Chapter 23-2: Playing The Percentages

Who lets Raiders into a major city by choice? I mean, seriously?? I tugged at my armour, trying to draw little bit more warmth out of it to combat the chill in the air. Snow was falling in the city itself, and the appeal quickly diminished. It wasn’t heavy, but melted as soon as it touched flesh, leaving cold, wet spots.

The sounds of battle had grown obvious ever since we’d reached Lethbridle’s northern quarter, so Rockhaunch had slowed us to a crawl. We checked every alley before moving forward, and did our best to watch every angle at once. It was slow, annoying work.

At least it stops Bosco’s bitching for a little while. I knew the stallion was justifiably annoyed about having to once-again delay his goal of getting his stuff back, but his petulance was grating on everybody. As I watched, he trudged forward just behind Rockhaunch, giving only the barest attention to his surroundings. Mostly he kept his head down, loading and unloading his pistol.

Not gonna cut it if we get caught up in a full battle. I poked his shoulder gently with a talon. “I know you’re pissed, but get over it.” I hissed quietly. “We need you to focus here. I don’t wanna see you get shot just because your head’s not in the fight. You get me, kid?”

“I know why we’re here, Wings.” He responded, surly.

“I’m serious, Bosco. I don’t want to lose you because of this. If you’re not gonna be careful, I’ll send you back to Snow right now.” I laid my claw over his pistol firmly.

He tugged it free on the third attempt, and brushed his mane out of his eyes. “Alright, fine. I get it. I’ll handle this.”

My claw curled into a fist. “Just so we’re clear. Stay safe, Bosco.”

“Yeah, sure.” He sulked, but at least his head came up a little, and his eyes watched our surroundings more.

“We’re almost there.” Rochhaunch held up a huge cloven hoof, halting us in our tracks. He flattened his oak-furred body against a wall, just shy of the building’s corner edge, and we all crammed in behind him. His eye swivelled back. “Which of you is quiet?”

“That’d be me, Chief.” Naiara’s striped hoof shot up from within our scrum. “I’m your scout.”

He nodded. “Good enough. Go recon the situation. Find out where my guards are.”

Flashing a confident smile, she disengaged from the wall, slunk past us, and slipped around the corner.

When she was gone, Rockhaunch shifted enough to talk to Cassie, the next in line. “Is she any good?”

Looking him square in the eyes, Cassie’s response sent a shiver through my feathers. “If she wanted to, she could kill us all in our sleep.”

“Cass!” Breeze chided from behind her. “Come on! I mean it’s true, but you don’t have to say it like that. Naiara’s our friend.”

Pursing her lips, Cassie blew out some air but didn’t respond.

Grunting as he checked the straps of his oversized battle saddle, Rockhaunch didn’t sound put off. “Good for us, then.”

He “ghk”d as Naiara’s head suddenly appeared from around the corner. “This way, hurry! There are a LOT of Raiders.”

Cinching himself up, Chief Rockhaunch grabbed the mouthbit. “Alright, lead the way.”

Without another word, Naiara turned and sped off, with us following in hot pursuit. It only took a few minutes to reach the battle, and we skidded to a halt a dozen metres behind the barriers that Lethbridle’s defenders had hastily thrown up in the street. The Raiders were taking potshots from positions a hundred metres further down the road.

Rockhaunch continued on until he reached the barricades. “REPORT!” He bellowed at nobody in particular.

Without looking away from the battle, one of the Unicorn guards spoke up. “Glad you’re here, Chief. These crazies are spread all through the quarter. We’re holding them at bay for now, but I don’t know how long we can last.”

He turned to a Bernstein soldier with a grenade launcher. “And the blockades. Are we ready yet?”

I exchanged glances with the others. What blockades?

The Bernstein pony loosed two explosives down the street, the explosions being joined by screams. “All squads are calling in. Should be ready in ten minutes, give or take.”

A bullet panged off the barrier, so we all ducked down. Rockhaunch hefted his battle saddle and let loose with a full volley. The return fire cut off for a few seconds. He hunkered down behind the wall again. “Okay. Ten minutes. We can do that. We’ll hold them here until our teams are in place. But you tell me the second they’re good to go, alright? The very second!”

“Yes, sir!”

The hefty hoof pointed upwards. “The zebra and you three fliers. Head back around the corner, then airlift the girl up to the roof. Zebra…”

“My name is Naiara.”

