“How about you yell that a little louder, I don’t believe they heard you in Trottingham!”
I burst into medical, following Aura. Wind Thrasher was getting off the table, Dr. Gauze just finished up getting the blood samples he needed. Wingnut was still sitting on the floor looking sleepy. When we came in all three looked over at us, Wind Thrasher asking, “What’s wrong Shadow?”
“It’s time to leave,” I said moving over to Wingnut who still looked half asleep, “Rise and shine kid.”
He rubbed his eyes and looked at me, “Why do we have to leave so soon? I thought we were gonna be meeting the rest of the leaders here.”
“Yeah Shadow, what’s going on?”
“She finished decrypting that file from her stable, looks like her friends are in trouble,” Aura said going over to the other side of the room to grab our saddle bags.
Wingnut jumped to his hooves, “You mean we get to see where you came from Shadow!?”
“Yeah, but I highly doubt it’ll be a fun trip. The transmission from Auntie sounded urgent and she said something about a different Talon company invading. This’ll be a fight and not an easy one,” I said taking my saddle bags from Aura and slinging Stardust’s rifle over my back.
“Is there a plan?” Wind Thrasher asked.
“Right now, we’re heading to Cartwheel to meet up with the Red Talons, Gigi offered her help. I think we might get some help from Box Tape too, but I’m not sure what he can do,” I replied.
Dr. Gauze looked over at us, “Real quick before you all head off, is there any way I could be of assistance?”
“It’d be a big help if you had some kind of medical supplies we could buy, we’re out of Healing Potions,” I said.
“I have plenty of medical supplies I could sell to you before you head out,” he said excitedly.
“I’ll take care of getting what we need Shadow, why don’t you see if you can get ahold of the Steel Rangers, let them know what’s going on in your old stable,” she said.
“Good idea, I might be able to get some help from Sapphire or one of the others. They may even be able to tell me more about Vervain,” I said tossing her a couple bags of caps then going to my Pip-Buck.
As I went through the menus to bring up the Broadcaster, Wind Thrasher came over to me, “Are you sure it’s a good idea to be rushing into this?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if this is another trap?” she asked.
“Wind Thrasher, who would set up a trap like that?” Wingnut asked, giving the bat pony an odd look.
“She has The Sins after her, it’s just like them to set something like this up to find a new way to trap her,” Wind Thrasher said.
I sighed, “You’ve got a point, but with Stardust running The Sins now. I don’t think they need to set up traps like this, that was more the old Pride’s thing. Stardust is a very straightforward pony, if he wanted to come after me he wouldn’t have me travel half way across the region.”
“He would, if he thought it would work, I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“That’s possible, but I can’t worry about him right now. My friends are in danger and I’m not gonna hide or run away from that. I owe Auntie this much after what she’s done over the years for me. We’re going to Cartwheel and Stable 28, that’s final,” I said putting my hoof down.
She shrugged, “Fine, but if something happens with The Sins…don’t blame me.”
I smiled, “I won’t, don’t worry about it.”
Aura came back over, stuffing the last of what she’d gotten from the Doctor into her saddle bags, “We’re all set, let’s get going. Shadow did you try to get a hold of the Steel Rangers yet?”
“I was just about to, don’t rush me,” I replied.
“Well you’ll have to do it while we move,” she said heading toward the door.
I looked back at Dr. Gauze, “Thanks for the help Doc, and can you tell Javelin we had to run, I’ll make sure to get the letters delivered for her?”
He chuckled, “No problem Shadow, I’ll also be sure to see what I can find with Wind Thrasher’s blood. Next time you stop by to visit us, make sure you pay me a visit.”
I nodded then followed the others outside. As I approached my friends Wingnut was saying, “How do you plan on getting us to Cartwheel fast enough to help?”
Aura snickered, “Easy kid, you have two flyers on your side. Shadow can ride on my back and Wind Thrasher can carry you. That is if batty can handle it.”
“I can handle carrying a colt Aura,” Wind Thrasher said with a scowl.
“Sounds like a good plan to me, we can get there a lot faster that way,” I said.
“Awww, why do I have to be carried by Wind Thrasher?” Wingnut whined.
“Because you’re lighter than Shadow,” Aura said simply.
I looked over at Aura my muzzle hanging open as I said, “Did you just call me fat?”
She rolled her eyes, “No I said you’re heavier than the colt, if I wanted to call you fat I would’ve said something like, Wind Thrasher can’t handle carrying such an enormous fatass.”
I couldn’t help but lightly laugh but also feel offended, “Fine whatever, let’s just get going. I don’t wanna wait and longer than we have to.”
“Yeah, good idea,” she knelt down so I could climb onto her back, Wind Thrasher moved over and picked up Wingnut who was still pouting. When we were both settled in, Aura continued, “Okay, let’s blow this popsicle stand.”
Both Aura and Wind Thrasher blasted into the air. We darted over the fence of Spitfire’s Flight Academy and headed toward New Pegasus, the city just visible in the distance. As we flew I went back to my Pip-Buck and started searching for The Steel Rangers’ signal. As I did I asked, “Do you know what channel the Steel Rangers use?”
“It should be one of the Military Channels, there’s only two that have a wide range, one is the one I used to contact Gigi, the other should be The Rangers’.”
I looked through the broadcast channels, and as Aura said there were two showing up. One I knew was the same one she used to contact Gigi, so I clicked on the other. When that was finished I spoke into my Pip-Buck, “This is Courier Mare Shadow Star with an urgent message for Elder Apple Slice or Star Paladin Sapphire Stone.”
A moment later I heard the voice of Scribe Hazel coming out of my Pip-Buck, “Shadow Star, is that really you?”
“It is, Hazel can you get me into contact with the Elder?”
“Not right now, she’s out at the moment, but I think Sapphire might be around somewhere. Can it wait a moment?” she replied.
“Yes, just let her know it’s urgent.”
“No problem, I’ll be right back. Just hang tight,” she said
As we waited Aura asked, “You sure Sapphire is a good pony to talk to there? I think The Elder would be better.”
“She would, but I put a lot of trust into Sapphire. She’s helped me in the past and she’s a Star Paladin, she’s like second in command in the bunker, or so I was told.”
“It’s true that a Star Paladin is just under the rank of an Elder, but Sapphire isn’t the only one in the bunker.”
“She isn’t?” I asked.
“No, even with a Star Paladin there are ranks. It’s all about seniority when it comes to a Star Paladins. For example, there are three of them right now in the New Pegasus branch of The Steel Rangers. You have Star Paladin Sandstorm, then Star Paladin Noodle Cup, then Star Paladin Sapphire Stone. The longer you’ve been a Star Paladin the more honored you are in the Rangers,” Aura said.
“So, Sapphire doesn’t have as much pull as the other two?”
“No, from what I learned from her while you were still resting up, she’s only been a Star Paladin for a year or so. Noodle Cup’s been one for close to ten years, and Sandstorm’s been one for around Fifteen years. He would’ve been the next one to take over as the elder when the last one died, but somehow Apple Slice got the job,” Aura replied.
Before I could say more, Hazel’s voice came out of my Pip-Buck again, “You still there Shadow?”
“Yeah, did you find Sapphire?”
“She did and me too,” a deeper voice said.
“Who’s this?” I asked.
Sapphires voice came next, “This is Star Paladin Sandstorm Shadow, he’s the head pony in our branch of The Steel Rangers while The Elder is out. It’s okay you can trust him, he’s friends with Box Tape.”
A hearty laugh came out of my Pip-Buck as Sandstorm said, “That I am, I’ve known that old buck for too many years. So Courier, what's this urgent message you have for our Elder?”
I knew I couldn’t waste time so I said, “I received a transmission from the pony who raised me in my Stable, something happened there and the ponies who live there are in trouble. Auntie said there’s a different talon company who are working with my Overmare, and she’s using them to kill ponies.”
The other end was silent for a moment then Star Paladin Sandstorm said, “And what do you want The Steel Rangers to do about it?”
That took me by surprise, “What do you mean? I need as much help as I can to save my home.”
“Courier, The Steel Rangers have no reason to enter Stable 28. There isn’t anything there that interests us and we wouldn’t gain anything by going there. The last team we sent there failed to find anything in Stable 28 that we would consider a misuse of technology. In fact, we lost a good Paladin there and since you have the Mark II we don’t need to go back. I’m sorry, but we can’t help you with this.”
“Are you talking about Vervain?”
“Yes, she was killed in action helping your mother escape the stable eight years ago. After that the stable was locked down and we wrote it off,” he replied.
I started to laugh, “My mother lied to you about that, from what I know Vervain is still in the stable, I’m not sure who she is but she’s still there.”
Sapphire’s voice came next, “If Paladin Vervain was still alive Shadow, she would’ve checked in with us a long time ago.”
“Unless my mother did something to her to make her forget who she was. She has the ability to do that.”
Sandstorm answered next, “Courier, how would you know that kind of information?”
“Because I have her Pip-Buck Tag. My mom left it on a file in the Mark II, when I checked it, it still showed up in the Stable,” I replied a bit condescendingly.
“Hmmm, it’s possible that another pony is using her old Pip-Buck, but I couldn’t be sure. Are you sure that it’s her Courier?” Sandstorm asked.
“I am, if another pony had her Pip-Buck it would’ve been reset for a new user, and it would generate a new tag. I don’t know why she’s still in the Stable, but I plan on finding out and getting her out of there too. She used to know me before I went into Stable 28, she could be the only pony who can answer my questions. My question is to you, are you gonna let a fellow Steel Ranger die because you don’t wanna get off your lazy asses to go help!?”
“She does make a good point Sandstorm,” Sapphire said.
“That she does, and The Sentinel would be overjoyed to know his Daughter is still alive. Courier, I can’t send out a lot of help right now, we’ve been having problems with a group of fiends out here, but I’ll send Star Paladin Sapphire Stone to aid you with a Paladin and a Knight. They might not make it there in time, but this is the most I can do right now.”
