“So you know my name, but what is yours?” The old earth pony asked. He was holding Axe’s Flashlight in his hoofs while we sat near the crates and a tiny crackling fire. It provided very little warmth and light to the otherwise dark and bleak room. Crescent’s Pipbuck quietly played a melody from the radio. Of what specifically I could not say due to the volume being too low.

The rifle was as it always looked; boxy, silver and covered in cloth with the unusual barrel brace. Unusual for a pony weapon and completely unwieldy for anyone not hovering off the ground or using magic to carry it. Truth be told it was slow to draw and completely impractical for me.

No, no.

Impractical for anyone! How could Axe use such a weapon effectively? Doesn’t really matter does it? The weapon won’t be mine much longer if Crescent agreed to the trade terms, the energy weapon and magazines for his submachine gun and two magazines with around forty rounds between them.

Crescent pulled the cloth off the rifle exposing the scope and mounting points and held it close to his tired eyes. Based off the stable pony’s eyes I’d say he only had another hour or two before he passed out.

“You should get some sleep after this,” I said to him, motioning at the earth pony with my hoof. My voice felt like it came from the depths of the deepest canyon and reverberated in my chest causing me to frown deeply. Not at all what I was expecting when I spoke. I tilted my head to the left and then right which made the aching joints pop and crack audibly as a wave of tension dissipated.

“I should, so you want to give me this fancy rifle for my broken smg?” He replied, flipping one of the batteries around in his hoof and in a swift move, without being told how to do it, he slid the battery into the rifle the first time. The rifle gave a satisfying click and whine as it warmed itself. “Interesting…” he added.

“What?” I slowly stood up as my knees protested by almost locking in place which made me pause halfway and then continue the rest of the way with a grunt. Where was Med-X when you needed it? Probably in my bags near him.

His submachine gun was a simple weapon really. Hold the trigger all the way down and you get full auto, which was why he had mentioned he didn’t like it. The fool did not realize you can simply lightly squeeze the trigger and release to get a single shot! Better for me I suppose.

“The cloth covered the charge indicator, which says there is a problem with the battery.” He pulled that battery out and tried another one while the light he spoke of continued to indicate a red error symbol. “And so far they all are saying that. Lilly, have –“

“Don’t call me that,” I stated plainly and narrowed my eyes to fine slits as I glared at him. “How do you know that name if I haven’t mentioned a name and you were asking me for mine?”

He raised an eyebrow and turned to look at me. The earth pony’s head was cocked to one side and from what I could tell his breathing looked quite normal. He motioned toward me while speaking again. “When you were in the city I heard that name mentioned toward you. I thought that was your name?”

I thought about this and kept my death glare up. Clearly it was my name, the name of a long dead unicorn mare from before the bombs fell. She was me and not me at the same time. I am clearly an alicorn. With a snort through my nose and a slow shake of my head I spoke softly, clearly and right at him. “You don’t get to use that name. Forget you ever heard it, because my name is Shock.”

“I like Lilly better.” He muttered and shrugged. This made a feeling of intense anger swell inside me. My heart suddenly pounded in my chest and I could only think of one thing; murder. The earth pony must die or apologize. Oh sure he was nice, but he must die.

“I don’t give a fuck!” I shouted, reaching for the submachine gun with my telekinetic magic. I could feel the magic grip the weapon tightly and pull the charging handle back as I brought the sights up to my eye and aimed in his direction. “I didn’t tell you my name, so forget Lilly. She doesn’t exist to you.”

Crescent stared unmoving at this display. He gently set the energy rifle back down and eyed me. I don’t know exactly what he was looking at or for. Probably staring at my messy mane half covering my vision, my matted and dirty coat, my sunken bloodshot eyes with bags under them, the many injection spots on my legs. It could be anything, really. I knew I looked like shit, but I didn’t care.

My magic held the trigger loosely and I could feel it slowly, but steadily squeezing. The smg was old but well maintained and it could easily wipe the smug expression from his face with a simple pull of the trigger.

“Okay, Shock,” he finally said in a tone that sounded sincere, causing my eyes to open wide and the magic to slowly let go of the trigger.

I just stared at the pony unsure of what to say, my eyes blinking a few times. Did I overreact? My heart thundered in my ears drowning out the crackling of the fire while the veins in my forehead throbbed and I could feel the anger starting to dissipate only to be replaced by an intense feeling of being stabbed through the skull by my own horn.

