“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”

We spent an hour around the campfire to rest, each of us going down in pairs to catch a quick 20 minute nap while the others kept watch and tended the lowering flames. I didn’t expect much to be out in the freezing cold, but as it lifted, I started to find myself flinching at every noise. For some reason I found my mind nudging the thought that any minute now an icy hoof was going to peel back the tent flap, and one of the frozen ponies was going to drag me back to that damn facility.

Short Staff was busying himself with trying to change the bandages on our mysterious pegasus. He had assured me that the potion he used on the stallion stabilized his condition, and that he no longer seemed to be bleeding internally bad enough that he might die within hours. Still, he suggested that we still get to Dodge as quickly as possible for some help, and the longer my mind toyed with me, the more I wanted to go now. Maybe I just needed some sleep.

I looked at the clock in my pipbuck, noting that Pallet and Predious still had another two minutes before I was supposed to wake them. Looking at Predious, you’d never have guessed he was asleep. He just lay there, breathing rhythmically and shifting positions every now and again. This was the polar opposite of Pallet, who had always sounded like she was imitating some sort of power tool as she slept on her back. Muriel and Martha were the only ones who didn’t seem tired at all, but it probably came from them trading off sleeping while the other one worked their body.

The heavy metallic stomps of Iron Will perked my ears, the sharp stomps shook the ground as I yawned. The vibrations of his walking made Predious open his eyes, and he sat looking at me for a second before he gave a short yawn.

“Twenty minutes up already?” He stretched, cringing as Pallet’s snoring seemed to catch him off guard. I shrugged and looked over to Short Staff, who finished tightening the pegasus’s bandages before sighing.

“Leave Pallet to sleep, she needs the energy more than I do.” Short Staff yawned and tucked his supplies back into his bag. “Get some rest as well Storm, I need anypony who can fight ready to clear the way if we need it.”

“If I may say,” Predious raised his hoof as he spoke up. “I can watch the camp myself. I will tend the fire and wake you if anything goes wrong.” His words must have resonated deeply in Short Staff, and that seemed to be all the permission he needed before he flopped down onto his bag and was asleep moments later.

I slowly lowered myself to the dirt and shifted myself a few times until I found a position that didn’t annoy me. Twenty minutes wasn’t a lot of time, but I was going to make the most of it. In my head, I started to picture myself in the places that all the prewar images showed off. I thought of myself at the beach, amongst all the other fun loving ponies living in such a carefree world. It would be amazing, with the white sand under my hooves, the cool ocean breeze, and the warm summer sun. It would be more than just amazing, no, that’s not the right word at all. It would be paradise.

“Get to work, foal!” I shouted angrily, my voice full of unkempt hatred. A small, frightened mare scampered into one of the maintenance ducts that ran through the bloodied halls of that damned facility.

The voice that came from me was not my own, but a middle aged stallion’s. I felt odd, a special kind of out of place as I watched the world pass by through his eyes. He passed the broken down door where Iron Will had fought Predious and I, noting the total destruction of the room with only a dismissive grunt. I had no idea where he was going, but as he curved further down the halls, an unexpected sight met my eyes.

He stood a good foot taller than I, clad from hoof to head in the heavy steel armor iconic to Equestria’s finest line of douchebags, the Steel Rangers. When he reached up and took off his helmet, I noticed two things right away. The first was that his light green coat, and soft yellow mane were a sharp contrast to the deep brown of his eyes. The second thing I noticed, was that the smile he wore didn’t fit him, it seemed forced.

He spoke up. “Scribe Tabasco has almost gained access to the facilities systems, and all sweep teams report no signs of whoever fixed the generators.” His voice was deep for a stallion, and had I been there, I probably would have shuddered. With that voice and a body like that, it wasn’t paradise, but I could see this dream turning out quite fun after all.

