Sentinel

It was already dark when we arrived at Siltway, and our only waypoint was a cluster of lights on the horizon that marked the settlement's location. This place was quite a distance away from the main roads that spanned Equestria, and as such, maintained a militia force, and the whole place was surrounded by a wall. When we landed in the town square, the Kingfisher was instantly surrounded by a bunch of the militia. Luckily, Siegebreaker defused the situation – as in, she waved around some sort of a token. Soon as the residents saw it, they calmed down and Siegebreaker was able to explain our task to what seemed to be the mayor of Siltway. Though wary of me and our transport, he provided us lodgings for the night, which we happily accepted – we'd been cooped up in the Kingfisher for several hours, and were all but ready to chew each other out.

I hummed to myself as I locked the doors, securing our belongings aboard the VTOL. The engine covers were in place – it'd suck big-time if the works were clogged with snow and ice next morning. Taking a couple of steps backwards, I examined my handiwork for a moment. Glad that it was all proper and such, I followed my companions to a nearby tavern that had vacant rooms, courtesy of the mayor. To me, it would be a welcome change to the Kingfisher's seats – they seriously needed some reupholstering.

The door closed behind me with a quiet clunk and I sought out the stairs that led to upstairs, trying to ignore the looks I was getting – folk at a place ways out like this would obviously be suspicious of me, whether I was here under the royalty's authority or not. Humming to myself as the wintry chill left my bones, I entered the room that had been given to us. Everyone had settled in comfortably. Well, aside from Windwaker and Harmonics, who were at it again. I let out a sigh, taking a seat as I idly watched the two of 'em chew each other out. Turns out, there was more to it that I'd first thought.

“...Y'know I ain't gonna judge ya, kiddo. Character matters, not race or gender. And Harmonics is nice enough, if a little obnoxious on the occasion.” Siegebreaker interjected at one point, seeing as her daughter was about to start tearing her own mane out in frustration.

“Princesses damn it, none of you get it, do you? Okay, let's see here – say, I do decide to have a relationship with Harmonics. Everything's fine and dandy for an indeterminate length of time. And then, bam - shit happens on a mission and I buy the farm for some reason, whatever that may be. Or she does. Either way, one of us will be left in grief, not to mention our families.” That took the starch out of Harmonics and Siegebreaker, both of whom considered this for a couple of moments. Eventually, Harmonics spoke.

“Well, when you put it that way... I won't bother you any more, Windwaker. I guess I just got a bit too excited.” She smiled wanly, giving a little shrug. Siegebreaker hummed to herself for a brief moment.

“I guess you've got a point, kid. Hell, now I'm wondering how you even got into this team.”

“Because I hit like a sledgehammer?” The mare in question offered, puffing her chest out proudly.

“Well, there's that.” Siegebreaker smirked involuntarily before yawning. “Shit, I'm tired. I'ma get to sleep. I suggest the rest of you do the same. We'll set out at dawn tomorrow if we wanna get to the caravan route in time.” Others murmured in agreement and settled down in whatever was available. Nox dragged a couple of blankets down on the floor, making a resting place for those who didn't have a bed available. I simply reclined in the chair I occupied, gazing into the crackling fireplace, sleep slowly overtaking my senses...

The drone of our U/AV-17 Hawk's engines doubled in loudness as the door slid shut, the VTOL joining the flock of other Hawks taking to air from USS Lexington's flight deck, the aircraft carrier but a part of the fleet anchored roughly forty miles away from York. My squad was all ready, strapped into the seats, anxious about the upcoming mission – brass had been very scarce with intel, which made a lot of us nervous. All we knew was we were the reinforcements for the British, and they'd give the brass some sort of a superweapon, and that was all the briefing we got. If I were more attentive at the time, I'd have been suspicious of our task. As it was, however, I was more occupied with staying awake as we drew ever closer to York – my last night had been mostly filled with nightmares and I managed to snatch precious few hours of sleep. As a result, I was zoning in and out of it.

Well, until the Hawk leading our wing exploded into a giant fireball and plummeted downwards, that is.

With a shout of terror, our pilot veered to side wildly in an attempt to avoid the now-destroyed Hawk's tail prop, and I glimpsed numerous projectiles soaring upwards to meet our aircraft. The radio was instantly alive with chatter, with pilots crying out for orders, or screaming as their fliers were blown out of the sky or collided mid-air with others. Our bird got clipped by flak for a moment, but our pilot managed to keep us aloft.

And then a Hawk missing its left wing sideswiped us, sending our craft into an uncontrollable spin. The flier's hull groaned and shuddered as the pilot tried vainly to regain control of his aircraft, landscape spinning madly outside the windows. And then we crashed – the bone-rattling jolt was to be expected but it still stunned us. My own restraints snapped and I was thrown from my seat, slamming me face-first into a wall. The last thing I felt before passing out was something sharp and jagged go through my right shoulder.

