded Tankbuster, then brought out Vengeance. With Tankbuster's awesome firepower I would obliterate any opposition, and with Vengeance's precision and strength I could clear the windows. Predator started mercilessly pounding the remaining Legionnaires with a nigh non-stop barrage of 50.cal ammo. Myst took cover with me, Doodle getting off immediately and pressing her back against the wall of the alley. Her eyes widened, and she pulled her shirt away from her to create some slack. Her book fell down much to her delight, and she hugged it like it was a teddy bear. Then she started reading it, right there in her cover.

Myst looked at me and smiled, and with the confidence garnered from my recent exploit I returned it with a smile nearly as cocky as one of Skyfire's.

I snapped around the corner and went on the assault, opening fire on the Legionnaire's as they ran down the road and over mounds of rubble. Three fell to Tankbuster's powerful but spread out shots, and so I whipped out Vengeance and fired all six rounds. Those who had their shields to us were saved, but two got shot in the head and in the... ass... respectively. The one shot in the flank collapsed, and within seconds came under fire from Predator. He didn't really survive, to put it lightly.

I stepped over the centurion's bloodied corpse just as they climbed over a mound of marble and into a four-way interesction, all their shields facing us. It was for that reason that the silently descending VTOL, right above their heads, was not noticed until it crashed onto the road behind them, blocking off their exit. They glanced behind them disbelievingly, and Predator and I reached them. Myst was way behind us, peering down her scope.

"Well, I suppose the odds are now in our favor," I said, looking over them one by one. They were scared; I could see it in their eyes. And they were desperate, too.

"Now, I'm a nice stallion if you're not trying to terrorize the city, hurt me or my friends, or otherwise go against my morals. One of those morals is giving second chances," I continued, and put my shotgun away and sheathed my blade. "I will not extend this mercy again, remember that," I said, and started trotting back. There was no point in killing them, and I had enough blood on my hooves -- literally -- and as much as possible didn't want more on them.

At my words, Myst gave me a thankful little smile. I returned it, feeling good about myself. There was this too, of course; it was nice to know that I was making at least some of my companions happy.

Predator's HMG-AR gripped my attention immediately, and I whirled around to see him mowing them down like cattle. Their shields did nothing for them. A great rage filled my head, threatening to combust in a dreadful eruption.

"Predator!" I called, "Cease fire immediately!"

He didn't stop. He just kept shooting, much to my horror. At last his weapon clicked on an empty chamber, and he started reloading. "Nah," He said, "We're much too important targets for them to just ignore. The moment they could have, they would have sent another detachment at us. Then the process would repeat again and again... oh, it's so tedious."

I was about to shout out a whole slew of profanities, when one them groaned and flopped one of his limbs, which was now a stub of bone and muscle. All anger left my head, replaced by blind hope and concern. I started making my way the pile of bloody limbs and shredded muscle. "Oh, so foolish..." Predator muttered, and sighed disappointedly.

I whirled on him. "Fuck you!" I yelled, and turned back around, fuming.

And that's when I saw the remaining Legionnaire sitting against the armored carcass of the transport. He was holding a single-hoof shotgun in his mouth, chest puffing in and out rapidly and breathing rough and hoarse. One of the bullets had grazed his temples, burning his fur and flesh there.

"We didunt wunt yer mershy, ashhole," He said around the mouth grip. "You andg yer terrorisht friendsh cang go to hell."

I shook my head disbelievingly, "No..." My breathing became difficult, my eyes watery. I breathed, "Why?"

"Fuck you," Was his reply, and he worked his jaw to bite down on the trigger; he hadn't quite gotten it well into his mouth.. I just stared, unable to accept that they would have attacked us despite my leniency.

"Don't do this... p-please..." I begged.

His jaw pressed on the trigger.

'CHUG!' Myst's rifle sounded over the landscape, and half the Legionnaire's head exploded into bloody bits.

I still stared, frozen and unable to believe. Why? Why would they have attacked? Hadn't they seen us mow down their allies? Wouldn't that have changed their minds? Were they simply that overzealous?

