I still didn’t know how he got his information but if he supplied news to the whole of the Wasteland then perhaps his knowledge shouldn’t surprise me. Sunny was more than happy to reform the Regulators and to our surprise, after DJ Pon3’s broadcast, survivors from Requari made their way to Moletown. Grizela, Gunny and Gumdrop had also thrown in their support, clearly taking a liking to the complex. Which was understandable as it was the closest thing to safety we had in the Wastes. We had a pretty good spread of abilities already as Gunny had medical training and Grizela’s bar would be a great place to have an ear to the ground. I admit I still didn’t know what Gumdrop was capable of but she hadn’t left the complex or really spoken at all since Gumball’s death but I assumed she was onboard. All that remained now was to decide who would lead us. We all sat around a table in the offices waiting for somepony to speak up. I was just about to nominate Sunny when Sunny herself spoke up.

“I nominate Silvershine Sparkshower.” She said, pointing a hoof at me. I nearly choked on the breath in my throat at the suggestion and definitely regretted telling her my full name.

“Me!?” I sputtered, half in embarrassment and half in surprise. What did I know about leading? I had about one day’s worth of experience in leadership and I was too busy escaping Stable 63 to really pick up anything. “Why me?”

“This was your idea and have you listened to the radio lately? It isn’t me that they’re talking about.”

"But it should be." I whispered to myself. Ever since DJ Pon3 first called me out as some kind of glimmer of hope for Baltimare I knew the praise was unjustified. It wasn't just me. Sunny was the one who deserved the credit. At best I can say that I was there. It was my friends who made those deeds possible but somehow I was the one who was singled out and held up. I was just the face to the good happening around me. I thought I could be alright with that. If it was to be my place to stand out while good happens in my shadow then I would accept it willingly. I sat there in silence for a few moments contemplating the idea. I looked over everypony else at the table and one by one I saw no looks of protest and nopony had spoken up since Sunny had suggested me as the boss.

“What does everypony else think?” I asked the table. Maybe if I opened the floor to them they would have something to say.

“You’re the one who brought us here after the collapse.” Grizela said, getting the attention of the table. “We wouldn’t have the Eclipse Complex without you and you’ve already put yourself at the top of the list of the complex’s security. It only makes sense you take the lead.”

Both Gunny and Gumdrop nodded their agreement to what was said. That was a vote from that group so I moved on to the veterans, the ones who had survived Requari.

“Blackhawk, you worked with Sunny before. What do you think?”

Blackhawk was a hardy looking earth pony stallion with black fur and red mane styled into a Mohawk. He looked to the two other Requari survivors and leaned forward on the table.

“If Sunny has the confidence to put you in charge then that’s good enough for us. We will follow you Harbinger.”

Harbinger… A title that was given to me by a pony I’ve never met. The name that the Baltimare Wastes knew me by. It seemed a fitting title for me now. Sparks, Harbinger of the Regulators. I leaned back in my chair and thought even harder about the task that was being thrust upon me. Then I felt something tug on my cloak and I looked down to see Aurora siting on the floor, looking up at me with starry eyes. The expression alone made me smile as I leaned down closer to her.

“Have something to say princess?”

“I believe in you dad.” The gentle tone and the sincerity of her words gave me the strength to come to a decision. “Oops, I mean, Silvershine Sparkshower.” She tried and failed to hide a giggle with her hooves.

I sighed and closed my eyes. “Very well. If there are no objections I will take leadership of the Regulators. However I do expect you senior members to assist me when I need it, accept roles of leadership when I am unavailable.”

“If that’s what you want Boss.” Blackhawk leaned back in his chair and smirked.

“Very good. Blackhawk, since you have the most experience with the Regulators other than Sunny I want you to teach the others as best you can and assume command in my absence.”

“Oh? Planning on leaving already?”

“Yes, now that I’ve removed a big obstacle from my life I have someone I need to reconcile with.”

Aurora hopped up and grabbed the back of my chair, hoisting herself up far enough to be seen by all at the table. “Are you talking about Mr. Grim?”

“Yeah…” He’ll be glad to see that I’d found the right path again.

“If your mind’s made up about leavin’.” Blackhawk said, pulling something from his pack on the floor. “Take this, it’s a radio broadcaster. I’ve linked it to the frequency of this base, it’ll be our direct link to you should we need to speak to you or require an executive decision.” He lobbed the device into the air where I caught it in my magic. The device was small and was capable of integrating with my PipBuck by plugging into its periphery slot.

“Thank you Blackhawk.”

“Don’t mention it Boss and don’t worry, I’ll have this crew ready to go by the time you get back.”

“Are you questioning my fighting ability?” Grizela leaned forward and shot Blackhawk a challenging stare.

“Oh? Think you could do better than me little birdy?” Blackhawk said, matching her stare.

“I suppose we’ll find out won’t we? What say you and me have a little spar?”

“You’re on.”

I laughed softly into my hoof at the exchange. Nothing wrong with a little workplace competition. “I’m eager to hear who wins. If there’s nothing else then everypony is dismissed.” That got a nod from the table and everypony went about their business, some more enthusiastically than others. Soon, it was just me, Aurora, Azura and Sunny.

“Do you really plan on making a trip to Whinnyapolis?” Sunny asked with a raised eyebrow.

