I was in the neighborhood so I thought that I’d drop by. - Tempest Knight

We had traveled through the night, undeterred by the Enclave, so much so that we had enough time to tell Deathbloom about ourselves, to say she was shocked would be an understatement. For a time, she was simply stunned into silence, and her eyes had taken on a distant, almost non-existent look. You’d have thought we threw her to the moon with how vacant she was, absentmindedly walking alongside Gladius.

“You guys are… and I kis-”

“Yes.” Gladius answered, calmly, as he paused a moment and looked to her. She was looking back at him, the confusion wrought on her features plain, but also a slight fear, awe, excitement, anger, and plenty of other emotions warring for attention in the depths of her mind.

“Funny, you knew he was a ghoul when you kissed him, does this really change anything?” I asked, a small smile gracing my lips before a particularly foul smell bringing me back to those older days we had been speaking of caught my nose.

“I’ve been with ghouls before… That doesn’t bother me. The fact is, you’re ancient. I never knew who you were, until now.” Deathbloom kicked a small pebble from the road, her eyes slowly cast downward, ears drooped slightly. “There’s just so many questions I have, and not enough time in the world to answer them.”

“There’ll be a time and place, I’ll make sure.” Gladius replied, softly, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “I will explain everything, anything that you want to know.”

“Hold up.” I stated, “Gladius, smell that?”

“I’d know the scent anywhere old friend.” Gladius turned his nose to the wind, giving a few small sniffs before his eyes narrowed and he rose up to full height on his hind legs. “Your weapons ready General?”

“Stay thine blades… err, gun.” I spoke, as we came over the hill, “It seems that they have prisoners…” Smoke lazily left my muzzle as my mental train of thought steamed to a halt, “154BC, remember the uprising of the Centaurs?”

“My village was rather isolated, and there were barely enough Knights to defend it… I do not recall the uprising.” Gladius replied, his eyes scanning what was before him before he looked back to me. “Give me the rundown General, so I know what I need to do.”

“You and Deathbloom play the part of cavalry, I will leave you my armor and infiltrate their captured settlement to retrieve those who are innocent. Once they are clear, you will strike upon my signal, I think a explosive fireball will do… Green?” I explained as I began to shed the custom armor from my body, allowing it to fall to the ground.

“I’ll be waiting for the signal. Don’t take too long. Good luck General.” Gladius gave a small salute before looking to Deathbloom, who seemed to now be masking her emotions under a numb expression.

She nodded slowly when he tapped her shoulder to make sure she’d heard. “I’m ready. Need to kill something anyways, ease the stress.”

I shouldered my blades onto my leather barding and and slipped the pip-buck onto my left foreleg before dashing off into the shadow of the hill. I noticed it was getting darker, checking the pip-buck I realized that it was coming close to become 2000 hours. I moved silently up to the wall, careful to avoid the spotlight as I didn’t particularly want my scaly ass lit up by gunfire or the missile launcher I had spotted just before the light came on.

I put my hoof to the junk wall fence that separated me from the inside of their camp, quietly pondering to myself about how I was to get in without being noticed. My greatest drawback in my opinion was that I never really thought these things through, my power to shadow travel was currently out of juice, and if I flew I would run the risk of being seen and endangering the innocents within the clutches of the raiders.

“Git ur fuckin’ ass outta tha carts now ya curs!” A foul stallion wearing a ratty trench coat shouted to a group of ponies, all of whom looked malnourished and broken, all save for one. This one was different, she had fine muscle tone, but not bulging in any way, her coat was a fine shade of scarlet red, and her mane and tail had a silvery gleam on it’s natural shade of black. Her eyes though, they were what caught my attention, not that they were a crystalline teal, but that they looked determined.

For all but a moment our eyes met, and I took note of her tattered grey cloak, and the bulges on her back that it concealed. I gave her a curt nod, before unlatching a single blade and pulling it out ever so slightly. She gave me a wink and returned her attention to the Raiders so they wouldn’t suspect anything.

I crept up to the edge of the gate before peeking my head around to see her black and silver mane disappear behind the gates as they closed. Now I would have to play the waiting game, since I had a hopeful friend inside.

