We made it back to the surface! Still dark and gloomy, but we made it! Only except… where are we?

“What is this place?” Gale scanned around abandoned buildings, unsure. As we left the freight elevator, I looked at the map of the PipBuck.

Hmm… Conneticolt? No wonder why those buildings are so abandoned akin to New Hampshore (minus the Cazadores). I began to search for a different one, and has a lot of things to offer, including searching for anypony. Sweet! Now, let’s see…

‘Last seen Quickdraw?’

And it looks like I can write my PipBuck down again! It then spoke:

“Searching…

“Quickdraw was last seen in Conneticolt. Last location unknown.”

So Quickdraw is around here somewhere. Not sure where, but we need to start searching. And we’re totally not separating.

“Looks like we’ll have to start searching for Quickdraw. Where do we start off, Zero?” Gale asked me. There are a couple of undiscovered places of interests to find, but the E.F.S. has not detected any living beings; friendly or hostile. But before I could lead my team, Lightspeed took a curious look at me, “Zero, what has happened to your eye?”

Huh? My right eye? I moved my mane with a free hoof and presented her my permanently-damaged right eye, with a red scar that was shown vertically through it.

“Oh… how did this happen?”

I wrote down the words from my PipBuck from the note feature (and with no word limit as well) before writing down a couple of words and showing it to Lightspeed, reading as ‘I got attacked by a Raider’.

“Damn. Well, at least they didn’t cut off your own head and mount it on a pole.”

Heh. Tell me about it. But its nothing compared to how I’m unable to fully speak whatsoever. And unless there’s a reliable voice modulator that could help emulate my voice, a surgery is too risky for the time being - not to mention not having enough caps to perform this kind of augmentation.

I pointed to the direction we’re going; an abandoned department store. Gale gave me a nod as I began to lead the way, “Got it. Let’s go, ponies.”

Once we arrived, I noticed a blip appearing on the E.F.S.; its green, but I wouldn’t get too comfortable.

Gale looked over me and asked, “Do you think this Quickdraw is inside?”

I merely shrugged. I really can’t be sure if its true. Even my new PipBuck isn’t sure if its really Quickdraw. But whatever’s inside, it could be anypony. And there are ponies who are eager to greet us with bullets all over us.

Aside from a poor slogan draped against the wall, we went inside. And we’re gonna expect resistance while searching for Stable Town’s mayor.

This place was ransacked, with many shelves being strewn all over the floor. And all items for us to retrieve were also pilfered. And to top it off, a sea of red blips appear on the E.F.S. that also obstructs a green blip. Well this is a ‘great’ way to start it off. Whoo-fucking-hoo.

We didn’t happen to find any obvious hostiles from here. The PipBuck 4000 displays red blips with a down arrow, meaning that they’re below us. Bob immediately skittered onto my back and let out a few beeping noise, pointing a claw at the shelves as to indicate that he can’t climb onto it. Of course he can’t; Bob doesn’t have a jump feature.

I nodded to the three as I began to climb onto overturned shelves, looking up ahead were descending stairs that faces to the left side.

“Why do ponies take stress on shelves? Its stupid! They shouldn't even be this messy!”

To be honest I have no clue either, Tootsie. Probably a shop owner having OCD of some sort. Either way, all the items were taken away without leaving a single can of food behind. What matters is finding and rescuing Quickdraw and bring him back to safety.

What we found downstairs is what appears to be a hoof-ful of rooms that lead into wine cellars. I seriously don’t want to think of drinking right about now. Up ahead is a closed, wooden door that are guarded by two Securitrons; they were covered in spray paint, with black spray paint completely covering up their faces. No doubt they’re hostiles and if those are the work of Raiders, then they sure as hell managed to tamper them in order for two Securitrons to do their unforgivable bidding. Their rocket arms were also aimed at us at the ready!

Fuck! I quickly pointed a hoof at the wine cellar room,as to tell them to take cover as I went in the opposite side of the room! I sure as hope they don’t fire at us, or the blast radius could shatter a hell of a lot of wine bottles that could not only flood in the area, but it could also kill Bob if any liquid could soak him up! Goddesses dammit all…

“Scanning… No threat detected.”

Whew! Good! We need a tactic to take them down; we can’t charge in and attack. Not without having our body parts being blown to smithereens or even cause a major flood from wine bottles bursting open from a rocket blast with the possibility of drowning us all - and not all of us here are waterproof.

Gale whispered to me (who is at the opposite side of the room next to me), “There’s only one entrance for us to get to Quickdraw, Zero. What should we do?”

I wrote down the three words from my PipBuck, as Bob utterly refuses to get off of my back due to the intact wine bottles stored behind us. I carefully showed her the screen as it was written down as ‘Divide and Conquer’.

“But how--” I waved a hoof to interrupt her as I accessed into the map interface from the PipBuck and began to draw a couple of lines with a hoof; one line involving going to the open door that leads to the exit of the cellar, the other line the same thing - with me and Gale staying in this area in hopes that Lightspeed and Bob can distract them both while we aim and fire them. Hopefully the ex-Enclave will get the idea because I’m not a damn unicorn.

“Hmm.. oh! I see now! That means you and me should stay while the other three should distract those tainted Securitrons, right?”

Yes, and no. We’re not putting an innocent filly into the crosshairs. I glanced at Lightspeed and pointed a hoof at Tootsie before shaking my head to indicate that we can’t be putting her in danger. The partial cybermare gave me a nod and gazed to Gale, “The filly stays with Zero. Me and Bob will distract them.”

Bob skittered off of my back and curiously glanced to Lightspeed with a soft, whirring noise. She glanced back at him and informed the robo-scorpion, “You, go to the opening on the left to distract the Securitron. I myself will go to the right side. Tootsie, stay behind Zero. You two, open fire when we distract them.”

We gave her a nod as we prepped ourselves with Plasma Rifles as I took a careful aim at the Securitron from the left side, with Gale going for the right. Now we wait for the signal…

Both Bob and Lightspeed positioned themselves as they faced against those tattered Securitrons. Bob emitted a beep while Lightspeed yelled out, “Hey, blockhead! I’m over here!”

