Now I could see the truth of the wasteland. Even without radiation and taint, even with its established cities and protectors, despite the decrease in monsters and raiders, the Equestria we knew and lived in was but a fluttering heartbeat. And the wasteland was venom.

My journey had begun not three days ago, and I was already unsure of my own virtues. Littlepip had tormented herself with the notion of corrupted kindness, and I tried not to do the same, but I had a dread feeling that the evil I had witnessed, and been exposed to, had only begun.

The cruelty of the wasteland was not the intensity of its violence and depravity, but how these things survived. They were parasitic. The wasteland infected good ponies, testing their hearts until they broke, and then new life was born from the husk of innocence. The wasteland spawned in the ponies who dared to face it, perpetuating the cycle.

I knew this not because I had seen everything the wasteland had to offer, but because I felt it plant its seeds within me. That day that we traveled along the river, I must have asked myself a hundred times, “What is my virtue?”

Rosemary’s was easy. Her hospitality, and the way she had given up everything to follow me and stop Thunderfall… she was generosity. Honesty seemed to come easy to Cloud Chaser, even when she was brutal about it, but with her happy-go-lucky nature I could see traces of laughter in her, too.

And me? I certainly wasn’t any of those. I had nothing to lose and much within me to hide. Magic? I still only had one spell. And I certainly hadn’t been too kind to Rosemary at the river.

Loyalty was the only one left. But the only thing I fought for was my own sense of righteousness. I wasn’t fighting for anyone else. Rosemary and Cloud Chaser were just along for the ride.

I realized that these virtues had always been embodied in groups of friends. But the three of us weren’t too friendly. Rosemary remained mad at me the entire day, and Cloud Chaser seemed to be angry with both of us. And I knew I wasn’t as compassionate or forgiving toward them as I could be.

It had been friendship that had carried Littlepip and her party through their ordeals, and the friendship of the Ministry Mares, in many ways, still survived to this day. But our friendship was tenuous at best. A failing pulse, and we were plunging into the viper’s nest.

“How would we survive?” I wondered. “If these virtues can’t tie us together, then what will?”

Stable Two was less than a day away by wing, but because Rosemary couldn’t fly, as Cloud Chaser loved to remind her during our detour, we had to find a place along the larger river that we could cross.

The stream we had washed in eventually connected to this wide river, and from there we followed its rocky banks. I marveled at how pure the water looked. No irradiation, no taint. It gleamed and cast cascades of light on the smoothed stones it had cut into, and its waters had begun to feed patches of stringy grass and low scrubs. Hills rose and fell beyond, the stretches of earth beyond the river left gray and barren, yet untouched by the healing waters.

After those hills, we would come upon Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres, which contained the now-legendary Stable Two, famed for being the home of both Littlepip and Velvet Remedy. After Applejack’s Rangers had moved into Stable Twenty-Nine, they had begun to move to the other vacant stables, assimilating the old Steel Rangers in the process. The move made sense. Stables were tactical strongholds, impenetrable once sealed and easily defendable when not, in addition to containing all factors necessary to sustain life.

“Have either of you met a Ranger?” I asked the two mares. They shook their heads.

“They only come when trouble’s around,” Cloud Chaser explained, “And this is the first real trouble we’ve seen.”

I have to admit, I was excited to meet the Rangers. After their change of heart in honor of Applejack, I had always seen them as a blade in the darkness of the wasteland. If any group had the power and resources to purge Equestria of its evil dregs, it would be the red knights.

Of course the thought of joining them crossed my mind, but I pushed it away. I didn’t want to be fighting forever. Despite my aspirations to help others, even through combat, I never saw myself as a military pony. Early in my adolescence I had realized that it was unlikely that my life would ever realize the heroic likes of Littlepip or others, and I had resigned myself to more domestic aspirations. I still held on to these dreams of finding a way to help those around me, but while maintaining a comfortable home and heading a strong family. The Rangers didn’t lend to stability or romance.

We diverged from our path along the river to meet at a crossroads in the hopes of finding a merchant. We met one before we could even see the road. The earth pony stallion had gone toward the rushing river to water his brahmin. The creature that pulled the cart looked more disgusting that a ghoul. Without a coat, its flesh was pink and red with sores, and I could hardly tear my eyes away from the misshapen, oversized udder. The two heads were even more unsettling, as one was missing an eye.

