Chapter Twenty Five: Where Ministry Mares Walked

“History will remember, win or lose. Do you want your legacy to be one of aggression, or one of protection. Here is where you choose your path.”

Kiss.

She kissed me.

As I hung limply in the air, hooves dangling uselessly below me, I felt my heart nearly stop. Why... why would she do that? Part of me wanted to open my eyes and stare at her, in some sort of... confused and angry mix, but I didn’t. I just hung there in the grasp of her magic, my stomach twisting up with her lips pressed against mine.

I pulled my head back to break the kiss, jerking to the side sharply and shivering. Why did it feel good? Cracking my eyes open, I stared at her. That warm knotted feeling still working its way through my stomach, making my heart pound in my chest. Was it terror? Was it, some weird form of arousal at everything that happened?

The blue-coated slaver mare didn’t move. Her eyes still closed, her lips still pursed mid-kiss, she seemed almost serene. Were it not for the history of psychotic attacks against me, or the tears rolling down her cheeks from her closed eyes, I might have-

No. I wasn’t going to admit she was cute, not when she’d nearly killed me all those times and had just beaten me near senseless. I raised a hoof to-

I raised a hoof-

“Dammit!” I shrieked. I might not be able to move, but I wasn’t going to just let her win. Somehow I’d find a way, legs or no legs. I just, didn’t know how. If Lost were with me, she’d have already planned something and snuck up on the mare to attack her while I was keeping her attention.

Maybe she’d heard me screaming...

Slipstock opened her eyes slowly, and stared at me. Her bottom lip quivered, before she pulled it back to bare her teeth. Furrowing her brows, she stared me up and down, looking from my eyes to my muzzle, and back again. Her front teeth clicked together, and she shivered, making her kinked mane twitch back and forth.

“Not fuckin’ good enough?” she snapped as her horn started to glow brighter. The grip of her magic around my chest and throat tightened. “Think ya can beat me once!” She pulled me closer, before slamming my back against the rippled metal sheet behind me. “An’ just fuckin’ leave!” She did it again, lifting me up above her head and squeezing the magic tight enough to strangle me.

Choking, I tried in vain to lift my hooves up and claw at the magic holding me. Nothing worked, they just hung there, twitching every so often but being utterly useless overall. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could remember the list of things to never do again, and I knew I was doing one of those things.

Just as the edges of my vision started to darken, the grip loosened. Throat burning, I inhaled sharply, painfully, through the tiniest of gaps she’d given me. As deep as I could, I sucked air in and held, praying to Celestia and Luna she wouldn’t repeat herself.

Instead, I dropped to the ground. Hard. Yelping in pain as I hit the ground on my side, I curled as best I could. My armor had done something to protect me, but the edges bent in sharply when I hit, digging further into my sides. Without that warm confused feeling knotting my stomach, the only thing I had to focus on was the pain in my everything. My legs were completely numb, feeling like some sort of alien attachment stuck on me that didn’t belong, but everything else seemed like it was on fire. Tears flowed freely from my eyes, and my breathing came through a clogged nose and a mouth that was too busy quivering to properly draw breath.

“Why...” I whimpered, grinding my face against the broken dirt as if it would give way and let me crawl underground to hide.

“Why indeed,” snapped the slaver mare. She placed a hoof on my steel forehoof and pressed down, twisting it against the joint. It should have hurt, but even through the tearing I could hear as she twisted the two parts away from one another, it didn’t. Without bothering to use her guns to beat me again, she stomped on me with renewed strength.

It was a small blessing from the Goddesses, that since my legs were finally too far gone to be of any use they were too numb to feel pain.

That didn’t stop me from crying.

“Fight back!” she yelled between stomps. “S’matter!” Rearing herself up onto her hind legs, she kicked her forehooves. “Can’t take bein’ told yer not special ‘r somethin’?” Crashing down on my armor, she smashed me harder into the ground and sent a cloud of dust up around us. Standing on me, she stared down as if waiting for an answer; as if there was one I could give that wouldn’t send her into a fit of rage.

“I ca-”

The magenta haze of her magic wrapped around my muzzle, pinching my mouth shut. “Bullshit,” she snapped, finally stepping off me. “Yer the strong one ‘ere, ain’tcha?” Her voice cracked. She dragged me up, forcing me into a sitting position across from her. “Yer the one that got ‘way!” Gritting her teeth, she stared me in the eye. “‘Yer the one that beat me in a fight!”

“Slipstock, plea-”

“Yer the one she wanted!” she interrupted, her voice cracking again. Raising a hoof, she wiped it against her own muzzle and smeared her tear-coated face with dirt. Her breathing came in ragged gasps. “Why were ya so special?”

“I don’t... know,” I whispered, clenching my eyes shut and turning my head away from her. Gritting my teeth, I tried again to raise a hoof against her. If I could just hit her once, I’d consider it a win. Anything that kept me from going back to Amble, even the tiniest bit of resistance. If I could just... Nothing happened. I wanted to scream, instead I just stared at her and admitted to her as much as to myself, “I can’t fight you.”

“Why tha fuck not!” she demanded with a smack of her hoof to my face. “Where’s the Miss Fortune I know! Block my attacks! Defend yourself! Fight back! C’mon!” Eyes wide, full of rage and welling up with tears, she pulled her hoof back to hit me again. It shook in the air, Several times she tensed up, but never once attacked. Seemingly finished, the magic she’d been using to prop me up disappeared.

I simply fell to the side, unable to support myself on my own.

Throwing her hoof forward and slamming it into the steel ‘wall’ hard enough to bend the metal, Slipstock went down next to me. Crashing with a poof of dirt into the ground, she sobbed. She rolled onto her side and curled into a little ball, tight enough to drape her kinked tail over her face, hiding it completely. She hit the ground with a forehoof repeatedly, muttering something to herself as she did. By the time she finally uncovered her face, she’d dug a small hole with the edge of her hoof. Tears still covered the side of her face, having made a streak through the dirt she’d smeared there earlier.

It felt like I was looking into a mirror. From one broken mare to another. With one of my eyes closed, I panted, still whispering silent prayers to the Goddesses. I wasn’t special, just like she said. I was just a fucked up little pony in a big Wasteland. And suddenly, I really wished we’d just decided to go home when we had the chance.

Slipstock seemed to have other ideas. Raising her hoof once more, she brought it down hard.

Into her own cheek.

Grunting at the self-inflicted wound, she panted the same as I was, lying on the ground across from me.

“Yer... not special.., Hidden,” she finally said between frustrated pants.

“I know,” I answered, shying away as best I could. It took a lot of wriggling of my hips and shoulders, twisting with muscles in my belly that I almost never used, but I managed to put a whole smidgen of distance between us.

“How’d a mare like ya ever beat me...”

“Drugs,” I admitted.

“And gettin’ ‘way from U Cig?” she asked.

“Sister,” I answered.

Slipstock squinted at me, her lips quivering as she worked through what I’d told her. After only a moment, her eyes went wide, as if she’d just been struck by the Goddesses’ vengeance and seen the light. “Yer not special,” she repeated, this time without the edge to her voice. She sounded more disappointed than angry, like I’d somehow let her down.

I shook my head.

“Fuck,” she muttered. Her eyes trailed away from me, looking first at the ground, and then blankly off into the distance. Seemingly unfocused, she just repeated herself. “Fuck...” Every muscle in her body seemed to go limp at once, and the little tenseness that kept her propped up disappeared. She flattened against the ground, rolling onto her side and letting her head fall to the dirt. Lying there, she just breathed.

Finally, everything was calm. I just needed to find a way to get up, force my legs to work, and get away while she was having... whatever existential crisis was going through her mind. I stared down at my foreleg, the flesh and blood one, and gritted my teeth. “Move,” I ordered it, hissing a whisper out through my teeth. “Move. I need to go...”

Nothing happened. My hoof, encased in steel, didn’t even flinch. My leg lay there uselessly. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes. Even if I only had a few seconds, I needed to plan. Sniffling and snorting, I forced myself to take a few deep breaths. There were a million terrible things Slipstock could do to me if I didn’t get away from her. Whatever she did to that changeling who-

Lifting my head, I twisted my neck and looked over my shoulder at the poor bugpony she’d shot before. Please, Celestia, Luna... Don’t let that be Fine Tune. It didn’t look like him, the frill-thing was wrong, and the mangled wings look like they’d been messed up for a long time. Still, if that was him somehow, then had she already gotten my sister? Or was I just in the worst place at the wrong time?

Eyes widening, I looked back at the mare. Was she here to find me? Had she managed to track us down... My heart started to pound again, and that knot returned to my stomach. This time it wasn’t warm or any sort of confusingly pleasant, it was cold and hollow. Feeling myself shiver, I tried to worm my way free. Slipstock would get up at any minute, grab me in her magic, and drag me back to... to Amble.

Was she going to use me for bait for my sister? Or would she just cut her losses and separate us? I’d have to beg her, to get my sister- No. I couldn’t do that... Even if I disappeared without a trace, it was better that Lost worry than get dragged back to U Cig with me. Being alone was better than being a slave, for her. And if it took that sacrifice to make sure she was safe?

I looked at the slaver mare, still twisting my stomach around to put whatever distance I could between us.

I would make that sacrifice if I had to.

Slipstock didn’t seem interested in me, not yet. She wasn’t even looking in my direction. Instead, she faced away and snorted every so often while taking short breaths. Was she still crying? Was she going to attack me again?

Already I could feel bruises forming, blood pooling against me in my armor, and the sting of dirt in the cuts and scrapes she’d given me. I couldn’t take another of her beatings.

“Sl-Slipstock?” I asked finally, cautiously.

“What,” she demanded.

For a moment I said nothing, mulling over what to say in my head. The wrong words might get me killed, and I wasn’t really ready for that. As much as it would be nice to be with my family, if there was some sort of afterlife for ponies, I didn’t want it to happen just yet. I took a deep breath. “What’re you going to do to me?” I asked.

“Who cares,” she snorted.

Fine, if she was going to just give up... I might not be able to attack her, but I could get help. Lifting my head, I yelled, “Lost! Help!”

“Oh, shut up already,” she snapped, still not looking at me. One of her hooves raised, but she just lowered it to the ground and started to dig it around in front of her, where I couldn’t see.

“No,” I argued. “I’m not going back with you, if I can help it.” Swallowing, I tried my best to sound like I was confident in myself. “I’ll do whatever I can to keep you from taking me back to Amble, whether I can fight you or just scream until somepony finds us.” I wasn’t going to give her the chance to argue. “Lost!” I yelled again.

While I screamed, I wriggled my hips side to side, trying to move myself. I still had Persistence, and if I could aim the gun, even on my side, I might just be able to shoot her. I had enough ammo to take her down, especially if she wasn’t looking. It took a lot of work, lots of huffing and puffing to psyche myself up, but I managed to twist my shoulders forward far enough to aim my rifle in her general direction.

