Intros-a-plenty

Prologue - whispers of shadow

The wasteland is fully of many things... Monsters, would be saviors, Murderers, Rapists, Slavers, Gangs... the list stretches on and on, but there are some other things such as Myths, Legends, Heroes, commonly puffed up in reputation by the words of Exciteable Radio DJs or the flowing praise of those who've been touched by them in some way or another...

There's one particular legend, or horror story depending on who you ask, that is particularly relevant at this point, a legend reffering to a creature called 'The Light of Night', a bit cheesy of a name, but it essentially compares it to the moonlight. It's a terror of the night-time wasteland said to destroys wickedness to it's very soul, a Towering Stallion of pure black with Red eyes and a mane of pure moon light. His presence is said to turn away the beasts of the wasteland leaving his surroundings perfectly silent save for the melodious singing that he carries with him, said to be singing of innocent souls following him, taking pleasure in his company and awaiting the day his path crosses those who have wronged them.

It is fabled that bullets simply pass through an incorporeal form, magic beams rebound off of his ghostly hide, and explosions don't even phase him as pure force just rolls off of him. He is known to be merciless in the quelling of evil, slaughtering whole bands who would attack him or roving slaver bands that he happens upon, leaving a single survivor to spread his tale and warn their peers to 'do better' to be 'good ponies' else their lives be punctuated with the eternal fear of his wrath day and night...

Most don't believe though, afterall, Legends are just that, it's probably just that some idiot ran away scared when he and his buddies came across a hellhound, a piece of Unity, or just got their asses kicked by a bunch of wanderers or something along those lines. Nevermind the fact that most tall tales are just fluffed up preachery poured ontop of the handful of truths that exist, nopony knows whether such things are the truth, afterall, it's not like this creature just walks up to every slaver and raider den in the wasteland right?

Still, there's the tales of those he has passed without harm, traders awed by his presence that he greets and passes with a simple nod, Lost foals that follow his song to the safety of a nearby settlement, or those who take cover as the wasteland grows silent and have spoken of what they saw from their hiding place, a ghostly light passing by coupled with the melodious song growing closer and farther as time passed.

There's always one source that has all the truth of it though isn't there? The source of the legend itself, that one pony who's story has been taken by others and turned into an epic for the ages or into a tool to frighten off the wicked... isn't it always the case that under it all, there's just a pony, doing what they feel is right, or perhaps just what they feel they should be doing.

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Chapter 1 - Little ones

The silence of the wasteland was stiffling... no, not quite the wasteland, the silence of danger, a silence that hinted that something dangerous was near, dangerous enough that ambient wasteland wildlife, deadly as it could be, was more interested in hiding away than attacking whatever they had detected.

It took seconds for the Silence to grow complete, and the only noises were the occasional whimper, quickly silenced by a jerk from the barrel pressed somewhere that could become fatal in an instant and a harsh voice whispered as viciously as it could without rising above the sound of a whimper itself. "Keep you're whiny little traps shut or we'll leave your corpses to distract whatever it is." There were a pair of bucks, out-fitted in typical black wasteland barding, good for night travel, but the symbol on their shoulder's wasn't, a picture resembling 4 cuffs hanging from a collar to depict them as members of the local slaving Tribe, a bit stupidly identified as 'The Shackles'... They weren't very bold or skilled, known more for ambushing at night, taking and selling even foals if they can find them, the kind that some other slaving bands would call a disgrace to the trade... Tonight happened to see them in possession of a Trio of collected young ponies, tied together with ropes due to the gang's utter lack of explosive collars in little pony size.

Then both of them trembled violently for an instant as a soft click could be heard, the sound of a hoof on the pavement of the road beyond the edge of this half dead little forest that concealed them, the second one mumbling quietly suddenly *click* "Shit...Shit!... There's only a few things with hooves that make the wasteland go quiet... The Light Bringer... Security... The Light of Night... The, GHK!" *click* another hoof was stuffed in his muzzle to silence him *Click* "Shut up you dumb fuck, you want it to hear us? not another sound, period." *click*

the sound drew closer at a steady pace, each second offering it a little more volume, then a very quiet sound joined it, a voice, quiet and solemn in tone and flowing like the breeze of the night, stopping for a short moment just as a glowing mass because visible passing the blind-spot of a tree further down the road, pausing in a distantly visible position and both of the Buck's let out a tiny squeek "fuck me running..." There was a Stallion only known to them in bullshit legends, even from a distance he was obviously twice the height of a normal stallion, wreathed in shadows with ghostly masses of white in the position of a mane and tail... He had stopped in place and seemed to look thoughtful for a moment while staring up at the sky

