Chapter 10-3: Objects and Images

Naiara and Bosco returned half an hour later, after dealing with the Raiders, most likely fatally. We’d used Naiara’s rope to pull Breeze, who had dug herself free, and I, out of the pile of rocks. Undertow had kept up the steady removal of water during the process. I quietly marvelled at her sustained effort and control.

I’ve got a long way to go, but I’ll get there, and I’ll go further. Not that I don’t want you to be strong, Undertow, but I think Bosco was right. I am gonna have to become stronger than you.

Once free of her imprisonment, Breeze had immediately wanted to fully enjoy her freedom, spreading her wings and attempting to fly. ‘Attempting’ was the key word, as she could only managed a series of bouncy hops, with a gleeful Naiara joining her, before she accepted that it wasn’t going to happen yet. With a mix of amusement and frustration, she scuffed her hoof in the dust. “Guess I’m grounded for a little while. My wing’s not up to flying just yet.”

“Still,” Naiara smiled, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah, me too,” she smiled back, before panning across our gathered foursome, “so now can we get introductions out of the way? I know you and Snow, and I’m guessing this guy’s Bosco, but… the others didn’t mention… uh… sorry, I forgot your name.” She gave Undertow an apologetic smile, which only made her tense up slightly.

By ‘the others’ I guess she means Cassie, Wings, and Schwarzwald. Of course they wouldn’t mention Undertow, they’ve never met her.

Well it’s too bad for them. Undertow’s great. I stepped up beside the Deep Diver and put a hoof on her shoulder, making sure I showed all the pride I could as I introduced her. “Aqua Breeze, this is Undertow.”

Whenever she looked at me, Breeze’s face turned calculating, as if she was wondering just how to say each sentence, given the complicated relationship I had with her sister and the others she was currently travelling with. The tricky part was that I didn’t actually hate Breeze herself, and I wasn’t sure that she hated me either, but if she’d been talking with Wings and Cassie, and had taken their side, then we might have problems down the line. She was studying me, how I looked, how I acted, the hoof on Undertow’s shoulder, how I was with Naiara.

They do say never to talk politics with friends or family…

She apparently came to the same realisation, and switched to an airy, cheerful tone. “Well, nice to meet you, Undertow, and thanks for the help. That water work was amazing.”

I felt muscles relax slightly under my hoof. “T-thank you, Aqua Breeze.”

Rounding on the colt, Breeze kept her smile. “You too, Bosco, good to meet you, and good shooting. I could hear you guys down in the hole, and I heard at least one of the bastards die.”

He swelled a little under the praise. “No problem. Nice to meet you too. Naiara’s been talking about you.”

“Oh yeah? What’d she say?”

Smirking at the zebra, whose eyes were narrowing, Bosco definitely intended to cause trouble. “Said you were a worse hoof-to-hoof fighter than Sn- OW! DAMMIT NAIARA!”

Having kicked him again, Naiara said nothing, but turned her eyes away and whistled.

The gist got through though. Breeze exploded. “You think I fight worse than Snowflake? Oh, that hurts, Naiara. Sucker punch me one time and think you can talk trash like that?!”

The object of her ire just kept on whistling.

Rounding on me, Breeze put up her dukes. “Come on Snow, you and me, right now! No magic, no gadgets, just you and me.” Playfully jabbing and dancing back and forth, it was evident that her pride was smarting, even if she was kidding. Being trapped in a whole by Raiders for a full day probably hadn’t helped either.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Mused Bosco. When Breeze gave him an obvious ‘Why not?’ look, he just pointed above our heads.

We all looked up. A mass of water was hovering over the Pegasus in an aquamarine haze. Undertow’s horn glowed the same colour.

“Because Undertow wouldn’t like it.” He finished, amused.

Confused, and instantly on guard again, Breeze just looked at Naiara. “What’s Undertow gotta do with this?”

“Well, you know how you’re really protective of your sister?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

Naiara just let the wheels turn.

I took the moment to address the matter hanging over our heads. “Put the water down, Undertow.”

Realisation dawned. “I know that tone!” Followed by more confusion, “Hold on, I thought your siblings were guys?”

The water splashed down haphazardly as Undertow lost her concentration mid-lowering. “I ha- I mean, you have brothers, Lady Snow?”

