Stirring in her sleep she snuggled up closer nuzzling into her pillow, her brittle pillow, her hard brittle pillow. Lexicon opened her eyes and after only four seconds of her sleepy eyes staring through her glasses still perched atop her snout directly into the empty eye sockets of the pale and stained pony skull in her forelimbs.

Oso practically burst through the debris and even the wall, through century old equipment with fire in his eyes and his odd pick like weapons in his talons. At about the same moment Croce rushed in from further forward along the path, pistol drawn and leveled as both griffons scanned the cavern with piercing eyes ready to utterly delete the offending party from existence.

The skull rolled across the ground as Lexi continued to shriek hiding behind Croce. It wasn’t until talons wrapped over her mouth and a paw kicked her into the back of her knees and forced her into a sitting position. “Holy fuck mud pony… if the capacity and potency of your lungs didn’t downright amaze me I would be dying of laughter…. Well, at least after my ears stopped bleeding…” Croce's tail twitched in aggravation as did his eye as he refused to take his talons from her mouth.

Oso sighed and sat down, sliding his weapons under his wings again. He appeared to be a griffon with impressive patience, but the way he rubbed the point where his beak ended and his feathery face began told her that this patience was stretching rather thin. “Well… since you're up. Get ready, and it looks like you’re not crippled by all the strain yesterday, so pack your stuff.”

Lexi shook off Croce’s talons and whimpered up at him. “It’s not funny!” She sat for a moment before Oso threw her bag down in front of her.

“Ready up girl, we don’t have forever.” The big griffon turned away as if he had everything better to do.

With a great deal of mumbling and complaining she packed everything and with a little more help than she would like to admit, was ready to go. The fringes of her mind told her what was obvious to them and what she didn’t want to think about, they would already be there if she wasn’t with them, and they had to protect her life, her freaking out and shrieking, while she personally felt she had very valid reasons for doing so, they obviously didn’t like having to forge a warpath, rushing in ready to fight every time she saw something that scared her and made noise about it.

Strapping the last of her clothes into place to keep out the frigid cold, she mumbled and winced as Oso pulled the straps on her back tight. “Listen… Lexi, I know not being scared is not exactly a strong suit of yours, but I'm asking kindly to just toughen up a little, your life might actually depend on it someday. We should at the very least see one of the Susi today. Their culture has a practically religious, near biological opposition to weakness.”

The little pony opened her mouth then promptly closed it again. She didn’t know what to do or say. She settled for trying to opt out. “I don’t suppose you guys can just leave me somewhere while you do the meeting.”

It was sometimes a little hard reading the face of a griffon, especially as they had no lips. But the corners of their mouths usually showed their opinion and emotion. “That would get you killed even faster. There is not a single lump of flesh in all of the north that the Susi cannot find.”

Lexicon did not like the thought of being referred to as a lump of flesh, but the point got across easily. “So.. What’s the plan?” She raised her eyebrows but had a good feeling that she didn’t want to know the answer.

He sighed, almost as if he was hating his own words. “I have to give you a makeover…”

Lexi whimpered and Croce groaned clenching his talons harder and dribbling blood into the upturned and broken skull pulled from the ground, it was a handy makeshift bowl. Oso’s eyes remained very focused as he carefully spread the blood below Lexi’s eyes. He had already tied bone fragments into her mane and now he worked to very carefully place fine, even bloody streaks and marks over her face and on her neck.

“I don’t buy your whole bullshit about your blood not being any good for this.” Croce was still very disgruntled as Oso explained that it had to be his blood and not any from the massive griffon.

“Sorry, but my blood might hurt her.” He rubbed a swath of blood from under her eyes, streaking it down like bloody tears.

“How the fuck is that even a thing? What do you… heh.. Have some rust on your birdie harpoon?” He smirked and Lexi tilted her head a little unsure of what Croce was asking.

