After recording the description of my encounter with Grimoire, sleeping through the night, and parting ways with Star Paladin Lily’s squad, Lynx Squad, Rose, and I make good progress towards Friendship City.

The path we walk must be the exact one Star Paladin Lily came from, as there is no sign of hostile creatures, or ponies anywhere. A few times, we enter ruined buildings expecting to find a fight, but only find recently killed raiders. I’d expect nothing less from Star Paladin Lily though.

We walk for the better half of the day before we encounter our first obstacle. A small town echoing of depraved laughter and shouting. Without a doubt, it is a group of raiders. The town itself appears to be heavily fortified, and the raiders I can see are well armed. With just the four of us, and Rose, we decide to make a detour and give the town a wide berth.

The detour will add a few hours to our journey, but it will be worth not risking ourselves, or Rose. After an hour or so of walking, CORA speaks up, “Hey Ratchet, I’m picking up a signal on the radio! I think I can pinpoint its source too. Here, I’ll turn it on for you.” A second later, my PipBuck’s radio comes to life and plays the last few chords of a song I somewhat recognize.

After a few seconds of silence, a stallion’s voice comes over the radio, “Helloooo Manehatten! This is your ever watchful eye and source of news here in the wasteland, DJ Pon3! Bringing you pre-war hits to break the dreariness of the day! Now here’s the news!” Wait, what? A radio DJ? And DJ Pon3, none-the-less? But, DJ Pon3 was a mare...and would definitely be dead by now.

“I’ve received reports that the raider gang that was terrorizing the Ponyville area has been taken care of. Sources say some Steel Rangers took the fight to them and reclaimed the city. Perhaps there are still some good Rangers out there, fighting the good fight, but reports continue to come in about less than reputable Rangers attacking wastelanders and settlements. Do yourself a favor, and if you see a Ranger coming towards you, turn tail and run. Hide if you can, just don’t let them catch you because the odds aren’t in your favor,” The stallion says.

“In other news,” he continues, “Some wastelanders have decided to set up shop in Ponyville, and it is slowly but surely becoming a town once again. So if you are ever out that way, stop in and say hello. But watch out, because raider activity all throughout the wasteland has become increasingly active. Are more ponies turning to crime? Are the current gangs becoming bolder? Or is there something more sinister going on behind the scenes? Whatever the case is, watch yourselves out there. That’s all for the news, my little ponies, until next time.”

His voice fades and after a moment is replaced with music once again. I turn it back off and turn to the others. “DJ Pon3? Have you heard of them before?” I ask. Lightning, Thunder, and Arrow shake their heads, but Rose smiles and nods vigorously.

“Of course!” She proclaims. “He plays music nonstop and during the day he makes news reports about the wasteland. Though, I guess he only broadcasts to Manehatten. No one knows who he is or where he’s at. But, that’s probably for the best.”

“I see,” I hold a hoof to my chin in thought. If possible, I’d like to meet them. CORA said she could find where he is, but if it is out of the way, I want to get Rose home first. I decide I should ask CORA about her progress. “CORA, have you managed to find out where he’s broadcasting from?”

“Yes I have! Here, let me ping your map...and done! His location is only a short ways from our current route. At the most, it will only add 30 minutes to our travel time. Unless we decide to stop and chat, that is,” she informs me.

I look at the location on my map. She’s right, it isn’t too far from where we are at now. In fact, we should be able to reach it before sundown. “Alright folks, we’re going to make a detour and pay a visit to the DJ.” Rose is clearly ecstatic about my decision, but the others look a bit skeptical.

“You know we’ll follow you, Ratchet, but why?” Lightning asks as we begin walking towards the DJ’s residence. I can understand why the others don’t get my intentions. They never had public radio while growing up and their radios have only ever told them orders.

“Because,” I explain, “if he gets information about the wasteland, he might know something about Grimoire. Even if he doesn’t, we should tell him about the situation, so innocent ponies don’t fall into Grimoire’s nefarious plans.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Lightning says. “The more people who know about Grimoire, the harder it will be for him to make a move. Sound decision as always, boss.” I roll my eyes. Again with the ‘boss’ stuff.

