The Inquisitors quietly sealed themselves into their power armor. Everything was solemn. One last mission. It didn’t feel like one last mission as they sealed Rosemary up. It felt like they were heading back below again.

They were going to fly up and over foal mountain. It was day 16, meaning they were timing things to arrive on day 18, around noon. They needed them to settle down a bit before striking. It had been a heated argument, but the Inquisitors had settled on calling them what they were, Dashites.

The last time they had flown along this path was coming in from the ice to find Rosemary. Now that they were not laden down with large amounts of gear their flying was much more efficient and faster. The excitement of going home gave them an extra kick in their wing power.

Camp, dinner, sleep, watch, breakfast and then off again. They arrived at their destination earlier than expected. Shadow was going up for a scout mission, as soon as the night would hid him.

“You feel any different?” Slice asked Nor. “Being out here blessed and all.”

“I doubt I will actually notice,” Nor chuckled. “Sure, if we all end up back in the Glowing Sea, yeah. But not with minute stuff like this. And I am not going to test it. Nothing said I had to be stupid as a prophet. I am supposed to survive and get back up top.”

“I hope they don’t toss you back down for being crazy,” Slice replied.

“I am not trying to go against the Council,” Nor chuckled. “Just trying to have conversations and speak on my experiences. Hell, we might all be doing speaking circuits. Both for the military and the public. Especially if this goes down as planned. They might put us there to accentuate the warnings.”

“Or ponies will assume we killed them,” Thunder stated. “It isn’t a far leap. We would have to lie about the timing of everything. Have evidence we were not below, or evidence we were elsewhere.”

“How about cleaning Nor’s head out?” Slice chuckled.

“Good, but probably not good enough,” Thunder said joining him.

It was good to laugh. It was good to have hope.

“Time for me to shine,” Shadow said standing up. “Lets get a look at what they have. At least a final location of their initial camp.”

Shadow slammed his helmet on and launched straight up. He circled over their camp, climbing higher and higher until he could safely bank and head off in the direction the Dashites were supposed to be. He was close to the clouds above, hoping to catch lights and a camp fire.

“Shadow,” Slice said over their coms. He was surprised he was in range. “Open up to listen to radio frequencies. If theirs is opened like they said, it should allow you to listen to them and home in on them.”

“Thanks,” Shadow replied as he opened the radio channels.

The brass instruments and crystal clear voices rang out from DJ Pon3’s broadcasts. They reached ever out this far. He flipped that channel off and continued his wide S shape search pattern.

They were camped out south of the falls. Shadow passed by lower. He counted enough lights to suggest they were leaning towards 40 ponies, or more. He circled in and around lower. He came in slow. His E.F.S. was picking targets up, but it was at the edge of it’s range and useless. He didn’t dare go lower.

Shadow slowly pulled up and glided higher until he was safely away and could put some muscle into his wings. He got back mid second shift and settled in. It was his job to survey, not watch camp.

Shadow built a rough map on the ground for them to plan their final strategy.

“This moss here is the forest they are backing. It will make it easy for them to hide. We can’t have that. The river is a nice barrier. They will have to take flight to get free. Otherwise, it is open for this area. A bit of a hill to cover the approach.”

“You take the open area,” Thunder said to Shadow. “You can come in and stay low, waiting to pop up. Nor and Slice, you guys will need to move fast and make it to the forest.”

“Don’t ride the edge,” Slice said. “Stay middle, let them come to us if they run. Otherwise they will get away.”

Thunder nodded in agreement. “And I will come in over this low hill to strike from the riverside and make sure none take off that way. But this will all rely on Slice and Nor to make the call.”

Slice nodded his head. “Start the fireworks, let them call they are under attack, kill the radio and finish the attack.”

“Excellent,” Shadow grinned. “Lets wrap this up and get home.”

“One we appreciate,” Nor added.

They didn’t bother to hide their camp. They were not going to be using it again, but it seemed pointless. Shadow might have used his wings to find them, but it was on hooves as ordered from here on out.

They didn’t stay together for long.

“Keep your eyes peeled for them taking fight before we arrive,” Thunder advised. “Once we get there and kill them, they should have some way for us to assure they all are accounted for. If we miss one or two, we might have to leave them. But kill their communication equipment and leave them for dead. We have to make sure any missed won’t see our wings either.”

“Right,” Shadow panted as he ran. “Good call.”

Their camp was closer than they had originally calculated. Shadow was there a good while before noon. So was Thunder. Slice and Nor were circling around at a good pace.

