//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Unyielding Regret 
// Story: Fallout Equestria - The Code of Honor 
// by FireStorm2247 
//------------------------------//

							
Chapter 7: Unyielding Regret



“I should’ve said it… before it was too late.”




“I don’t believe this!” Redfield roared, barely keeping himself from bucking the wall. “How the hell could they have gotten somepony past us, let alone into a supervisory position?!” 

“Gabriel did this by his own free will.” Gunny replied bitterly. “He was a traitor, plain and simple.” 

Redfield stamped a hoof and sighed, turning to look at me where I lay. “I guess I uh… oh you an apology, Nova.” he said, composing himself to speak without a raised voice. It was still the middle of the night, and Redfield, Gunny, and Shore had returned from their scavenging trip to the old power station only a few minutes ago, about thirty minutes after we had stopped Gabriel’s sinister plot. Upon seeing the disaster area that Kayla’s second floor had become and seeing Gabriel’s corpse, Redfield had went into a frenzy of questioning. Of course, he didn’t take it well when he learned of what happened, and initially, he had blamed Gracie and I for what had been done. Thankfully, for him and me both, Kayla was able to explain things while still recovering from the fear left behind from nearly being murdered. Now, the whole situation just left a lingering discomfort among the room. We all knew that if Gabriel had gotten away with murdering Kayla, Proudspire might very well have fallen under Black Blood control. It was a carefully planned attack, and Gabriel was no fool. However, his assault had revealed that the Black Blood Raiders were preparing for bigger and much deadlier attacks against the small settlement. 

“No.” I replied, shifting in my place on the floor where I had been sleeping; after my back had been bandaged up, Gracie, Blake, Kayla, and I had all moved downstairs so as to avoid staring at Gabriel’s corpse. “There’s no need for an apology, but this move by the Black Blood was a nasty one. Something has to be done about it before they get a chance to pull something like this off again.” 

“Agreed.” Gunny voiced firmly. “You know now that the Black Blood have the guts and the brains to make big moves. Even if Gabriel did most of this on his own, the note that Nova found clearly shows that he made contact with the raiders, most likely at one of those attack camps.”

“And on top of that,” Shore added, adjusting his reading glasses with a hoof. “you cannot take out the risk that he has given information to the raiders about Proudspire. I don’t know what exactly he might have divulged to them, but those will all add up to advantages should they attack with any large force.”

“Look,” Redfield said after a sigh. “I know what y’all are trying to say, but we barely have enough ponies to keep Proudspire fortified. Half of us are ponies who can’t fight: wounded, foals, elderly. And when we put between fifteen and twenty-five guards up for sentinel duty each shift, we don’t have any free ponies left. I just don’t see how we can plan any kind of counteroffensive.” 

“None of the guards can be spared for some kind of offense, even if only a couple are trimmed from the shift?” I asked. “Surely you can manage something.” 

“It’s not that simple.” Redfield grimly insisted. “If we don’t have enough guards on the wall every shift, then that increases the odds of raiders doing heavier damage.”

“But didn’t you say a couple days ago that Kayla was trying to plan some sort of attack against the raiders?” Gracie inquired politely. 

“Yes… she’s working with Ironhoof to try and get some sort of strategy going, but it hasn’t gotten very far.” Redfield glumly answered.

“I’ll bet we can make something work if we have some time to prepare.” Gunny said thoughtfully, scratching his chin with a hoof. “Beside, we came back from the power plant with the stuff we needed and some extra weapons. Tomorrow that ammo press will be running and we can use what’s left of the powder and primer and mash it up with the metal you’ve got left to make a few more rounds. And now you’ve got a couple energy weapons as well from that room that wasn’t opened. You’ve got better gear, and you’ll have a working ammo press. That’s got to count for something.”

“Good point.” Redfield grudgingly agreed. “Some things have been working out for us, but Celestia send me to the moon if I say we don’t need more supplies. Proudspire’s still not in good fighting shape. Unlike the ponies of Challenger, we aren’t soldiers. The guards up on that wall are all self-taught, even me.”

“I really don’t think you need to be a soldier to learn how to survive against the raiders.” Gunny assured. “You’ve been repelling attacks for two weeks straight, and yet you’re talking like you’ve barely survived a small skirmish.” 

“Yeah but we don’t know how fortified those Black Blood camps are.” Redfield retorted. “There could be dozens of those bastards out there.” 

Bolstering Gunny’s use of history to make a point, I added, “But you remember what happened at that forward outpost. If five ponies could take out an outpost, what would fifteen ponies be able to do? What about twenty-five?” 

Here, Redfield was at a loss for counters. He opened his mouth several times as if to speak, trying to find something else to keep his own opinion alive. But after a minute of silence (and me staring at him to add pressure), he gave an exasperated sigh. “Alright.” he said, shaking his head. “I’m starting to think that we really could get something together to make some kind of counterattack. But if we fail this thing, then Proudspire will be left nearly unguarded and the settlement will die.”

“Kayla and Ironhoof just need some time to sit down and plan this thing out.” I said with a half-smile. “I’ve got faith in them that they can do this.” 

“You know…” Redfield began hesitantly. “they might want your help on planning this thing out too. Being raised in a Stable and all, your input could do wonders.” 

“Gunny would be the best stallion for that.” I pointed out, finding myself staring as I heard Gracie and Shore say the exact same thing at the same time.

Gunny looked between us, sputtering at hearing the three of us express his talent simultaneously. “Um… well… I suppose I could try and help.” he said with a slow nod. “If nothing else, I’d hope to try and get some fifty caliber rounds dished out from that ammo press tomorrow. That gem of a rifle could do a lot of good.”

“We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.” Redfield said. “For now, we need to clear out that body and then clean up. And then I don’t know about the rest of you, but I need some rest, especially if we’re going to be planning some harebrained scheme against the Black Blood.”

“Yeah… good idea.” Gunny agreed through a mighty yawn. 

As we all begun to resettle ourselves, Redfield stepped up to me, gently nudging me with a hoof. When I looked up, I saw that he was smiling at me. “”Hey.” he said, giving a dip of his head. “Thanks for saving Kayla’s life.”

I smiled back at the Proudspire commander. “Just trying to help is all.” 

“I’m glad you are. From now on, you and your friends have my full trust, and if we make it past the Black Blood, I’ll do whatever I can to help Hopeville.” Redfield declared with a determined nod. 

I was about to say my thanks when I heard hoofsteps on the stairs, and I looked up to behold a wobbly Ironhoof standing on the staircase, gazing down at us and looking like he had drank too much cider at the saloon. “Who the hell’s Hopeville?” he asked groggily; Redfield and I chuckled together.

***				***				***

Sleep was hard to win back after being taken away, and instead of sleeping like everypony else, I had only managed to doze off. My eyelids felt heavy and were thus kept closed. My mind was at ease, asleep all on its own, but still, I myself was not asleep. I could sense things around me, my surroundings, and I could hear as hoofsteps descended the stairs. The hoofsteps moved slowly, coming down the stairs and walking back around towards the room to stop next to me. There was a moment of silence in the room before I opened an eye to look around, instinct telling me that somepony was wanting something. Sure enough, there was a small pony standing behind me in the dark, already raising a hoof to try and nudge me awake. “Oh… you’re awake already…” whispered the little voice of Kayla. 

I shifted, giving a light moan as I got my body to work again. “Yeah… kind of.” I whispered back. “Is there something you need?” 

“No… not really… just somepony to talk to and to say thanks.” Kayla replied, shifting nervously.

“Like I said to Redfield, there’s no need for a thank you.” I replied gently. “This is just me… keeping my oath.” 

“Oath… like a promise?” the little filly asked quietly.

“Yes, you could say that.” I answered at an equally low volume. “Would you like to go outside so we can talk without waking the others?” At Kayla’s vigorous nodding, I stretched and rose to my hooves, carefully to avoid waking Blake who had been sleeping under my right wing. 

Kayla reared up on her hind legs and used her forehooves to twist the handle on the door and push it open. Outside, the little town of Proudspire was quiet aside from an occasional conversation springing up among the guards on night shift. It was still dark outside, but the cloudy sky to the east was beginning to brighten ever so slightly; morning was on the way. “What kind of oaths did you make?” Kayla asked me as we stepped into the town center together. 

“That’s a pretty personal question.” I replied, instinctively holding my inner self away from strangers… well… “But really, I suppose it doesn’t matter if I tell you.”

“We’re friends now.” Kayla said with a wide smile. “You can tell me. I wont tell anypony else if you don’t want to.” 

“I’m not too worried about it.” I replied, sharing a smile of my own. Sitting down on my haunches on the dirt, I took a breath as Kayla sat down next to me, and I explained, “Really, I have one long oath divided into multiple parts. I made a promise to help my fellow Stable dwellers in any way I could. That’s what I’m doing now, and though it has required me to do dangerous things that I normally wouldn’t want to do, I do these things for several reasons. One, I want to see my friends live on, especially after everything that’s been taken away from them. I want to see them all make something out of the wasteland and live happily again. That’s not something that can happen in a day, but they deserve to live well, and Hopeville is our chance to accomplish this. Another reason why I made the promise I made was because the Stable raised us to have a very strong sense of what was wrong and what was right. I’ve seen that here too, and knowing that there are good ponies out in the wasteland like the ponies that live in your town gives me all the resolve I need to try and keep that sense alive with my own ponies. The third and most important reason I made my promise… well, it’s what I promised my mother I would do. She told me to help them, and that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not a soldier or a leader or a scholar. I’m just a pony that likes to write and listen to music. But when I think about my parents, I know that I can keep my promise. I have to keep it… for them.” 

Kayla looked up at me, nodding slowly. “I promised my daddy something too.” she explained, looking downcast. “I promised him that I would be the best Chief of Proudspire that I could be. It’s easy enough to say, but it’s really hard work. I have a feeling that most everypony thinks I can’t lead, and I don’t blame them. I haven’t done anything good for this town yet, and it’s just getting weaker every day.”

“Why do you believe they think that about you?” I asked, looking down at her.

“Because I’m so young.” Kayla stated matter-of-factly. “I wasn’t supposed to lead yet, but I didn’t have a choice…” Here she trailed off, sighing as she looked at the ground. 

I was beginning to worry about her now. “What about Redfield and Ironhoof? They support you don’t they?” I asked.

“They didn’t have a choice either. When I became Chief, they had to support me. It’s part of their job.” Kayla answered bluntly.

“I think there’s a little more to it than that.” I pointed out optimistically. “I think they believe in you, just as they should. This is what gives a leader true strength, and when they have followers who believe in them and back them up, then that leader is encouraged to do greater things. She’s given that extra drive to do well not only for herself but for all who follow her. Don’t you think they believe in you?” 

“I… I guess so.” Kayla said, obviously uncertain of her own words. “I never really thought of it that way. I suppose daddy might’ve told me something like that someday… you sound kind of like him, you know? The words you speak… they sound like something he would’ve said.” 

Might have… would have… then it hit me, memories invading my mind in force. Even after all of this time, I had never really understood why a foal was leading a town and when I had first arrived in Proudspire, I had thought it one of the most bizarre things I had witnessed in my entire life. I had seen Kayla on a couple of occasions, yet I had never really paid attention as to why she wasn’t with a stallion and a mare that might’ve been her parents. Hell, I had been so absent-minded that I hadn’t even recognized the clues given to me by Gabriel himself when he tried to hire me to kill Kayla. He had spoken of experience over inheritance when it came to leading, firm in the belief that inheritance was an improper way of electing a leader. This was the primary reason behind his intention to kill Kayla… and yet I was completely oblivious to the truth about the young Chief herself. But now I understood that truth, and I felt ashamed that it had taken me this long to figure out that Kayla was living alone and without a blood family. 

I saw Kayla’s eyes watering as she looked up at me, trying to smile at me after her comparison of myself to her father. But she couldn’t hold it forever, and she turned away as her body hitched with a sob. She was frozen there, gradually allowing herself to sway slightly from side to side as if that would help her contain the tears, but then she leaned over towards me, stopping with her head only a few inches from my chest. It was obvious that memories of her earlier years were assaulting her mind, and it pained me to understand what she was going through… right now she needed some comfort. 

Reaching over, I pulled her against me, and as soon as her head made contact with my chest, she buried her muzzle into my coat and begun to cry openly. I hugged her close, embracing the weeping filly to let her emotions take their course, and gently rocking her from side to side, I said, “I’m so sorry Kayla. Your father sounds like he was a great stallion.” I spoke sincerely, feeling heartfelt sorrow for Kayla’s loss, and as she wept, I came to a bitter understanding. I knew now that this brought a terrible similarity between us, both of us having lost our parents, and her description of her own father constructed a noble mind, a proud leader, and an honorable father… another life claimed by the Equestrian wasteland’s cruelty. I wouldn’t wish this kind of a fate on anypony, and it pained me to know that there were other ponies out there who had very likely gone through the same terrible things that I had endured. Kayla was a particularly disheartening case; no young filly or colt should have to bury their parents. 

“He w-was…” Kayla stammered in between sobs, her voice muffled against my coat. “him and mom both… they never gave up.” 

