Darkness. Pure. Darkness from the cave entrance of Mount Gallopmore.

Even with lit torches and strewn lanterns struggling to stay alight, there’s just a bunch of stalagmites everywhere inside the cave entrance of Mount Gallopmore. Up ahead, there were crudely-made shanties and rushing waters echo deep within the cave.

And more pony skeletons to go for. I hope that counts as ‘spooky scary skeletons’ for Tootsie, and that our exploration is brief. I really don’t want to run into crazed fruit bats, or even phantom ponies that are out for blood.

The cave isn’t exactly like the secret mining tunnel we barely escaped from the collapsed bakery shop. Not cramped either, but the ambiance is quite eerie from the looks of it. It just gives me an uneasy vibe to it.

Tootsie yelled, “Helloooo!”

Her voice echoed throughout the cave. I let out a worried expression, fearing that she may have inadvertently provoked the bats!

Huh… nothing it see--

SKREE! SKREE! SKREE! SKREEEE!

Oh fuck! Take cover!

Bob was cowering onto the ground, though Tootsie surprisingly watches the horde of bats fly out of the cave entrance, while I dove out of the way! Damnit, Tootsie, take cover!

Amazingly, none of the bats took a bite on us. They weren’t hostile unless provoked. We were thankful, but her antics nearly had us killed! What the hell were you thinking?! I shot up an angered glare at her as she responded with her looks expressing innocence.

“Oopsies. Sorry, Mr. Zero!”

Honestly, Tootsie. If you hadn’t led us into the cave for your ‘expedition’, we would’ve stayed in Stable Town! I rolled my eye in sheer annoyance from her. I know I shouldn’t yell at her (because of my lack of voice, hint hint), but she needs to understand the dangers she’s leading us in! She even managed to frighten her robo-scorpion friend here!

“Come oooon, Zero! I wanna see the cave inside!” Tootsie Roll practically begged to me. Fine, fine let’s go into the cave see if we don’t find anymore bats that’ll feast on us!

Reluctantly, I motioned my head at the two (with Bob skittering behind her out of fear) for us to venture inside Mount Gallopmore. But goddess damn it all if Tootsie’s gonna bring us to even more danger.

Only the torches and the barely-lit lanterns are the only things that’s keeping the darkness at bay. Since my PipBuck doesn’t have a flashlight feature, I can’t see in the dark. And no night vision to go for neither.

At least Tootsie can use her horn to light up the darkness, but since she’s a filly, even her spell is limited due to it not being fully harnessed yet. Bob can see well in the dark, though its not enough for him to guide us without the risk of getting ourselves gravely hurt or killed. Overall, I’m seeing nothing but crudely-made houses with cardboard boxes as bunk beds, with some pony skeletons to go for. This is becoming a waste of time.

We stopped in front of a large lake from a waterfall crashing down. According to my PipBuck, there aren’t any hostiles underwater. Good thing, too. I was going to let her know about going back to Stable Town, though the interface shows that there’s a five-word limit to it. Well, goddess damnit. You can’t expect me to use hoof-sign languages, Celestia! You know well I can’t perform this kind of action!

“Ooohhh.. pretty waterfall!”

As Tootsie took her time to admire the sights, I looked on the left and saw an unused medical clipboard and a pencil with a chair in front. They’re between the stalagmites, but I took a look at her before trotting towards the direction of the table with the clipboard and a pencil readily available. Gotta keep a close eye on her, she’s known to wander in crazy places…

Arriving there, I grabbed the pencil with my teeth and began to write down words from the clipboard. With enough clear writing (even if I needed a unicorn to write it down for me, Tootsie’s the only one and she’s currently stuck in her fantasy world!), I set the pencil down and grabbed ahold of the clipboard and trotted back to her. And thank the goddesses she’s still here or I’ll be facing a hundred years in the moon for my lack of proper foal-sitting!

I tapped a hoof to her shoulder to grab her attention and Tootsie replied with, “Yes, Zerooooo?”

I showed her the written clipboard that reads ‘Let’s go back to Stable Town’. I figured that we need to cut our exploring trip short.

Apparently, this filly gave me a pout.

“Awww… do we have toooo?”

