Shadow Of Equestria

by Jinxed

3: Opportunities

Greedy lungfuls of the morning's still-chilly air filled her as she collapsed against the stacked rubble. She heavily rolled back to face the broken ceiling and the glimpses of overcast sky that peeked in through its fractured face from the floor above. Pain arced through each of her legs from both her lengthy fall and her running, and subsequently her back where she'd just thrown herself down against everything she carried. That pain, alongside the numerous bruises she'd obtained from the fighting, was a minor note in her raging mind.

Clutching her precious shotgun in her hooves against her chest, she kept her frantic eyes on the slanted and partially-buried entrance she'd fallen through. Without even thinking about it she had already quickly edged herself into the corner of what appeared to be a small lobby of the dilapidated building she was now taking refuge inside. The smaller details were almost lost to her; the smashed pictures on the walls, the ruined and rotting seating crushed by debris, the frozen desiccated bodies of those that had died, it was all out of mind. The signs that something had once also nested in here were apparent by the bodies missing flesh or the filth that had built up in places, though these things were just as secondary as the immediate threat mattered more.

Applejack couldn't relax, and refused to let herself. They were certainly still coming for her. If it had been her friends that had been killed she'd be tearing down walls with her bare hooves to get at the ponies who'd done it. Whose childhood memories had she irrevocably tainted with the knowledge that the precious others weaved into them were now gone forever, their candles snuffed out by a strange mare that had been hiding in a barren shop. She tried her best to push it down but it was no use. The stallion she'd slaughtered with her knife, Guppy, his blood was still fresh on her, the stallion she'd gunned down with her shotgun, Crow, she could still see his pained grimace. She battled nausea as she tried to breathe, her throat felt blocked and her eyes stung with tears that weren't just the result of her hastened run.

Two more deaths she'd caused, added to the list.

She'd already killed three the previous day...

The only possible solace that she could take in both matters was that she'd never intended to do any harm. Applejack wasn't bloodthirsty and she didn't want to kill, she despised that she had to kill at all. Her attacks on others were and had been in defence of herself and so she could protect Applebloom. It wasn't exactly comforting, but she clung to it all the same.

Her eyes clenched shut as she did her best to deeply breathe in and out, in and out, trying to calm down and ignore the potent smell of blood. That was all she could do right now, simply try to breathe, slow her heartbeat, and do her best to rid herself of agitation as she opened her eyes again to keep them fixed on the doorway. Now was not the time for trauma, there wasn't any room for it at this moment. Compartmentalise now, deal with the trauma later. Much, much later. It was callous but necessary. Slowly, slowly she felt herself shake less as she got herself under control and the adrenaline abated bit by bit, hefting the shotgun and keeping it raised at the open gap in front of her as she swallowed the painful lump in her throat. There were no other ways in, the wide window on the far side was blocked with collapsed debris from the building having fallen on that side, and she had a good angle on the half-buried door. Her eyes cleared as she blinked the tears out of them, the seconds ticking by as they dried on her face and her breathing became more even.

Lock it all down.

There was no danger yet, but it would come soon.

She waited tensely, still shaking a little from the comedown as her ears perked under the hood for any hint of a cry or a shout, any possible sound that might inform her that the group she'd wronged was pursuing her. There wasn't much but the shrill whistling of the wind through the streets and ruins. Whilst the sound was unnerving it at least meant that she was alone for now. After a few more seconds there were some distant gunshots, though those weren't anywhere near her, and she almost believed herself to be in the clear until she heard the distant crunch of a boot on gravel.

It was faint but she'd definitely heard it.

Partly cycling the shotgun's action, she nudged the lever down to peek into the breach and found it had a shell loaded. Thankfully she had already cycled it after the last shot, she just hadn't recalled if she had done so or not in the heat of the moment. Carefully letting the lever move back up into the resting position, she kept her breathing low and the barrel as steady as she could currently manage. Pushing herself back against the rubble, she braced as the heavy steps became louder. There was likely nothing for it, she was probably going to have to shoot somepony again today.

"Hello? Hey, you alright in there?"

...Maybe not? That voice didn't sound hostile, but that trick was what had gotten them into this mess in the first place.

She kept the shotgun level.

"Hey, lady? I saw you running like a pack of fucking Hounds were on your tail, you alright?"

The voice was sharp and bordering on gravelly, almost a bassy baritone. She felt that she could hear a certain level of concern in it underneath the heavy layer of wariness. It was a voice that was also used to being tricked, that much was obvious, and a voice that belonged to a creature that was certainly keeping a weapon at the ready whilst looking around for an ambush. Slowly taking in a deeper breath, she held it whilst the stranger approached her position, her shotgun prepared to fire if she needed to. If she saw the hint of a weapon poke into the doorway first...

The heavy steps ceased.

Applejack waited for a couple of seconds without anything happening before she breathed out and carefully lent to the side to try and peek for the stranger, but to no avail. They must have either realised where she was hiding and were waiting for her to move, or they were simply listening out for where she might be. If they had grenades then they would have thrown them in already had they guessed where she was. Maybe waiting was the best play for now.

