Sentinel

The large sled glided near-silently along the wide, well-kept route. The Kingfisher was secured on top of said sled, and covered in the tarp. Of course, some parts were exposed, but hopefully, that would only increase the chance the bandits would pick our caravan for an ambush. The reindeer that were pulling the sled didn't show any signs of tiring or discomfort, but then again, we got the dibs on the best team, usually restricted to express deliveries and cost a ton of gold to hire. Luckily, our costs were covered by the Royal Treasury and the request was carried out post-haste. All was left to do was traverse the route and hope we get some unexpected visitors.

Heart returned from her short flight, her form winking into existence as she deactivated her armor's enchantments. Shaking her wings lightly to loosen the snow from them, she gave us her report. “Nothing so far. If they're out there, they know how to stay undetected. These aren't some wet-behind-ears mooks we're dealing with here. Whoever's in charge of this operation knows their stuff.”

Dustin grumbled in assent as he checked his crossbow. “Considering how brazenly the bastards operate here, it isn't a surprise – there ain't no hope of getting help if you get jumped all the way out here, and if somepony does escape, they're very likely to freeze to death before getting either to the start or the end of the route. Winter all-year round in these parts.” He finished, puffing out a cloud of steam as he did so.

“Makes sense. Ah'm sure ya could get real creative when choosin' a place to hide in – would only need a cave to fit out, conceal the entrance and that'd be that. We'll definitely need t'capture at least one of th'bastards.” Dustin shrugged at that.

“Sure. I can do that. Running anywhere is kind of difficult to do when you've got a crossbow bolt sticking out of your ass. And if that don't work, Heart and Nox'll be on them on a flash.” I nodded at that.

“Sounds like a plan.” I looked up, where the shimmering aurora slowly curved this way and that across the night sky. “Well, Ah'll catch a quick catnap in the meanwhile. Wake me up if anythin's going on, a'ight?” A noise of assent reached my ears and I stuffed the hat tighter on my head, and jammed my arms into my jacket's pockets as deep as they went. I might be half-Chimera, but I still felt the chill. Carefully, I leaned against the VTOL's hull as others settled down in wait...

When I woke up, I received a bit of a shock – a pair of glowing eyes were staring at me. I nearly went for my gun when I heard Nox's voice, her tone hushed. “Stay calm. We might be nearing the point of ambush. Heart thinks she saw something skulking in the woods nearby.”

“Ah see...” I whispered back, slowly sitting up.

“The rest of us are in their positions. You'll have to play bait. Hopefully, the bandits'll try to capture you first, letting us take them by surprise. Don't worry. You won't see us, but we'll be there.” With that, she slinked off, her dark fur helping the batpony blend in with the darkness. Huffing to myself, I sat up, eyeing the reindeer hitched to our sled. They spoke little, instead focusing on hauling the sled.

My head whipped to the side as I heard the cracking and splintering of wood – a hefty tree slammed down across the route, and the sled came to an abrupt halt. A brief moment passed before all hell broke loose. From both sides of the road, a mob of bandits appeared, all of them clad in armor painted in various shades of white. Everyone was clutching a weapon of some sort. The ambushers were mostly ponies, but there were quite a few griffons, Diamond Dogs, and a pair of minotaurs were there, too. Quickly, they surrounded the reindeer, while the rest swarmed around the sled itself. My attention was drawn by the braying laughter of one beefy sumbitch of a stallion.

Well, looks like this asshole was in charge around here.

“Lookie here, boys, any of ya ever see somethin' freaky as this thing?” He stomped up to me, who was doing her best to appear scared – I didn't have any reason, however. With the bandits' attention firmly on me and the sled, Siegebreaker and others were easily able to slink off towards their earlier agreed-upon positions.

“Oh, hey, dude. Nice armor you've got.” I responded. That seemed to throw him for a loop and his brain – which was the size of a pea, I imagined – spat out a lame 'Thanks'.

“No problem. Gotta love hand-me-downs, right?” A snicker swept through the mob at the words. Big Moron was less enthused about my joke and backhanded, er, backhoofed me. Rubbing my jaw, I gave him a wicked smile. “That one's on the house. Next one's going to cost you.” He cocked his head sideways at that.

“Oh? Izzat so, you freaky thing?”

