Chapter 24: Storm Front
“We need to use everything we’ve got.”
Another round slashed right over my left wing with a terrifying hiss.
I had banked left as sharply as I could, anticipating another shot and shouting my frustration when it came. I managed to right my course again, hoisting Blake up tight to me again to keep him secure. I called for my baby brother to hold on, to just hold on a little bit longer. But over the sound of the spinning rotors, I could only barely hear my own voice. A vertibuck was right behind me and just above, keeping its position at that angle to present a clear target to the sniper that was taking shots at me as I fled for Challenger.
The city was only a few hundred yards away now, no more than four. Even from here I could hear a raid siren, a chilling note that cut through the skies, one of two that managed to reach me through the vertibuck’s engines. The second was the booming reports of two heavy turrets, one on each corner of Challenger’s north wall. Positioned atop the guard towers there, they were large platforms of two different models. The one on the left – I could see four long barrels jutting skyward, belching fire as the quad gun sent a literal line of rounds after its target. On the right, only a single-barreled weapon was there, but I recognized the resounding cracks of the twenty millimeter flak gun. Both turrets were following the flight path of the second Talon aircraft as it raced southward along Challenger’s wall, drawing the anti-air’s attention away from me. Behind me was the third vertibuck that had come swooping in, lingering back to engage the rest of my team down below. I would’ve looked back to check on them, and in any other circumstance I would’ve been staying with them to fight back. But Blake… now, Blake’s hold on me was slackening. He was growing even heavier in my grasp, and it was getting hard to keep him in a strong embrace. He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t speaking. I only felt his beating heart as I hugged him to my chest, quick… but weakened.
He’d lost too much blood back there-
BLAM!!
Another round sliced by right above me, forcing me to duck down and drop my altitude yet again. With Blake’s weight pressing down on my forelegs, it was becoming an even greater struggle to get myself realigned in the air with my constant maneuvering. The ground was closing in, and ever since I’d made a run for it, the Talon sniper was harrying me, driving me closer to the surface. A grounded target was easier to hit than one that was able to maneuver in the air, and just as I finally managed to get myself leveled out again, yet another round raced by on the left side; I didn’t lose my pace again, but I sure felt where the bullet had grazed the armor on my flank.
Challenger was even closer now, and the city was rallying up its defenses. From farther in, even over the blaring raid siren, I heard the dim popping reports of small arms fire. Whether guards or civilians, more ponies were taking shots at the vertibuck that was now flying directly over the city, circling back around to head north as it continued to distract the city defense grid. There was even heavy machinegun fire coming from outside the city wall to the west, from a small farmhouse built out there, and even to the east where two larger barns had been established; that vertibuck had already taken some hits in its risky move to travel over hostile airspace.
But my attention was snapped back to my own pursuer when the rumbling of the vessels engines abruptly heightened with a sharp low-pitched whine. The wind that was spawned from the turning rotors, which was already blowing strong against me, picked up its power in unison, and I heard as the vessel drew even closer. My instinct was to evade yet again, even despite the shrinking distance between me and the surface. But though I was in the perfect position to be targeted by the vertibuck’s array of weaponry, I knew that wasn’t why I was being chased. And my instinct vanished when a shadow came over me. The vertibuck flew right over me, its twin engines tilted forward a whole ninety degrees to propel it ahead at an alarming speed. With that, and with how labored I was in the air, it had no problem overtaking me. As soon as it did, it dropped its altitude by banking right as it gained a good lead over me, branching away before its engines begun to tilt back and draw vertical. I’d been following its every move, already hooking left in response to try and put more distance between me and the enemy. But in so doing, I found myself staring down the unicorn sniper that was standing at the lip of the entry hatch into the vertibuck’s crew compartment. The glint of his scope came into view as the vertibuck adjusted its course to present its left side to me, putting a line between us.
And the sniper was already aiming.
The muzzle flash flicked to life, and the crack of the rifle sounded right in time with the thump of the bullet striking the plating on my right side. I jolted in the air from the impact, keeping myself from crying out, but nearly missing a wingbeat as the armor there just barely absorbed the round; it was the second shot that hit me.
As if shouting its frustrations, the vertibuck’s engines thundered louder as that same whine filled the air. And with that, the vessel put on another burst of speed to get even farther ahead of me, nearing the city’s wall. This time, after its first display, I could anticipate this next one before it came. One more time I pulled again to keep Blake as tight against me as I could. And then, with all the strength I could muster, I focused on my wings and pumped them fast as I could. Even with Blake’s added weight, I managed to climb as the vertibuck began to turn, putting itself directly between me and wall, now less than two hundred yard away. And when the sniper found me again, taking aim for another shot, I arced in as tight a turn as I could manage, tilting myself completely vertical before banking right and dropping all at once. The rifle reported again, just like I thought, this shot far to the side. And with that I completed my roll, turning myself over and leveling out with a heavy grunt. The ground was just shy of reaching us now, a mere few yards all that was left of my airspace. But the city’s gate, open wide and waiting, was right in front of me.
It was all or nothing now. Blake was no longer holding onto me, and a formerly fast heartbeat was slowing, weakening even further. I pushed myself forward with all my might, wings aching with a pulsating pain from the extra weight they kept aloft.
But suddenly, the vertibuck came back into view, literally dropping down into my line of sight from above. In one fluid move, it had adjusted its altitude to nearly match mine while instantaneously backing up to align itself with me and spinning to complete a full circle in the air. And I gasped as the aircraft completed its maneuver by bringing the sniper back around to find me yet again. The vertibuck wavered in the air from the risky yet shocking move, wobbling into an unsteady hover right in front of me. But the sniper was given the chance he needed as I now flew on a collision course for him-
BOOM!!
The vertibuck jerked in the air as a ball of fire and smoke erupted from its right engine. The rotors on that side snapped off like twigs, the whole engine block caving in as it was blasted apart by some unknown projectile. The vehicle abruptly halted its lean, a quick, desperate, and futile struggle to stay afloat. But its remaining engine then carried it into a spin, and as I sharply snapped out my wings to stop myself from getting too close, it fell away to my left to plow into the ground, kicking up a churning cloud of dust and smoke as metal screeched and crumpled. So close had I been to it that I felt the wave of heat from the explosion as it washed over me, and the dust and smoke too as it rolled in to conceal the city from me.
I had to turn my head away, shutting my eyes as I threw myself back into flight. Banking away to the right, I pumped my wings to try and get into the clear, to regain lost ground. In just a few short seconds, I managed to escape the brunt of the dust, getting a hazier view of Challenger. And up above, I could see where the vertibuck that had once been flying low over the city was now making a beeline for the northeast, already passing over one of the barns out that way. As it crossed out of the corner of my eye, I could see the thick trail of black smoke that drifted behind it. Challenger’s anti-air had chased it away, but there was still one more vertibuck out there… and I didn’t hear its weapons… only its engines as they drew closer to me.
With the loss of its two wingmates, the third craft was diverting to follow me; they weren’t giving me up!
But as I angled in for the open gateway to the city, I found myself taking heart as I saw the city’s preparedness. At the gate, a whole platoon was emerging from within. Thirty soldiers at least, all in that signature green camouflage, were moving in a double line and fanning out to cover the whole width of the city’s entrance. And behind them, rolling out on heavy creaking wheels, were two steel-plated wagons pulled ahead by two teams of four earth ponies encased in their own steel armor rigs. And atop each vehicle was a mounted gun with a gunner at the ready behind it, the first with a long-barreled heavy machinegun, and the second with a break-action missile launcher. The latter wagon, with a bright flash of light, fired a second missile as I approached. It flew straight, just long enough to gain speed before it abruptly hooked away to my left to pass me by. And though I didn’t follow it, I heard the familiar pops of vertibuck flares, my chaser deploying countermeasures; the noise of its engines fell away to the west as it was forced to evade the missile.
The missile chased it back, buying me precious seconds! And below, there was a whole platoon of infantry with heavy armor as backup keeping their eyes on me. And I was going to make it to them!
BLAM!!
The crack of a rifle, a rifle I’d heard before, and a high-caliber round smashed into my right flank. The armor couldn’t catch it, cracking from the impact, and I screamed as I took the hit. The shot pushed me with a jolt, my wings missing their beat because of it, and I dropped instantly with a burn coursing through my wound like nothing I’d ever felt before. And before I could even think of anything else, all of my senses were shaken together when I struck the ground. I crashed dead on my left shoulder, then hitting with the rest of my left side. I bounced once after a short painful skid, and then I hit again, flipping once over myself and landing hard on my right side, igniting my fresh wound with twice the burn as I finally came to a standstill. The aftermath of my crash landing was not as severe, however, and with the adrenaline still rushing through my veins I became aware almost immediately.
And the first thing I noticed was the absence of Blake!
Frantically I searched as I lay there on my side, propping myself up on one hoof and looking out where I’d landed. He was there, laying with his back facing me just a couple yards away… unmoving. But just when I got another hoof under me, something pushed on me from above, a shocking touch that made me drop myself back down again. I would’ve rolled, scrambled away, anything to get back to Blake. But my racing thoughts made way long enough for me to hear the voice that called to get my attention. “Hey, you okay?!” Hooves ground to a halt by my right shoulder, followed by a stallion’s head concealed behind a grey metal helmet, the visor of which came down to meet my eyes. And when I didn’t answer, “I’ve got you, you’re going to be alright!”
Others were coming in around us, three more on each side that were fanning out, with rifles and saddles trained on the area ahead. But just as I saw the first soldiers of Challenger’s platoon, another resounding crack signaled yet another shot from the same rifle that brought me down. I saw the muzzle flash ahead of me, coming from the wreckage of the downed vertibuck. And I heard a cry from my right at the same time, followed by the sound of a body hitting the ground. “Sniper in the crash site!” The call was passed quickly, traveling with haste along the ranks of those soldiers behind me. The stallion next to me threw himself down onto his gut, snapping his scoped assault rifle up to his shoulder and promptly firing. He and three others all fired together in their prone position, a shower of sparks erupting off the crippled tail of the downed chopper. And I saw as the same unicorn sniper who’d taken me down ducked back behind cover, hoisting his three-o-eight rifle with him.
“I’ve got another, right side!”
“On him!”
There was another, a second pony hiding at the crumpled nose of the aircraft with a ten millimeter pistol clenched in his jaws. But he only managed two shots before he had to take cover again, three assault rifles putting fire down on him together to keep him and his surviving companion pinned. “Hey!” I was already bracing myself to get back to all fours when the same stallion I’d first seen called me again, punching my right shoulder. “Can you walk?!” He ducked, and me with him, when another sniper shot echoed out, racing by overhead. “Our spotters on the wall found enemy infantry to the west, coming for the gate with forty troops plus flak support! We need to get you out of the open before they get here!”
“Get my brother!” I shouted over the response of two carbines that shot back. “He needs a doctor, right now! Please get him!!”
“Alright, I’ll go get him!” the soldier replied, finding where Blake still lay motionless after a brief moment of searching. “We’ve got our town doc waiting just inside the gate behind us! I’ll get him there!” Keeping himself low, he snapped himself back up to all fours and gave me literally no time to argue as he caught the attention of two other soldiers next to him on the right. “Get Nova inside!” he ordered. “She’s got three wounds that need tending!”
“Hey, wait!”
But without a moment’s pause the unicorn soldier made a mad dash for Blake as a call for covering fire traveled through the soldiers now behind him. And immediately after, I felt as my whole body was lifted up against my own will, a dim greenish light coloring my vision as I floated off the ground. And before I knew it, I landed on the back of a big pale green unicorn stallion, his own coat color blending well with his green camouflage combat armor. As soon as I recovered from my forced relocation, with the unicorn wheeling about to face the city gate, I shifted in my place to get his attention. “Wait!!” I shouted at him. “I need to get my brother!!”
But in my attempt to try and slide off him, his telekinesis fired back up to restrain me, keeping me pegged to his back. “Duke’s got him!” he shouted back, already picking up his pace to a fast trot as he held me down. “You need to see the doc, long enough to get that shard out of you and drink a potion! After that, then you can get back to it and help us repel this group that’s coming in!”
We were crossing into the back of the platoon now, where the two wagons were digging in. Their steel-clad pulling teams, having moved their wagons into position, were beginning to disembark from their harnesses, readying their own heavy weapon saddles. The missile wagon fired its third projectile, the missile immediately hooking west to sail right over our heads. “Just put me behind the wagons and get this metal out of me!” I shouted back, having to hook my forelegs around my carrier’s neck to keep from accidentally sliding off. “I need to be with my brother!”
“You’ve got nasty wounds, pegasus!” the soldier responded, undeterred as he carried me past the wagons at a strong gallop; we were almost to the gate. “You need to get those treated before you do anything else!”
