Chapter 4

We hit the road early the next morning, Shaky had to be prodded a bit to be woken up, and hushed for several minutes before she stopped screaming.

We were several miles passed the trading outpost when Stripe stopped abruptly.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“My spell matrix just crashed.” he said, his voice muffled by his helmet.

“Meaning?”

“This shitty salvaged armor just crapped out on me.”

I trotted up to him and pulled his helmet off.

“Is that bad?”

“Really bad,” he said with a touch of worry. “I might be stuck in this tin can for a bit.”

“Y-you could just reb-boot the m-matrix with that P-p-pipBuck,” Shaky pointed out.

“Nah, that ain’t gonna work. On some of the better maintained gear maybe, but this suit’s been put through the wringer a few too many times to be rebooted.”

“So, what do we do?” Token asked.

“Just start gettin’ me out of the thing I guess, if you can get the back plates loosened it’ll make this a shit load easier.”

We spent the next hour pulling the armor off of Stripe, following his instructions to the best of our abilities. When all of it was off he just shucked the disassembled armor into a roadside ditch and hefted his weapons awkwardly onto his back.

“Well, that fuckin’ sucks. That armor was fuckin’ expensive.”

“Your weapons don’t seem like they’ll be much good without power armor,” Token said.

“Nah,” he said with a dismissive hoof wave. “I can pick up some parts for a battle saddle when we get up into Union territory.”

“And what are you going to do if we get attacked?”

“Simple,” he said with a smirk, “beat ‘em to death.”

“Lovely,” Token said dryly, “now he beats ponies to death instead of blasting them to pieces.”

He grinned and smoothed back his striped mane with a hoof, “Oh yeah, Stripe is a zony of many talents.”

Then a massive boom cracked out above us. Token and I ducked down and covered our heads, expecting grenades and rockets. After about a minute I peeked out, Stripe and Shaky were looking at us like we were crazy.

“The fuck’s up with you?” he asked.

“What in the name of Luna was that?!”

“Uhh, thunder.”

“What’s thunder?!”

He just looked at me flatly, “Yer shittin’ me?”

I shook my head, still feeling terrified.

“Stable ponies is fuckin’ stupid,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Thunder, is a loud rumbling or crashing noise heard after a lightning flash due to the expansion of rapidly heated air.”

“What’s lightning?” Token asked.

He sighed, “Lightning is the occurrence of a natural electrical discharge of a very short duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud, accompanied by a bright flash and typically followed by thunder.”

“And in Trottingham,” he continued, “those things usually signal rain. Please tell me you know what rain is?”

“Falling water right?” I asked.

“Very good!” he said, clapping his hooves. “Ya’ll really need to read a fuckin’ book sometime, they’re usually filled with this great shit called knowledge. That shit’s fuckin’ useful lemme tell ya.”

Then it started raining, no, pouring. An almost instantaneous storm swept over us.

“And this,” Stripe said, waving a striped foreleg through the air, “is rain!”

I stood there, staring at him blankly with ‘shut the fuck up’ ringing through my thoughts. He snorted and continued trotting down the road.

“We just got schooled on basic science by a zony who hasn’t got the slightest clue of proper Equestrian grammar,” Token whispered.

“Eeya,” I said, doing my best Stripe imitation.

“Madam!” he yelled back at us, “I am quite capable of speaking the Equestrian language properly. I choose to speak the way that I do, I am not forced by some blunt stupidity driven into me at a young age!”

We just stared, flabbergasted. Then he looked back at with a wide grin, “Just fuckin’ with ya.”

***

It had been hours and the rain still hadn't let up. We'd eventually found an abandoned shack on the side of the road and taken cover inside. Stripe had curled up with his weapons in a far corner, Token and I were snuggled up next to each other, and Shaky was sitting just outside the doorway, washing herself for the fifth time since we'd arrived.

"I'm going to go check on her," I whispered.

Token nodded and I trotted outside next to Shaky.

"What's up Shaky?"

"Nothing," she replied absently, "j-just having a wash."

I hadn't noticed until now that she was mostly scrubbing between her back legs.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope."

"Why all the washing today?"

She sighed and hung her head, "You'll think it's st-stupid."

"No I won't," I said, knowing that this was somehow connected to the rape.

She started shaking, I guessed she was crying too, but the rain made it hard to tell.

"I f-feel dirty, all the t-time." She choked back a sob and I rested a hoof on her shoulder.

"I wash all the t-time and I c-can't get the d-d-damn filth off."

I was starting to cry too, I tried holding her but she jerked away and glared at me.

"S-stop f-f-fucking touching me!" she snapped.

I recoiled, "S-sorry." I stammered.

"N-now you're fucking m-making fun of me!?" she screamed, the tears rolling out were visible now, even through the rain.

I was too stunned for words now, I just stood in the rain, the grey filly glaring at me with furious golden eyes.

"Shaky." Stripe said from behind.

"What!?" she screamed at him.

"Why don't you head inside kid?" he said, in the same soft voice as when they'd met. "It's pretty cold out, don't want you gettin’ sick."

She glared at him, then sobbed and sunk her head. "S-sorry," she said quietly.

"S'alright, head on in and get some rest."

"Okay." She sobbed again and trotted into the shack.

"Did you hear all that?" I asked.

"Eeya," he grunted in reply.

"I wasn't making fun of her, I was just-"

"Shocked?"

"Yeah."

He nodded and stood up on his hind legs, then leaned against the shack with his front legs folded.

"Yeah," he said after a while of looking at the road, "that's the expected response when a filly starts cussin' ya out."

I tried to mimic his posture, but only managed to fall backwards.

Stripe chuckled, “Ain’t as easy as it looks eh?”

“How in Luna’s name do you do that?”

He shrugged, which looked completely wrong in that bipedal stance, “Come’s with bein’ part zebra I guess, Dad used to walk around like this.”

“That’s really weird.”

He shrugged again. It was a harmless gesture, but for some reason I felt like he sensed I was dodging the subject at hoof.

“She told me she feels dirty. That’s why she keeps washing herself.”

He sighed, “Yeah, most rape victims do.”

I just sat on my haunches and tapped my hooves together nervously. After a few minutes of silence I asked what had been on my mind since she had yelled at me.

“What can we do?”

“Hmm?” he mumbled, he’d obviously lost focus after I stopped talking.

“To help her, what can we do?”

“Best thing we can do is be supportive when she needs us to be and give her space when she needs it.”

“Seems like we should be showering her with love and affection, not leaving her in a corner to mope.”

He chuckled, “Yeah, maybe when a foal scrapes a knee that’s the right response, but rape’s a whole ‘nother animal. Most folks just shut themselves away after shit like what happened to her. Shaky’s a tough kid though, she’ll get over it eventually.”

“You make it sound like no big deal.”

“Bullshit, I ain’t sayin’ it wasn’t terrible what happened, and that eventually is gonna be a damn long one, but she will get over it.”

I thought about that for a while, quietly sitting in the rain.

“Damn,” Stripe said, breaking the silence, “I could really use a cigar. You want a cigar?”

“I don’t smoke.”

“Why?”

“It’s bad for you.”

He scoffed. “It’s the wasteland, ya gotta have a bad habit, otherwise ya go crazy.”

I laughed at the thought. “You are crazy!”

“Crazier then,” he chuckled.

I giggled a bit and grinned up at him, “Fine, I’ll have a cigar.”

“That’s the spirit!” he said, easing back onto all fours and trotting inside.

Token stepped out into the rain and brushed against my side.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

“You want to come inside? You’re getting wet.”

“I’m fine, Stripe and I are going to have a smoke.”

“You don’t smoke babe.”

“Have to start killing myself sometime right?” I asked. “And stop calling me babe.”

“Never!” she exclaimed, grinning.

“Seriously,” I said, grinning back, “stop.”

“But baaabe!” she whined.

I tackled her, and we both giggled like fillies as we rolled around in the mud. When we finally stopped, I stood over her with my hooves pressed against her chest to pin her, Token may have been in Security, but I was definitely the more athletic one.

“Now,” I said, still grinning, “what are you going to stop calling me?”

She stared at me for awhile and smiled, “You look cute when you’re all muddy.”

