Darkness. And we were out of our range to Stable Town or any other cities and towns alike for us to settle ourselves in. Strangely enough, we’re not tired as the effects were still active from those strange edibles we had from the temple we went through. Oh wait… I spoke too soon. Once the effects wore off, we were now tired and in dire need of sleep. “Ugh… anypony else feeling sluggish all of a sudden?”

Yeah… you tell me, Gale. I think the edibles we ate has their side effects that makes us feel tired and sluggish, rendering us unfit for venturing further. The problem is finding a place to rest.

Tootsie let out her notable yawn, “Gosh, I’m soooo sleepy…”

Well, it seems Bob is the only one in our group who isn’t tired because one, he’s a robot; two, he is never hungry. All I could do was continue to lead my team forward because to sleep out in the open with no campfire is a deathwish waiting to happen. Even if we have to sleep in a damp, inadequate building which is hopefully not infested with Radroaches, its either that or having to sleep in an open air and wake up the next morning having your parts cut to pieces… and I needn’t to be reminded of Dr. Scalpel and his hideous creation. When I see him and his sickening creation, I’ll get back at them and avenge my fallen friends. But with what, exactly? With no weapons, I’m defenseless and using solely my hooves will simply do pitiful damage. And I can’t rely on both Bullseye and Gale Storm to do everything for me; even they need ammo to keep the fight going.

Fuck, tiredness is setting in fast. Well, at least it beats having to fight hungry or we wouldn’t have any strength left to get out of the temple. We’d die of hunger anyway.

If I could still remember back in Lab-00, I had to endure a long line in the cafeteria when I overlooked the sight of food shortages. As for searching for artifacts throughout the Wastelands? Well, that’s pretty much out of the question.

And to sleep out in the open with no adequate lighting is a goddess-damned nightmare waiting to wreak havoc in my head. Not to mention that I’m gonna need to find a reliable weapon that’s strewn throughout the Wastes if I’m gonna be well-armed again.

All we could see are barely-lit lights up ahead so I’m hoping that there are cabins, motels or any other buildings that can offer us a well-deserved rest. On the plus side, its not far away from us so we still have time to make it there. No red or green blips showing up on E.F.S. so that’s another good sign. And I hope to keep it that way, too.

I felt Gale’s wing tucked around me and gave me a tired smile, “We’re almost there. Just stay with us.”

Heh, I always needed that.

Tootsie however, fell asleep before she even made it there first. Bob quickly skittered towards his sleepy friend and struggles to pick her up to his metallic shell and made whirring-like grunt noises as we were heading towards an unmanned motel building. I can’t figure out the name but it didn’t mattered. Sleep is what mattered the most and I was the first to open the door to see what’s inside. The inside of the room is mostly intact, apart from being in a depraved state, with two mattresses still kept in fair condition. I’ll probably pay the owner of the motel another day when we’re rested.

I slid my saddlebags down and immediately slumped myself on the bed. Bullseye rested himself onto the other mattress; seems even the ghoul pony is suffering the effect of the strange edibles that makes him tired like us.

No time for good nights. Before long, we were fast asleep as we know it.

Morning arose. And we were greeted by the motel owner who we didn’t saw last night is an elderly mare with orange mane that’s curled up. Together with a pale, tangerine yellow coat and dark orange eyes, her cutie mark had also depicted an orange wedge to both of her flanks.

Her sight was awfully faint, indicating her nearsightedness as she had trouble identifying us, “Excuse me, but I’ve never seen you ponies on here before. May I ask who you fellers are?”

I was the first to wake up and normally I would take, but I’m sure everypony knows by now that I’m able to talk normally whatsoever and Gale was just about to wake herself up as well. “Mmm… somepony talking to us..?”

“Why, yes! Welcome to Nowac! I a… erm… what’s my name?” It seems the middle-aged mare had forgotten her name momentarily. She shook her head to jog her lost memory, “Oh, yes! I’m Poppy Blossom! Its so wonderful to meet you new fellers!”

Bullseye was already in the bathroom to clean himself up and Tootsie had just woken herself up from her five-minute nap.

“Yer lucky that this motel’s currently vacant soooo unless you fellers can pay up for another night, you’re free too! Otherwise, we already have other houses that provide free-of-stay… albeit with lowered quality, if you get what I mean.” Poppy let out her lighthearted giggle and left the motel room. We were left confused.

Gale and I exchanged our puzzled looks, “So… do you wanna go get breakfast? We could sure use one before we can continue on.”

I nodded to her as our ghoul companion had left the bathroom. “Hey boss. Where should we go now?”

I’m pretty sure Gale already beat you to it, but I figured we should have a free meal first. Hopefully none of the houses Poppy Blossom mentioned were currently occupied and that nopony would accuse us of stealing fresh edibles. We can’t survive throughout the Wastes, even with the Stable 13 canteen currently in my possession. I led my team out of the motel and towards the direction where a couple of houses are. Along the way, there were a small number of pony inhabitants in and out of Nowac who were also settlers. Of course, that isn’t to say that its a friendly community or hostile; just neutral.

Regardless, judging from the way Blossom greeted us with no way for us to introduce ourselves made us feel rather uncertain at her strange behavior. Some of the doors from the houses were boarded up with no way of getting inside as we traversed outside of the motel building. At least some of them were open.

“We need to be careful to not intrude anypony in their homes. Who knows what could it be inside?”

I wonder too, Gale. But we won’t make it another day if we can’t keep our hunger in check, and its vital that even if its inhabitants (or otherwise completely vacant) won’t believe us, sometimes we have to survive and keep on moving for the greater good, even if it means forcing us to defend ourselves.

I was the first to enter the unoccupied house carefully and inside was pretty well-maintained albeit abandoned and without somepony residing there. Seems this was more of a rental, just like the motel rooms in Nowac. I waved a hoof to given all clear sign as they entered inside. Let’s see if the kitchen has any good eatings left over in the fridge…

Tootsie shuddered a bit and scampered close to Gale, expressing uneasiness to it, “Ooohh… this house is spooky. I don’t like this…”

“I’m sure we won’t be staying for long. Bullseye, why don’t you look for any ammunition in the house in the meantime? Zero’s finding food for us.” She assumed her role as second-in-command to the ghoul pony as he gave her a confirmed nod, “Got it. Hope the boss found enough for us to stave off.”

Well, you can’t honestly depend wholly on me, Bullseye. To be called a ‘boss’ is like saying I’m a Steel Rangers leader for some reason when I’m clearly not. And I utterly despised them already and sooner or later, I require a huge explanation for their ruffian behavior against the Powder Gangers. That includes me also.

Hmm… fresh apples, maize, squirrel on a stick (which I clearly detest eating it), mutfruits, Bloatsprite sliders and two fresh bottles of Sparkle-Cola Victory. Huh.

Wait, Sparkle-Cola Victory? I squinted my eye as to take a closer look at this unfamiliar beverage from the same brand. They’re… orange! I do feel a little parched as the Stable 13 canteen was only quenching my thirst, but it wasn’t enough. I remembered what happened during my first attempt of consuming a Sparkle-Cola Quartz which resulted my whole body to glow and illuminate. I suppose I could keep the other Sparkle-Cola Victory for crafting purposes unless there’s no other choice. I kept one bottle down to my saddlebags, along with a fairly wide selection of foods down inside while grabbing the second bottle from the fridge before popping the cap open. I could see Gale Storm sitting down with Tootsie from the brief conversation regarding the unsettlement in a house we’re intruding in. Everything you find in the Wastelands are considered unsettling by default.

Apparently, the Victory still has ten rads per second like the Quartz, forcing me to debate on whether I should drink this or not. I already lowered radiation to safe levels, but what else would I do? I’ll need a RadSafe so I don’t have to endure the atrocious taste of the RadAway. I checked the cabinets to see if there are any RadSafe bottles somewhere. Along the way, I overheard Bullseye regarding having found a couple of ammunition; too bad I don’t have my sniper rifle with me as it succumbed from the temple’s traps. And I need a weapon of my own as well and taking extra care of it too if I do find a reliable weapon with me.

Aha! There’s a couple of RadSafe bottles for me (and the others depending how much I have with me) to use that helps significantly reduce the amounts of radiation I receive. I popped the bottle open and chugged down the RadSafe pills (I’m seriously not a drug addict, mind you!) and tossed the empty bottle away, keeping the fresh ones in my saddlebags for future use. Now that the possible radiation levels have been lowered, I began to drink up the Sparkle-Cola Victory. My face scrunched up a little from that strong taste I’m receiving from Sparkle-Cola Victory. Goddess fuck, it feels really cold too; I could feel it send freezing tremors down into my spine!

I let out a breezy sigh of relief after downing the Sparkle-Cola Victory. Wait, why is my sight suddenly foggy from a far distance? Well on the plus side, at least I managed to hold off hunger pangs. Before I could regroup with the others though, I batted an eye at the written paper that was left from the counter, despite my sudden, foggy vision. Seems like there was somepony who had been there before their unexpected leave. I looked at the written words and read it:

‘Guess I’m getting evicted from my own home as per Poppy Blossom’s order after not being able to conserve electricity, which is fine and all, but failing to keep the house up to code? Bullshit! I’m not THAT much of a slob, at least I keep the floors nice and tidy! I mean, what a bitch! I might as well go back to Las Pegas where all the shit goes down, even if its far away because all the trains are out of service. Seriously though, she can die in a hole for all I care!’

Doesn’t specify who was the former owner of the room, but I guess housing policies were thrown out the window. I’m not sure if she was feigning innocence, but its not entirely my problem for the time being. I regrouped to the others and motioned my hoof for us to leave the home. “Oh, looks like Zero found a couple of meals for our early breakfast.”

I nodded to Gale. And I call dibs on the Bloatsprite slider. I bet it must be pretty tasty!

Once I heat it up from the lit campfire, I took a bite from it and hungrily like a starving colt I am. Not bad, not bad at all.

