It’s interesting how one moment you can be in the middle of a whole lot of crazy shit, then the next, everything’s quiet. That thought went through my head as Spikehoof and Sapphire, took me through the sandstorm, then through a metal door that lead to a dimly lit stairway. It reminded me of the lower levels of Stable 28. I hesitated for a moment and walked down the stairs following close to the metal clad ponies.

Sapphire looked back at me. “You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Just bad memories that's all,” I said as we reached the bottom. There was an open room with another steel door that was bigger and looked more secure than the last on the other end, there was a speaker next to it that looked like it actually might still work.

Sapphire walked up to it and pressed a button that was under the speaker, saying, “This is Star Paladin Sapphire Stone, with Knight Spikehoof, and one guest. Open up, we don’t have all day.”

“Yes Ma'am,” a voice said from the speaker and the door opened, followed by a hiss.

“Are you ready Shadow Star?” Sapphire asked looking back at me.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied, following them in.

We walked through the door, into another room. It was almost like walking back into my stable. Only instead of ponies in blue jumpsuits doing their jobs or hanging out with friends, the ponies here were carrying weapons, some wearing power armor, others in weird robes. It was like a large military camp, as if they were ready for somepony to run in and attack.

There were hallways leading to other parts of the bunker on each side of the room and one in front of us on the other side. As we walked in, I saw that the floor we were on now wasn’t solid metal, it was more like a grate than a floor and there were more hallways, with more ponies in robes, moving along below us. To be honest, looking down into the floor, made me a little queasy for some reason. I think it had to do with the way the pattern the holes made, screwed with my eyes. I thought this place was more like the stable, but it was nothing like it. To me it felt more alive than Stable 28 in the way that ponies seemed to look brighter, more pep in their step. I think it’s because they were doing what they did because they chose to, they weren’t assigned a task they didn’t want to do every day for the rest of their life.

Sapphire walked past me and headed down the hall on the right. “Keep up Shadow, we don’t have time for sightseeing.”

“Sorry, I just haven’t seen anything like this before,” I said, following close behind. The others who followed us went off in different directions, leaving me alone with Sapphire.

We continued down the hall into another room, it had a desk in the middle of it, a couple of filing cabinets, and a terminal on the wall behind the desk. Sitting at the desk was a middle-aged mare. She had a short cropped red mane, and a yellow coat. Her blue eyes looked up at us as we walked in. I touch of grey was showing at the roots of her mane, but it didn’t look bad.

“Sapphire, I see you’re back early from your patrol, and you’ve brought company,” the mare behind the desk said. Her tone sounded a bit weird, like she respected Sapphire, but carried with enough dominance to show that she was the one in charge.

“Elder, this is the pony I was telling you about,” Sapphire said bowing slightly while putting her right forehoof to her chest.

“Star Paladin, are you saying this filly is the pony who single hoofedly took down the raider’s camp outside Cartwheel?” she asked looking over at me.

In a flash, my inner stupidity came out and I got angry. “I’m not a filly, and I didn’t do that alone. Honestly I was scared out of my mind. I did do a lot, but I had a lot of help from Sapphire and my pegasus friend Stardust,” I said in an extremely annoyed tone while managing not to shout.

“HA! She’s a little spitfire, isn’t she?” The Elder snickered. I noticed she had a very faint accent when she talked. Similar to Box Tape's, but not as strong.

Sapphire facehoofed. “Sorry Elder Appleslice, she doesn’t understand much about us yet. She needs some lessons on etiquette I’m afraid.” She looked back at me and said, “Shadow Star, The Elder is the leader of our branch of The Steel Rangers, you should show her more respect.”

“Why? She called me a filly, I’m not a filly and I’ve proven as much. She should show me respect. I came all the way here to bring you this damn memory orb, risking my life I might add.” I couldn’t help myself, it’s been a long couple of days, I probably should be showing the Elder more respect, but I just didn’t have it in me.

I thought she’d get angry at me, but the Elder only laughed again. “Sapphire’s right, you should show a little more respect to me, but you’re right too. It’s amazing that a pony fresh from a Stable was able to do so much in such a short amount of time. I apologize for calling you a filly, your size doesn’t help considering you’re the size of a pre-mutated crawdad. No offense.”