"Hey."

Her eyes went wide and she gasped in alarm through another spike of fear as she quickly snapped her head up, her shotgun moving and her hoof ready on the trigger. Applejack spotted the gryphon peeking at her through the gaps in the damaged floor above as her shotgun began to point in his direction, before he quickly darted down in a flash, a hand moving imperceptibly fast as he grabbed the barrel in his talons. Before she could pull the trigger or fight back he'd snatched the weapon from her weaker grasp and partly caught her legs up in the weapon's sling. She was prevented from moving too easily by it, so she tried to edge towards grabbing her pulse rifle instead.

"Calm down, lady. I'm not gonna shoot you."

There was an attempt to pull her weapon back but it was futile, and she snorted in anger at him as she tried to thrash out of the sling. The sound of her briefly struggling atop her pile of rubble echoed slightly off the walls around them. It was more an annoyed gesture of being caught stupidly unaware if nothing else. A few seconds passed before she stopped, and instead of trying to kick at him she allowed herself to ease up just a bit, the gryphon staying in place with a partial smirk on his beak. It was simple enough to reason that he could have shot her with a weapon that he could've easily pulled from elsewhere by now, like the rifle on his back. He could also have shot her from above with the obvious pistol holstered on his hip whilst she'd been focusing too hard on the doorway, and he hadn't. Unless he was the sadistic type then she wasn't going to get a bullet in the back either.

"Can I have mah gun back?" Applejack asked in a huff after a moment.

He raised an eyebrow. "You gonna try and shoot me?"

"Not unless ya pull a gun first."

He grinned, the answer seeming to satisfy him as he let go of the shotgun's barrel. Applejack caught the weapon as she saw him move back just as fast as he'd caught her out, wings gusting wind and his tail whipping as he moved a little higher up onto another rubble stack. He didn't draw his pistol as she got a hold of her shotgun properly and leant back again with it in her hooves, though he certainly had his hand on it whilst she got herself sorted out. She stood tall on all fours and let the shotgun rest, and he then dropped back to the ground, his tufted tail swishing as he landed on his booted paws with a weighty crunch on the debris-strewn floor around them. He stood up to his full height and easily towered over her, hand still on the holstered pistol as vibrant azure eyes assessed quietly, and she did the same in return.

His upper half was probably silver in colour, his down and lower half being varying shades of gold, and he was very well protected in what was clearly military-issue body armour and kit, sans a helmet. The standard assault rifle of the Royal Gryphonian Legion rested on his back besides just the gun on his hip, as well the usual items most had on them like the Phobos secured to his chest rig or the gas mask at his side. It made her wonder if she was actually rather lucky to be as decently equipped as she was.

Similarly like her, he'd covered himself over in a mid-length poncho, though he had a scarf too. Oddly, both were an irregular mix of patterns ranging through shades of grey and white. It was strange as his armour was also a dark grey, and she could only assume that it was something recent to the gryphon's of Equestria's military before the Singularity. The usual soldiers she'd seen beforehoof had always been fitted with the standard wheat-coloured drab. Something that was definitely unique to non-ponies though were the open-toe boots he had on his paws, each digit spread out with the claws dug into the floor below them for purchase.

Applejack nodded at him and he returned the gesture with the same grin on his face.

"Howdy," she greeted him.

"Hey," he said again, his hand relaxing off his pistol. "You look like a capable mare, what were you running from?"

Applejack shrugged, glancing over her shoulder. "None of yer business," pausing as she took a breath and looked back. "No trouble out there then, I take it?"

"Nope, pretty empty streets today. Except you, of course."

"Yeah," she trailed off, turning away. "Well... see ya, thanks fer not shootin' me."

Moving off as fast as she'd entered, she was still careful in how she went to the doorway and peeked beyond it. As the gryphon had said, it was apparently clear, and she warily stepped out to keep on going seeing as she had recovered from her panic. Whilst she could always head back with what she had, or maybe go and cut up the Direwolf she'd shot for meat, there was still plenty of time in the day for scavenging. Now that she'd gotten the winter clothing she needed for her and Applebloom she wanted to find some more electronics for the radio, and general equipment and supplies that they could use in fortifying the station.

Annoyingly, as much as it would have been ideal she couldn't return to the shopping centre anytime soon for what she needed. Frankly, she didn't want to anyway. It would have been handy to go and look there again as there had been an appliance store on the ground floor, however right now the idea made her utterly sick to her stomach.

Applejack took a glance around at the street she'd gotten herself in and didn't see much to indicate where she was. This part of the city was rather new to her, so really it just came down to exploring and hoping for the best. Thankfully her Phobos hadn't triggered yet so she hadn't needed to slow her pace and throw any bolts, there was apparently a lack of monsters too which was─she paused as there was movement behind her, unmistakably the gryphon. A tense jolt quickly crawled up her spine as he didn't mask his steps and casually thudded on the damaged roads. She stopped and glared back at him and he just smirked at her in return.