Did Naiara just ‘squee’?

“Lady Snow?”

I ignored Breeze’s sputtering, while at the same time noticing just how eagerly Undertow was leaning forwards to listen. “…Yeah. I’ve got three brothers. They’re buffalo,” eyebrows shot up over those goggles, “and their names are Buff, the oldest, Al, the middle one, and Lo, the youngest. They’re about the same age as you and Bosco.”

This time Naiara kicked Breeze, after she laughed at my brothers’ names. I wholeheartedly supported the action.

“You… have not mentioned brothers before, Lady Snow,” her voice was tentative, almost worried.

“Why does she call her sister ‘Lady’?” Breeze was whispering to Naiara and Bosco, who shushed her.

“Where are these buffalo brothers?”

Instantly the mood dropped. Bosco and Naiara found it hard to look at myself or Breeze, while the two of us didn’t really look at each other. Since Undertow was still waiting for an answer, now in consternation, I had to respond. “They’re… from my Stable. They… didn’t come with me.”

“Why, Lady Snow? Will they not miss you? Will you not miss them?”

Anger and thankfulness duelled as, to my surprise, it was Breeze who spoke up. “Undertow… maybe you shouldn’t ask that right now.”

“Why…”

“…Are you here in La Buque, Breeze?” Naiara’s interrupt was hasty, and not in the least bit subtle, but it got the job done. We were all eager for a change of subject.

I was glad of the chance to stay quiet while I waited for the lump in my throat to get smaller.

“Oh, right. I’m here looking for crystals for my Spell Shooters. Place’s lousy with ‘em.”

“It is?” We all looked around. I hadn’t remembered seeing any crystals around, and it didn’t look like the others were either.

She waved a hoof disdainfully, snout pointed up. “Ah, you gotta know where to look. They’re in the cliff walls. You need a Pegasus to get ‘em out. This place is my secret stash.” She spread her wings, and puffed out her chest.

“That’s actually pretty cool. Sounds like you are as good with gadgets as Naiara said.”

At Bosco’s words, Breeze turned her smug pose back to her friend. “Oh, so you did tell them I’m more than just a crap fighter.”

“Never said I didn’t.” The denial came with a good-natured smile, matching that of her Pegasus friend.

“So...” Bosco was looking around again. “Where are these crystals? We’ll help you get some more, since you’re not flying right now.”

The reaction to this idea was overwhelmingly negative. “Oh nononono. No chance. This place is dangerous. I even told you guys not to come here. No way in hell am I putting Naiara in danger trying to do this like a dirt pony.”

“Aww, so you do care.”

“Shaddup Naiara.”

“Love you too, featherbrain.”

I felt okay to speak now, so I raised a hoof like I was in school. “Uh, why is it dangerous?”

Breeze sighed. “Look, you guys’ve seen my Spell Shooter in action, right?”

Naiara and I nodded. Bosco and Undertow didn’t.

“…Well, half of you have. It works like this,” she held up the greave with the crystal embedded, “these crystals can absorb magical energy and store it, like a power cell. Then, when they’re full, they… well, they kinda pop.”

“Pop?”

“Like a force-fed Hissyflit.” I was hard pressed to feel pity for such a creature, since its brethren had tried to kill me twice, the second time being only hours before.

Naiara wasn’t smiling anymore, and had joined the charcoal colt in examining our surroundings. “And when they pop?”

Breeze was on the same page. “Right. They pop, while surrounded by rock. That means landslides, like the one that caught me when I was on the run from those Raiders.”

“And you do this by yourself a lot?” Intrigued as he was, Bosco was still sceptical about the feasibility of her weapon, and her common sense, going by what she was saying.

“No, course not. I mean I did the first few times, until I noticed what was happening. Usually I bring Cassie. This time she was a little busy, so I came myself. It would have been fine if those Raider dicks weren’t there. They’re damn lucky the Hissyflits didn’t get them!” That last part was accompanied by considerable vitriol. So much so that I had to send a glance towards Undertow, who was technically a Raider, even if I would never think of her as one. I just hoped the Raiders that Naiara and Bosco had fought weren’t Deep Divers.