“If it means we can get Grim back? Then yes.” Regardless of the falling out we had I still considered Grim a friend. We had been brought together, albeit sloppily, by Watcher and though his motives were still unclear to me I trusted him enough to see this friendship through.

“It won’t be easy for us if we’re coming from the south.”

“Why?”

“The Balefire Swamp is in our way. It stretches all the way to the base of the mountain range to the west and to the ocean to the east so there’s no avoiding it. There’s a reason that most travelers from up that way are griffins.”

“I see…fliers.” So we’d face an environmental hazard along the way. We couldn’t just wait for Grim to come back on his own volition, because it’s likely that he wouldn’t. “What do you know about the swamp?”

“Not much, I’ve never been there. I do know that before the war it was called the Flame Geyser Swamp, pockets of gas would ignite and spew fire from the ground.” Sunny made an upward motion, illustrating her words.

“It hasn’t changed much since then.” Azura chimed in. “However the necromantic magic of the balefire bombs has tainted the earth there so now its balefire that shoots up from below. If we’re gonna head through the swamp we should stock up on radiation meds.”

A smarter pony would have seen the danger that lurked within the swamp. A smarter pony would have taken time to find a safer way through or around the swamp. I was not that pony then and my decision would ultimately leave a scar on my soul.

“Sounds like we have a plan then.” I gave the table a determined look before my expression softened and I turned my attention to the filly hanging from my chair. “What about you Aurora? Think you can handle it?”

She mirrored my unwavering resolve and nodded. “I'm ready to go whenever you are.”

“Are you serious? You’re going to bring the filly?” Azura looked at me like I had lost my mind and thinking back on it, she probably wasn’t wrong.

“The safest place she can be is with us.” As safe as it was here I didn’t know if I trusted the others enough to leave her behind.

“Fine then, but if things go south she’s the only one I’ll be able to airlift out.”

“No objections here.” I didn’t feel like I used to in the days after Black Town but even so I’d wager Aurora would still worry about me. Bringing her was more for her own peace of mind than anything else and even if I left her here I’m sure she’d find a way out like she did before.

Before I knew it we were all standing on the surface looking north. A cool wind blew in from the ocean, carrying an amount of radiation my Radiation counter made me aware of. We were all as equipped as we could be after a stop in Moletown for supplies. I took that first step forward, signaling our journey to the neighboring ruined city of Whinnyapolis.

It didn’t take long before I realized that this was the farthest I’d ever been from my home. From Baltimare. Looking back over my shoulder I saw the dark blotch in the distance that comprised the bulk of the Baltimare ruins sat around Horseshoe bay. It had a way of putting everything in perspective. So much of my life’s experience had been contained within what was now a blurry stain touching the ocean. How well had the rest of Equestria faired? Manehattan and Canterlot? Vanhoover and Las Pegasus? The answer to those questions would have to wait. Wait until a time came that I could easily pass the mountain range that divided this part of Equestria from the Heartland. For now though my focus had to remain on what lied ahead.

A day and a half later the geography began to show signs of change. The rolling hills of the land north of Baltimare morphed into flatter and denser soil.

“EW…what’s that smell?” Aurora covered her nose and closed her eyes.

It took no less than five seconds before I noticed the smell as well and mimicked my daughter.

“We’re getting close now.” Azura said, jumping into the sky to fly ahead. Within a few moments something started to cloud the air, a mixture of fog and smoke wafted forward, carrying on it the smell of fire and sulfur. Another round of clicking sounded from our PipBucks and it seemed that now was the time to take precautions. A few chalky tablets of RadSafe later and the clicking had subsided to manageable levels. A soft green glow was visible in the distance in every direction as Azura returned and landed next to us.

“We’re coming up on the tree line. Be very careful where you’re walking, the geysers are everywhere.”

A wall of gnarled, black wooded trees signaled the start of the swamp. The ground beneath my hooves became soft and damp as we crossed the threshold. Immediately the land around us looked radically different, almost alien. Our vision was obscured, making it impossible to see anything clearly within fifty feet and anything past that might as well have been invisible. The fog/smoke mix glowed with a green color as geysers of balefire erupted all throughout the swamp. Pools of water ranging from the size of puddles to ponds were scattered all across the ground, making us occasionally slog through foul and sticky mud. I could see why this place would be a deterrent to travelers but I refused to be intimidated. Although in hindsight intimidated would have been the appropriate reaction.

A column of balefire erupted in front of me, causing my rad meter to spike aggressively even through the medication. I jumped to the left, narrowly dodging another spear of green flames. It was like they were proximity mines of necromantic energy. I was breathing heavily, not from exertion but from terror. This was a place where carelessness could result in death or worse, radical mutation. Aurora was riding on Sunny’s back and she was looking at me with heavy worry in her eyes. I tried to steel myself for her sake but despite what I’d been through thus far, my nerves still got to me. I wouldn’t admit it, at least not out loud, but I was shaking. I don’t know what I imagined in my head when I was told of the flame geysers but it certainly wasn’t the mine field of the apocalypse that laid before me. Azura hovered in the air, dodging low limbs of the black trees and the occasional plume of fire. She had the best chances of avoiding them altogether with her air mobility so I called to her.

