Chapter 21 - The Old and the New
“There are three constants in life… change, choice, and principles.”

I opened my eyes to the sight of the material of the medical tent… again. This was seriously getting old and very quickly. The new feature this time was the throbbing pain coming from my chest. Looking down, which hurt on its own, I saw a large bandage taped onto my chest with several red spots on it.

A soft grunt came from my right. Turning my head and feeling dull pains throughout my chest, I saw Gertie. She was sitting in a chair next to my bed, her head on her paws on my bed, snoring softly.

I tried to speak, but my throat was dry. “Gertie,” I managed to rasp. “Gertie?”

She grunted and began to stir. She picked her head up, her eyes blinking rapidly with the effort of waking from her nap. “Dust?” she asked, clearly out of sorts. “Dust! You’re awake!” She wrapped her paws around my head and squeezed. “Oh, Dust! I thought I’d lost you!”

I could barely breath, she was hugging me so tightly. “Gert… Gert…” was all I could manage to squeeze out.

“Oh my gosh!” she blurted out as she released me. I heaved to refill my lungs with fresh air. Each breath also elicited a pained gasp.
“Luna be damned, it hurts to do anything,” I groaned.

“I’m so sorry, Dust… I didn’t mean to hurt you. Let me go get Asclepius… he’s gonna want to know you’re awake,” she blurted out and ran from the tent.

Several moments later, I heard rapid hoofsteps followed by a slower, deeper set. Gertie nearly flew through the tent flaps back to my bedside. A few moments later, Asclepius strode through the tent flaps at a quick walk.

“See! I told you he woke up!” Gertie shouted at the doctor.

“Dust! Celestia be praised!” Asclepius gasped. “You shouldn’t be conscious yet!”

“First of all, why not, Doc?” I asked. “Second, can I get something to drink please? My throat is killing me.”

“Of course, of course,” he said while striding away from the bed. He quickly returned with a tin can filled with room temperature water.

I greedily slurped it down to quench my thirst. “Thank you,” I said gratefully. “Now, if I may ask, what happened to me this time?”

Asclepius shook his head. “You took a knife to the chest. It nicked your aorta. A centimeter higher and it would have severed it completely. As it was, I almost lost you several times during surgery.”

“You saved my life, Dust,” Gertie said, grabbing my hoof with her paws.

“There is that,” Asclepius said with a resigned sigh. “Dust, I don’t know how many more injuries like this your body can take. Even the first time I operated on you, I saw many already healed injuries. Some of them even looked serious.”

“I know, Doc,” I sighed. “It’s not like I do it on purpose. So what’s the prognosis?”

“Surprisingly good,” he replied, looking at his notes on his clipboard. “The injury was serious but is healing nicely, faster than I expected. You had a lot of internal bleeding but that was easily fixed. A couple of days here and you’ll be alright to move around. I’d say about a week, with healing potions, before you’re back at what you’d call one hundred percent. Now, get some rest… and I mean it.”

“Trust me, Doc,” I said with a pained giggle, “I would love nothing more than that right now.” With that, Asclepius turned and left the tent.

“Dust, I mean it… you saved my life,” Gertie said softly, drawing my attention. She was still clutching my hoof and was looking up at me from where her head lay on my bed. “That raider was trying to attack me. I would have been the one injured, or even dead. Why did you do it?”

“Gertie,” I demurred, “I just reacted. I saw the raider attacking and I wanted to make sure nopony got hurt.”

“But you didn’t have to,” she argued back. “You could have died!”

“I don’t know what to say, Gertie,” I shrugged. “I just did what I thought was right.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” she started to say.

Somepony cleared their throat. Gertie and I both looked towards the sound and saw Stoneclaw standing there. He was still wearing the sling on his one leg, but it looked more expertly applied this time. “Gertrude, Doc, can you excuse Dust and I for a little bit?”

“But, Dad!” she protested, her body stiffening.

“Gertrude, please, not now,” Stoneclaw said with a sigh. “I need to talk with Dust privately for a moment.”

Gertie opened her mouth to start to argue, but then decided against it. “I’ll be back when he leaves, Dust,” she promised. Gertie turned away and walked out of the tent, giving her dad a long, sideways look as she passed him.

Stoneclaw walked over to the bed and took a seat on a small stool by my bed. “How are you feeling, Dust?” he asked. “Asclepius said you were healing nicely, but I’m more interested in the non-medical stuff you’re feeling.”

“Been better, been worse, if you can believe it,” I started with a small giggle. “My chest hurts like a son of a bitch, but it’s better than the alternative.” I gestured towards Stoneclaw’s sling. “How are you doing?”

“Just a flesh wound. One of the rounds was a through and through,” he responded, looking at his leg. “I need to thank you, yet again, Dust. Not only have you saved myself and the skeleton crew that was left here, but you also saved my daughter’s, yet again. For that, I can not pay you enough.”

“Don’t think anything of it,” I said nonplussed. “I just did what you would have done for me. Although, I do have one question. Where was everypony else? Why was there just a skeleton crew left here?”

“In retrospect, I should have expected what happened,” he sighed. “A slew of contracts came in from caravans asking for protection from raider attacks. I mean, the raiders are active in this area, but never this many attacks in such a short amount of time.”

Stoneclaw’s body tensed and he hesitated. “Stoneclaw, what is it?” I asked.

