Chapter 28: Not Our War

[Those friends as you know them are not here, alas. But tell me how all this came to pass.]

The trip back to Sprinkles Supplies had been blessedly uneventful, giving me time to fully digest the events at Whinniepeg.

Sure, the Windigo’s dead, but it has friends. The Changelings don’t now have the numbers to fight them all. And speaking of Changelings, Chrysalis is in the Stable, or at least her core is. Why hasn’t anybody ever mentioned it, or even shown any sign that she’s down there? Do they even know?

If it’s still a secret, at least I get the satisfaction of telling both Willow Wisp AND Roc “I know something you don’t know!” that’ll be fun.

It wasn’t really all that funny, but did just enough to get me the rest of the way. At the gates of the caravaneer’s compound, I waited at the steel shutters for a guard to let me in. And waited. And waited.

“Hello?” I called up to the walls after several minutes. “I’m here to help Boss with some magic? Hello?”

Weird. I didn’t have an exact idea of the time of day, but there was still light filtering through the cloud cover, so they shouldn’t have all been sleeping. I rapped a hoof against the shutter three times, but still received no answer.

“Okay, this is ridiculous.” My hoof slammed against the steel over and over again. “Call me out here, away from my brothers and sister, to help heal up a girl who keeps trying to kill me, and now you don’t ANSWER THE DAMN DOOR!” Can’t even freeze the door, since it belongs to Boss and all. Lousy, lazy guards. Are they deaf or something?

Just as I was rearing back to doublebuck the metal, it began to rise with a harsh squeal. Off-balance, I fell forwards into the dirt. Spitting and snorting out dirt as I rolled over, cheeks puffing. First guard I see, I’m gonna let him have it!

A stallion, swaddled in gear far too big for him, greeted me on the other side of the door. From some hidden mouth inside the folds of fabric, he spoke in a reedy, jittering voice. “Hey, you’re the girl the boss talks about so much, right? She said to bring you through right away. Sorry about the wait, most of the guys are getting supper. Come on.” Without waiting for an answer, he turned and headed inside.

Thrown off-kilter by his response, I swallowed my anger and followed in silence, but not without glowering at the guard’s back. We passed through the courtyard, and then the outer corridors of the offices without meeting another soul. Must be one hell of a supper. Supply caravans get all the good stuff. A sympathy grumble showed my belly agreed with me. Maybe I can get Boss to make me some more oatcakes when we finish with Breeze? I treasured the memory of that moment.

As we moved past the offices, towards the medical wing, the guard stopped for a moment. “Before we continue, do you wanna check in with those three tasty fillies on the radios? They’ve been pretty busy helping the other groups you went out with too.”

Hmm, not a bad idea. “Yeah, sure. Breeze isn’t going anywhere another minute or two.” If Boss needed me in a hurry, she’d have asked for Wings to fly me back in the sky carriage. About-facing, I headed to the comm room, the guard following.

When we reached the door to the communication station, it was shut tight. Jiggling the knob didn’t work, so I knocked, more gently than I had against the outer shutter. “Hey, anyone in there? Amber? Esto? ...Cassie?”

The latter’s voice, muffled by the wooden barrier, sounded out first. “Snowflake? Wait a moment. We’ll be right with you.”

“Greaaat,” I deadpanned. “are Esto or Amber with you?”

“Yes,” Esto replied from inside “we are here.”

“Just give us a moment, Snowflake.” Amber’s business-like tone didn’t help my impatience.

Half a minute passed without another word, leaving me to stand awkwardly outside the door. At the full minute mark, at least according to the clock on the wall, my impatience returned. “Hellooo? Still here, you know.”

Cassie’s response made me feel like a child. “...Snowflake, the door isn’t locked. We were waiting for you to come in.”

“...Oh.” Trying to ignore the sniggering guard, I pushed at the door again. It shifted, but only a little. “You sure it’s unlocked, Cassie? I’m pushing but it’s not opening.”

