Chapter Five: The Two Towers
Chapter Five: The Two Towers
"Whatever caused our fates to intertwine would never let them unravel."
Suddenly, the street around her was empty.
Eden paused with a forehoof raised and glanced around. The guards, the shopkeepers, the townsponies, they were all gone. The sound of wind whistling between the abandoned buildings lining the market brought more mist swirling inside, quickly obscuring most of the street from her view. Soon, she was alone and completely isolated, nothing but the encroaching fog visible around her.
“Hello?” she hesitantly called out, but her words were swallowed up by the mist.
She tried to charge her horn, cast a spell, or do anything to disperse the claustrophobic mist, but her body refused to obey. Her hooves were rooted to the worn bricks below, and her horn ignored her hails; all she could do was watch Oasis disappear until there was nothing but whiteness around her.
“You did this.”
While Eden’s voice was muffled and silenced by the mist, a new voice pierced through it as clear as if they were standing right next to her. It had no direction with which to track it, no emotion; it was as if it simply came to be inside her head.
“What?” Eden tried to respond, but when she opened her muzzle, mist flooded into her mouth and caused her to gag, retching up saliva and specks of blood onto the street below.
“You think we needed your help? Your presence has only made things worse! Now we’re all dead because of what you did.”
Dead? No, that can’t be. She helped the town drive off the attack… they were safe because of her! She was here to help… to save Equestria…
She tried to open her mouth to say as much, but all that came out were violent coughs that shook her whole body from the exertion.
She had helped in the defense, yes… but she hadn’t been able to save all of them. Two deaths, because she hadn’t been quick enough to react to the danger; one death, because her magic was too strained to protect the townsponies from the pukwudgies’ quills; and one death, because she cast a shield that the radamount could use to reach the upper parts of the wall. Their blood was on her hooves…
Once she was able to clear her windpipe of the invasive, poisonous air, Eden looked up into the deep mist to see dark shapes beginning to move, the fog swirling around their limbs as they shambled forward. As they got closer, she was able to make out familiar appearances. She saw three ponies practically torn to shreds by sharp claws, their internal organs spilled out of their chests and dragging across the ground as they stepped into view. Joining them was a mare with a pukwudgie’s quill stabbed through her forehead like a horn, her brain matter leaking down over her face and into her mouth. Each pony that came forward had more horrific injuries than the last, until a whole mob was standing before the frozen unicorn, who looked on in terror.
At the front of the group was Emerald Mirage, but she had a hole through her head, allowing Eden to see through it to the ponies on the other side. “You think you can come into my village and disrupt my life?”
“Tall Tale is our home. And I’ll be damned if I let an outsider try to tell me what to do!” snarled a zombie that vaguely resembled Bolt Action, but it was hard to tell under the massive, horrific burn wounds that covered his entire body. “I was perfectly happy before you and your friends ruined what I built!"
More and more accusations began to rise out of the assembled group until the chorus of voices was all she could hear, both a mess of jumbled words while simultaneously able to make out every single one.
“Stop!” Eden pleaded to anyone that would hear her. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
No one listened.
However, before her mind could crack under the unrelenting onslaught of stimuli, the whole crowd at once took in a sudden, shocked inhale of breath, creating a vacuum that almost sucked the air out of Eden’s muzzle. Their blank, soulless eyes all focused on something behind her; finding that her head was able to turn, Eden did so, and she gasped at what she saw.
Behind her stood a pony-shaped figure, completely shrouded in black save for the pointy tip of a horn poking out of its head. However, despite its featureless appearance, it looked familiar to Eden… she saw a mane and body shape just like it as she lay on the riverbank.
“HER,” the mob snarled in unison. “You’ve thrown your lot in with her?”
The silhouetted unicorn said nothing, but its horn began to glow with that brilliant white light, and the ground underneath Eden’s frozen hooves began to shudder. The brick-covered street grew cracks before splitting open into a yawning, cavernous crevice, swallowing the mob of townsponies as they tried to run. Eden tried to escape as well, but her muscles once again refused to answer… All she could do was stare at the mysterious unicorn’s blank face before plummeting down into the depths, where a nest of writhing tentacles was waiting to tear her into pieces.
Eden shot up in bed as her screaming continued into the waking world, nearly throwing her bedsheets off the mattress in the process. As usual, her scar felt like it was about to split her forehead into two, much like how the ground had opened up beneath her in her… dream. Or vision. And her terror had matted her sweaty fur to her body and left her shuddering.
More than anything, her whole body hurt. Her skin crawled, and when she ran a hoof through her fur, several strands of her papyrus-colored fluff came with it; her stomach ached and churned so much she couldn’t sit up straight without doubling back over in pain. She checked the status page of her PipBuck and winced; her trip out into the Ponget Sound had caused her to pick up a substantial amount of balefire radiation, and the flashing warning on the screen told her the side effects would not be pretty.
Eden reached down into her new saddlebags to pull out her second and final pack of radaway, which she had purchased before leaving Oasis yesterday. A quick cut from her combat knife opened the corner of the pouch so she could gulp down the citrus-flavored medicine with a shudder. It tasted awful, as usual, but it would keep her alive and healthy for now.
After laying back and letting the medicine work its magic for a few minutes, she finally felt good enough to sit up and take in her surroundings. She was in the motel room she had rented above the Fireside Taproom, which Emerald had pointed out to her during her tour of Oasis. It was a small place, with only the bed, a few dressers, and a large bucket filled with clean water from the town’s water talisman. No plumbing, no electricity. Nothing she wasn’t used to… even though her luxurious lifestyle as leader of New Pegas had softened her up a little.
One thing was out of place, however. Atop the dresser, next to her folded-up Stable barding, was a piece of paper that wasn’t there when she fell asleep. Odd… she hesitantly used her magic to levitate it over to the bed, pleased when her horn was able to accomplish the task.
Eden,
Welcome to Tall Tale. My apologies for not being there when you arrived. I would’ve preferred to welcome you personally, but unfortunately, more pressing matters have come up.
As I’m sure you’ve already noticed, this place is unlike anywhere else in Equestria. It’s nasty, it’s mean, it takes the weak and spits them out after grinding them to paste. I need to make sure you’re capable of handling it.
You’ll hear from me when you’re ready. Until then, make some allies. You’ll need them.
-S.G.
Eden flipped the paper over to make sure there was nothing on the back before reading it again. Were they serious? She risked her life to travel across the country to an unknown, hostile town, and the pony who called her here blew her off? She couldn’t help but let out a sharp, biting laugh that had no joy in it. This had to be a joke. Or a crank call.
But still… The horrors of the nightmare were still lingering in the dark corners of her cloudy mind. They were getting more frequent. More intense. And the creatures she had encountered here were undoubtedly dangerous. Who knew what kind of dangers lurked deeper into the sunken city, and what kind of threat they posed to Equestria at large? And with her way out of the city blocked off, she had no other choice but to play along.
After washing herself off and getting dressed, Eden stepped down the stairs and into the main room of the pub. It was small and open-air, and the cold wind blowing in from the street made her shiver. Maybe she needed to invest in a cloak as well, if she was going to be spending a lot of time in the mist and dreary rain.
A few ponies were starting their drinking early, sipping magically-conjured ale from carved wooden mugs; their conversations quieted to hushed whispers once Eden entered the room. Through the open wall, she could see the main street of Oasis bustling with activity; ponies were reverently moving dead bodies from the attack onto a small wagon, while others worked on repairing the front gates from the damage caused by claws and quills. Bolt Action was standing nearby with a group of ponies, holding a conversation in hushed whispers. Sapphira looked over the shattered mist condenser talisman with a worried look on her face, using her horn to rearrange the pieces. The kirin, Halcyon, was nowhere to be seen.
Eden’s attention was pulled away from the commotion of the street by the rumbling of her stomach; she hadn’t eaten anything since the night before her arrival. She stepped up to the bar with a yawn, prompting the owner to come up to greet her.
“Hello there, outsider. Sleep well?” Silver Shine asked as she used her magic to clean cups behind her.
“Very well, thank you,” Eden lied as the dream unwillingly replayed in her mind. “Thanks again for the room. Do you have anything to eat?”
“Nope, sorry, drinks only. The fisher’s bay has cooked seafood, or the general store has some scavenged items if you prefer pre-war food. Be prepared to pay up for it though, the stuff doesn’t come cheap.”
Eden thanked her before turning to leave, taking care to step between each of the small tables and not disturb any patrons with her saddlebags. However, something caught her eye when she looked up; there, sitting alone in the corner, was a cloaked stallion with an orange muzzle. The one that had paid for her revolver when Bolt Action had refused to give it to her. He had his hood pulled down now, so Eden could get a good look at his true appearance; his mane was the beautiful blue color of pure, uncontaminated tropical water, something she had only seen in pictures and memory orbs, and his green eyes were staring right at her over the lip of his mug. At one time, he was probably very handsome... but now, he was at least 20 years her senior.
