Chapter 11-2: Portion Or Helping?

It took us a full day to cross from the Deep Diver village, on what I now knew to be Soft Swell Lake, and all in all, it had been a pleasant trip. Even the falling snow hadn’t dampened our spirits.

That ended upon our arrival at the Woodpecker settlement. As we crested the snowy hill, we were instantly snapped back to the reality of the situation.

It was on fire.

“What the hell’s this?” Bosco was, as always when presented with danger, all business. He was already getting his pistol and knife out.

We stared, confused, at the scene. Dark smoke was billowing up from several places in the ramshackle village, built out of busted sky carriages and train cars. As we watched, another fire kicked up, started by an explosion.

Somebody was attacking the Woodpeckers.

“Let’s go!” I began half-running, half-sliding down the soft white snow, trying to reach the village as soon as possible.

“This is definitely the place, Bosco?” Naiara kept pace with our tumbling easily, her natural grace manifesting even in this situation.

“Yeah, it lines up with Caber Toss’ map. This is the place.”

“Who’d be crazy enough to attack a Raider stronghold?” I thought I might already know the answer to that, but didn’t want to believe it was them.

Unfortunately, the Wasteland doesn’t care what you believe. Swooping through the smoke of the centre-most fire, I saw a winged figure strafe the village, with a new series of explosions following in her wake.

“That’s Breeze!” Naiara and I confirmed together.

“Oh, hell.” Bosco muttered, while Undertow just kept her silence and continued onwards.

We were halfway down the hill when two more fliers made themselves known. Corkscrewing up from between buildings, Cassie reached her vantage point and unslung her powerful rifle, sighting down on some unseen, unsuspecting Raider. I saw the muzzle flash before I heard the thunder clap of the shot being fired. I couldn’t hear a scream over the crackle of the fires, audible even at this distance, but I knew firsthoof how good a shot she was.

Wings was pacing Breeze, the two of them raining bullets and grenades down onto the Woodpeckers. Two earth pony mares scrambled up onto a roof, and began returning fire with automatic guns. Breeze broke off, but Wings just juked and opened up with her revolvers, sending one Raider tumbling over the side, and soon joined by the other as the diminutive griffon cannoned straight into her as she struggled to reload. The pony’s high-pitched scream cut off abruptly half a second later.

We were close now, only a few hundred meters away. My breath had stopped fogging as we drew closer to the burning village, and adrenaline was running through all of us, driving us forward.

A disturbing sound almost ground us to a halt as we entered the village proper: Schwarzwald’s laughter. Loud, deep, and melodic, she was obviously enjoying herself. I caught sight of her as we reached the centre of the village.

Framed by the fire, the earth mare was having the time of her life, trading fire with the locals. Her battle saddle flashing and screaming as she run-and-gun’d her way around the square. She put the last of her opponent’s down just as we burst into the clearing.

“SCHWARZWALD!”

Her grin growing wider and wider as she turned, the joy dancing in her forest green eyes was palpable. “Snowflake-dahling! Bosco-dear! How good to see you again! I have missed you since the fight with Wings and Cassie.”

“What are you doing, Schwarzwald?”

My desperate imploring had little effect, if any, on her mood. “Why, I’m just killing some Raiders, dahling. Hardly a new concept.” She turned back to the carnage. “I won’t be long, then we can have a nice chat and catch up.”

“Wait!” I started forward, but a shot rang out, striking the ground before me.

“That’s close enough, Red Ice!”

Five pairs of eyes turned skyward, to see Cassie flapping in place a dozen meters above us, her rifle sight fixed on me.

“Stop this now, Cassie, please!” I had a better shot with her than I did with Schwarzwald. Cassie was no pleasure-seeker, and she had seemed genuinely remorseful on the monitor in Neighlway.

“I cannot do that, Snowflake. What you are doing is wrong!” Her aim didn’t waver, and she spoke around the barrel. “The Raiders are too much of a threat already. I will not allow you to make them worse!”

“I’m trying to make them better!” I pleaded, angry and scared that nobody understood that.

