What little moon light that pierced through the cloud layer, partially illuminated the ruins of an old manor. The wind howled around the estate as two arcs of light were seen through the windows, scanning the interior from within. Without warning, one of the lights went out. The remaining light looked around in silence, what soon followed was the sound of gunshots; each shot caused a white flash that disappeared as quick as it appeared. The lone light then turned in the opposite direction and made for the mansion's front door.

The door swung open to reveal a unicorn stallion on the other side. He looked back into the building with fear in his eyes, then shined his flashlight into the darkness.

"Twofer!" He shouted. "Twofer! Where are you!?" His heartbeat raced as he awaited a reply. He stood by the door for a few more seconds, then made for the exit when his response went unanswered. "Fuck this!"

As soon as half his body was through the doorway, something pulled his rear legs, causing the stallion to fall and drop his flashlight.

"No! No! Oh Goddesses! Please, no!" He screamed as he was being dragged back into the dark interior of the mansion. The stallion struggled to pull himself away using his forelegs, but this was in vain, as all he did was leave a twin trail of streaks scratched onto the wooden floor. He screamed one last time before he was yanked back in and the door slammed shut.

"NOOOOOO!"

I awoke in a rather uncomfortable position, my muscles ached and my neck was stiff from sleeping on the office's couch. If Yellow hadn't saved me two days ago, I wouldn't have gave in when she...'called dibs' on my bedroom when it was time for us to hit the hay after returning from Lakeside. The only thing that made the couch even remotely sleep-able was the fact that it could also be converted into a bed.

Thank you Chesterfield.

I crawled out of bed and stretched my legs while yawning. My eyelids were still heavy, but I didn't want to go back to the couch for a second sleep. I checked the time on my PipBuck and saw that it was early in the morning. After taking care of business in the bathroom, I walked to my bedroom door and knocked.

"Yellow." I tiredly muttered. "You awake?" I tried to open the door, but found it was locked.

Yellow Jacket's voice came from the room, there was a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Can't hear you! I'm asleep!" I could pick up the sound of her turning over on the bed in frustration. Guess she's not a morning pony. Neither am I, but since I'm up, I might as well get some breakfast.

I was practically swaying as I tried to keep my balance while wiping the sleepiness from my eyes. I walked to the coat rack in the corner where my hat, clothes, duster coat, and saddlebags were hung. Lowering the saddlebags to the floor, I unzipped it and searched around for some food. To my dismay, I found nothing but empty cans.

Oh no, don't tell me we ate everything I had already? Thinking about it, it did make sense that the food was gone. After all, I never intended to have enough to feed more than just myself. I sighed. I guess I have no choice but to get something from the tower. Food from the tower was alright, but ridiculously expensive when compared to what you might find somewhere else, it also didn't help that the tower's small portions aren't that filling to begin with.

I unhooked my clothes and proceeded to put them on, it took me a while to apply my tie with my sheepish morning hooves. Now dressed, I got my hat and placed it on my head, leaving the saddlebags with my coat on the rack. I then went to my bookcase and moved some books aside, revealing a safe in the wall that was hiding behind my collection. Entering the combination, it clicked as it unlocked, exposing my large collection of caps. After taking enough to buy a meal for Yellow and myself, I closed the safe, re-locked it, then put the books back in place.

I wasn't happy that I was going to spend some of my savings for overpriced Tenpony food when I could use the same money to buy three times the amount somewhere else. This meal would put a dent in my savings and would make it even longer for me to use the money for what I originally have in mind, but it's either eat something here or starve waiting for a client. I would have to stock up on more affordable grub the next chance I leave the tower.

I yelled in the bedroom's direction. "Yellow, I'm going to get something to eat! I'll bring you back something!"

No response...

I converted my bed back into a couch then walked out of my office. Closing the door behind me, I flipped the sign that was hanging on the doorknob from 'In' to 'Out'. After that was done, I headed to the elevator and rode it to the tower's shopping floor. As soon as the lift's doors opened, I practically strutted my way to one of the eateries, knowing full well that there was no way Chert and Reticle were currently in the tower. Them being non-citizens meant that they could only stay for a certain amount of time here.

Looking at all the eating establishments on this floor, I settled for the one that had a sign stating that it was having a breakfast special. After walking in and taking a seat, a waiter approached me, took my order then left for the kitchen. Five minutes later, he returned with a stack of pancakes with a square of butter on top, syrup, eating utensils, and a glass of chocolate milk.

My mouth watered as I took a whiff of the steam rising from the meal before me. I lathered the flapjacks in syrup then picked up both a fork and butter-knife using my hooves. Being an earth pony, I had more practice when it came to handling things with my hooves. I used the knife to slice syrup soaked triangles from the pancakes, stabbed them with the fork, then brought them to my mouth. As I did this, I occasionally took a sip of my chocolate milk. Each time I did so, I was reminded of my foalhood where my parents would often tease me by saying that chocolate milk came from brahmin that were actually made of chocolate. Me being a very young and naive colt at the time, actually took their words to heart. You would not believe the amount of fights I got into with the other foals over this issue.

Finishing breakfast, I then ordered the same meal to go, paid for both of them and left.

With Yellow's meal contained in a paper bag held in my mouth, I walked to my office door, flipped the sign back to 'In', then entered.

"Yellow, I got you some panca--"

The bag fell to the floor as my jaw dropped when I saw who was sitting in the client chair opposite of Yellow. It was a baby blue coated earth pony stallion with hazel eyes, he wore a black wool cap partially covering his brown and red mane, black and gray protective travel barding, and a pair of goggles hanging around his neck. His cutie mark was of a slot machine that had three '7's' lined up. He was a one or two years older than me.

From behind my desk, Yellow pointed a hoof at me and spoke to our guest. "Matter of fact, that's him right there." She then spoke in my direction. "P.I., you got another one."

When the buck turned his head and saw me standing by the door, we both had surprised expressions plastered on our faces.

"J.J.?" I sputtered.

The buck got out of his seat and looked me over, top to bottom, then replied. "Bro?"

We just stared at each other in silence for a few seconds, both slack jawed from disbelief. That ceased however, when we simultaneously ran to the other, reared up on our hind legs, hoof bumped one foreleg then the other, kept each other balanced on our two legs, and ended our ritual with a fast, but soft headbutt. Once we finished that, we stood shoulder to shoulder and laughed.

Yellow Jacket had watched the whole thing with her head cocked, unsure of what she just witnessed. "P.I." She said with a perplexed tone in her voice. "Is this your... brother?"

"Ha!" J.J. jested. "I might as well be!" He then nuggied my head with his hoof. When I forced his hoof off, he beamed a smile to Yellow. "The names Jackpot, Jackpot Jubilee. Me and--" He turned back to me. His face had a look that seemed as if he just caught me doing something embarrassing. "Did she just call you..." He stifled a laugh. "P.I.?"

I separated from J.J. then nervously scratched the back of my head. "And what if she did?"

He rolled his eyes enthusiastically. "Well I'd like to know why... Those aren't even your initials."

I readjusted my hat from J.J.'s nuggie. "It stands for...'Private Investigator'."

He slowly shook his head with a smile. "I see you're living that colthood dream of yours. But why the alias?" He leaned in. "Is this because of the debts?"

I averted my eyes as I responded with a relaxed tone. "Maybe..."

He lightly grinned. "Still trying to be as vague as ever I see."

Just as I was about to respond to that comment, Yellow cut me off. "Hello!? If he isn't your brother, then how do you know him?"

J.J. cracked a smile then turned to me. "Aw...you don't talk about me? Not even to your partner?"

I looked to Yellow, then back to J.J. "She's my assistant."

He tilted his head in a mockingly manner as he leaned in again. "Not what she said~."

I turned to my...'partner' and raised an eyebrow. She shrunk behind the desk with a nervous smile and a slight blush.

Jackpot then addressed Yellow. "As for who I am. Well, me and..." He tried to contain another laugh. "'P.I.', here go way back. We practically grew up together back in Friendship City." J.J. then jokingly punched my shoulder. "He was the little brother I never wanted but got stuck with anyway."

I rubbed my shoulder. "Funny...why are you here, Jackpot?"

"I came here looking for that detective on the radio; didn't think it was you though. I was a bit worried that this was the janitor's room when your partner opened up." Dammit Yellow, you and your Stable custodian utility barding... "Had to really ask around to find this place. Have you considered putting up more than one sign on the door?"

If I did that, it would make it easier for ponies like Chert and Reticle to find me...

"Why do you need a detective?" I asked.

Jackpot shook his head. "I don't. The guild sent me to hire you."

"Guild?" Yellow questioned.

J.J. looked to her, then blinked. "Oh. Since you're his partner, you might as well be in the know." He sat back down in the client chair. "I'm a member of the Prospector's Guild. We're a group of merchants and prospectors tha--"

"Don't you mean scavengers?" I jabbed as I stood next to the seated mare.

He rolled his eyes. "Wow, is that what you called yourself when you were one of us?"

I chuckled softly. "Matter of fact, I did."

He just snorted as he looked back to Yellow. "Anyway...the guild is a group of prospectors," his eyes darted to me as he spoke that last word, "who are established in Friendship City. Nearly every major settlement has its own division you see."

"Oh..." Yellow uttered as she scratched her cheek. "But, why do you guys need to organize together? I thought you were all in competition with each other."

The blue buck shrugged. "That is true, but the wasteland is a harsh place to those who aren't careful. The guild was created so that its members can assist one another when traveling, you know, safety in numbers and all that. Another use of the guild would be..." He rubbed his chin and looked up to the ceiling. "For example, let's say that I just found a really large stash of supplies somewhere. Normally a prospector would take what they can carry and leave the rest. When they return for what's left, they would find that it's been looted by other prospectors or ponies passing by. As a guild member, I on the other hoof would contact the guild about the stash; the guild would then send other members to the location, and we would take ALL of the supplies in one go, rather than some. The ones assisting get a cut, and I still profit when compared to what I would have gotten if I were alone."

"Oh." Yellow said as she nodded. "I get it now. So that's why you work together." She then turned to me. "And you were one of them?"

"Well..." I nervously scratched my nose as I scanned the room, looking for some way to change the subject. I really didn't want to talk about my past, but before I could tell her that, J.J. spoke up.

"Oh yeah. P.I.," ok, now he was just having fun at my expense, "was definitely a member. We both joined at the same time once we got old enough. He was really good at finding things out; competitor prices, uncovering where pre-war ponies stashed things we could sell, and guessing what it was a customer wanted to buy from us before they even got a word in." He pointed a hoof to me. "I swear, you give this buck the tiniest bit of info and he somehow finds out more from it!" I was starting to blush from this unwanted praise. Jackpot then lowered his head and slowly shook it. "But then one day, out of the blue, he asks some of the guild members for a loan, saying he wants to start his own business, then just leaves the guild." He raised his head from the floor to me. "I wasn't exactly sure what this business of yours was, I didn't get to find out when I heard that you left the city."

Well, gee... Now he's starting to make me feel guilty.

I rubbed the back of my neck and averted my eyes. "Yeeeah...sorry about that; being a detective in the city's slums meant that I didn't have the caps to pay back the guild members. I already spent the money on some crummy shack house office--which I'm pretty sure I got ripped off of, some supplies, a weapon, and basic combat barding. It was lucky me that I was given the offer to move to Tenpony; had just enough caps left over to get this little humble abode." I said as I waved a hoof from one wall to the other. "It was either move here, or get my kneecaps busted when the members came to collect...and I like my kneecaps..."

J.J. snickered. "I get ya, understand too. And some of them are looking for you, especially Chert and Reticle." He frowned. "I mean, did you have to get them upset too? You do remember that time Reticle shot that bloatsprite in the brain from a mile away with that rifle of hers?"

I shuddered as I recalled that. "Vividly."

He then crossed his forelegs and leaned back in his chair. "Lucky you, this job I have to offer might help you earn some caps to pay them back."

I was shocked. "You mean you won't tell the guild where I am?"

He waved a hoof dismissively. "Nah, I wouldn't do that to ya. As far as the guild knows, I'm just hiring the detective mentioned on the radio. They don't have to know that the detective is you."

I breathed a sigh of relief as I relaxed. "Phew...thanks bro." Now for business. "Why does the guild need a detective?"

His gaze shifted upwards. "Weeell, it's about the guild's newest assignment." He then shifted in his seat to get more comfortable. "Some of its members are currently in a town called Nor-bel."

"And this needs my help because...?" I gestured for him to continue.

"You see, Nor-bel used to be a small town before the war. After the bombs fell, every building in the place was thoroughly looted." He then raised a hoof. "All except for one house."

"What? How?" I questioned. "No way a building can go nearly two hundred years without being searched."

J.J. crossed his forelegs and slowly nodded with his eyes closed. "As tough as it is to believe, it's true."

"Uh...why?" Yellow asked nervously, possibly just wanting to throw her own hat into the conversation.

J.J.'s eyes shifted from Yellow, then to me. "It's because the locals think it's haunted..."

This time, I was the one to crack a smile. "Wait...you're not telling me that the guild wants me to," I suppressed a laugh, "look for ghosts?"

He quickly shook his head. "No no, of course not." He then cocked his head. "Do you remember Twofer and Mark Up?"

I scratched my chin as I tried to remember. "Uh...two unicorns in the guild...ten or so years older than us?"

He pointed his hoof to me. "Yup. Well, they were sent by the pony in charge of the operation to scout the place out." A slight frown formed on J.J.'s face. "They didn't come back."

Yellow then asked the same question I was about to. "Maybe they got spooked and ran off?"

Jackpot didn't seem to agree. "Maybe, but they would have returned to the town...or at least back to Friendship City. It's been two days now, and they're still missing."

"Ok...I understand now." Still standing, I put my forelegs on my desk. "You want me to find those two."

"Mm-hmm," J.J. nodded, "but you're going to have to do it discreetly."

I raised a brow. "Why?"

He answered. "The pony in charge is Pocket Slim. He's new to the guild, but a veteran when it comes to salvaging. He's also a bit of a hard ass, and doesn't care for Nor-bel's superstitions. It was he who made the decision to raid the place. Slim believes that the house is just a treasure trove of all kinds of goodies just waiting to be taken, and for all we know, he might be right; what with everypony being too scared to even approach the place. He thinks that Twofer and Mark Up just ran off with their tails between their legs. If he found out we sent him a detective instead of replacements for those two, he would bust a gut! So, the guild wants you to go assist him in the scavenging, but, also want you to find out where Twofer and Mark Up might have gone."

I looked to J.J. with a worried expression. "Is this really necessary? I mean, Pocket Slim can't be that bad."

His eyes widened while he shook his head. "Pocket is a dick...but he is very efficient at what he does. If he gets upset with the guild and decides to leave, it would be a major blow to us financially. We already possibly lost two, we don't want to make that three." His face relaxed. "Besides, everypony in that operation are new comers and won't know who you are; so no one is gonna hound you over the debt while you're there. The guild won't know it was you who assisted them, you make some caps, and I might be able to persuade some of the members to...forget about that debt you owe."

I looked at J.J.'s eyes with skepticism. "And how will you do that?"

"I've made a lot of strides in the guild since the last time you were there." Jackpot said as he nonchalantly wiped his shoulder of dust. "I'm in a position to help you out, if you help us out."

"Oh I know this!" Yellow shouted as she turned to me. "It's the 'you scratch my back, I scratch yours' deal."

I looked at her curiously. "Uh...yeah...I thought it was obvious..."

She huffed, rested her head on my desk with an irritated look in her eyes, then mumbled. "Just wanted to be a part of the conversation..." Clearly somepony was feeling left out.

"So..." J.J. said. "We got a deal?"

