The first though that went through Littlepip's mind as she woke up was that she was somehow alive. She felt more warm and comfortable than she had felt since leaving the stable. She lifted her PIP-Buck to her face to check the time, which moved her blanket. It fell to the floor, signaling anybody in the room that she was there.

"Oh! Look who's awake!" The voice of a mare called throughout the room she was in. Due to her proximity, she was quickly brought up to full alertness. She looked around the room, and could only identify one of the several ponies in the room. It was the pegasus that had shot her up.

The source of the voice was from a (in her opinion) pretty white-coated earth pony with a cotton-candy pink mane that matched the pink and yellow-stripped nurse's dress she was wearing. Pip could see several medical boxes nailed to the walls, alongside posters advertising the 'Ministry of Peace'. Pip concluded that she was in a clinic of some kind, and not a raider captive. Feeling quite well form her rest, Pip tried to sit up, but received blurry vision in return.

"Take it easy there, partner," The pegasus warned her. Pip could recall that his name was Calamity, but she couldn't remember how she knew. She scooted back onto the mattress, her opinion of him now conflicted. On one hoof, he seemed very polite now, but he had also shot her several times and had killed-

"Wanderer!" Pip blurt out, sitting back up. She shook her head, and the blurriness and double vision went away. "Where's my friend?" Calamity looked to the ground, unable to look at her as he was reminded of his impulsive deed. The nurse seemed crestfallen too.

"Candi?" A grey-coated earth pony with black mane and tail in the crowd asked.

"He's over here." She gestured to a place the wall, and the small crowd parted. Pip's heart stopped as she saw a black body bag with a Stetson hat on top lying on the ground, Dogmeat seeping beside it. "He hasn't eaten since he calmed down," Candi tried to explain. Pip ignored it, getting up and slowly walking to the covered-up corpse.

"Ah'd never seen a alicorn stallion before," Calamity tired to explain, "Ah just-!" Pip didn't say a word, her mind completely transfixed on the bag. She knelt down in front of it, tears in her eyes.

"I didn't know you long," She whispered, "But I would've liked to." Tears began sliding down her face, and choked sobs came from her mouth. Without saying anything, the grey stallion began shooing the crowd away.

"you too, Calamity," He whispered to the pegasus, a solemn look on his face, "Especially you." Calamity didn't say a word in response, simply going out the door before him. Candi looked to the broken stable dweller, her heart broken.

"Ah'm sorry," She told Pip, "Fer what it's worth, he seemed handsome when he was brough' in." Pip stifled a laugh behind another sob. By this Time Dogmeat had woken up, looking back and forth between Pip and the nurse before settling back down.

"Where'd his stuff go?" Pip asked after a few minutes, wiping her eyes.

"It's all still on his pony," Candi informed her, "Calamity an' Hilll couldn't get that damn satchel off-" The bag breathed in, a long rattily sound, and breathed out. To anyone from Earth's Pre-War era, they would've said he sounded almost exactly like Darth Vader. Pip instantly shot up and backed up, as did Dogmeat. The bag tried to breathe in again, but it was vacuum sealed. After a moment of struggling, a blade went through the black material of the bag. The blade ripped the bag apart, the spiked handle wrapped in a dark green aura.

Sam climbed out, hacking like a smoker. He slowly got back on his hooves, wobbling as he did. His eyes were bloodshot, his magic seemed wonky as he put his hat on his head, and there was hole in his skull right below the base of his horn that allowed everyone to see his brain. He tried to grab something out of his satchel but failed and unhooked the strap. The wooden planks splintered underneath it. Slowly blinking, he looked to everyone in the room.

"Morning." Candi screamed, backing up to the wall. The grey stallion and Calamity both barged in with weapons raised moments after, eyes wide as they saw the new stallion in the room. Sam pulled his Deagle out and aimed it at the two, the hand cannon bouncing in the air. He settled the sights on Calamity. The grey stallion dropped the gun he had in his mouth, utterly astonished.

