Five days ago:

A knock on the door was heard.

“Who is it?”

“Its Ginger Snaps, with cadet Lock-On to give you the debrief, Polar Storm. And its not a good one either…”

Polar was very stern and already began to grow a weary expression on his face, “Come on in, and this better not involve my daughter killing off our own soldiers, Ginger Snaps.”

Ginger Snaps dangerously gritted her teeth and gave a sharp stare at Lock-On, who was hesitant to follow her. “U-Umm… mister Polar? I umm… I lost my bag and…”

The older stallion coldly narrowed his eyes at the younger colt, “And? Did you find Gale Storm?”

She shook her head in response. “No sir. We found no signs of her.” She quickly shot up another glare at the cadet, “And its because YOU don’t know how to look after your belongings, you little shit! What do you have to say for our leader, huh?!”

Lock-On stammered nervously as he glances up to Polar, fearing something worse than punishment.

“Lock-On, you’ll be on cleaning duty for the next five months for your lack of proper guard for your belongings! And as for you, Ginger Snaps, you are off-duty until further notice. Both of you did a terrible job at finding my daughter!” Polar roared out in anger and disappointment upon handing them out stiff punishments. Ginger gritted her teeth from this and gave a sharp glare to the cadet, “This is all YOUR fault! We got our punishment because YOU decided to whine over your stolen, filly backpack than finding Gale! Fucking little brat!”

The leader stomped his hoof onto the desk to clear things up, “Silence! You two are dismissed until further notice! No exceptions! I will start to send out more troops to increase search priority to search and retrieve my daughter whilst you two will be sitting back and think about what you’ve done! Understood?!”

Ginger Snaps was quick to feign her smile and even nervously nods to him, “Y-Y-Yes sir! We’ll gladly take the punishments, sir!”

“Good. Dismissed!” Polar dismissively waved a hoof at the two as they leave his office. She seethed her teeth angrily at Lock-On as they left, “I’ll have your head if you continue to fuck this up!”

Lock-On simply whined at her threats. Meanwhile, Polar Storm activates the intercom to begin his announcement to his fellow soldiers, with speakerphones heard throughout northern Itrotly:

“My fellow Enclave soldiers, I have announcement regarding the search of my daughter and to increase top priority for it. Half of the soldiers will be deployed for increasing the search of my runaway daughter and ex-Grand Pegasus Enclave, whom she must be dealt with punishment from treason. I hate to do this to my own daughter, but action MUST be taken and if she has friends, they shall be taken in for questioning! Only those who are willing to stay and patrol northern Itrotly will do so, while the other half will be deployed throughout Equestria to search and retrieve Gale Storm, and that she must be brought in alive. Now, go and search for my daughter!”

Soon after his announcement, hundreds of Grand Pegasus Enclave soldiers had boarded the Raptors and were deployed from Itrotly to mainland Equestria in search for Gale Storm. Of course, half of the other Enclave soldiers remained within the northern region to guard and patrol whereas Lock-On and Ginger Snaps had also remained, albeit with punishment until further notice.

Today:

With Poppy Blossom in a holding cell for her crimes, we left the Sheriff's Station and let Quickdraw handle everything from here. With so many Raptor planes having flown past by from above, its clear that the Grand Pegasus Enclave had already set a maximum priority in searching and retrieving Gale Storm. Seems that peace in our time has been breached. Our break was cut short as a result of them.

Sweet Cheeks waved a hoof and called out for us, “Guys! Get in Stable 75! Quick!”

I glanced up at the skies and I was worried that they could make a landing anytime now. And darting my head to the direction of the town, the whole pony citizens were already in lockdown, and a real one this time. “Zero, we can’t stay out in the open like this. I don’t want to be spotted by them, and we have to take shelter in Stable 75.”

Gale’s right. We can’t afford to leave ourselves out in the open like this. Not when one of the Raptors would make a landing at anytime just to interrogate anypony in order to obtain any information of my friend or risk death. I motioned my hoof to the rest and we were led into Stable 75 by Sweet Cheeks before the large, Stable door behind us closed shut.

Inside, there were employees and other citizens who sought shelter inside, with random, exchanged conversations regarding the current situation. And there wasn’t anyplace to sit or relax; it was a full house.

“Whoa… didn’t expect lots of ponies in one Stable.”

I couldn’t agree more, Gale. Tootsie stood cautiously next to me with Bob following suit; they were afraid of getting themselves separated from us. Sweet Cheeks further explained to us, “We had also heard on the radio when DJ-P0N3 informed us that the Enclave were heading to Equestria to search for their umm…” She briefly paused with uncertainty, afraid of mentioning Gale’s name, “Soldier gone rogue…”

As Bullseye was getting mixed reactions from the pony settlers in Stable 75, the ex-Enclave soldier’s ears fell flat from the words ‘soldier gone rogue’, but I reassured her by gingerly pressing my hoof to her shoulder to let her know that everything will be all right. Her younger sister stepped in, glancing to her older sibling and back to me. “I assume you ponies made it out okay?”

Bullseye took a glance at Cloud Storm, “Yes, boss made us out okay.”

When Cloud gave her first impression to our ghoul companion, she was aghast and backpedalled at the sight, “Wah! G-G-Ghoul pony! Don’t eat my brain!”

I don’t get it. Bullseye is a ghoul pony, not a zombified pony. (Unless if that’s the same thing, then I call bullshit.)

Even Bullseye was left confused before Tootsie quickly galloped over to her, “He’s not a zombie, Cloud! He’s a nice, not-zombified ghoul pony!”

“Yeah umm… what the filly said.” Bullseye further reiterated with a hint of uncertainty to it. Guess he felt a little offended from being mistaken as a zombie.

Her older sister had also reassured Cloud, “Sis, this is Bullseye. And he means no harm to us, honest.”

Cloud cleared her throat to refresh her mind. “R-Right, sorry about that… pleased to meet you, I’m Cloud Storm!” She’d extend her hoof, but lowers it back down, afraid of getting the slimy feel of Bullseye’s decaying yet living body. She cleared her throat to give us the latest information, “Right. As I was saying, DJ-P0N3 had given out the latest news regarding the Grand Pegasus Enclave having already mobilized in search for their ‘high-value target’ and…” She was hesitant to let out a heavy gulp and whispered to her older sister, “...they’re looking for you, Gale.”