“Well, I don’t know what this means, but as we were cleaning up the bodies, we discovered that all the bodies,” he started, but stopped and shifted in his seat. “The bodies were all pegasi…”

“Pegasi? That many of them in one raider band?” I mumbled, very confused. Ground bound pegasi were rare enough, but to find that many together in one group? It was unheard of.

“I thought the same thing. All the bodies were pegasi and they were all wearing armor that covered their wings. I haven’t seen anything like that before,” he stated flatly. “Until I saw your armor the first time.”

“Wait, what?” I blurted out, surprised at the insinuation. “You don’t think that I…”

Stoneclaw interrupted me. “No... no… I don’t think you are involved. But I figured you might know something.”

“No… unfortunately, I don’t think I know anything useful,” I started. I mean, I knew that it was possible that Cirrus and Special Operations could be up to this, but why? They had the numbers and the technology, not to mention air superiority. Why would they pose as raiders? “It just doesn’t seem like something that the military would do. They would just come at us straight on.”

“I agree, but it is odd, isn’t it?” he said with a shrug. “So, what are your plans after you heal up?”

I took a deep breath and released it slowly. “I don’t know,” I answered. “I want to go after Muddy and Cirrus, but I am outnumbered and outgunned. I could wait for my mom to try to work on a solution, but who knows how long it will take and what could happen in the meantime. I’m not sure which is better.”

“That is a tough choice, and not one that I envy,,” he said with a nod. “Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know. I owe you so much.”

At that statement, he stood up and slowly walked his way out of the tent. Asclepius entered shortly afterward.

“So, Doc, how long was I out this time?” I asked.

“I kept you sedated for a couple of days post-op,” he answered. “The pain was going to be intense and I didn’t want to pump you full of Med-X, you’ve had enough recently. Besides, there was no reason you needed to be awake and you really do need the rest.” He raised an eyebrow. “Gertrude didn’t leave your side the entire time.”

“Say what now?” I muttered.

“Gertrude was by your side the entire time, nearly fifty hours or so,” he answered. “She only ate and drank what I brought her. She slept in that chair. We couldn’t drag her out of here.” Stoneclaw giggled.

“What’s so funny?” I asked. I didn’t like where this was going.

“I think she has a crush on you, Dust,” Asclepius said, still giggling to himself.

Oh, Tartarus. Gertie has a crush on me? Stoneclaw is going to kill me. I can’t have this, not with how I feel for Silver. But then again, Silver may not want anything to do with me anymore, especially if she found out my secret. And Gertie is kinda cute… oh, shit.

“Why can’t anything be easy?” I whined. Asclepius simply laughed.

One thing that sucks about recuperating from major surgery is that you have a lot of time lying in bed. The reason this convalescence especially sucked was that Gertie made it her mission to be my personal nurse. Anytime anything needed to be done, she wanted to be the one to do it. Asclepius had to kick her out of the tent at times to let me sleep.

Being bedridden also messed with your sleep cycles. The first night, I couldn’t fall back asleep. One of the other bad things about being confined to a bed but awake was that you had a lot of time to dwell on thoughts.

What the fuck was going on with the pegasi dressed as raiders? The armor didn’t look like mine, but it served the same purpose. They certainly didn’t seem to work like any soldiers that I knew. But then again, who knows how long they’ve been down here? Maybe they were sent down to infiltrate raider clans, but then went native. But then why were there so many of them? My mind went over all the possibilities and the likelihood of each being true.

Eventually, my mind drifted back to my friends. I would probably have to catch up with them again at some point. I couldn’t impinge on the hospitality of the Talons forever. Besides, I had to face the music for lying to my friends for so long. I could only hope that Flower and Brownie could see past it and see that regardless of what I was, they did get to know who I was regardless of the name. Yes, I am, or was, I guess, an Enclave soldier, but I didn’t change my personality. Also, my actions would hopefully speak loudly enough. I made sacrifices and did anything I could to help them and keep them safe. But I could see how the lie could be a problem.

The rest of Coltington would probably be a different story. Most of those ponies didn’t get to me as well as Flower and Brownie did. Most ponies hated pegasi because of the whole cloud cover thing. I guess I was even hating pegasi a little bit because of it, too. I would probably become a pariah in my “hometown”. Maybe I’d have to get a shack in the middle of nowhere like Midnight did. Then a vision of Last Stand flashed into my memory. Maybe he would finally be able to make good on his many threats to me. Not to mention Big Boss… this was a mission to regain his trust…

And Silver… this was probably what occupied my thoughts the most. I loved her… I didn’t mean for it to happen. Hell, I wasn’t planning on being down here long enough to be in a relationship. And when I met her in the stable? She was the first potential victim of Muddy and I saved her. And slowly, over time, she became so much more to me. In many ways, what I did to her was worse than what I did to the others. Yes, I lied to her, but I lied on top of a lie. She knew I was a pegasus before anypony else. But then I lied to her about my origins… she probably hated me right now, especially for leaving the way I did. Would she forgive me? Could I even ask her to?

My mind running circles on itself made me exhausted. So because of my tired mind, or maybe in spite of it, I finally managed to fall asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, it was clearly day. With the cloud cover, it was virtually impossible to determine what time of day it was, but it was bright outside. Asclepius was at his desk, scribbling in a notebook of some sort. A nurse was restocking procedure trays and inventorying the medical supplies as she did so.

And at my side, as had become normal, was Gertie. “Morning, Dust,” she asked with a big grin on her face. “How are you doing?”

“Pretty good, considering I had a knife almost cut my heart open,” I answered sarcastically. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m good,” she said with a sigh. “Dad and I are fighting again.”

