Fallout: Equestria - Red 36

by ElDee

Chapter 6: Fortunate One

I snapped awake, seeing only blackness as I frantically tried to get my bearings. For a few moments, my lungs wouldn’t work fast enough, and I gasped for breath. A cold sweat stuck to my coat, and my heart was pounding in my chest... My ears perked up at the pitter-patter of rain outside, and my breathing steadied. As soon I realized it was just a dream, I let out a slow breath and looked around.

All the lanterns around me had been put out. It was hard to see even my hoof in front of my face. There wasn’t much I could do as my eyes adjusted, so I just waited for a few moments. I suddenly felt my heart rise as I remembered something important. Frantically, I looked around for Sunny, but quickly concluded that she’d gone without saying goodbye. I couldn’t blame her...

I let out a broken sigh. “Why the hell did I even come back?” I sniffed. She was probably the closest thing to a friend I’d made since losing everything, and now she was gone too. I thought it would be for the best if she went with her dad. That I could spare myself from the pain that way. “Jeez, Roulette… how stupid can you get?”

This time, I saw that white alicorn again in my dreams.

Now I knew for sure Radar was gone, and that small spark of hope I’d been feeling flickered out. I was really alone. I pounded my head with my hoof repeatedly. “I should’ve said something different. Stupid, stupid, stupid!”  I really was just some dumb kid getting involved in shit she didn’t understand… It was like losing everything all over again. I raised my voice into a shout, “Why does this shit always happen to me?!”

Sprawling out over the floor as my anger wore off and I stared up at the ceiling and mumbled to myself. “...It’s my fault though, isn’t it? What’s the point in crying anyways?” I lamented, wiping my face on the inside of my jacket. For a while I didn’t feel like moving, more than content to stew in the toxic mess of feelings bubbling inside me. That was until a strange realization washed over me and I slowly noticed that I was all alone inside the emporium. 

I sat up. “Hello...?” I called out. No answer. No, now was definitely not the time for feeling sorry for myself.

Standing up, I peeked into the back room to double-check if Page Turner was still working, but he was gone too. There wasn’t even a hint of light from his horn casting a spell. Everyone was gone but me. 

I couldn’t go back to sleep, instead I paced around the floor thinking about what I was going on, with brief thoughts on what I was going to do tomorrow. Should I go crawling back to Fair Trade? No. Obviously not. I wasn’t about to go crying to him again about how I screwed the one job he gave me.

Something possessed me right then to go to the window and look outside. My hoofsteps echoed as I approached, and I stuck my hooves up on the display. It was dark out there, and storming hard. I squinted, and my eyes started to adjust. The rain made it even more difficult to see without even a hint of moonlight, but I could see across the street at least. My eyes fell upon the old Ministry office again, casting a shadow in the storm that I really didn’t like the appearance of... 

“They’re probably all out on patrol or something… in the middle of the night during the worst storm in three months. That makes sense, right?” I thought, tapping my hooves on the windowsill.

My eyes darted over to the Everfree forest, and an uneasy feeling washed over me. Something felt wrong. Really wrong. It was like it was calling to me. Remembering the superstitious warnings from before, I was deciding whether it was time to reconsider my belief in superstition and curses or not. “What the hell is up with this town? Maybe this was the reason ponies never stay the night here?” I pushed those thoughts to the back of my head.

I couldn’t say for sure if my mind was playing tricks on me again.

Then something suddenly clicked in my head, I rushed over to where I’d stashed my things, but they weren’t where I left them. My heart started beating faster. My brother’s pistol was gone. I frantically looked around for it, hyperventilating. The modified stealthbuck, the laser pistol, and the memory orb I’d found. All of it was gone.

Taking my hoof I slapped myself hard across the face to bring me back to my senses. I could see the shape of my rifle propped up against the wall so I grabbed, loaded and slung it over my shoulder with practiced motions. I stuffed a few extra magazines inside my jacket, just in case. I just needed to get outside and figure out what was going on, but it always helps to be prepared.

I strapped on my armor as quickly as I could and broke into a running start. I sprung across floor and held my breath as I burst out into the rain at a full gallop, then felt the sudden sensation of cold sprays of water blowing over me as I met with the storm outside. Luna, I couldn’t see anything in this damn storm. As another bolt of lightning flashed overhead, making things marginally easier to see for a short second, I took a few steps and came to a halt, coming face-to-face with the old wartime ministry office. The building’s propaganda posters looked spooky and deformed, displaying only the ghostly silhouettes of ponies with the print completely illegible. There were illustrations of pegasi flying in formation, wearing purple and black jumpsuits that were sort of reminiscent of the Enclave. This place gave me the creeps.

I paused for a short moment, thinking. 

Oddly, I felt more comfortable out here than I did cooped up inside that dark F&F tools emporium. The feeling wasn’t so terrible. It was like a shitty old friend you were relieved to see again after a long time, if only because it was something familiar.

I felt another weird omen as I turned to stare at the Everfree again, and just barely caught the shadow of some dark figure lurking inside. I wasn’t sure if it was watching me or not, but I didn’t blink. A split second later, it disappeared within another flash of lightning. Uttering a low growl under my breath, I knew there was no way in hell I was going to let some stupid ghost or whatever it was get me.

The weather above the trees seemed freakish and unnatural, especially as it was interacting with the other SPP Towers. The roiling and swirling clouds overhead looked like something nightmarish only the Grand Pegasus Enclave could cook up.

I panted, taking quick breaths, getting drenched in rain as I frantically looked around to see if I could find anyone. I shielded my face with one hoof, but I still couldn’t see all that well. A lantern would’ve been nice. 

Opportunity had a single main road, with mostly ruined buildings with defenses that had been set up around its perimeter by the Rough Riders. Barriers piled up with anything they could get their hooves on serving as defense. No sign of them though... I climbed over one of them as I followed along the only road. As I stood atop the earthworks and barricades constructed of rubble, my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and I saw a group of ponies gathered on the edge of town. “That must be them!” I thought, providing me with a small sense of comfort, and I took off sprinting towards them.

As I splashed through puddles of muck, more water covered my hooves and underside, only to get washed off again by the rain running down my back. I was somewhat relieved that I wasn’t all alone after all. That feeling proved short lived though. As I skid to a halt behind Hawkins, my mane was dripping wet and clung to my face. I brushed it aside and I saw her aiming her pistol outstretched at another pony, delivering him a death stare. When I spoke to get her attention she didn’t respond. 

I felt a hoof on my shoulder and looked behind me and saw Page Turner. He shook his head quietly.

A few of the other soldiers were here too, but as I looked around, it seemed like only half the squad was present. Sergeant Wounded Legs was gone, and so was Ranger Huckleberry. For a while, the others had their attention too drawn to even look back at me, and so I slowly turned my head to see where they were aiming.

To my horror, on the opposite side stood Airworthy, aiming a ten millimeter semi-automatic back at her. Not just any pistol, either. “My” ten millimeter! He was also carrying my saddlebag with all my things stuffed into it, and had the portable stealthbuck strapped to his foreleg. As the scene came into focus I felt a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, seeing the unconscious seafoam mare draped over his back. Fuck. I knew I had a bad feeling before.

Airworthy was surrounded by the New Canterlot soldiers. “Give it up Airworthy. You’ve got nowhere to go.” The lieutenant called out, and with Sunny on his back he wouldn’t be flying away. 

“What the hell is going on here?!” I gasped, almost too speechless to say anything else.

Hawkins finally acknowledged me without even turning her head. “You stay out of this. This is between me and the Enclaver.” She ordered.

“Like hell!” I growled. The lieutenant granted me an impatient glare. He urged me not to get involved, but I brushed it aside and stepped forward anyways. He clearly didn’t know who he was dealing with.

Hawkins didn’t grin or appear even slightly amused. She was completely serious here. I had a hard time trying to get a read on her from the beginning. Even now, I wasn’t entirely sure what her game was, I was just glad she wasn’t pointing that giant gun of hers at me again. “Corporal Airworthy of the Enclave Scouts, you’re wanted for war crimes against the surface. We’ve got a cozy prison cell waiting for you back in Arbu.”

Twister cursed, breaking the silence. “Hang on, so you’re telling me that was Airworthy the whole time?! Shoot, I knew he looked familiar!”

“Well, I’ve put on a bit of weight recently.” The pegasus joked, making light of the situation. “I was wondering whether or not you recognized me. I guess I went through all that trouble of changing my appearance for nothing.”

“Enough with the jokes.” Hawkins spat impatiently. “You can’t fool these eyes. I knew it was you from the start.”

Airworthy appeared to nod his head ever-so-slightly sounding somewhat remorseful, but without pulling the gun away. “I’m not with the Enclave anymore. If they killed someone you know, then you have my condolences.”

“Then you won’t mind answering questions in front of a judge and jury back in New Canterlot, right?” she scoffed. “Don’t give me that bullshit, I know all about your generation of the Enclave scouts, Airworthy! The atrocities you committed against the surface and against griffonkind are nothing short of war crimes. Downright despicable is what it is. Fucking egg-breakers.”

“I thought your whole spiel was about change and second chances? I guess massacring an innocent town of civilians is okay so long as you save enough orphans to balance it out. It’s easier to ignore your own crimes when you’re the ones making the laws, isn’t it? History is written by the victors and all that… ”

“Yeah, yeah… Don’t patronize me.” Hawkins grunted. 

“So are we done pointing accusations at each other?”

“I could go on a bit longer...” she replied, with an added hint of sarcasm.

“You made your suspicions obvious from the get-go, from the way you kept eyeing me and my daughter. Why didn’t you say anything? We could’ve easily avoided this mess and been on our merry ways.” he cocked his head. “Or perhaps the Talons have just gone soft?”

Hawkins fired back quickly. “You wish… I didn’t want to risk you trying anything with the other civilians close by is all…” It sounded a little like an excuse. 

“You made a bad call.” Airworthy rebuked. “You’re still a bit young, despite your rank. Sorry, but I’ll have to decline on that offer, junior.”

“Fuck you.” She retorted.

The pegasus responded with a light chuckle.

“Details are unimportant. Point being, I’m not about to let you get away. Oh, and didn’t you hear? It’s Skyranger now.”

Airworthy replied assuredly, “If you want to risk getting into a shootout, be my guest. Then the raiders will know we’re here. After that you know what happens...” he warned.

“Raiders...? Wait, what happens when the raiders get here?” I questioned in my head, going back and forth between the two of them. I didn’t know what was happening.

Alabaster spoke up, injecting himself into the conversation. “We’re willing to negotiate...”

“Let me and my daughter walk.” He demanded simply

“I’m in charge of this operation Skyranger, so let me handle it.” The lieutenant attempted to assert. She and the white coated officer seemed to be at odds with each other.

“I don’t answer to you, ‘lieutenant’.” Hawkins said, reminding him of his rank.

Ace decided to chime in at that moment, spurring her on. “What are you waiting for Hawkins? Just shoot the bastard and be done with it!” he urged.

“That’s insubordination, Ace!” Alabaster barked.

“You’re not Wounded Legs!” he fired back at him, “I don’t care if the old bird put you in charge! You gotta earn your respect! So if you think I’m gonna follow your orders and let this bastard walk, just because they told us to follow some gutless unicorn who doesn’t have the stomach to do what needs to be done… Just do it already Hawkins!”  The others began arguing with the jock stallion for disobeying orders and things began to devolve into chaos from there.

Hawkins groaned, “Shut up already, you idiot.” The lieutenant was quickly losing his handle on the situation as the Enclaver stood by, appearing to be getting a good amount of entertainment out of it.

Full of anger, I raised my voice and barked over them. “Would ya quit pointing your damn weapons at her already?! Can’t you see that Sunny is innocent?” All eyes were quickly on me as I brought up my service rifle and aimed it at Hawkins. Ace swung around his own twin rifles so they were pointed at me, threatening if I so much as dared to pull the trigger. 

Hawkings granted me the briefest of glares, but kept her weapon trained on her original target, and instead said something that drew my interest. “Hold your horses there, Dirt Muncher… I’ve got something I want to ask him first.” Curiously, I lowered my weapon and we all listened in.

