Chapter 20 - Inspiration
We know what we are, but we know not what we may be.

Gertie simply looked up at me with her watery eyes. I could tell she was losing the fight to hold back tears in front of her fellow griffons.

“Horatio, Geronimo,” I called out over my shoulder, “why don’t you two scavenge what you can off the bodies.”

“Ya,” Horatio responded with a nod. “Ve vill search the bastards.” The two griffons split up and began picking over the bodies.

Gertie began to struggle to get onto her paws. “Dust, help me,” she grunted. “Need to… get to... “

“Shh, Gertie, I know,” I comforted her as I helped her to her paws. The blood stains on the front of her flak jacket were frighteningly large. How was she still upright? She draped her paw over my shoulder and we slowly made our way out to where we first encountered the raiders.

We neared the rock pile where I had first caught up to Gertie, and the nearly headless corpse was still laying there. A large blood pool had formed around the body from the open neck wound. Gertie withdrew her paw and reached out towards the armor but stumbled and nearly fell over.

“Take it easy,” I grunted as I caught her weight and lowered her down to the ground. I”ll take care of that for you.” Gertie smiled weakly back at me. Kneeling over the body, I looked for the releases which would allow the armor to be removed from the corpse. The sickeningly sweet smell of the blood was mingling with the usual terrible body odor most raiders displayed which nauseated me. After carefully removing the armor, I turned and hoofed it over towards Gertie.

“Dust, inside the armor, there should be a hidden pocket,” she moaned.

Having had worn armor designed for clandestine purposes, finding a hidden pocket was pretty easy. A folded and yellowed piece of paper was inside. “Gertie, it’s a piece of paper…”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence as Gertie broke down and began to sob. I looked down at the piece of paper and wondered what could be causing her so much pain. Gingerly, I unfolded the paper. A rather well done charcoal drawing was on the piece of paper. It appeared to be two griffons, both female. One griffon, the smaller one, looked a lot like Gertie. The other griffon was obviously older, lighter in color, but with Talon armor on. They were standing side by side, both grinning widely. At the bottom was an inscription. “To my sister and hero.”

“Oh, Gertie, I am so sorry,” I said with a sniffle as I cradled her in my hooves. She looked up at me with tears streaming down her face. I showed her the drawing and she gingerly took it from me. She held it carefully as if it would break from even the smallest amount of handling.

“Sorry, Gloria,” she mumbled between sniffles and sobs. I just sat there comforting her as best I could.

Several moments later, Geronimo caught my attention by clearing his throat. Gertie jumped and disentangled herself from my hooves. “Ve haf finished cleaning up,” he stated flatly. “Not much besides some crappy veapons, some ammo, und a shitload of chems.” He handed a shotgun over to me. “Und this. Talon tradition says ze one to make ze kill gets ze weapon.”

It was the shotgun with which the raider shot at and hit Gertie. It was in shockingly good shape, the steel looking well cared for and oiled. The wooden stock was deep and lustrous and looked immaculate except for a word roughly etched into the wood: Flyswatter.

“It does not fire normal shells and zis is all ze ammo ve could find,” he added, handing over about a dozen shells. “Maybe ve vill find more later.”

“Thank you,” I responded while stowing the shotgun in my armor.

Geronimo merely shrugged. “Horatio und I vill be vaiting back at camp venever you two are ready to go,” he said, inclining his head towards the camp. “Oh, und Dust,” he said looking back at me, “very impressive back zere.” He turned and walked towards the camp.

“That’s quite a compliment, coming from him,” Gertie chuckled between sobs. She crawled back over to me and sidled up next to me. “Dust, why do I keep fucking things up?”

“Gertie,” I chuckled, “if I knew the answer to that question, I would have avoided so much trouble in my life as well.” I felt something warm and wet drip onto my foreleg. Looking at it, I saw it was blood, and for once it wasn’t mine. “Gertie, we really have to get you back to Asclepius. Can’t use a healing potion until the buckshot is removed.”

I got back on my hooves and helped Gertie get back on her paws. She was still weak and needed to use me for support, but I didn’t mind. After a few minutes, with stops for rest breaks for Gertie, we shuffled our way back into the camp. Horatio and Geronimo stepped towards us, probably to help Gertie.

“No,” she barked at them, causing them to back up. “I want Dust to help me.”

“Gertie, I don’t think I’m in any condition...” I started to protest.

“Dust, please,” she pleaded with me. “I can’t fly back leaning on Horatio and Geronimo.” Her teal eyes looking up at me pierced through the reasoning part of my mind.

“Alright, Gertie…” I turned towards the twins. “Did either of you find any Buck around here?”

The two twins looked at each other with serious stares. “Dust, are you sure zat’s a good idea? Buck is vone of ze most addictive chems around?” Horatio finally said, breaking the silence.

“I’m guessing Asclepius can take care of me if that happens,” I said with a nod. “I’m sure he has some Fixer in his supplies. If not, I’m sure some forced rehab will work. Besides, I need to do this for her. I owe her.”

