Fallout Equestria: Ballad of a Rogue Ranger

Chapter six: Sound advice

Okay, so sleeping under a suit of power armor probably isn’t the most comfortable place in Equestria to prop your hooves up. Then again, I was dry, still breathing, and not being shot at… Which was far better than I could say for whoever was outside at the moment!

Several rounds could be heard just out of the building, but thankfully they weren’t coming in my direction yet. That yet part had me acting on pure reflex as I tossed the tarp to the side and jumped into the suit like a shot of coffee surged through my veins. Once my eyes woke up enough, I could see the half dozen or so red bars through the visor out there in the entrance lot of the building.

With only one blue bar there to join it…

Creeping up to the window, I saw those that awoke me. The ponies that stood further off were pretty well armed, but then again, I had run in to the likes of them before. That same pony skull decorated their own armor like the ones that had attacked the rangers, as they cycled rounds time and time again to assault the pony currently taking cover behind a crashed vertibuck.

Carbine rifles and combat armor VS. no armor and what looked like a .44 pistol… yep, those were terrible odds.

I could have left out the back, I could have galloped away and saved myself the ammunition, I could have done so because it seemed letting ponies kill one another was the main dish this new world had to offer… then again, the world from before was still alive in me, and I wasn’t about to turn my back on another that needed a hoof.

For a second, the image of a pony in shining armor went through my mind, as comical as that sounded. ‘Time to be a hero,’ the thought passed as I readied myself.

The burst from my own rifle exploding the stallions head probably was a surprise to his comrades, as was the random suit of power armor that burst through the door. Now it was an even fight, but oh boy did their rounds do more to the suit than the raiders!

Armor integrity: 59%.

Yeah, I could see that thank you, I had just repaired it too! A slide from my hooves later and I found my own cover from the barrage. The pony they had been attacking right across from me in view now. The earth pony mare looked half scared out of her wits, and I couldn’t blame her really.

Her sandy coat had been littered with all the grime and grit of this world as it dug deep in to her mane and tail… no wait, that was brown to begin with. Still, those piercing yellow eyes of hers screamed to me even through the gun fire. Almost as if she was expecting me to attack her as well. Out of everything going on now, she showed fear to the one that tried to fight back with her. Just how far had the rangers fallen from their pedestal? No matter, both of us needed to get out of this situation.

The silent nod from me to her beckoned the raising of her own gun, as I popped up from my cover and slid in to S.A.T.S. A Gunner made the mistake of getting a little too close for comfort as they tried to close in with their combat shotgun. With a quick burst later, he joined the first one that I hit on the ground. Although, not before a good spray of pellets from his weapon littered my suit. There’s a reason it’s called Buckshot, and that felt like a kick straight to my chest!

I didn’t get time to look at the damage it’d done, my head was back into cover the moment the spell wore off. All I could feel was the gritting of pellets between the plates. Some mercy had been shown to me it would seem this day. The mare was a decent shot herself.

At least somepony was good with a pistol…

The heavy .44 slugs broke through the combat platting of those would be soldiers as they focused on taking shots at me. Leaving my impromptu ally to line up her own sights. How she was able to bite down on a bit, and line them up so expertly I’ll never know. Shit, I could barely do that with a horn and targeting assistance!

With their sights on me though a few more dropped to her own rounds, and left me once again needing some repairs while their rounds continued to dot along the platting. My carbine picked off those that turned their attention to her instead, as me and her traded windows of shooting. My windows just happened to involve taking more than a few bullets, and getting constantly reminded by the suit that I wasn’t invincible.

One round of theirs nicked me in the temple, sending my spray straight into the ground… Fine then! I call your .45 and raise you .50! Out of the three that hunkered down, one was left turned into red mist through their cover. Their heads stayed down for a few seconds while I hopped to my hooves and started advancing, the occasional burst from my carbine did well to keep them that way, and I wasn’t about to waste the AMR on all of them… that last one just asked for it. Two guns came up over the barrier, firing blindly in my direction. Sure, it may not have been aimed, but a bullet was a bullet, and it still dinged the hell out of my armor.

Armor integrity: 50%.

Ugh… why was I sensing a theme here?

The stomping of my armor towards them might not have been the stealthiest way of getting the drop on em, but with a few remaining and nothing in their hooves but basic trooper gear. I just wanted to finish this little shootout already and get back to the road. An antenna popped up over top of their cover as I approached and heard the transmission.