I started shaking uncontrollably as I made my way forward into their midst, and collapsed forward, kneeling and staring at where the rest of his head was supposed to be. I just stared at them, unable to... to comprehend how someone could so simply disregard being forgiven. Being given a second chance was supposed to be... to be when you change, right?

I grabbed his body and screamed at it, "WHY?! Why would you throw away your life? Why would you forsake a second chance for such idiocy?!" I started slamming his body again and again against the transport door, glaring at his remaining eyeball with such anger and hate that I felt like I could tear his head off. And by Celestia, I wanted to!

I kept violently throwing the body around, until I felt her hooves on my shoulders, and amidst my anger I very nearly whirled on her. "I'm... sorry it didn't go how you hoped," She murmured in my ear, making me calm down enough for her to pull me close. I dropped the body, letting it's mutilated form just slump.

I didn't care anymore. I was too damned depressed to care. I did the only thing I could: let her pull me close, lean my head against her shoulders, hide my face from the world I hated so much, and started letting loose whatever tears I had. And she held me close and stroked my mane, tenderly pressing her head against mine. And I was thankful for it, so very thankful.

I had tried to be merciful in a world where people killed for fun... and I got my effort shoved in my face like this? I had tried to save someone who's life didn't have to end -- which could have improved -- and I didn't even get to try to prove my point? That was... just... wrong! Nothing in this world had to be like this! It was unfair!

"What's mister Goldwreath crying about?" I heard Doodle question. She mustn't have seen what just happened. Good for her.

"He's just really stressed, don't worry," Predator assured her. At least he kept her from knowing; I don't know what I would have done if he had told her.

After a while I managed to get myself together. I looked over at Myst, and saw that she shared a look of pain similar to the expression I was sure I had on my face. That comforted me a little. Not everyone in the wasteland was an in-equine monster and a cold-blooded murderer, at least. I was very glad that Myst had just knocked out that Legionnaire earlier, and that Predator didn't know he wasn't dead.

I opened my mouth to speak, maybe to get us moving or something, I don't know, but nothing came out but a shaky little breath. I tried again, but was interrupted by a sound most unexpected from above us. At the moment, I honestly couldn't quote care for it.

"Ahah! I finally found you! I've been looking all over for all of fifteen minutes! Heh, but I knew that the smoke in the distance couldn't have been for anyone else, considering what shit happens when we separate. Now, we really should get to that dam so we can..." She paused. "What the fuck happened here?" Skyfire said, initially sounding blissfully oblivious to recent events, but at the last words sounded rather... annoyed that she wasn't here for whatever happened.

"Skyfire," Myst interrupted, "Now's really not the time..." She started.

"... to just sit here and do nothing," Predator continued. "Yes, let's go already; leave all this emotionally heavy crap behind and get practical things done. I've had enough of this shit."

"Predator!" Myst shouted, "Would you SHUT UP?! Ever since you've been with us, you've been nothing but a source of pain and suffering for us. The least you could do is give Goldwreath some respect when he needs it."

"I give more than just respect, Myst," Predator replied. "I give wisdom. You may not care for it, seeing as it would not coincide with your idealism, but it is wisdom. Your friend here is simply... integrating the truth into his mind. He'll get over it. See, this is what happens when undeniable truths meet stubborn individuals."

Myst gritted her teeth, but didn't say anything. I personally wanted to snark a classic 'fuck you', but decided against it, knowing it would do nothing.

"Woah, what the HELL'S going on here?" Skyfire asked, sounding immensely confused. "I leave for... two and a half hours, and now it seems like I missed a whole night's worth of bickering! Man, life is weird..." She paused for a moment, then asked concernedly, "Is... is Goldwreath crying?"

"Obviously," Predator drawled. "Ugh, this is taking much too long. So, what's the best way to get there? Would we need transport or something?"

Skyfire didn't answer, but I felt the wind next to me blow against my hide. I felt feathers on my neck. "Oh, fuck..." She murmured, and, just like Myst, took me in an embrace. "I'm, uh, sorry I wasn't here for... what happened. I was busy doing, well..."