“Hey Azura.” My voice was shakier than I wanted it to be. “Could you take Aurora for us? Sunny and I need all the mobility we can get.” The request was one of multiple wants. I wanted her to be in the safest place she could be and in this swamp it wasn’t with me. It may have been with Sunny but as much as it was true it was also equally untrue. I knew Sunny could be an incredibly acrobatic mare but unnecessary risks were just that, unnecessary.

Azura nodded and flew down to scoop Aurora of Sunny’s back. “Hold on tight kiddo, things might get a little turbulent.” She pulled at the straps that kept her armor on tight and carefully returned to her path just below the canopy. That did a lot to ease my mind and the shakes that were slowly infecting my body.

After a while I was starting to be able to see where the flame geysers would be and plot a path around most of them, though to avoid a few particularly dense geyser areas meant I had to trudge through the muck of the still ponds. Thankfully the worst of the water had only made it up to my chest but even then I sped through them as fast as I could. The image of the boglurks in Baltimare coming to mind.

“Azura, you seem a little familiar with this place…have you been here before?” Sunny asked, hopping to the side just as a pillar of green light spewed forth from the ground.

“Sort of.” She answered, keeping her head forward. “I was very young the last time I was here with my parents. They had heard rumors of some kind of great treasure hidden within the swamp so we spent a fair amount of time in here. It was a lot like with the kid here. I saw most of the swamp from the safety of my father’s back.”

“Did they find the treasure?” I asked, shaking the mud from my body as best I could.

“No. One day they decided to leave me behind at the camp we had set up and explore one of the more dangerous areas. When they came back they were covered in wounds and my mother was badly poisoned. After we left and found help they refused to tell me what had happened. No matter how much I begged they wouldn’t tell me. That was the last time I was in the swamp.”

“Hmm…did they know what the treasure was?”

“Not really. The rumors said that something valuable had been pillaged from a military base a long time ago. Maps had been found that showed that there were training facilities of some kind located somewhere in the swamp. Someone put two and two together and concluded that whatever they were after was in one of these facility’s.”

“How would anypony know it was there?” Aurora asked, watching the ground below with a look of wonder.

“They wouldn’t know for sure since all we had were rumors. Some of the facilities have been found but we have no way of knowing which one is the right one, if there even is a right one. There’s also always the chance that it was looted years ago without anyone knowing what it was and is long gone or never existed in the first place. That was why I think my parents never tried again.”

“Not the mystery wounds they received?” Sunny looked into the distance with a scrutinizing look.

“We were scavengers, wounds like that wouldn’t keep them down. Getting hurt for something that might not exist though…” Azura let her point finish itself in our heads.

We didn’t talk for about an hour after that, most of my focus was diverted to navigating the swamp. Although something about the trees around us now were bothering me. I stopped and stared at a tree about twenty feet from me and tried to deduce what was strange about them.

“Something the matter Sparks?” Sunny asked when she noticed I had stopped.

“These trees…somethings not right.” I slowly began to approach the tree and I noticed what was wrong. There was some kind of red…paint I guess smeared around the trunk. A single black hoofprint was in the middle of the red line. Somepony had marked this tree…but for what purpose?

“Who did that?” Azura flew down to hover beside us, giving the tree a suspicious glare. I reached a hoof out to touch it and noticed that the red was some kind of powder-like substance stuck to the tree bark. The hoofprint however, was made of some kind of mixture I couldn’t identify.

“We should keep moving.” I tried to put it out of my mind, as well as everypony else’s. We managed to make it another twenty feet before we spotted another tree that had been given the same treatment. Now I was getting nervous and I couldn’t shake this feeling that I was being watched. Whoever had marked the tree had done so for a reason but what could it be? I thought and thought but the only thing I could come up with was the only other red thing I often saw, blood. Blood… then I understood why I felt like I did. A particularly large wall of balefire exploded out of the ground, the heat and intensity of the flames forced me to cover my face and look away. I stumbled backwards and fell onto my haunches and tried to open my eyes. Standing just behind where the wall of fire had been was a horrifying amalgam of a creature.

“Chimera!” Azura yelled, pulling one of her guns out and firing at the creature. I struggled to get up, my hooves sticking in the mud. A three layered roar echoed around us, drawing a look from me. The creature had the front half of a saber-toothed tiger and the back half of a goat with a goat head coming out of one of the tiger's shoulder. The third head of the creature belonged to a snake whose body sprung from where a tail should be. Now that I got a better look at it I was scrambling even more to try and get to my hooves. Sunny bit down on her battle saddle trigger and fired a shotgun blast at the chimera, staggering it slightly. That had been enough to give me time to stand up and put some ground between us.

Before I could even get my gun out, the chimera had jumped into the air and came crashing down next to me, its goat head lashing out and hitting me with its horns. The impact flung me into the trunk of a nearby tree and I fell to the ground, a throbbing pain in my shoulder. Before I could try and stand my Geiger counter started ticking, alerting me to imminent danger. I rolled away from the base of the tree just in time to avoid a slash from the chimera as well as a geyser of balefire. I somersaulted backwards, landing on all fours and shooting a lightning bolt that hit the chimera in its tiger face. Before it could retaliate I flipped up the hood of my cloak and vanished. Once I had caught up to the others I tried to formulate a plan, however circumstances wouldn’t permit more than a basic strategy.