“We gotta rogue ranger here taking shots at us!” I don’t know who they were contacting, no idea if they saw the name plate on the suit or if they just made it up. No matter the case, the colt with the radio sounded pretty desperate to what I would assume were his superiors, “I repeat, rogue ranger attacking!”

Peeked a little too high there my friend.

With his body now joining those that were dropped between me and the mare, his friend shot up to try and make a run for it. Racing down the lot and towards the road as they just wanted to get clear from this random ‘Steel Ranger’ that happened to show up. Although it’s hard to outrun over 1400 feet per second.

The slug dug into the back of the last colt and dropped him before he made his next step, and with him falling the mare stood up next to me. Smoke still coming from her barrel as she glared at the corpse… before quickly turning the barrel to me.

“Whoa now! Take it easy!” my hoof held up, trying not to seem like a threat. Granted one .44 wouldn’t do a lot to the suit, but my skull didn’t want to test that theory. Even with this little display, her bar remained blue, “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Yeah, heard that a few times in my life,” her eyes rolled as she tried to speak around the bit, “Why’d you help me? I ain’t got any tech if that’s what you’re thinking.”

So that’s what it was… “Not a Steel Ranger,” the skeptical glare she gave told me all about her inner thoughts, “the suit was a gift for helping another ranger, they didn’t want to have to fix it up.”

Sure, that sounded believable… to some extent. With her glare slowly starting to diminish, the barrel of the gun found its home once more in her holster. Her eyes watched over me and the suit, probably looking at all the damage it had taken from the little shoot out. Something I wasn’t looking forward to seeing in the future.

“Hmm I reckon then you wouldn’t have gone through that trouble if you were,” she sounded almost surprised that another pony would stick their neck out for one of their own, “certainly aren’t like many rangers I seen.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard…” her eyes squinted a little more at me.

“You ain’t from around here are ya?”

“Also, heard that one before,” I couldn’t help but chuckle, from that random Sprite Bot I bumped in to, to this mare. This is what the saying ‘a fish out of water’ really meant, “Sable pony here, I recently left and wandered in to this place that I guess once was Equestria.”

“Ah that explains the dumb founded expression, if I could actually see your face that is,” her hoof held out towards me. “Names Tumble… yes, like the weed.”

My visor lifted up so she could actually see a friendly face, and that expression she mentioned, as I grasped her hoof with all the care needed when in a suit of armor, “Wildfire.”

“Well, Wildfire, thank you again for the assist,” she looked back at the new corpses added to the wastes, “Damned gunners… always were a pain in the flank around these parts. Least they carry good gear.”

As if by nature she started picking at those left growing cold. Really, it just seemed the norm now, I guess. Tumble grabbed on to the ammo that she needed, and hoofed over the 5.56 that was found. While on my back I held on to all the arms they had brought to the table. Weapons like this were valuable before the war, imagine how much they’d be now.

“So, where ya headed then?” she asked as the last body was stripped, and what goods could be shoved into her saddle bags.

“Drybank,” I replied and started adding up the value to the guns my PB had given them. Not sure about the economy now a days, but it was at least something in theses wastes.

“Oh, are you now?” her ears perked at the sound of that, “I was headed there myself actually, just on the road when I ran across these guys here.”

My screen brought the direction in to view as I stared down the road. Trying my best to guesstimate how long it’d take to reach from here, “And I had actually crashed here for the night, you know before the bullets woke me up.” I looked towards the warehouse, wishing there had been a little more for me to find, “good thing I did too.”

Every pocket, bag, and satchel were checked by the mare as she went to work. Clearly, she had been at this sort of life style for a while now, “For sure, the Gunners always been picking on folks in these parts.”

“Eh, having some better gear than another doesn’t make you automatically better,” I summarized. Tall talk for a pony walking around in a suit of armor.

“Although… if you’re heading to Drybank, and I’m heading the same way…” I could see the nervousness on her face, and in the way she plodded at the ground with her hoof. Was she still not sure if I was a ranger? Or was she just worried to meet a stranger?... actually, given those I had run in to lately, I couldn’t blame her. “Would you mind if I tagged along with ya?”