“I need to be with my brother, damn it!!” I screamed it again, but only just finished it before suddenly, my would-be-rescuer jerked hard left. I felt his right side cave in from the force of a bullet impact, and a short cry of pain escaped him before we both toppled over. As soon as he hit the ground, my own momentum carried me over him, and I face-planted into the dirt, rolling over my saddle weapons once, twice, before coming to a stop once again on my right side. Immediately, the burn from my lower back took prominence, reminding me harshly of the metal that still lay buried in me there. My second tumble had moved it, shoving it back while pushing it just a little deeper. But even despite that, I heard the noticeable change in the weapon fire. And after a quick glimpse to the west, I ducked down as a line of automatic rifle rounds passed over my head.
The Legion force was already here.
What was once just a smaller line of around twenty soldiers was now over twice as long and twice as fortified. Just over a hundred yards out, the Talons had established a solid firing position with shocking speed. Plate barriers made up the single wall of their station, and at the far right end came the signature echoing cracks of a twenty millimeter. The flak gun branched off the northernmost barrier, already opening up against the front of the platoon. Altogether, the enemy force engaged with a mighty strike, and Challenger’s ponies were scrambling for shelter behind their own wagons as their turrets came about. Three of the allied soldiers had been too late to flee from that flak gun, mowed down as the rest flooded behind the wagons. Those who weren’t close enough to the vehicles, or who hadn’t been shot, hit the dirt. And only the ponies in steel armor remained standing, now fully detached from their wagons and charging ahead as a single eight-member unit to meet the enemy head on.
A quick glance to my right, and I could see the unicorn who had carried me. He looked uninjured from the round that stopped his run, only stunned as he pushed himself back up to face the enemy line. Past him, I could see the soldier who had gone after my brother. He was crouched as low as he could be without falling prone, and on his back was Blake, facing me with closed eyes as he was held in place by the unicorn’s telekinesis. Beyond all three ponies, I managed to see our own wagon, alight with muzzle flashes showing a strong resistance.
They were okay… I knew my friends were okay… They had to be.
I asserted this with all my heart as I forced myself to move, again and again as I got my forehooves under me, pushing myself up enough to get my back hooves on the ground. The burn tried to get me to back down. But more and more, willpower was taking over, giving me the courage to ignore my wounds, to see, to know, and to fight back. The Talons – they weren’t shooting at me, not to kill. They needed me, wanted me back, and that was why they were here. Raptor had been right about them, about what he said, and I knew it here as I got back up to all fours. But I was so close, my brother – so close, the others… the Talons wouldn’t get any farther.
Stomping my hoof down, I chomped down on my firing bit with one last shiver that reminded me of my injuries. The Talon soldiers were taking it in turns to put fire down on Challenger’s platoon. The city’s two wagons had met them now, the heavy machinegun pounding the barrier to force a great deal of them to stick to their cover. One missile was free too, and I saw it as it raced in for the flak gun itself. But the missile detonated just shy of it, and I saw the rippling barrier of light that revealed itself from the impact. A magic shield, just like in Hopeville, just like in Marefax, something I felt was a common but effective tactic. And above the enemy line, the last vertibuck flew northward, its unguided rocket pods unleashing a short four-shot volley to where Sierra was coming in to assist; the steel-clad pegasus had to tuck in her wings and dive to pass under the projectiles.
My current state would keep me from flying at full effectiveness, and taking to the air would make me a far easier target; I had to hit the infantry, whatever I could hit, and stay on solid ground.
I crouched down low to steady myself, then taking aim and zeroing in on the center of the barrier as our machinegun wagon targeted the left side. Amidst retaliatory fire from Challenger’s own soldiers, there were four Talons that I could see over the barrier, and I sighted in for the one on the far right, an LMG hovering in his grip as he strafed our position. One sharp trigger pull, and my rifles kicked with a hateful roar, voicing against their long period of inactivity. The pair of rounds sent sparks off the barrier, right under my intended target. The stallion backed away a step in response as I settled from the light recoil, and before he could get himself back into positon, I fired again, chasing him back to cover and taking his heavier weapon out of the fight for however brief a time.
I stepped back a pace and turned slightly to adjust my aim left, targeting his companion who was another unicorn buck with a long-barreled repeater rifle. I leveled out quick, focusing and firing one pair of shots that likewise sent the enemy soldier ducking down for cover. And quick as I could, I turned back the way I came when I saw a third farther down the line emerge to take a few shots with his carbine. I was on him in a blink, firing twice more, the second shot scoring a hit on the stallion’s armored shoulder that sent him tumbling back.
With a resounding ‘ping’ Cross’s rifle went empty, and the autoloader kicked in to eject the spent clip and load in new rounds. Thus forced to wait, I backed away and closer to the wagons that were just behind me. But when I did, I was startled out of step as the ground before me exploded at the impact of two high-caliber rounds that kicked dirt up into my face. And as a third and a fourth both sailed by my right side, I planted my hooves into the ground and jumped away, diving left and throwing myself onto my gut.
Then, from my right, I flinched at the very sudden roar that punched through the skirmish, coming from just up ahead. A quick glance there, and I saw that Challenger’s heavy troops were making their move. All eight were standing in a staggered line, and they were all going weapons free. Eight different miniguns unleashed hell together in a violent and awesome display of firepower. The whole of the Talons’ barrier was alight with sparks, and even when one of those armored ponies was hit, they didn’t stray from their attack. I even caught sight of one as he took a twenty millimeter round square in the chest, eliciting a short gasp from me when the pony was knocked wholly off his hooves from what had to have been a crushing impact; but still, after a moment’s daze, he… or she… got right back up, not much worse for wear.
Those armored ponies were like tanks all on their own, each of them, and they were beginning to advance.
I heard the click of my battle rifle’s autoloader as it finished reloading the weapon fresh. Finally ready, I hoisted myself back up to all fours, scanning over the line of heavies with a quick but studious eye. Then I was on the move just as a half dozen allied infantry ran out of cover to advance with their armored comrades. I circled back around, finding the vehicles again and moving as fast as I could toward the closest, the machinegun wagon. And once I drew parallel to it, along with the troopers still taking cover behind it, I faced the enemy line again and took aim, finding a gap between friendlies to fire through. The enemy position was already being hammered mercilessly by the heavy troops and their new backup. But the Talons were still finding room to maneuver across the barrier, and the twenty millimeter was the weapon that was giving them that room. The flak gun was forcing the heavies to break their formation. Two of the troops were even caught by the mobile weapon, and one after the next they were knocked down after a violent blast of sparks erupted from their armor. But they got right back up under fire as the rest of their unit sprinted outward and scattered, an attempt to limit the casualties they’d already taken from the mobile turret. And with it distracted to one side, the barrier that was protecting it was flickering under the constant fire that it was taking from the rest of the unit that was behind cover.
And so I fired on the weakening shield to help, three quick consecutive shots before it was once again engulfed in fire, a missile from the launcher wagon smashing into it. Out of the corner of my eye, just above the fireball left from the warhead’s impact, I caught a glimpse of the Talon vertibuck that remained over the field, leaving a trail of flares behind it just before a missile from the north detonated in the fiery cluster. Back on the barrier, Challenger’s heavy troops were still keeping a constant barrage on the enemy line, and others were taking the advantage they’d been given in their effort. To the north and south, allied infantry was trying to make its way around to establish flanking positions, and they were moving at a quick pace with the opportunity they were given. The Talons were under a relentless assault, the most anypony behind their barrier managing was a reckless blind-firing that proved a valiant but fruitless effort.
I took aim at the barrier, watching for any who’d dare try and emerge to aim their shot. No such pony surfaced under the miniguns that drilled into their position, but I fired instead at a hovering light machinegun that was putting fire down on the troops to the north, the first shot adding to the sparks being thrown off the barrier before the second actually caught the weapon itself, knocking it out of the telekinetic hold of whatever unicorn carried it.
“NOVA! OVER HERE!” Just barely audible over the raging fight, I heard a familiar voice call my name from behind me, belonging to the unicorn stallion in custody of my baby brother. He had circled around and fallen back to the wagons for cover, to protect himself and Blake both. I turned and spotted him just in time to see as he reemerged from behind the launcher wagon; Blake was still there on his back, still unresponsive.
Without a word I wheeled around and ran for cover, three more stray rounds hitting the dirt now at my back as I galloped away. Quickly, the unicorn made enough room for me to squeeze into cover with him and the other soldiers that remained here. “Are you okay?!” I shouted.
“We both are!” came his yelled answer; he and I winced away when the launcher wagon let loose another missile. “I’m going to make a run for the gate, Nova!” he explained quickly, his helmet’s visor already facing the city entrance… so close now… “I need you to cover me so I can get your brother there in one piece!”
He didn’t have to say anything else. With a nod only, I leaned up against the wagon’s hull and stopped at the corner, watching as he drew up beside me, bracing himself for a mad gallop. Then, waiting for a pair of detonations close by to come and go, he gave the word and leapt into a sprint, and I spun out of cover to sight in for the barrier. The heavies were scattered even further as the Talon flak gun put up a bold resistance. With that I saw where two of the steel ponies were struggling back up to their hooves, flanking a large blast crater made from a grenade, and farther out, in a startling turn of events, I found where the infantry to the north and south had been forced to fall back under heavy fire; the Talons were hiding some bigger weapons behind their wall, a last resort.
I immediately found a new target as he emerged from behind the barrier, able to take aim under the cover of the Talons’ ferocious drive. I fired, one pair of shots smashing into the barrier just under the unicorn, and before he could duck, a second pair scored a hit at the base of the neck, sending him down. Then I was after another, his neighbor, an earth pony buck holding a heavy SMG that he fired into the retreating southern squad. One pair of shots, and that SMG went silent as a round struck the frame, knocking the weapon out of his jaws altogether. But I couldn’t fire again, as with another ping, my battle rifle emptied, and I had to return to cover, ducking away just as five rounds hit the wagon’s hull in rapid succession.
Stuck waiting, my attention immediately went to the south, to where my brother had been taken away. I found him, and the soldier who carried him as he was assisted by another Challenger fireteam that was already waiting past the open gate. Words couldn’t describe the relief that washed over me to see as Blake was carried past the wall, the soldier keeping up his gallop as he headed down the dirt clearing; ponies were swarming all over the area.
Blake was safe… safer… now I could focus on helping the others get to the wall.
With a final click, my battle rifle was loaded back up. Up above, the chopping rotors of the vertibuck blazed by overhead, drawing my eyes to the sky just as the craft raced by. Fire from the city wall’s anti-air battery kept right behind it, falling just shy of hitting the target; the pilot behind the wheel of that last vertibuck was a good flier. Back on the ground, the roar of the launcher wagon’s missile brought my attention to where those still remaining behind cover were gathering, exchanging weapons, passing out grenades. I counted six grenade launchers that were being handed up from the now open hatch of the machinegun wagon, too, and even as they were brought forward, other soldiers were heading out of cover and laying down additional fire to back the heavy units still taking the full brunt of the fight.
I followed their example, coming back out into the open and sighting back in on the barrier. The whole line was being suppressed under a constant barrage. Even the flak gun’s bubble shield was wavering, flickering wildly as it struggled to keep up with the beating it took. It was on its last legs, and with that knowing I made it my next target along with several others attacking from all fronts. One, two, the shield disappeared, just for a second, before clawing its way back to life. Three shots, four shots, it faded again, flickering away before a whole line of detonations raked the Talons’ barrier, two exploding in front of it, another three farther back, behind that nearly indestructible wall. Fifth, the energy shield wasn’t there anymore, but still they didn’t reach the gun emplacement, that twenty millimeter still firing in the wake of the relentless onslaught. Sixth, seventh, still they didn’t reach. But then, fire concealed the gun from me when another grenade tore at the earth there, three more following after it in turn. And just a blink later, another missile slashed through the flames and a mighty blast shook the dirt underhoof, kicking up fire and metal into the air, a direct hit on the flak gun! I retreated back behind the wagon, the adrenaline at a peak at the sight of that damned gun’s demise. Challenger was pushing ahead, executing a successful counterattack, and closing in on the barrier and the struggling platoon behind it. Now I had the opportunity I needed to get out of here, escape the fighting and get back to Blake, make sure he was okay. I had let him go just this once to keep his savior protected.
Now I had to get back to him, and quick.
Over the raging gunfire that forced the Talon platoon into cowering away, I heard as a commanding voice led Challenger’s soldiers on, giving them courage to finish the fight that the Talons started, to deliver the final blow. I kept my back to that voice, focusing only on Challenger’s gate, that which had waited in invitation for far too long. I forsook everything else, crouching down and bracing my hooves into the dirt. And with a single powerful leap I launched myself into the open and ran, galloped to the gate with all the strength and speed I could muster.
