Chapter 16 - Lost and Found
“You always find something in the last place you look.”

The sounds and sensations from around me faded. As I stared into the darkened window, all I could see was my ghostly reflection. My face appeared lifeless. My eyes devoid of any feeling.

One had to come back, he just had to. He couldn’t be dead. I couldn’t have killed him. I waited and waited for his happy, smiling face to reappear in the window. I gladly would have explained something to him, for the umpteenth time, just to have him back.

A sharp jostle roused me from my introspection. “Dust!” Brownie was yelling. It was hard to hear him over the crazed laughter of Muddy.

“You should see the look on your face!” he wheezed between bouts of laughter. “Please, Muddy, don’t make me do this,” he said mockingly. “This is torture!” he continued in his sarcastic voice.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. My vocal chords burned with the effort. I galloped over to the window between his little cubicle and the main room I was in. I turned and began bucking at the window. “YOU!” I said with a kick. “WON’T!” Another buck. “GET! AWAY! WITH! THIS!”

“Haaaaa ha ha ha!” he laughed maniacally. “Oh, this is too much! Did I piss off poor little Dusty? Does he miss his fwiend?”

I kept bucking at the glass. Each impact jarred my entire body. I felt a sharp pain in my left hoof and saw blood begin to spatter against the window. Two strong hooves pulled me away from window and forced me to the floor.

“Dust, calm down!” a deep voice called out. Brownie held me firm while I struggled against his restraint.

“I have to get to Muddy!” I cried out. “I have to make him pay! I have to make him pay for what he made me do! What did I do, Brownie? What did I do?”

My body slumped from the fatigue of my struggle, both with the glass and with Brownie. My body shuddered as I broke down into uncontrollable crying. I buried my face in my hooves as my chest heaved. A gentler body laid down next to me and wrapped me in their hooves. I could only imagine it was Silver.

“Shhh, Dust,” her voice confirmed. “You didn’t do this. Muddy did. Don’t you ever dare think otherwise.”

“Well, while I’d love to stay and watch the fun,” Muddy snickered, “I have bigger and better things to do. Like revenge on everypony that screwed me!” He pointed towards the large case. “Your gear is in that case over there. It, as well as all the doors to the exit, will open in twenty-four hours, giving me enough time to become scarce. Don’t say I never did anything nice for you ponies.” The playful tone in his voice hardened considerably. “Come after me again, and somepony else dies.” I heard the PA system click off.

The sound of draining water drew my attention away from the inert speaker. The lights in One’s room were still off, but the water had to be draining out. It took several minutes, but the room emptied with one final gurgle and the sound of door hydraulics activating.

We all looked back and forth between ourselves and the now open door. The lights in the room turned on with a buzz. I gingerly took the first step towards the door when a brown hoof was placed on my shoulder.

“Dust, ah’ll take care of this. Ya shouldn’t have ta,” Brownie tried to comfort me, tears still streaming down his face.

“No, Brownie,” I replied solemnly. “I killed him, I should take care of this.” Brownie opened his mouth to argue with me, but then decided against it.

Several steps later, I was at the threshold. I took a deep breath and entered the room. Water was still dripping off the conduit and fixtures in the ceiling. I turned my head towards the window, dreading the sight I would see. There, under the window, was green body of One. His mane was matted to his skin, but he oddly looked cleaner than I remembered.

Nearing the body, I got my first look at his face. The look of panic I had last seen was frozen in his features. The shock stopped me dead in my tracks. My body involuntarily shivered while I stared into his vacant, hazel eyes. His mouth was still gaping open in a silent scream. I reached out and gently lowered his eyelids and closed his jaw. I knelt down next to his and rested my forehead against his.

My mind flashed back to meeting the stallion behind his sniper rifle and him wetting himself once he realized I had the upper hoof. I remember the talk we had about mercy before he killed Foggy. The fight on the mountain, the button pushing in the sewers… it all flooded back and made me break down again.

I don’t know how long I remained there, but I was brought back to reality by a throat being cleared softly.

“Dust, are you ok?” Silver asked gently, staying in the doorway.

I lifted my head to look at her. I could feel the tears and snot running off my snout. “No, Silver,” I sobbed. “How could I have done this?”
Silver walked over to me, avoiding looking directly at One. “It wasn’t you, Dust,” she countered. I was about to protest, but she placed her hoof over my lips. “Muddy forced you to make a choice. But he was the one that made up the rules. You either had to choose to kill somepony, or the rest of us would have died. There was nothing you could do.”

I pushed her hoof away. “He never should have been here. None of you should have,” I sighed. “I should have come alone. This way, I’d be the only casualty.” Silver was about to say something, but I interrupted her. “Silver, you know I love you. But please, I want to be alone right now.”

The look of hurt on her face made me feel worse, but I wanted to be alone. I felt it was only right that I spend my time with One’s body. It was only fair, given I’d taken his life to spare everypony else’s, including mine.

