Well, I was going to ask how things went in there… but judging by the looks on your faces, I’d say they didn’t quite go the way we’d been hoping.” Those were the first words I heard after stepping through the front doors of Janesville’s City Hall. The owner of said voice did not come from the pair of ponies I’d exited with, but from the orange coated mare leaning up against a black iron lamp post on the sidewalk. A few locals walking by eyed the mare as she pushed between them to reach the base of the steps to the building. I snorted at the question and lightly stomped a forehoof onto the step.

“No, Wild… they most certainly didn’t go the way we’d all hoped,” I answered while slowly making my way down the half dozen stone steps leading to the sidewalk from City Hall’s main entrance. Two sets of hoofsteps followed me after a moment’s pause at the top. Once I’d reached the sidewalk, I moved a couple paces away from the stairs and turned towards them.

Silverluck gave me a quick look from beneath her striped blue mane before shifting her eyes away. She looked towards the passing locals on the sidewalk or to a wagon rolling past us along the street on its way somewhere or another. Her ears were laid back and when she sat down near the steps, her shoulders were slumped a bit. She looked both tired and defeated. I sighed after a moment. Shaking my head, I stepped over to the miserable looking unicorn before speaking.

“Silver, don’t blame yourself for how things went in there… I don’t, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it.” Those were the first words I’d said to the mare since leaving the mayor's office. I suppose I could see how she might think I was upset with her. When she didn’t even acknowledge my presence and continued to look away from me, I added, “There wasn’t anything you could have done to change how things went. They’d already made up their mind before we’d even entered the room… hell, likely the second they saw who all was with us.”

“Maybe not…” Silver finally spoke up, turning her purple colored eyes towards me as she shook her head slowly. “But I could have at least said something in their defence… stood up for them, told them how they’d saved us... but I didn’t. I kept my mouth shut.”

I sighed and rubbed a hoof across my face. It was still largely covered in the accumulated grime of several days’ worth of travel through the Dead Woods. I realized just how tired I truly was when I found myself almost wanting to agree with her. She’d not bothered to say much after the mayor agreed to allow her ponies to shelter within the walls of Janesville... but that wasn’t really fair. She had a number of foals to think about, as well as wounded, and of course her sister and daughter. No, I doubt anypony else could have worked the courage to speak up… not if Ebony and Sugar had been here.

“Shadow’s right, Silver. There was no way any of us could convince them to change their minds about this and doing so may have put your own ponies at risk of being kicked out. I also don’t believe any of us can truly blame them. After all… they are just looking out for the welfare of their citizens as any of us would,” said the second pony to follow me out of City Hall. One who had the dubious honor of being the devil’s advocate.

Carrion stood unmoving as Silver turned her gaze away from me to look over at him. She seemed slightly surprised to hear the ghoul unicorn say such a thing… all things considered. I might have been surprised myself, if I hadn’t gotten to know the old army officer a bit more on this trip. He spoke his mind, and told you the truth… despite whether you wanted to hear it or not. Most of the time he was correct.

“He’s right, Silver. Despite my actions to the contrary, I can’t really blame them for being afraid… after all, they don’t know them as well as we do,” I said, rubbing the mare’s shoulder with one hoof. I let it drop back to the sidewalk with a light clopping sound. “I’d imagine even in San Ponsisco they’d have been treated the same.” That was a bit depressing really when you considered what the city and the ponies living within it were supposed to represent.

“I take it the ghouls can’t stay?” Wild asked us as she looked between the three of us.

“No. They can’t stay inside the town’s walls,” I confirmed, perhaps a bit more bitterly than I’d intended. While our welcome to town hadn’t gone quite the way DJ Three Horns had spoken of, it had gone rather well all things considered. Nopony could really blame a town about being apprehensive over the arrival of just under a hundred strangers on their doorsteps suddenly, with nowhere else to go and talk of raider attacks all along the road. With so many mouths to feed and issues with shelter, it would cause a perhaps unrecoverable strain on any small town. I doubted even towns like Crossroads and Tombstone would have been more welcoming. There was rarely enough food, shelter, and medicine for their current citizens.

Still, they’d been friendly enough, if a bit leery of allowing us all inside at once. A number of ponies had even began to line the walls in curiosity as we told our stories to the officer in charge of the local Confederate unit, Lieutenant Swift, a rather agreeable pegasus mare who looked barely older than I. As the next hour passed, the locals began to relax somewhat and a few came out to assist with the wounded.

That all changed when they discovered just how many ghouls were traveling with us. Then again, ghouls had been vilified by their feral counterparts attacking most anypony on sight. Carrion had appeared the least affected by the locals’ reactions to ghouls in our group’s little herd. Fleethoof appeared quite distraught with how a few of the townsponies eyed her with fear and a bit of hatred.

Things had almost turned hostile when they discovered how many of the ghouls were ferals. It was rather pitiful watching a couple curious ferals come running back to us when one of the local mares began screaming about monsters. They’d looked more like frightened foals than pony eating beasts. Luckily, both Fleethoof and Lieutenant Swift had managed to calm everypony down once guns were drawn. If somepony had been killed, I doubt even one of the princesses could have stopped a massacre from happening right there in front of the gates…

“So… what’s going to happen to them?” Wild asked, a note of anger filling her voice as her ears folded back. “Are they just going to be kicked out of here?” She and Fleethoof had taken a liking to one another after I’d introduced the ghoul mare to her, as well as a number of the ferals while we’d finished the last leg of our journey to Janesville. She had especially became fond of the foals, but I don’t think any of my friends didn’t feel something for the young ponies who’d never gotten a chance to grow up… at least not properly.

“Hey, ya’ll mind not blockin’ th’ sidewalk?” a stallion asked before I could answer my friend’s question. He trotted around us with an aggravated snort, his saddlebags appearing loaded down with something. Judging by the direction he was going, I expected most of it was scrap or looted supplies. A couple other locals went around us with similar expressions to the stallion and, judging by the looks we were getting from others, I doubted we’d be allowed to stay for much longer. I had an appointment to keep elsewhere anyway.

“Not entirely no…” I answered before standing up as I noticed a pair of armored ponies round the street corner behind us. “Come on, let’s get out of everypony’s way before we get a ticket for loitering,” I added, not wanting to cause any more problems than our arrival already had. I began walking slowly away from the guards and City Hall.

“What do ya mean, not entirely?” Wild asked as she quickly fell into step beside me. Behind us, I heard Carrion and Silver standing to follow. The path I’d chosen would take us deeper into the town, towards its business district.

“The mayor agreed to allow them to stay on one condition: that they’d remain within the abandoned section on the north side of town,” I explained as the others easily caught up with us.

Unlike some towns across the Wasteland, Janesville had been inhabited since the day it was built by a small wagon train of ponies coming out west. The falling balefire bombs had not frightened its citizens enough to leave their homes. However, they had wisely built a large number of bomb shelters in their backyards or basements. While not Stables by any means, they proved enough protection for the citizens to survive the first couple months and allow them to begin attempting to piece their old lives back together.

The first thing they’d done was build the first wall surrounding the town and it proved to be the most intelligent thing to do. It was crude and very simple, but effective enough for the time. I’d seen it while one of the local guards had shown my friends and I around the town’s current wall. It looked a lot like a cross between the hastily thrown together piles of trash and scrap metal that had surrounded Old Oaks and a very tall fence.

As the years after the bombings went by, the number of ponies living within the town began to drop due in large part to untimely deaths. A large number of them were caused by mutated animals entering through gaps in the wall and attacking the citizens as they walked along the streets. A smaller number was caused by radiation poisoning either from contaminated food or water. A few even came from the first ever recorded raider attacks.

The surviving citizens began rebuilding their wall into what it was today: an imposing defensive ring of stone, metal, and wood all taken from the surrounding countryside. In the process of strengthening it, however, they also had to shrink it due to lack of many of the raw materials used to build it. So they were forced to leave out parts of the town, but luckily for them at the time they were buildings they didn’t need anymore. Those were the buildings that the ghouls would be moving into now.

“You mean they’re letting them move into the town’s dump?” Wild asked with a snort and a ruffle of feathers. As we crossed the street, my winged friend glanced down the row of buildings to either side of us and lashed her tail in anger while adding, “Yeah… that seems reeeeal generous of ’em.” Behind us, I heard Silver sigh while Carrion was silent as usual. Although, I had a feeling this was affecting him more than he was letting on.

“No, it’s not fair, Wild. Nothing’s fair in this fucked up world anymore. I get that… I argued with the mayor for the past hour, but in the end it was either that or they’d be forced to leave the town,” I pointed out, feeling my ears fold back against my head at recalling the somewhat… heated topic. “It’s better this than leaving them to fend for themselves out in the wasteland.” This was especially true now that the remaining few who could successfully hold the herd of ferals together had begun figuring out just what had happened to them and how much time had truly passed for them.

“They seemed to be doing a pretty good job of that actually,” Wild countered with an angry look directed towards me which disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.

I sighed and could tell she regretted her words almost immediately after saying them… still, they’d been said. She had a fair point. Despite the conditions of their former home, they had been surviving just fine on their own in that cave. Blissfully so even. Believing that help was coming for them, that the Princesses and their government hadn’t abandoned them to die out there. At least they had until I trotted along and ripped them from that nice fantasy and tossed them out into the harsh realities of life. They were my responsibility, and I wasn’t about to leave them adrift until I could find them someplace safe to stay.

“Surviving sometimes isn’t enough,” the rough voice of Carrion said from a few steps behind us. His sudden inclusion to our conversation caused both Wild and I to stop and look back towards the old ghoul unicorn. Silver was doing likewise from her spot beside him, head tilted to the side as he went on. “I survived just fine in the underworld of Kanter City for a very long time as you might recall, but I wouldn’t truly call it living.” Orange glowing eyes shifted to look at me as he continued to explain, “I started doing more than just surviving the day you three dropped into my little dark world. I also started thinking of doing more than just surviving, but of rejoining the rest of the world and help clean up the mess those of us from the past made.”

“The mayor and the town’s council are just afraid of what will happen to innocent ponies when the feral ghouls begin remembering themselves from before the balefire. I’ve noticed a few acting a bit differently from how they were when I first met them. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen before… and it’s never a good thing for those around them,” Silver added, ears folded back. She’d mentioned something about that before, back in Old Oaks.

“And they have every right to be afraid of that happening,” Carrion spoke up again, his own tattered ears flicking back for a moment. “I’ve seen it happen both in Kanter City and San Ponsisco.” That got a surprised look from me until I recalled the welcome book we’d all been given upon arriving in the ruined city and the section speaking of the ghoul ponies living within it. I suppose if they’d had to write a warning down, it wasn’t as uncommon a thing as I’d thought.

“What's done is done, there’s no going back and undoing it,” I said, shaking my head and turning back around to begin walking down the sidewalk. The number of ponies coming and going had increased as we drew closer to the town's business district. “We’re just going to have to make do with what we have and the choices that we made or had forced upon us.” Wild glanced up from looking down at the sidewalk, locking eyes with me before she simply nodded her head. Nopony spoke as we continued walking, my winged friend falling back into step beside me before speaking up.

“Shadow… I’m sorry about what I said… I know you didn’t really have much choice… and the young filly’s life was at stake...” she began. It really wasn’t in her nature to be quiet for long, especially if she thought she’d hurt one of her friends. Before she could say anything more, I snorted softly and gently bumped her flank with my own while offering her a smile.

“It’s alright, Wild, don’t worry about it.” She smiled back at me, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Despite my words, I could tell she was still bothered by what she’d said to me… but she seemed to let it drop for the time being.

Our journey was slowed somewhat by the crowds of ponies seeking to do business with one of the stores lining Main Street. It was about midday, and while it normally wouldn’t be this busy, a couple of the smaller outlying settlements had sent ponies into town to buy supplies. Like Tombstone, Janesville seemed to have a half dozen small clusters of ponies living around it. Mostly on or near natural resources such as a bit of farmable ground to the south or the iron mine to the north. Main Street crossed over the highway at the exact center of town, with the shorter roadway leading to these outlying settlements.

As the center of town came into view, I took the opportunity to look over the rather surprisingly large open space. The highways didn’t simply cross one another as one might expect, instead forming a box around what had once been a small park. Beside the stores housed within the buildings lining this plaza, there were a number of wooden stalls set up within a nearly empty park. The trees had long since been cut down, likely for the construction of one of the walls and in general I doubted they had survived the radiation. All that remained were stumps used for seats now by the ponies manning the stalls or those just seeking a quick spot to rest, along with a few surviving park benches. The statue standing within the center of the park remained, however, and appeared almost pristine despite the decay of the park around it.

As we worked our way through the crowd, I found our path going near the statue. I glanced up at the only slightly chipped and worn stone figure standing upon the pedestal. A larger than average earth pony stallion posed proudly upon a bit of sculpted rock, a rugged scruffy face staring across the eastern horizon and the town of Janesville. Oddly enough, he was equipped about as well as any wastelander I’d ever come across, a simple looking shirt with a trench coat over it seemed to be his only protection from the elements. Under the coat was a couple belts to which a number of weapons and pouches were attached. His cutie mark also could have belonged to a pony living in the wasteland rather than the past. A pair of runs, one an Equestrian assault rifle and the other a machine gun crossing over one another.

When we were forced to stop for a moment as a pair of mares pulled an overladen cart past us, I happened to catch sight of a plaque attached to the statute’s base and saw writing across it. Like the statue, the brass plaque appeared to be in fair shape and the words could actually be made out.

‘Dedicated to the hero of Clayton, who dared stand up to the corrupt nobility and who freed its citizens from unjust taxation. In his honor do we rename our town.’

Before setting off with my friends again now that the sidewalk had cleared a bit, I glanced back up to the statue and arched a brow at the… rather unheroic looking stallion depicted there. The more I really looked at it, the more my old security training kicked in and I started profiling the pony as a criminal. Maybe a hired gun judging by the amount of weapons he carried. Snorting, I shook my head and turned away from the oddity and focused upon our first stop which was just across the plaza.

The sleek black armored sky chariot was hard to make out thanks to the crowd of curious ponies that had gathered around it. Only the top of the passenger compartment could still easily be seen over the tops of their heads. Our transportation was parked outside a two story building on what had once been a parking lot for wagons. Now it was a landing pad for the odd sky wagon that happened to pass through. These mostly came from the Confederacy, due to the rarity of finding a working one out in the wasteland.

“Those four goons we gotta babysit had better damn well be here or I’ll leave their happy flanks behind,” Wild said while eyeing the crowd of locals before she started across the street.

“Be nice to those ‘goons’, Wild… they’re members of the Confederate Army and the last thing we need to do is piss them off,” I responded as I followed her. The orange coated mare snorted and glanced over towards me.

“Little late to be worrying about pissing them off, seeing how we’ve got a deserter traveling with us.”

The comment caught me off guard and I stumbled a bit in the middle of the street as I came to a halt. Silver and Carrion stepped past me before I recovered and quickly moved to catch up with the others as they reached the other side of the road. I perked my ears towards my winged friend, whose only response was to smirk towards me and shake her head.

“What? Didn’t you wonder how Balefire managed to come with us? He’s a soldier in the Confederate Army and has responsibilities… I seriously doubt they just let him run off to go adventuring with us,” she said as she looked away from me. “Or did you think they just let him use up his vacation time?” she asked, her ears folding back as she continued to trot on across the sidewalk to the makeshift landing pad. “Most militaries look poorly on soldiers deserting on them. The Enclave used to have most of theirs shot at least until someone realized how wasteful it was… so now they just get life in prison to do manual labor.”

“Well fuck…” was all I really managed to say, which received a faint but noticeable chuckle from Wild. That was all we needed… problems with what was likely the only real official goverment in the wasteland. With a freakin’ army. Just. Fucking. Great. “I suppose I better talk with him about this soon… hopefully he got some sort of permission before joining us.”

Wild sniggered at how stupid that sounded and looked away. “Yeah… you best do that. Hopefully he got a hall pass too...” was all the response I got from my friend before she plunged head first into the crowd of ponies.

