Bloody Logs: The Later Days

Day 46 and 47

These last two days I didn't wrote because I was working on getting these girls to Canterlot. Thanks Celestia, it's good to know that they are safe now. Unfortunately, it appears that four members of that community were missing, and I volunteered to search for them. Apparently, they went into Filly Delphia, which is not very far from where me and Artemis are camping. by morning I'll get us there and work of finding them. The only reason I'm doing this is because one of those missing is Pinkie Pie, the one that was writing notes just for precaution, maybe she knows where they all are, or know what happened to Equestria.

Filly Delphia is filled with raiders, which means there is a chance they are dead, but I'm not counting on it yet. I know who those mares are, or at least were, and I know that the wielders of the elements of harmony aren't that easy to take down. Thanks to Rarity, Sweetie's sister, I have a nice thing to wear that protects me as well, and some other things I traded for some junk I had.

Well, I'm going to leave this short, since we will go back to flying right now. I just needed some time to record this and take a little rest.

I landed our small flying carriage. Artemis jumped out of it when I stopped and I got myself out of it as well. We landed about a mile or so from Fillydelphia, and the day was running short. The sun would soon fall and we would be left with near to no light at all, since the moon isn't full anymore. I was going to use it as my advantage, avoiding being spotted by raiders.

Now, I suppose they aren't that dumb, just because they changed their minds about eating meat don't mean they are irrational. I suppose they settled some kind of light so they could keep a look at the entire city. Filly Delphia, just like Manehattan, is a big city filled with buildings, using them to go around is my plan, wasting less than a second jumping from one to the other.

But first, before anything, I had to have any kind of idea of where these mares would be. I didn't know anything about either Rainbow Dash or Applejack, even less from Pinkie Pie and Fluttlershy. Even if I worked as a spy, Celestia ensured me that leaving the life of the elements of harmony alone would be okay. If I at least knew more about their lifes and family traces. I suppose I could have asked Apple Bloom and Scootaloo about her sister and friend/tutor.

Moving on, me and Artemis were getting near the city. Climbing the small hill, I could already see the taller building on the city, and another few about it's height. As always, I don't have a plan. Well, I do, but that is the general plan. Get in the city, find the group, get the group back to Canterlot. By a plan, I mean a way of getting there and getting out, with no trouble if possible. I must like raiders to have lived near them and getting in one of their centers. Well, it's too late to back off now.

I need to see the bright side of this. If I get all the elements of harmony back, maybe they can restore this world to it's normal state. even if I'll never see them again. I don't even think I'll live long enough to see any change.

Night fell, but the lighting around the city didn't seem to change. Apparently these raiders were more intelligent, and lit up the place. Maybe on fire, from all the light coming out of it. The city seemed pretty open, no wall around it, making it easier for me to get in, but we couldn't simply walk across the streets, making it fairly easier for the to see us. We would use the roofs like I said.

Now, it's not easy to carry a timberwolf, and their claws can easily hurt my back. I told Artemis to bite my tail, and since it was just hair, I wouldn't feel anything. She obeyed, but I could she was a little worried that this idea of mine was suicidal.

I started flying, slowly getting used to the extra weight. I can tell that flying like this was very different than flying that wagon. I never really understood aerodynamics, but I can say that different ways of flying causes different results. Hovering is different than normal flying forward and just pointing up to get higher, but I don't have to tell the obvious. Minutes late, we found ourselves on the top of a 5 stores high building. thankfully there was other buildings of the same height, allowing me to have easy jumps and not having to fly or leaps of faith.

We started moving, directing ourselves to the center, where I could take a closer look at all this situation. I would see the place they storage the bodies they rip apart to eat. I was always taking a look at the streets, looking for anything else that could be important. I wasn't having any luck.