I had taken to staying near the shadows and listening to these Raiders talk to one another, though I was currently listening to a mare and a stallion doing a bit more than just talking as I sat in wait. Rather suddenly a small door directly next to me opened, faster than the shadows themselves I pressed myself against the wall and in the cover behind the now open and well masked hidden entrance that I was now kicking myself for not noticing before. That was when the mare from earlier poked her head out of it and my heart stopped trying to smash it’s way out of my chest.

“So what is your plan now that I have had to deal with an undesirable playing between my hind quarters?” She asked, her voice having that professor-like tone in it.

“Terribly sorry about that, I didn’t know there was a door here.” I replied, relaxing a bit and trying my best to keep my speech pattern as modern as I dared.

“It’s alright, it was blocked on this side anyways, I was just looking for a way out…” She began before catching my eye, “What?”

“Did you get a good look at the path you took out of here?” I asked her.

“It was pretty much a straight shot, lots of cover, you could easily sneak through it all… why?” She asked.

“I don’t intend upon leaving those innocent in that encampment.” I replied moving to step past her, my wings absently pushing her aside as she tried to lay her hoof on my shoulder.

“You’ll be slaughtered.” She spoke, concern gracing her features.

“I’ve faced worse odds before.” I said, not stopping as I moved inside of the compound, “You may come with me if you wish, but I shall not permit it if you wish to hinder me.” I retorted, reverting to my old equestrian roots.

“I… I do have a pistol, so if anything happens I guess I can lend a few .44 rounds to the cause.” She replied, “But I am no good at sneaking…”

“Just wait here then, I’ll send them to you.” I said in a steady tone of voice as I carefully opened the door to the maze of paths inside of the encampment.

I didn’t wait for her reply as I moved with the utmost stealth into the encampment, my will constantly on my my blade, my eyes darting from each corner to the next.

“Aw shucks, I didn’t think ya liked em like that…” I heard one Raider far too close for my comfort say, as sickly meaty squishes could be heard.

“What, when they are still alive they taste better, besides this one is so knocked up he ain’t feelin’ a thing.” A mare replied with an obvious mouthful of what I guessed was pony flesh.

“Yeah, but eating his rod while he’s still alive, don’t ya think that is a tad extreme, I mean, wouldn’t you rather do something else with it first?” The first Raider mare asked.

“Eh, I prefer mares in that sense anyways… Testical?” At that point I merely said a silent prayer to Hades that this poor stallion would have a good rest in the Underworld, somewhere peaceful and without much pain before I rounded the corner and sent both blades into their heads.

I unceremoniously let them drop to the ground before slitting the stallions throat and saying a short prayer once more over his body and returning to my prime directive. It didn’t take me very long to get to the prisoners, but my initial plan did have one major flaw, the lights, turrets, and probable landmines. Looking around I spotted the nearest light and turret emplacement, I also took note that their internal security was fully automated, in other words I had just found the laziest Raiders ever.

Using a few beats of my wings I made my way through the shadows to the top of the internal wall and inspected the turret and lights. It seemed as if they were all on the same power grid, which would enable me to cause a full blackout and allow me to fly in and liberate the prisoners without too much difficulty. So I followed the wire, which was apparently mounted so that it would be out of reach to the general populace, but easy to follow if one had working wings.

It didn’t take me long to follow it to the generator, which I confirmed powered the rest of them as many more power lines made their way to it as well. Deciding that if I were to kill the lights now that I may endanger the civilians I moved for a more subtle approach. Reaching into my saddlebags with my magic I levitated a few small whitish bricks out and used their adhesive to stick them to the generator and a few locations in the surrounding area. I then wired it all together and linked it to a kill switch on my pip-buck, I then flew back the way I had come, careful not to trigger the turrets or draw any unwanted attention to myself before landing.

“As a good friend once said, hasta la vista bitches.” I muttered as I pressed the button and the C-4 I had left detonated, leaving nothing in the area the generator was except for a few surprised Raiders who were now burning alive, and pile of debris where the generator itself had once stood.

The moment the lights went out however I was upon the massive cage pit in the center. Deciding that lockpicking wouldn’t be fast enough I drove my dragon bone blades in a downwards slice that not only cut the hinges off, but also made short work of the deadbolt lock as well, causing the entire door to fall inwards and the ponies inside to charge out to where I was.