The two immediately turned their attention to Bob and Lightspeed and began to aim their rocket arms at them. Oh fuck! Need to go to S.A.T.S., and fast!

Alright, good ol’ S.A.T.S.! Now, I instructed Gale Storm to take down the Securitron on the right and mine on the left. And we need to take them down fast, or we’re gonna have too many problems in our hooves! We can’t let them blow up the wine cellars and risk having both Bob and Lightspeed blown to smithereens. Now… here I go!

PRRRROOOWWW!!! PRRRROOOWWW!!! PRRRROOOWWW!!! PRRRROOOWWW!!!

Neither I nor Gale missed our shots and they were both taken down. They weren’t dissolved into goo, though some of them were eating through metal compartments as they were already on the ground. Yes!

“Yeah, we did it!” Gale cheered, as Tootsie was usually covering her ears to muffle out gunfire. However, our victory was just temporary; a sea of red blips were still shown as we heard muffled noise behind the door.

“What the fuck was that?! You, Collateral Damage! Go and check our Securitrons!”

Uh oh.

I quickly motioned my hoof to Gale, as if telling her to hide! I quickly shut the door and went to retrieve Bob before shutting the door as well.

“Oh fuck!” Gale had quickly shut the door, “Lightspeed, somepony’s coming! Close the door, quick!”

Lightspeed could hear the door opening before she too shut the door and listened on, whispering to her, “Looks like the plan wasn’t just a success, but a fluke as well…”

Collateral Damage - whom appears to be a common, drug-addled Raider pony - looked at the two, destroyed Securitrons that were shot through, “Oh fuck! Somepony’s here and they took out our robots! Hey, Golddigger! We gots ourselves some problems!”

“What?!” Golddigger shouted angrily at the distance, “Western Raiders, go and find those fuckers, and I want their heads mounted on my fucking wall! Now!”

Oh goddess dammit! They’re coming this way! I quickly wrote down the words from my PipBuck and showed it to Tootsie, reading as ‘Get behind me’!

“Wah! Th-The baddies are coming our way! Bob, block the door!”

Bob and I held the door as Gale told Lightspeed from another room, “Oh no… they’re coming! Light, I’ll hold this door, you hold the other! If all goes to hell, we’ll give them everything we got…”

At least ten more Raiders had quickly barged through different rooms, but not before some attempted to barge through the doors we’re in, “Boss! There’s somepony inside!”

Oh goddess fuck! This isn’t good! They’ve discovered us! we backpedalled as I quickly armed myself with the Plasma Rifle and-- wait! I need to regroup with Gale Storm and Lightspeed! Gale can’t reload if I’m not here! I quickly motioned a hoof to Tootsie and Bob for us to regroup with the others,and fast!

I quickly barged through the door to another room where Lightspeed and Gale Storm are as Tootsie yelled out, “We need to move away from the baddies! They could blow up the room and make us drown!”

I nodded in agreement to her as Lightspeed rebutted the filly at first, “No, we’ll take them on! We’ll tear them into bloody pieces!”

“We can’t! The rooms are filled with intact wine bottles! Any explosives and we could drown, and Bob could short circuit if this happens!”

Lightspeed emitted a reluctant growl, “Fine… but I get to draw first blood on those other ponies, do you understand?”

Before Gale could reply, gunfire erupted by Raiders as the two were the firsts to make a quick escape as I used the door as a shield until my companions can retreat back up to safety. I have a feeling that there’s quite a large number of Western Raiders (as mentioned by Bleak Venom) in this area!

“If those ponies must be this Bleak Venom’s proteges, kill them! I want their heads as my personal collection!”

I frantically waved a hoof at the others as to signify I’ll meet up with them later. To my misfortune, a shotgun blast tore through the door and at me! Gah! Fuck!

I was thrown back, skidding along the ground as I let out a pained expression; some of the pellets from the shotgun tore some of my lab coat and the others nearly went in deep inside the armor! I’m still alive, but goddess fuck it hurts so much! I quickly scrambled to arm myself with the Plasma Rifle and aimed at the charging Raider as he yelled out, “C’mere, you!”

Too slow!

I quickly went to S.A.T.S., and I don’t have much left. I can’t reload; not as long as there are fairly large number of those Western Raiders coming after us. Need to make those last two shots count, one for the head, and for the other one as well on the right side. Gotta make them count!

PRRRROOOWWW!!! PRRRROOOWWW!!! Click. Click.

Fuck, no more ammo. On the bright side, the two Raiders I shot them had soon dissolved into goo. As I got up to my hooves, I felt a couple of bullets graze through my coat before one managed to land a lucky shot through my right hoof! I recoiled back again and let out a pained look on my face; goddess fuck, you bastard!

“Warning:

“Bleeding detected; administer medical items immediately.”

Yeah… no shit, PipBuck...

I frantically scrambled back before pinning myself against the ascending stairs behind me. A fresh Plasma ammo rolled out of my saddlebags, but as I begun to reload, a Raider pony swatted the Plasma Rifle off of my hooves and socked me through the cheek with a hoof, “Hah, I don’t think so, you lowly little scrap! We’re gonna put the test on a test subject!”

Fuck…!

“Bob, rescue Zero before they shoot him!” Gale shouted at Bob as she quickly turned to Tootsie, “Tootsie, stay with Lightspeed!”

“Aye aye!”

Bob had quickly skittered down the stairs and lets out a charge-like beeping sounds and fired off laser shots against them, one that struck in the eye of a Raider pony and the other burning through a hoof. Me? I’m just scrambling to get the healing potion just to slow the bleeding!

“Gah! Fuck! Buckshot, take care of that stupid robotic thingamajig!” A Raider mare yelled out as the pain was still shooting up hard in me from both a gunshot wound in my hoof and several pellets that nearly pierced through me. While my injuries are (so far) minor, it still hurts like hell!

