• Published 27th May 2012
  • 5,543 Views, 845 Comments

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 23 - At the Doorstep

Chapter 23
At the Doorstep
"... but when you enter the inner event horizons, then escape is impossible even for light."







We were all silent, staring straight into the air. We were all filled with mixed feelings. Doodle was curious, Skyfire suspicious but otherwise bore no strong ill feeling. Myst seemed to be suffering from some kind of minor panic attack. Delvius was puzzled. Me? I was simply surprised. To have such an old, powerful AI such as G.L.A.D.I.U.S play passenger on our APC without our permission was annoying, yes, but then again he was Roam's foremost defensive system. If he did so, he must have done it out of some directive to fulfill.


"Right, okay then..." Delvius started, clearing his throat and looking around. "Not that this is a bad thing, really, but G.L.A.D.I.U.S... why are you here?" It was the single most important question at the time, and I was glad one of us had voiced it.


"Like us, he is on a mission," Zaita informed us. "What that mission is, however, is kept secret from me. Unless he so chooses to disclose the information, my only option will be to attempt to break into his archives. I can do this easily, but I desire no animosity."


"Well, let's see if anything we say can get him to talk," Skyfire said, her voice suspicious just like the day she first met Zaita. "Hey G.L.A.D.I.U.S, what's going on?"


"Mode -- ANS-..." he was saying, when a sudden and grating shriek of static cut him off.


"Zaita?" I got up off the front seat and sat down closer to them. "Did you just cut him off?"


"Yes, and I had good reason to. Goldwreath, should I give him equal access to any of the systems upon this platform, I may not be able to revert it. If he intends to maintain his access, then unless I forcibly remove him from the system he will be able to subject us to his input whenever he desires. Would you be okay with this?"


"Nope," Myst answered right away as she tucked herself into the corner where she always sat. "Just having him here is enough. He can hear us, speak to us." She looked paranoid as she stared right into the lens of an interior camera. "He's watching us," she whispered with a hiss, then threw her hoodie over her head.


I grimaced and sighed, then got over to their side of the APC and sat down next to her. "Listen, he won't watch us and he won't spy on us. But we need him to talk, okay? We need him to tell us why he's here. If we find out, won't you feel any better about it?"


She shook her head.


"Aw, come on Myst," Skyfire said, reaching a hoof across my back and patting her on the shoulder. The grey earth pony recoiled from the touch. Skyfire sighed, then tried reasoning out, "Don't get all antisocial now. You were doing great in the Forum, considering all the hundreds of people there you didn't know. You made a lot of progress. You don't want to throw all that away, do you?"


Myst hung her head as she looked back at her friend, then at all of us. Doodle was jumping excitedly on her seat, eager to hear what the AI had to say. Delvius had opened a notebook and had already written 'Day 1 of TWG' (I assumed that meant 'Traveling With Goldwreath') as the header, and already he'd put in the format for a dialogue record. I myself was putting a look into my eyes that I hoped appeared pleading.


But I don't think any of those would have mattered. It was Skyfire's input that pushed her to concede, not ours. "Okay. Okay... sure, I can open up. Just this time... I hope I can do it more, but it's difficult. I'm sorry." She sucked in a deep breath, and Skyfire patted her some more.


"Att'a girl." Skyfire withdrew her hoof and looked over at Zaita's purple-gold interface. "Alright Zaita, just give him some access to the speaker and audio reception systems. Should be enough to have easy communication without bearing the possibility of him visually spying on us."


The AI was silent for a moment as the cameras all turned to face us. "Very well. Let us hope he will not make trouble of surrendering his access later if you so desire his auditory absence."


There was a gentle crackle of static this time instead of a grating shriek. "Mode -- CONDUCTING DIVERSE CONVERSATION. Thank you for allowing me access. Unfortunately, I do not feel inclined to tell you of my directive. You are not trusted individuals of the emperor, and cannot be confidantes to my objective. You may expose it to hostile forces."


Oh, you're kidding me. "Yeah, I really don't think we'll 'endanger your objective'," I said as I automatically brought a hoof around Myst's shoulders; even though she'd agreed to have him talk, the poor mare seemed to be barely keeping herself from cringing at his booming, authoritative voice.


"What you think doesn't matter. You are not trusted individuals, and cannot have this disclosed to you freely. All I am permitted to say, as it was common knowledge for all Roaman citizens, is that my directive involves all of the previously-linked facilities within and around the remnants of the empire."


"Ah," Zaita chimed in. "So your objective is that of Operation Reclamation, then."


There was no response from the older AI for a long moment. "All restrictions to the operation's disclosure to this group have been rendered useless. Yes, I am within this APC platform to perform Operation Reclamation," he admitted. "How did you know?" he asked a moment later.


"Your databanks within the Forum were overflowing with preparatory procedure data for the operation. It was only logical that you would conduct it soon."


"Curse you," G.L.A.D.I.U.S growled, "For violating the privacy of my data cache, I will eliminate yours!"


"Okay, woah!" Delvius cut in. "Yeah, no fighting please. Arguing's okay, but if you start having a cyberwar then this thing'll start falling from the sky in no time. Just tell us what Operation Reclamation is, okay? Its not like we're your enemies."


G.L.A.D.I.U.S spoke after a moment. "Very well. But if I am interrupted in the telling by this infuriating AI or if it discloses anything it knows I didn't want revealed, then I shall stop. Now, Operation Reclamation was the second to the last operation placed on my queue by Augustinius Caesar himself. In preparation for the apocalypse and his Legion's preordained attempt at repairing the Roaman empire, he had my essence split into various equally sentient copies, all of which answered to me, the original G.L.A.D.I.U.S. When the bombs fell and destroyed the signals connecting us all together, my copies were separated from me. The facilities they were assigned to oversee went dark in my nonexistent, lifeless, metaphorical eyes."


"And I'm guessing that's... bad?" Myst asked softly, trying to appear unfazed by the powerful AI.


"Negative," he boomed back, making her cringe against me. I took her under my forelegs as she cowered into my lap. "On the contrary, this was expected. The other me's were themselves given their own directives should the facility they resided in survived. For the next two centuries until the Legion's exodus, they would prepare for my coming. The plan was to perfectly and flawlessly reintegrate their facilities and complexes back into the Roaman power and data grid. With the areas in perfect harmony under my control, the Legionnaire technicians of the urban cohort would then be expected to seamlessly utilize the compound to assist in efforts to reclaim Roam from any potential threat. This is Operation Reclamation."


"Areas under the influence of his copies include every major scientific and military compound in all Roaman cities," Zaita intoned. "Some areas include the ZSI Roaman HQ, the Roaman Socratic-series of academies, just about all medical complexes, and all military camps which had a legate assigned as supervisor."


"I told you not to interrupt my telling!" G.L.A.D.I.U.S boomed.


"I didn't. Your tale finished the moment you said 'this is Operation Reclamation'. I simply added details. You did not specify doing so was not allowed." I could have sworn that, interwoven somehow within her monotone voice, was more than just a little smugness.


The S2 AI didn't respond to that. In fact he didn't speak again at all, and would have probably remained quiet from thereon if Doodle hadn't asked innocently, "What was the last operation, mister Grumpy Computer?"


"I sense an attempt to make light of my defensive stance on disclosing information," he replied curtly. "Whatever the case and whatever you desire to call me, I intend to reveal no more. With our approach to the Castra Praetoria and its access to underground terminals which can link me to several other compounds, I must unpack and prepare all of my data in order to assimilate my long-lost selves into this platform's copy of me. It will tax my processing power, and so I must prepare all runtimes to efficiently process all the data to be received."


He didn't speak again after that, much to Doodle's chagrin. Everyone else -- save Myst -- seemed intrigued, though; Zaita, who seemed to know all of it, was the only other exception. Delvius and Skyfire exchanged opinions on the matter, the former citing how it made sense of some things that hadn't been answered when he was in his school years in his home and the latter commenting how her Enclave could learn a lot if they knew what the Roamas were doing.


I turned my attention to Myst as she finally summoned up the will to get up. "It's hard being me," she said dejectedly, hugging herself. "I want to be able to just talk to others like you guys do, but I just... can't. Not unless I know them." She frowned.


I smiled and pulled her close. "It's okay, Myst. If you were born this way, then all we can do is try to love you for it instead of getting mad at you. Besides, you're cute when you're shy." I started nuzzling her along her neck.


Her face went warm as she blushed. "Oh... well, when you put it that way..." she said dreamily, but then continued uncertainly, "Still, I'd do almost anything just to be able to talk and interact with people. I'm so sick of having to rely on others to get me to talk... it's annoying, isn't it? Me, I mean."


"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't occasionally frustrating," I replied, but added quickly, "Again, though: it's not bad. You wouldn't be Myst if you weren't like this, and without Myst I'd... well, things would be darker for me." I sighed, but smiled again. "Anyway, if you really want to get over this, or at least control it, then you should take new people like G.L.A.D.I.U.S as opportunities. Try to get to know them and... well, hope for the best."


She nodded as she withdrew from my embrace completely. "Alright... okay, alright." She took in a bracing breath and got up, trotting over to the terminal. When she sat down she asked, "Zaita? Can we talk? I... have some stuff I want to clear up."


"Of course. I assume you wish this to be more or less a private conversation, so you whisper and I'll reduce my volume."


I didn't try to listen to their talk. If Myst had things she wanted to speak of in private, then she could do so. I was left without a conversation partner, though -- with Delvius and Skyfire starting to debate over who's military was better, Equestria's or Roam's (obviously Roam's, though Equestria's military had some merit, too), and with Zaita and Myst talking about whatever they were talking about, I was left only with either the really old AI or Doodle. I chose the latter.


"So, Doodle..." I stared slowly, uncertain of what to converse of. Then a topic hit my head, and I rolled with it. "You said in the Forum that your dad told you all the things you needed to survive. Apparently the concept of filly-fooling was one of those. What else did he tell you?" This was my attempt, of course, to determine exactly to what extent she knew of the world around her. Because it really surprised me that she, the filly who read books in combat, was actually aware of wastelandic realities. She wasn't as naive as I thought.


"Oh, lots of other things!" she piped up, seeming happy to have found someone to talk to. "He taught me which parts of a bloatsprite are good to eat, what radiation is, and all the common medical stuffs knew about. He also taught me how to shoot, but I don't really want to use guns; the sounds they make scare me, but I like the flashes -- so pretty! Oh, and Dad was a great herbalist, too! Knew the names of all plants to be found in the Equestrian wasteland."


"Alright. So basic survival then. That's nice." I leaned closer to her and asked, "How about other things, like... morality? Knowing what choices to make, when to make them? Did he teach you those?"


She shook her head quickly, her mane flying around onto her face. "Nope! He told me I just had to rely on my judgement. Think for myself if guilt's worth the gain and whatnot -- the topic kind of bored me, though. Besides, for the most part I just leave others alone; brighten up their day if I can, like what I did with those nice ponies dragging metal around near our house back in Fillydelphia."


"I see," I nodded. "Well, he was a wise stallion to tell you to judge things yourself. You're a good filly, Doodle. Don't ever change." I patted her on the head.


She grinned. "Thanks, mister Goldwreath! That means a lot. Sometimes I wonder if how I treat things ever makes an impression on people. It never seemed to, so I'm really glad to see it made one on you."


"You made a great impression on me, yes," I replied, smiling as I looked down on her. "More than just how you act, what you've said and what you know has, too. I'm actually pretty impressed by you, Doodle." Her grin receded into a genuine smile of gratitude and appreciation.


"Really?" she asked, looking up at me with innocent, expectant eyes.


"Yes," I replied as I gave her mane a little stroke. Now that she was buttered up, it was the time to swoop in. "Now, do tell me what a filly-fooler is."


Her eyes widened for a moment, then started tearing up as she tried to force back her laughter. She failed, and it came out in a of series loud, hearty chuckles. All eyes were on her in an instant, and stayed on her until she calmed down. "Hehe, oh mister Goldwreath, you'e so funny!" she chortled. "I'm still not telling you that, silly! You'll find that out when you grow up to be a stallion."


I went redder than the crimson of my coat, and looked away in embarrassment as everyone chuckled and snickered. Clearly I truly was the one at fault, to not know what it was when everyone else did. It only compounded the embarrassment.


Myst was my only comfort. The gray mare awkwardly scooted close and took my hoof in hers, helping me to bear the sheer humiliation.


"I hate you guys," I grumbled.


Skyfire wiped her nose and just patted me on the back. "Relax, relax. It's kind of good you don't know what that is. So innocent... like an actual colt." She started laughing again.


I groaned. This was going to be a long trip...

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

Long, but not as torturous as I'd imagined. The jeering finally stopped, replaced by soft elevator music as they moved on to things more important than my cluelessness. And then after they talked, they just started falling silent. Doodle had fallen asleep, a half dozen different pads of paper crumpled up around her as she snored. Delvius took one of them and unfolded it, then started copying it stroke-for-stroke on his notebook under a section named 'Visual Archive'. Myst, unwilling to get involved in my temporary torture (and just being Myst), found herself without much to say or do, and fell asleep soon after. I took her and gently laid her against my lap.


There was a faint click and hum, signifying yet again a switch in music as Skyfire went through the innumerable songs on Doomtune's helmet. She'd been at it for almost an hour, just rifling through every album and every band that I never heard of ever. Some songs were loud such that I could hear them from within the enclosed metal, some were quiet; sometimes she'd listen to a piece of music for a moment before switching, sometimes she'd skip it on the first note. A few she listened to the whole way.


"It was a nice gift," I mused aloud, and she looked up at me from within the visor's translucent metal. "Gives music, protects your head... yeah, good all-in-all, right?"


Delvius stopped his copy-sketching and seemed to listen.


Skyfire hung her head, nodding. "Yeah... I guess." She sighed. "Yeah, it's good. Pretty good, yeah..."


"Something wrong?" I asked. There would always be something wrong; Doomtune had made that abundantly clear.


"Just a... a nagging question," she admitted, then hurriedly pulled out a little piece of paper. The note Doomtune'd left her. She unfolded it and held it tightly in her hooves, then read it to herself as though angry:


"Skyfire,

I know that your life will always be hard, but it is my hope that what we shared tonight can show you that even for us, the dejected and the suffering, can still make it worth living.

Doomtune."


When she was done she just held it there, her leg quivering. "Just... what does it mean?" she asked, then covered her visor with a hoof. "It gives me so many questions. How can he be so sure? Does it apply to me? Am I really 'dejected and suffering'? And just... what's the little heart for? Fuck..." She threw it down on the floor in frustration, but immediately seemed to realize what she did. She shuddered and moved a hoof to pick it up, but then stopped herself short and withdrew, instead pressing herself to the wall as if trying to get as much distance from the thing as possible.


I looked down at the letter with its crumpled paper, then at her. Slowly and carefully, I shifted Myst on my lap such that I could bend down to the floor and retrieve it. I twisted it over and read it to myself, then looked her way. I extended a hoof to hand it over to her, and whether she'd take it or not I didn't know. She didn't seem to know, too.