“Make haste but not waste, the exit is directly behind me and through the personal chambers of the foul creatures who imprisoned ye, go now, a friend awaits ye at the end of this trail.” I proclaimed in a hushed tone to the first ones that made it out and had stopped to thanks me.

“What about you?” One of them asked as she toted her filly out on her back.

“I shall remain here, bring them down from within and await my cavalry.” I replied, letting it slip that I was merely one in a grand scheme.

“Mister… my sister, they took her.” A rather young and chirpy voice said with a pained tone as I felt a tug on my hind right leg.

“Which way?” I asked, looking down at this young colt who before the war would have been in primary school.

He pointed and moved his mouth to speak but a bullet made him jump and run with the rest of the herd as Raiders began pouring into the surrounding areas, except for the one route I had taken.

“Well, isn’t this just prime?” I asked nopony in particular as I drew both my blades and made ready for war with a mighty draconic cry.

A similar cry arose from the other end of the compound, one which was both matching in ferocity and zeal. However there was a difference to this, I could tell. This shout was much, much more haunting. It echoed in the air long after it should’ve dissipated, hanging with a sense of impending dread and doom which even I could feel.

Whatever was coming, whatever had responded to my warcry, it was definitely not the cavalry I was expecting. Before I, or the Raiders could make any moves, I watched as the few lights still on, one by one, began to shatter around the entire encampment. Any form of torch or candle, natural light, slowly was snuffed out by strange means. The darkness that was left behind was far more menacing than I could ever recall, a sinister nature felt from it that dared anypony to enter its depths. In the gloom, I could see the Raiders, stumbling about, trying to call to one another; yet nopony answered each other. It was almost as if their voices died in their throats.

At this moment, I heard something out of the strange, oppressive silence. Something everypony seemed to hear, as I witnessed several Raider ponies looking about them rapidly in confusion with ears perked. Whispers. Whispers slowly began to creep into the seemingly sealed space. Moans and cries of those in pain followed, although nopony seemed to have suffered any injury to warrant such horrific noises in the surrounding area. What the whispers were saying were unintelligible gibberish, as if whoever was speaking had no longer a grasp on language of any kind. But the sounds were frantic, fearful, pained, crying out for help when there was none.

This was when the screams started. I listened, as the Raiders closest to me began to howl madly. Their weapons, they at first fired around them, wildly. They were aiming at something that I couldn’t see. They weren’t shooting at any one thing; instead, each one shot at something only they could see.

When their ammunition was exhausted, they merely fell to the ground, heads clutched between hooves, and began to quietly sob. The whispers grew louder now, turning into more of a shouting that was in a chorus from every direction. They were becoming more distinct, more real, and for one voice, it was too despairing to know.

It was a young filly’s voice. One that I recognized, that I knew all too well. “H...Help me…”

The figure, an outline at first, started to form over one of the kneeling, sobbing Raiders. As she became more clear, I came to a realization. It was the very filly that I had helped talk to Gladius. It was his daughter, Tenebris.

“P...Please...T...The fire it...it hurts…” She whispered, coming to rest right at the Raider’s ears. “I...It hurts… Please…”

“Shut up...Shut up!” The raider screamed in response,”Shut the fuck up! I don’t want to hear it anymore!” The Raider broke down, after her defiant cry, and began to weep again.

“Please d...don’t hurt me…” Tenebris said softly, as she placed her hoof on the cheek of the mare. “Don...Don’t hurt me…”

“W...Won’t hurt…” The mare repeated, quietly, as she started to look up, gazing into the young filly’s eyes with glazed pupils.

Her pistol slowly rose, but wasn’t aimed at Tenebris. It was placed to her own mouth, before she gave a final cry and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered everywhere behind her, as the bullet blasted through and spread her flesh across the wall behind her. She slowly collapsed, tears still in her eyes, as her last breaths were erratic and full of pain. Her eyes were still glazed though, as she looked faintly around, even to me, before she gave a final gasp and bled out.

Several other gunshots resounded and reached my ears momentarily after I watched the final moments of the mare. When I looked around, I saw that several other Raiders had done the same as the one Tenebris had courted.

Many of the other Raiders, were still stumbling and suffering; however they didn’t seem to be affected as much, and were fighting whatever was assailing them with a determination that was a bit surprising, honestly.

