“The language of the nomadic camel tribes of the deep desert is far stranger than our own. This makes translating their texts difficult as their words often convey multiple meanings. For example “desert” or “sand” are expressed with one word “biard”. However if a camel were to say “biard” beside the above mentioned it can also mean ‘home’ or even ‘land’, depending on the context of course. The word “calar” means clan or tribe, add a prefix ”Nu-“ and the word changes into “Nucalan” which means leader or clan chief. The prefix “Nu-“ as we can see is used to express a position of power. It is almost universal in its use, ranging from: leader, monarch, sovereign, king… The oldest documents we have mention a “Nubian” or “Desert King” and interestingly enough no camel was ever given this title. Apart from their clan chiefs there was never any supreme leader that governed all the camels.
Very little is known about the camels and their culture, what little information we have, we gathered from shamans. I fear that one day the camels will completely fade into legends and myths just like the Abada have before them.” –Excerpt from Darmas’s book “The legends and myths of Zevrass”



“Alright just a few more minutes and we’ll be ready to go,” Cog said as he typed on the terminal. Getting the system to respond took a little longer than we expected. Turns out there were mechanical claws designed to carry the megaspell from its chamber, and load it into the back section of the vehicle. Needless to say we could have easily avoided the ‘almost getting killed by radiation and zebra ghouls’ part, if we had known of this earlier.

This particular megaspell was damaged, and leaking radiation. Cog assured me that it won’t be a problem. The vehicle is shielded against such leaks. I’m just glad that it wasn’t leaking that pink necromantic cloud. The tiny wisps that escaped the cracks never moved more than a few inches from the egg.

The control room became painted in pink light. I looked out the window and watched as the metal claw carried the egg across the room and over to the vehicle. Cog pushed a few buttons and the roof of the vehicle opened. The claw slowly lowered the megaspell in, and then retracted itself. With a press of another button the roof hatch closed shut, the light in the garage returned to its normal colorless hue. Both of us sighed with relief that nothing had gone wrong.

“Well let’s get going.” Cog swiveled around and hopped out of the chair, picked up his shotgun and went for the door, I followed close behind.

My trot had a bounce to it. I was excited, and glad that we were finally leaving this Celestia damned place!

We had to go down a floor in order to reach the entrance to the garage. Along the way we encountered a few more ghouls in the hallways, but dispatched them without too much trouble. Cog appeared to be managing his fear of the reanimated dead well, but I still tried to take them out at a distance so he wouldn’t have to use his shotgun from up close.

Every time I blasted one of the ghouls heads, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness. They were once thinking, feeling beings, and now they were reduced to this. Completely mindless they shambled hungrily at us, ignoring their companions as their headless bodies hit the floor.

With a hiss and a metallic clang, the door of the garage opened. I went in first.

Looking at the garage from a window was one thing, but actually being there at ground level was quite different. From the window it looked big, now it seemed huge. You could easily fit a three-story house here and have enough room for a little backyard.

Beside the vehicle there were many containers strewn everywhere. There wasn’t anything special in them. Nothing we could use, only pieces of scrap metal, some wires, old switches and other assorted junk.

The entire chamber was twice as long as it was wide, with half of the floor slanting up to the ceiling. I craned my neck as I followed the roof back until I had to turn around. The window of the control hub we came from was now right above us. Cat-walks stuck out from the side walls, and heavy wires hung lazily from the ceiling. The cables were damaged at a few places, and sparks flew out every now and then, also a few ceiling tiles were missing. This place has certainly seen better days.

“Mist watch out!” Cog’s shout snapped my head back down.

“What’s wrong?”

“Something over there.” He pointed with his shotgun to a pile of large crates that curiously had some crumpled papers and small boxes on the floor around them.

“It’s not hostile though. Weird. What do you think it could be?” He asked me in a whisper. Not hostile. Maybe it’s Zaxis?

“Hold on, let me check it out.” I said to Cog while moving slowly towards the crates. When I had gotten close enough, I levitated one of the small boxes that had been lying open on the floor and examined it. It was a box of preserved prewar food.

Okay, so whatever was back there is alive, or at least I hoped it was. We had found untouched food while we explored Prometheus, the ghouls didn’t seem interesting in eating it. They probably only regard something that still moves as food. Cog and I weren’t so discriminative.

“Come out! I know you’re hiding behind those crates!” I yelled. No answer. I was about to move in closer when I heard something and froze, instantly raising my rifle.

Black and white fur accompanied by two blue eyes peeked out from behind the crates then ducked right back down. A zebra! I readied my rifle and started moving to the left in order to get a clear shot.

Keeping my body as close to the crate as possible I moved slowly, and stopped once I reached the corner. This is going to be dangerous.

After a quick prayer to Celestia and Luna I leapt out from my cover. My rifle was pointed at the head of a zebra buck who was little more than a meter away, fumbling with a weapon at his hooves. His head turned and our eyes met. I already had my gun raised and was looking down the sights, but for some reason I didn’t pull the trigger. His mouth hung slightly open as he took in quick shallow breaths, eyes wide with fear. He looked at his gun on the floor then back to me.

“Don’t even think about it.” I warned. He moved his hooves slowly away from the gun. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and remained still. He was actually waiting for me to kill him? It was kind of strange to see someone accept death like this. I expected him to go for his gun, and try to shoot me regardless of how useless that would be. I would have killed him in an instant.

“Mist! Everything alright?” Cog shouted.

“It’s a zebra.” I answered still keeping the buck in my sights. He opened his eyes slowly, looked at me, and started trembling. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

“So? What’s the hold up?” Cog asked as he came to stand next to me, his shotgun pointed at the buck. Crap. What do we do now? I mean he isn’t hostile, just scared.

“Y-You’re not going to k-kill me?” The zebra stammered out.

“It’s still under consideration.” Cog barked and the zebra flinched.

“Not unless you give us a reason.” I said a bit more gently. Celestia… He’s younger than me!

Cog leaned over to me and whispered. “What do we do with him?” You’re asking me?

I had no idea. Should we take him with us? “What’s your name?” I asked.

“D-Da-Darmas.” The young zebra buck answered. Why does that name sound familiar? Cog had moved in and levitated the zebra’s weapon away from him. I continued my interrogation.

“What are you doing here?”

“I-I was hiding. When the alarms went off and the killing started I ran here to hide. I didn’t want to s-stay, but when I tried to leave t-they were there.”

They? “Who?”

“The d-dead. So I ran back here.”

“Half a clip left in the magazine. Wouldn’t have done him any good against all those things out there.” Cog said as he levitated the magazine of the zebra rifle into my saddlebags.

“What was your job here?” It was clear he wasn’t a fighter.

“I helped out with studying the meg-umm…” Darmas clamped his muzzle shut, and looked at his hooves.

“We know you have a megaspell.” I said, guessing what he wanted to say.

“We loaded the damn thing after all. I’m surprised you didn’t notice it. The lightshow and all.” Cog said as he examined the rifle.

“That was you?! But-but it belongs to the Separatists!” He objected, then remembered the situation he was in, and turned to look meekly back at his hooves.

“Yeah well we’re taking it! Besides, Zaxis didn’t seem to mind.” Cog snapped back.

“Zaxis is alive? Did you find anyone else?” He asked, hope lighting up in the young zebras eyes.

“Well he was alive the last time we spoke with him when we entered Prometheus.” No telling if he made it out. “But we didn’t run into anyone else.”

Darmas nodded grimly and swallowed hard. “Wh-What are you going to do with me?”

“We should kill you, but we’re not bastards like you Separatists, so we’ll let you live.” Cog said tossing away the empty rifle.

“Do you know how to drive that thing?” I asked pointing to the vehicle with a hoof. Darmas leaned out to look at what I was pointing then gave a weak nod.

“We don’t need him. I can figure it out!” Cog objected. “Besides you can’t trust him.”

“I don’t trust him, but he can show you how to operate it, and IronClaw might have questions for him.” Cog was mulling it over when Darmas spoke again.

“P-Please… I don’t know anything. I’m just an assistant. I don’t even know that much about weapons, I…”

“Well that’s too fucking bad. Come on, move it.” Cog gestured with his shotgun and the zebra went meekly, resigned to his fate.

I felt horrible forcing him like this. Fighting back when someone is trying to kill you. I learned to accept that, but this made me feel like I was doing what the Remnant had done to me. Well we’re not going to turn him into a slave, we just need information. After that I would just let him go, but what will IronClaw do once he has what he needs? I don’t know his policy about prisoners.

The inside of the vehicle was full of tech, switches and knobs were everywhere. Light came in through small windows on its side, and the two larger ones at its front, but there was also a pink light that emanated from a small square window on a hatch that separated the vehicle into two halves. Beyond that hatch the egg-megaspell was resting on a pedestal with four gem incrusted pillars around it.

The pillars seemed to be pulsing with magic of their own. When I turned around I saw Darmas lowering himself into one of the two seats that were facing out the larger windows at the front of the vehicle. I guess it was a good idea that we decided to bring him along, looks like this thing needs two to operate it. Cog sat down in the seat to the right, and placed his shotgun down next to him, away from Darmas.

There was a screen in front of them that came to life when Darmas touched a few buttons. “Umm… This is how you steer it.” Darmas explained pointing to what looked like a horizontal metal plank that rested on a short cylinder. There were two grooves on either side of the plank.

I leaned in closer to observe. I’ve never seen how they control one of these things.

Darmas put his hooves into the grooves, and with an awkward looking twist from his shoulders, rotated the plank first to the right and then to the left. “When you turn it clockwise it will turn to the right and when you go counter clockwise it will go left.”

“Seems easy enough.” Cog tried out his own steering plank. Darmas flipped a few switches and the screen flashed displaying a few lines.

<All systems functional>
< Radiation containment at: 87%>
<Estimated threat level to onboard personnel: Within acceptable parameters>

So we were leaking some radiation. A few more buttons were pressed, and a sound of giant doors being unlocked rang throughout the garage and inside the vehicle. I stepped between Cog and Darmas as we stared through the front windows at the ceiling. A bright zigzag line appeared above us. It grew thicker until it looked like we were inside a mouth of some giant creature that was yawning after waking up from a deep sleep. Sand spilled over the edges and slid down the slanted floor.

“Damn it.” Cog winced raising his hoof to shield his eyes, Darmas turned his head away from the bright beams. I tried to position myself between the two windows in the shade of the metal that separated them.

We waited a few moments for our eyes to adjust, and when we looked up we saw clear blue sky. Sand spilled inside with ever decreasing intensity. What was once a waterfall of sand, now looked like two golden drapes that gently rippled in the breeze.

Darmas stared with his mouth open. I guess he missed the surface as much as I did.

“Yeah! Goodbye Hellhole!” Cog yelled happily as he flipped a switch. A shudder ran through the vehicle as it rumbled to life. We started moving. My excitement only grew when we started climbing up the ramp. The sky continued to grow as the walls of Prometheus receded around us.

We leveled out and I went to look trough one of the side windows. Mounds of sand were everywhere, like waves of water frozen in time. We made it out!

“Umm… Where do you want to go now?” Darmas asked turning to Cog who was looking at his PipBuck.