“Hold on,” I began, as the memory of her using my magic to power the crystal came to mind. “When you used it against the Hissyflit swarm, I charged the crystal in around a minute. What’s charging the crystals in the walls?”

She just chuckled. “Two hundred year old Megaspells.”

“Huh?”

She waved the crystal in her greave around in the air. “Magical radiation? It’s in the air around us, even if we can’t detect it until it gets strong enough. The crystals in the wall can still use it though. Little by little, they drink up the Megaspells’ legacy, one sip at a time.” She tapped the crystal against my horn. “When I sucked it out of you in that fight, your magic was concentrated, hundreds, maybe thousands of times denser than what’s in the air right now. For that level of magic, it only took a minute or so. The background radiation in the air? Two hundred plus years.”

A rock was picked up, and then dropped. “I kinda think that’s why this place is deserted, even with a fair chunk of real estate still useable. Whoever survived the bombs out here would suddenly find their walls exploding. Fun times, right?” We all managed a chuckle. “The ponies’d have to leave. It’s not safe to stay. Each crystal’s a ticking time bomb.”

“And you willingly harvest these things?” Bosco had definitely shifted from thinking she was a techy Pegasus, to thinking she was a crazy techy Pegasus.

She snorted. “Psh, course I do. I know what I’m doing. The more magic they’ve got in ‘em, the more they glow. I take the ones that are still dark.”

I remembered the intense light that the Snowflake-charged crystal had given off just before she’d fired it. The results were powerful. The explosions here must be impressive. I didn’t think that whoever survived here after the bombs would have stayed for very long.

“How do you know all this, Aqua Breeze? Though your wings are lovely, you are not a unicorn.”

Breeze had jumped as the previously silent Undertow spoke up, as if she’d forgotten that she was there. “Uh, you can just call me Breeze, Undertow. And as for how I know? Well, I was just kinda trying out new stuff. I love to tinker around with machines, and when I found out what these crystals could do, I started tinkering with them too.”

When Undertow didn’t respond, Breeze saw that she was still looking at the wings. When the Pegasus unfurled them, and wafted them back and forth, the goggled eyes followed them, mesmerised. Clearly, Undertow had never seen a Pegasus before. One of her hooves twitched forward, like she wanted to touch them.

“That’s kinda adorable.” Breeze mentioned this to Naiara, out of the corner of her mouth.

“I know, right?”

Even I couldn’t help myself. “Undertow,” I snapped her out of her trance, “why not give Breeze that hug?”

“What hug?” Breeze’s wings snapped back to her sides.

“Well she owed it to me, but I’m gifting it to you.” This might’ve been the most common thing in the Wasteland, going by how the zebra filly said it.

“Collect on that later, Breeze.” I’d decided enough was enough. “Right now we need to start heading back to Lethbridle. We’ve got things to take care of. Do you want to come with us until your wing heals up?”

Though miffed at her fun being interrupted, Naiara still answered before Breeze could. “Actually Snow, that’s kinda why I called Breeze in the first place. Since you made sure that I can’t just steal the Memory Orbs from that old ghoul, because of that stupid promise you had me make to him, I figured we’d need an alternative to the Orbs for a diving light.”

“We’re not going to get my diving lights back?” The hug forgotten, Undertow was somewhat more than miffed.

“Stay calm.” I prompted, before frowning at Naiara, willing her to make her point quickly.

“What ‘diving lights’?”

“Well, you see, Undertow is… an underwater salvage diver. But the Memory Orbs she uses to provide light when she’s down there got stolen by a ghoul, apparently they were his memories, so I was thinking you might be able to come up with something else.”

Breeze looked at the sea-blue unicorn with new awe. “You bring stuff up from underwater? That’s incredible!”

Her words were a little too enthusiastic, as Undertow shrank back towards me a little. I gave her a quick nuzzle before responding. “It certainly is. So, can you help us, Breeze?”

Crossing her hooves, Breeze fell into silent thought for a while. I stayed close to Undertow, while Naiara kept her attention on the Pegasus. Bosco watched the surroundings, perhaps anticipating another crystal explosion.

I really hope Breeze comes through. I don’t want to have to deprive Inbox just to save Undertow.

I would, however, if it came down to it. I was sure of that. She had asked for, and was under, my protection.

