“My name’s Shadow, Equestrian Marshall. My friends and I are here to help.”

Thirteen words, simple words hardly worthy of note. There had been far grander words said throughout history; words that were worthy of history books, stories, plays, and song. A long time ago, those few words would have meant so little to the ponies hearing them; ponies who did not need to fear death at the hooves of someone so like them, yet so different. Ponies who were not driven mad by the horrors of the world. Ponies living before this time in a world of peace and harmony; a world before war, a world that was not this one. Now, those thirteen simple words meant far more than all the grand speeches throughout recorded history. A fact which was driven home by the hope filled faces of the ponies around me... and the surprised reactions of my friends.

Two young foals looked up at me, smiles slowly spreading across their dirt covered faces as they approached me. Large clear blue and green eyes took in my battered appearance. The scarred and stained black riot armor, the revolver resting within its holster upon my leg, and the shotgun hanging from its strap around my neck. The Pipbuck clamped around my right foreleg and the worn, old cowpony hat perched atop my white mane.

“So... you're really a Marshall? Like my mom says... protecting all of Equestria?” I smiled and nodded my head to the young colt. He looked up at the silver star with a bit more awe after learning what a Marshall did. “Wow... have ya fought a lotta bad guys?” he asked, trotting up to me and rearing back on his hind legs to better see the badge I wore.

“Of course he has! Look at all them weapons he has!” the second foal said. She was a little older than the colt, who at once joined him, her green eyes fixing upon my shotgun and its smooth black finish. “I bet he killed all those raiders that attacked us!”

“I killed a number of them, but I couldn’t have done it without the help of my friends and yours,” I answered, waving a hoof to the ponies gathered around me. Looking up from the colt to my friends and the locals, my ears flicked to the side as all eyes remained fixed upon me. A mix of emotions was clear on their faces; the most common, though, was surprise. I suppose it was a rather bold statement to make seeing how the Equestrian Marshalls had died out with the country a hundred and fifty years ago.

Stonehoof seemed the most accepting of it, a slight smile upon his face as he looked towards the young foals and me. Beside him, Wildfire wore her usual smirk, wings folded neatly to her side and ears perked towards me. Carrion seemed most surprised of all my friends at my new title and simply shook his horned head slowly. Of all my friends, it was Balefire who seemed the most happy about my declaration. He was grinning as wide as a young foal on Hearth’s Warming Eve about to open his first present. The town’s doctor, Fiona (and the foals’ mother I believed), stood behind her children with a look of shock and hope upon her face. It was a look mirrored by the two local guards accompanying her.

The idea that thirteen simple little words could have such effects on my friends and others... I suppose those words were not so simple after all. I once more looked up to the ponies around me, knowing I’d soon have some explaining to do... but not now. For now, we still had work to do for the ponies of Old Oaks.

“Do you think it’s safe to go out into town so soon after the fight?” I asked Carrion, turning my attention solely upon the old ghoul.

“No. While we killed the raiders we saw, there could be more hidden anywhere within or outside the town,” he answered, glowing orange eyes looking away from me and over to the medical mare. “However, she insists upon going to search for more medical supplies. Silverluck assigned two guards to go with her and Spirit asked me to go with them. Our buffalo seems to agree that the risk is worth it, if we can get our hooves on more healing items.”

“Silverluck?” Stone asked, and I remembered he hadn’t meet the town guard yet. He’d been too busy firing off shots at raiders when we’d encountered her, along with Wild and Balefire.

“She’s one of the town guards. Shadow and the others ran across her and the group of survivors she was leading near the hardware store,” Balefire explained to my large friend. He went on to further explain a bit more about the silver grey coated mare before Carrion spoke up.

“Seems she’s also the pony in charge around here now,” he said, orange eyes coming back to rest upon me and arched a rotting brow at my surprised look. “The position was in need of filling, seeing how the last Mayor of the town was killed by raiders during the first attack, along with the first Sheriff. Lack of leadership can kill a town as easily as it can kill an army.” I suppose he was right about that.

“Well, we’d better hurry along and talk with her. At the rate leaders in this town die, we might just get there in time to save her,” Wild quipped from beside Stone. Her wings flexed a bit as she looked to me with a grin, adding, “Likely by some stupidly heroic move that’ll have all the mares fawning over you.”

“Right...” I looked away from my smug pegasus friend and to my slightly decayed friend. “Do you need any help with watching the doctor’s back?” I wasn’t for sure, but I thought I heard Wild snicker and say something about flank. I was just thankful that neither of the guards were female... though that’d never stopped Wild in the past.

“No. I’m sure we can handle a couple of scattered raiders if we encounter them,” Carrion said, orange eyes shifting to Wild. A hint of a smile formed upon his rotting face before he turned back toward me. “Her house isn’t far from here and we’re not staying long.”

“It’s just on the next street, a few houses down from here,” Fiona spoke up as she rounded the two energetic foals up. Both had gone silent as we’d spoken, but had continued to poke and prod at my armor and weapons. “But be that as it may, I want you both to stay here with the others.” The young ponies’ ears wilted at the news as their mother turned back towards Town Hall and the ponies gathered outside it. She waved a nearby mare to come over. “Mary, can you see to it that Ginger and Popper get back to my mother?”

The newcomer smiled and began speaking to the two foals, who seemed to know her well. A family friend perhaps? Then again, it was a relatively small town, much smaller than San Ponsisco. Likely all the ponies who lived here had known one another more than those living in the larger city; not too different from a Stable really. At that, my thoughts turned to home and memories of my sister.

“Alright, Carrion, just be careful, alright?” I asked after the tan colored unicorn, Mary, herded the young foals away and I managed to push aside my dark thoughts. The ghoul snorted and stood back up from where he’d sat as he waited for everypony to finish speaking. Fiona finished saying her goodbyes to her foals and the guards began walking ahead of her.

“I’m not the one jumping onto speeding trains or running into burning buildings,” Carrion said as the two guards and Fiona began walking back down the street past him. The former Equestrian Army Officer grinned, yellowed teeth flashing in the firelight as he trotted after the others.

“Oooo... burn...” Wild called out from behind. I rolled my eyes, smirking a bit as I watched the four ponies trotting down the street away from us. Hopefully they would be alright...

“Well, Ah reckon we should go see what trouble this Silver’s gotten herself into,” Stone said, bringing my attention back to the ponies around me. As I turned away from watching the four walk off, I set my eyes upon Town Hall.

“As Wild said, we’d best hurry... hopefully it’s something simple. I’m not too sure how many more windows I can lunge through before this Med X wears off.” This was said with a smile towards Wild and a hoof rubbing my sore shoulder. Despite that Med X and a health potion, it still hurt at times if I moved it wrong.

Lowering my hoof back to the pavement and pushing the dull pain of my shoulder to the back of my mind, I began trotting along the road. The others fell into step behind and beside me. We’d not gone far when I noticed the grinning orange mare trotting beside me. I knew this was going to be an interesting walk after what I’d just said a few minutes ago. For a moment I attempted to ignore her, instead looking ahead towards Town Hall. The large stone building had served as a bastion to these townsfolk.

“Sooooo... when were you going to tell us you got promoted to Marshall?” the orange grinning mare asked. Stone was walking beside her, a neutral look on his face. “Or has living around the Confederacy given you delusions of grandeur?” The grin widened as she looked back behind us, and added, “No offense, Balefire.”

“None taken...” the stallion called out.

“I don’t have delusions of grandeur, Wild,” I answered with a snort, “And I haven’t been promoted either.” As we drew closer to Town Hall, the thick haze of smoke that had been hanging over the town since we arrived began clearing a bit. I noticed a large number of ponies had emerged from the safety of the building and were currently milling about in the street before it. Far more of the townsfolk had survived than I’d expected, and for that I was thankful. Wild’s response brought my attention back to my friends following behind me.

“Well, that’s good because Marshall doesn’t sound like any title I’ve heard a farmer receive.”

“No, Wild, I don’t imagine you have,” I added with a roll of my eyes and glancing to my winged friend. “And I really don’t have a job in Stable security anymore, seeing how there’s no Stable,” I muttered before focusing once more on the road ahead and the ponies standing out in front of Town Hall. I could see Spirit there among them, likely working to heal any of the wounded.

“So... why declare yourself a Marshall? It’s not like most ponies alive even remember what a Marshall is,” Wild asked once more, storm blue eyes looking towards me, “Really... I’d like to know.” She sounded quite serious and I noticed her normal permanent grin was gone. I arched a brow towards her and wondered if she was worried that I had snapped or something. A moment later she snapped back to her usual self when a slow grin began spreading across her snout and she added, “Or are you just trying to explain why you wear that shiny little star on your chest?”

“Yes, Wild. I said that to explain my taste in accessories,” I snorted and looked back to the road ahead as the mare beside me snickered. It would have seemed to end the entire conversation, but another pony still had another couple questions to ask.

“Shadow, Ah’ve been wonderin’ just why ya’ve been wearin’ that badge around with ya, too. Where’d ya get it from?” Stone asked from across Wild’s winged back, joining the conversation at last, “Ain’t rightly seen ya without it since ya first found it.”

As I glanced over to my friend, I noticed his green eyes had lowered to the silver star pinned to my chest armor. I had never told any of them about where I’d found it, or how. I hadn’t even told them much about Wastefall, beyond how I had met Spirit Walker and how she’d saved my life.

I’d never even told Sugar or Spearmint about that hidden ladder in the deserted town’s saloon, or the secrets it held: the journal of Equestria’s last Marshall, Pipsqueak, his gun, which was given to him, by all accounts, by the Princess of the Night herself, the badge he’d worn while defending Equestria from its enemies, and the strange note I’d found beside it in the gun cabinet.

But, what could I say about any of it? I’d found something that seemed to have been addressed to me, written only years after the fall of the country, by a pony I never knew existed? A pony who all but asked for me to take up the mantle of Marshall? They’d think the loss of my sister and the horrors of the wasteland had gotten to me... hell, I sometimes thought that. And should I stop there? What about the two voices I’d heard? Should I tell them about them as well? Or the zony, Second Sight and what she’d showed me?

“I’ll admit, I was wondering that myself when I first saw you on the train,” Balefire spoke up, trotting to catch up with us and slowing to walk beside me. “I’d never heard of a Stable with an Equestrian Marshall in it... hell, as far as anypony knows they all died with everypony else in the bombings.”

Well... I had to tell them something... just not all of it...

“I found the badge in Wastefall Gorge shortly after Spirit rescued me from the river. She’d left me alone in the town’s saloon while I... dealt (ranted like a mad pony) with some things I’d stumbled (got knocked the fuck out) upon a hidden room above the bar,” I began, eyes fixed straight ahead. “It’s also where I found my shotgun, Luna’s Ruse. Both had belonged to a pony, an Equestrian Marshall, who’d managed to survive the bombs and lead a group of ponies to safety there.” I doubted anypony here would know Pipsqueak’s name, so I decided to simply leave him out of it; let the stallion have his rest. “At the time I needed a replacement for my own shotgun, since it had been destroyed while we’d attempted to escape the tunnels under Kanter City.” Despite the fact Luna’s Ruse was a superior weapon in every way compared to my original, I still missed it sometimes. That old gun had belonged to my father after all. Shaking away those thoughts, I looked back to the ponies around me.

“Ah reckon that explain’s th’ gun, but not th’ badge,” Stone said simply.

True enough.

“I’m afraid I can’t really give you a good reason as to why I took the badge. It was just sitting there beside the shotgun and a box of shells.” Along with the note, I added silently to myself. “While I was waiting for Spirit to return, I began to read a bit about the Marshall and what he’d done for Equestria. About the Marshalls themselves and what they stood for. It seemed a shame to just leave it there, to rust and be forgotten or for some looters to find and be melted down for scrap metal.”

“And ya’d just lost yer sister...” my large grey friend added, looking over to me from under the brim of his cowpony hat. His voice held a note of symphony for me, for what I’d lost in Kanter City. He also didn’t seem to really be pushing for any real answer... perhaps he was just asking to see if I myself knew why I wore it.

“And I’d just lost my sister,” I agreed, slowly nodding as I recalled the breakdown I’d suffered in the saloon. Only bits and pieces of what had happened came back to me. “Along with all of my friends.” I looked over to him and Wild, a smile on my lips.

“It’ll take more than a city full of cannibal ponies, whose idea of personal hygiene is to roll around in somepony else’s guts, to split us up,” Wild cut in. Though, I noticed her grin was not quite as full as it had been. I also noticed her left wing extending to brush against Stone’s side, as if to ensure the stallion was still nearby. She’d taken his capture the hardest...

“Or radioactive mutant geckos, Ah reckon.” Stone joined in, flashing me a grin, even as he stepped closer to Wild to ease her worry.

Fuck you... ya know what? Forget it... it’s been long enough...

“Beyond Spirit, who I didn’t know very well yet, I was completely alone again for the first time since leaving Stable 45,” I went on, looking away from the two and pushing thoughts of scaly monsters from my head. “I was about to set off in an attempt to find you two... or die trying. I suppose the badge was something for me to grab ahold of after having lost so much. From what little I’d known of them and had just read... the Marshalls were something I could...”

“Believe in,” Wild finished for me, surprising me more by the lack of humor in her voice. The winged mare smiled as I nodded my head, her blue eyes sparkling in the distant fire light. “Everypony needs something to believe in,” she added, looking away from me and towards Town Hall. Her wing spread across Stone’s back as they walked.

“Goddesses know we need something to believe in,” Balefire said from my right, the green unicorn stallion glancing down to the badge on my chest.

“Yeah... I suppose we do,” I answered. “And not that long ago, a pony told me Equestria could use a good Marshall.” I’d not gotten to know Sheriff Sweetshot of Tombstone well, only a few hours really. What I did know about her, though, was that she was a mare who believed strongly in protecting others. Still, despite the short time, she’d left an impression on me and was one of the reasons I’d kept the badge. Not long after we’d met, she’d galloped off along with most of her deputies in response to a nearby farming settlement coming under attack. An act that resulted in her death... but somehow I doubt she’d have changed a thing if she’d been given the chance.

“They were right,” Balefire spoke up once again, red eyes looking from me to the ponies gathered around Town Hall. “Beyond the Confederacy’s borders, lawlessness reigns almost completely. Murder, rape, and slavery is how the world works now. If I’m completely honest, it’s little better in the towns furthest away from San Ponsisco with the hardships most have to face just to survive a day. Most ponies would rather kill you and take your things then help you.”

“As grim as it sounds... that’s not far from th’ truth,” Stone said. “Ah’ve been all ‘cross th’ wasteland and seen some mighty bad things. Ponies goin’ hungry while them Steel Rangers kill ’em for a small thin’ of tech. Towns turnin’ on each other for water.” My friend shook his head sadly before looking back over to me. “But... Ah reckon if any pony is gonna clean up th’ world, it’d be somepony like you.”

It was the second time he’d said something like that. The first had been as we’d been leaving San Ponsisco to come here. It... meant a lot to me to know that somepony like Stonehoof thought so highly of me. It made me all the more determined to prove myself worthy of his praise. I noticed it was becoming fairly more crowded now as we neared Town Hall, and looked back towards it. Ponies stood all about the front steps.

“He’s certainly heroic enough to try,” Wild grinned as she spoke, her seriousness used up for the moment it seemed. “So long as it doesn’t get us all killed.” I heard Balefire chuckle from beside me at the mare’s words.

“We all gotta die sometime. Might as well be while doin’ somethin’ worth dyin’ for,” Stone added, green eyes darkening for a moment before he turned away from us and looked up at the ponies around him. I followed his gaze and looked at them. Beside me, Balefire’s chuckles ended.

A large number of the ponies gathered beside the large stone building stood looking out across the devastation of their home with tear stained faces. Some held their loved ones closely, while others wept for those who had not made it. Among the adults were a number of younger ponies, along with a fair number of foals. All were looking about the ruins of their home and lives with confused wide eyes. Most were too young to really understand what had happened. Others, those oldest, had seen it before and stood beside their siblings, giving comfort alongside their surviving parents. One little filly among the crowd clung to a stallion's leg as she watched a building in the distance collapse from the fire. She looked to be about Sugar’s age. Far too young to have to see so much death and destruction. Far too young...

“Yes... it would be,” I said softly, agreeing with Stone’s comment before looking about the townsfolk for any sign of Silver. I did not spot the grey mare, but I did see another familiar face.

Spirit Walker moved among the wounded, tending to their injuries as best she could. I expected the kind hearted buffalo had wasted no time in seeking out those in need of her help. As she looked up, she caught sight of us standing near the edge of the crowd and nodded her horned head towards us. She did not stop working however, but continued to heal as she slowly made her way through the wounded towards us. Where she stopped, ponies seemed to relax, their pains eased by either her tender hoof or soft, kind words.

As I watched, I noticed others moving among the wounded. Four local ponies who seemed to be doing what they could to help the buffalo tend their fellow townsfolk. Of them, two bore saddlebags bearing a similar mark to Spirit’s own. Three pink butterflies, though none so colorful as hers with the beads that adorned it. These two seemed trained in first aid, and pulled bandages and half-full health potions from their bags at times. The remaining two ponies seemed to mostly be cleaning wounds and offering bottles of water. Likely just locals wishing to help.

A groan from nearby drew my attention away from Spirit, and the four medics helping her, to a wounded mare near the edge of the group. She appeared to have a number of burns along her hind legs and flanks and was laying on her side as she waited for somepony to get to her.

