Chapter 23-3: Playing The Percentages

Undertow’s cute little squeak betrayed her surprise as we surveyed the jagged collapse running along the northern quarter boundary.

Schwarzwald and I shared a look of appreciation. “Pretty brave, to break Lethbridle just to stop the Raiders.”

She kicked a pebble down into the hole, listening to it clatter as it fell. “If I knew the information at Whitepony was so valuable, I would have asked for more caps.” She tapped a hoof against her chin thoughtfully. “Or perhaps certain favours from dear Amber.”

“Hell, she owes me some favours alre-and those aren’t the kind of favours you’re talking about, are they?”

“You are learning, mistress.” The playfulness that she’d sported when we first met, diminished slightly since revealing her connection to Watcher, was back in full force. You really love that Amber one-upped your perception of her, don’t you?

A growl from Undertow snapped me out of my reverie. “We have company.”

Across the divide, a trio of Raiders were approaching the other side. One had a club, but the other two were unslinging guns.

“Come.” Schwarzwald turned away from the edge. “They will not get target practice from us.”

Tugging my hood further down, in the hope that none of the trio would recognise me or Undertow, we followed suit. “Right. Still things to do for ‘dear Amber’, after all.”

Retreating around the corner, the suddenly outraged cries of the Raiders followed us for a little while. Ignoring it, I scanned what was left of the town’s infrastructure.

“We cannot guarantee that there affected areas will be empty. Please join the search teams to find any stragglers.” Real easy to say when you’re sat in your tower, Bernstein. We’re down here doing the grunt work.

She better not think I’ll take orders from her in the future.

Skirting around a patch of glass, the shattered remains of the shattered remains of a chasm-side building, Undertow took a deep breath. “I hope that Buff and Lo were not caught up in this. We still don’t know where they are.”

“Don’t even think like that.” I had to be careful not to over-balance her as I bumped her reassuringly. “Lo’s a kidder, but he knows how to keep himself out of trouble. Buff won’t put him in a situation where they might be in danger.” Memories of Buff’s face in the Stable medical bay had my lips curling upwards. “He’s the responsible one. They’re triplets, but he’s always been the ‘oldest’.”

“But is he old enough?”

I could hear the innuendo in the mercenary mare’s question. “You can just go ahead and consider all of my brothers, AND my little sister…” Undertow nickered at my side. “... too young for you. Forever.”

“Spoilsport.”

“That’s exactly what I am, now keep your eyes out for any poor dumb saps who thought it was a good idea to stay out here while the ground fell out from under them. We get them back to safety, you can go nuts on them.”

“Ooh!”

“Oh, grow up!” I focused back on Undertow. “As I was saying, Buff’s the responsible one. He always helped me to look after Al and Lo.”

My smile slipped slightly. I hope it wasn’t too hard for you when I disappeared, Buff. You could look after them by yourself, right? I didn’t want to go, honestly I didn’t.

I snuffled the thought away. “Al’s in the middle, and he can get really intense about things sometimes. Lo’s the youngest, and loves to play tricks and have fun. You’ll like all of them, I promise.”

Levitating some rubble away from a doorway, Undertow peered inside. Facing away from me, her voice echoed back from the empty building. “Will… will they like me?”

“What? Psh. Course they will. They’ll be thrilled to have another sister, especially one as cute as you.” I caught the hint of a blush in her cheeks as I said this.

It soon deepened as Schwarzwald’s chuckle came from across the street. “You are very adorable, dahling.”

“I-I don’t want to just be cute!” Undertow protested. “I want to help my brothers!”

Tittering into our hooves, Schwarzwald and I enjoyed the sight of Undertow’s pouting.

It was short-lived, however, as a voice growled out of the ‘empty’ building that Undertow had been looking into. “Who’s there?”

“EEP”-ing, Undertow scampered behind Schwarzwald and I, her with weapons ready and me with horn aglow. We all watched as a misshapen, gnarled, hideous thing plodded out of the building’s dark interior.

My heart instantly dropped a few beats-per-minute. “Hello again, Inbox.”

Blinking his one useable eye, then vigorously rubbing it, the ghoul seemed as surprised as I was. “Stable pony? Is that you?” He ground his haggard hoof into the socket again. “I don’t see too well anymore.”

Schwarzwald wound her gatling down. “You two have met before, dahling?”

My mind flashed back to the time before the last time I’d come across him. Him and his sister… me and Undertow… four hours! Shuddering and blushing, also pointedly not looking at Undertow, I nodded. “He’s a thief who tried to rob me when I first came to Lethbridle. We’ve met a few times.”

If he was offended or regretful of his actions, Inbox didn’t show it. He just shrugged. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore, Stable pony. From what I hear, you’ve got much more important things to worry about.” He waved a malformed limb around at the devastation. “We all do.”

