//------------------------------//
// Fallout Equestria: Old Souls - Chapter 23: Playing The Percentages 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Old Souls 
// by Pillbug 
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Chapter 23: Playing The Percentages

[It must seem like an eighteen carat run of bad luck. But, truth is…]

“Hehehe.”

“Stop it.” A voice replied wearily.

“Hehehe.”

“Stop it.” In the same tone.

“Hehehe.”

“Stop it.” Yet again.

“H-”

“Snow!”

Brushing away tears of laughter, I just shrugged at her. “Alright, alright. I’m done now…”

The griffon was still blushing angrily. “Don’t say it.”

I held out for all of two seconds. “...Gigglewings!” I wheezed, collapsing back into convulsive chortles as I laughed through the pain of my injuries.

“Damn it, Snow!” Wings’ feathers fluttered along her shoulders. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you!”

“I’m sorry,” I coughed out, trying to stifle the giggles. “I just really didn’t expect your real name to be…” One blazing blue eyeball glared at me, so I quickly changed how the sentence ended. “...that.”

Grousing and flushed, Wings taloned the rifle she’d finished McCoy with. “So glad the others aren’t here right now.”

My eyes popped open, and I gasped excitedly. “The others! I gotta tell them too!”

“NOOO!” Wings’ full weight crashed down on me, pressing me into the dirt. Her beak was by my ear. “You’re not telling them, Snow!”

“Aw, c’mon, it’ll be funny!”

“I...said...no!” She blurted out as we struggled. I managed to get myself turned around so we were face to face: my hoof pushing at her cheek as she tried to hold me down.

The absurdity of the situation struck me as I noticed her smooshed cheek, and the slight hint of tongue poking out of the side of her beak as she put all her effort into the struggle. I couldn’t help myself, wrapping my hooves around her neck and hugging her tight, fresh giggling bursting forth. “You’re just too adorable!”

Suddenly our positions were reversed, with her frantically trying to push me away. “Gerroff, Snow! I am not!”

I clung on tightly, all the while whispering in her ear. “What am I gonna do now, huh? You’ve kinda ruined the whole plan, you know.”

Her feathers shifted against my jaw, the tickle helped the smile on my face grow even larger as she spoke. “What’re you talkin’ about, Snow?”

Pulling back, I flashed my rambunctious smile right in her face. “Well, how exactly am I supposed to take you seriously as Blue Fire now, when the entire time I’ll be thinking ‘Gigglewings Gigglewings Gigglewings’?”

“Oh, screw you!” She squawked, before we descended into another tussle. After 30 seconds of back-and-forthing, we both lay panting on the ground.

“Don’t tell them.” Wings puffed from my side, as I stared at the cloudy sky. “Just… don’t.”

Something in her voice halted the half-formed joke on my tongue. “...Alright. But why? I mean, you told me.”

She didn’t answer for a few seconds, so I rolled onto my side to stare at her. She was still looking skyward, though her sapphire eyes were dancing as she worked through whatever thoughts hid behind them. “Yeah… I guess I did.”

“Then why not tell them?”

“I just…” She gave up and rolled over to meet my gaze. Neither of us were smiling now. The time for jokes was past. “I told you because… because of what you did before. Back at Gull Gulf. It... it meant a lot that you came after me.”

We shared a shy smile, but I couldn’t just take the compliment. “Well, I mean, it wasn’t just me. I had help from everybody.”

Her eyes sparkled at every-‘body’. “I know, I know. I owe them too, and I’ll repay them. Thing is, I told you my name because you’d been asking, and I didn’t have anything else to give you. The others, though, I’ll make it up to them another way.”
Reaching over, my hoof lightly rubbed her arm. “You know they won’t laugh at you for long, right? Not if you tell them it bothers you. They’re nicer than I am.”

Finally, she managed a laugh herself. “It’s not that. I don’t mind the joke. Gigglewings comes with a lot of baggage. A lot of Griffon stuff. I guess… I guess I’d just rather be Wings to them. I like being Wings. I like that they actually like me AS Wings.”

I can’t argue with that, though why are you worried about being liked? You’re not a Raider, zebra, or pegasus. You’re awesome.

And I don’t wanna be getting weird looks from the others for laughing at a joke that only I know. And Schwarwald, I guess. I opened my mouth to voice something to that effect, but she cut me off.

Looking back at the bullet-mulched corpse of McCoy, she grunted and kicked the empty rifle away. “‘sides, Gigglewings is gonna have plenty of problems from this point on, and they don’t need to get themselves messed up in them. My family’s not just gonna give up, so I have to watch out for that.”

You’re STILL trying to handle this yourself? She must have felt my heavy eye-rolling, as she turned back to me. Giving her the flattest, most unimpressed look I could, I spoke slowly and calmly. “That choice has already been made for you, dummy. I told all of Gull Gulf, loudly and publicly I might add, that any business they have with you goes through me. Your business is your business, but any Griffon tries anything with you, or tries to take you anywhere you don’t wanna go, then they’ll have a former Raider queen in their way. This arrangement we have, our little act? It goes both ways. You keep the Raiders off me while I pretend that’s not what I want, and I do the same for you and Griffons. The only Griffons you have to deal with are the ones YOU decide to. End of story.”

Some, not all, but some, of the tension visibly drained from her, and she lay back down with her eyes still on me. “You know, that sounds pretty good. Thanks.”
I scooted closer and softly knocked my head against hers, before laying down beside her. “Any time. Oh, but one thing…”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

It was joke time again. “I bet the Raiders figure out our scam before the Griffons do. Y’know, ‘cause I can actually sell it.” I nudged her in the ribs. “Unlike some people.” I stressed that last part.

Puffing up her cheeks in mock outrage, she literally didn’t take my words lying down, instead flopping over and putting her weight on my belly. “Are you kidding? Your Raiders are morons. There’s no way you don’t get found out first!”

Not bothering to push her off, despite the ache she forced on my stomach, I went for one last jibe. “Well then, you must really suck at acting then, huh, Giggle-?”

“WINGS!”

“SNOW!”

We both looked up to see two Pegasi, two Earth ponies, a Zebra, and a Unicorn charging towards us.

“Heh, you lucked out on that timing, Wings.” Sliding out from underneath her, I got up and held out a hoof to her.

Her claw wrapped around it without hesitation. “Yeah, I got a break. I’m sure.” She allowed herself to be pulled to her paws.

I ignored her snarking, instead trotting towards our charging friends. “Hey guys, I found-”

Five of the six, one of them surprisingly being Undertow, completely ignored me. They all shot right past and dogpiled the Griffon. “...Wings. Okay then.”

Pinned on all sides by rapidly chattering comrades, Wings’ head whipped back and forth, doing her best to keep up with five conversations.

Stepping back to let them have their moment, I was soon joined by Schwarzwald. The Earth mare was uncharacteristically quiet, seemingly content to watch the others.

I wasn’t. “Everything cool?”

The mercenary mare didn’t turn her head. “By that you mean…?”

“McCoy’s dead. Eitom and Wicker won’t be happy about that. Where are they?” I punctuated my question by pointing towards the old, grey corpse of the late leader of the Monsters.

She followed my hoof. “Ah, then yes. Everything is cool, dahling. We fought off the other Griffons. The grey-on-grey one…”

“Eitom.”

“Yes, him. He was cursing so energetically as they flew. He even managed to make dear Breeze look uncomfortable.” She’d stopped looking at McCoy’s corpse almost immediately. Dead bodies didn’t offer much in the way of entertainment. She was far more engrossed with the ongoing hug-swarm that Wings found herself at the centre of.

The two of us watched in silence for a few more seconds, before she spoke again. “Do you see her eyes, dahling?”

The griffon was all smiles now, oblivious to my stare. While she and the others talked animatedly, I had plenty of time to look at the blue fire. “Sure, what about them?”

Schwarzwald was already moving past me to join the embrace, but she turned her head back for a moment. The corner of her mouth was curled up, hidden from the others. “I have been watching over her for a long time, Snowflake, and I have never seen those eyes shine as brightly as they do now.”

Without another word, she stalked forward and bulldozed her way straight to the Griffon. Wrapping her hooves around Wings’ neck, she proceeded to forcefully and aggressively ignore all semblance of personal space.

The others just laughed harder.

~~~~~~

“So the stallion asks me ‘So where do you stand?’, and I had to pause.”

Looks were exchanged. Undertow voiced what seemed to be the group consensus. “I don’t get it.”

Panning across vacuous expressions, the griffon remained unswayed. “Aw, really? Psh, whatever, guys, I’m hilarious. Okay, so there’s this dragon…”

I tuned her out, happy to see her smiling again. Besides, she’s still got Bosco and Undertow for an audience. Neither pony had strayed far from Wings after being reunited. Undertow acted like Wings might take off again if she didn’t watch her, and Bosco had been sporting an unshakeable grin ever since we’d set off. The good feeling was infectious. I walked between Schwarzwald and Cassie, with Breeze gliding just overhead and talking with Naiara. Mostly about Cept.

Cassie, Schwarzwald and I would exchange a few words every now and then, but for the most part were happy to walk in comfortable silence.

Still, there were matters to address, especially considering our destination. I raised my voice to ensure that all seven of them could hear me. “So, uh, guys. Any ideas on exactly how we’re gonna get inside Neighlway? Steel Rangers don’t exactly give guided tours.”

“Don’t worry,” Bosco spun around and began trotting backwards, still sporting his loveable grin. “I’ve got some ideas about that.” He paused for a moment, looking off into the distance. “By the time we reach Neighlway, there’ll be four days left on our timeline.”

I nodded knowingly, but soon stopped as nobody else was. Confusion had taken the place of good feelings.

“Neighlway is our destination?” Cassie’s expression was no longer friendly.

Breeze landed beside Naiara. “What timeline, Bosco?”

He didn’t stop smiling. “The timeline those fog bastards gave us. One week to find the next… we forgot to tell you guys that part, didn’t we?”

“Who’s ‘we’?” I suddenly found myself skewered by a pair of jade eyes. “Wait, you knew about this too, and didn’t tell us?”

Shifting uneasily, I passed the bit. My hoof sprang up and pointed at Wings. “It’s all her fault. She distracted me by running off and making me go chase after her!”

Wings puffed up like I’d slapped her grandmother. “What?! Oh heck no, Snow. If you think-”

Over the sound of Schwarzwald’s raucous laughter, Bosco pushed onwards. His smile was back too. “Alright, alright. Let it go, all of you. Yeah, the fog creatures told us where my last Orb is, and they said we had a week to go get it, or else we’d end up stuck in another forest, or something along those lines. Now, as I was saying before being rudely interrupted, I have a plan for that.” A sheepish blink followed his words. “Well, part of a plan. The start anyway. I’m pretty sure that I can get us in. After that, we’ll wing it.”

“So we’re, um, we’re still going to the tin pony factory, despite our only reason to go coming from the things that trapped us in the forest, which was also them?” The unsubtle scepticism was in no way lost on any of us.

Except, apparently, Bosco. Guy just went right on beaming. “That’s exactly right.”

His brick-wall enthusiasm still managed to worm its way past our concerns. Somehow. “As soon as I get my last Orb, everything’ll be back on track. We can take down Latvi, or Peanut, or whoever. Just gotta get through these next few days, which should be easy, ‘cause of my plan.”

Murmuring to herself, Undertow spoke up. “You just said that your plan was not complete, Bosco.”

Draping a hoof over her shoulders, Bosco bounced up and down a little. “We’ve still got time, ‘tow. I’ll be all set when we get there. Don’t worry about a thing. We get my Orb, and we get out. No heroics.”

A small smile eased across her lips, but didn’t fully break free. “Are you sure, Bosco? After what happened at Whitepony and Whinniepeg…”

Nodding vigorously, he energetically met all our gazes. “Totally sure. We can handle this one last thing from these pricks.”

My sister was clearly buoyed by his confidence, and agreed almost immediately. “Very well, I’m with you. Just try not to do too much.”

Brushing her off with a lazily-waved hoof, Bosco still refused to be anything but exuberant. “Yeah, yeah, I know. We got this. Now c’mon, we’re still hours from Neighlway. Gonna run circles around those Steel Rangers, and take my Orb right out from under them!”

~~~~~~

“Shouldn’t they have called in by now?” Stood in a small crater not far from Neighlway, Naiara had been pacing for the past 10 minutes. Our three fliers had been doing an aerial recon for the past half-hour. “I knew I should have gone with them. No offense to you guys, but I’m the best scout we have.”

“Can’t fly though.” Bosco’s response was light and joking, but his checking of the communicators had become more frequent in recent minutes too.

Laying a hoof on his shoulder, Undertow leaned in to the colt. “Stay calm, Bosco. If things were really bad, we would hear gunfire. Just trust in Wings for a little while longer. She will not let you down.”

Finally, for the first time since Wings had come back to us, his mask cracked a little. Smile hanging on by a hair, his big grey eyes searched hers through her goggles. “We might not get another chance at this, Undertow. We lucked into the first Orb, and the fog came to us with the second, and they were working their own angle when they did. I only have their word that the last Memory Orb’s here.”

The Deep Diver didn’t blink. “We will find it, Bosco, even if we have to tear Neighlway apart to do so.” Giving him a quick squeeze, she hardened her expression. “However, don’t ignore what the fog creatures are capable of. You did not fare well in their captivity last time, you might not-”

She cut herself off, her head turning slightly towards the rest of us. “You cannot let your desire to get your Memory Orb back blind you to the danger these enemies present.”

Naiara had stopped pacing, and had been watching the two. “You never told us what it was like, Bosco, when they had you.”

The charcoal colt went still for a moment, just long enough for his smile to come back. “I’m fine.”

Undertow caught my eye, and Naiara and Schwarzwald exchanged a look too. The latter’s look was not so much worried as inquisitive. She checked her communicator, then the skies, before answering. “That is not what she asked, dahling.”

Smile starting to look like rictus, Bosco disengaged himself from Undertow’s hoof, taking a step back. “Guys, I promise I’m okay.”

“No you’re not.” Naiara stepped forward. “It’s getting louder again, isn’t it?”

He retreated the same distance. “N-no.”

What’s she talking about? “Bosco?”

“I said I’m fine, Snow! Don’t start with me!” Pupils shrunk and hackles raised, the words flew from him in a spittle-y rush.

We all jumped as Schwarzwald’s communicator crackled to life. “In that case, allow me to interrupt.”

“For fuck’s sake, Amber, stop doing that!” I yelled into the mic, clambering over Schwarzwald to do so.

The leader of the Bernstein Conclave’s voice did not give the impression of patience. “While I might otherwise have been happy to exchange pleasantries with you, Red Ice, I am afraid that now is not the time. I need all eight of you to come to Lethbridle, immediately.”

“No no no, not now! You cannot be asking this right now!” Bosco’s unease had given rise to rage. His hooves were shaking as he growled at the disembodied voice.

“I am afraid that I am, Bosco. The situation-”

Bosco’s hooves slammed over his ears, and his eyes squeezed shut. “I DON’T CARE WHAT THE SITUATION IS! Neighlway is there, I can see it! IT’S RIGHT THERE! I won’t just leave when we’re so close!”

Nobody spoke for several seconds. Undertow and Naiara rushed to Bosco’s side, trying to comfort the colt. I looked at Schwarzwald, whose eyes were cycling between the me, Bosco, and the communicator.

Amber broke the silence. “You must, Bosco. I understand that you have other concerns, but this cannot wait.”

“Neither can this.” He shot back quietly, glaring at the ground. “What exactly is so damn important that you want to drag me away from this?”

“...because if you do not come, all of you, Lethbridle will fall.”

I sucked in a long breath. What have you done, Amber?

Another voice joined the debate through the airwaves. “Amber, this is Wings. What do you mean? What’s happening in Lethbridle?”

“Latvi’s Raiders are moving on the city, and they’ll breach the north gate within a day. I require Blue Fire, Red Ice, and the rest of you to defend the city.”

“Latvi’s attacking Lethbridle?” I exclaimed, disbelieving. No way he’s brave enough for that!

“Wait, Amber-dear,” Schwarzwald cut in, “how do you know he will use the north gate?” The mercenary’s eyes were dancing with anticipation.

Amber didn’t hesitate. “They will use the north gate because my associates will have made preparations for them to enter the city, and Latvi will not consider it an attack.”

Everybody, except Bosco, immediately voiced their disapproval. Schwarzwald, Naiara, Undertow, and I were all yelling at Amber, and were soon joined digitally by Wings and the twins.

“The hell were you thinking?”

“You’re letting Raiders into Lethbridle?”

“What is the matter with you, bitch?”

“You’re insane!”

Eventually, Schwarzwald managed to quiet us, then spoke in a suspiciously airy tone into the mic. “Amber...dahling, this is not like you at all. Explain yourself.”

“Latvi and I have an arrangement in place for Lethbridle. He has promised me full use of all four Raider encampments around the region; Whinniepeg, the Barnstormer lands, the Woodpecker village, and the Deep Diver’s Soft Swell Lake!”

“MY lake!” Undertow corrected grumpily.

“Regardless, in exchange for those locations, I will give him a way into Lethbridle. He intends to take it for his own.”

“That’s not yours to promise, Bernstein.” Wings’ voice strained against the wind, obvious even through the speaker. You’re really moving to get back here, aren’t you?

“Do not presume that I am unaware of the particulars of any deal that I make, Wings. I do not overextend. The only reason that I am contacting you is that Latvi has moved up his action against Lethbridle to today, rather than a week from now. All my preparations would have been in place then. He has moved up the timetable, I might add, because of the death of McCoy, leader of the Monsters. I do believe you all had something to do with that, did you not?”

“You’re not gonna pin this on us, Amber. Don’t even try.” You don’t have cause to blame us for this. Hell, you still owe half of us favours!

“I am not looking to assign blame, Red Ice. This is business, not personal. I am aware of the risks, and have entered into this arrangement with a plan in mind. This plan will save Lethbridle, however due to the schedule moving up without warning, I have had to call on your services earlier than I anticipated. Latvi cannot be allowed to dictate the pace here. If nothing else, you must agree that my stewardship of Lethbridle is a more agreeable option.”

Wings slammed down into the centre of our group, soon joined by the twins. All but Bosco jumped. The griffon’s chest was heaving, but her Blue Fire eyes were sharp. “Amber, we’re on our way. We’ll defend Lethbridle against the Raiders, but that doesn’t mean we accept your outcome either. You will pay for this.”

The Bernstein leader was not unsettled by Wings’ threats. “Excellent. Make sure to arrive by the south gate. My people will collect you all there. I was ensure that Red Ice is not troubled by the guards.”

Grr, I’m never gonna get away from that, am I?

Bosco stood up jerkily. “Good luck with that, you guys. I’m staying right here.”

For the first time in the conversation, Amber was nonplussed. “I asked for all eight of you. You are all needed.”

“Yeah?” Bosco shot back, contempt lacing his words. “Well, I’ve got my own schedule to keep, and it doesn’t work with yours. Tell me Amber, how long would we be staying in Lethbridle?”

“...Two days, perhaps slightly longer.”

It was probably a good thing that Amber couldn’t see the condescension radiating from the colt. “Uh huh, thought so. Well, let me tell you about MY schedule.”

“Bosco…” Undertow warned, “perhaps revealing this is not-”

“AMBER,” he silenced Undertow, “I have four days to find my way into, AND under, Neighlway, plus do whatever is needed of me while there. From here to Lethbridle is one full day’s travel. Another for the return trip. And now you want two days or more of my time that I simply don’t have, and don’t want to give you. No deal.”

“Two hours.”

We waited for her to continue. She didn’t. Rolling his eyes, Bosco started walking out of the crater. “Yeah, Amber. Two hours. Whatever you say.”

I again marvelled at her ability to be smug, even miles away. “Your return trip will not take a day. It will take two hours. I have a sky carriage that you can use which will make the trip from Lethbridle to Neighlway in two hours, if one of your fliers is willing to pull it. If you agree to help me, you may keep it.”

He stopped halfway up the crater, but didn’t turn around. We all watched his hunched back. Over what seemed like a thousand years, his shoulder muscles relaxed. Tilting his head enough for us to see the corner of his lips, but not his eyes, he spoke with certainty.

“I’ll help, but this is the last time. I don’t care who it is, or what the problem is, if anybody tries to stop me from coming back here after this, I’ll put a bullet between their eyes.”

My heart went out to him, and the others seemed to feel the same way.

It’s not fair on you. There was no other way to describe it. It’s just not fair.

~~~~~~

“Oh no, this is much better. No, why would we ever need to stay at Neighlway with our limited time when we can trek all the way back here and wait in the fucking snow?” Kicking his hooves, Bosco send up a fine spray of loose precipitation.

“We can’t exactly control the weather, Bosco.” Breeze snapped back, wings fluttering tersely. It had been a long trip from Neighlway. Bosco had been mostly silent, but when he did speak it was never positive. We all felt for the guy, but nerves were fraying all round with the complete negativity he’d been espousing.
I’d held my tongue thus far, but even I was reaching my limit. I get it, you jac-no, don’t think like that. He’s right to feel this way.

I just wish he’d do it quietly.

He didn’t, though. “Oh, I’m sorry, Breeze, I forgot that pegasi stopped doing that two centuries ago. I guess if I wanted to be warm, or even average, I should have stayed at Neighlway by myself. Sure, you guys promised to help me get in and get my Orb, but I should have said something, huh? OH WAIT!” He was bellowing at the end, and it seemed like at least half of our group was gearing up for a full on screaming match.

Undertow defused it at the last second, stepping between Bosco and Breeze, and speaking in low, calm...er tones. “Please, everyone. The decision was made. It is what it is. Let us just finish our business here quickly, and collect our sky carriage. That should be fun, yes?”

Breeze and Bosco simultaneously “tch”’d and turned their heads away, but didn’t resume the argument. Good going, Undertow. You’re really starting to open up with these guys. My heart swelled at the sight of her holding court like that.

“At least there’s no line.” Wings muttered, stalking towards the gate. That was a first. Every other time we’d been to Lethbridle, there had been dozens of ponies trying to get in.

“Maybe they don’t wanna risk the trip if a storm’s coming?” I could only guess, as this was the first sign of a possible winter coming down from the mountains that I’d seen while travelling. Hell, I was in a Stable until a few weeks ago, I don’t even know if the Wasteland still even has seasons.

“Or perhaps they’ve heard about who else is coming to Lethbridle.” If nothing else, Cassie knew when to pick her moments for maximum impact. We all snapped back to some semblance of focus. Satisfied, she hammered on the gate. “Hello? Is anypony there? Hello?”

The gate rumbled open within moments, revealing a looming figure inside. Chief Rockhaunch stalked out of the shadows, glowering at each one of us between his horns. He lingered longer on me than the others. “Not a pony, but I have been waiting for you, and I’m not particularly happy about that. Get inside, now!”

“It’s good to see you, Chief.” I tried, but he just grunted and ignored me.

Giving up, I let him lead us into a small room off the gate tunnel. Once we were all inside, he closed the door and locked it, then leaned against the frame for good measure. The room itself was very sparse, with just a small table in the centre. On the table was a speaker.

“I thank you all for coming so quickly.” Amber’s businessmare tone emerged from the speaker not two seconds after Rockhaunch had sealed us in. “Especially you, Bosco. I assure you that I will provide any resources that I am able-”

“Just get on with it!” He snarled, leaning his grey hooves on the table. “We’re wasting time.”

Amber’s tone didn’t change. “Of course. The reason that I asked you all here is that, due to Latvi advancing the timetable, Chief Rockhaunch’s guards, along with my private security force, have not yet finished evacuating the city’s inhabitants. The Raiders will soon entire the north gate, and make their way into the city. We are confident that they can be contained in the northern quarter until we are ready to move to the next stage, but have decided to provide a very VISIBLE deterrent to keep them from advancing further.”

“What do you mean ‘visible deterrent’?” Naiara was flanking Bosco, along with Undertow. Her restless eyes darted around the room.

“She means Blue Fire.” The Chief intoned, heaving himself off the doorframe. “We put her front and centre with our forces, helping with the evacuation, maybe taking a few potshots at the Raiders if they get close. It’ll put the citizen’s minds at ease to know their hero is on the job.”

All eyes went to the griffon. We watched as she squared her jaw and grimaced. Her frown was directed first at Rockhaunch, and then at the speaker in the table. She closed her eyes and let her plumage fluff slightly. All present waited, in silence, for her answer.

Amber, not being present, did not. “I should stress that it will not be only Wings who is to be our symbol here. In fact, it will require the services of six of you; Chief Rockhaunch, Wings, Bosco, Naiara, Aqua Breeze and…” Her voice morphed into a noticeable growl as she spoke the final name. “...Cassiopeia Venatici.”

“But why us? We’re not-” Breeze began, but was cut off by a half-whispered, half-grumbled addendum from Amber.

“And her whip.” Even at that barely audible level, the venom present was clear.
I glanced over at Schwarzwald and Cassie. Schwarzwald was smiling to herself, and Cassie was intentionally looking the other way.

Breeze blinked twice, waiting a few seconds before trying again. “Why us, Bernstein? We’re not heroes.”

“No,” Amber replied, once again the unflappable businessmare, “you are not. You are, however, very useful symbols in your own right. An earth pony, salt of this land, fighting to defend his brethren. But he is not alone. The Raider threat is not just dangerous to your average Wastelander. The brave Wastelander Earth stallion is joined not only with Chief Rockhaunch’s buffalo, but also with a heroic Griffon, a noble Zebra bucking the trend of the past two hundred years, and even a pair of Pegasi from on high, unable to ignore the pain of their ground-bound cousins. All of these separate, yet united peoples, coming together to face a grave threat. Quite the picture, is it not?”

Naiara’s hooves shot out and clapped against the wall. “This is the same shit you pulled when I first met you! You just want to parade me out there as a ‘noble savage’!”

“I want a capable warrior to defend this city. The rest is secondary.”

Schwarzwald rapped her horseshoe on the speaker. “In that case, Amber, why are we not all going? We are all of us battle-hardened.”

Rockhaunch spoke up first. “I’m not letting Red Ice out in public. We’ll have enough trouble as it is, and she’ll just incite panic.” The big buffalo’s brow lowered as he focused on Undertow. “The former leader of the Deep Diver Raiders is no better. The two of you will be going straight to Bernstein. That’s the only good you can do here.” He pointed a massive hoof at Schwarzwald. “You’re going with ‘em. I actually would have you out front with the others, but Bernstein’s specifically requested you.”

“Yeah I’ll bet she did.” I murmured under my breath. Be less obvious, Amber.

“Snowflake, Undertow, and Schwarzwald will assist me in making preparations for the next phase of our plan, which will come into force tomorrow.” From the frosty atmosphere, it was clear that neither Amber nor the Chief had any great affection for each other. Rockhaunch’ll do everything he can to shut you down if you go too far, Amber. You can call yourself Lethbridle’s “steward” all you want, but it’s really his city in the end.

A faint sound of thunder eased under the door. We all looked at Rockhaunch, who gave a stoic nod. “You five are with me. Red Ice, get yourself to Bernstein. That’s an order.”

...and it’s under attack. “Be safe, you guys.” I got solemn nods in response.
As we gathered our gear, one sullen colt’s voice piped up. “Can I just repeat how fucking ‘glad’ I am that we left Neighlway?”

~~~~~~

Who lets Raiders into a major city by choice? I mean, seriously?? I tugged at my armour, trying to draw little bit more warmth out of it to combat the chill in the air. Snow was falling in the city itself, and the appeal quickly diminished. It wasn’t heavy, but melted as soon as it touched flesh, leaving cold, wet spots.

The sounds of battle had grown obvious ever since we’d reached Lethbridle’s northern quarter, so Rockhaunch had slowed us to a crawl. We checked every alley before moving forward, and did our best to watch every angle at once. It was slow, annoying work.

At least it stops Bosco’s bitching for a little while. I knew the stallion was justifiably annoyed about having to once-again delay his goal of getting his stuff back, but his petulance was grating on everybody. As I watched, he trudged forward just behind Rockhaunch, giving only the barest attention to his surroundings. Mostly he kept his head down, loading and unloading his pistol.

Not gonna cut it if we get caught up in a full battle. I poked his shoulder gently with a talon. “I know you’re pissed, but get over it.” I hissed quietly. “We need you to focus here. I don’t wanna see you get shot just because your head’s not in the fight. You get me, kid?”

“I know why we’re here, Wings.” He responded, surly.

“I’m serious, Bosco. I don’t want to lose you because of this. If you’re not gonna be careful, I’ll send you back to Snow right now.” I laid my claw over his pistol firmly.

He tugged it free on the third attempt, and brushed his mane out of his eyes. “Alright, fine. I get it. I’ll handle this.”

My claw curled into a fist. “Just so we’re clear. Stay safe, Bosco.”

“Yeah, sure.” He sulked, but at least his head came up a little, and his eyes watched our surroundings more.

“We’re almost there.” Rochhaunch held up a huge cloven hoof, halting us in our tracks. He flattened his oak-furred body against a wall, just shy of the building’s corner edge, and we all crammed in behind him. His eye swivelled back. “Which of you is quiet?”

“That’d be me, Chief.” Naiara’s striped hoof shot up from within our scrum. “I’m your scout.”

He nodded. “Good enough. Go recon the situation. Find out where my guards are.”
Flashing a confident smile, she disengaged from the wall, slunk past us, and slipped around the corner.

When she was gone, Rockhaunch shifted enough to talk to Cassie, the next in line. “Is she any good?”

Looking him square in the eyes, Cassie’s response sent a shiver through my feathers. “If she wanted to, she could kill us all in our sleep.”