“Whatever. Naiara, when you’re on the roof, call out patterns and strays, and watch for any Raider trying to pull something. You three fliers stay up high, out of their range. Take your shots when you can, and see if you can drive them out into the open. Colt, you’re with us down here.”

“Why is Naiara going with them instead of fighting down here?”

“Because she’s not a gun-user, or so Bernstein tells me, so I’m sending her where she can be of some use.”

We all waited for him to continue, and he just looked at us expectantly.

“Roof! That’s an order!” He bellowed.

“Oh, right. Uh...yes sir?” The four of us took of running back the way we came. I glanced over my shoulder to see Bosco start popping off shots with the other guards. Once we rounded the corner, we all took a hold of some Naiara. As one, wings beating together, we lifted her up to the roof.

“Not an ounce of fat on you, is there? You’re really light.”

“Well, I can’t eat as much as you hollow-boners.”

Breeze couldn’t help herself. “Boners.” She snerked.

We all giggled the rest of the way to the roof. After dropping Naiara off, I looked to the twins. The three of us nodded at each other, before simultaneously shooting up into the sky. At a hundred metres up, we took stock of the situation.

Cassie’s sharp eyes gave her the best image of the fighting. She spun in a full circle, chill wind whipping her red and black mane around her face. “I see four separate flashpoints. Rockhaunch and Bosco seem to be stalemated, but...Breeze?”

Her sister was scanning the city, and twisting a dial on her greave at the same time. “Yeah, sis?”

“We’ll do more good at one of the other skirmishes, but perhaps you could drop a few presents for the Raiders before we move on?”

Instantly, three grenades were in the technophile’s hooves, and a feral grin was on her face. “Coming right up.”

As Breeze rocketed down below, Cassie turned to me. “I’ll keep watch up here, but can you relay the information to Naiara before Breeze gets back?”

I nodded. “On it.”

Dropping into an arcing dive, I zeroed in on Naiara, who had already moved rooftops. The lithe zebra was dancing to avoid sporadic Raider fire while she surveyed the street below. As I got close, I squeezed off three shots with my revolvers, catching one Raider in the stomach, but the other two clanged harmlessly off a Deep Diver in full diving gear. “Hey, Naiara!”

She hopped back from the roof, just as a bullet chipped off some fragments from the edge. “Yeah?”

“Cassie says we’re moving to another street. Keep an eye on things here, and let us know if it starts going wrong. I know Rockhaunch said it’d only be ten minutes, but…”

She understood without my finishing. “Alrighty. Good luck.”

I squeezed her shoulder, just as three explosions sounded within the Raider contingent below, before beating my wings into a steep climb. I met the twins coming down. While Breeze cackled like a madmare at the devastation she had wrought, Cassie motioned for me to follow as they glided past. Folding my wings in, I wheeled round and powered after them.

Cassie pulling up short allowed me to catch up to them. “So what’s the play?” I asked, as she was raising her rifle.

“One moment.” Sighting along the barrel, she pulled the trigger once. Fearful cries went up a moment later.

Damn that’s loud up close. Breeze must’ve gotten used to it, because there’s no way she enjoyed that with those sensitive ears of hers.

Confirming her kill, she lowered the rifle. “With that, the third skirmish should be stable enough to hold out until the ten minutes are up. That just leaves two more. There,” She pointed towards a farther street where muzzle flashes could be seen between buildings. “and there.” A similar scene, but in the opposite direction.

Hmm, probably not enough time to do both one after the other, if we wanna leave ourselves time to get back for whatever Rockhaunch is planning. “You guys wanna take one, and I’ll take the other?”

“You sure about that, Wings?” Breeze looked on with a frown. “Going without backup is risky. Especially now.”

I tested the roll of my barrel chambers. “Don’t see that we have much of a choice, Breeze. We’ve gotta hold out, and we need to do it at two locations. You guys work together better than I would with either of you.”

“Well, yeah, of course we do, but-”

“But,” Cassie interrupted, turning her sniper rifle side on in front of us, “I am not at my best in close range. Each of you will take one of the battles, and I will provide support to you both from higher up. Does that sound more acceptable?”

Breeze and I looked at each other.

“Works for me.”

“Yep, me too.”

“So...break?”

“Break!” The three of us split up. I went in one direction, Breeze another, and Cassie went straight up.

