We had made our way out of ponyville using the abandoned buildings, from here there was no help in getting us where we needed to go. Help died back in the last hideout. The march was long, and Bellona still couldn't walk. It was shellshock, perhaps although she had seen death she had never been awake to see her life in danger. I know of at least one time she has almost died, but of course she was unconscious. To be fair, I wasn't mad that I had to carry her. She was light and nimble, so on the occasional time I had to prop her up on something or pull her over something it was relatively easy. We had made our way into the nearby everfree forest, which was regrowing on the ruins of prewar Ponyville. It looked like something right out of a movie.

I propped her up against the inside of a building that was long reduced to rubble. The rebar was jutting in dangerous angles for ponies that wouldn't look, but it held a sorta tent together, it was freezing, but I didn't start a fire. The smoke would surely bring unwanted attention. I just sat in the cold silence. Bellona had fallen asleep, and her constant gibberish simply dulled down to a slow inhale, followed by a silent exhale. She was calm, which was an improvement. I laid back, the backpack against my neck, and closed my eyes. I had an uncanny ability to sleep literally anywhere and this was no exception.

I was a classic Equestrian melting pot when it came to where I was from. I had most of my family come from Prussia and Trotland, but along the way my family managed to get Germane blood in me. It's probably a good thing that I didn't have an accent, because then my voice would sound like complete rubbish. I remember the mornings waking up as a foal, my father was almost always gone working the lumber business, but my mother was still around. She wouldn't do anything for me, the most she did was tell me that I needed to make breakfast.

For some reason even Today that seems weird to ponies, and to me back then it seemed weird too. Now that I look back at it, they were teaching me to function on my own. It's something I would've thanked them for. I haven't seen them in years now, but I can only assume they're doing somewhat well. As of now they'd be in the far South Western end of Equestria under Blue Blood's jurisdiction.

This was probably one of the nicer dreams I've had lately. It's ironic how whenever I'm actually working I can get a break from hell. I suppose it isn't a punishment to have those nightmares, but simply a motivation. If I don't want to go to hell, I need to keep protecting these ponies.

This I will do.

I woke up early morning, startled by a clank coming from out of my vision. It was far off to my rear, but still close. I drew the machine pistol and poked my head out, and beyond the darkness of the morning was a light gently suspended in the air. It bobbled up and down, giving the indication that it was a head mounted flashlight. I tucked my head back into the rubble and put a few rocks in front of Bellona, who was still asleep.

I waited, listening to hoofsteps. Whoever was walking towards us was wearing a backpack. I raised the machine pistol up to my eyes, then something occurred to me.

'We're still close to the town, a shot here could spread alarm, if I'm going to do this it needs to be quick and quiet.'

The hoofsteps were close, almost past the barrier. Then a mare walked into my field of view, she looked in the other direction of me at a building that was still somewhat intact. She wasn't military, but she was armed with a baseball bat. The clanking was a pan and steel mug on her rucksack. She looked no older than fifteen, when she turned towards me I could make out facepaint on her. This wasn't good.

Not every town got under someponies control, as a matter a fact it was quite the opposite. Lots of the forests and ruins that nopony was interested in became breeding grounds for tribes and bandits. This pony was tribal, and they don't take to lightly to ponies that aren't tattooed and painted. The only thing that was clear on her face was the light above her head, which was a lightbulb with bent glass over it to extend the reach of the bulb. The very wires that powered it were what kept it on her head.

She didn't catch sight of me, since it doesn't cast enough light to reach me. She turned her back and kept walking. That was when the rock by Bellona fell. Time stopped, and the tribespony turned around, looking at the pile of rubble. She pulled her baseball bat out and slowly made her way towards us. Now or never. She walked right past the enclosure and looked around the rubble. Her legs were right outside the entrance, so I ran out and lifted her up, slamming her into the building behind us.

She jabbed me in the stomach with the bat, I backed up while she swung it high towards my head, I ducked under the swing and threw two quick swings into her body, then backed up and threw a straight punch to her face. She fell back, unconscious. I stomped on her head, which cracked the skull open. I couldn't stay here long. I ran back and woke Bellona up, who was luckily no longer in shock.

"We need to go, quickly and quietly. I'll explain later."

She nodded, I pulled her out of the rubble when another light was approaching from the same direction. It was coming at us fast, I looked at the tribespony's light and smashed it. The other light only came faster, and was followed by three more.

"Bell, run."

"What?"

"Run."

I bolted in the other direction and Bell followed, the sun was coming up, so I could make out slight differences in the land and some buildings. I ducked into an alleyway, but two lights came from the other end, I turned to run the other direction but the three following me were there too.

"Well what's the call?" Bell hesitated to say out loud.

"Duck."

