Thirteen Moons

by Silent_Witness

XII: Viva Las Pegas'

Chapter XII: Viva Las Pegas’

“Trixie sees something up ahead!” Trixie stopped, and pointed to the road ahead. Spike and Rarity stopped, readying their weapons, but soon saw that it was not a monster Trixie was pointing to- rather, it was a blue sign posted alongside the highway a short distance away. It read: Las Pegasus. 18 mi.

“Oh,” Rarity said after reading. “Las Pegasus. That sounds like a lovely place to resupply. This last stretch of highway has been rather barren.”

“True,” Spike replied, before continuing forward. “And at our pace, it should only take us a few more hours- if we hurry, we might even get there before-” Rarity cried out from behind- he stopped and looked back. “Rarity?”

Rarity was kneeling by the side of the road, her injured leg trembling violently. She tried to stand, and failed. “Nngh… I’m… alright.”

In an instant, Spike was at her side. “No. You’re not. I should’ve known that it was still too early for us to move on. You needed another day to recover, at the very least.”

Rarity strained. “If I… can’t pull my own weight… then I have no business travelling any further.” She stumbled to her feet- her knee buckled, but she remained standing. “…The last thing you need is extra weight slowing you down.”

It’s a burden I’d be willing to bear, is what Spike wanted to say. But he didn’t. Instead, he simply said, “Well, don’t push yourself too hard. If you hurt yourself again, it’ll only take longer to recover.”

“Well, if that’s all, then let’s be on our way,” Rarity replied. She then began to walk down the highway. “Maybe we’ll even find some proper food once we get there. Not to put down your cooking skills dear, but I’ve always found the meat from those monsters you hunt rather… suspect.”

Spike looked down sadly. “…I always thought they tasted fine…” Then he looked up. “…but, it would be nice to sleep in a real bed for a change.” And with that, he began to follow Rarity.

Spike and Rarity trudged down the shoulder of the same desert highway they’d been walking for the past several weeks. Spike had wanted to wait a few more days, so Rarity could make a full recovery, but Rarity herself insisted that they move forward. So, at dawn that day, the three continued on their journey to Los Andaluzes. The sun was to their backs, and the three were lucky enough to not have run into any monsters (or bandits) since resuming their journey.

“Hey, what about me!” Trixie called. “The Great and Stupendous Trixie will be not be ignored!” After a moment, Trixie ran to catch up with the others.

---

Far from the San Palomino Desert, bolts of lightning shot across the sky. But the black-and-white bugbear darted around each one with ease that should have been impossible for a beast its size. Twilight fired yet another bolt, but the beast dodged it yet again. “Annoying insect…” she muttered.

Flash drew back, and threw his sword at the bugbear with all his strength. The massive blade spun through the air… but almost immediately fell back to earth after only a few seconds, coming nowhere near the beast. He ran to reclaim his blade, mumbling, “Yeah, don’t really know why I thought that would work.” He looked to Twilight. “Can’t we just make a run for it?”

“A bugbear’s territory can occupy several miles,” Twilight replied, throwing another fireball at the circling bugbear, “and it is unlikely we will escape it before it can catch us. In this situation, standing our ground is the best course of action.”

“Besides,” Pinkie added, “if we always run from fights, how’re we supposed to get any stronger?” She drew her boomerang, and aimed it carefully before throwing. It arced through the sky, before striking the bugbear’s wings. The bugbear roared as it dropped out of the sky, and into the nearby brush.

Flash gave Pinkie a thumbs-up. “Nice shot, Pinkie!”

“Don’t compliment me yet,” Pinkie replied, catching her boomerang. Sure enough, the bugbear was rising to its feet, as if nothing had happened. “Gotta finish the job first!” And Pinkie charged the monster, drawing her daggers.

“Hey wait up!” Flash called. But Pinkie easily outpaced both him and Twilight, and closed in on the bugbear. It raised its claws with an angry roar and swiped at Pinkie with its arms. But she nimbly dodged the beast’s attack, drawing her naginata and thrusting it into its side, following with a spray of bullets from her gun. The bugbear turned and thrust its stinger at Pinkie- again, she dodged, before she drew back her katana and stabbed it into the bugbear’s chest. The beast let out a choked breath, and looked down at Pinkie. But before it could do anything else, Pinkie drew her daggers and stabbed them into the bugbear’s neck, one in each side.

