Chapter 5
Hot Springs and Raiders

I awoke with a gasp to find the room illuminated by the early morning light coming through the window. I'd dreamt that dream again, and it was basically the same, except Nocturne had had a pet giant mountain lion next to her throne of trashy romance novels. That and instead of a waltz, Val and I had danced a tango. I now looked around the room, seeing that Diamond was still asleep, curled up on her bed, and I felt glad I hadn't woken her with a scream this time. Twitch and Harmony weren't in the room, so I decided it would be best to go looking for them. Getting out of my bed and then dressing in my barding and jacket, which I didn't fully remember taking off the night before. I then left the room quietly so as not to wake the peacefully sleeping filly.

I walked down a few corridors which I remembered would lead me to the common room, and hopefully to breakfast, I was hungry and I'd rather save what little food I still had from the stable. Reaching my destination I found Twitch was sitting with a couple of the huskies by the fire while Harmony sat with Val, Cookie, Dagger and Spade at a table, eating leftover stew for breakfast. Pebble sat at another table with Lemon Squeeze, the red and green colt named Hammer, and the blue stallion named Hard Drop. I quickly made up my mind about where to sit, moving over to take the empty seat next to Harmony after I got a bowl of stew. We were soon joined by Diamond Swirl who sat next to Val, the filly seemed to be completely enamored with him, probably because he'd saved her from a lifetime of slavery, but he didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't show it. I ate in silence, listening to the conversations going on around me, learning that Holly Bright and Trina had left before dawn to continue their journey, and that the ice wolves had moved into sight of the resort during the night. Cookie and Dagger were going to go out to deal with them today, and Pebble, Hard Drop and Val would be joining them.

It seemed that we would be staying here for another night, two depending on how many ice wolves could be cleared out. I was glad of that, I'd spent three nights sleeping on the hard, cold ground, but spending last night in a bed had been great, and I didn't want to give it up so soon. After breakfast the hunting group went out, and Spade went off to do something or other, leaving myself, Harmony, Diamond, Lemon and Hammer in the common room along with Twitch, the huskies having gone off with the others. I was wondering about what I should do with all this free time I now had when Harmony spoke up.

"What do you guys say to a nice long soak in the hot springs this place is famous for?" She asked us with a grin.

The other three looked to each other, and were soon all nodding at the idea. I had to admit, it was a good idea, I'd never gone this long without washing before, though I was amazed that my coat was still so white despite all the dirt I'd been sleeping in. "Lead the way," I said, smiling slightly.

And lead the way she did, through the twists and turns of the corridors which she obviously knew the way through, until we reach what I assumed to be the back door of the resort, leading to a path which led a short way to a building built into the cliff face behind the resort. I discovered that it was definitely colder outside than it had been yesterday, but the cold was short-lived as we entered the other building to be greeted with a wall of beautifully warm air. Coming from a Stable, I'd experienced very few different temperatures, as the Stable had nearly always been kept at what was considered the perfect temperature for everypony, not too hot, not too cold, just right. Cadence only changed the temperature a little every few months to simulate Summer and Winter, but the difference was never too great. This warmth I felt now was what I imagined a real Summer to feel like, though maybe not the slight humidity, that wasn't the best.

Inside the door, we found ourselves in a really nice cave, or at least, it was a heck of a lot nicer than any caves I'd been in so far, but then, this was only the third cave I'd been in, so it was number one in my top three cave experiences. The whole place was lit by electric lanterns, which probably ran off the generator I assumed powered the resort. Near the door was a long counter, obviously meant for selling something since there was a register, and on of those metal spinny things that had once held postcards and maybe brochures. Behind the counter against the cave wall were tall cabinets, a couple missing doors to reveal shelves and shelves of really old, off-white towels and bathrobes, as well as glass bottles of what looked to be massage oils and bath salts and other things typical of a spa. So far I had been amazed by how well all these things I kept seeing had survived so long, I would have thought that in 200 years anything material would have rotted away, but a lot of the stuff I'd seen seemed to be largely intact, like my bed last night. The only explanation I could think of was that anything that should have rotted away by now had somehow soaked up enough ambient magic from unicorns of old to survive long enough to be usable now.

