Fallout Equestria: The Vanhoover Chronicles

by Duchess Van hoof

First published 23rd of October, 2019

A collection of short stories set in Vanhoover and New Pegasus

Over a century has passed since the balefire apocalypse, Celestia's and Luna's holy lights are nowhere to be seen. Within the calm mists slumbers the ancient city of Vanhoover, the years pass and the generations of ponies are born and pass away. The old aristocratic family of the Van Hoofs are all but forgotten, and the old Equestrian rule pass into myth.

Meanwhile, from the shattered ruins of Las Pegasus a new city is rising. Stuck between a Zebrecian legion, a Steel Ranger regiment and a rumoured Changeling hive, New Pegasus is a hotbed of conflict. None the less the bits and caps keep rolling in, as do the refugees from the north every winter.

Yet only a single courier from the Vanhoover Express, is ready as the dawn of a new age drawing near.

Art by AdagioString

Anniversary

The Black Hoof Saloon, famous for being one of the first attempts at rebuilding civilization in the northwest. All the merchant caravans pass by and by extension, all mercenaries. The rules are simple, be respectful and take personal problems outside. This time of year the place is crowded, as the traders stock up and make plans for what routes are worth risking it. The snow makes it harder to travel and the raiders always get more desperate. But there is also a more emotional tradition as ponies remember those lost over the years, and the superstitious nervously await the arrival of a certain somepony that started said tradition many years ago.

***

As the two doors of the saloon opened with a creak and the sharp chill of the winter night shook everyone awake. There were newcomers from down south that turned to shout "Close the doors will ya!" but the words fell silently as they gaped, as they always do. Always staring at the freak. I bowed quitely as I entered through doorway not quite built tall enough, as in trance I walked through the familiar hall. Every step where they had fallen the last year, and the years before. The noise was drowned out by the feeling of nostalgia and a sense of permanence for once. Everypony leaving the bar counter, except one buck. Powerful build, cybernetic leg, a coat and a wide hat. And of course Pear Cider behind the bar counter, didn't she grow up in here? she smiled and waved.

"Welcome home Dust, I'll get your drink in a moment." As little Cider walked back into the storage.

Little? She is probably an adult these days.

I sat down in my usual place resting front hoofs and head on the counter, and sighed. Turning to the strange buck sitting next to me, I asked "You are not going to let me have my drink in peace are you?"

The silence in the room was now deafening as games and discussions came to a halt and everypony turned to stare. Seemingly unfazed he answered. "How so? I am new in town was only wondering if there was a princess that I haven't yet heard of."

"Sorry, but I am afraid that I am not a princess. Equestria has none left, things went to Tartaros in case you didn't notice. And sorry if I am not in a chatting mood, I rarely am this time of the year."

"Point taken miss." Not with my luck I am afraid.

As Pear Cider came out with the radioactive soda and a small bottle of rainbow liquid the eyes of the buck widened and here it comes "Ehm... Miss, that there is nothing you should drink. It will kill you, if you are lucky."

"Unfortunately I do not have that kind of luck."

Cider decided to interject and stated "Miss Dust comes in around this time of year, every year, and always has her special Rad Duster. It's a tradition. Many caravanners and gunners look forward to it."

"But, that thing is a impelled metamorphosis potion. It practically is pure TAINT! It turns things into monsters merely by exposure. I don't even know what happens you were to drink it?!"

My eyes focused on him, He doesn't mean any harm, only wants to help. Paranoia and trauma stirs. So did Fluttershy, so did REDEYE. Nobody ever means any harm yet they always hurt, it always HURTS!!

Wait, refocus. Focus.

"Shit. Miss, I am sorry. I didn't mean any personal offense." What? wait... 'personal'. Oh, he is clever? Really...

"Forgiven, but really you shouldn't poke your nose into other ponies' business. Are you fresh out of Stable 101 or something?"

The buck flinched, just for a second. That hit close to home. "Nah miss, left back when the overmare died. Got to have been close to two decades now."

"Wise. With visionaries like Red Eye running around it is either obey or be hunted down. Has always been that way. But really, you should have someone fix up your leg. The stripes or the Rangers can do it if you can convince them to not dismantle you in the process."

"Ehr... thanks for the advice miss, I was going to Goldstar but I shall check with the others as well."

"Goldstar? You wouldn't fit in there. Trust me, the little princess to be would not take kindly to you walking around. She is a visionary after all."

He seemed to be taking the hint and was processing the information, "Yeah... I'll probably need to get my leg fixed up. Been bugging out on me in this cold. Not to mention, hurts as hell. Metal and snow doesn't mix. Doesn't mix at all."

And he is well off the subject, now for my drink. Slowly the games and discussions started again, albeit a bit quieter than before. And the buck was lost in thought, like he had caught the atmosphere of bittersweet nostalgia that were in the air. Cider sat down on a stool on the opposite side the counter with a glass of whiskey and lifted it for a toast.

"Another year eh, Dust?" Heh, there is a reason I keep coming back here. A faint smile and a glass raised.

"Another year, Cider. Thanks."

Author's Notes:

This is the first pony story I wrote, took an evening and is mostly to set the mood and establish the setting a bit. The Black Hoof remains my favourite city on the westcoast, and I am quite fond of the saloon.

Dust, is one of the many monster ponies that ended up in the area. More specifically she was an unwilling prototype for an earlier stage of Project Coronation before the IMP was finalized. So in practice she is an overgrown immortal unicorn with alicorn magic and is in a constant berserk state similar to Nightmare Moon.

She is also the patron saint of the Black Hoof and one of the reasons nopony dares to mess with the Pear family or the town, even in winter when starvation hits.

The Triumvirate

The Everfree forest is ancient, feared and remarkably untouched by the apocalypse. The air is fresh, the flora is green, the fauna healthy yet most ponies would rather go into the Canterlot ruins than set a hoof inside of that ancient wood. With good reason of course.

What few ponies know is that it isn't the only of its kind, it has a sister on the west-coast. A misty labyrinth of trees older than civilization, rivers, swamps, ruins and wildlife among the most dangerous in the known world. It is haunted by forgotten spirits and there is sleeping magic there. Mega spells known by few and feared by the one mare that ever truly understood them.

In this old Wyldwood an unusual event takes place, as a trio of unsupervised foals running and playing throughout it without any care in the world. And for once the evils of the world are silent, either out of respect or out of fear.

"Hey, come back here!" The purple colt shouted as he ran.

"Let the poor thing go, it obviously doesn't want to play." The light blue filly stated plainly.

"It is a dog, it is supposed to be petted. Even if it is made of twigs!"

"Pretty sure that is not how it works silly." The grey unicorn said to her peer.

"Well what now? The dragon is sleeping, the trees are boring and the ghosts don't show up until Luna wakes them. I. Am. BORED!" the colt declared.

"Well... There is always the ruins down southwest. I always wanted to check them out." Said the azure filly.

"BO-RING. Ruins don't do stuff. They just... sit there. And get covered in green things." The colt answered back.

"There... are basilisks and cragadiles among the ruins." She answered.

"To the ruins then!" His exclamation echoed across the dim wood.

***

"NO. FAIR." The colt shouted just as loudly as ever. "How do you keep winning? You didn't even try to run!"

"I... took a shortcut." The unicorn filly stated proudly with a dramatic pause.

"Pretty sure there aren't any shortcuts around, we followed the road and then turned right at the closest place." The icy filly didn't agree, "Only explanation is that you are cheating as always, Étoile."

"DID NOT." She was quite offended by the accusation. "I haven't even learned any teleportation spells yet!"

"Pfft, yeah right. You probably snooped in some old spellbook and used some weird magic." Scoffed the colt, clearly annoyed at the recurrence.

"You just hate me because I am a unicorn!" She shouted at him.

"No, I just don't like you because you aren't shiny."

"But... We are VAN HOOFS, we aren't supposed to be shiny in the first place!"

"We are too!" He answered, "And we aren't supposed to have horns either."

"...You just argued against yourself, Amethyst." the glittering filly said. "And can we focus?!"

The mist grew thicker, the swamp warped and there were strange statues of various monsters here and there. Partly shattered by the old trees, partly intact as warnings and partly... leftovers. This was a place nopony was meant to find, even the most dedicated explorer risked their lives trying to reach.

"I can't see shit Captain!" The colt shouted.

"What does that even mean??" The matte filly asked.

"Read it in a book once." He stated proudly.

"What book? Daring Doo?" The tone implied insult.

"Yeah, how did you know?" And the filly facehoofed.

"Stop arguing like foals." The third one interjected.

"We are foals", they answered in unison.

"Besides the point! We aren't getting anywhere at this rate. Étoile, can you see anything?"

"Well, duh. Who do you think I am?" Étoile answered, "It's this way."

"Wait up!" The two crystal foals desperately tried to follow her into the mist.

***

SPLASH

"Eeeew, swamp water." The colt was very offended by it and tried shaking it off his hoof.

"You just don't want to admit you can't swim." The unicorn pointed out.

"So WHAT? Just teleport us across!"

"I already said I don't know how to do that!!"

"Well, do you have any other ideas?" The blue filly interjected again.

"Give me a cragadile and I will have it ferry us over." The colt boasted.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Then the unicorn kicked a skull into the swamp with a loud SPLOSH

A creature slithered through the calm waters, but the foals were to busy arguing to pay it any heed. It swam closer ever so silently, its eyes barely above the waterline. The beast was angry at the disturbance, but also curious at what manner of ponies dared venture so close and so carelessly. Although the unicorn and the colt continued arguing loudly as ever, the blue filly noticed something was off. And with a sense of curiosity that only a foal can have she carefully walked closer to the water edge and looked at the hypnotic waves.

"EEEEP!" Was all that she managed to get out before the magic began working its way through her body. The basilisk began rising itself up from the swamp, utterly dwarfing the remaining two foals. For once, the colt felt fear and stumbled backwards at the sight of the beast. The remaining filly however did not.

"HOW. DARE. YOU!" She shouted indignantly, utterly outraged that a mere beast dared to harm her friend.

The king of serpents hesitated in confusion for a moment, this is not how prey behaved. None the less it could not tolerate any intrusion into its domain, here it ruled supreme and even dragons fled in terror. Here, it was king. It crawled ever so quickly and surrounded the foolish pony, rising itself up tall and preparing its feared gaze.

"I said... HOW DARE YOU?!" The little filly repeated, not backing down. Instead she matched its stare, and yet she didn't meet the fate of her friend. Instead her own gaze pierced into the serpentine king, boring itself into its very soul. Humbling it, and threatening it with a far far worse fate.

The basilisk tried to break away, but found itself bound by magic it could not comprehend. So it stayed there, still until ordered to slither off to the side as the colt regained his confidence. With a cautious yet proud step he walked forward.

"Hey... Étoile. Nice work." Then he saw their friend. "Oh no no nononono... We are in so much trouble!"

"Oh, shut up. If you only studied as well as you boast..."

"What do you mean? There is no magic that can reverse a basilisk petrification! Everypony knows that?!"

"As I said, be quiet. I'll fix this."

"HOW??"

"QUIET!!"

And this time he did, the unicorn filly went up to the statue of one of her two only friends. Then she closed her eyes, began muttering something in an old tongue. The chanting seemed to echo from all directions, and once more the colt backed up as he couldn't recognize the spell. Then reality began to warp every so little. Light seemed to die out of the world until the filly opened her eyes as they glowed with starlight, she bowed her head and touched her head to the statue and a single spark went out. She blinked, and the petrified filly was free again.

"...EEEEP!... wha?? Where?" She turned her head and sawed the basilisk to the side, but this time it looked afraid and dared not look at the tiny ponies. Then she turned to the unicorn. "WHAT DID YOU DO?? HOW?!!"

"I study." She shrugged in response.

***

The three began walking up the forgotten stairs, and entered the stone plateau with an excited look on their faces. This was something they weren't allowed to do, a place they weren't allowed to visit. There were few books that even mentioned this place, yet many knew of it and no one dared come close. More than that, the glittering blue filly was curious. Archaeology was her big dream and this was a find beyond any other, and she alone knew it. Even if the unicorn had her own suspicions. The purple colt however, was mostly bored and didn't want to go anywhere without his friends.

"...This place is the real deal." The crystal filly stated with awe in her voice.

"All I see is rocks, mushrooms, vines and even more rocks. Oh and insects, of the small boring kind. Why did we go here again?" The colt was thoroughly unimpressed by the place.

"I don't know, there is strange magic here. Could be interesting. Wonder what it does?" The unicorn seemed to be in a daze as she spoke, clearly distracted.

"Whatever it is, we probably shouldn't mess around with it." Her blue compatriot stated flatly.

"GIRLS, I found princess Luna!"

The two fillies looked at each other, shook their heads and ignored him.

"No, I am serious. There is a picture of an alicorn here!"

This time the two of them sprinted after him. Finding him standing proudly beside a large stone relief depicting a slender winged pony with a long horn, the one thing that shouldn't be there.

"Look, its Luna!" He stated defiantly.

"Could be Celestia you know?" The grey unicorn countered.

"In Vanhoover?? Not a chance."

"You are both wrong, this isn't equestrian architecture. This ruin is older than maybe even Vanhoover, which suggests that the pony in the picture is neither of them. So the question is, who is she?"

"...I got nothing!" The energetic Colt declared.

"Isn't it obvious?" The other filly answered. Both of her friends looked at her expectantly. "We do know of a pony of old from this area that became immortal don't we?"

"That is just an old mare's tale!" Again, the colt wouldn't have it.

"Actually, the timeline fits and something just feels right about it. The stories never mentioned that she was an alicorn though, kind of an important matter to leave out. Don't you think?" The taller filly glittered extra brightly at the notion.

"Only the modern versions. Read the original sometime." The shorter filly answered plainly.

"ORIGINAL?? Where?? When did you find this?!" Aurora was positively ecstatic.

"In the old hunting lodge, in a hidden room nobody talks about. I thought the floor plan made no sense so I looked around a bit and found a whole library in there. No wonder grumpy old Caretaker is so paranoid, they have all sorts of weird stuff there."

"Then why are we here when our family already got the mystery solved? Let's go at once."

"I agree with Aurora, this place is boring. Étoile, call your snake so we can get out of here then. This place gives me the creeps. Étoile? You listening?"

The two of them looked at their weird cousin, clearly distracted. She was a bit strange, but they knew she saw things other's couldn't. Even in the family she was strange, yet accepted by her two peers. So they knew that whatever drew her attention was definitely real, and potentially dangerous.

"...Let's go." She stated with a tone they never heard from her before.

***

When they were on other bank of the damp little lake hidden within the forest their old discoveries and arguments were already forgotten in a foalish fashion as they loudly argued over the next subject, as they always did. Their presence was heard far through the forest, and felt even farther and the inhabitants hid in the shadows and the mist as they stampeded through the woods.

"So I am going to be a diva in the opera one day! And I will be fantastic!" The unicorn stated with pride.

"Will we be there?" The colt was actually curious at that.

"... No. No you will not. Why aren't you? Don't you want to see me perform?!"

"Hey, Étoile. You are the one who can see the future, how are we supposed to know?" The other filly answered.

"But... but... IT IS IMPORTANT TO ME?!" Her shout was the last thing that could clearly be heard from the ruins as they continued their adventure throughout the wilds towards the northwest.

Watching in the direction was a creature not seen around Vanhoover for over a millenium, a creature stranger than a basilisk, prouder than a dragon and fiercer than any timber wolf or hydra. A being of ancient and alien magic, feared by zebras and worshipped by ponykind. The alicorn looked after them with a bitter smile, knowing all to well their fate but unable to more than she had already done. Knowing fully well how much pain her assistance would cause them. Innocence would be lost, Duty would be broken and Redemption would be bought with damnation.

The sun was setting, dusk would come, and with it those she once damned would rise again. She never could bear to be in their presence, so she rose to her hooves. Looking to the sky she readied her wings to fly up and return to her rightful place. Yet a strange chill wind blew through the forest, it made her freeze in her steps.

Before her stood a pony, in a tattered duster and a weathered hat hiding its face. The pony shouldn't be here. It couldn't be here. Yet the feeling of recognition was unmistakable, as was the resentment and pain.

"I saved you! You would all be gone and forgotten if I hadn't!! It had to be done?! Right..."

A thousand years had passed since that voice had been last heard in the forest, yet nobody listened as the strange pony had already disappeared. Leaving only a feeling of regret within the broken mare, tears running down her face as she took flight once more and returned to the sky.

Returning Home

Ever a reminder of the Great War, of the ancient days and of what ponykind has lost. In the heart of Equestria the city of Canterlot rests on the side of the royal mountain, forever its dreams filled with nightmares. Every foal is told by their mothers of that place and to stay far away lest they become trapped forever in the rotten ruin, where the very air corrupts and twist all it touches. Yet here we are, me walking the ancient road home and my ironic travelling companion.

"There is no need to rush you know, the ruin isn't going anywhere."

"Is pony tired already?"

"Pfft, you do realize that I have been doing this longer than you?"

There is a reason to why I prefer travelling alone. Alright, several reasons. I could just kill the zebra, no one would miss them. And yet I need them, after all these years I haven't come any closer to figuring out just what kind of poison they let loose in my home. The pink gas is a threat, even to one such as me.

I closed my eyes, taking in the harsh cold wind with just the faintest remnants of the gas. The road felt like the wasteland should be; shattered and broken but still solid. The twisted trees seemed more wind worn than corrupted, unlike those far below in zebra town (what halfwit named that place?), despite us being almost at the top.

I opened my eyes again, feeling something amiss. Around my hooves, I looked down and realized that these cracks were different. Something heavy have frequented this road, pony sized but... steel rangers? In Canterlot??

"This is no picnic you daft pony!"

Of course there was insult in the tone. I closed my eyes and let the magic surge. When I opened them again I was standing by the shocked zebra, and noticed the pink haze surrounding us. Yet... it was avoiding us. And the gem in their staff glowed, she had already worked her spell.

"Curse you pony! Do not do such thing, why you waste energy? Just to scare me?"

"Relax, I can still teleport us out of here if need be."

"And shamblers?"

I raised my eyebrow at the shaman, and my rifle.

"You think crystal lance is enough?"

"If it isn't, then I will simply use something else."

"Overconfidence is first step to death, sorceress."

"If only."

"Huh?"

