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The cavern we were in was lit up from the sunlight, seeping through the hole in the ceiling of it. I took a step forward, examining the area around us. I managed to spot a fairly large entrance into a cavern on the top right hand side of me. The only question I asked myself was, how do we get up there?

“Look, we can try and climb our way up. The cavern is bound to lead to somewhere.” I said, walking towards the uneven rocks. I attempted to climb up, but after getting half way up I fell. I used my wings to steady my fall and looked up at it in defeat. “Dammit!”

“Maybe you could fly.” Crystal suggested, “And then, you can reach down for me and I use my magic to latch onto your hoof and pull myself up.”

I grinned at her and patted her back, “sounds like a plan to me.” I took flight, flying upwards slowly and landing onto the ledge. I reached down for Crystal, preparing for her to use her magic to latch onto my hoof. Her horn glowed and then I felt a gripping feel on my hoof, she managed to climb up and when she reached the top, her horn stopped glowing.

We trotted into the fairly large cavern. There were pools of radiation in the holes and ditches in the dirt, there were also piece of decaying rock on the floor. This indicated an exit nearby. I felt a breeze gently stroke my face; I closed my eyes to embrace it and then slowly opened them.

“I think there’s an exit nearby, where we see light…that’ll be where it is.” I activated the light on my PipBuck before proceeding into the darkness of the cavern. I started to look around at the poorly lit up area caused by my PipBuck, the green light from the PipBuck reflected of something in the darkness.

“Look!” Crystal pointed out as she stood beside me, “what’s that?!” She started to walk slowly into the darkened area to where the reflection was coming from.

“What can you see?!” I called over to her, she was consumed by the darkness and the hoofsteps echoed in the cave. I tried moving closer slightly to see if I could see it.

CLUNK!

“There’s something here!” She levitated what she found to her side and walked back into the green light, she was carrying a Steel Ranger helmet.

“Hey, it’s a helmet of one of those Steel Rangers we saw.” I said, taking a look at it. It was blood stained and scratched, with one of the lenses cracked as if a bullet went through it.

“That means they’re here too, come on we have to hurry.” She dropped it back onto the floor, “stay close.” She began walking ahead; I managed to keep up with her. I looked around for anything else and I found a Sparkle-Cola bottle. I quickly went to look for any liquid inside, but it was empty. Dammit, I’m thirsty and hungry; there’d better be food nearby.

“Seen anything?” I asked curiously, looking around. We saw a small light ahead and heard echoing talking. Crystal instantly pulled me down to the ground.

“Turn off the light.” She groaned, looking where she heard them. She saw silhouettes of Ponies in heavy armor. It looked like they were looking around for any items or bodies.

“Have you found anything yet Violet?” A stallion’s voice asked, the other Pony responded and looked at him.

“Not yet, keep searching.” A mare’s voice responded, “Maybe there are some weapons nearby, come on.” They began making their way down to us, their hooves making a clanking noise with each step. They saw the light on our bodies and walked over to us. “Hey, you there!” I looked up at the Steel Ranger.

“Y-yes?” I asked nervously, coming out. I got a good look at their threatening, cold armor as they stood in the darkness.

“Don’t you know this area is restricted, all possible routes to Manehattan are all restricted.” She responded, “I’m giving you this one chance to turn back and leave.”

“But we’re in too deep.” Crystal spoke out, “it’s too late to turn back now.” She said, looking at the mare Steel Ranger.

“And you cannot proceed, so like I said…turn back.” She walked closer to me and Crystal, being an inch away. She spun her Minigun on her battle saddle, “or we’ll kill you…your choice, what’s it going to be?”

“Violet, we can’t kill them…we protect and serve all.” Her stallion companion commented, “Let them pass.”

“We protect and serve those, who are with our ministry.” She looked towards him and I heard a low angry growl inside her Steel Ranger helmet. “Besides, I don’t trust this Pegasus. He might be with the Enclave.”

“Me? With the Enclave? Fuck no, why would I be?” I asked with a tone of rage, “Enclave troops let my parents die; I’d rather execute them, ripping each limb off one by one and piss on their graves.”

“That’s enough!” Crystal exclaimed, “Look, all we want to do is get out of this cave. If you would kindly let us past, we promise not to cause trouble.”

“Okay.” The mare Steel Ranger spoke with a slightly sinister accent, “you can pass, but don’t blame me when you get shot for being on restricted grounds.” The Ranger and her companion stood aside, letting us past. I noticed the accent she had; I knew we were heading into some deep shit.

We quickly galloped across the rocks towards the light, as we got closer the oxygen filled our lungs once again. I was the first to see the Wasteland for the first time in an hour or so, seeing just a Steel Ranger base. Metal fences were surrounding the whole base, sniper towers were in each of the four corners and many Steel Rangers and trainees roamed the base. Once they noticed us, they aimed their guns at us.

“Halt! What are you doing here?!” The Steel Ranger called, “this is a restricted premises. Leave now, while you have the chance.”