“Anything helps, have them go to Cartwheel and see Box Tape. If we aren’t there anymore he’ll be able to tell them where to go,” I said.
Sapphire’s voice echoed out, “Sir I should bring a Scribe with me too.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said, knowing how much help one of the Scribes could be.
“I agree, bring Hazel with you, she hasn’t left the bunker for a while, it’ll be good for her. Courier, is there anything else before I let you go?”
One thing did come to mind, “Was Hazel able to fix the Mr. Handy I brought in when I was last there?”
I heard Hazel’s voice in the distance, “You mean Watts? Yeah, he’s up and running again, just finished his repairs last week.”
“Good, because I’d like to get him back. Bring him with you when you come to Cartwheel.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. The team will head out in an hour or so and meet you in Cartwheel. Safe journey Shadow Star.” Sandstorm said.
Sapphire spoke next, “I’ll see you soon kid, don’t get yourself killed okay?”
“Can do.”
Both Star Paladins said through my Pip-Buck, “Ad Victoriam!” then the transmission cut out.
“Damn, you sure got that old buck to change his mind quickly,” Aura said when the transmission ended.
I grinned, “Wasn’t too hard to do. One thing I learned from The Steel Rangers is that they don’t leave a comrade behind.”
“True, but how’d you know that a Pip-Buck changes the tag of a pony when they’re reset? I didn’t even know that,” Aura asked.
“It’s general knowledge,” Wind Thrasher said flying closer to us, “Everypony in a stable knows that a tag is unique to the pony who uses it.”
I giggled a little, “Honestly I didn’t know that, I was just winging it.”
Aura looked skeptical, “I dunno Shadow, how you described it didn’t sound like it came from just anypony. It sounded like it came from a pony who knows this kind of thing.”
I thought about it for a moment, “You know it could’ve been possible that I remember something from my classes in the stable. Plus, my mother DID work in the research and development section of our stable. It’s also possible I remembered it from her. I just went with my gut.”
“Either way it worked, but I don’t think they can get to Cartwheel in time to help,” Aura said.
“Maybe, but if this takes a while to get settled, then I’d like to know they’re on their way. The most important thing right now is unlocking the stable and getting as many ponies out of there as we can. When that’s done then we can worry about killing the Overmare and stopping the group of griffons,” I said looking down at the ground speeding past under us.
We flew in silence for a while then Wingnut asked, “Can we listen to something on the radio while we fly? It’s getting really boring.”
So I brought up my Pip-Buck and tuned into DJ Pon3…
“Hello Children of the Wasteland, this is the one and only DJ Pon3 and you know what time it is! Yes, it’s time for the news! First, we have reports of Security from The Hoof. There was a battle in the town of Flank where a metal monster of a pony led a group into the town where they mostly destroyed the place. But our heroin was able to make it out mostly in one piece killing one of the top ten Reapers in the process. Let that be a lesson to anypony who still wants to try and cash in on Security’s Bounty. Now closer to home here in Manehattan, we’ve been seeing more activity from The Enclave. I’ve been getting reports about our winged neighbors popping out more often over the past few days. Remember children, you don’t wanna cross an Enclave soldier if you can help it. If you see a pegasus in black power armor, it’d be best to give them a wide berth.”
I was about to switch channels when he said, “Now, I know that the ponies who live out west near New Pegasus have been wondering what’s been going on just outside the city. I reported last week that some kind of superweapon was used to destroy Appleton in a flash of deadly light. At the time nopony knew who caused this or why they would want to take out the town. Now Children there was a lot going on that day and it was hard for this old buck to sift through all the reports that came in, but I finally have an update on what happened that fateful night.”
“Oh fuck, don’t tell me he’s going to tell everypony what I did.”
The DJ paused then continued in a sad sounding voice, “I’ve talked with my counterpart Mr. New Pegasus and he agrees with me on what happened. From what we’ve learned and as some of you ponies know, The Enclave from Stratus had taken over much of the town. They were starting to leave on the day Appleton was destroyed, I’m not sure why, but while they were evacuating there was an attack on the town by the Zebra group known as The Romans. They were stopped by one of The Seven Sins of Equinity, their leader known as Pride in fact. Let me tell you faithful listeners be happy you weren’t there to see this fight, it didn’t last long, but after Pride used his strange Shadow Magic to attack the Romans, nothing but bloody gore and two zebras were left in the end.”
“I know what some of you are thinking ‘DJ Pon3, did this pony Pride destroy the town?’ Well no he did not, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying. You see reports say that The Courier Mare herself used the distraction of the fight to sneak into town where she fought the monster Pride. He hurt her badly and one of her friends along with her, it looked like she was going to die. But The Courier’s luck wasn’t out just yet. Somehow, she was able to target Pride with some kind of weapon. She trapped Pride inside a barrier and then the blast that killed Appleton took down the monster Pride as well. Children I don’t know what to say about this new information. From what I’ve heard, reports say that she DID try to run back into town to stop the attack, but was unsuccessful. I’m not sure if she knew what this weapon did or if she can ever use it again, but for now until more information can be found, I’m suggesting that ponies out west stay clear of The Courier. I still believe that she’s trying to do good, but until we know if this weapon is no longer a threat, you should be careful of letting her into your town. This is DJ Pon3 bringing you the truth…no matter how bad it hurts. Oh, and Courier if you’re out there and you’re hearing this, I hope what happened in Appleton was a mistake.”
The Transmission cut out and I moaned, “Fuck you DJ, why couldn’t you just keep your muzzle shut, now everypony in The Wasteland is going to hate me.”
Wind Thrasher looked over at me with Wingnut, both had a sad look to them. The colt sighed, “Don’t worry too much Shadow, you’ll show them all that you didn’t mean to hurt anypony.”
“You also knew that sooner or later ponies would figure out it was you,” Aura added.
“I know, but still I didn’t need to hear that right now.”
“Well it’s late, maybe too many ponies didn’t hear the report,” Wind Thrasher said, trying to cheer me up.
“Yeah, but the word will get out no matter what…” I said flipping to Mr. New Pegasus to see if he was reporting the same thing, DJ Pon3 wasn’t as popular out here as he was, if he was reporting the same thing then I was screwed.
A minute went by as an old song finished up playing on the New Pegasus broadcast, then the old pony’s voice echoed out of my Pip-Buck, “Good evening everypony, this is Mr. New Pegasus with tonight’s news broadcast. There’s been reports of a band of Fiends roaming around Coven not too far from Hidden Sands. From the looks of it, The Steel Rangers have started a small fight with the group and the fighting is starting to make its way toward the small town. I’ll be sure to keep you all updated on what’s going on as the story unfolds, but for now any travelers heading that way should stay away from the town until the fighting has ended.”
“So far so good,” I said as the old stallion went on.
“The Romans have pulled back from the frontlines against the NLR and stopped fighting for now. They haven’t withdrawn, but for the time being it looks like both sides are taking a breather from their on-going war. There’s been reports of The Seven Sins of Equinity getting into a fight with our one and only Courier Mare while she was traveling from Trotston to Spitfire’s Flight Academy. I wasn’t able find out everything that happened, but I do know that they pulled out and ran leaving The Courier alive and well to make her way to meet with those odd ponies that live in the old Base. Now last but not least, there has been strange sightings of some kind of airship flying below the clouds from out west. At first it was thought to be more ponies from Stratus, but the emblem of The Steel Rangers was seen on the side of the ship. Right now, it’s heading toward New Pegasus but for what reason we can’t be sure. The New Pegasus Steel Rangers branch couldn’t be reached for comment on these strange sightings, but mares and gentlecolts, if you see a large flying ship that doesn’t look like it’s Enclave stay far away from it for now. This has been Mr. New Pegasus, have a pleasant evening.”
The music came back on and I turned off the radio and asked Aura, “Have you ever heard of The Steel Rangers having an airship?”
She shook her head, “No, and even if I had, there’s no way they could fly something like that without The Enclave doing something about it. They wouldn’t be happy to know that ponies that aren’t them would have a way into the clouds.”
“I wonder if it’s even true, all he said was it was just a report,” Wingnut said.
“I wouldn’t know, but when we get to Cartwheel I’ll check with one of The Red Talons to see if they know anything about it. Something that big would’ve been noticed by them,” Aura said.
“I just wonder why The Steel Rangers from out west would be coming to New Pegasus. Maybe this has something to do with Elder Apple Slice,” I said.
“It’s possible, I know that Elder Apple Slice works with The Steel Rangers from Los Alicorn,” Aura said.
Wingnut spoke up, “What about this Box Tape fella Star Paladin Sandstorm talked about? He seems to know The Steel Rangers; do you think he’d know about the airship they have?”
“I don’t know Wingnut, wouldn’t be bad to ask him though, that is if I remember to,” I replied.
Wind Thrasher sighed, “Right now it doesn’t help us, we need to start thinking of a plan to get into Stable 28 and what could be happening.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Aura said scratching her head, “I’m not sure what talon company would be big enough around here to be able to hold a Stable. Unless the Overmare has all of her security team helping them.”
“Security normally does whatever the Overmare says, but they’re also tasked with keeping the Stable safe, even from the Overmare herself. If she let Griffons into the stable like Auntie said and they’re killing ponies, they wouldn’t let that stand. Silver Badge is our head of security and he’s not a fan of The Overmare, he wouldn’t take orders like that,” I said hanging on to Aura as she turned sharply to stay out of the New Pegasus airspace.
“Then I’m not sure how she’s keeping order in her stable with a small talon company,” Aura said.
“How do you know it’s a small company?” Wingnut asked.
“The other Talon companies around here never get that large because of The Red Talons. There are three of them right now that work this area, but they’ve all gotten permission from Gigi to do so. All three Talon companies don’t have more than ten or so griffons in them. I know that a few months back I heard a rumor about a bigger talon company building itself out west, but I never had proof. If Shadow’s Overmare was using griffons to control the ponies in her stable, she’d need at least fifty or so. Either she’s using a shit ton of freelancers, which there aren’t that many, or she’s using a talon company that The Red Talons don’t know about,” Aura explained.