I might not have shared my superiors frankly foalish distaste for the striped kind, but that was before they did THIS to my beloved home. The grass to the sides of the road were more pastel coloured jelly than vegetation, the trees had rotten and twisted yet still stood for over a century. The city gates were cracked and miscoloured, the houses looked like they should have long since fallen apart and among it all was a thick pink cloud preserving this...

"Oh! Stop, stop! Pony, stop this madness!!"

When my gaze fell upon my companion I realized that my rifle was pointed straight at their head. Instinctual telekinesis, something that would have impressed the scholars of Canterlot if they were still alive. The rifle retracted away from them.

"Madness? Then what do you call this?" I motioned towards the city.

"... Before my time, do not blame me." The stripe was scared, she knew of course...

"And yet, you inherit your ancestors sins. Just as much as any pony."

A zebrecian saying, something that is rarely heard from a pony's mouth.

"You... We do not have time, crystal can't hold forever."

"A valid point, my dear companion. Let's get going."

"How far in city is it?"

"Not far, the lower terrace."

***

The nostalgia was painful enough on its own, even without taking the rot and decay into consideration. I beheld the feral ghoul in my grip, it was thrashing and biting in the air. Without any success I might add, for all its undead resilience it was helpless against something so simple as telekinesis. It looked familiar... of course it did. I looked at the house it had crawled out of, it and three others. Sunny's Bakery. Oh right, I used to go there on dates when I wanted peace and quiet. She always had a wonderful smile when I walked in, and an embarrassed blush now that I think of it. This was her filly, I think?

"Please hurry, pony!"

A second layer of magic glowed over my horn and the bolt burned the poor girl to ash. There was an eldritch light glowing through the ash pile, I tilted my head, closed my eyes and breathed in. Sour in taste, but mostly revolting. A pity, but it is all I can do for her.

"..." Zirkei stared at me, of course they did. I confirmed every myth and legend in Zebrecia with every encounter.

"Let's continue my striped friend." I said and trotted onwards on a familiar street.

Something was wrong, liquid flew from my eyes. Oh right, tears. I'm crying, fancy that? Didn't know I still had it in me, but sure enough... There were a stirring of emotions in the black pool that was my heart. Could be a problem, I can't lash out just yet. Too much is at stake.

The pink cloud was thick around me, I had gone too far from the shaman's magic. I conjured a small whirlwind and the street was clean, well relatively. There was a galloping of hooves behind me, one equine. I pulled down my hat to cover my eyes.

"How you do that? That was no teleport!"

"Oh be quiet, stripe..."

"Ah, sorry!"

We turned corner and had finally reached it, the street of my youth. Just as disgusting as the rest. A ghoul walked mindlessly up and down the street. One of the end points was the house I had shared with my mother so many years ago, the other... Ah... Silver Spark, from the Ministry of Arcane Sciences. Well, that and being my neighbor. She was by far the cutest mare in bed, and so more than that. She was an actual proper friend, why couldn't she have listened to me and left the city in time??

She looked up, and recognized me. By the stars... She is still sentient? After all this time?

"Goldie!! You came back!" Not a shred of raspiness, her voice was still as squeaky as ever.

She galloped towards me and tackle hugged me, and my heart shattered once more.

"I waited. Everypony died... or went crazy but I waited. I knew you didn't die! You promised!"

"Why... why couldn't you have left? Why did you stay?"

She looked like she was trying to cry, but her body wouldn't let her.

"I... tried, then I remembered you mother and ran back in."

"Is she still in there?"

"Yes, I tried... getting her out but she gets violent. I think she is in pain."

"And you?"

"I don't... It is nothing. I... It was lonely."

"I know, but you did good Silver. I just have a few errands and you can come with me."

Her coat looked like it had been scorched, and was black with a pinkish tint. Her once beautiful sapphire eyes were a dead white, by all rights she should be blind. Her mane was the same sick pink as everything else in this accursed place, the blue long since gone. Yet I didn't care. She was alive (in manner of speaking), she recognized me and I was no longer alone.

"Ahum!" I was so close to shooting the blasted zebra.

"ZEBRA?!" The nigh invincible undead monster was frightened, it was almost cute.

"Silver, they are with me. Zirkei is helping me walk through the city without being poisoned."

"Huh? If you say so..." She hid behind me, staring at them.

"We should probably go visit my mother."

"Hm..." The shaman disapproved of me accepting the living dead.

"Don't even try..." I warned the shaman.

I walked up to my home, the windows were shattered, the walls were bleeding pink and the door had melted into the frame. Silver was about to suggest something when I simply aimed my rifle and shot. The bright blue beam hit, the door remained. A few more shots and it melted away.

"Goldie, where did you find that?"

Oh right, she worked in weapons development. And the Glimmer 2000 is a post war design. Nice to see her mental faculties still being intact. I stepped inside and really appreciated the conversation distracting me from reality.

"It was a gift from an ex at the Starlight Institute."

"I though they only did theory work?"

"The royal coordinator got them involved in some local projects. One of them involves energy weapons."

"Oh, right. Project: Lightbringer, I thought phase one was a dud?"

"It was."

The stairs bent unnaturally when I put my hoof on it, but judging by the rest of Canterlot it would hold. I ignored my old room, there was nothing left of value there. Only reason to why I had returned to this place was one, my poor mother who is little more than a victim to fate in this wretched drama that is my life. I envy the young who struggle and die within a few decades of their birth, too preoccupied with their own survival to dwell on the past.

I opened the door to her bedroom, and she sat in her chair with her favourite book on the small round table. The remnants of a small glass and a bottle. She had been waiting for the end when the gas was released, I suspect that she knew long before the end. I knew, and she could always read my emotions (she is my mother after all). Of course she didn't try to flee the City, she was tired and dejected towards the end.

Silver Spark entered with me, with a tone of worry in her voice.

"She doesn't let me move her. I thought maybe she is waiting for you to come back."

My mother's eyes were showing signs that she was recognizing me, but there wasn't anything more than that.

"Mother, I am back."

No response.

"... I see."

I turned to my two companions.

"Could you two please step outside?"

This accursed weapon of the zebras. The fact that they mixed in necrotic energies made me almost believe all the propaganda commissioned by my minister. Chemical and biological weapons are bad enough, but this... I could kill a Canterlot ghoul, it is not much more difficult than a regular one if you do it correctly. The soul though, it is tainted and while it is normally meant to disperse and become part of the magical ether we breathe... Here, in a similar manner to balefire bombs it get absorbed and slowly rot away. The spirit vaguely aware of its own corrupted existence.

We do not live in a world where salvation is viable, the royal sisters saw to that. For all the desperate religious nonsense of the wastelanders, the princesses are nowhere to be seen or heard. No, there is no salvation. Only two choices remains for those who still exist: Damnation, and Oblivion.

This is the logic I tell myself, the spiritual equivalent of mercy killing.

"Be at peace, mother. You have done enough."

My horn glowed as I sent out a faint golden light. It danced in the rotten air and entered her body, I could feel it finding her. Not the molten carcass of a body but the real her, I drew her out. It was just as miscoloured as every other soul in this place. No, I would not let the cloud have her any longer.

I took a deep breath. I felt a surge of emotions that died off as suddenly as they came. Rest well mother, it is over. I wiped my tears, breathed the foul dead air and turned to my two companions. One who had waited here in undeath for over a century, for my sake. And one who went against the sins of their ancestors, who tried to fix things and whom promised to help me put my past to rest.

"Let's go."

***

Silver Spark had been trying to talk our way past any feral ghoul we found, with limited success. A few just stared at us, one looked at us and then ran away, most however... where aggressive and died as a result. We had been travelling through the middle terrace with little issue. If you ignore the dozens of ghouls, I suspected that I even had gotten high off the magical energies. That was definitely not part of the plan.

We were taking the same road that I have travelled hundreds of times, a whirling path of alleyways, stairs and archways. It reminded me of Vanhoover with how labyrinthine the road was. Perhaps that was the real reason to why I liked it? Apart from the more practical reason of confusing any M.O.M. goons that might have stalked me back in the day. I can't imagine them NOT doing it, considering Minister Pie's rabid paranoia.

Not that it matters anymore, the M.O.M. is dead and gone just like the rest of it. Except I sensed something alive... Two things. Ponies. Oh right, almost all of it is dead but some fragments remain. Applesnack's followers, I forgot about them.

"Halt!"

And here they are. Two of them, one with some machine gun and the other... is that an anti air gun?

"Who are you and what are you doing in Canterlot?!"

Of all the times to have a zebra by my side...

"I'm Golden Starlight, old friend of Steelhooves."

They didn't expect to hear that name.

"Why is the stripe here? What are you playing at?!"

Did they recognize me? Hard to tell.

"In case you didn't notice, the air is a bit foul so I brought the shaman along to let me travel. As for what, I put my old mother to rest and found a friend waiting for me. Satisfied?"

Steel Rangers aren't idiots. Stubborn, yes. But not idiots.

"This road leads to Ministry Walk and the Palace."

Their guns were aimed at us but they were still too confused to be downright hostile. Most likely, they wanted to bring us in for questioning. Unfortunately, Canterlot strained my patience so the diplomatic option was out. Still, they could be his direct subordinates so restrain would be a virtue.

"Yes, that is where my office is."

"What? Explain yourself!"

"No."

BABABAM

The ranger with the anti air gun fired into the wall above us. A bluff, pointless.

"It is simple, you are a soldier of the Equestrian army. I, am a government official. By all rights, you answer to me. So either aid me or step aside and carry on with whatever mission you have here."

The rangers looked at each other for a moment. Zirkei was getting anxious, and not over the soldiers. We were running out of time then, so alternative solution it is. I disliked using the more esoteric spells, especially not when leaving survivors to witness it. Still, some part of me knew that they needed to survive.

I lifted my hoof, and punched the air. It cracked like a glass window. The pink cloud seeped into it as a wind was forming. The shaman noticed exactly what I did, the energies that flew into the streets were invisible yet I knew they were there. I took a deep breath, feeling the surge of raw astral magic. My horn glowed, and I the spell began to work its magic. The gilded light danced around the shocked soldiers, enveloped them and in a flash they disappeared.

Then my horn glowed once more as it was time to mend the cracks, and although it took extreme precision to not leave a tiny hole in the fabric of reality... I had plenty of practice. It healed, and the three of us where alone once more.

"Goldie... What did you do?"

"Time travel, I sent them a few days into the future. By then we will be long gone."

"But..."

"The cracks? Don't worry your little pretty head over it. It is fixed now." I scratched her messy mane.

"Pony should not use such magic."

"It was that or absorbing the cloud itself, and that, my dear zebra, is an experiment I rather avoid."

Silver wasn't satisfied, she knew a fair bit about magic herself after all.

"That looked like a portal or gateway... I know the theory, but that..."

"Unicorn should not have done that. If cracks continue then we would all be dead."

"Will the two of you stop it?! I know what I am doing and it was the best choice in a bad situation!"

I swear, seeing the zebrecian shaman and my old lover agree was eerie. This is why I didn't like leaving witnesses.

***

Ministry Walk, the heart of Equestria. Everything in the nation led to Canterlot and Canterlot led to Ministry Walk. This little piece of the city did in turn lead up to the royal castle, a place I actually never set hoof in. It was tempting, I will admit that, but that wasn't why I was here. Let dead princesses lie, and let them keep their secrets. I have my own to reclaim.

I put my hoof at the remains of the alabaster statue that once stood here, letting my heart wander back to the days when life was good. When this city was worth visiting. The worst part of growing old is the memories, in times of pain the memories of better times can break you. Ghouls are far from the only ones who can become feral, I... I need to get out of here before the city claims its due.

"Hey, Goldie... why did we need to go to your office again?"

I was pulled back to the present and why I was here in the first place.

"... When I left Canterlot I had to leave something behind, something important. I always planned on returning here one day, but... with this pink cloud everywhere I didn't dare. I had thought they would just turn it into a crater or something."

"Wouldn't whatever it was be destroyed? Nothing in the city works these days."

I turned my head and had my eyes meet her, she really deserved better than to live as this unholy husk. Still, it was nice to have her with me again. So many had already died and left me behind, maybe a Canterlot ghoul could actually survive travelling with me.

"Maybe, but I have to try."

We entered the ancient building where I had spent so many hours of my life.

"So what is it?"

The tone was curious and flirty, part of me just wanted to hug her and not let go.

"Remember what we talked about on nearly every date?"

"Well, yes. Data spell matrices, zebrecian talismans, energy weapons, spark generators, liquid crystal reactors, lunium reactors, solar reactors, cloud ships, cybernetics, power armour, lunite cores, E.L.F. communication, runic magic and... the next subject was... let's see..."

"Electromagnetic weaponry and whether it should replace or complement ordinary firearms."

"Oh right, I knew that! But what does that have to do with what we are doing here?"

"Back in my school days I scribbled on my own operating system, later I got hold of a diamond shape lunite crystal."

"So it is a spell matrix then?"

"Yes, one with everything that ever passed through the Ministry of Image. Not just the things I personally worked with, everything the ministries wanted censored, every top secret project, every inconvenient truth. Everything"

She gasped, or tried to by the sounds of it.

"Isn't that treason?!"

"Technically no, I had clearance to do so. Miss Rarity expected me to keep track of things, and that includes keeping a back up in case our systems got compromised. It never leaved the premises, wasn't connected to the rest of the system and only I knew how to access it. Apart from the minister and myself, no pony actually ever knew that it existed."

The thing I neglected to mention was that it was a contingency in case the old principality ever fell apart. Of course, not even Rarity knew that part. She was busy with her own desperate scheme, rivaling my own in how illegal and blasphemous it was. Wonder if any of those little statuettes are still around?

By now we had reached the correct floor, the ministry mare's office was on the front towards Ministry Walk. Mine on the other hand was down the corridor, and was more a small library than anything else. I looked at the old weathered door.

Head Archivist Golden Starlight

The ministry hub was relatively clean from the pink cloud so the plaque was still readable, and the lock on the door was still operational. I entered my key, turned and opened the door. Yet another wave of nostalgia washed over me, but this time there was something else as well. A glimmer of familiarity, a soft golden glow from the crystal as it rested gently in this nightmare of a place. I had said that it was a gift from a lover in Vanhoover, true enough, and nopony ever bothered to question if it was something more.

I grasped it in my magic, and felt like I was properly alive for the first time since the world ended. It had waited patiently for my return all these years, my half of Project: Orichalcum as we had once named it. Unfortunately, Equestria would lie in ruin for several decades if not centuries more as she was long gone. Spirited away by a spiteful star.

Silver Spark. She is an arcano engineer that managed to keep up with me in my prime. It... is still possible. I turned to look at her when I noticed something. She was alone. I had led a zebra into the core of equestrian politics and secrets. To the Ministry of Image at that.

The door to Rarity's office was wide open.

"oh no..."

The book, I had completely forgotten about it!

Sprinting out into the corridor and towards the office I found Zirkei standing there in a trance. Their eyes transfixed at the desk where the black book was hidden. It had already reached out to them, this was bad, real bad.

My rifle levitated up, I breathed out and fired. The azure beam hit, and the striped shaman appeared to blink in surprise as their body glowed for a moment and turned to a soft blue dust.

There was a spectral scream of rage and frustration.

I grasped the zebra's staff in my magic grip, held the lunite crystal and grabbed a dazed Silver Spark. A flash of light and we were gone, away from the accursed artifact before it could do any more harm. How could I have forgotten that it was there, and how it was sentient?? My mind was finally slipping after all these years.

***

The foul wasteland air tasted as wonderful as water from a mountain spring, the wind was wild and screamed as a banshee and the ground was dry and dead. On the mountain in front of us it stood, Canterlot. My home, the center of it all, accursed and rotten for our crimes and it had failed. I had broken free from its alluring grace and its corrupted spirit, and I had brought with me one of those it once claimed, a wonderful mare who persisted through it all.

For the first time in over a century my heart was filled with hope and something else... Joy perhaps? Tranquility? After all this time there was something worth fighting for, it taken a century but I had reclaimed it.

Project: Orichalcum.

I hugged the wonderful mare who had waited for me all these years, who would help me set things right.

"Goldie? How long did I wait?"

"Long enough, Silver. Long enough."

But she was staring blankly across the desolate wasteland, covered in an eternal darkness only lighted by the faint light of balefire and the rotten carcass of our old home. The wind screeched and tore at our manes, in rage at our survival and my plans to finally put an end to this madness.

***

We were travelling on the old railroad west, to Vanhoover. Barely a single week had passed before she broke apart. She was an intellectual, she could figure out what had happened to her friends, to her relatives and to herself. In her pain she prayed to the princesses and was met with nothing but silence, they were long dead. Wastelanders don't know it, but we proper equestrians know what it is to live in the presence of a true alicorn and can tell that the the princesses really are gone.

Time is a cruel enemy, as we grow old we forget things. If we didn't, we would go insane from the memories we keep. The joy, the sadness, the suffering. Ghouls aren't unique in that they can become feral, it happens to all of us when we have lived past our time. Our tormented souls scream for peace and quiet, for the pain to finally end.

She had been trying to save my mother for my sake, it was the one thing that kept her going. When I returned and put her to rest, I had taken that from the poor mare. Her mind had finally cracked, and it was my fault.

As such, I am once more alone.

A Deserter's Fate

One advantage the cloud cover grants is nigh absolute darkness during the night. What little light existed in the ruined streets and buildings were from campfires and the occasional flashes of gunfire. Truly it was peaceful, in a way only the wasteland could be. Every shadow could hide a threat, every ruin a desolate reminder of the dead kingdom.

Nopony noticed the insectoid creature as it sat on the roof of the ancient building that these days served as a pathetic trade post. These wastelanders were incapable of creating anything of value, content to live in the filth and scavenge the belongings of the dead. It had been close to two centuries yet nothing noteworthy had been built.

"Still, we all have our duties."

The strange being muttered to itself, thinking back at just how dedicated they had been in making sure things stayed this way. If these savages ever evolved past the stone age they might just become a threat one day, so it is better to respond quickly and make sure they are too distracted by their mundane lives to wonder why they live as they do.

A gunshot was heard, and a scream. The creature looked down, and the glowing orange shapes stood out from the dark blue background. For one senseless reason or another, yet another savage died. Truly, it is all they are capable of.

"Utterly pathetic."

A faint rasping sound was heard next to the creature. It didn't turn to look, instead it flapped its wing and took flight into the pitch black night sky. It was midnight, the gargoyles were waking. What manner of madness caused the Van Hoofs to ever devise such a thing? The constructs weren't a threat, but this was a stealth mission so avoidance would be the better alternative.