We all shared our breakfast I found from the house, but as we’re eating throughout, I’m starting to think of something on whether or not the note I just read were true or just purely superstitious. In any case, I should find more clues and ask the inhabitants with the help of my friends who would interact them for me. My PipBuck isn’t enough; I need a voice as a substitute for the time being and Gale is one of them.

Once we were done with breakfast, I wrote down a couple of words from my PipBuck (I had to squint my eye because my vision is currently impaired from the effects of the Sparkle-Cola Victory) and presented it to the others, reading as ‘We need to explore closely to Nowac. Something is fishy here’.

“Assuming that we’re further away from Stable Town, I suppose we’ll stay here for a little longer. What places should we explore in the meantime?”

I merely shrugged to Gale’s question, which is all I could do. Believe me, if I would still be talking normally, I’d tell her and the others we’d look for clues for anything suspicious here. We got up from the campfire and I motioned a hoof to follow my lead. Tootsie Roll huddled up next to her robo-scorpion friend, assuming the location’s unsettling atmosphere despite having a couple of pony settlers roaming around outside of Nowac. As for Nowac itself, its a two-story building with multiple motel rooms but half of the door entrances were boarded up to prevent access. There were also some of which other residents reside there that serve as their homes. Of course, what really stands out to Nowac was a sitting pony that vaguely resembles as… DJ-P0N3, or Vinyl Scratch. I’m not entirely sure, but the colors seem slightly different, mainly the coat from her body.

And a door entrance on the… side of the… flank… why am I not surprised.

“Should we go in? I hope we don’t end up intruding anypony inside the shop.” Gale voiced her slight concern to me. It doesn’t have a name, but the name displayed on the PipBuck is known as ‘Homage Gift Shop’. I don’t see why not. Hopefully this statue-like building can provide at least useful weapons for my survival, not just my allies.

The inside seems to be well maintained, albeit a little narrow for my liking. There are various picture frames hung against the walls depicting a mare that loosely resembles as either of the two.

“Ooohhh… who’s that? She looks awesome!” Tootsie asked the question from the picture, and I merely shrugged as none of us know who she is. We head upstairs to see a wide collection of Vinyl Scratch/DJ-P0N3 novelty statuettes and a counter is manned by a dark red-colored stallion. He was currently asleep whilst leaning back against the chair with the radio playing what appears to be a blues song, with the mare singer being heard within the broadcast.

Gale whistled at the sight of the novelty statuettes stored on the shelves for display. “Wow… that’s a lot of novelties for one pony.” She turned her attention to the stallion who is apparently both the cashier and an owner, “Mister? Can you wake up for a moment. We’d like to ask you something if I may.”

He was startled awake and falls back from the chair, “Oof! What the--?!”

The stallion got himself up to his hooves, dazed but unhurt. “Ugh… oh, hey! Welcome to Homage Gift Shop where we sell Homage souvenirs and trinkets! My name is Scrap Heap, and I’m the owner of Homage Gift Shop. How may I help you ponies?”

While Bullseye and Bob browsed around the items he had with him up for sale, Tootsie Roll was first to ask Brick, “Hi, mister Scrap Heap! I’m Tootsie Roll! And we’d like to ask on what’s a Homage?”

“Oh? Well hey there, little filly! As for Homage? Well, she was a well-known radio broadcaster in Equestria, who is also titled as ‘The Voice of Freedom’ as she provides different news throughout each day and is also said that she’s fond of Littlepip, former Stable Dweller turned Wastelander heroine. Who’d knew?” Scrap Heap finished explaining us regarding this Homage. Seems these weren’t just statuettes; they’re actually trinkets.

And as for this Homage liking Littlepip? I’m not entirely sure if a mare would be interested in another mare as it defies logic for ponykind, but why should I care? I’m a scientist, not a dating expert.

Furthermore, how does this Homage - or whatever’s called - earned the title ‘The Voice of Freedom’? I mean, I haven’t done any research regarding survival or virtues (which is funny I knew knew what virtues were. I was too busy trying to stay alive) whatsoever. Besides, Starshooter never told me about a Homage or anything like that. Just seems superstitious to me…

Anyway, I don’t think its important right now. What’s important is that I need new weapons, but I’m short on caps. Goddess-dammit all! The Wasteland can’t expect me to lay fisticuffs with my hooves, do they?

I selected a couple of words from the screen and showed it to Scrap Heap, reading as ‘Do you have any good weapons available?’.

He was a little skeptical at first as he took a glance at me, “Hmm.. I haven’t seen a mute pony in my life before. Then again, not many ponies are talkative in Equestria anyway. But sure! We have a wide variety of weapons, few which are cheap; the rest are mighty expensive, if you catch my drift.”

By cheap, he meant flimsy and unreliable to the point where they’ll break and no longer function for future firefights. And even if they still work, Raiders will easily shrug it off and go in for the kill. Unfortunately though, reliable weapons are too pricey and I haven’t found any caps that’ll get me armed to the teeth so it’s a huge setback for me. The last thing I would want is a melee weapon that’s at least reliable, even if it meant bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Oh well. I suppose I could fork up a couple of caps for both Bullseye and Gale to conserve their ammunition and leaving me defenseless yet again.

Before I did so though, I wrote down a couple of words again and showed to him which displayed as ‘Do you know anything regarding this Poppy Blossom in Nowac?’.

“Hmm… Poppy Blossom… yes, she can be quite nice and friendly, but something is odd about her. There’s been word that Sharpshooter’s wife went missing but Poppy herself never said anything about this. If you’d like to explain more, talk to Sharpshooter about this though I’d be careful if I were you. He tends to be a little… jumpy, but don’t take him too seriously. He just gets a little paranoid around new strangers, especially after his wife went missing. He told me to not tell you her name so you’ll have to do some convincing for me and he’ll tell you the name of his wife. I just stay out of situations like this but if anything, I’ll tell you a bit of secret; Poppy Blossom is not to be trusted with, even when she’s the self-proclaimed ‘mayor’ of Nowac. Just be careful.” Scrap Heap explained on the recent events that occurred in Nowac and wanted us to meet Sharpshooter personally instead of him, citing personal reasons. First, I’ll need a weapon and then go and check Sharpshooter to get more details from him. I have no choice; its either die fighting or die like a defenseless victim.

I might as well buy myself a pea-shooter of a handgun for 50 caps. Not like there’s anything for me to barter my way out for discounted prices. I suppose a pea-shooter will have to do for the time being until it breaks on its own and forcing me to scavenge for yet another weapon that’s bound to break or be stolen again.

“Excellent! Pleasure doing business with you. If you wanna meet Sharpshooter, tell him I said hi. Just be careful; he’s not in the best of moods right now. Oh, and here, take this trinket; free of charge. Your filly friend will love it.” Scrap Heap generously offered a Homage trinket to us and I happily accepted it before nodding in thanks.

We regrouped back with the three, “C’mon, let’s head up and see Sharpshooter, guys.”

“Okey-dokey-wokey!” Tootsie Roll jumped a bit and Bob skittered up to my back, knowing that he isn’t too fond of stairs. That, or he’s just a lazy robot in general who would rather hitch onto a pony’s back. Of course, I showed a Homage trinket to her before storing it in my saddlebags, “Ooohhh. She looks cool!”

Right. And apart from earning my very first unreliable pistol, we went up to the top of the stairs to meet Sharpshooter.

“Oh… hey. Didn’t expect to see new ponies here in Nowac. Name’s Sharpshooter and I work as a lookout in this particular town. Don’t ask why; I just do my job.”

He looks seriously depraved, from what I can tell. He has a red beret hat draped onto his head and sunglasses that partially hides his eyes along with a grey, dirty shirt with a crosshair for a cutie mark to go for. He also has a wood-carved sniper rifle resting onto his side. No doubt he’s a unicorn, too. He looks middle-aged as well, just with more droopy features on his face.

And he looks miserable as well. Not from the Slavers but from Scrap Heap’s explanation of his wife having gone missing. Of course, I allowed Gale to speak to him for us, “I’m Gale Storm, and this is Zero, Bob, Tootsie Roll and Bullseye. We’d like to know about what’s going on in Nowac, if you don’t mind me asking?”

I cautiously ushered Tootsie to stay behind me and Bullseye. Of course, Sharpshooter gave a stern answer, “None of your business, ma’am. As for Nowac, well things went to shit, even if things were peaceful. Too bad that’s not entirely the case. Why, did Scrap Heap told you this?”

From the looks of Sharpshooter, he seemed delirious to go along with paranoia combined with a few days of no sleep. Not only that, but from his wife being missing. “I’ll humor you, though. Slavers came in five days ago and took my wife somewhere to goddess-knows-where. Too bad I was busy scouting the area at the top of Homage Gift Shop that I always thought of a silly rumor to be false. Of course, when I went to check the house where me and my wife rest in, all I found were trails of blood across the floor and…” Sharpshooter paused abruptly when he brought it up, but it was enough to leave all of us in shock upon hearing the news.

“Oh dear… I’m sorry to hear that…” She expressed grief and I was covering Tootsie’s ears with my forelegs so she wouldn’t feel too traumatized to hear his explanation. “We could help you find your wife and search for those responsible. Mainly the Slavers, of course.”

Sharpshooter snorted at her reply, “Well fucking good luck with that; she’s probably dead by now. But if you’re eager to shed some blood against the Slavers, then I ain’t stopping you. The Wastelands’ just about as fucked up as Equestria itself. If you do happen to find her, just let me know. I can’t tell you where she is though because I was at the gift shop I’m in the whole time. You’ll have to look for her yourselves. Her name’s Orchard Peak, about having a purple, wavy mane and those purple eyes. Not to mention a periwinkle color to her body… that’s all I could ever give you the details. Now, just skedaddle on outta here; I need to get back on my job.”

After listening to his further details regarding his missing wife, Orchard Peak, we were told that Slavers were responsible for the abduction for financial purposes, or worse. The problem is where to find her.