I also felt that this was just a shot at the dark. Rarity just told me they went in this direction, but I'm not even sure they are still here. I imagined it could be worth a look though. If they are not here, they should have left some kind of information, and I'm somewhat good when it comes to tracking. If they were captured, I still have hope. The raiders don't kill mares that fast, since they always got some use for them, like pleasuring them before they kill. Besides, these raiders might be different. Maybe they don't kill, maybe they aren't cannibals... Who am I kidding?

I suddenly heard the sound of a big rifle being shot, and very near to us, the sound of a bullet landing. My eyes widened as I looked up in the taller building by our side.

“Shit! I missed!” I heard a raider screaming, announcing his failure. I looked up and finally located the raider reloading his sniper rifle, three floors before the buildings. I ran into cover, and so did Artemis. I prepared my rifle, and attached the small scope I used for my revolver at the top of the rifle. I was about to peak and try to shot the sniper, when I was interrupted. “James! Blow that building up!”

My eyes widened. I opened my wings wide and positioned my self to fly. Artemis didn't waste a second and bit my tail again. I lifted up as I heard the sound of explosions coming from the street. The ground below us started collapsing and the building fell. I didn't lose any of my momentum, and started flying above the buildings, dragging Artemis with me.

I heard another shot from the sniper. I held myself as the pain flooded my body. He had hit my left wing. I started losing control fast, and went flying directly on the windows of a office building. The goddamn sniper hit one of the only parts of my body not protected by the armor.

I turned my back to the building, in order to receive the less damage as possible from the shards of glass that I would create, but kept my tail in front of me so Artemis didn't suffer as well. I held my self and prepared for the impact.

Crashing through the window, I could feel the shards going through the cloth, but stopping at the vest. I landed on the ground and knocking over a few tables and chairs. Artemis had already let go of my tail and got back up. I got up and cleared the shards from my back. I then picked a regeneration potion and shoved it down my throat. This injury would fuck up my flying, and that was the last thing I wanted.

I grabbed my rifle's grip with my mouth and started moving. My plan now had changed, and I wanted to go downstairs and keep myself away from snipers. I wonder how they blew up the building in just a few moments. This meant I couldn't stay inside buildings anymore, specially with them acknowledging me.

I heard another explosion coming from below.my eyes widened as the ground started to crack. I looked at Artemis who started climbing the stairs back like a bullet. I thought it was a better idea to follow her. It wasn't helping much, since the cracks had already gone upstairs even faster than us. The building would collapse in moments, and I couldn't just fly us out.

Three floors later I could feel the building starting to stumble. I looked at Artemis with a worried look, she looked back at me and jumped right of a window, breaking it and jumping to the building. She left me. I tried follow, but the ground below me started collapsing. I tried hovering, but my wing was still hurt and it was no use. I felt back at the ground.

I ran for it, trying to go for a leap of faith. I ran, and the ground I was standing on started falling. I ran for my life, and it really depended on it. Well, if I didn't die before, I wasn't dying now. Near the window, I was about to jump out, but I felt something hard falling on my tail. “Shit!” I thought to myself. “I can't keep going with this long tail.” A big cinder block fell on the top of my tail, and didn't let me move out. I was stuck. I tried getting my knife out and cutting the hair from my tail out, but before I could do anything. more blocks started falling from the top floors. I got down to the ground, trying to protect me from anything that could fall on my head. I felt a hard hit on my head moments later and my vision blacked out.

“Put him on that table!” I started waking up with the sound of a raider giving an order, and screams of excitement on the background. This wasn't going to end well. I started opening my eyes and could see I was being dragged by two unicorns with their magic. Around us, there was a crowd of other raiders, both males and females, cheering up as they dragged me to a table in the center of what appeared to be a circle of ponies. There was possibly all raiders in the town here. I was definitely fucked. There was no way I was getting out of here. My life is now over. At least my wing wasn't killing me with pain anymore.

The two raiders dropped me a little before the table, and dragged my right hoof up in the table. I had no idea of what was happening. I felt something pulling my hair and making me lift my head, and then a unicorn with it's horn glowing walked to my side.