“We turn around and head back, back to Nexus. I’ll make sure we stay on course. Oooh I can’t wait to get there.” Cog said smiling.

“Why is that? Miss somepony?” I teased, smiling broadly. We were outside! No more ghouls or nasty bugs!

“Pfhah! Yeah right! Saw and I have a bet going. She said I would screw up at least three times on this mission. I’ll admit I made a mistake when I turned on those turrets when we were at Nexus. I should have been more careful. The elevator thing wasn’t my fault, but she can have that too. All I need to do is deliver this megaspell, and I can start rubbing it in her muzzle.” He rubbed his hooves together while grinning mischievously. I just shook my head and turned to our zebra companion.

“Say Darmas what does this thing run on? What kind of talisman?” It’s definitely more advanced then that Remnant tank. Although that was a couple of years ago. Who knows what they have now?

“Oh it umm… uses spark batteries.”

“That’s pony tech you’re using.” Cog said and smiled proudly.

Darmas glanced at me then quickly looked away. “That. That armor you’re wearing. It’s Remnant isn’t it?” I looked myself over.

I suppose the black Kevlar armor I’m wearing is unique to the Remnant elite. “Yes it is.”

“So you…” Darmas narrowed his eyes at me, trying to make sense of my obviously unusual apparel. Sure. Haven’t you heard? The remnant started outfitting ponies now. Yeah, they don’t hate us anymore.

“It was a gift from an ex-Remnant.” Zaeryl. I miss you. First thing I’m going to do when this is over, is go back to Navarost. Visit Joram and you.

“A gift?” He looked at me with a puzzled expression. I didn’t answer him. He doesn’t need to know and I didn’t feel like explaining. Cog also turned to look at me, but he didn’t say anything.

We continued on in silence for a time until Cog turned to Darmas. “What I don’t get is what you were doing at Prometheus? Aren’t you a little young to be working on megaspells?” Good point.

“Well... I wasn’t doing anything special, just helping out. I didn’t choose Prometheus.” He looked down at the buttons in front of him, brushing a hoof over them, but not pressing anything. “I’m really not much of a scientist. I studied at Red Ridge and when my teacher got transferred, he decided to take me with him.” Darmas scrunched up his face. “Science doesn’t really interest me much. I like collecting stories. Stories about the past, and other cultures.”

“But you DID work on the megaspell?” Cog insisted.

“Yes.” He turned around to look mournfully at the small window that radiated pink light.

“What’s wrong? Does it bother you?” I asked following his gaze.

“It’s just that. Those things ruin civilizations. They ruined the ponies as much as they did us.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow, and looked at the zebra.

“I’d say we got it worse than you.” Cog said evenly, but there was a definite sour note to his words.

“I mean we destroyed what was once a beautiful land when we used them on Equestria. And then we even used them here. To a lesser extent true, but look what happened. Civil war broke out and now both ponies and zebras are trapped in the same nightmare.”

“So why help them?” If this bothered him so much then why do it? Why help the Separatists with another megaspell?

“Well it’s not like I had much choice. I don’t think the Caesar would actually use it. He probably just wanted to give the Remnant pause, maybe even convince them to join us.” Yeah that will be the day. And that was a good thing too. Separated there is still some hope against them.

“That’s another thing I was wondering about. I thought the Remnant had their Caesar, not the Separatists?” Cog asked the zebra, but I answered before Darmas could.

“When the last Caesar died the Remnant couldn’t find an heir to replace him. A lot of zebras were disappointed by the way the war was going. They blamed the Remnant for it. This caused them to split into a new faction. These… radicals started calling themselves the Separatists, and they elected a Caesar of their own. This only pissed off the Remnant, so they started fighting each other.” I noticed the weird look Darmas was giving me, his eyebrows looked ready to fall off. What? I know history too.

“So why haven’t the Remnant chosen a new Caesar?” Cog asked.

“I told you they haven’t found a worthy heir. Right now the Great General is in charge of the Remnant.” I clarified and Darmas spoke up.

“Before the Remnant and the Separatists all were called Caesars Legion. Since the very founding of the zebra nation there was always a Caesar who was chosen by the zebras to protect them, and be their military leader. For the first few generations a new one was chosen whenever the old one passed, but when the seventh Caesar was chosen to lead he proved to be an incredible zebra. Strong, capable, charismatic... A great diplomat as well as a warrior. After him his son was chosen who was greater still, and after him his daughter. The title soon became hereditary and after the death of the last Caesar in this war no heir has been found to take his place. The Remnant won’t choose a new Caesar. Not until they are certain an heir can’t be found. And like you said.” He looked at me. ”When a new Caesar was chosen by the Separatists the Remnant took this as a personal insult.”

“And the zebras that didn’t choose sides were left to group together and form the Free Tribes.” I added.

“What about Zaxis? He didn’t seem to give a damn about either the Remnant or the Separatists, and I doubt he cares for the Free Tribes.” Cog said while looking at his PipBuck, making sure we were still going the right way.

“Zaxis is… different. I never talked with him personally, but I heard bad things about him. He killed a lot of Remnant and Separatists for getting in the way of his research. And then he got assigned to Prometheus like nothing ever happened.” Darmas scratched his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.

Cog grinned. “I’m beginning to like this zebra.”

“He also killed ponies and Free Tribe zebras.”

The smile disappeared. “I take back what I said.” Cog amended.

“Why is he allowed to do this?” And why would someone like that help us?

“No one knows. The order for his transfer came directly from the Caesar. I don’t believe he works for anyone but himself. The scientists were happy that he was coming, but those from security… not so much.” Darmas finished and we returned to staring out at the rolling hills of sand.

Outside it must be as hot as Hell, but inside it just felt warm. Darmas had dozed off a few minutes ago. I was doing no better sitting down on the floor. The rhythmic thrumming of the vehicle was putting me to sleep. I have to get up and get moving. Hope Cog hasn’t fallen asleep too. Just as I was about to rise, the floor lurched away from my hooves for an instant, and I fell sprawling all over the floor.

“The fuck was that?” Cog cursed.

“Whu-whut…?” Darmas mumbled.

“Did we hit something?” I asked getting up and trying to shake away the drowsiness.

“It’s the middle of the freaking desert. What is there to hit?” He had a point. So what happened? I turned around and headed to the small window on the hatch. The megaspell seemed unharmed. Thank Celestia for that.

“Do. Do you hear that?” Darmas asked, his ears erect and turning in every direction.

“I don’t hear a-“

“Shhhh!” I motioned with a hoof for Cog to be quiet while I strained my ears to listen. I could hear something. Beside the noise of the engine another kind of rumbling could be heard, and it was getting louder. The entire vehicle lurched forward again.

Darmas stared wide eyed at the screen as he taped at the buttons. “There is something behind us. It’s following us and gaining fast!” He cried.

Not good! If they hit us we could all get blown up!

“Could it be the Separatists? Remnant?” Cog asked while glancing back at me. I looked around and saw another hatch on the roof. Standing on my rear hooves I tried to open it only to fall over when the vehicle lurched yet again.

“Help him get up!” Cog yelled at the zebra. Darmas flinched, but obeyed.

Standing on Darmas’s back I got the top hatch open, and I peeked outside. Something is definitely wrong. I was facing the back of the vehicle and yet the wind was blowing in my face. I had to raise a hoof to shield my eyes from the oncoming gust of sand. Once it passed I could get a good look at whoever it is that was following us.

“Sweet Celestia…” I felt my blood go cold.

“I don’t think calling your Goddess of the Sun will help.” Darmas grunted from underneath me. I don’t think anypony besides her COULD help.

“Mist! What do you see?! What’s behind us?!” Cog shouted.

I went back inside. Cog opened his mouth to ask again, but I cut him off. “It. It looks like the desert is rising behind us. Like a huge hill.” Sand crunched between my teeth as I spoke. I didn’t bother to spit it out.

“Eh!?” Cog let out, raising an eyebrow. Darmas’s stripes seemed to grow paler, and he started muttering something to himself. I rounded on him.

“Darmas. What is happening?” He just looked at me without really seeing me and started hyperventilating. I put my hooves on his shoulders and shook him. “Damn it calm down!” I had to yell because the rumbling and shaking was getting louder. “Do you know what that thing is?!”

His eyes focused on me and he nodded, then in a weak voice he said. ”I. I think it’s the Nubian.”

“Nubian… And that is?” All I know is that it is big, scary, and out to get us, but I needed more information.

“A legend from the desert. A creature. King of the Desert.” The zebra managed to say.

“What?! A legend! Luna fuck me. How big is the damn thing?!” Cog asked turning to me.

“Oh it’s big, Cog. It’s big.”

BOOOMMM!!!

A sound like muffled thunder came from under us. It made the vehicle bounce up, and all of us with it. Cog was in his seat, but Darmas and I nearly hit the roof.

After slamming back down to the floor I scrambled back to my hooves, and went over to Darmas.

“Do you know how to kill it or something?” Slow it down?! Anything!? It’s not fair! We just got out! We survived the Mallar! We survived Prometheus! We can’t die now!

“Yo-you can’t. Not even having a megaspell dropped on them can kill them. M-Maybe if we reach Nexus 3? There is less sand there and more rock. It can’t burrow through rock.”

I plopped my rump on the floor. Then it’s over. That thing will kill us.

“Mist we’re close!” Cog snapped me back from reflecting on my life.

“What? Where?” Close to being buried alive?

“To Nexus! We should be there in a few minutes!” Just adding salt on the wound. We don’t have a few minutes!

This is so unfair! Why?! We are so close! I felt like crying, my throat felt tight. No! Fuck this!

“Darmas get back in that seat and help Cog! Do what you can.” He gave me a confused look then nodded.

I opened the hatch on the roof and went out, pulling my rifle behind me with my magic. Maybe I can try and shoot it in the eyes or something. Anything that would give us more time. The wind immediately whipped at my mane once my head was out. I turned to face it.

The thing has no eyes!

The creature loomed before me like a snake. No, more like a worm. It’s head, a huge smooth dome that plowed through the sand. I opened fire, but the bullets did nothing. I don’t think the thing was even aware of them. Well I knew it was a foals errand, but I had to try something.

It kept getting closer, and then suddenly the dome cracked open. Dark lines appeared on the smooth surface. The teeth were bone-white daggers arraigned in a circle. I think my heart stopped for a moment. Even more teeth spiraled around the inside of the creatures mouth. White knives that glinted around the edges of oblivion that was its gullet. It reminded me of the hole in the wall underneath Nexus station. The same dread filled my heart when I gazed into that pit.

Its huge shadow passed over me, blotting out the sun. The terrible maw grew, swallowing in tons of sand. I watched silently, unable to move or do anything.

Time seemed to slow down. The wind was gone, even the background sounds of engines, and the rumbling of sand seemed to be fading. Nothing existed except the thing before me. The huge teeth started to close.

The vehicle jerked as it was lifted up. By some amazing stroke of luck I still had a hoof in the hatch in the roof and was able to hold on.

“Mist!” Cog shouted. I felt like I was waking up from a dream. All the sounds came crashing down on me. The creaking of metal as the creature bit down, the rumble of the desert as the thing plowed it, the useless whirring of the vehicles tracks. I looked around. We were lifted into the air by that thing. Some part of me already knew this, but I was only aware of it now.

