Chapter 22-1: Fracturing Faces

[I have no idea, and I don't know if I should be excited or scared to find out.]

“Multiple reports have come in over the past few days of Red Ice and her Raiders attacking the increasingly familiar occurrence of travellers leaving Lethbridle. Luckily, she’s been stopped each and every time. That’s right my little ponies, our hero Blue Fire is on top of the situation! She’s been hot on the trail of Red Ice day in and day out, always showing up when Raiders try to cause trouble for good and honest ponies. Multiple witnesses report seeing the griffon kill multiple Raiders each time and, even if she hasn’t quite managed to put a bullet between Red Ice’s eyes just yet, she HAS always been able to drive her off.”

“Success.” I muttered, as we sat waiting at the edge of the mysterious forest. It was as strange as Breeze had claimed. A vast stretch of greenery, impossibly verdant atop the northern Wasteland’s cold, rocky terrain. According to the twins’ flyover, it went on for miles.

The DJ continued his broadcast. “Now, it seems like just a matter of time here folks, but I want to stress again that Raiders are dangerous ponies. Defend yourself and others against them, but don’t foolishly go hunting for them without being sure you can take care of yourself. Blue Fire has proven herself, so it can be done, but that doesn’t mean every Wastelander should grab their nearest pistol and go a-huntin’. Stay safe, ponies, and keep the faith. Blue Fire’s gonna continue to spank Red Ice’s flank up and down the region, even if a crazy mare like the Raider Queen might like that.”

I caught Wings staring at me with a raised eyebrow, and I flushed. “Not gonna happen.” I remarked quickly.

Putting her claws behind her head, she smirked. “I dunno, Snow, might make for a good report to drum up some good feelings. A nice red clawprint right over that Snowflake of yours. I bet the listeners’d love that.”

Barely restrained laughter sounded from all sides as my face reddened further. “Not. Gonna. Happen.”

“Suit yourself, Raider Queen. We could always do a trade. You mentioned wanting to win at least once, maybe this is the price for that?”

“...I hate you.”

The others burst out laughing. Even Undertow.

“You all suck!”

Wings just kept smirking. “You love us really.”