I jolted upright in my chair, my heart beating frantically as I took in my surroundings – the inn room. A couple of moments passed until I realized I had my M1911 in my hand and I quickly holstered the sidearm, looking around the room. Luckily, no one else was awake and I sank back down into my chair, letting out a quiet sigh. Yay, my nightmares decided to remind me they were still there. Lucky me. I checked my wristwatch for a moment – it was twelve past six. Early enough, I guess. Best get the VTOL thawed out before others wake up. Donning my clothes, I left the inn, striding towards the aircraft squatting a ways off. As I closed in, I saw that the canvas covers were still in place, which was good – it meant that no one had tampered with it in the meanwhile. I pulled the covers off, shaking the accumulated ice and snow free from the canvas sheets before folding them up and returning them to their compartment.

It usually would take about an hour to ensure a Hawk would be ready to fly after being left outside during a cold winter night. All kinds of checks had to be run to make sure that nothing had been damaged by the weather. Luckily, I only had to let the power core idle for about ten minutes – the heat it let out suited well enough to melt even the most stubborn ice. That, and Jen was a superb technician – she'd kept the flier in a remarkable condition. From what she told me, all kinds of junk had appeared in the weeks following our arrival in Equestria - bits of human machinery, and some of Chimeran origin... as well as bodies of either. Of course, nothing new had been sighted for months. Jen had salvaged what the ponies had recovered, and the dead had been given a burial.

Either way, Jen had accumulated a small stockpile of spare parts for both the Sabertooth and the Kingfisher, considering most of the salvage recovered was deteriorated to the point it was useless when found.

Hoofsteps crunching across the snow snapped me out of thought and I turned around, looking at Siegebreaker trotting towards me. “Hey, Alice. What's up?”

“Nothin' much. Jus' checkin' for ice where it ain't supposed t'be.” She nodded at that.

“Ah. Others are going to wake up pretty soon. I sorted out a breakfast for us all. Wanna join?”

“Sure. Gimme a moment, Ah'm almost finished.” She nodded and waited patiently as I locked the doors, and followed the heavyset mare moments later.

Our group clustered around one of the inn's tables, busily munching away – in this early hour, we were the only ones up and about, and I used the opportunity to gain more insight on our mission when there were no opportunistic eavesdroppers nearby.

“So, what've we got, exactly?” Siegebreaker swallowed before speaking.

“The caravans always get ambushed at the same stretch of the route, more or less. The bandits always wait for nightfall, and attack from both sides. From what the caravaneers told the inspectors, the group's a mix of griffons, ponies, and a minotaur or two.”

“Hmm. What're the procedures like for a caravan tryin' t'use the route?”

“Well, there's the usual paperwork, and the officials take an exact manifesto of what the caravan's got, a headcount of whoever's with the caravan, the like.”

“Huh. Maybe one of 'em's feeding that info to the bandits, tellin' 'em which caravans they're supposed to ambush and which ones to let pass unharmed?” Siegebreaker nodded approvingly at that before speaking.

“That's one of the possibilities we came to a while ago, but so far, our investigation's turned up nothing. And, when we get to the bandits, it's possible that this theoretical informant goes to ground.”

“Yeah, that's liable to happen. So, what do the bandits take when they attack?”

“Nothing much, only what they're able to carry and still remain reasonably mobile. This seems to suggest that they don't have the means to storing lots of goods, or that they have their base of operations relatively close to the caravan route. None of the caravans have been completely sacked, although they've taken several captives, and always retreat as fast as they can once they've got what they need.”

“'kay. What about the caravans themselves? How d'ya transport the goods around here?”

“This far up north? Sleds of all sizes, all year 'round. The ponies who maintain the route have some sort of a deal with the reindeer tribes – the reindeer haul the cargo to and fro, the ponies give 'em all kinds of supplies in return as payment.”

“Huh...” I hummed to myself, deep in thought, as the inklings of a plan took hold in my mind.

“Alice, you look like you're planning something.” Heart leaned closer, cocking a curious eyebrow at me.

“Perceptive, ain'tcha? Yeah, Ah'm plannin', alright. We put th' Kingfisher on the biggest sled that'll carry her, covered up with tarp, an' we pose as caravaneers, see if we can't lure the bandits out. We get our 'cargo' marked as highly valuable, which it is, but that's 'sides the point. If they do have an informant feedin' them info, they'll get curious n' greedy, and might lay us an ambush. When the bastards jump us, we take at least one of 'em alive, so we can find their base, and cut the head off the snake, so to speak.” I leaned back in my seat, waiting as I gauged their reactions. Dustin was the first to speak up.

“That could work, if we can pull this off. For starters, we need to find a sled big enough to carry your aircraft. We'll need a team of reindeer to haul it – two dozen fully-grown bucks, I'd wager. Tarp will be easier to find, and the unfamiliar profile of our transport will make them more curious about our caravan. But we'll see when we get to there.” Heart sat up, nodding in agreement.

