“We’re going to miss you!” OrchidRays was telling SilverFlash as they were doing last minute packing. GleamingChance insisted that they leave as soon as possible, even if the day was already halfway over.
“It’s not like I’m going anywhere,” Flash replied.
“Yeah, but you’re not coming with us!” Ray said.
“Just be smart out there,” Flash stated, his gaze falling on SwiftHaze. “And be careful.”
“We don’t have to be smart when we have Chance!” Haze teased. “He’s got enough brain for all of us!”
“I’m being serious,” Flash rumbled.
“I know. You always are!” Haze rolled her eyes. “But we are going to miss you.”
“I-” he hesitated. “Just come back in one piece, okay?”
“Is that your way of saying you’ll miss us too?” Haze smirked. She only got a hmph out of Flash. “I’ll take it.”
The trio of young ponies set out just after at what Haze guessed to be midday. The cart behind her was slightly weighted, but with the oiled wheels, it was a breeze to pull. Even though she was flying, she still felt trapped. She could only go a couple meters high and always had something weighing her down.
Ray and Chance were not a chatty bunch, which was odd to Haze. Ray loved to talk to her. Chance was busy with reading material.
Haze listened to music to pass the time. She was surprised to get a radio station even out here. The host claimed to be “DJ Pon-3,” whatever that meant. Haze was also surprised that they never played Linkin Pony. Maybe they were only a Los Pegasus thing.
Once Haze couldn’t stand music anymore, she sought a different distraction. She brought up the recordings she had found at the carriage company. She kept her E.F.S up in case the audio distracted her too much. But she doubted that. All that was out here were cacti. She played the recordings in order of oldest to newest.
Personal Journal of Rolling Spoke. My memory ain’t what it used to be, but I find recordin’ my events of the day helps me remember. I’ve been alone out here for a long time. I can’t remember my coworker’s names. Wait, there’s files on them. We were… a family business. Oh dear.
I stay here at this company… perhaps hoping one day these inventions could serve the ponies of Equestria again. Maybe one day I will get customers. Someone has to make sure the carriages stay shiny.
Finally! Customers! A group of ponies came by callin’ themselves the Steel Rangers. Not sure what that means, but they seemed real interested in my products. They wanted spark batteries. Erm… which vehicles had those again? They told me they would pay me caps. I guess that’s whats ponies use for currency now? That explains why I found my Sparkle-Cola machine completely broken into. Never saw who stole ‘em though.
For a moment, Haze paused in her listening. She glanced behind the wagon and noticed the cloudy sky growing dark on the horizon. Why would that be? Didn’t the sun set in the west? She faced forward again and played the next journal.
Steel Rangers came back and bought a fine passenger carriage. Gave me 200 caps. I’m not sure if thata fair price or not. At least I can use these caps to buy more equipment. But now I have no company supplying me with vehicles. Oh no… this ain’t good.
Some more ponies came by. They weren’t as friendly as the Steel Rangers… A whole team of Pegasi! I told ‘em that if they want my products that they’ll have to pay. One of ‘em got real nasty and said that I was hoardin’ the technology which could help all of ponykind. I hope that’s not true… I don’t wanna be a bad pony.
Those Pegasi came back. They threatened me if I didn’t give them any parts… They don’t understand this is a business…. Then they smashed my showroom windows! I’m not sure where to get glass panels that large anymore… Anyway. The Pegasi said they’d be back, and if I don’t cooperate, that they’ll take everythin’ by force. Oh dear.
That was the final recording.
“What?” Haze exclaimed. She stopped flying and landed on the desert dirt. “No!” With fury, she stomped the earth, creating puffs of dust. “They killed him! How could they!”
Chance leaned over the front end of the wagon. “Haze! What’s wrong?” he shouted.
Haze swiveled around as far as the harness would let her. “The fucking Enclave did kill that pony! And he was a ghoul! But he wasn’t doing anything wrong,” she fumed.”I can’t believe it!”
Chance stood up and hopped out of the wagon. “Alright. Get in the wagon, I’ll take over.”