“Y’know, it’s funny, Airworthy,” She began, “something I’ve been wondering about... A lot of the same scorched earth tactics used during Operation Cauterize were pretty similar to the modus operandi of the Enclave surface ops, oh say... twenty years ago. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

“You’re speaking nonsense.” he muttered.

“I’ll tell them if you won’t.” she promised.

“Wait, what happened twenty years ago?” I asked, more confused than a minute ago.

Twister frowned, equally so. “Frankly, I’d hate to side with the enemy but what kind of surface ops are you talking about Griff? There weren’t no surface ops back then from what I recall. Aside from the annual scouting missions, of course.”

Hawkins snorted. “Of course, because that’s the “official” story, featherbrain. Didn’t stop you from going beyond Equestria’s borders though. Aside from the wars us griffons fought against you lot, there were the abductions, the disappearances, experiments, the works. Even shortly before Operation Cauterize, you were sending down research crews. But his generation of the Enclave scouts was different. They were far more active on the surface, especially during that one year. Surface missions for who knows, doing who knows what. And you’re way too well connected not to have known about that, Airworthy.” She finished by addressing him again. “So how about you fill us in on the details, huh?” 

Airworthy offered a strained reply, growing annoyed. “To be honest you seem a little young to know about all that…”

“I’ve done my research.” She replied, smugly looking pleased with herself.

“It was... a different time.” 

“Have it your way. You can either tell me all about it, or we’ll squeeze it out of you later at Arbu. Your choice.” Hawkins spat, with a light added threat.

Lieutenant Alabaster spoke, taking on a severe tone. “Give it up Airworthy! You’ve got nowhere to go!”

Showing off a grenade held under his wing in response, he warned “Try anything and I pull the pin. Then we ‘all’ go together.” It was just a flash-bang though. Even I could see that much. Why did they look so threatened? I raised an eyebrow, not fully understanding the gravity of the situation.

“Why are you doing this? Is this really what Sunny would’ve wanted?” I asked, attempting to reason with him.

He turned to me with a look of depersation. Showing a small bit of the caring father I’d met earlier. “You wouldn’t understand… Roulette, I’m just doing what any father would do to protect his baby girl.”

The griffon turned her head and snarled at me.  “I said stay out of it!” 

“No, you stay out of this!” I shot back. “I actually know her! I can talk to him.”

Airworthy tried to plead with me, assuring me he was trying to do the right thing. “I’m protecting her! I know the way these bastards work. If I hand her over, her life will be over. They’ll never let her live peacefully again! Roulette, you have to help us.”

Something was nagging me in the back of my head though.

I was getting a slight headache, but I managed to hold myself together as I looked at Sunny again. She was completely out of it. Almost like she’d been drugged unconscious... “What did you do to her?” I hesitantly demanded.

He not-so-subtly dodged the question, attempting to change the topic. “We have to get out of here, there’s not much time. You should save yourself!”

I stared back at him with bewilderment. “You stole my things. Y-you were just going to leave me to rot…”

All of a sudden, that warm fatherly figure was cast aside in an instant. In its place, the veneer of a cold and methodical Enclave soldier. “She was emotionally compromised... hesitating. I couldn’t allow her to make the choice on her own. I had to take the decision out of her hooves.” I suddenly felt sick and confused, like I had been taken advantage of and found myself suddenly questioning everything of what he had told me. How much of it was true? Was everything out of this pony’s mouth a damned lie?!

I was at a loss for words. “W-What…?”

"I did this for her own good. She should've been able to prevent me from getting the drop on her,” he shook his head in regret. “She told me some interesting ideas she had with you. Maybe you were the genesis or perhaps you gave her the words she needed to tell me. You came out here looking for something, but you had no bearing on the situation. You should've never gotten involved to begin with.”

“How the hell is this my fault?!” I demanded, failing my composure. "What kind of fucked up "training" is this?" 

He continued as though he were speaking facts, “Sunny is still untrained. That’s why I originally left her behind, in order to protect her. It was safer for us to remain separated. It was also necessary for her to grow as a scout on her own terms.”

“This isn’t training," I argued, "this is straight up abuse."

He scoffed, “You wouldn't understand."

I growled under my breath. Maybe that’s why she never said goodbye. This guy was really starting to piss me off, regardless... 

Airworthy shook his head in amazement, almost out of pity. “It’s like you’re still living in the wasteland. What do you even know about my daughter anyways? Admittedly, I’m still grateful to you for keeping her safe. I don't want you as an enemy, but I'm not going to allow you to get Sunny hurt."

“Shut up... ” I felt intense rage bubbling up inside. Airworthy was showing me his true colors now. 

“That’s enough!” Hawkins interjected. “Airworthy, you’re coming with us!”

“No....," he breathed confidently, "I’ll tell you how this is going to go down. You let me and my daughter walk, or I set off this flash bang and Papa Bighoof will know exactly where you all are hiding. You’ll all have about ten minutes before you’re skullfucked to death by raiders.  Or we could just have a big shootout and draw their attention that way. Your choice.” None of that sounded very appealing. As I stood by, every word he spoke just made me want to hit him harder. While every sentence just made me want to beat him until he stopped moving.

“Leave Sunny, and never show your face or speak to her again.” I demanded, just as Hawkins had barely opened her mouth to retort.

Hawkins snapped back at me, “What the hell did I just-?!”

Seeming stunned as he attempted to process my words, he stared back at me in amazement. “...Who do you think you are? I am her father!”

“I don’t care if you are her dad! You’re a jerk, and I’m not gonna let you take her with you!”

“Please, you’re just some insufferable kid who doesn’t know when to let go.” He sneered, mocking me. “You wouldn’t know what it’s like to have a real family anyways, so just stay away from my daughter you little wingless freak.”

“Y-... You don’t know me, you Enclave fuck! You damn pegasi took my family away from me!” I cried, feeling my blood boiling in my veins like flamer fuel. Scratch that, I wanted to kill him. I wanted nothing more than to slowly to end this sonovabitch.

“Calm down. He’s just trying to bait you.” Hawkins chided.

Something in me snapped. “Why don’t you bite a bullet, you bitch?! I’m tired of your snarky-ass remarks!”

“Kinda ironic since you never shut up.” Hawkins scoffed which just served to piss me off even further, and sent me tipping over the boiling point. “W-what the-?!” she exclaimed as our heads clashed together. She growled, pushing back against me while we both attempted to overpower each other. The others watched along in confusion.
 
“You’ve been on my case this whole damn time and I’m getting sick of it!” I shouted.

With her fiery gaze meeting mine, she yelled back “Well maybe you should stay out of business that doesn’t concern you!” 

“It does concern me!” I insisted.

All the other soldiers looked on in shock at the sight of seeing a supposedly elite Skyranger wrestling with some random earth pony. Until Page Turner finally stepped forward and forced us apart with his magic, speaking as the sole voice of reason. “Both of you, please… This isn’t the time for this!”

We were all so distracted that we had almost forgot about Airworthy for a second. In a flash, he grabbed Page Turner who was standing just a little too close and aimed the gun at the back of his head.

The Enclaver chuckled to himself, stepping back, hostage now in hoof. “Why thank you, Roulette. I knew I could count on you.” 

We both immediately stopped what we were doing and turned back to look at him. Hawkins and I both swore simultaneously. “Fuck- That’s on you!” The griffon said, jabbing her talon in my face. “You’d better figure out what side of this you’re on, cus next time you get in my way I’ll just shoot you instead!” 

Page turned and politely asked his captor,  “Um, would you be so kind as to let me go? Thanks.”.

“Sorry, it’s nothing personal,” he apologized, “Just don’t make any sudden movements and I won’t have to gut you like a radroach.  Also, no light shows please. Unicorn magic is... troublesome. For the record, I appreciate all the work the Followers do.”

“Oh, um… thank you?” he said, responding to the awkwardly timed compliment.

I huffed and took another step forward, stamping my hoof. “Let him go molerat breath!”

“You shouldn’t have taken your eyes off target. That was a rookie mistake, Talon. Now I think we’ll be on our way. You can have fun dealing with the raiders.” Hawkins aimed her pistol at him he ducked behind Page Turner in response and called out. “Tell your troops to stand down lieutenant.”

“Once an Enclaver, always an Enclaver...” I muttered.

“Think whatever you want,” he said, shrugging it off. “You can keep chasing the Enclave until you die for all I care.”

Uttering a low growl in response, I could only think of one thing I wanted to do at that moment.

Hawkins waved her revolver at him threateningly. “You try to leave, and I’ll shoot through him to hit you.”

“What?!”

“Hawkins, don’t!” Alabaster protested, horrified at the suggestion. “He’s under our protection! If you do that it’ll damage our relationship with the followers!”

“Better than letting the bastard walk. We can just heal him up later, anyways.” She sneered.

“Don’t you dare, you cold dead bitch!” I said, nostrils flaring.

“Not really the time for this, Dirt Muncher.” Hawkins muttered without turning to face me. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll let him go as soon as I’m home free.” Sunny’s dad assured, taking on that superior Enclave stuck-up attitude. “Sorry, but I have to survive at any cost. I’ll do whatever it takes. Kill any one of you who gets in my way.” He promised, baring his teeth a little while pushing the gun against his hostage’s cheek. Then playfully added, “Though honestly, the good doctor would be safer with me anyways.”

“You’re dead meat if you try to walk away from me.” Hawkins dared, cocking back the hammer on her giant revolver with her free opposable claw.

“Over my dead body!” I cried. I scraped my hoof along the ground getting ready to lunge, but the lieutenant sharply ordered me to stand down, citing that I’d done enough already.

“Lieutenant. I think you have bigger problems to worry about. So how about it? Call off that overgrown attack bird.” He punctuated this by pressing the gun into the back of Page’s neck to make his point clear. I also hated the fact that he was using my brother’s gun in such a way.

We were all at each other’s throats. It seemed like the time when someone in charge would step in and make a decision. Unfortunately, these were far from normal circumstances. Lieutenant Alabaster didn’t have the same respect amongst the Rough Riders that Wounded Legs carried.

When it had gone on long enough, Alabaster finally spoke up, “Let him go, Hawkins…”

She looked at the lieutenant with both surprise and disgust. “I’m not taking orders from some pansy-ass bottom-rank CO.” Hawkins replied, keeping her gun trained on Airworthy. Even in the rain, she had remarkably steady aim and control. “All I have to do is wait for another crack of lightning, and you’ll be dead before you blink...” Hawkins cautioned, not budging. She didn’t even blink as she tried to appear as cold as possible, but up close I could see her flinch ever-so-slightly.

Airworthy called her out on her bluff, “You won’t do it. You kill me, then you’re all good as dead anyways when the raiders find you.”

“Miss Hawkins, just let me go. I’ll be alright.” Page Turner insisted.

“But why?” I asked, confused at what had gotten into his head.

“Don’t worry about me.” He assured us in a soft voice. “It’s my duty as a Follower of the Apocalypse to help creatures in need, and right now you need it more than I do, and so does this mare. So let me go with him. I’ll make sure she’s alright.”

“Page…” I frowned.

“C’mon Doc! I’m not gonna let y-” She fell silent, obviously conflicted. This was really getting to her for some reason. Although I still wasn’t fully sure where she stood on things, or if I was ready to trust her, I decided to go along with it. Hawkins and I were on the same page for once.

“Everything will be okay, I promise.” he said with that warm smile of his. I almost wanted to believe him, but that wasn’t the first time I’d heard those words.

Alabaster wore a pained expression. He had the look of a pony who had been forced into an unwinnable situation. “I have to make sure we all get through this. Mistakes were made, but we have to make the best of bad circumstance.”

Hawkins made a grimace, holding her gun outstretched. Time seemed to stop for a moment, with only the rain to remind us of time passing.

A flash of lightning lit up the night again, and there was a heavy feeling between all of us, expecting something to happen in that fraction of a second. It hung around for a while, even after it ended and nothing happened. Thunder rolled in the distance, and Airworthy’s smirk widened when she didn’t pull the trigger. “Thought not.”

