Fallout: Equestria - Red 36

by ElDee

Chapter 5: Who'll Stop the Rain?

Suddenly, I was sitting in some sort of office back during the war, staring down at paperwork. The memory orb showed me a glimpse of the life of a wartime administrator; Force disposition printouts, pending deployments, situation reports, and one important looking document describing an update to the development of “power armor” from the Ministry of Technology lay neatly organized in front of me. Perched precariously on the edge of the desk was a veritable mountain of fan mail. Most of the details seemed irrelevant based on a quick glance.

I could also feel two odd bumps moving on my back that belonged to my host. “I have wings!” I realized, as I felt them stretching on their own. It was such a strange sensation to comprehend being in the body of another pony, with me just being along for the ride. 

My host paid little attention to the office she had seen dozens of times previously, which was decorated in pre-war paraphernalia and wartime propaganda posters. A nearby trophy cabinet displayed medals of honor and valor awards belonging to the owner of the office, with much of it dedicated to a particular elite flight group called the Shadowbolts. With extra emphasis placed on a certain blue pegasus with a rainbow-colored mane. There was a folded up yellow and blue jumpsuit encased in glass placed at the bottom, as if it held a special place of honor. At the center of the room was a golden cloud and lightning bolt insignia inlaid into the floor, which was polished to a shine.

There was now little doubt in my mind who this memory orb belonged to. 

From all the wartime posters of her I’d seen, her multi-colored mane was instantly recognizable in the wasteland. I knew that Rainbow Dash was an icon during the war, but I never imagined what it’d be like to sit inside her office! 

I heard three raps against the door, and my host lifted her gaze, to which a light turquoise pegasus mare with a swept back amber colored mane opened it and stepped inside. A white lightning bolt and three stars were emblazoned across the mare’s flank. She made eye contact with my host, but neither of them said anything. I felt the pony whose memory I was viewing tip her aviators down and raise her eyebrow. Cold determination in the other mare’s eyes, making it feel like there was a sense of history built up over the years between this mare and the memory orb’s owner.

The turquoise pegasus mare averted her eyes, like she was ashamed to be standing in the same room as my host. She gulped and looked back through her peripherals. There was a long silence between them. Then, after it became clear that Rainbow Dash wasn’t going to say anything, the other mare spoke first.

“Look, Dash.” She began, her voice full of regret. “I know I screwed up back at the Academy… ” 

My host didn’t give her a response, so the mare continued.

“-And basically everywhere else... I’d understand if you have reservations about giving me a second chance.” The mare paused and exhaled for a moment. I felt my host raise her eyebrow while she waited for her to finish. Then the other mare folded her ears back and stomped her hoof on the floor, her voice full of passion and conviction and with fire in her eyes. “But Equestria is my home too! I want to get back at the Zebras just as much as anypony! I know you’re looking for talented flyers- And c’mon you know that I could fly circles around any of these guys! Dash, I’ve grown up a lot since those days, and all I’m asking for is you give me one more chance to make it up to you. I promise you won’t regret it!”

After that, the memory orb ended abruptly, fading away into nothing.

The contents of the orb left me completely stumped, much to my continued frustration. “But what was so special about this one?” I kept racking my brain over the seemingly meaningless collection of details as I walked with Sunny. In fact, it raised more questions than it answered! I felt like I could get behind the mare’s desire to enlist, if anything. At least it was something I could relate to her on. 

We travelled south with the western side of the Everfree flanking our left. It was the side of the forest that hadn’t been burned to charred timber. I took the occasional sip of healing potion every time I felt my shoulder begin to flare up when Sunny wasn’t looking, but it would just feel like shit again a few minutes later. I figured that somehow I had managed to luck out up until now on the medical side of things. That rad-away I drank earlier didn’t make me feel any better either, and now I had a bitter aftertaste stuck in my mouth to boot. My mind temporarily lingered on what the Professor said about that possible mutation in my system. I really didn’t like the sound of that.

I looked up at the greyed out skies overhead, frankly amazed at how quickly the weather shifted from sunny to overcast in only a couple of hours. It was hard to tell if it was going to rain or not. My instinct for it had been thrown out of whack since Operation Cauterize.  

Sunny had been silent for a good while since we left Unity in search of those New Canterlot soldiers. Based on the way she spoke back there, it seemed like she clearly had some unspoken reservations about going to speak with them. I could tell, there was something she wasn’t saying.

“So this guy,” I began, trying to start up a conversation. “Who is he, exactly? A scientist or what?”

The mare’s eyes darted from side to side, startled at my question. “W-Which guy?” she stammered. 

“The one you said knows about the Enclave.” I reminded her, and she let out a strained sigh of relief. 

“C’mon, give me a clue!” I pressed. She was almost reluctant to answer the question at first.

“O-Oooh him?” she she played. “He’s my dad.”

“Your dad?” I asked, a little surprised. “Well what does he do?”

“He knows from years of studying the Enclave’s inner workings. As long as I’ve known him he’s been incredibly dedicated to his work. He told my family that he’d meet us in Junction Town if anything ever happened, so that’s why I asked to travel there with you. 

I nodded along at her non-answer, “Makes sense...”

“He always made sure we were taken care of as a family, even though it felt like he wasn’t always there. That didn’t stop him from always being super overprotective of me for some reason. Dads right, am I right? No matter what I did, I’d always be his little girl to him.”

I really didn’t know what it was like to have a dad, so I just took her word for it. I paused for a moment to think it over, before saying, “That must’ve been nice, having someone...”

“Yeah, but I’d really have liked to get out a little more when I was growing up, y’know?” she joked. I snorted, looking at the mare beside me, feeling like I could almost empathize with what she was saying.

She went silent again after that. I was starting to miss her normal chipper attitude. I sighed, looking back ahead. “Sorry about ruining your lead with Gimlet back there.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It turned out to be a dead end anyways. ” She said, brushing it off absentmindedly. “Just that... I thought I almost found someone I was looking for.”

Hang on. She was searching for someone too? It was beginning to get harder to ignore all the gaping holes in her story.

I stared at her again without saying anything. Then she snickered and gave me a nudge, “It was kind of funny that you had the right idea all along.”

“Found who?” I asked, and she seemed startled that I would ask that.

“O-oh right. I’ve been looking for someone.” She admitted quickly, and I gave her a funny look.

“Who?” I pressed further, but the mare only replied with half-hearted non-answers. Then she hummed to herself pretending not to hear. I grunted, getting tired of playing games with her. She went quiet not long after.

When we passed the downed Vertibuck wreckage a second time, it was already being stripped to pieces by salvagers. It didn’t take them long to find it after we did. We just kept our distance as we passed, and they yelled at us to get lost.

Checking over my shoulder again to make sure that we weren’t being followed, there were still no signs of the raiders anywhere. For being called “Raider Country”, it wasn’t really living up to its name. But I still had that feeling of being on constant alert. I wondered if they were biding their time planning something, like that one pony said. What the hell did he mean “something big”? Hell, why wasn’t New Canterlot out here helping towns like Unity? All questions for later. Now the sheriff had me acting as a liaison between her and these soldiers. This was getting ridiculous. 

When we reached the western side of the Everfree Forest, Sunny began to get more nervous with her occasional fidgeting. She slowed to a sudden stop and asked me something weird. 

“Hey, Rou? Can we talk about something…?”

“What is it?” I asked, cutting her off slightly.

“Um… my mistake. It’s nothing.” She laughed it off nervously.

“Then c’mon, let’s get this over with.” I gestured her to follow.

“Okay, sorry.” Sunny nodded. She seemed like she had something else on her mind, whatever it was it could wait. Or not. “But everything will be okay with the New Canterlot soldiers, right?”

“Who knows.” I shrugged. “It’s my fault for running out here on my own and stirring up trouble. I’m sure they’ll understand once they hear my side of the story. Let’s go.” 

The mare started dragging her hooves and i turned back to look at her. She fell behind and came to a complete stop close to the Everfree Forest. She stared at the ground for a moment, somewhat anxious to speak. “Rou, I… Travelling with you, that’s one thing, but I don’t know if going to deal with New Canterlot mercenaries is such a good idea...”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

She didn’t answer.
“You’re acting weird.” I pointed out, “...weirder than normal.”

“Sorry. I can’t help it. It’s just-” she didn’t finish her sentence. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t notice how she seemed uneasy whenever New Canterlot was brought up.

“Quit being so nervous. Everything will work out.” I gestured again for her to follow, but she stayed rooted to that spot. Instead, the mare shook her head vigorously. Grunting under my breath, I checked over my shoulder again to make sure nobody else was around. Something was majorly putting me on edge. It wasn’t safe to stay here. “Sunny, c’mon…”

“Hey, I’ve got an idea! How about we just forget about the New Canterlot soldiers and head straight to Junction Town?” she smiled weakly, tilting her head up to look at me.

I rolled my eyes, starting to lose patience with the mare. “That’s ridiculous. It’d be faster if we just get it over with.”

“I know, but-” She timidly tried to speak, but I cut her off again.

“C’mere.” I motioned again for her to move, but she didn’t budge. “It’s dangerous to stay that close to the Everfree Forest for too long.” Even in its half-burned down state the Everfree wasn’t something to be trifled with. I didn’t want to tempt fate. She shook her head again.

“Look here, I don’t have a choice in the matter! Besides, weren’t you one who was all insisting that I help the town?” I pointed out. I growled as the bullet in my shoulder started to burn into my shoulder again. 

“M-Maybe we should just head back to Junction Town and sort things out there?” she offered weakly.

“Sunny!” I snarled, losing my temper. 

She breathed in and out, as if to steel herself. “Roulette, I have to tell you something.”

We were interrupted by growls and vicious barks emanating from the woods. A lone timberwolf lept from the forest charged towards us. Its body was charred black from flames and its eyes glowed like embers. I readied myself, but I was too slow. It lept towards Sunny instead since she was perceived as the weaker target, pouncing on top of her as I was caught bringing up my rifle. 

Sunny toppled over backward and the timberwolf pounced on top of her. She screamed, desperately trying to hold it back with her hooves while I was busy aiming down the sights. There were tears in her eyes as she stared into the jaws of death. It pushed past her defenses easily and sunk its teeth into her neck, tearing into her. 

My first shot penetrated the timberwolf, splintering its lower jaw. Sunny winced. Then the first shot was quickly followed by several more, which took off big chunks of its body. The charred timberwolf toppled over onto its side, leaving Sunny scratched up and injured from the attack, covered in wood bits. Fire raged inside of me as I squeezed the trigger again, and again.

Grinding my teeth together as I let out a single slow breath in a growl, I unloaded the entire magazine. Then I realized there was nothing left but a pile of motionless sticks and I slowly let out a breath. That forest was as dangerous as ever.

“Fuck.” I grunted, quickly giving my attention back to Sunny.

The mare blinked unable to speak, just barely holding on. Her clothes were torn up and she was bleeding out. I quickly looked around to make sure there weren’t others, dragging her to a safe distance with my teeth.  I crouched over and dug out my only healing potion, uncorking it, I pressed it to her lips and she drank slowly until there was nothing left. Her injuries stitched themselves seamlessly back together and when she was done with it I tossed the bottle away, hearing the glass shatter.

“Careful, that was our only healing healing potion.” I warned. Her coat was a little bloodstained and she was completely shell shocked, but she looked okay otherwise. Standing up, I walked over to the slain remains of the creature. Timberwolves were known to travel in packs but it seemed like this one was on its own. I gazed at the fallen beast, feeling some sense of remorse. “Must’ve been a lone timberwolf that was separated from its pack. All alone.” Then my pity ran out and I kicked the pile of sticks. There went our get out jail free card.

I turned to look at the mare again, “Are you okay?”

“Rou, y-you saved me!” Sunny Hymn exclaimed, shakily bringing herself to her hooves. She took unsteady breaths while she collected herself. Then with a bright grin, she put on another happy look that you’d assume she didn’t almost come within an inch of death right there. “Phew, I don’t know what came over me right then. Shall we go then?”