Undertow stepped out from behind me. “Do you not fear the Raiders? They will kill you if they find you.”

He turned a glossy eye towards her. “Ah, the little hick. I suppose you want your ‘diving lights’ back?” He spat on the ground. “You can have them, if you find your way to my shack. I’ve got no use for them anymore.”

Regarding him warily, Undertow leaned back slightly. “No use for them? You stole them from my lake, miles away from here, and now you just give them up? Why?”

Inbox didn’t answer, didn’t do anything except stare blankly ahead, not even at us. After a few seconds, he snapped out of it. “What? What’d you say?”

Oh. Now, I remembered the last conversation between the ghoul and I. “We lose all that we were, and the radiation swallows us whole, turning us into monsters that only care about killing others.” “It’s happening, isn’t it?”

Emotion finally crept into his eye. Glimmers of sadness, despair even, and fear swirled around the iris. “I… yeah. I get flashes, tugging. Space out for a few seconds. I think actually LOOKING for my sister might have been the only thing keeping me right. After I got her back, there was nothing keeping me here.”

“Is… is there anything we can do?” Nothing else seemed appropriate. What do you say to a guy who’s disappearing into his own head?

Taking a step back into the house, Inbox shook his head. “No. Just stay away from me. Next time, I might not be able to control myself.” He stopped suddenly, head rising. “Oh, right! I suppose you already know about what’s happening, right?”

We nodded, so he continued. “There’s something else going on, too. Nobody’s talking about it, except those Bernstein guys.”

“Bernstein?” Schwarzwald was suddenly VERY interested. “What do you mean?”

He kicked a nearby crate over, revealing it to be empty. “Not sure, but even before all this started, probably for about a week or two now, those Bernstein guys have been buying up everything; food, clothing, fuel, guns ‘n’ ammo, everything. Hell, the markets haven’t even been open for days now because everypony’s been cleaned out.”

“Amber already ensures that her employees are provided for, she would not need all this for them.” Schwarzwald’s expression flickered back and forth between excited and contemplative. “She has something else in play.”

Undertow had been poking her head around in the crate, but withdrew it to fix Inbox with a hard stare. “How do you know this? You said that only the Bernsteins talked of it.”

A wheezing, raspy chuckle escaped his uneven lip. “Nobody cares if an old ‘vagrant’ ghoul is around, little hick. I hear a lot of stuff… or at least I used to.”

Well, that’s probably not good. What are you up to now, Amber? “Umm... thanks, Inbox. This helps, and you didn’t have to tell us because we’re… well, we’re not exactly friends.”

Laughing that sad laugh again, he took another step back so that he was halfway through the busted doorway. “Who else am I gonna tell now, those Raiders that are around? Fuck ‘em. I’ll talk to you until I can’t talk anymore, and then I’ll… I’ll…” He trailed off into nothing.

After several seconds, I motioned for us all to go. Inbox gave no sign that this registered. He continued to stand there, halfway in the dark, doing and looking at nothing, as we walked away.

At the end of the street, I thought I might have heard a “-nks, Stable pony”, but when I looked back, the doorway was empty.

Hurrying to catch up to the others, my mind was cooking at this new information. I drew level with Schwarzwald, who was positively bouncing. “Could you love this a little less? We don’t know that what Amber’s planning is going to be good for us.”

“But it will be interesting, mistress. Dear Amber is doing so well!”

“Try not to be too jealous, sister. You won’t be mistress for much longer.” The undercurrent of humour lacing Undertow’s words made me stumble.

“Ooh, you just wait, little sister. Wait until your brothers here about your teasing.”

She gasped. “Don’t tell them!”

“WHO’S THERE?” A colt charged out of a derelict storefront, slamming straight into me.

Grunting as I hit the lightly snow-dusted ground, I felt my hood slip down and away from my face. “Get offa me!” I kicked out at the scrawny pony, who scrambled off me.

Springing to his hooves, he levitated a bent crowbar before him in a weak green glow. “This is my patch, I called it. Go look for stuff somewhere else, or else!”

An aquamarine haze seized the crowbar, stilling it in the air. Confused, the colt tugged at it with his magic, but it didn’t move an inch.

Speaking in a low growl, Undertow pulled no punches. “There is nothing here to find, fool. Didn’t the guards tell you to get to safety?”

The colt didn’t give up his futile struggle. “They’re not the boss of me, and you aren’t neither. Leggo my crowbar!”

Dusting myself off, I regarded the stupidity. “You won’t get it away from her, kid. She’s way better than you. It’s her crowbar now. Run along to wherever the guards told you to go already. We’re busy.”

“Fuck you, I do what I… I…” He trailed off, looking past us in terror.

Turning around, we spotted why. Three Raiders were standing there, looking stunned.

