“So what is the plan?” I was looking at the map.

“Well the way I see it is we can only protect one town from these two groups. There is only one place where multiple squadrons of ponies will be attacking.” Onyx was looking the map over.

“Where is that?” I looked over the map looking for the biggest settlements.

“New Appleloosa. It’s one of the bigger settlements that has actually managed to stay strong for this long.” He pointed to a town on the map.

“So why defend them they seem to be well off. At least enough that a raider attack shouldn’t collapse the city.” I could actually see the city in a holographic form. I spun it a few times looking over the defenses.

“They have held out against small groups of raiders not full sized platoons of soldiers.” He pushed the hologram away.

I was looking at the map. We knew where they would be attacking and where they would be sending troops from. We had the entire battle plan laid out before us but we knew that plans could change.

“So all the other places don’t really matter?” Harmony had been sitting quietly scooching closer to me.

“Well I wouldn’t say that Harmony. They are of less importance to us at the moment. New Appleloosa is a center for trade in the wasteland. We would be in a better situation if we were to help them out.” Onyx looked over the plan again.

“Ok now that makes sense.” Harmony had gotten within reach of me. I scooched out of reach.

“I knew you would come around. If we are going to help them out we need to leave immediately. Unless we can get a sky chariot or two we will have to trot all the way there.” He grabbed the map and slid it into his saddlebags.

“Well that’s no fun.” I was not excited to have to walk that distance.

“It isn’t meant to be. Most ponies ride in wagons or fly if they have to make that kind of a trip.” Onyx turned back towards us.

One of the guards trotted over to us. “You were suppose to leave over an hour ago. I need to ask you to leave or else things might get violent.” He grabbed a baton in his magic.

“I wouldn’t recommend that.” I slid out the boar rifle.

“And I wouldn’t suggest that.” An automated turret slid out of the wall. “That will tear you to pieces before you can find cover.” I slowly lowered my gun. “Good choice. Now out the door.” He pointed to the open front door.

We trotted outside. I was the last to leave the tower. As an insult to our pride the guard slammed the door hitting me in the flanks.

“Ow. I swear to Celestia you will regret doing that one day.” I kicked the door.

The guard spoke through the intercom. “We’ll see about that.”

“Well we better get started if we want to get there on time.” Onyx pulled me away from the door.

I glared at the camera for a few seconds. “Ok let’s go.”

(Skip. Nothing interesting happens for quite some time.)(You say that because I refused your advances for like a week after this.)(Well yes and the only interesting thing that happened that day was just past midnight.)

The day progressed slowly. We eventually had to stop for the night and set up a camp.

“Let’s stop here we have covered plenty of ground today. We all need to get some rest so we can start early tomorrow.” I yawned.

Camp consisted of a few sleeping bags and a small fire for cooking and warmth. I situated my sleeping bag across camp from Harmony. I could tell she was trying to move closer to me without me noticing. She was doing a terrible job of it. After ten minutes she was right next to me.

“You know I’m not happy with you right now.” I rolled away from her.

“Come on. I need you.” Desperation crept into her voice.

“No.” I rolled back to face her.

“Please I know you are mad but please just please.” She was pleading.

“The answer is no and that is final. I need some time to get over this.” I rolled back over.

“Ok. Can We at least be close. It is quite cold out here.”

I knew she was just trying to get what she wanted. “We can be close but no cuddling or anything of the sort.”

I kept my back turned to her but she still insisted to get as close to me as you possibly could. I simply accepted it and dozed off. I would have slept the entire night through had a sky chariot not crash landed just outside of camp.

“What the buck was that?” I tried to hop out of my bed. Harmony had rolled away from me.

“It looks like a sky chariot. It still seems pretty much intact. We might be able to use it to get to New Appleloosa in less than one day.” Onyx was looking over the crashed chariot.

“Yeah that’s all well and good but who crashed this here? Where did they run off to?” I prodded Harmony. She rolled back to me.

“Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Best to use them for other things.” Onyx winked at me.

“Gross.” I cringed a bit.

I slowly crawled out of bed. Harmony clung to me but I shook her off. She winced a little as she hit the ground. I mouthed ‘Sorry’ before walking over to the chariot.

Minus a few scratches and a large dent in the right side the chariot was in perfect condition.