Her hunger momentarily forgotten, Eden diverted course to the corner of the pub and stopped in front of his table, her magic pulling a sack of her newly-acquired caps out of her saddlebags and placing it in front of him. “Here.”
The stallion silently regarded her, then the sack, before slowly nudging it back towards her with a hoof. “Keep it.”
“I need to pay you back,” Eden insisted, using her magic to push the caps right back to their previous position.
“I have no need for caps anymore. You’ll put them to better use than I will.”
“Let me get you another drink then,” Eden said as she floated a few of the caps out, levitating them all the way to the bar. “Uh, Silver Shine? Another of the same, please?”
The stallion snorted as a new mug arrived via telekinesis. “Not getting one for yourself?”
“I don’t drink.”
“Hah. A couple days in this town will have you rethinking that policy.”
Eden fell silent as she put her caps back, before taking a seat across from him. “Why did you help me?”
The stallion regarded her with an annoyed glint in his green eyes before taking a sip from his new mug. “I couldn’t let a mare like you run off into this hellhole of a city unarmed, could I?”
“Out of the kindness of your heart, then? Odd. That doesn’t seem to be a very common trait around here.”
“It didn’t always used to be this way. The harsh environment has hardened the hearts of many of the ponies around here, but I’m old enough to remember when things were better. I’m an artifact of a time gone by.”
“Who are you, then?”
“Name’s Ridgeline. Used to make a living running townsponies and outsiders alike through the mist… but business has long since dried up, as I’m sure you can tell.”
“Must’ve been a lucrative job, if you can afford throwing caps away on a mare you’ve never seen before.”
“Back in this town’s heyday, Tall Tale was a goldmine for scavengers trying to get access to all the supplies untouched by the megaspell explosions. And trying to get through the mist on your own is a death sentence. So they all came to me.”
“What even is this mist anyway? Everyone here talks about it like it’s the boogeymare, hiding in the shadows, ready to snatch you up if you dare utter its name.”
Ridgeline fell silent for a few moments, idly swirling the contents of his mug. “It rolls off the mountains and hangs over the city like a blanket. It comes and goes like the tide, swelling and receding, but always present. It ain’t nothing like the fog you’re probably used to. This mist... it ain’t normal. It twists the mind, corrupts it. The weak-willed fall prey to it first, but stick around long enough and it gets to everyone.”
“I won’t let it get to me,” Eden insisted. But will I? History of drug addiction, traumatic brain injury... my mind isn’t the strongest.
Ridgeline laughed with a sharp, bitter tone. “An outsider’s foolishness is never matched. I’ve seen the strongest, hardiest stallions I’ve ever met crumble under the influence of the mist. They got confident, greedy… the mist melted their minds. Now, no one within their right mind strays beyond the safety of the condensers if they don’t have to. And good riddance to that. Seen enough ponies driven mad to last me a lifetime.”
“If you’ve been traveling through the mist for such a long time… why didn’t you go crazy?”
“Why do you think I stopped?”
Eden saw the distant glimmer in Ridgeline’s eyes and knew the question was a rhetorical one. Her eyes drifted to look over his shoulder at the city beyond, shrouded in fog.
“Right now, the mist is as intrusive as it's ever been,” Ridgeline continued. “Which makes the appearance of an outsider like you even more remarkable. How in Celestia’s name did you make it past the Mirelurk Queen, through the mist, and to our town in one piece?”
“I almost didn’t,” Eden admitted. “The Mirelurk Queen ambushed me at the riverbank, nearly killed me without even trying… but someone saved me. Another pony. Used their horn to scare the creature off, but they were gone before I could see who they were.”
“Ah. The mare in the mist,” Ridgeline remarked nonchalantly.
Eden blinked. “Wait. You know them?”
“Know of her, aye. You were lucky. She doesn't make an appearance when she doesn't have to.”
“Who is she then? Is she an Oasis townspony? One of the… trappers?”
“Neither. She just stands and watches from within the mist, too far away to see clearly… always disappears when you try to move in for a better look. A few of the other old timers say she’s a ghost, or a hallucination of the mist, but I’ve seen enough of both to know that’s not the case. She’s probably the last sane pony left outside this town… and who knows how she’s stayed that way.”
“If she’s as sane as you say… could she be the source of the letter?”
“Letter? What letter?”
“Oh, right…” Eden fished the container out of her breast pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper. “The whole reason I came here in the first place. Someone with the initials S.G. sent this, told me that the whole world was in danger and that they needed my help.”
Ridgeline shrugged. “Could be. Certainly wasn’t anyone from this town, and it’s not like there’s a surplus of ponies still able to write a letter around these parts. Haven't heard anything about this ‘world-ending danger’ neither. But the mare in the mist isn’t someone you go out and track down; trust me, I’ve tried. If she’s really the one who brought you here, then you gotta wait for her to come to you.”
“Lovely. Guess I’ll have to spend Faust knows how long in this rundown town, waiting for a mare who may or may not exist,” Eden groaned in disappointment as she slumped in her chair.
“Hah,” Ridgeline snorted as he took another sip from his mug. “Have you reconsidered your stance on drinking yet?”
“Nope. But it’s tempting.”
“Lighten up, missy. This town isn’t all bad. A lot quieter around here lately, but livable, if you ignore the sour moods of every one of us. It's not easy to be in good spirits when you live in a place as hostile as this; I’m sure you understand.”
Eden quickly sat back up, a confused look on her face. “Quieter?”
“Ever since slavers took over the northern passage and the Mirelurk Queen took up residence in the south, the supply of outsiders moving in has completely dried up. So with every attack the mist throws at us, our numbers dwindle lower and lower. Just last week, trappers foalnapped a group of townsponies that we still haven’t managed to get back… and there’s the ones that were killed in the attack last night, of course.”
“Wait… haven’t managed to get back? So they’re still out there? What are you waiting for?” Eden exclaimed in disbelief.
“You think we didn’t try?” Ridgeline retorted. “The rescue team got slaughtered; less than half of them managed to make it back. The trappers at the Tower are dug in too well, and we’re too busy licking our wounds to stage another attack… Who knows if they’re even still alive at this point.”
Ridgeline leaned forward after a few seconds of uneasy silence. “And you wanna know a secret? Most of the foalnapped ponies are kirin… so most around here aren’t too motivated to get them back.”
Right. That.
“As we lay the valiant dead to rest, their sacrifices will not be forgotten. May their souls be granted safe passage to Celestia and Luna above.”
Four bodies in total; the rest were too desecrated to salvage, or unable to be recovered at all. They were laid atop a makeshift raft made of pieced-together flotsam, resting on a dock on the waterfront Eden had cleared of mist ghouls the night before. The whole town was present and watching solemnly, though at least a quarter of them were on the lookout for anything hostile; you could never let your guard down in Tall Tale.
Emerald finished her prayer before beckoning to the crowd, and forward stepped a stallion with a burning torch floating in his magic. He gingerly set each corner of the wooden raft on fire before placing the torch inside with the bodies. Next, he used his magic to lift the raft off the dock and into the murky waters below, and Emerald stepped forward to give it a little push, sending the makeshift pyre slowly out into the open water.
The concrete jungle they lived in and the wet swamplands surrounding meant that there was no good place to bury bodies, Ridgeline had explained. So this was the next best thing.
The entire town stood in silence as they watched the fire slowly consume the raft and the bodies inside, the pyre soon becoming the lone bright spot in the dark waters and the ever-present mist surrounding. Then, slowly, the pyre began to break apart into ashes, crumbling into the depths and out of sight.
One by one, the observing townsponies turned to leave, silently trudging back to the safety of their walled settlement. And when Ridgeline turned, Eden was right alongside him the whole way.
“I’m going to save those foalnapped ponies. And I want you to take me to them,” Eden said.
Ridgeline threw his head back with a whinny of shocked disbelief. “Nonsense.”
“I'm not joking.”
“Didn’t I tell you I’m retired? I’ve done my fair share of running outsiders to their deaths.”
“Then I guess I’ll go by myself. But something tells me you won’t let that happen.”
Ridgeline glanced down at her for a second before rolling his eyes. “Why do you even care? You’re an outsider. You’ve been here a day. You should be drinking yourself back sober and complaining about the rain.”
“I want to… make amends for what happened during the attack last night,” Eden replied as she glanced down at her hooves. “Make a good impression around here.”
“What happened last night wasn’t your fault. Hell, you saved lives,” Ridgeline said, his voice taking on a surprisingly soft tone.
“Is trading one pony for another really saving a life?”
