April 17, 2025: 10:12 AM

Refusing someone who looked so friendly wasn’t an easy thing for Way, but she did her best. There was something about this horse, something she’d not seen in anyone else she met so far. An effortless, casual kindness, remaining calm despite the grim outlook.

If she could act like that more often, maybe her friends would trust her better. “I like the sound of… Wayfinder,” she said, grinning nervously. “Maybe I’ll use it.”

“That’s great! I hope—” he glanced back down the hill, and his expression turned suddenly sad. “You’re not coming with us, are you?”

She took a single nervous step back. “My friends and I worked hard to get away from Denver, we’re not going back.”

His ears folded, and his tail fell limp. Still showed emotions the same way as other ponies, too.

She took a few hurried steps over, catching up with him. She couldn’t linger here for much longer without being noticed by those rangers. Technically they’d probably seen her already. But with so many ponies to watch, surely they wouldn’t be too focused on her. “We could stay in touch! If living there seems safe in the long-term… we’d rather go than hide here. What’s your contact info?”

She hadn’t actually brought anything, on account of when she’d run away the night before. Her friends would probably be worried about her anyway. However bitter she might be about Ruby’s choice, they were still friends. Maybe she would even keep treating her like a sister.

“Don’t carry my phone anymore, since I’ve got no hands. Uh…”

“There are ponies in our group carrying ‘phones,'” he said. “They do not seem to work very reliably. The magic of their function is unknown to me. Yet I do have…”

He floated something out of his saddlebags, one of many books from inside, and offered it to her. “Here. I’ve made copies, in case we ran into other ponies with… potential. I certainly believe you qualify, miss Wayfinder.”

She caught the book out of the air, focusing on it with deliberate energy. She would have to thank Peter for taking her along for that magic practice, otherwise she couldn’t have done that much. Something made her not want the stranger to see her struggle. Maybe it was how good he was by comparison.

The book had a simple title in block letters, embossed onto the page. “Fundamentals of Thaumic Theory and Practice: Adult Remedial Guide”

“It’s one of my favorites. Not just because the publisher hired me to write the foreword, either. Missing Quill Press really does have the best approach to adult education. Talking to you like foals doesn’t help anypony.”

“Anypony.” She giggled, lowering the book carefully to the ground in front of her. If she held it for too long, she was going to lose control and damage it, or toss it away in some random direction. “Did you write your number in the cover?”

He shook his head. “If you’re not intending to come with us, you should probably go. That horseless carriage is getting closer. The driver should have their view obscured by the hill in a moment. Abscond to your friends while the opportunity presents itself.”

She tucked the book under her foreleg, nodding gratefully. “I’ll do that.” She backed away, towards the trail that brought her up there. “Sorry I’m not—” she hesitated. “Wait, I never got your name!”

He waved her away with his foreleg. “Now, Wayfinder! Maybe I’ll see you in Denver!”

She darted away down the trail. There was some advantage to four legs: she managed to keep her footing the whole way back, even carrying something. She didn’t look back to see how closely the ranger was following. Had they seen her look away? Maybe the pale of her coat and green mane would help her blend in.

She made it back home about an hour later, close to what she guessed was noon. She slipped in through the fence which was already open. Peter and Sam were both there, working with a length of pipe and a few vaguely-gross looking old machines.

Sam saw her first and waved with one wing. “Way’s back!”

“Guilty,” she made her way up the slope to the deck. “You took apart the old aquarium?” Not just that: they had the heavy cover off the hot tub, and several mismatched hoses and lengths of tubing all unrolled over the wood.

Peter looked up from his work, lowering a magnifying lens from his face. Despite their practice together, the other unicorn was still better at those powers than she was. For now. “We put a few basic facts together. Lots of these cabins are empty—vacation homes with no one here to vacation. Plenty have grills outside, with tanks of propane just sitting there.”

“And there’s a stream,” Sam continued, straightening as she approached. Bits of tape clung to his claws and fur at different points—he was the one attaching hoses together. “Might as well get the hot tub working.”

He glanced down at the book tucked under her shoulder. “Thought you ran off or something. You should tell Ruby you were just out reading. She was worried about you.”

Sure, now she cares. That thought wasn’t fair, of course. She swallowed it quickly. “Pumps in the hot tub aren’t made for dirty water. If it’s got leaves or sediment, you’ll just burn them out and break the tub.”

“That’s what the buckets are for!” Peter said, gesturing off to the side. “Crushing that charcoal won’t be fun. But having a hot tub will be.”

She raised an eyebrow, watching the unicorn. Of course she knew he was a soldier of some kind, with real military training. Apparently that included survival. The sand, cheesecloth from the kitchen… it would probably work for a filter. Not ideal for drinking, but she didn’t plan to drink out of a hot tub. “One more thing. Don’t go around stealing right now. The rangers are looking for ponies around town. We should probably get inside and shut the windows for a few days, pretend the house is unoccupied. No hot tub projects.”

