You know how I said that there would be NSFW shit later on in an earlier comment. Here's where that comes in. Read at your own discretion, and please don't hate me for this.

Music: Bad moon rising, by Mourning Ritual

4 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days after exile

"Thanks again, ma'am!", cried yet another customer as Rainbow took off. She flew backward for a minute, giving the Bighorn a quick wave, before righting herself and flying off. She had been running these packages for a long time now and had gotten it down. It was still working as a glorified mailpony, but it wasn't all that bad. It could be worse; she could've been caught by those brigands outside Burkesh.

And besides, she could still fly. It was still a rush she enjoyed, almost as much as the Crackers (As Huffer called the stims she picked up to help her sleep) she got every now and then. Plus, out here, there wasn't much to get in her way as she flew. Back in Equestria, unless the space was pre-cleared or no one else was around, she had to avoid thicker clumps of clouds, other pegasi, and the occasional flying pig (don't ask). Here, none of the clouds were thick or puffy enough, she was the only thing that could fly beside the birds that often veered out of her path, and she hadn't seen a pig yet. Just her, the thin clouds, the rush of the wind on her goggled face, the rising black smoke... Wait.

Rainbow stopped midair, squinting down at the rising black cloud. Sure enough, it was smoke alright; the odor and amount of it gave that away. She thought of what could be causing it. She had seen a few other people below her that had made fires a few times, but none of them were big enough. None of the trees appeared to be on fire, and it was too small for that. She couldn't think of what else it could be. Her hesitation was overwhelmed by her curiosity as she bolted for the ground.

Weaving past a few trees, she came to a stop on a small ledge. Below her stretched out a stretch of road. She had probably past over it earlier, but that wasn't the point. It was what was on the road. A burning caravan.

The typical caravan carts were in various states of destruction. There were five in total. Two of them were overturned on their sides, one was in a ditch, and the rest were on fire, all with their pullers, massive, hairy boards the size of Big Mac, all dead. Lightly armored caravan guards and the actual caravanners laid dead scattered across the road, blood leaking out onto the rough dirt path.

Three other creatures picked their way through the wrecks and bodies, weapons drawn. Like the brigands that had chased her to Burkesh, they wore crude-looking armor, mostly made from tanned leather, padded jackets, shaped pieces of wood or metal, and the occasional scraps of chainmail. Their weapons were equally crude: One had a small ax slung over his shoulder, one had a metal gauntlet with long blades folded into it, and the last one had what looked like a rock with a hole in it tied to a stick.

They weren't paying attention to anything but the ruin around them. Whenever they found a bit of scrap or a trinket they wanted, they just took it. If they found a poor soul that was still alive, they... killed them. Dash looked away the first time this happened, but couldn't look away the second time, and then the third.

"Heh, nothing," One of them said as they examined one of the overturned carts. "Boss and his boys picked 'um clean. Just some junk and a few bits of loot left. Nothing worth any script."

The second one said, "Yeah, nothing of worth left. Its no fun." Fun? They thought this was fun? They must be with the group that attacked the caravan. They spoke about it like Thunderlane used to talk about getting a snack after he went off duty. "Even killin' these poor saps 'as lost its luster."

"Not so fast boys," said the last one. He had moved over a broken board and reached in to pull something out. At first, Rainbow thought that it was just a piece of valuable loot or maybe a nice weapon or something else they might want. But, no; she was dead wrong. It was a filly. A young Terran female, no older than Scootaloo. She had clearly been crying.

"Casey, what the fuck are we supposed to do with it?", Said the first brigand.

"Sell 'er. I'm sure Dermot wouldn't mind buyin' her next time we head around his way. And if we can't get any script for her, well... They always grow up." Then he laughed so heartily that it was almost like one of them had said a joke.

Rainbow looked down at the short sword that hung at her side. She hadn't drawn it much after she got it, but now she might have to. She slowly slid it out, praying that one of them talked him out of it. She hoped that they weren't just about to take her away to sell off like a bit of jewelry. It wouldn't have been great to leave her at the burning wreckage, but that way she could take the filly to the town.

"Well. I for one, don't mind my figs a little under-ripe if you don't mind what I mean. 'Sides, we have to see she'd be worth it. Let me have a taste. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" He then walked over and pinned the filly to the ground.

The filly screamed, sobbingly begging for them to stop, to let her go. He didn't stop. She watched from her perch as the brigand's male bits made themselves known. He then seemed to lay down on top of her, but from the sounds both of them gave off, that wasn't just it. This was confirmed as the older Caragor began to shift his body forwards, the younger filly writhing and squirming under him. Both of the others just smiled and laughed, then went back to picking through the wreck.

Rainbow's eyes went wide, then narrowed in disgust. She was a filly, for Celestia's sake! Didn't he have some remorse!? Didn't he feel, anything about this!? She shut her mouth, then looked over them. She had to save the filly, and with the way, they were positioned and what they did, she couldn't let them live. Before she could stop herself, she shot forward at top speed at the one atop the Terran.

He didn't even have time to look up. Just at one backward pull, she slammed into him. The blade slid into his neck cleanly, blood leaking out almost instantly. His penis slid out of the young filly as her momentum sent both of them flying into the side of a cart, the wood splintering under the pressure. He writhed for a second, then went still.

The caragor that found the filly, apparently named Casey, barely had time to react as well. He whirled over to look at her, unslinging the ax. She sprung off the ground like she used to with a cloud, blade held out. There was no skill involved: just force and momentum. The blade went clean thought the armor along the front of his barrel, sinking up to the hilt in him. The force sent her flying a bit past him, pulling the sword to fling him over onto his back.

The final one came over to her side of the cart, saw what had happened, and then roared. He rushed forward, clawed gauntlet extending. Rainbow tugged at the sword, trying to pull it out. Finally, she gave up and just found the nearest heavy object: a decent-sized rock along the side of the road. She hucked it at him, aiming square for the head. It hit its mark, and he tumbled to the floor. She went back to the sword, finally pulling it free, then launched up and buried it in his underbelly.

He writhed silently, before his slowed, then stopped completely. She had killed him. She had killed all of them. But she didn't feel too bad. They were sick, and no one was going to reform them out her. She had done the world a favor. She walked over to the filly, who had fallen unconscious. She wiped off her blade on one of the corpses, slid it back into its scabbard, picked up the filly, and flew her back to town.