Finally, Breeze’s head rose and fixed on the Deep Diver. “You really need this?”

Undertow nodded. “It may mean my life.”

Breeze’s eyes softened. With an I’m-not-really-happy-but-what-can-you-do shrug, she tweaked something on her greave, and it opened up. Inside was a mass of wire and circuits, with a crystal set in an inlay, for use with her Spell Shooter. Turning the greave over, she popped open a smaller compartment, and reached in. Two more crystals were withdrawn, each had a faint glow to them. “These’ll work for diving lights, so you don’t have to steal the Memory Orbs.”

“They’ll explode!” She couldn’t be serious about giving those to Undertow.

Glaring at me, she turned the crystals this way and that. “I’m not finished. I have a notion to fix that too. I actually got it from looking at your Me…”

“My Memory Orb?” I finished, accusingly.

“Yeah. That scratch along it, to be precise.” A hidden blade shot out of her other greave, which she then sliced across each crystal, leaving the shallowest of furrows along their surfaces. Each crystal gave off a momentary flash as it was struck. “Undertow, you can thank your sister for this.”

Examining her work at eye level, Breeze nodded at last. “I’ve done some testing, and if I’ve done it right, which I totally have, then these furrows will allow the built up magic to drain off naturally. It won’t explode, but it’ll leak out steadily over the course of around a day or so.”

“How does that help?”

She held out one crystal to Undertow. “Try charging it with your magic.”

Looking first to me, I nodded, and the Deep Diver’s horn began to glow. Nothing happened at first, but soon, the aquamarine glow began to lengthen and distort, being drawn into the crystal.

Undertow kept this up until the crystal was glowing bright and clear, at which point Breeze pulled it away. “Whoa there, that’s enough. Okay so it’s near full charge right now, and it’ll give off hours and hours of light, but after a while the light’ll lessen as the magic runs low, and it’ll be completely gone by the next day. Then you just charge it up again whenever you want to use it. Easy and reusable.”

She swirled the light back and forth in the air, leaving a fading trail behind it. “This crystal’ll break down eventually, like in a few years eventually. Heh, come find me before then.”

She held out both crystals to Undertow, who took them with shaking hooves. “I… I do not know how to thank you, Aqua Breeze.”

Breeze just smiled. “Just call me… ah, whatever. I owed ya. If you weren’t around, I might’ve drowned. I’ll take that hug if you’re still offering.” To illustrate the point, she spread her front legs and her wings.

Moving faster than I’d ever seen her move, Undertow jumped forward and wrapped her hooves around the Pegasus. “Hehe, it tickles.” She giggled, as the feathers brushed her nose.

