Fallout Equestria: The Ranger of Seamane

Chapter 23 – A Walk In The Hills

“This hoof of mine is BURNING RED! It's loud roar tells me to grasp victory! Wait how do I grasp things with a hoof?!”

I woke up to the familiar smell of apple whiskey and Rose. I figured we must be in New Appleloosa, it was after all the only place I knew that had apple whiskey.

        I felt an itch on the inside of my hind leg and went to scratch it only to yelp in pain as I got shocked instead as my hoof touched my coat. I opened my eyes and saw that the powerhoof I had taken from the pegasus yesterday was still on my hoof. I shook my head, and went to remove it. I found that I could not. I blinked in dumb confusion as I tried again and again to remove it, the strain was woke up what of my mind that still lingered in the land of sleep.

        “What the hell... did somepony put wonderglue on this thing?” I groggily cursed as I attempted to pull the powerhoof off. I struggled for a few more minutes before finally giving up. I turned to see a amused yet tired Rose watching me.

        “I didn't have any more luck than you at getting it off your hoof. I also think you should take a closer look before giving it another go.” Rose said with a frown and moved to stifle another yawn.

        “Can you give me some light then, this boxcar isn't the brightest place in Equestria, you know?” I replied as I leveled my leg in front of my muzzle for closer examination. With the light I cringed a little as I examined my right hoof. What I found was a fusion of flesh and metal. I tested it with my left hoof to disturbingly find I could feel through the metal as if it were flesh.

        “I don't think we can remove it, at least not without having to replace a good part of your leg.” Rose quietly explained.

         I stretched my right fore leg out and flexed it checking for any loss of mobility or strength. “Ironically, I would probably have the replacement have a built in powerhoof.” I let out a sigh as I dropped my right leg to hang beside me. “Well, that is what I get for deciding to be adventurous.”

        “Well, it doesn't hurt or anything right?” Rose asked as she hugged me.

        “Only when I absentmindedly touch myself with it.” I offered up leaning into Rose. “You know what I mean.” I added with a roll of my eyes.

        “I do, now rest, you and Anabel were out late last night. She informed us about what happened, mostly. She mentioned something about you fighting a thing that should not have been. She also mentioned you made certain it was unmade by your hoof, so at least you did something worthwhile.” Rose softly said as she stroked my mane.

        “Yeah, just wished it hadn't been because of me that pegasus had to experience that. It is one thing to kill somepony, it is another to cause them to turn into something horrific. At least now his soul is at peace.” I replied. “I don't feel awful for it, it was a accident after all, and in the end he ended up dead just like I had planned. So really, I don’t feel bad about it at all, I had intended to kill him.”

        “You don't have to justify every death you cause.” Rose whispered as she nuzzled me.

        “I know. I know. Still though, bugs me that, that happened instead of the taint just killing him or making him mutate a bit. Becoming a giant birdlike monstrosity is a bit... weird. I think that is what I am hung up on. I mean who cares if I kill somepony trying to kill me?” I explained as I rested my head against Rose.

        Rose nodded then spoke. “Anabel said that it might have been due to that was where a lot of ponies were hiding when the world blew up. I would guess that the taint needed something alive to bind all the rest of them to. Thinking about it, I have never heard of taint mutating anything that was dead.” Rose stated, as she rested her head atop of my own with the look of deep thought flickering across her face before vanishing as she returned to nuzzling me.

        “That... I guess would mean it just was waiting for something to come along and be a host for it.” I shivered as the thought of taint having some sort of intelligence behind it crossed my mind. “Too many slimes and goo’s have intelligence behind them for my tastes already, lets just hope it was a fluke.”

        “Hopefully that is all it was. At least you came out more or less in one piece and other than a powerhoof glued to your leg you're completely fine.” Rose said as she drew me closer.

        “I just have to get used to it, still disturbing that I can feel through it.” I said as I looked up at Rose after holding out my leg and turning it around to look at it some more. “Hopefully it won't be too much of a problem.”

        “Only time will tell. Oh, I asked Calamity about your revolvers and he managed to do a bit of work on them. He also told me that you should keep an eye out for rifles that use the same ammo as well as three fifty seven revolvers for parts.” Rose said as we laid back down. “Anyways, we should get some more sleep it is a long walk to Old Appleloosa in the morning.”

        “Yeah I still feel tired and thanks for talking to him for me about my revolvers. I was worried I might have to find something to replace them with soon.” I yawned as I closed my eyes. “Well until morning lets rest up. I imagine you're tired from doing that taint purge spell as well.”

        All I got was a quiet murmur from Rose before I drifted back off into sleep once more.

        Without much effort we gathered together at the gate out of New Appleloosa. We had a bit of a hike ahead of us to get to Old Appleloosa then quite a long one to get to Colt. After all the Macintosh Hills where not so much hills as they were mountains. We also were going to have to be more careful as this was once again an area where Red Eye had a decent influence on everyone. While New Appleloosa wasn't directly loyal to him, they weren't against him. So it was with haste and wariness we made our way south once more.

        “Oh to hell with it I am going to just keep walking, I know a place or two ahead that is safe for me to bunker down in for the night.” I muttered as I bid the rest of my companions farewell for the night. They would be in Old Appleloosa while I hiked outside of the place and found someplace up ahead on the trail to keep warm for the night.