“Gnrr.” Why was this a good idea again?

~~~~~~

“Dahlings, you waited for me. How sweet.” We all turned away from the forest to see Schwarzwald strolling up. The older mare held her familiar, laughing-at-some-unseen-joke smile.

Breeze met her first. “Did you get my stuff?”

Bopping her sister on the head as she landed, Cassie made a plea for decorum. “You know how to say hello, Breeze.” She greeted the scarred mare. “Welcome back, Schwarzwald. Did you run into any trouble on the way? The DJ’s message probably riled some ponies up.”

The twins’ antics merited a chuckle. “You are always so proper, while an eager Aqua Breeze is a cute Aqua Breeze. No, I had no trouble returning, and yes, I bought the parts.”

Breeze’s wings popped up. “Sweet! Gimme gimme!” Practically ripping the bag from Schwarzwald’s grasp, Breeze immediately whipped out one of her gadgets and forgot about everybody else.

Huffing, Cassie shook her head at her sister. “Come on now, Breeze. That’s rude.”

Said sister didn’t look up. “Be right there.”

Cassie clicked her tongue, but Schwarzwald giggled again. “So cute when she gets like this. Leave her be. Anyway, we have supplies for the forest, including medicine.”

Everybody nodded their thanks. “We’ll probably need it. Something about this doesn’t feel right.”

Nobody disagreed with Cassie’s assessment. Undertow had been standing with her back to the group, waving her horn back and forth. The aquamarine glow from the appendage faded as she faced us. “I cannot lock down the water source for plants this vibrant. Cassie is right. Something is amiss here.”

Naiara rolled her shoulders while stepping into the conversation. “Do we still wanna check this out? I mean, it just showed up. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with us. We could just leave and keep looking for Bosco’s Orbs.”

The aforementioned colt looked pensive, but didn’t immediately speak up. The others and I glanced between him and Wings.

“It’s your choice, Bosco. We’re all ready to go with whatever you decide. They are your Orbs, after all.”

There was a deepening of colour in his grey eyes as he left his thoughts. He looked at each of us in turn, then at the forest, then back to the group. Finally, though with a slight grimace, he nodded. “We’ll check out the forest. I don’t trust that it’s not important. The timing’s too convenient.”

He’s got a point. Finding myself slightly enjoying the lack of pressure on my part, I stretched my muscles to get the blood flowing. “Alright, so how’re we doing this?”

In response, he poked Cassie’s unresponsive sister. “You almost finished, Breeze?”

“Ten seconds.”

Bosco addressed the group. “Even if we’re gonna be working towards finding my Orbs, it doesn’t mean we’ll all be available at the same-”

“I’M DONE!” Breeze’s happy interruption made Cassie and I jump.

“-time.” Finished, he held out a hoof, and Breeze dropped something into it. “Now Breeze, being our resident tinkerer...”

“Eheheheh.”

“...had already developed communicators for herself and Naiara. She linked in Schwarzwald’s communicator she got from Amber too. I asked her to build one more.”

Every device mentioned was presented. Wings surveyed them all. “Why do we need a fourth?”

Bosco’s jaw set. “Much as I doubt it’ll be so easy, I’d rather we all not do anything solo. We should always try to have at least one of us for backup. Going by that, the most we should split up into is four groups, hence four communicators.”

“And you went along with this?” I was mildly surprised that Breeze took direction from anybody besides her sister.

“I know a good idea when I hear one, dirt pony. Just because I don’t listen to you doesn’t mean Bosco doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“...Can’t argue with that, I guess, even if you are being a brat about it.”

Breeze blew the hanging strand of her blue-and-white mane from her eyes. “Just for that, you don’t get one of the four.”

“What?!”

“Ever.”

“WHAT?!”

She crossed her hooves, smirking. “My toys, my rules. I decide who gets to play with them.”

“Back off, Snow.” Naiara piped up before it went any further. “Breeze has done us a favour here. All of us. It wouldn’t kill you to show some appreciation.”

I stamped a hoof. “Oh come on, it’s not like she makes much of an effort to make nice!”

“A valid point.” Cassie’s on my side? “Both of you could try harder.”

“But she-” Breeze and I began together.

Wings slashed a claw through the air between us. “Nope, done talking about this now. Bosco’s still gotta finish.”

“Thanks, Wings.” He gave her a grateful smile. “So yeah, at least two of us at any one time, for anything. It’s much harder to kill two opponents than a solo fighter.” He nodded at Breeze. “Give the last communicator to Undertow for now.”

Her reaction was a half-hearted blanch. “Why Undertow?”

The goggled unicorn was equally confused. “Yes, Boss Colt, why me?”

“How enticing it is to see him live up to that name.” Schwarzwald was eyeing Bosco hungrily, but he was the only one who paid her much mind.

“Rrright. Anyway, Undertow. You’ll probably stick close to Snow, so your communicator’ll cover the two of you. Cassie’s got one for you two twins, Naiara and I can share, while Schwarzwald can cover Wings.”

Breeze and Undertow nodded approvingly. “That makes sense.” They chorused, before the pegasus grunted at the coincidence. She wordlessly flipped Undertow the communicator, which was snagged midair in an aquamarine glow.

“Thank you, I appreciate it.” Undertow slipped the device into a pocket of her barding.
Wings nudged Bosco’s shoulder, turning him back towards the forest. “So, are we going?”

He nodded. “Yeah, we’re g-”

“One moment.” Schwarzwald held up a hoof to interrupt. “I have a message from Fedexi Lexi.”

Boss? I thought happily. Undertow and I crowded around Schwarzwald as she started her communicator’s playback.

“Hey, girls.” Lexi’s drawl lifted my spirits, but it seemed a little colder than in person. “Now, ah heard over the radio about what’s been goin’ on recently.”

My ears flattened against my head at the business-like tone.

Lexi continued. “Snow, yer… yer not makin’ this easy.” I swallowed my tongue and had to look away. Sorry, Boss.

“But,” Lexi’s tone warmed here. “Ah got faith in ya. Ah trust y’know what yer doin’, and when t’stop.”

The build-up in my breast started to drain away, just a little. I gave Schwarzwald a thankful smile.

“Snowflake, Undertow. Y’all keep each other safe. You and yer friends. An’ find yer brother’s quick now, y’hear? No more pancakes if’n y’let me down.” The message cut out, with nobody saying anything for a moment.

“Aww,” Sugar laced Naiara’s cooing. “dat’s sho schwee-”

A deafening hiss erupted from the forest, forcing all of us to cover our ears. Breeze howled as the sound punished her sensitive hearing.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” I tried to shout, but the sound didn’t even reach my ears, let alone those of the others.

Cassie’s eyes still worked, as she wrenched her suffering sister aside just as vines burst from the foliage, grabbing for them both. They took wing, but the vines rose after them, grabbing them around the haunches. They screamed soundlessly as they were pulled between the trees.

Flashes to my left showed that Wings and Schwarzwald were still fighting. Back to back, they fired minigun and revolvers at any vines that came too close.

I tried to shout a warning about the vines encroaching from above, but the hissing was still too impenetrable. The vines divebombed them both, smothering their weapons and limbs. Within seconds they too were dragged into the forest.

They already got half of us! Where are the others? A thick creeper wrapped itself around my ankle and flipped me onto my back hard. The wind was driven from me as more plants grabbed at my body. I tried to freeze them with my magic, but couldn’t focus while being jostled.

Watery tendrils slashed and whipped at the vine on my leg. Undertow’s valiant defense looked like it would free me for a moment, but then more green tentacles bowled her over too. Reaching out a hoof, I grabbed hold of her barding and held her close. I blasted out magic in all directions in an attempt to get the plants off of her. We stopped mid-drag, the creepers frozen solid. Manically, I tore at the green chains, getting our attackers away from her.

Undertow was pointing, and I followed her limb. Bosco and Naiara were still free, jumping and dodging aside as the mossy tentacles hissed and hunted. I tried to pull Undertow towards them, but the world went black. Something pressed against my eyes, yanking my head up and to the side. I twisted and bit at what was blinding me, but it didn’t budge.

I felt Undertow’s hoof disappear from my grasp, then all I could feel was leaves against my cheeks.

