“Nothing can stop the mare with the right mental attitude from achieving her goal; nothing in Equestria can help the mare with the wrong mental attitude.”

I hurt in places that I hadn’t known existed a few weeks ago, but the pain gave me something to focus on. Between the walk from yesterday and breakfast this morning at our makeshift camp, the last med-X Gauge gave me wore off. I much prefer it this way though. At least it gives me something else to focus on instead of her incessant chattering.

“Hey! I know what would make us all feel better!” Pai shouted. There was a crackle on my pipbuck speaker before a bunch of odd noises started to come out of it. “How about a traveling song!”

“Pai…” I sighed. She knew we needed to keep quiet. “What are you doing?” It seemed she was content to ignore me when the banjo started up.

“Oh! I know this one!” Gauge practically squealed in delight. “It’s the Ranger’s good luck song!”

“We travel the road of generations, joined by a common bond.” Pai started singing quite loudly along to the tune. “We sing our song 'cross the pony nation, from Equestria and beyond.”

“We're Apples forever, Apples together, we're family, but so much more!” Gauge joined in as she hooked her foreleg around me. “No matter what comes, we will face the weather. We're Apples to the core!” She belted out in near harmony with Pai.

This had to stop.

“Enough!” I snapped as I shoved Gauge off my side. “Could you fucking not? I didn’t go through the hell of the last week just to get killed by some keen eared raiders in the middle of fuck-all nowhere!” I stomped on the dirt in my anger. It was all I could do. I could feel the flames inside begging to get let loose again. I couldn’t, not unless I had a better direction to vent towards. Gauge went wide eyed and pointed her hoof past me.

I turned around to face the threat head on. Over on the hills about a thousand feet away, was a large procession. Ponies of all sizes and shapes trod through the wasteland dirt. They carried various pieces of old luggage, rolls of supplies, and a few of the bigger ones pulled a large cart. They looked tired and ragged. Even the foals weren’t running around, simply walking. In that moment, I knew they were the lucky survivors of some settlement to the south.

“So, that’s how bad it’s gotten.” I muttered under my breath. The only thing I was thankful for, was that it seemed to be a fairly large group. Like Chasm, it wasn’t just a small section of survivors. Like Chasm though, not everypony probably made it out.

One of the cloaked ponies who walked in the middle stopped. He turned to us, but from this distance, I couldn’t tell if he had a weapon. Sats was of absolutely no help with this distance either. I held my forehoof out and motioned for Gauge to get behind me. If we needed to run, I wasn’t going to let her go down. The pony who’d stopped took off at a sprint towards us. As he did, I flagged Gauge over to a large boulder that happened to be laying nearby.

“Should I set grumpy to defence mode?” She asked in a whisper loud enough she might as well have been talking.

“What?” I asked and shook my head. “No, just… sit tight.” I sat down on my haunches with a small whine. I was still in a nowhere near well enough condition to fight, but I had to make it to Manehatten. I reached back and unslung my rifle. It’s been a good few days since I’d held it steadily, but damn it felt good. As I raised the weapon in my hooves, the pony galloping towards us skidded to a stop. They turned sideways just enough for me to see a hunting rifle battle saddle strapped to their side.

I pulled the sights up and centered the crosshairs on them. It was a dark blue stallion, wearing nothing more than ragged cloth and a hunting rifle. They turned their muzzle to me and smiled. He was familiar. I knew him, but I just couldn’t place it. Regardless, he was friendly, so I lowered my rifle. He started back up towards us as I turned to Gauge.

“False alarm. I know this guy.” I sighed and looked around. We were missing something. “Where is your robo-thing anyway?”

“Grumpy? I have him in flank defence mode. He’s about a quarter mile behind us.” She looked down to her pipleg and hit a few buttons. “With the special flight boost talisman I installed on him, he could be here in twenty seconds flat.” She bobbed her head back and forth for a moment. “though, he’d probably only have that long to kill any bad guys before he dropped into power save mode. Still need to fix that…”

“Sure, whatever.” I said without any real clue as to what she was talking about. “Might want him to follow us a bit closer next time. Lesson one of the wasteland; those twenty seconds for him to get here? That’s the difference between life and death.”

