In the early morning hours when everyone had been loading up crates to put weapons in, Steel Wing had thought to himself Gee it seems like it’s been too long since I’ve been shot at. Steel Wing now hated himself for having the capacity to form thoughts.

----

A group of no less than thirty raiders from around Manehattan. This was the group Trapmaw had warned about but Steel Wing had failed to ask how far away they were the five hours before Trapmaw had told him. He may have been intelligent for his species but he was still a hellhound, and therefore not the type to think on a temporal level. That meant that the raider camp ten minutes from Armory was just a raider camp and nothing else.

At the break of dawn the raiders had attacked. Luckily for Steel Wing and the Steel Rangers, the cart loaded with crates had been taken back down much earlier. Everypony had gone underground and had been helping load weapons into crates; of course that was after each of the metal clad newbies finished gawking at the enormity of the rooms filled with weapons. Since they were all underground they hadn’t had any losses. The downside of not being taken by surprise out in the open was the raiders quickly took over the city topside.

Steel Wing and Corona had opted out of using a lift the single purpose of which was moving vehicles and large amounts of equipment up and down, and had raced each other back topside through the hallways. When they got up they were greeted by three day old corpses being used in the traditional Mexicolt pinata style. The raiders then used the “prizes” as whips, bludgeons, and balls on each other.

At that time Steel Wing was reminded of another thing he had to be grateful for. Being stationed over Mexicolt meant that he only had to put up with Mexicolt raiders regularly, and not raiders from anywhere else. At least the raiders of Mexicolt were civilized if in general unclean.

At present Steel Wing, Corona, and two Steel Ranger volunteers were trying to clear out the invaders so they could move the armory inventory before some other group could show up and pen them in again. Initially they had had four volunteers but one of the raiders had brought an anti-machine rifle along. Steel Wing couldn’t believe that someone back two-hundred years ago thought it would be a good idea to make the best kind of protection for soldiers and simultaneously produce something that could punch through that protection.

Fucking war profiteers. Steel Wing had thought as he watched the downed Steel Ranger being dragged away. From what he could tell the pony inside the armor was still alive, he had been fortunate enough that the raider with the anti-machine rifle didn’t have a very strong neck or any aptitude with larger weapons. The shot didn’t hit anything vital, but it was enough to put him down for a while. He would be in Autumn Heart’s hooves which would be more than enough to make sure he survived.

Back to the matter at hoof, Steel Wing was watching the streets as Corona took a peek over a rooftop. After a few moments of scanning the other rooftops she flew up and landed on top of the building. Checking the alleys around the building she waved her companions over. She repeated this process hoping from building to building and guiding them down safe paths. When she knew she could go no further, Corona landed gently next to the three grounded ponies.

In an attempt to minimize noise since she knew there were raiders around the corner, Corona made a series of hand gestures to inform the other three of raiders’ presence.

Steel Wing watched the griffon’s hand gestures with a questioning eyebrow. When she’d finished he said, “What?”

Corona silenced him with a hand Over his muzzle. She then facepalmed when the source of his question hit her, quite literally in the face.

“You don’t know hand signals do you?” Steel Wing shook his head. “Of course you wouldn’t, why would a pony have to learn hand signals? Why can’t you have hands?” When she finished Corona relinquished her grip around his muzzle not actually expecting an answer.

“I bet somewhere out there some pony cyborg does have hands, or at least fingers.” Steel Wing was obviously not trying to be helpful.

“Shut it.” Corona hissed. “There’s at least three raiders around the corner, I can get two using SATS. I’ll need a second shooter to get the third. I say shooter because trying to sneak up and break there necks in broad daylight wouldn’t end well.”

“Alright fair enough.”

Steel Wing looked at the two Steel Rangers with them. Grenade machine gun and minigun. No. Two side mounted assault rifles and a back mounted sniper rifle. Also no.

“How quiet is that thing?” Steel Wing motioned towards the sniper rifle.

“This sir?” The addressed Steel Ranger activated the sniper rifle. “Quietest there is!” His voice was full of pride.

“He’s being serious sir.” The other Steel Ranger said, seeing Steel Wing’s skeptical look. “We call it the Quiet Cannon.”

“Well there’s your second shooter then.” Steel Wing said in slight disbelief.

Corona peeked around the corner and then leapt up with a single flap of her wings so she could look over the top of the corner, while giving the Steel Ranger a spot from which he could aim as well.

In moments they found their targets and each signaled the other they were ready. Two discrete zaps from an energy pistol and the quick hiss as a large amount of pressure escaped from the large rifle. Three more raiders were dead.