Bob made easy work in crippling a couple of Raiders despite not killing them - though his lasers can inflict major radiation levels upon coming to contact - as Gale has come to aid me, but I quickly waved to her and pointed at the Plasma Rifle that was swatted off, hinting that she needs to retrieve it before one of the Raiders have any chance of getting it and use it against us! Bob himself was proven a distraction for the Raiders and they all opened fired at him to no avail; his tough, body shell easily deflects most of the gunfire as bullets were bounced onto walls, but one of them narrowly missing my hind leg! Oh, shit! And that was all while I was seething in pain, too!

“Oh! My Plasma Rifle!” Gale quickly went to retrieve it before gunning down several Raiders while I was applying pressure against my wounded hoof with an intact one. Fucking hell…

Both Gale and Bob did quick work before she retreated back to me and searched for a healing potion inside my saddlebags, “Hold on, Zero! I’ll find the saddlebags inside…”

Once she pulled a fresh healing potion from my saddlebags, I eagerly gulped it down to slow the bleeding from my hoof before letting out a quiet gasp as she nuzzled my forehead, “Its okay. And you’re okay, too. We took care of them.”

I nodded to her, though the E.F.S. still shows a red blip. I quickly got up to my hooves though I winced a bit despite my hoof no longer bleeding any further. Fucking hell! But I shook off the pain and proceeded forward, with Gale tucking a wing over me as we went to the next room to find their leader and rescue a (possibly friendly) captured pony. Lightspeed stood by with Tootsie outside of the basement entrance as the filly was curiously poking a hoof at her metallic hoof, “Ooohhh… are you gonna be a fully-robotic pony Lightspeed?!”.

The partial cyberpony let out a soft shrug, “Who knows. Only time will tell, young one.”

I glanced at the unopened, wooden crate before we could proceed. I pointed a hoof for Gale and Bob as I slowly trotted over to the crate and found a lock that needed a key… its so rusted and old-fashioned that it doesn’t take a unicorn to pick through an ancient and derelict lock. Bob slowly skitters towards the locked crate and glanced at me in a curious manner, pointing the lock with a metal claw. I nodded to him and wrote down at least three words from my new PipBuck before showing it to him, reading it as ‘Fire it open’.

Bob nodded to me in response and soon faced the locked crate and aimed at the lock with the laser tail, charging it up and then firing at the lock clean.

TZZAAATT!!

As the lock disintegrates, Gale glanced at me and asked, “I wonder what’s inside the crate?”

I’m not sure. And its surprising that none of the Raiders even tried to pick it open. That, or they were too busy dealing with a hostage that all attention to it was lost when we destroyed both Securitrons that were blocking our path. I slowly approached to the crate and flicked the lid open; a StealthBuck? That’s what they’ve been trying to unlock? Oookay then.

Once I acquired it, we heard a faint scream coming from downstairs; gonna have to find out what this does when we get there, we gotta save Quickdraw!

“Quick, we need to go!” Gale ordered. I was the first to head downstairs as the two followed me along the way before we were stopped by the Western Raider’s leader, Golddigger.

“Don’t even think of moving a hoof closer, or this sheriff will get a high noon he’ll never forget! Back off!” Golddigger warned us coldly; he has a revolver floated and the muzzle pointed at Quckdraw’s head. He is the mayor! But… is he? I looked at the PipBuck and I saw his name… but something is off; is he really Quickdraw? Either way, I need to get rid of Golddigger. I turned to Gale and nodded as I quickly returned upstairs, “W-Wait, where are you going, Zero?!”

“Tch, that’s what I thought. You two oughta do the same unless you want his brains splattered all over the place!"

Bob let out a warning beep, expressing hostility to him but knows that if either him or Gale fires, Quickdraw would be shot.

While I was upstairs, I tried out the StealthBuck into my head and turned it on; soon enough, my body is gone! Where the hell did I go?!

I moved around a little after jumping a bit from the StealthBuck that was just activated before heading back downstairs, with Gale, Bob and Golddigger in a tense standoff. Looks like they didn’t saw me. Good. Now to go around the bastard and take him down…

I went behind him and spotted a sawed-off shotgun holstered to the side. Now, if I was a unicorn, I would’ve easily stole it and blasted him to smithereens… but since he’s a unicorn, he would’ve detected it already and my stealthy attempt would be compromised.

Maybe try and steal it? I could try, just need to be careful. I slowly reached a (non-existent) hoof towards the shotgun. So far, so good; Golddigger’s too focused on Gale Storm and Bob. Just hope he could keep the trigger from pulling… slowly… slowly…

Got it! I managed to steal his gun and stood back a bit for me to take a good aim at Golddigger. Here goes nothing…

BLAM!! Click.

His back left a large, bloodied and gaping holes as he recoiled forward and back, bleeding profusely. Fuck! I didn’t kill him! Mortally wounded, yes, but not enough to kill him! Only one shell was spent…

On the plus side, Gale easily pinned Golddigger and aimed her Plasma Rifles at him, “Any last words, you Raider fuck?!”

Golddigger panted harshly as he spits out blood onto her face as a response, but not before turning his attention at the pony, “G-Get them..”

She lets out a furious growl and mercilessly fired off two shots of the Plasma Rifles to Golddigger, dissolving him into a pile of goo to his demise.

I went to untie the pony, but quickly saw that his coat was covered in paint, his mane and tail dyed in a different color! Oh shit, this isn’t really Quickdraw! I saw my E.F.S. changing from a green blip to a red one; its a trap!

“Hah! Got ya! Ya can’t find Quickdraw, so its game over for you fuckers!” The female Raider yelled out and uncovers herself, revealing to be strapped with remote bombs around her! Oh, no, no ,no!

Bob lets out a surprised beep with Gale gasping in shock as the unnamed Raider laughed maniacally and began to detonate herself as I quickly galloped towards them both, immediately diving and pushing them behind a couple of wooden boxes!

BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

The force of the blast propelled me back and forcefully crashing against the steps as I let out a silent yet pained scream; the boxes were disintegrated and despite Gale covered with several splinters, she and Bob were alright, but I was not. Both of our ears were ringing from the blast as Gale shouted, “Bob, are you hurt?! Where’s Zero?!”