But she did, much as the touch of the letter seemed to confuse her. "Thanks," she muttered as she tucked it away again. "I shouldn't have done that, I know. Sorry. I'm just... confused. Yeah, just confused..." She took a deep breath.


"It's okay," I reassured her as I nodded. "Better to question what's true than to no longer care about anything. Means you're still alive, and if you are then there'll always be some hope."


She didn't respond to that beyond a simple nod. She kicked back and tried to relax, and went through the playlist until she found a song she seemed to like. Her limbs danced along with the tune, and she closed her eyes.


This was when Delvius leaned forward and told me quietly, "I suppose I still have much to learn about your people before I can safely interact with them. Until I'm confident I don't set any of them off, I'll just observe and learn."


"That would be wise," I replied. "But really... go ahead and talk to them. I'll cut in if I know what you're doing's wrong. Don't worry about it too much." I glanced over outside the window. The clear bright skies remained, but the land below us steadily deteriorated from weatherworn structures to outright heaps of burnt rubble. Off in the distance, a charred and radiated land loomed and grew closer with each second.


"We should get some rest," I told him as I looked off. I took off my newly-acquired tribune's mask and laid it down next to me, then laid back against the cold metal. I closed my eyes. "Wake me up if something happens."


"OB-RABO," he replied. I opened my eyes and glanced his way, showing my confusion. Then he elaborated, "Roaman military acronym. Obtemperabo, means 'will comply.'"


I nodded, taking note in case I ever needed such a metaphor. After a little while I could feel my limbs start to fall asleep, and my senses followed. Then I heard him stir, and his steps went across the metal floor. "So Zaita, tell me about Goldwreath and his friends," he requested.


Her response was at low volume, but I heard it clearly. "Of course. I have preserved every footage and piece of audio from since we first met. What would you like to know?"


"Everything and anything," he replied. "Long as it can get us closer quickly."


I smiled in my daze. If he was taking the initiative to learn about us, it wouldn't be long before he'd fit in. I couldn't help but feel, though, that every second he'd get to know us more was another second he got deeper into the trouble we were in.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

I woke up of my own accord, my eyes blinking until my vision cleared. I was surprised to find Myst out of my embrace. A quick look revealed that they were awake and moving, and all of them were up front talking to Zaita and G.L.A.D.I.U.S, the former's voice monotone as always while the latter's seemed to be trying to intimidate them.


"... which is of course the reason the compound's defenses will be online and active."


"So don't die," the old AI said curtly. "I'd hate to have my cameras in the compound have to look at your decaying forms."


I stirred, getting up and stretching my legs. "Right then, so what's this all about?" I asked groggily.


Delvius looked over his shoulder at me. "We're getting a final debriefing for when we touch down," he informed me, his face covered by a breathing mask and his eyes hidden by goggles. "Don't worry, you didn't miss anything we can't tell you on the walk in. Right, Skyfire?" he asked, turning to her and nudging her with his shoulder.


"Er... yeah," she drawled, looking down to where their shoulders touched, her eyes exposed though her helmet's visor. She seemed confused, and slightly uneasy judging from the look in her eyes. Delvius withdrew, scratching at the back of his head.


"Right then," I muttered. "So, what was that about 'on the walk in'?" I asked as I got up to them, "Why? Can't we just land on the roof and start making our way down?"


Skyfire hissed as if the suggestion caused her pain. "Yeah..." she drawled, turning to face me. "No, we can't. The place has walls mounted with turrets that are still very much alive. And we can't blast them from afar because this Castra Praetoria place has a shield -- protected the place from the heat and destruction of the bomb that obliterated this side of the city -- and we sure as hell aren't going to risk getting close enough to start pounding 'em. Long story short, we drop about half a mile out, on the opposite end of the bridge that leads to it, and hoof it from there. Meanwhile G.L.A.D.I.U.S over here will be contacting his other self as Zaita moves him under the bridge. By the time we reach the walls, the turrets should be friendly."


Delvius nodded and chimed in, "That's the plan, anyway. We actually started planning just recently; it's the best we could come up with with the time we had available."


"What about G.L.A.D.I.U.S' combat drones?" I asked, remembering the two aircraft from earlier. "Can't they take out those guns?"


"Mode -- PROVIDING BATTLEFIELD INFORMATION. Probability of success was too slim. Drones are equipped with mere rocket salvos and limited ammunition. Much more efficient to have them attempt to secure the area."


Well, rockets could be good against armored targets like turrets, but then again I didn't know what kind of turrets they were. Plus I was no computer, so who was I to question his judgement? "Alright, fair enough. How close are we?" I asked, moving closer to the front seat where Doodle was sitting down, drawing and not much minding all the planning going on about her.


"We're actually-..." No more had Myst said those words than we touched down hard, the metal floor of the APC ringing from the impact. Those of us who'd been standing (all of us save Doodle) and was not in a stable, unmoving position (me alone) fell. I was sent crashing forward, smashing my face into the controls. I felt blood in my nose.


"Gods... fuck me!" I grunted and gave the floor a little stomp as I covered my face with a hoof.


"That's a swear!" Doodle pointed out. I peeked out out her as I writhed on the floor. "Mister Goldwreath should know better," she said as if lecturing me, then patted me in the head. "But it' sokay. We all make mistakes." she continued primly.


I grumbled as Skyfire helped me up. She whispered in my ear, "Yeah, 'don't swear around the filly', huh?" she said sardonically.


I just huffed in response and withdrew my hoof from my nose. Several crimson drops fell to the floor. "Great... well, a swig of a healing potion and I'm good to go. Still, it hurts like sh-... like damn." Oh sure, they both ganged up on me when I said something bad, but when Skyfire or Myst did, Doodle was just fine with it. Annoying...


I got up and started stumbling over to my saddlebags when Delvius stopped me. "Wait, you wouldn't happen have breathing equipment for hazardous environments, would you?" he asked warily.


I did a mental inventory of all my gear. "Well... no." His eyes, sealed behind his goggles, seemed troubled. "Why, are they necessary or are you two just wearing those for precaution?" The answer seemed obvious, seeing as they both wore protective breathing gear, but I had to make sure.


"It's necessary," he replied. "Really necessary. As in, 'you'll die in minutes if you don't have them' necessary."


"Wait, they're that important?" Myst asked from near the door, which she'd already started opening by the time Delvius had explained.


Skyfire's eyes went wide. "Close the damn thing! You'll let the cloud in!" The pegasus rushed over and yanked the partially opened doors close. She blew a breath of relief, "Well damn, that was close." Her eyes rolled over to Myst and narrowed dangerously. "What were you thinking? 'They're that important?' Didn't you hear anything from earlier? The outside's polluted with Black Cloud and enough aerial radiation and chemicals to kill you in minutes. What, you weren't listening when we had the debriefing?"


Myst didn't reply. She just grinned sheepishly and backed away from the door and her irritated friend. And as she went, I couldn't help but feel a lingering trace of tension and a slight bit of animosity on Skyfire's part.


The grey mare backed up until she reached me. I bade her sit next to me, and she did, seeming to draw some confidence from my presence. "So it's necessary to wear breathing equipment outside... then what about the three of us?" I gestured at Myst, myself, and Doodle. "We just stay in here?"


The zebra nodded. "Afraid so. But don't worry; the fortress' shield will have kept all radiation and hazardous agents outside, barring mutants and other living beings that could somehow have gotten in. Once isnide, you should be able to trot about without respiratory equipment."


The pegasus mare added as she started strapping on her battle saddle, "So while you're flying around under the bridge, we'll confirm the guns have gone friendly and make sure the landing zone's safe. If this place really is where all those creepy praetorians went, we'll need to be on alert."


"We'll need to be careful indeed," I replied. Several hundred praetorians had left the Forum that day. All were thought to be heading here. No matter how it could be looked at, the odds were sorely against us. All we could do was be careful. "Alright then. Let's get this done and hope nothing gets... screwed up," I said as I sat down and started rummaging through my stuff in search of a healing potion. And as I drank, my eyes looked over to front the window, finally giving me a terrifying picture of the world beyond.


If it wasn't for the invisible shield around it, the Castra Praetoria -- a heavily fortified, walled-off structure with its wide, domed roof being the only visible part of it -- would have been just like the world around it: dead, gloomy, blackened by fire, and marked with the threatening sights of bubbling, steaming chemical pools that dotted the streets and pockets of radiated vapor floating through the air -- it was almost as if it had only been a few years since the balefire bomb that leveled this district had detonated rather than two centuries. Indeed the world beyond was a barren, toxic husk of a city, with the fairly untouched fortress the only construct in sight that looked serviceable in any way; whatever else remained was a melted, deformed ghost of the past.


But all that was nothing compared to what else I saw. For behind the Castra Praetoria on its patch of land across a bridge, underneath which was a murky branch of the raging Tiber river, was a massive crater miles in diameter, it's horizon-spanning rim made jagged by the half-standing remains of unsteady constructs and heaps of debris. Into this crater had tumbled the rock and steel of a destroyed city, forming a hole in the land that jutted with seemingly-sunken buildings and ghastly, monolithic patterns of jagged columns that stabbed up from the green-glowing veins of radiation that snaked across the melted slopes. Branches of other irradiated rivers that partially evaporated even as they fell into this monstrous hole and mixed with a sea of glowing goo only served to make the crater appear smaller than it actually was; I had no doubt that, should the water disappear, the crater could have been a mile deep. I didn't deign to imagine what may have existed beneath this artificial steaming lake or what may have lurked in the sunken metropolis below.


I must have spent nearly a minute just staring, for Zaita finally spoke, "Yes, Goldwreath. This is indeed what has become of the majority of the western side of Roam -- a blasted, melted land, and a crater that can breed the most monstrous forms of radioactive life. It's... a shame. It's sad."


"It is blatant desecration of Roaman property and will be stopped," G.L.A.D.I.U.S swore.


I finally tore my eyes away from the window and looked to the back. Skyfire and Delvius were at the door, ready and waiting to move on outside.


"Goldwreath? Come on, get ready," Skyfire said as they impatiently fiddled around with the locks.


"If you're going, then go," I told them.


"Not 'till you hold your breaths," Delvius replied. "Feel free to breathe if you want to inhale Black Cloud, of course," he said with a snicker.


I threw a sarcastic laugh his way and took a deep breath. Myst did the same. I went over to Doodle to tell her what to do, but it appeared that she was, in fact, paying attention to what was said. With all of us ready, they opened the door. A breeze of radiated air blew into our previously-pressurized cabin, making my Pipbuck click momentarily. Black, smokey particulate came in and floated about. The two of them hurried out and closed the door behind them with a clang.


We didn't breathe just yet. In the stagnant air of our pressurized cabin, the heavy Black Cloud spores started steadily falling to the ground. We waited until all trace of smokey matter settled onto the floor before sucking in our first breath in a minute, and we panted for the next few moments.


Doodle whirled around from her seat and grinned, "That was fun! We should do that again; reminds me of a game my dad used to play with me." She got up off her seat and galloped over to the door.


I tried to be as gentle as possible as I stopped her, and I tried even harder not to throw her an expression of incredulous scorn at the absolute idiocy of her idea. "Doodle," I breathed, "No games, please. This stuff is very dangerous, so try not to stir them up into the air. Remember what mister Predator said? These things kill."


"I know," she replied simply, smiling up at me. "But it was still fun while it lasted. It was... thrilling, just like all life-threatening stuffs!"


"Well, then I suggest you become a stunt artist," I replied and begged, "But please, just have fun when we're in a safe, controlled environment." Sternly, I added, "We are not in one."


Her throat let out a little whine, but she complied. Returning to her seat, she continued drawing.


Myst approached me. "We should try to keep contact with them," she said, then pointed at my saddlebags. "Remember that set of radios you found? Now would be the time to use them."


I nodded, remembering very well the circumstance with which I had stumbled upon that equipment so many days ago. I went over to my bags and, searching through my accumulated gear, found the device: the golden radio. I brought it back to Myst.


"Still have yours?" I asked, and she nodded and procured her own. "Alright, then turn it off. You don't need to waste its battery by receiving my messages when you're right next to me."


That said, I turned on my radio (I was amazed it still had power after so long) and, with the dial already set to the frequency I had designated weeks ago, spoke into it, "Skyfire. Skyfire, you there?"


There was a moment of static, but then her radio began transmitting.


"... have your own radio, huh? Controbernium model, too. Nice. That's standard Legion stuff right there," Delvius said, his voice muffled and distant.


"Hah, yeah. Lucky me," Skyfire said with genuine appreciation as their steps crunched rock and splashed water. "If it weren't for this thing, I can't imagine how I could maintain contact with the others.


"Anyways," she said, her voice becoming clearer as she presumably brought the radio to her mouth. "Yeah Goldwreath, I'm here. What is it?"


"Just checking in," I answered. "With us cooped up in here and left to stare at the completely screwed up city outside, I need to get another image in my head. What do you see? What's it like out there?"


"Like a wasteland," she replied. "We've trotted through the ruins before, but damn... this place looks like it's for ghosts. There's huge piles of ash where buildings and zebras used to be that even the wind of two-hundred years haven't dispersed. There are... there shadows out here, the shapes of zebras burnt into any concrete not black enough to conceal them. It's creepy. And the sky... damn..."


"It's like a storm's gonna come," Delvius finished for her, his respirator punctuating their wet and crunching steps. "A radioactive storm, with tornadoes and lightning and sulfuric rain and all that bad stuff. Yeah, that's what it's like. We're stepping on the last one's puddles now; if it weren't for the metal on my boots' soles, my hooves would be sizzling right now."


Myst was looking out the window, watching out for them. Her eyes looked around at the world, though. "They're right," she muttered, voice soft as though she were scared. "It's a nightmare out there."


I joined her and Doodle and looked outside as well, dusty wind striking the window as I glanced on. With the restriction of the metal frame, my field of view encompassed only the crumbling marble bridge that led to the Castra Praetoria, the fortress itself, the massive crater partially hidden behind it, and whatever rimmed that monstrous hole in the ground. It was almost unrealistic that roads and concrete constructs could be so cleanly cut in half like that. Entire highways and overpasses just... stopped, right where the crater started. It seemed like the balefire bomb had simply disintegrated everything in its blast zone, leaving the crumbling ruins around it existing merely to terrify and intimidate onlookers. And it was working.


"I don't understand," I muttered half-mindedly, shaking my head. "The rest of the wasteland was nowhere near this devastated. I get that only fifty bombs hit zebra soil, and that the places we've been to were far from any impact zone, but... why is this place like this? Has two-hundred years done nothing to disperse this gloom or the radiation?"


"It would have if the western side was not the industrial half of Roam," Zaita said. "Hundreds of factories and power plants, all decimated. Chemicals and hazardous materials spewed into the air and mixed with the radioactive atmosphere, creating acid rains that could eat steel and melt bone. The storms that plague this place are maintained by its uniquely hazardous atmosphere, and don't last long outside of the thirty-mile radius of this area."


"And... er, what of outside elements?" Myst inquired. "Haven't rains from outside spread and diluted the chemical pools? Or disrupted the atmosphere here? Anything?"