“So the little runner is awake?” He asked me, with a smile cracking on his face. “It's been a long time since our victims were awake during this process.”

My eyes widened. What kind of process? What was happening here?

The raider turned to another raider earth pony standing by a weapon stand. “Hey you, give me my machete.” He commanded. The raider picked up the machete and handed it over to the unicorn that was doing a monologue with me. The raider than just looked at my face. “So you think you can just walk up on our sister's tribe and free one of their slaves?” He asked me, with a sarcastic look. “You thought we wouldn't get to know that?! And you still think you can walk to our place and do the same?!”

He then backed off a little. I tried moving and maybe escaping, but was immediately stopped by another unicorn's magic. “If it was up to me, I would just kill you or just leave you on that buried on that destroyed building.” He told me. “But our leader seems to think differently. You're a pretty strong stallion, and we could use some slaves like you here.”

Slaves? Wait, you don't eat other ponies? I'm really confused, but that seemed more intelligent from their side. Rather than just killing and storing the meat, they made our lives even more miserable before we die of exhaustion.

“Unfortunately, to you, I took your attack a little personal, and I'm not just letting you go unpunished.” He finished his speech while levitating the machete to the table. He then sat on the only chair there, by my side. I was dropped in the ground. “Say good bye to you leg, you wanker!”

The unicorn levitated the machete high in the sky, preparing to give only one hit to get my leg off. I tried pulling my hoof out, but it was no use. Only now I looked up in the sky and saw the sun. I guess they stayed up all night to get me out of that place just to do this. How nice of them.

Giving up, I knew I had already lost this battle. I'd now become a slave and probably food after my death. So much for trying to discover the past and rescuing some kiddos. I had my eyes closed, prepared to embrace the pain that would certainly come to me. I could now hear the screams of joy of the thousand raiders surrounding me. I thought about that had happened until now. Artemis had left me and ran before suffering a likely destiny just like mine. I also had been separated from my armor and weapons, so even if I got out of this, I wouldn't be able to defend myself.

Suddenly, I heard a big gasp coming from all around me. Seconds had passed and my leg was still with me. Something had happened and I had no idea of what, I was just glad it stopped my destiny for some time. I opened my eyes, and say the raider looking for something. His horn wasn't glowing anymore and the machete had disappeared from my vision.

An Instant later I was covered in blood from the raider that was going to cut off my hoof. I got surprised by the moment where I saw his brains being penetrated by a sniper bullet. I haven't heard a sound. Somepony was probably using a silenced sniper. Clever.

After the silenced shot, the other ponies were able to locate the sniper, up in the the 5th floor of one of the buildings surrounding the area. The other raiders grabbed their guns, which were much more powerful than the usual around Ponyville. “James, blow that building up!” Another pony screamed. This James probably was the bomber of this place. Seconds later a big explosion happened on the first three floors of the building, and the cracks started tearing it apart. The raiders near it ran. These guy probably didn't have any worries about the well being of their other soldiers. But how did they blow it so fast? Do they have settled explosives in every building?

As the building fell, I couldn't see anyone jumping out. They probably didn't react that fast. The raider was about to turn to me, but was surprised when a Timberwolf, with a orange earth pony mare with blonde hair and a cowboy hat with a few bullet holes riding it, jumped at our vision. She wore a light armor suit and held in her mouth my revolver. She then quickly shot the other three raiders standing by me with only three bullets in a blink of an eye. Artemis had come back and brought a friend!

Out of the effect of the unicorn magic, I turned the table and used it as a wall. I grabbed the nearest raider's weapon and held it. the raiders watching didn't waste time and started shooting at us. The mare jumped out of Artemis's back and jumped under cover with me. Artemis ran back to an alleyway nearby and disappeared.

“Thank ya for letting me use that revolver of yours. It is pretty good.” She told me as we reloaded our weapons. “Sorry, I don't think I introduced myself. My name is Applejack, but you can just call me AJ if you want.”