I gave a solemn nod and gently ran a hoof up and down on the back of her neck, trying to sooth the little filly in any way I could. “And I bet you’re the kind of young mare that would never give up either.” I cooed softly. “Even though I’ve only known you for so long, I can see that, plain as day. Do you want to know how I know this?” Kayla looked up at me, tears running down her cheeks. “Because nopony ever truly dies. Right now, your parents live in you because they loved you, and you will always remember them. That’s how they survive… through your memories, your heart.”

“R-really?” Kayla asked after a sob. 

“Yes.” I repeated gently, looking her in the eyes while giving her my best smile. “Your parents live in you, just like my parents live in me, because so long as we’re alive, we will never forget them.” 

“Y-you lost your parents too?” Kayla asked, sniffling. 

“Yes…” I answered sadly, a tear forming in my right eye to slide down my face. “And I think about them all the time, all the time. I always think about the good times we had, what they taught me, how highly they thought of me, and thinking about these things ensures that I’ll never forget them. I think I can safely assume that you feel the same way I do.”  

Kayla managed a smile, her tears of sorrow being replaced with a pair of more joyful ones. “Yeah… I never will forget my parents. And that’s why I have to do my best, because they believed in me to lead Proudspire. So do my friends, Redfield and Ironhoof. If I quit now, Proudspire wont make it, and then everything my daddy worked for would’ve been for nothing.” She sniffed again, using a foreleg to begin wiping away her tears, and I smiled at seeing her visibly recover. “You really showed me something special today Nova… thank you so much. I wont forget what you said.” 

“You’re welcome Kayla.” I replied, feeling much better now that she was returning to her original self, and when she smiled up at me, I embraced her one more time.

“Now it’s time to get serious in planning an attack against the raiders.” Kayla declared as I released her. “Proudspire’s been waiting for me to do this for far too long. I owe it to them to do my best to do the right thing.” 

“I’m certain that everypony in Proudspire is ready and waiting to help you out Kayla.” I assured confidently. It was about that time, the cloud cover to the east continuing to brighten. Soon, we’d be taking the fight to the raiders.

***				***				***

“This is everything.” Cross said, gesturing a hoof across the assembly of tables lined along three walls of the armory building’s first floor. Placed all along the tables and stacked on the floor underneath them was the collective firepower of Proudspire. It was late morning, and plans were fully underway to prepare and execute a counteroffensive against the Black Blood camps around Proudspire. After putting on all our respective gear, we went to our tasks for the day. Gracie was put in full command of the clinic so as to try and put as many injured ponies back into duty as she could before nightfall. At the same time, Shore was tasked with finishing the repair efforts on the ammo press as well as making fifty caliber ammunition for Gunny’s sniper rifle. Gunny chose to check over all the gear in the armory to help in planning the distribution of weapons during the counterattack as well as assisting in any final repairs. After leaving Blake at the clinic, I chose to follow Gunny and observe as many of the preparations as I could. So far, all I knew about what was to come was that the attack had been planned for nightfall today. By the evening, it was hoped that everything would be in order so that everypony involved would be able to receive instructions and move out. 

“This is it?” Gunny asked, sounding slightly disappointed despite his neutral expression.

“Yep.” Cross nodded. “Upstairs we’ve got stashed raider weapons to use for spare parts to make our own weapons serviceable. Down here is what we use. Aside from the assorted rifles that everypony on the first shift took up to the wall with them, we’ve got two three-o-eight sniper rifles and two thirty-ot-six rifles with scopes. We’ve got two five fifty-six LMGs and two thirty caliber machineguns, the belt-fed kind. Then we’ve got five missiles left for our launcher, and then assorted rifles - assault, semi-automatic, bolt and lever action, stuff like that. We’ve got sidearms too, but they don’t make much of a difference to begin with.”

Gunny shook his head. “Any weapon will be useful. So you’ve got this, you’ve got whatever’s up on the wall, and then you’ve got Nova and the rest of us. Would you consider using raider weapons if the situation called for it?”

“They’re all in bad shape.” Cross stated matter-of-factly. “I guess some of them can be used. But really, that’s only because there’s just a few more good parts that keep the weapon together than bad parts that wear it down. Sometimes we wonder how the hell the weapons they had even managed to shoot bullets at all. They don’t believe in weapon maintenance one bit.” Here he paused, smirking at his own claim before he added, “So I guess some of them can be spared if we’re in a tight spot, which we are. I wouldn’t use one, but other ponies may need one out of lack of choice.”

“Okay.” Gunny nodded, looking up as he made an idea. “I’d also like to go ahead and donate that fifty cal along with however many cartridges Shore manages to get out of that ammo press.”

Cross raised a questioning eye. “Why would you want to give away that beast?” he asked. “I know enough about weapons to know that you don’t come across a gem like that every day. You could at least make some caps off of it before you let it go.” 

“So long as I see it being used in this counterattack, and maybe put back into service in Hopeville, I’ll be a happy stallion.” Gunny replied easily. “Last I checked on it, it was still pretty beat up, but it should still get a few rounds off before we’d have to get replacement parts for it.”

“If you say so.” Cross said with a shrug. “We’ll make sure that it gets into the hooves of our best sniper. Tulip would probably be the best pony for it.”

“Have I seen her before?” I asked, curious.

“She was the mare that welcomed you to our little town. Pink coat, violet mane, those colors that are hard to forget.” Cross answered, his face rising in a smirk. “But don’t let her name or color fool you. She’s got the eyes of a griffin and the voice box of an ursa minor. She’ll take your ear off as quick as your head if you make her mad.”

“She must be in charge of discipline then.” Gunny remarked with a chuckle. 

“You’d better believe it.” Cross answered similarly. “Tulip and Rocky are the shift commanders up on the wall. Rocky takes the second shift and Tulip takes the night shift. Sometimes shifts will run for twelve hours, in which case those two’ll team up and take one shift while Redfield takes the other. So anyway, what about weaponry? We’ve got to arm up best we can while we still keep adequate weapons and ammo here in Proudspire to defend it.” 

I watched as Gunny looked over the weapons at Proudspire’s disposal, his firm stare showing that he was piecing together his thoughts to come up with a plan. “I’m not sure if Redfield will be wanting to send two different teams, one for each camp, or one large team that’ll take on one camp at a time. But no matter what option he takes, I think dividing these out evenly would be the wisest choice. Aside from the weapons that most everypony is assigned on the wall, I’m thinking that we divvy up those four scoped rifles and use the three-o-eight rifles alongside that fifty caliber.” Looking along the table, his gaze passed over the bigger machineguns. “The company of one of those thirty caliber machineguns wouldn’t hurt either. That and maybe the missile launcher with the rest of its missiles. Those should be adequate enough.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Cross stated with a nod. “It’s not like they’ve got a lot of fortifications out there. From what we could see, which wasn’t much unfortunately, they didn’t have any buildings in those camps. They didn’t even have any farmhouses like their forward post did.”

Gunny frowned. “Then that’ll most likely mean that this coming attack will be heavy combat with minimal cover. How’s the armor you ponies are wearing? Hopefully it’s in good shape, because you’re going to need to be as protected as possible.”

“We manage to keep our armor cleaned up and maintained.” Cross began, but sighed, his confidence in that statement instantly fading away. “But when we take hits, there’s no way to repair the damage that bullets do. We can only do the basic maintenance to keep armor from falling apart entirely.” 

“Anything I might be able to do to help with that?” Gunny asked.

“We’re going to look over the gear one more time.” Cross answered. “You’re free to try and fix up anything you can on our final equipment check.” 

At Gunny’s nod, I cleared my throat and said, “I think I’ll go check up with Shore and see how things are going on his end.”

The two stallions looked at me. “Alright Nova.” Gunny said. “We’ll see you later today.” 

I nodded, looking between them and giving a smile before I left the armory and trotted back outside. Across the town center, the door to the ammo press building was ajar, and upon stepping into the doorframe, I saw as Shore gazed into a glowing terminal screen, the monochromatic green glaring bright against his reading glasses. Also inside the ammo press were two other stallions who were checking over the machine itself. From what little I knew about the contraption, it looked to me like it was in good shape. There wasn’t any junk laying around on the floor, and the machine was in one piece, so I took that as a good sign; judging by the big smile on Shore’s face as he looked at me and waved me in, I felt that there was no reason to doubt my assumption. “Ah hello. Please do come in.” Shore said, focusing back on the screen. “We are just about ready to power up the ammunition press and see if we can get it working correctly.”

“Did everything go well last night?” I asked him. 

“Oh yes.” Shore answered confidently. “When we went inside to search the power plant, the fission battery that we needed was easy to find. We just had to remove it from one of the old security robots inside. Unfortunately I was unable to revive one of the robotic sentries when they were destroyed, and neither was I able to reprogram them. The mainframe within the plant was destroyed long ago and sneaking up on them was quite useless. But we did manage to acquire some energy weapons which I must go and visit later today. Hopefully I can tune them up enough to make them useable in the coming counterstrike. So we did get some new technology out of the plant. We could have gotten more, but we could have also gotten less.”

“Shore, it’s ready.” one of the two ponies by the ammo press announced, closing a metal panel on the side of the machine. 

I watched as Shore looked back at the terminal. After a moment of silence, he nodded, apparently pleased with whatever he was seeing on the screen. “The battery works… the press has sufficient power… turn it on then.” he said. The second worker pony at the press trotted around to the back of the iron machine and pulled down on a large lever. With a moan, the machine begun to rumble to life, the motor firing up and all of the components coming alive one by one. “Success!” Shore shouted, raising a hoof above his head as he basked in his victory. 

“Now, Gunny wants us making fifty caliber ammo?” one of the two worker ponies asked as he opened another compartment at the base of the machine. 

“That’s correct.” Shore confirmed with a nod. “He wants as many cartridges for it as you can make.”

“We’ll see what we can do.” one of the workers said. “Thanks for getting this tin can running again. You’ve done us a world of good.” 

Shore smiled a big smile, proud of his technological and scientific victory. “Well,” he said, trotting up to me. “time for me to take a look at those new energy weapons. It’s exciting really. We found one of the original model laser rifles as well as one of the original model plasma rifles. I’ve been working for so long on my own weapon projects that I’ve nearly forgotten about the original models and…” he was interrupted as he looked over me towards the door of the ammo press, and when I turned around to look, I saw a stallion, breathing heavily as he stared at me. 

“Nova, Redfield wants you up on the wall. There’s a situation… we think it might be another attack.” the stallion said, disappearing before I could even answer.

I stood still a moment, my mind processing what it heard before I kicked into gear. Nodding my goodbye to Shore, I dashed out of the ammo press and launched into the air to cut down the travel time to the gate. The top of the wall was ripe with activity, most of the guard ponies galloping to the north face of the wall to see what was happening. As I stopped to hover over the crowd, I saw as one of the sniper ponies on duty peered through the scope of his rifle before raising a hoof to point out to the north. “Yeah I see her.” he said to Redfield who was standing beside him. “Just one mare… no gear, no weapons, no raider armor either. I’d take that as an encouraging sign… hang on. Looks like she might be wearing something. I can’t tell what though.” 

“It is an encouraging sign.” Redfield seemed to agree. “But I’m not taking any chances at the moment. For all we know, she could be with the raiders as some kind of spy or decoy. I want everypony on high alert!” he ordered loudly. “Everypony get back to your stations and keep an eye out. As soon as Nova gets here we can find out for sure who this mare is.” 

“Right here Redfield.” I called as the guards begun to disperse, and Redfield craned his head back to look up at me where I hovered. 

“Right on time.” he remarked, motioning for me to come down to the wall with him. When I joined him, landing neatly on the wall and tucking my wings against my battle saddle, he said, “We spotted a pony out to the north a couple minutes ago, an earth pony mare to be exact. She looks like a young mare as well, perhaps having just fully grown up. I can’t really say… but anyway, we tracked her for a time and saw that she was literally galloping full speed. However, she wasn’t really moving in any certain direction. She would go one way, and then turn around and move back or go an entirely different direction. The only thing I can think of as the cause of this is that she’s panicked about something. She hasn’t gone and tried shooting up the wall or anything, so I want to send somepony out to talk to her and find out what’s going on. Would you be able to do this for me?” 

“By myself?” I asked, becoming instantly nervous. “Isn’t it kind of dangerous to be going out around Proudspire on my own? What about the raiders?”

“I’ll be having my snipers keep you covered along the way.” Redfield said easily, putting a hoof on my back to try and reassure me. “They’ll be watching you with their scopes. If they spot any danger, they’ll fire a shot as a signal for you to hightail it back to the wall. All our ponies here on the wall will be ready for trouble, so if you have to hurry back, they’ll keep you covered.” 

“Will I get any backup?” I asked. “I’d feel better if somepony else came with me.” 