~~~~~~

Grunting as I hit the ground, I found myself in a clearing within the forest. My battle saddle and weapons were still with me, but I could not see the others.

“Whoa!” Wings shot out of the greenery backwards, trying and failing to unfurl her wings before she too crashed down.

“Wings-dahling! You are alright!” I had to keep my eyes on our surroundings, but made my way over to her quickly.

She took my proffered hoof, using it to get herself upright, with revolvers drawn. “You okay, Schwarz?”

I gave myself a quick scan. “I seem to be, as do you. However, I do not see the others.”

“Can’t see what grabbed us either.” She groused, as she used her one free claw to rebind her feathers into a tail, which left her eyes unhindered. “Did you try the communicator?”

Good, you are keeping your cool, as always. I fished out the device given to me by dear Amber, and clicked up Breeze’s channel. “Breeze? Are you there, dahling? Cassie? Can anyone hear me?”

Nothing but static came through the speaker. I moved onto the other channels. “Bosco? Naiara? Do you read me?” More of the same. Finally, I tried the newest link “Snowflake? Undertow-dear?”

They might be somewhere they cannot answer. Let me try one more person. “Amber-dahling, are you busy? Amber? Amber, if you can hear me then please respond!”

More static. I shrugged and put the device away. “It appears that we are, for the moment, on our own.”

Still monitoring our surroundings, WIngs didn’t answer straight away. After a minute or so, she was finally satisfied that we weren’t in immediate danger, and let her claws drop. She didn’t put her revolvers away, however. I cannot argue with that.

