“To what madness have I fallen that even the dead still walk among me?” -Gladius

The world itself had fallen into utter chaos and destruction. The truth of the Raider encampment having been kept for me, by forces of which I was both familiar and estranged from. What once was calm and almost peaceful, was burning and wrecked. Gunfire was going off constantly, and the shouts and screams of many echoed in my eardrums.

Before Bloom or I could react, and thus act like the position we were assigned, I saw something that did seem to be going somewhat according to our original agreement. The settler ponies that had been held captive were free, and being escorted out. What confused me was that the General was not among those guarding them; and this revelation after several moments of thought led me to a conclusion.

He’s still inside I thought. He needs assistance. Looking over faintly to Deathbloom, and seeing her so tense and prepared for battle, I bade her to follow me a moment and set off at a swift pace. My direction was to greet the settlers and whoever protected them. The one I saw who had her weapons was dressed in a thick trench coat built for travel, and was eyeing us carefully as we approached.

“I beith with General Knight, as does Deathbloom. My name is Mortalitas Gladius.” I gave a small bow before looking to the Raider encampment, my crimson eyes narrowing slightly. “What happened? Do you know what happened?”

“Why is the General not with you?” Bloom asked, voicing my concerns.

“General? You mean the dark pony with the swords and eyes like mine?” She asked before shaking her head, “He’s inside, and judging by the fact that these guys are here, that means that he was successful in freeing them, for that I’ll give him props, but… As soon as they stop coming out I’ll be going back in,” her eyes displayed concern and a little regret, “these Raiders are organized, more so than usual, almost like mercs.” The red mare with the silver mane that shone black when light reflected off of it, her teal crystalline eyes fixed on me.

“Well I never leave a fellow soldier behind,” I said, turning to move for the main gate without hesitation in the slightest.

“You sure the front’s a good idea, Gladius?” Bloom asked, a little worry showing on her features as I looked back to acknowledge her.

“For us, yes.” I replied, smiling a little. “For the Raiders, not so much.”

Deathbloom nodded, smiling back slightly before I heard a sound that I knew all too well. The scream of somepony’s damnation. My eyes became mere slits, my ears turning almost into radar, and my entire body tensing like a cobra prepared to strike at something dangerous.

“We need to move, now.” I said, in a hushed, commanding tone, before beginning to charge forward at a breakneck pace to the gates.

Leaping into the air, my stitched wings unfurled, allowing me flight for a short moment in order to make a jump to the inside of the compound. Without remorse, I aimed my minigun and blasted apart one of the two Raider guards stationed there at the entrance gate. The other, a much larger, burlier one, made to strike at me with a large blade of some type. Before he could even get mid swing, I ducked, kicked out, and planted him on his back before following up with a few dozen rounds into his cranium as I stood over him. The lock and bar holding the gate was simple enough, and I smashed it off with a few well placed strikes before kicking the doors outward and allowing Deathbloom in.

She surged forward, sweeping the area with her weapons, but found nopony else to fire upon save those I already had slain. Her face told of disappointment, before she looked back to the red mare and called out quickly for her to come and join us. By this moment, I was surveying the area around the entrance, and saw far off into the compound what confirmed my reaction and its necessity.

“Forward, protect the General.” I called, once more drawing on a burst of adrenaline and energy to carry me to the location of where my old friend was.

Even from where we had been, I could tell he wasn’t in good shape; but as I drew closer, it became clear to me that something serious was wrong. I also couldn’t help but think something was definitely wrong with my eyes, and all of my senses; because as I drew near, I saw the faint outline of somepony I recognized all too well. Kneeling astride the General, but still floating just off the ground, a face which had haunted my memories and dreams since the first megaspells started falling. He seemed to be murmuring words, with his tome in hoof, as he looked over Tempest.

For the moment, I opted to ignore this nightmare of the past, and instead chose to focus on the current situation. Moving to the other side of the General, I laid a hoof on his shoulder and began to examine him more closely. It looked grim, and as I touched him, I could feel a sensation that which was so extremely agonizing that I knew it was all beyond my knowledge of aid.

“Damn you stubborn old bastard…” I said, shaking my head slowly, looking at his eyes. “I shouldn’t have let you come in here alone…”

Deathbloom, all this time, wore an expression of worry, yet also anger, as she swept her guns over our surroundings and actually fired a few times at those not smart enough to remain hidden from sight.