“I’ll come with you.” I heard from behind me, and I turned to see Cross on the wall, his rifle strapped to his back. “I heard the commotion up on the wall. What’s going on?” Redfield quickly explained to Cross what he had told me, explaining the mare who had been spotted to the north; she was apparently now galloping towards the town. “Alright then. Race you Nova!” Before I could even speak, he crouched before springing off of the wall and over the railing towards the ground below. I hurriedly looked over the railing, fearing that the fall would hurt him, but to my surprise (and amusement), he landed neatly on his hooves before galloping out towards the north, seemingly oblivious to the fall.

I heard Redfield sigh. “Well, there’s your backup. Not like I’ve got much of a choice anyway.” he grumbled, looking back at me. “Get out there and check it out. We’ll keep you covered up here on the wall and remember, if we find trouble we’ll fire a warning shot. You hear a shot, then hightail it back to the wall.”

I nodded. “Alright then. I’ll do it.” And with that, I snapped out my wings and launched into the air, circling around and then driving off after Cross. The earth pony was a fast runner, but of course, to my private satisfaction, wings beat hooves in speed anytime. I flew on by him, rising in altitude as I searched for the mare that had been spotted. Just ahead, a single pony was continuing her gallop. But as I closed the distance between us, the pony stopped and waved a frantic hoof in the air to try and catch my attention. Out of cautionary habit, I flipped the safety of my battle saddle off and I angled down towards the lone pony below. The pony was definitely a mare, and her coat was a cotton candy pink. However, this pretty color was marred with a series of scars and a matted and frayed mess of hair that was her mane and tail, bright blue under the dust and grime. 

I pulled up and hovered, lowering myself down to the ground in a gentle landing before tucking my wings against my sides, and cautiously, I approached the mare. She however, did not take the same caution as I did, and she ended up galloping straight at me to close the distance between us. I stepped back on instinct, reaching for my saddle’s firing bit before she skidded to a stop about two pony-lengths in front of me. The mare was breathing heavily, and though I would normally have thought exhaustion to be the culprit behind that, the look in her eyes showed that she was scared… very scared. “Y-your from Proudspire right?” she asked, quavering before me. “That s-settlement behind you?” 

Her fear drove away my caution… it was genuine fear, fear that I had felt before, and the way she shook when she spoke made me ease up. I returned the safety of my battle saddle to the on position and took a tentative step forward. “That’s right, I am.” I answered gently. “What’s wrong? Why are you shaking?” 

“Please, you’ve got to help me!” she cried. “The Black Blood!… T-They captured me… beat me… raped me! I-I managed to escape one of their camps, but I think they’re still after me!” Now that I looked, I could see that her body was marked with several cuts as well as a scattering of wounds that were still healing. Her entire coat was dirtied, tainting her natural pink color, and her flanks were particularly scarred, bringing truth to her claim that she had been raped… perhaps more than once. “But that’s n-not the worst part!” she continued fearfully. “They strapped me with explosives while I was imprisoned! I-it’s been beeping on and off, but it hasn’t gone off yet! Y-you… please get this thing off of my neck!” 

She was practically pleading by the end of this claim, and I stared with shock. “Explosives?” I asked, puzzled and nervous. 

“The collar!!” the mare screamed, raising a hoof to tap a metal collar clamped around her neck. The device was a thick metal contraption, clamped tightly around her neck and showing signs that it chaffed at her coat. Around the device was a series of sensors and other tiny machines and components that must have made up the collar’s explosives array. Oh Goddesses… I didn’t know anything about this device!! What the hell could I possibly do??

“I-I don’t know anything about this… I’ve never even seen one before. I…” I said, trying to explain my lack of pyrotechnic knowledge before I was interrupted by a beeping sound that begun to emit from the collar. 

“Oh please get it off!!” the mare begged, falling to her stomach and in tears as the collar beeped it’s ominous note. 

“CROSS!!!” I cried, desperately looking around behind me before finding the stallion as he stampeded towards us. 

Skidding to halt beside me, he heard the same noise I heard and his ears pricked. “What the hell is that sound?” he asked, all too casual for the new gravity of the situation. 

“Cross!” I shouted, catching a surprised look from him. “This mare’s been fitted with an explosive collar! You’ve got to get help!” 

“Explosive coll… oh shit!” Cross exclaimed, taking hasty steps back and away from the mare and her explosive neckwear. “Yeah, yeah I know a pony who can help. Her name’s Flare and she’s a unicorn that’s real good with pinpoint magic. I’ll stay here with the mare, you go back to Redfield and tell him that we need Flare. Hurry!” Wasting no time, I launched back into the air, leaving the two behind as I winged back to Proudspire. 

On the wall, the guardsponies were all stationary, looking out into the wasteland for any signs of trouble. Redfield waved me down before I returned to the wall, but instead of landing, I angled in to hover in front of him. Time was of the essence here. “Redfield, I have no time to explain, but I need Flare to come out and meet us.” I explained quickly. 

“But what’s going on out there?” Redfield demanded. 

“The mare was captured by the Black Blood. She’s wearing an explosive collar that they put on her and it could detonate at any time!” I said after a light sigh. “That’s why I need Flare out here NOW!” 

“FLARE! Flare, get up here!” Redfield called out. As I heard the name echo along the wall, the guards passing along the call to one another, I turned around and cast a nervous look to the north. There was no fire… no explosion… at least not yet. 

“What’s happening? Need help?” I heard a mare call over the noise. Farther down the wall, a fiery red-orange unicorn mare with a crimson mane and tail was making her way towards Redfield.

“Apparently, Flare, that mare we found is wearing an explosive of some kind.” Redfield explained, looking back at me. “Nova needs your help to disable the explosive before we bring the mare into Proudspire.”

“Right away Redfield.” Flare replied with a determined nod. The guards cleared a path for her to run along the wall and down to the ground. Quickly, Proudspire’s gate opened up, and when Flare begun to gallop away to the north, under escort by an earth pony stallion guard, I took flight after them. Instead of flying past the two galloping ponies below, I angled in above them and kept my pace equal to theirs. All the while, I kept my eyes on the north, waiting uneasily for that moment I dreaded… the moment I’d see fire up ahead. But fortunately, that moment never came. As we ran and flew, I saw both Cross and the frightened mare up ahead. Both of them had stayed where they were when I left, and both of them were fully intact. However as we closed the distance between us and them, I heard that ominous beeping as the collar’s timer continued to tick. Every beeping sound was like another piece of time being stolen away from the mare’s life, and if that collar went off, that life would be gone entirely. 

I landed near Cross as Flare and her guard approached the shaking mare. Even before Flare had gotten the chance to speak, the collar’s slow beeping accelerated slightly, and the mare gave another whimper. “Please… help me…” 

“I’m Flare.” the unicorn mare said to the trembling earth pony. “I need you to calm down and listen to me so I can try and get this collar off of you.” At the earth pony mare’s nodding, Flare continued. “I need you to stretch out your neck for me… good, just like that. Now stay calm, and I’ll get this collar off. I’m going to need the rest of you to get back to a safe distance. This is dangerous stuff here.” 

At Flare’s instruction, I moved back and away from the explosive collar, joining Cross and the guard and watching anxiously as the unicorn worked. Her horn begun to glow, the collar becoming encased in magic as Flare focused in on the explosive, looking over every component for a way to open the collar and set the earth pony mare free. Just as she begun to work, the collar begun beeping faster, each beep sounding less than a half-a-second apart. “Damn… the collar’s been broken… it wont open manually…” Flare said aloud as she continued her inspection. A dreadful feeling settled in my gut, making me feel ill, and Flare looked a bit nervous as well as she begun focusing on a single component of the explosive collar. “Here’s the explosive…” Flare said, using her magic to extract a small panel from the device. “I need a blade! Or at least something sharp to cut wires with!” 

The guard quickly acted, craning his head around to pull out a combat blade strapped to his right foreleg. Setting it on the ground, the guard backed hastily away from Flare as she levitated the blade up to her side. Turning it to face the device, she carefully stuck the tip of the knife inside of the compartment she was focusing on. Giving a shaky breath, Flare carefully moved the knife in what I assumed was an attempt to cut a wire. 

The collar begun to beep even faster. My gut instinct told me that there wasn’t much time left. “Flare…” I called out nervously, taking another step back. 

“I’ve almost got it!” she cried, a little loud due to her anxiety. “If I just… cut… this… wire…” she gave a slight gasp, the knife jerking slightly as it cut through her wire of choice. Now the beeping of the collar was louder and even faster… but the lock on the collar released and the device fell to the dirt with a thump. 

Flare tossed the knife away and dove out of the way, and Cross and the guard followed, covering their heads as they hit the dirt. But just as I was about to do the same, I noticed with shock as the mare only stood up and stared at the device where it lay… as if she was dumbstruck at having the thing removed! “Are you crazy?!” I cried. Disregarding safety in its entirety, I charged forward towards the paralyzed mare and I tackled her, bringing her to ground a small distance away from the collar as we tumbled over one another. And then the collar detonated, sending dirt spraying over me. The explosion was not as powerful as I thought it would’ve been, but it was still loud and set my ears to ringing. Much to my annoyance, it also singed my tail which I proceeded to slap against the dirt to extinguish a small spark that had flickered to life on the blue hair. “Are you alright?!” I called, a little louder in an attempt to hear myself over the ringing in my head. 

I looked to see the pink mare laying on her side, breathing heavily beside me, and after a moment of silence, she raised her head up to look at me with wide eyes. “Y-you… you saved me…” she said shakily. 

I rose to my hooves with a grunt. “No, that was Flare.” I corrected her bitterly. “Why didn’t you move??” I asked, that same bitter edge on my voice accompanying the question.

“I-I’m sorry…” she said, her wide eyes immediately shaping into a sorrowful stare. “I-I just… that collar was on me for so long… I wasn’t used to having it off. It… distracted me.” 

I sighed, lowering my head to think. If she was that petrified when the collar had been removed, the raiders must’ve done terrible things to her. And while I knew that I had no right to inquire what she had gone through, I begun to understand what she said. I had to be reasonable. Even if she had nearly gotten killed after Flare had worked that collar off of her, her words made me understand that this was something I needed to put behind me. She was alive now, and that was what was truly important. “I understand. I’m sorry… and I’m glad that you’re alright.” 

Just then, I heard a gunshot echo across the sky. By the volume of sound, it was definitely a rifle shot, and it came from Proudspire. “Nova, we’ve got to scoot!” Cross called from behind me, and when I moved to turn and look, dirt suddenly popped up from the ground beside me, a bullet striking the ground. Just a second later, two more bullets struck the dirt around us, and as I sprang back into the air, I could see an advancing squad of six red and black armored ponies stampeding towards us from the west. “GO!” I heard on the ground, seeing as Cross faced the squad. “I’ll draw the heat while you ponies get back to Proudspire!” he said, craning his head around to grab his rifle by the firing bit and remove it from his armor; swinging it forward to bear against the enemy, he opened fire.

Flare and the now rescued young earth pony mare had no trouble in following that order, and the two bolted back towards Proudspire. Beside Cross, the other guard removed his pistol from its holster and fired, adding to the noise. But even though two raiders went down, the other four, now much closer, begun to grow more accurate. Cross, firing his eighth shot before an empty clip was ejected from his rifle with a resonating *ping* sound, was forced to sidestep and run. Next to him, the guard continued firing with his pistol, but suddenly, a shot from behind took him square in the back of the head, and he toppled forward, dead. From the east, I could see a second squad of six other raiders moving in. They were flanking us, making for the perfect ambush; I suspected that that was their goal all along, and we fell for it. There was no way Cross and I could fight ten raiders on our own, and so I winged back and away, angling in low over the ground. 

Cross was farther ahead, having put enough distance between himself and the raiders to reload his rifle under light fire. Stopping over him to hover, I flipped the safety of my saddle off and whirled around to face the incoming raiders, activating S.A.T.S.. I targeted the closest pony, moving quickly to catch up to us, and I targeted the stallion’s torso. One pair of shots was enough to kill him, and he toppled over just as another one of the raiders was struck with a sniper shot from Proudspire’s wall. Down below, Cross had finished reloading and fired back into the squad of raiders, killing two more with eight shots before the empty clip ejected from the rifle. 

I banked, the bottom of my hooves skidding along the ground before I pulled up in a steep vertical climb. Snapping left, I quickly arced back down in a dive as bullets from the raiders weapons zipped around me like angry bugs. I lined up another shot with S.A.T.S., targeting one of the six remaining raiders who was currently shooting at Cross as he reloaded again. Biting down on the trigger, I fired one pair of shots, and the two bullets struck the raider in the flank, causing the mare to drop to the ground in pain. With those shots, I had to wait for S.A.T.S. to recharge, and I arced left and away from the raiders line of fire… or so I thought. I jerked in the air, feeling pain as a bullet struck me in my right side, and I lost my pacing in the air, tumbling back earthward. With a cry, I snapped my wings back out as I fell, trying to catch myself in the air and stop my fall. But try as I might, I couldn’t get my wings to work. The wind buffeted against my feathers, preventing me from finding leverage to stop my fall, and I plowed into the dirt, skipping once over the ground before tumbling over myself again and again. 