One recovered faster than the others, and took off back the way they’d come, screaming “RED ICE IS HERE! RED ICE IS HERE!”

The other two simply decided to attack, whipping out rusty shotguns and charging.

Schwarzwald wasted no time. She opened up with her full battle saddle, and the two Raiders went down in seconds. “Unfortunate. Now Latvi will know that we are here.”

“Y-y-you’re Red Ice?”

Ah, shit. Rubbing at my temple tiredly, I turned back to the now-cowering colt. His magic was entirely gone from the crowbar, which Undertow was holding aloft. “Yes, I’m Red Ice. And I really, really wish you hadn’t been here for this.”

Undertow dropped the crowbar, letting it clatter to the ground. “Snowflake…” She cautioned.

“If he blabs about this, word could spread that Blue Fire and Red Ice are working together. People still think I’m leading the Raiders. If the truth comes out, they won’t trust Wings anymore. Any chance we had of turning her into a hero is gone.”

“But he is just a child.” She had a point. The colt was barely her age, if that. Just some punk kid who was looking to get himself a few things to sell for caps. Still, as I looked at his shifty eyes, looking all over for a way out, I remembered something Inbox had once told me.

“If you want to be sorry for anything, Stable pony, be sorry because you were late.” The ghoul I’d killed had been too far gone to help by the time I came along. This time, I might be able to help the situation right now...

I’m not gonna let him jeopardise this for Wings, Undertow. “Schwarzwald, take Undertow and go on ahead. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“As you wish, dahling.” Gently but firmly, the mare directed Undertow away. I tried not to look, knowing that I wouldn’t like my sister’s expression.

I waited until they rounded the corner. “She was right, you know? You are just a child.”

Faint hope grew in him, and he tried to stand up.

Until my ice spear ran through his heart. “Just a child who ran afoul of a Raider… because he went out looting instead of keeping himself safe.” Why couldn’t you have just gone with the guards? Stupid, stupid colt!

Dragging his body back into the store he’d been poking around in was hard, heavy, deadweight work. It was perfect for forcing a person to think about why they had to do it, to really drive that home. I can’t be late this time. Either the Raiders get you, kid, or the Windigos get us all.

...worth it.

After stashing the body as far into the store as I could, I hurried to catch up with Schwarzwald and Undertow.

I pulled level, but neither said anything for several seconds. Undertow broke the silence, but in a way that sent ice into my heart too.