        'It was your own plan to have it this way.' Doubt said as I marched through the cold snow into the hills that mark the beginning of the Macintosh Hills.

        “Oh I know it was my plan, that is why I dislike it even more. My plans have a habit of going hooves up at the tip of a hat.” I cursed as I crested a hill to see the next taller set.

        'Really? Then maybe you should pay attention to your E.F.S.' Doubt suggested without a hint of humor in her disembodied voice.

        I cursed under my breath as I realized my E.F.S. was off at the moment and quickly turned it on. Turning it on had been the right course of action as I saw a number of red bars milling about ahead of me. I turned my head around and spotted more behind me.

        “A patrol? Or maybe they are something not so intelligent... Wolves perhaps? They do hunt in packs...” I muttered as I began looking for a way to hide from my potential attackers. Fortunately I had already donned the lab coat and my ballistic mask. I was thankful the ballistic mask was white for the most part and then half buried myself under the snow. I kept my left hoof on my silenced markspony rifle under me that I had managed to pick up in New Appleloosa. Somepony in New Appleloosa had thankfully wanted to trade their markspony rifle for my assault carbine. I was inclined to offer it up as it would give me the range that I so sorely needed after getting rid of the broken battle rifle.

        So I laid half buried in the cold snow listening to the foot falls of the red tags as they approached. I watched doing my best to control my heartbeat as several ponies walked past. They weren't looking for me, but, they were moving south to join the other red tags I had seen. They were marching towards Seamane, my home. I winced as one walked over me, however, they didn't stop to inspect what they had stepped on. Once they had moved past I stood up slowly and made my way after them.

        As I began to follow these ponies I noticed after they met up they then broke into several smaller teams. Each team headed to a different pass towards the Badlands and the main trail that lead between Old Appleloosa and Colt. I choose one group and began to follow them, keeping a good distance back in the dead forest. Tonight was a walk in the woods, following, and hopefully figuring out why a good number of armed and organized ponies were headed towards Seamane. My mind slowly fell into an analytical mindset as I followed this group, trying to glean anything from how they moved or catch as whisper on the wind.

        I followed them, stalking them as if they were my prey, but, I did not strike. I needed to know where they were going, find out why they were going to Colt and possibly further into the Seamane Region itself. Any large number of ponies headed for my home was suspect and needed to be accounted for. I may not be able to get my hooves on large numbers of ponies to back me, but, I could gather information on them, their movements, and their motivations. I also, with a flip of a switch could bring down silent death upon them tonight. I could even get ahead of them and place explosives and take them out with the flip of a different switch. However, what I needed was not corpses, not yet at least. No, information was more valuable than gold to me, and gold was far more worthwhile than corpses.

        Half an hour into the stalking I had managed to continue eluding their senses. This bunch were a rather dedicated and silent lot. It reminded me of how quiet trips with my companions could be. A few minutes of idle chatter here and there, but, most of the time we were looking for threats or had something on our mind to think about on our own. Mostly it as threats as I had a fat bounty on my head. Though, that did tend to make traveling by hoof far more interesting, and generally we could leave one town travel a few days and by the time we got to the next town be up to our ears in loot of bandits, raiders, and bounty hunters who crossed our path. Really it was quite healthy for our caps bags.

        As the night wore on I felt my strength never leave me. Something was driving away the exhaustion I should have felt in my body. Instead the only part of me that seemed to get exhausted was my mind. As such from time to time I took a No Doze to keep my mind focused. I was thankful that these things didn't so much enhance your perception or intelligence, but, instead batted away the annoying parts of exhaustion, unlike Mint-Als. However, also unlike Mint-Al's they were not as effective after the first dose, they became less effective with each use until you let them run out of your system. From what I saw left on the label it was due to they were pretty much just pure caffeine.

        While this group wasn't rushing ahead or trying to lose me I was keeping my distance from them and from time to time lost sight of them. When I had reestablished line of sight they had come to a stop and by the looks of it they were stopping for the evening. It made me wonder where they were coming from that just now would they stop.

        They had stopped in a clearing and two were setting up a campfire. I climbed up a tree in the mean time perching myself with my legs giving me support as I leaned my back against the trunk of the tree. I held my markspony rifle in my mouth using the scope to keep an eye on my quarry. For the second time this week I had several targets in my view who didn't know I was there, and I could easily take them out with the pull of the trigger. Once again though, I had no reason to just pick them off, even though a voice in the back of my mind told me to do it. To just give in to the bloodshed. I could take what information I wanted off of their bodies. Nopony would miss them, they were out here on their own, I had a suppressed rifle and the snow would dampen the sound as well as the trees around us.

        I decided against it, keeping the fire selector on safe instead of any of the other settings. I wasn't about to accidentally shoot somepony. No, shooting ponies, or anything was for when my life or someone else's life was on the line. I would not let blood lust take me again. I had started down that road and would fight my way away from it with all my might. So for now that I had silenced the blood lusting voice I had kept hearing. Now though the cold voice I remembered from back in Raiderville was whispering to me. The cold calculating side of me that Dad had ingrained into me. I kept hearing the count of targets and the count of rounds in my gun.

        'Twenty One.' It whispered softly in my head as I scanned over one of the ponies I was observing. 'Center of mass, nothing fancy.'