Reaching back for my canteen hanging from my saddlebags, I knelt down beside the wounded pony and offered her a drink of water. She looked up at me and offered a small smile, thanking me as she took the canteen in her hooves and began drinking slowly. As she finished, hoof steps nearby announced the arrival of Spirit. A second later, the buffalo knelt down beside me and began looking over the wounded mare’s burns.

“I am afraid fresh water is something of an issue at the moment. It seems the raiders poisoned the town’s well,” Spirit began. Her hoof gently ran across the edges of the mare’s burns, earning a slight hiss of pain from her. As she worked, Spirit continued, “It is good to see you are no more injured than you were in the hardware store despite, as Carrion said, your disregard for your personal safety.” I could hear a slight joking tone in the buffalo’s voice and, a moment later, the hint of a smile appeared despite our grim surroundings.

“I tried my best not to undo all your hard work,” I answered with a more open smile. The wounded mare she was treating looked up from her injured flanks and a faint smile appeared upon her lips.

The soft groans of the wounded yet to be treated nearby made our smiles fade, however, and I looked back over the ponies around Spirit. As I scanned them, I felt a slight chill run through me which was not a result of seeing so many open wounds. Looking skyward, I noticed how dark it had gotten in the last few minutes since the battle had ended. The flight here had taken us most of the day, the battle taking the remainder. Night was falling as the sun, hidden by thick grey clouds, sunk beyond the horizon. It would likely become far colder this far north.

“How are they?” I asked, looking back to my medically gifted friend.

“There are numerous bullet wounds, deep cuts, and severe burns as one might expect given the fighting that has gone on within the town. The most seriously wounded have been tended to by their town doctor before we had arrived. Many of those will not walk again for some time, if at all.” A look of sadness crossed the young buffalo’s face as she looked over a group of ponies laying closest to the steps. Many of them were covered with stained blankets or sheets to help fight the chill of the early night air. The simple covering did little to hide the sight of missing limbs. “She has gone out in search of more medical supplies. What little we had brought with us I have nearly used up,” the buffalo said as she turned back to the wounded mare and began wrapping a bandage around the mare’s hind leg. Her green coat was charred where the flames had burned her, though it did not appear life threatening at least.

“We passed her and two guards on our way here, including Carrion. He said he was going with her.” I noticed that the bandage she was using looked to be a ripped up bedsheet. Mostly due to the floral print across it and the fact it looked as in poor shape as those covering the wounded. “Here.” I reached into my saddlebag and withdrew the two bandages I still had on me, tossing them towards her. “I think you need those more than I do.”

“I believe with no enemies to fight, you may be safe enough from injury to give these to me,” Spirit answered as she easily caught both rolled up pieces of cloth in her fore hooves.

“I’m sure he’ll find a way,” Wild added from where she stood behind me. An innocent smile crossed her lips as I looked over my saddlebags at her. “You're what we’d call... special.” The last word was said with air quotes using her wings of all things. Oddly a dark grey coated unicorn with a flaming shield for a cutie mark who had only minor wounds rolled his eyes at this motion and walked off to smoke a cigarette away from the rest of the wounded.

Rolling my own eyes at her comment, I reached in and withdrew the two health potions and two vials of Med X I’d taken from the apartment. I left the rest there in case Sugar or Spearmint needed them. I set them down beside Spirit. The mare she’d been tending looked hopeful at the sight of actual healing supplies given to the healer. A few other ponies nearby also starred with pain-filled eyes at the pitifully few items I’d sat down. One appeared to have a broken leg, another riddled with buckshot to much of her back and neck.

The others followed my example and began giving what little medical supplies they each had over to our healer. Neither Wild or Balefire had much to give, little more than what I had. Stone, however, had easily twice that, which was not surprising given his habit of looting dead raiders. All total there were eight health potions, five Med X, and about a dozen rolls of bandages. It wasn’t a lot given the number of wounded, but hopefully it’d help those who needed it most.

“Do you need any help?” I asked as she finished looking over one of the health potions Stone had given her. Given its likely origin I could hardly blame her. It was stored inside a cracked bottle with the words, “Helth Potsion” written across in messy letters. Uncorking the top, she sniffed the contents before waving one of the mares helping her over. She gave the red potion to the pony and whispered softly to her before sending her on her way towards one of the wounded. Only after she was finished did she answer.

“There is little you can do for them that another can not. Doctor Fiona has two assistants that survived the attack helping her, as well as four volunteers from the townsfolk. Most are out here helping me, while the others are inside tending to the remaining wounded,” Spirit answered as she carefully finished picking up the remaining medical supplies and placing them within her saddlebags, “I believe your presence has been requested within Town Hall.”

“So I heard,” I answered, “Something to do with Silver needing our help.” My ears twitched as the steady clip clop of approaching hooves drew my eyes away from my friend and back towards the stairs. Two ponies were quickly descending them, looking about those near the street before stopping on my friends and I. As I got a closer look at them, I realized I recognized them both. However, I only knew one of them by name.

The larger of the pair was an earth pony stallion. His coat was dark red in color and he stood just a few inches shy of being able to look Stonehoof in the eye with his own blue-grey irises. His cutie mark was a axe leaning up against a tree. I wondered how a pony could earn a cutie mark like that, given an almost complete lack of forests. I couldn’t imagine there was much call for his special talent in the wasteland, which made his choice of employment all the more understandable. He was wearing a mismatch of armor types, from homemade to scavagened. As was the norm for wasteland armor, it was a mix of colors, although, it seemed somepony had made efforts to paint it primarily black and grey. It also bore enough of a resemblance to Silverluck’s armor to make it clear he was one of Old Oaks’ surviving guards.

An old model Equestrian assault rifle was hanging off his side from a strap swung over his head and neck like most weapons. Rust had built up along the bottom of the weapon’s stock and grip and about half the barrel back to the ejection port was wrapped in oil stained rags. Despite this, it appeared the weapon worked well enough if he was still carrying it. In truth, I’d often thought it was a small miracle that any firearm worked given how beaten up and old so many appeared.

If not for the red stained bandages around the stallion’s neck and throat, I would likely never have remembered him. It’d been a somewhat hectic time when I’d first saw him, having been with Silverluck when we’d first ran across the group of survivors. He’d later been shot shot through the neck by a raider, along with Silver’s sister, while the grey mare had slipped away to speak with us.

Beside him trotted a mare, though young, who still managed to come up almost even beside the stallion as she walked. She too was an earth pony and had also fought alongside Silverluck when we’d first encountered the guard. This mare was no local guard, however, nor any sort of fighter I imagined as her lack of armor attested. But fight she had, and well enough to stay in one piece. Still, she looked more likely to be found working with some sort of machines rather than guarding the town’s walls or killing raiders with saw blades.

Her coat was a dark orange, far darker than Wild’s and just as oil stained as it was when I’d first spotted her. Her blue-green mane was mussed up and as dirty as her coat. Both it and her tail were cut short, almost to the same length as mine. Her blue overalls fit her large frame well, even though they appeared to have been made for a stallion. The stained clothing had a number of tools shoved into its many pockets. The worn overalls covered up her cutie mark, but I had a feeling it would be something to do with machines or tools given what I’d seen thus far.

The unique weapon she had been using in the battle lay swung across her back as Stone so commonly carried his rifle. However, the large metal lump bore little resemblance to my friend’s hunting rifle. It was far larger in size and scale, looking more like the grenade launcher we’d pulled off a robot near Steeldome. As they neared, I could see even more exposed wiring, tubes, and loose bits all across the weapon's barrel and stock. About where a normal weapon's magazine would be, the homemade weapon had a large metal cylinder locked in place with some sort of latches. If I hadn’t seen it used to such deadly effect, I’d be hard pressed to believe it worked at all.

As their hooves touched the sidewalk and began approaching us, I expected it would be the young mare who spoke, given the guard’s injuries. So I was surprised when it was in fact the stallion who greeted us instead. Albeit in a rough gravelly voice that sounded like somepony who’d smoked far more than was healthy.

“Tis a pleasure ta meet th’ pony responsible fer savin’ our lives.” Although speaking appeared to cause him a good deal of pain, he seemed determined to do so. As he and the young mare, Tinkerbelle I recalled her name, stopped before us he held out a hoof towards me. I took it and shook it warmly, offering the wounded guard a smile and nod of my head as he sized me up. As his eyes passed over the silver Marshall badge pinned to my chest armor, they widened a bit before coming up quickly to my face. “Ya have my gratitude, Marshall.” At the mention of the title, Tink’s ears perked up and she looked more intently towards me than she had before while her grandfather carried on speaking. “Ah heard a bit about what ya did on th’ radio couple weeks ago in Crossroads and around Tombstone. Mighty fine work if Ah might say. Th’ name’s Jackhammer, and this here’s my granddaughter, Tink.”

“Evening, Jackhammer and Tink. It’s good to see you both up and around after what happened. These are my friends: Stonehoof, Wildfire, and Balefire.” I stepped aside so that they could better see the others beside and behind me. I noticed Balefire smiling towards Tink and the young mare looking back to the brash stallion. I quickly stepped between them, lest Balefire end up getting himself in trouble so soon after surviving the battle. “I believe you’ve already meet Spirit. The surly ghoul helping your doctor is Carrion. If not for them, I doubt I’d have made it here at all. They all had a hoof in helping save your town. And please, just call me Shadow.”

“It’s a pleasure ta meet all th’ ponies... and buffalo,“ he hastily added. His ears flicked back in a bit of alarm, much to Wild’s amusement and Spirit’s indifference. “Who risked their lives ta save a town of strangers. Not many are willin’ ta do that, least of all ta cross so much of th’ wasteland ta do it.”

“So I’ve heard and seen... but we were just doing what seemed right.” As we spoke, I once more looked to the side and Spirit tending to the wounded mare. “I’m just happy we arrived in time to help you all. The trip from San Ponsisco took us longer than I thought by air and I was beginning to wonder if we’d find anypony alive. Especially after your transmission was cut off.”

“Ta be honest, Ah don’t think anypony here expected any help ta be comin’ because of that transmission. Ah think most were doin’ it just ta keep their hopes up. As for it bein’ cut off... well, one of them bastards got lucky with a rocket launcher,” Jackhammer said, lifting his head to look at the roof of Town Hall and the radio tower jutting off one side of it.

Following his gaze skyward, I was amazed that the entire thing hadn’t come tumbling off the roof as a result of the damage it had suffered. The twisted, rust-covered beams stuck out a good ways from the edge of the roof. Wires and bits of metal were swaying gently in the breeze. Fortunately for the wounded in the street, somepony had had the forethought to keep them from directly under where it would fall, though that was hardly foolproof. Picking up on my concern, Jackhammer spoke up again.

“Ah’m afraid it’s not th’ best place ta have ’em, but we had to move ’em out of th’ buildin’ so we could do some repairs. We was afraid ta move ’em too far away, in case th’ raiders attack again.” The stallion’s blue eyes had followed mine to the wounded. “As fer any of us bein’ left... it was very close. If th’ raiders had waited ta attack us for a few more hours, I doubt very much if there’d even be half of who’s here. Most ponies would’a been asleep in their beds instead of just sittin’ down ta dinner.” Jackhammer shook his head and glanced back up to us. “It was hearin’ th’ first couple expositions that tipped off so many.”

“While they’re usin’ new types of weapons ta get into towns, it seems raiders are still a mite impatient,” Stone added.

“Right ya are, friend.” Jackhammer’s head turned towards Stone as he spoke. A smile formed across his face as he eyed the large stallion. “Take it ya’ve had a fair number of run ins with them?”

“Ya could say that,” my friend answered, ears flicking back. “Th’ wasteland’s crawlin’ with ’em from San Ponsisco all th’ way back east ta Manehatten. Ponies bein’ driven mad by th’ world around ’em, or simply given up bein’ ponies ta be monsters.” Stone lightly stomped a forehoof into the pavement. “Seen far too many raiders for my tastes.”

“Ah reckon more than one is too many for anypony,” Jackhammer said, before turning to regard me once again. His eyes lowered to the badge attached to my combat armor. “So, what's yer plan now, Shadow? Return ta San Ponsisco perhaps?”

“Maybe. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought much beyond getting here to think about what would happen afterwards,” I answered with a wave of my hoof to what was left of Old Oaks. “I suppose it really depends on if anypony else out here needs my help. Old Oaks’ call for help was only part of the reason I left San Ponsisco.”

“And what was the other reason?” asked a young voice. Turning, I saw it was Tink who’d spoken. The orange coated, young mare’s ears were perked towards me, as were her light pink eyes. She seemed quite intent on my response for some reason and I arched a brow towards her. She blinked and took a step back. “That is... if you wanna tell us,” she added.

Breaking eye contact with Tink, I glanced back to my friends. Both Stone and Wild had remained standing beside one another. I suppose they knew out of everypony who’d come with us why I’d set out. They knew me, much like the ponies I’d lived with for my entire life. The others- Balefire, Carrion, and Spirit... well, I’d wondered if they really knew what they were getting themselves into when they’d agreed to follow me back out into the wasteland. Turning back to Tink and her grandfather, I answered the young mare’s question.

“I felt I could do more good out here, helping those who can’t help themselves and those who no one else will help,” I began, shifting my weight a bit onto my other forehoof. The sore one had decided it disliked me staying still for so long. “The original reason for leaving my Stable had been to save my sister. When that... failed, I chose to save those around me instead of just giving into the despair I felt at the time.” I glanced to my friends once more and smiled to them. “When we reached San Ponsisco, part of me felt relief at finally finding someplace safe for my niece and I. But another part of me felt for those ponies left beyond the walls of the city, beyond the reach of the Confederacy.” I looked around at all the wounded ponies. The scent of blood was growing thicker as the wounded waited for treatment from the overworked ponies and buffalo trying to help them all.

“That was the other reason I left San Ponsisco. To help anyone I could,” I added, looking back up to Tink and Jackhammer. My words seemed to surprise Jack, as his eyes had grown wide. Beside him, Tink tilted her head to the side and looked closely at me before a smile began forming upon her face.

“I knew what they said was true...” she said, mostly to herself, before looking to her grandfather. “I told you those stories weren’t made up.”

“Ah’ll admit, Marshall... Ah didn’t rightly believe all them things Three Horns was sayin’ about ya... and Ah’ve never been more happy ta be proven wrong.” The dark orange hoof of his granddaughter rose up and lightly touched the old stallion’s shoulder, causing him to glance in her direction and smile. “If yer willin’ ta help us some more, Ah won’t turn ya away... goddesses know, we need all th’ help we can get.”

“I think Silver could use their help, Grandpa,” Tink suggested, pink eyes turning back to her grandfather. “The sooner the better... I don’t know how much longer she’ll keep her cool having to listen to those three upstairs...”

“Ah reckon yer right, Tink,” Jack answered as he looked back to the young orange mare beside him. A hint of a smile appeared upon his snout as he added, “As usual.” This seemed to please Tink, who smirked back at her grandfather and gave a nod of her head. Jackhammer turned back towards us, silently studying us once more. A thoughtful look crossed his face, with perhaps a bit of hope. “Perhaps ya’ll might just be th’ ones ta talk some sense into them damn fool hards upstairs.”

“You said something was going to happen when we spoke earlier, Tink,” Balefire spoke up from where he’d been largely silent beside me. The green unicorn stallion stepped around from where I’d blocked his line of sight to the young mare and arched a brow towards her. “What’s going on upstairs?”

Tink’s ears wilted a bit as her grandfather glanced over towards her with a slight frown, as if she’d overstepped her bounds. After a moment, the old stallion snorted and shook his head, offering the young mare a nuzzle before turning back to us.

I had a feeling I had a good enough idea where this was going, and frowned. It had happened to me a number of times while crossing the wasteland. Ponies too stubborn to see what was right in front of them, too stubborn to change their ways. I suppose it was a flaw we all shared, seeing how the history books were full of examples of ponies making mistakes due to their pride or belief that they were right.

“Silver’s attempting to convince some of the ponies in charge that we need to leave Old Oaks. That it’s no longer safe here... it’s... not going as well as she or us would have hoped,” Tink answered, ears rising back up a bit as her grandfather nodded his head to go on. “We’ve been all but cut off from the rest of the world here, due to trouble with caravans reaching us and the sudden rise in raider attacks around the countryside. So, we’ve known for a while now that sooner or later we’d have to try and either get help or leave the town. After we were attacked the second time, and the mayor was killed, a lot of ponies were set on leaving.”

“Why didn’t you?” I asked.

“Sheriff Butterhoof. Not th’ best or bravest stallion ta hold th’ position, but he could talk a radscorpion inta lettin’ ya cut off its’ stinger,” Jack answered, a hoof lightly rubbing his bandaged throat as he spoke. “He took charge of th’ town after th’ first attack, said we’d be better off stayin’ together since small groups on th’ road would be easy pickin’s for raiders. He pointed out that th’ raiders barely got inside th’ walls, usin’ some crude ladders. Suggested we build th’ wall up higher and have some ponies stand guard on th’ roofs of th’ buildin’s nearest the edge.”

“All true, and as my grandpa said, Sheriff Butterhoof had a way of convincing ponies he was right.”

“Helps when he’s speaking th’ truth,” Stone agreed. “Ah reckon if anypony had left th’ town so soon after th’ first attack, they’d have been killed by raiders waiting for ’em to do just that.”

“That seems a bit more intelligent than I’d think for raiders...” I said as I looked over towards my friend. Raiders had never come across very smart to me, from the condition of their weapons to their mad lust for murder and mayhem. Although, recent events had been forcing me to rethink that belief somewhat.