My grin turned into a sheepish smile and I felt my face going red, then Token kissed me. We stayed there like that for what seemed like several minutes, kissing each other and giggling.

“Now slide her barding off.” Stripe said from the shack.

I blushed and looked up at him bipedally leaning against the shack with that stupidly smug grin slapped on his face, two lit cigars in his mouth.

“You’re a mood killer,” I said dryly, “you know that, right?”

“Porn killer more like it,” he said with a chuckle, “shoulda kept my mouth shut, things was ‘bout to get interesting.”

“No it wasn’t, you pervert.” I said, forcing myself to stifle a grin.

“Bullshit, I can smell it, you two is revved like a couple Stable 69 whores after some moondust.”

“You’re a sick bastard.”

He shrugged, “In my defense, I grew up around pirates the first 10 years of my life and in a town based around a brothel for 8 years after that.”

“Your upbringing doesn’t change the fact that you’re a perv.”

He rolled his eyes, “You two was about to get hot an’ heavy before I waltzed out here, Celestia strike me a mare if I’m wrong!” He looked up, waiting expectantly.

“Well shit,” he said, sounding disappointed, “an’ here I was hopin’ old Celly would do it so I could join in the fun.” Then he gasped dramatically, “But that would mean... I was right! And ya’ll was about to fuck out here in front of the Goddesses and everyone!”

I rolled my eyes and helped Token to her hooves, then trotted up and snagged one from his mouth with my magic. I inhaled a short puff, and immediately started coughing uncontrollably. The smoke was terrible, like sucking on an ashtray. Token took the cigar and took a short drag, then blew the smoke in my face.

“Bitch!” I exclaimed, still coughing.

“Don’t be such a baby.” she said, poking me in the chest.

Stripe took a long drag and blew the smoke from his nostrils with a satisfied exhale.

“C-can I have one?” Shaky asked.

I whipped my head around, startled, she’d snuck into the doorway while I was having my coughing fit.

Stripe looked down at her with an eyebrow cocked, then shrugged and nodded for Token to give her the cigar.

Shaky popped it into her mouth eagerly and took a surprisingly long drag, then blew a large smoke ring out. She took another, shorter drag, and blew a smaller smoke ring through the large one.

“Impressive,” Stripe said.

“Thanks,” she replied, passing the cigar back to me.

I tried taking another puff, it was easier than the first but still had me choking.

Token snatched the cigar, “Here, let me help.”

She took a long drag off the cigar and grabbed either side of my head and pressed her lips to mine, then she blew the smoke into my mouth as I gasped in surprise. It went down smoothly, and felt pleasant as it filled my lungs. Token pulled away and smiled.

“Now, exhale.”

I exhaled slowly, blowing the smoke into her face and grinning, “Cool trick.”

“You’d be surprised what you pick up on the Security force,” she said with a wink.

We sat in the shack the rest of the night around an oil drum fire. I was resting against Token watching Shaky and Stripe across from us, taking turns with a cigar as they played a game on who could break the other’s smoke ring with a ring of their own.

Shaky poked fun at him when she won, we all laughed when he pouted about it and muttered something about beginner's luck. We laughed harder when she said “Bollocks! I’ve b-been p-p-playing this g-game for 3 years!” Stripe chuckled and tousled her mane.

I sat awake for a few hours after things died down, watching my E.F.S, listening to the rain hit the roof of the metal shack, and feeling Token’s chest expand as she breathed slowly in her sleep. It felt right, as fucked up as that seemed, laying next to her in a rusted abandoned shack in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

This was our life now, it was superbly shitty when things were bad, it was superbly amazing when things were good. The good times actually seemed better now that the shitty was thrown in there.

I finally drifted off at midnight, but sleep wasn’t restful. I kept seeing the face of every raider I’d killed through that rifle scope, one at a time, then their heads disappearing in a bloody mist. The worst part of it is that I didn’t feel I damn thing, not a single shred of remorse. I didn’t even feel terrible for not feeling terrible.

It had happened, the thing I’d dreaded, callousness, in one fucking battle I’d become numb to the deaths of my fellow ponies. It didn’t matter how fucked up they were, they were still ponies, and I still murdered them. One at a time, cold and calculating, the only hesitation I had before pulling the trigger was when I lined up another shot.

It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like I was meant to be some hero that shone as a paradigm of justice. My long term plans included being a traveller that makes a living as a part time mercenary, not going around Trottingham actively working to save ponies.

***

I woke up the next morning with a runny nose and stuffed sinuses. I'd expected to get sick outside, my stable sheltered life left my immune system in a pitiful state, and playing in the mud and rain probably didn't help.

Nopony was awake yet, except for Shaky who was sitting outside washing in the rain again. I ran my hoof through Token's mane, she had a slight fever and her nose was runny like mine.

I kissed her on the forehead, rewarded with a sleepy, congested yawn and a small snort as she curled into a ball. Then I trotted outside and sat down near Shaky.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey."

We sat there for a few minutes, watching the road.

"It was a m-mare," she said after awhile.

"What?"

"It w-was a mare, th-that raped me."

I just sat there silently, thinking of something to say. There really wasn't anything I could say to make it any better, I was just trying to decide whether or not to talk about it.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked finally. "It's okay if you don't, I understand."

She lowered her gaze and nodded, “Sure.”

She took a few deep breathes before looking up at me, “It w-was their leader, she l-let me choose who would d-d-do it, her or her crew. I p-p-picked her ‘cause I f-figured it would h-hurt less.”

She sunk her head and started sobbing, “She m-made me do b-bad things to her, and she p-p-put things inside me and kept c-cutting me with her knife!”

She was bawling and trembling uncontrollably now, I wanted to hold her but I didn’t want a repeat of the day before.

“My mommy made m-me hide when they c-came. I h-had to listen t-to them killing everypony. All m-my friends, my p-p-parents, they tortured everypony in Shanty b-but me and I had to listen to it!” she paused, gasping to get breath before continuing, “I wish they would’ve just k-killed me. N-now I have to remember that shit every f-fucking night.”

“Shaky, there is nothing I can say to make you feel better, but you shouldn’t think like that.”

She glared up at me, tears streaming down her face, “Do y-you know what it’s like h-having to relive being raped and listening t-to everyone you l-love die every night?”

“I-”

“DO YOU?!” she screamed.

“No.”

She sunk her head back down, “Then d-don’t tell me how I should f-fucking think.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked to you about it.”

“It’s f-fine,” she said, wiping her nose with foreleg, “you were j-just trying to h-help.”

She trotted towards me and pressed her face into my chest, I wrapped her in a hug and held her close, “You okay?” I whispered.

“Yeah, I’m f-fine.”

“If you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

“Thanks. For t-talking with me I mean. Not many p-p-ponies would do that."

"Any time sweetie, I hope it helps."

"It does, it hurts to t-talk about, b-but it feels good too. Know what I m-m-mean?"

I nodded and squeezed her tighter. We stayed there like that for a while, me hugging her tightly while she cried softly into my chest.

She squirmed a bit and pushed away, then wiped the tears from her eyes and trotted inside. "Thanks B-bandage." she muttered.

I didn't go back inside, I probably should have, the cold rain was probably only making me sicker. I just watched the road, occasionally sniffing fresh snot back into my nose. After a half hour I heard a satisfied groan and popping joints from inside, sure signs that Token was awake. She trotted out sleepily and kissed my cheek.

"You got the sniffles too babe?" she asked.

"Yeah, probably shouldn't be sitting out here."

"Shaky was crying." she whispered.

"She and I had a talk, I think it did her some good, but I'm not sure."

"You should come inside babe, don't need you getting sicker."

"Sure," I mumbled, "and I thought we established that you're not to call me that anymore."

She smiled slyly and winked at me, "You love it."

"I really do," I said, nuzzling her cheek.

Shaky was curled up next to a sleeping Stripe, whimpering softly. He opened a tired, emerald eye halfway and peered at us as we walked in. He blinked a couple times and wrapped a foreleg around Shaky, then pulled her close. She buried her face in his shoulder and he closed his eyes again, occasionally patting her back.

"That's adorable," Token whispered to me.

I nodded and sunk down into the spot I'd slept the night before. Token snuggled in next to me and rested her head against me.

