Rainbow Dash flew down by Sugarcube Corner, sending a small cloud of dust up as she landed in front of the door. She pushed the wooden barrier open and trotted inside as she spotted a familiar pink party pony sorting cupcakes.

"Hey Pinkie, what's up?"

Pinkie perked up and smiled widely at her friend.

"Hey Dashie! Just working on sorting out these delicious cupcakes! What can I do for you?" She asked while leaning against the counter.

"Just thought I'd drop by and see how it's all going." She shrugged. "Say, you heard about that new stallion in town? I thought I saw him a few days ago with Twilight."

"Oh, of course I've heard of him! Everypony's surprised that I haven't thrown him a party yet."

Rainbow Dash then nearly dropped her eyes out of her head when she stared at the party pony with absolute shock.

"You... know that there's a new pony in town... and you haven't thrown him... a party yet?" The rainbow-maned mare swiftly rushed up to Pinkie and placed a hoof on her forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

Pinkie chuckled and patted her friend's hoof away from her.

"Of course I am! My Pinkie Sense just reminded me that I should wait until all of Ponyville's new arrivals come before I throw anypony a party!"

Dash blinked a few times and cocked her head.

"Wait, since when does your Pinkie Sense do that?"

Pinkie's mane deflated as her eyes dilated into pricks.

"Because there are forces out there that you cannot even begin to understand that are at work here."

Her cheeriness returned almost immediately as a ding came from the kitchen.

"OOP! New batch! Gotta go!"

Rainbow Dash stood there stunned for a few seconds before slowly moving towards the door and bolting out. Only to bolt back in and drop a few bits on the counter before she grabbed a brownie and took off again.

\\\\\\//////

Jason looked over the contents spread across the table once more. 20 rounds for the Hunting Rifle. 36 .44 rounds. 48 for the 10mm Pistol. One Power Fist. 5 Stimpacks. 3 shots of Med-X. 5 Bobby pins. The Rifle, Power Fist, and two hand guns were on the right side of the table, all resting in harnesses as Jason stared at the Stetson that rested in the center of the desk.

Instead of wearing his usual Vault Suit, Jason dug out something he thought he'd never have to use again. The Regulator Duster. He had brought it out earlier, and was surprised that it had changed to fit him. Of course, he remembered that the Vault Suit and even the Power Fist had changed as well, so maybe it was just magic. Ignoring the convenience, Jason had just decided to pin the new badge inside one of the flapping collars, so that it was facing him instead of the world.

He grabbed the items and organized them into the single bag that he would carry, and levitated it onto his body. Jason then brought out the holstered weapons and clicked their straps along his form, the Hunting Rifle resting on his back while the .44 and 10mm rested on his flanks, left and right respectively. The Stetson came last, fitting onto his head as Dogmeat began to rise from the bed. Dogmeat looked up to Jason as he grabbed the room key and eyed the numbers embedded into it.

"All bastards in the area, be on the lookout," Jason said to himself, "we're going on a walk."

\\\\\\//////

Twilight walked along the small path through the marketplace, searching through the stands for the items on her list. She perked up as she spotted Applejack, and remembered the much needed fruit on her parchment. The alicorn approached her friend and nodded.

"Good morning, Applejack. How are you doing?"

The orange mare nodded in reply.

"Mornin' Twi. Just keepin' the business up is all. Anythin' new at the castle?" She asked.

"Not really," she answered with a shake of the head, "Spike and I are just trying to focus on getting things sorted out for when we open it up as the public library."

Twilight looked to the side of the cart of apples and spoke.

"What's in the bag?"

Applejack turned to see what she was pointing at and slowly nodded.

"That there's bits for the Wanderer."

"Applejack, how much is in there?" She asked.

"'Bout 87 bits."

"And why are you giving him 87 bits?"

"Oh, right, you weren't there. See, when he first came ta town, he tried buyin' some apples with Bottle Caps. 'Course, bein' an Apple family member, I thought it'd be best ta let him pay for 'em later, so I took the Caps and let him have the apples. Then Rarity came by an' said they're worth 30 bits a piece! After what he's been through, the least Ah could do is give him the change for his purchase."