Quite suddenly, with a drastic enough shift that those observing jumped quitely, he began to prance cheerily along the road, seemingly even dancing, his voice shifting from that solemn almost depressing tone it had been prior to being close enough to understand words, to a boisterous almost drunken verbosity as an absolutely out of place song began to pour from his muzzle, yet still managing to have a ghostly echo to it as if some idiot who'd died from alcohol poisoning was singing.

"IIIIII Really love my alcohol it makes me really queer!
I Start myself with bourbon wash it down with some cheap beer!"

Now he was quickly drawing closer as he pranced along the road, Red eyes and invisible mouth curled in mirth at he sang, the voice strong enough to create Reverberation in those nearby... Perhaps someone smart could have realized it was to disrupt hiding things to reveal their position in shock.

"And then I chug some red wine, Drinking Vodka's not enough!
Don't give me Gin and tonic man that drink is pussy stuuuufff!"

with his increased pace this 'frightful abomination that was singing a Drinking song' had passed far enough to be right in front of them, all eyes locked on the freaky thing as it just barely started to pass.

"Then I go for some Jack Daniels but I add a little twist!
I Throw some Absinthe in the..."

Then suddenly the voice of a little filly interupted "HELP!"
"YOU BITCH!" - Click *SNAP!*

The singing instantly stopped and all at once the Prancing monster adopted a hostile pose, Red eyes glowing furiously enough to illuminate the forest and those within as his head snapped to the side... there was indeed no promised gun-shot, instead came the sound of the Revolver's hammer snapping clean of in the Buck's mouth as he tried to pull the trigger, followed by a violent gag as the gun was jammed rear first into his throat. An instant later The 2 slavers slammed and were pinned against the tree's by the angry red glow of the Stallion's magic. One was simply pinned, but the one that had shouted and tried to shoot the little filly found a growing pressure around his chest and neck, cutting off air as his eyes bulged with the strain... More pressure... More, he began to gurgle as the pressure grew too severe and things began to rupture, then seconds later was dropped on the ground in a life-less heap.

The second slaver found himself victim to an even more frightening 'click', a stallion proportionate collar taken from the dead one was snapped around his neck before he was released from the hold, quivering and wetting himself as his terrified stare was locked on the Furious red gaze. The voice came again, now deep and angry, echoing as if pouring from the mouth of a demon "Go, and warn of the fate of all Slavers who cross my path!"

"I-I can't I"

"GO!!"

"I CAN'T!! THE COLLAR GOES OFF IF IT GETS TOO FAR FROM HIM!" he said as he motioned to the dead stallion.

For a moment the Shadow regarded the corpse and the desperate denial of the other Slaver then spoke once more, just a bit softer "Then I guess you better dump the saddlebags and get to carrying that corpse with you back home and hope your 'friends' will have more mercy than he did. Now GO!"

The surviving slaver squeeked desperately and poured his magic clumsily over the corpse to lift it up and start staggering off, scared so terribly that he could hardly run straight.

with the slavers removed from the moment I slowly softened my aggression and composed myself, a couple of magical snaps breaking the rope around them loose, and letting the glow die from my eyes as I turned it to the blackness that now surrounded the little ones, an invisible smile growing on my muzzle and perhaps in my eyes as I spoke, the voice far softer now, deep still but almost Fatherly in tone "It's alright little ones, you're safe now... Come, I shall lead you somewhere safe... You needn't fear me... and you may Call me Midnight if you wish." There was a sound of worried mumbling among them, then suddenly

"WAIT, TRICK!"

