//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 - To Converse With a God 
// Story: Fallout Equestria : New Roam 
// by Delvius 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 17
To Converse With a God
“War is our sculptor. And we are prisoners to its design.”







Stress is a very interesting thing. The right amount, people say, keeps them alert and aware; it makes them prepared for anything. It allows them to adapt and survive, to utilize their resources to achieve a goal. Stress is the work-area force that keeps people at maximum efficiency if they can take it and synthesize it. Stress can help ordinary people -- like me -- do more than people who're constantly relaxed can.

Of course, the problem was, to put it lightly, that I was under too MUCH stress.

Week one, I had been introduced to the near-omnipotent Legion and had witnessed a giant tentacle monster, not to mention had Tod and Tom inside my head. Week two I had been captured and beaten brutally by some fucking raiders, and been to a crazy scientific research area where Tod and Tom fought for my life, and had been taken temporary prisoner by the Legion, only to be shot down and witness an overpowered tank a little later. Then I had volunteered to help out at a battle at some dam. Week three I had been crawling underground -- exposed to black cloud -- all the while pursued by monstrous chimera things, and later held prisoner by them. And finally, week four was now. So far I had been temporarily betrayed, seen my flesh heal on it's own, gotten into a joyous relationship only to have that joy turn to depression, and now had to deal with a megaspell threat.

If this kind of shit doesn't make someone crazier than a cage full of rabid monkeys fighting for the same banana, I don't know what will.


* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *


It had been a few minutes since the transport had left the battleground, and there had not been a sound from outside since. Either we were cloaked or the enemy just didn't want to shoot at the aircraft with the very powerful railguns. We must have been getting close to the dam; we were about just an hour's brisk trotting away when Skyfire left a while back.

The back of my skull finally started getting sore from repeatedly banging my head against the wall. Myst looked either at me with uncertainty or to Skyfire with an anxious stare, which the pegasus did not return in the slightest, instead just shifting uncomfortably on her seat and avoiding all sorts of contact. Even Predator seemed immensely concerned by the revelation. Zaita's hologram, projecting from a ring that jutted out of the side of a seat, stared at me as if waiting for some kind of response. Doodle, for once, seemed to understand the direness of the situation, as she was chewing her little sock nervously, soaking it in her saliva.

Speaking of Skyfire, whilst I was banging my head against the wall repeatedly for several minutes, splitting my wits over how to proceed, a part of me couldn't help but notice that she looked so very... lost; paranoid and desperate, even. I tried to make eye contact with her, yet she seemed to be avoiding it. Myst's eye contact, too, much to the earth pony's visible discomfort and worry. I couldn't think of any reason why Skyfire would be this way; she seemed fine when she first found us. She was even glad when she introduced Zaita's aircraft platform.

She only started looking like this after she saw me and Myst together... did that mean that...

... Nah, probably just the megaspell threat. It was worrying all of us to no end, even Predator. And that's saying something, trust me. Besides, Myst had already assured her that there was nothing going on between us. Surely Skyfire didn't know ALREADY... right?

Myst at last decided to break the mounting tension in the cabin. "That's... just... impossible..." She said, her voice dripping with uncertainty and fear. And who could blame her? A megaspell threat... was one apocalypse not enough? Roam and her empire had been reduced to the very marrow of their bones with just one apocalypse, what would happen after another? "I... I don't know what to think, or to do." She looked at me with a concerned and worried gaze, and I looked back at her, letting all my cluelessness and exhaustion show. She bit her lip and said, "Goldwreath... what do we do?"

Damn, she had to ask me. I... didn't know, honestly. "Myst... I'm afraid I don't-..." I was saying.

"I'll tell you what we'll fucking do," Skyfire interrupted with a stomp, sounding enraged. "We're going to fly this thing to Equestria, convince the Enclave to help us out, get back here, and blow all these fucking cocksuckers all to hell with their own Goddesses damned missiles!"

Zaita looked to her. "I do not think the Enclave, given your ranting of them whenever you get the opportunity, would even think of helping us."

Predator looked to Zaita, and slowly rolled his head over to Skyfire. "Profanity aside, I thought you said you could not return to your Enclave because you're 'contaminated'? Would they not shoot you on sight? Really, I'd prefer that you live," Predator said with a bare hint of concern. 

Skyfire snorted, "Why the fuck do you care? Seems like you'd let any of us die if it meant you'd get your fucking philosophy across to other people." She glared back at him, saying in a hushed voice, "Like how you nearly killed me just to depress Goldwreath over there." Hey, I wanted no part in this conversation, just so you know. Now, if she got out of control, again, well...

"Skyfire, I would request that you reduce your profanity-spouting when non-combatants are in the area," Predator said, a slight edge in his voice. "Surely even YOU can do that." Then he murmured, "I can't believe she's still on that..."

"Of course I'm still fucking on it!" Skyfire yelled, surprising all of us with the amount of strain and pain in her voice. Doodle huddled closer to her seat, trying to curl up. "Damn it, you nearly fucking killed me back there! You think that just because you save me once that you're forgiven? Well you aren't, you piece of shit!"

"Skyfire!" Predator interrupted harshly, stopping her mid-rant. "I don't know what kind of inconsiderate imbecile you are, but there are people here whose minds are not contaminated with profane poison and hateful vengeance. I would like to keep it that way." He looked to Doodle's uncertain form sitting next to him, and reached out a hoof to pull her close. She saw it and scooted closer, looking just slightly less anxious in his embrace. "And I would not expect you to forgive me. But at least do not make others suffer your anger."

Skyfire growled, "We're talking of a megaspell threat here, and you're thinking about HER?" She shook her head, muttering, "Why, that is the most unrealistic, soft, pedophili-..."

"Silence yourself, Skyfire!" I interrupted at last, not wanting to allow this argument to escalate. I got up to point a hoof at her, nearly poking her muzzle in the process. Predator took the filly in closer, covering her ears. She leaned against him and closed her eyes, scared. Skyfire cringed on her seat. 

Knowing Doodle's hearing was muffled, I hissed, "This filly is a shining example of innocence and peace -- values not possessed by nearly everyone in the wasteland! Would you take that from her? Would you destroy her happiness simply because of your own desire for tainted justice? Well, here's the reality: if you do, then I'll cut out your tongue." I panted, exhausted from my outburst, "Not everything in the wasteland has potential for good. I'd like to protect those things that do."

Skyfire's eyes stared back at me with pure disbelief for several moments, her mouth hanging open from the shock of my words. Her eyes averted themselves to look to the sides shamefully, and she said softly and slowly, "I'm just trying to address real problems here, Goldwreath. I'm... just trying to think with reason." Her eyes looked back at me, looking shamed and sad. "Just like you normally do," She murmured, bowing her head and tucking her wings in tightly.

Argh! Gods and Goddesses damn it, I SO wanted to smack her across the face for bringing this up! I was already confused and worried for my own fucking sanity, it was NOT helping that she had to remind me of my obligations to treat my friends with the respect they deserved. I wanted to, really, but that obligation was getting more difficult; I was just so confused, so... mentally and emotionally in turmoil. So much had happened so quickly, and I had so little time to relax and think properly. There was so much to do; talk to them about their problems and find palpable solutions... stop a fucking war, or at least end some of it... and then there was this whole Balefire business. So was it so much to ask for just one fucking hour of calm and peace? Just... argh!

I glared at her for a moment, angered at her disgusting accusations. I understood that Skyfire was spontaneous and reckless, and I had more or less come to accept her for it, but those words... sickening, absolutely sickening.

Then Myst placed her hoof on my shoulder, and I relaxed. The weight of all my belongings suddenly became a lot heavier, and I just let my shield slide off my back and clatter onto the ground. My eyelids started drooping, my head rolling on my neck.

I was tired. So... very... tired. This exertion was not helping at all. It felt like I had been told something that would decide the fate of the whole world. And I HAD been told something that could decide the fate of the world; if the Legion used those bombs... no, they wouldn't. Surely they were going to use them merely for threats or... or something else, right? They had to be.

Nevertheless, I possessed knowledge that could decide the fate of Empire. That could... oh, so sleepy...

I sighed tiredly, taking shaky steps backwards and sitting down, almost collapsing onto the seats next to me. Myst kept that from happening, instead pulling me close and leaning me against her side. Oh, soft and warm fur... it was like being on a bed again... For the immense blessing of her presence, I managed to give her the barest of smiles before half-closing my eyes.

Skyfire snapped her head up and looked at me, but I didn't care. I was too exhausted to care, even when she lowered her head again and sniffed.

After that the area was dreadfully silent, save for the heart-tugging sounds of Skyfire sniffing. Damn me... why was I doing this? What Skyfire said was wrong, sure, but was there no better way to correct her than to threaten to cut off her tongue? Was that something I would ever threaten to do under normal circumstances? Would I have said that if I wasn't exhausted and confused? No, never, not in my life. If there's one thing I can credit myself for, it's having a genuine desire to protect my friends and make them happy.

So why did I want to cut off her tongue so much just to teach her to control her mouth?

"Perhaps this can help ease this dire situation," Zaita said, her monotone voice a welcome sound after all that had happened recently. After a shriek of static that somewhat frightened the tense filly, elevator music started playing, much to Doodle's amusement. Damn me, I actually remembered the track: Elevator # 57.

I shook my head with a smile on my face (a smile that wouldn't have been there if not for Myst), remembering that time nearly a month ago when I had first stepped into Zaita's cabin and for the first time heard her music. Ah, such simpler times...

But Skyfire was right. This threat was very serious and required immediate action. And so, much as I just wanted to rest, I forced my eyes to open at least halfway and asked, "Zaita, you're sure about this threat? Can we get confirmation?"

The hologram looked to me. "Yes, I am sure. This three megabyte media audio file proves it..."

There was a crackle of static that got all of our attentions. Predator and Doodle paid attention, though the filly seemed to be concerned about my pegasus friend. Skyfire lifted her head to listen, then caught me looking at her with exhaustion. She gulped, and very slowly lowered her head again. I grimaced, shaking my head. So many relationship problems, I swear...

After a while the static faded and was replaced by the sounds of splashing waves and groaning steel. A stallion's voice, heavily accented in Roaman Imperial speak, came up.

"... Leviathan duas, est megaspell onerariis securus?"

"'Leviathan two, is the megaspell cargo secure?'" I found myself translating. Then, for some reason, my lungs gasped for air and my heart started pounding in my ears. I winced as the thundering in my head gave me a minor headache.

Another voice came up over the sounds of the sea, "Yup, secura ita securi potest esse. Mediolanum adhuc sumus portum Roamam profecturus sunt. Super."

My head felt dead as a corpse, but I just sucked it up and continued, "'Yup, secure as secure can be. We're still at the Mediolanum port, but are about to depart for Roam. Over.'"

"Egregius. Tu explorato habere repperero 'Neptunum' transtulit. Certe postea quam Forum deductus est."

I took in a shaky breath, and forced my mind to try to translate the sentence. "'Excellent. Make sure to... erm, t-to have it transferred to... ugh... to...'" Erg, so... tired...

Myst next to make took over, and said with the Imperial accent in her voice, "'Make sure to have it transferred to the 'Neptune' when you come across it. We'll have it escorted to the Forum afterwards.'" There was a crackle of static, and the elevator music started playing again. Myst looked at me and gave a proud little smile.

"That message was sent yesterday from the port of Mediolanum, the naval capital of the Empire in the past. It is quite likely that the Leviathan super-sub containing the megaspell missiles is already four-fifths of the way to Roam," Zaita informed.

While Predator and Skyfire took that in with silence, I turned and looked at Myst with a surprised look on my face. "Y-you... you know Imperial zebra?" I asked tiredly. 

She looked back at me and smiled, an expression of pride on her face. "I... well, I was alone lots of the time. I read, I translated, but not so much. I was busy doing other things to master the language."

Well, this was a pleasant surprise. "Wow," I murmured, "So not only are you good with explosives, stealth, and sniping, but you also know some Imperial zebra." I shifted a little, pressing myself just a little more against her, and murmured in her ear, "That's an impressive skill set you got there." Then, with a little smile of my own, I asked, "And what other things did you do while alone?"

"Oh. You know... stuff..." She said softly, hesitantly. "Just... things that I do when bored," She added with a suppressed chuckle. 

Skyfire's head popped up, her eyes seeming terror-stricken as she looked at Myst with an agape mouth. Somehow that look tugged at my heart; there was just this look of... hopelessness and confusion embedded within the details of her face. I couldn't quite discern the possible origins of why I felt so... crappy. Did I do something wrong? Well, to be sure, yes, but why did I really feel it this time?

Myst next me gasped and averted her gaze, looking at the ground, then at me. There was this look on her face that told me she for some reason felt like I did. Still, I didn't let it stop me from prodding. "So, things like what?"

She closed her eyes and sighed disappointedly. "Goldwreath... now isn't really the time..." She was saying, timidly, as she usually does.

Predator interrupted, "I think what your friend over here is trying to say, Goldwreath, is that we should pay the immensely important matter at hoof more thought. We have gotten confirmation, yet we have not decided upon a definite course of action. I understand that you are all very stressed and very confused, and that your heads are subconsciously seeking a distraction from how incredibly ridiculous your lives have become so quickly, but that's no excuse." Then he said with a slightly suggestive tone, "Your... sensuous... conversations can resume later." He got up off of his seat, and turned to look at all of us with an unfathomable expression.

"We must decide now how to ERADICATE this threat," He declared. I heard it, but I wasn't paying attention; I was kind of stuck on wondering what he meant by 'sensuous'. Me and Myst weren't talking about anything sensuous, were we?

Zaita looked to me. "Against logical and emotional urges that I would have were I an organic, I have to say I agree with him."

I sighed. He was right; the matter was confirmed, yet we were acting like we had heard nothing greater than news of the destruction of our local mall. This matter had to be decided immediately, and the decided upon action had to be carried out with absolute certainty. Flinching during the operation could doom us all.

I leaned forward on the edge of my seat, once more making the dire mistake, I now knew, of forcing my body to work and my emotions to screw off. It was hard, flushing away all thoughts so completely in favor of this matter -- whatever joy remained of my recent induction into a relationship, the guilt of what I had done, the weight of what I had failed to do -- but it had to be done. No person could function properly if their mind was unfocused, that I knew for certain.

And so with my head blank of all things save that which would concern this decision, I started saying in a low and serious tone, "I need everyone's thoughts on this. This... matter -- this piece of information that only we in this cabin know of, aside from our enemies -- and the choice made for it, may decide the very existence of known world. Of Roam as we know it." The tension in the room, dissipated by Zaita's elevator music which had stopped playing after the audio file, returned tenfold, and the silence seemed so absolute that it felt like it was crawling up my spine like an orchid wrapping itself around s tree.

I got up, looking at each of my friends in the eye. Somehow, I had all their attention, as even Skyfire seemed to have managed to lock her emotions away for a bit. Even Predator, for all his deadness, seemed fully alert. Good, I needed all of us focused. We were tired and twisted up, confused and lost, in turmoil and hurting, but we could do this. We had to. Really, only Doodle seemed like she wanted no part in this. She just curled up on her seat and seemed to fall asleep. And I didn't blame her for not wanting to join in; she was just a filly, and one that didn't want to feel tense or in danger. I could understand that.

Resuming my train of thought, I stomped on the ground for emphasis, declaring, "The decision made hereupon shall decide for a great many people the fate of their lives and the course of their future. There will be consequences, no doubt, and not all can be spared from the repercussions of our choice. This weighs heavily on my heart, for I do not want to see the bones of the once glorious empire reduced to dust at the hooves of tyranny. Therefore I ask you, friends and accomplices, for your thoughts and opinions on this matter. And before anything else is said, know that neutralizing this threat is the absolute most important objective as of now; all else must be disregarded."

I felt quite disappointed, actually. I had spent the last week brooding over how to act once at the dam, yet all that was going down the drain, seeing as I had to convince Madran of the severity of the threat, and why I had to pursue it first. Surely she would understand.

I turned to look at Zaita specifically. "Halt the vehicle, Zaita. Tell me, how goes the fight at the dam? Do our allies need our aid, or can they handle themselves?" I hadn't known how the battle at the dam was going, and surely the operatives could handle themselves, but it couldn't possibly hurt to ask.

There was a momentary shift in the vehicle's orientation, causing me to nearly fall over. After that, Zaita replied, "The battle is an utter stalemate. Not only has neither side made significant progress in either claiming the dam or holding off the assault, but whatever reinforcements exist for either group could not reach them in the first place. As of yet, this may last until one group decides to take some form of drastic action."

Predator stepped in before I could say anything. "And what do you think it would take for this balance to be tipped off?"

The screen looked to him. "Either the Legion utilizes all their armor into a frontal assault, thus overwhelming the less adequately prepared Specters, or the operatives manage to break into the dam's control room and shut down all defensive emplacements and wrest control of the area before the Legion can regroup. The Specters may not be able to easily accomplish their goal, however, as they have no intel on the exact path to the dam's control room."

"And what's keeping them from sending all their armor?" Myst asked, much to my surprise. I didn't think she'd want to be involved in this conversation, being... well, Myst.