Oso did not sound entertained. “No little one, I do not have STDs. But I do have a condition less embarrassing, but just as, if not more dangerous to her.” Lexi opened her mouth but Oso’s talons clamped down softly shutting it. “And no, I’m not going to tell you, I’d rather just keep that to myself.” He popped another berry before reaching under his wing and plucking a feather. With a little bit of effort, he buried the long feather into her mane and tangled it up as to not let it fall out. Croce chuckled at the action but mostly just remained quiet.

“Um… by any chance can you at least explain what all this is?” She grumbled, still extremely uncomfortable using literal blood as face paint. It was almost too much for her as it was, but she needed to know more.

“The Susi have some cultural codes. Strength and combat prowess is extremely important, even among the children. However, there are few of their kind who simply can’t fight. I forget the exact historical and cultural reasoning… but its something along the lines of ‘I cannot shed blood, so there are others who shed it for me, and my value lays in my efforts to support them.’ That’s what the blood is for, and the hair, but the hair is more to let them realize you are female. They usually wear their hair a bit like this, and with those markings they will take to it easier.”

She nodded, still not liking it at all, but it was better than dying to whatever these wolves would do. ”And the feather?”

Croce chuckled a little again, it was unclear if he knew or he just had a general guess. Oso shot him a glare and the smaller Griffon went quiet. “It’s nothing.. Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s not nothing… come on, I know I’m not the most reliable for these situations, but I really need details to put myself at ease.” It almost reminded her of school, the other fillies always tried to keep things from her, or worse, give her misinformation just to laugh later.

“Look, these are all precautions. They might not even be necessary. They thrive off being able to test their mettle. If they see us all, they will in all likeliness attack me and Croce first. I just want to be sure this goes smoothly, without you dying.”

“Then can I go without the feather? She flicked what little mane she had loose, trying to keep the feather from annoying her.

“As soon as we are somewhere safe.” He sighed and shot another glare at Croce who looked as if he was going to burst out laughing.

“Can I tell her what it means in Griffon Culture?” He smiled and Oso growled under his breath.

“It basically means the same thing. Just not as blatant…” Now Lexi was very curious and Croce stepped closer still looking at Oso giving him a look that just screamed that he was going to tell her the moment he turned his back. Oso groaned and with a loud sigh he opened his beak again. “My feather in your mane or decorating you where everyone can see it implies sexual or at the very least romantic submissiveness to me.”

Lexi squinted still expecting a little more of an explanation before Croce spouted out. “It means he’s a pony fucker!” He exploded into laughter and Lexi went even more rigid with embarrassment.

Oso promptly conked Croce over the head shutting him up quickly. “The wolves love their mates and family more than anything, they will even turn on their leaders instantly without a moment’s hesitation if he or she harms or demands harm upon their family or lovers. Within the Susi, it is believed that love makes a warrior very powerful, as it is, they have a cultural taboo against killing their enemy’s lovers when they can just fight their enemy. It's kinda seen as cowardly and dishonorable, also they would want to avoid sending their enemies into a blood rage of vengeance. The feather combined with the markings, its a certain way to make sure they won't kill you when we aren’t looking or in the initial rush. In the end, it’s not against their laws, it's just something that’s frowned upon.”

Croce picked himself off the ground and despite the welt on the crown of his head, he still chuckled. “Oh! Right… and here.” He stifled his laughter as he held out the 10mm pistol to her.

She was still overwhelmed and still not sure how she would even pick up the pistol. “Ah.. um..th...I… wh…”

Oso’s talons swiped over Croce’s open palm and snatched up the pistol. “NO!... We are not giving her a weapon. I don’t need her freaking out and shooting someone… hell she’s most likely more dangerous to us than the wolves are.”

“Fine… but I’m not letting you live this down..” Croce chuckled before Oso stepped past nudging him hard enough to send him stumbling.

“Aye… just remember I am five times your size, and I think we have already established how a fight between the two of us will go.” He turned and began his way down the path through the cave.