The teeth bit the metal at the part where the megaspell was kept. If that thing goes off… I thought back to what Darmas had said. “Not on it, but inside it!”

I shoved my head back through the opening. It was chaos in there. Warning lights were flashing, Darmas and Cog were pounding on the buttons trying to keep things under control.

“Cog! Grenade!” I yelled. He levitated it out, but in all the chaos and confusion dropped it. Thankfully Darmas caught it with his mouth and threw it to me. I grabbed it with my magic and turned to face the thing. The front half of the vehicle was dipping down as the back part was being torn off. I had an unobstructed view the megaspell chamber, one of the pillars flickered and died.

It’s now or never. I pulled out the pin from the grenade.

Metal snapped and we started falling. I watched as the huge teeth slowly closed, megaspell behind them. I threw the grenade right at the egg. It went in as the teeth closed shut.

I heaved myself back inside through the hatch head first. We hit the ground and my face smashed against the floor. The world was spinning and fading to black. Someone was beside me. It was Darmas, he was pushing a potion into my hooves saying something. I couldn’t understand a word he said over the ringing in my ears.

I opened my muzzle to say something and as I breathed in I started to choke and cough. Touching my nose was a bad idea. The pain made my eyes water and my hoof came away bloody.

I remembered the potion that had been shoved into my other how and I drank it two gulps. As my the healing magic stitched my muzzle back together, I looked out through the hole that once used to be the chamber for the megaspell. The creature was still behind us, if a little farther away now. We’re still moving, that’s good. I wiped the excess blood from my muzzle with a hoof.

BOOOM!

The creature convulsed and lifted its great mass to stand erect like a pillar. Its mouth opened and it billowed multicolored flames and pink gas. A shriek of pain went out, so loud that it felt like somepony was shoving spikes into my ears. I almost lost consciousness again, but managed to hold on. The vehicle had finally had enough and it went silent. Cog came next to Darmas and me to watch the scene.

Small holes exploded from the creature’s side, blasting away pieces of its armored carapace, those same holes were leaking fire and pink gas in thin jets. It writhed left and right, painting a flaming pink ‘S’ in the sky.

Its pain filled screams got quieter until they completely stopped. The creature swayed back and forth, the fires had gone out, but the gas still spilled from its mouth and holes on its sides. I felt a pang of sadness as I watched it.

“Oh shit.” A terrible realization struck me. “Move! We have to run!” I yelled at Cog and Darmas while shoving them out of the wreck. They looked at me like I had lost my mind, then they turned to the creature and their eyes widened with fear. They didn’t need any more coaxing from me to start running.

We were galloping as fast as we could. I turned around to look at the creature as its body came crashing down.

THUMP!

The impact of its fall jarred our legs as we ran. It fell with its mouth pointing towards us and now a pink cloud was rushing to engulf us.

“Run! Faster!” I screamed until my throat felt raw. The howling of the wind behind us was getting louder! Turning over to look, to my horror I saw a huge mass of pink rushing after us. “Come on we can’t stop!”

‘Oh shit!’ The ground disappeared from under our hooves and all three of us went tumbling down a hill of sand.

“Son of a bitch!” Cog spat out sand and got back to his hooves and started running again. I grabbed Darmas by his mane, pulled him up and we ran after Cog.

‘Come on! Come on! We have to be far enough away now!’

We weren’t. I could see pink around the edges of my vision and then I felt it.

Pain shot up my hind legs causing me to stumble, but I managed to stay on my hooves. It was unlike anything I have ever felt before. I was aware of my own body dying, I could feel it. Muscles lose their strength, organs start to fail. I could hear my heart struggling to keep beating. A stabbing pain in my right shoulder reminded me of the time I got hit with a machete. Every time I breathed out droplets of blood would go out too.

I felt the tips of my forehooves dig into the sand and the ground rushing to meet me. I collapsed.

A numbing cold entered my body. I was grateful, it dulled the pain. The cloud around us wasn’t that thick. It extended to maybe a hundred meters ahead of us. I looked around. It was like looking from inside a tunnel. Darkness was slowly closing around me. Cog spat blood as he tried to keep himself standing. Darmas just laid still. I don’t think he was breathing. I rolled my eyes to look ahead and I could see something glimmer in the distance. Two figures appeared to be standing there, with the light shining behind them. “Mom? Dad?” I closed my eyes.

‘This… isn’t so… bad. Just like… going… to sleep.’

I felt something pull on my mane and then my hooves were dangling in the breeze. Warmth was returning to my body, and so was the pain. I opened my eyes to see that I was flying above and away from the pink fog. How is this possible? A ridiculous thought came to mind. Maybe Luna or Celestia were carrying me out from the cloud of death?

The beating of wings grew more labored and I could hear someone grunting with effort. Whatever was holding onto my mane decided to let go a few meters from the ground and I tumbled once I hit the sand. Sky and sand changed position a few times before I stopped and lay battered, unmoving. A familiar sounding voice grabbed my attention and I raised my head to see the speaker.

“Shit! Shit! Shrapnel go help Mist and check if the zebra’s alive, I’ll help Cog! Here boss, drink this.” IronClaw hissed while holding his right talon with his left. Blood was trickling down from the place where steel met flesh on his right talon. He took the potion from Saw and quickly downed it.

“Mist! You’re alive! Here, drink.” A shadow fell over me. It was Shrapnel. The armored mare was pushing a potion to my muzzle.

I drank it and shivered with delight as the pain subsided. I wanted to sleep now, I was exhausted, but first I have to make sure. “Shrapnel listen. Go help Darmas. The zebra if he’s still alive. He’s with us.”

She looked over to the unmoving body then back to me and nodded. Once she moved away I could see that Cog was sitting and grinning weakly while Saw berated him for being an idiot, and other things. I couldn’t help but smile at their antics.

“Hey Mist! He’s gonna live!” Shrapnel shouted. I turned to see Darmas moving feebly on the ground while Shrapnel showed a potion into his mouth.

“Good.” I’m glad he pulled through. I rested my head on my hooves and drifted off to sleep no longer able to keep my eyes open.

Faintly I could hear voices around me. My eyelids were heavy and my eyes stung as I tried to open them. Had I been sleeping? I don’t remember going to sleep.

“-uck. You two went through a lot. I’m still counting blowing up the megaspell as a screw up though.” I heard Saw say.

“What?! That was out of my hooves. That doesn’t count!” Cog cried.

“Shhhhhh!”

As I slowly came to my senses, I felt something brushing over me. When I opened my eyes I realized it was my stealth cloak. Most likely draped over me to serve as a blanket. Shrapnel was sitting next to me. She had taken off her helmet and was now glaring at Cog.

“You woke him up!” She said sternly.

I must have been out for longer than I thought. The night’s sky was full of twinkling stars, all was silent, and the air was pleasantly cool. I felt oddly at peace, and no nightmares this time! Just a plain dreamless sleep. I tried to stand up only to have a dull pain shoot through my body.

“Here drink another. It’ll help.” Shrapnel offered me another potion smiling. I thanked her and took it with my magic. It did help. The aches faded away, but as they did the events of the day came rushing back to me.

“How? How are we still alive?” I shuddered thinking back to that moment, accepting death. Life felt so sweet right now.

“IronClaw swooped down and carried you all away!” Shrapnel answered, her hooves raised theatrically.

“He carried us? All three of us?” I turned to look at the griffin in awe. He was flexing his steel appendage, examining his talons. He stopped when he saw that I was looking at him.

“Not really carried. It was stupid to even attempt, but I figured if I could get enough momentum in the dive I could pull you out of there. Luckily my wings gave out when we were out of danger, and not before.” He said somberly, then looked back at his talon and said in a softer voice. “I’m not losing another squad.”

The silence that ensued was broken when Cog spoke. “I think all of you are forgetting the fact that we killed a legend! I mean did you see how big that thing was!?”

“The fucking thing was kind of hard to miss, even from Nexus.” Saw chuckled. “And what’s this ‘we’ crap? Mist killed it. You just fucked up like always.”

Cog puffed out his chest and was about to say something I’m sure was clever, when a voice spoke up uncertainly.

“A-Actually I don’t think that Nubian was full grown.” We all turned to look at Darmas. The zebra slowly raised himself into a sitting position.

“What?! But the freaking thing was huge!” Cog cried.

“It was, b-but the books describe them as growing to be much bigger.”

“You know what!? It’s dead! We’re not!” Cog threw up his hooves and fell on his back.

Darmas slowly approached IronClaw. It was clear he was intimidated by the griffin. I don’t blame him, griffins are fierce. I remembered how I reacted the first time I met him.

“Y-You must be their leader. I-I’m called Darmas. Thank you for saving my life.” Darmas bowed his head. “I will tell you everything you want to know… although I don’t know much. I was mostly an assistant.” IronClaw eyed him for a moment then gave a curt nod.

I turned to Shrapnel. “So what have you been up to while we were gone?”

“Oh the usual. Blowing up big bugs. Not as big as the one you guys killed.” She thumped me in the shoulder playfully, I winced. “Ooops, sorry. So his name is Darmas. He seems nice.”

I looked at the zebra. He was speaking with IronCalw, Cog was standing to the side, no doubt giving the details of our exploits. Saw was just listening and keeping an eye on Darmas. She doesn’t trust him. “He is. I think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Shrapnel nodded knowingly. “How did you manage? Being down there? Cog’s from a Stable so he’s used to closed spaces. What about you?”

“Well I did miss the sky, but I didn’t have any problems.” That wasn’t the whole truth. I think I did okay in there. There was a general feeling of unease at Prometheus, but that could be due to what had happened there.

I looked up. I really did miss the stars and Moon. Shrapnel looked up too.

“Yeah. I would have missed the open sky too. Teehee!” Shrapnel’s sudden giggle drew my attention back to the armored mare. “There was this one mare that came from a stable, like Cog. Somepony had told her that she has to hug the ground while outside so she wouldn’t fall into the sky. She almost got shot because we thought she was trying to sneak up on us.”

“How did Cog react?” He’s from the stable too, and I couldn’t imagine him doing something so silly.

“Oh this was way before Cog joined.” She said waving a hoof.

“So… when you were with IronClaw?” I asked.

“Nah, before that. Before I got…” All the joy seemed to leave her. I put a hoof on her shoulder, she smiled back at me. “Thanks.”

“You know you can talk to me if you want?” Seeing her sad just looked… wrong. She was always peppy and cheerful.

“I know.” She said in a hushed voice with a sad smile.

Well I’m not going to pry. She can tell me when she’s ready. For now I decided to change topic. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask. How did you know where we were going to be?”

“We didn’t. After we talked on those screens, IronClaw decided that we should leave and try to meet you halfway. Those bugs didn’t make it easy for us. We had to blast our way out. Oh! That reminds me.” She turned her head around and grabbed something from her back with her teeth, and then she tossed it before me. It was my sniper.

I levitated it up. A thought crossed my mind and I raised a hoof to my chest. The pistol was still there in its holster, but my rifle? Where was it? “Damn it.”

Shrapnel looked at me, and tilted her head quizzically. “What’s wrong Mist?”