The two exchanged serious glances again and then shrugged. Horatio reached into a satchel he was now carrying and withdrew a plastic bottle. After unscrewing the cap, he tilted the bottle and the yellowish-orange tablet tumbled out of the container. Pawing it over to me, I took it up in my hoof.

“Here goes nothing,” I said, uncertain of what I was about to do. This was one thing I had thus far avoided in the Wasteland. Sure, I took healing potions, Med-X and RadAway, but none of those chems were highly addictive, not to mention the other side effects. Eh, you only live once.

I popped the tablet into my mouth and dry-swallowed it. The tablet, not being too large, went down easily. From what I had heard, the effects were nearly instantaneous. And boy, those stories were not exaggerated in the slightest. A few seconds after swallowing, I felt strength return to my extremities.

“Holy shit, this stuff is intense,” I cried out in surprise. “Let’s hurry before this wears off.” The twins nodded in return and waited for me to help up Gertie. I got her weight squarely on my back and made sure she wasn’t going to just slide off. “Let’s go,” I said, giving my wings the first few flaps.

I rose off the ground easily and got airborne almost as quickly as Horatio and Geronimo did. As a group, we all flew back towards Stonepoint, mostly in silence. Gertie was holding onto me more strongly than I would have thought possible. Her head was nestled against my neck. It was oddly comforting.

As time passed, I felt it become more difficult to stay aloft. “Uh, guys, how much longer to Stonepoint?”

“Ve still haf about fifteen minutes, Dust,” Horatio responded. “Is everyzing OK?”

“Let’s just say that the quicker we get there the better,” I grunted back. I began to flap my wings as fast and hard as I could, trying to pick up as much speed as possible. I could feel the strain in my previously broken wing, and I knew I was running the risk of reinjuring it.

The outline of the camp became visible after a few more minutes. I was working so hard to stay in flight and was basically panting while still flying. Shifting my weight forward, I began to glide into camp. The tents that made up the camp began to approach quickly, very quickly.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I stammered. “Gertie, hold on, this might be a little rough.”

Gertie’s grip on my body tightened as I tried to slow our approach. Flaring my wings, I attempted to gain some lift to counteract the increased weight I was carrying. “C’mon, almost there, hold on,” I groaned while I felt the strain grow on the muscles and joints in my wings.

I was several feet off the ground when it happened. I felt something pop in my previously injured wing. Pain flared throughout my wing as I lost control over it. It became useless and it dropped and hung by my side. My body turned quickly, making my head spin.

“Hold on, Gertie!” I cried out as I saw the ground approach quickly.

My front legs impacted the ground first. The impact shuddered its way up my legs and made my entire body shake. Shifting my weight and collapsing my left leg, my body turned in that direction. I felt Gertie slide off my back and saw her fall to the ground.

My body continued to move forward, forcing me into a somersault. I tucked my wings as best I could, but the injured wing didn’t respond. The world spun and the ground was now up and the sky was down.

My rear legs came up and over my head and I landed flat on my back. My body twisted and I began to roll. I tucked in everything that I could, but again, my wing would not listen to my my commands. I slid across the ground feeling the terrain trying to tear my armor open. The friction was starting to build heat through the armor I was wearing.

Finally, my forward movement stopped almost as abruptly as it started. I was still on my back and I simply looked up at the cloud covered sky as I caught my breath. My wing was throbbing and the rest of my body was complaining also.

The sounds of steps approached. Soon, I was staring into the golden eyes of Asclepius.

“Dust, what the hell are you doing?” he barked out, while glancing at my body, probably assessing my condition.

“Just an emergency landing, Doc,” I replied with a cough. “But don’t worry about me, you gotta help Gertie,” I said, nodding my head in her direction.

“Why? What happ…” he started as he looked in her direction. “Oh for Celestia’s sake! Nurse, get your ass out here, I need your help!”

The nurse ran out of the tent towards us, her eyes widening as she approached us. The doctor and the nurse quickly flanked either side of Gertie’s limp body and the doctor began assessing her condition.

“We gotta get her into an operating theater now!” the doctor shouted. He and the nurse lifted Gertie up off the ground and quickly, but carefully, made their way inside the tent. Horatio and Geronimo landed and followed the group inside.

“It’s alright, guys! I’m OK, I got this!” I called out, sarcastically. Ugh, I was going to have to do this myself.

Slowly, I turned myself over on my good wing’s side, keeping it tucked so that I didn’t injure it either. I got my hooves under me and very slowly stood up. The world started to spin a little, but my general weakness was the worst part. If this was a side effect of Buck, I could see why ponies got hooked on it so easily. If another dose made this feeling go away, popping pill after pill didn’t seem like a bad idea.

Gaining my hooves, I shuffled my way towards the tent. Fortunately, my impromptu landing placed me closer to it than I thought. Working my way inside the flaps, I saw a flurry of movement around a bed inside a section of the tent which was cordoned off by plastic sheeting of some kind. The doctor and the nurse were moving with a purpose, the doctor ordering tools and the nurse providing them. I knew Gertie was in good hooves.