”Sunny…” I sighed, staring at something else. A feathered wing was poking out from under her shirt, which had come loose during the attack. It gave a slight flutter. For a short moment, I didn’t say anything. Admittedly, I wasn’t particularly shocked by it, but a switch flipped inside her head the moment she noticed what I was looking at.

Her pupils dilated and her whole face sunk. The cheery persona she’d been putting on was wiped away in an instant. “I-...I-, no. Rou, it’s not what you think.”

“Sunny...” I repeated, walking towards her.

“Y-you caught me! I’m actually a mutant, I’ve had this wing ever since I was born-…!”  The seafoam pegasus trailed off into a weak laugh.

I didn’t say anything.

“Please Rou, we’re friends right? Don’t hurt me please. I’m sorry, I promise, I was going to tell you! I swear, I didn’t do any of that stuff the Enclave did- I’m not even military!” She begged. I put firm hoof on her shoulder. The mare looked terrified, her body was shaking all over.

“R-Rou…?” she barely managed to squeak out. “Please don’t hurt me…”

“Sunny, get a grip would you?!” I shouted into her ear and huffed. The mare blinked twice, trying to process my words until she half-came to her senses.

She cocked her head to the side. “B-but don’t you hate pegasi?”

“No, of course not.” I scoffed, but she looked more confused than convinced. “My foalhood hero was a pegasus.”

“R-really...?”

I spoke almost with a hint of pride in my voice, holding a hoof to my chest. “Yeah, you know Radar the dashite? He saved me and my family when we were little.”

“Wait, you knew Radar?!” she blurted out, looking shocked.

“Yeah, sorta… He didn’t raise us or anything.” I mentioned. I wasn’t expecting that reaction, and it felt a bit awkward explaining myself. Admittedly, it gave me an uneasy feeling, knowing that she had been holding this in the whole time. Angry with myself more than anything. “Why’d you feel like you had to hide this?” I asked.

The mare shook her head, still struggling to speak. “I just didn’t know how you’d react. Pegasi aren’t exactly well liked down here, and you...well... “ she trailed off and I urged her to continue. “The way you act whenever someone mentions the Enclave. I wanted to trust you, but didn’t want to take any chances until I knew for sure.”

I sighed to myself while the mare continued. Who could blame her?

“It’s safer to operate with my wings hidden than as a ‘citizen of the Enclave’.” Sunny admitted, allowing her eyes to fall to the ground. Then she folded her ears back and looked up at me, looking ashamed of herself. “So, you really don’t hate me just because I’m a pegasus?”

“Stupid…” I pressed a hoof to my forehead running it through my mane and she looked confused. “I don’t hate you. What I hate is…” 

I fell silent briefly. My shoulders slumped dropping my rifle and saddlebags onto the ground. My head hung with my auburn and white mane covering my face. I didn’t speak for a good while, staring out over the horizon at an white SPP towers in the distance. “I hate the Enclave, because they took away the only thing I ever cared about.” 

“What happened to you...?” she asked, with a genuine hint of sincerity in her voice.

I didn’t look back at her as I spoke, continuing to stare off into the distance. Swallowing hard, I grit my teeth. “My family is gone, alright? Don’t make me say it!”

“Oh…” Sunny said. The mare suddenly wrapped her forelegs around my waist in an attempt to hug me, and her soft wings embraced me. She was warm. I felt something bubbling up inside my chest and for a moment I desperately wanted to allow myself to feel something, but I stopped myself halfway. Pushing her away with my hoof, I breathed in and recomposed myself.  

“I’ll be alright.” I insisted.

“S-sorry.” She apologized, then the mare took a deep breath and exhaled, “Alright, full truth here… I’m a pegasus. Technically a civilian, since I never served in the Enclave. I got lost on the way down from the cloud cities to the surface. The reason I’m out here is because I’m looking for someone… my dad.”

“I thought you said your dad was in Junction Town.” I raised one eyebrow.

“Oh, I did?” Sunny shrunk backward, blushing. “I didn’t know what to do at first. This was my first time on my own. He gave me specific instructions what to do in case of emergency, go to Junction Town and wait for him there. But my gut instinct kept telling me otherwise. I was there once before and I couldn’t find him anywhere. I waited, and waited… Then I got tired of waiting, and I came out here… It was stupid I know...”

I didn’t really have any room to talk.

“Before we met I had already been searching for a while. I’d gotten no leads and was about to call it quits. Then I thought that maybe if I tagged along with you, I’d be able to find him since you were so obsessed with finding out about the Enclave.… I’m sorry for lying.”

“It’s fine...” I sighed again.

Sunny Hymn gave me an uneasy look referring back to some information we stumbled upon earlier “Do you remember when that bartender mentioned the other pegasus that passed through town a while back?” She asked, and I nodded. “Well, I asked him again to give me a closer description and he sounded exactly like my dad! He might be somewhere around here. Only problem is… that was a week or two ago.”

“So that’d mean your dad is…” I trailed off as she nodded nervously. The mare didn’t have to say it for me to know what that meant. I don’t know what I was surprised.

She bit her lip. “His name is Airworthy. He was a famous Enclave scout… Sorry…”

I rubbed my eyes, feeling exasperated. “Let’s table that issue for now.” 

The pegasus mare tried desperately to reassure me. “H-he’ll still tell you everything you want to know!”

“Thanks and all, but it’ll have to wait until we’ve dealt with this.” I said, and she seemed to agree.

“So, are you still okay travelling with me, knowing all that? Even though I’m a pegasus?” She asked, tearing up. “So many surface ponies still blame us for everything. They treat us like second class citizens, regardless of whether or not we had anything to do with it…”

“‘Heck yeah…a pair of wings doesn’t change how I feel about you.” I replied and then gave a slight smirk, “You’ve gotta stop worrying so much.”

“T-thank you.” She smiled wiping her eyes clean, “Gosh, look at me. I’m getting all sappy. I’m glad that you’re here to set me straight.” She cleaned herself up and smiled back.

Another sharp pain shot through my shoulder. This one was worse than the others, accompanied by a slight throbbing.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“N-nothing.” I answered. “It’s fine.”

“Really?” her voice took on a stern motherly tone.

“Yes, really! I’m good as gold!” I put on a fake smile, flexing my foreleg, “I’ll be fine, see? Better than ever- ow!” I suddenly felt another sharp jolt of pain in my shoulder. The mare didn’t look too convinced.

I groaned with a slight roll of my eyes. “I got leaded with my own gun yesterday. But it’s nothing to worry about, because I take care of my shit.” I said, intending to ease her fears, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. That part about getting shot with my own gun probably didn’t sound as good as it did inside my head.

“Rou, you’ve got to see a doctor and get that thing removed! W-What about infections?!”

“Infections? Sunny, you’re starting to sound like an egghead…” I said. Then she gave me a look that I didn’t particularly appreciate. “Well, it wasn’t intentional!” I fired back. 

“C’mon let’s get moving. It’s going to rain… probably.” I said, looking up at the clouds and we began walking again. Although it was difficult to know for sure.

“How can you tell?” she asked.

I started walking South again and said. “Just something I can tell from growing up in the Wasteland.” I answered, and Sunny Hymn followed me shortly. 

“So… ‘Creeps in power armor’?” I snickered, punching her shoulder.

She laughed lightly while rubbing it, “Well it’s not like everything was super hunky dory above the clouds...”

We searched around for awhile skirting the edge of the Everfree along the road, until we came across the New Canterlot patrols we’d been searching for. 

I spotted some ponies in the distance who were distinctly un-raider looking. They all wore similar dark and tan combat armor that looked almost like a play on Talon gear, but with uniform scarfs, rifles and bandoliers. The initials “NC” were marked with a red star across all of their chest pieces. “That must be them” I thought. 

All in all, there were eight ponies. Most of them dressed in combat armor, and carrying service rifles that looked similar to my own. A doctor seemed to be accompanying them as well. Looking up, I noticed two more pegasi troopers flying over head. That made ten. They had probably noticed me too.

“Do you trust me?” I asked Sunny while undoing the strap on my rifle. 

She seemed confused. “What do you mean?”

It appeared like the patrol was coming towards us, so I tossed my rifle on the ground and looked to Sunny one last time. “Last chance if you want to leave... I won’t stop you if you’re scared.”

She nodded, “No… I’ll stick by you.” This provided me with a small sense of comfort. Sunny was probably already used to dealing with military.

“Okay then, look sharp...” I muttered. Then I inhaled, filling up my lungs and shouted as loud as I could, waving my hooves to get their attention. “Hey, you New Canterlot soldiers! I got something I want to say to you!” 

I could see one of them point at me, alerting the rest of the squad and they all trained their rifles on us. 

“If you don’t want us to use you for target practice, don’t move!” A stallion that sounded like he was in charge called out.

Right then I noticed a couple of pegasi hovering overhead. Why did they all have their weapons pointed on me specifically? This wasn’t my first time staring down the barrels of that many weapons, although I was really hoping that they all weren’t going to just shoot me on sight.

“Don’t try anything, raider!” they shouted at me.

“Wait! I’m not a-” I began, but was cut off by a warning shot and went still.

Then suddenly, I felt a force like a ton of bricks slam into the back of my head and I ate a mouthful of dirt as I was dropped face-first into the ground. For a split second I blacked out, but when I came to there was a heavy weight pressing down on top of me. I could feel a clawed hind leg pinning the back of my neck and the tip of a tail brushing against me. “Sit down, and stay put.” I heard a gruff female voice say as I spat up bits of earth.

“Was that really fucking necess-” I growled, but the griffoness stepped on the back of my head making me eat another mouthful of dirt.

“Hold your fire!” I heard barked to the rest of the squad.

“Don’t move a muscle.” she ordered, and I heard the hammer of large revolver cocked back. Sunny sounded fine from her nervous stammers. “And you - shut up, stay quiet and you’ll be okay.” She immediately complied. 

“Fuck you! If you touch her, I’ll kick your ass!” I spat at the griffon as she remained holding me there, almost in spite of Sunny’s failed attempts to explain the situation. Thankfully she hadn’t come to harm. 

“W-what about my friend…?” Sunny asked.

We waited as the pony who looked like the highest ranking in the squad approached us with the rest of his squad. His forest green mane was well groomed and his coat was immaculate white. He looked like he was a high society prick from Tenpony with the way he carried himself. “Thanks but we had the situation well in hand.”

“Name’s Gabriela Hawkins, New Canterlot Skyrangers. I was watching from above, Lieutenant. Good thing I came by too, you lot were about to perforate this pair of civilians. Raiders don’t travel alone.”

The New Canterlot officer turned to his sergeant, an aging tobiono painted stallion with a short white mane, and ordered him to set up a perimeter. His coat was faded and there were bags under his eyes, like he had seen a lot in his day. I barely caught a glimpse his golden sheriff badge cutie mark behind his armor as he grunted an affirmative and put the squad to work. 

“Lieutenant Alabaster, Squad 1A, Balefire Platoon. It can be a dangerous task running patrols out here in raider country, especially this close to the Ghastly Gorge, so I suppose I should be honored that a New Canterlot Skyranger is looking after us.”

“Think nothing of it, I just had to get involved before you shot this idiot.” Hawkins replied.

 The white unicorn looked down at me and back at the griffon pinning me in place. “Who is she then?”

“Dunno, but she’s the only one that looked like she’d pose much of a threat.” That line annoyed me for some reason. “She’s got a service rifle, IF-15 Model. Looks like one of our’s... Modified stealthbuck, an Enclave non-issue modified energy weapon, a ten mill and then some other junk in her bag.” I really wasn’t fond of being forced to eat dirt while a griffon went through my stuff either.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and assume she doesn’t have a permit for that.”

“Quit talkin’ like I ain’t here!” I growled, and the griffoness pushed me down into the dirt again with her hind leg. I was getting angry.