“Mhm.” He went to hit me again, but failed to do so, on the account of a crossbow bolt lodged in his foreleg. He stared at the shiny bolt for a couple of moments before letting out the most unmanly shriek and started hopping around.

“MRUOOOOOGH!” One of the minotaurs let out a colossal bellow as his ass caught on fire. That was when Siegebreaker and Windwaker charged into the mob, and began to wail on them. With the bandits forgotten about me, I grabbed my Folsom and bashed the closest bandit in the face with the rifle's stock before putting some distance between me and his compatriots. A crackling lightning bolt leapt from somewhere nearby, zapping several of the bandits senseless.

Someone else might've had a doubt or two bout killing a pony. Hell, even I was initially going to try and knock these bastards unconscious. But when you see a bunch of 'em rushing at you, swinging swords, clubs, axes and the like, your survival instinct kicks in pretty quickly. I brought my rifle up and snapped off a couple of shots, savouring the kick of the weapon – it'd been ages since I'd last used it. Three bandits fell over in the snow, just as the rest of our group made themselves known – Heart and Nox swept in from above, and Harmonics landed amidst the rabble, knocking them over with some sort of concussive spell.

And then the reindeer joined in, starting to bash the bandits relentlessly with short wooden clubs and tossing them around with their horns. I would later find out that the bunch we hired to haul our sled was trained how to fight. The top sled teams were well looked after, and as valuable assets, were taught how to defend themselves. Using the general chaos of the melee that just began, they'd retrieved their weapons and joined in on the fun. There were more than enough bandits to go around, after all.

Oh, what's this, then? The big one was trying to slink away unnoticed, but was less than successful, what with the crossbow bolt lodged into his foreleg. Can't have that, now can we? Grinning to myself, I followed him, making a mental note of where the caravan route was.

The hunt was on.

“HOME-FREAKING-RUUUUN!” Siegebreaker hollered at the top of her lungs as she swung her maul, knocking a screaming bandit high into the sky. Chuckling to herself, she turned to look at her daughter, who was duelling with a bandit wielding a nasty-looking flail. With a masterful flourish, Windwaker batted the weapon aside, driving her halberd into the bandit's chest. Pulling it out, she swung behind her, sending another would-be ambusher spinning away with a splash of blood. Thunder Charge and Burning Ember were doling out lightning bolts and fireballs like it was Heart's Warming Eve.

Nox and Heart were a whirling flurry of blades, dodging the bandits' every attempt to strike them down, yet left many a lifeless body in their wake. Dustin was nowhere to be seen, yet crossbow bolts whistled from seemingly nowhere, grounding the griffons and pegasi that tried to escape. Harmonics was in her element, parrying attacks with her staff and blasting the bandits away with her sound spells.

Summer was in the thick of it, fighting in her preferred style using a shortsword and a shield. She didn't use any flashy tricks, but she got the job done, blocking attacks, parrying and feinting with the ease of a well-oiled machine. The reindeer were also chipping in, taking down any would-be escapers – she was thankful for their help. The group that ambushed them was certainly bigger than what any of the other caravaneers had described.

The bastards must have a schmuck feeding them info from the inside. No way this is a coincidence.

Huffing to herself, Siegebreaker heard a loud bellow and jumped to side just in time to avoid the blade of a minotaur's battleaxe. With him came the smell of well done bacon, something she found both gross and humorous at the same time. Accepting the unspoken challenge, she hefted her maul and charged straight at the berserking minotaur. With a grunt, she swung the heavy weapon, blocking her opponent's blow. A small jab of pain lanced up her horn as she pushed back and struck in return. The minotaur was no fool, however, and leapt back, avoiding a bone-crushing blow and sent another ferocios blow her way. Rather than fully absorbing the strength behind the battleaxe, she parried, leaving her opponent wide open for a counterattack. The muscles in her hindlegs bunched as she launched herself forward. Her maul connected with the minotaur's chin, sending him sprawled on his back. Roaring something profane, the burly unicorn swung her weapon down, turning the hapless bandit's head into a gory mess.

As she stood up, she noticed the overall lack of noise. The snow was soaked with blood, and littered with the dead, all of whom were bandits. The reindeer hadn't lost any of their number, but several were nursing wounds. The rest of her team were also unharmed, and herded up the survivors of the ill-fated ambush. As silence set in, Siegebreaker realised something.

“Hey, anypony know where Alice is at?”