I worked my way over to the bed I had called home for the several days I had been here. Carefully, and avoiding injuring my wing any further, I took off my armor and stashed it inside the footlocker at the foot of my bed. Easing my way into bed, I laid myself down and just waited for it to be my turn. The doctor would save Gertie, he had to. Meanwhile, I felt tired suddenly. I thought that if I just closed my eyes for a little bit, it would help. Closing my eyes quickly turned into sleep.

My eyes fluttered open staring at the roof of the medical tent again. This was getting old.

“Dust?” Gertie asked very softly.

“Gertie?” I responded, looking in her direction. She was laying in the bed right next to mine, her entire torso wrapped in bandages. “What happened?”

“Shhhh,” she hushed me quietly. She nodded her head towards the test and I saw Asclepius sitting at his desk with his paws up behind his head. He was softly snoring. “I don’t know… last thing I remember was we were leaving the raider camp. Next thing I knew, I woke up here a few minutes ago.”

“We got you back, more or less,” I scoffed. My chest flared up in pain. “Ugh, why does everything hurt?” I groaned.

Bandages were covering large portions of my upper barrel and legs. My wing was bound against my body, again. “Fuck me,” I moaned. “Not again.”

“What’s wrong, Dust?” Gertie asked, seemingly no longer caring about the volume of my outbursts.

I looked back at my bound and bandaged wing. “This isn’t the first time I’ve hurt this wing,” I informed her. “And last time, I was told I needed to take it easy… which I really haven’t done.”

“Oh,” she said morosely, “I’m sure Asclepius was able to fix it… he can heal almost anything.”

“Well, I’m good, I will admit, but maybe not that good,” Asclepius interrupted. “There is only so much that non-magical medicine can accomplish. Now, Dust, what were you thinking? I thought we agreed you take it easy… and then to take Buck?”

I waved him off with a hoof. “Doc, I did what I had to do to get everypony back safe… and I would gladly do it again if given the chance,” I retorted, with a little bit of pride.

“Well, let’s discuss what your little act of heroics did,” he scolded while picking up a clipboard. “I’d say overall you were lucky. Several sprains and strains, the worst being a dislocation of the bones in your wing. A mild concussion from the landing. A few lacerations, looks like they were from a knife. And of course, I had to flush the Buck out of your system,” he scolded.

“I know, Doc, I know,” I muttered. “I had to do it all to save Gertie. She would have died, or worse, if I hadn’t.”

“I know… but it doesn’t mean I have to like it,” he said with resignation and shaking his head.

“So, what’s the prognosis?” I asked, fearful I extended my stay longer than it had to be.

“The scrapes and strains are all pretty much healed already,” he answered. “And I already reset the dislocated joint. I would just wait until tomorrow morning for it to heal enough so you can move and to make sure I flushed all the Buck out of your system and that you haven’t suffered any of the side effects. And yes, the stuff is that bad.”

Asclepius put my clipboard down and walked over to Gertie’s bed. Lifting up her clipboard, he shook his head. “And you, little miss,” he scolded her. “What were you thinking? You took a load of buckshot right to the chest. How it got through the flak jacket, I don’t know.”

A loud, booming voice overpowered the tent. “And I would have thought you learned your lesson the last few times,” Stoneclaw chided her. “First, your sister gets killed and then you go in and almost get yourself killed? What would that have proven!?”

“But, dad!” she retorted.

“But nothing,” he grumbled through his beak. “You keep making mistake after mistake! Bad call after bad call! And you and those around you get hurt!”

“But…” she murmured, her eyes beginning to water.

“We lost your mother, we lost Gloria,” he grumbled, his voice starting to waver. “And I almost lost you today! If Dust, Geronimo and Horatio hadn’t been there, do you know what those raiders would have done to you?”

“But Dad! I want to be a Talon!” Gertie shrieked back.

“Well, as far as I’m concerned,” he point a paw at her, “as long as I am alive, you will never be a Talon!” With that declaration, he spun around and stormed out of the tent.

“No… no…” Gertie sobbed. “This isn’t fair.” Tears were streaming down her face.

I leaned over to face Gertie in her bed, causing my side to flare up in pain. “Ugh… Gertie, give him a chance to calm down… he’s just a little upset right now. You almost died today,” I said, trying to comfort her.

Gertie turned to look at me. “No, Dust,” she shot back. “My dad does not simply change his mind. And this isn’t the first time he’s said this.” My face twisted into confusion. “After the first couple failed missions, he was upset, but still supportive,” she said between sobs. “As I kept failing missions, he began to try to talk me out of it.”

“He’s overreacting… I mean, you both have lost a lot,” I tried to comfort her.

“No… this goes beyond that,” she shook her head. “Dad is also embarrassed by me. The leader of the great Stoneclaw’s Talons!” She puffed out her chest with mock bravado and thumped herself on it, which elicited a grunt of pain. “And his daughter is completely useless as a merc.”