“I’m sorry…” she mumbled.

I grit my teeth in anger and shouted, “So you’re just gonna let him go? After all that?!”

“I said stand down!” Lieutenant Alabaster yelled sharply at me. “I know you have personal stakes in this, but I’m asking you to put those aside. I don’t want to do it either, but we have no choice...”

He had to be kidding... “Screw that!” I thought, but the lieutenant made a point to shoot down anything I might’ve been planning in my head. 

“If you want any leniency from New Canterlot... That’s an order.”

I spat on the ground and hung my head, eyeing up at him in contempt.

When I looked back at Airworthy, the old pegasus’ face looked so damn arrogant I wanted to punch it. Then he proceeded to talk down to me like a child. “Roulette, you were never a threat to begin with. No hard feelings junior, you just met someone better than you. Don’t blame yourself. If you’re lucky we won’t cross paths again.” I was raging hard right then.

I took heavy breaths, seething right under the surface of my skin. I hated that he was going to win...

It was almost like I could feel the fire licking at my insides and boiling in my blood. Any hotter and I’d spontaneously combust. Even more so, I was angry about the fact that I was getting bested. He was going to get away and I’d never see Sunny again. I thought about everything I’d lost up to this point. That nagging itch in the back of my head got louder. I didn’t want to lose again. The embers inside me I could feel were about to burst.

And truth be told, I’ve always been a really sore loser... 

All of it happened in less than a second. The ex-enclaver didn’t know what hit him. He was caught off guard by how quickly I was on top of him. The instant he thought he was home free, that was the moment I dashed forward. Throwing my hoof between him and Page, I knocked my gun away before any of the others could react. Acting purely on emotion and unbridled rage, all that mattered to me in that split second was the here and now. The ten millimeter fired at me but missed, followed by a second that I only narrowly dodged to the right of. The Enclaver cursed under his breath. I could hear the lieutenant and Hawkins shouting at me in the background, but their voices were drowned out in the heat of the moment.

Striking my hoof across his face, he dropped the gun from his mouth and reared back slightly. Sunny slid off his back, and splashed into the mud, still unconscious. This caused Airworthy to loosen his grip on Page Turner momentarily, just enough for the doctor to wriggle free.

His horn flared in a bright flash of light, forcing Airworthy to squint his eyes shut and he stomped on his hoof hard, giving me an opening. I had to admit, for being a simple historian, he could handle himself pretty well.

The pegasus was wide open, so I went in for a second blow. My hoof connected, as Page Turner scrambled for safety, but it stopped short and suddenly. 

All of a sudden before I could realize, I felt my foreleg being twisted around and pull against his chest, followed by a quick combination of successive hoofblows to my underside. The wind was knocked out of me as another blow hit me in the jaw, and I struggled to stay upright. They weren’t the worst I’d ever had, but certainly way more than I was expecting. He was definitely a trained fighter.

The stealthbuck on his foreleg switched on and he disappeared, just as another hoofblow popped me in the muzzle, slightly disorientating my vision. Between the storming weather and the portable cloaking device flickering on and off, I could barely tell where he was between each moment. Damn it, he was really agile for a fat guy! 

Keeping me close so the other soldiers couldn’t get a clear shot, I found the former Enclave Scout constantly putting me between himself and their weapons. He knew what he was doing. Great, now I was the hostage! I groaned internally. “Guess he wasn’t a famous Enclave scout for nothing…”

As I just barely ducked out of the way of another blow, I was starting to get an idea of where he was and how he moved. He moved just like that Mohawked pegasus from before, always staying just out of reach! The magic cloaking device was disorienting to fight against, but I could also see the rain spraying across him left a faint outline. I threw another punch and felt like it hit something.

But then something sharp also penetrated my right hoof, in the middle of the joint. A combat knife he’d kept hidden on him wedged into my foreleg, acting as a makeshift splint. It flickered into view, no longer being cloaked by the stealthbuck, and I cursed out loud in pain.

Pain was something I could deal with, but the knife itself made fighting him almost impossible. I grit my teeth and fought on, despite being severely crippled by it. As I was trying to find my footing, he struck the hilt of the blade, sending a blinding wave of agony up through my hoof. I cried out in pain and held onto him with everything I had. Even as he was using the knife-splint to control my movements and force me into a hold.

Seemed that I made an error in judgement taking this guy on. I had to think of something fast. Something so I didn’t get killed. “Dammit, improvise!”

I was racking my brain trying to come up with something, as I heard Hawkins’ faint shouting, remembering that she was just behind me. The others couldn’t help me like this! Pulling at my foreleg, I was unable to free myself. It just made things hurt worse. I was on my own in this. Unless...

Then it clicked. I threw a fake punch with my good hoof and he dodged again, but pulled away in that moment as he ducked just out of reach. Rearing sideways in the opposite direction, I felt even more blinding pain as I thrust my foreleg free of his grip. I fell over backwards onto my side and heard a booming roar-like thunder echo from behind me, right as another crack of lightning filled the sky.

It ripped straight past me and penetrated the Enclaver’s wing. I heard him groan aloud in agony, with fresh memory of just how bad my measly ten millimeter hurt.

The stallion stumbled backwards and I heard another gunshot. Then I heard something drop just in front of my hooves. My eyelids opened with splashes of rainwater running down my face and I glanced down at something metallic and cylindrical. It was a flash grenade with its pin pulled. I shut my eyes and covered my ears, just as a blinding flash illuminated the town for a split second, drowning everything in white light.

I thought I heard the sound of a pegasus taking flight, followed by the roar of another gunshot from Hawkin’s revolver. When my eyes could see again and my ears stopped ringing, he was gone. Thunder rolled in the distance.

“…I should’ve gone for the stealthbuck first.” she griped. “He’s wounded now, so he won’t make it very far…” I guess I owed her one for that.

Lieutenant Alabaster looked like he had a million things on his mind. “Hell. Do you think they know we’re here now?” He muttered to Hawkins.

“Bout fifty-fifty…” she replied stoically, holstering her pistol underneath her bandolier.

There was little desire to go after him, and what little existed was overruled by the lieutenant who insisted there was another situation at hoof. A situation I still knew little to nothing about...

The rain felt colder as I looked down at the unconscious mare lying at my hooves. I grabbed my brother’s pistol out of the mud, wiping it with my wet jacket and stuffing it back into its empty holster. The knife in me still hurt like hell, and all my things were lying around everywhere. There was something in my eye.  A simultaneous concoction of both relief and regret, and I collapsed on top of her apologizing. 

“Sunny, are you alright?!” I gasped lying on top of her. “I’m sorry for what I said before, it was fucking stupid and I didn’t mean it, okay?” I tapped her face a couple of times trying to wake her up, but to no avail.

Just then, an ear-splitting deathly wail howled from the remains of the Everfree Forest, drowning out everything. We all looked around, scanning for the source of the noise. But it was everywhere and nowhere at once. It went on for several seconds, echoing inside everyone’s skulls and it shook us to our bones. A few moments passed and we all breathed an easy sigh of relief when it finally ceased. 

Uncovering his ears, Ace was first to question. “...What the hell was that?!”

“Maybe a t-timberwolf?” Twister stuttered.

“Don’t ruffle your feathers, timberwolves don’t even sound like that.” Hawkins jeered, calmly shrugging it off. “Maybe it was an Ursa or something. Huh, I thought most of those were cleared out by now...” 

“Know anything about this place Hawkins?” Ace asked.

“The Skyrangers scouted here a while back… I want to say it was unsolved disappearances?” She tapped her chin thinking aloud to herself, but the mere prospect made Twister even more of a nervous wreck. He looked like he might curl up into the fetal position at any moment.

The forest was in bad shape nowadays. I remembered a story my brother told me once about the big bad timberwolf lurking in the Everfree, and how it ate little lost orphaned foals. I’m pretty sure he just told me that to avoid taking me there. If such a thing existed, it’d probably be pretty pissed off about having its forest half-burnt to a crisp more than anything. 

It was strange to me. The voice sounded almost like it was in pain? Although I didn’t mention that to the others.

Alabaster turned to Ace squinting harshly to address him, “Ace, we’ll discuss your punishment later.” he affirmed, to which the red stallion replied with a laggard nod. 

“Ahh!” I remembered the sharp uncomfortable pain when shifting my foreleg again, reminding me of the knife still stuck in there. With the adrenaline still pumping through me, I barely felt it. That or maybe the pain of being shot and nearly being killed by my mutation had just boosted my pain tolerance a bit. I noticed Page Turner next to me, wearing a solemn look as he stared down at Sunny.

Looking over her, Page wore both sadness and regret. “She can’t hear you.” He said. “She still has drugs running through her system.”

“Can’t you do anything?” I pleaded. 

The doctor shook his head. “Generally it’s best to let drugs like these run their course. We should take her inside and out of the rain though, so she doesn’t catch hypothermia.” he said, and I nodded. Then cocking his eyebrow he pointed to the knife and added, “But let’s get that thing out of you first.”

I laughed weakly and nodded.

Page with a light sense of humor warned, “Now you’re going to feel a slight pinch…”

The white unicorn officer was standing alone, staring silently across no-mare’s land, while the rest of us remained uncertain.

We sat under makeshift cover of a ruined building that still had most of its walls, where they had set a tarp above us and stashed extra ammo underneath. I grit my teeth and winced as Page pulled the knife out and applied pressure to the wound. The sharp pain quickly gave way as the wound was wrapped in a healing aura. Even if the raiders were watching, they wouldn’t be able to see any light from where we were sitting. I didn’t speak.

Page scolded me like a child at first. “I just wanted to let you know, what you did was totally stupid and reckless. You’re an idiot… but a very brave idiot.” the blue unicorn snarked with a smirk, giving me a light tap on the noggin. 

“That’s a funny way to say thank you.” I snorted.

“Thank you.” he added, granting me a genuinely warm smile that time. 

“Do you think it was okay of me to make a decision like that on her behalf?” I asked, looking at Sunny worriedly.

“Who can say? What do you think.”

“It felt like the right thing to do in my gut, but maybe I was overstepping my bounds…I barely know her and all.” Part of me was still trying grappling with it all. If I hadn't been such an idiot, she wouldn't have ended up like this.

“Guess you’ll have a lot to talk about when she wakes up.” he said, trying to sound comforting, while stating the obvious.

“Yeah…right.” I really wasn’t looking forward to it. 

He and one of the Rough Riders carried Sunny back into the F&F Tools Emporium while the combat medic finished checking me over. I offered to help but I was denied. “Sunny, you’re gonna be okay. Everything’s gonna be alright.” I promised. The level-headed stallion was also good enough to slip me a some Rad-X before leaving, citing that the rain here was likely pretty irradiated being downwind of the Whitetail Woods. Page almost reminded me of my brother True Blue in a weird way. Maybe it was the light shade of his coat.

I felt the pain in my shoulder flaring up slightly standing in the rain, but nowhere nearly as bad as before. More of an annoying itch this time. “So it’s affected by radiation...” I thought, as I popped a Rad-X. That made sense, given my previous encounter with the Whitetail. “Good to know.”

Twister tapped me on my shoulder, getting my attention.

“You were a little heated back there…” he mentioned after things had calmed, awkwardly scratching the back of his mane. I quickly remembered what I said. I hoped it didn’t sound too bad.

“Oh, uh yeah…Sorry. I didn’t mean it like-”

“We ain’t all like that, y’know?” he said, apologizing on the other Enclaver’s behalf. That took me by surprise. Wow, now this was all kinds of awkward.

“Um, no. I know. Don’t worry about it.” I said, and the pegasus seemed somewhat relieved. I still found it a bit weird being on the same side now. It’d take some getting used to, I guess.

He was forced to stand watch by his lonesome as a tired Bandage put the finishing touches on my foreleg. He kept nervously checking over his shoulder to look at the Everfree, worried about that noise from earlier. 

The pink mare’s wavy orange mane was dripping wet, and she looked exhausted. She lit up her horn, casting a spell over me, and I glowed for a few seconds. It made me feel kind of funny. “That’s an anti-disintegration ward.” she said. “It’s my specialty. They came in handy at the Battle of Dragon Mountain. Just try not to get shot, because it still hurts like hell. Also warps your flesh so it doesn’t heal back properly.”