A few hours later, filled with intermittent rage and sorrow, I walked back out into the main room. I never picked up my head except to watch where I was stepping.

Brownie responded first. “Dust… are ya… are ya ok?” he asked tentatively.

“No, Brownie,” I croaked. “I don’t think I’ll be OK for a long time. How are you two?”

“Well, ah’m OK…” Brownie reassured me. “Look, Dust, ah’m sorry ah hit ya before. It was wrong of me ta do that.”

“It’s OK, Brownie,” I started to say, picking my head up to look him in the eye. “You were right.”

“Dust, ah’m sorry for what Muddy made ya do,” Flower gasped. She must have cried as much as I had since I could still see the streaks from the tears in the Wasteland dust on her face.

Looking around for Silver, I found it odd that I couldn’t find her. “Where’s Silver?” I pondered out loud.

“She went into that room,” Brownie informed me while pointing to the room Muddy had been occupying.

I trotted over and knocked on the frame of the door. “Silver?” I muttered.

“Oh, hi, Dust,” she blurted out in surprise. She had been fiddling with the console that Muddy was using. “I was just trying to see if I could override the computer and let us out,” Silver said, finally looking up at me. “Are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah... “ I started. This was not the time for stoicism. “No, I’m not, I feel like shit.” Silver walked towards me and wrapped me in a hug. “Every time I close my eyes, I see him at the window. I see him struggling to breathe. I see the look of fear on his face.”

“Dust, I know it’s not going to be easy, but you need to let go of that,” Silver suggested, stroking my mane. “Muddy killed One, not you. He forced you to either choose one of us, or all of us.”

“But that doesn’t make it right!” I blurted out. “I should have just killed myself.”

“Do you really think that would have satisfied Muddy?” she asked. “He’s having fun tormenting you, Dust. Muddy would probably have killed the rest of us anyway had you done that.”

I pulled away and looked her in the eyes. “How can you be so sure?” I pleaded.

“I can’t. No one can.” she replied gently. Her sky blue eyes penetrated the maelstrom of thoughts running through my head. For the first time since it happened, I wasn’t focused on the murder of One. “But you have to forgive yourself. I’m sure One does.”

I buried my face into her shoulder and just let go one more time. My eyes and chest already hurt from all the crying, but this time wasn’t out of pure sorrow. I think I was actually a little relieved to hear somepony say that I was forgiven and that it is what One had wanted. It didn’t clear everything I was feeling, but it did help. I allowed myself to just sit there and soak it in for a good, long time.

After a while, we separated and I gave Silver a small kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Silver,” I said, planting another kiss on her cheek.

“It’s what special someponies do, isn’t it?” she asked rhetorically.

“I guess,” I chuckled.

Silver and I walked back out into the other room where Brownie and Flower were still comforting each other.

“How are you two holding up?” I asked.

“Ah think we should be asking ya that question?” Brownie inquired.

“I’ll be OK,” I answered, while glancing towards Silver, “eventually.”

“So, what’s our plan once we get outta here?” Brownie asked.

“Well, I’m not giving up on getting Muddy. Especially now,” I said with as much gravity as I could muster.

“Neither will we,” Flower declared. “One was parta our group, family almost.”

“Well, I think our best bet will be to get back to Midnight’s,” I said. Everypony looked confused by that statement.

“Why Midnight?” Brownie wondered. “Why would Muddy go back ta Midnight?”

“Midnight is the only other pony in the area that Muddy trusts,” I reasoned. And it was the truth. Muddy hadn’t made any new friends while down here. He was always expecting to leave and go back to the Enclave. “Midnight is the only other pony, besides me, he ever spent any time with.” Again, not a lie exactly, but not the whole truth either. If Muddy was hoping to get back above the clouds, he was going to need Midnight’s help not to be shot down on sight by the cloud patrols near the fort.

Suddenly, I had a thought of Foggy. “But first, we need to make a stop near Dirtpatch,” I lamented, lowering my head a little. Everypony else simply nodded in response. “Anypony know how much longer we have down here?” I asked.

“Dunno,” Brownie said. “Has ta have been at least several hours.”

“Dust, aren’t you good with computers?” Flower asked. “Muddy’s terminal is still active in his room.”

“Well, can’t hurt to try, can it?” I smirked.

I did my best at trying to hack the terminal. I ran into several dead ends and was forced to reboot the terminal a few times. After causing an intermittent power outage, I gave up trying to break in. Either Muddy was better at programming than I thought, or this system was in place before he got here. I was choosing to believe the latter.

I walked back out into the main room and stopped to rub my temples. “I have bad news and good news,” I groaned, grimacing from the headache I was now suffering. “Bad news is that I can’t hack the system and get us out of here sooner. Good news is we only have about ten hours left.”