It didn’t have to be a kill shot. I just needed to do enough to stop her from fighting, to stop her from dragging me back to Amble. If only I had fucking cheater magic like my sister, I could grab the gun behind me and use it. The barrel might look bent all to fuck, but if that changeling, whoever it was, thought it was usable...

Sadly, I wasn’t a unicorn.

And I didn’t have the PipBuck either. Craning my neck to reach the bit of my battle saddle, I grabbed it with my teeth.

“Give it a rest,” said Slipstock distantly, one of her ears back and listening to every move I was making. “Ya should know by now, I ain’t gonna letcha hit me. Even if I lose my fav’rite gun, I’m not lettin’ ya take tha shot.”

I pulled back from the bit. “Am I just supposed to give up?” I demanded.

“Ya said yerself, yer not special,” she repeated. “Don’t attack, Miss Fortune.” She sneered, dragging out the title.

My eyes went wide, and I could practically feel the little voice that whispered in the back of my head smiling. It wasn’t even a thing, it was just a voice. How did it have a mouth to smile? My body moved on its own, pulling away from the battle saddle’s bit. I tried to fight it, but nothing I did worked. It was just like trying to move my legs, nothing I did helped.

Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes again. Letting my head fall into the dirt, I screamed in frustration.

Behind me, the changeling groaned. It was more a chirp, but it sounded forced and painful. Understanding all too well, I sympathized.

The three of us lay there, none moving, all in pain from various sources. Slipstock seemed broken, the ideal image of me she’d created shattered just like her will. I could feel the aches and pains slowly getting worse, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. The changeling? I still prayed it wasn’t Fine Tune.

In the distance, far far away, I could hear the quiet din of gunfire. Whoever it was, they were throwing some kind of heavy ordinances around. Still, it was a long way off and didn’t matter with the trouble I was in. Somehow closer, the sound of a sprite-bot playing obnoxious music echoed through the ruins. As with Slipstock’s gunfire before, it was hard to tell where it came from. Just tinny music echoing back and forth through the makeshift lean-tos ponies had once lived in.

I shouldn’t have gone treasure hunting. It just felt so nice to get back to normal. A few alleyways made up of shacks built with salvaged materials and no ponies around? It was just too perfect. The buildings were too bombed out, shells of their former selves, just the type of place to find the good stuff. Instead, amongst the piles of rubble and would-be homes of Wasteland ponies?

Instead I found her.

“Lost!” I yelled again. “Help! Somepony! Anypony!”

I wasn’t strong enough to fight her myself. I couldn’t go back. I just...

I needed help.

* * *

Slipstock sat across from me, her tail snapping back and forth and kicking up dirt. She’d collected herself, and now stared at me with a mix of boredom and agitation on her face. How she managed to perfectly capture both with the way she looked at me, I’d never know, but dammit she did it. Her muzzle was scrunched up, eyes closed halfway as if she were examining every detail about me, but it all seemed so half-assed.

“Why can’t ya fight back?” she finally asked, with a hoof on her forehead rubbing softly back and forth and making her mane sway around.

“Sit me up and I’ll tell you?” I requested. She’d sat up, but left me lying on the ground on my side. Maybe it was a power thing, to be higher than me so I’d know she was in charge? I did that with Lost on occasion, when we butted heads on something. I’d try and stand on the tips of my hooves to be just that little bit taller than her. Even if she was smaller than me, she always won out because she was older. So, maybe leaving me helpless on the ground was a part of that?

Or she was just toying with me.

Nopony had come when I screamed for help, all probably too far away. Without the PipBuck, I didn’t know how long I’d been searching before Slipstock found me, and time seemed to go far slower once she stopped beating me to death. They could be halfway to The Cinch by now, or taking a break and expecting me to catch up.

Why hadn’t they come looking yet?

Frowning, I glared at the slaver mare. “Please?” I demanded. “I can’t do it myself.”

With a snort, she did as I asked. Her horn lit up and the magenta haze of her magic wrapped around my foreleg. In a cruel move, she jerked my leg up hard with her telekinesis. It should have hurt, but instead I just felt a slight tingle in my shoulder where I was pulled.

“Ahh!” I yelped as I was swiftly pulled into a sitting position. A mostly sitting position. Teetering on my hind leg, which was caught underneath me, I stared at her in shock. “Why!” I snapped.

“Huh, oh...” she muttered absently. “Ya weren’t lyin’, were ya?” Looking me over, the glow of her magic brightened and she lifted me. Manually moving my legs, she set me down on my haunches so my hind legs were just to my sides. It was mostly comfortable, but I could sit without feeling myself about to topple over, so it worked. She let go of my foreleg once I was sitting, and it fell uselessly to the ground in front of me, landing at a weird angle. Groaning, Slipstock grabbed onto the offending forehoof and straightened it out for me.

“Thanks,” I muttered, staring down at my legs. “Why won’t you work?”

My legs didn’t answer, but Slipstock did let out an uncharacteristic chuckle.

“So, what’d ya do ta yerself?” she asked again. “What ‘appened ta tha mare who beat me near ta death?” She scowled at me, baring her teeth from one side of her face.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ve been getting aches and pains for days now. Since before we fought, I think. Before you stomped on my legs while I was chained down. And before you put these in me!” I nodded down toward my back leg, at the shackle. After a pause, where she said nothing, I looked back at her. “Then the zebras gave me something that made it all better for... an entire evening. No pain, no aches.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she said, staring at her own hoof and not looking at me. She already seemed bored of the conversation.

“After a while the pain came back, worse. I was getting jolts up and down them, all four... Then a horrible...” I started, stopping to shiver. I didn’t know how to describe it... “I don’t know, imagine if a hundred ponies are all screaming inside your head, how loud it would be? It’s like that, except in my legs. Every part of me begging for-”

“Beggin’?”

“You have any Med-X?” I asked hopefully.

Slipstock laughed. It wasn’t a warm pleasant laugh, but a mocking one. She laughed for a good while, before trailing off into a tiny, cute, giggle. “First off,” she said, raising a hoof and pointing it at me. “Yer not in a position ta be makin’ requests.” She laughed again. “Second off, whatcha see is whatcha get.” She lifted the various guns from their holsters and floated them in the air around her head in a little circle. Each gun would aim at me for just a moment, like some twisted game of chance where she might decide that I was too boring to keep alive. It was decidedly uncomfortable. “Why ya think Amble keeps me as her right-hoof pony? It’s easier ta throw guns at a problem than it is ta fix up a pony. Broken guns can be scrapped, reused. Potion’s and drugs ain’t too common ‘round here.” She slid the guns back into their respective holsters.

“Right...” I whispered, hanging my head. I wanted to start crying again. If she talked to me normally, I could pretend she wasn’t a psychopathic slaver. But when she started spinning guns around for emphasis, it reminded me that she wasn’t the kind of pony I wanted to deal with given the choice. All that just made the whole kiss weirder. Why was she just talking with me? Couldn’t she just take me to Amble and get it over with already? That would at least keep the others from getting caught when they finally came looking for me.

“Continue,” the mare ordered.

“What are you going to do with me?” I asked. I needed an answer so I could be appropriately worried in the future.

“Continue, Miss Fortune,” she repeated.

“I don’t know. The pain came back a lot worse, and then it started hurting to even walk,” I continued. And now I couldn’t even walk at all. It always came back before... Why wasn’t it this time? Had I finally pushed myself to the point where I’d done enough damage that it couldn’t ever be fixed? If I was stuck this way, my treasure hunting days were over. Honestly, that was the least of my worries. What would Amble do if she found out her pet project wasn’t able to walk anymore? I needed help, fast. No part of me wanted to find out what would happen if Amble got ahold of me so badly broken. Flicking an ear, I listened for hooves or talking, ponies coming to find me. All I could hear was the quiet music in the distance, and the bombing- or whatever it was, past that.

Slipstock’s horn lit up again, but instead of grabbing for her guns or wrapping her telekinesis around me, she-

I crossed my eyes, catching the magenta glow of her magic above me. My mane shifted, and she pulled several leaves from inside it. A small, sharp-ended chunk of wood followed. Several small, sharp-edged chunks of wood followed.

“What the fuck?” I asked nopony in particular.

The mare shrugged and flicked each away with her magic. The glow of her telekinesis disappeared, and she lifted a hoof. Rolling it, she encouraged me to continue.

“They just locked up. It was happening before, where every so often they wouldn’t bend where I told them to,” I added. “Ro- A medical pony said I needed a proper exam.” I didn’t need to be giving away who I was traveling with.

She was right though. I definitely needed a doctor. I should have listened to her. Why didn’t I listen to her? Why did I have to be such a stubborn mare? I wanted to hit myself, because I deserved a knock upside the head, but I couldn’t even do that. Taking a deep breath, I look around the little shanty town we were in. All dead ponies and hastily thrown together hovels. What the fuck was I doing out here? Why... why wasn’t I safe with my friends?

Slipstock squinted, but said nothing about it. Instead, she nodded. “Amble won’t be ‘appy ‘bout that,” she muttered passively. “She’s plenty pissed ya left- Not that she’s got tha time ta focus on it.” She chuckled, sneering. “Know why she didn’t send a pony after ya right ‘way?”

I raised my ho- I tried to raise my hoof to point out that she was wrong. Clearing my throat, I corrected her, “She did sen-”

“Shut up,” she interrupted. “Ya think a business mare like ‘er ‘asta send out... dipshit fuck-ass slaves?” She snorted a laugh. “Hah, nah. Escapees ain’t uncommon. Few ‘get out’ now ‘n then, usually small fuckery ones we let slip through tha cracks. Like that one ya killed. S’is name? Little green shit?”

“I. Didn’t. Kill. Him,” I screamed at her, glaring and gritting my teeth. If only I could aim Persistence. I’d shoot her right through the skull. I was not going to let the blood of ponies she, Sunbright, and Amble killed be put on my hooves.

Slipstock rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said. “Point is, trainin’ exercises ‘re normal. Guards get sloppy if’n they ain’t kept on edge. Ya sister burned down half tha compound. Ya got a puppy thrown after ya. One that could sniff ya out, y’know, like lil’ ‘ell’ounds do.” She mock sniffed. “Just so ya know we ain’t gonna letcha free. Ya ain’t an example like the ones we let slip through our ‘ooves. Those ‘uns? We string ‘em up near mess to let others see what ‘appens ya run ‘ways.”

“You’re twisted,” I snapped.

“And yer not special,” Slipstock repeated. “I understandcha. Once, she ‘ad me in yer place. Only diff’rence? I ‘ad no sister ta bail me out.” She spat at the ground next to me. “Ta think, I thoughtcha ‘ad something special...”

“Slipstock... What happened to you?”