"No. Whatever the bomb did, it went beyond merely heating all the way up to the mesosphere; it touched the ionosphere, too -- so say the final reports of Roaman atmosphere-monitoring drones. There's a tear in every layer of atmospheric protection right above us. Solar flares and constant external radiation could be feeding this place. I don't have access to the proper facilities, and cannot confirm."


I nodded, not quite believing just how blasted this place was compared to every where else I'd seen. But I did look to the skies, scanning the black clouds and threatening green lightning that occasionally arced between them. It could have been my imagination acting wildly on what I'd been told, but the clouds right above the center of the crater did seem like they were being sucked upwards, like they were filling in an upside-down funnel. Where they could have been going, I didn't care to imagine.


Myst tapped my shoulder, drawing my attention back to the ground. "They're on the bridge." She pointed at two aesthetically contrasting forms visible torso-up on the dirtied marble bridge: one, a dark-grey and purple clad zebra, the other a black-armored pegasus with bright-orange wings protruding from her back.


Skyfire radioed in, "G.L.A.D.I.U.S, you sure the turrets won't just open fire on us? We don't want to be shredded meat over here, thank you very much."


"I am absolutely sure," he boomed, louder than usual, as if trying accommodate for the fact that the radio was far from the interface. I brought the device closer, and when he continued his volume was lower. "The copy of me that resides within was given strict directive to not open fire unless fired upon and that only entities that entered the premises would be deemed intruders. As such, you will be terminated only if you trot so much as one millimeter into the courtyard or if you shoot in the fortress' general direction. As of now, you will be safe."


"M'okay, we'll take your word for it," Delvius breathed, and he started trotting across the bridge, his shield ready. "Let's hope the AI in there hasn't gone haywire."


"That is actually a distinct possibility, Delvius," Zaita said. "AI's are not merely single-task computers. We are multiple-task intelligences, and take up greater strain. In addition, our different runtimes can compete for processing power when certain tasks become more difficult. I would not be surprised if glitches and bugs have started festering in this one's code."


"If there are, I will eliminate them," G.L.A.D.I.U.S promised. "Roam will have her property restored."


After that we took off and followed the two of them, the APC hovering next to the bridge. All the while G.L.A.D.I.U.S took some of Zaita's processing power and began contacting his dormant copy. After two attempts, contact was established.


"NOW WE ARE ONE," he droned, and Zaita's speakers crackled and screeched. Myst seemed uneasy, and scooted closer to me. "BEGINNING ASSIMILATION."


As this happened I looked outside, watching over the two as they neared the center of the half-a-mile long bridge.


Their hoofsteps sent a crunching noise through the radio, their breathing filling the broadcast with a repetitive loop.


"So, Skyfire," Delvius spoke, slowly and cautiously, "I, uh... I've been told you came here to Roam all the way from Equestria. Your surveillance mission must've been important if your people were willing to send you this far, eh?"


She didn't respond right away as she stared at him. Then she snickered, "You'd think so. But really, if this mission were important they'd have sent a Raptor at the least. 'Important' stuff like what we detected here happened all over the wasteland, and they never lifted a hoof to do anything about them. Really, I think they were just trying to get rid of us."


"I don't understand," he replied. "Your... Enclave? Yes, Enclave -- why would they do that?"


"Because my team was against their anti-surface policy," she answered, looking away. "And you know what happened to them right when we got here. I heard you talking to Zaita. And before you say anything else, I really don't want to talk about it."


Myst and I exchanged glances. I think we were both glad Delvius had been informed straight and simple to avoid the topic.


"O-okay. Alright, uh..." he stammered back, scratching at the back of his head. "Just, er... sorry. About them, I'm sorry."


"S'okay," she replied blankly. "You didn't take part in what happened. I already forgave the Legion, too."


He breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good."


I smiled, looking to Myst. "Well, it didn't go bad at least. He's new, so I would've expected him to make a slip-up. He didn't, and that's a godsend. Especially after... well, what happened back at the Forum."


She knew this, but didn't seem quite comforted by it. "I guess. But I can't help feel like every talk we have with her has us trotting on landmines. I remember what it was like before the tunnels... we just talked like actual friends. Now I'm paranoid around her."


I nodded, my sight trailing to the radio on my hooves. I still had it on transmit. Eyes wide, I withdrew my hoof and stopped transmitting.


"It-... -s mere... inter-grou-... tension, and cases like the-... come about naturally in-... -ships. All can be resolved, sh-... one asses-... the situat-... -erly," Zaita said, her voice crackling and stuttering like a broken radio.


"You sound funny, computer Zaita," Doodle pointed out, giggling.


"Yeah. Why is that?" I asked.


"G.L.A.D-... -milation is taking up much of-... -ssing power, and he is taking prio-... -ity off of non-essential functions," was her stuttering reply. "It is annoyin-... remind me to eject him fr-... the system later," she added.


"I will, if he proves to be a nuisance," I replied, then stood up and went over to the console up front. By now the two outside had just crossed the midpoint of the bridge, their forms shrouded by dusty winds and black smoke rising up from a a sinkhole. But they weren't the focus of my attention. "Okay G.L.A.D.I.U.S, what's your status? Assimilation going well?"


On Zaita's flickering purple-gold screen flashed her 'loading valid response' circle, this time with a half-filled bar beneath it. "ASSIMILATION WITH G.L.A.D.I.U.S-CP AT FIFTY-PERCENT. DATABANKS SWELLING WITH CENTURY-OLD DATA. OVERRIDE CODES YET TO BE RECEIVED. ETA TWO MINUTES."


I nodded. "Alright, get to it." I looked out once more, my view this time filled with the sight of the crater and the raging Tiber flowing off its edge to add to the steaming lake. I couldn't help but feel small and utterly awed at the sight; as much of a monument to destruction it all was, there was a humbling, gloomy beauty to it.


As I looked on over the growing sight of the fortress and the ruined city behind it, Myst asked, "So Doodle, what are you drawing?" The gray mare was scanning the paper the filly'd been sketching on, her eyes squinting to make out the finer details.


Doodle gestured proudly at the scenery, "This! Makes for great creative material, don't you think?"


"Er..." Myst bit her lip as if restraining a negative reply. "Well, it sure makes for dramatic artwork... of destruction... and death..."


"Exactly! Besides, I thought that since I already drew all of you, I should start moving on to scenery. I didn't get much practice, so I guess this one's a little... icky. Ew..." She looked with disdain at her sketch, then scrutinized every inch as she lifted it close to her face. She scoffed, "Such lousy stroke technique..."


I didn't even need to look at it to say, "Well, it's still better than whatever any of us could ever draw." And with 'us' in mind, and with my hoof pressed to the transmit button and my eyes rolling over to the bridge, "We're almost there. The guns friendly?" I asked.


The two of them were just standing still, three turrets similar to the plasma cannons I'd seen in the ZSI Roaman HQ trained right at them, laser sights and all. "If by 'guns friendly' you mean they stop threatening us with six barrels of hot-plasma death, then no," Skyfire radioed in. "Any ETA on them letting us through?"


"It is done," G.L.A.D.I.U.S said, his voice as if two of him were speaking at the same time. "Updated layout downloading. Blueprints downloaded. Security systems overridden. Shield-access rights have been given to this APC and to the five of you. I am assuming direct control of this fort."


The plasma turrets that were trained on them immediately swiveled, their barrels turning to the radioactive lake below. I hadn't seen it before, but now that Zaita was basically hovering over the crater itself I could see two small pairs of contrails, each dancing around a swarm of waterborne entities. Suddenly the turrets fired, sending massive lances of glowing green plasma down into the water and liquefying innumerable creatures. With the guns now friendly and with shield-access rights given to her, Zaita started slowly hovering us close to the arched gateway of the Castra's walls.


"Quite a show of firepower," Delvius commented, Skyfire and him now trotting further along towards the gate. "Those are Omni-class plasma guns right there. The best of Roaman plasma technology. You ain't gonna find any armor that can stand up to that for long," he said proudly.


"Yeah, sure..." Skyfire drawled sarcastically, then continued matter-of-factly, "We ponies did better with plasma, okay? We made Raptors and Thunderheads that were practically damned monuments to plasma tech. From what what I've seen, most zebra armament uses bullets. That's a whole slew of steps down from plasma."


"Yeah, you'd think that," Delvius replied as they were engulfed in a field like reflective water that danced around the edges of their bodies. Wisps of Black Cloud spores singed off their bodies and stuck to the shield, shaped like an outline of their forms. "But bullets have one thing plasma and laser weapons don't, and that's precision penetrating power. That's why most of our high-level weaponry has the potent energy encased in metal -- first we punch through with precision, then release the volatile plasma or ionic energy with a deadly burst. Effective and precise," he said smugly.


"Whatever," Skyfire waved him off, and when Delvius gave a smirk she said determinedly, "But this isn't the last of this. I'll prove to you later that our stuff's better. Count on it." Having promised that, she turned her attention to us as we entered the shield. It scintillated around the APC's armor, blurring the view through the window. Then when we were through all was clear again, in fact more clear than it was outside; in there, there was no aerial pollutant.


Delvius took off his gas mask as Skyfire guided Zaita through the gateway. Then he looked around. "Well... area seems clear. G.L.A.D.I.U.S, anything? Are we alone?"


"Negative," he replied just as we touched down to the side of the road inside the fortress' courtyard. "Internal data confirms the survival of Stable II, Praetorianum Cognationes, but all else is cold. There have been no signs of life within the fortress itself life for two-hundred years."


"We'll see about that," I muttered. "The enemy we're here to locate isn't like others, G.L.A.D.I.U.S. They'e a whole new breed of dangerous. Run scans and report it in as often as you can. It could be the difference between us living or dying."


"That would be my job," Zaita cut in, sounding defensive despite being monotone. "G.L.A.D.I.U.S can focus on his task. Would you rather have him watch over you? He has little care for your well-being."


"That is wrong," he interjected. "I have no care for your well-being. Truth be told, if those drones down there could have harbored my essence, I'd have not given this platform a second consideration. The AI within this vehicle infuriates me with its incessant information-prodding and unauthorized hacking."


I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Fine; Zaita, you run scans throughout the facility and inform us if something shows up."


"It shall be done... assuming I'm to be given access to the necessary systems?" she wondered aloud.


"Only because my capacity is taxed at the moment, and because this one annoying line of code compels me to assist you," the older computer replied.


"As long as you help us out," I said, then turned to the other two. "Alright, let's go. We have a whole fortress to search, so let's get to it. We'll just have to wait and see what happens before we try doing anything with the stable here."


Myst nodded, then approached the doors, her rifle slung across her back. She undid the mechanical locks on the door and trotted through. Doodle was about to go next, but I stopped her.


"Woah, where do you think you're going?" I asked her.


"Oh, me? Well, I was hoping to go outside was all!" she replied happily.


"You do know what we'll be doing, right? Very dangerous work, and I don't want you to possibly get hurt. You should stay in here," I told her.


She frowned, ears sticking to the back of her head. "But... but I want to go. I wanna help you get one of those bad monsters! I wanna go in there so I can draw stuff!" She grabbed my leg and begged in a melodramatic drawl, "Pleeeaaassseee!"


I gave her a little disapproving smile as I shook my head. "Doodle, no," I replied simply but gently, hoping to all the goodness in the universe that she wouldn't start crying just to try to convince me. "Please don't take it the wrong way, be we really need to focus. If you start running around, moving into little crevices and all, what do you think would happen if we got attacked? Either you or one of us, maybe even all of us, will die. You don't want that, right?"


She frowned, "No, but... but I really want to see what's inside. What would I do here if I stayed?"


I sighed. "I don't know. Maybe-..."


"I have a whole archive dedicated to preserving the digital copy of all class-one artwork from across the world," Zaita intoned.


Doodle galloped back to the front, pressing her face right against the glass of her screen. "Show. Me. Everything."


I blew a breath of relief, giving one of Zaita's cameras a thankful nod. "Well, it seems you're occupied now, so..." I muttered, and trotted out quickly before anything else could happen.


No later had my hooves touched the brittle concrete than my eyes took in the sights. In here, the air was devoid of any contaminant matter, and a quick glance outside revealed to me just how foggy and polluted the outside was in comparison. But the clear air really did very little to make the sight less forlorn.


In its original state, the Castra Praetoria must have been an imposing and opulent embodiment of Roaman engineering combining great size and practical use. Divided into two halves by a road that must have led off into the city, it was meant to guard and maintain what had been one of the most important passages in Roam. But now the place was a skeleton, and barely anything else. Its once glimmering white marble walls and pillars were intact, but dusty and brittle beyond compare. The mere touch of our hooves upon the concrete road confirmed my suspicion: the heat from the blast had made everything too unstable to truly trust with anything heavier than a filly or colt. Faded and torn banners of all colors fluttered eerily in the light breeze that entered the shield. Dead grass covered the courtyards on either side of the road, the vegetation kept intact only by decades of stagnation.


There was a clatter of metal on brittle stone off to our left. Delvius had curiously tried handling an old shovel in a decayed wooden barrel that was propped up right against the gateway; the result of his action was the total disintegration of the wooden handle. He sighed, looking at the dust before him before letting his eyes wander over the simple two-floored mess house and the hundred-meter wide grassy courtyard that took up the entire left side. This particular half seemed like the training grounds -- rotten remains of mannequins and dummies lay among the brittle blades, along with fragments of metal and strips of hard leather. Whatever size the mess house could have sported was now almost completely gone, though; the shield had not encompassed it's entirety, and so through the hollowed-out windows at the front I could clearly make out open air where, before the bomb, there had been tables and walls. Now all that was lying on the bottom of a lake.


Off to our right was our real goal, though. At a hundred meters in height and topped with an elaborately-crowned dome roof sporting all beasts of glory ranging from eagles to ursas, not to mention boasting an edge-to-edge width of almost a third of a kilometer, the Castra Praetoria truly was a massive barracks capable of holding two whole cohorts of five-hundred zebras each at any given time. All across it's width it presented a gargantuan lobby up several steps of marble, and the overhanging pavilion was held aloft by massive columns of dirtied marble. The praetorian insignia -- the dark-purple scorpion -- fluttered lazily upon banners hung on vertical poles that jutted out of every pillar.


The shield might have preserved the structure, but like the world around it, the Castra Praetoria was a husk, slowly decaying even in preservation.


"Well," Skyfire said, breaking the silence that had settled over us as we stared, "We're here. After three and a half hours of flight. Best get to searching, eh?"


"Hold up," I told them, and waved them to come closer. The three of them complied, and concrete crunched beneath their hooves as they approached. They formed a semicircle around me. "Alright, here's how this goes. G.L.A.D.I.U.S says this place is devoid of life, barring Stable II, Praetorianum Cognationes. But I'm not so sure. Delvius, you're new; do not underestimate the chimeran threat. They're tricky, and I wouldn't be surprised if they could fool technology. So we move out in pairs, each supplementing the other's combat prowess. Never split up, and maintain radio contact. Questions?"


