I shot past the finish line and slid to a stop. My chest burned and each breath I let out felt like fire inside my throat.

“Your best time yet,” Relay said. “Keep it up and I think you have a chance at qualifying for the Equestria games… A Zebra in the games would be good, unite Equestria and all that.” Relay never liked bringing up my race, he almost seemed blind to it when he asked to be my coach. He thought the best way for ponies and zebras to coexist was to look past the color or strips covering us. Unfortunately, the tragedy at Little Horn had the rest of Equestria focused on race.

“I’ll do my best,” I replied.

Relay raised a hoof above his brow to shield out the sun. “Is that your mother?” Mother stood in the guest entrance frantically waving her hooves for my attention.

“It is,” I sighed and trotted over.

The moment I came in hooves reach mother grabbed onto my leg and started to pull. “We’re leaving Kalita, I packed your things.” She gestured at a taxi filled with luggage.

As if the massacre at Little Horn wasn’t enough to worry mother, which she had rights to be worried, even I noticed the increase of glares and whispers whenever I walked past ponies, but that's not what sent her over the edge into complete hysterics.

“Calm down mother,” I said. “You acted like this when Princess Luna first came back and nothing bad happened then.”

“This is different,” she said reverting to our native tongue. “She is the leader of Equestria now and is still guided by the stars.”

“Those are just myths.” I rubbed at my temple in an attempt to stop the headache that always followed from this argument.

Mother brought up a trembling hoof and brushed my cheek. “And how do you think those myths came to be?”

I remembered the tales. How the stars influenced the leaders of old and nearly caused zebras to wipe each other out. Zebras who stared at the night sky for too long and heard the stars whisper to them. I never truly believed, but I never went star gazing either.

“We need to go home,” mother said.

I smacked her hoof away. “Equestria is my home. If you need to leave, go ahead!”

She recoiled and brought her hoof to her chest. I turned and stomped back to the track.

“I love you Kalita,” I heard her whisper. She was actually going to do it this time, she was going to leave. I hated how she clung to the old ways, the old traditions, how they influenced her, but I couldn't let it end like this.

I pivoted and caught her right before she stepped hoof in the cab. I wrapped my hooves around her and squeezed. “I love you too mother.”

A knock on the door woke me. Images and sensations of the dream faded as I rolled out of bed. My head pounded in tandem with the persistent knocking.

“Coming,” I groaned. The gap between my curtains showed clouds in the horizon glowing with the colors of sunrise. I flung the door open to see Gale’s devilish grin.

“Clover wants you,” he said in a upbeat voice. Morning ponies are the worst. I groaned and followed Gale to the lobby. Music from DJ Pon3’s station flowed from a radio on the counter.

Clover sat at a table with a small spread of food as he tapped something into his Pip-Buck. My stomach rumbled as the scent of freshly cut apples reached me. I took a seat and pulled the entire tray of food over. One perk of being a member of Elpis, I've never gone hungry.

“How are you feeling?” Gale’s eyes dragged along my body until stopping at my flank. “Any side effects from that shot?”

“Oh,” I rubbed the spot where the needle entered, it wasn’t even sore. Another throbbing wave of pain echoed in my head and I started stuffing my face with apples. “Well it failed to make me immune to hangovers, but I had a strange dream.”

“Strange dreams are a physiological issue.” Gale’s expression turned serious. “Listen Ardent, the injection clearly had a low success rate. If anything feels off you need to tell me.”

“If you knew the danger, why use it on me?”

“Because I ordered him to,” Clover stated, looking up from his Pip-Buck.

Is that all it took for Gale to risk my life? An order. Before I could direct any anger to Clover or Gale a thought occurred. What if Clover ordered me to do something similar? Would I do it? Would I dare go against him?

Just last night Clover had me taking formation and fighting robots like a real solider. Things I only imagined doing in the past but now it happened as if it were a normal routine like all those nights I cleaned up the bar.

“Ardent,” Clover tapped at the table. “Time to empty out your saddle bag.”

Without thinking I turned my saddle bag over and let the contents spill out, and at that moment I realized Clover’s orders were becoming second nature. Is this how Clover did it, start with orders I had no reason to disobey and after awhile I couldn't resist. I would have to be careful from now on.