“Oh hey,” a rough voice called out, “the gang’s all here!” Wings swooped over our heads, before turning mid-air to hover beside Schwarzwald. Above, Breeze glared daggers at the four of us, with the possible exception of Naiara, as she took up position next to her sister. Two of her custom grenades were in her hooves.

The atmosphere was incredibly tense, even with the panicked shouts of Raiders rushing to battle fires or get away. In the corner of my eye, I spotted a fair number who were simply watching from the side lines.

Even Raiders love free entertainment, I guess.

Or they’re just going to jump all of us in a little while.

“Wings, what are you doing here?” The sapphire-eyed griffon had a hard look on her face, but was the only flier not to be pointing her weapons at me.

She just shrugged. “I’m stoppin’ you, Snow. Can’t let you keep going with this crazy plan of yours.”

I spread my hooves to indicate the chaos around us. “Like this?!”

She held up her claws in a ‘calm yourself’ gesture. “Relax, we’re only killing the ones who fight back. Just trying to scare ‘em, is all. Make it so they don’t want any part of your Raider army.”

“IT’S NOT AN ARMY!”

“Then what is it?” Breeze snapped at me. “What are you trying to do with these murdering psychopaths?”

“Dammit I’m trying to change them for the better! Raiders are still ponies! They can change!”

She remained dismissive. “You mean like that monster beside you?” Her eyes swept over Undertow, barely concealing the rage within.

Undertow bristled at that. So did I. “Don’t you dare call her that!”

She snorted out a laugh. “Why not? We had a nice chat with Four Fields about her, among other things. She’s killed more ponies than the rest of her flock put together.”

“She would wager that so have you.” Undertow’s whip-crack response shattered Breeze mocking smile.

“I’ll kill you, monster.” She snarled, but her sister put a hoof on her shoulder before she could do anything else.

Cassie, though looking less than pleased at how Breeze was being spoken to, nevertheless maintained a more collected air. “Red Ice, you have to know that this will not work. Too many will oppose it, and your collective will be drawn into a conflict whether you wish it or not.”

“So I shouldn’t even try?” I scoffed, “Just sit back and let you wipe out all these Raiders?”

“Most ponies would thank us.” She replied simply.

I didn’t need to utter a single word to convey my judgement of the opinion of ‘most ponies’ right now.

“Breeze, you gotta stop this now. It’s not you.” Naiara was facing her friend for the first time since La Buque, where she’d been dismissed as just another stripe. The hurt was still present on her face.

Breeze saw it too, and reacted in a way that gave me hope for the two of them. “I’m sorry, Naiara, but the Raider alliance isn’t something that I can allow to happen. This needs to be done.”

Getting into a ready stance, Naiara didn’t break eye contact. “Then I’ll fight you, and we can talk it out after I win.”

Her words, and actions, caused six of our remaining seven to drop into our own stances. Only Schwarzwald, thoroughly amused by the whole thing, remained relaxed. “Oh how fun! This should be delightful. There are four of them, and four of us. Shall we each pair off?” She was treating this as a giant game, which scared the hell out of me, but also made me think that perhaps she wouldn’t be looking to kill whoever it was she ended up battling.

“Whatever works.” Bosco surprised us with his willingness to go along with this. If we were split up, we couldn’t help each other. Everybody here, except myself, was a skilled combatant. We might end up with several deaths if we carried on.

Breeze was certainly okay with the idea. She kept her eyes on Undertow. “I’ll take the Raider.”

Undertow gave no response, other than for her horn to begin glowing.

“Oh poo,” Schwarzwald pouted, “I wanted to see what that cute little one could do. Oh well, no matter. I’ll take the pretty zebra.”

How Naiara didn’t react to the older mare’s toothy grin, I would never know. “Bring it on.”

A clicking noise drew my attention skyward, to where Wings was reloading her revolvers.

Bosco stepped up, his own gun ready. “I got her.”

Cassie’s voice floated down from on-high. “Leftovers are fine with me.”

I ground my teeth at that. Could have been worse. Cassie might not kill me if she gets the chance, though I’m not gonna roll over and give it to her this time.

“So,” a chipper Schwarzwald remarked lightly, “how should we start? Is there a signal?”