Posters were scattered around the walls, advertising all the different spa treatments that had once been available here, as well as for upcoming events, such as the Snowflake Gala which had been held at the resort every year. I had to admit, it would have been awesome to come here before the war, and a massage sounded really good right about now, travelling had not been kind to my limbs. Following the others lead, I grabbed a couple towels and followed them further into the cave, though a couple partially separated chambers containing different types of typical spa and salon equipment, the whole time the temperature slowly increased, as did the humidity. Eventually we came to the biggest chamber yet, which was full of small and large pools of crystal clear water. A couple of the smallest pools at the back of the chamber were steaming, which explained the humidity, and around them grew huge bright blue, green and purple mushrooms which seemed to glow despite the light. I assumed that these pools were the hot spring the place was named after. Those were blocked off by a fence, obviously too hot for a pony, but little channels ran from those pools into half a dozen larger pools which appeared to be the pools ponies could soak in. In the middle of the camber was a huge pool, connected again by channels to the six large pools, and I was amazed to see tiny rainbow coloured fish living in there. According to Harmony, they were specially bred cleaner fish which had managed to survive here since the war. Their job was to basically eat the dirt out of ponies coats, as well as removing loose fur and eating any dead skin. I thought that sounded kind of weird, but but the fish looked harmless and were pretty, so I decided to give it a try.

There were a few completely separate pools close to the entrance by the benches where we put our towels, barding and cloaks or jackets. These didn't seem to be connected to any of the other pools in any way. Curious, I dipped a hoof in, only to pull it out of the frigid water with yelp, it was colder than the snow outside! I heard a little giggle behind me and turned to find Diamond behind me. I looked at her questioningly, but rather than reply, she pointer to a sign above the pools that I hadn't noticed which read 'Ice Pools'. I sighed, kind of annoyed I hadn't noticed the sign, but at least it hadn't been anything dangerous, like acid, that would have been bad. I then followed the others as they started getting into the middle pool with the fish. I hesitated for only a moment, but decided if the others would do it so would I. The water was nice, only lukewarm, but that didn't matter. Wading out to the deeper, and warmer, water so that it reached my chin, I soon found myself surrounded by a rainbow cloud as the little fish swarmed around me, nibbling at my coat and forcing their way under my wings, which tickled, a lot. I was soon giggling like crazy, and I wasn't the only one, Lemon and Diamond gripped with full-blown laughter while Harmony and Hammer also giggled, though Hammer seemed to be trying to hide it, probably feeling that it was wrong to laugh when his twin was gone, and I couldn't say I blamed him when I thought of what I'd left behind at my stable. I then noticed Twitch swim past me, surrounded by his own cloud of fish, which he snapped at every now and then to catch a couple in his mouth to eat.

Overall it was a pleasurable experience, and we all moved to the smaller pools once the fish deemed us clean. These pools were almost too hot to sit in, but I quickly got used to the water. I shared a pool with Harmony, while Hammer, Lemon and Diamond shared another, Twitch sat on the side of ours, not wanting to come in. "I always love coming here," Harmony said happily, leaning her head back on the side of the pool.

"I can see why," I murmured, feeling completely relaxed. Harmony had brought bath salts which apparently were completely safe for the fish to eat. The salts had caused the water to be tinged pink, and the pool now gave off a beautiful smell of roses.

"Kind of a shame we have to leave, but we need to return Diamond, and get the others settled around the Estate, and Val wants to go home for a while too, and I can't blame him, we've been away from Tall Tale for weeks now." Harmony thought for a moment then looked to me. "We also need to figure out what to do with you."

I frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're going to have to decide whether you want to stay with me and Val or not. If you do, he's going to take the time to train you in the usage and care of all sorts guns, as well as hoof to hoof combat, and really, everything that you're going to need to know for joining our line of work as well as basic Wasteland survival. If you don't want to join us, we'll teach you the basics and find you a place to live in Tall Tale where Val's dad, Silver Dollar, would look out for you and help find you a job to do." Harmony smiled at me.