I gave her an affirmed nod. And no, your feigned innocence isn’t fooling me.

“Fiiiiiine…”

Her whining is the least of my worries, but her own safety and Bob’s. I tossed the clipboard aside and motioned my head to follow me as we made our hilly exit from the cave entrance.

Outside, a Powder Ganger pony armed with a rocket launcher spotted hoofprints that lead inside the cave. It seems this one was sent by Taser as he spoke from the headset, “Found one of them hoofprints, sir! It could be one of the Fiends you were talking about! They’re probably inside that cave!”

Taser responded through the headset, “If that’s true, then make sure they stay inside the cave and see if they can try and escape! Cave them in, Boom Boom!”

Boom Boom floats up the rocket launcher and took his arm at the top of the cave and yelled, “Boom time!”

FWOOOOOSSHHH!!! BOOOOOMMM!!!

Soon, the boulders come crashing down and the entrance is completely blocked from entering or exiting. The explosive pony cheers for his efforts, “All right! Let’s see if they can get out of here now! Bastards.”

“Good! Now, head back to Camp Mayne Six, Boom Boom.”

Soon, he left the cave to return to Camp Mayne Six for a debrief.

We heard a faint, muffled explosion as we made our way out of the cave. Not sure where was it coming from, as most explosions could be heard throughout inside. What the hell? My PipBuck isn’t picking up any hostile activity, just a random explosion. Climbing up a rocky hill was surely steep enough, too! But we’re almost out of--

What the--?! Our exit’s been blocked! Boulders everywhere had completely blocked our exit! I let out a shocked expression from the unexpected sight as our exit has been sealed by large boulders, rendering it as inaccessible according to the PipBuck 1000… who did this?!

“Awww! Oh well! That means more exploration!”

Great… there goes our exit. Now how are we supposed to return back to Stable Town?! And its highly unlikely Tootsie can teleport us back there, as she’s both too young and her magic have yet to be fully harnessed. Guess we’ll have to backtrack yet again, to find another exit. The map from the PipBuck is like a maze; there’s a lot of pathways that only one can lead us out of Mount Gallopmore and that would be another blocked exit. It felt awfully dreary to go through all this again, especially after my previous saddlebag got ruined during our escape from the mine tunnels, along with some of the items I had.

Fine. More ‘exploration’ it is. Because my PipBuck can’t even get a goddess-damned glimpse on the dangers inside this cave. Only a light will show us the way out and Celestia isn’t giving us a way out to date.

We ventured back down and without taking unwanted decisions, we went straight ahead into the first pathway. A risky move means we’d have to go all the way back to where we were and choose a different pathway which would last an eternity and eventually dying out of hunger (of course, Bob won’t die but will sure find the nearest pond to short himself out). All I’m desperately hoping now is to see if this is the right path, and a five percent of that too.

If this filly hadn’t took us further down, we would’ve returned to Stable Town! Celestia, I’d rather be bathing in the scorching sun than to even babysit Tootsie Roll! My mind yelled out at the non-existent goddess. Up ahead, there’s a bridge section that leads a long way through the deep pond. No hostiles so far, but I don’t feel comfortable trying to get across without Bob falling off balance and drowning to his doom. Its too narrow and slick as well.

I hate to say that I’m not an excellent swimmer and the contents of radiation from the pond is either lethal or nonlethal, and either will result in me drowning to my death. To my left, there’s a ladder that leads up to the cliff and I’m sure as hell am not taking Bob with me. His claws are too powerful and could risk dislocating my shoulders if we tried climbing up.

Tootsie Roll pointed a hoof on the other side, “Look, Zero! I see lots of shiny things!”

Shiny things? Unless there’s a way out, there’s a really small percentage that she’s even right. We followed her as she led us to the edge of the cliff. Down below, there was a pit with a rare, glowing Ponelurk battling against a fire-breathing ant worker. Not sure how this counts as ‘shiny things’, but all the more for it to take on that insect and not us. Of course, I really can’t be comfortable about it.

And Tootsie was close to making unwanted noise when she was about to shout as I wrapped a hoof around her muzzle! Damnit, Tootsie! Do you want either or both of them to kill us?!

“Mmmphh!!” Tootsie roll let out a muffled shout.

