By the time we had reached our destination of Smokey mountain, the sun had started to set in the sky. What I saw in front of me was a giant tower of rock, with a path leading up it into the mountain itself. It was intimidating, that’s for sure. We had already agreed to doing this however, and we weren’t going to turn back now. Besides, there was nothing I could turn back to.

“We make camp in the mountains,” Sharp announced to us. “First cave we see we use as shelter, just make sure to check for dragons.”

“Why don’t we just sleep down here?” I asked “Wouldn’t it be safer to make camp down here and travel in the morning?”

Sharp looked up at the top of the mountain, and I did the same to see a weird stream of clouds covering the top of it. “You see that right there?” Sharp asked, I nodded in reply. “That’s an ash cloud, they started forming some time after the war. Probably a result of the Las Pegasus mega spell. They start up at night and let down flaming ashes that burn anything it touches. We stay outside, will be burned to a crisp. Sleeping outside isn’t an option, okay?”

That was a scary thought, being burned alive. Guess I could see why Sharp wanted us to find shelter, that would be a terrible way to go. I nodded my head in agreement and he started on up the mountain. Willow Wisp was shaking next to me, Sharp must have gotten it through to her, and probably scared her half to death. She was very tired, this must have been longest walk she had taken in a long time. I wonder how long she was held up in that raider camp, being cruelly tortured.

“Here,” I lifted Willow Wisp onto my back and she looks at me with a smile. “Get some rest, you need it.”

She nodded and quickly fell asleep on my back Stitch and me looking at her happy. Stitch seemed to feel just as bad for the poor slave as I did, the injuries she use to have spoke volumes about what she had endured. We were both impressed by this amazing little pegasus, and how she could endure such pain without dying.

“Come on,” Sharp yelled to the two of us, “We gotta get shelter before nightfall, remember?”

I nodded to him and we quickly rushed over to the others. The clinking of the power armor’s metal hooves sounded more clearly in the mountains. The solid rock underneath me not doing anything to stop it from echoing around me. It was a strange world, even the raider canyon from earlier had a little bit of flora, but it was so barren around here. There was giant burn marks everywhere along the mountain. Those must have been do to the ashes Sharp had mentioned earlier.

“Um, Sharp,” I look at him a little worried. “Do you think the power armor will wake up any dragons?”

“Their hard sleepers,” Sharp told me. “The only way we could wake one up with that is if the echo was load enough, in other words as long as we don’t find a dragon den we should be fine.”

“You’ve obviously been through here a bit,” Zoey said in realization. “Have you ever seen a dragon around here?”

“Yes, I have,” Sharp said. “I’ve only been here once but I almost lost my life to one. Like you said earlier the tail is the most dangerous part of the body. Almost smashed my ribs to pieces because of that, it’s fucking terrifying,”

“More terrifying the Canterlot?” I asked curious.

“No, nothing will ever top Canterlot,” Sharp answered. “Trust me, that place is a hell hole. Go to zebra town if you want, but never go to Canterlot, that is a bad idea.”

“Says the pony who almost made us go through it,” Stitch said.

“Don’t remind me.”

“Um… Mister Sharpshot,” Mud Swirl said. “Did you hear something?”

We all stop a listen to the area around us. At first we didn't hear anything except the sound of the wind blowing through the bland mountainous terrain. Then, I heard something else under that, a faint booming sound in the distance. Was it thunder? No, there wasn’t a single storm cloud as far as I could see. What was that sound?

I heard it again, this time a little louder, and then again, and again. I catch Sharp out of the corner of my eye look in shock as he heard it. That was the first time I had seen him truly terrified of something. I heard the sound again, this time shaking the ground around me and putting me in the air for a few seconds.

“Sharpshot!” Zoey yelled, but I wasn't looking at her. I was looking at the giant scaled mouth that had just rounded the corner. “In here.”

