Breaking the Nightmare

Lightning would listen closely to Kes' plan before nodding in agreement. Turning to look at the griffon that Kes continued to refer to as 'Rookie', the pegasus made himself a mental note to get her name later. But for now, they had to get moving. Catching the sniper rifle from Kes, he would holster it before turning to the griffon in charge. "Shall we get moving?"

Safiya nodded and watched Kes and Cross leaving before she turned to look at the blue Pegasus. "Let's move" was all she said as she began to lead them further on down the road. She flicked her eyes towards Kes and Cross a few times before looking to the building. This plan was risky... but then they didn't have much choice otherwise since these ponies apparently wanted to talk to them

Cross and Kes would get half way towards the building before they would notice the scopes trained on them, while others pointed towards Safiya and the other group. There was another whine of static before the speakers came on again, "And where are they going!" came the voice angrily, "All of you, here or we will fire on you!" was the next voice. The doors at the bottom of the building opened as a group of seven ponies walked out, some of them wearing battle saddles and some decent armor. It was unclear what they were carrying but it was certain that whatever it could be to require a saddle could probably massacre the group easily. They waited by the entrance as they looked out towards the group, expecting them to comply. What would become apparent to the group was that they definitely weren't dressed like raiders.

"Hmm...damn." Kestrel thought to himself, but his face gave away nothing but stoic calm. Seeing what he was up against he knew that rushing headlong into a fight was suicide. These guys were to well equipped to handle straight up like that.

No matter, he would entertain their commands for now.

"Stay frosty. This could get ugly." Kes whispered harshly, motioning to the others to make their way towards the armed group, a plan starting to build itself up in his head.

Cross silently cursed their luck. Now this was annoying the hell out of him... there was no telling what the hell Winter was going through... He'd play along for now, but every second they wasted, was every second he'd be that much closer to just killing every pony in that building and moving on.

Cross glanced at the others and tossed his head, signaling for the others to hurry up and follow them. Cross couldn't get through this on his own...but it worst came to worst, at least he and Kes would have a good chance to get to Winter in time. If anything.

Lightning nodded to the griffon before motioning with his head for the group to follow. He would begin walking up the path that lead to Filly but then the sound of a static caught his attention once more. Turning around, the angry voice of the pony made him freeze. This was not good. There were many sniper scopes trained on them right now. Glancing over at Kes and Cross, both of them motioned for them to make their way toward them. "Alright...everypony, let's head back...But stay alert...This may not end well." Lightning would give a quick nod to Kes and Cross before walking back to them, frowning at the heavily armed group of ponies standing by the door.

Both groups made there way towards the entrance of the building to meet the heavily armored ponies at the front. The seven of them watched impassively but cautiously as their eyes scanned the group. They parted, making way for the group as they motioned them to go inside. One of them, the largest of them stepped forward making sure to seem nonthreatening as he did so, "Nimbus is waiting for you inside, she wants to speak with you personally to see that a few things check out, if you will?" he said motioning a hoof towards the door. The rest of them took steps back as others looked out behind them to see if there was anything else, threat wise that they could see. Once inside the group would see allot more ponies, all armored and carrying weapons as they talked amongst themselves. A side door opened as another group walked in, "Back from patrol... nothing to report" said the leader of the group as they dispersed around the room, some of them leaving the room into others entirely. "Blue team, you're up" came the voice of a small mare behind a desk who seemed to be typing on an old terminal. It was clear that they had some kind of operation going on here, though what it was couldn't be certain. Another group of ponies assembled before leaving out the door, again it was a group of about seven.

The stairs which led to the second floor was situated at the back of the large open room, and from it came a large mare with an eye patch. She was a Pegasus who's eye told unspoken stories of wisdom and knowledge, "Glad you made it" she said as she approached the group, "Sorry for the impolite words and the guns pointed at you but you can never take chances out here in the wastes. Now I have a question for you and your answer will determine how things proceed from here onwards, so I'll get right to it. What are you doing heading towards Fillydelphia?" she asked.

Kestrel definitely did not like this situation at all. These ponies ran a tight ship, they seemed trained; very well trained. Being led through the building, eventually the team got to where the leader was.

Kes gave nothing away but he was rather impressed that a pegasus of all ponies was the leader here. Most were to hotheaded and rash to really lead, ran in the species, but this one looked different. She looked like a mare that actually had a head on her shoulders.

At her inquiry, Kestrel said nothing. It was not his place to do so now, he'd already done enough with the recruiting. Cross was up.

Cross eyed the mare suspiciously. She seemed pretty polite so it shouldn't be too hard to convince her to let them go. He settled his posture as spoke to the mare.

