2. Tracks

Chapter 2. Tracks

“The road has its own reasons and no two travelers will have the same understanding of those reasons. If indeed they come to an understanding of them at all.”

30th of Leaffall, 193 ALD

Sunrise… you could barely tell that it had taken place today. And this was despite the fact that I’d watched it happen, with my own two eyes, and we all know how reliable of a source I am for… things. Of course, I was so fucking tired by now that I could have just hallucinated the whole dawn... sun up… what have you. Which, upon consideration, wasn’t nearly as cool as it sounded at first. I was tired, really damn tired. Sleep did not come easy to me and I was only ever afforded half a night. Also, taking care of the wounded griffin, watching out for dangers… especially the bastards that had massacred the previous caravan, it wasn’t easy. And I had to carry a portion of Bessy’s load so that we could tie the bird (who still hadn’t awoken, by the way, though he had mumbled every once and awhile) to her back… what was I saying? I yawned. Meh, it probably wasn’t very important, knowing me. Fuck, but I was tired. Hehe… the first two words of that sentence. Add one more ‘t’ and there’d be a party.

Regardless of the fact that we now had extra weight to carry, our tiny group made good time through the final leg of The Crags. It may have been because we were traveling down hill, or because Pendulum wanted us to reach the meet in time for Winter’s Day. Apparently it was a somewhat celebrated holiday of the old world, earth ponies in particular (not that Limerick seemed to care overly much). It began the season, marking the end of autumn, the height of storing foodstuffs for the winter, and was a lead up to Hearth’s Warming Eve. Not sure what ponies did for it, but, by now I’m fairly positive you could guess where my hopes lied. Also, a rest day was a good day, not that I was lazy or anything. Ahem… personally, I figured we made good time because all three of us wanted to get the hay out of there before something bad happened. And so, that had been our yesterday.

Today we rose to clouds near the color of midnight, a darkness so complete and perfect that there was no hint of the newly risen sun behind them and it might as well have remained the depths of blackest night for all the light there was to be had. With the clouds came wind, whipping gusts and gales, so bitterly cold I worried my extremities would freeze… I thought of Pendulum and Limerick. Well, there was another good reason to be a mare. As if the wind wasn’t enough, the air itself was of a temperature that your lungs hurt just from breathing. Ice crystals and frost formed on our muzzles, Bessy was being recalcitrant and did not want to move. It took ten minutes for Pendulum to coax the big cow into putting one hoof in front of the other. The turtle, by the way, was wrapped in about ten layers of blankets and rags. It refused to even poke a single head out… but at least it wasn’t squeaking at the moment, or shitting on me. The griffin, who I took to calling His Superhotness; Beaky McBeakerton the Third… just… uh… I never happened to say it out loud, thankfully, was doing poorly. This cold was not good for his injuries or the possibility of recovery. This cold was also not good for me… great skies above it was unpleasant.

We set out without even bothering to attempt breakfast. All of us just wanted to get to the meet and collapse somewhere warm… with someone warm… and a nice big bottle of… ouch, I stubbed my hoof. My legs were dragging, but, on the bright side, my tongue didn’t hurt anymore from that incident that shall go unnamed. Coffee, what little of it I could get, was losing its ability to properly caffeinate me. I suspected cyber zebra evil witchcraft of causing this but Bessy was the only one who seemed to listen to my occasional rants on the subject. And, that was probably because she was just too damn stupid to ignore me.

Limerick took the lead, his long steady strides struggling to gain purchase against the strength of the wind that almost seemed to consciously want to push us backward. Pendulum followed. He had tied himself to Bessy to make sure the beast maintained the proper trail… and as insurance against her getting spooked by the storm and trying to run off. Which, was much funnier than it sounded at first because I was pretty darn sure Bessy would drag the poor buck off, his rump hitting every rock… if she had a mind to make a break for it. Luckily, she was mindless. The griffin was still securely rigged to the Brahmin, though I worried all the same that something would happen to him anyway. Meanwhile, I had the rear… You bet I did… and still do. And I was doing my best not to lose ground and fall too far back from my companions, but it was hard. I could barely stay awake and each step took a tremendous amount of effort on my part. The only thing that kept me going (besides being stubborn as a mule) was the one in a million hope that for whatever unknowable reason, my foals would be at the Norfoal line junction in Fairy’s Harp. That was the primary thought anyway. There was also the thought of delicious alcohol and sweet oblivion next to a warm fire.