Gale gasped out in shock before she quickly covered her hoof to her mouth, “Shhhh! We can’t cause a commotion on here. Not without resorting into panic”.

While Tootsie Roll had huddled close to me to not get herself lost, Sweet Cheeks agreed to Cloud, “Yes, I agree with Cloud Storm. We need to go somewhere more private deep within Stable 75. If any, we’ll have to be under the radar. That includes you, Zero. Your PipBuck acts as the homing beacon outside, in case you’re wondering.”

Wait… I’m being tracked as well?! How?! I never tinkered around my PipBuck, or even installed a tracker to it unless… its automated! Dammit! Why hasn’t Neighkola Tesla warned me that the PipBuck 4000 acts like a homing beacon to it?! Maybe if I can override it and remove that feature, I should be fine… if I had the right tools, that is!

I was really, really baffled from Sweet Cheek’s comment. Has she been researching this whole time while we were away? I can’t believe such a high-end technology would have cons mixed with pros…

I tried to hide the PipBuck away but that was already too late. They already found out and all I can do was reluctantly nod. Sweet Cheeks instructed her employers, “I want you Stable Dwellers to handle the situation for our citizens in Stable Town until Quickdraw gives us the okay to go outside. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am!” The Stable 75 staff salutes to their Overmare and Sweet Cheeks and Cloud Storm soon led us to a secret passage that only Sweet Cheeks herself has access to. Inside reveals a seemingly empty passageway which soon reveals to be a storage room inside, but there’s more to it; ahead leads us to an underground path, not like those filthy sewers.

“Alright, everypony. This is the room where we use it for an emergency escape, though its not needed because we currently have a wide variety of supplies, such as food, clothing, medicine and appliances.” The Overmare explained upon revealing her secret passageway to us before continuing, “There’s also a path that’ll lead us to… goddess knows where. I’m not allowed to tell anypony about this, not even to my settlers, so I want all of you to Pinkie Promise to never tell anypony about this. Understood?”

Well, as long as we’re safe and hidden, albeit with a small amount of oxygen coming from the ventilation shafts, we should be fine without Enclave soldiers snooping around for us.

Cloud had also approached softly to me, “Please take great care of my sister. I know she can handle herself, but as long as she exiled herself from the Grand Pegasus Enclave, they won’t stop until they have found her, and even you ponies as well. That means you too, Zero.” She held my hoof up for her to look at the PipBuck 4000, “I’m not sure how your PipBuck was fitted with a tracker for any high-end factions to detect, but for whatever reason, it activated a beacon to allow them to track you far too easily. You’ll need something to countermeasure this or you’ll just make yourself an easy target and making you an easy target, no matter how well-prepared you are. I can’t tell you what as this PipBuck is far too advanced than the 3000 model would. I’m afraid this puts you and your friends more at risk unless you have a way to completely mask your whereabouts. You as a scientist have to figure out a way somehow.”

WHAT?! I’m being TRACKED?! Goddammit, Neighkola Tesla! How in the ever-loving fuck would you do this to me?! Why haven’t you told me that you had placed a beacon in this fucking PipBuck in the first place?! Why, oh why, must you add a beacon instead of - oh I don’t know - a tracker that can find other PipBuck users?!

Sure there aren’t many factions who aren’t too skilled with technology -Raiders being a perfect example - but for high-end factions like the Grand Pegasus Enclave, or even other highly-technological ones, is just as fucked up as Dr. Scalpel’s experiments!

Already in a state of panic, I tried to pry this accursed PipBuck off of my hoof, but Gale Storm was quick to intervene, “Don’t, Zero! Don’t do this to yourself. And don’t leave yourself PipBuck-less…”

I froze. And gazed to Gale with a guilt-ridden expression, too.

“Cloud’s right. You’re a scientist. You can find a way to solve this, just… just calm down, please. Especially not in front of a young filly.”

As she consoled me, I slowly moved my head to see Tootsie huddled behind Bob, looking scared and worried about my well-being. Bullseye merely stood there, expressionless. “When will we go, boss?”

That’s all he could say.

And unless there’s an unknown devices that masks my presence, I can’t risk tampering with it such as an EMP that could potentially disable the PipBuck 4000 and stop functioning altogether, even resulting in severely injuring myself. A device that’s highly-advanced will be very difficult to find. And even if there’s one available, it’ll be either nonfunctional or it will be functional by a vendor, but at exhorbitantly high costs in caps. And even black market ones wouldn’t sell a rare piece at cheap prices, either.

It took me at least one minute to get a clear head before nodding my head to Sweet Cheeks. Its time for us to be dwellers, I suppose.

“Good. Then let’s get going, Zero. We have enough supplies for us to venture underground. Thanks, Sweet Cheeks.”

Sweet Cheeks nodded. “We’ll have more than enough supplies to keep the inhabitants nice and healthy. Please be careful out there, everypony. We’re counting on you.”

Guess we’re truly going underground for the time being. If we try to reach the surface, then we’ll have the Grand Pegasus Enclave waiting on us. And I can’t let them get my friend.

Looks like now we have a long, undisclosed road ahead of us.

As troops mobilized to mainland Equestria, they thoroughly interrogated everypony they find who aren’t deemed armed and dangerous whilst they made regular killings to armed Raiders and the others that are deemed dangerous, mainly irradiated creatures dwelling around the Wastelands. Of course, that’s not what the Wastelands had in their minds, right? At least the Grand Pegasus Enclave won’t kill the innocent until proven otherwise. They were here for a reason; to search and retrieve their troop in exile.

Moreso, they had a recent, state-of-the-art technology that rivals Arcane’s version which allows them to detect any PipBucks nearby, though so far, they are too few and far between.

With their search in vain, they continued on along.

And in the meantime, we were still travelling along the narrow tunnel which I’m not greatly fond of and we’re wondering if Sweet Cheek’s suggestions seem a little exaggerated. We need oxygen sooner or later, lest we die from lack of air, even if the air itself is dead.

