With stepping through the large metal gate that protected Four Ridges from the outside world, we further strengthened our resolve in changing what would otherwise be the future for our friends, our families and our neighbours. Not only did Four Ridges depend on us all to do our best and come home with a new lifeline, but also did any other settlement that we traded food with for other commodities. Looking back as I continued down the softly winding path down the mountain, I could see members of the Tank Mercenary Group waving to us, wishing us all the best of luck as they continued to keep the region safe.

Down on the horizon I could already see the railway tracks where we would split up into our three different groups, A, B and C. Though we hadn’t decided where each group would go specifically, we knew the three destinations we were intent on heading towards.

Fillydelphia and Hoofington were the first two places, though Hoofington would likely take longer to reach than even Coltchester, which was the third location we had in mind.
Fillydelphia being a good place to ask due to ties with Red Eye, a pony with strong connections and capabilities himself. With news that such an important trade link having problems like we were, perhaps he would be generous enough to use some small stretch of his considerable resources to help - for a price, of course.

As for Hoofington, there was the Society. We never really had any firm connection nor trade links with them, though occasionally we would trade for all sorts of things. It was always a possibility that they would have some way of helping us. Maybe the news of another point of true civilisation needing help would be enough to move them, I hoped so.

Coltchester on the other hoof, was a complete mystery to me. Somepony from the Tank Mercenary Group mentioned it during the brief planning session we held while getting ready though I had no experience with it myself. Still, an option was always an option and since it was supposedly a city of many valuable items with lots of scavenging and trade chances, I wasn’t going to turn it down.

Just as I thought about who might go where, a gentle nudge threw me off course and made me shake my head as I perked back up to see the smiling face of Cherry Sundae who was now making a quick check of her SMG while she walked alongside me.

“Wakey wakey, sleepy head.” Cherry teased. “We’re out of Four Ridges now and even with the walls still within sight, this is no place to be dozing off or losing focus. If I’m going to be your bodyguard I’m not going to be having you trotting around unaware of your surroundings. Always treat your environment like there’s a potential hostile in the area.”

“I know, I know.” I responded with a smile in return. “I was just thinking of the three places we’re going to be going to, as a group anyway. I’m sure we can trust Red Eye to help us out in some way over at Fillydelphia, though what about the Society? What of Coltchester? Who’s going where?” I asked with a small amount of apprehension. I couldn’t quite say that I wasn’t nervous but I definitely wasn’t going to let it be the defining factor. Four Ridges needed me to be strong, needed me to be confident. I needed it for myself, even.

Sliding her gun into its holster, Cherry just continued to walk ahead of me without a worry. Goddesses did she look beautiful from just about any angle imaginable.
“Well, we can send whatever group is the least experienced in terms of combat to Fillydelphia. They’ll have Red Eye’s guards protecting them once they get close enough to the city anyway, so that will be easy for somepony like Pocket Change, since he’s one of the team leaders.

Upon hearing the comment, Pocket Change began to speak loud enough for us to hear as he approached. “You want me to go to Fillydelphia, huh young’un?” He asked in his Appleoosan accent. “Well, I’m fine with that. This old buck is used to that route and why I volunteered to do the leadership role for one of these caravans anyway. Spose I’ll be group A if I’m the first to be designated a location then?”

Nodding my head, I didn’t mind that idea. “Sure, you can be group A. You’ll head off to Fillydelphia to make contact with Red Eye. If he can help us, great, head back home with anything that you’ve got. If he can’t, Tenpony Tower should be the next stop. Whoever is going to the Society is going to be out of the way much further north so they’ll not be in any place to really go there. Fillydelphia and Tenpony aren’t that far apart however.”

“Makes sense.” Cherry added, to the silent approval of Pocket Change.

Looking around the group, I couldn’t quite remember who the other group leader was. Jumping into the air and scanning the others, I quickly picked him out of the small crowd however.
“Custard Tarts, right?” I called out to the blonde maned pony with a green band tied around his shoulder.

Almost instantly he looked up and nodded, an almost overly eager smile on his face. Still, there was nothing wrong with wanting to help out. “What’s up? You want me?”

Floating down to him for a more reasonably spoken conversation, I landed softly and began to walk beside the young stallion. “You’re the second group leader, right?”

“Damn right I am!” He announced with glee and a grin on his face. “I might be younger than some of the others out here, like old Pocket Change over there, but that doesn’t mean I lack experience. I’ve got more caravan leader notches under my hooves than most and my safety record is also damn high. I don’t risk my crew with stupid mistakes!”

Laughing a little, I shook my head. “Though you’re a little loud, aren’t ya bud?” I responded, not quite sure if he really was as safe as he thought he was or if that was just the excellent guards he always had accompany him.

“Just excited is all.” He countered. “I mean, I know the situation is dire and we’ve all got to do our best, but that’s the thing about it! We’ve all gotta do our best and prove that we’re the best! If my team manage to bring back a water talisman before anyone else, we’ll be recognised as the heroes we are! How can you not be excited over that concept?!”

Thinking about it, he did have a strong point there. Though a lot of it was duty for me, the sense of pride of helping my settlement, my region, my ponies through such a rough time was a very exciting prospect for me. This would be my test, my way to prove that I was a capable leader suited and fit for service to Four Ridges. The part about being a hero wasn’t quite what I was thinking about, but then I could definitely see why it would be an attraction for him.
At the end of the day, I was famous. I already had my recognition wherever I went within Four Ridges. For him, it was the chance for something new.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I simply agreed. “Just… don’t go too hard on your crew or yourself while trying to reach that goal, okay? Last thing we need is you pushing for glory and getting everypony killed in the process. Do what you can, do what you can handle, but don’t make unnecessary risks. Now, back to my original intent… Fillydelphia and Tenpony Tower are being covered by group A, which is run by Pocket Change. You’ll be leader of group B. Would you prefer to go to the Society up north in Hoofington or to Coltchester down south?”

Taking a moment to think about the question, Custard Tarts scrunched up his face before giving a reply. “Well, I’m going to go with the Society. I’ve been up that route a couple more times than Lemon Glaze, so chances are I’ll know the best ways around Hoofington. No disrespect to him, but Hoofington ain’t exactly a friendly location even at the best of times so an experienced leader is necessary. I know that Lemon Glaze hasn’t ever been further than Coltshire, but hey, that’s part of adventuring, right? Learning new stuff and stuff?”

Couldn’t argue with that. So it was. Group A would be led by Pocket Change and go to Fillydelphia before making a potential stop to Tenpony Tower if they were unsuccessful while group B would head straight to the Society in Hoofington and return no matter what the outcome. Group C would be heading off to Coltchester, which almost made sense and was definitely quite the coincidence.

With the end of that conversation, a voice called out to me. “Hey! You’re setting up the groups without me?!” Another stallion asked.

Nodding my head, I looked at Lemon Glaze. “Yeah, sorry, but you’ve lost out the chance on picking on where you’re heading to.” I confirmed without much emotion in my voice. “The old buck, Pocket Change, knows the routes around Fillydelphia and Tenpony Tower all too well. Custard Tarts here knows Hoofington better than you do apparently, so he’s leading the second group to the Society.”

“And me?” The pale yellow pony asked with a slightly disappointed look in his eyes. “Where am I going to go?”

“Coltchester, with us.” Cherry Sundae interrupted. “We’ll be heading off towards Coltchester through Coltshire. It’s not a location we’re very knowledgeable about but hey, there’s still a chance we’ll find what we need to out there. I know of an information and antiques dealer over in Coltshire so you’ll be travelling with us. Don’t know if that old buck will know anything that we can use but it’s still worth a shot.”

Looking at her inquisitively, I couldn’t believe she was ballsy enough to simply make such statements. First volunteer or not, that was quite the statement. Catching my look, she blushed as I opened my mouth to speak. “We, huh?”

“I-” She blurted

Laughing, I stopped her as she began to try to think what to say. “It’s fine, Cherry. Yeah, something about Coltchester does interest me. I mean, sure there’s the chance to go speak to Red Eye personally about the issue, but I doubt that’ll be necessary. And the danger of going around to the Hoof-”

“-Isn’t worth the risk.” Cherry added.

Again, I nodded. “Yeah. I know going into the darkness of the unknown is possibly just as dangerous, but then there’s also the chance that it’s the right place to go check. Besides, if I went to Tenpony Tower, mum would think I’m treating it like a personal holiday or something.”
Pausing for a second, I looked at the others and then back to Cherry. “So, you’ve never been to Coltchester either?” I asked.

“Nope. Heard of it plenty, heard the stories and I’ve protected trades with ponies who come from there though. It’s why I think we’ve got a chance.” Cherry looked out onto the horizon and then back to me, the whisper of a smile on her face. “Did you know that most of the PipBucks that we in the Tank Mercenary Group actually come from Coltchester? There’s an old army base out that way which was supposed to be pretty important back during the war. Lots of higher ranking officers with PipBucks that had internal broadcasters in. It’s even possible that yours is from there. I know we’ve got a lot of our weapons and a fair amount of ammo from traders who come from that direction too.”

Shaking my head, I gave a small smile back in return. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but my PipBuck was an original from the Stable. Perks of being the Overmare’s son and all. Though I wasn’t aware that so much of your stock comes from one place. Definitely interesting. You say you’ve protected traders from out that way?”

“As part of the Tank Mercenary Group, some of the tasks I’ve had to do are escort missions for trade caravans like these right now. Okay, so the importance of the trade wasn’t quite as much, but yeah. Whenever we’ve traded with anypony from Coltchester we’d meet in Coltshire and that’s where it would go down. The town has some light defences, a small wall surrounding it made of scrap and wood, though nothing that would actually stop a dedicated attack. More of a deterrent to prevent small time raiders really.”

Coughing in a fashion as to make himself in the spotlight again, Lemon Glaze spoke up once more while looking at Cherry. “So, if you can stop looking at him like a school-filly with a crush,” And with that, he turned his head to me. “and you can stop trying to act like the cool guy… does this mean that you’ll be accompanying me, you two?”

“Why, does it matter?” I asked, genuinely curious. “I mean, it’s not a problem if we do, is it? More hooves for searching at least.”

“No-no-no!” The now flustered pony blurted quickly. “I… I’m just hoping that…”

With a sigh, one of the other guards shook his head. Turning my attention to the dark navy blue pony I waited for whatever he had to say. Slowly he opened his mouth and spoke in a tone of voice that showed both experience and a touch of apathy. “Leave her alone, Glaze. You don’t need to worry about Cherry. I’ve been out on expeditions with her before and as soon as we’re done getting out of this little mountain path, she’ll show she’s worth two others.”

“If you’re sure?” Lemon Glaze asked, causing Cherry to look at him with a scrunched up face of disbelief.

Slowly the mysterious pony whose name I didn’t know turned to Cherry and nodded to himself. “Trust me, I am.”

Cherry smiled back at him and then moved up ahead, tugging me with her magic to walk alongside her as she took point for the convoy. It seemed a little strange that a mare with both a close range weapon and an extremely long range weapon would be taking point over somepony who had a rifle, but at the same time she did seem to be pretty confident in her abilities with the way she acted so who I was I to doubt her? She had managed to prove she could handle her rifle for even ranges below standard for its size, though if that was a lucky shot down to the fact she had the element of surprise on the raider or if it was just her ability I was yet to find out I supposed.

“You,” Cherry whispered into my ear. “are sticking with me. I’m protecting you so where I go, you go. Where you go, I go.”
With a little grin, she then turned to the rest of the others. “Everypony!” She called out. “We’re about done with the mountain pass now, though I have no doubt that you’re all familiar enough with the surroundings to know that. Still, that means it’s time to be a little more careful. These flatlands give us a pretty damn strong field of view but the woods are up ahead and we’ll be passing through them before we get to Curvetail Junction. Eyes and wits about you. Last thing we want is to have some kind of ambush be awaiting us the second we step through, be it wildlife or otherwise.”