"Can I help ya?" Applejack said dryly as she went.

"I don't know, can you? I haven't seen anypony in a while that wasn't openly hostile," he shrugged, coming up and walking along behind her, still on his hindlegs rather than all fours. It was likely he was standing that way so that he could grab his rifle if he needed it. She was about to point out that she would have shot him had he not stopped her, but he quickly raised a talon. "You were clearly surprised by me, I don't count that one for civvies."

"So yer actually military?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Former," he clarified. "I doubt you want the specifics."

"Ya guessed right. So long as ya aint a bandit I don't much care what yer history is," she said, scanning her immediate surroundings.

"I've already scouted the area from above when I saw you running like a madmare," he supplied for her. "There's some commotion further out to the east between some bandits and the Rebirth lot, their people have been pushing into the city a little more lately, but other than that there's just a few strays here and there like yourself."

That didn't mean much to her. "Rebirth?"

He gave a grunt of confirmation. "Some wannabe paramilitary idiots that popped up from the north-east. It was a small town community that had a wealth of supplies, it made them into kings after the event. You could say they have a bit of a monopoly on the outlying area, and they've been adding more to their numbers lately. You haven't heard of them?"

"New info to me," she said as she relaxed a little, then regarding him again. "How long were ya trailing me?"

He shrugged. "Not long. Saw you running down a street away from a shopping centre as I was flying, covered in blood and not looking behind you as if a pack of Hou─"

"Hounds, yeah, ya said," she nodded, glancing down and sighing. "...Shit."

Applejack felt herself tremble as she looked over herself, a wave of sickness passing up her throat. She'd been doing her best to ignore that she was still quite obviously damp with Guppy's blood, it had soaked through a majority of her front. A section of her poncho was stained, it had spread over her forelegs, and even areas of her neck if the stickiness there wasn't simply just sweat from running. Her jacket was a normally sage green in colour, usually a little darker as she rubbed soot into it, but right now it was a disgusting dark reddish brown where the blood was slowly drying.

It made her want to vomit... made her head swim.

"You alright? Why don't you sit down?" the gryphon said to her left.

Swallowing the wave in her stomach, she gently shook her head. "No, can't stop, I got things to be done."

"You're limping as well," he stated. "You might need first aid."

"I'm fine."

He relented with scoff and a light shrug. "...Alright then."

Her legs did hurt, though it wasn't anything she couldn't power through. If she had any fractures then she'd already feel where her legs would have been swollen, and she'd also really be having trouble taking steps if any of the fractures were in her forelegs. She'd hurt herself more than enough kicking the sturdy apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres in her fillyhood to know the signs. The gryphon's dubious concern was at least somewhat appreciated, if a bit queer. It was rare these days to have anypony that looked over others as anything more than competition. Granted, there were a few that might offer help, but it was always in order to gain something in return, and she was suspecting as much from him as well.

Applejack made it another few streets before she decided that the blood covering her ─and the gryphon following and side-eying her as if she was about to keel over─ was bothersome enough to take a short break. The task she'd set out to do had been completed, so it was okay for her to take some time to recover from the ordeal, if just to eat something.

The Phobos was blissfully silent as she dipped from the cold street into a thankfully unoccupied side alley, taking careful steps into the cramped space. It was a dead end, so there wouldn't be any surprises coming from that direction. Other than some old heavy bins that weren't currently overflowing and a general scattering of snow-topped debris, it was a clear and passable place to recuperate.

Throwing off her weapons and her backpack, she placed them to one side as she settled onto her haunches against the side of the alley. A deep sigh of relief escaped her from the lack of their weight, a brief shiver also running through her from the cold ground pressing through her jeans. Her vision flicked up briefly as she watched the gryphon brush snow off and sit down on a chunk of stone opposite her, silent for the moment. Turning her attention back to her clothing, she pushed down her discomfort as she lifted the poncho over her head, and held her breath as it passed her nose so she didn't get the full scent of blood. Throwing that to the ground, she unclasped the button of her jacket at the neck, pulled down her hood, and drew down the zip, feeling a lot less disgusting as she swiftly shrugged it off.

The breeze gently shook her lengthy mane as she took in a fresher breath of air, feeling a lot less constricted with the clothing now free. It was a little odd to feel underdressed in front of a stranger, though that was a strange feeling to have, and she ignored it as she took some comfort in the coldness that travelled up through the alley for the sheer freedom it gave. She shouldn't be down to her fur for too long of course, as it was much colder than it should have been. These early days of the first winter since the sky fell were getting a great deal chillier, and the snow was already reaching far higher levels than they'd faced in previous years even well into the later months.

Slipping off her hoof-dusters and gloves she removed her jacket completely and looked it over, sighing at the revolting mess across it that was turning brown at its edges. Her poncho wasn't as stained but it was definitely going to need cleaning too. Her gloves were leather and weren't as susceptible at least. Applejack allowed herself a few more moments to feel the lack of restriction that came with not being bound in protective gear before she soon started to dress again, until the gryphon cleared his throat to get her attention.