“We’re just passing through, one of your patrols said we could.” I explained, hoping not to be shot. Knowing that this would turn into a battle, I placed my wing into my saddle-bag, reaching for the rifle I obtained from the Raider.

“I don’t care what they said, this is a restricted area and you are not allowed on the premises.” He walked closer to us, his helmet looking threatening as his tilted his head down. It was as if he was glaring at us with fury. “Now, turn back and leave through the cave.”

Radio static was heard, “hold your fire soldier, they’re passing through.” The voice sounded exactly like the Steel Ranger mare we saw earlier, back in the cave. “If you fire, you will be going against all we stand for.”

“Screw the orders, the Pegasus seems suspicious.” Why me? Why always me? Just because most Pegasi follow The Grand Pegasus Enclave, doesn’t mean I do. “He may look nice, but then when we least expect it he’ll backstab us.”

“Hold your fire…that is an order.” Her voice was consumed by the static before it shut off. The Steel Ranger turned away from us.

“That was close.” Crystal spoke, walking ahead and looking around the base. “Come on; let’s go find somepony who might help us.” I followed with a nod.

“There’s got to be at least one Pony who will help us.” I added, walking with Crystal. I noticed the many initiates practicing, they were shooting targets. Some missed and some hit the targets that gave off a loud ping when hit. Some Steel Rangers were in the sniper towers, looking out for any possible threats such as Raiders or Alicorns. The long barrels on the rifles extended from the towers.

We finally reached a tent where what seemed like an elder Pony, working on a terminal built into the bases electronic system. His mane was combed and grey and his coat was a rotten green color, his tail was a long, flaky tail and his eyes were a sky blue color. He turned to us and had a look of surprise on his face.

“Oh, it’s you two. I’m sorry for the reception the Rangers gave you, we normally don’t let travellers in but now that you’re here, I guess I should introduce myself.” He nodded, lifting a hoof slightly off of the ground. “I’m Elder Lockhart; I fortified this base in hope of keeping travellers like you away from Manehattan.”

“Why don’t you want anypony going into Manehattan? If you don’t mind telling us.” Crystal asked with her soft, elegant voice. I moved slightly closer to Crystal, looking at her and then back at Elder Lockhart.

“We don’t tell Ponies for a reason, we want them to be safe from the dangers in Manehattan. If you really want to know, Alicorns roam the streets like an army, there’s so many of them. Steel Rangers are currently trying to deal with the problem; setting one hoof in that city is suicide.” He frowned slightly as he spoke those words.

“If it’s suicide, why let them enter?” I took a small step forward as I asked him my question.

“Because I had no other choice. It was either send them in, or let Manehattan become a home for Alicorns.” He sighed and turned away. “What else could I do?” He asked shrugging slightly.

“Maybe, you could send us in to aid them in battle.” I spoke softly, hoping to convince him to give us access to Manehattan. I was hoping he would, we needed to get there. Crystal even said that was where we needed to go.

“I don’t see why not. But a fair word of warning, the path ahead is highly irradiated, and because of that you may have to go into a Stable or two just to get to the city itself.” The Elder explained, “So do you think you can do it?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t have survived this long if I couldn’t.” I responded, sounding proud of myself. Was I proud of myself for my killings, or of my achievement in survival? Whichever one, I felt proud of myself for even lasting a day.

“Good, I’ll just unlock the gate for you.” He walked towards the terminal and pushed a few buttons, the sound of a gate being unlocked was heard and he turned to us. “The gate should be unlocked now, good luck my friends.” I replied with a simple nod as me and Crystal left the tent.

Once we exited through the gate, the gate closed back up and locked up. We were on a higher part of the Wasteland; I took a trot to the edge having a view of the entire Ravaged Wasteland. I could see Manehattan, or at least some of it. Tenpony Tower was the clearest part of the city; the rest of it just looked like a pile of rubble from here. We still had a long way to go, but we were closer than we was before.

It was midday and the sickly green sky gave off a glow within the thick clouds. We were back on the road again, trotting towards Manehattan. Of course we had to beware of the radiation that Elder Lockhart told us about, but my PipBuck picked up no signs of it yet.

“How far have we got now?” I asked curiously, looking at the view as we descended back to ground level slowly.

“Around forty miles if not, just less.” She responded as she began to gallop. “Come on, we need to speed up.” I soon caught up with her, but it wasn’t long before we got caught into some trouble. A larger group of Raiders found us and stopped us in our tracks. A muddy brown stallion with grey eyes and a dying blonde colored mane that was spiked like a Mohawk and the tail completely cut off walked up to me. His lifeless colored eyes glared at me, as if he knew who I was.

“Stop right there!” He exclaimed, his voice was dry and his lifeless eyes were fixed on mine. His mouth gave off a small quiver and it soon turned into a sinister grin. “Hey, these two have some loot on them…maybe we should take it off of them.”

“I don’t think so.” I instantly pulled out my rifle, aiming at his head. “If you step one step closer to me, I’ll blow out your fucking brains!” Crystal gasped in fright; she didn’t want to fight with the Raiders.