Quite suddenly the little filly, revealed to be an earth pony, who'd been quite literally 'under the gun' came sprinting out of the tree's with a look of happy tears and without a second thought wrapped her fore-hooves around my left leg and began nuzzling excitedly "THANK YOU THANK YOU MISTER SHADOW THING!" It was an odd feeling seeing a lack of fear, though she quickly realized something and leapt back, smiling a bit apologetically "uhm... sorry, I don't mean like, 'thing' in a bad way... I just don't know what you are." I could hear the worried mumblings coming from beyond the tree line as I looked down on her. She was quite small, compared to the age her behavior implied, a golden yellow coat and Bright orange mane, most notably being unusually clean for the wasteland. I found it more odd still how instead of her eyes I stared at the moon's reflection behind me coming off of that apologetic 'puppy eye' gaze, her actual eye color light enough resemble that white mass in the night sky.

The worry seemed to evaporate as I released a soft little chuckle and leaned far down, giving a deceptively gentle nuzzle at her cheek "Hmhm, that's alright little one, It's the way I like it... If nopony knows what I am then Fear consumes them easier, it makes it easier to save adorable little fillies like yourself." a moment later my gaze shifted to the tree's as a pair of colts, possibly even twins with their identical Green coats and only slightly different blue's in the manes, began to slowly emerge, dragging the pair of large saddlebags behind them that remained after the slavers, a curious behavior for little ponies... I noted that both wore small little dark cloaks that bore the image of a rearing Filly on them... It was rare I saw new identifying symbols around here, it was mostly the same gangs and tribes. "Pardon me... but where are you both from? I don't recognize the symbol on your cloak."

The pair froze for a moment, looking at eachother with a bit of fresh worry and curiosity... perhaps surprised that the creepy talking shadow monster was interested in such information, then back to me with half hearted smiles.
"we're with the crusaders!"
"Yeah, originally from out near Hoofington!"
"But after so long around there"
"And setting up a proper home base"
"It was decided to branch out and setup Crusader outposts in other places!"
"we're a group that works on helping out other homeless foals and such!"
"So they don't have to wander around the wasteland alone."
"we're all really good scavengers! And help em learn how to be good at it too."
"we ight not be the best fighters but we're resources!"
"You mean resource'ful'"
"Right yes, thanks Bink."
"Sure... we can handle ourselves of course, but we work best being really sneaky."
"You wouldn't think it looking at us but we got a TANK back home!"
"Yeah! He doesn't talk much, but he's usually... well, nice isn't exactly right."
"Accepting?"
"Yeah that works! Thanks Bonk!"

The 2 went on for a little while, drawing a confused look from the filly... though suddenly they went quiet when I released a terribly out of place gleeful giggle and stared in shock "Hrm, sorry... That's a wonderful thing to learn about though... I'm used to finding deplorable bastards around here just asking to be killed for doing terrible things! It's good to hear that someponies from another place are moving in somewhere to help out!... Are you familiar with these 'tales' about me?" I couldn't but imagine the glee in my eyes had to be noticeable even if they glow an angry red.

"Um... well... lesse."
"That asshole called him 'light of night' right?"
"Yeah yeah... Ah, we've heard a couple of things... not much."
"Like how you kill evil things"
"And help lonely little foals you find."
"aNd um... stuff like that... honestly, you're scary as shit!"

Another soft chuckle slipped out, pausing for a moment as I gave a nod down the road to signal to start moving, as well as levitating the 2 saddlebags so they wouldn't have to tote them around the hard way for so long... they were unsure, but the fact I was carrying their loot seemed to entice them to hurry to keep pace... The little filly staying nice and quiet and smily as she stuck near my left fore-hoof. "well, at least 'some' is known beyond these lands, hmhm... and that's how I like it, being scary keeps me safe, and those around me too... you should get your hooves on some warmer stuff by the way, this far north things get frigid quickly!... Hrm, but if you are interested, I happen to know where a small collection of lonesome young ones are holed up to avoid the horrors of the wasteland... I don't have anywhere to live myself, so I pop in and hang around everyday to keep an eye on them, bring in some extra food and such, help keep em happy and such... I don't baby them though of course, this is the wasteland and that will only get somepony killed someday... they still work to survive when I'm not around, but I'm sure the companionship of an actual group of like young ones would be a great oppurtunity for them, and having a proper safe place to stay that doesn't involve hiding for their lives everytime so much as a Rad-hog wanders by would do wonders for morale!"