“Cass!” Breeze chided from behind her. “Come on! I mean it’s true, but you don’t have to say it like that. Naiara’s our friend.”

Pursing her lips, Cassie blew out some air but didn’t respond.

Grunting as he checked the straps of his oversized battle saddle, Rockhaunch didn’t sound put off. “Good for us, then.”

He “ghk”d as Naiara’s head suddenly appeared from around the corner. “This way, hurry! There are a LOT of Raiders.”

Cinching himself up, Chief Rockhaunch grabbed the mouthbit. “Alright, lead the way.”

Without another word, Naiara turned and sped off, with us following in hot pursuit. It only took a few minutes to reach the battle, and we skidded to a halt a dozen metres behind the barriers that Lethbridle’s defenders had hastily thrown up in the street. The Raiders were taking potshots from positions a hundred metres further down the road.

Rockhaunch continued on until he reached the barricades. “REPORT!” He bellowed at nobody in particular.

Without looking away from the battle, one of the Unicorn guards spoke up. “Glad you’re here, Chief. These crazies are spread all through the quarter. We’re holding them at bay for now, but I don’t know how long we can last.”

He turned to a Bernstein soldier with a grenade launcher. “And the blockades. Are we ready yet?”

I exchanged glances with the others. What blockades?

The Bernstein pony loosed two explosives down the street, the explosions being joined by screams. “All squads are calling in. Should be ready in ten minutes, give or take.”

A bullet panged off the barrier, so we all ducked down. Rockhaunch hefted his battle saddle and let loose with a full volley. The return fire cut off for a few seconds. He hunkered down behind the wall again. “Okay. Ten minutes. We can do that. We’ll hold them here until our teams are in place. But you tell me the second they’re good to go, alright? The very second!”

“Yes, sir!”

The hefty hoof pointed upwards. “The zebra and you three fliers. Head back around the corner, then airlift the girl up to the roof. Zebra…”

“My name is Naiara.”

“Whatever. Naiara, when you’re on the roof, call out patterns and strays, and watch for any Raider trying to pull something. You three fliers stay up high, out of their range. Take your shots when you can, and see if you can drive them out into the open. Colt, you’re with us down here.”

“Why is Naiara going with them instead of fighting down here?”

“Because she’s not a gun-user, or so Bernstein tells me, so I’m sending her where she can be of some use.”

We all waited for him to continue, and he just looked at us expectantly.
“Roof! That’s an order!” He bellowed.

“Oh, right. Uh...yes sir?” The four of us took of running back the way we came. I glanced over my shoulder to see Bosco start popping off shots with the other guards. Once we rounded the corner, we all took a hold of some Naiara. As one, wings beating together, we lifted her up to the roof.

“Not an ounce of fat on you, is there? You’re really light.”

“Well, I can’t eat as much as you hollow-boners.”

Breeze couldn’t help herself. “Boners.” She snerked.

We all giggled the rest of the way to the roof. After dropping Naiara off, I looked to the twins. The three of us nodded at each other, before simultaneously shooting up into the sky. At a hundred metres up, we took stock of the situation.

Cassie’s sharp eyes gave her the best image of the fighting. She spun in a full circle, chill wind whipping her red and black mane around her face. “I see four separate flashpoints. Rockhaunch and Bosco seem to be stalemated, but...Breeze?”

Her sister was scanning the city, and twisting a dial on her greave at the same time. 
“Yeah, sis?”

“We’ll do more good at one of the other skirmishes, but perhaps you could drop a few presents for the Raiders before we move on?”

Instantly, three grenades were in the technophile’s hooves, and a feral grin was on her face. “Coming right up.”

As Breeze rocketed down below, Cassie turned to me. “I’ll keep watch up here, but can you relay the information to Naiara before Breeze gets back?”

I nodded. “On it.”

Dropping into an arcing dive, I zeroed in on Naiara, who had already moved rooftops. The lithe zebra was dancing to avoid sporadic Raider fire while she surveyed the street below. As I got close, I squeezed off three shots with my revolvers, catching one Raider in the stomach, but the other two clanged harmlessly off a Deep Diver in full diving gear. “Hey, Naiara!”

She hopped back from the roof, just as a bullet chipped off some fragments from the edge. “Yeah?”

“Cassie says we’re moving to another street. Keep an eye on things here, and let us know if it starts going wrong. I know Rockhaunch said it’d only be ten minutes, but…”

She understood without my finishing. “Alrighty. Good luck.”

I squeezed her shoulder, just as three explosions sounded within the Raider contingent below, before beating my wings into a steep climb. I met the twins coming down. While Breeze cackled like a madmare at the devastation she had wrought, Cassie motioned for me to follow as they glided past. Folding my wings in, I wheeled round and powered after them.

Cassie pulling up short allowed me to catch up to them. “So what’s the play?” I asked, as she was raising her rifle.

“One moment.” Sighting along the barrel, she pulled the trigger once. Fearful cries went up a moment later.

Damn that’s loud up close. Breeze must’ve gotten used to it, because there’s no way she enjoyed that with those sensitive ears of hers.

Confirming her kill, she lowered the rifle. “With that, the third skirmish should be stable enough to hold out until the ten minutes are up. That just leaves two more. There,” She pointed towards a farther street where muzzle flashes could be seen between buildings. “and there.” A similar scene, but in the opposite direction.

Hmm, probably not enough time to do both one after the other, if we wanna leave ourselves time to get back for whatever Rockhaunch is planning. “You guys wanna take one, and I’ll take the other?”

“You sure about that, Wings?” Breeze looked on with a frown. “Going without backup is risky. Especially now.”

I tested the roll of my barrel chambers. “Don’t see that we have much of a choice, Breeze. We’ve gotta hold out, and we need to do it at two locations. You guys work together better than I would with either of you.”

“Well, yeah, of course we do, but-”

“But,” Cassie interrupted, turning her sniper rifle side on in front of us, “I am not at my best in close range. Each of you will take one of the battles, and I will provide support to you both from higher up. Does that sound more acceptable?”

Breeze and I looked at each other.

“Works for me.”

“Yep, me too.”

“So...break?”

“Break!” The three of us split up. I went in one direction, Breeze another, and Cassie went straight up.

Heading to my fight, I spotted a couple of figures skulking along a rooftop. When I got closer, the mismatched and barely functional barding clued me in to which side they were on. Their attention was on the guards below, and they were dragging a heavy, hoof-cranked turret to the roof’s edge between the two of them.

Nice idea boys, but allow me to provide a counterpoint. Two shots dropped the Raider pair. The first was from my revolver, and punched a neat-ish hole at the base of his skull. The second, coming from a much higher vantage point, drilled the remaining roof Raider into the floor by sheer force, though he was almost certainly dead before he actually finished falling. I landed on the roof itself, checking out the turret. “All set up for me? Oh you shouldn’t have.”

The two dead Raiders had it pointing at the guards below, but I orientated it back towards the throng at the other end of the street. Well, no sense wasting any of OUR bullets. Drawing the attention of all present with a hawkish shriek, I vigorously cranked the turret’s feeder.

The Raiders, having not bothered to erect walls of their own to hide behind, were left scrambling as I rained shot down on them. Many were too slow, and were cut down as they turned to run. The Lethbridle defenders took advantage of the chaos to score some easy kills of their own.

“Thi-i-is i-i-is a-a-aws-s-some!” Chuckling even as the rusty, unstable turret threatened to throw us both off the roof, I continued to crank the feed, all while trying to ignore the shaking in my claws.

Clickclickclick. The light, almost accusatory sound let me know that my fun was at an end. “Aw, no more turret? Bleh. Useless Raider tech. Maintain your weapons, punks!”

“Who the hell is that?” One of the defenders started to aim his weapon my way.

“Whoops! Hold on there, guy! Blue Fire backup, at your service. Also, I just killed the guys who would’ve shredded you like roachmeat!”

His not-too-bright buddy tried to come to his defence. “Why should we trust you? You’re a griffon, like the others working for the Raiders!”

“Maybe because I just killed the guys who would’ve shredded you like roachmeat? Or how about the fact that I’m not doing my griffonly duty to kill you right now? Doesn’t sound like I’ve got a contract to help the Raiders now, does it?”

“Uhhh…” They chorused.

Lethbridle’s finest, everybody. Give ‘em a big round of applause. I rolled my eyes and went back to shooting Raiders.

Luckily, I’d stolen their high ground, so their attempts to de-roof me didn’t amount to much more than a few shallow cuts from the masonry chips that their misses kicked up.

A tense few minutes elapsed before a series of sharp whistles sounded throughout the northern quarter. The reaction of the Lethbridle guards was instantaneous. “EVERYPONY MOVE! WE GOTTA GO!”

Suddenly the defenders’ hardpoint defence turned into a fighting retreat, as they began to fall back, in dribs and drabs, covering each other as they went.

The Raiders wasted no time in coming after them, whooping and shouting threats of rape and murder, but they couldn’t gain much ground thanks to the defenders still having plenty of bullets.

It wasn’t an orderly or perfect retreat by any means. A Lethbridle guard took a bullet in the shoulder, and the Bernstein fighter who stopped to help her ended up getting hit between the eyes. The dead pony fell on the mare, pinning her underneath his lifeless husk. Myself and the other fighters did what we could, but we were too far away, and the Raiders were too close. They swarmed around her as she screamed for help, but there was nothing we could do. Not even a good angle for a mercy kill. Sorry, lady.

“KEEP MOVING!” The same shouter from before, apparently the guy in charge, didn’t let up as we fell back. “WE’RE ALMOST THERE!”

“Almost where?” Not knowing the plan was really putting a damper on my ability to adequately help these guys.

He unslung a bandolier of grenades, pulled every pin with his magic, then tossed the whole thing around the corner. Before the explosion went off, he was already sprinting. “OTHER END OF THE STREET! GOGOGOGOGO!”

A massive fireball blew out from around the corner, with the airwave blowing me back. There were some pained screams from the area, but still more shouts of rage and madness.

Breeze and Cassie swept down around me. “Wings, come on! Move it, they’re setting the charges!”

“What charges?” Nobody told me about this!

“JUST MOVE!” They ordered together.

Heart pounding full tilt now, I soared after them. At the other end of the street, I could see Naiara, Bosco, and Rockhaunch beckoning frantically.

Breeze’s ear twitched. “IT’S COMING! FULL SPEED!”

Then I heard it, a swiftly growing rumble. From just above the buildings a few streets over, a surge of dust and debris shot up. It’s coming right for us!

Putting everything I had into my wingbeats, I powered past just as the collapse blasted through the buildings lining the street on my right. Tumbling in mid air, I saw the cobblestones collapse all along the street, nearly back to the other end. It didn’t stop there either, as  the growing chasm continued through the buildings to my left.

“Little help?” Righting myself was proving slightly problematic, and I was still going pretty fast.

“I got her!”

“Me too!”

Two pairs of hooves, one striped and one grey, wrapped themselves around me as I rolled, holding tight as we landed with a thud against something soft, but firm. The world finally stopped spinning.

A low, bass chuckle sounded from the thing we’d hit. “Still with us, Blue Fire?”

“Chief?” The burly buffalo had halted my mad rush. “What the hell was that?”

“Collapsed the boundaries for that part of the city. Northern quarter’s cut off now. The Raiders can’t get to us. They’re stuck where they are.”

Bosco helped me to my paws, then frowned at the Chief. “Won’t they just leave? They still control the north gate.”

Rockhaunch shook his head. “On the ground maybe. We’ve still got our guys on the top of the wall. If they try to get out again, we’ll have plenty of time to bottleneck them, and really make a dent in their numbers. Some might get away, but not enough.”

Whistling in appreciation, Breeze looked over the dark gap. A few Raiders were glaring impotently, but they had no way across. “So what’s next then?”

“Next we get you guys patched up. More to do tomorrow. The Raiders might be contained for the moment, but I’m told they have that scientist-type, Latvi, leading them. He’ll figure something out eventually.” He cocked his head to the side. “Come with me, I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

We all fell into step behind him as he stalked away. Given the chaos and noise we’d just been suffering, it had grown eerily silent in a hurry. Looking around, I couldn’t see anybody who wasn’t in a Lethbridle or Bernstein uniform, except us.
“Hey, Chief? Where is everyone? I thought Latvi caught you guys off guard by coming early.”

Spitting on the ground, Rockhaunch cleared his throat. “He did. We only managed to get MOST of the northern quarter evacuated before the Raiders showed up. Some idiots wouldn’t leave their homes, and they ended up dying. We’re still working on the other three quarters.”

Cassie flicked her wings at the idea. “Why wouldn’t they leave when you told them to?”

“A little too late to ask that now.” He sighed, but kept walking. “They probably didn’t think the Raiders’d get past the wall. Never happened before, no reason to think they’d do so this time.”

“But you and Amber had your plan-”

“Which had no chance of succeeding if we told everyone in town!” Hoarse anger laced his words. “We couldn’t tell them. We had to hope that they’d trust us. It was supposed to happen next week, not today!”

Bosco drew level with him, and looked him square in the eye. “If you kept to the original schedule, if you had the time, where would you evacuate everypony to?”

Shaking off his frustration, the Chief’s face set in stone. “Wherever they wanted. Some went to Vanchoofer, others made the trek further south, or went to their own little hidey-holes around the region. We couldn’t protect all of them AND keep Lethbridle defended at the same time. A bunch of guards up and quit to escort the ones going to Vanchoofer. Said they didn’t like the way Amber was running things here in town.” He half-laughed, half-cough mirthlessly. “Can’t really blame ‘em.”

“Yeah, I met a few of those guys.” I deadpanned. That one prick almost killed Snow. Lucky none of his buddies saw me pull the trigger.

“And there were still a bunch of civilians that we couldn’t safely get out in time. Those, we’re holding somewhere safe inside the city.”

“Where’s that?” Naiara seemed to have doubts about how safe any part of the city was at present.

Rockhaunch stopped for a moment, rounding on us. He met each of our eyes in turn. “I’m not saying where out here in the open, just in case a few Raiders got past the collapse, but I’m taking you there now. Hopefully you’ll see a little more of how our plan’s gonna work after this.”

~~~~~~

A prim, immaculately dressed maid led us into the ballroom where Amber had gathered all of the city’s leaders, and those of the surrounding factions and settlements. So was that what they call ‘networking’? I always ignored it when people said Roc was doing it, but if it got Amber in charge of the entire city…
Amber herself stood at the other end of the room, on a raised dais next to the gently flowing fountain that Undertow had been in charge of during the masquerade ball. She wasn’t wearing a ballgown this time, however, but rather a brilliant white, conservative business suit. Amber was surrounded by ponies, griffons, and buffalo. Every few seconds, one would approach, whisper in her ear, get a whispered response in return, and scuttle back to the milling cluster. Even as we strolled in, other runners were darting around us on both sides and in both directions, relaying messages to the busy throng.

The maid, a mousy little earth pony, cleared her throat beside us. She had to raise her throat to be heard over the noise of the water and collective voices. “Ma’am? As you requested, I have brought the lady Schwarzwald, along with Red Ice and the Deep Diver leader.”

As she announced us, several of the runners stumbled, while around half of the primary think tank looked up in astonishment. Not in the mood for cowering, I gave them a quick smile. “Yes, I’m Red Ice. Can we move on and get back to work now?”

A painful silence followed, as nobody responded. They didn’t even look at me. Perturbed, I leaned over and whispered to the maid. “Uh… they know about Red Ice, right?”

She, at least, instantly shrunk back. She wasn’t looking at me either, or trying not to, even if she did sneak a glance every second or so. “Th-they d-do, but th-they’re looking at h-her.” She flicked her eyes towards Schwarzwald, before catching my eye and squeaking. “Please don’t kill me!”

What are they looking at her for? I tried to ignore Undertow’s shoulders silently shaking with laughter, and realised that a few whispered exclamations ran through the group, so I caught which ones I could.

“That is Schwarzwald?”

“I thought she was just a joke to scare the new blood!”

“Look at those scars!”

“Why isn’t she fighting down in the city?”

Idly, Schwarzwald basked in the awe, slowly making her way through the crowd with a smile on her face. We followed, Undertow still cracking up, and me red-faced. The one damn time I buy into my own hype! Shut up, Undertow!

Rapping a hoof on the dias, Amber quelled the murmurs. “Thank you, fillies and gentlecolts, but that will be all for the moment. My maid will take you to my assistants, please brief them on anything we haven’t yet covered. I must talk with my guests now.”

Still staring ONLY at Schwarzwald, the gaggle of staff followed the mousy maid out of the room. It was a long, impatient wait until we heard that final click of the lock.

Straightening the hem of her jacket, Amber trotted down from the dias. “Now then, I ext-”

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, BRINGING RAIDERS INTO LETHBRIDLE?!?!?!”

“-tend my thanks for coming so quickly. Please do keep your voice down, Red Ice. This is a place of business, after all. We strive for some semblance of professionalism.” She had the gall to wrinkle her nose at me.

You colossal bitch! My horn lit up.

In the brief pause where I pondered exactly which of her lips I was going to freeze off, Schwarzwald stuck her hoof between us, while keeping her eyes on Amber. “Amber-dahling, explain your arrangement with the Raiders. I thought you dealt with more trustworthy business partners?” There was no accusation in her voice. Like with most tragedies of the Wasteland, she found someway to treat them as a potential joke.

Staring down at us imperiously, the leader of the Bernstein Conclave gave nothing away. “I made my arrangement with Latvi after you two, Schwarzwald and Snowflake, delivered some invaluable information into my hooves.”

“We did?” I looked at Schwarzwald, who shrugged. “Do you mean Whitepony? Undertow was there too, as were Bosco and Naiara.”

She waved a perfectly hooficured appendage. “No, though that information was invaluable, so I thank you for that. What I am speaking of comes from a conversation you two had at Sprinkles Supplies, away from any…watcher.”

At the same time that Schwarzwald stiffened, with the smile crashing off her face, my blood ran cold. I couldn’t risk looking back at Undertow, even though she must have been clueless.

We both spoke together, in a rush.

“Amber, do not say another word.”

“Don’t do it, Bernstein.”

A victorious smile crossed her lips for a brief moment. “Relax, that conversation was between you two alone, and I do not need to repeat it here. Suffice it to say, however, that by hearing what was said, a great many things fell into place about you, Schwarzwald.”

“Me?” A smile was threatening to break through Schwarzwald’s face. The air between the two was electric.

“Yes. I am-”

“-going off topic.” I groused, finally extinguishing my horn’s glow. “The Raider deal. Go.”

There was some twitchiness in Amber’s movements as she broke her gaze away from the older mare. “Very well. Going off the aforementioned information, I approached Latvi about a business venture. If I were to provide him with the city, he would provide me with ownership of all local Raider territories, AND a 30% share of any future memory salvage he might uncover.”

I blinked twice. “We didn’t talk about his magic back then, did we?” Schwarzwald gave no response besides another shrug.

“While it may hurt your obviously plentiful pride, Snowflake, I must inform you that I do have other sources of information besides you two.”

“Excuse me, Bernstein,” Undertow finally joined the conversation, and her tone was not forgiving. “but how exactly did you manage to overhear that conversation? I do not remember you being present, and neither I nor the others have ever mentioned being privy to the discussion between Schwarzwald and my sister.”

That last part was probably aimed at me. Sorry, xilia.

Giving no sign that she was surprised by Undertow’s interruption, Amber angled her head slightly. “An astute observation. No, I was not present. I had no need to be, as steps had already been taken to allow me to track Schwarzwald’s progress on the various roles for which I have hired her.”

“...The communicator. You listened through the communicator.” Schwarzwald grinned for a moment. “That was how you knew about the whip.” And then the smile vanished. “However, I have told you many times that I will not follow your rules, Amber. I work my way. You are not my employer, you are my client. If you do not cease, I will have to remind you of this fact.”

Amber’s stance shifted slightly. “Regrettable, but not unexpected. I did not expect to continue after you discovered my measures. Be sure to have Aqua Breeze remove the bug from all of the other communicators she has built too.”

My jaw dropped slightly. “How the hell did you get your bug into Breeze’s comms too?”

“Software. Once she linked my communicator with hers, I was able to install what I needed to. To answer your question of a few days ago, that is how I was able to determine that you had eight in your group.” She nodded at some terminals along one wall of the ballroom. “Do extend my appreciation of Aqua Breeze’s work to her, won’t you? For the resources she had at her disposal, and despite being a non-unicorn, her work was impressively elegant. Once this is situation is resolved, I would like her to come and work for me.”

Undertow scoffed. “If she doesn’t kill you first for messing with her tech. Like I am contemplating for your gambling of MY lake without my permission.”

Amber’s stare was flat, unimpressed. “I am afraid that those who consider Soft Swell Lake to belong to you are limited to just we here, and perhaps the others in your group. You have been away too long, Undertow of the Deep Divers, and Latvi has made the Raiders unafraid of you.”

Now Undertow’s horn lit up, and the sound of water in the background changed. “Then I will remind them of why that lake is mine.”

My hoof slammed against the ballroom floor, and a quick burst of magic rained turned the water floating above us into snow. “The rest of the deal, Amber! Now.”

Without missing a beat, she complied. “There is not much left to tell, I arranged for Latvi to take the city, and only the city, not the inhabitants, a week from now. Unfortunately, McCoy was murdered these past two days. I assume that since none of the six of your group within earshot of the communicators were the ones who killed him, that it was you and Wings who fought him.”

“Yeah. We came pretty close to dying too, all because you decided to sic Eitom and Wicker on Wings!”

Again, Amber waved her hoof across the rest of the room. “Part of the plan, Snowflake. What I got from them in return for Wings’ location will be of vital importance over the next few days. You shall see in time. It is one of many steps I have taken to mitigate and control this crisis. Even as we speak, other forces are on their way here to combat the Raiders.”

“Then why are we here?”

“To boost Wings’ profile, of course.” Finding a smile again, she looked back to Schwarzwald. “You have done what you could, but I have considerable resources at my disposal. I realise now that this is how I can help you.”

Schwarzwald stepped forward, until they were almost nose-to-nose. “Help me?”

Appearing uncertain for the first time since I had known her, Amber nodded demurely. “Yes. I had intended to win you over to my side eventually, to bring you into my fold. However, after hearing your words, I realise now that this will never happen. Your eyes are always on further horizons. Your concerns are higher than money or business success.”

Amber’s lips pursed slightly, and her front legs tilted forward a fraction, before she caught herself. Returning to an upright position, she gave a slow blink. “I cannot fight beside you with bullets and armour, but I can fight with you, in my own way. When Lethbridle is safe, you will understand. And after you do, I will continue to support you as you achieve your goals. Beyond that…”

“...we will talk.” Schwarzwald finished. Braver than Amber, she leaned forward and licked her cheek. “You should have shown this side of yourself sooner, dahling. I like it.”

The faintest tinge of red graced the Bernstein leader’s cheeks, and she quickly stepped back. “Yes, well, that is for later. I will keep you informed, all eight of you, of our progress. I ask again that you work with me for the sake of the city.”

Well, Schwarzwald’s clearly on board, and she does seem like she could be a big help with Watcher’s Gardens, but I still don’t know...

The snow rose from the floor around us, reverting to water and returning to the fountain. “It appears you are still keeping a lot from me, sister.”

Yep, she’s pissed. Willing as much compassion through her goggles as I could, I made no attempt to lie further. “Yeah, Undertow, I am. Sorry, but I need you to keep it secret that you even know that there IS a secret. It’s important, and not ours to tell. We’re in somebody else’s territory now.” I wasn’t sure she’d appreciate my referencing her Deep Diver laws after learning that she had lost her lake, but I wanted to be clear on the importance. “As soon as I get the okay to tell you, I will. I promise.”

For the longest time, she just looked at me. Then she lifted her goggles just enough for me, and only me, to see her eyes. A mix of emotions ran through them. “I suppose that will have to do for now.”

~~~~~~

Breeze’s hoof slipped out from under her, the gravel debris kicking up onto Naiara, who threw up a hoof to block it, but still ended up spitting and hacking.

Grousing, Breeze pulled herself upright and rubbed her shoulder. She waved off Cassie’s concern. “Friggin’ groundpounders! How far are we gonna be walking, Rockhaunch?”

Kicking aside some more loose material, the burly buffalo nodded at the next left. “Just down here. Before we go, though, take a look around. Gotta make sure the coast is clear. It’s vital that nobody finds this place who we don’t want finding it.”

Still grumbling, Breeze complied. I glanced around at the rooftops, or what was left of them after the street collapse in the northern quarter. We were in the southern quarter now, but not far from the partitions. This place hadn’t escaped damage, like the gravel and debris from the closest buildings going down, but it looked to be mostly contained to the northern quarter. “I can’t see anything. Naiara? Bosco? Cassie?”

“Nope.” The zebra shrugged.

“Nothing.” The colt’s voice still lacked its usual life.

Good thing there’s not any clocks around here. He’d be counting the seconds ‘til we head back to Neighlway. “Cassie?”

“One moment… no.”

“Alright, come on.”

Rounding the corner, we were greeted by a full squad of guards pouring out of nearby buildings. They assembled in front of Chief Rockhaunch, ripping off a simultaneous salute. “SIR!”

Returning the salute, Rockhaunch beckoned one mare over. “Open the hatch, captain. We’re going down. Shut the door after us, and then reinforce the watchponies at the north quarter divide. It’s gonna be a long night.”

“Yes, sir.” She turned to the assembled guards. “Back to work, the Chief’s going under.”

Waving a hoof at us, the captain started walking towards one of the buildings. “This way please.”

We followed her towards the building, but I wasn’t sure what we were seeing. It didn’t look any different from the outside than the rest of the street. It was only when we got inside that I saw what it was that the squad was guarding.

Deep in the building, down a flight of stairs, we came across a hole in the wall. And one in the wall behind that wall. They’d recently been excavated, judging by the rubble and tools stashed in the corner of the room. A pair of guards flanked each hole, and lights flickered further in.

“What happened here?” The others were studying the unearthed secret too. Well, Breeze seemed more interested in the tools and the flickering lights than the masonry.

Rockhaunch padded through the first hole. “Seems that Bernstein got her hooves on the original Lethbridle plans, or what place was here before it was Lethbridle… whatever. Anyway, said she got them from some place called ‘Whitepony’. They showed us how to find this.”

Naiara and Bosco exchanged a glance. “Whitepony? That was us!”

Stopping in his tracks, the Chief about-faced. “You two went to Whitepony for Bernstein?”

Bosco scratched at his neck. “Well, we had Snow, Undertow, and Schwarzwald with us too.”

“More like Schwarzwald was going, and dragged us along, really.” Naiara was trying to appear nonchalant, despite the unblinking stare Rockhaunch was giving them.

He cleared his throat. “I’m guessing this was recently, within the last month or so?”

“Yyyes?”

Breathing in through his nostrils, then slowly blowing the air out past his lips, the Chief turned and started walking again. “Good to know that you are in part responsible for this mess, even if I doubt you really knew what it was you were looking for at the time.”

Nobody really had a response to that, so we just followed in silence. Awkward silence.

Moving past the wall in the second wall, the flickering lights grew and resolved into a heavy steel cover on the floor, five metres wide, with lights popping up intermittently.

I tapped at it with a claw. “This a Stable?”

Rockhaunch shook his massive head. “Not quite. It’s the entrance to Lethbridle’s subterranean levels. Or maybe Lethbridle was built on top of this. Nobody knows, and I don’t really care. We’re not here to see the door.” He waved a hoof at one of the guards standing by. Using his horn, the guard tapped a code into the keypad. Once the code was entered, three beeps emerged.

Nothing happened for several seconds. Breeze, hovering excitedly over the cover, looked up with a frown. “Is it broken?”

“No, it just takes a little while.”

“Seriously? Weak. I want a look at how it works. Bet I could-”

With a hiss of displaced air, the cover began receding back into the walls. 

Immediately the sound of many voices reached our ears. Breeze quickly landed beside her sister.

“This way.” Rockhaunch began descending the ramp under the cover.

“Uh, Chief?” Bosco scampered to keep up with the buffalo. “This really seems like a Stable.”

“It’s not.” The Chief’s tone was final. “Stables are built with the idea of housing people long-term. Down here is just tunnels. There’s nothing down here for food or the like except what we brought down ourselves. Not a Stable.”

“Then who’s talking?” Breeze challenged, looking a little uneasy.

I can relate. Look how low the ceiling is. No room to fly in here.

Rockhaunch kept walking. “That’s one part of the Lethbridle defence plan. I told you that we evacuated the northern quarter, and some folks left. Those down here are the ones who wanted to stay.”

Cassie wrinkled her nose at the grimy walls. “The citizens are living down here?”

“For the moment. Until the threat has passed.”

“There can’t possibly be enough room! This is barbaric.” Cassie’s wings fluttered with her words.

Surprising me with a chuckle, Rockhaunch glanced back over his shoulder at her. “You’d be surprised. There are tunnels and chambers branching off from this one. Hundreds of them. Some even reach further than the wall.” He shrugged his bushy shoulders. “Honestly, we’d have struggled to keep order down here, what with some of my guards deciding they didn’t want to work for OR with Bernstein on this, and leaving the city to escort the civilians to Vanchoofer.”

My claw twitched towards the handle of my revolver. “Yeah, we met a few of them.” Like that prick who put a hole through Snow’s shoulder. All she said was hi!

“You did?” Rockhaunch sounded relieved. “Did they make it safely to Vanchoofer?”

One didn’t. I tried to force myself to keep a neutral expression. I had no idea how well the buffalo Chief could read griffons. “Some of them. There was a Raider attack.”

