Snowrunners

by Argonaut44

Chapter Four: Paranoia

Cold.

That was the only thought Guardian was able to process, as she stumbled over the frozen dirt of the northern forests. Howling winds, like ghastly, wailing screams bursting forth from the crevices of the shadowy mountains ahead, shook against her, rattling her bones and withering her resolve to continue forward. On top of the wind, droplets of ice-cold water came down in thin, slippery gusts, landing on her frail skin. Small rivers of runoff rainwater slithered through divots in the dirt around her, watering the brittle trees and occasional patches of already-dead grass. Guardian was a shivering mess, her armor and bag drenched in freezing cold water. She was in desperate need of warmth.

Silver Saber wasn’t faring much better, mumbling some unintelligible curses under her breath while raindrops fell off her chin. Every step forward they took, it seemed the temperature was steadily decreasing.

They had been following a set of train tracks for a few hours now, both shivering to wits’ end and praying that by some miracle the weather could let up soon. The train tracks sat upon a thin, flat hill of dirt, elevating both ponies up slightly from ground level. The tracks sat in a narrow clearing that ran through the entire forest, whose dark green trees stood tall on either side of them, watching the ponies as they marched on.

Ahead of them on the train tracks, the forest would eventually give out into a barren plain of dust and desolation, a barrier that separated the edge of the forest from the jagged, ruinous rocks of the mountains beyond. They were fairly close to reaching the edge of the forest, only a few miles at least, though the wind and rain remained bothersome obstacles standing in their way.

The sky beyond was frightful, a dark mess of rumbling storm clouds and visible bursts of terrifying lightning and far-off explosions. Guardian found little comfort in knowing that the nightmarish sight in the distance was actually their destination, but supposed there wasn’t much value in complaining. They had made it this far already, it was too late to turn back.

Neither Guardian nor Silver had spoken anything to each other since departing from the mountain of burning enemy carcasses and buried new friends, back in the deep woods. The rebel ambush that had claimed Sgt. Halo and his squadron’s lives proved to be a significant detour, forcing the duo to make an effort to walk as quickly as possible along the train tracks, to make up for lost time.

Grief was a fickle thing. In the immediate hours following a disaster or emotionally-devastating loss, Guardian found it typical to not fully comprehend or admit the extent of a loss’s impact, that it was only natural to ignore the undesirable happenings of her life.

But as long as she could recall since joining the army out in the front, Guardian had yet to truly experience what it was like to watch somepony she cared for die in front of her, until today. Of course, both her brothers had been tragically killed in the war, but to her relief, she hadn’t had to watch them die before her own eyes.

Guilt tugged at her heart like an ox, prodding and damaging the remaining tendons of sanity that she had managed to keep together during her time in the war. Trickling into her mind, she could recall she had been speaking to Halo after he had died, as if he was alive, carrying out what she thought was a heroic endeavor to save his life. She had failed, and now the brief twinkle of light she had discovered in the abominable forests of the north had been shut off completely. She couldn’t help but wonder whether she could’ve done more, whether her presence had any part in sealing Halo and his ponies’ fates. But now there was simply nothing she could do, other than finish the mission she had come all the way out here for in the first place. She would often reach into her pack to feel for the protrusion of the letter, tucked away in her duffel bag. The letter was priceless, fundamentally, and the longer Guardian got to experience the cruelty of the war, the more eager she became to see that letter through, to save as many ponies’ lives as possible.

“Get off the tracks!” Silver suddenly yelled, frantically leaping off to the left side into the forest brush, leaving Guardian in a state of confusion. She had been so wrapped up over her grief, she had forgotten to stay alert for possible threats around her. She didn’t think twice while she still had time, scurrying down off of the tracks, sliding down the right-side slope of the dirt hill into the shade of the trees nearby.

Guardian caught her breath, trying to stay as quiet as possible, still uncertain what Silver had seen to force her to take cover. After a short while, Guardian couldn’t help but grow impatient, turning herself on her side against the mound of dirt, slowly lifting her head up past the edge to get a glimpse of lay ahead.

She kept watching for a train to arrive in the distance or something, but, as far as she could see, there was nothing.

It wasn’t a train Silver had seen, but rather a pegasi patrol, passing by overhead like a flock of birds. They were silhouetted by dark grey clouds, that seemed so wicked and contorted it was as if the devil himself had crafted them. The rain had begun to let up upon their arrival, and Guardian presumed the pegasi were intentionally fiddling with the weather conditions, for some unknowable strategic purposes. In any case, now there was less rain, which both Guardian and Silver took as a tremendous win.

Guardian then noticed the pegasi too, and was thankful that Silver had seen them when she did, otherwise they might have been spotted. Together they watched the pegasi soar past overhead, and both of them wondered whether that was the same pegasi patrol they had encountered earlier on their voyage. The thought was unsettling, that perhaps they were being watched, or that the rebels were fully aware of who they were, where they were going, and what they were delivering. Both found it best to avoid thinking too much about it.

Toying with Silver’s mind was a ceaseless barrage of doubt and fear, that pricked and snapped at her like a swarm of insects. She could see shapes in the forest that weren’t really there, silhouettes of imagined enemies creeping in the shadows. Every noise made her jump alert, and she found herself unable to even relax for more than a few moments, before the world around her grew so loud that she had to blink back into high-focus. And the pegasi above were but an extension of those fears, peering down at them like ghostly specters patrolling the skies. There was no safety, nowhere. Silver watched the rebel pegasi glide through the air above from the bush she was hiding behind, narrowing her eyes with scorn as her left front hoof began to quiver uncontrollably.

