Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 6: One Way Or Another

“Keep running!” Stardust yelled as we made our way down another long tunnel. We only got a few feet into the dark tunnel, when we were attacked by more of the feral ghouls. They were laying among the grime and garbage, of what Stardust called a Subway. At first, it’d only been a couple, but as we blasted them away more started coming out of cracks and from under old train cars.

I got off a few shots with Ol’ Festus, but soon I ran out of ammo. I should’ve stocked up on more ammo before we left Cartwheel. I still had the security baton and the rifle I took off the dead raiders, but I didn’t have any more bullets for it and there was only so much I could do with the baton. Stardust’s rifle worked better long range, so our only way out was to run for it.

“How many are there?” I yelled back, trying not to trip over the garbage that littered the ground.

“I’m not sure, maybe a dozen or so,” he replied.

“Can we take them?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Stardust yelled as he flew over me, watching for any more zombie ponies that might be down our path.

We rounded another corner and into a dead end. "Fuck."

“Great now what?” Stardust asked sounding a little panicked.

I looked around quickly and saw a door in the corner of the tunnel. I had no idea what was on the other side, but I knew what was on this one. I ran to it and tried to open it. The damn thing was locked, because of course it was locked. We're in the Wasteland where everything, including doors, try to kill you in some way or another. “Fuck! Stardust can you hold them off for a minute?”

“I’ll try,” he said pulling his rifle off his back and opening fire.

I pulled out my bobby pins and a screwdriver and started to work on the lock. The damn thing was jammed though, and I kept breaking my pins. “Shit, I don’t think I can get this thing open.” I said, starting to freak out more.

“Well figure something out, I can’t hold them back forever,” Stardust said.

I looked over and saw five of the ghouls jump at Stardust knocking him to the ground, his rifle flying away. I pulled out the security baton and ran over cracking two of them in the head in quick succession, their heads splitting open spraying blackish blood everywhere. More of them came running at me, feral cries on their lips. Keeping the baton steady in my magic I started to go wild. I struck another across the face slamming it into the side of the tunnel, I bucked another that was coming up behind me, flipping around, I hit another that was trying to get me from the side. A couple got through and knocked me back, but I refused to fall. They weren’t that strong physically, but their bites hurt like hell, and their combined force made up for what they lacked in strength.

My Pip-Buck started to click wildly telling me that I was taking in a lot of radiation as they attacked me. Pain racked my body, but I refused to go down, looking back I could see Stardust behind me trying to get up, but he looked dazed. I kept on fighting, ignoring the noise, the pain, and how much my body wanted to stop and give up. My magic was at its limit, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to die down in some dank tunnel.

My vison started to go black around the edges, and I could feel my knees go weak. My magic finally gave out, the baton falling to the ground. They came at me all at once, only four of them were left, but for how bad I felt, it would be enough. If I would’ve just held out a few more seconds, I could’ve done it. Now I was going to die, ripped to shreds by irradiated ponies. At least I went out fighting, at least that was something.

There was a loud crack from Stardust’s Rifle right behind me. The two closest ghoul’s heads exploded, their bodies flying back knocking the last two over. Stardust jumped over me picking up my baton and caved in the skulls of the remaining two. The tunnel was suddenly silent. He looked back at me, still looking dazed, but he had that goofy smile of his.

“You okay Shadow?” he asked kneeling down by me.

I tried to speak, but I had no energy left. My heart rate was slowing down, and I could hear the blood pumping in my ears. My vision was still fading, and I suddenly remembered my mother telling me that using too much magic could kill you. If I had any energy, I would’ve panicked, but really, I was more at peace.

“Shadow, are you okay? Shadow…answer me!” he said getting right in my face, his voice was slowly fading away, and a rushing sound started filling my ears like thousands of gallons of water running through pipes.

I only smiled and let my eyes close, if I died, then so be it. I was proud of myself, I wasn’t really sure why, I just was…

“Stay with me…” I heard the voice of Stardust saying, it sounded distant though. It felt like I was laying on something, I wasn’t sure what though, my hooves wrapped around what must have been his neck. They felt like they were tied together. I wanted to open my eyes, but I couldn’t. The sounds around me faded again and I…

“Wake up Shadow…please, we can’t stay here much longer,” Stardust’s voice came again.

I opened my eyes slowly, my head felt like I’d been hit repeatedly in the horn with my baton. Stardust was standing over me looking down, he had a worried look on his face and his wings were shaking.

“What happened? Why does everything taste purple?” I asked slowly. My mouth felt like sand paper and my voice came out scratchy and raw, not to mention the throbbing headache I had.

“You passed out back there, I had no Idea what happened to you. One minute you were fighting like a tiny badass, the next you were passing out. You’re lucky I was able to get a good shot off, or else you’d be dead,” he said sitting down next to me breathing heavily.

