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Ascendant Eclipse

by Nadir

Chapters

Beginnings

My name is Zenith Eclipse. If you’re reading this from the wasteland...well, you probably already know my story. Or at least a side of it. The bad thing is, you probably know about me for all the wrong reasons. For those who know my crimes already, I’d like to start by saying I’m sorry.

I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused and all the ponies I have killed. I’m sorry for killing innocents and even foals at times. I’m sorry for making an already screwed up Equestria an even worse place to be.

Reader, please understand, I didn’t mean for all this to happen. I thought it was all for the best. I wanted the good times to return, back to when things were peaceful and nice. Back when the times were much simpler. I failed miserably.

If I have any chance of making you understand my intentions and my actions, then I’m going to have to start from the beginning. Not from the start of my rise to power, not from the start of conquest, but from the very beginning. Please, reader, hear me out. I ask not for forgiveness, just... a continuation of my goals. Without any further ado, here we go.

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I walked down the Ponyville Main street, on the way home from Twilight’s errand. I caught quite a few stares from the ponies of the town, just for walking down the street. Their stares had long since grown uncomfortable. It was times like this that I wished my coloring were less distinctive; a pale pink or blue instead of jet black.

My mane and tail were colored like that of dark, deep sapphires which contrasted rather sharply with a deep black coat. My eyes were colored blood-red. I tried to keep them hidden under my mane or otherwise occupied. They tended to freak other ponies out. Hence, why everypony seemed to want to avoid me.

An amethyst pendant hung around my neck on a delicate golden chain, a present from Twilight’s former apprentice and one of the few who had given me a chance. Spike had helped me adjust to Ponyville and Twilight. From there, we had grown close, becoming fast friends. Even to that day, we had corresponded by letters. I updated him on the lives of those in Ponyville and he told me about his life with the dragons.

“Twilight!” I called, shouldering my way in through the front door of the library-treehouse at the dead center of Ponyville. “I’m back!” Two canteens were draped around my neck, carefully kept from clinking together. The canteens were filled not with water, but instead more noxious liquids needed for some experiment or another. Who knew what my mentor did during all of her hours? None of these ingredients grew locally in Ponyville, but only in the middle of the Everfree forest. To make the whole errand more annoying, no pony knew how to make these mixtures except a zebra named Zecora who had a habit of rhyming every sentence. I really hated wordplay.

“Come on upstairs, Zenith. Slowly though, remember my warning!” I heard my violet colored mentor yell from the bedroom. Twilight was always such a worrier. Ever since I had began living with her she had acted more protective than any mother. Not that her rules ever stopped me of course. You didn't stay inside and go to bed hours before everyone else when there were books on lock picking literally feet away from where you slept. Twilight could sleep through nearly anything. Rolling my eyes, I started to head on up.

I carefully navigated the stairs, monitoring the tops of the flasks with extreme prejudice The brews contained within were toxic to anypony that touched even a single drop, with only Zecora knowing the cure. After a stressful minute, I reached the top of the stairs to view the room beyond, exhaling a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

My mentor stood in the center of a six sided star, much like her cutie mark, on the right side of the room. Directly in front of her, bound by its own pentagram, a swirling eldritch-green vortex rotated in stasis. Our two beds and other necessities had been roughly shifted to the only remaining free side in an attempt to scavenge as much space as possible. Twilight's horn sparkled with purple magic, overglowing several times around revealing how powerful she truly was. Not only that, but she did it effortlessly, something that other unicorns had to struggle their entire lifetimes to achieve with an entire day’s expenditure of energy.

Time had been kind to Twilight thus far. The tell-tale magenta streak in her mane and tail had began to hint at gray  from her stressful lifestyle, but otherwise she had been largely untouched, retaining the vigor of her youth. “Careful.” Twilight warned, keeping her attention on the vortex. “Don't want you getting sucked in. Can't tell what will happen.” I nodded in response and concentrated on not spilling the flasks. I started to trot on over to a tiny alcove from the library, probably originally intended to be used as a closet. Twilight however, had converted it into a room to store for potions and other such things in.

Shelves lined the walls, reaching to the ceiling. On each of the shelves, bottles and various other containers filled the shelves. Carefully, I wrapped the canteens in a protective sheath of my blood-colored magic and levitated the pair into what I felt was the most secure spot, which equated to pretty much the only open spot. Twilight always impressed upon me how careful I needed to be in here, some of these were pretty explosive. Twilight said she'd show me how to make some this stuff later.

Which was one of the many things she had told me she'd eventually teach me. She even said she'd teach me shape shifting, a way to hide my rather... unique experience and maybe get a little bit less stares from the villagers. She was just tedious, always demanding the basics be mastered before any interesting spells could be learned. She tried to slow us down to a bit of a normal pace, despite the fact we could both go faster. It did make sense; magic could be pretty dangerous if handled badly, but I felt like I could go faster. At least she had finally gotten around to teaching me that interesting storage spell for my journal and some snacks. With only a low amount of energy, space could be folded around objects to keep them easily transportable and weightless. I mentally checked the stores of my ‘pocket’ before heading back out to Twilight.

I returned to my mentor's side, thoroughly exhausted from the long trek. “All set?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. She just as quickly had to shift her attention back to the vortex, to ensure that it wouldn’t break from her iron-tight control.

I responded to her earlier question with only another unenthusiastic nod, feeling rather fatigued from the long walk and a little bored as well. I had thought being the apprentice of the goddesses' student and magician would be much more exciting than studying all day and doing odd errands..

From downstairs, I could hear a knock on the door. “See who that is, alright?” Twilight asked, her gaze still locked on the vortex.

“Fine.” I answered. I had just gotten back to the house and didn’t have a single second of rest. I plodded down the stairs and opened the door, admitting a great, blue alicorn.  “P-princess Luna!” I stuttered in surprise. Ever since my time in Canterlot, I was always a bit scared of the princesses, having seen the Summer Sun Celebration in person. Probably irrationally so; they had never harmed anyone I knew. But still... that much power was terrifying. Even unicorns who weren't that magically attuned could feel it radiating outwards. “W-what brings you here?”

“WE REQUIRE- I mean, I would like to speak to your mentor, little Zenith.” Luna started with a yell, before dropping to normal volume. I cringed back, ears not expecting such a shock.

“Y-yea. I’ll show you to her. She’s a little busy upstairs.” I explained, stepping aside to let the alicorn in. I led the way upstairs trying to not look at Luna. I was still scared that one of the princesses would smite me down. “Twilight? It’s Luna.” I announced as we reached the landing.

Twilight turned for a second in surprise before quickly focusing again. “Princess! Give me just one second to lock this down!” Twilight said rather frantically. She always did this. Whenever something didn’t conform perfectly to schedule she flipped the hell out. To be honest, it wasn't that bad every now and then but sometimes, it got a little out of hand. Twilight’s horn grew brighter for a moment before winking out, as the vortex shrunk to a single point of green light. “OK Zenith, you can leave now.” She added, more as of a command than a suggestion.

Miss out on a golden opportunity like this? If the princess was visiting Twilight, it had to be important. I made a show of going down the stairs and then carefully crept back up staying just out of sight. I might have missed some of the conversation, but not much.

“Again?! This is the third time this month!” I heard Twilight exclaim, sounding exasperated. “If she keeps going like this, the bureaucracy will be nonexistent!”

“That is what I have been telling her Ms. Sparkle.” Luna responded, in that funny little accent of hers. “I looked over the records for the last one thousand years for which I haven’t been around. At first, her claims were accurate and she really did give away quite a bit of her power. But recently, she’s been gathering it all back around herself.”

“We need to do something about this! I love her to death but she has no idea what the common pony needs. Maybe if she didn’t spend all the bloody time cooped up in that castle of hers she’d have an idea. Did you know that Applejack’s taxes have finally hit the sixty percent mark? She can't handle that with a farmer's profits! She won't even listen to me about it!.”

“I know Twilight, and if you and I cannot convince my sister, no one will be able to. I am gathering support but it will take quite some time. Before then... I’m afraid we’ll have to grin and bear it. I’m sorry I can’t do more. I’m also sorry that I can’t stay any longer than such a brief visit. We truly haven’t had enough time together since this mess started. For now though, goodbye and stay safe.” Luna finished, her voice growing progressively more hopeless.

“Stay safe Luna.” Twilight muttered in reply. I heard a loud pop of teleportation and assumed Luna had departed.  “Zenith...” Twilight started, voice sounding dangerous. “I know you’re there. I can feel your magic from a mile away.” My eyes widened as I felt myself suddenly gripped inside a violet telekinetic field, bringing me into the main bedroom.

“I am very disappointed in you.” Twilight lectured, bringing my body to eye level. Struggle as I might, both magically and physically I couldn’t break free from her hold. It felt like trying to break steel with my bare hooves. Twilight had way too much power for her own good. “I told you to leave and you disobeyed me. That was a private conversation between two adults and not for your ears. When I tell you to do something, you need to listen to me, whether you like it or not understand?” She finished. I returned my own stare at her stern gaze. I blinked first.

“Yes Twilight.” I muttered, shifting uncomfortably in her telekinetic hold. Feeling all that magic around me felt oppressive at the best of times, even more so when said pony was angry at you.

“You’re grounded. If I feel even a spark of magic form you, there will be a lot of trouble.” Twilight warned. She set me on the ground and let me have control of my body again. “Now don’t you have chores to be doing?” I nodded, keeping my head low and went back downstairs. I had actually finished my chores before going to Zecora’s but I would use any excuse to get away from Twilight right now.

I slumped down on the downstairs's couch. It couldn't have been that big of a deal, could it? I mean, it was just a conversation, and in our shared room nonetheless! Who'd she think I would tell anyways? Too tired and frustrated to read or otherwise entertain myself, I let myself fall asleep.

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The next few days passed with me being nearly bored to tears. I had literally nothing to do but read and I had long since read most of the fiction books in the library. Now on to..ugh.. spell theory. Sure, I was considered a child prodigy, even with my slow progress, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed the process.

Finally, after four days of being grounded, I caught a break. As I was making my way to the bathroom, Twilight called me over.

“Zenith, wanna help me out a bit?” Twilight asked, still scribbling notes down about her vortex.

“Sure! Whaddya need?” I asked, desperate to actually do something with my magic. It had been pent up for the last few days to the point where the was a constant, annoying buzzing in my head.

“Good. Now, we need to do this very carefully understand? Levitate that parchment through, but don't get close to the vortex alright? If this works, it should show up a few minutes later downstairs.”  My teacher instructed, stress filling her voice. It was almost as if she expected it to not work. Then again, half the stuff she attempted in her now-a-days went wrong in some way or another. Too much experimentation.

I moved forward slightly within the outer circle of the vortex's influence. It was just like Twilight to stress about the smallest of things. Only a novice would approach a magical vortex without protection and get close enough to be sucked in. We had done this kind of delicate work before, surely I wouldn't make a mistake now. My horn glowed a softer red as the parchment floated through the air, towards the vortex. Unfortunately, the scroll stopped it's forward crawl several feet from the center of the room just outside the range of the vortex's grasping tendrils. The vortex limited the magical range of unicorns nearby due to how much energy was swirling around it’s nethers.

With a growl of annoyance, I began to physically move closer in an attempt to further the range of my magic without exposing myself to the all-consuming nightmare in the center of the room. Stupid limitations. If Twilight had been teaching me at my own pace this wouldn't a problem, my magic would have plenty of a stockpile by this point. She insisted on taking my education so bloody slow.

“Zenith! Stop moving right now!” Twilight snapped, panic filling her voice. Oh, she was such a worry wort. If I was that close to the portal something surely would have happened by now. I was sure everything was fine. With a popping noise, the parchment disappeared as I took what would be my final step on this world. I turned back around to face Twi with a smirk of triumph. Funny, despite the fact I knew my range was fine, I thought I felt a slight pulling on my tail.... With a bored glance, I turned my head. I did a double take and gasped as over half of my tail had already disappeared into the swirling green mass. Shock flooded my body and my mind blacked out.

Arrival

I came to again, screaming. Green lights completely obscured my vision, fading only slowly. The last memories of unspeakable, otherwordly horrors faded from my mind as the vortex wore off. The light faded, but my vision was still blocked by a cloud of dust surrounding me. Through the dust, I could barely make out the silhouette of the Carousel Boutique. Thank Celestia, at least I wouldn’t be far from home.

The dust cloud finally faded and I blinked away the last bits of dirt from my eyes. I finally got a good look at Rarity’s and felt my blood run cold. The building was a complete ruin. Many of the pillars had fallen in, the windows were smashed, and the door had long been knocked carelessly aside. I felt my entire body freeze up. Thankfully I heard hoof steps behind me, perhaps a rescue pony? Foggily, I turned my head up towards whoever was approaching me only to have the long, lean barrel of a rune-launcher shoved in my face.

“How in Celestia's name did you get this close to my home?” A stallion's deep voice asked. The barrel was shoved hard into my skull, forcing me deeper in the muck on the ground, dirtying my coat. Taking the newcomer in quickly, I put together a quick mental image.  The stallion was clad in heavy metallic armor with a glowing blue horn poking through the helmet . The armor put forth an intimidating visage, clearly built for scare tactics.

“I don't know! One minute I was with Twilight helping out with some time vortex and the next I was here.” I  quickly explained, trying to squirm away from the barrel. I didn't tend to do so well when I felt I was being threatened, people tended to get hurt and very rarely did these people include myself. How he even had one of these weapons was beyond me. The launcher had just gone through the final developmental cycle and were super expensive. No one except a few of the royal guards had them, and they were the ones charged with protecting the Princess herself. “A-are you one of Celestia's guards?” I asked, a tiny spark of hope and familiarity kindling.

The stallion just chuckled mockingly. “Celestia? She's been dead for centuries. You been living under a rock? Now I’ll give ya one chance to get the hell out of here before I start shootin’.” The stallion snapped, the very picture of intimidation in his heavy armor. He telekinetically lifted the barrel away from pointing directly at me, giving me room enough to stand. I quickly struggled to my feet, hooves pounding with pain. Shock registered in my mind at the news of Celestia, making me feel numb. This couldn't be real, there was no way a goddess could die, didn't that defeat the purpose of immortality?

“Well, what about Twilight Sparkle? Do you know where her library is?” I asked, this time without much hope of getting a good answer. I had no idea where, when, and what dimension I was in but maybe... maybe my mentor was still here. Twilight wasn't my favorite pony in the world, but at least she had been there for me in the past.

“Twilight Sparkle; bitch got us all killed. A goddess dead and you think she’ll be alive?. It'll do you good to not mention that name around here, especially with the Reapers still a feared name.” The stallion went on, sarcasm evident. Twilight was dead? The possibility hadn't crossed my mind. She was so powerful, so well connected, and so careful. I never thought she'd even be able to die, except for old age. I didn't think I would, but I honestly felt sad. The closest thing I had to a mother was gone. I attempted to stifle my sadness and could only moderately succeed, but I focused back onto the present.

Through the small holes in the helmet, I could see his eyes narrowed in anger. He started to turn and walk away  but his eye just barely caught on my necklace, clear against the otherwise black coat. “Where did you get that?” The stallion demanded, the long, thin barrel leveling back down to the star.

“It was a gift.” I explained quickly.  I didn't mention who it was from on purpose. If Twilight's name carried such a stigma, maybe it would be safer not to mention her at all. “It's supposed to help me with my magic.” I added, giving the most basic of the necklace's functions. In reality, it acted as so much more.

A few tense moments followed before the stallion lowered the barrel. “Alright, stand up and no sudden movements, got it?” He instructed. As I stood, he caught sight of my blank flank, no longer obscured by the mud. “You’re just a filly, the hell you doing out here?” He exclaimed in shock.

“I...I don’t know.” I replied, trying to hold back hot tears. I was desperately failing at focusing. Confusion and fear were starting to overwhelm me. I had barely been in the new Ponyville for thirty seconds and already had my life threatened.

“Dammit, filly or not, I ain’t gonna mess with no reaper spawn. You can stay the night but you’re out as soon as possible.” He finished resolutely. I nodded and he turned to lead deeper into Ponyville without another word.

During the silent journey, I took my time examining the full damage to the small city. Some houses had hints of green light  flickering through their insides. Easily more than half of the buildings had collapsed in on themselves completely. All colors seemed to have burned away, leaving the world an ugly gray color that dominated the current landscape. The Ponyville I had known was just a shadow of its' former self, burned and gone.

I was left with no time to dwell on my thoughts as my host lead me toward a building that was relatively structurally intact, still far from the center of the town where all the recognizable buildings would stand. That is, if they had ever been there the first place. This one was a building I had never seen before, but it looked like that of a standard Ponyville house. Comfortable, but not extravagant.

The stallion pushed open the door, revealing a decrepit interior as was expected. The only illumination came through the windows, most of the light being filtered out due to the dusty cover. A beat up couch took up the majority of the room's inhabitable space with a small mattress shoved into the opposite corner. None of the original flooring remained, just concrete. Two more doors split off from the room, closed tight. Debris poked out from underneath one of them, indicating that the adjacent room had collapsed.

“So what's your name? Mine’s Zenith,” I asked, in an attempt to start some conversation.I needed some information and despite this stallion's hostility, he was the easiest way to get it. I edged my way onto the couch and gently lay down, trying to stop the aching in my hooves and make myself more comfortable.

“Call me Shield.” He replied gruffly, starting to levitate the different pieces of armor away from his body. As he lifted the pieces away, I took in the full set of armor. The pieces would have overlapped multiple times fully on. Spiked pauldrons were the most obvious and prominent piece, looking both incredibly threatening and useful. The body armor consisted of plates of steel overlapped to maximize protection, with minimal decoration focusing completely on the utilitarian aspects. All the decoration had been saved for the grand finale; the helm. A dragon's head adorned the helmet, carved rather intricately and highlighted with what looked like streaks of blood.The saddlebag came off first, landing in a clump on the mattress. The other pieces swiftly followed, revealing a light blue pony with magenta mane and piercing yellow eyes. On his flanks, a yellow light was hidden by a great green shield as his cutie mark.

Shield turned back to me, gun still hovering in the air beside him. Abruptly, the gun pointed towards me again and I shrunk back. “So... I’ve never heard of just a filly runnin’ round with the reapers, specially round raider territory like this. Makes me wonder exactly what you’re doin’.” He started, voice sounding casual but actions far from it. “Why are you here?”

“I-I don’t know.” I replied, trying to keep my calm. He poked the gun closer and I flinched away quickly.

“Don’t lie to me! You come wearing a reaper's necklace and those damn eyes and expect me to believe you ain't up to nuthin?!” He snapped. Everything was too close. His body, the gun, and the wall. I just wanted to be left alone. My anger started to boil over.

A mugger had cornered me. Not that uncommon of a site on the Canterlot backstreets. I was hiding in the alley, trying to get a little rest. He didn’t buy it, thought I had some food. A knife from his bag. My magic lashed out on it’s own. My vision blurred to nothing but red.

Snapping back into reality, I locked my gaze on Shield, eyes burning with anger. My vision clouded in a familiar rage, flooding my veins with white-hot energy. Magic seeped from my horn, taking hold of rubbish and debris from the floor, anything I could use as a weapon. A bright, red shield surrounded me. “I’ll leave if you want me to, but stay the hell away from me.” I declared. My knees trembled despite my outward confidence. I hated confrontation. There was no way I could even think of fighting anypony else normally, but my rage-fueled magic stupor provided me with a certain security.

“No need to be hasty.” Shield muttered, uncertainty infusing his voice for the first time and making it much higher pitched, now closer to where I believed it should be. “There's no need for that, I was just offering you a place to stay. I ain't gonna hurt you.” He finished, clearly trying to defuse the situation. His own horn had started to glow, grasping around his armor. “Now, why don't you just calm down and put the sharp instruments away?”

The rage disappeared even faster than it had first come on, my magic collapsed  as my concentration broke. The knives fell to the floor with a clatter and my body followed, as my vision changed from red to black. “Unnhh.” I moaned, a deep rooted headache taking hold. Shield swore to himself, probably at my own stupidity. Getting tossed through a magical vortex didn’t tend to be the healthiest thing for a pony.

“Wait right here, I'll get you something to eat.” Shield whispered,sympathy infused in his tone. Every unicorn had felt the pain of burn out at one time or another. I heard a door open and assumed he had gone through one of the doors branching off from this room instead of going outside, back into the wreckage of the town. For a few minutes, I was left with just my own thoughts and the extreme silence of the outside wasteland to keep me busy. Shield returned, levitating a few cans behind him. He lay one can in front of me and split the top off with a small grunt of effort.

I took a brief sniff of the peaches and wrinkled my nose. Even canned goods couldn’t keep that well over years. I took a small sip of the juice anyways, food and sugar were the fastest cures to magic exhaustion. “Would you mind i-if I took a little nap?” I asked, feeling fatigue start to settle over my body.

“Not at all. Go right ahead..” He mumbled, apparently trying to be nice to me.That was kinda nice, maybe Shield wasn’t as bad as he originally seemed. At least I could reserve judgment for a while; after all, he could’ve just been protecting his home. I didn't know any of the customs here, I was the last one that should be making any judgments. I let the darkness take over me.

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I awoke groggily to a huge armored pony taking up  my entire perspective. Shock flooded my mind before I realized it was just Shield, armored and armed. Distantly, I could hear faint pops and bangs. “Stay here. The caravan needs my help. If anyone comes in except for me, defend yourself.” Shield explained quickly. He left the two knives I had stolen from him earlier on the floor and then exited the house in a hurry, making haste toward the sound of explosions. Cautiously, I took the knives in my magic grip and hid behind the couch, waiting.

And waiting. I tried to pretend I was still back at home, just for a little bit, but the sounds of gunfire broke any idea of peace I could start to form. Even still, my thoughts drifted, attempting to forget I was here. Twilight had really never been my favorite pony, but at least it was safe and she was nice. How crappy this place was and the sharp contrast between them made me realize how could life had been in the library. I had always been asking to have adventures and get out of the house but now that I had one, I just wanted to go home. If I ever saw her again, I would apologize and beg for her to take me back in.

And waiting. My memories started to drift back to the first day I had met Twilight. She had been nice; shown me around the place, made a lunch, and treated me pretty well. Of course, i also got a huge list of rules, but that was just Twilight being Twilight. Despite how nice it was, I didn't want to stay. I had always felt caged in. It was probably just the whole teenager thing, but now that I was here, I couldn't help but wish I had been a better apprentice for Twilight. I had deserved much, much worse.

And waiting. Now, the thoughts in my mind shifted back to Spike. How nice he was to me, even without having ever met me before. I can’t believe I had ever been jealous of him. Twilight always spoke pleasantly of him and negatively of me, it was enough to drive anypony to anger. Maybe it was just nostalgia and Twilight wishing she could turn the years back, didn’t old ponies start doing that after a while? Whatever it was, the time was long past now, and didn’t seem to have a chance to ever come back. I wish I could just meet him again. Dragons lived for a long time right? Maybe he could still be alive in this time, if he ever even existed here.

Seemingly a while later, I heard a knock at the door. “Hello? Shield?” I called out, anxiety seeping into my voice. Silence greeted my question, giving me no indication one way or another on who it was. I started to creep out from behind my couch to peep through a window. Suddenly, the door exploded inwards, bursting off it’s hinges and impacting against the far wall. Instead of Shield, a dirty, brown-colored earth pony covered with scraps of leather armor stepped through the door. Two rough saddlebags seemed to carry all his goods, blades and other instruments of pain peeking through some of the holes. He held a shovel handle in his mouth, the other end had been sharpened into a jagged blade, covered with rust and dried blood. It took him all of a second to spot me. Definitely not Shield.

“Hey there little filly.” The filthy stallion said, in easily the least convincing ‘nice’ and ‘sweet’ voice I had ever heard. “Why don’t you come over here? Got a pretty necklace for that pretty neck. I’ll trade ya.” He continued. Even Fluttershy wouldn’t have believed this pony was sincere. He dropped the shovel onto the ground, probably figuring he wouldn’t need it. He then reached into his saddlebag and withdrew a heavy iron collar, shining green in my vision from the enchanter’s magic. For whatever reason, I was slightly suspicious of his good intentions.

“Stay away from me.” I commanded, magically amplifying my voice. Maybe if I scared him enough, he’d just go away. On the outside, I tried to remain confident and strong, but I was honestly terrified. I still had the knives, but couldn’t force myself to even lift them, much less use them against another pony. Unfortunately, the stallion didn’t back down and kept advancing towards me. I shrunk away into the corner, curling into a defensive ball, ruining any scary image I had began to conjure.

“Don’t be difficult now. Come peaceful and I’ll make sure none of the others give ya any trouble, be good for me and I’ll be good for you.” The stallion went on in the same fake voice. His face adopted a sadistic grin, showing cracked and yellow teeth around his grip.

Two young, male ponies stood in front of me, smirking and taunting. I was in a kitchen of an upscale townhouse, magic keeping strong hold on kitchen utensils. There was a pot of boiling tomato soup on the stovetop.I felt myself progressively angrier, my vision started to change to red as more rage fueled magic built up in my system. The knives levitated into the air beside me and flew forward, a scream, and then black.

“Last warning,” I cautioned shakily. Gathering resolve from my memories, I took a hold of the knives and mentally strengthened my resolve, my limbs still shaking. I tried to do something to defend myself, but just when I needed it my magic locked up. The stallion had was close, way too close and was leaning down when a sharp retort rang out, much closer than the previous sounds of the battle. Blood spurted out from the top of the pony’s head, spraying me with disgusting little bits. To my embarrassment, I couldn’t help but let out a little shriek as he slumped lifelessly against the ground. In the doorway, Shield stood, the gun still held tight in his magic grip.

“Sorry, had to take care of business outside. Mind coming out here and helping me out with that magic?” Shield asked, moving the stallion’s body off of me with his cool-colored, calming magic. How could he be so damn... nonchalant about killing another pony? How could he stand there so calm, while I felt like vomitting? Shaking still, I nodded and struggled the way to my hooves. He led the way outside and down the street, revealing new signs of battle.

Meetings

A few new fires had started to burn amongst the more stable houses, whether from magic release or weapons, I couldn’t tell. The scattered survivors of the caravan had hunkered down against the side of a faded yellow building. Half of the building had fallen on one of their wagons, pinning two ponies underneath. “Think you can take care of this?” Shield asked, motioning with his horn to the rubble.

At full strength with Twilight this would be easy. Now, after having been shaken up and ill for a day, I wasn’t so sure. I took a deep breath, more to steady myself than anything else and began to focus my magic. A faint bloody glow began to appear around each individual rock. I pushed gently, moving the whole mess up and off the pony, a wave of energy fleeing me at each nudge. Barely hanging on, I dumped the rocks about ten feet away from the trapped pony, collapsing as I did so, but remaining conscious. I heard an impressed whistle to my right, coming from Shield. Shield leaned against my side, supporting me enough that I could stand.