“What about?” I asked.

“I think I proved myself when I helped defend the camp,” she grunted. “He thinks I’m still too inexperienced. I just want to be a Talon so badly, Dust! It’s just not fair. Gloria was taking on solo missions when she was my age.” A tear started to form at the corners of her eyes.

“Gertie,” I started, patting her claw. “Your dad has a lot to worry about. He needs to worry about the effectiveness and reputation of the company. But, more importantly, he has to look out for you. This company has lost him his wife and one daughter…” I paused, to look her solemnly in the eyes. “You’re all he has left.”

“What’s he gonna do, Dust? Keep me here forever?” she asked gruffly. “He has to let go at some point.”

“Give him time, Gertie,” I said, hoping to end the conversation. “A lot has happened lately you know.”

Gertie looked like she was about to ask something, but then let it go. After a few moments of silence, she perked up again. “So, what are you going to do when you’re given the all clear?”

“I don’t know for sure,” I murmured. “I’ve pissed off so many ponies. I want to go home, but I don’t know if I can. Hopefully my friends will still want me around and then we can deal with Muddy and the general.”

“How pissed off are your friends?” she asked, gripping my hoof. I hadn’t realized we never broke contact.

“Well, first, there’s Brownie and Flower. They’ve known me for about a year, but never knew I was a pegasus until I took off after Muddy. So they are probably pissed off to a fare thee well. And then there’s Silver. We were in a relationship.” I noticed that Gertie’s composure dropped a little at that statement, but I continue, nonplussed. “She knew I was a pegasus and was hiding it from everypony, but even she didn’t know I was Enclave. I can only imagine she is more pissed than the others.”

Her body shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I hope she isn’t too pissed off,” Gertie said, probably intending to be more comforting than it came across. “Anyway, Dust, I need to go for a bit. Dad has me going into Albaneigh for a supply run. I’ll probably be back tomorrow.” She paused as her features softened. “Please don’t leave before I get back,” she pleaded.

Gertie walked towards the tent flaps and paused when she got there. She looked over her shoulder at me, almost longingly. I think I saw her cheeks flush a little before turning and exiting the tent.

A soft chuckling drew my attention away from the tent flaps. It was Asclepius behind his desk, giggling while still taking notes.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, a little flustered.

“Never mind,” he said between chuckles.

I just grumbled in response.

Gertie’s words had echoed around in my head ever since she left. Why didn’t her dad let her become a full-fledged Talon? Was it as simple as it seemed?

I slid the sheets down and sit up on the side of the bed. The tent started to spin a little bit, but no worse than a night of drinking. The rustling must have gotten the Doc’s attention.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” he asked, almost scoldingly.

“I need to talk with Stoneclaw,” I answered, grimacing from the tightness I still felt in my chest.

“I’ll bring him here,” the doc said while rushing over to my side. “You shouldn’t be getting out of bed yet.”

“No, I have to confront him with this, not let him come when he’s ready,” I answered firmly. “Unless you are expressly forbidding me from doing this…”

“Even if I did,” he said with a sigh, “would it really stop you?”

“No, not really,” I answered half-laughing. “If I fall over, you’ll be the first I call, I promise.”

“Why do I even bother sometimes.” he grumbled. “Alright, let me at least help you to your hooves.”

With a little help, I got to my hooves and was relatively stable. The first few steps were challenging. After that, it became a little bit easier, but I wasn’t going to be winning any hoofraces.

What should have taken a couple of minutes ended up taking more like fifteen. The doc kept his distance, thinking I didn’t realize he was there, but I knew he was tailing me. I figured if it made him feel better, I could let him follow me. Besides, it’s not as if he had any other patients to take care of… it was just me.

Finally, I was standing at the entrance to Stoneclaw’s tent. I glanced back over my shoulder and gave Asclepius a wicked little smirk. Asclepius facehoofed himself, and I couldn’t help but to laugh a little.

After steeling myself for the confrontation I was about to force, I entered the tent. I took a few steps inside and stopped. The inside of Stoneclaw’s tent was about twice the size of the medical tent. The main section was dominated by maps of the local area. Hoofwritten notes were made indicating what I surmised were names of Talons. I saw names I knew like Gawd, Horatio, Anita, Razorclaw and Geromino, as well as several I did not recognize. Adjacent to the map was another list headed by the label “Trainees”. There was a list of about half a dozen names. Most of the list were names I did not know, but then I saw Gertie’s name at the bottom. All the other names had checkmarks next to them, but Gertie’s had been crossed out and rewritten several times.

The other dominating feature of the room was a large desk. It was a patchwork piece of furniture, cobbled together from an old kitchen table with bits of salvaged wood to fill in gaps and holes. It was covered with paper and clipboards. Stoneclaw was lounging back in an old office chair, lightly snoring.

“Ahem,” I said, clearing my throat.

Stoneclaw jerked awake. “Huh? What? Who?” he muttered as he shot upright in the chair.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Stoneclaw,” I apologized, “but I think we need to talk… about Gertie.”

If it wasn’t possible to see blood drain from a griffon’s face, this is about as close as anypony could probably get. “Dust, you sure you want to talk about this? Here? Now?” Stoneclaw stammered.

“Yes, I think it’s that important that we do this now,” I firmly answered, approaching his desk. “All I see is Gertie getting hurt.”

“Now, Dust, I don’t think you’d presume to tell me how to raise my daughter,” Stoneclaw challenged me, leaning forward.