At first they seemed hesitant to move, too fixated upon the chariot, but after a few choice words from Wild they began parting around us. Trotting between the locals, I spotted our parked sky chariot and the large form of Stonehoof standing out front speaking with a half dozen mares. I could just make out the stallion telling them something about the chariot, though I noticed they didn’t seem overly interested in the chariot. They did seem interested in Stone’s backside as he bent forward to point something out. Wild noticed too… and her ears snapped back with an almost audible sound.

Stalking forward, the fiery maned mare pushed her way between the local mares with a bit more… force than was really necessary. I doubted the orange coated unicorn who had been leaning forward to look more closely at Stone’s flanks didn’t appreciate being shoved face first into the ground. Luckily the pavement had worn down enough that there was a thin layer of dust to break her fall rather than her nose.

Stone was just turning around when Wild reached him and whirled around to face the assembled mares, one foreleg going up to wrap around Stone’s neck and bring his head forcibly against her chest. The other lifted up and waved at the mares as she narrowed her eyes upon them.

“He’s mine ladies, back off.” I heard a couple chuckles come from the crowd around us, along with a few sighs. The semi circle of mares around my friends took the news much the same way, though the one who’d been shoved into the dirt eyed Wild angrily. Two of them stood out from the rest however and I realized just who these two mares must be.

“Ain’t a problem, ma’am… got my own back at th’ house. Don’t need two of ’em muckin’ about th’ place,” called out one of the mares I’d noticed. She was a unicorn who was built more like an earth pony mare, with strong legs, shoulders and flanks… at least what little I could make out. She was wearing the same olive green armor that I’d seen every other soldier of the Confederate Army wearing and it was this that had caught my attention.

Her coat was a very pale blue to the point of almost being grey while her mane and tail were a dark shade of green, both cut short. The parts the armor didn’t cover was instead hidden by a tight fitting green jumpsuit, similar to my own Stable’s version. Though her’s lacked the yellow stripping of mine, her shoulders were adorned with a pair of yellow chevrons. Like anyone living in the wasteland, she wore a pair of saddlebags, but they were smaller than my own and a light tan color. Upon the flaps were the letters C.S.E. in yellow. Resting across her chest was an Equestrian style assault rifle, well maintained and without a speck of rust or dust upon it. Beside her main weapon, she had a pair of revolvers holstered to her saddlebags and a combat knife strapped to her right hind cannon.

She trotted a few steps away from the other mares and offered a pale blue hoof to Wild. She locked her own dark blue eyes with the stormy blue of my friend, explaining, “Ah’m Corporal Shady Oaks and this shy thin’ is Private Honeyrose. We’re from th’ local garrison and are th’ two soldiers yer lovely self is tottin’ round th’ wasteland today.” As she spoke, she waved a hoof to the mare beside her.

Private Honeyrose was the opposite of the larger built unicorn. She was a slender built earth pony mare who would stand just a few inches shorter than I if she hadn’t been sitting down. The fur upon her face and neck was a pale yellow while her tail was a deep red color. I could only see a few strands of her mane due to her position. Most of it was hidden by a slightly worn combat helmet which had a pair of goggles strapped to them. As for her eyes, they flicked with annoyance from us back to the mare doing all the talking. The rest of her body was covered in the same olive green combat armor and jumpsuit, although her shoulders bore only a single chevron. Like Shady, she had a pair of saddlebags across her sides and an assault rifle over one shoulder. Also like the Corporal, she carried a backup weapon in the form of a semi automatic pistol slung across her chest and a couple of grenades.

“Hmm… not that I’m not grateful or anything, but I got the impression the good Lieutenant would be sending a couple more of you guys along for the run,” Wild answered after taking the offered hoof and shaking it. “I’m by no means complaining, I honestly wasn’t looking forward to having to haul a wagon full of supplies and armored ponies all the way back here after the trip we just made.” Beside her, Stone managed to slip free of Wild’s rather tight grip and dusted himself off a bit. Meanwhile, the rest of us shared a quick look and took the chance to close in before the crowd cut us off from our friends and the two soldiers.

“Ah reckon that was th’ original plan, but there’s been some trouble up north with th’ mine,” Shady began to explain as Carrion, Silver, and myself stood off to the side. “Seems th’ miners diggin’ uncovered a large cave that musta lead out ta the wasteland… if’n that was all they found wouldn’t be a problem, right? Well, just so happens this cave housed a nest of radscorpions. A messenger ran into town with th’ news a short while after ya’ll arrived and after th’ original plans had been made. Lieutenant Star sent Sergeant Lucky Strikes and his squad ta help clear ’em out while ya’ll was talkin’ with th’ mayor.” At this, Stone wrinkled his muzzle and folded his ears back.

“Radscorpions on th’ surface are bad enough ta fight, but fightin’ em underground in their own lairs? That ain’t easy. Ya can easily outmaneuver ’em on th’ surface, but underground there ain’t normally much room ta work with. Ah hope this Sergeant Strikes is as Lucky as his name claims,” my large grey friend said, looking between the two military mares. As I recalled, Stone’s family had originally been miners so I believed what he said. It also helped that I’d fought my share of radscorpions to know just how deadly they could be. The ache in my flank was all the reminder I needed of that fact.

‘Ah wouldn’t worry about th’ good Sergeant, he’s been in th’ Army longer than Honeyrose’s been outta diapers… as he’s so fond of remindin’ her.” The pale yellow earth pony darkened a bit around her cheeks as she blushed. “He’s fought everythin’ th’ wasteland can throw at ‘im and come out on top… if a might ruffed up a bit. ‘Sides, he use ta be a miner himself back before he joined.” This seemed to ease Stone’s mind, and the large earth pony nodded while letting the matter rest.

“Well, it really doesn’t matter to me as I said, beyond lighting my load a bit. It’s not like we’re expecting much trouble on this milk run, the caves are pretty damn deep inside the forest. Once we reach ’em, it’ll be a simple smash and grab. To be honest, I figured your Lieutenant just didn’t trust us,” Wild said, no longer paying the two soldiers any mind as she instead focused all her attention upon the sky chariot.

“Yer right, ain’t much livin’ out in th’ forest that far in. Ta be truthful, Ah doubt much of anythin’ is livin’ in that place,” Shady said while watching Wild walk slowly around the chariot, running a hoof across its armored surface. “And yer right about th’ Lieutenant not trustin’ ya. No offence, Marshall,” she added, looking over to me.

The comment didn’t seem to bother either of my two friends. Carrion was as straight faced as always. In truth it didn’t bother me either. After traveling across the wasteland and seeing what I had, I couldn’t honestly say I blamed them and I said as much, “None taken. After all I’ve seen since leaving my Stable, I can’t say I blame your Lieutenant.” Honeyrose lifted her head up as I spoke. The skinny earth pony blinked and shook her head before speaking up in a soft voice.

“But… after everythin’ ya’ve done for ponies across th’ wasteland… it ain’t right ya should be treated like that…” Shady looked over to her partner and rolled her eyes, though she had a smirk upon her muzzle as the other mare continued speaking, “Ponies on th’ radio been talkin’ up a storm about ya. Savin’ ponies from th’ likes of slavers and raiders… defeatin’ Celestia knows what all single hoofed…” her voice got even softer as she went on, if that was even possible and she smiled up at me.

Uh oh...

I arched a brow as she continued to list my achievements and I caught myself leaning a bit away from her. Blinking a couple times, I shook my head and glanced around to my friends. Wild had halted her inspection of her chariot once the mare had began to speak, and was hovering with just her eyes and ears visible. Despite that, I knew she was grinning evilly down at me, likely either plotting to get me some plot, or to make fun of me… or both. Stone, meanwhile, had lowered his hat across his face, head lowered a bit, but judging by the shaking of his shoulders he was laughing. Thankfully I couldn’t see Silver or Carrion, though I did hear what sounded oddly like grunting laughter from my ghoul companion followed a second later by a whisper.

“I’m beginning to believe Wild about his ability to attract the opposite sex…”

“Well… he is sorta cute…” Silver whispered back and I groaned. Thankfully, Shady decided to step in before things got anymore out of hoof.

“Ah reckon’ th’ Marshall knows all about those things, Honeyrose, bein’ he’s th’ pony who did ’em,” the corporal said, smirking at her partner before looking over at me. “Ah take it yer not comin’ with us?” Thankful for something else to talk about, I nodded my head and answered her question.

“No, neither Carrion nor myself will be going on this run. As Wild said, it should be an simple matter to go in and recover the supplies,” I began, glancing back over my shoulder at Carrion and Silver. “We’ve both got a couple things we need to take care of in town.” As I finished speaking, I tried not to notice how disappointed Honey looked since I wouldn’t be going with them.

“Mite lucky of them ghouls happenin’ ta find those missin’ supplies out on th’ road,” Shady added.

Before I turned around to respond, I could see Carrion frowning a bit while Silver took it at face value as had nearly everypony else thus far I’d told this version of the story. I didn’t like lying… but what had been done was done and telling both Silver and the ponies of Janesville the truth would serve no purpose.

“Yes, we are. Thankfully they still had enough presence of mind to recover them from the destroyed caravans, believing they would need those supplies,” I answered, turning my head back around to stare at Shady and Honeyrose. Behind them, Wild and Stone shared a look, having figured out the truth for themselves on the journey here. They had pulled me aside earlier to ask me flat out what really happened to the missing caravans. Of the two soldiers, however, only Shady seemed suspicious of the facts…

“Woulda been a right waste if’n they’d just been left ta rot out in th’ woods or them bastard raiders found ’em and took ’em for themselves. Ah reckon this will give a couple folks round here peace of mind knowin’ their loved ones didn’t die fer nothin’,” the large unicorn went on, eyes fixed upon mine. I was almost sure she knew I hadn’t told the entire truth, but I had a feeling she wasn’t about to say anything… not for the moment at least. We continued our stare a few moments longer before she nodded her head ever so slightly towards me, turning back to Wild.

Perhaps she wouldn’t tell anypony at all…

“If’n yer ready ta be away, ma’am, we’re ready ta be goin’.” Beside her, Honey nodded her head, finally pulling her attention away from me to look over at Wild.

“Well, we should be good to go now,” my winged friend said, landing at the front of the chariot and beginning to climb into the flight harness. Stone was beside her quickly and began helping her. “The chariot’s in good shape despite a couple hits from the raiders. I’d like to be back before nightfall if at all possible. Be nice to sleep in a real bed before somepony I know decides to drag us to Celestia knows where.”

“Sleep? In a bed?” I asked, the comment gaining me the attention of most of the ponies around us. “Hopefully your guys’ room won’t be on the other side of the wall from mine again so I’m not kept awake by all the ‘sleeping’ you two do.” Wild began chuckling as I finished, while Stone simply rolled his eyes. However, I noticed a hint of a smile on his muzzle before he bent down to finish tightening a strap on Wild’s chest. “Besides, you signed up for this little adventure.”

“Wow, a snide comment today and a snappy comeback a couple days ago… you’ve come a long way from that straight as an arrow buck fresh from his Stable. I do believe there’s hope for you yet, Shadow.” Wild winked towards me before glancing down to the harness to give one last quick check before looking back to the ponies around her. “Now, everypony who’s coming along on our shopping trip had better get their flanks in the chariot or get left behind,” she said as she snapped her wings open and gave them a couple flaps, kicking up some of the dust beneath her.

Shady took that as her cue to stand up and step towards the chariot. As she passed, she gave us all a quick nod and climbed up into the passenger compartment. Honeyrose was just a couple steps behind her. As she passed, she gave me a bashful smile before following her squad mate into the chariot. With Wild secured in her flight harness, Stone trotted back towards the chariot himself and stepped up inside. Instead of taking one of the seats with the mares though, the grey stallion sat himself down in the doorway with his rifle held at the ready. Giving another couple flaps of her wings, Wild began to slowly pull up from the ground, sparing a glance to first her passengers than to us… or rather somepony behind me.

“Don’t forget that thing we spoke about taking care of this morning, Carrion. I don’t wanna get back and find out it didn’t happen.” I arched a brow at the rather cryptic message between my friends and glanced back to the ghoul.

“I remember what we agreed to, Wild. I’ll take care of it, I gave you my word,” he called back, nodding his horned head ever so slightly.

Well… if I was given to bouts of paranoia that might just worry me… at least more than it did. I turned back towards Wild to find out what the two of them were talking about, but never got the chance. “Wild, what are…” Those three words had barely left my mouth when Wild snapped a salute off to me with her usual grin, before sending herself and the chariot behind her higher into the overcast sky. Blinking away the dust she kicked up at her sudden departure, I followed her progress until she began moving away from the center of town, angling towards the east and the Dead Forest. The locals around us, seeing the show was over, began to slowly go back about their business as the chariot moved away.

“Well… I’d best get back to my ponies, let them know we’re going to be able to stay,” Silver spoke up as two of my friends disappeared over the top of the wall, one of the local guards stopping to watch as they went by. I turned to Silver and nodded my head in response. “If you stop by the clinic before I do, tell Jack and Tinker I’ll stop by to check up on them as soon as I get everypony else settled in. That is, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“It’s no problem, Silver. I needed to speak with Balefire at any rate,” I answered. “Last I heard he’s been staying close to Tink’s side since her grandfather was wounded.” The old stallion had been badly wounded during our fight against the raiders and, despite being given his share of health potions, did not seem to be recovering quickly. While nopony was for sure why he wasn’t healing as quickly as he should, something was said about a sort of immunity being built up to the magic in the potions. According to Spirit and Stone, they had heard of similar problems in others. From what they could understand, it seemed that if health potions were taken often enough, a pony’s body could develop a resistance to the magic in the potions. While it wasn’t scientifically proven, being just another wasteland myth to most doctors it could just as easily be true. Stone had also mentioned the possibility it could have been the high levels of radiation we’d been traveling through. It seemed that out in the Hoof, potions would actually go bad due to all the radiation in the area, turning them white.

Silver trotted off shortly after we said our goodbyes and headed for the southern part of town, where the majority of her ponies had been allowed to stay in empty buildings or the homes of locals. Despite our rough start, and the way they were treating the ghouls, the ponies of Janesville were nice enough. Turning to leave the plaza myself, I found Carrion standing behind me still, glowing orange eyes staring straight at me. After all I’d been through in the wasteland, I think I handled it well…

“Bah! Son of a bitch, Carrion!” Okay, maybe not that well. “I thought you’d slipped off when Silver did.” A couple passing ponies glanced our way as they passed, but thankfully none stopped to stare as I held a hoof to my chest and glared at my undead friend.

“I have no pressing matters to see to at the moment,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders, eyes shifting from me to the surrounding buildings. “I figured I would walk with you to the clinic.”

“Ooookay…” I managed to say as my heart stopped racing and I stood back up. My glare turned to a slightly confused look. With nothing else to say on the matter, I turned and began retracing our steps through the plaza and back around the ruined park. The stalls and shops were still quite busy with both local ponies and a few groups from the surrounding smaller towns and communities. Carrion followed close behind, still being as silent as always and didn’t seem to have much to say despite me trying to engage him in conversation. Thankfully it wasn’t that far of a walk from where we’d been to our destination.

Janesville’s Clinic was located a street up from Main Street and, like most of the buildings in the town, was in surprisingly good shape. It was a simple two story brick and wood building, sitting upon the corner of the street with a number of homes surrounding it on all sides. Despite it looking structurally sound compared to most buildings I’d seen, the once white paint across its walls was chipped and faded. All the windows I could see still had glass in them and looked to have been recently cleaned. The yard in front of the Clinic wasn’t much larger than those of the homes, and bore only a few patches of that brown grass the wasteland seemed covered in. Again, there was evidence of trees, two on either side of the cobblestone walkway to the porch, but all that remained were the stumps.

As we neared the pathway from the sidewalk, I noticed a couple ponies outside on the Clinic’s porch. They appeared to have just stepped outside, two elderly mares being helped by a young looking earth pony stallion. Both of the mares seemed to be patients, one wore a cast upon her right foreleg while the other was thin enough for me to see her ribs poking from her sides and looked unwell. The stallion helping them looked to work at the clinic if the white shirt with a trio of pink butterflies on the sleeve was any indication. As Carrion and I trotted up along the cobblestone pathway, he glanced back towards us for a moment before returning his focus on the mare with the cast, helping her into a seat.