Zaita looked to her, the golden line arced upwards slightly. Perhaps she too hadn't anticipated the query from the usually shy and quiet mare. Still, in response, the AI said, "The Caesar."

'You're shitting me,' I thought, 'That thing's still operational? Son of a...'

"Not surprised," Predator chimed in. "Damn thing could take a concentrated megaspell... or a hell of a lot of missiles."

Skyfire sniffed and wiped her face, before saying in a tone that was, to my relief, devoid of any depression or sadness, "Heh, talk about firepower. That thing was a fucking beast!" She even cheered up a little, a grin on her face as she continued, "Now if Zaita could just take control of it..."

"That is actually possible," Zaita interjected, "The Caesar is a modified Omni-tank, but it still uses the same S3 operating system as other S3 vehicles do. Though, I don't think the Specters would approve of having their one true armored asset controlled by an AI..."

"Okay, can we PLEASE get back on topic?" I said, doing my best to suppress my exasperation. "I swear, we get off topic SO easily... Anyway, my opinion shortened, I think that we should go to the Forum and confront the damned Legate."

There was a momentary silence as my companions looked to one another, as if confirming they had just heard what I said. Skyfire's eyes brightened up at the statement, though... okay, I'll admit, because of that I wanted to rescind my statement, but as I said, indecisiveness could doom us all.

"Seems... fathomable," Predator said slowly. He tapped his helmet for a moment in thought. "Very well, I agree. This threat must be eliminated at once, what better way to neutralize it than directly confronting the individual behind this madness?"

"Well, we'll need an escape plan if things go wrong," Myst added, to which I nodded my head in agreement. "Though... I'm not really sure if confronting him is a good idea. What if he's crazy and decides to kill all of us by detonating the megaspells?"

"Not likely," Predator said, "While Vesperius may be viewed with contempt, I don't think him the type to commit mass genocide at the hour of his death or whilst in distress."

We all looked at him strangely and with confusion; even Zaita just stared at him. He looked to each of us, and though he would never be one to admit it, I could tell he was immensely puzzled.

"Who?" Skyfire asked.

Predator canted his head. "Vesperius?" He asked us. "None of you know of him?"

We shook our heads, while Zaita gave off a grating game-show style buzz. Predator shook his head in response, seemingly disbelieving that none of us knew who this 'Vesperius' was. Personally, I couldn't give two shits. I had lots of other things to think about. 

He sighed and elaborated, "Legatus Vesperius Titanus Aurelius Augustus -- or just Vesperius -- is the name of the Legion's current leader. He's the Legate, and has been ever since the Legion first came out of the Maximilian-class stable underneath the Forum." He grumbled, "Of course, if any of you had enough wits to find out who you were fighting, you would have known that."

"How do you know this?" I questioned, intrigued at all this new information. Especially that whole 'Maximilian-class' stable thing; if the Legion came out of there... how large it must have been. That also led me to a question: did Stable-Tec give them the schematics for that stable, or did the zebra government make their own designs? 

Skyfire narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Yeah," She drawled, "How DO you know all this?"

Predator snorted, "If you think me some kind of Legion spy, Skyfire, then you are even more idiotic that Goldwreath can be at times. If I truly wanted your deaths, I wouldn't have procrastinated on that bridge." His tone darkened as he continued, "As for how I know, I was there when they first came into the wasteland." He silenced for a moment and looked to the ground, before murmuring, "It was then that I saw two-hundred years of preparation and planning come to fruition. And it was there that I tried to stop them, to no avail."

The area was once more silent, and it irritated me because our talks about how to proceed with confronting Vesperius -- hell, what to do about the dam -- were constantly being cut off and the subject changed. We needed focus. Sure, maybe under normal circumstances, or what would count as normal in the wasteland, I would have been more intrigued by Predator's involvement when the Legion first came out, but these were not normal circumstances.

"Alright," I said, "Let's process all this later. Right now, and to avoid further distractions, I ask you one thing: what are we to do about the dam? It's a stalemate, yes, but should we leave it like that? Severe as a megaspell threat is, I'd hate to leave those soldiers without notifying them. Once we have decided what to do about them, then we shall proceed to the Forum." I felt quite disappointed, actually. I had, for so long, thought that I would have participated in the battle. I had actually been waiting for it eagerly. Now... all that was going down the drain.

"Maybe we should go to the dam, tell that Specter lady what's up, maybe even get some stuff, and get over to that Forum place?" Skyfire suggested, a tone of mounting eagerness in her voice. I swear, if she started going nuts at the Forum...

"Seems feasible," Zaita intoned, "Perhaps it would be wise to inform Madran of the situation, given the resources she has and her potential to lend us assistance."

"So that's three out of five," I summarized. Now all that remained was my own opinion and that of Myst. Well... actually, throw my opinion in with their's; Skyfire's words may have been... simple, but they summarized my thoughts rather nicely. "So, Myst, what do you think?" I asked softly, trying to appear more calm and collected than I actually was. "Your opinion matters here; a lot, actually."

She lowered her head and closed her eyes, humming quietly to herself in thought. While of course Predator, Zaita, and Skyfire's agreement with the plan was of course enough to sway me, I simple felt that, somehow, Myst's opinion was as important as all three of their's combined. Maybe it came with the 'relationship' -- oh, up to now that word still makes my heart flutter with joy; I, Goldwreath, was actually in a freaking relationship! -- or something else.

"Well... we'll need an escape plan..." She said slowly. "And I think, being someone who makes escape plans a lot, I can take care of that..."

"Escape plans..." Skyfire muttered with disgust. "It's stuff like that that's for people who WANT to retreat." 

I shot her a glare, making her eyes widen. After a while they shrank back to a normal size, and she looked away from me. If she couldn't say anything smart or disciplined right now, I could only imagine what she'd do when we got to the Forum. I looked to Myst, and motioned her to continue.

Myst looked at all of us for a bit, as if wondering if all of us were really for this. I knew I was, and gave her a look suggesting just that when her gaze fell upon me. "... so, yes. I'd say I'm with you," She continued, and bit her lip as if unsure.

"You're certain?" I asked. I could not tolerate uncertainty right now. Not even from her, much as I knew that she needed more time to decide or be sure about some things than, say, Skyfire.

She took in a breath, and sighed, "Yes, I am. If this is what you think we should be doing... then I trust you. I trust that you'll bring all of us back." She smiled at me, and said softly, "I always have."

I smiled back. It was... nice. All this shit with Tom and Tod and that black land stuff to the south... and then this Legion-Specter conflict... constant depression and worry... it was nice to have something to look forward to. It was nice to know there was someone who cared for me.

"So it's decided then," Predator said, "We will go to the dam, inform Madran so that she can lend us whatever assistance she can, and then speed over to the Forum to confront Vesperius." He hummed in thought for a moment, then continued, "I could inform Canterium Prime of this threat. Surely they would see the severity of it all."

"Well, good," I said, relaxing a bit now that a course of action was decided upon. "Take us to the dam, Zaita." The vehicle gave a beep, and the engine started humming through the metal walls.

My eyes looked over the chamber, at each of my friends and companions. They were all with me, even Predator. Doodle... well, she could stay inside the vehicle when we confronted the Legate. Skyfire would need to practice restraint, but she was with me too. It was a joy almost as great as when Myst and I got together less than an hour ago to know they were with me on this. Now, whenever I thought the words 'let's do this', I really was referring to more people than just myself. It felt... good. It was strange, though; I had so rarely felt good since coming out to the surface that the feeling of being relaxed was becoming alien to me.

Then my eyes drifted to my saddlebags on a seat on the far side of the cabin, and through a small gap I saw the faint glimmer of a glassy orb. A spark of curiosity lit up in my head.

'Damn me and my curiosity,' I thought, and got up and started trotting over to my bags. I picked out the orb from within, and afterwards the memory-viewing headwear. I started trotting back to my seat.

"What are you doing?" Zaita queried.

"Distracting myself," I replied with a shrug. I got a strange look from Myst; an expression... concerned and confused at the same time. Addressing her questioning look, I said, "I am tired and I am very, very unsure of how to think or what to do right now. Memory orbs like these give me some time to... to think of things aside from what's going on here. In these orbs, I see the world before it was destroyed. I take some comfort in knowing that this earth wasn't always a parched wasteland."

Then I smirked, "Besides, I could never bring myself to sleep at a time like this; I'd be missing out on WAY too much important stuff. But technically, memory viewing isn't sleeping, and I can still think."

"Your technicality and logic makes no sense," Predator replied. "Not only do you give your already over-taxed mind more to think about when viewing those damned things, and not only do you not get any refreshing rest whilst using them, it would also be impossible to wake you up should something occur. But go ahead; we all need distractions, right?" He said with a tone of mock sympathy -- a tone which, given how much I didn't quite give a damn, I just took as earnest sympathy.

Skyfire chuckled mirthlessly, "Heh, yeah... we all need some distractions." She looked at me with a quick glance, and cast her gaze down onto the floor.

Damn it, guilt trip. "Okay, look," I sighed, feeling some shame and sadness coming up in my head. "If anyone of you disagrees with me going into this, then say so now and I won't view it." I may have wanted to distract myself, but not if it meant leaving my friends behind to wallow in their own problems; no sane group leader would leave their comrades behind to suffer on their own.

"I only questioned what you were doing, I did not object. Besides, given the case that something should occur, I believe that Predator's firepower combined with my own would be more than sufficient to get us out of it," Zaita said.

Predator nickered, "Yeah, sure. View the orb, just don't blame me if something bad happens while you're out; or, for the sake of your mental health, blame yourself if something DOES occur. I swear, you and your self-blaming..."

Skyfire said with a little shrug and with a slightly approving tone, "Go for it; not like anything bad would happen to a cloaking VTOL." Her tone turned to a more concerned one as she continued, "If you're not awake when we get to the dam... well, we'll take care of it. We'll talk to Madran... and everything else we need to do. You should just stay in here and rest." She gave me a small smile, but frowned as she asked, "So... what do you think, Myst?"

"I say get in that thing," Myst replied with a startling amount of firmness, surprising both me and Skyfire. She stared me in the eye, saying in a strangely nagging tone, "If you won't give yourself some sleep, at least give your body a little break. And when was the last time you DID sleep? You look like you've been awake for days, and that's probably true! Why, if it weren't for this threat and us needing to think about it, I'd force you to sleep."

"Eh, uh... okay..." I said in response. That was... weird. I understand that my friends (and Predator, to a degree) were concerned for me, but that... her speaking like that... strange.

Skyfire smirked. "Heh, turns out some of my assertiveness got to 'ya, eh Myst?" She asked, giving her friend a cocky little smile. A smile that I was SO relieved to see, by the way. Good to know some of the old Skyfire was still in there; just like, amidst Myst's changes, there was still that inseparable socially anxious part of her.

Myst kept up her firm face for a moment, and she did it so convincingly that I almost thought she'd nag Skyfire too. But then she smiled sheepishly -- and I swear I heard a squeak -- before saying awkwardly, "Eheh, I always did act like that around people I actually knew and cared about. Like one time when Kira couldn't sleep because some foals kept playing tag outside her store at night. I had to give her sleeping pills I got from one of the old drug stores to get her to sleep."

"Huh," Skyfire replied, seeming amused at the revelation. "I never would have guessed."

"Interesting," Zaita said, "Is it just me, or have you two changed quite a lot since last month? For one thing, Myst is much more open now; and for another, Skyfire is a little more... reserved."

Skyfire replied with annoyance, "What are you saying? That I've been some overly loud-mouthed, undisciplined, impulsive braggart, and only changed in the past few weeks? Huh, that's what you're saying?" She pointed a hoof at the hologram threateningly.

"Yes, and I'm quite sure I am not the only here who thinks that." The hologram looked all of us over.

Skyfire's eyes widened in disbelief, her head recoiling backwards from the blunt response as she put a hoof on her chest. "Why, I'll have you know that I was second in command of my scouting party! That required a lot of discipline, you know."

"And yet you show none of it," Predator replied with a snicker. "So much for your Enclave's military personnel's disciplinary training."

Skyfire turned on him, face wearing an overly dramatic expression of shock. "How DARE you!" She said, seemingly insulted. "The Enclave's military personnel are some of the most well-trained ponies I know!"

"And yet they suck in comparison to Legionnaires and Legion officers," Predator replied flatly.

	"Judging from what I've seen of you and what information I've been able to get on the Enclave, I have to say I agree with him," Zaita intoned.

I didn't pay attention anymore after that. The next few moments were just filled with ranting and un-thought out responses on the side of Skyfire, and more than just a few profane statements from her which I couldn't really bring myself to care for. Thank goodness Doodle was asleep during all this...

At the point when I was just basically staring at the air, Myst decided to nudge me and get me out of my trance-like state. I shook myself, and looked at her with a little smile. "Yes?"

"You are getting in that orb, right?" She asked. 

I frowned playfully. "Why so eager to have me incapacitated by an orb again? You planning to do something to me?" Yeah... at that time, I didn't quite understand what I was implying. Yes, I was THAT socially unknowledgeable.

Her eyes widened and she nudged herself a few inches away from me, cheeks flaming. "What? No! I just thought that you should, you know, get in already, and... stuff..."

I chuckled; she was so cute when she was like this. "Alright, but that doesn't really answer my question. You planning something for me?"

"Oh, just get in that orb!" She said with an assertive little stomp, which actually sounded just a little louder than if I stepped on the ground. Still, through all her supposed fierceness, I could tell that she was embarrassed as embarrassed could get.

I rolled my eyes with a smile. "Sheesh, I'm just having some fun. It feels good teasing you." Yeah... not exactly the best choice of words, I now know.

Myst stared at me for a second, her expression firmly divided between her cheeks and her eyes. Her eyes, wide and calculating, stared into mine as if wondering just WHAT I meant by that; her cheeks, red as though they had been slapped, showed just how embarrassed she was. Skyfire, Predator and Zaita were still having an argument regarding the Enclave's true power, and for that I was thankful, for they were not paying attention to the incredibly anxious-looking Myst. If they were, well... it would have been like the first time I met her all over again.

"Alright, I'll just, uh, get in now," I said, hoping to break the growing awkwardness of the strange moment.

She smiled with relief, and just a hint of exasperation. "Yeah, you do that. Don't worry, we'll take care of what we need to do at the dam, just relax."

I nodded, mind split between confidence in their promises and doubt for their capability. But come on, they were my friends. They had gone through all the things I went through, and they had always pulled me and each other out of it one way or another. I could trust them.

And with that thought, I strapped the helmet on, glad for the temporary respite awaiting me within. And with one final glance and a smile at Myst and my other friends -- Skyfire still fervently arguing for her point -- I slipped the orb into the depression and let my mind slip away.


ooooOOOOoooo



Veltrio sat down in a small grey room, the table he placed his forehooves on illuminated by a bright lamp from above his head. On the left of the steel table side lay his helmet, and on the right side a stack of rifle magazines placed neatly one atop the other. Beneath the table lay his backpack, stuffed and bloated as I had come to expect of operatives.


For a brief moment I just stared at the table, seeming to contemplate. My host's breathing was slow and deep, and occasionally he would sigh disconcertedly. For a moment he lifted his hooves off of the table, and I saw them shaking almost uncontrollably; he was nervous. I could feel his heart pounding, his breathing hot in his nostrils, his eyes twitching periodically. And all this worried me, for if something could worry one with the capabilities and skills of Veltrio, then it was truly something to be reckoned with.


I lifted my hooves again and looked at them, trembling like a pole quaking to the tremors of the earth. I sighed, and closed my eyes. A great rumbling energy stirred within me, and rushed through my veins like ice water, rejuvenating my limbs and awakening my dead nerves from their slumber.


Then my flesh suddenly erupted underneath my suit like a thousand warts had grown onto every inch of my skin, and portions of my suit puffed out sharply, threatening to tear; my helmet felt a lot tighter on my head. None of it was painful, though. To my own bafflement, it felt good -- calming, soothing, comforting, and most of all... natural; blissfully integrated into nature's rhythms and ways as air is to the wind. My breathing started sounding calmer -- and certainly I felt much more calm -- yet it seemed more feral, too. More... beastly.


Veltrio produced a small black orb on a tiny platform of obsidian-colored metal and placed it on the table, flicking a small switch on the side as he did so. A holographic screen came up, and within it I saw first the reflection of my host's vest and of his limbs. All seemed natural, though of course I didn't see the flesh. So my host started looking up to see his face...


'Celestia save me,' I thought to myself in horror.


My... face... was a monstrous form of shaped black carapace, with protrusions like blades jutting out from my head and angling backwards. Every millimeter of coat was covered in black, glossy chitinous carapace. My eyes were a soul-freezing glowing green, and stared off into the mirror with the most disgusting look of pride and amusement. My neck bore black scales of reptilian appearance, and the carapace there seemed to from chitinous plates of the most sharp-edged armor.


After a moment of looking at himself with unnatural calmness, a surge of energy once more flushed through my host's veins, and the blade-like protrusions sank back into my flesh so cleanly it left no mark upon the zebra-looking coat that then appeared on the mirror. The green glow in my eyes remained, though.