The trader opened his cart to us, and we poured over the wares. He was rather well stocked, but anything that would have been a must-have, like some longer-range weapons or armor my size, he was fresh out of. This came much to Cloud Chaser’s dismay, who was getting sick of her knife and revolver. So when she laid eyes on the sleek black zebra stealth armor, she insisted on buying it.

Luckily for us, we had Rosemary. “You want how much?”

“This is one-of-a-kind stuff here,” the merchant said. “Light, quiet, and durable. You’re not going to find much better unless you become a Ranger yourself.”

“I think not,” Rosemary responded coolly. Cloud Chaser was about to whine Rosemary to death, but the little unicorn ignored her. She just picked out the ammo we would need, asking questions like, “Do you have any healing potions?”

“You wouldn’t need potions for your friend if you had armor,” he persuaded.

“So that’s a no.” Sweet Celestia, Rosemary sure knew how to turn on the ice. Then with a sigh, “Just the ammo, then.”

“But just look at it Rosemary!” Cloud Chaser clung to her like a spoiled foal.

“I know. I’d like to get it for you, but he just won’t budge even an inch.” With that, Rosemary turned.

Before she walked away, the merchant called back, “How about seventy caps?”

She snapped around. “Fifty-five.”

“I got it for fifty!”

She was already counting the caps out. “Well, you win some, you lose some.”

We took our lunch at the same spot after the merchant left, our little pegasus fawning over her new armor. “Rosemary, it’s official,” Cloud Chaser gushed. “You’re the team treasurer. Here,” Cloud Chaser dumped caps into her lap, “just take them.”

“Where did you get these?” Rosemary accused. “Did you steal them?”

“No! I was saving them as an emergency fund.” I had no idea whether she was lying or not.

“Still,” I admitted, “That was pretty impressive.”

She fidgeted with her hooves in the dirt. “It’s nothing. Back at the inn, I had to do that kind of thing all the time. Not just for rooms, but to pay for food and blankets. You just sort of pick it up.” Her mouth fell into a frown. She was thinking about leaving her old life behind.

I knew I was kind of an ass to her yesterday, so now I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about ‘The Jade Dragon,’” I started.

“Don’t worry about it,” she deflected.

“No, really. If I hadn’t-”

“It’s not your fault,” she cut me off with a little more force.

I persisted. “Listen. I understand.”

“Just drop it, Ebonmane.” She finally looked up at me, glaring.

What the hell had I done? I was trying to be understanding about everything that she had done for me. Did she blame me for this? But if she did, then wouldn’t my apology have at least softened her a little? Or was she just that much of a vindictive bitch?

None of these things were said. I just hung my head for a moment, dropping it. The awkwardness got to be a bit much, so I stood and left. Maybe giving Cloud Chaser a shot to talk to her alone would help.

The brunt of the feelings of dysfunction and corruption I described earlier occurred here. But I couldn’t be angry at Rosemary. I decided not to be. Whatever she was feeling was her problem, and if she didn’t want to talk, then I couldn’t make her. I couldn’t force a friendship.

But this instability wasn’t good for us. I seriously doubted how much she trusted me, and I knew that if things didn’t work out, Cloud Chaser would go with her. I needed her to trust me. Of course, I realized that if that was going to happen, I had to trust her as well.

I wanted to trust her. I wanted to know that despite whatever she was feeling, whatever doubts she was experiencing about her decisions and about me, that she would stay with me and fight against Thunderfall.

Wing beats sounded behind me. “Yes?” I asked.

“What is with you two?” Cloud Chaser asked me, just as defeated as I felt.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “I’m asking myself the same thing. Did she say anything to you? She obviously won’t talk to me.”

“What makes you think she’ll talk to me?” Cloud Chaser alighted next to me.

“Aren’t you two good friends?”

“Not exactly,” Cloud Chaser rolled her head as she launched into her explanation. “I knew about Rosemary because she… fed me… and stuff. But we didn’t talk a lot. So a couple days ago, I was really hungry and I caught her leaving. I asked where she was going, and I ended up here.”

“Why?” I asked. It sounded like her life was bad enough without adding raiders to the mix.

“Because. Rosemary had done so much for me. I couldn’t let her go out alone. I owed her.” Cloud Chaser hung her head solemnly. I got the feeling that being in another pony’s debt was not a thing she took lightly.

“So you have no idea why she’s acting this way towards me?”

“She’s just upset. She’ll come around.” The pegasus smiled at me.

“Unless I screw up again?” I smiled back.

