Chapter 11: Oddities
“These are not the ponies you’re looking for.”

I looked back at Sienna who was being held by Axe as I made a motion with a wing, indicating I wanted them to wait. Oddly enough we had come across Raul's place. Or not so oddly because it was on the way back to Oakwood and you could only go forward or backwards in tunnels.

Wherever that was from Raul's place I had no idea. Oakwood could have been on the complete opposite side of the island for all I knew.

Raul’s place was destroyed beyond all recognition by the explosion when I had taken the Twilight Sparkle doll. The room was scorched black and most of the items were burnt as well. Charred ghoul body parts were strewn about and a nauseous smell wafted from the room. The scene that was before me was why I had Sienna wait with Axe.

I nodded when Sienna sat down. Then I turned my attention back to the room as I covered my nose with a wing to keep the stench at bay. But it did little beyond make me believe it was working. And so, I slowly stepped inside while scanning around the room with my good eye. I looked for any traps that may still be active or anything of value.

I stopped my search when my eye fell upon the gryphon crossbow. Well what was left of it anyway. The spring and metal wire lay in a wood pile that must have surely been the stock. A jade green glow encased all of it as I began to lift the weapon.

Then stopped and set it down when I remembered Fake Bucky asking about it. I slowly walked towards it as I gently moved charred debris aside. What I saw caused me to frown. At the bottom of the spring was a wire. I followed that wire until it ended at the wall.

It just... ended. Just like that.

The wire stopped at the wall. My hoof gently probed the area around the wire and bumped something round about two feet long. Yet I could not physically see the object. So I brought over some ashes and dumped it all over this item.

As I did so my eyes widened. At the object that was a 105mm artillery round complete with the casing holding the propellant. There was no way my shield would have protected me from it even if I was able to cast it.

"What's going on?" Axe asked from down the hall with an echo in her voice.

I used my mind to respond to her. "I found a most troubling trap. I suggest you back further away."

I waited an eternity while I stared at the round and thought of the various ways this could go horribly: Me turned into bloody red feathers. Me turned into red mist. Me horribly maimed and bleeding out. Me ceasing to exist entirely.

I gulped all of that down and followed the wire to what looked like an invisible detonator on the end of the shell. My magic encased the whole thing, bow and wire too, in a soft green glow as it was lifted off the ground and brought closer. As I flipped the High-Explosive round over I saw there was a device on the end of it shaped like a Pipbuck. Attached to the Pipbuck looked like a spark battery and Stealthbuck.

I stuck my tongue out as as my face scrunched up. Each wire leading from the battery was gently undone with magic. As I undid two of them, there was a faint buzz and the air shimmered around the warhead as it became visible again. Strangely, or not so because of the battery, the Pipbuck’s screen was lit.

But not brightly. The screen displayed a black background with green words that read: 'You're fucked'.

I smiled at this message as no pony...

My smile faded when I realized there could be a proximity sensor or timer on this whole setup and it could have been activated when the battery was disconnected from the Stealthbuck. Which caused my earlier fears to come back.

"Is everything okay?" Axe shouted. Again her voice echoed in the tunnel.

"This is boring!" Sienna's gravelly whine added to the echo. "Miss Lilium, I want to go home!"

I dared not take my eyes off the trap and so I responded with my mind. "Please be quiet. I have a one-oh-five millimeter High-Explosive shell in my lap. There is a proximity sensor and I do not wish to become alicorn paste."

"Let us know when you disarm it," Axe replied.

I groaned internally and nearly facehoofed. "You shall be the first to know if I don't."

Again I gulped down my fears and looked at the Pipbuck. Whoever had designed the trap was smart indeed! But... if one were to put a proximity sensor on such a trap and walk away... it would go off then. Unless said sensor had an initial startup delay or be activated when one removed the wires.

My gaze went to the shell's tip where it had the strange device device attached. I noticed a faint line, highlighted by ash, and rotated just the tip to the right a bit.

I shut my eyes and cringed but nothing happened.

So I rotated it a bit more. Again nothing. So I rotated the shell to the left because the wire started flopping around. As I unscrewed the shell I smiled at my good fortune. I then pulled them apart and gently set the inert explosives down. Floating in my magic was the Pipbuck, Stealthbuck, and detonator to the High-Explosive shell.

That got set down. I then lifted the now inert warhead in magic and gently rolled it out the door. Metallic hoofsteps signaled Axe was walking closer and a second, quieter, set let me know Sienna was too.

*** ***

We walked along the tunnels still.

My new 'bow' was now floating nearby. It was a simple, yet highly efficient, weapon. The flat suspension spring from a cart, or vehicle, combined with some form of a metal wire and a small notch for the 'arrows'. Which were the same modified railway spikes I had previously used. Only this time I had a total of ten that survived the destruction of the room.

Sienna was holding an unloaded That Crappy Gun in her teeth. Mostly because Axe didn't trust a filly with ammo and partly because Sienna's magic was kind of pathetic. But her holding the pistol provided me with a path to see by due to its tactical light.

Axe... was on my back, snoring and drooling in her sleep. Which gave me an indication that we walked for quite some time.

I kept turning my head to the right so that I could check my blind spot. My exquisite mane blocked my blurry right side vision. Though I have no doubts about my ability to heal in radiation. I just... wish to be happy again.

My gaze went down to Sienna.

She seemed to be fearless now that she had killed a radroach earlier and was triumphantly leading the way. The ground beneath us had long given way to dirt, which was good and not good.

I remembered that blue plant, Killing Joke, moved through the dirt. Knowing my Luck it would probably turn me into a three legged crystal unicorn who was dying of radiation poisoning.

Which would be bad, very bad indeed.

But poor little Sienna... she will always stay that size, always look the way way she does, and will be feared by ponies for what she is not.

Since all we could do was walk my thoughts turned to Sister. I wondered what would she do. Would she try to hug me and plant a kiss on my lips? To which I'd have to knock a few teeth out for? Or would she be a mean pony and try to screw me over in some way, again?

Sienna stopped as she pointed her hoof at something. The light of the flashlight highlighted the metal rungs of a distant ladder. I smiled as I patted her head with a wing.

"That must surely be our way out of here." I told her in her mind. She looked up at me with a tilted head. To which I tilted mine in the same direction. "Do you not want to see other ponies? To get out of these boring tunnels and have an adventure?"