“Run!” I shouted, dropping the hood of my cloak and waving them towards a dense copse of trees. Azura started flying towards me while still firing at it to cover Sunny. Sunny had got off one more shot before turning and galloping the opposite direction. As soon as I saw them turn I did the same and tried to escape. We didn’t get far before we heard another roar and the heavy thudding of its paws as it gave chase.

“Almost there!” Before I could make it to the thicket another geyser went off in front of me stopping me in my tracks. Azura continued towards the trees but Sunny slowed down to help me. “Don’t stop! Just go!” I urged her to keep going. I didn’t have time to see if she listened as I turned and put up a shield in front of me as a heavy paw hit it and cracked it like glass. The hit knocked me back but I was able to stay on my hooves. The chimera was relentless as it bent to the side and let the goat head collide with my shield wall whereupon it shattered into nothingness. Before I could react, its snake tail lashed out and sunk its fangs into my left shoulder. I let out a cry of agony as the snake hoisted me into the air and held me in front of the other two heads. Now that I was this close I could see a wealth of scars and old wounds adorning the beast. This chimera would have had to have been alive for some time to accumulate so many injuries. The tiger head almost looked apologetic as it opened its huge fanged maw to bite down on me. I tried to focus a spell but when my horn lit up the snake jerked me to the side and the pain from my shoulder caused my magic to fizzle out. Did this chimera possess a degree of intelligence? I was hanging helpless in front of this predator, unable to raise my weapons or use my magic. As the tiger head reared back to sink its fangs into me, uninterrupted this time, I heard a loud screech come from behind me. Azura came diving down through the trees, using her momentum to drag a claw along the length of the snake’s body. Its scaled flesh split open and blood fountained out as the snake went limp. As the snake hung there uselessly and flailed about, Sunny galloped up from the side, jumped up and used all her speed and strength to land a hard buck to the tiger’s face before the chimera as a whole could react. It made a sound of anguish as one of its long fangs snapped right off. Sustaining two simultaneous injuries was apparently enough to deter the chimera as it quickly turned and disappeared into the distance. Sunny and Azura were quick to help me up and make sure I was alright.

“You gonna be able to walk Sparks?” Sunny asked, looking at my wound with a squint. I carefully tried to put some weight on it and hissed when hot fire lanced through my shoulder at the attempt.

“You’re not poisoned or anything are you?” Sunny followed up.

“Don’t worry, chimeras aren’t venomous.” Azura relieved our worries. “However that bite looks really bad.”

“H-how bad is it?” I limped forward on three legs towards the thicket where I assumed Aurora was.

“Bad.” Sunny put it bluntly. “You’re gonna need a doctor so the best we can do is bandage you up.” She trotted up on my left side and let me lean on her a bit.

“Thanks.” I said, finding it a little easier to walk. Before we made it to the thicket I levitated out my last syringe of Med-X and injected it into my shoulder. Sunny had noticed and gave me a curious look but didn’t say anything. As I limped into the thicket I felt a pair of small legs wrap around one of mine.

“Daddy are you alright!?” Aurora squealed. She looked up to the bite and frowned at the blood running down my leg. “Does it hurt?”

“Not so much now.” I was still careful to not put any weight on it and found a spot to sit down. Azura brought out her pack and pulled out a roll of bandages. Thankfully I couldn’t feel much as she went to work wrapping the wound to slow the bleeding.

“I think I know why those trees were marked now. They were warnings, we were in its territory.” Sunny was looking out from the thicket, standing guard behind me.

“Makes sense. Do you think there are others?” I looked down at the bandages and watched them darken with my blood.

“Yeah. It’s unlikely that he’s only one.” Azura stood up from bandaging me and peeked out of the other side of our shelter. “We should get some distance from this area and fast. We need to get you to a doctor before you get an infection.”

Of all the places to have to protect a wound of course I would be in a fucking radioactive swamp. “Well let’s get going then.” I hobbled up on my good legs and started to walk out of the thicket. Sunny was quick to glue her hip to mine to help me along and Azura was flying considerably lower so Aurora could see me while she flew. As we were just about to make it out of the marked tree area I spotted something white sticking out of the mud. I brought it over to me with my magic and realized that it was the fang Sunny had broken. I floated in front of her where she took it from my grasp.

“Trophy for ya. Maybe you could make it into a knife or something?” I chuckled to myself and she slipped it onto her bags.

“We’ll see, now pay attention. I don’t want to get roasted because of you.” She smiled and gave me a light bump with her hip.

We kept up our slow pace and managed to avoid every geyser as a result. We also spotted a few more strange markings on several trees. Some were blue, some were white, there meanings lost on us but we didn’t see any more of the red ones which was a blessing in of itself. The sun was starting to set below the cloud cover as we stumbled out of the swamp’s tree line and saw the dim glow of the industrialized ruins of Whinnyapolis.

Unfortunately for me the puncture wounds in my shoulder went deep and I had bled through the bandages hours before we reached the edge of the swamp. My vision was starting to become blurry and I was short of breath. I had to rely more and more on Sunny as dizzy spells threatened to leave me laying in the mud.

“Hang in there Sparks. We’re almost there.” I didn’t know who’d said that, their voice coming in as a dull echo. I saw a white blur drop down from the air, run up in front of me and start bouncing up and down. Its voice was high and squeaky but it sounded like I was underwater. My head dipped forward, my strength failing me and just before unconsciousness took me I thought I saw something pink flash from the depths of the swamp.