The winged shape glided silently through the air, out west towards the river and the sea. It was pleasant, flying in the night air. In Vanhoover it wasn't quite as foul as it was in the rest of the wasteland, maybe the sea had something to do with it? And apart from the gargoyles and the slumbering dragon there weren't any threats to a flier.

Yes, let the dirt ponies trudge through their filth. If they had any sense they would have grown wings long ago.

***

The river was calm, its water black and not a soul wandered on the bridge. It was utterly desolate and abandoned, yet this was the place. The old bridge, small and several centuries older than the other one. It had several houses built on top of it, and none were in use. To exposed, too obvious for the desperate. And the perfect location for debriefing operatives in the field.

The creature landed on the roof, which was still remarkably intact for its exposed location. In fact, had it not been in a worse state the last time? It had, and this wasn't some simple wasteland patch job. It looked untouched. The creature shuddered at the thought, glanced at the plastered walls of the building. Almost perfect location, maybe they needed to find another spot for these meetings.

One swift acrobatic motion and it broke into the window. Finding a single pony hiding in the attic of the not-ruin. The pony jumped in shock, before a look of recognition fell on its face and it calmed down.

"Is there any reason to scare me like that? Commodore?"

The Commodore touched its helmet with a hoof and the heat vision in the visor turned off. The mare before it had a yellow coat, a black mane, a tattered grey dust coat and some sort of cloth cap on her head. Strapped on its leg was a revolver and on her chest was a knife in another holster. She looked like any other of the filth down here, a perfect disguise.

"Report, Operative."

"Yes ma'am! Since arriving at the trade post known as North Trade the target has made no further attempts at contacting the crossbreed, not even through courier or the caravans. They don't seem to be allies as previously thought, in fact he seems to be just as disgusted at the thought as any other wastelander."

"Strange, that contradicts earlier reports..."

"Could it be an act? Ma'am."

"No, for all his exploits as a soldier he isn't cut out for espionage. He has a habit of saying that honesty is a virtue, which is why eliminating him is a priority. If he leaks anything then the situation could get out of hoof. Any other contacts of interests?"

"Yes, one potential complication. The caravan he travelled with was escorted by a mercenary group, The Daughter's of Luna. That in itself isn't unusual but one of the senior officers was part of this particular trip. The head of staff as I understand it, she handles the business side of things."

"So he may have a set a trap then. Not his style, but he may be desperate and it is standard protocol for dealing with unwanted attention. These Daughters, how dangerous are they? Regular wasteland thugs?"

"No Ma'am, they are most irregular. They follow the organization and discipline of Equestrian infantry, and are feared by the other groups. Their equipment consists of polymer armour, helmets equipped with S.A.T.S, assault rifles, combat shotguns and gatling guns. All of it in far better condition than what is usually found in the region. And one thing that I can't shake is that they are a very young organization. Not a gang that got more respectable with time nor mercenaries from outside the region, one day they were just kind of there."

"Hm, that on its own is worthy of an investigation. Any opinions to their origin or affiliation?"

"Yes, as far as I can gather they have an agenda. They actively protect any settlements and all caravans in the region, and only take kill contracts against groups or individuals that are destructive to what passes for civilization around here. As for their allegiance, it is obvious they have some benefactor hiding behind the scenes. As of this moment I see three possibilities."

The mare took a breather, her superior had already formed her own opinions on the matter. But this operative was showing promise, she paid attention and made deductions. More than the typical soldier, she was officer material. So let's see what her theories were.

"The first is Tall Tale, or Flood Town as the locals call it. It might be isolationist but they are led by a ghoul with experience in wartime politics. As she supposedly is the last remnant of the local power structures, she might be trying to reclaim the region. The counterpoint is that the Daughters are far better trained than the troops of that city, if she had access to such soldiers, wouldn't she have them train all of the rest of her forces to that level?"

She points out the flaws in her own arguments?

"The second is the Steel Ranger, they most certainly have the training, equipment and the will to set something like this up. It might be a preparation for a full scale take-over, or they might act as a means of recruiting wastelanders in order to bolster their forces. The daughters number barely over a hundred, but the head of staff is interesting in expanding the organization."

"And the third alternative?"

"Changelings, Ma'am."

She didn't need to say anything else. The rest of that scenario was self evident. It would be quite a problem if that were to be the case. The changeling queen was shrewd, yes. And definitely ruthless enough to try a gambit like this, it was definitely a scenario that required special attention.

"Uhm, ma'am. There is a point regarding that alternative."

"Then out with it, soldier!"

"Yes! The captain of the organization has a zealous hatred for changelings. And the head of staff is supposed to be able to tell when a changeling is attempting infiltration. As there is a public dislike for the creatures the Daughters have regularly taken out the doppelgangers."

"Interesting. Who are these two individuals?"

"The captain is a former raider and freelance bodyguard, the head of staff is a courier of some notoriety."

"When the current matter is dealt with you can focus on investigating those two and any links they have to the factions in the area. And find a new location for debriefing. This one is compromised."

"Yes Ma'am! Permission to infiltrate the organization in question?"

"Granted."

***

The white shape of the officer flew silently on the cold night wind, flying first east, then north and back west. What the operative didn't know was that she wasn't alone in Vanhoover. Another agent had already located the target's hideout, it was a perfect location for a pegasus. One that he had used years ago when he first infiltrated the place as a young agent, and where he first met his commanding officer in person. This was part of the reason why the commodore hesitated, it was too obvious. It was an invitation, and obviously a trap.

He wanted to be found, the interaction with the crossbreed was clearly intended as a provocation. They both knew that he couldn't escape her, she had countless of spies, operatives, hit squads, saboteurs and more at her disposal. He was alone. No matter how much he planned, he couldn't win this game. Not unless she made a mistake, and all of these little obvious tricks were meant to provoke her into a hasty action.

It wouldn't happen, she had every field operative be on the lookout for him and three separate ones actively stalking him. Every dirt pony he talked to, every place he stayed at, it was all being documented and compiled. To her surprise the evidence pointed to him not actually seeking out any surface factions, nor sharing any sensitive material. Either he was more clever than she gave him credit for, or he was aware that anyone he choose to tell would be either captured or neutralized within days.

So what was then the thing with these mercenaries? Are they part of his game? It wouldn't be enough to save his life, but maybe he sought to kill her. And a score of heavily armed savages could actually pose a threat. Had he turned that traitorous? She didn't know, she hadn't expected him to turn on her in the first place.

She sailed on the wind out over the open sea, en route to the traitor's hideaway. If he had brought any troops to the island then it would be obvious, there would be a boat and the mercenaries wouldn't be able to hide from the arcano-electronics within her armour. Nothing could hide from it.

The island was in sight, all dark and cold. This time she landed on the beach, activated her E.F.S. and paused for a moment. Out here the cloud cover didn't hold, the black sea was glittering with starlight. In her white armour even a naked eye could detect her with the star filled night sky as a background.

Some questioned why she insisted on the colour, it was part pride in her own personal colours of white and silver. However it was more than that, she and any of her personal flight were skilled enough to handle any mission regardless of camouflage. She smiled within her helmet, there was a third reason. Any soldier stood at attention when one of the Pearl Guard walked in, and even the councilors themselves hesitated at the sight.

***

No sounds were heard apart from the wind and the waves, nothing had appeared on the E.F.S. She remained unnoticed, and slowly made her way up the slope. Constantly crouching and on edge.

Nothing.

She was now on a staircase made from rough stone, leading up to the marble building. It was a strange sight, the island had three small beaches and three paths up to the building. The villa was built into the crevice that was located in the middle of the central hill. From the sea it looked merely two stories tall, yet when you were at the site it was a network of stairs, terraces, hidden gardens, secret paths and concealed rooms. It was more a maze designed by a mad mare or a child than a proper building, a sign that it was an old Van Hoof home.

That family was long gone yet they left their mark all over Vanhoover, it was uncanny how the wastelanders didn't seem to notice them. Or maybe they were just used to it? The city itself was a surreal labyrinth of its own, she didn't like walking the streets for that reason. There was something about it, a feeling that if she wasn't careful she would find herself caught in an eldritch net laid by long dead aristocrats.

Like most of Vanhoover this island villa held a surprisingly large basement, if one had supplies then one could be completely hidden for months on end. Not that anypony ever travelled here, it was located at the end of the world. Vanhoover was the border of Equestrian civilization. Everything west or north of it was forgotten even by the ponies of the old world.

"You came here alone? Really? And here I thought you would bring out the raptor for my sake."

The voice came from above, how could she have missed him? He was good, but... A stealth buck? She looked up and he was just sitting there on the terrace, with his fronthooves dangling over the railing without a care in the world. He was naked, and as far as she could tell: unarmed.

"How did you do that?!"

If he could hide from the E.F.S. then so could others, was it a trap after all?

"You rely too much on the fancy gadgets, Dream. Always have. The E.F.S. is a motion detector, things that stand still are invisibile to it. Every soldier that has been in the field for a while learns this the hard way. Point is, you are filled with blind spots."

Protocol meant that she locked on and killed him on sight. But he was expecting that, and he was definitely up to something. So she went with her political sensibilities instead of her training, she began stalling and gathering more information.

"... Skills still sharp then, did you see me on the way here?"

"Didn't have to, instincts told me someone was after me."

"Instinct? We aren't beasts, Heaven Song."

"Again, it is a pity you rarely went into the field yourself. There are some things you have to experience for yourself, some thing others can't teach you. And some things they won't."

"So tell me then, what did you learn?"

"Hahaha... you are actually asking that? You ask that NOW?? I have tried telling you for years, but you never listened! Fine! We are on the wrong side, the dirt ponies are no different from us. They are just as compassionate, intelligent and resourceful as any of us, more even! Equestria would be rebuilt by now if it weren't for us interfering!!"

"Dashite talk!"

She was very irritated by the subject. He had indeed brought up the notion before, but she had shielded him from punishment. How naive she had been, he had long been a traitor and she let him live...

"I would be proud to bear the name, but that is not going to happen. Is it?"

"..."

"You already reported me K.I.A. didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. Your seditious ideas have already affected others. I had to quarantine your existence before it spread through the ranks. Deadshot has already talked about going scouting missions to confirm my report, challenging my authority. If I am not careful he will go rogue and bring others with him."

"Windsheer's brother?? You think he will go dashite?"

"He was always the rebel in that family."

"Speaking of family, how are the girls?"

Her blood began to boil at the mention, this was why she had gone alone. To why she had given a false report and why she had let him live longer than he deserved. This traitor of a buck was her one and only lover, the father of her daughters, and yet despite that he decided to run away. Leaving her and their foals behind.

Her voice was cold, and she spoke in a tone that would have given a dragon pause.

"You are destroying their futures. Gentle Wing is asking where you went, at least Violette is too young to understand what you are doing to them."

"Tell them I'm sorry, will you?"

His voice was filled with a genuine sense of regret.

"Don't you dare! You are just a traitor and will not live to see another sunrise."

"Dream Pearl... You don't have to do this. I can disappear among the surface pegasi and none would be any wiser-"

"NO ONE crosses the Enclave and lives!"

Commodore Pearl entered S.A.T.S., locked on to his face and fired. Two white bolts of energies shot out from her battle saddle, in the heartbeat after they hit she could see him giving her dejected smile. Then his body burst into an alabaster cloud and there was nothing left of the stallion.

It was over.

The deserter was dead. After all that planning and espionage, he didn't even resist. No aerial duel under the moonlight, no trap with dozens of mercenaries, no desperate charge or rigged bomb. Nothing. He had just talked to her, as if diplomacy was worth anything in this world.

She was disappointed. All that irritation and rage, and no way to vent it. All that remained was his armour, the E-03 model was too rare and too valuable to loose. It was probably somewhere on the island, but she couldn't be bothered to care. After all was said and done she was an officer, and had subordinates for a reason. Maybe she would send Deadshot, and put this nonsense to rest.

***

The Enclave officer took flight once more and silently flew across the glittering black sea, too distracted by her grudge and disappointment to look back. If she had stayed a few more minutes out of sentimentality she would have realized that the two of them hadn't been alone. A few sparks of electricity lit up and among the shadows a pony in a dust coat and a desperado hat appeared. The mare in question sat quietly and gazed on the disappearing white form in the sky, careful to not move from the spot and trigger the E.F.S.

There was a golden glow from underneath the hat, but there wasn't anypony there to notice. The mare smiled to herself, it had been a most rewarding spectacle. For the first time she had seen her illusive enemy with her own eyes.

"Commodore Dream Pearl, commanding officer of the Special Surface Operations. Arrogant, paranoid and not quite as in control as she would like to think. A few more phantoms for her to chase, and with some luck... the red buck will force their hoof."

The mare stepped out of the shadows, walked up to the terrace where the pegasus stallion had died. The ash had already been blown away, and the island villa was pleasantly tranquil. The soft glow of the stars, the beautiful glittering onyx sea, the whining of the ocean wind. It was a place built by her relatives for one such as her. The mare closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment, maybe she would return if she ever decided to retire.

"Unfortunately, that will have to wait..."

A flash of light and the mare was gone, with none any wise.

Liberation

The atmosphere was tense in the camp, everypony was on edge. According to the veterans it was always this was before a battle. And a battle it would be, it was obvious to even the cadets. The rangers had been travelling on half rations for over a month and now their exodus had been interrupted by an army of slavers that had built a fortress in the nexus between the Royal Mountain, New Pegasus and Vanhoover. It was the largest slaver operation this side of Canterlot, operating out of the ruins of Liberty City or Liberty's End as the scum called it. Raiders were beasts to be put down, slavers were worse. Parasites that ripped apart newly founded societies and fueled the cycle of violence and destruction. The elder would never let this stand, none of the rangers could tolerate it, and thus the slaver war had begun.

They had been fighting in the streets of the city for close to a week, and since Star Paladin Autumn Storm was present it had been an extremely one sided conflict until this point. The esteemed veteran had been fighting another slaver group in Fillydelphia for over a decade and it showed. Every trap, every ambush and every sniper had been met with overwhelming firepower. Moreover the criminals were utterly unprepared to face stealth operatives hunting their every patrol, by now they didn't dare leave their rubble walls. As he put it, they weren't facing an army but an infestation and it were to be rooted out like the vermin they were.

It was now the final phase of the operation, it was time to crack open their so called fortress and drive them out. Every ranger that were to take part of the assault had been informed of the plan and their role, they were going to start the assault at midnight from three directions. Star Paladin Autumn Storm would lead the southern strike force, Elder Stardust would handled the main group attacking from the east and Star Paladin Overdrive would lead the northern detachment. Cadet Raspberry Tart had been assigned to the northern group, and was preparing to leave camp. A scribe was helping her doing the maintenance check to make sure that the armour and the machine gun were operating properly. All the knights were doing it on their own but it was the first time she wore power armour into combat, and by all rights she shouldn't even be joining the fighting at all.

She was by far the youngest cadet to be assigned to assault duty, something she suspected her mother had something to do with. As the highest ranking officer among the Manehattan exiles, Paladin Steelheart had the respect and authority beyond her rank. Already during these last few months she had become a living legend for her valour and skill, she was an exemplar of what Steel Ranger should be. The perfect soldier, and as her daughter Cadet Tart had high expectations to live up to. She tried her best, always, but it was rarely enough. Despite training harder than any of her peers, studying all the lore they had brought with them, and understanding arcano-tech as well as any knight she hadn't gotten her cutie mark yet at 14 years age. In her mother's eyes that meant she wasn't trying hard enough.

So here she was, sitting with a lump in her throat and utterly terrified of every sound in the war camp. At least the armour would hide any nervousness on her part, so she stood up and entered the open suit. It closed around her and felt extremely claustrophobic, her movement was unnatural and she couldn't smell anything as the oxygen talisman did its work. The heads up display activated and the scribe connected her machine gun.

***

They were moving through the ruined side streets in groups of eight, with Cadet Tart being part of Crusader Silver Fury's squad. In her ears it sounded like a stampede as they marched onwards, crushing the rubble under their hooves of steel, yet to the slavers it was little more than the regular sounds of wasteland ruin at night. The helmet's audio receptors enhanced the lighter sounds while the sounds of gunfire were dampened. A precaution intended to counteract the stealth of the zebras back during the Great War. The Steel Ranger armour was filled with such little design features that no one outside the ranger corps knew of, another was the voice modulator. By default it was set to amplify and distort the voice of the ranger, mimicking the Royal Canterlot Voice of the royal guard, which ironically made the average pony think the rangers were all brute force. Nothing could be further from the truth, when the stealth features were activated the soldier's voice never left the helmet, while still being tuned to the military radio frequency.

"Deep breaths, Cadet."

The voice of her CO was calm and patient, but with an edge to it.

"Yes Sir! Sorry Sir!"

"Ensign, can you handle having only three in you team?"

Cadet Tart was red with embarrassment at the suggestion, she was a liability.

"Yes sir, weighted lances then?"

The Ensign's voice was neutral, as if she was used to it.

"That would be best. Cadet, stick close to me. We will handle the breach, the other lance will be on fire support."

"Yes sir, thank you sir!"

The squad had reached their position. They stationed on the right flank of this side, the side that would be most exposed if the slavers had any troops waiting to attack them from behind. All eight of them were waiting dutifully in the broken remains of an old cheese shop. She looked out towards the enemy positions.

A considerable wall constructed from rubbble and concrete, with an open field in front of it. The field was filled with torches to showcase any attempts at intrusion, this meant that they didn't have access to any searchlights. Probably didn't think they would need them anyways, expecting the rangers to have their headlights on and be walking targets. That wouldn't happen, the E.F.S. and the S.A.T.S. was more than enough to identify any enemy snipers.

Tart activated her S.A.T.S. and cycled through the targets, 23 guards on the wall. Looked like most were carrying rifles, some seemed to have heavier ordnance however.

"Crusader, they have rocket launchers."

"Recoilless rifles" He corrected. "It won't be a problem."

Didn't do much to help alleviate her worries. Then the whole group tensed up as the Star Paladin spoke.

"Rangers, this is it. We will breach the enemy fortifications on my command, while inside you will eliminate any hostiles in sight. Stay sharp, follow your CO's directions. And DO NOT mistake the hostages for slavers, civilian causalities will NOT be tolerated."