“Gertie, you aren’t completely useless,” I tried to comfort her and bolster her confidence. “You saved me from that Enclave trooper when he had me dead to rights. You also took out one in one-on-one flight combat. That isn’t useless.”

“Yes, but I still needed you to rescue me from the situation I got myself into,” she sobbed. “I convinced my dad to give me that mission. We usually don’t do non-combat missions, but Dad wanted me to be successful so badly. He wanted to see his daughter had what it took to be a Talon.”

“Well, assuming you’re right, what will happen to you?” I asked, trying to change topics from failed missions.

“He will probably send me home to my aunt in Griffonstone,” she sighed. She fell silent for a bit. “Dust, I don’t want to talk about this,” she said flatly and turned away from me.

“C’mon, Gertie,” I said, trying to elicit a response. “I’m sure everything will be OK.” There was a short, silent pause. “Gertie?” No response. “If you want to talk, you know where to find me.” I waited a few second, but she lay there motionless.

I rolled onto my back and lay my head down on the pillow. I closed my eyes and fell asleep quickly.

The sound of clattering metal interrupted my sleep. I shot up and glanced around the tent. One of the doctor’s tool tray had been knocked over and a figure slid out of the tent flaps in the shadows. I glanced over to Gertie’s bed and saw that it was empty.

“Now, what the hell is she up to,” I mumbled under my breath. Looking around for Asclepius or a nurse, there were none to be found. “Shit.”

Rolling over and sliding out of bed was more difficult than it should have been, but it wasn’t overly painful. My knife wounds still protested the movement as the skin stretched and threatened to reopen the wounds, but I hoped the healing potions had done the trick.

I walked out of the tent and scanned the immediate area. It was night, and from the lack of activity, it must have been late since there was nopony around. There were a few griffons sitting around the central campfire, slinging back some drinks from glass bottles. I could barely make out the sentries patrolling the outer edge of the camp.

Looking away from the activity, I waited for my eyes to adjust after having looked at the fire. I saw a shadow slip around a corner of one of the bunk tents and heading towards one of the larger tents in the compound.

Carefully, and quietly, I tailed the shadow, being careful not to get too close. After turning one corner, I watched as the shadowy form slipped into the largest tent in the section of the compound. Slipping in between two of the nearby tents, I stopped and kept watch on the tent’s opening, waiting for my target to emerge.

After several long minutes, somepony emerged from the tent. From my better vantage point, and my eyes finally adjusting to the darkness, I saw that I had been following Gertie. She had a duffel bag strapped to her back and thought I could hear quiet sobbing. She looked nervously around and then walking towards another section of the camp.

Fortunately for her, it was late at night and she didn’t have to work too hard to avoid being seen by anypony. She criss crossed between hiding spots near tents, which made my life difficult since it required me to lose sight of her at times. After several hiding spots, she slunk into another tent in the complex. After checking to see if the coast was clear, I followed and slipped between the tent flaps.

This tent was about half the size of the medical tent. But it was lined with cages that were chock full of weapons of all kinds. Pistols, shotguns, rifles, grenades, ammo… it was all here. And Gertie was hunched over, fidgeting with the lock on one of the cabinets full of rifles.

“Gertie,” I whispered.

She spun around and jumped a good distance off the ground. When she landed, she stumbled and knocked into one of the cabinets, causing the neatly arranged weapons to fall and clatter against each other.

“Did anypony else hear that?” a muffled voice came from outside the tent.

“Damn it, Dust,” she hissed back. “Why did you sneak up on me like that?” Muffled hoofsteps sounded from outside. “Shit, follow me,” she groaned as she slipped out of the tent and I followed her lead. She moved through the camp at a decent clip now. I did my best to keep up, but my healing leg muscles hindered me.

She was leading me outside of the camp into the nothingness of the Wasteland beyond. “Umm, Gertie, where are you bring me?” I asked nervously.

“I got a place I go to when I need time to think on my own,” she called out over her shoulder. “C’mon, just follow me.”

We snaked our way across the barren plain the camp lied in and made our way towards some low lying rock formations. Gertie made a beeline for the largest of them. “C’mon, Dust, hurry up,” she called back as she waved me towards her. As I drew near, I saw a small opening near the bottom of the formation. Gertie scrambled her way into the opening with ease.

After her hindquarters disappeared into the opening, her head popped back out. “C’mon, Dust, there’s enough room in here for two.”

I crouched down and began to crawl my way through the opening. Gertie’s lithe body made it really easy for her to make it through. My bulkier frame made for a tighter fit, and I had to fight for every inch of progress. After a couple of feet of pushing and straining, the tunnel opened up into a small cavern several feet across and high.

“Watch this,” I heard Gertie’s voice echo through the darkness. A small light began to grow from what I could make out as a small lantern. As the flame grew larger, the walls of the cavern began to sparkle. Gems of various colors began to shine in the faint lantern light, reflecting colored light across the entire cavern. The entire space was soon covered with a multi-colored tapestry of lights.

“Whoa….” was the only word that my brain could form. “What is this place?”