"You're clearly not used to that, you look like you're about to puke," he observed. "Let them dry for a while, it lessens the smell."

Applejack nodded after thinking on it for a second, taking the jacket and laying it out flat on the ground along with the poncho. That done, she slowly exhaled with a gentle shiver, closed her eyes, and leant her head back against the cold wall. She heard the gryphon slightly shuffle about for a moment, and she then grunted as something soft collided with her face, her senses instantly being filled with a utterly bizarre and overwhelmingly masculine odour. Opening her eyes as she dragged the offending item from her face, she looked at the gryphon's own oddly coloured poncho in her hooves.

She glanced up quizzically to see him putting on a second poncho as he pulled it from his backpack.

"It's always best to carry a spare. Wear that for now, keep yourself warm. Not that I don't like seeing a pretty mare in the buff, but it's best if you don't catch a cold. It's not as if you can head down to the local chemist for some tablets," he said, readjusting the poncho until it was comfortable and digging into his pack again to pull out what appeared to be some rather stiff-looking sachets, full of a transparent ruby-tinted liquid. Her eyes widened a little as she immediately realised what they were. He held them between his hands and snapped them, an audible crack sounding, and he then tossed them over too. "Put those under your clothes, they should be alright without hanging them up."

Applejack had been hunting for reusable heat packs ever since the ones she'd had were stolen, when she and Applebloom had been accosted all that time ago. They were extremely rare as they were one of the most sought after items around besides probably a Remnant, though she imagined a Remnant that generated heat was even more treasured. They landed in her lap, and the quickly building warmth was a welcome surprise as the ones she'd had before would usually some time to increase in temperature. Military heat packs must have been a little more potent. As much as she wanted to simply hold onto them, she placed them under her jacket and poncho as instructed.

The gryphon went into his pack again, pulling out two foil-wrapped ration bars and glancing up at her. "Want one?"

She gave a slight nod. "Sure?"

Catching it out of the air this time as he chucked it over, she unwrapped it to find that it wasn't the usual fare of a bland hay or hardtack ration, but instead an oat-and-nut bar. It even had honey, and the scent was lovely. Applejack took a small bite and chewed very slowly, savouring the taste, the gryphon chuckling lightly as he saw her expression change to one of bliss. Wrapping it up after having half and putting it away into her pack for Applebloom, she swallowed the mouthful and retrieved the bottle of water she had with her.

Unscrewing the cap, she took a few invigourating swigs as she then eyed the gryphon. "Why are ya helpin' me?"

"Why not?" he shrugged in response.

Her head shook as she lowered the bottle. "Things ain't worked like that fer a while now, what are ya after?"

He chuckled again. "Not much, seriously. Just trying to help a civvie that looked like they needed some help. It's what I'm meant to do."

Applejack wanted to believe that, she heard a hint of honesty in his voice, it was just that the idea was almost foreign now. There had so many run-ins with those who'd tried to pull a fast one on her that somepony actually being genuine was a rarity. She studied him as she met his bright-eyed vision, holding the gaze for a time before he raised his brow questioningly. Ever since leaving Ponyville she'd had heavy doubts in her once-strong ability to unconditionally discern the truth from others, yet she couldn't find much fault in his expression and it was almost alien to behold.

"Fine," she accepted, looking away. "I appreciate it."

"Glad to have your approval," he scoffed with amusement in his tone.

They sat quietly in what could be considered companionable silence until a distant howl made them both glance to the mouth of the alley. The howls picked up and the gryphon began to reach for the assault rifle on his back, until the howls were then followed by an equally distant burst of gunshots and further silence. The instance broke up the tense monotony of simply waiting without talking. Applejack usually had Applebloom to keep her occupied, her little sister always humming a tune under her breath or talking away. Even if it was to herself about something that she was doing it generally kept things from being completely quiet. The gryphon was apparently the silent type when he wasn't pestering anypony, seemingly quite content with the long stretch between their conversation.

Applejack looked up to him again after a short period of staring at the cold ground, seeing him idly checking over his Phobos. He had removed its main face panel and was likely ensuring its inner components were all properly intact and functioning correctly, something she'd already done with her own Phobos the previous night. He held a tiny black screwdriver in his talons, part of a small contained tool pouch beside him. That specific type of set was something that wasn't common in the hardware stores she'd come across. It was a specific kit that might rarely be sold in a specialist store, but they were far more common in places such as police or firefighter service buildings. Some engineering workshops had them for getting into and working on certain types of magitech devices found around junctions or utility buildings, like the terminals that no longer functioned.

There was a similar kit back at the train station, one that she'd found still unharmed inside a side-pouch of damaged webbing wrapped around a desiccated and burnt corpse. The body had been part of a destroyed military checkpoint near the giant scar, not far from the station itself.

