//------------------------------//
// Chapter X: Sparrowtans 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Fallen Angels 
// by Tetragrammaton 
//------------------------------//


We were hurrying through the streets of the town. Well, actually it was Tulip doing the hurrying, holding one of my wings in her telekinetic magic, while my two unicorn companions and I were just trying to keep up with her. I for obvious reason - I really liked my face and knees unharmed as they were now - and the other because they were companions. Or because they didn't want to miss the show. I still didn't know what was driving Gingerbread right now, but the still bouncing mare seemed far too happy for my liking, considering our situation. 

The evening sun, even if it was dimmed by the cloud cover, cast its warm light over the town's buildings, making me sigh. It almost looked like home. But I would have to be content with this, going home was out of the question. I wouldn't go home any time soon and this town, its ponies, especially the pink one and the other councilponies... they wanted me to stay here, even if it was just for a short while. I just hoped Old Timer's offer was still valid, now that the griffins, those Sparrowtans, had arrived. 

The Sparrowtans...
Great, another trial. That was the third in three days, the fourth if I count Silver Tongue's interrogation. And as a foal I had wished never to see a court room from the inside. But I had one huge advantage I hadn't had the last three times: this time I was really innocent, I had nothing to hide and that meant the griffins wouldn't be able to find something. If they didn't condemn me just because they hated pegasi. And since they were griffins, that was most likely the case. If the surface dwellers were despising the Enclave that much, I really didn't want to think about the people we had actually fought a war against.

"Have you seen them?" I asked the running pink mare next to me. "Or did they say something? The griffin-judges I mean. "

Tulip huffed, slowing down pace to be able to talk.
"Judges? They don't look like judges and that's coming from the mare who holds the assizes together with Shotgun. At least our judges don't wear metal armor and carry enough weapons for our entire town with them. Well, they say they will be the judges, but... I think they look a bit odd for that."

Oh fantastic, knowing my luck they were most likely hangponies... hanggriffins... executioners, that should be the right and least complicated word.

"And? Did they say something? About me?"

"I heard nothing. Before I left to keep watch for you they were talking about the dead griffin's badges and demanded to see them. They didn't really seem to care about the dead on. Griffins are strange..."

"And what about me?"

"The only thing they said it that they want to talk to "whoever took him down" and "reward you for your act". Sounds pretty ominous if you ask me, but don't worry... somehow..."

We arrived at the big hall that had housed two trials before. Two guards with rifles slung around their backs eyed us suspiciously but opened the door before we collided with it. In the brief moment I had eye contact I could see that their looks reflected the usual scorn for me, but there was also... indecision and fear? They looked more than just slightly worried and I doubted it was because of me. Passing the front door and traversing the rooms and corridors which followed on our way back to the court room, I couldn't see ponies apart from us, except for a pair of mares who darted past us, whispering in an intimidated manner. The griffins had to be impressive, more impressive than me at least, but that wasn't really difficult, was it?

As we turned around the corner that hid the entrance door my gaze fell not on a griffin, but on Shotgun, the second councilpony, the crimson and mean one. And even he looked anxious, even if it was just a bit. As we came into view, he ended his nervous patter and darted towards us.

"She's here? Good. Good... but I'm afraid there has been a small rescheduling. They want to talk with him first." he nodded towards Angel and both Tulip, Angel and me gasped in unison.

"With him?!"

"With me? Why?" Angel asked with much less wonder than I had expected. In fact, he seemed to be the only one not caught completely off guard. Or had he, like apparently always, seen this coming.

"How am I supposed to know that? They're griffins, it's probably some kind of "stick to the protocol"-mania, like all those feathered freaks." Shotgun spat. Right, I had forgotten he didn't really liked enclave ponies, but that it included griffins as well was surprising. I had assumed if the surface ponies despised the Enclave they were sympathizing with its enemies. "Maybe it's a way to test her" he nodded towards me, "story. I'm pretty sure that's it. And I would recommend you to do as they say, you know... they seems kinda... insistent."

"I never thought about refusing. There's nothing we have to hide."

"You said the same thing last time."

"We have nothing to hide from them." Angel put an emphasis on every word. "An unlike last time, the truth won't hurt us. Tell them I'm here and ready for the questioning. Is there anything else anypony or -griffin wants from me?"

"Well, they didn't insist on you leaving your weapons behind, but it still might be prudent to..."

"You never face a Sparrowtan without your weapons. They never do it and they don't expect it from others." Angel said, stepping forward and knocking his hoof against the door behind Shotgun, who jumped up in horror, and then the grey unicorn stallion returned to my side. "They say it would make them look weak if they demand the disarming of their discussion partner." he whispered to me and the other two mares.

Before the councilpony could say another word, the door of slammed open, nearly smashing the crimson pony standing right in front of it. The spot where the pony's head had been moments ago was now filled with the head of a griffin. The griffin was clenched in steel blue metal armor and small armor plates not unlike the ones on my forelegs, were covering his – at least I assumed it was a he, I never imagined female griffins – chest and forelegs down to his claws. An also blue helmet, whose metal plates were hiding the cheeks, sat on his head and an about one inch broad three-colored ribbon - steel blue, white and then steel blue again - was slung around his armored chest. The griffin's eyes narrowed as they focused on us.

"You are Guardian Angel." the griffin snarled, or whatever griffins did instead. It sounded more like a low mew. He pointed a sharped talon at the only stallion left in the hallway. "You will accompany me for the questioning. You can keep your weapons, but any attempt to attack us will result in your immediate destruction. Is that understood?"

"Of course, Sparrow. But I would like to know one thing first:"

"Ask away, unicorn." One of the blue armored griffin's claws patted on the ground and his eyes narrowed even more than before, his voice sounded cold and controlled. A bit like one of the older enclave soldier, minus the hostile tone of the voice of course.

"Why do you want to question me? Whirling Feather here's the only one who can tell you the truth. It's her story you want to hear." That sounded as if he wanted to extradite me. If I wouldn't have known him better, I would think his next words would be... "It's her you want."

My eyes widened and I gasped, again. And again in unison with Tulip and Gingerbread. When had I grown to be so cliche marely? Gasping all the time, squatting in fear and being unable to speak for myself. And now he was... no, there certainly was a reasonable explanation for his last words. Even if it sounded as if he wanted to abandon me, I knew him too well for that. He was most likely just trying to monitor the situation. Yes, that's what he was doing. Hopefully.

The tapping ended and the soldier's yellow eyes wandered to me and then back to Angel, ignoring everypony else in the room. His whole appearance was intimidating, not threatening like the giant RADscorpion, but commanding respect as an enemy or discussion partner in this case.

"It's simple: the captain thought it to be the best to verify your companion's story. There is a second, a primary reason, but you won't be told. Answer all the questions truthfully and there won't be any trouble for you. Now come with me, unicorn. The sooner we start, the sooner you will be reunited with your associates."

With a nod Angel took a step forward, passed the armored griffin, and towards door he was holding open. Before he stepped through it entirely, the grey buck turned around one last time, smiled and nodded towards me. Don't worry. was what he was trying to signalize. Then the door closed and I was alone with Tulip, Gingerbread and Shotgun, who had stayed put behind the opened door.

Silence.

He would be alright. Nopony ever stated those Sparrowtan griffins were evil - well, nopony down here. And they had to know it, didn't they? If anything, the townsfolk had portrayed them as righteous and absolutely abiding to their own laws. Something no pegasus back home in the clouds would ever have the opportunity to witness over the barrel of a gun.

"Don't worry, sweety. They won't harm him or something like that. If they say "questioning" they mean just a normal set of questions, nothing extravagant." Tulip said, laying on of her pink forelegs on my shoulder. "He'll be just fine." 

"I know." I sighed. Of course he would be alright. He was always alright. "I doubt they could harm him, even if they wanted."

"Don't be so sure, I mean, they're Sparrow..." Gingerbread began, but was immediately shushed by Tulip.

"Would you just shut up please? I'm trying to comfort her." the pink mare hissed. 

"But I don't want her to have false expectations." The red-robed scribe answered. "I mean, she's still new down here and when it comes to those griffins, the last thing I want her to..." 

If anything about the ancient stories about the Elements of Harmony, those six magical manifestations of pony virtues, was true, I cursed Honesty in this moment. Sure, being honest was nice and all, but to the point were it made other ponies uncomfortable with no good being achieved for another pony?

"They won't harm her, do you understand that? If she hasn't done anything wrong, she'll be free to go in a few hours!"

"Well, from what I've heard of the Sparrowtans..." 