She frowned and cocked an eyebrow. “Duly noted…” She looked back to her pipleg and hit a few buttons. I sure hoped that she at least knew how to fight if it came down to it. The sound of approaching hooves drew my attention from her, and over to the stallion I knew.

“Storm!” He called out through labored breaths. “It’s me! Thatcher!”

Yeah, that was his name. He’s a security pony who worked at the Red Wing mine last I checked. Good guards pony, but his morals have cost me more than a few kill contracts. He came to a stop right next to me and panted heavily.

“What are you doing out here, Thatcher?” I looked back toward the large group of ponies still walking by. “They all yours?”

“Yes.” He nodded and panted. “I was on my shift when they hit us from the south. They sent ponies up to the walls with explosives. We barely had enough time to evacuate the mines before We were completely swarmed. Whatever those things were, they weren’t ponies. They just wouldn’t go down!” He was nearly hyperventilating as he recalled everything. I could see the tears starting to form in his eyes from the kinds of horrors we’d both seen.

“Slow down there, Thatcher.” I said as I put my hoof on his shoulder. “Take your time.”

“Sorry.” He nodded and tried to keep his legs from shaking. “A few of the ponies in our group were from the west. They were the first proof we’d seen of the rumors on the radio. The attack came six hours later.” He looks sad for a moment “Brightbeam… she didn’t make it…”

“Oh…” I was at a lost for words. Even though he’d ruined some of my contracts, he and his wife were the most friendly ponies I’d met outside of dodge. I had dinner with both him and Brightbeam just a few months ago. It was odd to think how she could just be gone. Just like Pallet…

“I…” He sat down hard. “If they weren’t with my brother right now, I might have lost them. I don’t know how I’m supposed to tell them their mother is dead.” He looked up to me with a sniffle. “Finn and Huckleberry, they’re both so young… it’ll destroy them.”

“Thatcher, you don’t need to worry about that right now.” I said as I patted him on the shoulder. “Besides, they’re tough kids, and with you still around, I’m sure you’ll all pull through.” I gave him a weak smile. No kid should have to go through what they will. I can’t even imagine it. Then again, both Mama and Daddy are a century and a half dead. The only thing that helped was that I learned of them so late that I could handle it. Well, mostly.

“Sis, you have to hear this.” Pai chimed up. I’d actually forgotten she was still active. She turned my pipbuck radio on with a click, and I held my foreleg out to hear better. Dj-Pon3’s voice came over the air with a crackle, and his tone was not one I’d wanted to hear.

“...amount of refugees outside of Manehatten have skyrocketed since the last update. While we don’t have the exact numbers, I can give a hefty guess that most of the eastern ruins is now occupied. With more ponies pouring in from across the river, reports of raider and bandit activity has skyrocketed. Now, I’m sorry to report this distressing news to you, but these are no longer rumors. The south eastern wasteland has come under siege from an unknown force.”

“It’s even worse than when we left.” Gauge spoke up. I looked at her and saw the fear in her eyes. I don’t think it was real to her until she heard it from somepony else. This isn’t an adventure, it’s a war. Maybe now she’ll get her act together.

“Baltimare continues to hold on, but just barely, while parts of Fillydelphia have been completely cleansed by this force. This is a wasteland wide call to arms. If you see any strange ponies approaching, you need to grab what you need to survive and get the hell outa’ there. From the reports I’ve been getting, don’t even try fighting back. Just get as far north as you can and hope that somepony finds a way to stop this. Who knows, maybe those ever watching from above will grow a spine and come help us out. For now, that is all, my little ponies. Stay safe and remember, stay alive.”

The broadcast clicked off as Pai looked up to me. She wore a heavy frown across her muzzle, and I shared it. This was just the start of his plan, I was sure of it. If we can find a way to stop his advance early, if I can keep him from getting what he wants, maybe we can get the upper hoof. I looked over to the horizon and watched as the weary traveled on. I needed to get to manehatten and find whatever it is first.