Heading to my fight, I spotted a couple of figures skulking along a rooftop. When I got closer, the mismatched and barely functional barding clued me in to which side they were on. Their attention was on the guards below, and they were dragging a heavy, hoof-cranked turret to the roof’s edge between the two of them.

Nice idea boys, but allow me to provide a counterpoint. Two shots dropped the Raider pair. The first was from my revolver, and punched a neat-ish hole at the base of his skull. The second, coming from a much higher vantage point, drilled the remaining roof Raider into the floor by sheer force, though he was almost certainly dead before he actually finished falling. I landed on the roof itself, checking out the turret. “All set up for me? Oh you shouldn’t have.”

The two dead Raiders had it pointing at the guards below, but I orientated it back towards the throng at the other end of the street. Well, no sense wasting any of OUR bullets. Drawing the attention of all present with a hawkish shriek, I vigorously cranked the turret’s feeder.

The Raiders, having not bothered to erect walls of their own to hide behind, were left scrambling as I rained shot down on them. Many were too slow, and were cut down as they turned to run. The Lethbridle defenders took advantage of the chaos to score some easy kills of their own.

“Thi-i-is i-i-is a-a-aws-s-some!” Chuckling even as the rusty, unstable turret threatened to throw us both off the roof, I continued to crank the feed, all while trying to ignore the shaking in my claws.

Clickclickclick. The light, almost accusatory sound let me know that my fun was at an end. “Aw, no more turret? Bleh. Useless Raider tech. Maintain your weapons, punks!”

“Who the hell is that?” One of the defenders started to aim his weapon my way.

“Whoops! Hold on there, guy! Blue Fire backup, at your service. Also, I just killed the guys who would’ve shredded you like roachmeat!”

His not-too-bright buddy tried to come to his defence. “Why should we trust you? You’re a griffon, like the others working for the Raiders!”

“Maybe because I just killed the guys who would’ve shredded you like roachmeat? Or how about the fact that I’m not doing my griffonly duty to kill you right now? Doesn’t sound like I’ve got a contract to help the Raiders now, does it?”

“Uhhh…” They chorused.

Lethbridle’s finest, everybody. Give ‘em a big round of applause. I rolled my eyes and went back to shooting Raiders.

Luckily, I’d stolen their high ground, so their attempts to de-roof me didn’t amount to much more than a few shallow cuts from the masonry chips that their misses kicked up.

A tense few minutes elapsed before a series of sharp whistles sounded throughout the northern quarter. The reaction of the Lethbridle guards was instantaneous. “EVERYPONY MOVE! WE GOTTA GO!”

Suddenly the defenders’ hardpoint defence turned into a fighting retreat, as they began to fall back, in dribs and drabs, covering each other as they went.

The Raiders wasted no time in coming after them, whooping and shouting threats of rape and murder, but they couldn’t gain much ground thanks to the defenders still having plenty of bullets.

It wasn’t an orderly or perfect retreat by any means. A Lethbridle guard took a bullet in the shoulder, and the Bernstein fighter who stopped to help her ended up getting hit between the eyes. The dead pony fell on the mare, pinning her underneath his lifeless husk. Myself and the other fighters did what we could, but we were too far away, and the Raiders were too close. They swarmed around her as she screamed for help, but there was nothing we could do. Not even a good angle for a mercy kill. Sorry, lady.

“KEEP MOVING!” The same shouter from before, apparently the guy in charge, didn’t let up as we fell back. “WE’RE ALMOST THERE!”

“Almost where?” Not knowing the plan was really putting a damper on my ability to adequately help these guys.

He unslung a bandolier of grenades, pulled every pin with his magic, then tossed the whole thing around the corner. Before the explosion went off, he was already sprinting. “OTHER END OF THE STREET! GOGOGOGOGO!”

A massive fireball blew out from around the corner, with the airwave blowing me back. There were some pained screams from the area, but still more shouts of rage and madness.

Breeze and Cassie swept down around me. “Wings, come on! Move it, they’re setting the charges!”

“What charges?” Nobody told me about this!

“JUST MOVE!” They ordered together.

Heart pounding full tilt now, I soared after them. At the other end of the street, I could see Naiara, Bosco, and Rockhaunch beckoning frantically.

Breeze’s ear twitched. “IT’S COMING! FULL SPEED!”

Then I heard it, a swiftly growing rumble. From just above the buildings a few streets over, a surge of dust and debris shot up. It’s coming right for us!