Steel Wing nodded in approval of the Quiet Cannon. “How many raiders is that then?” He looked at Corona.

“Was I supposed to be keeping track of that?” She puffed out her chest. “I have been keeping you all from walking into hazards, and you expect me to keep a kill count as well? That is unfair on many levels.” Corona then deflated and feigned exhaustion.

“Well somebody here should be keeping track I-“ He stopped when a small message appeared in his vision.

Manehatten raiders slain: 5/30

“Why the hell does it know how many there are?” Steel Wing grumbled.

“What does what?” Corona asked.

“I guess my Pip-buck has been keeping a kill count.” He said peeking around the corner. Seeing that it was clear he ventured out into the open to check the three dead raiders. He was about to start going through their things but the smell that hit him was so unbearable he couldn’t bring his nose any closer.

“Sweet fucking Celestia! They smell like rotting parasprite carcass wrapped in hellhound shit!” Steel Wing backed away quickly.

“Jeeze will you keep it down we’re trying to be stealthy.” Corona came up next to Steel Wing and immediately turned away from the stench. “What the hell were they rolling in!” She cried equally as loud as Steel Wing had.

“Sir? Ma’am? There’s enemies on the EFS, and you’re being kind of loud. Also your hellhound friend has something to talk to you about.”

Whatever had kept them from simply walking away from the horrid reek they would never know, but now they had an excuse to be anywhere else.

Steel Wing walked back into the alley after gagging a few more times. “Trapmaw?”

The hellhound waved at his approach. “Me and friends found more than ten raider ponies close together. They playing kickball game with pony head. Come Trapmaw show you.”

He began walking in a seemingly random direction. Steel Wing stopped him.

“Couldn’t you set up a trap for them or something? You are really good at that.”

“Sure we can. It work better if Steel Wing pony show up and help.”

“Alright we’ll be there. Go ahead and prepare your trap the four of us will make sure there aren’t any raiders still running around town. Sound good?”

“Works for me.” Trapmaw shambled back to his hole and dropped in.

“Sir aren’t you afraid of them; what if they turn on you?” The Steel Ranger carrying Quiet Canon asked.

“Then I broke my promise.” Steel Wing replied grimly. “Let’s get moving.” Soon they were back to their original routine, Corona on rooftops guiding them further through the city while avoiding potential ambushes.

Trying to sneak up on and around raiders wasn't easy with two giant metal suits following you. It was a strain on the Steel Rangers to be as quiet as possible, coupled with the fact that they had been up since midday yesterday, they needed rest. When the two rangers voiced their desire for rest Steel Wing and Corona agreed to stop for a while. It was at this point that Steel Wing realized just how tired he felt. For the past few days he had gone without eating or sleeping and had assumed it was the effects of the Nightmare. Now it felt like he was coming down off of a seventy two hour adrenaline rush, and it was ruining him. Taking in all of these new feelings Steel Wing noticed that he still wasn't all that hungry. His appetite was instead coming back very slowly, while his exhaustion simply crashed down on him.

Steel Wing had fallen to the back of the group lost in his thoughts. He followed as they went into an empty building and got comfy for a half-hour rest with a blank stare.

"I think I need to find some food, fast." Steel Wing said, once his mind returned to the present.

"Well I thought you always had food and water in your bag." Corona said, sitting up from her couch.

"I always have, but I haven't needed to eat, sleep or drink in days so I stopped." There was a hint of mild annoyance in his voice.

"Nothing in here it looks like." Everyone present scanned the one room building for anything that looked like food. "Need help finding some?" Corona shifted getting ready to go, with great reluctance of course.

"No, I'll be fine." At the word "fine" Steel Wing's body shuddered violently, and his stomach growled audibly. "That being said I'm not going to stay that way forever. I'll be back." In an instant a purple tail disappeared out the front door.

Steel Wing's hunger drove him to move quickly, his discipline forced him to be as quiet as possible. The result was a very awkward but silent gait that made the giant pegasus look like he was crippled. Just a few buildings down Steel Wing heard the clatter of empty bottles and someone snacking on something. As he moved towards the sound, Steel Wing saw to yellow bars appear in his vision. His EFS told him there were two non-hostiles and one friendly in the building he was moving towards.

He was just outside the door when he heard a mare grunting and snarling, "I'll fucking kill you!"

A stallion replied, "Aw poor little Flare. You lost fair and square so just take it." A bottle fell to the floor and there was a little shuffling as well as a wet squishing sound. "Don't try and act like you don't like being tied up anywaysh~"

Presumably the stallion, let out a loud belch that helped Steel Wing guess that whoever he was he had been drinking. If it was one of the yellow bars then the other yellow bar, probably the mare, had also been drinking. Steel Wing had heard someone eating inside and that was the only other thing he registered about the situation, forgetting completely that the city had been overrun by raiders.