I finally looked where Zoey was motioning us to, seeing a cave nearby. Every pony started running towards, and I did the same, not wanting to learn what giant I had just seen. I heard the sound of my power armor get louder and louder as I got into the cave, echoing of the walls freely. It was nowhere near as loud as the beast outside. We all huddled up against a wall, hoping that we would stay hidden. I removed myself from my power armor, not wanting to make to draw the attention of whatever was outside.

“Sharpshot, what is th-” Sharp cut of Stitch as the sound of the booming creature got closer and closer, until I realized something.

The creature made a turn toward our cave and made it’s way inside. I finally got a look at it, and learned just how terrifying the reptilian beast was. It’s back and the upper side of its tail and head was covered in blue scales, while the underside of it was more white. It walked on all fours just like a pony, but unlike us, it didn’t have hooves. It had gigantic knives, no, claws instead, looking as if it could cut diamond without work. It’s amber eyes were made scarier by the slit like formation of its eyes, showing just how feral it is. I caught a glimpse of it’s teeth, my heart skipping multiple beats as I saw them. This thing wouldn’t just slice diamonds, it could probably eat them as well. It had no ears, but it could clearly hear things. It had gigantic wings, looking like it could topple over a city with ease. This, this was a dragon, I somehow knew it.

The worst part about this is all was the fact that it didn’t head deeper into the cave. I stared at us, it's eyes piercing into my soul, causing me not to move anymore. I simply stared at it, with it staring right back at me. Suddenly, Canterlot wasn’t sounding like such a bad option anymore. I had nowhere to run without power armor, and even then this thing would probably rip it to shreds.

The dragon took a step towards us, my body flying into the air for a second from the force of it. It gave me a good look at it’s teeth, and I thought was going to die. We were all going to die, weren’t we. It was hungry, and we seemed to be on the menu at the current moment. I slowly started inching away from it, not caring about getting back into my power armor. Most of the others followed my leave, Willow Wisp had woken up and was following my lead. She seemed more terrified than I was right now.

Only two ponies didn’t move, Zoey and Mud Swirl. Who the dragon was looking at with clear interest. I saw it’s head start to lower down and I watched as Sharp pulled Flash Fire out from around his back and aim towards it’s neck. At this point, it was mere inches away from Zoey and Mud Swirl, and Sharp knew he had no time to take the shot. He quickly fired at it’s neck, doing something that I had never seen it do before. The bullet turned into a small fireball and hit the dragon with full force.

As the bullet hit, the dragon looked at us, and Zoey and Mud Swirl took the opportunity to try and escape the cave. However, it didn’t completely focus on us, looking to see Zoey and Mud Swirl running away. We watched as the dragon picked up it’s talon and started quickly close in on the two. I closed my eyes as I waited for the sound of the talon crashing to the ground. I heard, and opened my eyes to only see Zoey escape, falling forward as the dragon dragged its talons along the ground and looked at it’s front leg. I didn’t see a body, but I saw blood, and watched as the dragon wiped it on into it's mouth. I saw small bits of meat on it’s teeth, and suddenly I couldn’t hear a thing. Mud Swirl, he was dead, wasn’t he. That beast had eaten him.

Zoey had managed to escape the cave, and Willow had follow Stitch outside as well, but me and Sharpshot stayed inside. “We need to get you to your power armor,” I could barely hear Sharp say over the screams of agony in my head. “That’s the only way you're getting out of here.”

I was terrified, but I was somehow able to move, and nodded my head at Sharp. He put my left hoof around his neck and he brought me over to my power armor, the dragon taking notice of this. He once again fired, this time the bullet going straight into the dragon's eye. It stumbled back a bit, looking down at the ground. I couldn’t my eyes of it, and the more I did the more scared I was. I just wanted to run, run and never look back. That’s what we were going to do, we were going to run for our goddess damn lives.

