Chapter 24 We All Fall Down

Ashe Erza

Present Time, the previous evening.

Conquine was wartorn. It reminded me of the remnants of the country I had left behind to come here, someplace not much better. Although, I was glad for the friends I surrounded myself with. Joy and Felia especially. They had been my retainers in Dalemasca and the magic they used was powerful Dalemascan magicks, a remnant of the Mist from the Old World. I looked toward Wonder and Cherry.

"Are you ready Chief Quartermaster Sergeant, Private 1st Class? Once we enter the town proper there is no turning back." I was eyeing the two whilst also keeping point on the town ahead. I had to ensure the safety of my team and I would not allow them to enter combat without checking on their wellbeing first. It had been my one of my purposes in the resistance back home and it would continue to be my part of my job as a Colonel in the General's army.

"I'm certainly ready," Cherry Blossom said.

"I'm ready as I'll ever be but I definitely wish I was fighting alongside OJ." Wonder winked and I smiled.

"I understand your position Private, however, the Prince, Guardian and his team have a mission of their own." I explained. It really should be quite clear, but if not I was glad to explain it.

"I apologize, Colonel, it just makes me a little worried when I'm not with him."

"He is with the Guardian," I told him. "Quell your fears."

"Yes ma'am!" he saluted and I nodded.

"Everypony ready then?"

"Aye, ma'am!" Joyride shouted.

"Yes, ma'am," Heart nodded quietly.

"You betcha, Colonel," Cherry smirked and looked straight ahead.

"Of course, ma'am," Wonder smiled.

I nodded, pleased with my unit, "Very good, everypony! Now let us get in there and fight to our fullest. I am not certain what to expect but we are meeting with Major Lead, if he is still alive. It is our mission to assess the situation and take action as necessary. I was told to expect resistance from ashling and darkling forces as well as synthetic forces. To the best of my knowledge the synths are working alongside the Circle of Ash, however they have never exhibited this behavior before so I do not know what to expect."

We entered the town limits, the Battle of Conquine on the horizon as the sun began to set. I noticed the darkling forces immediately, my Mist Forward Sparkle showing me a compass and minimap of the area. I could also pull up a large scale map in front of my vision if I would like to, but the minimap was usually enough. I could see the health bars of every member of my party, including myself, in my lower left and we were all at full health. Whilst Cherry did not use magic and had minimal MP, I could see that the rest of us were at full MP at an average of 200 points.

I had 438 points of MP, the highest of us all. I needed all that extra magic power in order to perform my powerful requips. I held a large storage of supplies, armor and weapons in a Void within the Mist. Heart also had a high amount, at 267. Joyride was the lowest at 89 and Wonder was just above that at 113.

My MFS alerted me to the presence of enemies, displaying their names above their heads. I saw 4 darklings converging in the shadows, waiting to ambush us. I really did not like these ponies. They were only able to be defeated with magic, nothing physical could penetrate their prevailing darkness. That would be a problem for Cherry. "Stop!" I held up a hoof, causing everypony to stop in their tracks. "I see four darklings. Cherry, I am going to find a suitable weapon for you, as physical attacks do not harm these enemies. They appear to be guarding the gates into the town square as well as here. I see a few ashlings in the square. I do not see the synthetics yet."

"You may not see them, Colonel, but I certainly do. My compass indicates 6 enemies up ahead. The darklings appear to be protecting 2 synth gallopers." Cherry informed me.

"Ah, very good eye, I see them now too. One of them appears to be a lightning galloper," I said. Gallopers were second class synths, a step up from the ordinary synth. A lightning galloper held extraordinary powers with lightning arcana.

Just then another pony entered the scene. It looked like a synth, or perhaps not, I could not tell. The only thing I knew is I had never seen anything like it. His coat was the color of eggnog, white chest and stomach, and stripes that swirled over his back and into his small fluffy tail. There were white speckles on his face, and his eyes were green like mistletoe leaves. His short mane was a cappuccino color, light brown, and his bangs curled softly at the end. He had what appeared to be tree branches sprouting from two points in his head. My MFS couldn't pick up on his signature but I saw him plainly on the battlefield. It was like he was masked in the Mist, non existent yet there at the same time. "Is anypony else seeing the tree branch pony?" I asked my team.

"You mean the deer pony?" Cherry looked to me with an amused expression. "Hell yeah I'm seeing the deer pony and I suggest we all take a step back. Either he's a synthetic grazer and we're all in for a world of trouble or he's just another enemy and we're still in a world of trouble, and I don't plan on sticking around to find out."