“The who is unimportant.” The stallion I was emoting through snapped at him, and I felt his anger as it pulsed through him. “When your elder agreed to my terms on the ground that you and the colt would stay out of my control, I had not known you could be so chatty. Maybe I should just take the foal against his will anyway so you will keep your muzzle shut. How would you like that, Star Paladin Maize?” When the paladin shrank in fear, the stallion I was in let out a maddening, mirthful laugh. “Lucky for you, I have no need to take his mind just yet. Bring me to the colt.”

“Yes, at once.” The reluctant paladin spoke quickly and looked through a small doorway to his right. “He is this way.”

The two said no more as they entered a small hallway, at the other end was a wide doorway that showed off a few of the lit up sections of the round central room that we’d met Pai in. As they entered, I could make out a half a dozen ponies scurrying about with terminal components or mechanical hardware in their grasp. Each one deftly kept their eyes from the stallion I was in, and the paladin and I made our way to a red coated foal with a peppery gray mane.

“Scribe Tabasco, report.” Maize spoke as he tapped the young colt.

“Almost there sir!” The small colt had his face buried in a veritable sea of wires, his small horn aglow as he put two together almost as fast as he tore them apart. “The bypass should be ready just… about… now!” There was a sharp snap that came from the Terminal next to him, and the light green interface dimmed for a moment before returning blank. He turned and got to his hooves, wiping his forehead and smiling brightly. “Anything you want, I can find it with a keystroke!”

“Good, good!” My stallion rubbed his forehooves together as his excitement coursed through me. I knew that I had no reason to feel excited, but whatever this stallion’s plan was, I genuinely felt good about it. “Now that the pestering machine isn't here to stop my puppets, I can finally retrieve the data! Minion Tabasco, find me my amulet!”

Tabasco deftly hopped up onto Maize’s armored back, his horn letting out a brighter glow as the terminal keys started to work at an amazing rate. The stallion I was, was just close enough to read what scrolled across the screen.

[Function>Search>Archives…

[… Done. Main Directory Indexed.

[Search>M.A.S.>Artifact Registry>...

[Access denied - Celestia tier clearance required]

Tabasco let out a disappointed sigh. “I'm sorry my lord, the information cannot be accessed here.”

Just hearing this made my stallion quake with rage. “INSOLENT FOAL!” He belted out, eliciting a set of gasps and sad whines from across the room. “Is there no way to work around this? Are you to tell me that you cannot complete the one task you must do for me to free your regiment?” My stallion’s voice softened as the colt shook in fear on the Paladin’s back. He spoke in a more delicate tone, feining calm when I could feel his anger and disappointment coursing through myself. “I am sorry I snapped, and I do apologize. I was just...” He let out a sigh and looked up to the worried face of Maize. “I was hoping for so much better from you.”

“I… I’m sorry!” Tabasco sobbed between his hooves. “I’ll try harder next time! There’s no need to punish me again!” He whimpered.

“Oh you needn't worry, Child.” A peculiar feeling grew on my forehead, and the sharp snap of cold felt like it forced an icicle through my skull. The quick flash of light that filled my vision hung in the Paladin’s eyes as his expression went blank, his dreamy brown eyes now swapped for a pair of cold, emotionless ones. “It is not you who I’ll punish.”

Tabasco rubbed his eyes with his hooves and blinked, looking over the unmoving paladin with increasing sadness. “Daddy?”

My stallion belted out a laugh as I felt overjoyed with the suffering and misery of the small colt, turning and walking back down the hallway we came through as I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

I didn’t like this dream anymore… not at all.

The sound of creaking wood was the first thing I heard as I stirred awake. Opening my eyes, I was met with a slightly lighter tone of cloud cover as the clock in my pipbuck read that it was 4am. With a sigh and a grunt, I pushed myself up, having a hard time steadying myself in the rocking cart as we rolled down the dark road quickly.