“Same thin’ ‘appened ta ya,” she answered. “Caught in a bad way, but put up a good fight. She saw, said she wanted me.” Sitting up on her haunches, she grabbed her head with her forehooves. “Dug ‘er way inside. I can ‘ear ‘er now. Tellin’ me all I’m good fer is collectin’ troublemakers who ain’t worth Sunbright’s fires.”

“How many ponies has she done this to?” I asked. Looking around, I scanned behind the mare. All I could do was pray, to both Goddesses, that somepony was coming for me. They’d sneak up behind her while she was distracted and get me free. Then we could hide out again, and- and something.

“Plenty,” the slaver mare answered. “More bodyguards tha better. Mosta the guards useta be slaves. But she gets it in their heads. S’better with her. She keeps ‘em safe. She keeps ‘em fed. Lookit Vice Brand. Think he likes bein’ the ‘Breaker?’ Nah. ‘E just wants ‘is daughter ‘appy. Disciplinin’ ponies? Keeps ‘im in good favor. Amble let’s ‘im do what ‘e wants.” She grinned, nodding. “Gotta play tha system.”

“But you’re here, outside the walls, you could be free,” I said in the most encouraging voice I could. “You could come with Lost and me, we could use somepony who fights as well as you do.” I forced a smile. “Since I’m useless right now...”

She sat there a long time, saying nothing. Staring past me, she looked in the direction of the wounded changeling. Her eyes seemed to look back and forth, going from staring at one thing to another, never quite stopping. Though she seemed to be staring blankly, it was obvious something was going on inside her head.

“Why’d you kiss me?”

“I thought... ya were somepony else,” she admitted.

“You knew it was me...”

“Not... not what I meant, ya dumbfuck,” she said, practically growling. “She ‘ad ya for what... a week? Try years. An’ somepony waltzes in, takes everythin’ she throws an’ keeps on fightin’?” Tears started to well up in the corners of her eyes again, but she didn’t burst into tears. “Ya know ‘ow ‘ard I tried? Ta resist ‘er? And ya? Ya little thin’... Ain’t even a whole pony no more.” She pointed at my steel forehoof. “And ya... stood upta ‘er like that?”

“I-”

“Shut. Up,” she snapped, her voice cracking. “I... wanted ta be like ya, once ya got out. I ‘ad time ta think, and I... I was jealous. Ya were everythin’ I wanted ta be, everythin’ I wanted. Nopony’s made me feel that way ‘fore. I’d think ‘bout yer escape an’ just...” She bit at her lower lip. “It felt warm, ‘appy. I ain’t ‘ad that inna long time.” She looked me up and down once, before stopping to stare me in the eyes. “But yer not that pony.”

“Sorry to break your heart?” I offered, shruggi- trying to shrug.

“Ya fuckin’ cheeky cunt,” she seethed, one of her pistols slipping free of its holster and thwacking me across the top of my head. “Ya think this is fuckin’ funny?” She breathed faster, through her teeth.

“I-I didn’t mean...” I stuttered. “I’m sorry.”

Somehow I knew this would happen. When I lost my hoof, I thought everything was over. Being crippled in the Wasteland was a death sentence... A pony that couldn’t fight or escape? They were as good as dead. And here I was, watching a mare who’d already tried to kill me when I was able to fully move fight against herself.

I hated being helpless.

More though... I hated the fear of it.

While Slipstock seemed to fight off the tears, I realized my heart was pounding. She kept switching from calm to psychotic. It felt like everything I said was the wrong thing, that just as she’d calm down, I’d mention something to work her back up. If she finally decided to show me just how crazy she could be, I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. I’d be stuck there, like a foal against a Hellhound. I was as good as dead.

Please Celestia, Luna... Let my sister and my friends find me.

Please.

Something growled.

It wasn’t my sister, or my friends.

Eyes widening, I stared at the mare across from me. A shiver went up my spine and instinct took over. It was a quiet growl, but growls meant one of two things. Manticore or Hellhounds. I wasn’t in any shape to deal with either of those things, and I didn’t want to be around when whatever had growled decided to show up. If we were lucky, it was far enough away that all of us could flee before we were found. If worst came to worst... I was the one who couldn’t move. I was the one the Wasteland would eat.

Slipstock’s reaction was similar. She stared back at me, magenta eyes wide and her ears twisting side to side. Slowly, she looked around me. First left, then right, and finally she turned around behind her. Raising to her hooves, her horn lit up. The haze of her magic wrapped around the grips of her guns, but none left their holsters. Tail snapping, she spun in a little circle to try and find what it was.

The growling started again, quiet, but getting louder. The ground didn’t shake, didn’t bulge. There weren’t any tunnels showing up around us. Either that meant manticore, or a Hellhound with a big gun that it didn’t want to drag through tunnels. Hellhounds didn’t often come out to Blackhoof anyway, and aside from the ones I’d seen as a foal, they’d only ever been the stuff of rumors.

So I looked to the sky. Through the husks of old buildings, far above the ramshackle homes ponies had made in the alleyways... all I could see were clouds. Blanketing the sky, blocking out the sun, just clouds.

“Don’t toy with me like this!” I yelled to nopony, to the Wasteland itself. I wasn’t in any position to take this sort of shit. Gulping my heart back into my chest, I slumped as best as my broken legs would let me.

The tiniest of howls broke the silence.

In front of me, Slipstock’s ears spun back. She slowly turned around and looked at me. Together we looked down.

Just to the side, not quite between us, stood the little wooden form of a splinterwolf. ‘Fangs’ bared and little wooden claws digging into the dirt below, it stared at Slipstock with it’s glowing green eyes. Dark liquid dripped from between its sharp-edged teeth. It snarled, bottom jaw quivering in what had to be rage. A row of suspiciously familiar leaves ran down it’s back, starting with two atop its head where ears would be on a ‘real’ animal, and ending with a flat bristly tail at the far end. A thick mass of wood, seemingly mashed together, made up the main body, with twigs like the one Slipstock had pulled from my mane earlier propping it up as legs.

Growling again, it charged the pale blue slaver mare.

Were I able to, I would have facehoofed. That’s what was in my mane the whole time? That was the thing keeping me so frustrated that every other time I turned around I’d find a pile of leaves, as if it were following me?

Because it was a pile of leaves and wood following me?

Ever since I’d fallen in the mountains... Goddesses, even before that. It was so... tiny. The little itty-bitty thing ran at Slipstock as if it were the great hunter its parents were. I held back a little giggle, watching the pup as it danced around her hooves, nipping at her.

Slipstock was far less amused. She kept stepping away from it, always just far enough to keep from getting bit whenever it snapped its little sharp-edged wood teeth at her. The pup barely came up to her hocks, but that was apparently enough for her to not want it biting her.

Having been attacked by splinterwolves before, I didn’t blame her. Crossing my eyes, I looked at the scar down my muzzle. Their bites, their scratches... they never healed completely.

“Slipstock,” I offered.

“What!” she snapped, agitated by dodging the wolf. Finally having enough, she slung one of the pistols from her side and took the little pup’s head clean off.

It howled, growling as the head flew through the air and landed with a clang against one of the makeshift steel walls somepony had set up as their home in the Wasteland. Even headless, it kept jumping around her hooves trying to attack.

Rearing up, the mare dropped her whole weight down onto her forehooves right on top of the wood. Smashing the body free of the legs, the wooden body cracked but didn’t break.

The body lit up, glowing a green similar to Fine Tune’s transformation fires. The yapping, snarling head of the splinterwolf pup lifted into the air and floated over. It reattached at the one end, reforming the line of leaves down its back. Its tail wagged back and forth, kicking up more dust in the alleyway, as the legs floated over and joined onto it. Once whole, it started its nipping, biting, clawing attacks on the slaver mare again.

“Good pup,” I said with a smile.

“Why won’t you stop!” Slipstock demanded. Kicking it again, it just reformed. She tried several times, smacking it with her guns and kicking pieces away. Each time, it just floated the pieces back together until it was whole. Baring her teeth and screaming, she holstered all her guns and grabbed the splinterwolf pup in the magenta haze of her telekinesis. Lifting it off the ground, she held it away from her face.

It kept trying to bite her.

“Tha fuck is this thin’!” she demanded. “Where tha fuck ya been hidin’ it!”

Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but smile. “It’s a splinterwolf pup, I think,” I answered in the most matter-of-fact tone I could. “I didn’t even know it was there, I just thought they were leaves that wouldn’t leave me alone.” I had to stifle a laugh, puffing out my cheeks to not piss her off as the little pup kept snapping and clawing at her while she held it in the air. Splinterwolves were kind of cute, when they weren’t huge monster dog-things...

“I fuckin’ swear,” she snapped, glaring at the little thing. Aiming one of her guns at it, she pressed the barrel to the front of its muzzle. “Settle, or yer gonna lose yer head fer good. Y’understand?”

The splinterwolf pup just growled at her.

“That won’t do anything,” I informed her. “You need fire to kill it, or it’ll just keep coming back.”

Slipstock snarled. “What I wouldn’t give fer that bitch Sunbright...” she muttered. A smile erupted across her lips. “Fine, ain’t gotta kill it.” Twisting on one of her rear hooves, she lowered her head and slid her guns back into their holsters. With a flick of her neck, she released her telekinetic grip on the pup and flung it into the distance.

A little forlorn howl echoed through the steel-filled alleyway, followed by a crash a moment later.

“See, problem solved,” she said with a grin. Slowly walking over to me, she pressed her muzzle to mine. “Now, I’mma go get my prey over there, an’ then you an’ me ‘re gonna have a nice long trip back ta U Cig. Got it?”

My skin crawled and my ears pinned back, all while my tail twitched. I could only nod as she pulled away. Somehow, some way, I had to figure out how to keep her from taking me back there. Without moving my head, I watched as she walked past me. It felt like death itself walking by me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

What would Lost do?

Without guaranteeing that my sister or friends would find me in time, I had few options. I could find a way to fight her, which wasn’t really an option at all... I could talk her out of it. Or I could let her take. Or kill me. With my legs completely wrecked, I couldn’t fight. Slipstock was completely psychotic, so I didn’t think I could talk her out of it.

There was no way I’d let her take me back.

Well, if I couldn’t convince her to let me go somehow, I’d just have to piss her off enough to make her kill me. It was the best of my limited solutions. I’d try talking, or...

Opening my eyes, I twisted around to look at the pale blue slaver. Insane or not, there was still a pony in there. She’d kissed me, because she thought I was a stronger mare than she was. We’d gone through almost exactly the same thing, in what Amble did to us, but I’d gotten free with help.

Maybe I could help her, or convince her that I could...

My heart nearly leapt into my throat.

I smirked. That was a plan...

As the slaver pulled the changeling up onto her back, she looked back at me. After a few adjustments to keep the poor unconscious bugpony from slipping, she started back toward me. “So,” she said. “Ready ta go back ‘ome?”

“You don’t have to take me, or whoever that is. You don’t have to go back,” I said calmly.

