Shadow was walking in the market after an unsuccessful search for new armor.

“MTOAJI!”

Shadow looked to where his name was called. Red Tip was waving at him from the balcony of the cafe. Shadow smiled back and headed up to him.

“Earthen Charm!” Shadow exclaimed as he walked over, ignoring Red Tip. “It is good to see you again. And in Trottingham this time.”

“It is good to see you too,” Earthen Charm smiled back. “But we can talk later. Red Tip’s look isn’t pouting for drama, he has been trying to reach you for a few days.”

“You were not home yesterday!” Red Tip exclaimed. “I have something that will interest you. Something very special. Grab your battle saddle and meet me in my shop. We just paid so meet you there.”

Earthen Charm smiled and shrugged. Shadow headed out and grabbed his battle saddle. When he got to the store he set it on the counter.

Red Tip set a small object on the counter. It looked like a large washer, but it had four small rubies set into it and the object had four ‘prongs.’ It was something Shadow hadn’t seen before.

“What is it?” Shadow asked after a moment.

“A sound dampener,” Red Tip grinned.

“Like, a silencer?” Shadow asked.

“No,” Red Tip smirked. “I can make silencers, and have some in stock. But a silencer or suppressor attaches to the end of the barrel and looks like a big extension of the barrel. It helps soften the sound, but only drops the sound of a gunshot by 30 or so decibels. And they effect the bullet trajectory, loosing distance and accuracy. They really are only good to give your ears a bit of a break.

“This is a dampener. It was developed after silencers were on the market for a while. This is magic. And unlike them, it neutralized all of the sound a gun makes from the tip of the barrel. It won’t stop the sound of the brass flying if you have an automatic bolt system. It won’t stop the noise of chambering a round. But it will stop the sound the bullet makes. No more bang. And no effect on the bullet’s path. It only captures the sound, even on fully automatic guns.”

“Then why is it called a dampener?” Shadow asked.

“Because the maker didn’t want the magic version get confused with the basic silencer and suppressor. This took master unicorns to make. The gems are enchanted. Although it is limited for this version. This can only fit on small caliber rifles. No shotguns.”

Red Tip picked it up and slid it only Shadow’s barrel. He twisted it in place and then took a small screwdriver and tightened four mini screws at the rear of the device so it would hold. Red Tip tested it, but it was solidly locked in place.

“The twist when you slide it on activates a mechanism that tightens down on the barrel. So it can take quite a few barrel sizes. And the screws make sure its locked in place. That is how easy it is to install.”

“How many were made?” Shadow asked.

“Not many,” Red Tip replied. “The military really didn’t have a need for this. At least for the regular soldiers. A waste of money, resources, and time.”

“Does it work for 7.62x51mm bullets?”

“As long as it can fit on the end, it will. Every 7.62 rifle barrel I have seen will take this.”

“How did you get this?”

“Well,” Red Tip said leaning against the counter. “I acquired them three days ago in a trade. The seller said they were flash hiders. It wasn’t until I tested one that I realized they were not.”

“Flash hider?” Shadow asked.

“Yeah, you know how at night, you often just shoot where the gun flash is because you can’t see the target, well a flash hider makes it harder to spot the explosion of gas. Many military guns come with one built into the end of the barrel, but there are some really effective ones that can be attached.”

Shadow nodded in understanding. He guess the reason why his gun barrel was lacking a flash hider was because they would add wind resistance and weight. Every little bit counted when you were flying high priority missions.

“Useful,” Shadow said. “But I assume this is the better catch.”

“Much. I didn’t know you had left the city. I have been itching to show you. Because you run solo, this could be a big advantage. If they don’t know where the bullet came from, well.”

Red Tip frown. “Hey, you don’t have anything to sell me?”

“Nope,” Shadow shrugged. “I have all the caps I need. For a while. I was out, investigating a lead. For my real job.”

“Damn. I was wanting to up my stock a bit. Black Widow is still good business, and I am not promoting anything.”