When Steel Wing peeked into the room he immediately lost his appetite, and regained his grasp of the current situation. Two gore stained raiders, a stallion and mare were surrounded by broken, blunt objects and empty bottles. The mare had been hogtied using the intestines of one of their victims. The stallion was gloating over whatever victory he'd achieved, and was preparing to "claim" his prize. Because Steel Wing hadn't eaten in days, he could not throw up, gag yes but he could expel nothing. A very strange mindset overtook Steel Wing as he watched the scene. He watched as the stallion slowly descended upon his companion. All he did was look on until a hand around his throat and mouth yanked him away from the door.

He was still moving back for sometime, his hind legs skimming over the dirt. A few seconds later and his rear was placed on the ground. The grip on his throat was released, but the hand around his muzzle tightened as a very cross looking Corona hovered into view.

"What. The. Fuck?" She looked at him impatiently.

"Mmm..." Steel Wing intoned. He was in a daze, as several days of sleep loss caught up with him.

"Do you have any fucking idea how messed up that was?" Steel Wing shook his head and stared at her. "Clearly you need to get laid. That shit could have gotten you killed!" Her anger was not lost in the quiet voice she used to not be heard by anything else.

"Sorry." Steel Wing was making a conscious effort to focus on why he was in trouble.

"Sorry? Fuck you and your sorry." She brought a hand across his face leaving several red lines where they touched.

A stinging warmth spread over Steel Wing's cheek and was enough to at least make him aware of what he'd been doing to deserve being hit.

"Ow." He intoned rubbing his cheek. "I can't believe I was actually watching them."

"Yeah me neither." Corona put her hands behind her head and took a deep breath. "When we get back to Sky Fall, I am going to lift your ass into the air, fly you down to Mexicolt City, and find twenty prostitutes for you to wear out for few days. This whole sex strike thing is a very obvious distraction for you. I thought I had let this go, but after that you and I both know that what I'm saying is true. You need to find something that can keep sex off your mind in the middle of a fight."

"Fighting does keep my mind off of sex." Steel Wing protested weakly.

"If I know you like I think I do, then this city is a combat zone to you. That means you are fighting as long as you’re inside the city. If two blood covered raiders doesn't stop you from thinking about sex then I don't think anything else can."

Steel Wing hung his head in defeat. "Maybe you're right. Maybe it is time to let go, of this whole nopony but you thing. I have with my sister."

They were both silent a long moment.

"Yeah maybe I am." Corona agreed with finality.

Steel Wing's eyes suddenly lit up with a new resistance. "No!" He said a bit louder than he should have. "Snow is somewhere under the cloud cover. If ever there was a time to not give up hope it would be now!" Steel Wing caught himself using such a loud voice. Much quiet he finished, "Now, when she's so close."

Corona watched the hope in his eyes, and had to voice a concern she thought Steel Wing had overlooked. "What if she's found someone else?"

It wasn't an issue Steel Wing had ever overlooked, in the past he had accepted that she would be able to find another to make her happy. That realization now helped to keep his hopes in check.

"Then I guess I'm happy for her." The grey pegasus looked down at his hooves, watching the dirt as it did absolutely nothing to change the situation.

Corona gently brushed the blood off of Steel Wing's cheek with a wing, and then wrapped her arms around him. "I think I'd probably hate being you. I wouldn't really know, because I hardly know who you are." She drew back and looked him in the eyes. Her expression was a rare one of sincere sympathy. "I want to help you, but I'm bad at this sort of thing."

Steel Wing responded with a weak smile.

"Help me help you?" She finished hoping that phrase applied to this situation.

"We'll see." Steel Wing rested his head on the downy chest before him for a moment before standing up on all four hooves; and promptly falling over as exhaustion and hunger hit him with increased magnitude.

"You alright?" Corona began to put him back upright.

"I go for days without eating or sleeping, and I think it's caught up with me. I honestly don't know what was keeping me going so long, but this is ridiculous." Steel Wing's body slowly fell back to the ground as his strength drained away. “No, I’m really not alright.”

"Well maybe once you got where you were going you stopped needing to well- Go, see what I'm saying." Corona was more or less at a loss for any helpful words, but still tried. Steel Wing would probably never know how close to right she actually was.

"Maybe." Steel Wing's vocabulary was deteriorating single word phrases as he began to fall asleep. As his head drifted back towards the building occupied by the raiders, Steel Wing spotted the green bar still inside.