“Wildlife?” I asked. “Never heard of any radigators hanging around the woods. What kind of wildlife could pose us a threat there?”

“Wolves.” Pocket Change nonchalantly answered. “They tend to stick away from groups as large as ours, though that’s because there’s not normally three brahmin travelling like this. Makes for quite the target I’d say. Maybe if they’re hungry… maybe.”

Cherry gave an appreciative look to the old stallion. “Exactly. Can never be too careful. With any luck the numbers will be enough to make them think twice but there’s always the chance that they’ve not been able to find enough prey in recent times and are getting desperate. Thankfully they’re only common wolves and not the timberwolves you might find up north and around New Oatleans. They’re even bigger and nastier, but they don’t like it this far south for some reason.”

Looking around at our surroundings, we were now officially out of Four Ridges’ safe zone. Technically anywhere not within the walls wasn’t classified as totally safe and even inside there was the occasional psycho who would manage to fool the entrance guards into thinking they weren’t going to cause trouble, but now the rocky mountainous environment had ended which meant that we were out of any potential cover. Looking at Cherry, she simply looked ahead with a serious composure and focus.

Looking to throw her off of her stride for fun, I casually floated on closer to Cherry until my muzzle practically touched her ear. “Cherry?” I whispered. “You’re beautiful.”

“Uh huh.” She simply responded with no tone in her voice, leaving me surprised. She was so responsive to my compliments before and now she didn’t seem to pay attention to me one bit!

Noticing I had fallen behind in my moment of confusion, I flew closer to her and spoke to her again. “Cherry, I really mean it. You’re stunningly beautiful. I just wanted you to know is all.”

Taking her eyes away from in front of us and over to me, she nodded. “I heard you and I appreciate it, I really do, but what happened between us was back in Four Ridges. Besides, we’re really not all that far from the woods now. It’ll be about fifteen minutes walking, sure, but that’s still not far away. We’ve got to be alert and ready for any threats.”

What what happened between us was back in Four Ridges? Seriously? Hearing her words hurt me in a way that I had never felt before, in a way I had never expected to ever feel.
Before me stood a mare who was more beautiful than any other I had ever seen, one who I had been with through the night only two days ago, and now she was turning me down?

Looking at me, she let out a small frown. Almost instantly she began to blurt out gibberish. “I- I don’t. I don’t mean…”

“It’s fine.” I muttered, lying to the both of us. It wasn’t fine for me, though who was I to say what was fine for her? “I… I just.”

“Look,” Cherry began. “I meant what I said about the woods. We’re really not far from entering it and things are a lot more dangerous when you can’t see potential threats around you. Simply using E.F.S isn’t effective because you can’t tell things like how high up any bars are, how deadly they are, exactly how far away they are and how likely they are to actually come and attack you rather than if they’re simply hostile or not. There’s plenty of wildlife which will attack if you come too close and that makes them show as a red bar, but there’s also wildlife which will stalk you before simply charging despite distance. I’d rather be focused is all.”

Still, that didn’t make me feel better. If anything, it made me want to press the matter more. Giving into my temptations, I did so. “What did you mean by ‘what happened between us was back in Four Ridges’ though? Does this mean you don’t want me around?”

Turning back to me, Cherry grasped my face in her magic and pulled it closer to hers. While looking straight into her eyes trying to figure out what was going through her mind, she leant in and kissed my cheek. “It means that what will be will be and back in Four Ridges, what was, was. I was horny, you were horny, I gave in and we had fun. But we’re not in Four Ridges now, we’re outside. Maybe things will be the same, maybe they won’t. But right now? Right now I’ve gotta look after you and that means I can’t let myself get distracted, okay?”

Looking at her straight eye to eye again, I really, really wanted to get her affection back. Giving her a small smile, I asked the all important question. “So there’s still a chance?”

“if you prove yourself.” She coolly stated before letting out a small content sigh and turning her head back to the woods ahead of us. “...Maybe.”

Swiftly approaching the woods, the sounds of critters began to become more and more obvious amongst the almost sickly looking trees. Seeing them up close like this made me wonder how they managed to survive and even thrive, if only in a small way. Although my radiation counter wasn’t ticking, I knew that there must have been some background trace for the flora given how they were so deeply connected into the ground, quite literally.

“We’ve got bars.” One pony said as he began to check his gun once more, preparing for a fight. “Can’t tell if they’re onto us or what, but they’re here. Be prepared.”

Without a word I heard the sound of Cherry’s straps being undone and her SMG pointed out ahead of her while her oversized rifle sat firmly on her back. This was no place for such a weapon and she obviously knew that. Not that I was in any place to tell her what was and wasn’t correct for her to do.
Turning to me, she looked me up and down before giving me a look between being disappointed and being worried with her scowl. “Your pistol? Might want to have it out right about now. We’re going to need everypony ready just in case, no exceptions. If you’ve got a weapon, be sure you’re ready to use it or give it to somepony who otherwise would.”

Nodding my head attently and quickly pulling it into my mouth, I made sure to keep the safety on however… for now. Turning my head to see all the others, they had done the same.

Treading carefully as we continued on our journey, we made our first steps into the woods. Around us was a lot of cover in the form of thick shrubbery and large rocks, with the sound of running water to further block out situational awareness. On both sides we could hear the inhabitants moving along with us, scurrying and stalking prey, none of which I hoped was us.

With her right hoof, Cherry gently tapped the ground twice and the other guards immediately stopped in their tracks, prompting the traders and myself to follow suit. In a whisper, she looked around as she spoke. “There’s definitely something following us, I’m sure of it. My E.F.S is telling me about ten signatures are keeping roughly in pace with us. Could just be some parasprites, sure, but they’d usually go in for the attack by now. I want three on the rear and two on each side to protect, the last one can stick with me up front. Crimson, you’re with me too.”

“And who do you think you are to give orders like that, huh?” One of the technicians asked in an abrasive manner. “You think just because you’re one of those trained over at Tank that you’re somehow better organised than somepony like myself who can run a whole machine shop by himself?”

Shooting the grey pony a look, Cherry glared at him with discontent. “Lack of cohesion is the biggest trouble for travelling groups like this. Just… just trust me okay? I don’t doubt that you’re organised bu-”

“But nothing! I’m hardly untrained in firearms. Been outside plenty while fixing up small towns’ essential machinery and managed to handle myself plenty fine against bandits who attacked at the same time. What makes you more qualified? Just because you’re a Merc’?”

Looking around, Cherry was starting to lose her confident edge. “Look, this isn’t the time. After we’re through we-”

“More excuses!” The grey pony barked, getting louder.

Now as Cherry looked flustered, infuriated and shamed, I was getting pissed. She had said before about not being all that with others and now I was starting to see what she meant, but I didn’t care if she couldn’t talk her way through every situation. There was something about her that made me want her more than almost anypony else, and now it was my time to step up.

Walking up to the insubordinate pony, I looked him straight in the eye and pressed a hoof firmly to his chest. “You want a reason to listen to her? Well, you’ve got one. As son of Overmare, I’m listening to her. I’m following her orders. If you don’t like it, I don’t know why you bothered signing up when you know the routine. Mercs’ get authority to control the security how they see fit and she’s doing a good job of it.” For a moment the pony began to babble, stepping back, trying to counter my point. Before he could however, I continued. “Don’t like it? Turn back now. Otherwise, deal with it. You can go on a different route to us two once we’re out of here if you like, but I won’t allow anypony to simply act like they’re bigger than the group effort. Even myself.”

The grey buck behind us simply stared down at the ground as I began walking to Cherry, which admittedly was only a few feet away and went back to looking forward as I continued taking point with the rosy maned mare.

“Y-you… you didn’t have to.” Cherry muttered with a small smile as she looked at me. “Why?”

Looking back at her with my own smile, I could see the appreciation on her face clear as day and it made me feel all too good. “Look, what I said? What you said? About cohesion and nopony being bigger than the effort? I mean it. None of us are bigger than what we’re trying to do here and that includes me. I’m not even anything more important than the rest of you if the mission can be done, despite my status.”

“Lies.” Cherry quickly responded. “You’re the son of the Overmare, of course you’re more important!”

“Not if we fail our mission I’m not.” I responded with a grim tone. “And in the end, that’s what matters most. So, if you give orders and they’re sound, I expect everypony else to follow them. I trust your abilities. Besides, you were the first to volunteer. Can’t have him disrespecting a mare as brave and wonderful as you.” With that last bit, I gave Cherry a wink and her face contorted into a little bit of a mixed smile and blush while trying to hide it all.

As Cherry went to say something, a sound in the undergrowth hidden by the bushes caught our attention and a large figure jumped out at me with no time to react!
“Wolves!” Somepony cried, though I hardly cared who right at this second as the vicious fucker snarled at me from above before smashing me into the ground.
Realising I still hadn’t been wearing my helmet because of the volume it produced when I spoke, I wasn’t sure if I was regretting it or if it would have just brought them closer sooner.

Still, the more pressing issue of a wolf atop of me dominated my thoughts as I kicked at it with my hind legs, causing the wolf to howl in anger as it tried to bite into my shoulder, thankfully protected by the rest of my armour.

Just as the wolf opened its large jaw and began to relocate its attack to my face, it cried out in agony as a series of thudding bullets swam through its body and pelted the floor to the side of us, followed by more gunfire from the group. A series of howls and snarls filled the air as the fighting began.

“Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!” The grey pony from before screamed. “I can’t hit them, they’re moving too fast! I can’t even see them! They’re gonna get me!”

Getting picked up and my helmet quickly slid onto my head by Cherry’s magic, I smiled and nodded to her. Without a word, she nodded back, knowing what would happen if I spoke in her face with it on.
Turning to the closest enemy, I pulled my newly acquired pistol from its holster and aimed at the closest sign of movement, waiting for a clean line of fire.

“Come out, come out, little puppies!” I called, hoping that they’d oblige. I had no idea why they would actually listen to such a request, but hey, they attacked us first.

Once more I heard the sound of a disturbance in our surroundings, this time to my other side. Just as the sound stopped I jumped into the air, pressing off from the ground and hovering higher than the wolf could jump as he leapt for where I was previously standing, surprising the beast.

Aiming down at him, I fired another three shots but missed each time before Cherry corrected my mistake with her SMG, splattering blood from the wolf’s hind and making him squirrel away as quickly as his new limp would allow. Firing another two shots into the foliage he took cover in, I heard nothing to confirm any hit. Damn my aim was nothing like it was during standard target practice.

“Lead your target!” Somepony from the rear cried out as three wolves began to circle the rear, making the brahmin more nervous than normal. It was tempting to go back there and help them out, but then Cherry would be on her own up front and I couldn’t take that risk.

Just as Cherry looked to the side, another wolf ran straight at me from the front while I was momentarily distracted. “What is it with you fuckers and trying to get me!” I called out, annoyed of being a constant target. Before the wolf could go for the attack and try to rip my head apart, I did the smart thing and bit into his neck first.
With a yelp the wolf cried in surprise and tried to back off, but I had none of it. Biting harder, I tried to send the message that you don’t fuck with me - before rolling to the ground as another, larger wolf crashed into me.

“Get off of Crimson you fucking bastards!” Cherry cried out, pumping the rest of her bullets into the wolf I was biting into and scaring the shit out of me as I felt the shockwaves of each projectiles impact through the now quickly dying wolf that I continued to bite.

Hearing a spine piercing growl, I turned my head as Cherry’s face grew grim with worry, trying to work out how to go unarmed against an opponent whose fighting style was purely unarmed. Even worse, the beast was bigger than the others. Its coat darker, wounds covering it and bullet scars up its side. ‘Alpha male’ my head told me. This wasn’t going to go well for her. I had to do something.