Shadow stayed low, crawling along the ground. He was able to get behind a rock and peak out over the camp. It wasn’t much of a height advantage, but it was some.

They were disorganized with only a dozen rifles slung over their shoulders at most. They didn’t even have battle saddles. They had a large central tent with a white cross on it’s flaps. That had to be ‘Pillars of the Community’. The crazy idea that the wasteland wanted medics and that they could bring healing to this and solve everything.

Shadow waited as the clock slowly ticked by. None of them were taking to the air.

“At stations,” Nor panted. “Give us a minute to catch our breaths and then we will begin.”

“Understood,” Shadow whispered.

There was no need to whisper over their coms, but it felt like they had to.

Shadow’s heart rate picked up. It was being fueled by anger. These pegasi had kept them down here for well over a month. These pegasi had gotten Storm killed because they had to continue doing recon. These pegasi did not belong here and were forcing Shadow to do what the law couldn’t because they had gotten around the law by civil unrest. These pegasi would pay for all they did to the Inquisitors, and all the problems they caused above.

“Shadow, Thunder,” Nor said. “Their com frequency should be able to be picked up easily. It will give us an idea of what they are doing. Listen in if you haven’t. You will hear the jam. Slice has a few surprises. Move out. Lets finish this.”

Shadow opened up the channel to listen in and stood up. Thunder would be approaching it slowly as well. Shadow just began to walk straight towards the camp.

They had guards, but they were not attentive. Even when Shadow was noticed, they didn’t raise their rifles or anything. They expected some warm welcome to this cold and forsaken land.

Shadow picked up his walk into a tot. He closed the distance for several more seconds before he opened fire. He was focused and had no need for his E.F.S.. He kill the three guards, a single shot to the head for each one.

Thunder opened up a second later as the commotion began. They had no idea what was going on. A group ran towards the killed guards. Shadow put a round in each of their chests.

The radio was picked up. “We are under attack from several on hoof! Our guards are dead. We need backup. Please. They are going to kill us.”

Slice jammed the radio with wartime military propaganda music they had copied from Rosemary. Marching songs with strong drum lines with plenty of trumpets.

Slice and Nor began to open fire as the Dashites tried to hide in the woods. Thunder and Shadow were taking out ones that had no idea what was going on but still in the main camp. Several more came out of a tent armed with battle saddles. They were cut down easily.

Shadow’s eye was paying attention to one of them as he killed several more. She was dashing around trying to save something that was gone. Admirable, but it sealed her death. There was no escape.

Another pegasi joined her, trying to get them to leave. Shadow put a round through his head. There was nopony left. Thunder was done, Nor and Slice had gone quiet. She looked around in a panic and took to the sky.

Shadow lazily pulled up to target her. It was an easy mark given the angle and that her bags had a cross on the side. Shadow pulled the trigger on the last Dashite and smiled as he watched her tumble from the sky, dead.

“Any problems?” Shadow asked.

“Clean on my end,” Thunder replied.

“Same,” Slice said.

“A little out of sorts,” Nor said with a shaky voice. “It got close and bloody. And they had genuine fear in their eyes. Deep, confused fear.”

“We looked the same when we got here,” Thunder reminded them. “This is no place for a Pegasus. Especially ones not trained.”

“Taking my helmet off,” Shadow said. “Not smart, I know. But I don’t want to be screening papers with this HUD.”

Shadow walked over to the final one he killed. He steeled his heart. They were here to confirm the deaths of Dashites. That was all. But something was wrong.

Shadow stopped and shook his head to make sure he was seeing things right. That was red stitching on the saddle bag. It was still in it’s proper place, tightened down correctly so it didn’t come lose in flight. The body was laying on it’s side, displaying the bag perfectly.

He took a few deep breaths and took a step forward. And then another. He couldn’t take his eyes off the saddle bag. All he could see was the red stitching and the hole his bullet had put through the cross. A perfect shot.

Shadow closed his eyes for a count of 15 before reopening them. Red. Red and fucking white. Shadow gnashed his teeth.

“We have a problem,” He said through them.

“What?” Nor asked. His voice portrayed other concerns.

“I don’t believe what I am seeing,” Shadow continued. “But I know its true. My eyes are not lying to me. I wish they were.”

“Shadow?” Thunder asked concerned. “Take it slow.”

“I’m looking at my sister. Red coat, white mane, cross Cutie Mark, the saddle bags I had made special for her from my signing bonus, and the fact that they have her name stitched on the bottom of them.”