“I think I lost my rifle somewhere in the desert.”

“Awww don’t worry. We’ll get you a new one.”

“Yeah.” But that one was a gift from Joram. Damn it! Must have dropped it while that thing was snacking on the vehicle. I knew it was foalish, but part of me really wanted to go back and look for it. I pushed those thoughts aside. The place is irradiated, not to mention the necromantic gas will still be lingering there.

“What happens with your mission now? The megaspell is gone.” Will they get into trouble with RazorWing? Will I? Shrapnel just shrugged.

“Well we take back the information we have. They did say bring back any information or the weapon itself. Sooo we just give them the information.” She finished and smiled unperturbed.

I looked over at the others. Darmas was still talking to IronClaw who nodded occasionally.

“What happens to him?” I pointed a hoof in the zebras direction.

“Dunno. I don’t think we ever had prisoners with us before.” Not what I wanted to hear. We both turned to look at Saw approach.

“Nice to see Cog hadn’t gotten you killed. How’re you doing?”

“Better than a few hours ago. I needed the rest.” I gave her a smile. The sleep really did wonders for me, I haven’t felt this good in a long time.

“Hah! No shit. If you can, try and get some more sleep because tomorrow we’re heading for Massif.”

“Did IronClaw say anything about Darmas?” Shrapnel queried. IronClaw was now talking with Cog while Darmas moved away to curl up on the sand.

“Stripes? Black and white over there is coming with us.” She turned around to glance at the sleeping zebra.

“You don’t like him very much do you?” She seemed surprised at my question.

“Should I? Why do you?” She pointed a hoof at me.

“I’m not saying I like him or anything like that. I just don’t think he’s a bad zebra. Just working for the wrong side, not really knowing what they do.” He was naive, not evil.

“Being an idiot does not make him less dangerous.” She deadpanned. ”Just look at Cog.” I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off. “Look, either he’s as stupid as you say, or he’s acting. I’m not taking any chances.”

“But Saw. You always expect the worst in others.” Shrapnel said with a frown.

Saw turned to the armored mare. “That way there is always a chance that I’ll be pleasantly surprised.” She turned her attention back to me. “Don’t be quick to trust others. Always watch your back.” Saw stalked off leaving Shrapnel and me alone again.

Shrapnel turned to me and smiled. “Wanna play some cards?”

“No thanks. I’m just not in the mood right now.”

I skulked around our “campsite” for a bit, unable to go to sleep. Shrapnel had first watch, so I kept her company. She regaled me with stories from her past exploits with the Talon Company. I found a lot of it difficult to believe, like alicorns. But she quickly explained that these were nothing like our Celestia and Luna. No pony knows exactly where they come from, but they seemed particularly interested in unicorns, and preaching about some kind of unity.

Apparently they work with raiders and foalnap ponies. Slavery? Even in Equestria? I guess it was foalish to believe that life would be better there. My heart ached when I thought back to the stories of a lush green Equestria, were everyone lived in peace under the care of the Sun and Moon princesses. No, these alicorn’s that exist now are little more than monsters. Shrapnel even told me a few stories of a famous Steel Ranger alicorn hunter.

The Moon was in the middle of the sky by the time the Sun had risen. It painted the horizon in a brilliant myriad of different hues of red, yellow and orange. Shrapnel was happily bounding all over the place. I had to scratch my head at that. Does she even need to rest?

“The wind’s picking up. Pack you’re things, we’re leaving.” IronClaw ordered and everypony started packing their things and getting ready.

“Where is this Massif?” I turned to look around. The only thing that drew my attention were the steel walls of Nexus station 3, as they reflected the Sun’s rays.

“Northeast.” IronClaw pointed with a talon. “Listen up, this is how we are going to move. Mist, you stay with Darmas, the two of you stay in the middle. Shrapnel and I will take point. That means Cog and Saw have the back.” He paused for a moment and rubbed his chin. “On second thought. Cog, you’re with me at the front. Shrapnel you take rear guard with Saw.” I had to smile at that. He was deliberately keeping Cog and Saw separated.

We formed a column and started moving at a brisk pace. I looked to my left and noticed that Darmas, despite hanging his head low, wore a little smile. A part of me was glad to see that he wasn’t as miserable as before, but then Saw’s words came to mind. Could he be acting?

“You seem to be in a good mood today.” I asked the zebra casually.

“Hmm?” He turned to look at me, still wearing that smile. “Oh I am… was just thinking about yesterday.” He blushed and looked down at his hooves.

“What about yesterday?” A lot happened yesterday, and little of it good.

“About the Nubian. It’s just so… amazing to actually see one.” He practically bounced as he said this, then in a sadder tone he added. “And now it’s gone.”

They are impressive, no doubt about that. Probably one of the most dangerous creatures out there. I can understand why Darmas would admire them so. It’s a shame we had to kill it. “You do understand that we had to kill it, right?”

“Oh I do. I don’t blame you for what you did. We would have died otherwise, but I can’t help but feel that the world has lost another of its wonders.” He had a melancholy look in his eyes when he turned to look at the great sandy expanse we were leaving behind. “At least I got to see one. The only knowledge we have about them are vague references and stories. Even I didn’t believe in them completely. The thought of something like that actually living in this day and age was simply too… fantastic.”

“Didn’t the megaspells do that to them? Caused them to grow that big?”

“No, they were always described as massive beings that were as old as… well, old as the desert itself. I believe that the megaspell testing only attracted them, luring them away from the deep desert.” Wow. That’s not terrifying at all.

“Well good thing we didn’t run into mommy and daddy, and there are more of them?” An image of a desert crawling with these goliaths filled my head and I had to repress a shudder.

“Well they are incredibly rare, even back in the days when zebras still held relations with the camels. I think they were considered mostly legends back then too.” Darmas said and furrowed his brow as he tried to remember more.

“Camels? I don’t think I ever heard of them. Where are they now?” It’s strange how zebras are the only race in Zevrass while Equestria has unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. I mean I have read about other races, but never seen them before.

“Gone. Zevrass used to be a lot more varied before. No one really knows why this changed. The camels were seen outside the desert less and less, until they stopped showing up altogether. Some claim that they still exist somewhere in the deep desert.” Darmas said hopefully.

“So you like collecting lore about the desert and Zevrass in general?” I had to admit that that was probably the sanest occupation anyone could have. So much safer than being a mercenary or working for the Remnant or Separatists, but I could imagine how caps could become a problem. I doubt history and lore are valued much in these times.

“Not just Zevrass. I’m also interested in the history, culture and species from other places too. Take dragons for example. The ones from Equestria grow to be more than three times bigger than those from Zevrass, and I’ve heard stories that there once were even greater dragons. Ancient wyrms they were called. They could perform incredible magics and were as old as the world itself.” A light shined in his eyes as he spoke with a rare passion about mythical creatures. I shook my head and smiled.

“Umm did I say something funny?” Darmas asked me uncertainly. Right there I decided that there was no way he was acting to get us to let our guard down.

“No.” I snickered and waved him off with a hoof. He’s a dreamer, with his hunger for knowledge and love of history he would make a perfect apprentice to a shaman.

“Do you. Do you know of any stories or legends, beliefs from Equestria? If you want to tell me.” He finished in a whisper, and turned back to look at his hooves.

“I’m not from Equestria. I was born here.”

“Oh. Are you from Vostoris, Emerald Peak?” Darmas shook his head. “You can’t be from Red Ridge. That’s in Separatist territory.”

“My family was with the Free Tribes.”

“Was?” He looked at me and frowned.

“They were killed when the Separatists attacked a Remnant slave convoy.” Why did I just tell him that? Damn it! Memories of that night already started surging back.

“Slave? I-I’m so sorry.” He looked away ashamed. “You must hate zebras too, like the yellow mare, Saw.”

Do I hate them? No. I can’t blame everyone for the actions of individuals.

“No I don’t hate zebras, or you. Saw is just suspicious, but I don’t think she hates you.” I said gently, but Darmas didn’t look convinced.

“The Remnant are known to be… extreme. But the Separatists aren’t like that. Ponies who join are treated-“ I raised a hoof and shook my head.

“Just stop. I know that the only thing the Separatists value about ponies is this.” I tapped my horn with a hoof. “As for those who aren’t unicorns I’m not sure, but it certainly can’t be anything good.”

“But you don’t hate zebras?” He focused on my face. Trying to find some hint that I was lying and that I actually held some sort of grudge against his kind. To his shock I smiled a little.

“No, I don’t hate zebras. After all a zebra saved my life. She was also kind to me. It’s something I’ll never forget.” I felt warmth welling up inside me as I thought back to the day I met Zaeryl.

“She? Who is she?” He asked, genuine curiosity showing on his face.

“An ex-Remnant who became a shaman saved me. Then later took me as an apprentice.”

“A shaman.” He whispered the title with reverence. “That would explain your fluent speech and knowledge of zebra history.”

Fluent speech? I just realized that we have been having this entire conversation in zebra. What’s more I started it. Darmas was looking at me strangely.

“What?” I asked uncertainly, looking around.

“I’m sorry. Please forgive me, I didn’t realize you were a shaman.” He bowed his head to me.

“What? No I’m not. I was taught by one, but I’m not really a shaman myse-“

“Everypony stop!”

We all turned to look at Shrapnel.

“What’s wrong?” IronClaw asked as he approached her.

“My EFS found something. There was a red dot, but now it’s gone.” She scanned the terrain behind us. I couldn’t see anything except sand and yet more sand.

Cog came to stand next to her. He had the same EFS thing that helped him find enemies. We waited in silence.

Darmas came to me and whispered. “What’s happening?”

“Enemies.”

He started looking around then turned back to me. “Can they detect beasts as well as zebras and ponies?” Good question. I think they can. Are we dealing with shifters? No, if we were we would have seen their prints in the sand.

“Maybe it was a glitch?” Cog asked Shrapnel. She didn’t respond, just kept looking at the desert. IronClaw drew his SMG’s and Saw pulled out her pistol. I went for my rifle and found only the sniper at my side.

“There it is again!” Shrapnel exclaimed pointing a hoof to the right, we all turned to look.

“She’s right I saw it too. Definitely no glitch.” Cog pulled out his shotgun.

“Shith. I dohn’t thee anythng.” Saw said over the gun in her muzzle.

“I think it’s getting closer, and looks like there is more than one. Do you think it could be Remnant? With their cloaks?” Cog turned around to look to the left.

“No. We would have seen tracks in the… Shit! Scatter! Their under us!” IronClaw leapt into the air just in time to avoid what looked like two spoon-like appendages that exploded from the sand underneath him. IronClaw beat his wings and stayed aloft while he pepered the thing under him with his guns.

The rest of the creature emerged. Its short head sported multiple eyes, it’s body was covered in dark brown chitinous plates. Oh fuck! It’s one of those things again. I pulled out the sniper and took aim.

“Shit!” I heard Cog yell. I turned around and now I could see another one of those things. This one was completely out of the sand. It seemed smaller than the one we fought in the tram tunnel, and instead of scythes it had spades. I turned and aimed at the one attacking Cog.