“No, Stoneclaw,” I rebutted, raising my voice. “I can not imagine what it’s like to raise a daughter in the Wasteland. But I do know that Gertie wants more.”

“I would love to give her that, Dust,” he retorted, increasing his volume as well, “but I am just doing what I think is right for my daughter.”

“Now, you may be right, Stoneclaw, it may be safer to keep her here with you.” I answered back, finding myself right next to his desk. “But, you won’t be able to tell her what to do forever.”

“You think I don’t know that, Dust?” he asked, stiffening his posture. “But I will do whatever I can. I don’t know if she knows what she really wants. She’s too young.”

“Wasn’t Gloria the same age when she did it?” I asked, jabbing a hoof towards Stoneclaw.

“Well, younger, but I don’t see how that’s relevant here,” he shot back, taken aback by my pointing at him..

“Of course it’s relevant!” I answered, slamming a hoof down on his desk. “If Gloria was ready at that age, why isn’t Gertie?”

“Well, Gloria was more mature for her age,” he said, placing both paws on his desk and standing up. “She could handle it.”

“Well, I think Gertie can handle it to,” I shot back, placing my other hoof on his desk and standing, still a couple of feet shorter than him. “I’ve seen her in action and you haven’t!”

Stoneclaw’s break dropped open. “What do you mean by that?” he growled.

“I’ve seen it three times now,” I told him. “Once after she rescued me from the outpost. The second time at the raider camp. And then when the camp was under attack.”

“Three times? Three?” Stoneclaw said, his tone softening.

“She’s good. She knows how to handle the equipment she is given, she knows what moves to make…” I started to argue, leaning forward.

“Dust! Enough!” he shouted, leaning towards me. “I don’t want to hear about this! And get out of my tent!”

“No, you can’t avoid this,” I shouted back. “I won’t let you keep Gertie from what she wants, she deserves it!”

“I don’t think it’s the right time for her to start a relationship with you!” he fired back, taking heaving breaths. We were now inches from each other leaning over his desk.

It felt like the floor was yanked out from under my hooves. In fact, I involuntarily fell back dropped into a seated position.

“Wait, what?” I muttered.

“I see how she looks at you,” he began to explain. “She’s been almost inseparable from you.”

“No, wait, stop,” I muttered as I waved my hoof at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“My daughter has a crush on you, if not more,” Stoneclaw muttered. “Aren’t you two starting a relationship?”

“What? A relationship?” I said, tripping over my own words. “No! Not that I think I wouldn’t but she… never mind.” I shook my head.

“So, if it wasn’t about you and her, what were you talking about?” he asked, clearly confused.

“I was talking about Gertie becoming a Talon,” I answered, starting to laugh a little.

“But you said.. And then I… oh for Celestia’s sake!” Stoneclaw stammered and fell back into his chair. After a few moments, he started to laugh a little also.

We both just sat there laughing. After a short while, we calmed down. “Goddesses be damned, I thought you were trying to say that… oh never mind,” Stoneclaw finally said. “But, I think we still need to talk about what you intended to talk about.”

“Why won’t you make Gertie a Talon?” I asked. “Hasn’t she proven herself multiple times over by now?”

“But she has failed multiple times over as well,” he answered back. “I can’t have a Talon in the field who can’t fend for themselves.”

“Haven’t you ever failed at anything?” I retorted. “I know I have… Goddesses, have I failed.”

“Yes, I have failed, but it was back when I was in training,” he responded with a sigh, “but I had other Talons there to back me up. She won’t always have that kind of backup if she’s a full fledged Talon.”

“Did it ever cross your mind that maybe she is so worried about being judged by everypony that she is freezing up because of nerves?” I countered. “Look at what happened when nopony else was around. She handled two Enclave military fliers in hoof to hoof combat and won. She took on and defeated more than half of a raider camp. And then here? She was able to pick off multiple assailants.”

“But she almost got killed in the camp and almost got stabbed here,” he argued. “If it weren’t for you, she’d be severely injured or worse.”

“At the camp, she was in a rage, she wasn’t thinking. And that was because of her sister… I don’t think that will be a problem again.” I said, trying to assuage his fears. “And here… she was just the closest target. It could have been anypony nearby. Tartarus, it could have been me or you!”

“Dust, I appreciate what you are trying to do for her,” Stoneclaw started, glaring at me. “But she is my daughter, I need to take care of her.”

“And I am not trying to tell you how to do that. Goddesses know that I have no idea when it comes to that,” I snapped back. “But,” I started, softening my tone, “I am afraid you are going to push her away more than protect her.”

Stoneclaw simply sighed in response, steepling his claws in front of his face. “Please leave me, Dust,” he said with a finality that made it clear it was not open for discussion.

I turned and walked towards the exit to the tent. From the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something move just beyond the flap, but when I got outside, there were just the normal complement of griffons just milling around the camp.

After limping my way around the first tent, I nearly bumped into Ascelpius. “Hey, Doc, have a nice walk today?” I said with a snicker.

Asclepius grunted. “Yes, Dust… now can we just get you back to bed?” he said, with a deep sigh.

Fortunately Asclepius was there since talking to Stoneclaw took a lot out of me. I had to lean against him for the entire walk back to the medical tent. After almost collapsing to the ground, the Doc helped me into my bed and I took a well deserved rest.

My slumber was interrupted by my body being jostled mildly. My eyes fluttered open, expecting to see the doctor or the nurse reaching over me trying to take some reading. However, this is not what I saw.