Slavers are uncommon to find but they’re not that easy to locate. And this will be a tedious task to do, all the while trying to get back to Stable Town for a debrief. Right now is finding Sharpshooter’s missing wife. We’ll have to start with Nowac and then the outskirts of it.

“Thank you for giving us the details, Sharpshooter. We’ll look for your wife and hope that she’s still alive and well.” Gale nodded before diverting her attention to us, “Let’s go, guys. Zero, you lead the way and find any clues regarding Orchard Peak.”

I move my fore-hooves from Tootsie Roll’s ears and motioned my head. Of course, the filly started asking unnecessary questions to us as we were leaving Homage Gift Shop, “Oh, oh! What was he talking about? Is he talking about the weather that’s raining confettis?! Or maybe this Homage-thing can read our minds like a psychic?!”

“Alright, boss. Where to start?”

Half of the houses are currently occupied by Nowac settlers whilst other houses sit there empty. We already searched the house over there, though I haven’t checked the mailbox from the same house we’re in. As I opened up, it revealed to be the latest issue of Neighkola Tesla and You! Oh-ho-ho, sweet! I bet the unnamed pony - apart from Sharpshooter himself - has no idea what he/she had missed out the wonders of science!

Of course, it doesn’t lead to an actual clue of Sharpshooter’s missing wife, but you can’t blame me for getting a look on Neighkola’s latest issue. He’s my idol, after all.

“Oh? I see that would be Neighkola Tesla, Zero?”

I eagerly nodded to Gale, and he’s my idol, too! Acknowledging this, she nodded me back with an admiring smile, “I assume that you idolize him, then. You’re a scientist, after all.”

Why yes, of course I am! But let’s focus on the matter at hoof. I kept the magazine into my saddlebags and continued to look search around the residential area of Nowac to see if there’s anything familiar regarding Sharpshooter’s wife’s abduction.

As we explored around the houses, we were greeted by a settler, a young mare with a plain white, tattered shirt filled with dirt and grime. I couldn’t get a good description of her because she’s wearing a robe that conceals her overall appearance, “What are you ponies doing in Nowac? Poppy Blossom would tear you up a new one if she catches you…”

We weren’t sure if she was threatening us or warning us, but it was enough for me to retrieve the first clue regarding Nowac’s ‘mayor’ Poppy Blossom herself. However, I wanted more answers from the mystery mare. Whilst Tootsie Roll cautiously and shyly approached the unnamed mare, we cautiously looked after our filly companion, “Excuse me, ma’am, but umm… Poppy is a nice pony and…”

She received a harsh scoff response from Tootsie’s comments, “Filly, she may be nice and all, but that’s the reason she’ll use your naivety to her advantage and sell you to the Slavers.”

“S-Slavers…?!” The young filly’s ears immediately fall flat from the mysterious mare’s words before backpedalling back behind me. Whatever triggered her must be very serious. I quickly motioned Gale to have her comfort Tootsie before I approached to Bullseye, writing down a couple of words to him ‘Stay with the three. I’ll have a private conversation with this mare’.

“Alright, boss. How’s the filly doing, by the way?”

I pointed a hoof to Gale, who is soothing her before the filly could break into tears. I really don’t want to hear what’s going on until I can find out what is this mare trying to explain. Bob, on the other hoof, glanced suspiciously at her, already beginning to look distrustful over her as he aimed his laser tail at her, intent on shooting her for provoking the innocent filly. She didn’t seemed fazed by his threat and I took approach to wave him off for Bob to be with the others. I wrote down several words from the PipBuck and showed to her, reading as ‘Can we continue the conversation privately?’.

Bob let out a reluctant whirr and soon went to help Gale comfort the emotion-stricken Tootsie. “Fine. Lead the way.”

I led the unnamed mare in between two houses for me to be more one-on-one with her as I began to ask her questions via PipBuck shown on the screen which reads as ‘How do you know about Poppy Blossom? And what do you mean Slavers? Does she have a connection to them?’.

All she could do was lower her head to get a better view of the screen, I heard soft muttering from her reading my question. After she finished reading, she took a glance at me, though I couldn’t see her eyes due to her concealed appearance. “Before I can answer your question, I must ask this; why are you writing me with your PipBuck? Couldn’t you at least talk for once?”

I lowered my eyelid from her question, to my slight annoyance. If I were to ask you, you won’t be able to hear me talk whatsoever. I lift my head back and presented her a scar that was recently formed due to stitches being fully dissolved. She had a grimaced look before giving me a confirmed nod, “I see. So you were originally able to talk before somepony made you permanently mute, huh? Well, that sums up the answer.”

You can thank Dr. Scalpel for that.

“Now for my actual answer: Its unclear what, but it seems that she does show connections with the Slavers and some…” The unnamed mare paused for a dramatic moment before resuming, “...other faction known as Caesar’s Legion. And before you ask, which you can’t because you’re unable to normally talk, they’re the most notorious and dangerous factions known to ponykind and they’re known for their sick and twisted cult acts, using other captured ponies as sacrifices in order to appease a ‘god’ of some sort. And they have a silver tongue to go for, just to show their pure intimidation to even Alicorns themselves, and they weren’t afraid of them. And those that turn against the Caesar’s Legion would be met with instant death. Hell, even Raiders are afraid to even go near them. Not without being used as a sacrifice of any sort. Even Slavers were wise enough to give them personal space. Now that I’ve finalized my explanation, I hope you and your friends would stay out of Nowac as soon as possible.”

I was in shock. Slavers working with the Caesar’s Legion?

I’ve never heard of the Caesar’s Legion before, but if this confirms that they’re indeed sick cultists, then this is enough to link the missing connection regarding Sharpshooter’s missing wife. But I still need answers if I’m going to confirm this. I can’t just frame Poppy Blossom without first obtaining proof, much less knowing the actual location of Sharpshooter’s abducted wife. I wrote down a couple of words from the PipBuck and showed it to her, displayed as ‘Where was Sharpshooter’s wife last seen? And where do we find her?’.

Of course, the mare pressed her hoof on my PipBuck to display the map and trailed it along before pointing to me at the upper right corner of the screen, “This desolate island is northeast, approximately fifty miles from where you’re standing. Unless you can find reliable transportation that’ll take you there, you’ll be hoofing your ass for the next two to three months just to get to that island. And even if you somehow make it there, once you arrive there, there’s no turning back. You either live or die at the hooves of the Caesar’s Legion.”

How in the absolute fuck am I ever gonna find a reliable transportation that doesn’t involve me and my companions on a lengthy trek into an unknown, isolated island that’s most likely surrounded by irradiated waters? I’d need a plane for that! Of course, there’s always unfriendly skies to watch out for so we’d be dead before we even make it there. Trains, maybe? I dunno. Their destinations are predetermined and they’ll just take us off-course and further back in the process. And don’t get me started on teleportation. Even if I was a highly-skilled unicorn or an all-powerful alicorn, I can’t teleport all of us to said destination because even if I were to successfully teleport us there, I’d have to endure an extremely painful magical surge that prevents me from using magic any further until many moons have passed to use them again.

Well, I certainly have no other options. Even Gale can’t carry us all at once just to fly us to the island that serves as Caesar’s Legion’s territory. Its either a long trek until a reliable transportation is found or we’ll be travelling far until we can reach our destination, only to find out that we failed our objective.

Wait a minute…

This reminds me; I’m interacting with a similar pony just like Gale Storm did while I was trying to escape from New Hampshore whilst disguised as an escaped, Grand Pegasus Enclave soldier. Why does it strike me odd that I’m getting a deja vu feeling to it? And I highly doubt that she’s Lightspeed. She doesn’t have a robotic tone to it nor are her augmented, robotic parts added to it.

I wrote down another question for this mysterious mare and showed it to her as ‘Who are you?’.

She was silent at first. I don’t get it… who is she? And why was she warning us about Nowac, Poppy Blossom and the Caesar’s Legion in the first place? I want answers, and I want them now. “You want to know who I am?” She pulled her hoodie back for me to get a clear view of her face. Even with bags on her eyes and her messed-up mane, she was still as young as I am. And she’s an earth pony like me! Wait…

Am I missing something here? No, no. She clearly can’t be my mother. Not like I remember who my actual mother is anyway. Or even my father. Guess I was just born out of thin air.

“I’m Cherry Petal. I work as a post mare in delivering warning messages to select ponies, and you seem to be one of them… Zero, is it? Star Paladin Cosmo had told me about you. And judging by your looks, your database showed that you never had an actual birth name before…”

I slightly cocked my head to the right side. Who is this ‘Star Paladin Cosmo’ she told me about? And how is this Star Paladin knew about my name? Unless somehow Starshooter had sent personnel files about me to the Steel Rangers! But how?! I’ve encountered those Steel Rangers before and so far, they’ve been not so nice about me during my temporary stay with the Powder Gangers!

I grew slightly suspicious and wrote down an extra question for Cherry Petal. I showed her the screen which read as ‘Are you working for Steel Rangers?’.

Cherry firmly shook her head and explained her intentions to me, “Used to, though. However, because they were so damn greedy of their technology over the innocent ponies’ lives, I had to go into exile and started working with Applejack’s Rangers in secret.”

Applejack’s Rangers? Never heard of that name before… then again, that’s not entirely important right now. I’m done hearing every single detail regarding Sharpshooter’s wife, so I’m now more than determined to get to the island of death she’s told me about. I need to debrief my friends about this.

As I was already about to regroup with the others, Cherry waved a hoof at me, “Wait! Before you go, I can take you and the others to a decommissioned train station just up north of Nowac and close to the border of Mayne. Just meet me back here when you can.”

Right. I should do so, but she’ll tell us that there’s no guarantee for us to make it there, but I have hope that we’ll do whatever we can to search for his missing wife.

I regrouped with the four, who were waiting for me right next to the house we were while me and Cherry were privately interacting. Gale and Tootsie were each playing patty cakes with their hooves whilst Bullseye was blankly staring at a cracked wall from the dilapidated house and Bob took notice of my presence before emitting beeping noises at the three and pointing his metallic claw at me. “Oh? Oh! Zero, how did it go?” Gale asked before taking notice of the mystery mare’s revealed appearance, “Huh? Who are you?”