His claim of being former military was ringing true, and not just from the decent calibre of equipment he possessed. It was rather clear that he hadn't just looted it all as she had done with her few precious pieces of kit, he observably carried himself far differently to others. She'd taken full note that regardless of his steps being devoid of any stealth that they were still deliberate, each one taken had been so that he could have the best possible stability upon the icy ground. The way he sat was different too, and she could see that he was actually tensed up like a spring despite his apparent relaxedness, as if he was ready to jump into action at a split-second's notice.

Having to second guess a pony when they told her something was almost mandatory now, most often it was the offer of trade that she wasn't really certain was legitimate, reading into possible context clues that led to them secretly wanting to pull a weapon. There had been plenty that she'd had to quickly deal with during the following months after setting out from Ponyville, travellers on the road that had rapidly eroded her high trust in others when they pulled a gun rather than the goods they claimed to have.

The gryphon being upfront about himself was incredibly refreshing.

But that didn't mean she was going to throw caution to the wind and blindly trust him either, after all, it was more than possible that he could use his position for advantage over others.

"I'm pretty but I'm not that pretty," he mused, as she realised she'd been staring at him a mite too hard. "What's on your mind, lady?"

Applejack laughed a little despite herself, she was hardly a lady. "Nothin'..." she said, her expression quickly becoming serious. "What did ya mean when ya said you were former military? I woulda thought the military was still established in a bunch of places, settin' up safe zones an' the like."

"Not exactly," he smiled darkly as he paused his work, it wasn't a happy look. "After the event hit we obviously tried to maintain some level of order and do that, basic first relief efforts we'd been trained in, setting-up field hospitals, check-points around cities and towns to stop thieves and bandits... but nothing capable of handling things on this scale. The army was already spread thin since we got hit by the event the same as everybody else, but we still tried to do what we could," he half-shrugged, half-scoffed. "That all broke down pretty fucking fast when our own reserves started dwindling, and things got impossible to manage when our supply lines collapsed. People were dying all over the place from sickness, our own were getting taken out by bandits for what they had, and then we got the order to retreat and abandon our posts from the higher-ups that were still around. That was it, just like that it was everybody else for themselves. Only a few of us didn't like that very much and tried to stick around as some sort of loose policing force."

She frowned. "So there's like, no military left? At all?"

He paused as he thought for a moment. "Hm, there's definitely still some Guard presence up near Canterlot, though it's heavily diminished; it got hit the hardest by the event. Last I knew they were maintaining a wide exclusion zone because of the heavy radiation, nobody's allowed in."

Maybe not allowed in, but maybe the Guard were─

"And no; trying to go to Canterlot is a bad move, before you consider it," he stated, interrupting her thoughts as if he'd read her mind. "I already tried to return after a while and got shot at for the trouble, twice, they really don't want anybody coming near the place."

"Not even former military personnel?"

He shook his head. "Not unless we went with them initially it seems."

Applejack stewed on that for a bit. That would certainly explain why no assistance ever came from Canterlot following the Singularity, and it was a rather bitter pill to swallow. She and many others had held an abundance of hope that the Princesses would have been able to survive and restore things to how they were before. If the military command structure had collapsed except for a few remaining pockets and weren't helping anypony but themselves, then it was highly likely there was no true leadership left to rally them. The Princesses were likely dead, and that stung her deeply. Without them to guide everypony...

A few different snippets in her mind started to piece together with disturbing clarity.

For one, the military checkpoint on her alternate route had been shot up and ransacked, and she'd thought it might have occurred long after everything else had happened by others having utilised the place for cover. Now, she could easily see at the onset an increasingly desperate populace and directionless military clashing over what remaining resources they had as the supply chain ceased to exist at the highest level of governance. Across roughly a dozen different locations she'd come across similar scenes that had played out.

The death of the Diarchy had only been one of a few theories bandied about back in Ponyville as to why they had remained in such a chaotic state for so long, but it would explain a great deal. With the gryphon's own testimony it lent a lot of weight behind it towards being factual.

"Well that's just great," she said dejectedly. "We really are on our own."

"Unfortunately, it looks that way," he agreed.

They soon slipped back into silence, the only sound in the alley other than their breathing being the wind that blew through. It was slightly awkward given that she honestly would have preferred to be alone. However, given that the gryphon seemed like the decent sort and was trying to help her out, she didn't feel as if she could tell him to leave her be. Having another person around to keep an ear out for danger wasn't unwelcome either.

"So... what happened back there?"

Applejack looked up from the ground again to meet his curious gaze as he fitted his Phobos back onto his rig. There wasn't any judgement there, just his mild level of curiosity and little else. Of course he was probably also wondering as to why she was covered in blood. Whether he was hiding any obvious thoughts to what she'd done under the surface she couldn't tell, but it didn't really matter.

"None of yer business," she stated evenly. "I'll thank ya not to pry."

He shrugged as he leant back. "Fair enough," he then nodded to her weapons that rested beside her. "What about those?"

An eyebrow raised. "What about 'em?"