Amidst a cloud of dust, I came to a rough halt, coming to rest on my right side which proceeded to bleed onto the dirt as my eyesight went black. I couldn’t see anything, but I heard the gunfire as muffled splotches of sound and I definitely felt my side burning in pain. The pain from the gunshot wound I had sustained there coupled with a rapidly developing headache, and that was enough to get my eyes open as I gave an involuntary groan of pain. Through the haze of my vision, I could see Cross backing up towards me, firing his rifle until the resounding *ping* of the ejected clip forced him to reload. Though he tried, he came under heavy fire, dirt and dust flying up around him. Leaving the weapon in the dirt, he wheeled around and ran up to me, stepping protectively over me. “Hang on Nova! I’m getting you back to Proudspire!” he shouted to me, and he begun to nudge under my side before additional gunfire caught his attention. 

At the same time, he and I looked out towards the advancing raiders. Though they had been advancing towards us, eager to kill the both of us off, they were now running away at full gallop. More gunfire sounded in a thunderous volley, and off towards Proudspire, I caught sight of a whole line of Proudspire guards, at least a dozen of them, marching forward and putting down fire onto the remaining Black Blood ponies. Ironhoof himself was leading them, now equipped in his full suit of steel armor, the solid plates covering every part of his body with the large machinegun built into the armored suit spewing lead out at the raiders to brutally cut them down as they retreated. And just like that, the skirmish was over, Ironhoof and his followers winning the field with their volley deadly volley fire. 

I gave a cough, trying to speak. At first, only a rough croaking sound came out, made from the mix of the pain in my body and the dust in my mouth. But after a round of pained coughing, I heard myself speak. “Help me… onto my other side Cross.” I said haggardly, trying to get myself up. My entire body ached from the crash landing, but from what I could tell, nothing had really been broken, and that was encouraging. “H-help me out…” I repeated shakily before suddenly feeling myself move. While Cross was a reliable stallion in combat, he didn’t know how to use his hooves gently. “OW!” I cried, feeling as he hoisted me up and lowered me back down to the dirt on my uninjured side, causing another pang of pain to ripple through my torso. I clenched my teeth, waiting for the sting to subside, and after a moment, I was granted some freedom from the pain of the wound. With a sigh, I asked, “How does… it look?” 

“Attractive.” Cross replied smoothly, making me raise an eye despite the situation. He was smirking at me again with that same smirk I had seen so many times since arriving at Proudspire. I couldn’t really tell if he was speaking optimistically or if he was just teasing me even now, but if I wasn’t bleeding, I would’ve probably laughed regardless. Instead, I only laid my head back down on the dirt and coughed again. “Yeah it’s a bit of a doozy.” he added, a little more concerned this time. “I think you might’ve been hit by a hollow point.” I watched as he looked back at the line of Proudspire ponies returning to the town’s wall. Ironhoof was separate from his column, and he was approaching us; he looked rather intimidating in his steel armor. “Ironhoof, Nova’s been shot!” Cross called, raising a hoof to briefly wave. 

I couldn’t see Ironhoof’s face behind his steel helmet, but his shiny black visor was looking down at me from where he stood. “How bad?” he asked through his helmet; his deep voice was slightly altered behind the steel he spoke through. 

“Hit in the torso. I think she was hit by a hollow point bullet because she’s bleeding pretty bad. She’ll need a potion.” Cross replied, looking back over my side again. “The guard that came out with Flare is dead too. We should bring him back so he can be buried.” 

“I understand.” Ironhoof replied with a nod. “I will find the guard. You take Nova back to the clinic so that the medical mares may tend to her.” I watched as Ironhoof turned towards the corpses left behind by the skirmish, his hooves making dull thumps on the ground because of the weight of his armor, and then I felt movement against my uninjured side as Cross nudged himself underneath me to lift me up onto his back. With a grunt, he rose up and lifted me off of the dirt. I was positioned securely along his back, my head resting over his right shoulder, and then with a sharp exhale, Cross begun to move, carrying me along with him. 

As we walked, I gave a sigh and let my eyes close, trying my best to ignore the searing pain still lingering in my side. Briefly, I felt as we stopped, and I opened my eyes again to see Cross as he picked up his rifle in his mouth before moving along, walking as fast as he could without making me bounce on his back. This resulted only in a slightly faster walk, but my side wasn’t affected because of it. 

Proudspire was still a slight distance away, and so I decided to speak, clearing my throat before I said, “Thanks for coming and helping me Cross. That was… a bit of a wild ride huh?” 

“Ow yurf awkin.” he answered through a mouthful of rifle. Comically, he tried repeating himself, twice, before he sighed and spat the rifle out. “Now you’re talking!” he replied clearly, smirking back at me. “Not only did we knock out another batch of baddies, but we even saved somepony else! I take that as a good accomplishment.” 

“It’s a shame about the guard though.” I commented lowly. 

Cross had the decency to lose his smirk at that reminder, replacing it with a half-frown. “Yeah… well, he did his part, and now he’s out of this hell hole of a wasteland.” he said, equally low before scooping up his rifle and taking me back to Proudspire. 

***				***				***

“Hey Grace, I think she’s waking up.” 

Through the haze of my mind, as I begun to feel the world around me again, I heard voices. “Oh good.” a higher-pitched voice replied. “I was beginning to worry.” Just after the last word, I felt a hoof press down gently on my foreleg. “Can you hear me Nova?” the voice asked. 

With a light sigh, I opened my eyes, briefly hazy before returning to normal. The first thing I noticed was that I was laying on a mattress, dirty, but still comfortable. My mattress was set into a corner of the building, surrounded by similar beds, and along one wall, I saw a row of yellow boxes, each marked with a pink butterfly; this must’ve been the clinic. “How long was I out?” I asked quietly, my voice only slowly returning to me; I felt groggy. 

“A few hours. It’s late evening right now.” Gracie replied, lowered down to her knees to look at me at a more level elevation. “How are you feeling?” 

“Derpy…” I said, sniffing before shaking my head. “Er… dizzy… ugh I’ve still got a headache. But hopefully that should go away soon. How is my side?” I craned my head back to look upon my side, and in place of a bleeding wound was a single large bandage; my coat was cleaned of red, erasing most of the more gruesome evidence of the wound’s existence.

“You were hit with a hollow point bullet.” I heard the deep voice of Ironhoof reply, altered by his helmet; he was standing next to Gracie. “Those do more bodily damage to targets that do not wear armor.”

“It was a lot of work to get the bits of lead out of you.” Gracie added. “You didn’t loose nearly as much blood as you could’ve lost however, and thankfully your crash landing didn’t end up with you breaking any bones. You were lucky in those regards.” 

Despite these encouraging comments, my body still ached from the crash. But as I curiously begun moving each of my forelegs and shifting my wings, I was pleased that every limb seemed to be working properly. Of course, now that I was healed (at least in my opinion), there was the matter of the coming counterstrike against the Black Blood Raiders. Now that it was evening, it wouldn’t be much longer before we would be preparing to move, so long as Kayla upheld her promise to formulate a strategy by nightfall. “What about the attack?” I asked, shifting on the mattress as I prepared myself to stand up. 

“Kayla’s come up with a battle plan.” Cross answered with a determined nod. “I think Redfield’s getting ready to dish out the orders soon.” 

“It should be soon, but are you certain that you wish to get up and fight again after taking an injury like that?” Ironhoof asked, raising a big steel-clad foreleg to point at my bandaged side. 

“I have to ask the same question.” Gracie added, before I could speak to protest. “While you didn’t suffer too much because of the shot, the bullet still did some major damage to your flesh where it hit and you did lose a good amount of blood while I had to extract the lead. I really don’t think you’re in the condition to be fighting right now, let alone in a full-scale battle.”

“No.” I said, shaking my head. “This is something that I want to see through. I need to be there to help in this fight and I’m not going to accept any argument that fights against that. I know, technically, I’m still kind of hurt. When I’m out there I’ll be careful, but in the end, it all comes back down to my first argument. This attack will be the one thing I need to uphold my promise to help Proudspire. If I see this battle through, then I’ll have honored my promise.”

Gracie, Cross, and Ironhoof all stared, a long moment of silence ensuing before Grace smiled at me. “You’re heart’s still in the right place.” she commented pleasantly. “Fine, I’ll let you go and fight this thing, but I want you to carry a pair of healing potions with you when you go. I wont be fighting, so I wont be there to fix you up if you take a bullet again.” 

I smiled back at my friend, glad that she was willing to understand. “Thanks Grace. So, should I get out there? Is Redfield telling us where to go?” 

“Not yet.” Cross answered, his familiar smirk painting his muzzle. “I know you’re vicious and all, but you still gotta take it easy for a bit.” I rolled my eyes.

“Kayla’s plan does require you to obtain some new gear.” Ironhoof commented as he turned away and made for the clinic’s exit. “I will go get the supplies for you and return shortly.” 

“I might as well get those promised healing potions. I think I still have a couple extra of my own in my saddlebags.” Gracie added. “I’ll be back in a moment.” Together, the two of them left the clinic to fetch the required equipment, and I noticed after a quick look around that Cross and I were the only ponies in the clinic. 

Shifting again on my mattress, I carefully rose to my hooves, slowly standing to my full height so as to feel how my legs would react. Fortunately, there were no mishaps, and I gratefully hopped off of the clinic bed. “Well, I feel okay.” I remarked with a smile as I checked my wings, spreading them out and giving a few experimental flaps before returning them back against my sides. “I think I should be all set for this counterattack.” 

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Cross asked, his tone concerned yet cautious at asking the same question again. “I’m betting some rest would do you a lot of good so as to be prepared for the next day.” 

“No Cross, I’m fine. I promise.” I replied with a light laugh. “Besides, I already explained myself. This is my fight almost as much as it is yours.”

“Yeah.” Cross replied with a nod. “Those were some pretty big words you said about honoring your commitment. I know I’ve heard those words from you before, but I feel it necessary to compliment you on that. Intent like that isn’t too common around the southeast… the heartland too. You’re a very… respectable mare…” 

I smiled. “Thanks Cross. I-” I swung my head around to look straight at him, but then I stopped with a small gasp, my eyes going wide as the both of us found ourselves staring straight into each other’s eyes up close, our muzzles barely a hoof apart. In fact, we were so close that I could feel his light breath against me, brushing gently against my face… and yet… neither of us moved. It was as if the both of us were unable… or maybe unwilling to separate. “I… um…” 

“Yeah… you’re um… y-you’re welcome.” Cross managed to stagger, casting an embarrassed smile. 

“You… you’re a…” I began, trying to form a response to Cross’s compliments… but I was loosing my train of thought…… I felt… different… but better. My heart fluttered ever so lightly, a tingle in my chest as a strange feeling tentatively emerged out of its shelter. There was a gentle and symbolic kind of power behind it, a power that only made me see Cross and forget my recent injury, the previous skirmish, all while I looked into the stallion’s bold hazel eyes… those eyes casting a comforting stare back at me that eased my entire being. 

Cross shifted, raising a foreleg, and I felt a hoof rest against the right side of my neck, a soft touch… soothing… uplifting… and I stared as Cross smiled. “I know what I am… but it’s nothing compared to what you are.” he said with confidence.

I was becoming trapped, lost in the calmness of the moment… tuning out the outside world. “What am I, Cross?” I asked softly. 

“You’re kind… passionate… honorable…… beautiful…” I saw as he himself looked to relax as he spoke his thoughts, as if speaking those feelings was a great spiritual medicine, giving him strength and making him forget the wasteland in its entirety. 

In that moment, I felt no lies in his voice… I trusted him enough to speak the truth to me, and those words, coming from him, put me into a blanket of safety, a great shield that I felt was capable of repelling my darkest nightmares. “Really?” I asked with a bashful smile, feeling myself blush as my ears flattened back against my head; I was humbled by his words, honored that he would think of me as such.

I felt Cross’s hoof move along my coat, guiding itself up my neck to gently hold my chin as our eyes stayed locked. “Yes.” he said, a solid and unwavering answer as I saw him slowly lean towards me. I dared to follow his movement, my eyes falling half-lidded as I began closing the small distance between us, letting my mind go free to be guided by instinct… our lips drawing parallel…… nearly touching…

“I’ve got your medical supplies Nova.” Gracie suddenly announced, entering the clinic with her personal saddlebags. 

Cross and I jolted away from each other, quickly collecting ourselves as we stepped back to allow one another some room. “Um, thanks Gracie.” I said, giving a nervous cough as I fought hard against blushing (with little success). “I’ll take those and head back.” 

“Redfield’s probably going to be giving out the orders any minute.” Cross added, his own face a light shade of pink. “I should probably head out too… make sure I don’t miss it when he tells me where to go.” He made for the door, but stopped in mid stride, taking a look back at me. 

The moment flashed through my mind again… we had been really close just a few seconds ago, and the way I felt then… it was the first time that I had felt that way in my entire life. But it had happened so suddenly. Hell, even now, I was still a little confused about the whole thing. But… we really had nearly… kissed… hadn’t we? That word, strong as it was, instantly replaced my confusion with a sense of warmth. I felt good, great even, and looking back at the guard pony, I smiled. “I’ll be out there in a second too.” I said. “I just need to get my new gear equipped.”