“Oh, I guarantee you will. But that’s okay. You’re cute when you’re stupid.”

Cute? What was that supposed to mean? “Thanks?” was all I could say.

“That.” She pointed at me. “That right there is what I mean.” I felt myself blushing, but I knew any response would only dig my hole deeper.

“Feel better?” She asked me. I nodded. “Then c’mon.”

We rejoined Rosemary, who looked calmer. She tossed looks at me and Cloud Chaser from over her glasses, but didn’t say anything. I turned on the radio to let her know that she didn’t have to.

Sapphire Shores was on, a personal favorite of Rosemary. I could tell by her smile, by the way she would be wiggling her hips when I stole a look back at her, only to see her blush and stop. After I caught her the second time, she told me to mind my own business and quit looking at her.

“Hey now, my little ponies, this is DJPon3 taking a quick break in the music to give you guys an update. Remember those kidnapped Fillydelphia mares? Well, they’re back now! I’m still just getting the whole story, but it seems like a group from New Appleloosa went into a whole mess o’ raiders to get those fillies out of there. Good on you, whoever you are, and if you happen to be around Tenpony Tower anytime, I got a round of cider waiting for you. On me. But for everypony else, we can rest easy with hard evidence that there’s a lot more good in this world than there is bad. With that, I give you the second half of our Sapphire Shores collection.”

This lightened our spirits, mine especially. It felt good to have some recognition. I didn’t care that DJPon3 didn’t use my name, but it was helpful to be able to step back and have someone on the outside assure me that I had helped, that for a moment, I was kind of a hero to those mares. If this Thunderfall thing worked out, I suppose we might make it on the radio again, but then I would be in Manehattan, so I would probably go tell DJPon3 the story myself, and make an attempt to preserve my anonymity. The last thing my ego needed was to hear praises sung in my name every day on the radio, but I felt okay in taking some pride in this quick pat on the back.

“I wonder how many ponies know it was us?” Rosemary asked.

“Well,” Cloud Chaser started, “Caboose definitely knows, and if ponies come to ask him, he’ll probably tell them. And Silver Bell, too, and she’s in New Appleloosa as well. It probably won’t take too long before the real story gets out, and then DJPon3 will tell everypony on the radio, and then all of Equestria will think we’re heroes!” She grew more and more excited with every word, her pigtails practically quivering with contained joy. She had never been recognized for anything good. She had always been pushed to the streets. Being a hero was a big change for her.

Rosemary seemed to get more uncomfortable the more excited Cloud Chaser got. I suppose she had a bit of stage fright. That, or she was the only truly modest pony in our group.

My radio cut suddenly. I looked down to see what was wrong, and my compass pulled up. There was a red dot.

Levitating out my guns, prompting the others to do the same, I pointed in the direction of the foe. Our eyes followed my hoof towards the river, but there was nothing to see.

“You sure that thing’s working right?” Cloud Chaser asked.

In a shattering of the tumbling rapids, the owner of the dot burst from the water, great and menacing. A long, snakelike body towered before us, blood red and covered in scales. Two fangs as long as my head jutted from the toothy snout, two long wisps of whiskers swept elegantly from its nose. Its cat eyes took in all of us. Prey for a mutated sea monster.

Cloud Chaser was already shooting, her revolver punching holes in the scaly hide, but it was so big it was like stabbing it with needles. My first instinct was to run, but when it roared I realized that it didn’t need water to breathe, and there was no reason it couldn’t slither out of the riverbed to devour us.

I didn’t even bother with SATS. How could I miss? Rather easily, as it turned out. It writhed in air, snapping at Cloud Chaser as she darted around it, aiming for the eyes.

BLAM!
It let out a roar of pain as a massive chunk was ripped from its body. Rosemary steadied again and fired, a deafening blast, and another bloody hunk exploded from its side.

The little unicorn backed up slowly, reloading, and I realized she had mis-identified her gun.

Another shot, another hunk of scales and flesh falling into the river. Those weren’t shotgun pellets. They were solid slugs. And the barrel was too long and narrow to be a shotgun.

Rosemary had a Celestia-damned manticore gun.

She missed her fourth shot, but was reloading quickly when you only needed to put in two bullets, heat shimmers and smoke rising from the mouth of her monster-slaying weapon. I was reloading my own pistols as well. Cloud Chaser and I were only providing a distracting target for the monster. The wounds it had sustained already would bring it down in no time.