“Ya’d think that, wouldn’tcha?” she replied, frowning. “Lookie ‘ere. I been at this fer a long damn time, and I ain’t lookin’ta letcha get ‘way now that I found ya.” The warm tingly haze of her magic enveloped me, the magenta glow wrapping around my chest and legs. She lifted me into the air and draped me across her back in front of the changeling.

Face pressed into the back of her mane, the smell of gunpowder was overwhelming. Beneath it I could still smell a pony, but it was covered in so much... fighting. It was like she’d spent every day in the Wasteland slinging the guns around and firing without rest.

Wriggling my face free of her mane, I pulled myself with my chin to rest atop her head. “Do you want to go back?” I asked her.

She didn’t answer, instead she just walked toward the main road that I’d gone on to find the little treasure trove earlier. Before I could look down the roadway to see if my sister and friends were still nearby, she turned and started the other direction. “Dun matter,” she answered. “S’orders.”

“What does she call you?” I asked. Miss Fortune was the little moniker she’d given me, but so far I hadn’t heard what she called Slipstock other than her name. Perhaps, if I could get into her head the way she got into mine, I could turn the tables.

Slipstock laughed. “Nope, not gonna happen,” she said. “I ain’t that stupid.” Still, she stopped. “I dun wanna go back. As much as I like tha power an’ tha protection she gives... I don’t like bein’ under somepony else’s control.” Clearing her throat, she twisted an ear back toward me. “I ain’t strong enough ta break ‘er control.”

“I did,” I said quietly. “You’re stronger than I am, you’re special... moreso than I am. You can do it.”

She sniffled, muttering, “Ya dun understand...”

“I do.”

“No, ya... ya dun,” she corrected. “Ya dealt with it fer a few days, I... It’s been years.”

“You’re a tough pony Slipstock. The only way I beat you in a fight was by abusing drugs. I only got out because I got help,” I informed her. “I can help you now. I... I got her out of my head. I stopped calling her ‘Mistress’ after a few days. If, if you just try?”

I prayed to the Goddesses I wouldn’t have to go with plan B... My heart started to pound in my chest. So far this wasn’t working.

She snorted. “As if I ain’t done that ‘fore,” she snapped. Twisting her ear back around, she started walking again. “Thin’ is... She’s got a way’a stayin’ ‘round whether ya want ‘er to or not. No matter ‘ow ya push ‘er ‘way, ya still gonna hear that whisperin’ when everythin’s quiet. When she gets ‘er eye on a pet project, she ain’t tha type ta let go. She wants ya back, Miss Fortune.”

I twitched.

“If you take me back, I’ll never be that mare you thought I was,” I said, gulping. “If you give me a chance now... I have friends who will fix me, and I can... I can become that mare. The one strong enough to beat her. They could do the same for-”

Slipstock laughed.

“She’ll probably kill me when she finds me broken this bad,” I suggested. “Do you want me dead that bad?”

“If ya were tha pony I thoughtcha were... maybe not,” she said, her voice wavering. “I thought...”

“Did you think I could save you?” I purred, leaning to the side and getting close to one of her ears. “That I’d be strong enough to beat you again, but let you live? Let you come with me?”

The mare underneath me shivered. She said nothing, but she’d stopped walking again. The tiniest of nods gave her away. It hurt to see her admit it. At the same time, that meant there was a glimmer of hope for her. Nopony could want to be that psychotic slaver bodyguard, and if Slipstock wanted to be her own pony again, maybe, just maybe...

I nibbled on the inner edge of her ear. “Let me go,” I begged, barely whispering. “I’ll find a way... I promise.” My heart pounded in my chest. I’d never thought of doing such a thing to a mare, but if it worked... And despite the smell of gunpowder, she smelled nice... She was a pretty mare. It wouldn’t be so bad.

If I led her on just a little...

The mare’s whole body went tense. Her ear twitched, flicking forward and back as I held the base of it softly in my teeth. After only a moment, she went limp on her hooves, as if she melted. “I can’t,” she said, her voice lacking the sharp hatred it had always had behind the boredom.

“You can,” I reassured her, whispering. I tried to wrap my legs around her to squeeze, but they wouldn’t react, wouldn’t move the way I told them to. Atop my head, I could feel a cold sweat starting just underneath my mane. I prayed to the Goddesses it would work.

“Amble will-”

“Never have to know,” I interrupted, finishing for her. “She doesn’t know you found me, and you don’t have to tell her. You got the changeling you were after, that’s all.” Honestly, I felt terrible to sell the poor changeling out for my own safety, but if everything worked out the way I hoped it would, it would be worth it in the end. Nopony deserved to be dragged back there but- I just... I just needed to focus. I bit at the tip of Slipstock’s ear, catching it in my teeth and tugging slightly. “Lost and I, and our friends... We’re going to take her down. We already burned U Cig down. Together, all of us? We just have to finish the job, and we can save you when she goes down.”

Slipstock sniffled, seemingly crying again. Sidestepping over to the side of the road, she leaned against one of the bombed out buildings. It must have been something important, because the entire front was still intact. The name across the front was too faded to read. All around us was wreckage, but she’d stopped in the one place she could lean over and not drop the changeling or me.

“Ya promise...”

“I promise,” I reassured her. “Lost is smarter than I am, and I’ll be well enough to fight again soon. Even without getting into a direct fight with Amble or... you, we got rid of the alicorn in Skirt and made a mess of her operation in Idle. That’s on top of burning most of U Cig to the ground...” I gulped, my heart still in my throat. “I can be that mare you thought I was.”

“And if you don’t?”

“We will,” I said forcefully. “Set me down here, and go. It’ll take time, but we’ll put an end to Amble.”

Slipstock did as I suggested, leaning herself to the side and stepping away from the wall. She let me slide off her, until I was propped up on my haunches with my back against the broken remains of the building. Taking a few steps back, with the changeling still draped over her, she looked at me. “Ya... ya think yer special, do ya?” she said, sounding like she was forcing herself to talk tough, while her face showed worry.

“I do,” I answered, nodding.

Once again a small stream of tears rolled down her cheeks. She seemed to be in disbelief. Slipstock was crazy, but there had to still be a real pony inside her. She just needed help.

“Slipstock?”

“What?” she asked, raising a hoof to wipe her eyes.

“Watch out for alicorns, okay?” I warned her. “Trust me...”

The mare nodded. “I ain’t the type ta trust...” she snarled, stomping a hoof. “Just... dun fuck me on this, okay?” She leaned in close, squinting her eyes and glaring at me until our muzzles were pressed together.

She kissed me again.

My entire body tensed. I inhaled sharply. That warm knot in my stomach reappeared, twisting and tightening in the strangest type of pleasure I’d ever felt. Lips moving on their own... I kissed her back.

A crack across my skull shattered the pleasant moment. Recoiling, I clenched my eyes shut. No second hit came, and when I finally managed to open my eyes, I saw the mare staring at me with the grip of one of her pistols right above my nose. “Wha- what was that for?” I demanded, stuck between pleasure and shock at how fast everything happened.

“A reminder of what I’ll do ta ya if ya fuck me on this,” she said calmly. When I nodded, she turned and started off. Giving one look back, she squinted at me, then snapped her kinked mane around and trotted down the broken road away from me. “Don’t disappoint me...”

I watched her leave, alone in the Wasteland again. My heart pounded, so far up my throat I could feel it in my ears. Hopefully, Lost and the others would find me...

~ ~ ~

Mom paced across the rocks on the ground. Each pass, she’d lower her head to make it under the remains of the bridge we were beneath. When she turned around, she’d lift it back up, staring at me out of the corner of her eye. In the dim light of the evening, it was hard to make every detail out, but I could tell she was still staring at me. The pale green glow of the PipBuck strapped to her foreleg lit up the collapsed roadway above us, and painted both my sister’s and my face a sickly color each time she passed us.

She was mad at me for something stupid I’d done, again. We’d bolted from the house we were searching, and didn’t stop until we ran out of road. Of course, there was more on the far side of the thin shallow riverbed, but the shattered roadway made for a perfect hidey hole. One side’s supports had shattered, leaving the little stone road tilted at a sharp angle. The other side’s stood strong through the years, giving us a lean-to that blocked out any way for ponies to sneak up on us. It was a perfect spot, since we’d only be staying for the night.

The river might have run dry a long time ago, but it left a smooth rock bed below that wasn’t too uncomfortable. All of our things were hastily stuffed into the back corner, where I found myself huddling as far back as I could. When mom was angry, I couldn’t help but make myself as small as possible. Were it not for the fact that she’d yell at me for hiding from her, I’d have buried my face in the saddlebags already.

Mom took a deep breath and stopped. She looked away from my sister and I, down the riverbed and at the remains of the homes in the distance. Most were just frames, with walls that had rotted away long ago. Nopony stood on the outskirts watching us, and that seemed to be good enough for her. Turning back to me, and shining the PipBuck’s light directly at me, she exhaled.

Her face softened.

“I cannot believe you, Hidden,” she said breathlessly. Frowning, she turned to my sister. “And you, Lost, you should know better. You’re supposed to watch out for her, and keep this sort of thing from happening.” Crouching down and shuffling her way next to my sister, she curled up under the short ceiling the broken roadway made for us.

“I’m sorry...” Lost muttered, sulking and resting her chin on her hooves.

“I’m not mad at you, either of you,” she reassured us. Beckoning with one hoof, she urged us close to her.

Reluctantly, I scooted closer and curled up between her fore and rear legs. Pressing my face against her side, I could feel Lost moving in close as well. Once we were both huddled against her, and somewhat comfortable, she draped her thick red tail across both of us so only our heads were exposed.

“I just worry about you,” she said calmly. “You know the rules. You always need to be aware of them. It’s what keeps us safe.”

I nodded. “Sorry momma,” I muttered, not moving my face away from her side.

The faintest of green glows broke through the darkness around her coat, her horn lighting up. She pulled my head back gently and tilted it so I was looking at her. “Radios draw attention, okay?” she asked, a sympathetic look on her face. “You never know who might be lurking around the corner, and if somepony finds us... What’ll happen?”

I didn’t answer. I just looked away. Pulling my head against the warm tingly feeling of her telekinesis, I tried to push my face back against her side. It wasn’t fair. I’d never had a chance to hear the radio outside, and it wasn’t my fault there was music playing when I turned it on... I couldn’t have known. Gulping, I tried not to cry.

I shouldn’t be blamed for somepony else playing music...

“Mom, we didn’t know,” Lost said in my defense. She put a foreleg over me and squeezed. “We’ve never found a radio that still worked.”

“Yeah, I didn’t even know it would turn on!” I announced, a little louder than I should have.

Mom shot us a glare, raising her eyebrows and then tilting her head toward the opening that exposed us to the Wasteland. “It’s getting late, you two need to be quiet,” she said, her voice low. Her magic disappeared from my cheeks, the warm tingle disappearing. With a quick tap of it to her PipBuck, the light turned off, leaving us in near darkness.