“You know just once I’d like to have a normal dream.” I spoke into the void as I opened my eyes.

“If all your dreams are like this, doesn’t that make them normal?” The sophisticated voice of Fancy Pants said, appearing next to me.

“Hmph, I suppose so.” I picked a direction and started walking. Fancy didn’t have to move his legs at all, his specter stayed motionless yet he was always beside me. “Do you have anything useful to say to me? Or are you here to be an ambiguous dick?”

“Such disdain. Would you rather deal with the other ghosts or me?”

He had a fair point, every time I saw him here he was never here to torment me. Come to think of it…every time it was him I knew I was dreaming. Did that mean something?

“You…what are you?” I turned to the side where he still stood motionless.

“I already told you. I am no mere ghost here to haunt you. You carry a piece of me with you now as we speak.”

I wrinkled my brow in thought, trying to find meaning in his words. He had said something like this before but I brushed it off as nonsense…could he really…?

“Oh don’t look so confused my boy, this really shouldn’t surprise you. After all, you already carry two others like myself within you. Though they seem to have a much harder time than I in manifesting before you.”

“What are you saying? You can’t really be what you claim.”

“Can’t I though? Do you remember the project the Miss Rarity brought before me? You’ll find it here, in Whinnyapolis...or at least part of it. This is where you will find some answers and maybe…something more.”

“Wait, what does that mean?” I tried to ask as his form began to grow transparent. “Hey, HEY! Where do you think you’re going!?” I yelled as his silhouette vanished in a white cloud of dust. And there I stood again, alone in the void starring into the blackness.

“Everything you are will be unmade. In order to understand, you must rebuild yourself from the you that is to come. Flinch, hesitate, or turn away and it will consume you. No matter what you find, you must keep. Moving. Forward.” A voice said from behind me. A voice I didn’t recognize. I whipped my head around as fast as I could to see a pair of yellow eyes with red pupils vanish into the inky darkness. Darkness that was beginning to clear, a wave of color blowing it away.

I slowly opened my eyes to see that I was in a dimly lit room laying on a stretcher. An improvised IV tube ran from a bag hanging from a tall floor lamp and into my right foreleg. A hospital? Then I remembered that I had passed out not long after we made it out of the swamp. I felt lightheaded and dizzy as I tried to look around the room. I tried to sit up and hissed when the muscles in my shoulder threatened to rip themselves apart. Then I spotted a bit of motion from the other side of the room, a small form rousing from where it had been sleeping on a dirty couch.

“Daddy! Sunny! Dad’s awake!” Aurora bounded over to my side, placing her front hooves on the side of my bed and holding herself up so she could see me. “Are you okay? The doctor said you lost a lot of blood.”

I opened my mouth to speak but my throat felt like sandpaper. My voice came out as a dry and raspy. Another form rose from the couch and Sunny walked into the light, holding her canteen in her mouth. She held it out to Aurora who unscrewed it and then I was able to levitate it towards my mouth and gently let the cool liquid trickle down my throat.

“Thanks guys.” I still sounded like a ghoul but it was a far cry from what it would have been. “What happened?”

“Like the kid said, you almost bled out. Your puncture wounds ran deeper than we thought.”

“Where are we?”

“You’re in Mareiucci.” Said a male voice I didn’t recognize. To my left a light brown unicorn with burgundy mane, wearing a surprisingly clean lab coat and glasses came to stand by my bedside. “My name is Doctor Cutter and it looks like you were attacked by Belua.”

“Belua? Are you talking about that chimera?” I turned to face the doctor.

“Indeed. Consider yourself lucky, very few manage to even escape let alone survive an encounter with him.”

“Turns out that beast is something of a celebrity around here.” Sunny said, giving me a smug smile. “How do you think they’re going to react when I show them this?” She held out the giant fang in her hoof.

“You…you did that?” Doc Cutter raised an eyebrow, clearly interested. “Perhaps your survival wasn’t luck after all. Though if I may ask, please don’t flash that around town.”

“Oh why’s that? Dontcha think folks would like to know that it can be hurt?”

“That’s precisely what I’m afraid of. We’ve put together hunts for Belua before and every time they've failed. Something like this, showing that it can be hurt, will only encourage others to organize another hunt. That’s the last thing we need right now.”

“Alright Doc, I’ll keep my trophy a secret.”

“Thank you. Now onto you Mr. Sparks. You were out for about two days. I performed surgery on your shoulder and did my best to stitch your muscles back together. In time you should make a full recovery, however you did lose a tremendous amount of blood. Because of that I insist you remain here for a few more days.”

I slumped back into my makeshift bed and sighed. Albeit the news was far from the worst thing that could have happened and I wasn’t really on a schedule or anything. Still the fact that I would be constrained to this bed for a bit was discouraging.

“How long am I gonna have to stay in this bed?” I asked like a whiny colt.

“Oh you don’t have to stay in the bed. You can go out and explore the town if you wish. I just insist you always have somepony to help you and stay in Mareiucci.”

That was the best news I’d heard since I got the bad news… I know it was less than a minute ago but the shift in my mood was tremendous. At least with wandering privileges I would be able to get things done even if they weren’t the most helpful to the task at hoof. I hoped Grim would appreciate the trouble we went through to find him. With that in mind I sincerely hoped he was still in Whinnyapolis somewhere, I would feel really foolish if I almost died for a change of scenery.