“As far as I can tell, it’s the remnants of a mine from before the war,” she pondered. “Most of it collapsed on the Last Day. I come here whenever I need to think.”

Gertie slumped against the wall and slid down its jeweled surface. I walked over to her and did the same.

“A cap for your thoughts?” I asked her.

“Why me?” she moaned. “Why does death keep following me around?” Gertie started to sniffle.

“It’s not your fault, Gertie,” I attempted to comfort her. “The Wasteland, especially the life of a merc, is dangerous. If it’s not one threat, it’s another.”

“But it’s not me that’s getting hurt…” she whined. “Gloria, Hercules, Gustav… the list goes on and on… they are the ones that died… for my mistakes.”

“Gertie, it’s not your fault,” I murmured. “Ponies die, unfortunately. I know that all too well.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, looking up at me as if looking for a lifeline.

A green stallion’s face flooded my memories and made me shiver. “There was a pony… a friend of mine,” I muttered. “Long story short, his father died because of me and I basically became his guardian.” I paused and sighed. Each word was harder to say than the last. “He was an adult, but had the mind of a child. He looked up to me like a big brother. And then… then…” I stammered and had to stop.

“Dust, what happened?” Gertie pleaded.

I could feel the tears beginning to run down my face. “Muddy happened. He lured us into an old stable full of traps and forced me to choose which of my friends would die. I chose him and I was forced to watch him drown,” my voice trailed off.

His fearful face struggling to hold his breath underwater flashed through my mind. The last bubbles escaping his mouth drifted away and the the fearful opening of his mouth as he inhaled water. “Please, make it stop,” I pleaded as I openly sobbed.

Two furry legs wrapped around my neck and squeezed hard. Gertie’s body was pressing up against mine and I could feel it trembling with her sobs. The tension that had been building in my body suddenly began to melt away. I could also feel her body beginning to relax as well.

My thought turned back to One. I realized I had never really dealt with his death. I had thrown myself so fully into getting revenge, I just pushed it to the side. But now, it all came flooding back.

“It’s not fair,” I moaned. “I didn’t want to kill him. I didn’t want to choose. But it was either him, Brownie, Silver, or Flower. I didn’t want any of them to die! But it was just like Foggy! I may not have killed them, but I might as well have!”

Two wings wrapped around my body, enveloping me in a comforting embrace. “Shhh, Dust, it’s alright,” Gertie cooed. “I know you aren’t a killer. Everything will be alright…”

“I wish I could go back, I would find some way to convince Muddy to take me instead,” I sobbed. “It should have been me.”

“Dust, don’t say that,” Gertie said gently, while running a paw through my mane. “You have done so much good since then, and that’s only what you’ve done for me and my father. You saved my life, got vengeance for my sister, and got us closure. Who would have done that if you were dead?”

“You wouldn’t have needed saving if I were dead,” I blurted back. “I wish I had never come down here,” I yelled. “I left my friends, my family, my life… and for what? I am the target of a psychopath. I allegedly have a key to one of the S.P.P. towers on my leg. My old friends and family can never see me again. My new friends now think I am a liar.”

“Dust, what do you mean, never come down here?” Gertie asked. “Does this have anything to do with Muddy talking about you turning your back on your own kind?”

And now the other horseshoe drops. “I am… or was… a soldier in the Enclave military,” I started tentatively. “I was picked to come down to the Wasteland to gather information on life in Equestria. It was a clandestine mission. But, as you saw, that isn’t the case anymore.”

“You… were Enclave military?” Gertie said uneasily.

“Yes… I was,” I admitted.

Gertie withdrew her embrace and backed away a short distance. “And you have betrayed them?”

“I guess the short answer is yes,” I responded thoughtfully. “I mean, after spending my time down here, I have seen that the Enclave has lied to all of us. Things are not what we were told. I can’t stand by and let it continue.”

Gertie launched herself at me and hugged me again. “Dust, I wish I were more like you. You have done so much. More than I can say…”

I couldn’t help but to laugh. “Done so much? What have I done?” I barked. “I got two ponies killed. I got myself captured and you tortured. Turned my back on two different lives, in rather spectacular fashion might I add.”

Gertie cut me off. “But Dust, don’t you see…,” she said, placing a paw on my shoulder. “You became a role model for a stallion in need. You saved three of your friends, even if it was at the cost of another pony. You saved my life after somepony else put it in danger. You rescued me from the raiders and got my sister’s armor back. You’ve earned the respect of my father.” Gertie sidled up next to me and nestled her head on my shoulder. “I wish I could be more like you.”

This was definitely unexpected. I figured this confession would turn Gertie against me, just like everypony else. But she saw something in me that nopony else, well, except for maybe Silver, saw. And maybe Silver didn’t even see that same pony anymore.

We simply sat there holding on to each other for a long time. It was just nice to sit with somepony again, but it did bring back a longing to be with Silver again. Assuming she would have me back.

“Dust, do you hear that?” Gertie asked, sitting up and craning her head towards the opening. I strained to hear what she had heard. Soon, I was able to make out some soft popping sounds.