She nodded and slobbered around the pistol's bit. "Yesh, Muss Lil-" There was a hollow click as the empty weapon was triggered. Sienna looked cross-eyed at it before she spit it out into a hoof. I merely smiled at her while I levitated the weapon into her bags. "Stupid thing is heavy!" she whined as she stomped her forehooves down. "Why do I need it?"

I nodded, still smiling, and patted her head again. "To protect yourself. Perhaps I will have time to teach you magic so you can levitate it. But for now. We walk!"

I struck a dramatic pose before strutting towards the the ladder like I was a snob unicorn from Canterlot. As I reached it, I looked up at the ponyhole cover and took a deep breath. My magic surrounded the metal object and I lifted it gently. Then pushed it sideways and waited.

And waited...

My flowing mane was the only movement I saw in the darkness above. I felt something nudge me, so I looked down at a set of faintly glowing red eyes.

"Is it safe?" Sienna whispered in her gravelly foal like voice.

Axe was gently set on the ground with my magic. Then I put the bow across my back. "Wait here," I told Sienna with my mind. She plopped her rump where she stood and I begun to climb the ladder as quietly as I could.

When I reached the top I frowned because it was that shack. Outpost Xray if memory served me correctly. But the corrugated metal door was open to the elements and pouring rain pelted the metal roof above, which made hearing anything impossible. I climbed out fully before levitating both Axe and Sienna up.

I then turned my attention towards the door. Sienna took a step forward, but I quickly pulled her close and covered her mouth with a hoof.

"Ssh," I whispered into her mind. "There is a very deadly thing out there that hunts by sight and sound. It kills in the most terrible of manner."

She nodded quickly and my hoof was removed.

I levitated Axe onto my back again and the mid weight pegasus was secured. My magic surrounded Sienna as I lifted the brown ghoul filly up and onto the top of my head. Then I cast my invisibility spell and quietly whispered with my mouth. "Please, hang on. I will get us out of here."

"Okay," Sienna whispered back as she hugged my horn. Her reply was louder, but the rain drowned out most of it from the outside.

I took a few steps forward out into the pouring rain. My eyes shut and I stood there for a few moments. I let the cool rain of the muggy day wash the goo from my coat and mane. Though my mane and tail stopped flowing and clung to my body. But I didn't care.

I spread my wings and gave them a couple test flaps before taking flight. Even though I was erratic and shaky I still flew with the hope that it would get better. Then I remembered about the hotspot only an hour away by hoof and followed the path by air. As we left the corn field behind I dropped the invisibility spell and wrapped Sienna in magic.

She squealed in terror for a second before her eyes went wide in amazement. "I'm flying!"

"Yes," I replied in her mind as I nodded and leveled her out next to my head. "Yes, you are!"

She giggled as she looked around in amazement, her eyes wide and jaw agape.

Our flight did not last long though as eventually I spotted the clearing I was looking for and landed near it. Sienna was set down, followed by Axe, and I told the filly to wait with a hoof gesture. She sat down in response.

Slowly, I walked towards the hotspot and shut my eyes as I spread my wings out. Warm and glorious radiation seeped into my body.

"Miss Lilium, what are ya doing?" Sienna asked with a voice laced with concern.

I smiled as I replied with my mind. "Healing, my dear Sienna. Healing."

I felt the bone in my wing snap again, which caused me to cringe and whimper. The area quickly heated up as if a pony held a match to it as the bone melded together. My leg, face, and right side all heated up as well as the deep tissue slowly healed.

*** ***

Sienna and I flew above the jungle canopy.

We kept low to the trees so as to not be spotted so easily from the ground. My green hide and magic helped us to blend in from the air. Axe was still asleep and rightfully so as it was early morning, a light blueish grey tint coated the land.

We would have been flying in silence had Sienna not been giggling like mad and shouting in joy every time she rolled over.

But I did not care.

I was mostly healed and flying straight. Sienna was happy and flying. Axe was... sleeping and flying.

Where I was heading I did not care for either. But it was hard to miss the high rises of Oakwood City. Nor was it hard to miss the smoke rising from a few areas of the city. And Sienna had not missed them either. She pointed her hoof at one of the very tall buildings that had not fallen down yet.

"Oooh, look a city!" she hyperly exclaimed. "Can we go see it?!"

I frowned at her request. Mostly because I knew what heading into the city would entail, but also I had to fly there anyway. So with a nod I turned the three of us towards the city of Oakwood.

Which loomed before us in all its decrepit glory. The tallest building had long ago lost part of its upper floors and was now just barely taller than the rest. What had once been the upper half now lay on the ground. The structure looked to have taken down another building in the process of collapsing.

However the city itself was massive.

From the edge of the jungle you could just barely make out the bridge which linked the bay in a sort of circle. Quite a bit of the roads were open with very few actually being blocked by debris. But due to the climate the area closest to the jungle was overgrown by vines and plants. Almost all of the roads were cracked with plants or chest height grass growing in place of concrete.

Despite all of this. The foggy bay was empty and there was only plant life.

Indeed a low fog had rolled into the city much like it does every morning. The grey damp mist blocked out most sounds within the vicinity and so I flew silently above the rooftops. Only the sound of my wings flapping indicated anything at all.

Sienna had calmed down and was acting strange, so I brought her closer. She grabbed hold of my mane in an effort to use it as a shield. What it was that terrified the filly? I had no idea. My gaze was locked on the derelict buildings below. Some were still standing while others were piles of rubble. And some, weren't even much more than a foundation.

I wished for E.F.S. and my mind reminded me that I was carrying a Pipbuck in my bags. But it also reminded me that same Pipbuck was used for some kind of a trap with a 105mm High-Explosive shell. The very same shell in my bags. I had figured if I could find Rose she could make something from it.

As I flew along I hummed to myself. But it was not a sad song. It was a happy one.

It was strange. Even though there were plenty of intact buildings and life from the plant life. There was no pony life that I could see. So I continued my silent flight above the ruined city.

As I was flying over a particularly familiar stretch of road. A red hot object burned its way through one of my wings. Which caused me to cry out in pain and my magic nearly lost hold of Sienna. I flapped my wings, but my injured one burned and stung whenever it flapped. And so I plummeted from the sky around the time the rifle report caught up with us.