"So," Stripe said, "what's the plan boss lady?"

I blinked, "Who, me?"

"Nah, Shaky," he said sarcastically. "Yeah, you dumbass, who the fuck you think?"

"I'm not sure, what do you think we should do?"

"Seein' as you two is sick, I'd say we should hunker down here until the rain lets up. But if yer on a schedule that might not be the best idea, Trottingham rain can last a couple days."

"I'm fine with waiting, what about you love?"

"Whatever you want to do babe," she said with a yawn. "Give me a chance to catch up on some much needed beauty sleep."

"Bollocks," I said, nudging her with my shoulder, "you're gorgeous."

"Can we spare the lubby talk please?" Stripe said in an agitated tone, "You two are givin' me the urge to go out an' kill somethin', an' it ain't even noon."

I stuck out my tongue at him and nuzzled Token affectionately, she rested her head on my forelegs and fell asleep after a bit.

After Shaky had calmed down, and eventually fallen asleep, Stripe went outside and restlessly paced in the rain. He'd burned through several cigars, swearing angrily when he ran out. I was going to talk to him, but I could see he was feeling antisocial, not to mention I was mentally exhausted from talking with Shaky. Instead I rested my head on Token and went to sleep.

***

I was woken up a few hours later by a loud noise outside, Token and Shaky were still asleep, Stripe was no longer in sight. I got up to peek outside, magically grabbing my rifle. It was Stripe, carrying a large dead animal on his back like it was nothing. The beast was hairy, and brownish, with large teeth. Its skull was crushed, defined hoof prints on the top of the head.

"You killed that?"

"Eeya," he grunted.

"With your hooves?!"

"Eeya."

"Why'd you bring it back here?"

"For dinner."

I blinked, confused, "What?"

He looked at me quizzically and spoke slowly. "I plan to cook, and eat, this animal."

"You eat meat?!"

"Eeya, it's high protein, an' it tastes good, an' bacon's the shit."

"That's abhorrent!"

"Why? Not like it's bad for ya."

"But, that's sick, we're made out of meat!"

"So what?"

"It just seems... Wrong."

"Then don't eat it, leaves more for me."

"You can't possibly think you'll be able to eat all that."

He shifted his weight and let the beast fall off his back, "You wanna bet? I'ma borrow that knife by the way, need somethin' sharp to get this big fucker skinned."

I magicked my combat knife out of its sheath and passed it to him, he bit down on the handle and stabbed it into the beast, then started cutting the flesh off the muscle.

"I'm disgusted," I muttered, "and yet, I can't look away."

He snickered around the handle.

"Want any help?"

He stabbed the knife into the meat and left it there. "Yeah, sure. There's a sharpened lawn mower blade in my saddlebags, be a lot better for hackin' away at the bigger chunks."

"Dammit, I was hoping you'd say no..."

He rolled his eyes and pulled the knife back out, then continued removing the skin.

I went inside and searched through his bags, sifting through several blocks with strange symbols on them and a near ridiculous amount of wiring. Finally I came upon a crude weapon made from a sharpened lawn mower blade, the handle was simply duct tape that had been wrapped around a section of the blade.

Stripe had the creature skinned and decapitated by the time I trotted back out, and had laid the severed head and skin into another fire he had created seemingly from nowhere

He spat my knife at me and bit the mower blade out of the air, then began hacking off massive chunks of meat. He tossed each one to me, and my PipBuck identified it as radhog meat.

"What should I do with these?"

He chucked the rest of the remains onto the fire, then trotted to the shack and tore one of the less rusty sheets of metal off it. He dug a new pit, then piled in scrap wood from a nearby dead tree (there were several near the shack, a few were alive but the apples they bore were small and bitter) then he did something that no pony, or even a zony should be able to do.

He smacked his hooves together over the wood, a small burst of fire shooting onto it from in between them.

"WHAT, THE, FUCK?!" I screamed.

"What?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Don't fucking 'what' me Stripe! You just fucking conjured fire!"

"Well no shit, how else am I s'posed to start a fire?"

"Stop acting like it's normal for a pony to make fire like that! Because it's not!"

"Well duh, I had to pay a zebra shaman like 10 grand to be able to do this."

At my puzzled look, he lifted a hoof up, on the bottom was a glowing red symbol that had been carved into it.

"Magically altered zebra rune," he explained, "means fire. Not much good as a weapon, but I can light shit with it."

"How?"

"Special zebra magic, I use the same kind to make timed charges on my plastic explosives."

"You mean those blocks in your bags are-"

"Eeya, bombs."

"You walk into massive torrents of gunfire with bombs in your saddlebags?!"

“It’s a stable explosive, but yeah, basically.”

He scooped the chops onto the sheet of metal, then set the sheet on the fire. He sat there watching it, occasionally flipping the meat with his mower blade, raindrops hissed as they impacted the heated metal sheet.

"You're the weirdest pony I've ever met."

"How so?" he asked, never looking away from the meat.

"You're a mass murdering, carnivorous, half-zebra, that walks around with high explosives practically strapped to you, and can also make fire appear from nowhere with his hooves!" I exclaimed.

He shrugged, "Carry this sheet inside with yer magic will ya?"

I nodded and magicked it inside, setting it on the oil drum that no longer held flame.

Stripe trotted to Shaky and nudged her gently, she lifted her head and blinked sleepily.

"Wake up kid, dinner time."

She sniffed a bit and rubbed her eyes, "W-what did you make?"

"Pork chops. Want some?"

She smiled, still looking tired, and nodded.

He went to his bags and fished out a couple surprisingly clean plates, setting one down in front of her and the other near his spot, scooping half a chop onto hers and two onto his own.

"Sure you don't want any Bandage?" he asked through a mouthful of pork.

He'd already eaten a whole chop, and Shaky was greedily chowing down on her own. It was tempting, but old instincts told me not to partake.

"I'm fine," I said, "thank you though."

He shrugged and tore his other chop in half with his teeth.

I laid down next to Token and felt her head, she was slightly warmer than before, not enough to be worried about though.

"Poor thing, I hate seeing her sick."

"S'just a cold," Stripe said, "You two'll be over it in a couple days."

"I hope so," I said as I stroked her mane gently.

"So how long have you two been, uh..." he tapped his hooves together and raised his eyebrows for emphasis.

"Oh, we haven't uh, done that yet."

"Ah, well how long you been together?"

"I dunno, about a week I think?"

He cocked an eyebrow, "Damn, figured you two was a couple when you was in yer stable."

"No, our stable didn't allow homosexual relationships, I didn't even realize I liked mares until we were out, neither did she."

"So... No lesbians in yer stable?"

"No, none that are open anyway."

He shuddered. "The horror!" he said dramatically, covering his eyes with a hoof.

I smirked, "Oh yes, it was quite terrible. The mares would walk through the halls each day with nopony to lick them in provocative places."

"That ain't no way to live," he said, shaking his head sadly. "Speakin' of gettin' laid, I think our first stop needs to be Tragedy."

"Right, what's Tragedy, where is it, and why should we stop there?"

"It's basically a town built around a respectable brothel, its on the road north, an' my friend Razor might have some work for us. Plus, I got some unfinished business there."

My PipBuck let out a small beep, I checked the map and to the north there was a marker listed as Tragedy. It was almost directly on the route to our destination.

"All right, we'll head there."

"Thanks Bandage, been meaning to talk with Razor since I got back."

“Right, any idea when this rain is going to let up?”

“Nope, shouldn’t be more than a couple days though, it ain’t like Hoofington where it rains every other Goddess damned day and don’t quit for a fuckin’ week.”

“No offense, but your home seems like the shittiest place to live ever.”

“None taken, an’ it ain’t my home.”

“Where is your home?”

He shrugged, “S’pose the closest thing I got to a home would be Port on the southern coast, that’s where the Walkers is based out of, but technically speaking I ain’t got a home.”

“Dirge mentioned something about the Walkers, who are they exactly?”

He grinned, “Sea Walkers is the full name, an’ you’re lookin’ at a member in good standing, we’re pirates mostly, mercenaries and wanderers too.”

“What exactly do you do?”

“Me, I walk around an’ shoot shit. Momma and Ziggy do a lot of sailing, never was my thing though, not a good swimmer an’ I get motion sick pretty easy.”