“Just wanted a bit of your magic, didn’t mean for you to lift the whole Celestia-damned thing yourself.” He explained,  chuckling nervously. I shook my head to stay awake and glanced up at the pony I had rescued start to ascend from a small crater where she had been trapped. Unfortunately, the other had taken a direct hit from the rubble; he wouldn’t be moving again.  I felt a brief surge of remorse for the pony I hadn't had the chance to meet. He could've been somepony's father and now... Just don't think about it Zenith, i tried to tell myself. Fortunately, the next pony to emerge helped that.

The pony was slowly crawling out of a small crater still covered in dust.  The pony’s soft, orange coat shone with an almost ethereal sheen as the sun shone directly onto it. Her mane was a subtle, light shade of red matching that of the sunrise just as it crested the horizon. Her eyes were a paler color than her coat, closer to yellow than to orange giving the impression of staring into a vat of honey. I didn’t bother looking at the rest.

“Was that your magic then?” The mare asked, leveling her gaze on me. I couldn’t move my eyes from hers, they were the most beautiful thing I had seen since arriving in the wasteland and contrasted so sharply with the bleak surroundings.  And that voice... more beautiful and graceful than any animal ensemble Fluttershy had ever put together. I stood stupefied for a few seconds, probably looking rather foalish before Shield kicked my hind leg with his own. “She’s talking to you.” He whispered, raising me from my stupor.

“Oh... Oh!” I squeaked, without even realizing it. “H-Hi, my name’s Zenith.” I said, feeling rather flushed all the sudden. I glanced down, keeping my gaze on my hooves.

“Charmed. Sunrise’s Melody, pleased to meet you.” The mare responded. I could feel Shield smirking at my obvious discomfort. “A unicorn huh? Caravans could always use some magical talent.” Sunrise explained, turning to frown at the devastation.

“I was thinkin’ about that actually. Now that the raiders know my place is here and you guys needing some extra firepower and all, I figured I’ll do my good deed for the year and help you make it out of this hellhole.” Shield said, surprising me. I thought he’d be more of the selfish asshole type. Then again, he seemed rather flustered at Sunrise’s appearance as well. Somepony could have a bit of a crush around here. The raiders knowing where he lived could be that bad too, I didn’t know. I finally had mustered enough self-control to put my head back up, just in time to see Sunrise’s smile.

“Perfect! I assume you’ll need a few minutes to pack up your personal effects?” Sunrise asked, smiling in a manner that made my legs feel week.

“Yep.” Shield responded with a nod. He abruptly stopped supporting me and I nearly fell on shaky legs. “Hey, Zenith, mind going back and picking up those saddlebags I left back in the house?” he asked. “Need to talk to Sunrise about a few tactical decisions with the caravan.’ He continued.

I frowned, getting a sinking suspicion that Shield was going to talk about me but nodded and set off. He had been shifting from hoof to hoof while talking, like he was uncomfortable. If I hurried, I may be able to catch the tail end of any conversation. Barely remembering my way through the burnt hull of Ponyville, I made it to the house with the bloodied corpse and levitated Shield’s bags with the tiny bit of magic I had left. My pace back was significantly faster despite the extra weight as I knew the direction more easily.This time I halted around the corner from where the caravan had been ambushed, giving me a slight vantage point. From this spot, I could just barely make out the voices of Shield and Sunrise’s Melody.

“Doesn’t seem natural doesn’t it? The last time I saw anyone who could channel that kind of magic was five years ago and you know damn well what happened there.” Shield had just finished, hardly loud enough for me to make out from the distance.

“Whatever the reason for it, she’ll be a nice asset to have if we can keep her around. Remember, the mark doesn’t mean anything. That’s just an old mare’s tale, there isn’t any proof that Twilight or the others are still alive. Besides, she’s just a little filly, she needs the kindness right now. She’s still a pony just like the rest of us and should be treated as such. And Shield? Please watch the language, she’s young.” Sunrise had answered, sounding more like a lecture than a casual conversation. I didn’t want to hear anymore of this. I had been talked about enough back in Ponyville, I didn't want it here too.

I turned the final corner, exposing myself as well as giving me the first view of Sunrise’s cutie mark. The mark showed a sun colored shades of blue, just cresting over the horizon. More importantly, I noticed for the first time she was a Pegasus, her wings fading from the brilliant orange of her coat to a much lighter yellow at the tips. I felt heat start to rise to my cheeks as I realized I was staring. I quickly turned my gaze off the mare and back towards the rest of the caravan.

The caravan had also started to form back up. Ponies were starting to get organized again. Five ponies had been resettled into the wagons, some wagons remained abandoned but the rest had been filled to the brim. Perhaps a half dozen or so of the traders were still healthy enough to be on their feet and get the train moving.

“Ready Shield!” I said brightly, masking the conflicting emotions surging through me. Shield definitely didn't trust me because of the amulet. I needed to find out more about that. Sunrise at least seemed to be nice. Figuring I had nowhere else to go, I might as well stay with them... at least for Sunrise.

“Well that was... quick.” Shield replied, shooting Sunrise a meaningful look. He levitated his bags onto his own back to carry. “You going to scout ahead? I’ll keep the party under control down here, alright?” he asked Sunrise. Sunrise nodded, took a running start and jumped into the air, flapping gracefully to gain altitude.The sun quickly obscured my vision of her and I turned my gaze back to the wagon train with the distraction gone.

“Stay close to me, ye hear? Don’t need any trouble with these nice folks, don’t need ‘em seeing where you’re from” He whispered, just loudly enough for me to hear. It sounded like he was talking about the amulet again. It was just a present for Celestia's sake, how could it be this big of a deal? I rolled my eyes and the lead wagon started to roll, with a grunt of effort from the pack animal at the helm.

The wagon trail inched forward at a slow rate, none of the animals wishing to go faster than a crawl. That was alright with me; the trip would give me plenty of time to acquaint myself with the surroundings and the walking pace was well suited for my rather non athletic life. No need to stress myself after burning so much magic. “Hey Shield, are we going to by the old library?” I asked, wondering if he would even know what I was talking about. The tree could’ve burned down centuries ago for all I knew.

“Yep, not gonna do you any good, whole place has been blocked off with some kinda residual magic shield ever since I’ve been alive. Most ponies’ll tell you it’s haunted, but that’s a bunch of bull s-crap, just some kind of magic that won’t allow anyone else in.” Shield explained, stopping himself from cursing at the last moment.

“Magic? What color is it?” I asked, instantly curious. So the old library was still around and apparently hadn’t been razed to the ground like most of the rest of the town.

“Light purple, which is one of the reasons it scares so many ponies.’ Shield responded, glancing over his shoulder suspiciously. “Don’t get any ideas. We need to keep moving while we’ve got the light. No side trips.” He added, sounding ever so much like Twilight. If he pulled out a checklist I would honestly die of laughter.

Shield turned back to face forward and I rolled my eyes at his back. I kept an eye out as the caravan progressed, but none of the buildings looked familiar. I expected to be able to recognize at least a few of the buildings, but none stuck out in my mind. I wished I knew how long the disparity between this time and my own were, as it were the context provided didn’t exactly give me that accurate a range of years to judge with.

As the group trudged on through the muck that used to be streets, I started to feel progressively eerie. Nopony was talking, even the caravan folk. The Ponyville I had grown up in was always loud, always with something going on, whether it be just couples dining at one of the local restaurants or a full blown party at Pinkie’s. there had always been something going on. The sheer void of the usual noise felt creepy, everything was out of sync, away from what it was supposed to be. Rarity should be getting in some fight with her sister, or Rainbow Dash should be causing some explosion. The lack of noise that usually irritated me filled me with a sense of despair.

It also gave me way too much time to think about the death I had already seen.

“Hey Shield, how long have you lived here?” I asked, simply to break up the monotony and depression of the surrounding landscape. Any conversation was an improvement, even with somepony who apparently had a reason to be scared of me.

“Don’t see why it matters none, but been here for about five years, not just in that house but all around the town.” Shield responded, glancing into the air. This confused me for a second before I realized he was keeping an eye out of Sunrise. The sun shone directly onto her, blocking out the vision of those who would be looking up. Her colors helped with the camouflage, masking her in the light.

“Well do you know how long the whole world has been...dead?” I asked. Maybe it had always been this way. The whole different dimension theory could still hold a little bit of sway. Things seemed too similar though, too close to the old Ponyville with the old world actions for this to be something that different.

“You don’t know?” Shield asked, shocked. He turned back to glance at me for a second with an apprehensive look. I shook my head in response. “Well this hellhole was created by a nice mess of a civil war about a century and a half back, during the time of Twilight Sparkle and those bi- ponies. Started a war against Celestia and it just couldn’t stop. Goddesses don’t die easily and when they do the land tends to go with ‘em.” He explained.

With his short explanation, any hope to find vestiges of my world vanished. This was my world, just not at the right time. I couldn’t connect Twilight Sparkle with this madness though. She loved Celestia didn’t she? She was Celestia’s student and only played my caretaker when Celestia had wanted her to. No, the story had to be different, and I might as well found out. Through the gaps in the houses, I could see a clearing up ahead along the street. The town center, perfect.

If Twilight’s library remained standing, it would be here. I needed answers. For a second, I almost wanted to turn around and go back to Shield’s house, scared of what I would find. Instead, I drew strength from the star around my neck. Spike wouldn’t run away from this, he’d be obsessed with finding out what happened to Twilight and gaining access to the quickest way back to his own time. I would do the same.

The caravan took the last turn, entering into the clearing which had been expanded into a full assembly area. At the far end, just where it had always stood, the tree-house still stood, wrapped tight in a glowing twilight shield, sparks occasionally dancing from the edges.

“So what do you mean Twilight started a war? The Twilight I knew hated fighting and loved Celestia.” I asked, my eyes glancing around the clearing. I needed to distract Shield enough for me to think of a way through the magic bubble.

“How the hell would I know? I wasn’t around during that time and no one still living was so, that story is a bit dead isn’t it? And why do you keep talking like you knew the bloody mare?” Shield blurted out. Such a short temper, not that I could say anything about it. The caravan had started to veer in the direction of the tree-house, bringing us ever closer to my destination. I did need to be careful with how I kept dropping hints from where I was though. It was careless and stupid.

Rolling my eyes, I turned my eyes back to Shield. “Er I- I mean, um nothing. I was just curious.” I finished lamely, avoiding Shield's stare. The caravan had just about reached the treehouse when we started to turn off onto a side street. Reckoning this was the closest we would get, I took  off in a dead sprint towards the treehouse, desperate to know what lay beyond.

“Stop, idiot!” I heard Shield yell out from somewhere behind me. Did he honestly think I would listen to him at this point? Seconds before I impacted against the shield, I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on literally shifting my way past the shield. I felt a brief tingling sensation and opened my eyes again, this time on the other side of the shield, right in front of the door I knew so well. I turned back for a second to see Shield staring wide-eyed and opened mouth. I couldn’t help but smirk before turning and gently pushing the door open.

Discovery

I let the door close behind me and I slumped against the wall. My eyes half closed for a second and the world spun, fatigue taking over. My magic was nearly exhausted, especially from the earlier lifting. I had barely been able to teleport those few feet. My magic seemed to be as volatile as all hell, always cracking under stress or flaring unexpectedly. Always when I needed it the most. Now didn’t seem to be much different.

The inside of the treehouse looked as rigidly organized as the day I had left it. The books were in a perfect line and organized by name. Not even dust polluted the air.  Everything seemed perfectly preserved. It felt just like home. The kind of energy needed to maintain a spell like this... I couldn’t even begin to think what had been used as a power source for the spell. In the center of the room, a pedestal had been erected with a sheet of paper dead center. An amethyst light winked in and out of existence above them, clearly meant to illuminate the sheet for reading.

I slowly approached the sheet of paper and looked down. The words had been magically imposed onto the page in an odd, purple ink. Twilight had probably magically imposed the words onto the page instead of writing it out manually. It was faster after all, and Twilight had been nothing but efficient. I lowered my horn to the page and touched it to the parchment. When words were magically put onto a page like Twilight had done, they could be re-absorbed by another unicorn for quick reading. You didn't get as much as actually reading the page, but it was a lot quicker. This time though, something different happened. I felt my mind start to be pulled in and the visions in front of my eyes started to change, slowly at first then all at once.

Without having moved, I realized that I was suddenly at the front of the treehouse again. I felt vaguely different, slower. My eyesight was slightly hazed over, as if the world itself had started to drain away, leaving a shadow of its former self. My body started to move forward without any input of my own, taking me on a course I had no wish to follow. This version of the treehouse was well lit with a comforting yellow glow, making me feel right at home. I felt myself sigh and look back down at the ground.

“Twilight!” I heard a voice call from upstairs. It sounded like a young colt’s voice, but I couldn’t be certain. I had never heard the voice before, it shouldn’t be coming from where MY bed was. My head jerked to the sound, in a slightly delayed reaction to the call. “We need to go now! Celestia’s soldiers are on the way!” Why should I be scared of Celestia’s soldiers? They were peacekeepers, the good guys. I heard footsteps clamber down the steps and a stark white coated and blue maned unicorn stood in the doorway. The colt had two saddlebags filled tightly and he seemed to be anxious. I nodded swiftly and levitated two sheets of paper onto the pedestal.

“Just a minute” I mumbled out in Twilight’s voice. I lowered my horn down and with a flash of amethyst the two sheets of paper I had recently discovered were replicated before me. On one, the writing was complete, but on the other, purple words still appearing by magic. “Go on outside and get out of here, I’ll be along shortly. There’s a few things I need to take care of first.” I went on, feeling as if I was cutting a long speech short.

“Alright Twi, make sure you don’t take too long, Luna will be mad.” The colt responded a little hesitantly .”Meet you outside!” He finished, exiting in a rather hurried manner. Somewhere in the distance I could hear the wailing of sirens, I had no idea what they were for. Generally the only times that any siren was heard in Ponyville was due to fire and that was so rare it was almost inconsiderable.

“It had to come for this.” Twilight spoke to herself. “We could’ve worked something out, if only Celestia hadn’t been so hot headed...” she started and then sighed again, shaking her head. She seemed trapped inside of her memories for a second, as if she had lost track of where she was. “The others will see through this. We’re the elements of Harmony for a reason. For whoever is viewing this memory in the near or distant future: the other parchment contains a record of the final meeting before war was declared. It does not contain a full record of the events leading to the war, but it should give those who wish it a good idea of what caused this...devastation." I hadn't remembered seeing the other sheet she was referring too. Maybe someone else had been here?

" Now, Rainbow Dash’s Wonderbolts will be here soon. I hope I leave this library in good hands for the future. Books will always be needed.” She finished. Her voice contained both tenderness and sadness.

Twilight levitated a piece of chalk,  the purple of her magic enveloping it. She drew a hexagram around the pedestal and started to whisper the long complicated words of a spell. Nearly a full minute later, she stopped and released the magic. Light flared from every bit of her body. Nowhere was as bright as her horn, which overglowed brilliantly. From inside Twilight’s head, everything turned a purple so bright that it was painful. The sheer force of the spell left Twilight feeling limp and tired. As abruptly as it started, the intense light faded away, leaving a light purple glow more like what I had experienced when first re-entering the treehouse.

“Now, I imagine that many magical secrets will be lost by the time this is recovered.” Twilight began, her voice slightly weak from the burst of magical power. A flash of realization hit me: She realized that the war was going to end badly but that some ponies would survive for the future. Was this all planned? “The technique to make memory papers is in the bottom of this podium; it might help in understand these a little better. In addition to this, there are a  few defensive magical theory books that may be useful for whoever you are. Not that I want whoever sees this to fight, but if it is necessary I hope you will be well prepared. I assume most of civilization has been destroyed by the time this memory is heard, so whoever is reading this, may Luna help you.” Twilight finished. As if to emphasize this point, she glanced down at the bottom half of the pedestal resting her gaze on several brightly bound books with runic letterings decorating the sides.

“Twilight now!” I heard a voice call from outside. That was funny, it sounded almost like... Princess Luna. Why would she be in Ponyville though?

“One minute!” Twilight yelled, taking one last look over the library. This all had a sense of finality to it, like it would be the last time she would be here. I could feel tears start to well up in Twilight’s eyes. This had been her home for years, to leave it must have been heartbreaking. I heard hoofsteps behind Twilight and she turned to see Princess Luna. Twilight’s eyes were drawn to an amulet around Luna’s neck. How odd... it looked exactly like the one I wore.

“We do not have this kind of time Twilight. I thought you at least would keep to the schedule. We need to go now.” Luna explained, a little tease entering her voice.. Despite her sense of urgency, there was still underpinnings of sympathy under the command.

“Sorry.” Twilight apologized near silently. “I had to take care of a few things, for the society,” she added, with implied meaning that I didn’t fully understand. Luna shifted, the words clearly making her more uncomfortable. Klaxons rang out closer against the night, breaking the otherwise perfect peace that had fallen over the quiet town.

“Of course, now come. We need to get out of here and avoid any unnecessary bloodshed from this escapade.” Luna said. The princess had adopted a manner of pure business, leaving her personal worries behind her. Twilight nodded and approached Luna, nuzzling her lightly. This gesture of affection surprised me. Twilight had never been a pony for hands on interaction, I had never even seen her go on a date.

Together, two exited the shield and darkness started to overtake library.

It took nearly a full three seconds for me to realize I was looking at the back of my eyelids. When I opened my eyes, the amethyst light that had illuminated the words had faded. I fell back onto my haunches, stunned. This... was actually my world. I failed to hold back a sob.

I failed to hold back a sob. Shield wasn't lying then. Twilight was dead. Everyone I had known was likely dead. I used to read about ponies feeling terrible for saying things they didn't really mean to ponies who cared for and then not having the chance to right their wrongs. I thought about how terrible I had been to Twilight just days before I had been sucked into this future. Tears burned my eyes and I could feel them welling over.  Thankfully, it didn't last long and I was able to compose myself, despite feeling rather dead inside. At least, composed enough to the point of being able to see straight. I magicked the scroll and the books under the podium into my pocket of otherspace, not bothering to really sort them right now.

The growing pain near my horn spiked and dark circles swam in my eyes. Suddenly lightheaded, I nearly collapsed to the ground, only barely managing to keep standing. As a test, I tried to do even the most basic of magics: a light spell. A small spark appeared from my horn before quickly fading back into oblivion. Magic exhaustion. Damn the timing. Heading up the stairs, I entered the old potion's closet and searched the shelves for what I needed. I took a bright blue bottle in my teeth and quickly drank the contents as fast as I could. Ponies suffering magic exhaustion could often pass out and I couldn’t bother with that right now.

Energy surged through my body, eliminating my fatigue. Lifting those rocks had been no joke. I wasn’t anywhere near full, but it definitely helped out. Twilight always could make the best magical remedies, besides Zecora of course. At the reminder of my now dead mentor, I couldn’t help but dry swallow before re-focusing on the task at hand.

As an afterthought, I swept the entire shelf of the potions into my other-space pocket, not bothering to take inventory first. The potions would come in handy later for something or another. Time to leave, maybe the caravan would’ve waited on me, but I doubted it.

I took one last look over my former bedroom before leaving. A lone picture frame on Twilight’s bedside table caught my eye. I definitely recognized this picture. I moved closer to the table, picking up the picture in my newly revitalized magic. It was the first picture we had ever taken together.

The picture was me, actually smiling, and Twilight in a meadow together. Twilight, wanting me to feel more at home, had taken us on a picnic to meet some of her friends and basically get used to everybody. In the background, if you were really observant, one could see a colorful blur of Rainbow Dash flying by. Nopony else had ever really bothered with that before. Between Spike and Twilight, there were a whole mess of firsts.

I popped the picture into my pocket of otherspace. I think Twilight would have wanted me to have it.

I took the stairs back down, feeling remorseful that this might be the last time I would ever enter what was once my home, no matter how grudgingly I had called it so. Shouts rang out from outside, one male, one female, just loud enough for me to hear from the doorway. The forcefield probably muffled the noise a bit. The sharp sunlight blinded me, but from the voices I could tell the two arguing were Shield and Sunrise.

“...It’s time for us to go! I told her not to go into that deathtrap but she did anyway! We can’t waste anymore time on the reaper bitch! There are raiders here, and the longer we wait the better chance we have of getting caught in the middle of fucking nowhere.” Shield practically screamed at Sunrise. I winced slightly, seeing how paranoid he looked. The launcher was out, held strong by his magic. Like he was ready to shoot at any moment. Did living here really make a pony that nervous? Sunrise stood opposite, seemingly unfazed. Maybe not.

“And I told you, she’s just a filly. We should wait. None of us would have survived our foalhood without help, and she needs ours.” Sunrise reprimanded. Her voice seemed silky and kind, calming.

“Just a filly? She’s flank deep in reaper shit and I don’t want no part of it!” Shield retorted. Still, he lowered the gun back down into his saddle bag, but didn’t stop his nervous pacing.

Having heard enough, I stepped through the shield much as Twilight had in the memory. I went unnoticed for several seconds before coughing to gain attention. Seeing me, Sunrise smiled widely while Shield just scowled. Oh well, if he wanted to act annoyed, let him.

“Finally, the self-important foal decides to rejoin us. Find what you’re looking for, goddess?” He snapped out, teeth ground together in frustration and rage.

I stared back into his eyes without reaction. “I did. We can go.” I replied. Let him be mad. I had to see the library in person.

“Oh thanks for the permission your highness!” He retorted, rolling his eyes. “What are you lazy asses waiting for?” He yelled at the rest of the caravan before trudging out alone. As he left, Sunrise came close, walking slowly alongside of me.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the air, keeping an eye out?” I asked, not really wanting to talk to anyone at the moment.

“That job is taken right now. This caravan is lucky enough to have two pegasi, at least as long as we pay Wing his fair share. I was just wondering what you found in there and who taught you to teleport like that. It's quite impressive,” she explained. While intrusive, her tone was nice enough. Perhaps she was just curious. Besides, there was just something in her voice that made me want to trust her. Her voice was soft and kind, everything that I expected from Fluttershy, or at least a much less shy Fluttershy. There was just an implicit trust that Sunrise was able make me feel, a combination of her soft aesthetics and vocals that lead even the strongest willed pony to want to follow her. Her voice almost had  a hypnotic quality to it. I felt compelled to answer truthfully.

“I’d rather you not tell anyone else this, considering the negative sentiment that everyone else has about her, but I found notes from Twilight Sparkle. That treehouse was where she used to stay when she lived in Ponyville, you see. Not just regular notes either; complete memories I could actually go inside of; it was some type of memory spell she had invented.” I said. I hesitated a second before continuing, thinking about my words. “I know you probably won’t believe me but... Twilight Sparkle was my mentor. I got sent here through a magic vortex.” I explained, trying to will my voice to sound honest.. As expected, Sunrise laughed. The theory did seem kind of ridiculous when I didn’t realize it had actually happened to me. I probably appeared insane to the other mare.

“But that would make you well over one hundred! Nopony can live that long. Come now, tell me what really happened.” She teased, barely containing another fit of giggles. Understandably, this made me a little angry.

“We were working on time travel and I stepped inside the portal like an idiot. Ask Shield how he found me if you don’t believe me.” I mumbled, turning away from Sunrise abruptly. My emotional numbness had faded.  Tears burned my eyes. The sadness seemed to want to return with a vengeance, but I fought against it hard. I wanted to just lay down with a good book in the library and read for hours and not have to worry anymore.

The thought of the library sparked the realization that I had brought proof with me.

“Here, look at this.” I took the picture frame back into the real world and thrust it in front of Sunrise. There had to have been other ponies that looked like me, but I’m sure Sunrise would be intelligent enough to be able to verify the comparison.

“Oh..oh my! That’s... that’s Twilight Sparkle. And is that.. you? But you just look a few years younger. I-I’m sorry, I thought you were kidding.” Sunrise responded. She actually sounded hurt and sincerely apologetic. I guess she had only responded in the logical way. Besides, she had always been nice so far. She hadn’t given me any reason to doubt her sincerity yet. Satisfied, I made the picture wink right back out of existence. “I swear I won’t tell anyone you don’t want me to.” She promised, sounding genuine. “I guess that explains your diction.”

“I don't think I talk that funny." I replied, hiding my sniffles. I talked just like Twilight and I always had, and I didn’t notice any difference in inflections and accents from between Sunrise and I.

“Nothing really, your tone and word choice are just something I would expect out of a much older pony. You don't see much charisma out here in the wasteland.” Sunrise explained swiftly. She turned back towards me and smiled. “You don’t often see anyone so young out here on their own. You haven’t even found your talent yet.”

“Just cause I don’t have my mark doesn’t make me that young, you know. I’m nearly fifteen summers.” I think. I couldn't really be sure of my age. I didn't even know when my real birthday was. Growing up on the streets tended to shift your priority.  To be honest, the whole age issue got old after a while. Yes, I didn’t have my cutie mark yet. Yes, I am already older than even Applebloom was when she got hers.

All true, but I still hadn’t gotten my cutie mark yet. For whatever reason, everypony seemed to want to bring it up. Plenty of other ponies didn't get their cutie marks until even later then me. Spell Nexus, seven hundred years before Twilight’s time period, didn’t get his mark before he was twenty five. Who wanted to be special for not being special anyways?

From the corner of my eye, I saw Sunrise attempt to hide a small smile. “I know, I know. I didn’t get mine until I was nearly your age. I’m sure you’ll find your talent eventually, right now it just means you have the potential to do anything.” She encouraged. I had naturally heard this all before from Twilight and her friends, but coming from Sunrise it still made me feel better, more so than from those other ponies. “Anyways, you’re probably right, I need to get back into the air. See you when we stop for the night!” She concluded, before beginning a jogging take-off. Dammit, I still hadn’t had the chance to ask half the questions I had wanted to.

The next few hours passed in a dull haze. At some point, we had left the buildings of Ponyville behind, revealing a vast expanse of land that I knew had previously been used as farmland. From what I figured, we were heading towards Fillydelphia. For the most part, I kept to myself not bothering to speak a word to the remaining caravan members. Then again, only about half of them were still able to walk. The injured had been put inside the open wagon. As the sun started to set, the caravan slowed. The night had just tucked under the horizon when Shield let out the call to set up camp for the night.

The caravan acted like a well oiled machine. The wagons were set up in a semi-circle giving the caravan an area to set up so that they would have their backs covered if they were attacked. Several tents were brought out from within the wagons supplies and set up inside the semicircle to offer cover to those who were sleeping. Sunrise and the other pegasus, a light-green colored colt, landed gracefully within the perimeter. Sunrise instantly started to canter over to me, looking exhausted.

“Share a tent? I’d rather not with any of these other ponies. Can’t trust ‘em as far as you can throw them.” Sunrise said, looking pointedly at Shield and grinning. I couldn’t help but smirk at the joke and nodded. “Come on then.” She added, leading the way towards one of the last two unoccupied  tents. The caravans didn’t have any sleeping bags, so sleeping arrangements weren’t going to be the most comfortable in the world. “I know you probably have a lot of questions if you’re telling the truth, but frankly I’m exhausted, could you put them off until tomorrow?” She asked, with a such a note of tiredness in her voice I couldn’t help feel pity for her.