Quickly she jumped out of the way as it lunged for her, leaving me feeling a sense of dread and as he missed, his head crashing into a tree and dazing him. At that moment, something inside of me clicked and the worry turned to a burning fire inside, a wave of instinct and adrenaline. Grabbing myself off of the floor and pistol to my mouth, I aimed at the beast as he turned to me. “Down. I commanded. Down the body fell, no more than a moment after I pulled the trigger and watched the top of its skull explode.

Whether I had gotten a lucky shot or if the pistol was truly that powerful every time, I wasn’t sure yet. Either way, it worked. Cherry looked astounded at me as I helped her off from the floor and threw myself into the air, taking my aim toward the other wolves that now paused, hesitant as they saw their pack leader now dead.

“It’s over,” Cherry called out. “the pack leader is dead, that usually makes them flee. Run! Run you foolish wolves! Run! Go!”

Turning to her, looking at that genuine expression of concern and compassion mixed with the look of a mare who wouldn’t accept defeat, I decided to double her orders.
“Turn back now, wolves. Run back to your home and don’t come back. Do not make another strike. Your leader is dead, don’t make us kill all of you!”

It made no sense to spare their lives, to me at least. These were wolves. Beasts. Creatures. Not even creatures that could be utilised like brahmin could. Still, the look in Cherry’s eyes and sincerity in her voice… while again, she wasn’t the most convincing pony that had ever lived, she had something that I wanted and if she wanted them to live, she’d no doubt have a reason.

For a moment, the wolves hesitated and stuck around a little longer, leaving me worried the fight would continue once more. However, as the seconds rolled by, they slowly began walking backward before turning and fleeing fully from their failed attack.
Looking around, it didn’t look as if any of us had been killed or even badly injured, though the grey pony who had mouthed off at Cherry earlier on was definitely shaken.
Going back down to the floor, I let out a sigh as the feeling of power washed away just as quickly as it had come along.

Pulling out the magazine from my pistol, I began to reload it with bullets as Cherry walked over to me slowly and took my helmet off and touching my shoulder. “You really didn’t have to do that you know?”

“Yeah, well, I wanted to make sure they got the message.” I muttered in response, more focused on making sure I didn’t drop a bullet; because damn would it be hard to find amongst this many dead leaves and twigs, despite the shiny nature.

“No, Crimson.” Cherry muttered meekly. “I… I mean. You could have shot them. Why didn’t you? You could have told the others to keep on shooting. You could have chased them. Yet you didn’t?”

Looking back into her eyes as she struggled to figure me out, I gave her my answer plain and simple. “You asked not to. Okay, you didn’t address it to me, but you implied it to the wolves. I know that leaving them around means a threat to future traders and I don’t quite understand your logic because of that, but I’m going to trust you on it. Still, now I mention it, mind explaining that logic?”

With a small kiss to my cheek and a quick hug, she smiled at me even more. Brownie points!
“Well, as weird as it sounds, the wolves are an essential part of the environment here. They keep the rest of the wildlife in check and actually do a small amount of protection for Four Ridges in their own right. Anypony who is genuinely intending to come to Four Ridges will travel with protection because of the threat of bandits, slavers and of course, wildlife. Anypony who just thinks they’ve heard of this place that they might be able to cause some trouble and get away with it though? Well, they’re more liable to be deterred from going through dangerous regions unless they’re with others. In which case, it’s a lot less likely that they’d be off the radar. Of course the wall protects us anyway, but it means we don’t get raiding parties that might score a lucky hit on an unsuspecting guard, or pony.”

“Such as with myself just two days ago, right?” I asked with a grin on my face.

“Mhm! Precisely the point. Anypony dedicated to reaching us will do. Besides, killing isn’t always the answer and if it can be stopped without causing more trouble, I’d prefer that.”

For a moment, we both went silent. I finished loading the magazine of my pistol and Cherry quickly did the same for her own weapon while the others tended to one another, congratulating everyone on the job well done in surviving the attack.
Looking at the body of the dead wolf, I was still surprised that my pistol had managed to do so much in just one hit. I had only expected the bullet to go into the head and hopefully shred the brain of the beast, not cause such a bloody mess.

Taking and distracting me from my moment of focus and thought, Cherry spoke with a firm tone of voice. “Your first kill, isn’t it? I can tell by the look in your eyes. I don’t know if you were ever prepared for this moment, but you aren’t acting squeamish about it. I didn’t expect that from you. It was almost like something inside of you took over, the way you walked up to it and shot it.”

“Yeah, it was.” I replied without thinking.

Tilting her head slightly to the side, I watched Cherry’s mane fall in front of her face before she used her magic to gently tuck it back behind her ear. “To the first, second or both points?” Her question provoking a moments thought from me as I considered the weight of it all and what I had just done.

“Both, I suppose. I mean, sure, it’s my first kill, but it’s not the first time I’ve ever dealt with death. This is, after all, Equestria. Can’t escape it.” For a moment I paused, but quickly continued. “Though you’re right. First kill by my own hoof. It’s a weird feeling.”

“And the way you felt when doing it?” Cherry asked with increasing curiosity.

“Felt like… I don’t know. It felt almost natural. All I really remember was that it was going for me and then it went for you. When I saw your face as you looked at it, something inside of me just…”

“Clicked?” Cherry interjected.

Giving a nod, I still found it weird. “Yeah. I just saw you and it clicked inside of me. I wasn’t going to let it hurt you. I wasn’t going to let it have a chance. I just knew what I had to do and I did it without thinking, without considering anything else. My sole intention was to save you at any cost and that was the way to do so.”

Cherry looked at me for a moment while giving me a small smile before turning her head to the body of the wolf that had just been killed. “You’re carrying this. You killed him, you’re carrying him out of the woods. Once we’re clear, we’ll make what we can of the corpse.”

Looking at her in disinterest, I wasn’t keen on that idea. “Uh, what? I have to drag that body around… why?”

“Because you killed it, it’s yours, thus you take the responsibility of it.” Cherry politely retorted. “Besides, wolf meat is quite tasty and it’ll put some fur on your chest to carry it.”

Looking down at the bloody mess, brains gradually slipping out of what remained of its skull, I picked it up and twisted it around to get as much blood and gore off the body. Hoisting it across my back I began to carry it while trying my best not to let any get onto my coat. That was the last thing I wanted to start the day with.

Once the guards had all organised themselves once more with reloading their guns and calming down the shaken technician, we continued to trek through the woods as if nothing had happened.
Cherry remained at the front and on point with her SMG, though she now had a much more relaxed posture, somehow. My best guess was that she viewed the wolves to be the only real threat we would face while travelling through this area, and given the now much fewer red bars on the E.F.S, I supposed she was right.

Casually another one of the guards strolled on closer, eyeing up my kill as he walked alongside me. “Hey there Crimson. Damn fine huntin’ you got there. Name’s Kingcakes. Don’t mind if I ask how you managed that one do ya?”

Looking at the Light blue pony as he shook his short yellow mane out of his eyes, I shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Nice to meet you Kingcakes. What got your interest about it?”

“Not trying to be rude, but you missed most of your other shots, yet you manage that? That’s no normal damage to be done. That was more of a trick shot if I do say so myself. You weren’t using S.A.T.S for it were you? Can’t imagine how you’d have missed all the others otherwise.”

Looking at him with a raised eyebrow, I was a little confused and made sure to convey my lack of understanding in my tone. “S.A.T.S? What the hell is that?”

For a moment, Kingcakes paused, jaw lowered before he smirked and caught up with me again. “S.A.T.S stands for Stable Assisted Targeting Spell, which is a combat spell worked into every PipBuck as a basic feature. It influences your ability to aim by working alongside your natural motor skills and perception. As an added bonus it also infuses your Eyes Forward Sparkle to your judgement so you have ability to tell who is friendly and who is hostile without having to stress out about checking your PipBuck manually in the middle of a firefight. Avoids friendly fire incidents.”

“How does that all work?” I asked. I already knew and understood Eyes Forward Sparkle, or E.F.S as it was usually referred to, but S.A.T.S sounded a lot more complex than simply being able to tell me if something or somepony was hostile to me.
Realising how stupid that almost sounded, I quickly added to my previous statement in a nonchalant way. “I mean, I get that it enhances my natural motions and coordination, but how do I trigger it? And end it?”

“It’s biometric,” Kingcakes simply answered. “Quite simply put, using unicorn magic and earth pony ingenuity, the designers found a way for any pony, unicorn or not, to cast the spell. Unicorns have a lot better time with learning the ropes with it, but even the rest of us learnt after the first time. The way I was taught was to think of it like this: you’ve gotta want to use it. Tell yourself in your head to ‘use S.A.T.S and target somepony’ and if you want to do it, something inside of you triggers it. The same goes for ending it, if the spell doesn’t run out first that is. Try it. ”

Taking focus on his words, I looked at Cherry keenly and thought about what it might be like to target her. Inside of my head something changed and suddenly I felt it. The feeling was somewhat similar to a sudden burst of adrenaline with my body making movements the very moment I wanted to make them and I could notice movements as they happened, able to react to them. Looking at Cherry, I could somehow tell she wouldn’t mean to do me any harm, just as Kingcakes mentioned. Looking at her ass, I had a good feeling that I could slap it from here but another part of me said that was a stupid idea.

Just as I had gone into it, I focused on wanting to end the spell and with that, it ended. The world resumed as it had before, no longer did I see how friendly Cherry was towards me even if it was otherwise obvious that she meant no harm to me. Nor did I have the feeling that slapping her ass would be so damn easy.

A few seconds later, Kingcakes nodded at me. “By now I suppose you’ve cancelled the spell. It’s good to know you can, isn’t it? To complete the spell, just go to shoot whatever you were going to and it’ll help you in the act.”

Looking at him before pointing with my eyes towards Cherry, I smirked. “So you’re saying it’s a good thing I didn’t listen to the impulses telling me to throw my hoof out?”

For a moment Kingcakes looked at me with wonder but then quickly sussed what I was hinting at. Bursting out into laughter, he agreed. “Yeah, I don’t think that would get you very far. Not a good idea at all.”

Turning her head to face us, Cherry looked at Kingcakes flatly. “Oh hah hah. Very funny. And you mister,” Cherry announced, pointing her head to me. “don’t think I didn’t hear that.” For a moment she paused, and then began to mutter under her breath. “I wouldn’t react badly. Hmph.”

“We heard that!” I said with a grin. much to her dismay. Instead of giving us further material to work with however, she simply went quiet. She definitely seemed like she could do with some lessons in being more confident about herself socially, that was for sure.

Turning my attention back to the stallion beside me, I gave him a small nudge. “So uh, what group you travelling with?”

“Group C heading for Coltchester. Same place as you.” Kingcakes replied coolly. “Is that a problem?”

“Problem?” I asked. “Of course not! You and me, Kingcakes. You and me look like we’re going to get along just fine. I’m glad there’s somepony else I can trust besides Cherry in the group.”

Kingcakes just smiled at me without a word, happy to hear my compliment. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cherry grinning and looking a little flushed as always. Ah yes, this was going to be a damn good adventure.

Continuing through the woods, we came within eyesight of the end not too long after the incident with the wolves. Around us we could see the brush growing sparse as the trees opened outwards. Shards of light crackled through the leaves above, illuminating small spots with what little managed to break through the two blockades.

As with before, Cherry remained on point and was the first to break through the cover, with me barely hooves behind her as I continued to carry the large beast upon my back. It wasn’t an easy task, especially when the branches tugged at my ‘prize’, but I didn’t let go of it regardless.
Looking out into the wasteland ahead of us, there wasn’t a great deal to really focus on anyway. In the distance was a huge pony head, though. That was something that always caught my attention but I never had gone near it before.

“What’s caught your eye, Crimson?” Cherry asked keenly, a smile on her face. Looking into my eyes and then back to the landscape she perked up. “Oh! You’re interested in the Zardoz Industrial, huh?”