After waiting a few minutes until the sky was clear of pegasi once more, they climbed back up the small dirt hill onto the tracks, and prepared to carry on forwards, both a little shaken up from the close call.

“Have you got any gum left?” Guardian asked, after making it back to her hooves on top of the train tracks. She felt like celebrating, both for having avoided being spotted and now that their luck seemed to be improving.

Silver didn’t respond, silently reaching back into her pack with one hoof to retrieve a case of gum sticks, which she promptly tossed to Guardian.

“Thanks,” Guardian said, throwing a piece into her mouth and tossing the rest back.

Silver, again, made no response. All day since they had left the site of the skirmish, her face had been warped with anger. If it wasn’t for Guardian’s company, Silver wondered whether she would be able to control her anger in the slightest at that moment, for her heart was bound in fiery thorns. Since learning of the loss of her former unit, the 14th Rangers, Silver had realized that Guardian was now the only real friend she had left in the whole world, and she knew it would be absolutely devastating to lose her on top of everything. Silver felt about five times as more protective over the soft-orange-eyed pegasus as usual, especially given how uncharacteristically miserable she seemed.

Guardian rarely let herself become too consumed with her negative emotions. Growing up, the only way to survive the strict, no-nonsense authority of her father was to try and keep her head up. Whenever she had to cry, or was in a terrible mood, she would always make an effort to keep it all to herself, to put on a smile even if she wasn’t feeling it. But right then, as she sulked over the slippery metal train tracks in the freezing cold, she just couldn’t make the effort to ignore how much pain she was feeling. She wasn’t sure that any sort of real relationship could have begun between her and Halo, but now the very possibility was extinct. She wondered if the world truly hated her, if it just insisted that her life be a misfortunate story of despair and grief. She hoped that it was the opposite, a story of resilience and bravery, but the more ponies she lost and the colder the world seemed to become, she struggled to see how that would be the case.

“Do you remember how this all started?” Silver asked, speaking up for the first time in hours. Guardian turned her head, not having expected Silver to start talking unannounced, and least of all with such a question.

“How what started?” Guardian asked, uncertain what she meant.

“The war,” Silver said, gravely, holding off from making a sarcastic comment about Guardian not having understood immediately.

Guardian turned her head back forwards, not having much interest in the subject matter.

“A few weeks once things had escalated, I was in Canterlot, I remember that...And Lieutenant Bronze Beam, he came up to me, and offered me a transfer to the Solars,” Guardian replied, remembering the day, which was close to a year ago in the past. She still wasn’t sure she had made the right choice, but here she was anyway.

“No, I mean how it started,” Silver said, bluntly.

Guardian gave her a questionable look, unsure what she was getting at.

“You know the story. Crystal Empire, the filly princess was ponynapped,”
Guardian said, munching on her stick of gum. She really loved gum.

“That’s not what I mean...I meant, the day it really started,” Silver said.

“I don’t know which day, no,” Guardian said, rolling her eyes, uncertain what the exact date was. Guardian often felt as though Silver enjoyed flexing her college-educated knowledge, maybe too much.

But Silver didn’t intend to be a braggart, rather her mind was forming conclusions in other directions.

“I was with the 14th already, stationed in Mushroom Beach, way east. We had been hearing all these crazy rumors, of crystal ponies setting houses on fire, changelings staging another invasion, the dead rising from their graves, all sorts of stuff. Most of it was just exaggerations of small stuff that actually happened, or just made-up stuff to scare the foals. Less than a day in, we get our first orders, to deploy northwestward, to the Crystal Empire. I had heard all these stories, and then I was thinking, it’s all real? I was scared out of my mind, Guardian. I think we all were. None of us had ever gone through anything that crazy. We never thought any of us were actually going to have to give our lives for Equestria. Maybe that was silly, but...I was just thinking, that...we aren’t meant for this. It’s all just...senseless. Senseless violence. Those ponies, in the Rangers? They were good ponies. They didn’t deserve what they ended up getting. It’s not fair. Senseless...Unjustifiable! But that only gets said after the fact. And the ponies who are sending us to our deaths, they aren’t even fighting with us anymore,” Silver said, beginning to grow aggravated.

“Princess Celestia? She’s a princess, she shouldn't have to fight,” Guardian countered, defending the alicorn of whom she had spent two years personally devoting herself to.

Silver merely scoffed.

“Sorry, but come on, Guardian. She could take out entire armies of rebels with a single spell, Luna and Cadance and Twilight Sparkle too. They’re alicorns! And while we’re out here dying left and right, they’re safe in Canterlot, in their royal palace!” Silver said.

“Our goal shouldn’t be to take out entire armies! We’re not here just to kill as many ponies as we can,” Guardian argued, firm in her defense. She was in no emotional condition to have a rational argument at the moment, but luckily she and Silver had already had this argument on numerous occasions in the past, so she already had answers prepared.

“Are you serious? Then why the hell are we here?” Silver asked, stifling a laugh of disbelief.

“To bring back peace! But that doesn’t mean we have to kill everypony we come across. We have a duty to Equestria, Silver, and it’s not to murder ponies left and right. We should be trying to save as many lives as we can, civilian, royal, and rebel,” Guardian said.