“Glad you could join us again.” Predious spoke up from behind the cart, breaking the still of the cool early morning air. “We tried to wake you, but you were out cold.” His horn glowed brighter so that I could actually see him. “Oh, and speaking of, it’s been above freezing for hours so progress has been good. We’re only a good four hours from Dodge, so it might be best if you get yourself ready as we’re now back in raider territory.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” I stretched out my hooves and hoofed at my gun, slowly remembering how useless it was going to be with only one rubber bullet left. With a groan I looked up to the front of the cart and gave a yell to Short Staff. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be hauling any .44 magnum, would you?”

“I might!” He yelled back between panting breaths. “Silver box… check it!”

I looked around myself in the dim light, finding a small toolbox set next to the injured pegasus. As carefully as I could, I made my way over to it, standing over the stallion as I hoofed the latch open and swung the top up. Inside were assorted boxes and plastic trays holding various brass casings. It was hard to read, but I hoofed a box labeled .44 out of its place and opened the folded cardboard, being greeted by the sight of nearly half a box of hollow point rounds.

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” I remarked happily to myself. With a smile, I hoofed the box into my satchel, finding that the pipbuck’s display changed to having 19 rounds listed on it.

“You sure are…” The strained voice that came from under me made my mane stand on end.

“Ack!” I yelped and stumbled backwards, struggling to find my hoofing again as the cart rambled over the uneven ground. As was my luck, the cart hit a pothole and jumped, throwing me onto my back while my momentum bounced me right out of the wagon and onto the cold dirt. Groaning out I rubbed at my neck and stood up slowly.

“If you wanted out, I could have gotten them to stop.” Predious spoke as he cantered up to me. “You alright though?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I think our passenger is awake though.” I talked as I quickly checked my gear, making sure that I still had everything. I looked back to the pegasus in the wagon, finding that he still lay there unmoving. Had I really heard him? Or was it just my ears playing tricks on me?

“I see, he must have given you quite a startle for you to fall off like that.” Predious gave me a smirk and started off into a trot. “I wouldn’t mind some company though, I’ve enjoyed our talks so far.” He said with a smile that was all too genuine. That sounded crazy to me, seeing as most of the time it was me yelling at him, but whatever. Who am I to tell him he can’t like it?

“Sure thing.” I spoke up as I trot forward, studying Predious. He certainly was an odd stallion, I’d give him that. So far, he has shown no urge to escape, no dangerous tendencies, and absolutely no applicable or useful skills whatsoever. For the life of me, I don’t know who would put a bounty on him, but the real question I wanted to ask was why they would want him at all! I just know that the urge to ask was going to sit inside me and pick away at my resolve.

“You’re staring at me again. It’s not polite you know.” He said as I approached, a dull grin on his muzzle. “I bet you’re wondering why I haven’t fled yet.” He looked to the slowly lightening sky with a light gasp. “Or is it that you’re just admiring my amazingly toned flanks? I know they can be quite a sight!”

Aside from the annoying comment, he’s got me pegged. “The not running part had crossed my mind.” I looked away, not happy that he was just waiting for me to ask. I hate being toyed with, and I won’t give him the satisfaction of me asking. “Your flanks? Not so much.”

“I know it’s not normally your place to ask, so I’ll save you the stress of wondering.” His horn brightened as he picked up the pace a bit. “You’re different, Storm. I felt it when you got near me, so I decided to stick around. Lucky me, I was right, you are certainly more than meets the eye.”

My hooves pounded the ground as we picked up into a gallop, racing to catch up to the cart. “Oh? That’s not a bad thing, is it?”

“Once again you fail to surprise me with how little you get it.” He gave me an exasperated look. I don’t know what he was talking about! He sighed. “If you were that bad to be around, we both know I wouldn’t be here.”

“Oh, I see. You know, you aren’t so bad yourself.” The sentiment was nice, but I couldn’t quite get if he meant that in a more than friendly way. I shuddered again at the thought of his flanks. “So, thanks… I guess?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” He rolled his eyes, locking his gaze when he met mine. “I have no intention in going for you in that way. We’d find ourselves quite... incompatible.”

“Damnit Pred, does everything that comes from your muzzle have to be so fucking cryptic?” I groaned. I bumped my head into the cart ahead of us, my mind so busy that I completely blanked on the fact we’d caught up.