“Afternoon, ya’ll needin’ help with anythin’ or just here ta visit somepony?” he greeted us as we climbed up the wooden steps to the porch. His hoof held gently to the shoulder of one of the mares as he helped ease her into the seat.

“Just visiting a couple ponies actually…” I began to answer before Carrion spoke up, cutting me off.

“He’s supposed to see the new doctor, Spirit, for a checkup I believe.” My friend’s face was unreadable as I turned back towards him, brow arched.

“Oh? Ah think she mentioned somethin’ bout that this morning… but at th’ moment she and Doc Smith are upstairs in room three with a pregnant mare,” he explained, back still to us as he focused upon his work, assisting the ill mare down next to the other. “Just doin’ a check up is all so it shouldn’t take long… now who was the patient ya was wanting ta see?”

“Actually he’s not one of your patients. His name’s Balefire, dark green unicorn… he’s been here since two others were brought in, Jackhammer and Tinkerbelle,” I explained, to which the stallion snorted and finally turned to face us. His two patients were resting well enough on the porch swing.

“Ah know th’ pony ya’re talkin’ about… hopefully yer here ta take him somewhere else…”

“Has he been causing trouble?” Carrion asked from beside me, brow arched above one glowing orange eye as he regarded the earth pony before us. The question caused the pony to sigh and shake his head. His short cut blue and white striped mane bounced about his face before he looked over to the ghoul.

“No, he ain’t been a lotta trouble… truthfully he’s just been in th’ way is all.” He gave one final look to the mares, speaking to them next, “If’n ya ladies will be fine, Ah’m needed back inside.” Both thanked him for his help, offering kind smiles and nods to the young stallion before going back to keeping one another company. When neither seemed to require anything else from him, he nodded once to himself before looking back to us. “Ah’ll show ya where ta find yer friend.” With that, he stepped past us and pulled open the screen door.

“Thanks,” I said as he held it open and began stepping inside. “My name’s Shadow, and this is my friend Carrion,” I added, introducing ourselves to the medical pony as we followed him inside.

“Shadow? As in th’ famous Marshall bein’ talked about by everypony lately?” he asked, turning back to look more closely at us before focusing his attention upon me as Carrion shut the door behind us. He scanned the combat armor I was still wearing and the Marshall Star pinned to it, tilting his head a moment before he smiled. “Well, Ah see ya fit th’ bill for a law pony least… my name’s Mender by th’ way. Ah help out th’ Doc around here, along with a few other volunteers.”

“I suppose that’s me… I hadn’t thought I’d be the subject of a lot of talk around here, after all I just arrived a couple hours ago…”

“It’s a rather small town, all thin’s considered, and news travels fast,” he answered while leading us into a good sized open room that appeared to take up half of the building’s front. Judging by the number of chairs sitting along the walls as well as the tables with various books and magazines on them, I guessed we were in some sort of waiting room. Looking away from the well worn and dog eared reading material, I spotted a desk running along the back half of the room with a pony sitting behind it.

The mare had been looking over some folders upon the desk when we entered and was looking up to greet us when she noticed Mender leading us. Like the earth pony, she was wearing a white shirt with the MoP’s emblem upon one sleeve. She also wore a nurses’ hat atop her forest green mane. Giving us a quick smile, she returned to her paperwork and left Mender to guide us. Behind the seated mare was a doorway into what I assumed was either a filing room or some other office space. In front of us was the stairs to the second floor, which a quick look revealed a hallway running off to either side of the building. No doubt each were fitted with a number of rooms used for exams or the like. It was to a second doorway located to our right that Mender was leading us.

“...but it ain’t just th’ locals doin’ th’ talkin’,” he continued, causing me to tilt my head a bit. He pushed the door open and waved us inside. As Carrion and I passed Mender, I got a good look at the room beyond and was instantly reminded of Tombstone’s Clinic. Beds were lined up along the far wall from one corner to the other, with just enough space between to allow a pony to walk. A chair sat beside most, along with various other medical equipment I’d seen in similar places. Where Tombstone’s beds were mostly empty, these were currently in use and by ponies I recognized no less. A fair number of the guards from Old Oaks lay upon the beds recouping from our journey or the fight with the raiders. Most had bandages upon one part of their body or another. There were a few other ponies here as well, family members of the wounded I guessed, seeing a fair number of foals. They were also all looking straight at me.

“Ya seem ta have made a favorable impression upon ’em,” he added as a couple foals ran up to me, and began talking all at once. Either they were thanking me for saving their mothers or fathers or asking if they could hold my shotgun or hat. Carrion moved up beside me and watched the bouncing children before looking over the wounded parents and guards. I was surprised to see a very open smile upon the old stallion’s face, followed by a chuckle.

“He seems to have a surprising habit of doing that,” he said as a couple mothers rushed up to pick up their wayward foals, offering me apologies for the trouble and a number of thank you’s for getting them here.

“I suppose I do,” I answered the two ponies beside me, before offering a kind smile to the mothers and their children. I let them know it was no trouble, and that they were very much welcome. This did seem to happen quite a bit of late, but then most of these ponies never expected to see their children grow up or survive the worst the wasteland had to offer. I guess it was something I was going to have to get used to… though I had to admit, it felt good to know I’d helped. Once most had wandered back to their wounded loved ones, Mender pointed a hoof towards the end of the row of beds. I could see the familiar dark green form of Balefire sitting beside a very tired looking Tinkerbelle.

“Yer friends are over there… Ah’m afraid th’ filly’s grandpa ain’t doin’ so well,” he said, lowering his hoof before looking back over to me. “Ah’m afraid Ah need ta be gettin’ back ta my duties. Ah’ll stop by and let yer friend, Spirit, know yer here ta see ’er,” he added.

“Thanks, Mender,” I quickly said before he left the room, shutting the door behind him as gently as he could. Left on our own, Carrion and I began making our way towards the end of the ward room and our friends. We were stopped a couple of times by wounded guards calling out a greeting to us… or rather me as Carrion pointed out after the third time it happened. Still, despite it all, it really didn’t take us that long to reach the corner bed.

I quickly saw that Mender’s assessment of the wounded Jackhammer was spot on. He looked in bad shape, bandages covering his front forelegs and neck from a wildly tossed grenade that had landed near where he’d taken cover. Another bandage covered a wound further down his side, the bullet wound that had driven him into that cover. Both sets of bandages were lightly stained red with blood from the covered wounds. Thankfully it wasn’t a large stain so they must have stopped the bleeding… unless they’d just recently changed them. At the moment he appeared to be resting. His eyes were closed, but his breathing was rough and uneven as his chest rose and fell while he lay on his side, head propped up on a pillow.

Tinkerbelle didn’t appear to be in much better shape than her grandfather, despite only having a couple of scratches across her body and a wrapped up hind hoof. The fur under her eyes was a darker orange color than normal and matted from fresh tears. The young mare had one fore leg laying across her grandfather’s unwounded shoulder as her head lay beside his head upon his mattress. Like the stallion, her eyes were closed, but her breathing was much more even as she slept. It was likely for the first time since he’d been wounded. I found myself reminded of my sister and I as we had sat beside our mother’s bed… waiting for the inevitable to happen.

Sighing, I shook my head and looked towards Balefire. The dark green unicorn was sitting upon a wooden stool beside the sleeping mare. He looked close to falling asleep himself, head resting on a hoof as he fought off the urge to close his eyes. His attempts to ward off sleep lay about him in the form of a half dozen empty mugs of what had likely been coffee, judging by the scent. He yawned and blinked his eyes several times before he shifted a bit on his seat. As he did so, he finally noticed us. He began to stand, but I hurriedly placed a hoof upon his shoulder, pushing him back into his seat.

“Hey boss… sorry I couldn’t help out with the ghouls…” he began before I cut him off.

“You’ve been busy, Bale, I know.” I looked from my friend to the pair resting upon the bed. “How are they doing?” I asked him. The young unicorn sighed and rubbed his tired eyes with his hooves.

“They’ll be alright… just need a bit of rest is all...” he began, but didn’t get much further as I turned my head back around to face him. His ears wilted a bit before being more honest with himself and me with his answer. “Not very good…” He rubbed his tired eyes with his hooves as he continued, “They just don’t know what’s wrong… neither Spirit nor the local doctor can get him to respond to the healing potions like he should. They’ve done what they can for him with surgery so he’s healing naturally, but they don’t know if it’s going to be enough.” He dropped his fore hooves to the ground before looking past Tinkerbelle to Jack. “The grenade blast that knocked him out riddled his chest with shrapnel and a few pieces went deep enough to pierce his lungs. To top it all off, he’s gotten an infection…”

“And Tink?” I asked.

“She’s alright, just a few minor wounds… but seeing her grandfather like this… it’s killing her as much as any raider bullet,” he answered quickly, looking sadly to the orange mare.

Silence settled across the three of us as we stood or sat watching the two sleep. The other wounded ponies from Old Oaks either looked on or went back to quietly speaking with their loved ones. As I looked around the room, I noticed a few more longer hugs and nuzzles than I had before… most appeared thankful that it wasn’t one of their loved ones in Jack’s place. I suppose that might sound a bit cold hearted, but we’ve all felt that way at least once in our life. Looking back to my friend, I noticed he’d begun to doze off. However, when he caught himself doing it, he snapped his head upright and shook it a couple times to try and clear the fog from his brain.

“Well, I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be staying in Janesville for a couple more days while we sort a few things out,” I began. While it wasn’t my only reason for hunting down Balefire, it was the only one I was going to bring up to him at the moment. The poor guy had enough on his plate at the moment it seemed.

“A few days?” he asked, red eyes blinking a bit in an attempt to stay awake. I nodded my head and explained.

“Wild and Stone are going back to the ghouls’ cave along with a couple Confederate soldiers to retrieve the supplies they recovered from the forest. They’ve agreed to share them with both the ponies of Janesville and Old Oaks as a gesture of goodwill. Spirit also wanted to spend a little bit of time helping Fiona and the local doctor with all the wounded.”

“Oh… okay… well, I’ll be here whenever you need me, boss,” he muttered, running a hoof through his messed up black mane.

“Try and get some sleep, Bale… they aren’t going anywhere for a while,” I said, laying a hoof once more upon his shoulder. He only nodded and went back to watching the pair. I stood beside him for a moment watching the pair rest, before glancing back to Bale. I tilted my head slightly as I regarded my friend silently. I’d never thought I’d see him so taken by a single mare. For as long as I’d known him, he’d been something of a playcolt, even longer according to his adopted sister. However, ever since we’d encountered Tinkerbelle, Balefire had his eye on the young mare and not in his usual way.

Sighing a bit, I lightly patted Balefire’s shoulder once more before stepping back from the bed and turning towards the doorway. Carrion, who’d been standing behind me and who hadn’t said a word, followed behind me. As we walked, I wondered about Bale’s sister… if she knew where her brother had gone and what he’d done… or if he’d told her anything. She’d been as upset by Old Oaks’ radio broadcast as anypony else, but she’d been a soldier longer and I doubt she’d have run off on her own. Maybe she could at least smooth things over for him, if not than perhaps one of his parents… I mean his mother ran the fucking government after all. Of course, for all I knew, he could have told them where he was going and gotten the okay...

“I suppose I should have brought up the whole AWOL issue…” I said half to Carrion and half to myself once we’d gotten far enough away from Balefire to not be heard. I glanced over to him as he answered.

“Probably,” he agreed, keeping step beside me as we passed by the wounded survivors of Old Oaks on our way to the exit. I noticed three empty beds I’d missed while coming through, the sheets lightly stained with spots of red. I hoped whoever had once been using them had left under their own power. While Carrion’s head remained fixed upon the doorway, I could see his eyes shifting left and right to the ponies we passed and those three empty beds. “But after the events of the past few days, I believe it would be best to wait. At least until he can focus upon the question rather than the filly he has his eyes on,” he added after a moment’s pause.

“True…” I replied as I pushed open the door and moved back out into the reception room. As I did I noticed the same mare was working behind her desk still, but there were two others who must have just stepped in. Spirit was standing beside the desk and was speaking to a pony. He was writing something down upon a folder atop the desk, his back to Carrion and I. I recognized the pony at once as the town’s doctor, Bandaid. A middle aged unicorn stallion, which was something of a rarity in these outlying towns… that somepony would reach the age of over thirty. He was a rather short stallion, whose coat was a light brown with a short cut white mane and tail. His cutie mark was his name sake, a band aid. He looked rather comical standing next to the hulking form of my buffalo friend, though she appeared to be listening intently to whatever he was saying as he wrote quickly.

“...she should be fine so long as she stays away from any strong radiation sources,” the stallion said as we neared him and Spirit, neither had noticed us just yet.

“I agree, Doctor Aid, her foals appear to be doing quite well and she should bear them to term so long as she heeds your advice,” Spirit spoke up before catching sight of the two shapes walking up to her from across the room. Looking past the stallion’s glowing blue horn, she smiled warmly upon seeing who it was approaching them. Stepping around Bandaid’s side, she nodded her horned head to the pair of us before offering a greeting, “Good afternoon, Shadow, Carrion, it is a pleasure to see you both.” As she spoke, Bandaid turned around to see who had approached, the magic surrounding his horn fading as he closed the folder he’d been working on.

“Likewise, Spirit,” I returned her greeting, offering a nod of my own to the pair before speaking once more to my friend, “I see you’re settling in well here.”

“I am just doing what I can for the ponies who have so graciously allowed us to enter their home.”

“Marshall Shadow… it’s nice to see you once again, though I wish it was under better circumstances,” Bandaid said, a warm smile on his face as he offered me a hoof in greeting. I took it and shook it quickly. “Mender said you’d come in looking for your friends.”

“Yes, we’d just come from checking in on Balefire, Tink, and her grandfather.” At the mention of Jackhammer, both Spirit and Bandaid’s expression turned grim. “I take it Balefire wasn’t exaggerating when he told us how bad he was?” The pair shared a look before the local doctor spoke up.

“Sadly he wasn’t. I’m afraid Jackhammer is in very bad shape, from both the number of injuries he’s suffered as well as the radiation poisoning he took traveling through the forest,” the brown stallion said quietly.

“Nopony knows any healing spells here?” Carrion asked as he stepped closer to the two doctors, orange glowing eyes going from one to the other. Thankfully, Doctor Bandaid had not been phased by the appearance of our group when he’d arrived outside the wall to help treat the wounded. Unlike some of the other locals, he’d not given the feral ghouls a second look and walked confidently between them to reach the wounded ponies… albeit carefully. As such he had my respect, and that of Carrion’s if I was any judge of my friend.

“Only the most basic of spells I’m afraid. Not many well trained doctors leave the safety of the big cities for the smaller settlements in the wasteland. Settlements that are routinely under threat of raider attacks.” The unicorn shook his head and looked past the ghoul to the closed ward room door. “Nothing that could repair the type of damage he’s suffered, and I’m afraid even if somepony knew anything stronger it wouldn’t do him any good. His body’s built up an immunity to the magic found in health potions… likely due to him having used so many. I suspect healing magic wouldn’t work much better.”

“I just don’t understand this issue with magic,” I began, drawing the attention of the two medically trained individuals before me. “We’ve all used a large number of health potions over the past couple weeks… in fact I know I’ve used far more than I ever had inside my Stable.” I looked between them, hoping they might explain what I wasn’t getting. “And out of all of us… I believe Stone’s likely used the most given his former line of work. I know I’m not an expert in medicine, or magic for that matter… but it just doesn’t make sense to me with what I do know.”

“It is not something anyone has much knowledge of I am afraid, Shadow,” Spirit began. “My own father did research on the subject some years ago, but the last I spoke with him, he still did not have an answer.”

“I seem to recall a similar problem during the war…” Carrion began, ears folded back as he shook his head a bit. “Soldiers dying because the medics’ healing spells no longer worked. I think some at the time believed it was due to zebra witchcraft.”

“I’m afraid we can not blame our striped friends for Jackhammer’s current condition,” Bandaid said, setting the folder he’d been holding within his magic down atop the desk beside us. “And it’s not just the number of potions a pony uses that’s the problem… that’s just one part of it,” he continued, settling into what one might call a lecture mode. “It’s a number of problems all combining into what is in effect an immunity to magic. At least, that’s the most common and widely believed theory. As you no doubt learned in school, all ponies be they earth, unicorn, or pegasi have some form of natural magic.”