I really can’t let her cause foal-ish noises and we looked on, the Ponelurk (or in this case, a Sparklelurk due to its bright blue body coated all over it) prevailed against the fire ant worker, amidst severe injuries it had during its duel against the ant worker with burn damage.

Once the Sparklelurk turned around to look at us, I released her muzzle and quickly pulled out the SDM-9 sniper rifle and crouched down to take a careful aim at it. Going into S.A.T.S. to get a better aim at its small face and with a high hit chance, I opened fire at it three times.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

It wasn’t enough, but enough to nearly kill it. It started to make its way up to us, but Bob made sure he was ready to finish it off as he took aim with his laser tail and fired it off before it charged to us. It didn’t made screeching noises? Huh… maybe the other Ponelurk I met was a charger-type. This one… looks like a Sparkle-Cola version of it.

Was it tainted? Or was it inherited like this? Either way, I nodded to Bob in thanks as Tootsie took a curious look at the now-dead Sparklelurk.

“Ooohh… its glowing! I knew I saw shiny things!”

I deadpanned at her comments. Surely you know there’s a difference between shining and glowing, right?

At least its dead, and looking right I saw another tunnel entrance from the pit, albeit a little smaller this time. I turned to Bob and Tootsie Roll and motioned my head to let’s go. Heading down to the bottom without falling off, we stopped to look at the entrance. I let out a shudder from the sight from the small-ness to it. Damn claustrophobia…

“Let’s go in, Zero!” Tootsie told me. I’m not really sure, its just pitch black darkness inside and I-- of wait, Tootsie will just show us the way forward. D’oh! I forgot that she’s a unicorn filly who can use her horn to bring the light into the dark horizon. As her pure white aura lights up, she was the first to enter the tunnel, “Follow me!”

What, is this filly the leader now? Since when she’s the one bossing us around?! I’m way older than you, you know…

But whatever, just lead us a way out or get us even more lost. Its your call, after all.

At least we’re not finding anymore hostiles, but with different pathways means anything can and will happen at any time. The worst of all is the closeness of the cramped tunnel surrounding me as I’m doing my best to just not look at them!

Let’s just hope there’s an end to this tunnel or I’m getting dreaded thoughts in me.

“We’re almost there!” Tootsie Roll told us. We could see an exit and I let out a shuddering sigh. Goddess how much I hate enclosed spaces…

We exited the tunnel, but now we’d have to climb up there for the next one. Groan! I’d rather drown in a bottomless lake instead of having to go through a narrow tunnel again!

On the plus side, there’s a small campfire with a frying pan that’s been too much of use. I figured a quick brunch will suffice before we continued on to venture deep within the cave. Two cans of Pork N’ Beans for me and Tootsie? Good enough.

After our lunch and brief rest, we trekked up the steep hill to see another tunnel entrance. It was bigger than the previous one, even with torches hung against rocky walls as I let out a relieved sigh. Good, at least I don’t have to worry about the tunnel’s extreme closeness to me! But I’m still worried if we’ll ever find a way out or be trapped inside forever.

As Tootsie strutted along into the cave, I began to follow her with Bob following us as well. I began to think, How will we ever make it out and head back to Stable Town? Sweet Cheeks clearly warned us about Mayne’s uncertain situation yet this filly here downright ignored it and me, being forced to follow her! And there’s a wide number of pathways that only one of them is our ticket out of here.

What’s even more worrying is that oxygen’s quite limited unless there’s a nearby lake that supports it without having us to suffocate to death. Along the way, I looked to the left and there’s an open passageway that leads into an open area. THere’s even a small shanty house with a terminal set on the table. I wonder…

I poked a hoof onto her back as she looked at me, as I pointed my hoof to the passageway before we went inside.

“Ooohhh… a secret passageway!”

Not likely. I’m surprised that my PipBuck couldn’t detect it. But, its due to it not having a flashlight put to it. Thanks, Olive Oil.

When we arrived, I opened up the terminal. Sadly, its broken.

“Terminal Corrupted
Unspecified Error Occurred”

Underneath the table were to ammo boxes. I hope one of them are unused sniper ammo inside, because finding ammo is quite scarce inside. Of course, this isn’t really a surprise; its locked. I turned to Tootsie and pointed a hoof to the ammunition box as to have her lockpick for me.