“You g-guys are b-b-boring,” Shaky said.

Stripe stuck his tongue out at her and she took a swing at him, he ducked his head back easily and grinned.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that to hit me kid,” he said with a wide grin, “an’ I think ya need to be punished for takin’ a swing at me.”

Shaky’s ears laid back and she cringed a bit, “W-what?”

“TICKLE MONSTER!!!” he shouted.

Shaky fake screamed and started running around the shack giggling, Stripe chased her, laughing like a mad pony. Token stirred awake next to me and looked bewildered.

“What the hell is going on?” she asked.

“Stripe is punishing Shaky for trying to hit him.”

“Adorable,” she mumbled, “who’s side are we on?”

“Hmm,” I said, scratching my chin, “I’d say Shaky’s, us fillies have to stick together.”

She nodded and then tackled Stripe from his side, and by tackled I mean latched a hold of him and held on for dear life. I jumped on top of him too, he was a lot stronger than he seemed, he never even slowed down with the two of us on him. Eventually we were able to trip him, Shaky ran up and hopped onto his head.

“We g-got him!” she beamed.

“Nope!” he said.

He stood up easily, shook Token and I off, and then began relentlessly tickling Shaky until her eyes teared up from laughter.

“Who won?” he yelled, still tickling her.

“Y-you!” she screamed, still laughing.

“What was that?”

“You won!”

He stopped and collapsed down next to her with a grin, “Damn right I did.”

“Y-you cheated,” she giggled.

He poked her in the ribs, rewarded with a squeal, “Nuh-uh, ain’t ever cheated in my life.”

It had been a good day, but once again, night just sucked for me.

I barely slept, and when I did I had an oddly vivid dream of raiders tearing through my stable murdering everypony. I woke up sweating several times, my heart beating quickly, and tried to convince myself it was just a fever dream. Later I had a dream of Token being raped and torn apart and woke up screaming.

Token held me and rocked me gently, trying to comfort me, but it didn’t help. I didn’t sleep the rest of that night or the night after that, we were still in the shack.

Stripe played with Shaky more the next day, she was in a much better mood, and she only washed 3 times instead of 5. She was also warming up to Token and I, having conversations about normal things instead of rape.

The rain finally stopped the day after, we hit the road a few hours later.

***

Stripe and I were walking ahead of Token and Shaky, far enough to be out of earshot so I could start asking questions.

“Hey Stripe,” I asked, “You ever have dreams?”

“Eeya,” he grunted, “don’t everyone?”

I shook my head, “I mean like, weird dreams, nightmares but really, really fucked up ones.”

“Death an’ torture an’ shit like that?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded, “Yeah, long time ago I used to, why do ya ask?”

“I haven’t been sleeping very well the last few nights.”

“I noticed, ya screamed like someone sawed yer horn off the other night.”

“Why do you think that is?”

He shrugged, “Maybe you’re psyche is still feelin’ the effects of the last couple weeks. Seeing a village torn up like that can do shit to ya.”

“Will they ever stop?”

“Yeah, unless you have a soft spot for blood thirsty rapists that is. Soldiers in the old days used to have nightmares like that, nopony in Equestria had ever seen war like that before. Some of ‘em just got used to it, some couldn’t handle it an’ needed extensive therapy an’ memory removal, some went bat shit fuckin’ crazy an’ learned to love their jobs a little more than is healthy.”

“Like you?”

He shrugged, “I enjoy killing ponies that deserve it, when you really hit that psycho wall you enjoy killing anything just to see something die. There’s a fine line between enjoying justice and enjoying murder.”

I nodded, contemplating, “You’re pretty smart with this kind of thing.”

He shrugged again, “Momma had books layin’ around about psychological shit, when I got bored I’d read up on ‘em, s’pose it ain’t a bad skill to have.”

"Didn't think you were the reading type."

He chuckled, "Shit, I'd say the opposite. Up until two years ago I had a book slapped on my flank."

"Your cutie mark was a book?"

"Yup. I'm a bit of a bookworm."

"Weird, what happened to it?"

"To what?"

"Your cutie mark."

"Oh, I bought some chemicals off the Enclave and had 'em burn it off."

I blinked, "Why would you do that?"

"Lost a bet with Razor, worked out good though. Nyx thinks it's cute how we match."

"Who's Nyx?"

"A good friend, you'll meet her when we get to Tragedy. Fair warning, she's kinda weird."

"Everything out here is weird, I think I can manage."

He laughed, "You ain't seen nothin' compared to Nyx."

"What, does she have some hideous mutations?"

"I wouldn't say hideous, but mutations is definitely a good descriptor."

"You're friends with a mutant?"

"Don't hate, hell, you're in love with Blue, an' she looks pretty mutated to me."

"Bollocks," I said, punching him in the shoulder, "she's beautiful."

I looked back at her, she really was beautiful. Her brilliant azure coat, her sapphire mane, her deep cobalt eyes. She saw me looking and smiled, I smiled back and felt myself blushing for some reason.

"Eyes forward," Stripe said, his voice had gotten serious.

I looked ahead, there were 5 raiders on the road. Their clothing was strange dark green canvas robes and hoods with tree branches poking out, and their weapons were little more than makeshift, a sharpened shovel, a lawn mower blade, two pool cues and there was an emaciated unicorn with what looked like a firearm made up of duct tape. I started to pull my rifle out of the loop on my saddlebags, but Stripe stopped me.

“Save yer ammo,” he said, shrugging his gear off his back, “I got this.”

I blinked and missed most of it, Stripe was already fighting the raiders 30 meters away, if his hoof prints weren’t embedded in the mud I would have thought he’d teleported to them. In heavy power armor he was quick enough to dodge bullets, out of it he was definitely getting my bet for fastest pony in the world.

He hit the two with the pool cues first, snapping one’s neck with a solid punch to the face, then spinning on his left front leg and rear bucking the other in the chest, the raider’s ribs were practically pulverized, a loud crunch filling the air and his chest caving in unnaturally.

The one with the shovel swung at him next. Stripe ducked it with and gripped the handle in his mouth, then whipped around and decapitated the one with the mower blade, then rear bucked the other in the face, crushing his skull.

The last raider stood there dumbly, tears and snot were streaming down her face, and a puddle of urine was pooling around her back legs. Stripe spat the shovel and turned around to face her.

“Don’t,” he said.

She was shaking, even the weapon wrapped in her magic was trembling.

“I don’t wanna die,” she said, “I don’t wanna die!”

She was a white bar on my compass, so was Stripe, he just stood there glaring, she was sobbing now, the weapon trembling even more.

“Don’t,” he said again, “put down the gun, and walk away.”

She fired, Stripe was peppered with pellets but barely flinched, the raider began to gallop away, screaming at the top of her lungs with terror. Stripe shook himself a bit and pursued, his sprint was comprised of several, meter-long bounds, and ended with him landing on top of her. He wrapped his forelegs around her head and jerked, hard. There was a loud crack, and her back legs flailed one last time before going limp, a white bar fading from my compass.

Stripe trotted back to us, shaking small metal pellets off himself.

“Dammit,” he spat, “told her not to fuckin’ do that. Stupid fuckin’ kid."

"They don't look like the raiders we fought before."

"Not raiders, tribals, probably some yokels that fell on rough times." he said grimly.

"Didn't want to kill that last one." he added.

"You didn't have to," Token said, "you could've just let her run."

He threw his gear onto his back and kept walking, "Yes I did, and no, I couldn't."

Shaky shrugged and plodded through the mud after him.

"Can you c-carry me Stripe?"

He sighed and tossed her onto his back, she climbed up to his neck and pressed her muddy hooves onto the top of his head.

"Oops," she said, "s-sorry."

"Me too." he said with a mischievous grin, then shucked her off his back face first in the mud.

She stood up and shook the mud off herself, then tossed mud in his face.

"They're playing two meters from a pile of corpses," Token whispered, "there's something very wrong with that."

I nodded and splashed mud in her face. She grinned and tackled me into the ditch. Shaky squealed, flew through the air, and joined us in the ditch a moment later. Stripe kept trotting down the road.

"He's a d-dick." Shaky muttered.

I rolled Token under me and pressed her head into the mud, "Yeah." I said.