They rushed over to Shadow’s side. He hadn’t moved. He couldn’t move. Anger had frozen him. Not even a tear had been shed. Shadow wanted to cry so badly.

“Shadow,” Nor asked. “In what conceivable way could your sister from in the middle of nowhere get caught up in this?”

“I don’t know,” Shadow stumbled. “I know that somepegasus has pulled the wool over our eyes. Over a lot of our eyes and we are paying for it right now. We got played. Find out who did this!”

“Honey Bee?” Slice asked.

“It may have been above his head,” Shadow stated. “He is just a Lieutenant.”

Shadow finally took the last few steps to Dream Catcher's side. He bent down and rolled her over to hold her. He hugged her so their heads were touching

“I will get revenge on whoever the fucker is who gave us those orders and whoever the fucker is who got your wrapped up in this.”

Shadow slowly let go and opened up her saddle bags. It was mostly healing herbs and such. There was a bagful of rosemary prepared to be used as tea like they did. A folder of papers was also inside. The bullet had made a clean hole through them, but blood had not found them. They were spared by gravity.

It was their photos. It was letters from home. There was a copy of the few letters Shadow had sent home. And the last thing he pulled out of was a marriage certificate. Dated a week before they had come down. It was done in El Nino, meaning they had to have done it the day before they left.

Cobalt Oath and Dream Catcher.

Cobalt Oath had to have been the one she had met in the clinic in El Nino. He must have gotten connected with these Pillars of the Community and they must have joined. A healer who knows herbs and home remedies would be extremely valuable down here.

Shadow carefully laid Dream Catch back down.

“Cobalt Oath,” Shadow said over their coms. “Married my sister. Probably the day before they left home to come down here. He was from the city. Never met him, never heard his name before now. I knew she was seeing somepegasus from the city; but if Dream Catcher married him, he had to have a good head on his shoulders.”

Shadow meandered over to the second to last Pegasus he had shot. He rifled through the saddle bags he had on him. He found the same marriage certificate.

“Fucking damn it piece of shit!” Shadow swore. “I killed her husband too. I am going to slowly peel back the skin on whatever Pegasus put us up to this. I don’t care how many times I am shot, I will peel their skin back while they live. Enjoying their screams of agony.”

“Come to the main tent,” Nor said, holding his breath.

Shadow entered and took the paper Nor was holding.

“I expected it, but this makes it a whole lot worse,” Nor sighed.

The paper was a copy, but it was signed by each member of the Counsel, giving permission for a small team of civilians to head below and begin work. It guaranteed them safety, assured them of the legality of their actions and worst of all, guaranteed military support when able.

“Somepegasus if going to pay,” Slice growled.

“Gather any useful papers,” Shadow ordered. “If we have to, we will swear to arriving too late.”

“Fuck yeah,” Thunder replied. “I will swear to that.”

“We did arrive too late,” Nor stated. “The only problem is we didn’t know we were the problem.”

“Their com lines are dead,” Slice stated. “Nopony has ever tried to answer them. They might have the papers, but this still might be a double sided operation. Cloak and dagger. Distract and then stab in the back. Both parties.”

“Lets gather the papers and get to work,” Shadow ordered.

“Work on what?” Slice asked.

“They are our pegasi brothers. We can’t take the time to bury them all, but we can do them the decency of reverently burning their bodies.”

“On it!” Slice said, jumping with enthusiasm.

38 had come down. All 38 were accounted for. They laid out each body and stacked them neatly. The tents provided plenty of material to burn.

Nor gathered what personal effects they could identify and categorized them. It would be something to bring back for the families. It felt like it was some way to let the world know they had no idea what they were doing. That they were the victims as well.

All the bodies were stacked except for Dream Catcher's and Cobalt Oath’s.

“Are we going to take Cobalt Oath back with us?” Thunder asked. “To bury him alongside Dream Catcher? Like we did with Storm and the others?”

Shadow stood there for a while longer. He had been trying to decide that since he called for them to be burned.

“No,” Shadow finally said. “I can’t trust that he didn’t drag my sister into this. I doubt he had any idea of the full scale of things, but I can’t. I don’t want him laid to rest like Dream Catcher. Fucking burn him. I’ll carry Catcher home to Rosemary on my back.”

Thunder and Slice carefully put Cobalt Oath’s body with the rest. They settled things on the funeral pyre and then lit it up. It took well. They didn’t have time to watch it burn. There was no way it all would burn to ash, but it was all they could do. They had exposed themselves for too much now and the smoke was a dead giveaway. It was time to get back to the same tactics of keeping their head down.