“So you think we might be able to get to New Appleloosa before sunset tomorrow?” I was looking at the dent a bit worried.

“Probably. It won’t be a warm ride but it will get us there quickly.” He tilted the chariot upright.

“Good. For now I am going back to sleep.” Harmony laid back down.

“How about you just get in the chariot. It is big enough that you should be able to sleep somewhat comfortably in it.” I nodded.

I trotted back over to camp and started packing my things. I tapped Harmony on the shoulder a few times to make sure she hadn’t gone back to sleep.

“Hey get up.” I kept prodding her.

“What is it?” She rolled over to look at me.

“We are going to use the chariot that crashed outside of camp to get to New Appleloosa.” I spoke softly.

“Aren’t we going to do that in the morning?” She rubbed her eyes.

“No. Now get on the chariot you can sleep there.”

She crawled out of her sleeping bag. “Fine.”

Demo and Onyx agreed to pull the chariot and let the rest of us sleep.

“I don’t know what we would do without you two.” I hugged Onyx.

“You are welcome.” Onyx smiled at me. “Get in the chariot. Try and get some sleep.”

“Ok mom.” I chided at him.

I had mostly gotten over the death of my mother but every time I thought about her I remembered the stable. All of those innocent ponies had died. They were friends. They were almost my family. I wouldn’t stop until the wasteland was free of Tri-Tear and his tyranny. I would make sure he would pay for having killed all of my family and friends. That was for a future day. For now I went back to sleep.

I woke up to a prod in the side and the gruff voice of a stallion.

“Get up.” The stallion prodded me again.

“What? Where are we? Who are you?” I sat bolt upright.

“You are going to be floating through space here in a few seconds if you don’t get up.”

I considered for a second before rising to my hooves. The stallion looked me over twice. He seemed pleased with me.

“You will do perfectly. Should sell for about one hundred caps right now. Might even get somepony to buy you for a two or three hundred caps.” He nodded looking me over again.

“What are you talking about?” I had suspicions.

“What I’m talking about is you are going to be sold as a sex slave.”

I looked around for my friends but saw nothing. I looked the stallion in the eyes and tried putting on my most seductive voice.

“Are you sure you want to sell me. I bet nopony could please me like a big strong stallion like yourself.” I traced a hoof over his chest.

“Well nopony said I was going to sell you immediately. I had planned on keeping you around for as long as I felt you would be fun.” He grinned.

“Trust me honey. I can be fun for the rest of your life. You just have to give me a chance.” I loathed the words coming out of my mouth.

I didn’t take me too long to realize exactly how long this stallion had gone without somepony. I had the same effect on many of the ponies back home. I wiggled my hips.

“Now before we begin I would like to know where my friends are.” I pulled just out of his reach.

“They have been escorted back to the camp. Now if you’ll just follow me we can get down to business at camp.” He was eager to get back.

“Can I see my friends before we do it. I would do so much better for you if you would let me see them first.” I kept up the charade.

“How much better?” He looked me over again.

“Enough that if you did want to sell me you could get easily seven hundred caps. How does that sound?” I winked at him as I rubbed up against him.

“Worth my while. Alright you can see your friends.” He turned off towards his camp.

“You won’t regret it.” I knew he was going to regret all of this here in a few seconds. I reached out with my magic to find the weapons that had been stored in my saddlebags. My saddlebags were not on me. The stallion turned around to see my horn glowing.

“What exactly do you think you are doing?” He was very suspicious.

“I was um.” I had to make one final effort so that I wouldn’t get killed here and now. So I did the one thing that came to mind. “I was just trying to see exactly how big you were. I like to know so I can be prepared.” I drew closer to him.

“Well you could have just asked. I would still be much happier if you waited to do that until we got to the camp.” He gave me a small glare.

I sighed. “Fine. I guess I can wait.” I pouted a little bit just to put him at ease.

He smiled and turned back in the direction he was heading. I hoped that my friends were ok.

The trip back to his camp was a short one. We had been trotting for about two minutes before the camp came into view. It was a much smaller camp than I had expected to see. I guess not everything in the wasteland can be large. That was entirely true for the stallion walking next to me.

“Midnight is that you?” Harmony was looking at the stallion.

“Oh so your name is Midnight. Well nice to meet you for the first time. Here in a few minutes I think I can meet you for the second time.” He winked.

