At first I'll admit I was skeptical, after all it was a mouth held device that could teleport? This skepticism was lost eventually though as I heard about the drawbacks of the transponder. The device was linked to an magic array that allowed matter to be transported instantly, but the result required a week to recharge after each use, along side the cost of producing the device it wasn't allowed to become wide spread before the war ended in the destruction in the fallout our world currently suffered. The device that I used was practically weightless, however, it would allow me to travel between The Face and the Equestrian wasteland, however if I were to use it elsewhere than the theater I had been taken from, I'd be returned to where I had first been kidnapped rather than where I had started from.

I did take the time to raid The Face of medical supplies though, I was going to need them eventually and it would be better to be prepared sooner rather than later. After bidding the remaining members of the Think Tank goodbye, and pulling the trigger I was overtaken in a blinding flash of white. My skin covered in a near burning hot warmth as I vanished from the outside of the facility, and appeared, staggeringly in another flash, a foot or so from the downed spritebot that Watcher had been using before this entire adventure into the science facility. As I regained my bearing. Though before I could do much more than stand up, I heard a bark. I wasn't alone.

Fearing the worst, I started to kick my battle-saddle into gear but before I could turn the safety off, I was tackled by a large gray mass. I squeaked, pinned down as the wolf... Licked me? Wait what? Opening my eyes I could see that my initial reaction had been a little off. It wasn't a wild dog, or some approaching enemy, but rather, "Scrapyard?"

The large wolf grinned and licked me some more, and I couldn't help but giggle, "Oh geeze, give me a heart attack much?"

"You gave us quite a scare yourself." The unmistakable tone of Grey chimed in, his familiar bearded face coming into view as he trotted up after Scrap, "Leave for a night and end up with Watcher of all people having a panic attack and coming to me in the middle of the night."

"Not my fault! We were ambushed..." I defended, awkwardly as I was still on my back with an overly pleased large tongue giving me a bit too much affection. Pushing Scrapyard off, I put myself to rights, "And then things happened." I finished my train of thought. Lamely.

He rose an eyebrow quizzically, "Things?" Grey eyed me over, and noticed probably the healing scars from my surgery as he circled around me once, his usual neutral mouth turning into a frown, as he stopped and looked into my eyes, "We're going to need to talk," He nodded at scrapyard, "Scrap, mind go telling your master that we found her?"

The Scrap barked, and nodded, grinning proudly before running off, back towards.... The opposite direction of The Hole? My look of confusion was answered by Grey as he spoke up, "Caits been running around dismantling slavers and raider groups in search of you while I checked out the surrounding area. Your sudden disappearance made the twins also worry about your safety though it seems our 'Sentinel' has gained some more ire from the dark side of the wasteland as well as earned some more fame in regards to the local population. Not that he wasn't adored already." He snorted, rolling his eyes which had a more sunken appearance which I noticed were probably from a lack of sleep, "Come on, lets go."

Slowly we walked back towards the towering structures that made up The Hole. I didn't have enough magic to disguise myself, but Grey said it didn't matter, claiming no one would dare after some events as of late. I asked him what he meant by it, but he said my questions would have to wait until after he was done with me. After we arrived at our temporary home, we only spent a brief few moments putting my saddlebags back with the rest of our gear before Grey all but dragged me towards the street that made up the majority of the major families, and into a bar that wasn't a casino or 'adult club'. It was mostly empty, though the patrons that were here were somewhat subdued in their own conversations, surprisingly enough Stark was also here, and judging from the sheer number of shot glasses and empty bottles, he had been here a while.

Grey pointedly ignored the drunk Stark who was facedown in the bar table as he passed, nodding to the barkeeper, "Bronze."

The barkeeper simply nodded, not turning his attention away from the glasses he was cleaning, both mugs and a cracked set of spectacles, "Grey," he looked to me, an eyebrow rose in curiosity before turning back to Grey, "The usual...?" he asked.

"A 'Blue Moon' for me, and a 'Lost Coast' for the girl, good quality, not that cheap stuff on the shelf." Grey replied with a grunt, "Stark still upset about earlier?"

The barkeeper, Bronze, chuckled, his horn lighting up once more as he started to prepare our... Drinks? "Oh most terribly, though I don't blame you, nor will he once he recovers from the unavoidable migrane he is setting up for himself. It's not every day that a patron tries poisoning each other. Well almost, when it comes to Stark anyway."

Grey grunted, "We'll be in the corner stall."

"Got it, consider it on the house after all you've done over the years. Some still remember the death of Bulldozer."