The intense pain destroyed the spell matrix with a pop at the same time I clutched my head with a hoof and clamped one eye shut. A ringing sensation in my right ear was quiet at first, but it quickly built up to an insanely loud screech that drowned out the sound of the weapon clattering to the ground.

The submachine gun did not go off. Was it even loaded? When I last checked I thought I had put a magazine in it to make sure the functions worked but there it was laying on the floor with no magazine. The chamber was wide open from when I had pulled it back revealing it was completely empty.

I think I’m going insane.

“You’re the one that needs rest, Shock.” Crescent’s faint words cut through the screeching in my ear, but I quickly shook my head. This proved to be a mistake at first as the ground did not stop spinning beneath e my hooves and I swore that the floor itself tilted backward before slamming down again. I took a deep breath while I struggled to regain my footing and when the strange feeling was over I gave him my best smile even though my eye kept wanting to close.

“I will be fine.” I replied, slowly nodding ever so slightly just in case the spinning came back. “I just… I don’t know what came over me, sorry.” As I spoke, my gaze slowly drifted back to the box containing the Balefire Bomb. That warm radiation called to me like a beacon in the night. I needed to bask in it. It will fix me, it will make me feel warm and fuzzy again. Maybe it will give me a set of wings.

Or death. A horrible, horrible death where my mane fell out and my skin sloughed off in chunks.

Crescent slowly walked over to me and held his hoof under my chin for a moment but thought the better of touching me and stepped in my view. “You’re not.” He said and stared into my eyes, but I looked down instead of meeting his gaze. How could I look at him when I just tried to shoot him over saying he liked the name Lilly better? Shock is clearly the better name, but Lilly also sounded nice!

But what was my name anyway? Did I even have one?

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” I muttered quietly to hopefully assuage his fears about me. Why was he so worried anyway?!

Because he cares for you, came a voice in my head. Familiar yet distant and distinctly not mine.

I blinked at the voice and glanced around the room before looking behind me. It was a familiar voice but one I could not place. Perhaps an alicorn was following me, but surely the earth pony can’t be so dumb as to care that much about me? All we did was talk business and he gave me a massage! And what a nice encounter it was…

A small smile crept across my lips, my heavy eyes wanting to close as I remembered the way his hoofs worked their way into my aching joints only a short while ago, but it was quickly shattered when Crescent clapped his hoofs together with a loud clap.

“Hey!” He shouted. His eyes narrowed and staring me down while I looked up at him due to him being slightly taller than me. “You aren’t fine, Shock. Even I can see that and I don’t know you very well. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“No.” I grabbed the submachine gun again with my hoof but tossed it on the pile of stuff that was mine and slowly walked toward it, my joints aching and clicking with each step. “It’s none of your concern and neither can you help.”

“And why not?”

“Just don’t worry about it. I’m working on it. All will be fine soon enough.”

“I watched you talk to yourself for hours, now you’re trying to shoot me with an empty gun over your name and you want me to not[/] worry?! Something is seriously wrong here. Ponies aren’t supposed to be like this.”

I do not get how this pony lasted two weeks if he is this concerned for another random pony. Surely a raider would’ve taken advantage of him and murdered him in his sleep by now! Has he even actually shot anyone?!

I stopped just in front of my belongings and looked down at them while my horn continued its attempt to murder me with pain. It had gone from the horn to the eye and ear and now to my neck feeling like something was pressing against it with their hoof but when I checked I felt no physical touch. There was nothing. Was it the radiation playing with my mind? I had cleared it with RadAway?

Through my only good ear I could hear the faint music from Crescent’s Pipbuck sounding like a pony galloping along with thundering hoofs. Each faint beat stabbed at my skull like an ice pick while my ears burned with each note. Memories of a past I thought I had outrun until recently started to float to the surface of my mind and I swore I could taste copper in my mouth.

And it was all Dead Hoof’s fault.

Speaking of the asshat… I looked at my hoof. “Bring me his head… bring me his head and I will forget this ‘incident’.”

“What? Whose head?” Crescent asked.

I slowly looked back at him and gave him a wide soft smile. “A bad pony’s head. Not you, but another. It’s the whole reason I am out here in the first place!”

“Who?”

“We need to get to the caravan first. Once I save the town and they give me the antidote I’ll show you the true me.”

Crescent raised his eyebrow. “Huh?”

“I’m actually an alicorn.”

“Funny. You don't look like one.” His voice had just as much confusion as his face held.

“How about I rip the wings off a pegasus and staple ‘em to my back? Would that suffice?” I turned my head to the side and gave him a small smirk.

His eyes twitched in reply.