“His condition...is grim, old friend.” The Chaplain whispered, before turning his eyes to slowly meet mine now that he possessed my attention. “He will not live long, without help...But I see you’ve brought one who...knows how to help.” His gaze glanced at the red mare, who was also looking over Tempest, before he nodded faintly. “You can help...You can make sure...he lives. You will help, or, I will be forced to damn you to eternity in the blackest pits of Hell.” With an expression both hard as iron, as well as extremely despaired, the Chaplain closed his tome and shed a single tear of blood that fell and landed on Tempest’s chest before he rose and floated a few paces back. “Must go...for now...rescue prisoner...Will return soon.” With that, the shadows phased around, and in moments, after an unsettling darkness, he disappeared yet again, leaving me with many questions and no answers as I turned to face the mare.

“You can help the General? What makes you special in terms of being able to aid?” I asked.

I’ve patched myself my own fair shares of times, but… if you have any medical supplies I’m going to need them! Also can you get his armor off while I figure out how to go about this?” She both ordered and asked in her thick highland accent as her hooves moved to her own bags to pull out her supplies. Unbeknownst to her a small letter fell out with a red envelope and a gold seal only to land upon the ground and become, for the moment, forgotten.

“I don’t exactly...heal...like others, so I haven’t medical supplies.” I replied, beginning to strip my unconscious friend of his armored clothing as Deathbloom removed a few odds and ends in terms of her own issued medical supplies and set them out for the mare to make use of.

With quiet respect, I set aside the General’s uniform, leaving him bare on the ground for a much more thorough examination to be possible. Even with the limited medical knowledge I possessed, the large gash reaching across much of his side was more than an alarming thing to me. Physically, it was one of the bigger issues to deal with; but spiritually, I could sense a much more frightening problem. In the terms of his essence, his spirit, his soul, I could barely feel anything there. He was alive only by a thread, and I would suspect it was pure willpower alone that kept him here with us at the moment.

“Do what you can,” I said, stepping away.

My movement a few paces from Tempest was all the time it took for the situation to turn sideways once more. Gunfire started up again in earnest, causing both Bloom and I to react at the same time and move to take cover. After a few brief moments of ducking low, the two of us realized that the weight of fire was not directed at us, nor was it coming from any conceivable area where we knew Raiders might be lurking.

First, Deathbloom peeked her head over, scanning the area, her weapons drawn and prepared to fire on the slightest movement. There was nothing. She tried to listen, to make out any discernable noise. That was when she, and I, heard it. The racking of a shotgun slide.

Off and to the right, from an old concrete building long since fallen into disrepair and decay, the massive flash of a weapon and the thunderous echo of several shots in quick succession shook the earth. The scream of multiple ponies resounded in unison, and after a few brief moments of silence, a chilling, terrible laugh began to fill the stilling air. It was a cackle out of the depths of Hell itself, one that could drive a stallion to madness just by mere listening to it for any length of time. One that could make one do nearly anything to see its cessation, even if it meant that of taking one’s own life to end the noise. It was a dark, horrific sound, almost earsplitting in the amount of relish the produce of said sound had in the slaughter they caused.

It, was a sound that was all too well known to me. One that I hadn’t heard in over two-hundred years roughly. One that, while terrible, and hurtful, in both body and soul, was utterly so familiar accepted within my own heart that it could do no true harm to me. It, was the laughter of a friend, one which, I had thought dead. One that I’d seen disintegrating before my very eyes, in the hellish fire of a megaspell during the final moments of the Great War. To me, her laugh was a haunting memory that, while welcome, brought up the previous confusion which had been stifled by the concern for the General’s health.

How? I asked myself mentally. How is this possible? The answer, of course, was not forthcoming in my own mind, and could not be answered by anypony present. Only those who had returned, come back, by some means or another, held the knowledge I was seeking so desperately. As of the current time, however, it would be bad to make an attempt to remotely ask any questions, seeing as that hysterically laughing fiend of a friend was now suddenly flying at me full force from some sort of heavy smash.