As if on cue, a building to the side collapsed under the heat.

She grinned at the serendipity. “That works. Follow me, pretty thing.” Then she turned and ran down one street. Naiara obliged her.

“Be careful, and don’t kill her!” I called after her.

Back in the square, Wings curled a talon beckoningly at the charcoal colt, before flapping backwards over some rooftops. Bosco, far more cautiously, and still wary of Cassie and Breeze, followed.

“Bosco…” I began, but he cut me off.

“I won’t kill her if I can help it, Snow. Might not be my choice though.” Then he was gone.

That’s about all I can ask here. Thanks, Bosco.

Undertow made no snide comment, instead opting to open up with all the stored water she had. It poured out of her bottles, and shot at Breeze like a hail of bullets.

The Pegasus almost didn’t react in time. She spun to the side at the last second, avoiding most of the barrage, but lost her grip on her gadgets, which vanished down into the well in the square.

Undertow called her water back, and then turned and vanished down the same street that we had come from, one of our group not chasing for once.

Enraged, Breeze went after her, with her sister calling out after her. “Be careful, Breeze.”

“Don’t kill her if you can help it, Undertow, and definitely don’t die!” I hollered too.

That first part is very, very important, but the second part is vital. I really don’t want to have to choose between you two, Breeze, but I’ll take Undertow if you force the issue.

Breeze, please don’t force the issue.

And then there were two. Cassie and I made no move to change location. There was no need. She had a clear view with her rifle from where we were, and I knew nothing of urban combat, so using the environment to my advantage was not going to happen.

“Is this really what you want, Cassie?” I asked, while slowly using my nose to point out some of the damage that had already been done; The collapsed building that was our ‘signal’, the dead bodies of Schwarzwald’s previous opponents, the still raging fires licking at whatever they could consume, the craters and debris left by Breeze’s grenades, and the bullet holes riddling multiple surfaces.

“No, she replied immediately, “of course not. However, the question could be posed to you too. This Raider alliance, you must know how dangerous it could be. Is developing that threat really what YOU want, Snowflake?”

“Not ‘Red Ice’?”

“That depends on you.”

She looked almost as miserable as I felt about this whole thing. “What can I do to convince you that I’m not raising an army? That I mean no harm for the Wasteland?”

She regarded me levelly. “You would have to convince Breeze, I think, and that is beyond your powers of persuasion.”

“Does she hate the Raiders more than you?”

A tittering laugh rained down. “Oh my, no. No, she hates them far less than I do. She is simply more proactive in her hate. I will support her in all that she wishes for the Raiders, even if it means wiping every last one of them off the face of the planet.”

My stare was just as even. “You seem to have discovered a fair amount of the Raider alliance idea. Do you know who Undertow is?”

“I do, she is the leader of the Deep Divers. A Raider chief.”

“She’s no more Raider than you are, and she is very precious to me. I can’t allow Breeze to hurt her.” My horn began to glow faintly.

Cassie hefted her rifle slightly in response. “You don’t know our own words, Red Ice, but you know as well as I do that I won’t let her hurt Breeze.”

The implication was clear.

“I’m sorry.” We spoke the words together, before we began.

Another bullet slammed into the ground where I’d been as I launched myself backwards, backpedalling into the cover of a chest-high storage shed. With the barest minimum of my eye poking out, I tried to get a bead on Cassie, and instead received a face full of shrapnel, as her high power rifle round tore through the container inches from my face.

My pained scream drew more shots, blasting apart my barricade, a little at a time. Scrambling away, I received several grazes along my legs and ribs as I haphazardly snaked my way to sturdier cover.

From what I could make out from my peripheral vision, Cassie was in no hurry, content to stay high and take her shots.

I backed off, trying to buy time to formulate a plan. I’ll never beat her like this. I have to find a way to get her away from her rifle. I retreated further, back into the disorganised placement of the homes here, ducking between, and around, and through, homes wherever I found a path wide enough to travel.

The trouble with paths wide enough to travel, though, was that you were also visible down them. Each time I sprinted down one such path, a bullet would follow. Cassie’s ridiculously strong eyes would find me faster than I could dodge, and shot after shot cut a shallow path through my flesh.