Esto was more forgiving than Cassie, but still short. “Put your weight into it, Snowflake.”

“I’ll put my weight into you,” I grumbled, but did as instructed. Lowering my shoulder, I rammed into the door in three quick, violent bursts. The first did nothing. The second shifted it enough that I could see something blocking the door, even if I couldn't’ tell what. The third sent the obstruction rolling along the floor, and me flailing to the comm. room tile.

Rubbing my chin as I got back up, I finally saw what I’d just smacked with the door. “Oh, damn, Esto! I didn’t mean it, I swear. That was an accident!”

The scientist was facing away from me, still on the ground, but the other two answered before she made a move.

“Very forthright, Snowflake.”

“Yes, wonderful job defeating the door.”

Neither Cassie nor Amber had even bothered to look away from their desks. Still, I glared at their backs. “To hell with the both of you. You couldn’t have just let me in?”

“And miss all the fun? No, I think not.” Amber barely shifted as she responded, still not looking my way.

I bristled. “Fun? You might not like me, but you’re not even gonna offer Esto a hoof? The hell’ve you three been up to this past while?”

“Waiting for you.” Like Amber, Cassie was almost statue-like.

My patience ran out. “I’ve had just about enough out of the both of you!” Marching over to her seat, closer than Cassie, I put a hoof on Amber’s shoulder and wrenched her around.

Instant regret ran through me as I took in the state of the Bernstein leader. An ugly purple bruise marred her amber coat at her temple. She was unconscious, only remaining upright by the bindings holding her to the chair.

Dried blood stained her clothes and front from the chin down. A drop seeped out from under the tape over her mouth. In her lap, next to an empty health potion, lay something fleshy and red. Sat atop it was a silver bit.

“A-Amber?” Recoiling, I suddenly became away of the state of the other two mares. Esto and Cassie were similarly bound and gagged. “What happened here? I don’t—”

“Is something the matter, Snowflake?” Amber’s light, airy tone made me jump. Her eyes were still closed, and her mouth still gagged, but she continued regardless. “You seem upset.”

Backing up towards the door, I tried to keep all three in my sights at once. “What’s going on?”

Esto, somehow, spoke next. “We’re trying to have a friendly conversation, Snowflake, yet you seem intent on being rude.”

Yeah, screw this. Spinning on a back heel, I bolted for the door, straight into the guard standing in the doorway. “Get out of the way! I’m going to find my Boss, and then we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

The guard didn’t move. “Bottom of what?”

Thrusting a hoof back towards the bound mares, I redoubled my efforts to move the stallion aside. “Whatever’s making them talk through those gags!”

“Uh… nopony was talking except you.”

“What?! Don’t be stupid!” Risking another glance into the room, the lack of movement threw me off more than anything.

Almost anything, as it turned out. From just by my ear, I heard something impossible.

My voice. “You’re the one who’s stupid, Red Ice.”

Halfway into jerking back around, the guard’s hoof crashed into my cheek. I was launched backwards, pinballing off the chair on which Cassie was bound to crash down next to the fallen Esto.

As I whimpered around my loose molars, the guard lowered his hoof. His shoulders were shaking. “Ahh, I don’t get to do this often enough.” Gone was the reedy, jittering tone, instead replaced by a hauntingly familiar honeyed baritone. “You’re always such fun, you know that, Snowflake?”

Not again! Not him again! “You shouldn’t be here! You should be stuck in Lethbridle, Peanut!”

Sweeping off his ill-fitting uniform with a smile, the ‘guard’ changed before my eyes; His shoulders relaxed and spread outwards, he stopped crouching, and filled out the now size-appropriate gear. Rubbing at his collarbone, he stretched into an audible pop came from his joints. “Unngh, gotta tell you something. It’s not easy to lose a head of height and keep it lost for that long. I’m gonna need a buffalo-strength massage later.”