Turning back to me, her blue eyes were smouldering. “Any idea on what’s going on? Why’d this forest grab us?” She raised her chin and repeated her question to the foliage. “HEY! WHY’D YOU GRAB US?”

When no answer was forthcoming, she picked a direction and began stalking off. “Come on, let’s go find the others.”

You still think about others first. As I’ve come to expect. “Yes, they took the twins first. Was that planned, or a target of opportunity?”

She flapped a wing tersely. “Don’t know, but let’s make finding those two our priority.”

Oh? “Why the twins?”

She started at the question. “I just… well, I mean… ah! Breeze has good ears, and Cassie’s got sharp eyes. If we find them first then we’ll find the others faster.”

Clever, but… “Is that the only reason?”

Her shoulders hunched slightly as she continued stalking forward. “Well, we could always look for Bosco. Colt’s got a good head on his shoulders. Or Naiara, since she’s a tracker.”

“...But not Snowflake or Undertow.” Something is troubling you. I wonder what.

She blew out a long breath, through the side of her beak. “Of course we’ll find them, I just... “ She sighed, stopping and turning to face me. “...I just need a little break from Snow for, like half an hour or an hour or something. Just some peace for a little while.”

“Is it the Red Ice business?” My eyes hardened a little at the thought. You HAVE to be ready for all this. You are the one that will decide Equestria’s future!

She waved off my question. “Nah, I can handle that. What gets me is that Snow never fucking shuts up about her damn family!” At my questioning look, she rolled her eyes and continued. “Oh don’t look at me like that. You just know the first thing she’ll do when we find her is to ask where Undertow is, and then the moment we all get out of here she’ll be right back to harping on about finding her brothers.”

She spread her claws wide to indicate the forest. “Newsflash! Bigger things to worry about! At least she’s got a chance to see her family again!”

Ah. I see. “Snowflake does seem to miss the bigger picture, sometimes.” Though she did seem to understand why you will be important.

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.” She muttered.

I had no response to that, so we resumed walking in silence, looking for the twins. The scenery didn’t seem to change, no matter how long we walked. The trees and leaves seemed to blur into one after a while.

After half an hour without any other source of entertainment, I had had enough. Leaning over, I nipped one of Wings’ neck feathers with my teeth.

“Ow! The hell, Schwarz?!”

“Will you tell her?” I challenged.

She was still rubbing her plumage. “Tell who?”

“Snowflake. Will you tell her how she upsets you?”

She flexed her claws quickly. “Of course not! What would I say? ‘Stop trying to find your loved ones’? Yeah, like I’m gonna be that girl.” She spat on the ground. “It’s my problem, not hers. I’ll get over it.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. Wings took it to mean I was laughing AT her, and sulked. This, of course, made me laugh harder.

I think I’ll hold on to this conversation for the next time that Watcher doubts your place in the Gardens.

“Well,” I shoulder-nudged her. “as we are being honest, I feel that I should tell you something in return.”

“And what’s that?” She grumbled, only half-listening.

“Well, dear Cassie and I have been getting to know each other more closely since we began travelling together.” Another perk of our growing circle of friends and confidants. “Myself, Cassie… and her whip.”

I thoroughly enjoyed the shock that ran through Wings’ blue eyes, the obvious images running through her mind, before she attempted to cover it with a cough. “You and Cassie? Well… that’s a thing. I didn’t think she was the type.”

Not all of us have our eyes turned outwards every second, my dear. The rest of us stop to appreciate these worldly pleasures. “It is more complicated than-”

“Wait.” She cut me off suddenly, drawing her guns. “Did you hear that?”