“Sure, magic for you unicorns, pegasi can of course fly and manipulate the weather, and earth ponies are typically more sturdy and in tune with the earth,” I replied. All of that was basic stuff that a foal would learn alongside basic reading and writing skills.

“Right. While everypony has some innate form of magic, it’s normally limited in how much they can use or do with it. There are of course ways of gaining more, either through training or artificial means such as the use of potions, magical artifacts, and spells. While it might seem limitless the amount of magic a single pony can gain, there is a capacity of how much magic a pony’s body can hold. Normally this isn’t a problem, as we use magic everyday. Why, even the act of holding something within our hooves uses our natural magic, something which shouldn’t be possible given how inflexible they are.” He held up one hoof to indicate what he meant.

“This magic drain is far more pronounced in unicorns and pegasi since they are almost constantly using their innate magic all the time, such as simply flying about or using simple spells like levitation,” he added as he dropped his hoof back to the floor. “There are a few ponies, however, who either because their bodies are able to store more magic than normal or they simply do not use up as much as others who become overloaded with magic. Again this normally isn’t really a problem, but start giving such a pony a number of health potions… something that has a high magic content causes issues to arise. It's like pouring water into an already full glass, the extra just spills out.”

“I suppose I understand what you're saying… although, I don’t know how magic could simply spill out… doesn’t it have to go somewhere?” I asked, tilting my head to the side as I attempted to figure that out myself.

“Yes and no… though I guess the better answer would be we simply don’t know. That is just one of the unanswered questions doctors have been asking themselves since discovering this problem. Your friend is correct though, there were reported cases of this going back during the war.”

“Alright… so if the problem is an over abundance of magic, wouldn’t the solution be to simply work it out of a pony’s body by helping them to expend it somehow, or by draining it with a spell or something?”

“Yes, at least in theory…” Bandaid began, shaking his head as he noticed my confused look. “One of the other problems with this condition is its rarity, which is also a blessing I suppose. With so few cases, there’s few chances to experiment on treatments for it and that’s assuming someone recognizes what’s even wrong with the patent.” His voice rose a bit as he had gone on, throwing a fore hoof up into the air as he finished before sighing. “There’s also the problem that Jackhammer is far too weak to be up running about town, and the nearest farm is several miles away from Janesville to the south…”

“And the magical draining?” Carrion asked.

“I’m afraid nopony in town knows any such spell,” Spirit answered for Bandaid who was rubbing a hoof along his forehead, looking very tired.

“So… what you're saying is there’s nothing any of us can do for him?” While I likely already knew the answer to the question, I still had to ask it if only to hear it said.

“I’m afraid so…” was the quiet response. The room went silent for a moment, the only noise that of the mare behind her desk shuffling papers and the voices of the ponies in the ward room. Doctor Bandaid lowered his hoof from his face before clearing his throat. He stood up a bit taller as he looked over us before speaking once more, “I know it may sound grim, but ponies have not always had magic to heal all their wounds… he can heal on his own. So long as he gets plenty of rest and we keep his wounds free of infections, he should recover enough to allow us to try and find someway to drain his excess magic.”

“Doctor Aid is correct,” Spirit affirmed, drawing my attention back to the buffalo in the room. “Jackhammer is not young, but he is in good shape and from what his granddaughter has said this was not his first serious wound. I also believe he is in good hooves here,” she added with a nod to the unicon beside her, who smiled and shook his head.

“We do what we can, Miss Spirit,” was his hurried response and he appeared to be a bit flustered for some reason. Was he not used to receiving such praise? “I’m sure the Marshall wasn’t implying anything of the sort...” Spirit blinked and looked from the doctor to me.

“I doubt that’s what she meant by it, Doctor Aid,” I said before Spirit could think otherwise. “I think she was just indicating that she had full trust in you and your staff.” That was certainly something to keep in mind.

Spirit was an easy buffalo to trust others. However, she took the treatment of the sick and injured quite seriously. While it was true the hospitals back in San Ponsisco hadn’t made any attempts to hire her, she’d not made any real attempts to be hired by them. Doctor Kindheart had once told me something Spirit had mentioned that explained why. She’d said that those doctors in the hospitals simply saw their patients as patients and nothing more. Not hurt, scared ponies with lives of their own.

“Of course… at any rate, I need to be getting to my next appointment. Miss Daisy Do has a sick colt I need to look after,” Doctor Aid said as he looked away from us and to the mare behind the desk, who had already pulled a folder out. The doctor’s horn glowed softly as the folder floated over to him, eyes skimming whatever medical notes were kept in those things before he spoke again, “Will you be coming along, Miss Spirit?”

“No, I’m afraid I have my own appointment to see to at the moment,” she said, looking away from her fellow medical practitioner to me, causing me to blink. Ever since we’d arrived in town, she’d been after me to allow her time to more completely examine the wounds I’d received while on the road. The head and eye wounds in particular seemed to trouble her a good deal… as they did me. Wild had of course snickered at Spirit’s use of ‘exam’, but had thankfully kept her mouth shut. I just hadn’t found the time to spare, however, as I’d had to convince the mayor and the council to allow the ghouls to remain within the walls… then I’d had to see Stone and Wild off and I really needed to go check in on Fleet and Mint...

“Oh, that’s right, you had mentioned he would be coming here about now,” the doctor said before turning back to Carrion and myself, offering us a kind smile and a nod of his head. “Well, if you gentlecolts will excuse me, I need to get back to work.” With that, he began walking back towards the stairs and had barely gotten a few steps up when I realized what he’d just said.

Wait… she’d been expecting me?

“I should be going as well,” Carrion said from beside me, the ghoul stallion standing and turning for the exit. “I promised Fleethoof I would help her get the ferals settled into their new home.” He began trotting towards the door, giving both of us a nod.

Wait a sec… Carrion and Wild had just been talking about something a bit ago, and suddenly he’d decided to follow me around until we’d reached the Clinic… now he was off to see Fleet and the other ghouls...

“So is this what you and Wild had been all hush hush about earlier before they left?” I asked, turning to look at my ghoul friend’s retreating backside. He halted before the door as his horn lit with a soft orange glow which surrounded the doorknob. He glanced back to me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Shadow. Perhaps you're just imagining things… or perhaps you should take the time to get your head checked out, it does take a lot of hits,” he answered, a slight smirk on his rotted face before the door was pulled open and he stepped through, shutting it behind himself.

“Oh come on… it’s not like I’m some little foal you guys need to constantly look after…” I said mostly to myself, though I heard a couple giggles coming from behind the desk.

“Of course you are not, Shadow,” Spirit spoke up, waving a foreleg towards the stairs. A smile crossed her face as she looked over to me. “Now, let us go to one of the examination rooms and if you're good, you shall be given a sucker.” With a nod of her horned head, the buffalo doctor began climbing the stairs to the second floor.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” I muttered, standing up and following her up the stairs, totally not sulking despite my ears folded back and my tail dragging the steps behind me. “It better not be watermelon flavored…” I added.

I sat quietly upon the examination bed as Spirit looked over the test results she’d had been going through. The exam had taken longer than I’d expected, but I suppose she’d just wanted to to a thorough job. Once she’d given me a careful once over, all of her attention was upon my injured eye and the scar running across it. You didn’t need a medical degree or years of personal training by somepony with one to know something was definitely wrong. All I had to do was focus upon my right eye and the increasing dark spot filling my vision to tell me that. In an attempt to think about something else, I found myself examining the room once again.

It was fairly similar to rooms back in Stable 45, a single room with one door leading out into the hallway. Although, unlike those exam rooms in my former home, this one had a window overlooking the town outside. Faded yellow curtains hid most of it from view, as did the roof of the house next door. Along the wall with the window was a pair of wooden and metal cabinets along with a sink and spare chair. The floor was bare wood, scuffed but clean. Across the floral green wall paper were a number of posters. Most were drawing of pony organs, stomachs and hearts, or advertisements for some new drug. The one about the wonders of health potions was amusing to me, given how common they were now. The poster hanging upon the back of the closed door was for the Ministry of Peace, asking for trained medical volunteers for the war. Across the bottom of it was the typical, ‘We must do better’, slogan that one found on much of their signs.

Shame nopony had tried…

Shaking my head from that thought, my attention was torn from the poster towards the only other occupant of the room as she shifted a bit. My ears perked upright as I looked over to Spirit while she sat beside a table looking over a clipboard she held in one hoof. A number of loose papers were held firmly in place by the slightly rusty metal clasp. She had for the past several minutes been silently studying the papers carefully and I assumed they held the results for the tests she’d run on me.

I’d been surprised when we’d first entered the room and I spotted a couple old but functioning medical scanners waiting for us inside. I wasn’t surprised that she was using them, as they had been a common enough item in hospitals and larger doctor offices for non unicorn doctors to use. At least they had been before the war, and while to my knowledge most Stables had equipment with them, what surprised me was that such a small town so far from San Ponsisco had access to them. What had once been a common tool was now a relic of a bygone era worth more caps than this entire town, if I had to guess. I suppose this was one of the perks of being a member of the Confederacy.

“So, Doc… what's the verdict, am I ever going to play the piano again?” I asked with a smile. While I wasn’t an expert at reading a buffalo’s face, I could still tell by her folded back ears and narrowed eyes that something was troubling my friend. My attempt at humor at least got her to crack a slight smile before she set the papers down and turned to face me.

“I somehow doubt you have ever played a musical instrument that has not released lead from it’s end,” she began, the smile slowly fading however as she went on, “And despite your best efforts, nearly all of the wounds you had suffered while out searching for the missing filly, as well as those from fighting with the raiders, have either healed completely or is in the process of doing so.” I made notice of the emphasis she’d placed on the word ‘nearly’. “As I’d expected when I’d examined you back on the highway, the higher levels of radiation within the forest slowed down some of the healing process of your wounds. Thankfully now that we are in a less irradiated area they are beginning to heal more quickly...” she trailed off for a moment, eyes shifting from my face to the papers sitting beside her. It was clear she had more to tell me, but was either having trouble saying it or did not want to say it.

“I’m sensing a but in there…” she looked up as I spoke and I motioned for her to continue with a single hoof. We both knew what the problem was, her from the test results and me from simply seeing it… or not seeing it. She sighed and shifted her weight a bit before she began speaking again.

“The location of the wound itself is one of the problems… while the blade did not damage your skull, the tip did cut the top part of your eye and damaged the nerves. The radiation is the next problem and has kept your eye from healing. Even now that you're away from so much of it, the eye is still showing almost no signs of mending itself, either naturally or through the use of health potions. In fact, it appears to be growing worse compared to the simple exam I’d given you yesterday to today’s.” A large black hoof lifted up from the floor to shift the pile of papers on the clipboard as she searched for something. Her blue eyes scanned quickly over the writing on the pages before she stopped on one. “Everything seems to be pointing to one outcome…”

“That I’m going to go blind in my right eye,” I finished for her before leaning back atop the exam bed, shutting my eyes and letting out a sigh.

“Yes, you are. I suspect it will steadily get worse as the days pass. Within a week, perhaps two, you will lose all sight in your right eye completely,” she added, sounding about as thrilled as I felt. “I’m also afraid there is nothing I can do for you to stop it.”

Of course there wasn’t anything she could do… health potions could do a lot, but all magic had it’s limits. They could mend flesh, heal broken bones, and repair minor damage to organs… but they couldn’t replace severed limbs or organs that were all but destroyed. While a powerful magical spell could perhaps do those things, the potions could not. Most of those spells had either been lost due to the passage of time, or there simply wasn’t a unicorn powerful enough to cast them. Spirit likely knew this as well, but for someone who’d dedicated their life to healing, telling a patient they couldn’t help them was likely a hard thing to do. Especially if they were a friend…

“I know you’ve done your best, Spirit, so please don’t blame yourself for this,” I said, looking back over to my horned friend as she pushed the clipboard away from herself. She simply nodded her head once. “I’d honestly been suspecting it would be something like this… given the problems I’ve been having with it the past seven hours.” I reached a hoof up and gently ran it across the right side of my face, feeling the scar left by that raider’s blade along my cheek and up to my eye.

“All is not lost, my friend. While there is nothing I can do for you… there is someone that may be able to help you,” she added quickly and caught me by surprise. I lowered my foreleg back down to the bed and turned my head back towards her as she locked her blue eyes upon mine. “There is a doctor in the San Ponsisco hospital who, according to Kindheart, has managed to teach himself a number of complex healing spells. One of which I believe would help you.”

“Really?” My ears perked upright as she nodded her head once to my question. Perhaps he could do something for my eye then, though it would mean a return trip to San Ponsisco.

“I never witnessed it myself, but Kindheart told me once of a visit to the hospital for medicines he needed in his clinic. While there, he told me of seeing one of the doctors performing the treatment upon a patient who had lost his hearing in a mining accident.” Her ears folded back a bit as she continued, “In truth I only just recalled his conversation with me while thinking of some way to help you. I am sorry I did not think of it sooner, if only to have not caused you so much alarm.”

“It’s alright, Spirit, nopony could blame you for letting something that happened weeks ago slip your mind while telling a friend he was going blind in one eye. I think any of us would be a bit forgetful,” I said with a smile towards the buffalo who returned it and nodded her head, ears swiveling back upright. Something worrying suddenly sprung to mind that might cause me some problems with this solution though. “While I know the Confederacy has made medical treatments as affordable as possible, especially for those who would die without it… I wouldn’t imagine this would count.” Luckily most of the towns I had thus far been injured within had been good enough about waiving any fees I would normally be charged. Largely in part due to the help my friends and I had given them. Odd that I never worried about that before. “I doubt such a treatment like this is cheap… doubly so since it’s such a rare spell…” Nothing in the Wasteland was cheap… well, except for the lives of those living within it.

“Sadly, you are most likely correct in both instances. While the loss of an eye is horrible, it is not in itself life threatening. Under the medical laws, the hospital would not be forced to lower the price for the treatment. As for the cost itself, I am unsure what the exact price would be, but I do believe it would be within your price range as I imagine our friends will not hesitate to offer you money… despite your desire to not accept it,” she added the last part with a smile. “I believe Stonehoof has amassed a small fortune while traveling with you.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes, knowing she was very likely correct on both counts. The smile also indicated she was confident of what my friends would do. While I wasn’t without some money saved up, I also wasn’t exactly rolling in caps. My work on the farm in San Ponsisco had paid well, if not as much as some of the jobs available in the city. I could likely afford it so long as it wasn’t terribly high. “I suppose I really have nothing to lose by looking into this,” I began, sitting up a bit more atop the exam bed. “Once things have settled down here we’ll head back to San Ponsisco and…” I trailed off as the smile Spirit wore began to fade a bit. I tilted my head slightly and she spoke up.

“While your body has already begun to purge the radiation from itself thanks to the Radaway, I am worried that there could be further damage to the nerves in your right eye if you should take in another strong dose,” she began.

“And given the fact the surrounding area is pretty much soaked in the stuff…”

“And your tendency to rush headlong off into danger,” she finished, earning another snort from me, but she continued anyway, “I would rather have this seen to sooner rather than later, so time is a factor. There is also the simple fact it could take sometime before the doctor can even see you, as a unicorn of his skill is likely kept busy.”

“Alright, alright… it’s not as if we can’t come back once the treatment’s finished…” once more I trailed off as she looked at me. “Oh come on…” I threw up my hooves and fell back atop the exam bed staring up at the ceiling.

“Even with such healing magic, I believe it will take a number of treatments to completely heal the damage done to your nerves. From what I have gathered from studying my father’s old medical books and from speaking with Kindheart, it would have taken several even before the destruction of Equestria.” She added one final comment to crush any ideas of this being a quick fix, “Kindheart had also mentioned the unicorn performing the spell seemed heavily drained after casting it upon the miner. I doubt he has the magical stamina to heal a pony fully in one go.”

“So, it’s likely to take a couple days to get this done?” I asked.

“Days, or weeks depending upon how busy the doctor is,” she answered, adding, “But it is the only available option open to us.”