“Sorry about that, I think I used too much magic, I never had much stamina when it came to spell casting, even just using my telekinesis for too long could wear me out,” I said.

“You really scared me back there, I thought you were dead. That was really stupid you know, you could’ve gotten yourself killed,” he said, his voice unsteady as he spoke.

I looked around a little noticing we were no longer in the tunnels. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I just saw you go down, and I couldn’t open that door, so I figured all I could do was fight. Where are we anyway?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure to be honest. I just tied you to my back and took off. I could hear more of them coming and with you passed out it was the only thing I could do. I flew down the other tunnel and found a way out and just kept on flying until I couldn’t anymore.”

“How long was I out?” I asked looking up at the dark cloud covered sky.

“A few hours. I found this hilltop and figured it was safe enough to land for a little while,” he replied.

No wonder his wings were shaking so badly. I was amazed he was able to go so far, for so long. I looked back at him again and smiled. “Thanks for getting me out of there, it was really brave.”

“Nothing brave about it, it was just the right thing to do, plus I said I’d keep you safe. I’m just glad you woke up,” he said closing his eyes, “We can’t stay here long though, I didn’t have time to scout the area and we’re exposed out here. We should try to find shelter.”

I looked at the map on my Pip-Buck, and noticed that we were still a ways away from Hidden Sands. I sighed and closed my eyes again, my head still pounding. Definitely over used my magic.

“We’re still a long way from Hidden Sands. Do you have any idea where we can find a place to stay around here?” I asked, looking at my Pip-Buck map.

“I got a good look at the landscape while I was still in the air. I think I’ve been around here before, if I’m right there should be a shack just to the north of us,” Stardust said.

“We should get going then. How far away do you think it is?” I asked opening my eyes a little.

“I could find out, wait here. I’ll be back before you can say 'where the fuck did he go'. Only because you’re all sick and delirious and stuff,” he said jumping into the air and flying off.

I tried to say something to him, but he was too fast and he was right about the delirious thing. For a second there I actually thought he looked like a gender swapped Rainbow Dash. So while I waited I pulled open my pack and pulled out a book I found in Box Tape’s collection. It was called the Big Book of Arcane Science and Technology. I figured it would help me with my magic use, but it was more about different technology that earth ponies and unicorns made together. Things like the Pip-Bucks were in it and terminals.

I was only able to read a page or two, when I saw him flying back. I put the book away, and watched as he came toward me. He wasn’t slowing down though, I put my saddle bag back on wondering what he was doing. All of a sudden he swooped down and grabbing me, he lifted me high into the air. My stomach tightened up and I had to do my best not to vomit.

After a moment of us climbing into the air I was able to get out, “What the hell?”

“Sorry, but we gotta go,” he said diving down and keeping low to the ground, moving fast.

“Why? What the hell's wrong with you?” I asked.

“I found the shack I was looking for right away, it’s not far. However, I saw a griffon flying around not far from here, I’m not sure if he saw us or not, but I’d like to get out of the open as soon as possible,” he said zipping around a blackened tree.

“A griffon? Why does that sound familiar?” I asked as we rounded another tree and started flying up the side of a cliff.

He landed on a cliffside where there was a small broken-down wooden shack hidden under an overhang. The thing looked like it would fall over if I sneezed on it or something. He pushed me forward and into the rickety door shutting it behind us. Only then did he start to talk, “You mean you don’t know what a griffon is?”

“I know I’ve read something about them, but no, I have no idea,” I said looking around the small room. Inside was a bed with a nasty looking mattress on it, a couple of hooflockers, and a desk.

Stardust sighed and sat down on the bed resting his head against a wall.“Griffons are usually mercenaries, they're half eagle, half large cat, they have big wings, and are extraordinary flyers. Normally larger than a pony, with very sharp senses, and made for fighting. They can see farther than a pony can too, you don’t want to mess with one if you can help it. Personally, I hate them myself, I mean they’re just so fucking arrogant.”

“What do you mean by mercenaries?” I asked.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know what a mercenary is too,” he said looking over at me.

“I do, I read about them in The Wasteland Survival Guide, but I thought they only worked for caps, and don’t normally kill unless they’re paid to,” I said finding a spot on the floor that didn’t look as disgusting as the rest of this dump.

He nodded.“Yeah that’s about right, Griffons are just like that, they take a contract and that becomes law to them. If you pay them enough they’ll do just about anything and never cheat you, because they live by the contract. The kicker is getting them to agree to one, most of them have their own rules, or code, or something. There’s certain things they will or won’t do and they lay that down in the contract they make with you.”

“If they live by this contract or whatever, why are you worried about seeing one out there?” I asked pointing a hoof at the door. I didn’t like how he was acting, from what I could tell we shouldn’t have any reason to be worried about some random griffon. Unless he did.