"There's someone friendly trapped in there with those raiders." The strain of saying all of that was clear in the exhausted pegasus' voice.

"Can you keep going?" Corona already knew the answer given he was laying down already.

"Nu-uh" Steel Wing intoned.

"Right then. Stash you, save friendly, run back quick for reinforcements and finish the raiders." Corona checked her own EFS to confirm the existence of a friendly entity inside the building. "I really wish I could just chuck a grenade in there." She sighed and began dragging the passed out pegasus that might as well have been a snoring boulder.

Once she had hauled Steel Wing back to the building where the two Steel Rangers were waiting, and had informed them of his condition, Corona started taking care of her current checklist bit by bit. Now that she was paying attention, the many functions of her Stable-Tec designed power armor were proving quite useful. Being a griffon she couldn’t begin to understanding how the magic used to power most of its functions worked, but was very able to appreciate each one as it presented itself.

At the moment it had her at, Hide Sleeping Pegasus.

“Sweet dreams.” Corona whispered as the door to the utility closest slowly shut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steel Wing stared at the ceiling over his bed. He took a moment to glare glared at the deffective radio blaring music that Dj-Pon3 left playing through to the late morning. It was unfortunately still the middle of the night. He looked back at the radio through sleepy eyes when a song came on that he didn’t recognize. It was upbeat and intense. The mare singing had a voice that commanded all who could hear to listen to her words.

The weary pegasus lie still slowly being energized by the song. When it was over, he felt odd. Sitting up he noticed that the off feeling only increased. Something in the room seemed strange or even different. The door to the roof was still closed. His power armor was on the mannequin, as it should be, and the binoculars hadn’t been moved since he’d last touched them. When his gaze fell on the window, Steel Wing instantly saw what was bothering him. Pure, unfiltered light was coming through the window illuminating the room in a way it never had been before.

Steel Wing became a grey and purple blur as he shot across the room to the window.

All he could do was stare at the world outside with narrowed eyes, while he tried to make sense of what he was saw.

The land immediately before him, and forever on, was flat dirt and shrubs. The world stretched on to eternity, but off in the infinite distance a definite black curtain cut off the world’s seemingly endless progress. What concerned Steel Wing the most was the fact that he could see so far; not only was there no apparent source of the light, but all the dust and debris seemed to have been cleared from the air. He could see forever until the world ended at the black curtain, where an absolute nothing seemed to exist.

As Steel Wing contemplated the possibility of a place that exists containing nothing, an imposing but familiar jet black figure appeared on the road in front of the house.

It was a suit of black steel battle armor.

“Oh! It’s just the Nightmare.” Steel Wing breathed an awkward sigh of relief. He sincerely doubted anyone in the history of the world had ever said that phrase.

The armor didn’t move, so Steel Wing jumped out the window intending to land next to the Nightmare; after all the only place he could allow himself to fly was in his dreams, which he was now aware this was.

To the confident pegasus surprise, this was an occurrence where the phrase ‘Not even in your dreams.’ could be applied. No longer a pegasus, SteelWing found he had been downgraded to giant, airborne earth pony.

By instinct he was very afraid of a two story free fall. When the ground did not charge to meet him, he looked around and saw a black mist that signified the Nightmare’s magic aura. He was gently placed on the ground, and the black mist quickly dissipated.

“Thanks.” Steel Wing said, trotting up to the armor.

At this distance, it was obvious why the Nightmare was playing the silent game, she wasn’t in the armor. There were the two slots for wings on either side and a hole in the helmet where a horn could poke through. It was certainly the same black spiked suit of armor that the Nightmare had first appeared in, but the armor was very empty. Last time there had at least been black mist pouring from the armor’s holes, now there was nothing.

Despite its apparent lack of an occupant, and no force, magical or otherwise animating it, the armor’s hoof was raised, and pointed south down the road.

Steel Wing followed the hoof south with his gaze. It wasn’t until he was completely turned that he noticed the giant wall of Mexicolt City right next to him. How he missed it was far beyond the baffled pegasus.

“Right, so you want me to go into the city?” Steel Wing turned to find that both the black armor and his house were far far away. He could still see his house clearly, the armor seemed to have left for now. “Correct.” He confirmed for his own sake.

But what if I just walk away?

An invisible force swatted the back of his head.

I’m going to assume that was my subconscious and not the NIghtmare.

Steel Wing trotted into the city, down the main street.

The light shifted to night, it was light from a full moon; there was still no apparent source of the light. The shift in lighting and lack of its source were beneath Steel Wing’s notice as he moved through the almost familiar streets. He saw a broken second story window, which reminded him of his last fight ever in Mexicolt City.