I was amazed at how she was acting, but maybe she was right, my outburst really wasn’t warranted. I didn’t have the right to correct her about me being a filly, age-wise I’m an adult, but my outburst was foalish. I looked down at my hooves saying quietly, “I’m sorry for my outburst, it’s just been a while since I’ve gotten any sleep and Stardust and I almost died more than once trying to get here.”

“Apology accepted Shrimp. You have my gratitude for taking care of that trash, once and for all,” she said giving me a smile. “Now tell me Shadow Star, why’d you come all the way out here just to return the memory orb? It seems to me, like a dangerous quest just to return something so small. I mean sure, you promised Star Paladin Sapphire that you’d bring it here, but most of the time out here, ponies rarely keep their promises. Let alone travel this far to fulfill them.”

“Like you said, I promised Sapphire, and Box Tape wanted me to deliver something to you too,” I said pulling out the parcel and the memory orb from my saddle bags.

She reached over and took it from my magic. “Ol’ Box Tape’s still running that little courier service huh. So, you made your way here just for this? This better not be another exploding cake. I still find frosting when I clean my ears.”

“She’s looking for information on her mother too,” Sapphire said. “I didn’t know much about her however. The leader of the raiders said the memory orb had something on it about a mare that left a nearby Stable so I thought it would help her. That’s why I left it with her. Also, I didn’t perceive any indication that there’d been any baking going on at Box Tape’s residence ma’am.”

“I see, and what makes you think I can help you with finding her?” Elder Appleslice said looking back at me.

I couldn’t help blushing a little feeling a bit embarrassed that I hadn’t thought about that before I got there. Honestly, I didn’t know how she could help me. I was more hopeful, from what I'd seen in my mother’s memory. “From what I’ve found so far, it seems like my mother was working with the Steel Rangers, the memory orb showed her last couple hours in our Stable, and she had gotten a transmission from somepony and had to leave.”

The Elder’s eyes grew wide. “What stable are you from again?” she asked.

Sapphire spoke for me, “She’s from Stable 28 Elder.”

She looked at Sapphire again and said, “I thought you said the stable dweller who helped you was from a different stable.”

Sapphire shook her head. “No ma’am, I only said a Stable Dweller helped with the Raiders, along with a pegasus. I didn’t say what Stable she was from.”

The Elder looked back at me, looking a lot more interested than she had before. “Shadow Star, how long ago did your mother leave the stable?”

“Around eight years ago,” I answered.

The Elder rubbed her chin with a hoof and said, “My last report was that Stable 28 went dark, that nopony was able to leave it since…”

The Elder stopped talking her eyes drifting a little as if deep in thought, after a few seconds I spoke up, “Since what?”

She sighed and looked back at Sapphire. “Star Paladin could you please give us a few minutes alone, I’d like to talk to Shadow Star in private.”

Sapphire gave me a look. “Yes Elder, I’ll go check on the Pegasus who came in with Shadow Star. With any luck that mouth of his hasn’t gotten him shot.”

The elder looked back at me again and sighed. “Eight years ago, right after I’d taken on the role as Elder, I took on a lot of old missions left behind by my predecessor. We had an agent who joined us over ten years ago, she had a small filly that was sick. I remember her well because she was a friend of my father who was the former Elder. Ten years ago, she was sent to find out information on Stable 28, this pony had a contact who found the Stable a few years before. We’d been told there was something unusual going on there. She was sent in with her daughter eight years ago. I called her back since no information could be found that supported my father’s theory that abuses of technology were being created there.”

I interrupted, “I saw the memory orb. It was of my mother right after she got a transmission from what she called The Rangers.”

“I did send her a transmission, I told her she had to come back with her daughter and the Pip-Buck she had, the one I can clearly see that you now have. She did leave the Stable and started to make her way back here. A few weeks later, she finally returned, she was alone however, and only had a normal Pip-Buck. She said she had to leave hers behind, and her daughter,” she said grimly.

I nodded. “She did, she left me behind because she thought it wasn’t safe for me to leave.”

“Shadow Star, let me ask you something. Do you remember anything before your life in Stable 28?” Elder Appleslice asked.

I found the question odd. I mean I didn’t, but how would she know that? “I really don’t, my mother said I got hurt badly out in The Wasteland, and lost my memory.” I replied.