Hawkins motioned her head towards Sunny Hymn. “The other one’s just a pegasus civy.”  Sunny gasped at how she was able to tell so easily, and the griffoness scoffed saying it was obvious by the way she moved. Griffons and Pegasi had a long history of conflict.

Finally, the lieutenant got around to addressing me specifically, “Ma’am, would you kindly identify yourself?”

“I was trying to tell you earlier: I’m not a fucking raider!” I yelled, thrusting myself upwards with my hooves and almost threw Hawkins off balance in the process. “That report over the radio is total bogus!  I’m with you guys! My name’s Roulette, and I was hired by the Outpost 52 to carry out my assignment!”

“Hey, quit it! What the hell is wrong with you?!” The griffoness spat, forcing me back down with her whole body weight. “Stop fighting or I’ll fucking shoot you!” I simmered down as soon as she mentioned the gun again. “Report? What report…?”

“They reported over the radio pinning those caravan attacks on me, dumbass. I wasn’t the one who hit those caravans, it was a raider named Jagged Knife!”

“No sense in keeping her there. Let her up.” Alabaster said. Hawkins asked me if I was going to behave myself, and I gave a slight nod, holding back any sarcastic comments I wanted to make. She released me and I stumbled back to my hooves where I was allowed to finally get a look at her. 

Hawkins was a slender built sniper griffon with yellow tipped plumage and a black-tipped beak. A white scarf was wrapped around her neck over her green vest on which she wore a stars decorated bandolier, with a gigantic pistol holstered underneath. She was giving me an irate look that mirrored my own, and we exchanged glares. 

With a huff, I explained my situation and told them everything I knew. Unfortunately, they were initially skeptical of my story.

Alabaster looked over to Hawkins rubbing the back of his neck. “Enclave, flying over the Smokey Mountains...? That sounds a little far fetched.”

“I didn’t see any Enclave,” Hawkins scoffed, dismissing the notion entirely.

Getting desperate I blurted out, “Really, I saw them!”

“Also Jagged who…?” she tilted her head. 

My mouth hung open, speechless. “...Of all the fucking-! Jagged Knife is the one who’s been organizing the raider attacks in the New Canterlot Territory using Enclave Weapons that you assholes were supposed to deal with! I barely survived one of those attacks! There are towns out here that need your help! What the fuck are you doing out here?!”

Alabaster raised his head tall like he was reciting from a script “Our mission is to secure a stronger foothold west of the 52, so the raiders have no way to advance back into the territory. We have it on intel that Papa Bighoof was behind those caravan attacks, so we’re just waiting for the rest of our forces to finish training up in New Canterlot.”

“No shit! Where do you think that intel came from in the first place?” Hawkins snapped at Lieutenant Alabaster, looking suddenly shocked by this information. “And on who’s authority? I wasn’t informed of this.”

“It’s from the top.” he answered, stone-faced.

“Blackhawk then?” She grumbled.

“I remember hearing about caravan attacks being carried out by raiders using Enclave weapons during a briefing, but I don’t usually pay attention during those. They’re boring as hell, so usually I’ll just come up with an excuse to avoid them. Just let the grunts deal with it.” she shrugged. 

“Real model soldier, ain'tcha?” I spat.

“It’s Skyranger, kid. Don’t lump me in with the rest of them, because I’m not. As far as I’m concerned if I don’t know his name, he’s a fucking nobody! Papa Bighoof is the current big Raider Warlord in this area, not whoever the fuck this Jagged Knife guy is!” 

“Don’t call me a damned kid!” I immediately fired back.

The griffon brushed my insults aside, continuing her verbal onslaught. “You came out here without knowing a damned thing about the situation? You really are a fucking idiot.”

“Why don’t you fight me for real, one-on-one, instead of sneaking up behind me?! What’s the matter, you big chicken?”

“Cocky, me likes...You wanna know a secret?” A wicked grin crept across her face, and she paused for anticipation. “Earth ponies can’t look up to save their damned life!” She laughed out loud and my face went red hot with anger. I was quickly learning what it must’ve been like to be the recipient of one of my asskickings.  It wasn’t that fun being on the receiving end.

A light-blue unicorn stallion with a platinum blonde mane stepped forward and forced himself between the two of us. He wore spectacles and a look of impatience. A single silver lock of mane drooped in front of his face. As he pushed us apart, I noticed the symbol depicting three butterflies that marked his association with the followers was stitched onto his labcoat. “Excuse me ladies, but would you please be civil? There are more important matters at hoof!”

Alabaster nodded in agreement.

I lost my temper, but there was very little I could say either. I didn’t have any idea who or what they were talking about, only that I remembered Cottontail told me about what the weapons were for. But I knew for a fact that Jagged Knife was behind those attacks! That was the truth, whether they wanted to believe it or not!

Then the lieutenant asked me if I had any forms of identification. Despite getting heated, I still managed to keep a cool head. All I could think of on the spot was the envelope containing those reports, but Fair Trade told me I wasn’t allowed to show the contents to anyone. I told him what i could.

“Like I said, my name is Roulette.” I repeated. “I was hired by Fair Trade to deliver an envelope containing an important report to Major Silver Spur at Junction Town.”

“Fair Trade, huh? Seems to me... Junction Town is in the other direction.” He pursed his lips together, raising his brow. “What exactly are you carrying in ‘said envelope’?” he asked with sneaking suspicion.

Dammit. “Erm...I can’t tell you. My orders are to give it only to Major Silver Spur directly, sealed on delivery- not my business.” I was forced to say. I knew how bad it must’ve looked, but I wasn’t about to disobey instructions again. After all, I still had what was left of my reputation to uphold in the territory. 

“And you honestly expect me to believe that?” The unicorn asked, lowering his eyelids.

“...Yes?” I grinned, trying to stifle fake laughter.

Alabaster was not amused. Hawkins then snatched the sealed envelope from my open saddlebag and examined it. I shouted in protest.

“Looks official.” she admitted, inspecting it from both sides and showing it to the lieutenant. 

“This envelope checks out, but the fact that you’re carrying the very weapons the raiders are using in these attacks, by your own admission, casts some doubt on your story as to what you were really doing out here.” The lieutenant said, doubtful.

“No!” Sunny interjected, showing off and pointing to her wings. “She’s the real deal! I’m a pegasus civilian from Neighvarro who got lost and she was helping me!”

They both turned to look at her. “Miss, are you registered with the Neighvarro Provisional Government?” he asked, and she gave a reluctant nod.

Sheepishly, she replied, “My name is Sunny Hymn. It should be somewhere in the registry… C16273009”

“Do you really think I’d come here by myself if I was a raider?” I groaned.

“Fair point. I’ll take it on your friend’s word then, that you’re not a raider but you should probably be more careful about your choice of uniform in the future. If it wasn’t for that armor paint job we might’ve shot you by mistake.” He said, and I nodded silently. Sunny would’ve likely been proud of herself right then.

“Lieutenant Alabaster?” The sergeant interrupted us. He spoke with slight countryisms. “Sir, not to interrupt, but we should get moving... That storm is going to be here soon, and we can’t afford to stay here for too long.”

“Storm...?” I asked incredulously, “It couldn’t be more than a drizzle at most, it’s just a little cloudy!” I knew wasteland weather!

“It only looks like that right now, but it’ll be rolling in soon. There’s been a heavy thunderstorm scheduled for weeks. Supposed to be a big one. Lightbringer’s making up for lost time, I guess.” he replied. Fuck. I nearly forgot about the scheduled weather events. I should’ve been paying attention to the radio more. “What do you want us to do with these civilians?”

The follower’s pony seemed to be growing more impatient with the lieutenant. “Do we really have time for this? They’re civilians! The right thing would be to take them with us.” he insisted. I was a little surprised to hear him sticking up for us out of the blue like that. He barely even knew us. I guess that was the Followers for you.

“Doctor Page Turner, when you asked to come along with us, it was mutually understood we would agree to protect you on your business for the Followers but the mission would come first. You’ll have to trust me to know how to do my job.” 

He pointed to his satchel. “Well, I don’t want any of this research data getting wet either. I’ll have you know, this work is valuable to New Canterlot as well!”

We all heard the crack of thunder echo in the distance and looked towards the SPP tower it seemed to emanate from.

“We’re taking them with us.” He ordered, and the lieutenant turned to me, “You can tag along with us back to our base, it’s just Southwest of the Everfree. Once we’re back there, we can file a report and figure out this mess.”

Begrudgingly, I gave the slightest of nods.

“Alright then. In that case, I’m sticking with you guys!” Hawkins called out, and there was general approval amongst the rank and file.

I saw the the lieutenant pull the griffon aside and ask her something. “Have the Skyrangers finished their scouting mission?” 

Hawkins brought her voice down to a harsh whisper, “That information is supposed to be classified! How’d you find out about it?”

“It doesn’t matter.” he replied. I saw Lieutenant Alabaster lean closer to the Skyranger as he spoke under his breath. Even though they were speaking quietly, I could still overhear them. “You should get back and deliver that report to Blackhawk. It’s just a short march around the Everfree. My squad can handle themselves.”

“Like hell!” She returned, “Not while Papa Bighoof’s army is waiting just past the Ghastly Gorge! You need a skyranger like me to watch your back and take care of the civies. Are you honestly going to leave air support to the pegasi?!” 

“That old warlord’s not going to show his cards to a single squad of New Canterlot troopers. He’s stayed up on that hill for nearly a century. That report on the other hoof is more important to helping New Canterlot, and if you don’t go now then you’ll get caught in the storm with us. It’s be just a march through some bad weather. One night we have to take shelter at the worst.”

I looked between them, still not entirely sure what was going on.

“Don’t you think I’m aware of all that? But the raiders have been getting more bold lately. It’ll be raining, so it’s the perfect chance for him to try something... Even if this turns out to be nothing, I’m not willing to let you take the risk with the civies here.” she insisted. “There are other Skyrangers. Blackhawk can wait an extra day or two for the full report.”

The Sergeant interrupted them both mid-conversation, “Lieutenant, we really shouldn’t turn down aid if she’s offering. It’d let the troops rest easier.”

“Besides, I’ve got a feeling deep in my gut that something might happen...” she said glaring at me like I was somehow responsible for this. I shot her back a dirty look of my own.

He relented turning back to the rest of his squad. “Fine, have it your way.”

“Form up!” Alabaster shouted, and then briefly addressed the two of us. “For now, can you keep pace?”

Sunny Hymn glanced towards my shoulder with concern and then back at Lieutenant Alabaster. We both nodded together.

As I picked up my rifle, a larger red earth pony stallion stood over me. He had a squared jaw like a big dumb jock and a tiny orange tuft of mane under his helmet. He ordered me to hand over my weapons. “That rifle is property of New Canterlot, so give it over.”

I refused, holding it behind me as he approached to try and take it. “Try it…” I growled.

Putting his hoof on the stallion’s shoulder, the sergeant gave him a stern look. “You’d better let her hang onto it, Ace. We might need her help.” He took a moment to process it before nodding, but I saw him eyeing me up and down like he was sizing me up. He probably had his doubts about me. I was pretty sure I could take him though if he tried.

I looked over at Sunny, where she was attempting to reassure herself more than me. “Everything’ll be okay...” I said, trying to give her a false sense of assurance and the mare nodded following along. What a shit situation I’d dragged her into.

We continued south along an old road along the Western edge of the Everfree Forest. We didn’t talk much, after all there’d be plenty of time for talking later. The weather was already taking a turn for the worse. I could see there were dark grey clouds above us now, covering up the whole sky. Now it felt more like the wasteland I remembered. 

Even being escorted amongst the other troopers I didn’t allow myself to feel relaxed.  Plus, I was still bitter about that griffon getting the drop on me. Something was going on here that I wasn’t fully aware of. I just hated being left in the dark about it. But rushing out here was what also got me into this mess, so maybe it was better to hang back and observe for now.