Silver shook her head and sighed in disappointment.

“They died for nothing,” Silver said, her mind buzzing with bitterness over where her life had taken her.

Guardian slowed down her pace, hoping Silver wasn’t referring to who she thought she was referring to.

“What?” Guardian asked, slowly. Her eyes were unsteady, and she could feel her heart begin to race.

“Halo. And all of the others. They died for nothing,” Silver said, bluntly.

Guardian spun around, dangerously close to flying into a fit of rage. Silver immediately realized she shouldn’t have said that, by the sight of Guardian’s shocked expression on her face. However, Silver was too angry to back down, and committed to her point.

“They’re all dead, and so are all the rebels. Both of them came in here to stabilize the land, and they both failed. All dead. And now the land belongs to nopony, just like it used to. Their arrival, their fight, and their departure changed nothing. Except now there's a few more graves in the ground,” Silver said, deciding that she had to say what she had been feeling, even though it probably wasn’t what Guardian wanted to hear.

“They didn’t die for nothing,” Guardian said, bitterly, reaching into her bag to retrieve an off-white envelope, the letter Colonel Splinter had given her to deliver to the 19th.

“They’re the reason we’re still alive, why this isn’t in enemy hooves. Which also makes them the reason all those ponies up north will still be alive.”

Silver hadn’t thought of that, lowering her head for a brief moment to come up with a response.

“And then what? Most of them will just die another day. Probably someday soon. There’s no cause to this war. Honor, unity, all that rubbish they tell the kids in the training academy? That we’re serving our country? Stories of heroes taking on hundreds of enemies at once? They made that all up. It’s a lie, a ploy to convince the next generation to fill up the ranks that the previous ones all died in. And on and on it goes. They’ll never give it up, because they need bodies to hold the weapons they make. It’s all a work of fiction, made to distract us from accepting that our lives are worth very little to the ponies sending us out here. Guardian, you’re better than this. You can’t just be the mindless dog who does whatever they tell you!” Silver said, practically yelling.

Guardian spat her gum out of her mouth, her face tight with rage. She was too emotionally unstable to handle Silver’s aggressiveness properly right now, and was close to flying into a frenzy. But luckily, reason seized her once again, and she relaxed her posture.

“I’m not a dog,” Guardian muttered, turning back around and resuming the trek along the train tracks.

Silver sighed, hoping that Guardian would eventually see the world as she saw it.

Although Guardian was typically steadfast in her defense of the royals, she couldn’t help but wonder whether Silver was right about a few things, and how much all of this suffering would be worth it in the end.

Within the next thirty minutes, the duo finally reached the edge of the forest, where the trees began to scatter.

Before they were to enter the perilous void of grey dust and emptiness that sat between the forest and the mountains in the distance, they both stood idly by at the edge of the woods, still alongside the train tracks. The single positive attribute of traveling through the forests was the cover the trees provided from attack. However, in turn, it also enabled the potential for surprises ambushes, which they were well-familiar with already. Ahead in this wasteland of wind and frozen-solid dirt, the challenges would be far different, and neither pony was quite sure they were prepared for them.

Guardian glanced at Silver, who seemed to be equally nervous of what awaited them ahead.

“We’re to be quick...If there’s another rebel patrol,” Guardian said, her eyes drifting up to the sky to check for any pestering rebel pegasi. It was clear, but considering it would take them at least two hours to cross the barren plain over to the mountains, she wasn’t sure how much longer they’d have before it wasn’t.

Silver gulped, believing their chances of outrunning a pegasi patrol to be slim.

“You don’t happen to know any spells that can hide us better, do you?” Guardian muttered.

“What, like turn us invisible?” Silver asked.

“Yeah,” Guardian said, staring off at the wasteland ahead.

“No.”

Guardian turned her head at Silver, and glared at her.

“Why did you say it like you knew how to do it?”

“I didn’t say I knew how to do it.”

“But you said it like you did,” Guardian spat.

They both held off from laughing, beginning to come around to each other again after a brief period of silent tension.

“After you then, princess,” Silver said, nodding at Guardian to take the first step forward.

Remembering they were running out of daylight, Guardian took the fateful step out past the edge of the forest, making her way into the coverless plain of emptiness.

Both felt extremely uncomfortable to be so exposed out in the open, but to take an alternative route would surely waste too much time.

Trotting along the water tank, their fears slowly subsided when no threats presented themselves for the first half-hour of traveling.

“What’s that?” Silver asked, pointing up ahead at some sort of large structure, collapsed into the ground near the tracks.

Guardian narrowed her eyes, unsure what they were looking at.

“I’m not sure…” Guardian muttered, picking up her pace to get a closer look.

They continued until they were right beside the downed structure, now close enough to recognize what it was. A water tank, built right along some burned-down small wooden train station next to the tracks.

“How are we, on water?” Guardian asked.

Silver checked their extra supply of water, which contained less than a cup’s worth.

“Above zero, below satisfying,” Silver replied, closing up her pack.

“It’s our lucky day, then,” Guardian said, smiling as she trotted away from the train tracks towards the water tank.

Silver quickly caught up, and together they discovered a large pool of stagnant water that had leaked out of a large hole in the sideways, knocked-over water tank. The water had mostly been frozen due to the temperatures. But in a small section at one edge, the water was liquid, drawing in both ponies right beside it.