Oh Celestia did he think he was being smooth. I had seen fields full of rocks smoother than him. I smiled at him anyway. I walked over to the cage my friends were being held in.

“So how long have you been here?” I kept my voice down.

“I’d say about two or three hours. He seems to be the only pony around.” Harmony slid her hoof over her throat.

“No weapons. I could ask him where they are.” I looked backwards.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Onyx joined in.

“Well it is good to see you are all alive and for the most part unharmed.”

The stallion tapped the ground a few times. “Midnight. Hurry up my little stallion would like to meet you.”

“Has he been saying things like that while you were here?” I nodded and turned back to Harmony.

“Yes.” She grimaced.

“I’m going to go take care of this. I will be right back.” I trotted over to the one tent out here.

The stallion had already disappeared inside. I could only guess as to what he was doing in there. I shuddered. I really did not want to go in that tent. I swallowed the lump in my throat and entered the tent.

The stallion was laying down on the bed. He had rid himself of what little armor and weapons he had on him. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a little bit of movement but decided to ignore it. I had to find a way to kill this stallion before I had to.. Ugh ride him.

“Come now don’t be afraid. I have seen unexperienced mares before. I know that whole rock my world stuff was just you trying to not let on that you hadn’t mated before. I care not if you have or haven’t. It is my job to show mares like you a good time before I give others the opportunity to do so as well.” He tapped the bed.

“You know I saw one mare out there. Don’t you think we could make this more interesting and fun if we got her in on this?” I looked over my shoulder.

He shook his head. “Best not to waste your time on her. She refuses to do anything with stallions.”

“I think I could convince her. Let me try.” I gave him my best pout.

“Fine. If you think you can convince her to get in on this here's the key let her out only if you can get her to lighten up a little bit.” He waved me off.

“Thank you.” I spun around and slapped my flank as I left the tent.

I trotted out to the cage waited a few seconds and unlocked it. “Harmony come with me. The rest of you stay here. I have only been allowed to free Harmony for now.”

“Ok but why?” Harmony stood up.

“Because I said she would help me get that stallion laid.” I unlocked the cage.

“Absolutely not.” She shook her head.

“Just play along I think this is the only way to get us out of this. Now make yourself look as sexy as possible and follow my lead.” I thought to myself that no mare could look sexier than her.

We trotted very seductively back into the tent.

The stallion seemed very pleased. “Well I didn’t think it could be done but now we can have double the fun.”

We trotted up to the bed. I hesitated at the edge before stepping up onto it. I waved my hips in front of him. He was really pleased with what was happening. Harmony was much closer to the stallion. She was doing her own seductive dance. He smacked her flank smiling.

“I think I’ve seen enough. It is time for the main event.”

A new voice sounded from off to my left.

“Whatever you say sicko.” The voice seemed to be disembodied.

“Who the buck are you?” A pair of eyes opened.

“Me? I’m the angel of death and I’ve come to collect your soul.” A dark blue stallion stepped forward.

“Yeah whatever can it wait. I would like to have some fun before I die.” He looked back to our flanks.

“How’s this for fun.” I jumped out of the way as a blade swung through the air a few times.

Each stroke of the blade added another laceration to the body of the stallion. After twenty or thirty swings the blade rested against the stallion’s throat.

“So. Was that enough fun for you or would you like me to continue.” The mysterious stallion lifted the blade away.

“Dammit. Kill me already.” Our captor was in excruciating pain.

“No.” His voice was stern.

“You have damned me to a slow and very painful death you bastard.” He coughed blood a few times.

“Don’t move. If you do I might have to shove this blade through your throat and kill you.” The blade came down a few inches.

“Do it.” The stallion laying on the bed lifted his neck up.

The blade moved with the stallion. “Eventually but not yet. Are you two mares ok?”

I responded a little unsure of this shady figure. “Yes we are. Who are you?”

“A topic to be discussed after I deal with this sick motherbucker. Now have you learned your lesson?” The stallion pushed the blade down against the other stallions throat.

“What lesson? The lesson that you are out of your goddesses damned mind? I think I’ve learned that lesson.” He coughed up a bit of blood.

“No. The lesson is that if you mess with innocent mares you die.” The blade tore into the stallion.