I fired and immediately thought that it wouldn’t do any good since I wasn’t using armor-piercing rounds. To my surprise the bullet smashed through. Guess the higher caliber helped, that or the armor of these things was less thick. The thing screeched and reeled.

“Mist look ou-“

I didn’t catch that last part as something smashed into my chest from my right and sent me flying. When I opened my eyes I was looking at the sky while laying on my back, gasping for air. Breathing was agony, every breath sent a fresh wave of pain over my right side. My ribs must be broken. Finding a potion in my saddlebags was difficult, I couldn’t focus my magic. Come on! Where are you!? My magic finally wrapped around a bottle, and I hurriedly brought it to my lips.

The pain started to fade, I just hope that my ribs are in proper position so that they heal right. I turned over, back onto my hooves. Cog was shooting at the one I had wounded with his shotgun, and to my surprise Darmas was supporting him with a revolver.

Shrapnel got batted away like me, but she jumped right back on her hooves and started firing from her grenade launcher. I made a dash for my sniper. IronClaw was on top of one of those things with his right talon in the creature’s mouth. The tail with the stinger was going to hit him! I raised the sniper and aimed.

Alright just focus. Breathe –cough- ou-cough- Damn it! Come on! I tried again. Pinpricks spread through the inside of my chest when I breathed in. Fighting back another cough I managed to shoot the thing in the stinger and blast it apart. IronClaw was pulling the creature’s head back with his talon still in its mouth, and in the other he held a wicked curved blade.

Once the things mouth was open as wide as it could go, the griffin shoved the blade in and started twisting. The creatures screeching became a gurgling noise as thick, dark-blue blood oozed from its mouth. It twisted and turned, trying to shake the griffin off, but its strength was waning, and soon it stopped moving altogether.

I turned to look at the others. Shrapnel had blown up the one that attacked her. It was missing one of its spade-like appendages and had a bloody hole where its head used to be. Cog and Darmas were working together, surrounding the thing and forcing it to split its attention between the two of them. I readied my sniper to help them out.

“Damn it, watch out!” A blur of yellow and black crashed into me, and I fell to the ground again. I coughed up blood. The pain had returned to my battered side and I winced and grunted trying to rise, but something was pinning me down.

“Shit! Shit! Stay down Mist!” Saw shouted from on top of me.

I looked behind her and saw one of the creatures pulling its tail out of the sand where I stood not a moment ago. It started turning towards us.

Crap. Where’s my gun? In that moment a shell struck the creature and exploded. It screamed in pain and anger, quickly after that a rain of bullets fell on it from above.

BOOOM!

Another explosion and the creature was dead. There were a couple more gunshots fired before the fighting was over.

“Where does it hurt?” Saw asked after getting off of me. She prodded me with her hooves and I yelped when she jabbed me in the ribs.

“Stop wriggling damn it!” I tried to push away her hooves, but she was having none of it. “Well they’re not broken, here.” She gave me a potion. I winced as I took it with my magic.

Oh yes. The pain faded away completely now.

“Do you have any potions left?” She asked me while looking through her saddle bags.

“I drank one a few minutes ago, I think I have one more left.”

“You already drank one? Let me see the one you have left.” I levitated it out of my saddlebag and gave it to her.

“Shit. Cog, get over here!” She examined the potion with a critical eye.

“What?!” He yelled as he approached, Darmas followed close behind.

“Give me your healing potions.” He raised an eyebrow and looked as if he was going to complain, but instead he levitated two potions out without a word. Saw took them and pulled out one of her own potions to compare.

“What’s going on here?” IronClaw queried, holstering his SMG’s and knife.

“Looks like that cloud affected the potions too.” She turned her head to spit and then went on. “Look how pale Mist’s and Cog’s potions are, and look at mine.” She was right. The potion I gave her was definitely paler, almost pink, while hers was a healthy shade of red.

“You didn’t drink one did you?” She turned to Cog who shook his head.

“Good. The things might even be toxic. I heard merchants talking, back in Equestria, about how the pink gas can poison anything. Those brave, and stupid enough to go into the Canterlot ruins, and come out alive also say how they nearly died from drinking a healing potion that stayed in the gas too long.”

“Ahre yoo alhrighh?” Darmas asked me through a gun still held in his mouth. Saw jumped when she noticed him and pulled out her own pistol.

“The fuck!? Drop it now!” She snapped and Darmas immediately let the gun fall from his mouth.

“Take it easy Saw. He won’t shoot us.” Cog motioned with a hoof for her to lower her own gun.

“How fucking stupid are you? He’s a prisoner! You don’t give prisoners a chance to shoot you in the back you moron!” She snapped back. Aww crap. This is bad.

“Easy Saw. If Darmas wanted to hurt us, during the fight would have been the perfect time. He didn’t.” I had to get her to calm down before she shoots him.

She looked at me uncertainly then back to the zebra, who winced from her glare.

“Mist is right, put the gun away, we have more important things to worry about.” IronClaw broke no argument, and Saw returned her gun back to its holster. Cog picked up the revolver that Darmas had dropped and put it back into his saddlebag.

“We’ve killed, how many of them?” IronClaw asked.

“Two, three. Four.” Cog counted.

“Right.” IronClaw nodded. “There is no telling how many more of them could be on their way right now. We need to keep moving.”

“Umm… These were only the Mallar workers. Their warriors might come in the next attack.” We all turned to look at the zebra.

“Is there no fucking end to these monsters? Wait, warriors. What do they look like?” Cog asked.

“Well they are similar to these workers, except they are bigger, their armor is stronger and instead of the pedipalps being shovel shaped, they are more like two big blades.”

Cog and I exchanged uneasy looks. So that was a warrior we fought in the tram. We only survived it thanks to the confined spaces we were fighting in. Had it been able to move unhindered, we would have been long dead.

“Their eyesight is poor though, they rely more on vibrations carried by the sand. If we could maybe… cause a few explosions, we could draw them away.” Darmas offered.

“I don’t have any grenades left.” Cog turned to IronClaw who had crossed his talons and closed his eyes in thought.

“I could fire a few grenades from my launcher.” Shrapnel chirped helpfully.

IronClaw nodded. “Alright, just remember to fire them at forty five degrees. The farther away from us the better.”

Shrapnel nodded, turned around and fired three shots in the direction from where we came. One shot at seven, one at eight and one at one o’clock. This was repeated three more times, once every hour. Fortunately for us, the second attack never came.

The scenery slowly changed as we walked. The sand was steadily being replaced by patches of dirt. Tougher vegetation grew on these small islands. After going East for a while our direction changed slightly, and now we were going mostly North on the very line where the savannah meets the desert. Something was rising in front of us. I thought it was another dune, Darmas explained that that’s what the hills made from sand were called in the desert, but it was too steep and far too big.

“Is that a mountain?”

“Yep. Massif is built into its side some ways up.” Cog turned from talking with Darmas to explain.

“Mist, get over here.” IronClaw called and I trotted up to him. “You were trained as a shaman correct?”

What? How does he know? “Yes. How do you know?”

“Saw told me.” He said flatly.

“She told you.” I felt betrayed that she would go behind my back like that. Do the others know? I don’t really care that she told him about the training, what really bothered me was what else she might have said.

“Calm down, I gave her an order. She wasn’t happy that she had to tell me.” He gave me a serious look. “Your past is your business and I didn’t ask out of idle curiosity. I need to know the capabilities of those under my command.”

“You could have just asked.” I said perhaps a bit too harshly.

The griffin nodded, his expression unchanged. “Yes, and I also saw you in action. That however doesn’t tell me what kind of pony you are. My condolences for your loss.”

He caught me off guard by that. “Thank you…”

“I called for you because Massif is lead by a shaman called Azar.” He studied my face for a reaction. I shrugged and shook my head.

“I don’t know him.” Zaeryl is the only shaman I know of.

“Hmm. Well in any case. The last time we were there, an incident occurred, and we didn’t exactly part on friendly terms.” A look of annoyance flashed in the griffins eyes.

“So you need me to smooth things over with him. Why? Is he going to attack us?” While shamans generally do not excel as warriors, they more than make up for it with their zebra magic.

I have some knowledge, but would rather not go up against a shaman if I could help it.

IronClaw shook his head. “No, but he may have important information about the Separatists movements. I need you to convince him that it’s in the interest of the Free Tribes that I get any new information.” Oh, is that all?

“I don’t know if it will work. I’m not exactly a shaman. I trained for only six years, and hoof to hoof and weapons training was mixed in. That doesn’t count as proper shaman training.” There are gaps in my training. It’s not Zaeryls fault. She wanted me to learn what she thought was important first. As for the rest… I guess she thought she’d have more time.

“And how long does this training actually take?” IronClaw asked, looking annoyed.

“Your whole life.” As Zaeryl put it. ‘We learn while we live.’ He cocked an eyebrow at this statement. “Well the apprenticeship lasts until the teacher believes the student has learned enough, and is ready to go his or her own way.” I probably only learned a third of what I was supposed to.

“Regardless you will try. I heard that shamans are universally respected everywhere amongst the zebra and amongst themselves. You were a student, so that has got to count for something.” The griffin opened his beak to say something more when he was cut off by rising voices.

“-screw up everything you lay your hooves on!”

IronClaw and I turned to see what the shouting was about.

“Well at least I’m not a psychopath drunk that can’t go a single day witho-“

“Quiet! The Hell is wrong with you?” IronClaw yelled putting an end to Cog’s and Saw’s fight. “Find some other way to amuse yourselves until we get to Massif, but I don’t want to hear anymore of this crap.”

“How about we play ‘I spy’?” Shrapnel asked the group.

“No!” Cog and Saw yelled together. At least they could agree on something.

“I would like to learn this ‘I spy’ game.” Darmas asked Shrapnel who let out an excited squeal. Cog and Saw groaned and IronClaw pinched the bridge of his beak and sighed.

“Whatever I’m being punished for, its way more then I deserve.” He said sadly to no pony in particular.

“I don’t like the way they’re looking at me. It’s like I’m some kind of freak.” Cog complained as we passed by a few zebras and their foals who stoped whatever they were doing to gape at the new arrivals.

“LIKE a freak?” Saw teased.

“Oh haha! They’re staring at you too.” Cog retorted.

“Naw, I’m just a pony. You are a unicorn with crazy magic mumbo jumbo.” Saw said while her eyes spun in her skull in opposite directions. How did she do that?

Cogs scrunched up his face. “Then they are staring at Mist too. You’re saying he’s a freak too?”

“No, that’s all you.” Saw replied quickly, not losing a beat.

They continued arguing, but I was no longer paying any attention, too engrossed with the sights around me.

We completely left the desert behind us about an hour ago, and once we started climbing the mountain we quickly found a path and followed it. During the ascent we came across a few guards. They didn’t attack us, but they weren’t glad to see us either. Having Darmas with us seemed to help though, and they let us pass without too much trouble. The village itself was positioned on a large plateau. The houses were made from stone and were simple in design, some of them were carved right into the mountains side.

Stone steps lead up to another plateau and then yet another. So there were three levels to Massif. Hmmm… I guess the entire village looked like a small flight of stairs for some towering giant.

As we climbed up to the second level, I glanced down and saw that behind the houses, near the edges of the mountain there were rich green gardens, where fruit baring trees grew. It was a beautiful sight.