        'Shut up, I don't need to go from one extreme to another.' I chided myself. Honestly I really didn't need to go from the extreme of being a thoughtless murderous berserker to being a cold calculating killer. I had seen what both could do in combat. They had their place, but, I did not want to be either. I wanted the calm of the calculator, but, I wanted the adrenaline of the berserker. I didn't want the thirst for blood they both had.

        So once again I was sitting in the cold, unmoving, watching, hiding. I was fighting with myself to keep from letting loose in one fashion or another. These ponies, while red on my E.F.S. didn't have a reason to kill me other than I was here without them knowing it. They were marked hostile only due to they were hostile to likely anything they didn't automatically recognize as friendly. Since I was not dead, being shot at, or captured, that meant they didn't know I was here.

        I let out a breath of air, marveling as it froze in the air in my night vision goggles view. I had continued to watch and listen to these ponies as they made camp. This group, a group of six ponies, were settling down for the night. They kept watch just like any other well organized group would.

        I kept my ears open and eyes on my E.F.S. I knew I wasn't the stealthiest of ponies, but, being in a place where nopony would look is a good start for keeping hidden. Though it wasn't hard to keep hidden when nopony was looking for you. However, since I was keeping an eye out for anything, I did notice something odd. A seventh red bar was moving in towards the group, I swung my rifle in it's direction to see an armored figure like the rest. I cursed at no longer having an eight times magnification that the battle rifle had, still though the three times zoom was good enough for a designated markspony rifle.

        This group at first I considered odd. Each pony had a different armor configuration, all based off of the standard issue combat armor. Their leader, at least I figured he was their leader, had armor which upon it I saw a good number of pouches and some pre war radio equipment, for the most part his armor was a faded blue. I also noticed that every single one of them had similar radio equipment on them, though smaller than the leaders. I figured it was for longer range communication. Their leader carried a simple markspony rifle with no modifications and a few grenades, nothing fancy really.

        Next was a pony I assumed to be more of a close quarters type pony. He had a rather large knife that lay on the point that I would almost call it a small sword. He had heavier armor than their commander and favored a combat shotgun as well as a lot more grenades. On the shoulder of his armor I saw the hand painted or carved symbol of a screaming skull. I got the feeling I wouldn't want to tangle with him anytime soon. His armor was grey for the most part beyond a few red highlights.

        The seventh pony who was now sitting down by the fire was in what looked like slightly slimmed down combat armor which was a faded green with a bit of camouflage netting around the collar and back. I saw a few more pouches than normal on it as well as his rather intimidating sniper rifle slung across his back. I also noticed a few pouches carrying the all too familiar plastic explosives that Anabel carried. As I observed him I swore he stared right at me, as he did I noticed his tag turned blue, which worried me far more. He made no moves and his muzzle sat shut. If he had made me, he wasn't worried about my existence.

        The next two were odd. They lay back to back, head to hoof in full armor. I couldn't tell whether they were male or female or what brand of pony they were. Hay, I couldn't even see their coats. As it was, both carried a single assault rifle. Both had dark grey armor and were fast asleep. From the looks of it they were either quite close friends or related as I rarely saw ponies with tails entwined who weren't so close.

        I bristled as the next pony got up to take her turn on watch. She was missing a leg and had what looked to be a rather crude cybernetic leg in place of where her leg used to be. From shoulder down it was metal. What got me was the skeletal construction of it, it was thinner than I would have expected. Yet her cybernetic leg still had armor on it where the armor plates of combat armor would normally sit. She was armed with only a high power pistol, it looked modified in some fashion that I could not discern from this range. The rest of her equipment looked to be focused on hacking and fixing.

        As their leader and the close combat pony went to sleep I finally got a good look at the final member of this team. He was a big stallion and well armored. His combat armor looked more like it was on its way to being Steel Ranger armor over just simple modifications to combat armor. What was truly terrifying was his one weapon. I could read on the ammo box that was on the side of his battle saddle that it was a heavy machine gun that fired twelve point seven millimeter rounds. I knew that if I did have to piss off this group he and the sniper would be the first to have to go down. Their range and firepower would shred me with little hope of survival.

        Then again, I wasn't planning on pissing this group off. I just wanted information. Still I found it amusing to see another team of ponies out here in the wasteland who were so diverse in load out. Generally when I saw groups of ponies you would have a pretty uniform batch of equipment if they were not raiders or bandits. Though bandits did seem to try to keep similar weapons to one another, probably due to being sane enough to try to make finding ammo and parts as easy as possible for themselves.

        I kept watch on the group as the night wore on. Not moving wasn't helping my mind keep awake and alert like I needed it to be. So I continued to take the No Doze that I had on me. I wasn't going to let myself fall asleep in a tree. The two reasons for that were rather obvious as I didn't want to fall to the ground while asleep and probably hurt or kill myself. Seriously going out like that would be pathetic. The second was I didn't want to get caught or spotted by my quarry.

        Time slowly passed and morning was fast approaching. I skirted around their camp and began moving east southeast along the path I expected them to take. As I waited to make certain I had picked the right path I saw the sniper pony on his own on a hill above me sitting crouched down with his rifle. I marveled at the rifle in the brighter light. It was obviously well cared for as well as obviously having been used for a long time. Once again I thought I had been made by the sniper pony as he looked in my direction and paused for a moment before looking away and moving off. Before he did though I caught his mouth moving, likely to communicate something.

