Chapter 2

Hazy sunlight, drowned by a sea of clouds, drifted hopelessly onto Starsong's resting eyelids. Morning was the only time that the sun's rays could be seen, filtered by dust and clouds. Still, the sight was a majesty to Stable-born ponies. Lazily, Starsong's eyes opened, and she took in the sight of the fledgling sun. After a moment, a yawn escaped her muzzle, and she decided to rouse herself awake. She slid out from underneath the blanket and the arm of Essie, which caused the larger mare to stir, but only for a short moment. She stretched for a moment, then walked over to their bags and dug out a dingy-looking bottle of water.

Silver was still asleep in his own corner, dependent on the alarm clock he had set for the group, which had about 5 more minutes on its timer. Not even the sound of the other mares waking had caused him to stir yet. His dirty wings were curled around him slightly while he slept, having a peaceful complexion in contrast to the tired yet alert look he had all night last night. Starsong glanced over at their 'host', noticing that he was still fast asleep. Using her magic, she unscrewed the lid to her water bottle and took a deep drink, cringing as her insides protested the irradiated drink. She was careful to keep quiet as she put the lid back and set the bottle in the bags again. The sound of creaking wheels perked the mare's ears. Nearly silently, she took cover behind one of the pillars and glanced in the direction of the noise. Across the river, about two hundred yards away, a cart pulled by a Brahmin trudged along a heavily trodden path... Leading the Brahmin was a stallion dressed in what looked like reinforced barding, and flanking the cart on either side were two oversized metal ponies, with ludicrously large guns at their sides. Starsong's head tilted to the side as she watched the robotic ponies keep pace with the cart.

Silver was still oblivious to it all though, rolling onto his back as the covers fell off of his body, draped slightly around his hindsection. He lightly scratched at his side with a hoof before yawning quietly and continued to snooze.... IF there was one thing to say about Silver, it was that he was a heavy sleeper. Starsong watched the caravan making its way along the path, idly resting her head on the pillar. It seemed to be an average journey, although the robotic ponies were a bit odd, but seemingly normal enough. The mare was almost ready to turn away and start with breakfast when the cart stopped dead in its tracks. The two metal ponies turned toward the hill to their right, opposite the river, and dug their hooves into the dirt. Meanwhile, the driver of the cart dove behind the wagon and pulled a hunting rifle from the gun rack. Starsong's ears perked, trying to hear anything, but the distance was too great. Feeling that things could go wrong any second, Starsong bolted to Essie's side and shook her.

"Essie! Essie, please! Something's wrong!" she muttered, but the larger mare simply grumbled and rolled over.
Several distant cracks of gunfire perked Star's ears, and she sprinted to Silver's bed.

"Silver Lining, Silver!" she whispered, shaking the stallion's shoulders. "I think they're shooting!"

Silver’s ear twitched as he heard his name slightly in his sleep, groaning slightly with a yawn as he peeked an eye open right when another gunshot popped off, causing him to widen both of his eyes immediately and sit up frantically, looking around him and Starsong as he slipped off and ducked low to the ground, scampering over to where his rifle was. "What the flank is going on??" He harshly whispered back to Star. Starsong faltered, stammering for a moment, and then laid on the floor. She glanced between Silver and where the noise was coming from, and shook her head.

"I-I don't know... Uh... Cart, three ponies... Two of them are big and metal...” she said, visibly pressing her mind for more information. "Hnn... They were just walking, and then they stopped... That's when I woke you up! Essie's asleep...” He peeked out from around the wall of bookshelves, slowly slipping on a battle saddle to be ready as he surveyed what was happening. Silver saw the cart and the travelers towing it, blinking upon the sudden realization. "...These are caravan traders, and those metal ponies look like members of the Brotherhood of Steel... I think they were guarding the caravan and they've been ambushed by raiders." He said in hushed tones. He bit his lip nervously, before looking back to Starsong and seeing the fearful look she was giving, causing him to slacken his own complexion.

"...Uh, as far as I remember, caravans are neural parties, so they wouldn't be hostile to us. Plus it looks like nopony spotted us yet either, so we're in the clear for now... Let's just wake up Essie and figure out what to- I WANNA RUN ON ALL FOURS JUST LIKE EVERYONE AROUND MEEE!"