I didn't have to think too hard. As an ex-member, I knew that the guild had the caps, and with this case, nopony would harass me. It was just too perfect!

I acknowledged him with a nod. "Definitely." I then looked to Yellow and saw she was still in her glum. "What about you?" I asked as I poked Yellow's shoulder.

The mare raised her head and straightened up on my chair. She looked at me with slight confusion in her eyes. "Me?"

"Do you agree? You are my assistant after all, you're entitled to your own opinion."

That seemed to have cheered her up some as a smile appeared on her muzzle. "Damm right I agree! As your partner, I need to be there to save your flanks again!"

Yeeeah...you're still my assistant, but why bring you down now?

"Excellent!" J.J. then rubbed his front hooves together real quick. "Head to the front in an hour. My caravan's route goes through Nor-bel; you can travel with us on the way there." He then made it to the door, opened it, and waved to us before he left.

The second that door closed, almost as if on queue, Yellow's stomach growled.

"Oh right." She rubbed her belly. "Uh...you said you got me something, right?"

It took me two seconds before I remembered. "Oh! Right right." Using my mouth, I picked up the paper bag I dropped, placed it on the desk, and took out its contents.

"What is this?" Yellow asked as she stared at her breakfast. It seemed that when I dropped the bag, the plastic cup holding the chocolate milk had its seal knocked loose, resulting in the pancakes being drenched in the stuff.

"Oh Yellow, I'm sor--" My apology was cut short when Yellow cut me off.

"I think I know what these are. I've heard of these...are they...pancakes?" I swear, I saw her eyes light up as she inspected them with wonder.

Heard of pancakes? How strange was her Stable that pancakes were given mythical status? Whatever, P.I., just roll with it.

"Y-yeah, yeah. These are pancakes. Um...you enjoy them...and I'll take a nap in the bedroom for a half hour. Sound good?" I nodded quickly and rushed to the bedroom. "Kay bye!" I then hopped onto the bed, hoping that she wouldn't find out that they weren't supposed to be soggy like that...

Two hours later, all three of us were on the road heading to Nor-bel. We were accompanied by J.J.'s pack brahmin carrying wares, while ahead of it was a hired guard; he was a unicorn buck wearing leather barding and wielding a sub-machine gun.

Things had been silent for a while, until J.J. walked besides me and spoke. "So...uh...that partner of yours..."

I looked at him without turning my head. "What about her?"

He spoke as if he was carefully choosing his words. "Did you uh..." He made a clicking noise with his lips then continued. "Are you...you know..."

No, I don't know. "You're going to have to be more specific."

He looked ahead to where Yellow was, who was a meter away from us, then whispered just loud enough for me to hear. "How is she in the sack?"

I tripped and fell on my face the moment he finished that question. Yellow and the guard stopped and looked back because of the noise I made.

"You alright, P.I.?" Shouted Yellow.

With my face on the ground, I raised a foreleg and waved it. "Fine! Just fine!"

Yellow shrugged then continued alongside the guard. After J.J. finished giggling at me, he offered his hoof, which I reluctantly accepted.

After he pulled me up, we caught up to our original positions in the caravan. J.J. then looked sideways to me with a grin. "I'll take that as a no."

"Yellow...Yellow is just my assistant. There's nothing going on like in that dirty mind of yours."

"So what's the story behind you two then?"

Well, at least that was something I had no problem answering. "We just met a few days ago. I rescued her during one of my cases. She's been following me around since then."

He made an amused sigh. "Sounds like she's really grateful for the save. Maybe she made a personal little 'life debt' to you."

I couldn't help finding the humor in that assumption. "Ha! I doubt it's that. So far, the 'saving the other' score is two to one, and I'm the one!"

"Maybe she has a crush on you. Use those detective skills of yours and find out, then you should get at that flank."

I turned to him with a scowl on my face, he just winked back. "This again?" I sighed as I shook my head. "I remember when we were teenagers...you would always try to pressure me to just jump into bed with any young mare who happened to be around. I swear, you act as if that's the only purpose for mares to be on this planet." I lowered my head and mumbled. "Couldn't talk to that one shop owner without you saying something. "

He chortled. "Yeah. Good times. The way you are with ladies, you just make it so easy to tease you." His eyes were now forward. Tracing his eye sight, I noticed he was looking at Yellow's rear. Even though it was being covered by her barding, with the exception of a hole for her tail, I could still make out the form of her flanks; they were well toned and--dammit! I shook my head, then turned to J.J.; he saw me looking and had a wide smirk on his muzzle. "I'm just saying. If I were you, I'd do something about it, otherwise," he admired the view in front of him as he continued, "somepony else might take an interest."

I just rolled my eyes and kept walking. I wasn't the kind of stallion who thought of mares like that, and besides, I already had somepony who I liked. But I wouldn't tell Jackpot about Homage, otherwise he'd start instigating about her as well. Yellow was fine as a mare, but I knew next to nothing about her, other than her being Stable 73's janitor. There was also that incident with that Watcher character; it kinda hinted like she was hiding something... I mean, why me of all ponies to tag along with? She could have stayed in Woodtrot, or with Citrus even. Instead she chose to follow me. Was Jackpot right about her just being grateful, or was there something more?

...Of course, there was the possibility that there really was no hidden agenda and that I was merely over-thinking things.

"Here we are gentlecolts and filly!" Jackpot exclaimed as he waved his hoof over the sight before us. After several more hours of traveling and climbing up a slope, we finally spotted Nor-bel. Yellow and I were in desperate need for a breather; if Jackpot and the guard were also tired, they were doing a good job of not showing it. When night started to fall, J.J. had us continue our trek rather than stop and make camp. He wanted us to reach the town much sooner than I expected.

Before us, down the road in the distance, I could see several light sources coming from in front of, or inside the buildings of the town. Nor-bel seemed to be a small town similar to Woodtrot, the difference being nopony constructed a barricade around it.

With the town being a couple more minutes away, Yellow and I had pushed on with renewed vigor. One fourth of the way through, almost like a firefly on Dash, a bullet whizzed by, followed by the thunderous crack of a rifle.

Immediately, all of us ran behind the nearest cover that was available to us; a large billboard by the side of the road that bore the image of a middle aged pink mare with unblinking eyes and the largest smile I've seen... It was rundown, having multiple gaps in it, making most of the message on it illegible, but what I could read as I ran to it spelled out: 'Pink........watching you!' It didn't take a genius to figure out that the sign was one of the Ministry of Morale's attempts to...well...raise morale...I guess, by plastering the face of Pinkie Pie, the mare in charge of that ministry. Creepiness factor aside, the large flat surface held up well against the few bullets that impacted against it, failing to penetrate. When the shots stopped, the sound of a dozen or so ponies could be heard charging in our direction. Judging from the sound of mad laughter and howling, it could only have been--

"Raiders!" Jackpot shouted as he prepared his battle saddle by flipping a switch attached to it that caused the mouth-bit to spring near his mouth while it loaded rounds into the rifle attached to his side. Looking to the sign (Oh crap...Pinkie looks like she is just staring down at me specifically!) I saw a whole slew of red markers on my E.F.S.; confirming what I feared.

"Yellow!" I yelled as I turned to her. She seemed shaken, unsure of what was going on. "Take out your gun! We're about to be hit! If they shoot at us, you shoot back!" The amber mare nervously nodded, then placed the weapon in her mouth. I risked a quick peek though one of the sign's window like gaps and saw the approaching raiders. There were over a dozen filthy looking ponies who wore slapped together barding composed of spikes, chains, the died hide of other ponies, and the occasional skull. All of them were carrying weapons of some kind; mostly knives and clubs, but a majority of them had shoddy rifles and pistols. They were all coming from somewhere off the side of the road, rather than the town itself, and would be on us any minute! Turning to Jackpot, I saw he was also viewing them; we then looked to one another and shouted the exact same words in unison.

"Fort Maneuver!"

We then broke off; Jackpot running to the right side of the sign, and I to the left. "Yellow, with me!" I shouted as I past her. Reaching the end, I instructed Yellow to stand by one of the gaps. "When I tell you, I want you to start firing." Once she was in position, I stood behind the left end of the billboard, then looked down the opposite end. J.J. and the guard were mirroring us. Now that all of us were in place, I raised a hoof in the air then made a circular motion. Observing that, Jackpot nodded, then leaned out of the billboard and started firing at the raiders.

The raiders yelled obscenities as they went behind rocks and metal piles of slag that were once chariots; those foolish enough to keep advancing were struck down by J.J. A click signified that Jackpot's rifle was out of ammo, the second he went back to cover, the guard started firing through the sign's niche. The raiders retaliated by firing around their own cover.

"Yellow! Now!" I yelled, it took her a second to comprehend my meaning, then she leaned to the hole by her side and returned fire. She moved back when some bullets peppered the wood and metal, kicking up splinters of wood into her mane. Yellow and the guard repeated this until they both had to reload. The guard effortlessly reloaded his sub-machine gun, while Yellow had difficulty sliding the magazine into her gun with both hooves. Once she succeeded, Yellow readied herself to return fire, however, I gestured for her to stop. I pulled out Conversationalist, leaned out, and made carefully precise shots at the raiders. The slight recoil caused Conversationalist to intensely vibrate against my teeth with each shot.

What we were doing is what J.J. and I called: The fort maneuver. It was a strategy we both came up with back in our guild days. The idea was for us to keep the raiders from advancing on us by keeping them pinned. We would take turns firing while the others reloaded. This way we wouldn't blow though all our ammo in one go and allow the raiders to get closer as we reloaded. While one of us would apply the pressure on them, the others would wait for a raider to expose themselves, then take the shot before they started shooting at us.

We continued this for several minutes and neither side was winning. I was able to take down one raider with S.A.T.S. guided rounds, but it hadn't made much of a difference since they still greatly outnumbered us. If this kept up, we would eventually all run out of ammo and the raiders would surely kill us! Or worse!

Suddenly, a loud hissing sound, almost like that of fireworks, came from the direction of the town. Peeking around the billboard, I saw a red ball of flame was spiraling skywards in our direction. The second it was over us, it flashed into an even bigger ball, illuminating everything around us in crimson as it made a gradual decent.

"Fuck!" "Shit!" "Let's get the fuck out of here!" Yelled the raiders as they ignored us and retreated back to where they came from, leaving their dead where they laid. With the flare above us, everything out of the light's range was pitch black to us. However, thanks to my PipBuck, I saw numerous green markers pop up on my E.F.S. as the red ones vanished one by one.

Seconds later, armed ponies emerged from the darkness. From the lack of raider attire and the fact that they came from down the road, they were obviously townsfolk from Nor-bel.

"Anypony still alive!?" Shouted one of them as they searched among the dead few.

"Yeah!" Jackpot replied after he finished downing a healing potion to mend some graze wounds he suffered during our ordeal. The flare weakened, then died as we all walked around the sign to approach our saviors.

Our rescuers escorted us the rest of the way to Nor-bel where other ponies were waiting. Jackpot seemed to have recognized one of them as he approached.

"Pocket Slim..." J.J. said in a formal business like tone.

The stallion responded with a guttural voice. "Jackpot..."

So this was Pocket Slim. He was an older stallion, around his late forties; a unicorn with an indigo coat and dark orange mane, sporting a mid-length beard that was the same color as his mane, and a cutie mark showing a freshly dug hole in the ground unearthing a horde of dirt covered gold bits. He wore a beige shady hat and a camouflage poncho.

"Good to see that you survived that ambush." Slim said coldly. "Would have hated to make another call to the guild."

J.J. sarcastically replied. "Glad to hear you're so worried about my well-being." He then gestured down the road to where we were minutes ago. "What was up with that?"

The older stallion's eyes went to the road, then back to Jackpot. "A gang of raiders recently moved into the area. The town ponies don't know where they're set up, but they've been attacking travelers trying to enter the town. Luckily, they won't dare attack the town itself," he looked at our escorts as they left us, "they probably know they don't have the weapons and ponies to raid the place proper." Slim then turned to where Yellow and I had collapsed on the asphalt, pooped from our journey and gunfight. "These the replacements?"

J.J. nodded. "The mare is Yellow Jacket, and the buck is--"

"Lucky!" I managed to shout through my wheezing. "Lucky...Horseshoe..."

The reason I was using that name again is because I feared on the off-chance that Slim Pocket had heard my real name before and my situation with some of of the guild members.

J.J. caught on quick and played along. "Yeah, Lucky..."

Pocket stroked his beard as he stared at Yellow and I, almost as if he were evaluating us. "They seem a little green."

"Green?" Yellow balked. "Uh, dude...I'm like...yellow-ish." She tiredly pointed to me. "He's green."

Oh Celestia, if I wasn't so tired, I would have laughed harder than a weak chuckle. Despite the exhaustion, I took the time to explain to her. "He doesn't mean the color green...he means green as in 'inexperienced'."

Slim didn't seem amused as he looked to her with a straight face. "She's not the sharpest tool in the shed...is she?" I just shrugged as I continued to lay on my stomach. "No matter; any moron can search a house."

It was obvious by the look on her face that Yellow was offended, heck, I was offended for her! That was a little uncalled for. Sure Yellow was a bit ignorant when it came to certain things, but that was because of her sheltered life from living in a Stable. It was excusable why some things simply flew right over her head.

"Listen buddy! I--" I quickly shut her mouth with my hoof.

"I assure you, Mr. Slim." I said hesitantly. "We've done our fair share of jobs like this." Well...I have. "Yellow and I know the ropes and won't let you down." I winced a little as Yellow bit my hoof. Regardless, I maintained my ass kissing smile.

He nodded as he still stroked that beard of his. "You better not. I already had two do that earlier, and they ran off like scared little school fillies somewhere. Hope you two are made of sturdier stuff."

"Scared off?" I questioned. I already knew what possibly scared them off, but I wanted to hear Slim's side.

"The guild didn't tell you when they sent you?" I shook my head to Slim's question. He then gestured to somewhere right on the outskirt of the town. "Sent two ponies earlier to explore that place."

Following his hoof, I saw a wall made of stone that encircled a small forest of dead trees; jutting out from the center of it was a large two story mansion. Releasing Yellow's mouth and getting up to stand on my protesting legs, I got a better look and could see why somepony would think it was haunted.

It looked like something out of an old horror vid! What with its gothic architecture, dead vines running up its brickwork walls, shattered windows (complete with decrepit shutters), statues of griffins on the roof, and to top it all off, the front door and two of the windows made the house look as if it had an angry face. If it wasn't mandatory for me to go in there and look for clues leading to Twofer and Mark Up's location, I would never ever step foot in there.

Slim noticed the slight hesitation on my face. "You aren't going coward on me now, are you boy? Ya seem to be shakin' a bit there."

Great...another pony who refereed to me as 'boy'. "N-no." I said in a much lower pitch than I wanted. I coughed, trying to convince him that it was just a dry throat. "Just tired from the trip."

He then pointed to a building a block away from where we were. "I rented out that hotel for the ponies on salvage detail; you and your friend should go and rest up."

"Thanks." I replied while I took Yellow's hoof and pulled her up. The idea of a little downtime made Yellow and I enthusiastic.

However, both our ears drooped when Slim continued.

"You got thirty minutes till we start the salvage operation. Better make the most of it."

"Thirty minutes!?" Yellow exclaimed. We had just entered our room in the hotel were Yellow jumped on the bed and yelled at the ceiling while I sat on the couch rubbing my legs, Jackpot had followed us in here and sat across from me. "The hell is that guy's problem!? He knows we were in danger minutes ago, and he only gives us thirty!?"

"Yeeeah," Jackpot said slyly, "remember when I said 'total dick'?"

