Missing Magic

by Coda Singer

Chapter 8: New Blood

Splinter and Barter looked down into what is known now as Craterville Crater. Black soot and ash comprised the landscape. Spikes of burnt, black and melted metal pooled and jutted out of the dirt. Foundations of buildings remained but slowly turned to split stone, then to rubble, then to dust as they got closer to the center of the crater. Barter remembered a large, ornate iron dome being the center of town, now it was merely a pool of cooled melted metal. And burnt into the dirt and metal in the center of town, was a huge, strange looking star with a few other sparkles surrounding it. Splinter and Barter gasped, tasting the ash filled the air.

“Sweet Celestia.” Said Barter.

“Shield?” Splinter called out, her voice echoing down into the ruins of what was once Craterville. Dread and worry did back-flips in her stomach, she wanted to vomit it and by the look on his face, Barter felt the same.

“Yeah?” He called back, his voice popping with exertion.

“It’s… It’s a crater.” There was a pause.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the city’s whole thing.”

“No.” Said Barter. “It’s been destroyed.” His voice was oddly calm. From behind them, they heard Shield holster his pistol and gallop up the hill next to them. His bandanna shifted awkwardly as if his jaw had dropped behind the fabric. He gazed down at the ruined and melted buildings and walkways, reduced to jagged and misshapen lumps of metal.

“There was a bomb or something.” Said Splinter, holding back the bile while staring at the substantial range of charred dirt behind them. “The blast radius is huge.”

“Only one kind of bomb that can do this.” Said Shield. For the first time, Splinter and Barter heard what sounded like a quiver to his voice. Not from fear, no. From anger building in his stomach and throat. “Come on.” He added, beginning to carefully shuffle his way down into the crater.

“But,” Splinter stuttered. “What if it's radioactive?” Shield kept making his way down the crater face.

“Unicorn Bombs don’t leave radiation.” He explained.

“What Bombs?” Asked Splinter, ever more confused. Barter shook his head, detached from his harness and began following Shield down into the crater.

“Come on,” Said Barter, “I’ll explain on the way.” Splinter let out a long sigh, then a few worried looks around the black landscape, before shaking her head and beginning her trek down the steep decline into the destroyed city below.

The three shuffled slowly down the crater face, knocking loose rocks down into the base. Every once and awhile they would nearly slip of the smooth surface of melted then cooled metal in the dirt, like shadows of the houses and walkways once built onto the wall of the crater. Splinter was shaking. She had never been to Craterville before, but she had heard about it. She heard stories of a grand city, a symbol of life going on despite the war. The people there were tough, they persevered through everything…. Almost everything.

They made their way to the base of the crater and as they got closer to the center the more pools of melted metal there were. Structures slowly got more and more dispersed as more pools of melted and cooled metal. Here there were little to no skeletons to be seen. Shield had expected to see ominously pony shaped piles of ash, but none were to be found, this must’ve happened a while ago. He stopped, something clicking in his brain. “apparently they haven't received any news in the past three months.”

“Whatever happened here,” Shield began, “Happened at least three months ago.”

“How do you know?” Splinter asked, her voice still quivering like she had been mortally wounded.

“It said so in that raider’s journal.” Explained Barter, apparently he had similar thoughts to Shield. Splinter took a sweeping look at the large crater. Craterville had been a decent sized city inside of a decent sized crater, and whatever caused this had only widened the basin in which Craterville was set.

“So do you think raiders are responsible for this?”

“No,” Shield answered quickly. Splinter and Barter turned to him, he was starting at the large scorched star set into the melted metal and rock. “Raider’s like them couldn’t get their hooves on a Unicorn Bomb.” He explained. “Not this one.”

“What do you mean by that?” Asked Barter. Shield rolled his eyes.

“You see that scorch mark?” He pointed with his hoof, the T.I.C on his foreleg clicked and shifted as his muscles moved so suddenly. Barter and Splinter could only nod. “This Unicorn Bomb belonged to a very powerful, and important pony. For someone to get a hold of it would either need a LOT of money or VERY skilled thieves and fighters to steal it.” Splinter looked at the burned star in the dirt, it seemed distorted from this angle. “Raiders couldn’t get anything like that anytime soon.”