Ridgeline flinched away from the look in Eden’s eyes. “What do you think you’ll accomplish? A whole group of townsponies couldn’t free them. You’re just one inexperienced mare.”
“I can handle myself in a firefight just fine. I just need someone to get me there. Are you in?”
Ridgeline glanced both ways before coming to a stop, a hoof pressed against Eden’s chest as he leaned in closer. “If we’re gonna do this, you need to understand the rules of the mist. Rule one, you follow every order to the letter, and you never question an order, no matter how strange it may sound. Rule two, you never obey or answer any voice but mine. Rule three, you never deviate from the route. You break any of those rules, I march you straight back to Oasis and lock you in your room for your own good. Am I clear?”
Eden nodded. “Crystal.”
The front gates of Oasis slowly swung open, revealing Eden and Ridgeline saddled up and ready to go. Eden wore all her gear from the assault last night; Ridgeline wore a battle saddle made from makeshift steel, with an odd rifle attached to the side that looked like it was mostly made of wood.
Eden’s saddlebags were a few pounds heavier with the addition of two health potions and a pack of radaway, but it was almost evened out by the number of caps it took to buy them. Dear Faust, was everything in that store expensive, the potions especially so. Ridgeline had explained that due to the dangers of scavenging in this city, along with the constant fighting the town had to undergo, healing items were always at a premium. She just hoped she didn’t have to use many of the things, or she’d be out of caps very quickly.
“The Tower is in the part of town where the mist is the thickest, so a lot of nasty things like to hang out there. You remember the rules?” Ridgeline asked.
“One: obey every order. Two: never obey an order that isn’t directly from you. Three: never deviate.” Eden replied.
Ridgeline nodded. “Walking through the mist is a fine line. Push it away, and you’ll get lost in it. Lean into it too much, and it’ll break your mind. Just follow my lead, and you might make it out of this alive.”
He closed his eyes and tilted his chin up slightly as if he was smelling the mist-filled air, his ears occasionally twitching and flicking along with his tail. After a few seconds, his eyes sprung back open, immediately focusing on the road north.
“This way. Follow me.” And then he was gone.
Eden raised an eyebrow, but she said nothing of it as she fell in behind Ridgeline, sticking so close that her muzzle was only a few inches from his blue tail.
There was no echo to their hoofbeats as they stalked through the city streets, the mist surrounding them quickly muffling any noises they gave off. It was an odd kind of quiet, one that caused Eden’s ears to ring and the voices in her head to increase tenfold. She made sure her combat rifle was correctly loaded before focusing all her attention on Ridgeline; E.F.S. would be no use to her here.
“Where do you think you’re from, outsider, that you feel confident enough to take on an entire group of trappers by yourself?” Ridgeline asked idly as they walked, his voice piercing the otherwise oppressive quiet and making Eden flinch.
“I’m from beyond the southern borders of Equestria. A place called the Badlands,” Eden replied.
“Sounds lovely.” Ridgeline’s words were dripping with sarcasm.
“Not the word I would use. It’s practically the opposite of this place,” Eden said as her eyes glazed over, memories flooding back to her as she spoke about them. “Barren, no rain, ramshackle huts, nothing but sand for miles… The abundance of things trying to kill me feels pretty familiar though. And the cranky locals.”
“What brought you to Equestria then?”
Eden paused. “A… lot of things. Not many of them particularly pleasant.”
“Yet here you are, here to save the world on a mystery mare’s whim…” Ridgeline whinnied in amusement.
“Yeah, not my best plan. But it just felt right. Y’know?”
“Sometimes, our gut instinct is all we can trust in this world. You’ll get no quarrel from me.”
Interesting. Eden couldn’t get a read on Ridgeline, no matter how much they talked. Sometimes he was scornful and demeaning, and sometimes he was understanding and strangely insightful, without rhyme or reason to what he would be next. It's like he was stuck somewhere between the bitter, cynical attitude of many of the Oasis residents, and the bright, optimistic view of Captain Emerald. The dangers of Tall Tale had undoubtedly changed him like it did for many of Oasis’s citizens, but it felt like he was still trying to cling to his sense of chivalry, given how he’d bought her first weapon for her and was now leading her off on an impromptu rescue mission.
“What about you? Where are you from?” Eden asked, trying to turn the subject of the conversation to him.
“Born here, raised here, probably going to die here. Never seen anything but the mist and the tall buildings trying to pierce through the top of it.”
Eden blinked. “Seriously? You’ve never left?”
“Never had a reason to. And now I don’t have a choice, given that both ways out of the city are cut off,” Ridgeline glanced back at her. “Why? Does that surprise you?”
“There’s just… so much more to see in the world besides white and gray…” Eden trailed off.
“The whole country was bombed to hell and back. I’m sure I’m not missing out on any beautiful scenery out there,” Ridgeline snorted.
“There’s a certain beauty in everything if you know where to look… how to look at it the right way. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a place with nothing but dirt, sand, and clouds for miles, but the diversity of the world is so incredible to see.”
“Maybe once you find your mysterious mare and save that precious world of yours, I’ll be able to see it for myself.”
“Yeah, maybe…” Eden said, and the two travelers fell into silence as they continued into the mist.
The longer they walked, the louder the voices became.
Eden rubbed at her ears with a hoof, but nothing made them go away. Her eyes began to drift away from Ridgeline and to the mist surrounding them, trying to find the source of the noises, but there was nothing to see but endless amounts of white and gray, along with the towering silhouettes clawing their way out of the mist to scrape the skies above. A fact she was so focused on, that when Ridgeline suddenly slammed on the brakes, she bumped right into his rear with a squeak.
“Ow,” Eden groaned as she raised a hoof to rub at her nose.
“Shh…” Ridgeline whispered. “Keep your voice down, outsider… unless you feel like cutting your journey short.”
Her rubbing hoof quickly slid down to cover her mouth and stifle a gasp as she saw what Ridgeline was referring to. The street in front of them had been completely enveloped in mist, thicker than any patch Eden had seen so far; it looked so dense that she reckoned she wouldn’t be able to see the hoof in front of her face if she walked into it. However, it wasn’t just the mist that had caught Ridgeline’s eye.
The mist rolled and churned with the movements of something inside. Something big… and multiple things. She could occasionally make out a spiked tail, a fur-covered leg, a glowing yellow eye… along with feral snarls that made the hair on her neck stand up. It was a full pack of mutated freaks, all centered in the middle of this city block. Luckily, the mist seemed so thick that they couldn’t see out of it, so the two traveling ponies were undetected so far.
“This way. There’s a way around,” Ridgeline whispered, tilting his head to show her before stalking off.
Eden followed close behind again, but this time paying close attention to where she placed her hooves to make sure they didn’t clop against the pavement too loudly. The two ponies quietly made their way to the next street over and ducked into a small, sheltered alleyway, where the enclosed quarters kept out a lot of the mist and allowed them to traverse through more easily.
“What was that?” Eden asked as soon as she felt they were far enough away.
“Mist creatures. The thicker the mist, the more horrors it attracts. And we’re heading into one of the thickest parts of the city. We need to move cautiously,” Ridgeline answered.
“How do the trappers survive here, among all these hostile creatures?”
“Trappers are ponies whose minds have been broken by the mist. In a way, they’re no different than the mutated freaks that scurry in the gutters. They’ll still try to kill each other occasionally, sure, but there’s a shared devotion to the mist that overrides that animalistic urge. To them, the mist is a gift. It’s all that matters.”
“So, the mist isn’t just an environmental hazard, then, it’s a deity now? Why didn’t I get that in my history lesson earlier?”
“Ponies worship strange things when their minds are shattered. Are you any different?”
Eden just scowled and idly rubbed at her scar with a hoof.
“Besides, even if the trappers and the horrors did want to kill each other, they’d have a hard time getting to them up there,” Ridgeline said as he stepped out of the alleyway, pointing a hoof up into the sky as he did.
As Eden stepped out behind him, she glanced up to see what he was referring to. The Tower now towered up above them, closer than Eden had ever been, allowing her to take in all its strange, atypical beauty. It really did look like her home back in New Pegas, the High Roller Casino, with its slim base leading up to a bulbous head, looking almost like a flying saucer from strange alien books she read as a filly. However, this one looked… older, in a way, with less of the flashy lights and frills that New Pegas was known for. It was also made of steel, not the strange cloud-hybrid materials much of New Pegas was built from, yet it remained defiant to the passing of time; no wear or rust was noticeable anywhere along its frame.