“Of course.” I replied, nodding. I was tired as well, not used to walking such great lengths even at such a slow pace. I had been really lazy up till now, to be honest. Besides, there would be plenty of time later for us to talk. The other mare nodded her head in gratitude and lay down on the far side of the tent. I tentatively lay down beside her, just close enough for the heat of our bodies to stave off the nighttime chill. A dreamless sleep came easily and quickly.

Captured

Equestria had changed drastically during my absence. The pre-war world had its fair share of nightmares. But these nightmares were locked away in secret, kept in isolated areas, like the old castle of the Alicorn sisters, or deep within the Everfree forest where Harmony couldn’t reach. For the citizens of Equestria, the nightmares were out of sight  and out of mind. Nearly everypony had enough to eat, somewhere to sleep, and above all, peace.

Raiders, slavers, and worse stalked the land, through the ruins of once great cities and towns, former bastions of peace and prosperity. Death and decay hid not in the shadows, but stalked the land openly. Every day was a fight for your life, just trying to make it by.  My sleepless first night gave me no respite from the nightmare filled day.

___________________________________________________________________

I awoke to shouts and gunshots. There was no confusion this time around, no thoughts that I may still be in Twilight’s home. Just a cold splash of reality. I lay alone in the ragged tent, the warm body having long since left.  I cracked open my eyes, trying to blink the sleep away. “Sunrise?” I asked. Next to me, Sunrise struggled out of her sleeping bag, hurrying to stand up.

She hurried to the front of the tent and stood in a defensive stance, guarding the entrance. Another pony ran towards her; an earth pony whose coat was too matted with mud to be any color but dirt. Sharp spikes covered the bottom of his horseshoes.

The earth pony lowered his head and charged directly towards Sunrise. She nimbly dodged, retaliating with a buck to the side. The pony staggered back, tripping over his own hooves and cutting himself on his hooves. Sunrise gained a few precious seconds to breathe. “Stay put Zenith! I can handle myself!” I didn’t doubt it one bit.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was just going to let her fight on her own. Glancing around quickly, I caught sight of a heavy rock in the clearing beyond and tried to grab a hold of it with magic. The rock glowed red for a moment started to float in the air before falling back to the ground. Celestia damn me, my magic always failed at the least opportune times!

The other pony had recovered and advanced again on Sunrise. She tried to buck at him again, but he easily dodged it this time and threw himself at her. The spikes on his forehooves cut deep into Sunrise’s flank. The momentum of their bodies threw them into the sides of the tent, bringing it down upon us. From the outside, gunfire started to ring out against the night.

While struggling to get out, I felt a sharp pain on the side of my head and felt blood spill. Apparently, the other pony’s dagger-hooves had caught me in the struggle. Thankfully, the damage seemed to only be shallow. It took me a few seconds to find a hole where I could escape from the canvas of the tent. Now free, I caught my first good glance of the clearing. Chaos reigned, the fires were barely lit, throwing the camp into a macabre display of shadow.

The camp started to flood with fighting ponies, the defenders outnumbered. The injured were just trying to stay alive, their overturned wagon slowly becoming separated from the rest of the fighters. I quickly caught sight of Shield, keeping his distance and firing shot after shot from his gun.

One of the invaders foalishly tried to attack Shield from behind. The other pony’s knife didn’t even scratch Shield’s armor. In retaliation, Shield turned, goring the other pony with his dragon helmet, dropping him instantly. The camps’ defenders seemed to form up around him almost unconsciously, as if his armor was a rallying point. The majority of his shots struck home, even in the fading light. How he could see was beyond me. The invading ponies had started to bring their own firearms to bear, returning the shots against Shield.  Shield took cover behind the edge of a wagon and continued to rain destruction on the raiders.

Invading ponies had surrounded the campsite. Every now and then, a flash could be made out in the air where the caravan’s other pegasus fought on. Those wounded in the battle had started to limp towards the center, trying to take advantage of the cover.  As the wounded caravan ponies struggled to retreat to safety, several of them were picked off by enveloping nets of green magic and were dragged into the darkness. From the din of noise, I could make out the renewed sounds of struggle from behind me. Sunrise and the other earth pony had finally managed to clear themselves from the downed tent. Both of them bled from multiple wounds.

“Zenith!” Sunrise yelled in warning. She pointed a hoof behind me. I turned just in time to see a green glow appear in the darkness beyond the camp. I felt myself lift off the ground, enveloped in a constricting field of green magic. My own body quickly followed the others. Try as I might, my own magic couldn’t surface its way out and break the bonds.

Through the viridian shimmer of the spell net trapping me, I could see Shield desperately fighting towards the floating ponies. Sunrise caught sight of us but didn’t have a chance to react as she was pulled back into the scramble. “Celestia damn it! Zenith!” I heard Shield yell. I tried to scream back, but the magic had stolen my voice, my strength and slowly, slowly, I could feel it stealing my vision too. A green haze filled my eyes and I fell into a terrible suffocating sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke some time later in dim light. My head ached like someone had taken a damned rock to it and my horn felt... hollow. The invading ponies had moved us to some sort of building. Odd green lights, flickering like candles, provided the only light. The covers had long since become nearly too filthy to see through, providing only dull, orange light. Faded, floral wallpaper still clung desperately to the wall in a few places. In the rest, mildew and other rot had long since taken its prize. Most of the floor tiles were broken and dirtied.

My eyes finally adjusted enough to the dim half-light enough to make out the cages lining the walls. I also realized that the green lights came from rings of magic, stuck around the horns of unicorns. The little motes of brightness came from green rings of magic pulsating around each captured unicorns’ horn. The one who kidnapped us must have also bound our magic, which would account for this damned headache. Keeping magic couped up like this was dangerous. It felt like a painful vibration stuck in my horn.

At least they didn’t have any of those collars like the first raiders did. Other cages ringed the outside of the room, some of them filled with ponies and others still empty. I only recognized one of the other inhabitants, a unicorn from the caravan. I vaguely remembered her as one of the first ponies injured, back in Ponyville.

Throughout the building, I could barely make out the sounds of coarse, drunken laughter. Everything was too jumbled to make out any words, but it was pretty obvious that the raiders were celebrating. I stood and stretched myself out, looking for any possible way to get myself the hell out of here.

“Hey, you’re awake.” The pony from the caravan recognized me too. “If anyone comes in here, keep your damned head down,” The other mare ordered. She kept glancing around nervously. Her eyes kept falling on the door, worried that it might open at any time.

“So..umm. You know where we are?” I asked. I couldn’t help but let a little fear escape into my voice. I wanted to be home more than ever now.

“Slaver base, by the looks of it. Seein’ as we’re not dead. Celestia fuck ‘em hard. Else wise they wouldn’t have bothered keeping us alive. As for where we are, no Celestia damned idea. Can’t be too far though, that bastard couldn’t have kept us all under control for more than a few minutes. Iff’n the rest of the caravan made it through, might actually have a shot at some rescue. No way in hell that’s happenin’ though.” The other pony explained.

The concept of slavery was pretty foreign to me. I had only ever read about it in books, but it kind of made sense. Getting other ponies to do your work and all that. I settled back down into the bottom of the cage. Without my magic, I couldn’t access my storage space, nor cast anything that would unlock this cage. I hated to say it, but I was rather useless without my magic.

“So what’s your name?” I asked. Sitting in the quiet did nothing to dispel my mounting anxiety. Maybe small talk would help relax us a bit.

“Just call me Sap. Old nickname from my raider days, fore I turned caravan guard and whatever. Parents called me Dirt Smear, rotten bastards.”  The other pony spat. In the dim light, I could just make out her brown coat where her original name must have come from. I didn’t get the Sap part though, I probably didn’t want to.

“My name’s-”

“Zenith, right. Surprised the whole damn wasteland didn’t hear Shield shoutin’ it like a dumbass. I thought he hated you, based on his bitchin’ earlier about you going in that damn library. How’d you get him to take a damn likin’ to ya so quick again, eh?” Sap inquired. At the mention of the reapers, I tried to shuffle down further, hiding my necklace even more from view.

“....I guess it’s because I’m young?” I responded, doubt coloring my voice. Why had Sunrise and Shield taken an interest in me so quickly? Sap only replied with a half hearted shake of her head and settled back down into the bottom of her cage. Too bad Shield couldn’t really help me now. I settled back down to the waiting game.

I may have fallen asleep again at one point or another, but after a while the time just seemed to blend together into a meaningless blob. Nothing distinguished any other point from each other. Hoofsteps passed by the door occasionally, but nopony ever bothered to enter. The laughter and shouts continued through the building. It seemed to be pretty big, but that’s about all I could tell.

Finally, after quite who knows how long, the door opened and two ponies stepped inside. The stallion leading was an earth pony, big and muscular with many scars rippling through his coat. He looked like he had been on the wrong side of one too many knives. His mane was a bluntly cut crimson set against a lighter gray coat. The Earth pony had a permanent scowl etched on his face and his crimson eyes were filled with malice. The pony following behind him was smaller, more lithe. It wore a hooded cloak, obscuring much of the body but a horn was easily visible.

The lead earth pony had a saddle on his back. The saddle had two guns of similar calibre to Shield’s. Instead of the clean, well tuned guns Shield had, these had the barrels sawed roughly off and were covered in filth. The light reflected off the barrels, bathing them in an eerie green glow.

“Had escapes three times this month already. Least we got this batch last night, might get some good money for the unicorns, always need more magic-users.” The heavyset stallion said. He seemed to be carrying on a conversation from before he entered the room. “Your seals will hold, right Weaver?” he finished.

The unicorn in the cloak gave an almost imperceptible nod. The stallion trailed his gaze over each of the ponies in the cages. For some reason, his eyes locked onto mine, sending a shiver down my spine. I shrunk back up against the back of the cage, sitting up to get myself as far away from the Earth Pony as possible. His glare deepened, and I realized with a sinking feeling that he’d caught sight of my pendant.

The door to my cage creaked open and a familiar net of green dragged me out of the cage. He set me down with a thump in front of the lead pony. “Name?” he asked, glaring down at me.

“Zenith’s E-Eclipse” I stuttered, trying to remain calm but failing rather epicly. If I’d been standing, I would’ve fallen back down.

“Where did you get that necklace?” Dammit, Spike’s gift was getting me in trouble again. I kept my mouth shut, unable to come up with a lie on the spot. “Didn’t you hear me?” The earth pony snapped, growing angrier. “Who gave you that? A reaper? Or are you a damn reaper yourself?” I tried to shrink further away, shaking with fear.

“Dream, make her talk.” The unicorn nodded again and a green glow emanated from underneath his cloak. The next second, unbelievable pain completely took over my conscious. Overwhelming green light flooded through my mind, changing the color of my vision. It made everything that disgusting color. I couldn’t tell where I was, or who I was. Just pain. After an eternity, the pain stopped and my vision cleared. I had fallen completely limp onto my side with the earth pony and Weaver still standing above me.

“Well?” The stallion asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “Ready to talk?” Vaguely, I heard a gunshot from inside the building, followed by screams and more fire. He swore hearing the sounds. “How many damn times do I have to tell them to not shoot the damn slaves? Cuts into profit margin. Dream, get my answers, I’m going to take care of this shit.” The stallion stormed out, bucking the door closed behind him and rattling our cages with the force. Weaver’s horn began to glow again, ready to hit me with another wave of pain.

“No.. wait..” I started feebly. The pain exploded into my mind again. But this time, I was ready for it. I knew what was coming and had braced myself. Life in the back alleys of Canterlot hadn’t made me a fighter. I’d been too young to fight. Instead, it made me a survivor. I had been smart enough not to get caught, and now that I was, I had to be strong enough to fight.

When I’d first been sent to Twilight, she knew nothing about me except for what I’d been caught for. She gradually coaxed me into feeling safe by teaching me defensive spells. She had taught me the basics, like shields and how to escape magic binding curses like this one. All along the way, she prodded me gently with questions, slowly getting answers.

So even as the pain tore through me, I was able to keep myself collected enough to recognize the pain as being of the same source as the nets of last night. I couldn’t just flat out overpower it, but the spell had been poorly cast leaving plenty of holes. I started to sneak my magic through and then with one of my unpredictable bursts of power, I shattered the spell completely. The huge backflow of magic knocked Dream clean off his feet and into the wall.

Exhausted, I slumped to the floor, but I couldn’t stay here and rest. I had to run, escape. I looked around for anything useful, even checking Dream’s body. I found nothing but two knives. This would’ve been so much easier if he had had a key. I headed towards the door but hesitated. Instead of quiet, I could hear bang after bang from the stories beneath me. The screams continued, louder than ever. It sounded like a true brawl. Finally, I started to push the door open with my magic, reluctant to head out. No matter how slowly I pushed, it still let out the loudest screech I had ever heard from a door. If anyone was on lookout up here, there was no way I would go unnoticed.

“You just gonna leave us here to rot?” I heard Sap asked from behind me. I had somehow managed to forget about them during my struggle. I felt guilt clench at my mind, but I couldn’t take the time to help them now. It would take me way too long to pick the locks, if I even could.

“I-I can’t. No key...” I muttered. I tried to feel inside the lock with my magic, but couldn’t find anyway to get it open. I was used to locked doors on the inside of houses, not cages. “I need to go...” I averted my gaze away from Sap, feeling the guilt continue to rise.

Sap sighed in disappointment. “Just tell ‘em where we are, got it? Good luck.” She slumped back down to the bottom of the cage, looking hopeless. I nodded and turned back to the door.

I finally gathered up my courage and stepped through the door to... nothing. Of course. The hallway had been abandoned apparently, just a long stretch of unopened doors. On each end, a staircase led down. I figured that was probably the way out so I started to head down. I reached the first landing without any event and the screams intensified, except this time I could make out hurried orders and commands from the lead stallion’s voice. I shivered at the thought of facing him and jumped down the last few steps right into a war zone. The scene was highly reminiscent of the campsite from the night before, except this time the tables had been turned and the slavers were backed into a corner.

I caught a clear sight of the incoming herd of ponies and who else was at the vanguard but Shield? Each shot dropped another raider and each bullet fired back at him simply pinged off his armor or buried themselves halfway through. I really need to find out what in Luna’s name that was made from.

Other ponies flanked him on each side, dressed in makeshift barding and carrying old and rusted down weapons; toys compared to Shield’s perfectly honed instruments. I could recognize a few of the caravan ponies, but the rest were strangers. One pony whose appearance was conspicuously absent was Sunrise’s. But I guess she wasn’t really much of a fighter in the first place.

Unnoticed, I took a slow step to the side, trying to hide underneath the stairs... only to run flank first into two raiders ponies who had the same idea. The two slaver ponies turned and both of them had smaller firearms clamped in their mouths. Neither of them hesitated to fire. I was barely able to throw a shield up in time from cutting my escape quite short.

The bullets stopped dead in the air, the air shimmering red from my magic. Each of the bullets dropped to the ground, smashed flat. I couldn’t help but jump away, even still. The raiders stopped, confused as their bullets seemed to stop mid-air leaving me unharmed. The stand still lasted only a second before blood splattered through the air, painting the bubble around me red. I felt my stomach turn with nausea and had to look away.

From the safety of the stairs, I watched the fight. I had no idea how Shield had gottten so many ponies to help, but they were tearing through the raiders. The slavers that remained standing were a disorganized mess, getting simply outmaneuvered as Shield led the assault taking down the strongest remaining opponents himself. Gnasher was nowhere to be seen. After only a few more minutes, the last slaver dropped in a pool of blood, peppered with fire from all side. I breathed a sigh of relief and dropped my shield, stepping out from under the stairs.

“Shield!” I called out, only to have one last shot ring out and then feel a sharp pain in my foreleg. I looked down and saw blood starting to gush from a rather sizeable hole. To the right of Shield, the guilty pony stood, pistol still aimed at me. My mouth formed a small “O” and I dropped hard to the ground, knees weak from shock. I heard another scream that must’ve mirrored my own from the doorway and the missing member of the raid finally coming to sight; Sunrise. She hurried to my side as Shield started cursing the trigger-man’s name, family and more or less anything else he could think of.

“Hey Sunrise.” I said with a weak smile. Even I could tell my voice came out a little wobbly. It may not have been a life-threatening wound, but it sure as hell hurt. “Where’d ya get all these ponies from, huh?”

She smiled at me and I instantly felt some of the pain melt away. “They’re from a nearby town. Shield and a few of the other guards managed to finally beat the slavers off; of course after they took our wounded. We got to a town the next day and I talked them into coming out here and getting rid of their slaver problem once and for all. They had been plagued by them for years, so it really didn’t take much convincing.”  She explained.

“Well thanks for that I guess.” I said with a small sigh. “Hey Sunrise?”

“Yes?”

“Could you please tell Shield not to kill the pony who shot me? I think he’s about to kill him by busting his eardrums.” It was a poor attempt at humor, but it still made Sunrise giggle a little and that was good enough for me. Shield seemed to finally have had enough of handing the shooter pony’s ass to him on a platter and had made his way over to use.

“Dammit!” Shield gently lifted my leg with telekinesis, keeping pressure off it. “Small calibre, you’ll be fine. Doc shouldn’t have a problem back in town, no problem at all.” His voice was clinical, keeping emotion out, like he had seen this a thousand times. I nodded, getting to my feet. My head was all woozy, but I felt like I could walk I took a few tottering steps to the door before Shield forced me back down with magic.

“Not going to happen filly. Can’t walk on a shot leg, nice little nap and you’ll be all patched up.” Before I could protest, he managed to obtain a vial much like one of Twilight’s potions and shoved the liquid inside down my throat. I had probably taken something from the library that would’ve helped here, but my head was swimming with pain and I still had no idea what all I took.

“But... but,” I sputtered,”Sap and the other ponies, they’re still stuck upstairs.” I barely managed to get the last words out. Everything seemed to be wavering.

“Shush. We’ll get them, just rest. When you wake up, every pony will be safe.” Sunrise reassured me. But, I never heard her, as I had already fallen fast asleep.

Recovery

Sometime later I awoke inside of a ramshackle hut, laying on a rather uncomfortable bed. For how my last few days had gone, I honestly felt pretty good. I had woken up in an actual bed with only a little soreness. I was getting a little tired of passing out so much though. But I digress.

I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. The shack was just a single room, made from mismatched planks and scavenged wood. The majority of the room was taken up by the bed I was on and a dresser. Another cot had been shoved to the side of the room, where a sleeping gray pony lay. There were no windows, but between the cracks in the walls and door, plenty of light filtered through.

Remembering how I had lost consciousness in the first place, I glanced down at my leg. The whole thing had been swathed in bandages. I could only barely feel a small twinge of pain. I guess I could thank Shield for that. Gingerly, I set my injured leg onto the ground. Putting pressure on it really didn’t hurt that much, so I stood up. I took a few cautious steps, but everything seemed to be in order.

“The hell you doin’?” A stallion voice asked from behind. I turned and saw the gray pony had woken up. He had lifted his head up and was looking at me with critical eyes.

“I was...going out.” I replied, feeling guilty for a reason I couldn’t quite place.

“Fine, fine, just start walking on a shot leg. No one listens to the damn doctor anyways. Just get the hell out so I can use my bed again. You’re healthy enough to not need to stay in here.” He mumbled, grumpily.

“Err... um.. Thanks I guess?” I felt my face grow hot with a blush. The gray stallion just muttered under his breath and bucked his cot closed. With one final glare in my direction, he fell into the bed and hid his head under the threadbare pillow.

Sheesh, somepony wasn’t a morning pony. I nudged the door open and stepped out into the bright sunlight. Temporarily blinded, I lifted a forehoof to cover my eyes. As my eyes adjusted, I realized I was in a town. It was tiny, even smaller than Ponyville, but it was an actual town. Other shacks and run-down houses surrounded a town square, where a few ponies were constructing a stage of sorts. Stalls had been set up in the main area, peddling food and water as well as various other goods. A makeshift wall surrounded the village, guards keeping watch along the top. It didn’t look too secure, as the guards were only able to stand on certain parts.

“Hey Zenith!” I heard Sunrise yell. I looked up and saw her gently coasting down from above. “Good to see you up and about, glad we were able to find you so easily!” she finished, alighting down beside me.

“Yea.... thanks Sunrise.” I replied, displeasure coloring my voice as I remembered how useless I had been during my rescue. I had been utterly helpless during the entire fight, both at the campsite and in the slaver base; just a burden. Sunrise and Shield could have died for me.

If I was going to be staying in this wasteland for any length of time, I’d need to learn how to defend myself. The first step would be those books from Twilight’s. ”Hey Sunrise.. is there a library or some place I could stay for a while?” I asked.

“Yes, with me. I live right over there, the house with the red door.” Sunrise said, indicating a house set dead center off from the town center with her wingtip. “I won’t take no for an answer! I’ll come by later with something for us to eat.”

“But- I wouldn’t want to-.” I said, grateful for Sunrise’s generosity, and a little resentful that I had to take advantage of it.

“No buts! Go!” Sunrise pressed. She nudged me forward with her wing and I head off.

Make no mistake, I was thankful that Shield and Sunrise had come for me. I just didn’t like that it had been necessary. Twilight would have been able to do so much more. I knew I desperately needed the help if I wanted any chance of getting home, but I hadn’t done anything for them...

No one paid attention to me as I made my way across the town. They went about their daily business, probably used to strange ponies coming and going. In truth, this was almost a nice change of pace. Ponies used to stop and stare whenever I passed and started whispering rumors. I made it to the house without any interruption and pushed the door open, closing it gently behind me. This room wasn’t nearly so run down as that which I woken up in.

For one, the wall were actually painted. Granted, it was peeling and faded, but the yellow paint gave the room a bit of cheer. A couch, salvaged from who knows where, took up most of the room. A pile of pre-war debris, pictures frames and scraps of what used to be furniture, had been swept hastily into a corner of the room. The carpet was patchy, albeit soft. The murky yellow light seemed to give the room a certain honey sweet glow, despite the fact it was from the windows simply being dirty. Two rooms shot off from this one; one was clearly a kitchen, but the I couldn’t tell the function of the other. Stairs lead off from the latter.

Nopony else seemed to be home. Now was as good a time as any to start studying. I pulled out Twilight’s store of books and let them fall onto the ground beside me. I inspected the book titles and figured Defensive Magical Theory: An Overview was probably the best place to start.

Hours later, the door creaked open, drawing me out of my self-induced exile into the world of books. I had long finished Defensive Magical Theory: An Overview and had started on the books Twilight wrote containing actual applications. “Zenith?” Sunrise asked. The sun had long since gone done, leaving the room bathed in a bloody red glow from my horn.

I set down the book and glanced over my shoulder, suppressing a yawn. “Oh, hey Sunrise. Where ya been?” I asked. Sunrise was covered in dirt and sweat, both saddlebags fully loaded.

“Oh, just around town. Their sheriff recently died, for this town it’s kind of a big deal. Figured I’d give a shot at getting the position.” She explained. “Have you eaten?” She asked, looking at me critically. I shook my head no and she dropped one of the saddlebags beside me. I opened it up and stuck my face in, both smelling and seeing what was inside. Fresh, but tiny apples filled the inside. I took a few cautious bites then started to devour them, hunger now realized.

“Thanks,” I replied around a mouthful of food. On to step two of my plan. “Do you know if there’s anywhere I could practice a few spells out? Maybe targets or something, I don’t really want anypony around.” I asked. Most of the spells in Twilight’s books required aim and plenty of practice to get them just so. I’d continue to be pretty damn useless without actually being able to hit the broad side of a barn.

“Mhm, there’s a dead orchard some of the guards use to practice right outside the wall, but I don’t see why you need them. There are plenty of guards around the town. It won’t really be necessary,” Sunrise attempted to reassure me. She sat down on the couch beside me, clearly tired.

“When Dream came, I didn’t do anything to stop it. He just was able to take me and had been doing the same to dozens of other ponies. That wouldn’t have been a problem for a real unicorn. I could’ve just teleported away or used some war magic or anything useful. But I just sat there like a useless filly! I can’t act under pressure, I froze up!” I was nearly in tears, but I kept my head locked on the ground.

Sunrise was silent for a second, probably shocked by my outburst. “Are you sure you want to do this? You won’t need to protect yourself here and once you’ve killed you can’t ever take it back, understand?” Sunrise asked, her voice filled with sadness

“I’m sure.” I  mumbled. I took another apple just so I wouldn’t have to keep talking.

“Tomorrow, I’ll show you the range then, if you promise me to get some sleep and stay off that leg as much as you can. I’m going to head up to my room, you can either sleep down here or there’s another bedroom upstairs.” Sunrise finished, standing up with a sad sigh.

“Yes mom.” I replied, teasingly sarcastic. Sunrise chuckled and turned away, heading towards the stairs.

“You know, I’m not that much older than you. No way I could be your mom.” Sunrise joked before leaving. That night, I stayed up even as the sun began to rise, perusing the books. Just like the night before one of Twilight’s “pop quizes” I crammed in as much as I could.

____________________________________________________________________________

Early the next morning, Sunrise led me out to the shooting range. To be honest, I was still dead-tired but I had to start practicing as soon as possible if I would be of any help in a fight. Here, it seemed that a pony could be attacked at any time, at any place, if the attack on the caravan was grounds to go on. Even this town wouldn’t be safe. What if it became a target because of the apples? Or because the water supply? I had to learn to help. Maybe I had become slightly paranoid. Just slightly though.

“Are you sure you’re ok out here alone?” Sunrise asked. She sounded worried; I could at least run all right.

“I can always teleport back in if anyone starts to come.” I answered. I could focus enough to cast if I saw them in the distance first.

“Ok well... I’ll be around town.” Sunrise said, taking one last look over her shoulder before taking off and gaining altitude with every flap of her delicate wings. She looked so pretty when she was flying away like that.. But now it was time to focus on other things.

First things first, I had to be able to keep my shield up in a fight and still be able to do something else. There wasn't much call for protection spells in Ponyville, but Twilight had written extensively about them, especially the bubbles her brother was known for. With only a slight exertion, I managed to erect a nearly translucent blood-red shield.

The actual spell wasn’t that taxing, but it took a lot of concentration. The more hits it took though, and the harder each hit was, made maintaining it increasingly difficult. That needed to be rectified. Slowly, I picked a small rock up in front of me with a sheath of telekinesis. Then another, and another, and another. Once I had about ten decently sized rocks floating on their own, I froze.

This wasn’t that bad, but each of the rocks was pretty small and they were just sitting there. Telekinesis was probably the most basic spell an unicorn could do, anyways. I slowly started to rotate the stones in an orbit around my horn. But my concentration slipped and two of the rocks collided. The surprise made me lose control of everything else and the shield spell unraveled with a backlash, sending me on to my side.

I got back to my feet and took a deep breath. All things considered, that had gone well for a first try. “Take two.” Just... slower this time. This time around, the same set up arrived much quicker and the stones started to rotate. One dipped low, I focused harder and managed to tighten up the spell. This wasn’t so bad!