“Shadow Star, I don’t know how to tell you this, but if your mother is the same pony I’m talking about, then you can’t be her daughter,” The Elder said.

That took me by surprise. “Wait…what? How couldn’t I be her daughter, my mother’s name is Grimoire Spell, I know who my mother is.”

“You are talking about the same pony then, but Grimoire’s daughter didn’t look like you, and she was sick when I last saw her, she told me she wasn’t long for this world. When she came back here she told me she was still alive, but I had a feeling she did something. She wouldn’t have left her daughter in Stable 28 no matter what. She wouldn’t have cared how dangerous it was out here, she wouldn’t have left her daughter behind,” The Elder explained.

“What do you mean, I’m not her daughter, and how couldn’t I look like her daughter?” I asked.

She sighed. “Grimoire’s daughter was named Morning Star, and she was a little silver-white filly with a black mane, the only thing you have that’s the same is your eyes. They were red just like yours. Unless she did something to change how you look and changed your name, I don’t see how you could be her. Only other thing that makes sense to me is that she found you somewhere, after her own daughter died, and wiped your memories away, then telling you who you are now. She was a master of spell work and best at memory spells, it’s not past her abilities to do.”

I felt the anger again, but I held it back. “She’s my mother, don’t ask me how I know, it’s not from any memories or anything she might’ve given me or whatever you say could’ve happened. It’s just something I know deep down, maybe she did alter my appearance, or maybe something else happened. I did have some kind of accident when I was young, I was in the clinic for over a month when we first got to the Stable, also when I went into that memory orb there and saw her leave the stable, she said one thing when she was out, the only time she looked back. She said ‘I hope you make it out of there my little Morning Star, I love you.’ For me that’s enough proof.”

The elder took a moment looking down at the silvery orb in front of her, finally saying, “She was a master of spells, who knows what happened. For now, I’ll trust that you are her daughter, I’m not sure why you look different or why she changed your name, but I’ll believe it for now.”

“Why don’t you just ask her yourself?” I said still trying to hold back my anger.

She looked up again, asking, “What makes you think I can do that?”

“She came here when she left. I figured she’d still be working with the Steel Rangers,” I said trying not to think of why she wouldn’t know where my mother was. I was hoping she wouldn’t say she died or something.

“I haven’t seen Grimoire in close to five years Shadow. She left the Steel Rangers to continue some project of hers. It didn’t end well between us, but I did let her go in the end. The last I heard she was heading toward New Pegasus, I’m not sure why, because that town is no place for ponies like her,” she said.

So she wasn’t here either, another path to follow. When I arrived here I thought I’d find her, after eight long years, I’d finally get some answers, but now I’d have to travel even further. Now I had even more to find out, more questions. I wasn’t even sure how I would handle it, would I get angry, or cry. I just wasn’t sure.

I looked back at The Elder. “Where’s New Pegasus?”

“You don’t mean to go there, do you?” she asked giving me a quizzical look.

“I can’t go back to my stable, I really don’t have anywhere else to go, apart from Cartwheel. I need answers, and she’s the only one who can give them to me. So yes, I’ll go there next and hopefully find her and the answers I need,” I replied.

To my surprise, she smiled. “No doubts anymore, you are her daughter. Grimoire is just as hard headed as you are.” She looked away from me for a moment tapping her hoof on the table before looking back. “How about this, I’ll give you the information you’ll need, but you’ll have to do something for me first.”

“Like what? Why would I need to do anything for you? You already told me where to look. I’m sure you’re not the only pony who knows where New Pegasus is,” I said.

“I told you what town, but not who she was going to go see there. That information is important, you’ll need it if you want to be able to find her or where she went to from there. New Pegasus is a big place and dangerous if you don’t know your way around the outskirts. If you do what I need done, then I’ll tell you all you need to know,” she said, her smile never fading.

I sighed and gave in. “Fine, I’ll do what you need me to do, depending on what it is.” I wasn’t going to promise anything until I knew what I was getting myself into. I don’t want to end up having to be an executioner or something.

“That Pip-Buck you have on, what do you know about it?” she asked.

I looked down at my Pip-Buck, “It looks a little different from what the other ponies had in 28. Apart from that I don’t know anything else about it. It seems pretty ordinary to me.”