“This habit of keeping secrets is getting expensive, Lady Ice… and your eyes are glowing again.”

~~~~~~

Moving through the tunnels, we passed one guard… then two guards and three civilians… then a dozen ponies crowded around a makeshift table. It was just an overturned crate, but they were still using it to choke down some plain looking fare. None looked up as we passed. The noise generated by the multitude of voices grew louder with every step we took.

Finally, Rockhaunch reached a corner with flickering shadows playing across it. “We don’t have the room for any funny business down here, not with this many citizens. Keep your weapons holstered. Do not endanger any of my city’s denizens, understand?”

Shifting from one hoof to the other, Breeze tch’d. “You took us down here, Chief. We didn’t ask to be here.”

“But you’re here now, and I’m telling you the rules. This place has to remain a secret to the Raiders, and not starting a fight down here helps with that, girl.” The big buffalo showed no interest in Breeze’s discomfort. “Be on your best behaviour.”

“Can we just meet the two buffalo already?” I was running my talons through my feathers over and over. They have to be the brothers! Now where are they?

Without another word, Rockhaunch turned and stalked around the corner. We followed, with Naiara and Cassie flanking Breeze. Once around the corner, the source of the shadows became apparent.

Barrel fires lit up a spacious chamber stretching hundreds of metres back. Almost every inch of it, save for a few thin walkways, was packed with tired looking ponies, along with the occasional buffalo.

The citizens of Lethbridle seemed to be split along age lines. The adults were miserable, or scared, or frustrated. Some made token attempts to maintain a semblance of normal life; knitting with magic, or washing clothes, or cooking over the dirty barrel fires.

The foals, on the other hoof, seemed to be treating it as some great adventure. They raced along the walkways, and squeezed in between the groupings of older ponies, laughing all the while. Rockhaunch didn’t flinch as they scampered around and under him, giggling. The five of us stepped aside as best as we could with our limited space, but they hardly paid us any attention.

Until, that is, one giggling filly skidded to a stop a few hooflengths behind Breeze. Eyes widening, the little one turned around and trotted back to the pegasus.

Breeze leaned away. “W-what?”

With fearlessness born of foalhood, the filly reached up and poked at Breeze’s wing. “How come you got wings? Was your daddy a griffon?”

Mouth half-open, Breeze could only look at the rest of us. She was totally lost on how to respond.

The filly pressed on. “Was it your mommy? Did she kiss a griffon? My mommy says some griffons and ponies kiss each other. Was that what happened? Did a griffon and a pony kiss and make you?”

Cassie’s shoulders were shaking, and she had to hide her mirth behind coughs. The rest of us weren’t any less amused.

Trapped, Breeze squared her shoulders and tried her best to explain pony genetics to the tyke. “Um, no. I don’t have a griffon mommy or daddy. I just… I’m not… I just have wings.” She finished lamely.

The filly’s friends had come back and were listening to. One grubby colt tilted his head sideways. “How come?”

“I just do.”

“Why?”

“Because!”

“Because why?”

“Because I said so!”

“...Why?”

Wings flaring out, Breeze stomped a hoof. “Listen here, you little-”

“BREEZE!” Cassie snapped sharply. The sniper gave her sister an eyeful of warning.

“They started it!”

“I don’t care who started it. Watch your language around the children!” Breeze shrank down as Cassie lectured her. Venatici turned her attention to the foals. “And you all. Didn’t your parents tell you not to bother strangers?”

Instantly, the kids melted into sulky innocence, twisting hoof points in the dirt. “...just wanted to see the pretty wings.” The filly mumbled, not meeting Cassie’s gaze.

Still looking stern, Cassie stood to full height. “Well, perhaps if you ask the lady nicely, she’ll show you her pretty wings.”

Shuffling into a line, the assembled foals chorused at Breeze in their most adorable, obviously practiced voices. “Show us your wings please, pretty lady?”

That did it. Bosco, Naiara and I lost it. Hooting with laughter, we had to step away to where Rockhaunch was waiting. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Breeze glowering at us, face flushed.

With no help coming from Cassie, who just watched her expectantly, Breeze gave up. Turning side on, she unfurled one with and waved it back and forth for the foals. Said foals immediately grabbed at the new distraction, examining it every which way, while the wing’s owner stood statue still in frustration.

Cassie allowed the children to “ooh” and “aah” over her sister’s feathers for a minute or so, before shooing them away with her own wings. “Alright, little ones. That’s enough. We have to go now. Be good and go back to your parents now.”

“Aw!”

“Just a little longer!”

“No fair!”

“Will you come back and play later?”

Already walking away, Cassie called back over her shoulder. “If there is time. Goodbye now.”

“BYE BYE PRETTY LADIES!” Shrieked the foals, at hyper volume.

Cassie didn’t look back, but instead smirked at the technophile pony’s blushing helplessness. “They think you’re pretty.”

Breeze looked away. “They should mind their own business.”

“Just take the compliment and move on.” Naiara whispered. “They didn’t call my stripes pretty.”

Blanching, Breeze gently shoved her away. “I’d just rather not draw attention to the fact that we’re pegasi, OR that you’re a zebra, while we’re stuck underground and can’t get away.”

“Don’t worry,” A cheerful voice interjected. “they’ll find something to distract them soon enough. I just gave ‘em a ball. Should hold ‘em for a few hours. By then they’ll have forgotten all about you.”

All five of us turned to the new arrival, a cienna-furred buffalo with a bright smile, and a Pipbuck on his wrist.

My eyes widened. Wow, he really does look just like Al.

Chief Rockhaunch finally cracked a smile. “You’re Lo, right? How are things going down here? Is Buff around?”

Lo returned the smile with a wide grin of his own. “Hey, Chief. Yeah, we’re doing fine. Buff’s just off doing inventory. A few of your guards dropped off the last of the supplies from outside. He’s updating the records. Wasn’t really a two-bison job, so I’m on break.”

Nodding, the Chief’s hoof came up to indicate us. “Good timing then, got these five here on special business. Said they wanted to meet you and your brother.”

Lo’s smile faded almost instantly, replaced with fear. “Meet us? Who wants to find us?