Bob let out several, dazed beeps as the StealthBuck began to frizzle and deactivate as a result from the explosion that damaged the newly-equipped StealthBuck, and the ceiling from below level beginning to buckle and collapse.

Just my fucking luck…

“Oh no… the ceiling is starting to go! Bob, get upstairs and let Tootsie and Lightspeed know what happened! I’ll go get Zero!”

Bob gave her a salute as he quickly skitters upstairs and out of the wine cellar room as she went to retrieve me. She picked me up onto her back, and I was writhing in pain as we had quickly left before this area has any chance of collapsing into mounds of rubble.

“What happened?” Lightspeed asked with concern.

“Did you rescue Quickdraw?! I bet you guys did! You’re our heroes”

Gale quickly shook her head as she gently put me down onto the floor as I was coughing up harshly; my head was ringing… I can’t hear a goddess-damned thing…

“Quickdraw wasn’t here… the Raiders had set us up. It was a trap and… Zero somehow went invisible and saved me and Bob; in that case, she nearly blew us all up. As for Zero? He’s having a serious concussion, mine was only minor…” Gale finished explaining at the two.

“Soooo was it a double?” Tootsie curiously asked, but Lightspeed countered the filly, “No. If what Gale said was true, then she used herself as a live bait in order to kill herself with you three in it. The real Quickdraw is somewhere else. Zero isn’t of use for us for the time being. You’ll have to carry him around throughout until he fully recovers. Use his PipBuck to find Quickdraw’s whereabouts.”

Gale Storm frowned at her suggestions but reluctantly nodded, “If you insist.” She then turned her attention to me, gently stroking a hoof against my cheek, “Just hang in there. You’ll get through with it.”

Oh goddesses, give me a break…

My head is still ringing from the explosion caused by a fucking Raider who played the victim, only to try and blow us up to smithereens. I’m just surprised that I’m still able to breathe normally, but now I have to ride shotgun onto Gale Storm’s back until my head stops ringing so I can get back into action.

“Let’s keep looking around and see if we could find the real Quickdraw without interference from Raiders or other drug-addled ponies bent on murdering us with no specific reason. According to his PipBuck, there are at least five more green blips shown on E.F.S., but we don’t know which one is the real Quickdraw. We’ll have to assume the worst.”

As Gale had finished explaining, my ears picked up nothing but muffled noises coming from her. In fact, I can’t even hear any normal conversation whatsoever!

“Good idea. And little Tootsie, do not wander off on your own. The last thing we’d want is a young filly returning severely injured. Understood?”

Tootsie nodded eagerly and stood close to her robo-scorpion companion as she gingerly brushed a hoof against my mane, “After all, we don’t want our scientist getting hurt even more, now would we?”

I felt somepony brushing my mane… it’s Lightspeed, isn’t it?! Goddess damnit!

As we ventured through, Gale scanned around Conneticolt to try other places of interests, “Hmm… I really don’t think Quickdraw went to Pegas County. If he was, then we’d have to search for the Raptor for us to reach over there, and I don’t think there aren’t any Enclaves left a single Raptor here.”

“Aren’t you an Enclave yourself?” Lightspeed questioned her before Tootsie shook her head, “She’s not an Enclave baddie, though! She’s one of us! Those other meanie Enclaves went too hard on her!”

“Thank you, Tootsie Roll.”

Nope. Still loud ringing in my ears, so I can’t hear shit of what they’re even saying. Hell, I could feel my back still rattling inside. Did I mention that I’m hungry, or is my brain too busy trying to recover which could possibly take hours before I could find out where in Equestria I was.

“Let’s check over the abandoned pharmacy store. If its just an innocent pony, we’ll free them. We just have to be careful; ponies like to play the victim just for their own selfish gains, like that Raider in disguise that narrowly killed us all. And we need to be on high alert for this one; we don’t know who we’ll encounter.” Once Gale finished explaining, she and the others enter the abandoned pharmaceutical store, with me in tow. I wonder how this is gonna end…

“Looks like this place wasn’t looted. More medicine in stock and whatnot, but no sign of Quickdraw… let’s see what his PipBuck will take us.”

The three nodded to Gale, save for me as I was slowly wandering my head as the ringing noises are beginning to lessen. I could hear what’s going on, but I can’t think of what.

“I think this one’s close by behind the medical counter… watch your backs, ponies. We don’t know if this one will be friendly or hostile…” She warned to them while I’m just trying to get myself some senses back together. I seriously need to get a weapon of my own unless some fucker wants to steal it again so I can be weaponless forever.

“Hellooooo? Come on out and stop playing hide and seek!” Tootsie called out. The pony figure slowly emerged from the counter, revealing to be a middle-aged pony with his coat strewn apart, “Oh! Are you ponies here to buy something? We got all medicine available! Of course, some of those Raiders looted them and got away with it...”

Gale lets out a surprised gasp; it wasn’t Quickdraw, but this pony surely wasn’t hostile either, “Oh! A real, friendly pony!”

“Hooray! A not-baddie pony!” Tootsie cheered as she quickly galloped around the medical counter to see the unnamed pony, with Bob catching up to the filly. Man, no wonder she always act like this…

As they arrived to see the middle-aged pony, my mind had came to and free from the concussive noise inside before I quickly rolled myself off of Gale’s back and onto my hooves, but soon felt the sickening crack inside my back. Fucking hell that smarts! I quickly slumped back onto the floor, writhing in severe pain. Goddesses fuck, I felt my back being broken off from the blast earlier!

Fucking hell! My back is shot, and I can’t stand onto my hooves!

My mind yelled out, and my PipBuck emitted a warning beep to indicate that my back was fractured, rendering me immobile from even moving around. Great… just my goddess-damned luck… again!

“Zero! Your back is hurt from the blast! Please, don’t get up…” Gale pleaded me as I squirmed a little from the sharp pain. Thanks for the sympathy, that’s the last thing I ever needed.