A pegasus trooper who flew down to chat was pestering me, making the task difficult. “Wowee!” he said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mare put up that much of a fight with a gun still pressed to her head!” I grunted, ignoring the dark brown pegasus trooper who was attempting to flirt with me. He whistled, “And you’re quite the looker too. Name’s Twister, ma’am!”

“Don’t fraternize with the civilians.” Came a sharp check from from Ace.

Twister shrugged, “Hey, I can’t help it if I got a thing for hot-blooded surface mares!”

“Twister, get back on recon!” A cream coated pegasus mare with a teal green mane flew overhead, to which Twister immediately took to the skies again. The mare looked very trim and by the books. She then spoke into a portable radio. “Camp Brave, this is Squad 1A Balefire Platoon, radio check, over.”

A staticky mare’s voice replied, “Squad 1A this is Camp Brave, reading you loud and clear.”

Getting tired of walking, I asked. “Any idea how far it is?” The sergeant replied to me, without taking his eyes off his surroundings.

“Camp Brave is on the southwestern side of the Everfree. Provided your story checks out, you’ll be turned over to New Canterlot Officials and they’ll deal with you from there. You might have to help file a report with Captain Sweetroll, and help us fill out some paperwork. With luck, we’ll sort out this mess quickly.” 

“Aren’t you worried the raiders will try something?” I asked.

The stallion laughed confidently, “I was figuring we’d run into a few skirmishers at most, but I don’t expect they'll cause problems for us. My troops can handle it.”

I moaned, agonizing over what Fair Trade would say about all this. I really fucked up big time. We continued along the road, and my shoulder kept hurting. It felt like it was only getting worse in the meantime. Like the bullet was growing hotter under my skin and I could feel the constant throbbing around it getting more and more painful as we walked. I winced nearly every step of the way and they ignored my subtle requests for medical supplies. Sunny might’ve been the only one who noticed anything. They told me if I was good enough to walk, they’d take care of it back at camp.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be a doctor right?” I whispered to the blue unicorn stallion who was supposedly with the Followers.

“I’m a historian.” he answered, and I moaned audibly, tilting my neck over. “Are you alright...?” he asked, giving me a confused look.

“I’m perfect…” I mumbled.

Up ahead I could see an abandoned town sitting on the edge of the Everfree Forest. It had an off look to it, like it was halfway to becoming a prosperous startup with many small independent stores, but then they just stopped building it halfway through. There was little indication of what would cause the builders to do such a thing. 

Most of the ruined buildings were bombed out with missing walls. Only a few of the structures remained fully in tact. There was a different feeling, like a sense of foreboding coming from the Everfree forest and that town, not unlike when . I was getting an odd feeling from it. We were going to pass it on the road.

“We passed by that town before, on our first rounds. Looks like it was some kind of failed startup from during the Great War. Now it’s just a ghost town.”

“Sure looks spooky... Would hate to have to spend the night there.”

“Coltsfield” I managed to read from a barely functioning sign. Most of the buildings had been reclaimed by the wasteland over two hundred years, with at least one wall missing on most of the remaining structures. The town looked only half finished, with piles of rotting lumber left abandoned in spots that were meant to become buildings. Strange pieces of machinery lay discarded at the edge of the Everfree, and I saw an old hanging banner that read “Opportunity in your Community!”

Hawkins called out from above, pointing to another figure standing in the road ahead of us. I heard the sergeant order us to be ready and for the civies to get their heads down. It was difficult to see past the other soldiers until we got closer.

“At ease.” Alabaster ordered upon realizing the pony was an ally.

A singular hulking figure in power armor stood in the middle of the road. They wore the telltale color-scheme of the Applejack’s Rangers, in glorious T-51B military grade power armor, and armed with some of the toughest heavy ordinance known to pony-kind. He also had a huge gash on the right side of his visor. The Ranger took heavy steps towards us, allowing the mechanisms in the suit to do most of the work and stopped in front of Lieutenant Alabaster. Hawkins landed beside him.

The stallion spoke in a southern drawl thick with mechanical distortion, “Well, well fancy meeting y’all here! I’m Star Protector Huckleberry of the Applejack’s Rangers. You fellas out on patrol?”

“What gave you that idea?” The Lieutenant replied dryly, and the Ranger gave a hearty laugh. “We’re on our way back to base, I’m Lieutenant Alabaster of the New Canterlot Army, and this is Skyranger Gabriela Hawkins.”

“It’s Hawkins.” she insisted, “Just Hawkins.”

“Pleasure to meetcha.” He said, tipping an imaginary hat.

Alabaster motioned around, “What brings you out here Ranger?” he asked. Hawkins appeared kind of annoyed that the lieutenant was acting like he was in charge of her, but she went along with it. The Applejack’s Ranger chuckled to himself.

“Funny thing, I’ve been carrying on my own investigation… Our main chapter is back in Manehattan sorting out Alliance business, so I’ve been assigned to do this mission solo. Hit a bit of a brick wall lately, so figured I’d come see what all you New Canterlot boys were up to. Heard something about raider attacks and the Smokey Mountains...?”

My ears suddenly perked up, overhearing them. I’d suffer through it if I could find out more. Listening into their conversation, the Ranger gave little concern for subtlety.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get much further than the Ghastly Gorge… but since we’re all out here tonight, I figured we can help each other out?”

“Not interested.” Hawkins replied coldly. “This is a New Canterlot operation.”

Alabaster appeared to follow that up with an apology on her behalf, to which he received a death glare from the griffoness. “Sorry, but we aren’t allowed to discuss those details on orders from high command. Besides, we have civilians present.”

“I see...” Huckleberry replied, appearing to glance back at us briefly. It was difficult to tell what kind of facial expression he was wearing underneath his suit of power armor. “Well, I figure we might cover ground faster if we work together. We’re both after the same thing, aren’t we?”

“That’s awfully presumptuous of you...”

“Am I wrong?” he asked, and there was a long pause between them. I groaned internally, hating not knowing what was going on.

Lieutenant Alabaster was losing his patience. “With all due respects Ranger, I think we’ll be on our way. We have to get moving if we’re going to make it back to base before the storm hits.”

The Ranger motioned behind us to look at the storm forming, “That storm’s going to be here mighty soon, don’t think you’re gonna to make it in time. With the civilians here maybe y’all should consider resting in that town for the night and waiting for it to pass. I’d be happy to give you some extra protection.”

“We’ll be fine.” The lieutenant insisted. Something wet dripped onto my snout and I looked up. I could feel it starting to drizzle.

The blue unicorn with the followers joined in on the conversation.“Pardon me, I’m Page Turner, a historian for the Followers of the Apocalypse. Nice to meet you Protector Huckleberry.”

“Likewise.” he nodded.

All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain like a knife jabbing into my shoulder and twisting around. I felt nauseous like I was about to vomit. Nudging one of the soldiers and moaning under my breath I winced, “I think I need a medic…”

“Shut it, we’ll get you taken care of back at the base.” The large asshole jock of a stallion snapped, barely paying attention to me.

“What a coincidence! A New Canterlot skyranger, a shining knight in power armor, and a Follower’s doctor with a hoofful of soldiers and civilians, all present on the same night.” Page Turner mused to himself. “I’d have to side with the Ranger in this instance, judging from the published meteorology reports.” 

“Quiet down, all of you!” The Lieutenant barked, feeling like he was losing control.

“Um, pardon me sir?” Sunny asked, stepping over forwards to where most of them were congregating. “Is my friend going to be alright?”

They all turned to look at me, where I was only barely keeping it together. I grasped my shoulder with my foreleg, and felt it throbbing with pain as I took unsteady breaths.

Page Turner gestured at me, “Look at this mare! She’s hardly in any condition to walk!”

“I thought you were a historian...” I said.

“Please.” he jeered, “All Followers of the Apocalypse are given basic to advanced medical training.”

“Corporal Bandage?” The lieutenant looked over to his combat medic, a pink unicorn with a wavy orange mane and tired eyes, crouched next to me and began a mock examination of my foreleg. “Will she be able to make it?”

“I’m fin-” I winced as she grabbed my hoof without warning, causing a sharp wave of pain throughout my left side. The pink coated unicorn mare with an orange mane shook her head, “No sir. She’s not faking it.”

The Applejack’s Ranger gave a hearty chuckle, “What’s the matter? Ya sprain your hoof, kid?”

“Something like that…” I said, getting somewhat irritated.

“With all due respect sir, my soldiers won’t complain if we hoofed it through the storm, but maybe we should reconsider with the civilians present. One night isn’t going to make a difference. The old sergeant noted. “That town looks defensible enough.”

The country voice of the Ranger’s muffled voice came through his helmet, “I’d be happy to help bolster your ranks. It’s the least I can do for our fellow allies. Guess you might say, I’m your huckleberry.”

I saw Lieutenant Alabaster stare at the ranger with suspicion, before agreeing to his proposal. “Fine. We’ll set up camp here for the night.”

“Seems like some others had the same idea.” Hawkins pointed out the scavengers still searching through the ruins.

“Have you seen us?” Huckleberry laughed. “But I’m always up for a wranglin’.”

“What are your orders lieutenant?” The sergeant asked, but most of them were already leaving when we got to the edge of town. He and the immaculate white unicorn looked at each other. 

“That solves that problem…”

The odd banner lay discarded, with the slogan “Opportunity in your Community!” spelled out across it in bold red letters. Among one of the only structures left standing was an F&F Tools Emporium, and a few others that still had most of their walls. A dentist, and what was left of a post office stood beside each other with busted signs. There was a single maildrop box on the edge of town. And a half-demolished Wartime Ministries office that was left standing all on its own.

“Luna-damned New Canterlot... We don’t need your damned law and order!” a few of them shouted as Lieutenant Alabaster ordered his squad to establish a perimeter and set up camp. They looked like your typical wasteland scum, taking whatever they could carry with them on their backs. None of them tried anything funny, fortunately for them. Apparently ponies were said to never stay the night here, but we ignored all their veiled threats and superstitious mumbo jumbo.

“Get lost!” Ace shouted tossing a glass bottle and they scampered away like radroaches.

To the old sergeant, the town looked mostly defensible even though our backs would be to the Everfree Forest. There was good cover here, and it would be especially difficult for anyone to sneak up on us. The squad got to work doing as they were ordered.

I looked over at Sunny who was standing completely still. The mare looked awestruck, smacking a hoof to her mouth. She was looking at one of the ponies in town. I turned to see who she was was looking at and saw a burly teal-green pegasus wearing a dark-green vest standing out in the open. His features looked similar to hers and I immediately put two and two together.  “Oh my Celestia... Daddy!” she shouted, galloping towards him and running up into a hug.

They had all around similar features, both in color and facial structure although he was slightly darker in his coat and more grizzled with five o'clock shadow. He looked to be middle aged in his fifties or sixties, with a streak of dark silver running through his fading yellow mane. Finally, his cutie mark depicted a stylized gust of wind on his flank. 

Remembering how he was formerly an Enclave scout, I regarded him with immediate suspicion. Not just any scout either, but a famous one within the Enclave. As Sunny ran up to him and they hugged one another I felt odd. Not happy or angry, just indifferent. 

The pegasus mare hugged him tightly with glee. “I can’t believe I found you!” 

He looked equally surprised to see her. “Sweetie! What are you doing here?”

“My new friend helped me find you!” she smiled, pointing at me “That’s her! Her name’s Roulette.”

“Touching reunion.” Lieutenant Alabaster stepped forward, cutting them short. Sunny’s look of happiness was immediately washed away, replaced by one of fear and anxiety. She shrunk back submissively and stepped behind her father who appeared unphased by the New Canterlot soldiers. “Pardon me sir, but would you please identify yourself?”

He put his hoof over her and answered the lieutenant’s questions calmly. “My name is Airworthy, and this is my daughter, Sunny Hymn.” He motioned towards her as if to introduce the mare.

She nodded. “T-That’s right, and Roulette can corroborate his identity!”