“Well, we might as well try and get some sleep then,” Flower suggested, standing up from next to Brownie. “If we can’t get out, I doubt anypony can get in.”

We arranged watches, just in case something weird happened, so at least one of us was awake. I got lucky and would have the last watch. Silver had drawn the second watch, so we were able to curl up next to each other. With some effort, I was finally able to clear my mind enough to fall asleep.

I awoke surrounded by darkness and silence. The warmth of Silver in my hooves was also missing. After standing up, I looked around, trying to find something, anything. A pinpoint of light appeared and slowly grew larger. Three silhouettes appeared inside the still growing circle of light and were slowly getting larger.

“Hello?” I called out. “Who are you?”

The figures remained silent. As they drew closer, I saw that they were three ponies wearing hooded capes. The three shrouded figures drew closer and when they had gotten within a few yards, they stopped.

“Updraft, I told you that you would face hard decisions, didn’t I?” scolded the same raspy voice as from my last dream. Or was this a vision? Or maybe a hallucination?

“Well, thanks for that, but you could have warned me about the trap I was walking into!” I screamed. “Am I done, at least?”

“Sorry, Updraft. It doesn’t work that way. It would be way cool if it did though,” the hooded figure explained, shaking her head at me. “And, unfortunately, you haven’t even begun to pay the price I mentioned before.”

One of the hooded figures drew closer. The pony reached up and drew the hood back and I was greeted by the smiling green face of One. “Hiya Mister Dust!”

“One?” I murmured in shock. “No, it can’t be! You died! I watched it happen!”

“I know, Mister Dust,” he gushed with the grin I thought I’d never see again on his face. “But isn’t this neat? Daddy says that I only get to see you once more.”

“Daddy?” I muttered, even more confused than before. “You mean Foggy?”

The other robed figure stepped forward and withdrew their hood. The wrinkled blue face of Foggy greeted me with a sad smile on his face. “You fucked up big time, Private.”

“Foggy?” I shook my head, trying to clear out the confusion I was now feeling. “What’s going on, here?”

“I don’t know, Private,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “This is your dream.”

“What?” was all I could say in response.

“Listen, Private,” he started with a shake of his head, “you done fucked up. I told you to look out for One, and look what happened.”

“I know, but,” I said, and was quickly interrupted.

“Nope,” he scolded. “There is no rationalizing. No explaining. Your decisions led to this moment. One is dead. You caused it, whether you meant to or not.”

“But,” I tried to say, and was quickly cut off again.

“But none of that matters,” Foggy sighed. “It is what it is. But now you have to learn to live with it.”

“I’m so sorry,” I started.

“No, not to me,” Foggy said shaking his head.

I turned to One. “One, I’m sorry,” I whimpered.

“Sorry for what, Mister Dust?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.

“For getting you killed,” I answered, my eyes beginning to tear up again. “I wanted to protect you, but because of my stubbornness, I got you killed.”

One placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Mister Dust, you didn’t kill me,” he reassured me, his eyes tearing up as well. “That mean pony killed me. But if he hadn’t, the Wasteland would have one way or another. Everypony is mean to one another. I couldn’t live like that. I forgive you, Mister Dust.”

Foggy cleared his throat. “Nice job, but he wasn’t the pony you have to apologize to either,” he said flatly.

“Then who?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you that,” he snickered, shaking his head. “You’ll have to discover that on your own.”
I began to cry again. The first pony spoke up again with her raspy voice. “Now, Updraft, there is no time for that,” she groaned. “What’s done is done, and you have to move on. But now, you have to try your best to be as awesome as you can and make up for it.”

‘But how do I do that?” I pleaded, needing an answer from the darkened face of the pony speaking to me.

“There is no easy answer, Updraft,” she lamented. “But the worst isn’t over yet. As I said before, you haven’t even begun to pay the price I mentioned before.”

“No, please, don’t make me go through that again,” I pleaded.

“Sorry, Updraft,” she remarked, shaking her head. “I don’t make the rules. Just remember what I said before, sometimes we need to learn our history so that we can repeat it.”

“I know,” I retorted. “I won’t fall for Muddy’s traps again!”

The mysterious stranger shook her head and sighed. She, One, and Foggy started to withdraw. “No, please, don’t leave me like this! What did I do wrong?” I yelled as I tried to run after them. No matter what I did, they gained ground and eventually disappeared in the bright light.

“NO!” I screamed.

“No!” I muttered as I shot up with a start. My sudden outburst jolted Silver awake next to me as she jumped against me.

“What the hell?” she exclaimed. After a cursory scan of the room, she focused on me. “Dust, are you OK?”

“Yeah, Dust, what the hell was that all about?” Flower wondered, her eyes still wide from the sudden surprise.

“Yeah, sorry, nightmare,” I mumbled somewhat unintelligible, still groggy. Looking around, I saw that Brownie was still sleeping.