“Don’t take a genius ta know that fearful ponies do stupid and rash things. If there’s one thing raiders know, it’s what fear does ta ponies,” Stone answered, pulling his hat back down across his face. “So ya stayed, and th’ raiders attacked again.”

“They did indeed. They used some sort of explosives ta breach the walls and flooded inta the streets. Th’ Sheriff and his deputies were killed in th’ chaos that followed. From what I hear, they barely got th’ doors ta Town Hall shut before th’ raiders began beating on them. Tink and Ah was across town when the attack happened, ran inta Silver and her sister while we were attempting to reach th’ center of town.”

“So... if the mayor and sheriff are both dead... and Silverluck’s in charge, what’s the problem?” Balefire asked, looking between Jack and myself.

“Th’ surviving members of th’ town’s council is th’ problem. Th’ mayor inherited them from the previous one and most have held th’ same position for as long as Ah can remember,” Jackhammer answered, ears flicking back against his skull as he spoke. “Most of’em are either related ta th’ original ponies that settled Old Oaks or moved here after th’ bombin’ ta start a new life. My own family has lived here since long before Equestria was a radioactive shithole.”

“They don’t want to leave the only place they’ve really known.”

I knew the feeling. Quite well actually, as did another two hundred ponies I’d once lived closely with. How many other ponies had been forced to leave their home because of raider attacks or food shortages? How many of them actually made it to where they were going? How many of the bones I’d walked past to reach Crossroads and Steeldome had been from them?

“I know the feeling,” I heard Balefire whisper to himself and looked back towards the unicorn. I then looked around at all my friends and realized that was something all of us had in common.

Balefire’s home had been attacked by raiders, much as Old Oaks and my own Stable had been. Everypony he knew had either been killed or taken captive. He’d been found by a force of Confederate soldiers trying to stop those same raiders.

Wildfire had been forced to leave the Enclave after refusing to murder innocent ponies for their supplies. While anyplace that would condone such an act wasn’t anyplace I’d want to live, it’d still been her home. The place where she’d been born and raised. She’d never see any of her friends up there again.

Spirit Walker had left her home to search for her people. While she’d failed to discover anything concrete about the buffalos, she’d at least known she’d had a place to go back to. At least she thought she had, because like Stable 45, raiders had attacked Wastefall Gorge and killed or captured many of its inhabitants.

When I’d met Stonehoof, he’d been taking his sister in law and soon to be born nephew to the safety of Crossroads, after their home had been attacked. They were then jumped by slavers, and nearly captured.

“I think we all know how they feel,” I added, looking from Balefire to Tink and Jackhammer. “But you’re right about leaving Old Oaks. If anypony tries to stay here, they’ll likely end up dead in a week. I think you’d better show us where Silver’s at, so we can help talk some sense into the others.”

“Ah reckon she’ll be much obliged for th’ help. Th’ ponies of th’ council don’t always see eye ta eye on things...” Jackhammer began to explain as he turned to lead us back up the steps. His granddaughter, however, quickly cut him off with a snort.

“Don’t sugarcoat it, Grandpa, a lot of ponies don’t like Silver or her sister.” The dark orange mare’s ears flicked back as she spoke, pink eyes narrowing as she tilted her head to look up the building standing over us. “Silver’s from a Stable back east, wandered out here trying to find someplace safe to raise her sister. A lot of ponies blame the recent raider attacks on her, saying she led them to us.”

“Would raiders really follow two ponies for so long?” I asked as I followed Jackhammer up the steps, the others right behind me. While I didn’t doubt their single minded determination in making a pony’s life a living hell, it seemed a lot of trouble for just two ponies. Raiders tended to have the attention span of a foal at times, from what I’d seen and heard of them. Granted a foal with a habit of eating the living and making weapons out of anything at hoof...

“I had a group of them tracking me through the sewers of Kanter City for days before Carrion found me,” Wild answered, wings rustling a bit at the memories of that horrible place. “I’ve heard similar stories from other ponies in bars throughout the wasteland.”

“Not everyone blames ’er for th’ attacks, Old Oaks has always had th’ odd raider attack over th’ years... just not by so many raiders all at once,” Jack said, looking from my friends to me. “At least, not all of us blame ’er,” he added softly, but I was close enough to pick up on it.

Great... I’d likely be wishing we were still trading shots with the raiders if this was going to get as ugly as it sounded.

Still, maybe they’d listen to somepony else telling them it wasn’t safe here anymore. That they’d have to leave what was left of their homes. But then, if Tink and Jackhammer were correct, this was something they’d been getting told for a while now. This was the same thing that Silver seemed to have been telling them. Maybe it was because it was her that they weren’t willing to listening. Could ponies really be that petty?

I wasn’t sure. At least, not totally. I’d seen some things since coming to the surface. Some things I hadn’t thought ponies were capable of doing.

The wounded stallion turned and made his way back up the steps with the rest of us following him. Balefire moved past us to fall into step with Tink, asking her a question about her unique weapon. Wild and Stone were speaking quietly to themselves about the day’s events, or on the town’s defences. To be honest, I had stopped paying attention to everypony after we neared the doors. There was something unsettlingly familiar about them...

As we quickly climbed the few steps to the double doors, I noticed a pair of stallions off to the right, pulling some of the wooden boards off the windows. I wondered why they’d be doing that, seeing how the whole reason the wounded hadn’t been moved far was due to the safety offered by the building. The closer we came to the doors, the slower my pace became until I’d fallen back to the rear of the group by a good half dozen steps. The front doors into Town Hall had been left open, heavy looking wooden chairs placed to insure they didn’t close. Jack, Tink, and Balefire had already gone inside, and Stone and Wild were just passing through.

As I neared the doors and prepared to step past them, I came to a complete halt. My legs locked up tightly as the smell hit me, one hoof raised in mid step. A foul mix of unwashed bodies, blood, waste, and the almost constant scent of fear. Despite the thick humid air outside the building, I shivered as the smells from beyond the door assaulted my nose and brought with them a painful memory.

“Shadow?”

I felt my ears twitch at the sound of my name being called out from just ahead of me. Was that Stone? I wasn’t sure, it didn’t sound like him and my eyes had gone out of focus as I stared at the darkness of the room beyond. I knew I was in Old Oaks... about to enter it’s Town Hall, but my thoughts were elsewhere at the moment. To a place far away...

Walking into the room, I should have known at once something was horribly wrong, but I’d failed to see those signs. Signs my friends had already seen as they followed me into the dark, dank hole. The only sound was of water dripping from the broken ceiling, landing into stagnant pools of foul smelling liquids. I ignored the smell of unwashed flesh, feces, decay, and rotting flesh. I ignored the single flickering emergency light that attempted to brighten the darkness of the room, and ignored the yellowed bones of dead ponies under piles of waste and trash. All this and more I ignored as I approached the lone figure within the room.

Ebony...

“Shadow? Are you alright?” came another voice, Wild’s this time. I wasn’t really sure if I was alright... I sure as hell didn’t feel alright...

She’d been chained to the wall, two links of rusted metal running from posts driven into the stone. Water dripped from the orange-tinted iron chains. Those same links disappeared into the shadows of the room where my sister lay, her Pipbuck tag flashing. That single bulb of light made it so I could only just make out the edges of my sister's body, laying among the garbage and waste of the prisoners. Her head was propped up on a old jacket that had sat for goddesses knew how long in the filth. The lengths of chain ran from the wall to metal bands around her throat and left hind leg. Both areas were devoid of fur from how tight they had been around her body. She lay on her side, facing the wall. Her arched back was a mass of scars from whips and hoof alike. Her long white mane and tail was knotted and covered in filth. Stepping closer, the scent of rot and death hung heavily around the thin form. Weeping white sores covered her hind quarters and midsection. Looking closer, I saw they seemed to cover large areas of my sister's body. The fur around them had fallen out, leaving bare pale skin below, dark red and blue veins visible just below it. Everywhere I looked she was bruised. Despite not wanting to, my eyes traveled to her hips and the dark marks around her tail. My heart broke as I saw what those bastards had done to her...

“Shadow, what’s wrong? Shadow?”

Shakingly, I lowered the weapon to her head, pressing the cold metal barrel to her skull. Rather, I tried; I was shaking so badly it wobbled around. Until a slender black hoof rose up from outside my field of vision and steadied the gun. My sister’s hoof. Our breathing slowed, and I could feel the unsteady beat of her heart against her chest as my own seemed to match its rhythm. I tightened my grip upon the pistol in my mouth, feeling the trigger and pulling back, the hammer slowly rising up as the chamber rotated.

My sister smiled and held my gaze as I squeezed the trigger... and a hoof pressed into my shoulder.

I blinked and reared back as I felt something pressing into my armored shoulder, jerking my head back up to see who had come up from behind me... hadn’t Wild and Stone been watching from the doorway to the room? I blinked again rapidly to try and clear up my blurred vision as two fuzzy shapes appeared, standing in front of me. I took a couple of steps back and shook my head again to get my bearings.

“What... ?” I choked out, my throat feeling tight and dry all of a sudden. Only after I finally managed to slow my rapid breathing and felt my heart slowing down to normal was I able to focus on the two in front of me. I found myself staring into the worried faces of two of my friends.

“Shadow, are you alright?” Wild asked, lowering her hoof that had been resting upon my shoulder before I’d jerked away at the touch. The mare’s storm blue eyes looked me over with concern, wings slightly open as she took a step towards me. When I retreated a step she stopped and tilted her head a bit. A moment later, a knowing look came across her face and her ears folded back along her mane.

“Yeah... you sorta zoned out on us there for a bit. Shaking and muttering to yourself,” Balefire added from where he’d been standing beside Wild. The young unicorn arched a brow as Wild took a step back, giving me a bit more room to gather myself. “Do we need to fetch, Spirit?” he asked, red eyes going from me to Wild when I didn’t immediately answer either of them.

“It’s not something she can heal, Bale,” Wild answered, taking her gaze off me as she looked to the green stallion beside her. “Nothing anyone can heal really...”

Balefire hadn’t been in Kanter City. He hadn’t seen or felt what had happened to me down there. The others had. Oh, I’d told him about what had brought me to the surface, and out towards the raider infested city. I’d told him as much as I could about what had happened in the basement of that ruined hospital... the others had likely filled in the missing pieces for him. But, hearing it... and living it were two very different things. And, it hadn’t been his sister he’d been forced to... forced to...

“I’ll be alright... I was just reminded of something very painful is all...” I answered, lifting my right foreleg up along my cheeks to wipe away the tears that had been blurring my vision. I ignored the ash and dirt that replaced them. Instead, I took a deep breath through my mouth and took a few unsteady steps towards the doors once more. While he may not have been there... Balefire had lost his own family to raiders not that long ago.

“Come on, let’s go and see what it is we can help these ponies with before it gets much later,” I added as I walked past them, my steps steadying as I crossed the threshold into the building. As I did so, I stopped and allowed my eyes time to adjust to the dim lighting within the large main room.

All the first floor windows had been boarded up to prevent the raiders from getting inside. Even though they were slowly being removed, what little light managed to work its way inside wasn’t enough. Only a half dozen low burning candles, scattered about the first floor, gave off any real light. As one might expect from a building that had just recently been used as a fortress, nearly the entire floor was littered. Spent shell casings, dirt, bits of broken glass and wood, wadded up bandages stained in places with blood; all the signs of ponies fighting to survive.

What little furniture that must have been on the first floor had been pushed around the front doors, and the doors leading off to a half dozen side rooms. It had been used to barricade the ponies inside should the raiders force their way in. As my eyes grew more accustomed to the flickering light of the dark room, I saw the three others who had entered before us. Stone, Tink, and Jackhammer all stood beside the bottom steps of a set of stairs leading to the second floor. The stairs were wide enough to allow three ponies to walk up them abreast of one another and had been made of wood. At the top of which, a pair of large old desks had been shoved out of the second floor landing, allowing access to the floor and likely to another set of stairs to the third floor.

Whoever had set all this up had done an impressive job, despite it being a rushed job due to the nature of the attack. It was no wonder the raiders had seemed hesitant in attempting to force the ponies inside to come out. They’d never have gotten in by force alone, not without using more explosives at least. Knowing the raiders, they had likely used all of them up to breach the walls... at least I hope they had. Best they could have done was to starve them out, which seemed to be what they’d resigned themselves to do.

“Th’ others are upstairs, in th’ old courtroom. If ya’ll need some time...” Jackhammer said as we approached him and the others. The older stallion had been speaking with Stone when we’d entered while his granddaughter stood beside him and listened. He seemed to want to ask what had kept us, but didn’t, while Tink seemed oblivious to it. Stone, however, noticed almost at once something was wrong. Behind me, I heard Wild and Balefire trotting across the littered, wooden flooring.

I offered a weak smile towards my old grey friend and a slight nod of my head, trying to let him know I was okay. Well... perhaps okay wasn’t really the correct term. I was here. I didn’t want him worrying about me... thought I knew that was likely pointless. In response to my nod, Stone turned away and looked back towards Jack and Tink.

“Ah doubt th’ arguin’ will wait. Lead th’ way up,” Stone said as he motioned towards the stairs.

For his part, Jackhammer seemed to notice he’d missed something but again choose not to ask. Instead, he merely nodded his head to my large grey friend.

“Alright, follow me then.” With that, he turned and began climbing the stairs. Tink paused for a moment to look towards me before she quickly followed her grandfather up. The sound of heavy iron hoof steps drowned out the slightly softer steps of the mare as they trotted on up.

Stone waited for the rest of us to begin climbing before he began following Jackhammer up. My fellow earth pony fell into step beside me, green eyes passing from the stairs to look closely at my face. He saw the signs of my recent break down. I once more offered him a nod and a slightly less forced smile.

“Everythin’ alright, Shadow?” my friend asked as we reached the midway point up the flight of steps.

“I’ll be alright, Stone,” I answered gently as Balefire and Wild fell into step behind us. “Coming in here just reminded me of something.” It seemed enough, at least for now. The large grey stallion nodded his head before looking to Wild, who trotted up on his other side.

“All right, if ya need ta talk ta somepony thought...” he began.

“I know, Stone,” I began, looking once more over to him. “But, I did nothing but talk about that for four days after arriving in San Ponsisco. To just about everypony from my Stable it seems... I don’t really want to talk about it again... at least not while we’re out here.” At that, we reached the second floor and stood facing a doorway into what looked like an office of some sort. Broken chairs and boarded up windows was all I could really see through the open door.

“This way,” Tink said from our right. Turning to look, I saw the young mare waiting at the end of the landing near the entrance to a hallway. My ears twitched as I heard the heavy tread of Jackhammer’s hoofs on the floorboards. He must have gone on ahead. Balefire had spotted the mare and the path we were going to take before the rest of us and had already trotted up beside her. I snorted softly.

“You could learn a thing or two from that pony, Shadow,” Wild said from where she trotted beside Stone. The comment earned a look from both of us, and a smirk from the orange, winged mare. “Well, it’s true. That buck’s got his priorities straight. Kill raiders, chase mares, something... profit.”

“I think that third to last one is where her grandfather catches him,” I said with a smile that was far less forced than the last couple. The sudden change in topic was quite welcome, and I suspected deliberate.

“Ah doubt th’ young filly needs her grandfather ta look after ’er. Ah imagine she’s more than capable of takin’ care of herself,” Stone added, a smile once more upon his face as well as he glanced over to his marefriend. “Besides... Ah thought ya was gonna try and fix Shadow up with Ruby back in Crossroads.”

“Hmm... thats right... the poor mare’s been having dreams about you.” Wild’s smirk grew into a full grin as she caught a hint of a blush on my cheeks. “Oh, yes,” she said, going in for the kill now. “Dreams of you... doing things... so many things...”

“Buck me, I need an adult...” I groaned as we turned the corner and began trotting along the hallway, my own pace a little faster to try and escape the pair. Stone and Wild chuckled at my hasty retreat up the hall, and seemed content to let the matter drop. Although knowing that mare, she’d likely bring it up again. I’d rather take on another forty raiders than deal with her when she was on the subject of sex. As we walked along the hall, I glanced towards the walls to get my mind off my friends’ teasing, along with the images it had popped up inside my head.

While from the outside the building had appeared to be made largely of stone, the inside it was another story. Nearly every surface I could see was made or trimmed in wood. It wasn’t surprising for a town that had dealt largely in lumber. The walls had hoof-carved wood paneling along much of their surfaces. Although, through numerous cracks and breaks in the paneling, I could see the stone beneath. On my left were a row of doors, around about six of them. Most opened into small offices that were once used by the ponies working here. The rooms looked as if they’d been recently converted into sleeping quarters with bedrolls, blankets, and pillows laying about the floor in no real order. On the right was a row of windows. These hadn’t been as heavily boarded up as those on the first floor, and I could actually see quite well through them.

Looking out through the cracked glass and one or two boards covering them, I saw that most of the smoke that had been billowing up into the sky had eased as the fires found less and less to consume. I could see all the way to the protective wall that had stood to keep out the wasteland.

Miles upon miles of dark brown earth stretched out towards the distant hills. In some places, the ground was blackened by fires that had burned so intensely that even now you could still see where they had been. The worn, cracked half covered highway that ran straight through Old Oaks could still be made out. It wound its way between the hills and around those blackened spots before disappearing from sight over a rise in the landscape. Upon either side of the road stood hundreds of blackened stumps, the source of the fires, and in places even whole dead trees remained. Their twisted, gnarled branches reached up towards the overcast sky.

“Old Oaks used to be a lumber town,” Tink’s voice called out from ahead of me, pulling my attention away from the view outside and towards the young mare. “Sorry, but I noticed you staring at the ruined trees surrounding town,” she added.