I saw Sunny turn to me, pleading for help. At first I was a little surprised she would ask me of all ponies, but then I noticed how that griffon was glaring at the both of them. She looked at me with begging eyes, knowing that we both knew what would happen if any of the others found out her father was former Enclave. So even if the idea of lying on an Enclaver’s behalf disgusted me to no end, the situation called for it put my personal feelings aside to help her.

Looking between them both I looked back at the Lieutenant and lied. “I...  I was helping Sunny try to find her dad. They’re both pegasus civilians who got lost on the way down from Neighvarro. Both of them are refugees.” I inhaled and exhaled, breathing as the pain from my shoulder was causing my entire body to become tense. The intense burning in my shoulder was making it difficult to focus.

It was for Sunny, not for him.

For a short moment I noticed Hawkins was squinting intently at him, then rolled her eyes off to the side and huffed, “Their story checks out...” she said. Crisis avoided.

Sunny mouthed the words, “thank you”, to me and looked up at her father.

“Alright, you two are free to go. You’re welcome to settle in amongst the troopers for the night…  but we still have a few questions for your friend here… ”

“I think I’ll take you up on that offer.” Her father chuckled, and pulled his daughter along with him. There was something about that guy I immediately didn’t like, but he was Sunny’s dad so I let it go. Remembering my agreement with Sunny, he was also the one who could tell me what I wanted to know.

I grunted, breathing more heavily. Holding onto my shoulder, I was having difficulty speaking. My entire body felt tense, and everything felt cold around me all of a sudden. I was burning up.

Suddenly, I felt a pain unlike anything I’d experienced in my entire life. All at once my whole shoulder lit up with blinding agony and it shot through my entire left side. I screamed and fell to the ground, wildly convulsing in the dirt. My blood felt like it was on fire inside my body. I dug at my shoulder with my hoof in vain trying to get it out.

I could only scream as the pain got worse from there. Sunny gasped and ran to my side, “Rou!” she shouted. The entire camp heard my cries and I was surrounded by the two doctors.

Bandage did a quick examination, putting her hoof to my forehead. “Lieutenant this mare’s burning up and she’s clearly in pain! We have to help her!” 

“Bullet…” I struggled to say, and she checked my arm, confusedly not seeing any blood or exit wound. She gave me a perplexed look, unsure of what I was trying to tell her.

“S-sealed inside… with healing potion.” I rasped, trying to speak with great difficulty due to the pain.

The mare blinked, processing my broken sentences. “You sealed a bullet inside your body?! What are you, some kind of idiot?!” The medic rubbed her eyes, and her horn lit up. A light began to envelop my shoulder. “She must have an infection, I’ll cast a cleanse spell to keep it from getting worse. We’re going to have to get the bullet out.”

When her magic did nothing she looked overcome by shock. “W-what? That should’ve done something!”

Page Turner pushed the mare aside, the blue stallion levitating out his portable med-kit. “Step aside, this isn’t amateur hour!”

“Pardon?! I don’t care if you’re with the Followers, I know what I’m doing!” She snapped back.

“I don’t believe a simple cleansing spell will help her. Get this mare inside and on a level surface!” He put his hoof to my forehead. Then looking around he pointed to the F&F Tools emporium. “There should do nicely.”

Bandage looked offended, shouting back at him. “Doctor Page Turner, I’d prefer it if you let me do my job and help this pony!”

“I let you soldiers do your job, now let me do mine. Relax, the Followers are specially trained for this.” The blue unicorn turned to me, “Tell me in a few words where it hurts.”

I grabbed him by his labcoat and pulled him close, I looked him straight in the eyes and screamed, “Get this fucking thing outta me!”

The other soldiers restrained me, pinning me as I struggled screaming on the ground. I heard Sunny shouting my name. It looked like they were doing all they could to keep me from hurting myself. “W-what the hell? How was that Griffon holding this bitch down by herself?!”

“That’s not relaxed...” he chided.

It was hard to tell completely what was going on at that point. They took me into the building and carried me into a back room where it was closed off from the elements. I could hear Sunny calling my name, as she was forced to wait outside. Even in my delirium though, I noticed that her dad had gone inconspicuously missing. I tried to look around for him, but to no avail.

Setting up a makeshift surgery table with his telekinesis, Page Turner cleared off an old desk and rest me on top of it. Placing a lantern in the barren corner of the room, he lit up his horn to compensate for lack of electricity. The doctor stood over me, his spectacles hanging off the tip of his nose.

“Take off your jacket.” he demanded.

I folded my legs over myself, hugging it. “N-no... It’s special to me.”

“Please, I can’t do anything to help unless you show me. Trust me, I’m with the Followers.”

I relaxed my muscles allowing him to take it off, and I saw both of them gasp when they saw my shoulder. “W-what’s wrong?” I asked, unable to see what the ruckus was about. I think that only Page Turner and Corporal Bandage saw it, but they didn’t answer me.

“Alright, everyone out!”  Page Turner shouted suddenly, and began shoving the other ponies, including Corporal Bandage, out of the crowded space. She looked a bit angry at her being discounted. Meanwhile, the lieutenant was the main one who seemed to have a problem with it. 

“Doctor Page Turner, let my medic help you. Corporal Bandage is well equipped to handle any medical problems. At least let her help.”

“Thanks, I’ll consider the offer.” he replied, cleaning off his glasses.

Bandage got more than a little annoyed at that moment, shouting at Page Turner, “I helped wounded ponies at the Battle of Dragon Mountain, you pompous jerkoff! I know my way around a surgical knife!” While they were busy arguing, I tilted my head to look at my shoulder and saw glowing green spider-veins forming around the artificially-healed wound. They throbbed grotesquely making me cringe at mere the sight of them. I layed back down and pretended that I didn’t see anything.

“She’s my patient and under Follower’s protection! If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with Velvet Remedy.” That part about Velvet seemed to change his mind more than the other thing, although I didn’t recognize her name off the top of my head. I thought she must’ve been pretty important.

Alabaster lowered his eyelids, standing aside as Bandage exited the room shooting a glare at the follower’s pony and muttered about him being a stubborn jackass. After he got a final word in, Page Turner telekinetically shut the door behind him, leaving us both alone in a dingy manager’s office lit by the the glow of his horn. 

He looked back over me as I was struggling to speak, let alone find the words. “Hmm?”

“Why’d you do all that?” I winced. The pain hadn’t gotten any better, but I was managing it better.

“Oh...uh, patient confidentiality.” the doctor replied, completely lacking any of that conviction on display a moment before. A closer view revealed he also looked not much older than my brother would be. Page Turner began looking over me curiously, trying to find the origin of the pain. “Now how exactly did this happen…?” he asked, and I could see from the sincere look of worry on his face over a complete stranger. I realized he was genuinely trying to help me.

“I don’t know...” I admitted. “Got shot? Took a dip in the Whitetail Woods...?”

With a sigh he pulled out another packet of Rad-Away and fed it to me, observing as I drank it all down. I gave a disgusted look as I felt the bitter aftertaste of medicine. He observed intently, studying me and I wondered if he was silently judging me for my stupidity.

He tapped his hoof on his chin, thinking for a moment. Then he pulled out a syringe and another packet of radaway, drawing the liquid into it. My heart rate increased as I stared at the needle anxiously, but felt way too physically drained to move. I was acting like a small filly afraid of getting her shot. He jabbed it directly into the wound and injected the chemical. Then to my surprise, I felt the pain in my shoulder suddenly subside. As I breathed in and out for a moment looking over at myself, I turned back to stare at Page Turner.

“As I thought...” he muttered.

“What the hell did you inject me with?” I huffed. Then, I collapsed back and fell out of consciousness. 

Next thing I knew, I was waking up with the doctor standing over me again, sweat covering his brown with a bloody surgical tray beside me. I felt naked without my jacket. There was a bandage on my shoulder, and the glowing green veins were completely gone, along with the fiery pain in my left side. Feeling around my joints, I felt fine. Better than fine actually…  I heard Page Turner’s soft voice. “You’re awake. Seems you've been out cold for an hour.”

I looked over to him, watching me. “You appear to have a remarkable resistance to radaway… Your body started having a negative reaction to it immediately. I had to inject it directly into your shoulder for it to have any effect at all.”

“Oh...” I said. “Well thanks for fixing me.”

“That wasn’t just your run-of-the-mill mutation, your body was fighting with me every step of the way…”

With a tinge of worry in my voice I began to tremble and wrapped my hooves around my body, looking down at the tiled floor. “This has never happened before…” I felt scared and alone, wishing that I had someone by my side right then. My sister had always been the one looking out for my needs when I needed emotional support and my brother always kept me out of trouble when I was being a moron. I felt totally lost without them.

“To be completely honest, I’m not even sure myself. Do you have any close friends or relatives? Known medical history? ...Possible surviving family members?” The blue unicorn sighed again when I didn’t answer. “Have it your way…”

“I was unable to get the bullet out. But your body seems to have stabilized at the very least. I can try again if you like? If you want to come back with me after this is through, the Followers might be able to help you. At least so we can figure out what it is.”

“...I’ll be fine, I think.” I answered uneasily, holding onto myself for comfort. “Y-you didn’t take any of my blood, did you?”

“Your...blood…?” he asked, surprised. “Don’t be silly, I wouldn't take your blood without your consent.” He assured me with a sense of warmth and comfort I wasn’t expecting from the unicorn. “Although…” he admitted curiously, “there are a few things about you that are bothering me more than when we first met...” 

Preferring to avoid that line of discussion, I asked. “Is Sunny still here?”

“Your pegasus friend?” He responded with a nod. “She’s with her father.”

After a long silence, I asked. “Why’d you hide it from Lieutenant Alabaster and the others?"

“Like I said, we take patient confidentiality VERY seriously.” he began, but then let out another heavy sigh, realizing that explanation wasn’t quite good enough. “Sometimes it's hard to know who you can trust with these sorts of things…” 

“Do you not trust them?” I asked.

“I trust most of them enough to be out here.” He answered, seemingly honestly. I didn’t have much reason not to trust him at this point. “But let’s just say New Canterlot’s goals doesn’t exactly always align with the Followers. Or with Applejack’s Rangers for that matter.” he loudly cleared his throat, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Did you really come all the way out here trying to help those pegasi?”

“Not exactly, it just sort of ended up that way.” I admitted.

Not too shocked, Page Turner nodded,  “Regardless, if your mission is to help ponies still living in the wasteland, then you’ll always find friends within the Followers. And if you happen to change your mind, well, we’d be happy to take you in and treat you free of charge. We also offer other services if you’re suffering mental trauma. With all the recent disasters, not enough ponies are taking their mental health seriously. Either that or they’re too stubborn to admit it... N-not assuming anything!” he amended quickly, noticing my raised eyebrow at that last part.

“Nah, I’ve got other things to do first…” I said, then pointed out. “You don’t seem like you’re on the same page as the others...” 

The unicorn stallion chuckled to himself, “Usually, I find it’s better to avoid wasteland politics. As a historian, it’s also my duty to understand the past and how it shapes current events. In that regard, political discussion finds me more often than I go searching for it. I wouldn’t even be out here under normal circumstances, but I’m tagging along with Lieutenant Alabaster in order to collect some data for a friend. Bunch of things you wouldn’t be interested in, measuring air currents, meteorology and weather patterns to find the most effective means of wasteland agricultural benefits, etcetera, etcetera... ” he said, then muttered with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. “She couldn’t be bothered to come out and do it herself.”
 
“That doesn’t sound too nice. I sure hope whoever appreciates you coming out here in the middle of a storm… ” I replied flatly.

“It's a necessity. And it’s no trouble, really.” He laughed wearily. 

I was glad he was out here, although that probably didn’t count for much. “I’m guessing that if I were to ask if you saw anything out of the ordinary lately, you’d give me the same answer as everyone else?” I attempted, trying my luck.

He gestured towards my shoulder, “Like that mutation of yours?” Then he smirked “If it’s about the Enclave then no I haven’t. I’d be more than happy to look into it for you though with the Followers.” 