All the items I had collected since the mall covered the table. A pile of caps rose up sprinkled with gems and the weird nik naks I took from Lazuline’s office.

“When did you get all this?” Gale laughed as he pulled a rubber chicken from the pile.

Even Clover gave a raised eyebrow as he sorted the caps out. He stopped when he found a small black device.

“Well look at this.” Clover held it up. “You found a Stealth-Buck.”

My turned head caused Gale to explain, “It plugs into a Pip-Buck. Afterwards, the wearer become virtually invisible for a short period of time.”

“Here.” Clover tossed me the Stealth-Buck. “Keep it.”

I fumbled with the tiny device. How could Clover allow me to keep something so valuable? Nonetheless, I wasn't going to argue. I placed the Stealth-Buck into my bag. My ears perked as DJ Pon3’s voice came from the radio.

“Good morning my little ponies! I have great news. It appears Elpis is on a kindness streak. First, they rescued a mare and filly from slavers for New Appleloosa. Next, they killed a crazed unicorn who preyed on pony scavengers. Now, rumor has it they stopped Pandora’s Children from wiping out Furlong. We’re waiting to confirm the last one. Could this change of tactics be coming from their newest member? If it is I send my thanks to you barmaid. Also, if you're listening I wanted to give you a bit of a warning, Jib has hired Talons.”

My jaw clenched. You can thank me by not using that nickname anymore!

I knew Clover heard the announcement, yet he seemed unwilling to react to it. He talked over the rest of the news, “I’ve set up a meeting with the mayor and some merchants. You two will be joining me.”

“What do I need to do?” I asked.

“Stand there. You’re negotiating tool, nothing more. Understood?”

“Understood,” I automatically replied. Shit.

Clover smirked. “Although, if you pay attention you might just learn something.”

Clover’s negotiation tactics were terrifying. He demanded almost everything the town had to offer. He guilt tripped them about the rescue, went on and on about the lives we saved, and only offered a small portion of our tradeable goods. He slowly offered more of our goods while letting Furlong take things out of the trade. Mainly things we didn't need anyway. Alcalde knew they were getting swindled.

Clover played his trump card. He offered enough scrap metal to build fortifications around the town, and he could give it to them today. He left out the part about the scrap being right under their hooves.

Three full ammo boxes, a bouquet of grenades, a saddle bag full of food, and a fair amount of medical supplies. All for a pile of junk and scrap metal we couldn't use. Not a single cap was exchanged.

The mayor tried to renegotiate when he learned the location of the scrap metal. Clover asked how well Furlong could take on a sentinel. Silence followed. We collected our goods and left.

“You could have left them with some supplies.” Nibble loaded up her utility belt with the newly acquired grenades. Clover smirked.

“Where are we heading?” I asked.

“Manehattan,” Clover replied without any glares. He's in a good mood. Although he never gave more than a basic answer, and I have yet to develop the backbone to ask follow up questions, especially after the verbal thrashing last time.

With all the supplies from Furlong, and Mangle riding with us, the caravan’s limited floor space shrank. I sat down hugging one of the sides. Something in my barding jammed against my chest. I fished out the glowing orb from Stable Nine.

“Hey Nibble, what's this?” I tossed the orb to her. Nibble’s purple aura wrapped around it causing it to float in the air. Her spell suddenly imploded and the orb dropped, as did her body. Her head thudded against the wooden planks. My eyes widened as she remained limp and motionless on the ground.

“Whoa Ardent,” Mangle readied her power hooves. “What the fuck?!”

Gale maneuvered over to Nibble's body. He placed a hoof on her neck and spotted the object I tossed. “What have you done?” Gale pulled his hoof away from Nibble.

My heart sank. “I-I don't know,” I stammered. This can't be happening!

Gale levitated a scalpel to my throat. “I'm sorry.”

My heart stopped.

“What's going on!” Clover demanded, taking the time to look back at us.

To my surprise Gale laughed. “Ardent threw a memory orb at Nibble.” He lowered the scalpel. “Guess how she caught it?”

Clover rolled his eyes and went back to steering.

“What?” I asked, unable to process anything.

“I told you Ardent, you are too fun to mess with.” Gale whinied.

“What?” I said again.