“That’s great Doc…so what do I owe you?”

“Well your companions already paid me what they could so a substantial debt remains. They also informed me of your mercenary nature so you may repay that debt with your services.”

“Uh…okay. What’s the job?”

“We’ll talk more about that in the coming days. In the meantime try to be back in this room by this time tomorrow for a checkup and try to take care of that shoulder.”

“Don’t worry about that Doc, we got him.” Sunny tipped her hat to him and Aurora beamed confidently that they had me well in hoof.

“Very well. I imagine I’ll see you here this evening so until then.” With that he turned and strode out of the room. Sunny looked down at Aurora and smiled softly.

“Watch out sweetie, let’s get him out of bed.”

“Okay.” Aurora trotted over to the nearby couch and came back with my barding.

“I don’t think I’ll be needing that Aurora, I’ll just have to have you help me take it off later.” I managed to swing my hind legs over the edge of the bed where Sunny was able to brace me and help me to the floor.

“You gave us a bit of a scare Sparks, though judging by the way he talked about Belua most ponies don’t survive.”

“Do you suppose that means he’s the only one?” I asked thinking that he had to be if they named it. Now all those scars it had made sense. How long has it been alive? How many hunts did it survive? Suddenly I felt a small bit of respect for the old creature.

“Seems that way. Now let’s get you outside, some fresh air might do you good.”

“Have you had a chance to look around? Where exactly are we?” As I spoke we had just made it up a small set of stairs that led out to a huge, high ceilinged arena. In the center of the room was an old ice rink that was just a concrete slab now and all around were shop stands and ramshackle storefronts. What we had just come out of appeared to be one of the arena’s locker rooms. Immediately to our right were the steps that led into the stands and under them was the path that led outside the arena. The seats that circled the rink had most of the chairs removed and had wooden shacks and homes built in their places. Then there was the second level of seating. Up above the rink and first level of seating were much more well-built and luxurious homes. Some even had balconies that let the occupants look out and down on the marketplace below.

“A hockey stadium?” I looked around in awe. It reminded me of the crater, both in its creativity and it’s aesthetic, though this place looked a bit better around the edges.

“Even more than that. This is just one part of Mareiucci.”

“The doctor said this place was like a school!” Aurora chirped happily. I smiled at her enthusiasm, wondering if she even knew what a school was.

“She’s mostly right. The city is built around an old university campus.” Sunny was quick to guess where I was going and keep up her job of keeping me balanced. I really appreciated her right then, I don’t know how I would get along without her sometimes. Thinking about the good friends in my life made me realize something.

“Where’s Azura?”

“After we got you to Mareiucci she flew off to see if she could find the Talons. She hasn’t come back yet but I wasn’t going to go look for her without you. So hopefully she makes it back in the next few days.”

Despite that news I wasn’t worried. Nothing in the back of my mind was telling me she was in trouble. Not like I could have done anything about it at the moment anyway. We slowly continued down towards the rink and as we approached I spotted what looked like a weapon shop.

“Hey Sunny, let’s get that fang fashioned into a knife. You’ve got a piece of a legendary monster there so let’s put it to good use.”

Sunny rolled her eyes but conceded. “Are you sure you don’t want it? You seem more into it after all.”

“Nah, I’ve got a good knife already.” Thinking about the knife I carried made my heart ache for a moment, its existence a curious thing as was why I kept it. It was more than a knife, it was a reminder, a symbol for more than just me. “Besides what else would you do with it?”

“Fine, if it’ll shut you up.” She couldn’t hide a smile of her own as she helped me along towards the shop. The shop itself had two L shaped shelves that wrapped around a center counter where a large earth pony stallion stood. He was an imposing figure and his dark colors only added to that look. His coat was Ash colored that bordered on black and his mane was a deep, royal purple. He seemed to notice us as we got closer and I couldn’t blame him for looking, we must have been quite the spectacle, Sunny glued to my hip and Aurora mimicking her by leaning on my good front leg.

“That’s quite the entourage you have there.” He chuckled. “But not many ponies run into Belua and survive, I would consider you lucky.”

“Does everypony know about that?” I didn’t feel like listening to everypony I met giving me their two bits on Belua.

“No.” He shook his head and walked out from behind his counter. “Just me, Doc Cutter and my son. He and I found you and your crew while we were out hunting and we brought you here. The names Onyx.” He held out his hoof which I took in gratitude. “Now why don’t you tell me exactly how you survived in the first place?”

“Truth be told I didn’t have a lot to do with it. I was the distraction. My friends came flying out of nowhere to save me. Sunny here even managed to kick one of its fangs out.”

“I wanna believe ya but I’m too old to be buying every yarn I hear.” He turned and gave us all an apprehensive look.

“Well believe what you want but that’s why we’re here. If you’re able we’d like you to make a knife for us.”

“Alright blue boy, do you have the materials?”

“Sort of.” Sunny stepped forward and slammed the fang on the counter, giving Onyx a challenging stare. “Think you can make one out of this ‘yarn’?”

Onyx was speechless, his eyes locked on the large fang with an expression of subtle desire. He shook himself normal and returned his attention to us. “Give me a day or two and I will fashion a weapon fit for the Caesar himself.”