Lexi still sat with wide eyes looking very uncomfortably at the feather hanging from her hair. Croce didn’t seem to mind the aggression from Oso, he had been trying to push his buttons for a while. He seemed more pleased that he finally got a reaction than fearful that the massive griffon just gave the warning. Instead of calling out or nudging her, Croce opened his talons and gave a firm slap over Lexi’s tush as he followed Oso. “Come on turkey concubine, we have some wolves to meet.”

The small speechless pony had to force herself to practically stumble down the path after them.

It was another few hours of walking before Lexi noticed snow on the ground mixed with icy deposits over the walls, then looking up she was relieved to see the cloudy sky above them again showering them with a fine powdery snow through the small openings in the ceiling. Another thirty minutes before she felt comfortable saying that they were not technically in the cave anymore. She still flustered and worried over the feather in her mane. She could barely handle something so distracting even if it did not have such a meaning. But she put some thought into it, if she was going to attack someone and noticed something implying her target was in a relationship with somepony as intimidating as Oso was, she wouldn’t even begin to think about going through with the attack.

Lexi’s train of thought was derailed as Oso gave a slight gesture and immediately Croce took to the air. She entertained the idea of asking what was going on, but she was pretty sure at this point she sounded like a toddler asking questions every half second. These birds were warriors, nothing about her and the way she thought was considered even remotely helpful to them in combat. She didn’t know what they were doing, but if it was important she didn’t want to interrupt them or break the silence, especially with these two not speaking a word as they positioned themselves.

The snow had significantly narrowed the channel they had been walking through. It was like somepony had shaved off the top of the cave and continued to make the road more and more shallowly set in the ground. Every step forward was like another layer of snow clinging to the walls, it made sense that the more exposure lead to thicker snow, but the snow build up on the walls quickly revealed to have another purpose as a white furry set of arms exploded outward from the snow and wrapped over Lexi, but before she could shriek out and possibly even deafen her assailant, clawed fingertips covered her mouth firmly. To her terror, she could do nothing and didn’t seem to realize that the large figure was simply holding her and nothing else. So in its arms she flailed and let out muffled shrieks and whimpers. She fully expected Croce at the very least to come charging.

The moment her panic dropped to just low enough of a level for her logical side to take over, her eyes darted about looking for the griffons. She quickly spotted Oso trading titanic blows with a creature that stood head and shoulders above him, which was unthinkable with how massive he was. But she couldn't spot Croce, she could only see what almost looked like wolves deeper in the woods throwing rocks, but instead of rocks, fire and lightning shot up into the sky.

Plowing into him, the heavy wolf roared into Oso’s face, who in turn let out a booming screech right back at the massive bipedal wolf. “Hesin er ein draugr...” It growled out while looking fiercely into Oso’s eyes.

Oso in turn clearly struggled and stumbled over the words but spat out. “Veren järjestys lähetti minut. Stìr av Blóð sent meg.”

The massive wolf seemed to regard him for a moment before letting go and stepping back. Holding what looked to be a small stone high. He gave it a noticeable squeeze and it let out a barely audible crackle, near instantly Lexi was released. She couldn't fathom what the device was, but logical Lexi mumbled something about wolves having better hearing and secret signals.

Plopping into the snow she quickly scuttled back until she was practically under Oso whimpering loudly within seconds. She looked back at the wolf who had held her and to her surprise it looked rather feminine. It regarded her softly, its movement was slow and fluid as it peered over her and Lexi noticed the gaze was not into her eyes but just to the left, at the feather. The wolf raised its eyebrows, its eyes drifting from her to Oso and back. The fact that she was under him and cowering into his figure did not help the awkwardness.

“Oso… can I take the feather out now?” She blurted out very uncomfortably, wanting dearly to move away from him and at the same time not wanting to be more than a half inch from him.

“Sure, but keep it on you, It might come in handy later.” He scooted the pony out from under him with his hind paw almost as if she was just a stone he wanted out of his path. But just as quickly, he redirected his attention to the wolf in front of them. “Is my comrade in the sky alright?”