“Because I have no idea why a lone griffon is flying around here, normally they work in wings, that’s three to five griffons. Also, you never see them around here, unless they’re hunting for somepony or on some other kind of job. One being by itself could mean the rest of its wing were killed, or it’s a scout. Both can be dangerous and I don’t wanna find out the hard way,” he said closing his eyes again.

“It sounds like you’ve tangled with them before,” I said.

He nodded again.“I have, took me a while to get the bounty off my head, but let’s just say I have a way with words, and uh I kinda payed them off.”

I wasn’t sure what to say next, so I pulled up my map and checked where we were. Doing my best to ignore my stomach as it tried to do flips along with the rest of my insides after the frantic flight. I saw that my Pip-Buck had labeled the shack as 'Rusty’s Shack'.”

“How did you know where this place was?” I asked as I looked over the map trying to see how far we were from Hidden Sands.

“I’ve stayed here a few times before as I wandered the Wastes. Now how about you put that toy of yours away and get some shut eye, I’m sure that griffon didn’t see us, so we should be safe up here. You still need rest from the look of you. You look like you’re gonna hurl fairy dust or something, I don’t know how magic sickness works, but barfing fairy dust sounds like something that could happen,” Stardust said moving his body down and laying on the dirty mattress with his back facing me.

His idiotic remarks about my condition pissed me off a little, and I would’ve said something about how rude it is to make a mare sleep on the floor while he took the only bed, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to lay myself down on that thing anyway. He was right though, I could tell that my body still hadn’t recovered from my magical outburst. My head was still pounding and even the thought of using magic made me feel ill. So, I curled up on the floor, tucked my legs in and did my best to fall asleep.

Half an hour later, I still couldn’t get to sleep, my body was tired, but sleep just wouldn’t come. Stardust was passed out snoring away, so I got up and walked to the door. I pulled it open slowly, and looked out. Nothing seemed to be out there, and it was getting dark. I stepped out and closed the door behind me.

The air outside wasn’t pleasant, it hadn’t been since I first wandered into the Wasteland, but there was a soft breeze and it was much better than being stuck in the stuffy shack. I leaned up against the cliff, and took in a deep breath. I’d only been away from my Stable for a few days, and so much has happened in such a short time. My mother was alive somewhere out there, I was traveling with a Pegasus I knew almost nothing about, and I’d killed ponies. Definitely wasn’t something I thought I’d be doing in my future, but I didn’t really mind. It was much better than getting a boring job in Stable 28 and living out my sad life there.

Those ponies I killed were monsters, they deserved what they got. I remembered when I was fighting them, they showed up as red lines on my E.F.S., which meant they were hostile and my enemies. I might not know much about Stardust, but he helped me when he didn’t have to, I owed my life to him, twice now. He might be a sarcastic jackass sometimes, but he cared somewhere in that weird head of his. As for my mother, well, I’ll have to deal with that when I can. For now, I’ll just see where the quest to find her will take me.

“Well, well, well, looks like luck's on my side today,” a voice said right next to me with a bit of a rasp.

My eyes snapped open and I looked to my left. Standing there was a creature that I’ve only seen in a book once, a long time ago. The creature, was a little taller than Stardust, with a sharp looking yellow beak, the front half of its body had black feathers, icy blue eyes, and white talons for its front feet. The tips of its feathers on its head were red, same for the claws on its talons. It had large wings folded close to its sides, the tips of the end feathers were also red like its head. The rest of its body looked like a large cat of some kind, black fur that matched its feathers, and a long cat like tail with a red tuft on the end.

It was a Griffon, and from the sound of its voice, it was female. She smiled at me with that thin beak holding up a long glowing spear with a sharp looking tip.“You wouldn’t happen to be that Courier Pony I’ve been hearing so much about, would you?” the griffon asked.

I wanted to jump up and yell for Stardust, but she had the end of that weird-looking spear close to my face, so I responded, “I could be, what’s it to you?”

“Good to know, I’ve been looking for you for a couple days now. There’s a bounty on your head with a high paying number of caps,” she said, her smile growing wider.

“Wait, what? How could that be, what did I do to get a bounty on me?” I said loudly trying to alert Stardust.

She pressed the tip of the spear to my throat, it pierced my skin a little, a trickle of blood flowing from a small cut.“I’d keep your voice down small fry. You’re coming with me, I figure we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“How about you tell me who put bounty out on me,” I said a little quieter, trying to show her no fear. Hopefully she couldn’t see my fetlocks shaking.

“How about we just do this…” she flipped the spear around and struck me over the head. "...the easy way."