Had I not, I might have missed the flash that came through the darkness ahead and to my right. The rocket that streaked towards us dipped low, detonating in the dirt a good ways ahead of the cart, but the shrapnel shot through the air and burrowed itself in the old wood. A yell unlike anything I’d ever heard filled the air as the whole cart shuddered and rose up into the air, flipping forward and to the side as the bloody and mutilated body of Muriel and Martha acted as an effective brake.

I watched in horror as the flipping cart ejected our pegasus passenger before slamming into the ground, splitting apart into nothing more than pieces of tinder and steel. The flutter of wings and a dull emerald outline was all I saw before the stallion we had was caught at the last moment and set down.

“Woo! Gud shot Blaster! Hit em’ a’gin!” The half witted language of what could only be a raider sang through the morning air.

“Ah’ can’t! We only had tha one rocket.” The other voice was slow to reply, but I didn’t like it either. I ducked low around the left of the twisted cart, finding Short Staff slowly dragging himself towards it. Half of his face was covered in blood, and he had several open wounds on his side. The look on his face showed that he was determined to fight for his life.

“Well fuck, Blaster! Dun go tellin them, ya dumbshit.” The voices descended into a bickering state as I reached my hooves out, hooking them around Short Staff’s and pulling him behind the wreckage. Predious ducked down beside me, looking down to Short Staff and pushing me out of the way.

“I’ll help him, but you need to shoot.” He spoke in a sharp whisper. I nodded and lay back against the the overturned cart, hoofing open my satchel and retrieving the rounds that I had just gained.

“ENOUGH!” The rumbling sound of a deep voiced mare bellowed into the night air. “Morons, get the lights up.” She snapped, pausing only for a moment before the entire wasteland flashed and was bathed in a pale yellow light. “Now, who ever you are, you came from the north. If you are here it means that you made it past my crew, and if you did that, chances are you killed them.” As she spoke, I started to load in the rounds to my gun, praying to the goddesses that there weren’t more raiders than I had bullets.

“They shot at us!” Predious yelled, drawing my gaze. What the hell was he thinking! I waved my hoof for him to stop, but undeterred, he continued. “It was self defence!”

A deep, rumbling laugh came from the mare. “How noble of you to assume that I cared about those little shits.” She snorted loud enough that we could hear it. “What I want is to hear you beg for mercy as I tear you limb from limb.”

I finished loading my rifle and turned onto my side. Slowly, I slid myself up until I could just barely peek over the wagon, having to squint just to make anything out. The pipbuck read a total of six hostiles, but I could only see one over the blinding light. The towering form of what looked like a Steel Ranger caught me off guard, but the closer I looked, the more off the armor looked as she shifted. The plates didn’t seem to connect in the right way, and the polished sheen all of the other suits of power armor had, was almost non existent.

Taking a guess that the armor was fake, I slowly slid my rifle up to the edge, tipping the barrel over slowly as the mare just stood there. I lined up the crosshairs in my scope, getting a better look at the armor. The eye plates were missing, and each of the sections were strung together with strands of thick wires, the whole set up seeming hastily cobbled together at best. I was starting to bet that the armor was little more than scrap metal bent to have the same shape as Steel Ranger armor. I pulled the trigger, firing my rifle at her head in the hopes that I could end this quickly. The round sparked brilliantly off of her helmet, and she lowered her stance in response.

“That’s more like it! Get ‘em, boys!” She bellowed out. Immediately, the rounds fired from the darkness started to ping off of the steel plates under the cart. I ducked back down as I thought I felt one of the rounds zip through my mane.

“Anytime now Pallet!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, working the action of my rifle as I looked to Predious. His magic was holding the boxy, black shotgun that Short Staff had used earlier, and he looked to me with a smile. I had my apprehensions on him using another weapon, but could only grit my teeth as a few more rounds chewed away at the ends of the wagon. “Just make sure to shoot the raiders and not us.”