“It’s alright,” I said, smiling gently to the young mare. “I’d actually heard a bit of Old Oaks history from Stone on the way here. There was little else to do on the flight here, beyond what we’d already done. It had been a lumber town long before the war, and even after it had started. Unicorn magic was used to help the trees grow faster than even an earth pony’s own.”

“That’s right. I’m surprised anypony bothered to learn about the town’s history, seeing that it isn’t exactly on any major trading routes,” Tink responded, looking over to my large grey friend.

“Ya travel enough, ya end up pickin’ up a few things.” Stone said simply, nodding his head towards the young mare.

“Indeed, you’re just full of surprises, Stone. Why, up until a couple weeks ago, I never thought I’d meet an earth pony who knew how to preen wings as well as you,” Wild chimed in, a wicked grin on her lips. “You simply must tell me who taught you so I can thank her.”

“Preening?” I asked, turning back to regard my friends. Only then did I notice the sudden reddening of Stone’s cheeks.

“A necessary thing us pegasi must do to keep our wings healthy and the feathers in good order. Though, it can also be used as foreplay seeing how sensitive our wings can be when we’re worked up.”

“Which with you, is almost all the time,” I added with a snort. Wild’s storm blue eyes opened a bit wider and she actually looked a bit hurt, but only a bit.

“You make that sound as if it’s a bad thing... I don’t hear Stone complaining about getting so much ta...”

“Aren’t we there yet?” the stallion in question hurriedly asked. His ears laid back atop his hat, which had lowered to hide his face from view.

As it turned out, we were actually. Coming to the end of the hallway, which seemed to run the length of the building, we turned to our left. A short distance away stood Jackhammer, waiting beside another set of stairs that would take us to the third floor. Beyond we would find the courtroom where Silver and the ponies she was meeting with would be.

“Talkin’ bout th’ trees again, Tink?” the old pony asked his granddaughter, a smile on his face.

Among other things, I thought to myself.

“It’s just hard to imagine what this place must have looked like before the war. When everything was green and alive,” she answered, one last look given to the windows behind us before she started up the stairs. Jackhammer fell into step beside her as Balefire followed close behind. We’d barely taken a couple steps before she continued, “Who knows, maybe someday I’ll get my chance to see some. After all, there’s all sorts of stories on the radio about real, living trees growing somewhere out in the wasteland.”

“Ah think them’s just stories, Tink. Ah wouldn’t get yer hopes up ta much,” her grandfather said.

“I’ve heard those stories as well,” Balefire quickly added, causing the young earth pony in front of him to glance back towards him. “I’m not sure if there’s any truth to them to be honest, but I’ve heard at least a dozen or more traders in San Ponsisco talking about seeing them, or knowing somepony who has.”

“Ah’ve heard that rumor for years now, been told all across th’ wasteland on just about every radio signal Ah can get,” Stone spoke up, eager to jump on the subject change. “Ah reckon there could be some truth ta th’ story... seein’ how it’s almost always th’ same... but a lotta ponies just think it’s wishful thinkin’.”

“I can understand why somepony would want to believe it. Seeing even a small bit of the old world with your own eyes would be something else,” I said as we reached the top of the stairs.

“Ah reckon yer right on that point, Shadow,” Jackhammer said from the front of the group. “It’s certainly kept my little tinkerer’s hopes up.” He glanced to the young mare beside him, whose cheeks had turned a brighter orange at his apparent nickname for her.

“Grandpa...”

I chuckled softly, and looked away from the happy pair to the hallway we were walking along. It had been one of three we’d seen once reaching the third floor, forming a T shape. One of the other hallways must have lead to the stairs to the fourth floor, as I’d yet to see any sign of it down this one. In fact, there were only three doors and no windows. One door on each side, leading into more work spaces, offices most likely. They were far larger than those on the second floor. The last doorway was at the end of the hall, and was in fact a set of large wooden double doors.

In fact, much of the building seemed to have been made of wood. I wondered how such a thing had survived the blaze that had consumed the forests around it... for that matter, how did the town? I started to turn and ask Stone, when I noticed we’d reached the end of the hall.

Rearing back onto his hind legs, Jackhammer placed both fore hooves upon each door and pushed them open with a slight grunt of effort. As the doors slowly swung open, Jackhammer dropped back down to all fours and entered. We quickly followed and found ourselves in a large room that looked about how I’d expect a courtroom to look.

On either side of a path leading towards the front of the room were a number of worn wooden benches. Eight to ten ponies could easily sit upon them, and they appeared bolted to the floor. That would explain why they’d not been used for barricades. At the end of the row of benches were a pair of large tables with three or four chairs each, likely used by lawyers and defendants during trials.

It was at one of these tables that we spotted Silverluck and a half dozen other ponies. Most of them were sitting at the table, pointing at this or that. Two stood to the side, speaking to themselves, looking back every now and then to say something. In fact, all of them seemed to have something to say. The only problem was that they all seemed to want to say it all at the same time. Most were talking quite animatedly as well, which did not help matters as hooves jabbed at this or that. If I was a betting pony, I’d place my caps on the subject being about moving away from Old Oaks.

Sitting beside her mother was the young mare I’d saved from the school house, Silver’s daughter. She sat quietly as the ponies around her argued over who was louder... at least that’s what it sounded like. She had her ears laid back and a frown on her lips as she listened. One other pony in the room seemed to be siding with Silver, a tan coated stallion standing near what appeared to be a jury box. He was attempting to get the others to shut up and let Silver get a word in... it didn’t seem to be working, however.

Also, seeing how nopony at the table had noticed us yet, I took the opportunity to get a better look around the room.

Beyond the arguing ponies was the podium where the judge would sit and listen to the cases being presented to him or her. Behind and to either side along the walls were a number of bookshelves and three doors leading off to other rooms. Hanging upon the walls, between windows, were badly faded photos and dust covered paintings. The books upon the shelves did not appear to withstand the test of time and the elements any better than the pictures. A number of them had mold growing upon their cracked and worn covers. One thing within the room had endured however: behind the podium, hanging upon the wall, was a portrait of Princess Celestia and Luna. They wore serene expressions upon their faces, eyes angled to look down upon the courtroom. I could well imagine the effect having the immortal goddesses of Equestria (even if just a painting) looking down upon you could make a guilty pony confess their crimes. Sadly it seemed to have no effect on those currently arguing their cases in the room.

The dying light of the day forced its way between the hastily erected boards that still covered the large windows. Like those in the hallways, they bore fewer than the ones on the first floor. A few lacked boards at all, but had them sitting just below the windows beside hammers and nails. Likely those working on them had been called away to help fight. Below the large windows were a number of short benches, probably for use if more seating was needed. The windows were not the only source of lighting, though. The trio of simple metal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling provided far better. Flickering candlelight cast the room into a soft white light.

As we walked along the alley between benches, Silver had apparently had enough and was attempting to bring order to the gathered group. Waving her fore hooves towards them, she was asking the council to please be silent. After being all but ignored, she gave up and simply slumped in her chair, rubbing her face tiredly as her daughter attempted to comfort her.

It seemed Jackhammer had not been joking when he said there were those within town that disliked Silver, to the point of arguing an almost clear truth. With the exception of her daughter and the one stallion, they seemed to be ignoring the grey coated mare who had become the town’s new leader. By default it would seem, seeing how there was nopony else that had survived the attack. At least in this it seemed Silver agreed. The mare did not look at all pleased with her sudden role as leader, judging by the tired worried look upon her face. I could sympathise with her.

As we drew closer, I could begin to make out bits and pieces of what was being said.

“It’s too far... we’ll never survive the trip. We should head north instead. Maybe somepony in Wintertrot can help...”

“...it’s our only choice, maybe they’ll take us all in if we bring enough supplies to...”

“...we can not abandon our home. We’ve been through worse...”

“The Confederacy doesn’t give two shits about us... why would they take us in?”

Silver looked between the ponies around her and shook her head slowly in disgust. As she started to look away and back to her daughter, she caught sight of us approaching the table and looked relieved that help had seemingly arrived. Her daughter noticed something change in her mother and turned to look towards us as well. Somehow, it seemed they were the only ones who did. The rest continued to argue back and forth.

“Sweet Celestia’s horn, they do love the sound of their own voices, don’t they?” Wild asked, having to speak a bit louder to be heard. Stone nodded his agreemment and attempted to speak, only to be drowned out as a mare’s voice rose in reply to something another had said.

“Wait until you hear the Confederate Congress argue about something... I used to sneak in while waiting on my mom to finish with them,” Balefire added, ears laid back as he looked around the table at the ponies. “Though... they at least have the common decency not to ignore the President when she’s speaking...”

“Ah was afraid of this, seems things got outta hoof rather quickly after we left. At this rate they’ll be at it all night,” Jackhammer lamented. “Ah’ll try and talk some sense into ’em, but Ah’m not thinkin’ it’ll do much good.”

“I doubt it’ll help... talking doesn’t appear to be getting anypony anywhere,” Tink added from beside her father, shaking her head at the sight.

Maybe I was just tired from the trip and the fighting... maybe remembering what had happened to my sister had put me in a fouler mood than I thought. Maybe I was just tired of ponies arguing over pointless shit. Whatever it was, I had to agree with Tink. Talking did not seem to be working. Patiently waiting hadn’t gotten Silver anywhere, and given that time was an issue, we did not have all night. Perhaps it was time for a more... direct approach.

Wild caught what I was doing before anypony else in the room, as I lifted Luna’s Ruse up to my mouth. I suppose the slow, widening grin spreading across her snout should have been a warning to me. That I’d crossed the line somewhere and started thinking a bit more like the winged pony. Silver was the second to notice, having been looking over towards me since we’d entered the room. The mare’s eyes widened and she hurriedly reached for her daughter to cover her ears, causing the young mare to blink in surprise.

Wrapping my teeth around the firing bit, I hefted the shotgun upwards towards the roof with a tilt of my head and neck. Once it was more or less skyward, I pulled the trigger twice. Despite the size of the room, it still sounded as if somepony had just fired off a cannon. The ponies gathered around the table jerked back in alarm, one even falling over his chair as he attempted to dive under the table. As the echos of the gunshots faded, over a dozen pair of eyes were fixed on me from all sides. The only sound, apart from the distant calls of ponies downstairs on the street, came when bits of the ceiling rained down beside me from where the shotgun slug had punched through.

Not surprisingly Balefire and Wild seemed impressed, Wild going so far as to sit on her rump and clap her fore hooves while Stone attempted to hide a smirk beside her. Whether at her antics or mine, it was hard to say. Jackhammer seemed as surprised as the others, although Tink and Silver seemed to share my friends’ opinion. Those who had been arguing, however, did not seem to agree with them. Hmm... better say something...

“Now that I have your attention, the ponies downstairs filed a noise complaint and would like you all to keep it down to a low shut the fuck up. I’m sure if we hadn’t killed all of your neighbors from outside the wall they’d also be on their way right now to complain about the noise and kill the lot of you,” I said as I lowered my weapon back down to my chest. Well, I’ll admit that sounded better in my head... wait, no it didn’t... ah fuck it. Looking around the table at the gathered heads of the town I noticed my entrance had earned me mixed results. The older ponies at the table either seemed dead set to ignore me or glare me to death. The younger ones, however, seemed more interested after spotting the badge I wore. At last, my gaze settled upon Silver and I offer the tired mare a smile. “Now... is this a bad time?” I asked to the stunned silence of all in the room.

“Not at all, Shadow. You’re more than welcome to join us,” Silver began, looking over the ponies around her. “An outside perspective may be just what we need.” Judging by the looks she was getting in return, it seemed not all shared that view. “After all, the opinion of the ponies responsible for our rescue should hold some meaning.” That, however, got the others’ attention and once more they began looking towards me.

As they did, I took the opportunity to look down at the table. I now saw what had held their interest so much, and what had been worth arguing so vehemently for. I was surprised to see a map of Equestria spread out between them. It looked similar to the map we’d used in Stable 45, made long before the war and long since out of date. A good map of current changes to the country was hard to find, and an accurate one was even harder according to what Stone once told me. I’d heard once in a bar back in San Ponsisco that the Confederacy had commissioned one to be made a year ago. However, whoever they’d hired for the job had yet to return. It seemed most expected they never would. For now, only older maps that had been altered by ponies living in the wasteland, like this one, were available. Even those would cost you a fair amount of caps. Thankfully my Pipbuck had an auto map feature, as well as the ability to update itself somehow with locations I’d been told about.

“We were just talking about where we should go...” Silver continued, attempting to take advantage of the continued silence. However, one of the ponies sitting between us decided not to allow her the chance.

“More like talkin’ of abandonin’ our home...” the older mare said in a huff. She was an off white unicorn with a blue-green mane and tail that appeared to be fading in places. Around her light brown eyes were a number of wrinkles, along with more around her cheeks and mouth. While it was hard to tell, due to her sitting upon a chair and the table blocking much of my view of her other side, it seemed her right hind leg appeared bent in the wrong way. An old wound that had likely not healed correctly. She wore a simple blue shirt that looked as old as her, and in about as good shape. Her cutie mark was of a stack of bits. Her eyes darted from me to Silver, cutting the younger mare off before she could reply. “And don’t try and sugar coat things... that’s exactly what we’re talkin’ bout here. Abandonin’ our home that we’ve fought for.” An exasperated sigh caught my ear and I turned to look to another pony standing across the table from where I was.

“Lillyblossom, we’ve been over this... none of us want to leave Old Oaks, but isn’t safe here anymore. If we stay here and the raiders attack us again, we’ll most likely die,” said the stallion who’d been standing off by himself, earning a glare from the older mare. He was a little older than Stone and was also an earth pony. His coat was actually more orange in color than tan as I’d first thought. He had a dirty, scruffy looking yellow mane and tail, cut short as I’d seen a number of stallions had styled. He wore crude armor made from a variety of things and had a long barreled hunting rifle across his back. His cutie mark was of a crosshair.

“Yer wrong about that,” Stone said, breaking up the glare that Lillyblossom and the stallion were engaged in. All eyes turned towards my grey coated friend and he stepped away from his marefriend to stand closer to the table, “They’ll most definitely kill ya all next time. No if’s or but’s about it. Ah’ve never seen raiders use explosives like they have here before, but given what Ah’ve been hearin’ from th’ radio and word of mouth, it’s happenin’ all across th’ wasteland. Not all towns are gettin’ out as good as ya’ll did.”

“You call this good?” the unnamed stallion asked. His light green eyes were wide as he looked out a nearby window at the fading plums of smoking rising up into the darkened sky. “They killed over a quarter of us and burned nearly the entire town to the ground!”

“In every other instance Ah heard of, they either killed, ate, or drug everypony off and burned th’ whole town ta th’ ground,” Stone answered calmly, green eyes fixed upon the stallion’s own and forcing him to look away after a few seconds.

“Perhaps those were simply the rare exception. Besides, we drove them off,” Lillyblossom retorted. Her brown eyes went from Stone to the other ponies around the table. “They won’t attack us again so soon.”

“Ah reckon ya could be right about that, but ya should keep somethin’ else in mind. This time ya drove ’em off. With our help Ah might add, but next time ya might not be so lucky,” Stone quickly added before she could go any further, making her shut her mouth. “And there will be a next time, Ah’ll stake my life on it. There might not be somepony willin’ ta help ya out when they attack again... or they might get here too late ta help do more than bury whatever th’ raiders leave behind.” The old mare’s ears wilted and she slumped a bit in her seat. She knew what he’d said was true, if a bit brutally honest. Still... sometimes that’s what it took to get through to a pony set on something dangerous. Didn’t stop me from trying to reach Kanter City though.

“I know Old Oaks means a lot to you, Lilly. I know what you and your family went through to settle it. But... the town’s gone.” Silver leaned forward, placing a hoof upon the older mare’s shoulders. “Nearly all of the town is on fire with little hope of getting it under control anytime soon. The wall is breached in numerous locations and we barely have enough to repair one of the larger holes. Even if we managed to get the fires out, what about the walls where we live? Where will the foals stay?” she asked softly. When the older mare didn’t answer, Silver went on, “We can’t stay here and risk the lives of our children.”

“Which is why we need to find someplace safe to go,” a young dark red coated mare said from beside the armed earth pony. Her hoof tapped on the map along the coast, drawing my eyes away from Silver. “San Ponsisco is our best bet. We really should have left sooner, given what the last traders to reach us told us is happening back east.”

“You’re a crazy mare if you think we’d make it all the way there with the supplies we have, Red!” the armed stallion shouted, brushing the mare’s hoof off the map with his own. “That’ll take us a week or more by hoof to travel. Maybe longer seeing how many wounded we have and how few wagons we have to pull them in. If we still had all our supplies...” that caught my attention, along with Stone’s.

“What happened ta yer supplies?” my friend asked, beating me to the question. Surely they had some stocked away someplace safe. While I’d only been to three towns thus far, I’d known each to have some sort of stockpile of supplies stored away... just in case. Tombstone’s had been in the bank’s vault. A good place for it, unless it was robbed. According to what I’d been told, San Ponsisco had a number of supplies hidden throughout the city, in case of an emergency. Mostly located in the hospitals, police and fire station, as well as the couple of government buildings they had set up. While I wasn’t sure about Crossroads, I did not doubt Rosey had some hidden away somewhere.

“Burned, along with everything else in town,” the stallion answered, waving a hoof off towards the window nearest the table. “We had no warning the raiders were about to attack us again. We’d thought we’d beaten them back the second time. Normally they make one hell of a racket when they’re coming up to the walls... but not this time. First clue we had we were in trouble was when shit began blowing up all along the walls. By the time anypony figured out it was another full scale raider attack, they’d already begun setting fire to half the town.”