I woke up feeling myself floating in the air. I thought my head hurt before, I was wrong. With the overtaxing of my magic and the smack to the head, it was way worse now. I looked up seeing I was being held in the Griffon’s talons floating not too far from the ground. I started to squirm and buck my hind legs in the air. “Hey, put me down dammit!” I yelled.

“Stop squirming, you don’t wanna fall, even from this height,” she said, her talons digging into my forelegs.

“Fuck you bird brain,” I said and stabbed my horn up at her chest. My horn was sharp, but I wasn’t strong enough to do much damage, but it still hurt. She screamed and dropped me.

She was right, it didn’t look like I was far from the ground, but when I landed and rolled, I found out how fast we were really going. My legs buckled as I hit and my body started rolling and flipping. I heard something snap and pain ran up through my body, even more so than the pain of hitting the ground.

When my body stopped, I tried to stand, but my left foreleg wouldn’t hold my weight. It didn’t feel broken, but I did hear something snap. I looked around for anything I could use to help me out, sadly the Wasteland wasn’t kind enough to give me a break. The griffon landed in front of me, anger etched on her face.

“That was really fucking stupid of you kid, you could’ve been killed, and I’d be out a lot of caps,” she pulled out her spear again.

“Fuck you and your bounty, I’d rather die than find out where you’re taking me!” I yelled.

“Damn pony, if the bounty didn’t call for you to be alive, I would’ve killed you already,” she said angrily.

“Well, I’m not letting you take me alive, so either let me go or kill me, either way, you lose,” I said with a cocky grin.

I could tell that she was thinking it over, finally she lowered the spear. “I can’t let you go.”

“Why not, I’m sure there are easier ways to get caps,” I said keeping an eye on her spear.

I could tell that something was wrong, for a bounty hunter, she didn’t really look like her heart was in it. She was more angry than anything. At what I’m not sure, but maybe I could find a way to help her out, my life did kinda depend on it.

“Not for a griffon there isn’t,” she finally said sitting down. “It’s not like I wanna do this, but it’s all I can do. A girl’s gotta eat.”

“I haven’t been in the Wasteland for very long, I find it hard to believe that somepony put a bounty on me,” I said moving into a sitting position.

She reached into her own bags and pulled out a slip of paper. “Small black pony, silver mane and tail, normally put into a braid, might be wearing Stable barding, possible location near Cartwheel. Apart from not having Stable Barding it sounds a lot like you kid, it also said to make sure and bring you back alive with anything you had on you.”

“Who in Celestia’s name knows so much about me?” I asked.

She sighed. “The transmission came from a stable, that’s the only thing I know, said you stole something from their Overmare.”

“That bitch, I remember now, she was sending transmissions to some griffons. I take it that must’ve been you,” she looked away from me almost like she was hiding something, “My Overmare sent that to you, right?”

“Well, not exactly, I stole this letter from griffons I used to know from The Red Talons. I was hoping they’d let me rejoin if I completed the contract,” she said, her voice a lot softer with melancholy.

“That has to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. So, what? You go and hunt me down, use me as a bargaining chip to get into some group of griffons?” I asked.

She looked back at me furiously. “What would a pony know about the life and desires of griffons?”

“I know that no pony…no one, can survive in the wastes for long, on their own,” I said still trying to get her to stay calm.

She huffed and said, “Griffons have a code, we live for caps and the contract, and we work together in a group. There are a few different Talon companies out there, the Red Talons are the company that work this area. A griffon without a Talon company is useless and has no reason to live.”

“So they’re like family then?” I asked.

“Kinda, more like someone you can count on when you’re in trouble. I’m alone, and I need you to fix that,” she said raising the spear back up. “Now, if you aren’t going to come with me, then you can die. Your useless to me otherwise, unless you’d rather not die, then come with me quietly.”

“I think I’ll pass, thanks all the same,” I said with another cocky grin.

“Too bad, sorry kid.” She moved fast, her spear jabbing for my head.

The griffon moved so fast, I couldn’t believe it. Something hit the ground right where the Griffon’s head had been only a second ago. I looked up and saw Stardust high in the air, his rifle aimed down at where the griffon was now standing. He fired again, and she dodged. Using his hoof, he pulled back on the bolt of his rifle, expelling the spent shell, then pushing it forward again, reloading a fresh round.

“I don’t think so pegasus, she’s my bounty not yours,” she yelled up at him.

He laughed and said, “You can’t dodge all my shots griffon. You have my friend down there, and I’d really like it if you gave her back cause if you don’t then I’ll uh… okay I can’t think of anything right now, but it’ll be bad.”

“What does the Enclave want with her?" she aksed, "This pony’s bounty is with The Red Talon’s not you cloud kissers.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not Enclave, just a wandering pegasus. Now let her go, or my next shot won’t miss...hopefully,” he retorted.