"And he called me an idiot!" Yellow then raised her forehooves and had them inches away from each other. "I was this close to knocking his lights out!"

I removed my hat and patted some dust off of it. "He called you a moron, but that's besides the point." I looked to Jackpot. "You sure Twofer and Mark Up didn't get fed up with Slim and just ditched him?" I said, half hoping for that to be the case.

"Hopefully." Said the cap wearing stallion. "That's what you're here to find out."

I leaned back on the couch, staring at the ceiling as my head rested against the wall. I really hoped this case would be as simple as that if it meant I had to be taking orders from Slim during this investigation.

It was then I felt a void in my stomach, reminding me that we barely ate on the road.

With a grunt, I got up and went to the room's entrance. "I'm gonna see if this place has room service or something." Still looking at the ceiling, Yellow just raised a hoof and lazily waved me away, while Jackpot did the same.

Walking into the hotel's lobby, I stood in-font of the check-in desk where a middle aged unicorn mare was on duty, waiting for other potential guests to arrive. After asking if the place had any food for us, the mare told me that the hotel had a kitchen and would tell the cook to whip us up something.

"So," the mare said, "I'll make sure the cook prepares your meal to the highest standard of taste. What with this being you and your friends' last meal and all."

Aghast was my reaction after hearing that from the desk pony. "Excuse me?"

"You're with those scavengers who are about to raid the old Horror house, right?"

I never heard the name before, but I could assume that was what the creepy mansion from earlier was called.

I quizzically nodded. "And why does that warrant us a last meal?"

The mare lightheartedly chuckled. "You're not the first bunch to try and loot that horrid place. That house has a reputation around here for causing those brave or stupid enough to enter...to disappear."

I cracked a small smile. "Is this because the mansion is allegedly haunted?"

The receptionist cocked her head in surprise. "Oh, so you have heard some of the rumors!"

"Not really..." I scratched my mane. "Any idea why everypony here thinks it is?"

She leaned in, her forelegs crossed over the desk. "Other than everypony hanging around there going poof! Back before the bombs, the original owner one day snapped! Then killed everypony else living there. They say that even to this day, the spirits of those who were murdered still reside there, punishing those who disturb their resting place."

"What!?" A different mare hollered as she approached us while pushing a food cart down the hallway. "That's not why it's haunted! It's because the manor was built over an ancient buffalo burial ground! Everypony knows that!"

Then a third mare showed up, this one with a feather duster and cleaning supplies held in her magic. "That place used to be an asylum and was condemned after the patients escaped their cells and killed all the doctors!"

The three hotel mares then got into an argument over the house's origins, with me stuck in the middle of it all. Their stories even changed as they continued to disagree; all kinds of theories were thrown around, ranging from the owner making pacts with Tartarus, ghosts of those who tried to seek shelter in the house when the bombs fell, to even the spirit of Nightmare Moon currently living there! One thing was for sure, it seemed that nopony really knew what the house was before it was known for its vanishing acts.

A minute later, I was entering our room. Yellow and Jackpot both raised their heads and looked to me.

"We getting something?" Yellow asked.

As I closed the door behind me, I could still hear the three mares in the middle of their quarrel.

"I-it'll come...eventually...maybe..."

Luckily, the food did arrive and we treated ourselves to it before we had to meet up with Slim in front of the stone wall's iron wrought gates. The gates were left ajar and opened to a stone pavement trail cutting through the dead forest and leading straight to the manor. On that trail by the entrance, Slim and four other ponies were there to greet us. They were two mares and two stallions; the bucks were attached to wagons.

"Ah," Slim said, "you're finally here. Now we can start." Then he and the other ponies walked through the gates and towards the house.

Yellow and I shrugged as we stepped through the gates.

Jackpot then spoke. "Well, I guess this is where you and I say our goodbyes for now."

I turned back. "You're not gonna help with the scavenging?"

"No, I'm going back to the hotel to rest for the night. Gonna continue my route first thing in the morning."

"So you just came here to see us off?"

He nodded once. "Pretty much. If you live through this and find out where those two are, I'll send somepony to the tower with your caps."

"Alright man, thanks." I then offered my hoof to him, which he bumped with his own.

Jackpot then turned around and walked back to the town. "See you later, Yellow, ...P.I.! Don't let the ghosties get ya!"

"Will do!" Yellow shouted while waving to the departing stallion.

"Ha!" I retorted. "We all know they don't exist! Now that you know where I live, come see me when you have the time!" He just raised his hoof in the air as he walked away.

My assistant and I caught up with the others, then followed from the rear.

A few steps through the gates, Yellow spoke. "Hey, uh...P.I."

I cast a curious glace to my assistant. "Yeah?"

"Well...it's just that...well, something that Jackpot said back in the tower had me thinking."

"Ok, uh...shoot."

"Well," she leaned closer to me as she spoke, "what is your name. I mean, Jackpot himself asked why you call yourself 'P.I.'; got me curious."

Oh no. And here I hoped she either didn't pick that up or just forgot.

My eyes darted left to right then back again. "I'd...rather not tell you."

She scoffed. "And why not?! I mean, now that I know that P.I. isn't your name, I kinda feel weird calling you by two letters!"

I looked away. "Trust me. If I were in a better situation, I'd tell you. But right now, I fear that if I do, you might accidentally call me by it and somepony who I really hope isn't looking for me, might track me down easier." I looked back at her and saw that my answer clearly agitated her. I nervously smiled. "Still, I'd rather not risk it. You'd...be surprised how quick word can get around. So for now, P.I. is fine."

She scowled and quickly looked forward with a humph as we made our way to the mansion.

Halfway down the trail, I felt something land on my muzzle. A second later, I felt it again, this time followed by another. I then noticed that the feeling was caused by drops of water, rapidly falling from the sky. It started off with a sprinkle, then quickly escalated to a downpour.

"Fucking pegasi!" Slim yelled as he looked upwards towards the cloud layer.

"Huh?" Yellow uttered as she turned to me. "Now that I think about it...where are the pegasus-es...es? I've seen nothing but earth ponies and unicorns."

"It's pegasi." I corrected. "And the reason you haven't seen any is because...well, it's a little complicated." Complicated as in, 'I only know the gist of it'. As we walked, I shouted over the rain to Yellow, telling her what I knew about the pegasi.

I told her that when bombs fell, Cloudsdayle: the pegasus capital, was the first to be hit. As the rest of Equestria was burning, the remaining pegasi fled to the skies and sealed it off with the same cloud layer that was currently raining over us; Equestira hasn't seen the sun since then. I mentioned rumors about what's over the clouds, told by the very few and rare pegasi that came to the wasteland. That part actually reminded me of one I saw a few weeks back, wearing a black desperado hat while flying over a caravan, guarding it. I also spoke of the hate wastelanders have for the pegasi. The ponies living beneath the clouds saw them as the ones who abandoned Equestria, and denied them the loving light of Celestia's sun.

"What about you?" Yellow questioned. "Do you hate them?" She walked besides me, waiting for my response.

I looked ahead; the water caused the parts of my mane that weren't covered by my hat to droop. Taking a deep breath, I noticed the smell of petrichor was starting to waft in the cold breeze.

"I don't really care for the layer. As much as I'd like to see the sun, I still find the rain...relaxing." I hoped that was enough to answer her question.

Yellow just looked at me, her face scrunched up, unable to comprehend my meaning. "What?"

"Never mind." I said as I shook my head and picked up the pace.

We arrived at the mansion's door where thankfully, there was a balcony overhead, shielding us from the rain. The two stallions joined us after they detached themselves from the wagons and left them by the entrance.

"Alright!" Slim proclaimed. "Because of the storm, we might have to spend the night here. Till then, we search the place top to bottom, fill the wagons with what we can. Other members will arrive in the morning and continue were we left off. Is that understood?" All six of us silently nodded. "Very well then. Follow me."

Slim opened the door and walked in with the rest of us following in a single file line. When it was my turn to enter, I noticed two short scratch marks on the flooring; they were running parallel to each other, coming from the bottom of the door frame.

I really hoped that was just caused by some furniture being moved around...

The other ponies were already setting up floodlights that they unloaded from the wagons.

"Whoa." Was Yellow's reaction when the lights turned on. 'Whoa' was right. The mansion's entrance, back in its heyday, would have been a rival to Tenpony's lobby. We were greeted to a large foyer with black and white checkerboard pattern tiles, two sets of stairs leading to the second floor, a chandelier, wooden stands along the walls with busts on them, and velvet couches by the stairs. Nearly everything was coated in a thin layer of dust, the walls were covered in yellowed paint that was starting to peel, along with paintings that Ribbon Cutter might have an interest in. There were multiple doors and hallways to choose from, and I suspected that the reason nopony ever came back, was because they just got lost in here.

"Alright. Here's the plan." Slim said as he pointed to one of the stallions and mares. "You two will set up the lights in the other rooms," he pointed to the other two, "you'll search for what you can here and the neighboring rooms." He then pointed to Yellow and me. "And as for you two; I want you and 'Stable pony' there to explore the mansion." I'm starting to suspect he never bothered to learn anyones' name here... "I see you have a PipBuck, so it should give us a map of the place once you explore."

"Just walk around huh? Yeah, we can do that." Yellow said confidently.

Slim responded. "You better. And I don't want you two running off like my first two scouts. I don't care if you do see a ghost! You leave me short-hoofed, and you'll be more afraid of me than it."

I nodded while Yellow feigned a salute. Shortly after picking a hallway to begin our mansion tour, Yellow made a bad imitation of Slim's orders. I didn't know whether it was a good thing, or a bad thing, that we were splitting up from the others. I mean, I've seen and read enough horror stories to know that was a definite no no, but then again, this way made it easier for me to look for any leads relating to Twofer and Mark Up.

A minute later into our expedition, I halted to a stop. Yellow did so as well, puzzled as to why I did so.

"What's wrong, P.I.?" She whispered.

I shushed her, then bit Conversationalist's mouthpiece, and pulled it from its holster. Yellow hesitantly did the same. I turned to her, brought a hoof to my eye level, then pointed to a door ahead where I saw two green bars on my E.F.S. We slowly walked to the door, then I put my hoof to the knob, turned it, and swiftly opened it.

"Fwaa!" Shouted Yellow. Her scream muffled by the gun held in her mouth.

What provoked Yellow to jump in fear was caused by two rats, scurrying away from the broom closet they were hiding in when the door was swung open.

With a grin, I re-holstered Conversationalist. "It's just rats."

Yellow also put her gun away, trying to regain that fearless demeanor of hers. "I...I knew that...j-just a war cry."

I rolled my eyes with a smirk. Turning my head, I spotted several other hits on my E.F.S; the place must be infested with rodents... I turned on my PipBuck light to ward away the darkness, then looked down the hallway. All I could see were more stands with small statues on top, and oh-so-many more doors. The sound of rain landing against the windows was constantly present.

I reached the nearest door. "Come on. We have to start somewhere."

Yellow and I entered the room; the light on my foreleg gave the room a green aura, making it visible to us, and by the looks of it, it was a small guest room. The only furniture this room had was a chair, a nightstand, a small round table, and one of those queen sized beds that has its own curtains. Other than the dust, this room would have been in perfect condition if it wasn't for one thing; one of the walls had a section of its drywall missing, exposing the pipes and wires within.

As Yellow searched the nightstand, I took a closer look at the wall. A perfect square was cut into it, and I could see that somepony was in the middle of harvesting the metals and wiring behind it, but then just stopped. Could this have been done by Twofer and Mark Up?

"Hey!" Yellow complained as I brought my PipBuck's light closer to the wall. I wiped my hoof on the bottom of the cut, then brought it over the light. Yep...dust...a whole lot of it. This wasn't done by them, this was too much dust to have collected over the lip of the bottom incision in such a short amount of time.

"Oh shit!" Yellow shouted as she backed away from the bed. "P.I.!"

"You didn't find another rat, did you?" I said with amusement. She frowned while shaking her head, then pointed under the bed. I lowered my head and looked beneath the bed, where I saw nothing but darkness. "Yellow, I don't see an--" I was saying before I shined my light under the bed, where a skull materialized from the shadows to greet me, causing me to jump back in the same manner Yellow did. "The fuck!"

After waiting for my heartbeat to slow, I looked again. Under the bed was the skeletal remains of a unicorn; wasteland barding was draped over the bones, and judging from the box-cutter near it, this pony was the one who cut the wall open. Yellow watched nervously as I cautiously moved the barding, revealing empty cans of food and water bottles besides it... Did this pony starve here? What reason did this pony have that caused it to hide under the bed and never come out?

"P.I..." My assistant anxiously said. "L-let's just go to the other rooms..."

I couldn't agree more; we then went to the door leading back to the hallway. Yellow went before me, and right when I was about to follow, I heard the sound of something scraping on the floor behind me. I immediately turned around and saw that the skull was now peeking out from under the bed; its empty eye sockets watching me. I stared at it as I closed the door behind me, silently hoping that it was just moved by some rats...

Yellow and I found more guest rooms similar to the first one, thankfully, they weren't inhabited by more skeletons. A half hour of searching them got us no leads, and the storm outside was only getting worse. The downpour got more intense and the wind howled as it picked up. A couple times, Yellow and me jumped when a dead tree pushed against a window; the occasional lightning strike didn't lighten the mood as it made the tree's silhouette appear like that of a tall, clawed figure trying to break in. My heartbeat was accelerating as paranoia was starting to seep in; I felt like we were being watched... Despite this, we both tired to remain calm, knowing full well that if one of us were to freak out, the other would follow.

To keep our minds from wondering, I tried to make small talk while we walked to the one door in this hallway we haven't tried yet. "So...uh." I faked a grin. "You, uh...heh...scared?"

"Me?" Yellow Jacket nervously laughed while puffing up her chest, trying to give off a false sense of bravado. "Pfft. As if! This place is more dirty than scary. I've seen more ghosts in that bedroom of yours."

Really glad J.J. wasn't here. He would have jumped to conclusions if he heard her say that.

"Yeah." I halfheartedly chuckled. "This place isn't scary at all. Besides, we all know there's no such thing as ghosts."

Another flash of lightning stuck outside the windows. Once the following thunder died down, Yellow's response sounded more like a whimper. "Mm-hmm."

Stopping at the door, I placed a hoof on it, then looked back to Yellow. "Lets just finish this room, then we'll go back to the others for a bit...sound good?" She quickly nodded.

Entering the room, the glow from my PipBuck revealed it to be a study. There were bookshelves lined up along the walls, a rug leading from the door to the other side of the room where a desk resided, and besides that was a globe the size of a beach ball. Going up to the bookshelves, I made a quick scan and was disappointing to see no Daring Do or Detective Pretext books to add to my collection; instead they were all about history, biology, and magical theories.

"Uh, P.I." Yellow said from behind the desk.

I spoke as I skimmed through a book. "Please tell me you didn't find another skeleton..."

"I didn't find another skeleton..." She said monotonously. "Just come here!"

I slammed the book shut, resulting in dust being shot airborne; I held my breath in order to avoid breathing it in, then walked over to Yellow who was standing across from me, behind the sole desk. "Alright, Yellow...what did you find?"

Smiling and without breaking eye contact, she tapped something under the desk; it sounded metallic. Walking around it and standing besides Yellow, I shone my light into the desk's crevice where I found a floor safe.

I felt a little giddy inside; it was every scavengers' dream to find an unopened safe, possibly full of pre-war bits. Wait...no, not a scavenger anymore; I'm a detective now! Then again...there...might be something useful inside it. I unhooked my saddlebags, opened them, then searched each one. Seconds later, I pulled out a screwdriver, along with a bobby-pin.