Cross smirked. “Then I’ll see you out there.” 

As he left, Ironhoof returned to the clinic carrying a dark green box that I recognized as an ammunition container. Setting it on one of the mattresses next to me, he turned it over and dumped out the contents, a half-dozen metal apples rolling out onto the floor. “Have you thrown a grenade before?” he asked me; where have I heard that question before? At my nod, he craned his head around and pulled off a pair of short leather straps, complete with smaller strips of leather and a series of three iron clamps on each. “These two leather straps are utility belts.” Ironhoof explained. “When Kayla was planning her attack, she brought up your uniqueness as a Pegasus pony, and it was your brother who came up with an idea that involves these grenades.” 

“Blake??” I asked, shocked. “Where is he??” 

“He was welcomed by Kayla to partake in planning the counterstrike.” Ironhoof explained. “While he did not say much, he did devise one strategy which Redfield and I added to later. He is… quite intelligent. As of now, he still stays by Kayla’s side. He visited you when you were asleep, but then he left to join Kayla again.” 

To this I smiled a broad smile. “He’s growing up so fast.” I commented with a laugh.  

“Indeed.” Ironhoof remarked with a deep chuckle. “Gracie could you help me a second?” When Gracie stepped up to us, Ironhoof faced her and instructed, “I need you to secure these two straps around Nova’s forelegs.” Looking back at me, he added, “That terminal on your right foreleg will make things a little awkward, but you should manage.” I watched as Gracie quickly secured one of the straps around my left foreleg, and when she was finished, she moved to the right, setting the leather strap above my Pipbuck. “Excellent.” Ironhoof said with a nod. “Now, each of these straps will hold three grenades. Each grenade will be secured to the belts with iron clips, so when you need to use them, you simply take it with your teeth, pull it off of the belt, and then throw it.”

Gracie begun using her magic to attach the grenades to the new utility belts strapped around my forelegs. When all six were secured, I gave each foreleg a shake. Sure enough, each grenade held still, secured tightly to the belts. “So… what exactly do I need these for?” I inquired curiously. “So far as I’m planning, I’m going to be in the air the entire time I’m fighting.” 

“This is true.” Ironhoof’s deep voice replied behind his helmet. “But this is also where Blake’s plan comes into play. He insisted that when you’re up in the air, you can use these grenades as bombs that you drop onto the enemy from above. When Redfield and I thought over this, we came to understand the benefits of this kind of attack. Not only does this add another form of an offensive maneuver, but so long as you are accurate, you can cause a lot of damage and cut down the time of the fight. Plus, since we’ll be attacking in the night, the raiders wont see the grenades until it’s too late.”

I looked back down at my six metal apples, nodding slowly. I could see the strategy behind that; Blake… you are so smart! “Okay.” I said, looking back up at Ironhoof’s visor. “I can do that.”

“Good.” Ironhoof replied, nodding before craning his head to look past the clinic entrance. “Redfield’s gathering the guards outside. We should go.” 

As he left, I saw as Gracie used her magic to levitate her promised healing potions towards me, along with my saddlebags. Working fast, she reequipped my saddlebags, securing them to my now rather dusty battle saddle, and when my gear was fully secured, she dropped the potions into my right-side saddlebag. “There.” Gracie said, stepping back to look over her work. “You’re now fully equipped with everything that’s yours. Your battle saddle, your saddlebags, your grenade belts, your weapons. Like I said, I wont be there fighting with you. I’ll be waiting in the clinic for the wounded to return.” She paused, looking me in the eyes for a moment before she stepped up to me and slung her forelegs around my neck. With a sigh, she said, “You, Shore, and Gunny are all going off to this big counterattack. I already told Gunny and Shore to be careful, so now it’s your turn to hear it. Be careful out there… and try not to get hurt anymore.” 

I gratefully returned the hug, patting my good friend on the back before we separated. “I’ll try my best Gracie. Thanks for patching me up again.” I said, dipping my head before leaving the clinic and stepping out into the town center. 

Across the dirt courtyard, assembled before the open gate of Proudspire, was a mass of guard ponies who were all looking up at the wall where four ponies stood. As I trotted over to the chatting crowd, I recognized the ponies, the two smaller ponies being Kayla and Blake, and the larger ponies being Ironhoof and Redfield. Briefly, I saw as Redfield and Ironhoof faced one another, speaking together before I felt a nudge on my shoulder. When I looked, I saw Cross again. “Do you ever get tired of smirking at me?” I asked playfully. 

“Nah, it never gets old.” Cross remarked with a short laugh, jabbing me again before he diverted his attention to the wall. 

“Alright everypony, listen up!” I heard Redfield call over the crowd, the assembled ponies quickly growing silent so as to listen to the battle plan. “We have our attack plan.” he explained to the crowd. “At nightfall, we’re going to be moving out to attack the Black Blood and bring the fight they’ve been so persistently asking for to them. There are two raiding camps positioned around Proudspire. One camp is positioned to the south, the second camp to the east. We’ll be dividing into two battle groups with twenty ponies each. Ironhoof will be leading the first team with Tulip, Gunny, and Shore to attack the eastern camp. I’ll be leading the second team with Rocky, Cross, and Nova to attack the southern camp. Once we initiate the attack, our only goal will be to completely destroy the camps to prevent the raiders from sending more attack squads our way.” He paused in his short speech, and I saw as Kayla poked his foreleg. 

Though I couldn’t hear anything they were saying, I saw as Redfield lowered his head down to hear Kayla speak to him, and at a nod, Redfield stepped away as Kayla took his place. “I…” Kayla began, nervously clearing her throat. “It’s been two weeks since my daddy died on the wall. Two weeks… I-it’s how long I’ve been forced to lead Proudspire. And I say forced… not as a bad thing. It was just that I didn’t have a choice. My daddy wanted me to lead in his place, no matter when he would’ve died.” She paused, looking over her town and its ponies. “So I’ve been in charge for two weeks.” she continued. “And yet, I don’t think I’ve really done anything to deserve it. Proudspire has been constantly hurt in the past two weeks… the raiders have been mean and savage to us, slowly chipping us away. But now, after today, I promise that this will happen no longer. We will take our lives back and beat back the Black Blood. Then, we will finally be able to return to our former selves, be able to trade with the other settlements of the southeast. And with luck, we will once again be strong. So… to those of you who are going out to fight, I pray to Celestia that you’ll win. Do your best everypony… but please try and come back alive…”

Silence lingered as Kayla stepped away, and my heart sank slightly as I saw her sag, weeping as Blake trotted up to her and embraced her. “I’ll do my best… for Proudspire.” I whispered aloud.

“For Proudspire.” I heard beside me, and I turned to see Cross looking at me with a determined smile. And then, he reached over to me and bumped his muzzle against the side of my face. My heart fluttered, a sudden skip, and though I felt myself blushing once again, I smiled back at him with my best confident smile, nodding my agreement. 

“For those of you assigned to the attack,” I heard as Redfield called from the wall. “there is food waiting for you in the diner. When you’re done eating, return to the gate. Ironhoof and I will be waiting for you.”

***				***				***

I pulled Blake close to me, bombarding him with gentle nuzzling. We had been allowed thirty minutes to eat, by which time the sky had become completely blackened as night took over the wasteland. During that time, I had reunited with Blake and ate with him, wanting to be able to spend some time with him before leaving. Likewise, Gunny and Shore had also joined us for our dinner, allowing for us to wish one another luck and warn each other to be careful. It was going to be different working on my own on a mission like this, and it made me nervous. 

Now we were assembled at the gate, the two teams fully equipped. Redfield and Ironhoof were waiting outside the wall, allowing a few moments for family members to say their goodbyes. “Be careful big sister.” Blake said as I drew back to look him in the eyes. “I want you to be there when I bring that new ball back to Melody.” 

“I want to be there too.” I replied with a smile, hugging him tight once again. “I will be there, I promise.”

“Thanks Nova.” Blake chirped happily, and I looked back into his eyes. 

“I’m very proud of you for what you did today.” I said with heartfelt sincerity. “Not only did you come up with a good plan, but you also volunteered to help Kayla in her time of need. That was a very honorable thing to do.” 

Blake gave a nervous smile, blushing at my praise. “Do you think mom and dad would be proud?” he asked.

“I think they definitely would, baby brother.” I answered, nudging him again before finally releasing him. “It’s about time for me to go. I’ll be back before you know it.” Blake gave one final nod, his smile broad and proud before he turned back to Proudspire and trotted away to the town center. 

By now, most of the ponies of the attack force were already trotting out of the gate to meet with their team leaders, those loved ones who stayed behind solemnly watching them go. As I crossed the open gate, finding Redfield on the right side as he rallied his team, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to see Gunny and Shore trotting along beside me. “How are you feeling?” Gunny asked as the three of us stopped.

“Well,” I said with a nervous laugh. “I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t a little tense about this.” 

“I understand.” Gunny replied with a nod. “To be honest, I’m a little nervous myself. This is the biggest fight I’ve ever been in.”

“Yes, but there is a lot at stake with this battle though.” Shore pointed out. “The knowledge that the fate of an entire settlement depends on the outcome of this battle is enough motivation for me to fight.” 

Gunny and I nodded together. “I guess I’d better get to my team.” I said after a moment of silence, giving Gunny and Shore one last nervous smile. 

“See you back in Proudspire.” Gunny replied with a dip of his head, but before my two friends turned to leave, I stepped up and embraced him and Shore together. 

At feeling their hooves on my back as they returned my embrace, I gave a sigh. “You two be careful. I want to see both of you in one piece when I return.” I said, releasing them both and smiling.

Gunny and Shore nodded. “No problem.” 

***				***				***

Tents. There was a whole field of tents, scattered at random intervals to make up the Black Blood’s eastern camp. There was at least twenty, and each one looked large enough to at least hold two ponies if not more. Situated also around the camp was a small number of larger tents, and to my surprise, there was also a large number of objects that could be used for cover including empty supply wagons, large crates, and even some improvised metal sheet barricades buried partly into the dirt. “They’re not much for organizing are they, Gunny?” I heard Shore ask from beside me as we lay flat and still on the hill overlooking the campsite. 

“Yeah.” I replied with a chuckle. “I’m just surprised that they have what they have.” 

“If they really are an army of any kind, then this is the kind of stuff they need to have in order to function.” Ironhoof said from my left, looking out at the campsite through his black visor. 

I nodded with a grunt, looking back over the camp. “I only see a few sentries out there. The rest of them must be asleep for the night.” 

“That’s fine.” Ironhoof replied. “That means we’ll be able to kill more of them while they sleep. Slothful whelps, all of them.” 

“There sure are a lot of tents out there.” I heard a nervous mare say from behind me; she was laying on the dirt alongside the line of sixteen ponies that made the team. “What do you suppose our odds are?” 

“They’ll probably outnumber us two to one at least.” Ironhoof deadpanned. 

“Then it’s a fair fight.” a stallion remarked from the line behind us, winning a chuckle from nearby ponies. 

“It’s been about three minutes.” Ironhoof said, swinging his gaze to the left where a second hill rose above the Black Blood camp. “Tulip should be up there soon.” Tulip, having been given the .50 caliber rifle, was the team’s designated sharpshooter. While we would be fighting up close down in the camp, she would be providing sniper fire. Fortunately, earlier in the day, several .50 caliber rounds had been made with what was left of the ammo-making supplies from the press, and that gave Tulip four clips to make a total of twenty kills. Of course, the kill count was just an assumption, but from what I had heard of Tulip on the way out to the Black Blood camp, she sounded like she was rather skilled when looking through a long-range scope; I was glad to see that .50 cal go up with her to that hilltop. Aside from the rifle, our team also carried Proudspire’s missile launcher with its remaining missiles. The launcher was the ideal heavy weapon to give us an advantage within the campsite. 

“Remember, when the first shot goes off from that hilltop, we attack. Stay in pairs when you move. Do not try and attack an enemy alone.” Ironhoof ordered, having to speak softly and make one pony pass the commands down the line. 

With the order understood by all of Ironhoof’s ponies, tension took over as our attack force waited for their cue. As I looked over the camp, taking in the details of the soon-to-be battlefield, I could hear an occasional voice or snore from within the camp’s perimeter. These raiders were obviously not expecting a threat; it was almost too perfect. “Shore…” I whispered, catching his attention as he adjusted his reading glasses. “We’re going to take that tent right there.” I raised a hoof slightly to point down at the tent just down the hill and in front of us. 

Shore nodded. “We might be able to take a couple of raiders out while they sleep.” he whispered back, flipping the safety of his battle saddle off. 

“Don’t count on it though.” I warned. “When the first shot fires, that camp will be active in no time…” 

BOOM!!

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw as one of the few raider sentinels patrolling the camp lost his head in a cloud of pink mist, the crack of the .50 cal ringing across the sky. And with that, I rose to my hooves, our force following suit. “Kill them all!” Ironhoof shouted, sounding a mighty battle cry before charging down the hill, the attack force following their commander’s lead. 