“After that it was mass chaos,” the mare, who’d suggested heading towards San Ponsisco, said. ‘Red’, I believe he’d called her. The mare flicked her ears against her skull and looked down at her hooves upon the table. “None of us had time to grab any supplies of food and water when they started setting fire to our homes. My neighbors tried and were caught by the raiders and...” she sniffed and looked away. “I heard them screaming for help as I followed a group towards... towards...”

“What emergency supplies we had stored were in the Sheriff’s office. Those were designated in the old city’s Police Station, the Fire Department, and Town Hall. The only supplies we managed to save were those inside Town Hall.” Silver picked up as Red quickly excused herself and hurriedly left the room. Her sobs followed her while the door shut. The armored stallion who’d been arguing with her signed softly and looked about ready to go after her before he stopped himself. “In truth, we’ve been having to dip into those reserves for the past several months, and the sudden loss of everypony’s personal stores did not help matters. For the time being, I have a couple ponies going through the raiders’ wagons outside in the streets. We might recover some of our stolen food. Once we’re finished here, I’m going to organize teams to search the rest of the town for anything that might have survived the fires.”

“Running low? How is that possible? Even though you’re not a town of the Confederacy, the road from Janesvillie has always been well traveled by traders,” Balefire spoke up, the young pony looking over the ponies gathered around the table.

“We didn’t waste ’em if that’s what yer thinkin’, boy! We aren’t stupid like ya’ll Confederate types think we are. Or tribals like them Steelfucks think we are. Just ain’t been no new supplies comin’ inta town!” an older stallion, who’d been silent up until this point, said. His steel blue eyes fixed upon the younger unicorn. He was a unicorn, dark yellow coat with a short black and grey mane and tail. His cutie mark looked like a map with a large red X on one side.

“I don’t think everypony in the Confederacy believes you’re stupid,” Balefire replied, narrowing his red eyes on the stallion. “At least...” I quickly reached a hoof up to Bale’s shoulder and caught his attention. Shaking my head, my young friend managed to swallow whatever remark he was about to use. Instead, he looked away from the stallion and ground his hooves into the flooring.

“No new supplies? What happened ta ‘em if we might ask,” Stone inquired, looking from Balefire to the armed stallion. Seeing he had earned more than just the young buck’s ire, the pony wisely backed down and looked away from us.

Part of me understood why this stallion seemed to have an issue with the Confederacy. After all, it seemed they had left a number of small towns out to dry, including Old Oaks. That they did not have the resources to spare or the raw equine power to spread between so much territory was a hard excuse to swallow, even if it was true. It was likely especially hard when it was your town that was being picked apart by raiders and your friends being killed. Rosey had made it clear that Crossroads was on it’s own when it came to the protection of the only stable government in the country. Their only contact with it was in the form of Three Horns, or the odd caravan that risked the trip across the mountains and the raider infested territory between towns.

It was Silver who answered Stone’s question, forestalling any more sharp-tongued responses from the stallion or Balefire.

“Old Oaks’ problems began long before the raiders. For the better part of this past year, the supply caravans we normally rely on have been unable to reach us,” she went on to explain when she saw nopony was going to interrupt. “At first glance, it looks like Old Oaks has little in the way of natural resources that somepony can use. Especially these days. What it did have before the war was burned away by the bombs.” At this she waved a hoof over the map, to hills and green patches that surrounded the town... or had. The forests that had once been the sole reason for the little town’s existence were little more than burned stumps lining the countryside. “However, what was left was the largest field of easily obtainable charcoal in Equestria. Luckily, that is more than enough to warrant ponies coming here to tradee. Both Janesville and Old Oaks trade charcoal to the Confederacy.”

“Sound’s like a nice, easy paycheck for somepony. Th’ traders that ran th’ route musta been makin’ a killin’. Haul supplies easily obtainable from one of th’ Confederate towns and trade it for charcoal,” Stone said, nodding his head as he looked over the map. “Take it back ta th’ Confederacy and make a good deal of caps.”

“What’s so important about charcoal?” Wild asked, looking between Silver and Stone. It was her coltfriend who answered her.

“Blacksmiths use it ta melt iron and ta make silver. It burns hotter than anythin’ else and it’s easier ta get than coal, seein’ how th’ zebra’s land is th’ only real place that’s covered in th’ stuff. Th’ Confederacy uses it ta make weapons and armor if Ah ain’t mistaken.” At this, Stone looked over to Balefire.

“You're not wrong. We also use it to make new steel and iron parts to repair the buildings within the walled sections of the city. Without it, rebuilding San Ponsisco would be impossible,” Balefire confirmed, before tilting his head to the side. “But what I don’t understand is why the caravans haven’t been able to make it to Old Oaks. The Confederacy drove that group of Super Mutants out of the hills over six months ago. You know, the ones that had been causing both towns problems on the road. I was there when their last lair up in the hills was destroyed.” Balefire blinked and looked from the map to Silver. “Did they return without us knowing it?” However, before she could answer, somepony else broke in.

“Why would the Confederacy drive a band of Super Mutants out of the hills of a town they don’t seem to give a fuck about?” This of course came from Wild, who sat beside Stone with a confused look on her face. She became even more confused when she noticed Stone, Balefire, and myself all staring at her rather unhappily at her lack of tact. “What? It’s the truth isn’t it?” To my surprise, it was Balefire who answered her question.

“In a twisted way, I suppose it is.” The dark green stallion reached up and removed his hat, running a hoof through his dirty black mane. “With what the Confederacy already holds, the war going on with the Super Mutants and the worry that the Steel Rangers just might try and take the city from us... there’s just no hope for us to defend every town outside of our borders. Despite how much some of us would really like to...” It was even more surprising when a grey hoof was laid upon the stallion’s own on the map, causing him to look up into Silver’s face.

“I know, and despite being one of those towns, I understand.” This earned a few dark looks from the ponies seated around her, which the mare ignored. “There’s been times where we have been forced to make similar choices. As to your winged friend’s question, the answer is simple: Janesville.” Her hoof lifted from Balefire’s and tapped a spot on the map about twenty or thirty miles from Old Oaks. The spot was near a sizeable body of water, seemingly named Honey Lake. “It’s a little larger than Old Oaks in size with a little over half again more ponies living behind its walls. It’s also part of the Confederacy and sits right on the border of their territory.”

“The Confederacy uses the town as a rest stop for units moving further north of our borders, mostly small Ranger recon teams,” Balefire added, tracing a green hoof from the town of Janesville to the surrounding countryside.

“Why?” I asked, looking over the map. Beyond a few cities further north of either Old Oaks and Janesville, there did not seem to be any reason to send ponies out into the wasteland. Of the cities I saw, I was sure nearly all of them were little more than radioactive mass graves much like Kanter City and New Oaks were. San Ponsisco had been lucky to escape the bombs largely intact... well, as much as it was.

“Resources, Ah’d reckon,” Stone said, nodding his head to the map. “This part of Equestria is supposed ta be rich in minerals. Gold, silver, and iron. Even some sizeable gems, but ya can find those just about anywhere in th’ country.” At my look, the large stallion went on, “Places like Canterlot, Manehatten, and Hoofington ain’t places ya generally find lots of raw iron. The mountains around these parts have generally been full of th’ stuff and minin’ is much more common. I should know, my family's been minin’ for generations, ever since ponies first settled this land.” At that, I noticed Wild perk up and a grin appear once more on her face. No good ever came from a grin on that mare’s face...

“And you're so good at exploring those deep, dark places,” Wild said, making sure to put some emphasis on those last three words. This, of course, caused Stone’s cheeks to flare red and Balefire to snicker, defusing a bit of tension that had built up in the young pony. The orange mare turned away from her coltfriend and to the map. “There’s also the simple matter of territory. Any government attempting to show it’s might would want to have as much land under their control as they can. After all, you’d take somepony more seriously if they tell you they have over a dozen towns and cities under their hoof than if they said just two.”

“So it’s all about size, hmm?” I asked, then blinked... oh fuck... I was really starting to sound more like her. I sighed and face hoofed as everypony looked to me. “Never mind...”

“More towns means more ponies. More ponies means more workers and soldiers. More soldiers means more protection for all those towns. More workers means more food, weapons, ammo, building supplies, and the like,” Balefire said once he’d managed to control his snickering. Whether at my comment or Wild’s, I was unsure.

“So if the Confederacy drove the Super Mutants out of the hills, why haven’t caravans been arriving to resupply Old Oaks?” I asked, getting the conversation back on track.

“After the Confederacy cleared them out, the caravans returned for a while. But within a couple months they began arriving less and less frequently until they stopped altogether once again,” Silver answered, looking from the map to me. “When we could get it to work, we managed to contact the nearby towns over the radio and find out if they were having similar problems. None were, at least not to the extent we were. Janesville was having some issues, but they had an armed caravan every so often from the Confederacy.”

“Ain’t unheard of for traders ta stop comin’ ta some towns if they ain’t makin’ enough caps from it. Crossroads had that problem for a while. Also ain’t unheard of ta find the remains of a caravan alongside th’ road from where bandits or raiders attacked ’em,” Stone added.

“Janesville began alerting us to the last three caravans to try and reach us. They never made it, and never made it back to Janesvillie either.” Silver sighed. “The mayor sent out a search party to try and find out what happened after the third caravan disappeared... but they never returned either. After that, he had us seal up the town to try and wait it out.”

“Havin’ been a guard for caravans before, Ah can tell ya that nothin’ drives caravans away faster than talk of others goin’ missin’ or bein’ killed,” Stone managed to add, despite still looking a bit flustered. It didn’t help that Wild was giving him the odd playful look and every so often leaning in to nuzzle his cheek. “Greed will only drive a pony so far before self preservation wins out,” he stated, lightly swatting Wild’s muzzle away from his own.

“There’s more than just Super Mutants and raiders ta worry about in th’ wasteland as ya’ll well know. Radscorpions and other mutated wildlife can overwhelm a small group of ponies right easily,” Jackhammer spoke up for the first time since I’d fired off my weapon to get the others’ attention. “As well as swarms of bloatsprites. Th’ forests round these parts are full of th’ little buzzin’ bastards.”

“I think maybe we got a bit off topic here,” Tink spoke up before anyone else could. “While missing caravans explains why there’s no food, it’s not helping anypony decide what they need to do next. We really need to decide that.” The young mare looked between her father and those ponies still seated at the table. “Before the raiders come back to finish what they started.”

“She’s right,” Silver said, looking back over the ponies beside her. “This is getting us no closer to deciding what we should do. I know many of you want to stay, and just as many want to leave, but can’t decide where we should go. We need to make that decision now though, and get underway before we are attacked again. Either from raiders, bandits, or the local wildlife.” As she finished, she looked slowly over the faces of the ponies around here. None seemed inclined to speak, to make the choice of what they should do. Silver sighed and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “Suddenly nopony wants to speak... perfect...” After waiting another moment she finally looked over towards me. “What do you think?” That, however, got Lilly’s attention.

“I don’t see why you’re asking a stranger what we should do.”

“That stranger saved all our lives, along with his friends. I’d say he’s more than earned a chance to offer up his opinion. He’s also been further out into the wastes than anypony in Old Oaks has been in months.” Well, I wasn’t sure about that. Stone and Wild had clearly covered far more of the country than I. “Plus, I don’t see any of you stepping up to offer anything helpful,” Silver added, shutting the old mare up.

I lowered my eyes from the pair as they stared at one another and looked over the map that sat between them on the table. The town of Old Oaks was easy enough to make out in the top left hoof corner of the map near the Saddlera Mountains. Those mountains effectively cut San Ponsisco and those few cities on this side of the range off from the east. Across those peaks lay the rest of Equestria; Las Pegasus, Las Haygas, and Salt Lick City were nearest the mountains. Further away was Kanter City, Crossroads, and Oaklahoma City. Somewhere in that mass of brown was also Stable 45. Beyond them was Hoofington, Manehatten, and Canterlot to name just a few.

I drew my focus back to Old Oaks, and the towns around it. The armored stallion wasn’t joking when he said it would be a long, hard walk towards San Ponsisco. Despite it leading them into territory held by the Confederacy, I did not doubt there were still bandits and small groups of raiders hidden within the hills and valleys that separated the two. There were also a good number of wounded that would need help getting across the rough terrain. That could be eased if they followed the highways... but doing so would add time to their journey. No, it’d be too risky to take so many overland... still, there was another town nearby.

“What can you tell me about Janesville?” I asked Balefire, earning Silver and Lilly’s attention. My unicorn friend arched a brow before stepping a bit closer to the map and me, placing a hoof upon the town in question.

“Well, like Silver, said the town’s a bit larger than Old Oaks. It’s mostly spread out across a half dozen streets. There’s around about half as many pony’s living there as here, at least last I’d heard,” he said, before circling his hoof around the town. “The town’s defended by a wall... er, more similar to Crossroads and Tombstone in design,” he continued, glancing around at the ponies at the table. Yeah... the scrap pile wall around Old Oaks did leave something to be desired about defences. “There’s two gates, with a guard tower at each.”

“You mentioned Confederate troops sometimes being stationed there?” I asked.

“A small barracks was built within the town, in a three story apartment building. It’s able to house thirty ponies, sixty if the rooms are doubled up. Normally there’s only about ten stationed there at any given time to help guard the town,” he answered. “There’s also a Sheriff and around a half dozen deputies that patrol the surrounding countryside. There were about seven small farmsteads around the town.”

“So, they’ve likely got room and food to spare?” I asked, earning a nod from my friend and looked back down to the map. This could indeed work.

The highway that ran through Old Oaks (Route 77 it seemed) continued onward towards Janesville. It passed through the dead forests and hills that surrounded both towns, before finally passing straight through the other town and turning southeast. The highway would make their travel easier and faster, avoiding the natural pitfalls of the wasteland. It would also give them a better field of view around them, making sudden attacks more difficult... that is if the trees did not encroach on the road too much. Of course, on the other hoof, it would be the most likely place for raiders or bandits to ambush travelers.

“How clear is the road?” I asked after a moment of silence. I figured it would be better to take the quick deadly way, rather than the slow deadly way.

“Clear enough. Like most highways in th’ wasteland it’s covered in sand and dirt in spots, but it’d be smooth goin’ for much of th’ way to Janesville,” Stone answered this time. He stepped up between Balefire and I to place his hoof atop the map, mid way between the two towns. “Th’ forest is right atop th’ road here though, makin’ it a prime spot ta be ambushed.”

“Yer not suggestin’ we up and move ta a Confederate town, are ya?” the aged stallion asked, eyes now narrowed upon me. “Why, them bastard’s ain’t never done anythin’ for us when we needed it!”

“We killed off those Super Mutants,” Balefire said, and quickly spoke over the stallion’s response, “Even if it wasn’t solely for your benefit, it still helped you. And without question they’d take you all in. While we don’t have the ponypower to protect everywhere in the wasteland, we won’t turn away those in need.”

“It’s not like you have a lot of choice in the matter either,” Wild added from beside Silver, the mare having trotted around the table to find a place to get a look. “You can either listen to those trying to save your worthless hide or stay here and get killed by raiders.” She narrowed her eyes upon the pony and leaned over the table, nearly nose to nose with the old stallion, ears laid back. “You're likely old enough they wouldn’t ass rape you a half dozen times... doubt they’d eat you either... you’d likely be turned into someone’s tent. I imagine your hide’s tough enough.” The stallion paled and wisely shut up.

“What my friend’s trying to say is... this is your only option that has the best chance of saving everypony here,” I said before anypony else could argue with us, or get Wild to more graphically explain why staying was a bad idea. “At the very least, it would get you somewhere safe where you can decide whether to stay there or go somewhere else... but it will give you time to make that choice.”

“I agree,” Silver spoke up, “As Jackhammer pointed out, we don’t have the supplies to make it anywhere else. As Red and others have said, we can’t very well stay here. We’re vulnerable, and everypony who heard that broadcast for help knows.”

“I told them it was a mistake...” Lilly said.

“Regardless... it’s decided.” That got even the old stallion’s attention away from the threatening pegasus still eyeing him. “I’m not going to let our second chance at life be wasted. We’re leaving Old Oaks tomorrow morning and making our way to Janesville.” She turned away from the ponies at the table to look at me, ignoring their weak protests. “Marshall... I hate to ask after what you and your friends have already done for us but... our chances of making it to the end of this journey would be vastly improved if you would help us. Please, we’ve already lost enough ponies... I don’t want to lose anymore...”

I looked over the gathered ponies for a moment before I answered and noticed Silver was not the only pony looking at me hopefully. Jackhammer, Tink, and Silver’s daughter all shared the look. Even the two old ponies who had done nothing but complain seemed to be looking towards me with less hostile eyes.

In truth... I think I’d already decided to go with them while looking for someplace safe for them to go. I’d come this far to save them... hell, I’d come out here to do a lot more than just save one town. I had come to help anyone I could. Still... I couldn’t speak for my friends. With the sky chariot, Wild could easily get them all back to San Ponsisco and safety.

“My friends are free to do as they wish... all I can speak for is myself,” I answered, looking from Balefire, Wild, and Stone before turning to Silver and the ponies sitting around the table. “But, I came out here to help anyway I can. I’ll do my very best to protect you all on the journey to Janesville.” The room was silent as I finished and I looked over the surprised faces of the ponies at the table. I suppose this was something I’d have to get used to.