“Sure, I’d appreciate that.”  I said, smiling weakly. Then I pointed towards the door. “Hey, I’m going to go see how she’s doing. I must’ve given everyone quite a scare. But it was good to see a friendly face for once.”

He smiled back warmly, “It’s my pleasure. I’ve got some work to go over anyways. My door is always open.”

Getting off the table, I stretched and shrugged back into my jacket. Then I left the small back room, leaving Page Turner to examine his notes free of distraction, the door slightly ajar.

The door opened into what was now serving as a common area for the troops and civilians, but when I stepped outside, I immediately saw the griffon Hawkins staring back at me. We exchanged dirty looks.

“What are you looking at bitch? You want to go for round two?” I snarled.

It was raining in buckets outside. A flash of lightning illuminated the room for a split second and thunder followed. She roared with laughter, “You couldn’t take me if you fucking tried, dirt muncher.” Adding the insult for good measure.

Letting my temper get the better of me again, I fired back. “You cheap-shotted me before. It won’t happen again.”

“Honestly, you barely look like you know what you’re doing. I bet you’d fall apart in real combat.”

“Not even, I grew up in the wasteland. I’ve seen my fair share of fights.” I boasted. She pretended to look unimpressed. Her attitude was pissing me off.

Hawkins strut up so she was overshadowing me, which just served to piss me off more. “Tch! Keep telling yourself that, kid.” she blustered. “So what were trying to say with that line earlier? You said you saw Enclave?”

I puffed my out chest, keeping my composure while confidently stating. “Yeah, that’s right! They were flying over the Smokey Mountains, and I was the only one who saw em. Those ships? The Enclave weapons? I’ve been investigating the connection between the Enclave and those raiders and I’ve got a hunch that they’re connected somehow.”

“You?” she burst out into a fit of laughter, and wiped a fake tear from her eye. “Wow, this mare is amazing... Look here, I was just there. There ain’t no Enclave in the Smokey Mountains. And this Jagged Knife dude you keep going on about? He’s a nobody. So quit trying to act like you’re some kinda hellmare and leave it to the professionals.” She pushed open the door, letting the rain blow inside briefly before it slammed shut behind her.

“Why is she such a huge bitch?” I muttered.

I looked around at the mostly empty floor. Anything of value had already been picked up by scavengers, now it was mostly just supplies that had been left there by the New Canterlot soldiers. Lanterns were lit in key parts of the room for illumination. More banners were lying around meant to advertise wartime products. Slogans like “Nonpareil!” and “I-Can’t-Believable!” That was probably true once, but now it was mostly junk lying around.

Uproarious laughter came from one corner of the room where soldiers were gathered around a roaring fire pit.

“Roulette! Thank Celestia, you’re okay!” Sunny tackled me from behind. When I turned to face her she began pounding on my chest. “What’s the matter with you?! Why didn’t you just tell me something was wrong?”

“Jeez, I’m sorry.” I apologized, defending myself from her weak blows.

“You’re a real stubborn piece of work…” she frowned at me and I smirked a little. Then I saw her father watching from the side and he approached us.

I tensed up a little as we made eye contact. He was still giving me a nasty feeling that I was trying to keep at bay even as he spoke kindly to me. “My little Sunnycakes was worried about you. Have you been taking care of her for me?” His question was innocuous, but I was suspicious if he had some ulterior motive.

I kept staring since I unable to find the words to answer him with.

He laughed lightly, not sure how to respond. “What’s the matter? Bloatsprite maggots got your tongue?”

Sunny gave me a nudge and a smile, “Rou, sorry for leaving you like this, but I have a few more things to discuss with my dad. You don’t mind, do you?” she asked. “I’m just relieved you’re alright.”

“It’s fine.” I said snapping out of it and the mare trotted over next to her father.

“Don’t worry, we’ll speak soon. She told me about your arrangement.” he said in a hushed tone.

“Yeah. No worries.” I put on a fake smile and nodded, and Airworthy smiled back at me. Then they sat together beside a lantern in the far corner of the room and began talking to each other.

I was left standing alone, in the middle of the common area. Taking another moment to myself, I could see the soldiers were leaving me mostly unsupervised. So I walked over to the boarded up window and squinted through the cracks into the rain. Outside I could see Hawkins speaking with Lieutenant Alabaster and the Ranger. I wished I had half a clue what they were talking about out there.

Left to my own devices, my mind drifted on something else that was really bugging me. Something about this town. I couldn’t pin down what it was. Just an uneasy feeling. Turning my head over to peer at Everfree Forest, I stared at the trees for a while where some strange magic operated machinery was left discarded and stripped for parts. It was a foreboding place. No matter how much I begged him as a filly, my brother always refused to take us through there. As an adult I understood why. Even if it was half burned to hell, there were still dangerous creatures lurking inside. 

It was hard to see anything else through the storm outside, but for a moment I thought I saw a shadow, so I leaned closer. I squinted my eyes and another flash of lightning illuminated the trees. For a split second it looked like there was the figure of a pony standing there. It made me rear back putting my hooves on the windowsill, my heart palpitating. Then I looked again and there was nothing. “Great, more creepy hallucinations?” I quipped, telling myself that it was only shadows playing tricks on me. At least it wasn’t an alicorn that time.

Sitting back down by myself in a solitary corner of the room. My face was wet from sticking my nose outside. I cleaned it off with the inside of my jacket.

I glanced about the room, looking up at the ceiling and then over at Sunny and her dad. As soon as I got bored with that, my eyes wandered over to the soldiers who were talking amongst themselves. There were four of them sitting around a fire laughing. The rest were probably outside doing Luna knows what. I gazed over at Sunny and her dad again talking about something between themselves. She looked so happy sitting there. Honestly, it made me a little jealous.

It must’ve been only ten or twenty minutes of me moping by myself, before a tomboyish looking mare walked up to me and cast a shadow over where I was sitting. She had a dark brown mane tied into a very short ponytail. Her coat actually wasn’t too far off from my own, either.

She smirked. “Marefriend turned out to be a pegasus and now you’re having second thoughts?”

“Piss off, she’s not my marefriend.” I pouted, looking off in the other direction.

“Heh, don’t worry. I’m not here to cause trouble. Us earthies have to stick together, y’know?”

Slightly confused by her statement. “What?” I asked.

“Saw that you were wallowing over here and figured I’d chat you up. That and we’re supposed to keep an eye on you. Wanna play a round of cards?” The mare suggested enthusiastically.

Not too into it, I titled my head in somewhat-agreement, “I guess...”

“Great. Straight Poker or New Appleloosa hold ‘em?”

“Either.”

She started dealing out cards on the floor, “New Appleloosa hold ‘em, it is! More interesting for me that way.  Roulette, right?”

I didn’t answer, looking over my cards. A ten and a queen.

“Even though we’ve gotta take you in for questioning tomorrow doesn’t mean that we can’t have some fun in the meantime. Did that mare mean anything to you? Guess you must not have known she was a pegasus.”

“We’ve only known each other for a day.” I answered.

She flipped over a card on the floor, ten of clubs. I kept my hand while she tossed tossed out one of her cards.

“Well they’re just civilians now anyways, so we’ve got nothing to worry about. We even got a couple of ex-enclavers on our squad.” She declared proudly, as if that was a thing to be proud of. Thinking about it, I guess that changed things a little. Apparently, their whole squad was formed from an existing mercenary company and pegasi who rebelled against the Enclave a few months back and that was true for the rest of the army right now. At least until Gawd got her real army... 

“They were both confirmed to have switched sides during the Enclave Wars and then signed up with the New Canterlot Army right off. I think you already met Twister, and Chipper Wind’s out there trying to radio back to base. My philosophy is that it shouldn’t matter who we are deep down, we all have to live in this wasteland together. But that still doesn’t prevent folks from having their prejudices though.”

“I don’t care that she’s a pegasus.” I said.

The mare flipped another card on the floor, an ace this time. “Happy to hear. That’s uncommon nowadays, even with all the talk on the radio. I guess that makes you better than most. By the way, I know we got off on the wrong hoof but don’t mind them too much. They’re a rowdy bunch.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, only humoring the mare.

“Been with these jokers for way too long, even before Gawd recruited us into her army. They called us the Rough Riders. Al though? He’s one of Gawd’s. Pretty nice guy usually, I’m not one to judge.”

I looked outside at where the Lieutenant and that griffon were speaking, feeling fidgety where I was sitting. She flipped over the last card, a queen of diamonds, and I half-heartedly threw down my cards. I had two pairs.

“Hey that’s pretty good! I figured you must be pretty good at games of chance with a cutie mark like that! Is roulette your special talent?” she asked. She smirked flipping her cards to reveal three-of-a-kind, aces. “Hey, no worries though. I bet if this was your game of choice, you’d be kicking my butt right now!”

“You don’t have to pretend.” I scowled.

“Nah, I mean it. Thanks for playing with me. I never get invited to the squad’s card games anymore because I’ve beaten them so many times that they’ve just outright banned me from participating. Can’t help it though. Just a little skill I’ve picked up for myself over the years. Certainly helps having a gambling addiction, if you’re actually good at gambling.”

“I’ll bet...” I muttered.

“Well, they wanted me to keep an eye on you, but seeing as you seem like a nice mare and I’d rather be taking a smoke right now... You can at least walk around and hang with the rest of the squad. I’m sure they’d love to meet you since we all basically owe you one. Lemme know if you need anyone to cover for you.”

“Thanks...” I said, taken aback a little by her kindness. “What’s your name?”

“Jacaranda, or “Jack” for short. It’s supposed to be some sort of tree with flowers on it that my parents named me after, but I’ve never seen one.” The mare pointed to a weirdly arranged flower design on her flank. “I’m from the San Palomino, so not a lot of trees out there.”

She bumped my shoulder as she walked off. “Have a good night, killer.”

I looked over to where the other soldiers were chatting amongst themselves. The sergeant, Twister and a couple others were sitting there as well. After ruminating over it for a while, I stood up and walked up to them. Hopefully, they’d be willing to hear me out.

“Hey, it’s our hero!” one of them cheered.

“Hero…?” I asked.

“Yeah! Thanks to you, we don’t have to march through that!” He laughed pointing outside at the rain.

Ace was eyeing me suspiciously. “I still don’t think we should trust her guys. She’s probably a raider spy.”

“Come off it Ace! Ya big stick in the mud!” scolded a hulking grey mountain of a mare. She had a military buzz cut, and her biceps made my own pale in comparison. “Leave the poor girl alone, can’t you see she’s been through hell tonight?”

“Who are you guys?” I asked. Noticing that they’d stashed my things next to theirs I grabbed them without much trouble, strapping the rifle over my shoulder and holstering the pistol.

“I’m Sergeant Wounded Legs, and we’re the Rough Riders!” he declared while I observed the balefire phoenix patch on his shoulder. They all gave a collective holler. Apparently, their squad was formed from existing mercenary companies and pegasi who rebelled against the Enclave a few months back.

Going one by one, the sergeant introduced me to all the troopers sitting around the fire.“I see you’ve already met Jack, Ace and Bandage our combat medic. That’s Sugar Strongflanks. Then we’ve got Twister, Corporal Chipper Wind, and Surefire.”

Sugar laughed to herself, a little embarrassed. “Yeah, I’m sort of the de facto team mom.” Then she took a swig of hooch. “So what’s your story?”

“Hey, no drinking tonight. We’ve got to stay sharp until morning.” The old tobiano ordered and Sugar reluctantly agreed after taking one more sip. He raised his head and looked back over to me. The way he carried himself practically demanded respect, all his scars making him look like the sort of pony who’d been to hell and back twice.

“I’m Roulette, I’m just kind of a merc... but I was looking to join up.” I admitted, lacking my normal confidence.

Sugar grinned, “That’s great news! Gawd could always use more ponies!”

“Would you please hear me out? This is going to sound weird, but…” I had their attention. Gathering up the courage to speak, I told them what I thought I saw the other day, trying to sound sure of myself.  “I swear, I saw Enclave ships flying over the Smokey Mountains the other day.”