“That was a new version that was being tested out before the megaspells went off. From what we learned when your mother was here, it was designed by both the Ministry of Arcane Science and Stable-Tec. It’s faster and more intelligent than any previous model. Apart from that, we don’t know anything else about them. Grimoire promised to give us that Pip-Buck to study when she was finished with her mission in your stable. As you already know, that didn’t happen,” she explained.

“Well I can’t help you with that, I have no idea how to get it off. The Overmare tried to get it off too, not even a Pip-Buck key could remove it. The psycho bitch was gonna have the doctor maim me to get it off,” I said.

“Yeah, I know you can’t get it off, honestly Grimoire was the only one I knew who could remove it. I’m not asking you to hand it over. What I want is for you to get me another one so we can study it,” she said, smiling again.

“Where would I find one?” I asked.

“Lucky for you, we have a feeling there might be one or two in an old abandoned stable just north of us. I’d send a team in to get it, but I can’t risk sending any of my ponies out to get one trinket, and I don’t trust the mercenary groups we contract to get it either. Most Stables are set up similar to each other, so I want you to go in and find another Mk II, and bring it back to me. If you do that for me, then I’ll give you the information you need, and some ammo and weapons for your trip,” she replied.

Going to an old abandoned stable didn’t sound too hard, but if my short time in The Wasteland taught me anything, it was that nothing is what it seems. “I can do that, but I’m not going alone, I want my friend Stardust to be released. I’m not going without him.”

She looked a little confused. “You mean the pegasus who accompanied you here? I’m not sure I can do that Shadow Star.”

“Why not?” I asked.

She sighed and said, “Honestly, because you don’t see an unmarked pegasus below the clouds often around here, and when you do they’re always an Enclave solider. Unless your friend is from New Pegasus or a lucky pony who was able to escape The Enclave before he got branded, he can’t be trusted.”

“Then put some trust in me, he saved my life, and he hasn’t done anything untrustworthy. I trust him and that should be good enough,” I insisted.

“But it’s not, at least for me. I don’t know you well enough to put trust in your judgment alone,” she said with another sigh. “My Rangers have taken him to a holding cell, he’ll stay there until I can figure out what to do with him.”

The door opened behind me and Sapphire stepped back in. “Elder Appleslice, sorry to intrude, but I couldn’t help overhearing. If you can’t trust her judgment, then trust mine. I’ve talked with Stardust, I know he’s hiding something from Shadow Star, and from me, but he isn’t Enclave. As for what he’s hiding, I’m sure it has something to do with his time in his own Stable, something traumatic I’m sure, but I trust him, you have my word on that.”

“Star Paladin, what makes you think he isn’t Enclave?” The Elder inquired.

“Ma’am, I just know. I’ve run into plenty of Enclave soldiers over the years. He doesn’t have one thing I’ve seen in any Enclave solider before,” Sapphire replied.

“And what is that?” she asked.

Sapphire gave The Elder a strange look. “He lacks discipline, at least with how he acts. He definitely is disciplined on how to shoot and when it comes to fighting, but he’s different than normal Enclave. He has some sort of professional training, but no respect for hierarchy or rank. My gut tells me that the Stable he says he comes from was some kind of Stable that was preparing for an invasion or war. For some reason, he either left, or was kicked out.”

“How does that make you trust him enough to let him go?” The Elder asked.

She sighed a little. “Because, I know that with how good I know he is, he could’ve escaped when we found him on the surface, and if he was Enclave, he wouldn’t have come here and risked getting captured when he knew Shadow Star was looking for us. I think he can be trusted.”

The Elder sighed again. “Star Paladin Sapphire, you know I put a lot of trust in you. It’s one reason I put you on that mission with the raiders. If I put my trust in you again with this and it proves to be wrong, I don’t know what I’ll do or think afterward. You’re asking me to put this entire base in danger based on your gut.”

“I am ma’am, and if what I think proves to be wrong, then I’ll take any punishment that comes my way,” Sapphire said.

“Sapphire no, you can’t put this all on your shoulders,” I interrupted.

“Shadow be quiet, I know what I’m doing,” she said with her eyes locked on The Elder’s.