I heard a muffled roar from the dragon as I got into my power armor, and looked to see small bits of blood falling to the floor from where Sharp had hit him in the eye. Once the power armor had closed up, me and Sharp made our way outside the cave, Sharp taking another shot at the dragons wounded eye. I was breathing hard, and all my attention was drawn to the exit in front of me.

I exit the cave, and suddenly all my hearing returned to me as I search for signs of the others. They must have ran ahead of us, and I didn’t blame them. I wonder how Stitch was reacting right now, having seen his brother get eaten by the monster. The sun was falling into the horizon, which meant we only had about an hour or two to get away from the dragon until we would ultimately burn to death anyways.

I looked over to see Stitch and the other hiding in a small cave to the side, not big enough for the dragon to get into. Sharp must have noticed the same thing, as he banked to the right and headed toward the small cave. I did the same, looking to see the dragon right behind me, and watched as it took a swing at me hitting me across the neck with it’s claws. It didn’t dig deep enough to kill me, but it hurt enough to cause me to fall over on my back and look straight up at the beast. I was sure right then and there that I was going to die, that this was the end of me.

But it didn't happen, I look to see something explode against the dragons back and watched as it stumbled to the side. It roared off at the distance, my neck hurting to much to turn and see what it was. I watched as it rushed off at something in the distance, and felt someone grab me from behind and pull me into the cave. I felt like I was going to pass out from what just happen.

“Stitch, we need you here,” I heard Sharp say, realizing he was the one dragging me. “Dead’s injured.”

“Got it,” I heard, as the darkness of the cave surrounded me. I looked to my right slightly to see Willow Wisp looking at me scared. “Oh shit,” Stitch said as I looked to see Sharp staring in front of me. “I’ll need something to numb the pain, do we have rad-x or anything,” I looked to see Willow search through the bag we had brought (how we manage to keep it I don’t know) and brought out something I couldn’t make out. “Dead Hooves, eat it, I don’t want you to be in a lot of pain.”

I did as she said and took whatever was in Willow's hoof and showed it in my mouth, chewing it. I really did start to feel the pain go away, or at least lessen a bit. I listen to the sound of gun fighting outside and watched as Sharp got up and looked outside at what was going on. I felt something creep into my skin and winced a little at the pain, but it was as bad as what it probably would have been without it.

“Who is it?” Zoey asked. “Do you see who it is?”

I could see a cringing look in Sharp's face, telling me whatever it was wasn’t good. “It’s the fucking Enclave,” He said. “They found us.”

“The Enclave?” Zoey said surprised. “I thought they never left the clouds.”

“Think again,” Sharp says, this time holding back some laughter “I recognize the pattern of attack and the Raptor though. Wait, it’s the angel hunters. We're saved!”

“Angel hunters?” Zoey said, “Who are they.”

A smile crossed Sharp's face, replacing is grimace from earlier. “Old friends actually, helped them out a while ago. Guess they must be returning the favor.”

I heard the sound of the dragon roaring, this time in agony instead of in anger. I heard a massive thud on the ground, and heard no more gun fire coming. It was dead, the dragon that had killed Mud Swirl was dead. I let out a sigh of relief as I felt a tug against the back of my neck.

“That will have to do for now,” Stitch said. “It’s not as good as when I did it with Willow but it can work for the moment. How are you feeling?”

“Like a thousand needles are poking me in the back,” I manage to say, finding my voice. “Hey Sharp, whose captain Bleak?”

“You can come out Sharpshot,” I heard a voice say, sounding like the military voice that my dad use to us on me whenever I was bad. “Everything is fine.”

Sharp motioned us outside, and we followed him out to be greeted by ten pegasi and a warship in the sky. One of the pegasi stepped forward and Sharpshot ran towards him, both of them giving each other hugs. For someone who had speaking so angrily about the Enclave earlier, he sure was being friendly. I stared up at the warship in amazement, how did something like this exist in the wasteland without me knowing.