The open air market where any and all of the city’s honest dealings took place. That wasn’t saying much at all. Steel Wing went down this memory lane with a scowl.

It wasn’t until he was on a street with a bar to brothel ratio of two-to-one, that he realized by now the city’s nightlife should be up and out. The streets of Mexicolt City were empty, save for Steel Wing and his sister. Again the dream shifted without Steel Wing catching on.

Steel Wing raised a wing inviting his sister to walk side by side with him. She happily accepted the invitation, and bounded up next to him; their flanks bumped while she matched his pace. Once they were walking comfortable next to each other Steel WIng closed his wing around her, bringing her in closer.

Steel Wing had intended to trap her next to him. Instead, she used the lack of distance to nip at his ear.

The first was ignored, the second noticed, and third acknowledged. By the fourth nip at his hear, Steel Wing was jerking his head away while still keeping her under his wing.

After playing for a pleasantly log time Steel Wing had his chin over his sister’s head. He shot her ear shell a devious look and adjusted his head to allow his warm breath to tickle it.

The grey mare’s body shuddered in response to his display of power over her. It reminded her of the difference in size between them; she had always told Steel Wing that, the dominance he was able to exercise over her, was something she loved.

The dream began to drift away from the intimate scene between the sole inhabitants of Mexicolt City.

Steel Wing had never cared to notice the actual differences between his sister and himself. During their early years they had been very nearly the same size. When looks started to mean anything during their school years, Steel Wing was praised for his exceptional size; his twin sister was teased for her unfillylike stature. They ignored the opinions of their classmates entirely; by the time they were ten, they only needed each other.

Through their teen years, Steel Wing kept growing, eventually becoming the oversized pegasus everyone knew. His sister grew only enough to fill out the lithe, delicate form that most pegasai did. He had been in love with his sister for years, she was equally in love with him. The love they had for the other was for much more than just physical appearance. Steel Wing had found so many other things to love about his sister that he failed to notice that he towered over her when he stopped growing.

Steel Wing quietly watched the two lovers from above. He sat on one of the city’s larger buildings, and watched the imaginary scene play out.

It was nicer down there. He thought sadly.

“Wow this dream has stopped making sense!” Steel Wing had become aware of just how far off track everything seemed to be. Not that he hadn’t been enjoying his dream thus far, but there was something he’d been doing and now couldn’t remember it at all.

He shrugged and turned around. The main road continued on a ways over the tops of the buildings. Steel Wing caught on to this and looked down to find that he was once again at street level.

Now that he was walking again, he tried to remember why he was in Mexicolt City at all. He was supposed to meet someone, or already had.

Light pouring out of a bar caught his attention. According to the rest of the city’s streets, this was the only open bar to be found.

As he approached the doorway he heard, “... from Dj-Pon3 to you, sleep tight and don’t let the hellhounds bite. Good night my little ponies.” Static followed Dj-Pon3’s closing statements.

Steel Wing stepped in through the doorway and felt a huge weight wash over him as he did. The world went quiet, and the light turned to darkness. He felt his entire body seize up violently causing him to fall over. Then there was nothing but quiet, and the occasional bump.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Steel Wing returned to the waking world he found it had become rather, bumpy. He was laying on his back with his wings splayed uncomfortably. He was, at the very least, on a soft mat.

It was dark wherever he was. Mild panic rose when he was reminded of his dream. This faded when he heard light breathing somewhere nearby. He wasn’t entirely alone. After relaxing and tucking in his wings a deep and ugly coughing fit came from somewhere next to him. The coughing stopped and was followed up by a pathetic sounding whimper. Steel Wing recognized that as the cough of someone who was slowly recovering from a severe chest wound.

Steel Wing turned towards the source of the coughing, and felt something icy pierce his heart. The Steel Ranger initiate Red Berry was curled up on a cot wrapped in bloody healing bandages. Her whimpering continued as she feebly searched for the blanket that she’d accidentally thrown off.

The soldier pony was extremely angry with himself that he felt no pain and was laying around while an innocent filly was suffering a few feet away. Steel Wing got to his hooves as quickly as he could and felt instantly lightheaded. Fighting through the disorienting sensation he managed to get to Red Berry’s mat and cover her up gently.