“Oh dear. It looks like your friend has a nasty fracture. Hang on, I’ll go and fetch the Doctor’s bag. You’re lucky I have plenty, or I wouldn’t be able to heal you properly without Hydra if you had come in here with several, crippled limbs and let me tell you; Hydra is extremely lethal if its used too many times. I’ve seen ponies turned into… living mass from even the slightest of overdose. It wasn’t a pretty sight, I say.”

Gee, thanks for the warning, doctor obvious. He soon returned with a fresh doctor’s bag to go for, “Now, hold still while I work on that fracture. Oh, I’m Licorice, the only pharmacy clerk running here in Conneticolt. We don’t get a lot of inhabitants around here. In fact, everypony evacuated when all hell broke loose.”

Lightspeed glanced around the store before her eyes were on him, “Licorice, huh? Well its surprising that nopony had completely ransacked the place clean, or you would’ve been out of business.”

Licorice responded with a lighthearted chuckle as he tended my crippled back, “Well, population here in Conneticolt is very sparse. Like I said, we don’t get a lot of inhabitants around here; just these other ruffians who seeks thrill by causing damage around buildings, even murdering their own kind. They call themselves the Western Raiders for all the foal-ish reasons.”

“Well, we took care of them. It was a close call too, especially when that one Raider had a detonator vest around her and nearly killed us all. And I thank Zero for his bravery, even if it nearly cost his own life for that. I’m not sure if there’s more outside as even if their leader is dead, there’s bound to be more Raiders outside.” Gale explained as my crippled back is now fully healed up, allowing me to get back onto my hooves with no issues and no sharp back pain. I wrote down a single word from the PipBuck 4000, displayed as ‘Thanks’ from the screen.

Licorice narrowed his eyes from the screen, reading it a bit before giving me a nod, “Its not a problem. Say, are you able to speak, young one?”

My only response was to tilt my head back and presenting my still-stitched throat (though barely visible now as it was eventually dissolving itself into my skin). He let out a winced expression at this, “Oh my… a pony whose ability to speak normally was cut off. Shame I can do no such thing to replace your long-lost voice. I’m afraid I don’t have a voice modulator anywhere. And even so, there’s no guarantee for it to work, so I’m afraid my medical expertise is limited; you’ll have to find somepony else who could augment your vocal chords inside your throat.”

Well no shit. You’d need a highly-advanced technology or whatever things that are related to Arcane Sciences, but the book itself found none regarding it. Maybe I could find Neighkola Tesla and having him do so, but nopony knows where he is.

“Oh! Maybe you would like to come with us to Stable Town? We could grab as many medical items and use any medicine available for the ponyfolk there. Its much livelier, but much less secure due to Quickdraw going missing. Think you can do that?”

The middle-aged colt’s ears had picked up regarding the ex-Enclave’s proposal to gather as many items and bring them to Stable Town and its citizens. There was a pregnant pause of this.

“Perhaps I can gather up supplies and relocate this Stable Town or however you ponies might call it, but sadly, I can’t transfer all of the remaining medicine available elsewhere as nopony has ever sought to help out. I sent a distress signal, but nopony answered. The only ‘help’ we got were Raiders; then everything ran amok.” Licorice explained, also expressing disappointment.

“Sounds like you’ve sent the wrong type of help. These Raiders simply can’t be reasoned with.” Gale reiterated as Tootsie even nodded in agreement, “Yeah, those baddies are always up to no good! They like to steal things for no reason!”

For a scatterbrained filly, she sure has a point; Raiders are a lost cause and needs to be dealt with.

However, I learned that Conneticolt failed to receive actual ponytarian aid from other ponies who would take them elsewhere to safe haven (and Stable Town is the only location that was free from any danger, though its lack of adequate security makes residing more trouble than its already worth).

Lightspeed thought up of a suggestion, “I could send my team and have them bring medicine to Stable Town, and Camp Mayne Six.”

“What do you--” Licorice interrupted himself as he gazed at Lightspeed’s partially-cybernetic nature, “Oh my Celestia, I have never seen an augmented pony before…”

“Surprised? Well, its a long story so I’ll keep it short; I was experimented on and I went against their wishes. That’s all there is to it.”

Licorice nodded in response, “Well then,perhaps that would be a wonderful idea for you to send your team for delivery.”

I reminded myself and began to write down from my PipBuck and showed it to Licorice that displayed as ‘We’re looking for Quickdraw. Have you seen him?’.

“Quickdraw? Hmm… I have seen this fellow, who’s nay-high and wearing a ten-gallon hat, and a revolver for a cutie mark? Well, I did saw him crashing down somewhere. Maybe try the lake? Do be careful; it may be irradiated!”

Looks like we’ll have to disregard other ponies from the E.F.S. and find Quickdraw from a lake. I’m guessing the park? The map doesn’t specifically say, but its possible.

“We’ll go look for him, then. Let’s grab some of the supplies and find Quickdraw, Zero!” Gale was optimistic as she wrapped a hoof around mine and quickly pulled me to go with her. Oh goddess, here we go again…

“Take care of yourselves, ponies! And do be mindful that Conneticolt has hidden dangers that even your PipBuck may not be able to pick it up!”

I’ll keep that in mind. Who knows if there are any invisible ponies that’s waiting to catch us by surprise.

Once we collected as much medical items as we could inside my saddlebags, we set off to look for Quickdraw, the mayor of Stable Town gone missing. I know Lightspeed isn’t gonna stay with us for long because after a full week, she’s going back to Camp Mayne Six with her faction. Let’s hope Quickdraw is still alive.

“I bet Quickdraw is playing hide and seek! How many bits do we bet on whoever finds him first?!”

Bits are non-existent in Equestria; only caps. Whatever silly idea you came up with is more than enough for the Wastelands to listen and put us into inescapable danger. My mind spoke out, so I clearly need to remind Tootsie Roll that any danger we face is far from fun and games.

Lightspeed points a hoof to the direction of the lake Licorice told us about, “Over there.”