I started to perhaps get a little cocky. I sent a rock through the shield, shooting at the dead trees. Giddy with glee, I shot another, harder this time. Unfortunately, I forgot to account for my shield and the rock bounced back and nailed me straight in the forehead. Both spells collapsed and I was knocked off my hooves again, seeing stars.

Dammit.

This was stupid. I had a fair reservoir of power, yet I couldn’t even get the most basic of spells to work in conjunction! I wasn’t about to quit now though, I had barely even started. I went through the same motions, starting with much larger rocks this time, about hoof sized. This worked easily enough so I started gradually replacing each rock with one larger and larger.

Finally, after nearly an hour of slow, but steady progress, I looked up to find four large boulders slowly orbiting in the air around me, all while the shield still pulsed.

“Thank Celestia!” I yelped, letting the spells peacefully drop. That was enough of that for one day. I could successfully maintain my shield while casting other spells. Now that defense had at least partially been taken care of, I turned to offense. One of Twilight’s most basic offensive spells turned something everypony would know into something more dangerous. It turned one of the elements, namely fire, into a ball of energy. It was a pretty crude spell, but I had no doubt about its effectiveness.

I called to mind the familiar heat of a flame spell and fed more and more energy into it until a ball floated above my horn, all while calling up a new shield spell. My limbs quickly started to shake from the effort. With a grunt, I sent the flames spiraling out from me, only to embed themselves in the ground directly only feet in front of me with flames licking at the edge of my shield. At the sudden drain, I jumped back, breathing heavily.

“Well, well, look what we have here. Little miss perfect having troubles?” Shield’s voice asked from behind me. I frowned, although the voice was teasing, I couldn’t help but pick up a little disdain in his voice as well.

I sighed and turned to face him “Now that you’re here? Yes.” I responded. I smirked, trying to rile him up a bit.

“Cute. Didn’t see you havin’ problems when I had to save your flank.” Shield retorted. Ouch.

“Look, Shield. I just want to say... thanks.” I mumbled. He had come to rescue me despite us having a... let’s say disagreement about my trip to the library. I couldn’t find fault with that and that quickly sent him flying into my good books.

It was also worth seeing the surprise on his face. “Oh.. uh.. well... Whatever. Weren’t for you, Sunrise just wanted me to.” He didn’t come off as the most convincing pony in the world.

I mentally prepared myself for the next bit. “I’d also like to say... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone into the library. You probably just wanted to keep me safe, but you need to understand I had.” I hesitated again, just like with the reveal to Sunrise. Before I could continue though, Shield butt in.

“Just forget about that, alright? It ain’t that big of a deal, just bunch of superstitious shit I even started believin’ in. Though I gotta ask ya, what made you want to see it so bad?” I froze again, internally debating with myself as to whether I should be honest with him. I decided to bite the bullet and retrieved my picture from its safety.

“This. I am... used to be I mean, Twilight’s apprentice. That flash you saw was the remnant of the accident of a magic vortex that I got sucked into which landed me well... you know the rest.” I sighed, and took out the picture of Twilight and myself. For a few seconds, he said nothing, just stared. Finally, he whistled and looked up into the air.

“Welp, that’s a mighty fine tale. Can’t say I’m that convinced, but it certainly explains more than it doesn’t. Reckon I might I as believe you. Ain’t nothin’ to lose.” At least I was two for two on convincing ponies of my origin. I’ll take all the minor positives I can. I sucked the picture back into my otherspace pocket, not wanting to keep it exposed for any longer than necessary. The last bit of magic left me more than a little light headed.

“Thanks...for believing me too.” I replied, falling back on my haunches. Maybe just a little rest before heading back into town. I sank lower, laying on my stomach. Maybe just a short nap, really short of course. I wasn’t that tired...

I felt a light nudge in my side and laughter coming from Shield. Groaning, I peaked an eye back open and saw him standing beside me, failing to contain his mirth.

“Need a break? Ain’t heard nothin’ from Sunrise but how you ain’t eating enough and I’m sure all that magic ain’t helpin’ none. Mare worries more about you than anything, though looks like she’ll get this whole town to worry about soon.”

“Yea, I’ve been wondering about that. What exactly is the sheriff here and what do you have to do to get to be it?” I asked. I remembered that Sunrise had mentioned something about it last night, but never really bothered to explain. To be honest, I was thirsty and hungry I was from the long session under the sun, but it could wait. Sunrise would have something.

“Sheriff here is more like a mayor to be honest. Doesn’t really have nothin’ to do bout fighting. Mainly just keeps the town runnin’ nice and smooth and if there’s any trouble with outside towns they’ll make the final decision regarding it. Round here, it’s a straight election to see who gets to be sheriff. No other qualifications needed. One of the last places that does it to be honest.” Shield replied, taking a seat across from me.

“So why is Sunrise doing it then? She doesn’t really seem like the type to want political power.” Twilight had always told me that politicians were mainly dirtbags who were just in it for the money. Apparently, only Celestia kept them from going completely power-mad. Then again, this was Twilight and she was the biggest stickler for rules ever, so she probably exaggerated.

“She’s got this half-assed idea about making the wasteland a better place for all. Seems good, but I don’t really see how that’s going to happen. She wants to start here and keep movin’, wantin’ to bring peace to everypony. Myself? I don’t see it happening, but I was never much one for thinking. I just survive. Maybe it’ll work though. She certainly can rouse a crowd pretty damn well.” Shield replied. He sounded consigned, like nothing would make this hellhole any better. At least Sunrise was trying which was more than those slavers.

“I’m glad she’s trying to help. At least somepony is, this place isn’t going to get any better just by sitting around. ” I said with a sigh. Maybe I could help out in little ways, at least for Sunrise’s sake and before I found a way home. She had scratched my back, now my turn to scratch hers. “I’ll definitely help her out.”

“Well, I’m sure you two will fit together as good as two peas in a pod. Why don’t we go back into town? You really should eat after performing that much magic and you look pretty damn tired.” Shield observed. I nodded; at this point i could barely keep my eyes open.

On the way back, I stumbled several times from sheer fatigue. Damn, it was getting awfully hard to keep my eyes open now. Suddenly, I remembered Spike’s pendant. I had always tried to store as much energy in it as I could and it seemed like now would be a good time to take a little back. I siphoned a little of the energy and magically nudged the amulet. What greeted me inside the necklace was a veritable sea of energy, the years of storage serving me well. I probably should’ve done this earlier, but I could be pretty scatterbrained at times.

Once back inside the town walls,Shield led the way to a stall and fished fished out coins. The vendor handed over a couple more of those tiny apples.

“Eat those.” Shield instructed nudging the apples. I lifted them with my magic and felt a minor headache come on. Even still, I took bites of the apples as we head to the side of the town hall center. “Meetings come up here real soon, Sunrise is going to speak on why she should be elected. Each of the candidates gets a minute or two. Figured you’d want to see it.”

Almost as if on cue, Sunrise and two other ponies stepped up onto a raised platform set up in the middle of the square. They must be her competition. One of Sunrise’s competitors stepped up, taking the first speech. I didn’t really pay attention much to the first two speeches to be honest, I was more lost in my own thoughts. For Sunrise’s though, I paid my utmost attention.

“Ponies of Rust. The loss of our sheriff is a tragedy. I knew Longshot well. He was a good stallion and a noble leader for our town. But now is not the time to grieve. Now is the time to move on.”

“Living in the past will bring ruin to all you know and love. Every day, this land grows more dangerous. While we recently wiped out one nest of filth, dozens of others remain. And each day, more ponies join the ranks of raiders and slavers. Each day another pony falls to the corruption of the wasteland.”

“By itself, the land that once knew naught but peace and harmony will continue to degrade, until even we, the consummate survivors can no longer flourish and ponykind will die for good. Unless united, we stand against the perils and change it. Under my leadership, Rust will no longer remain a town of dejected and broken. It will no longer remain on the fringes of remaining civilization. Together, we will rise above this. We will rise above this... this mess of the world.”

“Together we can shape something new. Something like centuries ago, back when our goddess reigned and brought prosperity to the land. Under my leadership, we can prosper once again. But everyone must give their part. The day you choose me to be sheriff, the transformation begins. Everyone will be taught how to defend themselves, for the good of the settlement and we will expand the farmland with all the new hands.”

“This will not only give the people more to eat, but better land and will give your children a future they will be proud of. But we can’t stop there. This settlement alone can’t begin this path. All other towns will come to see the beauty of our way. Through reason and peace, we will show them that our way is the best.”

“We will not give any ground. Our town will never back down from a challenge, not from raiders or starvation. This, I promise. No matter what, none of our children will have to live this life. This life of pain and fear. They will have something new, something better. With your help and my leadership, we can accomplish great things. Thank you.”

Sunrise finished her speech and stepped down, leaving a silent populace in her wake. For another moment they seemed stunned and then all at once broke into simultaneous stomping, showing their support for the pegasus. Sunrise’s natural charisma added to the message of her speech, stirring a fire inside me. Sunrise flashed them a brilliant smile and waved, before retiring to her house. I made my apologies and excuses to Shield and quickly followed her, not bothering to worry about the other two speeches. Nothing could compare to Sunrise’s. I entered the door several seconds behind Sunrise. Inside, she stood near the couch, shaking slightly and breathing heavily.

“You were great Sunrise. There’s no way  they won’t choose you. And I’ll be right here with you.” I reassured her, glancing down at my hooves. My face suddenly felt hot.

“Thanks Zenith, that means a lot to me.” She replied. “I know it might sound silly but I always get a bit nervous before getting up to speak infront of people. I’m definitely good at it; it’s my special talent but I still always think I might do something wrong. I’m a bit ridiculous sometimes.” She finished with an anxious chuckle.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll do a great job.” I replied, continuing to try and comfort her.

“Well at least I have your vote of confidence. I heard you displayed some rather impressive magic earlier.” Sunrise said. She seemed disappointed. Her words sounded sour, almost like disapproval.

“Yea, I practiced some offensive  magic.I told you I didn’t want to be helpless anymore and I’m going to be sticking to it. “ I said resolutely. Sunrise sighed and gently shook her head. “You aren’t... angry with me, are you?” I asked, eyes now locked on the floor.  Even with my absolute resoluteness, I felt disappointed about Sunrise’s disapproval. I would think she wanted me to fight, considering her talk just outside the house.

“I just... wish this wasn’t so... I’d like for you to be able to live in peace. But I know its what you want and if it’ll make you happy, I’ll be all for it.” She replied, flashing a tentative smile. “Why don’t we get some rest? Celestia knows that we both need it after this day.” I nodded, feeling my fatigue starting to come back. “I’ll show you your room now.” She said, heading upstairs with a bounce in her step. I followed and she pushed open the left side door. Sure, the room was broken and beaten down. But the bed seemed to still be pretty solid and there was an actual honest-to-Celestia bookshelf on the side.

“Wow, this is...thanks Sunrise” I smiled sleepily. “I’ll see you in the morning.” I half mumbled,  as I collapsed onto the bed.

“Good night Zenith.” Sunrise whispered as she affectionately nudged me into bed. She closed the door and left me to my dreams.

Mission

The next two weeks followed in a monotonous order. Every day, I spent several hours practicing the few spells I had learned the first day and adding one or two more to my repertoire. I devoted the most time to simple target training, figuring it was my biggest weak point. Besides, it didn’t matter how many spells I learned if I couldn’t hit a single one of them. Shield would sometimes come watch, every now and then taking out his gun and taking a few shots himself. He was much better at it than me.

At night, I would spend the time going over Twilight’s notes. I devoured each of her books with a speed born of desperation. The stakes were much higher now. Maybe from these books I could find a way back home, a way to actually get back to the old Ponyville. There weren’t any blatant references. The only thing I had seen thus far were vague notes here and there.

Sunrise never came out to see, whether because of her disapproval or because of how busy she was I never asked. Still, I saw her multiple times every day and every time she came home for the night. We would often just sit up and talk, her telling me more about the wasteland and the other points of interest scattered throughout. It really helped me out and gave me a basic overview how the world had developed.

Compared strictly to the rest of this world, Rust’s region had more peace than pretty much everywhere else. There were only a few raider nests and slavers remaining left. There were three “cities”, which was more than most other places. They weren’t the biggest cities, but at least they were peaceful. Even just thirty miles to the west, the land become much more inhospitable. Even here though, politics generally were a knife and cloak affair, which made the straightforwardness of Sunrise’s election all the more surprising.

Speaking of politics, events moved fast in this town. Just two weeks after the speech, the elections were to be held. To be honest, it was a moot point; everyone in the town knew that Sunrise was going to win. One of her competitors had already thrown in the towel and the other one was just in it so she’d have a little competition.

Even still, on the night of the election we awaited in the square together. Sunrise was understandably nervous, but I felt confident that Sunrise would win the election. We had turned it into a little picnic, eating and watching the crowd go by and cast in their choice. A few volunteers were counting the votes, the small populace making vote counting easy. The whole affair only took two full hours.

Finally, a pony stepped up onto the makeshift stage, envelope floating gently beside him. Sunrise seemed to be the only pony that didn’t already know the outcome with absolute certainty. She sat beside me, wings locked tight to her side eagerly awaiting the results.

“The winner by a landslide: Sunrise Melody.” The stallion announced to the crowd. The assembled ponies stomped the square, showing their support. Personal conversations then broke out between the crowd.

“Oh thank Celestia.” Sunrise muttered, exhaling a deep breath. She smiled and glanced out over the crowd.

“You know there wasn’t even the smallest chance you could lose this election right?” I tease. Shield and I had been trying to get her to calm down for the last week, to no avail.

“I know, it’s just...so stressful. This was the best chance I could get to actually start somewhere, it was the best chance for me to start making a difference.” Sunrise explained. I could understand her worry, but still, it was a bit much. Of course, neither Shield or I was going to say anything. “Anyways, tomorrow the real work begins. First real day as sheriff.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great Sunrise.” I reassured her. Ponies were starting to approach our little corner of the town center to come and congratulate Sunrise and speak to her. I started to shift, my own anxiety starting to set in. I really hated crowds. Sunrise was quick to notice my discomfort.

“Why don’t you go on in? I’ll probably be out really late but will you come see me tomorrow? Shield will come and get you, we need to talk.” Sunrise asked. I nodded, curious about her last line. That could wait until tomorrow though. With a quick exertion of energy, I teleported out, not wanting to bother shoving my way through the mass of ponies.

__________________________________________________________________________

The next day, Shield woke me by entering the house wearing his full armor and making the loudest possible noise. Not only that, but my head was pounding. I was half tempted to just

throw him out before remembering that Sunrise had wanted us for something.

“Get up, lasy ass! Time’s a wastin’!” Shield yelled, bemusement in his voice. Resisting the urge to soundproof my room and ignore him, I shook myself awake and got up from bed. I made my way down the stairs, a look of murder on my face.

“You could’ve just shook me awake or something.” I grumbled. It wasn’t entirely Shield’s fault; I had never really been a morning person.

“Sunrise needs us, seemed pretty urgent too, let’s not waste her time, right?” Shield asked, taking obvious enjoyment from my discomfort. He was right I suppose. Mumbling assent, he started to lead the way across the town. I easily spotted Sunrise, like a bright burst of sunlight in an otherwise gloomy world. She was up by the front gate, discussing something with the guards. We waiting until she finished and approached her.

“Well?” Shield inquired. Apparently he hadn’t been told much about what Sunrise wanted either.

“Follow me.” Sunrise commanded, although she said it as more of suggestion. She led the way past the gates to outside the town where the apple trees grew. “Obviously, all this land is ours. But up the river, there’s another town that has access to a pre-war dam. If they were to cut it off we’d be in a whole lot of trouble.”

She stopped for a second before continuing. “This is where you two come in. I’d really like to not have to do this, but this town doesn’t really have many hands to spare especially if we start to extend the farmlands. We’ll have more when everyone gets some skill with a weapon, but right now we’re out of luck. Neither of you are real ambassadors, but quite frankly you’re the best we’ve got right now.” She sighed dejectedly. “Make no mistake, this is a really dangerous mission. There have been troubling rumors about the land in between and I really don’t want to have to send you into such perilous land.” She finished, aiming the last part directly towards me.

Both Shield and I thought about it for a second. “Look, I get the part about sending me to guy, but why send out little half-pint herel? Isn’t sending her back out into the wasteland kind of a bad idea?” He asked, glancing down at me with worry in his eye. Inside I was fuming, while touched that Shield was concerned for my well-being I could more than handle myself now. Just as I was about to start cursing him out, Sunrise kept me silent with a stare.

“Normally I’d agree with you but you can’t deny that her magic is strong and if these rumors prove to be true you’ll need her to teleport you out of there. Could you teleport yourself over a mile?” Sunrise asked, jabbing at Shield slightly.

“Well no... I still don’t like her coming.” Shield protested weakly. “I’ll do it though. Got nothin’ better to do.”

“Sunrise, you know I couldn’t say no to this. Of course I’ll go.” I answered, not a doubt in my mind. What had I been preparing for in the last two weeks if not this? Sunrise’s smile at our acceptance alone was worth it.

“Oh thank you, both of you!I don’t know who else I could’ve sent.” Sunrise positively gushed. “Shield, do you think I could talk to Zenith alone quickly?”

“Fine, fine. Don’t worry about old me. I’ll just ah... finish packing.” Shield muttered, excusing himself. He turned back towards the village gates and quickly disappeared within the safety of the walls.

“Zenith, please promise me that you’ll be careful. I couldn’t even begin to describe how terrible I’d feel if you got hurt or killed because of something I asked.” Sunrise implored. Worry had etched itself onto her face now.

“You worry too much.” I said, trying to make light of the situation. “You think anything’ll be able to get past Shield? It’s in his name. If he can’t protect me from the big baddies out there nothing can.” I teased lightly, trying to get the smile to return.

“I know, but you could get seriously hurt here and it’d be my fault cause I asked you to go. Look, Shield can be reckless at times, so all I’ll ask you to do is to think things through and if you don’t think you guys can take something, get out of there ok?” Sunrise finished, eyes filled with pleading. I shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, suddenly a lot more worried than I had been before.

“Of course, I’ll make sure our lives are the top priority.” I promised. That at least seemed to calm Sunrise down a little and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s all I needed to here. Come on, let’s get you two packed up. Might as well get some ground crossed before nightfall.” Shield explained, heading back towards the town. As much as I didn’t want to quite leave yet, he was right. Besides, I didn’t really need to pack anything up. I kept most of my belongings within the otherspace that accompanied me wherever I went.

Sunrise led the way back to the center of the town with Shield splitting off and going to what I assumed was his own house. She stopped first at the apple stall and, after a brief conversation with the vendor, picked up a saddle bag loaded with the undernourished apples, provisions for the journey. I took it with my magic and let it enter my otherspace pocket. Next, she went into a tent and didn’t let me follow. She returned a few minutes later, with a package wrapped in old newspaper.

“This is for you. That shot back at the slaver compound got me thinking. You can conjure a magical shield easily enough, but what if you don’t notice somepony, or you need the energy for something else? I thought that you should probably get some armor. Nothing near as fancy or as heavy as Shield’s; Celestia only knows how he’s able to move in it, but something lighter that can still take a beating. So I had this made.” Sunrise dropped the package at my hooves. Hesitantly, I took the package with my magic and unwrapped the newspaper.

The package revealed light barding, made from sometime of reinforced material I hadn’t encountered before. I probed it gently with my magic and it seemed to be pretty damn resilient. It matched the darkness of my coat, blending rather well with my coloration.

“Oh wow. One second, wait here.” I said, popping in and out of existence back into my room in Sunrise’s house. A few minutes later, I re-appeared front of Sunrise, the displaced air making a bang. “How does it fit?” I turned in a circle, trying to show off a little.

“It fits great. You right intimidating.” Sunrise replied, a bemused expression taking up her face.

“Well look at the little warrior.” Shield’s voice joked as he approached with two loaded saddlebags of his own. Despite his light-hearted words, sadness filled his eyes and the smile didn’t quite seem genuine.

“I wish we could delay the goodbyes longer, but now would probably be the best time to go. You two need to get as far as possible tonight if you’re going to make it in any decent time.” Sunrise said. The sun had already reached directly overhead, bringing forth the hottest time of the day. Not the ideal time to leave but sunlight burned fast at this time of the year.

Together, the three of us advanced towards the main gate. We stopped for one last goodbye, a quick hug and Shield and I were off. We progressed in silence for a while, both of us lost in our own thoughts and the still within earshot of the town. To be honest, I was slightly eager to finally get out and do something. This was just like all the books I had read back in the library.

Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t fool enough to think it was all happy sunshine and rainbows like in the books. I had lived in terrible places before and I knew that my life could be on the line here. It still felt good to finally get out and do something that could actually make a difference though. Even back in my own world I had done nothing useful cooped up in the library. Now was my turn to make a change, or at least help with it.

Suddenly, the world was eerily silent. I glanced back and realized I could no longer see the town anymore. Nothing to do now but keep following Shield’s lead. This silence would drive me crazy though. It was like the world was dead.

“So Shield, what was that rumor that Sunrise was talking about around here?” I asked, trying to start up some conversation.

“I wouldn’t put much stock in what ponies ‘round here have to say. Tend to exaggerate things and embellish their stories quite a bit.” Shield replied, seeming to dance around the issue. What, did he think I would run home to Sunrise if I got too scared?

“Shield. Just tell me.”

“Fine, ponies have been saying that there’s some kind of strange creature round this little stretch of wasteland. Caravans have gone mysteriously missin’ and the like. Not even their goods are ever found. Some ponies think it’s Nightmare Moon’s ghost back for revenge. T’ain’t no truth to it though. Probably just raiders.” Shield reasoned. Perhaps he was right.

But still, a dragon? How would they even manage to survive in a world like this? More importantly, if it found us would we even have a chance of getting away? By myself I could easily teleport many miles, but with Shield the equation suddenly became a lot more difficult. By definition, the more mass, the more difficult the teleport. No, with a flying dragon running away would be impossible. That left hiding or fighting it.

The landscape was completely barren. A burnt and twisted tree here, a nearly destroyed house there, and the river constantly to the right of us and that was it. If I could teleport us to one of the houses we might have a decent chance of getting hidden. If worst came to worst though, we’d have to fight the best. Worse yet, dragons were naturally resistant to magic. The lightning spell would be our only chance and I could only cast that two or three times with my own stores before losing consciousness. Luckily, I had the entire amulet worth of energy ready to dispose of.


“Heads up. Dead ahead.” Shield motioned forward, pre-emptively readying his rifle. Up ahead, a pony lay on it’s side underneath an overpass that had been part of the pre-war road system. Looking down at my hooves, I realized we had been walking on the remains of a road for quite a while. “We’re going to check this out, but be ready alright?” I nodded and we started to advance cautiously. The pony didn’t stir even as we entered directly underneath the arch.

All at once, the pony stood, gun in mouth and leveled at Shield’s chest. Four ponies appeared on each opening of the bridge, effectively blocking us in. Each of them held rudimentary weapons; sharpened shovels, old, rusted, gardening tools and assorted mess. Only one of them held a real rifle. A unicorn, who had it aimed directly at me.

“Drop the gun and give up what you own and you get to leave. Start shootin’ or cast at all and you die. Don’t be stupid here, just give up your shit.” The rifle unicorn instructed. Shield glanced back at me and tapped his hoof twice. I didn’t understand what it meant at first before quickly grasping its meaning. Second spell, of course. That would be logical.

“Now!” Shield shouted, firing off a shot of his rifle. In response, I case the shield spell I had been working on for so long. It quickly came up without a hitch and I could see Shield fighting for his life through the translucence of the bubble. The other ponies didn’t fight with any coherence, they didn’t attempt to attack him simultaneously or even with any sort of teamwork.

Shield was able to take a few shots unhindered, but he couldn’t handle so many in so small of a place on his own. He would just get swarmed. I glanced around quickly, trying to find something to help him with. Piles of debris were clumped around the edges of the bridge. Those would do.

With my telekinetic grip, I picked up a few of the heavier rocks and sent them flying towards the now mob of ponies around Shield. Most of them missed and just went sailing past the clump, but one or two struck home and had the effect of distracting some of the ponies away from Shield.

Three of the ponies headed towards my bubble, trying to pound on me with blades and hooves. The shield was easily able to stop the attacks, but every hit sent a pounding through my head. I started to fall back to avoid as much of the abuse of possible but they didn’t let up.

In desperation, I tried to send more rocks at them but the extra concentration brought the whole thing down around my head. My shield flared brightly once and then completely disappeared. It took the ponies a second to recover but they were on me too quickly.

I panicked and barely managed to dodge their thrusts. I  squeezed my eyes shut and managed to teleport forward, behind the attackers. Shield had managed to break free for a moment and dropped one of the ponies attacking me before being overwhelmed by the four attackers that remained standing against him.

He had leveled the playing field by quite a bit. Several bodies lay on the floor, unmoving. Of the original nine, only five remained standing, including the two pressuring me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any more time to watch the fight as the two ponies had finally noticed where I was. The two worked together much better this time, more in tandem than before. They actively tried to attack at the same time, forcing me to move faster and faster away from them.  

I couldn’t keep it up for long. One of them managed to get his blade between the links of my barding opening up a shallow cut in my side but it caused me to stumble and fall to the ground. I heard Shield yell out once and get another shot off, at least injuring one of them enough to ignore me for a bit.

But it wasn’t enough. The remaining pony’s blade descended towards me and desperation made my world flare in red. My magic acted on its own and my vision clouded over in red, blinding me.

When it faded enough for me to see again, the only two ponies left standing were Shield and I. The two closest to me had been burnt to a crisp, the smell of burned flesh tainting the air. The bodies closer to Shield were charred, or stabbed, or shot. Nothing moved for a second. I realized that Shield had been trying to get my attention for the last minute.

"You alright?” He asked, continuing to glance around and keep an eye out for any further threats. I took a few shaky breaths, head pounding from using so much magic in such a short amount of time.

“Yea...yea. Just a little cut. Maybe a bruise. Nothing bad.” I answered. I took my first look around the site, eyes glazing over as I realized the repercussions of our actions. The smell... the corpses... the heat of the few remaining flames...

I hurried out from underneath the bridge, unable to stand it for a second longer and threw up all of last night’s picnic onto the ground. I had just taken another pony’s life. Not just that, but two ponies because of my direct actions. What if they had families? Foals who were at home now, waiting for them to get back with tonight’s food. I could’ve just taken all that from them. Tears had started to burn my eyes and I struggled to hold back sobs.

“Aww jeez.” I heard Shield mumble as he came up behind me. “Come on.. don’t fall apart on me now.” He continued, the awkwardness obvious in his voice. He really wasn’t good at this whole comforting thing.

“J-Just give me a second ok?” I asked, through the tears. I heard him sigh and step away.

“If you need me, I’ll be on the other side of the bridge, going to see if there’s any lootin’ to be had.” Shield finished before I heard him walking away.

