Blueberry POV

Zitrus and I slept this time a bit longer than usual. “Having to enjoy a bed”, Zitrus had said with a laughter. We thanked the mayor and reception pony and left.
When we were walking through the village it was the same as yesterday when I entered the village. Many ponies were starring. But no pony was doing something besides of that. But I still did not like it.

I was happy when we left the village behind. Today was again a grey day. Zitrus said that this might stay so until the night but again, I did not mind. Even with these clouds it was warm enough.

The downside of a desert, I thought.

Zitrus told me that he had read in a book that 200 years ago, before the great war which had given us this wasteland, pegasi had controlled the weather and the seasons. And even the sun and the moon had been controlled. I still cannot believe such. Controlled seasons? Controlled day cycles? That was too crazy.

Beside of that it was an interesting walk. I would even call it a stroll. The hard ground made it very easy to step on and it had nearly no hills on the way we have to climb over. And still seeing this half desert was something new to me. All this rocks, more sand than grass and plants which only grow on dryer places. (Even though they did not look healthy. Wasteland plants after all.) Or maybe I already was so used after a week of walking, that it started to feel easy for me.

“What is the plan,Zitrus?”, I asked the fire-maned stallion to my side.

“Well, we might be in this desert for two or three more days. Until we reach a mountain row”, he said. He had studied his map before we left.

This was all we shared for a while. Just we two and the quiet interesting half desert.

We two walked through an open area. Nothing out of ordinary.

Suddenly, a shot rang out! A bullet hit the sand very close to my front hooves. Zitrus and I snapped to full attention. We both looked to the direction where the shot came and saw the end of a rifle looking out of a bush. It was a bigger bush, at least 100 steps away, and had some bigger stones in front of it. Some of them looked like they were moved there not long ago.

“Fuck!” came out of the bush. It was said so laud that we were able to hear it even from our position. It was the voice from a mare.

“You Idiot! How could you miss such a big target?”, came the voice from a stallion. He must have been in the bush too.

This time my instinct hit me faster. I turned myself and my earthpony companion invisible.

But what now?

I could have gapped Zitrus and fly away but it would have been a risky move. If they heard us flying away and then made a lucky shot, we both would fall back to the ground. But nor could we stay on the same place. Ponies used to shoot the place they have last time seen an alicorn turning invisible. I looked around in a hurry and spotted a big stone, around a dozen steps away from us, which could give us protection.

“Fast to the stone into cover!”, I said to Zitrus. Soon as I said that we both rushed towards the cover.

“Get them before they escape!”, said a third stallion and jumped out of the bush. He had a battle saddle with a submachine gun attached to it. He shot wildly in our direction, in hope to hit anything. Luckily his gun was not made for precision. While performing a diving jump, some shots whizzed past me as I leapt over the stone.

I scanned with my magic for Zitrus but I couldn't feel him. For a brief moment I panicked but then I felt him not far away from me. Just behind another stone…

I haven’t told him which stone, and he must have assumed one. He was now taking cover some steps away from me behind another rock. At least he was without harm…

The only problem was that I still casted the invisibility spell on both of us. Which means he was not even able to see or know where I was.

To give him the information he needed, I stopped the spell and made us both visible again. Unfortunately I did it in the exact moment when Zitrus peeked over his stone with his gun in his mouth. His head together with his flame-coloured mane must have been like a flashlight for our attackers.

“There they are!”, I heard the same stallion’s voice as last time and the shots already came. Good thing Zitrus was fast enough to realise the situation and ducked into cover again while multiple bullets were flying where his head just had been. Some hitting the stone.

He then gave a look into my direction. At least he knew now that we were not behind the same cover…

I turned us both invisible again and gave a look over my stone. All three ponies left their bush hiding spot and were coming towards us. Two stallions and one mare. The stallions had been earth ponies. One had the battle saddle with the SMG and the other had a revolver in his mouth. The mare, a unicorn, had a hunting rifle and just loaded a new round. She must also have been the one who took the first shot against me. Shooting us like prey with this rifle. They didn’t look like raiders but there was no touch of being nervous written in their face.