Taking the news stoically, he closed his eyes for a moment. “I see. That’s unfortunate. Still, we have to hope for the best until I can spare the guards to go find out for sure. As I said, we’re short on bodies here.” He looked back down the tunnel. “We got really lucky with some help. They’ve got the same computers on their wrists that Red Ice had the first time I met her.” He fixed Bosco with a glare. “When you were getting into trouble with that ghoul in the shopping district.”

Ignoring that last part, Bosco was wide-eyed. “You’ve got ponies here with Pipbucks?”

Rockhaunch tapped his forehead. “Right, that was what they were called. No, we don’t have any ponies with ‘Pipbucks’.”

“But you just said-”

“They’re buffalo.”

My eyes went wide too. No way we got this lucky. Flapping my wings, I jumped up and grabbed Rockhaunch by the horn, narrowly ahead of Bosco and Naiara, who also crowded in. “Chief, this is important. These buffalo, are they bulls or cows?”

I hung fast to his horn, even when he tried to shake me off. “They’re bulls, now let go of my head.”

Naiara tugged on the other horn. “How many were there?”

“Let go I said! And there’s two of them!” He pulled back and jerked, dislodging Naiara. My wings allowed me to keep hold. “They’re down in the tunnels. They can keep a whole map of the place on those computers, and a bunch of other stuff besides. We’ve been relying on them to keep the peace while we’re fighting up top.”

He ground at the floor with his hoof. “Normally we wouldn’t have to rely on outsiders for this, but with everything happening before we were ready…”

Bosco bounced up in front of the Chief, waving a hoof to break him out of his reverie. “Chief, those two buffalo you mentioned.Can we talk with them?”

He didn’t immediately answer, as he was too busy staring at Naiara and Bosco’s identical huge, goofy smiles.

“It would be convenient to work through them for… whatever it is we’ll do next as part of the defence effort.” Cassie wasn’t sharing in the thrill, but she helped in her own, proper way.

“...Alright, I’ll take you to them now.”

YYYESSS!! Utterly failing to stop the growth of my own dumb smile, I eagerly followed after the Lethbridle Chief. She’s gonna be so happy!

~~~~~~

Undertow’s cute little squeak betrayed her surprise as we surveyed the jagged collapse running along the northern quarter boundary.

Schwarzwald and I shared a look of appreciation. “Pretty brave, to break Lethbridle just to stop the Raiders.”

She kicked a pebble down into the hole, listening to it clatter as it fell. “If I knew the information at Whitepony was so valuable, I would have asked for more caps.” She tapped a hoof against her chin thoughtfully. “Or perhaps certain favours from dear Amber.”

“Hell, she owes me some favours alre-and those aren’t the kind of favours you’re talking about, are they?”

“You are learning, mistress.” The playfulness that she’d sported when we first met, diminished slightly since revealing her connection to Watcher, was back in full force. You really love that Amber one-upped your perception of her, don’t you?

A growl from Undertow snapped me out of my reverie. “We have company.”

Across the divide, a trio of Raiders were approaching the other side. One had a club, but the other two were unslinging guns.

“Come.” Schwarzwald turned away from the edge. “They will not get target practice from us.”

Tugging my hood further down, in the hope that none of the trio would recognise me or Undertow, we followed suit. “Right. Still things to do for ‘dear Amber’, after all.”

Retreating around the corner, the suddenly outraged cries of the Raiders followed us for a little while. Ignoring it, I scanned what was left of the town’s infrastructure.

“We cannot guarantee that there affected areas will be empty. Please join the search teams to find any stragglers.” Real easy to say when you’re sat in your tower, Bernstein. We’re down here doing the grunt work.

She better not think I’ll take orders from her in the future.

Skirting around a patch of glass, the shattered remains of the shattered remains of a chasm-side building, Undertow took a deep breath. “I hope that Buff and Lo were not caught up in this. We still don’t know where they are.”

“Don’t even think like that.” I had to be careful not to over-balance her as I bumped her reassuringly. “Lo’s a kidder, but he knows how to keep himself out of trouble. Buff won’t put him in a situation where they might be in danger.” 
Memories of Buff’s face in the Stable medical bay had my lips curling upwards. “He’s the responsible one. They’re triplets, but he’s always been the ‘oldest’.”

“But is he old enough?”

I could hear the innuendo in the mercenary mare’s question. “You can just go ahead and consider all of my brothers, AND my little sister…” Undertow nickered at my side. “... too young for you. Forever.”

“Spoilsport.”

“That’s exactly what I am, now keep your eyes out for any poor dumb saps who thought it was a good idea to stay out here while the ground fell out from under them. We get them back to safety, you can go nuts on them.”

“Ooh!”

“Oh, grow up!” I focused back on Undertow. “As I was saying, Buff’s the responsible one. He always helped me to look after Al and Lo.”

My smile slipped slightly. I hope it wasn’t too hard for you when I disappeared, Buff. You could look after them by yourself, right? I didn’t want to go, honestly I didn’t.

I snuffled the thought away. “Al’s in the middle, and he can get really intense about things sometimes. Lo’s the youngest, and loves to play tricks and have fun. You’ll like all of them, I promise.”

Levitating some rubble away from a doorway, Undertow peered inside. Facing away from me, her voice echoed back from the empty building. “Will… will they like me?”

“What? Psh. Course they will. They’ll be thrilled to have another sister, especially one as cute as you.” I caught the hint of a blush in her cheeks as I said this.

It soon deepened as Schwarzwald’s chuckle came from across the street. “You are very adorable, dahling.”
“I-I don’t want to just be cute!” Undertow protested. “I want to help my brothers!”

Tittering into our hooves, Schwarzwald and I enjoyed the sight of Undertow’s pouting.

It was short-lived, however, as a voice growled out of the ‘empty’ building that Undertow had been looking into. “Who’s there?”

“EEP”-ing, Undertow scampered behind Schwarzwald and I, her with weapons ready and me with horn aglow. We all watched as a misshapen, gnarled, hideous thing plodded out of the building’s dark interior.

My heart instantly dropped a few beats-per-minute. “Hello again, Inbox.”

Blinking his one useable eye, then vigorously rubbing it, the ghoul seemed as surprised as I was. “Stable pony? Is that you?” He ground his haggard hoof into the socket again. “I don’t see too well anymore.”

Schwarzwald wound her gatling down. “You two have met before, dahling?”

My mind flashed back to the time before the last time I’d come across him. Him and his sister… me and Undertow… four hours! Shuddering and blushing, also pointedly not looking at Undertow, I nodded. “He’s a thief who tried to rob me when I first came to Lethbridle. We’ve met a few times.”

If he was offended or regretful of his actions, Inbox didn’t show it. He just shrugged. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore, Stable pony. From what I hear, you’ve got much more important things to worry about.” He waved a malformed limb around at the devastation. “We all do.”

Undertow stepped out from behind me. “Do you not fear the Raiders? They will kill you if they find you.”

He turned a glossy eye towards her. “Ah, the little hick. I suppose you want your ‘diving lights’ back?” He spat on the ground. “You can have them, if you find your way to my shack. I’ve got no use for them anymore.”

Regarding him warily, Undertow leaned back slightly. “No use for them? You stole them from my lake, miles away from here, and now you just give them up? Why?”
Inbox didn’t answer, didn’t do anything except stare blankly ahead, not even at us. After a few seconds, he snapped out of it. “What? What’d you say?”

Oh. Now, I remembered the last conversation between the ghoul and I. “We lose all that we were, and the radiation swallows us whole, turning us into monsters that only care about killing others.” “It’s happening, isn’t it?”

Emotion finally crept into his eye. Glimmers of sadness, despair even, and fear swirled around the iris. “I… yeah. I get flashes, tugging. Space out for a few seconds. I think actually LOOKING for my sister might have been the only thing keeping me right. After I got her back, there was nothing keeping me here.”

“Is… is there anything we can do?” Nothing else seemed appropriate. What do you say to a guy who’s disappearing into his own head?

Taking a step back into the house, Inbox shook his head. “No. Just stay away from me. Next time, I might not be able to control myself.” He stopped suddenly, head rising. “Oh, right! I suppose you already know about what’s happening, right?”
We nodded, so he continued. “There’s something else going on, too. Nobody’s talking about it, except those Bernstein guys.”

“Bernstein?” Schwarzwald was suddenly VERY interested. “What do you mean?”

He kicked a nearby crate over, revealing it to be empty. “Not sure, but even before all this started, probably for about a week or two now, those Bernstein guys have been buying up everything; food, clothing, fuel, guns ‘n’ ammo, everything. Hell, the markets haven’t even been open for days now because everypony’s been cleaned out.”

“Amber already ensures that her employees are provided for, she would not need all this for them.” Schwarzwald’s expression flickered back and forth between excited and contemplative. “She has something else in play.”

Undertow had been poking her head around in the crate, but withdrew it to fix Inbox with a hard stare. “How do you know this? You said that only the Bernsteins talked of it.”

A wheezing, raspy chuckle escaped his uneven lip. “Nobody cares if an old ‘vagrant’ ghoul is around, little hick. I hear a lot of stuff… or at least I used to.”

Well, that’s probably not good. What are you up to now, Amber? “Umm... thanks, Inbox. This helps, and you didn’t have to tell us because we’re… well, we’re not exactly friends.”

Laughing that sad laugh again, he took another step back so that he was halfway through the busted doorway. “Who else am I gonna tell now, those Raiders that are around? Fuck ‘em. I’ll talk to you until I can’t talk anymore, and then I’ll… I’ll…” He trailed off into nothing.

After several seconds, I motioned for us all to go. Inbox gave no sign that this registered. He continued to stand there, halfway in the dark, doing and looking at nothing, as we walked away.

At the end of the street, I thought I might have heard a “-nks, Stable pony”, but when I looked back, the doorway was empty.

Hurrying to catch up to the others, my mind was cooking at this new information. I drew level with Schwarzwald, who was positively bouncing. “Could you love this a little less? We don’t know that what Amber’s planning is going to be good for us.”

“But it will be interesting, mistress. Dear Amber is doing so well!”

“Try not to be too jealous, sister. You won’t be mistress for much longer.” The undercurrent of humour lacing Undertow’s words made me stumble.

“Ooh, you just wait, little sister. Wait until your brothers here about your teasing.”

She gasped. “Don’t tell them!”

“WHO’S THERE?” A colt charged out of a derelict storefront, slamming straight into me.

Grunting as I hit the lightly snow-dusted ground, I felt my hood slip down and away from my face. “Get offa me!” I kicked out at the scrawny pony, who scrambled off me.

Springing to his hooves, he levitated a bent crowbar before him in a weak green glow. “This is my patch, I called it. Go look for stuff somewhere else, or else!”

An aquamarine haze seized the crowbar, stilling it in the air. Confused, the colt tugged at it with his magic, but it didn’t move an inch.

Speaking in a low growl, Undertow pulled no punches. “There is nothing here to find, fool. Didn’t the guards tell you to get to safety?”

The colt didn’t give up his futile struggle. “They’re not the boss of me, and you aren’t neither. Leggo my crowbar!”

Dusting myself off, I regarded the stupidity. “You won’t get it away from her, kid. She’s way better than you. It’s her crowbar now. Run along to wherever the guards told you to go already. We’re busy.”

“Fuck you, I do what I… I…” He trailed off, looking past us in terror.

Turning around, we spotted why. Three Raiders were standing there, looking stunned.

One recovered faster than the others, and took off back the way they’d come, screaming “RED ICE IS HERE! RED ICE IS HERE!”

The other two simply decided to attack, whipping out rusty shotguns and charging.
Schwarzwald wasted no time. She opened up with her full battle saddle, and the two Raiders went down in seconds. “Unfortunate. Now Latvi will know that we are here.”

“Y-y-you’re Red Ice?”

Ah, shit. Rubbing at my temple tiredly, I turned back to the now-cowering colt. His magic was entirely gone from the crowbar, which Undertow was holding aloft. “Yes, I’m Red Ice. And I really, really wish you hadn’t been here for this.”

Undertow dropped the crowbar, letting it clatter to the ground. “Snowflake…” She cautioned.

“If he blabs about this, word could spread that Blue Fire and Red Ice are working together. People still think I’m leading the Raiders. If the truth comes out, they won’t trust Wings anymore. Any chance we had of turning her into a hero is gone.”

“But he is just a child.” She had a point. The colt was barely her age, if that. Just some punk kid who was looking to get himself a few things to sell for caps. Still, as I looked at his shifty eyes, looking all over for a way out, I remembered something Inbox had once told me.

“If you want to be sorry for anything, Stable pony, be sorry because you were late.” The ghoul I’d killed had been too far gone to help by the time I came along. This time, I might be able to help the situation right now...

I’m not gonna let him jeopardise this for Wings, Undertow. “Schwarzwald, take Undertow and go on ahead. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“As you wish, dahling.” Gently but firmly, the mare directed Undertow away. I tried not to look, knowing that I wouldn’t like my sister’s expression.

I waited until they rounded the corner. “She was right, you know? You are just a child.”

Faint hope grew in him, and he tried to stand up.

Until my ice spear ran through his heart. “Just a child who ran afoul of a Raider… because he went out looting instead of keeping himself safe.” Why couldn’t you have just gone with the guards? Stupid, stupid colt!

Dragging his body back into the store he’d been poking around in was hard, heavy, deadweight work. It was perfect for forcing a person to think about why they had to do it, to really drive that home. I can’t be late this time. Either the Raiders get you, kid, or the Windigos get us all.

...worth it.

After stashing the body as far into the store as I could, I hurried to catch up with Schwarzwald and Undertow.

I pulled level, but neither said anything for several seconds. Undertow broke the silence, but in a way that sent ice into my heart too.

“This habit of keeping secrets is getting expensive, Lady Ice… and your eyes are glowing again.”

~~~~~~

Moving through the tunnels, we passed one guard… then two guards and three civilians… then a dozen ponies crowded around a makeshift table. It was just an overturned crate, but they were still using it to choke down some plain looking fare. None looked up as we passed. The noise generated by the multitude of voices grew louder with every step we took.

Finally, Rockhaunch reached a corner with flickering shadows playing across it. “We don’t have the room for any funny business down here, not with this many citizens. Keep your weapons holstered. Do not endanger any of my city’s denizens, understand?”

Shifting from one hoof to the other, Breeze tch’d. “You took us down here, Chief. We didn’t ask to be here.”

“But you’re here now, and I’m telling you the rules. This place has to remain a secret to the Raiders, and not starting a fight down here helps with that, girl.” The big buffalo showed no interest in Breeze’s discomfort. “Be on your best behaviour.”

“Can we just meet the two buffalo already?” I was running my talons through my feathers over and over. They have to be the brothers! Now where are they?

Without another word, Rockhaunch turned and stalked around the corner. We followed, with Naiara and Cassie flanking Breeze. Once around the corner, the source of the shadows became apparent.

Barrel fires lit up a spacious chamber stretching hundreds of metres back. Almost every inch of it, save for a few thin walkways, was packed with tired looking ponies, along with the occasional buffalo.

The citizens of Lethbridle seemed to be split along age lines. The adults were miserable, or scared, or frustrated. Some made token attempts to maintain a semblance of normal life; knitting with magic, or washing clothes, or cooking over the dirty barrel fires.

The foals, on the other hoof, seemed to be treating it as some great adventure. They raced along the walkways, and squeezed in between the groupings of older ponies, laughing all the while. Rockhaunch didn’t flinch as they scampered around and under him, giggling. The five of us stepped aside as best as we could with our limited space, but they hardly paid us any attention.

Until, that is, one giggling filly skidded to a stop a few hooflengths behind Breeze. Eyes widening, the little one turned around and trotted back to the pegasus.

Breeze leaned away. “W-what?”

With fearlessness born of foalhood, the filly reached up and poked at Breeze’s wing. “How come you got wings? Was your daddy a griffon?”

Mouth half-open, Breeze could only look at the rest of us. She was totally lost on how to respond.

The filly pressed on. “Was it your mommy? Did she kiss a griffon? My mommy says some griffons and ponies kiss each other. Was that what happened? Did a griffon and a pony kiss and make you?”

Cassie’s shoulders were shaking, and she had to hide her mirth behind coughs. The rest of us weren’t any less amused.

Trapped, Breeze squared her shoulders and tried her best to explain pony genetics to the tyke. “Um, no. I don’t have a griffon mommy or daddy. I just… I’m not… I just have wings.” She finished lamely.

The filly’s friends had come back and were listening to. One grubby colt tilted his head sideways. “How come?”

“I just do.”

“Why?”

“Because!”

“Because why?”

“Because I said so!”

“...Why?”

Wings flaring out, Breeze stomped a hoof. “Listen here, you little-”

“BREEZE!” Cassie snapped sharply. The sniper gave her sister an eyeful of warning.

“They started it!”

“I don’t care who started it. Watch your language around the children!” Breeze shrank down as Cassie lectured her. Venatici turned her attention to the foals. “And you all. Didn’t your parents tell you not to bother strangers?”

Instantly, the kids melted into sulky innocence, twisting hoof points in the dirt. “...just wanted to see the pretty wings.” The filly mumbled, not meeting Cassie’s gaze.

Still looking stern, Cassie stood to full height. “Well, perhaps if you ask the lady nicely, she’ll show you her pretty wings.”

Shuffling into a line, the assembled foals chorused at Breeze in their most adorable, obviously practiced voices. “Show us your wings please, pretty lady?”

That did it. Bosco, Naiara and I lost it. Hooting with laughter, we had to step away to where Rockhaunch was waiting. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Breeze glowering at us, face flushed.

With no help coming from Cassie, who just watched her expectantly, Breeze gave up. Turning side on, she unfurled one with and waved it back and forth for the foals. Said foals immediately grabbed at the new distraction, examining it every which way, while the wing’s owner stood statue still in frustration.

Cassie allowed the children to “ooh” and “aah” over her sister’s feathers for a minute or so, before shooing them away with her own wings. “Alright, little ones. That’s enough. We have to go now. Be good and go back to your parents now.”

“Aw!”

“Just a little longer!”

“No fair!”

“Will you come back and play later?”

Already walking away, Cassie called back over her shoulder. “If there is time. Goodbye now.”

“BYE BYE PRETTY LADIES!” Shrieked the foals, at hyper volume.

Cassie didn’t look back, but instead smirked at the technophile pony’s blushing helplessness. “They think you’re pretty.”

Breeze looked away. “They should mind their own business.”

“Just take the compliment and move on.” Naiara whispered. “They didn’t call my stripes pretty.”

Blanching, Breeze gently shoved her away. “I’d just rather not draw attention to the fact that we’re pegasi, OR that you’re a zebra, while we’re stuck underground and can’t get away.”

“Don’t worry,” A cheerful voice interjected. “they’ll find something to distract them soon enough. I just gave ‘em a ball. Should hold ‘em for a few hours. By then they’ll have forgotten all about you.”

All five of us turned to the new arrival, a cienna-furred buffalo with a bright smile, and a Pipbuck on his wrist.

My eyes widened. Wow, he really does look just like Al.

Chief Rockhaunch finally cracked a smile. “You’re Lo, right? How are things going down here? Is Buff around?”

Lo returned the smile with a wide grin of his own. “Hey, Chief. Yeah, we’re doing fine. Buff’s just off doing inventory. A few of your guards dropped off the last of the supplies from outside. He’s updating the records. Wasn’t really a two-bison job, so I’m on break.”

Nodding, the Chief’s hoof came up to indicate us. “Good timing then, got these five here on special business. Said they wanted to meet you and your brother.”

Lo’s smile faded almost instantly, replaced with fear. “Meet us? Who wants to find us?

Well, this is as good a time as any. Slinking past Rockhaunch, I stopped in front of Lo. Doing my best to appear open and non-threatening, I spoke in measured tones. “Hi, Lo. My name is Wings, that’s Bosco over there, the zebra is Naiara, and the twins are Breeze and Cassie. We’re… friends of your sister.”

“Eh, well-” Breeze began, before Naiara kicked her in the shin.

Stars burst into Lo’s eyes. “You know Snow? Is she okay? Where is she? Is she okay?”

“You said that already.” Bosco laid a calming hoof on the vibrating buffalo. “She’s okay. She’s here, in the city. We’re working with her, and we’ll meet up soon.”

“She’s here?” A copy of Lo stepped up next to him. Buff’s demeanour very much more composed than Lo. “Why is she here? It’s not safe in Lethbridle right now.”

Lo looked like he was going to burst into tears. Naiara quickly moved to calm his fears. “Don’t worry. We know all about what’s happening. There are two others with her, also friends. They won’t let her get into trouble.”

’Trouble’ being a very ambiguous term for Snow. Still, we found her brothers! She’ll love that. “She’s okay. Really.”

Lo did have tears in his eyes now. He was almost sobbing at his brother. “Buff, we did it. We… we found her! She’s okay!”

Buff was trying hard, but there was a definite glimmer in his eyes too. “Yeah. We’ll go to her just as soon as we can. We just gotta finish up here first.”

Aghast, Lo’s jaw dropped. “What? You want to wait here?”

“Just until things are under control here. We’re the only two with Pipbucks. They need our help. Wouldn’t Snow say the same?”

Breeze opened her mouth again, but I silenced her with a hiss. “Don’t you fucking dare.” I hope to hell that they didn’t hear that.

Lo relented, but looked anything but happy about it. “Yeah, I guess she would. I just don’t wanna wait a second longer. We need to get Snow, then find Al and the Overmare.”

Cassie spoke up before any of us could stop her. “Why are you not with your other brother...Al, wasn’t it? The way Snowflake talks about you three, we didn’t expect you to separate.”

Both brothers suddenly looked very uncomfortable. Buff spoke first. “After Roc, a griffon from our Stable, won the Overseer election, he exiled the four of us: Myself, Al, Lo, and the former Overmare. The three of us were only interested in finding Snowflake, while the Overmare had no real plan. We travelled together at first, coming here to Lethbridle, and then following any leads as to Snowflake’s whereabouts.”

“Uh huh.” Exchanging glances with Bosco, Naiara, and the twins, I was suddenly less enthusiastic about talking to Snow’s brothers. “‘Any’ leads?”

Buff made a noncommittal gesture. “I’m afraid that we aren’t familiar enough with Wasteland living to determine which are worth following, and which aren’t.”

That’s probably for the best, right now.

“I know the Overmare’s not worth following.” Lo grumbled.

Naiara looked between the two of them. “Wasn’t she your leader, back in the Stable?”

“Exactly.” Lo groused. “She was the leader back in the Stable, BEFORE she lost the election. Then she was just another Stable dweller, for an hour or so. After we were kicked out, she was just another Wasteland wanderer. Didn’t stop her from acting like she was still Overmare though, even though now she’s just Willow Wisp.” He gnashed his teeth and looked away. “She would’ve been fine if she’d just kept quiet.”

“What do you mean?”

Buff continued for Lo, who still seemed angry. “The Overmare, sorry, Willow Wisp, was quite… vocal in her opinion of the situation after our exile. The situation… and Snowflake.”

The hackles at the back of my plumage rose. “What did she say?”

“Nothing good, unfortunately. I think she decided to lay blame on Snowflake for the whole mess. Even went as far as saying Snowflake was lazy while in the Stable. She was not kind when she spoke of her, and sadly she was not quiet either.”

Cassie’s wings fluttered. “Raiders?”

He shook his head. “No. Plottawans. They ambushed us a few days ago. We two and Al managed to get away, but we were separated from the Overmare. We don’t know where she is now.”

Lo’s head rose again. “I hope she’s okay and all, but she needs to watch what she says. She was getting pretty bad between kicking Snow out and the election, but she just got worse out here. Old Equestria made her a whiner.”

“Lo, please.” Heh, he sounds just like Cassie when she talks to Breeze. “She’s just scared, like us.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s gotta take it out on Snow!” Raising his voice, especially against his brother, came anything but easily to Lo, and he immediately seemed to regret it. “Al’s probably scared too, but I bet he isn’t taking it out on Snow.”

“We lost Al a few days later. Steel Rangers this time.” Buff supplied as an aside, before addressing Lo directly. “Al has his Pipbuck. He’ll get away. He’s tough, just like you. I’m sure he’s fine.”

“He is.” I confirmed.

Both jolted. “You met Al?” They asked together.

Say only what they need to hear. Do not screw this up for Snow. “Yeah. We were with the others, Snow included, and we… came across Al. He’s safe. Snow has a... friend of hers looking after him.”

Instantly, some of the tension drained away. “He’s okay, and he’s found Snow.” Buff was talking to himself, but his relief was clear on his face.

“This is great!” Lo was not so restrained. He was near bellowing. “Al’s okay, and Snow found him! And soon we’ll find Snow too, and we’ll find the Overmare, and all go back to the Stable together!”

“Awkward conversation coming soon.” Breeze snarked under her breath.

Thankfully, Rockhaunch salvaged the situation. He stomped up, and looked the two brothers square in the eyes. “I’m happy for you and all, boys. However, as you’ve already said, you need to finish your work here for now. We don’t have much time, and we need to make sure we’re all ready to go. Back to work.” The Chief rounded on us. “You five have work to do too, I’m sure. Come back when you’re done.”

His tone made it clear that he’d brook no disagreement. Wearing a mix of annoyance and excitement, the two brothers followed the Chief, but Lo kept looking back at us and smiling happily.

No sooner had the three buffalo disappeared into the crowd before a guardpony came puffing up. “Is…” He had to stop to take a deep breath. “Is the Chief gone? They told me he was with you.”

Bosco pointed in the direction that Rockhaunch and the others had gone. “Just missed him. He’s somewhere over there.”

Groaning tiredly, the guard set off, muttering to himself. “Sure, I’ll just track him down in all this. Bernstein’s enforcer bitch is tearing it up with Raiders in the streets, but yeah, I’m sure we’ve got time.”