“Well, don’t think yer gettin’ rid of us that easily,” Stone said, breaking the silence and looking over towards me with a smile. “Ah meant what Ah said back in San Ponsisco.”

“Yeah, I suppose I might as well stick around since my other plans are shot all to hell. After all, it’s not like Stone’s going to let me whisk him away to some tropical island and work on them dozen foals we talked about,” Wild piped up, grinning evilly over to the aforementioned stallion who suddenly found his hooves very interesting.

“I didn’t leave San Ponsisco just for a change of scenery. I think it’s high time somepony did something to make the wasteland a better place,” Balefire chimed in, grinning as he put his hat back atop his head. “Seeing how you was planning on doing that yourself, Shadow, I figured I’d just tag along,” he added, looking to me.

“Well then...” I chuckled at my friends, knowing that Spirit would likely have no problem with going if the wounded needed her. As for Carrion... well, he had come with me to Old Oaks. “It seems we’ll all be going with you.”

Silver smiled, nodding her head, and was about to respond until the sound of rapid hoof steps caught our attention. The noise caused nearly everypony present to swivel their ears towards the source. Whoever it was, was in a hurry as they approached the double doors leading into the courtroom. I turned my head just in time to see those doors fly open as three ponies stumbled into the room. All three looked as if they’d recently been in a fight. I recognized Carrion at once, then the two guards that had gone with him and the town’s doctor. I also noticed Carrion limping as he walked...

“Carrion? What happened? Where’s the doctor?” I asked, moving towards the ghoul as he neared. His glowing orange eyes passed from the gathered ponies to me as I spoke. As he came closer, I realized that not all the open wounds on his face and neck were the ones he always wore. Instead, some were quite fresh and still dribbling what passed for blood. His pitted and worn armor also seemed to bear fresh scars. The two guards trotting beside him bore a number of recent wounds, one trailing blood from a gunshot to his shoulder that his armor had failed to stop. Turning back to Carrion, I notice him stagger a bit and reach a hoof out to help try and steady the wounded ghoul. He brushed the offered hoof away and snorted, eyes locking with mine as he answered me.

“We tripped over the rug in the doctor's house...” he answered, before growling. “The damn raiders jumped us as we were leaving, what the hell do you think happened?” This was met with a sudden increase in noise as nearly everypony in the room attempted to ask questions all at once. Carrion rolled his glowing eyes and seemed intent on ignoring them all.

“She shouldn’t have gone off like that...”

“More raiders? Oh goddesses they’ve come back to finish us off...”

“Likely just a single raider... the ghoul’s overreacting...”

“”Quiet! All of you!!” Silver shouted, slamming her fore hooves upon the table. “Sweet Celestia’s tits, you're all fucking useless!!” I blinked and turned back towards the table, seeing an enraged grey coated mare glaring down at the ponies seated around here. “How Mayor Newflower ever put up with you is beyond me!” The only sound in the room was from Wild, calmly clapping her forehooves together for Silver. When the group seemed unwilling to speak again, Silver turned back towards us. “Now... what of Fiona? Is she alright?”

“She’s alright. Luckily she was in the middle of the group when the shooting started... well, lucky for her,” Carrion answered, glancing to the wounded stallion who had sat himself down beside one of the benches. He was holding a hoof to his shoulder. The second guard stood beside him, eyeing him worriedly. He seemed to have come out largely uninjured save for a couple minor cuts and scrapes along his face, neck, and flanks.

“I’ll live,” the wounded pony said as Stonehoof went up to him and began looking over the wounds.

“How many were there?” I asked, looking back to Carrion. The ghoul pony shrugged and shook his head slowly.

“Couldn’t get an exact head count on them, they were shooting at us from a couple buildings down. We killed two of them, injured at least one more. If I had to guess, I’d say around six maybe. I heard at least three types of weapons being fired.” His answer was quick and to the point, like a trained soldier. Which he was. “Most of the buildings on that street haven’t been touched by the fires yet so they could be in any number of them if they stuck around after we left...” Whatever else Carrion was about to say was cut off as a rather annoyed sounding stallion spoke up. Wild’s death glare apparently had worn off... pity.

“I thought you killed them all?” he asked, eyes narrowed as he looked from the wounded guard to Carrion and myself. It was as if we were somehow to blame for all this.

“How’d we miss them?” I asked Carrion, turning away from the old bastard and pointedly ignoring him for the time being. We didn’t have time to play the blame game and that seemed to be all that a couple of ponies wanted to do. It was no wonder the town had been so easily taken with these fools in charge.

“Hard to say. They could have been on the very edge of town, outside the range of your Pipbuck’s scanning spell. Or they could have come in through one of the breaches in the wall after we killed the others,” he answered, running a foreleg across his face to wipe away the ooze coming from his wounds.

“That seems more likely. If they’d been in town, they would have heard the increase in weapons fire from Town Hall and we’d have been dealing with them a lot sooner,” Wild added, stepping up beside Carrion and myself. Her blue eyes darted over to Stone and the wounded guard before looking back to the old stallion to silence him.

“So... what, a random group of raiders?” Balefire asked, trotting up with Jack, Silver, and Tink.

“Maybe...” I answered, ears flicked back. I didn’t really believe it could be just dumb luck that a group of raiders just happened to be passing by. The others picked up on my tone of voice and looked to their weapons, safeties clicking off. “At this moment, that isn’t important. We have raiders inside the walls again with unarmed and wounded ponies scattered about outside.”

“Jackhammer, take Skip and Tink downstairs. Have the wounded moved back inside Town Hall as quickly as you can. Get somepony to round up the search parties I sent out around town,” Silver called out. The mare was proving herself more than capable of taking charge despite what others might have thought. “Once everypony’s inside and accounted for, get with Flint. We need to do a sweep of the town and kill these bastards before they can hurt anypony else.”

“Got it. Come on, Skip, let’s go get them wounded inside.” Jackhammer looked from the grey coated mare to the unwounded guard sitting beside his friend. The stallion, Skip, nodded his head and stood back up. He slid his pump action shotgun back around to his chest and within easy reach of his mouth. Offering a foreleg to help the wounded guard up, he began following after Jackhammer. Tink quickly followed after her grandfather and the two guards.

“Flint, I want you to start rounding up the remaining guards. Get them restocked with whatever ammo we have left and divide them into teams of four.” Silver turned to the armored stallion beside the table, ears laid back. This mare was in no mood to be messed with. “We’ll need to find them if we’re going to be able to search the town for supplies.”

“We’ll have at least four or five teams at most if we do that. Most of the guards died defending the town when the raiders first breached the walls. The few that aren’t wounded, well, most would simply get themselves killed from exhaustion,” Flint answered, rubbing his forehead slowly. “It’ll take us most of the night to shift through the rubble looking for any hidden raiders.”

“Damnit... if we split them up more, we run the risk of losing more lives to these raiders...” Silver sighed and sat down hard, reaching up with a hoof to rub her face tiredly. Like everypony else in Old Oaks, I doubted she’d gotten much rest over the past twenty four hours.

“We can help,” I said, stepping toward Silver. The mare lowered her hoof to look up at me. “Some of us have been fighting raiders for years, longer in some cases,” I added, looking over to Carrion who merely nodded his horned head in agreement. “We can either search with your ponies or spread out on our own. With our help, you can get the place secure more quickly.”

“Agreed. Go with Flint and get yourselves restocked from our ammo stash,” Silver said, looking from me to Flint. “Give them whatever they need. We owe them our lives and I won’t have them getting hurt because they ran out of ammo.” The old stallion at the table seemed ready to argue, but silenced himself for once. Perhaps he wasn’t as stupid as I thought. Silver stood up and nuzzled her daughter once, speaking softly to her, “I want you to stay with Fiona while I’m gone, alright?”

“Gone?” the young mare asked, looking worriedly up at her mother.

“Silver? What are you doing?” Flint asked as he trotted around the table on his way to the doors.

“Just because I’m the new leader of this town doesn’t mean I’m going to sit on my flanks while my fellow guards go raider hunting,” she answered him. Her horn glowed as she hefted her weapon up to her from where it’d been laying against the table leg. She looked over towards me and smirked. “Now... let’s go kill these assholes.”

The darkness of a cloud covered wasteland night would have surely completely swallowed Old Oaks hours ago if not for the fires still burning throughout the walled town. What would have been dark deserted streets, ruined buildings, and burned out piles of rubble was instead cast into a soft, almost calming orange glow. As if the entire town was lit by candle light. The scent of smoke filled the air and the steady crackle of the fires replaced the normal silence of the wasteland.

Occasionally that constant sound would be interrupted by a sudden single gunshot, normally followed by more. Other times it would be from a nearby team yelling, ‘clear’ or ‘enemies down’ as ponies slowly advanced through the town. Thus far, however, neither Stone nor myself had encountered any signs of the raiders. It was beginning to look like it had only been a small group of raiders that had attacked Carrion and the town guards. Perhaps stragglers from the larger group that had attacked the town.

Despite the risks involved, we had decided to work in pairs. While it had worried Silver, I had agreed with my friends. After all, they had far more experience in fighting raiders than anypony else in Old Oaks, myself included. Perhaps due to that fact, it had been agreed that Stone would be watching my back, while Wild would keep Balefire in line. Since Spirit would be staying with the wounded, Carrion was the odd pony out. Somehow, that did not seem to trouble him. When Stone had suggested him working with one of the locals, he had snorted and said he worked better alone for this sort of thing. A fact backed up by his many years of hunting raiders in Kanter City alone.

The remaining guards had each broken up into teams of four. As Flint had feared, there were only enough to form four of them. In an effort to more quickly clear the town, Silver had decided to have us search in one long row, stitching to either side of the walls enclosing the small town. The smaller groups (my friends and I) would work in between the larger, watching their flanks for anyone attempting to sneak around behind them. It was a sound plan, and allowed for something else.

Behind the line of armored ponies came a group of volunteers armed with nothing more than shovels, crowbars, an old beat up wagon, and their wits. As we searched and cleared the ruined homes and piles of rubble of any raiders, they would quickly come up and search for anything that might have survived the fires, or the raiders looting. Along each street trailing the patrols were groups of a dozen ponies. Two to pull a wagon, and the rest to divide into groups to search either side of the street. While it didn’t seem they were having a whole lot of luck, they’d still managed to find a couple things for the journey to come. Canned food that had been looked over by the raiders, a trunk of odds and ends that could be used to repair the wagons the raiders had brought with them, and those that the townsfolk had been forced to use as barricades. Even the odd bottle of water or medicine. Some had even begun taking toys for the foals.

Stone and myself had been given the town’s main street to walk along while local teams on either side of us cleared the still intact buildings and smoking piles of rubble. My large grey friend trotted beside me, eyes scanning the ruined buildings to either side of us as we worked our way slowly down the street. Ahead I could see the edge of the wall looming, marking the end of this leg of the search.

We’d both been silent for much of the search, focusing instead on the possibility of raiders lying in wait for us. However, it seemed less and less likely. As we drew to a halt to give the teams on either side of us time to search two partially burned down homes, I turned to my friend and decided to strike up a conversation. We’d not really had a chance to talk a whole lot on the way over here, and it’d been awhile since I’d seen either of them.

“So, things seem to be going well with Wild,” I began, my words drawing Stone’s attention from the team on our right to me.

“Ah reckon ya could say so,” he answered, looking a bit flustered for the moment before he continued, “Ta be a bit honest, Ah was wonderin’ if it hadn’t just been a fling. After all, we’d just survived goin’ inta Kanter City, and ya both just saved me and a whole lotta other ponies from the raiders.”

“Plus, you two did fight like cats and dogs,” I added with a chuckle, well remembering how they had acted after leaving Crossroads. This earned a deep snort from my friend.

“Yer right, we did fight quite a bit. Th’ mare just got under my skin with her constant devil may care attitude.” We both looked away as a sudden crash caught our attention. It turned out to be nothing more than one of the pony’s searching the ruins brushing up against a ruined support beam. It had tumbled out into the street and glowed slowly from the fires that had eaten away the rest of the wall.

“I suppose... but you don’t strike me as the type of pony to just be up for a short fling,” I said. The local guard smiled sheepishly at us before rejoining the rest of his team in finishing the search. “Wild on the other hoof... well...” How could I put it mildly...

“Wild wouldn’t think twice about it, Ah reckon,” Stone answered with a smile. “Ah was a bit worried about that, too... ‘specially after Raincatcher.” For a moment, I had to search my memory for the owner of that name.

It wasn’t until we’d advanced to the next row of buildings that I finally remembered the mare he spoke of. It’d been while searching one of the walled up well sites around Crossroads that we’d come across her... or rather her body. The mare had died alongside her fellow guards defending the fresh water source from a horde of geckos that had attacked them. Stone had never really gone into the details of his relationship with the poor mare, just that they had been close once.

“Are you worried something might happen to her like Raincatcher?” I asked as the team on our right entered the remains of a home. The other team was just finishing up their search and were advancing upon the last one on their side of the street.

“No, well... not exactly,” he said, looking away from searching the wall and back to me. “Ah told ya once, each day yer alive is a gift and not a given right. Ah know eventually somethin’s gonna happen ta one of us... Ah can only hope it’s me if it comes down ta it.” He noticed my worried look and smiled, though it lacked the sincerity it normally held. “Th’ wasteland’s not a kind place, nearly everythin’ out here’s out ta kill us.”

“So... if not that, then what?”

“When Ah got with Raincatcher, she’d just lost her family. Ah suppose Ah shoulda known better, but... well, we all make mistakes Ah reckon. It’d been a while since Ah’d let myself get attached ta a mare and Ah enjoyed havin’ somepony ta spend my time with. Ah shoulda really seen it wouldn’t last. In th’ end, it was just a copin’ method for her. At least, that’s what Lilly and Rose said. Everypony deals with things differently and Ah didn’t hate her for it,” he said, green eyes going from me to the ruined home across from us as the team finished their searc.

“So... you're worried it’s just a fling for Wild?” I suppose given the pegasus’ free spirited nature, I could see why my friend would be concerned. When I’d first met the mare, she came off as flippant, smart mouthed, and downright crude. However, as time went on, and the three of us began spending more and more time together... well, I got to know the real Wildfire. While she was still the flippant, smart flank mare with the foul mouth I’d found atop a rocky outcropping, she’d also become a friend I could depend on to watch Stone and mine’s back. A pony who knew right from wrong, and had paid for that belief.

“Ah suppose part of me is... a part that’s afraid she’s gonna wake up one mornin’ and wonder why she’s wastin’ her time with an old buck like me.” My chuckle caused my friends ears to turn towards me. A moment later, his head followed with a confused look on his face. “Well, Ah didn’t expect pourin’ my heart out ta ya to be funny... or ya of all ponies ta laugh at somethin’ like this,” my friend said, ears laying back as he narrowed his eyes upon me. I suppose we all got defensive when bearing our heart and souls to another.

“It’s not that, Stone...” I answered, smiling towards my friend and holding a hoof up. “It’s just that anypony can see that mare’s crazy about you. Even a pony as blind to a mare’s advances and charms as me it seems.” That got a slight smile from him, and he relaxed a bit. “She couldn’t stand the thought of you being captured by those raiders. She ignored me when I told her to get the wounded to safety and came to rescue you herself.” I thought over my next words before continuing, “Hell, she all but broke down in tears when she told me how you’d pushed her off the ledge to keep those raiders from capturing her again.” I glanced around the street before looking back to my friend. “Just don’t tell her I said so, or she’ll break my legs.”

“Ah know it’s all hogwash, what my brains thinkin’... but it’s nice ta hear somepony else thinks th’ same thin’.” He chuckled softly. “Ta be honest... Ah don’t think Ah’ve ever been this close ta a mare before. Or any pony for that matter...”

“Hey... what am I?” I asked with a hurt look on my face. It soon turned to one of pain when a large grey hoof punched me in the shoulder, thankfully not the sore one.

“Yer cute and all that, but yer not really my type,” was his response before he seemed to be thinking over something. At first it seemed the subject was going to be dropped. At least until he seemed to come to a decision and went on to add, “Ta answer yer question proper... thing’s are goin’ very well. In fact, Ah’ve been mullin’ over somethin’ for th’ past two weeks.”

“Oh? So you are thinking of having a dozen foals?” I asked teasingly, earning a blush from my friend’s cheeks and a raised eyebrow from me. “Really?”

“Sorta... Ah’ve actually been savin’ up my caps for somethin’.” He reached back into his saddlebags and rummaged about for whatever it was.

Meanwhile, the remaining team had finished their search of the final home and were inspecting the wall in preparation for the return trip. Up the street, the search teams had combed through the rubble for anything useful for tomorrow's journey. As Stone continued to search, I looked back the way we’d came to see the dozen ponies that made up our street’s search team making their way slowly towards us. I noticed that the two that had begun the journey pulling the wagon had been switched out. I suppose as not to tire them should things turn ugly. The wagon itself appeared held together with wonder glue and prayers.

“Here it is!” my friend cried out in triumph from beside me. I turned to see just what he’d been looking for in that bottomless pit he called a pair of saddlebags. As my eyes fell upon the object held in his mouth, I blinked and flicked an ear to the side. What he had was a plain wooden box, though it did appear to be quite old judging by the workponyship put into its creation.

Sitting down on his haunches, he placed the box carefully upon an upturned hoof and nosed the lid open. Old metal hinges gave a slight squeak as they swung the top upwards. Holding it out towards me, I stepped closer to see what was inside and found myself still wondering what all this had to do with our earlier conversation. At least, until I got a better idea of just what all these things had to do with one another.