"They're good equipment, and you know how to maintain them in a pinch it seems," he said just as evenly. "The shotgun's in great condition, oiled, and there's not many that would think to jury-rig lesser gem-cores to get a pulse rifle functioning again without a proper core, we do that ourselves when we need to."

He had a very keen eye beyond what the Singularity had bestowed. It wasn't as if the pulse rifle's socket was hidden from view, though most people would simply look it over as some surface damage. It usually would have required a unicorn's magic to open the socket, but she'd simply brute forced it so that she could get it working in the first place.

"I asked ya not to pry," she frowned, a certain level of grit in her tone. "Why'd ya keep askin'?"

"Sorry, like I said, you seem like a very capable mare," he smiled vigilantly.

Sighing as she looked elsewhere, a gentle shiver tickled down her back after another breeze travelled through. Applejack glanced at her clothing laid out on the floor and decided they'd probably been sitting for long enough, picking up her poncho and finding it quite warm to the touch thanks to the heat pack. There was an unmistakable tang of iron in the air from where the warmth had affected the blood soaked into it. As unpleasant as that was, she found the poncho was much drier than it was before as she padded a hoof over the affected area. Checking the jacket found it in the same condition. Her nose wrinkled as they didn't smell very nice, given that she hadn't had the time to give them a proper wash lately. A mixture of stale sweat, dried blood, and whatever grime she'd used to darken them filled her senses, though it was certainly better to have an amalgamation of them rather than only being able to focus on the stink of blood.

Taking off the gryphon's poncho, she shimmied her jacket back on as well as her own poncho and found she could breathe much easier without feeling ill, the cold already chilling them and lessening the impact that the heat had on the odour. There was nothing that she could do about the dark stains across them right now, but that was something she could deal with easily enough when she was safely back at the train station.

Picking up and wrapping the heat packs within the patterned poncho, she threw it across to the gryphon who caught the bundle in his hands with a brief nod of thanks. He stuffed them into his backpack as she got to her hooves and began to get everything together. He was already standing by the mouth of the alley waiting for her as she finished fitting on her second hoof-duster over a glove, simply observing her process.

"Can I ask where you're headed now?" he said with a slight grin. "Or would that be considered prying?"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Prying."

"Thought so."

Moving to the alley's exit alongside him, they both peered out and didn't see any immediate threats. Her eyes flicked to him and looked over the way she stood, leaning upright against the wall for cover as he checked the direction to their immediate right. The way he was leaning almost suggested to her that he was under the assumption she would cover the left direction herself, which she was to a degree.

It didn't seem right to her that he should place even that small level of trust in her given that he knew so little of what she was like. Obviously she wasn't going to shoot him, but he had no true way of knowing that. There wasn't a chance that she could imagine herself trusting something so important to a complete stranger. She doubted he was stupid at all, so maybe he was simply confident in his abilities. As she stepped out towards the left side and watched her path forward, he automatically withdrew his pistol in a hand. He kept himself in cover much as she would have done whilst he moved out to the right, partially leaving himself exposed to her when he moved between positions.

He really was trusting that she would cover his flank.

Whilst he had possessed ample opportunity to get the drop on her, she hadn't felt any sense that he might try to. He hadn't drawn his sidearm until now, and even possessing talons he hadn't brandished them at her either. He'd made no threats, and there had been no suspicious edge to his voice or sinister look in his expression that she could pick up on that suggested ulterior motives beyond his curiosity. The gryphon had only given freely of what he had without asking for anything back in return.

At this point she almost felt guilty that she was still doubting him. Why would he waste resources on her if all he was going to do was eventually kill her? Her mind jumped to the extreme that he might be wanting to gain her trust in order to lead her into a group lying in wait, as that would be easier than killing her and carrying her gear by himself. As much as she was justified in thinking to that extent, it still didn't feel right. If the girls were here she knew they'd be telling her that she had to place a measure of trust in others again at some point.

Whilst she didn't know his motives, it didn't mean she couldn't extend an olive branch.

"My name's Applejack," she said after a couple of minutes.

"Ah, so she does have a name," he said whilst keeping his eyes forward, though they flicked to her for a brief moment. "You look like an Apple. I knew an Apple once, any relation?"

Her brow raised, surprised. "They're muh kin."

"Huh, small world," he mused, the crook of his beak raising in a smirk.

"More likely that we're pretty spread over," she returned. "If you were about Canterlot before all this then ya probably knew one of cousin Strudel's family, she had plenty of siblings an' children."

"Probably that then, it was just a corner shop I commonly dropped by."

"Sounds like cousin Syrup's café," she said. "He makes some great pies."

He nodded, smiling to himself. "That was the one, small little café off the corner of Duchess's Street."

They slowed and paused as they came up to a T-junction exit on the next street, both checking their immediate directions again and passing their vision over the many weathered buildings towering over them. Applejack didn't spot anything that might indicate trouble along the cracked icy road or around common clutter sprawled through it; the few lonely vehicles and propulsives that lay abandoned along her way were devoid or anything she might think to be a trap. She scanned the dead buildings again just in case, the many hundreds of smashed windows above were also clear and unobstructed. It was the boarded or covered up ones that she was always wary of. The rusting vehicles that had stopped at the exit out which they were utilising were rather good cover too, should anypony decide to take a shot at them.