Schwarz is? Better go help. I ran a claw through the feathers atop my head. “Well, looks like Snow’s group found themselves some entertainment.” I turned and started walking back towards the tunnels exit. “Come on guys, Let’s get some air.”

~~~~~~

“MOVEMOVEMOVE!”

We barely managed to get past the warped and dilapidated storefront before a Raider’s heavy machinery burst through it in a shower of rubble. The Raider stallion in the driver’s seat was cackling up a storm, audible even over the rumble of the massive vehicle.

Whoops and howls soon joined the din as Raiders poured from the new gap into the street, glancing back, I saw a second vehicle emerge from the hole, utterly unworried by the uneven terrain of the wrecked shop. Standing atop it was a familiar pony, one I’d come to greatly dislike.

Bastards must’ve filled in the gap and gone straight over it!

Perhaps feeling my backwards glance, Latvi’s head turned in my direction. The smug scientist grinned viciously as we retreated, and jocularly pointed at my friends and I as we sprinted away from the pursuing Raiders.

Great plan, Amber! I silently groused between intakes of breath. Your ‘trapped’ Raiders got around your tricks in a only a few hours!

And Breeze told us she junked those things! The goliath farming vehicles, from the feral ghoul-infested agricultural facility, had supposedly been disabled by Breeze and the others when they revisited the site to find one of Bosco’s Memory Orbs. 

The fact that the Raiders were running parades of them through Lethbridle’s western quarter raised doubts about the technophile’s claim.

To my left, Schwarzwald spun around as we reached an intersection, opening up with a rattling barrage from her minigun as Undertow and I darted around the corner. She drew level with us a few seconds later.

“Any luck?” I asked as we skirted around more debris.

“No. The armour is too thick for my weaponry. We need to retreat and warn the others.” Her cheek was bleeding from the Raider’s uncoordinated return fire.

“We cannot just run to the quarter-boundary.” On my other side, Undertow weighed in. “Those vehicles will break through in minutes. We need to try to slow them down here, to give us time to mount a better defence.”

All of us were breathing heavily, so it was a moment before Schwarzwald responded. “What is your plan, dahling?”

Horn horn glowed aquamarine for a moment. “We need to block this street,” we all ducked as bullets whizzed past, “...and make them clear it first.”

“How? Nothing we’ve got on us can bring down a building.” I agreed with my sister’s assessment, but didn’t really see a way it could be done.

Undertow’s goggle-covered gaze was darting from one side of the street to the other. She pointed at an upcoming building on our right, a three story cuboid 50 metres away. “There! We can use that.” She glanced past me to the mercenary mare. “You’ll need to give us some cover while we work. Can you hold them back for thirty seconds?”

Revving her minigun in response, Schwarzwald managed a tight smile. “If only to see what you are up to, dear Undertow.”

“On my signal then.”

As we reached the building, Undertow shouted “NOW!”, and leapt inside. I followed closely behind. Schwarzwald ducked into the door, then leaned out with her entire battle saddle-mounted arsenal firing.

The glow from Undertow’s horn lit up the interior walls as she simultaneously emptied all her bottles of water. I hastily conjured a half-metre tall ice wall to cover Schwarzwald. “Undertow, what are we doing here?”

The floating water drilled into the edge where the floor met the wall, sending plaster and wood slivers flying. Soon, the water had spread out to cover the entire length, corner to corner. Undertow jabbed a hoof at me. “Now, sister, ice it!”

Still not following, but you know water better than me. The aquamarine glow was replaced by a glacial one, as the water froze solid. As soon as it turned to ice, the building began to groan and cracks began running up the wall.

Grabbing me, Undertow ran towards Schwarzwald and the door. “Time to go, Schwarzwald! Run now!”

Without a second thought, the mare ceased her assault on the Raiders and leapt over the ice wall I’d created, running past the building in the direction we’d been heading before the detour. As Undertow and I crested the frozen barricade, my heart jumped a little as I saw how close the vehicles were. Latvi’s good mood was in full swing, and he was leaning out into the air as he directed his forces from atop his metal behemoth steed.

“Undertow, the plan?!” I magically twisted the ice barricade to spear a charging Raider in the thigh.

The Raider went down, but the ice liquefied and joined with more coming from inside our affected building. Undertow reformed it all into one massive tentacle. Rearing back, the aquatic appendage swung around and battered the building’s lower floor, gouging great chunks out of the wall. The groaning from the structure rapidly grew to deafening levels.

A set of teeth seized the scruff of my neck and yanked me back painfully. Falling onto my backside, I got to see the entire plan suddenly come to fruition. With one side of the building destabilised, the weight of the whole three stories overbalanced, and it all came crashing down.

Straight into the street, blocking the Raiders’ path. I caught Latvi’s shock morphing into fury just as the entire mess came down between us, cutting them off.
A turquoise hoof reached under my shoulder and helped me to my hooves. “That won’t hold them forever, sister, but maybe we bought ourselves an hour or so.”

“Very impressive, dahling.” Schwarzwald spurred the three of us on at a brisk trot, but not so frantic as the mad dash we were making before. “How did you do it?”

“Kinda wondering that myself. What’d you do?” I tried not to smile at Latvi’s faint, incontinent ranting coming from the other side of the fallen building.

There was some pride in Undertow’s words as she explained. “Water expands when it freezes. I used to see it during the cold seasons back at Soft Swell Lake. If it gets into cracks and then freezes, it weakens the foundations. Eventually it will bring a building down. I sped up the process here, with some help from Snowflake.”

“Happy to lend a horn, little sister.” Are you ever going to stop surprising me?

“We are fortunate that you did what you did, Undertow-dahling.” Schwarzwald shrugged her saddle. “I am out of ammunition.”

“Then let’s get back to the southern quarter and regroup. I can still hear Latvi.” I blew a raspberry, and picked up some more speed.

We made it a half-dozen streets before it all went wrong. I rounded the corner for the road leading to the quarter divide, and ran straight into a wall of flesh. My nose squashed against the obstruction, and I bounced off, stumbling backwards and falling in a heap with Undertow and Schwarzwald.

“WHO’S THERE?!” I yelled out at anybody, already trying to magic up some cold. It wasn’t coming easily after the chase, however. How did they get ahead of us so quickly?

“Sorry, didn’t see you there. Are you…” The voice cut off with a gasp. 
“S...Snow?”

I froze. All other sounds and sensations dropped away. I knew that voice. I’d heard it every day for years. It was a voice I would never not know. “Lo?” I fought to dislodge myself from the pile, and to get a look at the speaker. “Lo, is that you?”

“You’re...you’re...” The voice, which I was now certain belonged to my youngest brother, choked up. “They told us you were here, a-and you are, and…” He was snuffling and losing it now. “And you are!”

Finally managing to fight my way out of the tangle, I scrambled upright. I was eye-to-quivering chin with Lo Doublehorn. Looking up with increasingly tear-clouded eyes, I took in his big loveable face. He looks so young… and a little older. “Are you okay, Lo?”

His buffalo-sized hoof reached up towards me. I seized it almost instantly, and the two of us embraced as tight as we could. “I’m okay, sis. You’re okay. They told me you were here, and I had to… I had to see you for myself.”

’They’ who? I broke the embrace, reluctantly. “Who told you about me, Lo? Was it a guard? One of the Bernsteins?”

Swiping at his eyes with a free hoof, he could only shrug. “I dunno. They were with Chief Rockhaunch, so they might’ve been guards, but I kinda doubt it. I didn’t see any uniforms either. There were five of ‘em. A griffon, zebra, earth colt and two pegasi.”

My heart lightened. You found my brothers for me. “Yeah, I know them. They’re friends of mine. You can trust them.” Well, Cassie and Breeze are kind of a grey area, but I doubt they’d go for you just to get at me. Naiara wouldn’t let them, and I’d kill them if they tried. I reached up and began patting his head and body all over. “Are you sure you’re okay? No injuries or diseases? It’s a little colder and dirtier out here than the Stable.”

He interrupted my examination with another tight hug. “I’m fine, Snow. Everything’s fine now that you’re here.”

Burying my face in his cienna fur, I allowed myself a little chuckle. “My baby brother’s okay.”

CLICK! “Well, that’s a matter of opinion.”

I looked up. Standing on a nearby rooftop was a griffon in insignia-less armour.

He’s pointing his rifle at my brother.

He spoke to all of us without taking his aim away from Lo. “Now, I don’t want any sudden movements from any of you. No horn glows either, unicorns, or else I’ll have to paint this big ol’ target I’m looking at. Now, my employer wants a word with you, Red Ice. You’ll be coming with me.”

He’s pointing his rifle at my brother.

“Lucky break for us that you’re in Lethbridle right now... or is it really just ‘luck’?”

He’s pointing his rifle… AT MY BROTHER!

“Either way, you’re coming along. All of you. Any funny business and I kill the lump.”

That did it. I could feel the purple smoke leaking out of my eyes. “Take it back.” I muttered.

“Something to say, Red Ice?”

“Take. It. Back.” I’ll kill you, bring you back, and do it again.

“How about no? Now get moving.”

“He is not a LUMP! TAKE IT BACK!” Shrieking was too soft a word for the noises I was making.

“Yes, yes, very scrrrrrrrrrrrr-” Spasming, the griffon toppled off the roof and crashed down to the street. Still convulsing from the Shock Lock spear stuck in his armour, he lost his grip on his rifle.

You’re mine! I pounced forward, horn ablaze. First, a ring of ice wrapped around his neck and fixed it to the ground. Then similar shackles trapped his wrists and ankles.

Only then did I pull the electric spear out, slowly and jerkily. I revelled in the jumps and shudders as his overloaded nervous system misfired. “You want Red Ice, Monster? Here I am.”

With my teeth, I gripped his wing and pulled it out to full spread. “Let me show you MY opinion.”

In a burst of arcane energy, I flash froze his wing. “It’s my opinion, that you have too many feathers. Let’s fix that.”

I slammed a hoof down onto the now-brittle quills, eliciting a scream of pain to go along with the crystalline shattering. When I took my hoof away, a hoof-sized hole remained in the frozen spread.

“How’s that?” I taunted. “Are we down to the right number?” I tilted my head pointedly. “No? Well then, here we go again!”

CRUNCH! Another hole. Another scream. “Yeah, you were right. The job wasn’t done yet. In fact,” My hoof glided back and forth at the point where the wing met the shoulder. “I think it might be best to go with a full cutdown.”

I raised the hoof, but a gunshot rang out before I could stomp down. The unnamed Monster gained another hole, this time in the centre of his forehead. Another griffon, her revolver still smoking, touched down next to me.

My hoof lowered deliberately. “I wasn’t done.”

Wings shoved her revolver back into her thigh holster. “Yes you were.”

I rounded on her, teeth gritted. “He was pointing his gun at my brother!”

She didn’t flinch. “And you’re scaring your brother.” Wings pointed a claw at my face. “You can’t keep letting this happen, Snow. Every time I see those weird eyes of yours, it means bad news. Get yourself under control!”

She’s right, even if you don’t want to admit it. Grunting, I squeezed my eyes shut for several long seconds, trying to will myself back to normal. Remember that you found Lo, and he’s okay. Stick with that. After a few more deep breaths, I opened my eyes again. Wings’ sapphire orbs were still watching me. I leaned in closer. “Better?” I whispered.

The smallest corner of her beak curved upwards. “Better. Go talk to your brother. He looks like he’s about to cry. I got the others.”

“Thanks.” I mouthed, before turning back to Lo’s puffy face. Geez, she wasn’t kidding. “Lo, I’m really sorry about that. Some stuff’s happened along the way, but I shouldn’t have done that. I’m really… I’m just sorry. About everything.”

Instantly, a different kind of panic set in for Lo. He stepped forwards, holding out a hoof to me. “No, Snow, come on, I mean, that’s not a big deal. I know that things are different out here, but you’re still my big sister. You never need to apologise for anything.”

My heart swelled at his words. Heh, you… you’re great, Lo. I remember why I love you so much. I grabbed his hoof with mine. “Thanks, Lo. I needed to hear that from you.”

His big brown eyes twinkled. “And that was some ice magic, Snow. You’ve gotten a lot better!”

“Yeah, um, some stuff’s happened… along the way.” I repeated lamely.

“Yo!” Breeze, Cassie, Bosco, and Naiara rounded the corner. “The Raiders are making progress in getting around that fallen building. We gotta move.”

“What’s he doing out here?” Breeze’s wingtip was pointing at Lo accusingly. “I thought Rockhaunch said he had stuff to do back in the shelter?”

“Hmm?” I cocked an eyebrow at the increasingly uncomfortable looking buffalo. “Lo, is there something you’re not telling me?”

“I, uh…”

“Lo,” Big-sister mode was in full swing now. “did you finish all your work before coming out here where, I’ll remind you, there are bad people?”

“...Buff’s got it under control.” He tried, but wilted under everybody’s gaze.

Visibly rolling his eyes, Bosco broke the deadlock. “Seriously guys, Raiders. Let’s go already. Those machines will bust through the blockades to the southern district if we don’t warn everybody.”

I snapped out of it. “Right, right. Yeah.” I tapped Lo’s horn with mine. “Take me to Buff.” I have to make sure I don’t mess it up with Buff like I did with Al and Lo.

~~~~~~

I felt progressively worse, about losing control in front of my family, as we walked back through the Southern Quarter. Undertow and Lo stuck close anyway. She stayed silent while he talked at me. Mostly about how great it was that I was here again, and about what had happened during the two weeks I wasn’t in the Stable before they were exiled. My blood boiled at how the Overmare had refused to tell them anything, and how Roc had used it as an excuse to build up support for himself.

Both of those two have a lot to answer for, if I see them again. Though, I guess I’m hardly blameless either.

What really hurt during the walk, though, was how Lo would just stop talking every time I looked at him. He’d break off mid-sentence, probably waiting for me to explode again. Only when I gave a smile or a nod did he resume his stories.

My own brother was afraid of me. Lo, who had never had reason to fear anything or anyone before I found that Memory Orb. Even guys in the Stable such as Roc, who didn’t particularly like me, wouldn’t be able to break Lo’s cheer. Everybody in the Stable was at ease around him, and he around them.

And he’s scared. Great job, Red Ice.

Still, I made an effort to try to show that he shouldn’t be. I kept the conversation light, and avoided topics like the Raiders. I really did want to know what he’d been through out here in the Wasteland, and that he hadn’t been negatively affected by it.

At least I can take solace in the fact he never came across any feral ghouls.

I shuddered at the thought of those walking corpses menacing my boys. Lo noticed the involuntary motion, and broke off again. “You okay, Snow?” He blew a little snow dust out of my mane, and looked at the gently falling precipitation. “I guess it is getting colder, huh? We should hurry and get inside while there’s still some time left to find Buff before bed.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see him.” My last brother was going to get the right reception from me. No flipping out or glowing eyes. Just a big, warm hug from his big sister. He deserved nothing less, and a lot more besides.

The others perked up as we approached a guarded location, picking up the pace and walking past Undertow, Schwarzwald, and I. “Um… is this the place?”

Lo nodded excitedly. “Yeah, it’s a shelter underground. A lotta tunnels and big chambers. Kinda like a Stable. You’ll feel more at home here.”

Heh… a Stable… ‘at home’. Right.

The guards stopped us all at the first barrier. Lo tried to get past them by showing them his Pipbuck, for some reason, but they stood firm. It soon became clear why.
Stomping out from the dark interior was a very pissed-off guard Chief. Seeing Lo, Rockhaunch got right in his face. It was quite something to see just how much he outmassed Lo, despite them both being buffalo. “What the hell were you thinking, boy? You just up and leave all these civilians with just your brother to keep everything in order? That gadget on your leg isn’t a toy! We need that to keep track of everything!”

Lo leaned back slightly, a guilty half-smile half-grimace on his face. “I know, but-”

Snorting out of his nostrils, the Chief cut him off. “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT! You had a job to do, and you walked out in the middle of it. Buff’s been running himself ragged down there. Get back in there right now and give him a break!”

“Y-yessir! Sorry sir!” With a round of “sorrysorrysorry”, he rushed into the dark hole in the building.

“Hey!” Wings shouted after him.

Undertow called out at the same time. “L-Lo!”

But he didn’t answer. He was already inside and out of earshot. Well, that’s just perfect. I was already conflicted about what had happened, and now I’d lost track of one brother again before I found the other. I glowered at the buffalo I wasn’t related to. “Chief, you are not helping.”

“I could say the same to you. The Raiders are all riled up again, and are into the western quarter now.” He gave me a flat, unimpressed look. “Weren’t you just there?”

“Indeed they were.” A cultured voice answered. As was made clear by Schwarzwald’s growing smile, Amber Bernstein had arrived. She was flanked by a small group of bodyguards and retainers, all sporting the Bernstein colours. Amber herself wore a thick shawl elegantly around her shoulders. Evidently she had noticed the light snow too.

“Hmph. Finally come down from your ivory tower?” Rockhaunch groused.

His irritation didn’t seem to phase her. “Indeed. I have received reports that the Raiders seem content to sit still in the northern and western quarters this evening, at least for the moment. I suspect they will resume their offensive early tomorrow morning. Latvi is not being reckless.”

“Yeah? Well, neither are we. I’ve got guards and spotters working in shifts to make sure they don’t go off your script and attack tonight.” A big, oaken hoof slammed against a nearby wall. “Though we’ve only got tonight at best. If they attack en-masse with those heavy vehicles, our barricades won’t hold. We might delay them for a few hours, and my sharpshooters know to go for the drivers, but they’ll break through eventually.”

Nodding in agreement, Amber motioned in the direction of the northern quarter. “True, but I have other news which may aid in… delaying the enemy. I have contacted some reinforcements, who are on their way here now. They should tip the scales back in our favour.”

“More Bernstein fighters?” I glanced at her bodyguards, who didn’t bother to look back at me.

“Not quite. Still, they are well trained. It will make quite the difference, I am sure.”

Breeze, for one, wasn’t placated. “Not a lot to go on there, Bernstein.”

She gave a noncommittal shrug. “Apologies, but there are some things that I must keep secret.”

Breeze dug out her communicator and waved it meaningfully. “Must be nice.”

“You will be compensated for that, above the promised caps. I do intend to discuss the matter further with you, and possible future cooperation.” She gathered her shawl closer around her. “For now, however, I would advise you all to get your rest while you may. Tomorrow will be another busy day. I bid you all a good night.”

Departing as swiftly as they arrived, the Bernstein entourage disappeared back into the dark streets. Bosco watched them go with utterly unconcealed frustration. “Tomorrow’s all she’s getting out of me. After that, I need to head for Neighlway. Whatever’s gonna happen, it all happens in the morning.”

“Try not to skip out on us too early, kid.” Rockhaunch’s tone wasn’t accusing anymore. Now he just sounded tired. He looked it too, on closer inspection. His eyes were red and baggy. He beckoned us all inside. “Let’s get you out of the open. The guards can handle things out here for tonight. We can get you some food and somewhere to get your heads down for a little while.”

Naiara perked up. “Food?”

Cassie did too. “Sleep?”

Wings didn’t stand on ceremony, and was already walking inside. “Sounds good to me.”

We all followed. I stayed near the back with Undertow. I leaned in to her as we walked. “I’m sorry for not saying anything to Lo. I want to do this with Buff and Lo together, if that’s okay with you?”

She seemed to consider that for a few moments, before nodding. “We can let them finish their work first.”

I bumped her appreciatively. “Atta girl. Take a little while to think about what you’re gonna say. I’ll be right there with you, but they’re gonna need to hear from their little sister too. I can’t just tell them to love you, even though they will anyway.”

Colouring nicely, she giggled softly. “Alright.”

Once we were taken into the underground dwelling, and I was done marvelling at how they managed to fit all this under Lethbridle in the first place, Undertow split off with the others to get some food.

I went to find a quiet place to gather myself.

Keeping my head down, I weaved through the crowds of civilians clutching their possessions closely. I had no idea where I was going here, but one of the side tunnels was a better bet for some quiet. Leaving the larger chamber behind, I turned three corners before finally finding myself alone in a stretch of tunnel. Slumping against the wall, I quietly addressed the air. “Take your time finishing your work, boys…” Not that I don’t want to see you. I want nothing more.
But will you still want to see me? How much do you know?

After ten minutes of silent zoning out, I tapped my hooves against my forehead. “Hokay, what are they gonna want to know first? Straight into Red Ice and Blue Fire? Al? Undertow? Wanna know where I got these scars?”

“Let’s start with you telling us you’re okay.” Two shadows fell upon me.

Startled, I slipped and half-fell down the wall. Catching myself just before I sprawled onto the grimy floor, I hauled myself upright and launched at my brother. “Buff!”

A cienna hoof wrapped itself around me and held tight. I felt Buff’s cheek pressing against mine. It was wet. “I missed you so much, Snowflake.”

My own tears were soaking into his fur. “I know. Me too, everyday.”

Lo joined the hug from the other side. “We looked for you for so long, sis.” His voice caught in his throat over and over, barely able to choke even that much out. “We…we tried to look for blue dots on the Pipbuck, but…”

Kissing their cheeks over and over, I refused to let go. “I’m so, so sorry. For everything that you’ve been through because of me.”

“Don’t say that.” Lo begged.

“It’s not your fault.” Buff confirmed. “You didn’t choose to leave the Stable, and you certainly didn’t throw us out.”

“Why did they do it?” Lifting my head out of their fur, I looked at each of them for answers. “What did the Overmare and Roc mean to do by having us leave? Did they tell either of you?”

Both shook their heads. “No, they never did. I half-expected Roc might have gloated a little while he was exiling us.”

Lo interrupted with a half-laugh. “I mean, he did, but not about that. Just about all these ‘grand plans’ he had after becoming Overseer.”

“...what a jackhole.” I muttered, half to myself.

Still holding his hoof around me, Buff squeezed my shoulder. “As soon as we get to Al, we can all go and find the Overmare together. She can answer for what she did to you to all of us.”

Yeah, I suppose we’ll need to find her after this, won’t we? I’ll go ahead and put that right at the bottom of my ‘to do’ list.

Excited, Lo joined in, his carefree smile returning. “And then we can go and get answers from Roc back at the Stable. All four of us! Maybe five if the Overmare comes back too. Well, I guess she’s a former Overmare now.”

The beginnings of a heavy weight began to settle in my stomach. “Yeah, about that…”

Despite his generally calm demeanour, Buff was feeding off Lo’s enthusiasm. “Oh, we know. The Lethbridle situation comes first. We’re not happy about leaving Al by himself, but this is important.” He smiled at me. “That griffon friend of yours told us that he was safe. She said that you had him staying with a friend in a safe place.”

Wings did? “Uhh… what else did she tell you?”

“Just that, and that you were here in the city. The others with her didn’t say much.”

Phew. Thanks, Wings. That’s perfect. The weight hadn’t gone away, but hadn’t yet increased either.

Lo had disengaged from the hug, and was strolling back and forth across the tunnel width. “Gotta say, Snow, you have a lot of friends out here. You’re pretty popular out here.”

“Ahaha… yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck. Almost every one of them has tried to kill me.

“Roc won’t have any choice except to allow them to visit us back at the Stable. Not after we get back. He’ll be forced to reveal what he’s done.” Though Buff’s voice was steady, his grip on my shoulder steeled for a moment.

“Easy, Buff.” I cautioned. “Don’t let Roc turn you into something you’re not.”

“I know, sis. It’s just… you were alone. We couldn’t get to you. Nobody could. We never wanted that for you.”

“C’mere.” I leaned back into the hug, while beckoning for Lo. “You too.” When our little brother returned to the embrace, I put on my best reassuring, sister-voice. “I’m okay. You two are okay. Al’s okay. It was scary, but we all pulled through. This place isn’t just the Old Equestria they taught us about in the Stable. It’s good and bad...” Like the Stable. Good for you guys, bad for me. “...and there are good and bad people out here. It is what we make of it.”

“That may be.” Buff answered adroitly. “However, I’ll sleep easier when we get back to the Stable. That’s our home.”

And that was the moment that I realised what the weight in my stomach was. Shit.

I gave no outward sign, or didn’t intentionally give a sign at least. I just stayed in the hug, enjoying the simple pleasure of having my two brothers safe and sound with me. We’re missing Al, but we’ll go find him soon enough. And also one more…

“Boys, wait here. There’s someone you need to meet.”

~~~~~~

I felt Undertow shrink back behind me as we stepped back in front of my brothers, in the secluded tunnel.

That’s fine. We’ll ease into it.

Taking a deep breath, I began. “Boys, I…” And immediately stopped again, as I realised I had no idea how exactly I was going to explain this. “Um…”

Blinking in unison, the two looked at each other, then back at us. They didn’t say anything, opting to wait us out instead.

I guess I should start with the good points? “Um… oh! Boys, why don’t you, uh… tell me what you think about all this?”

Brows furrowing, Buff stared back. “What we think about all what, Snowflake?”

I pointed at them, their Pipbucks, and at myself. “About leaving the Stable. About the Wasteland, about…” About what I’ve done. “...about my leaving the Stable.”

Now looking slightly worried, Buff and Lo exchanged another glance. Lo looked away, while Buff cleared his throat.

Good start.

“Um,” Buff began hesitantly. “it hasn’t been easy. Sorry, but it hasn’t. Your leaving was tough on all three of us, and we wanted you to come home. We weren’t ready, not for you to leave, and not for us to have to leave after you.”

My chin dropped slightly. “Neither was I.”

“It wasn’t all bad, though.” Lo managed a smile. “We met some good people too. There was this cranky old doctor in the town at the bottom of the mountain, he told us that you’d been through. Told us to go to Lethbridle.”

“Facemask.” I smiled back. “I’ll have to thank him for his help, the next time I see him.”

I can work with this. “You know, he’s not the only one I’ve had help from.”

Nodding enthusiastically, Lo’s smile got wider. “Yeah, I mean, you were kinda scary in the street, but that was some impressive magic you were showing, Snow. Who taught you how to do that?”

Showtime. Breaking into a grin, both inside and out, I turned my head to the silent filly behind me. “Come on, say hello.”

Hesitating at first, Undertow eventually snaked her way around to my side, but stopped with her nose a new inches behind mine. A tentative hoof wave was given, as she looked up at the two buffalo. “H-hello.” Her watery voice was quiet and unsure.

Giving her a break, I fixed the two of them with an intense stare. “I held off on doing this when I found Al, and was wrong to do so. The moment I get you boys back to him, I’ll tell him too. For now, I’ll tell you two.”

I stepped to the side, ignoring the panicked “Eep!” from my sister, and gave a flourishing introduction. “Boys, this is Undertow…”

Lo grinned at her, and Buff gave a nod. “A pleasure to m-”

“...our sister.”

“-eet your what?” Buff brained Lo with his horn as his head swung around.

Undertow’s hooves shot up to her mouth as the two staggered around.

It would’ve been funny in other circumstances.

Lo recovered first. Still rubbing his head, he turned his big round eyes to me. “What do you mean, Snow? You’re our sister!”

“I know this is a lot to take in out of the blue.” Stopping for a moment to give Undertow a reassuring nudge, I pressed on. “But it’s really no different than what happened between you three and me. We were always brothers and sister, and Undertow has always been our sister. We just didn’t know it yet.”

Smiling, albeit weakly, Undertow looked at each in turn. “Hi, big brothers.”

As Lo gaped back, Buff stayed rock still. His eyes were bouncing between the three of us in turn, before finally settling on me. “Snow, I… how? It’s only been weeks! And besides, she’s not from the Stable.”

“What does that matter?” I shot back.

Leaning back slightly, Buff’s calm demeanour faltered slightly. “You know what we were taught growing up. The rules of the Stable are pretty clear about Old Equestria-”

“Old Equestria’s dead!” Stamping my hoof while protectively hugging Undertow, my oldest brother was subjected to a harsh, disapproving stare. “It died when the bombs fell. A month after the Stable’s doors closed. I learned this from Facemask, didn’t he tell you too? This is the Wasteland, Buff. It’s a whole different beast. I’m not saying it isn’t without faults, because it’s got a lot of them, but Undertow’s not one of them! She’s been the best part of my life out here!”

I shoved her forwards, so that she and Buff were inches apart. “And are you, Buff of Stable 61, home to many different species besides ponies, that where somebody comes from is a good enough reason to dislike them? To shun them?!” My voice was steadily rising in volume as I chewed out my brother. “Are you going to her that she’s not good enough because she was born outside of the Stable?!”

“No, that’s not what I meant!”

“Then what do you mean, Buff? Lo asked why I got so much better with magic despite spending my entire Stable life barely able to conjure ice cubes. Well, the reason is standing right in front of you!”

Trying her best to sink into the floor, Undertow wilted and blushed simultaneously under all the attention. “I um, I taught sister some of what I know. Our magics resonate, so-”

Lo finally found his voice. “What does that mean, ‘Our magics resonate’?”

Recoiling, Undertow squeaked out an answer. “She… she has ice and I have water. They are connected and…and…” Giving up, she lowered herself to the ground and covered her head with her hooves. “...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any harm.”

“LO!”

Finally seeming to notice the size difference between himself and the cowering filly, Lo all but jumped back. “I-I didn’t mean to scare her. I just don’t know what’s going on right now!”

“Neither do I.” Buff didn’t sound angry, but did still seem perplexed. “Snow, can you explain this a little more, please?”

Taking a deep breath, I hunkered down next to Undertow, and drew her into a tight hug. “Undertow… is our sister. You don’t have to accept it straight away, but I’d like you to think it over. For now, I’ll tell you a little bit of what has happened to me while I’ve been out here. Maybe that’ll help you understand.”

I jerked my head back down the tunnel, towards the exit. “You know there’s a Raider army out in the streets, right? Well, it’s my doing. Or Red Ice’s, whichever you prefer. You two should have heard that name by now, right?”

Neither seemed surprised. “We were waiting for you to bring it up.”

I nodded. Sounds about right. “Well, if you weren’t completely sure before, then I can tell that I’m Red Ice. I had a run in with some Raiders before becoming Red Ice, and I wanted to see whether I could change the way the Wasteland the Raiders coexisted. Reform them. Only, it wasn’t really my idea. Latvi, the guy running the Raider army right now, manipulated me into bringing the Raider tribes together, forming the army. When I brought them all to a meeting, he doublecrossed me. Red Ice has done a lot of bad things, some because of Latvi and some just because of me, but I was brought back from it by the leader of one of the Raider clans: The Deep Divers.”

Stroking Undertow’s mane gently helped me to keep calm as I talked. “Undertow led the Deep Divers. She’s about as far from ‘Raider’ as a filly can get, but she was called one by the rest of the Wasteland. Mostly, she just wanted to be left alone. Not out of malice, but because she’s never been treated kindly. She and I have gone at it a few times, never her fault, but she has always been supporting me and being exactly who she always was: Our sister.”

Leaning in to the now-calmer girl, I whispered in her ear. “Hey, show them. Take the goggles off.” When she gave a nod, and moved to lower her eyewear, my heart swelled. “You guys will love this part.”

With her goggles hanging around her neck, Undertow and I turned in unison to the buffalo brothers.

four identical orange eyes faced the twin pairs of our identical brothers.

“Oh.” Was all Lo could say.

“I see.” Buff wasn’t much better.

Undertow seized upon the silence. Standing up, she reached one hoof up hook Lo’s face, then her other front hoof wrapped around Buff’s. Stepping forwards, she turned her hold into a hug, pressing her face in-between those of the Doublehorn’s. “I do not wish to ever get in the way of the bond you three have with Snowflake, but know that she is as precious to me as she is to you, and I am so happy to be part of her family. I only hope that you three can treat me as a sister in time.”

Planting two quick kisses on their cheeks, she withdrew. Eyes glistening, she began walking backwards around the corner. “I will not intrude on your time together any further tonight. Just know that I am very glad to have met you both, big brothers. I will go back to the others now. Goodnight… my family.”

Then she was gone. The three of us listened in silence until we couldn’t hear her hoofsteps any longer.

I sighed. “Was it a mistake, Buff, Lo? Telling you like this? I just wanted you two to love her like I do.”

“Yes.” Buff replied, not unkindly. “Whatever you’ve been through with her, we haven’t. No matter the outcome of all this, we don’t have a connection with her yet.”

Lo had other things on his mind. “She’s not a replacement for us, is she, Snow? Did you just move on to somebody else when you were away from us?”

A fair question. “You know, she asked me that too. She was worried I was just using her to ease the pain of losing you three. She didn’t want that. She wanted to be a real sister to me, and to the three of you. She hadn’t even met you three yet, and only knew what I told her about you. She still wanted so badly to be good enough for you, to make me as happy as you three do. So no, Lo, she’s not a replacement for you. She’s no replacement for my family, she’s an addition to it.”

“...I don’t know what to say to that.”

Sighing, I decided enough was enough. “Yeah, me neither. For now, you two should just get some sleep. There will be time to think all this over tomorrow, and the Raiders are still out there.”

~~~~~~

Getting the boys to go to bed proved as difficult that night as it did when they were in single digits, only for entirely different reasons. I was also under no illusions that they’d find sleep anytime soon, and would instead opt to stay up talking with each other for hours. This, too, would be like when they were younger.

Still, I made sure they had a comfortable place to sleep, then bid them both goodnight with a loving kiss. Even if our relationship is complicated by Undertow, or by Red Ice and the Wasteland, I can still do that much at least.