The faint rustling was growing more distinct in my ears too. I span up my minigun. “Indeed…”

~~~~~~

“And so that is where I have been ‘sneaking off to’ at night.” I tried to keep my cheeks from reddening further. Talking about this with one’s sister is… icky.

Breeze was staring into space with that faraway gaze she always wore when working through a tricky issue with one of her gadgets. I always did like how your bang swings back and forth when you do that.

After a few seconds, she blinked and came back to the conversation. “I-I’m just a little shocked is all. I didn’t think you… I mean, of course Schwarzwald does, but I’ve never seen…” She was starting to go red now too.

I took pity on her. “I’m not, not like you are thinking anyway. It is more of an… in the moment experience. I don’t know how else to explain it, but the act is more important than the participants.”

She took a few moments to mull that over, while I took another look at our predicament. Still no sign of our captors, not since they left us here. “Can you try the radio again? To contact the others?”

Keying up her custom-built communicator, she hit the switch. “Are any of you guys out there? Anybody at all? I’m here with Cassie, but we don’t really have a fix on where ‘here’ is yet. Naiara, Wings, or Undertow, give a sign if you can hear this. We’ll keep our communicators on.”

The same silence that followed our previous tries returned. Grimacing, she put the communicator away. “No luck. What now?”

My jaw set. “We keep walking. We will either find our way out of this forest, or we’ll find one or more of the others. Naiara would be the best option, with her tracking skills. Or perhaps if we had Wings here, we might be able to get through the tree canopy.”

We both looked up at the tangle of branches and leaves overhead. Despite our best efforts, including one of Breeze’s grenades, we had been unable to get past it to the open air. Spitting on the ground, Breeze stayed looking at the gooey expulsion for a moment. “Maybe we should try to find Undertow?”

I frowned. “Now isn’t the time to settle up with her, Breeze. We need to get out of here first.”

She shook her head. “Not what I meant. Bosco told me that she can do this tracker spell thing, where she finds water and can follow it to its source. If she did that, it might lead her out of the forest.”

I mulled it over. Not an unsensible idea, however… “It could also lead her further in, depending on where the source is.”

Breeze shrugged. “Better than walking around lost like us.”

I reached out and rested my hoof on her shoulder gently. “We’ll find our way out of this, Breeze. Don’t worry.” I pressed further when this failed to get a reaction. “We’ll get back to normal soon enough, and we’ll just laugh about the time you went stir crazy and even missed Undertow.”

She gave a single “Ha.” A token effort at best. Her eyes kept flickering towards mine, only to turn away at the last moment.

I fixed her with a stare. “I know that look, Breeze. You had the same one the last time you polished off my whiskey. What did you do?”

Panic set in. “Nothing! I-” Her eyes had gone wide, and she shrank back slightly. “I just… I, uh, was thinking about the… I was thinking about Undertow.”

Oh. You actually DO miss her. “What about Undertow?”

She still wouldn’t look fully at me. “It’s just… she’s kinda… she doesn’t really act like a Raider, you know? I know she was considered the leader of the Deep Divers, but that basically meant they left her alone until one of them got brave enough to try to kill her. A-and that business with the new Raider army? Well, that wasn’t really her either, was it? She just kinda went along with the plan.”

My heartrate had picked up considerably. I didn’t necessarily disagree with anything Breeze was saying, but still had concerns. “Breeze, you know all we’ve been through because of the Raiders-”

“I know, I know!” She cut me off desperately. “Look, she’s been fine so far. Naiara’s… Naiara’s been pushing for me to give her a chance, to properly get to know her as a pony. I’ve tried, every now and then, y’know, talked with her a little bit, even had a back and forth about some magic ideas.” Guilt racked her face as she finally met my eyes. “I dunno, Cas, I just kinda get the feeling that, instead of another Raider, she’s another Raider victim.”

That one hit me right in the chest. A… a victim? You’re saying Undertow’s another casualty of the Raiders? My mind skittered over and around the idea. “I don’t know either, sister. That’s… Raiders can be tricky to spot, and-”

This time I was the one to step back while she pressed. “I know, and I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t think there might be a chance, but I just don’t wanna always be worrying about when I’ll have to take her out. I wanna try, for our sanity.”

It just wouldn’t coalesce into a certainty in my mind, but it was being gradually drowned out by something that would. I trusted Breeze explicitly, unreservedly. If she said she could handle this, and it might be good for us, then I would support her.

“Alright,” I exhaled. “we’ll give it a try. Naiara has proven to be a good judge of character so far, you being exhibit A.” She coloured nicely at this. “If she says we can trust Undertow, then we will try to trust her.”

Breeze’s obvious relief at my agreement prompted me to get in one last jab. “And who knows, it probably couldn’t hurt your chances with that handsome clanmate of hers.”

“Cas! Come on!” She couldn’t hide her blush. “That’s different. I can probably trust Cept.”

“Probably?” She wilted under my raised eyebrow.

“Yes!” She replied, indignant. “I mean, the clan leader is a little troubling, but Cept seems okay.”

I can’t disagree with that either. This ‘Atesh’ seems like he is planning something too. We cannot ignore him forever. “So, your circle of friends is growing to include a not-Raider and a zebra stallion, to go along with Naiara. No ponies?”

“Bosco’s okay, I guess. And you clearly think Schwarzwald’s good. Her and Wings both.”

Now the moment of truth. “And what about Snowflake?”

“What about her?” Her reply was caustic, a solid wall of disapproval.

I couldn’t agree more. “Precisely.”

The forest’s rustling seemed to react to my thoughts.