He feigned a look of shock. “Miss Storm, I wouldn’t dare!” A few more rounds sparked off the top of the cart, and one punched through the splintered lower sections, digging into the dirt between us. The high pitched reports of Pallet’s battle saddle ended with an effeminate scream erupting from the raiders.

“Less Sarcasm, more killing!” I yelled, twisting myself up to fire a few shots, but finding myself taking too long to aim in the bright lights. Ducking back down, I cursed the damn lights as they were just going to make aiming too damn long for me to be accurate! Predious shifted up next to me, poking his head over the edge just far enough that he could see. He levitated the shotgun up next to him slowly, taking careful aim before letting off three shots and making one of the red lines disappear.

“I believe the score is Predious one, Storm zero.” He looked to me with a smirk. This might sound wrong but I hate unicorns and their cheater magic. I tried standing up to aim again, but only found myself dropping back into cover just as I pulled my sights up. If only I could get a few more seconds…

My display changed to pink as Pai popped up. “It looks like you are trying to fight more efficiently. Would you like some assistance?” She smiled wide and didn’t wait for me to answer. “You could wait the ten minutes it will take for Iron Will to arrive, OR, you could activate SATS to help you aim.” I had forgotten about that function and cursed myself yet again for not remembering to use it before. I stood up to aim and felt as time around me slowed to a crawl, the time alteration spell taking effect and filling the darkness with pink outlines. “Now just think who you want to hurt and the spell will make it happen. Easy Peasy!”

I thought that whoever was closest would be my best shot, and the system responded by shifting my vision to a raider who was attempting to outflank us. His body was dissected into different parts by the spell and each section was given a different chance to hit. His chest had a 55% on it, and was the highest of all the percentages, so I figured I would just shoot there. A soft click emit with my thought, and the words ‘center mass’ popped up under Pai.

“Ooo! Good choice, but I suggest using the spell for more than one shot if you want to be more effective. I estimate that you will be able to fire four before the spell’s energy is expended.” Pai bounced about my vision on her hooves. “Why not do… this?” She spoke as the readout acted on its own, shifting my perspective to the raider that was on the complete opposite side of the fight. Her chest highlighted and another ‘center mass’ prompt displayed. “Now just think that you’re done and let the spell work it’s magic!”

I did just that and felt the magic take over, guiding my hooves to fire the first shot. I couldn’t even see the stallion as he ran, but as the gun went off, his blip disappeared. A round ricocheted off the steel plate in front of me, barely missing my torso as I spun and lined up the next shot. I could only just barely see the whites of the mare’s eyes, but she was looking right at me as my hoof worked the action, pulling the trigger as the breech locked back into battery. The round knocked her blip off of my pipbuck as well, and as the spell assistance ended, I dropped back down behind the cover next to Predious.

I couldn’t help but feel a smile spread across my lips as I sat next to him. “Make that Storm two, Pred one.” I yelled over the dull ringing in my ears. The whine of Pallet’s gauss rifles firing again dampened the waves of shots against us, but more than a few started to zip through the disintegrating cart. Pai waved her hooves to get my attention, pointing down to the still half full bar of spell power for SATS. I nudged my muzzle towards the raiders. “Give me some covering fire.”

His response came through the quick, unaimed blasts from the shotgun, making none of the blips disappear, but nearly stopping the raiders from getting any shots off. “I’m out!” He shouted as they scrambled to find their own cover. Seizing the moment, I jumped back to a standing position and pulled up the spell again. I needed to get through the armor on the lead mare, but I wasn’t sure how. I let the targeting system highlight her and section her out, but it was no use. The hollow point rounds I had weren’t any good for armored targets!

“Let me help you with that, sis!” Pai shouted and fuzzed the screen for a second. When it cleared, a new targetable section of the raider mare selected, highlighting the tied joints on her armor. For a moment, I wanted to hug the little pest for helping me, but fighting comes first. “Awww, it’s no big deal. We’re like family, right?”

I forgot she could listen in on my thoughts.