“What?”
“Go sit down. You need to cool off,” Chance ordered. He helped unbuckle the harness,
Haze climbed into the wagon and sat down with crossed forelegs. OrchidRays was just staring at her uncomfortably, her head sunken into her shoulders. She took a few glances at Chance as he fastened the harness and began trotting.
“Why the fuck would they kill a ghoul who was minding his own business? His literal business!” Haze exhaled.
“Um, what are you talking about?” Ray asked nervously. “How do you know this?”
“I listened to the recordings I got off that terminal in the office,” Haze explained. She raged silently, a scowl across her face.
“You wanna listen to some music?” Ray offered to her. “Music always helps me when I’m mad. I like listening to angry music!”
You’re always listening to music no matter what mood you’re in, Haze judged but only said “Sure. Give me the angriest one you got.”
Ray began browsing through the PipBuck attached to her metal foreleg. She played a song from Linkin Pony’s second album, Meteora. The chorus sounded harsh to Haze, and not in a good “let your anger out” way. It was just grating her ears. Ray noticed her contorted face.
“You don’t like this one?” Haze shook her head. “But… it’s angry! How can you dislike a song by Linkin Pony?”
“I’m allowed to have songs I don’t like,” Haze blurted out. “Play a different one.”
Ray changed the tract several times until she picked one. Haze recognized the wailing guitar intro of “No More Sorrow” and began bobbing her head when the drums came in. This one was better. She even began chanting the lyrics with Ray. Chance paid them no mind and kept pulling.
After a while, Haze didn’t feel as aggressive. She was still upset at what she found out, but didn’t have the urge to lash out and destroy something.
The two mares felt the wagon halt.
“What’s going on? Why did we stop?” Haze hollered to Chance.
“Why don’t you look?” he replied.
Haze stretched her neck to peer beyond her Unicorn friend. Ahead of them was a valley lined by uneven, rocky walls. At the bottom of the valley were small buildings built around a riverbed. To the north the slope was more gradual and less rocky. The remains of the river bubbled around stones on the slope.
“Where are we?” Ray asked as she stood up to look.
“Good question,” Chance said and proceeded to pull out his map.
“Want me to take over and fly us over?” Haze commented, halfway joking.
“What?” Chance squawked. “What part of this wagon is incapable of flight don’t you understand?”
“Kidding, kidding,” Haze smirked defensively. “Maybe we could stay here for the night.”
“Eh, we still have some daylight left, but…” Chance craned his head to look behind the wagon. The dark heavy clouds in the distance had closed in on them. “Looks like rain. I guess we can shelter here.”
Haze had never experienced rain before. She heard it was like the spray from a shower head… except everywhere.
“Do you see a way we can get down?” Haze wondered. She hopped out of the wagon and met up with Chance.
“Yeah,” he said. “Gotta go around to the gradual side.”
He let Haze put the harness on and take control of the wagon. She followed along the cliff wall until the slope of the ravine met their level. Haze turned the wagon around and drove it in the opposite direction down, the meager stream following right beside them. Aside from it, there were no other sounds. It felt surreal.
“This place isn't like Los Pegasus,” Haze commented as they approached the first row of buildings. “It's completely abandoned here.” Finally, a marker appeared on her map: ‘Camp Umbra.’
“I hope there’s no ghosts here,” Ray murmured.
“No, but there could be other creatures,” Chance warned. “So keep your eyes peeled and ears perked.”
“How do I peel my eyes?” Ray asked with genuine confusion.
“Erm- keep them open!” Chance snapped.
Haze flinched when she felt the first drop of rain on her fur. They parked the wagon next to the nearest building and took some of their supplies in with them. The glass on all the windows had been shattered, so Haze noted to herself to stay away from the outer walls while it rained. Luckily this building had several military cots set up. They Place their blankets on them. In the corner was a shabby, cramped bathroom.
“I wonder what this place is,” Haze mused, referring to the whole settlement.
“Probably a military outpost,” Chance guessed.