And there started that again. I came to think that the Enclave and the griffins - at least those ones - weren't that different when it came to bad publicity. At least around Trottingham, the area where Gingerbread came from if I wasn't mistaken. I shut down my ears as the Steel Ranger scribe started telling almost the same stories from earlier about the Enclave. Abduction, experiments and murder seemed to be the most popular leisure activities among the winged ones, when we weren't busy conquering the surface of course. But apart from that, Gingerbread knew very little about the talon armed warriors, except that they were somehow honorable. Again that statement stayed in the room without any clarification. And like her I knew nothing that would make the future trial less threatening. Of course, I hadn't done anything to harm those griffins, but still... I felt really uncomfortable. I had killed one of their soldiers...

 Please let him be a Dashite - wrong word, featherbrain - renegade. 

The first metaphorical slap to my face was followed by a real one. How could I hope not to be punished for shooting a pony... griffin in the back? How could I hope to get away unpunished for this crime? How would anything justify what I had done? I had ended another beings life, even if they would discharge me, I would still be guilty of...

A third slap, again right in the face. But this time it wasn't me punching, my forelegs were occupied with holding my paining head. Looking up I saw both Tulip and Shotgun holding back Gingerbread, who stood a feet away from me, a big red book held in her magical grip. By Celestia's scroll collection, being lectured hurt a lot less in the Enclave.

"What was that for?" I heard Tulip scream as her magic wrapped around the tome too, trying to get it away from the redheaded mare. "You... you just hit her! With a bloody bulky book!"

"She was thinking." Gingerbread replied, fighting over control of the book. "She was thinking too much about passed things and possible future outcomes. Those thoughts can make a pony's head explode they told me back in the bunker, not literally of course, but metaphorical. I saw it in her eyes she was worrying more than necessary. And "slapping the face" is considered an adequate remedy among the Steel Rangers. When it comes to thinking and grazes and stuff like this."

"But you punched her in the face!"

"Thank you, Ginger." I said, rubbing my nose as I stood up again. The poor thing had suffered the worst fate, but it wasn't broken. At least I hoped so. "I really needed somepony to snap me out of it. You're right: too much worrying..."

"You see? You see?" With a nudge against her opponent's horn, Gingerbread regained control about her tome and levitated it back to her saddle bags. "Of course I'm right. I'm the scribe and you are the...local... tribal... whatever you are. I am educated in psychology and medicine and much more. Did you know a pegasus' wings consists of eight bones of which three are..."

"Actually it's just five bones. A pre-war pigeon's wing has - or had - the five plus three." That was the only thing I really knew about non-pegasus anatomy, I didn't even know why I knew that. As much as I appreciated the scribe for getting me back from the dark thoughts, I did want to defuse the situation a little. From the looks on Tulip's face, she was right about to go for Gingerbread's jugular. My plan succeeded, the orange mare shrank a little and she was quiet for a moment. But only a brief moment.

"Fine, if you say so, Miss Pegasus."

"She should know it, don't you think, Gingerhead?" 

"It's Gingerbread!" Gingerhead - no, Gingerbread shrieked, glaring at the pink mare. 

"I'm terribly sorry for that, junior scribe."

I was surprised Gingerbread's redheaded head could grow even redder, wonders never cease. The two of them would never be a happy couple, that was for sure. If I didn't want one of the mares gouging the other's eyes out with her horn I would have to defuse even more. A look around showed me that Shotgun had sought refuge at the far end of the corridor. No help from this side... 

"Oh, you didn't say that, you tribal...tribal!"

Rifling through my saddle bags and the ones Angel left behind, I searched for anything that could help me to cool the two mares down. I severely doubted ammunition would help, especially those incendiary rounds, but even if it had been freezing bullets, I didn't believe in the intended cooling-down effect. A flashbang or some kind of tranquilizer gun would have helped, but then again that would have been really radical, too radical for the townsfolk's and griffin's liking, heck! even for my own.

More ammunition.
Maps and papers - rubbish.
Even more ammunition - How was he even able to store all those bullets in those small bags?
The water bottles I had taken from Silver Tongue - bad thing I wasn't thirsty right now.

Wait, water bottles! That had worked earlier. Well, it had worked on me, but I doubted a splash of cold water would fail to surprise them. Maybe a big splash. A really big one. Taking out two of the bottles and unscrewing with both my wings, my moth and my hooves took much longer than I had hoped, but luckily I was fast enough to scoop the wranglers on assaulting each other. With each one of the bottles wrapped as good and stable in my wings as possible I slowly trotted forward, towards the two ponies, who were just as convoluted as my Sunlight Pendant's alicorns right now, only hoping they wouldn't ally and turn on me after I had finished my undertaking. Fortunately they were still just yelling at each other, no physical harm had been done yet, as I spilled the two water bottles, making both of them yelp as the jumped away from each other. Even after I had already confessed it took them a moment to realize I was the culprit, but much to my relieve they ceased any further hostilities and just took place at opposing seats at the walls.

And so did I. Since I didn't want to look as if I would prefer one of them, I trotted over to Shotgun, who was still standing near the entrance to the room my only reasonable companion was being questioned right now. Nodding towards the crimson councilpony I sat down next to the door, pressing one of my ears against it for a few seconds. I couldn't hear anything. Of course, because that would have been too easy.

"Do you know anything about them?" I asked with a sigh. "Anything I can say to appease them or to make somehow... less angry in general?"

"Angel seems to be our biggest expert on this matter." Shotgun replied. "Apart from "Try not to shoot at them" and "Don't forget to breath in their presence" I'm all out of ideas. I guess the only thing you can do is hope for him to say something clever."

"Well, you could try to seduce them." A female voice muttered loudly from behind. Gingerbread of course. It was always Gingerbread. Hard to believe I it wasn't even an entire days since I had come to know her really, it felt as if we were married for about fifty years already. Metaphorical spoken of course, I would never marry another... Whatever. 

"I... I could do what?" I asked, turning around to see the orange mare holding bottle of water of a strange design in front of her mouth.

"Seduce them. You know - or probably don't - the Sparrowtans're all chaps, that's common sense. So you being a mare and all of that... flutter your eyes at them a bit, it makes a difference, believe me."

Flutter my eyes? At a...

"They are griffins!" 

"So what? I've heard of ponies who like really them." the scribe looked at me really funny. I knew that look.

"Our races went to war against each other! We needed gem resources out of one of their mountains and they needed more place for their people. We blew up one of their nesting places and in return they almost destroyed my home town's cloud seeding grounds. Not to mention all the pegasi they've killed during this time. They killed my mother! I'm open to many things, but "fluttering my eyes" at them is out of the question."

An awkward silence fell over our group after I had finished my sentence, everypony's eyes were fixated on the piece of grey concrete beneath their hooves. I sighed internally and rethought what I had just said, what I had remembered right now. Griffins were evil. They had threatened the pegasus race more than once in the last years alone, they were our... my enemies.

When they would question me they would most likely ask for information about the Enclave and Lunar Rock. Maybe they would disguise it as other questions, about my well-being or about my adventures on the surface, but that would be their ultimate goal. Angel had said it: their prime directive was to serve the Griffin Kingdom and to corrode and destroy my home. But I wouldn't let that happen. They would have the hardest time of it with getting all this out of me. Without doing anything... painful.

"Still, I think it's your best chance to..." Gingerbread started.

"I told you I won't do anything like that. And besides, I doubt it would work on them either."

"Well, it would work on me, I can say that." Tulip shrugged, trotted over to us and sat down next to me, nudged me.

"Not happening!"

I huffed in frustration. Those two mares were just like Sunshine, it was as if I had never lost her, with all its up- and downsides. Just as annoying, embarrassing and hard to shut up, even Gingerbread's coat color was matching that of my former friend. Another pony I couldn't trust right now, another pony who wanted to do evil to my home. If I would ever return to it at all...
What would I give for another slap with Gingerbread's book, to snap me out of...

"She was doing it again, I could see it!" the orange unicorn yelled again and again as she stood over me, hiding away her blunt weapon much faster than the last time. 

I was lying on the ground, rubbing my nose again and mumbling my thanks. Apparently those hit the two mares' ears, because they stopped... whatever they were doing to each other right now and helped me up again. Shaking my head to get the ringing out of my ears and my vision to be less blurry again I was glad my concussion had been gone for quite a while by now. And finally my two female companions shut up. If they had something helpful to say I would have appreciated it, but as they had proven by now, they knew exactly as much about the griffins as I did.

Just as we were about to sit down again to stare at each other in silence the double doors slammed open again, making us all jump up in surprise. There he was again. The grey unicorn buck seemed unharmed, both physically and mentally, he was looking just as serious as ever as he stood next to the blue armored griffin, who was still looking down at us - or me in particular - with the same despising look as the last time. As Angel trotted over to me again, he just nodded towards the Sparrowtan. No words, no smile, just the suggestion, the order, to follow him. Well, there wasn't really an alternative, was there?