“Smoke them out!”, the mare said, took aim with the rifle and shot close over the stone Zitrus was hiding.

“You guys really want to fight against an alicorn with her companion?”, Zitrus asked them without leaving his safe spot.

The three came closer. I wished I knew more spells than just the invisibility spell. Something to go into offensive mode since they also seem to expect me to be behind the same stone as Zitrus was.

The stallion with the battle saddle answered. “This is not about you, Firehead. This is only about the alicorn. Why don’t you do us a favour and just hoof her over?”

“Who are you and for what do you need an alicorn?”, Zitrus wanted to know.

“Does not matter who we are!”, the mare said.

“Yea, we just saw you and your beast leaving Dusty Village. But the important part is that you should know, the wasteland pays good money for alicorn body parts. Dead or alive. The materials are important. Some ponies think the feathers of an alicorn are filled with powerful magic which they could use for potions. Just selling her horn alone would make us all rich.”

I could barely believe what I was hearing. These three ponies were after me. Or better after my body. The caps they could make by just killing me and then selling my body parts to any pony wo would pay a lot for it.

I gave a look at Zitrus.

“Fuck you! I know you would kill me even IF I would give you her. Not to mention that I definitely will NOT hoof ANYPONY over just so she would get killed for stupid money reasons”, he shouted.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Zitrus would stay with me, no matter what. I looked at our three attackers. They seemed to not be happy about the reply but were also not surprised. Still, they came dangerously close to us. It was clear now that they were heading for Zitrus’ cover. I had to do something.

I sneaked out of my cover. Still invisible they could not see me. I was going slowly so they would also not be able to hear me. Even though my heart felt like it could beat out of my chest I had a strange feeling of calm. I had done this so often during the Unity. Being invisible and sometimes even attacking invisible. During that time, I mostly used magical attacks but since I didn’t know any spells anymore, I had to use something else.

I crept from the left side towards the three headed group until I was so close, I could touch the first pony. It was the bitch with the hunting rifle. All of them were now only some steps in front of Zitrus’ stone. Most likely going for a planned group attack. I turned around, put all my weight on my front legs and kicked both of my hindlegs into the side of the mare.

Being an alicorn did not only gave you the advantage of having a horn and wings but also to be as strong as an earth pony or even stronger. The mare caught by surprise was lifted from her legs by the force and flew directly into the stallion to her right. The kick alone was enough to break at least some rips from the mare and the impact into her colleague gave her the rest. She screamed in pain and didn't seem to be able to stand up or do anything else, for the fact that she was just lying there.

The stallion she flew into also got knocked back and lost his revolver out of his mouth grip during the process. The third pony, the stallion with the battle saddle lost his focus on the stone to look at his two friends who got knocked out by an invisible force. Just at that moment Zitrus showed his head from behind the stone again. His gun still in his mouth as he aimed and took the shot two times.

Both bullets hit his right front leg. One was more going into the shoulder. The stallion screamed but he was able to stand on his legs.

Still invisible I leapt into the air and with some powerful wing beats I stood next to the also invisible Zitrus. I grappled him with my legs and held him close, so I would not lose grip of him because as soon as I had him, I took into the air. And being an Alicorn made it possible for me to carry one pony. Not for too long but it would be long enough to be away from our three attackers.

But my powerful wing flaps were pretty loud. Unlike the two companions still laying on the ground, the stallion with the battle saddle was still able to fight.

“They try to escape!”, he yelled and shot wildly into the air. But trying to hit something you barely know where it is, did only work if you had a lot of luck. Especially if your gun is made for short distance. No bullet even came close to us, and he was only able to do a short burst until the gun gave a click, telling the magazine had run empty.

My wings gave some strong flaps, carrying me and Zitrus away from the scene into safety.

Author's Note

I am sorry for the long wait. My proofreader is rather bussy in life at the moment. So i thank another good friend of mine who was able to correct the many (many, many, many) mistakes in this chapter.

I also would like to use this change to say that this story is not just made by ME. I might write the first version and have the story idea but behind me are a hand (hoof) full of friends who help me. Giving lore informations, drawing the cover or doing some proofread. I am thankful to have them by my side and every compliment should go to them aswell.