I shut my eyes and tucked Sienna close as I felt Axe go flying off in a random direction.

My body slammed into something metal that collapsed beneath us in a loud metallic crunch. Fire shot through my wing, legs, and horn. Sienna, however, was safely in my grasp.

I opened both of my eyes and glanced around at my surroundings. Sienna and I lay atop a now crushed wagon. Axe lay in the tall grass, but she was slowly moving and groaning about her head. Around us were buildings of all colors, but were mashed together as if there was no space between them. The misty morning fog surrounded us like a damp blanket. Blood ran out of a slowly sealing wound in my wing and coated the wagon's roof.

Sienna jumped out of my grasp and galloped over to Axe. She shook the power armored pegasus with her hooves over and over until Axe responded by slapping her in the face with a wing. Sienna went over and picked up Axe's head with her hooves. "Miss Axe, are ya alright?! That was-"

Axe's groan turned into a shout of surprise when her eyes opened. "Feral!" She scrambled away from Sienna until she stopped and tilted her head. Axe pointed a hoof. "Sienna?" The filly nodded and Axe let out a breath. "Sorry. I thought you were a zombie and-"

"Zombie?!" Sienna shrieked and galloped over to the wagon I lay atop of and smiled down at her. She frantically looked around. "Miss Lilium! There's a zombie nearby!"

I knew Axe had meant Sienna but to be on the safe side I readied my bow and looked around. Axe stood up, legs shaking, and looked around as well. "Area's clear of reds," she said loudly.

"Um, Miss Lilium, yer bleeding." Sienna pointed at my wing. I nodded and stood up. Most of my side that had not been against the wagon was covered in the sticky crimson liquid.

"I will be fine," I told Sienna with my mind. But a glance showed me that the wound should be hurting badly, because a giant chunk of flesh was missing, except it wasn’t. I looked up at the sounds of heavy hoofsteps. Axe was carrying a strip of cloth in her teeth as she walked over to me.

With a nod, I grabbed it in my green magic field and brought the cloth closer. Sienna tilted her head in what looked like confusion. My wing was wrapped in the cloth, which quickly turned red from the blood, and I frowned. Mostly because a wound that big meant a large caliber rifle and partly because I was sure they'd check the kill.

"We should get moving," Axe said quietly. I slowly scanned the buildings with my one eye. All of the dark windows could have a pony in them and that caused me to worry.

I nodded. "Yes, let's."

*** ***

The pain in my wing had died to a dull ache by the time the morning sun broke the horizon. My mane flowed once again and I was glad for it. Sienna was deathly quiet as she looked around the buildings. The morning fog was still with us and still felt like a blanket.

It obscured my vision to where I could not even see across the street. Which made it impossible to detect anything that was lurking out there in the misty morning fog unless you had E.F.S.

My head swiveled left and right even though it was pointless at this time for me. The bow had a spike in it and was ready to be drawn back. Yet nothing jumped out at us from the ground, nor from the buildings.

It was like... the whole city was dead. But it did not explain the pony that had shot me earlier in the day.

I shrugged and kept walking. The wet grass against my hooves was refreshing. So I took a deep breath and smiled as my lungs were filled with the cool sea air.

My ears swiveled every which way as they picked up... music.

Odd, strange, country music drifted on the fog. This caused me to tilt my head. I looked over at Sienna, who was equally confused, then looked at Axe who seemed to be walking towards the source. I sighed and followed the maroon pegasus.

It did not take long to find the source of the music. Bodies and debris lined the road. A burned out steam truck complete with a burned out trailer sat in the street. Its shadow loomed before us and that caused me to realize where we were.

"Sister?" I quietly shouted as I looked around the fog. "Sister, where are you?"

All I saw was low grass, fog, the shadow, and buildings. I spun a slow circle again to check and stopped. Slowly, I walked towards the two story building I had used only a few weeks ago.

I nosed open the door and quietly shouted again. "Sister?!" A creak above drew my attention as I aimed, and readied, the bow.

Nothing was there at the top of the stairs. Slowly, I made my way inside as I checked left, right, center, and back to the second floor. I sidestepped gently and cautiously over the moldy carpet. As I neared the stairs I aimed at the door to the right of them. Hoofsteps behind told me Axe was following.

"This place smells like shit," she commented loudly and killed any stealth we had.

I rolled my eyes and set a hoof on the bottom stair, then slowly started climbing. I kept the bow aimed at the door. But, of course, Axe ruined it again by flying up top and landing next to it. She looked around and shrugged.

"Why are ya sneaking like that?"

"Because," I whispered. "There may be hostiles around."

I felt a tap on my neck as Sienna whispered. "I only see green."

The bow was relaxed as I shook my head. A faint smile on my lips because these ponies had E.F.S. and we're acting careless because of it. Which was odd because ponies shouldn't do that.

It would be bad.

I kept the bow almost ready and finished walking up the stairs. Then took a quick check of my surroundings. Most of it looked the same. The tattered cloth was still there covering the hole, all the wood was greyed and most importantly the music was coming from the hole.

I walked inside the room as I pushed the cloth aside and quickly scanned the room. There was electronic equipment, an empty box for the Annihilator, and a bed on the far wall, but no Sister.

A frown formed on my face as I walked over to the box. My head turned side to side to look for any indication that she was here, but I found none. Axe was looking at the note with her head tilted and her visor pushed up.

"Use this to burn the heretics into Tartarus... Use what?" she looked over at me with an eyebrow raised. "What was in this box?"

"A missile launcher," I replied as I closed the box with my magic. Then slowly looked around again and made my way over to the radio. "She should be here. Sister said she'd be here!"

I stomped my forehooves into the wood, cracking it, and shook my head as I glared at the box.

“This all happened because of my stupidity. Had I not drank that infernal drink I wouldn't have made such blatant tactical errors such as focusing everything on that one foal in power armor!”

I grit my teeth in anger as I huffed and shook my head. Then, with an angry incoherent shout, I bucked at the air. But to my surprise I hit something soft and sent the invisible thing flying.