“That’s a good boy.” Sunny pushed the fang towards him, smirking all the while. “What will it cost?”

“No charge. The chance to work with a fang from Belua is payment enough.”

“I’ve been wondering…” Aurora said, leaving my side to look Onyx in the eye. “Who named it? Belua is a funny name.”

Onyx shifted his gaze to me and I urged him to tell her, curious myself to the answer.

“It’s the name the tribals use for it. Don’t know if it means anything but over the years we started using it and now there isn’t anypony in town who doesn’t know Belua.”

“Tribals?”

“Yeah tribals, descendants from survivors who took refuge in the swamp. Got their own language, way of life…primitives the lot of ‘em.”

I suppose that made sense. Not everypony could have survived in Stables or other safe places. Though I never considered that isolated groups would, for lack of a better word, devolve. It did explain the markings we found on the trees though.

“I think I’d like to meet them.” I said quietly to myself, though not quietly enough.

“Feh, good luck. They’re a right hard bunch to find. We don’t know how many of them there are anymore, they avoid us and we leave them be. The swamps a dangerous place to tread and most don’t without good reason.”

“We’ll be back in a couple days, Thanks Onyx.” I brushed off his warnings about the swamp and started limping away to the next stop. Sunny was at my side before I could blink to continue being my anchor, in more ways than one. “Let’s go outside.” I stated and made a beeline for one of the stadium exits.

It must have been close to dusk as the clouds on the horizon were beginning to glow a dark orange. Ponies wandered here and there between the many buildings. It actually looked like a college campus, save for the slightly distracting level of disrepair that all the buildings shared. However something to note was that the bulk of the ruins looked to still be a fair distance away. So that put us on the outskirts of Whinnyapolis. Just where would griffins make their homes around here? A question that would elude me for now as we absentmindedly wandered the grounds. We were approaching the edge of the campus when the sound of rushing water reached my ears. My ears perked up in delight as I hobbled as fast as I could to reach the edge. Below the paved surface of the campus was a slight slope that led down to a flowing river. Though actually seeing it took the smile from my face. The water was dark, murky and most likely radioactive. A far cry from what I wanted but exactly what I should have expected. At the very least it served as a barrier between Mareiucci and Whinnyapolis. Sunny noticed my sour expression and shoved me gently to get my attention.

“Why do you look so disappointed? There’s a river in Baltimare too ya know.”

“There is? How have I not seen it yet?” I asked myself more than anypony else. The answer was obvious to me as I had really yet to see much of the south Baltimare ruins. Maybe it would be time to change that when we returned.

“Well...I think I’m ready to go back now.” I looked off into the cityscape of Whinnyapolis, noticing that it appeared to be much more industrialized than Baltimare. What would await for us in there…I was simultaneously eager and afraid to find out. As we turned to walk away I noticed the tree line of the balefire swamp seemed to surround the entire city like a natural wall. Just how big was it? …what secrets were hidden in its depths? I got the feeling that we would be back in it sooner than we anticipated and not just to travel home.

The next few days went by in a blur. A regular routine kept each day particularly dull as I endured checkups and boring questions. Although I did notice that each day my shoulder felt better and better. One day I managed to find the campus’ library which did a little to occupy my mind though it was obvious to me that the wellbeing of the books was a very recent concern. That made the selection rather sparse and niche. Other days I found myself disappearing into the box of memory orbs I found in Eclipse. Almost all of them were unlabeled and they were made for a young unicorn so most of them covered simple spells. At least in all my boredom I had the time to label them myself and narrow down the ones that I had viewed and the ones I hadn’t. I sat on my bed and was about to go into another one when Doc Cutter strode into view and up to my bedside. He gave me an inquisitive look and then jabbed me in the shoulder, almost shoving me out of the bed.

“H-hey!” I sat up and hopped off the bed. “What was that for? If you wanted me to get up you coulda just asked.”

“Looks like you’ve made a full recovery.” He levitated up a clipboard and pencil, writing something down.

I had been laying in that bed for so long that I hadn’t even noticed a lack of pain in my shoulder.

“I’ll give you a moment to collect your belongings and then we can talk about that favor.” Without waiting for my response he wandered away to give me some privacy. How long had I even been here? The days had started to blend together at some point. I brought up my Pip-Buck to learn that I had been in Mareiucci for five days. As happy as I was to be able to leave I was still worried for Azura. In the five days we were stuck here she had yet to come back. That made the next decision I had to make even harder. Do we wait here longer or venture out to search? If she was okay then it was likely she would come back here. If she wasn’t okay…then waiting would be the worst thing we could do. I tossed both options back and forth in my mind as I moved to collect my belongings from the trunk under the bed.

“Sunny…I need your opinion here. What do we do about Azura?”

Sunny tipped her hat up and rubber her chin in thought. “Five days is a long time to be missing, especially if you can fly.”

That was a good point. Reconnaissance from the air wouldn’t take nearly as long as from the ground, even if there was some unseen force at work delaying her. I had reached a decision.

“Alright then, that settles it, we’re going to look for her.” I threw my cloak on over my barding and made sure my saddlebags were secured. It almost felt strange to have all my gear on again, which reminded me that I needed to find new armor. Neither my cloak nor barding would stop a bullet and I had no desire to put that to the test. Come to think of it, if I had still had my armor Belua probably wouldn’t have been able to do the damage he did. Fuck.