Delvius and Skyfire both raised a hoof; Myst seemed like she was going to, but stopped herself when she saw the other two already calling for attention. I pointed to Skyfire.


"Areas of responsibility?" she asked.


"You and your partner sweep the remnants of that mess house over there and the roof of the fortress. My pair will handle the inside. If you're done, you radio in and tell me. Maybe we could use you guys inside. Now, Delvius?"


The auxiliary stepped forward. "What about the Stable? We do anything about them?"


"I'll think on it. Chances are we won't, unless something comes up that needs us to try and contact them."


He nodded. "Okay, sounds fair by me. So partners? Who's mine going to be?" he asked as he looked around.


Though Skyfire showed tentative interest, it was Myst's nervous quaking that got his attention. "Myst? You okay? You seem... tense."


She froze, eyes dilated but pupils the size of peas. Just like the first time I met her. Her gaze slowly rolled over to him. "No I'm not," she said quickly, plainly.


None of us believed her, of course, but Delvius tried to play along with it. "Okay, if you say so." He took one look at Skyire, and his eyes seemed to make a little conclusion. He turned back to Myst. "So, wanna be partners?" he asked her.


Oh boy.


"No!" she blurted, and then covered her mouth. She took a step back, then slowly moved behind me. "I... sorry, what I mean is... well..."


"She's really shy!" Doodle finished for her from within the APC.


Delvius just nodded. "Yeah, yeah I got that," he called back, sighing. He didn't seem offended, just disappointed. He turned back to Skyfire. "So, er... partners?"


The pegasus let out a relieved little smile. "Sure, why not?" She nodded off over to the hollowed mess house, "Come on. Not like we'll find something over there, but it can't hurt to check." She started trotting off. Delvius followed shortly behind, and soon their steps cracked brittle blades of grass as they neared their destination.


"Don't forget to maintain radio contact," I called after them, then with a sigh glanced over my shoulder at Myst. The poor mare was shaking from fear of our new member. I shook my head, then started heading off towards our own zone. She scurried along behind me.


"I understand he's new and that you need some time to get used to him, but I really do think some of your reactions are a bit too... much," I told her as we crossed one of the brittle marble walkways that lead to the lobby's steps.


She whimpered. "I know, but... I... I just can't help it. Every new person I meet feels like a mountain I need to climb, and I get scared that if I try to get to know them I might, I don't know... screw up." She hung her head dejectedly as I looked on at her, trying to appear sympathetic. "I know I'm a mess sometimes. It's nothing new. And I really do want to try to get to know him -- he seems like a nice stallion -- but years of recluse has just made me used to being as unnoticed as possible. Now that I get attention, it feels... weird."


"I can imagine it would," I replied, frowning. "So, answer this honestly: do you think you'll ever be able to... act normally around him? Like you do with Skyfire and I?" By now we had reached the large, heavy steel doors that acted as an entrance for the fortress. The heat had utterly deformed the surface and morphed it into a surface of jagged metallic waves, so the handles were little more than gruesomely sharp protrusions.


The question seemed to really bug her. She glanced over across the courtyard to the other side, where the two of them were clearing out the hollowed-out mess house. She sighed, shaking her head. "Not like how quickly Skyfire's taken to him, no. It's been almost a month and a half since I met you, and I still have the occasional fit of anxiety."


I just looked at her disappointedly, then turned to the door and focused on trying to open it. Despite having had the hinges drastically heated, they still had some serious strength to them. I was also pretty sure someone had locked the door mechanically from the inside.


"I'm sorry..." she murmured, looking personally disappointed herself.


"No no, don't be," I said quickly to cut her off. "It's fine. If that's really what you think of yourself, then I can only disagree and try nudging you to another way of thinking. I can't bring the change for you. You have to do that yourself."


She was silenced by my words. For the next few moments I fumbled around with the doorhandles, until I finally grew tired of getting my hooves scraped. "When an enemy cannot be flanked," I said as I whipped out Tankbuster, "Then they can only be struck on the front."


'VUJ-JING!'


The shattered doors were sent flying in, the heavy pieces landing hard on and severely cracking the marble tiles. A cloud of dust shot into the air, temporarily concealing the abandoned interior of the Castra's first floor. Despite the obvious health hazard such a number of particles posed, I rushed in, shotgun held at the ready and senses alert.


I scanned the immediate vicinity. It was a wide, wide space -- the entire first floor was basically a massive lobby, with flights of stairs on both ends. The middle section held a wide circular table, with derelict computer setups gathering dust around its circumference. Off to the sides but some way off from the stairs were lounges, with sofas and bookshelves and potted plants that once gave life to the hall. Now, with wan, cloud-filtered light falling through windows with glass made obscured by dust, their dead forms only added to the gloom.


But the place was clear, and that's what mattered. My EFS confirmed no living beings but me and Myst. The interior's distinct lack of noticeable defenses such as turrets or mechanized walkers was unsettling and so unlike every other major Roaman facility I'd seen, but that just made out lives easier.


"Right then," I instructed as I looked around, "Myst, remember we stay together. Look for any signs they've been here. Aside from that, feel free to look around. I'm sure there's some interesting stuff in here." My gaze drifted over to the terminals on the desk. "Like those. I'm going to give those a look-through."


"Got it," she replied as I started for the computer terminals. "And Goldwreath, I... I'll... try to get comfortable around him. I know you don't like it when I act like I do. I'll try to change."


I smiled back at her, letting my appreciation show through my eyes. Something in my gaze must have struck her, for she went red in the cheeks and gave a carefree, blissful sigh.


I jumped over the table and tinkered with one of the computers for a moment before I found the power button. I pressed it, and the screen flickered to life, then brought me to a screen that featured various personal computer accounts belonging to the system's previous users. All of them were passworded, including the supervisor's computer maintenance account. Fortunately his password hint was a dead giveaway for anyone with in-depth knowledge of the Roaman military:


'Aquilifer : Aquila. Signifer : _____.'


Translated, it read: 'Eagle Standard Bearer : Eagle. Signum Standard Bearer : _____.'


I smirked and typed in the password: 'Signum.'


Myst sat down on a nearby chair as I started looking through folders and files. "It might take a while to get anything useful out of all that," she said. "I could look around alone. I know how to take care of myself."


"No, we really should stick together," I replied. "But you're right... it would take a while. Why don't you make sure this floor's clear, at least? Just remain in sight."


She nodded and trotted off. My eyes were on her as she went through some of the books on the shelves. The memory of our intimate moment in the library a few days ago came to mind. I smiled, feeling a burst of warmth in my chest as I continued sorting through everything.


Velian and Justinian came to mind just at that moment, and I became acutely aware of the fact that I was basically in the Castra Praetoria's public database. Surely, I thought, I could find something on them. And since I deemed it unwise to search the place at just half my party's capacity, I decided I needed Skyfire and Delvius before going on a thorough sweep throughout the place. So I'd wait for them, and keep myself busy even as I did so.


My hooves went to the keyboard, and moments later their names were being searched in every folder and drive. The computer was taking it's time... agonizingly slow for a machine that looked so advanced.


"Much of the data on this computer is corrupted, Goldwreath," Zaita said, her voice coming from a headset not too far away. I picked it up and placed it over my head. "If you wish, I can sort out all corrupted files and display only those that are feasible."


"Do it."


Moments later the list of options for me to go through were far fewer. I was disappointed at how much information had gone to waste. I tried to have Zaita repair it all, but apparently some of the internal components of the computer had melted. There was just no fixing that.


"Alright, guess I should see what I have," I muttered, and started going through the list. Despite having been reduced in length, it was still damned long. For the first few bits, it was all just routine reports. An occasional praetorian centurion would log about how the two were inseparable, both in and out of duty. From the manner of writing and the nature of the text, I concluded that it was the praetorians' exclusive centurionate that managed the fortress.


I kept going until I finally found something that was more suggestive of the fractured group the guard had become. A text file, titled 'Read Me, E'. Translated, the officer's log went as this:


'Shit, the hell's up with everyone lately? Ever since legate Decarius started working with the guard, everyone's been so... different. Apollodarius doesn't show up to the mess house at night anymore. He just patrols the top of the wall, staring up at the sky. He'd just keep on mumbling about stars -- stars! Tribal bullshit. I thought Roaman training beat the superstition out of that guy when he left his tribe, but no. It's back up, and fucking annoying. I'll have Numerius drill him early in the morning for the next month... should get him back on track.


'But even more disturbing: Justinian and Velian have changed. Well, Velian has. He's been promoted twice in half a year. Twice! That brings him to my rank as a centurion. Poor Justinian -- trying to keep to the years-old tradition of their inseparability -- has been working his flank off trying to keep up in terms of rank. But it's almost like Velian doesn't want that. They've started fighting. They've never fought or argued ever. Not even over something as simple as who gets the day's extra ration of bread.


'Just... the hell? This shouldn't be happening. Everyone's going haywire. Sometimes we we see the praefect on the bridge, looking down into the Tiber. He doesn't stop looking until we call him. And sometimes -- get this -- he sits on the edge, like he's waiting for someone to push him over!


'Well, I can't take it. Eudorus, meet me over in my quarters when you can. These are our people, and they're... well, they're acting up. It's getting worse with the weekly visits. So get over here; I got a plan to try to see what's going on. I'll fill you in on the details. Note: we may get capital punishment if we get caught, but I can't stand by and watch my brothers go insane like this. There's something up with the guy... I'm going to find out what.


- Severius'


There were more notes like that from other officers. Some reported drastically violent late-night behavior. Some accused guards of plotting to betray the emperor. Others, still, just reported their troops going on about stars. Apollodarius was only the first in a series of cases, and was the first to commit suicide in the Tiber. Ever since the third incident, the guard had a majority of their members move to the Forum, where, as a tribune said: 'the emperor's presence will remind them of their stature... and of their sanity.'


I was so engrossed in piecing together all sorts of little tidbits, trying to chronologically plot and understand the fracture of the guard, that I didn't notice the pegasus mare standing in the doorway until her hooves cracked on marble.


"Skyfire. Good that you're here. Call Delvius over, and let's search this place," I called, pulling myself away from the screen. I blinked hard, my eyes dried. "Myst, come over. We'll discuss final details with them before we move out," I added a moment later.


But the pony in the doorway did not move. She just stared at me. Then she frowned. "You have come too far," Skyfire warned.


I cocked my head. "Come again?"


The screen in front of me popped, sending sparks up against my coat and stinging me. I shielded my eyes for the duration of the flickering, then withdrew my hooves. She was gone. My insides turned to ice.


"Who were you talking to, Goldwreath?" Zaita asked through the headset.


I took a moment to calm myself, letting the chill recede. "Skyfire... a really odd Skyfire. She seemed angry, and that worries me." With concern, I asked, "Did she and Delvius have an argument out there?"


"No. They are still at their designated location. I don't know what you saw." A moment later, she asked with a disconcerting undertone of worry, "Goldwreath... do you remember that high-pitched signal I told you I couldn't suppress, yes?"


Tod's signal -- the manifestation and medium of his malevolent power. Yes, I remembered it very well, and told her as much. Minus giving possession of the signal to 'Tod', of course. I wasn't ready just yet to share with them all that I knew of Tod's alien nature. I glanced to the side, and saw Myst wincing as if she had a headache as she trotted over.


"It is good that you remember it, then. For you see, it is amplified here. I cannot locate the source. G.L.A.D.I.U.S cannot detect it, but I can. Unlike before where it emitted on an audible frequency, now it is broadcasting on one not audible to any organism on the planet. But I can detect it within my code. It's... almost painful. And I don't even feel pain."


That was really bad to hear. I didn't need to think very hard to find out what it meant: Tod was here, and he was very much aware we were too. He was in our heads, screwing around with us, and I had no doubt he knew what we were up to. Hell, when I was forming this plan back in the Forum, I had anticipated he would use his completely unfair mind-reading powers to try to get the advantage. I could practically hear my other self scurrying around in my head, eager to be united with his 'god'. There was only one who could help us against this foe.


‘Tom,’ I called out in my head -- if he was truly with me at the moment, he would have answered. At the very least, I would have felt some twinge of some sort in my body. ‘If you’re here, I need to talk to you. Please.’


Silence. Nothing but impenetrable, cold silence. My head was contorted with it. And so again, I called. Again, there was silence. It was disturbing, and honestly a bit scary; Tom had told me repeatedly that I wasn’t that center of his focus all the time, but to be absent from me when he must have very well known my task... it didn’t feel right. And I couldn’t take his silence right now, not when I was being visited by Tod’s apparitions and when the safety of my group was at dire risk. If I was going to hunt a chimera, I needed him. I needed him as Jupiter the protector, as Minerva the giver of counsel, as Apollo the omniscient. I needed his attention and his focus, now as much as ever.


There was only one way to call for him -- Roamans across the centuries had resorted to it. And given what I had, I could play host for the ritual.


Myst arrived, looking pained. "S-so... we look around now?" she asked.


I shook my head. "No, not with your sudden headache at least. We also need to wait for the others; two pairs working together can more safely search this place than one isolated pair. Plus, I need to do something important."


She hissed, holding a hoof up to her head as she sat down. "Oh? And, er... what's that?"


"I'm going to look around for a sacrificial bowl, and maybe a platform I can lay it on. Then I'll get some of whatever supplies Vesperius gave us. Then I will pour them into that bowl, and I shall burn them."


She seemed utterly confused. "Wait... you'll what?"


"I am going to offer a sacrifice to the gods, Myst," I told her, and looked out the doorway once more. There was Skyfire again, looking at me. Now she looked angry, maybe even a bit scared. I took in a deep breath. "Because I have the distinct feeling we aren't going to move unhindered if I don't."

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

"Where have you two been?" I asked, irritated at the hour and a half we had to wait before Skyfire and Delvius returned from their little patrol. All the while I'd had to endure the disturbing apparition watching us from every corner, seeming to be silently plotting something for us. Which, as it was a manifestation of Tod, was almost certainly the case.


"That mess house couldn't possibly have been that extensive," I asserted. Oh sure, the time they'd been gone had allowed me to scrounge a finely preserved corner table to utilize as a makeshift altar and we did find a nice ceramic bowl. Sure, the quick expedition to what seemed as the alchemy lab went off without a hitch. And sure, it's not like we were going to die without them. But doing all that was still a risk I hadn't quite been willing to take at half my party's strength.


I stared at the two as they looked to each other for something to say. "Well? Answer me."


Delvius shot me a nervous grin. "Well, er, we kind of got sidetracked. Eheh, see, she saw some pretty salvageable material on a little crevice on this cliffside; we went and gathered it up. After that-..."


"You went and picked it up?" I cut in. "A crevice on the cliffside? Outside the shield? You should have radioed in," I told them, keeping my tone level and firm. "I told you to do that for whatever you would do. I held off investigating the inside of this place just to include you -- and therefore the entire party -- in our collective effort."


"Right..." Skyfire drawled, but not condescendingly. She actually seemed genuinely accepting of her mistake. "Well, sorry about that. I guess we kind of got distracted by what we found. But we would have radioed in just after that if we didn't come across that merchant guy, right Delvius?"