The wolf looked him over and in a gruff voice he grumbled back. “Yes… he is fast… our Shamans could not pluck him from the sky, but they have tried.”

Lexi rested a little easier hearing that. She was not certain he was saying what she hoped he was, but she was confident enough they were talking about Croce. She quickly pulled the feather from her hair and stuffed it into one of her bags. The feminine looking wolf chuckled and stepped back into a stray ray of light peeking through the shadows and rocky cliffs. But to her amazement, the wolf seemed to utterly vanish the moment she touched the light.

“I assume, you will want to see head oracle, yes?” The bigger wolf before Oso grumbled.

“Yes, but I would like to wait for my comrade.” Oso gestured to the sky with remarkable calmness, remarkable only to Lexi who was only just barely not hyperventilating. She was confident that she would be fine, and though it was no real accomplishment to frighten her, she partially marveled at how calm and collected the big Griffon was, especially after trading blows with the hulky beast of a wolf there with them.

More wolves started to show up, Lexi found it rather frightening to see how fast they seemed to simply appear, almost as if they simply popped up right out of thin air. They muttered and spoke to each other as they waited for Croce to return. She had no idea what they were saying, and they seemed very on guard speaking without inflections in their tone nor facial twitches or any such tells. Even if she was any good at reading faces she would be utterly lost. Watching Osos’s features she was something similar to relieved to see that she could read his face, and she was not the only one lost.

If she had to guess, he was not suspicious or wary, but completely lost in the speech. She would watch him listening intently, but she would watch him seemingly phase out then snap to. She didn’t know much about reading people but she knew languages. He was trying to listen, and it was clear that he did not know the language fully and he would be lost in the gentle splashes of words that rumbled like a small guttural ocean. Then she noticed something. She couldn’t be positive, but the way the wolves were speaking, it almost seemed like it was two separate languages. One was much longer and spoken more artistically, as the other seemed to flow and blaze like a calm fire.

Lexi swatted herself. She was putting way too much thought into something so unimportant. She grumbled and fidgeted before she noticed some of the more feminine wolves giggling and chuckling softly at her. She felt very uncomfortable. Especially having that feather in her bags. She could still feel the spot where it was attached to her mane.

Her mind began to fuss again before the wolves noticeably became more active, and just as fast Croce landed in the clearing, fuming angrily he leaned in closer to Oso and spouted off. “You didn’t say I would be dodging fucking Lighting and fire!”

Oso raised a set of talons calmly. “I told you what you needed to know….”

“A shot that I will hear and never see, just run and turn quickly at random?” His jaw was so tight his beat was making an audible noise from the stress.

“Yes, and you’re alive. Congrats… you followed the instructions and weren’t killed. These wolves may not be able to fly, but make no mistake, they own these skies, they own all the north.” He smiled and gave a firm pat on Croce’s head. Croce looked to be just about done with it all.

“Croce?” Lexi’s tone was calm but she had a feeling that while he was very angry about his situation, he had followed her of his own accord. Honestly, she was extremely surprised that he was still with them. His oath, contract, or whatever it was must have been extremely important.

Croce looked back at her and relief flooded through her as he didn’t even look back at Oso, he just made his way to her side and stood silently. He was young, but he seemed like a model soldier, and just as concerned about the wolves as Lexi was.

“Aye, now that you all are prepared. Let’s go, the Oracle is surely waiting for us all.” The wolf smiled and turned about.

Lexi’s pipbuck let out a beep and she checked it, confused she watched the device spew out a line of words. [Mission with the big birb, find the wolves/part3] [Go see Oracle]

She whispered to the device with a great deal of frustration. “I hate you, why can’t you just make logical sense?”

But it was at this time she noticed the small red bar indicating that she had a bit of radiation buildup. Almost panicking she rifled through her things and sipped quickly on the bag of fluids, checking and rechecking every few moments and only began to relax as she saw the levels begin to drop. Luckily it had not been very high, but she saw what radiation did to the wildlife, and she had received some training about radiation back before the world ended, she did not want to start mutating.