Looking at Cherry with a blank, confused expression on my face I spoke. “Zardoz Industrial? What the hell is that?”

“You’ll see when we go there,” She mentioned before letting out a small giggle. “if we’re allowed in, that is. Sometimes the ponies there are a little weird. We’ll see.”

As we progressed down the dirt path Cherry’s ears began to flicker, trying to pinpoint a sound. Focusing on her, I spoke quietly as to not completely disturb her. “What’s up? You hear something?”

“Somepony, I think.” She quickly replied in return before looking down and checking her E.F.S. “Looks like four signatures, all green bars. Still, can never be too careful. Friends can become enemies without much warning, if any, sometimes.”

Checking my own PipBuck, she was right. Four green bars that moved around slightly were ahead of us, just past the rock formation. How close they were I couldn’t tell for sure though. Though with Cherry picking up on hearing voices, I assumed close and in which case I guessed would mean that they weren’t moving. Worries about the potential of being bandits crossed my mind - friendly until refusal to pay a toll being a potential explanation for their indicated intentions, but nopony would be stupid enough to set up shop near something as large as Four Ridges… right?

Turning my head to Cherry, I began to voice my worry. “What if they’re bandits?”

Without hesitance, Cherry looked me straight in the eyes and spoke calmly. “Bandits can be reasoned with, raiders? Not so much. If they are bandits, they’ll know that the odds in fighting us are stupidly low unless they have some kind of heavy weaponry that turns the tide. Even then it’d mean having a minigun or something.”

“And how would we go about convincing them aside from a show of force?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow. As much as I thought she was beautiful and quirkily charming, she wasn’t charming enough to convince even that insubordinate engineer earlier on that following her lead was a good idea, let alone a bandit. I really didn’t know how she thought she’d talk her way through that.

Smiling at me, Cherry just poked my chest with a hoof. “You. You’re good with words, I know that well now. Besides, isn’t this what you’ve been training these last few years for? To be a leader, to be able to deal with situations like these? Negotiations and the like?”

For a heartbeat my mind worried about what if I couldn’t pull it off, but then confidence quickly washed over me and those thoughts went out the Stable door. Of course I could pull it off! I was Crimson Wings, son of Graceful Skies, and Cherry was right. I had been through countless hours of lessons to learn how to do exactly this and if I couldn’t do it now, I’d never be able to be the leader of Four RIdges. Sure, I had no experience with negotiations in the wastelands themselves, but I wouldn’t let that hamper me. There was a first time for everything, after all.

Nodding in my restored confidence, I agreed with the beautiful mares sentiment. “Gotya.”

Before either of us could continue, Kingcakes nudged my shoulder, breaking my focus. “So, Crimson. You had a look of worry in your face for a moment there. Worried you won’t be up to the task or something?”

“For a moment? Yeah. I know that since I’m a leader in the making I shouldn’t admit to weakness, but… I was just wondering what if its not like talking back at home. I mean, sure, I act as a mediator and negotiator a lot as it is, but I’ve never had to talk someone out of taking a life. Different stakes, ya know? Don’t worry though, it was only momentary.”

With a little, restrained laugh, Kingcakes shook his head. “Crimson, don’t worry about it. Even leaders need to accept that they’re only ponies at the end of the day. A little bit of humility and accepting when you need help is what makes a leader. It’s not weakness, its nature. Just don’t be worried about relying on others when you can’t do something yourself. Hell, it’s why we’re all out here, together, right?”

Thinking about his words of wisdom, he was right. My attitude wasn’t the right one to have, his was. Smiling back at him, I nodded as I responded. “Right.”

Walking around the rock formation as a group, we were immediately welcomed by the sight of several metal clad figures, though thankfully they weren’t turned to us at first. Cherry and the other guards immediately tensed up a little, though they didn’t raise their weapons just yet. Taking in a deep breath, I looked to Cherry. “Should I announce ourselves?”

“If you’re going to, best to do it now. They’re still showing as friendly but who knows. Still, we have long range support from the support crews if we absolutely need it. I’d recommend keeping the brahmin back behind the rock formation however, just in case we need to retreat quickly. Steel Rangers can be fickle about who they let pass and who they ‘stop’.”

Looking around behind us, one of the merchants just nodded and signalled for the others to turn around and find cover. Thankfully the rocks were large and meant that even the brahmin had full cover, but it wouldn’t protect them for long if the Steel Rangers weren’t feeling neighbourly.

Seeing as how far we were away from them, I decided it would be more prudent to wear my helmet and speak from afar rather than risk getting up close and personal. Cherry’s sniper would be more effective with the increased range and would certainly have a better chance at doing damage than her SMG if it came to the worst.

Unbuckling and sliding on my helmet from its holster, I prepared myself for whatever was about to follow. With that, I called out to the strangers. “Hello! Excuse me?!”

Immediately they turned around and took combat stances, though their bars didn’t change from green to red… all good so far.

Left with silence, I spoke again. “Hey there! Just wanted to make sure that we didn’t seem like we were trying to sneak up on you is all!”

With a moments pause, we heard one of them shout back in return. “State your business, wasters! Why are you wandering around here?! Give us an explanation or we’ll assume you’re just here to cause trouble!”

“Does passing by count as a good reason?” I asked in return. “We’re just travelling along with our caravans and spotted you off ahead, we wanted to be sure that you wouldn’t fire upon us!”

“Say that again?!” Another one of them called out, this one with a deeper voice than the other. “Actually, screw that. Come closer so we can talk properly. Pull any weapons and we’ll assume you’re aggressive!”

Turning my head to the other guards, I raised a hoof to see what they thought. One by one they each agreed that it would be in our best interests by this point and continued to keep their guard up but kept their weapons holstered.
Focusing back to the Steel Rangers, we began to walk towards them. As we came closer, we could begin to hear them better and stopped once we were within a reasonable talking distance.

“Where’s your caravans? You said you were travelling with caravans, which means you’re merchants, right?”

For a moment I hesitated, unsure if it was wise to remove my helmet. Shouting at them probably wasn’t a good idea, but then neither was being unprotected.
Deciding that my protection was more important than being quite so polite for the first few seconds, I spoke anyway. “Our caravans are behind the rocks over there. I told them to stay put in case you turn out to be hostile.”

Immediately one of the rangers began to tap his earpiece, visually put off by the volume of my voice. “Holy hell, fuck me sideways. Do you need to shout at us from that far, kid?”

Before I could respond, Kingcakes rectified the situation for us. “Its his helmet. Makes him speak like that whenever he’s wearing it. Can’t tell if its ego or enchantment, mind you.” And with that, the maya coloured stallion joked.

“Ahhh. I remember hearing about those things actually. Legend has it that some of the suits of armour worn by the old Luna Guard were meant to be enchanted to do just that. Never seen one first-hoof, mind you… but wait. If they were for the Luna Guard, doesn’t that mean…”
Without hesitation, that one Steel Ranger adopted a combat pose and readied himself for a fight. “Drop your weapons, Enclave soldier! You’ve only got this one chance!”

Spreading my wings and preparing to jump out of the way, I suddenly felt very Twitchy as my heart began to race and I readied myself to go into S.A.T.S if he dared to make one wrong move. Though I didn’t know if I could get my pistol out and aim it in time to be effective, it would be better than nothing. Before I resorted to violence however, I still wanted a much less bloody conclusion. “I am no member of the Enclave! I don’t know how you figure I am, but I can assure you I’m not. Regardless, it would be a fools decision to open fire as I can assure you, it would not be one any of us survive from.”

Immediately the third Steel Ranger jumped out ahead of the first, facing toward him. “You fucking idiot! Do you really think that looks like fucking Power Armour to you?! He’s no fucking Enclave soldier, learn some control. He’s probably just got it through scavenging or trade if he really is with a caravan. Besides, perhaps he can help us.”
As the first stepped back and kept his head down upon being scolded, the first let out a sigh before continuing. “If you don’t mind taking the helmet off, we’d greatly appreciate it. I can tell you’re not Enclave, otherwise why would you be travelling with this lot anyway? But besides that, I, we, have a favour to ask. I know it might seem odd and even unreasonable, but please hear us out.”

Now my whole body relaxed as I looked at them straight back in their visors. Taking a chance, I slid my helmet off, keeping it in my grip just in case. “Okay, there. Helmet off. I’m giving you a chance to prove that you can be reasonable. Now, what is it that you want.”

“First of all, I’d love to know how you’re a pegasus. Especially a pegasus with such… exotic... wings, shall I say. Second thing would be about how strong of a flier you are.”

“I’m a pegasus through my father being a pegasus and he’s a pegasus through being ex-Enclave himself. Before you ask, he left by sneaking down after seeing the truth during a war with the griffins. Wanted to do more and help out those who really needed it, not just a bunch of power hungry few in high standing. As for my flight? I’m an extremely capable flier. Why? Oh, and the wings? Medical condition. Doctors never quite understood where it came from since there was no record of it being in my mothers side of the family and my father didn’t have any strange pigment conditions, but they’ve told us that it isn’t something dangerous to my health, just aesthetic. I like ‘em.”

With that question, the pony in front of me chuckled at my last comment before he moved over and pointed to the previously overly aggressive ranger, who now looked as if they would’ve been flushed beyond hell and back if I could see their face. Their pose definitely spoke of embarrassment and their voice cemented that once they spoke. “Well… our friend…”

“Tell him…” The third commanded sternly, to the further visual embarrassment of the first.

“I accidentally knocked her down this hillside. Trouble is it’s a lot steeper than any of us had realised and even despite only being a scribe and thus not having heavy armour like ours on, its still too much for her to climb up from. We’ve been trying to figure out a way to get her out of there but so far the only option we’ve been able to decide upon is that we’d have to travel about three miles back where we came from earlier and we were already walking since before sunrise, so we’re not keen on spending yet more time out here than we have to.”

“And you want me to fly down there, pick her up and bring her back, I suppose?”

With a pitiful little sigh and a slow nod, the ranger responded. “Y-yes please.” I could tell they weren’t enjoying having to be polite, but now they were looking at the reality that they could either be in my debt or add half a day of effort into getting their friend back.

“Pounder isn’t used to saying please and thank you to non-rangers.” The second announced. “What he forgets is that we’re no longer Steel Rangers, but Applejack’s Rangers. We help out others now and we’ve actually just come back from Coltshire Town after letting them know about that, in fact. So yes, please. If you could go down there and get her back up here, we would greatly appreciate it and we’d owe you a huge favour.”

Cracking my joints, I simply nodded at them before looking down the hill with glee. Putting down the body of the wolf which I carried, I readied myself. “Watch out below!” Without any more warning, I slid down, enjoying the ride as I burst out into laughter during my increasingly quick descent. “Weeeeeeeee!”

While sliding down through the dirt, I suddenly realised just how far down the drop really was. For me it would have been no issue at all to jump out of, given my wings. For any other pony, it was no laughing matter. The steep incline of the ridge was another factor that completely threw away any chance of climbing out.

Reaching the bottom a second or two later, I began to look around but couldn’t see anypony. “Excuse me?” I asked aloud, hoping to catch the mares attention. “I’ve been sent down here to help you…”

Silence.

Dusting myself off and having another look around, I realised I would’ve seen her if she had simply walked off in either direction, the valley led straight, parallel to the road above. Looking closer at the environment as the dust from my descent began to settle, I noticed a large patch of rocks, large enough for somepony to hide behind. Guessing that’s where she must have gone, I walked on closer to it. “Hello? Miss Ranger? You here?”

Moving closer to it, I heard her. The poor mare sounded young and scared as she muttered to herself. Turning around the corner, I suddenly felt a pair of hooves hit my chest firmly, though my armour absorbed most of the force and simply had me step back in recoil.
Immediately I shouted at her, frustrated from the sudden and unexpected aggression. “Whoa there! Watch your fucking hooves!”