By this moment, Tenebris was looking at me. Her expression was a small smile, before she started to fade. As her body disappeared from sight, she pointed a single time with her hoof behind me and giggled a quiet word. “Uncle.”

I stood there, blades still drawn out before a small smile played across my face at her ruse, “Tally ho.” I muttered before unleashing a vengeful roar and gave charge.

My blades carved through the ground, leaving twin trails of fire behind me before I came up to the first Raider and ran both of them into his chest before fully igniting them. Flames burst from his body before he turned to ash. Another Raider charged me with a electrified machete, I parried it and took a step to the side before opening my muzzle to reveal my carnivorous teeth. Her eyes turned to pin pricks as my firebreath built up in the back of my throat before I unleashed a stream of flame into her face. I showed no emotion as I listened to her screams as the fire consumed her body and left naught but a charred skeleton as her only remains.

I quickly spun around and cut another Raider down with one blade while impaling yet another upon my other. That was when I realized that I was standing amongst a circle of Raiders who all had different levels of fearful expressions upon their faces, yet none directed at me.

“Sad...Oh so very sad…” A faint, despaired voice, distinctly masculine, whispered in the eaves of my ears. A chilling wind seemed to consume the air around, a soft breath which was like ice settling on my ear. “So much death...So much needless destruction…”

The others around me, the Raiders, they seemed to be hearing the same thing, as they searched and searched about with wide eyes as to the source which assailed their hearing. After a brief time, they all gave gasps, cries, and even a few screamed, while pointing in a similar manner that Tenebris had done before vanishing.

When I turned an eye to see what was freaking them out so much, I remembered what the young filly had giggled about. Uncle, she had said.

The being that which stood, or floated, to be precise, above the ground was almost ethereal in nature like she was. However, there was a sense of tangibility, of reality, which seemed to ground this, thing, to the world around it. The fact that it possessed a shadow, or what I could call it’s shadow, was a telling point that it was real, and not merely a spirit. It was clearly alive, as it took shallow, raspy, ragged breaths, that were symbolic of somepony either in mourning or close to death. Droplets seemed to slowly trickle and fall to the ground from the obscure darkness that was its face, which was hidden by a cloak which seemed to bend to the shadows around it and thus was nearly invisible. No, not bend to the shadows, the shadows were bending towards it. A pair of eyes was all that was purely visible, and they were kept behind spectacles which were cracked. As I looked over its body, it looked to be wearing the attire of a military chaplain, although the uniform was heavily digitized for urban warfare. Black combat boots adorned its hind legs, and a tome that bore on its hidebound cover a skull with a cross in the background was chained to its waist.

With its hooves hidden from view by the cloak, I had no idea of what weapons it carried. I only had the instinctual desire which surprisingly was screaming at me to flee from this being as it meandered ever so slowly about and studied us with a tilted head. Still, it was sobbing softly, silently, as more tears fell. But these tears now were bloody, and its eyes were slowly narrowing, as it looked upon the Raiders.

“You are all sinners, in the hands of an Angry God…” It began, still speaking quietly, yet powerfully, as every word resonated in my bones and clearly the other Raiders as well. “And that God has decided your fate is at hand. Death itself comes for you, and Hell’s burning pits await your souls to fuel its ever hungering forges and flames.” The Chaplain’s gaze slowly drifted down to me, as he paused but paces away. “Even you…should you fail.” He passed by slowly, his presence bringing the frigid touch of death with him, before he paused and looked to the Raiders. “Nopony will ever cry for your damned souls...Nopony will remember you. You will rot and die here, and nopony will care. Only I will care...for it is sad...so sad...to see such waste of life.”

The Chaplain slowly unveiled one of his hooves, which was carrying upon it a singular, obsidian combat knife. With a serrated blade that oozed a befouling substance that stank of hopeless and despair, the knife was raised at the first of the Raiders before he suddenly disappeared.

Reappearing behind him, the being’s knife rose only once and pluged downward. Striking with the force of a freight train at full speed, yet drawing no noise or resonating any sound at all, that was the death of the first Raider. Right into the base of his neck from the back, he instantly collapsed, falling into a fit of agonized cries which died in his mouth, never to be heard as tears silently formed. He was suffering, a slow, painful death, with his eyes glazing in a similar manner to that of the mare Tenebris had convinced to kill herself.