Silver winced as his bobblehead alarm clock decided to finally go off, the reverb of the concrete bridge that acted as his ceiling amplifying the song it played. As Starsong cringed at the noise the alarm was making, Essie's eyes groggily opened. The waking mare swatted at the source of the noise, nearly falling back asleep, when another volley of gunfire was heard across the river.

"What the...” she started to mumble, when... CRACK!

An empty bottle burst, and Essie scrambled to her hooves, over to where Starsong and Silver were standing. "What the hell did y'all two do?!" she hissed, pulling her rifle off of her back.

"Nothing..!" Starsong said, glancing at Silver, and then quickly back to Essie as the larger mare eyed the caravan through her scope.

"Silver, what's th' quickest way outta here?" she asked, reaching up and chambering the rifle. "Ah'm gonna make 'em take cover, an' we need t' get out, pronto." Silver's eyes widened and he quickly flailed his hooves in a waving motion while shaking his head. "Whooaaa-no nononono... We are HEAVILY outgunned here. Those Steel Rangers alone could take us on, and I've got no spark grenades. The last thing we wanna do is make it obvious that we're here AND retaliating. I like my house not-blown-up, thank you." He peeked around, seeing one Steel Ranger and the caravan leader popping rounds off in the group's direction while the other Ranger was holding off the raiders. He then ducked back behind the bookshelves. "We gotta wait it out until those raiders get their attention more than us. Afterwards, we can flank them all, and probably take out the raiders too to show we're on friendly terms."

Essie continued to aim at the caravan, brows furrowed. Finally, she scowled and took cover behind a damaged pillar, then looked in Silver's direction. "Fine... We'll do it yer way. But as soon as one a' them stompers shoots a rocket over here, Ah'm puttin' a round in his head." the mare warned. A moment later, a deep *thud* rattled the ground beneath them. Essie poked her head out, and a second later, leaned back, whistling. "The stomper facin' the hill looks pretty beat up, so he took the fuckin' ground right from underneath th' raiders. Cart's wheels 'r all shot up, they ain't goin' nowhere now." Silver looked up to Essie. "You mean the raiders have their attention now? Great, now we can sneak around them... Let you use that weapon of yours on some real trouble...This way." Silver headed towards the other end of the bridge where it would meet the ground, using the concrete as cover. Essie nodded, signaling to Starsong for her to follow closely. Shouldering her rifle, the mares followed Silver closely, avoiding open spots as best as they could. The volleys had mostly stopped, due to the dust and smoke hanging in the air after the rocket had detonated. "D'ya think we c'n wait 'till one 'a them gets killed? Ah've always wanted some a' that armor...” Essie murmured, chuckling.

Silver gave her a flat look for a moment, making a 'tsk' sound with his tongue, and then flew up into the air, using the dust as cover. After a while, when it looked like the raiders were about to advance on the caravan, Silver could be seen swooping down from above, flying a pass over the line of raiders as his guns blared. Six loud shots blared out as three raiders went down, leaving 4 more, who now aimed their guns for him as he performed aerial maneuvers to dodge the bullets. As Silver took to the sky, Essie lined her rifle up, took aim, and... Watched her mark get taken from above... "Gee, thanks...” she muttered, and found another raider... Rather than stealthily take them down from the back to the front, she decided to make an example of the foremost raider. A ragged looking mare, looking like she hadn't bathed in months, was the first mark. As the raider aimed her weapon towards the sky to fire at Silver, a deafening CRACK made her go rigid. The stallion closest to her seemed shocked for a moment as she fell limp, but as he pointed his hunting rifle towards the sniper, Essie could tell he hadn't been fazed too terribly. Starsong covered her ears as she heard the rechambering of the rifle, and soon after, CRACK!

The raider stallion collapsed, his essence leaking from the back of his head. Essie stole a glance towards the injured Steel Ranger, who was arming his battle saddle and facing the raiders. The caravan driver and the other Steel Ranger were both shooting furtive glances in the direction of the sniper, but kept their guns pointed towards the raiders. The two raiders left realized that they were badly outnumbered at this point and decided to try to make a run for it. One mare pulled out a bouquet of grenades and tossed them up in the air towards Silver, who saw exactly what it was and quickly backpedaled in the air to get away from the blast. Explosion after explosion followed once the first grenade went off, scattering the others as they popped off in their random locations.