There was two decidedly mareish screams of shock as the invisible thing slammed into Axe and sent the both of them flying into the wall. A pair of 10mm pistols clattered to the floor. My ears perked up the same time the air around Axe shimmered. Revealing an azure blue alicorn wearing a pair of black saddlebags She wore a brown trench coat with what looked like magazines placed in foreleg holsters.

"Shock, you're a moron," she groaned as she held a forehoof to her head.

I let out a squee as I grinned and galloped over. My magic hauled Sister to her hooves so I could squeeze her tight in a bear hug. Axe had recovered from the shock of the blow and quickly scrambled back away from the surprise alicorn attack.

However, Sister did something unexpected. She hugged me back as she leaned forward and planted a kiss in which she pushed her tongue into my teeth as I attempted to block her from getting farther with the kiss. My eyes went wide, Sienna fell of my back, and Axe tilted her head a bit.

I decided then to let Sister go unpunished.

After it was over I pulled back. Sister smiled and blinked slowly as she gave me the strangest look with her eyes. My cheeks were burning as I stared into her eyes. Her hoof came up and caressed my right cheek. I looked at something else as she said. "Look at your face... What happened?"

"I stepped on a mine. Or so I'm told. I thought you had Athena to love?"

"Who?" Sister asked as she tilted her head. "Shock, I haven't seen you in weeks! Not after I sent you after the Steel Rangers. I came looking and found a blood trail that stopped at a blast from a mine. I th-" I placed a hoof over her mouth to silence her as I shook my head.

"Who is this alicorn?" Axe asked as she picked Sienna up and placed her on her back. I noticed that said filly looked passed out from something.

"This is Sister," I replied with a nod and stood up. "She is friendly so we do not need to worry. But if she ever kisses me again..." I glared at Sister as I attempted to kill her with my eyes. Sister smiled in response and shrugged.

Axe nodded as she stuck out a hoof. "I'm Axe and the ghoul is Sienna. I rescued Shell Shock from a strange lab and Sienna tagged along for the ride."

Sister looked at me and tilted her head. "Is this true?"

I gave her a firm nod and spread my good wing, then pointed at the metal disk in the bone near a joint. The one in my foreleg was also visible. Sister ignored Axe as she walked over to the wing and inspected it. Then she touched my back where others ran along the spine.

I flinched a bit at the odd feeling coming from the metal disk.

"What kind of a monster does this...?" she whispered above a breath. Her jaw was agape a bit and trembling with slightly wide eyes. Sister's hoof finished on the one at the base of my skull. "These... are vital points..."

I bowed my head slightly as I nodded in agreement. "Yes, they are and allow me to exist inside a fake world. Which is-"

"Fake world?" Sister tilted her head as her ears folded back. "Shock, don't you want to be here? In the real world?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, but..." I looked at a passed out Sienna as my ears folded back. "I was happy there... I had a nice life and no wor-"

"Hey!" Axe shouted as she stomped a hoof down. "We lost a few pegasi to rescue you, for Ripper. Why I have no idea, nor care, but if you want to be stuffed inside a goo filled tube again. Think long and hard about those dead pegasi."

A frown formed on my face as I looked at the ground and thought about them. They didn't know me, nor did they know Ripper, but they came to help me nonetheless. And some of them died in the process of freeing me.

My ears pressed against my head as I nodded slowly. "You are correct. It would be wasteful to just go back now." Slowly, I looked up at Axe. "Now we go to the Cloudchaser to see Ripper."

Sister clapped her forehooves together loudly and pointed at me. "Oh! I brought you something you might like..."

She walked over to the bed, pulled another box from under it and opened said box. I slowly walked over and peered inside. And promptly let out another unladylike squee of delight.

There, inside the box, was my Annihilator Mk.I. Her scratched and repainted tube. A repaired and cleaned firing mechanism. And most importantly: the rocket belt with three rockets.

I nearly tackle hugged Sister as I hugged her tightly. A huge grin on my face. "Sister! Where did you find her?! I thought I lost it when Eclipse took it."

Sister nodded as she smiled back. "Heh, I snuck in and stole it back."

A filly's squeal of delight signaled Sienna had awoken. "You two kissed!"

I facehoofed as a blush formed on my face. "I like stallions..."

*** ***

The damp evening fog greeted us as we exited the building. I deeply inhaled the moist air and smiled.

Sister was alive and well. I had my missile launcher again. We had a plan. But sadly Axe was leaving.

She spread her wings and hovered off the ground. Sienna was sitting on Sister's back because mine held the Annihilator Mk. I.

I frowned a bit at Axe as I had not expected her to leave so soon. She waved before flying off into the fog, I waved back as my frown grew. My gaze slowly lowered as I looked at Sister.

She was staring at Sienna with a hint of unease, Sienna was staring at her, and I stopped frowning to grin. "Sister, this is Sienna," I said with my mind to the both of them. "Sienna, this is Sister."

Sienna's grin faded as she realized something horribly wrong. "Ewwww! You two kissed!"

Sister chuckled while she shook her head. "We're not related by blood. Just through Unity. In fact, I'm much younger than Shock yet we look the same age."

"I’m older by over a hundred years," I replied with a nod.

"Are you sure...?" Sienna asked with her gravelly voice as she leaned back a bit. "You do look like sisters."

Now it was my turn to chuckle at Sienna. "Sienna, I would know if she was. I do not know her name, so I call her Sister."

"Shock, are you sure she's okay?" Sister asked while staring at Sienna’s eyes. "She looks..."

"Yes. She is a red eyed ghoul filly. Nothing more." I replied before she could say anything.

"Alright,” Sister nodded. “But you listen here ghoulie. Any funny business and you're getting a bullet to the face. Got that?" As if to drive her point across Sister floated one of her pistols into Sienna's view. The ghoul filly slowly nodded as Sister gave a firm nod.

I merely smiled at them. "Now now, you two play nice."

Sienna and Sister looked at me strangely as I stuck out my tongue. Sister rolled her eyes as she spread her wings. "Alright, Shock, we're gonna fly out of here as fast as..." She looked at my bandaged wing then facehoofed and groaned. "Why is it you always find some way to injure your wings so you can't fly?"

I smiled as I shrugged and replied. "At least I did not shoot them myself like last time."

"Shock, you're a moron." Sister shook her head as she sighed. "Alright. We're waking then."