Around them, the ponies began to hush and silence. Applejack peeked around the corner to see that it was because the Wanderer was walking through the small market. As opposed to his usual blue suit, he was in some kind of duster, with strange pieces of metal and wood hanging off of his back and flanks. Dogmeat was at his side, occasionally sniffing the air as the two walked through the crowd. Some ponies were just looking around, wondering why the rest were silent, some even looking panicked slightly by the hushed tones of the crowd, or rather by the cause of the drop in volume. A few were even nodding as they watched him go by, the events of the foalnapping having reached every corner of town three times over.

"'Scuse me!" Applejack called out to him, grabbing the bag of bits with her mouth.

The blue unicorn stopped and looked over to her as she trotted up to him and placed the bits on the ground.

"What's this?" He asked, picking it up with his magic.

"They're bits I owed you from those Bottle Caps. Turns out they're each worth 30 bits a piece, so I thought you'd want change for yer purchase." She finished with a smile.

Jason looked like he was almost broken, his eye twitching slightly. He breathed in sharply through his nose before smiling at Applejack.

"Thank you kindly, Applejack. It's good to know that they're not worthless here. I'll be sure to use them wisely."

He then levitated the sack into his saddlebags, before nodding to her and walking off. As soon as he turned the corner, the marketplace exploded into noise once more.

\\\\\\//////

Celestia munched on the leaf of lettuce that was closest on her plate, trying to focus on an enjoyable lunch with her sister.

"Tia, there's clearly something wrong." Luna stated, not even looking up from her plate.

The Solar mare sighed as she dropped her fork.

"Luna,-" She started.

"No, Tia, you've been like this since this morning. You need to talk about whatever is going on with you."

Luna then raised a hoof and sent the Guards outside of the room as she teleported by her sister and placed the same hoof on her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" She asked in a calm tone.

Celestia breathed in deeply before speaking.

"I went to Ponyville to visit that stallion again. The one from outside Equestria. Turns out that there was a foalnapping by the Jaws."

Luna began to hold her sister tighter as she continued.

"He went after those Diamond Dogs and saved the two foals that were taken. When forensics got to the cave the Guards saw him leave from, they found 23 dead Guards in their caves. Not only that, all but one of the gang members were dead when they got there. Most of them were crushed after what looked like a cave-in, but there were two outside of the hideout. They died of wounds that were difficult to explain, like how one had three holes in their head, and the one next to it had their legs ripped apart with such precision, there's no way it was magic or even any kind of weapon we've seen." She brought her hooves up to her temples and began to rub her head. "When I found that pony in the hospital, he was almost indifferent about the entire incident. I still don't know if it was a mistake to let him just... walk out of there. I've only ever seen a look like his once before."

Luna removed her hoof from her sister's back, slowly, before wrapping a wing around her.

"Sister, it's alright. If he truly wished to do harm to anypony innocent that day, he was given two golden opportunities to do so, and I doubt that you would be unable to stop him before he could do anything truly damaging. And don't forget, I have Dream Watching tonight. Maybe I'll share something I find with you when I find his mind in the cloud. Now let's just focus on eating, alright?" She finished with a smile.

As Luna trotted over to her seat, Celestia looked up and stared at the back of her head.

'I can never forget that kind of look.' She thought to herself. 'That kind of regret and pain. The desire to just... end.'

She looked down into her plate, and saw her reflection in a cleared portion of it.

'Like looking into a mirror, all those centuries ago.'

\\\\\\//////

Jason continued to walk along through the small town, earning looks from other ponies as he passed by them. He often saw some smiling at him, apparently having heard of the deed he had done earlier that day. It wasn't unusual to hear such stillness wherever he went, but to know that they didn't see him as a threat made him question their judgement even more. Which also further solidified his reason to stay in the small town.

After a few minutes of thinking over what Applejack had told him, he had calculated that his collection of Caps had accumulated to somewhere around 240,000 to 400,000 bits. So now he was sitting on a literal pile of gold, and had no idea what to do with it. He thought about paying for the room he was in, but thought that it wouldn't be the best idea to have someone overhear his price range and try to snake his savings from his pocket while looking for an actual house.

"Excuse me?" A small, slightly rough voice called from behind him.

Jason stopped and turned his head around to see a small pegasus filly looking up at him. She had an orange coat and a purple mane, and looked up at him with a small smile and beady, purple eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

The filly rubbed one of her forelegs and spoke again.