“Well then,” Barter stuttered, furrowing his brow. “who did this?” Shield thought for a moment.

“It had to have been a faction or a town or something.” He reasoned. “Somepony with enough power and lack of morality to be able to wipe out an entire city. To waste a Unicorn Bomb like this one.” He reached out to touch the burn mark.

“Hey!” A voice shouted from behind them. Shields revolver was out before Barter and Splinter could blink. The two merchants followed the barrel of the large, silver firearm. A few hundred feet away was a pony, he looked haggard, dirty, wearing scraps of leather armor and cloth. Splinter’s E.U.D hummed softly as she grabbed a hold of her pistol and slowly pulled it out of her holster. “We got some stragglers!” The voice finished. Suddenly, echoing from all around them, they heard laughter. High pitched, seeming to come from everywhere.

“Get em’ boys!” Said one of the many, cackling voices. Tens of hoofsteps echoed through the ruined and half melted buildings around them.

“Brace yourself!” Said Shield, his eyes squinting down the sights of his revolver. A dirty, scarred head of a pony peeked around the corner of a melted pile of rubble and before he could let out another laugh, a .357 caliber bullet entered the raider’s left eye socket. Blood sprayed like a geyser as he fell to the dirt with a thud. Two, three more ponies came from behind buildings and piles of rock, carrying blades or rusted pistols. Splinter cocked her pistol which was dwarfed by the sheer size of Shields firearm. She watched as the hammer of the revolver swung and a bullet was launched from the barrel. Designs were etched into the metal and handle, wherever he got this gun, he’s had it for a while.

Splinter focused once more just in time to whip her pistol in front of her and down a raider wielding a large, sharp scrap of metal who had been running at her, swinging it wildly. She gasped as blood speckled her face, the taste of iron stinging her tongue. Her stomach churned.

Barter watched as Shield downed raider after raider. One, two, three, four, five. All the way to nine before pulling the trigger produced nothing more than a click. The clamp around the enormous revolver’s handle loosened. Shield tossed it in the air and caught the rod in the trigger guard before the clamp tightened around the barrel of the gun. More raiders seemed to crawl out of the woodwork and Shield began swinging, the heavy butt of the gun knocking out teeth and cracking jaw bones.

Splinter stepped back, her hoof holding the pistol shaking. At least five raiders were approaching, two had pistols while the other three carried sharp shards of metal. They were all smiling, Sweet Celestia why were they smiling? Splinter heard the high-pitched hum of her E.U.D and involuntarily watched as her pistol fell to the dirt.

“What are you doing!” Shield shouted at her, his voice cracking more than ever before a raider behind him raised a razor-sharp scrap of metal and swung just as Splinter was tackled to the ground. Barter watched as skin split and crimson began to pour onto the rubble and rocks below. A deep gash spread across Shield’s forehoof, his gray fur stained by blood. The blade reached muscle and his T.I.C slacked. His revolver fell to the dirt with a heavy thud.

Shield grunted loudly as raiders took him to the ground, a raider holding his head down, the pressure alone made him want to yell, a headache cracked across his mind.

Splinter and Shield’s hooves were quickly and forcefully bound in shackles two of the raiders had been carrying while Barter was being surrounded by no less than eight raiders. He began bucking and kicking with all of his might. His rear hooves collided with the faces, chests, and ribs of four or five raiders, he felt the cracks and clicks of bones against his hooves before a wicked shard of metal slashed across his flank, sending a deep cut straight through his cutie mark. He screamed as blood poured from the wound and the skin split, he could see his own muscle. His vision became dizzy, and he collapsed to the ground.

His vision lingered just long enough to see the blurs and shadowy shapes of raiders attach shackles to his hooves and begin dragging him away to an unknown destination. He felt the blood drip down his leg, and the rocks a rubble catch in his mane. He felt more tired than he had ever been before. He opened his mouth and with all the will he could muster, managed to produce merely a whisper.

