Shadow’s head hurt, like a barn was being built inside it with hammers swinging. He tried to open his eyes, but the light was blinding. It was a lot brighter than he remembered it being. He just closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. That focus calmed his headache a bit, but it only pointed out the pain in the rest his body. It ached all over. He was also very stiff, like ice had gripped his whole body.

Shadow let it all calm down and then tried to open his eyes. It was fuzzy, but the light again was blinding. What he could pick out, it was coming in through a doorway. And he wasn’t in a cloud building. He had to be in the hooves of the Steel Rangers. The walls were dark.

If he was caught, had they removed his wings? Shadow flexed his wings to see if they were there. But the panic slammed into his head and he let out an involuntary groan. He couldn’t feel anything except his headache.

He barely heard hoof steps and then a hoof lightly touch his forehead. It was gently.

A mare spoke. “Stay calm, and let me apply more balm. Your fever has broken, but it can still be awoken.”

“Where?” Shadow said, the words catching on his dry throat. He wasn’t even sure if they had heard. “Water.”

“Suck on this to feed your thirst, for I found you in the sand, headfirst.

It was smooth, but sticky. Water seemed to be leaking out of it for him to easily soak up. A safe way to help injured drink without risking them chocking. Whatever it was, it was a medical marvel.

The entire thing eventually dissolved. It didn’t even leave a skin. It completely dissolved.

“Where are I?” Shadow asked, still keeping his eyes close.

“Into a new land you have come, far from them is your outcome. Shanyisa is this home, it has stopped us from our roam. We teach ours to face their problem, for that is how one really does blossom.”

“I know,” Shadow replied. “But this one… its complicated. Both sides caused this. I did things wrong, so did they.”

“Heavily armed you were, causing quite a stir.”

“That’s the wasteland,” Shadow sighed.

“Maybe yours, but not in our stores.”

Shadow took a deep breath in and tried to open his eyes again. He was looking straight up at the ceiling. The next thing he saw was a scary mask handing off it further down. They looked familiar. It took a moment before he recalled the masks in Kifopiga. But Kifopiga was in the ground. Dark.

“The masks,” Shadow groaned.

“Treasure of the native land to which you have come, that one speaks hello, and the other, welcome.”

“Shit,” Shadow whispered.

“Why do you say such awful words? They cause wilt on the herbs.”

Shadow slowly turned his head to look at the mare. Stripes. She was a Zebra.

“Zebras have not been my friend,” Shadow stated.

“Have you ever had the chance to be friends? If not, perhaps it is time for that way to ascend?”

“I,” Shadow said, stopping. It was stupid, but he should tell the truth. “I’ve killed Zebras. Both living and ghouls. Once it was blind, the other was for my life. I understand if you want to take my life.”

“The truth is always wise, for it will always rise. This no longer is the war, killing should be no more.”

Shadow was shocked. “But… why?”

“If you had harmed my friends, then I would be inclined to seek amends.”

“That depends on where I am.”

“I know who kills my friends. Warlords and hunger bring their ends. Not you, even though your thinking is not askew.”

Shadow moved his hoof to his chest and sucked in a breath from the pain.

“If you seek the necklace you once wore, it is sitting safely in that drawer.”

“What survived with me?” Shadow asked.

“All you had is kept here, it is not our way to make it disappear.”

A small zebra filly jumped in through the door. “Mponyaji they come. Xys says you should run.”

“No, I stay to tend, it will not be my end.”

“What’s going on?” Shadow asked, sitting up.

“I spoke of warlords did I not, Kwaad is one such blot.”

“You don’t have much for defenses, do you?”

“No. Peace is what we are, and for that others try disbar.”

Shadow sung his legs over the bed and groaned. “Then I must help.”

“No no, you were out for weeks, you body is still badly beat.”

Shadow stood up, shaky a bit. “I grew up on a farm,” Shadow said with a smile. “We healed what we could and then it was back to work. I became a warrior to protect my family. So I will head out.”

“Kwaad is a cocky-”

“I understand what is at stake,” Shadow said cutting her off. “It is a path I must take.”