Even Bosco smiled at that.

~~~~~~

“And you’re totally sure this is safe?” Breeze’s voice was muffled behind the diver’s helmet she was currently sporting.

“Fear not, I will keep you safe.”

With Breeze having developed new diving lights for Undertow, we’d returned to the lake to present them to the Deep Divers. I made sure to send Undertow and I had gone on ahead to deal with the group and settle things down before we brought in Breeze. I wanted her to have as little contact with the rest of them as possible, in case she got upset.

Luckily, they followed Undertow’s lead, and were isolationists by nature. After satisfying them that Undertow had brought new diving lights, which requires her, the only unicorn present, to work, they’d instantly accepted her leadership again, and returned to their homes, their ‘territories’.

That gave us almost free reign of the makeshift village’s common ground, and we were able to reach the boathouse without incident, where Undertow had offered to show her appreciation for all we’d done for her by allowing us to dive with her.

Safety issues aside, we were all very excited.

If I wasn’t trying to save my energy for the dive, I’d be bouncing around like the other three.

Naiara and Bosco were checking the seals on each other’s suits, their helmets already clamped in place, as Breeze and I did the same. Undertow hovered around us all, making sure that nothing was amiss.

With one last thunk, my last suit seal was shut. Instantly, the noise levels dropped by half, meaning I had to strain to hear the others over my breathing, which was suddenly amplified in this enclosed space.

Undertow was sealing Breeze in, though the Pegasus was looking less comfortable with the apparatus. Her wings couldn’t be opened while she wore it, and the idea of being totally encapsulated probably didn’t sit well with a pony that was used to having the entire sky to move in. Still, that couldn’t override the anticipation of seeing the underwater world for ourselves. Without Undertow and the Deep Divers, spending that long in radioactive water would be suicidal.

Bosco and Naiara clomped over to stand beside Breeze and I. With a final once-over, Undertow seemed satisfied, and nodded to the pump operator, who would feed us air while we were down in the lake. “Let us begin.”

“What’s next? What do we do?” The words escaped Naiara in a rush, her thrilled impatience entirely on display.

In lieu of words, Undertow held up the new diving crystal, and fired her magic into it. In less than a minute, it was glowing bright enough that we had to turn our eyes away.

Clipping the light to a chord tied around her waist, Undertow took hold of her rebreather. “Follow me, please.” That was all she said before fitting her breathing aide in place.

Turning, she began walking down the jetty to the water’s edge, with us stomping along after her, thick breathing hoses trailing behind us. While our Deep Diver guide took a running, graceful dive into the water, there was no way we’d be copying her with the heavy dive gear, so we simply walked into the water.

Breeze was at the front of our foursome, and there was definitely some hesitation as the water rose to neck level, her recent entrapment still fresh in her mind. But, with a shake of her head, she pushed through it and disappeared under the surface.

I had no doubts that Undertow wouldn’t let me drown, so I didn’t miss a step as I walked down the incline.

I’m just blinking, not keeping my eyes shut because there’s water in front of this thin sheet of glass that’s the only thing between me and very wet death.

Yep, blinking.

“AAAAAGH!” I screamed as I bumped blindly into something, my eyes snapping open, “AAA-oh, it’s just Breeze. Hah, okay. For a second there I thought that I…”

That was as far as I got before my eyes took in the scene before me.

Bathed in the light from the crystal lazily drifting in Undertow’s take, a whole new world opened out before us. We stood on a shelf at the end of the dock, looking out into the underwater landscape below and before us.

It was incredible. Blues and greens and browns and purples and greys coloured everything. Strange plants swayed in the undercurrents as bubbles danced and broke and shifted around us. So very different from the harsh, dirty arid land above us, the water held an entirely different experience.

A cloud of sand and tiny rocks drifted in from my left. Turning my head, I saw one of the others, though I couldn’t tell who, slowly pushing off from where we were standing. As soon as they left their hooves, the water took them, sending them drifting along, until they ever so softly landed again, further than they could jump.

Undertow swam up from over the edge of the shelf, beckoning to each of us in turn to follow her, before disappearing back beyond down. My fatigue forgotten, but still outpaced by the others, I all but ran over the side.

I was sooo glad that I did. The view was even better the further we went down. Slowly rising into the light were structures and machines of all sizes and shapes, claimed long ago by the water, and now a submerged playground for a lucky few.

One of our four was drawing ahead, kicking their legs frantically in a bid to reach the sunken treasures.

Probably Breeze, she loves all this stuff.

Maybe-Breeze was drawing close to the first half-covered heap, still kicking hard to reach it, when a bubble formed around her and dragged her back. Panicking, the encapsulated pony didn’t stop struggling until they caught sight of the glow that Undertow’s horn was giving off.

We were all confused as to why she intervened until she pointed, and we followed her gaze. Coming around the bend, a shoal of fabulously multi-coloured fish appeared, heading for the spot where maybe-Breeze had been a few moments ago. As they passed us, scores of glassy eyes swivelled to observe us briefly, before turning away disinterestedly, taking us in and forgetting us in the space of a moment.

Real fish! I don’t believe it! “I’ve only seen them in pictures and videos.” An awed whisper was the loudest that I could manage.

Having released... whoever it was, Undertow’s horn glowed again. We all watched as another, smaller sphere of denser water formed in front of her. With a push from her front hoof, she sent it racing after the group of swimmers. Once it caught their tails, the water orb exploded in a rush of bubbles and pressure. The result was instantaneous, with the entire shoal bursting like overripe fruit, each individual fish swimming to escape any way it could, careening and colliding with all the others. Some even shot past, over, under and between the five of us in their panic, causing us to gasp and duck and flinch, though I soon began to laugh after realising there was no danger.

A new eddy formed behind the pony who’d been dragged back, this time giving him or her a shove forward, back towards the construct poking out of the river bed. The other two and I soon followed.

As we reached the object, I soon realised that it was far larger than I’d originally thought. Swimming down between a strange cross of thin blades, I found myself looking into an opening with seats set out in rows.

After making sure that the way was clear, I kicked and swam in, until I found myself floating above one of the seats. Pushing off the ceiling, I dropped down, and found that I could sit down, for all the world as if I was riding in this vehicle, whatever it was, myself, rather than whichever poor souls had been inside when it sank. I was soon joined by the others, who all began poking around the vehicle bay.

Breeze, I was sure of it this time, as I saw the back of her suit twitching around wing-level, swam further forward, through a small opening. I could see glass through it, and another seat. Once she reached it, Breeze started briefly, drawing back, before looking at us. Confused, we looked back, watching as she swept a suited hoof around the seat, which revealed what had startled her.

Floating back through the small opening was a pony skull, followed by several bones. The bones bounced off the walls, ceiling, seats, and our suits. I barely felt a thing when the skull contacted my sternum, but when that caused it to float and roll up in front of my visor, I couldn’t keep looking at the empty sockets where the eyes once were, I had to brush it away with my hoof.

Another shadow fell across us, and we looked up, expecting Undertow again, or at least I was.

But it wasn’t Undertow.

Drawn by the floating bones, and the bubbles that were buoying them upwards, a quartet of fish, half again the size of any of us, swam by overhead. Even discounting their size, these ‘fish’ were far and away different from their smaller counterparts. While the little ones basically looked like the pictures, there things were far more nightmarish. Thick sheets of shell covered almost all of their bodies, tip to tail, with the only exception being the trident-like protruding teeth at the front.

Even their eyes were covered, if they had eyes at all. I began to suspect that they didn’t when Undertow showed herself, as she and the light swam between the four fish without incident, and came to rest at the opening to the vehicle, making ‘stay still’ gestures until the behemoths went past.

Once the coast was clear, and I could hear over the beating of my heart, our voting was unanimous. As one, we all pointed a hoof towards the surface.