“We don’t have much time.” I said as I looked to both Gauge and Thatcher. “If that bastard gets what he wants in Manehatten before we do, the ponies there won’t have a chance in Tartarus. No one in the wasteland will.”

“But… that’s where everypony is going!” Thatcher yelped.

“Hence the emphasis on getting there first.” I muttered as I slung my rifle back on and made sure it was secure. “Feel up for a good run, Thatcher? We could use the extra gun.”

“N-no…” He took a step back and looked toward the crowd. “I need to make sure these ponies get to the Garage safely.” He looked back to me before he dropped his view to the dirt. “Can you… can you make sure my sons are alright? They’re at my brother’s bar in Sunshine City, but I just… I haven’t seen them in four months.” That wasn’t an impossible task. Harmony and the others Should be at the garage in Sunshine City, and I would need to hit everywhere there for supplies. I nodded to Gauge and put my forehoof on Thatcher’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they’re safe.” I gave him the closest thing I could to a promise.

“Thank you.” He gave me a nervous smile. “We’ll all most likely only be a half a day behind, but… it means the world to me.”

“Just keep them safe.” I said as Gauge walked up to my side. “Thatcher? Remember to keep yourself safe as well. They’ll need their father there as they grow.”

With that, Gauge and I took off at a gallop towards the city. We still had a large distance to cover, but we couldn’t falter now. Every minute, that bastard get’s closer to what he wants, and I won’t allow it. If I am truly the embodiment of hope, I will not let my father down. I will not let Fluttershy down. Most of all, I won’t let any of my friends down.

The afternoon had passed with little incident. Two or three times we’d skirted around raider parties, and we had to lay low as a pair of manticores hunted something other than us. Despite these incidents, I was proud of the pace we’d kept, and could make it into Manehatten by morning if we kept going through night. Then again, I never was that lucky.

As the darkness permeated the cold wastes, a familiar whine carried through the air. After the last time I’d heard it, I’d hoped never to hear it again. I looked up into the dark skies and found a pair of floodlights skimming along the top of them. With a speed I couldn’t even comprehend, the vertibuck dipped through the cloud layer and dove toward the ground. Gauge and I both pressed ourselves to the dirt with this, but she let out an excited giggle as she did.

“So they really have flying machines up there, don’t they?” She spoke with an obvious sense of awe.

“Yeah, I don’t trust them.” I watched as the vertibuck pulled up at the last minute and skimmed along the wasteland’s surface away from us. I was reminded of the crash that nearly killed our whole gang, let alone that pegasus we pulled from the wreckage. What was his name again? Whatever, not important.

The vertibuck dipped below a ridge ahead, but was immediately illuminated by whatever lay on the other side. It spun around slowly and dropped down completely. A pair of pegasi zipped up past the ridge into the air. Almost immediately, their black armor rendered them invisible against the night sky.

“So, same as the last few issues?” Gauge asked. “Just go around?”

“I don't want to go around the enclave encampment, because with pegasus flight range, that would at minimum add hours to our trip. If we tried and got caught, we’d still just be brought back here.” I sighed and dropped my face into the dirt in annoyance. “Cutting through will get us detained for a bit, and they probably won’t kill us. After a few questions, we’ll be on our way again. If the Enclave is anything, it's efficient.”

“How do you know that?” Gauge asked. “Run into them before?”

“Not exactly.” I grunted and picked myself back up. I looked back to her and pointed my forehoof to the sky. “When was the last time you ever found a hole?”

“Point taken.” Gauge nodded and got to her hooves as well. “You know what? I’m just going to let you do the talking.”

We proceeded toward the encampment cautiously, taking it easy as we went. It may have cost us a few more minutes than I would have liked, but not getting mistakenly shot for ‘charging’ them was better than the alternative. I’d hoped that Gauge put her robot on hold, because we really didn’t need that following us into camp and getting us murdered.

We approached the ridge where the encampment was without seeing a single pegasus. It was odd how easily we’d reached it. From the lip of the ridge, I could see that it was more than just a vertibuck’s worth of pegasi. Olive military tents were strewn about amidst plenty of heavy equipment and supplies. It almost made me wonder if they’d actually come down to help us fight.