Putting everything I had into my wingbeats, I powered past just as the collapse blasted through the buildings lining the street on my right. Tumbling in mid air, I saw the cobblestones collapse all along the street, nearly back to the other end. It didn’t stop there either, as the growing chasm continued through the buildings to my left.

“Little help?” Righting myself was proving slightly problematic, and I was still going pretty fast.

“I got her!”

“Me too!”

Two pairs of hooves, one striped and one grey, wrapped themselves around me as I rolled, holding tight as we landed with a thud against something soft, but firm. The world finally stopped spinning.

A low, bass chuckle sounded from the thing we’d hit. “Still with us, Blue Fire?”

“Chief?” The burly buffalo had halted my mad rush. “What the hell was that?”

“Collapsed the boundaries for that part of the city. Northern quarter’s cut off now. The Raiders can’t get to us. They’re stuck where they are.”

Bosco helped me to my paws, then frowned at the Chief. “Won’t they just leave? They still control the north gate.”

Rockhaunch shook his head. “On the ground maybe. We’ve still got our guys on the top of the wall. If they try to get out again, we’ll have plenty of time to bottleneck them, and really make a dent in their numbers. Some might get away, but not enough.”

Whistling in appreciation, Breeze looked over the dark gap. A few Raiders were glaring impotently, but they had no way across. “So what’s next then?”

“Next we get you guys patched up. More to do tomorrow. The Raiders might be contained for the moment, but I’m told they have that scientist-type, Latvi, leading them. He’ll figure something out eventually.” He cocked his head to the side. “Come with me, I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

We all fell into step behind him as he stalked away. Given the chaos and noise we’d just been suffering, it had grown eerily silent in a hurry. Looking around, I couldn’t see anybody who wasn’t in a Lethbridle or Bernstein uniform, except us.

“Hey, Chief? Where is everyone? I thought Latvi caught you guys off guard by coming early.”

Spitting on the ground, Rockhaunch cleared his throat. “He did. We only managed to get MOST of the northern quarter evacuated before the Raiders showed up. Some idiots wouldn’t leave their homes, and they ended up dying. We’re still working on the other three quarters.”

Cassie flicked her wings at the idea. “Why wouldn’t they leave when you told them to?”

“A little too late to ask that now.” He sighed, but kept walking. “They probably didn’t think the Raiders’d get past the wall. Never happened before, no reason to think they’d do so this time.”

“But you and Amber had your plan-”

“Which had no chance of succeeding if we told everyone in town!” Hoarse anger laced his words. “We couldn’t tell them. We had to hope that they’d trust us. It was supposed to happen next week, not today!”

Bosco drew level with him, and looked him square in the eye. “If you kept to the original schedule, if you had the time, where would you evacuate everypony to?”

Shaking off his frustration, the Chief’s face set in stone. “Wherever they wanted. Some went to Vanchoofer, others made the trek further south, or went to their own little hidey-holes around the region. We couldn’t protect all of them AND keep Lethbridle defended at the same time. A bunch of guards up and quit to escort the ones going to Vanchoofer. Said they didn’t like the way Amber was running things here in town.” He half-laughed, half-cough mirthlessly. “Can’t really blame ‘em.”

“Yeah, I met a few of those guys.” I deadpanned. That one prick almost killed Snow. Lucky none of his buddies saw me pull the trigger.

“And there were still a bunch of civilians that we couldn’t safely get out in time. Those, we’re holding somewhere safe inside the city.”

“Where’s that?” Naiara seemed to have doubts about how safe any part of the city was at present.