In silence I left my companions, stepped forward, past the waiting soldier and the double door he was guarding. Passing the gate to my doom I immediately felt the temperature falling. Okay, maybe that was just me. I would be interrogated by a group of Lunar Rock's archenemies, it wasn't wrong to be afraid... a bit.

The door clicked shut behind me and the noise of a bolt being shot got to my ears. I turned my head around an saw the blue armored griffin planting himself in front of the door, then his head twitched, symbolizing me to look forward again. And I hurried doing so. It was definitely hate that glared in the griffin's eyes. Hate for me and my race.

As I turned my head again I almost collided with another griffin, but this time, he wore a red set of armor and a ribbon much like the other one, with the only exception being an additional red stripe in between the top blue one and the white middle stripe. The armor looked both really worn and simple, but embossed at the same time. Badges and other small ornaments decorated this third griffin's chest. In the corner of my eye I spotted another blue armored one. Obviously this griffin was the "captain" that had been mentioned earlier. I was both terrified and fascinated by his appearance, so fascinated indeed that I just stood there like a... well a pegasus facing a heavy armored predator, as a pair of talons steered me to a seat at the other end of the room. Well, they weren't slashing me open right now, so that was definitely positive. 
No! I had to remind myself that those were my enemies.
After I had been taken place the red one sat down in front of me.

"Do you know who we are, pegasus?" he asked, his voice was rough, but... friendly? There was no hate, no anger, no negative emotion at all. Neither in his voice nor in his eyes, at least from what I could see of them under his heavy helmet. 

I nodded. "You are a Sparrowtan." 

"You say this as if you would know us. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that one of the more... civilized ponies, even if it's an enclave one, knows who we are. And do you happen to know what we are here for too?"

"You've come here to avenge your... associate's death." The only thing I wondered about at this moment was if he was going to deny it or tell me I was right. I hadn't talked to a griffin... well, ever. And they were the only species we hadn't been trained to talk to back at the academy. Kill them or expel them from our territory, that was what we were told to do if we ever encountered one. "The griffin I... I've murdered two days ago."

"Oh, are we?" the griffins sounded surprised and I bet he was raising an eyebrow right now, if griffins had those things. "Are you sure?"

"Of course you are. The only other thing I could think of is... that you want information about the Enclave and Lunar Rock. You want to destroy it! But you won't get anything from me! I swear by the goddesses, you..."

"Believe me or not, we aren't here for that either. While the Enclave might be our declared enemy, at this very moment you aren't involved with it, are you? And I'm not foolish enough to believe someone like you possesses any information that could help us to - what did you call it? - destroy your home. Even if you would be their High General's daughter, I know your hierarchy system well enough to know vital intelligence isn't handed on. Actually, your first guess wasn't that bad. Our presence is indeed connected to the fate of the griffin you took out not long ago..."

The captain's talons rose towards his head, then he removed his helmet, revealing a set of poorly healed scares on his cheeks, and looked at me with his yellow eyes. The weren't narrowed in anger like the ones of the blue armored soldier, not cold like Angel's eyes were most of the time or like the ill-concealed fear that had laid in Steed's, hours before he had betrayed us. What I saw in the captain's eyes right now was the closest thing to friendliness I had seen in my time at the surface. It looked honest. And that was something, considering it coming from a freaking griffin.

He sat his helmet down next to him and continued. "You were right; we are Sparrowtans, as was the griffin you killed. And I'm using the past tense on purpose. A Sparrowtan's bound to the order usually outlasts the oath giver's death, but this time this isn't the case. The reason we came here so fast was that we were already chasing this warrior, he had committed crimes that would meant his expulsion from our order, followed by death. Unfortunately he was able to escape us and fled to the wildponies you know as Bloodhoof raiders. But the dangerous move of charging right into battle with a whole tribe of ponies along with another Sparrowtan, even if he was barely an initiate, wasn't necessary at all, since by the time we had arrived here, he had already attacked this settlement with the help of his new allies. I'm sorry for that. We will indemnify those town's inhabitants. And we will take care of you too."

I gulped. That sounded ominous, threatening. My eyes darted to my weapons. The holster, my pistol still inside, was now strapped to my left foreleg, since we didn't know what kind of impact it may have on the second weapon on my right foreleg: the strange PipBuck with the Moonstone-Space-you-haven't-seen fusion core inside. Whatever it was, it had proofed to be a horrible but really effective hoof-to-hoof weapon. I was sure of that. Ninety-five percent sure, okay make that eighty percent, since the red armored griffin was almost twice the size of me. 

Maybe I could take him down by surprise and then kill the other two with that pistol of mine...
When had I started thinking about solving problems by killing ponies - or griffins, in that case - that much? 
The last two days alone had cost six ponies their lives, all their blood was on my hooves. Weren't six lives enough? 

I looked away from my weapons and forced myself to see the captain in the eyes again.

"What are you going to do now? To me, I mean. Will you... will you kill me?"

"Why would we do that?" the captain answered, sounding and looking almost surprised. If I interpreted the griffin's facial expression right. 

"I killed one of your kind."

"And why should I be offended by that?"

"...one of your warriors."

"He wasn't even a Sparrow. Barely a member of our order."

"But it was your job to take him down and by killing him myself I robbed you of your chance to...."

"Get overrun by wildponies? Get my Sparrows' armors all bung up?" The griffin laughed. I wasn't sure what surprised me more. That he insisted on not being angry with me or that an emotionless killer machine was acting so... pony-like. "Believe when I'm saying you saved us a lot of work, little pegasus. And even if you might be associated with our secondary enemy, our codex of honor dictates us to be thankful for that. If you would be a griffin, you might get the chance of joining us, but since you're not... we will have to find another way to reward you. After all you kept the balance of power in this part of the wasteland, one of our primary goals."

I couldn't believe what he was saying. He wasn't just not angry with me, but thankful too? That was all kinds of wrong.

"But I killed..."

"You will be rewarded by us, little pegasus. And we won't take "no" for an answer. If we would, I could just as well whip off this ribbon and spit on our honor. So no complaints! Now tell us, what can the Sparrowtans do for you? Destroy your enemies, take you home: if it is physically possible, we will do it."


""")_x_("""


Take me home...
Those were the freaking Sparrowtans! From what I had heard down here and back home in the Enclave, they were capable of doing pretty much everything. Like the Neighvarro Wonderbolts, they were material legends were made of. No heroic tales of course, but legends nonetheless. It was said - on the quiet of course - that if they had been more active on the last Griffin War, said war might have ended differently.
But on the other hoof...
I wasn't sure if I should be happy just yet. During the past days, hopes of seeing Lunar rock ever again had been raised and crushed by other ponies, myself included, more than once. I wasn't sure if I wanted to set hope on something like that so soon again. I wasn't sure if I was ready to be disappointed once more. They had killed... no, they hadn't, but I severely doubted the Sparrowtans as an organisation hadn't had anything to do with the attack on my mother's transporter.

They had slaughtered my people all those years ago, but right now they were my best way to get at least closer to the Enclave. The captain had leached they would figure something out before he ordered me to leave the courtroom again. From what the griffin had said, we would leave the town tomorrow already.

Angel, Gingerbread, Tulip and even Shotgun had been waiting outside with excitement in their eyes as they saw me unharmed and apparently looking not too worried, after one of the blue armored griffins, Sparrows as the captain told me, guided me out again. I - along with everypony else around me - felt really tired, the questioning had taken much longer than it had felt, made obvious by my companions repetitive yawn, so Tulip invited all of us to her house again. As we were just about to leave Shotgun stepped in, apparently trying to make a objection, but he was quickly stifled by Gingerbread, who insisted on have discuss some business affairs. Considering it being Gingerbread I wasn't sure what she meant by that. Leaving the town's main building the last thing I saw was the pale orange unicorn and the crimson stallion vanishing into a sideroom.
Still not sure what exactly she was up to... 

We had returned to Tulip's home in complete darkness and Angel and I were quite surprised as we saw the changes the pink mare had made since our last departure: nothing major, but many, many small things that made at least the living room look pretty cozy and civilized. No bloodstains, because those tend to stick around all over the wasteland, and if there were any bullet holes in the walls from the latest attack, they were now covered by wall hangings. If the floor would have been cleaned a bit more, it would feel like back home. 