My friends were already suffocating, save for Bob who needs no oxygen due to him being an autonomous robot, “Zero, when will we ever get to the surface? I know Sweet Cheeks expressed concern regarding my own faction, but there’s no ventilation here and we need to resurface. Even if it meant that the Grand Pegasus Enclave would start searching for us, we have to get oxygen or risk suffocation.”

I’m not entirely sure, Gale. All I’m doing is leading you guys to whatever the Wastelands will take us. Luckily, the ladder up ahead that leads us back up to the surface isn’t too far. Might as well see what awaits us.

Nothing.

There wasn’t any sign of life for the moment. Just a vast, empty and isolated environment.

That’s a first; probably the last, too. I became unaware that the PipBuck 4000 I’m wearing had silently activated its beacon inside, which is difficult to gain access to without some arcane magic and very advanced decoding programs and deactivate it.

Still though, at least its empty, though the clouds are relatively thick, which might indicate that nighttime has already arrived. Might as well look for any place that isn’t riddled with pony-eating creatures. Maybe I could find a real and reliable weapon along the way to protect ourselves.

“Its so dark and spoookyyyy…” Tootsie huddled close to us, her robotic companion following suit. As isolated as it seems, we can’t just stand there and wait; we have to keep moving no matter what.

“Zero, let’s keep moving. We can’t afford to stay in one place, especially since we don’t know where we are.”

Agreed, Gale. All I could do was pull her close to me in a protective manner, which made her cheeks flush a tint of red in return. I won’t let the Grand Pegasus Enclave find us, especially you. Of course, if they do find me, they’ll just brutally interrogate me. As for the Steel Rangers? Well, they have a strict shoot-on-sight policy for the sake of technology for their own, selfish purposes.

As we kept going, my eyes (or simply eye) is starting to grow heavy on me, tiredness was beginning to set in. Yet I can’t fall asleep now or the next day I’ll wake up bound to a chair being wrongfully and brutally beaten alive as a means of interrogation.

“Are you okay, Zero? You don’t look too good.” Gale noticed of my deprived looks on my face; all the battles we’ve been through so far and to capture Poppy Blossom with little rest to go for is eventually gonna take its toll on both my body and my mind, thus leaving me wide open for the Wastelands to do nasty things on me and my friends. Even if Gale Storm would help, it won’t be enough.

There just has to be a place to rest, yet the visibility is too dark to see anything.

“Hmm… there! Everypony, let’s rest up over there by the house.”

The house? Wait, we’re in a residential area? But the streetlights were burnt out to the point where normal visibility is nonexistent! What trickery is this?! Fuck, my head’s feeling heavy and I’m slowly nodding off…

We entered inside and I was guided off to a nearby bedroom by Gale Storm, whereas Bullseye and Tootsie Roll relax themselves on the worn-out sofa. “Whew! My hoofsies are getting tired!”

“You tell me, little Tootsie.” Bullseye replied, with an expressionless look but still showing hints of tiredness after a pretty lengthy trek.

As I kept nodding myself to stay away, Gale had carefully set me down on the bed and rested herself next to me. I felt her wing tucked around me, which provided warmth since there were no bedsheets. I’m too worn out to even object so I’ll let this one go for the time being. I’m hoping the next day we don’t end up waking up with bullet holes festered from our bodies.

I felt a nudge from Gale, her nose pressed against my cheek, “Time to wake up, Zero. We have to keep moving.”

Well, at least I’m well-rested and not suffering from sleep deprivation. But to stay in one place means we’ll eventually be discovered by the Grand Pegasus Enclave, and even arrest Gale Storm for defecting her faction. We went to get Bullseye and Tootsie Roll, Bob included, but as we are about to leave, there are scores of Enclave soldiers having already arrived outside and are searching house to house. Shit! How did they get there so fast?!

“Oh no… they’re here already…” Gale quickly scanned around the room to see if there are any alternate exits, and she was indeed quick enough to find a door that leads down the basement (and hopefully not a dead end). She groaned out when she noticed that the door is locked, “Dammit… Zero, we need a lockpick for this!”

Tootsie’s ears perked up and quickly grabs a screwdriver and lockpick from my bag, “Coming, Gale Storm! One lockpick-unlocking coming right up!”

Bullseye carefully looked out the window, witnessing a fairly large number of Grand Pegasus Enclave troopers scouting house-to-house. “Boss, looks like they’re looking for us.”

Well no shit, Bullseye. Of course they’re looking for us! What do you expect them to do? Sit in a prayer circle or something?

My ears picked up the sounds of the lock giving itself up from Tootsie’s excellent lockpicking skills, “Got it!”

“Okay, Tootsie got it opened! Let’s go, ponies!”

Me and Bullseye head down the stairs and slammed the door shut with my hind legs, just before the Grand Pegasus Enclave gained access inside the house. In front of us lies a secret - yet rather obvious - passageway. And its unlocked too. The room’s vastly empty yes, but we didn’t have the time to search for valuable items as we’re still under radar, and my PipBuck 4000 keeps making silent blips from the screen.

For fuck’s sake, PipBuck! Stop giving us away our hiding place!

Despite my mind’s protest, it seems the PipBuck isn’t too cooperative today. Unless the same Enclave somehow managed to hack into it and installed a bug in order to keep track of me. Of course, even if this applies to all other, functioning PipBucks if available, it seems I’m their higher priority.

As we continued through, I had already illuminated the dark and unlit room, though this room virtually has little to no oxygen levels. Its goddamn stuffy in here, too! (Of course, Bob here doesn’t need to breathe; robots can’t suffocate from lack of oxygen.)

“Ugh… well at least this isn’t a dead end or we would’ve been in deep trouble.” Gale gasped for air. Well, its more of an ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ scenario. We’ll have to find a way to resurface again or risk dying. Hell, I think dying of lack of oxygen makes it less brutal than getting eviscerated by a firing squad that is the Grand Pegasus Enclave!

And I really hate how narrow the corridor is; its not making situation any better! I merely huddled myself close to Gale while Bob and Bullseye scanned around for any exits. Gale wrapped a hoof around my own and my face was already burning hot again, “We’ll get through this, Zero. Don’t worry about it.”

Tootsie Roll basically took notice of this and smirked at me. “Saaaaaay… you like that not-evil Grand Pegasus Enclave pony, don’tcha Zero?!”