“Been sometime hasn’t it,” Sharpshot said to the pegasus in front of him “See they have given you a few more members since the last time we met.”

“And I see you finally found some traveling partners as well,” The pegasus replied in a much friendlier tone than before. “We saw you in our patrol area and decided it’s about time we returned the favor from two years ago. Whose your friends here.”

Sharp turned to us for introductions. “This is Willow Wisp, Dead Hooves, Stitch, and Zoey. We’re heading to Manehattan to give some payback to Twister. Everyone, this is captain Bleak, the leader of the special Enclave group known as the angel hunters.”

“A pleasure to meet you all,” He said dipping his head in formality before turning to Sharp in . “Sharp, isn’t that-”

“Don’t you think I would have shot her if she was?” I heard Sharp whisper to his friend, they must have been talking about me. “He lied like he was does.”

“I see,” Captain Bleak said. “Well in that case allow me to apologize. We were going to kill her, but we should have known better than to trust Twisters word. That being said, the Grand Pegasus Enclave still think that this young miss right here is the Bloody Angel.”

“Mud Swirl!” I turned around to see Stitch yelling around for her brother. She didn’t know he was dead, she never saw what happened. “Mud Swirl where are you!”

I was about to step forward and tell her but Zoey motioned with her hoof to stay still. She moved toward Stitch and put a hoof on her shoulder to get her attention. I didn’t hear what they had said, but I could tell what was going on. Stitch looked at Zoey as she told her what happened, and I could see the look of terror in Stitches eyes as Zoey stopped talking. I watched as Stitch fell into Zoey’s hooves crying, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the pegasus. In less than twenty four hours she had lost the only family she had ever known. I looked to Willow Wisp who simply sat there, she knew that there would be no way to bury Stitch’s brother, and I could tell that upset her.

“Poor mare,” Bleak said coming to my side. “I saw what happened to her brother. He sacrificed his life to save that zebra. Many out here know the feeling of losing family, but that has to be the worst way to not only learn about it, but to die as well.”

“I should have done something,” I said to myself. “But instead I stood there like a fucking retard while her brother got killed.”

“This isn’t the time to blame yourself,” Bleak replied, I could tell he was trying to be the voice of reason. “If you're heading to Manehattan I assume you plan to head through the remains of Las Pegasus, am I correct,” I looked at him and nodded. “In that case allow us to take you to our hideout. Ash will start falling soon and it will be impossible to travel then.”

I nodded my head and watched as he told the raptor to come down. I saw a door open and he explained to Sharpshot what he was doing. Sharp didn’t hesitate to agree with him and he motioned us to board. I watched as two of his soldiers helped Stitch up and told Zoey the plans. I watched everyone got up onto the raptor, and I followed them, knowing that it was worth waiting around for another dragon to pop up.

“I don’t mean to be rude or anything but Sharp told me that the Enclave were Assholes,” I said to Bleak. “I guess he was wrong.”

“Well most pegasi in the Enclave can be considered that title to earth ponies and unicorns,” Bleak said, proving Sharp's point. “But the angel hunters are different. We were made to assist with the hunt for the Bloody Angel. That pony has caused damage to the Enclave to, and because of our systems we believe that the Bloody Angel must be a pegasus. Only pegasi and griffon can access things such as terminals and whatnot belonging to the Enclave so we have had to take this into our personal effort.”

“Can Unicorns and Earth ponies join?” I ask him “Cause if so sign me up.”

“Listen miss,” I hear a soldier from behind me say. “We're only letting you on because you know Sharpshot. We are still pro-pegasus so don’t think that they will let you in just because we are as much.”

He shoved me to the side and walked up a flight of stairs at the end of the hallway. “What the fuck’s his problem?” I ask angry.