With a scared squeak, the pony in front of me curled into a ball and began to whinny. “P-please don’t hurt me! I have nothing of value!”

Looking down at her, I hadn’t realised just how young she was by her voice, but now I saw. She was barely even a mare, perhaps not even that. Reaching out with a hoof, I gestured to help her get off the floor. “I’m not here to hurt you.” I softly comforted her. “I’m here to get you out of here. I came across your friends and they asked me to do them a favour, so here I am. Come on, get up.”

“Y-you, what?” The shaken filly asked, wide eyed and almost in disbelief if her face was anything to go by. “Why?”

Unfurling my wings slowly and majestically, I gave her a small nod. “Because I’m a pegasus and getting you out of here will be a cinch. So, you want out of here the easy way or would you prefer to be walking a whole lot more?”

“I… suppose you’re right. You’re just going to fly me up to the top… to my friends?”

Shaking my head and letting out a sigh with a smile on my face, I then nodded at her. “Yes, that’s what they asked of me. Why would I do anything else? If I wanted to hurt you, I could do it anyway. I don’t want to however. I’ve got no reason, even with you having hit me.”

“I’m sorry.” The purple and white scribe apologetically started to say, quickly interrupted by me.

“Pfft, it’s fine. I understand you’re scared and for all I know, you’ve been down here a while. Some random pony comes down and of course you’re not going to know who they are, what they want or what they’re going to do to you. You just got lucky that you’ve got me is all, hey? Come on, climb up onto my back. And what’s your name, by the way? If I’m getting you out of here, it’d be nice just to know your name, right?”

“I’m scribe Sacrifice. May I ask your name?”

“Crimson Wings. So, scribe Sacrifice, huh? How’d you get a name like that?” I was really curious now. A nameless pony was one kind of mystery, but a name like Sacrifice?

“It’s a virtue name. My parents gave it to me hoping that one day, it might guide me
into understanding what life and duty is really about. Or, well, that’s what my mother tells me. I have a feeling its actually a reminder for herself, since she had to give up her chances for a promotion and even active service in the Steel Rangers once she was pregnant with me. A healthy foal is always protected within our own ranks.”

“Ahh, got’ya.” I simply replied, now nearing the top of the ridge. “Well, looks like we’re about there. I suppose you and your friends will be continuing your way home, right?”

With her meek sounding voice, scribe Sacrifice spoke to me, now sounding a little more confident than she had just moments before. “Yeah… say, Crimson?”

“Yeah?”

Taking a deep breath, the scribe prepared herself. “I… I owe you for this. We all do. It would have taken hours to get out of this. We wouldn’t have been able to return home in time and that would have worried my parents and the leadership back home… so… thank you. I don’t know if we’ll ever meet again, but if we do, I’ll remember this. I promise you.”

Looking her friends straight into the visors as we got over the edge, one nodded at us both and waited patiently while scribe Sacrifice clambered off from my back. Once she was off, he reached out a hoof and grabbed mine before shaking it in a friendly manner. “Thank you again, pegasus.”

“Crimson. His name is Crimson.” Scribe Sacrifice corrected.

Momentarily nodding at the filly, the Ranger turned his attention back to me. “Okay, Crimson. Thank you all the same. We all appreciate that you didn’t have to help and we weren’t the friendliest to begin with, but your security team filled us in on details. We don’t have any water talismans spare right now, though if we happen to find any, we’ll send a messenger over to Four Ridges, okay? Don’t think it’ll be free, but we’re Applejacks Rangers now, and that means we do what we can to help - especially those who have helped us. Stay safe, Crimson, and good luck on your travels. Now if you don’t mind excusing us, we’ve got the rest of our own journey to finish.”

Before I could respond, the Rangers turned around and began to escort scribe Sacrifice away. As she walked alongside the heavily armoured ponies who flanked her, she turned her head back to me and smiled. I simply waved as I watched them walk away.

“So, who was that, Crimson?” Cherry asked, her tone almost sounding as if she was judging me for some reason.

“Her name was scribe Sacrifice. I asked her about her name since it didn’t seem the most polite thing to just be thinking of her as ‘that filly who I was rescuing’, ya know? Why do you ask?”

Looking at me for a moment, Cherry was obviously trying to figure out if I was lying to her or not. A second later, she let go of her inquisitive stare and smiled at me before nudging me on the shoulder with a hoof. “No reason.”

No reason? No reason my ass. Looking at her straight in the eyes, I bit my lip and smiled at the beautiful red mare. “You’re not hiding something from me, are you, Cherry?” I asked with a grin. “I mean, that’s what you were essentially just asking me, isn’t it?”

“No!” Cherry immediately blurted, betraying any chance she had of me believing her. “I meant what I said. There’s no reason. I just didn’t think that... you would... so quickly throw yourself down the ridge for some pony who you didn’t know and had no idea if it was genuine or not. I mean, sure, they asked you, but you hardly put even a moments thought into it.”

“Uh huh. Because I’m totally not the type of stallion who would take a chance to flaunt his wings, right?” With that, I proved a point by spreading my wings out and gently caressing Cherry’s mane, making her blush as I did.

“Fine. Point taken. You like to show off.”

“Damn right I do!” I laughed, quickly followed by one of the other guards. Although I knew that bragging wasn’t something I should do, I couldn’t help but feel some silly pride over the fact that I was different to everyone else in that way. My wings were stunning to look at and I really didn’t want to hide that fact.

“Okay, okay. Well we’ve got to get back to the others, yeah? They might only be behind that rock, but we’ve still got to make our way to Curvetail Junction. That’s roughly a good day travel from here when going with brahmin. If it was just us, it wouldn’t be more than half a day’s march. So, unless you want to skip the wonders of Zardoz Industrial, I highly recommend we get moving ASAP.”

Scratching the back of my head, she was right. We had a task at hoof and wasting time like this would get us nowhere. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go then.” Waving over to the others as they watched from afar, I beckoned them closer. The caravan had to get a move on once more.

Looking ahead of us as we continued to walk down the road, we finally came close to the illusive Zardoz Industrial building that Cherry had been talking about earlier. I hadn’t realised just how far away it was beforehand, but now I appreciated the sheer size of what stood in front of us.
In the middle of a courtyard stood this tall stone head, surrounded by a small warehouse building that acted as a protective barrier of sorts.

From the windows, we saw figures of ponies moving around, though they were simply shadows in the distance with how far we still were from them. Thankfully, all of the E.F.S bars showed up as friendly, or neutral at the very least. I still felt a little wary about trusting something like E.F.S now I was outside of Four Ridges, but there really wasn’t any better alternative.

“Crimson, how much do you trust me?” Cherry asked out of the blue, causing me to look at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?” I asked politely, trying to make sense of why she would feel the need to ask something like that. What was she planning?

“Do you trust me? How much? Would you do as I asked if I told you to do something that seems dangerous? If I tell you its the only way, and that you’ll be fine? Will you do it?” Cherry Sundae asked.

Looking at her skeptically, I didn’t know what the hell Cherry was suddenly on about. Looking towards the building though, I began to think I could guess what it might’ve been. Quietly nodding at her, I awaited her next response.

“You’ve got to approach the building alone, Crimson.” Cherry stated. “I have already been there, so I am not allowed to go again. These are the rules of Zardoz. The ponies inside are tribals, but they will not harm you as long as you do not seek to harm them. They can practically sense if you are friendly or hostile and know who has been seen. Just mean them no harm and you will find reward.” For a moment Cherry just smiled at me, though as if remembering something she quickly added more to her sentence. “Oh! And don’t forget to bow and thank him!”

With worry, I let out a small sigh and accepted that this was the ultimate test of trust. Should I? I asked myself. Is this really a good idea?
Regardless of if it was a good idea or not, none of the others protested her encouragement for me to go towards the building alone, and so I trotted up to the front door.

Looking out from the window a pony wearing colourful garbs that were weaved together in strange ways stared down at me, rifle at the ready. “You!” He shouted at me before going quiet for a tense moment before stowing his gun away. “Come!”
With that, the door opened and led straight through to another open door. Not wanting to disobey his command for whatever repercussions it might bring upon me, I entered the dimly lit room.

The corridor off to the left inside the building was completely blocked off with old furniture and a pile of rubble, blocking off that route through the building. To my right, more tribal looking ponies stood, spears in hoof, though they didn’t posture as if to threaten me with them. Instead, they simply stood there, silently blocking the other route through the building and funnelling me through a hole in the wall, leading to the courtyard we had seen earlier - where the gigantic stone head stood.

All around the statue was tribals with spears and assault rifles, chanting about ‘Zardoz’ and ‘the gun’.
I had to admit, it was a rather unsettling sight that left me wondering what the hell was going on around me and making me worried as the thoughts of them turning hostile and taking aim at me came to mind. If this was a trap, I didn’t think there would be any chance of getting out. My life was now in the hooves of these tribals, tribals who seemed to revere this gigantic stone head of an extremely angry looking pony.

With a great loudness that disrupted my thoughts, a voice suddenly boomed from the head. “Zardoz speaks to you, his chosen ones! You have been raised up from brutality, to kill the brutals who multiply and are legion! To this end, Zardoz, your god, gives you the gift of the gun! The gun is good!”

As one the tribals cheered and chanted, danced and lunged their spears into the sky as if doing a ritual. ‘The gun! The gun!’ they cried, leaving me utterly bewildered.
Before I could react to just how strange, immense and just how quickly it had all happened, something even weirder happened even still. Just as the stone head who I now accepted to be Zardoz finished speaking, a gun came flying from its mouth and landed into a reasonably sized bag along with it.
Looking at the gun, I quickly recognised it to be a shotgun and opening up the bag, I saw a plethora of shotgun shells to go along with it.

Stepping towards me as I looked at both the gun and the ammo with astonishment, a large, deeply voiced tribal spoke to me. “For you. The gun. The gun is good!”

Picking up the gun and finding a good place to hold it between my saddlebag straps and armour, I quickly moved to taking the ammunition from the bag and slid it into my own.
Looking at the tribal pony, I gave him a smile and bowed my head before turning to Zardoz, remembering Cherry’s words of advice. “Thank you, Zardoz. The gun is good.”

For a moment I waited, wondering what in Equestria had just happened as I tried to take it all in. As I turned around, Zardoz spoke once more. “Go forth and kill!”

Stifling a laugh, I turned my head and looked at the statue one last time. “Thank you again. Don’t worry, I’ll do you proud should the necessity arise.”

Carefully making my way out as respectfully as I could as I passed the tribal ponies, they all continued to cheer and dance. ‘The gun! The gun! The gun is good!’.
As I walked out of the building, I saw the surprised looks on the faces of most the guards. Cherry and Kingcakes were the only two who hadn’t looked at me strangely, obviously either impressed or understanding of what had just occurred.

As I approached, Cherry smiled. “Zardoz shouts quite loudly. Seems you were accepted. I wondered if you might be. Didn’t have to charm them or something did you?”

“Cherry,” I began, looking at her blankly as I still desperately tried to make sense of the situation that had just gone down. “I don’t even know what I just did. All I know is I got a free gun.”

“Zardoz only does it for a select few, ya know.” Kingcakes added, smiling at me. “Though nopony knows for sure who he chooses or why. Only that he does. Some ponies just have something that clicks with Zardoz.”

“He’s right, Crimson. Me and Kingcakes are the only two of us in this caravan who had been accepted by Zardoz before you. Very few of the entirety of the Tank Mercenary Group have been accepted, actually. There’s something special about you.” Cherry stated before winking at me. “...Not that I didn’t know that already, of course.”

Walking down the dirt trail that took us to our ultimate destination, time seemed to be meaningless as the day went on. A few times I had a casual conversation with Cherry Sundae about life out in the wasteland, but between the carcass on my back and her being so busy looking out for dangers that might lie ahead, there was little other than the usual flirting and talk of what we might encounter.