I sighed and focused upon the ceiling as my mind processed everything that had just been said. She was right of course, it was the only option… but was I ready to head back to San Ponsisco… and so soon? I’d set out, determined to help the ponies left to themselves across the Wasteland… ponies too far out of the Confederacy’s reach. Yes, I had already helped the survivors of an entire town, as well as a herd of feral ghouls lost in the woods. But… was that it? Had I done what I’d set out to do? Would it make any difference if I went back for a couple weeks… or even months? And what if I stayed? Could I really hope to help anyone who needed it if I couldn’t even be sure I was going to hit what I was aiming at? What if Stone or Wild got killed because I couldn’t down a raider or a radscorpion?

My ears perked a bit as somepony walked past the examination room door, but my eyes remained fixed upon the off white ceiling and the odd brown stain that marked places of water damage. As I stared, I lifted my right hoof up above me and slowly closed my left eye… almost at once my hoof disappeared from my vision until I moved it further left. It was getting worse, saying I had a couple days was perhaps too generous of a time table.

I had a choice to make… and while it might seem a simple one, I still found myself trying to decide which one to choose...

Another day was coming to a close within the country formerly known as Equestria. Although anyone unfamiliar with the workings of this new world would be hard pressed to notice the change thanks to the constant overcast sky that hung like a shroud over the land. The long dark shadows that commonly clung to the edges of the wasteland, and within the many abandoned buildings and homes, began to creep out across everything as the unseen sun lowered further beyond the horizon. The shadows from the walled town of Janesville silently moved their way along the broken highway and across a small fenced-in bit of land. Sometime long ago it’d likely been somepony’s field, though for what was anypony’s guess. Now it was simply another patch of brown nearly dead earth within a wasteland of dead earth.

The darkness of the gathering night hadn’t quite reached the furthest fence post from the wall, however. What dim light that had managed to filter through the clouds overhead was reflected dimly in the five empty bottles sitting lined up in a row. The blasted wasteland around them reflected in their multi colored surfaces; dark foreboding mountains to the north, flat featureless plains to the south and west. The only movement in this little area came from the lone blades of brown grass that stubbornly grew up between the posts in a slight breeze that blew from out of the north. The tips of the grass brushed against the bottles.

The stillness of the wasteland evening was suddenly shattered as a gunshot rang out from nearby and almost drowned out the sound of shattering glass as the bottle at the left end of the line exploded. Sparkling bits of glass rained down as another shot quickly followed the first with similar results, a second bottle bursting apart as a bullet impacted its fragile form. The seconds ticked by as a third shot echoed across the wasteland with the expected results of a broken bottle. The shot sent the broken top half spinning into the air, the cork that had been placed within the opening flying free.

Shots four and five were inevitable and before the spinning bottle neck was even half way to the ground they echoed across the surrounding countryside. However, these last two lacked the accompanying sounds of shattering glass. Instead one ended with an altogether different sound of splintering wood. The fourth shot had drifted lower than its intended target and blew a sizeable hole through the fence post sending out splinters of old wood. The impact was enough to knock the empty whisky bottle loose and send it tumbling to the ground. Surprisingly it remained intact, if a bit cracked along one side. The final shot missed the last bottle, the fence, and nearly the wasteland by a wide margin, the fading report of the gun the only sound to follow it.

As silence settled back across the wasteland and the light continued to shift across it, the image reflected within the last bottle’s dark green surface filled with the face of a very discouraged black coated earth pony. His yellow eyes narrowed unhappily as he stared back at the bottle, as if it had somehow managed to avoid the fifth shot. The image began slowly filling the entire surface of the bottle, as the pony began moving towards it. Whatever his intentions towards it, they were stopped as he moved within a couple paces from it and the silence once more was shattered by a single gunshot. The reflection of the now surprised pony disappeared entirely when the bottle shattered in a sparkling rain of glass shards from the single bullet that impacted it near dead center.

I recovered from my initial surprise quickly and, with ears laying flat twisted about towards the source of that gunshot, I clutched Luna’s Ruse tightly with my jaws. I was expecting to find a raider standing behind me, having snuck up on me while my focus had been on the bottles… perhaps one of the bandits or thieves that I’d heard hid within the mountains to the north. Perhaps both given my luck. What I found, however, caused me to pause my return fire and frown around the firing bit of my shotgun instead.

The still smoking barrel of an old, well worn and maintained Equestrian assault rifle floated behind me pointed towards the the row of fence posts and the bottles that had sat atop it. The weapon was surrounded in a familiar orange magical glow. My attention quickly shifted to the weapon’s owner, orange glowing eyes staring calmly down the barrel of my combat shotgun pointed towards his rotting horned head. He looked no more concerned than if I’d been pointing a pencil or spoon at him. The barrel lowered to point towards the ground as I relaxed somewhat.

“Trying to give a pony a heart attack, Carrion?” I asked, releasing the firing bit completely from my mouth and allowing Luna’s Ruse to fall slack upon its shoulder strap around my neck. “Or just trying to get your horned head blown off?” I added with a snort, ears turning upright as my ghoul friend lowered his own weapon, a second later the safety clicking smoothly in place.

“If you haven’t died from seeing my ugly ass face by now Shadow, I doubt you’ll do so anytime soon despite me catching you off guard… twice today actually,” came his slightly raspy response. His own tattered ears lifted back up from his old army helmet. Carrion took a couple steps towards me, orange eyes flicking from me to the row of shattered glass shards on the ground. “Besides, I doubt you could’ve even hit my head given your less than stellar target practice just then.” His horn once more lit up with magic as he picked up the cracked but still intact whiskey bottle I’d knocked off its post.

In response, I snorted and rolled my eyes. “I dunno… I doubt even I could mess something glowing as brightly as your afore mentioned ugly ass face,” I shot back with a slight grin. As he slowed to a halt beside me, I saw a hint of a smirk crossing the stallion’s scarred face before he sat down. His orange eyes studied the bottle floating before him before he focused upon the row of fence posts I’d been using for target practice.

Sitting down beside him, I looked back up the cracked worn highway he’d come down and the westward facing gate that still appeared open despite the late hour. That would change soon, I knew. The walls of the town were easy to see from the short distance we were even despite the growing darkness. I could even make out the tops of the pony guards patrolling the wall, along with the roofs and chimneys of the homes nearest the wall. Looking away, I snapped open the drum magazine for my weapon and began rummaging around my saddle bags to replace the spent rounds I’d just fired. Despite the safety of the nearby town, I’d gotten used to making sure my weapons were always ready to go. As I withdrew the first slug, I glanced back over to my friend beside me and asked, “Spirit send you out to fetch me?”

“She was worried you’d find some way to get yourself nearly killed if we left you out here alone long enough. Also, I thought you might like to know Wild and the others just returned a few minutes ago and are unloading the supplies. It seems things went smoothly for once,” was his answer, head turning slightly so he could look over at me. The wind ruffled the remains of his tattered mane. “As for Spirit, I doubt she wanted all her hard work to go to waste.”

“I’m sure if you hadn’t shown up when you did, I’d be in mortal combat with something or another,” I said as the first slug slid into the drum. “A tumbleweed rolled past not ten minutes ago, I’d wager there was at least a dozen raiders hiding within it… or glowing geckos. I suppose I’d best hurry about and go see how they did… and to stop Wild from setting me up with those two Confederate soldiers that went with them.” I got the next four slugs inserted into the drum before he spoke again.

“Eye still no better?”

I paused my reloading for a moment to glance over towards him. He was sitting on my left side… if he’d been on my right I would have had to turn my head almost completely around. “No. No better,” I answered, hoof running along the drum for my shotgun before I snap it closed. “Getting a bit worse if I’m honest about it,” I added before turning back to close the flap on my pack. “Spirit tell you about the tests she ran?”

“No, she wouldn’t violate a patient's privacy like that. I could tell something was worrying her about you more than your normal recklessness, however, and I noticed when we were fighting those raiders on the highway. I also heard you talking to Spirit about getting hit above your eye,” Carrion commented, eyes returning to the fence posts. “Your aim’s off whenever something’s on your right side,” he noted, quite correctly. “Doesn't take a genius to connect the dots.”

“No, I suppose it doesn’t…” I sighed and looked back up to the walled town. My ears flattened a bit as I recalled my lackluster shooting from a day ago and just a few moments ago. I had noticed it during the fight with the raiders, but my attention had been focused on surviving the battle plus attempting to get everypony moving again and what had happened to Bronze… I’d all but managed to convince myself it was nothing. However, a large black shadow had began filling the vision in my right eye… and that was damned hard to ignore or convince myself it was anything but serious.

“Spirit ran a number of tests on my eye and the results were hardly good unsurprisingly. The raider’s blade hit me just right along my forehead to damage the eye itself and weaken the nerves. Since the high levels of radiation I’d been soaking up in the forest prevented the healing potions from working properly, the wound only worsened as time went on,” I explained what I’d learned just a couple hours ago. I noticed the gates of the town were finally beginning to shut and stood back up, not eager to get stuck outside at night… even if there were fewer animals this close to the Dead Forest. Luna's Ruse dropped back down against my armored chest from my movement and I waited for Carrion to rise before we would began walking towards the gate. “The end result seems to be the loss of sight in my right eye.”

“Nothing she can do for it?” Carrion asked, falling into step beside me. Together we trotted the short distance from the fenced in field to the road towards Janesville in silence. I mulled over the question as we drew nearer the gates. There was something she could do… but it’d mean going back to San Ponsisco. Was it really something to even be thinking about? I shook my head before answering him.

“No, the damage has been done. Not even a healing potion can repair already damaged tissue, at least not something as sensitive as an eye.” I glanced to the ghoul beside me and added with a smirk, “Otherwise I doubt you’d still look like an extra from all those horrible zombie movies ponies used to love.” This earned a snort from my friend and a roll of his glowing orbs.

“We did make a fucking lot of those back in the day, didn’t we?” he asked as we drew closer to the gates. The guards didn’t seem to be paying us any attention as they worked on getting a few other ponies who’d been beyond the walls back inside. “Besides, I’ve gotten used to it and it’s not as if I’m attempting to attract the mares with you around,” he added, earning a snort from me this time and a light chuckle from him.

As we neared the back of the short line to enter town, one of the guards waved us to halt and wait. They’d already managed to get one of the gates sealed by this time, the large metal and wooden door towering well over four ponies in height above them. It seemed a bit much, until you took into account the supply wagons coming through from the Confederacy, as well as any of the outlying settlements that might need to bring or take things out. This size did make them slow to open and close, however, since they relied on pure muscle to manage them. It was an easy target for a surprise raider attack as well. We stood silent for several minutes as the guards checked over names and stories from the ponies coming in. The wait gave me time to mull over the choice I had yet to make.

“She did have one suggestion…” I began as we waited, my friend’s glowing orange eyes shifted from the guards and travelers to me. “Spirit thinks there’s a doctor back in San Ponsisco who might be able to save my eye, but we’d have to leave soon. She’s worried any more damage to it might either prevent the doctor from using this rare healing spell on it or make it take far longer to heal.” I shifted a bit on the pavement as the line moved forward. “There’s also the fact there’s only a single unicorn who can cast it apparently, and his services are not surprisingly in high demand. It might take sometime for me to see him.”

“Well, it didn’t exactly take us very long to reach Old Oaks and, given the reason for the return flight, I imagine it would take us even less time to return to San Ponsisco from here. Especially if Wildfire has anything to say about it,” he responded as we stopped moving once more while one of the guards searched a lightly armored mare at the front of the line. He had began pulling out some oddly glowing mushrooms from her overly large saddlebags. “And having been living in a time when such spells were more common, I can tell you if this doctor can cast one, your eyesight should be returned to you almost completely.” Once the guard was satisfied by the search, he waved the mare on in and began speaking to the next pony in line, who was just in front of us. “By your tone, however, I gather you haven’t decided to return?”

“No. I haven’t. Spirit said it could take sometime to even see the doctor, and even then it might take a number of treatments to repair the damage to my eye.”

“She’s right. While I had once considered myself lucky enough to avoid ever needing such a spell used upon me personally, I had a couple soldiers under my command who needed it. The length of time for recovery and treatments all depended upon the severity of the wounds and what was in need of healing.” He turned his head back to me, one brow arched as he asked, “My question is, why is that an issue? The wasteland’s not going anywhere. It’s been sitting here for the past one hundred and fifty years and it’ll likely be sitting here for another one hundred fifty.” One fore leg lifted up from the pavement to wave about us at the hills and rocky outcroppings to the north of us. “You're going to lose your right eye right now if you don’t go get it healed. Why would you not go? You expecting to miss something by being cooped up in a hospital for a couple weeks?”

I frowned and remained silent, staring straight ahead as the guards searched the pony in front of us. My tail twitched back and forth. When it was put like that, I suppose me needing sometime to think it over did seem a bit silly… no, I suppose it seemed very stupid. It really should be a simple decision to make, it was either go back to San Ponsisco or lose all sight out of my right eye. What was there to even think about? Before I could form any sort of response to his questions, a new voice spoke up suddenly from just behind us.

“Your friend asks a very good question, young stallion.” Both Carrion and I turned a bit to better see who had decided to join our conversation so unexpectedly.

Standing just behind us were three figures, two of them large earth pony stallions wearing typical wastelander armor with dirty reddish brown coats and short cut brown manes and tails. There was also a much smaller looking figure standing in front of them, cloaked in a dirty brown piece of cloth that hid nearly all of her from sight. I assumed the speaker had been the cloaked figure, as the voice had sounded female, despite being a bit gravely and raspy. While I couldn’t make out much, I could see her hooves were a light purplish grey color and what looked like the tips of a light grey mane hanging just at the edge of her hood.

“Your decaying friend is correct. You should see to your own health first and not worry about what may or may not happen while you are away,” she continued, moving a bit closer to us and I found myself oddly a little unnerved for some reason. Although, for the life of me I couldn’t put my hoof on just why. Was it her voice, or maybe just how she was covered so completely up as if hiding something?

“No matter whether you are here in this small town or in the capital of the Confederacy, the Wasteland will always be changing. Nopony can ever truly stop it from doing so, despite their attempts to do so. It’s far too chaotic a place for that to happen.” Her head rose just a bit and, in the dying light, I could just make out the tip of a rounded short muzzle and a wide smile full of rather sharp looking teeth.

“Um… I see…” was my less than intelligible response I managed to make to this odd mare. Beside me, Carrion seemed just as much at a loss for words as I was. We would have likely stood there dumbly looking for some better response if we hadn’t been snapped out of our stupor. Somepony luckily needed our attention elsewhere and cleared their throat to get it. Breaking my stare away from the odd mare, I turned my head back around to notice we were next in line to enter the gate. Offering the rather tired looking guards a smile and quick nod of my head, I turned back towards the mare and offered her a slightly sincere smile. “Well, thank you for your advice, ma’am… I’ll be sure to think it over, but for now we’d best stop holding up the line….” I glanced back to the two nearly identical earth ponies who had remained silent the entire time and simply stood watching us. I nodded once for Carrion to follow me before stepping up to the guard beside the gate.

I put the odd encounter with the equally odd group behind me and focused on the three armored guards before me. As I neared the one waving us up, I noticed once more how the local town guards brown combat armor stood out against the patchwork colors of the walls and gate. I suppose it worked very well as camouflage out in the surrounding wasteland, likely far better than the olive drab color the Confederate soldiers stationed here wore or my own matte black riot armor. Thankfully neither my troubles with my eye nor the odd mare stopped me from recognizing the stallion at the front of the group. He’d been stationed at the gate a couple hours ago when I’d left to go do my target practice and luckily he’d apparently seen Carrion pass through the gates just a couple minutes ago. While we still had to submit to a quick check of our saddlebags, it did allow us to forego the normal questions asked of ponies entering town. Once they were sure we didn’t have anything unusual in our packs, he gave us a quick wave forward before motioning to the cloaked mare to step forward.

With a nod of thanks for the quick check, I stepped past the guards and made my way through the open side of the gateway and out onto the walled in side of the highway. Not wanting to get in the way of either those still to enter or the ponies going about their lives, I made my way from the paved street and up onto the sidewalk. A quick glance behind me revealed Carrion had fallen a bit behind me, with a somewhat troubled look upon his face as his pace slowed. I arched a brow as I watched him for a moment before coming to a halt beside an old rusted street sign and waited for him to catch up. It took him far longer than it should, as he slowed to an almost complete stop a couple times. He looked almost as if he was about to go back before stopping himself and continuing onwards with a slow shake of his horned head. By the time he’d finally coming to a halt beside me, I could tell something was troubling he greatly.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked. After several minutes of silence and him looking back towards the gate, I asked it a second time when it appeared he wasn’t about to answer me the first time. He grunted and tore his gaze away from the gates and locked his glowing orange eyes upon me as he answered my question.