My E.F.S. still shows a green blip ahead and never moved. We must be getting close, but we exercised caution; we don’t know what’s up ahead. Of course, I quickly stopped them when I glanced up of what appears to be both crudely-made towers standing within the park area, as two red blips pop up from E.F.S.; looks like there’s two more Raiders using those towers as snipers’ perches. There’s also laser sights aimlessly wandering about unless it finds targets. Up ahead is a pony tied up and kept in a crudely-designed cage. Hmm… if I could provide distraction and hopefully not get shot, Lightspeed and Gale could fly over there and take them down for me. Of course, I’ll need Bob’s help to provide firing cover as to distract them both while I could get to Quickdraw (and hopefully not another Raider disguised as Quickdraw).

“Hmm… do you have a plan, Zero?”

Of course I do! I’m a scientist that makes plans, Gale! I opened up the interface of the map and began to draw lines of it, doubling as a tactical plan for rescuing Quickdraw. Tootsie wouldn’t count as she’s far from combat-ready and is too vulnerable to take down the overwatch snipers ahead.

According the plan I’ve drawn onto the screen, Gale will flank on the right side while Lightspeed will flank on the left. I, on the other hoof, will charge in and Bob will provide firing cover so they’ll be too distracted to even keep track.

“Okay, so it looks like I get to flank on the right side while Lightspeed flanks on the left side and you charge forward and Bob covers you. Got it. We’ll go when you charge in first.” Gale went to her designated position as Lightspeed notified me, “Don’t get shot. We’re not gonna be picking up your body if your plan fails. Just watch yourself.”

I’ve been through hell before, so I don’t think this’ll be the first time I’ll be charging through with no weapons in my possession.

Before I did, I wrote down a couple of words from the PipBuck and showed it to the filly as it read as ‘Start the countdown on three once I start galloping’.

“Aye, aye sir!” Tootsie saluted to me as Bob was standing behind me, his laser tail at the ready. Right… here I go!

Once I quickly dashed forward, Tootsie Roll started the countdown for both Lightspeed and Gale Storm, “Okay! Three, two, one, go! Take out them baddies!”

The two nods and began to fly off in different directions. One of the sniper Raiders spotted me and began to aim down the sights at me, the last sight already caught me, “Ooohhhh! Somepony is eager to get himself killed!”

The distance between us and the crudely-made towers are slightly further away from us, but Bob began to fire off a laser shot above to distract a sniper Raider. Soon, the Raider jumped back from it, “Wah! What the actual fuck was that?! Hey, Nails, did you see that?!”

The other Raider turned to her in an annoyed manner, “Yeah, its you being a paranoid fuck, Daisies! Now shut the fuck up and kill the charging colt that’s about to get our prisoner! Besides, I call first dibs on shooting him and that cowpony of a sheriff the next morning, so you get no squat!”

Daisies grumbled and went back to aiming as she was the first to fire a shot at me. Whoa, fuck! I felt my tail twitch and evade it at the split second. Of course, a second shot from the sniper perch on the right whizzed by, as the bullet nicked through my right ear, and by the goddesses that hurts! It started to trickle blood, but I can’t stop now; need to save Quickdraw who is caged inside!

Behind me, Bob kept firing laser shots in the air as to throw the two off-guard. Lightspeed has her razor-sharp wings at the ready; Daisies was about to fire another shot - or rarely, due to Bob covering fire for me - as the razor-sharp wing zoomed through her neck. Daisies emitted a bloodied, gagging noise before her head soon slid off of her neck and was sliced clean off as a gush of blood erupted from her severed head, dropping down dead in an instant.

I finally arrived to the cage door where Quickdraw (and I hope its really Quickdraw this time) was held captive, gagged and tied up. Those duo Raiders can’t even keep the cage door closed so I swung it open with relative ease and I began to untie him. Meanwhile, Gale flew towards Nails and he tried to aim at her and fired off a shot, “Boom, down goes the birdie!”

His cockiness had only managed to graze her cheek, but it didn’t slowed her down as she knocked the Raider out of the tower and for him to fall to his demise, along with his rifle as it plummeted to the ground, “Fuck!!”

CCRRRRCCKK!!!

Once I untied him, he began to cough, “Gah! Fucking hell! I thought I wasn’t gonna get on outta here and get to Pegas County! Guess that’s out of the equation. Huh… thanks for saving me there, partner. I thought ah ain’t gonna get help and become target practice from dem Raiders.”

Both Lightspeed and Gale Storm regrouped, with the partial cyberpony taking notice of her bleeding cheek, “You’re hurt. You’re lucky he didn’t hit you square in the head or you would've been dropped dead already.”

“Oh, its nothing. Just a few battle scars to go for.” Gale giggles softly as Tootsie Roll and Bob regrouped with us, “Yay! The baddies are gone and the good guys saves the day!”

“Y’all came to rescue me? Well darn tootin’! We should drop by for some eatin’ before we should keep going!”

“But first, are you Quickdraw, mayor of Stable Town?” Gale asked, just to make sure that he is the real Quickdraw.

“Indeed ah am, missy! Why’s that?” The mayor asked her curiously.

“We were sent to find you and get you back to Stable Town. Turns out that the overall safety and security over there is starting to dwindle, and they needed you back. Who knows what’ll happen if Stable Town would fall under the hooves of Raiders, or worse? And nopony has the willpower to hold their own.” Gale explained to the mayor of Stable Town regarding future risks of his town being overrun with dangers that could risk the lives of the inhabitants.

“Yup! Sweet Cheeks sent us to save you!” Tootsie jumped around him with excitement and glee.

Quickdraw went to retrieve his hat before giving them a nod, “Well darn tootin’. Y’all must be brave enough to take down them Raiders and rescue me along the way. Now then, let’s all mosey on before more of them would find us.”

“Good idea.” Gale responded. I went to get the sniper rifle that fell onto the ground so I don’t have to be weaponless yet again. (Up until somepony decides to steal it for a third goddess-damned time!)

Once our lunchtime was settled, we left Connecticolt as we ventured throughout the Wastes to bring Quickdraw back to Stable Town alive and in good health. So far there aren’t any red blips shown from E.F.S., but I wouldn’t get comfortable just yet; anything can happen and strike without warning, with your senses put to the test. We’re in a dense forest and the ground is way too uneven, with irradiated stream running across. Nowhere safe to drink too.