I held the screwdriver in my mouth and the pin carefully held in my hoof, then placed them both in the safe's keyhole. Yellow watched me, completely perplexed as to what I was doing. After using them to slide the tumblers into place, the safe made a satisfying click as it unlocked.

"You can do that?" Yellow pointed to the tools in my mouth. "With those?"

I spat the lock-picking implements back in my bags, then smiled at her. "The more you know!~"

"Funny. Just grab whatever's in there, and lets go."

"Yeah yeah." I grabbed the safe's latch and pulled it open. I expected to find bits or gems, but instead I found something else entirely.

"Is that a...crown?" Yellow asked.

I raised the item in question before her. It looked like a metal circlet with a round slot in the center of the headpiece. "It's more of a circlet... This here is a recollector."

I then explained to her that recollectors were devices invented during the war that gave the wearer the ability to view and experience memories through the eyes of another pony. They could also be used to record memories for future viewing. The recollector itself wasn't what provided the memories, that job was for memory orbs. Speaking of which, I pulled one out from the safe that happened to have been next to the recollector. Memory orbs looked like white pearls that were big enough to fit in the recolletor's slot; these were the things that truly held the memory. Unicorns could naturally view an orb without the need of a recollector, since they could just access them with their magic. Each orb could only hold one memory at a time, and pre-war ponies would have more than one in order to re-live moments like birthdays, holidays, or moments with special someponies. The reason I knew all this was because, back when I was a guild member, I found one just like now. I used mine to see Equestria back before it was destroyed by balefire. The thing was great! Most of the memory orbs I found for it were of somepony watching several movies in theaters, allowing me to watch them as well! I think there was a law back then about selling memory orbs like that or something, but heck if I care! Doubt whatever ministry that implemented that law is gonna track me down two hundred years later just to fine me. Sadly, I had to sell mine when I started my detective business; haven't seen a movie since...

Yellow was practically pacing on the spot, clearly eager to leave this room. "Cool cool, can we go now?"

I shared that sentiment with her; I could feel the number of imaginary eyes watching us increase. I put the recollector and the orb in my bags, then we made for the door. Halfway to it, the sound of something squeaking, similar to that of a rusty wheel, came from behind us. Yellow and I stopped, then looked to each other. With trepidation we turned around and saw that the globe was lazily spinning on its axis, as if someone just slapped it casually.

We then exited the room and started our walk to the other end of the hallway. We started at our regular pace, which turned into a power walk, then jog, and finally a mad dash to the other end! I felt so sure that we were being followed by something; the feeling I had as we ran was similar to that experience you had as a foal where you would turn off all the lights in the house, then sprint all the way to your room, as if there was something in the darkness chasing you, only multiply that by a factor of like...twenty!

We basically tackled the door open as we made it back to the foyer; the two ponies still setting up the lights were startled by our sudden intrusion. Holding the door open, ready to slam it shut, I dared to look back into the hallway.

Nothing... There was nothing behind us. No ghosts. No demons. Absolutely nothing... I closed the door and leaned against it as I slid to the floor, hyperventilating and heart pounding from running through the entire hallway. Maybe it was just our overactive imaginations playing tricks on us.

I hope...

"What's gotten into you two?" Said the mare fiddling with a floodlight's wires.

"Nothing." I took a couple breathes. "We're just...still winded from the journey here."

"Let me guess." The other stallion said. "Slim didn't give you enough time to properly rest?"

Breathing as raggedly as me, Yellow plopped to the floor. "Pretty much...where is Slim?"

"Oh, he's with the other two right now, somewhere in the mansion." The mare stated. "Glad he's their problem now, and not ours." She looked up at us from the jumble of wires she was untangling. "Why don't you guys take a breather for a couple minutes? He shouldn't be back for a while, and you can get back to the exploration before he shows up again."

With my back still on the door, I looked to Yellow who returned the look. The prospect of a little break rest made both of us smile a little--and total not because the house was making us feel uneasy, and the idea of not searching it for a few minutes was extremely tempting. Nope! We're just tired! Yup, that's it!

We both walked over to the couches by the stairs and climbed onto them. We then laid flat on our separate sofas while Yellow tried to get whatever shut eye she could. Me? I wasn't sleepy; I didn't want to spend my break staring at nothing, and I did know of one way to entertain myself. Unzipping my bags, I took out the recollector and memory orb, removed my hat, placed the device on my head, then fitted the orb in the metal circlet's slot.

I could tell the recollector was working, as all my senses began to waver and the world around me seemed as if it were melting away.

Once my senses returned, the first thing I noticed was that I was no longer myself...in the physical way. Instead, I found myself to be in somepony else's body. Before me was a mirror, and staring back at me was a unicorn stallion in his early thirties; he had green eyes that matched with his green coat, and a short dark gray mane and tail. He was wearing a comfortable red wool sweater and was in the middle of combing his mane, possibly preparing himself for some occasion.

Reflected on the mirror, a door opened and an older unicorn stallion dressed in a very formal looking black suit entered. His cutie mark was that of a silver serving tray.

"Excuse me, Sir." The older stallion said in a very professional manner.

The pony whose body I was riding in didn't turn around, and instead spoke to the stallion's reflection. "Yes, Bitworth?"

The older stallion whose name I now knew as Bitworth, promptly responded. "I've finished preparing it. Shall I bring it up the mistress?"

Lifting the comb in his magic, my host used it to further straighten his hair, then set it down and moved his head in different directions; all while keeping an eye on his mane, appraising it from different angles. Satisfied, he turned to the sharply dressed stallion. "Oh wow. That was quicker than I expected; you truly are the best of butlers."

Bitworth lowered his head. "Your words are too kind, Sir. As for the..."

"Oh, right. Umm..." My host brought a hoof to my-- er, his chin and tapped it several times. "Bring it in two...no, three minutes. Got to get the timing just right."

Bitworth spoke as he backed out of the room while bowing. "Of course, Master Harrow."

Harrow? I guess this was the pony who owned the place. After all, the mansion was called 'The Horror House'. I could see how it could go from 'Harrow' to 'Horror' over the course of two centuries. From all the rumors, I was expecting him to be some old and craven looking stallion with like, a missing eye or something! But instead, he seems like an ordinary guy to me.

Harrow turned back to the mirror that I now noticed was attached to a dresser; on it was grooming tools, cologne, and a framed picture. He picked up said frame with his magic; in it was a black and white photograph of a younger looking Harrow, blushing as an earth pony mare around his age surprised him with a kiss. Something was written in lipstick on the bottom-right corner of the picture.

On the bottom of that was where she signed it with a kiss. I could feel Harrow's eyes getting moist as he gently stroked the mare in the photo.

He sighed before he muttered. "Cherish... I wish you were here to see this..." He put the picture back on the dresser, then lightly slapped his cheeks and forced a smile. "Alright, showtime!"

He exited the room and walked down the mansion's halls. Ok, this place definitely rivaled Tenpony in terms of fanciness! Nothing was caked in dust and all the curtains were open, allowing strong natural sunlight into the mansion. This place also didn't give off the whole unsettling-creepy-being watched vibe I felt before. Harrow looked through the windows as he walked. Outside, I could see that the mini-forest that surrounded the house was lush and green, unlike the dead burned-up version I saw earlier. Over the treeline I spotted Nor-bel and all its pre-balefire glory; I could make out the forms of ponies in the distance, either walking to their destination, or flying to and fro. Harrow broke into a smile, possibly over this fine looking day.

He stopped in front of a door that had floral stickers evenly spaced around the bottom half; a foal's giggle could be heard from behind it. Harrow placed his ear to the door, where the sound of the foal's laughter made him break into an even bigger smile. He then turned the doorknob, and slowly opened the door.

"Jewel Gift." He said.

With the door now open, the first thing he saw was a doll falling from midair. Before it hit the ground, it was caught by a young earth pony filly; she was light gray with a flame-orange mane and tail, dark freckles underneath her orange eyes, and had no cutie mark.

"Daddy!" The filly smiled. "You scared us!"

Us? All I could see was the filly and nopony else.

"Jewel..." Harrow said trying to sound stern but with a hint of playfulness in his tone. "You remember what I said about throwing your dolls around like that?"

Jewel squeezed the doll held in her grasp, her face looking as if she couldn't keep a juicy secret any longer. "It wasn't me daddy!"

"Let me guess. It was your 'friends' again." She nodded. "You know...I find it kind of strange that I never see these 'friends'."

She giggled. "That's because they are hiding!"

Harrow shook his head with a smile as he walked up to the filly, picked her up with his hooves, then wrapped them around her as he hugged her. The filly laughed as she was being nuzzled by her father.

She squealed in delight. "Stop it, daddy!"

Harrow put her down, then looked around the room. It was similar to the guestrooms I saw earlier, only this one being bigger with a pink queen sized bed, a toy box by the foot of it, a mountain of stuffed animals piled against on one of the room's corners, and a small table made for foals' tea parties. I couldn't help but notice that all the plastic teacups were already on saucers in front of the small pulled out chairs.

Jewel beamed as she looked up to her father's eyes. "Why are you acting so weird, daddy?"

"Weird?" He ruffled her mane then walked over to the small table, moved the mini-seat out of the way, and sat on the floor facing the tea set. "Is it weird for a father to want to join his daughter's tea party?"

Jewel gasped with excitement, then quickly took a seat and served her father imaginary tea from the pink teapot. Harrow picked up both the saucer and the cup with his magic, then put the cup to his lips and sipped air.

"Mmm, that's good, but you know what would go great with this?"

"What?" Jewel asked.

"Cake!" Harrow said as he gestured to the door where Bitworth entered, levitating a silver tray carrying a birthday cake with five lit candles.

Bitworth placed the cake on the center of the small table as Jewel watched with glee. "Happy birthday, Madam."

Jewel hugged Bitworth's foreleg. "Thank you, Bitworth!" A small smile arose from the old stallion's mouth before he hugged her back.

"Hey hey! Is that cake?" Harrow turned to the doorway where the new voice came from. He spotted a blue coated earth pony with a brown mane. He seemed to be a few years younger than Harrow and had the image of a track hurdle on his flank.

Once Jewel saw the new stallion, she ran up to him and jumped into his embrace. "Uncle Trotter!"

"Wow, five years old already." Said Uncle Trotter. "Oh how big you're getting now!" Jewel giggled in response.

"Huh, I'm surprised you're still up." Harrow said with a grin to Trotter. "Bitworth told me you practically passed out drunk last night after you came home from having drinks with your marefriend."

Bitworth spoke as he set up the small table. "I had to carry him to his quarters."

Trotter released Jewel, then chuckled with a hint of embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head. "Heh heh, I appreciate that, Bitworth." Then his face lit up as if he remembered something. "Oh! I almost forgot! This morning, somepony was knocking at the front door while Bitworth was busy doing something. I answered it, and saw it was somepony from the ministry of--"

"Trotter." Harrow interrupted. "Let's not talk about work right now." He looked to his daughter who was joyfully studying her cake. "It's my daughter's birthday after all."

Trotter raised his hooves defensively. "Whoa whoa whoa. Let me finish will ya?" Harrow became silent, then raised his eyebrows at Trotter. "Thank you. Anyway, it wasn't the M.A.S. who came a knockin'." Harrow cocked his head in confusion towards the earth pony stallion. "It was the M.O.P."

"The ministry of peace?" Harrow questioned. "Why did they show up?"

Once again, Trotter rubbed his head. "Eeh, I was a bit hung over, so I didn't pay that much attention. Something about a flock of...something--butterflies I think--was migrating through here. They said they're attracted to the garden in center of the mansion and that we're not allowed to interfere with them."

Harrow scratched his chin. "That's...a bit strange," he shrugged, "but ok."

"Speaking of ministries..." Spoke the butler as he pulled out a pink envelope from his coat pocket. "This arrived in the mail. It's from the ministry of morale."

"Oh no..." Harrow rubbed his temple. "And what do they want with me?"

Bitworth slowly shook his head. "Not you, Sir. It's addressed to Mistress Jewel."

He then floated the envelope to Jewel, who looked over both sides of it, then started to rip the top part off. Jewel pried it open and was surprised when confetti shot out from it. Jewel's joyful shriek obviously signified that she enjoyed that surprise. As the confetti rained down, the filly pulled out a note from the envelope and tired her best to read it.

"D-d...dea...r....dear."

Harrow reached over and tapped the envelope. "Would you like me to read that for you, honey?"

She put her hooves around the note and buried it in her chest as she shook her head. "No! I can do it!" She put the paper on the table and tried a second attempt. "De...ear. Dear...Jewe...l...dear Jewel Gi...Gif--" Frustrated, she slid the note over to Harrow. "Ok. You read."

Harrow lightly chuckled before he began to read aloud what was personally written in pink ink before him.

"Dear Jewel Gift.

It's your special day today, so I hope you have a super duper extra terrific funtabulous mega enjoyable fifth birthday! Have an extra slice of cake for me!

Sincerely, Ministry Mare of Morale, Pinkie Pie~

P.I.--I think she misspelled 'P.S.'--It's not a proper dining room bash if a window or two haven't been broken!"

Harrow repeated that last part to himself. "Dining room bash? What's that supposed to mean?"

Trotter waved his hoof dismissively. "Oh who cares! Everypony knows that pink mare has a couple screws loose!"

Harrow gave that some thought, then nodded. "Right, right." He looked to the melting candles on the cake, then to his daughter. "Jewel...why don't you blow out your candles and make a wish?"

The flame from the candles reflected off the filly's eyes as she contemplated on what to wish for. "I wish..."

Trotter cut her off. "Don't tell us! It won't come true if you do."

The filly looked to her uncle, then to Bitworth, and finally to her father. She closed her eyes and silently muttered to herself as if she were in prayer, then leaned in and blew out the candles.

"Happy Birthday!" All the adults shouted at once.

As Harrow yelled, his eyes were drawn to the stuffed animals piled against the room's corner. I could have sworn we saw something moving there, and even in this memory, the feeling of being watched returned...

When the memory ended and I returned to my own body, one word escaped my mouth.

"Ow..."

I opened my eyes and noticed that I was no longer in the same position when I entered the memory. My lower half was on the couch, while my front half was slumped on the floor. The recollector wasn't on my head anymore, and was instead a few feet away from me.

Getting up, I held my side when pain flared from it. Was I bruised? Putting my hat back on and placing the recollector back in my bags, I noticed that Yellow and the other two ponies were nowhere to be seen.

"Hello?" My voice slightly echoed around the foyer. "Where is everypony? ....Hello?"

Taking a step forward, I felt something squish beneath my hoof. Raising it to the floodlight, I saw that it was the squished remains of a crystal berry. Looking to the couch Yellow was using, I spotted several of the multi-colored orbs scattered on the floor ahead of it.

"Son of a mule..." I muttered to myself. "You were hiding some berries from me."

But what happened? Guessing by the berries, Yellow must have been snacking on them when something happened. My face clenched as my side ached again; were we attacked by something? Did I get hit? Where are the others? Looking around, I saw dozens of markers on the E.F.S.; the rats weren't making it easier to pin them down.

Guess I'll have to track them the old fashion way.

I took a closer look at the discarded berries and saw that I wasn't the only one who stepped on them. There was a set of hoofprints on the floor made from berry juice, leading up the stairs to the second floor. As I followed them, I laughed internally when I realized just how accurate my cutie mark was right now.

Upstairs, the hoofprints were getting thinner and thinner, forcing me to look down and shine my PipBuck light around the tiles for the smallest and freshest of stains. It was because of this that I ended up bumping my head against a door.

"Aw! Son of a..."