In the far distance, the few remaining streaks of hazy, cloud-scattered sunlight shone through the skeletons of old houses. The line of shadow from the mountains past us slowly crawled closer as the sun sank behind the peaks. It looked almost like teeth, slowly closing down on us. The bridge would protect us in the night, while mom kept watch over the small section not covered. Just in case anypony found us...

“Prevention is the best medicine,” she said in a distinctly motherly tone, more so than her usual. “If you don’t know if something works, something that’ll make loud noise, it’s best to leave it off.” She squeezed with her tail, hugging us against her. “I want you two to be safe.”

“We should have stayed in the Stable,” Lost said, sounding somewhat annoyed.

“We couldn’t,” Mom said, her words sharp.

“I know but... but it was safe there,” she repeated. “No raiders or bandits or slavers or...” She bit at her lower lip. “We had baths, too.”

“Momma, why’d you come to the surface if it was so nice in the Stable?” I asked. I couldn’t remember the Stable. My only memory of it was the occasional flash of steel walls and bright lights. And crying...

Mom raised a hoof and stroked my mane softly with it. “Oh, my little treasures,” she cooed, smiling. “You’re too young to remember what it was really like...” She turned to Lost and ran her hoof over her mane as well, making my sister flick one of her ears a few times. Wistfully, she leaned back and looked up at the dimming sky. “The Stable wasn’t a great place.”

“But it was!” Lost argued. “We were safe and there was food and water and I had friends and... and dad...” She trailed off, the barest traces of tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

“Now now, shhh,” Mom said, her horn lighting up and a little haze appearing at the edges of Lost’s muzzle. She wiped the tears away with a flick of the glowing haze, lighting my sister’s face up for only a moment. “It wasn’t safe, not for ponies like us.” She looked at me from the corner of my eye, but smiled when she did so. “The ponies in charge there weren’t to be trusted. What do I always tell you?”

“Groups look out for their own,” we both said in unison.

“Exactly,” Mom agreed. “And we weren’t a part of ‘their own’ anymore.” She shrugged, lowering her head and resting it on her forehoof. “When I was younger, just barely with a cutie mark of my own, I always wanted away from those walls.” She smiled somewhat, looking out at the shadows that were slowly approaching. “This was before I got to know your father, of course. But everything there felt so... claustrophobic. So small. Like I was always encased. I wanted to feel grass under my hooves. I wanted to see a sky that wasn’t painted on. I wanted to see the world we thought we’d lost...”

“But momma, this world isn’t like that at all,” I said, having finally pulled my face free of her side. Leaning against her, I looked up past my sister at her.

“I know baby, I know,” she said solemnly. “We didn’t know that, at the time... Ponies had built the Stables for the worst case, but we didn’t... we didn’t know what was going to happen. Everything was made ‘just in case’ and they prayed we’d never have to use it.” Lighting her horn up again, dimly illuminating her green coat with its green glow, she turned and smiled at us. “Of course, they taught us when I was growing up, that nopony knew exactly what was happening when it all ended. Everything we had was from, at minimum, a few months before whatever ended everything.”

“So how do we know what happened?” Lost asked. “We left before they got that far in class.” Her own horn lit up, weakly glowing blue. She pulled her glasses from her face and adjusted them. They wobbled in the air, her magic not as stable as our Mom’s, until she rested them back across her nose.

“Ponies up here,” Mom answered, matter-of-factly. Raising a hoof, she pressed down on the top corner of my sister’s glasses, straightening them out on her muzzle. “My mother, and her mother, and her mother... They never knew exactly what happened. Ponies assumed it was the zebras, but our Stable is so far away from where everything important was happening? Our ancestors just ran for it when they saw bombs falling.”

“But when you found out everything was dead, why’d you ever go back?” Lost asked. She tilted her head to the side, before leaning it down and resting it next to our mother’s on her foreleg.

I scooted closer, resting myself against my sister. A big part of me was glad she wasn’t angry anymore, after what I’d done. It hadn’t been my fault, but I didn’t like it when she was angry anyway. Bedtime story mom was a lot better than lecture mom, any day.

“Hope, I guess,” she answered. “I kept thinking, maybe it was just a bad patch. If I went past the hill, or across the mountain, I’d find something green. Something alive.” She chuckled quietly. “Something alive that didn’t feel evil.” Whatever she meant, it went over both Lost and my head. “I just don’t believe everything can be a desert, or ruins. There has to be something left.”

“What if there’s not?” I asked.

“Well, we’ll just pretend it’s still hidden away from us,” she said with a smile. “One day we’ll find it, and make it a home. We’ll be happy, taken care of, and nopony out there will take it away from us.” She smiled, wrapping her rust-colored tail tighter around Lost and me and curling around to rest her head next to mine protectively over my sister.

“I volunteered to go to the surface, because I always hoped things hadn’t been as bad as ponies thought,” she continued. “We just didn’t know. Communications to the outside world were basically gone, and while we had enough to survive, it wasn’t living. Surviving isn’t living. So I offered to find out.”

“But you went back after?” I asked, somewhat confused. Sure the world was ruined now, but if she wanted to be out so bad, why would she ever return? I shifted on the smooth riverbed of rocks until I was on my side. Splaying my hooves forward, I poked at my sister’s side.

Lost glared at me, but said nothing. She just shifted on her own side and curled against our mother’s forelegs.

“Steel wasn’t going to be raising my daughter alone,” she answered, smirking. “This was before I had you, Hidden. But Lost was still too young for me to leave her alone with your father. So I only left for a few nights at a time. I always made sure to come back for my baby.” She nuzzled Lost, messing her glasses up again. The two pressed their noses together, the tip of Lost’s horn barely touching the base of our mother’s. “Each time I went out, I’d check a different direction, collect what I could, and come back. I brought back textbooks, weapons, and little souvenirs.”

“Like my glasses?” asked my sister, as she fixed them again.

“Yes,” she answered. At my confused look, she continued, “We didn’t have any small enough to fit her at the time.”

“Oh...”

Sighing happily, she smiled. “I nearly died a few times, you know?” she asked. “Before I learned how to gauge just how bad the radiation was by PipBuck ticks alone. When the doors closed, we didn’t know if there was any real danger. It was all automated, you see, and once it shut everything went into motion the way it’d been designed.”

I went to ask about what she meant, looking up at the dim glow of her horn lighting her face up, but she continued before I could get a word out.

“There’d been drills, of course,” she explained. “The Overmare was already chosen. And once the doors were shut, they weren’t going to open for a long time. Whether the world ended or not, it was on an automatic timer.” She laughed quietly. “Imagine our luck, that the doors were finally able to be unlocked when I was old enough to go out.” She looked at her haunch, at the cutie mark there. It was a set of flowers, three stems emerging from one spot and all three in various stages of bloom. The first was just a bud, the second a half-opened flower, while the third’s brilliant blue petals were spread wide as if looking to catch the sun. “Maybe it was fate,” she muttered quietly. “That I would be allowed to bloom outside.”

“What do you mean?” Lost asked, furrowing her brows.

“I never really knew what I was supposed to do in the Stable,” mom explained. “The jobs they had? Either I was no good at them, or they were full up. There’s only so many jobs in a Stable, and so many ponies there, too. Of course, nopony likes a freeloader.” She brushed a hoof across the bridge of her nose, scratching an itch a few times. “It wasn’t until I got outside that I found myself, discovered what I was truly capable of. Before I was able to become ‘me.’”

“You are you though, momma,” I said, hugging at her tail.

“Exactly, Hidden, exactly,” she agreed. Though she sounded happy, her smile slowly disappeared. “Not everypony liked that, though...” Pawing once at the ground with her hoof, she turned her head away and scanned over the darkness past us. The sunlight had disappeared behind the mountains entirely, and shadow had overtaken us while she’d been telling her story.

Nopony was in the distance, and the usual distant gunfire had quieted down for the night. Even bandits and raiders needed sleep, after all.

Turning back to my sister and me, mom put the smile back on her face. It seemed forced, though. “Once I told them what I found, they wanted to close back up,” she explained. “I lost hope, I felt like it’d all been taken away from me. So I didn’t stop. I knew how to get out, I knew the codes for the door and what time it would be safe to leave. I needed to find it, something lush, something green.” Slumping slightly, she rested her head across my sister and me again. “That’s where your names came from...”

“Which?” Lost asked.

Mom chuckled quietly. She booped my sister gently on the nose and shook her head. “You know which,” she answered. “When I had you, Lost... I thought I’d lost my chance. And when I had you, Hidden, I thought the world was just hiding the healing from me.” Her smile disappeared again. “I didn’t realize then, that no matter how far I went, I’d only ever see clouds and Wasteland.”

“I’m sorry, momma,” I said.

“Shh, shhh...” she cooed. “I found my place in the world, Wasteland or not.” She ran her hoof over my sister’s mane. “And I found my happiness in both of you. Sadness was inspiration, and you both filled the void in my heart more than any green grass ever could. And who knows, maybe the world will heal itself in my lifetime.” She tapped her horn. “Magic is powerful. Somepony out there might know a spell that’ll grow something out here.” Her smile reappeared. “Goddesses know your father knew one. He could grow anything in that steel trap of a Stable.”

I shrunk back. Why didn’t I have magic like they did?

I yawned, but mom kept talking. The bedtime story was interesting, and I wanted to listen, but suddenly everything felt heavy. Closing my eyes, I nuzzled closer between my sister and my mother. Opening one eye and looking up at them, I smiled. At least she wasn’t... mad... I yawned... anymore...

~ ~ ~

“Hidden!”

Without opening my eyes, I turned my head away. Pinning my ears back, I groaned. “Mmm, sleep,” I muttered finally. I’d been having a dream... a good one. What was it about?

“Hidden! You need to get up!” yelled my sister. Her hooves on my shoulders, she shook me. As she did, I could feel my legs flopping around in front of me, but it wasn’t enough. Her attempts to wake me weren’t going to work.

I wanted to finish the dream... I wanted to remember the last of it.

“I swear to the Goddesses if you don’t wake up this instant Hidden!” Lost snapped, her voice frantic. She nudged me again, gentler than before, but I didn’t move. A smile on my face, I could hear her turning and yelling. “Rose! What do I do? What if she doesn’t wake up. Could she be in a coma or something? I’ve never seen her this bad before! Can we pick her up and just carry her the rest of the way?”

“Be gentle until we get her to the Ministry of Peace hospital,” Rose answered. “I can assess everything there. She’s breathing and she’s not hemorrhaging, I can tell that from here. To check her brain I’d need the right equipment.”

“I volunteer to carry her, whether she wakes or not,” offered Lamington, his voice peppered with static the same as always. “A pony of her size would be no burden to my travels.” Even through the static, his voice sounded happy.