        I tinge of worry ran through me as I realized he might have reported my existence to the rest of his group. I double timed it ahead to the next area that I would go to for looking ahead like the sniper pony was doing. I had wagered that he as more of a tracker than just a plain sniper. More likely than not he had grown up hunting or something along those lines. It made me even more curious as to exactly how this little group had gotten together. From the bits of interaction I had seen they seemed tight knit though not without some internal friction.

        I had decided not to go to where I would go for spotting if I was the sniper pony. Instead I went to a tertiary look out point and kept an eye on the other two locations. Not to my surprise the sniper pony himself showed up at my location. This time though I had taken my time to hide myself and observed a fair bit closer as the stallion checked the trail ahead.

        “This is Noble Three to Noble One, copy?” Noble Three said into his radio.

        There was a pause as I assumed he go into contact with his leader.

        “All clear, looks like our tail got spooked and went to ground. Proceed with caution, over.” Noble Three said. I looked at him to see on the shoulder pad facing me the name Mighty Zeal painted on it.

        'Team Noble, with seven members and this, Mighty Zeal being Noble Three. Well, at least my trip to Colt will be interesting. Now then, how about you lead me to where your little team is going. There has to be a reason for you to be out here away from the more well traveled trails through the Macintosh Hills.' I mused to myself in my mind as Three pulled away to go to the next look out point.

        I gave him a few minutes to get ahead of me, knowing my silent gallop and light step would be enough to give me the cover I needed within the dead forest to catch up to him or keep up with his team.

        I took a step and saw a mine, live and set. I knew it hadn't been there when I set myself down in my observation area.

        “Well I'll be...” I muttered realizing it was a not so subtle hint that Three had taken notice of me and my location. I disarmed it and walked off leaving it behind. If there was a timer in it I would be well away before it detonated. If not, well somepony some day would get a nice little prize out of it. As it was, I now was playing a game of cat and mouse with this Noble Three. For some reason it made me smile.

        A few minutes after I moved off I heard an explosion from the clearing we had been in. The mine had been set to a timer, Noble Three hadn't been certain if I was actually there or not. That was a good sign in that I had managed to not get spotted, it was also bad as that meant he knew suspected I was still following.

        “Well then, lets keep up with our quarry.” I muttered to the dead wood, the steam from my speech drifting away with the gentle breeze as I darted off, this time further out to a vantage point for the pass that the group would be passing through in a while.

        As I sat in wait I began practicing an illusion spell that had caught my eye while studying from a grimoire had produced before the war. It was in principle like a stealthbuck or a zebra stealth cloak. However, I didn't quite understand how to do it and found that it only lasted at most a minute or two and the more I moved the faster it faded. Still though, the ability to go invisible, with great strain, was worthwhile.

        As I lay in place with my DMR resting firmly in my mouth I watched the group as I had predicted head into the pass. While this had not been the pass I took any of the times going through the Macintosh Hills it was still rather safe for a less used one.

        Suddenly they stopped and pressed themselves against the walls of the pass making them vanish from my view and I looked to see the cause. After a few moments of searching the sky I saw the reason. Anabel was flying around. I cast my active camouflage spell and moved off a ways to where the group while in the mountain pass shouldn't be able to spot me then I dropped the spell.

        Anabel took only a little longer to spot me and quickly dove out of the sky and to me side.

        “Sorry about not meeting up with everyone else. A group of ponies passed by me as I was making my way to someplace safe to stay for the night. So I followed them, this is one of a few groups heading through the less traveled passes towards Colt. Apparently this batch calls themselves Noble Team.” I explained with a shrug as the sky started to fill with the signs of another snow flurry.

        “Alright, well I spotted on the main trail a rather large caravan headed towards Colt. Looks like something is getting ready to happen back in your neck of the woods.” Anabel explained as we took shelter in a rocky outcropping.

        “Interesting, either this group is a strike group, or they are sending ponies to keep the other passes clear of threats while moving along the trail. One way or another I suspect we will know in a few hours what the deal is.” I yawned as I moved to take another No Doze.

        “You haven't slept have you?” Anabel said as she caught sight of the No Doze in those unreadable avian eyes. “Rose warned me that you might be pushing yourself again.”

        I took the No Doze before giving Anabel a sideways glance. “So what if I am? We have something that demands attention at our nose. At least demands mine. I know you are in it for the prewar facilities and what not, but, I still have my goals.”

        “That isn't why I am glaring.” Anabel flatly stated as she moved to press herself against the wall.

        Then I noticed it, a blue tag on my E.F.S.

        “Right, we have company. They're blue, let me do the talking, if that fails, well. Stun grenade.” I explained as I stood where I would be most visible to our visitor.

        “So there you are White Rabbit.” Noble Three called out as he walked out of snow into the limited protection of the outcropping.

        “Hello Noble Three, I guess you spotted me from the pass.” I said as I offered him a place to sit a bit further in.

        “No, I spotted your friend. I imagine she is still here as I didn’t spot her leaving.” Noble Three calmly said sitting down on his haunches.

        “Alright, well no matter how you came to know my location. Why are you here?” I pressed, feeling that social niceties had been taken care of for now.

        “Well, I could ask the same question. I guess you’re a lot better at sneaking around than I expected seeing as you know my call sign.” Noble Three laughed, surprising me with how trusting he was being.