“Oh, that’s disgusting,” Silver muttered, at the sight of the muddy, filthy brown water.

“We shouldn’t drink that, should we,” Guardian said, dejected.

“Not unless you’d like to be sick as a pig,” Silver replied.

“Well, there goes that. Let’s go back, before-” Guardian started after turning around to head back to the tracks. She was cut off, though, by the distinct sound of a canine growling.

Guardian spun around, to see Silver slowly backing away from a ravenous-looking, mangy wolf, gritting its teeth and growling at them with devilish red eyes. Guardian recognized those eyes, as the same wolf she had caught sight of a few nights ago in the woods. She considered herself lucky to have escaped that encounter alive, though this time, the emaciated beast seemed so desperate for food, she doubted she’d be spared from conflict twice.

“Silver...Don’t hurt it,” Guardian said, coaxingly. Despite how deranged the wolf appeared, she felt pity for it, as it was probably just as starving as they were.

“Guardian, now’s not the time to be-” Silver said, but was cut off when she felt an animal’s ferocious bite tear into her right hind leg. Silver yelped in pain as a second wolf managed to trip her to the ground and thrash its teeth into her leg, ripping into her flesh. While Silver screamed in pain, Guardian moved to help her, but was distracted when two more wolves came springing out from around the other side of the water tank, jumping on top of her, attempting to sink their teeth right into her throat. Guardian had her spear drawn, blocking the wolves’ attempts at chomping into her jugular. She was struggling, however, with the weight of two wolves on her chest pinning her to the ground, their intense ferocity disorienting. The first wolf, who was apparently clever enough to understand how to stage a distraction, went for Silver while Guardian was fending off her attackers.

Silver blasted the wolf that was latched onto her leg, right through the face, burning a hole through its skull, killing the poor savage beast.

The initial wolf stopped dead in its tracks at the sight of Silver’s magical blast, as if it recognized its danger.

The wolf howled into the air, and almost immediately, the other two on top of Guardian lifted their heads and sprang off of her, the three of them all darting off around the water tank, running off before Silver could slay them too.

Silver was hyperventilating with fear, her shaky hoof pawing at the bloody gash on her leg.

“G-Guardian…” Silver muttered, on the brink of fainting.

“Hey! Don’t worry, you’re gonna be fine!”

Silver groaned as Guardian dragged her body over to the surface of the water tank, propping her up.

“Guardian...I need you to wash it off before I can try and heal it,” Silver said, through distressed pants.

“Alright, we’ll use mine,” Guardian said, retrieving her first canteen, unscrewing the cap, and gently pouring the water along Silver’s bite wound.

“Ow! Ok...Ok, thank you, now just...go away,” Silver said.

“What?”

“Just like, turn around! I have to focus!” Silver yelled, too angry to properly articulate herself.

Guardian reluctantly obeyed Silver’s request, turning around while Silver’s horn began to glow a misty lavender-white. In a flash of light, Silver sprayed her wound with a magical spell, which was effective in mildly healing the wound.

Once Silver’s agonizing gasps for breath had diminished, Guardian turned back around.

“Are you alright?” Guardian asked, hopeful that Silver wouldn’t be critically injured.

“Help me up?” Silver asked, extending her arms. Guardian quickly grabbed onto her and pulled her up to her hooves.

“Ow!” Silver cried, her back leg buckling down. The wound was only barely healed, and still hurt a considerable amount, even more when putting weight on it.

“Can you walk?” Guardian asked, uncertain what they would do if Silver was to be rendered helpless on her legs.

“I can! I can, I just...Ow!” Silver yelped again, clinging to Guardian for support.

“Don’t let me fall!” Silver cried, worried that her leg would be hurt more so if she was to risk injuring it again.

“I won’t, here…” Guardian said, gently laying Silver back down.

“You need some time to heal, we’ll take a break…” Guardian said, giving a sigh of exhaustion. Another detour was the last thing she needed, but they wouldn’t be able to make it far anyways if Silver could barely walk.

Silver groaned,, shutting her eyes, trying to dream up a comforting fake scenario, in which she hadn’t just had a chunk of her leg taken out.

Guardian sat down nearby, holding her arms as the bitter wind blew over her neck. She was clutching her spear as if her life depended on it, anxious over the possibility that they would encounter some other threat. She hoped Silver’s spell would work quickly, for beneath the freezing winds Guardian feared they wouldn’t survive long.

After about an hour in the freezing cold, a shivering Silver finally decided she was ready, attempting to grab onto the side of the water tank to pull herself up.

“Silver, are you-” Guardian started.

“I’m fine...I’m fine, really. Let’s go, we shouldn't waste time,” Silver said, climbing up against the side of the water tank to bring herself to her hooves.

“Are you sure?” Guardian asked.

“Come on,” Silver said, insistent they start moving. Guardian wasn’t too opposed to that, given how freezing she was sitting still on the ice-cold ground.

They retrieved what belongings they had and headed back to the railroad tracks, Silver grunting every time she had to step with her injured leg. She had a limp, and Guardian couldn’t deny it looked to be a ghastly wound, though Silver was unwilling to be the reason they were slowed down. Guardian respected Silver for pushing through the pain, as she wasn't sure she’d be able to if it was her who had been bitten.