Stripe veered off the road with his head towards the ground.

"What's up Stripe?" I called.

"Tracks!" he yelled back, "Figure we should cut the head of this thing before it gets outta control."

We caught up to him, shaking the mud off as we went.

"I thought you said they were just ponies that fell on hard times?"

"Eeya, and eventually they’re gonna get hungry enough to start eating each other, and then shit's gonna go south in a hurry."

"That sounds awful. We saw some slavers eat a pony back when we met you."

"Eeya, starts out with cannibalism, then you start getting the yellow eyed crazy fuckers from Hoofington running around eating everything that moves. Fun to shoot at, still fuckin' crazy though."

We walked for an hour before spotting a large cluster of greenish tinted glass domes and rusty shacks perched on a tall hill surrounded by a mostly dead forest. As we got closer my PipBuck beeped, I looked at the map, the new location was Dead Horse Forest.

"Dead Horse Forest," Token said, "how quaint."

Yellow bars started appearing on my compass, and moments later a group ponies with weapons similar to those of the ponies Stripe fought before emerged from the woods. It was mostly sharpened shovels and hoes, but there were a few unicorns with firearms that looked like they'd break after one shot.

"F-freeze!" one said nervously, "Give us your things, or we'll shoot!"

"Please," I scoffed, "half of those weapons don't even have triggers."

"Shit," she muttered, we started trotting closer, our weapons still holstered, she backed up a bit and pointed her weapon at me, "freeze!"

"I'd like to speak to whoever is in charge please."

I stepped closer and she pulled the trigger, the weapon blasted apart in front of her and sent small shards of metal into her face. She fell to the ground, holding her face tightly and sobbing.

"Celery!" another mare cried as she galloped to her fallen companion.

I ran to her as well and the orange mare stood over her friend protectively.

"I'm a medic," I said, "I can help."

She looked at me warily, but nodded and stepped away. I got closer and levitated out some Med-X and a healing potion.

I pulled her hooves away from her face and peered closer, the shrapnel hadn't gone in deep but it still looked nasty.

"I'm going to give you a shot, okay?"

The light green pony nodded and wiped some tears away, the metal had thankfully missed her eyes. I poked the needle gently into her face and pressed down on the plunger, Celery winced a bit but then relaxed.

"Better?" I asked.

She stared at me and nodded.

"Stripe?"

"Eeya?"

"Do you have tweezers?"

He trotted up behind me, "Nope, got some needle nose pliers, will those work?"

"Yeah, those should be fine."

He dug through his bags and pulled out the pliers, I nodded gratefully and grabbed them with my magic.

"You're going to feel a slight pinch." I said to Celery, she nodded.

I started carefully picking out the small bits of metal, she winced each time. When that was finished I had her drink most of a healing potion, then poured the rest on a clean rag and dabbed her tiny wounds with it.

"Thanks," she said when I finished, "but why did you help, we tried to rob you."

"I'm a doctor, I took an oath to help ponies. And honestly I felt sorry for you, that robbery attempt was a little pathetic."

She giggled, "Yeah, it was my first time, I told Carrots she should've done it."

"I wish we didn't have to do it at all," the orange one muttered, "we're farmers dammit."

A few of the bucks came towards us, they didn't looked menacing, but they still had weapons out.

"Leave them alone Borsh, she helped me."

The reddish-purple one with a dark green mane nodded and put his hoe back into its loop on his harness, the rest of the ponies in the clearing followed suit.

"Sorry for the poor welcome ma'am," Carrots said, "we've been short on food and we've had to turn to thievery to get what we need."

"Seems like it hasn't been working to well."

"You've got those greenhouses," Stripe pointed out, "why do you need to steal food."

Borsh snorted, "The damn Vipers tribe's been muscling us out of our crop for six months now, we'd ally with the White-Legs but they don’t trust nobody."

"You've got an easily defendable hill, why not just set up defenses and hold out?"

Celery scoffed, "Mister, we're farmers, we know about crops, we got no idea how to use guns, let alone how to fix the damn things."

"White-Legs have guns right?"

"Eeya, good ones too, and they know how to fix 'em. But they roam, and they’re just as hungry as us."

"So, build defenses here, ally with the White-Legs for their guns and their know how, and you have a place for them to stay, that's a win win."

"Mister, great idea and all, but even if we could somehow turn this place into a fortress, you'd still have to convince the White-Legs, and their chief Salt-Upon-Wounds don't work with nopony."

"Tell ya what, I'll help you fortify this joint and make space for the White-Legs, an' my friends here can go convince Salty."

"We'd have to run that by Birch and No-Bark, they make all the decisions around here."

"Fine, what do ya think Bandage?"

"I'm game," I said, "Token?"

"Sounds great babe." she said.

“You know,” I said to Stripe, “helping a village fortify their home and fight off a tribe of warriors seems like one hell of a detour.”

“Your call Bandage,” he said back, “if you wanna go we can just leave.”

“I don’t disagree with helping them out, I’m just saying. And I thought you didn’t help ponies?”

He snorted, “I’m helping these ponies to avoid an unfortunate situation we see a lot of back home, and because there’s probably gonna be one hell of a dust up before this is all said and done.”

“In it for the fight then?”

He grinned at me and nodded, I could swear I saw a small twinkle in his eyes.

I talked with Celery a bit more as we trotted towards the settlement, known to them as Oasis, the orange mare Carrots was her sister, their tribe was known as the Treeminders, and up until the Vipers had moved into the area, they’d had a relatively peaceful existence. The White-Legs were a tribe of excellent warriors that had come from east of the Divide in pursuit of the Vipers, who had demolished their village in order to gain entry into the Confederacy. Their leader Salt-Upon-Wounds was reportedly bat shit insane, but nopony could ever get a description, because nopony ever lived through a fight with him, all that was known is that he fought with special power hooves, and never used guns.

As we got closer I noticed something strange, this place wasn’t strange, there was grass growing, and the trees were healthy and leafy, and there was sunlight! I looked up and saw that cloud cover ended, shining light down on Oasis and the hills stretching west towards the ocean. On the other side of the hill was a large patch of tilled farmland, where ponies in harnesses were pulling plows and planting seeds.

“This is beautiful,” I muttered, “how?”

“The Enclave don’t have anything out this far, so the clouds are free to do as they please.” Celery said, “It’s a blessing, only time we can’t grow food is in winter.”

Token and I sat for a moment, and stared up at the sky, Celestia’s sun shining down on us with a gentle warmth. She rested her head on my shoulder.

“This is what we wanted to see.” she muttered.

I nodded in agreement and looked down at her, she looked even lovelier in the sunlight. I kissed her on the forehead and she smiled brightly.

“Wooow,” Shaky said with awe, “I’ve n-never gotten to see the sun b-b-before. It’s so pretty!”

Stripe was just looking up with a small smirk on his face, his ear studs glinting, “Eeya, it’s somethin’ ain’t it?”

The simple words of Stripe somehow seemed to do the sight more justice than anything the Stable 80 poet Quill could’ve come up with.

“Let’s go,” Carrots said, “the chiefs’ll wanna talk to ya.”

“Aye,” said a deep voice with a very thick accent, “I believe we would.”

We turned to see a massive earth pony, a good head taller than Stripe, with a deep green, wooly coat, a vibrant orange mane, a long, braided beard, and immensely shaggy shanks. He was wearing a work harness around his neck as more of an accessory than anything, and though he was large, he was still skinny like the rest of his starving tribe. He was smiling down at us warmly, his blue eyes twinkling.

“My name is Birch,” he said, then nodded towards a smaller, much older buck next to him, “and this is my father No-Bark, what brings ya to Oasis?”

“Hello Birch,” I said with as pleasant a smile as I could muster, “my name is Bandage, we’re here to offer you some assistance.”

He laughed heartily, throwing his head back, then smiled back down at me, “You don’t need to be so formal lass, the fact that my daughters let ya in tells me you’re friends to us. What kind of assistance are you lookin’ to offer?”

“Stripe, you want to take over?” I asked.

My zony friend nodded and stepped forward.

“We’re lookin’ to help ya with yer bandit problems,” he said, “fortifications would be the main focus but we’re also hopin’ Bandage an’ Blue here could work out some sorta alliance with the White-Legs to help keep ya defended.”