Gale picked up the orb with his hoof. “This is a memory orb. When a unicorn touches it with their magic they relive the memory inside.”

“So, she's okay?” I asked, still worried.

“Of course. She’s basically sleeping.”

A breath of relief escaped me, as did the slightest laugh. “You suck Gale.”

Mangle mumbled something and laid down.

“So what's on the orb?” I asked.

“No way to know unless you view it,” Gale said. “Nibble won't be happy with you. Both of us hate using those things.”

“Why’s that?”

“I prefer being being aware and conscious.” He gestured to Nibble's limp body. “You don't get out until the memory is done. It can't be interrupted, even if you're in pain.”

I winced at the thought. I could almost understand, when I enhance one of my senses I’m at my most vulnerable, but at least pain removes me from the trance.

“Nibble doesn't like them because she used a damaged one. It causes a slight amount of indescribable pain. She said she would never take that chance again.”

Hope the one I tossed wasn't damaged. I took a nervous swallow at the possibility. The caravan came to a sudden halt, all of us toppled over and Gale dropped the memory orb which rolled between two ammo boxes.

Clover cursed, “Dammit, hide Nibble.” Nopony knew what was going on but I obeyed, shit!

We buried Nibble under a pile of our new supplies. After Clover found it acceptable he whipped the reins. I leaned off the side to see what had Clover worried.

“What are those?” Mangle asked. Three tall pegasi stood in the distance, facing us. We headed right for them and as we got closer their horns came into view. Two were a dark purple color and the other a deep blue. A deep blue I have seen before in prewar books and billboards, Princess Luna! I could only stare, but the closer we got I spotted differences between this thing and Luna. The biggest issue being none of these creatures had cutie marks. That’s… unnatural.

Mangle and I looked to Gale who normally had information about wasteland creatures. He simply shrugged.

“They're alicorns,” Clover said in a whisper. “Rumor has it they’ve been stealing female unicorns. They don't find Nibble, we get to leave.”

My stomach twisted as we neared, the three pony like things still as statues. I swallowed.“If they do?”

“HALT!” The deep blue one boomed using a spell to amplify its voice. Clover brought the caravan to a stop.

“Praise be to the goddess,” Clover said “What can I do for you?”

The goddess? I had no idea where Clover’s term came from. All the ponies I knew believed in the goddesses. Even if they didn’t like Luna they never excluded her.

“You can give us that one,” the alicorn pointed at Gale.

“and then you may go,” another alicorn finished.

Clover flew down in front of the alicorns and for the first time had to look up to see a pony eye to eye. “My name is Jaded Clover. I thought the goddess was only interested in female unicorns?”

“You thought wrong. Any unicorn will do,” the blue alicorn said.

Clover took in a deep breath, turned his head, and stared at Gale. Was he actually going to hand Gale over to these... these things? Gale’s thoughts must have mimicked my own as his eyes went wide. How could Clover even consider it, if it were me that would be one thing but Gale was useful. He’s a talented surgeon and has expertise about the wasteland.

Mangle’s hairs were on end with every muscle in her body flexed. Her teeth grinded as she glared into the group, but I failed to determine if the glare was for Clover or the alicorns.

Clover nickered before turning back to the alicorns. “I wish to be in favor of the goddess,” Clover explained. “Maybe there is something else we can give. Certainly there is some sort of arrangement we can come to.”

“A moment,” a purple alicorn said. All three of them turned to faced each other while remaining eerily silent. They just stood there, not speaking, their eyes unfocused.

Eventually one spoke up, “Our task is not worth stopping over one unicorn, and we require nothing else. You may leave us. The goddess will remember your willingness to please.” The alicorns turned away as Clover gave a slight bow before flying back to the caravan.

“Dammit Ardent!” a voice yelled from under the pile of supplies. Followed by a metallic thud. “Ow! What the hell?”

The alicorns turned back. They narrowed their eyes on the source of the voice. Two of their horns lit up. They levitated the supplies out of the way, revealing Nibble. Oh shit.

“WE ARE DISPLEASED BY THIS DECEPTION,” one of the purple alicorns yelled with an amplified voice.

“That won't be the only thing that displeases you.” Clover spread his legs and braced himself. He flicked his wing and Gale brought up his weapon. I slipped into SATS and aimed at the purple alicorn in the front.

