Part Three: A Quest From a Princess
Backtracking to the site of the train wreck, Airborne looks for any signs of the direction the ghoul ponies left in. The recent snowstorm had covered up any hoof prints that would tell them where they went.
Darkstar brushing the recent snow layer off the ground with his tail manages to find some the ghoul’s hoof prints. “It looks like they come from that direction” he said gesturing with his hoof off towards the west.
Airborne looking at Starshine says, “What’s in that direction?”
She stamps her hoof into the ground and says, “There are a few old mines and the remnants of an old refugee camp but other than that it’s hard to say. Could be really anything out there, so much has changed there could be new settlements or even raider camps.”
Darkstar trots ahead saying, “Well let’s go find out.”
The sun was just beginning to set on the horizon, leaving long shadows casting across the land. The crushing of the ponies hooves became a rhythmic tempo, every crunch signified that they were all alone in the wasteland. Every now and again they would pass by some long abandoned house or military outpost. Dodging small groups of ghouls as they made their way towards an unknown destination, the air becoming significantly colder as night set in.
Turning around towards the ponies behind him Airborne says, “We better find some shelter and a place to get warm otherwise the ghouls will have four frozen treats to snack on.”
Darkstar scans the area then spots a small opening in a cliff wall, “There’s a cave over there we can take shelter in.”
The ponies quickly trotted over to the entrance of the cave, Celestial pulling out a portable lantern from her utility barding flicks the light on with her hoof. The soft glow of the lantern illuminating the inside of the cavern, from his barding Darkstar pulling out his Instaburn Fire Starter Kit quickly gets a fire going. As the ponies gather around the fire Celestial begins to sharpen her knife with a whetstone clutched in her mouth.
Airborne watching her do it says, “I don’t think I have ever met anypony quite like you before Celestial.” Celestial's ears perks as she hears this then pins them back in embarrassment.
After eating a dinner made out of a quickly made meat and potato stew, Darkstar looks at Airborne saying, “How exactly did you end up here in the Wasteland?”
Airborne replies, “What do you mean? I ended up here the same as everypony.”
Darkstar then replies, “That’s not exactly true, Earth ponies like me and Celestial have been living here in the Wasteland since day one but you and Starshine grew up in the Enclave. How did you go from living the posh life to scrounging in the dirt with the rest of us nopony’s?”
Airborne sulks and pushes the brim of his wide hat down in front of his face as he leans back against the cave wall saying, “I would rather not talk about it.”
Starshine shakes her head and says, “Sorry Darkstar, if Airborne isn’t willing to tell you something you probably will never get it out of him, he is as stubborn as a mule. Lucky for you I am not like him if you want to know about his past I will gladly tell you.”
Airborne says angrily, “Since when did my past become the topic of gossip among you pony’s mind your own damn business. And Starshine don’t say anything otherwise I won’t speak to you ever again.”
Starshine rolls her eyes and says, “Oh, be quiet Airborne. Besides your past also is my past as well which is a fact you forget far too often, so if you don’t mind I will tell Darkstar about yourself since you aren’t willing too.” Airborne huffs and falls silent deciding not to complain anymore.
Starshine says, “Before Airborne came here to the Wasteland, he and I grew up together in the Enclave. Even in those early days when we were going through the Wonderbolt Academy, he would constantly get demerits on everything from not having his bed made to folding his uniform shirts the wrong way. But unlike most at the Academy who were all living with their heads in the clouds Airborne wasn’t that way. He was the first member of his family to be accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy since his ancestor Lightning Dust. He had something to prove to everyone and he wasn’t afraid to stand up for what he believed in. There was one time in the lunch hall where a group of ponies was picking on this one recruit named Hurricane Wind who had made it known that he supported any pony who left the Enclave and became a Dashite. Airborne calmly walked up to the nearest pony and bucked him right in his flank; needless to say a massive fight erupted between Airborne and the bullies.”
Darkstar looking at Airborne says, “He doesn’t look like much, it’s hard to believe he would take on a whole group of ponies by himself.”
Airborne doesn’t reply still staying silent. Starshine sniggers lightly and continues, “Well Airborne fought the ponies and eventually emerged the winner of the fight but in coming to the defense of somepony who had let it be known he supported the Dashite’s Airborne might have labeled himself one as well. It was after that the instructors at the Academy took every opportunity to try and punish Airborne for defending Hurricane Wind. But he never let it get to him; he took everything they could throw at him with his trademark quiet stoicism. It wasn’t long after that I left the Enclave. I had grown tired of their abusive ways and treating everypony who expressed themselves as a dangerous dissenter.”