Mponyaji was shocked, unsure what to do.

“Where is my necklace?” Shadow said ignoring her. “And my bands.”

“Here,” Mponyaji said retrieving them. “But Kwaad, she has no facade.”

“That’s fine,” Shadow said putting them on before poking his head out.

It was a small village with several round mud huts in a semicircle next to a cliff. A small spring bubbled out from the cliff the village surrounded. It formed a small stream that cut it down the center. The hut Shadow was in was next to the cliff.

Kwaad and her group was down at the center. They had several corralled by their forces. They carried Type 38 rifles. They were clearly beat up and all were slung over their necks on highly degraded slings or string. They were scraping by on their own. Shadow had seen real Zebra warriors in Kifopiga. The ones before him were not warriors.

Shadow slipped out and to the next hut for cover. He did it again until he could hear them.

“This is new,” A Zebra said putting something at Kwaad’s hooves. “Plenty to look through.”

“I see I see, you have been holding out on me. You have found something special, your debt this might settle.”

Shadow saw the flash of steel and realized it was his bags and that Kwaad had drawn Kifo Herixleta. She was not taking it. She was not going to take anything. Nopony was going to take anything from this village ever again.

Shadow confidently stepped out and walked towards them. One of the guards stepped over a bit to lazily cover him.

“A pony approaches,” He said. “With an eye that is ferocious.”

“Where did you get a pony?” Kwaad asked. “Their kind is only across the sea.”

“You are a blight on this land,” Shadow declared. “I will not let it stand.”

“Bandages adorn your body,” Kwaad shot back. “Everything about you is shoddy.”

Shadow smirked. “Mistaken you seem to be, this one chance you get to go free. Leave!”

“The power is in our hooves, leaving you with no moves.”

Shadow chuckled a few deep, dark chuckles. He extended his hoof and Kifo Herixleta leapt from her hooves to the band. As he caught it the blade roared to life, recognizing it’s true master.

Shadow was firm and in command. “I have visited the ancient places, along with several other faces. I have killed the hoards, a thousand Zebra Ghouls died against this sword. It was passed on to me by decree, the seers knew what would be. None can wield it except for the chosen, and another’s time has not arrosen. I possess power you can not understand. A kind that once was seen in this land.”

“So you have a sacred band! You can barely stand!”

It was true, but Shadow wasn’t planning on standing. They still hadn’t noticed his wings. Those were feeling good.

Shadow raised Kifo Herixleta to the sky, still blazing. “Poor choice! Your days preying on the weak are over. All raiders get the same punishment. Death. ”

The first guard raised his rifle but Shadow wasn’t there. He had sprinted on his wings to another, slashing her head off. Before they could target him he was gone in a blaze of sand and Kifo Herixleta was hilted in the chest of a raider. He jumped to the next with a wide swing, straight down the the back of the Zebra, cutting him in half. One more and it was just him and Kwaad. There was a decent distance between the two of them.

“So you are fast,” Kwaad spat. “We shall see what die is cast.”

Shadow knew something was wrong. It was in the air. The faces of the village Zebras was still a mix of fear and awe. But Kwaad was doing something. Chanting. Chanting always meant magic.

Shadow spun Kifo Herixleta and then threw the sword end over end. It rammed into Kwaad’s chest, ending the chanting. Kwaad just looked at the sword sticking out of her chest, trying to comprehend. Kifo Herixleta jumped back to Shadow’s hoof at his call. Kwaada fell over and was no more.

“I’d help clean up,” Shadow started. “But I don’t think lifting is something I should be doing.”

“Who are you?” The head Zebra said. “I am Xys and it is a pleasure to meet you.”

Shadow hobbled over to them. “I am-”

“Mtoaji,” A young Zebra mare said.

“Yes,” Shadow nodded. “How did-”

“Shadow Flare you will be given, for by a strong desire you shall be driven. Black and white, day and night, your two colors will be such a sight. The split is a sign, that is to be a guideline. One white and black, blessed for life while on the attack. The three pieces of the puzzle, oh so subtle. Speed. Power. Agility.