We make good progress, but the closer we get to the DJ, the more anxious I get. What am I going to do, just burst in through the door and say hello? I don’t think that’s something that ponies do in the wasteland. After a lot of thought, I decide to go with knocking on the door. That’s always good, right?

However, as we get the building in sight, that plan crumbles. The building rests upon a hill in the middle of a clearing of dead trees. It is a small, one story house with a large antenna on the top of it. While the building itself looks mostly intact it fits in perfectly with the wasteland. The windows are boarded up and the paint is flaking from the side of the walls. But what deters me from the knocking plan, is the guard standing out front.

“Well shit,” I mutter under my breath. Plan B, let’s walk up and just say hi. I begin leading us out of the cover of the trees and directly towards the front door, and the guard. It isn’t long before he sees us and readies his weapon. Once we are about halfway between the edge of the clearing and the building, he raises his rifle and calls out to us.

“Stop! Don’t come any closer! Turn around and go back the way you came,” the guard stallion shouts. I bring us to a stop so I can attempt to talk with the guard.

“I want to talk to the DJ, we don’t mean any harm,” I tell him. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t seem to accept that. He tells us to turn around once again. As I refuse, a second guard comes out from the building and joins the first one. Well, this just keeps getting better.

“Please, I just want to talk with the DJ. It is important!” I plead to them. But they don’t seem to be budging. I’m about to say something again, when CORA turns my radio on.

“--but, ah...excuse me, my little ponies. Seems that I have some visitors. I’ll cut this news section short so I can make sure my guards don’t get into too much trouble. Here’s some music for you in the meantime,” he says, and shortly after music begins playing. CORA turns the radio off, and a few seconds later, another stallion comes out of the door.

He’s wear lighter armor and carrying only a pistol in his magic. “Alright, I’m sure my guards here have made it clear that you shouldn’t be here. Since you still are, I want to assure you, we don’t have any valuables. The only thing here, is broadcasting equipment. If that is what you are looking for, i’m sorry, but i’m using it. Now, please, turn around and go on with your lives.”

He has to be the DJ, maybe I can get somewhere now. “I don’t want anything, I just walk to talk to you, Mr. DJ. I know you aren’t the real DJ Pon3, but I want to ask you about some things. It is important,” I tell him.

I see him raise an eyebrow as he replies, “Of course I’m the real DJ Pon3, why do you think i’m not?” Uh, ok. This isn’t going exactly the way I thought it would.

“Because the real DJ Pon3 was a mare? I mean, that’s my primary reason why you aren’t the real one. That, and she has probably died of old age by now,” I tell him. What were we talking about? This wasn’t important.

His eyes go wide for a moment before he says, “No one...knows that anymore. How do you know about her?” He has an odd expression on his face. Like a mix between confusion and suspicion.

“I uh...kind of knew her, well not knew, knew her, but knew of her back when she was...well...uh…” Shit. Come on Ratchet, use your words. I couldn’t think of how to explain it without sounding crazy.

After a long pause, he says, “You and you alone, come in. I want to talk to you, give any weapons you have to my guards. If your friends try anything, it’s over. Got that?” I nod in agreement before slowly walking up the hill and giving my weapons to the guards.

The DJ leads me inside and motions for me to sit on a chair across the room from him, all the while not taking his gun off me. Once i’m seated, he sits down on the other side of the room. “Alright. Tell me how you know about DJ Pon3, and be honest. I’ll know if you are lying to me.”

I don’t know what makes me tell him the truth. Perhaps it is the gun, or perhaps it is something else entirely. But for some reason, I tell him everything. How I knew about DJ Pon3, Vinyl Scratch, in the past and about how I was frozen and am here now. As I finish, I am almost certain he is going to kick me out, maybe even kill me.

“I believe you,” he says. “It is an odd story, but not many ponies now know her real name. It’s been lost to time. You even described her appearance. It is quite a bit to wrap my head around, but I believe you,” he tells me as he lowers his gun.

“Wait here,” he tells me as he gets up and exits the building again. After a moment, he enters again followed shortly after by a guard and after a minute or two, my friends. “Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable. You’re all welcome to stay the night. Ratchet, you had something to discuss with me, right? Oh, and Slick, give her her weapons back, will ya?” he says.