I blinked my eye. So they were still here and alive? Jackpot!

“Why are you helping me?” I asked out of curiosity. This isn't normally a situation where a pony would risk their life for me.

“I always like to help the pony folk. It's a part of me and will always be. But next time send in a pony. I almost shot that Timberwolf.” She finished reloading my revolver and took a look at it, then she threw it over me, and grabbed the SMG I had in my hooves. “Don't mind me, I just like rifles more.”

I didn't react to that. I just grabbed my revolver and checked the ammo. Six bullets, just enough. “So, what is the plan?” I asked got my revolver in my mouth and stood out of cover.

She stopped shooting and got down to cover again. I aimed at the raiders standing around and shot my revolver three times, hitting two of them in the head of two raiders.

“I don't have one. I didn't expect to get you out of here alive.” She told me. her answer surprised me. The both of us hadn't planned anything, and were stuck around a few hundred of raiders, shooting directly at us. Good thing this table wasn't made out of wood, but of concrete. Thanks Celestia it wasn't bound with the ground.

I took a look around, trying to find anything before our cover was blown up by this many bullets being shot at us. Looking at one of the four bodies standing near us, I saw the body of a unarmed raider with a tablet on it's body. It was probably what triggered all the explosives around the buildings. “Hey, do you think we can make they go near that building over there?” I asked AJ, pointing my hoof in the building's direction. She nodded and checked her throat.

“Fluttershy! We are pinned down over here! Bring out the big guns!” She let out a scream that could be heard a mile away with even all these shots being fired. she gave that scream to the recently destroyed building, where the sniper was standing up. seconds later, I saw a pegasus with a very long mane flew off behind the destroyed building. She flew up in the sky and stood between us and the sun. I couldn't tell her colors, since the smoke from the demolition covered us and the sun light was also blocking it, but apparently that was Fluttershy. Now all that was left was Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

The pegasus drew out of it's back a big cannon like object. That couldn't possibly be...

I ducked even more, and heard the sound of an explosion behind me. Yep, they had a Rocket Launcher. I took the moment and ran for the tablet. Grabbing it with my mouth, I made a U-turn and ran back to cover. The pegasus flew back to behind the destroyed building and I was ready to destroy the building where the raiders were backing up. there should be a few hundreds that ran inside seeking protection, I almost felt guilty. Almost.

Pressing the button on the screen, I selected the building and a few others around it and exploded them all. I heard the big booming sound behind our cover. I looked at Applejack, who was holding her hat on her head. She looked back to me.

“Yeehaa, That is how ya do it!” The let out a scream of joy, celebrating over the few hundred of dead raiders under what was left of the buildings. She peaked her head out to see if it was clear, but came back to cover an instant later. she threw the SMG with no ammo aside and ran to the nearest rifle. She gave a barrel roll, and got back up with the semi automatic rifle being held by her mouth and one of her fore hooves. She then fired one shot and stopped. “Yep, we are clear now.” She then drew the rifle back to her back and looked at me. “Come on, before the rest of them come after us.” She told me as she hurried me up. I got up and we ran into the same alleyway Artemis had.

“Can I get a better explanation of what happened back there now?” I asked AJ, as we stopped for a second.

“What is there to know? We rescued you.”

“Not that. I mean how did you know I was in danger?” I asked again.

“Easy. You sent us your Timberwolf. If it wasn't for Fluttershy, I admit I would have shot it.” She explained the whole situation, but I still wanted to know more.

Our conversation was interrupted when a yellow pegasus with pink long hair walked into our vision, carrying a Rocket Launcher and a silenced Sniper Rifle. AJ didn't seem to react to her coming out of nothing, so I presumed she was Fluttleshy, one of the mares I was looking for. Behind her, Artemis came into vision. She was now carrying some saddlebags, exactly like mine. Was that my stuff? How did they find it?