“You’re kind to offer boyo, what kind of fortifications are we talkin’ here?”

“Well, ya got a lot of dead trees out there, figure we could chop those down, sharpen ‘em into stakes and post ‘em up as a sort of wall, ya got plenty of tools an’ pony-power here to pull it off in under a week.”

The older buck piped up at this, “You’re saying we should desiprocrate the corpses of these trees and change them into a twistified monument for the sake of our own shell fishness?!”

“Father,” Birch said, “calm yourself, this lad makes a good point, those trees are a resource we can use.”

“It’s an abomification!” No-Bark spat. “A blasphemy!”

“Think of it this way,” Stripe interrupted, “Ya’ll worship these trees, don’t ya think they’d be happy if you used their bodies to defend yourselves from ponies that want to wipe ya out?”

“Explain.” the old buck said warily.

“Well, if ya use the living trees to provide food, and they’re happy to lend the help, wouldn’t it make sense t’ think that they’d be okay with you using them for protection?”

No-Bark pondered, twirling his beard with a hoof, and looked Stripe over, “Wise words from a heretic hybrid, I do believe I’ve seen it all. I will contemply this over meditation, you will have my answer in the morning.”

No-Bark limped to a large shack on the far side of Oasis. Birch sighed and shook his head.

“You’ll have to forgive my father, he’s set in the old ways of the Treeminders, and a bit senile. Ya made a decent case though, I have a feeling he’ll be open to your ideas in the morning. Even if he doesn’t, I can order it done, I just hate to go against his wishes.”

The sound of a metal door smacking open rang through the camp as No-Bark trotted back out.

“I have made my decision!” he called, “build the damn wall!”

Birch shook his head and chuckled, “I swear, that old coot gets funnier every damn year, can you work a harness lad?”

“Eeya,” Stripe said, “question is, can you?”

The massive buck grinned warmly, “Lookin’ for a bit of friendly competition are ya lad?”

Stripe shrugged and grinned back at him.

“Well, alright then, give me a few minutes to get this lot organised, and we’ll get right on that.”

***

I’d accepted that Stripe was much stronger and faster than the average pony, but this was ridiculous. Birch had organised the Treeminders into chopping, pulling, sharpening, and posting groups. The choppers would cut down the trees, the pullers would drag them into camp, the sharpeners would use axes to turn both sides of the log into stakes, and the posters would prop them up, drill them into the appropriate place, and secure them tightly together to form the wall.

Stripe and Birch were on the pulling team, both working much faster than the rest of the groups could keep up with. Both would drag two massive logs behind them at a near gallop with ease and be right back down to haul another load. At a certain point the entire group of choppers and the rest of the pullers became sharpeners, as the two burly bucks were just uprooting the dead trees faster than they could be chopped down.

They were both drenched with sweat, but neither tired, and I only occasionally stopped them so they would drink some water (which they had a constant, clean supply from a nearby spring). They worked well into the night, and their constant competitive banter kept everypony in high spirits, so the rest worked with them. A wall that was meant to take a week to build was set up in roughly 18 hours, and they were now building the massive gate.

The borders of Oasis had tripled, and clearing the forest allowed for more space for farming and settling, plenty of room for the White-Legs to move in, and enough room to produce crop to support them.

Birch wiped a profuse amount of sweat from his brow and patted Stripe on the back, “Ya do good work boyo.”

Stripe nodded and grinned, “Not to bad yourself old timer.”

He glanced at me, “You ready for the hard part boss lady?”

I sighed and nodded. I’d had a sleepless night, so I helped teach some of the unicorns around camp how to repair their weapons, by the time the wall was finished we had several lever-action rifles in decent working condition. Token was going to stay behind and teach the ponies how to use them, Stripe and I were going to the White-Legs’ camp to talk with Salt-Upon-Wounds.

“Yeah, I guess so, he’s not going to go psycho on us if we go near their camp right?”

Birch laughed his hearty laugh and beamed at me, “No lass, the White-Legs may not be peaceful, but they don’t attack unless provoked.”

“All right, let’s head out Stripe.”

He nodded, “Watch the kid for me Blue!” he called as we left.

***

The White-Legs were much more friendly than I’d expected. When we arrived warriors came out to greet us. Their legs were painted white(hence the name I suppose), their faces painted white with red bars, and their armor was comprised of thick shoulder and thigh protection, with several straps hooking it all together. Despite the makeshift appearance of the gear, each warrior’s armor looked uniform compared to the rest.

“Whachuwan ouslander?” one said, his language garbled together.

“We need to speak to your chief please.”

“Salponwoon?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Aright, you follow.”

Their camp was a large cluster of hide tents and war totems sporting a black flag with white crossed bars. Ponies in similar armor sat around fires, sharpening blades and cleaning weapons, laughing at jokes in a language I couldn’t understand. We came to the largest tent in the center of this cluster, and the buck leading us nodded inside.

“You mind behavor ouslander, boss lady big temper, don’t like be insulted.”

“Right, best behavior, got it.”

The buck snorted and trotted back to his tent. I took a deep breath to steady myself and Stripe and I trotted in. Standing in the middle of the tent was Salt-Upon-Wounds, looking over a table with a crudely drawn map in the center.

Salt-Upon-Wounds was Stripe’s size, though with a slimmer physique. His armor had more body coverage, though it still looked makeshift. His legs were painted like the rest of his tribe, his coat was blood red, his tail streaked red and black. His helmet was a stable security helmet, painted to look like a skull, it had the mandible of some large animal bound to it, with several feathers and tribal markings on it. His infamous power hooves were also painted white, and they had the same tribal markings and feathers as his helmet.

He looked up from his work and stared at us, “Welcome ouslanders.” a mare’s voice said.

Salt-Upon-Wounds pulled off her helmet and set it on the table. Her mane fell loose and jangled, it was braided into dreads with empty shotgun shells. Her face wasn’t painted like the others, but since she stayed in her helmet most of the time it didn’t really matter much.

“What brings you to my camp?” Her voice was the same rough Hoofington accent as Stripe, but in a mare’s voice it sounded slightly smoother.

“We’ve come to propose an alliance between the White-Legs and the Treeminders.” I said.

“The farmers from Oasis? We share a common enemy in the Vipers, but they have nothing to offer us.”

“They have food, and a recently built wall that could easily withstand a siege.”

“You are confident in this wall?” she asked.

“Hell, fetched the logs it’s made of myself,” Stripe said, “that thing’ll outlast all of us I reckon.”

She nodded, thinking, “A good wall alone does not make a fortress, it needs capable warriors. My brothers and sisters are apt fighters, but we are few in comparison to the Vipers.”

“There are a few Treeminders who can shoot now,” I said, “and their guns are operational.”

“I saw some dynamite around yer camp,” Stripe said, “I can whip up some powder charges and set ‘em around Oasis’ border, that’ll thin the Vipers’ numbers.”

“And we’ll fight with you too.” I added.

She looked at me long and hard, staring me down with piercing violet eyes, “I can tell from your scar that you’ve seen battle, and the rifle you carry tells me you are a marksman, your sharp eyes tell me you are good at it.” She turned to Stripe, “You are an obvious warrior, strong, fast, fearless, you have nothing to prove to me.”

She turned back to me, “But you, you are new blood, stable numbers tell me this, I will agree to this joining of tribes if you can prove to me you are capable in a fight.”

“Whatever it takes chief, I can handle it.”

She laughed, “Confidence, good. There is a task I have been meaning to tackle, but it’s a two mare job, and I do not trust my warriors enough to pull it off with me. They are fine warriors, but they lack the temperament for such a mission.”

***

We embarked on our mission an hour later, Stripe was told to stay at the camp, he was allowed to spar in the fighting circle to keep from getting bored, I told him not to kill anypony, he promised he’d try.

The task we were off to complete was clearing out a nearby den of Yao Guai(mutated bears as Stripe told it) that had been over hunting the game in the forest. Our target was a cave network, filled with maybe 10 adults and an unknown number of cubs, most likely 15.

“You have a lot of information on this place.” I said as we trotted onward.

“I scouted the location myself.” she said.

“You seem pretty learned compared to the other members of your tribe.”