As the hours rolled on by, everything felt like it had begun to mix together, much like the days when nothing interesting happened while doing my normal job. Letting out a sigh, it really was boring. Sure, the encounters with the wolves, the rangers and the tribals of Zardoz had made the start of the day all extremely weird and wonderful in a weird way, but travelling like this just felt as if it went on forever.
I was a stallion of speed and relaxation, not one of mundaneness!

Suddenly as if to answer my prayers in the worst of ways, one of the mares gasped and froze in her tracks. “N-no… no… th- this…” She uttered.

As one we turned to face her, curious as to what had happened. “What’s wrong? Washer? What’s up?”

‘Washer’, for lack of a better name since I didn’t know her myself, simply looked up at us with tears slowly beginning to fall to the ground. “My… my brothers. They’re…”

“They’re… what? They’re over in Friendship City aren’t they? I recall Mayor Blossom sending them over there as part of a specialist repair job a week ago, didn’t she? What’s the issue? They were being escorted by a pair of Mercs so they’re safe, right? They should be coming back any day now.”

With a shake of her head, ‘Washer’ cried even more and hid her head in her hooves as she collapsed to the floor. “No.” She whined, leaving the rest of us unsure of what she was on about. “They’re dead!”

“What!? How would you know?” One of the guards said in a shocked tone, looking worried. “There’s no way that they’d have been ambushed, we’re all trained in avoiding those and besides, Red Eye keeps our travel routes as safe as possible!”

Without a word, the pale green pony simply pulled her earbud connector out from the PipBuck and let the sound carry clear across us all. In a serious, sombre voice, a very sad sounding mare spoke. “-kced with no confirmed survivors. Once again, I repeat. News has gotten to me that Friendship City has been attacked with no confirmed survivors as of yet. Eyewitnesses who passed on this news claimed that great hulking metal structures came from above the clouds and floated upon a bed of clouds themselves - soon to attack both themselves and the city below. Some Steel Rangers claimed this was the work of the Enclave, though we have yet to receive confirmation. Tenpony Tower has offered help for any who can be confirmed to have survived from the city through their local radio host, DJ-Pon3. Further details as we have them.”

All of us stood still, gawking at what we had just heard. Friendship City? Destroyed?
I couldn’t believe it, a part of me didn’t want to believe it, yet there was the report for all of us to hear. For some reason the Enclave had supposedly come down and attacked a settlement that proved to be no threat to anypony. Then it hit me - it could have just as easily been Four Ridges.
One of the other technician ponies picked her up and carried her on his back before solemnly continuing the journey, a grim reminder that no matter what happened, life and death was a matter that the wasteland never treated fairly and even as others around us died, we had to always move on for those who lived.

Looking at Cherry as she seemed horrified, I dropped my head to the floor and walked onwards, quickly followed by everypony else. I had a role to fulfill and that meant staying strong for the others, continuing despite the shock.

For hours longer, there was no conversation. The news that had been given to us so abruptly completely destroyed what good moods and high hopes we had amongst us. Instead, we now felt burdened by the weight of a settlement once more.
One of the others had begun asking about ‘what if’ but they were quickly told to stop worrying about things we couldn’t make a difference about and focus on what we could do instead by Cherry, though she still didn’t seem glad to be saying it herself.

That was all it took though. That was all it took for me to be worried for the rest of the night. What if they came to Four Ridges? Sure, we had a larger fighting force than Friendship City, but they were hardly without defences themselves. I had personally seen the large cannons they owned, guessed at what a fight they might have put up. Still, they paid a price for which they could have never been in debt to.
And what of any survivors? Traders? Refugees from the surrounding area? Would they come to Four Ridges? Normally such a thing would be of no concern to us to open our gates and allow such victims safety for as long as they were willing to work - but now we ourselves were in no position to help.

An unexpected softness stroked my cheek, and looking to the source I saw an exquisite lock of pink mane. Cherry Sundae must have noticed my concerns as she nuzzled into me, looking at me with a pair of caring eyes. “It’ll be okay, Crimson. I know it seems hard to say that, and even more so to believe it, but you’ve got to have faith. If you lose your faith that others can do better and that things will get better, you lose what’s worth living for.”

Surprised, but also humbled by her wisdom, I let out a sigh and nodded gently. “I suppose. I’m just worried.”

“We all are. I know.” She cooed softly. “But hey, we’re almost to Curvetail Junction. When we’re there I’ll make you something to take your mind off of it, okay?”

Smiling at her, she really was something else. Kissing her cheek softly, Cherry just smiled back at me and began to hide behind her beautiful mane.

As we began to approach Curvetail Junction, the skies began to grow darker and the wind blew across the wasteland sending a chill down my spine. Looking at the ruins of an old railway station ahead of us, it wasn’t too large, but it would provide ample protection from the elements for the night and looking at the others, it definitely seemed like that was the general agenda.

Looking towards Cherry, I pointed over to the building. “So, I take it this is where we’ll be staying for the night, right? Is it safe?”

“In the past it has been, but times change.” Cherry murmured, acknowledging my concern. “I mean, it’s always a stop off point for any of our caravans that use brahmin because its ideal to sleep there during the night and the bell tower on top makes for a good spotter lookout position, even if it is a little obvious.” For a moment Cherry paused, then continued as I opened my mouth. “Though that’s not to say it’s always going to be empty. Could be something relatively harmless like a radroach, could be travellers or scavengers even. Once we found bandits who had moved into it, though they saw sense and ran when confronted.”

“Bandits lived here for a while? What’s the difference between a bandit and a raider anyway?” I almost felt like a colt again having to ask that, but I hadn’t ever had first hoof experience with bandits. At least I understood raiders. “I mean, I know you said that you can make a bandit change their mind a lot easier, but still.”

With that, one of the other guards whose name I still hadn’t picked up on pushed himself into the conversation and answered for Cherry. “Bandits often won’t shoot first and ask questions later.”

“Actually, Price Point,” Cherry began. ”bandits don’t shoot first and ask questions later at all, that’s the whole thing about them.”

Price Point simply nickered at the suggestion, turning his head to the side. “Whatever, they’re all the same.”

“No, they’re not.” Cherry tried to insist, though Price Point didn’t seem to care in the slightest. “Bandits charge tolls, bandits hold up travellers and unguarded merchants, bandits will steal from you in the night - but they’ll only take what they need or something of extreme value. They don’t rape, they don’t enslave and given the chance, they’ll avoid killing.”

“Doesn’t make them any better!” Price Point argued, seeming angry about the discussion. “You’ve fucking fought them! You know they’ll kill like any other fucker out there! You think just because they won’t kill you straight away that they’re some fucking messiahs or something?!”

With those accusations, Cherry looked at Price Point with a look that mixed between distaste and upset. “No, of course not!” For a moment I thought she was about to cry, but quickly her look became stern and determined. “I just know that they’re not mindless, sadistic killers who do horrible things for no reason. Perspective is everything, Price Point. Just because they feel that’s their only reliable method to continue living it doesn’t mean they never do good. You remember the slaver gang that used to hang around this area?”

“No, I don’t.” Price Point growled, now looking at Cherry with a stare that could almost be mistaken for hostility. Now I was getting worried and quickly moved between the two as Cherry glared back at him.

“Break it up you two.” I quickly commanded. “Before I break it up myself.”

Cherry immediately walked off over to the station building that was just ahead of us while using her magic to begin to disappear. Letting out a sigh, I wanted to follow her but without being able to see her, I had no idea what she was doing even if the E.F.S could still pick her out.
Turning my focus to Price Point, I stopped him as he began to walk to the back of the caravan. “Hey, Price Point.”

“What is it?” He asked grumpily, though he didn’t seem anywhere quite as aggressive as he had been before.

“Don’t need any more of that crap, got it? I don’t know what’s the matter between you and Cherry Sundae, but it’s the last thing we need going on when we’re all meant to be working together. I’m not asking you to be best friends, but come on, no need for aggro. Besides, you did get yourself involved in our conversation, not the other way around.”

Letting out a sigh, Price Point dropped his head before giving a little nod. “Okay, I got it.”

Putting a hoof to his shoulder, I gave him a reassuring smile as he looked back up at me. “I’m not saying that you aren’t to have your say in things, that’s not it at all. You’ve obviously got a different viewpoint to Cherry and I respect that opinions differ, but when it causes shit like that, it’s not worth it. Okay?”

Solemnly, Price Point relaxed and his tone of voice completely changed to one of submission. “Okay.”

“Glad to hear.” I chirped back. “Now I’ll go say the same to Cherry. Cohesion is what makes us strong, just like on our flag.”

With that, we both walked in our opposite directions, though I knew that this time Price Point’s mood was a lot different to how it was before and hopefully there’d be no more bad feelings brewing below the surface.

Just as I reached the front of the station, Cherry called out from the bell tower atop of it all. “All’s clear in here. We’ll be safe to stay here for the night.”

Looking up at her, I couldn’t be more thankful for that fact. Now there was only the issues of trying to find a good place to put down the now weighty corpse of the wolf I had killed hours earlier. Most of all I was glad to know I wouldn’t have to have it on my back for much longer because how the smell had begun to set in, the horrible smell of dead anything.

Finding a good place, I put down my ‘present’ and made my way up to the tower where Cherry presumably continued to reside. It wasn’t hard to find the way up, because immediately as I entered a set of stairs led me to the second floor where another set spiralled up to her vantage point.

In Cherry’s eyes I could see how she felt worn down and tired, though also proud and strong. Sitting down next to her, I reached out slowly. “Cherry.”

“Crimson?” She replied. “What do you want?”

“I want to hear what you had to say.”

“Why though? You heard where that gets us and you just told both of us that-”

“I told both of you to cool it.” I abruptly stated, making Cherry look off to the side as if she had just been told off. “That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to hear what you have to say. It was just that Price Point was getting aggressive and you weren’t looking the other way like you seem to prefer.”

“I’m… I outrank him, Crimson. I outrank him and because of that I’ve got to show that I won’t be weak. Besides, he’s upset because of his past. He was given to us by bandits who had no means to keep him after they wiped out a slaver gang. He now thinks that because they wouldn’t keep him that they did wrong just because those slavers happened to be his parents. He was only young and death is never something we should cherish, but the bandits did the right thing.”

“I see. And what of bandits? You were saying that they were more reasonable?”

“Look, I know they’re bandits and that still means they’re potential killers, but bandits aren’t like the others. I’ve spoken to bandits in civility more than once and in every case, they weren’t the monsters that the tales play them out to be. They’re ponies like you or me who just never had the chances we’ve had when growing up or even as adults. They often don’t have homes or when they do, their homes aren’t surrounded by massively fertile land like Angel. Scavenging only goes so far before the buildings and containers are picked clean, remember?”

I had to admit, she had a point. Stroking her foreleg with a tender touch, she saw that I understood.

“I’ve met bandits that run tolls and mean no harm, they simply need the caps to survive. Hell, I wouldn’t even call them bandits sometimes, but that’s what they’re called anyway. Like I say, there’s also been instances where bandits have actually made an improvement to areas and wiped out local raider camps and fought away slavers. Why? Because bandits aren’t slavers and slavers will take anyone who isn’t one of their own. Because raiders are brutals who seem to do nothing but what they please with no consideration of others. At least the bandits only take what they need to survive and will let others live. It’s not the best option, believe me, I’d rather they not be bandits at all, but I’d rather that they do what they’re doing than kill mercilessly.”

“Yeah, I get ya. Come on, let’s go downstairs. We’ve got that wolf to do whatever you want to do with it before it gets too stinky, remember?”