The most notable feature wasn’t even a part of the Tower itself. As she had noticed on the way into the city, the region’s S.P.P. tower was no longer standing upright; something had knocked it over, but rather than collapsing completely to the ground, the tip had landed on top of the Tower’s spire and remained suspended above the ground… though it was now nearly perpendicular to it. It was a miracle that the impact didn’t immediately topple the Tower, but it had withstood it without much damage at all. Now the two towers remained locked together hundreds of hooflengths above them.
“...The hostages are up top as well?” Eden asked.
“It’s where I’d put them,” Ridgeline said. “The only way up is the elevator at the base, and it’s always heavily guarded. It’ll be quite the fight, outsider.”
“Fighting I can do. All this stuff with the mist… not so much.”
“How many?” Eden asked.
“I see twelve in the lobby right now,” Ridgeline answered as he peered through the scope of his rifle. “Could be more hidden around the other side. Can’t tell from this angle.”
The two of them were perched atop one of the buildings flanking the base of the Tower, with Ridgeline scouring the place while Eden looked on. Her combat rifle had only its iron sights, and her binoculars were lost in the river along with the rest of her supplies, so she was of no help at the moment.
The base of the Tower was a circular structure ringed entirely with glass, with several of the panes cracked or outright broken in the years since the War. Through those cracks and gaps, the ever-present mist leaked in, obscuring the inhabitants inside as they loitered around. They were only little dots to Eden’s eyes from this distance, so she relied on Ridgeline to tell her everything she needed to know.
“We don’t want them ambushing us once we clear out the lobby… so we’ll need to draw them out first. Get them all out in the open so we can take them all out at once,” Eden said.
Ridgeline glanced over at her. “And how do you plan on doing that?”
“I can sneak down there, cause a distraction to bring them all out into the open. You stay up here and pick them off while I mop up the rest.”
Ridgeline snorted. “If your idea of sneaking is being as loud as you were on the journey here, you won’t be sneaking anywhere near those trappers. They’re former hunters, and the mist hasn’t robbed them of all their senses yet… Otherwise. they’d be part of the ghoul packs roaming the coast.”
“I learned a thing or two about sneaking in the Badlands. I can handle myself.”
“Alright, fine. How do you plan on creating a distraction?”
“I have one more metal apple left. As well as a couple of these…” Eden said as she floated one of the special, slender canisters out of her saddlebags. “Not sure what they are though.”
“Ah. Incendiary grenades. Portable magefire.”
“Magefire… now that sounds like it would make a pretty good distraction.”
“As well as burn away the mist in the area, which would be very useful for us. Just don’t be too close when it pops.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just be ready to start shooting once the trappers come running.”
Ridgeline nodded, and Eden got up from their hiding spot. She quickly retreated to the fire escape which had provided them access to the roof and made her way down, the old black metal rattling under her hooves until she reached the ground. Despite Ridgeline’s warning that the Tower was in the most dangerous, mist-infested part of town, there didn’t seem to be many creatures around the base of it. Perhaps they steered clear of the trappers who inhabited it, or the trappers made frequent hunting trips to keep the area clear.
This area of town also seemed to be the busiest section during pre-war times as well, given by the amount of abandoned and rusted carriages that littered the roads leading up to the entrance; Eden used them as cover as she slowly made her way towards the tower, combat rifle floating by her side. She activated her E.F.S. as she walked; at first, the mist blocked her from detecting anything, but as she crept closer to the base, red dots began to appear… followed by yellow ones as well. The captured townsponies? Unfortunately, E.F.S. couldn’t differentiate between differences in altitude, so she was unable to determine if the hostages were in the lower level as well… or hundreds of hooflengths above her at the top.
As she got closer, she was able to see the occupants of the Tower in the lobby. They looked a lot like the raiders she had encountered in the Smokey Mountains, with the weird, makeshift metal armor covering their scar-riddled bodies. However, unlike the raiders on her journey here, these scars seemed to be fully deliberate, as each one formed the shape of strange sigils that had no meaning to Eden. Maybe they had no meaning to anyone but the ones driven mad by the mist.
The trappers were scattered around the lobby, fiddling with their weapons, or fidgeting uncontrollably in place while staring at nothing. Some of them still had the blood of their victims splattered across their fur, with seemingly no desire to wash it out; the bodies of those victims were strung up along the main entrance, most likely as a warning for would-be attackers to stay away. One of those desecrated bodies looked a lot like Halcyon, the kirin from Oasis; he had the same curved horn, the same cloven hooves, the same scales covering his back and muzzle. The trappers had mutilated him almost beyond recognition.
Eden grimaced and floated one of the magefire canisters out of her saddlebags to look it over. It was shaped much like the other metal apples that acted as explosives during the war, with the stripe of color denoting its type and purpose as incendiary. With a deep breath, she pulled the pin and flung it towards the trappers with her magic, sending the grenade through one of the missing panes of glass so it skittered across the lobby floor. Then, it erupted.
Blue flame splashed across the tiled floor and spread like it was covered in gasoline, consuming an area the size of three ponies in an instant. One trapper was caught in the inferno and fell to the ground screaming, but no amount of flailing or rolling was able to extinguish the magical fire. The others closest to the eruption first leapt away in shock, then hooted out cries of alarm and warning to the others in the building.
“Fire! Fire!” one of them yelled out in a guttural tone that sounded almost inpony. “It will destroy the Mist! Bring help!”
More trappers rushed forward from the other parts of the lobby and the gift shop, some of them carrying buckets of water to throw onto the raging blue inferno, but it had no effect on the magefire. Then, the flames flashed to a green color, and suddenly erupted a second time, expanding to a size twice as large as it had previously been… and consuming all the trappers surrounding it that thought they were standing a safe distance away.
The primal screams of pain and horror made Eden cringe in her hiding spot, and she had to force herself to resist the urge to cover her ears with her hooves. Instead, she floated her combat rifle to rest on the hood of the carriage she hid behind, taking aim at the trappers the fire didn’t catch. One of the ponies, a mare, spun around to look for the source of the attack, and she and Eden made eye contact for a brief moment. The rage, fear, and desire that clouded her milky eyes filled Eden’s chest with dread, like a vice tightening around her heart. It was like this pony wasn’t a pony anymore. She had been reduced to nothing more than an animal.
One pull of the trigger on her combat rifle reduced her to nothing more than a lifeless body on the burning floor.
She watched a bullet rip through the shoulder of a panicked trapper as he tried to extinguish himself, followed a split-second later by the report from Ridgeline’s rifle. He fell forward into the inferno without a sound, engulfing his body and cremating it within seconds. Ridgeline was an excellent shot if he was hitting targets from that far away; it suddenly made Eden self-conscious of her own efforts.
As Eden and Ridgeline fired on the trappers, a loud ringing sound filled the lobby of the Tower, and billowing black clouds began to cover the roof before raining water onto the magefire, successfully dampening the flames. And once all the trappers were unmoving on the floor, the inferno was extinguished, causing the clouds to roll back to where they came from with a low rumble of thunder.
“That was a damn good distraction, outsider,” Ridgeline remarked as he and Eden stepped past the scorched floor that denoted the origin of the magefire. “Did most of the work for us too, which is always a good thing.”
“Yeah…” Eden muttered in response. “That second wave… was it triggered by the water the trappers poured on it? Or does it always do that?”
“A timer. Really nasty piece of magical engineering, those things. Starts out small and draws ponies in trying to put it out before activating the big eruption. Luckily, it flashes green right before it does, so you have some warning… but it’s best to stay as far away as you can. Let it run its course. If it has grabbed something or someone, it's already too late for them.”
Eden frowned as she stepped over the charred remains of a trapper. The blue, then green-hued flames reminded her of balefire, making her think this was a zebra development… but it was compacted and shipped in the metal apple design of the Equestrian military. Perhaps this was one of the many zebra technologies that was reverse-engineered by ponies as the war progressed.
Once in the middle of the lobby, Ridgeline closed his eyes and went through his air-sniffing, tail-twitching routine once again, which Eden watched with a quizzical look and a tilted head.
“Only way up is the elevators,” Ridgeline said after a moment, nodding towards the tall stalk in the middle of the room. “Hopefully one of them works.”
There seemed to be a car on either side of the shaft, but one was stuck halfway up, burnt out and ripped apart by an ancient explosion that left it unusable. The other was docked up at the top, and when Eden stepped forward to press the call button, nothing happened.
“Damn. They must’ve disconnected the power from up there when they heard the gunfire,” Ridgeline hissed.
“And there has to be something around here that can reactivate it,” Eden replied. “I’ll check this side.”
The two split up, and Eden went straight for the source that seemed most likely to be useful: the Stable-Tech terminal that sat on the reception desk near the entrance. It was protected by a password, so Eden floated the PipBuck interface tools out of her saddlebags to connect the arm-mounted device to the terminal. Luckily for her, there wasn't much worth protecting on such a simple, mundane terminal, so the encryption was very weak, allowing her to view the contents in just a few seconds.