“How are you here?” My hooves got back under me, and I righted myself. The pain in my cheek was long forgotten, overridden by disbelief at the sight before me. “I saw them blow the last gate. There was no way out!”

Peanut was working out a crick in his neck. “I actually got out ahead of you and your brother. It’s amazing how easily the guards believed I was just another evacuee after rolling in soot and dirt for a couple of seconds, and it really didn’t take that long to kill that ghoul you sicced on me. Dropped like a sack of flour. After that, it was just a matter of blending in with the crowd. As you saw, not really an issue for me. I had a good teacher for that kind of thing.” He stopped as a thought struck him. “Did I ever tell you who taught me what I know? Not everything I know, of course, just everything HE knew.”

“Why are you here?” I challenged, trying to ignore his musings, despite his casual dismissal of Inbox’s sacrifice.

His expression settled into neutrality. “Guess that’s a story for another day. As to your question, it should really be obvious. Well, maybe not. I am, after all, an even-tempered stallion.” He rolled his shoulders and took a step into the room, forcing me to take a step back. “It takes a lot to get under my skin, Snowflake, so I guess congratulations are in order. You and Bernstein there managed to pull it off. Wanna know what you’ve won?”

“Stay back!” My horn erupted with a tight spiral of cold, but he spun to the side and down, swinging a back hoof around and into my ankle. Off-balance, I couldn’t block his follow-up shoulder barge. I heard, and felt, glass crack as I slammed back into the communication equipment.

Peanut didn’t press his attack, instead resuming his speech. “See, you and Amber Bernstein there kinda ruined my plans. Well, not ‘kinda’, more like ‘utterly’.” For a brief moment, before he regained control, his expression turned dark. “I needed Lethbridle, Red Ice, and I needed my Plottawans. The actual citizens of Lethbridle weren’t all that important, just a bonus. I needed the city itself. Control Lethbridle and you control the north. Bernstein recognised that, which is why she worked so hard to keep it from me. Without it, you can see the instability that’s sprung up in the region. Lethbridle was the center of the region. Then you and Bernstein went and broke it.”

“The Raiders would have broken it worse. They probably have!” Warm stickiness dribbled down the back of my neck from where I’d hit the glass.

Peanut kicked at the floor. “And who brought them into the city? Who put those honeyed words in Latvi’s ear, huh?” He reached over and grabbed the empty bottle of healing potion from Amber’s lap, ignoring the fleshy lump next to it. “I had to make it very clear to Lady Bernstein that I wasn’t happy. I cut out that silver tongue of hers, then forced this potion down her throat. The wound’s closed up now. She can’t reattach it, and can’t interfere again.”

That’s horrible. “You’ll pay for that. If you think—”

“I’ve already paid for it!” He flung the empty bottle aside. “Don’t you see? Without Lethbridle and my soldiers, I have nothing to offer him. Nothing to bring to the table. They were my way in!”

“Into what?” Three jagged ice shards shot towards him, but he danced aside with ease.

“Into Red Eye’s organisation! Lethbridle and the Plottawans were my dowry. I needed a gift of value to present to him. Had to show him I was worth being his lieutenant.” Peanut’s hazel eyes shone with fervour.

Wake up, you three! “All this to impress your celebrity crush?”

“He’s the most powerful pony in the Wasteland. I suppose it’s hardly surprising that a pretender like you, trading on his name, wouldn’t understand. He’s going to win, and I want a place at the table, preferably at his right hoof.”

I gathered my magic in my horn, but didn’t release it yet. “Sounds like you want a place in his bed, not at his table.”

Peanut shrugged, unaffected. “Whatever gets me what I want is fine by me. Besides, power’s sexy.”

A little more. “So all of Plottawa, and your attack on Lethbridle, was all so you could be Red Eye’s boyfriend?”

“His confidant. The one whom he shares his secrets with. Eventually, I’d be his successor.” Peanut beamed with pride at his imagined position.