Now calmer and with Croce following close, watching the wolves like he knew for a fact that they would turn on them all any moment, they shuffled through the snow along a seemingly barely existing path with surprising ease. The wolves lead the small group along and as they made their way, the snow became deeper and deeper, but thankfully Oso took to walking in front of Lexi. Even taking in his massive size he was irregularly powerful and seemed to take no effort plowing through the snow and ice, creating a path for those who followed.

The more she traveled the more she came to notice that more and more wolves were beginning to show up. They even took up residence in the dead frozen trees before seeming to vanish as she blinked. Lexi stirred wanting to ask questions but as her logical mind whispered to her, Oso still looked very stressed, Croce was still very angry, and as the less than logical Lexis wailed into hear ears that wolves were scary.

And so it was, she quietly walked the path being carved through deep snow until she saw it.

“...Whoa….” Was all she could say. She had seen pictures of the large plain wooden wall filled with run down huts. Filled with Yaks and the ritualistic smashing of various objects.

This was nothing like that.

The walls had been risen another 40 feet and what looked like giant dragon bones reinforced the walls. Massive crystals held in place by runed bindings and much to her displeasure, the walls appeared to be very thoroughly decorated with Yak bones. Other than that, there was what she guessed to be a large tree with deep blood red leaves just barely peeking over the top of the walls. The village that was once called Yakyakistan was now a fortress that utterly dominated the landscape.

“Yeah… that was my first reaction too.” Oso slowed, he breathed deeply and grumbled. Reaching back he picked Lexi up with a single outstretched grasp. She let out a sharp ‘eep’ but he ignored her as he looked directly at Croce. “Don’t touch the red tree, its sacred to them and they will kill you instantly.”

He hefted her and climbed over the snow setting her down. As she sank halfway into the snow she came to the conclusion that while it was quite useful to have somepony that strong around to just pick her up willy nilly, she kinda hated it. She had been completely been at the mercy of literally everything in this land ever since she woke up, getting manhandled by a griffon ten times her size was just rubbing in her weakness making her feel significantly smaller.

“Speaking of making me feel small…” She muttered as they approached the massive gate. Two things caught her eyes, the first made very little sense at all and the second made her blurt out something she hoped would not be taken the wrong way by the wolves.

She quickly noted the the massive dragon like bones supporting the walls looked quite literally metal. She guessed by the level of oxidation that it was raw iron. Then there was something she could not quite ignore. Being a pony, naturally she was not very keen on eating other animals, and thus she was quite put off by the massive multi wheeled cart hauling in what she could only guess was a skinned and gutted monster from the wastes.

She recoiled from the sight but something caught her eyes. The cart itself was very old, and extremely well crafted with fire hardened wood that appeared to be extremely durable even without treatments. The wood had various treatments but she could plainly see from a great deal of other objects laying around, the heads of the spears, and any other bladed weapons of which the wolves pushing and pulling the massive cart had in abundance, their level of technology was more extensive than this. They likely had at the very least steel ball bearing axles and reinforced joints for something like this, even without a factory in sight, but a quick glance as they passed she could see heavy friction burns where the axle met the wheel.

“Hey, this thing needs lubrication, if it continues like this the axle will likely fracture.” She gestured lightly at the wheel in need.

The wolves slowed quickly taking note to her words. Her heart sank, other than the very few wolves that had met them and of the few that still were there with them, she hadn’t heard many speak at all. Not to mention despite there being a team of about twenty wolves, other than grunts and growls, they had been very silent. She just hoped they wouldn't see her as a nosy pony telling them what to do.

One wolf made his way over, she took in his oddly fluid like movements, he was covered in scars and appeared to have a mild limp but oddly his head stayed perfectly level and did not bob or stagger at all. His stature was nothing like what she would expect for his appearance. “Hrmm…. Thank you pony…”

Even his voice took her off guard. Equestrian was clearly not his first language but he spoke it remarkably well. She half expected some sort of shrill guttural growling and mumbling. But despite his looks, the wolf practically spoke like a poet with a deeper and somewhat mysterious voice. “Y..You’re welcome… I mean, I don’t know your supply situation but I would recommend a synthetic oil, but a simple upgrade to the axle would do best for the cart.”