I stared at my hoof as the glow faded and got a small sense of comfort in my head at having one less thing to worry about.

“FYI, this isn’t fool-proof.” she mentioned flatly. “You can still die.”

Nodding along, I made sure to take note. Although only half-paying attention.

She gave me an additional doctor’s note to stop running headlong into danger or I’d probably end up getting myself killed. Pointing to my roulette marker number thirty-six cutie mark, she commented how fitting it was. I assured her that it wasn’t intentional and she gave me a thwack on the skull just to make sure I understood. I stood up with a huff. Admittedly, I didn’t care too much for Bandage.

As I briefly glanced back at the design blazoned across my flank, I didn’t have much time to self-reflect, because the moment she was through Hawkins was standing behind us with a very stern-looking lieutenant. The griffon was giving her the evil-eye, waiting on her to finish. Bandage awkwardly stepped around her, nervously glancing back, and then scrambled off somewhere else out of earshot.

“Glad you finally finished your beauty nap.” Hawkins sneered. I shot her back a dirty look of my own, and pissed off sparks flew between the two of us. We were right back to hating each other, it seemed.

“My patience with you is starting to wear thin.” Alabaster reprimanded, clearly at the end of his wits. “Pretty soon you’re going to have to explain yourself in front of a court.” I nodded silently.

She held my bag, dripping wet with all my supplies, in front of my face. “These are yours, right?” The griffon gave an accusatory snort, and tossed it on the ground in front of me with a wet plop. “You were speaking with him earlier. I could have you tried in court for aiding a wanted war criminal unless you start talking, fast.”

“He stole them.” I countered simply, picking up my bag and wiping it off. “And you were the one who decided to take the risk letting him stay in the first place.” I pointed out, causing the griffon to go red in the face.

Alabaster huffed, “It’s a moot point. The Enclaver was right, we’ve got bigger issues to worry about. Namely, Papa Bighoof.” The first thing he did was remind me that if I wanted any sympathy from New Canterlot, then I’d have to do exactly as he said from now on. I grunted, and nodded along silently. 

“So is someone going to tell me what the fuck is going on around here?” I asked, hoping that they would finally fill me in. There was a veritable barrage of questions I had for both of them.

Alabaster summed it up in simple terms. “Our friendly neighborhood raider warlord decided to make his move tonight.” Hawkins was looking pleased with herself, giving a smug grin directed towards the unicorn.

I cocked an eyebrow, “What now?”

“Camp Brave, Outpost 52, and a number of other settlements in the New Canterlot Valley have been attacked. It was all coordinated.” he replied. “Battle is still ongoing.”

This sudden news came as a shock. “Hold on, what? Outpost 52?! Is everyone okay?” I asked. 

“We don’t know.” he answered stoically.

Hawkins folded her arms. “New Canterlot is going to win, obviously.” She said it like it was a no-brainer. “And that’s the problem we’re facing.”

I looked at the griffon funny. “How is that a problem?”

“Because New Canterlot doesn’t know we’re here. And when they all retreat back here and find a lone squad of troopers, the raiders won’t be in a prisoner taking mood.” she replied.

“Oh…” I folded my ears back. Then suddenly I realized, “Oh shit. How are you going to explain that report was just a misunderstanding?!”

Alabaster sighed, frustratedly rubbing his temple. “That’ll have to wait.”

“Where’s the sergeant? Is this all of us?” I started to raise my voice asking questions, but Hawkins shushed me harshly. I repeated the same question in a low whisper.

“We sent Corporal Chipper Wind out on a patrol earlier, to make contact with Camp Brave. Thought it was just the Everfree interfering with communications again at first, but turns out it’s worse than that. They ran into an ambush along the way. Raiders.”

“Yup, saw the whole thing from here. Looked like they were using laser weapons. Guess you were right about one thing.” Hawkins begrudged. “But more importantly, I was right. Bet you’re pretty glad I insisted on coming along now, aren’t’cha?”  Hawkins took the opportunity to further rub Alabaster’s nose in the fact she was right.

The stallion rolled his eyes.

“So where’s the sarge?” I asked, seeing only a few of us present. “And that other mare. Uh, Jack...?”

“I was getting to that…” Alabaster said, showing clear signs of impatience in his voice. “He’s still out there somewhere. Don’t know about the others.” 

“She went out on patrol with them. Wait until they get back.” Hawkins gibed.

Ugh. “Can’t you look again?”

She scoffed at the suggestion, “Yeah, but I’m not about to fly up and check. If he makes it back, then he makes it back. It was their own decision to go out there.”

The lieutenant closed his eyes and exhaled before informing me. “Sergeant Wounded Legs insisted on going out himself to save Chipper and the others... I was against it, but he adamant about it. ‘No pony left behind’ is what he said, and Sugar went with him. He hasn’t gotten back yet so in the meantime I’m down half a squad.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the Lieutenant?” I asked.

He calmly answered. “That’s the way they did things back in the wasteland. I couldn’t change his mind if I wanted...”

“It’s a little harder dealing with an army of mercenaries, isn’t it? ‘Least until that blue bitch is finished with her work.” the griffon smirked.

“They get the job done fine.” He replied. I was almost surprised to hear the unicorn speak in their defense at all. 

Hawkins kicked the dirt in frustration. “Fuck. We’re stuck with our pants down, that jackass knight-in-shining-armor-wannabe off and disappeared, and now we’re stuck dealing with this idiot.” She motioned a claw at me, but any offense-taking on my part was ignored.

“So why don’t we fight?” I asked, sounding rather obvious.

Hawkins pulled me aside so that we were standing just on the edge of town leaned her weight on a makeshift barricade, pointing across no-mare’s land. “Can you see over to that hill?” she asked. 

“Sorta...” I answered hesitantly, just barely able to make it out.

“Behind that is Ghastly Gorge. That’s where the bulk of Papa Bighoof’s army came from. I dealt with them a bit during my scouting mission in the Smokey Mountains. That place is hell ‘cus of the Quarrays. Didn’t show up until after Cauterize, but the raiders know how to move through it unhindered. They’ve also stockpiled a fuck-ton of firepower and heavy ordinance.” Then she waved in front of my face, pointed back in towards the Outpost 52 and then over to Camp Brave. She made an exploding motion with her claws along with some other military gestures that confused me… 

“The battle is still ongoing.” Alabaster informed me. “Papa Bighoof and the idea of a raider army, right now, poses to the greatest threat to New Canterlot Valley and the entire Heartland of Equestria. We’re surrounded on all sides and cut off from reinforcements, so if we reveal ourselves like we just did, we’ll have to take on the entire army by ourselves.”

Nothing even close to this was going on the last time I was here. New Canterlot, and now a raider army? Things had changed in the time I’d been away, that was for certain. I also felt a little sense of guilt and uncertainty in hoping that the citizens of Unity were okay in all of this. It would feel really shitty on my part if they all ended up being destroyed after I said I would help them.

The griffon tapped a claw on her cheek, thinking aloud. “Although I have to admit, Papa Bighoof attacking now still doesn’t make much sense to me... He’s openly declaring war? Seems a bit out of character for him. I was expecting some skirmishers or something, but this… Well, he’s gotta go to war with New Canterlot sometime, guess it might as well be now.” 

“Weren’t you the one who was insisting he’d attack?” I pointed out.

“Yeah, what of it? I know Papa Bighoof better than most of the Skyrangers on account of my scouting missions. Point is, I was right, and that’s all that matters.”

“What if Jagged Knife had something to do with it?” I put forward.

“Shut up about Jagged Knife, already.” she snapped.

“Well, if even the “super-genius-brained” Skyranger doesn’t know...” I snarked, and her feathers got all ruffled.

“Hawkins is right, we don’t have time for anymore of these stupid games.” I folded my legs and huffed in frustration as the notion was quickly dismissed.

The remaining Rough Riders had approached until they were almost crowding us before adopting a position of attention. The lieutenant barely even turned them a glance.

Coughing to get his attention, the dark coated pegasus stepped forward hesitantly. “*Ahem* Beg your pardon, lieutenant?  I know it’s against protocol, but I’m really worried about Chip. We did do things a little differently in the Enclave, but-”

“What are you doing?” he questioned, “Get back to your posts, all of you.” 

Being the only other rank present, Bandage stepped forward. “Lieutenant Alabaster” she asked. “What if they don’t make it back in time? We can’t just leave them stranded out there...”

“Be ready to defend this position, regardless of what happens. We can retreat into the Everfree if need be. Now follow your orders!” he demanded. If the pressure was getting to him, he was trying hard not to show it.

“We just gotta have a little faith, y’know?” Twister said, offering hope to the others. He tapped on my shoulder, noticing the dour look on my face. “Do you have friends or family at the Outpost 52?” He was probably misreading my expression, and taken me for being worried in his attempts to reassure me. “It’ll be alright.”

I thought about it for about a second, then shook my head snickering. “Nah, I’m not worried. That wily old bastard can take care of himself just fine. I’d be more concerned for the raiders, frankly.” I smirked a little, although he seemed mostly baffled by my response. Fair Trade was the sort of pony who’d sooner shoot himself than let some raider finally off him.

Soon they spotted several ponies approaching through the storm. There were four of them, one being carried. “Lower your weapons, it’s just us.” came a familiar voice.

“Wounded Legs!” They all said together.

The sergeant was carrying the battered cream coated pegasus with Sugar’s help. “Bandage, get her healed up.” the old horse said, and she got to work immediately with her magic. That mare from earlier, Jack, was trotting just behind them. She was a bit scuffed up but nothing too bad, although she looked a little sad.

“Surefire didn’t make it” he informed us, hanging his head.

The heavy news hung over them. Ace was the most hard-hit by it. “Surefire’s dead?! Damn that bastard… We had unfinished business…”

Jack squinted her eyes harshly, the tan coated mare being quick to reprimand him. “Now’s not the time for grudges, Ace! He just died!” Ace went silent with unsaid words still on his mind.

Admittedly I hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know him, but it seemed to hit them pretty hard, regardless.

There was a short reunion between the two pegasi as well, where Twister attempted to hug Chipper, but stopped himself as soon as he noticed her injuries. “Thank the stars you’re alright Chip.”

“Same to you Twist.” she smiled weakly and winced in pain. Her wing had a circular laser-burn mark, and she looked like she had taken a bad fall. Her normally well-groomed teal mane and coat were all scuffed up and frazzled, not to mention soaking wet. “They got us good,” she wheezed. “They were using our weapons.”

“Heh, this reminds me of the battle over Hoof.” he laughed lightly.

“Yeah, except last time our positions were reversed.”  She managed a wry smile, managing to find some small humor in it. Bandage made him stand aside while she healed her injuries.

I approached Jack with some amount of relief showing in my voice. “Hey, glad you made it back.” I grinned

“Hehe, yup. Same to you, but I wouldn’t go down that easily.” She grinned back. “Thanks for worrying though. You sleep like a rock. They tried, but they couldn’t wake you up.” she snickered, offering a hoof bump. I declined it. She could tell something was bothering me.

“Is your friend alright?” she asked, tilting her head. Her short ponytail swished a little.

“Yeah, I think so…” I answered, although not fully sure myself. “Hey, Jack? Something I wanted to ask you.”, remembering from a couple days ago. The mare perked her ears up curiously. “Do you remember the wasteland?” I asked, staring up at the rain.

Jacaranda wore a funny look on her face, attempting to piece the right words together. “Oh, you’re serious? Yeah, uh, sometimes…”  Her eyes wandered off to one side “Usually I try not to think about it, but nights like tonight bring back... memories." 

“Really... that bad, huh?”

She gave a little shiver, “Well it wasn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows, y’know?” She answered. “I remember some of the shit raiders used to pull on innocent mares back home. Can’t imagine anything worse. That’s what drove me to become a mercenary in the first place. Then later I joined up with Wounded Legs, and then Gawd after that. Y’know, making the wasteland a better place.”