After we had stored away our saddlebags in the attic room of the building again, I withdrew to the house's bathrooms. The water coming out the tap was a bit greenish and oily, but just as back in the school's gymnasium, it did its job to make me feel less dusty. Sweat of tension, fear, battle and the merciless sun mixed up pretty bad with the deserts dirt and sand, resulting in something best described with: "uah!" And only due to my immense willpower I could resist washing myself with our drinking the water and I suddenly wished there would have been a shower in here. On the other hoof, that water would most likely irradiated. As probably fifty percent of our drinking water. I chose the most reliable way of solving pressing questions like this: by not thinking about it any further.

After climbing down the stairs again after I got changed, now wearing my former white hide only, I joined the two unicorns, who were right now sitting in front of the hearth, ending their talk as I stepped in. Informing me that dinner would have to wait until Gingerbread joined us, the three of us took place around the table in the middle of the room - just as the last time we had been here - Tulip started the conversation with a whistle.

"So," she said and smiled brightly. "You made it out there alive, apparently. I can't wait for the poisonous little brat to return. Twenty more caps for me..."

"You two placed a bet on my trial's outcome?" I asked... well, no, I wasn't surprised or shocked anymore. What had I expected, it were Tulip and Gingerbread after all, the two most strange mares I had ever encountered in my entire life. 

"It wasn't a bet. Not really... " the pink mare stammered, darting a glance at Angel, who sat to our right and - much to my surprise - wasn't judgingly eyeing Tulip. "It was more of a deal with... Tell us what they said to you." 

"Haven't we agreed on waiting for Tulip until Feather starts explaining?" the grey unicorn buck interjected. "I bet she isn't eager to tell the whole story twice. Since Gingerbread agreed to follow us, I think we should wait until..."

"You're talking about me?" a shrill, yet happy and way too active voice sounded from behind us, making Tulip's mane and my feathers curl. I knew we should have set in a position in which we would be able to actually see the door. Turning around I saw the red-robed unicorn bouncing towards us, levitating a small bag next to her smiling face. "Well, now I'm here, you can continue talking." she said after she took place next to me and Angel. "Don't be disturbed."

"What have you been doing?" I asked, my eyes wandering from her face to the bag on the table in front of us back to her face.

The smile on the orange unicorn's face widened and her whole body seemed to... wobble as she nodded towards the bag, but any further talk was ended in advance by Tulip, who started ranting again about the scribe owing her twenty caps, which said scribe answered with the same amount of slurred ranting. Apparently she wasn't willing to pay for whatever the two mares had been betting on, before I would have told my story to "proof who really won". They didn't stop until Angel stepped in, silencing the two ponies for me to tell what had happened in the hours before.

Revealing that none of them had threatened to slice me to death with his talons was surprising enough for both our Steel Ranger scribe and the pink council pony, but it was me mentioning that the Sparrowtans had agreed on actually helping me to go back home was what made all of the gasp. They were big and menacing griffins, according to Angel able to take anything than a wing of alicorns, whatever that meant, on with ease. And they agreed to help me. I couldn't really believe it myself at that moment.

Leaning back after I had finished my story I waited for my companions to say something. The plan was clear, we would leave with the griffins the next day, the only open question was: who exactly were "we"? I doubted any of my companions would leave me, Gingerbread because she seemed interested in my PipBuck and Angel... because he was Angel. But worrying about things I didn't have to worry about was something that had come with my landing on the surface.

"Now we're my twenty caps?" Tulip suddenly asked, nudging the Gingerbread with more force than necessary. "She's not dead or injured, I've won."

Grudgingly the orange unicorn opened her saddle bags, levitated a small bag, similar to the one on the table, out of them and sat it on the table with a jingling noise. Just as Tulip's magic manifested, another field erupted around the brown sack, causing the pink aura to collapse with a soft *plop*. Three pairs of eyes followed the bag of caps as it quickly floated over to... Angel?

"What's that about, Angel?!" Tulip screamed and... I guessed she was trying to somehow regain control over her caps by doing something magic. I never knew unicorns could compete with each other in magics as if it was bare muscle strength. I had always assumed it was somehow different from any earth pony or pegasus thing, but apparently I was wrong.

"I find it was me who won the bet." the grey buck said, keeping a straight face as always. Quite an impressive thing to do, considering the pink mare struggling in front of us all. But what was even more impressive - or shocking to be exact - was that my only male companion had placed a bet too.

"Et tu, Angel?" I asked whisperingly and my eyes narrowed. 

"Different from those two, I said they wouldn't just not harm you." he answered, nodding towards the two mares at the other side of the table. "Ginger here said the Sparrowtans would rip you apart, Tulip said the would let you go and I said they wouldn't stop with that."

"But I was right too." the pink mare mumbled. 

"It's like playing Boccia. You don't get a prize for being near your target as long as there's somepony even closer to it." Angel said, cracking a smile while levitating the caps into one of his blue overcoat's pockets. "Deal with it."

"What did she just said?" Tulip whispered to Angel, pointing a hoof at me. "Sounded like zebra talk."

"What the hay is Boccia?" Gingerbread babbled.

Both my grey unicorn companion and me shook our heads in amusement. The reaction of the two mares' reminded me that not everything down was dead serious. The Sparrowtans volunteered to help me and even if their plan, whatever it would turn out to be, failed, causing me to not be able to return home in the foreseeable future, so what? It couldn't get much worse right now, could it? Of course it wasn't all that bad at this moment, but... I would really prefer being at home again. Even if I would have some explaining to do about... No, featherbrain, those were worries for another day! What I should want right now was to hope for my homecoming to be a success.

What followed now were Angel and me having a hard time separating the two unicorn mares, who had somehow managed to get into a fight again - something about zebras and throwing things at stuff - ending up with leading Tulip up to her own room while locking Gingerbread and Angel away in our quarter beneath the roof. The last thing I was charged with before getting some sleep myself was bringing our last pair of saddle bags, the ones Gingerbread had left in the living room, back up again. 

Kneeling down next to the two tattered bags I tried to empty my head from all those stupid worries that had befallen it in the last couple of hours. Worries about the Sparrowtans stabbing me in the back, about the other pegasi's reaction when I would be coming home all alone, about Angel maybe not wanting to follow me. Okay, with the last one I was sure my worries weren't justified. He would never leave me, he had said that himself. And while he was with me, the chance of getting caught off-guard was at least halved. And with Gingerbread following me too... Still halved.

A clinking noise roused me from my thoughts. To get these special saddle bags onto my back without some unicorn doing its magic proofed to be much harder than I had thought. Turning my head around I saw one of the bags had opened and two bottles of water were lying on the ground, fortunately neither broken nor damaged at all. Taking a closer look at them I finally recognized the strange design of the bottles: those were Sparkle Cola RAD bottles which had been refilled with water and sealed with what looked like some kind of screw-cap. It were the ones I had taken from Silver Tongue about a day ago.

For a few moments I struggled, but then I picked up the bottle with my wings. The pony owning this thing before had been a bad one, at least in his last moments. He had tried to... he had deserved to die. It had been self-defense. 

You need to get over this, featherbrain. 

I had only known him for the better part of a day before he had turned on me, he was nopony I should have established any kind of emotional bond for. He had been a stranger yesterday and he still was a stranger to me at this moment. A dead stranger, one I had killed myself for him being evil. And taking his stuff was nothing I should be ashamed of. That was what I was telling myself as I unscrewed the seal. This was the wasteland. It had been necessary. 

As the first drips of water wetted my muzzle I had to gag. This was no ordinary water I was drinking right now, this one... burnt, a lot. My eyes went down to the bottle I held in my wings and I saw with surprise that it was only half filled anymore. Somepony had already been drinking from this one and since I had left all the already opened bottles back in the vault, this had to be the one Gingerbread had to be said pony. Sniffing carefully at the bottleneck I smelled... 

Either this Steel Ranger scribe was using one hell of a make-up she had somehow managed to smother right into the bottle or the businesspony had been transporting several bottles of what I in my limited knowing would describe as booze. And Gingerbread had down half a bottle of it. That would explain some of her behavior earlier. Somehow. A bit of the behavior. Or maybe she had just been Gingerbread back then. Who knew?

Backing up a bit due to the nevertheless quite heavy saddle bags of the red-robed scribe pony - sealing the drinking bottle and putting it back in didn't help much at that front - I stumbled against the table we had been sitting at a few minutes ago. I was glad not to hear something bursting into flames behind me and was just about to make my way back to the stairs as I heard another noise from behind me. It couldn't have been the bottle again, could it? This had sounded different, much more... solid.