I sniffed loudly and wiped my face, then looked to both mares with a forced smile. "It's okay. I got over it. Skyfire and Predator are right, Myst. We should get going, people are depending on us." I got up, pushing them away gently, and forced myself to walk a bit as if nothing happened. "So... how do we get there?"

They both looked at me with expressions so deeply concerned and worried that they looked almost exactly like one another. I raised my eyebrows at them questioningly, doing my best to appear more calm than I was sure I would ever have felt. Skyfire looked to Myst as if demanding some context, but Myst just returned it at first with a look of utter uncertainty, then a sheepish grin.

Skyfire rolled her eyes a bit, but relaxed as her gaze caught me. "Well, I've arranged for transport to get there quick. I think you'll like it," She replied, then grinned. It didn't seem like a forced grin, thankfully. "It's also got awesome firepower!"

I perked up at that; it was something, at least. "Great! Now, where's this transport? And do any of us even know how to use it?" If we didn't, well... shit.

She kept up her grin, and looked to the sky and said, "Let's get this party started!"

The sky? Why, what could possibly be in the sky that would be so very... very... oh, Celestia...

A massive form appeared in a flash of blue, and the silvery outline of the immense VTOL started scintillating out of thin air to appear right above us. The combustion of it's engines blew the dust around us away, but wasn't strong enough to move me for than a few inches. It was large and quiet, and as more of it started to appear, I made out the forms of long, sleek barrels and bent-down wings.

'Oh. My. Goddesses,' I thought, eyes going wide as the form truly appeared.

The form was a hundred-foot long, zebra Umbra-class stealth aircraft. I'd read about it before, and I have to say it looked just like it did in the pictures -- five-foot long railgun barrels utilizing electromagnetic technology and ballistic magic; silvery, segmented armor plating shaped to look like a massive flying spear-tip with half-triangle wings on the sides; standard-issue stealth engines, and most of all, it had the most slimming cyan stripes going from the back to the front, just above the windows.

It was one of the most beautiful vehicles I ever saw, and my awe-struck mind for once fully agreed with me.

The VTOL descended without making a sound aside from the faintest of clangs, and at once it's armored backdoor came down like a drawbridge, allowing us entry. The inside was a finely polished steely silver, with soft blue fluorescent bulbs lining the top of the chamber. There were seats on both sides, unoccupied. The armored cockpit door had the Shadow Corps insignia, polished and un

A small ring of metal extended from the side of the door, and at once a hologram showing a golden horizontal line on a square field of cosmic purple was projected.

"Goldwreath, I have exciting news," Zaita said, "Due to the upgrade I got in the ZSI Roaman HQ, I am capable of hacking and finitely controlling other S3 vehicles, such as this S3 Umbra-class stealth craft. Isn't that amazing? Because I am amazed, very amazed. Why, I didn't even know I could feel amazed..." She fell silent, almost awkwardly so. "Are you crying?"

I wiped my face again, harder this time, and smiled, because this news was the sort of thing I would usually smile at. I had to appear like I had myself together right now. "That's great, Zaita. But, uh... where are you?" I asked.

The golden line arced upwards, and the entire hologram looked left and right, then turned back to me. "I am here," She replied.

"No, I mean where's 'you'? The APC you. The original Zaita," I elaborated

She seemed to understand, and said, "Ah, I see. My APC platform is currently... sneaking Doomtune and three other operatives onto the top of one of the dam's watchtowers. Do not worry, I am cloaked."

"That's very interesting," Predator interrupted, sounding immensely bored. "Now why don't we talk some more INSIDE the vehicle? We're wasting time," He said, and started started trotting inside.

The armored door rose up a little, preventing Predator from immediately entering. The operative growled at the hologram, which just stared at him. Then it looked at me. "Goldwreath... we are bringing him with us? Is he not the one who caused you so much grief and doubt?" She asked, sounding somehow confused despite her monotone voice. "Plus he is the one who attached spy bugs onto my platform. And for that I don't like him."