His last statement made it even harder to hold back the floodgates. To be completely fair, they would have done the same to us. That was the entire objective of their little trap but it didn’t make it hurt any worse. This wasn’t the Equestria I had grown up in. My childhood was bad and each day was a struggle but killing was virtual unheard of.

I had just intentionally killed another pony.

I would never be able to take that back. No matter what I did from hence forth I would have blood on my hands. I couldn’t waste anymore time right now though. Sunrise needed me to do this. There would be more time to think about this later.

I took a few more minutes to finish feeling sorry for myself and stop crying. Then I made my way to the other side of the bridge where Shield waiting, saddlebags noticeably more full.

“I’m ready.” I said, my voice still raspy and my eyes hung low.

“Shit.” I heard Shield swear under his breath. “Alright, let’s keep going. We’ll find some shelter before stopping for the night.”

We walked in silence for a few minutes before Shield spoke up again. “I normally wouldn’t get sentimental or any shit like that. But Zenith? If you need to talk, I’ll be here for ya. Sunrise ain’t the only one who can help ya out and I’ve been through a hell of a lot more than here in this world.”

I looked up in surprise, just concentrating on my hoofsteps before me. Such an offer from Sunrise wouldn’t have phased me, but coming from Shield? That was sweet.

“Thanks Shield.” I muttered, feeling my spirits start to lift. At least I would have ponies who cared for me, even if this land was terrible.

A/N. As this is exam week for APs, really didn't have much time to do any editing on this nor will I have much for the next chapter. As such, they are probably not going to be the best. Expect further edits after I have more time.

Storm

The once proud land of Equstria had fallen far. The peaceful land was nothing but a memory now. I had already managed to kill another pony, even if it was self-defense there was no excuse. Ponies here were willing to kill over money, how could I get through this place alive? Surely Shield and I could’ve just given away the money Sunrise had given us to live off of, but we didn’t.

Shield was excusable, he had grown up in this world. He didn’t have the benefit of growing up in a peaceful society. But me? I grew up in times of peace. I should’ve been able to think of something. I should have been able to find some way to stop it. Sunrise would’ve been able to talk them out of it. Maybe if I had been able to do anything except magic I would’ve been able to think of something as well. I was really just a one trick pony.

For now, I just followed Shield while my mind went in circles. I kept my head low and just kept walking. The day had steadily grown hotter, I could feel sweat breaking out under my barding. It isn’t like I didn’t appreciate the barding (I did) and it isn’t like it did a bad job of protecting (it did a great one) but the damn thing was itchy.

Neither Shield nor I really wanted to talk, so we just kept walking in silence. Eventually, hunger began to set in, making the already unpleasant trip even more uncomfortable.  My stomach started to protest, first intermittently then more often, and louder. Finally, so loud that even Shield glanced back, a teasing grin stuck on his face. I could more or less feel a tease coming about my overly noisy stomach but his face quickly changed from mirth to concern as he saw what kind of condition I was in.

“You ain’t lookin’ too hot. First shelter we come to, we’ll stop for the night.” he promised. I only nodded, too tired to actually form a coherent thought. On the horizon, dark clouds had started to gather, lightning flashing occasionally. I wasn’t much of a weather expert, the subject never really interested me, but the thunderheads looked way more threatening than any pegasus made storm. Up ahead, a dilapidated house had managed to weather the years and still stood on an offshoot from the road we traveled on.

Shield and I arrived at the house after a few minutes and he gingerly pushed the door open. If there were any traps or guns leveled at the opening, his armor would be more than enough to take it. Fortunately, nothing came and he stepped inside with me in tow. He closed the door behind us. Inside, the room was nearly too dark to see, only a little light coming in through the door. We closed the door behind us, for what little protection it would still give.

I dropped to the floor, tired as all hell. Being in the shade felt so good after so long in the sun. Shield opened the saddlebags and levitated a few of the apples out, distributing a few to each of us. I took a few bites, trying to satisfy my angry stomach. The silent was oppressive, and I just had to say something to break it.

“Shield, so how’d you end up in Ponyville?” I asked, trying to stray away from any sensitive topics.

“Been livin’ in the area most of my life. Most caravans pass through it at one time or another so you can make a pretty good livin’ between scavenging for shit and trading it off for necessities. Long as you evade the raiders that is. That happens, best you can do is join ‘em. At worst, you can try and fight ‘em off. Even I wouldn’t have lasted long at that, though. So many competin’ gangs in that shithole, makes recruitment pretty desperate.” He responded between bites of food. Outside, I could hear thunder starting to come up, starting off as just a low roar in the distance. Even at this distance, the house rumbled lightly.

“So, any family?” I asked.

“Not the type of question you should be asking.” Shield snapped, a hard edge filling his voice. Ok, so maybe I wasn’t so good at avoiding uncomfortable subjects, but my curiosity got the better of me. Besides, this would’ve been a pretty innocent question where I came from.

“Sorry, I just thought it wasn’t a big deal. I was just curious.” I replied sullenly, taking another bite of my apple.

“Just... Just don’t ask about that. Ponies here don’t always last as long as me. Tough subject mind.” Shield sounded less angry now. He just seemed downcast now, depressed and thoughtful.  

“Sorry Shield.” I repeated. I kept forgetting that the types of information that would be harmless and basic from where I came from were much more drastic in the wasteland.

Shield rolled his eyes, but shot me a half-hearted smile. “S’alright. Guess it ain’t your fault, considerin’ where you came from and all.” Outside, thunder boomed, no longer sounding from far away. The storm had finally reached our poor example of shelter.

Lightning flared in through the cracks in the door, giving the room an eerie light for but a second. “T-thanks.” I was interrupted by a loud yawn and I finally realized how tired I was.

Shield shook his head and grinned genuinely at my yawn. “Get some sleep. I’ll take first watch.” He muttered.

I nodded and lay down my head. The storm had started to rage harder, impacts resounding out as debris struck the house. Due to how tired I was though, I managed to fall asleep regardless of the noise. Memories of home, awoken by my talk with Shield, filled my head as I drifted off.

______________________________________________________________

I dreamt of my childhood. Before I lived with Twilight, I had spent my life on the streets on Canterlot. For a while, an old mare had given me food and had actually been rather nice to me, even if she wouldn't ever let me in the house. I spent most of the time behind her house in an alleyway, but as expected, she died when I was still extremely young. She was really old after all. Before long, a new family had moved in, with male twins both older than me. They looked like the nasty sort, big and meaty with muscle, scars ripping tears in their otherwise pleasing orange coats. The parents looked respectable enough though, maybe I could still stay here. For a while, I hid without the twins taking note, having developed a small hiding hole near the very back of the alley. The situation couldn't last. One day, they were exploring the back part of the alley where I had taken refuge.

“Hey, somepony back here?” One of them called, his voice still slightly high-pitched from youth. At the sound of his voice, I huddled back further behind the trash can, causing debris to fall with a clatter. I peeked the very edge of my head around the corner, to see if they heard me. The two twins stood guarding the front of the alleyway, barring escape, ears perked up in my direction. “Oh come on out now, we aren't going to hurt you.” The lead on urged in a totally unconvincing fashion. He wouldn't know kindness if it came up and slapped him on the face. “We have food.” He urged harder. His brother nudged open the saddlebags, showing some fresh greens that most likely had just come from the market.

Hesitantly, I scooted forward out of my sanctum. The colt had said the magic word: food. I felt my stomach rumble loudly; the last time I had eaten was the day before the old mare died. “For me?” I whimpered out, pleading with all my heart that one of them would say yes. But why would things actually work out? I was weaker and unable to fend for myself when I was so young, all my strength flourishing much later. The lead brother nudged the saddlebag closed again with an abrasive snort.

“Why would we give anything to you? What have you done to deserve it?” The follower sneered snidely. “You didn’t work for this like dad and mom!” He asserted. Of course I spent most of my time hidden, otherwise other ponies would descend on me, trying to take my to some home or force me to go to school. I didn't need that. Besides, this colt was most likely just parroting what his parents had said about the other homeless throughout the city.

“Please. I'll do anything. I can do magic.”  I pleaded. I needed the food desperately. I couldn't stay here much longer unless I found some form of sustenance and most of the other sheltered places in the city had been long occupied. Not all the other homeless were bad, but the horror stories tend to get repeated a bit more than the tales of kindness. For a few minutes, the brothers whispered back and forth, apparently arguing over me. I turned looking desperately After an extended conversation, the lead brother turned back to me.

“Catch!” He called, telekinetically throwing an apple towards me. I caught it in my own  magic and hungrily started to devour it. It took me a few seconds to notice that the two boys were laughing at me and I slowed down, trying to eat more respectfully.

“M-more?” I asked, letting the core of the apple, completely stripped fall to the ground. It hadn’t done much to diminish the hunger in my stomach.

“Hmmm.. Maybe later.” The lead brother said, still grinning. He turned with his brother and left me alone, once again, in the alley. I watched them go, downcast and starving. For nearly a year afterwards, the brothers came back every few days to my alleyway. Occasionally, they’d throw me bits of bread, like damn pigeon and not a pony. But, it was the only way that I was able to stay alive and thus I kept my temper. For a while.

The day had gone the same as all those before it, save for the fact I was feeling particularly dreadful and was not in any mood to put up with the two brothers. Nevertheless, that day was the day they chose to visit me. The visit continued the same way as usual, with me barely holding back shouts. As they were leaving though, I tried to stealthily take some extra food from their saddlebags. Unfortunately, a tight yank wasn’t the most stealthy of maneuvers.

“The hell?” One of them grumbled, seeing the pieces of fruit start to float towards me. I guiltily let them drop, relinquishing my prize. This wasn’t enough satiate the two though and they advanced on me. I started to take anxious steps backwards, legs trembling. The closest brother reached a hoof out and hit my face hard, sending me to the ground. I barely caught sight of his hind legs descending towards me before my magic flared out, against my control. The two were sent flying back, ramming into the side of the alley.

They both fell, the one who had kicked me had his fore leg bent at an odd angle. I had somehow struggled to my hooves in a rage. My magic flared again, shoving them from my home and blocking the entrance with a barrier. As soon as I was in the clear, I fell to the ground again unable to hold back tears. It wasn’t long before the police ponies showed up.

_____________________________________________________________

A loud bang woke me from my fitful sleep. A huge hole had opened into one of walls of the house, something from the storm having drilled it through. Shield stood above me, sheltering me a little from the storm’s wrath.

“Deeper into the house! This storm’s getting bad!” Shield yelled. I could still barely hear him through the wind’s howling. I managed to get up, already thoroughly soaked from the rain pouring in from the hole, soaking us both. I lit up my horn enough to actually give us some light to see by and spotted another door. It was a struggle to get the door open against the wind, but between Shield and I we managed to get it open long enough to get through. The wind slammed the door behind us as soon as my magic left off.

I sighed in relief and brightened my horn, trying to give us a better idea of the room we were in. I instantly regretted it. In the corner, were the bodies of multiple ponies, haphazardly thrown on top of each other. Each of them were in various states of decay, the ones of the bottom nothing but skeletons and the most recent one just beginning to decay. Blood still dripped onto the floor, forming a puddle. The stench was overpowering.

Before I realized what I was doing, I had already completely backed into the door, my limbs shaking with fear. My eyes had grown wide, unable to process what I was seeing.

“Fuck.” Shield cursed, finally taking in the gruesome sight. “Easy there, girl.” He mumbled, watching me back away. Hesitantly, he scanned the rest of the room, but nothing moved. Somepony had to live here though. This was too fresh. He stepped in front of me, trying to shield my vision from the bodies.

“S-Shield... we need to go.” I said, my earlier nausea returning with a vengeance. I turned my head away from the corpses, but the vision remained fixed in my mind. I blindly tugged at the door, clumsy from the nausea.

“Hold on there.” Shield said with a comforting hoof on my shoulder. His voice was reassuring and something my troubled mind could latch onto. “Dead can’t hurt nopony, but that storm can. We don’t know if anypony’s home either, don’t seem like it.” Shield mumbled. “Why don’t you just lay back down? I’ll keep an eye out, don’t you worry.” I nodded and slowly lay back down in front of the door. I even dimmed my light a little, the blood red glow making the bodies look even worse. There was no way in hell I was going to get to sleep.

Shield had really been great to me so far, despite our earlier fighting. He had done his best to protect me when we were fighting and had comforted me afterwards. Sure, he had done it in a bit of a brusque manner, but all the same it had made me feel better. In return, I hadn’t been the greatest towards him. I needed to attempt to rectify that.

“Shield, I’m really sorry about earlier...I was stupid.” I said, trying to keep my voice down. If some pony was home, I definitely didn’t want them to hear us. Well, if I was going to apologize, might as well go whole-hog. “I-I don’t think sometimes and I really didn’t mean to make you feel bad. You’ve been so nice to me and I... well haven’t returned the favor.”

“S’alright I guess. You didn’t mean nothin’ by it. Different time and all that.” Shield mused. “Y’know, kinda curious myself now that ya mention it. Care to describe how your life was back then? Might calm ya down a bit.”

“That’s kind of a big question. Ponyville used to be a really peaceful town. It was nice, not the most exciting place in the world, but there were plenty of ponies to meet and plenty to do most of the time. I stayed in Twilight’s library, that’s why I was so eager to get back there.” I explained. “Was there anything really specific you wanted to know?”

“As long as you’re willing to answer, might as well learn right?” Honestly, he didn’t sound that interesting, but it did seem to calm me down. “There were more pegasi back then right? Wonderin’ cause-” Shield stopped abruptly as a loud thump echoed throughout the house. It was probably just another sound from the storm, but with the pile of bodies in the corner neither of us were willing to take many chances.

Another loud bang rang out, followed by a pained moan. I lit up my horn as bright as I could. Besides just the door we had entered from, there were two more in the room, which had previously gone unnoticed in the darkness.

“Careful now.” He whispered, eyes darting back between the doors. His gun switched back between the two. Several more bangs resounded, whether from the storm or another pony I was unsure. Shield took slow steps forward, his armored body still making a racket. “Stay close.” He added, inching forward.

I kept the light shining ahead of us. Shield pushed open the rightmost door, and stepped inside. Only the ambient sounds of the storm greeted us and he pushed on. I stepped in behind him and shined my light around. There was literally nothing in the entirety of the room. No furniture, nothing. Shield turned back around, heading back towards the corpse-room.

As we made our way towards the final door, I felt myself break out into a cold sweat. The storm had long since made the night chilly, but I was nervous and, I hate to admit it, scared as hell. The noises started back up as we got close. A whimper, a moan, and then a shriek of laughter. Shield hesitated nearly a minute.

My nerves built as Shield finally started to open the door. It started off well enough: he wasn’t instantly attacked. He took fully entered the room with me hanging close. This was definitely somepony’s bedroom. The bed was messily made with a sheet thrown over the top and there seemed to be a complete hoard in one of the corner. But, despite this, nothing seemed to be moving.

Shield and I finally relaxed and I let out a sigh of relief. “Well, that was anticlim-” I started, just as somepony tackled me. I kicked blindly, feeling myself hit something but it making no effect. I felt something stab into my side, my barding taking the brunt of it. Finally, Shield threw the other pony off of me, bucking it clean into a wall. I struggled to my feet and got my first clear look at our attacker.

The pony was a purple pegasus, a knife clamped tight in it’s jaws.The tip of the knife was covered in blood, too much for it to have just been mine. The pegasus’s pupils were expanded, too much to have been natural. Around the knife, it kept giggling, a mixture of blood and saliva spilling out onto the ground. Shield didn’t hesitate in taking a shot, the bullet impacting deep into the pegasus's shoulder. The pony dropped the knife and wailed loudly. Shield fired again, the bullet entering the mare’s neck and ending her life.

“Takes care of that.” Shield grunted. I glanced down at my side, checking my wound. A little blood oozed out, but nothing serious. My barding had been able to absorb most of the blow. Behind us, I heard a moan over from by the bed. “Hell’s that?” He mumbled, making his way over to the bed.

Shield levitated the sheet off the bed, showing a bed stained with blood and an earth pony laying on it’s side. Shield walked around the pony, taking a good look at the pony. What he saw didn’t seem to please him. Sadness reached his eyes. “Fuck.” He mumbled, sounding thoroughly depressed.

“What’s-What’s wrong?” I asked, not wanting to get close to the bloodstained sheets.

“Stomach’s gutted. Must of been that pegasus bitch. That’s what must’ve happened to all those other ponies out there too.” He explained, indicating the adjacent room.

“Is there...anything we can do for it?” I asked. Neither of us knew any healing magic. I had been studying just war magic for the last couple of weeks and Shield didn’t really seem like the type to know too much advanced magic.

“Yep.” He answered. He raised his gun up and fired one last shot. Right into the prone pony’s head.

“What the hell did you do that for!?” I yelled, not truly believing my eyes for a second. “How could you just shoot it?!”

“You think I fuckin’ wanted to?” Shield snapped back. He returned his gun to his saddlebags and let his horn wink out. He sighed and shook his head. “That pony didn’t stand a chance. Even if we had to managed to patch it up it would’ve just extended its pain. I did the best option I had. It was either let it bleed out in misery or me put it down, I don’t spose you could of actually done anything, or ya would’ve healed your own wounds by now.” I fell onto my haunches, chewing on my lip and thinking.

“O-Of course not. I-We-There had to be something we could do. We shouldn’t have just let it die.” I answered. Tears had already started to return to my eyes, but I swallowed my hurt and tried to keep calm.

“We’re in the middle of the desert, in the center of a massive storm. There ain’t shit we could’ve done. If you had healing magic you would’ve said something and I certainly can’t do it. We didn’t just let it die. We sent it to a better place. Anywhere’s better than here” Shield finished, talking as if the conversation was already over.

Shield left the room leaving me alone. The pegasus definitely deserved to die. It had killed, and not just for defense. But the earth pony on the bed? There had to have been something we could have done. Maybe if... I started to think, but nothing came to mind. A few minutes later I followed Shield out of the room into the completely empty room. It was definitely more pleasant to stay in than rooms with bodies or a room with a broken wall. He had already lay down and was trying to get to sleep.

“You’re right.” I admitted, no matter how much I hated it. Shield cracked open an eye and sighed.

“You’re a good pony Zenith. But this place... you gotta make some tough decisions. Sunrise might be able to get by with living her life nice and pretty. But you? You’re too strong to just live your life cooped up in a town. You’re going to have to start realizing that this isn’t going to be easy for you. You’re gonna have to get used to making decisions like that.”

“Sometimes life can be worse than death here and what point is that? Most of the time, I ain’t got a fucking clue. But cases like that pony in there? When they are clearly suffering? Their time is at an end. Let ‘em rest. Speaking of rest, you should get some. I figure we got a few more hours before this crap lets up. So try to get some shut eye ok? Take care of that damn chest wound first though, no use in letting it get infected.” Shield finished, closing his eye once again.

I did as was told, patching myself up before I took my own corner and curled into a ball, trying to get as warm as possible. What Shield had said weighed heavily on my mind and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a while yet. I really didn’t want to believe it, but everything he had said was right and I couldn’t think of a counter argument. After nearly an hour, I finally managed to fall asleep.

Outside, the storm still raged.

Old Friends

What do you get when you take one out of shape pony, an entire day of walking, next to no sleep, and a fight during the middle of the night? One very pissed off Zenith.

I awoke with a pounding head, sore limbs and fatigue still hanging over my body. I groggily opened my eyes and glanced around the room. Shield was bent over his saddlebag, repacking and reorganizing the contents, whistling to himself while he worked. His armor had been taken off and lay close by, ready at a moment’s notice. I slowly sat up on my haunches, feeling like absolute shit. Shield turned, hearing my movements and broke into a wide grin.

“How ya feelin’ sweetheart?” he asked, the stupid smirk still on his face. I wanted to freakin hit him.

“I. Hate. This. Damn. Place.” I answered, taking the time to enunciate each word with as much hate as my sore mind could muster. I wasn’t a morning person at the best of times and feeling like shit kinda compounded that sentiment. It seemed like just being in this wasteland made me even more pissed off in the morning. This was the second consecutive day where I woke up with a pounding head and an attitude.

“What would Sunrise think of that language?” He teased. ”Welp, best I can tell ya is start movin’ around and get woken up, leavin’ in fifteen. Need to get a move on.” Shield instructed, telekinetically tossing me another apple. I swear he was making his voice louder just to piss me off.

I snacked on the apple hoping the food would wake me up. Unfortunately, it didn’t and I felt myself slump back down. Ugh. I closed my eyes for a second, just a second I swear. The next moment, Shield was shaking me back awake wearing his full armor, ready to start walking.

“Let’s go honey!” Shield said, in way too cheerful of a voice. He led the way back out the door, through the corpse room (which had oddly enough been cleared away - probably Shield’s work) and right back to the outside, depressing world. The sun shone down right into my eyes, exacerbating my headache. I froze for a second, waiting for my eyes to get adjusted to the harsh light. Shield kept walking and it took him a few seconds to notice I had halted.

“Time’s a wastin! You’re not hurt so get walkin.” He essentially commanded. Fuck him. Ok... I could do this. I let excess magic flow through my body, dulling the pain, but only barely. It wasn’t real healing magic, but it did alleviate the soreness a slight bit, although a full on doctor would heal so much more. Whatever, time to start walking.

I took a few hesitant steps forward and gave a few lunges to stretch out my sore knees. Shield turned his head back forward and resumed his walking, albeit at a slower pace than yesterday. This, I could at least keep up with for a while.

While yesterday’s silence had been borne from comfort, this one had arisen from fatigue. Shield walked as if nothing was wrong, and knowing him, he probably felt absolutely fine. He had spent his entire life running for his life every day. Me on the other hand? My past few years had been spent sitting on my ass on a library; this was hardly fair.

The first hour passed without a single word. I let my eyes glaze over and my thoughts drift, back towards Shield’s speech last night. I suppose he was right, but then again I didn’t really intend to stay here for too much longer. In Twilight’s notes, there had  been fleeting mentions of the vortex, but most of it was just crossed out experiments or other such useless crap.

Knowing Twilight, she would’ve shared her findings with Celestia, even though I had been sucked in through the vortex. Twilight always documented her findings and the last vortex was kind of a big deal. I’m sure she had done all she could to find me, probably even with enlisting the help of the princesses’, but there had to be a point where they knew it was just a lost cause. There were horror stories about getting sucked into vortexes.

For all Twilight knew, I had simply been ripped apart, not relatively safely transported into the future. She didn’t have any way of knowing and even if she did know, there wasn’t that much she could do about it. Still, even in tragedy Twilight kept on with her notes. My best best was to check Canterlot’s archives, Twilight always sent a copy of her notes there for safekeeping, no matter how trivial they were.

Until I could get to Canterlot, if ever, I was probably here to stay, which meant I had to take what Shield said to heart. If I was going to be helping out Sunrise, but I really had no idea where to start. She had sent me on this mission because I was capable and could actually get it down, but beyond this, what was there? Maybe with my help we could return even a little bit of this time to how it used to be. Peaceful. Besides, with my level of magical talent, there was no way I wouldn’t be able to make a difference.

While I had only seen a single town and a slaver camp, the magic talent in the wasteland was rather...lacking. Sure, I hadn’t really seen a lot, but what I had seen was pathetically weak. It could’ve been from the war itself or a dissolution of magic talent over the years but this was ridiculous. I was the strongest in this part of the wasteland and I wasn’t even that strong. In the old world, I was special but not the best. Here, I was twice the magician any of these foals were. At least this was something I could exploit. I could help Sunrise more because my magic, if nothing else.

Of course, the old saying “with great power comes great responsibility”  came to mind. I would naturally wield my magic  to the greatest of my potential but I was hardly the wisest of creatures. The wasteland was new to me and reactions varied greatly from my time to now.

So, for now at least, I’d listen to Sunrise and Shield. They seemed to know best and were the most experienced.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice a massive shadow blocking out the sun.

I ran smack into Shield who had suddenly stopped and looked up. “Fuck.” He swore. My tired brain didn’t even process his curse. A huge shockwave sent the two of us flying away from each other. I struggled back to my hooves peered through the settling dust to see what in Celestia’s name had just happened.

It was a Celestia damned dragon attacking us. A huge monster, blacked out by the sun behind it, circled overhead. Shield was still struggling to his feet, completely vulnerable on the ground. I quickly threw a barrier around him as the beast’s massive claw descended. It clashed against the shield, my magic barely holding.

I felt a huge wave of fatigue come over my body, the magic disappearing in a breath. Shield had managed to get up and had started to run away, firing his gun all the while. The shots didn’t even seem to bother the dragon, it just lumbered forward, barely being outpaced by Shield’s frenzied gallop. There was no way we could kill or even hurt this monster. I felt my knees grow weak and my mind freeze up.

The dragon let out a jet of flame towards Shield, catching the tail end of his armor. I could barely hear him yell out in pain and nearly fall. “Don’t just stand there dammit!” He yelled.

His voice snapped me out of my terrified stupor. I teleported to Shield and landed firmly beside him with a bright flare of red light, temporarily blinding the dragon. “H-Hold on!” I instructed Shield. My magic felt hard to reach already; stopping a dragon wasn’t easy and the subsequent flare of light drained it all the more. Still though, I had to try and get us out of here.

I focused my magic and drew as much as I felt safe doing from my amulet. I didn’t want the stores of energy going haywire on me now. My horn, for the first time, showed the faintest signs of a double overglow. I could feel the magic coursing through my body, rattling my bones. I wasn’t used to handling this much. With a final exertion, I cast the spell.

Only to have it explode in both our faces. The two of us were once against thrown through the air, this time by a red explosion. For the second time in so many minutes, I struggled to my hooves and tried to take stock of everything that hurt. No wait, that was right. Everything hurt. I could feel deep burns on my back and my mane felt singed. Shield had already gotten back up, his armor protecting him from most of the damage.

The dragon, on the other hand, had taken the brunt of the blast. A number of the scales around his face and neck had been blown away and giant drops of blood dripped from the scathing wounds. He roared in agony and anger and surged towards me. Once again, I froze up and I watched in terror as his jaws closed on me. The teeth were stopped by a barrier nearly a foot away. Shocked, I looked down to see my amulet shining bright.

Spike’s gift. A new determination replaced the weary acceptance as I remember what I was fighting to get back to. I teleported backwards and let the dragon’s jaws close with a snap. Shield had managed to get his gun firing against and was peppering the dragon’s neck and face with little shots. The scales no longer stopped the impacts and eat hit caused the dragon pause.

No more nice Zenith. I took more energy from the amulet, my own ambient magic completely burned away by now. Time seemed to slow as I searched through the grounds for large boulders. With a heave of effort I brought two boulders up through the ground, ramming into the stomach of the dragon.

The dragon was knocked onto its side, unbalanced and winded. With a flick of my horn, I let the rocks go high above the dragon, each one hitting dead on target. I noticed the overglow of my horn again, feeling rather satisfied with myself. That had to have at least knocked it out, we could actually run now!