I did and looked back at the Elder as well. She took a moment looking down at her desk, her hoof tapping its surface slowly. Finally, she looked up. “Fine, this is all on you then Star Paladin. The Pegasus can go with Shadow, but he won’t get any of his weapons back until he can prove himself to me.”

“How the hell do you expect him to be any help without his rifle?” I protested.

“If he’s as capable as Sapphire says he is, then I’m sure you’ll both be fine. If it’s really a problem, then give him one of yours after you leave,” The Elder replied, finally losing her temper.

“But that isn’t fair…” I started to protest again, however Sapphire cut me off.

“Yes Elder Appleslice, I’ll see to it.” Then she looked over at me and said, “You need to be quiet Shadow, you don’t make demands here. Understood?”

I wanted to keep going, but the look in Sapphires eyes made me back down and reply, “Fine.”

“Good, you’re dismissed. Be sure to have a bed and room readied for Shadow Star and her friend. I want them to have the rest of the day and night to rest up. The trip tomorrow will be a hard one. Make sure you give her all the details she’ll need,” The Elder said dismissively.

I just shook my head and followed Sapphire out. She led me back to the main entry not saying a word as we passed other Steel Rangers. We went down to the lower levels. As we walked I couldn’t take the quiet anymore and finally spoke up, “What’s this whole mission about anyway?”

She hesitated before answering me, when she did her voice sounded tired, “Elder Appleslice is a good leader, but she has her own views on things that I don’t always agree with. That Pip-Buck is something special, you probably don’t even know how special it really is. Stable-Tec and The Ministry of Arcane Science only made a few before the megaspells went off. The Steel Rangers are protectors in a way of old tech, like your Pip-Buck, normally we’ll do anything to get our hooves on whatever tech we can, and I mean anything. One like yours, that’s incredibly rare, for example, is something that most rangers would kill to get.”

“Then why didn’t you take it when we first met? You could’ve easily killed me and gotten my Pip-Buck, no problem,” I asked.

She smiled and said, “I could’ve that’s true, and it did cross my mind briefly. I didn’t know you at all, and for all I knew you were just some stupid stable pony who wandered into the wrong Raider camp. There was something about you though that made me change my mind. When I first saw that Pip-Buck, my first thought was, kill her and take it, then I had to ask myself. How did this small mare get into this camp? Did she kill some raiders and not get hurt, and how did she get her hooves on that? So, I decided to give you a chance and prove yourself to me.”

“And did I?” I asked, giving her a small smile.

“In more ways than one, you don’t realize it yet, but you’re a strong little pony. At first, you come off as frightened and timid, but then you have this ferocity to protect not only yourself, but those you care about. That’s a trait you don’t see often in the Wasteland,” she said, still smiling.

“That doesn’t really explain why you didn’t just kill me and take it anyway,” I said.

“You have a point. Really if I didn’t find information on where to find another one of those, I might’ve just taken yours. Luckily for you, The Boss had information on where to locate more. He was looking for at least one like yours. I think that’s why he set up base where he did. He knew your mother and knew that she had one. He also knew she went off to Stable 28 and came back without it. He didn’t know the exact location of the stable, so he was looking for it, but he also kept an ear out for information on where he could get another. I found out that information in his ledger that you helped me obtain,” she explained.

I looked down at my Pip-Buck a little confused on what made it so special. To me it seemed to function just like any other, apart from being impossible to get off, as far as I knew. I looked back at her and asked, “Why would he want one so bad, they don’t seem all that special to me, maybe a bit flashy, but no more different than any other?”

“That I don’t know, I haven’t been able to go through the entire ledger yet, but as far as I could tell, he just wanted one. I’m sure there’s more, but I can’t find it yet,” she replied.

We came to a door at the end of the hall. She walked up to it and pressed a button to open it. In the next room, there were small cells for holding prisoners, and one large cell at the back of the room. Inside it I could see Stardust laying on a cot whistling a merry tune to himself.

She hesitated for a minute then looking back at me she whispered, “I’ll tell you what I can later, but for now, just let it be. Tomorrow you’ll be going out to get another one of those Pip-Bucks and hopefully that will be good enough for The Elder. For now, you and Stardust just rest and prepare for tomorrow.”

I wanted to ask her so much more, but instead I just nodded and walked in. As the door shut behind us, Stardust looked up from the cot with that goofy smile on his face.