*** ***

Day slowly turned to night as we walked through the grey mist. Sister had said that as soon as the plants began growing in the city the fog rolled in and had yet to leave. That was a couple weeks after I vanished. Which is around the time I went into that strange stable.

However we were walking blindly through the fog. And yet, we still managed to come across the crash site for the Cloudchaser.

Plants were growing all around the area of the cloudship. Yet within the immediate area they had yet to touch it. It was odd seeing vines growing along the side of the buildings as if a pony could climb up them.

As we stood there, pondering how best to cross the threshold without setting off one of Ripper’s traps, my ears swiveled back at the sound of a wet plop. It was a sound I had heard before and it made my ears itch. I slowly turned my head around at the noise. And what I saw caused me to tilt my head as I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Sister looked back and swore under her breath.

What stood behind us was a pale white mule.

But not your normal mule. Its eyes were solid black, the nose was a bit too small, there was no mane, and gooey saliva dripped from rows of razor sharp teeth inside its slightly open mouth. It turned its head skyward as it howled something akin to 'foooood'.

Two small blasts a split second apart precede two bullets slamming into its chest. Yet the creature did not slow. It closed the gap and jumped towards me with its forelegs outstretched and a devilish grin on its face. My eyes widened when I saw suckers on the bottom of its hooves and I knew right then that if it latched on I’d be a dead pony.

My horn glowed as I brought out the bow in an effort to block the creature.

It worked because it slammed into the metal spring, and so I twisted and shoved it down into the dirt as more pistol blasts sent 10mm bullets thumping into the creature. As I pulled out a railway spike an odd idea was shouted by the most unlikely of sources.

"Shoot it in the head!" Sienna shouted from Sister's back as I nocked the spike and pulled back with magic. "It's a got a brain don't it?! Zombies die to headshots!"

The creature rolled to its hooves and leapt to the side with surprising agility, causing my arrow shot to ricochet off the road. I saw bloody chunks taken out of its hide by Sister’s Twins as she fired shot after shot into it until her pistols clicked empty.

"Shit, I'm out!" Sister shouted as the beast lunged at her before she could reload, having deemed me a lesser threat, which would be its downfall.

It howled its cry for food again at the same time it was wrapped in a jade green glow. I used the momentum to swing the creature around in an arc and slammed it into the grass covered road with a loud hollow crack as the glow faded from it.

"Heh," Sister chuckled. "Wasn't so..." The beast rolled to its hooves and jumped onto the wall. It then walked up the wall before disappearing into the night fog. "...hard...?"

"What?!" I shouted as I stomped my forehooves into the ground and a snarl formed on my face. My ears swiveled as the beast's new howl was answered by more howls. I slowly backed towards the Cloudchaser as I said. "We should probably hide now..."

Sister turned and bolted for the Cloudchaser while I continued to back away as I scanned all of the buildings I could. The metal spring bow floated in front of my vision as I did so.

However the strange plop of the odd mule was mirrored by more than one of them. The bow was aimed in a general direction of the sound and I released the spike. I watched as it quickly disappeared into the misty fog.

There was a metal clang followed by a thud and nothing else. My head tilted but I quickly picked up my pace when I saw shapes moving towards me in the fog. The bow was brought close and slung across my neck at the same time I brought out the missile launcher.

She floated just ahead and to the side of my vision. My magic encased both her and a rocket as the weapon was loaded and the safety was dropped. With my good eye I looked at the shapes galloping closer in the fog and aimed ahead of them with the Annihilator.

There was a whoosh to my right as the rocket motor ignited and sent the warhead down range.

As the warhead struck ahead of the mules, it exploded in a large fireball and sent flaming debris everywhere; including a mule that was on fire. A few of the shapes immediately jumped off to go chase after the flaming one. I gulped as I loaded in my second to last round.

From the tearing I could hear under the howls of delight, it sounded as if they were pulling the poor creature apart. But my thoughts were interrupted as one of the aforementioned monsters leapt at me from the fog.

The Annihilator was brought up sideways at the same time the creature fell down upon it. Her, for it was a mare, mouth clamped and gnawed at the metal as its suckers held on to the tube. Again I twisted the weapon and flung the creature down hard. Her head cracked as it struck concrete, but the howling creature stayed attached to the missile launcher.

I hissed at the thought of what I was about to do.

Instead of fighting further I let the weapon drop from my magic's grip and charged the creature. It was stunned and moving slowly, but I quickly closed the short gap and lowered my horn. It looked up just in time to get an eye full of horn.

My exquisite horn met little resistance and before I knew it I had my head pressed against its eye socket. I lifted my head, the twitching creature followed, and quickly turned it. The creature flew off my horn but was caught in my magic.

I flipped the weapon around, triggered off a missile towards the horde of monsters, and galloped away without caring where the warhead hit.

Sister and Sienna were already waiting for me when I got to the Cloudchaser. Sienna's eyes widened as she shrieked. "There's one on your weapon!"

"I know, it's dead!" I telepathically shouted back at her. "But there are more behind me!"

Sister aimed her twins in my direction as she waited for an opening. And yet, she lowered them as her gaze scanned the fog. Sister tilted her head slightly. "No there aren't? It's just fog."

As I reached the cloudship I slowed to a stop and looked back.

There was nothing.

Only the cold misty fog to greet my vision. I then looked down at the clearly dead and twitching mule which meant they were real..

A bit of warm black goo dripped onto my nose, causing me to look up. The creature's eyeball, or what was left of it, was impaled on my exquisite horn. A soft green glow surrounded it as I pulled the thing off and tossed it to the side.

"Shock," Sister began. "Horns aren't meant to stab things with. You’re the only alicorn I know that does that!"

“But it’s fun…” I absently nodded as my gaze was drawn down to the monster. It's blood leaked out of two new holes and coated the launcher tube, causing me to frown. My wing came up as my nose scrunched up in disgust from the stench that I only noticed at that point.

"I need a bath," I said quietly with my mind.

*** ***

Sister and I walked through the Cloudchaser's rusty deck. Sienna rode on Sister's back and the monster mule was dragged behind me. All attempts to remove it from the launcher went for naught. It seemed even in death the creature would not relinquish its hold.

Thus far in our search, the three of us had yet to come across the owner of the journal, Helga, or the wreckage. It was as if Ripper had simply never existed. The cafeteria turned bedroom was just a plain decrepit cafeteria with everything scattered around.