The tent was dark, lit only by the few lanterns that were used at night. A wing of gray feathers was stretch out over me, covering me like a blanket. A gray-furred arm was wrapped around me as well. Soft, warm breaths were blowing against the back of my neck.

“What the fuck?” I mumbled as I craned my neck to see behind me. Gertie was laying next to me, wrapping me in this embrace.

At first, my body stiffened at the implication. This was a rather intimate embrace to be sharing with her, even though I did not really consent to it. But, here I was, wrapped up in her leg and wing. What would Silver say if she were here? But Silver wasn’t here, was she? Shit, what would Stoneclaw think if he saw this right now?

Silver’s soft pink face and green mane flashed into my memory. Her gentle blue eyes, which has always comforted me when I needed it most, were comforting me once again. Goddesses, I loved her. But then the nagging doubt peeked in again. Did she still love me after what I did and who I am?

Oddly enough, Gertie’s embrace was comforting in its own way. It was nice feeling somepony’s embrace again and knowing that Gertie knew the real me and loved me either for it or in spite of it. Either way, it was a good feeling.

I nudged Gertie by rolling my shoulder. She shuffled a little bit and groaned, but did not rouse from her slumber.

“Gertie?” I whispered. “Gertie?” Gertie simply murmured but didn’t wake up. This would be something I dealt with later. Or maybe, I wouldn’t have to deal with it at all. I rested my head on the pillow once again and drifted back off to an uncomfortable sleep.

Movement around the medical tent jolted me awake once again. At first, I thought it was maybe Gertie who had woken up earlier than I did. “Good morning,” I croaked.

“Good morning, Dust,” Asclepius’ stern, deep voice responded. “I hope you had a restful night?”

Did he know? “Yes, yes I did. Why do you ask?” I asked nervously.

“With the skin and musculature still stitching together, I assumed it would be hard to get comfortable,” he responded absent-mindedly as he was reviewing my chart. “I have good news for you. After what I saw yesterday, and what I’m seeing now, you should be able to be up and about. Not ready to leave yet, but you can actually get out of bed without me yelling at you,” he added with a chuckle.

The tent flap fluttered behind the doctor and a large claw drew it to the side. Stoneclaw’s imposing form filled the opening. “Doctor, is it alright if I have a private word with Dust for a few minutes?” he asked.

“For once, I don’t see why not,” the doctor said, mildly laughing. He hung the clipboard back on my bed and strode out of the tent.

Stoneclaw grabbed a nearby stool and dragged it near the bed and sat down on it. “Dust, I have to say, you have made my life interesting. After yesterday, I was ready to throw you out of camp. I was really pissed at you talking about my daughter,” he said with a sigh.

“I appreciate that you didn’t,” I added with a chuckle. “Still not in the best shape.”

“Yes, I know,” he nodded. “But it was more than that. I realized that you might have had a point. Maybe I’m too close to make a decision on Gertrude. Maybe I have been blocking her bids for a commission only because she is the only daughter I have left.” I began to try to say something be he cut me off. “Please, let me finish, or else I may not be able to.”

“Normally, I’m fully involved in the decision to grant a trainee full membership as a Talon,” Stoneclaw explained. “However, I am stepping back. I am going to allow Gawd, Horatio, Geronimo, Anita and Razorclaw to make the decision. In fact, they are discussing it right now, and will make a decision by the end of the day. I just hope you’re right about her.”

“Stoneclaw, you have every reason to be proud of your daughter,” I said, pride swelling in my voice. “She is one of the best wingponies, err winggriffons, I have ever fought with.”

“I believe you, Dust,” Stoneclaw said with a small grin on his face. “So, assuming something doesn’t happen between now and then, the doctor tells me that you’ll be ready to leave in a couple of days. What will you do?”

“Well, I need to get back to my friends. I think I have a lot of explaining to do, and forgiveness to ask for.” I began, speaking sullenly. “But I’m afraid I may have done too much damage there. And then after that, I need to stop Muddy and the General somehow. Even if they may not have access to what they really need, there is enough other stuff that they can get their hooves on and it would only hurt the Wasteland.” I felt bad hiding the fact that I have an S.P.P. key strapped to my forehoof, but I didn’t quite trust him with that information, assuming Gertie hadn’t told him yet.

“And what will you do if your friends don’t take you back?” he asked.

“I guess I’ll have to try to do it on my own,” I said after a short pause to think.

“Hmm,” Stoneclaw muttered. “Well, if there is anything I can do to help you out, short of working for you for free, please let me know.”

“Just out of curiosity,” I asked, his statement piquing my interest, “how much does it cost to get a mercenary for a mission like mine?”

“A vengeance mission against the Enclave with wide implications for the Wasteland?” he said, somewhat sarcastically. “I don’t think you could afford it. We’re talking thousands of caps.”

I laughed nervously. I have only seen an amount of caps that large and that was in Big Boss’ safe back in Coltington. “I guess you’re right,” I said, chuckling nervously.

“If you’ll excuse me, Dust,” he said while standing up. “But I have other matters to attend to. Please come by my tent at 1800 hours to find out the result of Gertrude’s commission. With that, he strode out of the tent. Gertie and Asclepius entered the tent together shortly afterwards.

Asclepius walked to his desk and said down in his chair with a creak. Gertie nearly flew across the room to my bedside. “Dust! Did you hear the good news!” she gushed.