“Is that…” I started to ask.

“Gunfire,” Gertie said definitively. “C’mon… let’s go… the camp is the only place anywhere near here.” Gertie’s face was twisted up into concern.

We squeezed our way out of the small cavern and trotted back towards the camp. As we drew near, several trails of black smoke were emanating from the griffon camp.

“Dad!” Gertie screamed and took off at a full out run.

I strained myself to my limit just to catch up. Leaping in the air, I tackled Gertie. We rolled, end over end, and I ended up on top of her, pinning her down.

“Get off of me, Dust!” she yelled, straining against my weight. “I have to go help my Dad!”

“We have no weapons and we have no idea what is going on just yet,” I reasoned with her. “We have to figure out what’s going on, get weapons, and armor. My gear is in the medical tent, where is yours?”

“In my dad’s tent in the middle of the camp,” she said with anxiety in her voice.

“Alright, follow me,” I said, nodding towards camp. “First, let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on.”

We slowly made our way towards camp, ducking behind anything that would provide cover. Multiple sources of gunfire could be heard, as well as screaming, cheering… and was that laughter?. There was only one kind of pony that fought like that: raiders.

Keeping silent, we finally worked our way to the edge of the camp. Somewhere in the camp it sounded like a pitched gunfight was being held. The raiders were whooping and hollering and the griffons, if there were any, were keeping mostly quiet. Moving between a couple of tents, I peered around the section of the camp we were in. Fortunately, it seemed that the raiders were mostly confined to the area near the center of camp… Stoneclaw’s tent.

After rounding another tent, we were looking into the clearing in front of Stoneclaw’s tent. Two large, metal tables were dragged out and turned on their sides, acting as makeshift barricades. There appeared to be only a handful of griffons defending the tent; four at most, based on what I could see. Hiding behind other tents or rocky outcroppings were nearly a dozen raiders popping up and taking pot shots before being forced back down by return fire.

“Shit… this doesn’t look good,” I muttered quietly. “There are at least a dozen of them, but they keep moving around and I can’t get a good look. And there seem to be only four defenders.”

“Is my dad one of them?” Gertie asked, clearly concerned.

“I didn’t see him,” I responded, shaking my head. Gertie jumped forward and nearly passed by me before I grabbed her and dragged her back behind cover. “No! We can’t do anything stupid. Especially as outnumbered as we are!”

“But, Dad!” she whined.

“As soon as we get prepared, we’ll do what we can for him,” I whispered back. “We can’t do anything right now. Your gear is in there?” I asked, pointing towards her father’s tent.

She looked back at Stoneclaw’s tent. “Yes,” she murmured.

“Crap…” I hissed. “Alright, I have several weapons back in my footlocker in the medical tent. Unfortunately, I have only one set of armor. C’mon, let’s go.”

The medical tent was on the fringe of the camp. We began to double back the way we came through the camp. While a majority of the activity was now behind us at Stoneclaw’s tent, there was sporadic gunfire and hollering all across the camp.

Fortunately, we didn’t run across any raiders on the way back to the medical tent. “Where the hell did these raiders come from, and where are all the griffons?” I muttered to Gertie while hiding behind a tent waiting for some raiders to clear the area.

“All the others must be out on contracts right now,” Gertie whispered back. “We are the only merc company in this area of the Wasteland. Tartarus, there were some days it was just me, my dad, and Ascelpius and his staff here. And as far as the raiders go, I have no idea. Usually, they aren’t so stupid to try something this brash.”

“Could they be associated with the raider camp we took out?” I asked.

“Maybe, I don’t know…” she trailed off, looking back towards her dad’s tent.

“All clear,” I whispered, redrawing her attention.

We crept our way to the medical tent. Before barging through the flaps of the tent, I heard the sound of metal hitting metal.

I threw myself against the side of the material and threw out a hoof to push Gertie back as well.

“What the hell…” she started to say before I jammed a hoof in front of her beak.

After she quieted down, I peeked through the gap in the flaps. A large, brown raider pony wearing the traditional spiked armor was rummaging through the medical tent. He was throwing medical implements over his shoulder and they were landing everywhere in the tent. The large shotgun strapped to his battle saddle made me very concerned. Scanning the rest of the tent showed he was alone.

“Where the fuck do they keep the drugs!” he grunted as he kept searching.

“We got one inside,” I whispered to Gertie. “I’m gonna try to sneak up on him. You got my back?” Gertie nodded in response.

Slowly pushing my way through the flaps, I made my way to the doctors desk just inside the tent. The raider was still rummaging through a steamer trunk, tossing various medical supplies and basic healing spells to the side.

“Gotta have Dash here somewhere,” he mumbled, “he’s just gotta!”

Creeping out from the desk, I moved in directly behind him so as to avoid being seen. Every time he picked up his head with some bottle in it, my heart skipped a beat. But he was too focused on his search to see me.