“So you weren’t always with Al then?” I asked scrutinizing the hard-nosed lieutenant.

“Nah. He’s one of Blackhawk’s ponies, I think. General Blackhawk that is. He just oversees our operations in the field and back at the base. Real’ strict.” She began doing a nasally mock impression of him. “Jack, don’t forget to clean all the two hundred year old bathrooms for falling asleep at your post again.”

I snerked a little.

She jumped when Alabaster ordered her to get to her post, like he had been listening in on us. Jack apologized quickly and they all went back to keeping their heads down, silently keeping a lookout over no mare’s land. I glared over at him. To me, this felt like just a whole lot of standing around, and I was getting itchy hooves sitting here.

I was growing more irritated and impatient by the minute, so I trotted up to the lieutenant, interrupting a conversation he was having with Hawkins and the sergeant. “So what’s the hell’s the plan?”  I asked.

He lowered his eyelids. “You’re really quite troublesome, you know that?”

“So I’ve heard.” I replied. I stomped my hoof to get everyone’s attention. “We’ve gotta do something! We can’t just keep sitting here!” All of the other soldiers who overheard turned to look at me with confusion.

“Be reasonable.” Alabaster chided dismissively. “That’s what we’re discussing.”

“It’s not ideal, but the best option is to just keep our heads down and try to not take on an entire army.”

“What?” I asked incredulously, “So we’re going to sit on our asses and do nothing?”

“That’s the plan.” She said. “Or at least it was, until that Enclaver decided to attempt an escape with that mare you brought along. They probably weren’t paying attention to us before, but whether or not they’ve noticed us, chances are now they’ve got their eye on this place. So thanks for that... Probably still trying to figure out what the hell happened just a few minutes ago. So now we’ve gotta come up with a new one.”

“Why don’t we shoot up a signal flare? At least somepony will know we’re here that way. We’ll hit them while their backs are turned.” I suggested. “C’mon, let’s fight!”

Ace seemed to agree briefly, but shrunk down as soon as Hawkins immediately glared in his direction, so he went back to manning his post.

“What, are you trying to do, get us all killed?” She jabbed back, poking at my chest with her talon. “Weren’t you listening? Because we’re completely cut off and we’ve got three civilians here. Scratch, make that two civies and an idiot. Papa Bighoof’s raiders would just swarm over the town before reinforcements got here.”

“Back off...” I growled.

“I sent a request to Skyranger HQ for reinforcements. Dunno if they got the message. Damned Everfree keeps getting in the way of comms.”

“Why don’t you fly then and deliver the message yourself then?” I asked in a mocking tone.

“Pfft, and risk flying over the Everfree?”

“For supposedly being some badass Skyranger you sure are useless.” I scoffed.

“Likewise, Dirt Muncher.” she fired back.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Alabaster snapped. “We were discussing a plan of action…”

Hawkins made us gather in close. “Alright, here’s the plan. Sarge, go grab the doc and the unconscious mare. Get a couple of your troops on escort. We’re going to head south through the storm, past Camp Brave and take the long way around the Everfree. Since it’s already been hit, there should be minimal raider activity. Not ideal, but at least we avoid having to take on the whole army. I’ll watch over you from the skies. We all rendezvous in New Appleloosa. Sort things out from there.”

“Sounds good. Might work.” Sergeant said, stroking his chin scruff. 

Alabaster agreed to the plan as well.

I grumbled at my own idea being rejected. Then suddenly, I felt a tingling on the back of my spine. There was someone approaching. We both looked simultaneously over to our right, and Hawkins followed with her pistol in the same direction as I brought up my rifle. A hulking figure covered in mud was stomping through the storm towards us.

“Who goes there?!” she called out.

As the power-armored figure came closer, the griffon lowered her revolver, realizing it was just Protector Huckleberry. The mud began to wash off slowly, revealing the trademark insignia of the Applejack’s Rangers.

“Not to worry, the cavalry has arrived!” he declared, coming to a halt in front of us.

The griffon holstered her weapon and huffed. “Couldn’t blame someone if they mistook ya for a raider, skulking around in the darkness like that.”

“Sorry ’bout that.” he apologized.

“Where the fuck were you, dumbass?! Fucking around with your gay steel ranger buddies you chucklefuck? Would’ve been useful if you actually showed up during that hostage crisis.”

Lieutenant Alabaster breathed easily, “Well that’s a relief. Now that the ranger’s here he can help with-”

“Actually, I just succeeded in getting into contact with the rest of my chapter. They’re gonna let your New Canterlot friends know that there’s a lone squad out here surviving on their lonesome.” There was a collective, if subdued, cheer from the Rough Riders. Hawkins was the only one who didn’t seem too thrilled. “Since y’all weren’t having much luck, figured I’d do my part. These confounded radios don’t work all too well near the Everfree, y’know?”

“Well, I sure hope you brought a blasted battalion with you,” she snarked, “because we’re gonna need one.”

“Damn right, I did!” he replied, standing triumphantly, and the camp let out a sigh of relief at the news. It was the first bit of ‘real’ good news all night. “They’re trying to contact Camp Brave right now, to send you some reinforcements! Huh? Why do y’all look so down all of a sudden...?” I watched the squad’s morale catch fire and collapse faster than Camp Brave probably did.

Hawkins smacked her face in frustration. “Camp Brave was destroyed you idiot!”

The Applejack’s Ranger seemed perplexed. Finally replied after a long pause. “Huh...well that’s unfortunate.”

“Even if they know that we’re out here they still won’t know our exact location in this storm. So it’s good for nothing! We’ve already got a plan, and we don’t need you butting into it.” Hawkins pointed her gun at the Ranger, “Don’t move...” she snarled angrily.

Huckleberry stared her down, responding with the long barrel of his heavy machine gun,  “I don’t think you want to do that griffon…”

The lieutenant tried to stop her before it was too late. “What are you doing Hawki-?!” BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three raiders fell limp in the mud behind him. Each with a bullet in between their eyes as their stealthbuck spells shimmered and flickered off, revealing their corpses. They didn’t look like Jagged’s ponies. Actually, they looked more like inbred mutants wearing combat gear, done up in warpaint and covered in mutant animal parts. 

“See the war-markings? They’re Mountainfolk.” Hawkins stated, lowering her smoking pistol. “They don’t always go down when you shoot em either.” She shifted one of the corpses over, glancing at them.

I did a quick search over their military-grade combat armor, unable locate anything resembling the mark I’d associated with Jagged’s raiders. “Fuck …” I cussed under my breath, feeling a little let down. I didn’t know what I was expecting.

“I see you’re having some raider trouble missy...” Huckleberry stifled a weak laugh, looking over his shoulder. “Hehe, you should warn me next time.”

“I’ll do my best to remember…” Hawkins replied, reloading again. She spun the cylinder, then turned to all of us. “The jig is up. They know we’re here. We need to get moving.”

Alabaster ordered the Rough Riders to gather up all the supplies and ammo, and began shouting out orders. 

Only Huckleberry seemed completely nonchalant and relaxed during all this, wondering what the fuss was about. 

We all turned to watch as the Applejack’s Ranger cleared his throat, and strode past her. He took heavy steps, the pneumatic spell-matrix effortlessly carrying his bulk. “Well then, there’s only one thing to do with raiders.” Huckleberry said.

“Hey, what are you doing? Weren’t you listening?!” Hawkins questioned incredulously.

“Eyup, every word.” he answered back.

Her mouth dropped open, realizing what he was about to do. “Wait, what?! Didn’t you say you’ve already been to the Ghastly Gorge?! What about Papa Bighoof?!”

“Yes, ma’am I did. Shucks, s’awful cute of you to worry about me. Watching you New Canterlots runnin’ around for awhile was amusing, but I think it’s time we real Rangers stepped in and dealt with the situation. Don’t fret. I’ll take this one on personally.”

“That wasn’t flirting dumbass!” the griffon squawked

I sat back and watched the Ranger in relative silence along with the rest of the squad. Wounded Legs raised a hesitant eyebrow, “Uh, are you sure that’s the best plan of action...?”

With a confident chuckle, he kept stepping forward. “A lone Applejack’s Ranger is worth more than one hundred raiders!” he declared. “‘Sides, once my chapter gets here, there won’t be much more left but scraps. So sit back and watch a real soldier at work.”

“Stop! Protector Huckleberry!” The lieutenant yelled, then looked to Hawkins frantically for support. Seemed someone had failed to tell him about the plan, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. Hawkins responded with a frustrated shrug. With a grim look stretched across his face, Alabaster ordered the troops to take defensive positions and be ready for anything. They all dropped what they were doing and and watched.

Hawkins was red as an apple as she shouted obscenities. “Don’t you dare fire, you fucking idiot! They’ll know our exact position!”

Ignoring her colorful swears, he took several steps out into the open of no-mare’s land, where he paused and sunk several inches deep into the mud. His weapon roared, and began to spray out bullets in the assumed direction of the raiders. Night almost literally becomes day as he practically lit up the entire hillside, unleashing his whole arsenal. Grenades exploded across the open field, forcing me to cover my ears because the noise was so unbearable. I could barely even hear Hawkins’ screeching at him over the sound of his guns.

When it finally appeared he had run out of ammo, there was a long stillness where all we heard was rain falling across the open field. For a moment it even felt like the storm was beginning to ease up. Twister whistled loudly, and a few of the Rough Riders cheered and laughed amongst themselves, giving hoof-bumps. He turned back to look at us, seeing a small glint in his visor. He was probably grinning under his helmet.

“See, what I tell ya?” he chuckled, fully turning around back to us.

A single “Wow…” was about all I could manage. I had to admit, I was a little impressed. Hawkins was the only one who seemed otherwise. I noticed she hadn’t let her guard down yet. The rest were looking on in awe of the ranger’s handiwork and I wondered for a second what it’d be like to have that kind of firepower, fantasizing about my own suit of T-51b.

Suddenly, we were all greeted by the screeching sound of a well placed rocket returned from across no-mare’s land. A bright light like dragon flame came out of the night and exploded a direct hit against the Applejack’s Ranger, flinging the power-armored soldier backwards into the mud.

“Hit the deck!” I heard called out from somewhere.

I shielded myself, then looked up again to see he wasn’t moving. The spell matrix in his armor was shorted out and blown to hell. I couldn’t tell if he was still alive in there, or simply lying there motionless. He had essentially been reduced to a heavy metal suit, stuck in the mud for the time being.

Twister gulped, all of us waiting for what came next. 

That rocket was followed by a literal hellfire of laser blasts that hailed from across no-mare’s land, pounding against our meager defenses. “Return fire! Return fire!” I heard the lieutenant barking, but I felt like I was standing in the line of it.

A second rocket veered off course and hit one of the remaining buildings behind us, blowing off chunks of rebar and debris. “They have RPG’s too?!”

I pulled up my rifle and rested it against my body, then began to fire in the general direction of the enemy. But then I felt it beginning to happen again as a laser flew just a few feet from my head. I heard the ringing in my ears, and I stood with my legs rooted in place, not knowing what to do. My lip started to quiver as I saw Starlight Bay again burning within the mortal crossfire of energy weapons. The skeletons of my dead family charred to ash. The Enclave. All of it! I was shaking, overcome by an overwhelming dread that I was going to die in those laser blasts. I thought I heard shouting.

Wounded Legs grabbed me and dragged me behind cover himself. Noticing my pale, thousand yard stare, along with my quivering pupils. He shook me and smacked my face. “Hey kid, snap out of it!” he shouted, yelling in my ear. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I quickly came to my senses and took a deep breath. I looked up at the tobiano wiping my eyes and nodded shakily. “Y-yeah…I’ll be okay. Thanks for that.” 

“Don’t go losing yourself!” Wounded Legs said, shouting over the sound of gunfire. “The fight’s just started!”

I shook it off, bringing up my rifle and breathing to steady my aim.

“Are you gonna be alright without a battle saddle?” he asked.

Replying by firing at an oncoming raider, I focused on the battle at hoof. I knew I needed one. In lengthy sustained combat, it made your life hell to try and reload without a battle saddle. My fights were usually one-on-one or against smaller numbers, so it didn’t matter one way or the other so long as I could think of creative ways to kill them. Had to make every shot count here. As I squeezed the trigger I began to repeat to myself over and over, reminding myself that they were only raiders.