“Don’t ya worry ‘bout him,” Flower chuckled. “The big oaf can sleep through almost anything.”

Flower settled back in next to Brownie and Silver and I curled up next to each other again.

“Cap for your thoughts?” Silver asked, curled up in my legs.

“I saw Foggy and One again,” I sighed. “One forgave, but Foggy wouldn’t. He did say I had to let go and move on and do my best to make up for it.”

“Makes a good point,” she mumbled. I felt her tense up in my grip. “Dust, what if One hadn’t volunteered. Who would you have picked?”

My mind froze. Who would I have picked? Could I have separated Brownie and Flower? Would the survivor had been able to forgive me? Could I have chosen Silver? Could the others have forgiven me for that? Would I have chosen One anyway?

“Never mind,” she interjected. “I don’t think I want to know, and I’m just glad you weren’t put into that position.”

I wish I could just forget about it, but I knew it wasn’t going to be that simple. Glancing at my Pipbuck, I saw that I had about an hour until my watch. Images of One’s face haunted my thoughts until I fell asleep. Fortunately, it was dreamless sleep.

My watch was uneventful. But then again, we had expected it to be, since we were essentially locked in a cage with no weapons anyway. I spent most of the time in One’s room, looking over his corpse. In some ways, he was the best of us. He couldn’t hurt a fly. The only death really on his hooves was Foggy, but that was really a mercy. Foggy wanted it to happen. He was so pure of thought. He didn’t have a dishonest bone in his body. And all he wanted, for whatever reason, was my approval and acceptance.

Near the end of my watch, I heard a soft beeping coming from the direction of Muddy’s room. I walked over and looked at the control panel and saw a thirty second countdown. I gently woke the rest of the group and we huddled together near the center of the large room. The soft beeping increased in tempo when there was about five seconds left and when that time elapsed, the door behind Muddy’s room slid open with a soft whoosh. Behind us, a soft click emanated from the large gear locker.

“Careful everypony, this may be part of a trap,” I cautioned everypony, gingerly walking towards the gear locker. I bit down on the handle and twisted. The door slid open effortlessly. As promised, all our gear was haphazardly thrown inside. “For once…”

“Now, Dust, we had this talk before,” Brownie cajoled me. “Don’t tempt the Wasteland.” I decided to shut my mouth.

We all geared back up, splitting One’s gear evenly between us. Flower reached out to go through One’s saddlebags, but I gave her a stern look. I would be the one to do that.

While everypony went through everything else, I went through One’s belongings. His pistol and ammo would go to Silver, seeing as how it was the same caliber as the weapon we had already outfitted her with. We would split up the medical supplies to whichever one of us needed it the most. One had been travelling light originally, having only taken a small notebook and pack of colored pencils with him.

With trepidation, I opened the notebook. The first several pages were crudely drawn pictures of three green ponies with a larger, blue pony with them. I could only imagine that it was One, Two, Three, and Foggy. There were pictures of them eating together, Foggy reading them stories, and even one with One and Foggy hunting. All of them had been labelled “My Family.” My eyes started to water.

The next page saddened me. Two crudely drawn ponies, one gray and one green, were standing watch over a fire and two crosses. The green pony had tears falling down his face. I started to sniffle.

Turning the page one more time, the next picture sent me over the edge. It was a collection of ponies standing in a line: a large brown one, a smaller yellow pony, and a smaller pink pony. At the end was a small green stallion with his head nestled against a large, gray pony. The picture was labelled “My New Family.” With tears fully streaming from my eyes, I stashed the notebook into my saddlebags.

After everypony had collected their gear, everypony else made for the now open door in Muddy’s room. I, instead, made my way into One’s room. Lifting his legs over my shoulders, I strained to lift his weight over my back. Brownie came into the room and cleared his throat. “Need some help?” he asked.

“No, Brownie,” I sobbed, “this is something I need to do myself.” Brownie simply nodded, a knowing look in his eyes.
One’s weight slowed me down, but wasn’t overwhelming. I wouldn’t be winning any races, but he was starting to smell of death. This journey was going to be unpleasant, but necessary.

Down a short hallway behind Muddy’s room was a door to an elevator. We needed to split up into smaller groups. Everypony else went up first, and I waited with One. As I heard the elevator descending back down, I looked back into the room we had just spent a day in. The last moments of One’s life flashed before my eyes. After I stepped into the elevator and turned around, I thought I saw a ghostly image of him right before the doors slammed shut.

After a short ascent, I rejoined my friends. The elevator left us in a hallway. Crudely etched into the metal was an arrow and the word “Surface.” We followed the arrow which led us through a short maze of hallways and further arrows. At one point, we came across a wall that was broken through, leading into a small cave. The cave was essentially straight and had a slight incline to it. Red markers began to appear on my EFS, but we never encountered anything. The cave led to a large opening in a concrete wall which opened into a small room. In the room was a staircase heading up.