"A friend of ours has gone to Filly, and we're looking for her. We're simply going to get her to bring her back home. Make sure she's safe. ...and if it's not out of line to ask, exactly to whom am I addressing?" He had used his most proper voice possible, the diction he picked up at Tenpon, making sure his words were clear and transparent. And above all

Polite.

Zestari stood up. The buck's fever was gone now, and he’d pull through. She gave another quick check of his dressings then with a kind word left him to rest.

She made her way towards the door where a creamy yellow unicorn mare lounged against the doorframe, having distractedly watched the zebra work. “I’ve done what I can, Meringue.” Zestari said, turning back to look at the patient; a dark blue maned Earth Pony, “Twirl’s fever is gone and he’s breathing normally, now. Keep an eye on those bandages; change them regularly so to avoid infection. Oh, and take this.” She passed over a small slightly rusted tin. “If he wakes and is in a lot of pain, rub some of this on the injury and it’ll take the edge of it.”

She smiled at the Unicorn’s surprised face. “I’ll be on my way, I imagine.” She pushed past and made her way down the hallway, the guards seemed more on edge than the last couple of days, but then, this place never seemed to have a real quiet moment. With a yawn, she climbed the stairs, heading towards Nimbus. The Pegasus had been the one to actually listen to Zestari after the patrol dragged her in. It was because of her that Zestari offered to help the injured Twirl downstairs. Arriving at the top, without pausing, she made her way towards the Pegasus. She seemed to be entertaining a ragtag group of mercs or something.

As Zestari got closer her eyes went wide. The large black griffon was unmistakable. “Kestrel?!” she asked her voice full of confusion and surprise. “What are you doing here?!” It was now that she noticed the rest of the group he was travelling with. “Cross, Flash, Safiya?! You’re all here…” she trailed off.

She paused looking around, sizing up the situation, “Uh is there a problem Nimbus? These are friends of mine.” She eyed the group. “They’re carrying more weapons than I recall, but definitely friends.” She began walking towards them. “This isn’t a scavving mission, is it?” She asked squinting. “You’re heading to Fillydelphia. Why?”

Kestrel flicked his gaze sideways towards the newcomer calling his name and offered a slight bow of his head in gretting. Internally he was questioning what the hell was going on though, last time he had seen Zestari was back in New Pegasus with the Khans and Trails.

Guess she came back for some reason...though what it was Kestrel hadn't a clue. Nor did he honestly care at the moment.

He kept up his silence for now, Cross had just explained what was going on to Nimbus, the pegasus mare, and either she or Cross could again pipe up. Kes didn't trust himself to tell it again anyway, every time the mission was brought up his mind started up with the guilt trip again.

Cross cranked his head in response, "Wait....Zesty...youre here....?" Cross looked at her with a bit of amazement, normally he'd be up for hellos but they were wasting time. He took in a deep breath as he prepared himself to give her an answer to a question she had yet to ask. A look of despair enveloping his face as his eyes turned to her.

"Zesty....Winter left for Filly....I don't know where she is.." He shook his head in frustration, he gave a quick glance to Kes and the mare before turning back to Zesty

"We're losing time, we need to go...now"

“Winter’s in Fillydelphia?” she echoed her face set in a slight expression of confusion before realisation hit her. “Wait. She’s gone to Fillydelphia?! Who with?” She looked around the group of familiar faces. “Let me guess. By herself?” She looked at their faces which pretty much told her she was right. “Is she crazy?! I’ve heard a lot of bad things about that place.” She sighed.

“Let me get my things I don’t think we’ll be held up here for long.” She turned towards Nimbus, “Twirl is recovering, and he should be okay. Give him plenty of rest. I’ve left instructions with Lemon Meringue for further healing,” she bowed her head, “but I really have to go with these ponies.”

Without waiting for much in the way of a response, she turned and trotted off to get her possessions together.

Dash watched as everyone once again got ready to go, and there was a zebra that Cross graced with a response, how friendly of him. To be fair, Dash recognized Zestari as well from the sunken city of Harmony. He was glad to see that she was doing some real good for these ponies, they seemed like his type, Nimbus as well, "I'm glad you'll be along too, Zestari." Dash said, "At least you won't have to be bandaging Arc Weld's flank up every 3 minutes." He chuckled slightly at himself then blinked, "Too soon?" he asked. He really wished he had some friends out here to make lame jokes like that with, sometimes he was so focused on what he was doing that he sometimes forgot how few friends he actually had. This was one of the overarching reasons why he was going on this mission, too.

Lightning remained quiet as he let Cross handle talking to the pegasus mare. The mare looked to be more...polite than the others that forced them in here but he wasn't going to take any chances. Before they knew it, a very familiar zebra appeared, obviously just as surprised to see them as they are to see her. "Zestari! What a surprise! What are you doing here?"