But the wasteland didn’t play fair.

The sea monster moved so fast it sounded like thunder followed its movements. It lashed out from the water in a blur, and when it moved back, I could see Rosemary’s body hanging from its mouth, her side pierced by a fang.

I tossed aside any concerns for my safety. Spreading my wings and bringing my guns forth, I slipped into SATS and unloaded with each of my weapons, points of blood ripping along the nose of the monster. I knew my pistols could only do so much damage, and I found a third gun rising before me. The twin barrels pointed directly between the eyes of the monster, and I pulled the trigger.

It fell without a roar, the tiny unicorn tumbling from its mouth, toward the rushing waters below.

My levitation went out to her, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I strained to slow her fall as much as I could when a blue and black streak zipped past me. Cloud Chaser had caught the wounded mare, but she was heading towards the opposite riverbank, and there was a lot of water for her to cross.

Cloud Chaser’s wings beat furiously in an attempt to stay aloft, but she was losing altitude quickly. I didn’t have to observe long to see that they weren’t going to make it. Rosemary was dead weight and about to bring Cloud Chaser down with her.

I followed them, giving as much aid with my magic as I could, but I wasn’t Celestia and I wasn’t Littlepip. But then I saw a field of green appear around my field of blue, and their flight path evened out.

My heart skipped a beat. Rosemary was not only conscious, but using her magic. And it was stronger than mine.

Cloud Chaser landed with a thud on the rocky dirt of the other side, Rosemary tossing roughly from her back. I alighted next to the unicorn. There was a large hole where her shoulder met her neck, but it wasn’t too deep, and it appeared she hadn’t been impaled by one of the two main fangs. Blood seeped from the wound but didn’t gush.

Rosemary began convulsing. Her eyes were wide open, white foam forming on her lips.

Poison.

My mind raced. I had to do something, but the merchant didn’t have any healing potions to sell to us. I tried to think of what Velvet Remedy would do, but I didn’t have her arsenal of magic or healing supplies. I couldn’t stop poison with levitation, could I? I couldn’t stop the venom in her blood from reaching her heart and killing her.

But there were spells that dealt with blood.

Littlepip had coached Life Bloom into making a blood cast before out of the blood blade spell. If he could do it, so could I.

I cast my magic out, taking the blood, forming it and shaping it, but it was just levitation. Nothing special was happening.

Perhaps if I got a little closer. I put my horn down and touched it to the wound. With a gasp, I felt a surge of energy pour forth from me.

Rosemary stopped moving.

I looked up. Was she dead?

No. Her wound was still open, and blood still came forth in shallow pulses. Her heart was still working.

“Make some bandages,” I ordered Cloud Chaser. The pegasus had sat, teary-eyed and unsure of what to do. She quickly tore a long strip from the hem of her black hooded cloak and we tied it around Rosemary’s neck tightly. Blood soaked the fabric, but it seemed to stop.

“She needs a doctor,” Cloud Chaser said. “And we’re across the river. Stable Two isn’t far from here.” She was right. Even if she managed to stop bleeding, her skin was bruising from the effects of the poison and that bandage wouldn’t stop an infection.

I lay down and Cloud Chaser helped me get Rosemary slung over my back. There was no way I could fly with this much weight, but we had to hurry. The pegasus took my guns and sword, and all I concentrated on was moving as fluidly and evenly as possible. Any sudden movements and her wound could rupture again. If that happened, I don’t think she would make it.

The going was slow. Slower than I would have liked it to be. I think I had somehow stopped the poison from moving within her, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t taking its toll.

The sun sunk lower on the horizon, finally dipping down below the dead hills. Stable Two still seemed so far away.

Cloud Chaser spoke to me once I started getting tired. Her golden eyes cast her gaze upwards at the stars, either in prayer or in wonder. “I didn’t know you could heal,” she said.

“I can’t,” I replied. And I hadn’t. I didn’t know what I had done, but I had done something.

“You stopped the poison. That’s healing magic.”

Was it really? But I didn’t know any healing spells, and I hadn’t been able to close Rosemary’s wound. And besides, even the best magical healers like Velvet Remedy and Life Bloom mostly relied on medicine to sustain the lives of their friends.

“Healing magic doesn’t work like that,” I informed her. “There are no spells to stop poison or to patch up wounds.”

“There are now,” she said simply.

I was about to protest. “Stop,” a weak whisper issued from my back. Cloud Chaser and I froze. “Let me down.”