After climbing the stairs, Brownie opened a door. The cavernous room beyond was filled with shelving units that were empty. The air was stale and shafts of light came through grime-covered windows set high up on the walls.

This warehouse had been picked clean a long time ago. After a cursory search, we knew we were alone. That was a relief as my EFS was pretty much a sea of red markers. One wall of the storage room we were in was dominated by large overhead doors. A normal door was nestled in the brickwork between the two overheads. I stopped to rest as Flower carefully opened the door.

“Hey, Silver,” Flower called out after pulling her head back in. “Do you feel like flying some more?” Silver looked over, confused by the question. “There are some more skywagons out here.”

Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief and then immediately felt a pang of guilt. This wasn’t supposed to be easy. This was supposed to be punishment for my actions.

Flower quickly ran a recon loop out in the yard. After making sure it was clear of threats she came back in and got the rest of us and we made our way outside. The dull roar of the groans of all the ghouls wasn’t overly loud, but it was grating. The smell wasn’t pleasant either. The odor of one ghoul was bad enough, but a city full of them wafting on the breeze nearly made me gag. It felt like New Flankfort all over again.

Fortunately, all of the skywagons were identical and the nearest one was functional. I forced my way over to the skywagon. My muscles were burning from the strain I had been placing on them. Gently lowering One to the floor of the skywagon, I took a position next to him, a silent sentinel as we returned him home.

The flight back to Foggy’s hideaway near Dirtpatch was smoother than Silver’s last attempt. Or maybe I was so lost in my own thoughts, I just didn’t notice any bumps in the ride.

I was still mulling over my thoughts when a hoof was placed on my shoulder.

“Dust, we’re here,” Brownie said softly. “Want help with One?”

“No, Brownie,” I objected, “this is all on me. I should be the one to handle this.” Brownie was about to say something in response, but I shot him a steely look and he closed his mouth and turned away.

Hefting his weight on my back again, I strained my way back towards the graves we had dug for Foggy and the stallions. I gently lowered One’s body back to the ground. Brownie began to envelope one of the shovels we had left nearby.

“NO!” I shouted. The shovel fell back to the ground. “I need to do this.”

Silver slowly walked next to me. “Dust, please, let us help…” she pleaded as she placed her hoof on my shoulder.

I shrugged it off. “No… this is my fault, this is my responsibility,” I barked at her. The look of hurt in her eyes was unmistakable. “Silver, I’m…” I never got the chance to finish at she turned and trotted away. She was sobbing as she left. I sighed to myself. Something else I would have to fix later.

I grabbed the shovel in my hooves and began to dig as best I could. It was hard work, especially not having magic to work the shovel. Or as One had done, just lift all the dirt at once. We had set up Foggy’s pyre at the end with Two and Three laid to rest on the same side. I began digging the new grave on Foggy’s open side. I figured One should have gotten a place of honor. I’m sure Foggy would have been proud of him.

It took a couple of hours to dig the grave. I broke a sweat and my muscles were screaming, but I didn’t stop. My friends came back occasionally to ask how I was doing. Well, everypony except for Silver. She hadn’t come back around since I snapped at her. That was grating on my thoughts just as much as the grave I was digging and the reason I was digging it.

Once the grave was completed, I carefully moved One’s body into it. “I’m sorry, buddy. I’m sorry I couldn’t do better by you.”

I rounded up all my friends and led them back to the grave. Flower and Brownie stood next to each other and Silver took a position across the grave from me. I was forced to sigh again, one more of many I had already done today.

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. “I know we didn’t know One for very long, and we didn’t meet on the best of terms. But he showed us his true colors almost immediately. Sacrificing everything he knew, he saved us and the doctor, which then allowed Silver to recover. Since that time, he was a naive but faithful member of our group.

“Now, at times, he may have been inconvenient to deal with, asking too many questions, not knowing when to stay quiet. But that was due to his innocence, his naivete in the Wasteland. He was seeing everything through fresh eyes, not knowing what everything was or how things worked. It was refreshing and uplifting to those of us hardened by life out here.

“But One seemed to understand how things should have worked. He offered us a glance at what life was like in the past. The past: a time of two princesses, a time of the power of friendship. He made a decision that I should have but couldn’t. He gave me the easy way out for a second time. And for that, although I feel like shit about it now, I respect and admire him for it.

“I have said this before, but I’ll say it again. In many ways, One was the best of us. I hope his soul will be at rest with Foggy and his brothers. May Celestia and Luna guide him in the afterlife.”

Everypony, including me, was at least sniffling at this point. I looked up and saw Brownie and Flower embracing. I couldn’t find Silver however. Then I felt a hoof rest on my shoulder. Surprised, I flinched a little and turned and saw Silver. I could see the sorrow in her eyes, but I also saw something else. Was it relief? Hope? What I do know is that it wasn’t anger or resentment. She nestled her head against my shoulder and I returned the gesture. “I’m sorry, Silver,” I whispered to her. “I love you.”