Rockhaunch stopped for a moment, rounding on us. He met each of our eyes in turn. “I’m not saying where out here in the open, just in case a few Raiders got past the collapse, but I’m taking you there now. Hopefully you’ll see a little more of how our plan’s gonna work after this.”

~~~~~~

A prim, immaculately dressed maid led us into the ballroom where Amber had gathered all of the city’s leaders, and those of the surrounding factions and settlements. So was that what they call ‘networking’? I always ignored it when people said Roc was doing it, but if it got Amber in charge of the entire city…

Amber herself stood at the other end of the room, on a raised dais next to the gently flowing fountain that Undertow had been in charge of during the masquerade ball. She wasn’t wearing a ballgown this time, however, but rather a brilliant white, conservative business suit. Amber was surrounded by ponies, griffons, and buffalo. Every few seconds, one would approach, whisper in her ear, get a whispered response in return, and scuttle back to the milling cluster. Even as we strolled in, other runners were darting around us on both sides and in both directions, relaying messages to the busy throng.

The maid, a mousy little earth pony, cleared her throat beside us. She had to raise her throat to be heard over the noise of the water and collective voices. “Ma’am? As you requested, I have brought the lady Schwarzwald, along with Red Ice and the Deep Diver leader.”

As she announced us, several of the runners stumbled, while around half of the primary think tank looked up in astonishment. Not in the mood for cowering, I gave them a quick smile. “Yes, I’m Red Ice. Can we move on and get back to work now?”

A painful silence followed, as nobody responded. They didn’t even look at me. Perturbed, I leaned over and whispered to the maid. “Uh… they know about Red Ice, right?”

She, at least, instantly shrunk back. She wasn’t looking at me either, or trying not to, even if she did sneak a glance every second or so. “Th-they d-do, but th-they’re looking at h-her.” She flicked her eyes towards Schwarzwald, before catching my eye and squeaking. “Please don’t kill me!”

What are they looking at her for? I tried to ignore Undertow’s shoulders silently shaking with laughter, and realised that a few whispered exclamations ran through the group, so I caught which ones I could.

“That is Schwarzwald?”

“I thought she was just a joke to scare the new blood!”

“Look at those scars!”

“Why isn’t she fighting down in the city?”

Idly, Schwarzwald basked in the awe, slowly making her way through the crowd with a smile on her face. We followed, Undertow still cracking up, and me red-faced. The one damn time I buy into my own hype! Shut up, Undertow!

Rapping a hoof on the dias, Amber quelled the murmurs. “Thank you, fillies and gentlecolts, but that will be all for the moment. My maid will take you to my assistants, please brief them on anything we haven’t yet covered. I must talk with my guests now.”

Still staring ONLY at Schwarzwald, the gaggle of staff followed the mousy maid out of the room. It was a long, impatient wait until we heard that final click of the lock.

Straightening the hem of her jacket, Amber trotted down from the dias. “Now then, I ext-”

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, BRINGING RAIDERS INTO LETHBRIDLE?!?!?!”

“-tend my thanks for coming so quickly. Please do keep your voice down, Red Ice. This is a place of business, after all. We strive for some semblance of professionalism.” She had the gall to wrinkle her nose at me.

You colossal bitch! My horn lit up.

In the brief pause where I pondered exactly which of her lips I was going to freeze off, Schwarzwald stuck her hoof between us, while keeping her eyes on Amber. “Amber-dahling, explain your arrangement with the Raiders. I thought you dealt with more trustworthy business partners?” There was no accusation in her voice. Like with most tragedies of the Wasteland, she found someway to treat them as a potential joke.

Staring down at us imperiously, the leader of the Bernstein Conclave gave nothing away. “I made my arrangement with Latvi after you two, Schwarzwald and Snowflake, delivered some invaluable information into my hooves.”

“We did?” I looked at Schwarzwald, who shrugged. “Do you mean Whitepony? Undertow was there too, as were Bosco and Naiara.”

She waved a perfectly hooficured appendage. “No, though that information was invaluable, so I thank you for that. What I am speaking of comes from a conversation you two had at Sprinkles Supplies, away from any…watcher.”

At the same time that Schwarzwald stiffened, with the smile crashing off her face, my blood ran cold. I couldn’t risk looking back at Undertow, even though she must have been clueless.

We both spoke together, in a rush.

“Amber, do not say another word.”

“Don’t do it, Bernstein.”

A victorious smile crossed her lips for a brief moment. “Relax, that conversation was between you two alone, and I do not need to repeat it here. Suffice it to say, however, that by hearing what was said, a great many things fell into place about you, Schwarzwald.”

“Me?” A smile was threatening to break through Schwarzwald’s face. The air between the two was electric.

“Yes. I am-”

“-going off topic.” I groused, finally extinguishing my horn’s glow. “The Raider deal. Go.”

There was some twitchiness in Amber’s movements as she broke her gaze away from the older mare. “Very well. Going off the aforementioned information, I approached Latvi about a business venture. If I were to provide him with the city, he would provide me with ownership of all local Raider territories, AND a 30% share of any future memory salvage he might uncover.”

I blinked twice. “We didn’t talk about his magic back then, did we?” Schwarzwald gave no response besides another shrug.

“While it may hurt your obviously plentiful pride, Snowflake, I must inform you that I do have other sources of information besides you two.”