"Y-your aim was off," He managed to say, slowly blacking out, "Asshole." He dropped to the floor, his jaw and the gun cracking the floorboards. No one said anything for several minutes, eyes transfixed on Sam while Dogmeat pranced around, happy that his master was alive.

"Ah'll tell yah hwat," The grey stallion said as Dogmeat padded over to the food bowl, eating 200-year old dog food, "Ah've seen ah lot of crazy stuff in ma time, but that? That just topped tha whole damn list."

---

Sam groaned as he regained consciousness, immediately wishing he hadn't. Everything ached, and the small amount of light that shone through the blinds blinded him. He could feel a small pain in his mouth, which flared when his tongue brushed it. His groans alerted Candi, who was fixing a medical concoction at the counter.

"Look who's awake!" She exclaimed, putting the tray on her back and carrying it over to him. He sat up in his bed, his senses slowly coming back. he rubbed his eyes with his left foreleg.

"How long have I been out?" He asked as she neared.

"Well, ya were clinically dead fer about two days," She said, taking the cup off of her back and giving it to him, "But unconscious fer less than an hour." He looked into it, unable to tell what it was. "Healing potion with some apple schnapps, suga." Sam's mind went back to some memories at the last word, but he quickly shook them out and downed the potion. Almost immediately he began to feel better, but it wasn't enough. He gave the glass bottle back to Candi.

"Could you give me back my satchel please?" He asked. Candi looked to the satchel then back to Sam, a nervous smile on her face.

"We were tryin' fer about twenty minutes," She told him. Sam facepalmed/hoofed. Of course it would.

"My mistake," He told her, activating the mental trigger of his magic. The satchel was wrapped in his green aura, and while it flickered a little, it held. The satchel floated over Candi's head, who noticed it when the loose strap knocked the little nurse's hat she had off of her head. She yelped, but was quickly amazed as she saw that he was the cause. The dropped the satchel onto his stomach, grunting as the weight fell on him. Despite the 500 pound load lightening as it came into contact with its biometrically identified owner (which apparently extended to his aura), it was still heavy. He quickly dug his hoof in a pulled out a hunk of glowing rock, with small dribbles of glowing green goo in the cracks. Candi backed up, seeing that it was radioactive.

"Why on Celestia's great world are ya-" Her question died on her lips as he turned to face her. The hole in his head was closing automatically at an alarmingly fast rate. His eyes-still incredibly bloodshot-were clearing up, and the broken tooth inside his mouth fixed itself.

"Mutation I got during my travels," He told her as he put away the rock, having absorbed enough radiation to heal himself. He pulled out a RadAway and shot himself with the needle. It would ensure that he didn't ghoulify anyone ten feet away. He rolled off the bed and onto his hooves, looping the satchel's strap around his body and hooking it again. Candi was stammering when Pip and Calamity walked in, Pip lightening up immediately as she saw Sam on his four legs again.

"Wanderer!" She shouted, galloping over and nearly tackling him. She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and squeezed, making Sam blush at both the care in the hug and who was hugging him. He hadn't been hugged like that since Enclave Day...

Pip's eyes shot open, the mare finally realizing what she was doing. She immediately got off and stepped back, her face crimson. She rubbed the back of her head, awkwardly grinning.

"Ah'm not sure what that was about," Calamity said slowly after a few moments of awkward silence, "But we've got t' get a move on." Sam cocked his head.

"Where we going?" That was when he noticed Pip no longer had the raider armor on. Instead, her utility barding had been armored in a similar way that his was.

"Something about 'varmints in the Stable west o' here'," Pip mimicked a Dixie accent. At the mention of 'Stable' and 'creature' Sam's eyes widened and his ears pinned against his head. Pip saw what she had never seen on his face in the few short days she had known him. Something that made her regret accepting the quest.

Fear.