After rubbing my head for a couple seconds, I opened the door the trail led to, and walked in. It turned out to be a laundry room; what with its one washing machine, wash boards, and piles of still neatly stacked clothes in a shelf. There were a couple mannequins wearing things like evening wear, business suits, and even pajamas; I guess Bitworth also knew a thing or two about tailoring, because besides them was a table with tools for sewing and re-sizing the garments.

Waving my light around the floor, I found no more stains. Was she in this room?

My voice was just above a whisper. "Yellow? You in here?"

Something else got my attention however, when I saw a ray of light through the window. I went to it and looked outside where I was given a view over the outdoor garden in the center of the mansion. On the other side, the first floor of the opposite wing, I saw three flashlights and the shadowy figures of Slim and the other two ponies. They hadn't seen me and were busy looking through drawers and shelves; even from this distance and rain, I could see that their bags seemed heavier than before, meaning that they had found some noteworthy loot. If I can catch up to them, maybe they'd know what happened to the other three!

I turned around and immediately jumped back and shouted at what I saw.

"Fuck!"

I'm not the kind of pony who enjoys cursing, but right now, it seemed very appropriate. While I was looking out the window, all the mannequins were moved, forming a half-circle around me; their blank faces starring at me.

With my back against the window, my breathing became harsh and ragged while my heart-rate spiked. Just when I was starting to calm myself, a muffled voice caused me to jump.

"P.I.! That you?"

I recognized it. "Y-Yellow!?" I yelled. "Where are you?"

I heard the sound of a door creaking as it opened. I pointed the PipBuck light to the darkest section of the room where a barely opened closet resided; Yellow's eyes reflecting the light through the crack nearly startled me.

I breathed a small sigh of relief and carefully walked around the dummies as I made it to Yellow.

She stepped out of the closet and stood before me. "Oh thank goodness you're ok."

"What happened back in the foyer?" I asked. "I woke up and nopony was there."

Yellow's eyes were scanning the darkness. "We...we were just resting when a...a...a--"

Her constant stuttering caused me to put my hooves on her shoulders and forced her to look me in the eyes. "A what!?"

Her ears folded and her voice was barely audible. "A ghost showed up..."

"A ghost showed up?" I cocked an eyebrow then spoke with a hint of doubt in my voice. "You...sure?"

She smacked my hooves off of her. "Of course I'm sure! We wouldn't have run off otherwise! The thing was glowing...flying around...looked...wavy."

"Well what about me then? Why'd you all leave me behind?"

She frowned, and I could see guilt in her expression. "I-I tried to wake you, but you just refused to get up. I even tried to carry you, but the other ponies dragged me away. They said it was too late for you. We quickly got separated after that."

Ugh, that pain again... I grunted as I held my side. "Did something else happen? Because I feel bruised here."

She nervously chuckled. "I uh...heh...might have tired to wake you...with a kick..." My expression became one of disbelief and anger. Yellow traced a circle on the floor with her hoof. "Would it help if I say I'm sorry?"

I would have been more angry at her, but at least she tired to save me. Just wish she didn't have to kick me...

I rolled my eyes and made for the exit. "Whatever. Let's just go find the others."

Yellow stayed where she was. "But...the ghost."

I put my hoof on the doorknob, then turned to her. "I don't know what it was you saw, but it can't be a ghost. They don't exist. It's just this old house and rumors making us para--" I opened the door and saw a pony shaped white glowing mass hovering a few inches off the ground. "...noid."

With wide eyes I stared at it for two seconds, then calmly closed the door, turned around, and proceeded to FREAK THE FUCK OUT!

Yellow and I yelled as we ran to the back of the room by the window. The door opened and the phantasm slowly glided over the floor towards us. We then stood on our hind-legs as we embraced each other and screamed.

What could we do but scream? Shoot it? I doubt that would work, and Yellow probably knew that too!

"P.I.!" Yellow shouted.

"Y-yeah?!"

"There's something I have to tell you!"

"Well out with it! We're gonna die anyway!"

"I haven't been entirely truthful!"

"If it's about the berries! I know already!"

"It's not the berries you idiot! I've been--"

As the specter neared, lightning stuck, illuminating the room in a white flash. I stopped screaming when I noticed something in that fraction of a second. I let go of Yellow then walked up to the spirit.

Yellow was clearly confused by my actions. "P.I.? What are you doing!?"

I stood face to face with the 'ghost', then knocked it over, revealing it to be nothing more than a mannequin with a sheet over it. Yellow and I curiously looked at it as the boom of the thunder reached us; I turned to Yellow and mouthed the words 'keep screaming' to her.

She got my meaning and nodded once, then started when the thunder began to die down. "Oh uh...ahhh! We're doomed!" Yeah...not the best of actors...

As Yellow had her 'performance', I placed my ear to the door and could hear the sound of somepony giggling, trying to contain their laughter.

I quickly opened it and surprised two young colts on the other side. I managed to snag them both and pull them into the room before they could run away.

"Hey!"

"Let go!"

They kicked, squirmed, and even bit me! But I refused to let them go.

Yellow was quick to interrogate them. "Who are you kids!?"

They were an earth pony and a unicorn. The earth pony was light purple with a yellow mane and no cutie mark, while the unicorn was eggshell white with a pink mane; he had the image of a whoopee cushion on his flank. They were both barely older than Jewel Gift from the memory.

After several minutes of them squirming, I released them when they finally calmed down.

"I'm Patsy." The earth pony colt said.

"And I'm Gag Pun." Finished the unicorn.

Yellow and I looked at them, then to each other, then back to them.

"That ghost in the foyer." Yellow said with her teeth gritted, trying to contain her anger. "That was you two?"

They slowly nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

"It was just a prank, mister." Gag Pun said. I could see how they made the ghost. Just cover the dummy with a sheet, then levitate it with Gag's magic which also gave it the 'eerie glow'.

"I didn't want to do it!" Patsy pointed accusingly to his friend. "It was all his idea!"

"Hey! Don't be a tattle tale!" Responded the other.

"No fighting!" I said with a stern voice. They both yelped, then looked up to me. "Where are your parents?"

"B-back at the town...please don't tell them." Begged Pasty.

Yellow spoke up. "And they just let you run off here all on your own?"

"Uh..." Gag Pun looked hesitant to speak, but reluctantly answered anyway. "Patsy's parents think he's sleeping over at my house...mine think I'm sleeping at his..."

I hovered over them. "And you're staying here because...?"

"T-this is our club house... Nopony ever comes here cause they think it's haunted. We would have gone home sooner, but the weather is freaking crazy outside!"

Oh wow. When I was a colt, I used cardboard boxes as my clubhouse; these kids are using an entire mansion...

"And you kids aren't afraid?" asked Yellow.

Gag Pun responded. "The house is just really old. We come here all the time, and nothing scary ever happened to us."

All the time? Maybe they know something! "Hey, do you two know anything about two unicorns disappearing from here recently?"

They looked to each other, then shrugged. "We haven't been back here in like...a week."

I turned around and kicked up floor dust in frustration while I muttered. "And here I thought we'd find a lead... Guess we'll have to search the rest of the house."

"Oh, well," Gag Pun said as both the colts went for the door, "we'll leave you to that."

I pulled them back. "We'll as in 'you're gonna help us'. It's the least you can do after scaring us half to death." Their little faces were baffled, then became neutral when I continued. "Or would you rather I tell your parents where you've been hanging out all this time?"

They both looked to each other, then to me, and slowly shook their heads.

All four of us made it back to the entrance where we had to guess which hallway would take us to where I spotted the others.

"Uh." I drawled. "You two know the mansion better. Which hallway will take us to the others?"

"That depends." Gag Pun said. "Where did you see them?"

"Um. They were in the hallway opposite of the laundry room. On the bottom floor."

Both of the colts responded with a very flat 'ooh'.

"'Ooh'?" I looked to them both with confusion. "Why the 'ooh'?"

"Well..." Gag Pun pointed to one of the hallways. "We'd go that way, but..."

"But?" Yellow said.

Patsy raised his forelegs and continued where Gag Pun left off. "The way is blocked off by broken bits of the house! We'd have to go around!"

"Great." I sarcastically said a roll of my eyes. "So much for getting ther--"

I stopped talking when I spotted something on my E.F.S. Something I really didn't want to deal with right now.

Red markers. Lots of them... They were oriented towards the entrance.

"Shit." I quietly cursed. I turned to the others, gestured for them to stay quiet, and move to the dark hallway opposite of the one Yellow and I first used. From the shadow of the hallway, I peeked around the corner and viewed the entrance. Seconds later the door intensely swung open as dozens of rain soaked ponies entered the mansion.

Crap! They were the raiders from earlier!

Several of them tried to dry themselves by shaking their bodies like dogs; the water mixed with dirt and blood from their filthy bodies formed black puddles under their legs.

One of the raiders spoke to the one besides him. "You sure they're in here?"

"Oh yeah." One of them responded, shaking his wet mane as he nodded. "Fuck'in definitely! Their wagons are outside." He pointed to the floodlight. "And they even set up the lights for us."

A nervous looking one near the back of the group spoke up. "Guys! W-we shouldn't be here!"

The first one, who I'm assuming was the leader of this bunch, turned his head back just enough to see the nervous one through the corner of his vision. "And why's that?"

The skittish raider turned to all of them as he spoke. "You guys never heard of the rumors?! Place is fucking haunted! Ponies enter but nopony ever lea--"

The first one slapped him against the muzzle. "Shut the fuck up with that shit!" The rest all chuckled. "This place ain't being lived in by spooks!" He waved his hoof around the foyer as he spoke. "Take a good gander at this place mares and gentlestallions, cause this place is ours now!" They all cheered for a good thirty seconds, but were silenced when the leader raised his hoof. "Now then, I want you all to find our little...guests and show them a good ol' time the only way we know how to!" They cheered again, this time the leader shouted over their cries. "Somepony go outside and tell the others to go round the back of this place; we'll box them in!" He looked up and pointed to the chandelier. "I'm sure they'll make lovely decorations once we hang 'em from there!" Two went outside to relay the message to the other raiders outside. "Oh! And bring me that Stable cunt!" He licked his lips. "I'd like to savor some alone time with her!"

I turned to Yellow, and even though we were in the shadows, I could still see that her eyes were wide open.

All four of us managed to sneak away before the raiders at the entrance began their hunt for us; the other group of raiders already entered through the back of the mansion and were on the prowl. It took a while for our eyes to adjust to the dark; if I turned on my PipBuck light, the raiders would easily spot us and instantly be on us. However, with the help of my E.F.S. we were able to avoid them. We had to get to the guild members before the raiders did. I didn't hear any gunshots or screams, so that meant that they hadn't found them yet.

As we silently walked through a corridor, I spotted hostile marks on the E.F.S. from around the corner. I gestured for all of us to stop.

"Not that way." I whispered. We turned around to find a way around them, but once again I stopped us. "Shit." There were also red markers down the way we came. They really were boxing us in! I quickly turned to the foals and whispered just loud enough for them to hear. "Gag Pun! Pasty!" They both looked to me with worry in their eyes. "You two know this place best. Is there any way we can get out of this?"

They turned to each other then frantically looked around. "Wait." Gag Pun said in a low voice. "I know a way." The colt walked up to the wall and opened a door that I didn't even see because it was hidden in the darkest section of the hallway. "This way." The colt held the door open and waved for us to go in. With the raiders getting closer, Yellow and I both ran through the doorway. "Just be careful of the--" His warning came too late as my assistant and I started falling down a set of steps. "...Stairs."

Thankfully, it wasn't that long of a fall and a metal door at the bottom was there to stop our decent. "Ow..." I quietly groaned, sandwiched between Yellow and the door. "Gag Pun..."

"Yeah?" The colt said after they closed the door and safely made it down the stairs.

With the door closed, I freed my leg out from under Yellow, turned on the PipBuck light, and pointed to where I assumed Gag Pun was. "You...have no idea how much I wish you were in your double digits so it'd be more acceptable shooting you!"

The colts turned to each other and stifled their laughter. Yuck it up Gag Pun... I'll make sure to remember this the second you come of age...

"Anyway." Yellow got off me and dusted herself off. "You said there was a way out." She pointed to the metal door. "This it?"

Patsy rubbed the back of his head, seeming unsure. "Eeh..."

Oh no. First an 'ooh', now an 'eeh'? "Is it, or isn't it?" I asked in a combination of both worry and annoyance.

"We...don't know." Pasty averted his eyes upwards. "The door was too heavy for us to ever open." Great. That means this could be another way to the others, or the door to a closet. Well...one way to find out.

I got up, placed my hooves on the door and pushed. The thing barely budged. Yellow was quick to assist as she began pushing alongside me. Slowly but surely, the door started to move; its hinges protesting the more we opened it. We walked through it once it was wide enough, and to my delight it wasn't a closet. From what I could make out in the glow of my PipBuck, the room was much bigger and wider than a closet, but other than that, the rest of it was still shrouded in darkness. Moments later, I had to shield my eyes from the intense ceiling lights that suddenly turned on. Once they adjusted, I saw Yellow besides a switch in the wall.

"Oh, hey! They still work!" She said, looking up at the light fixtures.

The room looked to be some sort of modified basement that had three entrances: one we just entered from, one at the opposite end, and the last one was in the center of the wall to the side. The room wasn't in the greatest of conditions, and it seemed as if an explosion went off, scorching everything in the room; the work table in the center, the bits of machinery on it, the whiteboard with no longer legible equations written on it, a terminal on a desk, large computer servers, and even the walls. This was definitely not a closet. This was a lab.

Walking to the center of the room, I could guess where the explosion came from. Across from the center entrance was one of those doors that slides upwards, leading to a windowed room. Through the blown out window, I could see that the room's walls were pitch black, signifying that the explosion originated from there. There was a destroyed terminal mounted on the wall between the door and the window. The room was empty except for two bits of machinery that resembled tesla coils. One was attached to the ceiling, pointing to the wall opposite of me, the other had fallen off and laid haphazardly on the floor; some of its wiring ran up to the empty socket in the ceiling where it originally was.

I whistled. "Whoa. That must have made quite the boom."

"Yo, P.I.!" Yellow shouted from behind the desk. "Found something!" I approached her, and saw that she was sifting through the desk's shelves where she pulled out a memory orb. I will admit, I am curious to see what's in it, but now really isn't the time. Instead, I pocketed it and went for the center exit where Yellow helped me once again with the door.

Once it was open, I turned to the others. "Wait here. I'll check it out." I then walked up a new set of stairs that ended with a cellar door. Opening it, I was a bit surprised to be welcomed by hard rain and the mansion's walls on all sides. So this door led to the garden, I saw what must have been full of all kinds of plant life now consisted of long dead vegetation. Beneath me was a stone trail on the soil that parted sections of the garden, encircled a burned tree in the center, then split into different trails that all led to doors back into the mansion.

Reaching the tree, I glanced at all the windows and spotted the same flashlights held by Slim and the two other ponies; they weren't that far from where I saw them earlier. I quickly ran to where they were, then tapped the window trying to get their attention.

Slim, being the first to notice, approached, then opened the window. "What the heck are you doing out there?"

As I stood out in the rain, I quickly told him what happened; the kids, the two ponies working the flood lights who were now somewhere in the mansion, and with strong emphasis: the raiders.

"Shit." Slim muttered as he turned to the two other guild members. "Turn those lights off!" They looked at each other confused, then obeyed.

"What do we do now?" I asked. "There's too many for us to fight, and there might be more waiting for us outside the mansion."

Slim put on a serious face as he weighed our options. "I'll try to find those other two." He pointed to me. "You said you have foals with you. They safe where you left 'em?"

"Yeah. The entrance was well hidden, and the doors are pretty thick."