I think that today, whatever day it was, marked the first day of a new week, or, at least, the second week of our journey. Hooray… freezing my teats off, carrying a massive amount of stuff (just like when I went to find the hillside where I’d woken up), so tired I could fall asleep at the drop of an empty bottle, and trying to keep alive a dumb bird doing his darnedest to just roll over and die. Stupid griffin. And now, just to make matters worse, it was snowing. Fuck my life. Fuck my life. Fuck my life. If I wasn’t weighed down by armor, clothing and equipment I’d probably just vanish. Not sure if that was a positive or a negative to having a coat as white as… damn it.

In the swirl of falling snow I’d lost sight of Limerick, Pendulum and Bessy. Not good. I quickened my pace despite the protest of wearied limbs, now in a state of burning numbness from the cold. I squinted through the whipping gusts that were blinding me with the snow they carried. Thunder rumbled above and I shook my head in confusion. Thunder and snow? What was going on with the weather, stupid Pegasi were supposed to… oh wait. Never mind, let me stop right there before I make an idiot of myself and start that weird head hurting thing that always seems to accompany those kinds of thoughts.

I struggled against the tides of force the morning weather threw at me and tried to ignore the cold that was seeping into my bones. Not good at all. Fire, now that was good. And whiskey, very good, most alcohols really, even gin, if it came down to it, no matter what Red Rock might say. I started running, keeping to a straight path that I really hoped the others hadn’t deviated from. Soil covered in withered grass and newly fallen snow transitioned to sandy gravel beneath my hooves. I was barely paying attention to the unusual rushing noise ahead of me. You know what else was good? Food. A nice comfy bed. Cigarettes (regardless of what my lungs might tell you). Another pony to keep me-oomph. I collided with something very large, very solid, and very not… elastic… movable… uh… end story, I fell flat on my poor (but perfect) ass. Ouch. And the ground was cold! I jumped up immediately and thanked my rather dismal luck that I’d run right into Bessy. My companions must have stopped. Also, upon reflection, when mare runs into cow ass, mare does not win.

“What exactly are you doing back there?” Pendulum shouted over the storm, facing something ahead that I would have to move around Bessy in order to see.

“Being a dumb idiot.” Limerick replied from where he stood next to our boss, even though he hadn’t been asked. Was it me or had that buck needed better training in manners from his mother? Having so soon come into the realization that I was a mother myself, I felt the sudden urge to whack the misbehaving miscreant over his empty head with a wooden spoon. And, I am not sure of the correlation there. It just fell into place in my head. Don’t judge me! But, please, recommend a good psychologist… or psychiatrist. Which is the one that diagnoses mental disorders and which is the one that treats them? Oh hell, nopony cares, least of all me.

“Dumb and idiot mean the same thing, they’re just different types of words… sins… synoms… nomnoms… nymphs…” I answered scathingly at first, trailing off as my stupidity surfaced.

“Synonyms.” Pendulum offered as I reached the two of them.

“See?” I shot back at Limerick, sticking my tongue out… and immediately regretting it. Cold, cold, cold.

“Fine, being a dumb bitch, then. Happy?” He asked. Errrghh!

“You were planning that weren’t you?” I questioned, trying to keep my footing in the gravel and trying to look ahead but seeing nothing other than blizzard beneath the dark sky. The big buck smiled.