In a moment the purple alicorn was riddled with holes and sliced to bits. The other purple alicorn cast a spell and in a burst of magic disappeared, with the dark blue one vanishing as well.

“Don't let them get their shields up!” Clover shouted. Nibble, quick to understand the situation, levitated out her pistol.

A shimmer in front of me, much like Gale’s magic, edged closer. I tried to focus on it but could only see the barley distorted scenery behind it. An invisible force reached inside my chest and squeezed. My throat caught as my whole body tensed up. I grabbed at my chest, trying to pull away a force that wasn't there. Holding my chest I realized my heart was silent. This thing was literally stopping my heart! I toppled over, and with the last of my fading strength reached for the shimmer, trying to point, hoping somepony else would help.

“I gotcha!” I heard a voice yell. Mangle lunged at the distortion slamming her power hoof into it.

The deep blue alicorn appeared, her neck going slack and bending at an awkward angle from Mangle’s attack. The pain in my chest disappeared instantly. I coughed and took in deep shaky breaths, feeling the rapid pace of heart beat inside my chest. They can turn invisible and stop hearts? Right because that’s fair! I looked around trying to spot another distortion. What I saw was much worse.

A magical barrier shimmered around the last alicorn as she hovered above us. She flew lower looking down on all of us.

“Fire!” Clover yelled.

Bullets, blades, and lasers ricocheted off the shield. The alicorn’s laugh could be heard past the gunfire. When the attacks ceased Mangle launched herself up at the alicorn. Her power hoof collided with the shield, a sound close to Nibble’s wielding screeched as Mangle’s force reflected back at her, tossing her down.

“Pathetic,” the alicorn said as it charged another spell. A magical blast slammed into Mangle’s chest, doubling the speed of her plummet. A cloud of dust and sand sprang up where she crashed.

“Who's next.” The alicorn calmly glanced over us. Something bumped into my hoof. I peered down to see the memory orb rolling on the ground and snatched it. I glanced to Nibble and then to the alicorn. That could wor-

A barrage of explosives detonated on the alicorn’s shield and the air filled with black smoke and fire. Nibble grabbed me and shoved us into cover. Each explosion sent out a wave of force and heat, each one pushing me closer against the floor boards. I thought the mere force might crush me but eventually the attack stopped. A charred body fell to the ground with a crispy thump. The body steamed as pieces of the burnt flesh peeled off exposing raw muscle. The smell of freshly cooked alicorn wafted over. I gagged.

“That must be him,” Clover said looking over his side. I followed his gaze. On a ridge stood a lone steel ranger. His grenade launcher still steamed from the attack. The armor covered soldier didn't spare us a glance, not that I could tell through the tinted visor, before he turned and marched away. Each step he took sounding like when Mangle activated her power hooves.

An actual steel ranger! Shot Chaser would talk about them frequently, his adventures into pre-war ruins often led him to cross paths with the bunch. He was never a fan of their tactics, forcefully taking and hoarding technology, but had to admit they were extremely effective at it.

“Check on Mangle,” Clover ordered. He flew off to follow the steel ranger. Gale and Nibble rushed over to Mangle. I rotated the memory orb I was still holding. Wouldn't have worked anyway. I dropped the orb and joined the others.

Mangle lay in a small crater scowling at the sky. “I could have broken through if I was at full strength!”

Gale simply nodded as he applied a goopy salve to her chest. Whatever spell struck her left a scorch mark which removed a portion of her coat and replaced it with red blistering skin. The salve worked wonders as the redness disappeared and the blisters reduced in size.

“Can you move?” Gale asked. Mangle looked away, red filling her cheeks. Nibble rolled her eyes, wrapped Mangle in a purple aura, and carried her to the caravan.

“I thought the impact might have killed her.” I stood over the small crater Mangle created from her crash.

“I softened the landing,” Gale said.

“How?”

Gale’s horn shimmered. A moment later a powerful wind pushed up against my stomach. The gust flowed through my coat and created a brisk chill, not enough to lift me but got close. “That’s an... interesting spell.”

“It’s primary use is to keep me fashionable.” Gale ran a hoof through his mohawk and winked at me.