Airborne tipping the brim of his hat back spoke, “It was I the Enclave chose to hunt down and eliminate Starshine, and they knew that she and I were friends. I couldn’t bring myself to do it but it was either kill her or be killed in turn if I didn’t follow orders. But it wasn’t just Starshine that we were ordered to kill but also her brother Moonlight who had left with her."
"After leaving the Enclave with a small squad lead by Falcon Feather we caught up with them a few days later. Starshine and her brother had taken shelter in an old farmhouse; Falcon Feathers ordered the group to assault the house, during the firefight we lost a few members of the squad due to Starshine’s excellent aiming. After that we waited them out for almost two days, but Moonlight was always impatient even when he was young, he came charging out of the house and was cut down by gunfire. I watched as he took his final breath, after he died I couldn’t stand to watch Starshine meet the same fate."
"So during the night I waited till the squad I was assigned to fell asleep then I made my move. The pony on watch was named Shooting Star, in the Academy she had developed a pretty sinister reputation as being ruthless and extremely driven to accomplish any task by any means necessary even if that meant risking the lives of others. I didn’t really have to try sneaking up on her; she was already half asleep before she had my knife at her throat. After that I went to each pony and slit their throats, it wasn’t something I enjoyed doing and even now I can see their faces but it had to be done. When dawn arose only Falcon Feathers had managed to hold on for so long even with his throat slit he managed to call me a traitor and that I was a coward but I didn’t care what he accused me of. I was sick and tired of the Enclave’s closed minded mentality, they lived as if the war never even happened and didn’t give a horse apple about the suffering of the ponies down here in the Wasteland. After everypony was dead and Starshine safe we parted ways. It took a week for the first assassins from the Enclave to find me, but I managed to escape from them. They pursued me everywhere I went; eventually they caught up to me outside of the ruins of Ponyville."
"I was sure I was a dead pony; I had run out of ammo and bleeding heavily from multiple wounds. I could hear the assassins outside telling me that I was as good as dead and I was beginning to believe them. I could feel my heartbeat slowing down as the world began to become blurry but then outside I could hear multiple gunshots ringing out, my vision became black and I couldn’t feel any more pain. I figured well if I was dead I didn’t care, I was tired of hiding like a rat among the ruins in this hellish land. But if I was dead then why could I still feel pain, in the darkness I heard someone crying, “Don’t you give up on me damn you! Don’t you dare crossover to the other side!” Something was pounding on my chest and I weakly opened my eyes seeing the faint outline of somepony standing over me but I slipped into unconsciousness. When I awoke I could see the Starshine resting at my side, I figured that she had been following me all this time, tracking me down wherever I went. I knew she had saved my life from the Enclave assassins and for the first time since leaving the Enclave I felt that maybe life was worth living if I had friends like her in the world. After dressing my wounds, Starshine left me."
Airborne moves closer to the fire and rests his hind hooves in front of the blaze soaking the warmth into his sore and throbbing hooves. "Every now and again in my travels I thought I saw her distant shadow over my shoulder watching over me, but it always turned out to be nothing more than my mind playing tricks on me. The Enclave continued to send assassins after me but I became adapt at hiding from them and after a while they stopped coming they must have figured that the Wastelands had claimed me. So Darkstar there you have it, that’s my story of who I am and how I came to be here.”
Darkstar sat in silence starring into the flames of the fire avoiding Airborne’s gaze, likewise Starshine hid her face as Celestial continued to sharpen her knife not revealing whether she had heard anything Airborne had just told them. Darkstar solemnly says, “I am sorry to have pried where I was not welcome Airborne, please forgive me.”
Airborne nods his head and tips the brim of his hat down once again falling asleep. As the embers of the fire died away the ponies fell asleep listening to the wind as the storm raged through the night, when Airborne awoke the next morning the pale light beamed into the cave casting eerie shadows upon the walls. The snapping of a twig outside caused his ears to perk up and his eyes to widen, outside there was no wind and no scents in the air but he could hear the heavy breathing of something approaching the cave.