She came tumbling through a partial concrete wall, body propelled by such force that it was crumbled like it was built out of tissue paper. Her form hit me with that same force, sending me back several feet and nearly toppling me. For a few seconds, I stood there, blinking. The mare which I well knew, from my ancient days long past, seemed so different now. Her body, which was pressed to mine from the explosive force which had smashed us together, was not bearing close resemblance to a pony of any sort. She seemed much larger, her form lean and hard and well muscled, and compared to pony anatomy, she seemed off in several key locations. Namely, the fact that my face was currently nestled in her chest, which, apparently, was of quite ample size and nearly threatened to engulf me.

That face though, remained. Scarred, but still utterly recognizable as the carefree, psychotic, happy friend I used to know. Her slit mouth still grinning madly at me, those crimson eyes shining bright and dangerously, as she brushed away her pink and red mane and swished her tail back and forth.

“Well you’re still as sexy as I remember Gladius my old friend!” She said gleefully, “Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to suffocate you!” She detached herself quickly, allowing me to take in a much more full look at her as I tried very hard to control the potential blush that might occur.

She stood in black combat boots, digital urban camo pants, and a thick grey undershirt that was ripped and torn deeply. Before anypony could say anything, she ripped the shirt from her body and left nothing to be desired, to say the least.

Quickly she bent down to retrieve her shotgun, before shouting, “Is that the hardest you can hit little man!?” She chuckled darkly, “I’ve known colts who can give it to me better than you!”

“Okay I’ve patched him up as best I can with what we had, he’s going to feel this in the morning but he should be okay…” The pegasus shouted before looking at my old friend, “Damn, you’re quite the hottie ain't ya?” She replied before drawing her revolver in her mouth and shrugging off her duster to reveal pants and a harness with battered red wings, a few of her feathers being replaced by metal ones.

“I…” For once, I actually had no words, which, for anypony to know, is truly a shocking and frightening thing. Staring between both my old friend and the one who had just commented on her appearance, my brain was surprisingly in danger of shutting down for a few moments to process everything.

“You’re a good looker yourself sweetheart,” Joy replied, heartily laughing as she looked back at the concrete building with her shotgun slide racking. “Alright big guy, you want to try again? Think you’re stallion enough to handle me this time?”

“Crush you!” He roared as he once again charged, the strangest part about him was the fact that he was no pony, actually if memory served correctly he was actually a Centaur.

He slammed a super sledge down, his aim heading to do as he’d shouted, to crush her. This combat was what brought me to my senses, and allowed me to see with clarity and actually manage a smile as I already knew the outcome and fate of this battle. The fool could not see just how much he was being toyed with, nor could he realize the power he was standing against as Joy easily evaded the heavy blow. A cascade of sparks and rubble was all that was produced, as she sidestepped him before driving home a blow of her own into his stomach with her massive shotgun’s butt.

“On your knees big boy.” She said, giving him a dark, foreboding smile; one of those insane grins that spoke of horrible things to come before she drew back just enough and fired one quick blast that was aimed at one of his legs. “I’ve got something special in mind, although I don’t believe you’re done just yet, are you?”

“Nng, funny lady hurt Bossk, Bossk smash her good this time!” He swung his chain around before throwing the hooked end around her, “You gonna go splat now.”

“You so sure about that sweetheart?” Joy only smiled wider, her slit mouth growing as her grin expanded further and further until it reached the ends of her face as she felt the chain wrap around her, and the hook actually dig into her shoulder. “Because I think I’m going to make you finish first.”

As the sledge descended, the mare began to laugh maniacally, uncontrollably, before she suddenly flipped without warning so that her boots were skyward. Kicking upward with extreme force, the sledge groaned, cracked, and creaked before one saw in a rapid fashion it go flying back towards the owner. The resulting splat rewarded the nearby environ, and a very much happy Joy, with a splatter of blood that sprayed all over her face and upper body, giving her light yellow fur a shiny crimson tint. She gleefully snapped out of the chains, licking her lips with closed eyes before shuddering slightly and then chuckling.

“I never finish first… Can no stallion ever please me?” Her tone sounded exasperated, before she remembered her audience and went back to her happy self as her eyes looked to the red mare.

“Damn… the only other pony I ever knew that could do anything close to that ended up a dick cushion before she was brutally ripped apart and eaten…” The pegasus mumbled as she tried to recover her senses.