She was as ready as she would ever be. If the assault order was given then she would spring to action in a split second. But nothing happened. The eight of them sat quietly, waiting. And waiting. It seemed a miracle that nopony panicked and started firing just to relieve the stress. Yet nopony did.

BOOOM

The sky over the wall lit up with an orange light, and the sound was followed by a discordant chorus of gunfire and screams. Was this it then? No order came. She entered S.A.T.S. and cycled through the targets, only 14 of them were left. The defenses were weakening as they tried to respond to the chaos at the southern wall.

"Rangers, ready!"

Everyone got up to their hooves, the Crusader stepped forward and a trio of knights followed.

"Howitzer, FIRE!!"

BOOM

The wall in front of them exploded in a spectacular blast of fire and stone. The Cadet could feel the pieces peppering her armour with remarkable force, anyone caught without a full suit of body armour would be shredded by the splinters alone.

"CHARGE!!"

The rangers in front of her began galloping towards the large breach in the wall, and Tart was with them. They were first inside and found themselves on a street between a large concrete wartime building on one side and some reinforced barracks on the other. There were ponies everywhere, some running, some freezing up at the second explosion and some took cover behind a mishmash of carts, barrels and boxes. The last group opened fire, and were promptly mowed down by the knight to her left. A shot from above glanced off her armour, she looked up just in time to see the pony explode into bloody chunks. The group was moving, she hurried after them.

They took to the right, going through an alley and were met by a dozen rugged looking ponies armed with everything from sledges, to pistols to rifles to some energy cannon that looked like it might explode at any time. Their sudden appearance shocked her, and time grinded to a halt with them standing perfectly still in front of her. S.A.T.S. was active, enemies were in front of her. She locked on to the glowing cannon, and fired away.

The explosion was magnificent, a bright purple flash that would have blinded her if she looked at it with her bare eyes.

"Excellent, now hurry on!"

The Crusader began galloping westwards towards what served as the enemy's main keep. An explosion was heard in the east, the Elder's forces had joined the fighting. They ran into straggling groups of threes or fours, not one of them managed to fire back. As they galloped onwards, close to the wall and towards the old city hall with its pillars and gigantic windows that had been replaced with wooden outcroppings. Towers, with machine guns.

A missile sailed out towards one of them, two more were hit by autocannon fire and they can crumbling down.

Series of roars were heard through the gunfire and the equine screams of panic and pain.

"Manticores?" The Ensign asked over the radio

A serpentine shape twice the size of a pony was crawled out from the keep. Its face visible in the dark night as small flames sprout through its nostrils. Then two more behind it, and after those several more. Dragons, at least a dozen of them!

"FIRE!!"

The Crusader shouted the order, and two firing lines turned the spot where the dragons had been spotted into a cloud of smoke and blood. The first three were quick enough to have slithered to the side of the rubble and were on top of the first line of rangers before they noticed the attack.

Steel ranger armour is extremely resilient, even dedicated anti armour fire struggled with it. The claws of a dragon however, were sharper than any bullet and before she could react the Crusader and two knights fell to the ground with the sinister serpents glaring at her and the remaining knight.

She fired, and missed wildly.

The dragons were already moving and were promptly ripped apart by a series of explosions in front of her. Even with the armour's extreme weight she was lifted off her hooves and thrown backwards. Her head was spinning, the constant barrage of noise and the shaking of the ground was a monstrous nightmare. She couldn't even hear the Ensign shouting questions if she was alive. Even if she had heard her superior, then she wouldn't be able to answer.

By the time she was aware of her surroundings again, she found herself disoriented and looked around. There were still the sounds of gunfire and worse all around, but she was alone. In enemy territory. The squad had just left her there.

She lifted her head, struggled to her hooves. Trying to find her bearings and figure out what she should do. There was still a battle to be won, but a lone cadet in the chaos of battle is clearly more trouble than they were worth. The E.F.S. wasn't helpful, red and green bars everywhere. So she activated S.A.T.S. To make sure she wasn't threatened, and found one of the dragons crawling on the barrack behind of her.

Thanks to the time manipulation spell she could finally get a good look at the creature, and was confused. The dragon looked wrong. Its head resembled that of a pony, it even had a mane. And were those hooves on the hind legs? What was this abomination and what where they doing here!? Either way, it had to die. She queued two bursts.

Nothing happened, confused she activated the trigger again. And again.

She glanced to her right, and saw that the barrel was bent and broken. In another scenario she would have been glad that it didn't explode at her side... Right now, she was panicking. She could run, but she wouldn't outrun this creature. Her only chance was to beat it in hoof to hoof combat. Bad odds, but it was all she could think of as it jumped, claws outstretched.

The cadet utilized one of the ranger techniques that relied on S.A.T.S as she rose up on her hind hooves like a zebra. A simple thing, that relied on the armour for timing and force. The dragon creature landed with its talons grasping into the dirt, it maintained speed and opened its maw as it rose up towards her chest.

Crunch

Its skull shattered at the impact, covering forelegs with blood and grey matter. She breathed hard, still struggling to process what had just happened. A single line of thought cut through the chaos. Gun or no gun, knighthood or not, she was still a ranger. And as a ranger she wouldn't run. These monsters could be killed, and there was still a battle being fought.

"RANGER!"

She turned around and was faced with a lance of rangers. That armour, the Star Paladin!

"Ma'am!"

She saluted reflexively.

"We have a battle to win. With me, Ranger!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

***

The sun was rising, and had not yet crossed over the cloud cover. Bringing a rare warm and gentle light. The nightmare was over, and mercifully she had been spared of doing any of the clean up. That part is usually part of the cadet's duties, but since she took part of the fighting she was considered a knight in this case and given a few hours of rest.

So she sat among the remains of the carnage, with a bottle of water between her hooves and mostly stared at the scribes and other cadets who were busy categorizing the supplies looted from the slavers and making sure the former slaves were getting fed and whatever medical attention the rangers could spare. There was some argument between some of the officers, but Tart was too much in a daze to pay any attention.

One of the knights sat down next to her.

"You did good, ranger."

"Thanks." Was all that she could muster.

"It seems Crusader Fury will recover and be back in action soon enough."

Her worries settled a bit.

"The others?"

"Worse off, but they will survive. Don't beat yourself up over it, no one could have predicted that they had dragons. And out of everyone involved, you had the least responsibility. So, again: You did good, ranger."

Certainly didn't feel that way.

The other ranger put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Look at me."

The tone sounded like an order so she did so on reflex and realized that it was the Star Paladin herself. The officer had never talked to her before, none of the senior officers had. She was just a lowly cadet that had been thrown into combat due to a shortage of real soldiers. The grey mare had scarlet eyes that matched her mane, two scars over her left side. The look of concern in her eyes was mixed with pride.

"It was a tough fight, you held on despite the shell shock and rejoined as soon as you were able. Most ponies wouldn't be able to hold it together as well as you did. When you are feeling better, get in that armour and report to me for duty. Knight Raspberry Tart."

"..."

The cadet was in a state of surprise, awe and embarrassment as she realized how attractive her superior looked. The earlier feelings of disgust and self hate were forgotten, the memories of the night before pushed aside as she began comprehending what the Star Paladin was saying.

"That was an order, knight."

"Ah! Yes, ma'am!"

Her superior rose to her hoof, looked eastwards towards the rare rays of Celestia's light. In that moment she looked like a hero who had walked straight out of some wartime poster, and the young knight didn't realize that she was staring a bit more than was acceptable. Yet the Star Paladin ignored it and explained the situation.

"It seems the slavers had captured a whole stable population and the elder has been talking with the stable ponies. As they don't wish to go back to their old homes they requested to travel with us instead. The Elder agreed on the condition that they join our regiment. So I expect you to show the rookies how it is done in the coming months, knight."

She blinked as she realized that she was no longer a rookie, but considered a role model.

"You can count on me, ma'am!"

***

The evening was falling and she was utterly exhausted from the battle and socializing with all the stable ponies. The foals were in awe at their heroics and utterly ecstatic when they learned that they were going to become steel rangers. The emotional roller coaster ended in a sense of pride and confidence. There was still hope for Equestria. As long as the rangers held to their discipline and their virtues, they would revive the slumbering nation.

As the young knight was getting ready to sleep she saw her cutie mark for the first time. Two wings holding a purple heart aloft, the Winged Heart. The ancient medal given to soldiers who fought on despite overwhelming odds and despite painful losses. Now, she knew, she would never waiver in her duty to Equestria and its citizens.

A Civil Discussion

A zebrecian stand off, that is what they called it in New Pegasus. Two sides with drawn and aimed weapons, none taking the shot. On one side was a gang of slavers, clad in hardened leather and armed with with automatics. 13 in total, they had completely surrounded their enemies and yet they hesitated. They had a grudge to settle and the mare that had messed up their operation had decided to visit Liberty's End and walked straight into their ambush. Even a head hunter of her caliber couldn't take them all, at least... that was the idea.

Ratchet gulped, the revolver next to his head was definitely not part of the plan.

"We were travelling peacefully and you had to throw your lives away?"

The voice was smooth and far too gentle to come from a cold blooded killer, yet he knew better. The duster and the hat both had golden signets in the shape of the number 7. First rule of slavery, never mess with the Vanhoover Express. It is more trouble than worth, every single one of their couriers were armed to the teeth and completely crazy.

"Hey, we can still work this out." He tried to hide his nervousness but failed, this courier freaked him out. "If everypony lowers their guns, we can walk our separate ways and forget about this. 'Kay?"

"Did you hear that, Sweet?"

"Yeah. Ah did. Only one li'l problem, ya'll are slavers. And ya'll sell to the zebras."

"Everypony does that!" he protested.

"Still technically treason." The mare next to him made a pouty face. "And traitors have but one fate."

Ca-click

She cocked the hammer.

He tried to move but found himself frozen in place.

BLAM

An eerie silence followed, the other slavers were paralyzed with shock.

Twelve golden auras enveloped their weapons, which twisted in the air and fired.

BABAM

"HEY, ya didn't leave any to me?!"

The tall white pegasus was furious.

"Ah, sorry. Got a bit carried away."

The courier blinked, as if trying to process what just happened.

"Do you want any of their gear?"

"Pfft, like ah want any of their junk?"

***

The two mares continued their walk on the broken street, leaving the dead fools to the carrion. The ancient city was more rubble than a thriving town, like so many others of its kind. The only reason to why it had become important over the centuries was that it was a crucial link between the southwest, the northwest and central Equestria. A hot spot for raiders, caravans, couriers and most importantly slavers. Straggling ponies were captured around Vanhoover, taken to Liberty's End and then sold to the highest buyer.

"Ah told ya, Goldie. This place is more pain than its worth."

"I know, I know."

"Why're we even going here in th' first place?"

"There is a stallion I want to meet."

"WHAT?!"

"And this is why I didn't want you tagging along."

"Ya have a lov'r here?! And a buck?"

The courier mare facehoofed and let out a sigh.

"No, Sweet. I do not. So please to try to not make a fuss"

"But, Goooldie!"

The shorter mare looked at her pegasus companion with an expression of disbelief.

"... You do realize that whining is not going to help?"

"Yeah, but... who even is this buck? A ghoul like High Roll'r?"

"No, a stable pony."

"Another crossbreed??"

A glow of magic grabbed hold of the pegasus' mane and pulled her head down.

"Stop that."

"Aouch, stop what?"

"Overreacting, shouting at every little thing I say! You are acting like a jealous school filly, and I am tired of it. If you can not behave properly I will teleport you to Trottingham and you will have to fly home. Got it?"

"But ah..."

The eyes of the courier mare was showing hints of anger, a rare sight these days.

"Sure, A'll be good. Promise!"

"Good."

The two of them walked in silence a while longer and had the gates of the slaver fortress in sight when the pegasus piped up once more, having one more thing on her mind.

"Ya know, if ya acted more like that..."

The courier turned her head slowly to look the pegasus in the eyes with a tired expression.

"OK, Ah'll shut up now."

***

The guards at the gate had let them in without a fuzz, couriers were a common enough sight for nopony to raise any questions. Even if the presence of the pegasus clearly worried some of them. At least three separate groups of ponies within the walls opened their mouth to comment about the bounty hunter visiting but shut it when they recognized that she wasn't alone. All the heavily armed lowlife in this place were a powder keg waiting to blow, and these two mares had a reputation for having exceptionally short fuses.

"So where's this buck of yers?"

"At the bar in the main building."

"How do ya know?"

"Ponies in the street are talking about them? Try to pay attention for once."

"Ah didn't hear anything?"

"... let's just go."

The courier sped up.

"Ya're hiding somethin' again!"

The hunter galloped after.

Despite her taller legs and better stamina she didn't catch up until they had reached the large open dining hall that held every visitor with caps to their name. To the bounty hunter it gave the impression of a less civilized version of the pubs and casinos of New Pegasus, the courier however was reminded that she would rather be back in the Black Hoof. Yet, at a corner table there were to stallions who stood out from the rest. Two cyberponies in fact, both looking well acclamated to the harshness of the wasteland.

"You go pick up drinks for us while I go introduce myself."

"Ya sure ya aren't here to flirt?"

"Some of us actually have other interests. Now, go."

The courier walked up to the pair and took a seat on the opposite side of the table, a faint smile on her lips as she read their reactions and noticed which one she was seeking. The thinner one, with the cybernetic eye. Clearly the brains of the duo, with the other being more of a combatant. Still, it was an odd place to find stable ponies. They ususally had stronger morals than this.

"Can we help you, miss?"

"I am mostly curious at what a pair of stable bucks are doing in a place like this?"

"Isn't that a line the stallion typically use?"

The courier chuckled lightly and removed her hat.

"How my reputation have fallen over the years... Anyhow, you two. Tell me, what do you think of this place?"

The stallion with the cybernetic leg tensed up when the tall pegasus walked up to the table with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. The courier suspected that her companion had a disapproving look on her face, but then again the over sized rifle might have something to do with his reaction. The other buck didn't even flinch at the possible threat and gave the impression of very much being in control.

"It is atrocious. And yet, it might be the biggest settlement we have encountered in Equestria."

The courier snatched the bottle and poured herself a glass of the amber liquid. Black Hoof whiskey, the best one made after the end of the world. Although she might be a bit biased towards the drinks from that place.

"Tall Tale and New Pegasus are bigger. But they are exceptions to the rule."

"Seeing the ponies who frequent this place, I can see why. Bandits, slave traders and frankly violent lunatics. Egocentric savages with no care as what the consequences of their actions would be in the long run. Looks like a recipe for disaster to me."

"HEY..."

The pegasus had a bad habit of taking things personally.

"Present company excluded of course."

"Not really, we belong to the third group."

The courier waved a dismissive hoof in the air.

"I am curious though, is it true that they sell ponies to a zebra warlord?"

"Very much true I am afraid." The courier emptied her glass and began pouring a new. "It is ironic, the zebras are outnumbered a hundred to one but ponies are too self centered to actually do something about it."

"That's just it!!"

The buck with responded with passion, slamming a hoof on the table, bending forward and pointing to the courier with the other. Something that made the pegasus twitch and she had her revolver out in an instant and was met with the her stallion counterpart aiming his cybernetic leg at her. It had unfolded, revealing a large boore barrel inside.

Then the magical aura gripped the revolver and ripped it from the pegasus mouth.

"OUCH!"

"No shooting! This is a civil discussion, Sweet! Pardon the distraction, you were saying?"

"Ahem, yes. It has been over 150 years since the bombs fell, how come nopony has managed to rebuild anything of note? Do all these outlaws outnumber the civilized ponies and bring it all down again? Has nopony tried? I know there are at least some stables that were opened."

"Ah, now we come to the point for which I sought you out. I have been travelling the wasteland for a long while and was asking myself the very same question back in the day. As a pony used to civilization it was very frustrating to find that nearly every place was as rotten as this slaver nest."

The red stallion closed his organic eye and sat back down in a slow dramatic fashion. He had figured it out.

"Your beauty belie your age, doesn't it? Miss?"

"Charming, but yes. I am ever as bit rotten as any of the ghouls you have seen."

He had a grin on his lips, the discussion now had more than merely social or academic value.

"An actual Equestrian... So tell me, what have you noticed over the last century and a half?"

"A few decades back I ran into a pony I met once before the end, a stallion of remarkable integrity and considerable leadership experience. There was this mare he found in a moderately sized town, reminded him of his old lover from before the war. So he decided to become the town's guardian."

She emptied her second glass but her mind was already drunk on nostalgia.

"I had been travelling with him for a few years at the time. But being reminded of the time back then... It reminded me that I still had unfinished business in this world and after a while I left and went my own way. A decade later I returned, a bit curious at how things turned out for them."

"And it was in ruins I take it?"

"Ruin?" She gazed deep into his eye. "No, it wasn't a ruin. It was a crater."

"And the stallion?"

"I met him years later once more but he refused to talk about it."

"So did you figure out what had happened?"

"Oh yes... It took a while, the pattern was clear enough but... It wasn't until I reached Vanhoover that I finally understood. Ah... How the Vanhoover Provisional Government failed.. A surviving remnant of the old nation, that just happened to collapse under mysterious circumstances."

"Outside interference then?"

The stable buck was quick to reach the correct conclusion when the option became a possibility.

"Exactly."

"Who and why becomes the question then."

"Tell me, how many pegasi have you encountered during your travels?"

"Few, very few."

Both of the stallions turned to look at the winged mare.

"Goldie, what are ya doing?"

The courier mare just showed a faint smile at the question.

"Ya know Miss Pega don't want ya talkin' about that stuff?"

It was a threat, simple as that.

"Bitter Sweet, need I remind you of why you follow me around in the first place?"

The winged mare hestitated at the reminder.

"But fret not, it is on her wishes that I am telling them. I am a courier after all." The unicorn turned her attention to the stallions in front of them. "Miss Pega is a wastelander when all is said and done, and no friend of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. So here we are."

The unicorn levitated out a holodisk and dropped it on the table.

"And this mare you work for, she asked you to seek us out specifically?"

"Of course not, any and all stable dweller or ghoul that seems worth the effort. Any pony with proper loyalties to the values of our lost nation, as well as the talents to do something about it. You are the sixth group I have reached out to since I took on the contract."

"And now you expect us to join in on some grand conspiracy?"

"hehe.... hahahahaha!!"

The pegasus was stunned, it was rare sight for the courier mare to show so much emotion. And the mix of cheer and insanity was just a bit too much, even for her.