“And you galloped right into it.” Pendulum responded. “However, even though the two of you are highly entertaining, the more pressing matter at hoof lies ahead of us.” The little buck shivered and pulled the brim of his hat further down. To me it didn’t look like much of anything was ahead of us, just snow.

“What exactly am I supposed to” I began and Pendulum used his unicorn magic to separate the snow in front of us, forming walls to either side of a very clear path, “looking at?” I finished softly. Before us lay a river. It didn’t seem too deep but it was easily two hundred feet and more wide. But, that wasn’t the worrying part. The water was a torrent, foaming rapids, ice flows, and I bet bits to bottle caps the water was only just enough above freezing (and moving fast enough) to not be completely frozen over itself. I could just barely see the other side, it looked a lot like this side. Scattered leafless trees, thorny brush, and rock seemed to be the norm.

“The Ponymac.” Pendulum informed me matter-of-factly through a haze of snow and sleet.

“Uh, did we take a wrong turn?” I inquired, kinda sorta hoping we had.

“No.” Pendulum replied, trying to light a cigarette in the wind but failing even more spectacularly than I usually did. “We need to cross.” What now? We need to… oh crap. He had to be kidding? He was kidding right? I looked at my employer. He wasn’t kidding.

“Isn’t there someway to go around, a bridge… or a tunnel, or something, anything?” I asked, hoofs wanting to clasp together in prayer.

“Not for at least twelve miles in either direction, and we need to reach shelter, which is four miles ahead… across this river.” Pendulum answered steadily, though he looked just as unnerved as I probably did about the idea of fording a river. “And you cannot carry us.” He added. No, no I couldn’t.

“We can’t wait long.” Limerick interjected. “The storm’s getting worse.” Great, just what we needed.

“Well… fuck, then.” I sighed.

Limerick was right. The storm showed no sign of abating, only of getting stronger, and after about half an hour of waiting the three of us (because Bessy didn’t get a vote) decided that we would need to cross now or never. The longer we delayed the more it looked like never. The storm rose in intensity, pummeling us with snow and occasional hail mixed with slush and little jagged bits of sharpened ice. Damn weather. Staying still was also a bad idea. The snow deepened around us and the cold found its way into every part of our bodies, or at least every part of mine.

We pulled out every tarp and poncho that came close to being waterproof, or that looked water resistant, and wrapped them around ourselves and the Brahmin. The three of us had also made sure all of our equipment was secure after dividing it up (and giving the manticore’s share to Limerick) and that the goods and stores were packed tighter than a… hmm… insert some kind of joke here. My mind may be dirty but it was also barely functioning from the cold and lack of sleep.

We looked like giant stuffed animals, crude scarecrow caricatures of ponies made by some overenthusiastic farmer with a crow problem and only a rudimentary knowledge of anatomy. Everything that didn’t fit, or didn’t fit right and held the risk of getting us snagged or caught in the current was left in a pile. Pendulum would levitate the stuff, which included our weapons and ammunition. Initially, I had asked why he didn’t levitate us and he’d gotten annoyed. Apparently such a feat was beyond him and he didn’t like the fact that I’d brought it up. He deliberately ignored me afterward and checked the hitch that held Bessy to her little wagon. I even felt a little chagrined afterward… for what I said. I guess.

The three of us… and Bessy… stood at the edge of the raging waters as the storm built its fury around us. Limerick would lead the way, tied by a length of rope to Pendulum, who’d be floating the remainder of our gear. Tied to him would be me, leading (and, wouldn’t you just know it, also tied to) Bessy. This was not going to be fun. Though, by the graces of all that was just and right in this crapsack world, Pendulum let us each take a bracing draft of bourbon from his stores.

Limerick stared ahead, squaring his shoulders, shifting, concentrating intensely on our task. Pendulum was breathing quickly, sweat on his brow (rapidly turning to ice) as he lifted the equipment in his magic, keeping it a dozen feet above us. Bessy farted and dropped a cow pie… that… oh my… smelled like she’d shat out something that had crawled up her ass six weeks ago and died soon after. Ugh! Thank the wind that her wind’s smell didn’t last. Limerick put a single hoof into the water and drew it out immediately.