“How much for this dampener?”

“Well,” Red Tip sighed. “That’s the catch. I don’t know. Most ponies don’t need one, but I won’t let that drop the price. I also won’t put it out on the shelves. I will know if somepony could benefit from it. I have a lot back there that is held in reserve, waiting for the right pony. Most guards don’t even need this, because it is useless for them. And they need to be heard if they shoot.”

“So, make an offer?” Shadow asked.

“Yep,” Red Tip said with a nod.

“Eight,” Shadow said.

“Eight?” Red Tip snorted. “I sell a low end silencer for 800. This is worth-”

“Thousand,” Shadow clarified.

“Still not high enough. I still sell regular silencers for way more-”

“Eight thousand,” Shadow said firmly. “Eight thousand is what I meant.”

“Hmmm,” Red Tip said with a slow nod. “That sounds better. Let me think. You would be setting the price bar. I haven’t seen these before.”

Shadow let Red Tip think for a minute.

“Yeah, I’ll sell it to you for eight thousand. I think that is fair. I am not sure I could afford for it to go for less.”

“I assume its free installation?” Shadow asked.

Red Tip chuckled with Shadow.

Shadow wrote him a check. It was good that he brought so many caps back to the bank. Earthen Charm was the one who took the check to the bank.

“I trust you,” Red Tip stated. “But we have never done a real, big transaction. And I make it a rule to make sure it clears.”

“Totally understandable,” Shadow replied. “Earthen Charm is on your account?”

“Yeah,” Red Tip nodded. “I wanted to tell you a week ago when she finally came, but you slipped away. No one even knew you had gone.”

Shadow shrugged and Red Tip continued. “I really have to thank you. You are the one who helped Earthen Charm make her decision. She chose me and here, outside of planting and harvest time. And we already have window gardens on order.”

“That’s absolutely wonderful,” Shadow smiled. “Congratulation. Do you guys do marriages here?”

“We had the judge officiate for a small fee. Nothing big.”

The door opened but it wasn’t Earthen Charm. It was a guard, but he was very relaxed and calmly sauntered over to the counter to join them. All he was armed with was an automatic pistol.

“I have your answer,” He said to Red Tip.

“Good. I don’t think you two have either met. Mtoaji, this is Captain Loch, my best friend and cousin. He is the lead investigator and oversees all investigations done by the city guard.”

“A please to meet you,” Captain Lock nodded. “We have never met. But I understand you almost got shot by us last night.”

Shadow chuckled with him. “Yes, I got back after midnight. It was hairy there for a second, but they are stellar guards.”

“I also hear, you didn’t have much on you outside normal gear?”

“No,” Shadow grinned. “I was not out scavenging. I was looking for information. But what information have you been digging up.”

“I don’t know,” Loch shrugged. “Red Tip asked. So he will be putting it together.”

Loch took a breath in, figuring out how to start it with Mtoaji there. “I only found two others who remember her. Sonata Concert served her at dinner. She said she was quiet, polite, ate fast, and left more than enough to cover the food and a good tip. She never had a chance to check in with her, that is how fast dinner was.

“And the second?” Red Tip asked.

“The Prancing Pony Inn. She spent the night there. A quick in and out. Quiet and polite.”

“Okay,” Red Tip nodded. “So, Loch, you see this ring on the tip of Mtoaji’s barrel?”

Loch nodded.

“It’s a magic modification for a rifle. It completely dampens the sound of the gunshot. I was sold it, and several others, with the belief that they were flash hiders. The next day I tested one and found out what they really were.

“That is why my inquiry came. She said she already was taken care of when it came to her rifles. I never saw any guns. I don’t know where she picked these items up, but I doubt she didn’t know what she had. I would have wanted to buy them, but couldn’t pay for their real price.”

“Which is?” Loch asked.

“Mtoaji values it at 8,000 caps.”

“So you bought it,” Loch said to Shadow. “That is a lot of caps you have spent on your house and here. Why do you even care? Or is it just to have?”