~~~~~~

“That was amazing!”

“I know, those fish!”

“And the colours!”

“And that sweet Vertibuck!”

“The what?”

“You know, the vehicle we were all sitting in!”

As Breeze, Naiara, and Bosco talked excitedly amongst themselves, I sat quietly to the side, waiting for the fifth diver, the one who’d shown us this wonderful world, to resurface.

I didn’t have to wait long, only a minute or so, before a jet of water burst from the lake, arched downwards, and slammed onto the jetty with a voracious splash, leaving a unicorn with a turquoise mane standing there.

Smiling at the display, and glad that she’d been showing more confidence as we returned here, I wiped some spray from my eyes. “Show off.”

“Forgive me, Lady Snow. I just love the water.”

I got to my hooves and shock my whole body, trying to dislodge the droplets all at once. “No need to apologise, Undertow. That wasn’t a complaint. I want you to enjoy yourself.”

Before she could respond, she was mobbed by a Pegasus, zebra, and earth pony.

“You were great!”

“I’d never seen anything like that!”

“Can we go again?”

The last question, from Breeze, made her hesitate, and look over to me. “Do we have time, Lady Snow?”

Had I been smarter, more alert, I might have spotted the danger here, and moved to correct the course that the conversation would take. Alas, none of those things happened. “Why wouldn’t we?” I responded in confusion.

“Because,” Undertow began, already beginning to look crestfallen, “you have provided my Deep Divers with diving lights. Do you not have to visit the next group for your Raider Alliance?”

Undertow couldn’t have known the effect of those words, nor why the four of us froze, so I couldn’t blame her for being confused.

Seconds ticked by, with nobody moving a muscle or saying a word, until…

“Your what Alliance?” I’d heard that tone before from Breeze. Right before she nearly killed me, thinking I’d kidnapped her sister.

“Now… now stay calm, Breeze…” Standing next to her friend, Naiara’s good cheer had evaporated. She was looking desperate to avoid a confrontation here.

“Just hear us out...” Urged Bosco, though he was surreptitiously reaching for a weapon.

“Snowflake,” Breeze spoke slowly and deliberately, “what is she talking about?” Her eyes grew darker every second.