Then… then I saw green… green light everywhere, painting the dirt and even the dust itself in a brilliant flash. And not even a second later, a tremendous thunderclap erupted behind me, and I was thrown off my hooves as the explosion ripped into my ears, shook my body, sent me tumbling, screaming through the air only for me to come crashing back down. I landed head first, sending a jarring jolt of pain down my neck and along the rest of me before I was sent into a reckless tumble. Again I felt my rifles stabbing into my sides as I rolled over them again and again. And again, I reached out, scrambling for any way to stop myself until finally, after one final flip, I landed belly down. Even in the painful daze, even in the tremendous burn that came from the wounds on my flanks, I managed to get my eyes to open quick thanks to the adrenaline rush that came from my third tumble. But I only beheld a virtual sea of green, green that came from the emerald flames that raged from the twisted wreckage of Challenger’s wagons.
They were gone! Just a second ago, they had been the shields for the platoon. Just a second ago I’d seen them whole… But burning wreckage was all that was left, twisted hunks and bent sheets of metal being eaten away by molten balefire from the spark batteries that had detonated within them. Even as I stared with shock, metal shards rained down all aflame amidst the remains. And through my once again ringing ears, I could hear voices… screaming voices… and I saw a pony as he emerged from the wreckage…… burning alive. And then there was another… and then a third soldier wrapped in green flames as he thrashed on the ground, cooking even as radiation from the explosion tore away at him too. Two uninjured soldiers tried to subdue him, trying to pin him in one place while desperately patting down the flames with their own hooves. Off to the left, the damage continued to spread. A whole line of blast craters had been carved into the ground, five of them side by side. And all around them were bodies, the bodies of Challenger’s soldiers, over a dozen, five of which were the now crumpled forms of the steel-armored heavy troopers.
But in that moment was when I heard something else, something that reached me easily because of the very sudden lack of gunfire. I heard vertibuck rotors, just as I had before. But there was a sound that accompanied it, not the low drone that I heard in the vertibuck engines, but a very high-pitched and piercing whine. It came from above, moving directly over me and heading westward, slowing itself. There was a vertibuck overhead… but its engines were so much louder, far more powerful. My ears picked up the distinction, which drew my focus up to the now smoky sky.
I searched, searched quickly, trying to find out what was going on up there. But directly above me… there was only empty space.
And the Talons’ vertibuck was flying to the north of here… quitting the battlefield altogether as it too left a trail of smoke behind it.
But the sound… that whine… it was so close……
But that’s when I saw something move above. No… not move…… To my left, I caught sight of a disturbance in the air. Something was sparkling there, low over the ground. The very air was shifting, molding, flickering in a wild display like invisible fire. And then, that shimmering sheet of energy begun to ripple back, fading away with a high-pitched piercing magical hum, revealing something hidden within. A long, rounded obsidian metal nose emerged first, under which the six barrels of a large chaingun appeared, a monster of a weapon that was held in a heavy box-like housing that fused it into the hull. Then, the top of the frame arced slightly upward, leading to the long, slanted glass window of what was indisputably a cockpit, and as more of what I came to realize was a vertibuck emerged, I beheld long stub wings mounted into the fuselage just behind the cockpit… where a deadly arsenal came to existence from thin air. There were two more chainguns mounted onto the far ends of the wings, just as large as the nose-mounted one. A rocket pod with at least two dozen slots was fused into each wing beside the enormous miniguns. And next to those, a rounded four-barreled housing lay on each wing, both the home to a quartet of larger missiles. As the weapons of this vertibuck revealed themselves, so did the aircraft’s engine… this one made only of a single rotor unit whose blades spun at a blur above it as the craft settled into a hover. And from thin air, the rest of the aircraft showed itself to me. Just behind the rotor, there was a pair of short but wide tubes that extended from the vertibuck’s back where its form sloped downward into the long tail. I could see the shimmering heat coming from them, which was decorated with a violet light coming from within those tubes… the source of the whine. And then came the rest of it, the tail, a fuselage-mounted triple-fin assembly where, on the central and taller fin, a smaller tail rotor was spinning.
Hovering over the field, revealing itself from its stealth field, was a vertibuck the likes of which I’d never seen before. Those I’d been used to seeing – they were pudgy, bulky in shape. This vessel – its frame was sleek yet still made of strong plate, its black color giving it an intimidating appearance. It was longer than the normal vertibucks, and a little larger all around, the rotors of its main engine longer, yet still it maintained that trim slender frame. And on the right side of the fuselage, just under the cockpit canopy, I saw the trio of white slashes across the black plate that designated its faction of origin. And below that, a scrawled name:
Vulture
The appearance of the vertibuck from its stealth field looked to have won the attention of everypony. I heard not one shot over the whine of the Vulture’s engines. But from where the aircraft hovered, a bright spotlight cut through the smoke, shining down on the wreckage of the wagons before passing along the battlefield, as if it were scanning the area. Then, ringing cracks of gunfire announced themselves from Challenger just a half second before the hull of the Vulture lit up with bright sparks. The aircraft jerked lightly in the air, caught by surprise from the sudden engagement. But then, from the back of the beast, violet fire licked out from the tubes under the rotors, and with shocking speed, the Vulture raced ahead, passing directly over me before arcing away to the north. And as it did, gunfire picked back up, from both the Talons’ side and Challenger’s.
Even after the vicious fighting, the Talons did not retreat. Even as a much-needed batch of reinforcements poured in from the gate, at least two-dozen strong, the Talons did not budge from where their weakened barrier had been established. And all the while, Challenger’s casualties were piling up.
My flank and my back were screaming at me, now that I was aware of the wounds I’d sustained there after recovering from my dizzy spell. The shrapnel I’d taken earlier was digging into me, scraping against flesh even at the slightest movement. It made it almost impossible to rise now… and I… I felt weak. Perhaps it was that it took another good shaking to get me to perceive it… but I felt tired, my body aching all over, begging for an end to being thrown about, to being cut and stabbed and shot. I managed to stagger back to all fours, but not without that painful feeling crushing down on me from all sides, amplified by the adrenaline that clashed head on with the urge to just collapse.
I wobbled on my hooves, tilting before I spread my legs apart to maintain balance. I faced north, towards the burning wagons, the fire within them briefly making me wince away before I squinted to adjust to the light level. The Vulture was there behind the fire, presenting a menacing display as it completed its arc and faced the city head on. And a second later, it was charging forward, the sound of its engines reaching me even over the gunfire just as its two rocket pods flashed with rapid pulses of light. A combination of fear and pain drove me to collapse back onto the ground, and as soon as I hit the dirt, a whole volley of unguided rockets roared by overhead, passing over us completely to enter the city and detonate within. The anti-air inside the city perimeter opened up on it again… only one gun firing to accompany the heavy machineguns by the eastern and western structures outside the city. The Vulture turned away at the same time, tilting over and banking to the right at an alarmingly sharp angle. But as the city’s twenty millimeter gave chase, I found my eyes locked to where the Vulture had once been… as it had flown to the side only to reveal something else in the sky.
Five new contacts, closing in fast. Just ahead of me, I saw that I wasn’t the only one to identify the threat. Those soldiers who remained were calling to one another, some pointing up to where the airborne contacts were coming in to warn the others nearby. But I already knew what they were… and I could feel my quickening heartbeat as I rose slowly back up to all fours. Griffins. I saw their flapping wings. They were in a V formation, just for a couple seconds more before the two on the right side arced out of the shape, diving in for the wagons. And at the same time, the two on the left side broke the formation, adjusting their course straight south and coming in for the soldiers, who were prepping themselves for an intercept.
But my eyes were on the only griffin of the five that stayed his course, pumping his wings in a steady drive right toward me. My heartbeat was racing even faster as I watched him. My body tensed. The pain was still there, still strong, but obsolete as I took hold of my saddle’s firing bit.
Then I spotted a flicker of light from the griffin, one pulse, one muzzle flash. And I was forced back one step as a single round punched into the dirt before my hooves. I rushed into action with instant focus as what was once hesitant thought became fact, rearing up onto my hind hooves to get the angle I needed with my saddle. And before I landed, I fired one shot back at the griffin, a miss that he didn’t even budge from in his straight shot for me. With a ping, my battle rifle once again ran dry, and I felt as both my weapons autoloaders activated to reload. But I moved quick, quicker than ever, with vengeful eagerness propelling me to go for my sidearm. Out came Shimmer’s pistol just as a second round plowed into the dirt just off to my right, a second shot from the incoming enemy. Then I was aiming down my iron sights, and with a heavy kick, the weapon knocked my head back when it belched out one powerful shell. This time, just as he was nearing mere yards from me, the griffin broke from his dive, pumping his wings with a single sharp flap that gave him a burst of speed, and banking right, he raced right by me.
But there was no missing the glint of the pearl-white revolver held in the griffin’s right paw. Blackhawk was here… and that only proved further the real intention behind the Talons’ attack here; they were coming for me, and Blackhawk was here to collect.
I wouldn’t let him have me… not again… NOT AGAIN!!
Executing a tight turn in the air, Blackhawk was coming back around and climbing to regain some lost altitude. I spun around to keep him in front of me, aiming again and trying to anticipate his flight path. And as he straightened out his course, I fired a second shot. This time, he hitched violently in the air, and I nearly shook with anticipation when I witnessed as the fifty caliber round nearly brought him to a complete halt. Miraculously, he kept himself up, the only incentive I needed to recover and fire again. But I was just a second too late, as Blackhawk snapped his great wings shut and dropped right before I pulled the trigger, eliciting a frustrated growl from me as I gave chase behind my sights.
Blackhawk let himself fall all the way down to the ground, fanning his wings back out long enough to pull himself into a hover before landing on his paws. But right when I reacquired him, I was jolted when a round smashed into my left side, the armoring there absorbing it just before a second shot ricocheted off my battle rifle. I stuck out my right foreleg to keep myself upright, keeping my sidearm locked in my jaws as I fought against the force of the shot and turned to find the attacker. And I spotted one of Blackhawk’s griffins just as he flashed by right over me and out of the corner of my sight. As quick as I looked, I ripped myself away to put my attention back ahead of me…
Only for a high-caliber round to drill right into my chest plate.
The armor absorbed the bullet, but the force of the impact knocked the wind out of me, sending me stumbling back. I lost my footing from the hit, and fell flat on my stomach when I slipped, unable to recover. But still I held onto my pistol, fighting every part of my wounded self to force the weapon back up. There, I found Blackhawk in mid-sprint, coming right for me with eyes glaring the hatred of the world. And before I could act, his momentum carried him through the air as he threw himself into a leap, pouncing right for me. Eyes going wide, I threw myself into a roll, dodging away to the left just before the griffin slammed down onto the ground right where I’d been. And hearing his landing, I used my own momentum to complete my first roll, and then come to a stop on my left side, snapping my sidearm to bear against him. And desperately, I chomped down on the firing bit… realizing only a fraction too late that he was already leaping away, and my shot slashed by behind him as he dodged away to safety.
And now, my pistol was empty.
I gasped through the firing bit, a muffled sound. And with that same desperation I reached over to its holster and stuffed it back in. But then, Blackhawk was on me, and bellowing a hateful cry, he smashed into me, his sheer weight and power sending us into a reckless tumble across the dirt. All I saw in that moment was a blur, but I sure felt as I rolled over him, then under, and then over again and then back under. We came to a halt all at once, and as soon as the spinning stopped, I was face to face with that ragged scar, Blackhawk’s glaring eyes. He was already raising a paw up to strike, but I lashed out in swift retaliation, catching his opposite foreleg with a punch that got him to drop his paw away to balance himself. And then, one more hit, and he fell over me and onto his side, giving me the time I needed to roll away and put precious distance between us.
We both pushed ourselves up in unison, my own glare of vengeance locked to his, following his every move. But even then I wasn’t prepared for when he threw himself back for me, quickly closing the gap I’d made. And I only managed to back up a step before he used his momentum to swing his right forepaw and strike me full in the face. I only barely kept myself from toppling over as my jaw exploded with pain, stomping my right forehoof into the dirt to stop my fall. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blackhawk recover from his punch and reach for me again, his paw open wide to try and grab me. But I moved quick, reversing my own momentum and swinging back to knock his paw aside with my right front hoof. And when I landed again, I carried the rest of my body in the same direction to follow through with the maneuver, bracing myself with my front hooves, lifting my back legs off the ground and tucking them in as I turned, and then bucking out. I caught him right across the face with that kick, delivering enough of a hit to daze the griffin.