Well, this is as good a time as any. Slinking past Rockhaunch, I stopped in front of Lo. Doing my best to appear open and non-threatening, I spoke in measured tones. “Hi, Lo. My name is Wings, that’s Bosco over there, the zebra is Naiara, and the twins are Breeze and Cassie. We’re… friends of your sister.”

“Eh, well-” Breeze began, before Naiara kicked her in the shin.

Stars burst into Lo’s eyes. “You know Snow? Is she okay? Where is she? Is she okay?”

“You said that already.” Bosco laid a calming hoof on the vibrating buffalo. “She’s okay. She’s here, in the city. We’re working with her, and we’ll meet up soon.”

“She’s here?” A copy of Lo stepped up next to him. Buff’s demeanour very much more composed than Lo. “Why is she here? It’s not safe in Lethbridle right now.”

Lo looked like he was going to burst into tears. Naiara quickly moved to calm his fears. “Don’t worry. We know all about what’s happening. There are two others with her, also friends. They won’t let her get into trouble.”

’Trouble’ being a very ambiguous term for Snow. Still, we found her brothers! She’ll love that. “She’s okay. Really.”

Lo did have tears in his eyes now. He was almost sobbing at his brother. “Buff, we did it. We… we found her! She’s okay!”

Buff was trying hard, but there was a definite glimmer in his eyes too. “Yeah. We’ll go to her just as soon as we can. We just gotta finish up here first.”

Aghast, Lo’s jaw dropped. “What? You want to wait here?”

“Just until things are under control here. We’re the only two with Pipbucks. They need our help. Wouldn’t Snow say the same?”

Breeze opened her mouth again, but I silenced her with a hiss. “Don’t you fucking dare.” I hope to hell that they didn’t hear that.

Lo relented, but looked anything but happy about it. “Yeah, I guess she would. I just don’t wanna wait a second longer. We need to get Snow, then find Al and the Overmare.”

Cassie spoke up before any of us could stop her. “Why are you not with your other brother...Al, wasn’t it? The way Snowflake talks about you three, we didn’t expect you to separate.”

Both brothers suddenly looked very uncomfortable. Buff spoke first. “After Roc, a griffon from our Stable, won the Overseer election, he exiled the four of us: Myself, Al, Lo, and the former Overmare. The three of us were only interested in finding Snowflake, while the Overmare had no real plan. We travelled together at first, coming here to Lethbridle, and then following any leads as to Snowflake’s whereabouts.”

“Uh huh.” Exchanging glances with Bosco, Naiara, and the twins, I was suddenly less enthusiastic about talking to Snow’s brothers. “‘Any’ leads?”

Buff made a noncommittal gesture. “I’m afraid that we aren’t familiar enough with Wasteland living to determine which are worth following, and which aren’t.”

That’s probably for the best, right now.

“I know the Overmare’s not worth following.” Lo grumbled.

Naiara looked between the two of them. “Wasn’t she your leader, back in the Stable?”

“Exactly.” Lo groused. “She was the leader back in the Stable, BEFORE she lost the election. Then she was just another Stable dweller, for an hour or so. After we were kicked out, she was just another Wasteland wanderer. Didn’t stop her from acting like she was still Overmare though, even though now she’s just Willow Wisp.” He gnashed his teeth and looked away. “She would’ve been fine if she’d just kept quiet.”

“What do you mean?”

Buff continued for Lo, who still seemed angry. “The Overmare, sorry, Willow Wisp, was quite… vocal in her opinion of the situation after our exile. The situation… and Snowflake.”

The hackles at the back of my plumage rose. “What did she say?”

“Nothing good, unfortunately. I think she decided to lay blame on Snowflake for the whole mess. Even went as far as saying Snowflake was lazy while in the Stable. She was not kind when she spoke of her, and sadly she was not quiet either.”

Cassie’s wings fluttered. “Raiders?”

He shook his head. “No. Plottawans. They ambushed us a few days ago. We two and Al managed to get away, but we were separated from the Overmare. We don’t know where she is now.”

Lo’s head rose again. “I hope she’s okay and all, but she needs to watch what she says. She was getting pretty bad between kicking Snow out and the election, but she just got worse out here. Old Equestria made her a whiner.”

“Lo, please.” Heh, he sounds just like Cassie when she talks to Breeze. “She’s just scared, like us.”

“Doesn’t mean she’s gotta take it out on Snow!” Raising his voice, especially against his brother, came anything but easily to Lo, and he immediately seemed to regret it. “Al’s probably scared too, but I bet he isn’t taking it out on Snow.”

“We lost Al a few days later. Steel Rangers this time.” Buff supplied as an aside, before addressing Lo directly. “Al has his Pipbuck. He’ll get away. He’s tough, just like you. I’m sure he’s fine.”

“He is.” I confirmed.

Both jolted. “You met Al?” They asked together.

Say only what they need to hear. Do not screw this up for Snow. “Yeah. We were with the others, Snow included, and we… came across Al. He’s safe. Snow has a... friend of hers looking after him.”

Instantly, some of the tension drained away. “He’s okay, and he’s found Snow.” Buff was talking to himself, but his relief was clear on his face.

“This is great!” Lo was not so restrained. He was near bellowing. “Al’s okay, and Snow found him! And soon we’ll find Snow too, and we’ll find the Overmare, and all go back to the Stable together!”

“Awkward conversation coming soon.” Breeze snarked under her breath.

Thankfully, Rockhaunch salvaged the situation. He stomped up, and looked the two brothers square in the eyes. “I’m happy for you and all, boys. However, as you’ve already said, you need to finish your work here for now. We don’t have much time, and we need to make sure we’re all ready to go. Back to work.” The Chief rounded on us. “You five have work to do too, I’m sure. Come back when you’re done.”

His tone made it clear that he’d brook no disagreement. Wearing a mix of annoyance and excitement, the two brothers followed the Chief, but Lo kept looking back at us and smiling happily.

No sooner had the three buffalo disappeared into the crowd before a guardpony came puffing up. “Is…” He had to stop to take a deep breath. “Is the Chief gone? They told me he was with you.”

Bosco pointed in the direction that Rockhaunch and the others had gone. “Just missed him. He’s somewhere over there.”

Groaning tiredly, the guard set off, muttering to himself. “Sure, I’ll just track him down in all this. Bernstein’s enforcer bitch is tearing it up with Raiders in the streets, but yeah, I’m sure we’ve got time.”

Schwarz is? Better go help. I ran a claw through the feathers atop my head. “Well, looks like Snow’s group found themselves some entertainment.” I turned and started walking back towards the tunnels exit. “Come on guys, Let’s get some air.”