“Excuse me, Bernstein,” Undertow finally joined the conversation, and her tone was not forgiving. “but how exactly did you manage to overhear that conversation? I do not remember you being present, and neither I nor the others have ever mentioned being privy to the discussion between Schwarzwald and my sister.”

That last part was probably aimed at me. Sorry, xilia.

Giving no sign that she was surprised by Undertow’s interruption, Amber angled her head slightly. “An astute observation. No, I was not present. I had no need to be, as steps had already been taken to allow me to track Schwarzwald’s progress on the various roles for which I have hired her.”

“...The communicator. You listened through the communicator.” Schwarzwald grinned for a moment. “That was how you knew about the whip.” And then the smile vanished. “However, I have told you many times that I will not follow your rules, Amber. I work my way. You are not my employer, you are my client. If you do not cease, I will have to remind you of this fact.”

Amber’s stance shifted slightly. “Regrettable, but not unexpected. I did not expect to continue after you discovered my measures. Be sure to have Aqua Breeze remove the bug from all of the other communicators she has built too.”

My jaw dropped slightly. “How the hell did you get your bug into Breeze’s comms too?”

“Software. Once she linked my communicator with hers, I was able to install what I needed to. To answer your question of a few days ago, that is how I was able to determine that you had eight in your group.” She nodded at some terminals along one wall of the ballroom. “Do extend my appreciation of Aqua Breeze’s work to her, won’t you? For the resources she had at her disposal, and despite being a non-unicorn, her work was impressively elegant. Once this is situation is resolved, I would like her to come and work for me.”

Undertow scoffed. “If she doesn’t kill you first for messing with her tech. Like I am contemplating for your gambling of MY lake without my permission.”

Amber’s stare was flat, unimpressed. “I am afraid that those who consider Soft Swell Lake to belong to you are limited to just we here, and perhaps the others in your group. You have been away too long, Undertow of the Deep Divers, and Latvi has made the Raiders unafraid of you.”

Now Undertow’s horn lit up, and the sound of water in the background changed. “Then I will remind them of why that lake is mine.”

My hoof slammed against the ballroom floor, and a quick burst of magic rained turned the water floating above us into snow. “The rest of the deal, Amber! Now.”

Without missing a beat, she complied. “There is not much left to tell, I arranged for Latvi to take the city, and only the city, not the inhabitants, a week from now. Unfortunately, McCoy was murdered these past two days. I assume that since none of the six of your group within earshot of the communicators were the ones who killed him, that it was you and Wings who fought him.”

“Yeah. We came pretty close to dying too, all because you decided to sic Eitom and Wicker on Wings!”

Again, Amber waved her hoof across the rest of the room. “Part of the plan, Snowflake. What I got from them in return for Wings’ location will be of vital importance over the next few days. You shall see in time. It is one of many steps I have taken to mitigate and control this crisis. Even as we speak, other forces are on their way here to combat the Raiders.”

“Then why are we here?”

“To boost Wings’ profile, of course.” Finding a smile again, she looked back to Schwarzwald. “You have done what you could, but I have considerable resources at my disposal. I realise now that this is how I can help you.”

Schwarzwald stepped forward, until they were almost nose-to-nose. “Help me?”

Appearing uncertain for the first time since I had known her, Amber nodded demurely. “Yes. I had intended to win you over to my side eventually, to bring you into my fold. However, after hearing your words, I realise now that this will never happen. Your eyes are always on further horizons. Your concerns are higher than money or business success.”

Amber’s lips pursed slightly, and her front legs tilted forward a fraction, before she caught herself. Returning to an upright position, she gave a slow blink. “I cannot fight beside you with bullets and armour, but I can fight with you, in my own way. When Lethbridle is safe, you will understand. And after you do, I will continue to support you as you achieve your goals. Beyond that…”

“...we will talk.” Schwarzwald finished. Braver than Amber, she leaned forward and licked her cheek. “You should have shown this side of yourself sooner, dahling. I like it.”

The faintest tinge of red graced the Bernstein leader’s cheeks, and she quickly stepped back. “Yes, well, that is for later. I will keep you informed, all eight of you, of our progress. I ask again that you work with me for the sake of the city.”

Well, Schwarzwald’s clearly on board, and she does seem like she could be a big help with Watcher’s Gardens, but I still don’t know...

The snow rose from the floor around us, reverting to water and returning to the fountain. “It appears you are still keeping a lot from me, sister.”

Yep, she’s pissed. Willing as much compassion through her goggles as I could, I made no attempt to lie further. “Yeah, Undertow, I am. Sorry, but I need you to keep it secret that you even know that there IS a secret. It’s important, and not ours to tell. We’re in somebody else’s territory now.” I wasn’t sure she’d appreciate my referencing her Deep Diver laws after learning that she had lost her lake, but I wanted to be clear on the importance. “As soon as I get the okay to tell you, I will. I promise.”

For the longest time, she just looked at me. Then she lifted her goggles just enough for me, and only me, to see her eyes. A mix of emotions ran through them. “I suppose that will have to do for now.”