"Ding!" Sienna exclaimed as Sister walked over a trashed poster. I looked over as my head tilted. Sister looked at her as well. Sienna tapped her Pipbuck. "That's what this broken device just did."

I let the missile launcher drop as I walked over to the spot Sister stood and shoved her out of the way with a push of my good wing. The poster was a faded Ministry of Peace poster depicting Fluttershy and her bunny. At some point a pony had painted an arrow on it, which I followed to the blank wall. My magic reached out to probe the spot as I looked for any defects or oddities. I found none. With a hiss from my lips, I grabbed the poster in my magic and tossed it.

That was when I noticed something on the back of the poster. I quickly floated it back to me.

As I looked at the writing I tilted my head, because it looked like gibberish.

Dear whoever finds this.

Well first off, good job getting Through my defenses. Second, as you Can see everything is gone. Where did I go you wonder. Well I'll tell you in a minute, but first: good job getting through my defenses. Have you come for the Megaspell I wonder? Did you come to say hello? Perhaps you did, perhaps not. Was I really here in the first place? Or was I just a figment of your delusional mind.

Yes, I'm talking to you: Shell Shock.

If those Enclave birds did it right then you should be out and reading this poster. A specific poster for a specific pony, in a specific place, at a specific time. Why all these Specifics? Not even I know, but I know this. I'm not in the room with you. Where you think you were, you ain't never were. What you thought you knew, ain't true,,.

I stopped reading after a while as it turned into pure rambling. Something told me it may be useful or it may not be, so it went into my bags.

Hoofsteps caused my ears to swivel as I turned around and my gaze fell upon an odd sight as two thoughts popped into my head. One was to crush the chartreuse green unicorn's skull under my hoof. The other was wondering how he had gotten in.

The former thought won out.

My jade green magic wrapped around the pony as I tossed him into the rusty wall. He slammed hard into it and groaned. There was an incoherent shout to my left where Sister was, but I ignored it. My focus was only on the unicorn who wore Steel Ranger scribe robes.

He slowly recovered and groaned, but my magic tossed his head into the wall as I let go. The unicorn hit with a metal thump at the same time a weight shoved me to the side and a pony, that sounded like Sister, shouted in my ear. "Shell Shock, open your fucking eyes! He's collared!"

I blinked and took a moment to take in all of the details about the... impure stallion. Except his beautiful visage was marred by dirt, grime, and fresh blood that leaked down the side of his face. My one eyed gaze wandered from his unkempt silver mane, down his neck, and lingered on an active slave collar.

It stayed there for a whole until I looked at his tattered robes. They were what had set me off. His drenched robes clung to his body and showed that he was a mere skeleton of a pony.

I walked over to him and extended a hoof as I said. "I am sorry for my outburst. But your barding made me angry."

He looked at the hoof, me, Sienna, Sister, and after an eternity he took the hoof. I pulled him to his hooves and found he was light for his size. Which was almost as tall as Sister and about the same height as Bucky. The unicorn used his orange colored magic to pull off his robes.

I took a quick breath as my eye lingered on his slender frame. The chartreuse unicorn was not malnourished, but an almost model thin body type. However his beautiful flank was marred by a brand of a large number eight over his cutie mark, which made it all but impossible to identify, and a few scars from what looked like whips or swords.

He bowed his head slightly and said. "Apology accepted. I am Elder Celly, or was anyway, until some madmare named Star Paladin Eclipse took over the Steel Rangers here. She slapped this collar on me and said I had ten seconds to leave or it'd blow."

My ears drooped and the warm feelings I had vanished as soon as he said Elder Celly. But I smiled as an idea formed in my head.

If I could get on his good side he could help me against Eclipse when the time came. Not to mention put to rest the question of why they were here.

I nodded as I brought over a strip of healing cloth from Sister. My magic tore off a strip of cloth from his robe and dabbed it on his head as I began to treat his wounds.

He seemed content to just stand there.

"Are you okay?" Sienna asked in her gravelly voice. "You jumped into that wall pretty hard."

He smirked a little, but it was quickly replaced with a grimace when I pressed the bandage on his head and wrapped it. After it was tied tight I smiled and stepped back. "Please, sit. I have some questions if you don't mind me asking them."

Celly nodded as he planted his rump on the rusty floor and leaned against the wall. "First things first," he said slowly. "I'm not your slave and I never will be. Second, no using telepathy to talk to me. Are we clear?"

I nodded rapidly as I smiled and replied with my mouth. "Yes, crystal like the crystal pony I once was."

"Alright, ask away." He replied as he waved a forehoof about.

"Shock, this guy is just going to lie to you." Sister said as she groaned quietly

I ignored her and grinned. "If I help you to remove Eclipse from power will you remove the bounty from alicorns?"

He nodded as he stuck out his hoof. Mine bumped his as we shook hooves to seal the deal. "Alright, deal. You take out Eclipse by any possible means and I'll see what I can do. Was that it?"

"No. I was wondering if you knew why the Steel Rangers have such an interest in this place."

He shook his head slowly and somberly. "Afraid not. We knew the Goddess sent alicorns here, so we followed to stop their plans and stumbled across a treasure trove of pre-war relics."

My hoof connected with my face as a groan escaped my lips. "We were searching for something, yes. A way to make male alicorns so we could breed naturally and prosper. But we thought the Steel Rangers were looking for something as well and so we stayed."

"I find that a bit hard to believe as an excuse to come here," Celly replied as he scratched his chin.

I shook my head. "It is the truth. Have you ever seen an alicorn stallion?"

He nodded, then shrugged. "Well, once, but only here on this island. He wouldn't leave his building and called himself Sparkle-Cola or something like that."

My ears folded back as I looked at my hooves and pressed them together. "This pony I have also seen. I thought he may have been a figment of..." My eyes widened as I looked around the room at the same time Ripper's words came back to haunt me.

"Something wrong?" Celly asked.

I nodded slowly. "How do I know this is real?" I looked at Sister as I asked, "Sister, tell me. How do I know this is real?! What's fake and what isn't? I... I... Everything's..." I clutched my head with my hooves as I shut my eyes. "All my memories, Unity, the last two hundred years, that fake world. They're all blurred into a jumbled mess. I... I don't know what's real anymore..."