Turning around, almost completely loosing control over my body due to the momentum, I spotted the brown sack Gingerbread had brought with her leaning dangerously close at the edge of the table. So I really had grazed it. Stepping closer I thought about what... no, I wasn't thinking about bringing the bag back to her, of course I would, but she had made it seem so... mysterious earlier and if there was one thing I couldn't resist it were mysterious bags with and even more mysterious content lying around somewhere. Okay, that was a lie, those scared me more often than not, an abandoned bag in Lunar Rock could always contain a griffin or dashite bomb - at least that was what they had always told us - but this one... for no reason this one attracted my attention.

I must have looked really silly, just standing there and maybe talking to myself whether to take a look inside or just bag the bag and take the whole thing up to its rightful owner. I severely doubted this was an explosive charge since... blowing up the building right now wouldn't have made sense in any way. Gingerbread might have behaved really strange for the time I knew her, but the explosion-theory still seemed quite improbable to me. After shuffling off the weight on my back I carefully drew closer to the strange sac on the table, nudging it just as carefully with one of my wings.
It didn't blow up right into my face, that was definitely good for me.

And there was it again: as my wing struck the bag, the same clattering noise as before. I knew that noise, but right now I couldn't remember from where...

Screw that, Feather, just open the Luna-damned bag, get your insight and take the thing back to Gingerbread. No biggie.

Following my inner voice I finally opened the bag and laid my eyes on... caps.
Lots and lots and lots of caps. It must have been... hundred? Thousands? I honestly couldn't tell. How all of them even fitted into this small sac was beyond me. As was how Gingerbread had come by them. She had left us with nothing than her robe, Angel, Tulip or me had been carrying her saddle bags, so she had gotten this money from Shotgun by... uah!

I squeezed sac's opening close again and tried to maneuver it into the worn saddle bags with as little wing contact as possible, fighting the images of Gingerbread and... anypony - scratch that - anypony and anypony in my head. Just don't think about it and everything will be alright, at least that's how it usually worked. Coughing quietly I decided to not talk about any of this ever. It was bad enough when she had been trying to pair me up with Angel, I didn't want to poke the dragon without solid reason. 
No talk, never! That would be the most healthy thing for my brain I decided as I slowly trotted over to the stairs. 


""")_x_("""


"Can you tell me again why we have to walk all the way?" Apart from circulating rumors about non-Steel Ranger groups, complaining seemed to be one of Gingerbread's further developed abilities and it made me ask myself what her cutie mark - or any cutie mark representing that kind of talent - would look like. 

I had no clue how long we would have to walk, not even how far away our current destination was, the only thing I knew that the location was somehow connected to the Enclave . When I had traveled with Angel alone it had always been half a days walk, mostly even less, but those griffins... if what was told about their stamina were to be believed, they could go on for at least a day. Standing next to a chest-high rock I shook my tail and mane to get the sand out off it that had accumulated in there in the last hours of wandering. This part of the wasteland was even more desert-like than the one around the Stable-Tec storeroom and with each passed minute it felt as if there was even more sand everywhere. Looking over to our four male companions I wondered why they seemed to not notice the heat and the dirt and everything unpleasant at all. Neither Angel nor the griffins had said a word since we had left Tulip in the morning. Pretty scampered I might add, to avoid any further conflicts between Tulip and Gingerbread.

"You got any better ideas?" one of the blue armored griffins, a so called Sparrow as Angel had informed me, asked with the usual amount of annoyance in his voice. "Since you two horn-heads wanted to come along with us and apparently neither of you is capable of flight walking is the only choice of movement we have left. If you hadn't insisted..."

"Sparrow, restrain yourself!" the red-armored captain called out, silencing his subordinate immediately. "You're talking to a lady."

"She's an uni-"

"She's a lady nonetheless. And do you remember how to treat them?" The Sparrow nodded and walked slowly over to his blue armored associate, his head still bowed as the captain continued. "I have to apologize. This one's always a bit... impulsive." he sighed. "But to answer your question: he was kind of right when he said it was because of you. But only kind of right. Of course we could have flown if you hadn't decided to come with us, if this would be better times and a better place. But nowadays the Enclave is monitoring and defending the air below the cloud cover, they make it really hard for us to fly at a save height where grounded opponents wouldn't be able to spot and shoot us. You see, there's no reason for you to feel bad about "slowing us down". We probably would have traveled by foot nonetheless. And again: I beg pardon for my nestling's lack of countenance."

"Wait, your nestlings?" Gingerbread and I looked in each others faces with surprise after we had both uttered the same question at the same time. But really? Those two were nestlings? They didn't look alike in any way. "You're his father?"

"His what?!" the red-armored griffin looked surprised for the first time. Or rather sounded, since neither of three had removed his helmet, even in the burning sun. Those were some tough griffins. "His father? How would you...? Oh, I see. No, I'm not. Family bonds are quite rare in our order and if there are any, it's only by chance. Are you ready to continue our walk? It's a longer story and I prefer to talk while walking."

Gingerbread and I nodded, and without saying another word, the captain announced that we were moving on. Both Angel and the two Sparrows - it felt strange to think of them by their rank or was it a nickname? - followed the order without a flinch. Apparently a word of their captain was enough to make the younger griffins do whatever he demanded. Authority like that would have been great to have back home, sometimes. 

"Soooo, how is..." Gingerbread cocked her head into the direction of the impolite Sparrow, "he your - what was it? - nestling? You're not his father and without disrespect, you don't look as if you're his brother either. 

"I'm not, you're right."

"Why did you call your nestling then?" I asked. "You said there almost no family ties, yet ponies - okay, I can speak only for myself on this account - associate a nest with a griffin's family." 

"You're right. The nest is indeed associated with the family and that's why I called him my nestling. It's a way of organisation of our order. You see this?" he asked, pointing a talon at his blue-red-white-blue striped ribbon on his chest. "I'm sure you noticed the similarities between my and the Sparrows' ones. We Sparrowtans have sworn solidarity to each other, but within a relatively big group like us, it's dangerously easy to drown in namelessness. So, to make things a bit easier to handle and to feel at home, especially for new-comers, the order is divided into many smaller units, called "Nests". Ever nest has around twenty to thirty members, older Sparrowtans as well as younger ones, the first to give advice and the latter to have a good rapport with the young and new members, the Sparrows. And one of many things that distinguishes us from any of the other nests are the colors of our ribbons. Coming back to your previous comparison: a nest is basically the equal of a family in our order. Of course we all follow the same ideas, ideals and tradition, but every nest has its own ways of interpretation."

Families then... I had to admit, I would have welcomed a concept like this in my first months at the academy. Would have made things much easier for sure. But on the other hoof, it worked out well for me in the end and for everypony I knew. I didn't knew the exact amount of the Sparrowtans' members, maybe they were even more than the Lunar Rock's academy's cadets. But it was always said these griffins were a small and elite circle of warriors. 

"How many are you?" I asked unwillingly. Of course, I would like to know, but on the contrary, I had sworn not to spill any information that could be used for an attack against my home, so why should they? Apparently, the red-armored leader came to the same conclusion.

"It depends on who you count as a Sparrowtan." he said hesitantly. "But I assure you, we're more than enough to protect our home and that's the only thing an outsider should know. No offence. I'm sure you understand that there are some things I can't talk about with a stranger."

"Of course." I answered, trotting slowly alongside with him. Of course he couldn't tell me, but would I tell him the number of Lunar Rock's defense forces? Left alone that I wasn't sure of how many pegasi there were. Maybe I would suggest something like that when I was home again. I mean, it sounded great, didn't it? "And... what are you - the Sparrowtans, I mean - doing all day?" I asked after a few minutes of silent walking. "You don't just wander the wasteland in search for pegasi like me or Dashites - I mean traitors, griffins who broke their oath to serve you?"

The griffin laughed out loud.
"For an enclave pegasus, you're a pretty inquisitive one. Do you want to know what we do or what we are supposed to do?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes, nowadays." he sighed. "Nowadays we really just wander Equestria and what is left of our homeland, trying keep the peace in the latter and to maintain balance in the former. And with our race's big natural rivalry and need for violence, many of us are glad to be sent out here. Solving problems by slicing raiders' throats is just so much less annoying than dealing with two griffin families who argue about getting the aerie in a higher position. And when I say higher I mean just the physical height. Yes, it is banal like that. Given that the female griffins are naturally stronger, things can grow pretty intense pretty easily. And then there's no right thing to do. The only thing you can hope to accomplish is getting your tail feathers out there intact, because even if the griffins in the more civilized areas aren't that fast when it comes to shoot anyone, their talons are even faster than your tongues or horns when it comes to use them."