“And she's out.” Nibble giggled, rejoining us. “Hey Ardent. What’s this?” She chucked the memory orb into my muzzle. The small ball hit with the density of a glass marble but must have been made of tougher stuff since it held together.

I rubbed the spot it hit. “It's not like I knew,” I said defensively.

She sighed and her expression brightened. “I know. It did have something interesting on it. I got to see Ardent’s favorite princess.”

My ears perked. “Luna, really! What was it?” I asked desperately. Nibble took a page out of Gale’s book as she grinned and looked away from me.

“Pleeeease,” I begged.

“He’s so desperate,” Gale mused. “I wonder what kind of things we could get him to do?”

“I’ll make this one a freeby,” Nibble said, the disappointment showed on Gale’s face. “It was Luna teaching that dragon from Stable Nine. She was going over what it meant to be an overmare, it was... weird. Anyway she was interrupted by the Flim Flam brothers, who were much taller and more charming than I expected. They were talking to Luna about needing accesses to Stable-Tec information. It is hard to explain but it definitely felt like they were intimidating her.”

The track record for Flim Flam just gets worse. Threatening and stealing from Luna. Scamming ponies by selling them useless weapons. Using ponies as test subjects for their weird drugs. I'm mean really, what other shitty things were they going to be responsible for?

“Who were you riding?” Gale asked.

“The dragon,” Nibble replied. “Who is a boy by the way. I was learning to make my voice feminine so I could be a proper overmare. So weird, and a little creepy.” She shivered.

A shadow passed over us moments before Clover landed. His frown stretched farther than normal and a defined scowl covered his brow.

“A dust storm is coming,” Clover said through clenched teeth. “Set up camp.”

Nibble and Gale nodded and spared no time leaving.

“What happened with the steel ranger?” I asked. Time seemed to freeze for a few moments as everypony but me paused. I saw Gale shake his head slightly and then continue trotting away.

“Well Ardent, as you can see the steel ranger is not with us.” Clover stated calmly. “So recruitment was a failure. Now, that alone upsets me since we just lost a pony who can do that.” Clover pointed at the charred corpse of the alicorn. My throat caught as Clover’s voice started to climb. “On top of that he assured me the steel rangers would never do me any favors. He would ‘make sure of it.’ Which he can do because he's a FUCKING STAR PALADIN!” Clover finished as he shoved me to the ground. He glared down at me, directing all the anger of his failure onto me. Then he paused. His anger seeming to disappear and his body relaxed. “Go set up camp,” he said monotone, then flew off.

I laid there wide eyed with my heart racing. After all the dangers and life threatening situations I’ve been in I thought I had become more tolerant to fear. Clover had just proven me wrong. It wasn't his anger I feared but the look that came after. His eyes were dead inside, like that of the filly we rescued from the printing press.

Clover punched more information into his Pip-Buck while the rest of us sat too afraid to say anything. We just stayed still, listening to Clovers typing and the sand beating against the tent cover. Except Mangle, she slept, and I doubted a megaspell could wake her.

A barbed needle poked a hole in the tent. Clover sighed, “Bloatesprites are riding the storm. Ardent deal with them. Gale fix the tent.”

I activated my EFS and was shocked at how many red dots surrounded us. Learning from my mistake I nodded and headed out without comment.

There must have been a squadron of bloatsprites. By Luna’s mercy the visibility made it so I never dealt with more than two at a time. Easy since the time between my encounters allowed SATS to recharge. Hard because each minute I was out in the storm my eyes and mouth were continually assaulted by sand, but soon enough the area was littered with bloatsprite remains. When there were only a few dots left I attempted to manual fire. I was rewarded with a needle in my leg and the reminder my aim is awful. Luna help me.

“I wonder how much more you can take before you kill that pegasus,” I heard a deep raspy voice say. “Honestly, your resentment must be boiling over by now.”

Oh good, the voice is back. I turned in a circle looking for any signs of another pony, and realizing how silly that was given the sandstorm did another circle keeping an eye on my EFS but failed to see anything.

“Come Ardent, you can be honest with yourself,” it said.

“I don’t know what you mean?” I said, not completely lying. Clover had been a ruthless leader and I have been on the receiving end of his expectations, but I don't think I have ever felt resentment.