With Shore by my side, I galloped down the hill towards my first intended target, levitating out my combat shotgun. We stopped by the tent’s entrance as the first shots were fired, the camp’s occupants beginning to wake up, and after a quick glance to make sure Shore was waiting beside me, I barged into the tent, weapon at the ready. Inside, three raiders were just now stirring, jolted from sleep by the sudden noise of our engagement; I wasn’t going to let them finish waking up. Levitating the shotgun down in front of me, looking through the iron sights, I pulled the trigger and messily removed the head of the first raider at pointblank range. Pulling the pump-action back to eject the shotgun’s empty shell, I swiftly pointed the shotgun to the second raider before he could react, and as the pump slid forward once again, I fired again, the 12 gauge slug tearing into the raider’s chest. From beside me, I saw green and red energy as Shore stepped into the tent with me, and as the third raider tried to swing his pistol around to attack, he glowed before melting into a puddle of greenish goop. 

I quickly secured my shotgun to my security armor before removing my assault rifle and switching its safety off. “Nice work!” I called over the rising noise. “Let’s move on!”

Peering out behind the tent flap, I saw a supply wagon just to the left of me that was briefly occupied by two ponies of our group before they made a dash for a nearby tent. With the cover open, I leapt outside and quickly ran behind it, Shore following me closely. I stepped up against the wagon, checking left and right to make sure that I was clear. Then I carefully peeked over the wagon itself, rearing up on my hind legs to see over the top, and I saw more raiders advancing towards us from deeper within the camp. As I lowered myself back down and readied to fire, I glanced at Shore as he gave me a nod, and then he stepped from cover and fired his energy weapons. Following his move, I ran out behind him and aimed downrange at a group of five incoming raiders. As I opened up with my assault rifle, Shore managed to catch one of them with his laser rifle, and the raider disintegrated into a pile of ash. Though I scored a couple of hits, I didn’t manage to kill another before the four of them found cover behind two crates and returned fire, forcing the two of us behind the wagon again. 

Quickly, I swapped the empty clip of my rifle for a new one and reloaded. But just as I was ready to fire again I jolted, feeling as bullets struck a pad of my armor on my right side. Two hits, but neither of the shots punched through the thick pads of my protective gear, and I swung my rifle to the right, seeing a raider there with a small revolver pistol. I fired a five-round burst, but the raider backed away and took cover again before I could hit him. From beside me, Shore stepped back out into the open to return fire on the four raiders in front of us. I fell down to my belly, going prone as I aimed and waited for the raider that snuck up on me. In just a second, the raider emerged again, making the mistake I had hoped he would make. He had assumed that I would still be standing, and he fired his shots over me, his bullets striking the wagon. That was all the time I needed to fire another six rounds to kill the stallion. 

Standing back up, I winced as a small missile roared past us, exploding violently up ahead. Joining us behind cover, an earth pony stallion set down the missile launcher he carried and opened it up to load another missile inside; he had four left. As another pony joined us, a unicorn mare with a sub-machinegun, I tapped Shore on the shoulder and pointed at a metal barricade up ahead at our two o’clock, and when he nodded his understanding, the two of us leapt from cover to gallop to the new position. Sparks erupted against the metal as the two of us ducked down, a heavy rain of noise accompanying the lightshow as raiders tracked us. Instinctively, I levitated my rifle over the metal sheet and fired blind towards where the shots were coming from, and as the clip emptied, Shore reared back up from cover to return fire as the noise decreased. After four shots, Shore ducked back down, another wave of sparks hitting our cover as I finished reloading my assault rifle. 

Our metal cover was jutting up from the ground next to two tents that were parallel to one another, allowing a lane of travel to pass between them. The fire here was too heavy, and there was one pair of Proudspire ponies already fighting close by; we needed to go around and flank however many raiders were concentrated up ahead of us. “Shore!” I called over the noise. “Let’s go between these two tents and hook around!” 

“Right behind you Gunny!” I heard his reply, and I kept low as I advanced between the two tents. As I reached the end of the gap, I stepped out and snapped my rifle right and left to check for hostiles. To my right, a pair of Proudspire ponies passed by us and disappeared into another tent ahead of me, and farther ahead to my left, a group of three raiders were moving from cover to join the fighting I had just left. Aiming for them, I opened up again, catching the trio of Black Blood by surprise and killing them before they could retaliate. However, just as I begun to reload, two more emerged, having noticed the death of their comrades, and I was forced to retreat, forcing Shore back to the metal sheet we had tried to leave as bullets ripped through the fabric of the tent.

Joining him back behind the plate, I reloaded my rifle. “I think we’re about to be flanked!” I called to Shore, just as two other Proudspire ponies joined us behind our cover. Catching the attention of one of the two mares that hid with us, I called, “Hey! What’s the situation?” 

“We’re split up pretty good!” she called back as she used her magic to reload her bolt action rifle. “We’re just trying not to fan out too much! Otherwise we’ll be easy pickings for the raiders!” Briefly, she rose up behind cover and fired an ear-piercing shot before she ducked back down. “We’re pretty much right in the middle of the fight!” I was about to reply until I caught movement to my right, and I saw as a raider round the corner and move between the tents Shore and I had come back from; I was right about them trying to flank us. 

Shore was ready for this maneuver faster than I was, and he opened up with his battle saddle, turning the raider into ash before she could fire her SMG. I turned back to the mare and nodded. “We could really use another missile!” I called. 

“He’s trying to save up the last of the missiles!” the second mare replied, an earth pony who had finished reloading her own carbine. Beyond her, I could see the stallion with the missile launcher as he reloaded his own sidearm, his partner keeping him covered with her SMG. 

“Get his attention!” I shouted back to the earth pony mare, and she waved a frantic foreleg at the stallion. When he saw her and watched as she pointed at the missile launcher, the stallion nodded and hefted it back up. Rising, he braced it onto the wagon, aimed, and let another missile fly before he fell back to cover to reload the heavy weapon. The missile exploded, fire and dirt spewing into the air, and with that distraction, the rest of us could put our own fire into the raiders ahead. I rose with Shore and the two mares, each of us choosing our individual targets, and opened fire. 

I killed two before I had to duck down and reload again, and as each of my companions fell back down with me to reload, I heard as Shore said, “We put a dent in them with that attack. We should try and press forward.” 

“Agreed.” I said, taking note of the drastic reduction of gunfire close by. Around the camp however, fighting still continued fiercely; there was still a lot to be done. 

***				***				***

Even with the blanket of night, I could see the camp in its entirety from my vantage point in the air, my eyes adjusting very well to the darkness. The camp was composed of several tents, all scattered haphazardly amidst a collection of shabby supply carts and rather rusted metal barricades. There were roughly twenty tents that I could count as I hovered, an occasional sentry patrolling around the perimeter of the raiding camp. All of this setup surrounded one large building. It didn’t look very stable, however it was made very similarly to the houses of Proudspire, its walls and roof made entirely from sheets of metal. It was distinguished enough from the dirty tents that surrounded it to make me wonder if another Black Blood commander was here… like Butcher. 

Memories instantaneously sparked to life in my head about the battle with that chainsaw wielding maniac, the pony who had killed so many of Proudspire’s residents… who had nearly killed my little brother… I took in a sharp breath of air, closing my eyes as I shook my head clear before I lost myself to those thoughts; I couldn’t afford to be distracted by my memories… not now. 

Slowly exhaling, I looked back down below to the surface and scanned the area. The team below, only a collection of black dots on the darkened landscape, was assembled to the north of the camp. Before coming up to the sky to take up my own position, I had heard about how the attack would begin. Two of the “special” weapons that our team of twenty had taken consisted of both of Proudspire’s .308 sniper rifles. These rifles would be used at a distance to provide long-range support when the battle began. When those rifles fired their first shots, the rest of the team would engage the enemy forces within the camp. It was a simple enough plan, especially considering that the entire camp was silent, showing that the raiders were completely oblivious to the possibility of a threat. Aside from the two snipers, our team carried one of Proudspire’s .30 caliber machineguns. With the close quarters combat that would ensue below, a mobile heavy machinegun would be invaluable for mowing down raiders and keeping our own ponies covered. 

On the ground, Redfield had ordered that everypony work in pairs or in some kind of group. He didn’t want anypony fighting alone, except for me of course. I was on my own, carrying out my own task in the sky as the team’s designated “bomber” as Cross had called it. It was an amusing title, especially considering that my bombs were only regular old grenades, and Cross had thought himself as rather clever for coming up with my rank. His battle-enthusiasm was wearing on me a bit, and if we hadn’t been in the company of eighteen other ponies, I probably would’ve gone and kissed him; Goddesses I wish Cross had wings.

The cracks of sniper fire rippled up to my ears from below, and when I looked, I saw as the line of Proudspire ponies advanced into the camp; it was time to swoop into action.

I tucked in my wings, and let myself fall into a nosedive towards the enemy camp. As the wind rushed by me, the ground racing up to meet me, I armed my battle saddle and snapped out my wings to begin pulling up in a slow arc. I leveled out at a fair distance above the camp, letting me get a good view as the attack team engaged the first raiders. As I flew into the camp’s airspace, nearing its south side, I craned my head down and pulled one of the grenades off of the belt on my right foreleg. With a quick flick of my head, the grenade fell free of the pin and plummeted down to the tents below. Curious, I craned my head back around as I spit out the pin, and to my great surprise, the grenade exploded within the camp, ripping down two of the tents and igniting a third which was quickly engulfed in flames; Blake’s plan really worked!

I leaned left and hooked around to line myself up with the camp once again. Up ahead, the battle was now in full swing. While the Proudspire ponies had split into pairs and found suitable cover to engage from, the raiders were scattering like flies, shouting and firing wildly at their opponents. I angled in towards my first target, a raider that had been keeping a pair of Proudspire ponies pinned behind a supply cart with his assault rifle. Activating S.A.T.S., I targeted the raider’s torso and fired two pairs of shots. Both pairs of shots found home and killed the raider, freeing up the pair of ponies he had been engaging. As I shot over them, I heard as Fire Rose’s auto loader kicked out an empty magazine and reloaded the weapon. 

I turned in the air, righting myself to face the camp again, and stopped to hover and quickly scan the area. Down below and directly ahead of me, I could see Cross taking cover behind one of the raiders’ improvised metal barriers as three raiders fired on him. He quickly rose back up to return fire, only being able to fire two shots before he had to hide again. To his left, a grey unicorn stallion galloped from behind a tent to join him behind cover; the stallion was Rocky, and he was carrying our team’s .30 cal. But down below, the raiders were putting up too much fire for him to be able to set up the heavy machinegun. I bolted forward, lowering my altitude as I lined up another shot to give the two stallions a chance to return fire. With S.A.T.S. recharging, I could only line myself up in a direct dive towards my targets. Biting down on my firing bit, I fired off three pairs of shots, injuring one raider and forcing the other two to lose focus on their targets. Instead, I drew their fire, and I barrel rolled and veered right as their bullets whizzed up at me. 

I flew in low, arcing around the camp to pass by the metal building, winning temporary defilade from the enemy fire before I shot back up into the sky to find Cross and Rocky again. Sure enough, my distraction had won them the time they had needed, and Rocky’s .30 cal roared to life as his magic fired the large weapon and steadied the long ammunition belt that was fed into it, tearing into the ranks of raiders in front of them. As two other pairs of Proudspire ponies advanced through the open lane, Rocky and Cross displaced and moved to the right to encounter another squad of raiders. This squad of four was already engaged with another pair of Proudspire ponies, not noticing as Cross and Rocky advanced on their right flank. As Rocky swiftly finished them off, I caught sight of more advancing enemies to the south of them. Diving back down, I yanked another grenade off of my foreleg and tossed it down to the enemy squad. Though it fell to the right of them, the grenade’s explosion hindered the raiders’ advance long enough for the Proudspire ponies ahead of them to find the squad and engage. 

More shots lashed by me, thin white-yellow lines along my vision, and I launched back upwards, furiously beating my wings. With a quick barrel roll, I leveled out in a horizontal flight path and as I recollected myself from the first minutes of the engagement, I quickly checked my E.F.S.. There was a whole mess of red and green on the compass, all mashed together without any specific hint as to where one pony might be; in a battle like this, my E.F.S. was useless. 

Passing beyond the camp, I arced around to face the fight and dove back down. With S.A.T.S. fully recharged, I picked the nearest target, a raider mare who had just finished off one of the Proudspire ponies below, and firing two pairs of shots at her head, I killed her just as she had killed her victim. I was about to ascend again to pick another target when I saw Cross and Rocky before me, hiding behind another metal plate farther down the lane of tents. They were under heavy fire from an enemy tripod-mounted machinegun ahead of them, manned by a crew of three and protected in front by a wall of sandbags. However, as I looked closer, I saw that Cross was on the ground, shaking his left foreleg as he dropped his rifle; he must’ve been hit!  I quickly dove back down, angling in towards them and briefly staring the enemy’s barrage in the face. Then I touched down on the ground, skidding to join them behind cover after coming to a rough halt by hitting my head against the plate; it was not my most graceful of landings. “Welcome to the fight!” I heard Cross yell over the noise of the enemy fire. 