I yawned, slowly opening my eyes. Smiling up at my sister, I craned my neck forward and kissed her on the nose. “I had a dream,” I whispered. I could remember it, enough of it. “A dream about mom...” Collapsing back against the broken down building Slipstock had left me propped against, I blinked a few times to adjust to the light. “A good one about her.”

Lost stared at me, her nose scrunched up and her eyes wide. “You what?” she finally asked, shocked. With a twitch of her eyelid, all emotion came back with force. “You what! You’re sitting here, covered in blood and bruises, your jacket’s in worse condition than it’s ever been and I can see dents in your armor. Yet, yet you tell me what you had a nice dream about our mother?” She blinked several times, taking a step back.

“I tripped?” I offered. “Decided to take a nap while I was down.”

Telling her about what happened with Slipstock wasn’t going to happen. If I told her about the kiss, especially in front of Rose, I’d never hear the end of it. I didn’t want to admit it in front of Lamington, either, since he already seemed to have a muddied opinion of me. Fine Tune would probably figure it out on his own if he was as smart about emotions as I thought he was. And Tim Tam? He probably still had a concussion.

I just didn’t need more teasing about me liking mares. Sure, Slipstock’s kiss was nice... despite her constant attacks. And sure, I wanted to help her because she seemed like she honestly needed it. She’d gone through the same as I did, and it wouldn’t be right to sell her out over that. I mean, she had left me someplace ‘safe’ instead of taking me back with her to U Cig where I’d be under Amble’s hoof again.

It was better that I just pretend nothing happened.

“Don’t lie to me, Hidden,” Lost said, squinting at me. “We found you passed out and covered in blood and bruises. This does not look like a fall. I... I need to know what happened because I care about you, so I can help if something’s wrong. I’m not so stupid to think you just tripped, but I can’t help unless you let me.” Her horn lit up a pale blue, while her telekinesis ruffled and reset my mane in its normal position.

“Okay, fine,” I relented. “Know the twigs that I kept finding in my mane all the time?”

She looked at me with a confused look on her face, and tilted her head to the side.

“I notice you no longer adorn your mane with them,” Lamington chimed in. “While dusty and bloody, your mane seems clean of any foreign matter.” The Star Paladin’s steel armor tilted slightly, and he looked down. “Where did you find green, living leaves, here?”

“Funny story,” I started, raising a- not raising a hoof. I sat there and leaned my head back against the building. Looking up at it, I tried to make out the sign near the top of the wall, but I couldn’t read it from the angle I was at. Honestly, where’d the splinterwolf pup gone, anyway? After Slipstock tossed it away... “Remember the splinterwolves we ran into when we were going across the mountains? It’s one of those.”

“The ones I nearly ruined my magic trying to kill?” Lost asked.

“The ones that gave you scars even I won’t be able to heal?” asked Rose.

“What is a splinterwolf?” asked Lamington.

Fine Tune raised a hoof and chirped out a loud, “Krii!” Smiling wide, the sickening green fires of his transformation magic erupted around him. After a few moments, where glimpses of various coat colors and mane colors slipped through the gaps, he let the fires die down. In the changeling’s stead was a brown earth pony, with streaks across his coat that looked very similar to the bark of the splinterwolves. With a fluffy green mane and tail, and glowing green eyes, he struck a pose. “Like this! But made of actual wood.”

“Nice job piecing that together,” complimented my sister. Reaching back, she gave the changeling a pat on the head. “That’s fairly accurate, to be honest. They’re native to the woods up there, according to Xeno. Pack hunters; we ran into some while going across to her home and the Imani Tribe.”

Rose hooked a hoof up and pointed it at my sister. “This one did some fancy fire nova and scorched them all,” she explained. “It’s the only thing that stopped them from putting themselves back together.”

“I see,” Lamington muttered through the static of his armor. “Incredible and quite dangerous sounding. I presume you all survived relatively unscathed? Was your zebra friend wounded in any way? Was that the reason she elected to remain with the zebras?”

“And where’s the splinterwolf... pieces? Where are they now?” Lost asked. She looked around, her horn already glowing dimly in preparation to attack.

“No no!” I said, raising my hooves to- Sitting there quietly, I stared at her. “It’s not pieces, a whole splinterwolf. Just, it’s a little one, a pup. It seemed to like me.” I cleared my throat. “It umm, it was defending me.”

Slowly, my sister turned and squinted at me. “You said you tripped,” she said.

Shit.

“Can we argue about this later?” Rose requested. “We’re losing daylight.” Holding her grenade rifle up in the air with her own telekinesis, she pointed the barrel toward the setting sun. “I want to get to the Ministry Hospital before dark. It’s not a long trip if we trot instead of slowly meander.”

“Hidden, I’m worried about you,” Lost said, sitting across from me. “You didn’t come back when we called, and I couldn’t find you on the E.F.S. Do you have any idea how terrified I was when I found you sitting here, all alone, and covered in blood?” She blanched. “Rose is right, we need to hurry and get you to the Ministry of Peace hospital.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, hanging my head. Ear drooping, I looked up at her apologetically. “I got into a bit of a fight and talked my way out of it. We’re safe now.”

“Except for the splinterwolf pup?” Rose asked.

“I’m telling you, he was a friend. I’m sure he’ll find me again,” I said with a smirk. “He went nipping at the hocks of the pony who was attacking me.”

“Who was it that attacked you?” Lost asked, staring at me over the rims of her glasses.

“Can you just put me on Lamington’s back and demand answers as we walk?” I asked. Looking down at my legs, I nodded at them. “I can’t move.”

“Oh for-” Rose snapped, raising onto her hind legs and throwing her hooves up into the air. “I told you to go easy and not exert yourself! Do you have any idea...” Dropping back to all four hooves, she turned and walked off, still ranting to herself.

“This is why I worry about you Hidden,” Lost said. She turned to Fine Tune. “Can you turn back into a unicorn and help me?”

Fine Tune nodded and in an instant, the fires surrounded him. A second later, the blue stallion with the f-holes cutie mark remained. His horn began to glow green, and joined in with my sister’s magic, the two of them lifted me into the air.

Lamington lowered slightly, giving clearance as they draped me over his gun. It was mildly uncomfortable, and surprisingly cold. Even on numb legs, the metal was stiff and left me bent at a weird angle, with my belly on the Star Paladin’s back and my head propped awkwardly on the barrel of his minigun. Turning his head slightly, he looked back at me. At least, that’s what it seemed like. “I’ll take great care to relinquish you before firing if a firefight begins. Tim Tam will supervise you in such an event.”

Tim Tam, who’d been quiet the entire conversation, saluted. He seemed far more in focus since the last time I saw him, which was a good thing.

“What about the Splinterwolf pup?” I asked. Lying on the Star Paladin wasn’t entirely uncomfortable... I could get used to it, if I had to. Wriggling around as best I could without using my legs, I managed to fit myself into the space between his gun and saddlebags. It would do, and I was off my useless hooves. While normally I preferred to walk for myself, I was too far gone to bother fighting. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need to fire the minigun while I was using it as a pillow.

“I’m surprised you want it around, given how often you were picking the pieces out of your mane,” Lost said, a half-smile forming. “It’s tenacious, if it really wants to, it’ll probably find its way back. Trouble seems to be attracted to you...”

I looked away. “Mmm. Is that why Slipstock found me...” I muttered under my breath.

Lost’s ear flicked. In an instant she turned toward me, her eyes wide. “Did... you just say-” she started, but never finished. Before she could complete the thought, she had Loyalty in the air. She swept it across the ruins, looking around for the mare who was long gone. Fine Tune followed suit, not half a second after my sister had the modified gun out, his own silenced pistol was in the air and he was looking around the opposite direction.

“Where is she?” Lost demanded, still panning her gun around as the others looked on in various states of confusion. They weren’t around when we dealt with Slipstock the first time...

Fuck. Ears drooping, I buried my face against the metal of the gun I was resting on. I didn’t want her to hear that. Why’d I say it out loud? A thinky pony wouldn’t have said anything... Why couldn’t I be a thinky pony? “She left... We got into a fight and...” I muttered, trailing off and praying I could sink past Lamington and disappear into the ground. “Umm, some stuff happened, and...” I chewed on my bottom lip. “She went through the same thing I did, there... So I talked her into letting me go. That’s it!” I could feel a blush starting on my cheeks. “Nothing else happened, nope. Just a fight and a talk and then she left. I promise. I. Promise.”

Repeating it seemed to do the trick. Lost and Fine Tune shared a glance, then slowly put their weapons away. Tilting her head my sister beckoned us to move.

Rose stared at us for a moment, blinking a few times. “Who the fuck is Slipstock?” she asked. Before any of us could say anything, she raised a hoof. “No, don’t even try to explain. We need to get to The Cinch now. We can deal with this... whatever drama it is, later.” She trotted forward, leading the rest of us back down the road toward the Ministry Hub.

“I could have told you she was a slave turned bodyguard,” Fine Tune said to me. Before I could question why he never did so before, he smiled. “You never asked. You should ask more about that sort of thing, once we’re not running.”

I nodded, since it was one of the few things I could still do. One ear swiveled back, listening. Off in the distance, I was sure I could hear the echoing howl of a splinterwolf pup. It made me smile. Any creature that protected me from Slipstock couldn’t be all bad.

I hoped he’d find us.

* * *

The closer we got to The Cinch, the worse the ruins around us got. While ahead the massive buildings the Ministry Mares once called home still loomed, seemingly untouched by the ages, and the blast that took out the city... Little else withstood it. They’d once obviously been bigger buildings, with multiple stories that had all collapsed to make what was effectively just a pile of rubble. Dozens of them lined the street we walked down, with the occasional frame shooting into the air and swaying in the wind. All together, it was eerie. We were walking past what had to once be a busy street, the workplaces of potentially hundreds of ponies. All that was left was shattered glass and the rotting shards of furniture, blown from the buildings when they fell. What wasn’t destroyed by the balefire didn’t survive the centuries of exposure.

Lying on Lamington’s back, I took time to examine each building. There wasn’t much else I could do. One we walked by looked like it once was a bank, the faded outline of the fallen letters still present on the only wall that remained. A poster stuck stubbornly to the corner of the building, one corner flapping gently. The pink and grey haired mare stared at us as we went past, her eyes seeming to follow me as I locked into a staring contest with her.

It sent a chill up my spine.

Lamington stopped.

Tearing myself away from the poster, I looked forward. Maybe the poster mare was staring at the dead bodies.

A half-dozen ponies, with no weapons or armor, lay dead before us. Blood pooled in the cracks of the street. It wasn’t fresh, but it wasn’t old either. Whoever was shooting earlier, I might have figured out who they were shooting at.

But who would kill weaponless ponies?

Especially ones... full of piercings, with bloodshot eyes... Manes hacked into terrible styles, dirt and grime caked into their coats, and chunks missing from ears and faces? These weren’t weaponless ponies... These were raiders.