After making sure the boys were okay, I checked on Undertow. True to her word, she had found some measure of comfort with the others. She’d squeezed herself in between Bosco and Naiara, and miraculously HAD managed to get herself to sleep already. It has been a long few days. Maybe she just ran out of juice? The reason was irrelevant, but I still leaned in to give her a goodnight kiss too, then took a walk.

My walk took me up and out of the underground shelter, through the main streets of the southern quarter, and eventually up onto the stories-high walls of Lethbridle itself.

The falling snow of the day seemed to have dissipated, leaving a night that was cool, not cold. Walking the top of the wall was fairly solitary, the guards that I could see having positioned themselves near the gates. That left long stretches where I had complete solitude.

I stopped near one of the floodlights, roughly halfway between the south and west gates. The floodlight was pointed down into the city itself, looking to be pointing towards the western-southern quarter boundary. Still, the brightly shining apparatus gave off a few degrees of heat, so I paused to take in the slight warmth.

The city of Lethbridle seemed to have fallen quiet for the evening, so I turned my attention outwards, specifically, to a certain settlement to the west. One which, for want of a missed call, we might have been in and out of already. Leaning on the outer ledge with crossed hooves, I squinted through the dark, trying to catch a glimpse of the Steel Ranger stronghold.

“Y’know, if Bosco found out you were up here lookin’ at Neighlway, he’d probably have a few unkind words for you.” Touching down next to me with a few strong flaps, Wings joined me at the wall’s edge.

I just shrugged. “Bosco’s gonna have unkind words for me either way. You too, probably. You were the one who pushed to come here and bail out Amber.”

Crossing her claws in front of her, she leaned on the wall too. For several minutes, neither of us spoke at all, content to look out at the barren world in a comfortable silence.

The peace was broken when Wings shook out her wings, causing the tips to brush my shoulder. Her automatic “sorry” did enough to break me from my reverie. 

Shifting my own shoulders for circulation, I gave the chocolate-and-cream griffon a sideways glance. “So how’d you spend your day?”

She glanced back easily. “Oh, y’know, killed some Raiders, took their gun and killed some more Raiders with it, got a bunch of looks from ponies who figured out I was Blue Fire, was at ground zero while Rockhaunch broke the northern quarter, and then I met a couple of buffalo. Can’t be sure, but I think you might know ‘em.” The tip of her tongue was sticking out of her beak by the end of that last sentence, and the corners of her lips were turned up.

Rolling my eyes, but not able to stop the smile from gracing my lips, I let a little of my tongue show, too. “Good guess.”

After we shared a chuckle, she shuffled her wings again. “How about you?”

Tapping a hoof on the wall, I tried to be matter-of-fact in my recitation of the day’s events, though knowing I’d probably fail. “Met with Amber, made an idiot of myself, learned that she’s been listening in on all of us through the communicators...”

“She’s been WHAT?!”

“...which Schwarzwald has hopefully told Breeze about, I’ll check in the morning. After that, spoke with a ghoul who told us that Amber’s been buying up all of Lethbridle for some reason, then we fought some Raiders,” And I killed a colt to keep your reputation alive. “then fought some more Raiders, including Latvi, then we found you and Lo. After that, we came back to the shelter, where I had Buff and Lo meet their new sister.”

Wings turned to fully face me now, Sapphire eyes glinting in the background illumination from the floodlight. “Yeah? How’d that go?”

“Not as well as I’d hoped, but about as well as I could have expected, I guess.” Breathing out through my nose, I counted to five in my head as I did so. “Undertow did great, made me really proud of her. They boys, though, they were a little bit in shock. I guess it was a lot to drop on them all at once. Getting a new sister really isn’t something you accept in five minutes.”

A claw landed softly on my shoulder. “You’re fine. They’re fine. You love your brothers, right?”

I nodded immediately. “Of course.”

The claw squeezed gently. “And they love you, right?”

A few milliseconds hesitation. “I hope they still do.” They might not love Red Ice.
Another squeeze, firmer this time. “They do. Don’t doubt that. Anyway, you and your sister love each other too, right?”

“That I don’t doubt.” Not for a second did I doubt that.

“Then your brothers and sister are going to love each other, too. It’s just how things work out in your family.” Her claw left my shoulder. When I looked over, she was staring out into the open sky. “It’s really… special to see.”

Are you still hung up on not being able to go back to your family? You hated it there! My hoof found her shoulder, a reverse of what happened a moment ago. “Isn’t it enough that they love you?”

She snapped out of her trance, staring blankly back at me. “Huh?”

I nodded down into the city. “The others. Schwarzwald, the twins, Naiara, Bosco, even Undertow. Isn’t it enough that they love you? They risked everything to get you back. FROM your family, I might add. They’d walk through fire for you.”

She snorted, and tried shrugging my hoof off. “For you, maybe.” Her airy tone was forced, even I could tell.

My hoof stayed put. “For you. I’m usually the one starting the fire.”

“What does that matter?”

I looked into those sapphire eyes. “I saw how you were when you decided that you had to go home. You hated it. I… just want you to know that you’ve got a place with them. A place where you’re smiling. You don’t have to go home, unless you absolutely want to.”

“Some of us don’t have that luxury.” I muttered under my breath as an afterthought.

“What was that?” She leaned in a little.

I waved her off. “Nothing, doesn’t matter.”

The look she gave me wasn’t exactly one of acceptance, but she didn’t press the issue. “So when are you taking them back to the Stable? Your three brothers and Undertow?”

“Not for a while. Undertow will be coming along with us while we get Bosco and the others’ problems handled, not to mention the Windigoes. Lexi can watch the boys until then. I can pay her with Amber’s caps if she needs it. After that, I’ll take them all back to the Stable. Red Ice’s enemies can’t get them in there. It’ll be…” I sighed inwardly. ...boring as hell. “...safer.”

“Safe’s one word for it.” Wings scoffed, flapping up onto the wall ledge and posing on her hind legs. “Still, there’s no reason you have to be there ALL the time.”

Confused, I looked up at her with furrowed brow. “Huh?”

Her wings spread. “I bet you could get Breeze to boost the power of your communicator, so you could contact the Stable any time you want. That way you could call your brothers and sister any time you want.”

Pushing up with my hooves, I heaved myself onto the ledge as well, but kept a firm grip to avoid falling. “Call them? Why would I call them? Where else where I be?”

Looking away with a shy grin on her face, Wings scratched at her cheek with a talon. “Well, I kinda think Schwarzwald may be sticking around to work with Amber after all this is settled, and if I’m not going home then I’ll need a place to go next. Maybe down south? Somewhere where nobody knows who Blue Fire is.” She glanced back at me. “Or Red Ice.”

That… doesn’t sound too bad, actually. Especially if we had that skywagon Amber was offering. I could come back to see them whenever I wanted, but wouldn’t have to live in the Stable! And being able to just be Snowflake again would be fantastic. No more Red Ice! “I hear it’s nice and warm down south.”

Wings floated in close and, with a mischievous grin, nudged me off the ledge, back onto the walkway. Then she glided over my head and over the other side, hovering above Lethbridle itself. “Yeah, I’ve heard that too, but I’m just thinking out loud. Must be getting tired if I’m talking to myself, huh?”

“Yeah, probably best if you get some sleep. The guys down there still need Blue Fire tomorrow, and I don’t want you playing hero when you’re half asleep.” I put on my best ‘stern’ voice. “Get to bed, Gigglewings, or no sweets at breakfast.”

Putting on a put-upon expression, she playfully crossed her claws in mock-anger. “You sure your brothers and sister’ll be safe with you? Sounds like you starve them, ya slavedriver.”

Wagging a hoof at her, I played along. It wasn’t hard, with the way I was suddenly feeling. “That’s it, you’re grounded, missy! Seriously though, get to bed. I’m going down now myself.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright.”

I’d gone about a half-dozen steps towards the stairs when she called out to me. “Snow?”

“Yeah?” I turned back to the floating griffon.

“About your family and you taking them back to the Stable…”

Not quite sure where she was going with that, I stopped walking and faced her again.

Extending an open and upturned claw, her brash voice lightened. “I want you to know that there’s a place where you’re smiling, Snow.”

As she dropped out of sight, Wings left me with one final question. “Isn’t it enough that they love you?”

~~~~~~

The small stone clattered around the collapsed trench between the quarters, throwing up echoes as it did.

“Undertow!” Naiara whisper-hissed, glowering at the filly.

“Sorry! Sorry!” The goggled filly breathed back.

We resumed our journey, though all watched our hooves a little more closely. Using the Whitepony map of Lethbridle’s under tunnels, we’d managed to sneak back to the divide that Rockhaunch had triggered to trap the Raiders in the northern quarter. At least for a little while.

Whichever crazy bastard came up with the idea to blow the tunnels is one REALLY crazy bastard. Too bad they didn’t count on the Raiders’ heavy gear.

Naiara silently led Undertow, Bosco, and myself through the chasm. She was silent, anyway. We… tried our best. None of us could keep up with her in terms of stealth, which meant that we stopped when Naiara did, and moved when she told us to.

Flowing over a small pile of debris, Naiara paused as she crested it, and held a hoof to her ear. After a few seconds, she nodded, then waved us forward again. Another twenty metres further along, she beckoned us in, under an overhang.

“What’s up?” Bosco crowded in close. Naiara had taken the time to paint herself up as a slate-grey pony again, to better blend in with the concrete, and with the naturally grey Bosco. Undertow and I couldn’t do much to hide our colours.

Naiara waited until we were all under cover. “This is the place. Cassie says there’s a street above without any Raiders. If we’re quick, we should be able to get up into the western quarter.” The sharp-eyed pegasus was on overwatch with her sister, feeding Naiara info through an earpiece connected to the communicators.
Undertow’s head looked back and forth at the lip of the artificial canyon. “We are sure that there are no vehicles still in the northern quarter?”

In response, the zebra shook her head. “No, she couldn’t get close enough to check. Too many griffons in the air. She did say that most of the vehicles were in the western quarter, at least according to the numbers Rockhaunch’s guards reported. That’ll have to do for now. Any backups in the northern quarter will have to wait. We’ve gotta cripple the ones on this side first.”

I glanced around at the jagged, uneven trench walls. “So how do we get up there?”

“WHO’S DOWN THERE?”

“Oh, shit!” We all looked up in time to see a Barnstormer poke his head over the edge. He and I locked gazes, both of our eyes widening at the sight of each other. His shock soon morphed into a twisted grin, his tongue hanging out hungrily.

Horn lighting up, I willed a sheath of ice around that tongue. Gurgling, he began swatting at it with his hooves. Less than a second later, a water whip wrapped around his throat and dragged him bodily down. Hitting the ground in a thudding heap, he barely had time to gasp before the blade of Bosco’s knife opened his throat from end to end. He thrashed violently as he bled out, but barely a sound escaped the ice blocking his windpipe. Less than a minute later, he was gone.

It’d still cost us time, though. Time the defenders on the walls, Blue Fire and Amber’s ‘enforcer mare’ included, could barely afford.

Naiara seemed to think the same, considering she was already halfway up the wall on the western side. In seconds, she’d scaled the entire height of it, and slung down her rope. Without a word, she beckoned for us to start climbing.

Once we were all up at ground level, we made better time on the mostly flat surfaces of Lethbridle’s streets. Naiara still kept us to the shadows, and occasionally the rooftops, but we managed to cover a kilometre or so without encountering trouble. We came close a few times, but some well timed magical misdirection courtesy of Undertow distracted any Raiders enough for us to slip past.

Creeping up the stairs to the second floor of a run-down gambling hall, dilapidated and faded card tables still strewn about, we snuck over to the glassless windows, peeking around the edges at the scene below us.

The Raiders were gathered in the market square. I remembered it from my first time in Lethbridle. I’d traded my bullets and some other supplies for some barding. Didn’t help much. Ended up shot up all the same. Lexi’s stuff is much better. I affectionately rubbed at the Sprinkles Supplies gear I currently wore, bullet holes and all.

Cheek pressed against the wall, barely poking an eyelid into view, Bosco was nonplussed. “Look at all of them. There’s gotta be near a thousand. Latvi’s got all the clans together in one place. No way we can get out there to take out the vehicles like this. What now?”

“Where is Latvi, anyway?” The scumbag scientist was nowhere to be seen.

“Hmm, if I had to guess, I’d say in there, with all the guards.” On the other side of the plaza was a large, mostly intact structure. As Naiara had said, there were far more guards around there than elsewhere. “No way to get to him either.”

“The vehicles themselves are under heavy guard, also.” Undertow was right. The heavy duty machines were surrounded by Woodpeckers, not a stallion among them. “They appear to have been well-equipped.”

“Makes sense.” I muttered to nobody in particular. “He’s not getting any further without the vehicles, so he needs to make sure they’re safe.”

Pulling back from the window, we squatted in a square. Bosco checked the safety on his gun. “So what now? We need to take those things out, but we don’t have a chance with just the four of us. Unless you two can do the damage with magic from here?”

I couldn’t give him any good news. “Not without somebody noticing.”

“I could use my magic without being noticed,” Undertow began, but she wasn’t smiling. “but I couldn’t damage them enough with just water alone. Not from here, and not without knowing where to focus my efforts.”

Looking between each of us in turn, Bosco was frowning deeper and deeper. “So, what? We just sit here? We need to do something before they decide to move out. No way the defences hold if they bring everything!” We quickly moved to shush him at the end, as his voice was rising with every word.

“Uh huh? Okay, got it.” Naiara took her hoof away from her earpiece, grimaced, and checked the scene outside again before rejoining the square. “Looks like we lucked out on that front. Cass says Amber’s telling her that the reinforcements have arrived. Says we’re about to get ourselves a very big distraction any second n-”

“Can’t believe we gotta sit around here.” Outside the window, on the street below, a guttural Raider voice spoke up. “That unicorn bastard in there almost flipped his shit when I mentioned the girl. Wouldn’t let anybody go near her.”

“Girl?” Each of us looked at the others, not understanding.

The second Raider, sounding even rougher than the first, responded. “Ah, she’s just his bitch. Them feathered fuckers were talking about her. Say Latvi had her buffalo fucktoy killed, and took her for himself. He’s got her in her old apartment.” He chortled perversely. “Ya ain’t got a chance with her, not after she’s been all stretched out. That small dicked asshole might think he owns her, but she probably won’t feel it after getting with a buffalo.”

The two of them enjoyed a full-throated guffaw at that, their laughter fading as they made their way back towards the main Raider force.

Back at the Window, Undertow watched them go. “Who were they talking about? Does Latvi have a hostage?”

Oh no. Realisation dawned. “I think I know.” I caught Bosco’s eye. “The DJ on the radio mentioned how the Monsters attacked Grindstone, killed Dent and took a pony girl. I think they’re talking about Lithu.”

Staring blankly back, it took a second or two for Bosco to remember. When he did, his mouth dropped open. “Shit, you’re right! That scientist girl who was with Latvi in the bar!”

Nodding, the corners of my mouth turned down. “She worked with Latvi before he turned Raider. Esto even said he had a big thing for her. Did he decide to just take her?”

“Raiders’re rubbing off on him.” Naiara commented darkly. “Should we go get her back?”

A sonorous rumbling forestalled any final decision. Crowding to the window, we looked out to the square in time to see Latvi, Caber Toss, Ballbuster, Eitom and Wicker charge out of their headquarters, weapons at the ready. The Woodpeckers, Deep Divers, Barnstormers, and Haylanders in the square were milling around, trying to find the source of the cacophony.

Ducking back away from the window, Bosco whipped out his weapon. “This the reinforcements?”

Shrugging to loosen her shoulders, Naiara made a ‘maybe’ motion with her hoof. “Could be. This should be interesting.”

After a minute or two, the rumbling abruptly cut off. Everything went still in the plaza. Raiders looked at each other in bewilderment. Latvi, ringed by griffons, cast about each and every way as he searched for the cause of the confusion.

We’d made our way down to the ground floor of the gambling hall, sticking to the shadows but listening at the door. Bosco had checked and rechecked his weaponry and gear half a dozen times in the last minute. “Be ready to move when the distraction hits. We can’t waste this chance to wreck those machines.”

“Who do you think she got as reinforcements?” I was racking my brains to think if Amber had mentioned having other forces in the area besides those already deployed on defence.

“Maybe she made a deal with the Buffalo?” Undertow ventured. “They cannot have any love for Latvi and his Raiders.”

How lucky would that be? “They might not like the Raiders, but Crush isn’t exactly a fan of ponies in general, either. I doubt he’d work with Amber just to get a chance at Latvi. Plus, he’s stupid. He’d just attack the Raiders himself if he could.” The burly buffalo thug couldn’t be relied upon to stick to any plan that a pony thought up. He’d want to do things his own way, and ignore any advice to the contrary.

“Then who?”

“Good question. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The wait wasn’t a long one. Almost at once, a several screaming rockets blasted into the square from two different streets, exploding in the throng of milling Raiders. Latvi and his entourage were bowled over by the explosions.

Everything went to hell. The Raiders all began yelling and screaming at once, and firing weapons in every direction. More rockets flew in, and then they came. The reinforcements.

Oh. Shit.

Charging into the square, weapons cutting a swath through the disorganised Raiders, were a few hundred uniformed, well-equipped Plottawan slavers. The Raider lines collapsed as they contracted. The closest Raiders tried to run, but they were packed too tightly into the square. Dozens died in seconds.

“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…” I backpedalled away from the doorway as fast as I could. “We’ve gotta get out of here, right now!”

“How they hell did THEY get here?” Bosco wasn’t listening.

“Are… are they Amber’s reinforcements?”

Undertow’s disbelieving question stopped us all cold. It was a horrifying thought.

No. No way. She couldn’t do that. Not when she’s doing this all for Schwarzwald.
Unless she was lying about that too.

“LET’S GO!” Shouting over the noise, Naiara pushed us all out of the door.

“Great! Let’s get out of here!” I was all too ready to leave.

“No!” She chided. “We’re not running away, we’re going up there!” She pointed to the maelstrom going on up the street.

“ARE...”

“...YOU....”

“...INSANE?” We all chorused at once.

Face set firm, she pointed again. “This is the only chance we’ve got to get rid of those vehicles, or would you like to leave them for the SLAVERS?”

An imagination working in overdrive could be a terrible thing. The idea of the Lethbridle defences being overrun by Peanut’s forces was somehow even worse than Raiders.

Naiara was already up the street. Left without a choice, though each espousing various profanities, the three of us charged after her.

Luckily, the vehicles themselves were between us and the action. The Woodpecker guards had all moved up to engage the Plottawans, leaving us with a clear approach. We caught up with Naiara in the centre of the parked machines.

Bosco fell into ‘boss colt’ mode. “Naiara, you and me keep a look out. Snow, ‘tow, wreck these things and do it quickly!”

He and the zebra bounded off, taking up cover positions. Undertow and I started with the vehicles closest to the actions, trying not to think about the explosions and screams coming from the other side of the cabin.

Repeating Undertow’s ice expansion trick, we moved from truck to truck, filling the insides with water and then freezing it solid. The groans and cracks of shattering mechanisms wasn’t quite satisfying enough to override my fear of the two warring factions mere metres away.

After our second sabotage, I heard Naiara yelling over the din. “LATVI’S BUGGING OUT!”

WHAT?! Looking skyward, I was greeted with the sight of a unicorn scientist, struggling in Eitom and Wicker’s grasp.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? TAKE ME BACK!” His shrill voice cut through the noise for the moment, as did Eitom’s furious response.

“I’D LOVE TO, BUT I’M UNDER CONTRACT! I HAVE TO GET YOU OUT OF HERE!”

“UNDER CONTRACT WITH WHO??”

I didn’t hear Eitom’s answer as Undertow smacked me upside the head. “HURRY!”

“Right, right!”

Water. Freeze. Break. One more. A severed hoof spanks Undertow. She ignores it.

Water. Freeze. Break. Another. A trio of rockets explode overhead. I don’t look up.

Water. Freeze. Break. Hurryuphurryuphurryup! Naiara grunts as she breaks bones.

Miraculously, we managed to junk every vehicle present, with their insides spilling out from under their canopies like great gored beast organs, before Undertow and I were disturbed. Several bodies, both Plottawan and Raider, lay at the hooves of both Bosco and Naiara, showing that we hadn’t been completely unnoticed.

The fighting was still going as fiercely as ever in the square, and it seemed like Caber Toss and Ballbuster had rallied the Raiders to throw back the Plottawans. I could hear the two Raider chieftains barking orders in their heavy accents.

Nothing to do with me. Our job’s done. “Can we please go now?” I pleaded.

Mercifully nodding, Bosco and Naiara took of running. Undertow and I had no trouble keeping up, even at full sprint. Adrenaline blasted through my veins. I wanted to pick the three of them up and carry them all back to safety myself.

A burst of gunfire struck the cobbles around us, kicking up sparks. Blinded, I slipped and crashed to the ground. I tasted blood. Rolling over, I saw Naiara dancing away from the gunfire, Undertow holding her swirling water shield in front of her, and Bosco exchanging fire with some pursuing Raiders.

Beyond them, I thought I glimpsed something. I flash of golden mane. Peanut! The slaver leader was facing away from me, back in the thick of the action.

My body moved on its own, as did my horn. As I bolted upright, Undertow’s water shield froze solid and went spinning down the street, right at the Raiders. They were bowled over, but their friends were coming up fast behind them.

A lot of their friends.

After that there was no running battle, there was just running, dodging, fleeing. Undertow took a bullet to the thigh, and a thrown knife gashed Bosco above the temple, but we kept moving regardless. We couldn’t stop.

Running through the western quarter, each street would be quiet for the five seconds or so it would take for the Raiders to round the corner, and then it would explode with noise. The same pattern would repeat over and over. Then it was four seconds.

Three seconds.

Two and a half.

It hurts. Gotta keep going. It hurts to keep going. Dying’d hurt more. We were all feeling it. Undertow was panting constantly, Bosco stumbled every few steps, Naiara was chattering into her earpiece, calling frantically for some help. She jerked her head to the side, hissing as a shot grazed her cheek.

“Please…” I dry-heaved. “...please somebody…”

Two seconds.

We turned the next corner.

No seconds. There was no quiet in this street, someone had beaten us to it.

“Run! Come on!” The defenders from the barricade yelled, even as they opened fire on the Raiders rounding the corner after us. “You can do it!”

Oh, thank you! Finding the last little bit of strength I had, I surged forwards.

Two big, welcoming forms loomed in the entranceway. Buff wielded two massive riot shields, while Lo stood with outstretched hooves. As we reached the door, one at a time, Lo would seize them with his hooves and yank them backwards, then instantly be back in the doorway, waiting for the next one.

Naiara got there first, skidding as Lo pulled her through. Bosco was next. He did the same, ending up in a heap with her.

The Raiders were still coming, but were slowed by the guards atop the barricade and their fields of fire. Ahead of me, Undertow’s balance took a hit as some buckshot hit the ground just as her hoof came down. The limb slipped, and she was about to go down.

NO! Leaping, I planted both hooves on her back, and pushed. That sent her tumbling straight into Lo’s grasp, and he was through the gap with her in a heartbeat.

My chin slammed down onto the cobbles, worsening the iron taste on my tongue. I was too tired to pick myself up. Luckily, I had a second brother. Buff scooped me up and retreated through the barricade, which others rushed forward to seal off.

The sound of battle was instantly dulled by the walls, though not completely gone. Still, there were others here with us, fresh and ready to fight.

“Snow, tell me you’re okay, please.” Buff’s heavy breathing had his chest radiating warmth.

Spitting out some blood, I reached up limply and tapped his horn. “Yeah, I’m okay. The others, though, Bosco and Undertow…”

“They’re here.” He turned us to the others. “They’re safe.”

Bosco and Naiara were dabbing at each other’s facial wounds with cloths. They seemed to be okay for the moment. How long that’ll last with TWO invading armies in town is another story.

A medic was digging around in Undertow’s thigh, trying to remove the bullet as she herself squirmed and cried in Lo’s grip.

Judging by his expression, she was stronger than he expected. “Undertow, keep still! Un-... Undertow! Come on, you don’t want to do more damage!”

She ignored him and kept thrashing. The medic sent a withering look at Lo, who gave a ‘what do you expect me to do about it’ half-grin in response. Still, he tightened his grip and kept trying to get through to her. “Undertow, it’ll be over soon. They need to get the bullet out. Come on, just keep still for a little while, won’t you?”

She still didn’t listen. Lo looked at me helplessly, and I just indicated with my eyes that he should focus on her. Stymied, he tried again. “Undertow, please. I don’t want you getting hurt. You could end up with a limp…” A sliver of frustration crept into his voice. “Would you just do what the medic says, little sister?”

Undertow froze. The medic didn’t hesitate, ripping the bullet out in what was undoubtedly a violation of some oath. The keeling scream Undertow let out had me reaching for her, but she turned and clung to her closest sibling instead.

Good enough. I thought, smiling as I looked on. Then I sobered. But we can’t stay here. “Buff, put me down. I need to go find Bernstein. She’s got a lot to answer for.”

~~~~~~

“YOU BROUGHT SLAVERS INTO MY CITY!” Buff and Lo were struggling to hold Chief Rockhaunch back as he railed at Amber.

Me, my friends, family, and the chief were standing in Amber’s skyscraper office. She’d excused the rest of her staff before we arrived, so now the Bernstein president stood alone on the dais, while the oak-furred buffalo snorted and raged at her.

It wasn’t surprising to me anymore that she didn’t flinch at the accusations, but this time she almost seemed… satisfied? Amber gracefully stepped down from the dais to stand before Rockhaunch. “Yes, I did. It was necessary.”

“NECESSARY?!” Rockhaunch’s jaw dropped. “How could this possibly be necessary? We’ve got twice the number of enemy forces in the city now than we had two hours ago, and even then we had too many!”

“Precisely.” The words shot out of her mouth with a whip crack. “The Raiders entering the city before we were ready nullified any chance that our defenders could handle this issue on their own. I engineered the Plottawan arrival in such a way that they would be forced to engage the Raiders first and foremost, which should cause both sides massive losses.”

“Not good enough. You were the one who brought the Raiders here, and your plan there failed spectacularly since they showed up early.” Rockhaunch tempestuously pushed Lo away from himself, his eyes never leaving Amber’s. “What’s to say that you bringing in the Plottawans will go any better? Peanut’s no idiot. He can’t be happy about this.”

“I doubt he is, but he has no choice but to deal with the Raiders for us.”

Wings wasn’t any happier than the Chief. Feathers flaring, she all but spat at Amber. “Until what? The Steel Rangers show up next?”

Astonishingly, Amber cracked a smile. “That would truly be a surprise.”

“DON’T JOKE!” Three voices yelled at once.

Amber turned side on, walking over to the window and looking down on the city. “Nothing that has happened so far is outside of the boundaries accounting for such things. Everything is still proceeding well enough on schedule.”

BANG!

The glass in front of Amber’s eyes, which had widened considerably, splintered as a bullet lodged itself within. Slowly, haltingly, Amber and the rest of us turned towards the shooter.

Slate-grey eyes hard, Bosco lowered his pistol. “I told you, Bernstein, that I would help you out with the Raiders, and no more than that. You want to talk schedules? I still have to get to Neighlway by the end of tomorrow. You don’t get to spring more surprise delays on us. I told you what would happen if you did.”

“Easy now, Bosco.” Naiara tried to step between the colt and Amber. “Killing in cold blood’s not your style.”

“Then what is my ‘style’?” He growled back. “Getting tricked? Lied to? Having my needs ignored and brushed aside? I’ve been dragged halfway round the damn Wasteland by almost everybody here, and I still haven’t got what you all promised me!” He raised the gun again, speaking around the mouth trigger. “Move, Naiara.”

“Put it down, Colt.” Rockhaunch’s bulk leaned over Bosco tensely. “You’re not murdering anyone in my city… even if they are asking for it.”

Amber’s voice spoke around Rockhaunch, quiet this time, and the confidence was slightly dulled. “Bosco, my promise to you still stands. You will have your passage to Neighlway, and you will reach your objective in time. The matters at hoof in this city should be resolved within the next day cycle.”

“Enough of this crap!” Breeze stomped up and, without any ceremony whatsoever, hauled back and backhoofed Amber with her greave. The Bernstein leader was sent sprawling.

She groggily rose, wide-eyed, holding a trembling hoof to her cheek. Breeze ignored her for a moment, checking her greave for damage, before continuing. “You’ve made deals with Raiders and slavers, bitch. You’ve spied on me with my own tech, which is only slightly less irritating. As things are right now, whatever plans you think you’ve concocted for how this all ends, you are not in control of the situation.” She turned back to the rest of us, smirking. “Damn, that was satisfying.”

Coughing haughtily, Amber used the dais steps to right herself. A definite edge was in her voice now. “I am so glad to provide some stress relief, Aqua Breeze.” The pegasus’ name was spoken like she was dragging it through the mud. “Now may we get back to the matter at hoof?”

“Your inviting doom upon this city, and subsequent failure to thwart your own twisted designs?” Following her sister’s lead, Cassie got her digs in.

Making her way to the window again, Amber avoided the bullet hole. Framed against the snowfall, increasing in strength from yesterday and this morning, she appealed to us once again. “There are plans in place for the Plottawans, just as they were one part of the plan to deal with the Raiders.”

“One part?” Wings scoffed. “From what we’ve seen, they were your only out, and you can hardly control them.”

Chuckling to herself as she smoothed out a crease from her white suit, some of Amber’s confidence returned. “My only out? Are you so sure?” She turned and leveled a flat stare at both Wings and Bosco. “Tell me, when the Plottawans attacked, what happened to Latvi?”

Bosco didn’t blink. “He took off the moment things got dicey for him. Hardly a surprise.”