“Splinter?” His vision faded black and his head held up with what little strength he had, fell to the dirt with a muffled thud.

“Barter!” Splinter yelled, snapping out of her daze. She needed to help him, she needed to make sure he was okay.

“Ya lost girly!” A raider giggled. He walked toward Shield , a plank of wood attached to a gnarly hook screwed into his hoof. The wood dragged against the dirt making a horrible scraping sound, her awaiting demise. He lifted the plank and swung viciously, a wicked smile on his face. It struck the side of Shield’s head. Splinter flinched at the sight. A bead of blood tracked from Shield’s ear down the side of his head. He let out a sound like a blown out speaker being struck by a sledgehammer. He grunted, his eyes open wide as he struggled to try to get to his hooves despite the shackles, but the blow to the head had done its job and Shield’s eyes began to droop until he fell, his eyes closed as if in a deep sleep.

The raider holding the plank of wood looked to Splinter with the same, wicked grin. Chipped and yellowing teeth glinting in the sunlight. Another raider began to tug on her shackles, dragging her through the dirt, closer to the plank wielding bandit. Soon she was surrounded by filthy, deranged raiders, all smiling down at her.

“Soon,” Said the raider holding the wooden plank, “you will wake in Bloodfield and everything will be better.” He cackled. It haunted Splinter to her very bones. The sun stained air soon filled with the hideous laughter of the rest of the raiders, joining their friend. Cheering and whooping, waiting to see Splinter in pain for the fleeting moment before she felt to unconsciousness. The first raider raised his wooden plank, the end specked with blood from Splinter’s fallen friends. She closed her eyes tight and flinched as she heard the *Whoosh!* of wood swing through the air. She was in more pain than she had ever been in, but it only lasted a few seconds. The black of the inside of her eyelids began to swirl and spin with white spots forming like the birth of stars in a night sky before she fell into a deep and dreamless slumber.

The world was chaos. Mares and stallions wailed in pain and terror. Splinter didn’t know where she was. Columns of fire rained from the sky and scorched the earth. Armies of pegasi and earth ponies charged and slaughtered each other, no clear sides were taken. Glowing orbs were launched from one side of the battlefield to the other, exploding on impact, sending corpses and body parts flying in every direction. Splinter wanted to close her eyes, to hide, to get away, but she didn’t seem to have control of her body.

Something shifted amongst the corpses, something small, something that didn’t belong there. A young filly, no older than nine, stepped forth from the destruction. She was a pale red with a brown mane. Her eyes were a soft green, drowning in tears. She looked questioningly at Splinter like she needed help. Splinter tried to move, to hug the little filly, but once again she found her muscles resisting. The filly squeezed her eyes shut and screwed up her face. A light appeared around her forehead, upon which Splinter could now see a rounded horn, glowing with magic. The filly screamed, drowning out the sounds of war, her eyes glowing with a magenta light. Then everything went silent, and all that was left was the stars.

Splinter awoke to a swift kick to her stomach and a pain in the side of her head like it was about to split in half. Her eyes flicked open in shock as the wind knocked out of her.

"Get up!" A gravelly voice shouted above her, her eyes watered with pain as she clutched her head and stomach, not knowing which to give more attention to. She didn't recognize where she was. She laid on a filthy, thin mattress. The walls and ceiling were a dull gray, skewed black and brown in a few places. Dozens of other ponies were in this room as well, most wearing rags, laying on similar mattresses to Splinter's. A few ponies were wearing crude armor and holding spears using the same hooks screwed into their hoof. Splinter shuddered as she stood, the guard who had kicked her huffed and began kicking other ponies, rudely waking them from their few hours of peace every day.

"You will get dressed and get to work!" A guard pony shouted over the crowd of groaning slaves. "And for the newbies?" The guard looked around the room, looking to several ponies, two of which she recognized. Amongst the other newcomers, Splinter saw Barter, being kicked awake by the same guard who had kicked her. "You will be assigned personally by the captain!" After surveying the crowd for a few seconds, Splinter spotted Shield, sitting atop his own mattress.