"I can't imagine the exact event, but I certainly know what you mean. Cloud settling above," I nodded towards the slightly less grey cloud cover, "is pretty complicated too. I'm no expert in weather, but apparently there are good clouds and bad clouds to settle on. I don't know how they're distinguished, but apparently those pegasi can smell when the government is trying to steal them blind." I sighed and paused for moment. "And what were you supposed to do? Besides helping Equestria, which I suppose I should be thankful for?" 

"Don't get me wrong, we don really help anypony, it's just in our best interest to... keep the balance." the red-armored griffin said hesitantly and then his head jolted to the left, where just now one of the blue-armored griffins was flying towards us. "I'm afraid I can't continue this talk right now.Our scout is back and it seems we might have a problem. What is it?" he asked as the griffin had landed in front of him.

"I spotted wildponies." the Sparrow said in between coughs. Apparently this armor wasn't all that light. "A few miles our way, it seems they've set up a camp. They're all armed. I checked our maps for backup-routes, I think there is one through a canyon maybe a few..."

"And why would we need a backup-route?" the captain answered with ill hidden amusement in his voice. "We are Sparrowtans, we never run from a fight."

"I know, but I don't know about our guests. We might not be able to protect..."

"Of course we will!" the captain called out, drawing a long sword out of a sheath hidden beneath his left wing. The blade sparkled awe-inspiringly, even in the dull sunlight. An impressive look. And the Sparrowtans' signature weapon from what I had heard. "If we wouldn't be able to, we wouldn't deserve to be a part of the order. We will go onward and..." A sharp whistle made the Sparrowtan stop his speech and turn his head, only to face...

"Excuse me, mister griffin, but I think this is a stupid idea." Gingerbread said snappishly and I facehoofed, prophylactically. Why did she have to speak thoughts like this out loud? Of course it was a bit stupid to charge right into battle, but those griffins were our guards. The last thing I wanted was to put them off.

Just this moment a thought stroke me: those griffins wanted to protect me, us, my companions, ponies. And I hoped they wouldn't be hurt. Why hoped I they wouldn't be hurt? They were the enemies of the Enclave.
But they were people too.
The world down here was weird.

"Really, do you think so, miss Ranger scribe?" 

"Yes, I think we should go the way through this canyon to avoid a fight." the red-maned mare said and I swore I could have seen her shaking a bit. "I mean, I'm not scared or anything, I just think... that we should get over this without getting somepony - or griffin - killed."

I hadn't thought of that. I thought of protection as... what? Make the bad ponies magically go away? I didn't knew myself right now. Back home there had always been talk about protecting Lunar Rock against the griffins, it were always the griffins. And then it had been Sunshine who we had to protect Lunar Rock against. And what that meant I hadn't realized until Wind Claw ordered her to be shot down. When I had acted against the rules given by the High Command. Maybe if I had let him do what he intended to do, everything would have turned out to be better. Maybe I should have... No! Not killing somepony would indeed be preferable. There had been enough death in the last two days, I felt no need to add even more names to the list. And the least of all one or even more of my companions or the Sparrowtans themselves.

But before I could voice my dislike and objections, the red-armored captain chuckled.
"I beg your pardon, but our code of honor doesn't allow us to simply walk away from bandit camps on our travel route. Old world history, boring to most ponies and griffins, but we have to dismantle this camp if there's a harmful intention behind it. If there's a civilized way to deal with this, by talking for instance, if they're willing to listen, we'll do that. It would indeed be preferable. You can wait here if you want, but we need to go."

Great, a quagmire. I hated those things. Having to choose between letting the griffins venture alone into a possible battle against a whole camp of ponies, possibly bandits or raiders, or join them. That possibly meant killing more ponies in order to save ourselves. 
But before my brain could think it through, my mouth decided for me: "No! I'll come with you!"

Everypony - and griffin - looked at me with the utmost astonishment. Everypony except Angel. He just stood there, shaking his head, and checked his pistols magazines. "I'm coming too." he muttered.

"Do you like to get into trouble like this?" Gingerbread hissed as she passed by me. "I would rather avoid a... scene like yesterday. From what you've told me, you're not that good when it comes to bartering. And I would rather not let them..." the orange mare nodded towards the griffins, all of them armed with the same kind of slender blades, "...do the talking. They like their weapons a bit too much for my liking."

"They said they'll try to talk to them." I sighed. Gingerbread had a point. The griffins seemed ready to slay somepony and I hadn't the impression they really cared for who those ponies were. But maybe... maybe those ponies would listen to what we would have to say. I mean, from what I had heard about the Sparrowtans, they had some kind of dubious authority down here and with two more unicorns and me at their side, maybe the ponies at the camp, even if it were bandits or raiders, would avoid a fight simply because of our number. Maybe they were sentient beings. 

"And you believe them?"

Did I?	
"Yes, I do. They may be many things, mostly scary. And from what I know about the Griffin Wars, they fearsome warriors too. Maybe they're eating robins too. But if anything I've ever heard about them is true, they're also honorable and honest. And they haven't done anything yet that makes me think different of them." They might not have been what I would call allies, but... fellow combatants.

"Let's go."


""")_x_("""


Twenty ponies. 

I could see around twenty ponies in this camp, all looking skinny and cadaverous. Some tents were set up at the side of the only street leading through the dusty red cliffs, which rose at both sides as well. A perfect place to block a route, if those ponies really were bandits. For simple travelers they were well armed, but that didn't say anything about their intention. Traveling down here was dangerous and I had only heard about most of the dangers. I saw pistols, submachine guns, a few rifles and some weapons that looked as if they were made of lead pipes and duct tape. Nothing fancy and not even close in quality or at least cleanliness of the weapons we had scavenged from Silver Tongue's ponies. We had made around a hundred caps by leaving them back with Tulip. And then left more than the half of it with the pink unicorn mare, as contribution for all the food we had eaten and the place to sleep.

Three hooded figures were following me. Gingerbread and Angel as well as one of the young Sparrows. I honestly couldn't tell which one it was, both of them seemed cold, humorless and ready to use violence. He was told to monitor and judge the situation to decide the way of further action.

"What do you think?" the Sparrow to my right - the two other griffins wanted to stay behind for reasons unknown to me, something about a test or something - asked, his helmeted head and the blue armor hidden underneath a wide brown cloak that hid each and any of his features and made the griffin look like a really bulky earth pony, as we slowly drew closer to the camp. I still hated those cloaks, why Angel had kept mine after the disaster in Tulip's town was beyond me. "What do you make of this?"

"Well, they sure look like ordinary ponies." I answered, not quite sure what he was implying. "They're armed, but what kind of pony isn't armed down here. They haven't attacked us yet, that's definitely good."

"And what about that?" he asked as wooden barricade came into side. A spiked barricade, blocking the road through the narrow valley. And several more ponies, big and bulky stallions with more presentable firearms, stood guard next to it. 
I stand corrected: now it were around thirty ponies in this camp. It didn't look good...

"I guess some kind of fortification makes sense, especially out here."

"They look like bandits."

"You, Angel, Ginger and I probably look like bandits too. They're just... well prepared, I guess."

I could see the hooded figure next to me shaking his head. It was obvious, even to me, that he wouldn't mind battling those bandits - no! ponies. There wasn't any proof they meant trouble. They were most likely wanderers, just like us. I could see a wave of tension going through the crowd of ponies in from of us as the four hooded figures approached the first line of defense. A dirty green unicorn stallion jolted as we passed at the front barrier and went over to us, a submachine gun held in his magic grip. But from what I could see, he didn't really aim at us. It was just some kind of reinsurance, the same things as when Angel locked our doors at night. His face was young, he was merely as old as Angel, but his eyes showed something I had seen too often down here: calculation, bitterness and a bit of fear, a combination that had lead to ponies try to harm me or my friends quite often in the last week alone. Almost every time we had encountered another pony. 

"Halt! Who goes there?!" he shouted way less impressing than I had expected. But the clicking noises of thirty guns being cocked instilled a rational amount of worry into me again. "Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

"Relax, buddy." the griffin said, the words exiting his beak sounded... wrong. Not because of the way they were spoken, but because of the fact that he - a griffin and beyond that a Sparrowtan - used them. I was well aware that the feeling of wrongness I had now was nothing more but a racial stereotype, something that had been implanted into my brain for my whole life. But the griffins weren't entirely innocent on that part. I hadn't seen one of the Sparrows laugh or even smile ever, just their captain one or two times. 2:1 for the grumpy griffins.

"We don't want to cause any trouble, we simply want to pass through." I added immediately, "There's no need for..." I pointed a hoof at the dozen guards all around us, pointing their weapons at us, "...all of that. We're ordinary travelers, just like you."

"I think they're hiding something." One of the guards, who stood right next to the green buck, apparently the leader of this camp, whispered. "They're wearing hoods and cloaks in broad daylight, want to pass through without questions... If you ask me, boss..."