Unfortunately, I was once again wrong. I had vastly underestimated the resilience of dragons. The huge form shifted the boulders and swung out with its tail, nailing Shield who had moved closed to make sure the dragon was truly down. Shield didn’t get back up this time.

More of the dragon’s scales had been knocked off and blood had began to pool underneath it, each drop scalding the ground and making light hissing noises. It turned to me and roared a challenge before taking to the air. The dragon strafed towards me, letting out a jet of flames I only barely dodged. I was a sitting duck.

I turned back towards the direction where we had stayed the night before and started galloping as hard as I could. I heard another roar and threw myself to the ground. The dragon passed barely an inch above me, its jaws snapping loudly. I climbed to my hooves, coughing from losing my breath but kept running.

With another great crash, the dragon landed on the ground in front of me and I barely stopped before running my way right into its reach. The dragon breathed another gout of flame. This time, I didn’t wait for my amulet to react and threw up another shield from the power inside it. The flame was easily stopped but the dragon just kept going and going. I felt myself wavering in focus and my shield dropped just as the flames did, leaving me standing unprotected and panting in front of one of the most dangerous creatures in Equestria.

I teleported behind it again, gaining me a few precious seconds as it turned to follow me. I sprinted faster than I ever had before, death putting a whole new perspective on things. Rocks digging into my hooves? Ok whatever. Burns covering my back? I could deal with it. Head pounding like Celestia herself had bucked it? No big deal.

What would be a big deal would be if I was scythed in half by those massive teeth, so I kept running, ignoring my pain and the ever growing sense of hopelessness. If I had to be truthful with myself, I had been lucky to survive this long. Not too far off, I could see the old debris of a broken bridge. If I could just get to it, I might be able to hide and wait for this hell to pass.

I very nearly actually managed to get a way. Just a few more seconds and I may have had enough time to teleport myself into the rubble. But the princesses didn’t smile on me, not today at least. The dragon landed right on top of me, my tired mind not even processing its approach until it was too late. The dragon pinned me to the ground with a claw and crouched low, bringing itself level to send out one last bit of flame and finish me off.

I had actually failed. It wasn’t enough, even with everything I had I was still going to die. Hopefully Shield at least had gotten away. The thought of actually dying in this place was depressing. Never again would I see Twilight Sparkle or Spike or any of my real friends. I would never know what had gone so horribly, horribly wrong in my own town and could never warn my friends of the impending doom. I was a failure. Sorry Twilight, sorry Sunrise.

So tired and so much pain. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, just a little rest and then it’d all be over. At least the pain would be gone, for good. I looked up, defiance in my eyes, ready to face my end at the last blast of green fire that would end my life. I wouldn’t end my life being a coward; I had started as one and would not finish it that way. My tired mind finally managed to click the obvious together, something I had been too panicked to notice in my fight and flight.

Wait.. Green fire and purple scales?

“Spike?” I asked weakly, barely able to keep my eyes open. Everything hurt and I was so tired. So much magic, more than anything I had ever even attempted, it made my head pound like a drum. I was tired, too tired to look away as the dragon swung his talons down like an executioner's axe. With my last spark of magic, I made myself be heard. “Spike?” I repeated, in a magically amplified voice before the last spark of red flickered out of being.

The dragon halted his descending claw, the final death blow. He dug his claws into the earth around me, trapping me tight. He lowered his head down to my level, putting us face to face “Who are you?” he asked, sulfurous breath making me wrinkle my nose. Hatred shone through his eyes. Our eyes locked for a second and I suddenly felt an invading conscious pressed against my mind. It searched through mine quickly. Before it could invade too far, I offered up a memory. One that I hoped would save us yet.

___

“Zenith!” Twilight had yelped with glee, poking me out of a deep slumber. I tried to hide back under my pillow but the expression of such obvious joy compelled me not to, at least not right away.

“This better be good Twilight.” I grumbled, rubbing my pained head.

“Spike's coming to visit us!” She announced, with an almost fan-girlish like squeal. Recognition flooded my mind at the drop of the name. Supposedly, he was Twilight's first apprentice and I had never stopped hearing about how much of a better job he did of it.

Sighing, I struggled to my hooves and shook myself awake. On the bright side, this meant that Pinkie Pie would naturally throw a party for the occasion (But then again, when didn't Pinkie want to throw parties?). “Be at the Sugarcube Corner within thirty minutes, got it?” Twilight asked. She bounced out the door in a highly Pinkie-ish manner before I could even begin to respond.

I headed to the bathroom and stared at my sleepy expression in the mirror. I quickly brushed my mane and tail, not caring as much to bother about the rest of my appearance.  It couldn't hurt to get to Pinkie's a little early, I decided.  Some of my friends were bound to be there before the actual celebrations started. It wasn't like I got to see them that often after all, especially with all the work Twilight assigned me and her belief that tardiness was the creation of Nightmare Moon herself. I kinda liked it; it meant we were actually getting some work done.

By and large, the Ponyville citizens ignored me as I headed towards Pinkie's. Few of them even knew I existed and those that did knew me as Twilight's apprentice that never talked to any of her clients. The only time I had actually used my magic in front of one of Twilight's renters, the poor filly had run out screaming. There was a certain taboo on my color magic and the crime report from Canterlot several years back didn’t help. A simple murder had been exaggerated into a series of brutal attacks with the label of being done by a unicorn with blood colored magic. The paranoia never did quite die down and ever since then blood-colored magic was considered a sign of madness.

I didn't want anything to do with them anyways, those that judged me on appearance shouldn't be my friends in the first place. My friends were above that. Attempting to attract no attention, I had entered Pinkie's through the back examining who had already joined the festivities before myself. From my group of friends only Crona had arrived, Doctor Whooves’ young colt. He caught sight of me from the corner of his eye and I gestured for him to follow me into one of the back rooms.

“Where's everyone else?” I whispered, particularly trying to avoid the attention of Twilight and Pinkie Pie. Both had been way too exuberant for my tastes.

“Not invited.” Crona replied bitterly. “I'm only here cause my dad and Spike had apparently been close during his later years.” I frowned at the news of low turn-out. Maybe this wouldn't be as fun as I had thought. Crona was way too shy around just me and how much fun could the two of us have alone?

“Hey, how about playing some hide and seek?” I suggested. We could at least do that with just us two. The storeroom was nearly perfect, with plenty of boxes and nooks to hide in. Both of us had been small enough to hide well and there were plenty of boxes we could get in. Crona assented, having no better ideas and I took my first turn at hiding. Sounds from the other room hinted that the party had started to finally kick in.

“So Twilight, who's your new assistant?” I heard a deep, almost rasping voice ask my mentor. Great, this must be the famed dragon I had heard so much about. I listened more carefully to hear Twi's response.

“Oh you know, I could never replace you. It's just a unicorn filly that Celestia needed a home for.” Twilight replied with a slight chuckle. Ugly anger welled up inside of me. So that was it then. Was I just some charity case Twilight had been forced to pick up? I had been doing fine on my own till the so called Goddess had to step in and screw up my life. I stomped my hoof to relieve my stress, unwittingly causing the pile of boxes I had hidden on top of to fall and push me right through the storeroom door. I came to rest directly in the dead center of the room, baking ingredients spilling from the boxes.

“Uh...ow?” I squeaked out. From somewhere still hidden in the storeroom, I heard Crona groan. For a moment, everypony just stared. Then, a deep rumbling laugh started to emanate from a huge dragon I somehow hadn't even noticed before. I felt my jaw literally drop open. How did something get this big? Spike was barely able to fit his head in the room. I would've started to die of laughter from if I hadn't been so embarrassed. I could only started to imagine how big the rest of him must be, the great purple mass extending far out of the door.

“So is this the filly then?” He asked, chuckling still filling his deep voice. Twilight's scowl and look of disappointment made me blush deeper.

“Yes, a filly I told to be here an hour ago and not wreck the storage of the Cake’s.” She started, in a reprimanding tone.

“Come now Twilight, I remember a certain pony who turned an entire town upside down for something very minor, if my memory hasn't completely degraded yet. Does a certain Smarty pants fiasco ring a bell?” Spike chided softly. This time, it was my mentor who blushed deeply, apparently remembering something from her own youth.  With the attention taken away from me, I quickly scampered back into the storeroom. Sounds of the party starting back filtered through the doorway. A rush of gratitude filled my heart towards Spike. He had to be a good person to help someone out he didn’t even know.

Hours later, as the party started winding down and night had fallen everypony had made their way outside, stargazing. Spike had separated from the main group, apparently lost in thought. Timidly, I approached him, wanting to know more about him.

“Spike?” I whispered, falling onto my haunches beside him. “Did Twilight really nearly destroy the whole town?” I asked bluntly. The fussy, careful mare couldn’t have screwed up that much, he had to have just been trying to embarrass her.

“I wouldn't say it was that dramatic, but yes. Without Celestia's intervention, it could have been a lot worse.” Spike responded, glancing down at me protectively. “I remember when she was much like you, before she got so study obsessed.” I nodded, that sounded like Twilight. “Zenith is it?” I nodded again. “I appreciate you taking my position. I know staying with Twilight can't be easy at times.” He continued, speaking as if this was my choice; of course it wasn't.

With a gentle breath of green fire, Spike summoned a necklace from some distant hoard. He gently hooked the chain with one giant talon and lay it at my feet. “This is for you. It will allow you to store magic within the gem as well as hosting a variety of protection spells. I wish you wouldn't ever need it, but knowing Twilight you probably will, she can be quite troublesome at times.” He finished with a small chuckle.

For a second, I just stared at the beautiful necklace before levitating it around my neck and fastening the clasp.”Do you like it?” Spike inquired, hope coloring his voice. The pendant was beyond wonderful; no one had thought to actually give me presents before, except Twilight who only gave me books. It was my first true gift. In response, I threw my forelegs around as much of him as I could (which wasn't much). That night, I fell asleep against his side, underneath the stars

_____________

Recuperation

“It’s...Zenith.” I croaked out, voice barely above a whisper. The consciousness had abruptly shrunk away from mine at the end of the memory, leaving me feeling even weaker after having my mind virtually raped.  Mentally, I checked the stores of my amulet. After several years of slowly packing energy away, less than half of it remained after the fight. There was still plenty of magic left in the amulet, but my body and horn couldn’t take the stress any longer.

The dragon shook its maw, a deep laugh echoing from inside of its throat. Smoke rumbled from its depths and the temperature dramatically increased around me. I half expected it to toast me right there. “You...you lie! Zenith died more than a century ago.” He growled out, incredulity obvious. The dragon breathed deeply, smoke billowing out to cover me.

“No.. Really. You.. saw the memory. Spike, you were Twilight’s apprentice, you know that memories can’t be altered.” I explained, barely able to keep my eyes open. Without the adrenaline pumping through my veins, the aches and pains had started to catch up with me. I felt like every single burn on my body intensified to a burning heat.

This caused the dragon to actually think, and I allowed myself to hope it was him. “Twilight never told me what exactly happened to little Zenith. But...how?” I was a little happy I had already been trapped onto the ground. Didn’t need to struggle to keep standing. Limbs felt like jelly.

“Twilight’s vortex. Trying... time spells. I got sucked in.” I rasped out. My head had started to feel light from the absence of magic and I could feel the world slipping away.

“No way.” Spike whispered. This was him without a doubt. Somehow still alive after all this time and through all the strife. My tired mind couldn’t express the relief I felt. I wasn’t going to die. At least, not now. Maybe I’d even have time for a little rest.

“Hey Spike? I think I- I think I need a bit of a nap. The last spell... kinda wore me-” I started before abruptly losing consciousness.

____________________________________________________________________________

When I woke up, I didn’t have any idea where I was. Used to this by now, I took a quick look around, trying to get a good feel for my surroundings. I was off the ground a bit, on a scaly bed. My entire body was covered in painful burns. The previous hours fighting came back to me though and I groaned loudly, the pain and soreness making me wish I had actually died, instead of awoken once again to this. Spike took notice of my stirring and looked back for a second, making sure I was awake.

“Your ‘friend’ is over there. He kept shooting at me with that cute little gun of his, so I figured it might be more expedient to tie him up. Less shooting this way, more peaceful. But... it might work a bit better if you talk to him a while, and get him to calm down.” Spike explained. I glanced down over his side and could see a tell-tale fire in the midst of some rubble, with a struggling pony near it. Night had finally crested while I was asleep, putting the land into darkness.

“Alright... ugh... Just give me a second alright? I’ll stop him.” I replied. I groaned from the burns. Shield would have something for it; he had to. Oddly enough, fresh, soft scales had already started to replace those that Spike had lost. “How long was I out?” I asked, confused his recovery. He had been just as beat up as I had.

“Just a few hours. Dragons heal quite quickly.” He said dismissively. He crouched down low, making it easier for me to dismount.

“Ready for round three?!” I heard Shield yell followed by an increased amount of struggling. I had to stifle a giggle.

“Shield stop! It’s ok, he’s friendly!” I tried to assure Shield. I slip off the side of Spike’s back as smoothly as I could and trotted to Shield’s side. Shield’s horn was glowing brightly as he flug everything he could see at Spike. He didn’t even notice me until I was close enough to shake his shoulders.

For the first time, I got a good look at Shield. One of the horns of his armor had actually been twisted around, the first sign of real damage I had seen on it.The rest was relatively intact, with just a collection of scratches. I really needed to ask what it was made out of.

“Zenith? The hell you doin’ filly? I thought you were dead!” His magic flickered out and he abruptly stopped struggling as I came into view.

“Just... meeting an old friend. If I tell him to let you out, you can’t fight alright? He’s on our side, I promise.” I said, smiling a little. I gradually made my way to him, each step a world of pain, sending a wave of hurt through my pony. I swear even my hooves were burned and I couldn’t even feel them. I motioned for Spike to come closer and he cut through the ropes with one of his forward claws.  

“Zenith, there ain’t no such thing as a friendly dragon, no matter what he told you! Now get behind me, filly!” Shield snapped. Now freed, he reached into his saddlebag. A single steel container came back out, wrapped in his magic. He kept glancing over at Spike, fear in his eyes. He probably expected him to pounce at any moment. If I didn’t know him, I’m sure I would’ve felt the same way.

“No Shield, he’s a friend. This is Spike, Twilight Sparkle’s former assistant. His eyes grew wide and then narrowed in renewed suspicion.

“How do you...” He started before I cut him off.

“I know him, from before. Now stop acting like a foal and help me stay conscious instead.” I finished. My knees finally gave out from the dizziness.” Shield sighed and unscrewed the top of the container. Cool, aloe cream filled the interior.

“Your barding is wrecked, it’s just gonna stick on if we leave it there. This is gonna hurt, but you’re gonna need to help me here.” He slowly helped me out of the burnt and ripped barding, each piece feeling like fire as it was half scraped and half oiled off. Finally, we managed to get it all off, along with probably half of my coat.

“Down,” Shield commanded. I collapsed onto my stomach with an oomph, glad to be off my hooves again. Shield dipped his hoof into the cream and actually started to apply it to my back. Not expected of Shield, but did I care? Hell no. I glanced over at Spike, seeing him holding back a laugh. I sent him a glare which only made him giggle more, smoke going through his nostrils.

“Thanks...Shield.” I muttered between sighs of contentment. The cooling sensation felt amazing against my scorching coat.

“So who’s this buddy of yours?” Shield asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. He sounded so awkward. More a mixture of anxiety and careful suspicion.

“His name is Spike and he used to be Twilight’s assistant before me, back before I was even born. I met him at a party when he came back to town one year and we became really good friends off that. He’s the one who gave me my amulet.”

“I can talk you know.” Spike interjected in his deep, rumbling voice. Shield jumped in shock and I couldn’t help but giggle.

“Right sorry, uh, Spike.” Shield said, stuttering slightly. I turned my head to glance back at Shield. Instead, his hooves moved by his side, looking for the gun that no longer hung there.

“Why’d you stop?” I asked, trying to give my best puppy dog eyes.

“You know, just a little disconcerted with the damn dragon standing five feet away from us.” Shield practically hissed, but at least he was back to the cream.

“Relax, Spike’s a good guy. Just a little bigger and scarier than us. Why’d you attack us anyways?” I asked, suddenly curious. Sure, dragons were protective but that had been a bit over the top. It wasn’t like we were in his hoard or something, that I could totally understand.

“Oh yea, about that.” Spike started to answer, sounding hesitant. “There’s important pre-war tech around here as well as some other stuff I can’t really talk about right now, but needless to say it’d be pretty bad if anypony else got a hold of it. So I may be a little overzealous in my defense, but it’s a necessity.” He finished, sounding more confident. Maybe this would’ve convinced someone who didn’t know him as well as I did, but to me it was clear that Spike was lying.

“You know I’ll want to see it.” I replied, smirking. “Can you fly us New Filly tomorrow? Be a hell of a lot easier and quicker than walking. Besides, you owe us.”

“It was half your fault!” Spike retorted in disbelief. I waved a hoof like it was no big deal. “Fine. But I want a full explanation of how you’re here. I see you kept that amulet I gave you. It’s more important now than it ever was.”

“Oh?” It had saved me earlier. I always knew that it was more powerful than he let on but such solid protective spells were hard to come by.

“It’s come to mean something a bit more. Before the war ended, Twilight and Luna started a plan- No it’d actually be easier to show you. Stay here.” Spike thrust off with his hind legs and took off into the air, flying towards who knows where. Where the hell did he expect I was going to go?

I sighed, watching him disappear into the night sky. It was such a relief to see someone I knew again. This place was such a shithole, having someone from home would actually be quite the help. Spike especially, I had always gotten along with him quite well. He also knew what the old world was like, giving me a bit more relatability. He might be able to help me get to Canterlot to find those old scrolls.

“So this Spike figure, what was your relationship with him anyways?” Shield asked. I let myself relax and actually enjoy the pseudo-massage from Shield. Even the soreness from walking was starting to go away.

“Really good friend. Honestly, probably my only real friend. Yea, I knew a few of the other colts and fillies of Ponyville, but they always seemed scared of me. We always played together and stuff, but I didn’t feel like I could confide in them, y’know? Spike just liked me for who I was, looking past my scary magic.” I answered, a frown tugging at the corners of my previous mirth.

“How’d you get to be friends with a damned dragon then, huh?”

“He was Twilight’s old apprentice. After a while, he outgrew the library that she lived in and had to go away. He was always her favorite too, I don’t really think she liked me that much. To be fair though, I didn’t really like her. I only started living with her when they found me after-” I started to explain before cutting myself off. The pain made me mind not quite clear and I could tell I was rambling about stuff I really didn’t want to talk about. Those were memories I didn’t really know if I wanted to share quite yet. Memories from way back on the Canterlot streets, where things were different than the main world.  

“After what?” Shield asked, curiosity evident.

“I-I’ll-Later.” I finished pathetically. “Look, it’s something deeply personal and I really don’t want to talk about it right now. I don’t like to think about it.”

“Whatever, but I expect you to tell me eventually.” Shield said, sighing.

“So since Spike’s giving us a ride tomorrow, I figured we might be able to sleep in a bit, is that ok?” I asked, really not wanting to wake up as early tomorrow. I’m not lazy, rest is good for you!

“Fine, just don’t expect us to make a habit out of it. You know, since I figure I might as well believe ya for now, what was life like before you got teleported here? Didn’t really get the chance to hear your answer.” Shield asked. At least he wasn’t calling me a damn liar, although I really didn’t want to think about home right now until I could find a suggestion of a way back.

“Well... it was a lot nicer than this place. Everyone had their little jobs to do and no one really wanted for food; at least in Ponyville. There were some poor ponies in the streets and slums of Canterlot but they were it. Weren’t many of us street rats. Violence like this? Wasn’t even considered a possibility. Ok, occasionally some kind of creature would wander in from the Everfree, but it wasn’t anything Twilight or Fluttershy couldn’t handle. To be fair, it was kind of boring. Even so, it was home, don’t really know how it got turned into something like this...” I finished, feeling a tear or two well up in my eyes.

“Err, sounds nice.” Shield replied lamely. “All done here.” He pat my back conformationally with a hoof. My burned, sore back. Dammit, that hurt!

“Ow!” I protested weakly, wincing. “Can’t you keep going anyways? That felt sooo good.” I looked back at him trying to give him my best puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately, when you look like a red-eyed demon that kind of falls flat.

”Spect that’s something you’d rather Sunrise do instead of me.” Shield teased, walking back towards his camp. I felt myself blush scarlet and the night suddenly felt very warm!

“H-Hey! That’s not true. I don’t like her like that at all!” I protested, getting to my feet and shaking myself out. I followed him to the camp, miffed at his teasing. “What are you trying to imply, huh?”

“You’re a smart girl. You really think no one else has noticed your little crush on Sunrise? Every time you look at her you get this distant look in your eye like she’s the greatest thing in Equestria.  I swear,I half expect you to just get on one knee one of these days and propose your undying love to her. It’s almost kind of cute, in a pathetic kind of way.” Shield answered, chuckling at my obvious discomfort.

“Shut up!” I felt my blush go deeper. I tried to hide myself in my mane, much like Fluttershy used to. I did not stare at Sunrise! I certainly did not like her like that and I definitely did not like fillies!

“D’aww, first crush?” Shield asked, his voice turning sickly-sweet. Thankfully, I heard a loud crash behind me as Spike finally arrived back from wherever the hell he went, leaving me with this monster.

“Spiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike. He’s being mean to me. You should kill him.” I whined, pointing over at Shield accusingly. The terrified yelp he gave was more than worth it. Spike just stared at me incredulously and buried his face into his paw.

“At least you haven’t changed. Still the same, silly Zenith. Here take a look at this, to be honest I couldn’t find the scroll I was looking for but this will help with some explanation. Twilight said it was a good preface. I’ve got a few more once you’re done with that one, so just take your time.” Spike explained, he took a single scroll from a satchel and passed it over to me.

I took it in my magic which wasn’t just flickering out of existence now. I could only concentrate enough for pretty minor stuff though, like small levitations, but it was enough to at least read a memory and move a scroll around. I pressed my horn to the page, instantly absorbed in the memory.

______________________________________________________________

Ok, definitely still a unicorn. The ever present pressure of the horn reminded me of that. I could feel the magic flowing too, so it was definitely a powerful unicorn. Whoever I was lay on a really really nice bed with midnight blue silk sheets. Swanky and comfortable. I tried to take a good look around, but I couldn’t because of the restrictions of my body.

What I could see was quite nice though. The room was decked out in varying shades of blue and purple with extravagant and way over the top furnitures filling the room. I hoped I wouldn’t have to sit here for a while, stuck in the memory just waiting. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long for the action to start.

“Journal number seventeen. First meetings with Luna.” Twilight’s voice called out, signaling who I was inside.

A door cracked open and in stepped Princess Luna, wearing full battle regalia and appearing extremely tired. She smiled when she saw me though and levitated off the armor, dropping it onto one of the spare couches. She perked up considerably, happy to see me. “Twilight, good to see you. Sorry it has taken us- taken me- so long. There was business in the field.” She greeted me, laying down rather close. By rather close, I meant so that our sides were touching literally touching and she had wrapped a wing around my body.

“Good to see you Princess. It isn’t like we could have continued without you anyways. But now, we need to get this going as soon as possible if it’s going to work. Have you talked to the others yet?” I asked. How typical of Twilight to get right down to business, even with something as regal as Princess Luna. Luna, on the other hand was in no where near such a hurry. She snuggled up close to Twilight and let out a deep breath.

I didn’t really know Luna that well, but from what I could surmise from the few times I had met her, she appeared to be pretty stressed out right now. Her mouth had set into a scowl now, which seemed to be how it always was when I was around.  She also seemed to be finding solace in Twilight Sparkle which was... odd. Granted, I had seen a hint of this earlier in the Ponyville memory, but this was much more intimate.

“Of course I have. Applejack didn’t like it, but she agreed that it was necessary. The rest got on board instantly. Pinkie Pie especially seemed quite happy with working with her old friends. It seems like your little plan is a go.” Luna answered, opening her eyes as she finished and grinning down at myself.

“Thank Cele- I mean thank goodness. Applejack has always been the most stubborn, with her on our side, there shouldn’t be any problems. If only Fluttershy could’ve been here for this.” Twilight said, glancing over at Luna nervously. Luna gave a wing shrug, ensuring her that the near Celestia name-drop, was no big deal. And wait, what was that about Fluttershy?

Hopefully, she was just far away and not dead, like Twilight’s statement implied. “I was thinking something like this for our emblem.” Twilight continued, letting her horn glow. In the air, a purple illusion appeared in the exact shape of her cutie mark. “Opinion?”

“It’s perfect, like you.” Luna said, nuzzling Twilight again, grinning all the wider. Twilight huffed and rolled her eyes, it felt like she wanted to protest and talk more, but Luna’s stressed look quickly silenced her..

“Only for you.” She mumbled. Luna came in close and - Oh Celestia I really really didn’t want to see my mentor this way. How do I end this? The vision started to blur slightly, as Luna and Twilight did things that I definitely didn’t ever care to know about. Luckily, Twilight lost focus and the spell ended before anything too bad could happen.

_____________________________________________________________

“The fuck was that?” I yelped coming out of the vision. I shook my head violently, trying to clear away mental images that just would not go away. “Spike, that was disgusting!” I protested, shivering a little.

“Oh? What was it?” Spike asked, looking all innocent and clueless. I could see through that disguise. That conniving beast. I could see right through his lies and see him attempting to corrupt my innocent little mind.

“Twilight and.... Luna and... things!” I sputtered. I couldn’t help but cringe a little. It felt like walking in on my own parents. “They were talking about some kind of plan and then they...” I trailed off suggestively.

Realization dawned in Spike and Shield’s eyes. “Ohhh! So that’s what it was!” Spike said. He started to laugh, a deep rumble in his throat, unable to contain it.

“You knew that was on there, didn’t you?” I accused Spike.

“No, no! I promise. I was just listening to what Twilight said.” Spike protested, trying to stop his laughing.

“I-I think I’ll stay out of this.” Shield put in, smiling himself. “Besides, I want to get some sleep, you two do want you want, just don’t keep me up.” Shield quickly levitated his armor off, as he usually did to sleep. He head over to the other side of the camp and lay down, next to his packs.

“You should get some rest to.” Spike lay onto his side with a bit of a thump. “You need your rest, those injuries aren’t going to heal by themselves.” He closed his eyes and relaxed his shoulders.

I fidgeted uncomfortably, still standing. “Hey Spike... D-Do you mind if I were t-to sleep like we did the first night? I could use the company.” I finished, feeling rather embarrassed. That was nearly four years ago in my life, and who knows how long for Spike?

He opened his eyes and grinned, kindly this time as opposed to the teasing grin from earlier. Well, at least as kind as a giant dragon could look. “That’s fine Zenith, it’ll be like old times.” He lifted his wing up and gestured inward with his forelimb.

I snugged up to his stomach, feeling the warmth. Nights in the wasteland had been cold so far, and the warmth Spike provided was simply wonderful.