The two most noticeable items within the box were two stones, or rather quartz. One was half the size of a hoof and a smokey grey color, while the other was a bit smaller and had a rich red orange hue to its edges. Actually, the smaller of the two had also been chiseled into the shape of a pony. Judging by the look of the back, it was a pegasus. Beneath them lay a simple metal band, appearing to be made of steel... or was that silver? Tucked into the corner of the box were a set of tools, fine tipped for working with small objects.

“Believe it or not, th’ hardest thin’ ta find was th’ right colored stones. Ah asked every trader that came inta Crossroads about quartz, so much so that Ah think Ah might’a annoyed a few of ’em,” my friend said as I looked over the items. He sounded a bit nervous. “Th’ necklace was actually easy enough ta find, with a bit’a help from Rose and Lilly.”

“I suppose you never heard the end of that once they figured out what you were up to?” I asked, smiling warmly to my large, embarrassed friend.

“Only a few days worth. Ta be honest, Ah think they were both happy Ah’d found somepony.” He looked over the half finished figure of a pegasus in flight fondly. “Been workin’ on it ever since.”

“You made this?” I asked, looking from my friend to the hoof carved figure. While it was far from finished, it still showed a high level of skill in the mane and face of the pony.

“Ah didn’t get this cutie mark just cause Ah can break stone right easily,” he answered with a snort. His free hoof lightly tapped his flank and the pick and shovel cutie mark he bore. “Ah’ve a bit of skill when it comes ta workin’ with stone ta make things, too.” He gently shut the lid, as the search team approached us and the final row of homes.

“Well... it shows in the details. So, the orange quartz will be a pegasus and the smokey grey stone will be an earthpony, right?” He nodded in response and I smiled a bit. “I wonder who they could be. How long until it’s finished?” I watched as he returned the small box back to his saddlebag, noting how careful he was when dealing with it. The box likely had some value to him as well, besides the items held inside.

“A couple weeks, Ah reckon. Ta be honest, it’s taken me a bit longer than Ah thought it would, but then it’s somethin’ Ah wanna take my time on and make perfect. Ah’d also like ta be somewhere safe when Ah give it ta her... and ask ’er ta marry me,” he answered, turning back towards me.

“Wablah?” was all I managed to get out for the moment as my brain decided to lock up at this news. Hell, I think even my E.F.S. flickered out. My friend, meanwhile, chuckled at my reaction and stood up from where he’d been sitting. He dusted his haunches off with a swish of his tail.

“Ah’ve been thinkin’ about this for awhile now, ever since we escaped Kanter City. Talkin’ with y’all had helped me see that Wild ain’t really in this just for a short fling.” He shook his head slowly,. “Ah feel a mite bit ashamed of even thinkin’ for a second she might... and Ah don’t wanna waste anymore time thinkin’ or wonderin’ about this. Ah want that mare ta be my wife. For however long we got in this world.” He smiled and lowered his hat a bit over his eyes. “Maybe once we’re all finished with this here mission yer on... it just might be time ta think about them foals she’s always teasin’ me about.”

“I... well.... I suppose congratulations are in order, Stone... if not a bit early,” I began, once my brain (and Pipbuck) restarted themselves. Stepping up beside him, I placed a hoof upon his shoulder and smiled warmly. “Once you’ve finished that necklace, don’t let me keep you two from starting a life for yourselves back in Crossroads. I can handle myself.”

“Ah’ll keep that in mind, but yer th’ reason Ah even got ta know Wild. Ah’m not gonna just up and abandon ya out here. It’s not just her Ah found myself gettin’ close ta... Ah’ve started thinkin’ of ya as a little brother ta be honest.” He placed a hoof over mine and smiled. I was speechless at that. To think my large grey friend thought of me like that... well, it meant a lot to me. ”Sides... Ah ain’t convinced ya can take care of yerself without one of us watchin’ out for ya. Not ta mention Wild’s made it her quest ta get ya laid before th’ next apocalypse.”

“Well... hopefully she doesn’t quit her day job.” It felt good to laugh about something so silly after the fierce fighting we’d just been through. Along with whatever we were about to face on the trip. Just then, I remembered something I’d been meaning on asking him and Wild whenever we had a moment. Getting my laughter under control, I looked back to my friend. “That reminds me... how exactly did you guys know what I was going to do?” Stone snorted softly as he reigned in his own laughter to answer me.

“Well... that’s a mite bit of a strange story ta be honest. We were already plannin’ on visitin’ ya yesterday as ya know.” As I nodded my head, he continued slowly, giving himself some time to think how to explain things. “It was a couple days ago, a strange mare came inta Crossroads lookin’ for Wild and myself. Said it was important she talk ta us about ya.”

“A strange mare?” I asked. I already had a suspicion who he was about to describe and felt my stomach tighten up at the possibilities.

“A zebra shaman of all things, speakin’ in riddles and th’ like.” He went on to describe a zebra mare similar to Second Sight. At least it sounded like her. “Ah’d have just ignored ’er as another crazy wastelander if... well, she knew things about ya. Like... well, what happened ta yer sister.” He went silent at that, knowing that subject was not something I cared to really speak of... or think of. “Ah knew ya wouldn’t go round tell’en some stranger about that... Ah doubt ya even told yer fellow Stable ponies th’ full story.”

He was right of course. I hadn’t told them. Oh, I’d told them what had happened to Ebony, that the raiders had taken her away to be worked to death... only Bright and Spearmint knew just what all they had done to her. Not everypony needed to know what she’d gone through. But... I hadn’t told them how she’d died. I hadn’t told anypony I’d shot my own sister to spare her so much pain...

“Shadow?” A grey hoof lifted up and placed itself upon my shoulder gently, a worried looking face staring at me from beneath a worn dusty cowpony hat. “Ah’m sorry, Ah didn’t mean ta bring up painful memories... but Ah can see Ah was right about that. Ya didn’t tell anypony else that.”

“No, Stone... I didn’t. It’s not something anypony else would really understand... not until they’re faced with something like that themselves,” I answered, rubbing a hoof against my cheek. Thankfully there didn’t seem to be any tears this time. “So... this stranger... what’d she have to say?” I asked, attempting to get the conversation back on track.

“Ta be honest, not a whole lot,” my friend said, lowering his hoof from my shoulder and snorting softly. “But what she did say was enough for th’ both of us. She said ya needed us, that ya was about ta do somethin’ no other pony had in a long time, and that ya’d need us there with ya till the end.”

“You believed her?” I asked, earning a knowing look from my tall friend as he lifted a single hoof up. He waved it around us, at the smoking ruins of Old Oaks and the wasteland beyond.

“Ah knew ya well enough, Ah reckon. Yer not th’ sorta pony who’d willingly sit on yer haunches while others are in trouble. So, Ah believed what she said well enough, as did Wild.”

“And here we are...”

“And here we are... tryin’ ta help ponies in need.” A smile began to spread across his snout as he looked around the ruins. “Not off ta a bad start, Ah reckon.” I chuckled softly and shook my head.

“And the strange zebra? What happened to her?”

“She just up and vanished from town after speakin’ with us. Th’ last thin’ she said was she had ta go find th’ Marshall.” I blinked at that and felt my ears stand up straight. “Ya see why Ah was a mite interested in why ya’d taken ta callin’ yerself that earlier.”

“I... well, it was the first time I ever did call myself that,” I answered simply, tail twitching a bit as I’d been sitting on it for a bit and rose up onto my hooves. “Like I said earlier... it just seemed the right thing to say.”

“And this mare? Ya’ve seen her yerself, ain’t ya?” he asked, head tilted to the side as he waited on my answer.

“Yes... twice actually. Once I’d literally stumbled upon her in the streets while going to see some friends and again during the Nightmare Night party. She seemed to be waiting for me... though how she’d know I’d come down that street is beyond me...” At first, I was only going to tell him about what she’d said. I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be if I started bringing up seeing images of ponies who supposedly hadn’t been born yet. Yet... as I spoke, I couldn’t find it within myself to leave them out. Especially one pony in particular... the short grey unicorn mare with the Stable jumpsuit and Pipbuck. Even now I oddly felt some sort of... connection to that mare. As I began describing what all I’d seen, Stone said nothing and simply listened to me. When I’d finished, he continued to be silent. I wondered if perhaps I shouldn’t have told him. However, what he said next surprised me.

“Ah... believe ya, Shadow.” I blinked and sat back down in shock. “Ah’ve seen some fairly amazin’ sights in my travels across th’ wasteland. Some frightening and disheartenin’... others wonderful and enough ta give a pony hope.” He sat up straighter as his green eyes fell back upon my face. “Ponies need hope. We ain’t had it for a long, long time. Most have given up hope, that things can’t get better. Not even those in San Ponsisco really believe it’ll ever be like it was... but ponies like ya... well, ya believe it can.”

“I’m not sure, Stone... I mean... I want to help those I can...” He held up a hoof and stopped me, before continuing himself.

“Were ya not sure ya could save me from th’ raiders? It’d been safer and easier ta just write me off and get those ya had saved back ta Crossroads. Nopony would’a thought any less of ya... since that’s what nearly any sane pony would do given th’ choices.”

“I couldn’t do that...”

“Did ya want ta help all them ponies on th’ train? Ya had saved me, could’a just taken me and jumped off th’ back of the train. Th’ raiders wouldn’t have known what happened till we was long gone.”

“And left them all to die? No... I couldn’t...”

“Since Ah’ve known ya, ya’ve put yerself in harm’s way more times than Ah can count. Ya’ve risked yer life for ponies ya’d never met, had no obligations to. Ya’ve fought harder ta save a single life than any pony fought for whole town full.” His smile grew. “That’s why Ah believe ya, Shadow. Yer one of them rare things Ah’ve seen in th’ wasteland. Somethin’ ta give a pony hope.”

I... honestly didn’t know how to respond to that. My eyes lowered from my friend’s bright green eyes, and his warm smile. I think he really did believe me... and what Second Sight had said. Maybe it was time I started believing. If not in that... then in myself. I was about to thank him when the sound of approaching hoof steps caught my ear.

Turning around to look over my shoulder, I saw one of the local guards approaching us. A large unicorn stallion by the name of Longstake if I remembered correctly. Similar in coloration to Stone, expect his coat was a bit darker grey in color and he had a much longer brown mane and tail. I had not seen his cutie mark, due to the long coat he wore over his combat armor. His weapon of choice was a lever action rifle slung across his neck, similar to how I wore my shotgun, and a pair of revolvers similar in caliber to Balefire’s. He was in charge of the two teams sweeping the buildings on this street.

“Ah reckon we’re just about finished up round here, just as soon as th’ search teams are done combing through th’ last two homes. Once they’re finished, we’ll be headin’ on back ta Town Hall and settin’ out for th’ other side of town,” he said as he drew to a stop near us, dark blue grey eyes looking over the darkened ruins behind us before down to us. “Everythin’ quiet, Ah take it?” he asked.

“Beyond the sounds of gunfire a couple streets over earlier, it seems to be,” I answered. It had been a rather uneventful few hours (despite the conversation I’d just had) given we were expecting raiders to be waiting to ambush us. “Everypony alright in your teams?” I asked and was rewarded a snort from the town guard and a rolling of his eyes at the question.

“Surehoof got ’er hoof stuck in somethin’ by one of th’ homes that had only partially collapsed. Th’ stupid mare twisted it fairly badly as a result and Ah had ta ask th’ wagon ta haul her sorry flank with th’ recovered supplies,” the dark grey stallion answered.

“Oh?” I glanced back towards the wagon and to the sight of a dark blue earth pony mare sitting miserably upon one side. Her head hung low as she stared at the cracked paved road beneath the wheels.

“Ah’d have been happier if Silver would’ve assigned ’er ta one of th’ other patrols instead. Th’ mare’s not th’ most focused in th’ world,” was his response before he slowly began walking a couple steps back the way we’d came. “She’d have gotten somepony killed if we’d run inta any ‘real’ raiders.”

Thus far, the only sign of raiders any of us had come across was the body of a dead stallion in one of the untouched homes a few buildings up from Town Hall. He’d been found hiding in the former home’s bathroom, clutching a nasty looking gut wound that had eventually killed him. He must have been involved in the firefight near Town Hall, and had escaped in the confusion. At that time somepony stumbled upon him, most in the patrols were quite jumpy. Many were expecting to be shot and killed after having survived the siege on their home. So it was understandable that when the bathroom door, which had been locked, was kicked in and the first thing they’d seen was a spike-armored, blood soaked pony propped up in the shower they had fired off a dozen shots wildly in response. I wondered if this Surehoof was one of the ponies involved in that.

“At least we found no livin’ raiders,” Stone spoke up, turning to regard the guard stallion for a moment before looking to the flame lit streets behind us himself.

“Doubt there ever were raiders in this part ’a town. It seems whatever activity yer ghoul friend came across was all over near th’ Doc’s home.” He was right of course. As we’d come up this side of town, we’d heard a couple rounds of gunfire going off across the street from us. Twice it’d gotten intense enough to the point that I’d almost suggested that Stone and I go to check up on the other teams.

I looked from the street to Longstake and cocked my head a bit, ears perked forward as I regarded the unicorn guard. He almost sounded disappointed we’d not found more than a single dead raider on this search. Was he really hoping to find more of them? Stone picked up on that as well and decided to ask him pointedly about it.

“Ya sound a mite disappointed we didn’t find more than a single dead raider,” my friend pointed out, ears twitching a bit. “Were ya hopin’ we found some live ones ta fight?” he asked, brow arched a bit beneath his hat. The questioned stallion’s own brow lowered and he narrowed his eyes upon the street and buildings around us, not looking towards Stone.

“Ah’d be lyin’ if Ah said Ah hadn’t... Pa always taught me ta tell th’ truth,” he said, ears laying back as he went on. “After everythin’ those bastards took from us... Ah’d like a chance ta repay ’em,” was his final response, before turning away from the way back and walking between us towards his fellow guards. “We’ll be movin’ out in five minutes,” he added as he passed me.

As we watched him move away, I wasn’t sure which had me more surprised. The fact a normal pony, a member of a small town and one of it’s defenders, would actually hope to run into a group of crazed raiders just so he could kill them... or the fact I found myself understanding the reasons why a pony would want to... and myself actually having wanted the same thing not that long ago...

As another wasteland night fully settled over the smoking ruins of Old Oaks, the survivors of the once peaceful town began to take stock over what they had lost and what they had managed to safe. For the past three hours all across the town, ponies had shifted through the ashes of former homes and stores looking for anything that had survived the fires. Cans of food, boxes of random bullets, and the odd bag of medical supplies was the main focus of the search, but more then that was found. Family heirlooms were pulled from beneath the rubble of homes along with small personal effects that had belonged to ponies that were no longer with us. A scrap of clothing. A favorite tool. A foal’s plush doll. These were the most painful items for the searchers to find, a constant reminder of those they had lost.

The final death toll was high, but not as high as it could have been if help had not arrived. Of the roughly one hundred and sixty ponies that had called this place home, well over a quarter of them had been lost since the fighting had begun around Old Oaks. Included within those lost was the family of Longstake. Killed as they’d attempted to flee their home near the wall.

Only now, after everything else had been seen to, could the survivors see to their dead. Burying them was the most traditional way and had been for much of pony history. Before, each tribe had it’s own way of seeing to ones family and friends off to the next life. The pegasi had long given their honored dead a warrior’s send off, and would burn the remains upon a pyre. For those who had betrayed their fellow tribe, they would be left to rot upon the surface. An act they still practiced according to Wild and one backed up by the existence of Dashites. Unicorns would build tombs within gem mines, sealing their loved ones within vaults of beautifully carved rooms with personal effects and mementos from their family. As for us earth ponies... well, we’d always buried them within the ground. Returning them to the world that had given them their life. After the tribes came together, most began practicing this method as it was simpler and far easier.

At first it was decided that the dead of Old Oaks would have the traditional send off, taken beyond the walls of the town and buried in the graveyard half hidden behind a nearby hill. At least to begin with... but doing so was fraught with problems, the two most worrying was safety and time. To bury so many, and in the time allowed, at least a dozen or more would need to begin digging now, and would have to work through the night to see the grim task finished. More would need to stand guard over the gravediggers, and would put more lives at risk of a raider attack. Even digging one mass grave would take time... and deprive ponies of much needed rest. In the end, Silver relented and agreed to going with a simpler method: a large funeral pyre.

Of course this led to more heated discussions (something I was beginning to think ponies did just for the sake of being difficult) and a few earth ponies resisted the plan. At least until Wild got a hold of them. They quickly silenced themselves once my winged friend made two very good points. First, it would save the strength of the survivors who were about to set out on an almost two day journey through the wasteland to Janesville (something Silver and I had been arguing about for the better part of thirty minutes). The other was that it would insure that any raiders who entered the town after we’d left would not dig the dead up for... things nopony wanted to think of. Wild was more than happy to detail, to which both Carrion and Stone backed up.

With these matters resolved, my friends and I left Silver and the locals to see to the final details of the funeral and their preparations for leaving town. As for us, we all finally managed to get ourselves some much deserved rest. I sat quietly on the steps of Town Hall, carefully running an oil stained cloth across the smooth metal barrel of Luna’s Ruse. I worked thoroughly to wipe away any trace of the day’s grim work. Beside me on the worn pitted stone step, lay the magically enchanted drum magazine for the shotgun. The runes glowed a deep midnight blue, far brighter than they ever had before in fact. It made me wonder if the moon was out tonight. Or if it was a full moon.