Cloud Chaser and I weren’t about to argue with her. We set her down gently, and she reached out a hoof towards us. I lied down next to her to hear her better. Her eyes fluttered, and then closed.

“Rosemary?” I whispered.

“Is she asleep?” Cloud Chaser asked.

A slow, shuddering breath issued from the scarlet lips, her chest rising evenly. She was, indeed, asleep.

“I guess she couldn’t rest while riding on my back,” I said. I took comfort in this. Rosemary still needed medicine, but it was obvious that the poison had come out in her blood or by my magic, and the doctors of Stable Two could easily stop any infection at this point. Right now, sleep truly was the best thing for Rosemary.

And me too. My body was weary, not only from carrying her weight for half a day, but especially with the strain of worry. I lay down next to her, and smiled as she curled into me.

Cloud Chaser flopped down on the other side of Rosemary, providing her with warmth. The day had sapped her strength as well.

I felt closer to Rosemary in that moment, and I realized that I didn’t need to trust her, and I didn’t care if she could undoubtedly trust me. When her life was on the line, I would have risked anything to save her. Despite all the things we had said to each other, all the ways we butted heads, I was happy that in some small way I could protect her. I knew she was a good pony at heart, a better one than me, and I felt more in line with who I had hoped to be lying next to her, helping her sleep, making sure that she would live to see the sunrise tomorrow.

“Ebonmane,” Cloud Chaser spoke up.

“Yeah?” I didn’t open my eyes. Sleep called, and Cloud Chaser was distracting me from answering.

“What’s your cutie mark talent?”

It took a while for me to answer, and when I did my voice was soft and embarrassed. “I don’t know.”

“Could it be healing?”

“I doubt it.” I knew that the most logical explanation of Rosemary’s recovery was that I had healed her, but I didn’t even know how I had done it. That didn’t make me a healer. It wasn’t my talent.

“Then is it fighting?”

I was puzzled. “What makes you think that?”

Her voice explained sleepily. “When you killed the sea monster, you were levitating three guns and firing them all at once. I’ve never seen a unicorn be able to use more than two weapons at the same time.”

This turned over in my head, but the need for rest forced me to conclude with a “Maybe,” before slipping into sweet unconsciousness.

I was the first to awake the next morning. My friends slept peacefully in the dirt together. By Cloud Chaser’s snoring I could tell she was a naturally heavy sleeper. I hated to wake Rosemary, but the sooner we got her to Stable Two, the better. I shook Cloud Chaser awake first, but after gentle prodding didn’t work, I was practically hitting her when her eyes snapped open. Then she groaned.

We woke Rosemary, but she was still pretty weak. Lifting her onto my back again, we headed out. The sun was a hazy smudge on the horizon, and the sky was still waking up.

No one knew what to say, so I turned on the radio, and a singer named Daisy Dell sang to us in a chipper, hopeful voice. For a moment, despite everything, there was some peace.

“Ebonmane,” Cloud Chaser sidled alongside me, whispering, “Rosemary isn’t really getting better.”

“She will once we get to the stable,” I reassured her.

“But I think she’s getting worse.”

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. Panic wouldn’t help Rosemary or any of us right now. “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.”

“How can you say that?” she said, and I think she was starting to tear up. “What if she…”

“That won’t happen,” I said firmly, more to calm my own thoughts than to assure her.

“How can you be so sure?” Cloud Chaser asked. “Aren’t you afraid?”

“Of course I am,” I admitted. “But there’s nothing we can do. I promise you, Rosemary will be fine.”

“You can’t promise that,” Cloud Chaser said, hanging her head.

“Yes I can.” My voice was so confident, so strong, that I almost believed it myself.

For hours, I never felt Rosemary move on my back, but Cloud Chaser checked on her often, and she was still breathing. My nerves began to get the better of me, and I fervently wished I could speak out loud to Littlepip, but I didn’t. Nothing I could say would help. Even if Littlepip could see us, the only thing that would help Rosemary was for me to put one hoof in front of the other, and keep going.

My muscles ached after an hour. Once the sun rose full and clear in the sky I began to sweat. After the third hour my breathing became heavy.

“Do you want me to take her?” Cloud Chaser offered.

I just shook my head. Cloud Chaser was barely bigger than Rosemary. Even painfully, I could move faster than the pegasus could well-rested.

One hoof in front of the other.