“Hey Fluttleshy, good job right there!” Applejack praised the mare, patting her back. The yellow mare just hid her face and tried to stay back.

“Never ask me to kill anyone again” Fluttershy whispered, I could see she was crying.

Applejack tried to cheer her up, by using her hoof to make her look up. “Sugarcube, you did a good job by killing those-”

“Never again!” Fluttlershy screamed at AJ, using it as a threat. AJ backed off. I wasn't understanding the situation, it was like I wasn't there.

“I'm really sorry for making you do that, I promise.” She told Fluttlershy back, trying to calm her down. The yellow mare looked at the cowgirl with a suspicious look. “Aww come on. Would I ever lie to you?” AJ then turned back to me to continue our conversation.

“Okay then, so where is Rainbow Dash?” I asked her. “I was told you two were travelling together.”

“Wait, how do you know about Rainbow?” She asked me back, doubts were flying around like mosquitoes.

“Long story short, I offered myself to rescue the four of you. Rarity told me where you were.” I answered her question, it was good we kept replying to each others question one at a time, otherwise this would all get confusing.

Applejack bursted into laughter after hearing my answer. “ha-ha! Excuse me! -ha-ha- She sent you to rescue us?” She sarcastically asked me. I rolled my eyes. “I'm sorry, but I don't think that if you can be so easily captured by them, you can save anyone.” Wait, was it all that bad?

“I think that was nice of him.” Fluttleshy replied, silencing AJ for a moment. “At least he offered himself, and was not obligated to do so.” I now saw where this was going. The two would end up fighting.

“Before you two start fighting, can you answer me where is Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie?” I tried to prevent anything from happening. I still wanted to get everyone out of this city alive, specially when Fluttershy had a fucking rocket launcher strapped to her back, and applejack had a semi automatic rifle.

“Sugarcube, there is a problem with that.” Applejack tried to hide something. I pushed her enough to make her talk. “Alright, if you really want to know, I'll tell ya.”

“When me and Rainbow came into this town looking for Fluttershy and Pinkie, we did not expect to find a lot of raiders like this. When we had came here, we found Pinkie and Fluttershy as raiders. as you can see, I got Fluttlershy out and back to herself, well, sorta. Rainbow tried talking with Pinkie, but she was captured. They took her somewhere, and I don't know where it is.”

“Wait, so you are telling me they got her into some kind of jail?” I asked in surprise. I wasn't expecting for this.

“It is out of town...” Fluttershy spoke again. “I can't seem to remember where, but it was near the Everfree forest, or inside it. Pinkie Pie still has a little of her inside, so she wouldn't kill Rainbow, but things can change pretty easily on her, being it for the bad or the good.”

Okay, I have seen a lot of dark things in my life, but this was all new to me. Can a raider be turned back to normal? So there is still hope for Equestria?

Well, not really. I bet some of those raiders became used to eating meat, and now can't stop. Those wouldn't handle Equestria being back to normal, but there was still hope. If we could get all these ponies back to normal, we could rebuild the land together.

Applejack looked at Fluttershy, seeing that she had now discovered a secret too. “Fluttlershy, my dear, why haven't you told me this before?” Applejack asked the yellow pegasus, a little mad. I just watched while I wore the armor Rarity got me, and strapped my saddlebags on me, while Artemis stood by me. “Why the hay haven't you told me that before?!”

“You know what Applejack, I regret turning back the raiders. It was all fine until you showed up. Now why don't you stand aside while I let him do his job?!” Fluttershy replied to AJ. Something told me that their relation wasn't really working out since she left the raiders.

Applejack backed off, keeping the face of madness. Fluttershy walked up to me and continued. “Me and Pinkie discussed about a jail for us to keep outside of Filly Delphia, in case we wanted to protect something or just keep someone stuck. We decided the best place would be a pond in the middle of the Everfree Forest, that dried when this whole thing happened. Pinkie got a bunch of rocks to hide the place, and make it impenetrable, and I talked with the beasts of the forest to keep the place protected from anyone other than us.”That explanation reminded me when I went in search of fruits in the Everfree Forest. I was really close to danger and had no idea of it.