Raising an eyebrow, Amber panned across Naiara, Undertow, and I. “He left by choice? You are sure?” Naiara and Undertow just shrugged.

Well, now that you mention it… “He didn’t seem happy about it. Almost sounded like he didn’t want to leave.”

“Almost?” The eyebrow went higher.

“Okay, fine.” I grumbled. “He definitely didn’t want to leave. He was screaming at Eitom to take him back. What’s your point?”

Her attention returned to Wings. “Did you ever wonder what the payment was for my giving them your location, after you killed McCoy?”

Cocking her head to the side, Wings regarded her warily. “You’re saying that you made Latvi leave? How?”

Despite the small dribble of blood from the side of her mouth, Amber was back in top form. She stood tall and collected. “Eitom made Latvi leave. I made Eitom make him. The agreement I made with Eitom was for him to take Latvi, and the rest of the Monsters, completely out of the city for 48 hours if Latvi found himself to be in danger. Latvi was to have no choice in the matter.”

Shiiiit. I couldn’t help but admire that, even if I had little else in the way of good feelings feelings for the mare. “So Eitom took Latvi away when the Plottawans attacked…”

“...And suddenly the Raiders are bereft of their leadership, and any air support.” Amber finished for me, radiating smugness.

“Damn,” Rockhaunch mumbled, much calmer now. “That’s…”

“Inspired.” Schwarzwald’s satisfaction was as evident as Amber’s, but she was staring hungrily at the mare. “Latvi is taken away for his own protection. Well played, Amber-dahling.”

Holding up a hoof, the businessmare called for quiet. Addressing the room as a whole, she held court without interruption. “Now will you believe that I have the Plottawan angle accounted for? I am not relying solely on the Raiders and slavers to wipe each other out. I have made additional arrangements.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re real smart, lady.” Despite the bluster, there was a level of respect audible in Rockhaunch’s speech. “We’ll go along with this for now, I guess.”

Giving a small bow, and a smaller smile, Amber returned to the dais. “I was confident that you would see reason.”

Rockhaunch wasn’t done. He strode forwards and rested a massive, cloven hoof on the dais itself. There were an audible creak as it took his weight. “HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean I’m any happier about you bringing the Raiders and Plottawans here, or about what you’ve been doing to Lethbridle itself. Your plan ends when the danger has passed. I won’t let you have your way past that.”

After shuffling a few papers, Amber rang a small bell on the pulpit. The mousy maid from earlier entered, carrying an ice pack.

Good luck for you, Bernstein, cause I’m sure as hell not icing that bruise for you.

Wincing as she held the pack to her cheek, Amber nodded at the Chief. “We shall see.”

~~~~~~

The last few hours had been, relatively speaking, quiet. No further attacks had come on the Lethbridle defenders’ blockades. There was definitely fighting occurring within the city walls, but not involving any guard or Bernstein forces.
For the past hour and half, the Plottawans and Raiders had been skirmishing throughout the western and northern quarters, under the watchful eyes of the twins and I.

I exhaled some cold mist, surveying the ongoing battles from two hundred feet up. “Gotta love all the space up here.” I muttered under my breath.

“I know,” Breeze chipped in from my left, formidable ears easily catching my words. “we almost wouldn’t have to dodge if any Raider or slaver even noticed us up here.”

“Still,” Cassie pointed out from the other side of her sister, as she sighted down her rifle’s scope. “we won’t be so foolish as to not dodge if they try, will we girls?” Her frown did little to dampen out spirits. She knew we were kidding.

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved her off, before pointing to the ground. “Who’s winning?”

Her weapon barked as she pulled the trigger. Far below, a blurry figure toppled over. “Me.” She gleefully replied. “That puts me at 20 Raider kills. You all owe me a hundred caps.”

Breeze and I both groaned and rolled our eyes. No fair! “I meant between-”

“I know,” Cassie interrupted smarmily. “but I’m finally able to have a little fun without worrying too much. The others got their chance before, now it’s out turn.” Her rifle barrel waved back and forth. “It looks like the Plottawans have driven the Raiders back to the northern quarter, while they control the western side. Mostly they seem to be trading shots across the boundary. For now, neither side seems to be in any hurry to attack the rest of the city. The Raiders still look to have the numbers advantage, and it isn’t particularly close.”

Breeze was looking at a wide courtyard, where the wrecks of the Raiders’ vehicles remained. “The Plottawans’ gear’s better though. I’m guessing they reached a stalemate.” Slamming a newly charged crystal into her Spell Shooter, she broke out into a predatory grin. “Let’s change that.”

Swooping down like the old Wonderbolts posters, the three of us dove rapidly towards the fray. Starting just on the Plottawan side of the divide, we popped off a few shots, a few grenades and, most enjoyable of all, a mini tidal wave, courtesy of Undertow’s magic in the Spell Shooter. Best of all, once the crystal was nearly drained, Breeze stuck a grenade to it, and chucked the improvised explosive into a clutch of slaver fighters.

Wow, that’s a big explosion.

Crossing the gap from the west to the north, the three of us twisted and twirled above the heads of the Raiders. Too far for their shoddy weapons, but no problem for us. Cassie stayed high for the most part, the better to use her long-range gun. For the most part, considering she brained a rooftop Raider with the rifle’s butt in a fly-by.

Firing until I was out of ammo, and unable to reload without breaking off, I tried to repeat the trick from my last fight: Stealing a gun from one distracted Raider, to use on their buddies. Spotting a likely target, I angled in for a grab, but a new burst of rattling fire from the throng on the ground forced me to divert and come back around.

Breeze was having better luck, wheeling and climbing, dropping and strafing, throwing and kicking grenades in any direction where she saw bodies without wings. Laughing maniacally, she kept calling back to us as her kill totals went up and up.

“Twenty eight!” Spinning in the air, her overhead kick rocketed a grenade straight into the face of a Raider, before it exploded. “Thirty one!” Spotting a pair of Raiders atop a ten-story apartment complex, she soared up the building, throwing a Shock Lock spear before her. The electric discharge paralysed the pair, sending their jerking bodies over the edge, passing her on the way down.

Blowing her bang out of her eyes, she cheered loudly. “Thirty thr-”

I watched in horror as her triumphant cheer morphed into an anguished scream, as the massive spinning axe slammed into her side. The blade bit deep, and the force of the throw pushed her towards the apartment building’s wall. Her momentum carried her to the roof but, out of control, she slammed into the lip shoulder-first, eliciting another scream. Tumbling onto the roof in a heap, she didn’t get up.

“BREEZE!” Abandoning her high-altitude harassment, Cassie sped towards the rooftop where her sister lay. “BREEZE!”

“Ahahaha! I got me a pretty berdy!” Standing tall on a nearby rooftop, Caber Toss looked on with relish. “ ‘mon over an’ I’ll finish the job, lass!” His crooked teeth parted as he laughed wholeheartedly.

No you won’t! “You son of a bitch!” Whipping out my revolvers, I charged at the stallion, pulling the triggers again and again.

Clickclickclick. “Shit!” I rammed the guns back in their holsters, and flexed my claws. This works too.

Still roaring with laughter, he leisurely unslung his oversized shotgun, and aimed it in my general direction. The blast that came out of it was somehow louder than Cassie’s rifle, and I had to break off my attack run. “Aw, don’ run, ya wee buzzard! Stay an’ play!”

Zigzagging to get out of the range of his shooter, I flapped up to the roof with the twins. Cassie was there now, cradling Breeze’s head in her lap. Caber Toss’ axe lay nearby, the blade’s edge slick with blood. “How is she?”

Hooves trembling and eyes watering, Cassie could only look at me, aghast. “She’s alive! She’s alive, but she’s hurt so badly!” In her hooves, Breeze sucked in air, eyes squeezed shut against the pain. She looked too hurt even to talk.

I had no pockets to check, and nothing to soothe the pain. Breeze’s side was a mess, with the deep gash and heavy bruising already forming on her shoulder. “Cass, maybe your Buck?”

The sniper started to reach for it, but then stopped herself. “She’ll just bleed faster!”

Raucous laughter floated up over the lip of the roof. “So she’s still kickin’, then? Ah’m on mah way t’fix that!”

“Shut up, you monster!” Glaring across the gap, my eyes locked with his.

“You...BASTARD!” Forgetting her sister for the moment, Cassie raced to the edge, swinging her weapon into position and letting rip, firing again and again. The first shot slammed into the concrete at Caber Toss’ hooves, and he retreated into the stairwell of the building. His laughter still mocked Cassie’s fruitless firing, until she too ran out of ammo. As soon as she did, he popped his head out of the doorway, grinning playfully.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” Tossing her weapon aside, her whip and hidden blade popped out of her bracers, as she launched herself full speed across the space between rooftops.

“Cass, no! I can’t…” Looking back at the downed Breeze, there was no way I could leave her and follow her sister’s blind revenge charge. “Don’t do it, Breeze needs our help!” Breeze was still bleeding, but remained conscious. Hang in there, girl. We’ll get you out of here. I moved to do what I could for her, all the while keeping one eye on Cassie.

She wasn’t listening to my words, though. Cassie’s whip snaked out and slapped the shotgun out of Caber Toss’ hooves. His smile dropped in the brief second before she smashed into him, blade first.

It was a good try, but the Haylander boss was massive. Cassie was not. Even putting her whole weight behind the blade, she didn’t take him off his hooves. Worse still, the blade had gotten him in the bicep. Not close to fatal.

Caber Toss’ smile returned in full force, inches away from the Pegasus struggling to retract her blade. “Well, awright then! Got some fight in yeh. ‘mon then, let’s have a go!” Winding his free hoof back, he hammered down on the smaller pony. She hit the floor, the breath leaving her in a shocked gasp.

Leaning down, he snagged a lock of red and black mane in his teeth. Neck muscles tensing visibly, he spun, dragging the winded mare off the concrete and over his shoulder, letting go at the apex of his swing. Cassie went tumbling through the air, bouncing off the stairwell door helplessly.

Still, anger gave her energy, and she rose shakily to her hooves. Glaring demonically, she swung her whip out, snaring him around the throat. Putting both her hooves into it, she tried to pull him off-balance.

Tried to. Caber Toss simply bit down on the whip, and yanked back. Cassie was wrenched straight into a vicious backhoof from the same limb that her blade had pierced. If he even noticed the wound, the Raider gave no sign. Cassie’s head flopped back from the strike, and she rolled to a stop on her back. Chest heaving, blood pouring from her nose and mouth, she tried to rise and keep fighting, but didn’t have the strength.

Caber Toss seemed disappointed with the development. Waving his shaggy mane back and forth, to remove the whip from around his neck, he looked down at her glumly. “What, ‘zat it? No’ gonna try an’ kill me ‘nymore? No’ even after mah axe put yer pal down? Ah’m tryin’ t’have some fun, lass!”

“Kill....you.” Breathed the fallen pegasus, from the floor. “...kill...you.”

Grunting, he stomped over to her, nudging her head with his hoof. “Nah, doll, yeh’re done.” Lifting the hoof further, positioning above her head, he prepared to stomp down.

NO! Breeze or not, I couldn’t let him kill Cassie either. My wings flared out, ready to fly. Before I could push off from my perch, though, I was beaten to the punch.

Or kick, as it turned out. A doubled-hoofed dropkick, straight into Caber Toss’ ribs. It sent the Raider chief staggering back to the roof edge, and almost over, before he got his hooves under himself again. “Who in the hell?”

The kick’s deliverer gently helped Cassie up, all the while watching the Raider boss. Golden eyes dark and furious, Cept stood tall between the two fighters. “You will pay for what you have done today, Raider.” There was no warmth in his voice, just chillingly calm certainty.

“Y-you?” Cassie leaned against the stairwell. “How?”

“Later.” Without breaking gaze with Caber Toss, Cept kicked a small pouch back at her. “Use this to help Breeze, until you can get her to your doctors.”

“But-”

“Go.” He silenced her with the word. “I will kill this Raider.”

“He’s mine!” Cassie near-roared.

“SHE is yours!” Cept full-roared back. “I cannot carry her out of here, not without being caught. You and the griffon have the sky. You can do it.”

He risked a backwards glance, eyes burning with intensity. “Please, Cassie, help Breeze now. You know you want to. I will take our revenge on this beast.”

“He’s right, Cass.” I called across the gap. “I can’t carry her on my own. We need to get her to safety, while we still can.”

“R-right.” Scooping up the pouch, Cassie bounced into the air. She paused for one moment, to deliver one last plea. “Make it hurt.” 

Cassie winged over to me. “Help me, Wings. We need to get her to the medics.”

Nodding, I took up position on one side of Breeze, as Cassie pulled some bandages out of the pouch on the other side. “Whatever you need. I’m here for you both.”

Together we wrapped Breeze in bandages as best as we could, stemming some of the blood loss. It was a temporary solution at best, and we both knew it. Without another word, we lifted her up and away, towards the southern quarter.

Don’t give up, Breeze. We’ll get you help. Just hold on for a little while longer.

~~~~~~

The Raider and I watched as the three winged friends departed.

“Yeh think yeh c’n take me, stripey boy?” Flexing as he boasted, Caber Toss squared his shoulders. “Ah was killin’ pretenders afore you were even born. Whadaya think o’ that?”

“Nothing.” The muscles along my back bunched. “I have no time to think about you. I will simply kill you, then go be with her.”

“Aww,” the guttural Raider drawled. “is she yehr bonnie lass?”

Bursting forwards, I spun into a Fallen Caesar double buck. The Raider met it with a twin hammerblow. Tremors ran through my hind legs. The Raider’s strength was unreal. Even the buffalo I’d faced didn’t compare.

Kicking out, I separated from him. “Make it hurt” were her words. Baring my teeth, I charged again, spinning into another back kick. Caber Toss raised his hooves for another smash, but I was ready.

I kept spinning, a full rotation, so the strike passed harmlessly down in front of me. My spin wasn’t done, though, as I brought both back legs around in another half turn, pounding both into the side of his skull.

Disorientated, he ferally lashed out, catching me under the chin by chance. My hooves lifted off the ground, as he went down in a heap. I bounced up as soon as I hit the ground. He rose too, but slower, still dizzy.

Seizing the chance, I leapt forwards, heels crushing into his temples. Grunting in pain, he staggered back another step, eyes unfocusing. Sensing victory, another double blow was attempted to put him down.

Unfortunately, this time the massive stallion simply lowered his head further, with my hoof heels glancing off the top of his skull, cushioned by his wild mane.

I was in close and, before I could disengage, his teeth snapped around my bicep. Rearing up, teeth still looked around my limb, his bulk flattened me under him. Bleeding and bruised, but still more than able to fight, he grinned through gritted teeth. “Got yeh noo, bastard that yeh are.”

Formlessly, stylelessly, he rained blows down on me as I was trapped under him. All I could do was shield my head with my hooves, though they felt like they were cracking almost immediately.

As he battered down on me, he started laughing that absurd laugh again. That absurd, mocking laugh. That damn laugh you laughed as you threw that axe. That damn laugh you laughed as she fell. That damn laugh you laughed as you hurt her sister. With each mental image, the pain fell away. Ever since I saw Breeze fall, I’d been holding back the anger, the anguish, the worry, the panic. No more. It was a wonderful anaesthetic, and I was going to use it to kill this Star-marked inrispa!

Kicking out at the same rib I’d dropkicked, I felt something crack. I kicked at it twice more in succession, finally halting his attack. Planting both hind hooves in his stomach, I did as he did, grabbing him with my teeth, and pushed. Something jarred in my left hind leg, but it was still enough to send him rolling away from me. 

Scrambling upright, I grabbed his fallen gun. Spinning around, I only just got it up as he slammed into me head first, we both went down again, him on top of me.

I pulled the trigger.

A wet, meaty splat sounded as the weapon fired. I felt my own rib break from the recoil. The Raider fared far worse, though. As his body fell to my left, his left front leg fell away to my right. The blast had blown clear through the joint.

His incoherent screaming gave me no small measure of satisfaction, but also snapped my mind back into focus. I would hear you scream all day, beast, but you won’t keep me from her side any longer.

Racking the slide for one more shot, I pointed it at his head.

He stared back, wide-eyed. “Ah’m no dyin’ like this! No’ until ah’ve killed Red Ice!” Bloody spittle sprayed from his lips with every word.

The point of caring was far behind me. “Mua leija.” I pulled the trigger, wincing as it drove again into my broken rib. Such worthless tools.

Without a backwards glance, I turned to the stairwell. Halfway down the staircase, with the battle rush wearing off, I had to slow to a crawl. I could only breathe in ragged gasps, and couldn’t put any weight on my back right leg.

Grimacing at my own weakness, I pushed on as best as I could. “I will be there soon, Aqua Breeze. I will not abandon you.” Keep her safe, Naiara. Please.

~~~~~~

“WE NEED HELP!” The twin screams of Cassie and I brought a dozen onlookers running. We landed roughly in a wide open staging area.

Naiara was with them, jade eyes widening as she took in our state. “What happened? Is Breeze… is she…? What happened?!”

Cassie didn’t answer her, instead barking orders to the medics wheeling out a stretcher. I made sure that she was on her way to treatment, before turning to the zebra. “That bastard Raider boss got her with his axe. Cept stayed behind to fight him. Cassie and I carried Breeze back here. We need medicine, potions, whatever they’ve got. She’s in a bad way, Naiara.”

Shaking, Naiara fell into step with me as we ran after Cassie and the stretcher. “Cept’s here? And he’s fighting Caber Toss by himself?”

“Yeah. It’s a bad situation all around.” There was no other way to describe it. One fucking Raider shouldn’t be able to do all this.

Naiara looked after the medics. “You’ve got Breeze and Cassie, right? You can watch over them with Snow and the others?”

Nodding, I spotted the medics opening up a case of healing potions. Rushing forwards, I grabbed two of them, and tossed them to her. “Yeah, we got this. Go get Cept.”

The potions disappeared into her cloak pouches. Grimly, she nodded. “I’ll have my communicator. Tell me the instant you hear anything.”

“Got it. Good luck. There’s still plenty of Raiders and slavers out there.”

Nodding silently, she sprinted away down the courtyard path.

When she was gone, I sped up to the infirmary, where Breeze was being attended by half a dozen medics. Cassie was being held back by Bosco and Schwarzwald, with Snowflake and Undertow standing off to the side. Seeing me, Bosco called out. “What happened to her?”

“Caber Toss’ axe.” I gnashed angrily. “Cept’s fighting him. Naiara’s gone to help.”

Cassie redoubled her efforts to get closer to her sister, straining against Bosco and Schwarzwald’s grip. “LET ME GO! She needs me!”

“You will be in the way, dahling. Let them work.” Schwarzwald had size and strength on the pegasus, and wasn’t coming off a beating. She didn’t let go.
“She needs me! I need her! She’s all I have!”

I seized her around the shoulders, hugging her close. “We’re not losing her. Whatever they need, we’ll get, but we’re not doctors. We can’t give her what she needs.”

“She needs blood before we can start healing.” Announced one of the medics. “You all need to be tested as donors.”

A strangled sob burst from Cassie’s throat. She’d gone cold in my embrace. “Blood donors?”

“Blue Fire’s out,” The medic continued. “too volatile for griffon blood right now. Any of you had any Taint exposure?”

Undertow raised a hoof. The medic made a cutting motion in the air. “You’re out too.” He looked to the rest of our group. “Family would be easiest.”

As one, we all looked to Cassie. She burst into tears. “I-I can’t.”

“CASSIE!” My disbelieving squawk was right in her face.

“What are you saying?” Bosco and the other looked aghast at her words.

The medic frowned deeply. “Miss, I can see you’re hurting too, but your sister needs your blood.”

Shaking her head every more vigorously, Cassie could barely speak over the sobs. “I can’t! She can’t have my blood.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Snow challenged. “She’s your sister. Help her!”

“I CAN’T!” Cassie was falling apart before her very eyes.

“Tell us why!”

“SHE’S NOT MY REAL SISTER!” Wailing, Cassie covered her face with both hooves.

Silence descended immediately. Nobody spoke, nobody moved, nobody took a breath.

It was broken by the medic, who began issuing commands to the other healers. “Plug her wounds, and we’ll put her under a body stasis spell. It’ll help her last longer, but we’ll still need a donor within the next few hours.”

Sobbing, Cassie ran from the room.

Taking charge, another medic tested Snowflake, Bosco, and Schwarzwald for blood matches.

No matches. It was a long hour to wait for Naiara and Cept to return. Longer still before it was finally determined, with hugs and huge sighs of relief, that Cept could donate.

She’s got a chance now, at least.

~~~~~~

Three hundred metres. Pull trigger. Thirty-two kills. Re-sight.

Four-fifty. Pull trigger. Thirty-three. Re-sight.

Two-eighty. Pull trigger. Thirty-f… no, Plottawans don’t count. Thirty-three. Re-sight.

“Cassie?”

The soft voice made me stiffen momentarily. Breeze would have heard her. “What is it, Undertow?” I hadn’t looked up from my scope. Re-sight, damn it.

Stepping up next to me, she remained silent until I took my next shot. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“How’d you find me? Did you use your water tracking spell?” My tone wasn’t kind, but I couldn’t really be around Raiders right now.

“No, I asked the guards if they had seen a Pegasus go by. Then I followed the sound of your shots.”

The downside of a big gun. I knew I should have bought that silencer last year. No, Breeze wanted those new connectors. Sighing and lowering the rifle, I looked across at the unicorn. “Well, here I am. And here you are. Why were you looking for me?”

Undertow pointed, down from the city wall we stood on, towards the main gathering place for the guards, a dozen blocks away. Where Breeze was. “They found a blood donor. Breeze is stable. They’re healing her now.”

My rifle clattered against the concrete. Collapsing in a boneless heap next to it, my hooves pressed against my eyes as the tears came. “She’s okay?”

“Mhm. She’s not awake yet, but they seem confident that she will pull through.” 

Did I detect happiness in her voice? I still wasn’t sure she really cared about Breeze either way.

First order of business. “Who was it?”

“Um?”

Peeking over my hooves, I stared intently at her. “The donor. Who was it? I have to find and thank them. I should have done so already.”

Before answering, she looked around at the walkway, at the score of spent rounds. “...It was Cept.”

“Cept?” The enigmatic zebra’s stock rose a lot higher in my estimation. “He went that far for Breeze?”

Undertow managed a smile, sitting herself across from me. “He said his injuries could wait, at least until she was safe. I think he’s really taken with her.”

I really don’t care about the ‘why’ right now. There were still pressing matters to resolve. “And the Raider? What became of him?”

“Cept blew his head off with his own shotgun.”

I’m grateful, but… There was a click of teeth as I snarled. “I told him to make it hurt. That was too kind for a monster like that.”

“Naiara told us that Cept did it quickly, so he could get back sooner.” She was rolling a spent round under a hoof, looking down at it and then back up at me over and over.

Closing me eyes, I had to turn away as the shame burned through me. I was only concerned with hurting him. Cept was always thinking about Breeze. Giving a sniffling grunt as a stray mane strand was brushed aside, my hooves found my rifle again. “You said Cept was injured? Is there anything I can do?”

She gave a small wave of her hoof. “No, Cept will manage. He’s on his way here now, with Naiara. He wanted to speak with you. It was a surprise to him that you weren’t with Breeze.”

Another stab, right into my heart. “I-I panicked.” Coward. You didn’t panic. You RAN. “I should have seen the axe, should have seen the danger. Nopony can match my eyes… I should have seen it coming. I should have protected Breeze. It’s what sisters do.”

Pushing the rifle round away, Undertow leaned forwards. “Before, when you said that Breeze… wasn’t your sister. What did you mean?”

Standing up abruptly, my hoof slashed at the air between us. “That’s not for your ears! You or your Raider sister!”

Leaning back, Undertow looked back headquarters, before lowering her voice. “Is it because of what the Raiders did to you and Breeze’s mother?”

Damn you Snowflake. “What has that sister of yours told you about my family?”

Sheepishly, she tapped at her chin in remembrance. “Um… she told me that your parents had come down from the clouds, and that they had been caught by the Raiders. Later, Breeze told her that she and you were… fathered by a non-pegasus.”

She knew that much? “We were born to Raiders,” I growled back. “do not try to soften it. Now tell me this: Do the others know?”

She stayed silent, staring back at me from behind her goggles.

“Do not play with me, Deep Diver! Snowflake obvious has told you my secrets, so did she tell the others?” Secrets that aren’t yours to tell, Red Ice, regardless of whether or not Breeze told you.

Only able to shrug, Undertow continued. “I don’t know. The others have never mentioned it to me, or to Snowflake while I have been around. She told me when it was just the two of us, in a small grotto near Sombra’s Shadow lake. If she told the others, it was not while I was with her.”

Breathing in slowly, I tried to abate my anger through reason. The others have never acted as if Breeze and I are Raider-born, and I would have seen a sign if they knew, based on how often we deal with Raiders. Perhaps they don’t know, after all? 

The anger was still there, but I could control it, as usual, now. “Can you promise me that this will not go beyond your ears, Deep… Undertow? Not even Naiara, Bosco, Wings, or Schwarzwald can know about this, and definitely not your sister.” I am trusting your word about her, Breeze. If she truly is a victim, rather than another Raider, then this shall be proof.

Blanching, Undertow stood too. “I can’t tell my sister?”

Without blinking, nor breaking eye-to-goggle contact, I slowly shook my head back and forth. “I will not even allow you to tell MY sister. These are my terms. If you cannot agree to them, then you should go now.”

Thoroughly unnerved now, Undertow seemed to consider doing just that. “You are keeping a secret from Aqua Breeze? You?”

“I will kill any who reveal this secret to Breeze. Learning the truth would break her heart. Do you understand me?” Popping my hidden blade did a wonderful job of accentuating my words.

Gaze drawn to my blade, she took a moment to look back at me. When she did, a mute nod was her answer.

How laughable is it that YOU are the one I reveal this to? I could have chosen Naiara, or Cept, or somepony I actually like. Instead, I choose you. What madness holds me these days? “Breeze and I take each take after our mother.”

“The one who the Raiders…”

“Yes,” the words caught in the back of my throat for a moment, but I pushed through. “...and no.”

Pursing her lips, she stared for a moment, before cocking her head to the side. “What?”

Forgive me, Breeze. “Breeze spoke the truth when she told you what happened to Mother… as far as she knows. Stargazer was indeed raped by Raiders, when she and Splash Radius, Breeze’s father, came down to the surface. Do you notice the words I’m using?”

She nodded solemnly. “You’re saying that Splash Radius wasn’t your father by blood, because of the Raiders.”
“No,” I replied, the word drifting lifelessly from my lips. “I’m saying that, because of the Raiders, Stargazer wasn’t Breeze’s mother by blood. She was mine.”

Stunned silence descended, as did Undertow’s jaw.

I ignored it. “I only found this out later, because it seemed ludicrous to think about for those who haven’t met Schwarzwald, but mares are just as capable of rape as stallions. Whichever damnable Raider stallion raped my mother, Stargazer, also had a friend, a mare, who set her sights on Splash Radius, Breeze’s father.”

Downcast, Undertow moved towards me, helping hoof outstretched.

Batting it aside, I repeated my earlier words. “Breeze and I each take after our mother.” Those idiots who saying airing your past is cathartic know nothing. The tears sprang unbidden from my eyes, but I forced myself to not look away. “She’s not my real sister. We aren’t anything, unless the Raiders were the incestuous sort. We share no blood between us. Worse, my blood is actually toxic to her. She almost died once when I tried to give her some of my blood. I would have killed her tonight, if I hadn’t known already.”

“But your parents-”

“...were far kinder than they ever needed to be, two of them at least. I take after Stargazer, while Breeze takes after her mother. It’s why she’s so… boisterous, why she likes explosives, and why our names are so different.”

“I had wondered about that.” Undertow mumbled into her chin. However, she didn’t seem ready to concede the point just yet. “But, you look so much alike. We call you twins.”

“I thank you for your kind words, and curse you for your thoughtlessness too.” I drew myself up imperiously. “And that’s the heart of the matter. Breeze and I were born days apart. We are not twins. We are not sisters. We should have been, but only look alike by circumstance. Breeze should have had a sister, and a mother, and a father. She should have had a loving, living family. Instead, she has a dead Raider mother, a dead father, and a stranger masquerading as a sister. THAT is reason I hate Raiders, including Red Ice.” And I have to live with the guilt of how much it hurts to look at Breeze sometimes, knowing that I lie to her every day.

Fixing her with a hard stare, I motioned for her to take off her goggles, and looked her straight in her orange eyes when she did so. “Breeze thinks you are another Raider victim, like us, merely falling into terrible circumstances. That so, she will decide if you should be called Raider or not.”

Gulping, Undertow ran a hoof over her goggles and rebreather. “But, Snowflake…”

“Snowflake chose!” I knifed in. “She was not born into the Raider life. It’s not her blood. She was given the option, and embraced it. That is her sin, and I will never stop hating her for it. Raiders destroyed what should have been my sister’s family, as well as the lives of countless others. I will NEVER forgive Snowflake, and I will protect Breeze from her forever.” My heart rate was up by the time I’d finished speaking, and I could feel a tightness behind my eyes.

Across from me, wearing a deep frown, Undertow sat quietly. After a full minute, she replaced her goggles over her eyes. “You feel that you’re somehow less of a sister to Breeze, because you don’t have her blood?”

Every day. “Of course.”

One of her eyebrows raised. “So your choice to stay with her, to give her the family stolen from her, to make sure that she was never alone, means nothing? You think she’d stop loving you because you want to be her family?” She had the nerve to chuckle, and ask “Are you so stupid?”