“Yes, Gertie,” I replied calmly, trying to calm her down. “Your dad just told me your application is being considered by the lieutenants.”

“I know!” she nearly yelled. “Isn’t it awesome!” She was basically hopping up and down. “I can’t wait to get my Talon insignia! And I have you to thank for it!” She threw herself at me and wrapped me in a tight hug.

“Gertie… Gertie,” I wheezed, “I can’t breathe!” She released me. I hesitated before bringing up the uncomfortable topic of last night. “Gertie, we need to talk.”

Her mood diminished slightly. “Wh.. what about, Dust?”

Seeing the light dim in her eyes a little struck me to the core. We could talk about this some other time. Let her celebrate now in case she doesn’t get what she wants later. “Just wanted to make sure you know that I stand behind you all the way,” I finally said.

Gertie wrapped me in a hug again. “Oh thank you, Dust! Thank you for everything.” She spun and ran towards the exit. “I’ll see you later tonight! I know Dad invited you! You better be there!”

“I will, I promise,” I said, solemnly. Gertie spun back around and ran out of the tent.

“I’ve never seen her happier,” Asclepius said, not looking up from his clipboards. “I hope she gets this.”

“Me too, Doc. Me too,” I muttered.

The rest of the day was spent pondering the situation I now found myself in. I couldn’t help but to think that no small part of the decision to give Gertie her commission was due to my actions and words. Even though Stoneclaw wouldn’t be involved directly in the decision, I found it hard to believe he wouldn’t at least campaign for his daughter.

And then there was the matter of last night’s actions. It was now painfully obvious to me that Gertie was infatuated with me. And, while I wish I could say that I had absolutely no interest, I knew that, deep down, that would be a lie. My heart still belonged to Silver, assuming she would have me back. But, I did have some feelings towards Gertie.

The doctor reminded me when it was close to 1800 and helped me get out of bed. Fortunately, I was more stable than I was the day before and could even walk unassisted and without needing to stop. Considering this was an “official” function, I decided it would be appropriate for me to wear my armor.

As I opened the footlocker, I remembered that I hadn’t fixed the armor since I got stabbed. Withdrawing the black garment, I dreaded to see the level of damage that had to be repaired. I could only imagine that in addition to the cut from the knife and the dried blood, I assumed the doctor had to cut if off of me.

As I held the armor aloft, I noticed that the armor was clean. There was no dirt or blood anywhere to be seen on it. Somepony had cleaned the armor while I was out, cleaner than I had even gotten it when I was caring for it. Also, all the cuts and damage had been sewn up and cleaned up so you could hardly tell that it was damaged.

“Huh,” I mumbled, “looking pretty good…”

“You can thank Gertrude,” the doctor muttered from his desk. “She fixed it up for you while you were healing.” He raised a eyebrow while making that comment.

I slid the armor on and it was still a little loose, but it felt fine. “So, how do I look?” I asked the doctor, somewhat joking.

“Like a million caps,” the doctor answered, exasperated. “Now, go, or you’ll be late.”

The walk over to Stoneclaw’s tent was a lot easier than last time. I was able to maintain a consistent pace and didn’t need to stop for any breaks. After the short walk, I was in the clearing in front of the tent.

A crowd of black armor clad griffons were clustered around the entrance to the tent, leaving a generous walkway to it. There was a general rumble, but I was able to pick up snippets of conversation:

“Do you think she’ll get it?”

“Of course, her dad is Stoneclaw.”

“The turkey had to help her, so why should she get in.”

“I heard they’re going to give the turkey a commission.”

“I heard she took down two Enclave fliers single-pawed.”

It seemed that Gertie and I were the focus of conversation. The crowd was split as to Gertie and her worthiness. Some couldn’t look past the fact that she was Stoneclaw’s daughter and that was why her failures were being ignored, while others were extolling her victories in combat. A number of the crowd was even debating the level of my meddling, but most were thankful I helped keep the camp from being overrun. But it didn’t matter, we weren’t here for me.

After squeezing my way through the crowed, I stepped through the tent flaps into Stoneclaw’s tent. Several chairs were brought in since my last visit with most of them flanking the large desk in the back. Stoneclaw was, of course, sitting at his seat. On either side of him were the lieutenants. They all acknowledged my arrival with at least a head nod. Horatio and Geronimo, in particular, seemed more deferential than the others. Especially Gawd, whose glare could probably cut glass.

Seating in the middle, facing the others, was Gertie. She was sitting upright. I could see the tension in every part of her body. She barely turned her head to greet me. The poor thing was probably nervous as Tartarus.

Seated off to the side were several griffons I had seen milling around the camp over the last several days. Everypony was in their Talon armor. It was rather intimidating being surrounded by almost a dozen griffons in jet black combat armor, with the white Talon insignia shockingly contrasting to the fabric behind it. Even in the dim lighting, they stood out like beacons.

“Dust, I’m glad you finally arrived,” Stoneclaw intoned. “Now we can start.” Stoneclaw looked at Gertie. “Are you ready, Gertrude?” he said softly. Gertie simply nodded in response.

Anita stood from her seat. She was rather imposing, especially in her armor. She would have been about a foot shorter than Stoneclaw, but she has massively built legs. Her dark gray feathered face blended in with her black furred body which further blended in with the armor. Her yellow eyes stood out like beacons in the dimness of the tent.

“Gertrude Stoneclaw,” she started. So, Stoneclaw was a family name? There was so much I didn’t know about griffons. “You stand here to be judged by your peers for the honor of becoming a Talon.”