The smell hit me, hard.

Gagging, I buried my nose against the metal gun I’d been using as a pillow.

“What the fuck happened here?” I croaked, praying to not get the taste of blood in my mouth from how bad the stink was.

Nopony said anything. The rest just stood there, looking the scene over. Some of the ponies were simply shot up, full of holes. Others weren’t so lucky. At least one was missing his hind legs. I didn’t want to guess where they were. The holes in the ponies weren’t small, either... They’d been shot by something big, and it’d blown out more than a few of their sides. I could see innards, too.

That explained the smell. They were already rotting.

“A massacre,” Lamington answered, static lacing his voice. He started walking again, pacing across the remains of the battle. It gave me a good view of the dead ponies, and just how fucked up whoever killed them was.

I had an eye for finding things, it was the one thing I was good at. Across the bodies, the ones still intact? The grime and dirt showed where they’d once worn armor and battle saddles. It wasn’t the best kind of armor, given all the gaps, either. Bloody hoofsteps, larger than any I’d seen outside of Lamington or Wirepony, were tracked everywhere, especially around the bodies. They’d been looted and tossed back down...

Shell casings were scattered everywhere, large caliber like I thought. Some smaller ones were lodged in the cracks of the road. They probably belonged to the dead ponies here. They must have been outmatched... Even for raiders, I felt bad for them.

Sure, they got what they deserved for being scum barely qualifying as ponies anymore but... I shivered. It made me worry just who we were ‘following.’

I twisted my ears forward and listened. Whoever’d been fighting earlier had slacked off, but every so often another loud burst of gunfire would fill the air. Somepony was still fighting and we were walking right toward it. Darker clouds hung in the air around the towering black Ministry building we were getting closer to, caught in the wind and blowing away from the battle.

I prayed to the Goddesses they’d be finished before we got there. Or, better yet, that they weren’t fighting at The Cinch, and we’d never have to deal with them.

But these dead raiders...

“What do you think got them?” I asked nopony in particular.

“Who cares,” Rose said, spitting on one of the dead mares, one missing a hind leg.

I looked over the others bodies. Past a headless pony, and past the splatter of brain and blood covering the road, I saw something odd. A few piles of green goo and pink ash were slowly simmering in the road, with pink dust scattered by the wind blowing through the street. I looked away, at the rubble of the buildings and the holes there. I’d rather see walls with bullet holes than ponies.

There were only two groups of ponies I knew who used magical energy weapons. Either we’d stumbled upon a fight with the Ashen, or... I cracked one eye open and looked at Lamington’s armor. We should have brought the rest of the family...

“Nopony truly deserved this,” Lamington said.

“They were raiders, they got what was coming to them,” Lost disagreed. “Still, if whoever’s been fighting up ahead took all their weapons... We might be in for a big fight.” She sighed. “I sure hope not...”

“That is peculiar, yes. Unfortunately, there’s little in the way of clues as to who might have relieved them of their weaponry,” Lamington said, the static seemingly absent from his voice for once. He walked past the dead ponies, further down the road. “I cannot tell, for certain, if armored ponies assaulted this collective or not. Their weapons and armor were seized, however, which leads me to believe it was the same ponies calling themselves Steel Rangers at the factory. They said similar disparaging things to the effect of confiscating our weaponry during the battle previously. My bits are on Star Paladin Jazz and hers being our perpetrators.”

“And who does it sound like up ahead?” Rose asked.

“Heavy ordinance being fired?” Lamington asked, seemingly amused. “As I said, my bits are on Star Paladin Jazz and hers.”

“Hopefully everypony’ll kill one another before we get there,” I muttered.

“Indeed,” Lamington agreed.

“Want me to go search ahead?” Fine Tune asked. “I can fly and all...” He smiled, looking hopeful.

“Negative,” Lamington stated. He pointed a hoof toward the clouds of smoke in the distance. “We’ll have our answer regardless of searching.”

“Then let’s move forward,” Rose said. “Slowly. Worst case, I know the emergency codes and we can sneak in one of the buildings from whatever side they’re not fighting on. I was a courier there, after all. It had its perks.” She smiled, but it was obviously forced.

It was a plan, as good a one as we’d have time to come up with. I looked back, wondering about the splinterwolf pup, and Slipstock, and the dead ponies that were suddenly behind us. Today was such a busy day...

* * *

Lying across the back of the Star Paladin, I stared at the wall. After what seemed like an eternity, restless and unable to move while I was carried, we’d made it. Somehow, ponies had taken the best preserved and most fortified part of the Wasteland and made it their home. I imagined it was an old settlement, given how much time it would take even an army of ponies to build up the wall around their home. It towered over us, going up along the building we were standing behind, reaching high enough that only pegasi could hope to get over. It was made of chunks of old building, likely scavenged from nearby, and layered with reinforced steel. Parts were covered in pieces of skywagon and metal, armoring it against attackers. At the top, helmets lined the walls at random intervals. None had moved when we approached, and when I got close enough to tell, I could see they were just there to trick ponies into thinking there was a guard. The massive wall wound around in a gentle circle, connecting the buildings.

I could tell where the Cinch got its name. The massive wall weaving between the Ministry buildings looked just like the saddle belt it was named after.

We just needed to find a way inside. Unfortunately, there were still the sounds of a gunfight. Whoever it was, they were close, most likely fighting just out of sight with whoever had built the walls. They’d gotten their second wind, and the gunfire, though muffled, was far louder. They were firing something high caliber, and I could hear the tell tale “PLZ-OW” of magical energy weapons going off during the attack.

“Glad they’re on the other side...” muttered Rose. “It feels weird being back after so long.” She trailed off, staring at the back of the building. After a moment, she turned back to look at us. “Feels good though. Welcome to the Ministry of Arcane Sciences building.” She pointed up at the building directly in front of us.

I stared up at the impossibly tall building. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen before. I was used to ruins, falling apart or already broken. The few places that weren’t in pieces were made by Wasteland ponies to live in, and were always pieced together. This place, however... it was perfectly spotless, with no damage from the end of the world.

The Ministry of Arcane Sciences building reminded me of pictures of a tiered, somewhat unappetizing, cake. The base of the building looked like a giant, purple, silvery steel brick. It covered an entire city block and rose up several stories, completely smooth and featureless. Above that, the building shot into the sky in the shape of a giant triangular wedge, getting thinner and thinner as it went up, seemingly disappearing into the cloud cover overhead. The wedge part at least had windows, if fact there was nothing but windows covering it, reflecting the setting sun with streaking diagonal orange lines across the back. With no visible entrances, we’d have to go through somewhere else to get inside The Cinch.

“What about the others?” I asked, twisting my ears forward, and looking to my left.

“Well, the one over there,” she started, pointing in the direction I was looking. “That’s the Ministry of Wartime Technology building, run by Applejack’s advisors.”

Drab grey, short, squat and looking far more functional for a pony to use than the previous building, this one reminded me of Leathers. While it had little in the way of fancy designs, outside the main walls were several smaller sections, all different heights and looking as if they’d been added on after the main section had been long complete to give additional space for whatever ponies inside needed. A long ramp went up to one of the smaller sections, leading to a set of doors barricaded from the inside. The tiny windows that might have given us a view inside were dark, boarded up and protected from prying eyes.

A massive door, reinforced with a mishmash of metal much like the sheets I’d surrounded myself in when fighting Slipstock, covered every part of the walls outside the building. It looked like somepony had taken a good deal of time to make it completely unbreachable. Old motorwagons, broken into pieces and smashed along the bottom of the rear wall were nailed in with gigantic steel rods like Rebar’s. Their ends were bent, to keep from being removed. It was probably the best a pony could get with the limited resources in the Wasteland. I wouldn’t try opening it, not with all the junk now connected to it.

“On the other side is the Ministry of Image building,” Rose explained. “Rarity designed it personally, with nothing more than appearance in mind.” She smirked and chuckled quietly. “As if she would do anything else.”

To my right, another building rose into the sky similar to the first. It had no corners. Instead, the walls smoothly curved around in a bulging cone that tapered off in a point at the very top. Frameless windows lined the entirety of the building, spiraling diagonally around the curved walls. The windows repeated in a pattern of three, with two lines light in color, with a third set much darker. The pattern made it look like a unicorn’s horn, with that same dark spiral leading up to the point. Capping the building at the very tip was another window, bright and polished, like a gemstone somepony fawned over daily. Surprisingly, it was clean, without so much as a spec of dust or dirt on it.

“The other three buildings are on the far side, though from here we can’t really get a good look at them,” Rose continued explaining.

Of the remaining three buildings, two were tall enough to see. One, a massive, black, and windowless skyscraper, towered above the rest of the buildings. Even the Ministry of Arcane Science building was dwarfed by its imposing height. The last made no sense. Far tinier than the rest, it was like somepony had blown a little bubble on the roof. Next to it, completely disconnected, was a stack of pink ovals, like old foal’s toys I’d seen long ago, forming a tiered spire.

“Fluttershy’s research and hospital buildings are directly across the plaza from where we are. The two buildings make up the area’s Ministry of Peace headquarters. Across from the others are the Ministry of Awesome ‘offices’ and Pinkie Pie’s Ministry of Morale ‘Funland’... thing.” She shuddered.

I’d heard the names she used before, but it was nice to put something to the name. It might not be a face, but at least I could tell what type of ponies they might have been. A little, at least.

Lamington cleared his throat. “How are we to breach the walls?” the Star Paladin asked, pacing slightly and looking at Applejack’s factory. “I presume, given the fortifications, this isn’t an uninhabited area?”

“There are squatters, yes,” Rose answered. “They’ve been busy. This place looks a lot more secure since the last time I was here.”

“Security is a good thing,” I said, nodding.

“Want me to fly over the walls and find a gate?” asked Fine Tune, still in his blue unicorn form.

“I wouldn’t,” said both Rose and my sister at the same time. They looked at one another, and Rose continued. “If there’s a fight going on, we don’t need a trigger happy pony watching their back and thinking you’re another target. We need you alive more than we need to get over the wall.”

“Are there doors we can get in?” my sister asked Rose.

“Probably,” answered the pink mare, frowning “The question is whether any are still viable.”

“Because of the barricades?” I asked, nodding my head over toward the Ministry of Wartime Technology’s collection of motorwagon parts and nailed shut doorway.

“Those are just the obvious doors,” Rose answered. “I was a courier here, I know all the back doors and secret entrances. I can try them one by one to get in, then we sneak through to get into the Ministry of Peace hospital.”

“Which one is that again?” asked Tim Tam. He tilted his head and stood up on the tips of his hooves, as if he could see over the wall by doing so.

“There’s a yellow and light pink building on the far side, Fluttershy’s colors, directly across from the M.A.S. building,” Rose explained. “The light pink section is a hospital, and unless somepony ransacked it, it should still have enough supplies to do some basic healing for both of you.” She cocked her head to the side. “And get my field gear, too.” Squinting, she looked over her shoulder at the wall. “If one of the squatters managed to break into my locker and steal it... I might forget kindness for a few moments.”