“Tornado put it away!” Crystal exclaimed and glared at me, trying to use her magic to take my gun. But she couldn’t my grip on the gun was too tight, my wings were too strong.

“Oh so you’re the Pony who killed one of our bunch, your name has been spreading around Raiders and now that I have you, I’m going to rip you limb from limb!” He gave me a solid buck around the face, knocking me backwards. After I fell, I could taste blood. My nose was bleeding and so was my mouth, I got onto my hooves and spit some blood out. I quickly grabbed the gun and targeted him with S.A.T.S. I selected his forehooves and capped them both in quick succession.

BLAM, BANG!

He collapsed, bleeding from the legs. The other Raiders shot their assault rifles from their battle saddles. I and Crystal quickly dived for cover, Crystal prepared the medical supplies but I stopped her, shaking my head.

“Come out here you little fuck!” One of the female ones spoke, her voice wasn’t so dry but it left a nasty hiss behind it. I quickly popped out of cover, targeting her with S.A.T.S. again and this time, targeted the head. I shot one shot into the head, and just to be on the safe side another two into the chest.

KABLAM, BANG!

The shots pieced her chest and then blew her head off, sending it backwards. Her decapitated body collapsed, bleeding violently. Another three of the Raiders came at us; one wielded a Minigun in their battle saddle and spun it. The bullets came at us like a snow blizzard, unfortunately I was hit in the left foreleg (which has my PipBuck on it) and I let out a loud yelp. I collapsed backwards, leaking blood. Each time I put pressure onto it, it let out a bone crunching pain.

“Tornado let me heal you!!” The bullets came over the boulder we hit behind, chipping the top of it. I could hear them getting closer as the one with the Minigun sent a blizzard of bullets over us.

“No…I can make it.” I grunted, peeking over. I could feel the wind off of the bullets, as if they just stroked my cheek. I took aim without S.A.T.S. and manage to pick off a headshot. It didn’t kill him, but it did some damage. “Crystal, grenade now.”

“I don’t have any.” She searched through her saddle bag. “I have some mines, but that’s it.” She lifted them out of her bag and nodded to her. I instantly grabbed them and threw them down just on the other side of the rock. They were hard to see, but as the Raiders got closer, a few beeps were heard and then.

BOOM, BANG, KABOOM!

Three of the mines blew four Raiders to pieces. Bits of leg and brain flew, as a bloody frenzy splashed around the explosive area. A huge chunk of the boulder came over our heads as soon as the explosion occurred. The last Raider began to run away quickly. I quickly shot him in the head without S.A.T.S. before collapsing in pain from the bullet in my hoof. I limped towards the bodies, robbing them of caps and ammo. Some carried some Stimpacks (which I gave to Crystal) and also Grenades. One carried a battle-saddle; I quickly took it off of him and latched it onto my back. I placed my rifle into it. There wasn’t much else; anything else was blown to pieces from the explosion.

“Is that everything?” Crystal asked, looking at the bodies. She came up to me, stroking her hoof along my back. “Please. Let me heal you.” This left me no choice; I didn’t want her to waste the medical supplies on me.

“Okay, just…be quick about it.” She sat me down against an exploded boulder and began to slowly remove this bullet. This only made me yelp in pain. “Please, just be quick I said.” After I spoke, she rolled her eyes and yanked it out. It made a sickening crunch and sludge noise before being released from the hole. I let out a loud cry in pain, tears even rolled down my cheeks slightly. Only one or two tears managed to escape my eyes.

“You said be quick about it.” She replied, bandaging my leg up and then giving it a small kiss on the bandage. I groaned in pain slightly but blushed; no-pony ever did that to me while they fixed up a wound. “Now here comes the needle.” She levitated a Stimpack to her side, injecting it into the wound. I already felt the Stimpack working and she then placed the empty Stimpack onto the ground. “Better?”

“Better.” I nodded slowly getting myself onto my hooves. I quickly checked to see if my PipBuck was okay, I let out a sigh of relief seeing that it was. Well, there was a bit of blood on it, but not too much. Crystal began walking off, this time trotting back onto the dirt. Black, broken and dead trees stood out of the ground, some of them completely blown to pieces and some rotting slowly from the radiation. Skeleton corpses lay next to them, as if they were gathering dust.

We couldn’t take a direct route towards Manehattan, Elder Lockhart could be right, it could be irradiated to a level where not even Rad Away would stop the radiation. Hell I don’t even think we have any Rad Away!

We soon found ourselves back on the roads and coming up to railroad tracks. These old tracks lead directly to Manehattan, unfortunately it’s no longer operating. We took this for an opportunity to eat some of the food Crystal brought along with her; it was best saving it for journeys like this. We only had some bread and a bottle of purified water. We had to share some obviously.

After eating and drinking, we began to trot off in the direction we were heading in. I was prepared for anything along the way, especially since I had a battle saddle now. I was on full alert, I wasn’t much of a fighter but when I had no choice, I guess I’d have to fight.

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Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Trigger Happy, rate of fire has been increased by 20% but reload speed has been reduced by 20%

Current level: 4

Next Chapter: Chapter Five: Visions Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 55 Minutes