~~~~~~

Breeze’s hoof slipped out from under her, the gravel debris kicking up onto Naiara, who threw up a hoof to block it, but still ended up spitting and hacking.

Grousing, Breeze pulled herself upright and rubbed her shoulder. She waved off Cassie’s concern. “Friggin’ groundpounders! How far are we gonna be walking, Rockhaunch?”

Kicking aside some more loose material, the burly buffalo nodded at the next left. “Just down here. Before we go, though, take a look around. Gotta make sure the coast is clear. It’s vital that nobody finds this place who we don’t want finding it.”

Still grumbling, Breeze complied. I glanced around at the rooftops, or what was left of them after the street collapse in the northern quarter. We were in the southern quarter now, but not far from the partitions. This place hadn’t escaped damage, like the gravel and debris from the closest buildings going down, but it looked to be mostly contained to the northern quarter. “I can’t see anything. Naiara? Bosco? Cassie?”

“Nope.” The zebra shrugged.

“Nothing.” The colt’s voice still lacked its usual life.

Good thing there’s not any clocks around here. He’d be counting the seconds ‘til we head back to Neighlway. “Cassie?”

“One moment… no.”

“Alright, come on.”

Rounding the corner, we were greeted by a full squad of guards pouring out of nearby buildings. They assembled in front of Chief Rockhaunch, ripping off a simultaneous salute. “SIR!”

Returning the salute, Rockhaunch beckoned one mare over. “Open the hatch, captain. We’re going down. Shut the door after us, and then reinforce the watchponies at the north quarter divide. It’s gonna be a long night.”

“Yes, sir.” She turned to the assembled guards. “Back to work, the Chief’s going under.”

Waving a hoof at us, the captain started walking towards one of the buildings. “This way please.”

We followed her towards the building, but I wasn’t sure what we were seeing. It didn’t look any different from the outside than the rest of the street. It was only when we got inside that I saw what it was that the squad was guarding.

Deep in the building, down a flight of stairs, we came across a hole in the wall. And one in the wall behind that wall. They’d recently been excavated, judging by the rubble and tools stashed in the corner of the room. A pair of guards flanked each hole, and lights flickered further in.

“What happened here?” The others were studying the unearthed secret too. Well, Breeze seemed more interested in the tools and the flickering lights than the masonry.

Rockhaunch padded through the first hole. “Seems that Bernstein got her hooves on the original Lethbridle plans, or what place was here before it was Lethbridle… whatever. Anyway, said she got them from some place called ‘Whitepony’. They showed us how to find this.”

Naiara and Bosco exchanged a glance. “Whitepony? That was us!”

Stopping in his tracks, the Chief about-faced. “You two went to Whitepony for Bernstein?”

Bosco scratched at his neck. “Well, we had Snow, Undertow, and Schwarzwald with us too.”

“More like Schwarzwald was going, and dragged us along, really.” Naiara was trying to appear nonchalant, despite the unblinking stare Rockhaunch was giving them.

He cleared his throat. “I’m guessing this was recently, within the last month or so?”

“Yyyes?”

Breathing in through his nostrils, then slowly blowing the air out past his lips, the Chief turned and started walking again. “Good to know that you are in part responsible for this mess, even if I doubt you really knew what it was you were looking for at the time.”

Nobody really had a response to that, so we just followed in silence. Awkward silence.

Moving past the wall in the second wall, the flickering lights grew and resolved into a heavy steel cover on the floor, five metres wide, with lights popping up intermittently.

I tapped at it with a claw. “This a Stable?”

Rockhaunch shook his massive head. “Not quite. It’s the entrance to Lethbridle’s subterranean levels. Or maybe Lethbridle was built on top of this. Nobody knows, and I don’t really care. We’re not here to see the door.” He waved a hoof at one of the guards standing by. Using his horn, the guard tapped a code into the keypad. Once the code was entered, three beeps emerged.