We’d just met, and for all I know she could very well put a bullet in my head if she got in close enough with what she was packing. Then again, the resounding words of advice from a little robot repeated in my mind. ‘Make some friends,’ It was a lonely world sure, and it’d probably not last past the trip, but maybe with another there it’d be a little bit brighter.

“Sure, you’re more than welcome to,” I replied as she joined me on my march towards the town.

***

Okay, at least if you weren’t being shot at, the wasteland was a very boring place it seemed then. It had to have been an hour that had passed and all we managed to run in to was some mutated Parasprites. Those things were annoying even before the war, now they were just annoying… and trying to kill you.

With the few creatures that tried and fail to carry out that deed, it hadn’t given much time for me and Tumble to actually chat. Though with the silence now getting stale between us as we walked. The mare finally piped up, as I kept my eye on the E.F.S.

“If I may…” she started, looking at the few burned out houses along the road for any sign of trouble, “What brings you to Drybank?”

“… Eh, I’m looking for somepony,” still nothing on the radar, not even from the buildings we passed by which was kinda a surprise, “me and her were in the stable together.”

“Must be a hell of a mare to leave a stable of all things,” her eyes almost spoke of the same envy. I could imagine, compared to out here a stable must have been paradise… besides the whole meltdown bit. Tumbles’ eyelashes about fluttered, “Special Somepony then I take it?”

It was an understandable question sure, but she couldn’t have been further off the mark. “Oh no, no… nothing like that,” I recalled all the fonder memories made back then, “it’s a little more complicated.”

“Well… we’re walking along a vacant road, to a town still probably a number of miles away,” about a dozen to be exact, I noted and looked at the map from my helmet, “in other words, we got nothing but time.”

She had a fare point to be honest. Besides the occasional billboards of the Ministry of Morals Mare commanding Obey, there wasn’t a thing in sight. Plus, showing a bit of my cards wouldn’t do anything to hurt really. “Hmm… whelp where to start?” I asked, before the most obvious finally came to the forefront of my head, “why not at the beginning.”

That same ball that nearly took my head off minutes ago found itself up in an aura as I stood outside the teal house. With a few quick knocks against the frame, my body found itself rocking back and forth as it waited. For all I knew there could be no one home besides the filly, and after what had happened. I certainly wouldn’t answer the door if I was her.

Soon enough however, the creaking of floor boards could be heard through the door way itself. Hmm… must be a problem in this neighborhood. There as the door slowly swung open, an elderly Pegasus stood. What color her mane and tail had once been faded long ago. Though those sky flavored eyes glared at me with an intense gaze only a grandparent could have.

“Can I help you, dearie?” okay, so not the tone I was expecting with that glare. She just sounded, and honestly looked… tired?

“Oh, it’s nothing much,” I held the ball out to her, as the mare took it in her wings, letting it fall against her orange feathers, “there was just a little incident a few minutes ago, and I believe that belongs to a filly who lives here.” The smile on my face stayed firm, it was all I could do to try and keep up the pleasant appearance. Really, I wasn’t mad, just thought I’d let her know what happened is all.

Though the mare had other ideas.

“Ugh… this again,” she murmured under her breath, but while her hearing might have fallen with the years. Mine was still listening intently. “Winter! Winter get down here and explain yourself!”

As if she had been waiting around the corner, which in hindsight she probably was, the aptly named filly came in to view. Her winter dyed coat probably the worst color to hide the embarrassment on her face. Yet those eyes never rose up off the ground, and still kept their hard interest in on the floor boards.

“I thought I said not to play with those colts,” the mares’ tone softened, and even raised up the fillies’ chin with a wing. “They’re not nice ponies you know… you always seem to get in trouble with them.”

“They’re my friends, Lilac,” okay now! There was the hissing of a serpent, “About the only ones I have in this place.”

Instantly her head brushed off the feathers and crossed her hooves over her chest. For all I knew the mare had just been watching over the filly while her parents were away, and it certainly wasn’t my place to say anything. I know my uncle though would have beaten me half way across Equestria if I talked to him like that.

“I’m sorry to trouble you, ma’am,” I tipped my head to Lilac, and watched her sympathetic eyes look me over. She really was tired it appeared, maybe she watched over the filly more often than I thought. “I just wanted to bring the ball back around, that’s all.”

“Oh! Let me get something though to cover the damage-”

I held up one hoof before she could finish, “That’s really not an issue, I have enough tools and parts I can patch it up in no time.”