“Honestly? I don’t really know… just got this odd feeling all of a sudden… like I knew that mare from somewhere, but I just can’t quite put my hoof on it...” His response caused me to blink as I thought of my own odd feelings for the strange group. Deciding to keep that to myself for the time being, I looked back towards the gate and the cloaked mare. She seemed to have been held up with something. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear whatever she and the guards were saying to one another, as the streets around us were surprisingly busy for the late hour. Behind the mare, I noticed the two large earth pony stallions who I began to suspect were brothers had moved up closer to the cloaked figure. Were they working for her then? Perhaps bodyguards for the road? I looked away from the gate and back to Carrion.

“Well… maybe she just reminds you of somepony you knew before the bombings?” I suggested before realizing how stupid that sounded. How could she remind him of someone when you couldn’t even see what she looked like under that cloak? However, that gave me another idea and I tilted my head in thought. “Or perhaps she’s a fellow ghoul and you really did know her. Given the town’s feelings towards our friends, I’d imagine any ghoul traveling here would attempt to hide what they were from the locals.” Carrion rubbed a hoof along his face tiredly and made a couple of his permanent wounds in his face widen a bit and- oh hey look, that’s what the inside of a throat looks like from the side. Okay… could have done without that sight...

“Maybe… her voice just sounded so damned familiar...” He sighed, sounding less than convinced. I worried if he was planning on approaching them once they got inside town. His hoof brushed across his eyes, cutting off their constant glow for a moment before lowering back to the sidewalk. “You're probably right actually… hell it could just be a sign of me finally snapping...” he began to say more, but a sudden flash of light off to our right got our attention.

Luckily I’d been sitting more towards the gates than the street or else I might have missed it completely thanks to my eye. Both Carrion and I turned to attempt to see what had caused the sudden flash. I half expected to see a unicorn casting a light spell or perhaps a couple foals playing with a flashlight. However, I quickly noticed there didn’t appear to be any reason for it… none of the unicorns I could see appeared to be casting a spell of any type, nor did anyone have a flashlight or other source of light. I checked the streetlamps nearest the gate and noticed they either had yet to come on or simply didn’t work. I would have shrugged it off as just another symptom of my damaged eye if Carrion hadn’t also clearly seen something. It was clear we hadn’t been the only ones to witness it as a couple other ponies who had been walking across the street had stopped to look around for a minute as well.

The only thing that I noticed had changed was the guards had allowed the odd cloaked mare and her two large escorts to enter the town. The guards stood silently beside the open gate, staring off down the road and didn’t seem to have noticed anything unusual. Though, they did have their backs to the town itself. After a few more seconds, they began shutting the large gate and pulling it hard to seal it completely. The guards above them on the wall were looking over either side of the walkway, Had they seen it as well? Ugh… this was going to drive me crazy, but it would seem there wasn’t an immediate answer for the sudden light. The guards seemed to agree as they simply shrugged it off and went back to their patrols. I glanced to Carrion, who simply shook his head and turned away from the gate.

“It could have been anything really. There’s no sense in worrying about it, most likely one of the streetlights just attempting to come back on after so long… seen them do that in Kanter City often enough,” he said, ears folded back a bit before he stood up and waved a hoof across the street. “Come on, we should go check in with Wild and Stone. They should almost be finished unloading the supplies by now and I’m sure they’ll want to hear about your test results.”

Nodding my head, I stood back up and brushed my tail across my flanks. The action knocked away a bit of dirt and ash I’d picked up from being outside the wall and from sitting upon the sidewalk. Making our way across the highway, we set our course for the center of town and the makeshift landing sight for the sky chariot. Mounting the neighboring sidewalk, we hurriedly stepped aside and managed to avoid a number of ponies moving the opposite direction from us. I noticed most of those we passed were guards, likely the replacements for those still on duty. Some still seemed to be hurriedly donning the rest of their armor as they trotted past us. Only a couple spared us more than a fleeting glance, their focus on getting to their post on time. I did see a few who watched me as we walked past though. Instead of looking back at them, I focused on the path and buildings ahead. It seemed if you got your name… or rather your newly self given title said over the radio and you became a bit famous.

“Good thing Wild isn’t around to see that,” Carrion said from beside me, eyes fixed upon the sidewalk ahead of us. “Otherwise she might say something along the lines of you not just being popular with the mares.” This caused a long suffering sigh to escape my lips followed by rolling my eyes.

“Oh yes, thanks for pointing that out… I’m sure if she’d seen that I’d be embarrassed beyond belief by now,” I replied before shaking my head a bit and attempting to change the subject to something else. “After leaving the clinic earlier, you said you were going to go check in on Fleet and the others?” After a nod of his head I went on, “How are they doing?” We’d just reached the corner of the block and turned inward towards the center of town. A wagon slowly rolled passed us as we followed the street.

“All things considered, they’re doing… well enough on their own,” he answered. For a moment, I wondered if that was all he had to say about them. He turned his head a bit and shifted his eyes to look back across his shoulder and towards the northern end of town. “For the moment, they are settled in the most intact building within the old wall, a warehouse. It was the only building large enough to house them all in a single place and it should be easy enough to defend should anything attempt to bother them.”

I frowned and looked back to the ponies passing us. I still wasn’t happy with how things had turned out, but I had come to realize it was the best we could do. For now. “What kind of shape is the wall in? I only got a quick look over it myself and I’ve heard a couple locals talking about how old it was.”

“I’ve seen worse, the wall around Old Oaks comes to mind… but I’ve also seen better,” Carrion explained, ears folded back a bit as he turned his head back around. Despite what he’d said earlier, I could tell that something still bothered him. Hell, it bothered me, too. “It should keep out most animals, but something with more than two brain cells could likely find someplace to get inside.”

“So no raiders then?” I asked with a slight smile, attempting to lighten the mood. My ghoul companion simply grunted as we neared the center of town. I winced and looked away from him to the crowd of ponies ahead of us. What was going on here? Above the multi colored manes I could see the top of the Sky Chariot sitting where we’d left it earlier… I suppose it had simply drawn the attention of the locals. “I’d think something with more than two brain cells would think twice before running into a warehouse full of ghouls,” I added quickly to which my friend grunted again and nodded his head in agreement. “How’s Mint doing?”

“The same…”

It was my turn to grunt and I stared at the crowd ahead of us. With the death of Marshall Bronzestar, Mint Julep had withdrawn completely from the world around her. Not even her daughter could coax the poor mare to say or do anything. The most she had done was on the last leg of our journey to Janesville she carried Star upon her back and followed the ponies in front of her. I was worried seeing her dead husband might shatter the mare’s slim grasp on reality. And if she turned, what would become of Star? She’d lost her father already… while she wasn’t your typical foal, I knew losing a parent regardless of age was painful. Would that force her to turn feral herself?

“She’ll either recover or turn into one of the mindless ferals, Shadow,” Carrion answered my unasked question. He either noticed my troubled look or simply knew me well enough by now to guess what I had been thinking about. “Nothing anypony does will change that, not even her daughter. This is something Mint needs to deal with in her own way and in her own time.”

“So the fact she’s shut down isn’t a bad sign?” I asked, to which he simply snorted and shook his head.

“It’s not something anypony can predict, Shadow, not even a ghoul. Going feral can happen at anytime in a ghoul’s life or unlife or whatever the fuck you wanna call it,” he answered with a grimace. His ears once more folded back and his eyes narrowed. “It can and does happen a number of times… most commonly when we’re under a lot of stress such as being in a fight where death is a very real possibility. A major loss can trigger it as well, like the death of a friend or loved one.” The more he spoke, the more I could tell the subject was bothering him and part of me regretted bring it up. However, he continued speaking, “There were days back in Kanter City where it seemed I was struggling daily to keep what was left of my sanity intact. Stumbling across my soldiers… having to put them out of their misery… I think there were times I actually wanted to go feral. Just so I wouldn’t have to think about what had happened to us all.”

“I’m… sorry, Carrion…” I said lamely as he trailed off. My ears folded back as I attempted to give my friend something that might express my feelings for what he’d gone through. But what can anypony really say to that? I’d known a little about ghouls going feral. The welcome book we’d been given upon entering San Ponsisco had spoken a little upon the risks of the ghoul residents of the city going feral. I looked back to Carrion to try and say something else, anything, but found myself at a complete loss for words. My friend seemed ready to let the matter drop entirely.

“Just… forget it, Shadow. I know you mean well, but there’s really nothing anypony can…” my friend’s gravelly voice was cut off before he could finish saying whatever he had intended by a sudden and very loud scream. Both we and the crowd ahead of us froze up, our fears springing back upright in surprise. A few seconds after the first scream, another voice loudly shouted out from beyond the crowd.

“Goddesses’ tits, lady, just calm the fuck down!!” the voice sounded oddly familiar, but it was hard to be sure at the same moment whoever spoke. The entire crowd of ponies came back to life and began shouting themselves. Whatever had happened, it snapped both Carrion and I out of our surprised stupor and got us moving forward quickly. Thankfully it seemed to have a slightly different effect upon some of the ponies in the crowd as a few backed away from the source. It seemed to be somewhere near the front of the them.

Luckily neither Carrion or I were having much trouble pushing ourselves past the remaining ponies standing between us and the disturbance. Whether this was due to the sight of two large armored ponies carrying a number of weapons appearing right behind them or the flash of metal coming from my badge didn’t matter. Either way, the end result was the same as locals began stepping aside, giving us a narrow path to the front of the crowd. As we stepped past the last few ponies ahead of us, we came upon a rather unusual looking scene. One that had similarities to one I’d witnessed this morning.

“Get that fucking monster away from me!!” somepony shouted loudly, drawing my attention to the source of the problem. A unicorn mare was pointing a shaking grey coated foreleg towards a stunned looking ghoul pegasus, Fleethoof. At first I thought she was just some random local I’d never seen before, but quickly realized I had in fact seen her before. That morning as we’d waited for permission to enter the town, she had been the pony who had began screaming bloody murder when two of the ferals had gotten too close. She had nearly caused a riot, in fact. I was sure it was the same mare as I hadn’t seen many unicorns in town with as many scars as this one. Her neck and lower jaw was a mass of poorly healed wounds, from what though I wasn’t sure. Very few ponies went very long without getting permanently marked by the horrors of the world.

Around the frightened mare stood a small number of ponies, all with equally dark looks directed towards the uncertain and frightened ghoul. Judging by what they were wearing and the look of their cutie marks, I got the feeling a lot of them were some of the shopkeepers in the plaza. Almost all had caps or coins for cutie marks and a number wore belts with tools or pouches for caps. It made sense due to where we were presently, but of course they could have just been ponies getting off work for all I knew.

“Well stop looking at your reflection in a damned mirror and you won’t have to. Oh wait, you weren’t talking about yourself, were you?” came an answering shout from another mare involved in this mess. One I was much more familiar with and whose words caused me to groan inwardly and roll my eyes. Wildfire, the less than diplomatic pegasus pony, stood beside the uneasy Fleethoof with one of her orange wings extended across her fellow pegasus’s back. Her stormy blue eyes were presently bearing twin holes into the local unicorn mare’s face and those backing her up. Her words were a bit of a low blow, but then Wild wasn’t known to pull any punches.

Wild wasn’t alone, however, as Stone stood beside his marefriend. His rifle was thankfully still slung across his back, so things hadn’t gotten to bad… yet. He was refraining from shouting out insults back towards the crowd, but I could tell he wasn’t very happy with the locals at the moment. His green eyes were narrowed upon the cowering unicorn, and his ears were laid back atop his hat. If push came to shove, I knew my large friend wouldn’t be holding back.

Behind my friends was our sky chariot, parked in nearly the same spot it had been hours before. However, sitting beside the open doors was a stack of crates I’d last seen in a dark cave some miles from here. One of the crates lay upon it’s side, the lid having fallen open to allow moldy straw and a number of bottles to spill out across the gravel. Those who had been helping to unload it had left quickly to attempt to break up what sounded like a fight about to happen. The two Confederate soldiers who had gone with my friends now stood between them and the group of angry shopkeepers. Their weapons, while not held in their magical grip or mouth, were within easy reach and ready for use. Of the two, I could tell Honeyrose was nervous as she kept stealing glances between Shady and the group of ponies in front of them. For her part, Shady Oaks appeared calm, but she did appear less than pleased by this sudden confrontation.

“Those… things should be killed before they kill somepony!” the scared mare at the front of the locals yelled. “It was about to attack me!” She snorted and fixed her purple eyes upon the still cowering Fleethoof. Thankfully, I noticed a few in the crowd shifting their opinions as they looked at the ghoul pegasus.

“Bullshit! She just walked up towards us when you began screaming your damned fool head off!” Wild shouted back, gritting her teeth as she took a step towards the mare. Thankfully, Stone placed a restraining hoof upon her shoulder to stop her. She glanced back to her lover before turning back to stare at the unicorn across from her. “She wouldn’t hurt a damned bloatfly.”

“Oh fer fuck sake, Lilly, would ya just give it a rest already?” Shady shouted over the two mares. The Confederate Corporal looked a bit more green than I remembered. “My stomach’s still threatenin’ ta empty my breakfast and th’ both of yer yellin’ ain’t helpin’ my damned headache any! Celestia’s plot I hate flyin!!” the large unicorn added that last part to herself. She shifted her focus from the crowd to the ghoul and finally to my two friends.

“Yeah… about that…” Wild blinked and broke eye contact with the unicorn shopkeeper to glance sheepishly to the large army mare. When she spoke next, it was in a more civil tone. “Sorry about that, Shady, we just got a sudden updraft from that ravine we flew over and rocked the chariot before I could stabilize it. Wasteland’s not known for very stable weather patterns…” my friend trailed off as she spotted Carrion and myself stepping out from the crowd and moving over towards them. Her expression shifted once more, this time to relief as she called out, “Shadow… thank the goddesses you're here… would you please tell these ponies to calm the hell down?”

I arched a brow at my winged friend before glancing to the two Confederate soldiers standing between her and the locals. “While I wear the badge and call myself a Marshall, Wild, I’m afraid I don’t have any real authority here in town,” I answered simply, getting a surprised look from Honeyrose and a relieved look from Shady.

I understood both their reactions, as both likely expected me to start throwing my nonexistent weight around and undermining the authority of the local ponies in charge. While I had done something similar back in Old Oaks, it had been to snap the locals out of their idiotic arguments in the face of certain death. Just as in Tombstone, here I had to abide by the local guards and law enforcement… which come to think of it… I hadn’t seen a sheriff or any deputies in town yet… was the Confederacy replacing them as law enforcement?

“Thank ya kindly, Marshall,” Shady said, nodding her horned head towards me. Despite not wanting to step on anypony else’s hooves… I still agreed with Wild, this needed to stop and I had a general idea how to do so.

Looking away from Shady and my friends, I instead focused my gaze upon the group of ponies standing before them. I narrowed my eyes as I began by stepping between Wild, Fleethoof, and the others. “That said… I’d still like to know why somepony who sought shelter within the walls of this town, and was granted it, is now being harassed for doing what sounds like, nothing,” I said simply and earned a number of dark looks from a few of the troublemakers. If looks could kill, I’d be dead a dozen times over from the look the lead mare was giving me.

“That… thing shouldn’t even be IN this town. It and the rest of its kind should be killed before they turn on us!” the mare practically snarled, slowly starting to advance upon me and the group of friends I was standing in front of. My eyes narrowed upon her, but she didn’t back down. “Why is it even in the town to begin with?! I thought those beasts were supposed to stay outside the walls? How’d it get in? And when is the mayor going to do something about them? Those things are monsters that are only interested in killing…” Thankfully, she was cut off before she could go on any further. I had a feeling she intended to go on for a while about her thoughts on the fate of all ghouls.