WHAT?! GODDESS DAMMIT, WHY OH WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BRING THIS UP, YA FILLY! MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT HAS DERAILED AGAIN!!!

And I was on the verge of passing out, too! Even Gale took note of my hyperventilation as she tried to calm me down! “E-Easy there, Zero! She’s only giving a compliment is all!”

WHAT FUCKING COMPLEMENT! MY HEART’S ABOUT TO GO OFF LIKE A FUCKING BALEFIRE BOMB!!

My mind had officially fainted on me. Pinkie Pie then took over and filled in the spot for her to do all the thinking for me in my head.

“Hehe, haha! Seems your little self has passed out sooo I’ll be doing the thinking for you!”

Until my own pony mind regains consciousness, Pinkie had assumed her role in my head to do all the thinking. I swear, if Tootsie brings that subject up again…

“Boss! There’s an opening from the wall and a ladder. Its our way out.” Bullseye found our ticket out of this hellhole. Of course, we’re still in this hellhole, just with oxygen now. I let go of her hoof and was the first to climb up, but not before Bob rode shotgun on my back and clamped his metallic claws at my shoulder blades to keep himself in place. I pretty much ignored the pain and soon, others followed suit, with Bullseye trailing behind along with Gale, though now being able to fly with Tootsie Roll on her back.

Let’s hope we’re not out of the frying pan and into the fire when we resurface…

Empty. Like the Wastelands itself. Just a vast open emptiness. No Grand Pegasus Enclave snooping around. Even as my PipBuck was still making faint blip noises, there aren’t any red blips to show for. Seems we’re in the clear.

That isn’t to say that I can think clearly until further notice. Pinkie had already taken full control of my mind so she’s doing the thinking for me. But of course, I still have free will. Not like I’m a crazed, power-hungry alicorn trapped in the body of an ordinary colt.

Once my friends resurfaced, Gale took a cautious look to see if she doesn’t have her own troops looking for them. “Hmm… looks like everything’s clear. Where do we go now?”

Well, we can’t keep on running. The more we run, the more problems we’ll be facing. I’d suggest heading to Stable Town, but until we make the Grand Pegasus Enclave give up their search, its very unlikely that they’ll even stop. Up north might be a town, not too far. But goddess help us if we ever run into Raiders, or worse.

“Go on, Zero! Go thataway unless you want the nasty Wastes to get you and your friends!”

Will do, Pinkie. Goddess what have I gotten myself into…

I motioned a hoof to them as I lead them to a seemingly unfamiliar town. Supposedly it’d be daytime, but the thick clouds made visibility impossible so I turned on the flashlight from my PipBuck along the way. At least its not raining, thankfully. However, there’s a thick mist that prevents me from ever determining if this is really a town or not, especially with a strong wind kicking in.

Only two green blips from my PipBuck? Well as long as they’re friendlies and not hostiles, we should be good. According to the map, we’re in Little Appleloosa.

Of course, this seems quite farfetched; its nothing but a large, crudely-made shack and despite the its population consisting of 417 (at least that’s what the sign says), only two of them remain there, both a stallion and a mare. My guess is that the rest of the settlers were either wiped out from the Megaspell or were wiped out from various things, like radiation poisoning or didn’t last against various hostile factions.

“H-Huh?!” The unnamed, paranoid stallion noticed our presence, “Oh no, its the alicorns again, sis!”

Well that was interesting, alright.

“Hold on, sir! We’re not alicorns, just us regular ponies and… robot.” Gale Storm tried to ease the situation. Though the stallion’s appearance look like he’s been through a massive war, he appeared to be of having an indigo mane (which was tattered) and with a light cyan coat to it. His right eye is yellow but his left eye was greyed out, most likely having lost his partial vision from an unknown battle. Just like mine, only except my eyelid was permanently shut, making it impossible to open it at all which also resulted me in having this damned scar. And his cutie mark resembles a typical screwdriver.

The unnamed mare was quick to respond and help calm him down. It was evident that he's clearly having posttraumatic stress disorder. Though this doesn’t explain how and why Little Appleloosa’s population was nearly wiped out as a result of an unknown war.

“Hey, bro! Just calm down; they’re nice ponies! And umm… a robot, too?” The mare easily defused the situation before things got out of hooff. Bob curiously whirred at her; at least he wasn’t mistaken for a pony or he would’ve fired off laser shots.

The unnamed mare cleared her throat (and since the two are related, they’re likely earth ponies), “Sorry about that; my brother has mental issues. He’s not used in encountering strangers arrive in Little Appleloosa. Or, what’s left of it anyway.” She awkwardly chuckled.

“So umm… got any names?”

I’ll just let Gale Storm do all the introductions for me. She stepped forward with a gallant pose.

“My name is Gale Storm. My friends are Zero, Bullseye, Tootsie Roll and Bob.”

I merely waved a hoof at the two.

“I see… I’m Greasy Wrench and this here’s Screwdriver, my older brother. We’re the last of our kind in Little Appleloosa.”

I’m not sure why, but… they named themselves after trinkets or something? What’s their third sibling’s name, Screwball? Oh wait, I shouldn’t be making fun of their names. I know I have; I’ve been called Blueberry and being used as a number. Neither has ever appealed to my liking at all,

I was second to enter of the remnants of this nearly-extinct town and surveyed the damage. I’m still curious as of what happened to this place and would love to get some answers.

Tootsie huddled behind Gale, “Ooohh… this place is too spooky…”

Her robotic companion stood defensively in response to protect Tootsie Roll. Bullseye trotted next to me, “So, boss. I guess this is what’s left of Little Appleloosa, right?”

I nodded. I still need answers, regardless. I regrouped with Gale and wrote down a couple of words to Greasy Wrench (her appearance is too hard to tell, apart from her eyes identical to Screwdriver’s; her whole body is covered in ashes, mane and tail included) before displaying the screen to her from my PipBuck ‘What happened to Little Appleloosa? Where is everypony?’.

She squints her eyes with a hint of slight suspicion as she read the words displayed on the screen. “Hmm… y’know, for a scientist, how come you’re not actually talkative?”

Oh geez, here we go again…

Gale answered her question for me, “He was attacked by an unknown, mad surgeon, who surgically removed his vocal chords, thus eliminating his ability to normally talk.”