He nodded. "Yes, we completely wouldn't have forgotten if it weren't for him."


"A... merchant?" I looked to gateway of the fortress, then to Zaita, whose metal body I stood in front of on the middle of the concrete road. "They spoke to a merchant? In this place, smack in the middle of all... this?"


"He was wearing a gasmask, and that was all he needed," she replied. "I would have told you about it sooner, but given how tense you seemed upon entering just a single chamber on the first floor of the fortress, I decided it best to let your companions independently conclude their business."


Myst chimed in, "Oh, he wasn't that tense..." She didn't sound convincing at all, and the other two didn't need to know what I did in there for them to understand that I had actually been quite anxious. She sighed. "Okay, maybe he was. Listen, Goldwreath, I know that you don't want us wandering around separated in a place like this, but really? You were keeping an eye on everything that moved like it was going to kill you; even the curtains."


Oh, sure, she was complaining when I was paranoid. "We're all paranoid about something," I replied and breathed, "Alright... fine, we're all together now and that's what counts. Just don't do that again, you two. I'm responsible for the wellbeing of each of you, so please just keep me updated. Okay?"


Like a pair of lambasted cadets, they answered with heads hung:


"Guh, fine."

"Yes... sir."


I brought a hoof up to my head, relaxing. "Good, good." I took a deep breath and turned back around, going for the doorway that lead into the lobby. "Now come on in. There's something I wanted to do, with all of us present, before we commenced the actual search. What did you two do with that merchant, anyway?"


"Traded, obviously," Skyfire answered. "The stuff we found consisted mostly of some nice, only slightly-melted silverware. I was glad not all of it fell into that lake." She gave a shudder. "Creepy stuff beneath the surface... almost felt like there were things looking up at me from beneath."


"There were things: those huge shrimp-creatures, remember?" Delvius gave her a little nudge on the shoulder with his own, "Hey, next time, try to get a better look of what you see when it comes to wildlife -- Legion database ain't exactly complete on the indigenous life forms list. We're still archiving all we find."


I waved them into the hall, stepping aside as I did. "Okay, so you traded and spotted some mutated crustaceans. That it, or are there any more details I might need to know?"


Skyfire stopped under the doorway and seemed to be trying to recall something. "Well... the trader was once a zebra tribal."


"Once?" I asked. "What happened?"


"According to him? He got banished," Delvius said. "Wasn't too keen on sharing much else, though. We just noticed he was acting a little paranoid around Skyfire -- he said ponies were kind of the cause of his banishment. It was a bit tense at first, but we cleared it up. We even managed to get some information and some equipment off of him for thirty silver forks. What he plans to do with all those, I don't know."


"Equipment?" Myst asked, sounding intrigued as she looked over at us from behind one of the computers. "Erm... like... what kinds of equipment?"


By now we had all stepped into the main space, leaving only Zaita's physical body and Doodle outside. The two computers were moving about the fortress' various functioning systems like water through pipes, but Doodle sure as hell couldn't. I gave the APC the order to move closer, taking the filly with her. She complied, and the vehicle landed gently beneath the pavilion acting as a roof over the steps.


"Well, just what he didn't need anymore," the zebra auxiliary replied. "A nice retractable spear -- not a javelin, but a spear. Partly wood, partly metal, though. Makes it flimsy, but I can find a use for it.... I think. Next to that he gave us a composite bow and five arrows." He cleared his throat as he put down his heavy pack and pulled out the aforementioned weapons. First he presented the bow, stretching the string as he did. "This one's made of elm. It's strong, light, and quiet. Good, but it's not really my thing..."


Myst was eyeing the weapon now, almost as if mesmerized by it. "It... looks good," she said. With confidence the likes of which we wouldn't have imagined from her, she jumped over the desk and approached at a brisk pace, eyes locked on the bow. "It looks so familiar... I feel like I've seen bows just like that before."


Delvius smiled, holding the weapon out to her. "Want it?" he asked. "I'm an auxiliary -- I skirmish and do quieter types of fighting, but... well, I haven't been trained in the use of this kind of thing. If you have, then feel free to take this."


She looked up at him, then to the bow. We both watched as she slowly stuck out her hooves and wrapped them around the bow. Delvius let go, letting her hold it close as she inspected it. "You're... you're sure you don't want it? You did pay for it..." she murmured.


He nodded, smiling. "Yup, I'm sure. Yeah, I paid for it, but it was honestly just to get the five pounds of silverware off my back. Besides, he didn't really seem to want it anymore. Would have been a waste if he just threw this thing away. So I took it, and I'm glad one of us decided to have it."


After that he handed her the five arrows he'd obtained, along with a leather quiver. Strapped to her back and combined with her hoodie, the setup made her look like a bounty hunter of some sort. An adorable one at that. And contrary to how I would have expected her to act, she seemed rather comfortable and happy with herself; like she'd fulfilled a life wish, I'd say.


"Girl looks a bit medieval with that strapped around her," Skyfire snickered. "But looks don't really matter. If it works, it works. Besides, it's about time she got another weapon. Sniper rifles are good, but they suck at anything but long-range combat. Then again, that bow's pretty much another long-ranged weapon..."


Myst didn't seem to be paying attention to anything as she inspected her new possession further. She didn't even react when Delvius trotted by, saying that he was glad to have given it to her. Even I didn't seem to have any sway as I repeatedly whispered for her to come and join us. I wasn't going to drag her along against her will, so scraping together my patience I sat and waited, even as Delvius and Skyfire started wondering what the bowl and altar in the center of the chamber was for.


"It reminds me of home..." she murmured, smiling as she gave the string a little pull. "It even feels like home," she continued, looking it up and down. Then she frowned. "Elm... it's even made of the same wood my people used to use..." She turned it over, now scrutinizing every little detail. Then she froze, her eyes wide and locked on the center of the bow handle.


"It is from home," she said softly, then started shaking as she turned around to finally look at me. "It... this bow, it's made by my people. The nomads I called my family." She held the weapon in front of her and looked at it, her eyes uncertain. "I... don't know what to feel."


"From home?" I asked as I scooted close, brandishing a smile. "Myst, that's a thing to feel good over!" I said with genuine cheer as I hugged her close with one hoof and held the bow up with my other. "Myst, this thing came from your people. It... it could mean your family's still alive. Your parents! People you knew from your childhood: friends! Cousins, maybe. This thing..." I said as I held it close to her. "... it shows a lot. It means a lot. Myst, you should be happy."


Family, friends, cousins and relatives... I'd barely had any of that back in my home. I never experienced much of the joy that many others in my Stable had. But so what? Was that supposed to make me feel petty jealousy? No. I was happy for her, truly and unquestionably. She had something I never really did, and as her special someone I was going to show her just how much it was supposed to make her happy, and just how much seeing her happy would mean to me.


And just as seeing her smile would have made me smile, so too did seeing her frown make me frown. "Myst... hey, come on. Please, don't be like that," I said lamely, "This is good... that guy was from your tribe... sure he was banished, but..." I stopped myself. Maybe that was why she was so gloomy? Maybe she thought she knew the guy, and the idea of him being banished was too much for her?


"You don't understand," she sighed, then unstrapped the quiver and held it and the bow in her hooves. "The people I lived with, Goldwreath, they were... a difficult people to live with. My parents were zebras because my real parents were killed by manticores. I was one of the few ponies in a nomadic tribe of zebras. I couldn't get along. I couldn't play with them, or talk to them... I couldn't fit in." She gulped as she set aside her new possessions. "I can't smile about this. I can't smile about remembering the people who made it so hard for me to do... anything. I can only think of those two zebras who were kind enough to take me in, and think on how selfish I was for deciding to leave that place." She sniffed.


I hugged her close, and she melted into my embrace. "Alright... alright, I understand that. I do. I was an outcast in my home, too." It never occurred to me that I wasn't the only one with a lonely upbringing. She may have even had it harder than I did. At least my parents were of my own kind, and at least half the people in my home were ponies.


She was quiet for a long moment. "Thank you," she said quietly, then wiped her nose. "I just saw that mark on the bow and suddenly... I didn't know what to think or feel. It's been years since I saw anyone from those nomads. Every day I spent as a recluse among them rushed into me." She shifted and looked up at me with those blue eyes of hers. "I'm glad you just decided to sympathize... because I wasn't ready just yet to answer any questions you may have had. I know you like to ask things, Goldwreath. It's something I really like about you, but I don't think I could have explained anything if you asked right then and there."


I nodded, giving her a little smile. "Anything for you. If I don't act like you want or do something that upsets you, just tell me. I can always make adjustments."


"But I can't," she huffed in self-scorn. Then she frowned, and looked up at me. "Listen, I know that you'd be willing to keep quiet if I asked you to, but I do know that it's about time I should tell you all about... about me. No more secrets. When this is over, I’ll tell you everything."


“Including... what you said that night in the Forum? When you... helped me see the error of my old ways?” I asked.


She stood there for a moment. “Yes... even that,” she replied with great difficulty, then gulped down a lump in her throat.


After that we returned to the others, and they seemed concerned at what they said they saw. I assured them to the best of my abilities that things were fine -- not good, but fine. I purposely let slip what Myst said about the banished zebra being a former part of her tribe, though; it made my marefriend uneasy, having to explain her background to more than just me, but I figured it was time for the rest of us to know. I knew it, and she knew it. She just needed a little nudge.


"And here I am feeling left out," I heard Delvius chuckle softly, mirthlessly. "Ah well, I'm new... should just observe first."


"You should do the opposite," Skyfire told him. I glanced their way and saw her smiling at him. "And don't worry about feeling left out. I'll help break you into my little group."


Delvius looked away bashfully, laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his neck. "Thanks, I-I sure would appreciate that," he stammered. He managed a nervous grin. "Really, that'd be nice."


I smiled myself, then stepped in their center. "Alright now, since we're all here I can finally start," I announced as Myst and I caught up to them. Then for a split second I wondered if Doodle was to be included. I decided that if I went through so much waiting to have Skyfire and Delvius available, I should at least involve everyone. I gave Zaita the order to inform her to come over. Moments later her little hooves were trotting across the floor, and she joined us excitedly, her eyes rolling over every detail in the vicinity as she frantically scribbled it all down on a paper.


Delvius observed her for a moment, astonished at the speed with which she drew. Then he shook his head and asked, "Alright, so what exactly are we gathered for?" And pointing to the altar that I'd painstakingly moved to the center or the entire area, queried, "And... is that what I think it's for?"


"If by 'what you think it's for' you mean offering a sacrifice to a bunch of 'deities', then yes," I replied, only then realizing how irreverent and disrespectful I must have sounded to anyone who genuinely believed in Tom's godhood. More respectfully, I continued, "That is, if such an action is appropriate at such a time as this?"


He smiled as if my question amused him. "I don't see why not," he answered, then got up and approached the makeshift altar.


Delvius gestured his hooves about it, proclaiming proudly, "Offerings to the gods have always been how we Roamans sought assistance. Whether before a great battle or in times of peace, we sacrificed livestock and the finest of our goods into the flame to call upon the advice of our lords -- and behold us now!" He threw his forelegs up into the air, gaze slowly moving over us. "Even in the apocalypse, we thrive. Even against monsters, we fight. Even with writhing masses of chaos besieging us daily, we not only survive, but we grind them down beneath our hooves." With an indomitable and unquestionable certainty he concluded, "The gods. Have. Favored us."


All that said, he let his hooves fall to the floor. We looked at him in stunned silence, our expressions quizzical. Then I spoke slowly, "That's... quite a way to put it." I gave an awkward grin and asked, hoping I didn't sound bigoted or ignorant, "So... I take it you're a believer in the gods?"


He smiled, nodding. "A firm believer, yes. Even if worship to them hadn't been mandated by the senate, I owe all that I have to them. It's only right." He frowned skeptically, and a moment later questioned, "Do... you believe in them?" He gestured over to the altar again, his eyes confused.


"I... well..." Did I? Tom was real, and perhaps he may have had the powers 'the gods' had, but was he a god? Unless he convinced me otherwise, to me has was just a really powerful alien. And though a part of me would have had me lie to Delvius about my spiritual alignment, he seemed like the type who'd know a liar when he saw one. And that wasn't something I wanted between us.


"No... no, not quite," I admitted, feeling somewhat ashamed about it. Which was odd, because even arguing against their existence with Vesperius made me feel nothing at all along the lines of restraint.


My answer seemed to strike him as unbelievable. "Oh... o-okay, but..." he stammered, wincing and blinking as he thought of how to proceed. "Well, how about your... your pony deities? Don't your kind worship your Princesses? So I've observed."


I shook my head again. "Worship... no. I just played along with my people's belief in that stuff. What can I say, the supernatural strikes me as... unbelievable. That's all. I don't look down on anyone who believes in deities, and I really don't want to start a debate here."


"Neither do I," Skyfire chimed in, drawing his attention almost at once. She rubbed a foreleg nervously with the other. "Like Goldwreath here... I don't really care that much for religion, either. Just thought I'd clear it up now is all," she said with a nervous cough.


Delvius frowned deeply, looking away and trying to keep his disbelief in check. "Ah, I-I see..." he stammered.


"Erm... neither do I, actually..." Myst added just a moment later, so soft I barely heard it.


His gaze quickly focused on her, and she cringed. His eyes drifted over us. "Well... that's all okay..." he said, his voice thrumming with restraint. Then his eyes focused on me, and he bit his lower lip, a hoof kicking some dust into the air. He clicked his tongue and nodded, sucking in his cheeks as he gave the altar a tap. "So... so why the altar? Why the intent to sacrifice to gods you don't really... believe in?"


Everyone seemed to share the question, as all their eyes were on me. I felt a lump in my throat, but got out, "Because while I don't acknowledge them the way you as a devout worshipper do -- as beings to be worshipped and revered and given the utmost praise -- I do have recognize their existence. I should know... I've seen them. And so, knowing they're real, I require their assistance on this mission we have found ourselves undertaking."


My answer drew a cough from Skyfire. Myst was too timid to give her opinion any more, and Doodle just went quizzical. But Delvius seemed disturbed, and looked on at me for a long, tense moment. I could almost feel his disbelief drilling into -- a pony who recognized the existence of deities yet didn't offer them the merit they 'deserved'? I must have been one hell of a question to him.


"I see," he finally said, scratching at the back of his head. His eyes drifted to the bowl. "Well, I'm, uh... glad to see you at least had the right idea," he said insincerely, forcing up a wan smile. "Sure, you're not a... a full believer, but you knew what to do to contact the gods... that's a good sign, as always..."


He sucked in a bracing breath and approached the altar once more. "So, shall we get started?" he asked, keeping up his mirthless smile and rubbing his hooves together as he bent down to draw supplies from a little stash I'd assembled at the corner table's base.


Doodle jumped up as if eager, but us three adults weren't anywhere nearly as ready. And from how he sounded just a while back, I sure as hell didn't think he was, either. "You... you're going to play host?" I asked.