The laughter of foals as they ran around and played only served to make the scene more wondrous. I had to smile, my eyes misted a little. It was a rare sight to see such innocent happiness.

We were on the second level now. It was smaller than the first, but no less impressive. Zebras leaned out of their windows to look at us. Some were scowling, but most of them watched disinterestedly as we passed by. The more curious, and braver young ones came closer to look at us with wonder only foals could have. Shrapnel waved at them and they took off at a gallop. No doubt startled and a little intimidated by the armored mare.

I looked up at the last plateau and saw that in the walls of that mountain, beside a few homes, what looked like a temple was carved in the center. This is an old settlement, no doubt about it. Darmas’s eyes were moving in every possible direction, his mouth hanging open. I could imagine him darting around and asking everyone about the history of this village.

As we approached the steps, four guards wearing impressive armor of interlocking metal plates blocked our path. Their weapons were slung and holstered, but from the looks they were giving us I could tell there was going to be trouble. They had snipers perched and ready on the rooftops and on the top of the stairs.

A guard slowly descended down the stairs with precise, measured steps. He wore armor similar to that of the other guards, except it was decorated by zebra runes and other ornaments.

The zebra looked at all of us in turn, then leveled a cold gaze at IronClaw.

“You.” The zebra looked at the griffin, anger flashed in his eyes.

“I need to speak with Azar, now step aside.” It would take a lot more than angry stares and heavily armored and armed zebras to impress IronClaw. I didn’t know whether to smile, or get ready for when the shooting starts.

The zebra came down the steps to stand face to face with IronClaw, still glaring daggers. This was somewhat counterproductive since IronClaw is bigger than him and now he had to crane his neck to look the griffin in the eyes.

“You are fortunate that he wishes to speak with you as well.” He looked at the rest of us, sizing us up, then turned back to IronClaw. “You and the zebra may enter the others stay.”

“The grey unicorn might interest Azar.” IronClaw pointed at me over his shoulder. The zebra looked at me and scowled.

“Perhaps. Ask Azar then. For now they may not enter.”

“Alright. Mist, Cog we are going to be staying here for the night anyway. Go rent us rooms. Saw, Shrapnel. I want you to wait here, you’ll fetch Mist when I convince Azar.” IronClaw quickly gave us our orders.

The guards stepped aside to admit IronClaw and Darmas, the rest of us watched as they disappeared beyond the top of the stairs. The guards retook their position, blocking the path ahead. For the most part they ignored us.

Cog turned to me. “What does Azar want with you?”

“IronClaw wants me to smooth things over between them. Shaman to shaman.” Or at least that’s what IronClaw was hoping for.

“You didn’t tell me you were a shaman.” Cog looked at me as if I suddenly sprouted wings, or a second horn. The guards also gave me confused looks.

“I’m not. I trained under a shaman, but am not one myself.” Cog looked at me, unconvinced. I sighed. “Come on lets go reserve those rooms.”

“You and I are going to have a serious chat.” He complained and went ahead of me.

“Yeah just leave us here! Fucking twisting in the wind with nothing to do! Tell them Shrapnel!” Saw shouted.

“Bye guys! See you soon!” Shrapnel chirped happily from inside her suit.

Slap!

Cog snickered and I couldn’t resist smiling when I heard Saw facehoove.

I followed Cog down to the first plateau and he knocked on a wooden door of a home carved in the mountainside.

“We’re open! Come in!” A voice shouted out and Cog pushed the door in, I followed.

We entered a well lit hall, candles rested in little carved holes in the walls. At the end of the hall there was a fine wooden door, to our left a zebra mare was sitting behind a counter and looking through a magazine.

She smiled when she looked up. “Cog! You mischievous little unicorn! What have you been up to, and why are you back? Didn’t you get run out of town?”

“Hey now, as I remember it we were politely asked to leave.” Cog said grinning.

“Well just be careful, Coal is still mad and out for blood. Best stay away from the bar.” She leaned to the side and her eyes widened when she realized that I was in the room as well.

“Cog! You really have no manners! Aren’t you going to introduce me to your handsome friend?” What?

“I uhm… ah…” Why is she looking at me like that?

Cog came to my rescue. “Adda, this is Mist. He’s a new addition to our team. Mist the lovely mare is called Adda. She is the owner of this establishment, 'Cloud Top Lodging'."

“Ooooh he’s a cute one. Don’t you let anything bad happen to him Cog.” What? Did she just wink at me? I felt heat rising in my cheeks. Would you look at that candle! That’s a nice wall candle, has a little flame and everything!

She giggled and turned to Cog. ”So, Cog what can I do for you?”

“Rooms. We need rooms for the night.”

“How many do you need?”

“Six.”

“I got three.”

“Alright. That’s 90 caps right?” Cog asked pulling out a pouch from his saddlebags. Adda nodded and accepted the caps. She ducked behind the counter and came back up with three keys. Cog stashed them into his saddlebag. “We’ll see you tonight then, bye!” Cog waved at the mare.

She waved back with her hoof and… why is she smiling at me like that? Let’s just get out of here.

“Well you certainly made an impression.” Cog was grinning from ear to ear. “So what do you think of Adda?”

“She’s nice.”

“Nice? Is that all? Look she likes you, you could totally score with her. You’re not a coltcuddler are you?” He looked worriedly at me before quickly adding. “Not that there is anything wrong with it!”

“A what?” Coltcuddler? Cuddling colts? What does that have to do with anything?

“You know. Into colts. Attracted to bucks.” Cog looked very uncomfortable when he asked.

“No.” I shook my head.

“So you think she’s ugly?” Cog arched his neck back and raised an eyebrow.

What?! “No! She’s pretty and very attractive and I wo-“

“Pffhahaha! I knew it! You like her. ‘Very attractive.’ I’m gonna have to tell her that!” The idiot grinned fiendishly. Damn it Cog! He pranced ahead of me, but he wasn’t headed for the stairs.

“Where are we going anyway?” I asked not bothering to hide my annoyance.

“To the bar.”

Oh, okay… Wait. “Didn’t Adda warn you not to go there?”

“Yeah, but it’s the only place you can get a decent drink around here.”

Well I’m sure that argument would have been enough for Saw, but I was still concerned. “What about the one that is still angry with you? What did you do?”

“Coal? Pffft.” He waved a hoof dismissively. “He’s just mad that I beat him at cards, said I cheated. Pulled a gun on me. Can you believe it?”

Yes. Yes I could. “What happened?”

“Well there was a fight. Saw, Shrapnel and me against him and his buddies. Coal had a few friends with the guards, called them to save his sorry tail. IronClaw tore out the throat of one of them, and shot the other two.” He paused to tap his chin thoughtfully. “I think boss had an argument with the shaman to boot. After that we were asked to leave.” No wonder the guards were so angry when we arrived.

“And you want to repeat what happened because…” Honestly, what is going through his head?!

He grinned reassuringly at me. “Come on, what are the chances of him being there now?” Given our luck, I’d say the chances are quite high.

Then again, I’m glad I’m not always right.

We entered the bar, a few heads turned to look our way, but no one rose or said a word. The gests soon grew bored and returned to their drink and card games. Cog approached the bartender who regarded him coldly.

“Back to stir up trouble?”

“Relax you old goat. Nothing like last time. You seen Coal?” Cog asked while casting glances about the bar.

“He’s around. Still pissed at you.” The zebra bartender turned to look at me. “Didn’t realize the Remnant were hiring ponies.”

“They’re not.” I answered flatly.

The zebras raised an amused eyebrow and looked at Cog. “Though buck ain’t he?”

“We all are. Figured you’d learn that from the last time. Now can I get a drink or what?” Cog asked impatiently.

“What’s your poison?”

Cog opened his saddlebag and started pulling out a sack of caps. “A shot of scotch and a bottle of whiskey. Wild P if you have it.”

The bartender tossed a small glass on the counter. It skidded for a bit before stopping in front of Cog. The bartender filled it from a bottle that he balanced expertly with his hooves. Once that was done he ducked back behind the counter, and produced another bottle filled with amber liquid.

Caps changed hooves and the bartender turned to me. “And for you?”

Hmm… a Sparkle-Cola perhaps? No. “Give me a beer.” The bartender nodded and brought out a bottle, opened it and took the cap. I paid him and brought the bottle to my lips, taking a few gulps before putting it back down. Cog was examining the bottle of whiskey and then he stashed it into his saddlebags. “Are you saving it for later?”

He shook his head. “Not really.”

“Then why buy it?” I asked, taking another mouthful of beer.

“For Saw.” I turned to look at him, eyebrow raised and cheeks bulging with beer that I hadn’t swallowed yet. “What? Despite being a bitch she’s still our medic.” I swallowed and continued to look at him, not believing his explanation.

Cog sighed and his shoulders drooped a little. “We were arguing and I might have gone a little too far.”

Too far? I didn’t know such a thing was possible between the two of them. “What did you do?”

“Well… We were arguing. Again. She said that if she was my mother, she would have blown her brains out, and gelded my father.” Ouch. “I told her that if she was my mother I would probably be long dead in a ditch somewhere, and that she doesn’t know shit about being a parent.” Oh no. “She was quiet after that. It kind of freaked me out because she always has the last word. Why would she act this way? We always talk shit about each other.”

“Cog she…” I stopped myself. Should I tell him?

“What?” He asked looking at me, his glass levitating halfway to his muzzle.

“She had a foal.” Saw might kill me for this, but Cog should know. This way they could avoid certain topics.

“What?! When? What happened?” His eyes were wide with surprise.

“Back in Equestria. Before she joined IronClaw.” I swallowed hard. ”Her daughter was taken by slavers.”

“You’re pulling my tail.” Cog tried to smile, but I just shook my head. “Ahhhh Hell.” *Slam!*
Cog smashed his face into the counter. “I’m a moron. How? How did it happen?” I looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to us. Satisfied that none of the zebras were trying to eavesdrop, I turned back to Cog and told him the whole story. How Saw was scavenging some ruined store. How she couldn’t get out in time to save her daughter. Cog was silent for a long time. I reached out to put a hoof on his shoulder.

“YOU!!!”

My head snapped to the source of the shout. A zebra in metal armor was standing at the entrance to the bar.

“Coal?” Cog squinted at the zebra than shook his head. Well so much for our luck changing for the better.

“Awww Hell.” The bartender groaned.

Coal stomped his way to Cog then slammed a hoof on the counter between Cog and me. I was getting ready to smash my bottle over his head when I noticed that he had turned his back to me, and was focusing only on Cog. I was being completely ignored.

“I want my caps you thieving piece of shit!” He spat at Cog who didn’t so much as flinch.

“You still on about that? Get over it! You lost! Now beat it before I wipe the floor with you, again.” Is he trying to provoke him? Coal is a big zebra. Bigger then Cog or me, and definitely stronger.

The zebra moved his hoof along the counter, batting away Cog’s glass and hitting him in the chest. Cog grunted as fell from his chair. I slipped off my stool, and in that moment Coal turned around bringing the same hoof with which he knocked down Cog to my face.