She smiled up at him. “Go head and try it.” Without hesitation, he put his mouth to the trigger and fired. The griffon jumped into the air faster than I thought possible, her spear held tight in her talons. The bullet hit the ground missing her again. I could see how this was going to end.

“STOP, PLEASE!!!” I yelled up at them both, but it didn’t do any good.

Stardust flew down at her throwing his rifle onto his back. The energy at the end of her spear crackled as the griffon sped through the air. At the last second Stardust twisted out of the way, his hoof striking and hitting her beak. She lashed out at him as he struck, barely missing him, then she flipped mid-flight and kicked back into his side sending him falling toward me.

Stardust turned the fall into a dive, snapping his wings open before he hit the ground and using the dive to shoot him back up at her. She was ready for it though; her spear was out again and she stabbed toward him. He narrowly dodged it, the spear leaving a wicked slash in his side.

“Not bad, but I’m still kicking,” he said flapping higher and pulling out his rifle again.

The griffon cursed and shot toward him. He fired and she banked to one side, again avoiding Stardust’s attack, “Come on, my granny can shoot better than that,” she said, her spear slashing at him again, before the blade could strike him again Stardust flipped around her and bucked her in the side. She let out a blood curdling scream as a wing snapped and she started falling away from him, her spear falling to the ground.

“How do you like it bitch!?” Stardust then landed next to me. “Shadow are you okay? We gotta get out of here before she recovers.”

“No, I think I broke my foreleg, but I can’t tell,” I said lifting the sore appendage.

He felt it quickly ignoring my protests and said, “Doesn’t feel broken, but I’m sure it’s sprained. Here, drink this healing potion then hold on tight to me. I have to get you out of here.”

I took the bottle from him, drinking it quickly. Instantly I felt my leg start to feel better, it wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot better than before. I looked behind him seeing the griffon gasping on the ground. She didn’t look good, and for some reason I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. She didn’t seem bad, just lonely.

The next thing I did might've seemed stupid at the time, but I’m still glad I did it. I looked back at Stardust and asked, “Can you give me another one please?”

“We don’t have time for this, if there's one griffon here, there's bound to be others,” he protested.

“There isn’t, now hand it over,” I said in a harsh tone.

“Fine,” he said pulling one out. “But why do you need one? One dose should’ve been enough for you.”

I took it with my magic, it was still weak, but it could handle the small bottle. I limped over to the griffon and set the bottle down next to her. I saw that her side was caved in a little from Stardust’s kick and her wing looked like it was dislocated at the mid-joint. She looked up at me, her blood shot eyes had a look of wonder in them.

“I don’t care why you came after me, but you’re not bad, I can tell. Just remember next time you want to come after me, that I saved your ass,” I said.

She grabbed the bottle and downed it quickly. A moment later her chest looked a lot better and she started to breath normally. She looked at me again, not getting up and asked, “Why? After what I did, why would you save me?”

“I’d like to know that too. Those things aren’t cheap y'know,” Stardust said, pointing his rifle at her again.

I looked back at Stardust. “You don’t need to do that.” Then I looked back at her and said, “You’re lonely. I’ve been there before, luckily for me I was able to find a couple of friends out here, one of them saved my life when he didn’t have to, but he told me that it was the right thing to do. If you were evil like the ponies I ran into before, I would’ve let you die right there, but I don’t think you are.”

“You don’t even know me kid. Why bother, when I could just come after you again?” she asked.

“Like I said, it was the right thing to do. Also, my name isn’t kid or shorty like Stardust seems to think it is, it’s Shadow Star,” I said limping back to Stardust and holding onto him. “Let’s go Stardust.”

Stardust held onto me and jumped into the air, the griffon watched us get higher in the air, a moment later she yelled up at me, “Aura, my name’s Aura…”

It looked like she wanted to say more, but Stardust flapped his wings hard and we were away, leaving the griffon behind laying in the dust and grime.

“Why did you do that? She tried to kill you,” Stardust asked a few minutes later. His wings were still shaking and I could tell he was still tired, but he kept going. I was getting used to the flying now, it didn’t make my head spin as much and I didn’t feel like making it rain pukey chunks from the sky. I’d call that progress.

“She wasn’t red and she wasn’t trying to kill me, she was turning me in for a bounty The Red Talons have on me,” I replied.

“What do you mean she wasn’t red? Are you talking about your E.F.S.?” he asked looking confused.

“Yeah, she wasn’t red, so she wasn’t hostile. Right? She’s just lonely and really needs a friend I think. She didn’t deserve to die just because of that. Plus, I can’t go around killing everypony or griffon I meet, can I?” I responded.

“You can if they’re trying to turn you in to The Red Talons. They’re a nasty bunch. Why would they be after you anyway?” he asked again.

“I have no idea, but I’m sure it has something to do with my Pip-Buck and the Overmare of Stable 28,” I replied.