"He must be a powerful magic user, for not even the Mist can detect him." I bit my lip, hating that my compass was faulty.

"That's why I suggest falling back." Cherry said.

"Do as he says," I said to my team and we all went to hide behind the wreckage of two cars.

Peeking my head up ever so slightly I observed as the deer pony with his tree branch horns reared back on his hind legs to attack the synths and darklings. He kicked out at the synthetics and a powerful magic formed between his two branches. It was the brightest white I had ever seen as so I had to turn my gaze away. It was like staring into a white sun. He swung his head around and the magic swiped through the air, leaving a trail and smashing into the darklings. I half expected them to absorb the light as they always liked to do, but the light from his horns completely destroyed the darklings. Next were the ashlings. They had been slowly backing away at this point, but the deer pony turned on them. They dropped their weapons and ran for it. He turned about and did a little happy trot, the cutest thing I'd ever seen.

"Oi!" he then called out. "I see ya over there mate! It's alwroit! I'll only hurt ya if ya attempt to resist." his aussie accent was rich and flavorful. I quite liked it.

"Are we safe to proceed, Colonel?" Wonder asked. "I mean, he did take out those darklings like they were nothing."

"We should be fine," I nodded slowly and his Mist signature began to register as I cast Libra a few times. "He appears to be friendly."

"He did take out our enemies for us," said Heart.

"Aye!" Joyride agreed.

The 5 of us slowly picked ourselves up and came out from behind the cars. "We mean you no harm traveler!" I called to him. "We are here to help defend Conquine."

He trotted over to us, "There is nothing left to defend, mate. Conquine has fallen, Major Lead is dead."

Cherry lifted his shotgun and pointed it directly at the pony. "Who the buck are you? How do you know Conquine's fallen? Unless you're the one who caused it to fall."

I put a hoof on Cherry's gun as I noticed the pony charging up another spell to defend himself. "At ease, Sergeant."

Cherry lowered his weapon and the deer pony's spell dissipated. "How do we know we can trust him? For all we know he's a synth."

"I am a synth, but deer ponies can't be corrupted by dark magic, mate." he stressed the word, appearing to be at odds with Cherry. Cherry could be a little difficult at times.

"May I ask a silly question?" I proposed.

"Sure, go wroit ahead."

"Why do tree branches grow from your head?" I heard a collective groan from the rest of my team, Cherry remained silent and weary eyed.

The deer pony burst into hysterics, "Oi! Tree branches. I get ya, I get ya. No, these here are called antlers."

"You seem to be proficient in magic."

"All deer ponies are. It's in our nature. You seem to be as well. Your magic is nearly as strong as mine, I was quite surprised by how difficult it was to mask my presence from you."

"You cannot hide any longer, my Libra spell has told me all I need to know. Besides your name of course." I held out a hoof and he grabbed it.

"I am Riggs Bailey. Very noice to meet you." we shook and dropped our hooves.

"I am Colonel Ashe Erza of Dalemasca, this is my team here, Private First Class Wonderful," Wonder shook hooves with the deer.

"Nice to meet you, you can just call me Wonder." he said. Riggs nodded.

"Felia Heart and her friend Joyride." I pointed them out and Riggs inclined his head respectfully. "And you've met my Chief Quartermaster Sergeant, Cherry Blossom. He can be a bit tempered."

"I most certainly am not!" he stomped a hoof.

"Well you certainly let paranoia get the best of ya!" Riggs said, "But ey, that ain't so bad in the wild wastes. I was actually glad you guys showed up. Ya see, I can't find my son and as I previously stated, Major Lead is out of commission. I'm the last line of defense here and it's been tough. The backup is much appreciated."

"What's your son's name? Perchance my team can help you find him." I smiled at our new friend.

"His name is Ethan Bailey. I'm afraid for the worst."

Heart spoke up, "Don't be afraid for the worst when you can always hope for the best."

"Oi, I like her." Riggs smiled.

"Aye, sir!" Joyride was all smiles too.

"Can you give me your assessment of the situation before we go bustling into town?" I inquired.

"Sure! Bloody blokes in there tearing the place up. I believe there was a couple Courser Magistrates earlier. They came to make peace with the ponies of Conquine, but as soon as the ashlings showed up all of their circuits were fried and they turned to dark magic. Deer ponies have always been immune to dark magicks so me an' meh boy were the only two who didn't turn."