I ducked and punched him in the knees with my forehooves. He staggered a little, cursed and looked at me like he was going to tear me apart. I spun around and gave him a full buck to the face with my rearhooves. His head snapped back and he doubled over on his back. Damn he’s tough! I felt like I just bucked a wall.

He spat out blood and turned to me. “You little shit! Don’t think that fancy moves will save you!” He shouted at me. Blood was trickling down his nose and I think there was now a hole that was once occupied by a tooth in his mouth.

Right, time to end this. I reached out for my pistol with my magic, but then I heard glass being smashed. My vision blurred, the left side of my face was wet. The impact nearly sent my head to smash against the counter, but managed to grab and hold on to it. The world was spinning and something had gotten into my eye that stung terribly.

I felt the stealth cloak tighten a little around my neck. Losing my grip on the counter I fell down to the floor.

When I opened my eyes I saw another zebra standing over me. He reared back. I grabbed a chair with my magic and flung it at him before he could bring his hooves down on my head. Turning over on my stomach and getting back to my hooves I stood up. Chaos greeted me.

Zebras were fighting zebras, everyone was shouting and bottles were flying everywhere. Cog was jumping from table to table while Coal ploughed through them. The zebra I knocked away bucked the chair off and started going for me again. I reared up on my hindhooves in a combat stance. He hesitated, uncertain on how to proceed.

Another zebra decided to jump me from the right. I turned instinctively towards him, one hoof on his chest keeping him away, and striking with the other right into his liver. As his weight came down on me I went with it, once my back was on the floor I bucked him in the stomach with my rearhooves and tossed him over me. Following the momentum of the buck I rolled over my head and got back on all fours. One of the zebras turned tail and ran, but two remained.

They stalked carefully towards me, moving away from each other, making it hard for me to keep an eye on both of them. I backed away slowly until my flank brushed against a stool by the counter. Not turning to look at it I gripped one of its legs with my magic and waited for them to make the first move. They saw my horn glow faintly and exchanged looks. Since I wasn’t making any moves or casting any spells they decided to attack first.

One went low and to my left the other rushed me from the right. I whipped my whole body to the left and sent the stool flying for the one on my right. The one that decided to go low and to the left kicked out to buck me. Reacting in time I managed to catch the impact of his hooves with my own. Damn! That sure was lucky. I felt the force of the buck all the way up to my shoulders. I’m glad he didn’t buck me in the ribs.

Staggering a few steps back, but managing to remain on my hindhooves. I could hear Cog and Coal exchange profanity from somewhere behind me. I need to help him I can’t waste my time with these idiots!

The zebra that bucked me remained where he was. He’s waiting to see what I’ll do first. So I did something that completely surprised him. I turned around to the one that I hit with the stool. He was still dazed so I grabbed the stool with my magic again, turned it around, and jabbed him with the stools legs in the stomach. He doubled over in pain and I leapt over him, running to help Cog.

A few zebras actually moved out of my way while I ran.

“Stop you sons of bitches!”

I heard someone yell from behind me, but didn’t pay it any attention. Cog was pinned down by Coal who was now strangling him. Crap. I doubled my pace.

“Do you hear me you dumb fucks?!”

It was definitely a mare’s voice, and it sounded familiar. I saw a zebra leap off a table with a metal pipe in his hooves. He brought the pipe down on the back of Coal’s head with an audible ‘Ding!’. The same zebra that knocked Coal out was now helping Cog to his hooves. Good to see they’re not all against us.

“Hey! I’m talking here!”

This time I could hardly hear the speaker over the din and clamor of the fighting. I got to Cog and thanked the zebra who just nodded. Cog was alright as far as I could see. One of his eyes was swollen and he was bleeding from the nose, but he looked more pissed than hurt. Nothing a potion could fix.

BOOOM!!!

The whole bar was silent save for the crumbling sound of brick and mortar that fell from the edges of the new hole in the ceiling. Heads turned to the newcomers standing at the door.

It took me a moment to realize that I was looking at Saw and Shrapnel. Oh thank Celestia. Relief washed over me. I really didn’t need another fight o my hooves.

Shrapnel’s grenade launcher was still smoking. A wide eyed zebra poked his head through the hole in the roof. I could have sworn he let out a little “Eeeep!” when he saw Shrapnel and before he disappeared back behind the roof. Floor? Whatever.

Saw took a few steps forward and cleared her throat. “What we have here is a failure to communicate!” No one interrupted her. She pointed at Cog and me. “Cog pick up what’s left of your dignity and move it. The boss wants to see you. You too Mist.” She cooked her head when she saw me.”Did you get hit in the head with a bottle?” No, I was taking a bath and didn’t get a chance to towel off. I sighed and nodded to the yellow mare.

No zebra made a move to stop us. While we were leaving the bartender could be overheard berating his customers.

“You’re paying for the damages.”

“What?! But what about them? They blew a hole in the roof!”

“She has a grenade launcher dumbass. Why don’t YOU go and tell her to pay if you’re so brave?”

It was surprisingly cool once we passed through the thick wooden doors. Despite the ravages of time the inside of the temple remained in good condition. The main room was a huge square which split into three different directions. Four large stone pillars reached up to a domed ceiling. Painted on the dome, in breathtaking detail, was the nights sky.

The stars appeared to be actual gemstones and… Were those alicorns? Luna and Celestia? No there were more of them and they looked different. I remembered the pictures from the books. The stunning beauty and grace of the Sun princess and her sister, the princess of the Moon. But these alicorns were different. For the most part they all looked the same. The differences being in the color, the armor they wore, and the slight difference in size of a few of them.

Like Celestia and Luna, their manes and tails were depicted as star filled clouds that trailed behind them, but unlike the Sun and Moon princesses, in places where there were gaps in the armor I could see that their bodies too contained stars.

I tried to focus on their heads, but couldn’t make out their faces. They were hidden behind the helmets that they wore. Their eyes though seemed to stare back. Multicolored gems were used for the eyes. I never knew such gems existed. This wasn’t just some off coloration in… let’s say a ruby. Where you have the gem turn paler at the edges to a nearly pinkish color. These were actual contradicting colors that somehow meshed together.

A chill went down my spine as observed the painting. The ‘alicorns’ just looked so strange. Unknowable. Magnificent and terrible. I could hear my heart pounding in my chest. I suddenly felt dreadfully small. Like a mouse standing before tigers.

Cog tapped me on the shoulder and I realized I’ve been staring at the ceiling for at least a few minutes now. And just like that the unease I felt was gone.

We continued on straight ahead and into a hallway at the end of which two figures waited.

Darmas winced when he saw Cog, IronClaw let out a sigh and shook his head.

“What happened?” IronClaw asked sounding tired.

“Bar fight.” Saw answered the griffin disinterestedly.

“Any casualties?”

“I don’t think so.” Shrapnel taped her helmet.

“Guess I should be grateful for that. Mist, Azar wants to speak with you.” I nodded. IronClaw paused for a moment then stepped aside to let me through. “I want the rest of you to go to wherever Cog got rooms.”

“Cloud top lodging.” Cog spoke up.

“Right. And Saw, patch him up.”

Saw grumbled but nodded to the griffin.

“What about you, boss?” Shrapnel asked, tilting her head.

“I’ll wait until Azar is done with Mist.” IronClaw said then looked at all of them in turn. “Well? Go.” He made a dismissive motion with his talon. They turned and headed back outside.

IronClaw looked me in the eyes and nodded encouragingly for me to go in through the door.

Honestly I didn’t know what to expect, so I braced myself, sent a quick prayer to Celestia and Luna before I closed the door behind me.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust in the sparsely lit room. All in all it is a very cozy place. Pictures of calming landscapes decorated the walls and the floor was covered by a thick, soft carpet. I idly brushed it with a hoof.

“Ah, you have arrived! Welcome.”

I snapped my head to the direction the voce was coming from. In front of me stood an old smiling zebra buck who wore an elaborately decorated cloak, and a talisman around his neck. I didn’t recognize the symbol that was carved in the coin-shaped talisman, but if I had to guess, then I would say that it’s some kind of warding talisman. His black stripes were almost completely grey. As far as the crests, the mane styles that almost all zebras wore, his was trimmed short, and was visibly thinning.

I closed my eyes and inclined my head in a gesture of respect. Kind of like a little bow, but you tilt your head a little to the side too.

His smile broadened at this. Off to a good start it would seem. Now I just hope I don’t screw up.

“Come, come. Let us sit, we have much to discuss, yes?” He gestured to the floor where a tray was prepared and pillows for sitting. I obeyed and went to one of the pillows, he took the other one. The old shaman leaned in close and squinted at me, one hoof on his chin, his face serious. “As you no doubt already know, I am Azar. The steel eagle tells me that you are a shaman.”

Steel eagle? He means IronClaw right? “Well I trained under one. But I’m not really a shaman.”

He smiled. “And what was is the name of the shaman that taught you?”

“Zaeryl.” I answered quietly. The zebras ears twitched at the mention of Zaeryl.

“Ah, the restless one. How is Zaeryl?” Azar frowned. “Why hasn’t she finished your training?”

“She’s… passed away.” I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say that without feeling like I’ve been stabbed.

Azar reached out to rest a hoof on my shoulder. “I am truly sorry.” He let out a sigh. “The taint?”

I nodded.

“But tell me, how did you two meet?” Alright, I knew it would come to this. I took in a deep breath and told him everything. I told him how I lost my family, how Zaeryl fond me and took me as her apprentice. I gave him a quick summary of what I was taught over the six years I stayed with Zaeryl.

Azar listened to everything patiently without interrupting me once to clarify something, or to ask any questions. He waited until I was done before he spoke again.

“And have you come to terms with your loss?” This question caught me off guard.

My family is gone. I can’t change that. I have to move on. “Yes.”

He nodded picking up a tea kettle, and filled two cups. “It is good when one finds peace. Take Zaeryl for instance.” He gestured for me to take the cup. I levitated it to my lips. The tea was sweet, but had a bitter aftertaste.

“You both have a lot in common.” A little smile was tugging at the edge of his lips. I had to squint, my eyes were getting foggy, and then I noticed that he hadn’t touched his cup.

“No… What…?” Poison? What? Why? I lost my magical grip on the teacup.

Azar wore a solemn expression on his face. “Greyshade, helps with memories.”

Memories? What is he talking about? I rubbed my eyes trying to get them to clear. My ears twitched at a sudden noise. A sound coming from across a great distance. Screams. Ponies screaming and it was getting louder. I smelled smoke, and when I opened my eyes I was back in the jungle.

No! Why! I saw ponies getting murdered by zebras, I saw my parents being taken away from me again. My mother’s head went limp in my hooves as life left her. If only I’d done something, anything! I lost Zaeryl too, I couldn’t even save that mother and her filly!

When I opened my eyes again tears were dripping down my face. I was leaning over the tray, two hooves were pressed against my chest, keeping me from falling. When I looked up, kindly eyes looked back at me. I sat back onto my pillow as Azar cleared his throat.

“Guilt is like a poison, it will eat away at you. Unless you learn to let go of the past and forgive yourself. You have no reason to blame yourself for what happened. Do you believe you could have saved them?” Easy for him to say. I was dealing with it just fine until he made me relive the whole damn thing!