“Plottawa not enough for you?” I made no effort to hide my scorn. “You want to enslave the entire Wasteland?”

“Well, yeah.” Peanut spread his hooves wide. “There’s only so much to be done out here in the north, at the end of the world. I think bigger than just what I can see in front of me.”

Except you’re only looking one way. You don’t even know there’s something beyond the mountains. “You only see what you want to see. What, you think that silencing Amber, or killing me, is gonna solve your problems? Get you noticed further south?” My horn was near bursting with charge, but I had to wait for the right opportunity.

“You mistake my reason for coming here.” Peanut leaned casually back against the wall. “I’m not here to help my plans, not really. After Lethbridle, I’m taking some ‘me’ time. I’ll have a nice relaxing few days punishing you two, and then I’ll get back to work. This? This is catharsis.”

“So why heal Amber after? Why not just kill her?” Amber’s to my left, Esto’s behind me, Cassie’s between the two of them. I took a slow half-step to my right, putting Peanut squarely between myself and the doorway.

A roll of his eyes preceded his answer. “The same reason I don’t starve or beat my slaves. The value increases this way.”

My tail thrashed at that. “Amber’s not one of your slaves!”

“No, but she is an asset. She doesn’t have a choice in the matter, if she wants to keep her business afloat. Those cousins of hers that she left in charge down south don’t have her brains. Without her lead, the Bernstein Conclave will suffer. She’ll be forced to take back the reins. Trouble is…” his tongue snaked across his lips, “...now she can’t put words in the right ears. That weakness will encourage her cousins to make a play to take over permanently. Suddenly, Lady Bernstein is very busy indeed, but can only suffer in silence.”

Heaving himself off the doorframe, he stood in the center of the entrance. “Her true trade is her words, Snowflake. That’s why I took her tongue. Words determine everything for those who don’t fight, and even some for those who do. You should know that by now.”

Every muscle on my body locked up. “What does that mean? What have you done, Peanut?”

He smiled the same wide, insufferably perfect smile he’d given the first time I met him. “Do you recall the kill-on-sight order against you?”

MOTHERF— “That was you?”

His smile just grew wider. “Actually, it was Chief Rockhaunch.”

“What? He never mentioned that!”

Waving a hoof back and forth, Peanut chuckled to himself. “Oh, he doesn’t know.”

That doesn’t make a single damn bit of sense. Have you lost your mind? Have I been talking to a crazy pony this entire time? If he had become unhinged, fighting him would be even less enjoyable than it had been, and much harder to survive, let alone win. “What are you talking about, how could he not know if he did it?”

Smile now showing teeth, Peanut cleared his throat and took a deep breath. When he opened his mouth, a shockingly familiar voice came out. The problem was that it wasn’t Peanut’s.

“Attention, this is Chief Rockhaunch. I am issuing a blanket order against Red Ice. Do not attempt to apprehend her. Kill on sight. That is all.”

I could only stare blankly at my ears attempted to make sense of hearing the voice of the Lethbridle guard captain coming from the Plottawan stallion. “What?”

Ignoring the question, Peanut rattled off several more lines, each in a different voice:

“Bernstein brought in Red Ice too!” A melodic female.

“Red Ice done brung that scary ghost thing.” A dumpy stallion.

“Why did you call Red Ice and the monsters here, Lady Bernstein?” A frightened filly.

Cassie’s voice was next. “Snowflake needs to come back to help with Breeze’s recovery.”

Glancing right to verify that Cassie was still bound, gagged, and unconscious made a sick feeling bubble up in my gut. “You were in the crowd. YOU WERE THE CROWD! You set me up. You lied to all of us!”

He had the nerve to chuckle. “I did. It’s my special talent. The right word in the right ear.” Snickering, he opened his mouth again, “Or the left ear.” except it sounded like he was standing behind me and to the side. Next he spoke from under my chin. “I don’t get enough chances to do this outside of practice. A pity, what with my name being what it is.”