"What makes you so special?" asked Cherry Blossom.

Riggs smiled and winked, showing off his cutie mark, which was two snowflakes that actually appeared to move. "A dancing cutie mark!" Wonder was in awe, "I've always wished mine did that." he showed off his spiked bangle cutie mark. It in fact did not move or wiggle.

"I have light magic running through my veins. It's something that is unique to my species. Unfortunately my son is a radstag, not a deer pony so he is more vulnerable. His deer pony genes were mutated and the light magic in his blood is susceptible to dark influences. Which is why we must find him asap!"

"Then let us be off. If there is still a Magistrate in the town proper being controlled by ashling magic then he or she is no doubt on a mission to kidnap the boy. We've seen what ashlings do to obtain power first hoof." with that my team, Riggs Bailey, and I set off into the town. My MFS alerted me to the discovery of a new location, one of which I hoped we could set up a fast travel gate.

_Conquine Town Proper_

At the top of the hill, we could see below into the town square. There were a few synths terrorizing the last of the residents. I wasn't sure but I thought I saw another pony who looked a little like Riggs Bailey. He was being harassed by a tall ashling wearing a blue robe. I had never seen that color before, they usually preferred gray cloaks. I knew immediately that this was the stallion who'd perpetrated the whole event.

"Riggs, that ashling down there, do you recognize him?"

"Cognizant Thought. His magic is very powerful, I can't stop him alone." Riggs bit his lip as he recognized his son. "Please, help me! My son is down there!"

"There isn't much we can do right now." I shook my head, feeling bad for him. "There are too many darklings and ashlings and Cognizant is labelled as a boss on my MFS."

"Mine too," said Cherry. There were grumbles of agreement from the rest of the team.

"You're telling me you refuse to help save a poor innocent child?"

"No, we will rescue him from the Circle of Ash, mark my words." I told him. "Unfortunately after taking a risk assessment, now is not that time."

"Please! Now is the only time!" Riggs was beginning to form tears in his eyes. "Forgive me, I don't usually do this but that's my son for Faust's sake!"

"Look, buck, the Colonel has assessed the situation. She cannot put anypony's lives in danger for the life of one pony." Cherry snapped. "She's not saying she doesn't care, she's saying she can't do anything about it right now."

"That's stag to you, mate, and it isn't just one pony down there. It's Minute Hooves and travellers and traders and residents. You're telling me you aren't willing to help them? Isn't that what ya came here for?"

"There are simply too many enemies. We are outnumbered. I truly am sorry."

"I'm going down there, with or without you!" Riggs jumped forward but I put up a hoof to block his path.

"Do not do this," I told him. "You will surely be killed." as we watched the killing had already begun. After receiving their orders, the ashlings lifted their weapons and fired upon the townsfolk. The only one left alive was the radstag.

"How can you stand there and watch this!" Riggs gasped, the tears now falling. "They're taking my son!" as the last pony fell, the Magistrate in charge grabbed hold of the colt and dragged him into the now open gate.

"They can teleport too…" Wonder breathed.

"We're doomed…" Heart put a hoof to her muzzle.

"I can't sit back and say I'm happy about what happened. I can only say we were too late to do anything about it and I am terribly sorry. Return with us to Sanctuary, we will formulate a plan there." I told him.

"You're damned right I'm coming to Sanctuary with you. I thought the Minute Hooves were better than this."

"We aren't the Minute Hooves pal, we're from the Fort." Cherry snapped. "And frankly I think we're much smarter than they ever seemed to be. They're so Faust damned disorganized."

"That being said, they are still our ally and we must do what we can to keep the peace. I hope the synths who haven't turned will join us in our quest." I said to Riggs.

"If there are any synths left not turned I'll let you know." he told me. "Now open a gate and get us the buck out of here!"

"Very well." I closed my eyes and began performing the gate ritual. Conquine had fallen and it was another battle lost in the war against the Circle of Ash. I only wished we could've done more. I knew in my heart that boy was important and if it would reassure him, I would do everything in my power to help Riggs find his son. I only hoped Orange Juice and his friends had fared better than I.

(Footnote: Remember Ashes to Ashes in Rebel Heart? Well now We All Fall Down! Time for more insight into Ashe Erza's point of view, huh? I really like writing about her and her two friends, Joyride and Heart. I just started the Fallout 4 questline where a child is kidnapped, this'll lead into the main story too. Okay, on to the next Chapter!)