“Are you alright?!” I called back, shaking my head and scooting up against the metal cover. I saw his injured foreleg; he had taken two hits to it. 

“Two clean holes in my foreleg? Yeah I’m fine! It’s just a flesh wound!” Cross called, smirking at me (yet again). 

“Those need to be healed!” I shouted sternly. “Take a healing potion from my saddlebag!” Though Cross was rather immodest about his injuries, he obliged as I shifted to let him reach into my right-side saddlebag. 

“That machinegun crew is killing us!” Rocky called to me, poking me with a hoof to get my attention. “We’ve got to get around it!”

“What about the others?!” I asked back. 

“There’s heavy fighting all along this area!” Rocky responded. “We haven’t been able to push too far forward yet!” 

“What about your grenades?!” I heard Cross ask from behind me, and I looked to see that he had already guzzled down one of my two healing potions, casting the bottle aside. 

“I’ve still got four of them! We can try!” I suggested, holding out my right foreleg and pulling one of the grenades off. Rocky leaned over and snagged another one, and at his nod, we tossed the grenades up and over our cover. 

Upon exploding, Rocky sprang into the open and opened up with his .30, keeping the enemy position under fire. “I’ll hold that machinegun team back!” he called to me. “You and Cross need to go flank those bastards!” 

With a nod I got to my hooves, Cross following me as I bolted around a shredded tent and dashed forward. There was one raider farther ahead, not currently engaged as she moved, and just before she could engage me, I heard Cross’s rifle behind me and the raider mare fell dead to the *ping* of the ejected clip of Cross’s rifle. “You’re welcome!” Cross shouted to me as he ducked down to reload. “Go get the fuckers! I’ll be right behind you!” 

Nodding and facing front again, I advanced forward, carefully sneaking across one tent and peeking around. In front of me, the HMG crew was keeping up fire, undoubtedly having pinned Rocky once again as well as any other Proudspire ponies that had been in front of them. Rounding the corner and crouching low, I aimed with S.A.T.S. and targeted the gunner in front of me. I fired two pairs of shots, and the belt-fed machinegun was silenced as the gunner pony went down. The gunner wasn’t without friends however, and I had to scurry back and away as the two ponies that made the rest of the crew fired back at me with lever action rifles, their bullets kicking up dirt in my face. As my auto loader reloaded Fire Rose once again, I saw Cross as he leapt by me and out into the open, bringing his battle rifle to bear against the two ponies targeting me. Eight shots later, and Cross joined me behind cover to reload. “I got em.” he said, no longer having to shout through the noise of enemy fire. “We can keep moving.” 

“Where are you going next?” I asked, briefly checking my inventory on my Pipbuck; Fire Rose only had seven shots left. “I’ll go with you.” 

“We’re going to take that metal building at the center of the camp.” he stated firmly as he finished reloading. Quickly, he patted a forehoof along his leather armor before giving a short laugh. “I hope we wrap this up soon. Otherwise I’m going to have to start using the raider’s crappy-ass guns to kill shit with.” 

I couldn’t help but laugh with him. “You’re really rubbing off on me you know that?” I asked playfully. That was the truth. Around him, I didn’t have nearly as much fear of combat as I used to, and it made me feel so much stronger. 

“I get that a lot.” Cross replied smugly. “Now let’s take that building. You ready?”

“I’m ready.” 

***				***				***

I ducked down behind cover after firing the last shell of my shotgun. With Shore and the two mares staying with me, I had sufficient protection as I levitated out five new shells and loaded them in. Rearing back over cover, I found that the majority of the raiders that had been only three pony-lengths away had been killed, the rest retreating farther back; it seemed that we were finally getting the upper hoof. “Come on Gunny!” the unicorn mare next to me urged, stepping out from cover. “We’ve got them on the run!” From both my right and left, I saw as pairs of Proudspire ponies begun advancing forward, keeping up steady fire as they pressed on into the camp. 

Swapping my shotgun for my assault rifle, I stepped out from cover, seeing as another raider went down ahead of me from a sniper shot. As the four of us began to trot forward, keeping in line with the rest of the team, a fresh wave of gunfire begun to erupt all over the camp, and just as I made ready to aim ahead, I heard a cry from behind me. I whirled around just in time to see a raider, a double-barrel shotgun levitating beside him, spring out from a nearby tent and gun down the earth pony mare trotting along behind me, his buckshot tearing across her head and killing her instantly. With a cry, I sprang forward, using my magic to club the raider across the head with the butt of my rifle. But just as the unicorn mare with us finished the raider off, another sprang through the same tent, plowing Shore into the dirt and forcing them to grapple. I charged over and wheeled around to kick out at the raider with my hind legs, bucking the raider in the jaw with a perceptible crack as the bone broke; again, the unicorn mare finished the raider off with her rifle. “Some of them might be hiding in the tents!” I called, warning anypony within earshot.

“Do we really have to look through all of these?” the unicorn mare asked, rising away from her dead earth pony comrade. 

“That would be wise.” Shore remarked as he got to his hooves, adjusting his reading glasses. 

“No, we don’t have time.” I insisted, facing forward again. “We need to join up with another team and keep moving.” At the order, Shore and the unicorn mare formed up behind me as we quickly cut behind another tattered tent. We came up to another lane in the camp, heavy fire being exchanged between four raiders and a trio of Proudspire ponies, one of them which I recognized as Ironhoof. The steel stallion was out in the open, sparks flying from his armor as he took hit after hit. All the while, his light machinegun was spitting out lead, covering his team behind him. 

Dirt kicked up around my hooves, and I stepped back behind the tent before dashing out to join Ironhoof’s team. Their cover was only a pair of supply carts, placed side by side with magic to make one long barrier of wood and iron. As I joined them behind cover, I looked back around and aimed my assault rifle to fire, covering Shore and the unicorn mare as they ran for cover with us. But before they made it, I saw as the unicorn mare tumbled down with a hit to her left flank. Shore, skidding to halt, rushed back to the wounded mare and pushed her back to safety, and as they joined us, the mare threw her head back to cry out. “Celestia fuck me with her horn that HURTS!” she shouted, making me briefly raise an eye with surprise. 

“If you’re hurting that much, then I don’t think you’d want her doing that right now!” I called, ducking back down. 

She gave a sarcastic laugh. “Not funny, outsider!” 

“Do we have any healing potions?!” I asked out to anypony that could hear me. 

“We didn’t bring any!” a stallion farther away replied; figures. 

I crawled next to the injured mare, jabbing her with a hoof. “Hang in there! We’re almost done!” I said encouragingly. After another growl of pain, she looked up at me and nodded, cradling herself as she tried to calm down. 

“Ironhoof’s moving up! Let’s go!” I heard from nearby, and when I rose to peek over the wagons, I saw the steel pony advancing, walking as he used his body to guide his weapon right and left, tearing up the remaining raiders in front of us. As his team begun to advance, I joined up as they formed a row behind their leader. The area behind us was clear, and so we only had to divide out attention to the left and right. Between Ironhoof’s thick armor and heavy firepower, any raider facing him would be pinned down. 

“Split up again!” I heard as Ironhoof’s deep voice shouted through his helmet. “This is where their stragglers are cowering! Flank them!” With the command I peeled away from the small formation, Shore trailing behind me, and we passed by another tent to emerge into a new sector of the camp. Up ahead, deeper into the camp, more raiders were on the move. However, as Shore and I found cover behind a wooden crate to put fire into them, I noticed that they were hardly attacking anymore; they were on the retreat. 

I ducked back down behind cover and reached to reload my assault rifle. But upon checking each pocket in my security armor, I found that I had no magazines left; ponyfeathers. Levitating my assault rifle back to my armor, I brought my shotgun back out. “I’m out of rifle ammo.” I said, poking Shore in the side as he scooted back to cover. “I can only go close range now.” 

Nodding, Shore looked over his battle saddle, watching as the auto loader of his multiplas rifle kicked out a drained microfusion cartridge to reload. “I’ll take the lead then.” he said. “Stay close.”

Stepping out from cover, I followed Shore, keeping my shotgun at the ready as we passed into a small cluster of four tents. But just as I passed by the first, making ready to pass by the second to continue moving forward, I jolted back as a shotgun blast erupted in front of my face, fire spitting out of the flap of the tent as my own shotgun was blasted out of my telekinetic grasp. Though neither of us had been hit, the blast separated us, Shore diving forward, and me falling backwards onto my back in shock. Even as I looked, a raider unicorn emerged from the tent, a rather potent looking drum-fed riot shotgun held in the air beside him, and he swung his bloodshot gaze down to look at me… only for a second. 

His head exploded into an eyeball-strewn paste before me, spattering me with brains as the thunderclap of a sniper shot filled my ears. I froze there a moment, giving a cough before having to spit a drop of the raider’s blood out of my mouth. When I looked left, I saw a pony on the hilltop overlooking the camp, Tulip giving me a quick wave as she used her magic to pull the heavy bolt of the .50 cal to eject another empty cartridge. I returned the wave with a small smile before rising back to my hooves, Shore rising with me up ahead. “You alright?” I asked him.

“Yes, I’m fine. What about you?” 

“The bastard blew away my shotgun…” I grumbled, looking over to where my now useless weapon now rested on the dirt. 

“Well that can be replaced.” Shore said, turning back around and staying still. “There’s no more gunfire.” Silence… and then a ragged cheer sounded from nearby, followed by another, and then a third; the camp was clear. 

I gave a chuckle, plopping down onto my haunches to catch my breath. “Well… another successful mission in the books.” I remarked with a smirk as Shore sat down in front of me. 

“Yes. This camp won’t be able to be used to harm anypony else.” Shore agreed with a smile. “Now hopefully Nova will find the same success that we found.” 

I looked down at the ground, nodding. “Yeah… I hope so too.” I said. Even though she proved that she could handle herself out there, that didn’t stop me from worrying a bit about my friend. She had been through so much already that every injury I saw her take was like another sting to me as well. “She’s a tough mare. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” I added, speaking more confidently as I levitated my destroyed shotgun to me; looking the weapon over, I assessed the damage. The barrel and the fore-end had been torn apart by the shotgun blast… but what was most curious were the pieces of metal sticking out of the side of the weapon. As I yanked one of the metal shards out and levitated it closer to my eyes, I saw that it was shaped like some kind of small, sharp steel dart. Holding it out to compare it with the metal pieces inside my ruined weapon, I nodded as understanding came to me. Throwing the weapon away, I turned to the headless raider nearby and patted down his armor, finding one pocket that had a collection of seven shotgun shells inside, and levitating them out to see, I gave a smirk. The raider had been using 12 gauge flechette rounds, shells that contained several lethal metal darts; they would be useful later. Storing the shells into my armor, I also levitated the raider's riot shotgun to me and secured it to my armor before letting out a sigh. Our fight was over, and we had won. Now I had to wait for Nova, and pray for her safe return.

***				***				***

*ping*

Cross ducked back down behind cover with me to reload his battle rifle again. Nearby, Rocky’s .30 cal sent out a fury of lead onto an enemy position to our left, Redfield taking cover beside him as he reloaded his assault rifle. Our target, the camp’s single metal building, was right in front of us. However, the entrance to the structure was on the opposite side, and there were still raiders between us and the goal. 

Though it was awkward, I had decided to conserve Fire Rose’s last magazine by picking up an enemy weapon, a long-barreled carbine rifle with its own firing bit. The firing bit had been built into the side of the weapon just in front of the rifle’s chamber, allowing me to brace the stock of the weapon against my shoulder and aim down its iron sights. Oh it was definitely an awkward weapon, and after firing the last three shots of its magazine, unsuccessful in hitting anything, I cast the weapon away and ducked back down with Cross. 

“Nova!” Cross called, ducking down with me after firing two shots. “I think we can get an opening if we use those last two grenades of yours! Let me take one!” 

Obliging without question, I extended my foreleg for him to take one of the last two grenades off of the belt. “What are you trying to hit?” I asked back before taking the last grenade. 

“There’s a position to the right of us with three raiders!” Cross called over the gunfire, pointing ahead for me to see. Though they were nearby, they were engaged with another pair of Proudspire ponies farther away from us. “We throw these at them, then we can get some time to move to the right side of the building and get in from there! Ready?” I nodded, waiting for his go, and after checking over cover, he reared back and heaved his grenade forward. I followed him, flicking my head to toss the explosive towards the enemy trio; I crouched back down, preparing to run. 

I winced back from the combined explosion of the grenades, hearing dirt pelt our cover as fire spread in a wave around the blast zone. The fire quickly cleared, and then Cross was on the move, charging forward. I scrambled up after him, following as he briefly disappeared into the smoke left behind from the blast. When I joined him, I witnessed as he gunned down the three raiders, emptying another clip from his rifle. As he took cover, he waved me on with hoof. “Keep moving!” he called. “I’ll be right behind you!” 

As he reloaded, I gave a nod and ran along the metal wall of the building, readying myself as I approached the corner. But just as I rounded the corner, I found myself staring into the eyes of a raider in hiding, waiting for a pony such as myself to come around the building, and before I could fire the mare dove straight into me. She tackled me down to the ground with a punch to my chest, and then she was over me, a sadistic grin on her face before she swung her head around and removed a pistol from its holster; oh not again!