I nodded tentatively, sighing, "Yeah, we are." Then I glanced at the operative and glared. "But for how long... I don't know." He stared back at me for a moment, his expression unfathomable. But he was right, we were wasting time with all this. "Open the door, Zaita. We'll talk some more inside. Please. I'm... not in the mood for any of this." And that was very true. I was still depressed and very tired from recent events. I just wanted a little break, even if for just an hour. Or however long it took to get to the dam.

The hologram stared at me for a second, then to my friends. Myst nodded uncertainly, while Skyfire just shrugged. Doodle was too busy staring at the apparently very interesting talking hologram to do anything.

The armored door came down with a soft clang. "Very well. Everyone please enter the vehicle."

Predator scoffed, "You rammed me, you know. For that, we're even." Then he entered, and seated himself casually on the seat farthest inside, on the right.

Myst approached and whispered in my ear, "Come on. You can relax inside." Then she started trotting inside, Doodle following close behind and staring at the holographic image as she went. Zaita returned the gaze, turning the image to follow her until she sat inside.

Skyfire got over to me and patted me on the back. "Come on. You look like shit. You should rest a bit once we're inside."

I sighed, "I'm not really tired, Skyfire. I'm... confused. Confused as to what to think and feel. Nothing's simple anymore." I glanced at her, seeing her sympathetic and understanding expression. "You go on ahead, I just need to get something. It'll only take a minute."

She nodded and went inside, while I made my way back down the road and over the mounds of rubble to where I had nearly gotten killed. Again. There, right where it clattered to, was my shield. It had taken a beating from the recent fight, but it would hold. Roaman steel didn't give so easily.

Sparing only the barest of glances to the dead Legionnaires, I made my way back, utilizing my thankfully un-broken wings to get there. I found the door still open, with my friends (and Predator) waiting inside. I sat myself down next to Myst, and with a tired breath she leaned against me. With an exhausted breath of my own, I laid my head down against hers.

Skyfire looked at that with a disturbed and somewhat paranoid expression as the door closed and the aircraft started ascending quietly. "Am... I... missing something here?" She asked slowly, cautiously.

My eyes shot wide open.

Oh, fuck. How in the name of Neptune's three-way penetrator trident had I forgotten about HER? Skyfire... she'd be devastated. I... maybe I didn't feel that way about her, but... how would I break this to her? What words could I utter to soften the blow? Even if she had said she couldn't force me... she'd be depressed. I... I felt like a piece of absolute shit.

Myst seemed to understand what was going on, and said with a firm tone, "No, not really. We're just... tired, is all." Skyfire somewhat relaxed at that, though she still looked at us concernedly as she pressed her back against the seat.

I gulped and clenched my eyes shut. Oh, I was so fucked when... or IF Skyfire found out.

'Boy, you are screwed,' Predator said in my head, 'Lying tends to make these sorts of things... complicated.'

'I thought you said you knew nothing about this?' I asked with annoyance.

'I don't. I'm just stating the obvious,' He replied. I glanced over at him on the other side, and saw him staring at me with the faintest glow in his eyes.

Before my mind could continue down that train of thought any more, Zaita said, "I suppose I must tell you something." There was a momentary pause, and she continued, "Now, there's no other way to say this, so I'll just say it."

"Oh, gods and Goddesses..." I groaned. "What in the name of all things could it be now?" I just couldn't get a break, could I?

"This matter concerns the possible continued existence of the remains of the Roaman Empire, Goldwreath," Zaita said, immediately snapping my attention away from Myst's nice soft head to Zaita's voice coming from speakers overhead.

"What's the situation?" I asked.

"The weapons of the apocalypse have returned, Goldwreath. The Legion... they're transporting Balefire megaspells to Roam."

Oh, no.





Footnote: Level Up
New perk gained: Precise Striking -- Your precision with your gladius is astounding and is capable of competing with that of a full-fledged Legionnaire. You gain +20 points to your melee weapons skill.