Flattening myself against a wall, chest heaving, I knew that I must have looked a picture, with more and more red creeping into my colours. Each cut was shallow, but they were adding up.

It’s obvious she’s toying with me. She’s hit me a dozen times, on every part of my body. If she wanted to end this, I’d already been dead. She’s just stalling so Breeze can take care of Undertow.

“Snowflake?” She called down from somewhere, her voice echoing around the metal buildings, “You can’t win. Give up now, so I can go help Breeze deal with Undertow.”

Something drew my eye. A puddle on the ground. A puddle with a clear reflection of a floating Pegasus.

And her rifle.

Gotcha. My horn blazed. This was no different than Undertow’s training, and having your life threatened did wonders for your focus. “Not happening, Cassie. I won’t let Breeze kill her.”

Cassie was motionless, her wings keeping her perfectly still in the air. I had all the time I needed to get the measure of it.

I felt the magic happen.

Smiling, I stepped back out into the open, looking straight at Cassie. “We’re not done yet.”

Heaving a sigh that seemed genuinely reluctant, she sighted down the barrel, and pulled the trigger.

A pathetic, hollow click emerged from the rifle.

click, click, click.

Confusion, and growing fear, seeped into her eyes, as she tried in vain to unstick the frozen firing mechanism. Finally, a full minute of trying, she understood what happened. “You’ve gotten better.”

“I had plenty of incentive.” I left it ambiguous to her whether I meant Undertow’s protection, or her theft of my gear. I meant Undertow’s protection, though.

I turned to head down the street Undertow and Breeze had taken, but a coil wrapped around my hind leg.

Oh right, her whip. I managed to think, before being yanked off my hooves.

Thudding into the dirt, I rolled in an attempt to untangle myself, managing it just in time to scramble upright, as Cassie advanced on me, whip trailing from one bracer, and sharp blade deployed from the other. “I said I won’t let you go, Snowflake.”

She rushed at me, slashing with the knife, and striking with the whip. The dancing cord hounded me this way and that, always driving me into the range of the knife. My frantic, unscripted jerks were just barely keeping me from serious penetration, though my gashes increased with each slice.

Finally, she got a solid strike in. I’d just managed to avoid the knife and whip, but it left me way too close to Cassie, who simply flipped backwards, her hind hooves catching me full in the chest, and launching me back into a puddle of blood. The red liquid had softened the ground beneath it, and the splashing red scarlet coated my hooves as they sank slightly.

On instinct, I raised my front legs and my horn glowed, as she leapt towards me.

Spreng!

We stayed motionless for a moment, her pushing down with her knife, and my hoof blocking, with the cover of frozen blood becoming makeshift armour.

Wide-eyed at the new development, she didn’t react fast enough when my free hoof, also now armoured, swung up into her chin. The impact sent tremors along my limb, as I hadn’t held back, but it had the desired effect.

Reeling back from the blow to her chin, there were stars in front of Cassie’s eyes. I tried to press my attack with another blunt swing, but she turned and caught the blow on her shoulder, using the momentum to twirl around and backhoof me in the side of the head with her bracer.

We broke apart, each shaking out the cobwebs. Recovering, I sent a wide, arcing hook towards her, but she blocked with the barrel of her rifle, before jamming it into my stomach, thumping the wind out of me.

I collapsed to the ground, retching, and tried to suck some air into my lungs. Inhaling became far more difficult as her whip lashed me from shoulder to flank, in what felt like one long, agonising streak of fire. I couldn’t even scream. My hooves went out from under me, even as my back spasmed with the pain, and I fell face first into the dirt and ash.

I shut my eyes, dreading another bite from the whip’s fiery tongue, but none came. Instead, there was a dull thud, and my eyes snapped open to reveal that Cassie was no longer standing over me.

She was lying a few feet away, with a furious Naiara springing back to her hooves. Her eyes were swollen and blackening, and bruises and bites riddled her body.

Following my friend’s glare, I saw Schwarzwald standing there, still grinning, but looking no better than her chosen dance partner, who she’d just thrown into Naiara.