When I landed on all fours, I about-faced and went straight for my battle saddle’s firing bit. But just as I took hold, he was after me, and he caught me with another punch, this one sending me reeling as I fired an involuntary shot that missed entirely. I went down, landing with a pained grunt on my right side. Before I even came to a full rest, Blackhawk had made his way to me, giving chase. And just when I came to a stop, he punched down right on my ribs just below my battle rifle. I jerked hard from the hit, crying out as I fought to get out from under him. In doing so I managed to get onto my back, finding his clenched fist as it came back down. This time I got my forelegs up to intercept the swing, and they took the full brunt and consequent sting of the attack. That was what I needed, and as he reared back for another hit, I managed to pull my hind legs back again, and buck out to catch him in the lower gut. He jerked from the hit, pulled from his focus to cancel his next punch. But when I brought my own hoof back to throw a punch, his paw shot out to intercept me, grabbing my foreleg in mid-swing. And immediately I was overpowered as he slammed my foreleg back down onto the ground, and a moment later, his other paw came down on me again, knocking my head to the left with another wicked punch. That punch amplified the burn in my jaw tenfold, and with that, I recognized the movement of blood from the corner of my mouth. But before I could get my bearings back, Blackhawk’s paw came down on me again, and this time, it closed down around my neck, crushing down and instantly forcing me to gag.
Then, I was dragged, dragged and then lifted, and thrown bodily to the side as Blackhawk bellowed a fearsome cry, and I was sent skidding across the dirt, grinding to a halt on my stomach as my perception was left in a state of painful dizziness. In a rush, the air left my lungs as I snapped my eyes back open. And fighting to erase the blur in my eyes, I scrambled to get myself back up before Blackhawk could charge me again. But halfway up, and I collapsed back to the ground as a shock of alarm raced through me, an instant piercing roar that ripped violently into my ears.
I was drawn to that sound, coming from above… and I found it instantly – the Vulture, bathed in light and fire. In unison, the miniguns mounted on its stub wings and its nose-mounted chaingun were firing down, the latter sending down a barrage of bright red lasers, all creating one continuous devastating attack. And it was strafing what was left of Challenger’s line, sweeping through the debris of the wagons and carving its way forward and to where the new reinforcements had begun lining themselves up, already close to beating down what was left of the Talons’ own infantry. But all they could do was look up before the Vulture bore down on them with all its fury. One by one, those Challenger soldiers who had emerged into the open were swallowed up, and all I saw was the explosion of crimson light, Challenger ponies being mercilessly mowed down before the rolling dust concealed them from me.
I couldn’t even hear myself cry out when I managed to. I could only watch as what had just moments ago been a fresh batch of reinforcements scattered away in whatever direction they thought of first as the Vulture rained fire down on their position.
Through that deafening buzzing roar, I was able to hear the report of other weapons still fighting in the battle. From the city, the anti-air battery had come fully back online, yet still was, for some reason, not targeting the Vulture… just like the machineguns at the barns and farmhouse; it was those griffins… it had to be!
Just to my right, the report of two carbine shots drew my focus back towards the green flames left behind by the wagon. There was a single Challenger unicorn that stumbled into my view, coming to a stop as he quickly ejected an empty clip from his bolt-action rifle. He was speaking, shouting, glancing to me as he retrieved a fresh clip from his combat armor, trying to call for my attention. Then his head snapped back as a far more prominent gunshot pierced my straining ears, and I flinched with a gasp as he took a round right between the eyes, toppling back to the ground as his rifle fell useless beside him.
I threw myself back into focus, reaching once more for my saddle’s firing bit as I spun right and reacquired Blackhawk. His revolver was held in his right paw, and I found him just as he was turning it toward me, coming on target right when he put me in his own crosshairs. I chomped down, his weapon fired with mine. I didn’t see if I had hit, but I sure felt as his shot hit me. Another round plowed into my battered chest plate, caving in the armoring of my left shoulder. And immediately after, I was shoved again as my already burning left flank took another hit. Once again, the armor held its own against the shot, but the second hit took away all the fight I had to try and keep myself up, and with the force behind the second shot, I collapsed down onto my haunches, only catching myself with my forelegs to keep myself partly standing. Having held on to the firing bit along the way, I fired a second shot I had not intended, which kicked the bit out of my mouth to give me the opportunity to utter a pained, tired gasp. But that’s when I heard it – a new silence interrupted only by the city’s remaining anti-air; the Vulture’s tremendous storm had ended.
But then something hit me with a sharp sting, and I snapped my hoof up to it instantly with a startled yelp. There was a sudden biting pain right in the base of my neck, not a bullet wound… but I froze as my searching hoof came across something… something that wasn’t there before. In my haste, my hoof slid across the culprit and knocked it free, where it landed right in front of me.
A dart… a… dart……
“Oh Goddesses…” My blood flash-froze at the sight of that little black plastic projectile and the needle that made its nose. “No... no…” But already, my voice was slurring, just slightly. And my heartbeat… it quickened in fright only to begin to slow back down in but a second. Even as fresh gunfire came to life from Challenger’s gate… I felt… so tired. Even as the memory of the night of my capture by the Talons came rushing back,, I could only get myself to turn around before my legs refused to pull me any farther. I was running… but only in mind. My fear told me to run, my will told me to run… and I tried… but I couldn’t move… couldn’t obey.
At Challenger’s gate, another platoon was coming out … and to my shock, I saw something rolling into the fight behind the infantry that rushed out into the field, putting down a volley onto the Talon line. It was… it was a vehicle… and I recognized its shape… its weapon platform and its midnight blue color. It was Lil’ Luna rolling in, accompanied by four soldiers garbed in black combat armor, and the vehicle crossed the threshold of the gate as its launcher turret came around and pointed skyward in a single quick motion, locking on to the biggest aerial threat in the field.
That beast was my salvation… but it was already out of my reach.
With a final futile effort to try and run, I fell forward as my legs gave out under me, and I landed on my gut, hitting the ground hard. The battle was picking up again… but I was… just so tired. Even fear and adrenaline both yielded to the very same poison that had captured me the first time. And the last thing I saw as my eyelids begun to slide shut, was Lil’ Luna as the mighty fighting vehicle came to a stop. And soundless, its turret launched a blazing blue fireball from one of the eighteen glowing mortar tubes, a fast projectile that raced out of view as soon as it had come. And then came a second, then a third right after it, and a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth one right after the next as the vehicle unleashed a mighty barrage of energy missiles upon what I could only assume to be the Vulture itself. The brilliant flashes of sapphire were the last thing to fade away as my eyes finally closed, my body losing the fight against the tranquilizer.
And right there on the battlefield, I fell into sleep… bested yet again by my archenemy.
*** *** ***
Noise… silence… if the two of them could ever mix, this was the moment where they did. I heard the whine and the slicing rotors of the Vulture’s engines, the thunder of its miniguns… the roar of balefire from Challenger’s obliterated wagons… all of them like a scene that had been stopped right in the middle of its existence, paused by some supernatural force to finally pick up where it had left off. But all of it overlapped a heavy silence that I could sense at the same time, silence that promptly took over, eradicating all that sound that had come to me… except for that of the outside world.
I was awake… awareness coming with shocking rapidity.
I had jolted from my slumber, though my eyes remained closed. My eyelids felt so heavy, my body achy and worn. But that didn’t stop me from being flung into a coughing fit, a series of heavy racking coughs that did the work for me in getting me to move. Through this I found out that I had been laying on my right side. And after the first four, after which I had to take in a ragged breath, I rolled over onto my stomach and brought my right front hoof up to my muzzle as I let loose another set.
That’s when I felt something press against my back, patting me twice.
I flinched away at the touch as fear took the stage with greedy expectance. Like the sounds I’d heard, the memory of that fight at Challenger’s gate came rushing in like the tide in my sea of thought. And immediately I raced to the conclusion of the worst possible outcome. But as I passed through yet four more coughs, I finally, finally got my eyes to open up. Light poured in, a yellow-orange that forced me to wince away as I choked back another cough. But my eyes adjusted rather quickly, the blur that greeted me dissolving away into a clearer picture. It was a picture of browns and yellows, of whites and blacks…
Not of greys…
“Easy now, Nova. Easy now.”
I dared to hope as my vision begun to settle back to its normal self, revealing to me a line of hospital beds along the opposite wall; each and every one of them was occupied by an unknown face. But the voice – it was a stallion’s, sounding aged… and distinct… not unknown. And with a quick glance to my right, I found the one who spoke those assurances to me, the one who patted my back again when I found him. A bronze-colored stallion, his mane and tail a clean white, wearing a look of concern, yet chancing a small smile as he finally met me eye to eye. “You took a bit of a beating out there, and your wounds are still healing up. It ain’t a race to get back on your hooves.”
“Doc?...” I couldn’t find it in myself to believe what I was seeing and hearing. I had to turn away and blink, shutting my eyes tight and opening them with caution… only to see the same thing, the same stallion who I swore, in that moment, that I recognized. “… Doc Miles?”
And the older stallion gave a single nod. “Welcome back to Challenger, Nova.”
Challenger…
My eyes fell away from him to stare at the wall behind him. In the ensuing pause, my head fell back to a pillow that I only now realized had been given to me, and a light sigh escaped me, a tiny note that carried with it a nearly staggering wave of relief. I’d made it to the city. Somehow, someway, I’d made it… But the thing about it – I couldn’t remember any fine details. For just a few seconds I recollected what I did know – the Talons had revealed some sort of vehicle… a modified vertibuck they named the Vulture… and it had outmatched a whole platoon on its own. Blackhawk… yes, he’d been there… He came after me. There were no words this time. He swooped in and attacked without the slightest pause as the Vulture and the griffins who’d followed him in dove into the fight against everypony else that was backing me… Thinking on it now, I had a strong feeling that it was Blackhawk’s griffins that kept the anti-air from fighting the Vulture… maybe even keeping Sierra out of the fight, too. But even before all that… I did remember being shot down… and I could feel where bandages had been applied to a good chunk of my flanks and lower back. But I’d been shot out of the air… not because of the wounds I’d taken when we’d first came under attack by the cloaked legionnaires… but because I’d been weighed down…… by Blake…
“Blake…” It came as an alarming surprise to me that it took me so long to remember why I had clawed my way to this city, why I had fought so desperately and suffered the pain I did… left my friends behind… It was so much a shock that upon reaching that realization, I snapped upright in my bed so fast that my wounds burned white hot all at once as they were ripped away from the sleep that was the mending process, eliciting a sharp grunt from me and stopping me just as I got my forehooves planted on the cot.
“Hey! Careful now…” Miles chided. In one swift move he set his hoof down between my shoulder blades and pressed, gently, but firm enough to try and keep me from making any further disturbance to my wounded body.
I couldn’t keep myself from hissing in the wake of the painful aftershock my new battle scars so generously granted to me. But even as I fought to keep my breathing under control in the lingering burn, I forced my attention back on the doctor, who was already anticipating that. And with a final pant, I managed to rasp out my baby brother’s name again. “Where is he?” The doctor leaned slightly back as my eyes bored into his, demanding his response as I took in another short breath. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine.”
Miles’ assurance… it came immediately, two words that froze me in my tracks. Only until he repeated himself did the spell finally break on me… where I gathered the courage to instead ask, “He’s alive?”
And the doctor nodded, another little smile slowly returning to him. “He pulled through.”
He… he survived. “He made it.”
“Yes, he did. He’s a tough kid.” the doctor replied, lifting his hoof away from me and setting it back on the floor, drawing my wandering attention back to him. “That shrapnel he took cut deep, clipped the upper ribs and put a chip in his shoulder.” I couldn’t keep myself from suppressing a wince, my lips pursuing and my eyes reflecting my anxiety. “On top of that he lost a lot of blood… and I dare say that if he hadn’t been brought to me when he did… well… we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
I nodded slowly… shuddering lightly at those last words. “W-where is he now?”
“The folks you came in with were taken to where the rest of your group made camp in the city.” Miles answered, nodding to his right to show the general direction of where. “Challenger’s got an unfortunate lack of living space for the refugees coming in from outside, so your friends were forced to set up on the lawn of the Presidential Palace. Your little brother’s recovering there right now.”
That was all I needed to hear for me to let out a sigh, one expressing the incomparable relief I felt at having that weight lifted from my shoulders. And with that terrific news, I finally felt relaxed enough to set my head back down on my provided pillow, allowing myself for just a second to take in how comfortable the lump of polyester was. “So everypony’s there?” I asked after a pause, during which time Miles moved away and off to a small metal table at the center of the clinic. Two opened first aid boxes were there, along with a flattened down duffle bag, empty. Assorted tools were scattered around them, those I could see being a pair of scalpels and tweezers, a belt of syringes, and some kind of surgical saw, all clean. “Did you see my friends as well?”
The bronze unicorn’s horn flickered to life, heralding the hollow jingling of his medical supplies as he begun to put them back in their boxes. “Yes I did. I had to treat three of them upon their arrival.”
The comfort of my pillow was short-lived as I brought my head back up again, carefully. “Who?” I asked, my former worry trickling back to life. “Are they okay?”