"No, my dear Stable Dweller. No, we do not. It is a game, a game with impossible odds. And in such a game there is only one possible path to victory, cheating. By throwing a few wildcards into the deck the schemes and conspiracies that lay hidden in this wasteland of ours, will one day come crashing down."

"You are insane..." The bulkier of the two bucks muttered.

"Perhaps, but I am also quite experienced when it comes to things like this."

The other stallion had a shrewd smile as he asked the crucial question.

"So there is no strings attached to this gift then?"

"None. As I already stated, it is a gamble."

It was evident to the courier that the stallion knew they had merely been told half truths. Yet he wasn't going to bring any more questions out into the open, the courier mare wasn't the only one at the table with a plan for the future. And he had known more than he had let show, just how much she couldn't tell. Yet the meeting had proved fruitful for both sides.

The courier emptied her third glass, rose from her seat and put on her weathered hat.

"A final friendly word of advice, stay away from Vanhoover. A relative of mine gave them a proper fright once, and they never forgot, so unfortunately the they keep their eyes locked on the city. The whole west coast is filled with spies and saboteurs."

"And the east coast isn't?"

The buck raised his one healthy brow.

She gave him a conniving smile in return.

"I wouldn't know."

Two of a Kind

The City of New Pegasus was nothing like its predecessor, the only clouds in sight were the dark rumbling curtain above (somehow both bringing far too much and far too little rain at the same time). The "Casinos", while impressive to the average wasteland savage, were likewise a poor mare's version of the City of Splendour. The inhabitants liked to claim that it was the most civilized place this side of Canterlot, but calling it civilized was hollow praise to say the least.

The streets were filled with addicts and would be robbers whose luck were ever in short supply. The ruins and hovels that passed for houses could be razed by a strong wind, standing in stark contrast to the concrete giants of the Strip. There were three actual casinos with their own distinctive styles; the jagged spires of the Hive, the garish extravaganza of the Orange Dawn, the more Utilitarian Crypt. Then there was the brutalistic office building that the Sunset Caravans used as its headquarters, an ugly thing that fit more in with the industrial ruins of Fillydelphia than the City of Vice. The last two sites of note were the Orange Manor with its famed orchards (worked by unpaid "servants") and the juggernaut of an industrial fortress that was the old Ironshod factory.

And guess what you get when you mix greed, drugs and a steady supply of firearms? You get New Pegasus, a hellhole that should have been wiped out by raiders or otherwise. Both the Steel Rangers and the zebras had tried of course, for over a century without success. The place attracted every raider, mercenary and slaver from easily half of Equestria, it was a place where the strong ruled, where justice was served with a revolver and where the horrors of the wasteland was forgotten in a drug filled haze until yet another pony was thrown in the gutters.

There was one singular rule that was the law of New Pegasus, either you were with one of the five families, or you were a nobody. For most ponies that means picking one of the five and doing everything in your power to be accepted. Membership meant a home, a tribe, actual food and of course: POWER. For certain more infamous freelancers it meant doing a balancing act where you tried to not insult a prospective employer. If you didn't have a family, you at least needed friends. Fortunately, if there was anything in this accursed world I was good at, it was making friends. In fact, freakishly good at it if you listened to the rumours on the street.

High Roller was one such friend. He wasn't a recent acquaintance however, but one of my oldest still living friends. Or well, lovers would be a more appropriate term all things considered. Either way, every casino had its own unique gimmick to stay competitive, the Crypt's thing was that it was bank as well as a casino. As a result High Roller might be the richest pony since the balefire apocalypse. There was one more thing though, and why it was my favourite place in the city. Every single member of the Crypt Keepers was a ghoul.

***

The interior of the casino was meant to be nostalgic with its blend of old and new furniture, framed movie and propaganda posters, various art objects standing on pedestals, and ancient songs sung by mostly dead ponies. In all honesty it was better than nearly every other place west of Canterlot, and remarkably similar to Tenpony Tower on the east coast (albeit with reversed policies on ghouls). I still didn't quite like how it was decorated, it felt less like a statement of culture and more a constant reminder for the ghouls of their past in an attempt to keep themselves sane.

Only reason I used it as my base of operations these days (definitely not a home), was my friendship with the owner and the rest of the ghouls. Although they were emotionally stuck in the past, they were a nice change of pace from the rest of the ponies of wasteland. Having a place to come back to, where the locals didn't die off every few decades was also a nice perk.

"Oh, miss Starlight! Welcome back. I trust the journey went well?"

The purple coloured ghoul had a soft, cheerful tone in her voice. Miss Cheerilee, from Ponyville. An old acquaintance of the Apple family, of the ministers' generation I believe. Most of the ponies in the Crypt were like her, harmless civilians in a world that left them behind.

"You could say that, and the flowers were delivered per contract."

I neglected to mention the small army of raiders I had to fight myself through to reach that memorial. Instead I decided to change the subject to something a bit more pleasant.

"And Ditzy decided to send presents when I mentioned why I was in the area."

"Muffins no doubt."

"Muffins."

I replied as I levitated up the two bags, one with the muffins and one with the bits and caps.

"At least some things never change. Most things these days are so... strange if you know what I mean?"

She looked in dismay at the bottle caps that once belonged on soda bottles.

"Trust me, I know."

"It is weird, most of the young ponies feel so foreign to talk to. But not you, you act like you were one of us. Why do you do so much for us old fools? Was your mother a stable pony or something?"

The question was genuine, curious and hinted at some confusion. Didn't she know?

"How long have I helped you ponies out?"

"I don't know? A few years now?"

"It has been seven decades and three years since I first visited this place."

Her face went blank, her voice a bit worried.

"That can't be right... It can't be... Wha.. Rose had just left when you appeared and it was just last week?"

Oops, she was having a breakdown. Can't have her going feral, High Roller would be furious.

"Cheerilee, look me in the eyes."

A sharp commanding tone to cut through the confusion. A whisper of a spell, a few moments of memories gone. She wouldn't be able to tell the difference but it would be enough. Note to self, do not talk about that subject with this mare. She can't handle it.

"Huh? Wha... Oh, miss Starlight! What were we talking about?"

"I delivered the flowers to Big Machintosh, that bag is money for my account and the other bag is muffins from Ditzy to you. And I was wondering if High Roller is available."

"Oh, good. Thank you, it means a lot. And what was the rest of it?"

"Muffins from Ditzy Doo. And is High Roller home?"

"Ah, at least something never change. So many things seem strange these days... And yes, yes. He is in either his office or his suite, he wanted to talk to you about something. He seemed very excited and devious about the whole thing."

"Thank you. Enjoy the muffins, you deserve them."

***

I walked leisury through the corridors, meeting an old familiar face at every few step. They seemed to be doing good for themselves, relatively fine dresses and suits considering the state of their environment. A few raised their eyebrows at my presence, newcomers or those who were beginning to forget. Other's reassured them that I lived there, and the guards tipped their hats in greeting as I passed by.

Speaking of guards, he had two of them by the door to his office. Dressed in business suits of the old days, black with white scarves and sizable machine guns. One of them activated the intercom and announced my arrival and the other opened the door.

And there he sat, behind a mahogany desk, his blackened coat had lost its lustrous deep blue colour and his gilded mane was now a sickly pink. His eyes were the typical pallid white of a canterlot ghoul, but unlike others of his kind, he had a sharp mind still. He had a conniving smile, as he usually did.

The door was closed shut behind me and we just observed each other for a few moments. We had met at the Gala once, oh so many years ago. The event had been something of a bust that year, and I had been standing alone on the balcony overlooking the western heartlands. Most ponies had the good sense to leave me alone in that moment, but not him. Celestia's presence at the celebration had brought up bad memories and I could have sworn she recognized me. As a result I sought the solitude of the balcony and stared westwards, looking to the lone star in the sky that whispered of my real home.

It was in that place he had shown up, been ever so patient, asking about the star in question. As it was, he had also recognized me from my stay in the capital as a filly. And yet he didn't freak out, he was instead worried. Of all things he was worried, a unicorn aristocrat of mild renown and a personal student of Celestia. And he cared about the lost stray she had thrown out of Canterlot.

I closed my eyes ever so slowly and opened them again, looking at him in the present. So very changed and yet he remained himself. Unbroken, uncorrupted, and still the same silly fool as he was before the bombs. He reminded me a lot of Amethyst, which might explain why I tolerated his presence all those years.

"What is the scheme this time?"

"One thing at a time ma chéri. First, drinks."

He levitated up a wine bottle and poured the two expensive glasses for us. The Canterlot accent distracted me, as did the snow globe that my eyes stared at. It contained a miniature Canterlot, but the supposed snow was pink and radioactive. It had to have been a post war production, but who in Equestria would make such a thing?

Our glasses clinked in celebration of a dead kingdom and I gave the wine a taste. It was familiar yet distant...

"Is this... genuine Bakerbell wine from the orchards of Baltimare? How did you get hold of this??"

"Some scavenger desperately wanted somepony to pay off his gambling debt. I might have informed him that I would pay hoofsomely for more bottles of this kind. Although I doubt he would survive the trip, maybe you would be up for it?"

"Travelling across the continent and just to get you some wine? By Luna's sweet flank, not a chance."

"A pity, I would travel with you if it weren't for the need to keep this place running. Haven't been to that city since the End. I do wonder how it held up?"

"Neither have I to be honest... Hold on, are you trying to nostalgia bait me just so that you can get some expensive alcohol? Because it isn't going to work!"

"Eh, if I had somepony I could trust the Crypt with then it could be a date."

"The world is dead, Roller, we have more important things to do than to dance in the flower fields."

"Where did your sense of romance go? You have become so grumpy in recent years, what happened?"

As always, the friendly pseudo-therapist. Didn't he know just how dangerous old world blues was?

"I ran into Silver Spark in Canterlot a while back. Tried bringing her here but she didn't make it."

"Ah... She was always a sweetheart. You couldn't have teleported her or something?"

Why did.. oh why didn't I think of it? It was so obvious, it should have been my first solution. I even teleported out of Canterlot in the first place and then didn't think of teleporting her here. It would have been a tiresome effort but I could have pulled it off. I could have saved her?

"..."

The telekinetic grip on my glass wavered and it fell to the floor and shattered alongside my self control. I covered my face and desperately tried to not break down completely. I was about to weave my own personal spell to escape to a place of tranquility before he distracted me. Eventually I regained my composure.

"I am slipping. It is finally happening. Damnation..."

"Hey, I'm with you. It is the same with all of us."

"Is it? I'm not a ghoul."

"No, but you might as well be. Trust me, even Celestia had issues keeping track of things every now and then. And her life was ordered and structured in a way nopony's life is these days. Nopony can keep it together all the time, not even the young ones. DjPon3 tries to keep some sense of normality together but even she is slipping."

"You do realize that there is a new DjPon3 every few decades"

"Wait, You mean it isn't a ghoulified Vinyl Scratch? Really?"

"No, there is some other pony running the radio show. And can we focus on my emotional breakdown and the risk of me going feral here? It is slightly more important than your favourite radio show."

"Sorry. You made a slip up, somepony you cared about died. There is no way to put this lightly but... shouldn't you be used to it by now? How many ponies have we lost over the decades?"

"You don't understand, she was M.A.S. and good at it. There was a fair chance she knew what Twilight Sparkle was up to, and if there was a terraforming megaspell somewhere then we could have made it work. Not to mention, I need a good engineer for what I plan on doing."

"And that is? You have always been vague about it."

Cute, picking a moment of weakness to ask the important questions. Still, he is a useful ally.

"Navarro."

He frowned for a moment before giving me his sly smile again.

"I'm game. How do we bring it down? We don't exactly have any mega spells lying around."

"That was part of what I need an engineer for, there are a few unfinished projects the old government left lying around. However, it isn't the kind of stuff you build in your backyard."

He was silenced for a long while as he observed me, trying to divine my plan.

"It's in Vanhoover isn't it? That's the reason you keep disappearing north? It's not just nostalgia trips, are they?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Probably for the best, but I'm with you. And I know somepony else whom might be."

"Who?"

"There was a white and black unicorn mare who turned up at the strip a few days ago, got as perfect of a coat and mane as you do. Got sparkles in the mane and everything. She didn't recognize me of course, but I knew her. She is staying at the Orange Dawn."

"Lance is...still alive?"

***

The guard ponies of the Orange Dawn were hesitant to let me through. But I had left my arms at the Crypt and they had no official orders to keep me out, so they let me enter with a feeble warning of staying out of trouble. I barely noticed their presence. There was more important matters at hoof. Far more important matters. Shimmering Lance was mare of little note to the rest of the world, too interested in the distant past to be care about the war effort. Yet she contributed in her own way, as a historical and martial scholar she carried out archaeological expeditions on her own, unarmed. Her, a unicorn who barely knew any spells. Her, the fiercest hoof to hoof combatant in Equestria.

And she was my friend, the only one who I could actually talk to about the books I read. The only pony in all of Canterlot that had any proper interest in equine history. I had honestly forgotten that she existed, just as I had forgotten Silver Spark.

Perhaps I had been wandering the wasteland alone far too long, ponies are inherently communal creatures. We need a tribe to stay civil and sane, and with the destruction of Equestrian society ponies couldn't handle it. How they keep turning raider generation after generation... I was a fool to think that I could stand apart from it all.

I'm getting off track. It had been over a century and a half, and now she turns up all of sudden.

And that was definitely her sitting on a bar stool with a glass of some alcoholic beverage. Wine most likely. She was muscular for a civilian mare of the old days, her white coat was perfectly clean, and her pitch black mane glittered when she moved (did I copy that from her?). She was definitely beautiful, gorgeous by the standards of the wasteland. So it was strange that ponies seemed to stay away from her, then again. She was never the most social of ponies, right?

I struggle to remember things from before the balefire, unless there is something specific for me to focus on it just sort of blurs together or is covered by a virtual fog. Maybe it isn't a recent thing and I just got used to the ways of the wasteland and forgot about how to be a proper Equestrian. If that was the thing, then I definitely needed somepony to remind me.

I needed her.

She recognized me, and there was a clear look of shock on her face. Slowly trotting closer I realized that I never figured out what happened to her, she had a tendency to disappear for periods of time and... she looked pristine. As if she had stepped straight out of the past...

Oh...

She did? Didn't she?

When I reached her I just instinctively snuggled her in silence, ignoring the collective gasp of the other casino matrons. If anyone bothered us, they would die. If I had to wipe out the entire casino then so be it. Sure, the wasteland was horrible but how could I have forgotten it. An emotion, so very integral for a pony's emotional and mental stability. Silver was amusing, Roller was nostalgic, Shimmer... she was safe. In all of my life, she was one of the few ponies I could truly feel safe with. I let out an audible sigh of content as she ruffled my mane and asked the obvious question.

"Goldie, I thought you disliked time travel?"

"Oui, I took the long route."

My emotions must have shown through as her eyes had a look of concern.

"What year is it?"

"186 of Luna's reign."

"So why are you alive?"

"Somepony has to fix things. The princesses left a mess."

"Alone?"

I nodded.

"Not entirely alone but yes."

"All this time... Your not handling it well. Come on, we have room."

The two of us began walking towards the stairs as she led the way. Her voice was quiet, as always. Never much for talking, she preferred the Canterlot Library over the busy streets and cafés of the capital. That was something I appreciated back then. Still, one shouldn't confuse her lack of volume with a lack of confidence.

"This is about Celestia isn't it? Proving to yourself that you don't need the princesses?"

"Not just her..."

"You can't live your life trying to get the approval of ponies who are long gone. They aren't going to answer, you know that. Isn't it time you went on with your life?"

"At this point that would mean giving up."

"Is it that bad?"

"..."

She knew me well enough to catch on to the implication even if she wasn't used to the ways of the wasteland. There was more than one form of roulette played in this scrap heap of a city so to speak. In the wasteland you either had a reason for staying alive, or you didn't. As simple as that.

***

As she opened the door the voice of a hyperactive stallion was heard inside.

"Shimmer, you won't believe this! The sink has a magical talisman that can generate virtually endless amounts of water, how in the world do you ponies come up with all this stuff?!"

His mood changed drastically when the two of us stepped in, possibly because of her worried look. It was however more likely that he saw something in me. I most certainly recognized something in that buck. Something truly inequine and alien. My age alone had alienated me from the common pony, but this stallion was far far older. More akin to Celestia than a foolhardy survivor like myself.

And much like her, he had seen far too much blood and death in his lifetime. It was like gazing upon a fickle god, it could be compared to smoking in a room filled with gasoline. Foolish, and with one mistake everything explodes. However, I cared little for gods.

"The Doctor I presume."

"Yes, that's me. And you are?"

"Golden Starlight, head archivist of the M.O.I. and close friend of Shimmering Lance."

She had a look of shock when I recognized him, she hadn't even mentioned his existence. So I felt it would be courteous to explain the situation.

"Shimmer, you're not an astral mage. You can't time travel on your own, and there aren't all that many ponies around foolish to travel past the end of the world."

Turning to the beige and brown stallion, who looked oh so very pedestrian, I continued.

"Ditzy Doo mentioned you. I'm one of the few ponies who understands her without her having to write everything down, and when the subject of time travel came up one time she talked about your adventures for hours on end."

"Derpy?? She is still around? Is she doing all right?"

"Her coat has been burned off, she has not a single feather left, barely any hairs in her mane or tail, and some savage cut her tongue out. She has been trying to help ponies for over a century and half of them shoot at her. And yet she keeps going, always cheerful, always helpful. Said it was something you taught her."

I walked closer to him, stared into his eyes and asked the question that had been on my mind since she first talked about it. And oh was I furious at the thought.

"She is the kindest pony I have met in nearly two centuries, despite everything she has been through."

I struggled with keeping my composure as I continued.

"So WHY?!"

Shimmer was stunned at my outburst, and barely whispered.

"Goldie?"

"WHY IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING UNHOLY DID YOU LEAVE HER BEHIND?!"

He just stood there, unphazed, with a wounded look. Not a shred of fear, but there was some regret, and a lot of painful memories. That I could tell, he had made that choice before. How many times? Did he just run off and leave heartbroken ponies in his wake?

"You know why..."

It was all he said. The tone however, suggested that it was obvious.

I backed off, confused at the suggestion. Looking at Shimmer I realized it, it was indeed obvious.

"Because it would be too painful to see her die. All other concerns are secondary... When you have seen enough death, you either give up or you run away..."