My host sighed, and turned off the mirror with what was thankfully a hoof and not, say, a talon.


"Soon, when this gift becomes common place. Then shall I walk in the glory of a flawless form shamelessly and basking in the glory of a perfect existence. But not yet," My host said, and I felt a sickening smile cross his face. Oh, I did not like the sound of that.


Then, through the claustrophobic metal walls of the room, the racketing wail of a siren sounded throughout the space beyond, increasing in volume to nearly insane levels.


My host's eyes stared forward as though they were trying to burn through the walls, but after a moment I got up and trotted to the lightless back of the room. I didn't see them nor the bed, but out of the darkness my host pulled several compact blocks and rectangles of metal. He laid them on the table, and then produced from his vest's pockets a silvery box like the ones Predator used. And with that, he stuffed every block into the silvery box.


'I'm really going to need to ask Predator what those are,' I thought, and just then felt just how much I had intended to ask him that.


After that my host put on his helmet, loaded the magazines on the table into whatever empty pouches there were on his vest, and exited the room. Beyond was a typical long metal grey hallway, with other doors on the sides that other operatives came out of. We trotted down the hall together, silent but aware of each other. Very aware; I could feel them in my head, and it did NOT make me feel comfortable.


Soon we came upon a large metal gate, which opened to us automatically. Yellow light flooded into the dull hallway, and when my host's eyes adjusted I saw it.


The sky.

It was so much more beautiful than it was today: it was a vast all-encompassing sphere of heavenly blue, punctuated with giant feathery and cotton-shaped clouds of white; a pegasus' dream, the desire of our souls, freedom made real and visible. The golden light of an afternoon placed a hue of mesmerizing orange onto the backs of the clouds, and saturated the sky with blazing glory like the glow of Roam' fires. The rays of light stabbed down onto the vast lands below, illuminating in lit patches a great forest of dreary green.


Yes, quite a dramatic description for the sky, I know. But surely you must have noticed by now that I like to describe scenes with great detail.


To my chagrin, Veltrio paid that little attention, and almost immediately started trotting to the edge of the wide circular platform that was this aircraft's runway; it had smaller aircraft on different pads, mostly VTOLs and what looked to be jet fighters.


Said platform was bustling with activity and held points of interest: zebras in pressurized suits directed silently hovering VTOLs onto and off of the much larger aircraft, and power-armored juggernauts stomped by us, carrying missiles on their backs. Regular legionnaires stood in a corner, looking nervous as they talked to one another. Auxiliary troops -- zebras clad solely in a simple vest of kevlar with bright colors, and nothing else -- did the same all across the platform. And above me, standing tall above the armored structure that had housed me just a while ago, was a massive gleaming marble column, atop which was a glowing blue orb with lightning spiking around it.


All this I noticed whilst my host and the other five or so operatives trotted across the runway, and with each zebra we passed they stood stiff as a statue and saluted us. Not even when we passed them did they ease, and soon even those we had not crossed yet formed in front of us two columns of saluting zebras, in between which was a narrow walkway to the very edge of the platform. My host looked at them, left and right, and underneath his helmet smiled proudly.


Soon we stood upon the edge of the immense aircraft, and the sight below reminded me very much of when I had first came up to the surface; that short-lived time when I was laughably scared of the sky. I had thought I was completely over it. I guess I was wrong.


I felt my host's muscles tense as he looked to the other operatives, and an uncomfortable thought started brewing in my mind. Don't tell me he and his comrades were going to jump off of this thing! Parachute or no, that was just... fucking insane!

A zebra juggernaut approached us slowly, carrying on his back what appeared to be several neatly folded parachutes. He stood behind us, and bowed his head before turning on his side, inviting us to take them off his back.

My host grimaced but went over and took one, as did the other operatives. I had the distinct feeling we didn't actually want to use the parachutes. Perhaps some kind of formality was obligating us to take them. At least it assuaged some of my anxiety with regards to my host jumping off of the aircraft.

We slung the chutes across our backs and formed a line on the edge of the aircraft. We looked to each other for a moment, as if some last semblance of anxiety had hold over us. And certainly I could see it in their eyes, past their nearly opaque visors.

But then my host smiled, and without further action stepped off of aircraft, the others following right behind me and accompanied by thunderous cheers.

My mind was thrust into a frantic panic as I started thinking, 'Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit... OH SHIT!'


* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *


'... OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT... OH, SHIT!'

Veltrio slammed into the earth with such force that the ground quaked underneath the impact, sending green water and mud into the air. I was not hurt, nor did I feel even slightly uncomfortable or sore in any way; it creeped the hell out of me. Veltrio and his comrades had not used the chutes at all; quite the contrary, we flung them away halfway down to the ground. When they did, I swear to Celestia it was almost like my own heart stopped beating out of the sheer stupidity and shock.

But I was alive. My host looking up from the heavily-waving water to look over the large and dark forest confirmed that. Veltrio reached a hoof to his helmet, and tapped a button on the side. At once the HUD activated, and began outlining everything in gold. Information streams popped up on both sides of my HUD, and a minimap of the surrounding area flashed to life on the bottom right.

"Locate target," My host said calmly. "If she is found, send a signal and go silent. We'll find you, we'll take her down together."

And with that, my host sprinted out of the damp swamp and into the forest with such speed and agility as to put a cheetah to shame. Not a single accident met my host as he galloped into the darkness of the forest. And he was silent, too; add that with the fact that he was cloaked and you'd have yourself the perfect guy for mass murder in a forest.

Veltrio jumped and landed silently in the trees above, taking a moment to steady himself before stalking through the branches with undaunted speed. What he and his comrades had done to themselves to achieve such physical prowess... no, the better question was what had TOD done to the them. No equine, pony or zebra, could be capable of this. 

And yet... yet I saw the advantages. With soldiers like these, fewer lives would be lost. Less resources used. Less sacrifices made. People like these, however mutated, could save others lots of trouble, lots of pain. They... they were the future of warfare. They were... perfect.

No! No, I can't think like that. Self-sacrifice was commendable, but too much of anything was bad. No, these... abominations deserved no respect from me. They deserved my hate! And Tod... he was their patron, and Decarius and Autherius were their masters. These 'people' and their abominations had no place on this earth!

I felt a stab in my head, excruciating and sharp. All thoughts seemed to leave my head, replaced with... numbness. Numbness throughout my whole body...

'So stubborn...' A soft, impish voice whispered in my head, echoing within my mind. 'Worry not... you will change before the end. You will see the error of your ways...' And then he fell silent. But even still, his words had sent cold, sharp spikes of terror into my head, and if I could have I would have shook from the trauma.

Oh great, Predator was right; these things DID give me more to think about. Tod, his affiliations with the two zebra legates, with Predator, the Shadow Corps... oh, so very much to think about. 

When I finally truly regained control of my thoughts a moment later, I began paying attention once more to what was happening on the memory, albeit with anxiety than eager curiosity. I was especially surprised to find out that my host was talking to someone, and apparently had been for almost a minute.

"... bu-but uncle, when will you get back? Please, we don't want to lose you. We don't want to lose dad," A mare said with frail softness. The sadness in her voice broke my heart.

"You won't, Eiya," Veltrio responded kindly, warmly. "I'll be back before tomorrow afternoon, don't worry. And your father... my brother... I'll drag him on his flank across a rocky mountain to get him back to you. He's not dying on my watch, and I'll make sure to force his heart to beat if he does. You have my word," Veltrio promised solemnly, and I was surprised at the conviction of his words. They didn't sound at all like the crazy devotion he had when speaking about 'the gift' or 'perfection' -- here, he sounded genuinely concerned. I guess even abominations could care.

"But... but but..."

"No buts. Eiya, you have to trust me. I'll bring us both back, nothing's gonna stop me, nothing can stop me," Veltrio replied sternly. "Now, make sure your brothers are studying. Ask Kalvis to check their work if you can't; he's good with foals."

There was a momentary silence over the call, such that my stopped stalking through the tree tops for a moment and crouched on a large branch. His cloak was more than sufficient to keep him unseen, I don't know why he still bothered.

"A-alright. Sorry, I'm just... just worried," Eiya responded shakily, almost as if she was holding in tears. Then there was a sniff, and after a moment she whispered, "Uncle?"

"Yes?"

"When will this war be over?"

Silence. Pure, cold silence. Even the beating of my heart, formerly thundering and forceful, now seemed calm, almost nonexistent. The very jungle seemed to grow still, as if emulating the demeanor of my host; disturbing, very disturbing. 

The quiet went on for several moments, until at last my host responded calmly, "It'll end when it'll end, under what circumstances... only greater forces know. Now goodbye, Eiya. I have work to do."

"Uncle, wait! There's something I need to tel-..."

"TRANSMISSION ENDED," Said the intimidating voice of my helmet's computer.

Veltrio shook his head, "She must never know. She will partake in it's rewards, but the process... she must never know."

After that he remained still, crouching on the branch of a tree in a forest somewhere. He laid his head against bark for a moment, sighing and shaking his head continuously. Minutes passed by, and the area gradually became alive again (or, you know, as alive as swarms of mosquitos and other bugs could make it seem). The forest was soon teeming with colorful little insects all over, from the lowest puddle to the highest treetop.

But it was getting dark; the clouds above -- gold on the top, rainy grey below -- had blocked out the sun. The downpour was immediate and savage, and in the midst of the rain my host's sight became eluded and unfocused. The bugs disappeared as the area became a blur of large rain drops, obscuring sight of all things save what was immediately in front of me. A few blinks from my host, though, and my sight was sharper than before; worst of all, I felt something move in his eyeballs.

Then there was a recurring beep, soft but not drowned out by the splashing of heavy rain drops. A small flashing icon came up on the bottom-left most of the HUD, with the word, small as fine print, 'DISTRESS' next to it.

Veltrio looked at it for a long second, and from the warning expanded a map of a great section of the forest: around one hundred square miles, more or less. On the map were four arrows heading at great speed towards a flashing red triangle near the center. There was a fifth arrow, though; it wasn't moving.

But when my host turned and galloped with speed quicker than lightning and nimbleness surpassing any other, the dormant arrow started speeding towards the flashing icon at a rate at least thrice as fast as the others. The seventy-eight miles I had to gallop would pass by in less than fifteen minutes, according to an estimate timer on the upper-right.

And as my host galloped like a ghost through the dark forest, he said loud and clear, "Bring up target profile." The left information stream disappeared and was replaced by a picture of a paranoid-looking zebra mare with glyph-like tattoos covering her muzzle and stretching down her neck. Lines of text underneath the picture told of her background and her present day situation. She even had a trivia section, like she was some kind of character in a book; I found that little fact kind of hard to digest.

"Time to catch up on my target," Veltrio said with a snicker, as if not reading up on her before amused him; perhaps he was a procrastinator when it came to things that didn't quite interest him? Because I knew many a pony and zebra who took pride in being 'professional procrastinators'.

"Alright," Veltrio said as he started reading, "Tenexia Ziata is a Dacian tribe psychic, and is considered to be the continent's most telekinetically capable zebra..."


* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *


We stood together in a clearing in the forest, letting the heavy downpour mask us as we pressed our cloaked bodies against the trunks of large trees or submerged ourselves in the growing pools of turbulent rainwater. Veltrio himself stood almost completely submerged in a pond teeming with frogs and insects, while two of the other four of us were face-down in a fairly deep puddle of mud. All-in-all it was quite a bit of stealth precautions, but it was good given who our target was.

Okay, so apparently this mare, this... 'Tenexia Ziata' was a zebra psychic, born in the modern-day Dacian tribe that inhabited the province of Dacia on the Empire's southern borders during the war. When Dacia once more came under the wartime Zebra Nation (they had come under them before, during the ancient times when the Zebras were still the Roaman Empire), the Caesar demanded that all those capable of using their minds to manipulate matter -- telekinesis, which unicorns could tap into easily -- be handed over for experiments to develop potent mental warfare weapons. That was done in other territories forcibly annexed by the Nation at the war's start, and was a major cause for unrest and riots during the war. 

Tenexia herself was, through experimentation, determined to be the most capable of these individuals and was to be brought to a facility in Roam, but was freed by her people on the way there. Before the legions could take her down, she was already being transported by traitorous Dacians to Equestria, whom the Dacians sought to ally with because of the pony's respect for telekinetic power; the Dacians themselves had a culture to respect one's mental abilities, and so hated the Zebra Nation for intruding. The transport was shot down over the Teutoberg forest (or the Everfree forest, as the Equestrians called it), but Tenexia escaped further into the woods. Veltrio and his team had been sent on a 9th legion Deus-class aircraft carrier on it's way to destroy a fleet of Equestrian Raptor aircraft before she could inform the Equestrian Princesses of the Caesar's plans.

Now, enough context. Back to the orb.

We were still in the most complete sense of the word; even our hearts had stopped beating, or at least mine did. I blinked not once, nor did I breathe, nor did I even move my eyes a millimeter. Even my mane seemed stiff as a stone. But while the operatives were as calm and unmoving as a flower on a windless day, MY mind was in a frantic panic. Even though all our HUDs were off, and our radios silent, I could just tell that Tenexia was getting close. We had planned to ambush her here, after all. But what if the attack failed? The file said that Tenexia had crushed an Omni with her mind; could we stand up to that? Parts of my head -- 'was it actually MY head?' was the question bothering me at the time -- said yes, others... doubted.

And then she entered.

She looked quite pathetic rather than fierce, actually -- she was thin and pale, and filthy from the experience of trudging through the forest. She wore about her tattered tribal garments of various colors, dominantly light blue, and on her neck she wore a crystal necklace. Her eyes bore this paranoia that marked her a psychopath, and her legs trembled with anxiety as she cautiously stole her way into the flooding marsh, her gaze darting to the trees and branches and rain like a starved dog suspicious of it's own hunting grounds.

But she was dangerous; her very presence bore an aura of power and demanded caution. My eyes snapped to her and stared, glaring hatefully, seeming to loathe this supposedly pathetic wretch of controlling such power. Considering how lowly my host spoke to non-operatives or their patron legates, that was quite possibly the case.

Three people came up behind her -- two glyph-tattooed zebras with light blue cloaks and cobbled-together vests of kevlar and iron, and an Equestrian earth pony soldier wearing green combat armor.

"Tenexia!" One of the zebras yelled over the rain, "We cannot stay here! We must move; the Empire's agents are likely tracking you down already!"

Tenexia collapsed onto the mud in front of the growing pool of turbulent water that one of my fellows hid in, less than a meter from her. She panted with exhaustion, and her face bore an expression of agony. I felt sorry for her; Veltrio growled, kind of like Predator. 

"Can you not see she is tired?" The other zebra yelled out, pointing at her. "She's been captive in Imperial facilities for a year, who knows what those Roaman dogs did to her? I say we camp out and let her rest."

"But not here!" The other zebra responded. "This rain will drown us or get us sick! Then she won't be the only one who needs to not exert!"

The earth pony staggered against the wind to reach the zebra mare. He helped her up, getting a faintly thankful smile from her. "We need to move. Can you trot a little more?" He asked, and if it were not for my host's acute ears I would not have heard it. She nodded after some hesitation, and seemed like she wanted to take it back immediately. Then they started slowly making their way back out of the clearing. The other two seemed to be having a disagreement.

My host moved, and my HUD activated to outline in gold four other glass-clear forms as they approached the unaware group. Veltrio growled menacingly as he approached, and his muscles tensed. I had the distinct feeling that, if he could have, he would have just killed her without hesitation -- clearly the Caesar's orders still bore great weight despite the operatives being loyal to their patrons. Three of the clear forms made their way around to flank the group, while I and another phantom of an operative stood right in front of the group. 

My host decloaked right behind them.

"Well, filly and gentlecolts," Veltrio said, clear enough to be heard but not particularly loud. "I would be quite glad if you surrendered to Imperial superiority so that I can make your deaths quick and painless."

They turned around slowly, and I saw Tenexia's gaze filled with such frozen terror that her very body stood still as a statue, before shivering violently from the cold and her fear. The pony's mouth went agape as he stared at my host, and he tensed so much he too seemed paralyzed.

The two zebras yelled and pushed them aside from behind, and Tenexia and the pony landed splattering in the mud. The zebras pulled out makeshift rifles of improvised design, and pressed the barrels against the visor of my helmet. My host didn't react, much to their disbelief and looks of paranoia.

"I highly suggest you don't," I said flatly.

Of course, they did the exact opposite.

Under the pressure of their fear and their paranoia, they opened fire and blasted every single round in their magazines against my visor. The thick glass cracked and allowed the bullets to enter, but my host just closed his eyes and let the remaining rounds strike his eyelids. Energy surged to my eyes with every impact, and at last their shooting stopped.

My host reached forward and grabbed them, before opening his eyes and locking one of them with a stare. A stare that... that illuminated his water-glistened form in green. He shook and kicked and yelled in tribal Dacian, as did the other, but my host just held on with no trouble.

"Look into my eyes," My host said demandingly, not in his own voice, but in the voice of a creature; a creature rough and sinister in tone, feral even. A transparent wave of vague green flew through the air and towards his head, and immediately his eyes snapped open and stared into mine.