---

"So yer some kind o' cyberpony?"

Dogmeat yipped as he climbed on top of a small rock, Sam shaking his head at the dog's antics. Him and Calamity had gotten into the talk of how he had survived the twins shots to the head, with the answer making Calamity a little more than skeptical.

"Yeah. My bones were coated in adamantanium when I was abducted by aliens, and my brain was pumped full of nanobots when it was in a vat in a science compound full of other brains in vats. The adamantanium took away one bullet and severely reduced the force of the second, which is why my brain ain't mush, and the nanobots repaired the neurons, explaining why I didn't get amnesia." Calamity processed the information, not knowing whether or not it was bullshit.

"...Yep."

"So why are you with us again?" Pip asked, wanting to change the subject. Calamity sighed, having gotten out of that...confusing conversation.

"Ah figure ah owed you two one," He answered, "Maybe a whole mess o' ones, considerin' all y'all did for the good ponies of New Appleloosa." Pip sighed.

"You couldn't have known, I was wearing blood-caked raider armor," She told him.

"And I was the bigger target," Sam pointed out, "And I'm still here, aren't I?" He nearly tripped over a small rock, making Pip scoff. The nanites weren't completely done with repairing his brain.

"I don't know," She said, "I think there still bits and pieces back where you got shot." He flipped her the bird with his wing, but she didn't get it.

"Caked in raider blood," Calamity continued, "Armor ya only had cuz ya needed protection while saving the lives of five good townsponies!" He rounded on Sam. "And there you were tryin' to be her bodyguard or sumthin'!" Sam waved it off.

"Wanderer was the one that saved them anyway!" Pip exclaimed. Sam waved it off.

"If you hadn't been there at that time, there wouldn't have been a diversion to thin out the defenders on the bridge." Pip opened her mouth to counter, but he continued. "Did you even see what was on the barricades? Quad-barreled rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, and anti-material rifles. I couldn't have made it past, even without 'Meat." That was boldfaced lie, as Evergreen Mills had worse defenses plus a Behemoth. But it was to make her feel better, so what was the harm?

"Ya see?" Calamity said, "Ya inderectly cleared out an entire raider base!" Sam chuckled, while Pip sneered. "An' besides, ah can't consent t' ya two goin' down there alone. Ah've heard dark stories about those Stables. Bad, bad things happened down in too many of 'em." Sam snorted,scanning the horizon.

"And I can personally attest that 60% of what you've heard is true," He told him.

"I came from a Stable," Pip pointed out, "Hell, everypony came from somepony who came from a Stable, right? I can see why an empty one would be an inviting nesting ground, but it's not like the Stables are cursed or sinister." Sam let out a small laugh.

"Famous last words..." He muttered.

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Pip asked, "You came from a Stable too, you should be on my side!"

"I came from a flawed Stable in the middle of a goddamn revolution," He told her sternly. That shut her and silenced whatever affirmative Calamity might've had. "And I've been in a HELL of a lot more V-Stables than are probably around here. Trust me when I say only 2-fucking-percent of those things were actually meant to save anypony." Pip's ears pinned back to her head. "If there are some kind of animals making a nest in there, they were probably the result of an experiment in gene splicing." Calamity had no idea what any of that meant.

"Here's to hopin' it ain't, eh Wanderer?" Sam smiled bitterly.

"Stables are where hope does to die." He saw a drop of rain hit the brim of his hat.

---

Sam had never experienced rain. He had heard from scuttlebutt in the Muddy Rudder that it rained in the Commonwealth, even had radiation storms every once in a while, but when he had went down there in 2280 as apart of the recon squad nothing had occurred. Now, it was a downpour, comparable to what he had read about rainforests. He was enjoying the rain, even if it did soak him through to his undergarments. Even Dogmeat was having a fun time, catching raindrops as he hurried behind the group. Both of the PIP devices of the party had their lights turned up all the way, one run by magic and the other by fusion.