“Bout time you showed up Shadow. Do you know how boring it is in here? No room to fly around, nothing to shoot at, and the service.” He waved his hoof in the air in a dismissive fashion. “Don’t get me started.” He took a breath for a moment and continued, “On top of that, they were so rude when I politely asked them to fuck off,” he said waving his forelegs dramatically.

“Sorry, I didn’t know my meeting with The Elder would take so long. How are you holding up?” I asked.

“Like I said before, I’m bored out of my mind, can we go yet? Those hunk of metal ponies aren’t any fun at all. I mean c’mon at least laugh at a dirty joke, even if the one telling it is somepony who you consider your enemy,” Stardust said.

Sapphire walked over to the cell door and using a key to unlock it. “The Elder says you’re free to leave the cell, you will be staying the rest of the day and night here at the bunker to rest up. You can only wander around the main hall, the shop, and the room I’ll be putting you two in. Apart from that, don’t wander off or do something you shouldn’t. You’re a Pegasus and most of the Rangers here will shoot you on sight if they’re given a reason to.”

He smiled. “Damn, well if that’s how we’re gonna be treated then why don’t we just leave now? Shadow, you delivered that package right, and got the information on your mother?”

“I got some info, but The Elder won’t give me anymore details until I do something for her first,” I said quietly.

“Leave it to Steel Rangers to want something in return. So, what’s the mission and why can’t we go now?” he asked.

“Because we need rest, and you got a hole shot through your wing,” I said giving him a look.

He shrugged. “I’m fine, the doctor here got me all patched up and my wing feels fine, a little sore, but ready to go.”

“You need rest and so do I, that’s final,” I said, hoping the bed I'd be sleeping in wouldn't be covered in mold and other mystery stains.

He rolled his eyes and crossed his hooves over his chest. “Fine, fine, have it your way cranky hooves. So what’s this mission anyway?”

Sapphire spoke up, “You’ll be going to Stable 9 just north of here to retrieve a Pip-Buck Mk. II, and bringing it back here for The Elder. The Rangers haven’t gone into this stable before so we can’t help you on what to expect inside. It’s most likely another failed Stable-Tec experiment like we see all too often.”

“What if there are ponies still living in it, if you haven’t been able to go in, then how do you know if it’s abandoned or not?” I asked worried about breaking into another stable and scaring the ponies inside.

Stardust frowned and asked, “Why would you be sending us to that area, do you know how dangerous it is?”

She looked over at him then back at me. “First of all, we know it’s abandoned because the last ponies to live in that Stable left twenty years ago, and started a town a called Trotston. They sealed it when they left though, we never found out why. We do know that they left just about everything in it for some reason,” she looked back over to Stardust, “And, yes I do know how dangerous the area is around Stable 9, that’s why I wanted you to go with her, if you fly in you should be fine.”

“Are you kidding me, I’ve been near it before and almost got shot out of the sky by those nutjob Fiends, it’s not safe even while flying. Shadow doesn’t know enough about the Wasteland yet to handle a place like that. Hell, I don’t think I could handle a mission like that,” he said angrily.

Concern and fear arose inside me while I listened to them talk. If Stardust was scared of going there, I knew I should be and he was fearless. I looked at him and asked, “What the hell are fiends?”

He closed his eyes and smirked. “You remember those raiders from Cartwheel?”

“Duh, how could I forget them?” I replied.

“Fiends are ten times worse, they work together better than your normal raider does, they’re also way crazier, and always strung out on some kind of chem. Around Stable 9 there’s a large settlement of Fiends, they’re all lead by one nut job pony called Gator. He’s tough, nuts, and too damn smart for a fiend if you ask me. You don’t want to go anywhere near that place,” Stardust finished sounding a bit angry.

Now I think I can see why The Elder really hadn’t sent any of her ponies there. If this place was as bad as Stardust said, it would be too risky to send her ponies out and risk losing them. How in Celestia, did she expect Stardust and I to go there and get this Pip-Buck and make it back alive? Maybe I was just more expendable than her own ponies, if I made it back, she’d get what she wanted and if I didn’t then she wasn’t losing anypony.

I looked back at Sapphire. “Is there any way we can get in and out safely?”