"Oh... Well, I don't know what I'd want to choose," I said, nervous at the sudden choice.

Seeing this, Harmony smiled comfortingly. "Hey, don't worry, you don't have to decide until we get to Tall Tale, so you have about a week till that happens."

I nodded, silently glad for this, when she got out of the pool, I was about to follow when she held up a hoof. "Wait here, watch the main pool," she said, the went behind a curtain I hadn't noticed before. A few seconds later, the lights went out, but instead of the room becoming shrouded in inky black darkness, the room glowed.

The big mushrooms by the the hot springs really had been glowing, and now emitted strong green, blue and purple glows, which I discovered had a similar effect to a black-light, as my white coat now glowed, as did Twitch's. Remembering what Harmony had said, I turned to find the main pool was also glowing, every colour of the rainbow. I realized that it was the fish that were glowing, and I watched in amazement as they separated into groups of the same colour and swam, swirling around each other in an amazing display.

"They eat the mushrooms that fall in the hot springs and get washed down into the main pool, which is why they glow like that." I jumped, I hadn't even noticed Harmony return, but here she was next to me. I nodded, then turned back to watch.

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The hot springs had been amazing, I felt so relaxed and warm and I shared Harmony's sentiment about not wanting to leave, and I sincerely hoped that we would get to spend another day there, but alas, it was not meant to be. Val and the others had manage to kill the pack of ice wolves at the edge of the valley, bringing with them near two dozen pelts, as well as a very young ice wolf pup that Cookie was going to raise. We would be moving out at dawn tomorrow, so we ate an early dinner, which sadly contained meat, and went to bed early to get as much sleep as possible.

I didn't dream that night, thankfully, and was awoken by Harmony early the next morning. We joined everyone for breakfast, more leftovers, and then we were ready to go. The cloud covered sky brightened quickly as we moved out of the valley, and we walked for the whole day, seeing nothing of much note, nothing seemed to be living in these mountains, or at least we didn't see anything. We spent the night in another cave, and the next day was much the same. We reached the foothills around lunch time the day after, and I had my first look at a land not covered in snow. It was so brown. We were almost out of the foothills by the time it grew dark, and we stopped for the night in what had once been a farmhouse. From here it would be another day and a half to the Estate if all went well, and from there another 3 to Tall Tale.

I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I liked Harmony, she was really nice, but I was still on the fence about Val, he was helpful, seemed kind, but I still felt like I shouldn't trust him, at least not yet. That night I dreamed the same dream again, but there was any added scene where Pebble was skinning Twitch alive and I was literally nailed to the floor, unable to help him. I'd seen Pebble watching Twitch the past couple days, the same gleam in her eyes that she'd had when she'd gotten to skin the mountain lion, and I guess I was more worried about it than I'd thought. The next day I kept Twitch on my back as I flew above the group as we traveled, I didn't want to risk it.

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That night we stopped at a tiny village. Half the buildings looked too dangerous to go in, and only one didn't have blood soaked carpets and corpses and skeletons and blood splattered walls, or at least I was told that was what was in the other buildings, I wasn't going to risk looking. Val seemed nervous about something, and Harmony told me the two of them had cleared out a few Raiders from here a few weeks back, but some of the blood was fresher than that. That set off alarm bells in my head and I asked why where we still staying here if that was the case, only to be told that we'd be safer inside than out in the open, which of course made sense, but, I still felt like we should be running away as fast as our hooves could carry us.

Val posted two lookouts instead of one that night, so even I would be on lookout duty at some point. I was given first watch with Hard Drop, and received a quick lesson on how to use and reload a shotgun, and then I was stationed on the balcony where I would have a good view of the open fields behind the house, while Hard Drop had the front deck to watch the town. The time past uneventfully, Twitch keeping me company, and when my time was up, Lemon came to replace me and I gladly gave up the shotgun I'd been given. Moving back inside I found where I was to sleep and curled up next to Twitch, and sleep soon took me.