Guardian’s heart ached at the sound of her friend in pain, though she knew if she was to say anything, she would likely be snapped at.

A half-mile off from the water tank, Silver was beginning to get used to walking on her leg, which was still gradually being healed by the spell she had cast. She wasn’t a doctor pony, but it was standard training for all unicorns in the army to have knowledge of basic medical application.

A few yards behind Guardian, who had adjusted her pace as to not leave Silver too far behind, Silver caught sight of something else besides the endless train tracks and barren wasteland she was wandering through. A butterfly, dancing through the air with graceful strides, with bright blue wings that reflected the cloudcast sunlight from above. Silver was in shock, wondering if it was the same butterfly she had met days before. She extended her hoof out, just as she had done the first time, and, again to her delight, the tiny creature landed right on her.

“Hey there little guy,” Silver muttered, finding herself smiling genuinely for what felt like the first time since she last saw the creature.

The butterfly appeared to be making itself comfortable on her hoof, pacing around for a short while before fluttering off once more. Silver watched it fly off until it was just a speck in the distance, a persistent brightness that Silver began to think had attached itself to her.

“Whoa!” Guardian suddenly cried out, catching Silver off guard. She turned back ahead of her to see Guardian staring at something up above in the sky, her face white with fear.

Silver too raised her head to see what had Guardian so spooked, and then saw it. There were at least fourteen pegasi, all practically right above them, far up in the sky. At first glance, Silver assumed that they were a part of a rebel patrol that was on their way down to kill them.

“Wait, those are some of ours! Airborne,” Guardian said aloud, realizing that the fourteen pegasi were actually in the midst of a scuffle up near the clouds, all of them too far up and distracted to notice Guardian and Silver down below. She could recognize the gold armor of the royal pegasi, contrasting against the black outfits the rebels were wearing.

“I can’t tell who’s winning,” Silver said, hoping that their side could earn a victory for once.

“I have to go help them out!” Guardian said, slipping off her pack from her shoulders, preparing to spread her wings and fly up to aid the royal pegasi in their fight. Silver wasn’t about to let that happen, however, telekinetically moving the bag back onto Guardian’s shoulders.

“We can’t risk it,” Silver said, though she did wish there was a way they could help.

Guardian reluctantly relented, readjusting her bag. They stood where they were, watching the skirmish up in the sky from down below.

“Do you think they’re from the Wonderbolts? I heard they had some Wonderbolts flying with the Airborne now,” Guardian said.

“Who’d you hear that from?”

“Misty.”

Silver forgot to continue with a reply, becoming too distracted with the fight they were spectating.

“Did you see that? That pegasus lost his balance!” Silver exclaimed, pointing up at who she hoped was a rebel pegasus, tumbling out of the sky.

“I think we won,” Guardian said, excitedly, watching as the remaining rebel pegasi, notable for their black-colored armor, fled away from the scene.

Silver smiled at the sight of a royal victory, though her smile quickly dropped, when she noticed the pegasus who had been struck out of the sky was still descending, only he was descending right towards them.

“Uh…” Silver started, getting Guardian’s attention until she too realized what was coming down on them.

“Shoot! Get out of the way!” Guardian said, jumping off of the train tracks to ensure she wasn’t hit by the crashing pegasus.

He came down in a booming, painful thud, managing to dig up a trail of long dirt from the very force of his impact. Guardian and Silver peeked up at the scene from the other side of the train tracks, and saw that his broken black armor hung on his motionless body.

Silver, not thinking twice, began to illuminate her horn, seeking to ensure the rebel soldier was deceased. Guardian, however, stopped her with an outstretched hoof, rushing over to where the rebel pegasus had landed. He was still alive, barely, his body broken and his mind in a daze. The pegasus had flowing brown locks and a handsome face, though, as most ponies Guardian had encountered in the forest, he appeared to be mildly emaciated and deranged in the eyes.

Before he would inevitably run out of time from the brutality of the fall, Guardian quickly unfastened her canteen from her pack and bent down beside him, silently leaning its tip against his lips, and gently pouring some water for him to drink.

She brought the canteen back, nervously, unsure whether the pegasus was even still alive. He was, and seemed to be grateful, forcing a weak smile as his body shivered, both from the pain and the cold.

“Thank you,” he managed to say, his voice groggy and choked.

Guardian nodded, and remained by him while he felt the pull of unconsciousness sweep over him. After about two minutes, the pegasus had given his last breath, and Guardian felt it was alright for her to stand back up.

Rejoining Silver, Guardian could feel Silver’s contempt for what she had done, like a smack in the face.

“That was a waste of water,” Silver muttered, magically grabbing Guardian’s canteen, and filling it up with around half of what she had in her own.

She handed the canteen back to Guardian, who had no intention of starting an argument.

They continued on along the train tracks, hoping that there wasn’t too much danger waiting for them ahead.

It had taken them a good three more hours since leaving the water tank to reach the end of the wasteland, entering into the first stretches of the rocky cliffs that ascended upwards into the mountain. The storm was boiling up above them, close to erupting into a raging bout of cruel fury. They still had at least three hours of solid daylight before it would become too dark and too dangerous to continue. Silver’ leg had healed enough that she could keep up with Guardian, though the pain still lingered.

Marching up through the growing fog up the slopes of the mountain, up through a patch of grass, it was Silver who first noticed something unusual in the distance up ahead.