“Sounds like something I’d enjoy as a nice weekend escape from the weekly grind.” Joy said. “So what’s your name sexy? I think I’d like to get to know you.”

“Crimson Wind, yours?” Crimson asked as she also replied.

“Joy.” The mare said, her trademark slit grin still as wide as possible on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest. “So are you doing anything later? Got any plans, or do you have some free time so I can ‘get to know you’ better?”

“Well, I still have the class A letter to deliver, but once that is done I think I will lay low awhile so the Enclave doesn’t notice the Dashite running around the wastes, speaking of, where did my duster go?” She asked rhetorically as she picked it up, “How did the letter get out of my bags?” She eyed it suspiciously before picking it up in her teeth and putting it back into her bag.

"Dashite...Well, I suppose we’re not so different in that prospect...Although the bastards mutilated me for a different reason.” I finally said, lowly, as I felt the scarred holes that were still present on my flanks and the pain that still remained in my wings. “Dash is my niece, that’s why they did it to me especially, when they found me.”

“Damn, what are the odds of being related to a ministry mare and still being alive?” Crimson jested before she began to walk away, “Hey, if you want to track me down I am headed to Dise, I’ll probably stay there for a bit as well afterwards, just for a bit of an R&R.”

“You know I will Crimson,” Joy winked, “besides, it’s been a few centuries since I got off last.”

“You take care now friend,” I said, waving her goodbye, and finally turning my attention to the General, who lay patched up against a wall. A sigh slipped my lips, as I slowly made my way over, before taking a seat and beginning to wait.

Deathbloom wasn’t one to sit though, she merely took to pacing around the compound, looking about, and studying the place.

My old friend, who I now had all the time in the world to question, was rather silent, as she looked at me, knowing how I felt. She knew the emotions running through my head, knew the pain, the anguish, the anger. She knew how I felt about losing comrades, about losing anypony, because she was one of those I thought I had lost, and was one that I still grieved, until now.

“How are you still alive? You shouldn’t even exist anymore.” I finally said, breaking the silence, just as Sorrow finally came around the corner with a small foal following him. “I watched you all die that day, trying to get to the bunker. My order...my failure…”

“You didn’t fail anypony, Glad,” Joy began, somewhat dampened in her mood as she came and placed a hoof on my shoulder. “And you of all should know we wouldn’t be here if we’d died. There’s no way around that. Death’s system is strict and set in stone.”

“Then how are you alive?” I asked hoarsely.

“Because Death himself intervened, just as the megaspell was going off.” Sorrow whispered, “He spared us because he still believed we were the best hope of righting the world. And all this time, he allowed you to think us dead, so you wouldn’t act rashly, so you’d be right where he needed ye for the end times.”

“That old, backstabbing son of a bitch…” I said harshly, before smiling a little as I looked back. “Well, I suppose it’s what I’d do if I wanted something to go right.”

Joy smiled again, becoming much happier before she engulfed me again into her chest as she hugged me tightly, lifting me high into the air. “That’s the lovely Chief Ranger I know!” She put me down, no worse for wear, before looking at Tempest and seeing him starting to stir. Getting very close, she waited, eye to eye with him, and put on her best grin. “Wakey wakey old Knighty,” She giggled, as she too seemed to finally remember how bare and exposed she was, sitting just inches from his face.

Tempest didn’t open his eyes, instead he chose to moan before snorting a metric ton of soot out of his nose. Then he opened his eyes to find Joy staring into them, instantly they became draconic slits before he rounded on her. Then he seemed to catch my form sitting next to him and he instantly calmed down, “Personal space, especially around one who could send you to Hades with nothing but a mere thought.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that handsome,” Joy laughed, her tone jovial but her eyes dark. “Because if you do, one: you won’t get to be with me anymore, and two: Death will not be pleased at all, and by extension, Lord Adam will be just as, agitated, as well.”

As she took a step back, she was still grinning like a mad mare. She nodded to me to indicate I could speak. “Never again General,” I said, in a measured tone that anypony in the army would know well. It was one of those ‘Step out of line again and you’re dead’ kinds of tones. “I don’t care who you are, what you do or did. You never go in alone again. We are brothers in arms and armistice, we fight together, we die together. No other way about it. Understood?”

Joy was silent as a stone now, her smile taking on more of a sad undertone to it as she seemed to remember something in the past that we both knew of. Sorrow however, was a bit more lively than usual, as he approached and settled to a crouch on the other side of Tempest.