I awoke to gunfire some time later. There was movement as the others in the room got up quickly, moving to grab their gear as another shot rang out, followed by a muffled cry from Pebble outside. I clambered to my hooves, clumsy in my half-sleep state. I move to look out the window at the street below only to be pushed to the side by Twitch as the glass exploded inwards. I stared in shock, not quite believing that just happened. If Twitch hadn't pushed me I'd had a face full of glass right now, and possibly a bullet in my brain. Fully awake now, I ran out of the room, following the others. I found Harmony at a broken window, shooting with a sniper rifle at the street below. "What's going on!?" I asked.

"We're under attack, Raiders, at least a dozen, I've taken out 3." She aimed and shot again. "4. Their less organised than the last lot we drove out of here."

"Well what do I do?" I asked, finding her calmness a little unnerving.

"Val got Pebble inside, he's got her and Diamond holed up in the bathroom downstairs, hurry and put on your stable barding, then get a gun and ammo and a first aid kit from my saddlebags and get downstairs, Val needs to focus on killing Raiders, and he can do that if he has to try and save Pebble too." I nodded, and hurried to do as she said.

Soon I was downstairs, keeping out of view of the windows as Hammer and Hard Drop shot at Raiders through the windows with guns I didn't know the names of. I knew some guns, rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, revolver, pistol, but the names meant nothing to me, they were all guns, they were all used to kill, some just shot further and harder than others. I quickly, Twitch following, and soon found the bathroom, and Val, who was holding a lantern, was glad to see I had a first aid kit. "Do you have any experience with first aid?" he ask quickly.

I nodded, "Yeah, I spent a few weeks learning about medicine in the sick bay."

"Good, then stop the bleeding and bandage her up, give her a Med-X too, we don't have any healing potions." And with that, he gave me the lantern and left.

Inside I found that Pebble had been shot right through the shoulder, and her left ear was now gone. Diamond was applying was applying pressure to the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Remembering the lessons I'd been given, I got to work, and soon had the bleeding stopped and her shoulder and what remained of her ear bandaged. I also gave her a Med-X, but that was a mistake as once the pain was gone, before I could stop her, she'd grabbed her gun and limped out the door to join the fight, so I sat with Diamond and Twitch in the lantern light, listening to the fighting outside.

After what felt like hours, the sounds of gunfire finally stopped. Soon after Harmony came to find us. "We got all of them, you can come out now," she said with a smile. Following her out we found Val was bandaging Pebbles leg, and Lemon was taking care of Hard Drop who'd also been shot in the leg. Hammer was cleaning his gun. Outside the sky was brightening, it was already morning.

"We're going to search the bodies for anything valuable, then we'll get moving, no more than an hour," Val said. "Keep your guns loaded, we may have missed one."

I felt repulsed at the idea of search dead ponies, even if they were the insane killers Harmony claimed, but I just knew I'd have to get over it, because it seemed that this was common in the Wasteland, seeing as no one else batted an eye, not even Diamond. And so I found myself searching a Raiders bags and barding for any ammo, caps or healing potions or other medicine or drugs he may have. Val had deemed the majority of the Raiders weapons more dangerous to the user than anypony else, so they were left in the mud. Apparently while he hated leaving ponies unburied, Raiders were another story. The Raider I searched was a mare, her beige coat patchy where fur had fallen out, and her orange mane was a matted mess. I found a full box of some sort of ammo in her gags along with a couple dozen caps. She'd had no healing potions but she did have magical bandages. I gave what I'd found to Harmony, but she told me to keep the caps. True to his word, Val made us move out after an hour. He'd found one last Raider hiding in an outhouse, and taken care of him. We stopped after another hour for breakfast before moving on again.

Author's Note

I'M NOT DEAD!!!

I'm going to try and update more, I've been busy with my uni and my Deviant page here: http://the-crusader-network.deviantart.com/