“Ooohh! Don’t mind if I do!” Soon enough, she floated out a screwdriver and a bobby pin as she beings to pick the lock. WIth no difficulties, she pops the lock open.

“Ta-da! All yours, Mr. Zero!”

For a young filly, she does it better at lockpicking than I do! Way to go! Opening up a lock and I saw 20 shotgun shells and one, unused sniper ammo case. I grabbed it with a hoof and disregarding the shells inside. That was it, and a lucky guess too. Just a useless terminal and a dead-end to go for. Might as well head back to the original path we were in.

It wasn’t without echoed footsteps from far away, even though we were inside the tunnel. I turned my head back and mentally spoke, Who’s there?

I checked to see from the PipBuck and there weren’t hostiles. I’m hearing things now…

And to top it off, I’m really thirsty. I avoided the lake earlier because I wasn’t too sure if it even contains radiation or not. The good news is that we’re almost out of the tunnel. Up ahead there was a waterfall and a lake as I desperately licked my lips out of thirst (Pork N’ Beans weren’t enough!) before quickly galloping to the lake and took a drink. Even without my vocal chords, I was now able to swallow it a little easily and this lake is free of rads too!

My thirst’s now quenched although Tootsie Roll here immediately took a dip into the lake, “Wheeee!”

Me and Bob quickly dove out of the way from her cannonball. Damnit, Tootsie! Are you trying to inadvertently kill your own friend?!

Outside, a fully-armored pony scouts around the mountainous range of Mount Gallopmare, taking a full scan on the landscape. It seems that its searching for something.

“Hmm… there’s three now? One of them has got to be that colt I just rescued two days ago…”

Its voice was slightly robotic and distorted due to the full face helmet being worn that conceals the identity. The armored pony flew around the mountain range. Seeing the entrance blocked off by rubble, the unknown pony merely trotted to it. It tapped a hoof in thought and spoke in a distorted voice with a sigh, “Blocked. Need to look for another way in, I suppose.”

And with that, the unknown, armored pony flew back to find an alternative entrance to locate the three inside.

Great. Tootsie Roll got her very own swimming pool to swim at. At least she’s not getting me and Bob wet, and she would know better that her friend despises water! Bob was right behind me, using me as a shield should the overly-ecstatic filly perform another cannonball into the small lake again. And I am not getting my lab coat soaked, especially with my saddlebags again! I can’t have Bob go and fetch a spare one!

Tootsie just kept on swimming as if she was taking swimming classes, even if this cave isn’t some common classroom whatsoever. Water kept splashing against the ground and narrowly missing us before I stamped my hoof against the ground to stop her antics. Indeed, she stopped swimming around as she glanced at me, “Want to take a dip? Its fuuuun!”

I quickly shook my head to her in response. This isn’t fun and games; we need to leave this cave now! I motioned my hoof as a ‘let’s go’ gesture to her.

“Aww… do we have to?”

I gave her a stern nod. If we stick around any longer, anypony would’ve eventually found us and kill us! Or worse!

I was given a pout in return, “Fiiiine… we’ll keep exploring this boring cave.”

Boring? Boring?! Did you not see me coming this close to cowering from the closeness of the small tunnel you took us along the way?! Tell me that this wasn’t boring!

As she went out of the lake, she shook herself dry and sprinkling me wet in return. Gee, thanks Bob for using me as a living shield. At least you didn’t have to short yourself out.

Now then, let’s go before somepony does something she’ll regret!

At least I wasn’t too wet from seeing Tootsie dry herself up, but now I’m just really eager to get out of this cave.

The rocky walls were engraved with various letters filled with utter nonsense, none giving out any directions on exiting the cave. I suppose somepony was really bored and decided to write stuff all over the walls as if to describe how many days he/she/they have endured while being trapped in a cave. I can only assume that whatever this was written, its a bunch of words battling against each other.

Up ahead, there were more stalagmites to go for, acting as a corridor for our current pathway, with straws handing on the ceiling. I sure hope they don’t come crashing down on me. And thus, we ventured through while also making sure Tootsie’s outbursts in check. I really don’t want to see her trying to climb through them.