Obviously, Zestari would be curious of why they were so heavily armed and why they were there in the first place. Cross, of course, finished explaining the situation with her and now, it seemed they picked up a new member in the group. Smiling a bit to himself, it was good to have another friend along. But there was no time for that, they had to get moving.

Kestrel was glad to see that even Zestari got the urgency of this mission down pat. Now, hopefully, Nimbus would as well. Kestrel did not want to do anything drastic, but if he had to he would kill every pony here and move on without hesitation.

Nimbus listened quietly, observing their interactions as she listened in on their dilemma. "Well that appears to answer all my questions. You see, the reason we've set up here is so that we can prevent the trafficking of slaves passing through this area towards Fillydelphia. We stopped you to make sure that none of you are trafficking slaves or are slaver involved which I can see you aren't" she said as she looked to Zestari, "I trust what you tell me especially since your zebra friend has done allot for us here at our outpost. You're free to leave" she said as she called over to the mare behind the desk, "Have a fire team see them to the edge of the border, make sure they get through all right" she said as she turned back to the group. "It's the least I can do, I hope you find your friend. Though if she's in Filly... then I would say you're wasting your time" she said with a sympathetic expression. A small group of four ponies arrived after the mare behind the desk called. They looked young, but they were packing some impressive gear. The group was now on the move again.

Cross nodded in thanks, at this point, he didn't have much words to give than was necessary. Looking around the room, he turned about and followed the fire team as they began to lead them out the building. He gave Dash a furious glance as he passed by, this wasn't anytime for jokes, and he wasn't feeling merciful as it was. "Watch it..." he said coldly.

Giving the team a look Cross wasn't happy, but he was impressed to say the least. They'd reach the gate. He knew that. But from there

It was anyfool's game. They'd need to get smart, and quickly

Dash looked at Cross with a defensive glance as he lashed out verbally, 'Watch it!' Dash had wanted to mimic, but he understood exactly, precisely what he was going through right now, "Hey..." Dash said assertively, approaching Cross, "You're in a bad place, I get it... I understand what you're going through more than you know... You wanna know why?"

Dash put his hoof on the front-top of his vest and armor and yanked it down, revealing a scar that had definitely been caused by a .44 caliber pistol bullet, at the very least, right in the center of his chest, just below his neck, "Two slavers ambushed my little brother and I just outside of Friendship City, they dragged him away and blew me a new throat you could fit a Sparkle Cola bottle down... He's been missing for about 4 months now! And there's a distinct chance he's in the same hell Winter is now... I had my fuming time, lying on my bucking flank, unable to even move for weeks, after being in a coma for 2 months."

"I want to help you but I can't if you don't let me, and you won't be as effective as you can, if you stay on this warpath ideology I know you have. Winter is my friend too, so please, let me help you..." Dash then looked to the pegasi who were assigned to them, "And reiterating how dangerous Fillydelphia is for our loved ones does nothing useful, so stop mentioning it..." Dash snorted and returned to his position.

Ashen was, of course, silent through most of the deliberations with Nimbus. The goggled-unicorn stood at the back of the group, sharp green eyes observing everything from behind his onyx spectacles. He took in the group, eyes going over their weapons and equipment. They seemed to be very well equipped, a necessity this close to Fillydelphia.

As the group moved Ashen unholstered his rifle, giving the weapon a final check before the group was deep in slaver territory. Make sure all the pieces were in the right place, spark battery secured, sights aligned, all things that he already checked but checking twice never hurt. The weapon had been barely used at this point and still in excellent condition, he doubted that it’d give him any trouble in the slaver city.

Whether it’d be enough, is another question.

Nimbus had seen logic and had been kind enough to let them go. Good, Kestrel wanted to save his skills for the Slavers and trials ahead anyway. Nimbus' words about the dangers of Filly fell on deaf ears. Kes knew how bad the place was, he'd lived there for nineteen bloody years. Over half the scars he wore he wore because of that city alone.

He probably should have been grateful that the guards here had decided to send a little escort with them. But he wasn't. Kes did not want more people to get dragged into this mess that he still thought he had made. To make matters worse by the looks of things the guards were still young, Kes couldn't say he liked that, but they had good gear.

Turning about he let the guard team lead the way to the borderlands. The sooner they got there the sooner they left. Things looked to be going smoothly for the first mile or so, then Dash decided to try buddying up and calling out Cross.

"Idiot..." Kes thought to himself, picking up his pace and pushing up towards the two. Dash in all honesty probably did not realize what he had done. That the mistake he had made in trying to relate to, and be friends with a individual in Cross' state. He didn't know that to someone like Cross that was grounds for termination of existence.

Kes knew that though. He had been much the same just after he had left the city of Filly for the first time. Everything around him had been a detriment that had to be destroyed or ignored. Luckily, most had been ignored and after a few months Kes cooled down.