The pair seemed quite unsure about that... an offer of that sort from a creepy shadowy beastie was probably the type to set off all kinds of danger radar "well, I don't really know what to think of that, but we can always look and make the offer..."
"Afterall, if it's a trap we can just run for our bucking lives!"
"Bink! that's rude! and don't insult the giant shadowy pony that could pop your head like a grape!"
"URP! Sorry!"

"It's quite alright Bink... It'll take more than suspicion to make me angry, hmhm... Now then, it's going to be roughly 2 hours before I make my way to the safe place... I make nightly patrols like this to clear out roving raiders and slavers, and keep the bastards on their hoof-tips!... I like fullmoon nights, I feel stronger... but yes, since we'll be going for a while, do you mind if I ask how you 3 got together? and your name is 'Trick' right?"

The name seemed to make her wince and look away for a moment, a slightly surprising sudden sadness, one of the colts spoke up first "well, we kinda got cornered in an abandoned store by those 2 Slavers."
"My gun jammed after a couple of shots."
"And I didn't have enough time to setup traps to get em."
"So they got us first"
"we didn't have much choice but surrender."
"She was already with them then though."
"I heard that mean one call her Trick, so I kindof assumed that was her name."
"Though it is a bit odd for a Slaver to use a pony's name."

Quite suddenly the filly spoke up, her calmed voice revealing a bit of a sophisticated drawl to it "That's quite enough guys!... I was taken about 3 days earlier than them... I was traveling with my parents from the south, a little 'fine goods' trading caravan heading to Fort Crystal... we made the mistake of being too confident in the improvements the wasteland has made... It might be safe down there where 'The Light Bringer' Is in control of the skys, but it's not safe up here yet... we were ambushed by them and they killed my parents, looted what they thought was actually useful, which should still be in those saddlebags there... Dad almost killed that mean one with his sword, too bad they had healing potions... I would've like to have seen him suffer the whole time, but at least he got what he deserved!... My parents did actually call me 'Hat Trick', but that one wanted to call me 'His' Trick... I adapted... Got over being a whiny little filly fast enough, till you showed up and saved us!..." A certain nasty tone entered her speech about half way through, then at the end she looked up with a smile and wet eyes.

The 2 colts looked Suitably appalled at the tale as well as confused by how easily she could talk about it, and a soft scoff slipped from my muzzle, the implication of the name made me wonder how far he'd gotten with said implication, but I was not keen on pushing the subject. "hmph... That makes me feel better about Crushing him to death... You're name is nice though, I hope you don't mind If I just call you 'Trick', heh... we should be able to sort everything out once we get back to safety. I'd hate for you to lose what's left of them..."

That smile softened a bit and she actually nuzzled into my leg again, leading me to find it just a bit odd how easily affectionate she was being, perhaps it came from the whole 'saving her' thing, though silence prevailed for a moment, she suddenly spoke up with the oddest of questions "um... I hope it's not wierd to ask but... you're all fascinated with the night and moon and such......Are you Related to the Goddess Luna?"

Those Red eyes of mine went wide for a moment... then a laugh that could shake the ground if it were more than magically enhanced broke out. "HAHAHAHAH!!, No, no... Oh that would be amazing, but no... I just relish the night, and like to think I have a unique affinity for the moon... it might be my imagination, or a psychological thing... maybe it's true too... But as far as I 'know'? I just really like the dark, I enjoy bring bits of light into the darkness of the wasteland, just like the moon does now that the skies have begun to clear... who knows... maybe I'm moon blessed and don't really have a way to confirm it... I have heard stories that Luna was particularly fond of the safety of young ponies... Really, who knows? Nopony ever implied that either of them had any children, and far stranger things have taken place in the wasteland, so for all I really 'know'?... Maybe!" Another playful laugh slipped out, being joined by a slightly more confused laugh from the others. "Hmmm, I should get back into routine soon though, Can't have the wasteland think I'm letting my guard down and send something unsavory after us! Feel free to sing along if you know the song!"

I began to hum the beginning of a familiar tune that blended both solemn melody and cheerful patterned tunes, swaying smoothly with the building tune before breaking into song "Trouble, It will find you no matter where you go . . No matter if you're fast, No matter if you're slow..." And on it went.