“Nice and balmy?” Pendulum asked.

“Fucking cold.” The earther buck answered. He snorted and placed his hoof firmly in the water and started walking forward. Okay, here we go. Limerick plunged forward, growling and grunting. Pendulum, leaving some slack in the rope that bound the two, followed after him. He hissed as the waters quickly rose to his chest, buffeting the little buck. I hesitated for a second, being the smart and sane one in the group and decidedly not being interested in hurling myself into frigid, dangerous, fast moving rivers and what have you. But, then, I shook my head, gritted my teeth and started pulling Bessy. I was a big girl. I could take this, deal with it, not be…

“Oh sweet mother of fuck, unholy hydra cocked son of a bitch!” I yelled. I had believed the air and ground to be cold. Let me just state that it was nothing compared to the water around my pasterns that splashed up my fetlocks. I froze for the briefest of moments, the shock was so powerful and unpleasant. “SHIT!” I managed to convince myself to move forward and the river’s water rose, to my cannon then my knee. Each step was worse than the last, harder. I started shivering and came to an abrupt halt just as the water reached my chestnuts. I tried walking but couldn’t get anywhere. I was snagged. Was I snagged? Oh shit, I’d gotten caught, or something had caught me! Wait, nope. Looking back in fury I saw Bessy, clearly indignant at the thought of going into the water, shaking her heads. Damned beast. Pulling on her line didn’t do any good. She just stubbornly stood on the bank, wagon behind her, griffin tied to her back, turtle poking a head out of its blankets where her necks met, squeaking pitifully then hiding its head ugly head once more. The other end of the line went taught as Pendulum and then Limerick halted.

“What is the hold up?” Pendulum shouted back to me, head just above the water. I’d never seen a pony look as cold as he did right then… that I could recall, I had no real memories after all.

“Damn beast won’t move!” I yelled back, pulling with my wings and digging my hooves into the stony bed of the river. Nothing. The Brahmin wouldn’t budge.

“Punch her in the face you moron!” Limerick admonished from about thirty feet out.

“Entice her!” Pendulum shouted again, trying to drown out Limerick’s idea. Hmm… drown… not a good word choice there, I must admit, not with what we were doing, or trying to do at the moment.

“I don’t know what that means!” I retorted. Entice had something to do with spice or rice or mice or I didn’t know. And, hell, I’d probably used the word sometime since waking up, didn’t mean that I remembered it though.

“Get her to follow you, try sweet talking!” Pendulum clarified. Sweet talking, got it, that was so not going to work on the brainless lump of beef standing insolently on dry land... begging to be made into steak right about now, wasn’t she?

“Okay you sad sack of fat and lard, come on. Come on.” I tried. The cow looked at me as though I was some strange alien being… talking to… a cow. “Cigarettes, you want to smoke?” I mimicked puffing with a slightly sodden wing.

“Get her moving!” Limerick roared.

“Wild!” Pendulum added. Shit, oh shit. How do I do this? Thinking, thinking.

“Whiskey Bessy, whiskey and dick.” I called to her. She mooed disconsolately and remained where she was. Damn, those words would have worked on me, fast as lightning. “Carrots!” She perked up a single head. “Apples and oats, tasty treats!” The Brahmin took a step into the river. “Delicious foo-ood!” She took another step. “Hay, Bessy, loads of hay, scrumptious, real good!” The beast started walking toward me, very slowly. “Good girl, good stupid girl.” I said in a singsong voice. The Brahmin drew even with me and nuzzled my chest, clearly… enticed… by the idea of feed. Too bad. I got in between her and the wagon that she pulled. I rounded on the cow and gave her a heavy hoofed smack on the backside. “Git on, yah!” I yelled in my best Appleloosian accent. Bessy bellowed her displeasure but trotted forward in step with me into the swirling gray waters, knocking aside a chunk of ice the size of a foal.