“Thank Spike.” I mumbled. I actually felt pretty content that I hadn’t felt since I arrived here. Spike just had a sort of... comforting feeling about him. It was something I knew and trusted, something I could latch on to.

“Zenith, I really missed you and the others. It’s been.. a long time since I’ve seen even a remotely friendly face. I shouldn’t be happy to see you here...but I am.” Spike continued, talking quietly for Shield’s benefit. “What’s happened to you Zenith? Last time I saw you, you were healthy and safe, if not the happiest filly in the world.” He finished, sighing sadly.

“It hasn’t been that bad. I found Shield when I first got here so I at least had someone looking out for me. Then I met Sunrise too, and she’s... she’s just amazing. She actually wants to help the wasteland, y’know? She just isn’t standing around, watching the world burn like the rest of these ponies. She’s so pretty too, and nice, and smart, and just.. great.” I didn’t realize how bad I was gushing until I looked at it in hindsight. Damn, I was pathetic.

“Sounds like she’s quite the pony.” Spike responded, sides shaking a little with withheld laughter. “I’m glad that you’ve been able to find someponies you like at least. This place brings out the worst in all of us. Anything major happen after that?” He asked.

"Well the caravan got ambushed again by..um slavers. They got me and a few others. Then we got to Rust where Sunrise got elected sheriff.” I tried to skip over the slaver part and muttered it rather quietly. I didn’t really want Spike to make a big deal about it. Yes it sucked, yes I wouldn’t want to do it again, but talking about it wouldn’t really help it at all.

“Excuse me?” Spike interrupted me mid-story. I didn’t expect to be able to slide it past him, but it was worth a try. “What was that about slavers?” He sounded remarkably like Twilight right now.

“Look, it’s no big deal alright?” I pressed. Later. We could talk about it later. Not now though. “Can we just go to bed?” I wanted to talk more with him, but it was already late and I needed sleep for tomorrow. I was still hurting pretty bad too, sleeping should help that.  I heard Spike sigh deeply and shake his head.

“Alright Zenith, night.” He replied, albeit hesitantly.I snuggled up closer to him and closed my eyes and let myself start to drift off, warm against his stomach. The world was much different, but I wanted Spike and I to always be friends. We fell asleep once again under the night sky.

Fillydelphia

       For the first time since leaving Rust, I woke on my own accord. I was still nestled underneath Spike's wing and I could hear him and Shield talking quietly, obviously trying not to wake me up.

       “She always has talked in her sleep... So, uh, you're friends with Zenith?” Shield asked. He still sounded wary, but at least he was trying to get to know Spike. As long as I woke up and they weren't trying to kill each other, I was just fine with that.

       “Yes, we knew each other before the war even started. One day, she mysteriously disappeared right from Twilight's house. Twilight was so devastated, she never was able to tell us exactly what happened. You know what happened from there.” Spike explained. I suddenly felt both guilty and loved simultaneously. I hadn't known that Twilight would miss me that much.

       “That's right. Me an' Sunrise have been takin' care of her since then.”

       “Speaking of this Sunrise... what exactly is her relationship with Zenith?” Spike asked.

       “Heh. Well it's pretty clear what Zenith thinks. Zenith thinks she's the sun and the moon reincarnated. I don't think there is a thing that Sunrise could ask that Zenith would say no to. She's as taken as anypony I've seen.” Shield finished with a chuckle. “As for Sunrise? I don't really know. She genuinely cares, that much I can tell you.” Ok, I didn't want to hear anymore of this.

       “I'm awake.” I cut in, trying to wiggle my way out from underneath Spike's wing. I shook my head, trying to clear the last drowsiness away. Shield still had his armor off and the fire had long since burned out. It didn't seem like anything saw fit to disturb us during the night. That was a nice change of pace. Then again, sleeping beside a dragon probably had something to do with that.

       “Mornin' honey, how's the magic?” Shield asked, trying to play it off like they hadn't been talking to me. That was a good question though; I closed my eyes and mentally checked how my magic was doing. Most of it seemed to return, but I wasn't going to be recovering from a burnout in just one day. Twilight could've done it in hours, but it took me quite a bit longer.

       “Enough.” I replied. I would at least be able to shield us if the need arose. It wasn't like we were going to be that vulnerable today though. We were just going to be riding Spike to New Filly. Nothing could really hurt us that high in the air.

       “Mind getting us some food from your stores? My saddlebags were crushed from our tussle yesterday. Ain't nothin' in eatable condition.” I nodded and reached into my pocket of otherspace, retrieving some of the apples that Sunrise had given me to carry. I tossed a few to Shield and started to eat the others myself. I hadn't realized how hungry I was before he mentioned it. We ate for a while in silently and quickly.

       Surely I wasn't that infatuated with Sunrise. Sure, she was pretty, nice, and all the other things I had said were true, but that didn't mean I had a crush on her. I was not a fillyfooler. I wasn't even old enough to like anypony like that... Ok maybe I was, but still, I did not like Sunrise like that. I just care for her like she cares for me. She was like my best friend here in the wasteland, even if she did act more like a mother.  Besides, Sunrise was an amazing leader, anypony would look up to her.

        “Zenith, if you need it, I can help you replenish some of your magic.” Spike offered, finally interrupting my thoughts. I had no idea where he had learned to do real magic, but I wasn't going to complain. I thought his breath and size were the girth of his abilities. Obviously I had been mistaken.

        “That'd be great. Can you do it before we leave?” I was learning a little about the wasteland. I didn't want to arrive anywhere at anything but full capacity. It seemed like no matter where we went, there could be some form of danger. I wanted to be prepared for time around.

       “Absolutely, come over here for a moment.” Spike moved to stand on his hind legs. I trotted up in front of him and he placed two claws on my horn. I could feel his claws start to radiate heat and a jolt traveled through them to my horn. A wave of magic rolled through my body, more than I really needed. I let the excess flow through, easing the aches from my burns and finally settling inside of my amulet, restoring some of the lost energy.

       “How do you do that? I didn't think dragons could do magic.” None of the things I had read about dragons spoke of any magical ability.

       “I'm not sure myself. I haven’t met many dragons, but the ones that I have couldn’t do what I can. I believe that Twilight may have given me some of hers when she began my birth. There was a lot of magic in the air and it had to go somewhere. But that's just a guess.” Spike finished, shrugging his wings. "Oh, let me hide that amulet too. Twilight's old sign might give you some trouble." He placed his claws delicately on the necklace and sent a pulse of magic through them. Instantly, the amulet shimmered out of being, gone from sight but the weight remaining on my chest.

"Thanks. It's given me a lot of trouble, but it was all I had left of the old Equestria..." I replied, trailing off.

       “If you two are done talking, can we head out now? We need to get to New Filly as soon as possible.” Spike interrupted our discussion. He had donned his armor again and wore his remaining saddlebag, the other left ruined from the fight. I could see his gun once again secured at his side.

       Spike nodded and crouched down onto his stomach again. “Thanks. Let's go Zenith.” Together, Shield and I clambered onto Spikes back between his wings. With a heavy push off and a whoosh of air, Spike lifted off. He quickly ascended into the air, taking us near the clouds.

       I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn't ignore the air rushing through my mane though. I hated heights more than nearly anything. Twilight's balloon had always made me sick and even looking over the edge of Canterlot had left me shaking. I could already feel myself beginning to tremble.

       “You alright hon?” Shield must've noticed my discomfort. Then again, we were rather close and it would've been hard not to.

       “Really. Don't. Like. Flying.” I managed to grunt out between grit teeth. I wasn't going to complain though. This was the fastest way to get to New Filly and the only way to make up all the lost time from yesterday.

       “Oh..um... Can I do anything for ya?” Shield asked, sounding awkward as hell. I wanted to facehoof, but I was too busy hanging on for dear life.

       “No.” I answered. I shivered again, the cold air reminding me where I was. Calm down Zenith, just go to your happy place. I tried to imagine that I was back in Rust. I didn't think I could lie to myself enough to pretend I was back at Twilight's. I pretended that I was still in Sunrise's house. I was just waking up and I could hear her whistling to herself from downstairs. The bed besides me was still warm.

I made my way slowly down the stairs and she was waiting for me in the kitchen, making us both something to eat. I stood in the doorway for a second and she turned, finally noticing me. She smiled that brilliant smile of hers and wished me good morning. There wasn't anything to worry about. We were safe, together, and at peace. I was content.

       I managed to enrapture myself so fully in my imagination that I didn't even notice when we landed. The first thing that broke me from my stupor was Shield poking me roughly in the side. “We're a mile out. Didn't want to get too close on a dragon, guards might get a little miffed.” I shook my head to clear my daze and then nodded.

       “What about Spike? Will you be ok?” I asked, directing the second question to Spike himself.

       “I will be fine Zenith. I have been along for quite a while, I will be quite alright for a just a little longer.” Spike answered.

       “I'll take to 'em about your friend here. Might be a damn good bargaining chip too. No one really wants to be enemies with a Celestia damned dragon after all.” Shield and I dismounted from Spike's back again. I didn't even feel any nausea from the flight. Usually I would’ve been a little sick from the flight, but those were generally much quicker. I felt surprisingly good considering how badly I had been hurt yesterday and the following height; Spike’s magic really helped. I waved one last goodbye towards Spike and he once again took to the air, probably heading back to his hoard for now.

       Ahead of us, I could see a stone wall. It was much more impressive than the one surrounding Rust. Individual stone bricks had been combined to reach at least two stories high with enough space on top for a little walk way. I could see buildings over the walls as well. The ones that stood out the most were several massive skyscrapers,  barely hanging on to life.

       In the middle, there was a gate with two opened doors made of metal. They must've weighed a ton. Two guards stood ready in between them. Their guns were up and pointed at us, as well as the guns of the guards on the walkway. New Filly was a hell of a fortress compared to Rust.

       “How did New Filly get so big?” I asked. All the other settlements (if you could call the slaver compound one) had been much more low scale. It hadn't seemed like ponies could get along for anything here.

       “Location. Smack in the middle of most of the caravan trade routes 'round here. It tends to get a pretty damn good amount of business just cause that. Probably the best place to get you some new bardin' too. It's also one of the biggest sources of clean water too. Everything else has so much magic residue, no tellin' what'll happen if ya drink it. Here though, the old plant keeps it clean. Ain't no wonder why Sunrise wants its help.” Shield explained.

       What Shield said almost made me wish I had been around for the war now. Back when I was around, ponies didn't have that kind of technology that would last for nearly a hundred years in the future. We didn't have any guns either and electricity was only just becoming widespread. I wished I could've seen all this innovation for myself, even if it was made for killing each other.

       “D-Do you think we have any chance at actually getting them to help Rust?” I asked hesitantly. I didn't want to fail my very first mission and chance at actually changing something in the wasteland. It just didn't seem like we had anything to offer New Filly though. They were a big and powerful trade city and Rust just had the orchard. Sure, food wasn't anything to laugh about now, but it couldn't compare to all this.

        Shield looked up at the sky and pondered for a second. “'Fore you and that dragon showed up? Ain't no way. Now? Got a pretty damn good chance. That dragon could probably tear up most of this town by himself. Once you get yourself some actual combat spells you ain't going to be a pushover either. Never seen anypony who could teleport, that'll scare 'em in and of itself. Shows you got a lot of magic talent.” I actually hadn't thought about how I would influence any possible negotiations. Hopefully we could actually get this to work out.

       “Now when we get in the city I want ya to stay close alright? Guards try, but too much damn crime here for my likin'. Stay quiet too.” He turned back to look at my for a second, waiting for a response. I nodded, not having planned to leave his side for a second anyways. We were finally approaching the city gates.

       The two guards at the front had moved into defensive stances, their guns leveled at our chests. I couldn't really blame them. Two ponies approaching the gates that had arrived on the back of a dragon, one wearing the heaviest and most intimidating armor I had ever seen and the other a unicorn filly with half-healed burns covering half her body? We weren't the most unassuming couple.

        “S-Stop!” The lead guard shouted, his voice stuttering and nervous. “State your names and business in the city.” His guns were shaking in the battle saddle that he worse. I was afraid on Shield the first time I had met him too.

        “My name is Hope's Shield. The filly goes by Zenith.” Hope's Shield? I had never known Shield's full name. I was almost hurt that he hadn’t told me. If it was so common that he gave it to any guardspony, why not tell me? “We're here for business with your mayor. We come with a proposition from Rust.”

       “Rust, eh? What could that dump need with New Filly?” The guard had changed from nervous to having found a new air of confidence. He seemed to think of Rust as some backwaters crapshoot. I bit the inside of my mouth to resist shouting at him. It may not have been the nicest place in Equestria, but it was my home now and he shouldn't be insulting it.

       “That is no business of yours.” Shield responded. His voice remained impassive, the not-so-subtle barb not affecting him. “We come bearing no ill will, let us pass.”

        “Fine, fine. Just don't start any trouble.” The lead guard finished. The pair stepped to the side of the gates, clearing the way for us. Shield stepped forward, leading his way and giving me my first glance at the inside of New Filly. Stalls and caravans displaying their goods were brusquely shoved in your face as soon as you walked in. Dozens of ponies were buying and selling.

        The market seemed to be the first place in the city. It almost felt like Ponyville's market. It was busy, loud, and everypony was trying to sell you something. But, there was an undercurrent of something different. It felt like all the ponies were desperate to sell you their wares, like their lives depended on it.

        Several ponies approached us, offering their goods. I couldn't help but turn and look at everything offered, but Shield walked on and I was forced to keep moving just to stay close to him. Given my choice, I probably would have spent all the bits Sunrise had given us in just a few minutes here.

        “Ignore these ponies. They trade salvage that others have brought in. The good stuff is farther in.” Shield instructed me. His voice still sounded funny. It was cold and didn't have a trace of his accent. His horn wasn't even glowing. I made a note to ask him about it later.

        Shield led the way further into the city. The stalls and caravans were replaced with actual buildings here. A few were small houses that still stood from the pre-war days, but most were shacks made from scavenged materials. The farther in we went, the nicer the buildings became until it was just pre-war buildings.

This was where the skyscrapers were. Now, the once proud achievements of pony engineering stood shattered. Only half as tall as they once were, with gaping wounds where windows and walls had collapsed, with the infrastructure barely holding the building up. Lights still shone on in two though, proof of ponykind’s resilience. I started to get a sinking feeling that maybe the guards were right. How could Rust, of about a hundred ponies, ally with this relative metropolis? There had to be at least a thousand ponies living in the ruins.

       Finally, Shield stopped in front of a mostly standing domed building. One of the wings had collapsed in, but the rest stood proud as a testament to pony engineering. It was the old Fillydelphia town hall, still mostly intact.

        “Mayor's usually here. Best bet we have.” Shield explained. He started walking forward again, not waiting for me or not wanting for me to respond. He took the steps two at a time, leaving me hurrying to keep up with him. Shield seemed even more tense than usual. I didn't want to keep him waiting. He entered the building directly.

        The foyer seemed to be a sort of entrance room. Benches lined the edges of the wall. A few ponies took up space, but most seemed to be empty. Cracked white and black tiles covered the floor and the walls were painted a white that had started to yellow. In the center of the room, a gray unicorn mare with white mane took the spot behind the circular desk. Several books lay spread out on the desk in front of her. On each side of the desk, old wooden double doors remained closed tight.

        “Welcome to New Filly town hall. Please state your name and business and the mayor will be with you as shortly as possible.” The mare greeted us with a calm and soothing voice.

        “Hope's Shield and Zenith from Rust to discuss our cities relations. It is rather urgent.” Shield explained to the mare. Her horn glowed a bright pink and she quickly jotted down something in one of the books.

        “If you would take a seat, the mayor will be with you soon. You have the next appointment slot.” The mare gestured towards the benches on the walls. Shield nodded curtly and took a seat as far away from the other ponies in the room. I, of course, sat beside him and we waited. This would probably be easier without Shield's armor. It was good for intimidation but I didn't really feel like it would be the best for negotiations. I made another mental note to ask Shield about it later.

        We didn't have to wait long before the left side doors sprung open, nearly hard enough to be knocked off their hinges. A dark blue earth pony in light barding stormed out cursing profusely. Behind him, a near identical unicorn mare to the one at the desk stood impassively.

        “Hope's Shield and Zenith. The mayor will see you now.” The new unicorn mare announced in the same calm and soothing voice. The twin unicorns were actually sorta creepy; they almost seemed like the same pony.

        Shield hopped off the bench and followed the mare into the next room, with me hurrying afterwards. The mare led us down a red carpeted hallway with actually intact paintings. Each painting held a picture of a past mayor of Fillydelphia, with a little inscription underneath containing their greatest achievements.

       The mare opened the door at the end of the hallway and stood to the side to let us pass. Inside, a stallion awaited behind yet another desk. A couch lay in front of the desk for visitors. Somehow, the city had managed to get fresh flowers to put in the vases on the end tables spread along the walls. A wide bank of windows were propped open behind the desk, showing something of a shooting range out behind the city hall. It was likely where they trained their guards.

        The mayor himself didn't seem to be that impressive of a figure. He was of average build and wore glasses on the tip of his muzzle. His coat was a white as snow with a very light blue mane and tail. His eyes drooped slightly, as if bored.

        “Good afternoon. I hear you two come from Rust, tell me, how is my old hometown doing?” He asked, his voice drawling and tired.

        “The same as you left it I presume. There is a new sheriff, but otherwise it remains safe and prosperous.” Shield answered, although his voice had gained a slightly hard edge. “However, we come bearing a proposition. The new sheriff's name is Sunrise and she had a greater vision for this new Equestria. I, in no way, can adequately explain her dream, but I will do my best to reiterate her goals. She wishes to unite all the remaining bastions of civilization and get rid of the raiders and slavers for good. Not all establishments will be open to this of course, so she needs more ponypower. Just the kind of thing your city here has. Sunrise wishes for joint command over the two cities. Power would be equally spread between the two of you.” I had never known that Shield could actually give a half decent speech.

       The mayor chuckled a little before answering. “A mighty vision indeed, if unrealistic. You expect me, the leader of one of the most powerful cities in the wasteland, to share power with a sheriff from a shit hole like Rust? The idea is laughable and of course a resounding no. My population alone eclipses yours by more than ten times.” He glanced down back at the paperwork on his deck. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.” The dismissal was rather clear, but Shield remained, even with me nearly leaving his side.

        “You have yet to hear what we can offer you.” The mayor's head piqued back up in interest. “Your guards must have reported what we arrived on.” The mayor nodded slowly. “The dragon remains loyal to Rust. It alone is worth your population in total.” Despite how passive and cold Shield's voice was, I could feel a little bit of a gloat in his speech.

        “You have my consideration.” The mayor sounded reluctant, like he was admitting to something he didn't want.

       “That's not all.” Shield continued, interrupting the mayor. “The filly beside me is by far the most powerful magical talent left in the wasteland. She far eclipses myself, and I'm sure you have at least heard a little of my feats.” Well, even if the mayor had, I hadn't heard of Shield's past feats. I knew he was an able fighter, but I hadn’t heard anymore than that. I had thought Sunrise or Shield himself would’ve told me more, if it was such common knowledge. I had thought they cared at least that much.

I had learned more about Shield today than I had in the past two weeks and that bothered me slightly. I thought he had at least began to trust me a little, at least enough to tell me the stuff everypony already knew about him.

       At this, the mayor broke out in a hacking laugh, the most excitement I had seen from him thus far. “This? This filly? The most powerful unicorn in the wasteland? You must be joking!” The mayor still rolled in his chair with how hard he was laughing. I was about to speak before Shield silenced me with a hoof.

        “A test then. You can see the strength of her magic yourself. I'm sure your guards will be able to test her adequately, yes? How about we go down to your firing range and she can show your herself?” Shield asked, dipping his horns down toward the range outside.

        The mayor composed himself long enough to respond, although it was clear that he was still holding in giggles. “O-oh yes. That will be fine. I-I can't wait to see her in action.” He managed to finish before starting to laugh again. I had been frowning for quite a while now, understandably pissed off at this stallion.

        “Take us on out then Zenith.” Both I and the mayor were a bit confused at this until I realized he wanted me to teleport us out there. That was a good start off. Very few unicorns had the power to teleport, and taking the three of us out would be a good initial display.

       I nodded and focused my power. My horn glowed red for a second and we instantly appeared outside in the middle of the range, the guards who had been readying their guns staring amazed. The loud bang accompanying the displaced air surely had contributed to the effect as well. Shield stood straight and appeared calm even though I knew how disorientating being teleported by another unicorn was. Twilight used to do it with me all the time.

       The mayor, on the other hand, did not have near as easy of a time. I heard a loud retching sound behind me and turned to see the mayor just beginning to recover from losing his lunch. “T-That, was impressive.” He muttered out between heaves of breath. Now that we were outside I could get a better view of the area. The range consisted of multi-tiered targets that increased in distance and height the further from the pit. The other side where the shots had been coming from was swathed in shadow, making it hard for me to tell what all was there. I could see the glow of two horns though, holding weapons in their grip. Besides that, I could only make out about three other pony shapes.

        “Shall we begin a test then? How about have your guards attempt to break the best barrier she can make? All of them can attempt it.” Shield suggested. It sounded like he had put some thought into this before hand. The mayor nodded and accompanied Shield onto the side of the firing range, out of the line of the bullets. He was apparently too ill or unimaginative to come up with a different test. Not that this one was bad per say. It just only showed brute strength, no real finesse.

        No time to think about that now though. I constructed the strongest shield I could make around myself. I heard the mayor give the signal and the five or so ponies at the end of the range opened fire. I hadn't encountered these kinds of weapons before. They weren't like Shield's rifle that fired a single shot at a time. These fired multiple shots in quick succession, faster than I could keep track. They didn't feel near as powerful as Shield's though.

       It wasn't any matter though. The bullets all either pinged off or crushed themselves on my barrier. I saw a cyan light at the end of the range as another unicorn attempted to simply deconstruct my shield with his magic. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon. I could hold this new presence on bay infinitely, but I thought of a better demonstration of my powers. I traced the magic to its source and locked it with a spellbinding curse.

        Then, I ripped all the guns I could from their owners. I heard the snap of metal from battle saddles breaking at the force and the lights wink out as the unicorns holding their weapons were simply overwhelmed. I levitated the guns over in front of Shield and the mayor and slowly bent them out of useable shape. A sheen of sweat had broken over my coat and I felt my breath coming much harder now but I otherwise wasn't any worse for wear. Spike’s magic was pretty damn potent; I barely felt tired at all.

        “G-guards you are dismissed.” The mayor called out. His face was pale and his eyes were bulging out of his head. I could hear the guards helping their comrades off, carrying or dragging the unicorns who had been rendered unconscious. I let the shield drop off, smirking at my victory.

        “Do you believe me now?” Shield asked, looking down on the stallion.

        “Y-yes. I-We'll agree to the alliance.” The mayor muttered, still struggling to compose himself.

        “Zenith if you will, the documents?” I nodded and took the papers Sunrise had given me to deliver and placed them in front of the mayor. “We will come tomorrow to retrieve the copy with your signature. We will arrive at ten sharp. Zenith, take us to the stairs.” Shield commanded. I was kinda getting a little groused about ordered around so much and not being able to talk, but Shield's tactic had been extremely effective. I couldn't argue with the results. My horn glowed once again and with a pop we were back in front of the mayor hall.

       “Let's see about getting a room for the night. Wait until there to discuss today's events.” Shield said. His old voice was back now, no longer cold and unforgiving. I felt much more comfortable, the other voice was rather scary. I stayed behind Shield as he entered one of the skyscrapers. Instantly, a stallion actually wearing a business suit approached him and enthusiastically shook his armor clad hoof.

       “Welcome to Orange Hotels! My name is Orange Sherbert and I hope you enjoy your stay! How long will you need a room?” The stallion asked enthusiastically. His coat mirrored his name with a bright orange and his mane was a light blond.

        “Only gonna need a room for a night.” Shield replied, taking his hoof back like he had been touched by the plague. He withdrew twenty bits with his magic, apparently knowing the price and placed them in Orange Sherbert's awaiting hoof. Orange Sherbert in turn hoofed over a key, staring greedily at the bits.

       “Third floor, second door on the left.” Orange informed us, suddenly no longer interested. He retreated quickly now that he had his money.

       The stairs leading up to the third floor reeked of mildew and decaying bodies, whether pony or otherwise I couldn’t tell. Graffiti stained the otherwise white washed walls. The stairs to the levels past a certain point had been caved in by an explosion. Even still, we managed to make it to our room all right. Shield pushed at the door and it opened without even the use of the key. Some safety.

       The interior of the room wasn’t as bad as the outside though. The carpet, while stained and nasty in some places, was mostly intact. The bed itself looked fairly comfortable even if there was only one. The room was mainly devoid of any other ornamentation which was expected. Shield closed the door behind us and turned the lack, although it probably didn’t even work. I jumped onto the bed and rolled onto my side with a happy sigh.

        “Good work today.” Shield said, the closest thing to a compliment that I had actually gotten from him.

        “Thanks… So I was wondering.” I trailed off hesitating for a second. I was actually wondering quite a bit of things. “How exactly did you change your voice so thoroughly earlier today when we were talking to the mayor?” That was a good, safe, first question.

        “Oh that? I couldn’t tell ya what this armor was used for pre-war and the such, but it was used for somepony pretty high up obviously. Comes with a lot of pretty cool features. There’s a lot of different protective enchantments on it that keep it in good working order. Seems to fix itself after a while too, no matter how beat up it gets when I’m fightin’. The voice thing was one of the features I’ve only found out recently. Masks my voice pretty well, makes it hard to tell who’s in the armor ya know?” Shield explained. That made sense at least. Now I was curious as to what this had originally been designed for though. It had to be some type of honor guard, or maybe even a general.

       “Ok. How come you never told me what your full name was?” This question wasn’t as safe. Hopefully, it wouldn’t spark any bad memories or be a type of question that wastelanders shouldn’t ask. I hated not knowing all the social norms of a new place. It was like walking through a proverbial minefield.

        “Never asked. My mother used to be a bit of a seeress. Named her children of her prophecies. I was her last child to be born, right before she died. Dunno what my purpose is yet though, never got to tell me. So I’ve gone through life with a bit of an unknown prophecy hanging over my head.” I felt a twinge of sympathy for Shield.

        “Well… Last question, promise. These ponies had heard your name before. How come they already knew who you were?”

        “I used to do some things that I’m not too proud of anymore. It wasn’t all my fault though. I had to feed some important ponies and it was the only way I could. I was a mercenary for a while. I’m not happy to say that I killed some ponies who didn’t deserve it. I was known for being one of the most quick and efficient bounty hunters you could buy. Now… I wish I had never done any of that.” Shield’s voice actually sounded reticent. He didn’t seem like the type to be a contact killer to me. Then again, it didn’t look like I was the greatest judge of character in Equestria.

       “Mind staying alone for a bit? I need to get some stuff done in the city. Don’t open this door for nopony but me, ok?” I nodded my consent and he exited through the hotel door, locking it behind him. I was left alone with my thoughts, and with more questions that before. I needed to have a good, long talking to Shield. Hopefully, I’d have that chance.