        “How about I give you an answer then you answer my question?” I offered, he nodded. “I was headed back to Colt after spending some time up North. I was headed south and I am not particularly liked in Old Appleloosa so I was just pushing past during the night. I managed to bump into one of your friends and proceeded to follow you. As for why, well, simple, whenever a large number of armed ponies go anywhere it is a good idea to know why.”

        “Alright, we were hired to keep the hills safe while some materials got moved.” Noble Three supplied. I frowned at the simple answer, but, I knew it was within our rules for filling our agreement. “What is your name, or do you wish to have me simply refer to you as White Rabbit?”

        I kept myself from scowling as personally I wanted to keep my name quite, yet, giving out my name might elicit more information from him even if it was just gauging his reaction. “Moonlight, the Ranger of Seamane.”

        We sat there looking at one another as he just quietly looked at me. I heard something though, this time being so close I could hear the radio in his ear.

        “Noble Three, keep her there. If possible ascertain whether or not she is a threat to the convoy.” I heard who I assumed to be Noble One say.

        “You know I can hear him, right?” I grinned, his warm smile faltered for a moment. “As for the convoy, depends on what it is doing, and I am going to find out one way or another what is going on with that convoy. As for whether or not something happens to the convy, well if they pose a threat to Saint Clover, Dune City, Colt, or specifically to anyone I know, including myself... Well that might be a problem.”

        We both tensed as we sat there looking at one another. His friends were on their way, and if they had heard what I just said they would be probably be rushing. Thankfully I wasn't alone in this situation, then again, I wouldn't be in this situation if it hadn't been for Anabel, so her presence was a mixed blessing.

        “I see direct action might be needed.” Noble Three slowly stated.

        “Isn't it always?” I chuckled before kicking his forelegs out from under him before he could move to grab his rifle.

        “FUCKING RUN!” I shouted as I booked it past where Anabel had been in hiding, the look on her face was of pure amusement.

        A few minutes of running later I was standing on a bluff catching my breath. Anabel had taken off and flown towards the rest of the group after getting high enough that the falling snow blocked out the view of her. I sat on my haunches breathing hard, a steady stream of steam escaping my muzzle. My plan to run had worked for now. Though I knew if they looked for tracks they would eventually  find me, even with having Anabel carry me for the first bit after we got a good distance away. Still, I should be fine for a little while, I let out a gasp of breath and fell onto my back laying in the snow.

        I had, yet again, accidentally set off another group of ponies to want my head. I facehoofed as my failure at conversation hit me full force.

        “You really screwed up this time, Moonlight.” I bemoaned. “Really, couldn't have spared a moment or two to properly figure out what you were going to say?”

        I shook my head and let out an exasperated sigh. “So now what? We have a team after my tail until the caravan is safe. The caravan is headed to Colt, which is where I’m headed. I am going to have to go find some place to sit tight for a while aren't I?”

        I sat up and shook the snow out of my mane. “Back to where I killed the Wendigo, at least that has shelter, Ruby knows where it is too.”

        I stood up and started back on the route east, for about ten seconds as I reached the edge of the bluff I was on. “Right, how the fuck do I get there if the passes are being watched?”

        I grimaced as the solution showed itself to me. I was going to have to go ice climbing, in a snowstorm. “Seriously... I need to stop pissing people off, it is bad for my health.”

        What was also bad for my health was climbing sheer rock faces in a snowstorm. Another thing that was bad for my health was falling from said sheer rock faces. Also climbing without climbing gear, and in general being a idiot about finding a path over the mountain. I probably would have had better luck randomly jumping up a steep hill than actually trying to climb.

        Eventually I remembered I had magic and simply floated my way up. Compared to months ago when I had used my magic to keep me from turning into a pancake from falling above the clouds this was nothing. The strain was laughable at best and in no time I had made it to a higher portion of the mountain. Although I had lost a fair bit of time on my idiotic attempts at climbing.

        “Well that was a waste of time and energy.” I muttered to myself as the snow flurry died down and I got a good view of the valley below me. I blinked as it hit me what I was seeing, and where I was.

        I marveled at the view of the Badlands from high above. “Well... I just climbed Mount Macintosh...”

        I was suddenly aware of another presence and whirled to look where my senses told me it was. I saw a pony entombed in ice, in positively ancient armor. However, my senses were telling me that wasn't what I was looking for. I then realized my sense that I was feeling was not that of the typical ones. It was an additional sense, I felt something, a presence. I looked around seeing nothing before simply closing my eyes to see what would happen next.

        To my surprise nothing happened.

        “Well that was anti-climatic.” I sighed as I opened my eyes. I moved to examine the long forgotten pony in armor. Looking at them they were surprisingly well preserved, I would have imagined all the atomic Balefire having melted ever bit of ice below the Frozen North beyond the Crystal Empire. I frowned as I looked at the entombed soul. “You deserve to be buried, not locked in a icy prison for all of time.”

        With that I focused my magic and began the slow process of melting the ice. Minutes went by as I warmed up, and became worn down from the effort. Finally the body was free and I caught them in my magic before they could collapse to the ground. I hoisted him onto my back strapping the sword he had with him to my side.

        His sword was quite the elegant weapon, from a far more civilized age than even the great war. His armor I was uncertain of the origin of. Hell looking at it I could almost taste the magic in it. Which begged the question of why was he up there, and when had he come to rest there. I decided to think about it as I began my descent.