I selected the most exposed joint in her chestplate, selecting it before confirming the next shot at what would be her exposed coat. As the spell executed, I worked the action blindingly fast, firing the first shot at the joint, and shredding it as I had hoped. To my dissapointment, for as smart as the system was, the only speed it worked at was too fast for the armor to fall away. The second shot flattened against the plate harmlessly, and the spell dropped me back into combat.

With one round left, I worked the action quickly and took aim, firing and striking the mares exposed chest. The added risk of me guaranteeing the shot came back to haunt me as I felt one of their shots tear through my right shoulder, sending me spinning down to the dirt with a yelp. Jumping back and forth in the augmented flow of the time spell had left me disoriented and stunned. It was hard to stay focused, but I rolled onto my back and glanced down at my shoulder, which turned out to be a mistake.

The round hadn’t impacted deep, but skimmed just under my coat, blowing an entire chunk of my flesh off and leaving the rest of the muscle and bones exposed. I could barely move my right foreleg, and as I lay there, I heard heavy stomps making their way closer. I watched as the armored mare had somehow ignored her practically fountaining chest wound, the dark eyeholes of her helmet staring down at me as she reared up. I caught quick glances at the inch long spikes that protruded under the boots she wore, and rolled to avoid them as she brought them down. Letting out a scream, I grasped at my shoulder as I barely got out of the way, but rolled over the open wound.

The glancing shot was worse than I thought it had been, and I was losing blood fast. With Predious out of ammo, Short Staff down for the count, and Pallet who know’s where, I didn’t have high hopes of lasting much longer. But as the mare let out an angry roar and lifted her forehooves again, Predious threw himself against her, making her stumble. She took a few sluggish steps to steady herself, ripping off her helmet as I got a good look at the bitch.

The pale yellow coated mare had pinprick eyes and a scraggly done up mohawk, practically foaming from the mouth as she shook in rage. She screamed out and lowered herself to charge. “I’m going to tear you to…”

“Get away from her you bitch!” The high pitched whine of Gauss filled my ears, and the mare’s head exploded. Her neck turned to ribbons as Pallet swooped down and skidded to as stop next to me. The world turned fuzzy as she started to shout, and everything around me in the brightening morning started to run together.

I must have passed out at some point, because when I awoke, I found myself in the uncomfortable position of staring at Predious’s flank. I groaned and tapped at it as I swayed on his back, wiggling myself until I flopped onto the dirt. I let out a yelp as I dropped onto my shoulder, panting lightly as I looked at it. The purple tent fabric was bound around it tightly, and though it still hurt, at least the bleeding had stopped.

“Oh, good, you’re alive. We’re almost there, and Pallet tells me we’ll need you to get Stim Pack to help us.” Predious duly commented as I picked myself up. I set my right hoof down lightly, whimpering as a spike of pain ran down it. “You shouldn’t put any weight on it, not until we get into town.” He scoffed. I looked up, squinting as the morning sun peeked its way between the cloud cover and the horizon to our left. Predious looked over me with a disinterested look, and the dark form of the injured Pegasus lay sprawled over his back.

“You carried both of us?” I asked slowly, trying to reorient myself as I looked around. Pallet was walking a fair clip ahead, the shape of Short Staff bloodied and draped across her back gave me some hope that he was still alive. Further up the road was the familiar sight of Dodge, and for some reason I just wanted to run there.

“I had to. Pallet could only handle Short Staff over there.” He spoke wearily and watched as I hobbled towards him. “It’s going to be hard but I need you to go faster. Your friend is in pretty bad shape and we’re almost there.”

That was all I needed to get my head back on straight. I pushed myself to hobble forward, hopping along when I worked myself up to a good enough pace. It was a lot more exhausting than even running had been, but I’m sure that is just the blood loss. The settlement was drawing closer as I did my best to speed up, making it almost to the speed of a trot as I got up to Pallet.

She offered no smile as I looked back to her, only keeping her determined eyes locked onto Dodge as her puffy cheeks were still wet with tears. I steamed on ahead as we entered the town, pointing myself directly towards Stim Pack’s clinic and used my head as a ram to push open the door.