Looking back to buck in question.

"You are like me..."

My voice barely a whisper.

We stood there in silence for a long while, until I broke it with a question.

"Why are the two of you here, in this era?"

The stallion explained in the most nonsensical way possible.

"It isn't as much why as it is a thing that just happens, she wanted to see if the pony kingdom survived and this was as a good place as any. As for this exact time and location, it was just ended up that way."

"Fate then?"

I looked at my old mare friend, with a rare sense of hope.

"Will you stay? Please? I need the support if I am going to get through this."

Her eyes looked distraught and conflicted, but she shook her head.

"No, this isn't my era and you are just chasing old ghosts. You need to stop."

"Please don't say that..."

My voice faltered.

"Please, Shim-Sham. I need you!"

I took a step towards her and stretched out a hoof. In respone she jumped backwards and her horn glowed. In a moment an ethereal black void covered her, shimmering like the night sky. Her eyes two glowing white orbs. It was her unique spell, the magic reinforcement that let her literally tackle full grown dragons. There was no hate, no anger that I could sense from her. Only fear.

She was afraid of me, of what I had become. We had barely interacted for an hour but she could still sense that something was wrong, and it scared her.

***

An empty room apart from me, they had left without any further words. Not that they were needed. Everypony I knew seemed to either disappear, die or reject me. As with Silver, Shimmer had left me in a state of bitter nostalgia. And I was reminded that there was two kinds of roulette being played in New Pegasus.

"She did tell me to die, didn't she?"

I had left the revolver at the Crypt.

No issue. My horn glowed and it appeared in a bright flash.

Removing all bullets but one I spun it with as much speed as I could.

Put the cold barrel to my throat.

Ka-click

A soft telekinetic pull.

CLICK

Only disappointment.

There was something else that I had forgotten, I could feel it tugging at my mind. Levitating the gleaming gem out of my saddle bag, it was a soul gem. That much I knew, and it was a memento. From whom I had no idea, but it was somepony important. More than that, it was filled with a sense of purpose.

Reminding me once more.

"First fix things. Then I can finally rest."

Broken Souls

There was a slight discomfort to have my legs broken, gripped by the throat and showed through at least one brick wall. Even if I tend to ignore most physical pain, I will admit that this was a bit much even by my standards. To be fair, when it came to brute magical force I doubt even Trixie came close. My vision blurred out, she was honestly trying to strangle me. Which was working very well at the moment. There was a fair bit of wooziness as my brain bit by bit was starved of oxygen. It was a slow, painful death. Can't say I recommend asphyxiation.

The discomfort disappeared within a single rapid heartbeat as I auto-disintegrated in a brilliant flash of light.

"THE FUCK!"

I stretched my muscles and cracked my neck as I began readjusting my mind to a body that was untouched by her repeated attempts to break my spirit. It had taken a while, probably hours, but she was finally growing short on patience and ideas. Asphyxiation? I mean, really?

"WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO KILL YOU?!"

The tall regal mare was furious, her horn faded as she shouted. And she was getting exhausted, it was an impressive stamina but that was all it was. And fortunately for me, she was appallingly poor at adapting. A pity, really.

"Weren't you paying attention? I just did the job myself."

"YOU!! YOU... THAT'S CHEATING!!"

"Well yes, thank you for noticing. It is what I do."

"STOP DOING IT!!"

"And level the playing field? I think not."

"IT IS ANNOYING."

"And so is your constant use of the royal Canterlot voice. Where did you even learn it?"

"WE FIGURED IT OUT OURSELVES..."

"Well, can you please stop it? I think you blew out my eardrums a few times by sheer volume alone."

"FINE. Is this better?"

"Yes, yes it is. Thank you."

"You did get on my nerves."

"I kind of noticed..."

"Was it painful?"

Honestly, regeneration was something I never really could get used to. The mere awareness that I was wounded was enough to get phantom pains in every relevant nerve cell. It was a lot like waking up from a nightmare only for it to haunt you afterwards. I seriously shuddered as I looked at the carnage we had left in our wake, there was definitely going to be a few rumours about this dispute.

"I haven't felt that much pain since the time I was hit by a balefire bomb."

"Good... Hold on, what??"

"This little trick of mine was something I snatched from the Ministry of Arcane Sciences back during the war, unfortunately it has a few downsides... At times like this I really regret not picking some other kind of... arcane defenses..."

"What kind of downsides?"

Although she was still a bit grumpy, she had truly given up on killing me. For the moment... No wait, she is trying to find a blind spot and will probably attack again. Unfortunately for her, there is no such thing.

"As you maybe noticed, I still get hurt and I still have to die. And frankly, it is exhausting."

"Hm..."

Her horn flared and blade of light flew down across my neck. This time, I didn't even have to interfere. The spell reacted automatically and absorbed the eldritch blade. I flashed back and had to readjust again, this was seriously starting to get on my nerves.

"Finished?!"

"Yes, wanted to try a new spell."

"New? You stole that one from me."

"What's your point?"

It was unfortunate but our personalities really didn't mesh well. My Canterlotian expectations of courtesy and pettiness, and her mix of immaturity and outbursts of extreme violence. It wasn't the first time she reacted like this, but it was probably the most persistent attempt at my life yet.

"SIGH. Dust... If you wanted to learn spells you could have just asked me."

"I refuse."

I facehoofed at the obvious response.

"It has almost been two centuries now, and frankly you could do with some more advanced magic."

"And I still hate you."

"That is a given, but I can arrange another teacher if you just had the patience."

"HAH, and who would that be? Your stripes?"

A major downside of immortality is that you run into others like yourself, and you kind of become responsible for them by shared experiences alone. It hurt to admit it but at this point she was basically family and Sunshine asked me to look after her while he was travelling.

"For example yes. They are remarkably civilized zonies, especially for this day and age."

She pointed with her whole leg at me to make a point.

"I will NEVER trust a stripe. They killed everyone!"

"Imperial ZEBRAS did, not zonies descended from Equestrian citizens. It has been over a century! By the mother of Celestia, can't you drop it for once?!"

"Why are you even bothering me?!"

"Because Stormcloud asked me to, and Pear asked if I could teach you magic."

"As I said, FUCK. OFF."

"Not this once, Dust."

"I can still hurt you."

"And it won't be enough."

"HARRRUMPH"

Did she seriously say Harumph out loud as if it was a word?

***

In the end, she refused every suggestion I made. Probably entirely out of spite for me refusing to die properly. I swear, if I hadn't made a promise to Sunshine and hadn't made a vow... Point is, I was very tempted to blow my brains out just to be rid of her annoying attitude. Not to mention her habit of using her royal Canterlot voice, why couldn't that have died with the princesses??

"GO AWAY!"

"No."

"I can handle myself, GO AWAY."

"As I said, NO."

We had left the Black Hoof a few days ago and were travelling one of the quietest roads in all of Equestria, the one between Vanhoover and Canterlot. Between the ghouls, the wildlife and the radiation very few could even survive the trip. Ironically, we were arguably the most powerful concentration of arcane might outside of Maripony.

"I wish I could banish you to the moon..."

"Dust, you can't even teleport."

"That is like super advanced high level magic!"

"And you are a talented hyper powerful unicorn."

"Wait... you are trying to trick me into accepting you as a teacher!"

"Frankly, trying would be an overstatement."

"What is that supposed to mean??"

"That you are as oblivious as a toothless alligator?"

"That is the dumbest thing I ever heard."

"What? You never heard of Gummy?"

"Who is Gummy?"

Duly noted. The proper way to interact with this particular overgrown brat of a filly is to keep her distracted.

"Pinkie Pie's pet."

"Why would a ministry mare keep an alligator? You made that one up."

"No, I actually even saw the beast once myself."

"Where?"

"Manehattan, she was setting up some retirement home for it. Last I checked it is still there."

"And it happens to be the same place as where I am going?"

"We could take a look while we are in the area."

"FINE, you can tag along. But if you disrespect my parent's grave I will END YOU."

"I won't. I promise."

We walked in silence for half an hour, not even bothering to speak when a flock of manticores began to prowl around us. I didn't even have to lift a hoof, she ripped the pack leader into bloody chunks and the rest fled in terror at the unexpected magical assault.

In time she did decide to take a break and that moment was when we reached the summit of a hill and saw the glowing pink remnants of Canterlot in the distance. Wastelanders couldn't understand this, neither really could the stable dwellers. For ponies like us... for actual Equestrians... Canterlot, it was the heart and soul of Equestria. If the zebras had glassed Manehattan or Baltimare we could still rise up, but Canterlot... It was the princesses personal abode, and even if I had little respect for the legacy of alicorns... It... They.... Celestia and Luna held the nation and ponykind together spiritually and symbolically. Without them, we are well and truly lost.

It was especially hard for her, she never met them and still had that idealized vision of what they were like.

"Hey, Starlight. Did you ever find out what happened to them?"

"No, not really."

"Me neither."

"You know, I actually met Celestia back then."

"Yeah? Why?"

"She had a school, I think she liked the role of a teacher more than being a princess."

"How was it?"

"... what can I say..."

"You don't remember?"

"I try not to. She DID get furious at me and threw me out."

"Yeah? Why?"

"Hm... How do I explain?"

I hated talking about this. Part of it was a matter of privacy, part of it was trauma and part of it was sheer paranoia.

"I have a... condition."

"HahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!!"

"You know that is rude, right?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I just... Never thought I would hear those words out of YOU of all ponies."

"Ironic isn't it?"

"Yep, was it some strange experiment in your case as well?"

"No, it is something I was born with."

"And it makes you a massive bitch?"

"Not really, that part is learned behaviour."

"Wait, you admit it?"

"Oh definitely."

We began walking again on the broken road, heading towards the royal mountain. It was her favourite route to Manehattan, claimed that she didn't want to get lost. I rather suspected that she retraced the old railway routes, as some form of ritual to honour the dead kingdom. Not that I could judge her, we all had our ways to stay sane after all this time. It was either that or going feral as the ghouls like to call it. Hence, me actually accepting this promise to look after her.

"You know, I kind of regret that the experiment didn't work."

"They were trying to turn you into a weapon."

"Were they? Really?"

"Yes, they were. I have read the project notes."

One thing neither me nor Sunshine openly admitted was that we felt responsible for her turning out like this.

"But... The princesses are gone. Maybe what we need is another alicorn, somepony that Equestria can look towards for hope of a better future. Somepony who could forgive them for the shit they've done..."

Mother of Celestia, don't do this to me.

"... Don't you think it would be better that way?"

"Maybe... Maybe you are right. However there is one thing you didn't think through, somepony has to forgive the alicorn as well."

"You're right... Maybe that is why there was two of them?"

"There were more than two, but you do have a point. That could explain why Celestia and Luna were twins, I never really thought about that before..."

"What do you mean, more than two?"

"Twilight Sparkle was an alicorn."

"The ministry mare??"

"Yep, it was one of the things we censored at the M.O.I."

"Do you know what happened to her?"

"We both know that story."

"Do we?"

"Maripony."

And she promptly exploded into rage at the mention of the place. Not that I could blame her, Project: Coronation had denied her a peaceful death. It had made her walk through the radioactive ruins of Manehattan when the air was still green, she had to see the first ghouls and despite her immense stature she was just a filly at the time. I noticed that she stopped suddenly, her eyes focusing as she sensed something. Closing my eyes and reaching out with my magic as subtly as I could, I felt it, the telepathic presence of one of the pseudo alicorns.

Moments after I detected it, I lost contact. Which made Dust promptly exclaim her disappointment.

"Aaaw, you scared her off. I wanted to kill her!"

I shuddered at the tone, it was that of a little filly told that she couldn't get a new toy. Sunshine, what have kind of monstrosity have we wrought?

***

Ponyville. I never cared much for the place, but a remarkable amount of ponies I got to know over the centuries seem to originate in that little town. Of course, it was also the home of most of the ministry mares so it might have been a simple case of nepotism. The ministry of wartime technology and Applejack were especially notorious when it came to offering contracts to her relatives. Ironshod firearms were the largest supplier of small arms to the equestrian army, add in Concord Arms and it became very obvious. Then we had Stable Tech, who practically had a total monopoly when it came to maneframes and terminals. Heck, even their biggest rival EAST Corp was also owned by a relative to Applejack!

Although I guess I shouldn't complain, it wasn't like I was innocent when it came to exploiting personal connections, it was how I got into the M.O.I. in the first place. And how I avoided the M.O.M. goons, if you were high ranking enough you would practically be exempt from any and all background checks.

Irregardless I am getting off track, the ruins of the little hamlet had a weird attraction for beasts and raiders alike. Every time we passed through it there was some new gang or nest that had spawned yet more things to bother us, and every time either of us passed through we killed everything in it. Honestly, the battle with the raiders were so one sided that it isn't worth mentioning in any great detail.

It did take us to the library however, a hollowed out tree that was somehow still alive. There was something about it however, something weird and... wrong. It felt a bit like when travelling the ruins of Vanhoover, like reality was fragile.

"Are you done gawking at that tree?"

"You don't sense it?"

"Sense what?"

"Not sure..."

I could probably figure it out if I broke the veil, but that was foolish enough to do back in Canterlot. Here it would be a pointless risk, there wasn't much to gain. It wasn't like this was part of some grandiose mystery that involved the ministry mares... Then it hit me.

"Wait... no?"

"What? What are you muttering about?"

"This tree. It should be dead. Somepony, probably Twilight Sparkle brought it back from the past. But why?"

"There used to be a castle here, made out of entirely out of crystal. It made Ponyville a target, Twilight removed it to protect the place she met her friends. And she returned the old ponyville library as well, probably due to nostalgia."

The mechanical voice was unexpected but not entirely shocking, you don't live this long without running into the wasteland's most illusive historian. Never did figure out who they were, but the hints pointed at someone who knew the ministry mares personally. Dust, however only cared that someone she considered a friend decided to drop by.

"Watcher! What are you doing in this shithole?"

"Hello Dust. As for your question, this was once my home."

"What, you mean the tree?? Why were you living in a tree?"

Hold on... this means the tree was the home of one of the ministry mares. Fluttershy? No, it was a library, meaning... Twilight Sparkle. By extension...

"Spike."

"What?"

Of course Dust was confused by the statement.

"I finally figured it out, Watcher, you are Spike aren't you?"

"Took you long enough."

"Wait, who is Spike? And what does it have to do with Watcher?"

"Spike was Twilight Sparkle's..."

Pet? Assistant?

"Adopted son I guess is the best term, and he is a dragon."

"She never saw it that way."

"Perhaps not, but I can think of no better term."

"Hold on, Watcher is a DRAGON??"

"Guilty as charged."

This... was big, huge even. Whatever personal projects or notes that the minister of arcane sciences had hidden away, the things she never let even the M.O.I. know of... Of course, it was protected by the one individual she could trust. Immortal, powerful and the guardian of her legacy.

"Starlight, I don't like that look."

"Was it that obvious? Is my poker face slipping?"

"No, I just know you well enough."

"You mean that I don't even need to ask?"

This was the level of discussion I was used to back in the day, unfortunately we weren't alone.

"Ask what? Stop being secretive right this instant and tell me what you two are mumbling about??"

"She was wondering if she could visit me, and dig through Twilight's old books."

"Hey, can I go visit you? If I promise to not touch any books?"

"... I need to think about it, but maybe. I don't get a lot of visitors."

There was something comedic about this scene.

"Great, that means that you can take care of the filly for me. Perhaps for a few years? Can you teach her magic while you are at it? Good, I'll inform Stormcloud and the Pear family of the arrangement."

The silence was deafening, Dust looked heartbroken.

"No fair, Starlight. If I am that much of a bother you could just have left me alone!"

The tone was that of an overreacting teenager, by Celestia...

"And let you walk into a town and massacre civilians because somepony commented on your height?"

"You... YOU!!"

She ran away, crying like only a foal can.

I facehoofed, and somehow the synthesized voice of Watcher managed to sound disappointed.

"It isn't her fault that was she was turned into a monster."

"I know, trust me. I know all to well."

"Then stop bullying her."

Bullying? I burst out laughing.

"What is wrong with you..."

"You know, Watcher, that line works for me as well."

"... What do you mean?"

"sigh, I'll tell you later."

Getting to my hooves I began trotting after the tall mare that had ran off.

"For now, let me apologize to the foal I am currently responsible for."

Two centuries and she still struggled with maintaining an adult persona, although I guess no foal living through the Last Day would be able to grow up to a functioning adult. Scratch that, no pony who survived that catastrophe could walk away afterwards without enough mental trauma for them to have been institutionalized in a M.O.P. hospital by wartime standards. Cursing the royal twins for our fates I entered ruins of an old school. Of course that was where she would have gone.

It took a while, but I managed to console her enough for her to continue travelling. Watcher checked in on us whenever he could, and in time we reached Manehattan and she got to say what she wanted to her parent's grave (right outside the hospital where she had been reborn). And yes, I left her with the floating sprite bot in the megalithic ruins.

It took decades but we finally found a teacher for her. Part of me was happy for her, but my mind was already turning to other matters. The most dangerous mare in Vanhoover was out of the way, it was finally time to convince Midnight to mobilize the Daughters and help me reclaim my birthright.

Apples and Diamonds

There was an event a long time ago, back when I was avoiding Vanhoover like a painful memory. It was back when Trixie still slumbered in her desolate mausoleum, before Stable 101 had opened its door for the first time, before there was even the slightest talk of returning to the old ways. It was a dark age, it is largely forgotten for there is nothing worth remembering. Only the painful struggle to survive, endless cycles of abuse and violence, and malevolent storm clouds covering the sky. It was truly the age of darkness and putrid green flames.

It was during this time that I ran into a certain stallion, a knight of the old days, forever unyielding in the face of the rotting corruption of the world. Despite the fact that his work would never be enough, he continued without question or complaint. He was magnificent.

He was Steelhooves.

The last true knight of Equestria.

***

Back then I didn't have a courier duster, I carried no weapons. As I still struggled with accepting the world I had found myself in I still insisted on dressing like I did during the war. Dresses of a quality and style that will never again be made, saddle bags with whatever mementos I couldn't bear with parting. No medicine, nor any food as I had found that I could subsist entirely on the radiation that was everywhere in the wasteland. Walking around in the grim wasteland like that, fully glammered and driven more by nostalgia than anything else... There was legends about me, of the the golden ghost that wandered the wastes. It wasn't far from the truth.