Lunar Monument
Lobby Reception Terminal> Welcome Message
[ATTENTION EMPLOYEES: This spiel must be given at the beginning of every tour group visit. Be sure to downplay the dangers of visiting the Monument and the low odds of being involved in a Zebra terrorist attack when asked. Also, DO NOT read this part out loud.]Welcome to the Lunar Monument! This towering structure was built to celebrate the defeat of Nightmare Moon and the return of Princess Luna from the moon after her millennium of banishment. The slender, needle-like design was developed as a tribute to Princess Luna’s time on the moon, with the tip pointing up into the night sky and scraping the stars. The times of the year when the moon lines up perfectly with the tip of the Monument are a special holiday in Tall Tale! On these days, a powerful spotlight shoots up into the sky, creating a tunnel of light that represents Luna descending from the moon down to Equestria.
Unfortunately, due to Tall Tale’s relatively close proximity to the Zebra Kingdom compared to the rest of Equestria, as well as the Monument’s symbolic ties to Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna, the Monument has been on the receiving end of some cowardly attacks from zebras and zebra sympathizers over the years. However, the odds of such an attack occurring are extremely low, and your safety is our number one priority. The Lunar Monument is equipped with state-of-the-art defense systems and is under constant watch to keep you safe.
The lower floor contains the Lunar Monument’s gift shop, as well as the entrance to the elevator when you’re ready to make your way up. The upper floor contains Tall Tale’s finest restaurant, the Mile High Club, as well as an observation deck providing 360-degree views of the entire city. Whenever you’re ready to make the ascent, our two main elevators will take you up to the top. Just join any line!
[Pegasi are not allowed to make the journey up to the top on their own. Failure to comply will result in arrest and prosecution.]
“Hey, there’s a safe over here,” Ridgeline interrupted. “Locked with a numerical code. Doesn’t look like anyone’s been inside in a while.”
Eden glanced up from the screen to see Ridgeline poking his head out of the Employees-Only area. “Can you pick the lock?
“Nope, my hooves are a little too big and clumsy for that. Can you?”
“No, sorry. We’ll have to find the code, I’m sure it’s written down somewhere,” Eden said as she looked back down at the terminal screen.
Ridgeline paused. “Wait. You can’t pick locks?”
Eden sighed and looked back up. “Why’s that a surprise?”
“Well, I always thought that was a unicorn’s thing. Magic makes it easy.”
“Well… I used to be able to. But then…” Eden pointed to the scar on her forehead. “I don’t have the fine magic control to be able to do it anymore.”
“Ah,” Ridgeline nodded reverently. “I’ll keep looking.”
Eden nodded in return before turning her attention back to the terminal, clicking down to the next page.
> Incident Reports
[07.02.1226] AUTOMATED: FIRE DETECTED IN LOBBY. ALARM SOUNDED; SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS DEPLOYED. FIRE DEPARTMENT CONTACTED: NO RESPONSE.[10.17.1024] Another suicide bombing. The zebra suspect managed to get into the south elevator and halfway up the shaft before they were noticed and reported by the operator. When the elevator was shut down, the suspect detonated their explosives rather than be captured. 14 visitors in the elevator with them were killed; more importantly, we’ll be down to only one elevator until the replacement comes in. At least peak tourism season is over.
[10.03.1024] A zebra sympathizer came in and started shooting up the lobby indiscriminately before the guards could subdue him. Luckily, the terminal wasn’t hit… but some of the merchandise will have to be replaced. Along with a couple of the staff.
[09.22.1024] Some idiot tried to plant an explosive on one of the legs of the Monument and topple the whole thing. The bomb was so strong it probably killed the operator after they stepped back, but the Monument barely shuddered. Looks like that magically-reinforced steel paid off. Scrubbing the explosive residue out of the pavement will be a pain though.
[09.19.1024] Another zebra with an invisibility fetish tried to sneak through the front door, but one of the guards noticed the wet hoofprints they were leaving behind from the rain outside. They were killed before they could deploy whatever they were planning on activating; it looks like a talisman of sorts, and it occasionally leaks out pink smoke that smells absolutely horrendous. Some Ministry punks investigating the scene took it away. It’s just a good thing it wasn’t used; we probably would’ve had to shut down for the day.
> Display Older Entries?
Eden shook her head instinctively and clicked to the next page.
> Internal Messages
>> [STICKIED: Emergency Protocol]
In the unlikely event of a zebra attack on the Lunar Monument, all staff members should follow this strict protocol for ensuring the safety and continued operation of the site. Failure to do so may result in termination.
1. Ensure the security and stability of the Monument’s structure.
2. Secure and protect any important equipment in your area. Terminals and other arcane technology are of highest priority, merchandise less so.
3. Assist visitors only when previous objectives are fulfilled.
These rules are designed to ensure the profitability and stability of the Lunar Monument in the short and long term. Please ask a manager for any questions or clarifications to this protocol.>> A.K. Yearling Visit
To all employees working Tuesday: A.K. Yearling just moved into town, and now she’s doing a press tour of all the town’s landmarks. Which means she’ll be coming to the Monument next. Her arrival has whipped the press into a frenzy, so this place will probably be packed with cameras and reporters when she visits. I don’t want them to be able to notice ANYTHING suspicious or out of the ordinary. Everyone needs to be on their best behavior. We’ll also be doubling the guard in case the zebras try anything, but remember: the Monument and its infrastructure always comes first, no matter how famous the tourist is. Good luck.>> RE: A.K. Yearling Visit
Everything went swimmingly. Old hag just came in, sniffed the merchandise for a bit, posed for a few pictures, then was gone. However, she did give us a signed copy of one of her books or whatever; it looks like it’s for fillies, so I just stuck it in the employee safe for you upper management ponies to deal with however you see fit. The code is 1738, remember; I’m not opening it for you idiots again.
“I’ve got it,” Eden called out. “1738.”
“Sweet. I’ll open it,” Ridgeline replied as he ducked back into the room.
While Ridgeline was busy fiddling with the lock in the other room, Eden turned her attention to the last entry in the terminal’s menu.
>System Control
>> Lights: ON
>> Automated Doors: ON
>> Elevators: OFF
>> Fire Suppression System: ON
She selected the elevator option and squeed when the terminal displayed a success message. And when she looked up, she could see that the call button for the elevator was now glowing white and ready to be used.
When Eden stepped away from the terminal, Ridgeline emerged from the Employees-Only Area at the same time, cradling something in a hoof.
“Nothing but paycheck stubs and performance reports,” Ridgeline said with a disappointed tone to his gravelly voice. “But it did have this, which looked interesting.”
He held out what he was holding: a green hardcover book with the title reading Daring Do and the Rout of the Sanctimonious Spies. Below it was a picture of the adventure hero fighting off a group of zebras armed with various magic fetishes disguising them as normal ponies, though some of it was covered by the long, sprawling autograph of the author, A.K. Yearling. The copy they had talked about in the terminal entry.
When Ridgeline handed it to her, she felt a surge of energy shoot through her unexpectedly; much like what she had felt in the bookstore when she first arrived. However, instead of feeling stronger, she felt… clearer. She was able to notice each crinkle and crease in the book in her hooves, as well as the grit scattered across the floor, the blood splattered across the walls. She could hear the hum of the electricity surging through the elevator stalk, the droplets of rain starting to patter against the room above and the pavement outside. Each sensation coated her mind with fresh splashes of bright color.
“Mind if I keep it?” Eden asked softly, as if any louder would damage her now-sensitive ears.
“Not at all. Reading was never my strong suit,” Ridgeline shrugged. “Did you get the elevator working?”
Eden nodded as she floated out the waterproof container to slide the book inside with the other. “Be my guest.”
Ridgeline quickly pressed the call button before backpedaling away to a safe distance, prompting Eden to do the same. “Who knows what kind of traps they put in that thing. We have to be careful—”
Suddenly, he was interrupted by a loud explosion from above, and they looked up to see a fireball engulf the top of the elevator car, followed by the twang of metal cords snapping. The car quickly began to freefall down to earth, and Eden once again found herself being tackled to the ground by Ridgeline as the elevator smashed into the lobby in a spray of splintered steel and shattered glass.
Eden yelped as she was pinned underneath Ridgeline’s body weight for the second time in as many days, but she waited until the noise died down to say anything. “Are you okay?”
Ridgeline paused for a second to assess before nodding. “Yeah. You?”
“Fine enough,” Eden winced as she rubbed at her ear; why couldn’t all this commotion have happened after she touched the weird, perception-amplifying book? “What was that?”
“They severed the cords,” Ridgeline replied as he climbed off her. “If shutting it down wouldn’t work, then blowing it up sure would.”