“Sure thing boss,” Slick says as he floats my things back to me. “I’m heading back to bed boss, I’ll be up when it’s my shift again.” With that, Slick walks into another room and shuts the door.

“Alright Ratchet, let’s go into my room and we can talk. Your friends can stay here and get some rest,” he nods at them and gestures me towards another door. I follow him and he closes the door after us.

The room is small. It is a broadcast room that has a bed and table in it. The table has an assorted collection of things on it, but like the DJ said, nothing valuable. The room looks like the pictures i’ve seen of radio rooms, with soundproof walls and the like. The broadcasting switchboard itself is a complex thing with hundreds of buttons, switches, and dials. It has a record player and a microphone wired into it.

“Sorry it’s so cramped, I don’t usually have visitors. If I remember correctly, this place was an old forest ranger station,” as he says this, he takes off the light barding he was wearing and the helmet. I’m able to see more clearly see his black coat and dark blue mane. And, fittingly enough, his cutie mark is a microphone and turntable.

“Oh, it’s fine,” I tell him as he sits on the stool in front of the broadcast table. He motions me to sit on the bed, and I do so, trying not to make a mess of anything.

“Now then, you said you had some important things to discuss?” he asks me. Wow, straight to business. That caught me a little off guard. He seems so trusting now that we discussed DJ Pon3. Speaking of…

“Before that, can we talk about the whole, you being DJ Pon3 thing? Are you just using the name, or what? You definitely could have been alive during her time, but you’d have been a teenager, right?” I ask him.

He chuckles a little before saying, “Yea, I suppose you would want to know about that. Well, back before the Megaspells hit, when I was around 10 or so, I ran away from home. I’ll save you the minor details, but one day I met Vinyl. I quickly became obsessed with her and her music, and after a year or so, I met her again.”

With a wide smile he continues, “I begged her to make me her apprentice. I followed her around for about a week before she finally agreed. She taught me, fed me, and basically raised me. For five short years, until the Megaspells hit. I don’t know what happened to her, but we didn’t make it to the same Stable.”

He shakes his head. “When my Stable opened a few years ago, I began journeying the wasteland. Seeing the chaos, the carnage. After a while, I settled down here to do what I can to help the innocent wastelanders stay informed. I found guards, and used my connections to form an information network. I have runners who go from town to town and collect info for me.”

“I decided to pick up Vinyl’s monocure as DJ Pon3, and be the voice this wasteland needed. After all, without her, I wouldn’t know how to do half of this stuff. It is my way of showing respect and honoring a great mare,” he tells me. “But, enough about me. You had something to discuss?”

“Oh, yes.” I was so wrapped up in his story I forgot the whole reason I came here. “Have you ever heard of a trader named Grimoire?” I ask. DJ Pon3 shakes his head. “Ok, so, here’s the thing...he’s kind of…” What? A crazy pony bent on turning the world into chaos incarnate? Sadistic? Just plain insane? I decide to settle for, “an evil villain. Not like in the comic sense though! Wait, maybe actually a little bit, but not so much like…” I start losing traction as the DJ holds up his hoof.

“Settle down Ratchet, we have all night,” he tells me. “Why don’t you start from the beginning? Don’t gloss over anything.” Once again, I don’t know what compels me to tell him the truth of exactly what happened, but I do. I tell him everything.

How I exited the lab, met the Rangers, fought against the Rail Gang, discovered Grimoire’s underhanded deals, and how he later abducted me and told me everything he was planning. DJ Pon3 only sits across from me nodding every so often for me to continue. When I finish, I realize what all I said to him.

“You...uh...wouldn’t happen to be using some sort of truth magic on me, would you?” I ask him, half joking. I didn’t even tell the Rangers about my past this quickly, but I’m telling some DJ who claims to have known the original DJ Pon3. What was wrong with me?

He chuckles and waves a hoof, “Nothing of the sort,” he says with a smile. “Apparently a lot of ponies get that impression from talking with me. Ponies tend to really open up to me for some reason. Well, aside from raiders and the like.” He crosses his hooves, “That aside, that is one grand tale you have. If you were anyone else, I’m not sure I’d believe it.”