Almost.

“Stay where you are.” The commanding voice of stallion spoke up at both Gauge and I. “This area is off limits to grounders. What is your business here?”

“We’re refugees from a town south of here.” I pleaded with the stallion in my best ‘innocent mare’ voice. “We saw that big flying thing land. We thought maybe you could help us.” I turned around slowly to face the stallion and give him my best pouty face.

“Oh, hello again.” He was one of the Enclave who’d stopped our caravan headed for dodge. He pointed his energy weapons down at me with a smile and raised his hoof to his muzzle. “Hey, Hail? You’ll never guess who just wandered into the southern boundary.”

“Fuck my life.” I facehoofed and sighed.

I wasn’t kidding about efficiency. After Cloud Streaker had made the call, we’d been arrested and hoofcuffed in ten seconds flat. Now here we were just like I thought, sitting in one of those tents waiting for the base commander to come ‘ask us a few questions’. The minutes we were out of here couldn’t come soon enough. Though, I think Gauge was too distracted with the cloud terminal on the desk. She’d been obsessing over it the last few minutes we were sitting here.

“How do you…” She started to ask.

“For the last time, I don’t know how they work.” I snapped at her.

“Hey.” The armed guard posted at the door shot back. “Shut your muzzles or I’ll do it for you.”

I groaned and stared at the ceiling. Where the hell was this commander? Whoever they were, they were starting to make me look like a liar about my efficiency comment.

At that point, a set of hoofsteps followed the edge of the tent. They took an agonizingly long amount of time to get around to the door. Even then, they seemed to take their time outside of it. I was starting to think that this was supposed to be some sort of intimidation tactic, but it wasn’t going to work on me. I’d been through far too much shit the last few days for something this simple to ever work again.

The tentflap lifted, and a very trim mare stepped through. Her brown coat was oddly contrast by the dark blue military uniform she wore. Dozens of medals hung from on her breast, and she stared at me from behind a pair of gold aviator sunglasses. She flipped her red and white striped bangs from the sides of her face and adopted the widest and most unsettling grin I’d ever seen. The armed guard who’d been with us took his leave.

“Well, look what we’ve got here.” She said with words as slick as grease. “You really are a mare of interest, aren’t you?” She sat down and used one her wings to pass up a folder that was under it. She opened it and hoofed through it as she continued. “First, we get a report of you with an injured pegasus. But that was dismissed because you ‘threatened the officers with a balefire bomb?’.” She looked up at me and gave a stiff laugh. “I don’t take kindly to threats against my ponies.”

“Well, they…” I tried to speak up. The mare swung her forehoof hard. It connected with my muzzle and sent me off of my stool and onto the floor. Gauge let out a gasp of surprise, but smartly kept her muzzle shut.

“Quiet, grounder. You’ll speak when I want you to.” The commander snarled. “Where is Shadow Dasher?” She demanded.

I shook the stars from my head and wiggled myself on the dirt so I could face her.

“Never heard of them.” I said with a glare. This bitch could go burn for all I cared. I might have been willing to help before, but nopony hits me.

“You have no idea the importance his location holds.” She grunted and walked toward me. “So, I’ll ask you again.” She gave me a hard kick in the stomach that made me whine. My chest was still healing from the prison, but it was a lot better than it had been. “Where is he?”

I didn’t answer.

“Look, from one mare to another,” She tried to drop her tone to a more sympathetic one. “I just want to find my fiance.” Funny, because I’d heard raiders more convincingly promise to ‘give it all up’ if I just let them live. My answer was always the same. I’m here, they aren’t.

“Well, you could try where you left your manners.” I said with a laugh of my own. It was unfortunately cut short when the mare kicked me again. This time I let out a cry, and for some reason that set her off. She kicked at me again and again, up until I thought she might have broken my ribs. As I laid groaning on the floor, she started talking again.