The shockwave from one grenade had caused Silver to lose altitude as it knocked the wind out of him, the shrapnel thankfully missing as he started to fall towards the ground. He flared his wings open quickly afterward to slow his fall before sliding roughly on his hooves, kneeling down to catch his breath after getting the wind knocked out of him.

A couple of grenades could be seen bouncing towards Essie and Starsong before popping off early, kicking dirt and earth up in front of them. The Steel Rangers had their armor and used that to their advantage, taking the brunt of the explosive force for their trailer and leader. As for the two remaining raiders, this wasn't their best idea as two grenades were flown in their direction and blew up, causing red mist to splatter.

When the dust cleared around the mares, it revealed Essie on top of Starsong, wrapped around her defensively. The smaller mare clambered out of Essie's grasp, and the larger mare stood up, wincing at a sharp pain in her side. Once they'd brushed the dirt and dust off of themselves, the mares waved their arms in Silver's direction.
"How do we cross th' river?" Essie called over to him.

Silver coughed a bit before regaining his breath, standing back up and looking over to the mares. "Hang on, I'll come 'round with some rope for you to hang and I'll fly ya both over here!" As he got up to head back to his base, the sound of weapons cocking could be heard, and Silver quickly turned around to find the Rangers pointing their weapons at him, with the leader between them. "...What the hell you doin' out here flyer? Don't ya know us Surfacers ain't gonna take shit from y'all featherheads?" Silver bit his lip and got up on his hind legs to hold his hooves up before speaking calmly. "Relax; I'm not here to stir up trouble. If anything, I helped you folks out of some. I just want to collect my things and friends, and then move on." The group didn't budge, nor lower their weapons. "How do I know you lot ain't gonna turn the moment we let ya?’Sides, I've seen what you Enclave bastards are capable of.... Yeah, that's right colt, your little civvie getup don't get past me. The way you fly just screams Enclave."

The injured Steel Ranger took a step forward - a feat of its own, given the appearance of his armor - and lowered his battle saddle's barrel. From his rebreather, a masculine, but tinny stallion's voice emanated. "Knight Captain Ironhoof." He said, stomping his hoof into the dirt. The Ranger's head turned towards the other metal pony, and it lowered its weapons as well. "This is Knight Tinker." The second Ranger bowed its head, but it was fairly obvious that the pony inside the armor hadn't taken his eyes off of Silver. The caravan driver took a step forward, however, still aiming his hunting rifle. "Idiots..! The both of ya! This cloudfucker's gonna kill the lot of us! Him and his little sniper bitch over there. I'm willin' to bet they're the ones been taking all he Brahmin from the caravans out here! I say we kill 'e-"

Before he could finish, Ironhoof had stomped in his direction. "I understand your worry, trader, but if you would kindly leave your protection to your protectors, we'd like to do our job." He said flatly, and then turned towards Silver. "Unfortunately though, he has a point. Your wings, and your skill with them, don’t make me feel very inclined to let you go free. Enclave aren't looked upon too kindly on the Surface. What's your business? Scouting..?" Silver kept his hooves up for the most part, not wanting to give the driver a reason to fire upon him. "I’m simply a licensed Hunter from the New Appleloosa region; I have my papers and everything... I'm going to reach into my vest pocket, please do not fire." With one hoof, Silver unzipped a pocket on his vest and reached into it to pull out a small card. "This is my license, check it if you want. As for why I'm here is simply bad luck on my behalf: I'm camped not too far from this location, and I happened to hear upon the small skirmish you just had. It was unfortunate that we were on the wrong side of the field when you started to return fire."

While the Knight kept the caravan driver in check, Ironhoof inspected Silver's papers. Surely enough, he matched up with the Steel Rangers' mainframes... Finding nothing worth investigating further, Ironhoof nodded to Silver. "Well then, Silver. Looks like your cutie mark's working out for you..." He said, chuckling and handing the papers back to the stallion. "Thank you and your friends for your assistance, but I'd suggest you all clear out of here as soon as you can. I'm sure more raiders are on their way, and when the rest of my squadron arrives, they'll be much less picky about who to shoot."