“I’m glad to say that there were no casualties in your group.” Miles assured me that as he closed up one of the boxes. But after that, the pale light surrounding his horn dimmed away into nothing… and he looked over his shoulder back to me. “But a few of them left the fight with some pretty bad injuries…” My silence was his cue to continue. “One of your companions… name of Gunny, was one of them. A pony in your group said that a rocket went off right in his face. He took a lot of burns and a whole mess of cuts and tears because of it. A couple healing potions were able to heal the physical damage, but I’m afraid that he’s lost most if not all his hearing in his left ear.”
Goddesses…
“There was another pony who suffered similar injuries, probably for the same reason.” Doc Miles continued. “Madeline was her name. She had to get her head wrapped up in healing bandages to repair the damage that’d been done to her face and neck. I would imagine she and Gunny were caught by the same blast.” But then, he turned fully around, facing me directly with a face written by sympathy. “Then there was one other.”
Three severe injuries… all in our small group… “Who?”
“One stallion – Shore.”
Oh no……
“According to your leader, the Talons’ modified vertibuck put them in its crosshairs just before it fled the field from that vehicle your group came in with. It hit your wagon and clipped one of its pullers in the process.” Beyond my power to control, my ears begun to flatten as the doctor spoke with an unsettling slowness. “Shore came to me with a mangled right foreleg… The round that got him was a thirty millimeter from the vertibuck’s chainguns…” And he stopped here at seeing me, an already sensitive frown deepening; there was no way he couldn’t have seen how I was beginning to shake. “I’m sorry, Nova… but we had to remove the limb to save him. The round shattered the bone, and the limb itself was only hanging on by a few strands of flesh that hadn’t been severed by the shell. If the bone had stayed intact, a super-strength potion might have been enough to put the leg back together… But in his case, it was enough to mend the wound after amputation and keep him from bleeding out.”
That was it… I needed to get out of this bed.
“I need to see them, doc.”
I forced my forehooves under me and pushed, bringing myself up quick. And though I caught out of the corner of my eye as Miles took an instinctive step towards me, I was glad to see no sign that he intended to intervene. And it stayed that way as I got my hindlegs working, finally getting myself back onto all fours despite the protests of my healing injuries. Their agitated voices got me to pass a look over my shoulder to see the extent of the damage I’d sustained. My right flank had been covered by one large medical pad, made of thinner but what had to have been absorbent fabric. There were two splotches of red against the otherwise clean white color, a rounder mark farther back, and a thinner, longer mark closer to the lower spine. “You took some shrapnel as well.” Miles explained as I studied over the scars left behind. “That, and you were also hit with an incendiary round, burns after causing the initial wound.”
Yeah… I remembered that…
“Then there was one other piece of shrapnel that you were hit by, caused a puncture and grazed the bone there on your lower back.” Miles added in conclusion, drawing my attention to the narrower healing bandage draped along my spine close to my hips; there was drying blood there, too. “So long as you’re careful when you move, you should be fully healed within the next day or so.”
Without a word, I dismissed my own wounds as I focused on getting myself off the bed. The steep ledge didn’t deter me from springing off, but when I did, I wasn’t prepared to catch my full weight on weakened legs, and with a startled gasp I nearly carried myself into the neighboring bed and the sleeping stallion that occupied it. “Whoa!” But then my momentum froze all together, and I saw the familiar light of telekinesis as it materialized right across my chest like a small net, keeping me just inches from the bedframe before I was hoisted up properly onto my hooves. “I told you, you have to be careful.”
When I turned, I saw the older stallion as the glow from his horn faded away, letting me go as he gave me a small scowl. “Sorry…” I spoke after a breath.
“Doctor Miles.”
But just when he opened his mouth to make his own reply, another stallion’s voice made his response for him, forcing him to take his words back and instead look for the entrance. And when I followed him, I saw a stallion standing in the doorway bridging the clinic to the lobby. He wore a dark green duster overtop a black armored vest. What parts of him weren’t covered by what was clearly a military uniform showed a pale white coat and a dark brown mane and tail. The earth pony looking to the doctor was big, defined, and sturdily built, with visible muscle definition. And he wore a serious face, and I felt that it was more a natural look for him than just because of the situation. But what caught my eye was the glint of light that came from his shoulders, where the candlelight of the clinic reflected off two silver badges, each shaped like a small five-pointed leaf.
“Lieutenant Colonel.” Miles greeted, dipping his head to the big stallion.
“I see Nova’s up now.” the visitor observed, his brown eyes swinging over to me; I didn’t speak up to reply.
“She’s made a good recovery, and quickly, too.” Miles said, nodding my way. “I was hoping that the next time she and I crossed paths would’ve been in better circumstances.” And I saw as he cracked just a little smile of comfort. “But I’m glad she’s awake either way.”
“So am I, doc.” came the officer’s response. “I’ve had run-ins with her friends before. They’re good ponies, and that means she is too.” I looked back to the LC to see a similar smile on his face. But me… I didn’t share the smile they did, not in the least. Because his words brought with them a rather alarming prick into my conscience. “And speaking of that,” I nearly gasped when he spoke up again. He couldn’t have missed how I jolted, a slight but still visible motion. He had spoken up at the exact perfect moment, making me believe just for a second that he actually knew what I feared he did – Guardian. “one of those friends is here with me and wants to see you.”
But all of that, mercifully, was pushed away when he stepped back and to the side, and an equally large unicorn stallion came trotting in, brick-red coat, ash-grey mane, armor, weapons… all of him still in one piece. “Gunny…” I hobbled toward him, passing the doctor by as he made room for me to get through. But I only hobbled a few steps before Gunny reached me, hooking one powerful foreleg over my neck and pulling me in against him with ease. With his own strength keeping me balanced, I was free to sling both my forelegs around him and melt into his hold, and I gladly took advantage of that, pulling him in as tight as my recovering body would let me.
“Hey, Nova.” came his very comforting greeting. “It’s good to see you on your hooves again.”
I couldn’t keep back a sigh at those words. “Goddesses, I’m so glad to see you.” And I nuzzled into his mane to emphasize my point, squeezing around his neck just a little tighter. “I was so worried when I left the wagon with Blake. I didn’t want to go… but Blake was… he just…”
But I was interrupted when Gunny gave me a solid but harmless push in his embrace, still keeping me locked to him. “Hey, now’s not the time to be playing any kind of blame game, Nova.” came his chiding response. “You did what you had to do to save him, and because of you he’s still kicking.”
I nodded against his neck. “Yeah…”
“And in the end, we all made it here alive.” he quickly added. “Maybe not fully intact, but we still made it.” Which… despite how much I didn’t want to ask, brought a question to the forefront of my thoughts.
“Gunny… is it true about Shore?”
My friend’s hoof begun to slide off me, my cue to do the same. And together, we backed up just a pace so that we could see each other eye to eye. Though Miles’ word was really enough to have put that question to rest… there was a part of me in my recovering state that wanted to hear the opposite. It was… foolish to think otherwise, to believe that Miles was just lying. But there was still that small part of me that just wanted to hear that it really was a lie. But Gunny’s sigh dashed that foolhardy hope. “I’d assumed the doctor would’ve told you.”
“He… he did…” The uncomfortable pause that followed was enough to make me turn away from him, back to my hospital bed and where the doctor watched silently from his place beside his medical table. “Is Shore okay at least?”
“Miles and the nurse he’s got at our camp have done everything they can for him.” Gunny replied. “He’s stable, resting… yeah, he’ll be okay, all things considered. But when he’s able to start focusing on moving around again, he’s going to have to get something to replace that missing leg… a pair of crutches… something. And he’ll have to learn how to walk again once that gets fixed…”
Goddesses, Shore…
“We need to go see him.” My eyes flicked to the exit, where the Lieutenant Colonel still waited within the lobby. “I want to see him, Gunny.”
And my friend promptly nodded. “I came here to bring you back to our group, whether you were still knocked out or not.” he asserted, pausing to look back to the doctor where he remained watching. “Doc. Is it alright for Nova to head out?”
When I found the older stallion, I could see the glint of hesitation in his eyes. There was good reason for that, of course. My wounds were still in the middle of healing, and I could feel that with every step I took. They might have been closed up, or at least mostly so, but I could still feel the burn in each of them, especially where that incendiary round had got me. But the doctor… something in his thoughts got him to close his eyes, to think… and reluctantly give Gunny a nod. “Well… I don’t want to give off the impression that I’m kicking Nova out. But the truth is,” And he turned to me again. “you ain’t exactly my worst patient in terms of wear, and I could use the bed to get somepony else off the dirt and onto something comfortable where they can rest properly.” he explained, his voice emphasizing the tentative emotion first shown in his stare. “So, as long as you take it easy for the next day or so, then you’ll be able to make a proper recovery. I would advise plenty of sleep and plenty of food and water, coupled with very limited physical activity. Those bandages will keep working their magic on you for a good few hours yet, and so long as you don’t disturb them, then you’ll be fixed up in no time.”
Good… “Thank you.” I said, gratefully giving my healer a bow. “I know this is the second time you’ve fixed me up… but I’ll do my best not to make it a habit of taking up one of your hospital beds, especially when there are wounded soldiers out there who need it more than I do.”
“Now, don’t go worrying about that.” Miles assured, with a little smile that proved to be rather contagious. “Healing ponies is what I do best, and I’ll fix up any friend of Challenger any time.”
Yes. I felt he definitely would.
“Thanks again, doc.” Gunny piped up, my friend already half turned around in preparation to leave. “Thanks for patching Nova up… and me, and the others. Shore and Madeline are both alive because of you.”
“Ah, don’t mention it. It’s what I’m here for.”
With that, Gunny gave me a little nudge with his forehoof before he headed back the way he had come. And with a swirling mixture of emotions underneath the lingering fatigue of my recovering body, I followed after him to where the Lieutenant Colonel was still standing by. He made way for Gunny immediately, backing up a step to give him room to cross, and me in turn. We passed him by without a word, but it was when Gunny came upon the clinic exit that he stopped and looked over his shoulder, giving a nod to the stallion now behind us. “Nova, this is Lieutenant Colonel Ajax.” he explained as I looked back to Challenger’s officer. “He’s been periodically visiting us ever since we arrived, talking with Saber and Mobley.”
I managed to give the big earth pony a little courteous smile. “Hello, sir.”
“It’s good to finally meet you in person.” came his response. “And it’s good to see you on the mend.”
“Hm…” His greeting was pleasant and welcoming, something I found myself appreciating seeing as how it was coming from a commander of Challenger’s armed forces. However, his last sentence quickly spawned curiosity, and I had to cock an eyebrow as I asked him, “How long was I out for, sir?”
But instead of an answer, he raised a foreleg to point a hoof to the exit. “I’ll answer as many questions as I can on the way to the Presidential Palace.” he responded, Gunny pulling open the metal door with his telekinesis. “Follow me.”
After letting the Lieutenant Colonel through, Gunny held the door and motioned for me to go first. And taking his offer, I followed Ajax back outside… and into a young night. The sun had fully set on the southeast, and now what light was given to Challenger was provided by candles on window sills and hanging lanterns on spaced posts lining the dirt road. Both glowed with a surprising power, arranged in such a fashion so that their auras of radiance connected to one another, keeping darkness at bay for those who still walked the city streets.
Things were quiet as I stopped outside to wait for Gunny, a stark contrast from my last memory of this city, or even my more pleasant memories of the time before when I’d first stepped hoof beyond its gates with Lucky Hallion and Marian. There was not a soul on the clinic’s street, giving out that impression of emptiness. And yet, I could pick up voices in the distance, a small group of ponies on the move to the east as they traversed one of the streets behind the line of houses in front of me.
In truth, it was plainly clear why this home of thousands was so quiet. I could feel the air of tension that drifted over it, a stifling blanket of alertness and anticipation. Challenger was locked down tight, bracing for another attack, though not knowing when. This was proven further by the sight of a turret on the rooftop of the building parallel to the clinic, a stationary twenty millimeter flak gun with its long slender barrel jutting skyward. There was an earth pony gunner that I could see perched on the seat behind the trigger, and there was a unicorn with him that was looking through a pair of binoculars, watching the northern sky.
“Let’s go, Nova.” With a gentle nudge, Gunny got my focus back onto walking, and I gave a single nod before following him north down the road. The Lieutenant Colonel was just a few paces ahead, leading us towards a large enclosure surrounded by five-story scrap metal buildings. The array of stalls, booths, and canvas tents there that I first laid eyes on told me that this was some kind of market square; everything was boarded up now… and not just due to the hour of night.
“To answer your question, Nova,” From the lane bridging the clinic to the market we passed through an open metal gate. Here, Ajax waited for us to draw beside him before he began walking again; his eyes were on the road as he spoke to me. “You were only out for about four hours.” he said. “According to Miles, the Talons hit you with some kind of poison. He’d seen it before from the northland tribals who live in this region, Plainwell folk largely. It’s crafted from native plants in The Halo, not strong enough to be lethal, but enough to leave somepony knocked out for days. Thankfully he had an antidote for it, which is why you were able to wake up after just a couple hours.” Well, that explained something at least, insignificant as it was at this point. “Now, as I promised, I’m willing to answer some questions for you if you have them.” he added quickly after. “Is there anything else on your mind?”