“Let me tell you a story.” She started. “About my mother, hero to the Enclave. She gave every day of her life to protect the Enclave and it’s citizens from the grounder threat.” She paused to walk back over to where she’d stood when she came in. “And she was quite good at it. The best, in fact. She had a spotless record, all except for one incident.” She took the stool I’d sat on and planted herself on it. “You see, these grounders she ran into, they were a lot like you. Stubborn, stupid, and above all, dangerous. They captured her and against all odds, she managed to escape.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Gauge asked in a move that made me cringe. I waited for the sound of a hit, but it never came.

“Hold your tongue.” The commander snapped. “You’re lucky I don’t hit little fillies.” That riled up gauge enough to try to stand. Then came the hit and the subsequent sound of Gauge hitting the floor. “First time for everything I suppose.” She stepped over to me again and placed a hoof on my chest. “Long story short, my mother made me promise to find these grounders and make them pay. Problem is, all of you look alike to me.” She leaned in close. “So you better tell me what I want to know before I get confused and have you executed for crimes against my mother.”

“I don’t know!” I snapped at her.

“The fuck you don’t.” She growled and used her wing to toss her folder at me. It exploded into files and pictures that fluttered about my head for a moment. A black and white photo of a stallion with an upside down cross scar under his eye sat in front of me. “Look at him! I know you know his face.” She pressed her hoof down on my chest. “Where is Shadow Dasher?”

“Fine!” I shouted. “Fine, you win. I’ve seen your stallion, and I’ll tell you where he is.” I writhed against her hoof, glaring straight into her eyes. “There was a town a few days south of here where we brought him to recuperate. We’d managed to stop most of the bleeding when he fell into a coma.” As I spoke, I started to remember what had happened in dodge. “An invading force showed up and attacked our town. We tried to fight, but… we couldn’t do enough. He didn’t make it.”

As I finished, I simply glared at her. Her expression slowly sank to one of suspiciousness, and she sneered at me. With a grunt, she kicked her hoof off my chest.

“You say he’s dead? What proof do you have of this?” She returned my glare with her own as she took a step back. “Why avoid my question if you knew he was dead?”

“Because…” My memories cycled back to Pallet. “Because he wasn’t the only one we lost there.” I spat at her. “You say family is so important. Well I lost family in that fight. Ask me again why I wanted to avoid the subject.”

“You grounders and your petty conflicts.” She shook her head as her original smirk reappeared on her muzzle. “Well, so long as he’s dead, I’m happy. That’s all that matters.” She gave a satisfied grunt and turned to leave.

“But… you said he was your fiance.” Gauge spoke up again. “How could you say something like that?”

“Because, as handsome as he was, he still wasn’t my type.” She rolled her eyes and lifted the tentflap. “He always did have a soft spot for you filthy dirt herders.” She let the tent flap fall behind her as she left. Her hoofsteps stopped as soon as she’d left. She stood outside for only a moment before coming back in. “Oh, I knew I was forgetting something.” The guards entered into the tent with her. “You see, as I said, I have a promise to keep.”

The guards raised their weapons and stood there at attention. In the second that followed, the air outside was shattered by gunfire. Both the guards and the Commander flinched and looked at each other. A scream came from one of the tents nearby, and a few bullets tore through the tent we were all in.

“Get out there and give me a status report!” She barked to the guards. She sighed and lowered herself to the floor. She turned her burning glare to me and grimaced. “I swear, if this is because of you…”

“Ma’am!” A mare yelled before she entered. It was Hail, the other pegasis that stopped us before. “An unknown number of ponies are attempting to breach the western boundary. They are reportedly wielding spears, makeshift firearms, and improvised blades.”

“So get out there and kill them already!” The Commander shouted. “They’re just grounder raiders! They aren’t that hard to kill.”

“Sorry Ma’am, but protocol dictates that I escort you to your vertibird for extraction.” Hail stiffened up. Another bullet tore straight through the tent, breaking her stiff stance. “We need to leave now, Ma’am.”

I had to smile at that. She looked over to me and knew I understood what had to happen. She had to go, but she couldn’t kill us before she did. With an aggravated shout, she pushed herself up and turned toward Hail.

“Fine, get me out of here.” She snapped and hugged close to the armed mare. As she walked out of the tent, she gave one last hatefilled glance to me before disappearing. It was almost enough to make me smile. That is, until a small metal apple flew by the door.