“Stim Pack, get over her NOW.” I shouted, not even noticing that the old, grey bearded pony had been face down on his desk when I entered. He didn’t budge as I waited for a response, instead letting out a soft snoring. I picked out one of the mostly empty bottles of alcohol on his desk and bit down on the neck, swinging it down hard and shattering it.

That got him to wake up. “Wha!? What is it?” He shouted and stumbled backwards, falling to the floor in a half drunken stupor. He looked at me with wavering eyes that slowly hardened. “Damnit Miss, can’t you see I’m very busy working tonight?”

I looked at the handy clock in my vision. “It’s 7 am.” I growled and used my injured leg to point towards the door. “I have an emergency, so I need you to sober up and get your shit together.” As I finished, the door burst open and Pallet pushed her way in, walking into the back room where the treatment beds were kept.

“N… now hold on just a minute.” Stim Pack stammered at the sight, flinching as the door opened again as Predious pushed his way inside. “You bring in fuckin unicorns and pegasi? Can't anypony ever bring me simple earth ponies?”

“Because you’re a racist asshole and a drunk.” I shot back, glaring at him. “If my earth pony money is too good for you, then we’ll leave and you can find another way to fund your habit.” I turned and didn’t let him respond, simply hobbling into the next room to wait.

I could hear him grumble as he gathered up his tools from amongst the clutter of the other room, finally joining us in the back after a minute. Short Staff and the Pegasus had been placed on the two surgical tables in the room, and we stood idly by as Doc Stim Pack came in and gave them a quick look over. He turned back to us with a sigh.

“They're both fairly bad off, and I might only be able to save one of them.” He shook his head and set his tool bag down, opening it up. “As much as it pains me, I’ll work on both, but you’re going to have to choose which one you want to see walk out of here if worst comes to worst.”

“Save Short Staff.” I spoke up, drawing a confused look from both Pallet and Stim Pack. “The unicorn you moron!” I growled out. “How do you not recognize him? You’ve treated him here before!”

“Storm, he would want us to fix the pegasus we found first.” Pallet spoke barely above a whisper.

Painfully, I reached back my injured leg and smacked her across the muzzle. “You heard him! This guy could be a criminal for all we know!” I hissed through the pain, shaking my leg as pain ebbed through it. “I'd rather save the pony I know deserves to walk away from this shitty clinic.”

“I’ll work on your unicorn friend first, but I need space to work.” He glared at me and flicked his hoof at the door. “You all might as well leave and go about your business. I’ll come find you when I finish working on them.” He glanced to the others, getting only a nod before Pallet and Predious turned to leave. The moment I did, he held his hoof out and stopped me. “When I’m done with them, I’ll look at that shoulder of yours, but you don’t let them out of your sight. You know I don’t trust their kind, and I know they are up to something.”

“Look, I personally don’t care that you’re racist.” I jabbed at him with my hurt leg, wincing each time. “But if you let either of them die on account that they were born different, I promise you I will put a bounty on your head and claim it myself. Got that?” I snarled and pushed myself away from him. Exiting the room, I shut the door behind me and relaxed, feeling myself go lightheaded as both Predious and Pallet looked to me. “We’ve got some time to kill before he’s done. I suggest we go tell Harmony what happened.” I felt my legs give out from under me as the world spun for a moment.

“Maybe we should tell her after we see if she has any restoration potions.” Pallet spoke up, quickly walking over and helping me get back to my hooves. “Then we’ll let her loose on Stim Pack, alright?”

“Yeash, shure.” I mumbled out, slurring my words as I was hoisted back onto Predious. “Ah’m jusht gonna shleep again...” I knew I trailed off there at the end, but honestly I didn’t care anymore. I was warm, alive, and best of all, safe at the closest thing I called home.

Author's Notes:

1/11/2014 An edited version of this chapter has been posted. Please leave comments on what you think! =D