When Red Berry was adequately wrapped up Steel Wing took some time to sit and recover from the dizziness he felt. He then noticed he was sharing space with several other rising and falling piles of cloth. Other injured Steel Rangers lay all around him, and his mind was racing to find some sort of reason for their condition. Last he could clearly remember, they were getting ready to leave with the crated up weapons. Now there were Steel Rangers who had clearly been in a hell of a fight; a fight that Steel Wing knew he wasn’t a part of, and that began to eat at his conscience. He’d never wanted to involve anyone else in moving the weapons, he’d hoped to convince the Steel Rangers to leave so he could deal with it himself. There was no reason for them to be hurt.

The world jolted forward for a moment. The sudden movement moved Red Berry, and she let out a weak cry as she curled up even tighter than before.

Voices were coming closer now, and following a series of latch clicks, light poured in from an opening about five feet from where Steel Wing sat.

The first voice Steel Wing recognized was that of Autumn Heart. The other sounded like Corona, but something was wrong with it.

“You could have rested in here.” Autumn Heart said clearly concerned.

“I could fly, see straight, and shoot. There was no reason for me to be laying down.” Corona’s sounded nearly breathless, and the way she coughed made it sound like she’d taken a large blunt force to her torso. Another injured.

Now that there was a significant source of light, Steel Wing could see this was the back of one of the passenger wagons. It also meant that there was more the horrified pegasus hadn’t seen before.

Including himself there were nine occupants in the compartment. It sickened Steel Wing to no end that Red Berry seemed to be the worst off of any other pony present.

Autumn Heart stepped into the compartment, and saw the large pale pegasus looking around as if someone had just shot him.

“You’re awake?” Autumn Heart said with a half hearted smile.

“Who is?” Corona pushed her way into the compartment.

Steel Wing could now see what was wrong. Corona had healing bandages wrapped around her throat, which had done little to hide the scar that ran from her shoulder up to the top of her head. Her left arm was in a sling, and she had a bandolier of med-x. Although she normally walked on her hind legs, it was abundantly clear that she could hardly do anything else.

“Ahu?” Steel Wing intoned as words got caught in his throat.

“I think he’s broken.” Corona said with a grin. An attempt to laugh ended with another coughing fit.

Autumn Heart came closer. “Are you alright?”

“No.” Steel Wing looked at the shivering form of Red Berry.

Autumn Heart misinterpreted his pained expression and went for her medical bag in the corner of the wagon.

Steel Wing caught her mid stride, and pulled her close to his face. “No.” He looked straight into her eyes, then turned her head towards Red Berry. “What happened, and why didn’t anyone wake me?” His hooves were tightening around Autumn Heart.

She tried to push his hooves away, but he was far too strong for her to escape without his conscent.

“There was a fight. Mexicolt raiders came. They were organized, and they came from all over Mexicolt.” She was now struggling to get away from his slowly fading self restraint.

“Hey!” Corona shouted, grabbing Steel Wing’s attention and letting Autumn Heart escape.

Red Berry opened an eye, and looked up at Steel Wing with large weary eyes. Steel Wing’s eyes were equally weary, but for obviously different reasons. His large form sunk lower and lower, until he was laying down level with the wounded filly.

“I’m sorry.” He said softly.

She smiled but said nothing.

“What happened to her?” He looked back to Autumn Heart with eyes that told he was near the breaking point.

“It was a one in a million fluke.” She began quietly, “A defective fragmentation mine armed itself after colliding with her armor. She stepped over it thinking it was just a piece of metal. Most of the shrapnel went into her belly, but the armor stopped a lot of the shrapnel. The armor coupled with the healing potion injectors saved her from bleeding out in a few seconds, but that’s really all.”

“Oh.” Steel Wing brushed a hoof through her hair to better see her face. “It shouldn’t have been you, it shouldn’t have been any of you.” He got up and looked around at the other injured Steel Rangers.

“Hey don’t blame yourself for this, I’ve seen what you get like when you start taking the blame for shit that isn’t your fault.” Corona moved closer to the breaking pegasus.

“Well what if it is my fault?” He asked, his gaze falling back on Red Berry.

“It isn’t.” Corona asserted settling down next to him. Her wings flared out to stop from losing her balance, she was clearly still getting used to having three working limbs.

“Will she be okay?” Steel Wing ignored the griffon and looked to Autumn Heart.

The deep green mare turned slightly pale when she looked at Red Berry. Red Berry for her part was trying to work each of her legs; every slight twitch of a limb caused her to wince.

“She was one of the last to get injured, and I’d had to use a lot of medical supplies on the other wounded. I did what I could, but she’s going to need surgery and magic to properly heal. After all the internal and external damage is repaired she’ll need rehabilitation.” Autumn Heart knew better than to try to sugar coat the severity of the filly’s wounds at this point, it would only lead to more questions.