Nothing happened for several seconds. Breeze, hovering excitedly over the cover, looked up with a frown. “Is it broken?”

“No, it just takes a little while.”

“Seriously? Weak. I want a look at how it works. Bet I could-”

With a hiss of displaced air, the cover began receding back into the walls. Immediately the sound of many voices reached our ears. Breeze quickly landed beside her sister.

“This way.” Rockhaunch began descending the ramp under the cover.

“Uh, Chief?” Bosco scampered to keep up with the buffalo. “This really seems like a Stable.”

“It’s not.” The Chief’s tone was final. “Stables are built with the idea of housing people long-term. Down here is just tunnels. There’s nothing down here for food or the like except what we brought down ourselves. Not a Stable.”

“Then who’s talking?” Breeze challenged, looking a little uneasy.

I can relate. Look how low the ceiling is. No room to fly in here.

Rockhaunch kept walking. “That’s one part of the Lethbridle defence plan. I told you that we evacuated the northern quarter, and some folks left. Those down here are the ones who wanted to stay.”

Cassie wrinkled her nose at the grimy walls. “The citizens are living down here?”

“For the moment. Until the threat has passed.”

“There can’t possibly be enough room! This is barbaric.” Cassie’s wings fluttered with her words.

Surprising me with a chuckle, Rockhaunch glanced back over his shoulder at her. “You’d be surprised. There are tunnels and chambers branching off from this one. Hundreds of them. Some even reach further than the wall.” He shrugged his bushy shoulders. “Honestly, we’d have struggled to keep order down here, what with some of my guards deciding they didn’t want to work for OR with Bernstein on this, and leaving the city to escort the civilians to Vanchoofer.”

My claw twitched towards the handle of my revolver. “Yeah, we met a few of them.” Like that prick who put a hole through Snow’s shoulder. All she said was hi!

“You did?” Rockhaunch sounded relieved. “Did they make it safely to Vanchoofer?”

One didn’t. I tried to force myself to keep a neutral expression. I had no idea how well the buffalo Chief could read griffons. “Some of them. There was a Raider attack.”

Taking the news stoically, he closed his eyes for a moment. “I see. That’s unfortunate. Still, we have to hope for the best until I can spare the guards to go find out for sure. As I said, we’re short on bodies here.” He looked back down the tunnel. “We got really lucky with some help. They’ve got the same computers on their wrists that Red Ice had the first time I met her.” He fixed Bosco with a glare. “When you were getting into trouble with that ghoul in the shopping district.”

Ignoring that last part, Bosco was wide-eyed. “You’ve got ponies here with Pipbucks?”

Rockhaunch tapped his forehead. “Right, that was what they were called. No, we don’t have any ponies with ‘Pipbucks’.”

“But you just said-”

“They’re buffalo.”

My eyes went wide too. No way we got this lucky. Flapping my wings, I jumped up and grabbed Rockhaunch by the horn, narrowly ahead of Bosco and Naiara, who also crowded in. “Chief, this is important. These buffalo, are they bulls or cows?”

I hung fast to his horn, even when he tried to shake me off. “They’re bulls, now let go of my head.”

Naiara tugged on the other horn. “How many were there?”

“Let go I said! And there’s two of them!” He pulled back and jerked, dislodging Naiara. My wings allowed me to keep hold. “They’re down in the tunnels. They can keep a whole map of the place on those computers, and a bunch of other stuff besides. We’ve been relying on them to keep the peace while we’re fighting up top.”

He ground at the floor with his hoof. “Normally we wouldn’t have to rely on outsiders for this, but with everything happening before we were ready…”

Bosco bounced up in front of the Chief, waving a hoof to break him out of his reverie. “Chief, those two buffalo you mentioned.Can we talk with them?”

He didn’t immediately answer, as he was too busy staring at Naiara and Bosco’s identical huge, goofy smiles.

“It would be convenient to work through them for… whatever it is we’ll do next as part of the defence effort.” Cassie wasn’t sharing in the thrill, but she helped in her own, proper way.

“...Alright, I’ll take you to them now.”

YYYESSS!! Utterly failing to stop the growth of my own dumb smile, I eagerly followed after the Lethbridle Chief. She’s gonna be so happy!

~~~~~~