Thank you for that.

“Makes sense. At least y’all aren’t here to wipe us out. Now, as for your question, we were ransacked and attacked by…”

There was a pregnant pause. I was looking concerned now, even though she did this without further risking her own brother into a huge breakdown. Could it be alicorns? Raiders? Slavers? Or worse…?

“By… who?” Gale had cautiously asked.

Greasy had resumed, “...those nasty, massive swarm of insects worse than Bloatsprites. We were defenseless and underpowered. None of us stood the chance and me and my brother had sought refuge underground from our shack until hell decided it had done enough carnage and buzzed away. It became a horrific sight to see the settlers slaughtered by… those damned bugs from Tartarus!”

We gasped in shock, whilst Bullseye had widened his eyes in shock. I know what could’ve done this. And its clear enough that the Cazadores were responsible for nearly wiping out Little Appleloosa. And to my utter surprise, these were the same ones that had completely overrun New Hampshore. And my last encounter with one is like wrestling with death the whole time. The Wastelands had now unleashed its deadly arsenal that could threaten all of ponykind, be it friend or foe.

“Caza...dores…?” She was in utter shock and froze in place. I looked at Gale Storm, having expressed horror after hearing the events by Greasy Wrench. Screwdriver was silent, not wanting to scream out loud; he’s been traumatized enough.

Tootsie Roll was already in the waterworks and huddled under her wing, burying his face to the side of her body as her obvious sobbings were muffled. At least this filly wasn’t traumatized yet, but she was very emotional and couldn’t bear to hear anymore of this.

Its become clear that Little Appleloosa was just the beginning…

“Yep. Those massive, insect bastards aren’t like those nuisances that’s called Bloatsprites. Cazadores are deadly, relentless and show no regard for anypony around them. And they sure as hell won’t stop until they’re satisfied in claiming their victims.”

Looks like we’d need a really large army of ponies to fully eradicate the Cazadores, but we can’t right now. Not while we’re on the run from the Grand Pegasus Enclave. And to fully eradicate them ourselves is suicide.

Gale rubbed her wing under the crying Tootsie to comfort the filly, “So, you mentioned about the shack deep underground. Does it have a pathway that leads us somewhere?”

She gave a confirmed nod, “We have, but never used it amid all the chaos we’ve been going through. If you want to take us somewhere safe would be very appreciated.”

“We do. There’s a settlement called Stable Town, though we’ll have Zero lead us there and you two follow us.” Gale answered. Tootsie’s waterworks had finally subsided and had calmed herself down. I obviously can’t guarantee safe passage for these two settlers of Little Appleloosa; getting back to Stable Town won’t be as easy as it sounds, especially since we’re being tracked down by the Grand Pegasus Enclave. I can only hope to Celestia that we don’t deviate ourselves further away and into more, unknown hazards. And my PipBuck simply won’t stop flashing its light, its acting like a homing beacon for them to track us down easier. I’m not sure if there’s a reset button to this at all.

Yep. No reset button.. Just looked around my PipBuck 4000 and there’s no such feature. What kind of highly-advanced PipBuck that doesn’t have a reset button?!

“Come on, boss. Lead us back to Stable Town with both of the settlers.” Bullseye nudged me, showing signs of impatience. Alright, alright, I’m moving! Geeze!

I led the ponies (save for the obvious non-pony Bob behind me) down inside yet another secret passage Greasy mentioned. Looking back at Screwdriver… and here I thought I was a silent fellow. I don’t need another silent ponies in my goddess-damned life.

Its just one of those days, I guess.

Having resurfaced once again, its now nighttime and visibility is non-existent. As I turned on the flashlight of my PipBuck, it shows us an abandoned section of Mayne with a sign that reads ‘Stable Town is this way!’, sprayed in white paint onto the wooden billboard and the arrow facing right.

Well, at least we’ve made progress so far. But it seems food is now our top priority, and I don’t have sufficient eats enough to keep us full and energized. And the majority of buildings had its front doors completely boarded up, some even chained shut with no way to pick a lock inside.

“Well… we’re almost there, and in time too. We’re almost to Stable Town, you two. Just hang in there…”

Gale seemed pretty tired after our lengthy trek back to Stable Town. Tootsie Roll was nodding off but her rumbling stomach that demands for a decent meal makes it impossible for the filly to ignore, “Mmnn… shut up, ya noisy tummy…! I wanna sleeeeep…”

I merely rubbed my eyes with my hoof; they’re getting pretty heavy too. Next morning I’ll need to personally talk with Sweet Cheeks to inform that to run away from a pony-hunt creates more problems instead of solving them.

And our way back to Stable Town, we were met by Quickdraw, Stable Town’s only sheriff and mayor who stopped us from returning back to his town, “Now hold up there, pard’ner. Where are y’all coming back to this town fer? Can’t y’all see its currently in a state of lockdown?”

Goddess, I don’t have time for this…

“Quickdraw, we’re tired and we had to come back here because we found both pony settlers from LIttle Appleloosa that were nearly wiped out by a Cazador attack.” Gale stifled a yawn after having explained the current situation we’ve been through. The mayor was quick to be baffled at her story.

“Did’ja say a… Cazador attack? Ah can’t believe what ah’m hearing, but either way, that ain’t nun of mah business. What’s mah business is that y’all can’t be out ther’ when a lockdown’s in place, ‘specially when ya bring in those untrustworthy sett’lrs who ain’t here ta bring peace to our pony s’ttlement. Y’all best skeedaddle until sunrise.”

Greasy pleaded with Quickdraw, “Please sir… we have nowhere else to go! Please let us stay as our new residents! Screwdriver’s really traumatized and he needs help! We can’t go on like this!”

It was clear that Screwdriver is having a severe mental breakdown, causing him to shout nonsense words as he sprinted along the alleyway into a dead end. Quickdraw looked on before I quickly wrote down a couple of words to Bullseye, instructing him to ‘Go get Screwdriver and return him to us safely’.

“Sure thing, boss.” After Bullseye quickly read amid Greasy Wrench looking back with worry whereas Gale Storm stood next to me. This was sufficient to change Quickdraw’s mind. “Well… alrighty then. Come with me. And you fellers, get to mah office if y’all want some grub and some shuteye.”