“No, we can just use some lard.” He smiled kneeled next to the wheel. “Thank you though, I can forget to service my carts sometimes.” She stared with wide eyes as the wolf grabbed an exposed hunk of fat hanging out of the dead creature on the cart and began liberally applying it to the axle.

Croce nudged her and she continued forward and she moved trying to get back up close to Oso. Again, she recoiled at the sight and even the thought. Not only did these wolves eat meat and decorate their walls with bones, they used the fat of their enemies to lubricate their machines. She found it oddly terrifying that they could do all of this and still speak so civilized.

Moving past the gate she gaped at the massive size of the tree which she quickly noted was entirely blood red. It was not just red leaved, but it had red bark, and red everything. She quickly noted that it appeared to have been magically grown. She remembered her science class growing watermelon into odd shapes by restricting the growing fruit inside a shaped container. But this tree had dozens upon dozens of flawlessly squared pedestals that had grown in at perfect right angles horizontally from the trunk. Evenly spaced on top of many were wolves, old, young and very young. They all stood, eyes closed, a vague chant coming off their lips as they seemed to whisper softly, it was like a sweet and sad song as they all remained still, perfectly in sync with each other.

Other than the soft chant, the city was eerily silent. The wolves went about their daily lives without a word. Even the little market she could see in the distance was being shopped at, no words, a wolf just walked up, pointed, and then the other wolf handed her what looked to be a wrapped basket, the wolf then dropped something on the table and they parted. It baffled her. But she thought for a few seconds and decided it wasn’t too odd. She was born and raised in Equestria, she couldn't go outside without hearing at least ten ponies talking in the street, on a busy day they might even break into song. With how silent the wolves were, perhaps their culture was simply not one for small talk, or any talk.

Suddenly then there was a sound she knew by heart. Laughter, the laughter of children. She watched the little wolf pups rush through. Despite the large teeth, she couldn’t help but look at them with a smile. They were so adorable. She took a moment with an observation that made them even cuter. From the looks of them, she guessed that they grew into their tails.The adults and children basically had the same sized tail, and looking at them scamper about with those large fluffy tails almost made her want to try and pet one.

But then there was something that made her heart sink. As the children ran past she watched the colors of their coats which ranged from black and white, to mostly browns, dark grays, and very rarely a pure white. But she spotted eyes following the small group, staring longingly at the other pups. The children themselves did not seem to even notice the pony and griffons but these eyes froze on her. She looked close and noticed the cold fear stricken eyes. Three of them. Solid black fur of two young pups, but to her horror they were horribly scarred, so much so that one was even missing one of its eyes. She could see by the little paw it raised that it was missing two digits as it looked at her with mistrust and fright. She didn't know this culture, and she didn't know how it would be taken if she questioned why the pure black furred ones looked so abused and didn't mix with the other more diversely furred pups.

“Ikki veruligt…” The little pup uttered the words and the other repeated it. The words drove a cold shock through her and she felt extremely uncomfortable even fearful at the little one’s foreign words. She simply stared uncomfortably. But a pure white wolf moved forward ushering them off speaking too soft to hear to them. But they could not look away. All three eyes from both pups were glued to her until they had fully passed through a door and out of sight.

“Oso… w..what does that mean?” She swallowed, very put off by the event, she couldn't even repeat the complicated words the pups had uttered if she had to.

“I have to be honest little one, I have no idea, I learned their language just barely, but then they came along with some whole other dialect which I barely learned. I think they merged the island tribe into the main tribe here. I really don’t know.” He didn’t bother looking back, he just sighed and continued forward. “Sorry, I am just not used to having to explain and baby sit ponies through this gods awful land.”