It was however about to change.

I was sitting on the upper floor of a half ruined building, on the terrace overlooking a street. It was one of my many little personal secrets from the war. A local café hidden away in an unassuming town in the Equestrian countryside. It was located in the heartlands, north of Canterlot. Away from the major railways, this town was little more than a community for the surrounding villages.

After the bombs fell, it stayed mostly the same. Various desperate ponies attempting to farm the land, and the town had become a hub for trade. Now that I think of it, the wastelanders named it The Hub as a result, completely ignoring its original name to my frustration.

This time however, it was a ghost town once more. I knew not what had happened to it, nor did I care. Such things happened everywhere, again and again. The corpses had long since been devoured by the wildlife and I thought that I had my little hideout for myself.

There was however another who lived in the ruin, a lone ranger walking on the main street before me.

"I know you're up there. What happened here?"

His voice was loud and commanding, as rangers tend to be.

Still, I didn't answer it. I never liked being ordered around, and I might have been a bit egocentric back then.

"If you know anything, tell me."

Annoyed that my solitude was disturbed I rose to my hooves and walked to the edge, looking down at the buck. Most ponies in the wasteland were shocked at my appearance, a few frightened, others acting like they had seen Celestia. Never did it fail to gather a reaction, until now.

"Are you responsible for this??"

Confused, I decided to amuse this strange soldier buck.

"Why would I be?"

"You are the only one alive, for starters!"

"No, I am not. Nor do I know what happened here, nor do I care."

"... Then you are useless."

Ignoring the offense I looked at him as he continued on his travel, still wondering at who he was. What made him different from all the other countless ponies I had met on my travels. And worst of all, there was a nostalgic feeling of recognition. At that point, it was all that mattered.

Rushing to pick up what gear I had, I turned back to the road and looked at his form getting further and further away. Making a decision, I teleported next to him. He was utterly unphazed by the display. This was a mystery worth solving.

He even ignored me until I explained.

"I have questions."

"Unless it involves what happened here, I don't care."

"A trade then, I'll aid you with whatever your quest is and you satiate my curiousity."

At that he looked skeptically at me, his rugged helmet failing to hide the obvious emotions.

"What can an empty shell of a pony offer?"

"This for starters."

It was the first time since the apocalypse that I had invited anypony into my most personal spell, a unique blend of dream walking, memory magic and time travel. The spell broke several rules on how such magic worked, and it would have made my old teacher proud if she was still alive.

There was a soft invisible wave that spread out across the ruined landscape, and for the first time I left an impression as the shapes of ponies and more appeared all over the place. It was a perfect recreation, albeit of a moment I didn't care for. There was shouting, and it was soon followed by the sounds of gunfire and screams of pain.

"What is this? Time travel?"

"Partially, yes. Please do not touch any of them, it destabilizes the... scenario."

He obliged and was silent for minutes thereafter, walking towards the source of the commotion. It was a grotesque scene, the townsfolk were under siege by ponies that were little more than rabid animals. The attackers were pathetic, unruly, and practically throwing themselves at the defenders. And yet they were winning.

When the fighting was over and there was little more than the moans and screaming of the dying, and the attackers turned to looting and cannibalism he had finally seen enough.

"Turn it off."

I looked curiously at him.

"Why? Can't stand to look at the horrors of the world?"

"No. There were no survivors, and I now know who to kill. Turn it off."

"As you wish."

Instead of falling away gently I cracked it like glass, and reality asserted itself. Expecting at least a discussion of sort, I was disappointed as he began walking away. Ignoring my presence once more. Not having any of it, I followed.

"Why are you following me?"

"Because you are different, it is curious and I am bored."

"Worst reason I have ever heard."

"You clearly never met Celestia then."

I muttered quietly to myself.

***

"You are not going to rest?"

"No."

"How curious."

We had been walking for hours without even the slightest pause. He hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, hadn't drunk anything. At first I had thought that he just tried to shake me off in a contest of endurance, but this was reaching beyond what was healthy for a mortal. Suggesting that he was something else.

"So where are we going?"

"After the raiders."

"For what purpose?"

Instead of answering he looked at me like I had stripes in Canterlot. Then he continued walking, in silence once more. Hours later we stopped at a burned out farm, and he asked me to reenact the scene once more. I obliged.

Then I decided to ask.

"What's your name?"

"Steelhooves."

It was familiar, and yet it took an hour for me to place it. By then he had continued onward and I interrupted our quiet walk once more.

"Applesnack."

Was all that I said.

He actually stopped, yet he didn't answer or look at me.

"You are Applesnack, the buckfriend of Applejack. Correct?"

"Yes."

The name had brought forward a memory that I had buried somewhere deep in my heart. Yet now that I had rediscovered it I couldn't simply push it away, so instead I explained.

"We met briefly at the Royal Canterlot Gala, you ruined my dress and nearly broke my ribs."

At that he reacted, looking at me properly for the first time.

"I remember."

"A bit of an overreaction if you ask me. No pony ever talked about how overprotective you were. And honestly, I doubt that I had much of a chance with her. If you are anything to go by when it comes to her tastes. How did it go for you two?"

He stared at me silently, in a mix of nostalgia and contempt.

"Please, no need to be rude. I am honest, and I do wonder what happened to her in the end."

"She entered Stable 2. And was spared the worst of it."

"And you didn't go with her?"

"She ordered me to stay."

"Oooh... It was that bad?"

I felt his anger building, it was a sore spot. Especially concerning the incident back when we first met. Still, I smiled faintly. Wondering if he would attack me or just ignore me. He did neither.

"I was still a soldier, and I had a duty. By staying I could save lives, and it was what she wanted me to do."

"And that is why you are doing this?"

"That should be obvious."

We sat like that for a few minutes, reminiscing over the past and not doing much more.

"Could you show me your face?"

"No."

"I do not care if you are a ghoul."

"I can't."

"Psychological defense mechanism?"

"No, I literally can't. I am fused to it."

Blinking in confusion I looked at him, wondering what he meant. At that time I had yet to brave the Canterlot ruins, not for fear of the pink cloud or the horrors but because of the painful memories. Not feeling very verbose, he still gave an explanation.

"The zebra weapon used in Canterlot, it melts and melds everything it touches."

"I see. Is it painful? Do you wish to be rid of it?"

Misunderstanding my intention he answered.

"I shall not rest until the last horror in the wasteland lay dead."

"No no, I do not refer to a mercy kill. I am asking if you wish to be whole, free and properly alive again."

"Don't treat me like a fool. This is permanent."

"Perhaps, perhaps not."

My horn flared softly as I enveloped him in a soft glow.

"What are you doing?!"

"Relax, you silly buck. It is just an arcane sensor spell. And this is remarkably fascinating. You are indeed correct, your biology is indeed warped beyond belief. As for your soul, it is very weak. I would call it stretched, starved. And yet... It seems to be largely untouched."

"Meaning that I am an abomination."

"You could say that, but what is relevant is the soul. Especially for what I am thinking about."

"Explain."

"Are you familiar with soul jars?"

"Zebra superstitions."

"Quite real, I assure you. Anyway, I should be able to rip your soul out of that husk of a body, place it in a suitable vessel and provided the appropriate power source... I could manifest your true self. You would be made anew, alive and breathing the actual air again."

"No."

"You should at least consider it."

"I have, and the answer is no."

"Are you sure? Everypony deserves to go out on their own terms."

"And I will. In the line of duty, defending the citizens of Equestria."

There was a tense quiet moment, but I relented.

"As you wish."

***

We had reached yet another ruined homestead, corpses still laying fresh outside. Whatever group of ponies he was tracking, we were getting closer. Not that it mattered much to me at the time. Few ponies dared attack me, and those that did, they died.

"Do your thing."

I didn't cast the spell, as I sensed pain, sorrow and fear.

"There is a survivor."

"Praise Luna..."

We walked up towards the house, and both of us realized that we had been spotted. His armour had its E.F.S., and I had no need for such technological tools. Whoever was in there preferred flight over fighting and hoped to hide from us. Steelhooves took a step on the staircase, and put his hoof straight through it. Carefully lifting it again he tasked me with finding the survivor.

"Are you sure you want me to handle the social situations?"

"If you are going to travel with me, you will have to do your part."

"If you insist."

Walking up to the second floor I simply followed the source of all the emotions in this place. Not very difficult to pick out, the living were always louder than the dead. And this particular pony was in a state nearing panic, and foals are particularly bad at self control. The filly was sobbing loudly, revealing her position underneath the bed to even an ordinary pony.

I found myself at a loss for what to do. When was the last time I actually interacted with a foal? Had to have been decades, if not a full century. What do you even do? Especially to somepony who most likely recently lost everything they cared about. That line of thought tugged at my supposedly dead heart, and some part of me realized what to do.

My own emotions began to mirror that of the foal, and reaching out with my empathy I touched her spirit.

Out from her hiding place she crawled, a scrawny purple thing with a grey mane. Her eyes were red from crying and there were still tears in them. Still, she braved her fears and looked straight at me. There was a sense of childlike wonder in those eyes, which made sense in retrospect.

"Are you Celestia?"

That specific question, oh how it hurt.

"No, little one. I am not."

"What about Luna?"

"No, not her either."

"I'm not dead?"

"No, child. You are not."

Her face made a strange expression as she tried to understand the situation, nothing in her life had prepared her for this encounter. Ironically, that was something we had in common.

"My name's Stardust, what's yours?"

Her purple coat, the grey mane, and her name. It made me think of my accursed relatives, could she...

"Starlight."

"Weird, that was my mom's name."

"Was it? Tell me about her."

Her face became solemn, yet she did not cry.

"She's dead, like my sisters. I ran off and... I left them!"

Her voice was filled with anger and regret. Unsure of what to do I lifted her head with my hoof.

"I am certain that they wished for you to live."

"But! But... if I was here I..."

"You are a filly, and you should not have to fight."

"Shouldn't I?? If I had at least tried! I could have saved one of them! Right??"

This was distressing, and I tried the one thing I could think of to silence her. Pulling her closer I hugged her and petted her mane. She broke down crying again, but this time she hugged me back and didn't stop until she passed out. Carefully I lifted her in my magic and carried her with me downstairs.

***

"Surely you can not be serious?!"

"I am, their camp is near and I intend to kill every single one of them."

"And you expect me to take care of a filly??"

The request was frankly outrageous in my eyes.

"Yes. Do some good for once, Starlight. I will return and figure out what to do with her, until then she is in your care. Don't dare to run off."

"But..."

"You promised to help me, and this is how it is done."

"I... I do not even know how."

"Then figure it out."

He walked away with determined steps, leaving me at a loss for words and utterly confused how I ended up in the situation. Before I could even begin to grasp the order of events that had occurred, I was distracted by a squeaky voice.

"Is your buckfriend leaving?"

"What? No. He is not..."

Still dazed, every word of the small filly cut deep.

"Is he going to kill the raiders?"

"Yes, yes he is."

"Good."

"It will not bring your family back."

"No, but it will keep the raiders from hurting more ponies."

"The cycle will continue none the less."

"You talk funny!"

"Do I?"

"Yes, you do. Where are you from?"

"Canterlot."

The filly gasped with shock.

"But mommy said its cursed! Nopony can live there anymore!"

"As far as I know, that is true."

"Then how are you from Canterlot?"

"I am old."

She considered it for a moment, but at least had some form of reference for it.

"Like a ghoul?"

"Yes."

"Did you ever see the princesses?"

Of course she would ask about them.

"Yes, although I never spoke with Luna."

"Meaning that you have met princess Celestia?!"

What was up with this filly? And why did she have to bring up the past?

"Yes, yes I have."

"Tell me about it! Tell me, tell me, tell me!!"

I looked at the rugged thing sitting expectantly at me with eyes of wonder, eyes I hadn't seen since the world ended. Eyes filled with hope, with innocence of all things. There was no way I could resist, she reminded me all too much of my childhood an eternity ago.

"I will do you one better, let me show you instead."

***

It was a memory I hadn't planned on ever revisiting, and I wasn't alone. Not sure why I had invited her, but she was positively ecstatic and bounced like Pinkie Pie all over the place. I had to stop her several times and grab her before she touched somepony. After explaining why she shouldn't do it, and that it was like a dream she asked a question that came out of nowhere.

"Can I still touch you?"

"Uhm... I do suppose you can, but why?"

Then she hugged my leg and looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Can I have a dress? It is a dream right, pleeease?"

I sighed at the silliness of it all, and obliged.

The dress matched her mane and was one of Rarity's many designs. Despite myself I smiled at the sight of her running in a circle trying to get a good look at it. To say that it made her happy was an understatement, I doubt she had ever felt such joy as in that moment.

"Come along, Stardust, we still have have the royal ball room to visit."

Step by step I walked up the enormous staircase, glancing at the well dressed ponies of Canterlot. Very few of them I actually cared about. The filly bounced ahead of me until I gripped her in my magic again, stopping her.

"This is Canterlot, at the royal gala and you are properly dressed. A lady does not bounce."

She looked confused at the idea but listened and awkwardly mimicked my way of walking. And promptly stopped when we entered the room, her eyes widened and she shouted with awe and the eagerness that only a foal can have. The carpets, the wall tapestry, the enormous windows, the magic light, the marble pillars, the scene where Octavia performed in Canterlot for the last time... I will admit that it was impressive, even if one had seen it before.

"This. Is. AMAZING!!"

"I suppose it is. Anyhow, you see that green stallion over there? The one in the uniform, with the blonde mane?"

"Ah-hah... What about him?"

"That is Applesnack, or Steelhooves. He is the steel ranger you met earlier. The orange mare he is with, she is Applejack. The ministry mare."

"Wooow..."

Then something else caught her attention.

"Who is that? She kind of looks like you!"

She pointed with her whole leg at the white unicorn with the stylish purple mane, in a spectacular purple gown.

"That would be Rarity, the minister of Image. My ministry mare."

"You have a ministry mare?"

"Not like that. I worked for her back during the war. She was the one who taught me about etiquette, fashion and the details of high society. You would have liked her... Know that I think of it, you remind me of her stories about her little sister."

"I do??"

"Yes, although I never met her myself."

"Where are the princesses??"

She jump on my back, stretched her neck and tried to get a better look around the room. Somehow, I didn't mind the action. If anything, it amused me.

"Patience, Stardust. She will appear."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, this dream is made from my memories and I was there."

There were plenty of distractions to keep her occupied until the trumpets announced the arrival of royalty. I gulped, my throat hurt and my heartbeat increased. If it weren't for the sake of this random filly I would never have returned here. Two rows of royal guards walked into the room, took their positions and there she was. The ruler of Equestria, white goddess of mercy and sunlight (or so the wastelanders say). Her coat was perfect, her jewelry as regal as her stature, her mane was enormous and ethereal. No, there was no other pony like her. Not even Luna came close.

And she was staring straight at me, with a look of recognition.

"Alicorns..."

I muttered as she continued with her entrance, fully ignoring my presence. The little filly was stunned silent at the sight, and hid herself in my mane. It was too much, even for the hyped little thing. She was cute, and I could not help but care for once.

"Do you want to leave?"

"No..."

Despite her protests she was exhausted and fell asleep on my back soon after. Not wanting to wake her I ended the vision properly this time, lifted her gently, laid down and let her sleep next to me. No longer caring that she was ruining the priceless dress. And strangely enough, I fell asleep soon after.

***

Waking up alone I was distressed, half panicking I wondered where she had gone. Forgetting for the moment my supernatural empathy. Raising to my hooves I was about to run around searching for the purple filly until I heard voices. Stepping outside I saw Steelhooves laying down on the ground next to a fire, the filly sitting in front of him with several packed saddle bags.

Every sane pony in the wasteland hesitated at the sight of a fully armoured steel ranger, especially one covered in scorch marks and blood stains. The fearless little filly was busy asking him about the days before the bombs, and was awed at every answer. I wasn't the only old pony whom she had gotten to.

Walking up to her I nuzzled her and told her how she had worried me.

"Don't walk off like that, you scared me!"

She was confused for a moment before she answered.

"I won't, promise."

Steelhooves was giving me a look, I could feel it.

"What?"

"... Nothing."

"Confusing buck... What now?"

"There is a steel ranger base a few weeks from here, I'm thinking of taking her there."

Hugging the filly protectively I asked her.

"What about you? What do you want?"

"I don't know... are you leaving?"

"No, I have decided to travel with him for a while. Unless you wish to go somewhere else, I am not abandoning you to the horrors of the wasteland, little thing."

"Then yes, if I can be a hero like you two. Then yes, I'll want to be a steel ranger."

"What? You... I am no hero. He is, not me. I am just a tag a long."

Steelhooves chuckled, somehow finding the situation amusing.

"What?!"

"Nothing."

***

We traveled day and night, little Stardust tired easily and rode on my back for the most part. When we reached the ranger bunker I sat down outside, content with having found her some kind of future. To my surprise the filly stopped as well, look at me with confused eyes.

"Why are we stopping?"

"Go on in, you can build a life here."

"You're not coming with us?"

Those puppy eyes again, I swear that filly was good at emotional manipulation.

When that failed she bit my mane and began dragging me inside. I conceded to her stronger will and followed them inside. Coming to a decision I stayed to make sure she had a good life, which meant living with the rangers for a few years. When not watching over her or following Steelhooves into the wasteland I ended up helping the scribes. Mostly in matters concerning the old days before the bombs.

Bit by bit the two of them got through to me, reminding me of why I was alive. When the rangers offered me an official position I hesitated. The steel clad knight had stayed true to his promises, to his vows. And it was high time that I fulfilled my own, there was still things I had to do. Unfortunately, it wasn't until Stardust appeared on my front door, with an army of rangers at her back, that I learned how much she had been hurt by my decision.

In truth, it is probably my biggest regret since the world ended.

Royalty of the West

Everypony knew of miss Pega, most ponies had heard her broadcasts on the radio, but very few had the honour of actually meeting her. These privileged ponies were as a rule limited to representatives from influential groups such as the other great families, mercenary companies or caravans. Exceptions to this rule were carefully investigated, disarmed and only accepted under armed escort.

Regardless, everyone knew miss Pega, and everyone knew that she was the undisputed queen of the city of vice. The closest thing to a princess one could ever find in the wasteland, she was beautiful, charismatic and knew everything that went on within her city. Many groups have tried to overthrow her, only for their plans to be foiled at the worst possible moment.