Shadow put Dream Catcher on his back and they moved out. None of them were hungry after what had happened. And none of them wanted to stay put. They were going to move on their hooves as fast as they could.

They pushed on all night and day. They were not tired. Home was all they wanted, but home now brought fear. The fear of the pegasi they loved finding out these new horrors. At least home meant they were not worried about their throats being slit at night.

“HALT!”

They grinding to a halt. 8 Steel Rangers stepped out of the tree line, cloaks draped over their left shoulders with their insignia on the corner edge.

“Fuck off Dahlia,” Shadow spat, anger rising. “We are in no mood for your games.”

Shadow took a few steps forward and heard rifles click off safety.

“How do you know my name?” Dahlia asked annoyed.

“You are the only group of Steel Rangers with those cloaks,” Shadow growled. And the only ones who would patrol to this remote of a place. We know you have been hunting us like we are some animals, or better put, monsters.”

“I can’t let you pass,” Dahlia stated.

“We are leaving,” Shadow growled. “You won’t ever see us down here again.”

“That isn’t the point,” Dahlia stated as she took a few steps forward.

Shadow stepped up to be face to face with her.

“Back off!” Shadow growled. “We are leaving. Going home. If we really have to play this game, we can do it after I bury my sister. Or I guess you didn’t notice the dead Pegasus on my back. Our government tricked them and worse they tricked us into killing them! Among them was my own sister. They will pay. So it is best you do not stir my anger even more.”

Shadow stepped past her, leaning his shoulder in. She was bigger than he was, but he made her take a step to the side to regain her footing.

“STOP!” She ordered as they passed through their ranks. She wasn’t sure what to do when somepony was ignoring her orders.

“Thunder, take point,” Nor said over their coms. “Blast through any interference. Slice, stay with Shadow, I have rear.

“DON’T MAKE US SHOOT YOU!” Dahlia ordered. “YOU WILL ANSWER FOR YOUR CRIMES. BUT YOU WILL HAVE A FAIR TRIAL BEFORE THE ELDERS!”

“The Steel Rangers opened fire first,” Nor said as he was walking backwards. “We were talking peace. You don’t want to do this. Don’t be rash. Just leave us alone. Like we have left you alone. We could have killed you plenty of times, but we didn’t hunt you. We didn’t try. Show us some mercy!”

“Fire!” Dahlia ordered.

Nor was ready, launching three rockets at the ground right in front of them as he turned to run. Shadow, Slice and Thunder were already running as fast as they could.

Nor wasn’t trying to draw blood, but Dahlia didn’t care. His rockets didn’t stop them as long as he had hoped. Nor was dodging trees, vegetation, bullets and wood splinters as he bounded at top speeds. He found a rabbit trail and took to it to increase his speed.

They were hot on his tail, continuing to shoot. The only good thing was that they were burning through a lot of ammo compared to the times they were hitting him.

“We are almost to the mountain,” Thunder said gasping for air. “We make it to the southern edge and then we can take off, sliding along the mountain to get to Rosemary. It is a risk we have to take. We can lose them.”

“I’m right behind you,” Nor said through his labored breathing. “I might have to adjust to lead them away, but I don’t think they are used to running like this. They stopped shooting a while ago but I never head empty clicks”

“I have the distraction,” Slice said. “Are you on the path?”

“Yes.”

“Good, get in the air when the time comes. A proper take off so they can’t track us. Up slowly so they can’t tell you took off and then cut across hard to Rosemary. I will continue further south with my tracks. We can’t let them find Rosemary and trap us inside.”

“Good call,” Thunder coughed.

“We have this. Not much longer.” Slice gasped.

The light had faded, covering their launch. Slice went a lot further than he should have, taking the trail all the way to the river. But he made up for it in the air. Nor was a lot further behind than they thought.

They dashed inside Rosemary and only took a breather once the door closed. Still, there was only one thing on their mind.

Shadow walked down to the hydroponics lab and carefully laid Dream Catcher on the floor before the recycler. He removed her saddlebags and the earring she had on. He didn’t notice it until then. It must have been a wedding gift from Cobalt Oath. Their community didn’t do earrings.

Slice had a fresh bag in place.

“I don’t want to remember her like this,” Shadow sighed.

“I know,” Thunder said. “I wish we could bury her properly or something.”

“This is proper,” Shadow smiled. “I will take her home and she will be sewed into the fields like the rest of our family before. Living on in the farm for eternity, feeding more pegasi in death than she could of in life.”