“Moving!” Pendulum shouted, looking even worse than before.

“Moving!” Limerick echoed. The big buck may have been stupid, unpleasant, and generally poor company but he seemed to be taking the river like a champ. I wish I could say the same. My teeth began to chatter such that I thought they might break in my mouth, the water that carried across my body, rising up to between shoulder and withers was so cold it didn’t just burn, it felt like I was on fire… and freezing to death at the same time. More chunks of ice swept past us as we advanced, or smashed against the little wagon, but I was thinking only about the shore… the land that waited for us on the other side.

Half way out the river deepened so that Limerick was up to his throat latch, huffing and puffing but staying above the water. Pendulum had to swim, he was too short to stand anymore and the exertion was taking its toll on him. Our equipment drifted lower and my boss was struggling. The line between him and Limerick was drawn tight, the lead pony pulling the unicorn as much as Pendulum was swimming. I was in better luck than the second buck, though not so good as the first. Limerick had about half a hoof on me in height so I was somewhere between walking and swimming, the edges of my horseshoes always catching bottom but it was even odds as to whether or not the rest of my hooves made contact. With each swim step I was worried that the current would drag me too hard. The Brahmin merely continued along, a few unusually large bubbles rising from her hindquarters (that just popped or were swept away in the current) the only way to tell that she was not in favor of the situation. The magically held gear dipped lower, licking the tops of the rapids. ‘Hold on,’ I thought to Pendulum, ‘hold on.’ The wagon only hit a single rut in our trip but Bessy and I quickly heaved forward and upward enough to get the contraption free. So tired and cold, just keeping pace with her, watching the fart bubbles lost to the foaming waves.

“You can… fart all you want big girl, long as you keep moving.” I told her. My voice was failing, shivers so bad that my words were a stutter. Visibility was now so low that-

“BITCH!” Limerick yelled as we reached about four fifths of the way through the Ponymac’s hellish waters.

“Ass licker!” I yelled back to the sound of the buck’s laughter.

“You answered to bitch!” He almost squealed with glee. What? I? Son of a bitch. I did, didn’t I?

“What do you want!?” I shouted back, not in the mood for games, closer in fact to wanting to give him a solid hoof across the muzzle, or a kick in the cock.

“Pick up the slack! Pen’s not going to be able to make it!” He responded. I looked up from the line that connected Bessy

I had focused on what was ahead, the thought of warmth and salvation, getting out of the water. Now, taking my eyes from their unfocused gaze on the Brahmin I saw that Limerick was right. Pendulum was floundering, his magical field was flickering and the gear would, every few seconds, drop just a couple inches into the water. Damn it.

“Ah fuck!” I smacked Bessy again and charged forward. “Pick up the pace or I’ll pass you, dick face!” I yelled, motivating myself as much as my companion.

“Fat chance fat ass!” He insulted me back and galloped through the ice that had formed on this side of the river. Oh hell no. He did not. He most definitely did not just say that. Bessy and I were catching up with him, both sides of the line dragging a limp Pendulum through the Ponymac. The waters were getting shallower and shallower. We were almost there, crashing through the ice, water splashing, steam rising off our flanks as the two of us threw ourselves toward the bank with all of our strength.

Limerick and I hit land at the same time, our hooves sucking into the cold gravel and sand, pushing forward, falling and rising, not willing to stop. We dragged our final companion forward, into the icy shallows and the two of us collapsed, panting, breathless, aching. From what I could see, Pendulum was barely conscious. Limerick cut his line with the flash of a knife held firmly in his jaw and thundered back to the other buck. Goddesses but that dolt was strong. The earther lifted the unicorn onto his already heavily laden back as though Pendulum were as light as a thin summer blanket and ran forward toward the snow covered grass ahead as I got Bessy up, over the bank and stopped.