Of course, few were foolish enough to walk straight into the Hive casino and try to force their way to her. Those who did so where either suicidal or insane, and Courier 7 was most certainly known as both. Not to mention exceedingly dangerous, and rumoured to be nigh unkillable.

***

"Ah, Courier. You know the dri-"

BLAM

The ponies at the reception desk stood there stunned, covered in green blood and grey matter as the corpse hit the floor. For a heartbeat there was silence, and in that moment every onlooker watched the dancing smoke of the barrel, not daring to move lest it be aimed at them. Then the mare in the duster took a single step forward and the shock began to break. As every pony turned their gaze towards the face of the assailant and were met with the stare there were all too well familiar with, that of a killer.

In a panicked frenzy the guests dived behind the closest furniture they could find, overturning tables and unholstering their own guns. This was New Pegasus, where those foolish enough to be unarmed died a pathetic death, and where the desperate tried a foolhardy gambit like this every now and then. None of the guests aimed or attempted to fire however, this was a casino and such business is handled by the family that ruled it.

And within seconds a dozen pegasi dressed in the finest suits and wartime combat armour appeared in a rough concave around the courier mare, machine guns aimed, and ready to unleash a torrent of bullets fierce enough to rip apart a building. The moment she moved, the triggers would be bit.

Only, she didn't move.

"Gravitas"

The word was low, deep and rumbled through the air. It was met by a disparate chorus of screams as the winged ponies crashed into the floor, breaking limbs and floorboard alike. There was no longer any such thing as a bystander as the audience felt the full force of the spell, and unwillingly hit the floor. Furniture splintered and even the sturdy structure of the Hive itself seemed to groan in suffering as pillars struggled to stay intact.

Then she stepped forward, walking past the ponies in anguish around her, neither noticing nor caring if any of them died or not. A rifle was shaking in the air, levitated in a struggling telekinetic grip, only for the red magic aura to be replaced with one of golden light.

Skrnch

The metal bent and broke as if it was wood and not hardened steel, before dropping to the floor in a pile of worthless scrap. Somepony had tried to shoot her, she didn't know whom, nor did she particularly care as she continued inwards into the casino.

Two turrets descended from hidden slots in the roof, whirred to life, and failed to fire as they couldn't detect any intrusion. They relied on Stabletech software, Eyes Forward Sparkle for threat detection, and the Stabletech Assisted Targeting Spell for unerring accuracy. Unfortunately for the defenders, said spells are fairly ubiquitous and far from infallible. Miss Pega knew this of course, and it was just one of many steps in the Hive's defenses.

The mare ignored the frantic shouts from the corridors, and entered the elevator as if it was just a casual visit. Taking the elevator when the place was on high alert was a foolish mistake by any semblance of reason, the car could be detached at any minute, sending the invader to a sharp fall past the Hive's many basement levels. It happened of course, and the reaction was merely a word.

"Inverta"

The mare fell upwards and twisted her body to land on the inside of the car's roof, and the car began its elevation towards the royal suite at the very top. Not at ever increasing speeds but a calm, and slow ride, until the car reached its destination. By now the electronics had all been shut off, but that didn't pose much of a hindrance as a soft golden glow gripped the doors and pushed them apart.

She stopped for a moment when she stepped outside, into the exquisite suite. The decoration was expensive, in excellent condition and the location hinted at its owner's true self. A cultured wastelander would be content with whatever scavenged furniture, literature and art objects they could get their hooves on, a ghoul would specifically pick things they recognized as part of their former life. This was none of those, this place had been decorated during the Great War by a lady who knew her tastes.

Then she realized why she had stopped, the decor had changed since she last visited. It felt familiar, nostalgic even, as it reminder her of Canterlot, the queen of of Equestrian cities. True, miss Pega had her own link to the ancient capital, a quite interesting story in its own right but that wasn't why.

"It would seem that I am expected."

The mare said to herself as she stood there for a few moments, reflecting over the tranquil peace of the room. Yet, there was a tense quality to the air, an ambush or a trap perhaps? She opened the door to the next room and heard a pair of beeping sounds to her sides.

Mines, in a suite like this?

"How wasteful and pointlessly destructive."

The mines didn't beep a second time as the proximity alarms shut off. She levitated them upwards, took a look at them and bit by bit dismantled them carefully. No sense in wasting any of the amenities after all.

Suddenly, the flow of air stopped, a bullet floated harmlessly in the air besides her, and in the corner of the room there was a constant flash of light from the muzzle of a rifle. No sound, no smell, and evidently no mere stealth buck. The bugs had snatched a Zebrecian stealth cloak from the stripes. It is of course the perfect counter for her defenses, if she hadn't readied a time shield well in advance.

Miss Pega was getting clever, perhaps there was a third step to this ambush?

"Umbra"

All light went out of the room, and not in the mood to try out the defenses any further she decided to take a shortcut. The usual sudden flash of magical light was absent and as the flow of time resumed, the assailants found themselves blind against an opponent who wasn't even there anymore. And there were few things that panicked professional warriors more than the unknown, perhaps they would kill each other in the ruckus?

***

Miss Pega was standing on the balcony, looking eastward across the desolate wasteland, enjoying the rough wind blowing through her orange mane. She was trying to ignore the troublesome ruckus occurring within her casino, her castle, and she failed. Unlike the younger generations of ponies, the troublemaker had a certain presence around her, one that that was painfully obvious whenever she was in town.

An emerald glow gripped her mane as she decided to turn back inside, closing her eyes as she did so. There was a certain flutter of wings that she could hear, too rapid and too nervous to truly be that of a pegasus. Sighing at the incompetence she gave the command.

"Just drop the disguises for now."

The guards and servants in the room were engulfed by by emerald fires and replaced by inequine predators. Covered in dark rigid carapaces, in stark contrast to the sharp white fangs, the eyes truly insectoid and the wings surprisingly soft and fragile for such a creature. They stretched their wings, changed to telekinetic grips for their weapons and fidgeted nervously.

It was strange, even the fools in the Enclave hesitated when surrounded by the ferocious changelings. The younger drones weren't quite the same as back during Celestia's time, prone to aggression and some of them developing a taste for pony blood in this love starved era. The perfect infiltrators, slowly turning into yet another wasteland monster. More primordial, more driven by instinct, still blindly obedient to her rule.

Yes, it was strange. This pony was hardly the only one that didn't fear her warriors, but she was unique in how the drones shivered and unconsciously shied away from her presence. It was a fool's errand to drive them to attack her, to their semi feral instincts it was like trying to hunt a full grown dragon. That was why the guard squad in the lobby were actual pegasi, of Sunset's tribe, and why the assassin had been her personal head hunter.

Opening her eyes again she looked curiously at the grey pony clad in a duster and desperado hat, aiming a levitating revolver at her face. Her anger clearly evident, hammer pulled back and ready, and her intent to kill already proven. Despite the clear threat miss Pega just stood there, waiting patiently for her adversary to pull the trigger.

Her supposed honour guard, the most reliable and experienced warriors in the entire hive, they didn't interfere. She wondered if it was paralyzing fear or if they merely knew that their queen could take care of herself if need be.

Wanting to get this silly distraction out of the way she broke the silence.

"I am waiting."

The gun wavered a little, yet the hammer remained cocked and she remained very much alive.

"Care to tell me what triggered this childish outburst, Starlight?"

The grey mare scowled in a sardonic grin.

"We had a deal, Pega."

So that was what it was.

"And what, pray tell, were the details of said arrangement?"

Not that she needed to hear it, obviously it was the non aggression pact they agreed on a few decades ago

"Your bugs were supposed to stay out of Vanhoover."

The tone was cold and threatening, and met with a theatrical sigh.

"You are well aware how many hatchlings I have these days, and how unruly they can be. I can't be expected to keep track of all of them, some of them are bound to wander away somewhere."

It was a pointless diversion and they both knew it.

"Do you have any idea what you are risking here?"

Pega rolled her eyes at that, intentionally of course.

"Imminent doom and destruction? Please, I am well aware of the threats above."

She waved her wing as she said the first words, her eyes becoming serious towards the end. Ignoring the gun she began walking around the room, stretching her wings pointedly. It was ironic, they were surrounded by changelings in their true form, both of them knew who she was and yet she stayed a pony. For some reason she had grown attached to this persona of hers, maybe it were the little surface pegasi who seemed to adore her.

"Really? And yet you don't seem to care if any of your little hatchlings poke their horns somewhere they don't belong? I told you to stay out of the city for a reason, there are things buried there, things that you and your bugs shouldn't touch."

At that, Pega snorted sarcastically at that.

"The same could be said for Canterlot, but that didn't seem to stop you. And-"

She raised a wing to hold the initiative in the discussion.

"-I do notice that you still refuse to tell me what these things are, and there aren't exactly any other ponies I could ask."

The revolver's barrel followed her every step, locked at her eyes.

"The point is, you broke a promise, and I can't have you endangering what little there is left of my birthright. So this, ends here."

Clearly, talking herself out of this confrontation wasn't going to work.

"Then by all means, do what you must."

There was a wave of anger emanating from the courier.

"DO NOT belittle me, Pega. By all means, I should shove a grenade into your ovipositor for this!"

They weren't going to get anywhere while she was in that mood.

"And yet, you haven't pulled the trigger."

The grandiose pegasus stepped closer to her attacker, intentionally putting her head in front of the barrel and pushing the revolver backwards as she closed in on the pony before her. An advantage of this form, there were few ponies large enough for her to be forced to meet them at an eye level.

"DO IT."

The command wasn't just inviting, it was imperious and undeniable. The magic around the gun fluttered and broke, her own magic grasping the weapon just before it hit the floor. She grasped the hat as well and threw it to the side, and finally she could get a good look at the silly pony who caused such commotion.

She couldn't help but smile a little, the grey unicorn's eyes were filled with fear and she actually trembled. Such a silly pony indeed, so ruthless, so drenched in blood, and so very fragile. Technically, miss Pega didn't have a special talent, but she liked to think that hers was discovering and exploiting weaknesses. And Starlight's weakness?

The unicorn suffered from abandonment issues, she craved attention and support, and was at the same time severely paranoid when it came to trusting people. Back during the Great War this wasn't really an issue, but when Canterlot was ruined and everypony she relied upon died one after another... These days, surrounded by ponies utterly alien to her, she struggled to create relationships and had unexpectedly bonded with the one creature that could understand her.

Even if said creature was a changeling queen.

"Leave us."

As the black insectoids hurriedly left the room she unfolded her wings and embraced the smaller form before her, and the grey unicorn mare broke down in tears. Her legs gave out and she half fell to the floor and half into the embrace of the supposed pegasus.

***

When miss Pega opened her eyes she sensed something was wrong, she was still in her bed and she could smell Starlight in the immediate vicinity. This was definitely still her hive, she blinked slowly and rose to her black hooves. Glancing down she realized one of the things that were off, her beautiful pale green coat was gone and replaced by obsidian coloured carapace, irregular, jagged and filled with holes.

She stretched her wings and there wasn't the flap of feathered wings but the buzzing of gossamer wings, she felt her jagged horn and wondered how long it had been since she last transformed back into the form of a queen. Years most likely, not since the last time the hive required her duties. Had she changed during her sleep, or did the unicorn do something?

Looking around the room she noticed other little faults around her, where was the courier outfit? The saddle bags? The revolver? And the light, there was something off with the light. Even at a full moon the suite was never this bright, not even before the cloud cover was made by those accursed pegasi. And why was it crimson? No... Azure? Shaking her head trying to figure it out, it now looked golden.

"Starlight, what-"

Her voice died off as she got a better look at the unicorn standing on the balcony outside, had her coat always been that dark? The mane and tail were luminescent and glowing with a soft golden colour, didn't Luna once glow like that when it was nighttime? As she stepped closer she realized that the mare didn't look like any unicorn she had known, golden hairs of the tail was just a small tuft at the end of it, the horn resembled that of an alicorn.

"Who... or what are you?"

The unicorn didn't seem particularly bothered by the question, and continued her gaze skywards. Severely disliking being ignored, especially when caught by some strange spell, the queen raised her voice.

"I ASKED WHO YOU ARE."

"I heard."

"... You're refusing to answer then, can you tell me where we are?"

"In a dream, more or less."

Stepping out on the balcony she saw what the stranger meant, the city of New Pegasus wasn't there. Outside of the hive itself were nothing but dry fields of vermilion grass as far as her eyes could see, shivering for a moment she realized that even the mountains had disappeared.

She looked at the face of the mare in silence, the pony was still staring upwards, occasionally blinking. Her features were slightly odd, the ears were in a strange shape, and her eyes... they had no pupils, just empty golden irises. No, not empty, there were hypnotizing patterns in there, shimmering in blues and reds under the golden light. Forcefully breaking away her gaze she made the mistake of looking at the night sky.

It was a kaleidoscope of three colours, tints of red, blue and yellow. Not against a black backdrop as she expected, no, it was nearly as bright as a midday sun. Not as fierce or blinding, it was none the less still brighter than a full moon. It was transfixing to watch as various tiny individual lights flashed and pulsated, it seemed to form into patterns but whenever Chrysalis looked at one it transformed into something else.

"What is this..."

Somehow she could hear a smile in the tone of the pony when she answered.

"The sky of Equestria of course."

"Do I have to act like an idiot or?"

"Of course not, your majesty. The reason why you never noticed it before is due to interference from Equestria's sun and moon. Not to mention the radiation that has flooded the lands these days. It has been a while since I last looked at it, so I took the liberties to remove such distractions."

She was meant to be impressed, awed, it was intended as a declaration of power.

"You just happened to remove the sun and the moon, and everything else by the looks of it?"

"Dreams are wondrously malleable, and it is not like Luna is around to stop me anymore."

There was something in the wording, it reminded her of old pony tales, or was it zebran? Unfortunately she never cared much for the stories of creatures she once saw as mere prey, as food for her children. Still, she couldn't put the thought out of her mind and decided to try prod for more information.

"I suppose there is a point to showing me this?"

As the queen of New Pegasus she had built her empire on information, the one weapon she could use to guarantee the safety of her hive and her brood. The one weapon those above feared above all. And for once in her life, she was at a disadvantage.

"Correct, I will explain in a bit. Would you mind closing your eyes for my sake for a few moments?"

This better not be something as silly as a kiss, she thought to herself as she did so.

"Now, deep breaths, and relax. And listen."

The tone was like a school teacher explaining basic magic to a foal and she cared little for it. It didn't help that all she could hear was a haunting wind, and there it was. Haunting, when she thought of the word she realized there was something carried on the wind. Voices, or at least recognizable patterns, faded and echoing. Trying to focus she reached out for them in her mind, to no avail as they seemed to whisper away.

"Excellent, now try to put them out of your mind and listen deeper."

A bit peeved she did as she was told, this was a form of magic she hadn't encountered before and if this dreamwalker wanted to show her how to access it then all the better. After all, magic is power. Clearing her mind she listened once more and felt low rumbles, different tones, distances and directions but there was definitely something out there.

"The golden star to the northwest, the one with seven corner."

Frowning, the queen wondered how she was supposed to know which one. Then she found it, and heard a deafening roar, a cry of anguish, fear and rage. Opening her eyes in shock she stumbled backwards, staring at the small thing glimmering clearly despite the bright backdrop. It wasn't just the voice, it was the raw power behind it...

"That thing could burn all life in the world..."

Stories whispered in the back of her mind, superstitions of the zebras, or so she had thought.

"Ah, so you understand, good. The same goes for the sun, it is just another star after all. They are all like that. One could say that we are but motes of dust, in the grand scheme of things. Some of us more than others, of course."

"Celestia..."

The changeling queen found herself hyperventilating and struggling for breath.

"Celestia, she could have killed me at any point, couldn't she?"

"And the zebras, not just individually but the entire empire. One small final step into ascension and none could have stood against her. Not even Nightmare Moon at her pinnacle, regardless of what Luna thought, her light was a mere reflection of the solar glory."

There it was again, something in the wording.

"What was that thing, why that star specifically?"

"It belongs to the Van Hoofs, or they belong to it, the details are a bit fuzzy."

And she understood, the point of this exercise, and what the courier mare was so deathly scared of. And scared she had been, after the breakdown she hadn't uttered a word until she passed out. The only other times Starlight had appeared to be terrified of anything was when she had nightmares of balefire bombs.

Nightmares!

"You are a nightmare, aren't you?"

For the first time the mare before her gave a proper reaction and turned her head to the changeling, a faint smile revealing a pair of fangs. Sitting on her rear hooves she raised her front hooves in some alien form of applause and clapped, now the queen noticed that they where cloven.

"Very good, your majesty. Would you prefer I change shape into something more eldritch or is the equine form more to your liking? It doesn't matter much to me either way."

"Why do you even look like her in the first place?"

"I do not, technically she resembles me."

Riddles, puzzles and vague hints. No matter, one does not survive for centuries without paying attention.

"Are you a Van Hoof then?"

"I am."

The clear honesty was refreshing, but the answer was too short to give any further hints.

"And here I thought you were all earth ponies."

"There has been a few exceptions to the rule over the centuries."

She was old then, older that the wasteland at least.

"IF you wanted my attention, you have it. Now, let's talk, nightmare."

***

The changeling queen opened her eyes once more, she was on her bed again, her coat a soft greyish green, her mane a beautiful orange and her wings were as fluffy as they were supposed to be. Next to her, face buried in Pega's chest, laid a grey unicorn, snoring soundly. This time, everything was as it was supposed to be. She looked at the peacefully sleeping pony in her bed and shuddered.

"A balefire bomb..."

No wonder the mare was seriously overpowered, walking away from ground zero was bound to have some side effects to her magic. Not to mention her psyche, dying had to have a detrimental effect to anyone's sanity. So much magic in a single pony, and so much trauma, and yet she looked so innocent when she slept there.

Again, thank you for taking care of her.

Awake, and she could still hear it. Perhaps the experience last night had awakened some latent senses, she thought back to it and the agreement. No changelings in Tall Tale or Vanhoover, it was not worth the risk, the ghoul had to be treated most delicately. However, that didn't mean she would stay away from it. No, she would contact Sunset and send pony agents instead.

If there were artifacts hidden up north that were a threat to the Enclave, she would not just let them lie there. Looking back to the unicorn she realized another thing, perhaps it was time for a deeper cooperation, they both had the same goal here after all.

Yes, miss Pegas smiled to herself, the sky will burn.