His body twitched for a few seconds and then was still. I’m not sure what this new stallion had against him but he cut the stallion’s head off.

“Now I believe you asked my name. I’m Silver. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Silver slid the blade away from the dead stallion.

“Why did you cut his head off?” I was still very wary of this stallion.

“It’s a long story and I’ll explain later for now we need to leave here. Slavers come here about once a week to look for new playthings. If we don’t leave soon they will find us.” He trotted to the tent entrance.

“I’m not leaving without my gear.” I looked around for it.

Silver pointed his hoof to our gear. “Right over there grab it and let’s go.”

I trotted over to the gear and put on my armor and saddlebags as quickly as I could. After doing so we exited the tent and freed Onyx, Demo, and Stone. They grabbed a few things from around the camp along with the gear Harmony and I gave to them and we left the area quickly.

After we had a second to slow down and make sure everything was where it should be I got a good look at our new friend. I had originally guessed that he was a unicorn seeing as he had the ability to move a bladed weapon so quickly. I had gotten that part right, he did have a horn. What I had failed to see in the tent was the fact that he had wings.

“You’re an alicorn.” I tilted my head.

“Yes I am.” He turned towards me.

“What happened to your wing?” I looked to his metal left wing.

“A bandit cut it off when I was younger. So I traveled all over equestria trying to find one that fit me perfectly and I did.” He flipped the bladed wing out.

“Maybe we should talk later. We could still be in bandit territory.” Harmony looked behind us.

“Agreed. Silver can you take us to New Appleloosa.” I kept looking at his wing.

“I suppose I can. Follow me.” He trotted off and I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

He was deep blue with a mane of pitch black. It was no wonder I hadn’t seen him sitting in the tent. He was practically invisible in the dark. During my inspection I had also gleaned one more bit of information about him. He had a shield for a cutie mark.

While I had been distracted looking at his cutie mark I had neglected to see the threat that had presented itself.

I was brought back to the world when Silver’s wing held me from moving. “What do you think you are doing?”

I looked around and we were surrounded by bandits. “I was.”

“Not paying attention again. She tends to do that.” Harmony levitated out a gun.

“Thanks Harmony.” I drew one of my pistols at random.

“Any time Midnight.” Harmony looked around and started counting the bandits.

“So what are we going to do?” I shifted my eyes around.

“Well I figure there is probably about fifteen or so of them. If you were to kill five of them I should be able to take the rest.” Silver was looking around.

“How?” I kept looking around.

“I’m an alicorn. I’ve got more to me than meets the eye. Now prepare yourselves. I can keep up one big shield for a long time but enough small shields to protect all of you is something I haven’t had to practice in a long time. On my mark.”

“3. 2. 1.”

The shield dropped and we opened fire. Harmony had pulled out one of the smaller handguns while Onyx and Demo had gone with the bigger ones. Stone had a gun all his own. It looked similar to my boar rifle but a little less bulky. We had taken out four raiders right after the shield dropped. Now came the challenge of picking off a few more of them before they could kill us. That was easier said than done.

I had been the target of most of the gunfire from the raiders. Their aim was terrible and most bullets flew past me and into the distance. The rest of them had hit me. Fortunately most of them were small caliber and couldn’t pierce my armor. The two or three that had rifles on them had managed to puncture my armor. The shots were not fatal if we treated them quickly.

Aurora spoke to me. “You need to drink a few healing potions and get what little of those bullets that are left in you out.”

“Yeah. I had planned to do that as soon as we were safe.” I was laying down avoiding the gunfire.

“I don’t know if you’ll make it that long.” Aurora manifested in front of me.

“Thanks for being so reassuring.” She stayed silent after that.

In the time I had been talking with Aurora another shield had been erected around us. The rest of the raiders were scattered across the ground. Some were in pieces, others had simply been decapitated. Silver was tending to a few minor scrapes where I suspected he had been grazed by bullets. My armor was being taken off of me by Harmony. She looked very displeased with me.

“You could have dodged a few of those you know.” She looked me over to see how bad the shots had been.

“Sorry. I was paying more attention to making sure Silver didn’t die.” I looked over to see Silver standing over me.

“Well bloody good that would have done us if you died. Be more careful next time.” Harmony was rummaging around through her saddlebags.