“I’m Cherry Petal. And I work as a post mare for Applejack’s Rangers in delivering messages for select ponies. I believe your friend Zero is one of them.” Cherry revealed her intentions to the others. Bullseye glanced at her which made her flinch at his sight, “What? You never seen a ghoul pony like myself before?”

“Well…” Cherry cleared her throat momentarily, “...I have met a couple who are indeed ghoul ponies like yourself, but I didn’t think you’re allies with them as well. Now, I can’t promise you ponies anything, but there’s a decommissioned train station that might get you to the last known location of Sharpshooter’s wife, but again, I can’t guarantee safe destination.”

Gale looked on with her face showing signs of worry, “What do you mean by that?”

“They’re probably guarded by Raiders or other hostile creatures, so I hope you ponies are armed and ready if you’re gonna make it over there. Now, follow me.” Cherry instructed us to follow her to the abandoned train station. Tootsie looked at me with a hint of concern, “Are we gonna be okay when the nice mare takes us to safety?”

I merely shrugged. I don’t think she’s taking us to safety. We needed to get to the train station and hope for the best. All we could do now is prepare ourselves on what’ll be lying ahead. I motioned a hoof to the others to follow me with the messenger mare. They all nodded and we followed Cherry Petal out of Nowac for the time being.

“Here we are. This is as far as I can take you ponies.” She pointed the direction of the abandoned train station just down the hill. Looks like its boarded with fences and barbed wires with a largely-intact steam train guarded by Raiders. Typical.

Gale Storm glanced at her, “Aren’t you gonna help us?”

Of course, Applejack’s Rangers’ messenger shook her head to decline our further help, “I don’t have weapons, and even so, I’m more trained to avoid any danger ahead than to suicidally charge head-on against hostile species, including our own, unfriendly kind. I’m just a post mare, not a fighter. Thanks for your concern anyway. Now, I must go. I’ll keep in touch of you, Zero. I’ll have word for Star Paladin Cosmo.” Cherry soon galloped off, leaving us to think up of a plan to get around them and hijack their train without getting too much attention. And it won’t be easy either; the abandoned train station is heavily guarded and engaging in a gunfight against them would be too dangerous. There’s even sniper ponies at the two, makeshift watchtowers from both sides that are guarding the main entrance.

“I hope you have a plan, Zero. We need to converse our ammo more carefully, and your current weapon isn’t versatile enough to take them down all at once and there’s about thirty of those Raiders, too. I’ll see if I can scout around without being seen by two sniper ponies and search for a possible opening.” Gale had thought up a solution, though I’m clearly hoping she doesn’t fly too high which will lead the Raiders to discover her and gun her down.

Tootsie glances up to her, expressing concern, “Will you be okay? We don’t want those meanie Raider thingies hurt you!”

There’s also a gate up ahead that prevents the train from departing, though I doubt they’re strong enough to block the train entirely.

I wrote down my PipBuck to instruct her to ‘Fly low to ensure that the Raiders don’t spot you while you scout around, Gale’.

“I will. I’ll be back around five minutes or more until I can search for an alternative route.” Gale spread her wings and took flight, flying as low as she could to avoid detection and we sat there to wait. I lowered my head with me ears falling back, still expressing disappointment that I had a flimsy pistol instead of a sniper rifle that would allow me to make precision shots against those sniper ponies. Of course, its goddamn impossible to aim at really long distances with a pistol. Even if I had a scope to it, it wouldn’t be able to land a single headshot against them because it’ll just land on the ground and Raiders would’ve taken notice.

All I could do was keep a watch out for the way these Raiders are patrolling the train station, with some having the usual, violent scuffles against one another… yep. Typical Raider behavior.

While we are waiting for her to return for a debrief, Gale had already landed onto the crevice of the hill, ensuring that there’s enough elevation for her to have a better look without being seen. “Hmm…”

She slowly moved her head left and right, hearing Raiders jerring on the scuffle while finding a hidden opening. “Nothing so far; walls are too solid.” Gale softly whispered and took flight towards the next area. She slipped at first from her hoof losing traction against the loose terrain but quickly went airborne before flying over to the next spot. One of the Raiders took notice when her ears perk up at the sounds of rocks clattering against the wall, “Hey… hey, Piledriver. Do you hear something?”

“Yes, Daisies. Its you hearing things! Now shut the fuck up and start guarding the fucking train!”

Daisies rolled her eyes in an annoyed manner and continued her patrol around the train station while Gale kept scouting around for another possible opening to gain entrance without detection. Of course, it wasn’t that easy due to a large amount of Raiders guarding the area. A good amount of distraction would do, but how she will do it is up to her.

She muttered quietly while flying low, “Where is it? Where’s the opening for it?”

After several minutes with no success of finding an opening, she did managed to find a medium-sized hole from the wooden wall, none which will fit through except both Tootsie and Bob. “Hmm…”

Gale gasped as she was almost spotted by one of the Raiders before quickly flying back to give us a debrief. Another Raider looked on, “Was was that somepony flying over our base, Buck-Off?”

“Will you shut the fuck up, Dynamite? Goddess, you’re worse than Daisies over there…”

She flew back to us as Gale began to debrief us, “Okay, I found an opening for us to get through, but it won’t be as easy as it sounds. The hole in the wall is only enough for any small pony to squeeze through, and Bob is only armed enough to hold his own against gunfire, I mean, being a robotic scorpion and all… but I figured that stealth will be key here instead of just trying to gun them down. I haven’t seen anypony with explosives, but I don’t think we’re gonna wait to find out. And I don’t think there’s another way but inside.”

Seems we’re gonna have to enter the abandoned train station the hard way, just to get a ourselves a free ride. Its either that or we’ll never make it to the island.

“B-But I don’t want my friend Bob to be all hurt! Those mean Raiders aren’t nice to us!” Tootsie proclaimed, attempting but failing to object Gale’s plan. Let’s be real here, Tootsie; the Wasteland is never nice to begin with.

Gale reassured the younger filly and gently pressed her hoof to her cheek, “Sweetie, your friend will be alright. We just need him to find an alternative way for us to get in without having to resort to… defending ourselves.” She avoided the word ‘gunfight’.

I wrote down for an additional plan and showed it to the gang, reading as ‘We could have him find an entrance switch for us to try and get in before the Raiders find out’.

And considering as how its nighttime, its only a matter of time before even the Raiders would start falling asleep or risk sleep deprivation.

She agreed to my idea, “Yeah. As far as I know, they look like that they haven’t slept in days, so we might have an advantage as long as we don’t disturb them. Of course, there’s no guarantee.” Gale turned her attention to Bob, “Are you prepared for this?”

Bob nodded and saluted to Gale Storm as she led us to the area she was in earlier. The hill was steep for us to climb through, but at least we were unnoticed by the Raiders. Tootsie was already hitching onto her back, knowing how much she hated walking through steep inclines. We inspected an open hole in the wall and Gale was right; nopony can fit through this hole except Bob. Probably from a makeshift grenade that did this as a result of their antics. More or less of a dud but still did a number to this wooden wall. We’d probably break them open to widen the gap, but then we’d end up grabbing their attention in a bad way.

“Right, here we are. Just be very careful out there, Bob.”

He gave her an affirmed nod and slowly skitters his way into the opening inside the guarded train station. Once inside, he quickly skittered underneath the unused train before one of the Raiders noticed his presence. We could hear the male Raider’s grumbling, annoyed sound before he continued to patrol the area.

Bob’s visors - functioning as eyes of course - scanned around for anymore Raiders patrolling around. It wasn’t night time, but it sure as hell cloudy with a chance of increased fog that reduces visibility.

We waited outside, and I don’t feel too comfortable in sending him out like this. I gently pushed the wooden wall with my foreleg; it made loose, creaking noises. Sounds like its too uneven, way before an explosion happened, too. Poor construction, even.

“Boss, what should we do while we wait?”

I figured we could barge in and take the train and have it to work, but that would be suicidal without having a thorough plan first. Gale answered this for me, “We have to wait until Bob returns for a debrief. But if we ever hear gunfire mixed with laser shots, then we have no choice but to break in and get on outta here and save Bob in the process, Bullseye. And we all know how Tootsie cares for her friend…”

“If you say so, amigo. At least I’ll be armed and ready when you fellows are.”

Not sure what kind of fancy word he said, but then again, that’s not important. Tootsie gave us her nervous expression, “I hope we have a second plan. I don’t want my friend to get all hurt…”

“Sweetie, he’ll be alright. We just need to keep our hopes high. I’m sure he’ll make it through.” Gale reassured the filly as I’m just leaning my own weight against the wall to relax myself. Bob, on the other, hoof, was treading carefully along the area and looked left and right before slowly emerging himself from under the train and from the train tracks before returning to us.

It wasn’t until one of the Raiders noticed something moving (specifically Bob), “Hey!” and began to fire a shot at him. He missed the shot, but it was enough to alert other Raiders as the bullet grazed at Bob’s metal sheet. We soon heard gunfire and Bob had successfully squeezed through the open wall, but the bigger problem is that we’ve been spotted.

“Oh shit! Whatever happened must’ve made the Raiders notice him. We’re gonna hoof it and take the train, and get the hell on outta here!”

Fuck! Well, I hope they’re too tired to aim or we’ll become shooting galleries! We should also bear in mind that there are sniper ponies at the watchtowers!

As the sliding gates were opened, we heard yellings from Raiders who are barking orders at each other to spread out and search. Seems we got ourselves a window of opportunity. I was strong enough (thank you, Applejack statuette, or whatever your name was!) and bucked my hind legs against the wooden wall to widen the open space and for us to enter the train station. Easy enough, the wall gave way and widened the gap for us to squeeze through easily and take the train.

The train station was empty within seconds, already turning into a search party, save for two other Raiders at the watchtowers. And the searchlights were already turned on as they moved around in an effort to find us.