And then quickly, very quickly, his flesh and clothing turned grey, starting from the chest going out. His arms became so stiff and his chest so still that he indeed seemed like a statue, and his face froze in an expression of absolute terror akin to how someone would have looked had they seen Medusa herself (it was rather coincidental how the situation WAS quite alike to someone seeing Medusa). And then, less than three seconds later, he was nothing but grey, and heavier than he was in weight.

Veltrio dropped the heavy, stone-like, zebra-shaped form while simultaneously crushing the neck of the other zebra, and flung that corpse into the thick bushes. My fellow operatives decloaked next to me -- chuckling and seeming relaxed as only fools could seem  like in these conditions -- as I turned around to see Tenexia and the pony wading through the pools and puddles with whatever speed they could muster: not much. The zebra was slowing them both down, such that we simply trotted to them with no problem, despite the water.


The earth pony buck took one looks at us oh so casually approaching, and bade the mare go on quickly. Then he pulled out his own weapon -- a semi-auto shotgun: a Horseshoe-5 anti-infantry model -- and unloaded every shell at us to no effect. Eventually he clicked on an empty chamber, much to our laughter. One of the operatives simply waved a hoof at him and sent a wave of piercing energy at him, and his veins erupted like volcanoes. He crumpled in on himself, and was in a fetal position by the time his dried-of-all-blood body lay on the muddy grass.


"So this is the great Tenexia Ziata, 'she who controls the forces of gravity and inertia'. Oh, what a joke!" One of the operatives scoffed as the zebra mare staggered out of a pool of flank-deep water. She didn't seem like she could go on any longer, though; she seemed on the verge of collapsing just as she was. "Why, a dog in it's early years intimidates better than this... this worthless meretrix."


Another of the operatives spoke up as we circled her and cut her off from her escape route, "Hah! This saeva tribuumve probably just paid for special effects to make her skills seem great or something -- such is the case of the unfounded hubris of barbarians like these." He got up on his hindlegs and spread out his forelimbs, and declared insultingly, "Ah, how useful your skills could have been if you degenerates had joined the Empire willingly."


''Unfounded' my flank, you guys speak for yourselves,' I thought as I heard those ironically VERY hubris-filled words.


Another of us snorted, "This filthy wretch doesn't deserve her power, she's too incapable. You think we can tear her abilities from her later?"


The last of us laughed as the mare staggered and tripped face-first into the muddy grass, "Hahaha! Eheh, thi-this pathetic equine? Why, I'm surprised she can stand at all, considering how f-fragile she is! What's the matter? Bones made of cardboard?"


My host rolled his eyes, a wry grimace on his face; he was the most reserved of us, and for that matter probably the most disciplined -- the others were cocky jerks -- but he still took some joy in all this cruelty. He was just a slightly better beast than the rest of these louts were. "Alright brothers, that's enough. I know what you're thinking Kivlan; you'll have time to spout insults and satisfy your equine urges with her later, as horrid and undeserving as she is. Come, we have a job to do," He said in that horrible, beastly feral voice that was not his own, and the others silenced -- somehow, I felt like they might not have if not for the voice. I stepped towards the crawling, huffing mare. "Come on, morionem, don't make this hard..." I wrapped a hoof underneath her shoulder and started lifting her out of the filth.


Through her huffing and panting, she slowly brought her head up. The mane covering her eyes had an eerily fearful effect on ME, the orb-viewer; it was kind of like the generic horror movie can't-see-the-eyes crap. Still, unlike in those movies and comics, this time it WAS scary.


Her voice was low and threatening as she glared at me, hissing, "Don't touch me, demon." She huffed for a moment as I brought her up. "You and your star-cursed Empire will bring about an age of chaos and destruction and bring an end to all things on this earth." She yanked herself free, and the threat in her voice was such that when she trotted closer, it was my host who took a few steps back. Then she looked me right in the eye, and I got the strange notion it was not Veltrio she was addressing as she intoned, "Your foolish ambitions for control and power through chaos will fail, and then you'll have no one to go to but yourself -- your pathetic, lonely, forgotten, unloved self."


The rain seemed to stop.


A great wave of anger that was somehow... tangible passed through my head, but my host managed to keep control of himself, even as the others growled and snarled as if it were they who had been referred to. I hissed like a crocodile at her, before looking up and seeing a visible sphere of scintillating clear bubble of energy and water around the entire clearing, keeping out the rain and any water from elsewhere from pouring in. My own thoughts were focused on feelings of awe; no unicorn I had ever seen was capable of anything even near this magnitude!


"An impressive little feat," Veltrio commented with receding anger, and reached out a hoof to grab her once more. It felt like his hoof had to punch through a magnetic field to touch the flesh. "Now if you would be so sane as to just come with us-..."


"Don't touch me!" She shrieked in an ear-splitting dual voice with the boom of thunder, and I was at once blasted back with such force that I felt my host's ribcage flex so much it touched my organs. The others flew back as well, and we crashed hard into a tree, smashing through it's thick trunk, before landing in a formerly calm pool of water.


My host growled and snarled, and immediately pulled himself out of the water just as the others were recovering, seeming immensely angered as well. Veltrio's eyes widened at the spectacle before him.


A bubble of thickening ice surrounded the entire clearing and an area beyond it, being added to by the heavy rain drops that immediately hardened into frost and further increasing the bubble's thick width. Rocks and rotting tree trunks were torn to shreds even as they flew through the air to form a tornado of lethal shards around the energy-encased Tenexia, who stood on a dry patch of grass amidst a crater of equally dry soil. Water circulated through the entire area in disorienting whips of ice-spiked lethality. The leaves of the trees detonated away from their branches as though nature itself had gone mad, and the grass and bushes were torn from the ground to add to the amassing tornado around the Dacian psychic.


"I'll never be a part of your schemes! THE STARS HAVE NO HOLD OVER ME!" Her voice emanated from the everywhere around us with terrifying force; from the very soil we stood upon to the very air in our lungs, and from the very flesh on my host to the very helmet on his head.


'Get out of here get out of here get out of here get out of here!' I screamed again and again in my head as mad panic flooded my head.


Of course, we did the very crazy opposite.


Even as the wind within the sphere picked up to reach typhoon speeds, as the rock shards formed together to harden into stone spears and as the leaves blinded our acute vision, we charged like madponies. With a noise like a whistle gathering up behind us, and with motes of our own green telepathic energy flying out from our own minds, we charged to subdue her; a bowed form on an island of serenity among an ocean of chaotic forces, and from whom all this destruction came from.


But Tod was not omnipotent.


No matter what he was, no matter where he came from, Tod's power and influence had limitations. His abominations -- his... 'chimeras' -- were not perfect, they had flaws, much as he would never admit it. They could be defeated even by those supposedly weaker than them, as shown in this memory. When the invisible tide of energy was strong and the winds too fast, and when the obstacles were too great, we were driven back; flung into the air as though we were struck by a wrecking ball. And we spun and spun in the air like helpless dummies, smacking into spears of stone and sharp icicles. My HUD flashed onto the remaining shards of my visor all sorts of unintelligible warnings and suit punctures.


We spun over and over again, and the world reduced to a disorienting blur of dreary colors. Pain erupted through my host's body as we crashed again and again into trees, often breaking them, and into spears and whips of rock and ice. The wind flooded into my visor and dried my eyes, and flooded into my suit to preserve my limbs in a cold chill of icy air. Try as we might, we simply couldn't find something to grab onto, and soon we smacked again and again into the thick sphere.


And then, right at the point when I would have asked my friends to forcibly take me out of the orb out of the sheer endlessness of the torture if I could have Tod's note rang clearly in my ears and reverberated in my skull, and motes of green surrounded me. The noise had this... panic to it -- it seemed frantic and worried, like the mighty emperors of Roam would have felt when their legions fell to barbarians. The note washed into me... flooded into my veins, changing me. Pulses of energy pumped from my heart, and my mind seemed to be bending towards... something. My body was morphing; it was forming into something... monstrous, the likes of which would have stunned me with horror from the mere sensation of it. All these were feelings I wasn't used to or even felt before, even after all the ridiculously strange things I had felt the past month.


And then my helmet cracked wide open and fell of my head, and my suit ruptured and tore off. Green flooded the edges of my vision, and my hearing was muffled to hear only a fraction of the chaos going on around me, yet I could hear everything with supernatural acuity. My blood felt like acid in my veins, burning, agonizing. My mind felt sprained and flattened, and a strange, ever-present ringing pulsated in my head. The body I was in lost whatever nature it had left in it; now it felt as though every movement I made was grinding gears in my limbs and joints, tearing my muscles to shreds. Large and muscular wings extended from my back, and flapped painfully against the wind, forcing me to the earth while my comrades spun in the air helplessly.


The limbs clinging to the earth with ebony talons were not Veltrio's, however monstrous he may have been. And neither were the muscular limbs themselves, clad in scale and carapace, glistening like polished bone blades and wet rocks in the dark. The horns on my head stuck out like long, bony blades, large and terrifying. The wings on my back insulted and disgusted me greatly, and from then on I was not able to feel my wings the same way. The crocodilian tail sweeping the ground in front of me was thick and studded with spikes -- a terrifying sight -- and the growl emanating from the depths of my throat sounded more like the earth grinding itself. The body I inhabited was nothing of this world. It was not anything that could have possibly been natural.


Chimeras were not natural.


And with rage and power beyond what could have been possible, my form charged through the storm and obstacles with such swiftness as to be comparable to an arrow in calm air; my monstrous extremities slammed into the earth as I charged like a bull, tearing the ground open in my wake. Whereas even a manticore would have fought hard merely to keep itself down, whatever I was storming through with no problem. Tenexia's telekinetic tide hampered me only about as much as water would a squid, and her spears and whips broke upon contact with my body. Power burst from my head and manifested itself as green, wavy motes in the air. 

And then I reached her, encased in a cocoon of snow flake-saturated telekinetic energy. She seemed as though she were having a prayer session so sanctified that whatever gods or deities existed were trying to protect her. And it was almost as if this... beast I was in existed just to tear away that sanctity.

With a clawful of green and a swipe of my arm, I banished away the frosty wind surrounding her, and at once the the chaos receded -- everything fell to the ground, and the winds stopped almost as quickly as the water splashed onto the soil. Grass and plants littered the place, and there was so much mud it reached almost halfway up my host's large and monstrous form. The other operatives, possessing neither this creature's stamina or durability, panted and crawled, groaning and grunting, on what solid pieces of land near the few non-uprooted trees they could get at.

She just sat there, bowing her head. Soon she started shaking, this time seeming more out of fear than fatigue, even if she had not looked upon me. A gathering wave filled the air in front me, gaining strength. She was going to try it all again.

But Tod had had enough of this, and so with a violent grab at her skull the creature raised her by her head, grabbed her body with the other arm, released her head, and stared into her eyes. The fear in her expression was evident even through her exhaustion. And yet, to her merit, she neither closed her eyes, cringed, begged, or screamed; she glared, scorn and disgust burning in her eyes. 

A pulse of energy went to my eyeballs, and they glowed like lamps, illuminating her small, fragile form. She started turning grey instantly, though slowly -- there was... resistance. I could feel it, vaguely, like I was dipping my limbs in thick syrup. It was a sensation I was not un-used to, even if I had never felt it before; I had felt far stranger things for this one to freak me out.

But at last, with eyes narrowed, promising retribution, she was stone.

The creature I was in growled menacingly, loudly, at the statue in it's grasp, sounding so angry and irritated I thought it would have just thrown the petrified zebra to the ground. Instead it relaxed, after some violent snarls, and looked over it's shoulder at the operatives, still recovering from earlier. I growled at them, too -- knowing Tod and/or Veltrio's mentality, whichever one of them currently possessed this creature's thoughts didn't like how 'worthless' they had been in the recent occurrence.

I tossed the statue at them, and it landed hard in the mud. With a voice sounding all too similar to Tod's for me to have any doubt who was in control, I ordered, "Bring that wretch back to your HQ, I will take this... this... surprising form on a little test drive in the Equestrian countryside; see what it's capable of." I turned away from them, and took slow and heavy steps through the mud. 

My tone turned thoughtful yet glad as Tod said softly to himself, "It... feels like a... a perfect mix of all the creatures I have assimilated. It is... surprising; I had expected it would take longer to properly blend all the genetic material together. But this occurrence, it seems, has proven that my catalyst is ready." A wicked grin formed on my... 'mouth'. "Good. When Decarius and Autherius join this one in it's perfection, perhaps I can let them lead these people to their salvation; I grow bored of doing nothing else save what has to deal with perfecting these 'Roamans'." He sighed, "Now, if only my brother had as little patience for his duties as I. Then perhaps I could have some more fun screwing around with things."

I took off into the air, flapping my wings hard and blasting the thick mud beneath me apart. The chilly air within the sphere reacted gradually grew warmer, and together with the rain began melting the ice. Before I could do that, though, a shift in my head occurred. It felt as though my head had been filled with living, acidic oil that rang; now, though, it felt... normal.

"Pardon me, Lord," Veltrio said in his beastly voice; at least it wasn't Tod's. "But I must say something first." I turned to face the others on the ground, now looking up at me with what must have been awe. "Brothers! Tell my niece Eiya that I am... sorry that I cannot return tomorrow. She'll be disappointed, so please... comfort her, tell them I'll be okay. Goodbye."

And with that I turned to face the sphere, and with a hard flap of my wings smashed through it. The rain outside had not lightened up, but it was still far weaker than the veritable typhoon that had been inside the sphere. With a sigh, my host closed his eyes, and the shift in my head occurred again.

"Strange..." Tod said, "I had thought I had this one's complete loyalty and attention, but it seems he cares too much for his family to let me erode it... curse these Roamans and their strong family ties. Ah well, I shall wait and see whether it's detrimental." I started flying low, just over the trees, going deeper into the forest.

The shift occurred in my head again. "My Lord?" Veltrio asked meekly.

The shift came again. "Yeeeeesss?" Tod replied, sounding annoyed.

And again. "Please don't take my love of them away from me. I... I promised my brother I'd take care of them."

There was a long silence, even after control of the chimera had returned to Tod. Finally, though, he replied with a disgusted grimace on his face, "We shall see, child. We shall see."

After a moment of no reply from Veltrio, a grin came onto my host's face. "Oh, how I will enjoy the sadism of this..." And with that, I flew down into the forest, and crashed into the trees in a blur of broken wood and water.


ooooOOOOoooo



My eyes peeled open, literally; I felt the disgusting crust crack and fall to the side as my eyes stared at the metallic ceiling. The air was warm and I felt no vibrations run through the seats -- we had landed, for what reason I couldn't say, and the aircraft was off. The seat was still cool beneath me, indicating we had landed just a while ago. After noticing that I thought of what I had seen in the orb, and groaned loudly, "Damn it, more questions. More mysteries and more questions... I'm never going to get the end of it."


Trust me, at that time it seemed so. While I certainly have solved most of my problems by now, back then the ridiculous amount of questions and mysteries and monstrosities I was being forced to think about damned agitated me. Now, normally people would think a lot about things that bothered them. My problem, or so I thought, was that I was thinking too little about what I had to do. Couple that with the fact that my friends kept telling me I needed to stop exerting myself because I was working too much, and you've got a recipe for major confusion. 'Which was it?' I kept asking myself. Did I do too much, think too much, or the exact opposite? I decided to just screw that train of thought for a moment, and just relaxed on my seat.


And then out of the droning buzz created from the mix of ambient wasteland noise, I heard it.


Music -- rejuvenating, quickly-pulled violin strings.


It was nice hearing it, just resonating through the cabin. The last proper music I had heard was months back. I tried to identify who the artist of the music I was listening to now was; Mozart, I believe. I think it was string serenade... But that doesn't matter right now. At that moment though, it was the most beautiful sound in the world. And it was also breaking my heart, for I knew that such music was almost lost in the world I lived in.


I turned my head to find the source of it, and on the seat opposite me I saw an operative, his forehooves holding a book -- it was Doodle's Roaman book. His visor was clear; I recognized his eyes as they looked back at me. His headset was also a dead giveaway.


"Doomtune?" I asked, getting up and sitting against the backrest.


"Yeeeeeessss...ssss?" He hissed, playfully, and with a snicker afterwards. He shook his head with a chuckle, and placed the book down before turning the volume of his music down. "Okay, now seriously. Whaddaya need, whaddaya want to know? I can guess you're confused right now."


My mind scrambled for questions, for indeed I was confused. I took a momentary glance outside the door, and saw only the tall spire of the Forum, stabbing upwards upon its mountain, untouched. It was so close. It seemed so close now. After a month of suffering and pain, it was so close. Ah, how I remembered the number of days I had thought it would take to get to it. I guess I needed to have an extraordinary amount of good luck to have gotten to the Forum in just three days.


I turned back to him. "Well, for one thing, how long have we been down? And where are my friends? Also, why ARE we down?" 