The words may not have been spoken, but I could see it on her brow. It wasn’t the first time she’s had to cover for the little one, though this might have been the first time another out right refused to take anything from her. With Winter still giving us both the cold shoulder, no pun intended. Lilac finally extended a hoof out.

“I’m sorry to meet under these circumstances, you just moved in across the street recently, right?”

With a gentle shake, my eyes turned back to my peacefully little place. “Certainly did, the names Wildfire.”

“Well Mister Wildfire, pleasure to meet you,” it was a wonder a smile like that couldn’t melt the glares from the filly, “I’m Lilac, and the little one’s Winter Blossom.”

“Nice to meet cha,” I tipped my brow again to her, and then to the filly, “both of you.”

The mare twiddled her hoof against the boards under her, and made a few small glances back and forth between me and the filly. She wanted to ask something, that much was obvio- “If you won’t accept any payment… would you perhaps mind another hoof to help?”

Almost in tandem, my ears and Winters’ shot up at that offer. It was a simple thing to do, I mean with my horn it was no trouble on my own, but if the mare wanted to help that bad so it wouldn’t just feel like charity then I suppose I could oblige. Hell, by the looks of things I could already see the scheming on the fillies’ face of what to get into while the mare was out of the house.

“It would certainly give something for Winter to do, keep her nose clean a bit?”

Whelp that threw a wrench in both our engines. Instantly the fillies’ ideas crashed and my own wondered just how much, all be it reluctant, help she might be. With a shrug of my shoulders, I bit the proverbial bullet. What’s the worst that could happen?

“Hmm… if you’re insisting,” I watched the smile on the mare grow a little, and if Winter had been a toy her eyes would have spun out of their sockets with how much she was rolling them at me. “Say work on it this weekend? Around the same time?”

The heavy huff from her chest told me all about how much this filly gave a damn, but with a drop of her shoulders she relented, “Yeah… sure, whatever.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” I held out a hoof to her, which probably surprised the up-and-coming mare. ‘Kill em with kindness,’ as my uncle always said. With quick shake, I made my way back to the workshop after wishing them a goodnight. I had a couple days to make sure I had everything, but my stomach growling gave me a little more incentive to get back home.

With my visor turned to Tumble as we marched on, I could see it all plastered over her face like a Nightmare Night mask. There seemed to be enough calculations going off in her head to make steam at this point. Finally, after several attempts she asked the million bits, or would it be cap now, question.

“How’d everything seem so damned peaceful?” if anything the enjoyment I was getting from her not being able to see my growing snicker, made having to breathe through a mask worth it.

“Oh, that’s easy,” I waved it off with a casual hoof, “It was before the bombs.”

3…

2…

And… 1…

Almost as if clockwork, her hooves stopped in the middle of the road and I got a few more paces from her. Waiting once again for the math to take over and her work out the numbers. “That’s impossible, unless you’re one of those ghouls,” one of those what's? “But that sorta thing doesn’t happen often as it is…”

“Not entirely sure what a ghoul is, so you’re wrong with that guess,” I waited a few moments to throw her another bone, “the stable I was a part of put their residents in cryo chambers… I was frozen.”

Something in the back of her head shorted out, and while I might be able to rewire a suit of armor. A ponies’ brain was a different field entirely. With her eyes going wide once again, steadily she trotted up to me and we found ourselves continuing down the path we had started. From there not much was said for a number of minutes, my eyes stayed clear of the display in the visor to know how many exactly, time just seemed to drag on the more you focused on it.

“You’re not lying, are you?” she pipped up once more, this time tapping the suit with a hoof to see I guess if it was hollow. “You’re really from the war?”

“Is it really that hard to believe?” there were other stables out there, with who knows what crazy other stable ideas. So why did it seem like I’m the first to ever step hoof outside.

With a shrug of her shoulders, she trotted on past me, “Eh just odd to hear… the wastes can be a strange place to being with, so I suppose it’s possible,” by a glance back at me, once again she sized up the pony she traveled with, “still… tough to believe I’m traveling with a pony-cicle.”

There’s the breaking of the ice I was hoping for… okay, pun intended on that one. A few extra stomps as I caught up to the mare and we continued to walk in tandem, sharing a much-needed chuckle. My eyes kept peeled on the E.F.S. and hers scanning for what I might have missed. Then again, after walking the better part of the day, and the eventful morning we both had.