“If it’s a Talon company that you don’t know about then I’m guessing you won’t know how we can take them down, right?” I asked.
“That’s about it. Not all talon companies are like The Red Talons, they live by the contract and all, but they don’t have the same ideals as them. It’s possible you can buy them off and that would be that, this talon group could be as strict to holding a contract as the Red Talons are. The problem is, if they have as many griffons as I think they need to hold the Stable, the three wings Gigi is sending won’t be enough.”
“I’m also sure it’s not easy for Griffons to kill other griffons,” Wind Thrasher said.
Aura laughed, “It’s no different than killing a pony to us. Sure, we don’t like doing it, but a job’s a job.”
Wind Thrasher looked sad, “I don’t know how you can think like that Aura, they’re still your kin.”
“They’re also enemies. If they stand in our way, then they’ll die just like any other. I don’t like it, but that’s the way of the world,” Aura said, turning again.
I looked down as they talked and saw we were flying over Appleton. This was the first time I’d seen the town since I killed Pride. From the air I could see how much damage Solar Flare had done on the town. The town square where Pride was, is now just a crater, the buildings that surrounded it were gone too, nothing but black soot in a large ring. The damage outside of the ring was less than where the blast hit, but still the damage was great. Anything that was close to the barrier was smashed or destroyed, just not as badly as the town square. Buildings collapsed in on themselves, streets were cracked, and anything flammable burned away from the heat the spell produced when it blew outward. It seemed like that the only thing that survived was the town’s wall. It was still standing, almost serving as a kind of headstone that surrounded the dead town, a reminder of what had been here.
“It’s not easy to see the destruction after the fact is it Shadow?” Aura said as she flew by Appleton.
I nodded, “I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
“You should’ve seen it right after it happened,” she said quietly.
Wingnut looked at Aura, “Aura don’t…just don’t. She knows what she did was wrong. You don’t need to keep reminding her.”
She gave him a look, “Sorry boss, but I wasn’t trying to make her feel bad, she deserves to know what happened.”
I looked down at Wingnut who was still hanging under Wind Thrasher, “She’s right, I needed to see that. Seeing what that weapon can do is scary, now I know that I can’t use it ever again.”
Wind Thrasher shuddered, “Yeah, we also can’t let it fall into any other pony’s hooves.”
“I’m hoping that I’ll be able to find a way to either destroy it or at least make it so nopony can ever fire it again,” I said.
“Why can’t you just destroy the range finder itself?” Aura asked.
“If she did, it’s possible that another pony could make their own,” Wind Thrasher said.
We all looked at her and Aura asked, “How would they do that?”
“Well something like that runs on its own specific frequency, the range finder that Shadow has is always connected to it. That way it’s always ready to send a signal to Halo One which sends the signal up to the satellite. If the range finder was destroyed that frequency would be freed up and another pony with enough knowledge could make another one, and we’d be in the same boat,” she said making it sound simple.
“Once again, I’m gonna just take you on your word Wind Thrasher,” I said.
“She reads too much,” Aura said with a chuckle.
“There’s no such thing as reading too much Aura,” Wind Thrasher said, she sounded annoyed.
“There is when you start acting like you know everything,” Aura retorted.
The next thing I knew Aura and Wind Thrasher were having a small argument about things I didn’t understand or care about. So, I just rested my head on Aura’s neck and watched as the landscape flew by under us. Wingnut joined in on the conversation too. At first trying to get both of them to stop fighting, then giving his own opinion on whatever they were talking about. A good amount of time passed and I found myself lost in thought about everything that’s been happening over the past week. Stardust being lost then found again only to have his memories fucked with by The Enclave, that took up a good amount of my thoughts. If it wasn’t a spell from my mom, then whatever Stable 97 was doing to their ponies, it looked like that’d be the place I’d have to go to figure out how to fix him.
I wasn’t gonna give up on him or mom either, I just hoped I could figure this all out before it was too late. It seemed like the key to helping Stardust was Wingnut. For some reason, he brought out the better side him. As long as it stayed that way, we could use that to our advantage. Mom was a different story all together, somehow in the past either she took away her own memories or somepony else did. I’d have to find a way to help her get those memories back. If I couldn’t, then she’d have to be put down. It was for her own good as well as the rest of The Wasteland. On top of all of this, now I had to help the stable I wanted more than anything to stay far away from. Even if everything worked out and we saved Stable 28, things would change for the ponies there. What would they do? Go back to trading with The Wasteland, or keep hiding away until the stable eventually died? Either from inbreeding or something else. Either way, I had to try and get Balefire, Milkshake, and Auntie to leave for good, they deserved a better life than being stuck in that rust bucket.
As I thought of what I could do to help my home, I noticed the rocky cliffs in the distance that marked the location of Cartwheel. The way we came in was similar to the way I first entered the town. I had no idea how close Cartwheel was to the towns near New Pegasus. There were two roads that lead to the small town from this side. One road lead from Cartwheel toward Appleton, the road forked closer to Cartwheel and another path lead down the way I came, heading south to where my stable was. I hadn’t noticed the fork in the road before because it was so close to where The Raider Camp had been.
The Raider camp was another surprise I got when we grew closer to the cliffs. Most of what Crackerjack made was mostly gone now. One of the towers was still standing, but from the look of it, the shacks and cages along with the pitiful wall were all gone. The ponies of Cartwheel must’ve taken it all down during the weeks I was gone. They probably had a lot of fun destroying it too. The road into town looked a lot safer now, and even now I could see a caravan coming through the pathway between two of the cliffs, heading toward New Pegasus. I smiled at the sight, it was nice to see something good come out of something I did.
“Looks like we’re almost there,” Aura said.
“Finally, do you know how uncomfortable it is to hang from your forelegs like this?” Wingnut protested.
I laughed, “Yes I do, trust me kiddo.”
Aura and Wind Thrasher flew over the cliffs then dived for the town, which already had ponies standing in a small circle watching us. When we landed I was greeted with cheers. I was taken aback as I slid off Aura and looked at the ponies who were stomping there hooves as if I was a hero coming home from a great battle.
From out of the crowd Box Tape came up to me chuckling a little at the look on my face, “Shadow, ya look like ya kissed the wrong end of a rattle snake.”
“Um…hi Box Tape, why are they all cheering?” I asked.
His smile got bigger as he said, “They’re all happy to see the Courier Mare herself comin’ home at long last. You’re a hero to em’ all Shadow.”
“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.”
“Don’t tell me ya already forgot about taking down that Raider camp. Because of you, Cartwheel’s thrivin’ like it hasn’t in years,” he said still laughing then his eyes fell on Aura, “Well look at what the cat dragged in, Aura Bloodtalon, it’s good to see you’re doin’ well still. How’s my old friend Apollo doin’?”
“Good since the last time I saw him. How are you holding up?” Aura replied.
I looked at the two of them, my jaw dropping, “Does everyone know you Box Tape?”
“Haha, I’m an old fart Shadow, and I run one of the only Courier services in New Pegasus. Yeah, I’d say just about everypony who matters in these parts knows who I am or at least knows me personally,” he gestured toward Aura, “I’ve known Aura since she was no bigger than my hoof.”
I looked at her, “Why didn’t you tell me you knew Box Tape?”
She shrugged, “You never asked. You know what they say, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’,”
I wanted to say something snarky, but then I realized that she was right…dammit. So, I just ignored her and asked Box Tape, “Have you seen any Griffons from The Red Talons by chance?”
“No I haven’t, why? What’s goin’ on Shadow?” he asked, “And who are your other friends?”
“Oh, this is Wind Thrasher and Wingnut,” I said pointing to each in turn, “I asked about The Talons because Gigi is sending three wings of her griffons here, I was supposed to meet them.”
His happy care-free expression was replaced with a more serious one, something I hadn’t seen on his face before, “If Gigi’s sendin’ three Wings here, somethin’ bad’s gotta be goin’ down. What’s goin’ on Shadow?”
“I got a transmission from Auntie; my stable is in trouble. She told me to get help and to come here first and find you. She said you’d know what to do, and to tell you that it’s a Code PP287.”
He took a step back at that, he looked scared for some reason, “Ya didn’t say PP287?”
“I did. What does it mean?”
He took a moment to respond, “Back when Stable 28 used to trade with the ponies here in Cartwheel, Auntie was one of the ponies who used to come to town. She told me once that if anypony ever came to me and told me that code, it meant the stable was on the verge of destruction. It means if somethin’ isn’t done soon, Auntie’s gonna destroy the stable itself. Shadow, when did ya get this transmission from Auntie?”
“A few hours ago, that’s when I decoded it. That took a couple of days to go through, and Aura said the transmission was received a day or two before. What do you mean she’s gonna destroy the stable?”
He ignored my outburst and looked at Aura, “When exactly was this transmission picked up?”
“Four days ago is when The Red Talon’s first picked up on it.”
“Shit…that means we only got a day, maybe less.”
“Can we go back to you saying Auntie would destroy Stable 28? Why would she do that!? That’s her home, my home, she cares about everypony that lives there,” I blurted out.
“It’s a last resort in case the stable was invaded and they couldn’t get the ponies out safely. Your stable’s got a lot of secrets in it Shadow, and Auntie will do anything to keep em’ out of anypony’s hooves,” he replied.
Wingnut looked scared, “She’d kill all those ponies just to keep others from getting something out of their stable?”
He nodded, “That’s what she told me at least.”
“What I don’t understand is why a stable pony would tell you something like that,” Wind Thrasher said.
He smiled a little, “Auntie trusted me with a lot of things, back in the day she was worried that the Overmare was going to do something like this, and she wanted to make sure she had a backup plan.”
“We need to get to the stable and stop this before it goes too far, at the very least I have to try and get as many ponies out of there as I can,” I said.
“Well then we should head out right away,” Aura said.
“I thought we needed to wait for The Talons to get here.” Wingnut said.