Celestial awoke sensing something approaching saw that Airborne had already trained the barrels of his battle-saddle on the entrance of the cave, every muscle in his body ready to spring into action. Celestial quietly nickered to Darkstar and Starshine to wake up but it was already too late, as gunfire poured into the cave. The rattling of automatic’s filled the air and drowning out the sounds of Darkstar’s screaming as he writhed in agony on the ground from a bullet wound in his flank. Celestial’s combat shotguns were already whirring to life as they spit forth fire and hot lead into the raider ponies.
Suddenly as the gunfire began it ended then a voice spoke, “Surrender and you will be shown mercy.”
Airborne looks to Celestial who shakes her head no then to Darkstar who is being tended to by Starshine who returns his gaze saying, “He won’t last long unless I can get somewhere to properly treat him.”
Airborne replies, “Alright we surrender” unhooking the straps on his battle-saddle feeling it slide off his back and to the ground. Celestial snorts and angrily does the same, trotting to Darkstar’s side he asks Starshine, “How bad is it?” she shakes her head and says, “I cannot tell but I think the bullet passed clean through him but it is hard to tell if there is any damage to his insides.”
From outside a strange pony walks in his face hidden underneath the cowl of his coat. Yanking it back he looks at Airborne saying, “Smart I am glad we didn’t have to kill you” then turning to look at Darkstar he says, “We will take care of your friend after all it’s hard to collect profit from a corpse.”
The raiders attached shackles to Airborne’s ankles and chained Starshine and Celestial to him placing Darkstar on a makeshift stretcher. The raider leader, a pony with scars covering his entire body looks at his newly won captives. Seeing that Airborne and Starshine are both Pegasus’s he says, “Well know aren’t you two incredibly rare birds that fell into my little trap. We haven’t seen your kind in these parts for a very long time.”
Airborne looks at him and asks, “Where are you taking us?”
The raider leader responds, “To our camp, it’s not far from here.” Yanking at Airborne’s chains the raiders lead the group across the frozen wastes passing by ruined houses and long forgotten war machines. Occasionally they would hide as small groups of ghouls passed by. Seeing them Airborne thought he should make some sort of noise to alert the ghoul’s to their presence but then realized that even if the ghouls managed to take down the raiders that still left him and his friends chained up and they would be an easy meal for the ghouls.
A few hours later they arrived at the raider camp. They had turned an old factory into a formidable fortress. The lower windows were sealed up with metal plating with loop holes cut into them. On the roof were two large machine guns trained on the wastelands ready to cut down any danger that would threaten the compound. Seeing other raider ponies sticking their heads out of the windows on the upper floors Airborne wondered how long they have survived out here in this frozen nothingness. Leading them inside Airborne looks at the raider ponies on the catwalks above him, their weapons trained down ready to strike should he make any attempt to escape.
The raider leader stops and turns facing them saying, “Welcome to the Spire, you will find no safer place anywhere in the wastelands. I am its leader Fractured Heart, you are the first ponies we have entertained as guests in a long time isn’t that right boys?!”
All the ponies on the catwalks begin to laugh and then Fractured Heart goes on saying, “Lucky you fell into our trap otherwise you would have been lunch for some ghoul or something far more foul that walks in the Wastes.”
Airborne was separated from Celestial and Starshine who were led off to their respective cells. Airborne was escorted to Fractured Heart’s office deep within the factory. The guards escorting Airborne opened the door and shoved him inside, falling flat on his face Airborne gets off the ground and looks around. Behind the desk hangs a faded blue flag with a large snowflake embossed onto it. Around the room other relics line the shelves, old photographs with faded pictures of ponies that still smile out of time at Airborne. In a large locker to the right of Airborne various weapons stand many of them he had never seen before.
Trotting in behind him Fractured Heart takes a seat behind the desk and says, “Tell me what your name is?”
Airborne replies, “It is Airborne.”
Fractured Heart leans back in his chair and says, “Tell me what are two Pegasus’s and a few Earth ponies from Equestria doing here in the Crystal Empire?”
Airborne replies, “I dunno maybe we came here for the beautiful views.”
Fractured Heart raises an eyebrow and says, “You know I could cut your tongue out right now for your insolence but I figured why punish you when I can punish your friends instead by tossing them back outside to freeze to death in the Wastes. Now I will ask you again what are you doing here?”
Airborne exhales and says, “If I told why we are here you would never believe me.”