“Will do. For now can we get me patched up. I think I have a few too many bullets in my body.” I laughed coughing up blood.

Harmony rolled her eyes and helped me out of the rest of my armor. She looked over my wounds for a few seconds before charging her magic. What happened next was awful.

The pain was excruciating as Harmony pulled the little bits and pieces of bullets out of me. I was writhing in agony and had to be held down. I slipped in and out of consciousness. I eventually woke up and was being carried by Silver.

“So how long have I been asleep?” The pain was intense but I was still alive.

“A few hours at most. You had Harmony worried.” Silver was readjusting my position on him.

“Yeah she tends to worry about things a little more than she should.” I laughed and had to stop before I passed out.

“Now look I’m not one to spread rumors but I think she likes you. Seems she has a pretty big crush on you.” Silver seemed to be a little more innocent than he appeared.

“Yeah I know. We are in a relationship.” He seemed a little surprised at that but just shrugged it off.

“I would like to know what was your problem with that pony you saved us from.” I was clutching at where the bullets had hit me. The pain was still horrible.

“I have had a problem with ponies like that since I was young. Raiders foalnapped my mother and I was forced to listen to them have their way with her for hours. So I swore to kill anypony who was like those raiders.” He was... open about his past.

I had no response to that so I choose to stay silent. The rest of the group seemed to be doing fine. They looked a bit bruised and had a few scratches but were no worse for wear. Except for Harmony. She seemed like she was suffering from withdrawals. I didn’t think she had been addicted to anything but I could be wrong.

I decided to call out to her. “Hey Harmony can you come here.”

She picked up her pace and caught up to Silver. “What do you need.” She was very eager to do whatever she could for me.

“I just wanted to talk. If you would be ok with that.” I let go of my wounds.

“Why certainly.” She stayed as close to me as she could.

“Hey Silver do you think you could let me down? I am pretty sure I can walk on my own again.” The pain in my side was dulled.

“Fine. I have no problems with carrying you if you can’t keep up though.” He looked me over.

“Alright.”

We stopped long enough for Silver to set me down and let me try and walk on my own. I was still in shock from all the times I had been shot. I couldn’t walk more than a few steps at a time.

“So I take it you won’t be walking by yourself for a while.” Silver watched as I tried to walk.

“Yeah. I don’t think we would get anywhere if we let me walk on my own.” I sat back down.

Silver went to pick me up by Harmony stopped him. “You need a break from carrying her. I’ll do it.” Harmony stepped towards me.

“Are you sure you can handle carrying her?” Silver raised his eyebrow at Harmony.

“Trust me I can support her easily. I do it more often than you think.”

I would have facehoofed did my sides not hurt. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea Harmony.”

“Nonsense. I don’t want to worry the stallions here with carrying you when I am perfectly capable. Now get on.” She lowered herself to the ground and waited for me.

It was very reluctantly but I got on her back and allowed her to carry me. If she was uncomfortable with carrying me she did a great job of concealing it. Now we had time to talk.

“How have you been Harmony?” I tried my best to not move.

“What do you mean Midnight?” She tried to look back at me while she walked.

“Well you seem to be out of it almost like you are suffering from withdrawal. I got to see Demo when he was going through that and you are displaying some of the same symptoms.”

“Well to be honest with you I think I might be suffering yes.” She looked to the ground searching for words.

“What from?” I was certain she hadn’t changed anything since we left Tenpony.

“Well I think I am suffering from withdrawals from not being able to be close to you. It isn’t anything that I can’t handle. I know you need time to forgive me.” She looked back to the ground.

“Harmony?” I had a plan.

“Yeah.” She turned her head around to look at me. I planted a kiss on her lips for a few seconds before breaking away. She smiled her eyes pleading me for more.

“That’s all you get for now. I might give you some more later if you snap out of your little bout of depression.” I smiled.

“Whatever it takes.” She seemed happier.

I whispered in her ear. “Once I feel you’ve had enough of me playing hard to get I am going to buck you so hard.”

Her face turned red. The others had stopped and were looking at us. Just for effect I nibbled on her ear a little bit. I could tell she wasn’t exactly holding it together well.

“Come on you two we have quite a bit of ground to cover. We need to get going if we want to get to New Appleloosa before the sun sets.” Silver had been the one to speak.