“And what happened to Pinkie after she captured Rainbow?” I asked Fluttershy and Applejack, since I wasn't sure of in what order this all happened.

“That is it. We don't know.” AJ continued. “She just got back to working with the raiders, but I have been sneaking around night and day in search of her, but It is no use.”

“What do you think we should do?” I asked them. “I think if we get enough help, we can get Rainbow out of that place on the Everfree.”

“If we get enough help from the ponies around Canterlot, we may be able too, but what about Pinkie?”

“I think I know how to call her attention. The raiders mentioned they had slaves...” I started developing a plan.

“The city is already in panic, and you want to cause even more destruction?” Applejack asked me as we followed Fluttershy to where they kept all the slaves.

“Those hundred of dead raiders must have attracted the leader's attention, and if we get all the slaves out, we could not only rescue them, but even battle our way into recovering the city.” I explained what I had in mind. “Hopefully we still have a chance.”

We followed Fluttershy through some alleyways. She told me she knew where they kept all the people, and I was planning on rescuing them. Nobody should be left over to raiders. I regret not helping the ponies at Ponyville until Sweetie Belle, I could have saved so many lives.

Fluttershy then got inside a building, and the other three of us followed her. 3 floors later, there was a small balcony, that had some kind of vision to a big park, surrounded by buildings like this one.

Fluttershy had stopped. She was looking from the balcony to the park, her eyes wide. I walked up to her side and took a look in what amused her. I wasn't expecting such horror.

There was this yard, filled with bodies, dead bodies. The blood pools were still around, so this happened recently. “We need to get down there!” I hurried Fluttershy. “There might still be someone alive!”

“They were gunned down...” She spoke like I wasn't there, she just kept watching, with a traumatized look on her face. Fluttershy until this point had been a very dark pony for me. I don't know anything about her, but I know she has a soft side too. Specially in such situation. “I can't believe she did that...”

It was no use, she was focused on her mind. I ran back to the stairs, passing by AJ who got confused why I was running like that, and decided to follow me. After some searching, I found the doors that went outside and bursted through them. Looking around panting for running down the stairs, I shook my head, looking for someone that would still be alive. I saw hundreds of colorful pony bodies, every one of them with a blood pool around it. I started galloping around in search for someone alive. AJ got the idea and started searching too. She had now seen the massacre.

While searching, I came through a message written on the ground, by blood. It told me "For every one of us that you kill, we will kill the double of slaves". I froze, feeling a tear go down my face, I felt a sensitive side of me I haven't felt in a while. Guilty came into me, telling me that it was all my fault for making all of this people die. Somehow they knew I would come here, but how?

“Hey!” Applejack called for my attention on the other side of the field “I think you might wanna see this!”

I galloped to her, wiping out the tear in my eye. I started wishing she found someone still alive.

Arriving at her, I saw she was pressing the neck of a light blue mare with a knife as a cutie mark. She has a two colored mane, most of it being cyan, and the other part black. “I could use a helping hoof here!” AJ hurried me up. “I found her bleeding and unconscious, but she still breaths, we might be able to save her. Any bright ideas?”

“Hm...” I hummed as I thought of a solution to our problem. According to Applejack, her neck was bleeding, so I presume she, just like everyone else here, was shot. I she stopped pressing, the mare could lose even more blood and die. If I bandaged it, the bullet might still be inside her neck and cause some problems, and in her case, a bullet to the neck would cause a lot more damage than one to the chest. “How long can you keep pressing that?” I asked Applejack.

“There is too much blood to keep inside, so I guess a few minutes. Why?” She asked me back.