The pathway isn’t too narrow, though the closeness is getting me rather uncomfortable. On a positive side, its just one pathway that’ll hopefully get us out of here. The negative side? We don’t know what’s gonna be up ahead, so I’ll have to assume the worst.

Halfway there, there were a bunch of skittering noises echoing the cave and followed by a series of warnings from my PipBuck. As I glanced at it (with some of its lighting left inside), it was flooded with red! Damnit, thousands of reds coming this way! Only it wasn’t approaching us all in one corner, they were crawling from the walls; hundreds, maybe thousands of the same fire ants coming our way! I quickly tapped both of my hooves at the two before motioning my head as to make a gallop for it!

Tootsie glanced at the army of ants and shrieked, joining us for a mad escape. Even Bob can’t take on an army of fire-breathing ants and he skittered ahead than us. Every corner we find forces us to navigate through and also brings the ants one step closer for the kill and turn us into living barbecue!

And if that wasn’t enough, we suddenly fell into a large hole from the ground and resulted us to tumble all the way back down until we reached the bottom! And fuck me it hurt so goddamn much!

So goddamn much that I went as far as to get my hind-leg crippled from the harsh landing, hearing the sickening noises from my bones being cracked as I speechlessly screamed out in sheer pain. I held onto the crippled hind-leg, but the worst is yet to come; Tootsie had hurt herself when a small, jagged rock had managed to jam its way into her fore-leg, her screams and cries in agony was like an arrow striking deep into my heart. Oh goddess no…

Bob had scrapes and dents all over his body, but its now the least of my worries. Tootsie’s hurt and he’s gonna pin the blame on me! As I shakily got up, Bob was quickly skittering over to her to comfort her while I looked at the two, “I-It h-huuuurts!! My hoof huuurttss!!”

Oh damn… I don’t have any healing potions or stimpaks to go for; I had to spend the last few remaining caps to stay at Stable 75 for one night… I simply leaned back against a rock, letting out a pained but saddened sigh. We were far from these killer ants, but its only a matter of time before they would make their way into the pit and chase us again. I can’t make a gallop for it now that my hind-leg broke from a harsh landing.

Bob carefully clamped his metal claw onto the rock that’s leaking out blood and began to pull it off of her hoof. Tootsie let out a pained scream, “Aaahhh!!! S-Stooop!!”

Her screams resulted in my heart to slowly tear itself apart, and my ears folding back. Bob kept pulling the jagged rock off of her despite her pleas, which resulted her to sob and cry more before he rock was finally pulled free as it left a small hole into her wound and blood slowly flowing out.

I just want to get out of here… why bring me here in the first place? To watch you get hurt and hear your pained screams? As my mind spoke out, it was becoming a reminder of Solar Eclipse being in total agony from both of her hooves amputated and bleeding profusely, leaving me no other choice but to put her out of misery. But to do so on a filly is a crime against ponykind! I won’t allow it! You can’t make me, Goddesses!

Up ahead, I could see blurred-out objects with one of them being yellow. I can’t tell what it is, But at least Bob is carrying her onto his back. He’s a robot of course, and had no issues in retrieving my new saddlebag he found. I just hope he doesn’t have to carry me around. Not without risking excess weight as the ants skittered halfway inside the pit. I limply followed Bob as he already got his head start and went to the pathway that leads to a forked road. I was lagging behind a little thanks to my crippled hind-leg, but I managed to see a yellow box with pink butterflies to it.

I slumped my hooves on the ground and frantically opened up the box. One used stimpak, and the other unused… seems rationing the stimpak is out the window, isn’t it? I’d use it on myself, but its best that Tootsie needs it more than I do. I grabbed it with my teeth and slowly trotted over to Tootsie. My response was her terrified expression from the stimpak, “Waahh!! I don’t want needles!!”

Bob wasn’t hostile towards me from her reaction, and a good thing too. At least he’s more worried for her friend than to try and burn me into pony ashes. I need to treat her wound or she’ll continue to bleed.