Fillydelphia Pt. 2

I waited hours for Shield to return, but he never did. I started to worry more and more. Even Canterlot, the bastion of the Princesses hadn’t been safe from whatever had happened, who knew if Shield would be? To be honest, I had to admit to being scared as well. I didn’t want to spend a night alone here, I was just as vulnerable. The city had seemed safe enough. There were guards posted throughout, but even with guards in Canterlot the city had been rife with crime. Worse yet, nightfall was coming and quick. The sky had already started to darken.

Every time I was alone or even with somepony else at night something bad had happened. I had been nearly captured, actually captured and stabbed already. I didn’t want anything else to go wrong. Not a single night outside of Rust had ended well for me.

Maybe he was trapped, or the city guard’s had teamed up to take him out quietly. Maybe he found some kind of deep dark secret of the city nopony could know about and died for it. Or something. Yes, none of them were very likely, but that didn’t stop me from worrying. All of this compounded on my mind and I turned the lock on the door, put our last few belongings in my ‘pocket’ and exited our room.

I kept my head high as I entered the lobby. I looked around, but couldn’t spot Shield here. He was a pretty prominent figure in his armor, but nothing stood out. A few ponies still milled around including Orange Sherbet who promptly ignored me entirely. Ass. I got onto the street before I realize something very important. I didn’t have a damn clue where Shield would be right now. He hadn’t given me any indication on where he was planning to go or what he even wanted to do. However, there had to be at least a good place to start.

I didn’t have the first clue of where to go here, but the every direction went to the heart of the city, the marketplace. It was a hub of activity, plenty of stuff to buy and sell. It was also the best place for Shield to go to get weapons or supplies. It was the easiest place to check as well; I would be able to find it very easily. Most of the New Fillydelphia town seemed to be orientated around the mainstreet running from the entrance to the town hall. I just had to follow the road down to the marketplace. No problem.

For once, nothing went wrong on the way. Nopony tried to ambush me and no dragon appeared to try and kill me only to end up being a long lost friend. Not that that second one happened often, but still, once was enough! I acted as naturally as I could, pretending to window shop while actually looking for the crest of Shield’s armor.I started to get my first odd looks here; the citizens of Filly probably weren’t used to watching a little demon filly walking down their main street on her own.

After hours of feigning interest about everything from fine soaps to prewar bottled drinks, I finally started to ask some of the store owners directly if they’d seem a fully armored unicorn walking around. Unfortunately, that seemed to be not that of an uncommon sight in this city, and none of them acted like they had seen Shield’s impressive armor. That was even considering I could get an answer out of them in the first place. The store owners would barely talk to me if I didn’t act like I had money. I finally got desperate enough to enter the ‘slums’ of New Filly, where the caravans and stalls were hastily erected.

By this time, darkness had nearly completely fallen. Most of the light came from feeble street lights and torches on the stalls. Even with night fully arrived, ponies still hurriedly traded in the crowded marketplace. I got even more looks here. I quickly realized there wasn't anypony even close to my age. All of them were fully grown adults, with weapons not-so-subtly ferreted away on their bodies. Each of them looked ready to start shooting at a minutes notice.

I, on the other hand, was an unarmed, unarmored filly in the midst of all the bustle.

I wasn’t intimidated though. Somewhere at the back of my mind I’m sure I was terrified as hell but I couldn't let it get to me now. I had places to be and ponies to meet. At the forefront on my mind, I focused on my magical prowess. Surely I could best anypony here without a second thought and if not none of them could catch me if I was teleporting. I wasn’t safe, but I would be ok.

Still though, some of these ponies gave me the creeps. Odd, shaved ponies walking around like it was the most normal thing in the world. Ponies with tattoos covering their entire bodies until nopony could tell what was underneath. Ponies missing limbs only to be replaced with robotic attachments that whirred and squeaked at every movement.

The tattooed were the worst. The ponies had fully shaved themselves and painted intricate designs covering their entire bodies in tattoos. They set in a circle in the middle of a caravan just chanting and muttering to themselves. Occasionally one would look up and stare off into space. Unerringly, their eyes were either bleached white or red and irritated. A fire burned in the center, a deep green instead of the normal red. The smoke that wafted off made my head feel light and my knees grow weak whenever I caught the scent.

It almost made me forget why I was here in the first place. As I subconsciously drifted away from the smoke though, my thought’s clarity came back. I was here to find Shield, no more milling around like a foal!

I set out to the closest open stall, a vendor of the few remaining spices in Equestria. Most of them had been wiped out by the war and those that remained, while hard to grow and with terrible taste compared to the old world counterparts, were luxury items that costed nearly a hundred bits for an ounce. The stall owner perked up as I approached, probably thinking that I had ample amounts of bits for a sale. Sorry to disappoint.

“Excuse me sir,” I started, trying to keep the anxiety from my voice. My nervousness made me much more polite than I normally would have. I kept my magic ready for instant action, ready to be turned on at a moment’s notice.

The stallion working the stall turned his gaze to me almost lazily. When he finally had the whole me in his vision, he grinned a sickly-sweet smile. “And what would your question be, sweetheart?” He asked, propping his head on his hoof and looking down at me.

I met his gaze unabashed. “I’m looking for a pony named Shield. You’d probably know him if you saw him. He’s pretty tall, tends to walk around in a full suit of armor that looks like a dragon. Did he perhaps walk through here and talk to anypony?” I asked.

The stallion leaned back and considered for a second. “I might have seen this pony. Awful lot of ponies go through here you know.” The stallion said, dragging his words out. “My memory ain’t what it used to be, maybe some bits might help it?”

“How would bits help your memory?” I demanded. At his bored look my naive mind finally caught on. He was talking about a damn bribe! He wanted a damn bribe just to tell me if he had even seen Shield walk through here. I didn’t bother to hold back my rage. “You want money to do me a basic kindness?” I asked with a sneer.

“You think I’d give it away for free? You must be younger than you look. Then again, maybe you’d like to pay in a different way?” The stallion finished, giving me a distinctly lecherous look. My mouth fell open, appalled.

“How about this? You tell me or I burn your stall down?” I snapped, slamming my hooves onto the table. My horn sparked to life with pent up energy, ready to burst. Almost subconsciously, I could feel the crowd around starting to stare. I didn’t even turn though; I was long used to it. I wasn’t used to trying to issue a threat though. The stallion actually had the audacity to laugh in my face.

“You ain’t going to get anything with that kind of attitude. Now, why don’t you bother somepony less important than me?” The stallion asked, with a chuckle. His horn glowed a bright orange and he attempted to push me gently away from the stall. I was not going to have any of that.

I stopped his telekinesis with a burst of magic from my own horn and stopped the flow of his magic as best I could. It literally came down to a battle of wills and patience. A sizeable crowd had grown around us by this point.

With a rough surge of magic, I made his stall completely collapse and fall to the ground, just bits and pieces of what it had been before. His face lit up in surprise before he grit his teeth and his horn sparked to life once again. This time, he lifted up a large piece of debris from the stall and bring it down on my head. I stopped it with my own magic, mine slowly forcing his away.

We both stood like this for several minutes eyes locked until our concentration was broken by several ponies roughly breaking through the circle. A loud boom echoed right in my ears and apparently in the stallion’s as well both our magic dropped simultaneously. I fell to the ground, hooves pressed against my ears, trying to keep the sound out.

“Break it up! Nothing to see hear!” I could barely hear. My mind still rang with the boom. My eyes had started to water and my head was beginning to ache like hell. I struggled to my hooves finally to come face to face with a squad of guard ponies. These were much more intimidating than those we had interrupted earlier. Each of them wore full brown barding, stamped with the insignia of Fillydelphia. The lead pony wore an old combat helmet, probably from the war.

“Would one of you two please explain what the hell is going on here? Magic is strictly prohibited in the marketplace.” The lead pony inquired. The ponies behind him had slowly arrayed themselves into a semi-circle around us, both keeping the other ponies back and leveling their battle saddles directly at me and the stallion. Unfortunately, before I could begin to speak, the vendor offered his own explanation.

“This little cretin came up and demanded free spices! When I tried to say no she threatened to burn my stall down! I was only trying to protect myself I swear.” The stallion protested, suddenly trying to appear weak and helpless.

“T-that’s not true! I was just trying to ask a question and he tried to get me to sleep with him, I of course threatened him!” I retorted right back. Surely the guards would be able to tell he was lying. It was as obvious as the sun in a clear sky. The guard glanced back between us for a second but quickly made up his mind.

“Right. Take her in.” The guard ordered after his deliberation. Surprise flared through my mind. I hadn’t done anything wrong! I glanced fearfully around and saw an alleyway near the edge of the marketplace. I squeezed my eyes shut in concentration, and with a flare of red magic, teleported into the alleyway.

As soon as I landed I started sprinting further into the city, quickly reaching more and more destroyed and dilapidated buildings. I could barely hear the shouts from the marketplace but kept running until I could hear the guards no longer.

A new array of sounds replaced those of the market’s buying and selling. It was mainly silent, but occasionally I could hear a scream or a laugh. It was vaguely reminiscent of the slaver camp. The connection made me shiver, trying hard to forget that experience. Even with the quick rescue, the time there had been horrifying and a quick adjustment to the new life of the wasteland.

I shook myself out, changing my thoughts back to happy ones. But now, I had a bigger problem than just finding Shield. I had no fucking clue where I was anymore. The main street had been easy enough to navigate; it was just a straight line after all. Getting away from the guards had been a different story. I ran through a bunch of side streets and alleyways and in my blind panic I hadn’t bothered trying to remember the way out. Looking back, that was really really stupid.

Standing here wasn’t going to help though. All the roads eventually had to lead back to the main street right? That why it was called the “main” street. So, I started walking without much of a system. If a turn came up, I would take a right without question. I thought that was the way I had come, so it was my best guess.

Night had well and truly fallen now and there didn’t seem to be any street lights in this area. I resorted to lighting my horn up which really didn’t help my morale at all. These possibly abandoned and nearly collapsed buildings were creepy enough without being bathed in a dark, bloodlike glow. Yay for having creepy magic. It was the best!

I don’t really know how long I walked. It could’ve been a few minutes, or even as long as an hour. Eventually though, I started to hear a laugh. It wasn’t a normal laugh, like someone had just told a joke or someone was having a good time. This laugh chilled me to the damn bones. It would be interrupted occasionally by deep, hacking coughs and then instantly resume. I started to sprint, a cold sweat breaking out across my coat. Fuck this place, fuck this city, and fuck the wasteland.

I popped a shield into existence around me and kept running. I kept glancing over my shoulder, expecting there to be some kind of depraved and insane pony following me. I never saw anything, but I would swear that there had been somepony following me. Finally, thankfully, the laughing stopped. I was even deeper into the city now. Not even the small signs of life I had heard earlier were here. Going back meant going back to that voice. Not tonight, nope.

I sat down for a second trying to catch my breath from all the running. I brought one of the canteens out of my otherspace pocket and took a deep drink. The night air had started to cool off, making my sweat covered body even chillier. I couldn’t help but shiver. I needed to get moving. Shield was probably back at the hotel by now, wondering where I was. I was such an idiot! Shield had never broken his word before, why did I think he would now? My lack of patience had led me here and I definitely did not want to be anywhere near this place.

I started walking again, trying to head up so I could go around that laugh. I could hear sounds again! That must mean I was getting close to civilization! I focused on the sound harder, trying to find out where it was coming from.

A mounting sense of dread rose in my stomach as I actually realized what the sounds were. It was the sound of somepony begging and then shouts. It wasn’t far; maybe a street away at most. Regardless, it was other ponies. I headed towards the sounds slowly and dimmed my horn, trying to arrive unannounced.

I finally located the source of the sounds. Of course it had to be coming from the end of the alleyway. Because otherwise it wouldn’t be cliche enough or remind me of my own origins. Every experience here had to be traumatizing in some way.

The end of the alley was lit by dim lantern light so I let my horn fizzle out and sneakily crept up. I glanced down and caught sight of two ponies against the back wall. For once, I was thankful for my dark coat as I was able to sneak up without being seen easily.

The closest one was a yellow coated stallion magically levitating a knife and holding it against the other ponies throat. I couldn’t adequately make out his words, but the intention was damning enough. The other pony, a mare, was sobbing uncontrollably and seemed to be begging for her life. Right, well I had seen enough.

I grit my teeth and teleported forward with as loud as a bang as I could, trying to emulate the guards’ tactics from earlier. Before he could recover, I roughly shoved the stallion into the wall with my telekinesis, making him drop his knife. Finally, I erected a shield as fast as I could in between the myself and the stallion, keeping the mare on my side.

“Leave now!” I yelled in a magically amplified voice. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be able to change my appearance. I could’ve added fangs or made my mane all flowy like the princesses; much more threatening. Although I had to admit my color definitely helped with this. Loud was about the best I could do. Apparently, it was good enough though, as the stallion turned and ran, dropping his knife in his route.

I turned back to the mare, trying to give her a reassuring smile. “Hey, you alright?” I asked in nearly a whisper. “My name’s Zenith,” I added. The poor mare looked terrified and I didn’t want to upset her anymore.

The mare raised her gaze to meet mine. Funny, I would’ve sworn she was crying but I couldn’t see any tears. The mare slowly reached out a hoof and I reached out one of my own to meet her. In retrospect, I really should’ve seen this coming.

The mare’s other hoof reached out faster than I could react and struck my horn hard. Instantly, my barrier dropped the alleyway darkened to black as the mare simultaneously kicked snuffed out the lantern.

Stupid Zenith. How many times did you have to get hurn? Or captured? Or burned? How long would it take me to realize that Equestria wasn’t a nice place anymore? That the ponies I met weren’t going to be bright and cheery like Pinkie?

My head swam with nausea and dizziness from where the mare had struck my horn. The horn was such a delicate place for unicorns, even the lightest touch could make them lose control of their magic. A hard hit really messed with the head.

I staggered around, barely keeping my hooves and could hear swift movement in the darkness. Light suddenly returned in a blinding fashion. The mare had lit a flare and tossed it to the ground, blinding me in addition to my disorientation. She had recovered the knife, now held tightly in her mouth, left forgotten on the ground and was rushing at me.

I barely managed to move in time to avoid having the knife plunged into my chest. The knife still sliced into my moving leg, drawing blood and leaving my gritting my teeth and pain. I still hadn’t recovered enough to use my magic and was left to my own, pathetic physical ability.

“Come on! Stop that!” I yelped, dodging another knife thrust. I tried to get around her and run out of the alley, but she blocked my every move. I finally stumbled trying to dodge a slice and fell roughly to the alley floor, my weak leg giving out on me completely. I fell onto my back and the mare leaned down over me, ready to plunge the knife in for the final blow.

I pushed my hooves out, struggling to get the mare off me. It wasn’t any use though. The mare was much heavier and stronger than I was. I still couldn’t focus enough to use my magic either. As a last resort, I reached out to the power of my amulet. The amulet flared out with purple light and the mare flew away.

I stood up in triumph and felt my mind clearing completely. I managed to get my own red barrier up, flickering and weak, but still there.

“The sign!” The mare yelped, her voice now filled with fear. “You... You’re a reaper!” The mare exclaimed, her voice actually quivered a little.That would work.

“Of course!” I puffed my chest out to show off Spike’s amulet. “I don’t think they’d be very happy knowing you injured me either.” I finished, trying to sound dramatic. I let the spell slip back over the amulet, once again hiding it from view. My magic was finally back up to snuff, and I lit the alleyway in the same eerie red light. With the new calmness, I took the time to get a better look at the mare’s colors. Her coat was a light beige, with a light red mane and tail. I couldn’t make out her cutie mark though, not from this angle.

The mare actually started to back up, and she dipped her head almost reverently to me and kept it low. Her legs trembled as if she was terrified I was going to vaporize her any second. I hadn’t expected this bluff to actually work out so well.

“F-forgive me, for I knew not of what I did.” The mare nearly begged. “I would follow you to my death.” She finished in an almost awe-filled whisper. The mare turned, showing her cutie mark. Or rather, where it should have been. Instead of a normal cutie mark, the mare had branded the six pointed star of Twilight’s cutie mark and her sign used for whatever plans her and Luna had concocted. I was both impressed at her dedication and horrified that a pony would mutilate themselves like that.

“I...” I started, nearly dropping my bluff. I quickly realized my mistake and pretended to clear my throat. “I mean, good. I-er, I’ll put in a good word for you. What’s your name?” I asked.

“Twilight dew.” She responded. She kept her gaze locked on my hooves, not looking me in the eyes. Of course she’d have the word ‘Twilight’ in her name. What was it with ponies in the wasteland? They either hated me mentor or seemed to take loving her to a new and creepy place I didn’t want to see.

“Well... I need to get back to Orange Hotels. Can you help me with that?” I asked her. Surely she knew her way around the city, being a full time resident. Surprisingly, Dew (it would be weird to call her Twilight) shook her head.

“It isn’t safe to travel this late. Please, come with me.” Twilight Dew raised her head again and led the way out of the alleyway. The moon was now high in the sky and had just began its descent. There was still at least several hours left in the night and so far walking hadn’t gotten me far on my own. I might as well follow this crazy mare, I didn’t have any better suggestion.

Dew led us down several streets before abruptly stopping in front of an old, seemingly abandoned house. Dew didn’t hesitate with opening the door and letting herself in. I was surprised that the entire door didn’t fall down. She shut it behind us leaving us in sheer darkness save for a small circle of red light around us. I let more power go to my horn, giving us plenty of light to see by.

The room still had all of the old furniture and effects that whatever family had lived here kept. Most of the furniture seemed to have suffered from burns, only just standing. The pictures and other small tokens had long since faded or rotted away. In one corner though, a relatively new table stood.

Atop the table, Twilight Dew had laid out a shrine to who else but Twilight? Two purple candles ringed a framed, long faded picture of Twilight. In front of the picture, Dew had placed a shockingly good sketch of Twilight’s cutie mark on recycled paper. Several amethyst jewels were also aligned into the shape.

“This is uhh... This is nice.” I said, trying to smile but only giving off a poor imitation. Dew didn’t seem to mind though, as she grinned back broadly and genuinely.

“Thank you. I-I’m sorry it isn’t nicer. T-the church only recently came here and they charged me with trying to find us a place to stay. This obviously isn’t it, I promise. The place I’m looking for is going to be much nicer than this! Only the best for the reapers!” She finished, rambling nervously.

“Of course.” I replied dryly. This was a damn obsession. It seemed to be some kind of religion to her. She talked of the church coming to Fillydelphia. What was that? “You mentioned the Church, what is that?”

She looked surprised, like I had just suggested the sky was pink, or that Princess Celestia had hated tea. “You haven’t heard of our glorious Church? I was... I thought that we were finally getting noticed. There were rumors that Twilights Circle’s little foal had been taken in... Nevertheless, now’s my time to spread the word.” She appeared to mostly be talking to herself at this point. She turned back to me quickly though, obviously not wanting to offend a powerful reaper.

“I am a member of the Glorious Church of Twilight Sparkle! We seek  to carry on her illustrious memory and spread the word throughout the wasteland. We will return the peace of this land like Twilight wanted us to.” Well that actually sounded like a pretty damn good idea. “Through any means necessary!” And there was the wasteland spin, that end little kicker that made everything else they did moot. Considering where we were now, I had to assume that ‘any means necessary’ included killing.

“Each of our members strives to be noticed by the reapers and taken in as their own. This way, we can directly help further Twilight Sparkle’s goals for Equestria and follow our Wise and Glorious leader’s goals past her own death.” Dew finished much less ominously.

A brilliant idea struck me. This was my first good chance to make a difference. She thought I was a reaper, and seemed to be a pretty high up member of the church is she was sent to establish a new branch completely on her own. Dew would listen to me without question.

“Ah yes, that sounds fantastic!” I lied through my teeth. “But right now, the Reapers, seek to further the goals of Sunrise as the sheriff of Rust. If you are loyal to Twilight you will as well!” I tried to finish dramatically and imperiously, but there was no way I could pull it off. Still, Dew seemed like the pony to follow without question, so I hoped her absolute brainwashed admiration of the Reapers would lead her to not question me.

Dew bowed deeply before me and nodded her head. “As you wish! I will relay your message to our Monks as soon as I have ensured your arrival at Orange Hotels, or my life is forfeit.” She swore. That worked better than I possibly could have anticipated. “Please take advantage of my home as if it were your own, I must meditate on what you have told me.”

Without further ado, Twilight Dew left me alone in the room, exiting to the left. I would swear her legs were still quivering as she left. Jeez, the Reaper name seemed to carry a bigger influence than I originally thought. Having nothing left to do for now, I decided to try and find a place to lay down. The main room opened up into a staircase. I figured the best chance of a bedroom would be upstairs.

The top of the landing led to a hallway, with two doors on each side and one at the end. I took the first door on the left, hoping for some semblance of a bed. I poked my head in and let my horn light do its work. It was indeed a bedroom that had been preserved from whatever had destroyed the furniture downstairs. The bed seemed largely intact, if filthy and old. I could deal with that though. I went over to the side and pulled the sheets down.

I nearly vomited. Inside the sheets was a skeleton. The flesh and hair had long since rotted away, there wasn’t even a lingering smell. But still; it was a dead pony, killed in its own home by whatever had ended Equestria. I gingerly gripped it in telekinesis and moved it unceremoniously into the corner. I felt a pang of guilt, but I needed this bed. I moved the sheets back up though, not wanting to touch what the bones had.

I hopped onto the bed, being careful to avoid where the skeleton had been. It would’ve felt like i was defiling its grave otherwise. Obviously, Dew hadn’t gotten to the upstairs yet. I closed my eyes and let my horn flicker out. As much as I didn’t want to, I needed sleep for tomorrow. I would have to walk again and Shield would likely be pissed. I would have, if I was him.

Try as I might though, I couldn’t sleep. First and most glaringly, I was laying where a dead pony had just been. I couldn’t get over that. Sure, I had seen death already in the wasteland but I wasn’t used to it and hoped I never would be. It just felt sick. I hated the idea of any pony dieing, except maybe those slavers. I could justify that they had deserved it.

These Church ponies kept me from my sleep too. I couldn’t verify that Twilight Dew wouldn’t just kill me in my sleep. From what she described and how she acted, this Church was much more of a cult. I had read about cults back in the library with Twilight. I used to read history and the cults always had some kind of plot or scheme.They always seemed to be almost unanimously insane. Too much devotion to any idea was crippling for individuality and stifled creative thought.

They didn’t seem to be all that bright though.  At least not Dew, if she believed that I was really a Reaper. To be fair, if I was blindly devoted to getting into the Reapers, I’m sure I would probably believe anypony with even a smidgen of proof suggesting they were one. Still, she seemed almost too gullible. I figured there was some kind of hidden motive behind her near worship of me. She probably wanted to steal my bits or something. So, I stayed alert and didn’t let sleep claim me.

The morning eventually came without any interruptions. Not too long after the first light peeked through the window, somepony knocked on the bedroom’s door. That had to be Dew.

“I’m in here.” I answered the knock. As expected, Dew stepped in, wearing two saddlebags that covered the brand on her side.

“Come, it is safe to move now. I will take you back to your hotel.” Dew explained. I nodded and followed her out of her house. The street she occupied was utterly abandoned. Not a single soul moved and I couldn’t hear a single sound. Dew started to lead the way down the streets. As we walked, I realized that I never would have been able to find my way back. Fillydelphia was pretty much a labyrinth of streets. I had lived in a big city at one time, but my life was spent in the radius of like, five blocks and it was laid out much cleaner than this.

I could start to hear the noises of a small city now. It seemed like everypony was finally starting to get up and awake.

“We’re close now. I... cannot go into the main city, I am sorry. The guards are against my Church. It is dangerous for me to even come this close. The street is just through here though.” Dew explained, motioning through an alley.

“Thank you. The Reapers will remember your kindness.” I turned and headed down the alley, eager to finally end this bluff. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep the lying up. Finally, after the night’s unproductive work, the Orange Hotel was finally within my sights. I could hear shouts from within as I approached the door. I hesitantly pushed the door open.

What I saw was a sight for my sore eyes. Shield stood in Orange Sherbet’s face, shouting. Shield still wore his full armor. The saddlebag he had taken with him was filled to the brim, as well as a new one that he must’ve bought while he was out.

“DId you see her?! You just let her walk out of here on her own?” He yelled, his voice modulated once again by his armor. Orange Sherbet’s face had paled dramatically and he couldn’t even begin to stutter an answer.

“Uh... Shield?” I muttered. He instantly turned and saw me. Orange Sherbet slumped to the ground in relief, much as I would have.

“Our room. Now.” Shield snapped at me. He practically stomped his way over to the stairs. I followed more slowly. I didn’t expect he was going to be this mad. Then again, I had ignored the one thing he asked me to do and left him wondering for an entire night alone.

When I finally made it to the room, Shield has thrown his helmet on the bed and he slammed the door telekinetically behind him. Now that I could see his facial expressions, I could actually see the fire in his eyes and realized how pissed off her really was.

“What in the fucking name of Celestia were you thinking?” Shield practically roared. “I gave you one job! One fucking job! All I needed you to do was stay here and be quiet. But no, not only are you gone when I finally get back, but I hear some damn talk about some filly going crazy in the marketplace. I wonder who the hell that was? Sure it ain’t you, cause I told you to stay here!”

“That’s not what happened.” I tried to mutter in my defense. He wasn’t having any of it though.

“Why the hell didn’t you just ask that Orange bastard where I was? Do you know how damn dangerous these streets are for anypony, especially a young filly like you?! I’ve already lost one dammit, I ain’t going to lose-” Shield cut himself off and turned around. He had slowly progressed from anger to sorrow and tears flowed.

“Shield. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to stay here on my own. I-I was scared and not thinking.” I tried to make amends. It sounded weak even to my own mind though. Of course I wasn’t thinking. I had deliberately put my own life in danger and disobeyed Shield. I scooted forward and threw my arms around Shield’s neck, bringing him close in a hug.

We stood together for a few seconds without any interruptions.  After a while, Shield broke the hug and stepped back. He re-sealed his helmet and shrugged off the full saddlebags.

“Just... don’t do it again. No harm done this time I guess.” He finally said with a sigh. “Now, stay here, I’m going to run to get those papers signed by the mayor. This time, actually stay here ok?” He said, a little more forcefully than needed.

“I will... but when you get back, will you tell me where you went?” I asked. I didn’t want to poke through his saddlebags without asking and I was curious as to what had taken him so long. I sat down on the bed beside them and suddenly felt fatigue flow over me like a wave. I let loose a huge yawn.

“Yea, yea. Get some rest Zenith. Nothin’ll hurt ya here. I’ll be back quick, I promise.” He closed the door behind him. I could see a bright spark from the other side as I assumed Shield sealed the door with magic.

My last thought before drifting off was that I had to ask Shield what he meant when he said he’d already lost one. But for now, I needed sleep desperately.

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