What wasn’t on my mind? So far, what I’d seen of Challenger was intact, looking just as I’d seen it before. But I remembered Mobley’s transmission when we’d returned to the radio station from One Eighty-one. Challenger had been hit hard, so had Ashton. And there were ponies I knew here, good ponies, who suffered from Guardian’s day of terror. I wanted to ask how the city was fairing in the aftermath, hear for myself the opinion of one of the city commanders because of its great weight. I wanted to ask if he’d heard anything from Shotshell, Bella, and Lucan, or from Auburn or even Silverlight herself. I wanted to ask about Proudspire, about Kayla and Redfield, Ironhoof, Rocky and Flare. That urge was so great… but the fear of the consequence was greater. Any of those questions – they’d surely raise inquiries of his own… Anything that could possibly trace back to those cruise missiles… in my unease, I couldn’t see any option that wouldn’t reveal my involvement. I knew all about Guardian, what the Talons did and how they made me bring those missiles down on the southeast. If Ajax knew…… it’d put me and everypony I knew in danger of being exiled from Challenger… the last safe haven of the whole southeast.
I could think of the opposite, of a better outcome… but I couldn’t keep my fear down… couldn’t take the chance of Ajax knowing… right?
“You said in the clinic that you met our group before, right?” For now, I managed to take a different road entirely, evading that fear instead of facing it. “How are they doing?”
“They’re settled in as comfortably as can be managed.” Ajax answered as we came upon an open gate at the opposite end of the market. “Your group’s one of the biggest we’ve managed to get into the city, and with just over a hundred of them altogether, we had to give them the Presidential Palace lawn. I’m afraid it’s the best we could manage.”
Which was perfectly fine, the same way I felt the first time I’d heard that. “Are they okay?”
“Oh yes.” I was glad for the instant assurance. “Same as you, they came under attack when they arrived at the gate. With such a larger group it was hard to keep them protected, but we managed, thanks largely to the flak gun you brought and that IFV. That sucker really brought the pain, and I’m glad it’s here on our side.”
“So am I.” Gunny chimed.
“All in all, there are some injured folk recovering from their own encounter with the Talons.” Ajax summarized as we crossed the gate. “You can thank Vinnie and the good folks of Rio for the lack of casualties.”
“Good… good…” I was unable to keep myself from huffing out a thankful sigh; hearing that from anypony else other than the LC, and there would have definitely been some doubts left behind.
We were now making our way down a broad road, flanked on either side by two lines of five-story residences. Spaced loosely among the open windowsills were the occasional flickering candles, adding to the light cast by the spaced out lanterns that had been placed on the ground along the lane. “I’ve got to wonder though…” Ajax spoke up. “The force that came after your group was largely infantry with just a couple vertibucks for protection. So why did they come after your group with so much more… and that modified vertibuck of theirs?”
A cold wave shot through me at that question. My eyes went to Gunny for help… but I stopped myself at a sidelong glance… and I could see as Gunny shook his head ever-so-slightly. “I don’t really know, sir.” I managed to reply, having to swallow beforehand, choking down the truth to replace it with a white lie. “It’s not the first time they’ve come after me and my friends… but I have yet to figure out why.”
“That right?” Ajax asked, more curious than anything.
And I nodded glumly. “Way I figured, they came after anypony and everypony equally. Coming to Challenger… it just kind of proves that’s not entirely accurate.”
“Well… I’m sorry to hear that, Nova.” His sympathy was… actually genuine… making me feel all the more guilty about having to force out that little trivial fib. “Sounds like the Legion’s got a beef of some kind with you, and you’ve got yourself one with them. I’d say that’s a good thing, but I’d also imagine that what led up to that rivalry was anything but good.”
Well… that was indeed true. “I lost a friend to them when they attacked Hopeville, killed by a member of the Legion that I know by name.” I explained, intentionally brief.
“We both did.” came Gunny’s addition, to which I nodded my agreement.
“I see.” Ajax replied with a solemn nod of his own. “I know what that’s like, having something taken from you. Lot of ponies here do.”
“No matter how many ponies know, no matter how many times… doesn’t mean it don’t hurt.” Gunny retorted.
“I know, son. I know.”
More and more I was finding myself eager to change the subject. And I didn’t hesitate to jump on the opportunity the proceeding silence offered. “When we were on our way over here, one of our ponies left us a radio transmission to point us in the right direction. Maybe you remember Mobley?” When I turned, the Lieutenant Colonel confirmed. “He told us in that message that Challenger ended up getting hit by those cruise missiles same as we did… So how is Challenger fairing in the aftermath?”
From him came a hum of thought, seeming to toss the question around a bit. But when he responded, he met me with eyes of intent. “Well… since you’re asking that, I suppose I won’t beat around the bush anymore.” he said, causing my ears to twitch. “I’ll admit, ever since your group’s arrival I’ve been meaning to get an audience with you, Nova.”
“Really?” I asked, a little uncertainly; I barely kept a stutter out of my voice. “Why did you want to see me?”
“To put it simply, I’ve heard a lot about you.” came his explanation as he faced the road again. “I first heard about you from chatter among my battalion. Later on, General Silverlight herself made mention of her brief encounters with you, both when you showed up to Challenger and when you were sent to the clinic.”
“She told you?”
“Yes. And I saw for myself how grateful she was for your involvement in Plainwell, despite the fact that you didn’t have to put yourself at risk the way you did.” the LC answered. “Shotshell’s a good stallion, good soldier. But more than that, you brought home that colt Lucan, and you damn near gave your life on multiple occasions to do so.” So they still remembered… Goddesses, if General Silverlight herself found out about me and Guardian… “My point is that you’ve got a good reputation here. Word about Plainwell moved quick, about how you helped get Shotshell and Plainwell’s survivors out of that town and gave them the chance to make the run back to home turf. Citizens know your name, know you for more than just being a pegasus in a land of unicorns and earth ponies. And like I said, you even won Silverlight’s gratitude by doing what you did.” We were coming up to the end of the lane leading out of the market square. Our northbound course shifted west as the Lieutenant Colonel turned us left at a T-intersection. There was one street heading further north just a couple yards ahead, but Ajax kept us moving onward away from it. In the gap made by that road however, I swore I could see the top of our destination when I cast a glance past him, sitting perfectly black against the night sky, almost hidden away.
“So… no disrespect, sir, but what are you getting at with all of this?” I inquired as we passed the street by.
“You asked how Challenger was doing.” he replied; his voice betrayed the answer I feared even without his intention. “My response to that is that Challenger needs your help again… direly… and I want to ask you for that help.”
It was all I could do to keep from wincing, from shying back. I did look away from the Lieutenant Colonel, putting the dirt underhoof in my vision. But once again, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gunny looking my way, maintaining his silence. And when he saw that he had caught my attention, he once again gave a little shake of his head, forcing me to keep quiet… telling me through the silence to lock the memory of Guardian away… bury the key and then build a house on top of it. It felt so, so wrong to do such a thing… I hated myself for it, for not being able to speak it… But that fear… it was a constant reminder of Buckley, our exile from a growing shelter where friendship had been birthed from suspicion, something truly special coming from something so ordinary out here. It had been a real sanctuary for me and for my friends. But this time, the location was a refuge not just for me and my circle, but for all of our survivors that were left. One wrong move, one wrong word that revealed what happened, and it would be all of our ponies that paid the price.
“What’s the situation outside, sir?” Gunny suddenly asked, breaking the silence for me before it could become too weighty; I looked back to Ajax to maintain my role of cluelessness…
“To put it in the simplest terms, it’s bad out there… real bad. And there’s just no other way to put it.” came his answer. “Things were rough enough before those cruise missiles came down. We’d been fighting the Black Blood tooth and nail outside Ashton for weeks before, and despite their reckless tactics, they’ve got the numbers to make them formidable. But when those missiles hit, they hit us everywhere, pulling us in five different directions at once. Here in Challenger we ended up on the receiving end of ten of those missiles… lost just over a hundred from the barrage, and ended up losing a warehouse and a few houses.”
A hundred… another hundred to my name…… “I’m… sorry, sir.” I spoke, low, with an unexpected rasp that forced me to clear my throat after.
“Well, what good can be gleaned from this is that our anti-air kept the damage down.” I almost didn’t hear as the LC continued his answer to the unpleasant question of Gunny’s making. “Without that flak gun battery we have, it would’ve been far worse than it turned out… And really, in my opinion, that battery we’ve got is the only thing keeping us in this fight, especially with the air force the Legion has.” We were coming up onto a second four-way intersection now. This time, Ajax had us turn right onto a new road as he said, “After those missiles we did our damnedest to pull ourselves back together. But that was the hardest to do in Ashton and The Warpath, because all that got hit, too. And we didn’t have the defenses there that we do here.” Oh how I didn’t want to hear this… “The reports that came back said that our forces stationed there were driven back from the heart of the town that we’d been holding for the past month and change. The same went for the Black Blood. We were both hit equally, and once the damage was done, the Talons rushed in and pushed us both out.” Gunny and I both let him continue even after he let himself pause. “I guess the Black Blood made a quicker recovery than we did, because it wasn’t long after that when they made a new push of their own. We ended up losing ground on two fronts in that town in the same day… and as it sits now, we’re close to losing the whole damn place. Both the raiders and the Legion have set up command centers beyond Ashton’s borders, and now they’re dug in good, trying to kill each other as often as they’re trying to kill us. The Talons have an army of a couple thousand stationed there, and the Black Blood’s got even more thanks to some recruiting they’ve been doing. We’ve had confirmed sightings of Marefax raiders fighting with them… and that lot’s made of nothing but the nastiest psychopaths you’ll ever find on this fucked up earth.”
“Oh great…” I mumbled darkly, a flash of my own encounters with those ponies making me close my eyes and sigh.
“At least they turned their attention to one another.” Gunny remarked after.
“That did give us the time we needed to regroup our forces and make a new camp to keep our operation in Ashton running.” Ajax responded. “And while that was happening there, we were rushing to organize ourselves here to start checking the other settlements. Talon patrols and vertibuck wings were springing up all over after those missiles, swarming in all at once. And eventually, they were becoming so numerous that the President gave the order to find what survivors we could and bring them back behind the walls to keep them safe before that chance was lost to us. That’s what I’ve been in charge of ever since we reorganized after the missiles, and I’m glad to say that with you and the rest of your ponies from Hopeville coming in, my mission’s been accomplished.” That at least was a bit of good news. “So right now, the situation here in Challenger is stable at least. We’ve managed to evacuate the settlements and bring what survivors there were into Challenger. With their lives and the lives of our own citizens on the line, the city’s on a permanent lockdown. Nopony leaves except military personnel.” I nodded my understanding. “Challenger is still functional, still capable of defending itself. But Ashton is different story. We’re barely hanging onto that town now… and if we lose it, Challenger itself will become the frontline, which is something we have to avoid at all costs… lest we risk losing the war itself…” Then, out of the corner of my eye, I found Ajax as he turned my way once again, looking to meet me eye to eye. And despite my racing thoughts, the depression and the anxiety that had been building up layer after layer over the course of our debriefing, I managed to return that look, waiting for his next words. “This is why I wanted to have this time to speak with you, Nova. I want to ask you for your help… to enlist in the S.E.R.A.F.”
If I had been more focused on taking in the information I’d been given instead of letting my guilt take me for yet another joyride, I had a feeling I would have figured out his intentions rather quickly. As it was now, Ajax’s hope for me caught me a little by surprise. So suddenly? So soon after waking? And… why put faith in me that I’d be even remotely close to soldier material? But only a second later, and I found myself taking those questions back in a moment of clarity, and I pursed my lips together at the obvious reasoning behind his request. Simply speaking, it was all about having soldiers. He was outnumbered, outgunned, needed more ponies loyal to their struggle to survive in the face of an enemy that was approaching a near overwhelming power, which was definitely exemplified with the terrible turn of events in The Warpath.
And more specifically in my case, it was all about the wings.
At first, it was almost an immediate answer that I conveyed. Perhaps it was a remnant of that old original determination I had in my first days on the surface, back when I was first introduced to the unending struggle that was survival. The further along surface life took me, the more that single focus had been torn down and rebuilt to encompass new purposes. So perhaps it was the original shape of that sentiment speaking then… and really, I did want to follow Challenger’s call to arms, carried on this stallion’s voice. After all, from this cry for help came a chance at atonement, to try and fix the damage I’d done, even if in the smallest of ways, by putting my life on the line for the city I’d brought new suffering to. In truth, that was the least I could do. But on the other hoof… the voice of uncertainty fought against that with a warning – a warning that I could cause even more harm than good to an already wounded community… again. Somehow, someway, it could happen, even though I couldn’t see it… and that feeling just wouldn’t go away.