Laserfire continued to burn into our makeshift defense as the raiders attempted to swarm over the town, shouting obscene war cries.

When I finished going through a magazine, I stopped, reloaded, then squeezed the trigger again. Pointing my rifle at whatever raider came into my sights, I just fired until they stopped  moving.

Although I was finding it hard at first to just tell where the enemy was through the storm. Only Hawkins seemed to be unaffected by it, switching between her sniper rifle and gigantic pistol when the occasion suited her. She fired off another well placed shot from her revolver and felled another one.

“An EFS display would sure be useful right now...” I griped, wishing I hadn’t left that Pipbuck behind. Luckily their weapons would often give away their positions, so I could pinpoint them by following the pink lasers back to their point of origin, stealthbuck or no, and I’d make them dead almost just as easily. A few had just switched theirs’ off in frustration.

“No need to think about it, just keep firing!” I told myself.

Lightning flashed once more and I stopped and stared at seeing how many there were. That was when I saw for myself, and I fully realized the current state of affairs in the territory. They saw us for a split-second too. There were a lot of them casting silhouettes in the storm, even though this wasn’t even the bulk of the army. Some were carrying tattered war-banners from various other raider clans. “When they called this raider country, they weren’t kidding…” I thought. 

Stampeding towards our meager defense, the raiders laid down suppressive fire with their Enclave weapons while they rushed the barrier. With a flip of her orange mane, Bandage’s horn lit up, briefly throwing a protective shield in front of us. 

Dozens of shots plinked against her yellow magic aura, and the Rough Riders returned fire until cracks began to appear, and then fell not moments later. 

Ace joked sarcastically. “Always wanted to die someday.” It hit me a little too close to home, I hate to admit.

I grit my teeth and bucked off a stallion who was attempting to climb over, carrying a stick of dynamite in his mouth. Seeing the lit stick of dynamite on the ground, I quickly grabbed it and threw it back over the barrier, hearing a loud explosion on the other side. Sugar was holding back several on her own, using her impressive muscular bulk to hold them back as we only barely managed to keep them at bay. 

Pounding in another magazine, I awkwardly attempted to follow the orders he was shouting out.
The Rough Riders performed like solitary unit and I found myself lagging behind the rest of the squad.

With each shot of her massive revolver Hawkins felled another approaching raider, taking out key targets. She pulled out huge .45-70 sized bullets from her bandolier to reload with and then closed the cylinder. Still stuck bitterly reloading my own service rifle, I pulled back on the charging handle and began firing again, causing hot casings to grace the ground. I cursed under my breath, not about to be outdone by her.

After barely holding them back the first time, the raiders finally made a brief retreat to gather their forces, giving us all a second to breathe.

Hawkins did a quick flyaround, doing some split-second recon before landing back beside us. From the look she was giving us, it was bad news. “They’ve cut off our escape route.” she said, turning and firing another thundering shot from her revolver.

“We’ll have to make a stand here then!” Sergeant rallied, they gave a collective holler and the fight continued.

I was still struggling to get ahold of myself, steadying my breaths to stop myself from shaking. Right as a near-missing Enclave laser flying by, shook me to the core, “They’re only raiders…” I repeated. 

Jack looked over at me and asked how I was holding up.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I grinned in an attempt to laugh it off. “Like that time I nearly died during Operation Cauterize.” 

We both grinned at each other, laughing. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a faint shimmering outline in the rain approaching behind her. I pointed my hoof, shouting, “-Hey look out!”

The raider’s stealthbuck flickered off as he grabbed Jack by her her tail before she could even to react. “You’re comin’ with me!” He mumbled through his yellowed and crooked teeth, attempting to drag her over the barrier out into no-mare’s land, ripping off a piece of the mare’s armor as she struggled to get free. There were tears in her eyes as she desperately tried to kick at him.

He was a big, hairy, rural-looking earth coated stallion, sporting overalls underneath his war-painted combat armor. Deformed, with a pronounced jawline, he also had a grimy dark patchwork beard. Most of them seemed to possess similar looking features.

Still in the middle of reloading my rifle, I stood up without thinking and roared, throwing a punch as hard as I could. The ugly brute toppled over backwards and stopped moving. From the looks of it, I broke something in his face. I immediately double-tapped him with my pistol for good measure, then spat on the ground and whipped it back in its holster. 

I looked down at the mare, still trying to gather her faculties.

Jack was stunned for a moment, looking up at me. “Y-you saved me…” she managed, before a stray shot caught her in the back of her head. The smell of burnt hair and flesh hit my nose as she collapsed to the ground in a heap with a look of confusion in her eyes. I didn’t even have time to savor the sense of heroic accomplishment.

That solitary instance made me take pause in myself. It seemed so stupid and senseless and just served to piss me off even more. That feeling of someone dying in front of me in the blink of an eye. This felt much different than the wasteland I knew. War was like the big, scary grown-up version of the wasteland, that was overall meaner and angrier. Like a manticore on psycho that’s liable to tear you apart if you so much as looked at it the wrong way.

I felt something forcefully pull me back behind cover, followed by more shots to where I was standing just a second before. It was Wounded Legs. I’d actually almost hit him by accident out of reflex. “Keep your head down, kid!” he shouted. “Don’t go running into gunfire!” Pretending I wasn’t shaken, I continued to fire and kept behind cover. Unable to shake the fact that just beyond it was a quick death. 

“Darn it, we lost Jack!” he cursed.

All of the gunfire and explosions going on around me reminded me vividly of that day. But there was something different this time besides the fear. 

I scoffed as I reloaded my service rifle and brought the sights back up, firing at the nearest raider. “What was the damn point of them anyways?” I thought firing upon a very ugly looking raider mare with an overgrown tangled rats’ nest she called a mane.

Crack!!! Crack!! CRACK!!! She fell over dead with several bullet wounds in her corpse. “It doesn’t matter, just kill anything that looked vaguely like a raider.” I told myself. Part of me was screaming to run away, but there was still that other voice telling me to fight, and it was drowning out everything else. 

As another screeching raider missile flew straight towards us. I ducked for cover, but saw a flash of magical energy from the last place I’d seen Bandage, and the rocket flew off and spiraled into the Everfree where it exploded inside. Raising my head up, I saw that it had just barely missed the F&F Tools building. Letting out a short breath, I wiped the sweat off my brow.

Hawkins drew up her sniper rifle and closed one eye as she aimed down the sights. Taking two shots, she downed the two rocketeers from a distance. I assumed she did, at least. It was really difficult to see in this weather. She ejected the empty bullet casings and reloaded.

We all glanced back at the explosion, noticing some of the blasts from our battle were beginning to hit the forest. Hopefully, whatever the hell that thing was from earlier wouldn’t show up...

Rain continued to beat down on me as I fired again from my service rifle, and I wiped my mane from my eyes. Aiming at another nearby raider, my rifle was the only thing I could feel that was warm to the touch. 

Then I managed to get in a lucky shot. The raider fell over limp with a bullet-sized hole in their brainpan. “It only took one bullet that time!” I felt particularly proud of that shot, taking a second or two to appreciate it. Seemed I was finally getting the hang of this!

“Hey, nice one kid!” The sergeant said taking notice, wearing a look of approval. 

Something about being out here, killing raiders again was... almost refreshing in a way? It was a familiar sort of feeling that I couldn’t quite shake, as if it was becoming second nature to me. Like I was back in the wasteland again. I giggled a little under my breath.

Crack!!! Crack!! CRACK!!! Reload. Keep firing. Crack!!! Crack!! CRACK!!!

 Rinse and repeat. Just kill them all.

Crack!!! Crack!! CRACK!!!

“Another… another… and anoth-” I heard sergeant’s voice and I snapped awake. I’d almost lost myself for a second and forgot what I was doing. He was telling me to focus my attention towards the raiders on the other side. Noticing all the dead raiders in front of me, the battle seemed to be going in our favor. We were pushing back against them. We were winning! 

Then I turned my head and saw Ace looking at me with his jaw hanging open. “Woah...”

“Wait, what did I do…?” I raised an eyebrow, giving him a funny look. 

Any fun I had been experiencing began to subside in lieu of growing concerns as I came to my senses, reaching for another magazine. 

Despite our huge numerical disadvantage, we were holding the line successfully, but as I grabbed another magazine from the shrinking stockpile, I could see our biggest concern right then was lack of ammo… and we were quickly running out quickly.  There were simply more raiders than we had bullets. Worse yet, it often took several shots to bring each one down. It didn’t take a genius to see the battle was going south fast. There were just too damn many of them!

Then, if that wasn’t enough to make a grown mare scream in frustration, their numbers had only grown since the battle started as more joined in on the fray. They were likely retreating away from their raid, and found a single squad holding out. They were probably hoping for an easy kill. Reloading my rifle again, I promised I wouldn’t make it easy for them.

BOOM!!!

Just then another explosion rocked us, blowing a huge hole in the town’s defenses. The raiders started flooding in through the breach and we laid down suppressive fire while Lieutenant Alabaster called out the order to retreat.

Grabbing everything, including my bag with all my things and as many magazines and rounds of ammo as I could, I sprinted back towards the F&F Tools Emporium, dodging fatal shots as I went.

Retreating further back closer to the Everfree, as they closed in on the town past the first line of defenses, at this rate we’d have to go into the forest. Watching the F&F Tools building, I only thought about how Sunny was still inside and that it would be my fault if anything happened. Thinking to myself we had to hold the line here, no matter what. 
 
Hoping at any the moment that New Canterlot would arrive soon and drive them back into the Gorge, the longer we fought and the more our ammo supply dwindled, the less it felt like anyone was coming to save us.

Things were starting to look grim. I began to feel growing concern for both Page and Sunny hiding in the F&F Tools building. I would find myself occasionally glancing back to make sure the emporium was still in-tact. If any of the raiders snuck past, he might not be able to defend himself while protecting Sunny at the same time. “Were we gonna die here…?” Worries itched in the back of my head. “Dammit! Why tonight of all nights?” I cursed.

Then I was overcome by the weirdest feeling which caused me to stare back at the F&F Tools building again. I shouted over to Lieutenant Alabaster who was currently overseeing the battle, pointing to it. “Hey Al! I think I just saw someone go inside!”

“Stay and hold the line!” he ordered.

“But-”

“That’s an order!” he cut me off. Reluctantly, I followed his command, but the longer I fought the more worried I became about Sunny.

“Honestly, I don’t see how this could get much worse!” Twister shouted.

As if tempting fate, a sudden bloodcurdling howl came out of the Everfree as timberwolves rushed from the forest with hot embers in their eyes, and began attacking foes indiscriminately.

“Aw shit, way to jinx it you featherbrain!” Ace groaned, holding his head between his hooves. Then the jock stallion turned his twin rifles at the timberwolves and open fired. “This is too much! The Everfree is gonna need to take a damn rain check!”

A charred timberwolf charged at me making vicious barks. I lowered my stance and growled, ready to fight it, but turned my head around in confusion as it suddenly darted around me and jumped over the barricade, going after nearby raiders instead. I blinked. Apparently, they they were more interested in revenge on the raiders for shooting rockets into their forest than they were in attacking us. “Huh…”

With their attention shifted away from us, the raiders turned their guns on the timberwolves and began tearing through them with their heavy weapons fire. They wouldn’t last long. 

Still, it provided me with the perfect distraction. “Hey, that’s actually kinda helpful for once.” I admitted. So while everyone was busy with the timberwolves, I made a break for the F&F Tools building.

I ran inside, and went silent as the door shut behind me. 

The first thing I saw was Page Turner lying on the floor, bleeding from a large gash in his neck. A knife gleamed in the darkness, dripping with blood.  “Hey there, girly…” came a familiar voice from the shadows, and my eyes fell upon the raider stallion. It was Sting. “You missing something?” 

I glanced at the historian sitting at his hooves. Page Turner was putting pressure on the huge wound to stop himself from bleeding out. I could hear his desperate gurgles for air over Sting’s heavy breaths.