Good thing too, because we’re not sleeping out in the open whatsoever.

Of course, Quickdraw led us up to his personal, private suite, “Ah’m takin’ y’all upstairs to avoid Poppy Blossom. She’s a bit ah… unhinged, if ya know what ah mean.”

And rightfully so, Poppy - the mare who is currently detained for her crimes from our visit in Nowac - is giving us death-like expression, hinting her absolute revenge against us. I don’t appreciate criminals who are looking for revenge when she’s clearly the murderer and playing the victim will get her nowhere.

The room was well-made, restored to its former glory too. The left side of the room has a couple of beds also well-made and most likely restored.

Gale was quick to admire this, though Tootsie Roll was the first to splay herself on the mattress and was quick to fall asleep. “Y’all best rest up now, ya hear? I’ll see y’all in th’ mornin’.”

Once Quickdraw had left, Greasy Wrench had guided Screwdriver to bed to sleep with him. Gale took me to bed with her for us to rest up for the night amid having skipped a meal, but I’m sure we’ll be able to sleep it off. I’m starting to like Gale Storm for some reason…

The next morning we were having a pretty normal breakfast at a local café managed by Lockjaw. Quickdraw told us earlier today that its on the house and had already paid in caps for him to provide us a decent breakfast. Lockjaw himself though looks to be wearing his brown overalls, his head and muzzle completely concealed of his identity from his full-facial helmet and his speech is entirely muffled out, making him difficult to understand (as his name implies of course).

Screwdriver, on the other hoof, was taken to Stable 75 with Greasy Wrench to help with Screwdriver’s mental disability though Sweet Cheeks is with us. She was initially disappointed with us at first, but had given us assurance. “I suppose no matter where you go, problems will just follow until those said problems are solved. Now, Zero. We need to do something about your PipBuck.”

Gee, you think, Sweet Cheeks? This ‘state-of-the-art’ PipBuck doesn’t have a reset button at all! And don’t even get me started on how hacking into my own PipBuck works, because there’s no such manual for this kind of method.

And even so, the Grand Pegasus Enclave had somehow gained access to my PipBuck without my knowledge. At least in Stable Town there aren’t any Pegasus Enclave soldiers present for now.

Once our meal was finished, a radio was heard in the background inside the café which had been turned on by Lockjaw, “...Hampshore has been now rendered inaccessible. Do not, and I repeat, do not enter New Hampshore. The threat levels are critical and its best that everypony stay as far away as possible.”

Wait a… was that… Starshooter?! How did he-- nono, how did he managed to escape the Cazadores?! Dammit all… goddess-dammit all… I should’ve been back on Lab-00 while I had the chance and told him what happened. But even then, it wouldn’t make a difference. Dr. Scalpel had already cut off my vocal chords which negates my ability to talk normally whatsoever.

“And that was the message from our caller, Starshooter. Stay the buck away from New Hampshore; don’t get near it even! This is DJ-P0N3, wishing you have a safe journey and not at the hands of those creepy crawlies!” It was soon cut off by a random, jazzy music. Those ‘creepy crawlies’ DJ-P0N3 mentioned were actually Cazadores. I slumped my head down on the table in disappointment.

“Zero, what’s wrong?” Gale asked while Bullseye had left to the restroom. Sweet Cheeks further asked me with clarity, “Zero… I assume you’re from New Hampshore, right?”

I slowly nodded, already buried my face with my forelegs. My inaction is what’s causing ponykind to be in danger of facing possible extinction. But it was my lack of preparedness that played a big factor in this. Without assembling different factions (Raiders and other hostile factions are exceptions), the Cazadores will continue to grow and threaten all of ponykind. But to try and reason with other ponies will be no easy feat, and most will never be met with reason, just with further violence.

I just can’t fathom on how such little problems can create big ones if they were left unattended. But Dr. Scalpel was also the second, responsible for the death of my two, former friends for his sadistic creation and most likely causing an offspring for the Cazadores.

But I just can’t keep on lamenting on everything. Dr. Scalpel was the cause, and I was the effect. It was then Gale reassured me and rubbed her hoof around my shoulder, “We’ll figure everything out, Zero. Somehow…”

I can only hope.

“Yeah, you’re a big and tough nerd! We can do it, right Bob?”

Bob nodded in approval to Tootsie’s question. I guess there’s glimmer of hope at least, but how long will it last? We’d have to assemble thousands of well-armed ponies to help eradicate the Cazadores, but for now, I just want the Pegasus Enclave to stop looking for me all the damn time.

“So, shall we go to Stable 75?”

I nodded again to Sweet Cheeks before looking back, seeing Bullseye having returned from the restroom, “I’m not sure how many years its been since I last used the restroom.”

O...kay, then. That’s the last thing I wanted to hear.

With that, we left the cafe and followed Sweet Cheeks back to Stable 75.

Once we were back in Stable 75, the dwellers were baffled in trying to get my PipBuck 4000’s tracker disabled. “Geez, I dunno. This isn’t like any other PipBucks would. Its far too advanced and without the proper resources, we can’t do anything about it without the risk of tampering with it by accident.”

And for highly-advanced parts to get is very scarce in the Wastelands, and most of them are at the hooves of either the Steel Rangers or the Pegasus Enclave. Even Caravan sellers rarely have them and if they do, they’re very expensive, at 500 caps, maybe a thousand unless you know how to barter them the right way and they’ll be obliged to sell their parts at a discount.

“Well, can’t say there’s anything else we can do about that PipBuck.”

Gale glanced to the Stable employee, “We can’t keep running like this. We tried underground and we almost suffocated. We can’t go on for much longer and…”

Bullseye had a clear look of my PipBuck and tapped around a couple of times with it, which had soon stopped blinking. “There you go, boss. Its no longer an issue.”

My eye widened at this. Did Bullseye just… deactivated the beacon?!

“Bullseye, you… are a genius! For umm…” Gale cleared her throat a bit, “Ghoul, that is.”

“Well, I figured it needed a bit of elbow grease and gave it a couple of hard taps for it to stop flashing around. It was making my eyes feel sore. Or at least I felt them because I hardly feel any soreness in my eyes.”