Aura smiled and pointed toward the sky, looking up I saw nine griffons flying down toward us, “No need, here they are,” then her face fell as they grew closer, “Are you kidding me mom!? Fucking hell, not her!”
Following her gaze, I saw what she was talking about, leading the griffons down toward where we were all standing was Fletch, her two minions following close behind. When they all landed she looked at Aura like she was scum, “Fuck, so you’re still following The Courier around I see.”
Before Aura could respond to her sister, Wingnut jumped between the two of them, “Don’t start anything Aura, we have more important things to deal with than the bullshit between you two.”
Aura made a nasty face toward Fletch then looked away, “Whatever you say boss.”
“Fletch, I wasn’t expecting you to show up,” I said trying to be as civil with her as I could.
She huffed then reached into a messenger bag she had slung over her and pulled out a scroll, “Mom said we had to make this official, she’s doing this for no caps and putting her own reputation on the line for you. This is a contract that covers all the Griffons here for the duration of the fight for Stable 28, once we’re finished the Contract is too.”
I took it and asked, “So you’re all working for me then?”
“That’s what mom said, you should read through the contract then let me know if you agree,” she said.
I opened the scroll and read through it. It was close to what Aura’s was like, with a few more stipulations that each of the griffons wouldn’t kill a stable pony that wasn’t trying to attack us first, and they wouldn’t help me take over the stable unless it was to save it. I rolled it back up and slipped it into my saddle bags, “Looks fine to me.”
“Good, since you already know my wing of griffons, that being Gouger, Pluck and myself. I’m the lead griffon on this mission, you’ll tell me what needs to be done and I’ll make sure the other griffons do what’s needed. I’m not a bodyguard, I’m a soldier here to protect the name and territory of The Red Talon Company,” Fletch said. I was actually surprised she wasn’t being as bitchy and uptight like last time we met.
Aura huffed, “Always getting a hard-on for doing whatever mommy tells her to.”
“FUCK YOU AURA!” Fletch said pulling out her spear, “You better keep that beak of yours shut before I make you!” whelp never mind there it is, The Empress of all bitches has reemerged.
I sighed, “Fletch put that away, we don’t have time for this. Until this is over, I don’t want you or Aura to fight. My stable is in trouble and I can’t be worrying about you two.”
To my amazement she put her spear away, “I can do that, I suggest that Aura’s contractor makes her do the same.”
Wingnut looked at Aura who rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I know boss, I’ll be good…for now anyway.”
Box Tape looked at all the griffons then laughed a little, “Well now that we’ve got that settled we should figure out a plan of some sort.”
Fletch looked toward Box Tape, “Hey Box Tape, I didn’t even notice you there, and what’s this about a plan? Aren’t we just going to storm in there take out the griffons who are holding the stable?”
“Fletch, you should know by now that ya can’t just charge into a situation like that. Ya need to know who your enemy is first and their numbers, find out if they got any hostages or if ya’ll can even get into the Stable. If you do this wrong, you could end up in a very bad situation,” he said to the angry looking griffon.
“It can’t be that bad, there isn’t any griffon talon company out here that’s big enough or strong enough to take us on,” Gouger said.
Aura smiled a little, “Gouger, we don’t know what company they’re using or how strong they are. I agree with you that it shouldn’t be a problem, but we don’t know that for sure.”
Fletch was tapping the side of her beak, deep in thought, then she said, “As much as I hate to agree with my little sister, she’s right,” then she looked down at me, “I’ll fly out with one of the wings to scout out the area, I’ll leave Arys’ wing with you for protection. All I’ll need you to do is tell me where to go and I’ll have you meet us there.”
I nodded, “Good idea, all you have to do is head to Green Mist Valley. On the far side of it there’s a cave entrance that’s blocked by an old wooden door. That’s the entrance to find Stable 28.”
Fletch thought for a moment then said, “Green Mist Valley huh? Now I understand why no one knows where the stable is. No one ever goes near that place, too much radiation.”
“Your wings go scout it out and make sure the entrance is secure, we’ll meet you there,” I replied.
She cracked a smile (I didn’t even know she knew how to smile), “Will do, don’t take too long. Nobody likes a slacker.”
When she was gone I walked over to Box Tape, “Box Tape, I need to talk to you before I head out.”
He gave me a small smile, “Ya got more important things to do right now. When you get back we can sit down and talk.”
“But It’s about Silver…”
“Shadow, go help your stable and make sure your friends are alright. I already told ya, we’ll talk later.”
Wind Thrasher put a hoof on my shoulder, “C’mon Shadow, now’s not the time.”
I knew she was right, “You’re right, let’s go help my stable.”
“Ya’ll come back now ya hear and stay safe,” Box Tape said, I looked back at the old buck, there was something sad looking on his face. It only lasted a moment, then he smiled doing his best to hide whatever emotion he was feeling at the moment.
“You okay Shadow?” Wingnut asked as we headed out the gate and back through the cliffs.
“I’m not sure, I just have this weird feeling that I’m not gonna see Box Tape again.”
He gave me a puzzled look, “Why’s that?”
“I dunno, it’s just something deep down. It’s just a feeling that I can’t seem to shake off.”
“You’re just thinking about it too much, you’ve lost two friends that you were close to recently and found out your mother was Cloak, the big bad mastermind behind The Sins. Somewhere inside of you, it’s possible you think you’re gonna lose all the ponies you’re close to.”
“You’re probably right. I guess my time out here is beginning to make me superstitious.”
As we kept on I noticed the leader of the last wing of Griffons was staring at Aura. She looked a little older than Aura, I liked how her bright blue feathers mixed with her shining white fur. She also had striking orange eyes and they were locked on Aura, but not like the other Talons looked at her.
I moved closer to her and asked, “Why are you staring at Aura so much?”
She blushed and looked down at me, her voice was soft and a little cute, “Oh, no reason, I just haven’t seen her in a long time that’s all. It’s good to see she’s doing well.”
“Your names Arys right?”
She smiled, “Yes, Captain Arys Greenhaven.”
“Did you used to know Aura before she was banished or something?”
“You could say that…her sister Viridiana has been my best friend for a long time, I used to hang out with Aura and Fletch a lot when Vi was off training. I’m a couple of years younger than Vi, so I used to get stuck with the younger griffons a lot while the older ones would be off training.”
My eyes went wide, “Wait a second, were you the friend of Aura’s sister that Gigi caught Aura with?”
I didn’t mean to say that so loud, I really didn’t but I did because sometimes I make stupid mistakes that make things weird and awkward. The two male griffons who were with Arys both started to laugh, and Aura looked back at me with murder in her eyes. Arys herself looked like she wanted to disappear, honestly the expression she had at the moment was quite comical. Aura turned back toward me poking me in the nose with one talon, “How about you yell that a little louder, I don’t believe they heard you in Trottingham!”
I smiled wide, “What’s the big deal Aura? I thought you didn’t care who knew you slept with your sister’s friend.”
She rolled her eyes, “I didn’t when I was a kid, but you don’t need to go around saying things like that. I was just a kid and Arys was young too.”
“I dunno Aura, it wasn’t really that bad. If you weren’t Gigi’s daughter no one would’ve cared,” Arys said seeming to come out of her embarrassment, “And it was fun.”
Aura started to blush too and she rounded on Arys, “Don’t encourage her, she’s ruthless.”
Arys smiled wider then walked past Aura letting her long tail slowly slide under Aura’s beak, “Ah, is little Aura still shy about talking about her sexuality? Here I thought she wasn’t scared of anything.”
A shiver ran over Aura, “I hate both of you.”
I started to laugh too, “Come on let’s keep going, we have a long way to go before we reach Green Mist Valley,” then my eyes fell on Wingnut who was looking at both the griffons, his eyes wide, “You okay kiddo?”
He ignored me and said to Arys, “Can I get the details?”
I faced hoofed, “You know what, I didn’t start this, you two can deal with him and his perversion,” I walked past the colt joining Wind Thrasher who was blushing as well and doing her best to look like she hadn’t been listening in on the conversation.
“He’s a curious little colt, isn’t he?” Arys said smiling down at him.
To which I replied “Nope, he’s a pervert.”
She paused for a moment, “Oh, I see.”
Ignoring the two griffons and the colt, I turned to Wind Thrasher, “We may have to fly to the stable now that I think about it.”
“Why’s that Shadow?”
“Because when I traveled here it took me a couple days to make the trip on hoof. We don’t have that kind of time.”
Aura pulled away from her argument with Arys and Wingnut, “Yeah, but when you left your stable, you didn’t know anything about The Wasteland. It took you a while because you probably moved slowly, hid from enemies, and had no idea where you were going. Think about it, now you know what you’re doing, how to avoid and take down enemies, plus you won’t be dawdling.”
“True, but even Auntie said it would take a while when I left the stable.”
“Shadow, Green Mist Valley isn’t very far from here. Yeah, with the terrain and monsters out here, it can still take a few hours on hoof, but still it shouldn’t take days,” Aura said walking away from the others to come join me next to Wind Thrasher.
“Still I’d like to save as much time as possible. Maybe we should’ve followed Fletch and the others.”
Aura laughed, “Maybe, but they did need to scout out the area, and make sure everything’s safe for you to make your way in to your stable. I’m sure they’re there by now though, so if you wanna fly to Green Mist Valley we can.”
“Yeah, let’s do that, but don’t land inside the mist itself.”
Arys smiled at me, “We all know how dangerous that mist is, don’t worry. As long as there’s an area close to the door that leads into the tunnel then we should be fine.”
I had to think back on that for a moment, it’s been awhile since I left. I remembered seeing the green mist when I first went through the old door, the door itself was set up a little higher and none of it came up to it, “The area where the door is, is set up higher from where the mist can reach, we should be able to land there safely.”
Aura grinned, “Well then let’s get this show on the road, hopefully we’ll run into the other two wings when we get close.”
“What if they ran into trouble?” Wingnut asked.
I smiled, “Then we’ll have a fight on our hooves.”
“Then let’s head out,” Aura said looking back over to Arys, “Is your Wing ready?”