“But now they won’t be able to get back down!” Eden exclaimed as she jumped back to her hooves.
“And more importantly to them, we won’t be able to get up there. They’re like animals, it’s hard for them to think of any long-term consequences beyond the here and now.”
“So… we failed then? The hostages are stuck up there forever now?”
Ridgeline opened his mouth, but he paused. His ear twitched, followed by a hind leg, and he turned his head to glance out the shattered window. “Actually… there may be another way. But you’re not going to like it.”
“If it can help us get those ponies back, then I’m all for it,” Eden replied confidently. “Show me.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Eden stared up at the gigantic base of the S.P.P. tower above her… the one that had been uprooted by some terrifying force of nature. It now lay at an incline above her, pointed towards the Ponget Sound and the western horizon beyond, but it had been stopped from falling completely to the earth by the bulbous spire atop the Lunar Monument, where the tip now rested.
“I said you weren’t going to like it,” Ridgeline said with a grin.
“But… this is crazy. We’ll be completely exposed on the hike up, and this rain will make the whole thing slippery. We’ll be lucky if we make it up there without falling off, much less without being shot.”
“And as of right now, it’s our only way up to the hostages. Unless you’ve suddenly made friends with a pegasus,” Ridgeline glanced around with a chuckle before leaning in closer. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold hooves now, outsider~”
Eden stiffened her lower lip. “We’ve come this far. We have to finish the job. Let’s get climbing.”
The sheer size of the S.P.P. tower made scaling the base impossible, but luckily for the two ponies, there was another way. When the tower had originally fallen, it had cleaved a nearby building in two, and it was still perched between the two halves. By climbing the stairway up to the roof of one of them, Eden and Ridgeline were able to jump on top of the white tower and begin their ascent towards the Lunar Monument’s upper level.
The overcast clouds above had finally let loose a drizzle of rain on their hike to the S.P.P. tower’s base, and while it had washed away some of the mist, it also coated the smooth, slick surface of the white tower with slippery water droplets, making every step tedious and potentially disastrous for the two. Eden suddenly had uncomfortable flashbacks to her journey across Shattered Hoof Ridge on the way here, but at least the gravel on that trail had provided her hooves with some purchase!
They walked in single file on the flattest part of the curving architecture of the circular tower, trotting past skyscrapers that were sometimes only a few hooflengths away from the edge. Eden walked in front and Ridgeline behind her, with the unicorn ready to deflect any bullets shot at them. They made it more than halfway up before one of the trappers happened to spot them, but as soon as they did, potshots started to whizz past the two, making Eden crouch down with a wince.
“Stay as close to me as you can, Ridge,” Eden called back to him as her horn began to glow.
She cast her trademark magical shield in front of them when Ridgeline stepped closer, and they continued their slow hike up once again as bullets began to ping off the translucent blue barrier. Each impact made Eden wince as it added extra strain on her horn; it was tough, but it wasn’t impervious like an alicorn’s personal shield, and if she held it too long, her horn would burn out. So, she slowly increased her speed despite every instinct telling her not to, occasionally risking nervous glances over the edge of the ever-narrowing spire.
Ridgeline was so close to her that his cheek brushed against her cutie mark, letting Eden guide his hoofsteps as he looked through the scope of his rifle. “Looks like there’s less of them up here than there were in the lobby… but now they know we’re coming, obviously. How long can you hold your shield?”
“I can make it to the top,” Eden replied with a grimace. “But once we’re in the Lunar Monument, I’ll be spent.”
“Then I guess I should start thinning them out before we get there,” Ridgeline replied, followed by the loud bang of his rifle that made Eden jump in surprise.
The bullet whizzed through the one-way protection of Eden’s shield, and a trapper that was foolish enough to stand in the open was dropped with a spray of blood and brain matter. The other trappers quickly scrambled for cover, but the potshots picked back up a few seconds later. One even tried tossing a metal apple at them, and it came skittering down the white S.P.P. tower towards them; Eden yelped and nudged it off the edge with a hoof when it rolled under her shield, and it exploded harmlessly in midair, failing to even make the nigh-invulnerable tower tremble.
“Do you see the hostages anywhere?” Eden asked as her scar began to burn.
“Not from here,” Ridgeline answered. “They could be deeper inside, near the center.”
A quick cast of her E.F.S. to show the yellow dots in front of them calmed her fears. “They have to be.” I can’t be too late. I can’t fail again.
They were close enough to the top now that Eden could see the whites of the trappers’ eyes, and shots that had previously been whizzing wide of her shield were now slamming into it every time, draining Eden’s energy more and more as she struggled to keep the shield together.
“Get ready to jump,” Eden hissed out between clenched teeth, and Ridgeline crouched down behind her.
Her horn began to glow with a bright white light at the tip, growing into an orb of pure magic energy that was nearly unbearable to look at compared to the dull overcast sky around them. Then, as soon as her shield spell ended, she let loose her built-up strobe spell, shooting blinding lights into the trappers’ eyes to make them stumble back in blind shock.
“Now!” she yelled, and the two leapt from the S.P.P. tower onto the observation deck of the Lunar Monument below.
Eden landed on solid ground and rolled with the impact, and a grunt beside her told her that Ridgeline also made it. She tried to telekinetically pull out her combat rifle, but her horn simply fizzled out and refused to obey; she reached down and grabbed the handle in her mouth instead before looking around.
The top floor of the Monument was smaller than the lobby, but it was much more impressive. The entire floor was nothing but thick panes of glass, allowing visitors to see just how high they truly were. It would be nothing to a pegasus or batpony, of course, but it was still enough to make Eden’s heart flutter every time she glanced down. The inner part of the circular level contained the elevator stalk, as well as what looked to be a restaurant surrounding it, with tables overturned and glassware scattered across the ground by the trappers occupying it. The outer edge, where Eden and Ridgeline were currently perched, was an observation deck devoid of any furnishings apart from a railing to prevent ponies from stumbling off. It also meant a lack of cover for the blinded trappers, who were busy clawing at their eyes and growling in confusion.
“I’ve got left, you’ve got right!” Ridgeline called out, and before Eden could even respond, he was taking advantage of the strobe light spell and gunning down the trappers before they could recover.
Eden grimaced and did the same, using her tongue to pull the trigger and drop the nearest pony next to her with a mercy shot to the head. Firing with her muzzle was unfamiliar and awkward, and reloading would be unbearably slow, but she’d have to make do.
Rather than follow the path of the observation deck, Eden ducked into the inner ring and into the ransacked restaurant. She had to make sure the hostages were alive and okay during the raging firefight; if they died, this whole mission would be for nothing, and she would never forgive herself for failing.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” Eden called out briefly before ducking down as errant bullets whizzed in through the windows, causing shards of glass to rain down around her. “We’re here to help!”
The silence in response was deafening, even as the gunfire raged outside. But just as Eden was about to give up hope, a faint voice rose over the commotion. “Over here!”
Her ears perked up and traced the voice to its source: the minibar next to the elevator doors. Eden crawled her way over to it, making sure to keep her head down to avoid having a stray bullet take it off. When she reached the bar and poked her head over the edge, her heart sank; there, cowering behind the counter, were the hostages they were looking for. However, many of them were injured, and it looked like they had been forced to sit in their own blood for weeks. Their eyes were filled with a kind of terror that made Eden’s blood run cold, though they softened slightly when they realized that Eden wasn’t one of the trappers imprisoning them.
“Who are you?” asked a small filly, who Eden noted was a kirin as well.
“I’m from Oasis, I’m here to rescue you,” Eden answered as quickly and reassuringly as she could. “Just stay here and stay hidden, I’ll come back once it’s safe—”
Suddenly, something from behind yanked her combat rifle out of her grasp! Eden was forced to quickly let go to prevent it from taking any teeth with it, and the gun was pinned to the wall across from her by a glowing, ethereal dagger, locking it out of reach. She spun to see a trapper standing in front of her, a unicorn, his horn aglow to cause more of the magical knives to float around his body.
“Back away from our prey, defiler,” he snarled at her. “Unless you’d like to join them.”
He was able to speak complete sentences, which was unlike any other trapper she had encountered before. Maybe the mist hadn’t affected him as long as the others, allowing him to retain some of his brain functions, as well as the use of higher-level magic, judging by his ethereal dagger spell he seemed fond of. However, he obviously wasn’t sane; his body was covered in scars like the others, in some places even thicker and ubiquitous than the other trappers, and the bubbled quality of the partially healed skin told her it was his magical knives that did the cutting. His eyes were bloodshot but gleamed with an excited look of a predator finding something new to hunt… focused directly on her.
“They’re not yours to torment any longer,” Eden growled back in response.