“What about me dad?” Aurora tugged on my cloak, looking at me with a worried face.

“You’re gonna have to come with us. I don’t like it but you’re safest with me…with us.”

Aurora nodded and hoisted herself onto my back, practically climbing into the hood of my cloak. I was glad she was with me. She was a light I could focus on when darkness fell upon me. I smiled and nuzzled her neck, making her giggle.

“Comfy?” I asked, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Sunny couldn’t suppress a smile herself.

“If you’re ready, it’s time to talk business.” Doc Cutter stood nearby, only now he looked like a normal pony. In the sense that he wasn’t wearing his coat or carrying any equipment.

“Let’s hear it then.” I said, letting my expression return to neutral.

“I need you to kill somepony for me. She has something very valuable to me. I want you to kill her and bring it back.”

“Whoa one step at a time. First, what is it we’re looking for?” Sunny gave him a scrutinizing stare that made Cutter take a half step back.

“A-a gemstone…its blue and diamond shaped. It was given to me by my father and she stole it from me.”

“And who is this ‘she’ you keep mentioning?” Sunny’s question made Cutter grimace as if he were recalling something troubling.

“She’s… a pegasus h-her name is Dusk Diver. She has dark colors, dark purple fur and an orange mane.”

"A pegasus?" Sunny asked, a dangerous tone to her voice. "A Dashite?"

I didnt recognize the term Sunny used but I had yet to see a pegasus in the wasteland. Sunny had said they were all up above the clouds. Suddenly I was envious of my winged bretheren...angry even. They had been up above us presumably since the war and in all this time they never returned to help the ponies on the ground.

"What's a Dashite?" I asked, hoping the answer would do something to lessen the sudden resentment I was feeling.

"An outcast from the clouds. Identifiable by the brands they sport over they're cutie marks." Sunny said as if it were common fact...which it probably was. Once a stable dweller, always a stable dweller I suppose.

"No, she's wasteland born." Cutter responded rather quickly.

“Do you know where we can find her?” I asked, knowing full well that he could tell me anything and I wouldn’t have a clue where to go.

“Sadly no, I don’t know where she is exactly. I do know that she leads a group of mercs somewhere in the ruins.”

“This might take a long time and there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to find her. What if she’s left the city?” I threw that out there to gauge his reaction. We both knew that I owed him no matter what and he wasn’t going to let me leave without anything to show for it.

“She hasn’t left. She’s in that husk of a city somewhere, I guarantee it.” He said as if it were written in stone.

“What makes you so sure?” Cutter was visibly bothered by the conversation. He didn’t answer for a few seconds, squinting and looking everywhere but us.

“I just know…She can’t let go of this place…not yet.” His voice trailed off into a whisper.

Something about this didn’t sit right with me but we both knew I couldn’t refuse, the look in his eyes assured me of that. Whatever was going on here would have to be pushed into the back of my mind where it couldn’t bother me.

“Anything else I might need to know?”

“No…I wish I could be more helpful but I have to ask this of you.” He had that pained look again, something clearly conflicting within him. “I wish you luck out there. Return with the gem should you find it.” And with that he made a hasty retreat.

“You know there’s something fishy about this right?” Sunny asked.

“Of course I do…but he did save my life so what was I supposed to do? Say no?”

Sunny looked like she was ready to debate me on the subject before she sighed and relented, knowing that I owed Cutter my life and would pay him back. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? He wants us to kill somepony.”

I wasn’t a stranger to killing anymore but there was a difference between killing and murder. It was one thing to kill raiders or in self-defense, it was another to take a life because I was asked.

“It’s not like I haven’t killed somepony before.” I said before my mind caught up with me.

“I don’t consider myself a merc Sparks, or an assassin. I know you don’t either.” Sunny said with a chastising look.

“Fine, maybe we won’t kill her. Let’s agree to wait and see for ourselves first what kind of pony she is.” Sunny seemed to accept my terms and we made our way topside, collected what supplies we could afford and we were standing on the edge of the campus within the hour. We stood at the mouth of a crumbling, yet still standing, bridge that crossed the river leading into Whinnyapolis proper. There was a lot on our list now. Two missing friends and a debt to pay. I had a feeling that that list would only grow the longer we stayed here. I spared one more glance to the balefire swamp and something about it made me stop. I tried to put it out of my mind and force my gaze to the skeleton of a city before me.

“I hope we’re ready for this.” I said, my voice coming out clear but unsure. “Let’s go get our friends back.” We started our first steps forward into the ruins with our goals clear in mind. Before we made it halfway across the bridge I thought I heard something like a whisper come from my side. I stopped and turned to find myself staring into the swamp again, unintelligible whispers of promise echoing in my mind. Sunny passed me on the bridge as the strange feeling took over. Aurora rustled on my back and tapped me on the head.

“What’s wrong dad?”

Something in that swamp was calling to me.

“What the fuck?”

Footnote: No Level up.

Quest Perk Acquired: Balefire Swamp Survivalist. – Exposure to the deadly environment of the Balefire Swamp, as well as surviving an attack from a legendary monster has prepared your body for the worst the wasteland has to offer. +5 to all resistances.

Next Chapter: Chapter Nineteen: Rise and Rise Again Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 31 Minutes