As if reading my mind he sighed. “I did not want to cause you pain. You and Zaeryl are so much alike. She too carried great guilt over what the Remnant were doing, and for the role she played.” I looked at him, still rubbing the tears from my eyes. “She served the Remnant faithfully for years and she did terrible things, but she believed it was for the good of everyone. I’m not sure when it happened, when she learned the truth, but she turned on her former allies. She had so many wrongs to set right, but she needed more time and time was the one thing that was being denied her.” Azar gave a bitter chuckle. “The taint saw to that. So she sought out an antidote and traveled from shaman to shaman in her search. It seems she couldn’t find it.”

He placed his hoof over my heart. I jerked back a little from the contact, I can’t trust him. Azar didn’t notice, or it didn’t matter because he kept it there. ”You have the taint as well.” He sighed suddenly looking much older. “How did it touch you?”

I told him about our encounter in the desert. He was strangely happy to learn of the Nubian, and wasn’t too bothered by the fact that we killed it.

“Truly it is wonderful to know that not all from the past is lost to us.” He looked up wistfully at nothing in particular. “Tell me Mist, what is it that you plan on doing?”

“Pardon?” What do I plan on doing?

“Are you going to remain a mercenary?” Azar asked picking up the cup I dropped. It fell on the carpet and didn’t break. I wanted to smash it though.

“No I’m… going to help. Ponies, zebras… those who need help.” I had thought about joining the Talons, but as long as there is a chance that they would work for the Remnant or Separatists I can’t do that.

“Ah. So in a way you are a shaman.” He said smiling. “But why would you do this? What do you hope to achieve?”

“I want the world to change. It can’t stay like this.” The killings, the slavery, it has to be stopped.

“So you wish to change the world. Back to the way it was perhaps?” The old zebra raised an eyebrow and looked suspiciously at me.

“Yes.” The way it was. I want to see Equestria, green and alive. I want Zevrass restored as well. This war should never have happened.

“And what of the zebras? How does Zevrass fall into your plans?” So that’s it. He thinks I would treat zebras differently?

“I already told you. I want to help everyone. Zebras too.” I responded, perhaps a bit too heatedly.

“I see. I wish you well in your journeys young shaman.” He gave me a little bow and smiled. I nodded back to him. I should ask him about sharing his info on the Separatists with IronClaw.

“Azar, I need to talk to you about the Separatists. I’ve told you about what happened with the Nubian. If they have that kind of weap-“ Azar raised a hoof and I closed my mouth with an audible click.

“I understand and I have every intention to share… some information with the steel eagle.”

“You do?” Umm… Okay. That was unexpected.

“Why yes. Hmmm I suppose we did part under bad circumstances last time he visited us. I fear I misjudged his character. I took him for a merciless killer, but that is not the case. He is honorable if cold. He does not kill lightly. I mistook his lack of expressing emotion for not caring.” He shook his head. ”Even as old as I am I still have much to learn.”

We exchanged a few more pleasantries, Azar even gave me a book. He said that aspiring shamans might find it useful. Despite all his apologies and assurances that he won’t try anything like the tea thing again, I still watched the zebra warily.

Maybe I was being overly suspicious, but I could only relax once the door closed shut behind me. IronClaw wasn’t in front of Azar’s study like I expected, he was a bit further back in the main hall, looking at the carvings along the walls.

My hoofsteps echoed as I walked towards the griffin. He turned to face me. “So, how did it go?”

“It was… interesting.” For one thing, I’m going to be wary careful of any drink a shaman offers me.

“Don’t start getting cryptic on me.” IronClaw warned.

“He agreed to share what he knows of the Separatists activities.” Is it just me, or does everyone seem in a bad mood today?

“Good I’ll go and talk to him then. You should go back and meet up with the others. Try and get some rest.” He walked past me towards Azars study.

I turned around. “You’re going to ask him. Now? What were you doing before I got here?” He raised an eyebrow, not liking my tone. Honestly it just came out like that! I didn’t mean that he was wasting time or that he was incompetent!

“I WAS trying to convince him, but he wouldn’t talk about it until he spoke with you first. Then there was the little issue over what happened last time we were here.” I nodded. “Alright then, go.” IronClaw took a few steps before pausing. “Oh and make sure Shrapnel doesn’t make any more holes in the ceilings.”

I was startled by the guards as I descended the stairs. They bowed and moved out of my way as I approached. Bewildered I continued and found myself face to face with the head guard. He studied me with a blank expression.

“Shaman.” He bowed and moved to the side. I inclined my head in turn. This surprised him, but he didn’t say anything so I want on my way.

It was amazing how fresh the air was up here. Maybe it’s just me, but the night sky looked bigger and even more beautiful when observed from Massif.

I caught myself yawning a few times as I approached the place we were staying at.

“It’s so nice to see you again!”

“Oh. Umm hi Adda. Are the others here?” Why does she have to keep looking at me like that?

“Sure they’re inside the lobby. Well, Cog is.” I nodded and headed for the door when she spoke again.

“You know, they said they were going to do the whole mare with mare, and buck with buck room arraignments, but should you want better company… I’ll be in room one on the first floor.” She finished with a wink.

“I’ll uhmm keep that in mind.” I tried to smile. Heat was rising in my cheeks again. Okay got to go now!

“Phew.” I let out a breath as soon as I was in the lobby. It was a spacious room filled with a few zebras who were idly chatting. It wasn’t hard to spot the green unicorn who was reading a magazine.

“Hey Cog.” He lowered the magazine and smiled. His eye was still a little purple, but it wasn’t swollen like it had been earlier.

“Hey Mist! So, you done?” I nodded. “Alright, come on I’ll show you to our room. Saw is sharing a room with Shrapnel and Darmas will be with IronClaw.”

So that leaves us. Alright. My mind wandered back to Adda and her offer. Gah! What’s wrong with me? I only just met her!

“You alright Mist?” Cog asked when he saw me shaking my head.

“Just tired.” And I really was too.

“I hear that.” Cog unlocked the door to our room. It was a simple room, but it had two beds. Good.

I plopped on one of them the moment I got to it. Placed the saddlebags beside the bed, and took of my cloak. Taking out the silenced pistol and placing it under my pillow I went to take of my armor. Only then was it obvious to me just how much wear and tear it showed. Scratches, tears around the left rear hoof where the mine exploded. Missing right shoulder plate from the Mallar in the tunnel. I have to get it repaired.

“Uaghhh. When are we supposed to get up tomorrow?” Cog asked as he laid down on his bed.

“Probably early.” I’m guessing IronClaw isn’t the type to just wait around while he has a job to finish.

“Yeah, I’ll set my PipBuck to wake us up. Goodnight.” Cog stretched and grumbled. He blew out his candle and turned his back to me.

“Goodnight Cog.” I tried to go to sleep, but a though popped into my head. And I levitated out the book that Azar had given me.

It was a book on plants, and it also had some recipes in it. Interesting.

I have no idea when I had fallen asleep, but now something was making a dreadful noise. I woke up with a start and the book I was reading last night was sent flying. Barely I managed to catch it with my magic before it hit the wall.

The noise was coming from Cog. He mumbled, and flailed his hooves until he finally smacked his PipBuck and the beeping stopped. “Good morning Mist.”

I rubbed my ears with my hooves. “Cog what was that?”

“What?” He looked at me confused.

“That noise.” I clarified. Damn it, it was still ringing in my ears.

“Oh, that’s the alarm clock.”

“It’s horrible.” Does it need to be so loud?

“Yeah it’s pretty annoying, but it does its job.” Cog said as he stretched. For some reason I imagined that same alarm giving away his position at the worst possible time.

We got dressed, picked up our gear and headed for the lobby. IronCalw and Shrapnel were already ready, and waiting for the rest of us. Shrapnel bounced excitedly towards me.

“Mist! Look what I have!” She wasn’t wearing her helmet yet, so she could use her teeth to toss a rifle at me. I caught it with my magic.

It was a zebra rifle, like the one I lost. This one was in excellent condition and it was lighter then my old one, it even had a silencer. I looked back at her.

“You don’t like it?” She asked tilting her head to one side and frowning.

It’s a nice rifle, but why would she need it? She has enough firepower- “Wait, you bought it for me?”

“Of course silly! Well I wanted to buy it, but the merchant gave it to me for free.” He gave it away for free?

“Hehehe! I said she might trade a few of her grenade shells for it.” Saw snickered as she came down the stairs to join us.

“I don’t get it?” Why would Shrapnel need to trade? She has caps, right?

“I also told him how she paid for a drink with a shell to the roof.” Saw added and giggled some more.

“But Saw, I didn’t buy a drink. I was trying to get them to be quiet.” Shrapnel clarified. Saw just shook her head and smiled.

“So Mist, do you like it?” The armored mare turned to face me. Instead of answering I gave her a hug.

“Awww you’re welcome Mist.” She said patting my back.

Darmas was the last to come down. Once we were all assembled we headed out, but not before Adda gave me a pouty look.

“Next time you stop by I insist.” Then the zebra mare gave me another wink.

“What does she mean?” Shrapnel asked me while Cog snickered.

“Nothing its… nothing.” Cog you better keep your muzzle shut.

We reached the path that lead out of the village when Darmas suddenly stopped a few meters behind us. “It looks like we part ways here.” IronClaw nodded.

Does anypony want to fill me in? Really, anypony?

“You’re not coming with us?” Cog asked.

“Azar said I could stay and help him. He has so many books, some of them are even transcribed since long before the war!” Darmas gushed excitedly.

“Also he told me everything he knows about Prometheus, which wasn’t much. No use in him tagging along, he’s safer here anyway.” IronClaw explained.

Well I’m happy with his decision, and the others were too. Okay maybe Saw wasn’t happy. She looked like she just didn’t care.

“I… thank you.” Darmas looked down at his hooves.

“For what? Threatening to kill you? Almost getting you eaten by a giant worm, or blown up? Not necessarily in that order.” Cog asked.

“Well you didn’t kill me, and I’m happy to have seen an actual Nubian!” And he meant it too. The way his eyes sparkled, I had to smile at that. He would be a great apprentice, if Azar would have him.

“Alright, bye Darmas, and take care.” I waved at the zebra.

“Maybe we’ll all see each other again someday?” He said as he waved back.

“You never know.” I wouldn’t mind seeing him again. He’s a good zebra. The world needs more like him. Scholars, thinkers.

We all said our goodbyes and started the descent down the mountain, to the East.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Zebra Brew Rank: 2 – Your knowledge of plants is ever growing. You can now brew potions which are as effective as healing potions and antidotes for a wider range of toxins and poisons. Elixir brewing unlocked: You know how to brew elixirs using rare ingredients. Elixirs once imbibed grant permanent bonuses.

(Thank you Kkat for making such an awesome story and world in which other ponies like myself can play and let loose our imagination. Somber deserves thanks as well. For proving that side-stories can be just as amazing and unforgettable as the original. Special thanks to Damhoof, Mentidabrony and Isphone for helping me edit and sort out the convoluted mess I've made out of Mist's story. Thanks also go to DamnfoolBrony for working his magic and helping me set up the perks. Oh and very special thanks to Lauren Faust!)