“Thus will be your school, that you should be a tool. To protect what you love, from everypony, even those above. You are a gift to all kind, to be a real mastermind.

“Fate’s eye fell upon your head, even before you had your own bed. To lead your kind to victory, and rewrite history. You will have a duty to impose, beyond your humble abode. A farmer by trade, who shall wield a blade. Your life set to be the link, to save us all from the brink. The change must be forged in blood, or else it will be a dud. You will be sent to start that mend, and bring the separation to an end. Between you and your true heart’s desire is a land full of fire.

“To quench it shall be your new battle cry, and all who oppose must die. They will spill your blood in hate and force you to lay in wait. When it is the time to rise, you will once again see the sky. All that stands in your way, has had it’s time to play.

“Your charge is to cleanse the land, so the Pegasi may stay grand. You are the one foretold, Mtoaji. The Mender.”

“Yes,” Shadow said with a nod. “Although, that life is gone now.”

“That may not be,” She said. “I have seen your Indry. The unrelenting red death eyes preceded many a blood sunrise. It happened when it shouldn’t of, but what I see goes far above. I know the heads of Nesha, Marjoram, Dahlia, and Mason Jar. Lined up like they were for sale in a Bazaar. The real things you cleansed from the land. Some were truly grand.”

“Are you a seer?” Shadow asked.

She gave a slow nod.

“You are so young,” Shadow added.

“The gift does not see age, only that you can write a page.”

“Ukuzwa is our greatest asset,” Xys said. “We keep hidden that facet. For many would take to try and see, but life rarely gives that glee.”

“I understand,” Shadow nodded. “Its a great power, or gift, but rare. And its not a point and shoot. It isn’t a magic you can tap into whenever you wish.”

“Magic is also a strength of mine, but without a master I have little entwine.”

“Magic is lost here?”

“Yes,” Xys said. “It was not always so, but that was in the time before the glow.”

“Radiation,” Shadow sighed. “We hit you just as hard as you hit us with megaspells.”

“The truth is such, but in our little village we are outside it’s clutch.”

“I grew up without it too,” Shadow said. “I grew up above the clouds.”

“In the stars?” Mponyaji asked, confused.

“Sorry. The Equestrian wasteland is split. Below the clouds it is a twisted, forsake land. Above is where the pegasi reside. Separate and free.”

“But your kind, they need the three to be of one mind.”

“And it is lost,” Shadow said as he walked over to his bags.

They were what Kwaad was poking through. He strapped on the revolver and sheathed Kifo Herixleta. Shadow opened the throw bag and pulled out the Zebra cloak. He rolled it out to it’s full size.

“How can it be? These glyphs make a powerful plea.”

“You can read that?” Shadow asked. “I sort of see glyphs, but its got so much detail.”

“The magic is sewn into the thread,” Xys explained. “Deep into each fiber it was embed. Deeper than the invisibility cloaks we know of.”

“It has no bullet holes,” Shadow said. “That was what I was worried about.”

“If you could pierce this,” Mponyaji explained. “Its designed to dismiss.”

“You two seem to know about magic,” Shadow stated. “But you don’t have masters? Or you can’t teach her. Ukuza I think you said.”

“Knowledge is not skill,” Xys stated. “No masters reside in the foothills.”

“Where did you get this?” Ukuzwa asked. “It is deep, old, and once was almost at the abyss. The same for your other treasures. They are all the worth of great measure.”

“In that place I had to kill the Zebra ghouls. I was traveling with friends, same as me. Pegasi. We went south of Equestria into the mountains. There we found the last fortress of the Zebra Empire. Kifopiga.”

“That name,” Ukuzwa whispered. “It is powerful and full of fame.”

“It was a fort where a big battle happened. And the Zebras still had the numbers on their side. At least a battalion of Zebras had been converted into ghouls and locked inside. They lost control of their spell chamber. And the battle for it stopped as Equestria retreated, the victor. But the spells were launched without waiting for the battle to even be decided.

“Inside I fought Mwokozi, the Zebra General. He was the owner of these pieces before me. Its where I got the band too. Off his dead hoof. He almost killed me in that fight. Hoof against hoof, in a nasty, but beautiful showcase of the close combat arts.”

Shadow’s back legs quivered and gave out. They helped him up and then got him back to the hut to heal. Mponyaji told Shadow of his injuries and the stuff she did to heal him.

“Mponyaji, I have several bullets deep inside me. From a previous battle. Can you remove them?”

“Yes,” Mponyaji said. “But it will be painful, and may not be gainful.”

“I will think about it,” Shadow said. “I assume Zebra magic?”

“Yes. I am not great magician. Healing and balms is my mission. But metals I can guide past. It is only for the steadfast. You are not there. Not yet young Shadow Flare. Heal and let time decide. Maybe if your strength truly returns to your stride.”

Shadow took a second to mill her words over.

“Ukuzwa is young,” Shadow stated. “But I sense she has great magic?”

“I have seen her do some great things, but without a teacher she is limited in what she brings.”

“What about in the rest of this land?”

“Its a torn land of dust and dirt, and it seems to only want to hurt. I have not heard of anyone who could be that to her, or else we would have all done the pleasure of that incur. But you have an idea, a plan? You seem to always have a rutan.”

“How can you speak the same pony language as me, yet your are Zebras?”

“This drink will calm your aches and make you sleep. Our tongue was not something we keep. Long ago that change happened, only the seers and magicians kept that tie fastened.”

“Alright,” Shadow said. It was all he could as the liquid warmed him up and he drifted to sleep.

Shadow awoke in the night. Mponyaji was sleeping in the corner on the other bed. Shadow rolled out of bed, grabbed Kifo Herixleta, and went out into the village. It was quiet, with no fires or lights visible.

What was visible was something Shadow had been missing. The Stars. They were bright and numerous. Shadow basked in their soft light for a while before he headed over the spring to get a drink.

It put out a decent flow, but the stream was just a small trickle. Especially at the end of the village. It wasn’t going to hold out long if they were besieged. It was their only water source. And if it dried up, they were in trouble.

Their garden was a bit off to the side. It didn’t have much. A row of corn, a few rows of carrots. A bit more barely sprouting in the dust. All of it was begging for water and nutrients. The soil was rocky and not very deep.

Shadow wandered back over to the spring. He looked up at the stars. He knew what he had to do. He felt their calming guidance.

A bit of the cliff popped up from the soil a few yards in front of the spring. Shadow drew Kifo Herixleta and rammed it straight down into the stone. It sunk in like it was flesh. A good half of it went in before it stopped. There wasn’t even the tiniest sign of cracking in the rock after. The sword looked natural in it.

Shadow backed up a bit and then dashed to where its bags were being stored in the villages storehouse. He dug out his personals bag. Inside everything was secure and whole. He took the Zebra combat knife and the seeds and headed over to work.

On the other side of the stream he began to plant the seeds. The soil was deeper there. He placed the cherry pits closer to the cliff, but still with plenty of room to grow. He planted the turnips in a row before them. Some of the rosemary he put on the leeward side of the rock he put Kifo Herixleta in.

He would need more help to plant the oats, apples, and other spices. And Shadow would need a plan for the village. A real plan.

Shadow grabbed all his bags and sat down at the rock. He needed the paper in them. He used the vantage point to design a small city that was expandable, but easy to defend. Walls were needed. He wasn’t sure how to mix their building style and materials into things.

“Mtoaji?”

Shadow looked up. While he was lost in designing, the village had awoken. The rest of them were staying back, but Xys, Mponyaji, Ukuzwa and an older colt had approached.

“Mtoaji, this is Simi. You went to sleep before we could make this decree. We have chosen him to help you while you heal. Perhaps you can help him with his defensive zeal.”

“Of course,” Shadow smiled. “Actually I was writing some ideas down for that. If those are your warlord, they will be easy to deal with. Even with a small force.”

“You set your sword in the stone,” Xys said, ignoring Shadow’s tangent. “We were hoping you would help protect this zone.”

“I can without it,” Shadow smiled.

“Did you plant seeds?” Mponyaji asked.

Shadow didn’t give her any time to rhyme. “Yes, I did. Rosemary around the rock, and then cherry trees over there, along with turnips. All from my family’s cloud farms, way way north from here. I have other seeds that need planting as well.”

“So you mean to impose-

Ukuzwa spoke up, for all to hear. “When the sword is set in stone, It will sound a new tone. Home will be given, it is a sign, committed. Together we must gather, or forever be scattered. Listen to the master, and you shall avert all disaster. Many will block the way, and for that they will pay.

The stone shall relax, when it hears the call of the Light Bringer. The last link will be ready to shed, beginning the true mend. Father against son, until either side has won. The final link must be forged in person, or things will forever worsen.”

“That was a bit creepy,” Shadow stated. “With her whole eyes thing.”

“That is the deep prophecy you mock,” Simi jumped. “And when it happens you should not gawk.”

“Relax Simi,” Ukuzwa smiled. “It does not shame me. He has never seen it happen, why should we expect more then?”

“And it wasn’t a mock,” Shadow said. “It was an observation. Especially since it threw a lot at me. You said things that you couldn’t know. I left my last safe outpost with extra seeds in case things went wrong. I could plant them and survive a peaceful, lonely existence.

“You couldn’t have known I was going to set my sword in the stone. I wasn’t even thinking of doing it until I heard the stars speak to me.”

“The stars spoke to you?” Mponyaji yelped. “The stars were the original coup.”

“Right,” Shadow sighed. “I recall learning something about Zebras believe the stars were bad. Kifo Herixleta knows a lot. But the stars have always brought me hope, and calmed me. Guided me to good things. Going without them was horrible. This was the first night in months that I could see the stars.”

“And?” Xys asked.

“And they told me to rest. Home will be waiting and there. But for now, rest. I can’t make it back to home for years now because I am being hunted. Its a big risk. The time will come, but I made my decisions.

“And now, Ukuzwa’s words make more sense. Some sense at least. When the sword is set in stone, it will sound a new tone. Kifo Herixleta agreed with me for once as I plunged him into the stone.

“Home will be given, I gave you the very essence of my home with those seeds. I saw your farm and my heart ached to make it better. And I have those life bringing seeds that will provide food for generations. A sign of commitment on my part for sure.”

Shadow shrugged. “I don’t know about the rest of the prophecy. But I have a thought or two. For now, build, gather and listen for this Light Bringer.”

“Listen to the master,” Ukuzwa said quoting herself. “And you shall avert all disaster.”

Shadow smiled warmly at them all and then stood on the stone so they all could see him. “I think I shall like living here. Let us all make this a truly grand place to live. A place that can light the way for the rest of your Zebra brothers and sisters. As we grow stronger, we will make the warlords bow and break until they no longer exist.”

Shadow looked at Simi and Ukuzwa. “Simi, I can show you how to be a great warrior. I will as we build a strong guard. And Ukuzwa, I know of a place where we can get you stuff to learn magic and seership from. It won’t be as good as a real master, but I do believe you can learn and become one on your own. At one time the firsts came without a master to teach them.”

Shadow pulled out the Zebra book from his bag. “Here. This may be a good start. And Mponyaji, this has stuff I need on the back, but for now, take it. This should help your already amazing healing get better.”

“I will treasure this greatly,” Mponyaji said with a bow. “I see in your eyes the importance is weighty.”

---

When the sword is set in stone, It will be sound a new tone.

Home will be given, It is a sign, committed.

Together we must gather, Or forever be scattered.

Listen to the master, And you shall avert all disaster.

Many will block the way, And for that they will pay.

The stone shall relax, When it hears the call of the Light Bringer.

The last link will be ready to shed, Beginning the true mend.

Father against son, Until either side has won.

The final link must be forged in person, Or things will forever worsen.

Next Chapter: Fourth Intermission Estimated time remaining: 7 Minutes