"Good. Here's what we'll do. Me and these two will quietly look for the other two. Once we find them, we'll try to make it to that cellar. If we can't make it there, we'll find a hiding spot and stay low. Other guild members are scheduled to arrive here in the morning, they'll notice the raiders and send help."

I nodded. "Alright. Sounds like a plan. I'll wait for you guys in the cellar, I'll lock it in case the raiders find it. When you guys get to it, knock seven times and I'll open it."

"Seven times. Alright." Slim turned to the other two. "Pack it all up! We're moving!"

The mare and stallion quickly picked up their bags full of things looted from the house; the mare however, dropped her bags, and several items of value spilled out, including two memory orbs.

I pointed to the orbs and looked to the mare. "Where you'd get those?"

The mare cast me a quick glance before she swept the items back into her bag. "One of them was in the master bedroom, the other was in a foal's room."

"Mind if I take them?" She looked at me quizzically, shrugged, then passed the orbs over to me, which I then placed into my saddlebags. "Alright, I'll head back now. Good luck to you all."

Five minutes later, I was back in the lab with Yellow and the colts; all three entrances were locked, and I already told Yellow about the others. Now all we had to do was wait, and waiting was boring! Yellow was playing Tic-Tack-Toe with the colts by using their hooves to scratch out the ash on the floor. The game, being originally two player and not a three player one, caused them to argue every few minutes. I was resting on the floor a good distance from them, not wanting to be involved in that soup. Moments of boredom later, an idea surfaced in my head.

"Uh, Yellow." I said, momentarily getting her attention from her game. "I'm gonna use the recollector again. Remember; open the doors if somepony knocks seven times." Once she nodded, I pulled out the device and inserted one of the new orbs I got. I removed my hat to the side, and right when I was about to place the recollector on my head, I stopped to glance at Yellow. "And don't kick me this time!"

With a quick chuckle, she turned back to the game. "No promises."

I rolled my eyes lightheartedly, put the recollector atop my head, then watched as the world began to fade away.

When everything melded together, I found myself to be in another stallion's body. It appeared that I was in a hospital room, holding on to the hoof of a dark yellow earth pony mare with a long tan mane. The mare was laying on her back on the hospital bed, profusely sweating, and seemed utterly exhausted; also, she seemed familiar...

The stallion who I was in gently spoke to the mare, softly caressing her head with his free hoof. "Cherish... Y-you did it."

Cherish? ...Wasn't that the name of Harrow's wife? Also...my voice sounded like him. This was Harrow! His body felt...well, younger.

"Congratulations, It's a girl!" Harrow turned to the foot of the bed where a doctor and nurse were wiping a crying newborn of blood and other fluids. The baby was the same color as Jewel Gift and cried loudly with her eyes closed. The nurse wrapped the foal in a pink blanket then carefully placed her in Cherish's hooves.

"Hey there..." Cherish weakly said while giving the newborn a soft nuzzle. "I've waited so long to meet you."

I could feel Harrow's eyes moisten as he smiled to the little bundle. He offered his hoof to the foal, who stopped crying after she gripped it with both her hooves. "She's beautiful."

The doctor coughed loudly, when Harrow turned to him, I could see that the physician felt a little guilty about ruining the moment. "Have you two decided on a name?"

Cherish answered him with labored breaths. "Oh. We...we still haven't...decided." She turned to Harrow. "I mean...what...what would we even name this...this little jewel?"

"Heh." Harrow lightly chuckled. "She is quite a gift."

Harrow brushed aside Cherish's sweat soaked bangs and kissed her forehead; it tasted a bit salty, but Harrow didn't seem to mind. "There's no rush. I'm sure that what ever we come up with will be a perfect fit."

The nurse then spoke. "We need to move her to the nursery now."

Cherish spoke softly, almost as if she were in a trance. "Oh, of...of course." She allowed the nurse to take the baby, who then left the room. She then weakly turned to Harrow. "Watch her. I...I feel...so tired."

Harrow stroked the side of her face as he planted a quick kiss on her lips. "You rest now, I'll keep an eye on her."

She slowly nodded, then closed her eyes. Once she was asleep, Harrow left the room, asked a receptionist for directions, then went straight to the hallway that had a window looking into the nursery. He smiled when he saw the nurse place his daughter into her own little plastic bassinet alongside several others. Out all the sleeping babies in there, Harrow kept his eyes solely focused on his own; occasionally, he would burst into a grin.

Minutes later, a slap to his back caused him to yelp in surprise. "Congratulations to the new father!"

Harrow broke the line of sight with his newborn daughter to turn to the one who just surprised him. "Goddesses, Trotter! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Trotter; he also seemed younger. The blue stallion then eagerly pressed his face against the nursery window. "I heard my sis just gave birth. Which one of these lucky foals am I the uncle to?"

Harrow pointed through the window, towards his daughter. "Her. Earth pony in the pink blanket...the gray one."

Trotter whistled. "Oh man. Can't wait to spoil her rotten...that is, until I find myself a job."

Harrow amusingly raised an eyebrow to him. "You know. I just recently got hired by one of the ministries; I might be able to set you up with one."

"Really?" Trotter said as he promptly turned to Harrow. A second later, his expression showed uncertainty. "Wait. Which ministry?"

"Arcane Science."

Trotter's ears drooped, he seemed disappointed. "Isn't that more of a...unicorn ministry?"

Harrow raised his hoof and wavered it. "Eeh. Sort of... The division that I work in, dabbles with machines that have magical applications. I could hire you to assist me, heck, I could use an extra set of hooves in the lab.

Trotter rubbed his chin as he considered the offer. "I guess I could do that. Sounds better than flipping hayburgers."

Harrow put his hoof on Trotters shoulder. "Excellent. We'll discuss this later, right now, let me savor being a new dad."

Trotter happily nodded. "Right! I'll come back later." He then turned and walked down the hallway, leaving Harrow to gaze at his daughter again.

Minutes later, a second voice disturbed him.

"Mr. Harrow."

Harrow turned his head and saw the doctor from earlier. "Oh. Doctor. How's my wife resting?"

"About that..." The doctor's face seemed like it wanted to express regret, but tired it's best to stay neutral. "It appears that during the labor, there were...complications."

Harrow viewed the doctor with bewilderment. "W-what?"

"It seems that her body couldn't handle the strain of childbirth; it's a miracle she was able to deliver at all." I could feel Harrow's heart skip; his body became tense as a shiver ran down his spine. "After you left, your wife went into cardiac arrest." Harrow's eyes began to moisten as he slowly shook his head and mouthed the word 'no' over and over. His heartbeat began to increase to the point where I could hear it. "And I'm sorry..." The doctor placed a hoof on Harrow's shoulder. "But we did all we could..."

Harrow's legs gave out and he ended up sitting on his haunches. He stared at the floor as he took quick deep breaths, almost as if he couldn't get enough air. His sobs started to mix in with his exaggerated breathing. Moments later, he got up, and with tears running down his face, turned to his daughter. The newborn seemed calm, so peaceful and full of innocence in her sleep. Harrow spoke through the glass, his voice hoarse and cracking.

"I-I'll watch her, Cherish... Our...our jewel...our gift..."

When the memory ended, I took off the recollector and noticed Yellow turning to me from the same game she started when I went memory diving.

"Oh wow. That was fast. I thought you'd take fore--P.I., are you crying?"

"What? I'm not--" I placed a hoof to my face and felt damp lines under my eyes. "--crying?" Ok. So maybe that memory was a little emotional, but there was no way I'd admit that to Yellow. "No." I coughed. "Just...accidentally wiped some floor ash into my eye before I used the orb."

She raised her brow with a grin. "On both eyes?"

I shrugged. "Whoops."

"Suuure~." She playfully mocked while rolling her eyes. "Whatever."

"Anyway." I said, trying to change the subject. "Did anypony come knocking?"

She nodded. "Somepony came, but they didn't even try to knock. We stayed quiet, and guessing by all the swears, it was a raider. Luckily he gave up trying to open the door, and yelled--" She tired her best to imitate the raiders voice, but it didn't sound that much different than her Slim impersonation from earlier."'Hey guys! This door is fu--'" She stopped and turned to the colts, then broke into an awkward smile. "Eh...'fudging jammed!'"

"You know we heard him too." Patsy said, his expression unimpressed.

Yellow raised her hoof to the colts, then waved it dismissively. "Nah, you misheard him." She turned back to me. "Anyway, it means they won't bother trying again anytime soon."

I felt a little more comfortable; that practically ensured our safety until morning. Now we just have to hope the others can get here without being seen before then.

"Hey!" Yellow waved at me, then pointed to the newly made grid they drew in the ash and dust. "Now that you're done with that, wanna join us?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?" I got up with a grunt, then walked over to them. I stopped when I saw all the other grids around them that they made before. I don't know what this game they were playing was, but it wasn't Tic-Tac-Toe...at least, not anymore. They were using a lot more than just X's and O's; there were triangles, squares, hexagons, spirals, even a grid within the grid! Any shape conceived was being used, and I was quickly starting to reconsider. "On second thought..." I walked back, returned to where I sat before, then pulled out the recollector again. "Eh... I have some other orbs to view. Um...who knows...there might be something useful in them."

She eyed me for a couple seconds, then returned to her game. "Heh. Whatever...your loss."

"Hey!" Gag Pun yelled, pointing at the amber mare. "You can't put your cube there! I still have ten hit points!"

Yellow's response was, "ha! I can if it's an even day!"

Suddenly they argued over their made up rulings, which thankfully I had the luxury of not hearing as the world, once again, began to fade away.

The body I was in had the same feel as before... Yup, this was Harrow...again... I'm starting to wish for a little variety here...

Harrow was wearing a lab coat over his sweater and seemed to be in an un-exploded (That's a word, right?) version of the lab Yellow, the colts and I were currently hiding in.

He coughed into his hoof and spoke to no one in particular. "Now that you're back from visiting your marefriend's parents, thank Bitworth for informing you about this memory orb I recorded for you. I mean, I got you the recollector to spare myself some time updating you on projects, Trotter." Ah. So this memory was for Trotter.

"Anyway, about our latest project." He walked to the window that looked into the room with the tesla coils on the ceiling. "Despite your absence, I was able to make some progress." He fiddled with the terminal besides him, causing the coils to hum; their volume started off low, but slowly gained in pitch. Arcs of electricity escaped from the coils, adding crackling to the hum.

Harrow craned his head to look back to the table behind him, then used his magic to retrieve something off of it. "We can't see what the machine is doing with the naked eye, but with these, we'll be able to." He held the item before his eyes, it appeared to be a set of lab goggles. "I've had these enchanted to allow the wearer to view things in a different light spectrum." He placed them over his eyes, and true to his word, his vision saw the world in a violet tint. Inside the room, right where the coils were pointing at, something that looked like glowing grains of sand were being pulled from the air and encircled on the wall in a clockwise motion.

"Little reminder, in case you forgot." He pointed to the ring that was now four feet in diameter. "The machine collects the necessary particles needed for our experiment, then applies a magical current though it, which then causes..." Harrow mouthed a countdown starting at three. On one, a shadowy mass filled within the ring. "Which then forms what you've nicknamed...'The Gap'." I also noticed that a second 'gap' opened on the wall to the right. Fortunately, Harrow was quick to address it. "For simplicity's sake, I've pre-set the second one to open in the same room."

Now I'm getting really curious as to what this project is.

"As for the progress I mentioned...well..." Harrow used his magic to levitate six apples that were in the room, then flung them into the first gap. Thirty seconds later, only two of the fruits emerged from the second gap. "Well, uh...that." Harrow forced a grin and shrugged. "Hey, two out of six is better than our preliminary results of none." He turned off the machine, then stared at the two apples on the room's floor. "As for where the others are...who knows? I've tried a similar experiment with clocks, just to see if there was any time distortion; but no, they were in perfect sync with our time. Meaning that traveling through the gaps happens in real time, and anything could be in-between them...anything. I'm gonna have my head wrapped around this for some ti--"

The ringing of a phone caused harrow to stop, he then walked to the desk where it was and answered it. Bitworth's voice could be heard on the receiving end. "Harrow residence. Who might this be?"

A second voice answered, a mare's. She had an orotund voice and sounded irritated. "Telemetry, from the M.A.S."

Harrow quickly spoke into the phone. "Eh, I got this one, Bitworth."

"Very well, Sir." Bitworth replied. The sound of him hanging up followed, leaving Harrow on the line with Telemetry.

Harrow sounded nervous. "Um...Telemetry, for what do I owe the call?"

"You know very well why I'm calling, Harrow."

Harrow sighed and scratched his mane. "The progress report?"

"Mm-hmm. When Princess Luna asked the M.A.S. if we could find a way to teleport ponies en-mass, and do it bypassing zebra countermeasures; you were the only one who took up that assignment. Now a great amount of time has passed and your previous reports are...less than promising."

Harrow looked into the room and glanced at the two apples. "Please. I need more time. I'm so close."

Telemetry was quick to counter. "You may have been able to convince Ms. Sparkle to allow you to work from home so you could 'spend more time with your daughter', but you'll find that I'm not one to give in so easily as her. Ms. Sparkle is too kind to even consider revoking your funding; that's why it's up to ponies like me to do it for her."

"But I--"

"You have until the end of the month to deliver. If you fail to impress Ms. Sparkle's representative, then your project's funding will go to another. So I'd best make haste if I were you, otherwise, your credibility within the M.A.S. would be severely tarnished." Her last words caused Harrow's eyes to widen. "What good would living in a mansion be if you can't support your daughter..."

Harrow waited for her to hang up, then did the same.

"Trotter... We're gonna have to work overtime on this. I'm keeping the goggles hidden in a false drawer in the desk here. You know how Jewel likes to come in here and play with the equipment..."

Once the memory ended, I took off the recollector, put my hat back on, and made for the desk; the others were busy playing their game to even notice I was up. In my search through the desk drawers, I accidentally hit a key on the terminal, causing its screen to flicker as it turned on. I looked at the terminal with amazement; Stable-Tec really knew how to make them! The thing still worked, even after two centuries and an explosion. Out of curiosity I tried to access it, but was impeded when it asked for a password.

Well I guess this is as good a time as any to try out the PipBuck's hacking program. I pulled out the retractable wire from my PipBuck and plugged it in to one of the terminal's ports. Sure, there were other ways to hack a terminal, but the PipBuck route was the only one I knew I could do. Activating the hacking program caused the terminal to change to a screen full of a mishmash of symbols and seemingly random words. Near the top of the screen were the words '4 ATTEMPT(S) LEFT' and four squares after that. The squares signified how many chances I had at guessing which of the displayed words was the password. I remember being told once; that if I were down to my last square, the correct course of action was to back out and restart the terminal, then try again. I started by entering the first word I saw.

> CHANCES

> Entry denied

> 2/7 correct.

Ok. Now that I have a start, lets see what my other choices are...oh...that's painfully obvious...

> CHERISH

> Exact match!

> Please wait

> while system

> is accessed.

Now unlocked, I was able to access the terminal. Almost everything in it was corrupted, except for three audio files which I downloaded into my PipBuck. I then resumed my drawer search and found the false bottom Harrow mentioned. I pulled out the goggles and found they were still in very good condition; maybe I'd be able to sell these for a fair amount of caps. I strapped them to my head and saw that my vision now had a violet shade; satisfied that they still work, I lowered them to hang off my neck, then played one of the files. To not disturb the others, I set the volume just low enough so that only I could hear. I then heard Harrow's voice, by the sound of it, he seemed to be excited.