“Grenade!” Both Gauge and I’d shouted at the same time.

The blast slammed into our tent with amazing force. Both Gauge and I were tossed along the floor by it. I gasped for air and let out a whine as my ribcage had had just about enough punishment for today. When I shook off the blast and sat up, I saw that part of the tent had torn and collapsed. The shredded body of some pegasus lay in a bloody mess where the grenade had gone off, and is probably the reason we escaped the shrapnel.

“Fuck… it hurts…” Gauge whined. I looked over to see her bleeding from a few gashes across her body. Seems that only I was spared the worst of the blast. I wrestled against my bindings, trying to get free. After a few moments, I realized that the dead pegasus might have something to free us. With a pained wiggle over to him, I pulled a small metal box off him with a firing bit on it.

I had exactly zero experience with magical energy weapons, but I’ve seen them used before. That would have to be experience enough. I hoofed the small weapon into my muzzle and pointed the end at my hoofcuffs. With little more than a hope that I didn’t vaporize myself, I pulled the trigger.

A red bolt shot and struck the bindings with a resounding ‘ZAP’. The metal heated up quickly enough that as I pulled my forehooves apart, it warped. The superheated metal burned against my skin, but the pain would be worth it for freedom. A few more gunshots zipped through what remained of our tent as a reminder that I needed to keep my head down. With a grunt, I shook my shackles off and got to my hooves.

“Make it stop.” Gauge whined from the floor next to me. She looked up to me with fear and tears in her eyes.

“Just suck it up, you’ll live.” I said with less grace than I probably should have. I was busy looking around the office for where they stuck our things. The metal chest under the desk we’d sat in front of seemed to be the answer, as everything had been bagged, tagged, and then stuck in there. I took a minute to get myself re-equipped and readied before gathering Gauge’s stuff and throwing it into my saddlebags.

In an attempt to find anything else usefull, I went through the desk too. In one of the side drawers was a small yellow medical tin. I grabbed it and opened it in hopes of finding a healing potion. It only contained a few bandages and a pair of disinfectant wipes, but I could live with that. This time is wasn’t a bullet that came through the tent, but a bolt of magical energy. It seared a hole right across the tent, which then proceeded to catch fire.

“Time to go!” I muttered as I walked around to the front again. I wedged my muzzle down under Gauge’s back and worked the rest of myself under her. Even with her metal leg, she wasn’t all to heavy on my back. I looked around to make sure I hadn’t left anything we might need before heading toward the shredded side of the tent.

Snow now had started to fall in the frantic night air. It was a small blessing, seeing as even pegasi had a hard time seeing through a white screen like this. With all the armed pegasi fighting to the west, it was relatively simple to gallop straight up and out of the camp. A few stray shots came our way from the raiders, but as we left them in the dust, even those dropped off.

Gradually, the lights from the camp swapped for the darkness of night. This was when another issue hit me. Yes, it would be harder to follow us in the snow, but it was freezing out tonight. If it got much worse than this, we’d be liable to freeze to death out here. We needed somewhere safe to hole up for a bit, at least to get Gauge patched up and back on her hooves. It also might be our best chance to get warm, but I don’t want to waste too much time doing that. Then again, I was reminded of carrying Predious through the snow, and shuttered when I remembered where that lead to. I had no intention of spending another night in some secret underground facility I happen to fall into.

“Sis?” Pai chirped as my pipvision flickered to pink. “If you’re looking for somewhere to lay low for a bit, there is an old service station marked on your pipbuck about a half hours distance to the north west. I know it would be the wrong way, but the temperature has dropped five degrees in the last hour. It might be the best place to warm up.”

“Fine.” I grunted as we ran. “But only to get warm.” I panted heavily. Pai smiled and placed a little triangle on my compass. I turned until it read that it was in front of me. “Then, we run to Manehatten. No more breaks till we get there.”

“Okie Dokie Loki!” She chimed before she popped away, replacing the pink with it’s normal dull green.

No more breaks. At least not until I’m sure my friends all made it there safe. That, and I have a long and painful talk with Harmony and Skyline.