"The wastes ain't a place for a Celestia-damned caravaneer."

I stood on the hill where Stable 45 once stood, BB gun in my hoof. I didn't know where to go, but hopefully the road would lead me to Ol' Bessie. Looking at my PipBuck, I could see various buttons, each labeled for a specific function. Pressing the button labeled MAPS, the PipBuck began scanning-actually scanning the enviroment around me. Deciding to follow the map, I began heading southward. I walked through the desert for a little while, not knowing where I was headed. After a while, I could see what looked like a town in the distance. "Finally, some civilization." I muttered under my breath. Coming closer to the town, I could see a sign. WELCOME TO WATERHOLE, it read in crudely written letters. As I walked ever closer, I heard a voice shout, "HALT!" It had a gruff tone to it, almost as if it were either a ghoul or some REALLY pissed off stallion. Turns out, it was neither of those, but rather a medium sized griffon.

And he had a revolver pointed straight at me.

"Whoa, there buddy. No need to point guns at ponies." I said nervously. The eagle-lion hybrid narrowed his eyes at me, and they seemed to say, Likely story. Now get away before I shoot the fuck out of you. A few minutes of silence passed, and the griffon finally spoke. "Who the hell are you, and what do you want?" he asked, reloading his gun with a KA-CHUCK sound. Thinking quickly, I blurted out, "I am a simple caravaneer who's stuff got stolen." The griffon cocked his head for a moment, then laughed a deep, burly laugh. "Got your stuff stolen, eh? I know how that feels, buddy." he said before clearing his throat. "Anyways, I'm Ironclaw." he said, extending his left talon to me. Shocked for a moment, I finally shook it. "I'm Renegade." I replied, still a bit nervous. Ironclaw put his revolver onto his back, and began leading me into Waterhole. It was a simple frontier town, with a saloon, gambling house, and sheriff's office. The buildings were made out of aged wood, with the saloon and gambling house having neon signs, the other buildings having typical typeface signs. Ironclaw spoke again. "Geez, Renegade, you looked parched. Would you like me to buy ya a drink?" he asked kindly. "Sure." I replied. It was true, my throat was quite dry, and I could use a drink. We entered the saloon, which was called Oasis.

Taking a seat at the bar, Ironclaw pounded the table in impatience. "Oh, hey Ironclaw." the bartender said in a friendly tone. "So, new guy in town?" he asked, referring to me. "Yeah." Ironclaw replied. "Get me two Victory Punches." Now, for those of you who don't know, Victory Punch was a drink they made back in the days before the war. It was sorta like carbonated fruit punch, and it had a variety of flavors, like Party Pineapple, Banan-za, and Fruit Punch. We Southerners use the caps as the main currency, due to Sparkle-Cola and Sunrise Sarsparilla being scarce in the south. "Five caps." the bartender said. Ironclaw counted out five blue bottle caps with stars on 'em, and gave them to the bartender. As we drank, Ironclaw told me a bit about himself. He was the deputy sheriff of Waterhole, and his boss was a Ms. Peach Cobbler. They had been having some problems with a gang of troublemakers, led by an earth pony named Full House, who ran the casino. Ironclaw also told me he was an expert in guns and heavy weapons, and he could teach me a few things. All of a sudden, we both heard a scream. "Speak of Tartarus. Sounds like Full House is causing trouble again." Ironclaw said, readying his revolver. "Wanna come with me?" he asked. I nodded.

Level up!

Quest added-'Find out what is happening at the casino.'

Perk gained-Cola Casanova-"Being an expert in all things carbonated, your Dehydration goes down 15 percent when you drink soda."