“I thought your stable was cut off from the outside,” he said.

“I did too, but before I left I read something about her talking with some griffons through some kind of communication. The Overmare of my stable knew more about the stable than the rest of the citizens, I’m sure she has a way of communicating with the outside,” I responded.

“Well, if The Red Talons are after you, then we’re gonna have to get to The Steel Rangers as quick as we can. How much further are we from Hidden Sands anyway?” he asked.

I turned my head toward my Pip-Buck, the marker was still in place. I looked around and found it on my E.F.S. “It’s that way a little more to the West, it’s still a bit of a long way to go, if you can handle it we should make it there within a few hours.”

He looked in the direction I pointed my hoof and adjusted his flight. “I got enough rest so I can handle it. The landscape over there looks a little dryer, I wonder if it’s hidden in the desert somewhere. If it is, I should be able to make it there in two hours or so. That’s if you’re okay with me carrying you all the way there.”

“It’s pretty far still, two hours doesn’t sound realistic. Also the flying doesn’t bother me as much as it did at first, but it’s a little uncomfortable hanging by my forelegs like this,” I said.

“I think you’re underestimating how fast we’re actually going. Plus there isn’t much I can do when it comes to you hanging on to me like this, it’s not like there are any working sky carriages just lying around,” he said.

I looked up at him, confused. “What’s a sky carriage?”

“Pfft, really? They didn’t teach you anything in your stable, did they?” he replied,

“Hey they taught me stuff, just because I don’t know what you’re talking about right now doesn’t mean anything,” I scoffed.

He gave a little laugh. “Back in the pre-war days, ponies used to take flyable carriages also called a sky carriage to get from place to place quickly. When the megaspells came, most of them were destroyed. The ones that weren’t, had their spark batteries either stolen or the magic was depleted over the years. We had a couple in my stable, but they didn’t do any good because we never left our stable.”

“How hard is it to find one that works?” I asked.

“Extremely hard, we’d have better luck finding edible food growing in the Wasteland. All the time I’ve been out here, I still haven’t found one,” he replied.

“So I guess I’ll have to just get used to being carried or holding on for dear life like this,” I said with a laugh.

“E’yup,” he said with a funny accent followed by a laugh.

I couldn’t help but laughing too. I realized just then that I really didn’t mind Stardust, he did have his quirks, but so did I. I smiled again then said, “Hey Stardust.”

“What’s up?” he responded.

“Are we friends?” I asked.

He laughed again. “I figured after I saved your ass again, that you wouldn’t have to ask. Well I think of you as a friend Shadow, I like you. I mean yeah you have a temper and don’t know when to shut the fuck up, not to mention you don’t make the smartest decisions sometimes, but you have a good heart.”

“Wow, I don’t think anypony’s ever said that about me before. Thank you Stardust, I’m happy to call you my friend,” I said happily.

“Come on now don’t be getting all girly on me. Froufrou flowers and tea parties aren’t my thing, I’d rather have you keep trying to be a badass,” he said with a smirk.

I just smiled and watched as we flew on, happy with where I was. My day might've started out kinda shitty, but it looked like it was getting better. Or so I thought…

A couple hours later, we were flying over a large dry landscape. It was starting to get light out as the morning wore on and the air was getting hot, really hot. I could hear Stardust panting hard from the flight and with every flap his wings shook harder. The map on my Pip-Buck showed we were getting closer to where the Steel Ranger’s hidden bunker should be. I hoped we’d get there soon, I didn’t like the sounds Stardust was making. Not to mention that my legs were getting tired and I was making Stardust more irritable every time I complained about it.

“You doing okay Stardust, you don’t sound so good?” I asked.

“I’m…fine. It’s just…really hot, and I’m…getting tired, but we’re almost there,” he responded as we went on.

“Move!” a voice said out of nowhere.

I looked around for the voice, “Move where?”

“What're you talking about Shadow?” he asked.

“You said move,” I replied.

“I didn’t say anything,” he retorted.

“MOVE NOW!” said the voice again.

“There it is again…” I started to say, when all of the sudden, there was a crack from a rifle.

Stardust screamed and we started to fall, blood splatter flying through the air. A bullet had gone through his left wing. Without the ability to flap, we started to dive toward the ground in a spiral. I felt that sick feeling again, like when I first experienced flying. I held it down and pulled Stardust close to me.

“Stardust, hold on to me, tight. This is probably gonna hurt…a lot,” I said loudly, clenching my legs around him as we fell.

His face was close to mine, twisted in pain. His left wing was limp and was being thrashed by the wind. I concentrated on my magic and watched as the ground came toward us. When we were about to hit the ground I teleported us.