She looked back at me, the face mask of her helmet was flipped up and she smiled, “Thank you ouslander, I was taught much in a missionary by a mare from the Order of Celestia.”

We were quiet for a while longer before she started up conversation again.

“What was your stable like? If you do not mind me asking.”

“Not great, I admit I took the safety for granted, but the control seems cruel now that I’m free of it.”

“You left willingly?” she asked.

“No, I was thrown out, when we went out to trade we were captured by slavers, I had to kill one of them to save some lives. The Overmare was bound by the codex to exile me.”

“I am sorry for your loss, it must be very lonely.”

“Not so much, my friend Token came with me, sometimes I wish she would’ve stayed though, I hate seeing her in danger.”

“Mmm, I know what you mean, when my fellow White-Legs charge into battle, I sometimes feel anxiety, and fear that I will lose them. To them, I am fearless chief Salt-Upon-Wounds, true in that I do not fear for my own life, false in that I worry deeply about my tribe.”

“That’s an interesting name you have, Salt-Upon-Wounds.”

“Ah yes, I earned it when I was young, fighting in the circle to gain my father’s favor. I would rub salt in any wounds that I suffered to stave off infection, I was the only one tough enough to endure the pain that came with it. This is what earned my father’s favor, and gave me my name. I am proud of it, it shows my will to endure.”

“And it sounds intimidating as all hell.” I pointed out.

She laughed, “Yes, that is one of the perks of such a name I suppose.”

We chatted a while longer, about nothing in particular. I got along surprisingly well with this mare, tough as she may be. After an hour of walking we were playfully bumping each other, and once or twice she’d brush a stray leaf out of my mane.

“We should keep our voices down from now on,” she whispered, “we are nearing the caves.”

The cave entrance was massive, roughly the size of a stable door. Salt-Upon-Wounds pulled a metal tube out of a knapsack tied to her armor and nodded for me to take it. On closer inspection I realized it was a suppressor, and I screwed it onto my rifle’s barrel.

“Are you ready?” she whispered.

I nodded and she flipped down her face mask and crept into the cave. She stopped me after awhile and nodded ahead. On my compass there were three red bars directly in front of us. I pulled out my rifle and peered through the scope at the sleeping Yao Guai, then slipped into S.A.T.S and put a silent round into each of their skulls, killing them instantly.

“Good shot ouslander,” she whispered, “we need to take a right here to move deeper.”

It went on like this for quite some time, room by room silently clearing out Yao Guai, I would shoot the adults, Salt-Upon-Wounds would snap the necks of the cubs. Eventually we came to a large open chamber, with a trace amount of light shining through the ceiling, and a large pool of clear water with a small waterfall draining into it. Sleeping on a rocky outcrop was a bear twice as massive as any of the Yao Guai we had seen so far.

“Ruzka,” Salt-Upon-Wounds whispered, “den mother. Big temper, thick head, need to take her down the old fashioned way.”

Salt-Upon-Wounds bellowed a war cry and stamped her hooves on the ground, her power hooves crackling. The massive bear awoke and roared, then leapt off her perch and charged us. I sent round after round as fast as I could into Ruzka’s head but she kept coming, when I ran out of ammo I tossed my rifle aside and unsheathed my knife.

Salt-Upon-Wounds and I charged at the same time, in unison we ducked the bear’s leap, Salt-Upon-Wounds rolled onto her back and kicked with all four power hooves at once, knocking Ruzka through the air and winding the beast.

I leapt atop the raging Yao Guai and wrapped my hooves tightly around her neck, then started stabbing repeatedly into the jugular vein. The bear roared in agony and stood to her full height, Salt-Upon-Wounds leapt forward and slammed both front hooves into the beast’s chest, blood spewing from the neck all over her, knocking her over on top of me. I focused my magic into one last yank of the knife, completely slicing the neck, deeply. Ruzka let out one last pained roar before finally dying, Salt-Upon-Wounds standing on her chest panting, me squished under the giant bear's back, blood pouring all over me.

Salt-Upon-Wounds lifted the massive animal off of me and helped me to my hooves, I retrieved my knife from its neck and wiped the blade on it’s fur before sheathing it. Salt took off her helmet and grinned at me, we were both drenched in blood, but I felt oddly satisfied to have taken down the bear.

“You have proven yourself more than worthy of the White-Legs’ support, I would gladly form this alliance.”

“Good to hear,” I said with a smile.

“I could use a bath.” she said, stripping out of her armor and leaping into the pool. She wasn’t as intimidating without the armor, quite attractive actually. A very trimmed and muscular mare, quite a few scars on her body. Her cutie mark was covered by a brand in the shape of the crossed bars on the White-Legs’ flag, a rite of passage in the tribe she had told me. It didn’t look bad though, pretty clean for a scar.

I followed suit and hopped in after stripping, the water felt fantastic, warm like bath water in a stable, and just as clean. I waded over to Salt-Upon-Wounds under the waterfall and washed the bear gore out of my mane and coat, then just enjoyed the feeling of hot water rushing over me.

“You are a capable mare,” Salt-Upon-Wounds said as she scrubbed herself, “I could use somepony like you at my side...”

“Hmm?” I muttered, looking towards her.

She was approaching me tentatively, a nervous smile on her face.

She leaned closer, her eyes half lidded and I tried lean away, then she kissed me. It felt good, not as good as with Token, but still good. I relaxed and closed my eyes, kissing her back and leaning towards her. She broke it off and then kissed me again, softer, and again, and again. She caressed my cheek a bit, then slowly moved her hoof down my side.

She gently pushed me over to the edge of the pool, still kissing me as we went, and had me sit down on the side. She rested me down easy and started kissing my neck, then started kissing lower, and lower, and lower. When she finally reached my thighs my mind was swimming with pleasant(naughty) thoughts, when she went further a soft moan escaped me, and then I snapped back into attention.

I pushed her back and writhed away, “No, sorry, so sorry but no! This is wrong.”

She looked hurt and moved back a bit, “Is it because I am a mare?” she asked softly.

“No,” I said, my face flushed, “no, that part’s great, super great, but-”

“Then what is the problem?”

I hung my head in shame, hiding behind my mane as my face went even brighter, “I’m with somepony, and it wouldn’t be right.”

“Oh,” she said, stepping back more, “I am so sorry, I did not know.”

“It’s fine, and don’t be sorry, it was my fault, that really should’ve come up while we were talking.”

“Your hybrid friend?”

I laughed a bit through my mortification, “No, definitely not. You remember my friend Token that I told you about? The one from my stable.”

“Ah, you and she?”

“Yes,” I hung my head even further,”I love her, and I feel like shit now for almost doing that with you when she and I haven’t even been... together.”

She rested a hoof on my shoulder and propped my head up, smiling sweetly at me, “If you love each other then she will forgive you a small lapse in judgment.”

I smiled back, “Thanks, you know, in a way it’s your fault for being so damn sexy.”

Her ears went back and her face turned bright red. I leaned forward and kissed her again, it was a long one this time, after a bit she pushed me back gently.

“I thought you just said how ashamed you were of this?”

I shrugged, “Considering what we almost did a few minutes ago, I doubt one more kiss is going to land me in too much trouble.”

She chuckled softly, then sunk her head, her shotgun shell braids falling over her face.

I rested a hoof on her shoulder, “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she said quietly,”it is just, it has been so long since I’ve had somepony I could connect with and... be with.”

I propped her head up and brushed her mane away from her face, the shells jangling softly, she smiled and I kissed her again. She pulled in closer but I pushed her away again.

“No,” I said, “sorry, but I can’t.”

Her eyes looked hurt again, “Could you... could you just not tell her? It could be our secret, just this once.”

I shook my head, “No, I have to tell her. I’m not going to let that lie hang over me.”

“She will be furious.”

“I know, but I’d rather her be mad at me right now than find out on her own later and hate me for keeping it from her.”

“You really love this mare.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

“You are both very lucky.”

“Yeah, I guess we are.”

Salt-Upon-Wounds kissed me on the cheek and pressed her mouth to my ear.

“If you should ever find yourself... available, I would be more than happy to fill that role.”

I smiled and nuzzled her cheek softly, “I’ll keep that in mind, we can be friends right?”