She tried her telekinesis once again, and her horn shimmered, but she didn’t have enough strength to pull her revolver out of her saddlebags. She was weaponless and defenseless, and any move towards arming herself would cause the trapper to attack. So, she held her ground, waiting for him to make the first move.
“Fine. They’ll have to watch me carve you up instead,” he sneered, and his knives flashed into action, aiming right for her throat.
Eden threw herself out of the way with a yelp, and the ethereal daggers slammed into the wood of the minibar’s counter. She grabbed the closest thing to her—a wine glass on the floor—and flung it at the trapper. It shattered across his head, making him stumble back with a pained grunt. Eden pressed the advantage and closed the gap in a second, tackling the stallion to the floor. He snarled up at her as his horn began to glow once again, but Eden quickly spat into his eyes, throwing off his concentration and causing his spell to falter momentarily. She grabbed her combat knife from the sheath strapped to her thigh and plunged it down, but the trapper grabbed onto her arm and twisted with almost inpony strength, pinning her hoof to the floor and rolling so he was now on top.
“The mist gives me strength you could never imagine,” he hissed. “Soon, it will cover everyone and everything, despite you defilers’ feeble attempts to keep it at bay. No more will you taint the mist with your filthy presence! It will engulf everything you hold dear, and you’ll die wishing you joined the winning side when you had the chance.”
Eden squirmed against his pin to no avail before thrusting her head forward, treating her own horn like a knife, but he pulled away right before the pointy tip could sink into his eye. Pulling back caused him to loosen his grip on her, however, and Eden successfully wriggled free, driving a hind hoof into his nether regions to stun him as she did.
The trapper winced and scrambled back before Eden could close the distance again, and suddenly the ethereal daggers were back, causing her to step back hesitantly. She had no counter for them without her magic, and he had the advantage as long as the fight was ranged. The daggers zoomed forward, and Eden twisted to parry one with the combat knife gripped in her teeth. However, the second sank into her shoulder and twisted as she was busy with the first, and she screamed out in pain before ripping it out of her. Her own blood coated the blade of the ethereal form before it disappeared in her hoof, causing the now-floating blood to splash down into a puddle on the glass floor.
This was a losing fight, and now her mobility was limited; there was no way she could avoid those knives forever. Come on magic, give me something! she internally screamed at her cracked, scarred horn, willing any last saps of strength to give her anything. And as the ethereal knives shot towards her once again, her horn began to glow.
A shield formed in front of her—a small one, less than a hooflength in width or height, and it wavered for only a second before disappearing, but it lasted just long enough to intercept the path of the first dagger and make it shatter into magical dust. She brought her horn around to cast a shield in front of the second one right before it buried itself into her chest, the impact causing her to wince. Her horn was on fire, and each movement of her head made her dizzy with exhaustion, but she pressed on. Her life, and the lives of the hostages, were at stake here.
The trapper advanced on her, and Eden backpedaled, keeping the distance long enough so she had enough time to react to the ethereal daggers flying through the air. His red daggers met the blue of her mini-shields over and over, sending sparks of light into the air each time they connected and dissipated; the interior of the restaurant became a light show, each magic user struggling to get the upper hoof. They weaved their way through the overturned tables and chairs, and the trapper occasionally flung items in the room at Eden telekinetically to throw her off, trying to close the distance without getting too close to the combat knife still held in her muzzle.
By now, they had worked their way back around to the mini bar, and Eden’s face was contorted with pain as sweat dripped down her face. She kicked a nearby chair at the trapper, but he caught it in his magic and flung it right back before she could recover. She put her hooves up to protect her face, but the impact knocked her to the floor, and the stallion quickly pounced on top of her.
“You fight dirty, you fight with desperation, but it’s not enough to overcome the power of the mist. Nothing is,” he screeched down at her while pressing a hoof to her horn to pin it to the ground. “I’m gonna gut you from stomach to throat, and then I’m going to make those ponies eat your organs. I wonder what’ll taste better, your liver or your heart?”
Eden screamed in pain as the slightest touch to her overloaded horn sent blinding pain through her whole body, leaving her unable to fight back. However, before his ethereal blade could slice into her stomach, he suddenly went stiff atop her, along with a sharp grunt of pain. His bloody hoof left her horn, allowing Eden to release the breath she didn’t know she was holding, and the pain faded enough for her to see what had happened; the trapper had turned around to reveal that a fork had been driven into his back, not deep enough to cause anything but pain and annoyance, but now he was staring down the kirin filly Eden had talked to before. The poor filly stumbled back as her poorly-thought-out plan now had her squarely in the crosshairs of her captor.
“You little twat,” the trapper snarled. “Watching your father die wasn’t enough to make you behave? I guess I’ll have to kill your little rescue party, and all your friends for good measure! You brought this on yourself—”
Before he could finish, Eden lunged forward, driving her combat knife just above the fork already stuck into his body. The trapper let out a haunting hiss of air as his lung was punctured before collapsing to the ground, but Eden didn’t let up. Her mind became nothing but a space of white emptiness, nothing but rage and pain driving her actions, plunging the blade into the motionless stallion over and over and over until fatigue made the task impossible.
As she pulled the knife out for the last time, it slipped out of her trembling, blood-soaked hooves. Her vision swam and she nearly collapsed right then and there, but she forced herself to remain conscious; the other trappers were still out there, and she needed to protect the hostages.
When her vision settled back down, she was staring at the kirin filly in front of her, and she was staring back, only her eyes weren’t filled with gratitude—they were filled with fear. Eden glanced down at herself to see she was covered in blood, some of it her own from her injured shoulder, but most of it from the dead trapper at her hooves. His back was covered in stab wounds, over and over… much more than what was needed to kill him. She didn’t know what came over her… a white heat, a blind rage, a desire to do nothing more but make sure the trapper was dead. A blank white space had taken over her mind; the same white as the mist outside.
“I-I’m sorry, I-...” Eden stammered out, before hanging her head. “...You saved my life. Thank you.”
The filly said nothing, only a slight tilt of her head showing that she had heard Eden speak. The fear slowly began to fade away, but it was replaced by an ever-present, haunting pain. The trapper said that her father had been killed in front of her, and Faust only knew what other horrors she had witnessed during her imprisonment here. No filly should ever have that look in her eyes, but little were lucky enough to avoid the horror of the wasteland; Eden certainly wasn’t.
“Now, go back to hiding, okay?” Eden said in the most reassuring tone she could muster. “We need to get rid of the rest of the trappers and make sure everything’s safe before we can get you out of here—”
Eden was interrupted by the sound of the restaurant door slamming open, and she quickly spun around while shielding the filly with her own body. However, the newcomer was a friendly face.
“Outsider!” Ridgeline called out as he looked over the scene with his rifle raised, shifting his gaze between a blood-covered Eden, the kirin she was protecting, and the ravaged dead body next to them. “Are you alright?”
Eden reached back to the wound on her shoulder with a wince. “I’ll be fine. Is the Tower secure?”
Ridgeline nodded. He had a gash on his cheek that was leaking blood down his face, but he otherwise looked none the worse for wear. “How are the hostages?”
“They’re alive. Some of them are injured, I don’t know how mobile they’re going to be,” Eden warned.
“Get them up anyway,” Ridgeline said. “We have company incoming, and we need to get back to Oasis before the sun goes down.”
After making sure the hostages were safe, Eden went to retrieve her combat rifle. It had fallen to the floor after the ethereal blade pinning it to the wall had dispelled, but the damage it had caused remained. The knife had punched straight through the barrel and warped it wherever it touched, leaving it in an unusable state. She still put it back into her saddlebag, as the damage was only limited to the barrel, and it was possible that Bolt Action could swap out or repair the broken part… if he even wanted to talk to her after what happened last time. However, she was left with just her revolver and the strange pistol for the time being.
They had two health potions, and though the wound on her shoulder was ugly and painful, Eden refused to use one for herself. Instead, the expensive potions went to two of the most badly hurt hostages, allowing them to be able to walk. It was more important that everyone in the group be in walking shape for the trip home, especially when part of that trip involved hiking down a slender, slippery S.P.P. tower.
The trip down was even more treacherous, as they couldn’t go too fast without losing their footing and sliding all the way down to end up as pony splatter on the concrete. And on top of that, Eden and Ridgeline had to babysit a group of starving, wounded ponies down to the ground without them panicking or falling off. Ridgeline took the lead, and Eden stayed in the back to watch out for any slipping or struggling ponies.
As she looked out across the city during their descent down, Eden could see large crevices snaking through the earth like veins, starting at the upturned roots of the S.P.P. tower and spreading all through Tall Tale. Their sizes ranged from ones that were barely a split in the ground to ones that were more than a block wide. They were too wide to just be splitting, dry ground… an earthquake, perhaps? That would also explain how the S.P.P. tower was uprooted like that. The sight of the larger crevices gave her uncomfortable flashbacks to her dream, where the earth opened up and swallowed her whole; she shivered and looked away.