“I solo most things,” Shadow shrugged. “Reducing my detection when I am dealing with a group of raiders is a big advantage. I can keep them guessing, which means I can kill more before the battle begins. Or kill all of them. Its a vital edge for me.”

“Why don’t you team up with others? I know you have a mission for your far away home, but you could bring in some scavengers who won’t care about anything but things to sell.”

“That information is dangerous for others to know,” Shadow warned him. “I would if I could.”

“So, why is this important?” Loch asked Red Tip, moving the conversation along.

“The description?” Red Tip asked before answering it himself. “An older Unicorn Mare, well traveled. Her gray coat and slate black mane are not the important parts. It’s her size. She is right about the same size as Mtoaji.”

“Damn,” Loch swore. “A perfect fit for Black Widow.”

Shadow grunted in recognition and agreement. It was a coincidence he wasn’t going to let slide by.

“What could you do if you found her?” Shadow asked.

“Nothing,” Loch stated. “I’m the lead investigator on that shit storm. But without proof, I can’t do anything. Just fitting the same basic shape means nothing real. If it did, you would have been raided a long time ago.”

“Raided?” Shadow asked shocked.

“Yeah,” Loch chuckled. “A lot of guards are concerned about you. You are a well known resident of Trottingham. Even though you have been here a short while, you have attracted a lot of attention. And yet, we know little about you. And it has some believing you are a very big threat to this city.”

Shadow nodded. “I guess I can understand that. I certainly haven’t made it easy to accept me. And winning at the Expo was a big focal lens on me.”

“Well, we can’t do anything without proof, and then a warrant signed by one of our three judges. Justice demands that an individual is innocent unless proven guilty. We have to take the time to get the evidence. Sure, it is frustrating, but it is best for everything. It protects the very things we hold dear, freedom. And we are a great city because of it.”

“That’s,” Shadow hesitated. “That’s not something I have ever considered. I don’t believe that is how it works back home. I never really saw that side, but I don’t believe that is how it works. It is a noble idea. But it is dangerous, as it allows criminals a chance to go free.”

“But it prevents the innocent,” Loch replied with a smile. “I know, it can seem problematic, and I get frustrated at the system as well. But we have it for a reason. And I can personally attest to it saving lives.”

“Saving lives back home is radically different,” Shadow admitted. “I hope that one day, things are not so complicated. I want us to be reconnected to Equestria. I want Equestria to be rid of the very things that keep each settlement separated. However that works. I don’t have an answer, only a hope.”

“Only a hope and yet you are here,” Red Tip stated.

“My home doesn’t have this reality. Not the same when it comes to the wasteland. I can’t let it become the wasteland, but I would be lying if I didn’t said I believed the separation is what will kill us. I grew up farming. A small community. We needed each other to feed the greater place that I call home. Most ponies can’t farm. We have other lives and roles that they need to play. So like us having to work together, my home really needs the communities in the Equestrian Wasteland. And they need us.”

Shadow sighed. “But security trumps all other concerns. And we are too compromised right now to play our role with the communities here.”

“A stable home is necessary,” Loch nodded. “I really do hope that your vision comes true. That’s why I hate Black Widow. She has her methods, but I believe her heart is right. And that her goal is a just one. Or, I think I do, and that scares me even more. Because where is Justice in all of that?”

Shadow shrugged. “The mystery of this wasteland. The old ways are gone. The old ways got us here. And now, we have nothing to hold to as a general rule. And it may be ripping us apart and making raiders. But, I also don’t come from a place that has such strong legal stance to protect the ponies from the justice department.”

“You may be right,” Loch nodded. “I am not one who even wants to have an answer to those questions.”

“So that leaves us where with Black Widow?” Shadow asked.

“More questions,” Loch shrugged. “Black Widow is something I am charged to answer, but I am not sure I want to answer it. And yes, the Mayor and the Judges know. I have made it clear. But they believe it helps make me the best for the job. So I do it.”