Silver sniffled. “I love you, too,” she whispered back, kissing me gently on my cheek.

After we had all packed our belongings, we loaded back up into the skywagon. I slumped down in the corner, both physically and mentally exhausted from the day so far. The silence in the cabin of the skywagon disappeared as everypony reminisced about One.

A few hours, and some minor course corrections, later and I felt the skywagon start to descend. Opening the top half of the door, I looked out and saw the small shack we were heading towards. All looked quiet, but Midnight rarely came out of his shack.

After a few minutes, the skywagon landed with a small thump which made us all sway. However, the landing was much better than the one back at Fetlock Flats. I hopped out of the skywagon and quickly trotted up front to help Silver out of the harness. I felt bad making her do all the flying, but I couldn’t reveal myself, especially now. I had dug myself into a hole so deep, there didn’t seem to be a way out.

“Nice landing, Silver!” I complimented her, offering a hoofbump. She hit my hoof back. “You’re catching on quick.” She blushed and looked away, a little embarrassed.

It was going to be a short walk from where we landed to Midnight’s door. “Everypony, remember, he’s a little eccentric,” I reiterated. “Even though he met you already, he’s still not going to be that friendly.” Everypony nodded in response.

Nothing had changed in the ramshackle little cottage Midnight maintained. Then again, not much had changed here since I met him on my first day down here. I saw smoke pouring out of the chimney on the top of his house, so Midnight was home.

We got near the shack, but Midnight had yet to greet us at the door. I figured he would have at least heard us and would be waiting by now. I trotted up to the front door and knocked a few times. After the last knock, I heard the unmistakable sound of a shotgun breech being snapped shut.

“Everypony down!” I screamed as I dove away from the door. All my friends scattered as I heard the first thunderous report of a shotgun being fired. A cracking sound from behind me was shortly followed by a shower of splintered wood landing on and around me. I scurried for some cover as more shots penetrated the door.

A small rock pile several yards from the front door became my cover. “Midnight!” I screamed over the stones. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Stay away, Dust,” Midnight yelled back from inside. “I’m not going down without a fight!”

“The fuck are you talking about?” I hollaredback, surprised by his response.

“Oh, Muddy came back and told me all about your plan,” he shouted. “I know you are pissed and are coming for me.”

“No! That’s not true!” I shouted back. “I just want to talk!”

There was a very long delay. “Al… alright, but only you! And you leave all your weapons outside!” he yelled.

I looked to each of my friends, each hunkered down behind their respective cover. Brownie was shaking his head at me. “Alright Midnight! You have a deal!” I responded. I walked out into the open and made a big show of removing every weapon on my body, including my knife. Each weapon fell to the ground with a metallic clack.

“Dust, are ya sure ‘bout this?” Brownie asked nervously.

“Yeah,” I replied, nodding. “Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? I get shot?” I added with an uneasy grin. Brownie and Flower chuckled awkwardly. Silver was not amused.

I carefully made my way back towards the shack, listening for any signs that I would be under assault again. I got back to the front door. “Alright Midnight, I’m reaching out to open the door… well what’s left of the door,” I announced as non-threateningly as possible. Reaching for the knob, I began to grimace, hoping I wasn’t about to catch a shell full of birdshot.

The hinges squealed out in protest as I pushed the splintered remains of the door open. Midnight was not visible from the doorway. I stepped forward and the floorboards creaked under my weight. It was eerie in the silence that had fallen over the area. I took a few more steps still looking for Midnight.

My vision flashed bright white as something hit the side of my head. The pain was intense and the room started to spin and I collapsed to the floor. Something behind me slammed shut. I saw a dark blob flash across my vision.

“Dust! Are you OK?” I heard Silver nervously call out from outside

“He’s OK, for now!” Midnight yelled. “Nopony comes any closer or tries anything funny and he’ll be just fine. Try anything, I use him for target practice. Got it?”

“Yeah, we got it,” Brownie yelled back.

Two black hooves moved into my field of vision. “Now, Dust, tell me why I shouldn’t just pump you full of lead right now?” he threatened.

“Let me guess,” I huffed. “Muddy told you I was coming to kill you?”

“Yup.”

“Look,” I groaned, starting to get up.

“Nope… you stay right where you are,” he barked, keeping the shotgun trained on me.

I lowered myself back down to the floor. “Midnight, look, you’ve known me for how long? A year now?” I asked. He nodded in response. “Have I ever done anything that’s even remotely threatening?”

“Yeah?” he hissed. “So tell me about One?” My jaw dropped open in shock. “Yeah, Muddy told me about how you killed him.”

“Look, I don’t know what he told you...” I started.