“So where is this caravan? Crescent asked, his voice droning on again.

Our hoofsteps echoed across the rubble strewn road. Clouds slowly covered the sky once again, but shafts of light shone down in spots and a faint rainbow even showed itself. Ruined buildings of old lining Our path like a maze once more. We wished We could fly above the maze, but alas, We could not. We were stuck. Plain. Boring. Useless, but she pressed on. She did the same thing she’d done since she could remember. Lilly walked with another at her side.

A heavy sigh left my lungs as I looked to Crescent, ignoring the voice in my head trying to call me useless. I tilted my head in his direction, before I looked up at the sky. “How the hell do I know?!”

He tilted his head at me. “You don't know?”

“No, I don't,” I replied, shaking my head. I waved a hoof ahead of us. “No Pipbuck, no map, so how do I know? A building is a building.”

“I have a Pipbuck,” Crescent said.

I stopped to look at him, my head tilting a bit. “You do.”

“I do.” He nodded.

“You do. Do ya know how to use a map?” I asked, a small frown wanting to form on my face.

He nodded, again, and turned his attention to his Pipbuck. Crescent used his nose to boop the screen and manipulate the controls much to my amusement.

I looked back the way we had come. Clouds were steadily rolling in threatening to dump more rain on us. What sun there was barely streaked through the clouds layer. My eyes drifted down to a taller building looking for any signs of movement inside. Something that would indicate a pony living inside. A light, boarded up windows. Anything.

But I saw no signs in that building. Crescent mentioned something, yet the words were not clear.

She heard naught of the outside world, only her own inner thoughts muttering quietly to herself. Lilly stood like a rock, much like she had done in the past on Oakwood. Unblinking, not even her ears turning toward the voice until movement caught her eyes.

Crescent waved a hoof across my face. I blinked, taking a few steps back from the stallion and frowned at him. “What?” I asked.

“You haven't moved in five minutes,” he said, a small frown on his face. Crescent’s eyes were narrowed at me as I stared at his.

“Really?” I tilted my head, lifting a hoof off the ground. “Five minutes?”

“Without blinking. Or moving.”

“Are you sure it’s been five minutes?” I asked.

He slowly nodded. “Ya looked like a damn statue.”

My eyes narrowed at him and I cocked my head to the side. “Five minutes without blinking is a bit unrealistic, no?”

"No.” He shook his head.

“Then how long has it been?” I asked.

“Five minutes,” he said once more, causing me to frown at him, but he pointed to the clock on his Pipbuck. “No blinking. There is something wrong with you, Shock. What is it?”

I opened my mouth to reply to him, but no words came. He couldn't be serious about five minutes passing, could he? Surely not. I mean, as an alicorn I could see it, but my current self? Not at all!

“What was your stable like?” I asked, hoping to change the subject, as I did not need him to insinuate that I was crazy. I already knew that.

“Like a stable; well maintained and a small community. No issues.” He clicked his tongue before he shook his head and motioned at me. “Ever been in one?”

“Actual stables or ones taken over by experiments?”

“Actual working stables,” he said, nodding. “The way they were designed from the start to save lives.

“Once if you count being stuck outside as radioactive snow fell and the inhabitants refused to open the door.”

“How did ya get in?”

“We didn’t.” I slowly shook my head. “Lots of explosives made sure they would have to dig their way out when they did eventually open.”

“Ah…” he tapped his hoof in thought over my words and stared into my eyes, so I stared back into his light pink, almost silver eyes.

He still had a sword at his side. That same comically oversized sword he had on initially, so I leaned to the side and pointed at it with a tan hoof. “Say… what is that? It looks neat. I like swords, too.”

Crescent drew the weapon and showed me the improvised device. Its handle was made from a pipe and wrapped in cloth while the actual blade of it was a sharpened road sign. It did not look at all combat competent, yet I saw flecks of dried blood over the name; Cake Street.

I pulled Hyde out of its sheathe to show him my sword. “Here’s mine.” The chainsaw machete was well used, but cleaned. The teeth showed signs of excessive use over the years. I should probably repair it someday soon.

Crescent placed his sword in its sheath, took mine in his hoofs and I saw him shift the weight balance from one hoof to the next. He frowned deeply at something, causing me to tilt my head.

“What?” I asked.

“It's imbalanced,” he said.

“And? I've been using it since I picked it up and it does fine.” I waved a hoof dismissively and shook my head. “It's a tool for opening doors and ripping through power armor like the tin cans they are.”