As I skied down the mountainside with my magic, go, go cheating unicorn magic powers, my mind was firmly fixed on the question of if his armor and weapon were so old, how could they retain their magics? There were very few items I had ever heard of retaining their enchantments over that long of time. Yes there were talismans, but, this wasn't that. I knew I would need to sit down and look harder at the armor and weapon later. I also knew I would be burying this body without their possessions. Yes it was disrespectful, but, dammit I was curious about this oddity.

        As I came to a stop to figure out which way to go next I was greeted by a sight that only my luck would bring to me. I was standing on an overlook that overlooked the overlook that Noble Team was on, which was where they were overlooking the caravan from. I frowned at their tags, all blue, surprisingly. I then pulled out my DMR and looked down at the caravan itself. Finally I could get a good idea of what was going on.

        Upon observing the caravan I saw it was carrying a good number of ponies riding, freely, in the back of each cart. Many other carts had supplies in them, not just food and weapons, but, materials that looked at home at a construction site. I also saw tools I recognized from my time in Fillydelphia.

        “Free workers, not slaves... Construction tools and supplies. Somepony is setting up shop in Seamane.” I muttered to my mummified friend. “Too bad first introductions to their guard went so badly. Honestly if I was any more incompetent at talking to others I think the universe would just take pity on me.”

        With that I choose to do probably the stupidest of all of my options given to me at the moment. I jumped off the overlook and summoned my telekinetic barrier based skies and proceeded to towards Noble team. I wasn't going straight at them, for the sake of making certain they didn't see my approach as an attack. I also made certain that I wasn't on a vector straight for the caravan so I hopefully wouldn't look like I was going for a strike against that. Maybe second introductions would go over better. Then again, I was carrying an ancient armored corpse on my back, so who knew, maybe that would be a great conversation starter.

        As I neared Noble team the two grey armored ponies spotted me and drew their assault rifles.

        “I'm a friendly!” I shouted, though realizing that was probably what ponies would say if trying to fake being friendly for getting a surprise attack.

        “Just don't shoot!” I amended, they thankfully compiled as the rest of their team turned to face me. Well except for Noble Three, he kept an eye on the caravan below, which was good, only the mid to short range specialists should focus on me. “We got off on the wrong hoof. I have a nasty tendency to say the wrong words and not think.”

        “Noted.” Their leader said motioning with a hoof for all but the two deep grey armored ponies to stand down. “Noble One, glad to make your acquaintance. I was surprised that you were able to so deftly evade us. Though going completely over the mountain was a bit out of the scope of possibilities we had come up with.”

        “I tend to do that sort of thing. You will have to get used to it if you are going to spend time in Seamane since that is where I am planning on being for the foreseeable future.” I smiled feeling a bit more relaxed.

        “Well, Ranger, I see you aren't going and pillaging the caravan. I guess you decided upon seeing it that it wasn't a something worth torching?” Noble One inquired as I trotted with him to the edge of the overlook.

        “They are headed somewhere with a small army of workers and guards. They have supplies for doing some sort of construction project. Materials from Fillydelphia, tools as well.” I quickly rattled off my analysis of the caravan to Noble One. “Top priority, figuring out who paid them to come here. Second priority, figuring out the truth of why they were paid to come out here.”

        “I see why we were told not to pursue.” Noble One nodded as the caravan cleared a turn in the trail.

        “You haven't seen a band of four ponies and a gryphon today have you?” I asked as we sat there. “Two earth ponies, two unicorns if that helps.”

        “We spotted them, they are a few hours back on the main trail. I am guessing they are the rest of your team.” Noble One correctly assumed, I nodded informing him of such. “Then who is your friend that is on your back?”

        “Don't know, found him frozen solid at the peak. Took him since he deserves a proper burial, every nameless pony does. Also I am curious about his stuff, it seems to predate the great war by centuries, yet it is enchanted still. Only things I know like that are the elements, though, who knows what state those are in now.” I shrugged.

        “At least your friend doesn't stink.” Said the close combat specialist, I simply rolled my eyes.

        “So what now, are you going to move on and keep an eye on the caravan, or are you going to babysit me until my friends show up?” I asked turning to look at Noble One.

        “Either you can wait for your friends here or you can follow us.” Noble One shrugged. “Just keep it locked down, we don't need to attract any wildlife.”

        “What wild life, anything that did live here probably died while I fought the Wendigo.” I frowned, I got an amused chuckle from their close combat specialist again.

        “I like her, she says she tangoed with a spirit and won.” He laughed.

        “I did, DJ Pon3 mentioned it, you can ask Ruby Saddle about it, she saw the end of the fight as well.” I shrugged, I didn't feel like boasting, but, for some reason his skepticism annoyed me.

        “Right, and you can breath fire.” He laughed again, to prove him wrong I did just that and breathed fire at his hooves.

        I coughed a few times to clear the smoke from my mouth, it was a trick of doing a fire spell focused inside my mouth, but, it did the trick. “Yeah, I can breath fire, and I killed a Wendigo.”

        Everyone was silent for a few minutes.

        “Right, not everyday you meet somepony who can breath fire and kill a spirit.” I laughed, smiling and wishing I had something to wash my mouth out with properly. “Anypony got some whiskey on them? Breathing fire leaves a nasty flavor in my mouth.”