Grey shot the barkeeper a baleful glare, which the barkeeper promptly ignored, too busy with a pair of metal containers which he was shaking vigorously in his magic. I quirped up, "Bulldozer?"

With a sigh Grey responded, as he sat down at a corner couch, which wrapped around the wall with a circular table, "All in due time Aria, first I want to hear where you've been off to before I let you pry into my past."

I sat down as well, and after the drinks had been levitated over to us, I pushed mine to the side, as he took a sip of his, a dull blue liquid whereas mine was a more white coloration. My medical books had warned me against the consequences of drugs and alcohol, even back in the stable it was a rare sight usually reserved for either The Director, the higher levels of staff, or somehow, Grey himself. As he drank, I found myself telling him everything, occasionally stopping in my story to answer a few questions, like regarding Trixie, and the voice in my head, though he stopped me with a hoof once I had reached the part where Trixie had sacrificed herself, "This explains the look in your eyes, a bit at least, do yourself a favor..." he pushed my drink back towards me, "Drink a small bit of it and try to relax and cope, losing a friend isn't especially after losing a majority of your family over the past month."

"Is that why you drink? To forget?" I asked, and he softly chuckled.

"No Aria, the reason why I drink is to remember the past and dull some pains." He looked to his mug, "Continue on with your story, if you don't mind."

Intrigued, I slowly reached out, and took the beverage into my hooves, taking a sip of it. It tasted like juice, almost, very sweet but it had a slight sting to it, like it made my tongue slightly drier somehow despite being a liquid. Confused I took another sip of it and let it sit for a few seconds in order to understand it, it was a sweet, tropical flavor, mixed with some sort of.... nut? Slowly I resumed my story, and when I had finished my story he looked contemplative while staring at my horn, pondering over the events that had happened with Roggar and Bull Frown.

"Seperated from the Hive? Is such a thing possible...?" He muttered to himself, barely audible, "I'm no unicorn but magic on that level would be... Extraordinary. Not to say the least the implications this has... Is he listening in now?"

The last question was less of a mutter but more of a question to me, but I shook my head, "He said after I woke up that he was going to rest a while before he properly informed me of what he did."

To be honest, I didn't rightly know when that would be either, just that Roggar was Roggar and he had saved my life on more than one occasion, and that he had provided a method to survive that hadn't existed before. Furtively I glanced down at the weapon still sheathed in its special holder, the chained knife of both exotic design and strange metal. Starmetal the scientists called it, though the more I looked at it, I couldn't help but get the feeling that I had seen the metal somewhere before the madness that had happened after that night in the drive-in wagon theater. It'd come back to me though, eventually anyway.

The thud on the table returned my attention to Grey, who was putting down his mug in favor of looking me in the eyes with both hooves on the table. "Thank you for sharing what has happened to you over the course of the last few days Aria, and I'd like you to share this trust... That you have in me, and in return want you to know that I trust you. If you have any questions, I'd be willing to awnser them provided that you don't discuss it with others without my consent of course."

I perked up, sitting straighter, and gazing deeply at him in curiosity anew. In the stable Grey had always been quiet about his past, often responding with a scowl to the scientists or punishment if it was a younger changeling who didn't know better. There was a running game among the castes of changelings to try and figure his story out, from speculation that he was born in the stable only to be released (A theory that I had supported), to that he had been a warlord of raiders before coming into Stable 103. Some of the few more won over (By 'won over' I mean swooning) Changelings of twenty castes or so back thought Grey as a lone ranger who went about defeating armies with nothing but his bare hooves and quick wit.

Grey checked his watch, as I thought for my first question, but with so many, I decided to start with the most obvious one that the radio twins had been referring to as Grey's nickname, "Why are you called 'The Mysterious Stranger' anyway?"

He chuckled, shutting his pocket watch and looking back to me, "That's a long story, longer than the night would last, though long story simplified, my 'entrance' into the wasteland was uncommon, though I hardly expect falling out of the sky to be a common occurrence.

"Falling out of the sky?" I asked, drawing a sorrowful expression from Grey, one even more so from the earth pony.

Checking around the mostly empty tavern, he sighed, "Eventually you were going to find this out anyway, but I guess sooner is better than later. It relates to one of the reasons everyone was looking at me more so than you on our way over here."