“I'm going to try and give her a few potions, so she can heal a little. Then, I would need your help checking if the bullet is still on her, and finally bandage the wound.” I explained my plan. I wasn't a doctor, but I knew that these things needed to be done in order to keep her alive for as long as she wants.

“You sure about this? It's risky and will cost you some good medicine, in her case. She is as white a Rarity with this blood loss.”

I looked at the unconscious mare, laying in the ground there. I couldn't just leave her. I'm not the same pony I used to be back at Ponyville. I wanted to help this world, make it come back to it's normal state. “Yes, I'm sure, and I'm willing to give it a try.”

I came closer and crouched near the mare. I picked up five health potions and a few bandages of my bag, about eighty percent of all my medical supplies. I opened the first bottle and forced the mare to drink it. Finishing the first bottle, I opened a second one and forced her to drink it. I did the same with the rest, so they could all have the same duration, but cause a bigger effect, or at least I hoped so. I unwrapped the bandage roll and laid her neck on it, with Applejack still pressing the other side. We waited about a minute and I gave the permission for Applejack to stop. I checked the mare's pulse, and fortunately she is still alive. Cleaning the small pool of blood around her neck, I discovered a big hole at it. The bullet seemed to have left a great destruction where it passed. The bullet had near missed her, but left a good hole for it to bleed. I thanked Celestia for not having me to remove another bullet, that thing hurts and I could cause great damage to her if I tried.

Finishing the inspection job, I wrapped her neck in the bandage. With the amount of health potions I gave her, she should heal back to normal in a few hours, and there would be actually no scars. I can't say the same about my chest.  “Right... What now? We just going to drag her around the town with us while we search for Pinkie Pie?” AJ asked me.

“We should leave the city and come back later.” I told her, destroying my original plan. “We should check the state of the other ponies and see if anyone is still alive other than her. Taking them to a secure place would be for the best.”

“None of them are still alive,” A male voice came from behind us. I turned and faced a raider unicorn, a different one from the park that I destroyed. “And you felt directly at our trap.” His horn started glowing, making other ponies appear out of a electrical field. It was like they were being teleported or were invisible all the time. I grabbed my assault rifle and loaded it ready. AJ got her semi auto rifle back from the ground. The two of us were surrounded by the raiders, we were in trouble. Two unicorns came out of the building, dragging Fluttershy with their magic, they approached the circle and dropped Fluttershy near us. Fortunately they haven't harmed her.

“We are taking y'all down and finding Pinkie, you won't oppose us!” AJ replied to the raider's comment. The raider reacted by letting a sarcastic laugh out.

“Silly Applejack, have you looked behind you?” I heard a mare's voice, followed by a small giggles, coming from behind us. I turned and saw a pink earth pony mare, with a long fluffy hair, also pink. “You should see your faces! You ain't going anywhere.”

“Pinkie...” Applejack stopped for a second. “What have they turned you into?!” She screamed with the pink mare. The pink mare reacting by letting a big happy laugh out. I was confused, and I didn't knew if this was a good thing. I had to do something fast, otherwise we would all be dead.

I left Applejack discussing with Pinkie Pie, and went over to check out Fluttershy. She was scared, looking at the raiders around us, and I could see she was nervous.

Noticing they had removed Fluttershy's weapons, I was sure that she didn't had anything that could help on our situation. I wanted to get the four of us out of here alive, and if possible, Pinkie Pie too. I took a look around and realized Artemis wasn't with us. I got worried, she was with us until the moment we entered this place, she followed us all the way through the alleyways to this place. Wherever she is, I hoped she was okay, and planning something that would help us, we are really in a near death situation.

“Pinkie, please reconsider it!” Applejack pleaded. “We can go back to our normal lives, rebuild Equestria together. We will take you back to Canterlot and things will go back to normal.”

Pinkie Pie hang one of her hooves in the air. “On my command.” She told the raiders, making them ready their weapons out. They are about to kill us, I have to do something!