~~~~~~

“MOVEMOVEMOVE!”

We barely managed to get past the warped and dilapidated storefront before a Raider’s heavy machinery burst through it in a shower of rubble. The Raider stallion in the driver’s seat was cackling up a storm, audible even over the rumble of the massive vehicle.

Whoops and howls soon joined the din as Raiders poured from the new gap into the street, glancing back, I saw a second vehicle emerge from the hole, utterly unworried by the uneven terrain of the wrecked shop. Standing atop it was a familiar pony, one I’d come to greatly dislike.

Bastards must’ve filled in the gap and gone straight over it!

Perhaps feeling my backwards glance, Latvi’s head turned in my direction. The smug scientist grinned viciously as we retreated, and jocularly pointed at my friends and I as we sprinted away from the pursuing Raiders.

Great plan, Amber! I silently groused between intakes of breath. Your ‘trapped’ Raiders got around your tricks in a only a few hours!

And Breeze told us she junked those things! The goliath farming vehicles, from the feral ghoul-infested agricultural facility, had supposedly been disabled by Breeze and the others when they revisited the site to find one of Bosco’s Memory Orbs. The fact that the Raiders were running parades of them through Lethbridle’s western quarter raised doubts about the technophile’s claim.

To my left, Schwarzwald spun around as we reached an intersection, opening up with a rattling barrage from her minigun as Undertow and I darted around the corner. She drew level with us a few seconds later.

“Any luck?” I asked as we skirted around more debris.

“No. The armour is too thick for my weaponry. We need to retreat and warn the others.” Her cheek was bleeding from the Raider’s uncoordinated return fire.

“We cannot just run to the quarter-boundary.” On my other side, Undertow weighed in. “Those vehicles will break through in minutes. We need to try to slow them down here, to give us time to mount a better defence.”

All of us were breathing heavily, so it was a moment before Schwarzwald responded. “What is your plan, dahling?”

Horn horn glowed aquamarine for a moment. “We need to block this street,” we all ducked as bullets whizzed past, “...and make them clear it first.”

“How? Nothing we’ve got on us can bring down a building.” I agreed with my sister’s assessment, but didn’t really see a way it could be done.

Undertow’s goggle-covered gaze was darting from one side of the street to the other. She pointed at an upcoming building on our right, a three story cuboid 50 metres away. “There! We can use that.” She glanced past me to the mercenary mare. “You’ll need to give us some cover while we work. Can you hold them back for thirty seconds?”

Revving her minigun in response, Schwarzwald managed a tight smile. “If only to see what you are up to, dear Undertow.”

“On my signal then.”

As we reached the building, Undertow shouted “NOW!”, and leapt inside. I followed closely behind. Schwarzwald ducked into the door, then leaned out with her entire battle saddle-mounted arsenal firing.

The glow from Undertow’s horn lit up the interior walls as she simultaneously emptied all her bottles of water. I hastily conjured a half-metre tall ice wall to cover Schwarzwald. “Undertow, what are we doing here?”

The floating water drilled into the edge where the floor met the wall, sending plaster and wood slivers flying. Soon, the water had spread out to cover the entire length, corner to corner. Undertow jabbed a hoof at me. “Now, sister, ice it!”

Still not following, but you know water better than me. The aquamarine glow was replaced by a glacial one, as the water froze solid. As soon as it turned to ice, the building began to groan and cracks began running up the wall.

Grabbing me, Undertow ran towards Schwarzwald and the door. “Time to go, Schwarzwald! Run now!”

Without a second thought, the mare ceased her assault on the Raiders and leapt over the ice wall I’d created, running past the building in the direction we’d been heading before the detour. As Undertow and I crested the frozen barricade, my heart jumped a little as I saw how close the vehicles were. Latvi’s good mood was in full swing, and he was leaning out into the air as he directed his forces from atop his metal behemoth steed.