Fractured Heart leans back in his chair and says, “Try me, you might be surprised.”
Airborne shakes his head and says, “We came here hoping to find some information that could prove useful in our search for a very important pony otherwise I would have come here at all. This land is even worse than Equestria, miles of frozen wastes and ruins it’s amazing that you still live here.”
Fractured Heart says, “My men say you traveled from the direction of the Crystal City. Is this true?” Airborne nods.
Fractured gets up from his chair and walks over to the window looking out at the vast frozen wilderness saying, “Tell me why you would venture there if you were looking for somepony. No pony has lived there in hundreds of years and now it’s a grave where only ghosts are welcome.”
Airborne says, “It seemed like a good place to start our search and besides we met someone there who could help us.”
Fractured turns from looking out the window and says, “That’s not possible, as I said there hasn’t been anypony that has lived there in hundreds of years.”
Airborne says, “I never said that this pony was even living to begin with.”
Trotting over to Airborne, Fractured looks into his eyes trying to discern whether or not Airborne is telling the truth, but he finds no deceit in Airborne’s eyes. He asks, “Who did you meet there?”
Airborne replies, “The ghost of Princess Cadence.”
Fractured’s face contorts with rage as he swipes a glass cup off his desk which crashes to the floor. “So the witch still roams the Wastes. So tell me what did she tell you?”
Airborne replies, “She told us to find her husband Shining Armor and bring him back to the city. She seems to think that he might have the information we need in order to complete our task.”
Fractured says, “No one has seen Shining Armor in over a hundred years. I figured he would have died with the witch the day the zebra’s destroyed the Crystal palace with their bombs.”
Airborne looks at him and says, “Why do you hate her so much?”
Fractured Heart angrily replies, “She betrayed us the moment she got the Empire involved in that stupid war just so she could help her royal cousins out. Look at what she did to our land, it’s even worse now than it was when we were ruled over by King Sombra. I have seen foals die before they barely took their first breathes into this world, ponies who have starved in the Wastes because nothing grows here. So whatever hell she lives in now is one of her own making.”
Airborne says, “Tell me have you ever seen her?”
Fractured’s face turns even redder with rage but he nods. “I saw her once long ago, wandering the ruins crying out for somepony to help her. At the time I felt pity for her but when I looked around at the devastation she is responsible for I felt my pity turn to rage.”
Airborne replies, “I think she truly regrets what she did in life but isn’t able to move on because ponies like you still hate her for what happened in the past.”
Fractured says, “I could care less how she feels. She deserves all the misery in the world.”
Airborne decides to change the conversation, “Have you ever seen a ghoul pony wearing the remains of a red uniform?”
Fractured cocks his head and asks, “Yes I have. Why would you care know if I have or not?”
Airborne shrugs and says, “I wanted to know the story behind that ghoul is all. He seemed rather strange to me when we first met and I haven’t met too many ghouls who could speak.”
Fractured replies, “No pony really knows who he was before the war there are rumors that he was an important general to even the Captain of the Royal Guard. Regardless he is the oldest ghoul anypony can remember and has been roaming the Wastes for a long time. He leads a group of ghouls out of the rocky crags to the North. No one who has ventured there has ever returned.”
Airborne is lead to a cell and is placed inside with Celestial and Starshine. He says, “Have you heard anything about how Darkstar is doing?”
Starshine replies, “Yeah a guard came in earlier and said that he was going to pull through. They are just finishing up cleaning his wounds now and have given him some painkillers.”
Airborne flops down onto one of the cots in the cell and says, “I know where we can find Shining Armor.”
Starshine replies, “Well even if you know where he is how in the hell are we supposed to get out of these cells?”
Airborne says, “Don’t worry I am thinking of a plan to bust us out of here till then I suggest you get some rest.”
A few days pass and nothing happens occasionally the guards would change shifts and slip food between the bars to feed Airborne and the others but for the most part Airborne couldn’t figure out how they were going to escape. The guards were very careful not to leave anything around like a spare set of keys that could unlock the cells. On the third day of their captivity Fractured Heart came into the cellblock, staring at Airborne he says, “You need to see this.”
The guards quickly opened the cell door and shoved him out of it making sure to keep Starshine and Celestial under guard in case they tried to escape. Escorting Airborne into Fractured Hearts office the guards force Airborne down into a chair in front of the desk. Fractured Heart passes a piece of paper to Airborne and says, “I hope you can explain this.”