It can leave a pony with quite an appetite.

Apparently, power armor had great acoustics for a growling stomach. Tumble looked over to me as we walked, having heard that over the servos in my leg joints. “Hmm hungry I take it?”

“Hey walking in a half functioning suit of armor can drain you like that,” I threw a hoof up in defense.

Her eyes looked to the few burned out wagons along the road and to the various vegetation that still managed to grow out here. I wouldn’t recommend eating any plant that looked like that, but as I said before. Guest here in the wastes, at least I had a guide here with me. Though without a word the mare continued to look about, but if I couldn’t see anything on my scanners, how could she hope to?

I started to follow behind her as she left the path, “Ahh… what-”

A quick smack from her hoof to the helmet shut me up quick, and stopped me in my place, “Armor is not the best thing to hunt in… seriously, stealth ain’t your middle name,” okay got me there, she looked over to what appeared to be a shack. Judging by the clear scanners, pretty abandoned to me, “Wait in there, and if you think you can manage, try and get a fire going with that horn of yours?”

Alrighty listen to the teacher for this part, “Where are you going though?”

“We’re both pretty hungry, so I’m gonna find us something to eat,” oh I did not like that grin she was giving me, “Time for a little wasteland dinning 101.”

***

“Okay, so this is the norm you’re telling me?” I sat on my flank in the armor, which as you’d imagine isn’t the most comfortable thing in this world. While in front of me I held out the roasted thorax of a Radroach she had caught out in the local vegetation.

Watching the mare tear in to her own hunk of flesh, she chowed down on it like it was discounted Hearts and Hooves day chocolates. The gummy bits of meat from the bug dripped down her face as the harder shell stuck along her cheeks. Sure, I’d seen animals kill animals before and eat them, there did exists predators in certain forests that weren’t always the kindest to us pony-folk. Though to watch a pony chomp on a bug? That’s a new one.

With my visor up I leaned in and took a mare sized bite of it… okay, a normal mares’ bite of it. Maybe a filly bite. Nothing compared to what Tumble was putting up. The insides were gooey like a jelly doughnut wrapped in crushed up chips as the shell. Certainly, didn’t taste like either of those things, but at least cooked it was… palatable? Would probably be the best word for it, this was the wasteland now and beggars couldn’t be choosers. Couldn’t imagine it raw honestly.

“Hey ya didn’t barf!” Tumble sounded like she was congratulating me, or she was surprised.

Several crunches later of the outer shell and it slid down my throat with a much-exasperated sigh, “Thank you? I guess…” another bite, a few more crunches, and another sigh. The second was a larger chunk, but it didn’t really have that much of a taste as I thought of it. More like a paste with a little grit to it, “… so is Radroach the only cuisine in the wastes I should prepare myself for?”

“Oh, hell no!” she exclaimed, almost a little too proudly, “you have Radgator, Radhog, Bloatsprites, and don’t even get me started on Manticore legs! You know, if you can kill it…” with almost a sigh the mare leaned back against the wall in the shack we had found, “Sadly, Radroach, Sprites, and Radrat are what you seem to run in to most… other ones are usually too strong to kill, so you’re kinda left to the bottom feeders.”

“Hmm I see…” I said and subconsciously took another bite of my roach, chewing on it without thought. Before finally realizing what I had done, and… well I rolled with it. I worked with chemicals and various other nasty tasting components in my occupation before the war, and while you’re not supposed to eat it. Accidents did happen… did you know hydraulic fluid tasted like almonds? “You know, it kinda tastes better the more you have it… or the more you don’t think about it.”

“That’s the spirit!” Tumble professed, and started almost immediately cooking up the few that I’d gathered back home. “Besides, it’ll give ya the energy to keep going too.”

I couldn’t argue with her on that. Actually, having something solid finally, or partly solid, in my stomach after a while. I could already sense the turnaround of feeling truly full for the first-time since I left. With her busy making up some more grub, and me slowly munching away on my meal. Seriously, these things were meaty for their size. I opened up the data files I’d pulled from 100 through the visor… I could have more bug after.

Most of one group of data I’d put together while at the warehouse. Some systems may be complex when it came to matrixes, but it was all just energies, magic, numbers and a whole lot of junk I’d rather not try and go on a college level to explain. Luckily, if you knew how to piece it back together, and were patient. You could get it to work for you.