I shook Gale for a moment for her to speak for me, “Huh? Oh, right! Avoid the searchlights; those damn sniper ponies are looking to score some headshots…”

We were careful enough to navigate around the moving searchlights easily, with Tootsie Roll grasping tightly around Gale, knowing that she didn’t want to get shot by those bastards.

And we didn’t have enough time as the bright beams were still trying to track us. I wrapped a hoof around the train door’s handle to pry it open. It wasn’t locked, but its sure as hell heavy and rusted! I quickly waved a hoof at the others with a need of help to get this door open and both Gale Storm and Bullseye rushed over to assist me, “Bob, try and keep the searchlights at bay while we get this door open! Avoid getting shot, too!”

There wasn’t any guarantee that Bob has quick reflexes due to his robotic nature but nevertheless, he confirmly nods to her and directs his attention at the searchlights. Tootsie would be worried, but decides its wise to stay quiet and let her friend worry about distracting the sniper ponies while we’re trying to pry the damn door open. Fuck, this thing’s heavier than Celestia and Luna’s two-way with Cadence!

As we were halfway there, we heard firing shots from snipers that landed some shots against Bob. The bullets didn’t pierced him, but they were enough to put a couple of dents on his metallic body. He’s not entirely bulletproof and we need to get this thing open ASAP!

“Almost… there…!” Gale strained along with her words as we finally pried the train door open and I was the first to head inside. “Bob, let’s go!”

While Bob was still alive and well, his body was already dented badly from the gunfire as he quickly skitters inside the train. It didn’t took long for the search party to return and found their base to be compromised and their train - which serves as their mobile hideout - were being hijacked. Fuck! They weren’t far enough to realize this, and even some had never left the train station!

“Quick, Zero! Get us out of here!” Gale ordered me as I quickly rushed over to the conductor; there were two train levers to use, one to move it forward and the other to pull it to a stop. I heard commotion coming from outside of the station and I was darting my head in different places while my friends were trying to settle in and I was quick to push the lever forward in an effort for the train to go. And surprise, surprise; it didn’t even budge! Goddess-dammit all! Has the wastelands cursed me yet again or what?!

Then of course, my eye (I said eye, because my other eye was permanently damaged) diverted to a pile of unused coals and a shovel leaning against the corner of both walls. Up in front lies a lit furnace that’s used to power the train with the use of coals. This could be my one chance to get out of here before the Raiders start breaching in, or worse.

I grabbed the shovel handle with my teeth and started to scoop up the coal and toss them into the lit furnace. (I’m not even sure why they’d use the furnace as a campfire in the first place. Its not a convenient place anyway.)

And after several times of scooping them inside, the heat brimmed the train up to power. There was shouting coming from the Raiders and were all trying to break in. I didn’t look back twice and quickly began to push the lever forward. The train turtled its way along the tracks as it was starting to pick up speed, though I heard a barrage of gunfire as they were still trying to breach inside. I quickly regrouped with the others, with Gale Storm trying to keep the entrance door closed and Bullseye firing back with his revolver through the window, “Shit! Hold them off, Bullseye!”

“I’m trying, but they keep firing! Caray!” Bullseye did his best to keep the Raiders at bay. I wasn’t sure what word he spoke; kinda sounded ancient to me.

Outside of the train, Piledriver barked orders at his fellow Raiders, “Stop that train, you asshats! Nopony hijacks our train and gets away with it! And you fucks better pick up the pace and keep firing!”

As the train slowly lurched forward (even with the lever having pushed forward entirely), it was still being riddled with gunfire and soon, explosions rang out. Oh fuck! Can’t this piece of shit go any faster?! We’re gonna be fucked if this train can’t pick up the pace!

“Out of ammo, boss!”

Despite Bullseye’s efforts, the Raiders kept coming. He had only managed to mortally wound a couple of Raiders yet they seem to be armed to the teeth as they hurled grenades at us in an attempt to blow the train open, “Shit! Take cover!”

BOOOOOOOMMM!!!

We quickly dove out of the way, save for Tootsie who had run off to the back of the train and Bob being hurled back from the blast as a result of an explosion outside, but thankfully unhurt. The wall from the train is still relatively intact, but still enough to create a seemingly large dent, threatening to tear itself an opening if another explosion was let out.

“Dammit, regroup! Tootsie, stay inside the closet; Bob, stay with the filly!” Gale ordered and me and Bullseye regrouped with her while Tootsie Roll quickly retreated inside the closet. And by the goddesses, the E.F.S. is flooded with a sea of red! The train was already starting to pick up the pace, but the Raiders outside kept firing relentlessly with another explosion ringing out as a result of one of their grenades.

BOOOOOOOMMM!!!

Fuck! This isn’t good! The second blast had managed to rip a seemingly large hole from the train, allowing any murder-hungry Raiders to breach inside! I can’t let Tootsie get hurt like this!

“Zero, wait!” Gale extended a hoof to me, but I was already off and running and making it towards another room. She was about to follow me, but stopped when she saw a hoof-ful of Raiders - five of them at least - having already breached the train and prevented her from going any further, “You ponies aren’t going anywhere! And this’ll be your last ride!”

“Shit… Bullseye, get to cover!” Gale immediately flew behind the row of seats to her right while Bullseye went to the left side. “Where did boss ran off to?!”

“I dunno! He left to get Tootsie Roll and Bob, I think! Now, open fire!” She instructed and began opening fire at the Raiders. They took cover as well, save for one who was immediately gunned down and dropped dead to the floor.

“Well, there goes Sledgehammer! He’s a stupid motherfucker anyway!” One of the Raiders proclaimed whilst the others were firing back with their worn-down firearms, “Hey asshole! You and Daisies should check the back of the train while we deal with these wannabe hijackers!”

“Alright, but you owe me a solid, Road Rash! Let’s go, Daisies!” The unnamed Raider led Daisies to the back room while both Road Rash and the other fellow Raider exchanged gunfire at the other two.

I was looking around for Tootsie and Bob, wondering where could they be. “Psst! Zero!”

I could hear the filly’s voice, albeit hushed. I look down and saw both of them hiding underneath the strewn seats. I quickly waved a hoof to Bob, giving an all clear sign. But just as when I was about to give the two an all-clear, my ears start to twitch and I quickly turned my head to see two Raiders approaching and opening fire at me! Fucking goddess! I quickly dove out of the way, with shotgun pellets fired by Daisies barely missing my hind legs. Dammit, I just can’t get a break, can’t I?!

The Raider had smacked Daisies on the back of her head with a hoof, “You bitch, ya missed the shot! Go and find that asshole!”

I didn’t have the time to get a good description of these two; I’m too stuck with a fight-or-flight situation right now! I had the pistol armed to the teeth, readying for an ambush, and I’m hoping Bob can provide assistance. Two-on-one is definitely not in my favor!

Daisies grumbled from the way he chided and looked around for me, “Come out, you little colt… Daisies is gonna push you to your death!”

That was the worst pun I’ve ever heard in my life…

I clenched my teeth around the pistol at the ready, and I still have plenty of ammo to spare, even if there’s not much firepower in this flimsy weapon. Once Daisies arrived within my line of sights, I quickly slid into S.A.T.S. before she could take notice of me.

It seems I have a relatively high percentage on her limbs, including her head and torso. Although judging by the pistol’s weak nature, even landing a headshot isn’t gonna be enough to kill her. I’ll just go for the torso, just to ambush and catch her by surprise.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Not enough, but at least I managed to hit one of her vital organs that sent her reeling back and stumble onto the pile of chairs, “Guh!”

“Shit! Daisies!” He rushed towards me, but is quickly ambushed by Bob’s laser shots once he emerged from underneath the chairs, despite Tootsie’s initial plea to not take the Raider on by himself.

“Ahh! Fuck! What the fuck was that?!” The Raider protested and we soon double-teamed him before he could get any shot at us, and we’re not gonna give him a chance to retaliate.

The poor bastard - whom I don’t feel sorry for - was riddled with bullets and lasers penetrating through him, killing him before he could hit the ground. Seems that me and Bob had planned an unannounced ambush against them both, and I nodded Bob in thanks before Tootsie Roll was second to waddle out from hiding, “I-Is it over?”

I nodded to the filly. Normally, I’d scold her for running off like that, but I think hiding would’ve been a viable choice. She can’t hold her own, even with her robotic companion.

“We need to check on Gale and Bullseye, Zero! We wanna see if they’re okay!”

Yeah, good idea. Let’s hurry back and check with the others. There’s still two more we need to take care of, and fast.

One Raider was already incapacitated as a result from gunfire and the second one was slowly melted into goop. Seems these two made easy work!

Gale stood poised at me with a confident grin, “Where were you when we were gunning down those two remaining Raiders?”

I was getting the filly, Gale! What was I supposed to do, clean windows?!

“Don’t worry, boss. We took care of everything here.”

Well, I was pretty impressed that both Gale Storm and Bullseye had held their own while I was retrieving both Tootsie and Bob. Especially while inside a moving train that’s now up to normal speed along the tracks. Wherever this train will take us, I hope it doesn’t deviate us towards an unspecified location we don’t want.

“Well, now that that’s over, we’ll just relax back and you get to commandeer the train. Oh! Can I have the book about Daring Do, Zero? I want to know about her journey…”

Seeing as how she’s interested in Daring Do, just as how I’m interested in Neighkola Tesla himself, I opened up the saddlebags (which Gale happened to store it inside my saddlebags after having left the temple) and gave it to her. ‘The Adventures of Daring Do’, huh? Well, now I know why. I didn’t want her to leave her disappointed; she deserves it, after all.

“Thanks.” Gale emitted her fangirl-like squeal before beginning to read the very first chapter whilst I entered the cockpit in front. Tootsie had made herself comfortable and sat next to Bullseye, giving him a curious look. “Say, mister Bullseye? What’s it like to be a ghoul?”

Bullseye merely shrugged in response.