“And judged I will be.” she barely squeaked.

“To be a Talon is an awesome honor. All trainees must prove their strength, cunning, and persistence to get the job done,” Anita recited. “Griffons have been through many hardships and have prevailed. The Talons were formed from this struggle and have served with honor ever since. Please, tell us why you deserve your mark.”

Gertie cleared her throat. She started by telling the panel of the events in the mountain base, especially what happened once Muddy lost control of himself. She did gloss over asking to be left behind and retold the aerial battle in detail.

“So, you escaped by yourself?” Razorclaw asked flatly.

“Um, well, no. I needed Dust’s help,” Gertie answered weakly. Razorclaw crossed his arms and leaned back.

After waiting for other objections, Gertie recounted the events at the raider camp. Even I didn’t know most of the events that occurred since she was out of sight most of the time. It sounded a lot like the action novels I used to read during my down time back at the fort. That was until she got shot, of course.

“So, you got back up and finished the fight after being shot?” Razorclaw interjected, rather abruptly.

“Well, no, Dust had to help out there as well,” Gertie mumbled.

Razorclaw huffed at the response and glanced at the other lieutenants. Anita broke the silence. “Continue, Gertrude,” she prodded.

Finally, Gertrude reported on the defense of the Talon camp. This one was going a lot more smoothly, especially since she didn’t really do anything wrong this time. Anypony could have been the target and she eradicated many threats on her own.

Of course, Razorclaw couldn’t let it go. “Two questions: First, didn’t Dust help you out as well? And second, why weren’t you in camp when it was taken?”

Gertie seemed taken aback by the questions. “Yes, Dust helped out again,” she grumbled, clearly aggravated by the repeated attacks. “And what difference does it make where I was?”

“Well, it just seems that a trainee should have been in camp. You weren’t out on a mission or any other duties. You were just gone,” Razorclaw shot back.

“Listen, Razorclaw,” Gertie said back, louder and stronger than of her previous statements. “It appears that you have something against me. Let’s hear it.”

“Hah!” Razorclaw guffawed. “As if you don’t know. Why are we even here discussing this. You have failed several times, causing the death of many of your squadmates. And you still think you deserve to be a Talon, or are we here simply because you are Stoneclaw’s daughter?”

Gertie turned and looked at me. I nodded at her. “You got this,” I mouthed to her.

She turned around and glared directly at Razorclaw. “You’re right. I don’t have a spotless record,” Gertie started strongly. “Yes, I was on missions that failed. And yes, those missions cost us lives, including my sister.” A few of the lieutenants diverted their gaze at the mention of Gloria. “But don’t forget. These were missions with several veteran Talons accompanying me. If they couldn’t handle it, how could I have made any difference. We were outnumbered, outgunned, or outmaneuvered in every case.” Her face hardened as she glared at Razorclaw. “And don’t you ever dare accuse me of asking for special treatment because of who I am. I am Gertrude Stoneclaw. My actions should and will speak for themselves!”

Razorclaw looked like he was going to interject, but Gertie kept going. “And, are you telling me that you have never relied on another griffon, or pony for that matter? Even if it was the client and not another Talon?”

The lieutenants grumbled amongst themselves. Razorclaw’s intense gaze softened a little as he discussed his concerns with Geronimo next to him.

Anita shouted over the din to calm everypony down. It took a few minutes, but eventually all the griffons calmed down. “Fellow Talons, this is indeed an unusual situation. Normally, Stoneclaw would be the only one to make the decision as to whether or not a trainee would become a Talon. But he is unable. So it comes down to us. We must all be united in our decision.”

All the lieutenants extended a paw ending in a fist. Everypony looked towards Geronimo first, being the griffon furthest to our left. Geronimo grinned at Gertie and extended a claw upwards.

All heads turned towards Horatio. He, likewise, grinned and extended a claw upwards. Gawd and Anita followed with claws up, although without the grins.

Everypony now looked at Razorclaw. His features were still very sour. He looked back and forth between Gertie and me. Razorclaw closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Gloria, I hope I am doing the right thing,” he muttered under his breath. He slowly extended a claw upwards.

The tent collectively released a breath that we didn’t even realize we were holding. I also allowed myself to slump back in my chair, and Gertie did the same. Even Stoneclaw seemed to relax a little, although I don’t think he knew what the word meant.

Anita cleared her throat and called the meeting back to order. The tent was now refocused on her. “Now Gertrude, who is your feather-mate?”

Gertie turned and looked at me. “Dust,” she said, surprising the hell out of me.

The tent went into an uproar. There was so much grumbling that I couldn’t make anything out. Only Stoneclaw was silent, and he was actually grinning a little bit.

Anita finally calmed the tent down. “Gertrude, a feather-mate has to be a griffon who can vouch for you!” she nearly yelled.

Gertie shook her head. “No, a feather-mate simply needs to be one who has shared combat with me.”

Anita was taken aback by the challenge. She turned to the two nearest lieutenants and they whispered amongst each other. “You are right… we’ll have to allow this,” she muttered, still in shock. “But this is highly unusual, allowing a turkey to be a feather-mate.” The others still grumbled, but Anita powered on. “Dust, I’m sure you don’t know what this requires of you. A feather-mate vouches for the prospective Talon. We ask if you would lay your life in their paws. Do you support Gertie’s entrance into the Talons and would you lay your life in her paws?”

I was still floored having heard my name in these proceedings. I figured I would just be here for support. This is way more than I expected. But would I entrust my life to Gertie? Hadn’t I already? Twice?