His head popped back out of the chest another time and flung an object over his shoulder. It was a needle of Med-X and it was heading right for my eye. I ducked to the floor to avoid being impaled, but I knocked over a bottle of healing potion which rolled away across the floor. The raider’s head turned towards the bottle and I could see his sickly, yellow and bloodshot eyes as they tracked up from the rolling bottle to me.

“What the fu…” he blurted out as I jumped into action.

Faster than I thought possible, I leaped into the air and landed on his back. I wrapped one hoof around his neck and I wrapped the other one around my foreleg and tensed every muscle. My legs squeezed around his windpipe.

‘Urk!” squeaked out of his mouth as his hooved raised to mine, trying to dislodge them.

I held on for dear life, squeezing as hard as I could. The raider tried calling out for help, but gurgles and squeaks were all that he could manage. He spun several times, trying to dislodge me from his back and failing. Each spin got gradually weaker as he must have been fighting off unconsciousness.

His next move caught me completely off guard. The raider reared up and flipped over backwards. I smacked into the ground with his full body weight on top of me. The wind was knocked out of my lungs and my vision flashed. I struggled to breath and involuntarily placed one hoof over my midsection.

The raider rolled away from me and we both started gasping for air at the same time. He was clutching his throat as I still held my midsection, trying to will air into my lungs. The raiders breathing slowed and he turned to look at me while I still struggled to breath. An evil grin crossed his face.

He turned his head to trigger the switch the made the firing bit of his battle saddle to spring forward.

“Little birdie is going to make a great meal tonight,” he said while licking his lips. He reached forward for his firing bit.

Gertie jumped out from behind one of the nearby beds and knocked the raider’s head away from the bit. She reached out to claw the raider’s neck as she had done before but he ducked at the right moment. He turned and bucked, catching her in the midsection and driving her back a few feet.

Shaking his head clear, he looked for his firing bit again, hoping to take care of us with a couple of well placed shots. I climbed up to my hooves and ran straight for his midsection. Ducking my head, I impacted him full on with my shoulder directly into the shotgun. I felt something give, but all I did was manage to back him up a few steps as I fell to the ground.

Gertie rushed to my aid, but the raider recovered quickly. “Stop right there!” He giggled to himself realizing he had the advantage. “This is going to be so much fun! Who should I kill first… you?” He grinned as he turned towards me. “Or her?” he said with a snicker as he turned towards Gertie. “I think I’ll save the girl for last. I ain’t ever had me a griffon before!”

I grimaced as I watched him reach for the bit and bite down. I closed my eyes, hoping that this would at least be painless. The tent was then filled with the loud boom of the shotgun, sounding almost like a thunderclap. The weird thing was that I felt no pain. Wait… if I felt no pain, then that meant…

“Gertie!” I called out, snapping my eyes open. Looking where she slid to my aid, I saw she was still laying there, eyes closed and grimacing as well… but there were no injuries…

Looking towards the raider, he was now laying on the floor, breathing shallowly. A large chunk of his neck was torn to shreds and blood was pouring out profusely. The pained expression on his face portrayed the physical pain he must have been feeling. Blood was bubbling from the open wound as his he futilely tried to draw breath. After a final rattle, he moved no more.

“What the hell happened, Dust?” Gertie asked, her voice trembling.

I looked over the raider’s body and the mystery was solved. My impact must have bent the mounting point of the shotgun which re-aimed it right towards his own neck. He hadn’t checked in his blood lust to get rid of me and have Gertie to himself.

“I knocked the shotgun off aim,” I answered, still in shock myself. Gertie and I sat there, simply breathing. I was thankful for my dumb luck in saving both of our lives. My thoughts were interrupted by increased gunfire from the middle of the camp. “C’mon, we gotta help the rest of the company.”

We both walked over to my bed and opened my footlocker. Fortunately, the raider was single-minded in his hunt for chems and hadn’t touched any of my gear. The first thing I grabbed was my armor and slipped it on as quickly as possible. I definitely was beginning to like the wingless model of the armor. It was easier to put on and was way more comfortable.

Diving back into the footlocker, I pulled out the shotgun that Firing Pin gave me back in Coltington what felt like a forever ago. I slipped it into its usual holster on my armor and looked back in the footlocker. I still had Flyswatter from the raider camp, the pistol from Firing Pin, and the tiny gun that was given to me as a joke.

“Pistol or shotgun?” I asked, looking at Gertie sheepishly.

“Seriously? Those are the only choices? You don’t even have a rifle?” Gertie asked, clearly aggravated with the choices.

“Yeah, sorry, not really good with them,” I responded, blushing slightly.

“Ugh, give me the pistol I guess,” she grunted. I hoofed her the pistol and all the rounds I had for it. I grabbed the shotgun shells for my weapon and slid them into the storage pocket. Grabbing whatever medical supplies I had, I stashed them into my saddlebags as Gertie was picking up whatever she could find from the trunk and the floor. Fortunately, the raider hadn’t broken a lot of the potions.

Grabbing the few grenades I had, I gave a couple to Gertie and kept a couple for myself. “Well, that’s all I got,” I said with a shrug. “I hope it’s enough. Besides, there’s always my knife and your talons,” I said with a nervous chuckle. Gertie was not amused.