He nodded and smiled to Ironhoof. "Thanks for not blowing my head off either... Me and my group are gonna check the intact raider bodies and see which ones are wanted or not, as well as some scavenging, if that's alright with you." After a moment's thought, Ironhoof's head nodded. "I see nothing wrong with you doing your job, as long as you do it quickly. Knight Tinker, keep an eye on them, make sure they don't get any uninvited company." The Knight nodded, and raised his battle saddle's cannons, towards where the first group of raiders had come from.

A few moments later, the group was joined by the mares, their legs wet from crossing the river. Essie slung some of the water out of her coat and scowled at Silver. "Y'all jus' have a lunch date, why don't ya? We c'n cross th' river jus' fine on our own..!" She said sarcastically, making sure to sling some water onto the pegasus. Starsong hopped off of Essie's back, bone dry, and immediately began to stare at the Rangers. Ironhoof stared right back; Tinker was preoccupied. Silver blinked in surprise at Essie's mood, extending a wing towards the caravan. "For your information, I was THIS close to having that guy paint the ground pink with my brains, so I'm TERRIBLY sorry if that caused some delay in me escorting y'all over the river...Anyway, they gave us the go ahead to scrap the raiders for supplies and possible bounties, so long as we're quick about it." Essie rolled her eyes, a smirk coming to her muzzle. "Ah'll help ya out." She offered, and then turned to Starsong. "Do ya mind stayin' put here? Ah don't think ya wanna scavenge off a' bodies." At the mention of the gruesome task, Starsong cringed, then planted her rump in the dirt, and took another glance at the Steel Ranger to her side, who had been staring at her the entire time. After a moment, his tinny voice piped up.

"...Starsong?"

Silver went with Essie to check on the raiders, pulling out a parchment from his saddlebags that held a list of wanted ponies with descriptions of the subjects or photos if applicable. "Also try and see if any of them match this roster. Normally they're worth more alive, but we didn't exactly have the luxury of taking our time with this.... And don't bother checking those last two, they're practically unrecognizable now thanks to the grenades." He spotted the first body nearby him and started to loot his pockets, pulling out some spare ammo and small useless tools. Essie took a glance at the two victims of their own grenades, chuckling and shaking her head before taking a good look at the parchment. Once she committed the images to memory, she started to loot the intact raiders, stuffing the most useful items into her saddlebag, and then checking their faces.

Meanwhile, Ironhoof continued to watch Starsong, who cast a short, uncomfortable glance in the metal pony's direction.
"Silver, bring me that parchment!" Essie called, turning one of the raiders' bloody faces to and fro. "Ah think Ah got one, but he's a damn mess." Silver’s ears perked up as he checked the last raider beside him, not matching up any on the roster he had before flapping his wings and reaching Essie. "If he's convincing enough to match the list, then we could turn him in... but at 60% due to him being dead."

Essie huffed as she inspected the raider stallion's features, contrasting them with the ponies on the parchment. Finally, she put the raider's head back down, shaking her head. "Never mind, he jus' ain't gonna cut it." she said, standing up. She glanced at Starsong and Ironhoof. She narrowed her eyes at the Ranger, and nudged Silver's shoulder, leaning over towards him. "Keep an eye on that stomper, will ya? Ah don't like the way he's lookin' at her." Silver drooped his ears in disappointment upon realizing none of the raiders were useful, but turned his head to look back behind them. that's when he noticed that one Steel Ranger constantly staring at Starsong, blinking in surprise before leaning closer to Essie. "...How recent was that bounty on her placed? And is it still pretty active?" He whispered. Essie visibly racked her brain for an answer for a few moments, and shook her head. "Three, four years ago... When she got snatched up by the slavers... Ah never figured it was much too active though." she replied quietly. Lots a' bounties over near Los Pegasus, more expensive ones, too..."