"Well, nopony's been asking you, so stay quiet and make sure they don't do anything stupid. Until then, I'll go with talking first." the boss hissed, but it was loud enough for me to hear, and his face brightened again as he turned his head back to us. "First of all, travelers, I would like to welcome you to this modest little outpost of civilization. It might be a bit dusty, but it's clean of scum and raiders, I can promise that. Unfortunately..."

Why was there always something unfortunate if things could be handled that easily?

"...civilization means, to a certain extend, order. And to maintain this, I can't let you pass by our customhouse just like that. There are questions that need to be answered, like: are you carrying illegal chems, forbidden materials or anything else to pay duty on? Where are you headed and why? What's your name?"

In a single bound, the Sparrow suddenly stood right in front of the green unicorn. He hadn't used his wings or anything, he still was fully wrapped into the dark brown robe. Luckily, no shots were fired at the griffin who just stood there, spitting words into the cam leaders ears loud enough for everypony around to hear:

"Tell me first: what's your name, buddy?"

"T...t...Toll Token." the green unicorn stuttered, apparently caught off guard, "I..."

"Well, the listen well, Toll Token: I know what kind of game you and your ponies are playing here. You can't hide it, I can smell viciousness like yours from a ten miles distance. But I'm civilized, so I'll give you an ultimatum: this den of thieves will be abandoned in a day. If not, I'll come back. And then things won't turn out that pleasant, I can assure that."

"I'm sooooo sorry!" I called out, jumping forwards and between the griffin and the green buck. de-escalation was of the utmost importance right now. "My friend's a bit..." I tapped my forehead at the hooded Sparrow as I shoved him away from the ponies, "...light-headed sometimes. Jumps to conclusions. He got a nasty dose of the radiation around here, I believe it melted his brain or something. Don't take too seriously what he's saying, he's a decent fellow, most of the time." I took a deep breath. "Of course we're going to answer your questions and of course we will undergo your toll procedure. We're civilized ponies after all, are we?" I hissed the last two words, my face turned towards the griffin.

Apparently I had done something right, because a big part of the tension among the armed guardponies vanished. Now they were just aiming at us. A success, even if it was a small one. 

"So is there anything we can do to help you, mister custom officer? I promise, we will give you all the support you need to finish your business without trouble. Both me and my companions promise that, isn't that right?" I nudged the big griffin to my right. He nodded.

Toll Token de-dusted his brown leather armor. "I appreciate your will to cooperate, miss... what's you name."

Great, that again.
I was about to use my fake name from earlier this week, Earth Walker, but then I remembered how that had turned out. I doubted it would matter what kind of pony I would turn out to be, if they were bad ponies they would try to rob us anyway, if they were neutral or good ponies, they wouldn't mind at all. And in the case of an emergency, I could still play the Dashite card. From what I had learned, nopony down here actually believed in non-power armored non-dashite pegasi in the wasteland. Except maybe Tulip, but she wasn't here right now.

"My name is Whirling Feather." I said. Hesitating for a few moments, I added. "And I'm a pegasus. Just to set things strait in the beginning. And those..." I pointed a hoof at the Sparrow and then nodded at Gingerbread and Angel, who were standing a few meters behind us, "...are my companions. So what do you want from us?"

All of the sudden, a smile appeared in Toll Token's face. He waved a hoof at his ponies, indicating to finally lower their weapons. 
"Just standard procedure. Note personal data, search your baggage for illegal substances. I'm sure especially you, Miss Whirling Feather, are quite familiar with procedures like this and maybe you dislike them, Dashites often have a bit of an... " Okay, so I would be the Dashite now, "...anarchic mindset - no offense - but what this wasteland needs is order more than anything. So just hand over your saddlebags, my ponies will go through it for a few minutes, me and a few others will take your personal data and then you'll be free to go. As I said, just standard procedure, nothing to worry about. Just make sure your big buckfriend doesn't cause any more trouble. It would be a shame if things would escalate."

I nodded and turned around as he beckon three earth ponies from the crowd and instructed them to follow us back to our baggage. At least they thought of the hooded griffin as a pony, that was somehow good.

"You're aware that those ponies are going to steal whatever they can find within your saddlebags?" the Sparrow whispered as we slowly trotted towards Angel and Gingerbread, accompanied by three of the "custom officials". "They are thieves and bandits, robbers and rapists, those who aren't ex-raiders are on their best way to becoming one. We would do your homeland a favor if we just kill them right here and right now."

"I know who they are." I answered. "But is there really anything of value they could take from us just like that? The few guns we haven't already sold are of low quality anyway and our money is safe in our pockets, all they could do is take away some of the strange water we carry around, of which we have plentiful right now I might add. And if the loss of a few bottles of water and three jammed pistols is the price we have to pay to get through all of this without getting somepony hurt or killed, I willingly paying it." I huffed. "You can have my water if you're that worried about our supplies, but I don't want them to be hurt as long as they remain neutral to us, do you understand?"

The Sparrow sighed, but then he nodded.
"I know "toll stations" far worse than this one, I guess the law can turn a blind eye on this camp this one time. I make you a deal, Whirling Feather: if they don't turn out to be raiders or worse until we depart, then we'll let them be, for once. But I will suggest finding another occupation and when I meet them again, things won't be solved that easy. Is that okay to you?"

I nodded in return. This Sparrow seemed to be more reasonable as I had initially thought. Apparently he wasn't eager to spill blood right now either and I respected him for that. Another step on the path of dismantling any prejudices about the bloodthirsty griffins. 

Our small group arrived at the outer barricade, where my two pony companions waited for us.

"Your name is...?" one of the toll ponies asked the hooded griffin. 

"...none of your business." he hissed, throwing down the small bag he was carrying with him to the ground in front of the ponies hooves. "Just rummage around my stuff and let me go already. I'm getting tired of this." 

"What is this under your forelegs? Are those weapons? I must insist one seeing..."

"Touch them and your hoof will never touch anything again." Angel growled as one of the earth ponies had approached him and found his black pre-war pistols strapped to his forelegs.

"Are you carrying any..."

"Don't you dare touching this book!" Gingerbread yelled as the third toll pony, a light blue buck, rifled through her saddlebags, digging out the big red book the unicorn mare had used yesterday to help me overcoming my fears and worries. "Or those wires! And if you even think of opening this toolset, I'll cut off all your legs and shove them up your-"

This wasn't going well.

"What's this?" Gingerbread's toll pony called out as he lifted the brown bag out of the scribe's baggage. The bag that was filled with hundreds and hundreds of caps. My heart skipped a beat. Those had slipped my mind. Even if the ponies of the camp hadn't intended to rob us earlier, I had no doubt that a shitload of money - to use the technical term for once - would be able to change that.

"You can't take those! They belong to Fea..." 

The orange unicorn mare stopped as the stallion in front of her opened the sack. Even from the distance I could see his eyes sparkling. This wasn't going well indeed.

"Hey, boss, I think you might want to take a look at this." the blue buck called out and a few moments later, his green leader came galloping towards us, mistrust in his eyes. He glanced briefly into the brown bag and then stepped towards me and my companions. The toll ponies had already backed away from us and had drawn their weapons again, aiming at us just like the rest of the thirty ponies. Great. 

"That's interesting indeed. Very interesting." Toll Token mumbled, more at himself than at us, then he raised his voice. "Can you give me an explanation for this, Miss Whirling Feather?" His magic wrapped around the wallet and shook it, letting the caps inside clink. "Can you explain to me how a group of hobos comes to have something like this with them? More than enough caps to buy a whole caravan company? I'm sure you understand my suspicion, Miss Feather."

I shrugged. Honestly, I had no idea what to say. I myself hadn't any clue of how and from where Gingerbread had taken this money. 
"I didn't know that the money would be a problem. I'm sure my companion has every right and reason to carry such a large amount of caps with her and I'm sure she's able to explain this reason too. There's no need for suspicion." 

What was I even saying? All three of the Sparrowtans, Angel and even Gingerbread had warned me that those ponies were out to steal from us. Reasoning was pointless, everypony within a mile's radius knew that. The only choice we actually had were either to let them or not. The former meant letting a robbery happen to Gingerbread whereas the protesting would mean a battle with an outcome unknown to me. "Just let her explain!" I finally called out, glancing at my orange unicorn companion. Although I had bigger problems right now - much bigger problems - I honestly hoped what she would reveal wouldn't confirm whatever gross imagery had try to sneak its way inside my brain last night as I had discovered the bag for the first time. Uaah...