The sergeant rubbed his head, not sure what to say at first. None of the others did either. “The Grand Pegasus Enclave? Well, gee we haven’t heard from them since the end of the Enclave Wars. Well, except for these jokers on my squad!” The sergeant chuckled, trying to play it off as a joke at first. But as they realized I wasn’t joking the lightheartedness in the room began to dim a little.

“I saw them!” I pleaded, but it was no use. “C’mon you’ve gotta believe me!”

“Easy kid, we weren’t sure if you were even gonna make it an hour ago and now you’re going on about the Grand Pegasus Enclave? Simmer down a bit.”

“I’m not a damned kid!” I shouted, getting flustered. “All these caravan attacks are being organized and carried out by one pony, a raider named Jagged Knife. And he’s been using the Enclave weapons to do it. I honestly don’t know if they’re connected or what, but don’t care what that griffon said. I’ve been tracking him myself and I heard that he may be planning something big!”

Instead of sounding impressed, the sergeant offered me another lecture. “Listen, I know you’re eager to join up and prove yourself. That’s understandable that you want to help, but we’ve got a better grasp of the situation than you do. So just sit back and let us handle it.” I held back my frustration as best I could. It was going the complete opposite of how I hoped it would. If I came here just to sit here and get lectured to, then I’d go and listen to Fair Trade

Sugar furrowed her brow, thinking aloud to herself. “Jagged Knife, huh...? I think I heard something about a raider who might’ve gone by that name a few months back. 

My eyes lit up. “You did?!”

She nodded. “Yeah, if memory serves he hit some small settlement in the territory. Burned it to the ground, and the Lightbringer herself came and rained holy balefire down on him and most of his gang in retaliation. I’d be surprised if anyone walked away from something like that completely unscathed.”

“The Lightbringer...?” I asked a little awed.

“Yup. The Stable Dweller herself.” she declared.

“See? Nothing to worry about. Even if the Enclave was still around the Lightbringer would just blast them out of the sky.” The sergeant insisted, but it just made me feel more annoyed. My heart sunk a little. I questioned myself again, if all of what I learned was just a misunderstanding. Was that raider just lying to me about the whole thing? “The pony we really have to watch out for right now is Papa Bighoof.” he said pointing in the direction of the Smokey Mountains.

“Who is Papa Bighoof...?” I asked, and they seemed shocked that I had no idea who that was. I’d never been to to the Smokey Mountains in my life. It wasn’t my fault I’d never had a comprehensive lesson on the history of the wasteland.

Sugar went wide-eyed, nearly spitting her drink. “You don’t know who Papa Bighoof is?”

Wounded-Legs graciously filled me in. It turned out that he controlled a massive army of tribals who had held up in the Smokey Mountains since Celestia knows when. “He’s built up something of a legend over the years, and so many of the desperate raider clans have rallied around his banner as of late.” They sounded pretty confident he wouldn’t last much longer. It made some sense, but I was still unconvinced. They just left me wondering how Jagged Knife factored into all this.

“Yup, some say he’s as big as an Ursa Minor!” Twister added, waving his hooves around for dramatic effect.

“He is not!” Ace heckled with a slight eyeroll.
 
The sergeant stamped his hoof decidedly on the floor, “All that bluster of his won’t help him once the New Canterlot Army shows up. There’s no place in this world for old warriors clinging to the past.” He sat back down and the rest of them nodded sagely around the fire. He seemed notably confident with that declaration too.

When I asked him what made him so confident, he turned to me and said that they were only the advance squad, and the rest were currently still being trained back in New Canterlot. After they arrive and they take down Papa Bighoof, rule of law would return to Equestria, just like Gawd was saying over the radio. 

Sugar wrapped her muscular hoof around Ace’s neck, laughing loudly. “That drill sergeant is one serious hardass! She knocked Ace flat on his haunches for mouthing off to her one time! It was hilarious watching her tear a strip off the poor bastard! Pretty sure she gave him a concussion from that beating too.” 

They all laughed together, except for Ace who didn’t appreciate fun being made at his expense. “It wasn’t that funny...”

“Why would Papa Bighoof attack the caravans though?” I asked, slightly skeptical.

Wounded Legs answered, “Usually, he’s pretty good about not attacking independent settlements and caravans out of respect, but I imagine he’d make an exception for New Canterlot allied ones. To send a message, if anything, that he won’t go down without a fight."

Insisting that i was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I let out a dejected sigh. It was pointless trying further. I glanced over to where Sunny was sitting with her father to wonder how she was doing. "One more question."

“What’s the Neighvarro Provisional Government?” I asked. “The lieutenant mentioned it earlier...” This was the only one they really seemed to have trouble with. It took a while before Wounded Legs finally spoke up. 

“It’s a Governing body that was set up in place of the Grand Pegasus Enclave following the end of the Enclave Wars. Mostly they answer to New Canterlot, but they also handle the registration and oversight of all Pegasus citizens returning to the surface. They’re supposed to help make the difficult task of reintegration to the surface easier and help them find new lives.”

Sugar gave a shrug. “They say it has a few issues, but what government doesn’t have those? I’d be surprised if it wasn’t a mess, considering what they have to deal with.”

Twister as the only pegasus present, seemed to be the only one at a loss for words for once. “I suppose we should be grateful that it ain’t like the old days.” he shrugged.

“Who cares? It’s all just politics anyways. Nothing we can do.” Ace groaned. They all agreed with that general consensus.

“Let me give you some advice, kid.” Wounded told me, “You’ll find there aren’t really right answers in a situation like this… I understand some of the frustrations but there aren’t really any other alternatives.” 

I remembered what Sunny had said to me in Unity. There were a lot of things I had missed in the last few months apparently. It just made me feel like an idiot for coming out here in the first place.

The doors to the tools emporium swung open and the power armored soldier ducked underneath. The stallion approached where we were sitting and the general mood of laughter around the fire shifted. His voice muffled by his helmet rebreather. “Howdy, what’d I miss?” 

“Do you ever take off that armor?” Ace badgered, as water dripped off his gear over the floor near to where we were sitting.

“Not while I’m on duty.” he laughed. “Say, all you New Canterlot boys. Forgive me but I couldn’t help overhearing that small bit of conversation right then. Been hearing a lot lately, would ya mind filling me in on some things? “

“Didn’t get  you were looking for with the lieutenant?” Wounded Legs asked, quickly giving off the impression like they weren’t really seeing eye to eye.

Huckleberry dismissed it with a hoofwave. “Nah, don’t worry, it’s nothing official. Soldier to soldier.” Wounded Legs raised his brow. “So what do you make of them Smokey Mountains? Lightbringer not doing her job properly?” he laughed, motioning his head outside.

The sergeant issued a stern apology. “Sorry, but the Lieutenant told us not to discuss mission details until we’re back at the base.” Huckleberry wasn’t too satisfied with that answer.

“Not even with a fellow ally? I wonder what’s your reason you fellers are out here at the same time as me? To me, that ain’t a coincidence. So whatcha thinking? Broken SPP Tower? Maybe a sleepy dragon taking a nap? We’d get a hell of a lot further if we all exchanged information and cooperated like friends.” The power armored stallion turned his visor to look at each of the soldiers present, but they all kept their mouths shut. I kind of wished they would just spit out what they were thinking instead of keeping me in the dark about it. I felt like I was the only pony in the room who didn’t have a clue. “Surely you’ve heard rumors?”

Wounded Legs gave him another sharp reply. “I’m not here to discuss rumors. Our mission here is to help secure a foothold in this territory until the rest of the army gets here. That’s it.”

“Look! I’m just trying to-” He raised his voice, losing his temper for a second, but then he immediately regained his cool. He exhaled. “There’s no need for us to keep each other at a hoof’s length. We’re allies, aren’t we?”

The old stallion nodded, not once dropping his composure. “That we are. The Applejack’s Rangers have been a great help to us, and I have to admit I admire your organization greatly.”

Huckberry granted him the slightest of nods. “One last thing, I’ve also heard talk of something called an ‘N.C.R.”?

“N.C.R.?” I asked. “What’s an N.C.R.?”

None of the soldiers answered me either.

“It’s just politics.” Wounded Legs answered.

Accepting that answer, Huckleberry bowed his head, “Thought so. Thanks. I’ll leave y’all be now. I’ll stick around for the evening like I said I would. Help deter any raiders who might not know better.”

I thought to myself if he’d be willing to hear me out. It was hard to tell where he was coming from, but maybe I’d be willing to take a bet that he might be willing to hear me out. They said it themselves, the rangers were their allies, right? So I got up the urge to speak. “Uh, Protector Huckleberry?” I asked, and the ranger turned his visor back at me. I felt all the eyes suddenly drawn to me as well. “Do you think it might be possible that there are Enclave up in those mountains...?” I suggested, and there was a long pregnant pause throughout the whole common area. Like he was considering it for a moment, although it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Then the ranger then let out a boisterous laugh. He walked up in full power armored gear and ruffled my mane with his armored hoof. 

“Enclave? Heh... don’t you worry your head, if those raiders come-a-knocking, then they’ll have to say hello to my custom modified ICM-2 heavy machine gun and side-mounted grenade launcher! I call him "Duke". Ya ain’t got a thing to worry about lil missy, the Applejack’s Rangers are on the job! ” And with that, he opened the door, once again stepping into the storm that was raging outside. 

I scrunched my muzzle angrily, fixing my mane. I hated being treated like a kid. I still eyed his suit of power armor enviously as he left. It looked seriously cool. Twister whistled. “Wowee! I’ve never met an Applejack’s Ranger before!” The rest of us weren’t feeling quite as impressed as he was. 

“What all that hostility was about?” I thought to myself.

Shortly after, the cream coated pegasus Chipper Wind burst through the door soaking wet. She shook herself off getting rainwater all near the entrance. “It’s really bad out there!” The mare approached the sergeant and gave a salute. “Sergeant, Lieutenant Alabaster needs us outside. I’ve been trying to get a signal back to base all evening with no luck. So he’s thinking of sending out a scouting party and needs more troops on sentry.”

“In this weather?” The old horse grunted, “Must be the Everfree Forest interfering with the damned signal.” 

Looking around I noticed that Jack was missing. She must’ve gone outside already. I frowned at not having gotten the chance to speak with her more, but assumed we could just chat later. 

“Whelp, orders are orders. Enough fooling around.” He said stretching, and they all hopped up at once and collected their gear, none of them too eager to step out into the rain. They left Twister to keep an eye on us sitting in the corner by himself, maybe because they thought leaving a pegasus in charge would put the civilians more at ease. He looked lonely over there, but so long as he wasn’t being annoying and trying to flirt with me, I didn’t care. 

Putting my own irritation at being discounted aside, I wondered to myself what that hostility was about. I was feeling like I'd hit a low point after that conversation.

Another flash of lightning, and thunder boomed again outside.

Putting my own irritation at being discounted aside, I wondered myself what all the hostility was about. “They were supposed to be allies, right?”

After they left it was just the few of us. It was the perfect time to speak with Sunny’s dad. Fortunately, Airworthy seemed to be thinking the same thing ushered me over and they gave me a warm welcome. You wouldn’t think just by looking, that he was once a famous Enclave scout. But before we could get anywhere, Twister approached us acting friendly and trying to make chitchat. I groaned, wishing he would leave. He was just interrupting my chance at conversation with Sunny’s dad. For some reason the New Canterlot pegasus seemed to want to talk to Airworthy specifically.

“Howdy there sir! I just needed to up and ask you, were we in the same unit or something? You look sort of familiar.” he asked with a smile, but Sunny immediately went pale.  I was expecting to have to lie again on his behalf but thankfully Airworthy did most of the talking for us.

“Nah, I get that a lot. Never had it in me to join the Enclave, there was always too much to lose.” He motioned towards his daughter who was pale and sweating nervously, her eyes darting side to side.