“Its a long story. And it all began when the Balefires went off…”

“...in the sweltering summer ten years before the return of Nightmare Moon. I had just completed my first year at the Baltimare University, where I was attending on a full athletics scholarship. I had also been fortunate in that my high school had offered cooperative credit courses with the University, allowing me to start college with several of my general studies requirements already completed – primarily writing and arithmetic, the former because I took every class in it that I could and the latter because I made the effort to get those studies out of the way as swiftly--”

I unintentionally interrupted Gale as I pulled the train horn string down, signifying that we’re arriving at our unknown destination. Tootsie had startled awake along with our ghoul friend as I began to slowly pull the brake lever as to stop the train. I’m surprised was pretty sturdy to withstand those kinds of attacks earlier today.

“Oh, we’re here?” Gale folded the book back and got off of the chair to check up on me inside the cockpit. The train let out a steaming hiss after coming to a full stop. She had kept her book down into my saddlebags.

“Check outside and see while I go get the other three, Zero.”

I confirmly nodded at her instructions and trotted off to head outside, not minding the dead Raider or that melted goop on the floor. I would open the door, but thanks to a grenade blast that had surely left a seemingly large gash from the wall, it’s basically a secondary enter/exit now. Of course though, the edges are too jagged which are sharp enough to cut somepony’s skin open so I simply wrapped a hoof around the train door handle and scrunched my face as I pulled this heavy thing open. Gah! Damn, it feels like its been wedged in!

KREEE-EEEE-EEEE!

And the sound of the door struggling to fully open is irritating to our ears!

There we go… fucking finally! Now to check what the outside is like. I was obviously the first to exit the train and found myself trying to struggle my eye to not get caught from that sudden flare that’s screaming sunlight from the grey clouds. Geez, when was the last time we had actual daylight?!

I looked at the map and it tells us that we’re in Outer New Hampshore…

NEW HAMPSHORE?!

This place was overrun with Cazadores to begin with! Why did this goddess-fucking train took us all the way back to once I came?! I quickly galloped to the other side of the train and darted my head left and right to ensure that no Cazadores are on sight or we’re fucked. To my right faces the docks area, with an unoccupied ferry boat to go for (though I’m gonna safely assume that there’s a captain manning the ship); to my right faces the outer skirts of what was left of New Hampshore. It was only several miles away, but I can see multitude of dots just flying and swarming around the city, with skyscrapers having been festered by those bastard bugs.

Fuck, I’m getting pressured by this…

“Okay, you three. We’re here, but we have to wait until Zero gives us the okay for us to get out of the train and continue on.” She instructed the three while I was still trying to get a clear head, and without trying to scour for PTMs. Okay so returning to New Hampshore is obviously out of the question for the time being and the moat would take us somewhere. There’s also an unintended island stacked up by a bunch of large, fence posts and smoke billowing above. I’m guessing this must lead towards Sharpshooter’s missing wife, though I can’t always guarantee that. But we’re not going back to Nowac until we can confirm that Sharpshooter’s wife is indeed there, be it alive (hopefully) or dead.

Right. I think I’ve collected my thoughts enough for me to get back to my friends and let them know as soon as I entered back inside the partially-damaged train, writing down only two words from my PipBuck (with the use of my muzzle, of course) and showing them that ‘Its clear’.

Gale took a glance at the PipBuck’s screen and gave a confirmed nod to me before turning to the three, “Alright, coast is clear. We should disembark the train now.”

“Ugh, finally! I was sooo bored of sitting around!” Tootsie proclaimed, stretching her small hooves to loosen up her muscles, “C’mon, Bob and… Bullseye! We got some adventuring to do!”

“Well, if you insist, little Tootsie. Let’s see what our boss has something to show us.”

We exited the train and all I could do was point a hoof at the ferry, which will lead us to an unintended island that could take us to Sharpshooter’s abducted wife. At least, that’s what the map indicator of my PipBuck is telling me.

“Hmm… we should check on who’s manning the boat, though. Come on.”

Its more of a ferry than a boat (or a little bit of both), Gale. But yes, I led the others with her as we approached the ferry. There was a blip on the E.F.S. which shows a neutral.friendly ahead. Once we arrived at the boat, we were greeted at by a middle-aged stallion with his sailor outfit. His short, dark brown mane was adorned by a sailor’s cap, with his navy blue eyes and caramel coat akin to Tootsie Roll (almost, of course), “Ahoy there, fellow travelers! What brings you here to New Hampshore? Here for your travels, I presume?”

I’ll just let Gale Storm talk to him for me.

“Not much of a travel, but more of a rescue mission. You see, we’re trying to find some clues regarding a missing somepony and we figured if you could take us over to that island.” She points a hoof towards the direction of the island, “And before you ask, we don’t have enough bits to pay for a one-way trip. Its an urgent mission we have to do.”

After her explanation which required no negotiation for a fee, the older stallion let out a heartfelt laughter, “Only the second trip requires bits for me to take you there, but since this is your first time visiting here, its free of charge! But are you sure you don’t want to take a visit to New Hampshore? Its the best there is!”

Is he clearly unaware that New Hampshore has gone to shit?! I mean, I sure as hope he hasn’t taken any PTMs himself! Even the news I heard from weeks ago stated that it was off-limits due to the Cazadores wreaking havoc with no signs of letting up!

I quickly wrote down several words from my PipBuck to reiterate this - even Gale was unsure if New Hampshore is considered safe to visit - and presented it to the stallion, reading as ‘New Hampshore is overrun by pretty much millions of pony-murdering insects known as the Cazadores’.

He squinted his eyes and muttered softly from the words I’ve put down before recoiling himself back in shock, “Oh dear. That sounds serious, isn’t it? Well, shoot! I’ve been told that New Hampshore was a great city with the memorial of Sapphire Shores to it, but, I guess I was wrong.” He cleared his throat to introduce himself to us, “Anyways, my name’s Salty Spitoon, and I’m the captain of the Sapphire Shores ferryboat! And the only one manning it as well.”

“Hey, Mr. Salty Spitoon? Do you think we get something to eat inside? I’m hungry!”

“Why of course there is, little filly! Not much to go for, but I always make sure to keep them in stock whenever we run out of supplies!” Salty confirmed to us. Good, I always thought we’d eat something before he can take us there.

“But, what’s the catch?” Bullseye neutrally asked the captain. Salty wasn’t sure of this and he’s soon to have an uneasy feeling, “Oh right… I forgot to remind you that this island you folks were talking about is the homeland of the notorious Caesar’s Legion. They’re quite the rare sight, and the last thing you’ll be seeing, too. One look of them and you won’t be making out here alive. Are you ponies absolutely sure you want to go there?”

He was right to be worried for our safety, and it looks like this leads us further to where Orchard Peak is, even if the threat seems very dire. But we still have to check over the island, regardless; we can’t just lie to Sharpshooter to imply the latter if we haven’t investigated ourselves.

“We’ll take that chance. We’ve been through hell before and we sure as hell we’re gonna do it again. For everypony’s sake, too.” She confirmed Salty regarding our intentions.

He gave us a slow nod, “Well, alright then. Climb on aboard, and I’ll take you there. Just gonna have to be discreet if we don’t want to be seen by them.”

I motioned my head to my friends and we boarded ourselves into Salty’s personal ferryboat for us to traverse ourselves into the most dangerous path the Wastelands will put us in. Once there, there was a foghorn blaring out as we were taken to the island that’s currently occupied by the Caesar’s Legion. And I sure hope we were wrong…

Salty had stopped the ferryboat mid-way with Caesar’s Legion guards present at the front gate and had to backtrack to another route to avoid detection. And for good reason, too. However, the terrain seems pretty steep to climb onto and that there aren’t anymore passageways for us to get across without being seen. “Sorry, ponies. But this is as far as I can go. Any further, and these… savages would find us. Things wouldn’t end well.”

“We understand. I’ll fly low and find a secret entrance if any, Salty.” Gale informed the captain, putting her flight and stealth combined to the test. I placed my hoof onto her shoulder and she glanced at me, “Yes, Zero?”

I gave her a nod as a means of telling her good luck and released a soft smile from my lips.

And Gale smiled back at me, “I’ll be okay. Thank you.”

I could feel my heart flutter again from those words. Her voice may show her tomboyish nature (along with her overall appearance), but it also shows her sweetness and caring to it as well. Her wings were unfurled and took flight as she flew off from the ferryboat and carefully glides down just inches along the water without getting herself detected. The island was fairly large, geographically speaking, of course. Knowing Gale, she’s just as fast a flyer than Spitfire herself and it didn’t took long enough for her to find a large, rusted-out sewage pipe that has been unused for centuries since. “Bingo…”

Soon, she regrouped with us with Salty asking, “Have you found an alternative, ma’am?”

She gracefully landed on her hooves and gave him a confirmed nod, “Yup. Its just up ahead on the left. I saw a large, drainage pipe with sewer grates broken off. And nothing gross there is inside, too.”

Tootsie’s face scrunches when she heard the word ‘sewer’, even if Gale confirmed that there was no gross things inside.

“Well, alrighty then! Let’s go there!” Salty had fired up the ferryboat again and carefully drove to the area where Gale had seen.

Seems like this is the place she had found. Impressive, too!

“Here it is. Took us a couple of minutes to get here, but I hope this is the one you’re referring to, ma’am.” Salty had soon begun to set up the walkboard connecting between the ferryboat and the entrance of the large, drainage pipe, with the sewer grate being ripped open. Well, this looks like our official stop.

I motioned to the three for us to disembark the ferryboat. Bob was already tired of waiting and hitched himself up to my back as I was the first to leave the boat with Bullseye giving me a hint of a tease, “‘ey boss. This Gale is checking you out. ANd she likes you too, hombre.”

Fuck! Can you not mention that, Bullseye?! My face is burning up again! My inner thoughts shouted; this ghoul pony HAD to bring that subject up!