It wasn’t far, and I was able to change our direction so that when we hit the ground, our momentum wasn’t going down, but forward. It still hurt when we hit the dry cracked surface of the ground, I rolled with Stardust until we came to a halt.

I stood up on shaking legs, glad nothing broke when we hit. I moved closer to Stardust again looking at his wing. The bullet went straight through the bone from what I could tell, and the wound was bleeding profusely.

“Stardust, are you okay?” I asked looking around for the shooter, but we landed in the middle of a sandstorm and I couldn’t see more than a few meters in front of me.

“Fuck that hurt, what the hell happened?” he said trying to stand, but his legs were shaking too much, either from the pain, or from how tired he was from flying for so long.

“You got shot,” I said and as I said this I realized that the way the hole looked on his wing. It looked like he’d been shot from above, not from somepony on the ground. “Oh shit.”

“What?” he asked reaching into his pack and pulling out some bandages.

“You were shot from above,” I said, looking up to the only area where the storm didn’t seem to impede my vision and saw the culprit. Three griffons were diving toward us from above. “We have to get out of here Stardust.”

He quickly wrapped his wing looking at me, then up. “Ah shit, more griffons.”

The griffons landed around us before we could even think about moving. Two looked like males, one a female, but not Aura. They all had red bands around their necks, the female also had one around her head with a strange symbol on it. The two males had rifles trained on both of us, the female held a long spear similar to the one Aura had, only lacking the glow.

“Looks like we finally caught you. You’ve been a bad stable dweller,” the female griffon said sarcastically.

“Yeah. So what if you caught us, it doesn’t mean we’re gonna go with you quietly,” Stardust said angrily.

“Quiet pegasus! I could just as easily kill you and not think twice about it. And I still can,” she replied pointing the spear at him.

“Captain wait. He still has his cutie mark, he’s Enclave. If we kill an Enclave soldier, we’re pretty much declaring war on them. The Talons don’t need that kind of attention, not to mention that The Talons alone won’t stand a chance against The Enclave,” one of the male griffons said.

“Yeah, that’s right. Kill me and be annihilated,” Stardust said casually nudging me with his good wing when they weren’t looking.

“What would you have me do then? We can’t kill him and we can’t take him hostage because knowing The Enclave, he’s probably got some sort of tracker jammed up his ass,” the female griffon said.

"Nu-uh!" Stardust blurted out immaturely.

“Eeww! I could’ve gone my whole life without hearing that and not cared,” I said disgusted.

“Enough of your immaturity. I was told to bring you back alive but, that doesn’t mean I can’t mame you in the process,” she said angrily.

I knew Stardust was planning something, my guess was that he was trying to stall them so he could figure out how to escape without either of us getting hurt even more than we already where.

“Tell ya what, if you just let us go I won’t send any transmissions to my comrades about your little group and you won’t be slaughtered like the hybrid freaks you are,” Stardust said maliciously.

When he spoke those words I suddenly felt cold, like his words where made of ice. His whole attitude changed and he went from helpful fugitive to heartless soldier. To tell the truth I was genuinely scared of him, I knew he wasn’t really an Enclave soldier but, it was still frightening to listen to him.

“I think we should let them go. I don’t feel like being killed anytime soon,” the other male griffon said with fear leaking out into his voice.

“Don’t be an idiot Pluck. That’s exactly what he wants us to do. As soon as we fly away he’s just going to call his pegasus friends and have them kill us anyway, so we’re going to take him prisoner no matter what he says,” the female griffon said.

“What about the tracker he might have on him?” Pluck said.

“We’ll just have to find it before we get to our destination!” she yelled.

“Yes ma’am, Captain Fletch,” he whimpered.

“You are to address me as SIR dammit! I may be female, but I’m not a girly little weakling like you! Show some respect to your superior!” she yelled again. Wow she was kind of a bitch.

“Y-yes sir, Captain Fletch,” he whimpered again.

“Will you ever learn? Whenever you open your mouth stupid comes out,” the other male griffon said.

He looked down. “Sorry Gouger, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

“Quit your lollygagging and get the damn restraints you idiots!” Fletch yelled.

“Yes sir,” they said in unison as they started digging through their bags that they carried with them.

I looked over at Stardust and he looked disappointed that his clever plan didn’t work.

The two male griffons Pluck and Gouger came over to us and started to tie us up. Stardust put up a fight, but I didn’t want to get maimed like the Captain said, so I just let them tie me up without a fight. Perhaps it was for the best, I probably wouldn’t last that much longer in the Wasteland anyway. It seemed like no matter what I did out here, danger always found me.

A storm of bullets hit the ground by where the griffons were standing.

“Halt! You are trespassing on the property of The Steel Rangers, leave now or be turned into pulp,” said a voice that sounded like it was coming through some kind of radio.