“Is it your only case?” Shadow asked.

“No,” Loch replied. “I have a half dozen open cases. Gambit’s take over has been problematic. A large number of his stock isn’t there. His record keeping was shit, and I believe its for a reason. It makes the perfect cover for him to sell that one mare, Blooming Glass. I was also in charge of her disappearance. But that also came up dry. Thanks to Black Widow, I closed that case. I probably shouldn’t have because I was never able to sit down with her and get an accurate report, but I did.

“And with that, I need to go. I will be writing this down in a report on the case. If she shows back up, I will look into her a bit more. I am still unsure how she came in and out of the city without the guards remembering anything. We have a lot of traffic, but not enough for them to not see her.

“Then again, we had no idea you even left. I don’t know how you of all ponies left without us knowing. They have a running bet about how much you will come back with. So they watch.”

All three of them chuckled. It was funny to Shadow. A bit unnerving that he was being watched so closely, but funny.

Shadow slipped his battle saddle on and went home. He put it on the workbench and sighed. He really felt at home here. And that was what felt wrong. This wasn’t home. Home was turnip fields and cherry trees. Home was above the clouds.

Those farms would survive without the cloud base. That was something Shadow knew. His community was good at what they did, better than most. They would survive if the clouds were ripped out from under them, but they were the exception, not the rule. Cardinal Spitfire’s farm community was a perfect example for that.

And the two worlds could not work together with the bulk of the clouds together. But most of the farms could build new, better communities below. Or lower cloud farms just above the damage land. Accessible to non pegasi. Suspending basic dirt on the clouds that low should be easy.

Still, that was a dream. A hope. A vision. Something so far away right now. Very far away if he couldn’t get above to help change things. Trottingham would make a good place to begin the rejoining. Fillydelphia still needed to burn, but the Trottingham Steel Rangers might be able to be reasoned with. There was no way to test that without compromising him. And for now, that was out of the question. It was too dangerous.

Shadow watered his window gardens, but the sprouting herbs didn’t bring a smile. The air smelled of death. The sun wasn’t shining. He closed the windows and tried to remember what clean air smelled like.

He couldn’t remember. There was too much rot here. It was rotting his nose from the inside out. It was rotting his brain. Shadow better understood why Nova felt like his brain had been fried. It would be easy to fall prey to the bad air down here. Nova had to have spent enough time below to make that happen.

Shadow sat in his chair and flipped through his books. He examined the pictures in his Basic Training photo book with new purpose. He could see how the exercises they were in the middle of were actually saving his life below.

Shadow felt a deep longing for freedom. To be a Pegasus again. To see the sun and count the stars. To be himself.

And then fear pounced. He had seen so many horrors. The soldier in this book was so naive. The soldier in the book that looked like him was the old him. Now he had fought, killed, murdered. He had drunk the Rad-Away to save his life, not to learn what it tasted like. Med-X had kept his mind free from real pain, pain that signaled his life was in jeopardy.

He was scarred both outside and inside. He was as much Mtoaji as he was Shadow. And as much as he was an Inquisitor. Shadow was being eclipsed.

How much was left of the Shadow that Cardinal Spitfire married was a mystery to him. Would she love the pegasus he had become?

“Draw me,” Kifo Herixleta ordered. “Draw me and set the world aflame. Burn it so that you can send a smoke signal above. Draw attention to your plight. You know they are watching, so give them something to investigate. And while you do that, you will forge the final links of the prophecy. And you will be hailed the hero that you are.”

Shadow sighed and a tear slipped out from the corner of his eye. Kifo Herixleta was probably right. But he wasn’t going to draw the blade at the moment. He was too emotional. That would seal his Pegasus side away. He needed to feel like a trapped Pegasus, not like Black Widow.

Soon Black Widow would rise from the ashes that was this wasteland. The dust would be set ablaze. And it would start again at the Lux.

Next Chapter: Chapter 122 - Ashes Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours