Chapter 5: Burned

“I just want to start, a flame in your heart.”

In a harmonious synchronization of electrical nerve impulses, biological locomotion, mechanical precision, and chemical reaction, I drew, aimed, and fired my two 10mm pistols. As I sailed through the jaws of the massive steel bulkhead I turned, tucking in my wings and rolling with my shoulder. I continued in my pivot to land on my paws and skid backwards, bleeding off momentum.

That left my talons free to do their deadly dance. I had improved since my first attempt, only missing a third of the time at such close range. Cordite and gunpowder filled my olfactory sense with relish as a rain of brass fell around my paws.

The first of the pair I had chased received a dozen mid caliber supersonic pieces of lead and dropped his body perforated. The other, a lilac mare froze with a frag grenade in her mouth. Other ponies from the camp had hidden in the refuge offered by the facility at the first sounds of fighting and now came to grips with me. I only had time to reload a single handgun before I had to duck lest a fire axe remove my head from my shoulders. Then a hoof thrust out in a fearsome kick that caught me in the chest while a knife, wrapped in a magical field narrowly missed my eye and slashed my cheek.

The tight confines made movement difficult and the muzzle flashes created a strobe effect in the dark, but their opponent was a student of the Iron Talon.

I was an unstoppable onslaught of flesh and feathers. Every strike was filled with bone cracking force, my pistol barking death and screaming metal. The axe pony swung again and got a hammering fist to the throat. The unarmed pony lashed out wildly with his hooves. I deflected a kick with an open palmed slap with my right and rammed the glowing barrel tip of my left pistol under the pony’s chin and pulled the trigger twice, painting the ceiling with blood. Brass tumbled and glinted.

The unicorn used the opportunity to stab his knife into my shoulder, sinking it into my police barding and a few inches into flesh before getting stuck. To an already raging individual, the injury only served to infuriate me more. In the language of firearms, my pistol spoke again. With the assistance of SATS the unicorn’s front left leg was sheared off at the knee. The pony shrieked and clutched his stump, the glow around the knife in my shoulder fading.

Axe pony had recovered by then and swung with desperate vigor. I stepped back and snapped a side-kick into the attacking pony’s knee, bending it the wrong way with a wrench. Desperation kept the brown stallion on his remaining limbs and he swung again. Once more I stepped back out of range and lashed out with a solid right hook that shattered teeth. The pony reeled, his axe dropping from a mangled mouth. With contempt, I holstered my pistol and threw a jab. Brass knuckles pounded yielding flesh and knocked out more teeth.

The stallion stumbled back, blood pouring from his mouth, when his injured leg gave out. Punch drunk, he looked up into my face and watched metal sheathed knuckles connect with his already battered jaw. The blow snapped his head around with a sickening crack.

I turned my attention to the unicorn, bleeding out, and sobbing pathetically on the floor. Gory chunks fell from my knuckle dusters with wet plops. I grabbed the unicorn’s horn and examined the stallion’s features before slamming the pony’s features into the unyielding floor. Then I placed a paw on the equine’s neck and reloaded my pistol.

“Disgusting,” I sneered with every iota of hate and contempt I could muster. The word fell from my beak like a snake as my talon tightened on the trigger and ended another life.

With raptor eyes I turned on the lone mare still living, still frozen, still with a frag grenade in her mouth. Her pupils were wide and dilated in fear as she quivered. I felt the anger roiling in my soul like a thing possessed. Putting away my gun, I dropped to all fours, never letting my stare leave the frozen pony.

With all the menace of the great hunting cat within me, I stalked forward, each paw and claw step fluid. I could hear the grenade clattering against her teeth as the lilac mare made little animal sounds. A smile spread across my beak. Her nostrils flared and took in the scent of death coming off me, nearly collapsing as her breathing got more and more rapid.

A faint scent told me she had just soiled herself.

Almost tenderly, I stroked a claw down her cheek and looped a digit through the pin of the grenade. That touch was the final straw that broke the mare’s mind. I pulled the pin and slapped the pony right on the flank above her triple bullet cutie mark, sending her racing, screaming down the hall. As she ran, I stayed where I was and counted to three.

It wasn’t a bang, so much as a wet whump.

Once the smoke cleared it was obvious the unfortunate mare would need to be scraped off the walls and ceiling if the hall was to be ever clean again.

By this time, the double dose of Stampede was starting to wear off. But I had enough left in me to curse loudly at the door for not opening. A quick look had shown that the first pony I had killed shot the locking mechanism. I screamed and ranted and beat my fist against the unresponsive metal.

One moment I was slowly coming down from the drug, the next it was like a trap door opened beneath me. And just like that all the anger left me, my flame of hate extinguished. Chemical balance reasserted itself in my avian brain and the weight of the world came crashing down.

Pain came to me first, my abused body feeling its injuries in a dull, aching way. Wounded I may have been, but not mortally. A distant part of my brain registered that I should try to find some healing potions or some med-x, but the hurt was not enough to override the massive abyss of apathy that now engulfed me.

It was quiet in the hall and I lacked the will to even lie down, instead just falling to my side. Sprawled uncaring against the metal flooring, the only coherent thought that floated through me was that of the cool feeling of the steel against my cheek.

For a while I gazed deeply into the wall, simply because I couldn’t be bothered to look at anything else. There I lay, still as those I had put to rest. The fire of my hate had consumed all other emotions for fuel and left me a husk. Like poorly oiled mechanisms my thoughts turned to my sister.
Cinder, the sibling I had been unable to save, unable to protect. It was my fault that she was now dead, my fault that she had been found and taken, my fault that she had been injured, my fault that she had to watch our father die, and my fault we had had to leave the safety of their Stable for this hell of a city.

Even the willpower to introduce my mouth to the taste of a barrel was beyond me, lost beneath the affliction of the nothing. Tears welled and spilled down my face, leaving tracks through the grime and the filth. What kind of son could not fulfill his father’s final instruction to keep his daughter safe?

The buckshot in my right arm throbbed in annoyance.

A single little thought fluttered through my mind like a passing breeze. From a pocket I fished out two battered playing cards. I cradled the queen of hearts and the jack of clubs in my talons. My speech was cracked and uneven.

“Hey. I don’t know what to do guys. I messed up. I messed up real bad this time. I hope you guys are okay. If anyone can handle the shitstorm I’m sure the Stable is right now, you can. But, I just… She’s dead guys. Cinder is dead.” My voice, traitorous, dropped to just a whisper. “It’s my fault. I couldn’t… Couldn’t keep her safe. And now I’m alone. I don’t want to be alone.” I curled up, shaking as the sobs started to come.

They offered no answer, and if they had voices, they spoke not to me.

Eventually, I ran out of tears to shed.

Reality was harsh mistress, harsher now that the world had ended and soon I felt the nagging sensations of thirst for my scratchy throat and balm for my wounds weightier than my sadness. Listlessly, I yanked the knife from my shoulder. It was only a shallow wound but I knew all the little cuts would add up. Groaning from all my aching joints and overexerted muscles I half walked, half dragged myself to the nearest dead pony and rummaged through their packs.

Relief flooded my battered body as the mending properties of a magical healing potion pushed the buckshot from my wounds, sealed them over, and even flushed some of the ache from my muscles. I mentally kicked myself for tearing through the camp without scavenging for any supplies. But that was only a distant concern. The guilt, the weight of my sadness still clung to the edges of his mind, hooked in deep, more than ready to drag me down again.

I kept going, honestly, because it was easier. It was easier to escape the grief and pain weighing me down if I took a step forward. Up, or down, so long as I was moving, I didn’t have to think.

It was all I could do just to loot the pony corpses. I came up with a nine millimeter pistol, another hunting rifle, ammo for both, and the knife from my shoulder as well as the axe. Oddly enough a few piles of bottle caps too.

These ponies didn’t use bottle caps for money did they? I scoffed at the ridiculous thought and pocketed the caps anyway, imagining all the bottle cap mines I could make.

At the idea of mines my mind had regained enough faculties to pine after my previous supply of explosives, now expended in rage. Further down the hall, the mare that had run had one spare frag grenade. It was hard to ignore the smell. Cooked pony meat was not aromatic.

A glance at the PipBuck on my left arm showed my location tag as being in the Ministry of Arcane Science building. I sat down, stupefied.

In my drugged state I had trapped myself in the deadliest place in an already horrific city. The darkness in the hall ahead took a sinister overtone. Paranoia had me imagining monsters crawling out of every nook and darkened corner. With the door jammed shut behind me, I now faced traversing whatever terrors the place held. Blowing my brains out suddenly doubled in value, sparing me the pain of living and the possibility of ghastly, rending death.

The thing about living though is that as easy as it would be to bite the dust, we find all kinds of excuses to go on living, no matter how much pain we’re in. My excuse was that I would rather not leave my bones someplace they would be gnawed on by ghouls. Then there was my mother, but if I was to be realistic, what were my odds really?

It was just an excuse, and as much as I loathed myself for the weakness it implied, I could not refute the selfish desire to keep breathing. Not for the first time, I wished that I had died instead of Cinder. I would have traded places with her in an instant, but what was done could not be undone.

I squared my shoulders for the task ahead and set off, downward into the blighted heart of Ghoul City.

***

The path took me deeper and deeper into the facility. Whenever I found markings on the walls for alternate exits or stairs leading up the way was blocked by rubble or some other immovable obstacle. I pondered how the facility could still be standing; moored as it was over the huge fire pit I had seen outside.

There were clear signs that I had not been the first to traverse these depths. I found groups of blackened skeletons of various expeditions. Some lay in the hall while others were barricaded in some of the offices I passed.

Through one corridor I found the remains of half a dozen massively armored ponies. Explosions had ripped into the walls and ceiling, and debris littered the floor I noted as I made my way carefully from body to body looking for anything I could use. It was to no avail. The bodies had been picked clean by others and the armor that was still there was mangled nearly beyond recognition. I turned over a somewhat intact helmet and realized why they seemed familiar.

Back in Stable 57 there remained a few posters left over from the Great War. One of which was an armored pony pointing down. ‘Equestria needs soldiers! Join the Steel Rangers today!’ Were these Steel Rangers that now lay dead? I shuddered at the thought of whatever had the strength to kill such armed and armored ponies but tried my best not to dwell on the fear. They had been dead for some time, their bodies torn open like canned meat.

Everything started to take on a ruddy light, the further I went. Emergency lighting strips where the walls met the floor cast strange illumination that one could see by, but only made the shadows take on ever more twisted dimensions.

Then I heard whispers.

It was faint like a passing draft at first, but it began to grow. I strained my hearing. It sounded like a hundred ponies all muttering at once and the voices grew closer.

I increased my pace. The voices got closer.

I moved as quietly as I could, running into locked door after locked door. Soon it was like an avalanche of whispers was coming towards me. Fear lent speed to my flight.

Abandoning stealth, I ran full pelt into a wooden door at the end of the hall, crashing inwards with it. There was a simple desk in the room which I heaved over to block the doorway in a scattering of dust and drew my pistols. Down the hall the faint light faded and died.

The babble filling my ears reached a crescendo. I clicked on my PipBuck light, the circle of radiance stopping at the entrance. Everything was black as the deepest night when the whispers started to fade.

It was as though a hundred ponies had walked down the hall towards me and just taken a turn. Soon, the light returned. I breathed out slowly, hardly daring to believe that whatever it was had simply passed me by. Something caught in my peripheral vision and I whirled to find…!

…Nothing.

By my feathers I could have sworn that a pony had been standing there. Maybe I was losing my mind. Talons shaking, I clicked my weapons back on safe and holstered them. Turning back to the door, I stopped. On the bottom of the desk somepony had attached something.

A key was taped to the underside. Something about it served to only unnerve me more. It was too… convenient. Why would they bother? Curiosity overcame fear.

There was a wall safe below a massive poster I hadn’t noticed before, depicting a very serious purple mare looking sternly into the distance. It had a single command: ‘Read’ it stated in bold letters that spanned the length of the poster. The simple message calmed my nerves somewhat as I opened the safe with the mysterious key.

Inside were an audio tape, a book, and a strange orb. I picked up the tiny sphere and blew the dust off. Barely big enough to fit in my palm, it was pale and cloudy on the inside but seemed to be made of crystal by the weight. Into my pack it went and on I moved to the book.

“Megaspell Theory?” I read aloud, shocked at volume of my own voice in the empty room. As fascinating and darkly alluring it was to sit and read it right then, I suppressed the desire to delve into the magic of mass destruction and slid it into my pack with the same treatment I would give a live grenade. Lastly, I played the audio recording.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Twilight Sparkle herself visited us today!” I heard the bubbly mare squeal in delight. “I just had to put it in an orb so I can revisit it later! I’m so glad Hypothesis made me a spare key and put it under my desk so I wouldn’t forget it! This is going right in the safe.”

So that’s why the key had been there, not some malicious scheme, not some paranoid delusion, just some poor mare who misplaced her things.

From many hours of reading and personal study, I knew that Twilight Sparkle was one of the Ministry Mares, some of the singularly most powerful individuals in pre-war Equestria, and head of the Ministry of Arcane Science.

I felt myself sliding into depression again and tried to distract myself by going into the little room connected to the office.

It was a little living space of all things, complete with fold out cot, bathroom stall, and sink. I helped myself to the contents of the medicine cabinet. A bottle of med-x in pill form rattled half full and a pouch of radaway sat in all its orangey goodness. On the cot sat another of the strange pearl-like orbs and a note.

‘Thanks for the memories, -H’

The workers must have spent a lot of time at the facility to need spaces like this adjacent to their offices. I chalked it up to overly dedicated ponies as I poked through the bones of what had once been a life.

I continued on with more questions than answers, deeper and deeper.

***

In the darkness and the shadows, shapes seemed to form and fade. Twice I thought I heard the whispers come back, and kept catching things moving just outside my direct vision. Bedrock now made up much of the walls. A sign, mounted on the wall informed me that I had reached the bottom floor. Presentation and primary research chamber apparently.

It was there that I found the zebras. There were four.

It was in a large semi-circular theater room, littered with the bodies of many creatures, some long dead. The zebras were clearly the most recently deceased. I bent down and examined the nearest quadruped, curious about the other side of the Great War. To my griffin eyes, they looked no different than ponies, just with stripes. I was almost disappointed.

The corpse I was examining could not have been dead for more than a day or two and showed evidence of the same brutal demise that seemed to have been visited on every other formerly living thing that had descended into the facility. If I had to guess, I would say cause of death had been the force that had twisted the zebra’s head completely around. The unfortunate lay clutching an elegant assault weapon, barrel bent and casing cracked, I took it all the same. His pack did have some mid-caliber rounds, however not much else. I admired the armored clothing the zebra wore, the dusty camouflage patterned metal mesh and Kevlar plates looked both sturdy and flexible. Feeling just a little guilty, I stripped that too, then stood and moved on to the next.

Countless hundreds, perhaps thousands of spent shell casings littered the floor of the stone cut theater. They tinkled underfoot like brass rain, a dirge for all the lives lost and the pony bones never laid to rest.

The next zebra was just a torso. There were a few things of interest however, namely a pair of audio recordings. I was soon disappointed however as both were recorded in the zebra tongue. Nifty, but now was not the time for a lesson in linguistic dissemination.

Overall, some preserved food, and a fair catch in magical gemstones and the almost intact zebra assault weapon was all I managed to salvage. I examined the cunningly crafted gun, more art than firearm. Etched with intricate runes of spiraling designs and various strange arcane apparatus protruding from the matte black body, it baffled me. If I were to take it apart, I could perhaps reassemble it with some of the other parts I had gathered. It would have to wait though until I found a workbench and some finer tools.

No doubt the zebras had come seeking the same treasure everypony seemed so hot after. I glared down the final passage, suspecting what was waiting for me, knowing that it would probably mean my death. This city had taken everything else and if I was to die, then maybe it would mean me having the chance to strike back.

It was just another excuse, but it beat anything else I could have done.

That final hall was more battle scarred than any other. Bullets, flame, explosives of many yields, and even energy discharge disfigured the walls. Blood, new and old painted the rock like a psychotic mural. I stepped carefully, quietly, ready for whatever lay in wait, prepared to oppose whatever demons resided within.

My plan was simple: Lure any enemy out into the theater where I could hover, high above any gnashing jaws and distribute justice with impunity. That idea crumbled as I rounded the last corner and stared in open beaked shock.

Journal entries left behind by the unnamed pony had hinted at a group of Burning Ones, but that did nothing to prepare me to see them in such number. And they were… worshiping? There were over two dozen, all bowed in obeisance. Flame, bright red billowed up the walls and lashed through the air like a thing alive, filling the massive chamber with whip crack sounds.

Then I saw what they were worshiping.

It was the single most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Equestria was famous for its crystal deposits. That was the start of the resource war with the zebras after all. The fire ruby which stood at the heart of the room was monolithic. It was at least eight feet tall and perfectly formed in hexagonal growth. It was encased in a framework of gold worked into whorls and delicate designs. Dozens of desks stations surrounded it, and thick cables attached to large scientific apparatus led back to the structure holding the mineral arrangement.

I felt my senses drop away except for the sight of that singular object. Light from the flames all around flowed through the inner facets of the gem refracting in flickering majesty.

I wanted it.

I needed it.

Never before in my life had I desired something so fiercely, so passionately. Such a craving wrenched my heart, an unquenchable, inexpressible, undeniable anticipation. It pervaded my being, sinking its roots deep into me.

The first of the ghouls turned and advanced on me, guardians of their holy site. A small part of me gibbered and babbled insanely, but that little voice of reason was just a whisper. Nothing would stop me, not monsters, or even gods. Only thinking of getting to the ruby I took the most direct route, and flew over their heads. The burning ghouls jumped and howled their frustrations as I paid them no heed.

I reached for it, strained for it, and there! The tip of a claw brushed it, but that was not enough! Pushing forward, I laid a palm against the smooth face of the gorgeous crystal. Cooing in pleasure, I floated and put my other claw against the cool surface, oblivious to all else.

Then it started to burn. Fire, red as the crystal, raced up my arm. I screamed and screamed as the blaze bit into me.

And the world fell away.

***

Faster than my very neurons could fire, I went from being on fire, to standing in a strange place. I was on a plain of cracked earth. Distant mountains were framed by encroaching thunderheads. Light flickered in the dark clouds, and faint thunder vibrated the air.

The feeling of desire that had my soul in a vice faded. I was able to think again, yet it wasn’t much of an improvement. Rotating, I tried to assess my situation.

Had I been teleported? Had I died? That wasn’t a pleasant thought. What else made sense though?

A faint noise garnered my attention, a choked squeak like a songbird that had breathed bad air for too long. Reaching for my weapons, I grasped at air. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized what a comfort it was to face a threat with a loaded firearm. Even my PipBuck was gone!

Heart racing, I reared around to face a most curious pony. A unicorn stallion if I was any guess. He was red, ruby red. The first thing I noticed was him smiling. Smiling! Then he seemed to really see me, which in itself was disturbing because his eyes were milky, faded, and yet followed me all the same. His smile vanished and his ears drooped, as if he were expecting someone else. The pony shook his head sadly and turned away. He walked a few paces away from me. Rattling accompanied his defeated trot and I saw that he was shackled to a fire ruby, identical to the one I had touched, embedded in the ground.

Thunder cracked and made me flinch in surprise.

Okay, so I was standing naked in the middle of a strange flatland with no company other than a reddish pony bound to a crystal in the middle of said plain.

Yeah, this wasn’t weird at all.

At least the odd unicorn hadn’t attacked me right off which definitely was an improvement over my recent experiences. Maybe… just maybe he would have some answers, or so I hoped.

“Hey! What… How…” Shit, where did I even start? “Where…” Yeah, wanted to know that. “Where am I?” The stallion turned and regarded me. He just stared with those cloudy eyes and an uncomfortable silence stretched. After a while he raised a hoof and tapped it lightly against the side of his head.

“Umm… what does that mean?” He tapped his temple with slightly more emphasis.

“Can you just tell me?” The unicorn shook his head no.

“Why not?” This was getting a little irritating. Pointing again, the pony designated his throat this time.

“Oh! You can’t speak! Oh, goddess, sorry…” I felt a little contrite and sheepishly bowed my head in apology. My mute partner seemed to accept this and tapped his temple slowly. Wait… he couldn’t mean…

“I’m in your head?” Another head shake no. He pointed at me and quickly did the head tap, then to him and did another head tap.

“We’re in each other’s head? Connected?” The unicorn finally nodded. Okay, wow. Just… wow. I surveyed the scene again, noting the desolation. The mountains, the ceiling of rumbling clouds, and my absence of gear made sudden symbolic sense. Stay calm Ashes, you’re just on some sort of mental… something. What was the term?

Psychoplane. Yes, that was it. My metaphysical self had merely been transported to a psychoplane. No need to worry about how my body might be being torn apart by flesh eating ghouls at that moment.

…

Shit.

Whew… okay, deep breaths. Calm. Was I even breathing air for that matter?

Deep mental breathing. Deep mental breathing.

“So then… how did I get here? How do I get out? And who are you for that matter?”

Mute, but not without the tools to communicate some concepts, my fellow incorporeal being gesticulated some more. He executed two rolls of his shoulders which I could only infer to be shrugs followed by a pondering hoof to the chin. The cherry unicorn beckoned for me to come closer. Warily, perhaps against my better judgment, I approached. With a small smile that seemed genuine, he repeated his come hither gesture.

When I was near, his horn took on a glow. Very calmly, he reached and touched the luminescent tip to my forehead. Perhaps if he had made a move to strike I would have reacted differently. Without my reflex triggering, I just stood there dumbly as the world once again faded away.

I was floating, or had the sensation of floating. It was calming in a way, like the feeling of being between waking and sleeping where you’re only distantly aware of your senses. Although I couldn’t really feel, I could faintly see something. It was like looking through a thick pane of rose colored glass

“… gorgeous, absolutely wonderful, Hypothesis! The ruby should work as a perfect heat sink for the gold. Think of the possible applications!” A mare beamed and put a hoof to the other side of the glass. She was a mousy thing, with tan fur, her brown mane tied back, and a pair of glasses perched cutely on her muzzle.

“The potential of this one specimen is simply staggering. Not just for size, but the fact that it has formed its crystal structure in such a way as to naturally channel magical energies. It is flame personified, fire crystalized, distilled blaze. The only thing that can outshine a Fire Ruby like this is the flame from an immortal phoenix.”

“I can’t wait to get started. With the superconductivity we could reach we can potentially suspend a spell form at any stage, and modify it! With the new interface of the rapid recollection spell and the control rhythm… might I add that was genius on your part as well… we might actually achieve full arcano-visual-manifestation.” The mare gushed in excitement.

I was sure that if I possessed physical blood vessels around my brain at that moment they would be swollen in agony as I tried to process the deluge of technical jargon that was just flung at me. What was I seeing and experiencing? What had that strange pony done to me?

“You give me too much credit, Synthesis. All of it was your idea; I just helped acquire it, no easy feat, but nothing without your theories.” said a stallion standing further back.

“Don’t be so modest. I would have been stuck as a lowly lab tech without you taking a special interest in my papers.” Something stirred in me. It felt like a leg… but not… I couldn’t control it but I felt the approximation of intent as it… me… reached to where the mare made contact with the surface.

“Oooh! It’s warm.” She pressed a cheek to the surface. “Almost… like a little heartbeat…”

I sat up with a gasp, desperately sucking in… uh… psychoplanar air, panting like I had just surfaced from a deep well. My companion sat facing away from me, staring at the far away peaks.

“What… in Celestia’s name… was that?” He reached out with a hoof and tapped the crystal next to him then his temple. What did that mean? Think, Ashes! Ruby, then his head. The gem is in his head? I saw through this… duh, I was seeing through the inside of it! How…

“You… you showed me memories? Your memories of the crystal?” He nodded then shook his head, still not looking at me. Hmm… yes and no? I had felt something… something had reached out to the unicorn mare with the glasses. So…

“You’re the crystal, aren’t you? And those are your memories.” One firm nod to my question this time. So, I was speaking to the somehow sentient spirit of an inert crystalline structure. Damn, I knew I shouldn’t have just skimmed Strange Properties of Unique Gemstones. I walked to sit beside the pony.

“How do you exist then?” He looked at me, and did his horn thing again.

I really needed to stop falling for that. Once more floating in a crystal I looked down where Synthesis was asleep at a nearby desk and alone in the empty underground chamber. My host kept its gaze fixed on the mare, roving over her lightly snoring form. After a few minutes the scientist identified as Hypothesis came into view. Gently, he shook her awake. The smaller pony moaned, straightened her glasses, and looked up at him.

“How long have you been down here? All the others have gone to bed already.”

“Oh, I must have dozed off.” She replied.

“I know you keep a cot in your office but you really must get out more.” The smallish mare stood and paced over to my host, practically pressing her nose against the ruby.

“Yes, yes, it’s just… I’ve been monitoring strange, independent power surges. Even after we deactivate the interface and heat functions, the residual magical radiation continues to saturate the conductive coil framework for much longer than it should.”

“What? That shouldn’t be possible, not if the gold is no longer charged, it should lose is conductive value at room temperature.”

“This whole thing was only theory a little while ago. We weren’t sure if anything would happen at all, or if our,” she giggled, “Hypothesis would prove correct. I’ve spent quite a few late nights trying to puzzle it out, but the only thing I can think of…” The stallion stepped closer.

“Yes, Synthesis?”

“No, no it’s crazy, and it’s weird.” I felt my host reaching itself toward the mare.

“Well, as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with giant tubs of jelly, I wouldn’t say you were crazy. It’s just theory and could be right or wrong.” She laughed aloud then took a deep breath and put her hoof to the surface, stroking it almost in a maternal way. My host followed her hoof as it tracked along the gem barrier.

“We selected the fire ruby as a medium both for its property as a magical energy reservoir and for its natural crystalline form as a conduit for easy manipulation of suspended spell forms, right?”

“Right.”

“I believe…” she chewed on her bottom lip. “It may be possible that through prolonged exposure to the spell runoff and as our use of it as a passage through which our own magic articulates the matrix that the alignment of certain molecules in the ruby have been altered. I began to really notice it after that self-sustaining come-to-life spell I worked on last month.”

“I remember that one. The darn thing drew too much power to ignite and then ended up being a dead end. It had such a promising potential outcome. Wasn’t that the day Twilight Sparkle had her visit?”

“Yes it was. Well, I think it acted like a catalyst. Even though the residual carrier wave of the spell matrix faded, I keep catching hints of it. The odd thing is that it isn’t the same spell, like it changed in order to perpetuate itself.” Synthesis turned to regard at her colleague. “Haven’t you noticed how much easier it is to interface with? The ruby is already a natural pathway for magical energy, but there should still be at least a functional resistance due to natural imperfections in the stone. They’re just not there anymore!”

“Okay, suppose all of that is accurate, which is impossible to determine because our current equipment isn’t that sensitive. What does that imply?”

“Here’s where you’ll think I’m foalish.” She turned away sheepishly but he reached out and put a hoof on her shoulder.

“You’re the most brilliant scientist I know aside from Twilight Sparkle herself. Nothing you could tell me would sound senseless.”

“The emergent patterns in the crystal, they resemble something I’ve seen elsewhere.” She opened her mouth to say more but closed it, as if thinking better of it. “I still need more time to puzzle it out. They just seem so familiar!” He laughed kindly.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” The male patted her in a comforting way and yawned. “In the meantime, I’m going to sleep, and I suggest you do too.”

“I’ll be right behind you, g’night.” She watched him go. Once Hypothesis was out of sight she turned to face the crystal with a worried expression, chewing her lip incessantly. Her horn glowed and I felt a wonderful warmth spread through my bodiless self that lasted only a moment before her bony protrusion went dark.

“Like pathways… like neural pathways…” And my view melted once again.

Coming out of the memory, I floundered and gasped like a fish out of water. The transition was still strange and very disorienting, but I seemed to be getting the hang of it. The horn happy unicorn hadn’t moved from his melancholy seat.

I had plenty of other things to occupy my thoughts with though. To think, that after enough exposure, a rock could develop sentience! I mean really?! As improbable, as impossible and incomprehensible as that was, the evidence was right there next to me. That wasn’t the end of the story though. Not if he was sitting here, shackled.

Luna’s mercy, this undoubtedly happened before the bombs dropped. Which meant he had been here, alone, for nearly two hundred years. I couldn’t begin to imagine the scope, the span greater than ten of my lifetimes. I paused to consider my options, and made my choice.

“There’s more to it, isn’t there?”

With eyes of white he met my gaze and sighed with the weight of centuries. Maybe, I could help. I did not know the depths of his solitude, but perhaps I could share. Perhaps allowing me to see more, it would alleviate his burden. I grabbed his shoulder lightly.

“Show me.” His horn glowed and my consciousness was plunged into memory once more.

“No! You can’t do this! I will not have you turn my work into a weapon. Don’t you realize that this could save us?” Synthesis was protectively standing between the ruby and several others.

“I’m sure doctor, but any research you may be pursuing is secondary.” One stepped forward.

“It could stop the war!”

“My superiors think otherwise. As an agent tasked with maintaining the Morale of our great nation I am placing you under protective custody.” A pair of heavy ponies stepped up and grabbed the small mare. She struggled to no avail.

“Let me go!” The spirit in the crystal reached desperately towards Synthesis, helpless to pass beyond the ruby prison. They dragged her away but were stopped by a familiar stallion.

“I’m so sorry Synthy, but its better this way; you were getting too attached to it. You left me no choice but to call them in with the way you were acting. You were obsessed.” She struck him across the face hard enough to make me wince. The guard ponies continued dragging her away.

“You bastard! It is alive! It is!” Kicking, cursing, and screaming, Synthesis was hauled out of sight. Hypothesis, with a stunned look trailed after her. The first pony who had spoken turned to the five others who remained.

“Once she has been evaluated, the results will determine whether she continues under closer supervision. I trust our fellows in the Ministry of Image will take the appropriate steps to insure this stays quiet?”

“Of course, are we assured access to the good doctor’s research notes for purview and application?” An elegant looking blue mare responded.

“This research is essential to continuing projects of Peace and shall remain open to us as well.” An aged stallion piped in. Then another pony, this one wearing a lab coat walked to a terminal.

“All materiel, including any further revelation by Synthesis is under direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Arcane Science. Though I’m sure our good friends in the O.I.A. will be more than happy to provide any required data in a discreet manner.” He said, tapping away at the keys.

A male wearing a finely tailored suit snorted. “So long as Wartime Technology and our subsidiaries get copies, I’m happy. Robronco’s sure have a field day.” He cast a look at the last occupant that had yet to speak. “I am surprised however; to see that Rainbow Dash actually sent someone.” Instead of answering, the individual in question walked up to the crystal, the spirit within recoiling. It was a griffin! Astonishment made the gears in my head come to a halt. I knew her, or of her rather. A legend that I had heard stories of.

“So what are you and that pegasus up to, Gilda?”

“Something Awesome,” she grinned.

My eyes opened to the desolate mental desert once more. The ministries… they were the most powerful institutions of wartime Equestria. They had reached out their influence, backed by the highest power in the land, that of Princess Luna, and taken command of every aspect of life. Leading them were the six who would become nothing less than the most powerful mortal mares of the time. In my reading of more contemporary works of literature, the ministry mares were always mentioned with awe, and respect at the authority and resources each wielded.

Their organizations had saturated every facet of society. Every soldier, home, and stalk of hay bore the mark of the ministries. Hell, even Stable-Tec was a product of one of the establishments.

I had just witnessed something involving all of them, the scope of which eclipsed my lowly status as a feeble griffin runaway. There were many secrets, buried by the war. And now, I was privy to some of those riddles. From my prone position, I looked at the mental projection of the consciousness occupying the crystal and began to understand his sorrow. He had been helpless, forced to watch the only pony to acknowledge his existence being taken from him.

For the first time, I noticed the symbol on his flank. It was a representation of an atom with a blue nucleus, and three orbiting electrons.

I sat up and joined him in gazing out into the distance.

“She was close to you huh? You cared about her?” the gem pony nodded.

“I know what it’s like to lose someone close. My sister…” The wounds, carved in my heart were still fresh, and throbbed in renewed grief. After he nodded in sympathy we shared a moment of solemnity.

“Did you ever see her again?” His chained leg clanked as he brought his hoof down against the ground. I waited for him to do more, but he made no other indication.

“Once? One time after that?” Slowly, somberly, the red stallion dipped his head. For what I suspected to be the last time, the spirit sent me into its past.

Immediately I was aware that something was wrong. Alarms and sirens wailed and shrieked. Ponies were trampling each other, leaping over workstations, to get to the doors. Dust cascaded from the ceiling as the earth all around trembled and quaked. It sounded like the sky was falling.

After the rest had evacuated, one remained, trotting out of the exit the others had taken. As she drew close my suspicion was confirmed. It was Synthesis, with quite a few new streaks of grey in her mane. As before, she pressed herself against the ruby and the inhabitant warmed her with his touch. My senses were much less muddled than they had been in the previous memories. I could feel the mare lying against the prismatic gem.

“How I missed you. You were my greatest success, my greatest work. A crowning achievement and a jewel fit for a princess. You’re the last hope.” She sighed against my, err… his exterior. All around the sirens screeched.

“Those fools… giving the zebras megaspells in the hopes of it serving as a deterrent to war, trusting in the purity of hearts tainted by endless years of war. Mutually assured destruction my flank.” Shuddering, she shut her eyes and rubbed a cheek against my crystal prison.

“And now it’s come to this. This city is close enough to the border to be targeted. Very little won’t be targeted really. The zebras had too long to stockpile. Maybe there is hope. With you, I can make a shield, a self-sustaining shield. A fire that will never be extinguished so long as this ruby exists.” Her horn began to glow and I felt such a strange stirring within. A heat welled up from within.

Such power! I wanted to writhe, to sweat, and to groan at the sensations. If I had had eyes, they would have rolled upwards in their sockets. It was a burning sensation that I was unable to bear, and unable to escape, like being roasted, burned alive without having a body to scorch. My vision blurred and just when I thought I would go mad, I felt a tug, and something was ripped away. That feeling was replaced with emptiness.

Sound like a titan’s rage drowned out even the sirens as the world quaked with the power of miniature suns. As sight somewhat returned, I saw Synthesis on the ground, bleeding from the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes.

“The shield… It… It’s broken. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t save them.” The small, broken pony curled up and sobbed crimson tears. “I saw you… chained and alone inside that stupid rock. Oh Celestia’s mercy, I knew you were there! I knew… knew you were alive...” A rattling cough shook her.

“And it was me who put you there, me who gave you life, and me who failed you. The least I can do now… is set you free.” Her horn flashed weakly and she hacked wetly, her precious life draining from her forehead and veins. She took a deep breath somehow and her face scrunched in concentration. Light enveloped her once… twice… and popped like a soap bubble.

“Please, blessed Ladies, grant me the strength…” Once more her magic manifested, only to fade.

“It’s too much.” Synthesis cried and beat her hooves against her head, weeping as her unicorn heritage was not enough to save the thing she loved. Weakly, she crawled to the crystal. “Twilight once told me about the Want It, Need It spell. I cannot free you, but maybe somepony else will.” Somehow, the little mare cast her spell. She put her leg against the base of the gem, and died.

Sacrifice is what makes a soul noble. Never had I seen one nobler.

I knew what I had to do. But how?

If Synthesis, a unicorn scientist of far greater power and knowledge couldn’t do it, what chance did I have? Give me guns, explosives, something! Even a rock to bash against the unyielding chains! I strained, heaved, pulled, and even kicked at the cruel bindings.

I didn’t know what would happen to the consciousness of the crystal if I untethered it, but I know that in the same position I would have wanted to be free, no matter the consequences. That desire was close to my heart, having grown with it. To be free, to soar in the clear sky, I dredged the feeling up from my soul to lend myself strength.

No matter how hard I pulled, and no matter how much I wanted to break the chains, they gave not an inch. Defeated, bitter, I reflected on my disappointment and my mind dwelled in dark places. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about how Cinder would never fly with me again, how I would never hear her laugh again. My wings drooped and scraped the ground.

Red watched me struggle with his confinement and waited until I slumped in loss. He gripped my shoulders with strength that frightened me. His horn glowed and pressed the luminescent magical appendage to my forehead. Memory did not come to me; instead, I felt his arcane might flowing through me. I gasped as my nervous system became a vessel for his intrusion. My limbs and muscles twitched uncontrollably as my body tried to accommodate the violating energies.

Heat started to flow through my whole body. I recalled once when I was younger being incredibly sick and touched with a fever so high I had almost gone into a coma-like state. It had induced hallucinations to the point where it almost felt good. That burning filled me up until it was my whole world. I could feel nothing but my body nearly cooking itself alive.

It felt like I was made of rubber forced to stretch the wrong way. My heart labored to keep blood like molten lead flowing. Something in my skull felt like it was about to burst as a pressure built. The sense that I was about to die occurred to a part of my conscious self not busy being overloaded.

Eyes crossed, synapses misfiring, the dam broke and I moaned in release. Red let me go, and I happily allowed my muscles to go slack.

Oh sweet Celestia’s bare flank…

A chill ran up my spine as I stumbled dizzily. I clutched my head, trying to keep what felt like the two halves of my brain from separating at the stem. At some point I must have fallen over. Throbbing in ways I hadn’t thought possible, I shakily stood. The red pony who had just magically raped my neurons watched me with a seriousness he hadn’t had before.

I felt rather perturbed towards him for his unasked for intrusion, but I was feeling rather loopy at the moment.

You know what; if my last act in Equestria was to set this spirit free, then maybe I could face my father and sister proudly by Celestia’s side.

With this grim, fatalistic determination, I grabbed a length of chain and pulled with a feral abandon. I shored up my desire to set my companion free with my own memories of flight. Flying was freedom; it was liberty from all the hurts of the natural world. There was no feeling like it, knowing that no force, not even gravity could shackle me down. A new fire burned in my chest, in my heart, one that originated from me.

I embraced this feeling, drawing strength, and will from that integral part of all creatures that have wings. A force heeded my call. It was familiar, like an old friend. Something was different this time though, like a veil had been lifted from my sight. Manic, frenzied, my claws burst into flame and the shattered the chain I was holding.

Aha! I had a suspicion that will and desire would have pseudo physical affects in this place!

Marveling, I gazed at my talons in rapture. They did not burn; they were just filled with faint tingling warmth. One by one, I broke the bindings of the red pony.

The broken ends of the metal links disintegrated, dissolving into nothing. But as the vanishing shackles reached him, the spirit too began to come apart.

I had been afraid this would happen, but instead of sadness, he smiled. There wasn’t a hint of regret in his expression as his eyes twinkled in joy. With a shout, he raised a hoof in defiance.

I returned the salute with my own blazing fist and did not lower my clenched talon until the spirit was nothing more than dust in the ethereal wind.

***

With a flash, I returned to the land of physical world and conscious state. Stumbling back from the giant crystal I watched a blackness bloom in its heart, spreading out with web-like hairline cracks. Corrupted and empty, it toppled over with a healthy boom. Backpedaling, I tripped over something and landed hard on my backside. That was when I became aware of the coldness all around me. My breath misted the air as the sub-freezing temperatures crystalized the water expelled from my lungs.

How long had my confrontation on the psychoplanes taken? Seconds? Days? I suppose it was possible that all of it had happened at the speed of thought… but that could mean, well, seconds, or days.

A pony face, frozen in a scream, stared sightlessly up at me. Where I had tripped over it, the body had crumbled. The spirit, in its incarcerated state had fed the fires of the city and in turn the Burning Ones. Now starved of that energy, they had died, at last being allowed the peace stolen from them by the apocalypse. That was my notion anyway.

I wasn’t sure if the heat stored by the ruby had been extinguished, causing the decrease in ambient temperature, or magical balance reasserting itself after so long, or perhaps a byproduct of the original function of the gem and my mental interaction with it. Synthesis could probably tell me, but I knew the odds of that were worse than the chance of finding my mother.

Suddenly my nerve endings lit up the pain centers of my body in a cascade of neurological infernos. My grey talons were charred and blackened I noticed. The same thing started in my forehead where the spirit had touched me, blossoming in skull splitting pain and blessed unconsciousness soon followed.

***

Shaking, I chased a pair of thick med-x pills with a healing potion, sighing as the cracked and blistered flesh of my claws mended somewhat. According to my PipBuck I had been out for either ten minutes, or ten days. The time keeping mechanism had somehow been damaged and my head felt like it had been bucked by a two ton stallion and then fed through a rock crusher. Idly I wondered if hangovers felt anything like this.

Bandages, soaked in healing magic went around my claws next. Gingerly I flexed and felt my skin tighten and winced at the raw feeling. The potion could only do so much with burns. I knew how lucky I was to have found the medical case attached to the wall with its lone potion and magical wrappings.

Goddesses above did I need a bath, or preferably a cool shower as the thought of anything hot sent my skin into unpleasant shivers. Filth and grime from days of running through the ash filled streets rubbed against my undercoat and skin. My sister’s ash was probably somewhere in there too.

Before I could sink into melancholy again though, a strange light shined and a prickling touched my flanks. With a wince I craned my neck around and stared at the ugly black horseshoe brand. A shimmering light enveloped the scar and it changed! Before my unbelieving eyes the mark morphed to that of an upraised, clenched fist, surrounded by flame as if grasping it. It was red, deep red in the middle, bright red around edges. I looked to my opposite side and saw the same image.

Stunned, I sat on my haunches, contemplating, my mind trying to wrap around it. First I had somehow spoke with an ephemeral fire spirit that had decided not to kill me, seen memories from said two hundred year old spirit, freed said spirit, and now I had a cutie mark! Or, griffin equivalent as it were.

The strange meter, nestled right in the reality lobe of my brain short circuited.

Weirdly enough, I felt relieved. One more reminder of my servitude in the Stable had been erased and had been made my own. I could guess perhaps the symbolic origin, but the exact, literal meaning of the emblem eluded me for the moment. Although, the red was pleasing on my grey-furred flank and reminded me of Cinder, and Blazing Glory.

Shaken and burned, I could only pick myself up and move on. I had faced the heart, the burning heart of the city of ghouls and had overcome, had survived. And in the wasteland, survival was victory.

Maybe my mother was still out there, whether living or dead, I was determined to find her somehow. Perhaps I was crazy, but better crazy and determined, than sane and defeated any day.

Everything that might have been of value aside from the empty medical case in the room had been destroyed. I winced as I put weight on my wounded forelimbs but the painkillers at least took the edge off them and my headache. I passed the broken husk of the crystal with mixed feelings as I walked painfully to the elevator at the far end of the room. Pitch black now filled what had once been lit like hell itself. Silence as well.

I stepped into the elevator and hit the button labeled top floor, leaving behind nothing but the quiet of the grave. Squealing, somehow the gears turned and after so much descending, at last I rose through the MAS hub. Midway through the ascent the elevator stopped and chimed, doors opening on yet another darkened hall.

Confused, I jabbed the close button in agitation but nothing happened. Then I heard the whispers. Putting my back to the wall, I drew my guns and faced outward, shaking and unsteady.

Shit, shit, I was not ready for this. Please just pass me by, please just go away. I inwardly pleaded, but it was no use.

A pony appeared to melt out of the air right next to me. She was huge! Easily one of the largest ponies I had ever seen. Something about her didn’t sit right though. Before I could realign my guns she spoke but her lips did not move, then she touched her horn to my forehead.

“We found you. We can hear you now.”

The sensation that followed the contact was akin to having brain surgery with a rusty carving knife. Thoughts were pushed into my head as the pony royally mind fucked me. It was similar to the spirit, but infinitely more invasive. Where the spirit had one unique feeling, this intruder had many, like a roiling chorus of pony voices all speaking as one. Where Red had been smooth and subtle, she was brutal and forceful.

“THE GODDESS DEMANDS YOU ANSWER US. WE DEMAND YOUR POWER AND HOW YOU ACQUIRED IT.” I could feel the will of many through this single vessel. How did I know that? Why was this strange pony invading my head? Why did it feel like my brain was about to explode?

Rage and indignation swelled my chest. Now that I had experienced mental contact, I knew, how fundamentally wrong what this pony was doing. How dare she intrude into my sanctuary! The fire ruby had only sought to share, whereas this being sought to exploit.

I visualized the single mare like a channel, a pipeline that was sunk into my grey matter that funneled all the other voices. In my mind a fire rose up, and I felt it constrict around the mare’s mental probe like a snake sinking its fangs into prey. Blood burst from my nose as the mental strain took its toll, forcing me to grit my teeth.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WE DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING! RELEASE US! RELEASE THIS ONE!” I could feel her trying to retract her mental spike, but I would not let go. Frost began to coat the walls, and our breathing misted in the still air between us.

I was not a griffin to suffer intrusion lightly, and felt the fire acting on my behalf, given my directive and then let loose. It reminded me of when my talons had burst into flame, felt a similar passion, but there was no such flashy manifestation outside of the psychoplanes. The mare backed away, breaking physical contact, but unable to escape the flames that now fed on her psychic connection.

Then she spoke with her actual mouth.

“It burns. It hurts! Make it stop! His mind is like fire!” I reeled, seeing in my mind’s eye the flames work like a living thing, severing her from the huge chorus and turning to continue feeding on her mind. That was when I saw with my real eyes what was off.

She had a horn and wings! Instantly my memory flashed to depictions of Princess Luna and Celestia but something was different about this mare, besides the mental attack that is. She was a deep blue for one thing, and lacked a cutie mark! Immediately it set off alarms in what remained of my rational thinking.

“Mind like fire! Like fire!” She stamped and flailed, bashing her head hard into the wall. Blood began to pour from her nose and eyes. Again and again the alicorn rammed into the wall. Finally snapping her horn off, she screamed, wailing uncontrollably as she sank down slowly, leaving a wet crimson smear.

I was debating whether it wouldn’t be better to put the poor thing out of its misery when she shot suddenly to her hooves and giggled madly. Swaying, the alicorn collided with the wall again, and walked off into the facility, now muttering insanely to herself.

Breathing out a sigh of relief and nursing the worst headache I had ever experienced in my life, I slumped down and winced with each contraction of my heart. The blood beat a steady, throbbing rhythm in my skull.

My inner sense of wrongness had definitely taken a dive out a five story window at some point, so the encounter was just another mystery.

Who had that strange mare been, and who or what had been that… thing talking through her? I had no answers. No answers to the many questions that just kept piling up, one atop the other. As I pushed the close door button once again the elevator trundled upwards.

Everypony had secrets. Many went to their graves keeping secrets. From the little glimpses I had witnessed, I imagined everypony involved in the war possessing many secrets. How many millions had taken their secrets to the grave? And now, how many of those secrets were scattered across the wasteland like landmines?

Weapons and plots and schemes, lost and forgotten, lay buried just below the surface of everything it seemed.

Thinking about it just made my head hurt worse if that were possible and I was exhausted. By the time the elevator reached the top, it was a struggle just to keep my eyes open. Because of a strange, nagging fear that the elevator would descend on its own, I crawled out onto the roof of the MAS hub.

The gravel covering was really quite comfortable.

***

It felt like I had only dozed off for a little while when a strange voice spoke to me out of the darkness. I shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Hey, you alive, griffin?” I was disinclined to answer and it hurt to talk but maybe a little conversation would be nice so long as it wasn’t a pony trying to catch and sell me. Other than that, in my state of mind, I really didn’t care.

“Depends on your definition of alive,” I croaked.

“I saw you up here and you’re talking, so yes, I guess you’re alive.” The voice was strange, metallic, and almost whiny. “I don’t really bother to check this area much; ghouls tend to go after the spritebots because of the noise they make.” I looked up at the strange floating metal ball that was speaking to me, wondering if I had truly gone insane.

“Yeah, ghouls are a real problem around here.” My tone was despondent.

“You’re from that stable aren’t you? Haven’t seen anyone come out of that one in quite a long time.” This was a well-informed hallucination. I felt a brief flare of hope that almost prodded me to full wakefulness.

“I don’t suppose you know where they went?”

“Afraid not.” Something struck me as morbidly funny as I laid my head back against the very comfortable pebbled roof.

“Neither the living or the dead can give me answers.”

“What do you mean?” The strange floating ball questioned.

“Nothing,” Numbly fishing around in my pack, I pulled out the jack and queen, willing them to spring to life somehow.

“And what are those?” I didn’t look up, just sighed.

“My friends,” Silence for a moment.

“I knew a griffin once. Long, long ago, she was quite the grump and a bully. You just seem sad, different maybe. What’s your name, griffin?”

“Maybe you should just call me a ghost. For a ghost is all I am.” In truth, I had lost interest in the exchange; content to stare at my cards, pushed passed all limits of endurance in body and in mind.

“Alright Ghost, you may call me Watcher, for watch is all I do. From someone who has watched for a long time, let me give you a piece of advice, find some friends. Some new ones maybe, yours look a little… flat.” There was a static filled pop followed by strange music, and the black metal orb floated away.

Just before sleep once again claimed me I decided that if talking, mechanical oddities were conversing with me then maybe I had gone one step too far into the realm of crazy. Thoughts of fire spirits and disembodied voices chased my thoughts as I fell into blissful nothing.

***

I tumbled through mock psychoplanes and visions.

I was sitting on a hilltop when an emerald light bloomed in the distance, it was impure and poisonous. Griffins had been flying and now were swept aside as they flickered like tiny motes of black against the overwhelming light before being consumed. I walked through city streets, ponies and griffins turned to dust stood frozen where the light had touched them.

I fell through an abyss of swirling color as the street crumbled beneath my paws.

Into a pool of tar I sank, down beneath the skin of the world, down into the festering maw beneath. The tar was sticky and I gasped and struggled but inevitably sank and it filled my lungs.

Then I fell further, through the tar, onto a desolate plain.

It was a desert, a wasteland unrivaled in the entire world. The sky was an endless grey and all around the ground went on and on, all the way to the horizon and beyond. No mountains or fire ruby or any feature marred the imperfection of the earth.

Footnote: Level Up.
Quest perk added: Touched By Fire - You now have access to the Fire Spirit perks.

Perk Gained: Fire Mind - You are now extremely resistant to all forms of mental intrusion and psychic attack.

Trait Gained: Burned - You have received severe damage to your talons and have lost some fine motor control. -10 to lock picking, repair, and explosives.

(Author notes: Whew! Hot damn, okay, everything that I had previously written is now in revised first person. Really, the whole story up to this point has been leading to... well... this point! This idea, that of a griffin finding a wartime research project, and getting strange powers from it was the basis, the launching point of Fire Ghost. The whole scene with the spirit has been completely reworked! Let me know what you think in the comments!)