“Sweet!” Haze exclaimed. “That means there’s probably some badass weapons around here! We have the spare time to look.”
“Yeah, if you wanna go out into the rain to look,” Chance muttered.
“What if you come with me and use your fancy Unicorn magic as a shield?” Haze suggested. “C’mon, don’t you wanna learn the history of this place?”
“Er… I guess so,” Chance gave in and sighed.
“Well, I don’t want to be left all alone here!” Ray whined and got up off her cot. She filed in line after the two ponies.
As they walked, Chance shielded them from the pattering rain. Haze watched the water droplets bounce and drip down the magic barrier. It was almost mesmerizing.
“All these buildings look the same,” she commented on the small cabins.
“Probably military housing,” Chance said.
“Well there’s gotta be a supply storage somewhere.”
The pattern of architecture changed the further they went into camp.
“Aha! An armory!” Chance exclaimed.
Ahead was a wide building reinforced with concrete. Sure enough, there was a small sign above the door that read “Armory.” It had tall, narrow windows, which ensured that nobody could break into them. Below a set of windows was the remains of a skeleton. It was the first sign that any pony had ever existed here.
“I thought we were looking for weapons, not armor,” Ray said.
“Armories have weapons as well,” Chance explained.
“Oh.”
The Earth Pony stared at the ground. She walked more slowly as Chance approached the door. Her tail had begun to catch water droplets as the barrier moved past her. Haze noticed her friend falling behind.
“I hate feeling stupid,” Ray mumbled.
“It’s okay, you aren’t,” Haze told her. “The name is kinda confusing.”
Ray gave her a silent, grateful glance and walked fully under the shield.
Chance turned the door handle with a hoof and the door creaked open with ease.
“Huh. I expected it to be locked,” he let out.
The three ponies entered the building and Chance decasted his shield spell. Rows of empty metal shelves filled the room. On the sides were metal cabinets, a few broken into.
“Fuck. Looks like someone already came and looted the place!” Haze cursed.
“Probably the Steel Rangers,” Chance grumbled. “Leave it to them to not leave anything for anyone else.”
“A few of these are still locked,” Ray referred to the metal cabinets.
“I guess I could give it a shot.” Chance stepped up to one and pulled out his bobby pins and screwdriver. He sat down as he attempted to lockpick, breaking a bobby pin in the process.
“I don’t know if I can get this one,” Chance admitted.
“You can do it!” Ray encouraged. “If the Steel Rangers could do it, so can you!”
Chance only nodded and continued.
Haze walked around him and peered around the back of the building. There were sets of armor, mostly leg pieces, that still remained. Perhaps they could use these at least. Haze was feeling discouraged at the fact there were no weapons like she was hoping for.
When the metal locker clicked open behind her, she twirled around to look. Chance was staring down at a box of grenades.
“Well, that’s something,” he said.
“Oh! Could I have them?” Ray requested.
Chance shrugged. “Sure.” He passed the case over.
“Are you going to try any of the other lockers?” Haze asked.
“I don’t think it’s worth the bobby pins,” Chance sighed.
“Well, I found some armor if you’d like to look through it.”
Once they were finished with the armory, they exited back into the rain. Haze suggested to keep exploring in case there were medical supplies or food stock.
“If the Steel Rangers, or whoever looted the armory came through here, they most likely took all that shit too,” Chance remarked pessimistically.
“We may as well try. I mean we found those grenades,” Haze said.
Just beyond the armory was a square clearing, with cabins on the east and west sides of it. The remains of benches still stood, with metal heaps that once were outdoor grills. On the south side was another building like the armor, however it was more mundane, and bore larger windows.
Haze peered up past the wide building. Her gaze traveled along the cliff walls until it stopped on something. It was hard to make out shapes between the magic barrier and sheets of rain, but Haze was sure there was some abnormality about the cliff face.
“That’s weird,” she stated.
“Huh? What?” Chance asked.
Haze pointed to the left wall. As if to emphasize the feature, a flash of lightning lit up the sky. It outlined a round crater on the top of the cliff wall. A few seconds after, a crackle of thunder roared overhead, causing Ray to jump back with fear. Her wide eyes looked around as if she was looking for the source of the sound.