~~~~~~

The loud CRACK of my water breaking through the frozen vines did nothing to lift my mood. Within moments, vines covered the gap.

“Any luck?” Snowflake was on the other side of the clearing, trying to find another way through.

“No,” I called over my shoulder. “as soon as I make a hole it fills in again.”

“Yeah, same over here. Doesn’t look like we’re getting out of here without the others’ help.”

That didn’t help matters either. Why capture us if we are to just wander aimlessly in these woods? I absentmindedly flicked a sliver of ice from my goggles before addressing my sister. “Shall we move on?”

Snowflake drew even with me. “Are you getting anything from your water trail spell?”

I could only shake my head. “No. I can feel water sometimes, but I cannot find where it comes from. We will have to find another way.”

Falling into silence, we continued stoically on. The forest’s greenery never seemed to end, and there was no sign of light from between the trees, nor of the clouds above. We both looked up, momentarily hopeful, as a ripple of wind ran through the forest canopy. It wasn’t enough though, and didn’t open up the green ceiling.

Snow continued to look up. “Do you think the others got out?”

“If they managed to get through to the sky, yes. I am… not so confident about Schwarzwald, Naiara, or Bosco.”

Silence descended again, and we walked for several miles before it was broken. “Hey, Undertow, do you mind if I ask you something now it’s just the two of us?”

Why would that matter? “What is it?”

“It’s about something Breeze said.” She was tentative, speaking slowly and softly.

“What did she say?” My sister didn’t often get like this. It was usually when her own insecurities surfaced.

Her mouth twitched, looking like it was caught between a smile and a glum droop. “Well, back when we dropped Al off with Lexi, she said something to you.”

“To me?” Thinking back that far distracted me, and I had to stop walking for a moment. Most of my focus back then was on why Snowflake hadn’t told Al about me, but Breeze did say something. It was… “She said that Lexi was… scary, correct? I agreed, but also mentioned how nice she was.” I glanced over to Snowflake. “Is that what you were referring to?”

Her expression turned from confused to worried. “Undertow, um… Breeze never said that Lexi was scary. No, well, she did, but she didn’t use her name.”

Did she insult Boss? I’ll kill her! I stepped forward forcefully. “What word did she call her?”

Snowflake’s orange eyes were kind, but also serious. It reminded me of our battle at Sombra’s Shadow Lake. She still wore that ‘should-I-be-smiling’ half-smile. “Undertow… she called Lexi your mom.”

My goggles slipped from my eyes as my brows rose. “...Oh.”

Snowflake stepped closer. “How do you feel about that?”

How do I feel about that?

My hooves rubbed the sleeves of the Sprinkles Supplies barding.

The taste of the oat pancakes Lexi had made for us ghosted along my tongue.

My shoulders grew warm as I remembered how tightly she’d hugged me after Snowflake and I had fought.