Unlike last time, where I was at a disadvantage in both strength and weight, this pony was roughly the same size as me. Because of this, I had no trouble in freeing one of my forelegs to punch her squad across the jaw, forcing her to release her pistol before she got the chance to use it. Before she could fully recover, I hit her again, making her stagger over me. And then I threw my weight to the side, rolling over her entirely and putting her on her back beneath me. But then I found myself falling back onto my side as the raider mare copied my move and threw me back under her. As she raised a foreleg to strike, I put my own forelegs over my face, blocking a punch aimed for my head which instead struck my Pipbuck’s metal frame. The hit had done more damage to the mare’s hoof than my terminal, and with this distraction, I reared back my hind legs under her and bucked her in the belly. But just as I was about to buck her again, Cross leapt in from my left, rifle in his mouth, and tackled the mare off of me, the two of them tumbling across the dirt and coming to rest three pony-lengths away from me. They both struggled to their hooves, but Cross was much faster, and he swiftly finished the mare with a rifle shot to the head. 

Cross gave me a wink as I got back to my hooves, but just as I was about to give my thanks, I spotted movement behind him. Another raider had emerged from behind a nearby tent and before I could act, the stallion opened fire on us, his assault rifle spraying bullets. Slamming up against the wall as bullets flew by me, I activated S.A.T.S. and targeted the raider’s chest. With two pairs of shots, the raider’s assault rifle went silent as the stallion dropped dead onto the dirt. I checked around for any other hostiles in hiding, finding none on my E.F.S. compass. But then my gaze fell to the ground nearby, and I gasped, my eyes widening in horror… Cross was down, his right side marked with several red holes where he had taken gunshot wounds. 

“CROSS!” I cried, leaping over to his side; his only response was to cough blood onto the dirt. “Cross… oh Goddesses, hang on Cross…” I looked frantically over his wounds. He had taken seven hits to the torso and another two hits to his right foreleg, all of these wounds already bleeding profusely down his coat and onto the ground. My mind raced, building to an all-familiar panic as I struggled to find a solution within my churning thoughts. I barely knew anything about medicine! I didn’t know how to treat any serious injury and I had never learned about the subject. What could I possibly… I still had one healing potion left in my saddlebags!

Forcing my panic aside as best I could, I laid down next to the struggling riflepony, craning my head around to open the flap of my right-side saddlebag. Quickly, I dug my muzzle into the bag to find the last healing potion, and taking the end of it in my mouth, I drew the bottle out and set it on the ground, pulling out the cork with my teeth. “Cross, drink this.” I commanded gently, placing a hoof on his muzzle to help him open his mouth. Though barely opened, Cross managed to comply, and taking the base of the bottle in my mouth, I guided the healing potion to his lips and tilted it over for him to drink. Though some of the healing liquid had dribbled onto his muzzle, he managed to bring his mouth around the bottle and he swallowed down several gulps before he released the bottle for air. I drew the potion back to avoid spilling the rest of the elixir, and when Cross managed a weak series of breaths, I lowered the bottle back to him; with effort, he drank down the rest. 

Casting the bottle away, I rose to all fours and checked my E.F.S. for hostiles. None were nearby that my spell detected, and so I looked back down at Cross and checked over his wounds again. Slowly, they were starting to mend, growing slightly smaller as the tissue begun to regenerate. But blood was still oozing from the bullet holes, and despite the progress of the potion, Cross’s breathing was still very labored. He wasn’t recovering nearly as well as I had hoped with the use of the potion, and I was beginning to fear that one of the shots had hit something vital, causing damage that I couldn’t identify. “Come on…” I pleaded softly, my voice cracking. “work damn you… for Goddess’s sake work…” 

I snapped away from my anxiety at hearing a sudden light mumble from Cross, and I returned my gaze to him to see that he was looking up at me; his eyes were foggy, showing that he was in tremendous pain. “Cross…” I croaked, feeling a lump in my throat; that feeling of sorrow, the feeling I had first felt when I had lost my parents, was coming back and driving into me at full power.

I watched as Cross slowly shifted, and with an effort, he reached out a foreleg to pull his battle rifle to him. He gave a weak series of coughs, spitting out flecks of blood before he looked back up at me. He swallowed, grimacing in pain before he spoke, saying, “Take it… take… my rifle…” I felt a tear well up in my eye as I looked between him and his cherished battle rifle; I knew that the inevitable was coming. 

I reached out and placed my right hoof on the weapon, looking back at Cross and shaking my head. “Come on Cross…” I urged with some effort. “You’ve got to stay with me… these wounds… they just make you look even more handsome.” I forced a smile at my last remark. 

Through his pain, Cross managed to spread a small smirk back at me. “I know…… Nova…” he mumbled, coughing again. 

I reached over and placed a hoof on the back of his head, stroking his black mane as I gave out a weak sob. “Yes Cross?” I asked, swallowing hard. 

“You’ve got to… to promise me…” Cross began, breathing a shaky breath. “Kill all the bastards… that I couldn’t kill…… Make your friends proud… Promise me that.” he finished, looking up at me with half-lidded eyes; his breathing was beginning to fail. 

I stared back into those eyes, feeling the weight of his request, and with a nod, I replied, “I promise, Cross. You have my word.” Cross visibly eased after hearing my promise, and he managed to cast a weak smile at me as he let his eyes drift closed. And then, as Cross let himself relax, the shallow movement of his sides ceased; Cross was dead.  

I shook my head again, ready to just break down… but I only closed my eyes tight and let my head droop, shedding a pair of tears as I held back the urge to weep. Cross, ever since we had met, had been a stallion that I admired. And as I had gotten to know him better during my time in Proudspire, I came to understand that Cross was somepony that appreciated and respected my virtues, my personality, wanted to help me accomplish my mission without second guessing. Likewise, he was somepony that I came to respect for his true self, for what his history had shaped him to be. And what was more, I had just begun to accept the possibility that our friendship could’ve developed into something… greater. I had just begun developing new feelings, a new respect for him, and it was because of who he was and what he had done for me. It wasn’t just the facts that he had saved me from Butcher and helped me strengthen my own personal courage, but it was also because of his own virtues that I discovered within him. Cross was kind, brave, and chivalrous, and even a little reckless and crazy… but it was these things that had made him a valuable friend to me. And back in Proudspire, before this battle… when we had nearly kissed… I realized that I felt more than just friendship; I felt love. But now that he was gone, all I felt was deep regret for not saying that to him personally… oh Celestia did I regret it. Nevertheless, Cross was finally at peace, free of the wasteland and its shadows.

The noise of the battle returned to me, my eyes opening to the sound of an explosion farther down the camp. Though there were no raiders near me, the gunfire echoing around the campsite showed that there were still several pockets of Black Blood resistance. Casting one final look at my fallen comrade, I stepped away and scooped up Cross’s battle rifle by the firing bit before approaching the corner of the metal building. Stopping and readying myself for hostiles, I swung the rifle around and aimed. There was one raider nearby that I could take a shot at, crouched behind a splintered supply crate, and aiming with S.A.T.S., I took aim for the raider’s head. This battle rifle took more energy from the targeting spell than my battle saddle did, and I could only use one shot; I took it. Biting down on the firing bit, the rifle fired its powerful shot, and the raider fell with a clean headshot. The rifle didn’t feel uncomfortable when I had fired it, and it was a brief surprise that the recoil of the weapon didn’t hurt my mouth, but then I snapped back to focus. Most of the fighting seemed to have been concentrated near the rear of the camp, away from the metal building, as the Proudspire ponies continued to drive the raiders back. With no other enemies around, this was the best opportunity to enter and secure this building. 

Stepping up to the building’s entrance, I swung around and kicked the rusty door open with a concentrated buck from my rear hooves and entered. The first floor was a pair of rooms, one large room making up most of the floor while a small room occupied the far left corner. A series of stairs led up to a second story room with a  balcony, all of this roughly half the size of the first floor. The building was entirely empty of furniture, supplies, and possessions and was only being lit by a dim ceiling light. Up ahead, a single raider emerged from the corner room of the first floor, and as he spotted me, I raised the rifle to aim and fire two shots. I missed the first, but the second luckily struck the raider in the heart, killing him instantly. Quickly, I galloped up to the small room, passing by the corpse, and I swung my rifle inside. The small room was clear of both hostiles and provisions, but just as I made to turn and leave, I heard a large number of hoofs running above me… and that didn’t sound good. I cast a glance at my E.F.S. compass, the spell working to only monitor the building, and I saw as several red dashes moved. There was at least half a dozen of them, and as I heard the building’s metal door close, I realized with a sigh that I had just walked right into a trap. 

“Come on out my little pony.” I heard a stallion call before cackling to himself. “We know you’re in there.” Carefully, I crept up to the edge of the small room and peeked out. Sure enough, seven raiders were assembled with weapons at the ready, completely blocking off the entrance of the building, my only escape. 

One of the stallions, a dark orange unicorn with a spiked yellow mane, the leader from the looks of him, spotted me. But he didn’t fire as I expected him to. Instead, he only smirked at me. “Don’t worry,” he said in a disgustingly gentle voice. “we don’t want to kill you yet. We just want to get a good look at you first.” I stayed silent as I slowly emerged from the room, keeping my rifle ready. I just had to wait for S.A.T.S. to recharge… and pray that I could fight my way out of the trap. 

“Wow, she’s a looker isn’t she?” one of the other raiders remarked with a grin. “Totally bangable.” Upon shooting the perverted stallion a fierce glare, he snickered. “Ooh, feisty.” 

“Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves here…” the grimy orange stallion said calmly before he looked back at me, his face suddenly shifting from a smug grin to a look of mild surprise. “Hold on a second…” The stallion stared at me for a long and uncomfortable moment, fixedly studying me before his face twisted into to an angry scowl. “So you’re the flying saint that’s been fuckin up our patrols, aren’t you?” I didn’t answer him, only glaring. 

“She’s the Pegasus bitch that we heard about?” a mare asked, looking at me with a similar glower. 

“Yeah… I think she is.” the first stallion answered, levitating his rifle up to point at me, the rest of his followers doing the same. “You haven’t done a lot of damage to us,” he explained to me, grinning once again. “but you have been a pain. We got reports of our forward post being wiped out, patrols not returning from their raids… I mean really, you’ve been a persistent little bitch.” I only continued to let him speak as I finished my assessment of the situation. I was completely cornered, terribly outnumbered, and low on ammo. With my current weapon, I could only aim one shot with S.A.T.S., and there were seven targets. While there was a chance that I could dive into the side-room before the raiders fired, I was certain that they’d all charge after me together, and then I’d end up being trapped again regardless. 

There wasn’t any way out of this… I was certain that despite whatever these raiders would do to me, I would eventually die… eventually… but really, that was something I could make peace with. One way or another, after years in a cage or a quick death by this firing squad, I would be able to see my parents again… I’d be able to see Cross again. Of course, I’d be leaving my friends behind, my mission, and most regrettably… I’d be leaving Blake behind. It hurt to think about it, but if there was one way to honor them in my final moments, it was to take down as many of these monsters as I could. “Ah well.” I heard the orange unicorn say dismissively. “Time to die.” I was ready to go… to die… but suddenly, the door lurched open, swinging back and smashing into the wall as two ponies barged inside with weapons at the ready, startling the raiders and drawing away their attention; my luck couldn’t have been any better. 

Taking advantage of the diversion, I snapped my rifle up and activated S.A.T.S. to target the leader of the bunch. One shot, and the orange unicorn went down with a bullet in his brains, and just as he fell, the two other ponies opened fire, gunning down four of the six raiders where they stood. The remaining two retaliated with wildly placed shots as they attempted to retreat up the stairs, but the machinegun fire following them caught them before they reached the bottom step. With the last two raiders finished off, a sudden quietness hovered over the camp, broken only by an occasional gunshot outside.  

One of my two rescuers staggered and dropped his assault rifle from its levitation field, and as I got my bearings, I recognized the two unicorn ponies as Rocky and Redfield; Redfield had taken one hit to his left side. “Nova, I need some help!” Rocky called, leaning against Redfield to give the commander some support. 

“I’m fine! It’s just one hit.” Redfield insisted firmly as he stepped away from his comrade, refusing the aid. “I think that was the last of them. The ponies outside should be mopping up any raiders on the retreat… nice work Rocky, Nova.” 

I stared as Redfield gave me a thin smile. Now that the battle was over, my adrenaline slowly dieing away, I was left with a sudden tiredness… an emptiness, and upon Redfield’s inquiry as to whether or not I was okay, I sat down on my haunches and set Cross’s rifle onto the floor with a sigh. For Proudspire, their mission was a great and total success. For me… it was a bittersweet victory, and as I sat there looking at the rifle beside my hooves, only one thought echoed through my head:

I should’ve told him.



Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Alertness - Stop, look, and listen. When crouched and still, or hovering in the air, your perception is increased by +1.