I checked the ammo on my assault rifle, checking if I had enough to kill ten raiders in quick succession. If I used three bullets for every one of them, I could do it. Applejack got her carbine ready, the two of us were going to fend out them in other to protect our lives.

I felt a cold on me as I saw Pinkie's hoof moving back to the ground, I'm seeing it in slow motion, as I knew this would be possibly my last moment. I embraced myself. I heard the sound of glass breaking coming from above me. I felt small pieces of glass landing on me, and fortunately not cutting. Above me, a shadow of a creature jumped. This couldn't be.

Artemis landed at Pinkie Pie and used her fangs to bit the mare's neck. The raiders aimed their weapons and started opening fire at Artemis. I saw bullets landing at her and a sudden cold came to me. I felt rage going through me. Aiming my assault rifle, I sprayed the bullets strafing it, dropping the number of enemies to the half. Applejack did the same, grabbing her carbine and shooting at the other raiders.

The ammo for my rifle ended, and I was about to pick my revolver to end the remaining raiders. I threw my rifle at the ground and got my head down to my legs to grab the revolver out of it's holster. Six bullets was all that I needed. I got back to battle and found the last raider standing alone. He had just now realized that his teammates were dead. Applejack was reloading, so I took the opportunity to end him, and I was more than happy to do it. He attempted to aim at me, but before he did, I shot one bullet directly at his head, making a .44 caliber bullet go directly through his skull. The raider fell to the ground.

I looked over to Artemis, her body was now sticks and logs, with bullet holes on them. I closed my eyes and forced them, causing my face to have a expression of deep regret. My eyes were watering but they just now let out a tear. the tear scored down my face and mover to my neck. Holding the revolver, I moved near to the recently killed raider. I aimed at his dead face, and slowly closed my eyes.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

After unloading the remaining bullets of my revolver at his face, I slowly re-opened my eyes to find myself staring at a red half open skull on an unicorn. I made the raider pay the price, by blowing up his head. My face, armor and leg were now covered in small remaining of this pony's brains, and possibly, skull. I went back to Artemis remains, leaving the raider with it's skull open laying on the ground.

I sat by the side of the pile of wood, my eyes closed, forcing myself not to cry. I had just lost someone I had considered family for the last days. “I told her I would protect her...” I talked with myself, remembering when I first found her at the train. “For fuck's sake, I told her I'd repay for using her family!” I got up and stomped at the ground to relief myself.

Fluttershy walked up to me. putting one of her hoofs on my back to try and help. I just looked down in disappointment of myself. “I may be able to help you with your problem.” She told me. I looked up and looked at her. “You might not be familiar with a Timberwolf's nature. They drain energy from the Everfree forest to create their life. That is why a whole group of Timberwolves can turn into a big monster, or rebuild themselves while in the forest. I believe if we take her remains there, she might live again.”

I stopped crying and cleared the tears on my bloody face. It was not over yet, I could still be able to revive her. To keep my promise, to keep Artemis safe. I still had to somehow keep her remains safe, and since I got some space on my bags, since I gave most of my medicine to the unconscious mare, I'd be able to carry it.

I started collecting the sticks and branches, leaving the logs for the last so I could carry most of it, and if needed, create even more space. I removed the enough to see Pinkie's neck, there was no marks of a bite on it. I got confused. Did Artemis not kill her?

I called Applejack over. She checked the pink's mare breath to confirm that the mare was indeed not dead. This cheered us all up. We could bring Pinkie Pie back and even if she didn't agree to go back instantly, we could take some time to convince her. Everything is working out, even if at first I was sad. There is still hope, there is still a way.

With everything back at it's place, I positioned the light blue mare on my back, while having my saddlebags carefully wrapped so I didn't let any part of Artemis behind. Sadness had not yet left me, as Artemis was temporally, and possibly forever, dead. I just tried to calm myself as we went back to the alleyway we came in from so we could get out of the city. Next stop: Canterlot.