"What's going on?!" Pip asked through the sound of the winds.

"It's a thunderstorm," Calamity houted over the wind, "An' a mighty big one! We best be findin' some shelter, cuz it's just gettin' started!"

"Thunder?" Pip asked, "What's thunder?" A large crack sounded through the sky, louder than a sniper rifle firing right next to one's ears. Sam would know, for it had happened to him before. Crazy Rangers...

He stopped in his tracks, almost slipping on the quickly forming mud and onto his face. He looked down and saw Pip cowering underneath his torso, his larger stature allowing her small frame to easily slip in.

"Get a grip, girl!" He shouted at her over the increasing winds. Upon realizing what she was doing, he back out from under him. Sam's mind was going a about a million miles per second, trying to figure out what to do in this situation. They needed to find the Stable, and get shelter from his storm. But was there was a way to find both...

"Calamity!" He shouted, getting the pegasus' attention, "The Stable'll be in a cave dug into the ground, so water will flow down into it!" Calamity looked down to the ground, and saw the water running ever-so-slightly downwards to somewhere. "We need to fly to get there as fast as possible! Take Pip so I can see where you're going, but we need to hurry before the lightning!"

"Got it!" He exclaimed, wrapping his forelegs around her small torso. She yelped as she was sent into the air, but quickly settled down. Dogmeat kept silent, having been trained better. Another boom went ripped through the air, making Pip scream again.

"If y'all are that scared o' the thunder, wait 'till ya actually see the lightnin'!" Calamity shouted. As he said it, a bolt of lightning struck a dead tree on a nearby hill, its pale light lighting everything in the area for a brief moment. Sam pointed to the side of a cliff nearby as they passed over a frothing river.

"Cave! There!" He shouted. Calamity saw and nodded, diving down to it. Sam was about to when he saw something on a nearby hill, illuminated by a bolt of lightning. He couldn't make out the pony, but his trained eyes could see that it was an alicorn, much like he was. An instant later the lightning vanished.

Sam was about to dive down when his wing was hit by a bolt, the electricity coursing through his skin. Luckily for Dogmeat, both his master's jumpsuit and his armored harness were insulated from heavy electric charges that some combat robots could weaponize, meaning Sam would take all of the damage. Sam screamed as he momentarily lost control of his motor functions, barrel-rolling downwards into the mouth of the cave. Pip and Calamity barely had time to look to see what was the matter. Dogmeat was dropped as Sam lost controls of his hands, barely passing over their heads and skidding on the slick rock. Sam, however, flew over them and past briefly illuminated stairs before slamming into a large cog door with a metallic clang that echoed on the cave's walls. His slumped down, completely unconscious. The force of his slam actally jarred the rusted steel door more.

"Wanderer!" Pip shouted, galloping over. Calamity groaned.

"Ah'll git 'im inside!" He told her, "You get that door closed!" He grabbed the collar of his duster and began pulling, Dogmeat rushing past him to safety. Pip notice the puddle forming down below, and reluctantly passed him, going for the door controls. She tried to push up on the lever, but she couldn't. The damn thing was rusted shut. She felt a strong hoof push her aside. Sam put his right hoof and pushed up, using his strength to forcibly push it upwards. It succeeded, flakes of rust flying out of the joints, and the door closed. Pip looked his face over briefly in the pale green glow of their PIPs.

Somehow his horn managed to survive unharmed, but his right eye was swelled up. She wouldn't be surprised if there was a welt the size of her hoof underneath his hat. She smiled bitterly, looking to the damaged and chaotic inside of the Stable. He pulled out a combat shotgun from his satchel, its stock sawed off.

"Ladies and gentlemen," He said, pulling back on the receiver, "Welcome to the hell known as Stable 24."

---

Footnote: Level Up

Courier: You and your Mojave friend have more alike than first realized. Damage taken form headshots is reduced -5%.