She nodded and clamped her lips shut only glancing back at Croce for a moment. She felt a little upset as he looked relieved that she had made the display of being quiet. Grumbling but not actually speaking she followed Oso who seemed to be following the wolf who had lead them to the city and Croce followed her. All the other wolves had appeared to have simply peeled off or vanished as they made their way forward.

They closed in to the base of the tree where she took note of even more bones. A large high ceiling building made of wood and more bones stood firmly. Yet, the doorway was constructed of chiseled stone and open wide, veiled only by what she in near terror identified as what was most likely yak pelts. Something inside her spoke loudly and she found herself not wanting to go close to the building, but as she was clearly not the decider of her own fate, she reluctantly followed Oso and did her best to move fast enough for Croce to not bump into her.

She was quite thankful that a wolf on the inside pulled back the pelts. They entered calmly and Oso looked to be about ready to give some sort of ritualistic greeting as he bowed low. But something odd happened. A wolf, pure white with a very feminine figure hopped off a throne made of carved and runed bones. Very unlike the wolves of the city, this one hopped right up to Oso and oddly hugged him. It apparently took the big bird by surprise too, in fact he looked very uncomfortable.

“Oh! You do care, you came after all, and you didn’t bring the grump… but who is this? This is not Tyrin… and this is not Earl, or Yin… did you make new friends?” She moved closer, looking and even sniffing at Croce who let out a grumble trying to look like he was not trying to lean away from her. She quickly moved on and again Lexi did not know what to do as the wolfess was almost immediately in her face with deep blue eyes that were so beautiful it almost hurt to look at them.

“H..um..hi… I… um.. You see… I am… uh…” Lexi fumbled with her words as the wolf circled her smiling sniffing and even poking.

“Books, diminished physique, discomfort… Oso… you left the grump and the scholar behind but you still brought a grump and a scholar…” She laughed and made her way back, seeming to almost throw herself into the large stone chair.

“I was expecting Elder Oracle Kylmä Kauhua..” Oso rubbed the bridge of his nose. Lexi could tell that at the moment, these actions were more annoying than her presence, at least for the moment. Lexi could happily settle for being second worst on her friend’s nerves.

“Sadly it was her time, mother went to join the great hall. You should have seen how many Cursed blood she killed before she was finally felled, we are still celebrating.” Oso looked left then right seeing the stoic honor guard standing firm and the wolfess corrected. “Well, ‘I’ am still celebrating. What is the point in life if you cannot be happy, and a leader must be happy, happy for the people. It is my place.”

Grumbling quietly Oso took a moment then spoke softly. “Very well then elder Ruusu, we are here to try... again, to bargain for your assistance in the…” he paused looking back at Croce and Lexi before sighing. “... the Project…”

A look of disdain and annoyance spread over his face, and if it was any indication of his previous experiences, then this would take a very long time.

“Ok, you have our assistance, and please just call me Rosie.” She chimed happily as she leaned back in her throne.

“How about no… and….wait… WHAT?” Oso’s eyes went wide and Lexi could have swore she heard him squawk. “D..don’t take my confusion for disappointment, but… um… what makes today any different from the last… I don’t know, 50 times!?”

The white wolf called ‘Rosie’ smiled and with a single playful motion she levied a pointed finger at Lexi. “Because of her.”

Footnote: No level up. While your companions do most the heavy lifting and you are doing quests, you could certainly do more.

You are now liked by the Southern Clans
You are now Neutral with the Island Clans

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat, Fallout Equestria Pink Eyes by Mimezinga and Fallout Equestria Project Horizons by Somber; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

Author - Sanguine Eyes
Chapter editor - Currently N/A
Earl: Concept artist, Proof reader.
Nick Valentine: Artist

Author's Notes:

Aye, expect a few changes here and there. I mess up from time to time, it happens, I'm human.

I only caught myself about last week that I had forgotten the entire ending "level up" segment last chapter.
But I updated it and I will continue to try and update it. I'm supposed to be asleep right now, so please let me know if I mess something up, I'll try and fix it. I don't currently have an editor. But here you go ^_^ please