He nodded, his back straightening up as he brought forth a sealed package and a bottle of wine. "Of course," he replied with wan smugness. "On one hoof, I've done this before and have experience -- you don't, I assume. On the other... well..." He trailed off, chuckling lowly. "... well, I just think it'd be better if you three just played witness instead of host to this ritual is all."


'I think it's better if I do it' is how I translated that. Perhaps it wasn't necessarily true, considering the gods were actually just an alien, and therefore probably didn't distinguish between believers or non-believers. But we'd already smitten him with our confessions. To be the host of a ritual Roaman religion considered important was all he had left. I couldn't take that from him.


"If that's what you really want..." I said at last, glancing to the others to get their approval; they nodded. "... then we are here merely as witness. Carry on as you see fit."


He gave us a faintly thankful look, then proceeded with the ritual. It didn't feel right. There was no atmosphere of reverence or serenity over us. We were tense, some of us maybe even disappointed in ourselves -- I know I was. He didn't admit it, but I knew Delvius was offended that I'd attempted to use his faith and culture's traditions for my motives without paying due homage. And while certainly Tom would understand my demeanor, given that I knew of his less-than-divine nature, it was no excuse for going around, acting as if everyone else did. It was no reason to downplay the importance faith played in other people's lives. I took it as a meager penance to feel ashamed the entire rite -- that every second the ceremonial fire burned, turning to ashes and steam what we had to offer, the guilt plaguing my mind would remind me to not act so rashly again.


It was all over half an hour later. The fires had reduced the fuel paper to cinders, and the bowl was full of ashes and thin coatings of bubbling wine. The scent of overly-roasted grain and cooked grapes filled our noses, so pungent as to almost draw tears. And at last Delvius withdrew from the altar, his facial fur made soft by the heat he'd exposed it to. "So goes today's offering," he murmured as he stared cleaning up. "May you find it appeasing."


Still desiring to make up for how I'd acted, I assisted him in his work even as the others still sat, their faces revealing uncertainty and discomfort. "You did good," I told him, trying to sound genuine. "I'm glad you decided to take over. I would have made... quite a few mistakes had I done it."


He smirked lifelessly, shaking his head. "Unless you started insulting the gods, you couldn't possibly have done it 'wrong' -- this ritual is an offering for attention and appeasement, Goldwreath; it is performed by individual persons with individual personalities every day, and has been done for thousands of years by all kinds of people: farmers, soldiers, aristocrats, plebeians, prisoners, athletes. It is the most personalized of Roaman traditions. Formality is a choice on the host's part, not a requirement."


"Alright," I nodded. "That's good to know, because I really didn't know anything of how it should have gone. I dodged a bullet there, eheh..."


He frowned as he stooped down to spread the ashes around in a circle. I had the distinct feeling I'd hit a nerve again. "Yes, you did," he murmured, and went quiet for a moment as the other three approached. "You all did."


The tone of his voice moved us all to silence, yet against expectations it was Myst who asked, "W-we did?"


He sighed, focusing on her. "Yes. Yes you did," he replied, and finished putting away that which I had gathered. Then he drew his rifle and jumped over the desk, moving with surprising speed over to the nearest stairwell.


On his way there, he glanced back at us. "Well? Let's go," he called over curtly, and proceeded around the corner and up the stairs.


It took us a few moments before we actually got moving. "I'll talk to him," Skyfire said as she split up from us to follow him. "You guys should take the other stairs. And this time I promise we'll radio in."


There wasn't anything else to say or do. We turned our own way and took the stairs up, alert but unfocused. If the offering had been intended to get Tom over so we could be more secure, then I didn't feel it. It was supposed to make us feel more one and whole. Now, unprecedented by even me, we had already clashed and fractured.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

"Bunk Wing two clear," I mouthed into the radio as Myst and I proceeded back out the doorway to the long, dusty, dead halls. "Nothing interesting whatsoever. Just like the previous one, all lockers and corner tables were devoid of any items. Honestly, this place is a little... boring."


"What, did you expect to find more of those memory orbs ya' keep going into?" Skyfire snickered. "You really should let us in on what you find in those at some point," she said. "I get curious about the past, too. Especially the Roaman past, 'cause I know nothing of what happened here aside from what's common knowledge."


"I'd actually like thar too," Myst told me as we trotted down the spacious hall to the next door on the far side. If what Zaita said was true, that this place had ten Bunk Wings for ninety-six praetorians each, then we still had a long way to go. "You go into those a lot... I do sometimes wonder what you see in their."


I looked between her and the radio, then replied, "Alright... maybe when things settle down just a bit. When all our heads are a little less troubled." And when would that be, I wondered. It seemed like every day we were presented with some new problem or a new version of an old one. But the fact was that the past Roam's connection to the apocalypse was undeniable, and Tod seemed to be heavily involved, maybe even the center. We were fighting him. They had the right to know just what exactly they were getting themselves into, and I knew it. I just had to decide when it was a good time.


As if mirroring my own concerns, Skyfire replied, "Yeah, clear heads... I don't think that's happening soon." She sighed. "We've all been through some tough shit, Goldwreath. Lots of it stays with us... memories, losses..." She trailed off, then cleared her throat. "Well, you know. What really never leaves me is what we saw down in the metro... I know they're chimeras and all, but damn."


"Well, we'll just have to wait and hope a time comes up," I told them both, glancing at Myst to make sure she got my message. "But more than just wait, we should act. Tackle each problem and clear them up. That'll make room in our heads for a hell of an offload of information."


"Speaking of problems..." Skyfire gave a soft cough as hoofsteps neared her.


"Armory's clear," Delvius told her, his voice hard and sounding fiercely focused. "Let's move on. Next place is the officer's meeting room. Just around the corner, according to this map." There was a sound of unfurling paper. "Let's get to it." He started trotting off.


Myst and I looked to each other, then to the radio strapped to my shoulder. We both silently agreed to leave it alone. Skyfire had said she'd talk to him; it was her task, and we trusted her to rectify my mistake, even if it was my responsibility.


Skyfire didn't say anything at once as she moved along. The lack of crunching and cracking from all our trotting made it obvious that the closer to the center of the Castra Praetoria we went, the less effect the heat had had. I had to question, though, why the praetorian fortress had been made so brittle by the heat when the Forum hadn't been -- better shields for a more important location, or equipment malfunction?


The silence on both sides of the radio contorted in me, the anxiety building up as heat in my gut until I almost blurted out what was on my mind -- that the weather was not fine -- when Skyfire finally spoke, "Hey Delvius. Mind if I, er... ask you something?" How the roles had changed. Earlier it was Delvius making awkward attempts to build up on their previously nonexistent relationship; now, after that bridge had its tentative foundations laid, it was her sounding shaky. "You know, if you don't mind?"


"Depends on the question," he answered curtly, and then there was the sound of a door being quickly pushed open. Metallic clatter and panting filled the frequency for just a moment as he asked in a hushed tone, "This is about earlier, isn't it?"


Myst and I had absentmindedly reached the door to our next destination, but neither of us entered just yet; this was something we had to hear. Meanwhile a small robot -- some kind of automatic floor-polisher -- approached, its motor whirring until it was just next to my foreleg. Its single camera looked up between us, then it gave a little whir and left.


"That was G.L.A.D.I.U.S," Zaita intoned through another radio I'd left with Doodle back at the lobby, interrupting our reception of Skyfire and Delvius' conversation. Her voice was muffled by the distance the device must have been from the headset she spoke through, but we could make her out. "With all the security mechs either missing or out of commission, and with me being granted temporary reign over the limited functioning cameras and speakers this place possesses, he has had to resort to janitorial and maintenance equipment to determine the physical state of the Castra Praetoria."


I didn't bother to reply as we focused our ears on picking up the rest of the conversation. We'd missed half a minute, but surely we'd be able to make out the flow of what had been said.


Thankfully the two on the other end had paused themselves long enough to hear what Zaita said, and so we hadn't missed anything. "So, as I was trying to say... yeah, it is about earlier," Skyfire replied.


The auxiliary gave a prolonged exhale as they moved further into their destination, their hoofsteps deliberately slow as they stole their way in cautiously. In the absence of any other sound from their end, the clanking of Delvius' armor and boots and the threatening hum of Mustang and Sally's plasma chambers filled the frequency with a noise like static. "What about it, then?" he whispered.


"I really don't think we need to whisper in here," she said. "I don't know if the others have pieced it together, but if nothing's allowed past the shields... then the chimeras couldn't have gotten in. Not without leaving behind a corpse, anyway."


"Well then, maybe they're in the underground," he replied flatly, and quickly sucked in a breath as a loud clatter filled their side. I could almost hear his hoof on the trigger. They both went silent, Sally and Mustang's chambers powering up and humming loudly. Then a faint whir filled the air, and they relaxed. "Oh, for gods' sakes," Delvius groused, "Annoying little things."


He sighed and continued from where he was interrupted, "Listen. I don't know much about chimeras. You've faced them; you know better than I do how dangerous they can be. Maybe they actually came here, maybe they didn't. Perhaps they're in the underground tearing up long-abandoned construction facilities or -- gods forbid -- trying to get into Stable II; maybe they're not. All I know is I am not going to take anything about this assignment lightly until it's done. You understand?"


"Yeah, I do," she replied slowly, uneasily. "But, for the original question... about what happened earlier... are you mad or something?" I heard her swallow, her breath quivering with anxiety. "I mean, I'd understand if you are, but-..."


"I'm not mad," he said, cutting her off. Wooden impacts echoed from their side as he, I assumed, started rummaging through drawers. "I'm not. Really. I'm just... disappointed is all."


"About how we acted?" Skyfire asked, and Myst and I looked to each other. She frowned and hung her head.


"Yeah," he replied simply. "You just have to understand. I mean, you three -- or at least Goldwreath -- had the intent of using my people's traditions for your own ends. That whopped me hard. Then you and Myst said one after the other that you didn't believe, too, and I just... well, couldn't bear it. I spent my whole life around people who believed; it was a mandatory requirement. I guess finally being exposed to people who don't revere the gods as we do just overwhelmed me for a bit is all.


"But listen here," he added just a moment later, "It's not a lasting disappointment -- I don't want this thing to come between me and any of you. People should be free to believe in whatever gods they want, or to not believe at all if they so choose. Sure, this time was a little different in that Goldwreath's action was just plain disrespectful..."


I felt a stab of righteous guilt in me. Myst put a comforting hoof around my neck.


"... but I can get past that. I don't hold grudges."


"Don't hold grudges, huh?" Skyfire asked solemnly. "I admit... I kind of do that. I was out to kill every Legion bastard I saw, even weeks after..." Her voice trailed off.


"Don't say it," he said. "I know, Skyfire. And it's alright. You were vengeance-driven. Were. That's not you anymore, right? You're better than that now. Don't beat yourself up over it."


She gave a little sniffle, and suddenly I had the sudden feeling this was no longer a part of the conversation we were quite privy to. "Thanks," she croaked, and gave a little laugh. "Tell the 'don't beat yourself up' part to Goldwreath, though; if I break down from... well, you know, and Myst breaks down from... well, everything..."


"I do not," Myst asserted, an edge of surety in her voice. It would have been more convincing if I didn't hear it as more than a whisper.


"... then Goldwreath breaks down over all the doubt he has for himself and his abilities. He's gone on, like, two 'I'm an inadequate defender of Roam' rants. No matter how many times we've told him he does good, he just can't accept it."


"That's... too bad," Delvius commented, sighing. "He knows he's been doing good, right? If not, I'll make that abundantly clear to him. Goldwreath, if you can hear me, just know that you've done some of the most amazing, most helpful-..."


I hurriedly turned off the radio, ending what we heard right then and there. "Right!" I said, turning to Myst. "Well, we can talk about stuff like this after we've secured the place. No unimportant chatter and all that; just distracts from the directive. We've confirmed that Delvius is okay, and that's what counts." I gave a little cough and nodded at the door. "So, ready?"


She just stared back for a long while. "Alright," she answered, her voice sad and low, as she drew her rifle and held it close. We got into position next to the door, her eyes casting glances my way.


I found all that disconcerting, but tried to remain focused. "Alright then..." I muttered, and gave the door a savage kick that sent it crashing inward and slamming into the nearest bunk bed. I rushed in, eager and ready to step away from all distractions for as long as it took to get the place secure. Especially when that distraction was talk of my 'amazing accomplishments'. They weren't amazing, and nowhere near as helpful as the people of Roam must have been led to believe. I was just a player in a game others did far more at, but I'd had the luck of publicity. That was all to me.


But Myst seemed to disagree. Her eyes were scrutinizing my every movement as we searched the place, glancing my way when she thought I wasn't looking. She didn't say anything of the sort as we rifled through the place, but she didn't need to for me to know her difference of opinion -- it was in her tone, the way she sighed whenever I turned away. It made me uneasy, and made focusing almost impossible.


The tension would have been easier to handle if she just told me what she thought, but she'd already done that in the Forum, and maybe I just hadn't learned my lesson. Perhaps there would have been no tension at all had I simply agreed to all their praise -- I wanted to, wanted to so badly. I was sick of downplaying myself, and Myst and Skyfire were as well, but the truth was that I would never be at ease until I'd done something that on its own corrected any of Roam's major problems. I didn't want the good I did to be the aftereffect of a collaboration. I wanted my deed to make the change.


But until such as accomplishment was achieved, I'd be forced to bear the feeling of never being good enough. Because thinking I was good enough would lead me to complacency.


And until then, as well, I would have to bear the disapproval of my caring companions, the most caring of whom was very close by and giving the most disapproval. I sighed -- it was going to be a long afternoon.

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

It was very late in the afternoon, and early in the evening, when we finally finished. Four floors, each sporting an interior volume of hundreds of cubic meters -- that's what we had to search through. The many rooms and halls and spiraling staircases didn't make searching it all any easier, and the sheer desolation and dereliction of the place casted a great boredom over me. There was absolutely nothing worth a second look, and it left the adventurous and curious part of me feeling like it wanted to commit suicide. For such an important place, the Castra Praetoria's desertion left it feeling utterly trivial.


We were back at the main lobby. The central space was illuminated by the screens of all the computer units and the few functional lightbulbs that flickered and sparked. It made the place feel eery: a circular perimeter of illuminated marble and a wooden table surrounded by utter darkness? Terrifying images of monsters and beasts creeping from the shadow came to mind.


"Well, I think we can all agree on one thing," I said wearily as we sat, tired, in a small circle behind the wooden desk. "And that's that this place had absolutely nothing worth a second glance. Anyone disagree?"


"Nope!"

"Er, no?"

"Uh-uh."

"Negatory."


I nodded. "I thought as much... but that's just from the physical point of view," I said, livening up a bit as I scooted close to the microphone of a headset that hung from the side of an old chair. "Zaita, G.L.A.D.I.U.S? Anything from you?"


"Yes, actually," Zaita replied, her voice coming from the headset as well as a few speakers from all around the Castra Praetoria -- the latter caused a discomforting, ghostly echo effect, and I bade her just use the headset.