This won’t end well. Not Undertow’s fault, but that was really the wrong thing to say. “I’m… trying to unite four different Raider clans.”

“What the hell for?!”

“To change them! Make them better. Stop them from being just another threat in the Wasteland. To stop what happened to your parents from happening again!” I was hoping that speaking to her on a personal level would help me get through to her.

The erupting pain in my cheek from her thunderous slap dissuaded me of the notion. Slamming down onto my back, I had to brace myself as she began shouting. “How DARE you mention them! Do you have any idea what they went through because of the Raiders?!”

“BREEZE!” Naiara’s desperate imploring was ignored, but she had to turn away and deal with another matter.

“Put that gun down, Bosco! I won’t let you kill her!”

“And you’ll just let her kill Snow?” He shot back, eyes hard and focused on Breeze.

“No, of course not! I just… nopony’s killing anybody!” She was almost in tears, torn between friends.

Blinking away stars, I sat back up, gently working my jaw until it popped. “Breeze… I heard what Cassie said about your parents. How they ran into Raiders when they came to the Wasteland for the first time. The first thing they saw were killers, but that doesn’t…”

A harshly barked laugh cut me off. Breeze’s pupils had shrunk to pinpricks, and a manic smile lay across her face. “Is that all you think happened? My parents just found Raiders and were almost killed? Is that all she said? Maybe that’s all she wanted to say, because she thinks I don’t know, but you really think that’s the whole story?!”

I frowned. “What do you m-”

“NINE MONTHS!” She bellowed, “They kept my parents captive for Nine. Fucking. Months! They suffered every single day! The things those monsters did to them… what happened to them… to me and Cassie…” Her heart-breaking revelry only fuelled her ire, “HOW DARE YOU SAY THEY CAN CHANGE!!!”

As she started towards me, any response I had died on my tongue, as two thick whirlpools slammed into her, and pinned her to the boathouse wall.

“Undertow, no!”

Undertow’s voice was hard. “Yes, Lady Snow. This is MY territory, and she is an intruder. I will not let her attack you again.”

Even while subdued by the water, Breeze fueled her defiance with rage. “Is that what you are, Undertow? One of them? A Raider? A monster?”

She turned to the colt, who’d lowered his weapon, but hadn’t holstered it. “Are you a monster, Bosco? You cut my sister with that knife of yours. Did you enjoy it?”

Finally, she turned to Naiara, who was openly crying now. “And why, svara,” the world was delivered with as much venom as she could muster, “are you helping them? Why are you helping monsters?”

With tears pouring from her jade eyes, the zebra opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

I didn’t have that problem. “That’s enough Breeze. You don’t get to blame them. Any of them. Not Undertow, not Bosco, and definitely not Naiara. She, and they, are just trying to keep me alive. All of this was my idea, and it will stay my idea. I’m Red Ice, not them.”

I didn’t turn my head as I addressed my friend. “It’s okay. Let her down, Undertow.”

Gradually, as if reacting to the reticence of the caster, the water funnels died down, allowing the soaking wet Pegasus to get her hooves under her again.

Coughing and spitting out what she’d inhaled, Breeze stood tall, unafraid despite everything that had happened. Her eyes bored into me as she began to quietly and calmly stab me through the soul. “You know, I almost didn’t believe her.”

“Who?”

“Cassie. My own sister. I almost didn’t believe her when she told me what had happened. I thought she’d gone too far, that maybe she was wrong. Naiara thought you were okay, so maybe you weren’t so bad. Maybe you didn’t deserve it.”

She turned to the zebra, a mix of pity, anger, and apology in her eyes. “This just goes to show that my sister knows better than a stripe.”