When she looked down at the ground below them, she was treated to an equally grim sight; the mist creatures that Eden and Ridgeline had narrowly avoided on the trip here had been drawn to the sound of the gunfire, and now were congregating on the street just below where they were hiking down. As the group of ponies moved, the mist creatures stayed right underneath them, following them all the way down to the base.
“Ridge, we’ve got company down there,” Eden called out, just loud enough so he could hear her from the front.
Ridgeline nodded. “They’ve got our scent. Let’s hope something else grabs their attention before we reach the bottom.”
However, they weren’t so lucky. In fact, the closer they got to the bottom, the bigger the group seemed to become, as more of the creatures the group passed decided to join in on the hunt. There were creatures both new and familiar to Eden, and they brought more mist with them, like they had absorbed so much that they were seeping the excess from their skin to infect new areas. And as they got closer to the base of the tower, which was flanked by the building that was split in two, they were able to see that a pack of mutated creatures was already waiting for them.
Ridgeline suddenly ducked, and Eden had to quickly flinch out of the way as a pukwudgie quill whizzed past the group, sending the missed shot flying off into the mist. Eden quickly spun back around and squinted through the mist; there, on the roof of the left-side half-building, was a herd of the diminutive porcupine-like creatures, and they were bristling their tails as they took aim and began to fire!
Eden squealed as quills began to cling against the white metal beneath her hooves, and she quickly scrambled backwards to put more distance between her and them. Ridgeline apparently had the same idea as her, as he spun around to shoo the group of hostages back up the tower.
“Go back! Go! Get out of their range! The mist will throw off their aim!”
The group of ragtag ponies was now going the wrong way, and pukwudgie quills were still raining down around them. Eden heard a cry of panic from behind her, and she spun around to see that one of the younger fillies had lost her footing and was now sliding off the side. Eden lunged forward, sinking her teeth into the scruff of her neck before she could slide out of reach, and throwing her back up onto the solid part of the tower.
“Keep moving! I’ll catch up,” Eden said to the shaking filly before glancing back down at the base.
Pukwudgies were continuing to prep quills and fire them into the air, but there was another sight that chilled her. She spotted radamounts racing up the steps of the shorn-apart building towards the roof, no doubt attempting the same strategy she and Ridgeline had employed: jumping from the roof to the tower to climb their way up.
“Radamounts are scaling the base,” Eden told Ridgeline as he passed her, making him pause. “They’ll easily outpace us if they get up on top, we’ll never make it back up to the Monument. We’re trapped.”
“And there’s no way we have the firepower to drive off all of them,” Ridgeline said with a worried tone to his normally gruff voice. “We need another way off this tower.”
“Well, if you’ve got any ideas, I’m happy to hear them, because things aren’t looking too good right now,” Eden replied with a wince as a quill almost nicked her ear. She couldn’t even cast a spell to shield them from the barrage!
Ridgeline simply closed his eyes and took a single deep breath. Despite the projectiles whizzing past him, he refused to move, other than the slight twitch of his ear and the swish of his tail. He stomped a forehoof, then stomped it again, his forehead wrinkling in concentration. Then, suddenly, his eyes shot open with a gasp of inspiration.
“The Starbucked building. C’mon!”
Before Eden could blink or object, Ridgeline shot past her, galloping back up towards the Monument’s top once again. What in Faust’s name is with this guy and his ear-twitching? Is he on Dash or something?
However, the choice between following Ridgeline and running towards the mist creatures was an easy one to make. Eden hurried after him while coaxing the scared hostages to do the same, making their way up to where the S.P.P. tower lay closest to one of the skyscrapers. The neon sign glowing at the top of the building denoted it as the Starbucked HQ, and the side of it was only a dozen hooflengths away… not the easiest of jumps, but still makeable. However, the drop was a long one, and just the thought of leaping across it made Eden’s head spin.
Ridgeline took aim with his rifle and fired, blowing out one of the windows closest to them to reveal an office space. Then, he leapt, but he only made it far enough so that his forehooves grabbed onto the edge of the window frame, hind legs clawing at the smooth glass siding for purchase but finding none. However, he was able to pull his way up into the room and kick the shards of glass out of the way before beckoning to the rest of the group.
“Jump! I’ll catch you. Trust me.”
The adults went first, leaping across the gap one by one into Ridgeline’s strong forelegs. A few balked at the size of the gap, but a quick glance down at the approaching mist creatures did wonders to change their minds. Then went the fillies, but some of them were so small that Eden had to toss them instead. With each throw, the knife wound in Eden’s shoulder burnt like magefire, and she nearly collapsed in pain as she threw the kirin filly across, but she forced herself to stay upright and help until she was the only one left on the S.P.P. tower.
“Alright, you’re the last one, outsider!” Ridgeline called out over the whistling wind and the barrage of quills. “You’ve got this.”
Eden blinked the reflex tears out of her eyes and nodded, taking a few steps back before breathing in deeply. Her left foreleg was coated in a waterfall of blood, and every movement caused more to spill out of the wound in her shoulder; it would be hard to get enough strength out of her foreleg to clear the gap, but she’d have to make do. The radamounts were quickly closing the gap, and a painless fall to her death was preferable to being torn to pieces.
Eden galloped forward in the small amount of space that she had, planted her hind hooves right on the edge, and leapt with all her strength. Her hooves nearly slipped on the slick white surface, but she found enough purchase to launch herself at the outstretched forelegs of Ridgeline, stretching through the air in a moment that stretched itself into several. However, right before she fell into his arms, she felt something slam into her hind leg, like she had been punched… except she felt the exact same feeling emerge out of the other side of the leg, followed by a searing pain through her hoof that took her breath away.
She crashed into Ridgeline, and her momentum knocked him back into the room, a high-pitched scream escaping her lips moments after. She rolled off him, but one of her hind legs refused to cooperate, and each movement caused so much pain to course through her that her vision swam and distorted. She glanced down at her back right hoof; there, just above the fetlock, was a pukwudgie quill, stabbed through her leg so deeply that it was sticking out of the other side. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight, and she stuffed a hoof into her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.
Ridgeline, however, stormed past the injured Eden without even a glance. A radamount had reached where they had been on the S.P.P. tower just moments before, and it was preparing to leap over into the office room where the ponies were cowering in fear. Just as it did, Ridgeline fired his lever-action rifle, striking the radamount’s shoulder as it flew through the air. Its reinforced hide was enough to protect it from the bullet, but the impact slowed and diverted its momentum enough that instead of landing through the window frame, it fell short. Its claws dug into the building in an attempt to save itself, but it wasn’t enough, and soon the radamount was plummeting down to the ground far below.
“Move, everypony, move!” Ridgeline called out. “Get deeper into the building! We do not want those creatures out there figuring out where we’ve gone!”
Eden was stuck in a pain-induced trance, and his words barely registered to her; she had tunnel vision on the sharp quill embedded in her leg, watching her blood bubble around the entry wound before spilling onto the ground… each droplet splashing against the moldy carpet sending shudders through her body. However, the feeling of Ridgeline’s hooves grabbing her underneath the arms snapped her out of her trance, and she was quickly dragged out of the office before the door slammed shut behind them.
“R-Ridge…” Eden stammered out once they were certain no other radamounts were attempting to follow them across.
Ridgeline finally turned his attention to Eden’s wounded leg, and he crouched down with a worried frown. “It doesn’t look good, outsider. I’ll need to pull the quill out to properly bandage it.”
“W-… Will it hurt?” Eden whimpered, though she already knew the answer.
“Extremely,” Ridgeline replied solemnly. “I’d bite down on something. We don’t want your screams attracting the other mist creatures.”
Eden raised a forehoof to her mouth and bit down on the cuff of her Stable suit, clenching it between her teeth. It tasted like blood, muck, and swamp water, but it was better than accidentally biting her own tongue off. “On three?”
“On three,” Ridgeline replied in agreement, his hooves taking a grip on the end of the quill. “One-”
Then, suddenly, the quill was gone, and Eden’s teeth sank into her sleeve so hard that they punched holes in the fabric. Her scream of surprise was muffled behind clenched teeth, and her horn sent out sparks of distress and pain that illuminated the dark hallway.
He did it early. He did it early, that mother-...
Her thoughts were cut off as the wave of pain reached her mind from her leg, and her vision immediately began to dim as the world started to swirl and contort around her. She collapsed back in shock, and before her head hit the ground, she was already being whisked away into the comforting—and familiar—feeling of unconsciousness.
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A Great Read so far.
It’s GRRREAT