“Now, Ah'm going t'ask again. Where's yer damn hideout? You're only makin' this harden on yerself, ol' buddy ol' pal.” I spoke, holding my combat knife an inch away from the hogtied stallion's knee. “Ya tell me where the rest of your buddies are an' Ah won't pop yer goddamn knee off.” To drive the point home, I poked where the joint was with my knife. Sadly, he was... less than cooperative and spat at me. “Oh, man, ya really shouldn't've done that.” With a forceful stab, the tempered steel blade slid between his knee bones. With enough strength, I could shred the tendons and muscles holding his knee together, effectively ensuring he'd never be able to use that limb ever again.

Biting back a scream, he growled out, his voice thick with saliva. “F-fuck you...! My friends'll be here soon and yer gonna pay for this!”

“Ah don't think so. We're all alone here, it's almost romantic. Either way, Ah've got 'nuff ammo for all o' ya.” I twisted the knife slightly, putting some pressure on the limb and he yelped in pain. “Ya hear that? That's th'sound of yer knee comin' apart. Now, if ya don't give me directions, Ah'll make sure ya get buried missin' half a foreleg. So, which one is it goin' t'be?” The smell of blood made my heart race, my Chimeran side surfacing for a moment – all of a sudden, I didn't see a source of information. I saw prey. Food.

And I felt mighty hungry, too.

Summer stood upward as she heard three distant cracks. “Anypony else hear that?”

Dustin shrugged as he strode around the bloodied battlefield, recovering the crossbow bolts he'd fired during the fighting. “I guess so. Nox, go over and see what's going on there. Heart, back her up, just in case.” The batpony nodded and took to air, followed by the fiery-maned pegasus.

Catching up to Nox, Heart spoke to her. “You see anything?”

“No. I do smell blood, however. Somepony came through here a while ago.” Nox swept down, to closer inspect the trail she'd just smelled. In the dark, her keen eyes soon proved useful.

“Look! Hoofprints. And more blood. Looks like somepony's been limping through here a while ago. And there's more hoofprints. They look really odd, however. I guess now we know where Alice went off to. Let's keep following this trail, see where it leads us to. Might even find our way to the bandits' hideout.”

“I guess it can't hurt to try. Lead the way, Nox.” Nox nodded and they both landed quietly, the flaky snow crackling under their hooves as they followed the tracks, ever alert for anything out of the ordinary.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Nox stopped, her ears swivelling around as she tried to locate the source of the noise. A moment later, she hurriedly cantered off in a direction, with Heart following her. “We're getting closer. Shouldn't be much further.” Heart made an agreeing noise as they trekked onwards.

I looked up at the sound of two sets of hooves, and grinned at Heart and Nox. “Hey, there, girls. Look what Ah've got.” I gestured to the unconscious, hogtied stallion lying nearby. “Me an' my friend here had a lil' chat. Hope ya don't mind Ah snuck off like that. Everyone else alright?” Heart chuckled briefly at that.

“Yeah, we're all fine and dandy. The reindeer got a bit banged up, but nothing some healing can't handle. So, you say you got him to talk? Nice.”

“Yep. Told me everythin' about their precious lil' hideout there was to know and then some.” Nox hummed to herself for a moment before speaking up.

“So what do we do with him? Do we take him with us or leave him?”

“Well, Ah'd be all fer leavin' this bastard to freeze to death. But Ah'm feelin' mighty merciful today. Let the reindeer take 'im with any other stragglers that y'all have back there.” Heart chuckled briefly at that.

“Not much of a mercy, that. I doubt the reindeer'll be much more charitable than you. But it's exactly what he deserves. Him and the rest of those schmucks have been running unchecked for too long. The caravan route is their main source of income and things that are difficult to come by, like medicine.”

“We're agreed, then. Let's get this sumbitch back to th'caravan, and go greet his buddies in style.” I chuckled, and the two mares nodded in return as we began to drag our captive back to the sled.

Mightee Kludge perked his ears up as the echo of a distant roar reached him. The rest of his boys also noticed it – they'd been waiting for quite a while, out in the snow, for the ambush party to return. Some thought they'd been taken down. Most thought that their target was exceptionally big, moreso than their informant had hinted at. But this roar... was it some sort of valuable beast they'd acquired?