"Hm...and with her parents, well.... That bounty should have been disabled long time ago." After collecting the last items from the raider, Silver stood up and trotted back to the caravan. "Well thank you for your hospitality by not shooting us after the fighting's over; I think we're squared away. I'll be sure to let the folks of New Appleloosa know you guys are out here and help guard the route a little more due to all the attacks. Anyway, we'll get out of your furs and move along now." Essie attempted to say something, but Silver had already approached the caravan again. While the Knight held his guns toward the hill, the caravan driver worked to repair the broken parts of the cart. Ironhoof finally turned his gaze to Silver. "Where is your next destination, Hunter?" he asked pointedly, though his tone read more like 'Tell me where you're going."

Essie had quickly trotted to Starsong's side and led her away from the Ranger, to which the smaller mare appeared very thankful. Ironhoof's intense stare now focused on Silver. "The filly isn't safe." Silver bit his lip, keeping a stoic expression and trying to remain as neutral as possible. "I'm not sure what you mean by that, she's been in my supervision for a good while now and I can assure you that she hasn't been any threat to me or anypony else... As for where we are going, I'm afraid all I can tell you is that its personal matters, but we’ll 'eventually' travel into New Appleloosa at a given point in time, considering I might have bounties in the future to cash in." The Ranger stood still, silently. After a long moment, he shook his head. "Fine, Hunter. Let the filly be killed." he said coldly, then turned towards his Knight. "Knight Tinker, allow them passage." he said, then cast a final glance at Silver. "They have five minutes to clear out, or they will be regarded as raiders."

Essie scowled, her telekinesis enveloping her rifle. After a second thought though, she glanced at Silver, her magic dying down. "Right now, Ah really wish Ah had a magic energy grenade...” she growled. The mares turned immediately, and followed. As they trotted away, Essie cast a glance back at Ironhoof, who had begun to stare after them. They closed the distance between themselves and Silver, until the three were walking side by side, with Starsong in between them. Essie wore a scowl as they walked. "Damn stompers... If it wasn't fer that stupid armor 'a theirs, Ah'd put 'em in their place." Essie said, shaking her head. "We still headin' fer the market?"

Silver looked over his shoulder, nodding to Essie. "Yeah, that's still the plan... I just wanted those Rangers to think we would have a direct path to Appleloosa, in case they felt like following us to collect Starsong." He looked to the mare in question after speaking. "Essie told me about your bounty, and it don't bother me none at all, so don't ya worry 'bout me wanting to turn you in or something." He then turned to direct the group back towards the direction of the marketplace they previously planned on. "Well, despite the unexpected showdown this morning, we're still on time, so that's something, don't ya think?" Starsong blinked at Silver confusedly, and then shot Essie a look that obviously didn't approve of the shared information. When Essie ignored the look, the smaller mare sighed and shook her head. "Is that what that Ironhoof guy was staring at me for?" She asked, "He recognized me?" Essie shrugged. "Ah dunno, Star. Jus' gotta keep goin' though." she said, trying to sound reassuring. "Don't dwell on it, Star." She looked at Silver. "Thank ya fer the help, Silver. Fer a stranger, You're a good pony."

Silver gave a light smirk at what Essie said. "Well, glad to hear that....Ya know, before all of this, that remark would've been a rather black and white idea. Nowadays it's all muddled up. By that, I can be a good pony by your standards, but a bad pony by somepony else's standard. Funny, ain't it?"

"But thanks anyway, I try my best. No need to bring harm to folks that don't bring harm to the defenseless or innocent, I try to live like that." He finished before continuing to trot onward to the market. Essie glanced at Silver, chucking and shaking her head. "Ah suppose Ah can't argue with ya. A lot of things changed after the war." she said, then looked forward again. "Ah wonder what it was like, not gettin' shot at every time ya went out...”

Star normally would have struggled to keep pace, but now that she was lacking the heavy bags of supplies, she was much lighter on her hooves. Even though Star had no trouble keeping up, Essie still made a point to turn around periodically and make sure she was alright.

Author's Note

Well there we go, a little bit of excitement. Nothing like a good skirmish to bond over. And hey, nopony got hurt... WELL, nopony important that is...WELL, nopony important too badly. As stated before, love it or hate it peeps.