“Ready for anything. Isn’t that right boys?” Arys said looking back at the two male griffons.
They both said in unison, “Ready and willing Captain!”
I hopped onto Aura’s back, Wingnut did the same with Arys as I said, “Okay, let’s go home!”
***
The flight to Green Mist Valley was…quick. Aura was right. As I watched the road under us zoom by, I realized how slow I was moving when I left my home. I almost felt stupid, but then I remembered what Aura mentioned. The fact that I was new to The Wasteland back then. I didn’t know what I was doing, or where I really had to go, I had no idea what dangers were out here yet or what to expect. That made me scared and paranoid. As we flew I saw the mostly crumbled bridge that I took a rest at first, the place I killed my first pony. From this height, I couldn’t see if the bodies were still down there or not, and I was okay with that. They were only raiders, but I didn’t feel like remembering how scared I felt when they attacked me, or when I killed them.
It wasn’t too far past that when we flew over the eerie green mist that slowly rolled over the large field. I didn’t realize when I walked through there how easily I could’ve gotten lost. If Auntie hadn’t told me which way to walk when I left, I could’ve easily died from overexposure to Radiation. The griffons and Wind Thrasher turned to head toward a small set of hills that bumped against the field once we were right over the center of Green Mist Valley. When they did I could see what looked like ponies slowly walking through the mist itself.
“What are those?” I asked.
“Ghouls, Green Mist Valley is full of them. A lot of ponies have gotten lost in there and either died from exposure or became ghouls. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t get lost when you went through it,” Aura replied.
“I had the Pip-Buck, it’s navigation helped keep me going the right way and Auntie told me the direction to travel.”
“I’m also surprised she didn’t run into any of those Ghouls,” One of the male griffons said as they flew a little higher.
“I’m just lucky I guess,” I said as we got closer to the hills, I pulled up my Pip-Buck’s map and checked where the marker for Stable 28 was. When I found it I continued, “Move a little further to the north, you should see the door.”
They all turned to where I pointed Aura saying, “I hope we won’t have to fight any griffons while we’re around this. One bad hit to the ground, and we could be overrun by those irradiated fucks.”
Arys pointed a talon ahead where I could see six griffons circling around where the entrance to the tunnels should be, “Doesn’t look like it, there’s Fletch and her griffons now.”
They saw us coming and Fletch swooped over to meet with us, “You all got here quick enough.”
It was odd how professional she could be when she was working for somepony verses hunting me down, “Did you run into any problems?”
She looked at me, “Ran into two griffons as soon as we got near the door down there. Fought them off easy enough, two griffons on six, they didn’t stand a chance.”
“Did they have any kind of mark showing which talon company they worked for?” Arys asked.
“That’s the thing, they did but not one I’ve seen before. I think they’re part of a new talon company, or at least one I’ve never heard of before,” Fletch replied.
“Let’s take a look before we head in,” I said, all of the griffons nodded and dove for the ground. We landed next to the old door where two dead griffons were laying. One was missing his head the other had multiple bullet holes in her torso.
On their forelegs they had bands much like what The Red Talons wore, only they were black with a red and blue marking, it looked like three claw marks tearing through a broken chain. Aura moved over to one of the bodies and pulled the band off to look at it more closely, “I’ve never seen this before and I’ve been all over most of The Wasteland, this has to be a new group.”
Gouger looked closer at the dead female griffon, “That looks like Valerie, she left us a year ago or so.”
“Wasn’t she the one who took a contract to go into an active stable last year?” Arys asked.
“Yeah, I remember when that happened, didn’t she get kicked out with ten other griffons or so who also went in to take that stable?” Aura asked.
Fletch replied quickly, “Yeah, I think this other guy was one of those griffons too. Looks like they put together their own talon company.”
“This shouldn’t be too bad then, ten griffons…well eight now I guess, won’t be a problem for us,” Pluck said.
I was looking past the dead griffons toward the still open door that led into the tunnels. Just down that dark hole was the door to my old home and my old life, now it was threatened by griffons and my fucked up Overmare. What I don’t get is why. What’s the point behind hiring griffons to come into the stable and take over? She already ran everything in Stable 28, she was the pony that ruled over everypony in there. Why would she go this far? Unless…
I took a step back, “This is a trap.”
Aura gave me a quizzical look, “What do you mean a trap?”
“Think about it Aura, why would the Overmare need to bring in griffons to take over the stable? She was already in charge of everything that happened there, her word is law. There’s only two reasons she would need to do something this extreme, either she lost control of the ponies in the stable and she needed the griffons to help her, or she wanted me to find out about this so I’d come home to help Auntie,” I explained.
“She has a point. In any stable The Overmare rules over everypony and no matter what, she gets what she wants. Some Overmares let that go to their head, others try not to abuse their power. If she lost control of the ponies she would need help to get her power back, that’s what security is for. This is going almost too far for any Overmare. I think Shadow’s right, it has to be a trap,” Wind Thrasher said.
“If it is, then she’ll be expecting you to show up any time now, what do you want to do then?” Fletch asked me.
Before I could answer a shot rang out from above us, and one of the griffons that was with Arys fell as a bullet passed through his skull. The Talons reacted instantly, most took to the air. Arys and Aura pushed Wingnut, Wind Thrasher and myself into the tunnel as Fletch started to shout orders. When I looked up I saw at least twenty griffons flying above us, one I knew right away. She was holding a sniper rifle and aiming down at Fletch a grin on her beak.
“Fletch, I didn’t expect you to be the griffon my dear sister would send out here,” Gina said maliciously as she looked down her scope, “And is that my dear Aura hiding in the tunnel there too?”
Fletch I could see went from her normal irritated look to intense fury, “OH Aunt Gina, long time no see! I’ve been waiting years to gut you like a fish for the shit you pulled.”
Aura looked at her older sister, “Don’t do it Fletch, she’s stronger than you trust me, and she has a whole lot of backup.”
I could see that it took every ounce of Fletch’s willpower not to jump into the air to attack her disgraced Aunt. She finally looked at Aura and asked, “What do you plan on us doing then?”
“We have to get word to mom, we need to fall back right now.”
“You do that then, I’ll keep her talking,” Fletch said looking back at Gina who was still smiling down at us all ignoring the other griffins who were staying in place, waiting for Fletch to give the word to attack, “So Aunt Gina, you went and started your own talon company huh?”
Gina laughed, “Hahaha, not really Fletch, I’m just another griffon doing what she’s told. I joined up after The Courier there killed my last employer. We’re The Unchained Talons, a lot of us are former members of The Red Talons. All of us are highly trained and none of us are bound by the idiotic rules of our former talon company.”
Aura looked over toward me as the others whispered to me, “Get Gigi on the emergency broadcast channel and tell her what’s going on. There’s something else going on here, I have a feeling there’s more to this than your stable.”
“I agree,” I said then I looked back at Wind Thrasher and Wingnut, “Move further back into the tunnel and wait for me.”
Wind Thrasher nodded, “We’ll do that, but are you gonna be okay Shadow?”
“I’ll be fine don’t worry, now go,” when they left I lifted my Pip-Buck and opened the broadcaster and found the channel Aura used before to contact Gigi and said into it, “Gigi Bloodtalon, this is Shadow Star do you read me?”
A moment passed then Gigi responded, “I’m here Shadow what’s going on?”
“We need reinforcements next to Green Mist Valley, there’s a new talon group here and more griffons than we thought there’d be. I think a fight is about to break out, and they seem to be working with your sister.”
“WHAT!? You mean to tell me that Gina’s there!?”
“Yes, with a at least twenty other griffons, she says most of them are griffons from The Red Talons who were banished like her. They call themselves The Unchained Talons.”
“Fuck, if Gina’s there, then something bigger is going on. You need to tell Fletch and the others not to engage with Gina. They can’t take her on, no matter how much stronger Fletch thinks she is. Tell them to fall back and try to lead them away from the stable. I’ll lead my own team to meet them. Have her turn on her distress beacon so I can find her.”
“What about the rest of us?” I asked.
“Have Arys and Aura go with you into your stable, they should be good enough to help fend off whatever is going on in there. I’ll try to get a team to you as soon as I can, but we have to take out Gina first. If she’s leading these griffons, she has to be stopped at all costs,” Gigi said.
Aura moved closer to me, “Mom, Aunt Gina is saying that she doesn’t lead them.”
“Gina also likes to tell lies to throw off her enemy, don’t believe it for even a second Aura. You all have your orders. I’ll be there shortly.”
“I understand Gigi, I’ll make sure to leave the Stable unlocked so your team can get in to help if needed.”
“That’ll work, Gigi out,” she said and the transmission was cut off.
I looked back to Fletch who was yelling up at Gina, “You can’t expect me to turn over my contractor just because you told me to Gina.”
“Fletch, as much as I’d love to bicker about this, I’m a little short on time. My own contractor wants that mare dead. My team and I are going to make sure she gets what she wants. Trust me, you don’t want to fight me.”
“Fletch did you catch what Gigi said?” I asked as quietly as I could.
She flicked her tail twice but didn’t look at me while yelling back up at Gina, “You’re getting old Aunt Gina, I don’t think you have what it takes to kick my ass anymore. You’re becoming a frail old HAG!”
Gina started to laugh, “Hahahaha. You’re so cute thinking you can fight me Fletch, you don’t even hold a candle to your younger sister, and even she can’t win in a fight against me. Now back down and let me take Shadow, I really don’t want to hurt family if I can help it.”
I looked over at Aura, “Did she hear me?”
“Yeah, she did. Fletch is trying to by us time to get away, we should use it. Once we’re away she’ll do what she needs to,” Aura said turning to head down the tunnel.
I turned to follow and so did Arys when I heard Gina yell down at me, “And where do you think you’re going Shadow? Don’t think you can just hide in that hole in the ground. You’re trapped down there and as soon as I’m finished with my niece I’m coming for you next.”
Fletch pulled something off of a belt she was wearing, “Go now Shadow, don’t worry about me,” then she threw something into the air yelling at her other griffons, “Kill whoever you can then scatter!”