But despite the internal clash, I could focus enough to turn my attention back to the waiting officer. And I started off small as that skirmish went on, taking the chance to gain a little more information from this figurehead of the city’s war efforts. “S.E.R.A.F.?” I questioned, genuinely curious as to the acronym’s full definition.
“Southeast Regional Armed Forces.” Memory kicked in at the explanation as I ran through a quick flashback, back to when we had been holed up in that old radio station. There had been a scout from Challenger who met us there, bringing in Vinnie and Lil’ Luna… and I’d seen the abbreviation on his uniform in the form of a patch spelling out that abbreviation in white letters against a black backdrop. “Jocko. Yes, I remember.” Ajax replied when I made that known to him. “It’s not a name we had ten years ago when the Talons came knocking the first time. But now that patch is stitched onto every suit of combat armor, and every soldier we’ve got, native and foreign, wears it proudly.”
I gave a small nod as my internal struggle had been decided. And after a short pause, “So you want me to enlist in Challenger’s army, and join into your battalion?”
“Absolutely.” Ajax looked to ease up a little as hearing that he had gotten my interest. “I would hope that the reasons for my request to you were obvious, and given your reputation, I’d say they are. But I still can’t state enough just how highly prized you’d be in Ashton.” Those were words that I had anticipated, though ones that I most certainly wasn’t annoyed by. It was just the cold hard truth that my wings were indeed my greatest asset, and would be once again if I took this chance. “And actually, I’ve already given your friend Sierra the same talk I’m giving to you.” he added. “I’m glad to say that she’s willing to lend her wings to the cause, and Gunny here has already expressed his own interest in enlisting despite his recent injury… Now, I’m just hoping that you’ll lend your guns, too. Because I could really use somepony like you before we send out the Fourth Battalion to Ashton.”
I nodded in reply, seeing behind him as we passed through an open gate; we were entering what I remembered to be the city’s presidential district. “You’re right, sir. I do know why you want me to sign on. And if we’re truly on the same page, then I can also say to you that I understand what Challenger has given to me, what it’s given my people. The efforts of a city that cares about others has given us all a second chance in a world that would’ve kept that from us… and I’m so truly grateful, even after everything that’s happened.” His face remained unmoving, but the way he was looking at me as we walked… I knew I was saying what he wanted to hear from me. “You might say that I don’t owe Challenger anything, that it was simply fulfilling its mission to establish civilization. But Challenger helped us build a new home after we lost our old one, and took us in even when it was occupied with trying to contain the Black Blood threat.” The Lieutenant Colonel… I saw the beginnings of a smile on his muzzle. “We may have had to fight battles on our own, but it’s still the same in the end. What help we were given kept us going… and what better way to repay that gift, that compassion, than to help protect Challenger?”
Right at the end, Ajax slowed in his stride, coming to a stop a few paces behind me before I did the same, taken a little off-guard. But it was when both Gunny and I turned to face him that the officer uttered a chuckle, his eyes locked on me. “Has anypony in your group ever told you that you have a way with words, Nova?”
“I… um…” And I…… Goddessess… for the first time in… a long time… I actually found myself blushing, just a little, but enough. And when that coupled with a shy little smile, I found Gunny as he cast a soft little laugh of his own, a genuine note that was… rather refreshing to hear. “Yeah… a couple times.” I replied, slowly but surely composing myself again. “I’m sorry, I just get a little carried away sometimes… I guess.”
But Ajax didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. “So, is it safe for me to say that you’ve given me a definite yes?”
But to that question, I begun to settle back into my previous state, during which I replied with, “It’s a definite maybe, sir… There’s still some things I need to think over… and I really want to get back to the others… I just hope that’s not a problem if I wait just a little bit longer to answer.”
But thankfully, Ajax’s confirmation of the opposite was near instantaneous. “I understand, Nova, don’t worry.” he assured. “It was my intention to give you some time to recover on your own, I know you need a day to yourself after what you’ve been through. I’m just glad that you heard me out about what’s going on out there, and are at least considering my request. I’ve got nothing to offer you for your service, nothing material anyway. But I can offer the chance at the better future that you, your group, and all the southeast so rightfully deserve. And again, I really cannot overstate how useful you’d be to Challenger out there, and how much of a contribution you’d make to the effort to win peace back from the enemy.”
“That peace is the thing that’s worth fighting for, because in that is everything else that we hold close to ourselves.” I replied, keeping my own smile to show my understanding. “But with all due respect, sir… just give me a day to think.” I requested after, speaking with as humble a gesture as I could. “Once I get my bearings, I promise I’ll come back to you with a final answer.”
And to that he nodded. “Alright. Then that’s enough for me.” But in the moment where I thought we were done, he raised a foreleg up to jab a hoof my way. “Just understand, Nova…” The sudden darkening of his words won my attention back in a heartbeat. “If we’re going to have any chance at regaining the ground we’ve lost, we’re going to have to use everything we’ve got, and we’re going to have to use it soon.” he said, almost like a warning. “I’ll give you your day. Use it to rest up. Tomorrow evening, I want that answer. Because, I’ll let you in on a little something – Challenger is making a move to regroup and launch a counteroffensive against enemy posts near the city, and that’s my new mission. We’re stocking up here, on gear and personnel alike, gathering all our resources, and we’re going to clear ourselves a path to Ashton so that we can deliver the last batch of much-needed reinforcements we’ve got to that city… with or without you.”
Well… I guess that explained yet another reason for the quiet, yet deeply tense atmosphere that hovered over Challenger. But really, this was something that was easily understandable, even without knowing for myself the fine details of the situation outside. That was why it was all I needed to hear to understand the gravity of Ajax’s words. And when I relayed that to him, he at least looked content. “Then head on back to your group.” came his order, an order with an air of encouragement about it. “Gunny can lead you the rest of the way there. It’s not far.”
Yes… I needed to be back. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow, sir?”
And as he put his back to us, he gave me a single nod, not even looking my way as he made his way back into the city. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nova.”
*** *** ***
“Nova… Goddesses, it’s good to see you.”
The relief in her voice was plain as day as she trotted up to me, swiftly hooking a foreleg over my neck to pull me into a solid hug. “Hey, Ivy.” I replied tiredly, still more than happy to return the embrace she gave. “Nice to see you’ve made a good recovery.”
The silver unicorn was bereft of armor and weapons. Apart from the cumulative dirt and dust that marked her, she looked wholly uninjured now. “I should say the same thing about you.” she replied, breaking the embrace to take a step back and look me in the eye. “I saw glimpses of you throughout the fight from the wagon… when you were shot down, when you were with Challenger’s soldiers… and when that griffin came for you. After that though, I didn’t see you again until we got into the city. And by then you were being shipped off to the clinic… You really didn’t look good… but thankfully that’s not the case now.”
With that last bit came a welcoming smile, a pleasant sight that drew a smaller one from me. And reaching forward, I bumped a forehoof against the young mare’s chest, right before she took a step to the side, allowing room for another friend to make his way to me. He was garbed in his Equestrian Army combat armor and duster, but his weapons had been stowed away somewhere in the camp. “Raemor…” This time, I was the one who acted first, closing the distance to the old unicorn and hugging him tight.
“Welcome back, Nova.” he said, gently patting my back between above the bandages.
“Are you okay, Raemor?”
“Oh yes, I’m fine.” he assured. “No need to worry about this old bag of bones.”
I nodded against him. “That’s good to hear.”
“And how are you faring?” he asked after a short pause.
“Much better.” When we released one another, he looked past me and to my bandages, studying them briefly. “Especially knowing that all of you made it through.”
“Not without some scars, I’m afraid.” came Raemor’s response, sympathetic in its note. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now?”
That grim, solemn atmosphere returned lightning fast, reminding me all too harshly of the situation we faced here. “Yeah… I heard.”
“About the wagon, too?”
But at that, my ears perked, my eyes beginning to widen when I looked past Raemor to the pony who spoke that question. Sierra was there, stripped of her power armor, standing at a respectful distance from myself and the others. She too bore sensitive eyes when I found her, which followed me when I passed my first look over our camp in the lawn of Challenger’s Presidential Palace. Completely lacking organization, the camp itself spanned maybe just over half the yard. It was clear that Mobley had tried to take up as little space as possible, maybe to make a good impression on Ajax and the rest of the city… or perhaps because he was ordered to do so. Either way, we were using the lawn’s north fence as our barrier, then fanning out to the east and west fences before taking up a stretch of the lawn itself. We were as far from the palace itself as possible, which was undamaged despite the missiles; there was a gun turret atop the palace, a mounted minigun like the ones I’d seen in Buckley. But back on the ground, our survivors were established in small clusters, family and friends taking up a small plot of the yard as their own, with rifles and saddlebags scattered among them, their meager few belongings they had left. They were all established in their own circles, like little clans, with small but adequate lanes for travel between them.
But all there was were ponies… just ponies…
“Where is it?” When I looked back to Sierra, the pegasus only shook her head, slight, but packing the punch that came with the only answer that gesture could mean; something had gone wrong. “What happened?” I asked, my ears beginning to pin back as I begun looking among each of my gathered companions in search of an answer. “What the hell happened??”
“When that supped-up vertibuck of theirs showed up, it made a pass over us.” Gunny explained, drawing my eyes over my shoulder to see him. “When it hit us, it blew out one of the wagon’s wheels and put a bunch of holes through the hull… We had no choice but to leave it behind.” From the very first words onward, I felt myself sagging. Even a short sigh escaped me, to which Gunny’s frown deepened.
“It wasn’t destroyed.” Sierra piped up, picking up where Gunny had left off. “But we wouldn’t have been able to pull it no matter how hard we tried.”
I had to sigh again, a channel for a quickly building tide of anger and frustration, bowing my head and shaking it. “Where is it?” I asked lowly… already anticipating the answer with the help of that welling aggravation. “Still out there?”
“Yes…”
“It’s just sitting there, about fifty yards from the gate.” Gunny explained to me, stepping up beside me. “We would’ve gotten it once the fight was over. But the Talons are using it as a lure. We can’t get close to it without them taking shots at us. And believe me we’ve tried…”
“They even fought Challenger’s wall patrols over it after the initial fight to get into the city. Now it’s just a part of the battlefield out there.” Raemor suddenly added, my eyes turning to the old stallion as he himself looked over to Gunny. “Both sides will take the chance to use it as a lure if their enemies approach it.”
So now… after everything we had done to reach this point, after reliving Stable 181’s death, after losing seven more survivors… seven more friends… all to get our prized possession of knowledge and history to safe haven in Challenger…… this was the only thing that had come of it all. Now, the very thing that we had fought and bled and died for in an attempt to gain something good amidst all the bad, the one thing that we had faced down our nightmares for, fought and killed good ponies for… the one remaining beautiful remnant from our previous life… it was nothing more than a lure, a trap… just waiting for somepony foolish enough to come and claim it. It was just dead weight laying in a battlefield. It was just… dead weight…
“Damn it…” Shaking my head again, those two words came out more as a sad little whimper, a mere shell of the hatred that was burning brighter and brighter in me, hatred of the Legion. Had it not been for the simple fact that I was in the presence of not only my friends, but also all the other survivors we had left, many of whom were already fast asleep, I would’ve let that anger come out. I would’ve screamed and stomped, cursed and vowed bloodshed for how useless all our efforts over the past five days had suddenly become. We had spent all that time trying to bring something back that would give our ponies hope. But now we had nothing with us, and what we would have had was just out of our reach, yet impossible to grasp. That was more than worthy of the rage that wanted to lash out from within my heart.
I truly did want to let it all out… but really… there were far more important things to devote my attention to. What was done was done. We failed… the Talons won, even if just a small and seemingly insignificant victory… and as bitter as that was to think of, as much as I hated myself for simply surrendering like that… there was no getting around the painful fact that it was beyond our power to remedy… at least for now. And with me being as tired as I was, having just recovered from yet another collection of wounds to add to my ever-growing list… any outcry would have been absolutely pointless. Instead, in the ensuing silence, I managed to collect my thoughts enough to remember what, or who, was actually more important to me. And when I felt that I’d successfully calmed my rage enough to be civil again, I looked among my gathered friends to make one simple demand. “Blake… and Shore… I want to see them.” I said. “Where are they?”
Gunny was the one who nudged me in answer, then nodding when he had my attention. He moved on ahead of me and past the first of our resting survivors, making his way into the crowd. I followed after him in silence, and I heard the hoofsteps of the others as they filed in behind me. Consequently, I had the time to look about as Gunny guided us through the camp, even though a part of me didn’t want to… the ashamed part of me. Still, I found my eyes wandering left and right, glancing over those we passed by. Sure enough the greater majority of our survivors were at rest, either sleeping, or simply closing their eyes, trying their best to recuperate from the tiring and dangerous journey that was made to get here; there was barely any chatter at all among these weary ponies… not even whispers.