“Wait,” Silver muttered.

Guardian, who was a few yards behind struggling to climb over a sharp jagged rock, froze in place, unable to see what Silver had seen.

“What?” Guardian asked.

Silver paused, listening to the rustling of the grass in the pre-storm winds, and the howling wind in the distance. But there was another sound, one that combined with what she had seen, made her highly suspicious.

“There’s ponies up ahead, over that ridge.”

“Ponies? How many?”

“I don’t know, I can’t see them…” Silver said, right before her eyes lit up with surprise, “And look! There’s some light smoke near that cliff over there, and I think I can hear something weird...Like metal clanking or something,” Silver said.

“It could be that somepony lives there. Blacksmithing maybe,” Guardian suggested.

Silver was so put off by Guardian’s idea, that she turned all the way around to stare at her in disbelief.

“Somehow I doubt anypony would want to live here...Intuition tells me those are rebels over there,” Silver said, firmly.

“They could be ours,” Guardian offered.

“Halo said there weren’t any other units still active in the mountains. They’re rebels...So what are we gonna do about them?” Silver said.

Guardian climbed up to where Silver was, and she too could make out the light smoke rising into the air in the distance.

“If they could see us from here, they would’ve already attacked,” Guardian said.

Silver nodded in agreement, though was still uncertain what their course of action would be.

“I could fly around...But I don't think I could carry you that high or that far,” Guardian said.

“There isn’t time to change the course. We’re gonna have to deal with them…” Silver said.

Guardian hated to agree, but there simply wasn’t any other decent option other than to go right through them.

“Alright...Let’s try and get a better look…” Guardian said, climbing up towards the left over some rocks, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was waiting for them over that ridge.

A few more steps higher up through the rocks, they found themselves able to get a clear view of the ridge from the cover of some large rock formations, sticking their heads out carefully.

On the ridge was a grassy hillside graveyard, stones worn by the years, broken by weather and stray bombshells here and there. In the center of the graveyard was a building, a small stone-built house with an active chimney, the source of the light smoke Silver had first noticed just earlier.

“Look,” Silver said, her eyes widening at the sight of a pony stepping out of the house, taking a look around before relieving himself, right out in the open into the grass.

“Gross,” Guardian muttered.

“That’s rebel armor,” Silver said, confirming her previous assumption.

“I can see through the window...I see...at least four, counting that guy,” Guardian said, as the other pony shook himself dry and returned inside the building.

“Is there a way around?” Guardian asked, checking her left to see if the rocks were navigable further up.

“Too steep,” Guardian said, nulling her previous suggestion.

“We’ve got to go through, Guardian. They might have sentries posted around, there’s no other way,” Silver said.

Guardian decided she was right, albeit regretfully.

“Let’s head down, stay low,” Guardian said, taking the lead of the duo, as she was the least injured of the two.

They snuck back down the ridge, through an opening in the rock that led them to the soft grass of the graveyard.

Using the graves as cover, the duo slowly crept their way forwards towards the small stone house.

Guardian could hear the sounds of laughter from inside the house, and wished they didn’t have to go through with subduing them, but time wasn’t on their side this time.

Guardian crept straight for the side of the stone wall by the door, while Silver took the other side. They froze, listening inside and realizing the rebels had all gone silent. Guardian and Silver prepared themselves, unsure if they had been heard. The door flew open, but neither reacted immediately, as nopony had stepped out.

“I swear I heard something,” said one of the rebels, taking a single step outside, only to immediately be blasted through the face by a blast of magical energy, courtesy of Silver to his right.

Silver spun around inside and immediately started lighting the place up, firing her horn at every pony she could.

Inside, the house only contained one large room with a living area to the left and a kitchen to the right, and a small staircase in the back that led to a smaller room above. The kitchen contained a large island counter and lots of cooking equipment, and the living room had a couch, two leather chairs, a rug, and the fireplace, whose smoke had first alerted Guardian and Silver of the house to begin with. The floor was all hardwood, and the house appeared to be more of a cozy mountain home for weekend visits, rather than anything meant for permanent living. The rebels, who now numbered five, were all completely taken by surprise with Silver’s uninvited arrival.

Guardian quickly followed after while the unprepared rebels were struggling to find cover in the room from Silver’s onslaught. Two had been killed immediately, another hiding behind the couch, and the fifth managing to scurry his way into a different room. The last rebel had taken the offensive, gripping a sword that had been lying on one of the tables, and swinging it towards Guardian’s head. She dodged it, backing up so as to avoid his return.

The rebel approached her as she stepped back out of the house, leaving Silver with the other two surviving rebels inside.

“For the Queen’s sake! They were unarmed!” the rebel behind the couch yelled. He was a young stallion, seemingly too young to be serving in a combat position. Silver, however, was far too enthralled in her own revenge, and had no intention of sparing any of the rebels from their comrades’ fates.

Telekinetically, Silver lifted up the couch in its entirety, and chucked it straight into the rebel soldier’s head, knocking him backwards. While the couch crashed into the wall and broke into several pieces, the spry young rebel attempted to make a run for it out the back door, while Silver was practically toying with him. He reached the door handle, but was then grabbed by a ring of Silver’s magic around his neck, tossing him across the room into the hard stone wall. She turned to finish him off, but was distracted by the sound of another pony screaming a cry of rage from behind her.