“Why couldn’t it have been me?” Steel Wing buried his face in his hooves.

“Didn’t I say not to do this to yourself?” Corona poked him. She fully understood this wasn’t a time for jokes, but she wasn’t about to let him fall into some dark hole. If pestering is what it would take, then pester is what she was committed to doing.

“Shut it!” Steel Wing roared, suddenly sitting up to face her.

Corona lashed out with her good hand, and wiped it across Steel Wing’s face. He instantly recoiled from the surprise strike. Corona acted as quickly as her three good limbs would allow, and put her arm around the quickly recovering pegasus’ neck.

“You clearly need some fresh air!” Corona said angrily rolling Steel Wing and herself to doorway. With a loud grunt from the considerable effort involved, Corona threw Steel Wing out onto the ground. “Take a walk, get your shit together, and come back. Or don’t I’m not going to put up with you tearing yourself down like this. Come back with a better attitude or I’ll eat you, literally eat you.”

The statement was shocking enough to silence any retort from Steel Wing. He simply did as she commanded, and started walking.

-----

The night was dark. There weren’t any breaks in the cloud cover this night; each and every campfire was its own beacon in the darkness of the desert. Perhaps it was the lack of moonlight, but Steel Wing felt that his connection to the Nightmare was weakened. Nothing was going or coming from the window in his soul.

The lack of the Nightmare’s touch roused another strange feeling in him, he didn’t know whether or not he was glad to be rid of the Nightmare for however long it would last. Thankfully, these feelings came from him and him alone; this was something Steel Wing could live with.

-----

It wasn’t a long walk, mostly due to the fact that Steel Wing didn’t know the area and didn’t want to get lost. Being away from the miserable sight of Red Berry allowed his head to clear enough that he could actually be helpful.

A recent loose end needed tied up before he could move on however. He needed to either apologize to, and thank Corona for getting him outside; or give her a swift kick to the beak for the newest cuts she’d given him. Her talons left cuts that bled for a while; as Steel Wing made it to where the wagons had been parked, his cheek still burned from cuts that may as well have been fresh.

Several Steel Rangers were watching the Mexicolt landscape for anything that tried to approach their camp. It didn’t take long to spot his large shape, as it seemed to spill out from the edge of the darkness. To the tired eyes of the Steel Ranger who spotted him first, there was a huge problem.

“Alicorn!” The Steel Ranger shouted, his voice was amplified by his armor.

The camp was roused in an instant by the call. Some Steel Rangers moved faster than others; one in particular was next to the shouting ranger just as he finished speaking.

“Or it’s a big pegasus.” Fairbreeze bellowed to calm the camp. “You, go sleep.” He said to his discredited subordinate. “You’ll need it before spritebots start talking to you.”

“Sorry about that.” Steel Wing said, moving closer to Paladin Fairbreeze.

“Instead of apologizing, take his place on the watch.” Fairbreeze wasn’t in the mood to disguise his current disdain for the guilt ridden pegasus.

“I’m sorry.” Steel Wing’s head hung low as he turned to watch the desert. As the sound of armored hooves died away, the sound of padded feet grew closer stopping just short of Steel Wing’s tail.

“That doesn’t look like how I said you should come back. That still looks like shame and defeat to me.” Corona’s tone had softened since she’d last spoken to Steel WIng. There was still no humor in her voice.

“I know there was nothing I could have done to prevent friends from being injured. Is it too much to ask for me to be able to to wish I could have helped?”

“Yes.” Corona stated simply. “If dwelling in the past is going to prevent you from acting in the present, then of course it’s too much to ask.”

“I want to help everyone now, but everything is already wrong. There isn’t anything I can do.” Steel Wing was beginning to vent his frustrations, something the usually socially inept griffon had been aiming for.

“I think you hate the feeling of being helpless. The only problem you’ve never been able to solve is getting back at Brightcloud, right?” Corona’s tone was becoming softer and gentler with every word.

“I’m not helpless, I just don’t know what to do. Right?”

Steel Wing couldn’t deny that the source of his frustration was fairly alien to him.

“No you’re not. You just don’t have a direction at this very moment in time.” Corona moved up next to Steel Wing, and pulled him closer with a wing. “Tell me something. Were you considering just leaving while you were taking that walk?”

“Yeah.” Steel Wing felt ashamed of that truth.

“What made you come back?”

“I didn’t know where else to go. All I knew was that you and Autumn Heart were still here. As well as the some dozen Steel Rangers, I still wanted to help.”

Corona flicked his ear right on the tip with a mean precision.