“Rangers? Like… national park rangers? Or army?”

“First one, I think. They were far away, but I’m pretty sure I recognized the guy driving the truck. We ski together most winters.”

He levitated several tools into the pack, then zipped it closed, rising to all four hooves. “Sorry birdbrain. We’ll have to take a rain check on the relaxation.”

She smiled involuntarily at how fast Peter moved. Unlike Sam, he was on his hooves in a second, levitating the cabin door open. At least someone here took her seriously. Even Sam dragged his claws most of the way down the deck. “How do you know they were looking for us?”

She passed Peter through the door. “Because there were hundreds of ponies. A… caravan heading for Denver. More than I’ve ever seen in one place, most of them as badly mutated as we are. A few infected who haven’t turned all the way.”

“Way!” Ruby appeared from just inside, moving on all fours. She flung both forelegs over Way’s neck, and had to reach up to do it. She clung tight, touching her cheek against Way’s. “You came back!”

Since when did you get short? Way smiled back at her, looking distant. “Course I did. I just went for a walk.”

“All night!” Ruby pulled away just as sharply, glaring up at her. Her girlfriend was no longer bigger than Way. Without her horn, she’d probably be a full head shorter. She had a slightly stockier build, closer to Peter in general shape. But Peter was about her height, not smaller. “That’s not safe, Way! You can’t do that!”

She probably would’ve kept going, except she felt the lump under Way’s shoulder, and her eyes locked on it. “You were reading?”

“We have more important things to worry about right now,” Peter said, speaking over her. “There’s a group of infected passing nearby, which means the authorities will be scrutinizing the area to make sure none of them leave. All the broadcasts and orders are clear about what we have to do: travel as directly and quickly as possible to an isolation zone. We’re not doing that, so…”

“He wants to shut the place down,” Sam finished. “Like they care enough to look. There’s thousands of other cabins out there. Like they care about this one!”

Peter’s horn glowed. All around the room, the blinds snapped closed. The door shut behind them, and locked. “They might go door to door. Time to look like we’re an empty vacation home for a while.”

“You agree with him?” Sam asked. “You know Granite Bluff, Way. And you’re the one who saw this.”

She didn’t have to think for long about a decision this time. “Yeah, I agree with him. If we don’t want to get forced into the caravan, we hide.” She met Peter’s eyes as she said it, and the unicorn smiled gratefully back. He did not want to do what the authorities told them. “And it’s… Wayfinder,” she added, ears folding backward when she said it. “It sounds more like a name.”

“More like a random word,” Sam grunted. “Whatever you command, Princess Blue.”

“Wayfinder,” Peter repeated. He moved past her through the kitchen to the next room, levitating more windows shut as he went. “I like it.”

“We came to hide,” Ruby finally said, exasperated. “I guess that means we keep our heads down for a few days, until the danger’s gone. Seems fancy, like how you look.”

That was what they did. It took about ten minutes to get everything shut, every window covered and all the locks in place. Peter went a step further, and switched off the breaker to everywhere but the kitchen and the basement. “So we don’t make any stupid mistakes.”

Sam made no secret about how unhappy he was, and how unlikely he apparently thought rangers would pass this winding mountain road and care to investigate one cabin among many with people living there.

Ruby said nothing, clearly not wanting to upset the bird. If she didn’t like what they were doing, she kept quiet about it.

There were disadvantages to keeping the place shut tight. It meant the cabin got uncomfortably cold at night, and dark. The basement had enough light and space for everyone, though not with any level of privacy. She had to watch Sam and Ruby make a bed to share from quilts and cushions, even if they didn’t make her hear anything else they did.

I can do that too. Wayfinder could make them uncomfortable too. Force Ruby to watch, like she was apparently okay with Wayfinder having to do. When Peter brought over the sleeping bags, she waved him over. “We don’t have to sleep on the floor. Couch is a pull-out.”

“We?” He raised an eyebrow, breath fogging in front of him. “I didn’t think–“

“We,” she repeated, exasperated. “You said we shouldn’t run the heater. So it’s your fault I’m chilly.”

“Oh, I see,” he patted her shoulder. “Strictly about conserving warmth, I understand. There are no ulterior motives here.”

Stop grinning like that! “I call dibs on the left side.”

That decision was easy enough to make. Less so what she planned to do about the book she’d acquired that day. Not so nice as contact info for the pony who’d helped give her a name. But the title alone was interesting enough that she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to trust anyone else with it.

Once the others started to doze, she rolled silently out of bed, then…

1. Brought Peter to read with her. He’d been on her side this long, she could trust him with this.

2. Woke Ruby to share the book with. She was more trustworthy than Peter, despite recent events.

3. Went alone to read. She would decide whether to share after seeing what was in the book.