“You should listen to the...Chief Ranger...To my old friend. He says these things...because he cares about you.” He placed a hoof on the General’s shoulder, neither caring nor afraid of his reaction, as he looked down his spectacles at the draconic pony with a sharp gaze. “He cares about his niece...and if you care about her...you’ll do as he says.” With a small motion, he made the signage of a cross over his chest before speaking softly. “We fight, but alone we fall...United we stand, and the enemy will fall.”

“I gave my signal, tis not my fault that it never reached you Gladius.” Tempest replied before looking over to Sorrow, “Wise words, I shall be certain to remember them, though next time, you could do to drop the shadow acting.”

“I care not as to the events which transpired, General,” I answered, “What matters is that you listen carefully and never go it alone again, you might just be spared a mortal injury or two.”

“Or at the very least, we can all have scars to share together!” Joy proclaimed, wrapping a hoof around my neck as well as Sorrow’s.

“As for the...acting…” Sorrow looked scornfully at Tempest. “It wasn’t an act...The souls of the damned rose from this place...to have one final revenge upon their killers...Though shadows are my power, it wouldn’t have come to the strength it was...were it not for the dead.”

To this Tempest merely stewed silently to himself before once again looking at Sorrow, “The prisoner, did you retrieve her while I was out?” he asked, concern riddling his tone, but his momentary adrenaline fading and his fatigue also coming through his tone of voice.

“I...rescued the kid...yes.” Sorrow nodded faintly, before looking behind himself to see the foal still standing right next to his almost ethereal form, almost hugging him and peeking around to look at Tempest and the rest of us. “It’s alright little one… They are friends.”

“You shouldn’t exert yourself General. I’m no doctor, but I’ve had my fair share of injuries in my day.” I said, sternly, but smiling a little. “Reaper Squad always accomplishes its objectives, you needn’t worry about that.”

“You’re Adam-damned right about that Glad!” Joy piped up, jumping a little in the air in an excited manner before the sound of thunder stopped her short and she muttered under her breath. “Sorry…”

“Let’s get you to you back to your sister little colt.” Tempest stated in a rather low, practically fatherly tone.

“I’ll take him, you rest...General.” Sorrow said, looking down at the small colt and extending a hoof to him. “Would you like...to ride on my shoulder?”

“Always a kind, caring one, that’s why I married you Sorrow.” Joy said, and, quite possibly for the first time since she reappeared, her voice sounded utterly and completely sincere. “I’ll go with you, want to meet the ones we saved.”

“You sure you didn’t marry him for the benefits of it, Joy?” I playfully asked.

“Yes…” She grouchily said, stamping her foot before beaming at me and then the little colt.

“You two go, but report back to me as soon as possible.” I stated, but smiled a little as I observed the two nod before they went walking off, with the colt having climbed up onto Sorrow’s shoulder. He, surprisingly, was smiling; it was small, but it was there, until he was out of my sight.

“Do you feel well enough to rise, Tempest?” I finally asked, once the others were gone.

“Duty only ends in death, for those of us that are lucky at least.” He replied, a small toothy smile finding its way upon his face as he rose.

“Yeah, been down that road, but Death told me too many times to count that it ‘wasn’t my time’.” I said, trying and failing to mimic the my old Godly friend’s rough, ancient, and powerful voice. “Think he just couldn’t bear to lose an old companion and his greatest commander was why he spared me so many times.”

Author's Notes:

Hello once again audience, this is author Derpyness Maximus here with a *Screams* Shocking news bulletin! Chapter forty-three has finally come out! After many days of heated discussion, rage, sorrow, grief, laughs, and plenty of bargaining, both myself and Tempest have been able to produce this next piece of work for you all to (hopefully) enjoy.

*Sudden crash* Hi Everypony! My name is Joy! *Grins madly* I’m here on behalf of my creator to tell you all to like, follow, and favorite the fic if you like what we’re doing! If you don’t like it, be sure to comment or p.m. your thoughts; don’t worry, we’re listening! And I’m listening too, so...I hope you don’t mind me visiting your room tonight. *Giggles* Alright Temp, now you have the floor sexy.

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Well then… I for once have nothing much to say… Carry on friends.