We made our way slowly towards Stoneclaw’s tent, but we tried to approach the raiders directly from behind. We ran into no raiders on the way to the center of camp and hunkered down behind one of the bunk tents.

Once again, we found ourselves watching the small clearing in front of Stoneclaw’s tent. The two metal tables were doing their job admirably, having not allowed any of the shots to penetrate their protective cover. Two of the raiders from before were squirming on the ground, blood gushing from nearly fatal wounds. The griffons must have gotten some good shots off.

“Gertie, do you think you can make it to that tent over there?” I whispered to her, pointing to one of the cloth structures on the other side of the clearing.

“Yeah, I should,” she said, voice wavering. “But do you think it’s a good idea to split up?”

“I’d rather get them in a cross fire situation,” I admitted. “But, no, it’s not the best idea. But it’s better for us if we are multiple targets instead of just one.”

“I guess,” she said, her voice uncertain. She grabbed my hoof with her talons. “Be careful, Dust, please.”

“You too, Gertie,” I replied.

She began to slink away, looking over her shoulder at me before she disappeared behind a tent.

It felt like an eternity before I saw her pop up next to the tent I had indicated. She gave me a thumbs up with a grave look of concern on her face. I nodded back at her, my face tightening into a smirk.

Gertie counted down from three and then we both popped out of our hiding spots. My shotgun would be useless at this range, but that wasn’t the idea. I was hoping simply to drive the raiders into Gertie’s firing lines. The shotgun thundered in my mouth and the raiders turned, shocked at our appearance. Gertie fired several shots, and took out a handful of raiders with expertly placed headshots.

Bullets peppered the tarp of the tent next to me, causing me to dive behind the tent and out of sight. I could hear more gunfire whiz past my hiding spot. Gertie’s pistol had stopped firing, meaning she was either reloading or pinned down by return fire as well. I tried to peek around the corner, but bullets impacted the ground near me, spraying me with dirt.

Two loud, thundering shots came from the direction of the griffons. More gunfire rattled out in response, but there were no impacts anywhere I could see. Carefully peeking around the corner, I could see that the raiders were focusing their effort at the big tent once again. Looking towards Gertie, I saw she was readying herself for another volley.

Several shots and another handful of raiders hit the floor lifeless. From what I could see, there were only a few left. Those that were still alive were frantically looking around the clearing. One stallion locked eyes with me and was raising his gun when his head exploded into a red mist and the remnants collapsed to the ground. The last two raiders looked at each other and bolted. Three griffons jumped up from behind the table and began firing their assault rifles, cutting them down midstride. The two bodies hit the ground and slid several feet and then there was silence.

“Anypony have eyes on any raiders?” I shouted out.

“Negative!” Gertie called out from her perch.

“All clear!” Horatio called out from behind the tables.

Slowly, we all worked out way into the clearing, scanning the area for any leftover combatants. After several seconds of tense waiting, my body began to relax.

“Fuck yeah!” one of the griffons yelled out from behind the table, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin.

“For Luna’s sake, Gerald, did you have to do that!” another griffon nearby yelled back, smacking him on the back of his head. Some light chuckling erupted from all sides.

The tent flaps flew open and the imposing form of Stoneclaw strode out of the tent, his left paw wrapped in a sling and pinned to his chest.

“Stoneclaw, sir, I really must insist…” Asclepius muttered, trailing behind him.

“Not now, Asclepius,” Stoneclaw interrupted. “I need to find my daughter.” Turning to the clearing, he bellowed, “Gertrude! Are you out there!”

“Dad!” Gertie screamed and began to walk quickly towards him.

I trotted to catch up to her and to rejoin the group at the tent. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. Turning my head, I watched as a raider climbed back to his hooves and charged towards Gertie with a knife drawn. Breaking into a gallop, I took several paces and dove between Gertie and her attacker.

My chest erupted into intense pain as the knife must have found its way between two of the panels that made up my armor. A gunshot rang out from my right side and the raider’s head snapped back, his eyes suddenly lifeless as his body dropped like a ton of brick.

Stumbling over my own hooves, I collapsed to the ground and slid a few feet. I looked towards my chest and saw the knife sticking out, buried up to the hilt.

I don’t know why, but I started laughing. First it was a small giggle, but it erupted into full out laughter.

Somepony slid in next to me. “Dust, for Celestia’s sake, are you OK?” Gertie sputtered out and she grabbed my hoof. I was still laughing. “Dust, what is so funny?”

I never really got a chance to answer as the world started spinning.

“For Luna’s sake!” Asclepius shouted out. “Help me get him to the infirmary!”

My body got jostled and I felt a sharp sting from my shoulder. Looking towards the pain, I saw Asclepius withdraw a needle.

The world gently slipped away as I entered a drug induced sleep.

Level up!

Unarmed: 20

Perk Obtained: Birds of a Feather : “Why? Can’t you watch me like a griffon?” - Griffon companions receive +15 DT when you are nearby.