“Your daughter is quite the fine looking young lady mister! You ain’t got nothing to worry about from me though, no sir!” he joked and they both laughed together. Sunny laughed along awkwardly. “You sure you weren’t the drill sergeant who chewed me out back in Academy?” 

“Not unless I joined the Enclave in my sleep! Airworthy replied, laughing too hard at his own joke. “Were you a cadet before you joined up with New Canterlot?”.

“Sure was! I joined the Enclave because I thought I was helping to keep our families safe from the wasteland below, but once I learned what they were really doing up in those clouds, I just couldn’t sit idly by anymore.”

“I admire your conviction. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for what’s right.”

“Darn tootin’!” he agreed enthusiastically. The pegasus kicked at the floor as he shambled back to his corner, muttering too himself. “Gosh, I swear I thought I knew you from somewhere...” Taking the opportunity to catch some sleep, he let us where we left off. “Ah, well. Just holler if you need me!” 

Finally we were alone.

Sunny and her dad sat me down with them and offered me dinner of what her father had available. I was starving! But as we snacked leftovers, I felt something uneasy between the two of us. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the guy, but I had a feeling that I didn’t like him. Maybe I just couldn’t let go of the fact he was Enclave, or it was knowing he had a family just like I did that gave me a weird feeling thinking of them as anything less than monsters. I couldn’t put my hoof on it. His general demeanor and overall friendliness was a little disarming, not unlike his daughter. Maybe that was it.

Airworthy smiled, talking about his daughter like a typical dad. At least what I assumed one to be like. “So… I’ve been hearing a lot about you from my little girl. Roulette, right? Maybe i should watch out, or I’m not going to get any grandkids.”

I blinked. “What…?”

Sunny punched him hard in the side. “Dad! Shut up!” she hissed, her face turning hot red.

“Here, you should stay hydrated Sunnycakes” Airworthy hoofed her his canteen and urged the young mare to drink.

“Daaaaddy! Don’t call me that!” she whined, and her father chuckled. She puffed her cheeks up, turning her head away. They looked like a happy family together, just the two of them.

The other soldiers had gone outside, and Twister was fast asleep. Hawkins was gone too. Now was the perfect time to ask him about the Enclave. All my other leads were drying up, so this was my only chance to get some definitive answers. 

As if predicting what was on my mind, he mentioned, “My daughter said that you wanted to know about the Enclave?”

I nodded. “Do you know what they’ve been up to recently?”

Airworthy looked around the room before speaking again. I was picking up on how he was checking his surroundings constantly. “I don’t know anything about current troop movements regarding the Enclave remnants.” he said. “I’ve kept a few back channels open, but the usual lines of communication are all dead.” I was disappointed again but not surprised.

He told me that the Enclave Government was collapsing long before the Stable Dweller came and upended the system. How during the final battle, the top brass of the organization tried to activate some kind of pre-war superweapon as their last ditch contingency. Fortunately for Equestria, the thing never went off. On the last day of the Enclave Wars, with all the chaos surrounding them, it was difficult to get a full view of what happened. Even months after the events in question, the details weren’t entirely clear. Conflicting reports and suicide orders were being given out left and right. Then everything went dead like the Enclave had let out its last breath. When the dust finally settled, we were left in the situation we’re in now.

By his admission it was the Stable Dweller’s actions that forced the rest of the wasteland into what it is now. That was his view of things, anyways.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked, and he nodded silently. “Why are you both running from the Neighvarro Provisional Government? Isn’t it a good way to start fresh? It’s good that they’re helping to relocate Pegasi after the Enclave, isn’t it?”

Sunny gasped, looking offended. “Wh- how can you say that?! Is that what those soldiers told you? They treat some of us like we’re second class citizens! It isn’t fair! Things weren’t great under the Enclave, but now everypony hates us for crimes we didn’t even-”

“Sweetie, can I speak with your friend alone for a moment?” her father put a hoof on Sunny’s shoulder.

“S-sorry…” she apologized, “Sure Dad, I’ll snoop around and see if I can find anything.”

“Be careful.” he warned.

She sang, “I always am…”

“I’m sorry about that, she’s young and passionate... You should be careful about who you trust, even your friends. Sometimes even when they have the best intentions, just one mistake can come back to bite you. I’ve been having regrets having left her in the first place.”

“Aren’t you the one who left her?” I glared, seeing a noticeable change in his mannerisms than what he displayed around his daughter. He was much more serious.

Airworthy nodded, “ I might’ve made an error in judgement in training her. I left my daughter behind because I didn’t want her getting involved in my past mistakes. If New Canterlot ever found out that I was a famous Enclave scout, it would cause trouble for her.”

“What do you mean, by “train her”?” I asked.

“Teaching her to survive on her own. That training never leaves you. Now she’s going to be confused, caught between two paths from now on. Eventually she’ll need to decide on the kind of life she wants to live…Anyways, I can’t promise I’ll be helpful, but since I owe it to you for keeping her safe... I’ll tell you what I do know.” He cleared his throat.

“The Enclave put many contingencies into place in case shit hit the fan. Things they left over from the Great War that they were holding onto. Since the Enclave Wars ended, I don’t know what the remnants have been up to, but last I heard they flew beyond Equestria’s borders. If you really saw them, then they would probably be operating from the shadows. I’m not sure of the root cause behind the lingering haze over the Smokey Mountains, but what I can say without a doubt is that it’s not a natural occurrence. It was something I was looking into before I left the Enclave.”

“Maybe they’re using a hidden backup network?” I suggested.

“That wouldn’t surprise me. The first step to finding the Enclave would be to locate any settlements or places they’re operating out of and find their allies. The Enclave lacks any long term sustainability now, so they’d have to rely on support from local populations to continue operating in Equestria. Or they’d change their tactics so that they were hiding in plain sight.”

I didn’t respond, instead just watching him silently.

Airworthy returned my look and sighed. “I can tell by the way you look at me, you must hate me. To be honest, I’m not sure i can say anything to replace what they took from you. If you blame me for what the Enclave did, that’s fine. I’d like you to do me one favor. All I ask is that you please don’t blame Sunny. I did everything to keep her out that life, so believe me, she’s the closest thing to innocent that you’ll find amongst the Enclave.”

“Sunny is my friend.” I replied.

That seemed to be of some relief to him as he patted his chest. “Good, then I hope you’ll do what’s best for her.”

“What does she have to do with this?” I asked.

“It seems my daughter thinks quite highly of you, you know? I’m planning to take her away from here, and I expect you’re not going to follow us or tell those soldiers where we’re going. If all goes well, you’ll never hear from either of us again. You have no problems with these arrangements, do you?”

What? I was slightly confused by what he was telling me. “Where are you taking her?”

“That’s for me to know... “ he replied. Airworthy paused a bit before revealing, “I decided, I’m going to complete her training. It was a mistake to think otherwise.”

He said that I’d become a source of indecision for her, even in the short time we’ve known each other, and also that I was dangerous. He was giving me all the information he had available, so there shouldn’t have been any issue.

I hesitated, not sure what to say. It was all coming so fast. It would be wrong of me to say anything. I hadn’t really given her much thought because we had just met, but if she went through with this, would that make her Enclave too? Would she be the same Sunny?

“We both leave here tonight with what we want.” The former Enclave Scout stated. “You can go and join the New Canterlot Army like you wanted. I can’t say I think very much of your declared allegiance, but a deal’s a deal.”

“Only if she agrees too...” I finally answered insisting it was her choice to make, which he accepted.

“She mentioned you knew Radar the Dashite?” he mentioned casually, and my eyes lit up.

“Do you know if he’s alive?!“ I asked, getting to my hooves.

He puzzled over how he didn’t remember Radar having any grandchildren my age and how I even seemed a bit young to know who he was, but I was serious in wanting answers. “Please. Do you know anything at all…?” I leaned in closer.

The Enclaver shook his head pensively. “I remember hearing chatter over the radio around the time Operation Cauterize started. A few reports came in confirming that Radar was in Friendship City, and that he was KIA during that battle... I’m sorry.”

“Oh…” I let out a lonely sigh, falling back on my haunches. I stared at the lantern beside us, feeling the ember of hope inside me flicker out. So I really was alone. I didn’t even realize how attached I’d gotten to the mere prospect that he might be alive.

“This may seem a little out of the blue,” he asked, “but how did you know Radar?”

“He saved me and my family a long time ago... I’ve been looking around for him since, but never found him. I got the news not long ago he was at Friendship City during Operation Cauterize. Guess it was stupid of me to think he’d be alive after all this time.” I stifled a laugh.

The pegasus stroked his chin, “I see… He was infamous to the Enclave back in the day. It was said he was always one step ahead of us. I’ve heard stories how once he put an entire raptor fleet out of commission by sabotaging all their radios. He was considered a worthy enemy.”

“Thanks anyways…”

Airworthy frowned, observing me closely. “Y’know, something’s been bothering me since I met you. You look almost familiar, somehow... have we met before?”

That set off a spark inside me and I looked up at him. My eyes narrowed into slits, staring at the Enclaver. “Not unless you were at Starlight Bay on the first night of Operation Cauterize.” I answered.

Suddenly the atmosphere felt a lot more tense. I could feel my blood boiling up remembering that night. Neither of us said a word, and the silence dragged on as I tried to picture his face on the body of the Enclave officer I met that day.  Finally he shook his head apologetically. “No, I wasn’t. Sorry, I must’ve been mistaken.” 

I let out a breath, realizing it couldn’t have been him.

Sunny came back to us with a cheerful smile, as if to ease tensions at just the right moment. The mare looked confusedly back and forth between me and her father, oblivious to our previous conversation. “You two seem like you’re getting along. I rummaged together a few things for dinner.”

Sunny looked up to her dad and he put his hoof around her. “Should I talk to her?” she asked, and he nodded. “I’ll leave you two alone. It was nice speaking with you Roulette.”

Rou, I talked it over with my dad, and we’re going to sneak out during the night. My dad thinks it’s not safe here. We’re going to go somewhere far away from New Canterlot and the Neighvarro Provisional Government. I guess this means we’ll probably never see each other again...”

“It’s okay, he already told me…” I said, unable to fully grasp what was going on. I turned on my side so that I was facing away from her.

“I asked him if you could come along, but he said it’d be safer for all of us if you stayed behind. He said you’d only slow us down. It’ll be okay though, you can join up with the New Canterlot Army like you wanted...“ she tried to reassure me. “Hey, Roulette...? If you want I can wake you up again before we leave, so we can say goodbye?”

“That might be nice.” I said yawning, “I’m tired.…”

I felt Sunny’s hoof rubbing the back of my neck and for a while I thought about scolding her, but I didn’t say anything. I tried not to think about it, just listening to the patter of rain outside. I didn’t want this moment to end.

“Hey, Roulette?” she nudged me as I was nodding off.

“Yeah?” I asked.

She struggled a laugh, but it was more like she was drumming up the courage to talk to me. “I wasn’t expecting today to turn out like this, honestly. You got me caught up in this huge mess, but you also saved my life. You gave me the courage to make the decisions I needed to. I really like spending time with you.”

I didn’t answer her, just wanting to let this moment be what it was.

“Even though we’ve only known each other for a day, would you still consider us “friends”?”

I wanted to say something else, but I knew it was coming sooner or later. Better to just get it over with. “What are you talking about?” I scoffed, curling up into a ball away from her. “We were never friends...”

I stopped feeling her soft touch on my neck and when I didn’t hear her soft breathing, I knew she had gone. It was better this way, despite any momentary feelings I had to deal with. I’d been on my own for the last few months anyways. As I listened to the rain, I felt my vision clouded by darkness and everything faded around me while I drifted off to sleep. Nothing except for me and the sound of rain of outside. It was my choice. Exactly the way I wanted it.

“Don’t worry young citizen. The pain will stop shortly.”

Level up!

Perk added:

Tough Hide: +3 DT Permanently

Quest Perk added:
Mutant Biology: You don’t yet know the full extent of this mutation, but you have a remarkable resistance towards both rad-x & rad-away