"I don't think this is necessary, since she has neither witnesses nor proof of what she says is true. Apart from you of course, but you're... what's the term?... biased. Everypony..." Toll Token began, raising his gun. "...can make up a story and every other pony can fake a witness-testimony. So by the virtue of my office as a custom official I therefore confiscate this sack. All of you, get your things together, leave now and count yourself lucky you did get away that easy. Now go away!" 

The green buck turned around, the moneybag floating besides his submachine gun next to his head. I turned my head to Gingerbread, to see what she had to say about this. If worst was coming to worst, we would have to insist on keeping the money, meaning we would have to fight. I didn't knew were the other two griffins were at this moment, but I doubted they would come in time to help us once we would - due to the lack of cover in accessible proximity - be perforated by the bullets of thirty firearms. I could see in the scribe's eyes that she was aware of this fact too. Angel's face looked empty and emotionless, like it always did when something bad was about to happen, but his horn wasn't illuminated, he wasn't preparing his guns for combat. 

But then the member of our group of which I had thought of as the last to actually do something now, stepped out: the still hooded Sparrow, who had promised to keep things low if the ponies of this camp didn't behave raider-like as long as we were here. And they hadn't, so I didn't really knew what to be shocked about first: the fact that the griffin leaped at Toll Token, holding him on the collar of his leather jacket with a now slightly exposed talon or that nothing happened in the seconds afterwards. I honestly had expected either the griffin or the tool ponies to do something ending in a bloodbath. But neither of them did anything, the only thing I could hear was the griffin growling, but everypony around could hear it over their hold breaths.

"Just one last question." the Sparrow said in a low voice, "on whose authority are you monitoring this passage? Whose authority in all of the Equestrian wasteland is big enough to install a customs station in the middle of the desert, nowhere near to any old border? To be honest, I'm just asking for the sake Miss Whirling Feather. Now say something witty and save yourself and your ponies." The griffin shifted his weight to his hindlegs, slowly raising his torso and thereby lifting Toll Token as well, until only the green unicorn's hindlegs were still touching the ground. "Do it, say something and save the rest of the scum, thief!" he yelled.

I could hear escaping from Toll Token's throat as the Sparrows unoccupied talon slowly reached for his left wing. Where he was carrying his sword, as I knew. The griffin shouted again and then I heard the green buck... spitting?

"You want to know whose authority we have, buddy?" Toll Token said in a raspy voice and a murmur went through the crowd. "I'll tell you on whose authority we're here. On the authority of the only group that matters in this desert: we're working with the Sparrowtan-griffins. They're the ones maintaining order in the area beyond this post." I gulped. The green buck had pushed his luck a bit too far.

"I'm afraid you picked the only wrong answer there is. So the Sparrowtans sent you here? And if I say the Sparrowtans don't work with outsiders, especially not filthy pony trash like you?"

"Then I would tell you to go fuck yourself and ask them personally. If you're lucky they'll just decapitate you for attacking their partners. If you're lucky."

"Okay then..." the Sparrow said with an awfully calm voice and turned his head to me. "An unauthorized assumption of authority. I'm really sorry about this, Whirling Feather, but this is far worse than raider-like. I'll have to end this immediately."

As quick as lightning, the cloaked griffin span around, slamming Toll Token into the ground in front of our hooves. Then he rose to his full size, his wings tore apart the pieces of clothing wrapped around his body as he stretched them to their full extend, exposing his blue armor and the ribbon, his long sword hold in the right talon. And then he screamed. No, screeched would be the better word. As many things connected to the griffins, it was both scary and awe inspiring at the same time. So awe inspiring in fact, that nopony on no side lifted a hoof to do anything. Toll Token's ponies - their leader lying in the dirt far away from them - were frozen in place for the time the screech lasted. And after it had ended, it was replaced with another noise. A noise I had heard in a similar situation a few weeks ago: the sound of wings slicing through air at high speed.

My gaze wandered upwards and just as I realized what I was seeing and what would happen next, it had already happened:
the two other griffins, their armor sparkling in the dull sunlight just as much as their drawn swords, were diving from the sky and landed directly in the middle of the larger groups of ponies. The landing itself was almost silent, I could barely hear the swish of their feathers. 

The only thing I could do was watch in horror as time started to flow again. The blue armored griffin between us and the toll ponies dashed forward, his sword raised and I could swear I was seeing one of his eyes, reflected by the polished blade in his talons. An eye full of disgust. It was an uneven battle. Three griffins only armed with swords and their talons on the one, thirty ponies with firearms on the other side. But not only were the griffins in a better position to cut loose, not only had they the element of surprise, but many of their opponents still hadn't understood what was happening. Some of them didn't even have the chance to turn around before their bodies were sliced open by the razor-sharp blades and talons of the Sparrowtans. 

And I was just staying there, watching in horror as the three spinning blades transformed the inhabitants of the camp into bloody shreds of flesh and bone. Sporadically shots were fired, but whenever somepony was able to use his firearms, the targeted griffin took cover behind another pony, regardless of it being still alive or already dead. I wanted to scream, I wanted them to stop. But I just stood there. Letting it happen.

What was I supposed to do now? What was the right thing to do, for me and the others, for the poor ponies who were getting slaughtered by those merciless griffins right in front of my eyes? My eyes wandered to the pistol holstered on my left foreleg. Would that even work? It didn't every time the toll ponies tried to do it, every time the griffins would use another living pony to shield themselves from the attack. Celestia should throw me into the deepest core of the sun if I would kill another pony today! So, did that mean I would have to take out the griffins? The ones that had sworn to guide me, the only ones who know a way home for me? Leaving aside the fact that I probably wouldn't even be able to bring myself to that, neither psychologically nor physically. Their blades would most likely cut me to pieces the moment I entered the battlefield.

"There are no good guys out there in the wasteland" Angel had told me back in Springmare, before I could even imagine the horrors the wasteland... no! the ponies down here would throw at me. I hadn't yet endured being betrayed by somepony I considered at least an ally, being hold captive by ponies who were about to sell me for caps, I hadn't seen raiders yet, hadn't killed one of them or a more civilized pony. Sometimes there were no right choices. Regardless of what you were doing, it would hurt somepony. 

I could feel a tear running down my cheek. There was nothing I could do. Ponies were dying right in front of me, but even if I would somehow be able to stop the Sparrowtans from killing them, that would meant I would be stuck down here. If I would help the Sparrowtans that would mean I would be spilling blood of ponies I considered innocent. Ending lives in my eyes not guilty enough to be ended. And by standing there I was selfishly helping myself, letting the same ponies be killed, the only difference was that it wasn't me who was doing the killing. All for the sake of returning home, to not have to see all this ever again.

I felt sick. Was there a day since I had arrived in this hellish place on which I didn't feel sick just because of what the wasteland's inhabitants were doing to each other? 
The first day had Steed, who had betrayed me. 
The second had the pony hunters.
Then there had been the raiders invading Tulip's town.
After that I had killed Silver Tongue and his companions.
And now this.

Whatever glorious picture of them had formed in my head for the last few hours, whatever thought of appreciation or even admiration had occurred to me during this time, it all fell apart in those very moments. The griffins weren't knights in shining armor, wandering around and saving ponies. They did what every being down here apparently did: they did what they thought they needed to do. 
And right now that involved killing those ponies.

I knew it was wrong, I felt terrible because those ponies died, but the same time I was unable to do anything. Not because I had no chance of changing their fate, but because I realized that this was the way things were handled down here. I hadn't really understood it before, but now it seemed obvious: killing was the easiest way of removing threats or obstacles or anything you didn't like. It didn't involve talking or loosing an argument and thereby the argumentative high-ground. Every and all problems one had with another pony or even a group could be solved in a matter of seconds. It simply was the way ponies down here dealt with problems.

Steed had feared we would kill him for trying to steal from us.
Angel had killed the pony hunters because they were evil.
I had killed Silver Tongue and his ponies, because... it seemed to be the only way. 

I hadn't even tried talking. Nopony, no griffin, noone tried talking. 
This was the way things were handled down here.

As the noises of the battle had faded around me and the red-armored captain delivered the final blow to the green unicorn stallion lying in front of me, I understood that I wasn't immune to the wasteland's poison. And as the three griffins reared up, standing victorious between the bodies of the thirty ponies they had slain, I cried silently. 
Not for the ponies who had died, but for me and the kind of world the homeland of ponykind had become.


""")_x_("""


Level up: 50%

Skill(s):	 --

Quest Perk added: An Uneasy Truth
"What have I become? Something less than pony... but also something more."
You realized an universal truth about the wasteland. And while faith can move mountains, force and violence can crush them into dust, making the way for other ponies easier. Your Damage Threshold (DT) and the damage dealt to every equine being is increased by 10%