“That’s our newest member,” He explains. “Code name: Breaker, was our little gift from the Wonderbolts I guess you can say. He’s pretty one sided, I don't recommend trying to talk with him. He’s a selfish bastard, but a good eye and great shot,” He started walking down the hallway but turned to me before hand. “Here,” He through what looked like a key card at me. “That’s the key to the reserve room. Feel free to explore, just… Don’t mess with the engine okay.”

I nodded to him and watched him walk on up to the bridge. I found myself not really knowing where to go, and decided to do what Bleak said and just explored. I started down the left hallway, looking through the windows to see the landscape below us. We were moving slow, but we were definitely making more progress than we would have on hoof. I looked to see a open door on the right, and peeked in accidentally on one of the soldiers. He looked at me with greens and I felt a little intimidated. She was white like Willow Wisp but the tips of her wings and the top of her mane and tail were yellow.

“Oh sorry,” I say feeling ashamed of walking in. “I saw the door was open and I assumed no one was in here.”

“It’s okay,” He says to me, “This is the first time we’ve ever let a unicorn on a raptor, or even talk with one in a way so I don’t blame you. Besides, I can tell that you don’t really know where you are.”

“Haven't known for the past three days,” I tell him. “The names Dead Hooves. You?”

“The code names Feather,” He tells me. “We don’t call each other by are real names here. Nice to meet you Dead Hooves,”

I look at the gun he had been cleaning, not seeing something like it before. “What is that?”

“A Novasurge rifle,” Feather says. “It’s a special weapon that members of the Enclave only have access to. It’s not high maintenance but I like to keep it looking good, seems more professional,”

“Makes sense I guess,” I say agreeing. “So, are you all elite soldiers or just drafted randomly.”

“We’re some of the best I guess,” Feather shrugged as shoulders not really knowing what to say. “I’m our engineer, anything breaks down I have to fix it,” He looks at his Novasurge gun and puts it down. “Is that Steel Ranger power armor?” I nod, not caring to hide anything. She walked up to me and looked under me “Looks like it’s been tampered with.”

“My dad made it so I could walk using it,” I explain to her. “Does have a tendency to break down though, honestly surprised it hasn’t already.”

“Paralysis huh?” I nod in response to the question. “I could make something that could help you walk without it. The main problem is that he had to rewire almost everything due to the fact it's not built to do something like that. If you want I could also make a new helmet - Enclave design of course - And fix it up for you without hurting it further,”

“Really,” This time she nodded to me. “But, we are probably going to leave tomorrow morning so you probably won’t have time.”

“I could make the walking device in one day,” She says, “And I can convince Sharp into making you all stay longer. Besides, we could use some help finding that stupid killer.”

“But I’m a unicorn!”.

"And I’m a Dashite,” She says, not realizing that I had no idea what a Dashite was. “The only reason I’m working here is because Sharpshot broke the engine to the raptor here and they needed someone to repair the engine. I’m still a Dashite to the end of my life, but if the Grand Pegasus Enclave are actually willing to help the wasteland I’m willing to help. Of course, the Enclave don’t know I’m part of the group,”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I simply just said “Guess that's true,” I thought of something, since I wasn’t going to convince her how we wouldn’t be able to stay, I might as well take advantage of if. “Say, is it possible you could fix this as well,” I show her my PipBuck.

“Of course,” She took it into her hooves, looked at it for only a minute, and then spoke to me. “I might be able to fix it, but the model is pre-war, the fact that it works at all is amazing. I understand it probably has sentimental value, and I like that, but if it’s as bad as it looks I might not be able to. I could always ask Bleak to give you a new one, will let you keep that one of course but a PipBuck is useless without it’s main feature. Even the S.A.T. Is broken,”

“Sorry if it’s too much work,” I apologized,

“Don’t worry about it,” Feather replied to me. “I enjoy working on this kind of stuff, and I can do it rather quickly because it’s my talent,” I looked down to see her cutie mark, it was gears with a strange cloud and lightning over it. It was a weird thing, “The cloud and lightning are a symbol of me being a Dashite,” She points out, but I still had no idea what it was.