She turned to see the rebel who had escaped into the other room, returning with a spear in his hooves.

Silver tilted her head in disgust, and promptly sliced the rebel open, diagonally, two halves of his body collapsing to the hardwood floor in separate places.

She brushed her shoulder of dust and slowly turned back to the wounded, trembling young rebel soldier crouched up against the wall, huddled tight with his face hidden.

“Please, don’t!” he begged, his voice shaking.

Silver briefly felt sympathy for the kid, who was completely helpless against her attack. But then thoughts of her lost beloved 14th Rangers reignited her flaming heart, and she absolutely couldn’t help herself, but to blast the rebel directly through the head. It was a quick death, which was more merciful than Silver considered most rebels to deserve. The kid came toppling down to the ground in a smoking heap. The room was now a complete mess, and Silver was feeling some sort of high after her violent exploits. She then remembered there was a sixth rebel, and realized Guardian was no longer inside the house.

While Silver had been wrapped up massacring the rebels inside, Guardian had been stuck in a prolonged effort to avoid having her throat cut open by the last surviving rebel’s spear. He was a pegasus, the same as her, and was equally nimble on his hooves, despite having a slightly larger build. He was an orange stallion, with a dark, thin, unkempt beard and thick brown hair that swept past his ears. His strikes were precise, and Guardian was not having an easy time defending herself. She rarely had to focus on her posture and step movements when in a fight, given how typical it was for rebel soldiers to be uncoordinated and sloppy anyways. Rebels tended to be drafted from ordinary ponies, after all, with minimal military training. But this rebel appeared to be different, like he actually knew what he was doing. What Guardian feared, is that he may know what he’s doing better than her.

He brought his sword down hard against her from the top, and she barely managed to block it. Doubling back, she expected to find a weak point in his left hip, but he was expecting that, jumping backward, and slicing diagonally towards her neck. She was forced to block it with her bare hooves, grabbing the blade as it sunk into her flesh. She gritted her teeth, and attempted to overpower him and force the blade out of his hooves. But he was stronger, kneeing her in the gut and shoving her backwards.

Guardian managed not to fall over, to the rebel’s surprise. He began walking around her while she recovered, a slight gesture which she had to be grateful for. It was her decision to resume, lunging at him with her spear, managing to stick it back around his sword, so that she could twist back and knock him in the face with it. The strike was disorienting, enough for her to pull her spear back and knock it hard into his hoof. He yelled in pain and dropped the sword, grabbing his hoof in pain. She jabbed him in the neck with the butt of her spear, forcing him back down to the ground.

Now with the rebel disarmed and mildly injured on the ground, Guardian had the chance to finish him off. But she found herself hesitating, keeping the blade of her spear not far from his neck while he raised his head and glared at her with a burning hatred.

“Guardian!” Silver exclaimed, running out of the house to where Guardian and the rebel were in the grass. Silver saw the rebel was still alive, and her horn began to glow, until Guardian extended her hoof in front of her.

“Don’t,” Guardian said, eyeing down Silver, who was so hyper after all her action that she couldn’t even stand still.

“What? What do you mean?” Silver stammered.

“Go in my pack, and get some rope, tie him up,” Guardian requested, keeping her eyes on the rebel to make sure he didn’t make any sudden moves.

Silver was stunned by Guardian’s plea, calming down to rationalize how flawed this new course of action was.

“That’s ludicrous,” Silver said, flatly. She was completely opposed to the idea. She hated rebels already, to spend time around one for more than a few seconds would be just unbearable.

“Silver, just do it,” Guardian said again.

Silver rolled her eyes, assuming she would just get a chance to kill him soon after. She reached into Guardian’s bag, which was left on the grass nearby, and retrieved a roll of rope.

Guardian and the rebel were staring at each other, the rebel plainly confused about what was happening.

“Go on,” Guardian said, after a short period of Silver awkwardly standing with the roll of rope in her hooves.

Silver sighed, and magically began strewing the rope around the rebel, wrapping it around his wings and forming cuffs around each of his legs. After tightening the ropes and binding them all together with thick knots, she dropped it, hoping they could just get this over with and execute the rebel already.

“You’re our prisoner now, got it?” Guardian said, commandingly, to the furious rebel soldier, who was now bound to the leash his bindings were attached to. His wings were tied down, preventing him from flying off, and he wouldn’t be able to run with how narrow the knots were in his rope cuffs.

“Guardian, uh, I don’t know if you’re aware, but we barely have enough supplies to keep ourselves alive. Last thing we need is another pony, least of all one of them,” Silver hissed, aggravated by Guardian’s actions.

“Why don’t you go inside that house, clean up the place. We’ll set up camp inside for the night. Good place as any. I’ll handle this,” Guardian said, nodding for Silver to leave her.

Silver stared at her, dumbfounded, and was so insulted, so slighted that she readily complied with the request, if only to relieve herself of having to deal with Guardian any longer.

Guardian waited until Silver had stormed off back into the house, before sitting herself down, face to face against the rebel.

“I’m sorry about your friends, I didn’t mean for them to be killed,” Guardian said, apologetically.

The rebel said nothing, glaring at her with a visible hatred.

“Can you tell me your name?” she asked, hoping he wouldn’t make this difficult. With Silver around, she had enough problems to deal with.

When the rebel still refused to speak, Guardian decided to start herself.