When the knife was slid free of the stallion, his breathing stopped, and he bled from every visible orifice, including his eyes. He was dead. By this moment, most of the other Raiders were turning or running, with few actually choosing to hold their ground. They had borne witness to such a terrible fate, and from what they had heard, they were next. The Chaplain knelt to the side of the stallion, whispering a small prayer of sorts, before marking him in his own blood and rising to his full height again.

His eyes surveyed those left, and that was when he lowered his cloak. The horrible face which stood to greet the world would have been better served in some of the darkest of nightmares. His expression was forever set in one of mourning, but was twisted even further than just that. His face was heavily burned and what fur remained was charred black. Skin was riddled with bite marks and holes, with parts of his jaw exposed to the chilled air. The eyes which hid behind the spectacles had a sickly, puffy look, and seemed as if filled with sleepless nights as the dark bloody tears leaked from them and stained his cheeks. His mane was cut short, and was a dark greyish color, which corresponded with the fur he had left, and left only a thought of loathing and pain. A stabbing pain of Sorrow, which seemed to encompass even my own mind, as I stared at what I considered almost pitiful.

Even though these emotions ran through me, I was set into my routine, a face of steel, a will of iron. I turned my gaze from him and to a trio of Raiders, unveiling a fragment of what remained of my power I found this presence older, and far more corrupt than the other Raiders before I reeled my powers back in and closed my eyes. ‘This is the one, this is the Chief of these Raiders, she shall burn.’ I thought to myself as I opened my eyes again, my pupils slit.

“Ka drac na goa tis ein.” The Draconic words left my mouth, ‘The others may be punished by ye undead, but I shall bring the Chieftain to Hades myself.’

I didn’t wait for a reply as I sheathed one blade and crossed the other across my face, the Raider Chieftain drew her own, a jagged and razor sharp blade that then ignited. I had seen these before, our own soldiers made them during the war to counter the Zebra talisman swords, Shish Kebabs.

“One shall stand, one shall fall.” She spat in a mildly raspy voice.

“You throw your life away Chieftain, I’ve already been to Hades and back.” I retorted before sprinting forward.

She did the same and we clashed blades in the center of the field, the rest of the world fading from thought and view as we repeatedly clashed our blades together. My blade itself had ignited into flames the moment we had first met in combat, our eyes never left each other. We must have been trading blows for about ten minutes before she managed to land a hit, unfortunately it was in an old wound left by Sombra long ago. I however did not cry out as I took a few steps back and closed my eyes.

“You’re finished, I don’t really see how you were such a problem in the first place, and I am fairly certain I can finish your friend here too.” She began to gloat, “I-”

Personally I tuned her out, visions of the old world flew threw my mind as I felt my own blood leave my body, as I channeled my energies, as I call on whatever I still had left in my soul to fight. My mind then stopped on Dash, my lovely Dash, just as I thought my strength would fail me I opened my eyes to see the physical red glow emitted by my peculiar arcane energies that puzzled even Starswirl.

“No force upon this Equis will halt my progress towards my goal, not even the Angel of Death fool!” I bellowed before driving my blade into the ground and channeling my power through it.

The ground itself split and magma splurted upwards, the ground then split before and around here, “Enjoy your stay in the Fields of Punishment wench!” and then she was gone, consumed by flames and magma alike, not even a scream.

The fires then died down and the world suddenly became cold, I felt water, rain hitting my side, and a puddle of my own blood surrounding me. The world was getting darker and I could hear distant yelling, I saw a pair of red hooves arrive next to a uniformed and an armored pair, then the world went black.

Author's Notes:

Tempest Knight-

Well then… I promise I am not dead… maybe…

…

…

Derpyness Maximus-

Hello once again Audience! Your favorite Derp here with the good news! Chapter forty-two is out, after much bickering and fighting and sharing muffins by the fireside, I finally convince this old guy to give it a go again! I hope you all enjoyed what we have worked so very hard on, and that you’ll like and favorite the story. If you don’t, I won’t fret, because I understand your point of view. Leave a comment if you have questions or criticism, or even just want to tell us your favorite parts in the story.

Have a good day/evening/night everypony!