My mind was spinning, and I was only barely keeping up. “...Peanut?”

“That is what I tell everybody.” He turned side-on, so I could see his cutie mark under his uniform: A red-and-white-striped bag of peanuts. “You and Bernstein are the only ones I’ve told this to. You should feel honoured. Not even A— my former teacher knows my full name.”

He bowed deeply. “A pleasure to meet you, Snowflake, Red Ice, whoever. You can call me Peanut Gallery.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I choked out.

Literally bouncing on his heels, Peanut Gallery jigged up and down. “Because I’m having fun, Snowflake. Didn’t I tell you this is me taking some time for myself? Besides, it’s not as if knowing will do either of you any good. Bernstein’s not exactly got a wagging tongue these days, and you… well, you’ve got much bigger problems than little ol’ me.”

His hazel eyes twinkled. “This is probably my favourite part of all of this, mostly because I didn’t do it, and it still worked out well for me. See, the thing is, some buffalo called Crush killed our mutual friend, the Chief. I have that on good authority, unless your brother’s a habitual liar. Do you know what that means, Snowflake?”

I was stunned, only half-listening. The Chief is dead? Crush killed him? Are my brothers okay? How are they gonna get back? How did this happen?

Peanut continued right over my mental floundering. “Rockhaunch can’t rescind the kill order against you now, Red Ice, and I won’t. Wherever you go, you’ll be attacked. Your life in the Wasteland is over. You will never know peace again.”

“Yeah?” Purple smoke engulfed the corners of my vision. “Well, neither will you!” I let loose with my gathered magic.

You won’t hurt anyone again! Bars of ice sprang up in the comm. room, shutting Amber, Cassie, and Esto off from Peanut and myself. The two of us were trapped in a narrow corridor, leaving no room to move except back towards the door.

Half-snarling, half-smirking, I squared my hooves. “Dodge this, bastard!” Channeling Chrysalis and the Windigo all at once, Peanut was blown backwards out of the room by a screaming burst of hail.

The Plottawan leader ricocheted off the corridor wall as I charged out after him. Ice snakes coalesced around me, striking for the stallion, but he deftly flipped to the side.

As I left the comm. room, I covered the doorway with more bars. “You won’t touch them again!”

Shaking his head, Peanut stepped back into a ready stance. “Well, haven’t you improved. You might actually up my heart rate a little this time. It’s not gonna be enough, though.”

Without a word, I sent overlapping waves of Cryo Serpents at him. As soon as he dodged one, the next wave would hit, forcing him back. Can’t beat me if you can’t touch me, heckler!

After his half-dozenth step, Peanut grunted harshly. Flipping back through the air, he landed with his mouth full of a wicked looking hoofcannon, half the size of his head.

My brain wasn’t even through processing his jaw-clench before my cheek split in two. Blood splattered into my right ear and eye. Adrenaline dulled the pain, but I still had half the perception I did a moment ago. Squeezing my right shut, I turned left-on to Peanut, fixing him with my good eye.

His second shot slammed harmlessly into my conjured ice shield, which I thrust back at him.

Cartwheeling aside, his hooves went out from under him as I covered the floor in slick frost. My Cryo Serpents found his weapon as he landed, blocking the barrel.

Spinning impossibly on his head and front hooves, his momentum carried the hoofcannon straight into my throat.

Adrenaline could only do so much, as the air caught in my tubes. Hacking and spitting, I blindly conjured icicles in a full ring around me. A sharp hiss sounded from beyond the red blood and purple smoke, but I couldn’t tell where with just the one unblocked ear.

My head jerked to the side as Peanut’s hoof slammed into my torn jowl, but it was he who cried out in pain. I couldn’t smile outwardly, but momentarily cheered on the inside. You’re not the first opponent I’ve fought covered in blood, Peanut. Thank you, Cassie. I couldn’t call the fight in the Woodpecker village a victory, but it was a learning experience.