“Undertow, the plan?!” I magically twisted the ice barricade to spear a charging Raider in the thigh.

The Raider went down, but the ice liquefied and joined with more coming from inside our affected building. Undertow reformed it all into one massive tentacle. Rearing back, the aquatic appendage swung around and battered the building’s lower floor, gouging great chunks out of the wall. The groaning from the structure rapidly grew to deafening levels.

A set of teeth seized the scruff of my neck and yanked me back painfully. Falling onto my backside, I got to see the entire plan suddenly come to fruition. With one side of the building destabilised, the weight of the whole three stories overbalanced, and it all came crashing down.

Straight into the street, blocking the Raiders’ path. I caught Latvi’s shock morphing into fury just as the entire mess came down between us, cutting them off.

A turquoise hoof reached under my shoulder and helped me to my hooves. “That won’t hold them forever, sister, but maybe we bought ourselves an hour or so.”

“Very impressive, dahling.” Schwarzwald spurred the three of us on at a brisk trot, but not so frantic as the mad dash we were making before. “How did you do it?”

“Kinda wondering that myself. What’d you do?” I tried not to smile at Latvi’s faint, incontinent ranting coming from the other side of the fallen building.

There was some pride in Undertow’s words as she explained. “Water expands when it freezes. I used to see it during the cold seasons back at Soft Swell Lake. If it gets into cracks and then freezes, it weakens the foundations. Eventually it will bring a building down. I sped up the process here, with some help from Snowflake.”

“Happy to lend a horn, little sister.” Are you ever going to stop surprising me?

“We are fortunate that you did what you did, Undertow-dahling.” Schwarzwald shrugged her saddle. “I am out of ammunition.”

“Then let’s get back to the southern quarter and regroup. I can still hear Latvi.” I blew a raspberry, and picked up some more speed.

We made it a half-dozen streets before it all went wrong. I rounded the corner for the road leading to the quarter divide, and ran straight into a wall of flesh. My nose squashed against the obstruction, and I bounced off, stumbling backwards and falling in a heap with Undertow and Schwarzwald.

“WHO’S THERE?!” I yelled out at anybody, already trying to magic up some cold. It wasn’t coming easily after the chase, however. How did they get ahead of us so quickly?

“Sorry, didn’t see you there. Are you…” The voice cut off with a gasp. “S...Snow?”

I froze. All other sounds and sensations dropped away. I knew that voice. I’d heard it every day for years. It was a voice I would never not know. “Lo?” I fought to dislodge myself from the pile, and to get a look at the speaker. “Lo, is that you?”

“You’re...you’re...” The voice, which I was now certain belonged to my youngest brother, choked up. “They told us you were here, a-and you are, and…” He was snuffling and losing it now. “And you are!”

Finally managing to fight my way out of the tangle, I scrambled upright. I was eye-to-quivering chin with Lo Doublehorn. Looking up with increasingly tear-clouded eyes, I took in his big loveable face. He looks so young… and a little older. “Are you okay, Lo?”

His buffalo-sized hoof reached up towards me. I seized it almost instantly, and the two of us embraced as tight as we could. “I’m okay, sis. You’re okay. They told me you were here, and I had to… I had to see you for myself.”

’They’ who? I broke the embrace, reluctantly. “Who told you about me, Lo? Was it a guard? One of the Bernsteins?”

Swiping at his eyes with a free hoof, he could only shrug. “I dunno. They were with Chief Rockhaunch, so they might’ve been guards, but I kinda doubt it. I didn’t see any uniforms either. There were five of ‘em. A griffon, zebra, earth colt and two pegasi.”

My heart lightened. You found my brothers for me. “Yeah, I know them. They’re friends of mine. You can trust them.” Well, Cassie and Breeze are kind of a grey area, but I doubt they’d go for you just to get at me. Naiara wouldn’t let them, and I’d kill them if they tried. I reached up and began patting his head and body all over. “Are you sure you’re okay? No injuries or diseases? It’s a little colder and dirtier out here than the Stable.”

He interrupted my examination with another tight hug. “I’m fine, Snow. Everything’s fine now that you’re here.”

Burying my face in his cienna fur, I allowed myself a little chuckle. “My baby brother’s okay.”

CLICK! “Well, that’s a matter of opinion.”

I looked up. Standing on a nearby rooftop was a griffon in insignia-less armour.

He’s pointing his rifle at my brother.

He spoke to all of us without taking his aim away from Lo. “Now, I don’t want any sudden movements from any of you. No horn glows either, unicorns, or else I’ll have to paint this big ol’ target I’m looking at. Now, my employer wants a word with you, Red Ice. You’ll be coming with me.”

He’s pointing his rifle at my brother.