        Again I was met with silence. I just frowned and checked my inventory sorter on my pipbuck for anything. I did find I had a single bottle of whiskey, it had to have been from Mixers, I pulled it out and took a pull from it and swished it around my mouth. As I swallowed I felt things sway a bit.

        “Alcohol shouldn't affect me that quickly...” I muttered, then I noticed it wasn't me as it happened again. “Oh fuck... what is it this time.”

        I noticed Noble Team had started moving at some point towards the caravan they were guarding, or watching over. I really wasn't certain if it was recon or protection duty anymore. I gave chase as I put away the whiskey, cursing myself for having drank while out of town. I also knew that any moment now something was going to happen and my soon to be dulled reaction time would be problematic at best. A thought hit me as I leapt over a downed log and I fished out a tin of Mint-Al's. If my mind and reaction time was going to be dulled by alcohol why not take a Mint-Al? It would sharpen me back up, and give me minty fresh breath.

        My E.F.S. was suddenly full of red, then was clear, then I distinctly felt weightlessness. I then felt the horrible feeling of slimy things wrapping around me.

        “Engage Noble Team!” I heard shouted by Noble One far below me, it was nice that somepony was here to help me fight something that probably wanted to eat me. Then it hit me how annoyingly often it was that something wanted to eat me.

        I, one for not wanting to look weak and helpless when it was inopportune to began to cast spell after spell trying to set fire to whatever was attacking me. It would have gone much better if I could have seen what was attacking me. As it was I had something slimy covering my eyes.

        'Oh how useful I am in this fight, I am blind, grabbed, and probably being digested.' I mentally swore, not wanting to chance opening my mouth and getting some new fresh horror for my nightmares that weren't already being accumulated from this. 'Wait, if it has me in it's grasp like this I could just set up some telekinetic slashes in S.A.T.S. I mean I can see my readout just fine, just I can't see past it the eye protection in the ballistic mask.'

        So I hit S.A.T.S. and began setting up some lashes against my foes method of grappling me. Within the slowness of S.A.T.S. I got a view of nothing as my attacks lashed out and did nothing that I could tell. As far as I knew I was just making a pretty light show, or my magic just wasn't working at all and whatever had me just nullified it.

        “Commander it is breaking off...” I heard a feminine voice call out getting more distant as I felt motion around me, I also heard the churning of dirt and the feeling of descending as well as fleshy walls close around me.

        'I just got eaten...' I mentally muttered to myself. 'Well... fuck, and I have no idea of if my magic was doing anything.'

        I attempted to struggle only finding that I could loosely move my right hoof. I hit S.A.T.S. again to pause and think. If I had just been eaten my oxygen supply was limited to a few minutes, every moment struggling was seconds lost of life. If I was eaten I also would soon be being either crushed by teeth of some sort or liquified by acids. That or this was to be a horrific slow death of slowly passing out after a few hours as my flesh eroded and the walls of flesh pushed me further into the beast.

        'Okay, lets stop thinking about how many different horrible ways this could end up going, shall we?' I mentally nodded in agreement and focused on methods of escape. 'Okay, so we have a shit ton of explosives that Anabel gave me. If we can fish some of that out, turn it on, and hit the detonator that should do something. Though unfortunately that something might involve my lower body becoming detached from me. But, price of not dying this way is risking my life in some other fashion.'

        I let S.A.T.S. go after using it to try again to use my magic to attack my captor. I focused my efforts on and around my right fore leg as it seemed to be a slight bit freer than the rest of me. I was rewarded with the sound of pain from all around me, the lashing of tentacles against me which worried me greatly, and the freedom of my right hoof. I wasted no time in grabbing out a block of explosives, the power button wasn't hard to find and-

        I found myself laying in the snow smelling of smoke and something absolutely awful. I turned to see an absolutely massive worm laying half out of the ground slowly slinking back into it's hole. I rolled to my side and coughed, what came out was what I had hoped to keep out of my mouth while in there. As it was I did my best not to think about it. I pulled out two of the grenades I had and tossed them at the retreating worm. If it had attacked me, it would attack others traveling through the region. That alone warranted its immediate and explosive destruction. The grenades did little to it as it finished retreating underground. I frowned and ran to the hole only to find it filled with dirt. My E.F.S. no longer showing a red bar.

        “Damn it, I can't let it run around here freely. If I do it will keep harassing anything that tries to get from here to the rest of Equestria.” I muttered as I looked around for options. I saw the corpse once again, though worse for wear. I then realized, this creature was probably a scavenger. It smelled the corpse thawed from the ice. “Or, it is just something that keeps the place clean of corpses.”

        I tilted my head thinking as I pulled off the armor of the corpse. I then decided to let it have the corpse, after depositing two bits on it. If I was right, it was a scavenger and would leave me alone. If I was wrong, well... I was wrong and would have to fight it again. I also decided that I was going to wear the armor I pulled off the corpse, most of it fit over what I already had on thanks to my frame being not that of a larger stallion, after all I was a mare and a bit on the small side, though it felt not as small as I used to be. I went to put on the helmet with my magic to notice that my magic faltered, I rubbed my horn to come away with the slime that had covered me from being inside of that things mouth. It's saliva could partially neutralize magic I realized, which explained why it had been hard for me to strike at it.