Cross didn't have the self control to ignore though...

The tension between the two ponies was palpable when the gryphon got up there to them, Cross looked about ready to smack Dash upside the head with that ripper of his, and Dash...Dash was just being stupid and trying to be friends despite not knowing what would happen. He at least had the sense to back off after speaking.

Cross didn't.

Without hesitation Kestrel opened his beak as he walked between Dash and Cross, cutting off the line of sight between the two. He was going to have to deal with the main threat, Cross, first, then move onto Dash.

"Red, I know what your thinking. It ain't worth it in the end...trust me." was all he said, giving the buck a stare that spoke volumes. Kestrel's stare wasn't cold or calm anymore, no, there was a storm brewing up in the gryphons sharp, predatory eyes. A storm of sadness, regret, and pain. The kind of pain that only came from experience with something. The kind of pain that left a different kind of scar, one not visible on the flesh or bone.

He kept his stare up for a while longer, if only to be sure Cross got the message, then he dropped back and began walking next to Dash.

"Do yourself a favor Kid, until Winter's back in our custody...don't try that kind of stunt again."

Zestari raced out of the barracks after the group, moving in an awkward gait as her head was still twisted to one side tightening the straps to her saddlebags. With a mouth still full of strap, her words were a little muffled.

“Ooright, I’m ready. Hey, wait for me!” She stumbled a little before deciding the straps were tightened enough. Catching up to the group, she could see Kes giving Cross and Dash long penetrating glances. Had something just happened?

They didn’t have time for this.

“Cross, stop making angry eyes at Dash. We need to keep moving and stay focused. Every moment longer we delay is more time she may be at risk. Keep that in mind, and focus yourself on that.”

Keeping an eye on Cross, she fell into step near him. She imagined how Happy would feel if he knew she was going into Fillydelphia. She imagined he’d be outraged at even the idea of it. But there was no way she could abandon Winter, nor decline Cross assistance. He was after all, a very good friend, and to her, that was a very precious thing.

“Why did she leave?” She asked Cross, to further distract him from his irritation with Dash.

Zestari's question riled up the demons in Kestrels head again. "Because of me" they screamed, causing Kes to narrow his gaze sharply on the area of land before him. Again he fought back the urge to speak though. He actually was interested in seeing why Cross thought Winter had struck out on this possibly suicidal trip.

As he waited to hear that response he let his gaze begin scanning the area around the Group. No sense in letting something sneak up on them, especially out here in the borderlands.

Dash rolled his eyes, 'Goddesses above forbid I try to help anypony...' he thought. From Kestrel's reaction, Cross wanted to stay a pouty buck-foal and not be at 100% efficiency, that was his problem, what Dash didn't want to accept was the danger that posed to the rest of them, although it seemed as though Kestrel was once again in the leader position for him, so he figured he'd stay the course for him and Winter, if anything, "Keep my mouth shut, crystal clear..." Dash said. He was still defensive-sounding due to working himself up over his little brother.

The four of Nimbus' soldiers led the team for hours on a walk to the border. They kept a box formation, two spread up front and two spread at the back around the group. It wasn't so much making sure they stayed with them as they wanted to make sure that if something happened it was them that got hit first. They may have been young, but whoever had trained them had apparently trained them well as they remained quiet, eyes focused around them. Every do often they would stop if they saw something, waiting to see if something else happened before moving on again. Minutes became hours until they eventually reached the border of the midlands from Stableton to Fillydelphia. The lead of the small fire team turned to the group, "Now ya'll be careful out there. Plenty o' slavers, radiation and critters all lookin to mess you up. If ya'll make it back travel the way you came and we'll pick you up again... and most of all, good luck" he said tipping his hat before he flicked his head, motioning for the fire team to leave and head back.

The group now stood alone, gazing out into the territory that would be known as Fillydelphia. A land long since forgotten by those who would seek to hold their lives and know they'd be better off to keep away. In the distance stood the looming city, the sky scorched with red clouds as the light radiation clutched to it like a weed around a small helpless plant. Shattered remains of buildings stood tall as if they acted to try to block the inside form reaching the outside... trying to contain the horrors within. One could look at this and easily be swayed to return home... for it was truly hell, and in hell laid their mission, to save a friend.

As the group made their steps into this land, it would seem light was quickly fading. A half collapsed building lay up ahead with what looked to be a campfire outside. The fire was extinguished, though the ones more adept in survival would note that it hadn't been more then a day since the fire was put out. Inside would be nothing of any real interest, a few chairs, and old bed. A terminal which looked crashed and useless, with a safe in the floor next to the table, although the safe light flickered indicating it would be a real job to open. Though one thing remained of any interest. Another holotape, left on the table.