"That's three things," He replied, and shrugged. "For the first question, we've been down for... ten minutes. Second, your friends are inside the Library, clearing the place out. Doodle's just outside,  doodling. Heh, Doodle doodling..." He snickered, but continued, "Zaita -- the APC, not the aircraft -- is... well, also in the Library. She likes to go into places vehicles shouldn't go to and do things people do, you notice that? When we were at the dam, she was with us inside the tower overlooking the road. I swear, vehicles are getting stranger and stranger..."


"Alright, let's not get off-topic. Where are we and what Library is this? And, again, why are we down?" I interrupted, and... now that I think about, I may have sounded rude.


He cocked his head at me, seeming confused. "The Library? Oh you know, the Great Library of Alexandria, recreated by the Roaman Caesars after Julius destroyed the original. Damned thing's practically untouched by the apocalypse. Can't say the same for the stuff inside; most of that was paper, but who knows?" He shrugged, "I guess it isn't surprising you don't know about it. News of its construction was only placed in official history when it was finished, and that was just a year before everything went to hell. Still, it's a damned marvelous sight -- your friend Skyfire told me you like stuff like this, you should check it out. I was just here to watch over you while they cleared it out." He relaxed for a moment, seeming to think that his answering was over. Then he remembered, "Oh yeah, as for why we're down.... something about needing to recharge the aircraft or something."


I nodded my head once, slowly. "So you've been staring at me for ten full minutes while listening to your music?" I asked.


"Well... yeeeaaah," He drawled.


"And  no one is around, except Doodle, who's outside?" I continued.


"Yeeaaah..."


I stared at him for a moment, and he stared back. "That's really creepy, dude."


He rolled his eyes, bemused. "Yeah, let's not go down that train of thought. Just go talk to your friends inside or something; I've got to clear the surrounding vicinity. Predator would have if he was here, but I guess I've practiced room-clearing well enough."


That got my attention. "Predator's not here? Where is he?" What, did he fall out of the transport on some die-hard, unnecessarily convoluted extraction plan or something? Because that actually didn't sound so unlikely, considering him...


Doomtune shook his head, "He's at the dam; he figured that someone had to take care of that piece of business. Madran told him to go with you, but he was determined to take care of it. Last I heard he was breaking through the defenses to the control room. Who knows, maybe the Legionnaires at the dam are already retreating if he already took the defenses down. That'd be convenient, and it'd end that stalemate." He shuddered; clearly, there were things he did not like to remember about that battle. "Anyway, Madran sent me with you instead; she thought that, with a threat as big as this, that we Specters need to have a little part in stopping it." His tone turned determined as he continued, "I think it's appropriate. I swear, if the Legion uses a single one of those megaspells, I'll kill 'em. And NOT in the absurdly gory manner I'm sure Predator would, just so you know; I'm not that kind of guy."


Huh. So Predator had gone off to wrap up the dam business? Well... that made some sense, I suppose -- although what motivated him to do that eluded me. Was it a sliver of compassion for those who needed the water, a desire to not let the sacrifices of his fellows go to waste, or something else? While I was glad that that particular concern was being addressed, yet I could not help but feel a tad disappointed; it's crazy, I know, but at that time I had grown so used to the guy -- and his depressing and philosophical, not to mention thought-inducing, statements -- as to find his absence... unsettling. 


"Is he rejoining us?" I asked, hoping to find a definite answer.


Doomtune tapped his helmet for a moment. "Meh, who knows. Crazy bastard's unpredictable. Still, he's been known to do everything he has to settle business, so if you've got some kind of transaction or whatsoever with him, chances are he'll come back, yeah."


Well... he did want to accompany us going to the Forum. I just hoped that that really held sway with him. I got up off my seat and stretched my back. "Well, I guess I should go to the Library, then. My friends are inside?"


"Yeah, just take the stairwell down. You'll find them, even if the place is absurdly large for a library."


Stairwell? "Are we on the roof?"


He got up as well, picking up Doodle's book as he went. "Yeah, Zaita figured that since we're in Legion territory, we'd less likely get spotted by patrolling auxiliaries if we were on top of something." Then he trotted outside, and as soon as he cleared the doorway called, "Doodle, let's go. Goldwreath's awake. Thanks for the book, by the way."


Doodle approached the operative, a piece of paper in her mouth, and gently took the book from his hooves. She then stuffed the book under her shirt, and said around the paper, "I just need to show mister Goldwreath something, I'm sure he'll love it!" Then she started trotting to me.


He paused a moment. "Of course you do," He said blankly, and trotted out of sight.


I met Doodle halfway, and she eagerly raised up her muzzle to show me the paper. I took it from her, expecting nothing more than some poorly-drawn stickponies or something.


My mouth fell down, my mind reeling at the amazing quality and detail of the... the augustness on the paper before me. Why in fact, I'll go so far as to say that the drawing in my hooves was the most detailed and well-drawn sketch I had ever held and touched! The detail was as impeccable as Roaman designs! The technique, the shadowing, the stroking... all of it was perfect! Why, this... art was the single greatest thing to bless my hooves with non-lethal glory since leaving my home! 


On the wrinkly brown paper was a drawing of me wearing a suit of praetorian lorica segmentata -- which is also one of the reasons I loved it so much; call it vanity if you want. My wings, glorious and with ruffled feathers, were spread out wide and proud as I stood upon a rock on the grassy slopes of a hill, the sun almost directly behind me. My centurion shield was strapped to my side, and my plumes were flowing in the wind, along with a long and thick cape. The expression etched on my face was determined yet vaguely relaxed -- something I wish I could have been -- as I looked down the hill. On the grass next to me was a tall staff topped with an eagle, below which was a hanging banner with the letters 'SPQR'.



"Do you love it?" Doodle squealed, eyes wide and mouth locked in a grin. I could almost hear her little filly heart beating from excitement.


"I... wow, it's really good," I said, and wanted to face-hoof from how much my statement did not do justice to the epicness of the art. And with desire to correct that burning in my heart, I picked her up and raised her above my head, "Doodle, it is the SINGLE GREATEST DRAWING my hooves have been given the privilege to touch! Why, it's... it's absolutely stunning! You MUST show this to the others, for their eyes too must be blessed with this sight! Come, I shall bring you to them myself!"


"Weeee!" She squealed as I tossed her onto my back and darted around the corner of the aircraft.


I was almost immediately blinded by the absurdly bright afternoon sun's light, but I recovered before I crashed into something in my blindness. 'Sometimes I wish this city had more clouds,' I thought.


About ten meters away was an arched structure of yellowish marble, underneath which was an open arched doorway leading to a flight of stairs, the railings lined with scarlet and red cloth. My heart was beating with vigor, and I was more than eager to show my friends the amazingness of Doodle's talents.


"Hold on tight!" My wings flapped hard, and I flew quickly across the space to reach the doorway. I somersaulted down the spiral stairwell, catching Doomtune as a blur as he descended the absurdly numerous steps, and before I smashed into the ground spun again. I extended my wings to catch some air resistance, and flapped slowly until I landed softly on the tiled marble floor.


"We have arrived! Doodle, seek out my friends, I shall do the same! They must... must..." My awe and wonder left Doodle's art... and was replaced with EVEN MORE awe and wonder for the sight before me.


"This is one big library..."



* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *



If there's one thing I absolutely loved about that day, it was my own love for everything Roaman, for it allowed me to find joy in the architectural greatness of the city. I could only imagine how I would have felt if I didn't like Roaman stuff or, Goddesses forbid, disliked Roaman designs (how truly horrible that would have been). As it was, my heart was bursting with overwhelming fanboyism as I eyegasmed again and again at the sight before me.


The Great Library of Alexandria was not called that without good reason. It was at least three-hundred square meters in surface area, not counting the external staircase and pavilion that every great Roaman structure had. Hundred foot high pillars of intricately detailed and sculpted white marble held aloft the great and arched roof, which was also made of white marble. Bookshelves of finely crafted -- yet sadly moldy -- wood stood up to at least half the height of the entire structure, and crimson banners of great heroes and worthy emperors hung from golden supports overhead, seemingly untouched by the war. The second floor balconies on both sides of the structure extended the entire length of the library. White statues of legionnaires and centurions upon obsidian pedestals lined, with regular intervals, the main walkway of the entire library, which thirty or more people could trot abreast. Arched windows allowed the lingering light of afternoon to flow in, and illuminated the countless scrolls and books and statues and banners and columns in gold. The general color of white in the area reflected the light perfectly, and the entire interior seemed a blur of golden light and of hazy golden walls and pillars.


The apocalypse had, of course, taken some toll -- on the floor were scattered about dozens of parchments and books; all priceless in worth yet uncared for. The walls were cracked, and little puddles sprang up here and there where rainwater had pierced the roof. And saddest of all were the banners and the edges of the windows, for the balefire had singed them both, marring their perfection.


Still, it was in damned good shape for a post-apocalyptic structure.


"Eeeuuughhhhh..." I hummed dumbly as I stared with wide eyes at the majesty before me, and drool started dripping off the sides of my muzzle. I also could have sworn that the inside of my nose started bleeding, even if no blood was coming out.


Doodle got off my back. "Miss Myst! Miss Skyfire! I want to show you something!" She called, her voice echoing, the widest grin ever on her face. She rounded on me, and said as she squeezed her little filly cheeks in her hooves, "Their reactions are gonna be so awesome!"


Out of the corner of one of the bookshelf corridors came Myst, her eyes looking at me as if wondering just what could be so interesting. Then from one of the support columns spanning the width of the library above came Skyfire, the pegasus seeming at least partially awe-struck.


They both approached me. "What is it?" Myst asked.


"If it's something awesome, then I don't think any other day could match today!" Skyfire laughed as she landed.


I looked to Doodle with a grin on my face. "It's your art, you show them." Then I leaned in closer and whispered, "Like you said, their reactions are gonna be so awesome!" And indeed, I was quite excited to see the reactions of my friends to Doodle's talents.


A squeak escaped her mouth as she grinned ear to ear, took the drawing from me before trotting forward. Skyfire took it first, and laid it on the ground to look at it. Her eyes widened, and she blinked several times over. "Wh-where'd you get this?" She asked, so awed she stammered.


Myst gently nudged her friend away, yet Skyfire' eyes were glued to the picture. Myst looked down, and an expression of such pure bafflement exploded onto her face. Her mouth worked as she tried to speak, but all that came out was a groan. Then she cleared her throat and looked at Doodle. "Wow... it's really good," She said, shaking her head blankly, as if trying to piece together how a filly could have done this.


"Thanks!" Doodle piped. "What do you think of how I made mister Goldwreath look? Did I do anything wrong? I don't want to make a similar mistake when I draw you guys too!"


"No, no!" Myst interrupted, waving her hoof to stop Doodle. "It's perfect as it is. It captures him so well! The detail, the posture... it makes him look so..." She looked at me and smiled. "... so heroic."


I blushed and looked away, and ruffled my plumes with a hoof. Surely it made me look like the stuff of legends, but come on, I was far from heroic in real life... or so I thought. Truth be told, now that I look back at myself, yeah, I was heroic; call it vanity if you want, but I'm not deprived of self-worth, nor am I now a self-loathing jackass.


Doodle squealed on delight, but Skyfire's genuine awe suddenly disappeared. Instead she sighed, and seemingly forcing an calm expression, turned to Myst and said in tone that was casual, "Yeah, heroic. Just like, uh..." She looked around, and her eyes lingered on a centurion statue, who coincidentally seemed to be in an almost exact position as I was in the drawing. Maybe Doodle had used it as a model, I don't really care, the art was still spectacular nonetheless. "... like that guy!"


Myst looked at her, eyes half-closed and sad-looking. Then she shook her head, and before Skyfire could see her expression she changed it to something more casual. "Yeah, he kind of does," Myst said, suddenly acting casual as well; at that time I thought that all this strange behavior was coming from both of their desire for me, and I was not proven wrong. You'll see what I mean.


It was just then that I felt a light, warm and continuous flow of air blow against my himdlegs. I turned, and found myself face-to-camera with Zaita, the APC sloped down so much and hovering so close to the ground that I didn't even know HOW she didn't fall from lack of proper propulsion. For a moment her camera was at full-zoom and staring at Doodle's drawing, then it turned to look at me. The sensation of having Zaita's camera zoom in on me like that was not one I had felt in like a week, and so it felt a little disgruntling at the time.


The camera turned between the drawing and myself several times, and all of us just stared back at her. Even Doomtune, who just then finally reached the bottom, stood where he was and looked on. The look in his eyes almost screamed, 'I told you she does stuff that regular people do.'


"What a remarkable piece of art," Zaita said. "I shall document it and digitalize it in my spare time. Perhaps when Doodle has drawn all of you, I can make it into my wallpaper." Then she hovered past me, and there was a soft click as her camera snapped a picture of Doodle's art on the ground. Then without a word she left, leaving a very awkward silence in her wake. She hovered to the very last bookshelf, and turned the corner, playing elevator music as she went.


"Hey!" Doomtune shouted as he galloped past us. "Come back here! You're useless without a gun operator!"


I couldn't help myself. What just happened was just so random and somehow extremely entertaining at the same time that I could not hold back my long and definitely out of place laughing. I finally regained control of myself after a moment, and saw that Doodle was looking up at me with a confused little smile. The other two looked amused, though they shook their heads.


"Ah, Zaita, how your demeanor amuses me..." I murmured, and sniffed away the last of my laughter. My tone turned more serious yet still relaxed as I asked, "So, is the place clear? Okay for exploring? 'Cause I would LOVE to check the place out a bit."


"I can tell," Skyfire grinned. "You're absolutely beaming with excitement! I can see it on your face, that... gleeful joy in your eyes." She smirked at me, but not smugly, "It's good to have something that you love to look forward to, eh?"


I was quite taken aback by that. Skyfire, speaking like that... don't get me wrong, it was nice to see her sympathize with me -- whoever didn't get taken aback by Roaman glory was an absolute fool -- but... where was this coming from? Was Skyfire not one to speak in short, simple sentences? Or long ones, saturated with profanities? She had just spoken dramatically, like... well, me. Was this... was this actual change from her pure motivation of revenge? Hell yes if it was!


I smiled at her, "Hell yeah it is."


"Well," Myst said, "We explored most of the main chamber, it seems safe. Apparently the balefire didn't destroy the gates, and that seems why no one's been able to get in. Don't know why the Legion didn't try, though." She turned and started trotting, but looked over her shoulder at me as she went, saying, "So yeah, place should be good to explore. I'd keep your guard up anyway, though."


Skyfire nodded, "Yeah. If you need me, I'll just be... I don't know, looking through the aisles." Then she turned around, murmuring under her breath, "I wonder if they have an action section here... It'd probably all be in Zebra, though..."


Doodle galloped to catch up to the pegasus. "Ooh, help me find the history section!" Skyfire gave the filly a quizzical look, but shrugged and smiled.


Then they went their separate ways, going down one aisle or another, looking to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge. At the farthest edge of the room, on the other side of the main walkway, Doomtune opened the large bronze gates that had sealed off the library for years. Light flooded in and landed on the marble tiles, and at once the very thin crystalline lining in-between the tiles of the library lit up like gold neon lights; they were probably some kid of magical building materials of some sort.

I took one last look at the library before me, and trotted down the main aisle. I had no definite destination, for I had so many things I wanted to read. I also wondered just how Myst and Skyfire and Doodle would enjoy the literature here, for only the first of them knew any Imperial, and even then not much. 


But despite that, a wide grin crept onto my face, and it would not fade away. A surge of pure awe and excitement shot through my veins. A nagging thought repeated itself in my head again, and would not go away:


'Literature and philosophies, accessible in my Stable only through computers... now... tangible. This place feels like... home. A real home.'



* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *



"... et ut sic fecit Carthago cadat ad legiones Scipio," I read aloud, finishing the article explaining how the city of Carthage fell to the Roaman legions of Scipio. I blinked my eyes hard and got down onto all fours, and massaged my forehead. Myst would have been dissapointed in me, for I did not heed her advice of keeping my guard up; all my attention had been glued to the book I was reading.


I had read a straight one-hundred pages of Roaman history, starting from the very first days of the Republic. Less than an hour had passed, and now my eyes were sore and my head tired. Doodle and Skyfire's interruptions and shenanigans from the nearby aisles didn't help. But despite all that I was proud of myself for having passed the self-test I had given myself. As it turns out, my mind still was functional!


I sighed contentedly and placed the book reverently in my saddlebags, along with fifteen other books I decided to read after we left the Library. It may have been a lot of reading material, and for certain I was not completely fluent in Imperial Zebra, but hey, practice makes perfect. The light outside was beginning to turn heavily orange; it was getting late into the afternoon.

With wonder in my heart, I trotted out of the ancient Roaman history aisle -- which had what must have been hundreds of books and parchments, and was just one of the fifteen aisles under the history section -- and found my self idly trotting towards the stairs going up.

So apparently the entire library had been divided into two sections: the Imperial Zebra section and the Equestrian section, which took up the right and left halves of the Library, respectively. Each aisle and each section had it's exact copy -- except in language -- opposite of it; the Nation supposedly had a large number of pony citizens, and was gracious enough to have an exact copy of every document in the Imperial language translated into Equestrian. The upper floor was for the more advanced subjects, such as advanced ballistics under the advanced sciences section, while the lower floor was for more rudimentary stuff, like foal's books in the more modern-looking squared-off cubicles or basic geometry in the basic mathematics section.