I turned just in time as the flash bomb went off, filling the air with its blinding light. I heard a shout of surprise from Gina then the sound of guns going off as the griffons above started firing. I ran for it following Aura and Arys deep into the bowels of the land.
“Is your sister gonna be okay?” I asked as we ran further into the darkness.
“Fletch is too stubborn to die, she won’t let anyone bring her down until she can prove she’s stronger than I am. She’ll do what mom said for now, we have to make sure we get you into the stable. If we’re lucky then we won’t run into any more griffons when we get inside,” she replied.
I was glad to hear that, Fletch really wasn’t that bad, she just royally hated her sister. From what I could see though, she knew how to take her orders when she had to or was under contract, either that or I just caught her in a really good mood.
It didn’t take us long to reach Wind Thrasher and Wingnut. When we did, it was almost impossible to see in the dark tunnel, it was only because of Wind Thrashers glowing yellow eyes that we found them. I reached into my saddle bags and pulled out the goggles and mask I’d gotten from Silver and put them on. A moment later the tunnel and my friends came into focus.
“We should be close to the stable door by now. Wind Thrasher and I can lead the rest of you to the door.”
“We’ll be fine, we’ve been trained how to get around in dark places like this and our eyes see better in tunnels than a pony,” Aura said pausing for a moment, “Well maybe not as good as Batty but we’ll be fine.”
“Wish I was that lucky, I can’t see a thing,” Wingnut complained.
I lifted him with my magic and set him on Aura’s back, “There, you can ride on Aura until we get into the Stable, but be ready for an attack. I’m sure the Overmare has something planned in case something like this happens.”
With that said, we all continued down the tunnel. I was right, it only took us five minutes or so to reach the large gear shaped door with the number 28 on it. As soon as we were close I used my magic to pull out my shotgun then moved over to the panel. I hooked my Pip-Buck into it and started the hacking software. The normal jumble of words and symbols came up, but for some reason it looked like I had five choices instead of the normal four. Maybe it had something to do with what Nexus did when he unlocked more stuff. This just made it easier to guess what the possible password would be to open the door.
The sad thing was even with the extra guess I could use, I figured out the password easily. It was ‘Powerful’ something The Overmare saw herself as no doubt. I took a second to calm my nerves then pulled the lever to open the door. A moment later I heard the large drill move into place and with a loud screech, the door pulled open with a powerful suction of air and rolled to the side.
“Okay, from here on out, we have to do our best not to kill anypony. Right now, we look like invaders and the security ponies might try to kill us, we have to convince them that we don’t mean them any harm,” I said.
“Do you really think they’re gonna fall for that Shadow?” Wind Thrasher asked.
I shrugged, “No idea, but not all of the ponies in here are bad, they’re just doing what they’re told. They just need to understand that The Overmare is nuts and the orders she’s telling them are preposterous.”
I wasn’t going to argue this with them right now. I walked over the threshold of the stable entrance then went up to the inner panel for the door. First, I used the repaired lever to close the stable door again, then hooked up the Mark II and made sure it would stay unlocked just in case Gigi was able to get us some help. As soon as I finished, I took a moment to look around.
Something felt off, the entryway should’ve had guards posted here. Even if they were just on the other side of the door that lead toward the Atrium, ponies should’ve come running from the sound of the door opening. But nopony came at all, no alarms went off, and no gunfire erupted. Stable 28 was quiet, as if nothing happened at all.
I moved to the other side of the entryway where the entrance to the Overmare’s escape tunnel should be, but the wall was sealed with no means to get into the tunnel that I could see. Fuck, I was hoping I could use that to sneak into her office and take care of the bitch quickly, but it looked like I was gonna have to do this the hard way.
“It’s late in the day, maybe everypony is sleeping,” Aura said, her spear pulled off her back.
“Either way, somepony should be guarding the door, something’s going on here,” I said looking around some more, “Let’s move on and be ready for anything.”
We moved over to the door that should lead into the Atrium. I pushed it open and found myself face to face with two Stable 28 guard ponies. As soon as they saw me, they both pulled out batons, the mare on the right saying, “Halt, I don’t know how you got into our stable, but you’re going to wish…” then she stopped when she got a good look at me, “Shadow is that you?”
I lowered my shotgun a little and pulled the mask and goggles off my face, “Glimmer Shot?”
The Stallion who was with Glimmer looked confused, “Shadow Star? Isn’t she the one that the Overmare wanted those griffons to find?”
Glimmer looked around the almost empty Atrium, “Shadow why did you come back here? Do you know what The Overmare would do if she knew you got back into the stable?”
The other Stallion looked over at Glimmer, “Glimmer, our orders are to bring her in if she showed back up here.”
Aura chuckled as she lifted her energy spear, “And how do you plan on doing that?”
He looked up at Aura fear clearly written on his face, “There are more of us in here, we aren’t scared of a couple griffons and some Wasteland ponies.”
I ignored the idiot and asked Glimmer, “Why isn’t there any guards in the entry?”
“Overmare said we didn’t need them now, since the Griffons are out there protecting us from invasions,” then she looked over at the stallion, “Keep your muzzle shut, Shadow’s a Stable 28 citizen no matter what The Overmare says. You know as well as I do that she’s lost it.”
“But, we have to do whatever The Overmare says, that’s the rules,” he replied.
“Fuck, I can’t deal with your dumb ass right now,” Glimmer said, then smacked him in the face knocking him out cold, “Can one of you tie him up or something then toss him into the entryway, he’s not a bad pony, just a newbie.”
I took a step back a little surprised by what I just saw, “Glimmer what the hell?”
She looked back at me, “Listen Shadow, I’m not one of the ponies who’s going to follow the orders of The Overmare anymore. I’ve been waiting for you to show up, Auntie said you would.”
“So, Auntie’s okay?” I asked.
“For now, she’s hiding in the lowest level of the Stable. The Overmare’s ordered her to be taken into custody as soon as she’s found,” she looked around again then said, “We should get you all out of here and down to level ten.”
“What about the ponies in here?” I asked.
“Mandatory curfew, the only ponies allowed out of their rooms at this time are the R & D ponies and security. Right now, I’m supposed to be working level ten looking for Auntie, I was on my way down there when you came through the door. Let’s get you and your friends out of sight before the next shift starts.”
She started to lead us toward the elevator, “Why are you doing this Glimmer?”
“Yeah, I find it kind of odd that you’d just help complete strangers without any questions,” Aura added.
She pressed the button to bring us down, “You’re all with Shadow, I trust her.”
“But why? The last time I saw you, I hurt you.”
She smiled a little, “Shadow, you did what you had to. You protected yourself from that poor excuse for a security pony, I just got caught in the blast. After that night I swore to make it up to you, I could’ve stopped him at any time, but I was scared. Also, I remember how hard of a time most of the ponies here gave you because of what you are. It wasn’t right to treat you differently just because you’re a unicorn, or because of where you came from.”
I smiled a little, “I wish other ponies in here felt the same way you did.”
The elevator door opened and we all stepped in, then Glimmer said, “You’d be surprised how many ponies in here saw you differently after you escaped. Balefire and Milkshake started spreading stories around about what The Overmare was gonna do to you. At first ponies said they were just making up stories because they were your friends, but when Auntie started calling The Overmare out on things she was doing or ordering. Ponies started to believe the stories after a while.”
“Wait, Auntie started calling out The Overmare?” I asked.
“Yeah, she did, a week or so after you escaped in fact. I’ll let her tell you about it when we get to her.”
Arys glared over at Glimmer and asked, “How do we know you’re not leading us into a trap?”
Glimmer looked back at the blue and white griffon, “Are all Wastelanders so untrusting?”
“Yeah, that’s how we stay alive,” Wingnut said crossing his forelegs.
“Well, I’m not leading you into a trap, honestly level ten would be the worst place to do it.”
“How do we know that?” Aura asked.
Glimmer rolled her eyes, “Surfacers, they don’t know anything. Shadow would you mind explaining?”
I looked at my friends, I couldn’t help but laugh a little at them and explain, “Level Ten is the biggest level in Stable 28, it houses all of our extra rations, gems for emergencies, weapons locked away in case the stable is taken over, and all of the generators that power the stable. It’s too large of an area to set up a trap, especially when most of the ponies…or griffons you want to spring a trap on are flyers. If Glimmer wanted to trap us, it’d be better if she did so from a confined environment where she or others could control the situation”
“Our Lowest level was a lot like that too,” Wind Thrasher agreed, “I used to go down there to practice flying when I was younger, and to hide from Dr. Cell when I was older.”
The door opened and Glimmer started leading us past all of the store rooms and deeper into the bowels of my stable. I noticed that we were heading toward where I’d found the Mark II. As we walked I asked, “What happened with Milkshake? On Auntie’s transmission she said she was thrown into the holding cells.”
Glimmer looked sad, “She was put into a cell for speaking up against The Overmare a few days ago, now she is back working, but she’s always under guard. They’ve been keeping her away from Balefire mostly.”
We passed by the sign telling ponies that The Catacombs were off-limits, once we were past that I asked, “Where they worried that Balefire and Milkshake were going to plan something?”
Her eyes fell a little, “Again I’ll let Auntie explain. We’re almost there anyway.”
We all walked past the place where I found the Mark II, further into the darkest parts of The Catacombs. There was a steel door, I looked at it curiously, “How long as this been here?”
“I have no idea, it just showed up one day. Auntie said your mother used some kind of spell to hide the door.”
“So, this is where Auntie is hiding?” I asked.
The door opened before Glimmer could say something and Auntie was standing there, a smile on her face and tears in her eyes, “Shadow sweetie, I’ve missed you so much.”
I wanted to run up and hug her for the rest of my life, but I didn’t get a chance. Glimmer moved up to her and beckoned us to move into the room, “Auntie, I ran into them when I was heading down here. I’m sure nopony saw us.”