He got his answer soon enough when an odd metal contraption swept into view from ahead, nearly scraping the treetops as it descended and his heart stopped for a moment – his boys had outdone themselves! What an odd flying carriage this was! Now they'd be able to ply their trade across a much wider area.

His musings were interrupted by a loud rattle and he saw two blooms of light in the carriage's front. Immediately, twin streaks of buzzing projectiles mowed down several of his boys, their blood splashing across the ground. The machine roared past, banking to side as it came about and then he saw three letters on its side – RAF. A moment later, 'RAF' chattered again, spitting death as more of the boys crumpled into bloodied heaps. The thing came to a halt just meters away, and a door slid open from its side, letting out a group of heavily-armed ponies who wasted no time laying waste to his boys. He unsheathed his sword, but that was far as he got, on the account of a steel-tipped crossbow bolt burying itself between his eyes. He was dead before he hit the ground.

“Anything wrong, Alice?” Siegebreaker inquired as we flew away from Bellwake. Our mission had gone flawlessly. We'd sacked the bandits' hideout, freed the captives, reclaimed everything that had been stolen, and sent the surviving bandits off to Bellwake for their just sentence - under the watchful eye of the reindeer, of course. All in all, it was a textbook op.

“Nah, not really.” I sighed thoughtfully, but the mare wasn't having any of that, apparently.

“I know what you're thinkin' – itty bitty ponies have bandits and other lowlifes among them. Well, you may or may not know this, but the Princesses can't be everywhere at once. Equestria's too big nowadays for that, and there're folk that'll look the other way if they're given enough bits. And that's where we come in – to be the big damn heroes that stop the bad, exploiting bastards.”

“Good, but no cigar.” I chuckled for a moment. “Ah was a soldier b'fore this whole deal, too. A real good one, too. But you can only see that much people die before you throw in the towel, ya know? Ah'm sure Ah had a good chance at joinin' up with yer Guard, but Ah'm kinda tired of soldierin'. Want t'have some peace, y'know? The things Ah've witnessed are enough to drive anyone insane.” I finished, and found out that my hands were shaking a bit. Sighing, I gripped the controls tighter. Once again, Siegebreaker took note of that.

“Must've been some pretty nasty shit to put you off like that.”

You don't know the half of it.

“Pretty much, yeah. But Ah made a deal with the Princesses an' if there's one thing Ah'm good at, it's keepin' my word. It's a personal matter, so Ah hope you'll understand if Ah don't go into any details 'bout it.” Letting out a slight hum, she nodded.

“Then I won't bother ya 'bout it any more. Nonetheless, you did good back there. I'm lookin' forward to working with ya in the future.” I smiled wanly at that.

“Same here, Siegebreaker.”

“Oh, just kiss already, you two.” Windwaker popped up from behind my seat, startling the two of us. I took a moment to get over the small heart attack before responding at the mare.

“Oh, fuck you. Real frickin' funny, startling your pilot.”

Oh, brain, why do you betray me so? Someone like Windwaker would find a way to retort to those words. And retort she did.

“Name the time and place, babe.” She winked at me saucily. In response, I waggled the Kingfisher's wings, sending the cocky mare to the floor in an undignified tangle of limbs, seeing as she'd yet to find her sky legs. Siegebreaker smirked good-naturedly as she sat there.

“Kids these days...”

As before, Luna was waiting for us as the VTOL touched down on the impromptu landing pad. Soon as we got out of the aircraft, she came over to us.

“You have done well. The bandits have been taken care of and the route is safe to use once more. The greedy scumbag who was cooperating with them has been apprehended and it is not likely he will see daylight anytime soon. Your rewards have been transferred to your respective bank accounts. For now, you are dismissed, but know that you will be called upon to aid with sensitive matters in the future.” She nodded to us and took off after that.

“Well, I guess that's that, then.” I sighed, stretching out a little as the long trip finally caught up with me. All of a sudden, I felt pretty worn out, and, if the gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach was anything to go by, I needed to take an inhibitor shot soon. “Guess Ah'll see you lot whenever the Princesses come a-knockin'.” Their goodbyes reached my ears as I climbed back into the Kingfisher. Had to get this thing back to Sweet Apple Acres, then take a cab back to my place, and have a long, dreamless (hopefully) sleep.

Doing what more or less counted as mercenary work for pastel-colored ponies was not how I'd imagined my life working out, now that I thought about it.