Yes, I only all found that out only after looking over the entire library over from the second floor, as it was from up here that I could finally read the faded signs -- in Equestrian and Zebra -- that indicated the identity of the sections and aisles. It was also because of looking over the Library from up here that I must again that it was absolutely massive. Zaita, who hovered above the bookshelves and in-between the aisles, which were actually big enough for her, was barely the width of one of the columns upholding the place. Skyfire and Doodle, who were on the other side of the ground floor, were almost small as dots. In fact, the other side of this place was almost invisible through the fog created by the dust.

But the much more... beautiful things, much closer to me, were quite visible and clear.

Yes she was beautiful, even if she was just looking at the different books, contenting her own desires and curiosity as she saw fit. Even if she barely moved any part of her, save her head and eyes. Even if she made no noise but the sounds of her hooves, her curious hums, her cutely puzzled whines as she struggled to read the text...

Yes, those were the things Myst did as I stared at her from my perch, unable to hold back my smile. I just watched, finding myself looking forward to her next move, however minute or irrelevant. I couldn't find purpose a practical reason for it, yet I couldn't bring myself to look away. The mere sight of her held my eyes prisoner, and the strangest... a queer feeling emanated from within me. Warm and kind, alert and prepared. It was... good. Today was good, even after what had happened earlier today.

'Not everything in the wasteland's bad,' I thought, 'There are some good things. Good things which people would do well to appreciate, living in a bleak world. Good things that have withstood the harshness of the apocalypse.' Ah, how that thought comforted me as I looked on at the earth pony. I won't lie, at that moment I felt happier than I had since leaving my home. And I had both a mare and a city of greatness to thank for that. They helped me to stay sane, to fight off the troubles of the world.

To find some meaning in this life outside.

After a few more moments of admiring her from afar, she trotted down the aisle. Her gaze just so happened to glance upwards, at me. She paused, seeming surprised, but then smiled warmly. I smiled back, and waved a hoof at her, half a hundred feet below me. Her smile widened, and she gestured for me to come down. With an eager nod, I extended my wings and glided down, landing softly on the tile in front of her. I looked up at her, and gave her the best good-natured smile I could; it felt good smiling, all the more now that I had someone to smile for. That was new to me, as I had never genuinely had someone to smile for.

I took a little step forward, asking, "You called?"

She nodded with a smile, and said with barely suppressed excitement, "I wanna show you something. Come over here." Then she took my forehoof with her own, and pulled me a little way before letting it drop. After it did, I took a moment to pause and stare at my hoof, just recently touched like that... by a mare... who wasn't my mother... Oh, how it made my heart flutter!

She noticed my pause, chuckled, and called out from a little way ahead, "Hey, you wanna see it or not?"

I shook my head clear of my awe, and it was at once replaced with embarrassment. That was NOT a good first impression of the level of my attentiveness! "Er, sorry! Coming, coming," I said with receding shame, and cantered over to her.


She stood in front of a set of books on the ground, ones she had collected in a little pile. Their titles were obscured, though they possessed a general color of red, in many shades. Upon my arrival, she turned to me, picked up a book and handed it over to me, grinning excitedly.


I read the title, "De Arte Neglexit." A touched smile crept onto my lips, even if I had absolutely NO idea what a book titled 'The Art of Caring' implied in this situation. I looked to her. "Soooo... what does it mean?"


Myst chuckled with amusement at my obliviousness, and it was the most lovely sound I'd ever heard. "Oh Goldwreath," She said, "You don't know what it's supposed to mean?" Well, I didn't. You'd think that someone who had gotten as little social contact with others as I did would be as socially unknowledgeable as I was, yet here was Myst: a mare who knew more of social paradoxes and interaction than I did.


I shook my head in shame, ears drooping. "No."


She smirked, "You do know what section this is, right?"


I scrambled my head to remember; I had spotted it when I as up there. Through a cloud of emotion-saturated memories, I managed to pull the one tidbit of info I was looking for.


Oh... well, this was... quite a surprise. "It's the... the romance s-section," I said lamely. Then I perked up and smiled. "That's so... erm... sweet, I think..."


'I'm a fucking idiot when it comes to this stuff.'


She smiled sheepishly; at least I now knew I wasn't the only one who was finding this interaction awkward. "I um... well, I thought that, since we're kind of, you know, in a... relationship, that I should try to, you know, know how to act, and stuff..." She scratched the back of her head nervously. "So that I could, maybe... well, maybe know how to talk to you and whatnot..." She continued, tapping her hooves nervously and looking aside, flushing.


Oh. Oh, how my heart was fluttering at this! I blinked twice as the emotion rushed through me, but relaxed and said far more confidently this time, "That is SO sweet."


She looked at me, grinning sheepishly. "Really? Oh, oh good! 'Cause I wasn't really sure if it was the right move to, you know, look for something like this." She paused, and looked at the ground sadly. "I... thought it would make me look stupid if you found out..."


Seeing her like that broke my heart, and so I raised her head by the cheek to look her right in the eyes. They were filled with shame... shame that had to be eradicated! "You're not stupid, Myst. That's not true and never will be. How you act and what you say doesn't matter; just be yourself." That in its own was very much the truth; at the least, she would always be smarter at that stuff than I would ever be. I pulled her a bit closer and smiled down at her. "You're good just the way you are, Myst."


She stared up at me a bit, and smiled too, blushing. A disbelieving smile crossed her lips. "Really?" She asked, as if she were asking for absolute assurance.


I nodded, "Really."


She looked at the ground again, this time smiling. Her eyes darted a few times between the floor and me, and she shifted uncomfortably. Clearly the apparent seriousness of which we were discussing this peculiar topic was getting to her. It was definitely getting to me.


Then she leaned in closer to me and placed a hoof on the one I was using to hold her face up, much to my surprise. The other hoof she used to stroke my shoulder, and even through my chain mesh, the feeling of her touch sent shocks through my nerves. I absent-mindedly wrapped a hoof around her neck, onto her mane, and pulled her closer such that out foreheads touched.


We were like that for a moment, just... well, cuddling's the term, I think. My mind was lost in the moment, just feeling what was going on. And she seemed to be doing that too. We didn't make any sudden movements, until at last she sighed, "So... what are we going to do now?"


I narrowed my eyes. "I don't understand."


"With the relationship, I mean," She explained. "How do we go on with this? Do we... do we... well, I don't actually know what to do. The books seem to say that relationships need to keep moving forward, albeit at adjusted speeds, but... well, I'm not sure. What do you think? Are we going too fast?"


"I have absolutely no idea if we are; I... don't know anything about relationships. For now, let's just follow what you said," I offered, and she looked up at me with confusion. "Let's get to know each other first."


She smiled at that, seeming content with the answer. "Alright," She nodded her agreement, and seemed like she was about to pull away.


Then I kissed her.


I know, I know. 'Goldwreath, awkward much?' 'Goldwreath, you sure that was a good move?' 'Goldwreath, you dog!' Things like that are probably going through your mind; I'm not sure, I'm not you. Truth be told I myself wasn't sure why I did that. It just seemed... right. Like the moment was just asking for it. Like we both wanted to, but were too... too afraid to do it. So I decided to not the opportunity slip. After all, when else would I get the chance to kiss a mare in the Great Library itself? Once in a lifetime opportunity right there.


When I finally pulled away, feeling somehow proud yet anxious at the same time, I was left to see a very shocked, very wide-eyed and very flushed Myst. She looked at me blankly for a second, then said shakily, "OKAY. Well, I guess we can start getting to know each other like that, I guess." Her surprise receded, giving way to a smile. She took a quick step forward and planted a kiss on my cheek, and whispered sultrily in my ear, "You really should see the rest of the place, though; I know you love this sort of stuff, you shouldn't spend all your time on me." Oh, but I so wanted to. 


She gave me a nudge back out the aisle, and finally turned around. I had the urge to follow, and managed to take a few steps forward before she looked back at me, and raised an eyebrow. I stopped dead in my tracks. She smirked, "Caught between me and Roam, are we?"


I flushed, and replied slowly, "Well... much as I love Roam... right now, you have my attention. I've given the city a month, least I can do now is give you an hour or two." She looked taken aback by that. Perhaps she had thought that, due to my apparently intense love of the city, that I would never say such things. I'll admit, it surprised me, too.


But as glad as she seemed to hear that, she gave me a gentle push back towards aisle's exit. "Now now," She said, NOT in a typical Myst tone of anxiety, which worried me. "That's nice of you to say, but we aren't going to be here forever. Best enjoy what's limited while you can, right? Give the city a few more hours, I'm always with you, anyway."


"But... but but..."


She yet again raised an eyebrow at me. Then she rolled her eyes. Then without a word she turned around, leaving me right there where I was, feeling on the verge of crying. I... had thought that... I just thought that she'd, I don't know, be more willing to spend time with me. Was this something people in relationships did often?


I gulped and turned too. She was right, she was right. I probably wouldn't get another chance to come here, might as well use what time I had. I guess that was her way of caring for me; she cared for me enough to know that I probably wouldn't forgive myself if I missed out on this place. Heh, smart mare.


And so, hard as it was to do, I turned and started trotting away.


On the very edge of my hearing, I heard her declare in triumph, "Yes! Tip number three does work!" Heh, not so smart after all.


I had made it not very far, in fact I was just passing by a column in the main walkway, just a little way from the Imperial romance section, when one voice stopped me dead in my tracks:


"M-Myst? You're in the romance section too?" Skyfire sounded genuinely surprised, and maybe even a bit shocked. My eyes popped wide open, and I involuntarily found myself rushing the column and pressing myself against it to listen in on their conversation. This I had to hear.


Myst's startled gasp resonated through the air with surprising clarity, "S-Skyfire? Oh... um... Hi."


"Uh... hey. Don't mind me, I'm just... looking at books," She replied slowly. There was a momentary pause, then Skyfire spoke, cautiously and nervously, "So... what books are you looking at?"


"Oh, well, um..." Myst stammered.


"Those are romance books, right? We are in the romance section, after all." Skyfire prodded, a knowing tone in her voice.


"I, uh... well, no!" There was a pause. "Well... actually, yeah, they... are," Myst admitted. I could just imagine how she looked just then: ears drooped, eyes to the ground, and scratching her forehoof with the other. Then suddenly she asked with suspicion, "Why? What's so wrong if I'm here? There are lots of good stories here, maybe I just wanted to read them."


"Do you?" Skyfire prodded. 


Another long, awkward pause. "Well... yeah," Myst replied firmly. Then she asked, slowly and carefully, "Um... how about you? Why are you here?"


"Well..." Skyfire started. "I was... kind of looking for some romance books, too. Novels. I never really read, but... you know, interests can pop up out of nowhere." Then she chuckled mirthlessly for a moment. 


"Oh..." Myst replied. "Well, the Equestrian versions of these are over there. These are all Zebra, you wouldn't understand them."


"Thanks," Skyfire replied, not sounding entirely thankful. There was the sound of hooves on the floor for a moment, but they stopped. "Why are you in the Zebra language half, anyway?"


Myst eeped. "Well, I-I thought that, maybe, to practice my, um, language skills! Yeah that's right, that I should, you know, eheh, read the Zebra ones!" Wow, that did NOT sound convincing at all.


"Uhuh..." Skyfire replied, sounding suspicious. "... right. You sure about that? There's no... other reason you wanna get fluent in that language?"


"What are you getting at?" Myst replied, sounding falsely annoyed; I believed her annoyance was fake, for Myst simply didn't seem like the type to get annoyed by this sort of thing.


Skyfire sighed.


"W-why are you looking at me like that?" Myst asked in a stammer. "There's really no other reason. I just want to read these books and practice my Imperial at the same time. Really," She added firmly.


The pegasus took a deep breath. "Myst," Skyfire said slowly, "I know."


My limbs turned to jelly, and I slumped against the column. An even longer pause ensued.


"Y-you... you do?" Myst asked softly, yet loud enough for me to hear it. The level of disbelief in her voice matched how much I had in me. How could Skyfire have known?


Skyfire sighed, "Well, it was kind of obvious. You guys suck at lying." Oh... yeah, I guess we kind of did. 


The sound of hooves came again. "Skyfire... I... don't know what to say..."


"There's no need to say anything. I can't force him to be into me," Skyfire replied with a sigh. "What can I say? I'm too... too reckless, too... unstable for him. I'm not his type." There was a shaky exhale, and she said slowly, "You are. Heh, good for you..." She sniffed.


"Skyfire..."


"No, it's okay Myst. I'm fine, I'll get over it. I already have you guys as friends; friends are more than I expected to have when I crashed here. I'm happy for you guys. Don't worry about me." She paused, and I heard her let out in a shaky breath, "You... you just watch out for him, alright? Keep him safe; help him to... to stay sane. People tend to go crazy when something bad happens to them, eheh." She sniffed again, and started trotting away.


"Skyfire," Myst called, and the trotting stopped. "I'm... so sorry."


A long, long pause ensued, and only the thunderous beating of my heart was heard in my ears. The tension of the moment was almost too much, and I almost galloped away at full speed. Oh, how shameful that would have been.


"There's nothing to apologize for," Skyfire replied, and the sound of her wings blowing against the ground came. I looked out from behind the column just in time to see her flying outside through the open doorway.


I closed my eyes and laid my head against the wall, feeling my lips quiver from what I just heard. So... this was the price of happiness. To attain my own, anothers had to be destroyed. Was that it? Not everyone could be happy all at once? Was that how the world worked? 


I sighed. Yes, it was. Much as I would have wanted for everyone to find some meaning in their lives, it wasn't like that. The world and society was too cruel to let it be like that. Not even Roam, nor Equestria, had attained universal joy.


But it wasn't the world keeping us like that; quite the opposite, it was our own evils that kept the world as it was.


To fix the world on a societal scale... we had to fix ourselves. And by Celestia, Luna, and the gods of Roam, I so wanted to be the one to change it, this... plague of greed and selfishness. A glorious, peaceful future for the next generation depended on it.


But how do you fix a people who evolved for survival?


I got up and started trotting aimlessly, that question resonating within the depths of my mind. What joy I had was gone, my heart left cold and barren. The light in the Library itself seemed to have gone dim, marring its radiant beauty. There was no one to talk to about something as absurdly ambitious as fixing people. Not Myst. Not Skyfire. Not Doodle. Not anyone.


But as I ascended the stairs, a thought just so happened to drift into my head.


'There is only adaption; it justifies all actions.' Yes... perhaps, but what of the situations surrounding adaption could be manipulated? What if... what if a new set of conditions could be set for society to grow upon?


These were quite ambitious thoughts, mind you. Even I had to acknowledge the severity and the depth of my ideas. But now I knew who to talk to about changing the way people think. He was a person heralded as a demon, yet fought heroically against himself to spare others suffering. Someone who understood both the spectrums of good and bad, and was familiar with the ways of the world.


Predator.



* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *



I spent the rest of the afternoon pouring through the psychology section, scrutinizing and analyzing every single paragraph I could find on the inner workings of people and how they acted in society. Most of it fell upon my head unabsorbed, for to understand most of it I needed a lot of prerequisite social intelligence, which I barely had any of. That frustrated me; curse my lack of social knowledge! It would be the death of my ambition for a civilized society.


Even as I wanted to press myself to keep reading, it was already nighttime. My eyes were once more sore from having read in the dark, and the scattered pile of books about me did not help to make me feel any more comfortable.


At last I slammed the book shut, and stuffed it into my saddlebags with a few other psychology books. "Useless," I grunted, frustrated and generally NOT in a good mood. "If Predator's coming back to rejoin us, he'd better do it soon; I find the mere notion of asking him for advice once more strange, though." It was true that I did not feel comfortable at with asking for his advice regarding this... ambition of mine, but of all of us he seemed the most knowledgeable in the field of understanding others. For that and the sake of my ambition, I had to put aside my disposition towards him and ask him for his help. If he came back, that is.


I ruffled my mane vigorously and trotted out of the upper floor psychology room, and found that the ground now illuminated itself an entrancing silver. Moonlight shone in through the arched windows and fell upon the white interior, and shrouded the entire area in a white haze. 


There was, however, a small fire blazing in between two of the walkway statues, with what appeared to the forms of my friends within it's range of illumination. I took to the air and landed softly atop one of the bookshelves and looked down. Indeed my friends were down there; Doodle was, among all things, curled up like a puppy in and asleep, with her foal's Roaman history book and various pieces of paper and a pencil right next to her. Skyfire and Myst sat opposite each other, both of them reading books. Well... at least they were still friends, and that was a little comforting. I knew for one thing that triangles like these tended to be disastrous. Thank goodness Skyfire wasn't going berserk over this, and even more so that I had some form of assurance of her approval. Whether that approval was genuine... I didn't know.


I glided down and landed in their midst, eliciting a slightly startled gasp from Myst. "Hey guys, sorry I took a while to get here. You really think fire's a good idea, though? What if we accidentally burn this place down or something?" Then I sniffed the air in, and what I smelled surprised me. "And... do I smell potatoes?"