“Then why is there dried blood and, I’m not going to guess that, between the teeth?” He asked, giving me the blade back. I snatched it with my magic and sheathed Hyde on my back.

“Did you find the caravan? We should keep moving,” I said, nodding, not at all elaborating on the finer points of combat.

Crescent looked at the Pipbuck on his leg. “Not sure. Alicorn Town is maybe two days away according to the map.”

“We’d do well to avoid that place. They prefer to be left alone.”

“Well, Tartarus is a half-day's trot to the east and that's where we started.”

“What if we just give them the bomb?” I tilted my head. “You rig it up so it only dirties water and make it inert?”

“We’ve been over this already. If we give them the bomb we endanger everyone in the area. We have to dispose of it!”

“In the right hoof it is of no consequence who owns a balefire bomb. It is only what they intend to do with it that matters!”

Crescent frowned deeply at me. “I don't trust any surface dweller with a balefire bomb. Look around you to see the reason why.” He waved his hoof around us at the rubble I needed no reason to look at.

I sat down to stare at the scars on my leg from the Med-X injections and frowned deeply. He had a point. A very good point that not all surface dwellers could be trusted with such a weapon, but the ghouls weren't surface dwellers. They lived underground, they were likely there when the bombs fell. They would know the horrors such weapons could cause.

And that could make them all the more dangerous and insane. It’d be like giving Ripper a second… bomb.

“Ripper,” I muttered to myself, bringing my untrimmed and flaking hoof up to look closely at it. “Ripper…” My eyes drifted away from the hoof to lock onto Crescent’s eyes. He had an eyebrow cocked and was staring silently at me. I felt my lips contort into a smirk.

“What?” he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly. “What’s Ripper?”

“Who,” I corrected him, waving my hoof in his direction.

I could see the lightbulb going off inside his head as his eyes slowly widened, his head tilting back a bit. “Who?” he asked.

“A ghoul I've met. Not the most…” I shrugged, balancing nothing in my hoofs for a moment and shook my head. “Friendly of ponies. She’s rude, crude, and talks about invisible food, but.” I pointed a hoof at Crescent and waited.

He tilted his head. “But?”

“If you want to have a safe place to store your bomb, her place will be perfect. Assuming it is real in the first place.”

“She already sounds like a bad idea,” Crescent muttered. “Where does she live?”

“First! We pack up the bomb and ensure no point can look inside. Second, we transport it to Oakwood.” I smiled. “Third, we navigate all of her traps and mines to her ship.”

He tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Oakwood? I've heard that name uttered at the docks. What is it?”

“An island off the coast that is basically a science experiment gone wrong. Everything wants to kill you, even the island itself. Miles and miles, and miles of underground tunnels run all over the island. A stable unlike any you've ever encountered is there.”

I paused and let the stallion chew over my words. I could practically see the gears turning in his head as slow as they could go. He glanced toward the east at the building next to us, before looking down the street again. Crescent frowned deeply, but said nothing. His ears folded back, but then lifted up, before they folded back again.

“No one, but Steel Rangers would miss it if it were to blow up,” I said.

“How do we get there?” He asked, turning his attention to me once more.

“Take a Steel Ranger transport out there, or convince a pair of alicorns to fly us. The only problem is if either of those groups find out about the bomb they will want to keep it.”

“I’d rather have my hoofs on the ground than in a flying deathtrap. We’ll need a cart.”

“And where do you think we can find one? The only carts around us are wrecks.”

“We can buy one.” He nodded. The area around us was illuminated by a bright flash, followed by a deafening roar that drew our attention to the wall of clouds.

I stared at the wall of clouds as something cold fell on my nose. A small droplet of water, followed by another, and another. “So she wasn't lying about the storm,” I muttered quietly.

“The radio’s been talking about it for the last week.” Crescent stepped toward the clouds and frowned.

I glanced at him. “The alicorns are moving further into the city’s heart to get away from the storm. If they are moving, then that means no ships will be leaving for Oakwood until it passes.”

“Aren't alicorns and Steel Rangers enemies?”

“Yes, but if the waves are so bad they're coming inland you can't dock a fucking boat!” I waved ahead at the clouds as more rain began to fall in a steady sheet, drenching the ground ahead of us.

Rain. Glorious rain was all that I could see out the window. Couldn’t see much past the sidewalk either, as the rain came down so hard it roared like a freight train.