“Most ponies would say hell no, but if you do this right, you should be able to get in fine. Getting out however, that’ll have to be up to you,” she answered.

“And how do you expect us to get in?” Stardust asked.

“Simple really, the settlement is less active in the early morning, when it’s still a little dark out. All you’ll need to do Stardust, is fly yourself and Shadow in from really high up. If you’re quick enough you should be able to get down to where the Stable is without any problems. It also helps that the Stable is in a cave half way up a mountain, so you won’t have to go into the settlement at all,” she explained.

He gave her a blank stare for a long moment then finally said, “Are you nuts? That’s still very risky. I’m a good flyer, but I’m no Wonderbolt. I mean seriously, we’d have better luck trying to ask them politely if we could go inside.”

“It’s all we got Stardust, we have to try,” I said calmly. “I need to get this information and if this is the only way to do it, then I might as well try.”

He looked at me solemnly and sighed. “You’re crazy you know that? I guess I have no choice then. I promised the old geezer I’d keep you safe so might as well be just as crazy as you are.”

“Good, I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping tonight, I’d suggest getting some sleep now, you will be up in a few hours,” Sapphire said walking back out of the room.

“Yes ma'am,” Stardust said giving her a mocking salute, but he didn’t smile. That lack of his goofy smile worried me more than his description of the place we’d be headed come morning.

A few minutes later we were in a small room with two beds in it. Sapphire left us, saying she had something to go take care of. Stardust went to lie down, and was out in a matter of minutes. It was still early, only a little past noon, but the stress from the day had taken its toll on my body. Soon I found myself drifting off.

“Shadow….Shadow, Hello is anypony home?” a voice echoed around me.

I opened my eyes, but instead of the grey walls I’d seen when I fell asleep, I woke up to find myself somewhere I’d never seen before. I’m not even sure if it’s a room I’m in or, someplace else. Everything around me was grey, small pin pricks of light where all around me. It feels as if I’m floating, or something like it. I looked around for the voice I heard before.

“Do you like my place Shadow Star? It’s like my own little world,” the voice said again, but I still couldn’t place it.

“Who are you, and where are you?” I asked looking around more. “Where am I for that matter?”

“Shadow, now don’t tell me you don’t know who I am,” said the voice again, sounding as if it was right next to my ear.

I whipped around, but nopony was there. I started to panic a little. “Okay what the fuck is going on, where am I?”

“Hmmm, maybe you don’t know me, not yet at least, in time though Shadow. In time, you’ll know me much better, trust me on that. It seems that your mind is still blocked, your memories repressed. I thought getting you out of that damn stable would help you remember, seems that I was wrong, or maybe you need more time,” the voice said.

Okay either I’m going crazy, or this is one really fucked up dream. I closed my eyes and tried to wake up, but nothing happened. I could feel a tear running down my face. I wiped it away then I opened my eyes again and a flash of white erupted in front of me. My heart skipped a beat and I screamed as loud as I could, shocked by the sudden burst of light.

Maniacal laughter filled the air around me as I rubbed my eyes; they hurt from the intense light. The voice came again still laughing, “I will make you remember me Shadow Star, and make you wish you’d never been born.”

“I don’t know who you are, leave me alone!” I shouted in confusion.

“Never, Shadow. Never will I let you be,” the voice mocked, followed by a creepy giggling.

“What are you? What did I even do to you?” I asked desperately.

“You trapped me here, in this dark world, and I’ll make you pay,” the voice said laughing again.

“This is just a dream, you aren’t real. I’m just over stressed, and my mind is playing tricks on me,” I said to myself closing my eyes again. “I’m going to count to three and this will all be over and I’ll wake up. One…two…three.”

I opened my eyes, and right in front of me were a pair of red eyes much like my own, floating there. I tried to scream, but something was keeping my voice from working, or maybe it was just fear.

“This is no dream, but maybe I’m wrong, I guess we’ll find out. I’ll see you again real soon Shadow Star,” the voice said again as the red eyes faded away with an evil laugh.

My skin crawled and this time I was able to scream…

“Shadow, are you okay!? Stop screaming before you wake the whole bunker,” Sapphire said as my eyes snapped open.

I looked around breathing heavily. I was back in the compound. It must’ve been a dream then, a fucked-up dream, but still a dream. I took a moment to slow down my breathing before looking up at Sapphire. “Sorry about that, I guess I was having a nightmare. Why are you in my room is it time to leave already?”