“Yes,” I stated firmly. “I would lay my life in her paws, without a doubt.”

I watched as Gertie relaxed a little. I was going to have to ask her about that later. But now she stood up and walked over to me, drawing a knife. “Dust, please extend your wing,” she asked.

“Wait, what?” I blurted out.

“Do you trust me?” she asked, her eyes pleading with me.

“Yes,” I said. “Yes, I do.”

I extended my wing and watched as Gertie neared my wing with the knife. Her next head movement caught me off guard and I could barely see the actual movement. I expected pain, but feeling none, I was a little confused. I looked over at my wing and saw one of my flight feathers had been sliced away. The dark gray feather drifted to the floor.

Gertie quickly extended a wing of hers and sliced one of her feathers. She reached down and grabbed both. “Dust, with this feather, I pledge my life to the ideals of the Talons. Do you pledge to guide me on the path and keep me true to those ideals?” she recited as she handed me her feather.

“I… do?” I said, unsure if it was the proper response. It must have been acceptable as Gertie turned back to the lieutenants.

“Stoneclaw...” Anita prompted looking at Stoneclaw.

Stoneclaw stood up and walked over to a footlocker behind his desk. Kneeling down, he began to rifle through it looking for something. I heard the lid close and he approached Gertie, hiding whatever he searched for behind his back.

“Gertrude, you have made me very proud today,” he intoned solemnly. Your entire family has been devoted to the Talons and I know it has been a lifelong dream of yours. One of us in particular, would be the proudest of you today.” Stoneclaw brought the item out from behind his back. In his paws, he held a set of black combat armor, emblazoned with the Talon’s mark. The armor looked familiar, but then again, it all did.

“Is this…” Gertie started, reaching tentatively for the armor.

“Yes,” Stoneclaw said, a tear starting to form in his eye. “This was Gloria’s. I’m sure she would be honored to know you’re wearing it… and she would be proud of you. We all are.”

Gertie took the armor from him and held it tentatively. She ran one paw over the insignia, feeling each edge. Then, very carefully, she placed the feather she took from me and put it inside the pouch I found the drawing in before, before putting the armor on carefully. When she was done, she stood up, looking more confident than I had ever seen her.

Anita broke the silence. “Gertrude,” she said with pride, “welcome to Stoneclaw’s Talons!”

The entire tent broke into cheers, which then spilled over into crowd outside the tent. Gertie hugged her father as the lieutenants gathered around her. Well, except for Razorclaw. He was already at the tent exit, taking one long look at Gertie and then storming out of the tent.

After releasing her father from her grasp, and getting the obligatory congratulations from the others, she ran over to me and wrapped me up into a hug as well. “Dust,” she gushed, “thank you! Thank you for everything!”

“You did it on your own,” I responded. “Never doubt that.” I watched with joy as tears began to stream down her face.

The tent was filled with a deep rumbling. Stoneclaw was clearing his throat. “Ahem, excuse me,” he called out. “There is one last matter I wish to take care of. Dust?” I turned to look at him. “The entire company owes you so much. From returning our fallen comrades' gear from the raider camp to helping us retake our camp, we can never thank you enough. Now, normally, I would be honored to offer you membership as a Talon, you would need to go through all the orientation and evaluation, but something tells me you have other plans.

“But please, take this,” he said as he handed me what looked like an old style bit. On the one face, there was a claw etched into the metal and there was a Talon insignia etched on the reverse side. “This is a marker. It signifies that I owe you a debt. You should be able to trade it with other Talon companies for help if you need it. I, of course, will never forget what you have done for us.”

“Thank you, Stoneclaw,” I said gratefully. “I hope I never need it, but it’s good to have.”

“No, thank you, Dust,” he said. “Now, let’s celebrate!” It was probably the first time I had seen him with a smile on his beak.

Stoneclaw walked over to his desk and rummaged around one of the drawers. In the meantime, I turned to Gertie. “Gertie, what is Razorclaw’s issue with you?” I asked her.

Her features saddened a little. “Gloria was Razorclaw’s feather-mate,” she answered sullenly. Her paw touched the Talon insignia on the armor again. “He resents me for surviving the attack instead of her.” Gertie frowned for a few seconds. “But, I think she’d be happy for me.” She hugged me tightly for several seconds.

After disengaging, we both saw that Stoneclaw was waiting. In his good claw was a bottle of Wild Pegasus. “You aren’t kidding about celebrating! I haven’t had real Wild Pegasus in a long time,” I said, probably more surprised than I should have been.

Stoneclaw put the three glasses down and filled them all about half way. “Well, if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right,” he said with a grin. He handed each of us a glass. “To Gertrude! May her career be long and successful!” We all clinked glasses and took a swig of the alcohol. The burn of the spirits down my throat was comforting.

“To Dust!” Gertie shouted. “The best winggriffon, err, wingpony you can have!” We all clinked glasses again and took another swig. Then, both Stoneclaw and Gertie looked at me, waiting for something.

“Oh, my turn?” I asked sheepishly. I thought for a few seconds as the others stared at me, holding their glasses aloft. “To new friends! May the winds always be at our backs!” For a third time, we clinked our glasses together and downed the remaining drink… until Stoneclaw refilled our glasses for the first time of many that night.

Level up!

Speech - 50

Perk Obtained
Pony of Steel - “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” - You have survived a lot of life-threatening injuries. You receive a permanent +1 to Endurance.