Pinkie retreated as the beast fell down onto its six feet. It slowly crawled towards her, snarling, its wounded wings buzzing in an attempt to take flight. But after only a few moments, the bugbear let out one last roar, and collapsed.

The others skidded to a stop not too far from Pinkie and the bugbear. “Pinkie, are you okay?” Flash called.

“There,” she said, and looked back to the others. “That wasn’t-”

But suddenly, the bugbear suddenly stood up, and thrust its stinger into Pinkie’s back. Pinkie gasped in pain, and looked down- a black stinger dripping with venom was sticking out from the center of her abdomen. Then, the stinger pulled itself back- Pinkie wavered, and then fell.

“Pinkie!” Flash charged the bugbear, and with a single swing, sliced the beast in half. The two halves fell to the ground- the bugbear’s upper half began to drag itself towards Flash, but he stabbed it with his sword, pinning it to the ground. Then he knelt down, and picked up Pinkie, cradling her in his arms. “Pinkie! Pinkie are you okay!? C’mon, talk to me!”

Pinkie coughed violently, splattering a few drops of blood on Flash’s face. “Yeah… okay… probably deserved that one.”

“C’mon, don’t say that,” Flash said, looking at her wound.

It was bad. Worse than bad. Sure, he’d had plenty of chances to practice using the White magic he’d learned in Cloudsdale, but this… it was the worst wound any of them had suffered so far. He could see the ground through the hole in Pinkie’s stomach.

“That is a very serious wound,” Twilight said as she looked down from over Flash’s shoulder. “If there is to be any hope of Pinkie Pie surviving, then you must begin healing her immediately, Flash Sentry.”

“Heal her?” Flash asked hesitantly, looking back. “I don’t know if-”

But he was cut off by Twilight’s cold glare. “This is not a situation where ‘I don’t know’ is an acceptable response. You are the only one with the necessary skills present, Flash Sentry- if you cannot do this, then Pinkie Pie will die.”

Flash looked to her, mouth open, ready to trade barbs with Twilight… but he was stopped when Pinkie touched his face. “You’ll do just fine, Flash,” she said. “Just… concentrate.”

Flash shook his head, before looking back to Pinkie. Pinkie was right- he needed to give her his full attention. “Alright…” He brought his hand up to Pinkie’s stomach, and focused, just the way Fleetfoot had taught him. A white light glowed in his palm, and Pinkie’s wound slowly, slowly came undone.

“Hah…” Pinkie shuddered. “It tingles…”

Flash replied simply, “You shouldn’t try to talk, Pinkie.”

The wound slowly closed under the healing light in Flash’s palm. But then, after several agonizing minutes, a sharp pain in Flash’s temple forced him to stop. He looked at the wound, dismayed. He was far from finished- he’d mended Pinkie’s organs, but there were still two frayed, fist-sized holes in her skin. He tried to continue, but a second pain, sharper than the first, stopped him. “I… I’m sorry…” he stammered, looking to Twilight. “I can’t…”

“I know. You have almost completely drained yourself of mana- continue, and you will only put yourself at risk.” Twilight knelt down, and wrapped Pinkie’s abdomen with bandages. “Still, your efforts should be sufficient for the time being- once you have fully recovered, you may resume.” Twilight looked to Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie… I would suggest that you refrain from your normal antics.”

Pinkie brought up a shaking hand and gave a thumb’s up. “No problem, Doc…”

Twilight turned her attention back to Flash. “I do not believe we will be progressing any further today. If you would assist me in setting up camp…”

“Yeah, okay.” The two set up their campsite in short order. Pinkie Pie slept in a sleeping bag next to the fire, where Twilight kept an eye on her. Flash stood at the edge of the camp, watching the horizon for any signs of approaching monsters.

Flash looked back to Twilight. “Hey,” he began. “You, uh… mentioned something earlier. Something called ‘mana.’ What is that?”