The dry dirt felt so rough and unforgiving under my hooves, and the hills stretched on and on forever, every incline a battle that I refused to lose. Even though I knew it wasn’t true, at the base of every hill I told myself that Stable Two was just over the crest. It didn’t seem to help, but I still managed to make it.

Then we saw husks of charred trees. They stood at regular distances, as if they had been planted intentionally. We had reached Sweet Apple Acres.

Somehow, I found the energy to go faster. Flickers of hope raced through my body. The barn rose in the distance.

And red soldiers walked from it towards us.

Cloud Chaser flew out to meet them, and by the time they reached us, a mare’s voice was telling me, “We’ll take it from here.”

We transferred Rosemary to the Ranger’s back and followed them into the barn. I could see that Rosemary’s eyes were open, and she stared back at me. I smiled at her, and she returned it weakly.

The stable door was massive, but like a gate to heaven it was open for us. We descended into the halls, gray and dimly lit, just as Littlepip had described. I saw scores of Rangers, most of them not dressed in the full-body red armor, and the knights who were escorting us gave orders and told them to make way.

But for Cloud Chaser and me, the journey ended in the clinic waiting room.

We sat for a long time. Finally, my friend prompted me, “Maybe you should talk to their leader about Thunderfall.” I shook my head. Friends came first.

A nurse came out and asked us all sorts of questions about what had happened, and between the two of us we spilled the entire story. The nurse just wrote everything down and returned to the ward. I couldn’t imagine what they were doing in there. It took another two hours, but Cloud Chaser and I didn’t budge. There would always be time to explore the Stable and get on with what we came for, but we needed to know if Rosemary would be okay.

At long last, the doctor came out. “She’s going to need to sleep for a little longer, but you can see her now. You must have been worried.” He gave a kind smile. Celestia bless him. He led us to her room.

Rosemary lay in the simple white bed, her eyes heavy. She was hooked up to all sorts of machinery that looked too advanced for the simple stable, but Stable-Tec always went all-out on everything they built. Her gaze swam about listlessly before settling on us. “I hate needles,” she moaned.

A tiny couch was situated near the bed, and we moved it right up to the edge. “How do you feel?” Cloud Chaser asked.

Rosemary simply nodded. It didn’t answer the question, but we still felt relieved.

She seemed to slip back into sleep, a slight smile on her face, comforted by our presence, but there was something I had to say to her before she drifted off.

“Rosemary?” I took a deep breath, and spoke softly. “I’m sorry. For everything.”

She turned to me. “It’s okay.”

“We should let her sleep,” Cloud Chaser said. We didn’t leave her side, though. Rosemary drifted off, and Cloud Chaser rested her head on my shoulder, emotionally spent for the day. It was only for a few hours, we knew. Rosemary would regain her strength in no time with all the healing potions and other medicines they had running through her.

I recalled the nurse who had asked us about the sea monster. When I had told her that the poison had left Rosemary’s body, she had asked how and forced me to go into great detail. When I couldn’t give her a straight answer of how it was done, she had just gotten frustrated and moved on.

My thoughts lingered on this. I wasn’t willing to take credit for Rosemary’s life. I offered it up to the Princesses; it had been a miracle. And I certainly wasn’t a miracle worker.

But as we lay in Rosemary’s room, Cloud Chaser pressed against me, I extended a hoof and let it touch Rosemary’s, shutting my eyes. I couldn’t sleep like this, but I found rest.

The wasteland had torn at us with yet another challenge. And somehow we had survived. And I smiled now, because I knew that we were stronger for it. I knew that this moment wouldn’t fade, that we would all be closer, inextricably connected in a way that couldn’t be undone easily. We would fight in the future. Our personalities hadn’t changed. Rosemary was still stubborn, I was still foolish and self-centered, and Cloud Chaser was still flighty and pried a little too often for my tastes. But here we were, lying together, my hoof connected to Rosemary’s because none of us wanted to be separated from the other.

It truly was like a miracle. We would talk to the Rangers soon, and the next phase of our journey would begin. But now I had hope that we would continue. No matter what happened, I didn’t want to pass the burden of stopping Thundefall off to the knights and forget about it. I didn’t want to defer responsibility, and now I had the strength to follow up, to take responsibility. I had friends now. The wasteland could strike at us, but it wouldn’t take any of us until all of us had fought back hoof and tail.

We slept. Rosemary recovered. We were all weak. But we were unbreakable.