Bristling, thoughts of breaking her teeth her rebreather ran through my mind. “Don’t you dare laugh at my pain, Deep Diver!”

“OI, CASSIE!”

We both jumped. Looking back along the walkway, we could see Naiara supporting Cept as they made their way towards us. He can barely walk! What has he been through? Raising a hoof, I waved them closer.

Also waving, Undertow spoke out of the side of her mouth to me. “I’m not laughing at your pain, Cassie, although I AM going to do everything in my power to change your mind about my sister. It’s the least I can do for her, you, and Breeze.”

“How in the world does that help Br-”

“I won’t tell anyone what we talked about here. It’ll be our secret, until you’re ready to tell her.” Breaking off as the two zebra reached us, Undertow helped Naiara ease Cept into a sitting position, then began tugging at Naiara’s elbow. “Come on, svara, let’s go check on Breeze. Cassie can watch over Cept for a little while.”

Cept and Naiara blinked in unison. “Were you two not speaking a moment ago? I do not want to interrupt.”

Waving him off, Undertow bowed briefly. “No, we’re done. Thank you for everything, Cept. We’ll leave you two to talk in private.”

“But we just got here.” Naiara got a kick to the shin for her complaining. “Ow! Fine, fine. Yeesh.” With a smile, she allowed herself to be led away by Undertow.

Cept and I watched them go. If you ever went full Raider, you’d be very dangerous indeed.

Clearing his throat, the sitting stallion gingerly held his leg as he spoke. “I wanted to speak with you. The Raider is dead.”

All my tension evaporated away. Plopping down next to him, I laid a hoof over his. “I know, they told me. Thank you so much, for everything you’ve done for her.”

Smiling widely, if tiredly, Cept did not object. “She has my thanks as well, for being such a good friend to Naiara. It is the least I can do to repay her for that.”

Oh no, you won’t get out of this so easily. “Was that all this was? Repaying a debt? You did not want to save her yourself?”

“I did not mean that.”

“Then you were here for a reason?”

Nodding, his smile slipped slightly. “I have business with the Bernstein,”

“Oh.” That is not what I wanted to hear.

“..but I had hoped to meet you all again while I am here. I did not expect this situation, but…” He sighed regretfully. “I wish I could have reached her in time.”

That’s better. “Me too, but she will be okay, and she has you to thank for it.”
His smile began to resurface. “I am very glad to hear that.”

This is a much easier discussion than the last one. “I’m glad too. Glad enough to discuss you and my sister…”

His smile got a little wider.

~~~~~~

“And make sure that you contact me the very second that she wakes up, you understand? The very second.” Cassie waved a stern hoof at the communicator.

I nickered a little. “You know Cept can’t see you through that thing, right, Cass?”

The communicator crackled, and Cept’s voice came through clearly. “I can hear her, and you, Snowflake. Be at peace. I will not let anyone near your sister, and I will not leave her side.”

Remaining silent for a moment, it was clear that Cassie still considered this a distant second to being there with Breeze herself as she recovered, but the sniper eventually managed a small smile. “I know you will protect her, Cept. I trust you, and I will see you both when we are finished here.”

The communicator crackled again. “Trig roba prefkam saabi.”

The zebra tongue caused our other zebra to stir. Stepping into the centre of the group, Naiara turned in a slow circle, locking eyes with each of us in turn. “I don’t want anybody here to take any stupid risks for this. Not. One.” The slightest tremor ran across her shoulders. “Do what is asked of you, and nothing more. We do this, and then come right back.”

Undertow and Schwarzwald were fixed with withering stares. “This isn’t about boosting our kill contest scores, or fighting whole clans singlehoofedly. This is about stalling them. The moment you think you might be in danger, you fall back. That’s not up for discussion.”

While Undertow just nodded sombrely, Schwarzwald leaned forwards and tapped her forehead against Naiara’s. “Make it up to me later, dahling. I still must have my fun.”

“Only later.” Naiara snapped back. “I’ll fight you all you want when we’re done. You come back in bad shape, and I’ll never let you have fun again.”

Next, she rounded on Cassie. “Be cold, Cass. This isn’t about making the bitch suffer, it’s about taking her out. Trying for angry revenge almost got Cept killed. I won’t allow you to repeat that mistake again.”

Cassie huffed in a deep breath, and squared her shoulders. “You…” Then the fight left her. “...are right, Naiara. I will fulfill my mission. One bullet, then I head back to Breeze. I don’t want to be away from her for any longer than I have to.”

“Wings won’t let any Raiders or slavers through, Cass.” I offered in consolation. The griffon was on the walls, being a visible rallying point for the defenders, while the rest of us went about our plan.

“And if, by some miracle, any of them do get past…” Undertow chirped eagerly. “...my big brothers will be around to stop them from even spotting Cept, let alone Breeze!”

The look Cassie shot my sister was enigmatic, at best. What’s with the face? Undertow’s just trying to help. None of us wanted to see Breeze like that, despite our differences. Not at the hooves of a Raider.

Naiara wasn’t done. This time, Bosco and I were the targets of her tranquil fury. “You two have no excuses, considering you’re with me. If either of you two do anything I don’t agree with, I send you both home and finish this myself. I am NOT losing any more friends in this blasted city, do you understand me?”

Despite shrinking back a little in the face of her intensity, Bosco still managed a rebuttal. “You haven’t lost anyone yet, Naiara. Breeze’ll pull through. Still, you’re right. We’re not here to fight Raiders. That’s the Plottawans’ job now. We’re just here to make things a little harder for both of them. No heroics, we promise.”

We all gave our assent. Naiara still didn’t smile. She just nodded. “Then it’s time to get started.”

Cassie spread her wings, crouching down for a spring launch. Before she could, Undertow rushed in close, whispering in her ear. It was only a few words, but Cassie shot her another almost-confused, almost-worried, almost-repulsed expression. She didn’t say anything back, and instead went skyward.

Since when are you two buddy-buddy, ‘tow? “What was that about?”

“Not now.” Was Undertow’s shut-down response, as she was already on her way with Schwarzwald.

“Um...okay?” What gives? She can tell Cassie, but not me? She doesn’t even like Cassie! As I followed Naiara and Bosco, the thought continued to nag in the back of my mind. A conscious, and not insubstantial, effort was needed to keep on task.

“Keep up, Snow.” Naiara barked. “You’re falling behind.”

“Right, right, sorry. Lead the way, svara.”

~~~~~~

The cold air blew around me as I hovered silently, wings flapping just enough to keep me in place, hundreds of metres above Lethbridle. The scope case felt solid against my eye, reliable. Breeze built me this rifle, and I only need one shot. It won’t fail, and I won’t miss.

Please, everyone, bring my target to me. I would remain there as long as I was needed, even if it was snowing.

~~~~~~

Our travel wasn’t exactly rapid. Naiara was taking absolutely zero chances. She only had us move when she was utterly sure we wouldn’t be detected. Is she still kicking herself about those Raiders in the trench when we wrecked the vehicles? That was just a fluke, not her fault. I couldn’t tell her that, unfortunately, as she had forbade all but the most crucial communication. “Unless we’re about to die, shut your stars-damned mouths!” were her exact words.

Still, we made progress, slow as it was, and with any luck we’d reach our target unnoticed. We were going pretty far into the northern quarter, and even with Caber Toss’ death, it was still swarming with Raiders. The Plottawans controlled the west, while the Raiders held the north. Anything we could do to keep attention off the eastern and southern quarters of the city, the better.

Naiara ducked around a corner, with Bosco and I following. As the two of us turned into the street, we came face to face with a Raider.

Rearing back, my gargled exclamation caught in my throat. Where the hell’s Naiara?!

The Raider answered for us, by falling forwards like a sack of rocks. His lifeless body thudded onto the cold ground, and only then did I notice that his neck was twisted into an impossible angle. Bosco and I exchanged a look.

Naiara hadn’t even broken stride.

~~~~~~

“Heeheehee.” My quiet chuckle was probably the kind of risk that Naiara didn’t want me taking, but I couldn’t help it. Watching the diving-suit laden Deep Divers stumble into each other, helped along by my half-second blasts of magical telekinesis, was just plain funny.

I paused for a moment to adjust my goggles, then resumed my efforts. The Deep Divers were the weak link of the Raider forces. They hated the other Raider clans, and weren’t too fond of each other. My initial influence, combined with Caber Toss’ strength, had kept them in line so far, but with the Plottawans so close, and with Caber Toss now dead, we’d hatched our plan.

If I do my part right, the Deep Divers will be, at worst, out of the fight altogether. Or, at best, they might turn on the other Raiders. Either one works, and it’s gonna make that crazy Raider mare really angry.

I spotted another prime target for some trickery. A Deep Diver mare was checking the aim on her harpoon gun. She didn’t have her hoof on the trigger, but she WAS pointing it at another former resident of Soft Swell Lake.

My vulpine grin refused to go away. Let me help you with that, lady. Just a simple arcane squeeze, and the glinting spearhook burst out of the barrel, to the startled cry of the mare holding it.

The flying harpoon shanked another Deep Diver’s air tank, causing the pressurised air within to violently expand. In short, it exploded, and sent all ponies within a five metre radius scurrying for safety.

Except for the owner of the air tank. He just died.

The survivors, rattled and angry, quickly found the ‘culprit’, who was running in the other direction as fast as she could. Half a dozen gave chase. It was but the work of moments to cause a few of the chasers to trip into each other and, soon enough, a mass brawl developed.

While quietly sniggering from my roof, I looked up again, just in time to see a trio of Haylanders corner the fleeing Deep Diver mare. I don’t even have to do anything this time...well, maybe one more push, just to be sure.

Drawing on my focus for one more spell, it was enough to cause the empty harpoon gun’s line, never attached while she’d been testing it, to flip up and slap across the right cheek of all three Haylanders in quick succession.

Okay, now they’re beating her with her own gun. I don’t need to see that. My work here seems to be complete. Time to head back.

As I readied to leave, the other Deep Divers noticed the treatment of the mare by the Haylanders. They didn’t seem happy to be deprived of their retribution. My sister isn’t the only one who can use Deep Diver law against them. I thought up the laws, after all.

~~~~~~

“Stay beautiful, dahlings.” I growled in my masculine affection. Backing out of the building, I tried to move past the fun I’d just had, and to return to my mission. I cannot be blamed if the mares I find do not resist me as I expected them to. This Ballbuster does not know her mares as well as she thinks she does.

Still, My smile grew under my gender-shrouding covers. I must continue until the Woodpecker chief takes notice. Shifting my Barnstormer trappings, taken from a dead stallion, I began the search for my next target.

“WHAT IN THE HELL’S GOIN’ ON HERE?”

Whoops. I casually stepped aside as the moving mountain that was Ballbuster rumbled past.

She was not happy to see the two satisfied mares staggering out of the building, leaning on each other. “Are you two lassies takin’ the piss? Gettin’ off wi’ each other when we’re fightin’ them slavers?”

“Not just each other…” One replied dreamily.

The Raider chief’s eyebrows shot skyward. “Well, who else an’ all?”

Time for me to leave, I think. Dipping around the corner, I swiftly removed the rags which made me ambiguous enough to pass for a stallion.

“Some nifty Barnstormer fella. Had us both at once, so he did.”

When Ballbuster began shouting in earnest, I began running.

I didn’t stop when the thundercrack rifle-shot sounded out either.

It’s a shame that those two girls will be dead soon. They were a fun time.

~~~~~~

The three of us paused for a moment, as the sound of Cassie’s shot reached our ears. Exchanging intrigued glances, we took a moment to huddle under an overhang.

“Think she got her?” Bosco kept his voice at whisper level, but his lips were trending upwards regardless.

Naiara nodded, also dropping to hushed tones. “Only one shot. She didn’t need a second.”

Straining my ears, I listened to the sounds of the city. “No other gunfire. Not yet anyway. I think the others got away with it.”

Switching back to all business mode, Naiara waved us out from under the overhang. “Then it’s our turn. Come on.”

Continuing our trip, it struck me as just how different this place looks than the last time I’d been to our destination: Lithu’s apartment.

We faced no more Raiders until we found ourselves waiting in an alley, across from Lithu’s apartment building. It still held the scars from McCoy’s attack on Dent: The destroyed windows keyed us in as to which was Lithu’s floor, and the three Raiders, armed with what looked like commandeered Plottawan weaponry, guarding the ground floor entranceway confirmed that this was the place.
Bosco, flattened against the side of a building, with his eye peeking around the corner, pulled his head back. “They don’t look like they’re going anyway, and if we take them on in the open, it’ll bring any of their buddies inside running. I could take out one from here, but the others would notice. Do you think you two can do something about the others?”

Naiara was looking higher than the entrance way. “I might be able to get up to that gap on the upper floor from the outside. So long as those three don’t look up.”

I gaped at her. “You can’t do that. One slip and you’ll fall five stories!”

“We are in a warzone, you know. It wouldn’t even be the most dangerous thing we’ve done today.”

“Well, yeah, but…” I looked up at the suddenly-very-high-up gap in the building. “...weren’t you the one who told us not to take unnecessary risks?”

She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again. Bosco gave a wheezing laugh. “Outsmarted by Snow, HAH!”

“Are we just gonna sit here and wait, or are we gonna figure out a way to get in?” Naiara’s blustering didn’t hide her blush.

Bosco was still smirking, but nodded. “I can kill one from here, do you think that you can get the other two if Snow and I keep them in the doorway and stop them from going for help?”

Naiara gave a quick glance around the corner, then her eyes unfocused for a moment, tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth. After half a minute or so, she snapped out of it. “I can do that. We’ll be alerting the others inside the building, but that’d happen anyway. There’s no cover in there, from what I remember.”

Exhaling through my nostrils, I mulled over the plan. “And we’re pretty sure they won’t just kill Lithu and run?”

“Depends if these guys have heard that Latvi’s out of the city or not. We really won’t know for sure until we get up there. Though, if they were gonna, they probably would have done so already.”

“So we might be fighting over an empty apartment?” Fun times for a pony we don’t know.

Bosco shook his head. “They wouldn’t need to guard this place if they’d already killed her. They’d have gone back to the main group.”

He turned to our zebra… or would have, if she was still there. “What the?”

“Psst. Hey guys.” Naiara poked her head around the corner, causing us both to jump.

Trying to control my heartrate, I held a hoof over my eyes. “Where did you go?”

She shrugged. “Killed all three of them. Door’s clear now. Let’s go.”

Quick and quiet as we could, we rushed into the doorway and up the stairs to Lithu’s floor. There were only two guards outside her door, and they looked really bored. At Bosco’s direction, I sent a Cryo Serpent around the outside of the building, then in through the gap in the wall. Snagging the leg of the guard closest to the hole drew the attention of the one closer to us, who Bosco promptly shot in the back of the head. The guard who was in the process of freezing was dispatched by a Stompeii Emboli kick to the throat.

Booting the door to Lithu’s apartment open, we were treated to a sight quite different that what we expected to see. No Raiders were present, and Lithu herself stood in her kitchen, wearing a frilly apron and levitating a tray of sugary treats from the oven.

The bleach-blonde mare barely blinked when the three of us entered, instead putting on a welcoming smile. “Oh, hello. I wasn’t expecting company. I hope you’ll excuse the mess.”

The hell? “You’re Lithu, right?” I surreptitiously waved Bosco and Naiara to check the rest of the apartment.

Still smiling, the scientist mare set the tray down, and began dusting the cookies with powdered sugar. “That’s me. A pleasure to meet you. Who might you and your friends be?”

My friends both gave me an ‘all clear’ sign. Fighting against my surprise, I answered her warily. “That’s Bosco, she’s Naiara and I’m Snowflake.”

There was a clatter as Lithu instantly dropped the sugar dispenser. Eyes wide, she pressed herself back against the counter. “You’re Snowflake?”

Helpless, I looked over at Bosco, who had no answer. “Yes? We’ve actually met before.”

“LIAR!” She shrieked suddenly. “Everything you say is lies!” Looking desperately at the open door, she began screaming for help.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Take it easy.” Naiara tried to approach the hysterical mare, but kitchen utensils began to fly, forcing her back.

“Leave me alone! Haven’t you done enough to my husband and I?” Lithu clambered up onto the counter itself, wedging into the corner.

“Look, I’m sorry about what happened to Dent, but-”

“WHO IS DENT?”

What? Utterly lost now, I could only stand there as Lithu continued to build a wall of frying pans and rolling pins. “Your husband? Deputy Dent?”

Her telekinesis stopped for a moment, with all items clattering to the floor, as she drew herself up in her corner. “I don’t know any Dent, or any deputies! My husband is a scientist, not some guardpony!”

“Dent’s not a p-” A lead weight settling in my stomach forestalled my words. “Did you say scientist?”

Watching the door, Bosco looked back. His grey brows creased. “You’re not talking about… Latvi, are you?”

Lithu found the time to roll her eyes. “No, I’m talking about the zebra over there. Who else would I be talking about when I say my husband?”

“Since when?” I questioned. I don’t believe this. How could you marry that idiot after what he did to Dent?

The white-furred scientist’s hoof found her wedding band and clutched it tight. “Since years ago! We’ve been together since we were foals, after all.”

She stopped shaking for a moment, and looked me dead in the eyes. “I’m not surprised that YOU decided not to remember, Snowflake. You’ve always been jealous of my husband!”

Sputtering on my own spit, I could barely get the words out. “I barely know Latvi, except for when he’s trying to kill me!”

“Kill you?” She laughed. “YOU are the one my husband warns me away from. He spent so long trying to keep you from tracking me down, trying to keep me from danger and worry. You’re a danger to everypony around you!”

“Latvi was the one who killed Dent. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Apron held out out like a shield, and eyes squeezed shut, she shook her head. “My husband has never raised a hoof to anyone, and he takes care of me. Stop saying these horrible lies, and get out of my home!”

“Look, Lithu, I don’t know what kind of crazy cocktail you’ve been throwing back while you sit and wait for your ‘husband’, but-”

The dropped items rose off the floor again, held in her white glow. “Stop talking like that! I see what you’re doing here. You’re trying to take my Latvi away from me! Well, you can’t have him, and your sabotage didn’t work. Claiming that I would never love Latvi because he had ‘too little ambition’, have you no shame?”

What in the hell is she talking about? I mean, yeah, I think I did say something like that to Latvi, but that was when he tried to kill Dent! How can you not remember THAT part?

Readying myself for another round of arguing with the delusional mare, we were interrupted by a gasp from Bosco. “Snow, wait!”

“What, Bosco?” I near bellowed, not willing to take anymore jabs like the one from outside.

Naiara replaced him at the door, while he trotted over and whispered into my ear. “Didn’t you say Latvi’s memory is based around memory?”

Cold spread through my entire body. You’re not saying what I think you’re saying… “He wouldn’t.”

Inclining his head, Bosco grimaced. “I think he did.”

“With her? He’d go that far?” It was nearly impossible to believe. Latvi was insane, but this was the mare he loved. It defied belief.

“He’s the head of a coalition of thieves, rapists and murderers. You really think he wouldn’t get his hooves wet?”

Lithu apparently took offense to our whispering. “Whatever lies you two are saying about my Latvi, you need to stop right this instant!”

Shifting my gaze back and forth between her and Bosco, it felt like fireworks were going off in my brain. “W-what do we do? We can’t just leave her like this.”

“Guys,” Naiara called from the hallway. “the gunfire’s picking up again. I think the Plottawans noticed that we got Ballbuster. They’re making a push.”

Instantly, Bosco was all business. “Right, we do what we came here to do. We get Lithu, and take her back with us. After that, we contact Esto, and get her some help.”

“If you think I’m going anywhere with the likes of y-”

Bosco’s pistol butt to her temple put an end to her complaining. “Sorry, but I’m not asking. We’re out of time.” He grabbed a limp hoof and slung it over his shoulder. “Snow, help me carry her. Naiara, lead the way.”

~~~~~~

When we arrived back at the southern quarter, I was still nauseous at the idea of Latvi’s manipulation of Lithu’s memories, and not in the slightest bit happy that the inspiration might have come from me. Did I really push him to this when I goaded him back then? Is she like this because of me?

Wings, Undertow, and Schwarzwald were waiting for us when we returned. After making sure that Lithu, while restrained, was taken to the medical ponies, the six of us reconvened to swap notes.

“How’d it go?” Wings was cleaning her revolvers as we talked, tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. That’s kinda cute.

Undertow seemed exuberant. “Mission accomplished. I didn’t have to do much. A little prodding, and a lucky appearance by some Haylanders finished the job for me.”

Schwarzwald was downright orgasmic. Forest green eyes half-glazed, she huskily recounted her part in the whole plan. “I had much more fun than I thought I would, oh yes. Also, I looked at the Plottawans on the way back. They noticed our efforts.”

Nodding, Naiara sat down next to Undertow. “We noticed. Had to speed things up a little at the end because of it. Latvi-”

“...needs to die.” I interrupted, clenching my molars. “I can’t believe he did that to her.”

Along with an eyebrow raise from Schwarzwald, Wings and Undertow looked at us for an explanation. Bosco saved me the effort of explaining it. “The mare we brought back with us? She’s Lithu, used to work with Latvi. He was in love with her. Too bad she had a boyfriend. Too bad again that Latvi had him killed, then used his magic to completely overwrite her memories.”

“She was a scientist!” The words came out of my mouth halfway between a growl and a roar. “He turned her into a damn housewife! He was supposed to love her, not… this! Is this what he thinks love is?!”

“C’mon, Snow,” Wings tried to lay a claw on my shoulder, but I shrugged her off. “it’s not the best outcome, but at least there’s a chance to reverse it, right? Just like with Breeze. Nobody died, and we’ll help them both.”

“I… yeah.” She’s right. I don’t like that it happened, but Lithu’s still alive. Esto should be able to help her. We’ll just keep trying until we break the spell. I relaxed a little, and leaned against Undertow.

Grinning a little now, Wings addressed the others. “So what’s next? The Raiders have no leaders left; Latvi’s out of the city, and with Caber Toss and Ballbuster dead, they should be easy pickings for the Plottawans. Well, hopefully not TOO easy. If they keep killing each other down to nothing, that works too.”

Naiara chuckled. “Heh, should we just go ahead and let them?” We all laughed along with her.

Schwarzwald’s communicator crackled. “Come in, Schwarzwald.”

Fishing it out of her gear, the mercenary mare spoke warmly. “Amber-dahling, so nice to hear from you.”

“We do not have time, unfortunately. I need you to get back to me as soon as possible. I literally mean sprint.”

The good cheer faded immediately. “Amber, what is wrong?”

I froze up at Amber’s next words.

“Peanut contacted me a moment ago. He is on his way here.”

~~~~~~

Leaving Naiara to back up Cept as bodyguard for Breeze and Cassie, and with Wings and Bosco manning the walls in case Peanut brought more than just himself, Undertow and I followed Schwarzwald to Amber’s office.

We passed servants at every doorway. They held the doors open for us, then ran like hell the moment we were through. We three were the only ones heading into the building, while ‘out’ was the destination of every Bernstein assistant.

The mousy maid held the last door, and didn’t even wait for us to reach the door. The moment we came into view, she hollered “They are here, Lady Bernstein!” and bolted back the way we came.

Moving into the ballroom proper, it became clear that this was not all last minute. The terminals and workstations we’d seen when we first arrived in the city were all gone. The staff were absent too, naturally. In fact, only four things remained in the room itself; the refreshment-laden dais, the now-running fountain, a giant viewscreen mounted on the wall, and Amber Bernstein herself.

As we entered, she immediately turned from the window. Her business suit was still prim and proper, but she herself seemed harried, frazzled even. “You did not all come? I asked if you were with the others?”

Her entitled tone did nothing to improve my already sour mood. “Oh, sorry we can’t all come to save your self-dooming flank, Bernstein. Turns out that we’ve got other things to worry about, like looking after the city, or making sure that Breeze doesn’t get hurt any further. Your fault, by the way.”

She brushed off my jibes, running a hoof along her sienna fringe to straighten it. “Now is not the time, Red Ice. Peanut will be here any moment, and I need you three to be ready to step in, should our talk turn violent.”

I wasn’t done, however. “Peanut’s not going to sit and talk with me here, Amber. Unlike you, I don’t have a good relationship with him.”

Amber wasn’t looking at me, but rather using her reflection in the window to make sure her appearance was immaculate. “Which is why the three of you will be out of sight, up on the balcony. I told Peanut that he could not bring any weaponry, and that the meeting would be between he and I, nopony else. You are aware of his martial prowess. I see no reason that he should come armed, when not expecting anyone else. That will be your advantage.”

Schwarzwald stepped up next to Amber, smiling widely. “You are our bait, dear Amber. You continue to surprise. I should have invited you to Lethbridle sooner.”

For once, Amber didn’t respond to Schwarzwald’s compliments, she just pointed to the balcony. “You three need to hide. I do not know how much time we have left.”

“As you wish, dahling.” The three of made our way up to the balcony, and situated ourselves so that we had a clear view of the main ballroom, but could still duck out of sight if needed.

Then we waited.

This could be it. I got away from Peanut twice before, but this time I might have to stay and fight. Reaching out invisibly, I touched Undertow with my magic, revelling in her water wizardry. Undertow and Schwarzwald haven’t fought him. I have to make sure not to let up for a moment, or else they might be in danger.

Undertow touched back, and I felt her pumping all the love she could into the meld, trying to overwhelm the fear I was failing to hide from her. A physical smile was all the acknowledgement I could give. On our other side, Schwarzwald simply sat and waited, eyes fixed on Amber.

We weren’t waiting long. Barely a minute passed before we heard a door open, and measured hoofsteps in the corridor. The breath caught in my throat, and I slapped a hoof over my mouth.

“Amber Bernstein, so good to see you looking well.” Peanut’s warm, welcoming voice had my skin crawling. Despite hearing him first, I still wasn’t prepared to see him in person. First his flowing blond mane came into view, then the rest of him. 

Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t wearing battle armour, but rather a simple boilersuit. He wouldn’t have gotten within a mile of this office with Plottawan branding.

Amber answered in her usual, business-like way. “Peanut. A pleasure. I thank you for your assistance with the Raider situation.”

While still warm, Peanut’s next words took on a definite edge. “Yes, ‘the Raider situation’. How unlucky you and I must be, to have the Raiders attack the city just at the moment they did.”

Amber gave nothing away. “Indeed.”

Keeping his eyes on her, but turning side-on, Peanut began slowly pacing the floor. “I am afraid that this changes the parameters of our agreement somewhat, Lady Bernstein. You see, in coming to your aid, I have lost one third of the troops I brought. I understand your agents have done what they could to remove the Raider leadership, which I appreciate, but I am now at least one hundred soldiers down.”

“You also have a much better chance of winning now. The Raiders can’t hold against your fighters, as disorganised as they are. My mercenaries tell me that there are at least five hundred Raiders left. Add that on top of the other slaves you were promised, and you will definitely need your new premises.”

“Five hundred new slaves who will require much time and effort to bring to heel. This ‘bonus’ you offer does not offset the fact that I am missing far more troops than our projections predicted.” He held out a hoof. “Before we go any further, I will need you to fulfill at least part of your side of our bargain.”

Unfazed, Amber just nodded. “Agreed. I had you enter through Lethbridle’s western quarter for more than one reason. Aside from putting you in prime position to ambush the Raiders, there is also the fact that some of the city’s citizens are seeking safety in another of the tunnels, separate from the one you use to transit ponies between Plottawa and Lethbridle. I even had Red Eye’s concern take shelter there, and they will meet you there.” Amber took a step back, and swept a hoof across the food and drink on the dais. “Would you like to eat first, or will you head straight there?”

Peanut barely looked at the food. “I make it a point to, on excursions, eat the same rations as my slavers. It’s a wonderful tool for morale. That being said, I have certain ponies that I can trust to act in my stead.” Producing a two-way radio from one of his pockets, he keyed the speaker. “Peanut to Willow Wisp, come in. Over.”

“What?” I muffled into my hoof, then ducked down instantly, praying he didn’t hear. Willow Wisp? It can’t be the Overmare!

The response came through loud and clear. “Willow Wisp here. I read you Peanut, uh… over.”

My hoof had to be jammed further into my mouth. IT IS HER! How? Why?

Peanut smiled at Amber before replying. “Willow, I am here with Amber Bernstein. She will direct you to an underground shelter. Red Eye’s contingent should meet you inside. I’m putting Lady Bernstein on the line now, over.”

Taking the proffered transmitter, Amber began relaying instructions for reaching the shelter, as well as turning on the viewscreen, which displayed its location.

Up on the balcony, I was being pressed into the carpet by Schwarzwald and Undertow, to keep from freaking out. Amber’s leading them straight to the citizens, she IS selling out Lethbridle! And why is the Overmare working for Peanut?! Until Schwarzwald took her hoof off me, we couldn’t make a move, only wait for her to decide that enough was enough.

After a few minutes, three figures walked into view on the screen. One was instantly recognisable: A pegasus mare whose features I knew straight away. The other two ponies, both stallions, seemed familiar too, but I couldn’t place from where. The trio was followed by a squad of uniformed Plottawans.

The Overmare stopped dead centre in the screen, and reached for her radio. “Willow Wisp here, Lady Bernstein. We have reached the coordinates you provided. What’s next? Over.”

Smiling wider than I’d ever seen her before, Amber turned fully to face Peanut. Framed by the image at her back, she addressed the Overmare  cheerily. “Acknowledged. I am opening the way to the shelter door now. I advise against going in guns blazing, lest you start a panic.” With that, she reached over and pressed a button on the dais.