“I apologize. My group and I were just leaving. We’re just collecting a contract for our Talon Company,” the Captain said.

“The two ponies you’ve restrained are under the protection of The Steel Rangers, so I’m going to have to ask you to release them,” said a pony walking through the sandstorm, wearing power armor that was similar to The Boss’. The Steel Ranger also had this large gun that looked like it had six barrels on it mounted to one side of the armor.

“I can’t do that. I must complete my contract,” Captain Fletch said.

“This is your last warning. If you don’t release these two immediately, then we will gun you down where you stand,” The Steel Ranger threatened.

“We? Who’s we? I only see you, and you can’t take us as easily as you think on your own,” she scoffed arrogantly.

Right after she uttered those words, as if by magic, three more Steel Rangers became visible through the sand cloud. “We, is my fellow Rangers I’ve brought with me, so stand down,” he replied.

“Fine, have it your way! Just know that The Red Talons are not to be taken lightly,” Captain Fletch said.

The two other griffons untied us and handed us over to The Steel Rangers.

“Pluck, Fuck, let’s go! The sand here is getting stuck in my feathers!” Captain Fletch yelled.

“No offense sir, but my name is actually Gouger not F...” Gouger started to say.

“Your name is whatever the fuck I call you maggot! Now move your ass!” she interrupted.

I watched as the griffons took off and faded into the sand cloud like ice melting in hot water. That had to be the strangest encounter I’d ever seen. Now I could see why Stardust said we should keep away from The Red Talons. I wonder why Aura wants to join them, from what I could see, they were kinda dicks. Maybe it’s just the only way a lonely griffon can feel not so alone out here.

I looked over at the closest Steel Ranger who told the griffons to leave. “Thanks for that, I wasn’t sure what to do,” I said.

“You lack training child, you’re lucky my patrol happened to be headed back to the bunker when we were. We saw you and your friend falling to the ground followed by those bird brains,” he said, the large gun on his back folding up to his side as he walked closer.

“Why did you protect us? I didn’t know I was under any protection from The Steel Rangers,” I asked.

“You fit the description given to us by Star Paladin Sapphire, she said you were carrying something that belongs to us, a memory orb, which puts you under our Protection. At least for now,” he said, “I’m Knight Spikehoof. Courier please accompany me to see The Elder and Star Paladin Sapphire.”

As he spoke, two of the other Rangers came up behind Stardust, their large weapons pointed at him, I ran over to him and got between them. “Hey put those away, he’s with me,” I said.

“We can’t do that, he’s an unmarked pegasus, and we can’t trust him just yet,” Knight Spikehoof said.

“He’s also the pony who helped me get here safely and saved my life, and the life of one of your own. I trust him and you should too,” I said, doing my best to be as intimidating as I can.

“We know he’s done good things, but Enclave operatives have done so before to gain our trust, for right now he’ll have to be kept in captivity,” he argued.

“He’s done nothing wrong, and he’s hurt. What danger could he be to all of you?” I asked.

“We can’t take that risk right now, we’ll have the doctor look at him though. Now would you shut your yap and follow me,” he said, a hint of irritation in his voice.

I started to protest again when Stardust spoke up, “Shadow, it’s fine, I understand why they’re being careful. I could use the rest anyway, you go with them and don’t worry about me.” He gave me a wink and one of his goofy smiles and started to walk off with the two power armored ponies.

“Fine, where are we going then?” I asked looking back at Spikehoof.

He turned and stared walking deeper into the sandstorm. It looked like it was getting worse, so I ran after him, my small legs having to move quickly to keep up with the metal clad pony’s large stride. I could hear Stardust being himself in the distance. He was talking to the other ponies, “So what do you do for a living? I guess wearing suits of armor is an interesting hobby. I like to shoot things. How about you? Okay, I guess it’s the silent treatment then. I know you’re probably not listening but I gotta say, it’s seems like you’re compensating for something with those guns. Y’know I heard steroids give you funny balls.”

He’s going to talk himself into a shiny new bullet shaped eye if he keeps that up.

Knight Spikehoof and I made our way to the bunker and were greeted by a familiar face. “I see you held up your end of the deal and brought the orb here after all. To tell you the truth, I thought you would’ve just said 'fuck it' and went on your way instead of coming here,” Sapphire said.

“Why would I run off with the memory orb?” I asked.

“You would probably be surprised at what some ponies will do to get as far away from The Steel Rangers as possible,” she replied.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah well, you know, we’ve got really big guns and power armor so we’re pretty formidable. C’mon, The Elder would like to speak with us,” she replied.

I looked back at the sandstorm then back at Sapphire. “Fine, let’s get this over with,” I said then followed her.

Silver Tongue Rank One: You have a way with words. Given the right situation, you can talk you way out of certain circumnutates. +15 Speech with each level of this perk.