Time passed in the night, My presence shying away noise aside form the singing, occasionally occompanied by the little ones as I got lucky on a song they knew, only occasionally did danger come and none of it was severe... A little pack of raiders, a stray robopony that had no sentience to understand it's danger... There was one Hellhound that clawed it's way up, but it's remarkable what kinds of creatures you can frighten away when you're roar can make the groud shake, or use magic to create the illusion of shattering the ground... Seriously, it's not like anything can actually 'do' that.

That encounter with the raider's worried the little ones, sure, but after getting to see them dispatched from the side of safety they seemed to stay relaxed completely after that, and after the promised couple hours of travel we began to approach a large crack in a cliff... even though it was not winter the cliff and the area below it was coated in glimmering frost, placed perfectly that the sun never touched this area, and with the moonlight, made it difficult for anyone to see that the crack was more than 'just' a crack.

As we came closer and moved to the side a muted light could be seen in the middle of the crack, the changed position showing it just the right size to admit my large self entry. Upon passing the edge of the crack a door was visible, wooden and reinforced with steel 'just' large enough for me, and painted to resemble the rocks around it, and it possessed a small port-hole like window on it which was producing the very dim light, and from the other side a quiet high pitched giggle could be heard.

I paused for a moment and held up a hoof to make a playful 'shhh' motion, then enveloped the door in my red magic, very quietly slipping in followed by the trio who were looked quite shocked by the little entry way, like a make-shift air-lock made of wood and steel support beams, with another door closed in front of me... beams that appeared to have something resembling small blast charges sitting at their un-protected bases... Then their examination brought them back to me and one let out a quiet eep at the sudden change.

As I'd passed the first door that magical cover dissolved from around me, first the scary looking shadowy stuff and glowy mane, followed in an instant by a red shield shaped to resemble my body... Quickly revealing me to be a head shorter than my scary disguise... I was still a very tall Stallion, though with almost fluffy fur that was a bit closer to Raven blue than actual black, My eyes were still red and my mane black... wait, no, those were sleeves that kept my truthfully white mane from being revealing, exposed as they slid off silently and into the rather large Saddlebags that rested on my back... There was also a pipbuck on my right fore-leg repainted black and possessing of a lovely ice blue glow.

They actually seemed far more relaxed suddenly with the reveal of being a much more normal pony in disguise, probably just someone who used a lot of illusion magic and psychological tactics to frighten threats away... Of course everything tensed up suddenly as silence came from the other side of the door... a short exagerated roll of my eyes loosening said tension as though I knew exactly what it meant.

The door opened into a a fairly large room, kindof looking like a barracks that had been scrapped together, double bunk beds lining one side, a make shift kitchen on the other with a bathroom in the back... Between the areas was a light scattering of objects, a few toys, a couple of weapons in half built states, books and magazines, even some half eaten food... to a discerning eye it was very clear that a lot of something ceased hastily, and a sharp ear could pick up the tiniest of muffled squees hidden away... I knew the scene perfectly well, and so I walked quite casually through the door to accept what was coming.

A Chorus of 'MR.MIDNIGHT!' and one 'FATHER!' Anihilated the silence as I was broadsided by half a dozen smaller ponies, leading to me stumbling slightly, only to have several more come from the other side and assault my legs with debilitating hugs, then one more finally leapt from the ceiling to glomp my muzzle. That was the last straw and I plummeted to the floor with quite a thud and a wild storm of laughter broke out.

Of course this scene left 3 very much stunned little ones still standing in the open inner door wondering what could possibly be taking place... just as suddenly my red aura engulfed most of the little ponies smothering me and began to pick them off a couple at a time very much practiced tosses sending them bouncing harmlessly onto the beds in fresh fits of giggles, and of course leaving me looking more considerably disheveled as I rose back to my hooves and set to smoothing out my mussed up fur and mane, then quickly held out a hoof as a gesture to stop the Various foals from suddenly swarming right back, then waved it in a motion to draw their short attention span to the 3 new arrivals... A Corus of 'Squees' Rang out as the youngest half of those present swarmed suddenly to pelt the new kids with questions so fast it was unlikely anypony could actually understand what one even said.

After taking just a short moment to urge the inner door closed with my magic I gave off a sharp whistle, calling all attention back to myself and got to speaking, motioning to each in turn as I went over the night's exploits.