Lamington chuckled. “We can cross that bridge when we arrive at it,” he said calmly. “For now, we should try and get inside swiftly. I don’t like how close that battle sounds.”

Collectively, we all nodded. He was right, the sooner we were inside the walls the better. If the ponies were still fighting after all the time it’d taken us to get to The Cinch, it was probably all the ponies inside fighting for their home. Hopefully, at least. The last thing we needed was for a gun happy pony to see us sneaking in a back door and thinking their enemy was trying to slip in. If Rose could get us in, then we could lock ourselves in the hospital from the inside, so we could have some peace.

We could deal with the squatters afterward. Maybe, just maybe, Rough Night and the other ponies from Leathers were here, and would recognize us. That’d make things a lot easier, and we’d get shot at a lot less.

“However,” Lamington added, interrupting my train of thought. “I believe, being wounded, Miss Fortune should wait somewhere safe, nearby. Tim Tam can stay with her as a guard.”

My heart practically stopped. How dare he phrase it that way... “What?” I whimpered, practically begging. “I want to come with you...” Wriggling, I fought against the urge to hang my head and do exactly as he suggested. “You’ve got no reason to leave us back here.”

“Why’s that, Sir?” asked Tim Tam.

“We don’t have any intelligence on the combatants, only assumptions,” the massive pony answered. “If we’re outnumbered and spotted, it will be easier for us to fight or flee without needing to worry about Miss Fortune.”

Rose nodded. “I agree,” she said. “As soon as we know which path through the ruins to take, and which doors I can still access, we can come back and get you both.”

“The most important thing right now is to keep you safe, Hidden,” Lost added. She smiled, walking over to me and stroking a hoof through my mane. “You’re in no condition to fight. If worse comes to worse, I can get away and come back to get you. Then we can all get away, somehow...”

“But... but...” I whispered, not happy with the arrangement one bit. “What if something happens to you? What if you can’t get back?”

Lost looked up at the Star Paladin, then to Rose and Fine Tune. “We’ll be careful, all of us,” she answered in a reassuring voice.

“I’ll keep you company and watch over you,” added Tim Tam. Clicking his rear hooves together, he saluted Lamington. “Find us a location and I’ll stand guard.” Smirking a wary sideways smirk, he shifted. “You can’t see it under my armor, but my special talent is that sorta thing.”

I stared at him. I’d rather be with my sister, but I knew I had no choice. What was I to do? Get up and follow her? Hanging my head over Lamington’s minigun, I finally relented. “Alright, just be quick okay?”

“Of course, Hidden,” Lost answered. “Let’s find you a safe place.”

With that, she and Rose split up. Fine Tune transformed, his unicorn form flaring up with a swirl of green fire, and leaving him the pegasus mare I recognized. Lifting into the air, she lazily buzzed off into the ruins, staying low enough to not be seen over the wall.

As we waited, Lamington turned his helmeted head toward me. “I promise we’ll come back as soon as we can,” he said in a staticy but reassuring voice.

It only took a few minutes, but Rose returned with a bright smile. “Found something,” she announced. “Two blocks that way, there’s half a building still standing. A staircase will take you to the second floor.” She pointed down one of the ruined roads. “Drop her off up there, out of sight. I’ll stay here to tell the others where we’re going.”

“I shall return momentarily,” the Star Paladin answered her. Trotting harshly, he carried me and led Tim Tam in the direction Rose had shown him. Once we were out of earshot of the mare, he turned his armored head back and looked at the two of us. “I trust you’ll remain in place, Miss Fortune.” It sounded like a joke, but I didn’t appreciate it. When I didn’t laugh, he changed subjects. In a harder voice, he added, “I only care to keep you and our other companions protected. This temporary arrangement is all for that, and will indeed be just that; temporary.”

“Lamington’s a good soldier,” Tim Tam vouched.

We reached the building Rose had pointed out. Just as promised, three walls still stood. It was all cracked concrete and rebar jutting out from the remains. A staircase led up, against the one of the remaining walls, to what was left of the second floor. It had collapsed, badly, and going by the bones, crushed some poor pony caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ignoring the potential for his heavy armor to crash through the stairs, Lamington trotted up with all manner of clanking from the metal hooves on steel stairs. A quieter Tim Tam followed.

At the top, Lamington shifted his weight and slid me off his side, where I landed on the floor with a little oof. Tim Tam helped to keep me from toppling over, by propping me against the wall. I looked out the window, away from them. Part of me understood, but most of me was fuming. I didn’t want to be left behind, even for a moment.

“You’re in charge,” Lamington said, placing a hoof on Tim Tam’s withers. “We’ll return as soon as possible.”

“Understood,” answered the freckled pony. He took a seat next to me, on the opposite side of the window.

With one last nod, Lamington retreated down the stairs with the same loud clanking, and disappeared.

“This’ll be fun,” I muttered through a sigh...

* * *

“... and then, after leaving Stirrup, I decided to head north,” rambled Tim Tam. “This was a while back, and I’d heard there were Steel Rangers up north.” He paused and rolled his forehoof a few times. “This was before I knew Scifresh’s ponies were such jerks.” He chuckled a bit, smiling at me, before looking back out the empty window. “I’ve heard a lot about them recently.”

Without the PipBuck, I had no idea how long we’d been sitting in the ruins together. It wasn’t long, I knew, but I couldn’t really focus on what Tim Tam was saying. I heard it, but I wasn’t listening to it. The stallion was nice enough, but I had other things on my mind. I wanted to know what was taking the others. The sounds of gunfire in the distance had me worried.

All sorts of little possibilities ran through my head, of what could happen. I clenched my eyes shut. None of the thoughts were good, and though I knew I was overreacting, I just wanted to turn my brain off.

It had gone silent. Tim Tam was staring at me. He didn’t seem happy at all, what with the frown across his mouth.

“You’re not listening, are you?” he asked, sounding only mildly annoyed.

“Sorry, I’m just a bit preoccupied,” I admitted. “I didn’t mean to...”

Adjusting his orange mane, he waved a hoof dismissively. “I understand,” he reassured me. “I’m not happy to be left behind either, but you’re hurt and my head still aches. It’s not as fuzzy as it was before, but I don’t think I’m up to snuff if they need me to fight.” He started to laugh, but stopped, exhaling. One of his ears twisted to the side. “Shame we don’t have any Med-X or something to take the edge off.”

I smirked. “I know how you feel,” I agreed.

Something caught in my ear. I twisted the left one around and listening, not turning my head to look. Instead, I stared at the stallion.

He’d heard it too. Both of his ears were twisted to the side, and he was looking out the empty window. Glancing at me, he nodded toward the outside, then leaned over to look past the windowsill at the road below.

“What is it?” I asked, unable to make out exactly what it was.

Whatever it was, the sound was too jumbled to make out with any distinction. It was a mass of clattering, thumping, metal on road. It wasn’t even a sound, it was just noise. My heart rose, it might be Lamington, running back with all his might to tell us they’d found a way in. His armor would be heavy, and give off the clanky sound of steel on cracked pavement.

I smiled.

The sound got louder, heavier. Chunk of broken wall and roof that had collapsed onto the half-floor we were sitting on started to rattle around, bouncing up and down. It couldn’t be Lamington; even in his armor he wasn’t heavy enough to make that sort of a commotion. The sound of hooves grew, getting closer.

I shifted my weight, leaning hard against the wall. I couldn’t see over the windowsill, so instead I stared at Tim Tam. Grimacing, I asked, “Who is-”

“Flank!” yelled a familiar voice, interrupting me. “Go go!” Her voice cut clear and loud, raising above the noise the running ponies were making. Star Paladin Jazz didn’t sound happy. “I swear, if you lot don’t break the wall I’ll find that fucking metal monster again and feed you to him! March!”

Tim Tam flailed a hoof, motioning down. When I didn’t move, he reached over and grabbed onto me. Pulling hard, he threw us both onto the floor and out of sight of the road, even from the collapsed side of the building.

I stifled an ‘oof,’ landing just in time to watch at least a dozen ponies storm by. They kicked up a racket, their hooffalls clanking loudly each time the metal hit ground. With so many, it was overpowering, and all I could do was pin my ears back to try and keep the sound out. Snout buried in a broken piece of wall, I watched wide-eyed and tried to count them while praying they wouldn’t notice us.

Wait, Steel Ranger armor has E.F.S.!

I prayed they’d just think we were radroaches, just something to ignore as they went by on the orders the Star Paladin had given them. Shrinking down as best I could against the floor, I gulped. Please, Celestia... Luna... Don’t let them glance up here. We were helpless against so many, we’d be dead in an instant. Curling my tail around my side, I kept praying.

Not one broke rank as they ran, daring to look away from their charge. Too many ran by too quick to count, but there were a lot more than I expected. Even with their running, there was still fighting going on off on the far side of The Cinch. She’d broken them off to get behind them.

“Oh no,” I whispered...

They ran out of sight, past the crumbling wall and down the far road. The sounds of their hooves on the ground gradually got quieter, but I could still hear somepony coming.

The Star Paladin herself ran into view. Like the others, she didn’t stop. Though her armor looked identical to the rest of the Steel Rangers, she didn’t wear her helmet. Instead, it was strapped next to the massive magical laser gatling gun that rested on her back. She didn’t look at all happy, and her red and yellow mane was matted to her forehead from sweat. Thankfully, she didn’t take the time to scan the ruins.

She raised her head as she passed, and though she was out of sight in only a moment, we could hear her yelling. “Trifle!” she shouted. “Break left! Find us a spot on the wall!” A spot on the wall? What kind of spot.

Goddesses, what were they doing back here?

I gulped and twisted to look at Tim Tam. Eyes wide, I couldn’t help but fear all those little worries from before were about to come true. I didn’t know which way Lost, Lamington, and the others had run. If they didn’t know Jazz and the others were running around to attack The Cinch from behind, they might be right in their path.

My heart practically stopped. Shivering, I waited until the sound of hooves had quieted down enough that I felt safe. Actually, I didn’t feel safe at all. Knowing it was the Steel Rangers attacking, I wasn’t going to feel safe. Still, I looked at the stallion next to me.

Only daring a whisper, I forced out a little squeak at him. Clearing my throat, I whispered, “We need to tell the others.”

“I know,” he said quietly. Pushing himself up onto his hooves, he turned back to the window we’d been looking out. “I just... I don’t know which way they went.”

“Me either...” I muttered. Lost and the others would be outnumbered. There were four of them, and if they were found, they’d be up against over a dozen of the armored ponies. Outgunned and outflanked... I fought back tears. I couldn’t let my imagination run wild.

They were resourceful, if my sister heard ponies coming running, especially that many, she’d du