“Lilly! That! Is! Enough!” Shady managed to shout over the mare’s little rant, punctuating each word by stomping her fore hoof into the pavement as she stepped closer. She moved around me to impose herself between us. When she was nearly muzzle to muzzle with the frightened unicorn, she continued, “Th’ Marshall’s correct, th’ mayor did allow th’ ghouls a place ta stay in town while our guests are gettin’ patched up. This ghoul…” She winced and shook her head. “Fleethoof has permission to come and go as she pleases as she’s no different than th’ Marshall’s friend, Carrion, here.” At this, Shady waved a hoof towards my silent scowling friend who had remained standing where he was. As attention was focused upon him, however, a number of locals hurriedly took a few steps back from him. One of the mares in Lilly’s group yelped in surprise.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake…” Wild muttered behind me.

“I don’t care how dressed up it looks… it’s still a damned ghoul and it’ll turn on us sooner or later… I’ve seen it happen before,” Lilly responded, eyes narrowing upon Carrion who stood his ground.

“Lilly… just… give it a rest, okay?” Honeyrose asked softly, the slender earth pony mare finding herself the center of attention as she spoke up. “The ghouls are in the old quarter of the town, they’re safe from the wasteland and we are safe from them. I don’t think they mean us any harm… they’re just a bit lost…” she trailed off some as Lilly gave the pale yellow soldier a withering look, before she added softly, “The Marshall vouches for them, after all.” With those words, the attention shifted from Honeyrose to me. Once again, I was thankful my armor was impervious to dark looks.

“His word doesn’t mean a thing, you foal, he’s just a pony. A pony who let a lot of other ponies die in Tombstone so I hear.” I winced at her words, recalling just who she was speaking of. “Nopony can vouch for another fully…” she hesitated on adding that last part, and for a moment the hateful look in her eyes faded… and a frighted pony replaced her… but as quickly as it appeared, it was gone in a flash as her eyes focused upon Fleethoof.

I wondered… what had happened to make her this way? A ghoul attack? A friend going feral? My thoughts were interrupted as Shady stepped back from Lilly and placed a hoof gently upon her shoulder. She quickly spoke up before the scared unicorn could continue her verbal attack.

“Private Honeyrose is right, Lilly. Th’ ghouls ain’t goin’ do anypony any harm behind th’ old wall. So why don’t ya’ll just get back ta yer booths and stores and finish up yer business ‘fore it’s closin’ time?” she spoke gently with the mare, who frowned and shrugged the hoof off her shoulder. Giving Fleethoof and the rest of us a final stare, she turned and sulked off. As she drew further away, Shady sighed and sat down upon the pavement of the sidewalk.

“Damn stubborn ol’ mare,” the corporal whispered loud enough for me to hear before brushing a hoof through her short cut dark green mane. Her attention drifted back to my friends and I. Honeyrose simply sat beside her fellow soldier, looking sadly to where Lilly had left.

“What’s her problem?” Wild asked, giving the retreating pony in question a final glance. Her laid back ears and scowl made it clear what she thought of the pony. Shaking her head, she turned back and began helping Fleethoof up. She guided the ghoul mare away from the remaining crowd and over towards the sky chariot. Stone eyed the ponies still lingering nearby before snorting softly to himself and standing up. He stepped away from the two pegasi and over towards Shady and myself. Carrion, meanwhile, simply remained where he was, indifferent from the stares he was receiving from the remaining locals. He gave Lilly a look himself before swiveling his head back around towards us.

“Ain’t rightly my story ta tell,” Shady began, horn lighting up a soft blue. She pulled a pack of worn cigarettes from a pocket located upon her armored chest. “But given th’ circumstances, yer’ll gonna hear it soon enough if ya stay in town long.” A single white stick floated from the package glowing in the unicorns magic and floated towards her muzzle. It lit a second later by a small burst of fire magic before she began her tale, “Th’ short and public version of th’ tale is that Lilly’s parents were travelin’ merchants. Traveled all across th’ western wasteland sellin’ stuff ta ponies in towns includin’ this one.”

As she was speaking, Honeyrose slipped away from the four of us and went back to help Wild with calming Fleethoof down. The ghoul mare was flexing her tattered wings uneasily as her glowing eyes darted between them and the last few ponies lingering nearby. It was hard to say whether she fully understood why another pony was yelling at her… I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure how much of her original personality remained, and how much was suppressed. Due to her inability to speak it was hard to tell, but I had a feeling she was more like Carrion then she was Mint or Copper. She’d seemed surprisingly coherent during our trek through the forest and the fight with the raiders. The talk with Carrion minutes ago made me worry if something like this wouldn’t be the thing that drove her over the edge. Shady, oblivious to my concerns, went on with the story.

“One year, Ah think Lilly musta been seven or so, her parents hired a couple mercs ta guard them as they make their usual rounds.” She floated the pack of cigarettes back to her vest pocket before taking a puff on the one in her mouth. “They couldn’t afford a lot, but luckily one of ’em was a friend ta th’ family and worked fer free. He was a ghoul.” Standing up, she turned away from the last few members of the dispersing crowd to get back to work unloading the chariot. Stone and I followed, while Carrion remained silent. I could tell his attention was focused upon Shady’s story though as his ears followed her every step. “Don’t remember his name, dunno if anypony bothered ta write it down… anyway, on th’ trip somethin’ happened that made ’em go feral. Ah think it was a raider attack… or maybe a radscorpion. He ended up killin’ Lilly’s parents and most of th’ other mercs before any of ’em knew what was happenin’, rippin’ out their throats with his teeth. Th’ last survivin’ merc ended up kill’en this ghoul, but not before he mauled Lilly up good. Luckily, they was close ta Janesville when it happened, and th’ doc saved her life.”

“Ah reckon somethin’ like that would leave a bad impression on a pony,” Stone spoke up for the first time. He glanced back towards where Lilly had left, before looking over to Fleet and Wild. “Ain’t right… but Ah can understand where she’s comin’ from.” Wild, meanwhile, looked like she was about to argue, but she shut her mouth and shook her head. She either thought better of what she’d been about to say, or decided that her coltfriend made a good point.

“Yer right, somethin’ like that makes a pony bitter. ‘Specially if they never learn ta let it go… all that hate just eats ’em up inside,” Shady said, smoke trailing up from her nostrils as she breathed. The cigarette in her mouth glowed as she took another puff. “She’s a good enough mare, so long as there ain’t no ghouls around.” The mare’s horn lit once more with magic as she began pulling the last few crates from within the chariot and out onto the ground. Stone was busy picking up the items from the box that had fallen out during all the yelling.

“Is that why ghouls aren’t welcome in town?” I asked, taking one of the floating boxes from midair to lighten Shady’s load a bit.

“Partly. Th’ real reason is th’ town’s just had a bad history with ghouls, feral and otherwise. Years before th’ town joined th’ Confederacy, it wasn’t uncommon for ghouls ta be shot on sight from th’ walls,” she answered, ears folding back.

I frowned at that, but kept my mouth shut. The wasteland was a harsh place and breed harsh ponies just trying to protect themselves… even if it meant killing other ponies. Again, I found myself thinking of Tombstone thanks to Lilly’s words.

“Twasn’t just Janesville. It was sadly a common enough occurrence for towns ta do for a long time,” Stone said from beside me as he finished picking up the last package of what looked like old bandages. “Ah can still remember my pa tellin’ my brother and Ah about similar things happenin’ at Crossroads. For years didn’t make no difference whether they was feral or not… just shot ’em soon as look at ’em.” Stone placed the lid back atop the box with the remaining nails pointing downward. He then carefully stomped atop it, driving the still sharp nails into the wooden sides. “Rose’s ma put a stop ta it when she became mayor, but if’n Ah’m honest, at th’ time my pa was tell’en me about this, Ah didn’t have a problem with it.” He glanced over to Carrion who had remained silent for the past several minutes. “Ah know better now, havin’ fought and worked alongside ghouls for a while now,” he added quickly.

“I understand, Stone. It’s a flaw inherent to nearly all ponykind. I know because I was and, to some extent, am still guilty of it myself. I hated zebras for what they’d done to our country and people… and still do,” Carrion said, shaking his horned head slowly before standing up and moving over to join the rest of us. Behind the ghoul, I noticed the large brown, shaggy shape of Spirit as she pulled a wagon towards the chariot. “It’s a very deadly flaw… and one of the reasons I think the war got so damned ugly there near the end. We simply stopped thinking of them as living beings and thought of them as the enemy.”

“Perhaps the flaw is still a common thing for ponies today, but there have always been those who have managed to overcome it. Otherwise, I would likely not be standing before you today if my father had not taken me in,” Spirit said as she pulled the cart to a halt beside the stack of medical supplies. The buffalo looked over the faded shipping labels for some idea on what they contained. “And while it is not perfect, I believe the beliefs of the Confederacy are quite noble in their ideals to bring all people of the wasteland together under one banner. Let us not forget also our little group,” she added with a smile to each of us, before unhitching herself from the harness to begin sorting the supplies.

“Ah reckon we have Shadow ta think for that,” Stone said with a chuckle.

“Indeed so.” Spirit looked up from her inspection and locked her eyes upon my own, horned head tilted slightly to the side as she spoke once more, “However, before we cause our young friend to blush from our praise, I was wondering if perhaps he had reached a decision on our conversation earlier?”

I glanced between my friends as I thought about my answer. I suspected her primary reason for asking me this in front of everyone else was simply because she wanted to know if I’d decided what I wanted to do. At the same time, however, I suspected she’d also intended to put me a on the spot, in case I decided to dilly dally around about my eye. Spirit could be quite sneaky when she wanted to be… I wondered if Doctor Kindheart hadn’t been giving her tips on dealing with me while they’d been living and working together.

My friends all turned to look at me curiously. All except for Carrion who I had spoken with mere minutes before about my choices. The ghoul stallion had helped, whether he knew it or not. While Wild had started the entire thing by ensuring Carrion got me to see Spirit, I doubt she knew the seriousness of my situation. Stone simply stood silently with a brow cocked. He either hadn’t known or simply was waiting for my answer. Even Shady, Honeyrose, and Fleethoof looked up from what they’d been doing, ears perked towards me.

Carrion and that odd, old mare had been correct. The wasteland wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but my eye just might. It might take a couple weeks to fully heal, even a month, but in the end I would be back to one hundred percent. With that, I could better help those ponies who needed it. While I’d only been away for a couple of days, it would be nice to see Tiny again and hear how school was going.

“I have actually,” I began. As we continued loading the medical supplies on Spirit’s cart, I began telling my friends and two strangers about what my examination with Spirit had revealed. Stone had suspected something along those lines, same as Carrion and Wild had, but my two oldest friends from the wasteland were surprised at the seriousness of the injury. Wild was all for leaving right then and there, but I managed to convince her to wait until morning. She had been flying almost nonstop for almost twelve hours after all and could use the rest. Shady and Honeyrose followed our little group to the clinic, asking a couple of questions about my wounded eye.

In the end, the seven of us spent the remaining hours talking about old injuries. It was well past nine when we decided to call it a night. I planned on speaking with Silver and Mint before we left. I also needed to see whether Balefire was going to come with us or stay behind to look after Tinkerbelle. Spirit was staying regardless, as the local doctor and his staff would need her help looking after all the wounded.

As we bid goodnight to Honeyrose and Shady, Carrion took Fleet back to the other ghouls. The rest of us headed back to the motel we were all staying in. Along the way, Wild joked about the scar over my eye and how I should keep it. Of course, she said that mares dig scars. I chuckled, but found my thoughts drifting off to my decision to head back. Despite what I’d told my friends, I still couldn’t convince myself completely that it was the right one to make… nor could I explain to myself why I felt this way...

The desolate countryside flashed past the window as the train sped along the tracks. Resting my foreleg upon the window sill, I propped my head up and watched the scenery. It was all dusty browns and deep reds with the odd bit of green here or there where a tree or shrub stubbornly grew. As I watched it pass, I thought of my family for some reason. Perhaps it was due to the line of work they had chosen. I smiled a bit, thinking how much father and mother would love it here with so many rocks. Not for the first time in the past three hours since leaving Tombstone, I found my eyes growing heavy. The steady rocking of the passenger car and the clanking clacks of the wheels was threatening to put me to sleep. I suppose I wouldn’t have this problem if I’d gotten a bit more sleep last night… but ‘we’d’ had other plans, and who was to say when we’d get another chance to do something like that again? So I couldn’t really complain too loudly, largely due to the ponies I was sharing the car with. I had no doubt they would happily point out just why I was so sleepy. The reflection of my face looked back at me through the glass, looking tired and a bit grumpy if I was honest with myself. The glass also reflected the mirthful looks of my companions who were sitting in seats across the aisle from mine. I shut my eyes and rubbed them with a hoof as my ears swiveled back upon hearing a couple snickers from behind me, which earned a groan from me.

Ugh… I was never going to live this down… stupid sexy bat ponies… stupid thin walls...

A few minutes passed as I pondered my options, whether I could possibly hide in another part of the train somewhere or disappear into the seat cushions of the chair I was on. It was when I was wondering about climbing onto the roof when I finally noticed how silent the car had become… the faint click of the door was nearly drowned out by the rattling of the wheels on the rails. Had they all just suddenly up and left? Odd, it wasn’t time for a shift change yet. I mulled over the schedule for the remaining leg of our trip. When I lowered my hoof and opened my eyes to see where everypony had gone and why, I was startled to see that the reflections of the seats behind me and my friends had been completely blotted out by a large imposing (and sexy) armored figure sitting down in the seat beside me. I quickly turned my head around to see if something was wrong and bumped my nose into Noctensis’ well worn and battle scarred shoulder guard, giving out a surprised yelp.

“Noctensis?” I asked, while rubbing the end of my snout with a hoof. The batpony simply chuckled softly at my surprise and reached over to pull my hoof away to examine my nose. When he leaned over to kiss it, I blushed and hurriedly scanned the train car. I quickly noticed that all the seats were now empty and it was just the two of us. Blinking, I looked back up to the large stallion and tilted my head a bit, confused still by the sudden departure of the others.

“How are you feeling? Any better?” he asked. While the question was genuine, I had a feeling it wasn’t why he’d suddenly appeared in the car and everypony else had disappeared. I perked my ears upright at my commanding officer and lover.

“Yes, I’m feeling a lot better,” I answered. I reached a hoof up to my still scarred throat where the zebra infiltrator’s bullet had passed through it at nearly point blank range. I was lucky to be alive. If it had been a higher caliber gun, it would have simply blown my entire throat apart… a sombering thought. “The soreness in my throat is almost completely gone now and I can speak without coughing,” I went on, ears twisting to the side as I snorted. I decided to try and lighten the mood a bit. “I’d think you’d already know this given how… vocal, things got last night.” His slightly larger ears flicked a bit as he chuckled once more, though it was more a nervous one than his usual. I arched a brow to the large stallion, wondering what was wrong.

“Before we left this morning, the doctor who treated you wanted to speak with me about something,” he began, and almost at once my confused feelings turned to those of dread. I knew what this was about. Shutting my mouth, I hurriedly looked away from his searching golden eyes as they settled upon my face. “He was understandably worried about your recent injury and why a mare with... your condition was still on active duty. When I explained you were just a civilian here to help the military and not an actually soldier, he became even more confused... so I asked what condition as I don’t recall Princess Luna informing me of any special medical needs for you...” Well, I knew this was going to come up sooner or later… it would be kind of hard for him not to notice after all. I felt a hoof gently touch my shoulder and I shut my eyes. “At first he refused to tell me… ‘patient-doctor confidentiality’ he said. But judging by his tone and the way he kept worriedly looking over his charts, I knew it was something serious… given how close we’ve become… well I may have… used my contacts back in Canterlot to get him to tell me what was wrong.” So that’s why we’d been so late to depart Tombstone. I couldn’t fault him… he was a very loyal coltfriend… more so than most. “When a princess personally contacted him, he finally explained what was wrong… though I suppose it’s not really… um wrong...” Oh buck me, the Princess knew?