"Thanks for saving Sweetie Belle."

Jason smiled lightly.

"No problem. If you ever hear or see anything that's out of the ordinary, let me know. I'm here to stay."

The filly nodded before running off, leaving Jason thinking once more.

'It's always been for that, right Dad?' He thought to himself.

He turned forward and walked off again, patrolling the outskirts of the town for the remainder of the day.

\\\\\\//////

Rune was lost in the dangerous forest at the break of dusk. That much was about all that he knew about the situation. Aside from the fact that he was supposed to meet his sister, Zecora, for a small trip to this forest. He examined the foliage around him in hopes of finding something close to what his sister described to him in their letters, to have some sense of general direction.

"Why did I even try this forest?" He said aloud.

He looked to his left to find a small path and beamed as he galloped towards it. Before he could make it to the path, however, a low growl shook the ground, and he froze instantly. His vision scanned the area, trying to find the source of the sound, and found only bits of rock scattered around. Slowly and carefully, Rune raised a hoof and brought it down gently onto the surface. At that moment, a rock seemed to crack open, and behind it, came a yellow, slitted eye.

The zebra panicked and screamed as he jumped back from a set of jaws that came from the ground, nearly snapping his legs off. As he rose from his fall, Rune looked to the formation of rocks, and watched as a massive creature resembling a crocodile formed from the rocks. It turned to him and let out a roar before the two bolted towards the small path.

Rune felt his heart race in the back of his throat as he felt branches scrape against his skin, ripping against his form as he heard the creature break down everything in its path while chasing him. The two continued down the small path until they found a small clearing. Opposite Rune, was a massive boulder, which spelled his end. The zebra tried to run and jump up the steep stone, but to no avail. He looked back at the approaching beast. He slapped his hooves together and screwed his eyelids shut as he yelled a prayer.

"Spirits, if you are watching, please don't let these words be my last!"

The moment his breath left him, he opened his eyes to witness what he thought would be the end, only to be stopped as a massive green mass burst through the foliage and collided with the head of the large animal. Rune watched in stunned silence, his prayer answered, as the tall, bipedal, green savior began to fight back the rock monster. It swung what looked to be a mighty hammer of steel, and when it came down onto the stoney scales of the beast, it left a massive crack before being readied for another swing. The bipedal stepped back and gave one last twist of its body before slamming the weapon into the side of the monster's face, sending bits and pieces of its head across the opening as the rest of it fell limply to the ground.

With the first threat dealt with, Rune began to examine the new creature. It stood tall on two legs, wearing some kind of blue cloth over its sickly green skin. Its upper body was made of muscle, and carried several large objects on its back. It had two arms, similar to a Minotaur, and had a large, bald head. The face of the creature seemed to be pulled back from the mouth somewhat, but seemed rather calm, despite the strain it seemed to put on it. In its arms was the mighty hammer of steel, barely worn down by the battle. The creature hefted the weapon and hung it on a strap at its side before approaching Rune.

"W-what are you?" Rune asked, trembling.

The large green creature offered its hand to Rune as it spoke in a deep, slightly growling voice.

"My name is Fawkes."

Rune looked at the massive hand before smiling and placing his hoof in it. Fawkes hefted him up and placed him on the ground, hooves-first.

"Rune. I suppose you're not from around here, since my sister's letters mentioned nothing of a green giant such as you."

Fawkes gave a low chuckle before he answered.

"No, I suppose I'm not. I am looking for someone, however. But it's getting dark," He said while looking to the sky, "we need shelter."

Rune scanned the small clearing and found a shimmering light coming through the trees. When he craned his neck, he found a small pond, and beyond that, a hut.

"I think I might know where we can stay."

Author's Notes:

So that Destiny, though.

Add me on PS4, if you want: Dragonman461

Also, the name of the story's gonna change to "Wasteland Soul" over the next few chapters, so be sure to look for that.

Also, I've decided to write in a Zebra that doesn't rhyme, because I can't do that for sh!t.

Whelp, I've got some work to do, enjoy!

Also, if you're wondering what you could read besides my stories, check out SomeGuyCamping and his story: Fallout: The Elements in Vegas. It's awesome and inspired me to write this, so go check it out!