“So that was you hanging out in forest like a total creepazoid?” I asked, giving him an angry stare.

“Heh, what are you talkin’ about?” He cocked his head in confusion. Nevermind, that detail wasn’t important for now.

Sting gently ran his hoof through Sunny’s silky blonde mane making me more irritated. He looked different this time. Not only was he acting calmly for once, one of his eyes had been completely gouged out. I know I beat him up, but I never did that to him...

Drawing notice to his maimed appearance, I asked, “Woah, what happened…? You look even uglier than before.”

He gave a light chortle, squinting his good eye. “That’s the price of failure, girly. Something you’d probably know nothing about.”

”Yeah, whatever...” I said, firing a full magazine from my service rifle. I didn’t feel much like chatting. When the first couple shots passed through him though, I could tell something was off. As I continued to fire more rounds, I became frustratingly confused at how he was just standing there, looking completely unfazed. Why wasn’t it working? All my shots were passing through him like he was a ghost! Then I heard the rifle click. “W-what the heck?!”

The magic from his horn dimmed. “You won’t catch me off guard again…”

“Tch!” I grit my teeth, throwing down my rifle down and charged at him, but he blinked out of the way at the last moment and I got a hoof-full of nothing. It was like deja vu. I wheeled around and he was standing at the door.

“You care about this don’t you?” he grinned, rubbing his hoof against Sunny’s cheek. “Think I’ll hang onto this for collateral. Bring whatever you got from the 52. Don’t forget.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?! Don’t touch her-!” He disappeared before I could finish my sentence.

Hastily looking back and forth between the door and Page Turner, still bleeding out, I had to make a choice fast. Fuck...

I rushed to Page’s side and applied pressure to the wound, but I was no medic. Dammit, if only I hadn’t used my one healing potion already! I cursed again as my eyes darted around frantically, unsure of what else I could do. His horn was flickering on and off and he was looking pale. “Wait, duh. Why don’t you use healing magic?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. I leaned in and sniffed the wound. Poison... 

“But I don't know how to deal with poison!” I moaned. His condition was growing worse by the second. Then I noticed his eyes were motioning somewhere. He was pointing across the room to his medical supplies! “Right! Duh.” I rushed over and searched through them until I found a single corked bottle of faded red liquid. I galloped back and fed it to him, and then he gasped a deep breath of air. I felt a small sense of comfort, but after the wound had healed, then he began coughing uncontrollably. “What?! Did the potion have no effect?” I asked hectically.

“I’ll be okay.” he coughed, hacking up bodily fluids. “Just stuff in my lungs… Sorry… he caught me by surprise.”

“It’s okay.” I breathed an easy sigh of relief.

Page gestured me to leave him be. “G-go… *cough* save your friend!”

Picking up my rifle off the floor again, I burst into a gallop towards the double-door exit. That’s right. Sunny was my friend. And I wasn’t about to let another friend die tonight! I burst through the main doorway back into the storm busy raging on around me, feeling rain whipping against my face. Sting was standing out in the darkness of no mare’s land. I could just barely see him with Sunny. He gave a wicked smile before he blinked away into nothing. 

I ran after him. That bastard wasn’t going to get away from me!

The Rough Riders had fended off any remaining Timberwolves and returned to the battle at hoof. They all looked a little beat up, but were handling themselves from the looks of things.

Uncaring whether or not I died, I made a gallop for certain death but was stopped by Lieutenant Alabaster outside. The New Canterlot officer shouted over gunfire, “I need you to go back inside. Go grab the doctor and your friend!”

“A raider snuck inside and attacked Page!” I said, peering around him while anxiously running in place. “He’s got Sunny! I’ve gotta save her!”

“We need you here.” he said, and I stopped. On second glance, the state of the battle wasn’t going as well as I initially thought. Their final defenses were just barely holding together as the other Rough Riders were laying down fire, trying to hold the raiders back. Ace was fumbling with loading a flaregun close to me.

“Wait- but…”

“They’re closing in on us. We’re not going to last much longer at this rate, so we’re going to shoot up a signal flare and retreat into the Everfree. Take our chances. Hopefully, we come out safe on the other side.”

The idea of heroism in me began to fade away. Here I felt like a foal who had finally stumbled into the real world by accident. I was catching my first dose of reality since Operation Cauterize and I didn’t know what to do. My mind stood still, processing the situation. I hoped Outpost 52 and the townsfolk in Unity were okay in all this... Then it hit me, I had a sudden burst of realization. “Wait… that’s it!” I ran up and snatched the flare gun from Ace who was busy fumbling with it. He smelled gross, like sweat and psycho. “Ace I need to borrow this.” I said, mumbling through my teeth.

“H-hey!” he shouted in protest. “Fuck you, I need that!”

“All of you hold the line! I’ve got a plan!” I said, making a run for it.

Hawkins landed in my path in front of me, before I could get any further. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” She pressed her pistol right up against my forehead “Seems like this is the only thing you understand. If you want to run out into that field and commit suicide, then I’ll kill you myself. Give it here.” She held out her claw in front of me.

None of the soldiers were in a position to get involved they were all too busy holding the line. All except the Lieutenant who stood by watching me without saying a word. Seemed like this was between me and her.

I growled. “Hawkins, I hate you, but you’re gonna have to trust me.”

“Give me one damn reason!” she demanded. “You’re running around like a loose cannon on fire. Get a clue, and scope out the situation for once!”

“I’ve got a plan,” I insisted, “and it involves me running across that battlefield.”

She looked unconvinced as I stared down the barrel of her gun, unflinching, but I got fed up with waiting. “You want to do this now?! Fine.” I snarled, “Fucking do it then! Or you can let me go and save all your sorry asses. But one way or another, I’m going out there! So don’t try to stop me!” 

She replied, “I’m not going to let you kill this whole squad just to save some mare...” The griffon pulled back on the hammer and we stared each other down in silence. I felt a burning spark in my eye and I wasn’t about to let it go out here.

“Hawkins!” Alabaster shouted, and she finally relented. “That’s enough.” He briefly addressed me out of the corner of his eye, almost as though he were ashamed to look at me. “I don’t like it, but it’s the only option we have. You can try, but if you get left behind and die that’s on you.”

Chipper Wind looked at her commanding officer in disbelief and then briefly at me. The pegasus sounded uncertain of his decision, but wouldn’t say why. “But...but lieutenant, that’s...!”

“Enough, Chipper. Focus on the task at hoof.” he ordered and she did so reluctantly. 

The others looked at me as well as though I were already dead. As I walked past them Wounded Legs gave me a slight nudge with his hoof. “Good luck, kid,” said the old tobiano.

Hawkins glared silently at Alabaster for a moment, then stepped aside and turned her head away from me. “Tch, then go out there and die for all I care.” She took off into the air before I could say anything.

I nodded, looking out across the battlefield and at the horror that stood in my way. Scoffing to myself, “If that’s what it took to be taken seriously around here, I’d throw myself into certain-death situations more often.”

Chipper watched with disgust as Ace pulled out a special looking syringe from underneath his uniform and injected himself with it. “Is that Stampede?!” she exclaimed.

“Fuck off, pegasus.” he spat, as the chem started to course through his veins. “This is my special ‘Ace in the hole’.” The earth stallion raised up and began firing off his twin rifles screaming like a madpony at the top of his lungs. “OH YEAAAH!!! Come and get some, raider bitches!!”

Sergeant Wounded Legs put on a do-or-die face. “Celestia knows, not like we’ve got a better plan, right?” They all let out a collective rallying cry as I walked towards certain death, beginning to pick up a running start. I probably could’ve used some of that stuff, all things considered.

I sprinted out into no mare’s land at breakneck speed, jumping over a raider with a stupid look on his dumb face. I’d either save her or die trying. “Oh well. When in doubt, double down!” I thought, galloping past more of them. They were so focused that they didn't all immediately notice me. That’s what I was counting on. For a second they looked literally dumbfounded at seeing a lone mare trying to run past them, but as soon as it wore off they aimed their weapons and fired on me. Literally dozens of shots and the odd explosion missed me narrowly. I eeped and ducked under a laser blast where only an inch separated it from my face. I felt the burn on the tip of my muzzle.

Through the storm, I could see a single weak spot. A gap in their defenses. Then looking past that, that was where I was aiming. Sting was on the other side, up in those hills. That’s where he went. So I charged straight through it!

More raiders everywhere. Thankfully, more focused more on the battle than on me, but I drew more fire as I went. On my right side, I could see the Ghastly Gorge, where they had set up some light artillery near the entrance. My mouth dropped open. “They have artillery?!” I cried. “That’s totally unfair!“ 

I didn’t even stop as the mortar shell streaked over my head like a comet, but then failed to hit its target. Thankfully it was wildly inaccurate, and it’d take them a while to reload to boot. “That was shot was too close for comfort,” I thought. Although, my sudden outburst also drew the attention of more raiders who hadn’t previously noticed me. My ears folded back and I made a bolt for it.

Finding myself dodging under more lasers and sidestepping raiders trying to grab me or my tail, I had the edge on them in terms of straight agility. With the laserfire flashing by my head, it was like being back at Starlight Bay, only tenfold. I was positive that I was about to die at any moment. All it would take was one wrong step, and I could feel the hitch in my shoulder starting to cramp.

Running faster, I pushed with everything I had! “Like hell! I wasn’t going to die here!”

There was this indescribable feeling. That unbelievable rush. The excitement. And everything that came with it! Something I’d not felt in a long time. Even though all my senses were being bombarded with multiple things at once, there was something exhilarating I got here that I couldn’t get anywhere else. I almost wanted to laugh at how horrifying it was as another shot ripped past me.

A big muscular mountain-pony with a pale-green coat charged in front of me, aiming his Enclave rifle. He had some sort of animal fang cutie mark on his flank, and he was the only thing left standing between me and where I needed to go. He was also the biggest pony I’d run into yet. A pink beam of energy missed me barely, and as I got closer he reared up on his hind legs to strike me.

“Don’t get in my way!” I shouted angrily, charging with all my might. As he went high, I went low. I slid under him and kicked up hard. I felt a crunch, and he howled in excruciating pain. Ducking between his rear legs, I broke back into a sprint on the other side, looking over my shoulder with a devilish grin on my face. One more shot passed me by, lightly singing my cheek as I sprinted away.

“Huh. I didn’t know a stallion’s voice could go that high…”

I ran. I just ran. I didn't stop, didn't look back. Not until the shots began to grow distant behind me.

Eventually I came to a spot that was relatively calm and away from the action. My heart was beating out of my chest as I collapsed gasping for air. “Okay, let’s never do that again.” I promised myself. I felt the hitch in my shoulder while running, so I took a second as I stretched my foreleg. “It’s going to take a while getting used to that…” I groaned. 

I could see the battle continuing on in the distance. The Rough Riders were all back there still fighting. I didn’t have long. Who knew if the raiders would manage to get a lucky hit with that artillery? Didn’t want to wait to find out either.

When I got up, I began to look around searching for any sign of that bastard, but he was nowhere in sight. I looked up at the hill. “Gotta get moving.” My legs took the first step, dreading the climb, but then I heard a squelch and felt my hoof step on something soft. Looking down I saw a New Canterlot soldier’s corpse at my hooves, half-buried in a ditch. 

What? “But why would…?”

I pulled her out, and saw a permanent look of horror etched across her face. This body was old, likely died some weeks ago. There were also more New Canterlot uniforms discarded into the pit with her. “That wouldn’t make any sense though...” My brow furrowed, as I added another question to the ever-growing list.

Looking at the high quality gear just laying there, I looked back at my own armor which was damaged beyond repair. I discarded it on the ground and wore one of the New Canterlot uniforms over my jacket in its stead. “Bad luck. Sorry to do this. I’ll be taking that from ya...” I apologized, strapping it on. The armor was much better than what I’d been using up to now. “But at least I’ll be slightly more resistant to bullets now.”

I got to work climbing to the top of the hill with the flaregun in my mouth as more rain batted against my face. I struggled to find my footing occasionally, but I managed it. I had to admit, it would’ve been way easier if I had wings. 