Turning around and trotting down the stairs, Cherry letting out a small murmur just loud enough for me to hear. “Cri-crimson?”
Focusing myself back on her, she spoke further. “Thank you. Thank you for letting me say all that. I really… I really feel like you’re trying to make the effort to get to know me and… well… I appreciate it. Thank you.”
With a quick whiff, her gentle smile turned to a silly face before she grinned. “And oh, yeah. You definitely are right about that wolf. It’s beginning to lend its stink to you.” With that, she gave me a wink as I rolled my eyes and continued down.

Going back to the wolf, I noticed how its eyes were now completely glassed over. Its soul was far gone from Equestria, left to wander the afterlife. All that laid in front of us was meat, fur and bones.
WIth a nonchalant attitude, Cherry wandered on up to the body and took a small knife from her back before beginning to skin the beast.

For a while I watched, simply entranced by the speed and finesse that Cherry had in gutting the corpse. Soon enough however, Cherry politely asked me to leave as she had to do something she didn’t want me seeing just yet. Whatever it was she was about to do I had no clue, but I respected her wishes.
Walking out of the room and over to the others, I began speaking to one of the idle guards.

“So,” I began, a mix of curiosity and professionalism with a touch of excitement in my voice, “what’s happening about tonight? I take it there’s some kind of sleeping schedule to avoid getting ambushed during the night?”

“That’s right.” The dark blue guard responded. “We take shifts in guard duty. Since there’s three caravans, that makes it convenient. Three hours each. Typically its split between two groups and each has roughly four hours, but we’ll be fine doing with three.”

“And who goes in what order?” I asked. I was feeling quite drained from the day despite it having been rather quiet in the later half and the prospect of going first really wasn’t something I was keen on.

“Group B first shift, group C second shift and group A for third and final shift?” One young mare suggested. “I mean, seeing as I’m part of group B and I have no issue with staying up for a few hours. Mildew doesn’t seem like she minds either.”

“Excuse me?” Another green mare called out, no doubt upon hearing her name. “Fine. But only because that means we get eight hours solid sleep.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting some solid sleep either.” Pocket Change commented. “An old stallion like me needs his sleep after all.” As if to emphasise his point, Pocket Change yawned and rubbed himself up against a wall before lowering himself down to the floor in an act of tiredness. “See? Can barely even stand up. I reckon I’ll be out for the count after my portion of hay.”

“Okay, guess that’s it then!” Another buck commented. “Group A ponies, we can sleep easy. Groups B and C will be looking after us tonight and we’ll be looking after them ready for the dawn. Everypony up for that? Because I sure as hell am!”

Taking in the sight of everyone being able to work together and agree on something as important as this so quickly, I felt a touch of confidence in the group return. Smiling at everyone, I began to congratulate them. “Well, it’s settled then I guess. Glad that’s out of the way. Thank you everyone for being able to sort yourselves out so efficiently. Feel free to unpack, set yourselves up and eat as you please. After we’re all set, groups A and C can go to sleep and B is set to keep lookout.”

The atmosphere between everypony was a lot better now than it had been ten minutes ago, though now we were able to sit down and relax it was a lot more comfortable.
Though there was no rain, we still couldn’t manage to get a fire going due to the lack of fireplace inside and the wind ravaging the landscape outside, but that wasn’t the end of the world. What was more important was that we were in the relative warmth and safety now and we’d gotten through our first day without any major issues.

“Crimson!” Cherry called out, disrupting my thoughts. “You can come back in here now!”

Trotting on back into the room, much to the curious looks of others as they must have wondered why I would have been barred from any specific room, I went to find out what the end result was myself.
In my head I had images of Cherry wearing the wolf like an all over coat or something, though that was completely absurd. Still, the thought amused me.

Instead I found her sitting down next to the body which was now deskinned and completely torn apart. Piles of meat sat in bags, sealed up for whatever reason while the fur did indeed remain mostly intact, though it hung upon the wall rather than over Cherry’s curves.
As I moved on over to her, Cherry used her magic and levitated something over my head before putting it around my neck. Looking down, I realised it was a necklace… made of the wolf I had earlier killed.
My eyes grew wide as I tried to figure out what the hell was happening but Cherry gently placed her hoof to my muzzle and kissed my cheek.

“Shhh.” She cooed quietly. “Let me explain. I made this for you as a reminder.” Sitting there quietly, I let her continue, to which she smiled. “It’s a reminder of your first kill. It’s a reminder of what life and death really means. It’s also a reminder of how you saved me. Crimson, you took down that wolf and so I made this necklace from its biggest tooth and the sinew of its tendons. I want you to always keep this and have it serve a reminder of the price of killing. Oh, and don’t whine about what it’s made from. I had to chew it all apart to get it to be stringy enough to make a necklace out of it and that means that most of the messy bits went into my mouth, prettybuck. No reason to complain about that now.”

Looking at the necklace, it was simply beautiful and it gave me a sense of appreciation for Cherry even greater than before. Looking at her with absolute adoration, I leaned in and began to kiss her suddenly.
At first she hesitated, but quickly melted into the kiss and gazed back at me as our moment came to an end.

“I…” Cherry murmured for a moment before closing her eyes and shaking her head, her voice going back to normal. “Time for food. Come on, lets go eat. Don’t worry about filling me in on the sleep schedule, I overheard you all. I want to get as much sleep as possible.”

After our humble packed lunches of hay and apples, Cherry yawned and stretched as she spoke to me. “Are you ready to go to sleep yet, Crimson? I’m tired.”

“Yeah, I could do with some sleep too.” I lazily replied, looking around the floor for somewhere comfortable looking.

Before I had found somewhere I could feel the pull of magic tugging at my wings, directing me to go upstairs. “Come on then. Upstairs is nicer, it’s a little more secure since you don’t have to worry about roaches simply walking on in. Besides, the bottom floor and tower are where the watchouts are going to be posted and we won’t want to be in their way.”

Without a choice, I followed her up the stairs and into one of the offices where a old, beaten up sofa remained. That’ll do.
Looking at Cherry, she simply gestured for me to go lay down on it, though I gestured that she could have it instead, she still insisted. Not being one to argue if she was absolutely sure, I went over to it and carefully sat upon it before laying out, realising just how comfortable it truly was.

Miss Sundae must have known about this sofa, because without a word she trotted on over and climbed on top of me, nuzzling into my neck as she made herself comfortable and let out a content little sigh. “No funny business,” She whispered. “just… just some cuddles. It’s much more comfortable anyway.”

Just some cuddles? I closed my eyes and relaxed. I was up for that.

Through dreary dreams I heard a voice, something that didn’t feel like it was coming from my own mind. “Wake up, Crimson. It’s your groups turn to take watch. Come on you pampered git, get up.”
Opening my eyes, I saw the green mare who I had noticed earlier, only now instead of being slightly annoyed at being picked to stay up on duty first, she now had a great big albeit tired smile as her purple friend stood next to her. “Time for you to wake up and do your part. Me and Lavender want to get some rest.”

Feeling like I could do with a few more hours yet, I rubbed my eyes clear in an attempt to wake up. “Where’s Cherry?”

“She’s just over there getting her gear ready. See?”

Rolling off the sofa and onto my hooves, I let the green and purple pair climb onto the sofa together and cuddle up as myself and Cherry had not long before. Sneaking up on her, I gave her a hug from behind, much to her surprise.

“Who the hell?!” Cherry burst out before quickly remembering the time and becoming a lot quieter. Turning her focus onto me, she relaxed. “Oh.. sorry Crimson. I’m just not used to that is all.”

Giving a little chuckle, I didn’t really have much to say.

“So, I’m going to be on the tower of course. If you want to be near me-” For a moment, Cherry paused before quickly thinking up a new way to say what she meant with a blush on her face. “I mean, if you want to help me out, you can be my spotter.”

With a confident nod of my head and a smile on my face, I agreed to it. “Sounds good.”

“No funny business though.” Cherry quickly added. “This is serious. You’re here to help me scan the horizon and to make sure that I’m not asleep or taken out silently somehow. I mean, I highly doubt we will be, but you know, there’s always the potential for something to happen. The wasteland can be a cruel place at times.”

“I know, I know.” I quickly responded. “This is serious and distracting either one of us from our jobs could be deadly.”

“Exactly.” Cherry’s tone of voice seemed confident, but something about her seemed off. There was a look in her eye that said it all, she wished it wasn’t so.

The night had been going quietly for us. Occasionally Cherry had asked me to go downstairs and check on the others, make sure there was nothing we had missed.
The hours rolled on by and nothing exciting came along, though all of us were thankful seeing as excitement would have meant danger during the night duty.

Just as the time came in closer for rotation, Cherry’s ears began to perk and flick around nervously. Looking at her, I spoke quietly. “What’s wrong?”

“I hear something. It sounds… it sounds like a group. I’m not certain, but I’m sure I hear a group in the distance.” Looking down at her E.F.S, her eyes narrowed and looked worried. Looking down at mine, I couldn’t see why, but on hers I noticed it. Several bars began to appear as they came within range of her PipBuck. Why mine wasn’t picking it up yet hers was I didn’t understand, but I guessed it might have had something to do with her having noticed them.

“What do we do?” I asked nervously.

“For the moment?” She murmured, pausing for a moment. “Wait. If they come close, if they turn hostile… well, we’ll have a fight on our hooves and that will mean waking everypony up. Night guard duty doesn’t mean we fight alone, it simply means we keep lookout for threats. I want you to go put on your helmet and see how this turns out.”

“Okay.” I replied quietly before quickly making my way downstairs and over to my gear. Pulling out my helmet from my storage and yet again checking my weapons were loaded and ready for use, I went back up to Cherry and sat low as to avoid being more of a giveaway than necessary.

For what felt like an hour we were locked in a tense moment of stagnation, though really it had just been minutes if even that. If the signatures were friendly traders, we would be fine. If they were bandits, we would likely be able to talk to them and make them leave peacefully, if Cherry was right.
But no, these weren’t my worries. If they were raiders however, well, I didn’t want to find out if they were.

Hearing wailing screams of what sounded like agony in the distance as they came closer, I wasn’t sure what to think. Cherry’s face didn’t let on with what she thought and I didn’t want to take my helmet off to ask. Perhaps it was just my imagination… perhaps it wasn’t my imagination, but rather a group who had been in a fight and one of them was wounded?
That was the more comforting possibility of any. Wounded ponies could be healed given the proper medical treatment, besides, who would be travelling around during the night with a wounded comrade and be looking for more trouble?

Then the bullets whizzed past us, sloppily aimed though it proved plenty of warning for myself and Cherry to hit the floor in reaction.

“We’re under attack!” Cherry cried out. “Battle formations! Crimson! Wake everyone up!”

It was all so fast, I paused, hesitant. Then a bullet slammed into the building still missing us by a mile, but that was all it took for my brain to respond properly.
“We’re under attack! We are under attack! Everypony wake up and prepare yourselves! Battle formations!”

Cherry gave me the closest thing to an appreciative look that she could muster and quickly scanned the horizon for signs of our attackers. To the south-east we saw them, from the direction we ourselves were due to go.
The sound of the others below us waking up and rapidly setting themselves up bolstered my confidence, though the sound of the wailing pony grew louder and served as a demoraliser in itself. Now we knew for sure that no rational group would open fire on a building while their friend, if it was a friend, needed medical attention.

“Shit! Dusk has been hit!” A voice called below.

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” A stallion called out in response, to which I recognised the voice to the navy blue pony of before. “Just a passing blow, I’m not out of this yet!” Damn was I glad to hear that.

With no warning whatsoever, a loud crack filled my ears and made them ring for a second. Looking at Cherry, she grimaced as there was now one less signature than before.

Looking at my pistol and shotgun, I was no good at this range. My weapons were both suited for close range engagement and only the ponies like Cherry or Kingcakes who had any type of rifle stood a chance in actually hitting their targets.
Looking up into the dark skies above, there was nothing but black and I came up with a plan.

Taking off my helmet for a moment, I spoke to Cherry with a determination to help in this fight rather than waiting and hoping for the best. “I’m going to go into the skies above.”