Slowly he started unbuttoning his coat, and I rose an eyebrow, a mild blush warming my face in embarrassment before realizing subconsciously that ponies didn't normally wear clothes. Though we did wear armor a lot. More so was the curiosity underneath Grey's coat as it was the first time I had ever seen my teacher without it or something else equally covering on. The first thing I noticed was the scars that marred his grey fur, several rigged ones that were years healed over, others that had faded into naught but a thin line. The intensity only got worse as he started to scoot closer to me around the table and turn so that I could see his cutiemark and back. His cutiemark was an angry black blemish that took up his entire flank- wait what?

His strange cutiemark was also met with a pair of stubs that were sticking out of his back, where once bone and flesh were connected to something else, but that wasn't possible... That would mean that Grey was a...

"Yes Aria, I'm a Pegasus. Or more precisely used to be a pegasus. The way I see it, a Dashite without his wings is just an earth pony without the natural durability." He grunted, letting me get an eyeful of himself before he covered himself back up, "Everypony, or more accurately everyone out here stares at us so because while Changelings may of been on the Zebras side during the war, the Pegasus race abandoned the rest of Equestria, promising falsely that one day they would swoop back in and save everyone stuck down here. For the lot of good their words are."

I was speechless. Grey snorted, continuing on, "While most people consider Changelings as good as myth, or extinct, Stars above, I thought the same thing until I came across Stable 103. Pegasus ponies are about as hated as Zebras, something I quickly learned and took pains to hide my identity soon after. My secrecy over my wings was one of the few reasons I was nicknamed 'The Mysterious Stranger'. Cause one day I fell from the sky and started to put wrongs to rights after my branding as a Dashite for rejecting my fellow scientists methods."

"Scientist? You were an actual scientist before the Stable?" I asked, and he nodded.

"How did you think I got in there in the first place? My field was weapon experimentation and ore refinery back up in the clouds. Though one day, well..." He looked pained, and through my ability to sense emotion, I could feel it, rolling off of him.

"Grey, you don't need to talk about it if you don't want to. I'm sure you had your reasons to break off from the..." I trailed off. I was still early in my education of the factions of Equestria. Knowledge like that would of been taught to me if I had stayed in the stable.

"Pegasus Enclave," He replied, finishing my sentence for me, "And thank you Aria, but one of these days I'm going to tell you my story, the entirety of it hopefully. Do you have any more questions?"

I nodded, but hesitated before replying, "Um... How did you lose your wings and leg? If you don't mind me asking that is."

He sighed, but took a drink and started to answer in his usual gravely tone, "The same reason I distrust Steel Rangers so much, Aria. Between the years I spent in the wasteland before entering the Stable, I had nicked myself a habit of getting into fights with those who I saw as morally wrong. Slavers, raiders, and then the Rangers. Cait has shown me recently that not all members of that infernal tech worshipping cult is evil, but too many times did I get into a scrape with them, only to come out by the skin of my teeth and barely alive afterwards. One particular member was a rather nasty Piece of work named Bulldozer who was a Star Paladin at the time of our last encounter."

He looked deeply into his mug, remembering those days no doubt, before taking a long drink and putting it back down, "Bulldozer had taken several of my loved ones over the course of the years, and each time he would barely escape with his life after trying to kill me. Our last encounter I managed to kill him, but at the cost of my leg, and both of my wings, alongside that of the one I loved most dearly. He in turn took an armor piercing bullet to the visor and into his eye."

Grey had shut his eyes, the frown wavering between that and a grimace, "I tried to save her, but I failed, and instead dragged myself to the nearest cave to bleed out. But then Stable 103 had found me, and well, the rest is in that metal door in the wall."

He looked back into the backside of his open pocket watch, a longing look in his eyes as he remembered the past, "I was broken for the longest while, before I saw you. In truth, I wanted to free you long before you and the rest of your caste were assigned under me for combat training. In several ways you reminded me of her..." He stopped talking realizing he was mourning and talking so much, and he looked back towards me, a look I only recognized from my own experiences. The experience I had when I was forced to kill my sibling back in the nightmare that had been stable 103.

Leaning over his shoulder I could see the picture that was framed inside the tiny watch, a small image of a younger stallion with a blue and red mane and a scarf grinning happily next to a mare with wings similar to that of a bat with yellow slitted eyes and a red mane almost identical to my own, but with less holes in it. He caught my glance and elaborated, "She was a Thestral, or a bat pony in other words."

I reacted the only way I knew how, "I'm sorry for your loss, Grey."

"Don't be." he grunted, shutting his watch again, and stowed it away in his pocket, "It wasn't your fault that Bulldozer killed her. I blame my own stupidity for thinking she'd actually listen to me for once and let me challenge the bastard on my own." With a side glance he looked to me, "Do you mind if we change the topic though? All the alcohol in the world won't be enough to dull that particular loss..."