She looked at me confused. “Shadow, you’re not in your room.”

I looked around again and saw I was in the hall that led out of the bunker. “How in Celestia’s name did I get here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing. I was patrolling when I heard you screaming and I came running and found you here. That must have been one hell of a dream to make you walk all the way back here screaming your head off,” she said, looking worried. “Are you okay?”

I got back to my hooves a little scared that I’d walked here in my sleep. I shook my head. “I’m fine. Like I said, just a nightmare. Sorry I worried you Sapphire.”

“It’s fine, just glad you’re okay. So, do you need me to show you back to your room? It’s still a few more hours before it’s time to go,” she said.

“No, I’m not sure I can get back to sleep after that nightmare,” I said with a sigh, the image of those red eyes still fresh in my head. “Plus have you ever tried to get to sleep with Stardust snoring, it takes minor miracle,” I gave her a tiny smile.

She replied with a smirk, “In that case, would you like to come down to the training room with me? I could give you some pointers on how to use those weapons of yours.”

“What makes you think I need pointers?” I asked.

She smirked again, making me feel a bit irked. “I’ve seen you fight, remember? You’re not bad, but you’re far from good. There is so much you don’t know about shooting and other weapons. I mean do you even know how to use the targeting spell on your Pip-Buck?” she said pointing down at it.

“Um…well… I used it a couple times, but not much,” I said awkwardly.

“I figured as much, come with me, since you can’t sleep, that means you get to use the rest of the time you have to train,” she said.

“Oh…goody,” I said sarcastically.

“No wisecracks from you tonight. Follow me,” she said, and we headed off.

A few minutes later we were in the training room. A good part of it had small bays looking down a long alleyway with targets set up for practice. On the other end was a large empty area, with a few dirty mattresses on the floor.

“Go wait for me over there. I have to get ready,” Sapphire said pointing a hoof at the dirty mattresses. Then she walked off to a side room leaving me to wait for her. Dirty thoughts went through my mind after she said what she said and pointed at mattresses.

I looked around and wondered what I could learn in such a short time with this room. It wasn’t really that impressive, and from what I’ve seen from the Rangers so far, Impressive was kind of what I was expecting. Some time passed then I heard something coming up behind me. I turned saying, “About time…” My eyes however fell on a tall raider, her mane spiked, scars on her body, blood all over her face and chest.

She pulled a large spear off of her back and using the blunt end, she hit me across the face throwing me back onto the dirty mattresses. She started coming at me, the sharp end of the spear now pointed at my face, her crazed smile growing. I thought I was going to die, and then I noticed those eyes.

“Sapphire!? What the fuck!?” I yelled using my magic and taking hold of the spear right as she thrust it forward, it stopped inches from my eye. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

She dropped the spear and smiled at me, this time it was less crazy and more smug. “Best way to learn to keep yourself safe and alive in The Wasteland, is when your life is in danger. I figured using my raider getup, I could get you to react like you would if this was real. Just then, when you thought you were going to die, you used your magic to stop me. If you really wanted to you could’ve taken that weapon away and used it against me.”

“Yeah, good thing I didn’t, or else you would’ve gotten seriously hurt or even killed. Lucky I noticed it was you in time,” I replied angrily.

“Don’t worry about me small fry, it’d take a lot more than that to kill me. Now pick up that spear, shut your yap and act like this is real,” Sapphire said in her raider voice.

I looked down at it, as I did the thought of that voice and those red eyes from my nightmare came back to me. I don’t know why I was making such a big deal about a nightmare, it’s not like it was real.

“What’s the matter, baby gonna cry? You look like someone just mutilated your best friend. C’mon quit being so soft,” Sapphire said in her great raider impression.

Using my magic, I lifted the spear and pointed it at her, a small smile coming to my lips. “Okay, let’s do this.”

She snickered. “There we go…now, ATTACK!”

Iron Will: Your time in the wasteland has shown you a lot and has hardened your will-power and your ability to fight back. +1 Endurance and you do 20% more Damage with Melee weapons when your health falls below 15%.

Next Chapter: Chapter 8: Heathens Estimated time remaining: 91 Hours, 10 Minutes