No sooner had Pendulum been laid out in the snow than his levitation field collapsed. All of the gear he’d been holding fell onto the gravel, clattering. I checked the wagon as Limerick tended to our boss. It seemed fine though it would take a good heave to get its wheels up and onto the level ground that Bessy and the other two were now enjoying. As soon as I was assured that the wagon was still in working order I turned back to the cow and pulled off the tarp that covered the griffin. The bird was still alive but his breathing was shallow. The tortoise was sitting on top of him and squeaked happily at me, stealing the bird’s body heat no doubt.

“Don’t get too happy and congratulate me just yet.” I told the reptile. “We still have four miles to go before we can stop." I put the tarp back over them, hoping it would continue to provide some protection from the snow which sat almost half a foot deep around us. I started pulling my own coverings off, tossing them on the wagon. This was the most bitter cold that I figured a pony could ever feel. And, as a Pegasus shouldn’t I be used to the cold of high altitudes? Whatever. I grabbed all of our fallen supplies and threw them into the back of the wagon then stumbled toward the other two ponies.

Pendulum’s eyes fluttered and his head lolled but he seemed alive, if not fully awake. Limerick had pulled blankets from his gear after ripping the water resistant attire off the unicorn and tenderly (for him) wrapped them around the other buck.

“We need to get going.” I told the earther, sinking into the snow at his side, still trying to catch my breath.

“I know.” He replied. Limerick looked to me. “Our gear?”

“All safe and accounted for.” I gave him a mock salute and dropped the rest of the way into the snow, muzzle first. “But, the wagon will need help getting up onto higher ground.” I added around a muzzle full of snow. He nodded.

“Come on.” Limerick ordered, looking reluctantly at Pendulum before we headed back to the wagon. I gave Bessy a gentle kick as we passed and she started pulling, lifting the wagon but not getting it all the way up and out of the gravel. Limerick and I put our shoulders against the back of the wagon and on a three count threw all of our weight against it, slowly but surely lifting the thing up and level with Bessy who pulled it for a few paces then stopped and stamped her hooves in the snow.

The two of us walked forward and returned to Pendulum, dropping down into the snow on either side of him. He appeared to be even worse than before. Goddesses I needed a cigarette and a drink (or ten) and a rest and… other things that I’m sure you could guess.

“I need you to carry Pen.” Limerick told me, wheezing, muzzle against my ear to be heard over the blizzard. “I’m going to harness myself to Bessy and make that dumb cow haul ass.”

“Which way?” I asked, rising slowly and offering Limerick a hoof. He took it and rose as well.

“North west, the junction’s north west, near Fairy’s Harp.” He told me and swayed as he walked back toward the Brahmin. “We’ll need to follow the train tracks and gallop the whole way!” Limerick yelled as he attached himself to the Brahmin and the wagon. “Here, take these!” He held out a hoof with a little tin resting on it, shaking in the wind. “You have whiskey?”

“What kind of a mare do you take me for?” I asked, insulted. I lifted Pendulum up onto my back and somehow managed to keep my knees from buckling. “Of course I do!” I shouted back, closing in.

“Good, wash everything in this tin down with it and head that way!” He pointed with his now free hoof as I took the tin off of him. I opened it and noticed that it was full of drugs. Oh yes… I mean no. Drugs are… bad. Yes. I took them all as Limerick did the same with another tin’s worth. I had no idea what I was taking but I’m pretty sure Dash, Stampede and a few other things were in the mix or mélange of substances I knocked back with the very last of the whiskey that I possessed (and had bought from Pendulum a few days before hand… what? A girl’s gotta wet her whistle).

“Now, run cunt!” Limerick roared and leaned forward, biting Bessy to get her to comply. The wagon rolled forward, increasing in pace until he was running. “This is a fucking race!” He yelled back at me.

“Don’t call me cunt!” I screamed back, seeing red, and kicked, sending snow and dead grass behind me as I galloped forward. “I’ll feed you your own balls!” Whatever I had taken it was working like a fucking charm.

