"Come on, we have to move. Have you got everything?"
"I, um... " The Rarity eyed her well-stuffed saddlebags and travel pack. "I think so."
"Good," I said as we made for the town's entrance, "We have to move quickly."
I studied the sky as we trotted. It had taken far too long to get the Rarity ready for the Wastes. It was nearly evening, and well, we'd already been expecting the attack on the fifth night. Children tend to do things like that.
"Spearhead," the Rarity said from beside me, "I don't think I can do this on my own. What happens if I make a mistake?"
"Well," I replied with a grin, "you won't have to worry about your mistake for very long." She didn't appreciate my joke much, so I tried again. "Did it say anything in that journal of yours about your friends braving the Wastes?"
She studied me with a worried gaze as she held a brisk trot to keep up with my notable stride. "I suppose. There was even an entry from me about it."
My grin grew into a smile. "Then you've got nothing to worry about! After all, you've done this before."
I planned to walk her to the end of the pass to give her the best shot, and it was a good thing we did because not a minute after we left Snowhaven we found a Child heading our way.
The Rarity screamed when she saw it. I remembered my first sighting with a shiver as I tossed the pike at her. "Let me handle this!" I shouted. "And watch carefully! It's the only lesson you're going to get!"
It had been a pony once. A pegasus. "Evacuate the city!" it screamed and slithered into the sky on centipede wings.
"Be careful!" I shouted at the Rarity. "Don't lose track of it!"
It made a circle or two in the air before twisting and spiraling down far faster than I expected. "Spearhead!" I dropped my pike and dove to the side and its crystalline teeth passed inches from my neck. It still wore scraps of rusted armor.
"Hurting me! Ngh!" the Child cried as it untangled itself. It reared up and showed me the spikes sprouting down the length of its underside, and if would have used them if it hadn't been for the pike that thrust itself through its chest.
"Get away from him!"
The thing spun around in an instant. "Eep!" the Rarity went. I scrambled to my own pike and swung it like a sword, carving a ragged hole through the back of its neck. It had the sense to look surprised before it collapsed to the ground.
"Oh, my," the Rarity said.
I took a moment to catch my breath. "Well done," I panted, "I think you'll be just fine."
She only stared at a lock of stray gray-and-purple mane that had fallen over her face. Her brown furrowed, her horn lit, and a sky-blue maneband floated out of her bags. She tied her hair back in one clean, practiced motion.
When we got to the end of the pass, the Rarity paused and shrugged off her elegant shawl, examining it for a moment. "Thank you, Spearhead. Your town has been beyond kind." She levitated it to me and redonned her barding and bags. "For the next of my friends."
I took it. "Good luck, Miss Rarity. Don't forget to wear the mask when you get to the Wastes."
She nodded, gave me a hesitant smile, and then she was gone.