Looking like she’d been slapped harder than I had been, Naiara couldn’t say anything as Breeze spread her wings, shook off the water, and took flight.

~~~~~~

We stayed at the Deep Diver camp for three days, to make sure that there was no attempt of an attack by Breeze’s group. I didn’t really think they would, but it was as good a place as any to stay and take stock before moving on to the final Raider group. Plus it made Undertow happy to be back at the lake. Bosco certainly didn’t mind getting to dive again.

Naiara hadn’t gone in the water. She’d barely spoken over the two days. She slept in Undertow’s cabin with the rest of us at night, then disappeared during the day, only returning long after dark.

I still wasn’t sleeping, but I didn’t disturb her during the times she came and went. It didn’t seem the time.

On the morning of the third day, however, there was a marked difference in her demeanour. She slipped in the door, marched silently up to my bed, and shoved her communicator, the one Breeze had given her, in my face.

Gingerly, I raised it to my ear. “…Hello?”

Breeze’s tone was flat. “If you hurt Naiara, or Cept in this foolish quest, I will kill you.”

“Breeze, please listen to-”

She ignored me and continued. “I just wanted you to listen to this.”

The device gave off an almighty burst of static, harsh enough that I had to tear it away from my ear. Bosco and Undertow were awake in moments, looking for danger.

“GOOD MORNING, EQUESTRIA! DJ PON-3 here! Coming to you with some breaking news, no matter how bad it hurts.” I hadn’t heard the DJ since he’d spoken on the Grindstone massacre, back when I still had my Pipbuck.

Oh joy, what now? I don’t think I actually remembered a time where he’d given good news.

The DJ’s exuberant tone turned slightly more sombre. “Well, all you pony folk out there, I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you today.”

The four of us looked at each other, wondering just how ‘good’ this news would be for us. “First, here’s the good news. Looks like the northern Wasteland is down one more murdering bastard today, as the body of a Raider was dropped at Lethbridle’s Eastern gate this morning”

Naiara had been frowning since she came in, but now we joined her. The DJ continued unhindered, his bass tone cheerful. “This Raider supposedly goes by the name Four Fields, and is the leader of a particularly vicious group of pillager villagers known as the Barnstormers. An outfit that is usually seen to the Northeast of Lethbridle, the biggest city of the area.”

My heart had gone cold. Four Fields had been killed. What was this gonna do for the alliance? Was Breeze behind this? Cassie? Wings? What would it mean if they were?

“Four Fields had been drilled straight through by a bullet the size of my… well it was damn big, that’s all I’ll say on that topic. Stuck in the hole where the bastard’s heart would have been, if a Raider can have a heart, was a note. It’s real short, so I’ll read out what it said now. This, unfortunately, is where we reach the bad news. The note reads:

From Blue Fire, because Red Ice didn’t.”

Oh Breeze, did you have to do it like this?

Naiara still said nothing, she just stared at me. Undertow stared at all of us, confused. Bosco put his hoof on my arm, but I didn’t respond. “Snow? You okay?”

The DJ wasn’t done. “And there’s the rub, listeners. When Red Ice, or Snowflake, as she’s really called, revealed herself to us a li’l while ago, we all thought that she was another light in the darkness, a pony who was standing up against the unsavoury parts of the Wasteland. She called out the Steel Rangers… Plottawan slavers… hell, she even called out Red EYE! I’ll tell you right now, faithful listeners, this DJ thought it was a given that she was anti-Raider, but according to a reliable source in Lethbridle, which I damn well won’t reveal now, in case Snowflake takes it badly, apparently she did a lot more than fail to shoot Four Fields. Not only did she not shoot the guy, but she’s even working with him, and tons of other Raiders, to build up an army for herself!”

“What?! That’s not true!” I yelled into the device, not caring that he couldn’t hear me.

“I don’t know what Snowflake, or Red Ice, or the Raider Queen, as some have started to call her, is up to, but I want any and all little ponies out in Lethbridle, and the surrounding area, to stay away from her. Neighlway and Plottawa might not be her friends, but it doesn’t look like anypony else is either.”

~~~~~~

Level Up!

Perks gained: Teach Me Ms. Witchy – Undertow’s teachings mean an extra boost to magic each time you level up.

~~~~~~

Author's Notes:

As always, a big thank you to KKat, Y1, Auramane, Cascadejackal (he did the original cover art, which is still on the Fallout Equestria wiki), Void Heart (he did the new cover art), Shunketsunoponi and you, the readers. Please read and comment, and pass the word along if you like the story. Finally, because I find it a really funny coincidence to have another fic with a Stable 61 that’s set in Equestrian Canada, go read Fallout Equestria: Pure Hearts.

That’s all for now, folks. Please keep reading, commenting, and spreading the word on Old Souls. I really appreciate your feedback.