Twilight looked back at Flash. “‘Mana’ is the technical term for the magical energies released by one of the crystals. All living creatures absorb ambient mana into their bodies from the environment- but those able to use magic, like yourself and I, can subsequently mold and release the mana we absorb in the form of spells. However, should we attempt to cast a spell after exhausting our internal store of mana, our bodies begin consuming their own life energies to fuel the spell, a process which can be fatal in certain circumstances. The pain you felt earlier is our bodies’ defense mechanism against this.”

Flash nodded thoughtfully. “Okay. …but, what are those crystals you mentioned?”

Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise, as if she hadn’t meant to reveal that particular piece of information. But after a moment, she composed herself. “…the crystals… are our ultimate objective. There are four of them in total, and the site we are currently travelling to houses one of them… if my predictions prove accurate.”

Flash turned to face Twilight completely. “…Why didn’t you tell us about them sooner?”

Twilight was silent for several moments, as if carefully considering her response. “You would not have believed me. Even after all of my investigations into the subject, even I cannot be certain of their existence.”

“Hey. I’ve killed about two dozen kinds of monsters, seen people shoot fire out of their hands, and I’ve almost died more times than I’m comfortable admitting. If we’re all gonna go through that, then we should at least know why.” Flash stabbed his sword into the ground and sat down across from Twilight. “So now you’re gonna tell me everything, from the beginning. And this time… I want the truth.”

---

“Are you ever going to answer my question?” Rarity asked, glaring.

“What question?” Spike asked in response, from the other side of the road.

“About how long you were planning on keeping us in the dark.” A few hours before, Rarity had gotten a rather unexpected call from- of all people- Flash Sentry. After explaining he was traveling with Twilight and Pinkie, he began to explain, in full detail, what exactly it was they were looking for in the Land of Fire, and why their mission was so important. After confronting Spike with what she learned (and his subsequent lack of explanation as to why he hadn’t told them anything), she deliberately set herself away from Spike as they travelled… but no so far that they couldn’t assist one another should a monster decide to surprise them. “…Well? We’re still waiting for an explanation.”

Spike was silent. As he had been with all of Rarity’s questions. She fumed. “You can’t bite your tongue forever!”

Spike looked over to her, and answered: “…Twilight specifically asked me not to share certain information with anyone until it became relevant. I assure you that once we reached the Land of Fire, I would’ve-”

But he was interrupted when Trixie shouted, “Trixie sees something again!” She had stopped in the middle of the road, and was pointing to something up ahead.

Spike breathed a sigh of relief. But Rarity very quickly said, “Don’t think that you’re off the hook just yet, Spike,” before turning her attention to the road ahead.

In the distance ahead, a massive wall rose high above the desert. The sun was sinking toward the horizon behind the wall, but in spite of that, the wall seemed to shine in a bright white light.

Rarity shielded her eyes and leaned forward, trying to get a better view. “What is that? A mirage?”

“It’s a little late to be seeing mirages,” Spike replied. “Let’s go take a closer look.”

The three pressed on, drawing closer to the wall- as it filled more and more of the sky, they became convinced that the towering structure was no mirage. Finally, the party came to a stop in the wall’s massive shadow. “…is this it, then?” Rarity asked. “Is this… Las Pegasus?”

As if to answer her, a glittering, wing-shaped sign a few yards away flickered to life. Its glowing neon letters read, “Welcome to Fabulous Las Pegasus.” Rarity looked at the sign and said, “Well, I suppose that settles it.”

“Trixie has only ever seen pictures, but she don’t remember there ever being a wall around Las Pegasus,” Trixie replied.

“Lots of cities have built walls to keep monsters out,” Spike said. “I won’t lie, though- that wall is a bit taller than necessary- it must be at least a hundred feet tall. Anyway…” Spike eyed the wall’s smooth, featureless surface. “…any ideas on how to get inside?”

“There’s lights over there,” Trixie said. “Trixie thinks that could be a way inside.” Sure enough, lights- or rather, a light brighter than the wall itself- could be seen shining from beyond the wall’s south edge. “Trixie will go see.”

“Wait, don’t wander off without us!” Rarity protested as she followed. The three circled around the massive wall for a few minutes, before reaching the source of the lights: a group of spotlights hanging over a massive metal gate set into the wall. Two guards, in what looked like SWAT gear, patrolled the street just outside the gate.