A quick tap came at her shoulder and she turned her attention the gryphon's way. He was holding up a talon, his face a mask of concentration as he appeared to listen out for something. Her understanding followed as there swiftly came a disturbing sense of unease, a chill crawling up her spine worse than any shiver, and she tensed as she heard it before she saw it. It was a gentle whisper in the air at first, and it was gradually climbing into a scream. Applejack immediately backpedalled as he tugged hard on her shoulder, moving with and forcing her back as there came a horrendous keening echo that warped her vision. Stumbling over her own hooves across the ground, broken glass and hardened snow crunched underhoof as she corrected, a second echo with a much deeper chorus of overlapping wails punching through her thoughts and staggering her further.

There was little she could do but fumble away, she couldn't see straight and threw herself behind another vehicle further down. All she could do to cover her ears as the bizarre anomaly soon haphazardly tore through the street somewhere ahead of them, however she wasn't sure if it helped her whatsoever. Her vision swam as the distorted screaming increased in pitch and the multitude of painfully tortured voices reverberated off of every single surface that the sound could reach. Darkness filled with blinding stars edged in around the sides of her peripherals as the intensity of it pierced into her brain. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, the discomfort having rapidly turned into a profound agony that deeply ached through the rest of her body and made her fall limp.

As she was on the verge of passing out, she was tackled into an embrace by the gryphon, his forelimbs wrapping around her whilst the pain from the anomaly slowly and inexplicably began to lessen. He held her tightly against his chest as she blinked away a worrying glint of red through her disorientation, blinking until her vision cleared up and she could see better. Breathing came a little easier as the maleficent anomaly continued on its erratic path beyond their position, its vicious howling decreasing the further from them it travelled.

The gryphon released her after a short period, sure that the thing had gone. His tufted tail lashed in agitation as he wiped at his eyes with a cloth, fixing her with an intense glare as he offered her the rag. "Are you alright? That was the most insane fucking Banshee I've ever seen."

"I-I'll live," she swallowed past the lump in her throat, wiping at her eyes with a cleaner part of her sleeve instead. Applejack had never encountered that type of anomaly before, and sweet Celestia's teats if the damn thing couldn't half move. "Thanks fer the save. How come ya ain't too outta sorts?"

He regarded her for a moment, looking partly distrustful for the first time since she'd met him, before he opened and reached into one of the pouches on his rig. He pulled free something that almost appeared to be a misshapen stone halted midway through being slagged, except it seemed to be formed from some kind of dark opaque crystal. The object played tricks on her eyes, shifting to and fro as she tried to focus on it. Applejack knew what she was looking at.

"Remnant..." she murmured.

"We called it a Nox, found it in a black patch of what I'm fairly sure was a Siren," he said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "It seems to give some protection against crazy shit like that."

She raised a concerned eyebrow. "Ain't seen a Siren either."

"It's what a couple other guys called it after their buddy walked into it," he explained, pocketing the Remnant again. "He just kept on repeating how beautiful the singing was and how nice the ponies were, over and over again. Then he just collapsed and died."

"It sounds like it lures ya in."

He gave a nod. "It does. If you ever hear singing in a language you can't understand, or see a dark silhouette of a pony standing nearby, you plug your ears and run away as fast as you can."

That was easy to remember. "Noted."

They could still just about hear the Banshee wailing off in the distance if they listened out for it, and she was glad that the way it went wasn't the way she was going to go. Applejack still felt quite out of sorts and needed a moment, it was a highly powerful anomaly that was par for the course. It was obvious that she'd not found all the types of crazy that the Singularity had created just yet, that much she had expected, though she'd clearly grown perhaps a little complacent as of late thinking that maybe it wasn't as bad as she'd thought. Now she had knowledge on two more, and by the Sisters, who knew how many more lay out there. Her mind was settling as she slowly recovered, the pain that had settled in her chest was getting better and her limbs ached less.

"I'm Gwaine, by the way."

Applejack looked up at him from the road she was staring into. "Nice to meet ya."

And it was, she thought. He'd helped her and then he'd saved her, she didn't know what would have happened had he not been around to shield her from the Banshee. There wasn't much need to think on what could happen if she had passed out in the street, she'd be easy pickings for anypony or any monster that came along if she hadn't just outright died. He could very easily have left her to her fate and he hadn't. She might not know him well, but she was getting a sense. In the past she'd declared herself friends with other ponies for far less, and the girls would have greatly insisted on friendship by this point. Pinkie would already be making up a song too...

Even so, she wasn't going to call him a friend just yet. It didn't change that in the short time since he'd appeared that he had certainly earned himself a modicum of trust, and that was more than she'd given others in a long time.

"Gwaine," she said. "Thank you, truly."