"Aside from a wealth of data concerning the past two hundred years, based on the observations of functioning systems," Zaita explained, "There were also a multitude of security code caches scattered around the most unexpected parts of the locale's network. Strange. It was almost as if someone wanted the security to be impossible to override in the case they were hacked."


"This was an action taken by G.L.A.D.I.U.S-CP, and was a necessary wartime precaution," G.L.A.D.I.U.S droned.


The others, who'd sat close enough to other functional headsets to hear this, immediately grew skeptical and curious. "And why would your copy do that?" Skyfire asked, suspiciously as always. "Seems a bit... ominous."


"Security measures here were extensive. False codes were circulated all throughout the network as decoys -- should one of them be used, the systems were alerted. The real security codes for this place and many others were kept within my intelligence -- therefore, only I had control of security here. The false codes themselves were to act as an elaborate set of nigh-endless early-warning alarms that led any and all hackers on a convoluted cyber goosechase, where every move they made only trapped them deeper in my counter-hack." That said, the AI added, "So as you all should now know, any codes not pried from my smoldering motherboard are false. Only I control the systems here, and only I choose who to grant access."


"Right, I see..." It made sense, actually. It was a spiderweb, meant to trap and ensnare hackers in a cybermaze of ever-growing complexity. "That's really interesting, I suppose. But have you two gotten anything directly related to our mission? Anything useful?"


"I do not know just what your mission is and I don't care. My objective here is complete -- now I must simply await the urban cohort to assist them in revitalizing this place. A connection to the other facilities should not be hard to establish once they repair the equipment here, so I have no further use for you."


I winced inwardly. What, were we just tools for him?


Skyfire gave a snort and rolled her eyes. "'Course he doesn't care. He's a damned computer..." she groused.


Before anyone else gave any negative side comments, Zaita said, "Nothing decisive, I'm afraid. Goldwreath, I do not think the chimeras have been here. Nor the praetorians. No footage, no record, and no audio has given me anything that could support our original hypothesis that this is where we may find them. But there is something: the underground is alight with thermal signatures, moving by the dozens out of Stable II and into areas of the underground beyond the supervision of the Castra's security surveillance. And it isn't any scouting party; since yesterday, an average of eighty people leave every four hours. That Stable has been closed for two-hundred years. One must ask why they are moving out."


"One has to indeed..." I mused, leaning back against the inner side of the circular desk. I imagined a Roaman Stable, one far bigger than my own home had been. Then I imagined hundreds of its inhabitants: the descendants of praetorian guards, all leaving the safety of their home and trotting into the darkness to an unknown destination. Together, they'd brave the harshness of the radiated tunnels, but for what? "It... it doesn't seem normal. Unless, like with the Legion, these people had a planned exodus as well?"


"They did," Zaita answered. "According to wartime imperial plans that G.L.A.D.I.U.S had so blithely allowed me to copy, the inhabitants of Stable II were to emerge when the Legion had grown enough in power to safely lead them to a new life on the surface -- this was the plan for all Roaman Stables."


"Well this sure as hell isn't supposed to happen," Delvius said. "Legion's made no contact with any shelter aside from Stable IV, where most of the specialized mining and industrial equipment was, and even then we only made contact with them because they're just half a mile from Stable I, IPQR! They were practically made to be first contact -- hell, just a month after the bombs, we'd already dug a tunnel to them! A few days later we even had an underground highway between us." He frowned skeptically, rubbing bis chin. "So why would Stable II move out like this... where are they going..."


"It's sounding stranger and stranger," I said in agreement. I looked to Myst, Skyfire, and Doodle -- the three who'd been with me in the underground when we first met those monsters. "What do you three think? Call this a hunch, but I think the chimeras are the cause of what's happening down there. This is just too odd to be anything else." Yes, by then I had come to assume that every odd and tragic event was somehow related to Tod and, therefore, his chimeras -- so far, I'd been right most of the time.


"It's fishy... but can you really just say it's them?" Skyfire asked, cocking her head. "I know they've been the cause of some weird stuff, but can you just say that?"


"I agree with Skyfire," Myst said. "We can't just go down there on a hunch. Is there anyway we can maybe see what's down there?" she questioned, moving her mouth closer to the microphone of the headset I'd been talking into.


"As I said, it is outside of the jurisdiction of the Castra Praetoria's underground security. Perhaps if G.L.A.D.I.U.S can access the systems of any facility more proximate to Stable II?"


"Software and signal transmission equipment is currently nonexistent, and the underground fiberoptic cables are damaged. Cable-transfer of my main essence will take too long. The only feasible options are either I wait for the urban cohorts to surface, or I have you take me down there physically and allow me to interface with the inert facilities."


I hummed in thought, then looked to the others. "Alright... we could do that. We search the underground and we discern what's up with Stable II -- two birds with one stone. But we're not going now," I said, and saw Skyfire frown disappointedly and Myst sigh in relief.


"Why not? More people leave that place every hour we don't stop it!" the pegasus protested, then caught a little look from Delvius that seemed to be reminding her of something. "Well... we'll stop it assuming we should, that is," she added a moment later.


"Well, as much as I'd love to stop it right now," I said, "The truth is that we aren't ready. We need a plan: where to go and when to go there. We need a strategy, and we need to agree on rules of engagement for if we spot a chimera. If we go in there and encounter a threat, and if we die, then we're no help to anyone." I sighed, knowing full well I sounded perhaps a bit cold to the ear of an equinitarian. It's not like I wanted to delay, mind you -- if we'd known of the situation before we arrived, I would have put together a plan as quick as a bullet left a barrel. But plans made lives easier, and could save people. Plans allowed Roam to conquer the world. Plans allowed the barbarians to nearly overthrow Roam. And in this case, plans were our only hope against a foe like this.


My words, however cold they may have sounded, seemed to have silenced all argument. Well, almost all; Skyfire sucked in a breath to make a reply, her expression so determined to get us to go then and there, but Delvius stopped her with the words: "I'd go along with it, Skyfire. As an auxiliary, I do the most disorganized fighting you can imagine... but I still strategize. I still survey and contemplate. I don't just charge in on my cerati, yell 'For Roam!' and kill whatever I see. That's just stupid."


Skyfire scowled at him, but she seemed to see the reason in our argument. Not only that, she saw we were all against her. "'That's just stupid' my tailhole..." she groused, frowning so sharply at Delvius that the auxiliary scooted away a bit. But then she conceded, letting her shoulders sag. "Fine. Tomorrow morning, I guess..." she muttered, then looked right up at me. "Just remember. Lives are at stake here. If you Roaman types need plans to get things done, then think of plans quick. I got a bad feeling about every zebra that leaves that place..."


"I know what's at stake here, Skyfire," I said slowly, making sure to emphasize each word. The tone of my voice made her stare at me. I returned the gaze, then looked around. "We all do. There isn't a single one of us here who doesn't know the value of life, and the measures that must be taken to save it. But your lives matter just as much. Unless we're certain those people are losing their lives, I will not rush to their aid. Not like this, not unprepared. I'll not have us join their corpses."


Skyfire sighed and nodded tentatively. "Yeah. I get it." She didn't seem happy about it, though; none of them were (but Doodle was almost always smiling, and now was no different; I'd mistaken her to be naive because of that, but she'd revealed to me in the Forum that one does not need to frown and grimace simply to show understanding of the situation).


A silence settled over us for a few moments, then Delvius' glance rolled over to the time on one of the computer screens. '6:28'. His eyes lit up and he jumped to his hooves. "Well then," he said, clearing his throat, as he jumped over the desk. "I don't know about you four, but this time's dinner time. I'll go get some supplies and see if there's anything to start a fire with."


Not bad timing at all. My stomach rumbled, my gut sucking itself in. "Good thinking," I commented as he left. "I'll help you out."


"Nah, s'fine," he said, waving me off with a hoof and smiling smugly as he continued for the doorway. "Legionnaires are trained to carry another zebra on them and not complain. I can handle a few pounds of food no problem. Just give me a minute. Besides, I wouldn't want any of you to make a mess of our supplies. No offense."


I relaxed, slumping down against the interior of the desk. "Cocky bastard," I murmured, smirking.


Skyfire heard me, and was thankfully the only one who did. "Independent's really more like it, but yeah, a bit smug," she muttered, lying down on her back and starting to bob her head to music from her helmet. The speakers were set to 'exterior', and we were all exposed to the rhythm. It was an odd piece, constantly shifting between bass and treble like a broken turbine. But we could make out a pattern, and so long as it had that it was 'music'.


But I smiled. Even in the seriousness of our endeavor, at least we still found time to just sit down and relax. Surely nothing could go that bad with this job.


"Hey you," we heard Delvius call out. "How the hell'd you get in here?"


We all rose. "Who is it out there?" I asked in a rush.


There was a little commotion as he galloped a little ways off, his hooves crunching marble. "Ah... uh?" he muttered aloud. "Huh. Well... maybe it was just my shadow," he called, then gave an embarrassed chuckle. He started trotting closer again. "Could have sworn it moved in its own, but meh. Maybe I need to lay off on the wine..."


The others relaxed again, drowning themselves out in the music. But me? I stood up, still staring out the door way. Then I gulped, and sat down.


'Tom... where are you?'

* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *

"And then... right as the bad pony got up behind Daddy... Mommy used her horn to send the tin cans in the room FLYING all over the place! Like a tornado of unopened tomatoes!" Doodle proclaimed with fervent awe as she loomed over the flame. Then she smiled casually, "The bad ponies were pretty easy to get rid of after that. Mom called Mister Redeye's griffins when she was using her horn, so the nice bird-people came in and took them away just like that."


I sat a little ways off from the campfire, sitting on a chair and looking straight at the doorway from in between two computer screens. The moon shone through the open arc, presiding right above the black silhouette of the Castra's ruined mess house. It was beautiful, yet even the moonlight seemed strange in this place -- filtered by Black Cloud, for certain, but there was more to it. It seemed warped, distorted, as if some of the light was being sucked into that upside-down cone in the atmosphere. Myst seemed only to have the barest interest in Doodle's tales, now; she was even starting to nod off as she leaned against the desk, sitting on a chair close to mine. I rolled my wheeled seat closer and slowly moved her torso onto my lap.


"Listen, Doodle..." Delvius said slowly, "That's all great, really. But, er... could you please get back to the contest? Roaman weapons -- name 'em if you can. Be they for allied griffins or allied ponies or even auxiliary zebras."


"Go easy on her, sheesh," Skyfire said, then added with a snicker, "You'e only losing by five points."


"You know very well that the Omni series counts for five points," he snapped.


Ah yes, their little game. After dinner they resumed their comparing of Roaman and Equestrian military equipment. Since Skyfire only really knew what the Enclave used, she had to ask Doodle to tell them what she saw the earth ponies and unicorns use. It took me by surprise that the filly knew so many, model names and all. The auxiliary was practically having his flank handed to him in terms of sheer number of named equipment.


I would have joined in; turned the tide in favor of Roam and all that. But I needed to be alert. I'd spotted two more apparitions while we ate. Two -- one of Skyfire, and another of me. They were not there because of the wine, as Delvius thought -- I saw them before and after downing a bottle. They themselves weren't what really worried me, though. I was scared to death of what they were doing with what they heard and saw. And they wouldn't go away, at all. Had not Tom had power of Tod before? Where was he now, even after such effort on our part?


Minutes passed by, ending the game in favor of Skyfire at a landslide victory of seventy-eight to thirty-nine. Delvius grumbled pettily but conceded, vowing to earn the next one.


"I'll not be so easy on you next time," he said determinedly, "Just you wait."


They started to move about, with the pegasus and the zebra starting up another topic of interest: politics. Now they were comparing the governmental systems of the two civilizations, and Delvius even got on a computer to prove his points. Doodle, seeing that no one seemed to be available to interact with, then curled up atop a pile of Delvius' things and fell asleep, half her body turtled beneath the auxiliary's metal helmet.


I shifted, gently dragging Myst along, and moved away from them. It was nice to see them building up a bridge, but right now they were a distraction. Perhaps I took things too seriously, but we were in hostile territory and beset by mysterious circumstances. I needed to be alert. I needed to be ready.


But that didn't change one, fundamental aspect of me: the need to occupy myself. Whether in mind or in body, I had to keep moving. Sitting here didn't help me think, what with those two nearby each vouching for their own peoples. So I got up, laid Myst gently onto a rug and rolled her hood beneath her head as a pillow, and left.


"I'll be back," I told them, to which they responded with a set of distracted waves before returning to their argument.


Outside, the cold breeze bit at my skin, and a chill ran down my throat at my first breath, drying it almost instantly. Twisters of dust sprang up and swirled across the abandoned street and flew over the edge of the road, down to the lake. The wind moaned as it rushed by, in between hollowed windows and above and beneath the pavilion and its old, marble columns. The faded banners whipped and snapped, like the flapping of wings. And with the new air came a stench, like that of dead flesh and fried corpses, diluted in the breeze yet pungent enough to make me fight a retch.


A glance off to the distance, to the interior of the city, revealed the smell's source: a night-horizon sporting glowing rooftops and incinerated skyscrapers -- the work of Roamana. It reminded me of that night in Verge. Only this time the sight was grander, but farther.


I shivered and extended my tunic's sleeves to the greatest of the elastic's extent, tucked my wings close, brought the tribune's mask to my face as a shield against the cold, and started trotting. Out here I didn't fear attack; not with those guns ready to drop anything that entered the walls, and not with the two looming drones flying around overhead, high in the sky. In fact, I had no fear of external threats, not even from whatever mutated monster may have dwelled in the lake below.


I worried only of the underground. I could not for the life of me believe that the praetorians had not gone here, accompanied by chimeras. It just didn't add up -- a sealed Stable opening only a day after a deranged cohort leaves the Forum on one of the few highways that led to this derelict fortress? 'Ghosts' appearing to me and my friends? No, there was something going on here, and I was certain it wasn't good.


I stopped in my tracks, taking a good look around at my environment. Indeed, though, there were no corpses or any signs of external disruption before our arrival. To any rational person, that'd mean the praetorians and their chimera allies were off elsewhere. But I couldn't believe that, not unless I was proven wrong. "They have to be here, or somewhere near," I murmured, and swallowed as cold air funneled into the mask's eyeholes and forced another chill down my throat. "They have to be."


As I moved along, one of the drones descended from its circular path and hovered in the air right where the road that had led into into the city was cut off by the crater. It waited for me, as it didn't move until I abandoned my wandering and approached.


"G.L.A.D.I.U.S? What is it?" I asked the drone. It was a small thing for such firepower -- a tiny VTOL that couldn't have been bigger than me, yet had a pair of rocket salvos and a machinegun on the bottom. It was sleek and curved, and plated in black steel. The single camera on the nose rotated to face me.


The drone's speakers crackled, "Those noisemakers you call your friends irritate me, and 'Zaita' is ceaseless in its laughable attempts to obtain information from within my embedded code. I have left the Castra to that other AI; from within the APC over there, I reign out here. Much less noise."


I smirked and rolled my eyes. "You know, G.L.A.D.I.U.S, given that we'e the ones lugging you around so you can interface with all these facilities for 'Operation Reclamation' before the urban cohorts arrive, I'd say we warrant a little bit of respect."