His bandanna was missing, but what seemed to be a crudely ripped piece of cloth was tied over his mouth in its stead. It resembled a shabby, dirty medical mask, and for the first time, Splinter could see the parts of Shield's body that were normally covered by his clothes. His gray coat was spotted here and there with varying scars. Bullet wounds, cuts, and burns and as Splinter's eyes moved up Shield's body to his neck, the scars got more frequent. Specifically what seemed to be burn scars, all leading up to a large patch of missing fur just beneath his chin. The skin warped and blistered, and Splinter began to get a good idea as to what was under that scrappy piece of cloth over his muzzle.

Splinter looked down and began to examine her E.U.D when she noticed it was off. She began frantically pressing buttons and flipping switches. She tried tensing her muscles, trying to activate something, but to no avail. E.U.Ds don't just turn off. It's not in their programming. Somepony must have tampered with it. Splinter found herself filling with anger and confusion as the guard ponies began to march their prisoners, single file, out of the large holding room and out a large metal door.

She watched as pony after pony stood and began to mope their way into line. Shield stood and walked into line, quickly followed by Barter, who clutched his stomach with a hoof while he walked. Splinter quickly joined them, slipping behind Shield and in front of Barter. She leaned forward and tried to whisper as quietly as she could.

"Where are we?" Shield's ears twitched, but he didn't respond. Splinter began to turn her head back to Barter but stopped herself deciding it would bring too much attention. The line of ponies moved with purpose, being poked, prodded and yelled at by guards. Eventually, Splinter, Shield, and Barter passed through the metal doorway and into the eternal sunlight. They were in a town if you could call it that. Decrepit wooden shacks and huts surrounded them, some with multiple stories though they more closely resembled multiple worn down houses lazily stacked on top of each other. The absence of buildings made a road upon which the line of ponies was now standing. The three weary and pained partners soon joined them, facing three guards and one mare in particular who had an old battered helmet placed on her head through which Splinter could see the reflection of her own pained face. She looked like she had been dragged through the dirt.

"Listen up!" Shouted the helmeted mare despite the fact the captured crowd was already silent. "You are now slaves. I will not sugar coat this for you!" She began to pace, her yellow coat collecting dust as she walked. "In fact, you can expect no 'sugar' from this place." Down the line to the right of Splinter, somepony began sobbing. Splinter watched as everypony turned their head to look. A young mare with a baby blue coat and seafoam green mane had tears streaking down her cheeks. This mare, in particular, had several bruises and cuts on her face.

"Please," She stuttered, the fur beneath her eyes beginning to soak with salty tears. "Please, let me go." The guards acted almost instinctively. Two of the three moved around the sobbing mare and knocked her to the ground with a thud, kicking up dust where she fell. The helmeted mare walked forward, almost playfully slow.

"I was speaking," She growled. "You spineless bitch." She spun on her forehooves and delivered a powerful kick to the sobbing mare's stomach who slid a few inches across the dirt. "You'd do best to remain silent." The helmeted mare finished, punctuating her sentence by spitting on the poor mare's face.

"Get up." One of the guards grunted, shoving the baby blue pony onto her knees. From there she weakly got to her hooves and tried her best to ignore her tears, holding her head high.

"Now!" The yellow mare continued. "I don't want to hear any more complaining, you are as of now, citizens of Bloodfield, and nothing you say or do is going to change that." She resumed her pacing, up and down the line she went, looking each pony in the face, passing Splinter and her friends without a second glance. "My second in command here will assign you what will be your job for the remainder of your stay here." She lifted a hoof and gestured to the third guard who had yet to move. He was taller, better built. A short reddish mane sprouted from brown fur. He gazed up and down the line with hazel eyes.

"Sergeant Steel!" The mare shouted. The brown earth pony saluted in response. "Take over from here." Steel nodded, completed his salute, and stepped forward as the yellow mare walked down the road, away from the line of captured ponies.

"Alright," The brown sergeant began. "Every other pony step foreward, let's get this done."