“Muddy told me you murdered One,” he interrupted, trembling. “Said you locked him in a room and drowned him.”

“HE did that!” I yelled. “One was my friend. Muddy killed him. We just buried him.” I looked up at Midnight, tears starting to form at the corners of my eyes.

The barrels of the shotgun slowly lowered enough to not be pointing directly at me. “That makes more sense…” he muttered under his breath.

“Makes more sense?” I asked.

“Well, I didn’t believe him at first,” he answered, pacing in the small room. “If anypony was going to come kill me, I assumed it would be him. But when he didn’t kill me, but told me you were the violent one, well, I just kinda went with it. And then he started asking about the General and…”

“Wait,” I interrupted. “What now?”

“He was asking if there was any way to get a message to the General,” he started to explain. “The only way to get back is to be extracted by operatives from the fort. Otherwise, we just sit and wait. But he didn’t want to wait.”

“Fucking bastard… he is trying to get back,” I muttered. “What happens if one of us tried to go back?” I asked Midnight.

“I can only assume that the pony in question would be detained by the patrol flights and interrogated,” Midnight answered.

“Would the General be involved?” I asked tensely.

“I would imagine,” Midnight pondered, “especially if they were threatening to reveal what Special Operations was doing.”

“Holy shit, that’s what he’s gonna do,” I muttered to myself.

“What are you talking about, Dust?” Midnight said, his tone wavering.

“Hear me out,” I burst out, trying to get my thoughts out before they became muddled. “Muddy found out there really is no going back above. He snaps. He was promised a promotion and found out he wasn’t getting it. He starts concocting a plan, but running into him in the stable with Silver interfered. He snaps worse. He now starts looking for something, anything, that he can use to negotiate with the General. When I start hunting him down, he tries to dissuade me from continuing. However, I hand him what he needs: information about aeroponic technology that the Enclave can really use. Now he thinks he can negotiate for his return and his promotion to Flight Leader.”

“No, he couldn’t,” Midnight stammered, processing what I had just told him. “Holy goddesses, is that what he is planning on doing?”

“Midnight,” I added gravely. “All I know is that he is focused on getting back and getting his flight wing… or getting even with all pegasi.”

“Damn it,” he muttered. “I wish I stopped him from leaving.”

“How long of a head start does he have?” I asked.

“Just over a day? I think?” Midnight wondered aloud, sounding unsure of his answer.

Damn, that was a long head start. Who knows what Muddy was able to get done during that time. Had he already met with the General? Was he still trying to figure out how best to do it?

The sound of breaking glass broke my train of thought. “What the fuck?” I blurted out as I looked around the shack. One of the windows had broken and the glass was now cascading to the floor. One of the pieces his the floor with an unusual thump. Wait, that wasn’t glass. I turned back towards Midnight and he wasn’t sitting at the table anymore. Midnight was on the floor. The faint report of a rifle shot caught my attention.

“No fucking way,” I gasped as I dropped to the floor to check on Midnight. The first thing I noticed was the hoof sized exit wound on the side of his head facing me. Blood was beginning to pool under his head, and the pool was slowly increasing in size.

“Dust! Are you OK?” Silver called from outside. “We heard a rifle shot!”

I ran out of the shack and saw my friends ducking behind rocks. “Yeah, I’m fine, but Midnight is dead.” I scanned the horizon, looking for some clue as to where the sniper was. From a small rise a good distance away, I saw a small black speck fly up. Quickly, I grabbed my binoculars and aimed for what I had just seen. In the viewfinder, I saw a familiar yellow-bodied, green-maned pegasus flying towards the cloud cover.

“It’s Muddy!” I cried out. He killed Midnight. He could have killed any one of us. This had to end, and it had to end now. Midnight didn’t have to die and he needed to pay for One. “This ends now!” I reached to grab the releases on my armor with my mouth.

“Dust, what are ya doin’?” Brownie exclaimed, obviously confused by my actions.

With a strong yank, the release cord offered some resistance and then they gave way. I felt the side panels on my armor slacken and fall to the ground. I stretched out my wings and kicked off the ground as hard as I could.

“Dust?!? Yer a pegasus?!?” Brownie blurted out.

Flower gasped. “No fucking way!” she exclaimed.

“Dust! Why?” Silver shrieked..

“I’m going after Muddy!” I yelled and took off towards him as fast as I could fly. My friends further questions were drowned out by the wind rushing past my ears.

I could hear my heart beating at both the sudden physical exertion and the rage I now felt. First, he tried to kill me, several times. Then, he tried to kill Brownie twice. And then he made me kill One. And then Midnight. I had to get him to stop this now. All I could envision was my hooves around his neck.

The black speck was slowly becoming larger and more yellow. I had no way of knowing whether or not Muddy knew I was following him. He hadn’t fired at me yet, so I guess that was a good indicator that he was unaware as of now.