Crescent sat nearby doing… something with the laser rifle I had given him. Honestly, I don’t know what the fuck he was doing beyond tearing it completely apart! The dirt of the floor around him was cleaned away and a sheet from a stable was laid over the ground, weapon parts everywhere on the sheet. The roof of the room barely held together. A small fire between us kept the room warm while vegetables sizzled on a stick. Their crisp and sweet aroma was a nice break from the mud outside.

“Where the hell did you get fresh vegetables?” I asked Crescent, nodding toward the fire where I had put the veggies on only a minute before.

He ignored them as he held a small lens in between his hoofs close to his face. Crescent breathed on the lens, causing it to fog over before he quickly wiped it down with a cloth.

A lens? Why would a rifle need a lens?! Just slap some bullets in, close the bolt, and go! Crescent’s rifle was more wires and electrical components than a firearm. I stared at the parts on the ground with no clear view of where it all went together.

I used my magic to rotate the veggies a bit, my stomach rumbling softly so quietly that only I could feel it grasping for food. Food that could be eaten raw, yet for some reason I was cooking it.

If only it was radiation. That was easy enough to eat, just sit in it.

Returning my attention to the window, I saw more rain again. The sky had grown dark enough that it looked like night had come early, yet it was still daytime. Behind me, Crescent’s Pipbuck spoke softly. The words incoherent to me over the cacophony of rain.

Not the clop of a hoof against concrete and a gasp from someone as they slammed against the ground out in the rain though. My ears swiveled to the sound, focusing intently on where it had come from. I saw nothing out there.

I focused my magic on my horn for a moment, grabbing Hyde’s handle as I prepared to draw the weapon from my back.

“You better say something quick,” I called out to the rain, my gravelly voice carrying into the rain.

“Hm?” He asked. My back was to him, so I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I did hear him get to his hoofs and heard the faint click-clack of a pistol being cocked. “Wha’ out there?” he managed to say through the pistol’s grip.

Impressive. It sounded coherent enough I tilted my head toward the rain. “I heard someone,” I said, slowly drawing Hyde from the sheath whence it was stored.

Nothing came from the rain except the roar of the droplets slamming into the thin roof above and the concrete outside. I sat there staring, waiting, unblinking.

She did. Lilly sat and watched the rain for the longest time until she was certain that nothing was out there. Crescent sat behind Us and had put his pistol away to turn the veggies once more. Still, Lilly did not move. Yet… We saw something, We saw it before she did. Distinct movement in the rain signaled a pony getting up from the ground not far away. We nudged Lilly, tugging at her ear to follow the sound.

So she did.

The faint clink of metal against concrete in the rain. Not too loud, but different enough to be heard over the roar of water. Again it happened.

I looked toward the sound my ears had picked up and stared. Something was out there. Not something, but someone using an invisibility spell or device. Ever so slowly, I took a deep breath and prepared to throw Hyde out the window should the intruder come closer.

There in the rain was a pony’s silhouette outlined by the falling rain. Tall, regal with a long horn. They were pretty damn close, too. About six feet I’d say. How I hadn’t seen them when they approached was a mystery. The tall pony, likely a blue alicorn, moved as slowly as they could, picking one hoof up and stepping forward. Their hoof clinked against the concrete and they stopped.

I grew tired of the alicorn’s charade and threw Hyde out the window right at their face. At the same time I threw all of my weight at the door, leaping through the open window.

The pony let out a surprised gasp just before the machete slammed into their face. They stumbled back, shouting in a distinct mare’s voice, “My fucking nose!”

“Shock?!” Crescent yelled, but I ignored him.

I landed on the ground with a grin on my face, but the slick concrete was tough to get any traction on and my hoofs slipped under me. Face, meet ground. I hit the ground hard and slid for a moment.

The alicorn turned and bolted away as fast as herhoofs could carry her, but I got to my hoofs and gave chase.

She ran into the night, her metallic hoofsteps betraying her presence as she galloped down the street. I followed suit, keeping my head low as I galloped into the storm.

“Where the hell are you going?! Crescent yelled, but I kept going. “We’ve got a plan, dammit!”

The rain made it easy to follow her for the most part. All I had to do was keep watch where it was being disturbed by her body as she galloped, a small rooster tail of water following her. We ran through the street, turning down an intersection. The dirt and grime on the road bubbled up creating a foam-like substance every now and then. Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the buildings and thunder roared, shaking my body to its core.

I cared not for the howling wind trying to throw the salty raindrops in my face, nor for the thunder drowning out the sound of our hoofsteps as we galloped through the city. Crescent was… somewhere. His distant voice could be heard once in a while behind us.