A pair of small forelegs tried to wrap me in a hug so I pulled Sienna into the hug and slowly opened my eyes. Sienna smiled her rotted smile at me. I gently patted her mane with a hoof as I let go of the hug. Something occurred to me at that moment when I was able to look deep into her eyes. Those innocent looking feral eyes held a glimmer of intelligence that betrayed her filly size. I smiled back at her regardless.

"So how did you tame a feral?" Celly asked.

I looked over at him as a deep frown formed on my face. His ears folded back slightly. "She is not a feral!" I shouted. "Sienna may be a ghoul, but she is not a zombie. As for how I 'tamed' her? I didn't."

Sister walked over to Celly and looked at his collar. She pulled it close and nearly pressed her muzzle against it. After a long while she shook her head. "I don't know, but it is real. Shock, can you take a look?"

I nodded while walking over to them. A green glow encased the collar as I gently pulled him close to inspect it. What I found was that slave collars were rather easy to disarm when you weren't getting shot at in a combat zone.

However unlatching and removing it without setting it off was another matter entirely. I smiled a bit as I set about disarming it.

*** ***

Celly lay in a corner of the room he called home. I couldn't help but watch him lay there. His room was almost like Ripper's, except he did not have a balefire bomb in the center of it. Instead it was furnished much like one would expect for the wasteland.

Bare of everything except the essentials. The bed he was using was actually the scribe robe he had previously worn, which was now dry.

Sister was staring at the artillery shell in confusion. Her ears back, head tilted, and an eyebrow raised. Apparently she had never before seen anything that could fire such a shell.

And rightly so as working artillery or tanks are very rare in the wasteland now.

Celly had been doing things with the Pipbuck I did not understand and it was laying in front of me as Sienna prodded it with a hoof.

"I did all I could, but that thing's scrambled and most of the functions don't work." Celly said quietly.

I nodded slowly. "E.F.S?"

"Nope," he replied. I hissed as I picked the device up and inspected the liner.

"How about S.A.T.S?"

"Nothing," he shook his head as he sighed. "It's in safe mode. All you have access to is the light and that's about it. You need a Pipbuck technician's tool kit to get it working properly again."

I nodded slowly and placed the device over my foreleg with the scars. My magic closed the clasp and locked it in place. "There. That settles it."

As the device was booting up Sister facehoofed. "Shock, you're a moron. The Pipbuck's broken!"

I nodded with a smile as a sickly alicorn popped up in the upper left of my vision with a red wing. "But this device will function as a light!" I said and tapped the aforementioned function. A soft and sickly green glow emanated from the Pipbuck. Its screen displayed a garbled mess and a few red marks on it.

Celly was right though.

After everything booted up it displayed all kinds of errors. Nearly everything was corrupt from whatever it was the pony did to it to make it permanently run a StealthBuck. Though it could do so no longer.

A smile formed on my face as I shut the light function off. Sienna placed her right foreleg next to mine and said. "Now we're match!" Her smile faded slowly. She poked her flesh and sighed. "Apart from my skin bein' so wrinkly."

"Well, we can fix that," I replied. "You know those Shadowbolt suits? I'm sure we can find something that fits you to hide your… fried looks..."

"Uh, Shock," Sister said from her corner. "Can I talk to you, alone?"

"Sure," I replied as I nudged Sienna over to a pile of 'toys' that was really junk. She scrambled over to them and began to push a cloudship toy around with her hoof. I got up and walked over to Sister and laid down, then lowered my head to touch horns with her.

Our world faded into nothingness. There was no sound, no light, and certainly no Sister or I. But slowly, it changed.

Grassy hills rose from nothingness along with a clear blue sky. I looked down at a sparkling, crystalline, tan hoof on my left foreleg. My right was metal, of course. The grass beneath them was perfect, as was the temperature and time of day.

Because it was a blank area in my mind.

I looked up and around at the sky. My gaze eventually fell upon the chocolate brown unicorn that was Sister. She slowly looked around the rolling hills as well before she looked at me and shot a glare that felt like she was burning through my skull.

"Shock, what the fuck is wrong with you?!" she shouted, causing me to take a step or two back as my ears folded against my head. "I send you out on a routine job and you vanish for weeks? Then all of the sudden you show up with an Enclave pegasus?! What? Happened?!"

"I... I... I don't know!" I shouted as I fell on my rump on the wet grass. My ears were pressed tightly against my head. I shut my eyes as I shook my head. "Really, I don't. I th-think I do but... what is real?!"

"Tell me," she replied then shook her head. "Better yet, show me everything that happened that day."

And so I did. A large flat wall appeared next to us and played out a memory. Starting after I galloped through the halls of the Crescent Moon. Though I did not remember having to make so many turns and a few times I even slipped.

Sister tilted her head. "How could you hit anything? You couldn't even walk straight!"

I shrugged as I gave her a grin. "I do not remember so much wobbling..."

She facehoofed and we went back to watching the memory. I skimmed through it quickly, Sister groaned quietly when I blew my self into another room, eventually we came upon the part where I triggered the jumping mine.

***===***===***

The shockwave sent red hot shrapnel through my feathers and sent me flying backwards through the air. My body landed in a heap as I tumbled along the road, leaving a bloody streak as I did so.

I felt nothing beyond fire burning inside and outside of every possible area. Blood leaked out of my ears and my vision on one side was nothing but red. I could not hear my own screams of pain through the ringing in my ears.

I lay there, bleeding out and whimpering in pain, while I waited for death to come. It felt like forever until my vision in my left eye started to darken. No doubt because of all the radiation I had soaked up and I was being healed at the same time I was dying.

I couldn't even move anything on my right side. So trying to crawl was out of the question.

After what felt like days, my ears twitched and swiveled at the sound of multiple hoofsteps and muddled voices.

"The blood trail leads... Sweet Celestia, look!" a male sounding pony shouted. "She's dead!"

The hoofsteps rapidly got closer as the ponies undoubtedly galloped over. As they were slowing down a mare said, "looks like somepony's trap finished her for us."

A pink hoof reached down into my vision and turned my head to face a familiar pink stallion's face. "Look at the dam-she's alive?!" Bucky shouted and looked off at nothing. "Look!"