“No need to play dumb. It would be only natural after what he’s done to you. What kind of insidious things do you have planned for him?”

What was with the change of tactics? Every time I heard the voice before it tried to help me make friends and fit into the group, what changed? I was done pretending to think I might be going crazy, this voice isn’t some figment of my imagination, and it’s time to find out who it was. “And what has he done to me?” I asked mockingly.

The voice laughed. “Let's go down the list. Steals you away from your home, fully knowing you weren't in your right mind. Threatens you. Treats you like an easily replaceable tool. He assaults you for asking questions, and now you’re a guinea pig. That shot had a slim chance of working after all.”

Impossible! The only way it could have that information is if it was there, no other pony knew about it. Either this was all in my mind or the voice was watching us, closely. I planned to find out.

“You're right,” I said, hanging my head. “If I were to die, Clover wouldn't give a damn.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

I thought for a moment, and realization finally hit me. Each risk had rewards. That or I was doing some serious mental gymnastics to rationalize this. “Let him keep risking it,” I said with a smile.

“What! Why?”

“If he wanted me dead he wouldn't have given me this Pip-Buck. He threw me in a fight so I could learn to survive. He injected me with a drug because if it worked I would be stronger. He may be more than willing to replace me, but he is also willing to help me.”

I wasted no time and slipped into my trance in order to amplify my hearing before the voice’s response. My hearing locked onto his position as he went on about how preposterous my answer was. After getting a good idea of its location I slipped out of the trance and galloped. I would have liked to keep my hearing focused but I move considerably slower when in my trance.

A neutral indicator appeared on my EFS. I knew it! I could see the figure take shape as I approached. I leaped to close the final gap, ready to activate SATS. As I pushed past the dust cloud the ghoul came into sight. He had strands of tan fur and hints of what use to be dark brown mane. He had no iris and his pupils were pink. When I locked eyes with him I froze. The same feeling as before, shit. It was if something placed pressure all over my body. I felt like stone.

The ghoul jumped back seeing me suddenly appear, but he appeared well aware of whatever was happening to me. His expression changed to be more relaxed and he put on a smile.

“Nice to finally meet you, Ardent Fable,” He stepped right up to me, close enough so his necrotic ghoulish scent caught in my nose. “You are full of surprises. How did you find me?” He pursed his lips as he looked me over, careful to keep eye contact. I tried to reply but even my tongue kept from moving. Good news, I’m not crazy. Bad news, I can't seem to do anything!

“Hmmm. Well, I wish we could continue this conversation, but I’m relatively certain you’ll shoot me.” The ghoul tipped his head and backed away. As soon as he faded into the dust storm he turned, yelled something I couldn't make out, and took off.

The moment he broke eye contact I felt the pressure lift. I went into my trance and followed him with my hearing. I wasn't going to be able to catch him. Not that I wanted to until I figured a way to fight somepony I couldn’t even look at! I relived the encounter in my memory. It’s defiantly his eyes that cause me to freeze. I’m unsure who this ghoul is, but Clover is going to know about him.

Worried and concerned eyes fell upon me. Apparently my warning about the disappearing, magic eyed ghoul, who seems to be in our shadows all the time wasn't going over too well.

Gale came up and shined a light into my eye. “Could be a side effect of that drug. Hallucinations. Paranoia,” Gale speculated.

“What? No!” I pushed him away. “I saw him before that… sort of.”

“And you didn't tell us then because?” Nibble asked

“Because he was only a voice at the time and I thought I might just be going crazy.”

Silence followed.

“He's fucking lost it,” Mangle said bluntly.

“It’s not like hearing voices is a death sentence though, right?” Nibble asked directed at Gale. “Like, he’ll be fine.”

“For now,” Gale said, “but things like this only get worse.”

“I’m not crazy!” I yelled.

“Listen to me,” Clover stated. “This dust storm is going to keep us here awhile. Gale, full medical evaluation for Ardent. After that everypony get some rest. Understood?” I groaned in frustration, and immediately regretted it. Clover marched over to me and leaned in close so his muzzle was next to my ear. “Whether or not you're crazy, thank you for being honest.” Clover turned, walked to his spot, and laid down facing the tent. The sincerity in his voice left me stunned.

I nodded. “Understood.”

Footnote: No level up.