"You like confusing me with one word sentences don't you?"

"Just get down, now."

She crouched down, confused. I pulled the machine pistol and leveled it to my eye at the three ponies. I could make out their features now, they were all tall stallions, so dirty that I couldn't make out what they looked like without the paint and light. They were armed with Reinforcement Bar spears, and one with a sledge hammer. They were scavengers no doubt. I clicked the pistol onto full auto and let out a burst in their general direction.

The first one stumbled to fall, his light smashing against the rubble and concrete. The second took one right through the head, entering into his jaw. The third took two shots to the chest. I turned around, and the other two were so close to my face I could almost smell their breath. They tried to stab me with the Rebar, but I backed up and fired a shot at the ground, to which they backed up and bumped right into Bellona, who they apparently had run right past. Bell grabbed the nearest brick and slammed it right into one of their foreheads, crushing the skull. The second readied a swing, but I unloaded the rest of the magazine into his back. He fell to the ground, Bellona was splattered with blood, making her coat even less of the angelic white it was when we first started running. We were on the edge of the Everfree Forest, so I backed my way into it before the rest of those ponies would get here.

The Everfree was dark as ever in this time of day, as what little sunlight there was had been blocked out by the trees and leaves. I kept moving, feeling my way around with Bellona holding my other hoof to make sure we didn't get separated. We kept walking, that is until we heard the howl of the wolves. Timberwolves were abundant here, and widely contributed to the reasons that nopony settled this land other than the tribes or raiders.

Their howl spread through the morning, like a shrill reminder that death is around every corner. We'd step slowly, each move calculated to perfection. A wrong step, especially here, could kill you. The air was thick with the smell of rotten wood, most of the trees were gnawed to the core by the timberwolves. They can't reproduce, instead they would just build another one. We stepped cautiously, trying our hardest not to hit any twigs on the way. We knew this would take a very long time to get to Canterlot, normally it was a train ride away but with the times being the way they are that wasn't really an option.

Something cracked behind us, it was a treebranch off in a direction we hadn't traveled in. Something was stalking us. We kept moving, but the unnerving sense that whatever, or whoever, was out there was following us. We started seeing more and more signs, more gnawed trees, dung (which was mostly warm, meaning they had to have been there recently) and paw-prints were evident in the surroundings. We were halfway through the forest when the split was evident. At first we thought it was a patch of empty space, that is until I stepped on it. It was a solid circle of bones, rotting flesh, wood, leafs, and dung.

It wasn't a timberwolf, we figured that out by the half dead timberwolf laying split in half in the center of the pile. This was at one point Timberwolf den, but something big came. The timberwolf let out a barrage of sounds that nopony ever had heard before. I put the M16 together and walked to the center of the circle, something was watching us and it was close. I could hear it's breathing comeing from behind me. I swung in an about face and fired a three round burst into the forest.

I expected it to scurry off. Instead a full grown Ursa Major burst from the dark brush. The Timberwolf tried to move, but just waddled in a circle. It got stepped on by the Ursa as it charged me. I rolled out of the way of it's first swing.

"Bell! It hasn't noticed you yet run to the brush and hide!"

"Like you needed to tell me!"

She charged full blown into the brush and laid there, watching the ongoing fight. The Ursa swung hard at me, I couldn't back up in time. It clawed across my face, cutting a good chunk of skin off. It swung again, this time downwards, I stuck my knife forwards, stabbing it a solid five inches into the paw. The Ursa howled and backed up. It wasn't hurt, just pissed off. I moved forwards, keeping my back straight with my M16 level. The Ursa swung sideways and slammed me through the brush. I rolled down a steep hill and slammed against a tree, which stopped me with a thud.

I reached for my gun, when I realized I lost it while I was falling.

The Ursa charged at full speed, behind me was nothing but a jagged cliff rising roughly a couple hundred feet. The Ursa swung hard at me with both of it's paws, But I stuck close enough to the tree that it couldn't get a hold on me. The tree bent backwards with a thunderbolt's crack. My eyes were shut, I expected to be dead, but instead, when I opened them I was sitting against a rugged tree stump. The Ursa plummeted into the depths below. It had slammed into the other edge of the cliff, breaking off massive boulders from the top.

The Ursa howled the whole way down. When it landed the tree stabbed through it's right paw, it tried to get up but it just pushed the tree further in. Then the boulders hit it. The dust went all the way up to where I was standing. What was left of the Ursa was unrecognizable. I looked up, there was a whole pack of Timberwolves on the other side, looking off the cliff and then at me. I didn't have my rifle, I was defenseless.

They just stared at me, then they sat. They stayed there for a few minutes as if they weren't bothered by me. Then they stood up and went away.

I guess I am like a wolf after all.