Need to stay calm and focus on the matter at hoof here…

“We’ll be back once we rescued somepony trapped in this island. We hope that she’s still alive. Give us at least three hours or less for us to come back. I really hate to carry my friends back to New Hampshore once that’s over…” Gale instructed the captain and Salty nodded a bit, “Well, alright. Just be careful when you get there. Those Caesar’s Legion are not to be taken lightly…”

We’ve been through hell before, and the Wastelands had already scratched the surface. Tootsie held close to the older mare from the inadequate lighting inside the drainage as I had turned on the flashlight from my PipBuck to illuminate the darkness. I have a feeling that darkness will be the least of our worries…

We heard faint, chanting noises up above as we were climbing up the ladder leading the exit. I don’t think this sounds good; its like they’re saying words that are… un-goddess-like. As I slowly and carefully opened the sewer lid, I took a peek and saw a row of ponies, several whom are wearing animal hide (specifically foxes) adorned with some armored plating to it, along with flag banners onto their backs. I didn’t took a clearer look, but from its overall outfits, its clear that they are indeed the Caesar’s Legion. And their looks are just the beginning.

I slowly scanned around to see if there are anything for us to move behind them without being caught by those… those sadists. And I call them sadists because from the way they’re wearing and judging by their natures, its become clear that it spells trouble. And a huge one, too.

“What are you looking for, Zero?” Gale carefully whispered to me, I pointed a hoof to the corner where the tents are for us to stealthily move along.

I was the first to exit the drainage entrance and she was quick to hold it open without causing noise. And I was also quick and stealthy enough to get behind one the tents, with Bob in tow on my back as well. “Follow my lead.” The ex-Enclave carefully instructed both Tootsie and Bullseye; she was the second to exit and leaving the manhole open and docked her wings back before making a dash towards the tent I’m in. The other two had followed suit, the filly grimacing at the sight of Bullseye’s ghoul body, which felt like mold upon holding his hoof.

One of the Legion had turned around upon sensing suspicion and nudged to his fellow comrade to notify the situation, “Seems we have intruders in our territory…”

The other Legion nods and silently heads over to its leader to inform what’s going on. Meanwhile, we were just catching our breath and I’m still wondering how we’re ever gonna find Orchard Peak if all the E.F.S. is showing are nothing but a sea of red. Seems one of them moved, but I can’t be too sure about this.

“Is everypony okay?” Gale whisperdry asked and we gave a confirmed nod to her, “Good. Let’s find Orchard Peak and get out of here while we still can.”

Let’s hope so. We’re in an extremely dangerous and hostile territory and if we’re caught by one or more of those Caesar’s Legion, then we’re as good as dead. And I don’t think I have any spare Stealth Bucks with me for us to even search for her without being detected and even so, there’s no guarantee. Its even considered too powerful and harmful for a young filly like Tootsie Roll.

All we could do now was to keep moving. Of course, my ears emitted spasms as to indicate that one or more of them are already on the move and searching for us. Ohhh fuck this shit. The Wastelands seriously can’t catch a break, can it?

I held my hoof around Gale’s - even though my face is instantly flaring up yet again - and apparently, she, too, was blushing! “Umm… Zero? What are you holding my hoof for?”

Fuck, now’s not the time for me to get nervous! I pulled Gale close to me for safety purposes but… dammit, now’s not the time for my face to be burning up intensely now! Need to stick with the mission at hoof!

I showed her my PipBuck, displaying the E.F.S. which indicates a sea of red blips, with some of them already on the move while the rest were just standing in one place.

“Uh oh… we need to stay close together, guys. They’re already trying to search for us and we need to look for Orchard Peak, and fast.”

All three of them huddled close to us and we continued to search around for Sharpshooter’s missing wife. However, its gotten complicated now that some of the Caesar’s Legion members were already on the move. There are also dead ponies, mostly mutilated and crucified, too. I cringe at the sight. Even Tootsie can’t bear to look and had already hid her face onto the side of Gale. Fucking hell…

I didn’t want to stop to glance at their horrific demises. Orchard Peak is still our priority, though judging by the way these sadists used their victims as a form of ritual of some sort, its clear that the island was isolated outside of the Equestrian Wastelands, though not uncommon for these sadists to be roaming themselves around in the Wastelands in search for potential victims. Even if you’d strike a bargain with them, they’ll just turn their backs against you and use you as a sacrifice.

Even if there would be a green blip to the E.F.S., its difficult to tell; there’s too many of those Legionnaires.

Focus, Zero. Just find Orchard Peak and if she’s alive or dead, just escape ASAP. No exceptions!

Thanks, my inner self. I really appreciate the optimism when really, we’re just traversing through hell island. Of course, we still haven’t been spotted yet, though I soon heard a couple of words from one of the Caesar’s Legion, mentioning about increasing search priorities and all the red blips had started to move. Goddess-fucking-dammit! They’ve grown increasingly suspicious of us!

And there aren’t any alternatives, either. Its make or break time.

“C’mon, Zero. Stay focused. We don’t have much time left; just find Orchard Peak and let’s get out of here.”

She’s right. We have little time left, too. If we don’t get the hell out of here when we find Orchard Peak, we’ll become the next victims for their sadistic rituals! Where is she?!

Eventually, we found Orchard Peak… or what’s left of her…

I was trying to not throw up at her mutilated remains; she didn’t even last a day (and its now difficult to describe her appearance). Gale stood there in horror and immediately gagged before galloping off to the other side, with audible, retching noises and forcing her stomach to relinquish her meal.

“Whoa… that’s sick, boss. I assume they’ve done this?”

No doubt about it, Bullseye. This was the Caesar’s Legion’s doing. Even Bob was covering his robotic eyes with his metal claws; even he can’t stand to look at this… this heinous act committed by them.

And don’t get me started with Tootsie Roll either. The last thing I want is to traumatize her even further.

As Gale returned with her wobbling hooves, I spotted a partially-bloodied note written along.

‘Sharpshooter, if you’re reading this, then that means I’m already dead. The Caesar’s Legion had brokered their deal with both the Slavers and Poppy Blossom herself, whom she thought of me being a liability, or that she thinks that she was short on caps and hired the Slavers on me. Unfortunately, help is too little, too late. I’m already gone, and there were too many of them that any escape will result in a death penalty. I died either way. Sharpshooter, I love you, and I hope I see you in your dreams… -Orchard Peak’

This was a will, and a final one too.

“Oh no… is… is this what’s left of Orchard Peak?” She looked on in dismay.

I solemnly nodded to Gale. This was Poppy Blossom’s doing, and the Slavers were an alibi. She imposed a hit on Sharpshooter’s wife in an attempt to earn a quick payment on caps. Caps are good for keeping ammo, food and parts in stock, but this was earned out of pure greed and possibly jealousy. I carefully scooped up the note with a hoof and stored it into my saddlebags. I looked back and see that they were still searching for us. Even with proper ammo with us, we won’t stand a chance against the Caesar’s Legion. Theirs are in good condition and they also have spears that almost never misses their preys.

I quickly guided my friends inside a nearby, empty base camp, with at least two medical boxes on both sides, even another manhole of what appears to be our way out. I hope. I pointed my hoof to both medical boxes for both Gale Storm and Bullseye to retrieve and I motioned over to Tootsie to help me open up the lid.

“I want out of this craziness, Zero…”

Trust me, Tootsie. I want out of this hellhole, too. And once we’re out of here, we’re gonna frame Poppy Blossom so hard that her true colors will be revealed. What lies under the smile of a friendly, carefree mare, is a heartless, sadistic monster.

“Alright… got them! Let’s get on out of here before they’d find us here!”

Almost… there… (For fucks sakes, this lid is heavy!)

There! Its open!

I was the first to climb down the ladder leading down to the sewage. Gotta love that stinky smell which doesn’t involve gore or any other things that would make us end up like poor old Orchard Peak. And we have a second, major threat to deal with besides the Cazadores currently ravaging New Hampshore.

Soon, everypony else had followed me and we made a mad dash for an exit, though the path is basically different than when we first entered. “Please lead us the way where we first entered, Zero.”

And it wasn’t long before we heard faint commotion behind us, one notifying his member that we must’ve escaped inside this manhole. Dammit, this is fucked up from the very start! And to engage a gun battle against them is obviously suicide! Their numbers are far too great!

Just gotta keep moving. I have to understand the patterns of behavior inside the maze-like sewage which is also hell.

And Sharpshooter won’t be liking the news…

“Salty! Get us out of here, quick!”

The captain had startled himself awake whilst he was waiting for us. He fell off of his chair and landed himself onto the wooden floor. He was briefly dazed but had quickly gotten himself up to his hooves and batting his eyes at us, “Why, what’s going on? Did you fellers find anything?”

She immediately shook her head, “No time to explain, take us back before the Caesar’s Legion finds us!”

I immediately vaulted myself forward and onto the ferryboat, with the other three having hopped along as well. Gale simply glided herself to board onto the boat before the captain had immediately fired up the engines and began to evacuate us from the island. Of course, knowing how slow this is, despite having the throttle stick pushed at maximum, this resulted in six of the Caesar’s Legion emerging from the sewage entrance/exit thanks to their flesh-eating dogs leading their way to us before shouting and hurled spears at the boat, piercing through the wooden walls.

Fuck! Near miss! I quickly backpedalled against Gale as more spears were thrown, still managing to pierce through the ferryboat before we finally made a miraculous yet narrow escape. Salty had managed to keep himself under control, even with the spear tip dangerously close to the side of his head. “All aboard to New Hampshore!”

The Legionnaires had stopped attacking the boat, seeing it fully retreating. One of them turns his attention to his fellow Legionnaires and raises a hoof and rests onto his fellow ally’s shoulder. “Caesar must know about this. That we have unwanted trespassers into our territory, and had shown no honor among the Legion.”

Another one nods in approval. “Yes. We shall show them what its like to be feared by the Caesar’s Legion. Everypony in the Wastelands shall kneel before us, and with utter mercy as well…”

Fuck…

This was definitely not our day to start off with. The search wasn’t cold. It was bloody. If she wasn’t completely matted with her own blood - guts included - I would’ve at least get a description of her. Right now, all I have is Orchard’s note to go for. And that note was her last will, too.