The DJ puts a hoof to his chin and smiles at me, “But you being you, I have no reason to doubt it. So, now that you’ve told me this, what do you plan to do?” His smile fades and a look of contemplation replaces it.

“Well, I was sort of hoping you could warn ponies of him, using your radio and what not. As for me, i’m escorting Rose home to Friendship City. But, other than that, i’m not really sure what to do. Wait for Grimoire to make a mistake or for the Rangers to catch him, I guess,” I explain.

The DJ nods. “I suppose if you don't know where he's at it would be sort of hard to deal with him. I'll do what you ask, And if I find any information on this Grimoire fellow I'll be sure to broadcast it over the radio, just make sure you're listening,” he tells me.

CORA speaks up, “I can monitor the radio even if you are not listening to it, Ratchet. So if I hear anything important I'll be sure to let you know. There's no need to worry about missing anything.”

“Ah, so she finally speaks,” DJ Pon3 says with a smile. “It is a pleasure to meet you miss CORA. Though, there is one issue and as the range of my broadcasting equipment. unfortunately I'm limited to the Manehatten area. Anything further to the south or east and my signal can’t be picked up.”

“Why didn't you select a place I could broadcast to a wider audience then?” CORA asks him. The DJ just shrugs and lets out a sigh.

“When I first emerged into the wasteland I did a bit of exploring. Finding out what's what and what was left of Equestria. Through my journeys this is the best broadcasting station I found, one that works anyway. There were a few other possibilities, even some that had a larger range. However those were not as secure as this location, or they tended to be overrun with Raiders and other wasteland monsters.”

The DJ put on a smile, “But it's not all bad, I did manage to get a large population center inside the scope of my broadcast. So as long as the people of Friendship City can hear me I don't think I'm doing too bad.”

“That makes sense,” CORA replies, “I suppose any of the old military relay stations would also be a bit of a pain to get into, what with all the guards and security systems.”

“Right you are miss,” The DJ confirms. “So for as long as you're in the area I can provide you with any information that I receive. But since you live in the east and say you're heading back that way soon I don't think I'll be able to keep in touch for long,” he tells us.

“Not a problem,” I tell him. “Any help at all is better than no help, can you warning ponies will do a great deal of good,” I add, causing him to grin even wider than before.

“Very good point. If there’s one thing I aim to do, it’s to do a great deal of good. As much as possible anyway, sitting behind this radio. I just wish I could do more, it is quite nightmarish out there. I just hope I'm bringing a little bit of hope to everyone's life in the bleak wasteland,” he says.

“Well I can't speak for everyone but Rose seems to enjoy your work. She practically freaked out when I mentioned we were going to see you,” I tell him, smiling back.

“You don’t say?” DJ Pon3 says with a chuckle. “Well, perhaps I’ll give her an autograph or something before you all leave. Speaking of, I assume you’ll be leaving in the morning?” he asks.

“Yes, I’d like to get Rose home as soon as possible and return home to see if the Elder has found anything out about Grimoire yet,” I say.

“I understand. Well then, unless you wish to talk about something else, i’ll let you get to sleep. Your arrival interrupted my last broadcast of the night, so i’ll have to throw something together before I turn in myself,” he tells me with a sly grin.

After a bit more talking, and exchanging good nights, I leave his room and rejoin the others. Rose is already asleep on one of the couches and my friends are all clustered on the other one.

“Ah, Ratchet,” Lightning says as I close the door behind me. “How did things go with the DJ? What is a DJ anyway? You said he uses a radio? Does that mean he is like the Elder and has a group of ponies he relays orders to?” I chuckle as I walk over to them and take a seat at an empty chair.

As I explain to them the finer points of what a radio DJ is and that he doesn’t order anyone around, I also take the time to examine the room. It isn’t anything lavish, but seems to be in fairly good condition compared to the rest of the wasteland.

The carpeting and wallpaper is a bit discolored and damaged in places, but it seems to be holding out fairly well. Aside from the broadcasting room and the room the guard went into, there seems to be another smaller room that has a tarnished restroom label on the door. The main room consists of two couches positioned in a L shape with a coffee table in the center of them. Across from the couch my friends are on, are two chairs, one of which i’m sitting on.