I would’ve hugged Bullseye, but I wouldn’t want to feel the moldiness of his body if I did that. I don’t wanna end up throwing myself up not from his bad hygiene, but from his ghoul nature I’m touching.

On the plus side, I nodded to him in thanks. It was very much appreciated. He nodded back to me in return.

Although we now have to worry less about the Grand Pegasus Enclave’s hunt for us, I’m wondering what will we do next. These settlers aren’t combat-ready and Quickdraw needs to maintain his town, and Greasy Wrench is helping Screwdriver cope with his mental instability. And even then, they’ve already faced a greater threat enough. The greatest problem is my inability to normally speak as it makes it impossible to make negotiations with other ponies, and I can’t continue to rely on Gale Storm forever. As for Neighkola Tesla? His whereabouts are currently unknown for the time being.

“Oh! Zero, I need a favor to ask, if you don’t mind.” Sweet Cheeks began to give me an offer. I’m all ears, so let me have it.

“Is it okay if I keep Tootsie Roll and Bob for a while? Ratchet and I have been talking while you ponies were away and was thinking that we wanted to give Bob upgrades for your long journey. Please take my word for it; I care for you and your friends. We just thought we’d make sure he doesn’t get too badly damaged.”

Interesting, though I’m not sure why she asked me and not Tootsie Roll (most likely because I was considered their leader). But, I need to hear Tootsie’s story on how she found Bob and how he became self-aware unlike other robots like the Securitrons we faced. And maybe Robobrains too.

I wrote down a hoof-ful of words from my PipBuck and showed it to the filly ‘How did you encountered Bob?’.

“Bob? Oh! I saw him while I was on a big, big journey in Big Mountain when I wandered myself in a place where robot thingies were built, and there were tons of robo-scorpions being built by umm… you know, a building that builds robots! I umm… kinda replaced a memory chip with a different memory chip inside and when he woke up, he looked at me timidly at first! But once I got him to learn a few things or two, I decided to call him Bob and declared him as my pet. After that, me and Bob had a veeery long journey together and he’s been my BFF, too!”

Me and the others were amazed at this. Its no wonder Bob was protective, but also self-aware to top it off. He was created and manufactured from an assembly line at Big Mountain and Tootsie replaced the memory chip that makes other robots with limitations which also includes shooting ‘enemies’ on sight - in this case, innocent ponies - to another memory chip of unknown origin that makes it behave normally like us ponies. Her story wasn’t just intriguing, but also amazing. Seems my mystery regarding both the filly and Bob has been solved after all. But as for Bullseye? I’ve yet to learn about his origin, though I’ll assume that he survived the Balefire bombs. But even so, I still needed to learn more about him.

Tootsie Roll had finally answered for me with another question, “And oh? You want Bob to make him extra cooler?!”

She gleefully accepted Sweet’s offer, “Yay! Bob is gonna look cooler than ever and bring more baddies down!”

“Excellent! Bob, come with us down into the workshop and we’ll start giving you upgrades. And Zero? We’ll let you know through your PipBuck. Here,” She inserts a small card inside, allowing the PipBuck to download its contact as for her to send me a message in advance, “There. I’ll sent you a notification via Overseer’s terminal I use. Its linked to your PipBuck.”

Sweet. And knowing how trustworthy she is, she and the others will look after the two and for me, Gale Storm and Bullseye to continue on whilst Tootsie Roll and Bob remain at Stable 75.

And of course, I felt Gale planting a small kiss to my cheek, resulting my face to brighten up with redness to it, “Nice choice, Zero. I’m proud of you.”

“Now, I assume you best be on your way, you three. We’re going to work on your robotic friend now.”

I had a thought. I quickly pulled out my unused pistol that I bought the other day and placed it on the table, moving it to Sweet Cheeks. “Oh? Oh, I can handle myself, thanks for your concern, Zero.”

I shook my head. Not what I obviously meant.

I wrote down two words from the screen to show it to her ‘Better rifle?’.

I seriously don’t want a weak weapon to carry around. And I lost all three rifles with me before; one that was stolen by Dr. Scalpel, the other at the hooves of Taser and the last one completely devoured by the temple.

“Hmm…” She points a hoof to one of the Stable Dwellers, “You, get the DHC-6 Sniper Rifle for Zero.”

Sounds really high-grade, if I’m hearing it right.

“We’re making sure that you don’t have to go weaponless and rely on your friends, or having to rely this peashooter.” Sweet informed me as she takes my not-as-effective pistol as he returns with the DHC-6 Sniper Rifle floated along and set on the table in front of me. It also includes a foldable stock and detachable muzzle and scope with it. And its of military-grade, too! Amazing! Without changing my mind, I took it from the table and snugged it between my side and my saddle bags. I also took a couple of sniper rifle ammunition and stored it in my saddle bags.

“Now, off you go ponies, and please, stay safe out there. The Wastelands can be very cruel and heartless.”

It already has, Sweet Cheeks. It already has…

We left Stable Town again, this time without Tootsie Roll and Bob, and its just the three of us. And this time, I’m well-armed and ready for anything, but I’m hoping my rifle doesn’t get stolen or lost. I doubt that Sweet Cheeks has a replacement for it so I need to take extra care of it. Its irreplaceable and for it to fall into the wrong hooves means trouble for me and my companions.

Gale Storm stood close with me, as we ventured into the unknown. “I feel protected by you. Even if I’m well-armed and combat-ready, I felt like you are my knight in shining armor, Zero.”

My mind is still unconscious yet my heart was just relentlessly beating away in my chest from her comments. I’m not entirely sure how would a scientist like myself be dressed up as a knight in shining armor? Its… its baffling!

"Ooooohhh! Somepony likes you very muuuuch!"

Would you can it, Pinkie?! You’ve already made my mind unconscious, now you want me to lose consciousness, too?!

Right then. At least without the Grand Pegasus Enclave after us, we have a bit of breathing room until Sweet Cheeks can give us a notification about Bob.

“Boss. Something isn’t right here…” Bullseye notified me. This doesn’t sound good. There was a breach of the peace in our time.

Gale and I stood alertly and I pulled out my DHC-6 Sniper Rifle and glanced around. No red blips here, but the scenery is as unsettling as it gets. My Pinkie sense has started kicking in as well, my ears twitching along. Where is the threat coming from?