"I've caught a lucky break! Just the other day, Bitworth was tending to the trees around the house when he found something strange! On the stone wall, just behind the house...was a gap! I was skeptical at first, but when he took me there to see for myself, it was there, plain as day! What's amazing is that this one worked! I could see through the other end and everything! On the other side was some kind of cave, I even put my hoof through it! I don't know how it got there...maybe...maybe it's a side effect from my earlier attempts or...or something, but who cares! This one works! I brought some equipment to analyze it, and with the data I collected, I think I can recreate it! Oh I can't wait to see the look on Telemetry's face when Twilight Sparkle herself congratulates me! Just need to tweak the machine a bit and I'll be set! My daughter's happiness is guaranteed now!"

The file ended and left me pondering. So a working gap just happened to appear near his house? That seemed a little strange, but maybe it was just what Harrow said; a side effect caused by his machine. Maybe the second file reveals what happened next.

"This is Harrow, with my first attempt creating a gap with the new algorithm I've acquired. Hopefully, this will be the one."

What followed was the sound of terminal keys being typed, then the hum of the machine.

"Particle stability is at...forty percent...sixty...eighty percent! Oh sweet Luna is this happening!?" He cheered joyfully as the hum raised in pitch. "Come on, come on one hundred...YES!" The machine's hum lowered to a tolerable volume. "IT WORKS! I SEE YOU THERE, ME!"

He sees himself? Wait? Is he looking at himself through one of the gaps?

"Now for the test! I'm throwing the apples in!" Seconds later, I heard the sound of multiple things thumping off the floor, followed by Harrow's rejoicing. "It works! It works! All six apples came through! I-I did it, I actually did it!"

His celebration was cut short when the phone rang, which he then quickly answered.

"Hello? Oh, Trotter! I have great news, I--what? What's that sound in the back? ...Trotter, you're going to have to speak up. ...Cloudsdayle? What about Cloudsdayle? Trotter? Trotter, are you there!?" Moments later, I heard the muffled sound of klaxons in the background. "Oh no..." Harrow uttered as something dropped, possibly the phone. What came next sounded like an earthquake.

Once it subsided, Harrow shouted. "Jewel Gift!" Then there was the sound of hoofsteps racing out of the lab.

The day Harrow completed his project, was the day the world ended... I couldn't help but feel a little bad for the guy. I could see that there was still some time left on the recording, so I patiently waited through it. For a couple minutes, only the hum of the machine was present. Eventually, I heard him return, along with somepony else I knew.

"Daddy...what's going on?" Jewel Gift sounded sleepy. "Why was everything shaking? And what are those bright lights outside?"

Harrow's voice sounded like it was on the verge of cracking. "I-It's nothing, sweetie. Uh...Celestia... is just playing with the sun is all. She made it a little too bright outside, so you're sleeping here with me tonight. Ok?"

She yawned. "Ok, daddy...where's Bitworth?"

"He...he went with uncle Trotter, remember?"

"Oh yeah... Well...can my friends sleep here too?"

He made a quick, sad chuckle. "Of course. Oh, silly me. I forgot to bring your pillow and blanket. I'm going to go back for them, and maybe some food from the kitchen; it'll be just like camping. That sound fun?"

She giggled. "Yeah."

"Ok. You be a good girl and stay here; I'll be back soon."

"All right, daddy."

"Let me just give you a quick hug, just in case."

Thirty seconds later, Jewel Gift's amused voice broke the silence. "My pillow, daddy."

"Right, right...I'll be back."

Two minutes went by of Jewel Gift humming to herself. Then I heard what sounded like rocks being thrown against the door.

"Oh!" Jewel Gift muttered, then I heard the noise of a filly struggling to open a door. "You're back!"

I expected to hear her father respond, but what I heard instead was far from it. I don't know what was entering the room, but the best way for me to describe the sounds it made, would be that it was similar to hundreds of tiny high pitched voices screaming in agony.

"What's wrong? You don't look so good, and why are you screaming? That room? ...You wanna go in there with that circle thingy? ...Ok! I can open that! Help me move that stool so I can press the button on the computer!

Over the screaming, I was still able to hear a stool screech as it was being dragged, Jewel struggling to climb it, a hoof tap, then the sound of the door releasing pressurized air as it opened. She must have entered the room, as her voice now sounded a bit far off.

"Hey! This mirror is broken! I see my side, not my front!" She started laughing. "What are you doing? You're just going in a big circle!"

The sound of a door opening and Harrow's voice was heard. "Jewel Gift. I'm ba--what are you doing in there!? And what--shoo! Get out of there!" Seconds later, a robotic mare's voice could be heard.

"Radioactive contaminants detected in testing room. Initiating lockdown procedure." There was another hiss, this time along with the sound of a door slamming shut.

"No!" I could hear Harrow beating at the door as he shouted.

"Daddy? What's happening? Open the door!"

"Sweetie! Sweetie, look at me! I'm going to get you out of there! Just wait a bit!"

I heard Harrow's frantic hooftaps on the terminal over the constant high pitched screaming when the automated voice returned.

"Warning. Radioactive contaminants de-harmonizing gap particle stability. Critical implosion imminent. Evacuation is advised."

The hooftaps became more desperate. "NO! SHUT DOWN! SHUT DOWN!"

"Alert. Instruments are non-responsive."

"Daddy, your circlely mirror things are getting wobbly."

"Warning. Critical implosion within. Thirty. Seconds."

Harrow was sobbing as he yelled. "No! Open! Open, please! I beg you!"

"What's wrong daddy? Why are you crying?"

"Ten. Seconds."

"You..." He sniffled. "You just make me...so happy... You...you know I love you, right?"

"Aw, of course! I love you t--"

Jewel Gift never got to tell him... What marked the end of the file was an explosion that would have been ear splitting if my PipBuck was at full volume.

It took me a solid minute of wiping away would-be tears and calming myself from that emotional roller-coaster before I even considered playing the last audio file. Right when I was about to play it, Yellow, seeming to have finished her game, approached me.

"Didn't notice you were up." Her gaze focused on the goggles. "What's that?"

"Oh uh...just something that I fo--" Yellow suddenly placed her hoof over my mouth, silencing me.

"Shh!" She looked around the room.

I moved her hoof aside before responding. "What?"

"You hear that?"

We stayed quiet for several seconds. I almost missed it, but I could hear the faint sound of gunshots through one of the doors. Yellow and I quickly switched from calm, to full alert, then ran to one of the doors and opened it. Pushing the heavy door aside, the sounds became louder and clearer.

"Crap!" I yelled. "The raiders found them!"

"We have to help them!" Yellow charged halfway through the doorway until I bit her tail, causing her to trip. "Hey!"

I spat out her tail. "You're not going anywhere!" I pointed back to the colts. "We can't go out there and leave these two here alone, and neither can we take them with us into a warzone! You're staying here with them! I'll go help them out!"

The colts seemed confused. Yellow looked to them, then to me, her eyes pleading. "But you might need me!"

"Yellow. If we go out there and DIE! Who'll get them home? No, it's better if you stay. If something happens to me, you'll be their only chance of getting them out of here!"

Yellow still seemed resilient, but couldn't come up with a good reason to come. "But...bu--"

"Hey!" Gag Pun shouted. "You don't speak for us! If we want to go with you, we're going!"

These kids are being unreasonable! "No! You're staying here where it's safe, and that's that!" What came next made me wish I kept my voice down.

"Hey!" An aggressive voice shouted from behind one of the other doors. "I fuckin' heard that! Guys! There's more of them in here!"

"Well break the door down!"

Seconds later, the door shook as raiders rammed the door; its hinges creaked loudly, ready to give out in a moments notice.

I turned back to the colts, my expression blank. "Ok. Never mind. You can come."

We bolted out of the lab, up the stairs, and exited into the garden. The storm had gotten worse during our time in the cellar; the rain was getting heavier and thickened to the point where it was difficult to see a few feet ahead as the wind neared hurricane levels. This however was fortunate for us, as it simply prevented the raiders inside from looking out the window and easily spotting us. Once we made it under the dead tree in the center, I held a hoof over my hat to keep it from blowing away as I used the E.F.S. to see where the red markers were concentrating. Focusing on the largest cluster, I saw five green markers near them, as well as the sound of gunfire coming from that direction.

I found them!

I then led the others to the entrance that was nearest the guild members, yet far enough away from the battle. Entering, I quickly pulled out Conversationalist when I heard clattering. At first I thought it was a raider loading a weapon, but after a couple seconds spent peeking around the hallway's corners and spotting no one, I turned to the others and found that the source of the noise was just the two colts. They were involuntarily shaking as their teeth clattered; we were only outside for less than a minute, but it was enough time to drench the colts.

I put my gun back in its holster, removed my duster coat, then wrapped it around the colts; leaving me in just my shirt, vest, tie, saddle bags, goggles, and hat.

"T-t-t-t-thanks..." Pansy stuttered as he and Gag Pun tightly wrapped themselves in my coat.

I walked into the hallway, then turned back to the three of them. "If you're gonna come along, follow from a distance, I'll scout ahead. Yellow, you watch them." She nodded after pulling out her own gun.

As I stalked ahead, several doors distance from the others, I used the E.F.S. to guide me to the guild members. The hallway we were in was similar to the first one Yellow and I searched; the water running down the windows made it impossible to see the garden and the only light we got was when lightning stuck, lighting everything for a fraction of a second. Judging by the sound of the firefight, Slim and the other members had set up a position somewhere and were currently defending themselves. I could take advantage of this, the raiders would be too busy with Slim and others, giving me a chance to catch some of them off guard and for the others to line up a shot and--why did that red marker quickly slide out of view and disappear!?

The answer to that question arrived when a raider jumped out and tackled me from one of the open rooms I was passing. Right! The E.F.S. marks direction, not distance! The raider and I struggled on the floor, despite this, I was able to spot Yellow aiming her gun at him.

"No!" I shouted. "The noise will--hmph--bring the others here!" Even if there was a gunfight currently going on, the other raiders would be sure to hear a separate gunshot and come running here, and I doubted we could fend them off with just the two of us while protecting the colts. We'd have to do this silently. "I can handle--ugh-- him! Just--be on the lookout for others!"

Yellow reluctantly lowered her gun, but kept it ready in case I were in serious trouble.

"I'm gonna gut'cha!" The raider yelled as he managed to pin me down, then reached his head over to his side and unsheathed a rusty hunting knife. With the knife held in his mouth, he tired to jab it in my neck but couldn't when my hoof held his head back. I was losing ground as the blade neared my throat; right when Yellow lined up a shot, I hit the side of his head with my Pipbuck. The hard metal was enough to cause him to drop the knife as he staggered back, allowing me time to get on my hooves, and Yellow to lower the gun again.

During that scuffle, I accidentally turned on the last audio recording I was going to listen to back in the cellar. It played as I fought with the raider.

For a while, there was only silence accompanied by the slight sound of breathing, then Harrow's voice spoke. His words were clear, but there was a slight hint of sorrow in his voice. "...It happened... None of us thought it would really come to this...but it did. The bombs were dropped..."

I quickly landed two hits on the raider's face before he countered. The goggles bounced around my neck as I barely managed to dodge two of his swipes, but took the third to the shoulder. Hoof-to-hoof combat wasn't exactly my forte, but I believed I was decent enough at it to take this guy on.

"I don't care that the world just ended...because the only thing I ever cared about..." His voice started to whimper and he sobbed for a couple seconds. "Oh, Jewel Gift..."

The raider brought his hooves up and tried to slam them over my head; his movements, however, were an obvious tell and I was able to dodge it then respond with an uppercut.

"W-when she was trapped in the testing room..." He sniffled. "It was like the day she was born... Me...watching her through glass. Her, so carefree and innocent. ...I-I'm sorry, Cherish! I promised you that I'd always watch her, but, right before it happened..." His cries became louder and incoherent. "I looked away! I...I couldn't bring myself to watch her die! Oh goddesses...I wish I didn't survive!"

The raider pulled his foreleg back, preparing to strike. I quickly got on my hind-legs and readied my forelegs to block it, but this was a trick! Instead of striking me, he pushed me, causing me to lose my balance and fall on my back. He then quickly picked up the knife and grinned around it.

Harrow made a dry, emotionless laugh. "And you know what the funny thing is...?"

The raider made a step towards me, but stopped and looked to his hind-legs in confusion. Seconds later he fell flat on his stomach, dropped the knife again, and was then dragged by some unseen force into the same room he emerged from. I caught a short glimpse at the look of horror etched on his face before the door slammed shut. There was a quick scream from the other side, then silence as the red marker that was the raider vanished.

My scar started to itch...

"Jewel Gift's 'friends' survived...if you could call that living." A soft click signaled that the recording ended.

Yellow and the colts ran up to me. "What happened?" Asked the amber mare.

I looked to Yellow, then the door in utter bafflement. "I...I don't know." I turned the doorknob, then nudged it open. With extreme caution I entered, turned on the PipBuck light and saw...nothing. The raider wasn't here, he simply vanished into thin air...

"What the?" Yellow said, searching around the room. "Where'd he go?"

I didn't answer her, not because I also didn't know, but because in-between gunshots, I could hear lots of ponies screaming in the distance. Their cries were similar to the raider's who just disappeared. Something was going on...and it wasn't the fight Slim was in...

I turned to the others and yelled. "We need to get to the others, now!"

The others followed me out of the room, towards the green markers. Right when we were about to turn a corner, raiders jumped out from around it, surprising us! However, what shocked us even more was the fact that they were ignoring us; instead they ran past us without even a second glance, each with fear on their expressions. I raised a brow as all of us watched the raiders flee, I then looked around the corner. With my vision slowly adjusting to the dark, I spotted a raider mare at the other end of the hallway, she was on her back, screaming as she was being dragged around the next corner.

What's going on here!? I was only picking up the raiders on the E.F.S. and nothing else! What could be dragging these ponies around like that, and where were they disappearing to? It couldn't be unicorn magic, there was no glow!

It was then that I felt something on my rear legs. It was a tingly feeling and I swear I could feel them being slowly pulled back--wait! Pulled back!? My hind-legs were then yanked out from under me, causing me to fall on my stomach, then dragged backwards.

"P.I.!" Yellow shouted as she chased after me.

I managed to flip onto my back and saw that I was being dragged towards a wall. On it was a small, glowing blue dot that then grew into a glowing circle, as it expanded, I recognized it! I was being dragged towards a gap! But how could this be here!? I thought they only formed when special particles gather! What could be causing it!?

It was then I remembered the goggles, and fumbled as I awkwardly tried to get them in place. The violet tint allowed me to see what was making the gap. I spotted the sandy looking particles from before, but these weren't like the ones from the memory, instead they were densely clumped together and formed what appeared to be dozens of fire-balls around the size of my hoof. Each one had the same color pattern: red for the outer layer, blue for the middle layer, and white for the center. Some of the spheres were encircling the gap while a few of them were on my hind-legs, somehow dragging me.

I couldn't see what was at the other side of the gap, but as I was being pulled towards it, lightning stuck. What I saw persuaded me to struggle even harder against the spheres. In those brief moments of light, I saw that the other end led into some sort of cave; the cave wasn't what freaked me out, what did was the fact that it was filled with mounds of bodies, both old and new. The smell of blood and decay made itself known, the bones of ponies were at the bottom of the stockpile while newer bodies, some of them still twitching, were piled atop them; two of them I recognized...Twofer and Mark Up... Something had used the jagged bones in the cave to stab them.

I tried to swat the spheres away, but my hoof just went through them! I managed to grab one of the nearby stands, but it just screeched along the floor, being dragged as well while I held on to it! Noticing that holding on to the stand made no difference, I let go of it, then felt something grab my hooves, momentarily stopping my momentum.