“Looks like a missile struck this place,” Chance noted on the crater.
“A missile? You mean like a megaspell?” Haze wondered.
“Not exactly. There were large megaspells that hit densely populated areas, like Los Pegasus or Manehatten. The Zebras also sent smaller missiles to places of importance, like military outposts. They were mostly ballistic, and didn’t cause as much radiation as megaspells.”
“Is that why all of the buildings don’t have windows?” Ray pondered.
Chance nodded. Haze hadn’t thought of that.
Again, the door of the next building was unlocked. The noise had disturbed a radroach which began scuttling towards them. Ray let out a high pitched scream. The oversized bug tried biting at Haze’s foreleg. Ray quickly squashed it with her metal hoof.
“Ew,” Haze muttered as Ray removed her hoof from the smashed insect.
“Well, that saves bullets,” Chance mumbled casually.
A long counter made of marble stood in the middle of the room. Its surface was clean, but perhaps it held supplies on top of it. On the outer perimeter of the room were rows of metal shelves, also empty. Haze noticed a green glow come from a doorway by the far wall. Trotting through the doorway, she found a terminal lit inside it.
“Nothing,” she heard Chance say from the main room. “I don’t get it. Why didn’t the Steel Rangers just make this one of their bases? Unless there was a reason…”
Haze tuned him out and proceeded to look at the terminal. It was locked, so she tried a few times at the password. She would have felt proud to guess the correct password, but it was so painfully obvious… the password was “Umbra.” The first document she found had been an incoming message from somewhere else in Equestria.
We apologize for the delay, but there has been an issue with your shipment of food. A Zebra spy had been found riding with the shipment, so the product has been disposed of incase it had been poisoned. A new shipment has been sent. We understand the delay is frustrating, but we advise your troops to ration their food while they wait for the new shipment to arrive.
The next document was a journal entry, under the name of River Rush.
Great! Now we have to wait another week to get our food! I can’t tell the troops the reason why we have to ration… they’ll all be too scared to ever eat anything again! I’ll just tell them the first shipment was sent to the wrong camp. Fucking Zebra.
Haze clicked the next entry.
Somehow the ‘rumor’ of a Zebra poisoning the last shipment has spread in camp. Who the fuck got into my terminal?
Haze snickered inwardly. Well, you should have chosen a better password. She kept reading.
I gotta convince them the food is fine. If I find out who got this information… I’ll deny them their holiday vacation!
There was another incoming message.
Officer River Rush of Camp Umbra: The Shadowbolts have requested a squadron from your camp to accompany them on a mission. There is a blockade of Zebras just east and we need the extra pony power to push them back. Commander RainbowDash will be sent to retrieve your Pegasi.
From River Rush’s journal:
Take our Pegasi? But what if the Zebra attack our camp while they’re gone? Not like they ever have, but still. We’re in a canyon, we need all the air power we can get.
Haze was getting bored of all the military stuff. She called in Chance to see if he was interested in reading it. She replaced his spot in the main room. She shuffled her hooves underneath her, unsatisfied with the empty room.
“Find anything?” she asked as she approached OrchidRays.
The Earth Pony shook her head. “Mm-mm.”
“Guess this place is a bust too,” Haze huffed.
She turned around to face the back wall. On the wall was a poster she had seen before, although in worse condition than this. “Better wiped than striped.”
SwiftHaze had been taught in Stable 47 that all Zebras were malevolent. If you ever came across one, you better kill them or run. But was that really true? Zebras were sapient, sentient creatures just like ponies, Right? There had to be some good in them, just as ponies had evil in them, as the wasteland had proven.
“Hey, Haze! Come here!” Chance called from the office. She cantered back into it and looked at him quizzically. He was peering down into a drawer which he had opened. “Look what I found.”
Haze stepped forward and stared down. There was a pristine memory orb sitting on top of a stack of paper.
“Whoa! Awesome!” Haze reached for it.