I looked up and see an obvious dot starting to dive bomb from the skies. A red blip does appear and it looks like trouble! Shit!

“Uh-oh, I’m gonna fly up and go air-to-air combat to stop it from crashing down on us!” Gale spread her wings and launched herself up in the air to engage combat against it. She fired off shots at it, which was successful, but it soon let out a guttural, unusual roar, mixed with various voices to it. What the…?

I entered S.A.T.S. while Bullseye was firing off a couple of shots but had missed because the target’s too high. As it closed in on me - and flew away from pain afterwards - I suddenly froze. Are those… body parts from different PONIES?! All stitched up together, too?! And the face… its… its horrifying!!

Abruptly exiting S.A.T.S., these body parts weren’t just from different victims; both the wings and the forelegs belonged to Carbon Monoxide and Solar Eclipse!!!

“Hurt… hurt!” The franken-pony spoke out, and… that was my voice, too! MY OWN VOICE, GODDESS-DAMMIT!!

My forelegs went limp, dropping the sniper rifle down to the ground as I looked on with sheer devastation. No… this isn’t-- no… this cannot be…

“Boss! Boss, wake up!”

I didn’t respond momentarily as Gale flew in close, but stopped to check on me. “Zero, what are you do--” She cut herself off, taking notice of my deeply shocked expression from my face. “Zero…? What’s going on?”

Before I would answer, a second, red blip had popped up from my PipBuck and looking at the second threat is the mad surgeon himself, Dr. Scalpel. The bastard who stole my voice and killed both of my friends for his sickening creation. My blood boiled with sudden rage and anger, I quickly entered S.A.T.S. again and began to get a clear shot of the bastard who killed my friends and took my own voice! Fucking die!

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

BZZTZZ! BZZTZZ! BZZTZZ!

What the--!

Dr. Scalpel let out his maniacal, sadistic laugh as his creation, currently wounded, shields itself inside with him, “I see you’re back alive, my test subject. And I see that you’ve met my creation, GeneSys! You should feel ashamed for hurting my precious creation, but no matter! It was merely a flesh wound.”

His face is pretty much never shown, but even then, what lies behind his surgical mask, is something that’s far more sadistic than any other Raiders would. He then further explained, “And I see you managed to keep me alive with my portable, electromagnetic field that’s kept around my wrist, which keeps me unharmed from any attacks you throw at me.”

Bullseye stood defensively as Gale shouted at Scalpel, “Just who the hell are you and what is that… sickening creation you have?!”

“I am Dr. Scalpel, and this, my dear, will be my ultimate perfection!” Dr. Scalpel laughed sadistically as I fired off another shots at him, but are easily deflected and rendering my clear shots useless until I was obviously out of ammo.

She suddenly had a thought and asked, “What about the Cazadores, then?!”

It was then he revealed his menacing intentions as he clearly answered her question, “Why yes, dear. I have an intention on making them grow and help me rid of this filth-ridden world you call Equestria so that I can build a new and better Equestria!”

“W-What… you… you MONSTER! How could you do this?! You’re threatening to bring ponykind to extinction! Th… This isn’t how the Wastelands wanted this! Not like this!”

Dr. Scalpel was quick to dismiss her warnings, “I’ve had enough of your blabbering! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must fix my creation up, and it will be better than ever! Always got to iron out the flaws, isn’t that right, GeneSys?”

“Yes, master…” GeneSys spoke as the two had left. Gale would’ve went after the two, but I was quick to stop her as I grabbed ahold of her tail with my foreleg.

“Z-Zero, let go! That bastard’s gonna…” She came to a realization that I was equally traumatized as Screwdriver. Having just witnessed his sick creation and my efforts to end Scalpel was in vain, and even if Dr. Scalpel had claimed responsibility for the cause of the Cazadores overrunning New Hampshore, it won’t ever bring my former friends back. They’ve been dead, and that was that. I began to hyperventilate, stream of tears running down my eye. I felt weak, helpless and full of remorse. I was too afraid to speak through my PipBuck. This peace was all too temporary, all because of the two, who showed little care for ponykind, and had threatened to wipe everything out.

I just want to keep moving. Even if I wanted to kill him and his creation, it won’t mean a clear victory. Not while I’m unprepared. Its too soon to end like this…

And this was just a preview, too. It wasn’t a battle for revenge, but rather, a preview of what’s coming ahead.

Gale had finally relented and went to comfort me, her forelegs wrapped around me as to provide me comfort. “I don’t know who were they, but… please don’t cry, Zero. Let’s just keep moving and pretend that none of this happened. Chin up, my little scientist.”

I was soon beginning to calm down, thanks to Gale’s aid. I would’ve explained everything to her, but GeneSys had stolen my voice. The voice I needed to speak out to my friends and strangers alike.

My hooves were like noodles when I got up on all fours, but were soon steady and we continued on. “Boss, are you okay?”

I didn’t answer.

“Bullseye, let’s leave Zero be. Let’s go and find someplace safe for us to relax and allow Zero to recover so he can be ready.”

Thank you, Gale.

“And now, for Velvet Remedy’s latest hit song! Brought to you by yours truly, DJ-P0N3!”

I could go for some cake right about now, unless that pony is named after one. Then I’ll rather just eat a muffin if there’s any.

The song was at least calming my mind inside the abandoned convenience store. There weren’t any threats so far thankfully, because after having just witnessed Dr. Scalpel and GeneSys, I think its best for us to stay out of combat for the time being and let us just relax. But of course, the Wastelands doesn’t know the definition of relaxing and hearing cans clattering on about as I turned back to see a figure. Oh goddess, not again…

And yet my PipBuck isn’t detecting an obvious threat closing in on us.

Just as we’re about to get ready, I soon hear a familiar voice, which has a robotic tone to it, “Holster your weapons.”

As the figure trotted forward - mechanically sound - in front of us, the shadowy figure reveals to be Lightspeed!

And she’s been given further augmentations, too?!

She slowly moved her head down to look at me.

“Hello, Zero. We meet again.”

Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Math Wrath -- You are able to optimize your PipBuck’s targeting spell logic. S.A.T.S. attacks cost now 5 AP less.