"We'll keep the fire down, don't worry," Myst assured me. "As for the potatoes, I found a few good cans in a convenience store a while back. Skyfire's a vegetarian, so I just gave them to her."


I looked to Skyfire, who was NOT reading a romance book -- it was instead just a book about Equestrian and Roaman tanks during the war -- much to my relief. I don't think I could have handled the guilt trip. As for the food, I did indeed see several steaming cans of potatoes in hot water next to her. It was just then that I noticed I hadn't eaten since... huh, I actually can't remember when I last ate. Nonetheless, I was absolutely famished.


Skyfire gave me a genuine-looking smile and nudged one of them over to me. "Go ahead. Not like I can eat all these by myself right now. The cans aren't that hot, so don't be afraid to handle them. Not like you'd get burned with those heavy rubber boots of yours, anyway." Then she flipped a page, and continued reading.


The casualness of which she acted around me was both comforting and disturbing. She could have gotten over me and Myst, or she could have been lying. If she was, what would happen? Still, at that one moment I really couldn't care; my stomach had overruled all higher thoughts.


I sat down next her -- if she and I were going to be good friends, then I had to be able to act without letting my relationship with Myst control all actions regarding her -- and started carefully pouring the steamed potatoes into my mouth. The starchy taste wasn't much, but at that time it was tasty enough to give me some satisfaction.


I looked them all over for a bit, and looked down at my Pipbuck. It was early evening, six PM. I checked the radio stations, ad was surprised to find that DJ PON3's signal was up. I had been so long since I had heard a broadcast...


I was about to press on his signal's icon, when a thought struck me. "Where's Doomtune and Zaita?"


"I'm right here, Zaita's explorin'," Doomtune called, surprising all of us. We turned around to see him appear into the air out of a flash of blue and walk down the aisle, slowly and deliberately as he coiled a rope in his hooves.


'What's with these guys and always appearing out of cloaking?'


"Whelp, I've got some good news," He said as he got into the fire's range of illumination. He looked each of us over, his eyes lingering for a second on the books we were reading. "The surrounding structures in a one kilometer radius are clear, didn't even have to kill anyone. The Via Triumphos and the Colosseum's alight with activity, though. We might need to keep our heads down if we want to go through the night without someone busting the gates down to check this place."


"The Colosseum?" I asked, "There are people in the Colosseum? In fact, the... the fricking Colosseum's still intact?" That... that was... astonishing! The Colosseum was one of the most famous and prestigious Roaman structures to ever have existed! To know it was still intact, and possibly with improvements made by the Zebras during the war, like they had done with the Oculus Roamae... needless to say that, after what had happened earlier and my frustration at finding nothing useful in the psychology books, that this news was very welcome. I got up off the ground, very much eager to see it, despite the fact it was night. "I would very much like to go there and see it!"


"Hold on there for a second, dude," He said, stopping me with a hoof as I tried going for the door, which I did not notice had been closed. "Colosseum's just FESTERING with all kinds of bad people. Tribals and raider groups, mostly. I've identified most of them; they're NOT enemies of the Legion, or at least not actively at war with them, which may explain why the Legionnaires haven't cleared them away."


Then he sighed and shook his head and said gravely, "Worst is that guy Redeye's slavers. Place is crawling with them, and it seems like they've allied most groups there. Place is like a fucking pirate haven. And seeing how many reports I've seen and heard about them wanting to apprehend you, I really don't think going there's a good idea."


What? WHAT?! A whole arena, turned into some den for all kinds of filth? That was just wrong, how dare those savages occupy the Colosseum! The Legion may not have been entirely true to their supposed purpose of protecting the city, but they at least had to have some care for the city's structures falling into barbarian hooves! It just infuriated me to know that no one seemed to care about the city anymore. Anger boiled within me as the thought of such landmarks falling to scum like those festered in my mind.


"So why haven't the Legion declared war on them, then?" I asked, furious. "Groups like them, especially that Redeye character's slavers, need to be put down. What, has the Legion lost ALL sense of their self-stated goal?"


He shook his head. "I don't know," He shrugged. 


My eyes looked him over; he was an operative, and they said they were doing everything they could to improve lives! "And how about you Specters? Huh?" I pointed a hoof at him, and pressed it to his chest. "Why haven't YOU guys taken them out? Why would you let something like this happen?!"


He raised his eyebrows at me, and I saw fury light up in his eyes. "Because!" He said sharply, "We've never infiltrated this far into Legion territory, and it has NEVER been our priority. Our priority's been to help these people. You think it's easy doing our work, even with our resources? Do you want to know WHY we've disregarded the fucking buildings?" He took one of his hooves and pushed me with it, and anger sparked within me. 


"Because we've been helping out the people and fighting this war where it's been toughest, not infiltrating the gods damned inner city! Do you know why we're safe right now? Do you know why we can stay here without having the walls blown down on us? That's because most of the thousands of Legionnaires are tearing the city OUTSIDE apart!" He yelled, and the tension within his voice startled me. Myst herself had stopped reading and now simply sat, curled up, in her spot. Skyfire looked on between us, not saying a thing, but tension was brewing on her expression.


He took a step closer to me and looked me in the eye, then pointed at the massive doors. "You go beyond what I've secured, and you'll see raiders the Legion either can't or won't do battle with just trotting on the streets. I don't know why the Legion aren't just wiping them out, and I don't care. Why? Because this place isn't populated with innocents. This place isn't ruined to hell; it isn't burning and collapsing like the outer city is, it isn't smashing undeserving Roamans underneath tons of rubble! This place doesn't need us to fix it up; it isn't desperately calling for our help, not like the people suffering war every day out THERE! This Legion heartland could rot in hell for all I cared!"


At last, with that terrifying outburst out, he took a step back, shaking. The weight of his heavy backpack seemed to double for him, and he fell on his haunches, panting heavily. Skyfire idly and awkwardly put a hoof on his shoulder and patted him, looking up at the roof as she did so. He said softly, "I couldn't care less for the city, it's the people I watch out for. The Roamans; it's the people that make up Roam, not the buildings. Not the buildings..."


We all just watched for a moment, silent. He was right. I loved both the people and the city of Roam, but... but for the last month, I had grown more attached to the latter. The city, after all, would stand even when the people died; it was a legacy that wouldn't fade into dust like bones would.


But it was the people who made the Empire great. From any one of these citizens could come forth another Julius, Marius, Augustus even. In them was the seed of greatness; in them was the future of the Roaman people. Roam was them, not the city.


"I am sorry," I said evenly, contemplating his words. "I did not mean to incite such a reaction from you, I was just... just frustrated, at this news and others. Like you, I too am tired of this fighting." I looked at the door. "I will leave you to calm down awhile. I believe we both could use some time to think."


Myst looked at me concernedly, as did Skyfire. "Goldwreath..." Myst started.


"No, none of that right now, Myst. He is right, but that is not what I need to think of. My thoughts shall wander to more... equinitarian concerns." I started trotting down the walkway, giving the marvelous statues a mere glance as I went. A shame that I gave them only that; in the fiery glow of the firelight and the soft illumination of the moon's silver, they seemed all the more magnificent, like a... a art piece being unveiled from the shadows. As I got further I called back, "I shall be safe, don't worry." That should assuage their concerns, so I thought. And it did, at least such that they didn't try to stop me.


As I went, I thought disappointedly, 'So much for just relaxing and listening to the radio.'


At last I reached the large bronze doors -- carved with images of Roam -- and thought with relief, 'I have no idea why Doodle is always asleep during stuff like this, but I'm glad she is. Her innocent mind must wander free of such heavy philosophies.' Then I slid aside the heavy lock, and with some effort swung the doors outward. Moonlight flooded in, adding to the silvery glow of the tile-lining.


Oh my...


If there's one thing I loved about Roaman architecture and external designs, it was their love of all things big and glorious.


The Great Library behind me stood on its own atop a tall hill, around which was a wide circular garden, divided into four sections like the slices of a pie. High concrete walls with arched gates enclosed the entire area off, and it seemed as though the walls may have been what kept out the post-apocalyptic world. Tall trees, though dead, lined the edges of the wide marble path leading from the foot of the marble staircase to the largest gate, all the way on the very edge of the half a kilometer enclosed perimeter. Tall marble columns, atop which were shadowy forms of statues, stabbed upwards like large needles, dotting the gardens with regular intervals.


Beyond the wall was a much more chaotic and unspectacular scene. A ring of leveled structures of bland gray and dirtied white -- together in sections of four, surrounding the walls of the library like segments of a broken circle -- lay broken and piled on the streets, marring the sight of it all. Fire shot up here and there in the open former-fielded land beyond that, marking explosions of one form or another. Torches were alight en masse on the roads further off, and red-tinged smoke rose to the skies. 


And then there was the Forum, standing tall atop its mountain, seemingly untouched by the war. And rising up from a background of destroyed concrete, just far enough from me such that it was obscured by haze yet close enough to easily distinguish, was a structure of cylindrical make, its surface dotted with windows like pores, which were filled with torches: the Colosseum. It stood on its own a mere mile or so from the foot of the Forum's mountain, and the only structures that stood as tall as it were whatever industrial factories whose engineering had proved sufficient against the apocalypse. Doomtune was right, it was alight with activity; I could even see the faint lights of vehicles around it.


But I wasn't going there, not now at least. My attention was more for the immediate vicinity, the gardens, specifically. After that, perhaps I would deign to trot the ruined streets beyond. Doomtune had said it was clear in a one kilometer radius, after all. Of course, I would keep my guard up just the same.


So with thoughts of exploration replacing my immediate concerns -- and with only slight concern for the integrity of my wings -- I flew up into the air and into the night.



* * * Magnus et Potens Roamanus * * *



As it turns out, the gardens really weren't all that interesting. Sure, reading the old inscriptions on each of the bronze plates of the different columns -- upon the plates was engraved the history of the Library, ranging from ancient times to when it was built -- was interesting, but it didn't even take me ten minutes to read. And sure the gardens were peaceful and beautiful, as small patches of green grass still clung to life, and what few flowers there were gave the air a soft aroma. And the moon... it casted its rays through the dead branches like the light of aurora, silvery and beautiful.


But it was just that; it was too peaceful, and my mind... my mind at this point was not accustomed to peace. It had been in such a constant buzz that peace now seemed alien to me. And peaceful as it was, it was in the city of Roam. And Roam, after all, was a city of war.


It was for the aforementioned reasons that I quickly grew bored of the gardens and flew above the absurdly thick walls and into the wrecked land beyond. I landed right in front of the gate and found myself on a three-way intersection, with roads coming from both sides and in front of me.


My eyes looked over the scenery before me, and a great sorrow washed into me as I stared up at tall mounds of formerly magnificent structures composing each of the two sections to my front-sides. Two structures in each section still stood, if only partially, though. Skyscrapers, both of them twins. One of them had broken halfway to the top, and the upper half now leaned precariously against its sister structure on the other side of the wide marble street. What appeared to have been a bridge between the two skyscrapers had collapsed, and now formed a barrier blocking the street.


After a few moments of idly staring up at the colossal wreckage before me, I started trotting. I had no particular goal, no destination. Rather, I would use this time to do what I did, in the opinion of my friends, much of: thinking. It's not like I really had anything to do at the time, anyway; Zaita's aircraft was recharging, and I would wait at least until the next day for Predator. Then of course there was the colosseum... I would not leave for the Forum until I had at least stepped within it, so I promised myself.


And so my thoughts drifted off.


First and foremost, my problems. My greatest concern was not the war, nor the chimeras, nor Tod and Tom, nor even the Black Clouds to the south or the mountain artillery in the mountains. It was how much my ambition would drive me to go. For certain I would confront the Legate, but what then? Would I leave it to Predator and Tom to take care of Tod, as they had said? Would I ignore Predator and get myself involved with the chimeras? And what of the monsters in the south? What of them? Would I face them myself, or would I drag my friends with me, that is if I faced them at all? And what of the artillery, of that supposed defense network either Decarius or Autherius had constructed? Why was it shooting at the city?


These were my problems. It was not a question of whether or not I should get involved, as I could refuse to address any single one of them, really. But it was my vision of a... a glorious and reborn Roam that was driving me to face them. The question now was whether or not I could control my ambitions and not get us killed.


And then there was of course the most recent addition to my list of desired achievements: to change this society. People were not machines, they could not be programmed to do what one person wished; they were free, but that freedom could be abused. And it was being abused, for no person should use their freedom to destroy and terrorize, which is what most were using it for.


So then there was a thought that occurred to me. How would I stop them from abusing their freedom? Could I adjust what was, for them, an established set of moral boundaries? Or could I adjust the circumstances that had in the first place made them establish their morality? The second seemed far more feasible, for I didn't know how to... to get into people's heads enough to modify their behavior. Predator, though, could. And Tod and Tom seemed like they could.


So, now I just had to choose between adjusting circumstances, or the people's psychology. To do the latter, if I ever decided to go that way, I would need Tom and Predator's advise on how to proceed. All I had to do was ask them how to obtain their... 'unique abilities'.

I grinned. Yes, I could do that. I could learn from them. I could learn to manipulate these people. I could learn to control them.


Then a massive spike of pain stabbed into my brain, and I winced as I continued onward, blind. "What manner of betrayal is this, brain? Just when I formulate a reasonable plan, you decide to make things hard for me?" I spoke to myself, annoyed, as I massaged my temples with a hoof and closed my eyes.


'No I'm not,' An impish voice replied, smugly. 'I'm just rearranging your head to give you the ability you desire.'


Despite everything, my eyes shot wide open. "No!" I screamed, and I didn't care that it may have been too loud for my liking. I brought my hooves up to hug my head tightly. "Get out of... my h-head!" I grunted as the pain escalated.


'Oh, now that would be no fun!' Tod replied. 'After all, only I can give you the power you desire. You would sacrifice your life for these rabble, why not give me your mind to save them? Is that not a good deal? Certainly better than getting nothing out of dying for these degenerates, anyway.'


I didn't reply. The pain was too sharp and agonizing to formulate even the simplest profanity. I just thrashed around, moving in unguided steps accompanied by pained grunts. "Gods damnit, Tod... get... out of my head..."


That went on for one full agonizing minute, with me just fumbling around clumsily, when my hoof touched the surface of a cold pool of stagnant water. I fell into the water, and was submerged completely in it. Even still, the pain did not leave my mind, and I struggled and kicked around in the cold liquid, losing more my breath with each fruitless action. I couldn't even open my eyes to see how deep it was! I just kept sinking, and the pain stabbed into my head again and again as Tod laughed sadistically.


Then I felt a touch on my foreleg, and something gripped around it. A shock like static shot through my veins and amassed in my head, and the pain immediately receded, much to my relief. I was left numb, and barely registered the contact, but I felt it. I forced all my willpower into my eyes, and slowly opened them, despite the sting of the water. Through the blur, I made out the black form gripping my leg, and glanced upwards to the surface. There was a black shape standing in the way of the moon, with the most oceanic blue eyes glowing in the darkness.


Right when I was about to run out of breath, the form pulled me up and out of the depths and onto the cold, hard asphalt. My lungs spasmed and coughed the water out while I struggled to regain my breath. I felt weak and slow, my limbs not wanting to move. The pain had receded, but it was not gone, and instead it was now a pulsating throb in my head.


The form rolled me onto my back, and I managed to get a look at my savior in all his shadowy obscureness as he kneeled next to me. What I saw surprised me, but before words of confusion could slip out of my mouth, he asked slowly in a voice benevolent and deep, yet sharp and demanding, "Why are you here?"


No words came out of my mouth, and no matter what I tried my mind could think up no response. It was just silent, as if afraid; I could sense fear, yet it was not my own. It belonged to whatever was inside my head.


Through some effort, though, I did manage to spit out, "I don't know what you're talking about." It was strange, though. I didn't intend to say that; I didn't even control my head enough to think clearly, how could I have spoken? "Please, just let me go... I've done nothing."


The shadowy entity with glowing blue eyes and wearing Predator's outfit nodded once, but out of thought rather than agreement. He got up and stomped hard on my neck, making me gasp in surprise and pain. "You can't fool me, Tod," He said plainly, and extended his foreleg. Out of his hoof projected a sharp blade with edges dancing like fire, made of blue motes and light, alien and mesmerizing in appearance. "I think I would rather remove you from him, if only for a while." Then he raised his hoof into the air, and stabbed it into my neck. A pained howl escaped my moth, yet I myself felt no pain. The entity in my head, though, was thrashing about like an animal nailed to the floor.


He kicked me aside, and at once I was in control of my mind again. No pain, no numbness. I was myself, and that relieved me SO much.


What I saw flailing around in front of me, though, quite simply scared the crap out of me.


It was a green form, not equine in shape -- it resembled something more... bipedal -- and was made of green motes and light. It had no definite shape, as its edges scintillated and danced around like the edges of a flame. It was almost painful to the eyes to watch, and even when I looked away and closed my eyes from pure disbelief, its image flashed in my head. Its shrieks and cries of agony sounded nothing like any creature on the earth could make. Its eyes and heart shone like little stars of green, though, and those were the only things I could look upon without getting disoriented.