Just hold still, I need to heal you. You need it more than I do, young Tootsie…

Even if my condition is getting serious, saving this filly will at least get her up to her hooves. I carefully injected it onto her hoof, being careful as to not poke her open wound. There… you should be feeling better in no time…

I dropped the now-used stimpak and leaned back against a rocky wall, panting harshly now as my crippled hind-leg felt like I was standing in hot coals! And every time I trotted brought much more pain than usual while making our mad escape.

Tootsie got to her hooves, her hoof still showing a visible wound though it now stopped bleeding, “Yay! I’m all better!”

Heh. Yay indeed. I pointed a hoof to the left pathway, indicating that we should go to this path if we’re to lose them.

“Ooohhh… no right, then?”

I shook my head. We don’t have time to second guess, as skittering noises were nearing in.

She lets out a happy squee and looked at Bob, “Race ya!”

Hey, wait up! I trotted slowly as to not harm my hind-leg even further as the two raced off. Goddess dammit all…

We were far enough for a legion of fire ants as they went on a different direction instead. The bigger problem right now for me is that I collapsed down onto the dirt ground, just close to the strewn cardboard used as a bed. No more trotting…

On a plus side, Tootsie Roll and Bob weren’t far and they were nice enough to come back for me. Despite her scatterbrained nature, its amazing how she quickly got over her fear of needles just for the sake of having to stop her wounded hoof from bleeding further. Now all that’s left is me and with no healing potions or anything that can repair the bone in me. For now, all I have to do is suffer as Bob carefully dragged me to the bed by clamping his claws at my fore-hooves. Maybe if we rest up, I’ll feel better. Just maybe…

Outside of the mountain range, the armored pony flew around and took a small glance at the four statue heads depicting four princesses; Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Twilight. It took another scan to see if there’s an opening. It flew towards Luna’s open mouth and turned on the flashlight from its shoulder.

“I’m getting closer to them... and one of them has to be the same pony I found a few days ago.”

The armored pony flew into the statue of Luna’s open mouth and inside was a large cave filled with stalagmites to go for, along with rushing waterfalls in different areas. It carefully navigated through stalagmites as it could see three unidentified ponies (one of them wasn’t a pony) and glided through a narrow opening.

It flew onto the ground as the armor made soft clanking noises, recoiling back a bit fearing that it would have disturbed the three.

It let out a robotic and static-like sigh of relief, “Whew. That was too close for comfort. Now then…”

The unknown armored pony looked to the right and saw me (I was asleep and took no notice amid my crippled hind-leg letting out a pained twitch), “You again. And you’re hurt as well. Typical.”

Bob whirrs awake, with Tootsie Roll resting next to him as the robo-scorpion turned around to see an Enclave-armored pony, letting out a curious whirr. He saw it inject a needle from a portable syringe from the shoulder armor. He took aim at it with concerned, beeping noises as if intent on shooting the unknown pony.

“Relax. I’m here to heal your friend. Consider yourself lucky that I’m not here to kill him or you two, especially with a mechanical stimpak that can only be used once. I advise that you look after him.”

The robotic scorpion lets out a confused whirr upon realization that the armored pony meant no harm to me, as I was unaware that my hind-leg was healed and mended. Of course, this led me to toss and turn briefly as I let out a quiet mutter, implying that I’m hearing things. Even if I wake up, I just don’t have the strength to found out who or what it was. Probably Celestia who felt pity for me.

“Now before I go, I must write something down for him. Wake him up in three hours and show this to him.” The armored pony told Bob as it turned to face a strewn clipboard and a barely-usable pencil as a hoof was it crouched down and raised its helmet with a hoof, the muzzle revealing to be rounded and grabbed the pencil before writing it down. Bob had simply looked on, lowering his tail after seeing it not being hostile to him or the others.

After the slightly unmasked pony had finished writing, it puts the pencil down and carefully sets the clipboard next to me before putting the helmet back on, “Done. I shall wait outside. Three hours, no more than that. Your friend should fully recover soon.”

Once the armored and unnamed pony left, Bob looked back at the clipboard lying next to me. Of course, he went back to standby mode as to resume sleeping for the next three hours.

Three hours later and Bob woke up from his standby mode and skittered to me, prodding his metal claw against my head as I fidgeted a little before slowing waking up. I turned my head to him and gave him a ‘What is it?’ look. As I rubbed my hoof against my tired eye, Bob pointed at the clipboard that was lying next to me. I glanced down at the said clipboard.