“Oops,” she giggled, “sorry about that, dahling.”

She’s keeping up with Naiara? The thought initially had me worried, but I soon noticed that it wasn’t quite so bad as that. While both combatants were heavily bruised, and would no doubt be sore later, Naiara wasn’t breathing heavily, while Schwarzwald was sucking in long draughts of oxygen, and favouring her right side. Naiara had the upper hoof, but it was not one-sided.

I heard a grunt behind me, and saw Naiara dancing away from a clumsy attack from Cassie. It almost did me in, as Schwarzwald took the time to charge at Naiara when my attention was elsewhere.

My attempt at preventing this was as unimpressive as Cassie’s failure to catch the nimble zebra, as the mercenary mare effortless ducked under my frozen hoof, losing no momentum as she snagged me around the chest, flinging me away. “No no, Snowflake-dear, Naiara is my playmate, and I will have my fun.”

Failing to hide a grin herself, Naiara casually repelled Cassie. “Don’t worry, Snow, I got her. Breeze’s sister giving you trouble?”

In some ways, svara, you’re as crazy as Schwarzwald is. “I took out her gun. I’ll be fine.”

Just before the two squared off again, the earth mare took the time to congratulate me. “Oh? Well done, dahling. I’m so happy for you.”

“Schwarzwald, what are you doing?” Cassie’s words dripped with incredulous disbelief. “We’re trying to stop them!”

“Stop them, yes, Cassiopeia Venatici, but clearly not kill them. We all know that if you desired Snowflake’s death, she would have already have a bullet through the brain.”

Hah! Knew it.

The accused said nothing, instead grimacing as we watched the two hoof-fighters continue their vicious brawl. I was fairly sure that I wouldn’t have to worry about either of them doing permanent damage. Schwarzwald clearly didn’t want to kill us either. I wasn’t sure why, exactly, but I was sure regardless.

“Ahem.” Cassie was drawing her whip back. “Shall we go again?”

“What for?” I challenged. “You’re just stalling anyway, giving Breeze a chance to kill Undertow.”

“Aren’t you doing the same?” She shot back.

“I’m trying to stop an entire village from being burned to the ground!”

“You already know the village will survive. We only killed those who fought back.”

“Of course they’re gonna fight back, you attacked their home!” I wasn’t going to let her try any sort of justification here. If she, her sister OR Wings had a problem with what I was doing, they could have always come to talk to me directly! This isn’t even about the Pipbuck and Memory Orb right now.

Cassie disagreed. “You would not have listened, had we approached you directly. Your anger at Wings, Breeze, and I would have clouded any discussion.”

“YOU DIDN’T EVEN TRY! NOBODY EVEN TRIES WITH RAIDERS! You all just kill them without another thought! Well, I’m sick of it! ‘Raider’ is such a damn lazy label that you jackholes put on these ponies, so you can try to fool yourself into thinking you aren’t killing other Wastelanders! I’m not gonna let you do that to Undertow, and I won’t let you do it here!”

Her whip cracked furiously against the ground. Livid eyes glared back at me. “You know NOTHING, Stable dweller, NOTHING of what a Raider is. Do not dare to lecture me on that so-called ‘label’, after mere weeks out of your hole in the ground!”

We stood there, glaring at each other in resolute silence, each unwilling to hear the other’s point of view, before she spread her wings to take flight, and my horn’s glow returned.

Our clash was derailed, however, as a torrent of water exploded out of the village well, carrying with it the grenades Breeze dropped earlier. The mass rocketed away over the rooftops and, as we watched, re-emerged seconds later, fountaining a wildly spinning Breeze straight up into the air. Even as the water broke off, splitting into smaller streams, which curled gracefully back down out of view. Even as the water left her, Breeze’s trajectory continued unabated, until she righted her spin after a few moments.

As Breeze dove down after the water, my opponent and I returned each other’s look. A second ticked by in silence, before the two of us, in a synchronised motion, broke into a gallop in that direction.

Leaving the square, we jostled and barged at each other, as we each tried to beat the other to the conflict between Breeze and Undertow.

“Leave her alone!”