“Fifty caps says I make it there before you!” Limerick shouted as I closed the distance on him.

“Oh, you are fucking on!” I drew alongside him and answered, my heart threatening to burst from my chest. He put on an extra burst of speed and I matched it as our hooves hit train tracks and we carved our way through the blinding snow.

The snow was falling so fast and so hard that it was filling in our hoofprints almost as quickly as we made them, making the trail we left behind us utterly lost to the gray and white gloom beneath the blackened sky. The only way that we were certain of our bearings was that we hit the old pre-war train tracks a short distance after the Ponymac and the reassuring if not damn comforting sound of horseshoes on wood and metal kept us in the direction we needed to go. Stay on the tracks, just stay on the tracks. The wind was so fierce and frozen that the breath was ripped from our throats and words died on our tongues. Snot turned to ice in our nostrils and frost adhered to our flanks. But, we had not faltered.

The race was over. Even with the drugs neither Limerick nor I had the strength or stamina to continue at the pace we’d managed for the first three miles, a hell bent gallop through a blizzard’s veil. Now, we leaned against each other for support, continuing onward though salvation seemed no nearer. Neither of us could speak. I could barely breathe. Bessy was making sounds of horrific distress but she stayed alongside. My wings were up to shield Limerick’s and my eyes from the storm but I couldn’t last much longer. They felt frozen, heavy, covered in ice and there was snow all in my feathers, dragging me down. A few ragged breaths and choking coughs let us know that Pendulum was still with us.

‘One mile left’ I told myself. Three quarters of a mile. I was a fair judge of distances and the thought of how little remained before us was giving me the barest hint of strength needed to not collapse into the snow, now a foot deep, and just let it end. Half a mile left and the tracks were curving. Please let it be a good sign. Please let us not have taken a fork somehow and gone the wrong way. I was flagging. My ears were so cold that the howl of the wind was little more than a painful, dead and hollow silence. I had taken the harness a few times for short distances, trading off with Limerick that he could carry the lighter load that was Pendulum but I couldn’t do it anymore. The small unicorn buck was on my back, held there by the length of rope that Limerick had cut earlier. How long had we been running? What time of day was it? Where were we? I couldn’t tell… or didn’t know. All that mattered was that we reach shelter.

Limerick stumbled, going down on one knee and stopped for a moment, wincing, before picking himself back up. I let him lean on me and almost fell right over. I wondered, briefly, if it would be so bad, to just lie down here, and sleep. But it was a moment of weakness and then it was gone the second I thought of my foals. I had children and they needed a mother, and just as much maybe, I needed them. A quarter mile left. We were close, so close now. I tried cursing at the oaf beside me but I couldn’t tell if he heard. My voice was muffled, a painful croak that might not have been too much above a whisper and was definitely quickly killed by the sounds of the storm. I… imagined… that I saw a light up ahead. Great, maybe I was dying, just what I needed. Time to face Celestia’s holy alicorn ghost and repent for all my sins. Though, this light looked more like the warm glow of a fire, seen through the blizzard’s haze. It was strange and an illusion and…

“Fire…” Limerick managed breathlessly. What? Were we both hallucinating now? Was it the drugs or… no it was a real fire. It was real. I started screaming, using the last bit of energy that remained to me that my voice would carry and overpower the storm.

“HELP! HELP US! PLEASE! OUT HERE!” With my luck it would be raiders, or ghouls, or an Enclave hit squad (ouch, head hurts), or maybe even those damned cyber zebra ninja time travelers, getting me at last. Shapes resolved themselves, growing closer, bridging the distance, incoherent yelling.

“Who goes there?” A mare’s voice called out, suspicious. Desire to answer sarcastically overcome by fatigue.