Bob was also riding shotgun onto Gale’s back as Quickdraw’s curiosity drew to him, “Say, who’s this mechanical feller?”

“That’s Bob! He’s a robo-scorpion who also hates water! But he’s also protective as well!”

The robo-scorpion lets out a beeping noise in agreement, showing his detest for water, “And he says that water would short him out and go ka-blooey! And I don’t want him to go ka-blooey!”

“Ah see. Well, he’s quite a nice little feller for a robotic scorpion, all cute and harmless, but also fearless.”

As Quickdraw finished replying, my ears twitched along with my tail. Even without E.F.S., I have a feeling that we may need to find somewhere safe inside…

“Oh! Zero detected danger! I wonder what that means?”

I could hear faint voices… all which are vulgar-sounded, mainly from the remaining Western Raiders. On the plus side, the unnamed town isn’t too far according to the PipBuck. I motioned to others for us to keep moving before they would eventually find us; I have a feeling that venturing through the forest seems rather unsafe.

“Let’s hope this is a safe place. Even if Quickdraw can hold his own, we need to make sure he makes it back unhurt.” Gale instructed. As we moved forward, I winced from a ringing noise whining inside my head. Fuck, what the hell was that…

I’m hearing something… why am I hearing ominous mutterings? And Pinkie isn’t responding yet… perhaps if I could take a nap from a safe area, then I wouldn’t have to hear unfamiliar voices in my head. Pinkie may be overly ecstatic, but she’s the only one who would try and keep negative thoughts at bay.

No response from Pinkie as expected. I really don’t know what’s going on, but I figured a rest would suffice. I would also ask Lightspeed to cut the week short for her to return to her team, even if it were to sound selfish (which I can’t speak for it anyway).

We arrived at a seemingly derelict and ruined town of South Mayne. Not unlike the other side of Mayne where other ponies engage in a free-for-all, and that it was a lawless town to go for from a week ago.

There was only at least one, not-ruined house on the right side with nopony residing there of course. Gale suggested, “Let’s rest up over there. We’ll continue later on.”

“Mah hooves are chafin’ so yeah. We should get a bit of shuteye before we can continue.” Quickdraw agreed before I stood in front of Lightspeed and wrote down several words from the PipBuck as it displayed as ‘You need to return to the Powder Gangers regarding Connecticolt, we’ll take it from here’.

The partial cyberpony gave me a small nod, “Perhaps I should reconsider staying with you ponies. Do take care of yourself, son, I know you’ll do well with your allies.” She of course gave me a hug and planted a soft kiss on the forehead. Unexpecting, but I did hugged her in return. Shortly after, she flew off, waving a hoof to me as I waved at her in return.

The inside felt cozy, but it feels rather empty for some reason. Quickdraw was already lounging on the couch with Tootsie and Bob relaxing next to him with Gale glancing at me, “Where’s Lightspeed?”

I replied with the use of my PipBuck ‘I told her to return and get supplies back in Conneticolt’.

“Oh… will she return?”

I merely shrugged. There’s no telling when she’ll return as I looked around the inside of the house; its small, but not claustrophobically small.

“I see. Well, rest up for a bit, we’ll continue later on.”

I nodded to her and went to a bedroom. My eye had soon gazed upon a statuette sitting on a desk next to the mattress; another earth pony like Pinkie! Only this one is a bit similar to Quickdraw, but a mare! Huh… who could it be?

‘Applejack’? Yellow and orange in color, too. Hmm… I suppose it doesn’t hurt to acquire it, doesn’t it? Its not thievery unless its to be used for the greater good. Her cutie mark bears three apples on her flanks, too. I suppose I could keep it, would I? Even Pinkie doesn’t seem to mind at all! If she’s there in my head, that is.

Nevertheless, I slowly and carefully grabbed ahold of the statueete and, just like the first statuette, a sudden surge of magical energy emitted as it slowly floated up in mid-air, I jumped back a little but the magic soon surged directly into my body! I could feel myself… stronger! Stronger than ever before! I feel less weak, and the bullet that was lodged into my shoulder dissolved completely! Damn, I feel like brand new already! Awesome!

Of course, my increased strength only wants me to take a nap even more as the statuette is now safely tucked inside my saddlebags. I should probably jump less and simply endure it. After that, I slumped myself into the mattress and began to rest, my eye shutting itself closed. The bed also creaked a little due to added physical strength.

“Be strong!”

After several hours of napping and not a single E.F.S. warning me of a hostile coming in, I slumped myself off of the bed and stretched my hooves as Gale entered the room to see me, “Ready to go, Zero?”

I nodded to her as I left the room, seeing the three (or two, because Bob is a robot and only sleeps if needed) having rested up with the filly jumping along excitedly, “Come on, let’s go back to Stable Town! Sweet Cheeks is waiting for us!Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, let’s goooo!”

“Now take it easy there, little feller. Don’t go rushin’ off on yer own, besides, there’s dangers lurking on about so its best to stick with us.” The Stable Town mayor instructed Tootsie as she soon stopped jumping. She’s a young filly who’s nowhere near combat-ready apart from lockpicking so we’ll always have to stick in groups and not get ourselves separated. I know I have.

The skies are getting a bit dark as well,and with no adequate lighting either. The door even locked itself from us too! Oh well, I suppose using strength alone will have to suffice. I pointed a hoof to myself as to volunteer to open the door for them - no point in wasting ammo anyway.

“Sure! Go on ahead. We’ll move back.” Gale motioned the others to keep a distance as I torqued my neck left and right before turning around, pistoning my hindlegs against the door. The door stood no chance as it propelled forward and onto the ground, now broken in half. Whoa! Looks like the second statuette I had really increased my bucking powers!

Everypony was surprised at the sight as Tootsie gasped in awe. “Whoa! That was awesome! Zero isn’t just a scientist, he’s also a really strong scientist by combining brains with brawn!”