"What?!" The mare shouted and shoved him away. His face was replaced by a teal face with a strawberry red mane. Eclipse's eyes widened as I blinked slowly. "How the fuck...? What's it take to kill her?!"

"Help me," I moaned as my left eye opened again. My right eye had long since been sealed shut by dried blood.

Eclipse looked away with clear disgust on her face. "She's a mess. We should do the wasteland a favor and kill her now."

"We shouldn't," Bucky replied.

“No point in keeping her alive,” Eclipse shook her head as she stood up and my head returned to its previous position of me staring at the broken concrete.

I felt cold metal press against my skull just behind my ear.

"Who the fuck are you two?" a pony shouted in a gravelly voice that sounded suspiciously like Ripper.

The metal was removed from my skull as Eclipse said. "This doesn't concern you, ghoul. Leave us alone."

"You're on my property," Ripper replied as her light hoofsteps came closer. A feathery wing tickled my chin as she turned my head to look into my eye. Ripper looked the same as I had last seen her: Rotting pale gold flesh, almost no mane, a ripped hat and purple dress along with a rusty saddle. She tilted her head a bit as a smile formed on her rotting lips. “We should get ya cleaned up ‘cause you look like shit. I need some help and you look like-”

"Who the fuck are you?" Eclipse asked, interrupting Ripper before she could finish what she was saying.

"No pony owns this area!" Bucky retorted at the same time Eclipse interrupted Ripper. "Those that did are long dead!"

Ripper nodded slowly. "Yes, and I watched it happen. That makes me the new owner. My name's Ripper and I came to check on a trap but what do I find?" She looked at Eclipse. "Two smoothskin mud grunts failing at-"

The side of Ripper's head exploded as a bullet slammed through and sprayed her brains everywhere. I watched as she fell and hit the grassy road as what was left of her brains leaked out. She stared at me, unblinking, with glassy eyes and an angered expression.

Then, I felt myself get dragged as one of them pulled me away. "I got a better idea," Bucky grunted and was most likely the one pulling me along. "We hook her into the simulator."

"I say we shoot her like the ghoul," Eclipse replied.

"No, this is better. Trust me. It'll be fun."

"Alright, fine." Eclipse sighed. "Just make sure she doesn't know it. Otherwise she might be able to get out."

“Just let her pass out then stick her in the machine.”

As I was being dragged away, I saw Ripper float off the ground as she was surrounded by mist. Her eyes were glowing as the bits of her brain and skull were floated back into place.

After it swirled itself inside of her through her nose, she dropped to the road and looked around. But by then she was too far away to help. She took flight with a flap of her wings and quickly disappeared into the clouds above.

***===***===***

I tilted my head at the memory. It was painful to watch, but insightful all the same. It explained a few things, but also left many questions unanswered. Like how ripper was able to stay alive after being shot in the head and having her brains splattered everywhere.

I looked at Sister, who was looking at me, and nodded. Her ears were back and her eyes had a sad look. "Alright, now we know. You got captured while slowly bleeding out. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

My hoof came up and covered her mouth as I shook my head. "It's okay. Nothing can change what happened. But I found some new friends and I am okay."

She nodded slowly as I let the hoof drop and looked at the memory again. Something was odd about it but I couldn't place it.

I shrugged and looked at Sister. "Are we done here?"

"Yeah, I think we are," she replied with a nod.

I nodded as well and broke the connection from her. The world around us faded and swirled until I was standing over the real Sister.

Celly and Sienna were sleeping to the drone of a rainstorm that beat down on the wreck of the Cloudchaser. Sister yawned quietly as she put a hoof to her mouth. When it was over she smiled and laid her head down.

My wing gently patted her back as I said only in her mind. "I am going to go take a bath. I shall be right outside."

“Alright, be safe, Shock.” She replied while her eyes shut.

I smiled as I walked towards the door.

*** ***

I walked out into the rain as I looked around and saw nothing but cold night fog. So I used my magic to pull the bandage off my wing and shut my eyes while spreading my wings. As the cold water touched my recent wound it flared in pain, which caused me to wince slightly. And so I stood there like a fool that did not know any better. The rain beat down on my wings for an eternity until they were soaked to the bone and unfit to fly with.

It took longer than expected to use the bloodied bandage to scrub myself clean and before I was done, my ears twitched around the time of soft hoofsteps echoed off the walls. I stood up as I removed my hoof and slowly looked around at the night fog.

A large pony shape slowly walked towards me. One thing I noticed was that it had a long slender horn like mine. My head tilted at this as I watched the pony walk closer. Slowly it was revealed to be a light azure blue alicorn. My ears perked up at her two-tone blue mane and perfect features.

The Goddess smiled at me, I bowed my head in return and said. “Goddess, your humble child had wondered what happened to you.”

“I had business to attend to but I see you have managed to escape. I take it my help was sufficient then?” She turned her head as her horn glowed softly.

“Help?” I asked as I sat down and tilted my head. “Do you mean showing myself to me or me shooting me in the face?”

“Both.” An object was levitated out of her mane and my head tilt increased as I looked at the book that was familiar. She floated it over to me and when it got close enough I wrapped my own green magic around it.

My magic opened the book and I began to flip through the pages. It was the same one I had originally found on that skeleton. After a while I came across a new entry.

The world ended a great many years ago in a battle of balefire bombs that obliterated nearly everypony and other creatures, plunging the world into nuclear winter as the pegasi blocked out the sun. However life finds a way to move on and it did.

We lost our home and became lost. But We finally found happiness in Unity. Life was perfect for Us, if a little wonky at first. Then one day, a little…

I stopped reading as looked up at The Goddess in confusion, my ears folded back. “But… I don’t remember writing in it...”

She chuckled as she shrugged and nodded. “Yes, perhaps not, but write in it you most certainly did. Think long, and hard, about what you have done and try to remember what actually happened. For surely your memories have been tampered with to make you believe false lies. Behind every lie is a truth, and behind every truth is a lie.”

I looked down at the journal. There on the back of the binding was a pen. With nothing else to do while the others slept, I closed it and decided then that it had to be finished.

And I will not die like the other owners.

Shell Shock: Level up!

New perk - Tip of the Spear. Your horn is sharper than most other unicorn or alicorn horns. Allowing you to stab better with it.