“Pendulum’s caravan, out of Appleoosa!” Limerick yelled back. “Now get us the fuck inside!” He dropped, sinking out of the harness, lying on his side, head unable to rise. I fell too, Pendulum landing in the deep cushioning snow beside me and I had the sudden, strange and irrepressible urge to make a snow butterfly with my limbs, of course they weren’t exactly working, so it would be a poor attempt. I rolled just a bit and looked upward. The snow was falling thickly but the wind was calming down. Little white flakes drifting towards me. I tried to stick out my tongue to catch one but it didn’t work, though snow was landing in my eyelashes, odd sensation. Tired. Shouting from what seemed far away. Needed sleep.

Strong warm limbs grasped me as my vision began to fade and pulled me through the snow. Where were we going? To bed? Sounds of exertion, audible only by the faintest of measures. A dramatic change from the snow I was now used to. Something under me felt hard and cold, packed earth over concrete perhaps. Then… warmth, sweet, glorious, wonderful warmth. I was next to a fire and felt myself in the grip of some kind of magic. The snow and ice was being pulled from me, melted, running in rivulets down my sides.

There was a roof overhead and something burning hot was forced down my throat. And it felt amazing. Coffee… with liquor in it ... and other things, no idea what but I could just start to feel my extremities again. That was when the yelling and muttering and arguing started.

“She’s a fucking turkey!”

“Take ‘er back outside and let the storm ‘ave ‘er!”

“Give that flying rat a taste of hard medicine first.”

“Pegasi!” Someone spit on me… which I didn’t particularly mind in some circumstances but… oh, I needed to get up and figure out what was going on. Were they talking about me? I think they were talking about me.

Slowly, I rose, my legs wobbling and shaking beneath me. There were about a dozen ponies around my companions and me… and most of them did not look happy. A one eyed earther mare, dark gray with a bright (possibly dyed) red mane stepped forward from the lot, glaring death at me.

“Let’s see if the big bitch squeals.” The mare said, her mouth curling up into a lopsided smile that stretched the curious scars running down her cheeks.

“I do.” I admitted. “But, usually only when somepony’s going down on m…” She advanced, bringing her muzzle to a knife sheathed at her shoulder. But the mare stopped dead before I could do or say anything more. A ten millimeter pistol, held in a pearlescent magical field rested in the air between the two of us, pointed right between her eyes.

“Take one more step or lift that goddesses’ damned knife and I will fucking end you, bitch.” The words were little more than those of a ghost, but said with a firmness that would cut steel. I turned and saw Pendulum, lying near me, one eye open. I don’t think I had ever heard him swear before. It might have actually accomplished one of my minor life goals. Happy days. “The Pegasus stays and she does so unharmed.” Limerick rose from his spot, on weary limbs, the biggest buck in the place (and I still wasn’t sure what this place was, the junction, probably, but it was indoors). He sneered at the other ponies staring them down. “She has been hired on, contracted.” Pendulum said then stopped to hack up what sounded like a lung or possibly a spleen. “Harm her, break the caravaneer’s code, and I swear you will never work a trade outside of some scum backwater shit-hole ever again for the rest of your miserable lives.” The pistol closed in on the mare until it was muzzle to muzzle with her. “We… are going… to sleep. If she is dead… or gone… or in anyway not the way she is now… or better… Limerick…”

“I’ll break your legs off and shove them up your own assholes.” The big buck threatened.

“Understand?” Pendulum asked, shuddering in pain. The mare looked between us and nodded resentfully, reluctantly, before backing off to rejoin the others. “Good.” The gun withdrew and came to a rest at Pendulum’s hooves as Limerick, with aching slowness, laid back down.

“Well,” I said, airily, trying to resolve any tension that remained, “Happy fucking Winter’s Day, everypony.” The words escaped me as I fell back to the bedding I had been put on. I think I may have been asleep before I hit ground.

Author's Note

Sorry, had to split this chapter from my original intentions into two separate chapters because it was closing in on 18,000 words and the end was still a couple thousand words off. That means that the next chapter (which was once part of this one) is now most of the way done. Cheers. Happy Fourth of July!