In addition, there are a few lockers, crates, and a card table that has its own chairs. Before the war, the main room was probably used by the forest rangers as a lounge in their downtime. I assume the room the guard is in has a few bunks that they would have slept in as well.

Once I wrap up my explanation of what a DJ is what detail all I told him, I tell the others we should get some sleep while we can. After assuring them that none of us have to keep watch, Arrow and I sleep on the couch while Thunder and Lightning sleep in the chairs. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep, but it sure beat sleeping on the floor or outside.

After a few minutes, I can hear the others snoring softly. I fiddle with my PipBuck a bit before turning on the radio to a quiet volume and catching the end of a song. After a moment, the DJ’s voice comes on.

“Hello Manehatten! This is DJ Pon3, and it is time for the last news of the day. Previously, I was interrupted by some visitors. Turns out, they were friendly and are staying the night with me. What’s more, is they appear to belong to the Steel Rangers, the very ones that reclaimed Ponyville! I spoke to their leader, an odd, but lovely mare named Ratchet, and my little ponies, she told me a story,” he announces.

“It turns out, these Steel Rangers are here to help. They are from a Stable, number 36. They have been taking the fight to as many raiders as they can and trying to make the wasteland a safer place. But in their fight to take back Ponyville, they uncovered a devious plot. A trader by the name of Grimoire is attempting to put together an army of the raider gangs and bring chaos to Equestria, and the world,” he continues.

“Ratchet asked me if I could help spread this information, and warn everyone listening of this crazy buck. So do me a favor, tell everyone you know about this madpony, tell them of the Rangers of Stable 36, and stay safe out there. That’s all for tonight, my little ponies. Make sure to wake up bright and early to catch the morning news,” he concludes.

After a moment, the music starts back up and I can feel my eyelids growing heavy. As the radio continues to play, I quickly descend into slumber.

The following morning, we thank DJ Pon3 for his hospitality and bid him farewell. He gives Rose a signed piece of paper, and she surprises him with a hug in return. After a few minutes, we get ourselves back on the road to Friendship City. If you can call the woods a road. After a few hours without anything eventful happening, we reach the edge of the forest.

For the first time in a while, I bring up my PipBuck’s map. Surprisingly, new locations have been added. Three back the way we came and three more in front of us. One was the raider town we passed around noon yesterday, marked Raider Camp. Another in the middle of the forest read Hollow Shades Irradiated Zone, it was just a bit southwest of the location called Ranger Station Delta. I assumed Delta was the DJ’s radio station.

In front of us were Manehatten Ruins and Friendship City. South of us is the Fillydelphia Crater. I was a bit curious how all these locations showed up without me having gone there. “Hey CORA, why are all these new locations here?” I ask her.

“Oh, well, the major cities were easy enough to mark. And ponies have said that Friendship City was on the Statue of Friendship,” she explains, beaming me a smile in my vision.

“What about the descriptive names? Manehatten ‘Ruins’, Fillydelphia ‘Crater’, Hollow Shades ‘Irradiated Zone’?” I ask. That really seems more like a visual description of a location.

“Manehatten Ruins was an easy one, after all, some of the Rangers mentioned it as being in ruins. But for Fillydelphia and Hollow Shades, it was a bit more challenging. I was playing with some Spritebots and went to investigate them,” CORA explains.

“What do you mean, you were playing with Spritebots?” I ask her as I turn off my PipBuck screen and continue walking towards the Manehatten Ruins.

“Using radio signals, I was able to hijack them and move them around. Even getting close to Hollow Shades sent my geiger counter off the scale. Fillydelphia did as well, but the most notable thing about it was the giant crater. I did look at Manehatten a bit, and aside from some small pockets of extreme radiation, most of it seems pretty low on radiation,” CORA tells me with a smile.

“So, is that why you are so quiet all the time? You’re riding around on Spritebots? I thought you were just being shy or something,” I tell her.

“Yep! You asked about information on MAS research facilities that might house projects that used your technology a while ago, after all. I thought I might be able to find some. If nothing else, it’s good to know our surroundings. I also have been getting to know some of your PipBuck’s programs, just so you know. I DO have a social life,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“Wait, what? You have a social life with my PipBuck’s programs?” I ask, curiously and slightly concerned.