“Yes,” she said, “I would like that.”

“If I did anything to lead you on-”

“No,” she interrupted, “nothing, I was just attracted to you, I apologize for letting my physical urges get the better of me.”

I chuckled, “You’re pretty sensitive for a badass war chieftain.”

She chuckled too and hugged me, “When you feel emotions strongly, you feel all of them strongly, not just the ones that go with fighting.”

I hugged my new friend (could I call her a friend? Or was she just a bit more than that?) back, “Let’s get the fuck out of this cave before the bear carcasses stink up the place.”

“Agreed."

***

The walk back to camp was an awkward one, not awkwardly quiet, we talked plenty, but awkward in a sense that we were both fighting very hard not to jump one another. Once or twice I caught myself staring at Salt’s (I’d taken to calling her Salt, we’d only known each other a few hours, but we were already good friends, and Salt-Upon-Wounds felt to formal) flank, and caught her doing the same on more than one occasion.

She gave me a rather awkward hoof shake when we got back to her tent, glancing away and blushing when Stripe came up to meet us.

“I will have the White-Legs moved into Oasis by tomorrow.”

“I’ll see you then Salt.”

She coughed nervously, “Yes, see you Bandage.”

We were out of the camp when I decided to talk to Stripe to clear my head, “So, how did the powder charge thing go?”

“Good,” he said, “got plenty rigged out, Salty’s boys’ll plant ‘em tomorrow.”

Then he looked perplexed, and started sniffing the air, then sniffing me.

“Hey, you know you smell like sex? Ain’t that the damndest-” he stopped, his jaw going slack and his eyes widening, “no fuckin’ way, you an’ Salty?”

“Nonononono!” I said, “Almost, but no.”

He looked back towards the White-Legs’ camp, “Damn, didn’t figure Salty for a filly fondler. You gonna tell Blue?”

I sighed and sunk my head, “Yes.”

He snorted, “That’s fuckin’ stupid, she’s gonna be more pissed off than a constipated dragon.”

“I know, but I still have to tell her.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do. She may get pissed off, but at least she’ll know I’m honest.”

“Still not seein’ what’s in it for you.”

I sighed, “Let me put this in a rewards list for a pervert like yourself. She’s pissed, very pissed, two things could happen, she’ll forgive me, later we have great make up sex, she dumps me, I get to go back to Salt and we can fuck each other’s brains out.”

He nodded, “See, now yer makin’ sense.”

“You realize I couldn’t care less about the make up sex right? If she forgives me I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, I realize that, but I like it when I can make you say naughty lesbian stuff.”

“You’re a sick buck.”

“Eeya.”

We were getting closer and closer to the moment I was dreading, I could see the outline of Oasis’ newly built wall in the distance, even through the waning light of the evening. Token would be furious, beyond furious actually, and I’d have to endure it. If she was pissed but forgave me, I would do fine, if she dumped me, I would be heartbroken. I’d strive to make our friendship work, but that would be the best I could hope for. I thought back to what I’d said to Stripe about Salt taking me if Token didn’t. In a way that was true, it wasn’t preferred, but it was true. I may not have the same intense feelings for her that I have towards Token, but there was a connection there, and physically we were definitely compatible.

I thought back to what I said to Salt as well, I’d told her that I loved Token, and I found it fucked up that I told somepony I almost cheated on her with before I told her. And it was true, I loved Token, feelings these vivid didn’t appear in under 2 weeks unless something tangible was behind them, that’d definitely be my opening, it might soften the emotional blow of my cheating.

When we approached, a massive pulley gate made of logs they’d built while we were gone lifted up and closed with a gentle thud after we had entered the walls. Shaky came running towards us, a group of other children following her.

“I’m going to go talk to Token.” I said.

“Good luck.” he said. Then Shaky and the other children piled onto him.

“Attack!” she cried, “Round two you s-striped son of a b-bitch!”

I chuckled, “Good luck to you too big guy.”

I trotted into the small shack Birch had supplied for us, (the shack of the ponies Stripe had killed earlier) Token greeted me with a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I smiled sheepishly and felt chagrin creeping out of the back of my mind.

“What’s wrong babe?” she asked.

“Token, I don’t exactly know how to go about telling you this but I’d like to start by saying that I love you.”

“I love you too.” she said without a moment's hesitation, then she kissed me. I pushed her back gently, I didn’t deserve affection right now.

“What’s wrong?” she asked again.

“I... I cheated on you, with Salt-Upon-Wounds.”

She backed away, a look somewhere between hurt and confused on her face, “What?”

“She and I, almost had sex.” I said, hanging my head in shame, “We were bathing in a pool of water, and she came onto me, and I just... let it go on. I didn’t stop until we almost got to the... you know. And even after that I still kissed her a few times, and I couldn’t stop staring at her on the way back.”

I looked up at Token, she was staring, some hurt still in her eyes, a lot of thinking as well, but she stayed silent.

“You shouldn’t blame her, I hadn’t told her yet that I was already with you.”

She stepped closer to me, I cringed and sunk my head lower, expecting a beating.

“The only one I blame for this,” she said solemnly,”is myself.” Wait, what?

“Huh-” I started.

She tackled me, pinning her hooves on my chest, and I heard the lock on the shack click as she used her magic on it. Then she leaned in very close, her face flushed, her eyes half lidded, her lips almost touching mine.

“For not doing this with you sooner.”

***

Having sex, no, no that didn’t do the act justice, making love with Token, was the single greatest experience of my life. Neither of us was particularly good at it, we just did what felt good, but that didn’t matter, we had become completely intimate, and it felt wonderful. The unnaturally strong connection we had built over the past weeks had grown infinitely stronger, we were together now, completely together.

We were laying on a sleeping bag, cuddling. I was stroking her mane, every once and awhile she'd lean forward and kiss me.

"What's she like?" Token asked.

"Salt-Upon-Wounds? She's nice, strong, brave, unusually proper."

"Is she hot?" she asked slyly.

"If you're asking if she's attractive, yes, nothing compared to you though."

She laughed, "You're so corny."

I kissed her on the horn and nuzzled her forehead, "It's true though, you're beautiful."

She smiled warmly at me, then sunk into a nervous frown, her eyebrows furrowing, "Could you... see yourself with her?"

I contemplated this for a bit and nodded. Token frowned more.

"It would be nothing like what we have though, believe me."

She smiled again, "I believe you... Think she'd be interested in a three way?"

She was expecting a laugh, but I just shook my head solemnly, "She's not looking for sex Token, she's looking for somepony to love her. Asking her that would probably hurt her feelings."

Her ears laid flat, and her eyes widened apologetically, she looked adorable, "I'm sorry."

I smiled and kissed her, "I'm the one that should be sorry silly, not you."

The tender moment was ruined by a certain zony with patience issues. Stripe pounded on the metal door, the rusty hinges bending in protest.

"Why the fuck is the door locked?!" he yelled.

"Sorry," I called, unlocking the door with my magic, "we were busy."

He poked his head through the doorway and peered at us. "Oh," he said, "that kinda busy. You want some privacy? I can camp outside."

"No, it's fine, we were just cuddling."

"Right, well I'm gonna crash."

He stepped into the shack, a sleeping Shaky curled up on his back, he trotted over to his place on the floor and flopped down.

"Night." he said sleepily.

"Goodnight." I said.

Token fell asleep before me, I held her close and listened to her soft breathing, feeling her chest expand. I was close to sleep for the first time in days, I was exhausted, but it was a good exhaustion, resulting from being worn down by hard work and raucous love-making.

Sleep wasn't dreamless, but it was restful, and the dreams were good, very, very good... and a bit raunchy.

Footnote: Level Up!
Quest perk: Sheeza Bear!-+10% damage to Yao Guai
Skill note: Sneak (25)

Guns (40)

Sorry for the jump in length, over double the word count of chapter 3 and a lot less action, well fighting action that is, (Zing!) the “almost sex scene” was actually about 5 paragraphs longer before I decided to tone it down a bunch. It was like, borderline clop fic before I edited that shit out, not my fault though, I was typing at midnight with no caffeine in my system. Thanks to my pre-readers, they keep the spelling and grammatical errors to a minimum. (Not that anyone cares, nopony reads this damn fic!)