Hmm? What’s this? ‘Meet me outside’? Is this another sign of the Wastelands that’s waiting to strike me hard like Luna’s strong buckings? Clearly this wasn’t written by the Goddess herself. And what outside? It hasn’t been a day, but its surely been hours since being caved in after our exit was blocked off by large boulders!

I slowly got up to my hooves and motioned my head to Bob as to wake Tootsie up as I went to get my saddlebags and my sniper rifle. The young filly let out a soft yawn upon being poked by her robo-scorpion friend as she opened her eyes, “Mmmnn… morning, Bob…”

Its not morning though it is getting fairly dark (unless its still daylight outside, then I'm not sure). I turned on the PipBuck radio and see if there’s any signal. Static. Turning it off before I looked at the two, my saddlebags and sniper rifle with me. Amid my concern after seeing her hurt herself, I waved a hoof to them to let’s go ‘outside’, as the clipboard implies. Of course, my eye caught on hoofprints. These were never here before…

If there was somepony inside already, I could’ve died already. At least not from Dr. Scalpel and his sinister intentions on cutting me up alive. I haven’t seen him whatsoever, so he could be anywhere.

“Ooohh… hoofprints! A mystery!”

I nodded to Tootsie. She has a point, an unknown presence of somepony is a mystery. In fact, these hoofprints are slightly bigger than any other hoofprints that were found! But who?

The trail ends here; a dead end. I looked up and saw a barely lit light way up above. What, did the Wastelands just mistook me for a pegasus?! They should know damn well that I can’t fly! I let out a quiet yet frustrated groan before I stamped my hoof against the ground, which inadvertently pressed a button as the dead-end suddenly creates a new path by having stalagmites push forward and reveal a secret passageway down the stairs. Tootsie and Bob looked on with surprise.

“Ooohhhh… you found a secret passage, Zero! You’re a genius!”

My high intellect doesn’t translate to good luck, Tootsie. It just happened.

Let’s see what this secret path has to offer us. Probably either fire ants waiting to roast us to death or just a common Raider carving us up like living art.

Its a secret facility! This deep inside the Mount Gallopmare caves? I wonder who’s in charge of this abandoned facility? Either way, it has at least one terminal next to the door as I let out a sudden, determined grin. This could be our ticket out of here! I opened up the terminal and the screen gave me a wide variety of silly names, including pony names. Alright… you can do this, Zero. You got this one in the bag. Even with those many names can’t outwit my scientific genius!

Let’s see… Trenderhoof? Let’s try that!

Denied. Three chances left.

Hmm… maybe try Lionheart?

Denied again. Two more left. And what kind of name is Lionheart anyway? Is it a lion with a strong heart? I dunno, but I seriously need to get this damn door open! And after wasting another chance, I feel like I’m starting to become too overconfident.

Relax, Zero! These words are mocking you! Choose one carefully…

There’s got to be a trick word somewhere, I just know it! Hmm…

“Try awareness!”

Awareness? Not sure if Tootsie’s right, but might as well give it a shot or risk getting locked out of the terminal!

I heard the terminal let out a successful beep. It is awareness! Good job, Tootsie Roll! I patted her head with a hoof as a token of gratitude as I turned my attention to the terminal and unlocked the main door. It slowly opened, revealing our hopes of escaping the dreaded caves! I was afraid if there are any hostiles waiting for us, but thank the goddesses that my PipBuck has picked up none. Good.

There were descending staircases and a small shelf on the left. This must be our exit! I went inside first and-- waitaminute. I glanced at… something. Looking left, curiosity turned my head on what appears to be a statuette. In this secret facility? The mare’s mane and tail were bunched-up together like balloons…

And pink to go for, too! She’s an earth pony like I am, though. I hope this isn’t the result of thievery, but why leave it behind? I looked at the two, wondering if I should take it.

Tootsie took a glance at the statuette in amazement, “Ooohh…. go on, Zero! Take it! Nopony’s watching except me and Bob! Besides, we didn’t know your favorite color is pink!”