“Ugh, you remember our conversation on senses and how you couldn’t explain them to me? This is kind of like that. You just wouldn’t understand,” she says, nodding her head as if affirming her own logic.

“Alright then,” I say, not sure what else I could say. “Anyhow, good work. If you do find any of those facilities, just let me know!”

“Of course,” CORA says with a smile. “But I think it is going to be more difficult than either of us realizes. After all, they were secret research projects. Honestly, I wouldn’t expect anything. In all probability, we are more likely to stumble across them than I am to find them by looking,” she explains.

“Noted,” I tell her as we continue walking. “So, what do you all think,” I address my friends, “another day until we reach the Manehatten Ruins?”

“I’d say, at the pace we are going, we’ll reach them by nightfall,” Lightning answers. Arrow nods in agreement.

“Yea, lucky for us Star Paladin Lily tends to clear out a large path when she travels. It should be a bit before creatures fill in the gap she carved out,” Thunder says.

“Now that you mention it, I have noticed quite a few dead things since we meet with her,” I realize. “She really kills everything in her path, doesn’t she?”

“Anything that’s a threat,” Thunder explains. “However, once we enter the Ruins, that’s another story. From what the other Rangers say, that place is full of creatures and raiders. Lily could be five minutes in front of us, and we would be encountering new enemies,” he says.

“Is it that bad?” I ask. The wasteland itself was crazy with all the raiders and random creatures wanting to attack you. Were the Manehatten Ruins even worse?

“Well, to put it in perspective, there are multitudes more places to hide and breed in the Ruins than there are out here in the wasteland. More sources of loot and sustenance as well,” Lightning tells me. “We just have to make sure to avoid Manticores. They like to nest in the city and the last time the Rangers ran into them, it was only thanks to Iron that we escaped,” he explains.

Oh yea, I remember Iron saying some of his scars were from Manticores. If even Iron had to run from them, I surely don’t want to meet them. I’d like it if we could just make it through the city without any fighting, but if what Thunder and Lightning says is true, this will be a fight for survival.

As the sun begins to set, we near the edge of the Manehatten Ruins. We stay a fair distance away to avoid drawing unwanted attention and prepare ourselves for the night. My plan is to spend the night here and enter the city in the morning, instead of risking entering in the darkness.

Darkness could be both good and bad for us. It would hide us from some enemies, but the worst of them, predators, wouldn’t care about the darkness and we wouldn’t see them coming. Luckily, no one has any arguments with my decision, in fact the seem to wholeheartedly agree with it.

As we settle around the small fire, and pass around the remains of my box of Sugar Apple Bombs and drink some water, I draw the 9mm pistol from my bags. I look it over a bit before I replace the missing bullet and fish out the remaining 16 bullets. Then, I float the pistol over to Rose. “Take it,” I tell her.

“But I’ve never really used a gun before, you should keep it,” Rose says, shaking her hooves in front of her.

“Just take it,” I tell her again, “I have another gun, I like the other one better anyway. Besides, you are unarmed. That’s been fine up until now, but if the Manehatten Ruins are as dangerous as everyone says they are, you should carry a gun.”

“I...I suppose,” She says, grabbing the gun in her hooves. Nodding with approval, I float the ammo into her bag. “I hope I don’t have to use this,” She says as she stares at it.

“Same here,” I tell her. “You only have about two clips for it, so don’t use it unless you absolutely have to. We’ll try to do all of the fighting,” I say, looking to the others who nod in agreement. “Just pull it out if we get into a fight, but don’t fire unless you are in danger. Oh, and Lightning, can you show her the finer points of it?” I ask him.

He nods and sets about telling Rose about the safety, how to properly shoot the weapon, and how to effectively reload. I honestly hope she doesn’t have to, but it is better to be safe than sorry. As the final bit of light fades from the wasteland, I turn to look at the Manehatten Ruins.

The once thriving city of Manehatten, reduced to ruins. The famous skyline had been turned into a mar on the horizon. It used to be a place full of life, but now was a place of death. What would happen in those ruins tomorrow? Would we come out the other side together, or be destroyed in the process?