“So, what happened out there ponies? Also, she ain’t gonna be running for long. One of those primitive spears had somehow pierced the engine bay.”

Seems the worst is yet to come. One of the spears thrown by the Caesar’s Legion had managed to penetrate into the boat’s engine as it began to make violent, rattling noises inside. And then, a small explosion from the engine bay as it had slowly lurched to a stop, just halfway to New Hampshore, too. And that was before Gale even had the time to explain too.

“Well, bugger… engine is out, ponies! Looks like we’re gonna be drifting ‘till we get to New Hampshore.”

Of course, he heads to the room to check up on us, all whom expressed disappointment save for me. I was merely relaxing next to Gale, trying to forget the horrific sight.

Gale expressed a disappointed sigh and draped her wing around me before finally explaining the recent events we’ve been through, “Well, we were trying to escape after we found Orchard Peak or… or was left of her anyway. To make matters worse, the Caesar’s Legion were searching for us and the numbers were too big, we would’ve been easily outnumbered. And I don’t think this is the last time we encountered them…” She gingerly rubs a hoof around the sleeping filly’s mane.

He slowly nodded to her explanation, “I see. So the rumors about the Caesar’s Legion were true after all. They’re indeed one of the most intimidated ponies in the Equestrian Wastelands ponykind has ever known. Now you fellers understand why.”

As we arrived back to the outskirts of New Hampshore, we understood the Caesar’s Legion’s sadistic intentions. Now we’re just gonna hope we can fend them off for ourselves or even lure them to different factions to duke each other out. Of course, Raiders wouldn’t stand a chance against them, but now that we know we were up against, its a whole new game for the Wastelands’ twisted surprise.

“We’ll keep on the lookout in the future, then… thanks for helping out, Salty Spitoon. We have to go now.” Gale got herself off of the completely-damaged ferry boat and we followed her along. The partially-damaged train was still waiting for us and our ticket back to Nowac, hopefully.

“You fellers take care now, ya hear!”

We had soon left the outskirts of New Hampshore via train and on hoof again. Its time to tell Sharpshooter about Orchard Peak’s fate before we confront Poppy Blossom.

We did scoured along the train station and grabbed whatever that’s deemed edible - food, presumably - to hold back the hunger before making our way back to Nowac, ammo included. It was a fairly long trip, but we need to tell Sharpshooter about this and have Poppy Blossom turn herself in. And its obvious that she’ll be doing so the hard way.

It was already dusk, but nevertheless we arrived inside the Homage Gift Shop building to find Sharpshooter. He’s still up on the lookout area, having never left at all.

His eyes were on us, expecting a news.

“So, you came back. Is Orchard Peak alive in there?”

This was gonna be a hard pill to swallow. And Gale was the first to hand out his wife’s untimely demise, “Your wife didn’t make it… she was killed by Caesar’s Legion. But that’s not all; Poppy Blossom was the main reason Orchard Peak was kidnapped as a result of paying off Slavers to have her kidnapped. It was really difficult to determine because well… she was cut into pieces. Zero, show him the note.”

Sharpshooter was dealt with an emotional blow inside, his heart having immediately dropped down, and that was just the beginning. I pulled the note from the saddlebag and showed it to him. Sharpshooter was visibly shaken and once he began to look at the note and read a few notes written to it, he was left speechless.

Words couldn’t describe on how completely heartbroken he is when it comes to having his loved ones - namely his wife - abducted and being killed, even if a ransom was met. The final outcome would’ve been the same…

“O...Orchard… is…”

He quickly stormed out of the building to confront Poppy Blossom.

“H-Hey, wait!” Gale extended a hoof to Sharpshooter with no avail.

“Boss, let’s try and stop him! We don’t want him to do anything harsh!”

No need to tell me twice, Bullseye! “Come on, we don’t want him to do anything bad!” Tootsie voiced as well.

Once we quickly left the gift shop, we immediately arrived at the main office where Sharpshooter was pinning Poppy against the wall, with the muzzle of his rifle pressed against her forehead. He was already vengeful. (But this isn’t the kind of revenge we wanted to witness.)

“Say your prayers, bitch! Because of you, my wife is dead!! You better have those final words before I splatter your brains all over the fucking wall!!!” He screamed out with pure anger boiling within his blood.

“W-Wait! Y-Y-Y-Your wife i-i-is just a mere afterthought! W...We can work this out, Sharpshooter! Come on, I hired you as security for a reason; to keep Nowac safe and serene!” Poppy pleaded mercy with the vengeful stallion, and she was sweating from his enraged behavior.

It wasn’t long before we were the first to intervene, “Sharpshooter, stop! Killing her isn’t gonna solve anything!” Gale attempted to reason with him. I stood there cautiously, strafing on the right side while she was speaking out to him for me. She’s my voice and I’m the one solving the rest.

“Tootsie, Bob, get behind Bullseye! Bullseye, cover me if anything goes wrong!” She ordered her friends; Tootsie and Bob stood behind to Bullseye whilst Bullseye readies his revolver.

I merely stood back and ensure that the situation is defused.

Sharpshooter gave a glance to her, his eyes already burning with revenge, “Don’t tell me you’re going soft on Poppy! The skank is gonna get what’s coming because my wife is dead!!”

“You’re wrong. Very wrong. She may be the main culprit behind the abduction of Orchard Peak, but killing Poppy isn’t gonna bring your wife back; it’ll only lead you to more despair.” She kept her civility and reasoned with him further.

“D-Do as she says! Killing me isn’t going to--”

Sharpshooter quickly cut Poppy off before she could finish her sentence and forcefully swings the rifle’s muzzle against her cheek.

THWACK!

“SHUT UP!”

Poppy coughed up blood from receiving a harsh blow. Gale immediately stomped her hoof and approached to him with a stern expression. Bullseye kept his aim steady, knowing that he won’t shoot unless if ordered to or if the situation gets out of hoof, “Stop this now! If you kill her now, you will feel even more devastated because your wife is dead! Killing her will not solve everything! I ask you this before you do anything harsh; is this what your wife wanted? Does she accept you of your desire to kill a pony, even though she’s dead? No. She doesn’t want that.”

Sharpshooter’s ears were picked up by her words, and her words were right. Its not worth killing somepony as an act of revenge. Revenge will get you nowhere. Even if you were to avenge a loved one by murdering a pony, it yields no rewards. Just anguish and despair, just like how the Wastelands would want.

Once he lowered his guard, I swiftly moved in and pinned him against the wall with his own rifle. I gave him a similar look to Gale’s as she closed in on him, her expression solemn.

“Orchard Peak wouldn’t be happy if you were to kill Poppy, or any other pony, just to satisfy your revenge. It only makes matters worse. And the fact of the matter is that your wife wouldn’t allow you to kill unless if its in self-defense. Please, take great consideration to this, Sharpshooter. Is this what your wife wanted?”

I nodded to Gale for me to write down a hoof-ful of words and she kept him pinned against the wall. He was already surrendering, realizing that rage was clouding his mind and realizing that killing the perpetrator will get him nowhere. Once that’s done, I wrote down three, simple yet important words from the PipBuck and showed him that was displayed on the screen.

‘Vengeance Solves Nothing’

Eventually, he gave in.

“Y...You’re right, I… I don’t think Orchard Peak wanted this… and if she were alive, she’d scold me for that…”

We soon released him after Sharpshooter had seen the error of ways. That revenge doesn’t solve anything, even if its for a good cause.

Bullseye had soon lowered the weapon and Tootsie - who was covering her ears - poked her head to look at the three, relieved to see the situation defused.

“Good… now, just don’t do anything harsh and talk to Scrap Heap. He’ll be there to help you out.” Gale briefly consoled him and we let him leave the office. She then diverted attention to Poppy (still coughing up a bit of blood from the attack), who was about to thank her but was cut off again, “And you, you’re not off the hook yet. You’re coming with us, and you’re gonna turn yourself in for the crime you caused.

And she was serious for a reason as she pointed her scorpion-like tail close to her, “And you’re not gonna have second thoughts. Got it?”

Poppy Blossom has had enough abuse from Sharpshooter himself and the last thing she wants is being pierced through by Gale Storm. And I was thinking the same thing as well; its time that she turns herself in for the heinous crimes she caused.

“O...Okay… just… just don’t bring me to Sharpshooter, please…” She pleaded us, showing no intention to turn her tail and escape.

We gave her a firm nod, “Good. Because I’ll be keeping a close eye on you.” She kept her tail pointed under her chin and we left the office and out of Nowac. Tootsie Roll blew a raspberry at Poppy, “Big meanie!”

Seems that even the filly hates her.

Along the way back to Stable Town with Poppy Blossom in tow, my ears started to twitch and swivel at the direction, which are pointing up. I glanced up at the skies and let out a shocked gasp. Not good…

“Hmm? What is it, Zero? Something wrong?”

I pointed a hoof up to the direction of the skies; many, large-looking shadows were mobile and moving forward to our direction. And not the Cazadores as they’re too slow to fly. Instead, they resemble as large ships.

“Hmm…” She squinted her eyes and soon let out a worried look on her face as her ears folded back, “No… no, it can’t be…!”

“What can’t it be?” Bullseye asked. He himself wasn’t worried, but he’s sure as hell concerned.

“The Grand Pegasus Enclave are on the move…”

Fuck… seems they’ve increased priority into searching my friend further, and they’re seriously determined to find and retrieve Gale Storm for treason.

We need to get to Stable Town to take Poppy Blossom into a holding cell, and move further away if necessary. I just hope to Goddess we’re not too late…

Footnote: Level Up.
Skills Note: Science has reached 100%
New Perk: Adrenaline Rush – You have a fear of death that allows you to fight harder when you are wounded. When your character's HP drop below 75% of their maximum, your character gains a +2 Strength bonus, but cannot go above the racial maximum.