Then there was the promise the two of us had made, to save my sister from herself if need be.

“Undertow?” Snow broke into my reverie. “Sweetie, you’re crying. What’s wrong?”

“I-I am?” A shaking hoof came away wet from my eyes. “I’m crying.” I found myself laughing at the sensation. “Why am I crying?”

“Are you sad?”

“NO!” I near-shouted, surprising myself. “I’m not sad at all.” It wasn’t a totally unpleasant sensation, but the pressure on my chest was building.

I had to see my sister at that moment, even if she was blurred by the tears. “Do you… do you think she would say ‘yes’?”

Her indecisive smile lost its indecision. “Do you want her to?”

I could only whimper and nod, feeling the pressure break in my breast.

Gathering me up into a hug, Snowflake stroked my mane lovingly. “Then let’s go ask her, after we get out of here and finish Bosco’s business.”

I sniffled into her neck. “But what about our brothers?”

She’d shifted into full, supreme-confidence big sister mode. “We’ll find them too, don’t ever doubt that. We won’t let anything stop us, and then we’ll get you back to your mom.”

I… I have a mother! Water still ran down my cheeks, but the thought cheered me up.

“What...what are moms like? What was yours like?”

She shrugged in the hug. “I dunno, I never met her. I’ve never had a mother. I was raised by the Stable, and the boys’ mother looked after me sometimes, before she died. Still, it’s like Breeze said: Lexi IS scary but kind.”

Giggling, I hugged her tighter. However, another thought had taken root in my mind and wouldn’t leave. “Um… if Lexi wants to be my mom, and you want to be my sister, does that make her your-”

“Wait!” Snowflake hissed suddenly.

“What?” I pulled my head up, and looked around.