The farther in we walked, slowly closing in on the northern fence of the palace, the more I begun to recognize familiar faces. The first among them was one of the young ponies I used to foalsit back in One Eighty-one – little Flash, the yellow earth pony colt with the black mane and tail. He was at rest with his family, snuggled up tight between his sleeping mother and father. And after passing by another cluster of survivors, I spotted Juniper, the filly who had lost her father in the Talons’ first attack on Hopeville, sleeping deep with her widowed mother. There was a measure of comfort I took in at seeing the children, which thankfully wasn’t wholly vaporized by the pain of remorse. Of course, that pain took the opportunity to remind me that these were the faces of those closest to me who suffered greatly because of my actions… my choice at the National Guard Bunkers. I made note of it, again. And I knew I wouldn’t forget it. But right now… I was just too tired. Even having been at rest in Doc Miles’ clinic… my body and mind alike had been growing wearier and wearier ever since I’d come to.
Further into the camp Gunny led us. But he was turning us to the west fence now as we were coming closer to the far corner of the yard. As soon as we settled on a straight course, I saw other ponies I recognized. Little Chase was asleep against his mother’s side, with two sleeping unicorn stallions neighboring them farther back, bolt action rifles laying close by. Just past them was Melody, her mother curled up protectively around her, and her father in turn providing his side for his wife to sleep against. And in the group next to them I recognized Candice, the little grey unicorn filly with the scarlet mane, protected between her mother and father. In the course of a minute, I found those young friends of mine one after another, those children who I had taken care of in their parents’ absence, played tag and hide and seek with, read books with, sang songs with… back in a time when I was just an innocent young mare who never once thought about becoming a gun-toting combat-ready survivor… or in Challenger and Lieutenant Colonel Ajax’s eyes, a genuine soldier of the organized army of a rising nation.
In that short time I spent looking upon them again for the first time in days… even weeks… my mind threatened to wander again… to think about how they looked at me now. Really… how did they look at me now? Was I still the foalsitter I once was? Was I still that compassionate soul that they looked up to? Was I that awesome foalsitter they loved to hang out with? Or was I… different… intimidating? With all the dirt and blood and weaponry… how had I changed in their eyes even before now? At the very least, they knew about Guardian… all of Hopeville did, I was sure of it. When I came back from Buckley, how could anypony not have overheard the dialogue that had ensued upon my return? How could word not have spread around, especially in a smaller group like ours? So if those foals did know… what did they think of me knowing that I’d pressed that button?
I would’ve gone on. I know I would’ve… maybe to the point of excessiveness. After all, my mind was the greatest slayer of the timid image of self-worth I had left. But before I could tread too far, all of it, mercifully, faded back into the sea of thought they had come from when Gunny slowed to a stop before me, looking back over his shoulder and giving a nod ahead of him. Past him, beyond one other family of survivors, a mare and stallion and their two young colts, I found the first of the two ponies I was actually looking for.
My heart collapsed in on itself in an instant at seeing the sight of Shore, his collective equipment laying near his head, as he lay sleeping on his left side…… his right foreleg completely gone. All that was left of the limb was a stump wrapped up thickly with bandages. “Goddesses, Shore…” His name came out as a whimper as I choked back a sob. And right away I made my way past Gunny to get to my wounded friend. In taking the lead, I could see that Shore was indeed asleep. But the expression on his face showed the pain he still endured, and his sleep was tainted by that anguish. And on top of that already terrible wound, his remaining foreleg was bandaged also, wrapped up at the top to conceal the gunshot wound he’d taken there. So focused was I on coming to his side that I didn’t even notice the two ponies with him until I was almost stepping on them. I came to a stop at the sight of the older unicorn mare that was Shore’s mother. A dark-grey mare, she had a lightly disheveled mane of white and red, just like her son’s. And beside her was a black earth pony stallion with a white mane and tail of his own. The both of them were wide awake, only watching as their child tried his best to rest.
Shore was laying against his mother’s right side. And with a gentle touch, she was running a hoof along his mane as she looked upon her now crippled son with deeply pained, saddened eyes. Behind her, Shore’s father only looked on, resting a foreleg over his wife’s back, doing his best to comfort her through the pain of seeing their only child in such an undeserved state. The two of them didn’t even notice me when I had joined them. Even a pause followed after which left me standing in a second layer of anxiety. But a moment after, and Shore’s father let himself look away long enough to find me. And he was strong enough to pass me just the smallest of smiles. “Hey there, Nova.” he greeted, a rasp in his voice that he quickly cleared out. “You feeling okay?” But his question, as brave as it was… it went unanswered. I just couldn’t find the strength within myself to speak, and it made me feel all the worse when he caught onto that as well, a small frown taking shape on his muzzle as we turned our eyes together back to Shore. In the silence that followed, I heard the hooves of my friends as they pressed lightly on the dirt underneath them; they one and all formed up behind me, spreading out, each of them looking over their maimed friend and his struggling family.
“When he was a colt… this always made him sleepy.” The silence was broken by Shore’s mother, however, her voice a very gentle, very motherly tone… one that, for a brief moment, reminded me of my own mother… “If he ever had a nightmare, I would come and sit by his bedside and run my hoof through his mane until he fell back to sleep.” When I looked back to the grey unicorn, I found her looking lovingly to her recovering son. I could see the makings of a smile on her face, reminiscent. But it didn’t take much to understand that it was hard for her to maintain in the wake of this heartbreak.
“I’m so sorry…”
What else could I say about all this? In all the battles my friends and I had been involved in, none of them had yielded to us a graver injury than this. Short of Gracie, this was the worst to witness, especially knowing the consequences that Shore would have to endure. He would be forever changed by this… he’d never walk without a support of some kind, he’d never fight like he used to, he would be slow and weakened, vulnerable… and with our wagon sitting broken down and abandoned outside Challenger’s walls… he’d suffered all this pain for nothing. My dear friend – he’d been put through all this with nothing to show for it in the end, no books, no treasures, no gratitude… and that was the most infuriating part of it all.
So… what else could I possibly say to the ones dearest to him, the ones who shared his misery as equals? There was nothing else… Shore had survived, but barely. He’d lost a leg today… all because of the Talons and their race to get their claws back around me. Now, Shore was among those who had been hurt because of me and my involvement with the Legion. And it wasn’t my fault… I understood that here at least. No. The Talons had done this to him… almost taken him from me just as they had taken Grace… and once again, fuel was added to that eternal flame that was my hatred of that banner and the ponies and griffins beneath it…
“At least you and Gunny are recovering.” I was startled back into looking to Shore’s mother as she once again met my eyes with her pale hazel ones. And with a small labored smile, she added, “When Shore wakes up, he’ll be glad to see that you two are alright.”
And for the sake of the courtesy, I nodded agreement to the older mare. “I think… I think it’d be best for me to leave you all to your rest.” I replied after a moment, already glancing past them, trying to find my brother. “I’ll make sure to come back tomorrow when he wakes up though.” I made sure to give that assurance quickly, both because I really wanted to see him when he could actually talk back to me, and because I wanted to be as civil as my exhausted and racing mind would let me. But still, despite the effort, Shore’s parents could see where my focus really rested. I had no doubt that they’d heard of Blake’s brush with death, too… judging by the condolences spoken in their eyes as they both spared a second to look away from their son and over to me together. “I really do want to see him awake… for the sake of hearing his voice, you know?”
“We do know, dear.” Shore’s mother replied with a nod. “You said the same thing Gunny did while you had been away in the clinic. The both of you have always been his greatest friends.”
“We’re glad for the support you’re giving him.” Shore’s father chimed in after. “It helps us rest a little easier knowing he’s got good friends who care about him.” And stopping himself, he let his eyes wander to look past me, back to the others who watched and waited in respectful silence. “Good friends from within One Eighty-one… and from outside.” he added, with just the faintest of smiles returning to him.
And with all the strength I could muster, I let myself copy that little smile, nodding my agreement, sharing in silence the gratitude I held for the fellowship of ponies behind me.
“You should go on and see your little brother, Nova.” Shore’s mother spoke up a moment later. “And you should get some sleep yourself. I know you definitely could use some proper rest, and now that we’re behind this city’s walls, you’ll actually have the chance to do just that.”
Oh, I had every intention of doing so. And with that silent vow I found Gunny again, who was already looking my way, anticipating the question I asked him. “Where’s Blake?”
“He’s right over here. Follow me.” With a nod, he walked past me, exchanging one final dip of his head with Shore’s parents as he moved along, and I did the same before following after him and moving farther into camp. But the walk was very short, as no more than a few seconds passed us by before Gunny stopped and pointed, showing me the rest of the way to my brother, my dear Blake.
The colt was resting in a clearing that had been made for him, or rather, for the both of us. There was more than enough space for me to lay down too, and I found that the north perimeter of that clearing was marked by my collective equipment. My M.P.D. armor was laid out plate by plate, the chest, belly, and back plates laying atop one another, followed by the side guards and flank plates, and finally the leg guards. Beside the armor, I was pleased to find Blue Fire’s Torch where it lay over my saddle weapons and two pistols. I remembered losing that rifle out in the fight… and having grown more and more attached to the elegant rifle, I knew that deep down, its loss would have added a great deal of its own weight to the emotional burden I already carried.
I didn’t know who the one responsible for its recovery was, but I hoped that they’d come forward to tell me themselves.
Finally, off to Blake’s left side, there were my saddlebags, the two packs set apart and both opened up. I could see that while they had indeed been opened, most of the items within them had remained undisturbed. I could see where the frame of a pipbuck pressed against the right-side bag, and I could see the shapes of my various scavenged items showing through the collapsed left-side pack. An item that had been removed, however, was the blanket that Blake and I had kept with us all this time. My baby brother was asleep atop that blanket, to keep his bandages off the dirt in case he turned in his sleep. As of now, Blake’s back was to us, giving me full view of the healing bandages that had been wrapped wholly around his torso. From just behind his forelegs all the way to his hindlegs, his whole torso was mummified with those bandages, all rising and falling together in time with his slow but even breaths…… it was something I never wanted to see… and something that made me sigh when I did.
“We’ll leave you to your rest now, Nova.” On my back I felt the tap of a hoof, belonging to Gunny when I turned to see him lowering a foreleg back to the dirt. “Try and get some sleep, you really do need it.” came his gentle encouragement.
“Blake made it through his wound.” From the other side, Ivy was the one who chimed in with her own words of inspiration. “He’s alive… and so for right now, that should be all the incentive you need to rest up best you can.”
And truly, I felt the same way.
I didn’t waste time with any argument, only giving my friends a parting nod to bid them goodnight. And taking them back the way they came, Gunny led the others out, leaving me only to find Blake again where he slept. Thankfully, at first glance, he looked at peace. There was no discomfort written on his face in the wake of his recovery, which was all the more heartening as I made my way over to him. And upon finally drawing up beside him, looking down to his closed eyes, I could see that he was indeed comfortable, or as comfortable as he could be. To see him in peaceful sleep… I considered that a blessing all on its own.
With a little sigh I let myself stretch out before carefully lowering myself down onto my gut, settling on the blanket with a near soundless thump. Still, despite my quiet approach, my baby brother stirred, making me freeze to watch him. Both nervousness and curiosity tugged at me as he pushed himself up a little, eyes still closed. I watched to make sure he didn’t hurt himself… and I waited to see if he’d actually wake up. But the young colt – he’d been put through so much today – he merely settled back down on his right side, a light breath carrying just a whisper of his tired voice reaching me before he went still again, back into slumber.
I could only watch on in the wake of his stirring… seeing Shore’s parents just beyond him…… feeling more and more like my friend’s mother with each passing second in Blake’s company.
“She’s right…” I spoke to myself only in a whisper as I begun to situate myself, rolling over onto my left side to face my brother. “Ivy’s right… You’re alive, little brother…… you made it…… you stared death down and won… and in the end that’s… all that really matters.” And sliding in close to him, brushing up against him, I gladly extended my left wing to rest it over him with the lightest touch, this time eliciting no reaction from the sleeping colt. For just a moment, that drew a little smile from me as I held that gentle embrace, one that we were both so familiar with. Seeing him relaxed like this… it was becoming something rare nowadays, slowly but surely. But seeing him that way under my wing, it made me feel… right… made me feel a little bit better.
And finally coming to rest in my most comfortable sleeping position, I found myself face to face with my baby brother when I lay my head down on the blanket, his closed eyes meeting mine… expression peaceful… inspiration for me to try and follow Blake’s example. And after a short silent yawn, I took just a moment to reach my right foreleg over to him, finding his mane with it, and giving the back of his neck a gentle stroke. “You rest up, baby brother.” I spoke in a whisper, pulling my foreleg back, but keeping my wing outstretched overtop him. “I’ll be right here when you wake up… I promise.”
*** *** ***