Pausing for a moment, I lifted my head up and looked across the dark lightless sky above and sighed. Not for the first time since coming to the surface, I silently wished those clouds would open up... if only just a bit so I could catch a glimpse of the sky. Of the sun or moon... even just a few stars. Sadly it seemed, my prayers would once more go unanswered. I lowered my eyes back down to the steps of Town Hall and the street below. Hours before, the wounded had been laid out across the open space. In the dim flickering light of dying fires, I could see red stains upon the pavement and bits of blood soaked cloth. Now over a dozen wooden chariots lay parked about the area, along with one sleek black armored shape.

Wildfire was carefully looking over the sleek military craft with the eyes of a skilled pilot. She’d brought the black armored transport in from the outskirts of town not twenty minutes ago after returning from wherever she and Stone had slipped off to. Since then she’d spent all of that time going over it, looking for any signs of damage. The orange mare slowly walked around the backside of her chariot, hoof running along it’s smooth surface. Despite the long trip, and our opposed descent into Old Oaks, the chariot had suffered very little real damage. It bore a few fresh dents and scratches that marred the paint where raiders had hammered away at it. With a nod of satisfaction, the winged mare smiled to herself before moving around to the front and the flight harness.

A few of the locals, Silver among them, had suggested we make use of the chariot as a transport to move the wounded to Janesville while the others traveled by hoof and wagon. However, it would take Wild a number of trips to ferry all the wounded to the neighboring town, given the chariots limited and cramped interior space. I’d decided against doing that, not only due to it wearing the pilot out quickly, but also because thanks to the efforts of Spirit, Fiona, and the local townsfolk who had volunteered, none of the wounded were in immediate risk of dying. The sky chariot would not only be better served as air cover should we be attacked, but also giving us a bird’s eye view of the terrain around the road.

Lowering the cloth I held in my hoof to the drum sitting beside me, I reached over and picked up one of the small tools Stone had let me borrow. Its small tip would work well to dig dirt from the tight confines of the gun’s workings. In my haste to leave San Ponsisco, I’d left my own gun cleaning kit behind. I was about to placed the well chewed tool handle into my mouth when I noticed Stone had stopped his own work on the step below me. Instead, the stallion was watching Wild as she worked on the fight harness of the chariot. His hat rested beside him on the steps along with his heavy saddlebags and rifle. I smiled and shook my head slowly at the old stallion, looking for all the world like a young buck with his first crush.

As I closed my teeth about the handle and began my work on my shotgun, movement from the end of the street caught my eye. Shifting a bit to get a better look while continuing to work on Luna’s Ruse, I saw Balefire and Tinkerbelle walking slowly down the sidewalk away from Town Hall. They appeared to be speaking to one another about something. It became clear what the subject was when she lifted up her homemade weapon for Balefire to see more easily. I snorted softly as my young friend attempted to show more interest in the sawgun instead of it’s inventor. I looked about for the mare’s grandfather, not spotting the old stallion anywhere nearby and chuckled softly, hoping he’d not break anything Bale needed for fighting. For Tink’s part, she seemed genuinely happy somepony close to her own age was showing an interest in her work. Silently, I hoped Balefire would not hurt her feelings. It wasn’t something I’d need to worry about really, seeing how of the many... and I do mean many, mares he’d seemed to know, none seemed upset with him despite his ways. Still... if he did, I was sure Spirit could put him back together for me.

Focusing back on my shotgun, I gently brushed the dull tip of the scraping tool against some build-up of dirt and grime between the barrel and stock. It seemed blood had gotten into it and dried, making a bit of a mess. The slow steady scrap of metal against metal echoed about me as I worked, eyes fixed upon the small mass of filth. Flakes drifted down from the mess as I worked. I was so focused on it that somepony had managed to sneak up behind me. Although given who it was, I doubted I’d have heard him if he really wanted to be quiet. Years of hunting raiders alone had a way of honing such skills.

“I hear you’re calling yourself a Marshall now, Shadow..” Carrion’s rasping voice said from above and just behind me, making me jump a bit. Luckily I managed to keep from dropping either the tool or my weapon as I turned back to regard the ghoul. “I hope that badge hasn’t gone to your head. There’s a lot of lives depending on you.”

“Perhaps it has a bit. Celestia and Luna knows no sane pony would willingly come out into the wasteland unless they were a bit crazy,” I said. I set Luna’s Ruse back down beside me and spat the tool out of my mouth, smirking a bit back to my friend. “But then, I suppose it takes one to know one, eh?” When he didn’t answer, but instead remained looking off down the street, I added with a sigh, “I know what’s at stake, Carrion. I’m trying to help them as best I can. Just as I did on the train, I’ll do everything I can to save these ponies.”

“We’re not on a train, Shadow. This won’t be as easy as that was, despite the fact we have a shorter distance to travel. We’ll be on hoof, exposed to the elements and the wildlife. Sometimes the best you can do isn’t enough,” the former Equestrian army officer said, sitting down upon the top step while keeping his eyes locked on some point down the street. “I did my best to save as many of my soldiers as I could in Kanter City and all that did was insure I watched each of them die slowly of radiation poisoning along with any civilians ‘lucky’ enough to make it into the sewers with us.”

I frowned at that and turned away from the ghoul to look out across the ruined town; at where Balefire and Tink had just gone off towards, and where Carrion was so focused upon. A new fire had started within the walled town. However, it was not wood or stone that burned within it, but flesh and bone. Around the pyre, stood nearly all of the town’s survivors as her dead was slowly consumed within the blaze. Though we had saved the town from complete annihilation, it sure did not look or feel as if we had. I sighed softly and lowered my eyes from the sad sight and flicked my ears away from the sound of weeping. As I looked away, my eyes happened upon Luna’s Ruse. Its smooth black metal seemed to shimmer in the fire light. I gently ran a hoof along it, recalling the pony who had owned it before me, and what he had done with it. Finally, I answered my friend.

“The best is all we can give, Carrion. Nopony can give more than that, as I spoke, I looked back up to the pyre. Instead of the flames, I looked to the ponies standing around it. “Even if all you save is a small hoof full of lives or none at all, at least you know you didn’t just give up. At least you know you tried your best and that’s all anypony can really hope to do. Try and do what’s right, try and save as many lives as they can.” As I finished, I looked back up the steps and saw Carrion was gone. I shook my head and turned back around towards the fire, before my eyes lifted skyward and searched the clouds overhead.

Morning in the wasteland came and with it came the threat of a wasteland storm. Whether normal or acid it was too soon to tell, but regardless of the type we had to be on the move soon. Last night had been peaceful enough, but nopony was for sure how long it would last. As I stood in the window on the third floor of Town Hall, my eyes were drawn to the distant dark grey clouds and the occasional flash of yellow or blue lighting. As the most recent flash of light faded from my vision, I saw a pony standing behind me in the broken remains of glass that clung to the edges of the window. A grey coated mare wearing mismatched armor, looking past me at the storm clouds beyond. Her purple eyes shifted over the rolling thunderheads before they turned to me.

“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, Shadow,” Silver said, ears folding back a bit as her eyes shifted from me to the dark rolling clouds hanging above the eastern hills once again. “We couldn’t have picked a worse time to travel it seems,” she added with a soft sigh. A flash of lightning masked her reflection as it cut across the darkening skies. I gave the storm clouds one more look before I turned around to answer her.

“I honestly doubt there’s ever a good time to travel in the wasteland, Silver,” I began, offering the mare a smile as our eyes locked, attempting to reassure her. “Our luck may yet change, according to Wild. The storm is slow moving, and we may only be forced to spend a few hours weathering it before we reach Janesville. She also believes it’s normal rain, and not the acid storms that sometimes sweep down from the mountains.” On that I hoped she was correct. There’d be no cover between Old Oaks and Janesville for us if it turned out to be acid rain.

“I believe our luck did change, Shadow,” she said, calling my attention back to her in time to see a small smile replace the worried frown she’d been wearing. “When you answered our call for help.” She placed a hoof upon my shoulder and leaned up to kiss my cheek. “Thank you.”

“Well... you’re quite welcome...” I said, feeling a bit of heat rising to my cheeks as she lowered her hoof back to the floor and took a step back. “So... everything’s ready then? Carrion’s finished with his work?” I asked, to which she nodded her head.

Carrion had come to me earlier in the morning with a suggestion. The old ghoul had an idea on how to slow any raiders following us down a bit, by using a trick he’d done in the tunnels under Kanter City. Mining the path behind us. I’d been reluctant at first, given the nature of his explosives and their inability to tell friend or foe, but he had made a good point when I’d voiced my worries. Anyone behind us as we left Old Oaks would not be a friend. After speaking with Silver and Stone, they had both agreed and Carrion had set to work. Ironically enough, it was the raiders themselves who gave my friend the means to carry out his plan.

While we had prepared to begin our search of the ruins the previous night, Silver had had a couple ponies go through the raiders’ wagons. Within one of the overturned wagons they discovered four wooden crates filled with military grade explosive charges and, in some cases, still in their original shipping container. Carrion had taken a look at them before we set out, and had agreed they were the actual hardware used by the Equestrian Military during the war. If anypony was to know for sure, it would be the one who used to use the stuff. To the best of everypony’s knowledge, there was nowhere within the wasteland where they could still be made, outside of San Ponsisco. Balefire had said the Confederacy had managed to recover and repair a small weapons factory within the city, and had the ability to make small amounts of these kinds of explosives, but he’d not heard of any missing military shipments.

However, there were a number of abandoned military bases and small ammo dumps scattered all across Equestria where somepony could have recovered the explosives. It was not uncommon for a trader to come into a town to sell such things after braving what normally would be a ghoul infested location. Although, it was not so common to find so much of one thing, and not generally all in one place. Not after a hundred and fifty plus years of salvaging anyway. However, we’d worry about that later. For now it was time to be get underway and the wasteland waited for nopony.

“You know, I’m still not crazy about this plan,” I said, nodding my head towards the stairs at the end of the hallway and began making my way slowly towards them. Silver turned with me and fell into step beside me. Our’s were the only hoof steps within the old building, everypony else would be outside finishing their last minute preparations. “What if some scavengers should arrive instead of raiders?” I asked, turning my head to look beside me.

“Do you always worry about imaginary ponies, Marshall?” Silver asked, a teasing smile on her muzzle as we began walking down the wooden steps towards the second floor. “For the better part of six months, nopony has managed to reach us... I doubt it will change within the next couple of days. Besides, we can’t leave this building for anyone with bad intentions to move in.”

“I know, Silver, and I agree with you,” I said as we reached the second floor and started for the stairs to the first. Despite my concerns about the plan, I had agreed with Silver and Stone on setting the traps for any raider who set hoof inside Town Hall. However before I did, I made sure the trap would not sit unsprung for longer than needed and convinced Carrion to set a timer on the explosives. The longest timers he could find or make would give us half a day's head start before going off. While it seemed a shame to destroy a building that had survived the end of the world, I did agree it seemed smarter to insure no raiders or bandits could use it for a base to harass Janesville.

“I know how they feel, despite not having lived here my whole life,” she said softly, eyes looking over the first floor as we made our way towards the front doors. “My sister and I were forced to leave our home back east and had to do something similar.”

I arched a brow to the mare and wondered what had happened to force the two to travel so far. They had once lived in a Stable somewhere back east, but she’d never said where. Now it sounded as if something major had happened. Major enough to blow up an entire Stable? Was that even possible? I mean a Stable was made to prevent just that from happening.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I noticed we were quickly approaching the main doors and that Silver seemed to be slowing as we drew closer. The silver coated mare stopped completely before the doors in an odd repeat of my reaction the day before. I came to a halt beside her and arched a brow as she shut her eyes and swallowed uneasily. I knew that look. It was the same look Bright had when I’d told him he would be taking charge of getting the ponies from Stable 45 to San Ponsisco. It was the look I imagined my face had when I realized I’d just put the lives of a train load of ponies in my hooves. It was the look of a pony who had the weight of the world suddenly thrust upon her shoulders, and unsure how she was going to do it. Worried she was going to get somepony killed.

I knew that look quite well...

“You can do this, Silver. You’ve been doing this already and despite what some might say or think, you're the right pony to lead them.” I reached a hoof up and gently rubbed her shoulder.

Opening her eyes, she looked from the doors to me. Concern and fear filled her wide purple eyes as she tried to calm herself. Finally, a small smile once more spread across her face and she nodded her head once towards me. Releasing her shoulder, she took a step forward and pushed the double doors open. The dark storm clouds had yet to reach this side of the building. Dim morning light filled the doorway, along with the humid wasteland air which still smelled of smoke and death.

Following the mare out, I took a couple steps away from the doors and looked out over the gathered ponies waiting on us. A dozen rickety wooden wagons sat lined up from end to end along the street, all pointed westward. Each of the wagons had been assigned a group, starting with two ponies who would pull them along the road ahead. Within each was the collected supplies the townsfolk had recovered from the smoldering ruins of their home. Everything from food stuffs to water and ammo were carefully stacked in wooden boxes, trunks, or anything else that could be found to hold them. Upon the rear of each wagon were two barrels, filled with filtered water from the town’s aging well system. Also within the wagons were the wounded, spread out as best they could, along with those too old to make the journey by hoof. All the gathered medical supplies were stored within a single wagon, located within the center of the group. It also would serve to hold those with the worst wounds. Spirit and Fiona would be near them at all times, when not checking up on the others.

My eyes were drawn to the wagon sitting near the base of the steps, and a middle aged stallion helping his daughter and young son up into it. The pair settled beside a truck of supplies where a guitar had also been set. Silver had allowed every pony the chance to take something from their former homes with them (at least those whose personal effects had not been burned away by the fires). In most cases the items were small, old photos of parents or grandparents. A keep sake from a loved one, or hoof made gifts from friends. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do.

As we began descending the steps to the sidewalk below, the ponies who had been talking among themselves or sitting quietly waiting for the order to depart started to look towards us. I glanced over them as we moved, looking over the worn tired faces of ponies who had survived the worst the wasteland could throw at them. Despite losing their home, and in some cases loved ones, I saw a glimmer of hope within their eyes. Hope that at the end of the road they’d find something they’d been lacking for months: peace.

A few of the ponies we passed called out greetings to Silver or I. This seemed to bolster the mare’s confidence and, before long, she was answering their calls with one’s of her own, which seemed to help ease the worry upon a number of faces. Not all were welcoming to their new leader though, but it was clear the majority of the ponies agreed with Jackhammer and Tink. They were sure Silver would steer them right.

A few moments later, we reached the head of the convoy and the lead wagons. I was not surprised to also find my friends there, waiting for me. I smiled at all of them. Jackhammer, along with another stallion, were hitched to the nearest wagon. The old pony looked over to me with a nod of his head and a slight smile. Behind him upon the buckboard, his granddaughter was seated. Her razor-gun was held firmly in her forehooves as she watched us. The seat beside her was empty, until Silver climbed up into it. Behind her in the wagon lay her sister, the wounds she had suffered the day before looking well cared for. Beside her sat Silver’s daughter, looking about at all the ponies and wagon with some excitement. I suppose it would be a bit exciting to be going out into the world for the first time.

Across from the ground based wagon sat the second wagon, sleek armored sides reflecting what little light filtered through the grey clouds overhead. Hitched to the front was Wild, her long unkempt red mane tied back into a ponytail for once. Her black helmet was attached to the chariot, tucked under one foreleg. Standing within the back of the chariot, in the open doorway, was Stonehoof and Lonestake. Both stallions’ rifles leaned against them in the doorframe.

Nodding to each, and offering a smile to my two friends, I turned and looked towards the not too distant wall. A group of four ponies stood beside the open doors of a simple gatehouse. Balefire and Carrion, along with two local guardponies, scanned the surrounding hillsides for any signs of trouble, looking through binoculars or using their own eyes. We all waited for several minutes as each made sure no raiders or beasts lay waiting for us to step hoof beyond the wall. At last, after each had nodded to the other, Carrion turned back and waved a hoof forward. The way was clear... it was time.

Turning back to the lead wagon, I saw Silver giving the smoldering ruins of Old Oaks one final look, before lowering her purple eyes and settling into her seat beside Tink. She sighed softly before looking down to me, nodding her head.

“It’s time to go,” she said, to which I nodded my head. “Marshall, would you take point?”

“It would my pleasure,” I answered, smiling up to the mares before looking to Wild and Stone, nodding my head to the pair. My winged friend needed no more urging, and snapped her feathered limbs open with a burst of dust and soot. Flapping them quickly, she and the chariot she was attached to began to rise up from the pavement, slowly beginning to move ahead. I watched them pass over the wall before I turned back to the line of wagons behind me. Over a hundred faces looked back at me. A hundred lives rested within my hooves and those of my friends... I’d not let any of them down. I wouldn’t let Sugar down... and wherever she was, I wouldn’t let my sister down.

My name is Shadow, and I am an Equestrian Marshall, and I will help these ponies...

“Alright ponies... roll out!”

Welcome to Level 18!

Perk Added: And Stay Back!: While using a shotgun, you have a 10% greater chance per pellet, or flat 30% chance for a slug, to knock an enemy back. Note that this perk actually knocks down the enemy rather than sending them flying as the description suggests, similar to Super Slam for melee attacks.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay, a lot of things happened to cause me to fall behind, mostly the fact this chapter was re written a half dozen times. Hopefully I fixed any mistakes that happen between transferring it from Google Docs to FimFiction but I was in a bit of a hurry to do so, so I may have missed somethings. If so, I am sorry and will fix it as soon as I get home from work.

Enjoy!

Editor and Chief: TheGamefilmGuruman

Pre- Reader: Bronyken

Original Cover Art: TimeForSP

Current Cover Art: MisterMech Go. Worship his work.