“The worst thing about it all, isn’t that I shot her. It was that it was no problem. She was in flight and I lazily put a round right through the cross. She never stood a chance, and I was not even trying. It was an afterthought.”

“It was clean,” Thunder said. “From the angle it went straight through her heart and out the shoulder. She didn’t feel a thing in death. And she certainly didn’t feel the fear of knowing you were behind the mask. Be thankful for that. What little silver lining there is.”

“Right,” Shadow nodded. “What little silver lining.”

Shadow carefully picked up Dream Catcher and set her inside the recycler.

“I shouldn't be doing this,” Shadow said to her. “I should not be burying my own sister, especially below. I may have fired the actual shot, but your death warrant was sealed before you came below. I will uncover this travesty and make sure they pay.”

“I was your hero, yet I cut you down. I will make sure that I shed tears for you. That I properly mourn for you. I have no idea how I will tell Dad and Mom. Maybe bringing them the heads of your betrayers will be enough. Righteous vengeance.”

“I guess the Inquisitors are not done with operation Vindication,” Slice added. “Now we have a new location and pegasi to look into. And now we are doing it to vindicate ourselves.”

“And those who went below,” Thunder reminded him. “Any who went below not knowing. They may have put a Pegasus inside their group to force this to happen. If they did, that Pegasus didn’t see us coming and was betrayed as well.”

Shadow slammed his hoof onto the button, almost breaking it with his pain. The doors warning sounded and it slid closed. It didn’t take long for the recycler to do it’s job and completely break down Dream Catcher.

Like they did with Storm, they sealed the barely filled fertilizer bad and tagged her name on it. Shadow put it on his back to bring to his room.

“Thank you all,” Shadow said, smiling at them. “Thank you for the support.”

It was the first emotion other than fear and anger he had felt since they began to cut down the Pillars of the Community.

“Then my job is done,” Nor said as he crumpled.

Nor had been staying back from the others, but they were by his side instantly. His rear armor was torn to shred and soaked in blood. He didn’t have rockets or grenades, the bullets had shredded those magazine, letting them drop out freely as he ran.

“I did my job,” Nor coughed under his helmet. “The Wind said hold the line and I will hold you. I did. It did.”

“No no no no no no!” Slice stammered. “Not you too!”

“Take our legacy home,” Nor smiled. “I got Shadow here to bury his sister, that is what matters.”

“You matter too!” Thunder said shaking.

“I chose my life for yours,” Nor coughed. “It was worth it. More worth it than you can understand.”

Shadow was frozen in shock. Nor had been his partner in so much on this mission. They were almost brothers. Now two in the span of a few days like this. He had just laid Dream Catcher to rest.

“Shadow,” Nor gasped. “Continue. You can make it without me by your side. Go home and live. Go home and love. You have a wife waiting for you. She will love you through this all.”

“Remember my sacrifice and teach it. Not just for what a soldier is, but for what I came to understand. I should not have made it to be here right now. The Wind. Its in the Zebra book. I wrote it down, knowing there was a good chance I could not make it back to be the prophet. I am not saying to be preaching in the streets. Just let them know what I was and why.”

“I will,” Shadow said taking a few steps closer to Nor. “I will. They will hear and know.”

Nor stopped fighting the inevitable and let go. Thunder pulled his helmet off only to find dust. The three of them exchanged glances.

Thunder finally spoke. “He said there was powerful, deep, ancient magic involved. I believed him, but this is not something I saw happening.”

A strong breeze swept up from the far end the hydroponics lab and snatched up all the dust. It was gone as fast as it came. Even with the size of the lab, a strong breeze couldn’t just whip up and disappear. The entire stable was well regulated.

“It’s late,” Slice said, recovering first. “We can move his armor in the morning. Lets go to bed.”

“After I send a confirmation message,” Shadow said. “Brief, short and getting what we need to know to come home. I can’t stay down here any longer.”

Shadow carried Dream Cather with him to the overseer’s office. There were no new messages.

Inquisitors:

Completed as asked. We leave for Fort Griffin's Gate in two days. We need rest. Prepare to receive us in 5-7 days. Confirmation of message required.

Command Sergeant Major of Reconnaissance Shadow Flare

Shadow stopped himself before he left. He grabbed his PipBuck that he kept in the room and downloaded everything onto it. Every message in and out was secured to the device. He wasn’t going to take any chances of being forced into a ‘he said she’ said situation.

Next Chapter: Chapter 68 - Betrayal Estimated time remaining: 18 Minutes