Snaking down from the tree canopy, as the leaves rustled, were more of the damn vines.

~~~~~~

“Get up.”

“No.”

“We seriously don’t have time for this.”

“We’ve got as much time in here as we ever did, unless you thought up a way to get out of here in the last five seconds.”

I gritted my teeth. “So you want to just wait and be stuck in here forever, is that it?”

“Yyyyep.”

“THE FUCK YOU DO, NOW GET THE HELL UP!” I am not in the mood today. Not. In. The. Freaking. Mood.

Slumping from her sitting position to laid down, Naiara crossed her hooves behind her head and closed her eyes. “Make me.”

“So it’s gonna be like that.” I seethed. “The others might be in trouble, and you’re just gonna lie there. Real quality friendship there, Naiara.”

She didn’t move, not open her eyes. “Well maybe it can be someone else’s turn to be the good friend, for once.”

The bitter reply cut through my anger somewhat. “What do you mean?”

Her eyes snapped open, caught. She quickly turned away and began pushing herself to her hooves. “Nothing. Let’s just go.”

“Hold on.” I stuck a hoof out to stop her. “Say what you want to say. Seems like you need it.”

She swiped at the air. “Well, none of you seem to care much that I lost friends to the buffalo! Nobody’s even mentioned them, except when Breeze wants to talk about her crush, or Snow wants to speak in broken zebra. None of you, my ‘friends’, have given a second thought about my clan.”

I frowned. “Your clan?” Where is this coming from? You were fine earlier.

She nodded angrily. “Yeah, my clan. When Crush, and Snow’s brother I might add, attacked us: the eight of us got out okay, but not all of us zebra did! I might not spend all that much time with them, but they’re still the ones who I grew up with. It still hurts!”

Hesitating, my barring hoof dropped. “I…” Shit, what am I supposed to say to that? I guess they did kinda bring it on themse-

“And yeah, Atesh worked with Raiders, and my clan were the ones who decided to sneak attack the camp, then humiliate Crush,”

-lves.

“but we’re not just doing this for no reason. Atesh really believes that we need the horn to prosper.” Her jaw set, and she dug at the ground. “Snow should have told you and the others about the horn, especially after Latvi learned about it. She didn’t, and it cost zebra lives.”

“That’s not…” I tried to ease some of the strain out of my suddenly stiff neck. You’re right, Snow should have told us. She put us all in danger by keeping the thing in the first place, and then keeping it secret. But still, Snow doesn’t really seem to be doing anything with it except trying to keep it out of the wrong hooves. Atesh and Latvi are the ones who want to use it.

“And I should have said something.” Naiara’s jade eyes took on a faraway look. “I knew she had the horn. I knew some of the rumours of what it could do, but I just ran away after the Raider summit. I didn’t go back to Atesh and Cept, or stay with Snow, or find you guys. I just ran, and now six of my clanmates are dead, maybe more by now.”

“You did get Undertow to safety.” I tried, searching for any silver lining.

“Not good enough.” She chastised herself grimly. “Not nearly good enough. I was so worried about letting everybody down that I let everybody down. After I got Undertow out of there, I had to run. I didn’t know who I was supposed to back, who I was supposed to apologise to first. I just freaked and ran, because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next.”

Now I was the one lying down, as all the fight left me. “Yeah,” I breathed out. “I get that.”

Agitated pacing gave way to confused stillness. “You do?”

My eyes found the walls of our green cage. “Yeah. Back in Whitepony, when Undertow and I got grabbed and taken to Whinniepeg. It was the worst experience of my life.” Shuddering, I had to jam my hooves into my eyelids to dispel the remembered images. “Undertow did what she could to keep us safe, but it just kept happening, every moment. I never felt...right. Even after you guys got me out, it didn’t go away, it just faded… got quieter.”

A striped visage loomed over me. “What did?”

Letting my hooves fall to the grass with a soft thud, I shrugged. “I can’t explain it. I don’t feel right inside. It’s like something different, but I don’t know what. Undertow saw it, and she tried to help, but pretty soon we all got swept up into dealing with the Raider army, and fights with Hissyflits, and now this search for my Orbs. Whatever those things tried to do to me hasn’t gone away.”

All sharpness had left her green irises. “Why didn’t you ever tell us?”

I let out a helpless laugh. “And say what? ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about nothing’? You’re all helping me find my Orbs already. I can’t lump this on you too.”

“Bosco, we’re your friends. We want to help you if there’s something wrong.”

Sighing, I looked away. “I know, but I need to know if it IS wrong. It’s different, but it ebbs and flows. Getting angry seems to make it worse, which was why I didn’t go with you to the Raider summit. I couldn’t be around Snow without being angry after she tried to give away my Orbs. Being with Wings and the others was simpler. We were doing straightforward things; going after bad ponies, killing Raiders, other easy stuff like that. Not hard to feel better about myself.”

My hooves raised to the sky, separately, before coming together. “Now that we’re all back together again, things are getting muddied. Whatever the feeling is, it’s getting stronger again.”

Naiara radiated concern. “Bosco, we’ve gotta figure this out. You can’t keep going like this.”

I met her gaze steelily. “Yeah, I can. Just like you. Just like all of us. I’ll get right in time. I’ll live with it for now, until I know what it means.”

“You cannot wait. You will continue.”

Shooting up in panic, our foreheads met violently. Wincing in pain, we scrambled upright, back to back. “Who’s there?”

“Boy, you meddle with more than you know.” The voice seemed to echo from everywhere at once.

I bit down on my knife’s handle, as Naiara shouted at the forest. “SHOW YOURSELF!”

“Not yet, zebra, but you will see something special.”

Vines burst from the brush, lancing between us. More and more vines rushed in, cutting off our view.

“Nu-ura!” Yelling around my knife, I tried to get a view of her, but the undulating tendrils obscured any sign of her.

I could hear her, however. “Bosco, get out of here!”

I spat out the knife. “Not without you! Just hold on a little while longer.”

Grabbing up the blade, I charged at the wall. Hacking and slashing, I kept up a steady attack, all personal issues forgotten. Why now? We were just talking! Why are you taking her too?! WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ALL OF US?!?!

“Rest assured, boy. Your time here is not yet over.”

~~~~~~