When I reached the top, I glanced around looking for anyone else. I could see everything from up there. A fair distance away, I could even see the Whitetail Woods. Although I couldn’t tell if Unity was still around or not. Squinting hard through the dark, at least it appeared that it hadn’t been attacked. All my chips were riding on this. Hopefully Sheriff Green would get the message.

Briefly, I observed where the others were holding out desperately, and pointed the flare gun upwards at the sky. “This’ll draw their attention.” I thought. 

Then I sensed a group of ponies behind me and lowered the flaregun. I wheeled around to face them. The head raider’s bright yellow eyes flashed in the darkness and he stepped closer to where I could see him. It was that dark-coated San Palaminoan I met before. 

My eyes narrowed on Sunny who was with them, still unconscious. Sting and the larger pony with the eyepatch who had been present during the caravan assault were there as well. I still didn’t know his name, but his cutie mark seemed to be a depiction of three ornate playing cards with one flipped over.  “What do you want?” I asked.

“Hey there. Glad you could make it, Little-Miss-New-Canterlot-Soldier.” the dark-coated raider replied, welcoming me. 

“You’re not Jagged Knife.” I stated flatly.

“It’s Angel Eyes.” he corrected shortly.

“Who?” I snarked back. “Look, I’m feeling generous today, so how about you give her over before I put you in the dirt myself.”

“Hahaha! You should show that side of yourself more often! It’s a good look for you. Relax, I only wanted to have a little chat. Between the three of us.”

Sting was having trouble counting. Then out of nowhere the larger stallion knocked him unconscious, hitting him in the back of the head. Wait, what...? Now I was really confused.

“Oops.” Angel sneered.

“What was that for? Tell me what the hell is going on!” I demanded.

He shrugged. “I just needed him temporarily for his special talents. Y’know, so we could have a proper face-to-face conversation. You’ve got a beef with him too, right? Sting is the boss’ little bitch boy. So can’t have him snitching on us, now can we?” Angel Eyes bowed his head mock-apologetically. “Sorry about earlier, please accept my meager hospitality.” Then he turned his knife towards Sting, about to kill him.

“N-no, wait!” I stopped him, putting my hoof forward. I don’t know why I did.

“Why do you care about this little shit? We’d both be better off with him dead.” he pointed out, and he wasn’t wrong.

“I don’t know...” I replied, thinking of an excuse. “Just… If you’re gonna kill him, look him in the eyes first.”

“Pfft. Have it your way.” he snorted, pulling the knife away. “You came here for answers, right?” 

“If you’ve got em, then start talking.” I demanded. I wanted to know everything. “Where’s your boss? I’m going to put a fucking cap in his head for causing me this much trouble.”

He laughed lightly. “The boss is no longer here. He went back to Dodge already.”

“Dodge? As in ‘Dodge City’ Dodge?”

Angel Eyes appeared amused more than anything. Then he pressed his knife against Sunny’s throat. “First thing’s first: you tell me what you were hired to carry from the Outpost 52. I don’t have all night.”

What was he talking about? I was drawing a blank. “It was just a trade report.” I answered. “Nothing worth noting.”

“You honestly think I’m stupid enough to believe that?” he spat.

“It’s the truth though!” I shouted, my frustration showing.

“Tell me or the bitch dies.”  He pushed the knife deeper into Sunny’s neck causing it to break the skin.

“Leave her alone!”

“Then give me what I want.” Angel demanded, slowly pressing harder. “You’re killing her...”

I had to think fast, so I said the first thing that popped into my head and rolled with it.  “A-Alright! You caught me!” I blurted out. He skeptically pulled the knife away, his yellow eyes flashed and he cocked an eyebrow, waiting. “It was a... memory orb!” I lied, “Of Rainbow Dash and some other pony. I don’t know who. Um… Gawdyna wanted it.”

“Good girl…” he smiled gesturing at me with his hoof, “Now give it over.“

I tossed the memory orb at him and it landed by his hooves. The larger earth pony with the eyepatch picked it and turned to Angel Eyes. His rough white coat drenched by the rain. “Rainbow Dash? What would the boss want with something like that?”

“No idea...” he answered. “One last job, he said…” Thankfully, they bought it. They looked more confused than me though.

“So what’s this plan of yours about? Are you working for Papa Bighoof or Jagged Knife or what? Which is it?” I asked.

Angel burst out in laughter “You really don’t know anything, do you? Well don’t worry, you’ll get your answers. Just meet me in Dodge City. I’ll give you everything you want and more.

“No deal.” I said. “I held up my end of the bargain. Give her back and tell me everything!”

A glint crossed his eyes as he had a sudden thought, and he paused. “Huh… Y’know, actually I think I’ll hang onto her for a while. Keep her safe.”

I shouted in anger, “If you think I’m going to play along with this, you’ve got another thing coming!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep her alive. I need you to cooperate after all.”

All I could feel was rage burning inside me, but then I looked behind them, and there they were. I had thought I saw something over the Smokey Mountains. They were hidden by the storm but this time I could clearly make them out. Vertibucks. Those were Enclave ships alright. It’s wasn’t just my imagination! I wasn’t crazy! They were only visible for a fleeting moment, but they were definitely there.

“They’re real…” I whispered in awe.

“Tell me one last thing.” I asked, staring back at him so I could see the expression of his eyes clearly. I wanted to know for sure whether he was lying or not. “Does Papa Bighoof use Vertibucks?”

He replied with bemused laughter at my request, “Doubtful. They’d draw too much attention. Why do you want to know?” 

“I want to know if there are Enclave hiding in the Smokey Mountains.”

Angel Eyes laughed out loud. “Why do you give a shit if there are Enclave or not? Maybe you should ask your little pegasus friend…”

Sunny finally began to open her eyes, half asleep as the drugs finally began wearing off her system. “Rou…?” she asked, rubbing her eyes. “W-what’s... going o-?! Mmmph!” The larger raider bound and gagged her. She was confused and didn’t know what was going on. I felt bad for dragging her into this.

“Thanks” I replied, firing the flare gun into the air. It dyed the battlefield in a dim red light as it travelled upward, and I heard the fighting stop as the raiders took notice.  Hopefully this wasn’t all for nothing.

I waited and prayed to Luna that they’d get the message.

“Sting, wake up.” Angel nudged the unicorn awake.

“Ugh, I got a fucking headache…” he groaned. “What happened?”

“Aw, Sting. You fell asleep again, you narcoleptic dipshit.”

“H-hey fuck you, Angel! Something hit me in the back of the head is all… Bet it’s this bitch’s fault!” he glared at me with contempt, and I almost rolled my eyes again at the irony. “Hey what’s that?” he asked, staring upwards.

The raiders were probably confusing it for the signal to retreat and were debating amongst themselves what to do. Then we began to see small flashes of light begin to appear on the battlefield, and I smirked. 

We all looked down and caught the sight of a magic green bolts driving back the army. They were coming from a group of alicorns from the town of Unity, and they were being led by Sheriff Green! Together, they were fending off the remaining raiders, pushing them back towards the Ghastly Gorge. I wished I could’ve seen the look on Alabaster’s face when a troop of alicorns showed up to help! 

Green’s horn fired up with crackling energy as she blasted another raider with her magic, while another one was making use of her teleport ability to disorient and confuse them. The gambit seemed to have paid off. Soon New Canterlot forces would see the signal and bring the cavalry galloping along with them! All of it according to plan.

“W-What the hell-?!”

“Battle’s over.” I answered. “You better get running soon.”

The winds began to shift, l and the clouds started to stir above us. I felt pretty awesome right then in that moment, not going to lie. 

I turned back to look at Sunny, who was shaking and scared. With my eyes, I promised that she’d be alright. She could hear the barely calmed white-hot rage in my voice as I addressed Angel Eyes. “If you hurt even one hair on her head... not even dyin’s gonna stop me from killing you. You bastards are all officially on my shit list.” I couldn’t even remember another time when I’d been that angry. “Let her go. Now!”

Angel laughed. “Good. Stay mad. I’ll need you angry.”

I growled, whipping out my rifle. Sting levitated his knife up closer to Sunny’s neck in response.

Before I knew what hit me, I felt a familiar weight slam on top of me, dropping me into the wet hillside. Then I heard a familiar griffon’s voice. “Ya doing alright, dirt muncher?” she asked, then demanded Sunny with her outstretched pistol. "Let her go."

The sounds of the battle were drawing closer. A sudden stray bullet flew between us, far too close for comfort.  That was the chance they'd been waiting for. The raiders made a sudden break for it as Hawkins aimed to fire. She picked me up and took flight while the raiders scattered, carrying Sunny away with them, meanwhile as I struggled to free myself, shouting curses at the top of my lungs.

Sting stayed behind to get in a final word. “Screw off, New Canterlot!” he shouted at her. “Tell Gawdyna to suck my cock, you stupid fat griffon bitc-” BANG!!! Hawkins interrupted him mid-insult, firing another shot from her revolver. The bullet phased straight through the back of his head, making him do a double take. “Woah! Hey! For Luna’s sakes lady?! I was only jokin’!” He blinked away as she began firing off more rounds.

“Dammit. I wanted to hit his other eye. Annoying little prick...” she complained. Even with her impressive aim, she couldn't manage a good shot while carrying me.

“Sunny!” I screamed, struggling with all my might to get free of her talons, but the griffon held on tight. I shouted every obscenity I could think of at her. “Lemme go! I’m not through killing them yet!”
 
“Uh, you’re welcome?”

“Luna fuck! Lemme go, you stupid cunt!” I screamed.

Flapping, she took off carrying me back over the open field below where the battle was still going. Sunny got further away as I thrashed around violently, ignoring the fact that a drop from this height might’ve killed me.

“Don’t make me drop you!” she threatened, her wings compensating for my extra weight.

I didn’t care about that though. “Luna fucking dammit! They’ve still got her!”

“She’s a goner. That’s the wasteland. Deal with it!” Hawkins hissed soberly, and as I continued to struggle, wanting to be back there, she grew further and further. Until I finally gave up and went silent, still feeling that unbridled rage inside. I wanted to kill them all, that was my one wish more than anything. 

While the wind rushed past me and I looked down at the scene below, some of the raiders were still having trouble deciding if they wanted to fight or not.

“That’s why we do what we do.” Hawkins puffed, struggling to think of any nice words to say. “New Canterlot’s gonna have some questions for you. Go back to bed... We’ll sort this shit out in the morning...”

“She’s not gone.” I replied. 

We both watched suddenly, as a heavenly pillar of lightning fell from the clouds, striking and turning one of the raiders into a sparking, smoking husk. That sent the rest running back to the Gorge, just as the New Canterlot Skyrangers finally arrived and started to pick off stragglers who fell behind. I glanced over at the SPP tower again as the weather shifted around and swirled above us. It was like the phrase I heard once: Execute one to warn a thousand. I Couldn’t remember where I’d heard it.

Although I was tired, I didn’t feel much like sleeping. However, I kind of did like the feeling of the wind against my face. As we flew through the air, I remembered I’d always heard other earth ponies talk about how terrifying the idea of flying was, but this wasn’t so bad. If only I could’ve actually enjoyed it a bit more.

I’d kill every last one of them. Especially Jagged Knife. Deep down, I knew he was the one responsible for all this. I’d go find him in Dodge and make him answer. But right now, my eyelids felt heavy. I couldn’t stay awake any longer. 

Hawkins broke the silence between us. “Y’know. I’m not typically one to dole out compliments, but that was pretty well played back there. I honestly wasn’t expecting you to survive. Just make sure to keep it to yourself...”

“Yeah…”

The last thing I saw was the crack of dawn on a distant horizon, before I dozed off.

_{[You are now dressed as a member of New Canterlot.]}

Level up!

Quest Perk Added:

 Rough Rider - You’re an honorary Rough Rider now! +10% Effectiveness with New Canterlot service weapons! +1 DT

Perk Added: 

Battlesense - You are now more keenly aware of what’s going on around you in the heat of combat. +1 Perception in combat.