Airborne looks at the piece of paper and reads it. “In the name of the Shining Armor, rightful ruler of the Crystal Empire we demand that the fugitives from Equestria be turned over immediately for crimes against the state. These criminals must henceforth be turned over to the Grand Army of the Empire; those who harbor and aid them will be summarily executed for treason. You have one hour to comply with our demands or we will use force to obtain what we want.
Signed,
General Frozenflesh.”
Airborne puts down the letter and said, “Who is this general anyway and how did he find out we were here?”
Fractured replied, “He must have followed your tracks across the Wastes and then followed them here either way it doesn’t matter he isn’t going to get you.”
Airborne says, “Why not? You could release us and save yourself a lot of trouble by just letting us be taken into custody by this general.”
Fractured gets up from his chair and says, “I have lost a lot of good ponies to those maggot bags, and I may appear to be heartless but I am not. I would never allow anypony to become lunch for those bastards. That and I thought about what you said to me. Things ever since the war have been an absolute hell, I have had to make a lot of choices I wouldn’t have done otherwise. Many of these choices I will regret for the rest of my life, so I decided that it’s time to turn over a new hoof. I will let you go because it’s the right thing to do and I hope you find Shining Armor and let him know how bad things have become for his people. Otherwise there is no hope for any of us.”
Fractured trots over to the gun locker on the wall and pulls out Airborne’s battle-saddle saying, “Here take this you might need it. I have made sure your other companions have been released and also we have restocked your supplies with everything you could possibly need out in the Wastes. Now then I will show you how to leave this place.”
Airborne quickly cinches up the straps on his battle-saddle and follows Fractured out of his office. At the bottom of the stairs Darkstar, Starshine and Celestial stand ready to go. Airborne says, “Good to see you up and about Darkstar I was sure that you would have bitten the dust by now.”
Darkstar replies, “There is no bullet anywhere that could kill me. I thought you would have learned that by now Airborne.”
Fractured Heart orders his guards to pull back the cover to a large tunnel and saying, “I had this built a few years ago, it should take you well beyond the sight of any of these foolish ghouls.”
Airborne replies, “What about you? You cannot seriously think you can kill them all.”
Fractured smiles and says, “Don’t worry about us. We know how to handle ourselves in a fight, just make sure you find Shining Armor otherwise us buying you time here won’t make any difference.”
Airborne shakes Fractured’s hoof and says, “Good luck and thanks for giving us some supplies.”
Fractured replies, “No Airborne, thank you for finally making me see the light if it wasn’t for you and your friends I doubt we ever would have changed.” Airborne nods and trots down into the tunnel with Celestial, Darkstar and Starshine following close behind. Covering the entrance to the tunnel again Fractured says, “Alright let’s send these shufflers to hell.”
The tunnel was dimly lit, the lanterns hanging from the nails embedded into the wooden posts that lined the walls. Trotting through the tunnel reminded Airborne of a mine he had once taken shelter in back in Equestria. When he entered the mines depths he was horrified to find piles of bones from poor ponies that had died there from the radiation. This tunnel like those ponies was another example of the desperation that those who lived in the Wasteland had gone to just to survive another day. Rounding a bend in the tunnel Airborne noticed a set of stairs leading out of the tunnel. Climbing the steps and opening the door he felt the chilled wind ruffle the fur on his parka.
The sun beamed down on him and he said, “It feels good to see some actual sunlight again.”
Starshine replies, “I know what you mean” unfolding her wings from her side soaking in the warmth into her wings. Turning to Darkstar and Celestial, Airborne says, “From what Fractured Heart told me is that Shining Armor lives in the crags north of here so we better reach there before nightfall because otherwise we might run into something worse that ghouls out here.”
Darkstar replies, “Yeah cause what’s worse than ghouls”
Airborne replies, “Yeti’s are worse that ghouls. Fractured told me about them while he had me in his office.”
Celestial closes the door to the tunnel then from the factory a huge explosion shakes the ground. Airborne looks back and sees a massive mushroom shaped cloud rising above the wasteland, and says, “I hope Fractured was able to get everyone out.”
Starshine replies, “I hope so too.” The ponies turn away from the rapidly ascending cloud and trotting towards the rocky outcroppings in the distance. Heading towards the last known location of ghost from the Empire’s past.