“W-Whoa… that was…” Gale was speechless, holding a hoof close to her lips as Quickdraw whistled to me, “Boy howdy! Who’d knew you have the strength of ten ponies to even kick the door right down! Ah’m amazed at this!”

Heh, I just don’t really know my own strength is all. Let’s just go before I inadvertently punch a hole in the wall, which is surely not my intention by the way. I turned on a new flashlight from the PipBuck 4000 to illuminate the darkness and I flinched a bit. Bloody hell, that’s bright!

“Oooohhh… Its sooo briiiight…” Tootsie was somewhat mesmerized before we moved on. Its a flashlight, not a light show...

We’re almost back to Stable Town, but a flash of lightning began to crash down from the dark and miserable skies. Oh goddess-damnit, there’s a thunderstorm brewing around. We gotta keep moving, fast!

“Ah see Stable Town! If Sweet Cheeks was th’ one who sent y’all to rescue me, tell ‘er that I’m at my office safe n’ sound. By the way, what are yer names?” Quickdraw asked before arriving at the town, as the citizens took shelter inside homes and other buildings.

Gale was the first to respond for me, “I’m Gale Storm, and this is Zero.”

“And I’m Tootsie Roll! This here is Bob!” Bob waved a claw at him after Tootsie was second to introduce herself and her robo-scorpion friend.

“Well, darn tootin’. Pleased to meet y’all ponies, and ah’m grateful for yer rescue there, ponies. Them stupid Raiders seem t’ lack proper knowledge an’ such. So ah’ll be on my way now. Again, tell Sweet Cheeks that I’m at my office safe n’ sound. Now, git before a thunderstorm pours in. Y’all best take care of yerselves, y’hear?!” Quickdraw tipped his hat with magic before trotting off. I bid farewell with a wave before trotting off. I heard the two saying good-bye before they followed me as we went back to Stable 75; trickles of rainfall began to pour through Stable Town as another thunderstorm boomed from the distance. Thank goodness we made it inside, we didn’t want Bob getting wet and short circuit from water getting into his systems.

We saw Sweet Cheeks at her desk as usual, reading the Book of Arcane Sciences as she took notice of us, “Oh! Its you ponies again! How was it? Is Quickdraw safe and well?”

Gale gave her a confirmed nod for me, “Yup! And its all thanks to Zero and his thought-out plan. Quickdraw is alive and well.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news! I knew I could count on you ponies! Now that he’s here, Stable Town will be good as new when Quickdraw can bring others to protect this town, and you’re welcome to visit here as much as you like! Thank you so much for rescuing him…”

I felt Sweet Cheeks exiting the desk and gave me a heartwarming hug. I’m not used to being hugged by other ponies, but this surely moved me and I returned the hug, a small tear in my eye trickling down as I felt being appreciated by another, unfamiliar pony for the first time since becoming a privileged scientist back in Lab-00. It really moved me…

“Say… where’s the half cyberpony?” She curiously asked us.

“She left to retrieve others to gather supplies from Conneticolt. Its apparent that this was where Quickdraw was held captive and since its not as populous as it is in Stable Town, we’d figured for her to retrieve medical supplies and bring them to here. I apologize if this is considered petty theft, but a local pony doctor told us that he’d rather have his available items back to another town where its safer and that its citizens will stay healthy from future illness.” Gale explained to the Overmare and hotel manager. Sweet Cheeks nodded in understanding.

“Well, it was the right thing you ponies did. The Wastelands are a treacherous place and they often never come back alive, or return gravely hurt. Mayne was the prime example, where ponies fought against each other, even dying along the way. Quickdraw had to lead other innocent ponies to Whooveswick and renamed it as Stable Town. Hard to believe that I was born in Stable 75 and did my job to shelter ponies inside. I objected at first when one of the ponies wanted to escape, but after some thinking, I had to open the Stable 75 door, even if we were to face the dangers that are going to come right at us. Of course, we saw other Mayne survivors. They asked if we needed help to restore this part of town to its glory… it wasn’t much, but we established a town of our own, and that’s where Stable Town was born.”

So that’s why these ponies were trying to seek a better life, even if the Wastelands were to desecrate the only safe haven with all the evilness that would put any living citizens on edge…

Gale expressed sympathy to her. “Oh no… I'm sorry to hear of what happened…”

Bob had skittered his way to Sweet Cheeks, emitting a couple of sad beeps as if feeling sorry for her. Of course, she lets out a small giggle and gently rubbed a hoof to his metallic body, “Hey, its okay. At least we’re safe, now that Quickdraw is back. You three do look tired. Why don’t you rest up for the night?”

I was wiping out the eye that was about to water down tear, but I made sure that it wasn’t too noticeable, though Tootsie decided to be with Sweet Cheeks, her eyes were obviously watery and tears were running down from her cheeks as her voice started to break, “Nuh-uh! I wanna stay with you, Sweet Cheeks! I don’t want a pony who cries! If she cries, I cry, too!”

And who could blame the filly for wanting to stay with the Overmare?

“Aww… the filly wants to stay with me? Well, of course you shall! Don’t cry now, little filly, and let Sweet Cheeks take care of both of you.” She turned her attention to us, a small tear was slowly running down to her cheek, “You two have a good night’s rest, okay?”

Sure thing. I nodded to Gale as we went down into Stable 75, with Gale sniffling softly from having heard Sweet Cheeks and Tootsie Roll. I don’t blame them, I know…

I gently pressed a muzzle against her cheek as we were taken to a vacant room for us to rest up for the next day. As for Pinkie Pie? She’s still not responding inside my head, and this is getting me a little worried.

My greatest concern of what’s going on outside of Stable Town. Not just New Hampshore, but the Wastelands in general that has another trick up in its sleeves, waiting for the right time to raise some hell. For now, I’ll have to wait until the storm’s settled for us to figure out what to do next.

Pinkie, where are you in my mind…

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Mental Block -- Mental Block is the ability to tune out any outside mental interference. You must have learned this talent from a passing guru, or from a really late night at the bar. When being still, silent and sitting, you gain +2 PER and +1 INT.