        “Well... that theory just went out the window, why would it need anti-magic saliva if it didn't feed on living creatures.” I sighed as I waited for the ground to explode out from under my hooves and unleash a horde of tentacles upon me.

        The universe disappointed me for once with nothing happening as I headed towards where I had killed the Wendigo while carrying the fallen warriors body. If it was actually a scavenger with odd magical properties it would come after the smell of the corpse on my back, which was now caked in a few pounds of high explosives. While I would have preferred to bury the body, a funeral pyre of a mighty monster I felt would be also quite honorable.

        I stood on the main trail once again, where I had blown apart a army of ice ponies and warped my horn. I set down the body and took up residence on the ruins of the building that was here. I felt the ground shake once again, like it had before. This time I was ready, my swords drawn and held at my sides as I waited to see if it went for me or the corpse.

        It went for a third option. It went for my friends who were just showing up on my E.F.S.

        “Oh like hell you are getting away with this!” I shouted as I thrust myself into the air dragging the explosive caked corpse with me in my magic as I sailed into the air. As my magic propelled me in a ballistic arc I let out a warcry which had the remarkable effect of rallying my friends to bring their weapons to bear. Though it wasn't much as the only place it could get hurt it seemed was its soft fleshy tentacles safely inside of its mouth. Though for a massive burrowing creature that made a lot of sense.

        “Get it to open its mouth!” I shouted as I landed on its back and embedded my swords under one of its thick scales, it let out a cry of pain as the blades dug in.

        I pulled the blades out and began to run up the back of the worm towards it's head, I realized that this thing had eyes as well. If there was a good way to make it cry in pain, it would be through hurting its eyes, then simply stuff the corpse into it's mouth, let it retreat a little then click and boom.

        I heard Rose scream as the mouth of the worm opened again, and I realized it had grabbed her already. Now I was starting to suspect it just had a thing for unicorn mares. I pushed myself forward with all my might as I had my twin blades scraping against the scales of the beast.

        “I got a treat for you! So keep your mouth wide open!” I shouted as the worm started to go vertical, it was either going to retreat soon underground or was going to jump forward and start digging again. I reached its mouth to see Rose entangled in it's many tentacle like tongues her horn flickering like I suspected mine had while trying to break free. I threw the corpse into its mouth and then myself using my blades to start cutting Rose free. I didn't worry about the fact that she likely would get burned if my sword’s magic kicked in. I also didn't worry about getting entangled myself, my swords and powerhoof were enough to keep that from happening.

        With a screech I had freed Rose, though she was still wrapped in tongues. I grabbed her swiftly and dove out of the mouth as we went upside down. The impact with the ground for me was nothing short of bone jarring, for Rose I assumed the slimy tongues had cushioned the fall a bit, as well as the fact she landed atop of me. I rolled as I saw the beast go below the surface once more, I quickly pulled the detonator out of the pouch on my chest and flipped the safety cover and flipped the switch. The ground shook, bulged, then plummeted as the explosives detonated.

        “If that thing is still alive... I think we are going to need to find a way to tame it.” I laughed then turned to see Rose still struggling with the very much still alive tongues on her. I punched and pulled them off as I could finding Rose had not been as fortunate as I to keep them from getting in her mouth. The look she gave me when I freed her made me just hold her once the tongues were removed and summarily incinerated.

        Rose coughed a few times getting the slime out of her lungs and nose. “The hell was that thing, and why were you hunting it?”

        “I was hunting it due to it tried to eat me earlier. I figured probably be best to put something like that down before it ate somepony important. As it is, at least it didn't get you past it's mouth.” I sighed as I hugged my marefriend, though I noted she desperately needed to be washed as the smell of the things saliva was foul. I also realized I need a wash as well since I had been in it longer than she had. “We both need to get washed. As for why it attacked you, either it thought you were me or it likes things with magic in them. Unicorns would be a high priority in that regard. As for what it was, I don't know, some sort of massive worm that lives on the edge of Equestria.”

        “Why do horrible things always show up around you?” Rose grumbled.

        “That is a simple thing to answer. Because I won't leave well enough alone. Also, look at it this way, at least you weren't in it as long as I was.” I said before digging out something to eat that would leave a more favorable taste on both of our pallets. “Eat this, it should help wash away the taste.”

        “Chocolate? Where did you find this?” Rose asked before eating some.

        “The hell if I know. I just shove crap into my saddlebags most of the time.” I shrugged as I ate a piece of the chocolate and held a flame in the air to heat the two of us.

        “Moonlight! There you are. Anabel said something about you running into trouble. Though she said it was other ponies not a monster.” Ruby shouted as she ran back up from where she and the rest had taken cover during the brief fight.

        “I did, then I made up with those ponies, found out a bit more on that caravan ahead of us. Then that thing attacked me.” I yawned as suddenly the two days of physical exertion hit me like a brick wall. “Oh... right, I forgot I actually need to sleep.”

        “Well lets get to Colt then, I think I can carry you, I actually got some sleep.” Rose chuckled and smiled at me as she lifted me onto her back. “Come on, lets get home and out of the snow.

        “Hopefully nopony decides to start shooting when they see me. It is annoying when they do that.” I yawned again.

Footnote: Sixty Seven percent to next level. Keep slaying those monsters and aberrations!