With a vague idea of where he now stood, my horn slashed down and across his general direction. Unfortunately it met his bucking hooves coming in the other direction.

Lifted into the air, the corridor spun around me. At the corner, I stopped rolling. Sharp needles ran up and down my horn, and the pain from my jaw was increasing. I was coming down from my adrenaline high. Just a little more. I almost have him.

Peanut wasn’t looking so hot himself. Cuts and scratches marred and bloodied his oaken coat, and his blond mane stuck to his face as he huffed and puffed. The hoof he’d punched me with was cradled close to his chest. “Well, isn’t this interesting? You’re on form today, Red Ice, I’ll give you that. Still, those hooves of yours are shaking. You won’t last much longer.”

“Lung enif…” I gave up at that point, the bubbling blood in my mouth derailing any comeback I might have had as I willed my shaking legs to remain still. Spitting out a mouthful was agony as my split flesh objected. Damn, he’s right. My face is killing me. Have to kill HIM quick.

Peanut wasn’t looking at me. He was staring past me, around the corner I stood at. His face was a picture of surprise.

A filly’s voice, timid and watery and familiar, told me why. “Snowflake?”

Undertow?! My good eye whipped around to find her, warn her away. I couldn’t see her. Damn blood’s in my eyes. Where is she?

In the split-second I reached up to wipe away the blinding red, Peanut had moved.

KRACK!!!

My eye was totally forgotten as he completed his leap on my other side. Something else landed beside him, clinking against the floor tile.

Glacial glow fading into darkness, my horn rolled to a stop between us.

I screamed. Pain, not blood, blinded me now. My cheek trauma forgotten, I scrabbled with my hooves at the jagged stump on my forehead. I wailed on the ground as all strength left me.

Barely noticed through the haze, Peanut scooped up my horn in his mouth. Smirking around it, he looked for all the world like McCoy smoking one of his filthy cigars. Imperiously, he stood over me, savouring the sight. “I told you it wouldn’t be enough.”

“GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!” The new voice, not Undertow’s, thundered down the hallway.

It pierced through the lightning storm of pain behind my eyes. Boss! What’s he doing to Undertow?!

Shots rang out in the corridor, and Peanut’s shadow fell away from me. His clattering hooves, and those of the the multitude chasing him, were muffled by blood and exposed nerves.

Another shadow came upon me, however. Tender hooves probed and caressed, while a soothing aura enveloped me. “Oh, baby, what’s he done t’you?” Lexi’s voice trembled. “Can y’hear me, baby girl?”

“U-Undertow?”

“No, honey, it’s me. Undertow’s not here.” I felt her magic pulling my cheek back together, however gradually.

“But…” I coughed out, “...she was. You said ‘your daughter’. Where is she?”

“What?” Lexi’s hooves left me for a moment, before grabbing me and holding me tight, frizzy mane scratching at my stump, while she wailed. “Ah meant you, yeh silly thing! You’re both my girls, don’tcha know that?”

Her words hit like a ton of bricks. They managed, for a moment at least, to make me utterly forget about the pain. M-me too? I have a… you’re my…

Every moment I’d ever spend with Lexi ran through my mind in a flash;

Our first meeting, where she healed me even as a complete stranger.

She didn’t turn me away.

Scolding me for playing Raider, but still telling me not to die, and to come to her if I was hurt.

She knew I could do better.

Sending me after my missing sister, her missing daughter, and the warm hug that followed when we returned.

She forgave me.

The delicious breakfast she made for Undertow and I, and the promise between the two to watch over me.

She worried.

To Fedexi Lexi, I had value. To her, I was worth keeping on the right path. To her, I mattered. I was one of her girls.

She wanted me.

Even through the returning pain, hard enough to dim the world around me, my hooves hugged her back as tight as I was able. Through tears, I bawled out the only word I could:

“MO-O-O-M!”

Gentle and safe, she held me close. “Ah’m right here, Snowflake. Momma’s gonna look after you.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~