Damn, I hate that she said it too.

So focused were we on reaching that particular conflict, that when Wings and Bosco burst through a flimsy excuse for a wall into the street before us, talons and knife giving off sparks as they clashed, we didn’t even slow down, even as the two locked into a stalemate, hooves and claws pushing to keep the other’s gun pointed away.

“Wings, can you handle him?”

“Bosco, you got this?”

“I’m good.” They chorused, without breaking their unblinking eye contact.

Satisfied, Cassie and I separated and ran around the pistol brawling pair, splitting up at a fork in the road.

“Come on, Undertow,” I panted as I ran, “where are you?”

It really didn’t help that everything in the camp was made of the same material, and the same basic design. That, plus the fires and explosions, and general grime of Wasteland life, had rendered every building I passed as more or less identical to its neighbours. I looked everywhere I could, but I couldn’t tell where Undertow was in relation to me.

I thought I saw a glimpse of blue wings to my left, and ducked down the next available alley. Bursting between buildings, I came back out into the open just in time to catch Undertow, having been caught under the chin by Cassie’s kick, the same one she’d used on me before beating me here.

With the stunned unicorn in my hooves, I couldn’t move fast enough to avoid the detonation, which sent us rolling. Neither Pegasus pressed the attack, as Cassie was fussing over Breeze, making sure she hadn’t been hurt. She had been, but not badly enough to incapacitate her.

I found myself doing the same for Undertow, who surprisingly shrugged me off, like Breeze was doing to Cassie.

Two glowing horns squared off against two pairs of wings, and we were then joined by two earth ponies, and finally two non-ponies. As all eight fighters gathered again, I felt utter frustration that we had wasted all that time, just to end up right back where we started: Each group facing down the other, in the still burning village.

“LALALALALAHHHHH!!!!!!”

The eight of us each raised an eyebrow at the scream, looking quizzically at its source.

Rumbling down the street towards us, was what seemed to be the entire Woodpecker group of Raiders, led by the biggest mare I’d ever laid eyes on. Her milk-coloured coat was covered by straining Raider gear, and she was mountainous, bigger even than Caber Toss, and nearly as round as she was tall, with a mouth full of missing teeth, and a red mane tied into a severe bun. Still, she was moving at a fast clip, even out pacing those following behind her.

“What the hell is this?” Wings vocalised what we were all thinking.

Dropping her smile for the first time since our entrance, Schwarzwald shrugged in disappointment. “It would appear that we have run out of time, dahling. The Raiders are here, and I believe we might not be in the best condition to fight the entire village right now.”

“But we’re not done!” Breeze had returned to swapping glares with Undertow.

Cassie remedied that by laying a hoof on her shoulder. “Unfortunately, sister, we are. Schwarzwald is right, we are not fit to battle an entire village.”

Wings and Breeze kinda looked like they wanted to continue, and the death of either, or Cassie and Schwarzwald, would all but destroy any chance I had to get my stuff back from them later, so I added my voice to Schwarzwald and Cassie. “Get going already, Wings! I’ll keep them from coming after you.”

“You will, will you?” Her scepticism was obvious.

What do you want from me? I’m trying to save your life! “Just go before you all die!”

Schwarzwald was already on her way, though she was waving cheerily at the four of us, while the three fliers hesitated, apparently needing to get some parting shots in.

“…Not bad, Bosco.” Wings’ admission was grudging at best, but it was something. She took to the sky immediately after.

Which just left the twins. Cassie was still tugging at Breeze, trying to get her to escape. Finally, the mechanically-minded Pegasus relented, and started to rise with her sister. “Another time, Undertow.”

“Goodbye for now, Red Ice.”

The Deep Diver and I said nothing in response, just watched silently as they retreated into the sky, following after Wings. The Raiders had no fliers, so they’d be fine as soon as they got out of range of whatever pitifully-maintained guns that the Raiders might have, but Schwarzwald could only make a run for it, and she was the only one of the four that I had no real grudge with, so I moved to make sure that she was alright.

Planting myself in the path of this living locomotive of a pony, I took a deep breath and held up a still-frozen hoof. “STOP!”