“I was afraid you’d forgotten the wagons full of weapons those ponies were injured just to protect.” She then proceeded to gently rub his burning ear between two talons. Her touch on his ear was much softer and more comfortable than the razor-sharp talons seemed capable of.

“Wouldn’t I be less of a pony if I was more worried about weapons than the lives of others?” Steel Wing, in all honesty, couldn’t answer that question for himself.

“Of course you would. No one could ever ask you to stop caring about the lives of others. Your world just seems to stop whenever somebody is hurting more than you are; you lose sight of the world around you until you can find a way to share some of their burden. What if you had just left, huh? The Steel Rangers would have some thousand new munitions, one of the reasons you wanted to move them someplace else. What about the escaped slaves back at the cave? You’d just forsake them and go wander for the rest of your life? Oh! and what about-”

“Alright! I get it. Something new I need to add to the list of things for me to work on.”

“From what Autumn Heart told me of how you two met, the only thing you need to work on is a balance between two extreme ends. You went from only caring about ponies who came within a half-mile of your sight, to wanting to take a bullet for anything and everything you thought couldn’t take a hit itself. Now that you care, you should find a way to work with the worry you feel for others; dropping to the ground and waiting for something heavy to fall on you isn’t going to help anyone. See what I mean?”

“I guess, you might be right.” Steel Wing smiled weakly, “You being right about something is a strange thought, scary almost. Heh.”

Corona responded by giving the ear she hadn’t let go of a light pinch. “Scary indeed. I know you aren’t stupid, sometimes we just need help seeing the obvious.”

After a brief silence, during which it was understood by both that the topic was closed for now, Steel Wing asked a question that had been nagging at him. “What exactly happened to you? I’ve seen some nasty crash landings in my time, but this seems a bit excessive.”

“What, all this?” Corona acted as if she just now noticed her cast and bandages. “Well something punched straight through my armor and my wing while I was airborne. The healing potion injector and auto repair spell took care of it; just not quickly enough for me to recover before plowing into a building.”

“So crashing through a wall, while wearing heavy protection, gave you a huge scar, broken arm, and a collapsed lung?”

“How’d you know about the lung?” Corona asked.

“Umm... Your voice?” Steel Wing said with a raised eyebrow.

“There’s something up with my voice?” She nearly croaked the last few words.

“You’re jerking with me aren’t you?” Steel Wing poked her in the side. She shot him a hostile glare for the pain he’d just sent through her body.

“No.” On top of everything else, she now sounded offended. “If there’s something wrong with my voice I’d like to know.”

“You really don’t know do you?” Steel Wing was a astounded to say the least.

“Maybe we should just go back to your question before I decide to hit you.” Corona had to visually recognize her balled fist before it could relax and fall back to the ground.

“Seems like a good idea to me.” He scooted away a little, but was pulled back by her wing.

“For the record it was a concrete building, and if I hadn’t been wearing armor it would have just broken all of my bones. All that I would have done to the building was leave a nice red splash on the side.”

“Even still, I’m sure you’ve had free fall training. Couldn’t you have just maneuvered around the building until you could fly right again?”

“Having a passenger makes it a bit more difficult.” Corona retorted.

“Oh well, in that case, a very well done emergency landing if I do say- Wait, who were you carrying.”

Oh no. Corona pulled her wing back to her side, and shifted away from Steel Wing.

She turned to face him and said, “I had Flash Fire on my back. It was her idea, and I was feeling pretty cocky about my flying. It went well, her magic was something else; and her ability to track a target while moving at high speeds was even more impressive. But then my wing.” Corona looked away for a moment, and gathered the courage to look him in the eyes again. “I pulled her off my back and wrapped myself around her; she had enough time for a partial shield, it absorbed some of the impact. When I went through the wall I lost my grip around her, I think I went unconscious for a while. She went a lot farther than I did.” Corona stopped to let him ask the question she had no desire to answer.

“She died? Just like that?” Steel Wing felt a part of himself dying at the end of his question.

“No. According to her, death would have been a lot better.”

“She’s been crippled then? Paralyzed?” Steel Wing pressed, wanting an end to the building distress he was feeling.

“Crippled, yeah.” She couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud. In a final effort to end close this topic she moved right up to him, and grabbed one of his wings. “Think about what makes you a pegasus.”

“No.” Steel Wing tried to deny what she was about to imply. His voice was lost to him, and he simply mouthed the word breathlessly.

“Think about what it means to be a unicorn.” She put a talon on his forehead.

No Steel Wing pleaded. His body wouldn’t move, so he tried to take his mind away from reality for enough time to miss the rest of this conversation.

“If you permanently lost that meaning, would you rather be dead?”

Yes.

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