We moved into the room and Auntie shut the door behind us saying, “Good, I was worried that The Overmare would’ve seen her. Why don’t you stay for a little bit while I explain things to Shadow?”
“I would, but I have to make ponies think I’m working. We can’t risk the Overmare finding out that I’ve been helping you. Shadow it was wonderful to see you again,” Glimmer said, then she opened the door, check to see if anypony was out there then went back toward the way we came.
Auntie looked back toward me and smiled again, “Shadow I’m glad you got my message, who are these friends you brought with…”
I didn’t give her a chance to keep talking, I ran up to her and tackled the older mare knocking her to the ground and hugged her as tight as I could, “Auntie, I missed you so much!”
“Careful Shadow, don’t go suffocating the mare we all came here to help,” Aura said with a snicker.
Auntie hugged me back then once I let her go, she got back to her hooves, “I’ve missed you too Sweetie, I’ve been so worried about you ever since you escaped.”
I took a few steps back then blushed a little, remembering my friends who were looking at me like I was nuts, “Oh yeah, um these are some of the friends I’ve made since I left. That’s Wingnut, Wind Thrasher, Aura, and Arys. Arys is one of The Red Talons who’s helping me right now.”
She nodded at each one, “I wasn’t expecting you to make it in here with so many following you. Were you able to get the message to Box Tape?”
“Yeah, he told me the code meant you were going to blow up the Stable.”
She gave me a funny look, “Why would I tell you to come here and help me out if I was going to blow up the Stable?”
Aura interrupted, “If that wasn’t what you wanted him to tell us, then why would he lie?”
“I’m not sure, maybe he just wanted you to hurry, but you should’ve been doing that anyway…” she replied.
“Auntie what’s going on here?” I asked, as I did I looked around the room, it wasn’t large, but there were large terminals lining the far wall. There was a cot in one corner and a desk with notes spread all over it.
She sighed, “When you escaped, I had to work hard to keep The Overmare from sending security ponies out to find you. I couldn’t stop her from contracting The Red Talons though. I thought for a couple of days that you were going to die; The Red Talons are not griffons you want to mess with. Then the message came later that they dropped the contract and refused to work with our stable again because of her lies. The Overmare lost her mind, it seemed that she promised the Mark II to somepony. I was trying to figure out who it was but then we had our falling out and things just started to go to shit from there.”
“Yeah fighting The Red Talons was hard, but I ended up getting on good terms with them. Did you figure out anything about who The Overmare was trying to get the Mark II for?” I asked.
She shook her head, “No, all I could find was a transmission being sent to somepony in Los Alicorn. I’m not sure who she’d know that lives out there, and if it’s the only pony I know from there, then you’re in bigger trouble than I first thought.”
Wind Thrasher gave her a funny look, “If you’re a stable pony, then how do you know ponies from Los Alicorn?”
“I used to be one of the ponies that traded with Cartwheel back when the stable was still open. I’ve met a lot of ponies that traveled through the town that came from all over. The pony I know from out there is the pony I was trying to warn Box Tape about. His name is Wolfsbane, or more specifically Elder Wolfsbane the leader of the Los Alicorn Steel Rangers.”
Arys looked a little scared when she brought up his name, “We’ve heard of him before. Doesn’t he run one of the strongest branches of the Steel Rangers?”
“He does, and he’s a ruthless pony who always makes sure to get what he wants. He’s wanted to take out The Steel Rangers from this area for a long time and expand the area he controls, he also wants to get into this stable.”
“Why would he want to get in here?” I asked, “What does Stable 28 have that he could possible want?”
Auntie moved over to one of the terminals and brought up a few blueprints, “Shadow what you don’t know about Stable 28 is, it was designed to make better weapons and armor for war. Stable-Tec set it up to look like a stable that was designing new ways of surviving in the outside world and they did do that. The real reason for this was for Earth Ponies to use the gifts we have to mix magical gems and weaponry or armor. I’m sure you’ve seen Steel Ranger armor before, well think of something like that only it can do more than just protect you from radiation and bullets. For the past two hundred years this stable has been finding new ways to make war, that’s why Elder Wolfsbane wants this stable. He thinks we’ve made weapons that no other pony has ever seen before.”
Wingnut was looking at the blueprints, as he did he said, “Most of these seem like a good idea in theory, but I can’t see how any of them would be able to work or if they did, I’m sure they wouldn’t last long.”
“Well aren’t you a smart colt,” Auntie said proudly, “You’re right, they tried to make all kinds of new weaponry, but we kept on failing over and over again. Finally we just started to concentrate on protection through armor and other things. When Grim came to the stable the last Overmare wanted to try and start up the program again, but it never worked since Grim’s talents didn’t revolve around fighting.”
“How would Wolfsbane know about any of this?” I asked.
“He got his hooves on some old files when he was out visiting The Steel Rangers in Fillydelphia. They live in the Stable-Tec headquarters and it has most of the information about all of the stables.”
“What I don’t understand is how you know so much about this,” I said.
“Oh, that’s easy Shadow, your mother told me everything about this when we became friends. She entrusted me with a lot of information so I could help you when you were ready.”
Something wasn’t adding up, but I couldn’t put it together yet, so I asked, “If mom told you so much, do you know where her friend is here in the stable?”
Auntie’s eye’s widened a little as she said, “What friend? I was Grim’s only friend in here.”
“Her name is Vervain, or at least it used to be…” as I spoke I saw something on Aunties face, it was subtle, but when I said that name, her left eye twitched just a little. I knew that eye twitch well, it meant Auntie was about to tell me a lie.
She laughed and tried to throw it off like it was nothing, “Shadow sweetie, I’ve never heard of a pony that goes by that name before.”
The more she spoke the more I was finding it hard to believe her, also my head was starting to throb again, just like it did the last time I started to remember something from my past, before I could ask Auntie more a memory came flooding back…
oooOOOooo
Mom just finished using her healing magic on me again, I was feeling a lot better after my excitement at finally finding a filly around my own age who wanted to be my friend. I was riding on mom’s back as we left Cartwheel. I was hoping we’d be able to come back after mom finished with her mission for the Elder and healing me.
“I can’t wait to tell Auntie Vervain about my new friend,” I said excitedly.
Mom giggled, “I’m sure she can’t wait to hear all about it Little Star, but can you please try and calm down? I can’t use that spell on you all the time you know.”
“I know, but I’m just so excited!”
“Fine, but try to at least stay still, I don’t want you falling off of me,” Mom said as we reached the other side of the cliffs, there was a Pony standing there in dark grey power armor.
“There you are Vervain,” Mom said moving closer to the power armored pony setting me down on the ground.
“It took you longer than I thought it would to get the information you needed,” Vervain said looking down at me, “How are you feeling Sweetie?”
I beamed up at her, “Auntie Vervain I made a friend today! Her name is Silver Snip!”
Vervain knelt down in her power armor, “Did you really? Is this a real friend or another imaginary friend that I can’t see like before? That trick won’t work twice.”
I frowned up at her, “I’m not a little filly anymore, this one is real, just ask mom.”
She laughed then looked back at mom, “Was this new friend of Morning’s the reason you took so long Grim?”
“No, the fillies mother was. You were right about that tailor, she’s a real piece of work. Her daughter was nice enough though, she kept Morning Star company while we talked, that’s the new friend she’s talking about,” Mom replied.
“She wanted me to tell her some of the stories I like to make up, at first I thought she was just trying to be nice, but she really wanted to hear some of them,” I said.
“Well I’m glad to hear that you made a nice friend Sweetie,” Vervain said before turning back toward mom, “Did Supple Cloak have what we needed?”
Mom nodded, “Yes, it cost me a lot more than it should’ve though. That mare would’ve taken every cap I had on me if she could’ve.”
“At least you got the map, are you sure it’s the real thing though?” Vervain asked.
“Yes, it matches up with the information I was able to find in that memory orb, how it ended up in the home of a small-town tailor I have no idea, but it was the one.”
“So where is it?”
Mom pointed south toward a tall white spire that went into the clouds, “That M.A.S.E.B.S. tower, there’s a hidden chamber under it that should lead us to it.”
“And you’re sure you can use that to heal Morning?”
Mom smiled, “Of course I do.”
“What will you do after she’s better though?”
“You mean about Wolfsbane?”
Vervain sighed inside her power armor, “You know he’s dangerous and if he gets his hooves on that he’ll take over the rest of the branches.”
“I know that, that’s why I’m planning on making sure to shut down the project after I fix Morning Star.”
“You know that he’ll come after you if he finds out you betrayed him,” Vervain said.
Mom smiled, “I know that, but he won’t be able to get to me after we’re done.”
“How do you plan on hiding from a pony like him?”
“Morning Star and I will be joining you in Stable 28 once this is all over, Elder Apple Jam ordered it. He said you’ve been having problems getting the stable ponies to trust you, I’m going in there to help with that.”
I smiled, “Yeah, mom is gonna change their memories.”
Mom gave me a stern look, “That information is private sweetheart. Remember, loose lips sink ships.”
Vervain interrupted, “How do you plan on modifying that many memories?”
“I can do it. It’ll take me some time, but I know I can do it. The only thing I’ll have to worry about is getting in. I’m hoping that you can help me with that.”
“Maybe, but that will all depend on the mood The Overmare is in. I’ll try and think of something though once you’ve dealt with her. Then the rest of the ponies shouldn’t be a problem,” she said.
“I agree, for right now though let’s head out to that tower. I’ve waited years to find this, and I don’t wanna wait anymore. You’ll have to leave your power armor behind though,” Mom said.
“Why would I have to do that?” she asked.
“Because the security systems that are inside the lab will see the weaponry you have as a threat, you’ll have to go in with me without it.”
Vervain moved over to a small cutout in the cliffs just off the road, “Fine with me, but you’ll have to do something to keep another pony from stealing it.”
“I’ll cast a protection spell on it, you can get it when we’re finished,” Mom said following her, carrying me in her magic.