"Right! Uh, sorry again Grey-"

"Once again, Aria. Not your fault."

"Right... Um..." I trailed off, thinking of what else I could ask my mentor, mentally editting out questions regarding the mare he used to be with before asking, "What was it like above the cloud layer?" I threw the question out there, and Grey rose an eyebrow.

"You mean with the stars and sun, or with other pegasus ponies before I became a dashite?"

"Both, I guess."

He sighed, "The sky was the better of the things I missed from above, imagine, blue as far as the eye can see, and an orb of fire that radiates warmth and comfort of the Alicorn goddess who died so long ago. Now imagine when night falls and that orb descends upon the horizon a silver colored giant rock rises out of the opposite horizon shedding a soft light upon the world as millions upon billions of tiny lights twinkle into existence, once hidden by the blinding glare of the sun, now visible like a painting of the most wonderful sorts."

He paused, to take another drink from his mug before he continued on, "All of this is what the 'Grand Pegasus Enclave' kept hidden alongside their limited resources and virtual armada of cloud ships. Where a population was so tightly controlled it might of well have been an open air stable due to the limited nature of cloud crops that could be produced each year. Not that the food was any good unless you were blessed enough to live near a city that tacked alongside the mountain range of Equestria, where some normal crops could be grown alongside the cloud crops. For the longest time I only had two particular flavors to go on until I discovered the cuisine of the surface, albeit irradiated. Those two flavors were the cooked gruel provided at my job and the blessed taste of Coffee which scientists like myself and the few unicorns up in the clouds were blessed with if they decided to continually work overtime or were of high rank."

"Coffee?" I asked, unfamiliar with the beverage beyond its namesake being mentioned by Grey and the odd scientist back in the stable.

"The best drink." Grey stated simply, putting aside his now empty mug before calling for a second one from Bronze. The bartender obliged.

Okay then, deciding to change the subject, I asked, "What do you think of our chances of heading north to find the Crystal Empire?"

"What remains of it, you mean?" Grey remarked, taking a fresh sip from his new drink, "Well we have the gear, and an expedition totaling a unicorn Steel Ranger, a crippled pegasus, A barely combat trained Changeling, and a wolf that behaves like a pup." He added sarcastically, "Hardly the most uniform team out there." then he shrugged, "But nowhere near the worst, I'm used to the highest ranges of the mountains between the two areas because that was where I lived as a pegasus, however the areas north to that mountain range will be a mystery to even me. I've done searching for what we have to face on a daily basis up there, but no two tales are alike, and none of the ponies I've talked to really have ever gone up there, since it is rare to see a caravan even attempt to traverse past the mountain border due to the heavy amounts of snow that are there year round."

"Will your leg be okay for it?" I asked, worried about my mentors safety.

He nodded, "The supplies we acquired from Stark should be satisfactory to prevent my prosthetic leg from freezing up as well as keeping our weapons and armor loose and working." He raised his voice, "Isn't that right Stark?"

From the bar I could hear the muffled groan of Stark as he replied with, something along the lines of bullets in eardrums.

Grey snorted, "See? I'll be alright Aria, I'm more worried about you, to be honest."

"Thanks Grey..." I muttered, feeling a bit light headed, over the course of the conversations I've been taking sips of the drink that I had been given, the feeling of tingling warmth from the sweet juice also being countered by a continually growing dry feeling on my tongue that seemed to only intensify the more I drank.

We kept talking after that point, but it was more to catch up with each other, our preferences with weaponry and equipment. Grey preferred longer reached weapons like me but also was a sub machine gun enthusiast as it became clear he preferred not just long ranges but a fast fire rate as well. We toyed with the idea of what would happen if we attached a longer barrel to a machine gun but eventually we reached a conversation of the heavier weapons I encountered in The Big Grin. Slowly we began to loosen it up to each other more and more until we left the tavern, and I would of sworn I saw something I never thought I'd see in my life time from the stoic pegasus.

Grey's mouth upturned into a soft smile.

Xp Footnote: 85% left until level up.

Companion Gained: Grey Iron

Companion Perk: The Bonds of History: While Grey is in your party, your party gains a damage bonus if Grey has fought that enemy before. Depending on this knowledge weapons and magic will do up to 25% more damage against such enemies as well as provide 10% more experience! Guess he's really a companion now.

Next Chapter: Chapter 33: Heart of Steel, Leaving The Hole Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 56 Minutes