“I thought you might like it,” Chance said with a smile. “Let me finish reading these entries and we can go back to our stuff so you can watch it.”
While Chance’s shield disintegrated in the room, their hooves still sloshed in water on the ground. When the trio returned, they found the floor flooded with water.
“Ugh! Of course! It rained through the windows!” Haze groaned.
Splashing, she stomped over to her cot. She lifted her saddle bag off the floor, now dripping water from the bottom, onto the cot next to hers. At least they weren’t sleeping on the floor. She pulled out the recollector from her bag and hoped it wasn’t damaged by the water.
Unsurprisingly, the memory was of a pony in Camp Umbra. Except this time it was much brighter, dryer, and busier. Soldiers were strolling through the clearing. A few crossed over the bridge above the winding stream and passed by Haze’s host. She felt them nod in recognition and heard one of the soldiers acknowledge them as “River Rush.”
Somewhere above, a voice called down, echoing off the canyon walls. Haze’s vision pivoted upward, squinting at the bright sky. Just as they looked, a group of Pegasi circled around and flew into camp. River Rush cantered to meet them a few buildings to the north. In the head of the group was a sky blue mare with a striking rainbow colored mane. Haze had never seen a pony with such vibrant hair. Her dark attire only made it stand out more.
“Commander Rainbow Dash,” Haze felt River Rush say.
The blue mare paid them no mind as she took in her surroundings. “Wow! This camp is so cool! In a canyon! Whoever decided the location is a genius. Oh wait, it was me! Ha!”
“I do hope you enjoy your stay,” River Rush told her.
“Sorry, officer, I can’t dally around. We’ve got serious work to be done,” Rainbow Dash replied. “Are your Pegasi ready?”
“Yes, just a moment.”
They turned around and passed through the clearing again. They approached a pole with something attached to the top, which stood near one of the benches. Haze saw their teal foreleg extend and pull a lever. A loud alarm rang through the clearing and beyond. The bell rallied the soldiers together in the clearing. River Rush silenced the bell and addressed them.
“Pegasi of squadron A: you’re aware you have been selected for a mission. Now is time to fulfill that goal. Please gather before your commander.”
A select few Pegasi emerged from the encircling crowd. They formed a neat, square alignment and faced the visiting team of Pegasi.
“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Thank you all for your service. You’re making Equestrian history! Alright now, let’s go kick some ass!”
Almost instantly, Rainbow Dash bounded into the air with a powerful thrust of her wings. Her team and the squadron followed behind her in an organized position. Haze could hear the crowd dispersing and beginning to chat amongst themselves, but her vision never left the sky.
She was still struck by that rainbow maned mare. Haze had barely any time with her, yet she was intrigued by the energy she possessed. In a way, it reminded her of HyperBlitz.
The vision of the bright sky faded and was replaced by the blank surface of the cot. “But rain is one of the most relaxing sounds!” GleamingChance was saying as Haze lifted her heavy head.
“What’s up?” Haze wondered as she took the recollector off.
“Ray says she won’t be able to sleep with the sound of the rain,” Chance answered. “I don’t know how! Rain is relaxing!”
“I’m not used to it,” OrchidRays said in a small, defensive voice. “We don’t have rain back in the Stable.”
“Just… listen to your music or something,” Chance mumbled.
“Are we not taking watch shifts?” Haze asked.
“I considered it,” Chance replied, “but as far as I can tell, nothing else is here.”
“Alright.” Haze shrugged. She decided to trust Chance’s instincts, since he was usually right.
“You done with that?” Chance referred to the memory orb on Haze’s cot.
“Yeah. You want it?” Haze scooped it up with her hooves and chucked it over to Chance.
His magic swiftly caught it. “Hey! Don’t throw these! They can break,” Chance reprimanded.
“Sorry,” Haze said through bared teeth.
Chance shook his head and proceeded to place the memory orb on his cot. As he viewed it, Haze rolled over onto her back and stared at her PipBuck. Once her foreleg became weak, she curled up and snuggled into her blanket. The pattering of rain was somewhat peaceful. She let it guide her to sleep.