Shockingly, it worked. The massive mare skidded to a stop, not budging an inch when her followers, all female for some reason, piled into the back of her. Squinting down through her bloodlust, she finally focused on me standing there, feeling less confident now that she was close enough for me to get a real measurement of just how much of a big girl she was. “Wha’s wrong, wee lass? Yeh no’wantin’ tae get after ‘em?”

I heard Naiara facehoofing behind me, and wanted to join her. This accent again. Great. “Um… no?”

The ground shook as she stomped an angry, disbelieving hoof. “How no? Them cheeky bints set me toon on fire!”

If she’s gonna speak like Caber Toss, I’ll act the same way around her as I did with him. That would have made no sense, were I calmer and not coming off an emotionally charged confrontation, but it seemed perfectly reasonable then and there. “Because I’m Red Ice, and they are my prey.”

The response I got to this bravado was overwhelmingly positive, and overwhelmingly painful. The mare-hemoth swept me up and off the ground in an organ-rearranging embrace. “Red Ice! Oh, it’s a pleasure, lassie, what wi’ you savin’ may Woodpeckers an’ e’rythin’! Come ‘ere and lemme gi’ yeh a squeeze!”

I’m actually going to die. The thought was all I could muster as my shoulder blades literally ground together.

“If these are the Woodpeckers, then you must be Ballbuster.” Naiara’s words saved me, and doomed her, as Ballbuster dropped me and seized her up instead.

“Ah am indeed, yeh wee stripey thing! Thanks tae you too. That was some fine fightin’ yeh were doin’ wi’ the earth pony. Ne’er seen anythin’ like it.”

“O…kay.” Was all that the zebra could croak out.

Soon enough Ballbuster had a new target though, as she turned her attention to the last ‘lassie’. As she moved forward, Undertow was already shrinking behind me. “Wha’s wrong, hen? Come oot an’ lemme gi’ yeh a cuddle!”

“She’s not good with hugs.” I tried to be diplomatic about it. Didn’t want Ballbuster’s friendliness, painful though it was, to disappear.

Thankfully, the stout mare accepted without any trouble. “Aye, ah’m always hearin’ that the Deep Diver’s arenae much fer that stuff, seems their boss is nae different.”

“So you know who she is, then?” Bosco seemed glad to move the topic along, and avoid a hug himself.

He got a very different response than the three of us did. Ballbuster scowled at him. “Ah thank yeh fer helpin’ mah village, colt, but watch yehr mooth.”

That surprised all of us. “What’d I say?”

Her scowl threatened to turn into a glare. “The Woodpeckers’re no’ fans o’ males. Too many o’ them try their chances wi’ mah girls. Get rough wi’ em. Ah’ll no’ have that here, which means ah’ll no’ have YOU here.”

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” It seemed I wasn’t the only one carrying frustration from the fight, Bosco cut loose, raising his voice. “After all I just did to save your piece of…”

“BOSCO!” Naiara cut him off before he said anything that’d get him killed. Ballbuster WAS glaring now, and her Woodpeckers were starting to produce weapons.

“…Fine.” He wasn’t so angry that he’d commit suicide here, so he simply thrust out a hoof at Naiara instead, “Gimme the communicator.”

“What for?”

“I’ll leave, but I wanna call Schwarzwald.”

That put Naiara on edge. “Her? Why?”

He said nothing in response, just stood there with his hoof out, waiting.

I could only shrug as Naiara looked to me for clarification, but she eventually handed over Breeze’s communicator. “Don’t break it.”

“I’m not gonna break the fu-… ugh, forget this!” He turned on his heel and stalked away, muttering unflattering things about all present, and recently-present.

Two Woodpeckers followed him discreetly. “Jes’ tae make sure he’s away from the village, they’ll no bother him past the toon’s edge.”

As soon as Bosco was away, Ballbuster was all smiles again. “ ‘mon then! Le’s get some food in yeh. Yeh’re all so wee an’ tiny! Ah’ll get yeh fed up.” It wasn’t really up for discussion, as the three of us found ourselves drawn along within a procession of excited fillies, all trying to talk to us at once.

~~~~~~