It was really just about finding groups of data that would click back together for you on their own. The magic driven matrixes in some devices might be fragile to a shock, but the data itself was nearly indestructible. Hell, anything short of a bolt of lightning, or a balefire bomb and whatever was stored on a Pip-Buck, or device in general, would more than likely be able to get recovered.

Eventually…

Data patch complete…

Accessing files…

…

Reactor data uncorrupted.

Well now, that’s a start… scrolling down I opened up the first file of data, and what I found seemed to be the power outputs for the reactor itself. I did say it all had to be in the numbers, didn’t I? Carefully I looked through the different ranges from the very start of the reactor lighting off and on through the years. For the most part it all seemed stable, a constant flow of power going to the shelter.

Then it spiked, about what looked as if thirty years ago, something with the reactor jumped up in power before settling back down. Judging by the surge that was sent out, it’s no wonder systems around the stable started failing. Matrixes were tough as I said, but that charge was more than a bolt of lightning!

“Hmm find anything?” My head jumped back up to the mare as she chowed down, “You’re pretty silent in that helmet of yours, anything good?”

“Oh, it’s just data files and such from my stable… they were corrupted but I’ve been working on fixing them up,” I clicked a few more logs up to come closer to the more recent ones, “hopefully to find out what happened in there.”

“Well then I’ll just repeat myself,” she snickered, “find anything?”

“Actually… I might have, somewhat,” carefully I started looking at the various outputs from when they started and watched them grow throughout the years. Each spike getting a little stronger and lasting a bit longer with every cycle, “the reactor they were using was still fairly new, so they were supposed to have a technician awake at all times monitoring it. After a shift they’d wake up another, and then go back to cryo themselves.”

With a quick pop of the visor I tore out another bit of my lunch, and tried to see if anything else was shown from the data. Ideally something on that door to the stable, but alas, all I got were power readings in the end. “I take it somepony didn’t change shift?” she asked from across the fire.

“Hard to tell… it’s just numbers, would have been nice to see some security footage,” my mind started to go back to everything I ran in to while still at the stable. You know, for my short time there actually awake. There were the radroaches, the flickering lights, the power spikes that were blowing terminals apart… and a skeleton. “There was one body… or what remained of it at least, on a set of stairs.”

For a moment it looked as if Tumble thought about it, before turning back to her own meal, “Eh accidents happen… the guy could have taken a fall, and just not got back up.”

“Hmm possibly, maybe had a heart attack, was eating something and choked,” a million different possibilities on how everything could have gone down, but that unicorn had to have been one of the stables’ staff. There’s no other way this Pip-Buck would have a Matrix Master Key otherwise. No matter the case, that once incident spiraled the whole stable down to oblivion.

A crack in the distance brough Tumble to look out the window to the skies above, or at least what skies there were and took a deep breath. “Storms going be brewing here soon,” so she was a meteorologist? “How far you reckon we are from the town?”

After another bite of my roach I flipped over to the map, and looked at the scaling on the side, “meh… less than half a dozen miles.”

“Whelp, how about we finish what we got and hit the road again?” she suggested, eagerly scarfing hers down at a rapid pace, “maybe with what you pulled off the gunners you could get a dry room to stay in for the night.”

True enough, I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the road out in the dark in this world if I didn’t have to. After a few more minutes of us both gorging ourselves on the wasteland delicacies, a sight that Lilac would have turned pale over. The pair of us found ourselves once more on the road.

Our little shack already fading in the distance while the same cut and paste wasteland started once again to take up the surrounding land scape. Seriously, those billboards were creepy even before the war. Yet even with them starting to peel and fade, that pink mare still looked like she was staring at ya.

“I gotta ask though…” the mare said while we walked, biting her lip as she spoke, “not to sound grim or anything… but how do you know Winter’s out here?”

“Process of elimination…” my response came, which the more I thought of it the more it made sense. Though with her growing confusion I elaborated a bit, “there was only one body I saw in that Stable outside a chamber, and it wasn’t Winter… plus besides mine, her chamber was the only one that was empty.”

After a nod of understanding on her part, she could see why I’d believe that mare would have made it out in to this world. Where she had gone, I hadn’t a clue. Maybe I’d find her, maybe I wouldn’t… but wouldn’t know till I at least gave it a go. From there I waited in albeit eager anticipation for this next stop. An actual town, some place I might get an answer or two.