A chill hung in the air the following morning. The rain had stopped falling and left the atmosphere humid. SwiftHaze arose, her wings feeling strangely achy. Was it because of how much she flew yesterday? She ignored it and gathered her things.
It was still quite dark outside, the sky just barely lighter than black. As Haze placed her bags in the wagon, she noticed GleamingChance staring past the cabins in the camp. She alerted him.
“I… I swear I heard something,” he said.
“I thought you said nothing was here,” Haze urged.
“I know but… I heard something, down that way.” He pointed to the clearing with his muzzle.
“Whatever,” Haze dismissed.
“Wake up Ray,” he told her. “We may have to leave early if there’s something out there.”
“Maybe your ears are playing tricks on you,” Haze muttered.
When she didn’t get a response, she groaned and returned to the cabin. With a lime hoof, she gently nudged OrchidRays on her cot. Her eyes blinked open.
“Aw… I was finally sleeping,” she pouted.
“You can sleep in the wagon,” Haze said.
Ray sat up and rubbed her eyes.
A moment later, they heard Chance shout “fuck!” from outside. Haze dashed out of the door to see the issue. He was levitating his pistol and stood in a defensive position, Her eyes followed where his lead. There was something in the camp, but Haze couldn’t make out what it was. She just saw a round, fuzzy mound mostly hidden behind one of the cabins. The creature turned around and sniffed the ground with a strange wriggling snout.
“Get Ray’s stuff in the wagon,” Chance commanded.
Haze helped Ray pack her stuff but kept glancing back into the camp. Was the creature coming closer? Haze’s ears pricked at an odd scuffing sound. Chance backed up a few steps.
“Shit. Shit!” He hissed. “Haze, put the harness on. We gotta go.” He twirled around and levitated the remaining cargo into the wagon.
“What is it? I don’t see it?” Haze questioned as she did what she was told to.
The scuffing sound was coming back but it was coming from… below the ground. The earth began to move beside the cabin that was adjacent to theirs. Gnarly claws pushed up a huge, round creature. Its small beady eyes locked onto the ponies. It grumbled and began stumbling towards them.
“What the shit!” Haze cursed as she struggled to put the harness on. Chance attempted to help with his magic.
The enormous creature approached them. It reached out with claws to the nearest pony, which happened to be Ray. It’s claws struck her down, causing her to roll toward the wagon. Scrambling, Chance ran to help her up. With effort, he used his magic to push her into the wagon. Her side was bloody with several shallow claw marks. Again, the creature lashed out, this time striking one of Chance’s forelegs. He grunted in pain and lept into the wagon. Levitating his pistol up, he fired a few times at the creature, slowing it down.
Haze began to flap frantically, and the wagon moved with her. Chance secured the back hatch.
“Maulwurf!” He uttered.
“Excuse me?” Haze snapped.
“It’s a Maulwurf! They’re mutant moles,” Chance explained. “Of course they’d be out on a wet morning!”
The dirty creature kept up the pace and followed the wagon up the slope. It was at least twice the size of a pony.
BLAM. BLAM. Chance shot a few times at the Maulwurf’s face. It staggered, shaking its head. It continued to climb.
Haze heaved with effort to get up the slope. Once she reached even ground, it was much easier to pull the wagon faster. Now they were no match for the Maulwurf. It sat at the top of the slope, muddled. After a few moments, it began tunneling back into the earth.
“Is it coming for us?” Ray feared.
“I… no, I don’t think so. Maulwurfs can’t dig very fast. It’s going back,” Chance said with a sigh of relief.
He reached out for one of their bags with his magic and pulled out several healing bandages. He gave a potion to Ray and used the bandages for himself. Ray’s eyes were wet with tears and her Stable suit stained with mud.
“It’s gonna be alright,” Chance told her quietly. “Don’t think we’ll see any more of those outside of the canyon.”
I hope he’s right, Haze thought from ahead. I suppose I should believe him. He’s always right.