“Fine with me,” Vervain said, there was a loud hiss then the power armor opened and Vervain stepped out, she was tall for a mare, with a yellow coat, dark purple eyes, a violet mane, with a cutie mark of a purple flower, “Not that I mind getting out of that now and then, it gets stuffy in there.”
“Auntie Vervain can I ride on your back!?” I asked.
“No problem Sweetie, but you have to promise Auntie that you’ll be a good filly and stay quiet and rest up while we travel okay.”
“I will Auntie Vervain,” I said happily.
Mom lifted me onto Vervain’s back then said, “I’ll never understand how you can get her to listen to you so well.”
Vervain laughed as the two mares started to head toward the tower, “It’s all in the way you act around them my friend.”
I yawned and closed my eyes, as the two of them walked on, happy to be with my small family…
oooOOOooo
I came to with Auntie shaking me, “Shadow, are you okay?”
“She’s tends to pass out like this from time to time,” Aura said.
“She never used to do that before she left the stable.” Auntie said…no she wasn’t Auntie, she was Paladin Vervain. Of course, she was, who else would mom trust her daughter to or her secrets to but the only friend she had in The Steel Rangers? How could I have missed it?
I pushed myself back into a sitting position pushing Auntie’s hoof away, “I’m fine, and why did you lie to me?”
She looked worried, “What do you mean?”
I got to all four hooves and yelled, “This whole time, you’ve been a Steel Ranger, you’re Paladin Vervain!”
To my shock, she didn’t get mad at me for yelling at her. She smiled, “Finally, you remembered.”
“Don’t change the subject…wait what?” I said confused.
She laughed, “Shadow, your mother worked very hard to make sure who I was stayed secret, even to you. After she took away your memories, you didn’t know who I was, so we both decided it was best that you always thought I was a stable pony just like everypony else here did, and still do.”
“Wait a minute, you mean the mare we needed to find in here was the same pony who raised you?” Aura asked.
“Looks like it,” I replied glaring over at Vervain…Auntie…whatever! “Yes, I remembered, at least a little bit. I remembered the day I told you about making friends with Silver Snip.”
Her smile fell and Vervain said, “The same day your life changed forever.”
“So, do you know everything about Shadow, like where she came from and who she really is?” Wind Thrasher asked.
She sighed, “When I met Grim, she was just a unicorn who’d just been saved by one of our Paladins, his name was Crackerjack. At the time I’d just switched from being a scribe to a Knight. The Elder liked Grim right away and had me show her around the Bunker and he wanted me to try to get her to join up with us. She did and over time the two of us became friends. Later she told me about where she came from and what she was really doing in The Wasteland. She wanted my help, she said she needed another pony to help her with her work, but really I just think she was lonely.”
“So, she told you we were from The Enclave?” I asked.
Vervain nodded, “She did, and she told me that she was being hunted because she left with you, the daughter of a high ranking solider from Nimbus.”
“My father, she wouldn’t ever tell me who he was. All she told me was that he died when I was very young. Is that true?”
“Shadow, all I know is that she told me the same thing. She said that your father was hunting her, but he was badly hurt when he got into a fight with the Steel Rangers…our branch of the Steel Rangers in fact. Elder Apple Jam was the only other pony your mom trusted with everything, when he found out your father was coming to find her, he sent out a team to take care of him. From what I know, he never meant for your father to get hurt, they just wanted to ward him away, but he fought and died.”
I looked down at my hooves, I should’ve known that was the case. Mom told me so many lies and same for Auntie, I was hoping that was another. I looked back up at her then asked, “Then why was this other pegasus Night Shade looking for me?”
“You know about Night Shade?” she asked looking more confused than I felt, “How’d you hear about him?”
“A memory orb mom left for me, now spill it. Who is he and why did he want me?”
“Your mother said he was your father’s best friend. When he died, Night Shade swore to get you back from Grim and kill her for taking away the one thing in this world his friend cared about.”
“But why would he want to do that? They both knew mom was just trying to help save me,” I said.
“As you should know by now friends are hard to come by in The Wasteland, the same thing goes for The Enclave. Pegasi are very loyal to their friends, and finishing something for a friend who’s died, isn’t unheard of,” Auntie said.
I looked back at my own friends then smiled a little, “Yeah I could see that, I just wish I knew more about all of this. I wonder if I could get into contact with Night Shade. If anypony knows the truth it has to be him.”
“If Night Shade was the pony who was looking for you, maybe he was the one who called off The Sins back at Halo One,” Wind Thrasher said.
“We can worry about that when we get out of here,” I said looking back at Auntie, “What’s going on here and why did you need me to come here?”
“As I said The Overmare has lost her mind, normally I could’ve taken care of her myself. The problem is she proclaimed that I was getting too old to handle my job and said I was to be…retired. You know what that means in this stable, she sent security to get me, but I was able to escape and make it down here. It was not long after that she started letting those griffons in. I don’t know what she’s up to, but she’s used those griffons to kill ten ponies already. I can’t leave this area to go after her, I needed you to come here to unlock the stable so we could evacuate it. Before the pony she’s working with gets here.”
“You know more than you’re saying Vervain,” Aura said accusingly.
“Yeah Auntie, what aren’t you telling us?”
She stomped a hoof, “If she’s working with the pony I think she is, then he’ll kill everypony in here to take what he wants.”
“Who is this pony you keep referring to Auntie?”
She sighed, “I believe it’s Elder Wolfsbane, that’s why I wanted Box Tape to know. He’ll go to Cartwheel first, he’ll use the town as a base until he’s ready to come into the stable. We have to get the ponies out of here before he does and kill The Overmare too.”
I remember mom talking to an Elder Wolfsbane in one of my memories, if Auntie is afraid of him he must be frightening. “Fine, the good thing is that I already unsealed the stable and made it so nopony can seal it again. The problem is there are a lot of griffons just outside the stable.”
Aura grinned, “Well then, how about we go kill ourselves an Overmare? From what I’ve heard she sounds as psycho as anyone else in The Wasteland that needs culling.”
“Oh, I’ve been waiting for years to hear that.”
“First of all, we’ll need to get to her room. She has most of the security team on her side and a few of the griffons. Just because you didn’t run into them coming in here, doesn’t mean they all left,” Auntie said.
Before I could say anything else a loud alarm started going off, I looked around vigorously, “What the fuck is that?”
Auntie’s face went blank as she said, “Oh no! We have to run now!”
“What’s going on?” I asked again, but I got my answer, the door exploded throwing the steel door into the terminals behind us.
Standing in the destroyed doorway was Gina, she was wearing what looked like Power armor. (I didn’t even know they made power armor for griffons) There were at least ten griffons behind her, all with energy rifles aimed at us. Standing next to her was The Overmare herself, her maniacal grin planted on that smug face of hers.
Gina laughed an evil laugh, “I told you if you just let her get into the stable, she’d lead us right to the mare you were looking for Overmare.”
“Aunt Gina, what the hell is wrong with you? Why are you working for this nutcase…and what happened to Fletch?” Aura asked angrily.
“Shhhh, Aura don’t speak unless you’re told to,” Gina replied.
Aura pulled off her energy spear, “I’m not gonna let you hurt my friends.”
“And how do you plan on stopping me Aura? You’re nothing compared to me,” Gina said then she looked back at The Overmare, “Well I delivered you the mare you wanted, and as a bonus I got you The Courier. What do you want me to do with her?”
The Overmare grinned at me, “Shadow, it’s been too long. Thank you for bringing me the Mark II.”
“You’re insane if you think I’m just gonna give this to you,” I said pulling out the plasma rifle and my shotgun.
“Oh, I don’t plan on you giving me anything. You see, thanks to my new friends I’ve learned everything I need to know about that Pip-Buck,” she looked back at Gina, “Kill Shadow Star and take the rest into custody.”
Gina’s smile grew wider, “No problem,” she lifted a large rifle and pointed it right at me.
We were really in a bind now. Ten griffons, The Overmare, and who knows how many security ponies she had roaming around the upper floors. I knew there was only one way out of this, “Overmare, are you sure you know everything about this Pip-Buck?”
She laughed, “Of course I do, now keep quiet and die like a good filly.”
“Did you know that if you kill me this Pip-Buck will wipe away all the data it’s holding on its memory drive? That means everything you want would be lost Overmare, do you think your partner would be happy if everything was lost because you killed me without thinking?”
The Overmare’s eyes went wide and she put up a hoof, “Hold up Gina. Shadow Star, tell me what you mean?”
“The Mark II is different from a normal Pip-Buck, this one was set up with a protection that will wipe away all the data on it. A Steel Ranger named Vervain set it up and she’s the only one that can undo it,” I replied.
The look on her face was perfect, she stomped her hoof, “We need to make sure this is true, for right now take them all into custody. Make sure you keep Shadow away from her friends.”
Gina looked down at The Overmare, “Are you sure? From what I’ve seen she has a knack for getting out of things like this.”
“I said take them into custody!” The Overmare shouted before turning to walk away, “I’m going to go contact our friend and see if he knows anything about this.”
Aura looked ready to jump at her Aunt, “You’re not taking us anywhere.”
I put up a hoof looking at Aura and briefly glaring at the Overmare as she walked away, “No Aura don’t, we’ll do what they say for now.”
Aura kept on glaring at Gina, “If you hurt my sister I’ll burn you alive.”
Gina’s grin never fell, “Don’t worry, Fletch is still alive. My friends are keeping an eye on her and the rest of her wing just outside the stable. She’ll make a good bargaining chip if Gigi Shows up. Now all of you drop everything you’re holding and come with us.”
I nodded to all my friends, then I dropped my weapons, pulled my saddle bags off, along with my barding. All of us followed the griffons as they started leading us out of the bowels of level 10. As we walked Auntie moved closer to me and said, “I hope you have a plan to get us out of this.”
I just kept my face blanks as I answered, “You’ll see…this is going exactly as I planned…”
[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]
NEW PERK ADDED!
Espionage Expert Rank 1: You’ve used your skills to their fullest to lead others into your old home mostly undetected. Sneak is increased by 15 and you gain +1 to Agility and Luck.