He waved her off dismissively. "It's fine. Like I said, it's what I'm meant to do."

Gwaine smiled a little as he moved past her, his boots crunching on the road as he neared the spot ahead between the vehicles again. He glanced out both ways as he held low, his tail tucked down as he crouched. After a moment he gently waved her forwards whilst he kept watch. Not that he wasn't already doing so, but he was being a lot more cautious thanks to the encounter, and she was glad as they'd both be better off for it.

"Think I can ask where you're heading now?" Gwaine asked as she came up behind him.

Applejack huffed, glancing out as well. "Why d'ya wanna know?"

Gwaine grunted in return, looking at her.

"Alright, so..." Gwaine sighed. "I said you seemed capable, and you are. That's important. You're green when it comes to shit made by the event, but that's most civvies," he paused as he weighed his words. "The thing is... I can't tell you why just yet, but I can watch your back if you help me out."

And that was why she didn't blindly trust, there was always an ulterior motive.

"I'm good, thanks." she frowned, slightly annoyed. "I got things to be done, general scavving and the like. Ain't no particular place I'm going an' I doubt ya wanna tag along."

Gwaine perked up at that. "The place I need to go has supplies. Some food and ammo too, not a lot, but, some. I haven't had much need for them, but if you do... I can take you there."

Her frown deepened. "Why wouldn't ya have already taken them fer stockin' up?"

"See, I might not need them, though," he shrugged. "I also can't get to them."

"So what makes ya think I can?"

"Together we can, no problem, it's a two person job. Admittedly, it would be easier with a unicorn, but an earthen can do just as well."

Ah, so it was like that.

To say she was vindicated in her thinking was an understatement, though it wasn't great and much more disappointing that she was correct about the world. Applejack didn't like that she was seriously considering it, either. He had seemed genuine about assisting her for the sake of it, but she couldn't help thinking he'd only done it to possibly get help in return, and that he was probably quite over the moon that such a nasty anomaly had made an appearance. It had allowed him to save her, and she owed him for that. He knew it on a certain level and she couldn't ignore it by her own nature, yet neither did she want to go into something unknown and dangerous with somepony she couldn't fully trust.

"And if I don't want to?" Applejack posited.

Gwaine sighed, tapping a talon off his leg. "Then I guess the supplies are staying put," he looked at her properly, shifting around. "Look, I get it, I'm a complete stranger and that's hard to trust, but how about you just see what we have to do first?"

"Yer really tryin' to sell this, huh?" she raised an eyebrow. "I ain't stupid, ya want into them supplies fer somethin', ya just aint tellin' me what."

Gwaine nodded. "Alright, fine, I'll be honest. There is something I need from the stash," he quickly raised a talon. "But just the one thing, I don't really need any of the rest of it. You can have everything else and that won't be any feathers off my back, I swear."

He clearly didn't want to tell her what 'the one thing' was, so she suspected it was probably another Remnant or something similar. They were extremely rare and powerful oddities, and many ponies would try to search around the dangerous areas of anomalies in order to find them. From what she understood it was where they formed, and Gwaine had said that was where he'd gotten his Nox. Applejack couldn't imagine risking her life for the damn things, personally. Yes, they clearly granted protection from the bizarre creations of the Singularity, but they were also of the Singularity. That didn't sit well with her, there was no telling what effect they might have on a pony, in mind or body.

Regardless of her own misgivings however, there was an opportunity here.

It was also a clear goal instead of wandering blind.

Considering the errand at all was a bad idea, and yet she still was; she and Applebloom needed more than they currently had, and Gwaine was providing her with a way to get more. Applejack scanned his face for any signs of deceit, but try as she might she couldn't see any hint of dishonesty to what he'd said. He'd told her the basics and she could easily guess the rest of it from here. At the very least, if he did have further ulterior motives then she wouldn't allow herself to be caught unaware, not again, she'd be ready for it this time.

Applejack regarded him, and soon exhaled through her teeth. "...Okay. If it's too dangerous then I ain't gonna do it, but otherwise if it looks to be doable then you've got a deal."

She held out her hoof.

Gwaine grinned, taking her hoof and shaking. "Good enough for me. I'll lead the way."

Author's Note:

I imagine Gwaine as sounding something like Steven Blum, personally.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

I like the cover art, but why did you make Applejack so difficult to make out?

[Clawfoot]

Glad to see this story is continued. Also hopefully AJ has made at least an ally.

[Jinxed]

11506107
Appreciate the comment. Engagement with this fic boosts the feeling that its worth writing because I really want to write it.

[Clawfoot]

11506111
Well thank you for writing it. ^^ I love the amount of detail you put into this story, and am curious as to where it might head to.

[WindigogoGadget]

I love the story. It makes me wonder what the steps were for everything to just, break down one day. Was it fast? Or did everyone just think it would get better?

Hoping for some more!

[Signal]

whoa,I love stalker!!!Will there be more chapters soon?

[Jinxed]

11802492
Quite possibly.