“Looks like a security checkpoint,” Spike said. “Good eye, Trixie.”

“Of course- Trixie has always had superior vision.” Trixie adjusted her sweater. “Now prepare to witness Trixie’s superior diplomacy skills.”

“Uh…” Rarity began hesitantly. “Trixie? Are you sure you want to be the one to talk to them?”

“Don’t worry about a thing, minion.” Trixie looked back and winked. “Trixie has a way with people.”

Trixie then marched into the road, stopped in front of the two guards, and shouted, “The Glorious Trixie demands that you let her inside at once!”

The guards wore thick opaque visors, hiding their faces, but Spike and Rarity could imagine the utter disbelief in their expressions at the moment as they looked at each other. But after a moment, the guard closest to Trixie looked to her and said, “The city’s closed. Step away from the gate.”

Spike let out a disappointed sigh, then stepped into the light, patting Trixie’s shoulder as he passed. “Nice try, Trixie.” He turned to the guards. “Sorry about all that. Anyway, my companions and I have been travelling these past couple weeks. One the way here, one of my friends got shot in the leg by some bandits- we think she’ll be okay, but we’d rather take her to a hospital to be sure.”

“You heard us the first time. City’s closed- no exceptions.” The guard pointed. “Now step away from the gate.”

Spike stepped forward. “Did you really turn away someone who might need to go to the hospital?”

The two guards raised their rifles and aimed them at Spike. “Move back. Right now.”

Spike pulled out his spear in turn, fangs bared, his eyes shining brilliantly. “You should really point those somewhere else. Before you do something I make you regret.”

“Spike!” Rarity called, sprinting to his side. “That is not helping our situation!” She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away, to no avail. “I think it’s rather obvious that they’re not welcoming visitors at the moment. And if you’re doing this so you can avoid answering for yourself, then-”

Rarity was interrupted by a deafening screech, as a yellow blur streaked by, and knocked one of the guards to the ground. In the brief moment when the blue was standing still, the three could see that it was a strange birdlike creature with long legs, a thick beak, and short, stubby wings. But then, it charged the other guard before he could raise his weapon, and kicked him in the chest- he slid across the ground, coming to a stop near the feet of a man with curly brown hair, wearing a yellow polo shirt. Before the guard could react, the curly-haired man raised a guitar and bashed it across the side of his head.

“Nice work, Boneless!” the curly-haired man called. He then pointed to the three. “You! This way, hurry!”

Spike, Rarity, and Trixie could only stare at the man in stunned silence. He yelled again, “Come on! More of them will be coming!”

An alarm sounded from the gate, and the giant yellow bird ran toward the man. Trixie followed it- Spike picked up Rarity and threw her across his shoulder before doing the same. As they ran, they could hear guards shouting from behind, a few gunshots… and then only the sound of their feet hitting the ground as they rounded the wall.

After a few more moments of running, the curly-haired man slowed to a stop, and bent over to catch his breath. “This… should be… far enough…” he gasped, before turning to face them. “You guys okay? Saw your run-in with the Strip’s security guards. Trust me, you have no idea how lucky you are- most guards would’ve just shot you as soon as you got close.”

“Spike, could you put me down, please,” Rarity asked; once he did so, Rarity dusted herself off, and looked to the stranger. “Right, now… what just happened?”

“What happened is that you-” he pointed to the three. “-almost got filled with holes. But me and Boneless- mostly Boneless here- put a stop to that.” He turned away and beckoned for the three to follow. “C’mon- I’ve got a place not too far from here.”

The three followed the curly-haired man and the yellow bird. As they walked, Spike looked back over his shoulder, expecting that more guards would round the wall and chase after them. Eventually, he asked. “…Aren’t those guards gonna come after us?”

“Doubt it,” the curly-haired man replied. “Their job is to watch the gate- they don’t really care about anything else that happens out here. …Though it probably would be a good idea to avoid going back there from now on.” He then muttered to himself, “Always wondered why they ­have­ a gate if they never let anyone in, but…”

After a few minutes, the party finally arrived at a ramshackle town that hugged the outer edge of the wall. Old, abandoned houses stood alongside newer, hastily-constructed hovels. There were no lights, save for a few lamps, torches, and flashlights, but they were hardly necessary- the massive wall itself illuminated the shantytown, bathing it in a soft white light. A few people wandered the narrow streets, all just as ragged as the curly-haired man.