I returned to my whisper. “Yeah Harmony. Wouldn’t want to delay your reward would we?”

“You make it really hard to concentrate.” She had rid herself of her armor to make my ride more comfortable.

“Oh I am only getting started.” We continued walking forward and I continued to tease Harmony.

Keeping her prize just out of reach. We were just outside of New Appleloosa when I got caught.

“What are you doing to her?” Silver had turned around.

“Oh I’m just teasing her. I have been for the entire walk here.” I nibbled Harmony’s ear a bit more.

“Well that is a bit cruel don’t you think?” Silver turned away from us.

“Maybe just a little bit. Harmony I think you have earned this.” I tapped her shoulder.

“Earned what?” She turned to look at me.

“Why another kiss of course.” I planted another kiss on her lips.

“Stop where you are. State your business here in New Appleloosa.” The guard had to yell just to get his message to us.

“We are here to warn you about an incoming attack from Tri-Tear and Crimson Skull. They plan to attack here and turn this into a slave camp. We have come to help protect you.” Silver decided to do our talking.

“Alright. Enter through the gate and then stop. We will have guards down there to talk with you further.”

While they talked I teased Harmony the entire time. “I really hope you know that this is not fun for me. I wish you would just finish the job already.”

“Oh I don’t think so. Not quite yet at least.” I had teased her all the way here.

“Are you two coming or not.” Onyx was standing in the open gate.

“At this moment I am not. Thanks Midnight.” Harmony’s voice was filled with discontent and a hint of anger.

I smiled. “You’re welcome.”

Harmony trotted inside with me in tow. The stallions gawked at her a little bit but otherwise paid us no attention. They had a guard station inside where they checked all ponies equipment and stored it away if it was deemed necessary.

“So are you two here to put on a show for the guards or what?” The stallion behind a glass wall stared at us.

“Why do you ask good sir?” I was being polite even though I knew what he was talking about.

“Well everypony was watching you as you approached. Seemed like you might be practicing for a show. One of those private shows that happens every so often.” He was rubbing his hooves together.

Silvers bladed wing rested a few inches from the stallion guard’s throat. “I would lay off of these two if I was you. Wouldn’t want to have a guard killed because he was harassing some mares now would we.”

“Look kid I suggest you take that blade away from my throat or else we might have to kill you.” He pointed around us.

Every guard had their guns pointed at Silver. He let a laugh escape from his mouth. A shield of blue appeared around him and the guards weapons were ripped from them. In unison each gun fired sending lead flying towards Silver. Every single shot bounced off the shield and into the ground.

“Now do you truly think you can kill me without me taking out all of you first.” He dropped their guns back at their hooves and walked away. “Come on we have a meeting with the leader of this town.”

Harmony had hit the dirt and was currently waving her flanks in the air. I had landed a few feet to her left and was trying to get back to my hooves. I saw one of the guards approach her from behind.

“I don’t think so bub.” I was levitating him in the air. “Better go away before we have some serious trouble.” I was considering slamming him into the ground just to see how hard I could make him hit the dirt.

“Ok just put me down. I’ve had enough of this shit. I am retiring as soon as possible.” I let him fall to the ground. He got to his hooves and trotted away.

Harmony had finally chosen to stop waving her flanks in the air but it was obvious she needed something to help her along.

“Harmony do you mind I’m having a little bit of trouble getting back to my hooves. I might need you to carry me for a little while longer.” I stopped trying to return to my hooves.

Harmony stopped just out of reach. “Only if you promise not to tease me anymore.”

I knew it was the only way to not be stuck here. “Promise.”

She lifted me onto her back and galloped to catch up with the others. The town was a lot bigger than I had expected it to be. We trotted for almost ten minutes before we finally reached the town hall.

A guard opened the doors for us and led us to the office of the mayor. The doors opened and we were face to face with the mayor.

“Welcome to my beautiful city.” A mare spun around in the chair.

“Oh it’s you.” Silver knew this mare.

“I hoped you hadn’t forgotten me you pile of shit.” The mare slammed her hooves on her desk.

“Never in a million years bitch.” Silver spat on the ground.

Author's Notes:

Now posting should happen on an actual schedule. Might be once a week might be twice, I don't know yet. Anyway continue to enjoy the story and leave comments where appropriate.