"Children! I came across a couple of deplorable slavers tonight who failed to keep these delightful young ones hidden from me. These are Bink and Bonk. They are with a little group called the Crusaders, It composed almost entirely of little Foals such as yourself. I hear they are quite impressive and very much capable of surviving in the wasteland together, this means I have at last found a suitably safe group you all can join so you don't have to hide away here to stay safe!" The children had their eyes wide with sparkling attention, always seeming to enjoy hearing about the results of the 'righteous quest' of the creepy shadow monster than saves little fillies and colts allover the wasteland, but the mention of another group of young ones who were capable of survival that they can join instead of hiding in this little safe house acquiring a string of excited cheers and happy mauling on 2 suddenly squeeling colts who suddenly found themselves on the recieving end of an avalanche of Foalish Affection.

Of course, not all of them were particularly little foals, some had been around for a couple of years helping watch over the much younger ones, and were currently quite maturely waiting to my right, another on my left that seemed more interested in only peeking around my hooves to see the new ones. "Now now, calm down children, don't break them! The Crusader's will much more capable of helping you learn to handle the wasteland than myself... I imagine they can have some room for slightly older ponies as well." The 2 on my right suddenly perked up at that, very much used to taking care of these young ones, I imagined it'd be preferable for them if they followed along.

with a little chuckle a nudge from a hoof I urged them to move over and introduce themselves... a slightly morose thought crossing my mind... Each time I returned it occured to me that I protected myself from them as well, trying to minimize how deeply I knew them to prepare for when they would leave... or die. It's only natural to do what one can to avoid pain they know will come... of course, I'm much too soft to just say no and leave them behind even if it will hurt... I'm also terrbile at saying 'no' to those adorable little faces, and I was already irreperably close with at least one who was present... A little smile was cast down to the one hiding on my left, but he didn't seem to want to join the other's in the crowd, so I pushed on with the introductions, of course there was little reason for me to introduce each individual who was already there, they would oh so eagerly handle that themselves.

"Also children, This is Trick, or Tricky, she was... where?"

"Hello!"
"GYAH!"

I looked to my left suddenly to find that tricky was a more fitting name as she had used the commotion to sneak around me and come up behind the hiding one on my left, scaring him terribly and causing him to leapt out of his hiding spot, revealing a very obvious reason he might have been hiding from the new ones. "Oh my, you 'are' Tricky aren't you? heheh"

One of the Crusader's ended up shouting "A Zebra!?" Indeed, Larger than the other young ones, with a dark grey coat and Black Stripes, with nice wide shocked Blue eyes.

The young zebra, clearly older than the rest of those present, myself excluded, looked as if he'd seen a ghost suddenly and quickly ducked back behind one of my legs, my attention shifted quickly to the pair of crusader's who now looked quite shocked and even a bit worried.

"Is there something wrong?"

"w-well... where we're from..."
"There's a lot of 'bad' Zebras"
"I mean... we know not 'all' are bad, just like there's plenty of bad ponies"
"It was just... shocking."
"Yeah... uh, Sorry"

Something else was apparent though, a bit of the indirect cruelty of the young, not necesarily intentionally of course, but there was a noticeable ratio of the other young ones that looked to the zebra with various emotions between curiosity and Ire, though most just kept at their playful introductions, or started to disperse in little bits to jump right into packing their things. Trick seemed to catch on to the stares, though instead of joining in she perched right next to the Zebra, urging a little jump out of him again, and gave them a rude look right back... It was interesting.

"Hrm, I see, shock is understandable when one's personal experiences are quite unsavory, but trust me, He is a perfect Gentlecolt... and, Children, as I was saying, this is Tricky, She'll be joining you as well." Then, since she'd seemed particularly interested in sneaking around me to see him I made a little motion to the Zebra "And Tricky, this is Zev... He's actually been with me the longest, 5 years now infact."

Zev worked up a half-hearted smile and turned his attention away from the crown and to Tricky, his voice perhaps the least exotic anypony has ever heard from a zebra... or perhaps faked to sound as pony as possible. "Indeed, I am the one who chose to stay with father after being rescued from the wastes... The North is... unfriendly, to young ones like myself."

For some reason the first thing to come from Trick were the words "Could... Could I stay too?... I mean... I feel safer next to you, you're scary, and that makes you safer cause you'll scare away a lot of other meaner things!." The request garnered equally shocked expressions from both of us.