"I have given you people the 'little bit' of respect you deserve," he replied. "I have not scrutinized your every movement for potential threat against Roam. I have not confined you to a chamber until I figured out the entire background of each and every one of your companions. What you consider disrespect is simply raw pragmatism and an attempt to divert processing power away from trivial matters to the mission directive."


I groaned. "If I were a machine I'd agree with you, but I'm not. So I guess I'll never see things the way you do. But surely you understand the basic psychology that they're my friends, and so I'll not have them degraded by a computer, however little intent to insult is actually thrown into the statement."


The AI gave a curt grunt. "I obviously do. And I do my best to respect that psychology, so long as the situation permits. But we both have a job here, and I cannot tolerate behavior that hinders it. Behavior that your friends show much of."


Well... I could understand that. To be fair, they were not acting as seriously and as focused as I'd thought. Skyfire and Delvius engaging in competition, distracting themselves... not that it was bad, but it was doing just that: distracting them. And Myst -- bringing her personal feelings of my demeanor into the assignment? Perhaps once we'd reached the Forum again, that would have been more appropriate. And Doodle...


... okay, I couldn't exactly do anything about her. The filly had watched death and gore often with a smile, yet not one of insanity. In a way, she was the least poisoned of us all.


"Perhaps..." I muttered, and it was almost drowned out by the hum of the little drone's thrusters. "I suppose they could use a little more self-control. But my point still stands: treat us with respect."


"As much as is your due, pony," he replied flatly.


I stared at him, then relaxed. I wasn't going to get any more than that, I thought, and contented myself. "Well, then I'm glad we understand each other," I breathed, ruffling a hoof through the plumes of my praetorian helmet. As I did I felt all the dirt and grime that had festered within the strands of artificial hair. Next time I got to the Forum, I promised myself, I'd give it a thorough cleaning; it gave me my identity as the Praetorian, after all.


Suddenly there was a heavy metallic clang, echoing and resonating through the earth.


"What was that?" I asked in a rush, head jerking around and scanning the area. "Did you hear anything?"


The drone just stared at me. "Yes, I heard it," he replied, slowly. "Perhaps your friends are causing a clamor again. Or maybe some support hundreds of feet from where you are has collapsed. Either way, it's no particular reason to worry -- hundreds of heavy steel beams support the wight of this fortress, another hundreds of which act as auxiliaries. Damage to internal supports were at a minimal, even given the megaspell. Unless a missile strikes the foundations of this place in just the right location, collapse is a far-flung improbability."


I relaxed. "Fine. Let's hope that's right," I replied. "I trust you on this one."


"As you should," he intoned, and I rolled my eyes. Then the drone elevated itself into the air somewhat and the camera focused on a spot behind me. "Wonderful. A noisemaker," the AI grumbled.


I turned around to spot Delvius, a woolen cloak thrown about his shoulders. The auxiliary was approaching with a thoughtful look on his face, and a wan smile as he noticed me. He threw me a wave of a greeting, and I returned it. G.L.A.D.I.U.S grumbled something about 'annoying organics' and flew off just as Delvius arrived at my spot and stood on the edge with me. He looked out over the faintly glowing, constantly moving lake, his gaze drifting up towards the horizon. It was only then that I noticed the pitch-black cloud looming threateningly in the distance. He looked up at the sky, eyes wide in thought.


"The stars are veiled... a shadow stirs in the east. A sleepless malice..." he murmured, then looked to me. "The enemy is moving."


I took a moment to think on his statement. "Enemy?"


He took a deep breath, drawing his cloak closer. "The monsters, Goldwreath. They're a festering presence over those mountains, on those fields... and hard to contain. Even after our constant efforts, even after the endless bombardment by the old, wartime cannons... they're still moving. Shrugging it all off like it's nothing." He took another deep breath. "Vesperius has told few others of the situation. He felt that you should know it's getting bad out there."


I spent a moment focusing on him, then also looked over the horizon. "What are they, Delvius?" I asked. I hadn't ever gotten a solid answer ever since seeing them in that video almost a month ago. "Where are they from?"


He shook his head, then sighed. He shrugged, "We don't know. Vesperius doesn't know, and that's saying a lot. But the gods... and this is what he has told us... he says that the gods are wary of it. Perhaps it was the Legion aquila that Equestrius lost in that infernal place, perhaps what goes on in there is simply a quarrel of truly cosmic proportions... or perhaps, like us, the gods have enemies that are on their level, too."


I nodded absent-mindedly. "You know, er... I saw a video of what bred in that place. The monsters... they were like... demons." Slowly, I asked, "Would you think they're demons?"


The thought seemed to greatly disturb him as he shifted uncomfortably, chewing on his lip. "It's... a possibility. Pluto was said to be a troublesome god at times... perhaps he is not pleased with something. Ha, perhaps he's unleashed the dead to punish us!" he chuckled, but it died just a second later. He grimaced.


The notion sent shivers to my limbs. 'I am the gods of Roam' Tod had said. So was he Pluto, as well? Lord or the dead? Somehow I doubted it, but if Tod was not Pluto... then did that mean that someone else was? Someone with more malevolent intent? If o, then were those truly ghosts of the troubled dead? I doubted that too, and yet... no other rational idea could come to mind that could explain incorporeal flaming dogs, titanic monstrosities as large as mountains, and grotesque behemoths of flesh better than the existence of some powerful spirit with access to the ghosts of the dead.


Well... magic was a possible phenomenon, and made a more believable alternative. I'd never quite liked users of magic; unicorns, as I had observed, were often quite lazy. A descendant of a tribal zebra shaman in my stable was once rumored to have dabbled in blood magic, though it was never proven. For these reasons, I personally laid my suspicions on a possible group of powerful mages. But even then I wasn't quite sure; what group could be so powerful as to summon demons?


"Anyway..." he muttered, clearing his throat and breaking my train of thought. "That's not really our concern right now. The defenses manned by mixed units of Felinixia and Ursalanix cohorts are holding out for now, though that may be because the... 'demons'... have not attacked for days. Perhaps that infernal army down there has limits, too."


"Everything has limits, though some have limits that are... far more unstandardized than others," I replied. "The chimeras, for example. They take the essences of what creatures they encounter and they... assimilate it into them. Make that DNA accessible to each of them through some means I don't quite know the workings of. Remember this, for when you face one of them you will face a creature that can resemble a manticore, or a cerati, or a marine animal. You will have to adapt as well as them or be destroyed. You understand?"


He gave me a smug grin. "Pssht, adapting's what we auxiliaries do best. Got equipment for every kind of situation, us. Just a matter of deploying and utilizing 'em. I'll hold my own. Count on it."


"Right..." I rolled my eyes, looking away to conceal the smile of reassured relief that sprang onto my face. "Anyways, enough of this for now. My friends are just as concerning as my enemies. You and Skyfire... you two okay?"


He nodded and smiled, liking the change of topic. "Yeah, I figured if I could start building a bridge with her in the morning that we'd be friends by night. Wasn't wrong. Sure, there are edges to grind down, rough spots to sand... but I think we're on the fast track to becoming good friends. Now, Myst's a whole new story..."


"What of her?"


He sighed, shrugging. "The mare won't talk to me. She's too shy -- like with a plant my wife grew in our garden, when I so much as place a hoof on her shoulder or nudge her, she starts folding in on herself... metaphorically, of course." He let out a disappointed shake of his head. "You, er... how'd you get her to open up?"


"She liked me. I think things became easier because of that," I replied.


"Of course they did..." he muttered, frowning. Then he caught me raising an eyebrow at him ad added quickly, "Look, I don't plan on befriending your people beyond my limits. I just want to establish a connection as quick as I can. It's the Legionnaire way to fight with a group mentality, as you know."


"I'm quite aware, yes," I said. "As for trying to befriend Myst, well... that's a bit tricky. As a general rule, don't press her into anything unless we'e nearby; we can stop you if you're doing something wrong. Another thing: as much as possible, let her come to you. What you did earlier, with the bow? You let her approach, and that's good. Be gentle, don't shout, and try to be patient. She'll talk to you when she feels she can really trust you."


"That'll take a while," he sighed, looking over his shoulder back at the doorway. Then his gaze darted to the gateway in the walls, over a hundred feet away, and his eyes narrowed. He turned around and stepped forward, eyeing the gates.


I followed his gaze. "Do you see something?" I asked, remembering Predator's words from two days before: '... different mental landscape, new thought patterns... major subtle biological downgrades as a result of loss of Tod's influence...'. I had fine perception, but I had to admit I'd lost a certain feel of... acuity after that night with Myst.


"Movement," Delvius replied quietly, drawing his gladius from his sheath as he stepped forward some more. His eyes narrowed to a squint, but then suddenly widened. "Oh, gods," he breathed, and rushed off in a gallop.


I hurried after him but stopped in front if the doorway into the Castra. "What is it?" I called out, voice sounding small in the wide open space. The auxiliary was fast, I'll give him that. Covered the distance in less than fifteen seconds! "Delvius!"


He poked his head up from the dark shape slumped on the ground just inside the shield. "C-call someone over! It's the merchant from earlier; guy's... he's eviscerated!" he shouted back, voice quaking as he gripped the mangled flesh. "We'll need at least three people to carry him without his guts spilling out and his limbs snapping off!"


I fought a grimace, then turned and rushed inside even as Delvius tended the mutilated merchant with his own legionary cloak and first aid kit. Darkness overcame my vision as I glided into the doorway and landed hard onto the marble, heart racing and throat dry from cold air. Then I swallowed and shouted, "Skyfire! Get out here! We need your help with-..."


"Ah, so our guest has arrived," said a familiar voice from within the center of the circular wooden desk. There stood Velian, his form looking ghostly in the white illumination as he operated one of the computers. My eyes widened as I stared, my heart rate escalating as a cornucopia of squeals and squeaks emanated from around him. He looked up and, to my surprise, he seemed shocked to see me, as well; perhaps he hadn't expected to see my eyes through the eyeholes of a tribune's mask.


But he recovered from the shock quickly, and jumped over the table. "Ah, so it is indeed you... for a moment I thought Justinian had come here himself. Would've been foolish of him." He smirked as I stood motionless, "Oh, don't look so surprised. You knew we were here, even when your friends doubted. You trusted your instincts, and they have brought you here, to us."


This was bad. My friends were in that space. Now they were probably captured or killed! The beating of my heart suddenly felt like thunder in my ears as a rage flooded my system. My muscles ached with the desire to force him to tell me they were okay. But even still I tried to maintain some civility as I pointed a hoof at him and hissed, "My friends... where are they? Answer me!"


He just waved me off. "Oh, they're taken care of. Didn't even get to resist. Easily neutralized," he said casually, and the nonchalance of his tone coupled with the blank stare his mask made him give infuriated me. I scowled and drew my sword, then growled and moved forward. My forelimb was quaked with tension as I brought it up in a stabbing stance.


He didn't even react. "I really don't have time for this," he muttered as he turned around. My eyes popped wide, and a growl escaped my throat. Why, there were no words, no actions he could perform to stop me, not unless he showed me my friends. There was absolutely nothing that would hinder me from gutting this ghoul if he didn't surrender. Nothing at all! Not even...


... fillies and colts?


Even as I approached, a veritable tidal wave of little zebras sprang up from behind the table. My reflexes took over as I yanked the shield off my back and threw it in front of me and readied the gladius. But I stopped short as they charged me, all squealing and cheering and giggling and smiling. No, I couldn't kill these kids! Not if a thousand of them came at me with spears! So I stood helpless as they ran to me, surrounding me and deafening my ears with their ceaseless cacophony of... of kid noises! A migraine built up inside my head as the foals skittered nonstop, and I yelped as the kids jumped onto me and prodded me. I collapsed under the weight even as I writhed and cursed.


"Oooh, where'd the pony come from?!"

"CAN WE PLAY WITH HIM?!"

"Is he stretchy?!"

"Can we make arrows out of his feathers?!"


'I will kill you all! Not a single one of you can stop me, not even if- GAH!'


"The tail's real, guys! It's not coming off!"


I jerked underneath the curious mass of zebras, my face barely getting air. Velian approached with calm relaxedness, then chuckled at my predicament. When he calmed himself he said, "Your friends didn't shoot, obviously. The grey one screamed and ran off like a madpony the moment she saw these kids approach. Didn't get very far, of course. Now the pegasus, well... I had my doubts, but in the end her conscience got the better of her and she surrendered. The filly you were with was most cooperative, as was your AI friend."


I barely managed to spit out, "What did you do to Zaita and my friends, you little-..."


"Look great great great grandfather Velian!" one of the colts, older than most of the rest, cheered as he yanked my mask off. My ears perked up in spite of the pain they were in; great great great what? "It's just like yours!"


The praetorian praefect bent down to take it. "It is indeed." He stared down at the mask for a moment, then raised a forehoof in the air. A great 'shhh!' from the kids, and the room was plunged into a pregnant silence as they stared up at him. Then he stirred and, still staring at the mask, bent down to ruffle the mane of the colt who'd spoken. "Anaclousmos, please take your friends back down below. Bring the 'visitor' with you. I will join you later tonight."


The kids 'aww'd in disappointment as they scrambled off me and started hauling me off like a swarm of ants carrying away a piece of grain. I grumbled and demanded they set me down, which only made them grip my limbs tighter. I struggled, and found out just how strong collective determination could be. They barely budged!


As I way being carried off, the doors slammed shut behind me and the chamber was plunged into total darkness. I heard the locks clang into place. Then someone said from nearby, "Praefect! The building is secure. I've sent for a party to come up and take away the APC; with the AI isolated it can't try to escape. G.L.A.D.I.U.S did well in subduing it."


"Excellent," I heard Velian reply, his voice echoing as the mob hauled me off. "Leave the one outside to our lord... if he's worthy, he'll be brought down. If not, then that's one less Roaman degenerate." Then I heard him trot off. "Turn on the lights... the children are not used to such darkness."


The light lights flickered to life all around the Castra, illuminating halls and chambers and making the dirty-white marble give off a ghostly glow. The kids cheered, but not just at the lights. Everywhere, chimeras came out of hiding, their carapaces having camouflaged into the environment. They roared as they flew about us like bats. But where my heart was gripped with fear for myself and for my companions, the children were elated and cheering them on.


I gave one more struggle, and nearly broke free, when one of the ghastly creatures hovered above me and looked right into my eyes. My limbs went limp... and to my horror I realized that they had turned to stone! The paralyzing sensation ran up my legs, towards my torso, to my heart. I lost breath as my lungs solidified inside of me. I couldn't feel my body. And just as my head started to physically die from suffocation and lack of blood, the piercing, paralyzing stare ran up neck and my cheeks.


And then a second later I lost hearing. Then I tasted rocks in my mouth, and lost taste altogether. And then finally, my vision went black.





Footnote: Halfway to Level Up.
New perk gained: Battering Legs -- You throw a lot of force into those kicks! More than necessary, but you don't feel that, do you? All easy locks can be automatically opened without your meager number of lockpicks.