The being sticking the blue blade into its neck just looked down, shaking its head. "Desperate for revenge after having your new batch of filth eliminated I see," The being, whose voice sounded far too similar to Tom'a to be a coincidence, taunted. The green being roared and hissed in response, frightening me but serving only to amuse Tom. 


Tom drew himself up. "Right then, time to finish you off." And with that, another blade erupted out from his other hoof. Tod -- or at least I thought it was Tod -- shrieked in apparent fright. The blade plunged itself deep into Tod's head, and in a bright green flash accompanied by a ringing in the air, he vanished from sight.


That left me staring with very wide eyes and with great confusion at Tom, who oh so casually stood straight up and turned to look at me. He raised his hooves up to his sides, and said with great relief, "Ah, Goldwreath! How good it is to see you, and how glad am I that you didn't get yourself into too much trouble while I was gone. So, why are you out here instead of being with your friends in the Library of Alexandria?"


"It's the GREAT Library of Alexandria, Tom," I corrected, feeling only slightly awkward and stupid for speaking to... whatever Tom was. "And if you don't mind, I have more IMPORTANT and NUMEROUS questions that need answering than you do," I said, greatly annoyed and very much confused as to just what the hell was going on around here.


He looked at me for a moment, fixing me in a stare with those piercing, glowing blue eyes. Then he shrugged, "Not actually true, but alright. Ask away."


"Okay," I started, "First off, what the hell are you right now? Are you actually Predator?"


"No," Was his response, though the voice was not his own, but Predator's. "Tom is not me, I simply allowed him to... use me as a vessel, for a little while was the agreed upon terms."


He blinked twice, before shaking his head. "Well, there's your answer."


'If I had thought a month ago that I'd go outside of my Stable and talk to freaky body-controlling, mind-hacking beings, I would have shot myself from the plain madness of it all,' I thought, lamenting for just a moment over how absurdly strange my life had gotten. Oh, how I now yearned for the dull simplicity and tediousness of the life I had.


As if sensing my thoughts, Tom said sagely, "Oh, don't fool yourself, no you wouldn't have. Now, I assume you have more questions?"


YES. Yes I did. "Okay, well... where did you... er, Predator come from?"


He raised his head up, "A fair question. You see, Predator and I speak with frequency surpassing even how often you and your friends talk. As such, when he disabled the dam's defenses, I approached him and suggested a plan to approach you. He agreed, and he has since used his physical prowess to smash through the sewer network to get to you; he knew you were here, you see, for he knows your scent." He pointed down at the pool of sewer water I had been in. "We actually came from here, just a few minutes ago. In fact, we're the reason that pool exists."


I had a scent? Oookay... "Eh, fair enough, I guess." I said that, of course, because it confused me and I did NOT want to discuss it. "Now for the top four questions," I said, and let out in one quick barrage,"What are you and Tod, what's with the chimera crap, what was that green thing just now, and when -- if ever you decide not to explain all this now -- are you going to give me context? Because I do NOT like going on this... 'quest' of mine while having those questions pester me with near-constant frequency!"


It was true. Ever since I had met Tod and Tom, a whole world of questions had opened up from them, and it was really beginning to piss me off that I had gained next to no context about them, save for their powers, and even my knowledge that was not very comprehensive. What I wanted now was an absolute knowledge of everything about them.


Tom was silent for one long moment, his glowing eyes seeming to hint on great internal contemplation and debate. Perhaps I had thrown too many important questions too quickly, but I didn't care; I wanted, no, needed that context.


At last he moved, though he didn't speak. Rather, he placed Predator's hooves on Predator's helmet, and started taking it off. Despite everything, I was excited. I was actually about to see what Predator was like underneath! He had had the chimeras' eyes and abilities, though, so I wouldn't really have been surprised if he looked just like them, but still!


The helmet fell to the ground, and what I saw was the head of a zebra, with some kind of breathing mask clinging over his muzzle and with black straps extending to the back. A transparent plastic piece, snaked from the mask's top and onto the bridge of his nose, then over the zebra's shaved mane to meet with the black straps behind his head. Well... maybe his muzzle had tendrils?


Tom first placed a hoof onto the gasmask-looking apparatus, and pulled on a wire underneath it. Pressurized air escaped from within, and he took the mask off, revealing Predator's face.


He was... a zebra.


A plain, unspectacular zebra, with no special or interesting features whatsoever. No differently colored fur... no chitinous carapace... glowing blue eyes, but aside from that... plain. My heart's curiosity diminished, and I found myself staring blankly at his face. Inside, though, I was very much disappointed. I had just thought he would look... different, unique, exciting.


Then Tom spoke, now in a voice unmuffled by the helmet and the mask, "I... suppose it is time for you to learn about at least some of the things you question. But if I am to answer your questions, I must make you aware, first and foremost, of what it is that separates Tod and I. Now how to begin..." 


He sighed, and explained grimly, "Tod has this foolish vision of a... a perfect being, capable of surviving and adapting to any situation; physical or psychological." He paused looked to the ground, and said with a shudder, "He believes that... that the secret to an infallible being lies within a perfect synchronization and synthesis of all the good traits of all creatures, whilst completely eliminating the bad. Fire resistance from dragons, water breathing from aquatic life, flight from manticores, and horns from Cerati, to name a few." Then he looked up at me and stared into my eyes. "And... sentience from equines."


I too shuddered, horrified despite the fact I had already discerned all this; my suspicions were now, after all, confirmed, and that alone was terrifying. The mere thought of... of turning people into abominations... even where I am now, it still grips my heart and mind in a fist of ice.

"How does he make them?" I asked.

Tom shook his head. "I don't know, at least not much. I know it involves torture -- unless the subject is willing -- and that a mutagen is needed. For you see, the... 'signal', the noise you hear? That is a... catalyst. Like saliva that digests food before it reaches the stomach, the signal... it tampers with your brain, makes it transform your body; prepares it for the mutagen." He took a few small steps towards me, slow and foreboding. "It turns your own body into a factory that works against you. Think of it like the mythological zombie virus, except in this case, the brain still lives, albeit with growing intent to turn you over to mutation."


I looked down at my hooves, and shook. So my hypothesis had been correct. The signal had indeed been tampering with me, as I had expected. But I had no idea it was preparing me for mutation. That was... horrible, absolutely disgusting and abominable. And I had been exposed to it. Me, my friends, the people of Roam, the Legionnaires, the operatives and legates during the war, even...


Everyone had been exposed, from common wastelander to the long-dead generals of Roam. Which meant that... oh, Celestia save us all.


"He intends to turn the entire city into an army, doesn't he? An army of sentient slave monsters to... to bring 'perfection' to everything, that's his goal, isn't it?" I asked grimly, and let that sickening thought sink in. 


Yes, he was. All signs pointed to it -- the memory orbs, the chimeras, the biological and psychological manipulation... and I had not suspected it. I hadn't, even if it may have been obvious for some. I had thought he existed merely to cause misery and make people act... well, unlike themselves. At the most, I had thought he wanted to forcibly carve out some room for himself on the surface through his chimeras and his operatives during the war. That was what I had speculated. But now that I knew his true goal, I was at a loss. Bending people's minds and bodies so they served him... what kind of vile abomination would have goals so heinous and monstrous? From what realm of evil would such a being come from?


Tom nodded, "It was, and still is. He has never given up on it, not even after the war. He, make no mistake, is the source of this city's suffering. Roamans are civilized people, Goldwreath, down at the depths of their hearts. Even at the declaration of war, most of them had thought first of how to assist each other. Even in the wasteland, and trust me when I say this, they are still civilized." 


Predator's -- or was it Tom's? -- face hardened into a glower, and he said calmly yet with fury swelling up in his tone, "That is why I fight, Goldwreath. That is why I must keep him from taking the remains of this Empire and driving it to madness. You and I, Goldwreath, we are after the same thing. We want this city to thrive again. This is what separates me from him: I fight for the liberty of the minds and souls of all things on this world, whereas he and his ilk strive to enslave and destroy the identity and nature of life."


I nodded at him sullenly, taking his words seriously. Perhaps he and I were fighting for the same thing. It didn't matter if we were, what mattered was that we were both fighting Tod and his malevolent plans. But I was, as with everything else told to me, without suspicion. "Tom, much as I would like to trust you -- you have saved me and my friends after all -- I simply cannot just take your word for it. How do I know you aren't secretly mutating people too?"


Tom trotted a short distance, and stopped at the edge of the pool of sewer water. He glanced behind his shoulder at me, and looked at me with those glowing blue eyes. He blinked, and the light shining from his pupils shone instead from the whites of his eyes to reveal irises of gold -- the typical zebra eye color. He turned around, got onto his hindlegs, and gestured to himself, saying, "Look at Predator, Goldwreath. What do you see?"


I gave him one quick look just to make I wasn't missing any important details. "A zebra."


He pointed a hoof at me, "Exactly! And how do you think he appears to you as such, when there was evidence that he would resemble a chimera in appearance?"


"I... don't know. Magic?" I offered lamely, and at the blank look he gave me smiled sheepishly.


He opened his mouth to speak, and said slowly, "Nooo..." He shook his head and continued, "As I have said, Tod manipulates DNA to achieve whatever goal he has for whatever creature he wishes to change. I, on the other... hoof, do the opposite: I undo, to the greatest of my capabilities, what he has done. So it has been with the minds and bodies of all exposed to him, and so it shall be until this conflict -- this... war of indoctrination and counter-indoctrination, of mutation and counter-mutation -- ends for good."


He gestured at Predator's body, "What you see here is Predator as he was. With me, biological and psychological identity and freedom remains safe. I know you have reasons to be suspicious, but that is the truth, whatever you think of it."


I looked back at him, then cast my eyes down and nodded. He was right, I did have reasons to be suspicious. Him and Tod, they were of the same make, I believed. And with that similarity could come similar intent, buried within their minds underneath layer over layer of thought, each either counter-acting or complementing each other and leaving their beliefs a twisted child of self-indoctrination. But he did save us many times, and he did relieve my mind and body of its burdens on at least one occasion. My friends had as well, perhaps he had done the same with them. He saved us from that centurion back on the bridge, and from Tod in the ZSI facility.


'Alright,' I thought, 'I'll trust you for now.'


He smiled and nodded, "Glad to know it. This constant fighting can in itself get so tiring, it's good to know that some people out there are willing to trust me."


I looked him over for a second, then cast my gaze onto the surrounding area. I had, unknowingly, fumbled deeper into the ruins, and was now in a fairly wide alley in between two ruined structures, just a few dozen meters from one of the intact skyscrapers. So much destruction... and Tom and Tod -- and Tod's minions during the war -- had something to do with it. What were they to have such knowledge and such power? What were they to be able to treat the physical and mental realms like mere playthings? 


I decided to put my concerns to question. "So what are you, Tom?" He looked at me, and within the glow of his eyes, his golden irises seemed to express confusion. "I'm serious. What are you and Tod, and why are you here?"


He took a deep breath and shifted uncomfortably. "Tell you what," He replied unevenly. "I will answer your question. But first, give me time to think on the explanation. By the time we meet again, I will have my answer. Alright?"


I wanted, as always, to protest against him and his incessant desire to delay my much needed context. But here I was getting some assurance of actually GETTING that context, and it did not seem wise to reject the deal proposed by the mysterious and powerful being. And so I nodded tentatively, "Alright. But in the name of the gods and the Goddesses, Tom, you had better have your answer the next time we meet."


He chuckled with amusement. "That threat won't work, I'm afraid, because you are making that threat in MY name."


Wait, what? "Huh? What do you mean?"


He chuckled again. "That is another question I will answer when we meet again. But not now." Then he put Predator's breathing mask back on and with a hiss of pressure it attached itself to his face. Then Tom put the helmet back on, and closed his eyes.


"Tom, wait!" I demanded, but I was too late. A great presence seemed to leave my mental radar, and in its wake it left a void, suddenly occupied by a far more grim-feeling presence.


When Predator's eyelids opened once more, the eyes that stared back at me were glowing red, and pierced into me like a laser, freezing me in place. Then with a blink, the glow receded, and I could move once more. "You still have questions, don't you?" Predator asked, sounding not at all willing to answer if I said I did.


Still, I nodded. "A whole bunch, actually."


He nodded sympathetically. "That last bit about 'in his name' has sparked intrigue within me as well, but he has assured me -- better than he has with you -- that answers are going to come." Then he snorted, "But enough of that. Come, tell me of your ambitious plan."


"What plan?"


He replied as if I should have known, despite the little context he gave me, "Your plan to change society, of course. It is ambitious yet quite similar to what many people are attempting to achieve. I am eager to discern how likely it is to fail."


To fail? Oh you stupid... "It's not going to fail, Predator," I responded determinedly.


He chuckled darkly in response, "And why is that? Because you believe I will assist you? Not likely given the other things I must do and divert my energy to, but go on. Enthrall me. Give me a reason to."


I should have been annoyed, or even angry. Here I had a plan to help people change through psychology, a field Predator seemed quite knowledgeable in, and he was mocking me. I should have been angry, right? Did his ridicule of such a noble goal not warrant anger?


But instead of being angry, I smirked. I smirked, for I indeed had a good reason. "Because," I started, a grin on my face. "You don't lie, right? It caused so much suffering you wouldn't try it again right?"


He raised his head at me, and with annoyance just dripping in his tone -- I must have touched a sensitive subject for him -- said, "Where are you going with this, boy? Trot carefully, for I have yet no qualms of snapping your neck like a toothpick."


Despite his tone, I continued with hope building up inside of me, "Which means that what you told me about about wanting to redeem yourself was true, right?"


He growled fiercely in response, much to my fright. Still, I adamantly continued, but nearly gulped from the tension building up. "Which also means that you should take any opportunity to do that right? Well, here's your chance. Will you take it or not?"


He glared back at me, murderous intent blazing in his eyes. The sight of that made me want to crawl away, very slowly, and hope that he didn't tear off my legs with a knife and beat me to death with them. The silence and tension was unbearable, despite my own attempts to calm down. After all, what of I had approached this wrong? What if, in touching this apparently very important subject, I had earned Predator's eternal hatred?


I waited for almost a minute, mind screaming for me to run away before he brutally painted the city with my blood, when at last he laughed.


It was not a dark laugh, nor a laugh of cruel amusement at someone's pain. Nor was it even a sarcastic chuckle, and neither was it foreboding in nature; it was just a laugh. A pure, unmistakable laugh, born out of either genuine amusement or something he found laughable... the sincerity and lightheartedness of it greatly disturbed me. He wasn't acting like himself; he was too jolly, too... lively.


Whatever the reason, he placed a hoof around me neck and said, gesturing up at the city around us, "Very good, Goldwreath! First thing one shall need for this goal is determination, and determination that does NOT crumble when in the presence of someone who could very easily tear out your brain and dangle it with your intestines for your friends to watch in horror while I sadistically use your skin to strangle them and fill their last moments with terror and regret at having joined you on your absurd little journey."


I gulped. I knew he was at least partially sadistic, but that was just wrong. That was... not a picture that would be leaving my head any time soon. Oh great, now it's going to be stuck in my head as I continue narrating this thing to you...


"So you'll help me?" I asked, the barest sliver of joy erupting in my heart despite the guy's threat and my head's confusion as to why his presence in my head felt neither grim or dark. 


He looked at me for a moment, and his eyes lit up -- literally and with life -- as he looked me over. "Of course! I'm no fool; the wasteland needs more people like you, and if it helps my soul, then I shall help."


I sighed, immense relief flooding through my veins. "Well, good. That's a relief. So, eh, when shall we begin discussing how to proceed?"


"Tomorrow," He replied, seeming immensely eager to get it started.


Confusion mounted in my head, replacing my... well confusion as to why he was acting so jolly. Great, now I'm confused... "Why tomorrow? I'm willing to start now, and you seem like you do, too."


He pointed a hoof at me. "Ah, and I am! Yes, it may be true, BUT your mind is tired, whether you feel it or not. You need sleep."


Oh, come on! Why did he care about this? "I'm not tired!" I protested.


He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Are you sure?" He asked slowly.


I nodded my head quickly. "Yes, I am! I'm willing to talk all night if I have to!"


"I see," He said in an obviously sarcastic tone, and explained, "You know, Tom knows your goal too. He requested that, in the case you were unwilling to do what's good for you, that I make you do it."


I raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, well, it's not going to happen. I'm not going to put this off, this is important!"


He sighed with relief, and said with what sounded like eagerness, "Ah, good, I was hoping you'd say that. That gives me a reason to do this, then!" He raised his hoof up to his shoulder, like he was going to punch something. He chuckled quietly, this time somewhat forebodingly.


I took a step back. "Predator, I swear, if you punch me I am going to-..." I was saying, when the piece of shit hit me in the face and knocked me out cold.







Footnote: Halfway to Level Up
Follower perk gained: Juggernaut Psychologist -- Predator, if he is nearby, will assist you in conversing with any individuals who require a speech check. If it fails, he will also physically get the point across.