I already mentioned that I was terrible at saying No "w-well... Sure you can... I mean, I don't have a problem with it, but the wasteland is dangerous even around me, I'm 'scariest' at night ya know... But, I don't have an official home... this place was setup roughly 6 months ago to safely hide-away lost foals I rescued until I could find somewhere suitable to take them... we'll be traveling a lot, and we'll only really have a safe place to stay on the occasion we find, make, or rent one."

"That's okay, I don't have anywhere to go anyway... I'd rather stay with the big scary buck that saved me from... whatever they were going to do... than wander around the wasteland with other Foals... no offense to them, but it's not a tactically sound life-style."

I gave a more simple answer in the form of an accepting nod, then sprung up straight suddenly and gave another whistle "Allright Children! It's almost time to cook dinner." Instantly the swarming of the 2 colts ceased and the collection of young ones poured over the room, cleaning up toys and leftover bits of distraction left allover the place in routined preparation for dinner, while i headed for the makeshift kitchen, Zev and Tricky in tow, and the 2 Crusaders joining us shortly after to ask various bits of information about the other little ones.

The questioning went on for about a dozen minutes as I went through dinner preparations, Zev helping out with Practiced ease while the other 3 watched and I spoke nice and quietly to the boys "I'm sorry boys, but... I really try 'not' to know too much... Inevitably I must move on, as I cannot indefinitely support a growing volume of young ones, nor protect them all while wandering the wasteland... I will come along tommorrow to help escort you to your Crusader haven in the making, and likely help collect materials along the way that can be used in construction or for food, but then I must continue to travel, I am looking for something... heh, the same can likely be said for any who would follow me all the way across the wasteland." I actually gave a playful nudge to Zev at the thought.

"Oh... that's fine... Adults aren't allowed anyway!"
"Ya know... cept in special cases... like growing up with us, or being 'amazing' like Miss Security."
"we never met her though, just... heard all the stories."
"Did you know she 'talked' down a living tank?!"
"YEAH!, and then it joined her!"

"My my, that sounds interesting... 'almost' as interesting as actually meeting her... Though if it's who I think you're reffering to, I recall her being nicknamed Queen whiskey... and no, I haven't 'met' her personally, but I did observe her drunken antics one day during my more 'broad' travels, hmhm... It was 'very' exciting and honestly... 'she' inspired me to experiment with alcohol and see if there was one 'for me' out there... I foudn it, but, it's horrifyingly rare and difficult to make... oh, listen to me rambling, this is nothing that little fillies and colt's should be worrying about!" I took a moment to activate the stove... of course, there was no electricity out here, but a jurry rigged spark battery was set to take raw magic and turn it into fresh energy so teh stove could create heat.

A quick realization came up and I quickly turned to Zev, a little glow flowing across my horn as one of my bags opened and produced a small book and several slips of paper in it "Zevvy! I found something while I was out this time! It was pure luck though, some dumb Raider didn't know what they had... it smells funny and they kinda marked some bits disrespectfully, but it's the closest I've come so far."

Zev seemed all kinds of excited over what I'd produced for him and immediately took it, flipped through a few pages then closed it back up "Thank you father! It's just fine, even with the 'bits of raider' on it, It'll do wonders for my practice!" He actually hopped up and gave a little hug before tucking it into his own saddlebags nearby and returned to even more fervently helping me cook, and the night went on like that, nice and peacefully... just as any time before, I wasn't sure how i felt about leaving them all behind again, even with another group that could take care of them, but it was neccesary, they won't gain vital experience in the wasteland with me babying them.

The Night after that went pretty routine, broken only by my inquiring as to the precise location of the Crusader's 'base to be', and by the Bink/Bonk Duet regaling the other young ones about the Crusaders, what they do, how 'amazing' they are because everyone there is good at surviving despite being so young, so they'll Crusader's will all grow up to be Amazing wastelanders... they out the 'Those what survive long enough' part of course.

I packed up the most of course, quite overloading an extra set of saddlebags to take along with us, extra supplies, 'gifts' for our arrival, a couple of the children's belongings that might not fit in their own bags... I could just tell I'd be exhausted by the time the next day was done, the most harrowing part of the journey was likely to be keeping control of a dozen colts and fillies while crossing the wasteland, even more than ensuring their safety.