Rarity was instantly repulsed at the sight. “Ugh… don’t tell me we’re staying here…”

“Hey, don’t judge Southside too harshly,” the curly-haired man said. “It’s safe, we’ve still got running water, and our guards are a lot friendlier.”

Hearing this made Trixie perk up. “Running water you say? Then Trixie demands you take us to your finest showers!”

“Sure, sure.” The man began to head into town, but stopped and looked back. “Oh that’s right. In all the commotion, I forgot to introduce myself.” He brought his hand up to his chest. “I’m Cheese. Cheese Sandwich. You’ve already met my partner, Boneless.” He pointed his thumb to the giant yellow bird, which squawked at them in reply.

“Thank you for helping us, Mr. …Sandwich.” Rarity hesitated on the last word, still not entirely willing to believe that was actually his name.

He took no notice. “Just Cheese is fine.”

“…Cheese, then.”

The group continued onward, unaware that one of their members was lagging behind. Spike had stopped, and stared up at the glowing white wall. He might not have been able to use magic the way Twilight could, but he could still feel its flow in the world- anyone could, with the right training. And a tremendous amount of magic was radiating from somewhere behind that wall… or, perhaps, from the wall itself-

“Come along, minion!” Trixie called, pulling Spike from his thoughts. “Trixie requests that you test the showers first!”

Spike looked up at the wall a few moments longer, before he called back, “…alright, I’m coming.”

---

It was late- around midnight, Rarity guessed. But she wasn’t sleeping. She was listening to the constant parade of music coming from outside. She wasn’t sure if it had been there before, but the stillness of the night forced her to become keenly aware of it. She didn’t understand how the people living outside the Wall could stand it.

Or for that matter, the people inside it.

Eventually, Rarity climbed out of her sleeping bag and left the house. It was small, run-down, and without power, but as Cheese had promised, it did indeed have running water. At dinner, Spike asked to have a closer look at the Wall. “Sure,” Cheese had replied. “But it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” So the four turned in for the night- any furniture the house may have had was long gone by the time Cheese arrived, so they laid out their sleeping bags on the floor to rest. Or at least, that was the plan.

Rarity sat down on the front porch and looked ahead. In front of her, not too far away, was Las Pegasus… in theory, at least- she couldn’t see any buildings thanks to the Wall, but she could see a brilliant light shining into the sky from somewhere behind it. Even in the dark, the shantytown was bathed in a soft white light that seemed to shine from the Wall itself. Perhaps it was, as Spike speculated, made from some kind of magic- it certainly wasn’t impossible, with all the fantastic things she’d seen so far.

“Newcomers always have a hard time getting used to it,” Cheese said. “The noise, I mean.”

Rarity looked back, and saw Cheese standing in the shack’s doorway. “I’m sorry if I woke you,” she said.

He waved her off. “Hey, don’t worry about it.”

“I just don’t understand it.” She looked back to the wall. “There’s monsters all over the place, but it sounds like they’re having the time of their lives in there. Do they care that there are people suffering right outside that wall? Do they even remember that there’s a world outside of it?”

“Who knows? If you ever got inside, you could find out for yourself.” Cheese approached, and sat down alongside Rarity. “…You know, a little while ago, I went around Southside and asked people trying to break through the Wall why they were doing it. Some people want more protection, some want better resources, a few wanna take revenge on the people who left them out here…”

“And what about you… Cheese?” Rarity couldn’t get over how ridiculous that name was. “What do you want?”

“To be honest… I still want the same thing I wanted before I got here- a spot on one of Las Pegas’s stages. Doesn’t even have to be a fancy one.”

She looked to him. “You’re a performer?”

“Yep. I’m a Bard- a musician. When all this monster business started, I headed here- people were gathering in the big cities for protection, and I thought this could be my chance to break into the business.” The smile rapidly faded from Cheese’s face. “I was wrong. All I got for my trouble was a bullet to the back. But, some people in Southside saw what happened to me and got me to a doctor. I’ve been here ever since…”