What?! My favorite color isn’t pink! Not like I’m into girly stuff anyway… looking close, the name of the statuette was Pinkie Pie. Huh? What’s a Pinkie Pie? The other day I saw from the terminal was Maud Pie. I suppose that they’re related to each other, but I guess Tootsie’s right. Not like its a trap or anything so I grabbed ahold of it with my hoof and suddenly, magic surge began to surround the statuette as I jumped back in surprise! What the--?!

Both Tootsie and Bob looked on with surprise as the Pinkie Pie statuette glowed before our very eyes. The magical energy had made its way into me and even with my single eye that makes up for my permanently-damaged right eye, my eyesight has greatly improved! I can see clearly now, and my senses were sharpened as well!

“Awareness! It was under ‘E’!”

Whoa, what the buck?! Am I hearing Pinkie’s voice in me?! And what was this Awareness she told me about? Unless… it was the letter from the terminal I didn’t see before Tootsie Roll pointed it out for me. I smiled softly, seeing that even though this filly can get rather emotional at times, she’s proven useful even if she could be wandering around in ten different places!

I got up from my hooves and motioned my head to the two as we began to trot down the stairs, with Tootsie and Bob following me downstairs.

I began to think while making our hopeful exit.

Whatever your silly name was, thanks for making me see and think better. I owe you one, Pinkie.

My response was a “You’re welcome!” inside my head. Heh, who’d knew this Pinkie Pie can be psychic? As for the ‘under E’ part? Quite a handy quote.

Outside!

We’re finally outside! Although our lengthy trek down the stairs was enough for the skies to plunge into bitter darkness again. Of course this had to happen. Before I could think on whether the clipboard lied to me or not, I turned on the radio with a fresh signal to go for. As I listened on, I heard the news instead of music.

“Goooood evening Equestria! This is DJ Pon3 with some breaking news!

“If you’re intending on visiting New Hampshore, then this city is purely off-limits even to residents! Its overrun with wild Cazadores bent on chaos! Like getting stung by killer bees, only far, far worse than just a bee sting, children.

“Rumors are beginning to spread, especially with a lone scientist having just escaped from the lab! Just like a lab rat, no pun intended of course, who has escaped from its cage in search of new discoveries! Perhaps we’ll be seeing more of this silent scientist fellow!

“And with that, this is DJ Pon3! Spreading the news no matter where you’re from. Back to the music!”

That… was unexpecting. Who was DJ Pon3? And how did he knew about me?! More importantly however, is the chaotic situation regarding New Hampshore. I winced a bit as I closed my eye, a flashback was starting to hit me.

I could see myself fending myself against a Cazador that emerged from the walls while dining on a stale donut. I was barely alive when it stung me before I managed to kill it. It was really lethal yet then antivenom had helped a lot, which of course led me into unconsciousness from the stimpak I used on me. And another were huge buzzing noises inside a ruined skyscraper. I realized that it was used as a breeding hive and were planning to overthrow New Hampshore all along. Who knows what’ll happen if Lab-00 was fully destroyed! And even if I go back, how will that end? Their numbers were overwhelming and now the already-destroyed city is a playground for killer Cazadores to stay in.

If what this DJ Pon-three said was true, then I was right of leaving New Hampshore and Lab-00 for good. But I hope all the staff members are all right while I was on a permanent leave.

After some lamentation, I motioned my head at the two and proceeded to follow the blip of the E.F.S. Even though the pony waiting to meet is far away, the dense forest doesn’t stop me from navigating through. Again, thank you Pinkie for giving me increased sight.

It was a fairly long search, although the PipBuck told me that its still straight ahead. The blip never moved at all, not one bit. I hope the clipboard I just read wasn’t lying to me, or I’ll be greatly disappointed.

“Look!” Tootsie pointed a hoof at a figure. Hmm… is that the pony?

As we trotted closer, it turned its head to us. It told us with a distorted voice inside the helmet, “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Waiting for me? What did it want from me? I tilted my head curiously at the armored pony.

What does it want? My mind curiously wondered. And a lone Enclave pony to go for? Hmm...

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Vigilant Recycler - When using Magical Energy Weapons, you are twice as likely to recover drained ammunition. You also have more efficient recycling recipes available at workbenches.