"I got you!" I looked up and saw Yellow's hooves gripping mine. For a moment there, I thought I was fine; that was until some of the glowing orbs gathered around Yellow's legs. "What the--?!" She fell flat on her chest, then dragged beside me. We were being drawn to the gap, side by side; if we got pulled in, we'd defiantly die! Strangely, I noticed that the orbs weren't bothering the confused colts, and instead only floated around them.

While sliding, I got to my hooves and grabbed the nearest surface; the door knob to the garden entrance. I was stopped, but the pull was still there. Yellow slid a bit further, then grabbed my rear legs. Seconds later, the orbs increased their efforts, which caused us to hover off the ground as I held on for the both of us. I tired to pull us away, but lacked the strength, it was as if gravity itself was pulling us towards the gap! All I could do was clutch the knob, anchoring us.

"I'm slipping!" Yellow shouted. It was true, I could feel her grip loosening...

"Just hang on!" I ordered as I tired again to pull us away. In my effort, I accidentally turned the knob, opening the door.

Rain and wind blew in from the doorway, and right when I was about to lose my strength, we fell to the floor. I landed with a grunt as Yellow did the same. I turned to the orbs and saw them fleeing from our legs, the ones that were encircling the gap stopped, then ran through it, causing the gap to close. The ones that didn't make it were caught in the wind; with the goggles, I saw the particles they were made from scatter like dust in the wind.

I tried to catch my breath as Yellow and I laid on the floor. "Lets...lets just find the others and get out of here..."

Yellow was quick to groan her response. "Agreed."

After running past more fleeing raiders, all four of us entered the large dining room where Slim and the other guild members were (including the floodlight ponies). The room consisted of a long wooden table, cabinets full of dishes and silverware, chairs, a large window looking out of the house, and a working floodlight that was probably set up before the combat happened, fully lighting the room. Slim and the others had managed to turn the bullet ridden table to its side and were using it as cover against the raiders who were shooting from a separate hallway.

Slim saw us enter, and gestured for the others to suppress the raiders that didn't flee; either these raiders didn't know what was going on just a few halls away, or they didn't care. Once the guild members leaned out of cover and fired, the raiders waited for the barrage to end; meanwhile all four of us took advantage of the situation and ran behind the table.

"I'm glad it's you and not more raiders!" Slim yelled over the raider's return fire. "I was about ready to toss a grenade in that hallway before I noticed it was you!"

"Slim, we need to get out of here!" I shouted as a bullet whizzed above our heads, scraping the table's edge.

Slim shielded his eyes from incoming wood splinters. "I'd love to, but in case you've forgotten, there's raiders up and about!"

I yelled back; my shoulders and hat sprinkled in wooden dust. "Raiders are the least of our worries right now!"

"What!?" Slim peaked through a newly made hole in the table, pointed the revolver held in his magic over the table, and fired. "You're not making any sense! What could be worse than--"

"They're charging!" Yelled one of the other guild members.

I looked over and saw that the raiders who lacked firearms were charging towards us; bludgeons and knives held in their mouths or magic. Yellow and I pulled out our guns and fired at them along side the others; we managed to mow some of them down, but a few of them made it to us and jumped over the table. One even landed a few feet from Yellow.

"Come 're, girly." Muttered the raider, a chair leg held in his teeth.

Yellow kept the colts behind her and aimed her gun at him. Click. She was out of ammo. I aimed at the approaching raider, but right when I was about to fire, another one jumped over and rammed into me, causing me to miss! Once I shoved the second raider aside, I used S.A.T.S. to get a quick head-shot. As soon as he fell to the floor, I aimed back to the first one and squeezed the trigger. Click. Now I was out of ammo!

I could see Yellow was trying her best to slide the new magazine into her gun with her hooves, but ended up clumsily dropping it. Seeing that I didn't have time to reload, I decided to charge the raider but stopped when she did something that surprised me.

She looked to the fallen magazine, her gun, then to the raider. "Fuck it!" She yelled before she flung her gun at the raider's face, momentarily stunning and confusing him. Yellow then charged toward him, the raider swung the chair leg, but Yellow effortlessly and gracefully dodged under it then stood on her hind-legs and used her forelegs to land pinpoint strikes on the unprotected sections of the raider's forelegs, chest, and neck.

The raider dropped the chair leg and went stiff before his legs gave out beneath him. "AH! YOU BITCH!" He shouted, wriggling his head, trying to look up at her. "I CAN'T MOVE!" He cursed at her for a few more seconds until Yellow landed a final hoof-strike to his neck, silencing him. I could see he was still breathing, meaning Yellow only knocked him unconscious.

"Well I'll be..." I looked back and saw Slim; he saw what just happened and his expression was the same as mine: baffled. "Those moves...was that Fallen Caesar Style?"

Yellow turned to Slim, then shrugged as she smiled awkwardly. "What? ...I don't know what you're talking about. I just got a few lucky hits in."

Before I could question her definition of 'lucky', more gunshots were fired, urgently reminding me of our more dire situation. The raiders with guns had managed to use their charging allies distraction against us in order to move to more preferable positions. I reloaded Conversationalist and went back behind the table, Yellow did as well after she picked up her gun and slowly but surely reloaded it.

"There's just no end to them!" Shouted one of the guild members.

"Keep shooting!" Slim lined up a shot and managed to kill a raider, only to have another pick up its fallen comrade's weapon and take its place. "We have to hold out until mornin'!" He had to duck when a cluster of them fired at his position. "Dammit! Have to use the frag!" The old unicorn fished around his bags, then pulled out what looked like a piece of metal in the shape of an apple with a pin at the top. Right when he was about to pull the pin, he stopped when he saw some of the raiders in the back row fall, then dragged into the hallway behind them. "What the?"

Moments later, everypony stopped firing at each other when furniture in the dining room began to violently shake. It was almost as if there was an earthquake, minus the earth quaking. Everypony anxiously scanned the room, almost as if they could feel something bad was about to happen. Immediately one the raiders screamed as she was lifted off the ground, then slammed against the ceiling, only for her to fall to the floor like a rag-doll. Seconds later, the same happened to another, then another. One then fell to the floor and was dragged into the dark hallway; futilely, he fired his weapon into thin air, only to hit nothing and scream as he was pulled around the corner.

I quickly placed the goggles over my eyes and saw something that made my jaw drop. A whole horde of fiery spheres were emerging from the hallway behind the raiders, I could see one of the floating raiders was just covered in them!

I grabbed Slim's shoulders and pointed to the dying raiders. "That! That's why we need to--"

I stopped when all the cabinets started to shake with intensity. Turning to them, I saw that the orbs where gathering around them, then opened the drawers, and pulled out the silverware. The remaining raiders screamed as fancy knives and forks started flying around the room, impaling themselves into the raiders; we had to duck as a few of them even lodged into the table.

"Ah!" I turned when I heard Yellow cry out in pain. One of the orbs floated over the table with a knife and slashed at her, cutting only her forehoof and Stable barding sleeve. She clutched her injured leg and turned to me. "I'm fine! It's not that ba--ugh!" She fell flat on her stomach after a dozen orbs gathered around her legs and started to pull.

"Crap!" I swiftly grasped her hooves and pulled. At the wall behind her, orbs started to encircle on it, slowly opening a gap to that cave full of bodies. I turned back to call for somepony to help, however, with the other members busy dodging eating utensils, and the colts cowering, the only one available was Slim. "Help!" He didn't here me; with the flood light pointing directly into the gap, he was too busy looking into it, specifically, at Twofer and Mark Up's bodies.

His mouth was moving, but it took him a couple tries before the words came out. "I...I got them killed..."

"Slim...Slim!" I shouted. A few seconds later, he quickly shook his head and turned to us.

"R-right!" He went to us, took one of Yellow's hooves, and started pulling as well.

My grip on Yellow's hoof was starting to loosen, and her blood wasn't helping! Think, P.I., think! What made the orbs leave us alone last time!? Uh...uh...we were being dragged, Yellow grabbed my legs, and I grabbed the door...uh...then...then...I accidentally opened it and...and the wind! The wind blew the spheres' particles away like candles! Ugh, but how am I going to suddenly make it breezy in here!?

Without letting go of her, I looked around the room. Raider bodies, scattered guns and casings, flying silverware; finally, my eyes rested on the grenade resting in Slim's open saddlebags. I eyed it for a couple seconds, then looked to the large window.

It's not a proper dining room bash if a window or two haven't been broken!

I let go of Yellow. "Hey!" She shouted.

"Shut up! I'm saving our lives here!" I quickly grabbed the grenade, pulled the pin with my teeth, and immediately chucked it across the room towards the window.

I grabbed Yellow's hoof again, then turned to Slim. "I'm really hoping you don't walk around with duds--"

An ear deafening explosion silenced those worries. The blast had shattered the windows and destroyed sections of the wall; with the raging storm outside, the room was effectively turned into a wind-tunnel. With the fierce winds entering the room, I watched as all of the orbs in the room had their particles dispersed, especially the ones around Yellow and the gap they were ready to drag her in; the gap they were making instantly closed once they were gone.

As she slowly got up, I yelled something at her, however, all she could hear was the wind howling.

"What!?" She yelled.

I had to yell even louder. "I said: 'this house is clean'!"

Half an hour later, the storm finally settled and with the raiders either dead or long gone, we were free to sit outside by the wagons, tending our wounds.

"Come on, show me that hoof." I gestured for Yellow to offer it, however, she held it near her chest.

"No, really. It's fine." She said meekly.

I chocked my head in both confusion and a bit of annoyance. "Yellow, I saw the blood. Heck, some of it is still on my hoof! So just give it to me so I can treat it."

Her eyes went to my outstretched hoof, then to her injured one. After a couple seconds, she reluctantly gave it to me; the knife had cut cleanly through the sleeve and left a nasty looking gash on her hoof. She winced when I carefully poked it. "Ow!"

"Heh, sorry. You can still feel it, so that's good." I pulled out a healing potion and poured some of it into her wound; she gritted her teeth as it started to close. It hadn't fully healed, so I poured more of the potion onto some bandages. I had to clean off the blood around her hoof before I wrapped it, so to do this I took out a water bottle and rinsed the blood off. "Let me just clean this off before I wrap--whoa." Once the blood had washed off, I noticed something on her amber fur; it kinda looked like a tattoo. I was only able to get a quick glimpse before she pulled her hoof away.

"I-I can do to the rest myself!"

"What was that? Yellow, do you have a tattoo?" I leaned in and tried to move the sleeve, only for her to slap my hoof away.

"Maybe..." She answered, less than enthusiastically.

"Well can I see it?"

She made a small laugh while rolling her eyes. "Tell you what. I'll show it to you, if you tell me your name..."

I opened my mouth, but found nothing to say. I then lowered my head with a small smile. "Touché, Yellow...touché..."

"Hey!" Slim calmly shouted as he approached us. "Get ready to leave; the other members should be here any minute, and after tonight, I'd gladly let them take over."

"Slim..." I said. "Twofer and Mark Up..."

"I know..." He sighed. "I saw..." He lowered his hat and covered his eyes. "It's my fault. I refused to heed Nor-bel's warnings, I passed them off as silly superstitions, and it ended up costing two stallion's lives because of it. You say the house is free of those 'apparitions' now, with those lenses?"

I nodded. "Yeah, when I looked around with the goggles for a couple minutes, I didn't spot any of them. They must have all been in the dining room."

Slim seemed relieved. "Good... I'll take responsibility for what happened to those two and make sure that the caps made from this venture goes to their families."

"That's surprisingly kind of you." Yellow said, looking up from wrapping the healing-potion-soaked bandage around her hoof.

"Heh, yeah well...after unknowingly sending two ponies to their deaths; you start to feel very, very old..." He shook his head. "Enough of my babble, I'll let you get ready." He then walked away to the others, then stopped and looked back to me. "Wait... I never mentioned Twofer and Mark Up's names."

"Uh..." Crap! I couldn't think of what to say.

However, Slim shook his head before walking away. "Never mind, doesn't matter."

Relieved, I turned to Yellow and saw she was still bandaging her hoof. "You gonna be done there some time soon?"

"I can--ugh--I can do it." She had to use her mouth and free hoof to wrap the injured one, I could see that it would take her a while.

I softly chucked, then climbed into the back of one of the wagons where I then pulled out the recollector and last memory orb. If we were going to leave, I might as well see what's on this.

To my shock, I wasn't in Harrow this time; in fact I wasn't even a stallion! Instead I found myself to be in a foal's body; before me was a mirror, and I could see whose memory this was.

Starting back at me was Jewel Gift; she was wearing the recollector on her head. The filly was in her room and seemed to be admiring herself, constantly adjusting the recollector.

Jewel smiled when got it to her liking. "Just like Princess Luna." She then moved over to the small table where stuffed animal's have taken a seat. "The royal tea party has begun." Right when she reached for the plastic teapot, a voice could be heard from behind the door.

"Jewel Gift?"

She looked to the door. "Yeah, daddy?"

"Have you seen your uncle Trotter's recollector? You know, that metal thing he puts on his head."

Jewel Gift moved her hoof up and felt it. "Uh...no."

"Oh. Well if you see it, you mind telling me?"

"Ok!" I could hear hoofsteps walking away. Once Harrow was gone, Jewel went back to her tea party. A minute later she sighed, seeming bored. "I wish there was somepony here to play with..."

Seconds later, there was a thump at her window. The filly curiously turned to it, got up, and opened it. She jumped when something fell in, at first I though they were bugs, but when Jewel got a closer look, I could see that they appeared to be a very tiny, very thin ponies with insect wings and antenna.

One of the creatures got up, then said something to Jewel; to me, it sounded like gibberish, but Jewel seemed to understand it.

"Oh, you're welcome. Why were you all outside the window?" The creature spoke again. "The wind blew you away? Heh, you're so tiny. You wanna join my tea party?" The creature seemed reluctant but gave in when Jewel Gift unwrapped a snack cake that was on the table.

The small creatures floated onto the table, then nibbled on small pieces of the snack cake, all this while Jewel served them imaginary tea. Moments later, Harrow's voice returned from behind the door.

"Jewel Gift, maybe it's in--" Right when the door knob was turning, the creatures suddenly jumped into the air and flew out the window. "--here. Oh...you did have it. Are you playing princess again?" He smiled as Jewel walked to the window and looked out. "What are you looking at, sweetie?"

"My friends, they just left..."

Harrow chuckled."You know sweetie, it's ok to have an imaginary friend or two."

Jewel hit her father's leg, causing him to laugh. "Their not imaginary! They were here!"

"Ok, ok, I believe you. I just need to borrow the crown really quick."

Right as her father was about to remove it, Jewels eyes looked over her father's shoulders and towards the window where a lot more of the creatures had gathered; a smile appeared on her face.

I placed the recollector in my saddlebags, then hopped out of the wagon where Yellow was awaiting me; her leg fully bandaged. The sky was starting to get brighter, as the sun rose behind the clouds.

"Ready to get the colts home, then head back to Tenpony?" I said, getting a nod from her. "We might still be able to catch Jackpot before he continues his route."

Once we got the colts, we separated from the guild members and walked towards the gates.

"You're not gonna tell our parents...are you?" Gag Pun nervously said.

Without skipping a beat, I replied. "Oh defiantly! " They had a look of pure terror on their little faces, causing Yellow and I to laugh. "For a bit there, you had Yellow and I believing that there were actual gho--" I looked back to the mansion, where I spotted a figure looking down at us from one of the windows. It's expression was blank and it kinda looked like...like Jewel Gift. I quickly looked away and picked up the pace away from the mansion. "Nope nope nope nope nope nope SO MUCH NOPE!"

Yellow and the colts sped up to keep up with me.

"P.I., what's wrong?"