My wings and muscles ached. It had been a long time since I had gone for a flight as long as this. Not to mention the twinge I felt from where my wing had broken about a couple of weeks ago. Goddesses, had it only been that long? There was no pain, just a weird pulling feeling.

My heart nearly skipped a beat when I thought I saw him turn back and look towards me. If he saw me coming, I would be giving up my only advantage. Not to mention the fact, he had the firepower advantage with the long range rifle, whereas I only had my shotgun and pistol.

The cloud cover looks a lot different this close. From the ground, it seems like one flat blanket. But each cloud has its own fluffy contour. Tendrils twisting away from the main cloud bank seemingly reaching for you and rolling valleys gave the cloud cover its own personality. It also made it the ideal cover for concealed flight. But it comes with a cost. You also lose clear sight of your target occasionally.

On top of everything else, small rain droplets were starting to spatter against my face. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a pair of flight goggles right about now. Muddy was still travelling in a straight line, so it seemed he still didn’t know I was behind him. The clouds kept getting darker, and looking through squinted eyes didn’t help matters any. The rain picked up some and was definitely making things unpleasant.

After wiping my eyes, I scanned for Muddy in the last place I saw him. He was nowhere to be found. “Shit, no. I can’t have lost him,” I muttered to myself while slowing to a hover and scanning for Muddy’s whereabouts. I saw a green flash in the distance.

“What the fuck?” I asked rhetorically as I saw the light get larger. “Fuck!” I grunted as I rolled to avoid contact. Plasma rounds, really? The green blob passed within inches of my torso. It was close enough that I could feel the heat on my underside.

“Muddy, it has to be. How much weaponry does he carry!” I grunted to myself as I righted my body. He had to have known I was following him. The real question is how long had he known?

Another green flash blinked in front of me. I banked hard to the left this time, the round comfortably missing me this time. Somehow, I was still gaining sky on Muddy. Either I was getting lucky or…

Muddy had disappeared from view. “What the?” I asked while scanning for his whereabouts. I was interrupted mid-thought when Muddy descended back out of the clouds and into clear view. He was a lot closer than I thought! I slowed down, not wanting to get too close and not have enough time to react.

Muddy pulled up hard and disappeared into the cloud cover again. I moved away from the clouds and scanned as much as I could, trying to find where Muddy had gone. There were no further green flashes, which I thanked Celestia for.

I saw it too late. A yellow blur emerged from the cloud cover and zoomed right towards me. I tried to evade contact, but I just couldn’t move fast enough. I watched as Muddy zoomed right towards me. At the last second, he rolled slightly right, not directly impacting me but forcing me into a spin.

The clouds and ground spun around me at a rapid rate. My head began to spin on its own, and I felt my stomach rebel against the movement. Flaring my wings, I began to slow my rotations. My body stopped, but my head kept going.

“So, Dust…” Muddy jeered, but then chuckled. “You know what, let’s drop the facade.” My vision cleared and I saw Muddy hovering in front of me, a plasma rifle aimed right at me. The menacing look on his face scared me. “So, Updraft, can I call you Updraft? You are a glutton for punishment. I almost kill Brownie, I force you to kill One, and I killed Midnight right in front of you. I tell you to stop following me or more ponies will die. How many more ponies do you want to die because of you?”

I felt a pang of guilt run through my body. “You know what, Clear, go fuck yourself,” I growled out at him. “And let’s get one thing straight. I didn’t kill One, you did.”

“Semantics,” he chuckled. “I set up the trap, but you triggered it. Which one of us is responsible? Does it really matter?”

A vision of One flashed in my thoughts. The wind began to pick up, whistling in my ears. “What the fuck do you want, Clear?” I yelled over the increasing noise around me.

“I want what I was promised,” he screamed back. “But that is neither here nor there.” Just when I thought his glare couldn’t be any more evil, it became so. “So, you broke our rules. Who do I kill next? The big brown one? Nah, he survived two attempts so far. How about his marefriend? Wouldn’t that be great? His marefriend dies and yours lives? He’ll love that. Or maybe I should just take your marefriend for my own?” He laughed a low, threatening laugh.

“Don’t you dare!” I shouted. “I’ll kill you myself!”

“You’ll have to catch me first!” he shouted back as he spun around and took off like a shot. I beat my wings as fast I could and barely kept up with him.

After a while of straight flight, he banked up into the cloud cover. I did my best to mimic his route. The dark clouds were thick and filled with strong winds that buffeted me in several directions.

I emerged from the top of the clouds and began to scan for Muddy. What I saw, shocked me.

Right in front of me was Fort Canterbury.

Level Up!

Skills:
Sneak: 20

Perk Obtained:
Loving Memory: Vengeance for a friend’s death drives you forward. When faced with their killer, you receive +1 Str, +1 End, +1 Agi