The alicorn darted down an alley, with me following after her into the debris covered ground. Our hoofsteps echoed once more until she stopped. Her outline quickly turned as it grabbed a dumpster and tried to block my way.

With no wings to fly over and the dumpster being likely out of my height to jump over, I slammed my full weight into the dumpster. It shifted under the impact. Pain shot through my entire body as I let out a pained cry, “You bitch!”

The alicorn shouted in surprise at the same time the dumpster collided with something. I fell to the wet ground, my hoofs sliding across the concrete again. Fire lanced through my shoulder as I rolled away from the dumpster and looked at the alicorn.

The hood of the blue’s black cloak was down, revealing her form for all to see. A light azure hoof clutched the back of her head where it had likely collided with the asphalt. Her dark blue mane was drenched and covered her face. She lay on her side, wings splayed out and her saddlebag contents all over the ground near her.

A rifle lay on the ground, old, but maintained from what I could see.

I was the first to get up to my hoofs. I wobbled, not really using my weight on the injured leg as I hobbled my way toward the alicorn.

She was moving, slowly, but moving as she heard me approach.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice letting out another croak. “Why were you sneaking up on us?”

She sat up, setting her hoofs on the ground, and I could see by the way her wings twitched that she was unsteady. Stars practically swirled around her head as the alicorn stared at me with dark violet eyes.

I blinked at what I was seeing, slowly reaching a hoof out to touch the mare. Her nose felt real enough. As did her face and her hoof when it collided with mine to smack it away from her glaring eyes. “What are you doing, foal?! Get your grimy hoof off of me!” Mud marred her face where I had touched.

“G-goddess…?” I whispered, my voice hardly audible to me as rain roared down around us. My eyes wide as I took in the near perfect face that almost resembled the Goddess to a T. At least my interpretation of her anyway.

The mare blinked once, twice, thrice at me. Then her frown became a small smile and she nodded. “Why… yes, it is I, the Great and Powerful Goddess!”

I blinked at her. The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t recall where from. “Where have you been? I thought you died…”

“You and everyone else.” She twirled her hoof, turning her nose up with a hmph, her wings spreading wide. “Behold! The Great and Powerful Goddess lives!”

What did I do? Not bow, that was for sure. The Goddess was dead if Mistress Tail Blade was to be believed. I could only stare at the alicorn.

My ears swiveled behind me, the alicorn before me leaned to the side at something approaching with heavy hoofsteps, but I didn’t look. It sounded like Crescent, because he shouted, “Finally caught you two!”

His voice echoed off the narrow alleyway as the Goddess watched his approach. Me? My eyes went to her non-moving mane, her zebra cloak covering most of her body, but importantly, the cutie mark of a few exploding gems was visible. I had no idea if it was the Goddess’ cutie mark or not. In truth, I had never seen the true form of the Goddess beyond what was at Maripony. Only in dreams did I see a mare that resembled this one, but different. Oh so different, but similar.

The Goddess stood up and backed away from me. “Now there are two of you?!” she asked.

Crescent finally arrived and slid to a stop, pushing the dumpster out of the way. He looked at me, the other alicorn, back to me, the other alicorn and then at me. “Who is that?” he asked.

“The Goddess,” I said quietly.

She bowed her head at the words. The Goddess turned her attention to Crescent and folded her wings against her side. “Greetings,” she said.

He stared silently at her for the longest time, before offering a hoof out. “Hi? I’m Crescent,” he said.

She stepped back, nose scrunched and wings spread ever so slightly. “Sorry, I don’t shake hoofs. Never know where they have been.”

He set the hoof down and turned his attention to me. “Shock? Are you alright?” Crescent asked me.

“Shock?” The Goddess asked, drawing my attention to her. She pointed a hoof at me. “You’re not Shock. You’re just some unicorn!”

I frowned at the alicorn, holding my hoof out toward her once more. “I can explain!”

“Who is it you’re talking to?” Crescent whispered loud enough for me to hear and looked toward the mare once again. “Who is she?”

Again, I said, “The Great and Powerful Goddess of Unity.”

The mare chuckled softly and gave Crescent a smirk. The area around us illuminated as bright as day for just a split second, then the rumbling of thunder roared by us.

Crescent slowly nodded at her. “I see. Hi, Goddess. Care for a snack?” He pulled a box of snack cakes out of his bags and held it in his hoof, gently shaking the box at her.

The Goddess stared at him with narrowed eyes. Neither Crescent, nor the Goddess spoke as the seconds passed by, so I set about picking her things up off the ground with my magic.

It was the least I could do for the Goddess.

--------------
17% to next level.