“What’s a Dashite?” I finally decided to ask. “Why do you say it like it isn’t a good thing?”

“It’s honestly a symbol of bravery to me,” Feather explains. “A Dashite is a pony who has defied the Enclave, made a crime against them, or has left to the surface of the wasteland on their own will. I luck they haven’t found me yet, and hopefully they never will. Most Enclave see Dashites as a danger and they have tried to hunt us down in the past. I have to thank Bleak for taking me in allowing me a home.”

So Dashite was both a symbol of bravery and danger? Or was it just a symbol of bravery to her? I didn’t know honestly, but I didn’t agree with it. It seemed like such a mean term to call someone, and I didn’t like that. I don’t think she realized the full extent of what it meant, but if she was fine with the term, I wouldn’t keep her from using it the way she did. As long as it didn’t cause a pony to turn a gun on us.

“Feather, we need you at the bridge,” I look to see a lime green pegasus with white eyes and a purple mane and tail waiting at the door. “I don’t think I need to tell you why.”

“Celestia damn it Sharpshot,” She muttered to herself before turning back to me. “Looks like your friend might be messing with some more machinery, I have to go.”

“Wait!” I manage to stop her before she goes around the side of the door. “Could you tell me where the key to this room is, I’m kinda tire,”

“Last door in the hallway,” Feather tells me. “No way you can miss it.”

“Thanks,” I got in my power armor as I gave that last reply before she ran around the corner.

“So Twister lied to us yet again,” The lime green pegasus said to me. “Go figure. Code names Rocket by the way.”

“Nice to meet you,” I greeted. “Thanks for helping us out back there. Just wondering, why is Sharp messing with machinery not a good thing?”

“Guess you haven’t known him as long as we have,” Rocket realized. “You heard how he messed up the engine one and a half years ago right,” I nodded in response. “Well he doesn't really have good luck when it comes to anything very technical. Considering how curious he gets around technology, it’s hard to keep him from messing anything up really. Guess he did give us Feather though, and that’s something we all consider to be good.”

“Wow,” I was shocked at this. “And here I was thinking he was the smart one."

I got a bit of a laugh out of Rocket with this. I wasn't trying to be funny though, I really thought Sharp would be better with things like that considering how much he knows about the wasteland.

“So your goal is find the Bloody Angel huh?” I ask, even though I already knew the answer.

“Well, that’s what they claim,” Rocket said. “We do have the job of taking them down, whoever they are, but we also are tasked with trying to make the wasteland safer for the time the Grand Pegasus Enclave decides to join the others down her. Extermination of anything that could be possibly harmful to us, that kind of stuff.”

“Oh,” I said surprised. “Guess it makes more sense than,” A yawn escaped me, reminding me of the room I had free to me. “I think I’ll be off to bed now, will chat later okay.”

“Fine by me,” He say heading off down the hallway to what I assumed was the place he called the bridge.

I walked down the hallway till I saw only one door remaining. I pushed the key card Bleak had given up to a small pad and watched as the door next to it opened. I was greeted by a room that was much nicer than any other I’ve seen so far, at least in terms of it being my bedroom. I actually had blankets and pillows, which I hadn’t really had before. I looked to my left and realized that the room had a spare Novasurge rifle in it, every room here must of had one (or at least every quarter). I took it, not willing to give up such a great gift from the Enclave.

I got out of my power armor and laid Remembrance and the Novasurge rifle next to me in case of emergency, and quickly found myself falling to sleep in the comfiest bed I had ever slept in.

Author's Notes:

Well... The Enclave aren't acting as bad guys or antagonists in this. That certainly is a bit of a change to me considering how most stories I've read have shown them differently. Still, I think this is probably the most gruesome thing I have ever written concerning Mud Swirls death, and expect it to get a bit more so in the future, of course probably not immediately but still. Anyways please like, comment, and check out my other stories if you haven't already.