“The other option would be to send an escort of guardsponies with each caravan, but that'd take time to sort out, and every caravan would need a sizeable escort – they'd be less mobile, too, and the bandits would likely go into hiding until the escort unit sizes are lowered and they go about raiding once more.” Others murmured in agreement, and Siegebreaker joined in, grinning.

“Well, guys, looks like we've got a plan. So hurry up and finish eating, 'cuz we've got some bandits to catch!” A chorus of 'Yes, ma'am' was the answer she got and she puffed her chest out slightly, smirking self-assuredly. “Hell yeah. I still got it.”

“Mom, eat your breakfast.”

“'kay, so how does that work, anyways?” I turned to ask Siegebreaker as the scroll burst into a ball of purple fire.

“It's like dragonfire, but portable. This way, we can send important letters from one place to another. Thing is, only unicorns can send and receive the letters, and it is complicated to create such a link, so, if a letter is sent from, say, Baltimare to Vanhoover, the letter'll hop between several of the posts inbetween. Either way, we'll be ready to go soon as we get there. We'll get the biggest sled, the strongest deer team to pull it, and a big fucking tarp. In theory, our expenses are covered by the royal treasury. Let's see if that is actually true.”

“What, y'think th'princesses might try t'work us over?”

“Nah, not them. Some stuck-up noblemoron asshat who only cares about their own wealth, however, might. Why the logistics isn't managed by entirely competent ponies is beyond me, but I guess some ponies do need to get kicked far enough upstairs where they can't do any damage.”

“Fair 'nough. Right, let's get goin'. Dustin looks like he's going t'have a fit.” True enough, the stallion was impatiently tapping his hoof against the floor at a rate which suggested that the floor would need to be remodelled soon. Siegebreaker smirked at the sight and nodded, motioning for us to follow her out of the post office, towards where the Kingfisher awaited.

We flew as fast as we could, seeing as we had precious little hours left until the daylight ended, and we'd be flying blind. Siegebreaker assured me, however, that we wouldn't miss the settlement marking the start of the caravan route – it was a big place, called Bellwake. Ponies and their weird names, heh... Anyhow, the place would be lit up during nighttime, seeing as caravans used the route 'round the clock. And, with no other settlements around, it'd be the only source of light for miles around.

Honestly, that didn't do an awful lot to reassure me – I hated flying blind. The VTOL's radar was practically useless, seeing as there was nothing for me to guide us by. I had to turn off the interior lighting just to see outside, and the snowfall only made the visibility worse – every moment, we could pancake against a mountain and that'd be the end for us. The built-in spotlights weren't much help, either. Thus, I could do little more than follow Siegebreaker's instructions.

When we got there, though, her words proved to be true – I'd have to be blind to miss the place. There were torches everywhere, lining the streets of the large town. It obviously was very prosperous, with many houses dotting the landscape, and large, sturdy warehouses clustering around the wide clearing which marked the beginning of the caravan route. I can honestly say it was an impressive sight to behold.

“Go over there, that's our landing zone.” Siegebreaker motioned towards a circle of lights that showed up a moment later after coming about for a landing. Nodding, I turned the VTOL towards the marked area, and touched down a couple of moments later, our transport's hull sinking slightly into the snow. I cut the power to the engines and opened the doors. A gust of wind swept in, followed by a scattering of snow as my passengers filed out, one by one. Siegebreaker followed, and I followed suit, running a quick check that no one had forgotten anything before grabbing my own belongings. With the help of Nox and Heart, I got the Kingfisher all canvassed up in a couple of minutes. With that done, we headed into the town proper.

I was definitely glad that I'd got my winter clothes on at Siltway – even with them on, I felt the bite of the cold. Others didn't seem too affected, though. Then again, they were covered in fur, and their armor would be enchanted. With Siegebreaker leading us, we headed towards the biggest building around – common logic dictated that persons of importance would be found at the biggest, most noticeable place there was to be found.

And so we ended up in someplace that was a cross between a hotel and an office complex. There  were ponies and reindeer everywhere. The warmth was also a nice change. After weaving our way through the bustle, we reached the mayor's office and were promptly let inside, where we met our host – a grizzled, stately reindeer going by the name of Wayfarer. He'd already prepared what we'd need – a heavy-duty sled, one of the strongest hauler teams, and enough tarp to cover the Kingfisher in its entirety.

Although I would've loved to do a bit of exploring the settlement, we didn't have time for that right now – the Kingfisher was loaded up, covered with the tarp, and we were off in just a little over an hour since we arrived at the route. I know, I know, I'm rushing ahead of myself, I suppose, but I have my reasons.

When I came to Equestria, I was utterly baffled as to how this land had managed to prosper – at first sight, it seemed like a weak, tempting target.

But on that night, I was a witness to just how capable the Equestrians were of protecting what was theirs.