“Lucky break for us that you’re in Lethbridle right now... or is it really just ‘luck’?”

He’s pointing his rifle… AT MY BROTHER!

“Either way, you’re coming along. All of you. Any funny business and I kill the lump.”

That did it. I could feel the purple smoke leaking out of my eyes. “Take it back.” I muttered.

“Something to say, Red Ice?”

“Take. It. Back.” I’ll kill you, bring you back, and do it again.

“How about no? Now get moving.”

“He is not a LUMP! TAKE IT BACK!” Shrieking was too soft a word for the noises I was making.

“Yes, yes, very scrrrrrrrrrrrr-” Spasming, the griffon toppled off the roof and crashed down to the street. Still convulsing from the Shock Lock spear stuck in his armour, he lost his grip on his rifle.

You’re mine! I pounced forward, horn ablaze. First, a ring of ice wrapped around his neck and fixed it to the ground. Then similar shackles trapped his wrists and ankles.

Only then did I pull the electric spear out, slowly and jerkily. I revelled in the jumps and shudders as his overloaded nervous system misfired. “You want Red Ice, Monster? Here I am.”

With my teeth, I gripped his wing and pulled it out to full spread. “Let me show you MY opinion.”

In a burst of arcane energy, I flash froze his wing. “It’s my opinion, that you have too many feathers. Let’s fix that.”

I slammed a hoof down onto the now-brittle quills, eliciting a scream of pain to go along with the crystalline shattering. When I took my hoof away, a hoof-sized hole remained in the frozen spread.

“How’s that?” I taunted. “Are we down to the right number?” I tilted my head pointedly. “No? Well then, here we go again!”

CRUNCH! Another hole. Another scream. “Yeah, you were right. The job wasn’t done yet. In fact,” My hoof glided back and forth at the point where the wing met the shoulder. “I think it might be best to go with a full cutdown.”

I raised the hoof, but a gunshot rang out before I could stomp down. The unnamed Monster gained another hole, this time in the centre of his forehead. Another griffon, her revolver still smoking, touched down next to me.

My hoof lowered deliberately. “I wasn’t done.”

Wings shoved her revolver back into her thigh holster. “Yes you were.”

I rounded on her, teeth gritted. “He was pointing his gun at my brother!”

She didn’t flinch. “And you’re scaring your brother.” Wings pointed a claw at my face. “You can’t keep letting this happen, Snow. Every time I see those weird eyes of yours, it means bad news. Get yourself under control!”

She’s right, even if you don’t want to admit it. Grunting, I squeezed my eyes shut for several long seconds, trying to will myself back to normal. Remember that you found Lo, and he’s okay. Stick with that. After a few more deep breaths, I opened my eyes again. Wings’ sapphire orbs were still watching me. I leaned in closer. “Better?” I whispered.

The smallest corner of her beak curved upwards. “Better. Go talk to your brother. He looks like he’s about to cry. I got the others.”

“Thanks.” I mouthed, before turning back to Lo’s puffy face. Geez, she wasn’t kidding. “Lo, I’m really sorry about that. Some stuff’s happened along the way, but I shouldn’t have done that. I’m really… I’m just sorry. About everything.”

Instantly, a different kind of panic set in for Lo. He stepped forwards, holding out a hoof to me. “No, Snow, come on, I mean, that’s not a big deal. I know that things are different out here, but you’re still my big sister. You never need to apologise for anything.”

My heart swelled at his words. Heh, you… you’re great, Lo. I remember why I love you so much. I grabbed his hoof with mine. “Thanks, Lo. I needed to hear that from you.”

His big brown eyes twinkled. “And that was some ice magic, Snow. You’ve gotten a lot better!”

“Yeah, um, some stuff’s happened… along the way.” I repeated lamely.

“Yo!” Breeze, Cassie, Bosco, and Naiara rounded the corner. “The Raiders are making progress in getting around that fallen building. We gotta move.”

“What’s he doing out here?” Breeze’s wingtip was pointing at Lo accusingly. “I thought Rockhaunch said he had stuff to do back in the shelter?”

“Hmm?” I cocked an eyebrow at the increasingly uncomfortable looking buffalo. “Lo, is there something you’re not telling me?”

“I, uh…”

“Lo,” Big-sister mode was in full swing now. “did you finish all your work before coming out here where, I’ll remind you, there are bad people?”

“...Buff’s got it under control.” He tried, but wilted under everybody’s gaze.

Visibly rolling his eyes, Bosco broke the deadlock. “Seriously guys, Raiders. Let’s go already. Those machines will bust through the blockades to the southern district if we don’t warn everybody.”

I snapped out of it. “Right, right. Yeah.” I tapped Lo’s horn with mine. “Take me to Buff.” I have to make sure I don’t mess it up with Buff like I did with Al and Lo.

~~~~~~