“I… I didn’t mean to keep it from you, Nocty, and I was going to tell you… just not until we’d finished this damned mission,” I began, opening my eyes and turning quickly to the stallion sitting beside me. I reached up my forehooves to take his own larger one resting upon my shoulder. “I’d also only just found out a couple days before the Princess summoned me to Canterlot. When she told me what and why she needed me… I decided not to tell her I was pregnant. We all had enough on our minds to worry about… you especially and I didn’t want to add to it…”

“But… why take the assignment? You knew how dangerous this mission was… Princess Luna made all of us aware that we might all be killed seeing this thing finished. You yourself have almost died twice... ” he began and I could tell he was going to work himself up into a fit of worry for me. More than normal now that he knew about the foal. Before he could go on, I quickly cut him off.

“I really didn’t think the zebras would try so damned hard to get our prisoner… and honestly, what else was I going to say, Nocty?” I asked, tilting my head to the side as I sighed softly. “Let somepony else do this? There was nopony else for the job or she would have asked them before me... and besides that, she was convinced for some reason that if I didn’t come, the mission would fail,” I added, although I still wasn’t sure just why that was. I mean… I was just a damned rock farmer… not a hero or anything. Pushing those thoughts aside once more, I offered a smile up to the large batpony. I gently squeezed his forehoof in my own. He was so damned cute when he was worried. “Besides… it brought us closer together, didn’t it?” He returned the smile, but I could still tell he was worried about me. I admit… it felt rather nice knowing someone outside of my family cared so much for me...

“If nothing else, then it has been worth that alone and this will just make me more determined not to let anything happen to you,” he said. Damn, he’d gotten all chivalrous with that. I chuckled softly, nuzzling his cheek. After a few minutes had passed and we’d sat silently, he asked, “So… it’s not mine?”

The happy mood evaporated once more and again I looked away. This was what I’d really been worried about telling him… not many stallions wanted a mare who was pregnant with somepony else’s foal. “No, it’s not… though not from lack of trying I can assure you,” I added, earning a soft snort from him. “It’s my ex coltfriend’s…” I said simply.

“The one you mentioned when we first met?” I nodded and he cocked his head a bit. “Does... he know that you're pregnant?”

“Yes, he knows… but as I said… things just didn’t… couldn’t work out between us.” I sighed and attempted to put the thought of that damned unicorn and his even more damned family out of my mind. He hadn’t been the problem… his parents had… they hadn’t wanted their only son to marry an earth pony. Here we are, fighting for our lives in a war with a country that seemed determined to kill us all… and his parents were freaking out over their son’s fillyfriend’s lack of a horn… really? Were someponies so petty? My frown deepened as I recalled my first and only encounter with them… but before I could work myself up into a frenzy over that old wound, I focused upon the winged stallion beside me. I was lucky to find him… he had been my knight in shining armor. “I… I’m sorry I lied to you, Nocty.” I sniffed and shook my head… dammit, I wasn’t going to cry…

A warm leathery wing wrapped itself around me and pulled me up against cool smooth metal. A second later, his head lowered to rest atop my head and nuzzle between my ears. “I was just worried, Issy…” When I didn’t immediately answer, he rubbed my foreleg with a hoof and added, “I’m not about to abandon you because you're pregnant… at least for our first foal you can’t blame me for the pain of childbirth.” His attempt at humor got a sniffling snort from me and I buried my muzzle into the soft fur of his neck. “I’m afraid you're not going to get rid of me that easily.”

I lost it then. All the fears I’d kept contained on this journey: that he’d find out, my worries he’d leave me because of it, the near constant zebra attacks, the deaths of so many good ponies… I just couldn’t contain it any longer and began sobbing against his chest with him holding onto me tightly…

“Shadow?” a voice called out, sounding further away than he’d been seconds before… was that how long I’d been crying? Seconds? How had Noctensis stepped away? He still had his wing wrapped around me… my brain was surprisingly sluggish in processing these things when it grinded to a half completely… the pony calling out wasn’t Noc… he had a very different accent than the batpony…

“Shadow… are ya awake?” the voice called once more, sounding a bit closer this time. Wait… I knew that voice… didn’t I? Groggily, I attempted to open my eyes, but only to see a blurry darkness all around me. I was laying upon something warm… had we moved to another part of the train… no, I don’t think we were on the train anymore… or for that matter, who I thought I was. A few more seconds passed as my sluggish brain attempted to make sense of what was going on around me, and just who I was. Whoever was attempting to get my attention, however, didn’t seem to be inclined to wait for me to make up my mind.

“Shadow, ya need ta wake up… Ah know it’s still a mite early fer ya, but Carrion really thinks ya need to see this.” As he spoke, I felt something touch my shoulder and gently shake me, causing me to mutter something less than intelligible to the speaker… Stonehoof… it was Stonehoof… in my room. As I processed this, the images of the train ride and the batpony I’d been sitting beside faded into my mind and my brain began to run at a more normal speed. It had all been one of those dreams… although I was beginning to wonder if they really were…. they seemed far more real than any dream I’d ever had.

“Stone?” I asked. I attempted to rise from my bed, only to find myself wrapped up in the old blankets that I’d pulled over myself last night. Well… that explained the feeling of being held in a wing I suppose. Still, whatever I was having at night was becoming more frequent and more intense. As I struggled my way free of the cocoon I’d made for myself, still mulling over what was happening to me, I failed to notice my hind legs were still bound up. As I attempted to rise from the bed, I found out too late the bed was determined to keep me. Falling forward, I was thankfully caught by a large grey hoof that spared me a face plant into the hardwood floor or my room.

“Easy there, Shadow,” Stone said, helping to steady myself back up on the edge of the bed.

“Stone? What… what are you doing in my room?” I asked while still blinking away the sleep lingering in my eyes. As I reached a forehoof down to untangle my hind legs, I glanced down to my Pipbuck and read the time displayed on the softly glowing green screen. “What’s going on? It’s almost five in the morning.”

“Somethin’s happened in town that’s got th’ locals spooked and worked up… Carrion said ya’d likely wanna know and ta come see since it seems ta involve us,” my friend said as I managed to focus my eyes upon Stone. I finally slid off the bed and onto my own four hooves. It wasn’t often I saw my friend without all his equipment and trademark hat. Even without all the armor, he was still a very large stallion. I also noticed he bore a couple scars that were normally hidden by his saddlebags and armor. Like me, he appeared to have just woken up within the past few minutes. His mane was sticking up in several odd angles, as was his grey coat.

“What happened?” I asked again, while running a forehoof through my own messy white mane to try and straighten it a bit. Reaching for my slightly faded and by now worn jumpsuit, I began pulling it on as he answered my question.

“Ah rightly don’t know… Carrion just burst inta Wild and Ah’s room and said ta get everypony up. While Ah was comin’ down th’ hall ta get ya, Ah heard a lotta shoutin’ outside the saloon’s windows,” he answered, glancing to the window across from my bed. I perked my ears to listen for anything coming from the streets outside. While I couldn’t hear anything, I also noticed a lack of any fires as it was still dark outside. Fires seemed to be a sure sign that a town had been attacked by raiders. “Ah don’t think we’re under attack,” he added, either reading my mind or thinking the same as I. “But somethin’s got ’em worked up.”

“Alright… where’s everyone else?” I paused while reaching for my armor, and instead went for my revolver still sitting in its holster upon the bedpost. I doubted I’d needed the armor since we didn’t seem to be under attack. I would’ve left my shotgun behind as well, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. Something almost always went wrong in someway...

“Wild went on ahead ta see what was goin’ on. As for Balefire and Spirit, they stayed at th’ clinic last night so Ah ain’t seen ’em since,” he reminded me. Spirit had waited to stay and help the wounded, and Balefire had been unwilling to leave Tink or her grandfather’s side. It seemed the young stallion had it hard for the young mare. “We’re supposed ta meet Carrion in th’ town square. Seems whatever's happened, happened there a few hours ago.” I wondered while I finished strapping the holster onto my left foreleg, what it was that could have gotten Carrion worked up enough to come and find help. With the comforting weight of my sidearm on my leg, I looked back up to Stone and nodded my head.

“Ah’ll need ta stop at my room ta grab my hat, and a weapon just in case,” my friend said as he noticed I was finished. He hurriedly headed back out my door and I started after him. I had only made it to the doorway when a noise behind me caused me to pause.

Standing in the doorway, I glanced back inside my room and around the darkened corners of it before my eyes drew to a stop upon my riot armor. It was still sitting where I had left it last night, atop the dresser near my bed. However, I quickly noticed that the silver Marshal’s badge that had been attached to the chest had fallen off. It was resting on its side with the image of the Royal Sisters reflecting in the dim lighting coming in from the open door. Turning around, I made my way back into my room and to the dresser, reaching up to pick up the badge from where it had fallen. I found myself staring at it for a few seconds before I started to put it back. I was about to drop it when something made me stop and turn my hoof back over to stare at the star. Without bothering to second guess myself, I sat down and hurriedly pinned the badge to my jumpsuit before standing and leaving the room.

Stone was just emerging from his and Wild’s room when I entered the hallway. Turning towards me, my friend arched a brow at the flash of silver coming from my chest, but didn’t question it. Instead, we quickly headed down the hallway and towards the stairs that would take us down to the second and first floors. As we descended the steps, I began to make out the sounds of voices coming from the main room of the saloon. Given the hour, it should still be empty. Stepping hoof onto the first floor, however, I saw a number of ponies milling about the front door and windows of the building. A number of them were guests who had been staying the night as well, along with a few of the mares who worked here.

Nopony paid Stone or I much attention as we finished walking down the steps and moved between the empty seats and tables. We managed to move past nearly all of them without much trouble and were out the doors and into the chilly early morning air within a minute. I was quickly thankful I’d stopped to put on my jumpsuit when my breath came out as a rapidly fading white cloud.

Similar to the saloon, I noticed a fair number of ponies standing about outside their homes or businesses. All of them were staring down the road towards the center of town, and all talking about what had happened late last night. I caught bits and pieces of their conversations as Stone and I trotted past them down the road. What I heard made the chill of the air seem like a humid wasteland afternoon compared to the chill I felt running through my blood.

“... I’ve never thought this would happen here.”

“Did ya hear? They don’t think it was a robbery, nothin’ was taken from her shop…”

“-her neighbor found ’er layin’ in a pool of her own blood, said she heard screamin…”

“What kind of monster rips out your throat?”

“She was sorta a bitch… but nopony deserves an end like that…”

“Ah heard there was another pony found up th’ street… killed in th’ same way… only he was one of th’ guard...”

“-I heard they already caught the sick fuck what done it.”

I shared a troubled look with Stone as we quickened our pace towards the plaza-like center of town. As we moved further down the street from the saloon, the number of ponies crowding the sidewalks only increased. Once we caught sight of the statue in the former park, it appeared as if the entire town was here. The bits of conversation we’d caught on our way here, along with the crowds, and the fact Carrion had mentioned us being involved in this somehow, all combined to make me worry just who had been killed… and by whom. I doubted I was going to like it, either way…

Working our way along the edge of the crowd, we began making our way towards what appeared to be a small store located along one side of the plaza. As a matter of fact, it was quite close to where we’d landed the sky chariot a few hours ago to unload the supplies. Thankfully, the local Confederate Army commander had allowed Wild to park our transportation atop the building they were using as their base inside the town. Otherwise I suspected it would have been used as a platform for ponies to better see over one another… or as Wild had feared, stolen by one of the few pegasi in town. Speaking of the local detachment of soldiers, they seemed to be out in full force tonight, alongside the local town guards.

A pair of grim faced olive green dressed ponies of the Confederate Army stood beside the crowd, keeping any overly curious locals away from the store. A number of local guards and unarmed ponies were either standing or entering and leaving the building. Among the unarmed individuals, I noticed the mayor leaving the shop, looking like she was about to be sick. Beside her, was Doctor Bandaid and the unmistakable large frame of Spirit. Both looked grim, and were talking among themselves as a local guard offered the mayor his canteen. As I stood watching, I noticed Spirit looked far more than grim… she looked worried. Something I hadn’t often see the buffalo express before. She kept looking back from the doctor to the store behind them as Bandaid answered her, shaking his head and looking a bit worried himself. I stepped forward to try and get Spirit’s attention when the two soldiers brought their rifles up to bare my path.

“Hey, easy now, I don’t want any trouble. I just need to speak with my friend, the buffalo there with your doctor,” I said, trying to explain myself to the pair.

“Nopony’s allowed through until the mayor says otherwise, bud,” said a large, dark grey earth pony stallion who looked like he could give Stone a run for his money in a hoof wrestling contest. The fellow’s olive green armor seemed to barely fit him. While I’d never seen this guy before, the pale yellow coated earth pony beside him was a different matter however.

“Private Ironside… this is Marshal Shadow… Ah… Ah think we can let ’em through… don’t ya think?” Private Honeyrose asked softly to her larger companion. “He might be able ta help out with his friend, th’ buffalo doctor…” The stallion simply looked down at her and she trailed off, causing him to focus once more upon me.

“Then this is his fault. If he hadn’t brought those things here, none of this would have happened,” he said to the mare beside him while staring down at me with cold, steel blue eyes. I arched a brow and he snorted, pushing me back a bit with his rifle.

I frowned and stared back up at the pony before me, rubbing my chest where he’d pushed me back. I realized my fears about who was involved with this seemed all but confirmed by the large stallion’s comment. I was about to try and find out more from him when Stone spoke beside me, his tone immediately catching my attention.

“What th’ fuckin hell?”

I turned away from the two blocking my path to see what had so surprised my friend. I noticed where his attention was fixed and followed it to the doorway of the store that Spirit and Doctor Bandaid had just exited. More ponies were coming out, over a half dozen of the local guards. All were with weapons drawn and pointed towards the pair of ponies they surrounded. It was these two that had caught Stone by surprise as it did me. I had to blink a couple times just to make sure my bad eye wasn’t acting up. When the image didn’t fade away or change to somepony else… I had to accept it for the truth.

A dazed Fleethoot shuffled between the guards around her, ears lowered in fear as her wings clung to her sides tightly. Not just due to her fear, but also by a length of rope that had been secured to keep her from escaping into the air. The ghoul pegasus’ legs where bound by cuffs that connected the front and hind set with a length of chain that dragged across the sidewalk as she moved. Her glowing eyes darted about as a few among the crowd of ponies began to shout out obscenities towards her, calling her a monster and murderer. Standing beside her, taking the jeers and taunts yelled towards him, was another ghoul. He was scowling angrily at the crowds and looking far less afraid. His own hooves were bound in a similar fashion as Fleet’s, restricting his movement and forcing him to move unsteadily beside his fellow prisoner. All his weapons had been stripped from his body and a magic supressessor had been fitted to his horn, rendering him unable to cast a single spell.

“There’s the killers!!” somepony from within the crowd shouted out and I blinked in surprise more at the words than the volume or pure anger the owner of the voice had used. All at once, as if a dam had been opened more ponies began shouting towards the two ghouls, a few of the more angry ones even tossed bits of trash or small stones that had been laying upon the road.

Carrion, had been arrested for murder…

Halfway to Lvl 21

Injury, Bad Eye: You've been to hell and back, faced the worst the wasteland can throw at you and survived to tell the tale, but you have not come out unscathed. Your luck has finally run out as one of your numerous injuries has failed to heal correctly. One of your eyes has been injured, resulting in a blind spot as well as hindering your ability to hit some targets. While in combat, you suffer a 20% penalty to hit targets in your blind spot and a decrease in your ability to spot threats. Using STATS results in only a 10% penalty for hitting targets. It’s not all bad… mares dig scars after all...Shadow (lvl 20 Stable Dweller)

S: 5

P: 6-1

E: 7

C: 7

I: 5

A: 6

L: 5

Author's Notes:

Well, it only took me seven months to get the next story arc started and all I can say to all of you my loyal readers is... I am so very sorry for the long wait. For those still with me, you have my utmost thanks for sticking around. My goal is to have one more chapter out before the end of this year, if not two if I can manage it. To quote a well known yellow pegasus mare in charge of the Ministry of Peace...

"We must do better."

And I will try. I promise you all that I will try my best to not make you all wait so long for a new chapter.

Editor and Chief: TheGamefilmGuruman

Pre- Reader: BronyKen who has also been doing a reading of my story and can be found on his U Tube channel here. In fact, due to a couple of his listeners he had to upload part 1 of this chapter before I even had a chance to upload it here! The scamps!

Original Cover Art: TimeForSP

Current Cover Art: MisterMech Go. Worship his work.