On the screen, a section of wall slid back, to reveal a heavy metal door. The Overmare indicated to the two stallions to move forwards, and they did so at a shuffle. The chains around their hooves slowed them down.

It was then that I realised, with wide eyes, where I knew them from. They’re Vor- uh… Vorbis! And Contego! They work for Lexi! Why are they here?

There was no sound on the screen, only that which came through Peanut’s radio, but the sound of the heavy door beginning to open sounded out as if we were there.
Tossing the radio back to Peanut, who stood in the centre of the ballroom, Amber moved so that the dais was between the two of them. “Peanut of Plottawa, let me introduce to you Red Eye’s… Lethbridle contingent.”

“AAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

The three of us, as well as Peanut, jumped at the scream. On the screen, Willow Wisp took flight, shooting straight upwards and out of view.

“What?” Peanut raised the transmitter to his lips, but the unholy racket that emerged from it kept him from speaking.

On the monitor, the source of the noise made itself known. From the shelter, a veritable menagerie of creatures boiled out; Molar Bears, Hissyflits, Tarantubaas, and other monsters I’d never even seen before.

As we watched in horror, Vorbis and Contego disappeared under the claws and fangs of the beasts. NO! We were gonna get you out!

The stampede didn’t stop with them, however. Even as the Plottawans opened up with their weapons, the massive Molar Bears simply shrugged it off and charged into their midst.

Several more survival-minded Plottawans broke ranks and bolted, however, even then they weren’t safe. The ground gave way beneath them, and they fell, flailing, into a subterranean pool. A pool that wasn’t empty. Trident-like horns protruded from the water, and surged towards the helplessly splashing Plottawans.

I felt Undertow stir next to me. “The Poceidoceroses from my lake!” She hissed quietly.

The rushing, uncontrollable mass of radiation-spawned monstrosities utterly massacred the slavers, but in complete silence. Without Willow Wisp, Peanut could only watch as the soundless carnage played out on screen, expressionless.

After an eternity, he raised the transmitter to his lips, speaking calmly and low. “Willow Wisp, return to Plottawa. I will meet you there.” Then he unemotionally put it away. “An explanation, if you please, Lady Bernstein.”

It was obvious to all involved that Amber was trying not to smile at the situation, and was trying to cover it with a hoof held daintily in front of her mouth. “It was our arrangement that I would create a path into Lethbridle for you and your slavers. You would have free reign to capture any citizens who were not able to flee the city, and would control the city itself. I would also have you meet any Red Eye forces within the city. In exchange, I get Plottawa, and thirty percent of any future business you undertake while in control of this city.”

He nodded stoically. “Yes. Why are you breaking our agreement?”

Tittering into her hoof, Amber’s jade eyes sparkled. “I take offence to that, sir. I have broken no agreement with you. I gave you a path into the city via the tunnels, and have made no attempt to interfere with your troops’ enslaving of any pony they encounter. More so, I have just introduced you to the totality of Red Eye’s forces within the city. The deal stands, former master of Plottawa.”

Sucking in air through his nostrils, Peanut noisily blew it out past his lips. Rotating his shoulders and joints, he began softly clapping. “Well played, Lady Bernstein. I withdraw my claim that you violated our agreement. I should have included an exclusivity clause, to prevent this occurrence. I assume you also had a deal with the Raiders, yes?”

“And with McCoy’s Monsters.”

Peanut’s smile was mirthless, though it did not take away from his natural good looks. “Comprehensive. I assume that promising the city to the Raiders gives you control over their territories in exchange, as with our deal?”

Inclining her head respectfully, Amber smiled back at him. “It is a reasonable exchange, as you would agree.”

Are they still angry at each other? They’re just… chatting.

“Indeed, Lethbridle is worth far more than any satellite settlements.” Tapping his scarred hoof against his chin, Peanut shrugged. “Which, I suppose, is the only remaining question. Why do you so easily give up Lethbridle, if you know its value?”

Amber pressed a button on the dais, then walked over to the window and opened it to the cold air. “For the following reasons.”

The moment she finished talking, an explosion sounded out in the city, then another, and another, and a final rumble. Four blasts had sounded out in succession.

Nodding in appreciation, Amber closed the window again. “What you have just heard was the bombing of the north, west, and eastern gates into Lethbridle, as well as the charges planted in your entry tunnel going off. You and your forces, along with Latvi’s Raiders, are now trapped here, in the city. Only the south gate remains, and I control it. That gate, too, will fall once the withdrawal of Lethbridle’s populace is complete.”

Peanut had removed his boilersuit, and folded it neatly in a corner. He was doing some simple warm-up exercises as he spoke. “A powerful gambit, Lady Bernstein. But you are still leaving me with Lethbridle. I can handle the Raiders, and even your captured beasts. My troops and I will survive this.”

“No,” Schwarzwald spoke up, standing and revving her gatling gun. She gracefully made her way down the stairs, with Undertow and I in tow. “... you will not, Peanut-dahling.” “

I watched comprehension dawn on Peanut’s face as we locked eyes, and fought the urge to shrink back. He’s not in control here. You have backup. You can take him… probably.

Schwarzwald continued, as she strolled a wide berth around Peanut, to stand by the Bernstein leader. “My dearest Amber has thought of everything. You see, we met an interesting fellow, who told us an amusing tale. It appears that the Bernstein Conclave has opened their purse strings quite wide. Every scrap of food, clothing, ammo, and batteries have been bought before you arrived.” Schwarzwald ‘bowed’ deeply. “Lethbridle is yours, former Plottawa master, every shattered stone and empty building. Enjoy.”

Peanut hadn’t stopped staring at me. I was less than thrilled. “Well, this is an eye-opener. Red Ice in cahoots with the Bernstein Conclave. That sheds a lot more light on things.” Looking back and forth between Amber and I, Peanut kept his smile. “I am impressed, truly I am, but unfortunately not so impressed as to not kill you both right now. Bernstein is far too dangerous to let live, and Snowflake has apparently cost me my chance to work with Red Eye. I can’t allow that to happen again.”

Before I could blink, his hoof was slamming up into Undertow’s chin. The force took her off the ground, spinning in the air and slamming down again. 

Schwarzwald’s battle saddle opened up with both rifle and minigun, but Peanut danced away from the streams, leading them towards Amber and I.

Yelping, I cannoned into Amber, taking us both to the floor as the hail of bullets passed over us. “Stay down!” I commanded, before rising to search for Peanut.

He was still fighting Schwarzwald, who had ditched her weapons and was trying to go hoof-to-hoof with. Almost contemptuously, he parried and dodged her strikes.

Just like with Naiara. I reached out with my magic, trying to snag him with some ice.

As he raised his right front hoof for an overhead strike, it paused just long enough for me lock on. A ball of ice formed around it, dragging it down to his side.

Surprised, Peanut took a heavy punch to the jaw. Spinning with the blow, his momentum brought the iced hoof up and around in a vicious backhoof, sending Schwarzwald sprawling.

Oh shit, I gave him a blunt object! Frantically, I willed the ice to spread further down his leg. Gotta slow him down!

Peanut was having none of it. Still spinning like a whirling dervish, he came after me. I scrambled to get away, catching his spinning hoof in the shoulder instead of the face.

It hurt like hell though, and sent me back into the window, which splintered around me. Groggily, I just managed to duck before the frozen hoof broke straight through the spot in the window where my head had just been.

“Stay away!” I cried. He’s too strong! I-I can’t beat him! He’s gonna kill me! My limbs felt like jelly as I tried to crawl away from the murderous stallion.

He was still trying to extract his iceballed hoof from the hole in the window. “Don’t run, Snowflake!” He called cheerily after me. “I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

“Nonononono!” Getting to the others was the only thing on my mind. If we could get away, we could reach the others we might get out of this alive.

“This is your penance, Red Ice!” Why does him being so upbeat make it so much worse? He finally succeeded in ripping his hoof from the window. “This is the second time you’ve trapped my hoof in ice. It’s rather unpleasant.”

On the other side of the room, I pressed myself against the wall, chest heaving, as he made his way towards me. I couldn’t focus enough to use magic, and he seemed to jump back and forth in my vision.

Schwarzwald jumped at Peanut from the side, rifle held like a club. Swinging down with all her might, I thought she might get him for a split second. Pirouetting, Peanut trapped the weapon on the ground with one hind hoof, while the other came up and caught Schwarzwald above the temple. She went down and didn’t get up again.

“No, Schwarz!” My legs wouldn’t move from the wall. She was too far for me to reach. She needs to be okay, I can’t beat him alone!

Peanut wasn’t even breathing heavily. “I told you right here, as we danced, Snowflake. You might have everypony else fooled, perhaps even yourself. But I’ve seen the real you, in my office, and I know you don’t have what it takes to play at this level.” Giving a ‘what are you gonna do’ shrug, he leapt at me, ice-hoof cocked and ready.

Squealing, I covered my head with my hooves. Peanut’s shadow loomed over me, and I waited for the pain.

It didn’t come, despite Peanut’s shadow looming over me. Peeping furtively past my hooves, I almost had a heart attack at the sight of Peanut just a few steps away. “W-wha?”

Hind hooves scrabbling for purchase, just above the floor, Peanut hung suspended in the air. Water tendrils wrapped around his shoulders, ice hoof, and throat.
Across the room, standing in the fountain, was a very welcome sight. 

“UNDERTOW!” Thankyouthankyouthankyou! “You saved me.”

“So this is how you survived so long, Snowflake.” How Peanut could calmly muse in the situation he was in was beyond me.

Horn blazing, water swirled around Undertow as she held him tight in the air. “Don’t touch her, you… you… bastard!”

She must be really pissed off. She hardly ever swears. I didn’t mind one bit at that particular moment.

Apparently, Peanut did. “Language, young lady. There’s no call for profanity.”

“You tried to kill my sister. You don’t lecture me!” Undertow snapped back, shaking with fury.

Undertow, no! Don’t tell him that!

“Sister?” Cold calculation ran through Peanut’s hazel eyes. “That is fascinating. Snowflake, why didn’t you ever tell me you had a sister?”

Oh no. “I… I…”

Supreme confidence returned to his expression. “Perhaps this day isn’t a total loss after all.”

“No.” Replied Undertow icily. “For you, it is.”

Then, using every drop of water in the fountain, she launched him through the glass window, into the open air beyond.

~~~~~~

“I’m… I’m okay.” I waved away Undertow as she tried to help me up. She stayed close, though. I wasn’t complaining. “That was amazing, Undertow. You saved me.”

Heh, even cuter when she blushes.

Schwarzwald, once again fully equipped, was standing with Amber. The Bernstein leader was sitting on the fountain, and staring at the stallion-sized hole in the window.

Snow was already starting to blow in. Shivering lightly, Amber seemed to rouse from her stupor. “You have my thanks, all of you, for dealing with Peanut.”

Undertow’s expression was carefully blank when responding. Her goggles heightening the unnerving factor. “You are welcome. Now don’t ever make us do that again.”

Licking at her wounds, Schwarzwald disagreed. “Do not listen to her, dahling. Battles such as this are the most fun! I am already looking forward to the next one.”

I bet you wouldn’t be saying that if Wings was here. I wanted absolutely no part of another run in with Peanut, ever again. Can’t believe I ever thought he was handsome. “If Undertow hadn’t just killed him, I’d still be running the other way. Heck, my knees are still shaking!” They were, but it was also a HUGE weight of my mind to know that Peanut was gone.

Instantly, Undertow was all concern and hoof-holding. “Lean on me, big sister.”

I waved her away again. “I’m alright. I just don’t want any more action today. Let’s just get out of here, blow the south gate, then collect our skywagon.” Amber was treated to my most determined glare. “Oh yeah, don’t think I forgot.”

Amber did take the helping hoof, offered by Schwarzwald, to stand. I almost laughed at how she looked. Rather than her usual rigidly business-like look, her mane was disheveled, there was a bruise forming on her cheek from when I’d mashed her into the floor to avoid getting shot, her knees were also shaking, and Schwarzwald was openly ogling where her skirt had ridden up. “As I proved with Peanut, I stick to any deal made.”

“As you proved with Peanut, you have a very liberal understanding of ‘sticking to any deal made’.” I deadpanned in response. “Let’s just go.”

Nodding, Amber finally stood on her own hooves instead of leaning on the older mare. “Schwarzwald, will you please go and collect some of my mercenaries? I will require an escort to the south gate.”

Stretching to get the kinks out, Schwarzwald was already on her way. “Of course, Amber-dear.”

The three of us watched her go in silence. Said silence turned awkward when she was gone.

Undertow and I inspected the fountain. I ran a hoof along the bottom of the basin. “Bone dry. You really went all out, huh?”

She blushed again. “He deserved it.”

Leaning against the fountain, I slid back down to the floor bonelessly. “No argument from me, little sister. I’m just glad it’s over.”

“It will be over when Schwarzwald returns with my escort, and we are able to leave the city to the Raiders, Plottawans, and beasts.” Amber had found an angle in the mirror to use as a reflection, and was fixing her outfit.

I didn’t raise my head, but let it loll in her direction. “Can I just say that this is a hell of an endgame, Bernstein? You only showed up here in the region a little while ago. Are your plans always this complicated?”

She managed a genuine laugh, or at least a very convincing act of one, for the first time since I’d known her. “No, this is a special case.”

Undertow plopped herself down next to me. “Why?”

Still facing her reflection, Amber’s eyes flicked towards the corridor. “It is… not unpleasant to work towards something other than profit for a change. To be, for once, Amber-dah” She caught herself midway, and hastily corrected. “To be Amber, rather than ‘Lady Bernstein’.”

Aww, that’s precious. Mirroring my sister’s knowing look, I leaned back against the fountain again. “I getcha. Well, while we wait, I’m gonna help myself to some of that foo-”

A strong gust of wind cut me off, and forced all us to cover our eyes as snow swirled around us. Shivering, we all crowded down behind the fountain, but it did little good. The squall wasn’t letting up.

I tapped Undertow and Amber on the shoulders, and pointed to the door. Shielding our eyes with our hooves, we crunched along the snow-covered ballroom floor.

Halfway there, I tried to lighten the mood. “Heh, guess winter’s finally here, huh?”

“I don’t believe this is really the time, Snowflake.”

“Oh lighten up, Amber, we’ll be out of the cold in just a-”

The world between my upheld hooves darkened for a moment, then brightened again. Clicking my tongue against the roof of my mouth, I looked out of the window. The heck was that?

The thing in the blizzard that cast the shadow made another pass, and I had my answer.

“No…” I whispered, going rigid. “It’s not possible.”

“What?” Undertow frantically brushed snow from her goggles, even though they were half-covered again in seconds. “What is it?”

I have to get you out of here! “Undertow, take Amber and get down to the ground level.” It was hard to keep the quaver out of my voice.

“Huh? Why?”

Grabbing both roughly, I pushed them towards the door. “Don’t argue, just go!” 

Without waiting for a response, I pushed them through the corridor to the staircase.
Once they were safely inside, ignoring their questions, I slammed the door behind them, and sealed it shut with my ice.

On the other side, Undertow pounded against the blockage. “Snowflake, what are you doing? Let me through!”

“NO!” I bellowed, before calming my tone. “You two need to get out of here. I’ll handle this.”

“Handle what?”

“Just go!” I ordered, before turning and heading for the roof access. I could still hear both of them calling after me, but didn’t stop. I won’t let you anywhere near this. This isn’t up for debate.

Charging up the roof access, I double-bucked the door open. The force of the blizzard descending on Lethbridle nearly bowled me over. Dropping to one knee for stability, it was a few seconds before I pressed forwards.

Even with the blizzard, I had could see a fair amount of the city. The city… and the demon flying above it. Howling a rolling roar, the horse-shaped spirit rode the surged along the blizzard, even as the city froze beneath it.

Gritting my teeth, I yelled into the storm. “YOU CAN’T BE HERE! SHE’S SUPPOSED TO KEEP YOU OUT!”

“SNOW!” Wings burst through the swirling winds to land beside me.

My heart stopped. You’re almost worse than Undertow! My hoof slashed between her and I. “Get out of here, Wings! It’s too dangerous!”

She pointed out into the blizzard. “You know what that thing is?”

Nodding, my eyes stung with flakes as the world ended around us. “It’s a Windigo.”

Jaw dropping, and sapphire eyes widening, the griffon stilled. “That thing? But I thought that they couldn’t get past the northern mountains.”

“They shouldn’t be able to!” With the wind picking up again, it was getting harder to hear without shouting. “Chrysalis and Cadence should be keeping them back!”

“Did all the fighting draw it in?” Jaw set, Wings unslung her revolvers. “So what do we do?”

You’re asking me? “I don’t know! I’ve never seen a Windigo before!”

Her head snapped back to me, the blue fire rising in her irises. “Yes, you have. The Memory Orb! You’re the only one who saw it in person. How did they handle the Windigos?”

“I-I don’t know!” After last few days, and the fight with Peanut, my brain just wasn’t working right. “Wings, I’m not an Alicorn Princess, or a Changeling Queen. I can’t stop it!”

Her talons grabbed me around the shoulders. “I’m not asking you to, not alone. I’ll help you any way I can, but I wasn’t the one who saw these things up close in the Orb. That was you.” Her grip tightened to just short of painful. “Snow, I need you to focus and work with me here. What. Do. We. Do?”

Staring at her blue fire eyes was much easier than looking at the Windigo. “I… okay.” With a deep breath, I closed my eyes. Okay, think back. What happened in the Orb? Cadence went into the cave, met up with Chrysalis… then there was the cavern with the Windigos. They had them in cages! But we don’t have any cages… I squirmed, my hope already fading.

Wings’ voice, rough but firm, cut in from beyond my eyelids. “Keep going, Snow. You’re okay. I’m right here.”

Focusing on her voice, and the touch of her claws, I managed to dull the worry and dread. Alright… the cages are out. I don’t know the spell. What else did they do? Chrysalis, she did something. What was it? I mentally bashed at my brain to remember. She… she… I GOT IT! “She hid them with her blizzard!”

Wings’ claws left my shoulders and wrapped me in a hug. “Alright, I knew you could do it! How can I help?”

“I don’t know if this’ll work, but I’m gonna try something. If it doesn’t work, I need you to get the others out of the city.” If all else failed, I was more than happy to sacrifice the city, as Amber had done, to keep my family and friends safe.

Sheathing her weapons, she nodded and flexed her wings. “Done. What else can I do?”

You’re already doing plenty. “Watch the Windigo. See if it has any weak points.”

With a grim smile, she got into position next to me.

I really wish I had the confidence I just faked. Summoning magic into my horn, I tried to channel as much of Chrysalis’ actions from the Orb as I could. If I could focus on them, then maybe, just maybe, my spell might come out like hers.

Out over the city, the Windigo swooped low, leaving a cover of ice over every building it flew over.

Here we go. Squaring my hooves, my horn’s eye found the cold that the demon was emitting. Connecting was not gentle, like it was with Undertow. The Windigo immediately sensed my arcane presence, and the cold itself was… not like mine. Mine felt natural, like it was part of water, part of nature. The cold of the Windigo, a spirit of the north wind, was...  unnatural, harsh, lifeless. Cadence thinks these things are full of love? I respectfully disagree.

The Windigo was heading straight for us now, or rather, straight for me. “Get out of here, Wings. It knows where I am!”

“Not a chance.” And that was that.

Pumping even more magic into my horn, it became harder to keep focus on the Windigo. I don’t think I’ve gone this hard since the Medical bay in the Stable. “If this… goes wrong, then I… told you so, in advance… Gigglewings.”

A warm wing, the colour of rich chocolate, settled over me. “Then you’ll just have to do it right, yeah?”

The Windigo was almost on us now, but for a brief moment, I felt no fear. All I felt was the warmth of those feathers. “Always have to win, don’t you, Blue Fire?”

I fired off the spell. A great torrent of cold and snow burst outwards, spreading into a screen in front of the Windigo. Hindered, the beast reared its legs. At my command, my blizzard spread further, into a disc a hundred metres wide under the apparition.

Roar fading to bewildered huffs, its head swung back and forth listlessly.

“It’s working!” Wings was practically vibrating beside me. “It’s confused! Keep it up, Snow.”

“R… right.” Damn this hurts. Stopping wasn’t an option, pain or not. Blessing my sister for her lessons in control, I angled the snow shield into the Windigo’s path. Shifting into a concave bowl, I gradually brought it up and around the monster, cutting it off in all but one direction: Out of the city, and back to the northern mountains.

Go home. The exit’s that way. Go back to your herd.

Snuffling, the Windigo paused, not doing anything. It didn’t roar, or howl, or move at all. It just hung there, in the twilight sky.

Please.

Seven thousand lifetimes passed in the next few seconds before, mercifully, the nightmare creature took flight out of the city.

I kept my blizzard shield with it as long as I could, but it was shrinking in real time. Finally, with the Windigo just disappearing from view, I had nothing left to give, and the shield dispersed.

I keeled over. I didn’t feel myself hit the roof. I didn’t feel Wings’ feather slip from my back.

I didn’t feel anything. All sound was muffled, and the world seemed to lack colour.
Except for a pair of sapphire blue eyes. I saw those clear as day.

The owner of those eyes pulled me back into a sitting position, one claw on my back for support. “You did it, Snow.”

I think I managed a smile, it was hard to be sure without feeling anything. “Yeah, let’s… let’s never do that again.”

Enthusiasm undiminished, Wings kept smiling. “It scared the shit out of me when that thing got close, but you totally did it! You saved the city!”

I didn’t save anything. A Windigo is here, in the Wasteland. That’s bad news for everyone. Chrysalis must be getting weaker. The thought almost put me on my back again. She couldn’t stop it. She might stop 99% of them, but she can’t stop them all. She needs our help. She needs more love.

Electricity tingled all up and down my limbs as my hoof shakily came up to tap Wings in the chest. “You.”

Smile still in place, Wings half-laughed at my actions. “You too.”

NO DAMMIT! I poked her harder. “You. Not me. You saved the city.”

Now her smile faltered, and she drew back slightly, brows creasing. “You… what?”

My tongue felt dry and papery in my mouth, but I forced the words out. “Blue Fire saved the city, beat the Windigo.”

Definitely not smiling now, Wings shook her head. “Snow, c’mon, you can’t-”

“Right.” I replied emphatically. “I can’t. Only the hero can save the day. Only Blue Fire could save Lethbridle like that.”

I might as well have punched her in the chest, rather than poked. Wings was positively repulsed by my words. “I’m not gonna do that! I can’t take credit for this!”

“You have to!” As the feeling in my flesh returned, so did the sound and colour of the world. “Wings, a Windigo got through. Whatever love is keeping Chrysalis and Cadence’s blizzard up is not enough. They NEED Blue Fire to be loved by the people. They need it.”

Her head dropped. Her feather tail brushed my mane as she stared at the floor. When she spoke, it was in a dull mumble. “Snow, this doesn’t feel right.”

“Heh, try it from my end.” Our heads tapped together gently. “We both know this is the way it has to be. This is how we’ll beat them.”

She didn’t respond, instead just staying there, head on mine.

My hoof was still on her chest, so I gave her a quick shove. “Get going. Tell them who saved Lethbridle.”

~~~~~~

On second thought, I should have asked for a ride. I staggered my way through the empty south-Lethbridle streets. The evacuation clearly well underway.

After suffering from the Windigo’s strafing, it didn’t seem like the Plottawans or Raiders were up for making another push. It was a slim silver lining, almost microscopic, but I was willing to take any good news.

To a newcomer, Lethbridle could almost be called peaceful, and I would just be another jelly-legged drunkard trying to figure out how to get home. Snickering at the image, I continued my glacial gait.

Rounding a corner, another yawn struck me. They came fast and frequently, and constantly tempted me to just close my tired eyes and lay down in the street. “Stupid gate,” I muttered. “be closer to where I am.” Should’ve just had Wings bring the sky carriage around.

Further up the street, I noticed a shrouded figure fiddling with… some gadget that threw up some light. My vision was going blurry, so I couldn’t tell much about them, but they didn’t seem to have noticed me. As I wobbled past them, I raised my voice. “You should get to the south gate, guy. ‘s weird stuff going on in town tonight.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Snowflake.”

Hey, I know that vo- It was about that time that my face slammed into the wall. “Let me go!”

A silken voice whispered in my ear. “Oh, I don’t think.”

I almost fainted right there. “But… I saw you die!”

Keeping one hoof iron firm against my head, Peanut chuckled. “Well, you see, the thing about that is… you know what? I’m not going to tell you. I want you to wonder, and dream up all sorts of ideas as to how I survived, and I want you to die not knowing.” Lowering his voice, he winked at me conspiratorially. “It was cool, though.”

I beat a Windigo, I can beat him. Fight back, Red Ice! Putting both my hooves on the wall, I tried to push back against him.

“Oh please.” With barely a grunt, he rammed me back into the wall. “I saw you just now. You can barely walk.” He leaned in again, wearing a crooked smile. “I can kill you with one hoof. In fact I will, but first, I wanted to show you my new toy.”

His other hoof brought the gadget up to my eye. I recognised it immediately.
“That’s a Pipbuck!”

“I know, right?” He chortled. “How lucky can a guy get? Lives through defenestration, and then comes across a Pipbuck for free. Well, I didn’t pay for it, at least. I took it off a buffalo.”

“B-buffalo?” I twisted desperately against the wall, scraping an entire side of my face.

The look of utter satisfaction in his hazel eyes made me sick to my stomach. “Uh huh. I couldn’t believe it either. What are the chances of coming across a Stable Dweller way out here?”

Silently glaring, I said nothing.

Peanut seemed happy to pick up the slack. His confident smile unbalanced a little. “That’s not even the best part. It seems there are some recordings on here. According to this, the guy was looking for his sister.”

Bristling, I tried again and again to free myself. “If you hurt him, I swear I’ll-”

“Die. That is literally the only thing you have left on your schedule today. Was that not clear? Well, then again, now that I have this, I’m hardly going to stop with just you, am I?”

“Llleave herrr allonnne.”

For the first time, frustration seeped into Peanut’s voice. “Oh, what now?”

Stalking unsteadily out of an alley, Inbox continued to growl at Peanut. “Let go S-S-S-Stable-ny!”

Peanut’s hoof came off my back, as he turned to face the newcomer. “Listen, ghoul, I really have had a bit of a day. Could you please look the other way for a minute or two? I shouldn’t be long.”

Rubbing at my scratched up face, I couldn’t take my eyes off the two of them. “Inbox, are you…” I stopped when his one uncovered eye found me. Oh no. Even in the dim light, it was obvious. He was fading, and fast. “Inbox, don’t do it, he’ll kill you!”

Peanut made no bones about it. “She’s right, you know. I only want to kill her right now, but if you interfere then I’ll make an exception.”

Inbox wouldn’t, or more likely couldn’t, listen. His stance was dropping; shoulders low, hind legs coiled to spring, teeth bared. It was a miracle he’d lasted as long as he had, but the feral ghoul inside him was winning.

He managed one more word, choked out in a spittle-laden rage. “RrrrrrrrrrrrrUN!”

All that was Inbox faded in that moment, and the feral ghoul threw itself at Peanut.

I didn’t stop to watch. The moment they clashed, I was up and running down the street.

Peanut’s laughter, uneven as he fought back against what was left of my friend, reached me as I ran. “I’ll find you, Snowflake. You can’t hide from me and my Pipbuck now!”

I just ran. No answer would help, and I needed every bit of breath to keep going. Street after street, turn after turn, I ran. A block away from the gate, I turned a corner and ran straight into Buff. Bouncing off, I landed hard on the cobbles.

He turned, hunched up and eyes hard. “Give me back my Pipbuck you son of a-... Snow?” Hunkering down, he dragged me upright. “You’re okay!”

“Buff!” I tugged and pulled at him. “We have to go, now! Peanut has your Pipbuck, and he might be coming after us.”

Nostrils flaring, Buff looked back down the way I came. “Then I’ll-”

“NO! We run now, Buff. That’s an order.” I would not allow any member of my family to take on Peanut, not without an army.

“He surprised me last time, Snow. Don’t worry.”

“BUFF!” I shrieked in his face.

He finally got the message, slinging me up onto his shoulders. “Right, okay. Running time.”

Clinging tightly to his fur, I let him thunder along the rest of the way to the gate, and through it. Evacuees were still streaming through, but my eyes found everyone I gave a damn about. Undertow, Lo, Wings, Bosco, Naiara, Cept and Cassie were standing off to the side, Breeze was supported on a trolley, with Amber and Rockhaunch. We had all gotten out.

We would never go back to Lethbridle again.

It was small comfort, however, given what I'd just witnessed.

Goodbye, Inbox.

If Peanut gets out, and I’m not counting anything out after that, then he can find us anywhere. He’s got a Pipbuck now!

What are you, Peanut?

~~~~~~

Level up!

Perks gained:

Gambler’s Fallacy - Doubling down on the Bernstein Conclave means a boost to stamina, but drop in luck when working with/for Amber.

~~~~~~

Author’s note:

Finally, we’re done. It’s been seven months since I release chapter 22. That was way too long. Then again, so was this chapter BP. Anyway, the chapter’s done now, and I do hope you enjoy the near 48,000 words of it. I enjoyed writing it, and hated it sometimes too, but really am glad that I kept at it.

As always, a big thank you to KKat, Y1, Auramane, Cascadejackal (he did the original cover art, which is still on the Fallout Equestria wiki), Void Heart (he did the new cover art), Shunketsunoponi and you, the readers. Please read and comment, and pass the word along if you like the story.

That’s all for now, folks. Please keep reading, commenting, and spreading the word on Old Souls. I really appreciate your feedback, and welcome back.