“You what!?” She stammered. “No, stay here, you’re safer here!”

“Yeah, but I’ve got to do my part.” I responded. “It doesn’t matter if I’m safer here or there, the fact I can do nothing isn’t something I can deal with. This isn’t a game of ‘escort the leaders son to sunshine and rainbows’, it’s a fight and everypony is required to do their part. I’m going to do mine in a way they won’t expect.”

Opening up my bags, I picked out and showed Cherry my grenades. “How effective do you think an aerial bombardment might be? Princesses know they won’t be looking into the sky above them for such a thing - and besides, I’m hard to see as it is. Let me make a difference.”

For a moment Cherry stunted, unable to say a word, but then another volley of bullets came too close for comfort as it slammed into the base of the tower. With that, her eyes hardened. “Fine. You make a point. Just be careful and don’t get cocky. Also? Helmet on. Got it?”

Putting my helmet back on, I didn’t need to say anything more. Galloping down the stairs and out of the back end of the building, I took to the skies and quickly soared to a height where I could see it all.
Below was the station building, now lit up with muzzle flash and lanterns. Ahead was the group of what I could only presume to be raiders, ten of them.

If they had PipBucks, they might have taken a second thought to attacking us, but obviously they were unaware of the superior firepower and tactical advantage we possessed. With another loud crack from below, another one fell and tracers forced the others to hide behind what cover they could find in the rocky landscape.

Swooping over them, I watched momentarily as they scuttled around. None of them were any the wiser to the danger that lurk above. Taking note, I saw the pony who was in physical distress, his hind legs seemingly missing. I felt sorry for him, to be missing his limbs like that must have been absolutely awful and simply agonising.
Taking care not to leave the wounded pony in the danger zone, I unleashed the first two grenades from above.

Flying higher and away from the drop sight, I watched from a small distance away. Three seconds passed and then the explosions came, two successive bangs. One raider was blown apart by the blasts but not outright killed, a new wailer as the target began to bleed out.
Another pony hit by the blast seemed to get lucky, shrapnel only seeming to hit their barding and bags, though they were still knocked over from the initial explosion.

“Grenades! Be careful!” One buck called out in his hoarse voice, time having taken its toll on what I imagined once must have been a typical colt’s. He didn’t seem to be all that old from how he looked and stood yet his body had aged regardless.

As the firefight raged on, a screaming came from the station building and my heart dropped. Somepony from my team must have been hit, which of course was bad news even if they weren’t dead. I could only hope that the screaming wasn’t out of panic of seeing a companion die.

Looking at my foes, throwing another grenade would have been too ineffective at this point. The surprise was lost and now they were scattered so such an attack would only affect one and not more. Wasting a grenade on a single pony was pointless, and so I halted in mid air, thinking of a new plan of attack.

From my vantage point in the sky I could see some of my group attempting to break out from behind the station building and sneak around outside, though the raiders below quickly noticed the manoeuvre and opened fire on the flank, thankfully missing their targets but still pinning them to one location with barely any cover.
Seeing two raiders going for their flank with their own sneak attack, I couldn’t let that happen.

Once again grenades would be too ineffective, this time the targets moving too erratically to properly judge where to drop my explosives. Instead, I readied my shotgun and began to hope that it would be enough.
Just as the raiders climbed atop of the rock formation, I began my dive.

Slicing down through the air I moved faster and faster, waiting to get in close. Coming up behind them, I could see them clearly now with as much precision as I needed.
Hitting into S.A.T.S like I had been taught to do, I realised just how much better this was going to be. Instead of making wild shots, I could feel something inside of me being helped by my PipBuck as I flew closer and finally took the shot.
Without thought I climbed back into the sky before I became a sitting duck, a new target close to the enemy. Still, with those two raiders gone, there was now a chance for the others to focus on returning fire upon the main body of the raider force.

“Where did that come from!” One cried out, horrified to have seen his ‘friends’ die in front of him.

Another one answered, completely oblivious to the true reason. “The shadows! It was a fucking shadow! They’re using some sick magic on us!”

For a moment I felt good. I had been able to take out several raiders and change the flow of the battle using the element of surprise and flight. That feeling wasn’t long lived however, when another one cried out misinformation that made my heart skip a beat. “It was that fucking sniper in the tower! Get them! Focus fire!”

No! They couldn’t be allowed to get Cherry Sundae!
Breaking what disguise I had, I spoke to them to draw their attention. I didn’t really know what to say, but looking at my shotgun, I simply felt compelled. “By command of Zardoz, you are all to die! Kill the brutals!”

Now their attention was on me, which I much preferred since I could still hide in the darkness. Shots whizzed by me and flew wildly through the air in all directions as the raiders shouted unintelligible nonsense, though thankfully none of them seemed to have caught glimpse of where I was.
Throwing another grenade out in their general vicinity, I quickly followed up by sweeping down, around and out of their line of sight before the explosion blew the leg off of another.

With a great push, six of the Tank Mercenaries rushed out from the station building and into cover closer to the raider force for a better shot, I paused for a moment.
With that moment of pause, a bullet punched into my stomach and my chest began to burn from the force of the blow. Falling from the sky, I could hardly control my descent as I struggled to even keep my shotgun in my mouth. I couldn’t feel any piercing pain nor the wetness of blood, but my chest felt as if I had just been hit damn hard.

Crashing into the ground, I was thankful to land behind the enemies as I noticed them charging to meet the others at the station. With any luck, I would be left behind, unnoticed until I could either get back up or the others had taken the advantage of the raiders foolhardy advance.

Struggling to regain my strength, I laid for a moment, hearing the wails of the crippled pony nearby. I could hear him clearly now, crying in agony, begging for mercy, begging for something to soothe the pain he was dealing with. Looking over to him, I realised he wasn’t far from me, and nor was two other raiders.

Sliding into S.A.T.S yet again, I could tell that my shotgun was going to be no good to me at this range. Swapping to my pistol would indeed increase my chances of scoring a hit, but the pain was still staggering and definitely had a lasting effect on my aim.
Still, any benefit was better than nothing and I took aim at one of the raiders. Lining him up for the shot, I fired five bullets.

The first caught him off guard, knocking him back and making him a bigger target. The second third and fourth peppered his armour, making him drop his weapon as he gasped, yelped and cried out in pain. The fifth pierced through and sent him to the floor, twitching before going silent.
His E.F.S marker disappeared, quickly followed by three others who had charged ahead into the firing line of the awaiting guards.

Now there was only one left, but he stood in front of me. With a grin, he looked at me before turning to the wounded wailer who was missing his legs. “So, Prye. Looks like your duty as my toy has come to an end. I won’t be needing you any more if I have this pegasus.”
He had seen me? Shit!
Still, I knew that it wouldn’t have taken him long, especially after gunning down his friend.

“No! Please no!” ‘Prye’ cried and begged between his screams. “Please don’t! Please! I don’t want t-”

That was all he managed to say. That was all he could get out before the hatchet dug itself into his skull and ended the life of the pony in front of me. My world froze for a moment as the blood splattered onto the raider who grinned away, grunting as he dislodged the axe with considerable force. My breathing became rapid and shallow, my heart felt like I had just done a marathon as it beat faster and faster, my eyes growing wider in horror.

There was no mercy.

Turning his focus back to me, the raider spoke. “So, you’re the one who’s going to replace him, aren’t you, pegasus?” For a moment he went quiet, but then he made his way closer to me. “I’m going to enjoy chopping your wings off and hacking away your hooves. It’ll make such a lovely change, don’t you agree?”

As he came closer, the world around me felt colder and colder, the thoughts of those things happening filling the front of my mind. I didn’t want to ever find out what being wingless was like! I… I didn’t want to die! ...but nor did I want to live like that.

As he came closer, S.A.T.S refused to activate as it continued to recharge, though how I knew that it was recharging didn’t quite make sense. I didn’t look down at my PipBuck for confirmation, I couldn’t. I was fixated on the bastard in front of me as I picked myself up off the floor warily, falling backwards as he swung at me with the full force that he could muster.

“Come now, little birdie! This is going to be a fun… game!”

And then my mind clicked. My world changed and suddenly I felt just as I had when the wolf was about to get Cherry. I entered S.A.T.S with a strange calmness and focused on his axe. Though I fired three shots, the first two missed as he swung again, though the third knocked it out of his mouth and away from easy reach.
My body still cried out in pain, but now I understood the reason why I felt this way. This was my duty.

Realising their weapon was gone, the raider stared at me in shock before charging me. “W-what the fuck?! You little punk! I’m going to fucking rip you apart with my bare hooves then! You’d be surprised what we earth ponies can do to you fuckers!”

Dropping to the ground and rolling to the side in one swift motion, I dodged his attack by mere inches, though that was plenty. Swapping out to my shotgun as he skidded to a halt and turned around, I didn’t even need S.A.T.S this time. There was no way I’d miss.
It was only once he ran at me that he realised he was fucked, the fear in his eyes now apparent. With one shot, I blew apart his front left leg. With a second, his front right.

The raider skidded to the ground in front of me, screaming in his own agony as I fought the pain in my chest. I simply looked at him, his limbs missing, his eyes wide, his voice screaming. “I don’t want to die!” He called.

“You don’t want to die? Just as the one you killed hadn’t wanted to die?”

“Please have mercy! Please! This is fucking agony as it is! Let me be!”

I… I couldn’t believe it. Only a moment ago this fucker… I stared at him in shock, though that didn’t last long. My gaze dropped to the floor, then to the body of… that cunt’s last victim. Anger filled me and my heavy breathing turned from pain to fury. Turning back to the screaming raider in front of me, I growled. “You dare fucking speak of mercy?! You fucking dare plead for mercy after what you have done?! There was another who begged for your mercy only moments ago and now you feel you have some given right to ask for what you yourself could not give to another?!”

Closing my eyes, I turned my head to the side and felt the rage within boil up. One word came to mind, filled it, controlled it. Justice.

Opening my eyes back up, I stowed my shotgun and pulled out my pistol. “You seek mercy? You deserve nothing less than to be dragged across Equestria from end to end until you die. Still, I shall grant you your last request. Mercy comes cheap when you seek the executioner.”

Pressing my pistol to the head of the raider, I took one last moment to take in his look of fear, his golden mane clashing against his blood stained brown coat. I saw him draw his last breath. I pulled the trigger.

Footnote:

Level up!

Perk unlocked! Stallion of the night!

During the hours of darkness you gain a slight passive boost to your stealth.

Quest perk unlocked! Executioner!

In some combat situations you’re able to take advantage of an enemy’s weakness and downright execute them. Though this will typically play on your luck, it also opens up certain choices others might not consider.

Author's Notes:

So, first of all I apologise for the length of time this has taken me to write! It's been a long journey in trying to rewrite this damn chapter. It began before Christmas and ended here in February, but hey, we got there in the end, right?!
I've got to thank everyone who reads, everyone who comments, everyone who likes and everyone who follows. I've got to especially thank all those special people who consistently give me the feedback and support I need to keep myself going, because sometimes I simply fall apart without you all.
Is it good that I do? Hell no, but that's a part of who I am.

I want to apologise for how long its taken and how many issues people might take with it. I'm changing things, adding things, removing things and probably ruining things knowing me. I'm constantly worried I'm going to have ruined Cherry especially with this, but here's to hoping I hadn't.

Much love goes out to you all, it really does.
Also love goes out to Kkat for inspiring everyone with her magnificent piece of literature of the original. It's not flawless, but I never expected something to be.
Then there's all the artists who have ever done anything for me! And to my friend Doc who I unfortunately never speak to any more because I'm fucking awful socially. (Doc being the guy who performed the musical cue.)

I'll fix up the next chapter when I can. As for now? Apologies for any inconsistencies. Still, I hope this is a better produced piece than before.