“I’m Guardian. Guardian Angel.”

The rebel bit his lip with anger, but decided there was no point in resistance. If he didn’t satisfy the royal soldier who was sparing his life, he figured the other one would get free reign to kill him just like his mates. Still, he wasn’t sure what this blue pegasus wanted him alive for.

“Sundance,” the rebel muttered, his voice dark, twisted with humiliation and pain.

“Sundance, ok, nice to meet you...Look, I don’t want to kill you, or do anything to you at all. But, I’ll have no problem doing so if you’re not going to be able to work with me a little. And her, she’ll have even less of a problem,” Guardian said, nodding back at the house where Silver was angrily watching them from the window. Sundance could already tell he was beginning to fear that unicorn, who had a terrifying, menacing look in her eyes.

Guardian reached into her pack and pulled out her map of the area, laying it out in front of him for both of them to see.

“What are you doing out here in the mountains?” Guardian asked.

For a moment, Sundance stayed quiet in silent frustration, though he knew he would have to cooperate if he wanted to live.

“Scouting patrol.”

“Whose house is that?” Guardian questioned.

“It was abandoned. Recently abandoned. We’ve been staying there the past three...no, four nights,” Sundance answered.

“Scouting for who? You’re a part of a larger unit?” Guardian asked.

“Pathfinders. That’s a yes,” he answered, remembering that she wouldn’t be familiar with rebel unit names.

“How many are in the...Pathfinders?” Guardian said, pausing to make sure she would remember that name.

Sundance glared at her, unsure what her intentions were.

“More than the two of you. I wouldn’t recommend you go looking for trouble,” Sundance said, slightly condescendingly.

“Point out on this map where they are,” Guardian said, glancing down at the map.

Not to her surprise, Sundance refused to budge his hoof.

“I said-” Guardian started.

“You can’t expect me to give you information that would put Coalition lives in danger,” Sundance said, spitefully.

Guardian shook her head.

“We don’t mean to attack them. We mean to avoid them,” Guardian said.

“Avoid them like you did us?” Sundance said, scornfully.

“You would’ve spotted us eventually, it was better for us to have the first strike,” Guardian countered, unimpressed with his attempt at an ethical criticism.

“I’ve saved your life, when I know she wouldn’t have done anything close, and all I’m asking is for you to tell us where to avoid these ponies!” Guardian yelled, desperate.

Sundance sighed, deciding it couldn’t be that detrimental, since his battalion happened to not stick to any one location for too long.

He pointed at a spot on the map, east of the position they were at now, to Guardian’s relief.

“There. Was that so bad?”

Sundance scowled, hoping he would either be freed or killed soon, all just to be rid of this pestering pegasus.

Guardian grabbed the leash and pulled Sundance to his hooves, leading the humiliated rebel pegasus into the house, where Silver was waiting.

“Now can we kill him?” Silver asked, waiting for them both to step inside before closing the door.

Right after entering, Guardian grabbed her spear and whacked Sundance over the head with the staff, knocking him unconscious with a single hit. He fell sideways, hard, right onto the floor.

Silver’s eyes slowly rose from Sundance to Guardian, who seemed to have already come up with a plan. She saw the room had been cleared of all the other rebel corpses, to her surprise.

“You were fast with that,” Guardian said.

“There’s a pile outside. We could burn ‘em, but not until we leave tomorrow morning,” Silver said, before she remembered what she had just been upset about, “Don’t try and distract me! What the hell are you doing, Guardian?”

Guardian plopped herself down on one of the leather chairs, curling up under a blanket.

“He told me where his battalion is. East of here, we should be fine. Once we make it to the other side of the mountain tomorrow, we’ll have downhill advantage,” Guardian said, confident in their chances of success.

“Seriously? You seriously think he was telling the truth?” Silver asked, disappointed in Guardian’s appearing naivety.

“Maybe. He told me what he told me. We’re sticking to the same path anyway, it doesn’t change a thing. Just something we don’t have to worry about...as much,” Guardian said.

Silver sighed, not sure Guardian was making the correct decisions.

“And we’re taking him with us,” Guardian said, catching Silver off guard.

“What?! We most certainly are not! Guardian, this is too far! He’s the enemy!” Silver cried, hysterically, her fears of death bursting through the seams of her focus. “He’ll slash our throats in the night the second he gets a chance! We should just leave him here, if you want to keep him alive so bad! But don’t take him with us, Guardian, I’m begging you. It’s a bad idea,” Silver said, terrified of the potential repercussions of allowing a rebel to be in constant close proximity.

“If we leave him here, he’ll die of hypothermia in less than a day. We have to take him with us, it’s the right thing to do. We can’t just kill him. He surrendered,” Guardian said, “If you surrendered, would you want to be left to die?”

“I’d never surrender,” Silver said, bitterly, tying the leash of Sundance’s ropes to a nearby wooden column in the wall, making sure it was tight and that he was far away from them not to be able to reach them while they were sleeping.

“We’ll resume this in the morning. I’m exhausted,” Silver said, taking the other chair, opposite to Guardian. Guardian agreed, as she was also absolutely exhausted. She wasn’t sure what had compelled her to save Sundance’s life, perhaps just good honor, or perhaps pity. But she couldn’t deny what she felt was right. Silver, however, saw little but tragedy to befall them should Guardian retain her current mindset.