We ran away from the town with the darkness to cover us, though the light from my PipBuck and Sweetie’s eyes pierced through our dark blanket. We were all nervous that they might notice the lights. Luckily, they didn’t. Instead, they decided to investigate a nearby building where I threw a rock into. That sound that was made by the glass being hit by the rock as strong enough to draw their attentions. Lucky us.

We decided to go back to Stable 5. I didn’t want to go back but Sweetie insisted. It was really the only place that we knew could be safe anyways. I guess we were partly right on that part.

“I told you I ain’t going to do anything stupid,” I said to Autumn, who was running alongside me.

“Throwing that rock could’ve killed us!” He answered back, shaking his head. “What if they decided to see where the rock came from instead of where it landed?”

“I fail to see your logic,” I told him.

“Can both of you be quiet for once?!” Jewel yelled at us. Autumn gulped and nodded while I just chuckled.

“What are you laughing at?!” Jewel growled. “You think this is funny?”

“Calm down, Jewel,” I calmly replied. “You know, you should lose your habit of yelling at other’s face. I did, after all, save your life.”

I smirked as she stayed silent. She then groaned in annoyance and walked besides Raindrops.

“How can you deal with that sister of yours?” Autumn suddenly asked me. “Oh wait, BOTH of you are crazy…”

I looked at him questioningly before shrugging. How do I deal with her? What kind of question is that…

I decided to walk beside Raindrops. Autumn was really silent, quite unnerving really. That’s when I heard Jewel talking to her.

“Hey sweetheart, how are you?” Jewel gently asked her.

“Uhm...fine…,” Raindrops replied. “I guess…”

“And what are you doing with…,”Jewel looked at me. “...Him?”

“Oh, he found me,” Raindrops answered. “He was kind so I decided he was nice to be with.”

“Really now?” Jewel raised an eyebrow.

Raindrops nodded and looked at me, smiling happily. I just nodded and gave Jewel a mischievous look before looking at the one who’s leading the group.

“Sweetie, how far are we from the Stable?” I asked at the robot in front of us. She looked at me, her two green, glowing eyes staring right at my soul.

“Nearly there, Mister!” She replied before stopping. “Recalculating...We are here!”

We all stopped walking and stared at the massive glowing interior of the Stable. I never seen an open entrance of a Stable during the night and I was in awe. Autumn whistled as he slowly walked towards the entrance.

“Hold it Autumn,” I said. “There’s something wrong here.”

“What’s th’problem this time?” The irritated pegasus asked.

“Well, for starters, the door is open. Wait, I didn’t tell you I closed the Stable door, did I? Anyways, it’s open,” I said, pointing at the gigantic door and then pointed at a dead body nearby. “And maybe that thing over there would send alarms off in your head?”

"Well, fine,” Autumn sighed. “So what now?”

"I guess we'll just go in and see what happens next," I replied. He face-hoofed.

“That’s yer plan?” He asked in annoyance. I shrugged.

“If you like, we could go in, guns blazin…,” I looked at Raindrops. “But I think we can just go in, coffee smokin...eheheh…”

Everyone looked at me with empty stares. I backed off a bit from them and awkwardly smiled.

He cleared his throat and muttered, "You're crazy, as usual...and your talks are cringe-worthy. What are we waiting for?"

Stable 05, the place where I first met Sweetie, the last place I expected to revisit. By closing its door and turning my back away from it, I have decided not to go back because of something I found before me and Sweetie’s departure. Now, all of us stood inside the enormous shelter. I instructed Sweetie to protect Raindrops as they wait in the entrance while the rest of us looks for our mystery pony.

We slowly explored the hallways, cautiously looking around so we won’t be taken by surprise.

“Wait, what if our infiltrator is armed and dangerous…” We stopped walking as Autumn said those words.

“Then...we try to talk it out?” I suggested.

“Talk it out? Man, you need to stop thinking passively,” Jewel countered, “The chances of a friendly chat with a complete stranger, yet alone a dangerous one, would be extremely slim.”

“So what do you suggest, huh? Shoot him or her at sight?”

“EXACTLY!” She yelled. “Maybe not kill but paralyze.”

“Jewel, that’s a horrible idea,” I told her.

“Would you rather be shot at first?” She asked.

“No,” I replied. “But I won’t shoot at someone unless he or she tries to kill me first.”

“AARGH!” She punched me and face-hoofed. “That’s the situation my ‘horrible’ idea was trying to prevent in the first place!”

“Shush it, both of you,” The annoyed pegasus ordered, “We are trying to look for our ‘stranger’, not the other way around.”

“Well he started arguing…” Jewel accused me.

“I was suggesting…” I said with gritted teeth. “And I still think Jewel’s idea is bad.”

“We can discuss what we’ll do once we see our ‘hostile friend’. Let’s just concentrate with our search," Autumn said. “I can’t believe I have to deal with both of your arguments…”

"Hey, you asked about the possibility of the pony being armed,"I said back. At this point, we continued walking while arguing. We were so focused at our debate that we failed to notice the steel pony.

"What the?!" It(gender unknown) exclaimed. Without thinking, Jewel used her magic to throw me at it, causing me to smash the steel pony against the wall.

I groaned in pain. Of all the things she could use, she had to throw me? She really needs to change the way she handles things.

"Wow..." Autumn said, staring at Jewel. She gave him a look.

"What?" She asked him.

"Uhm, nothing, nothing..." Autumn stammered, looking away.

As soon as I could move my body again, I staggered my way back to the group. The steel pony, who I pinned to the wall a while ago, fell down. Jewel tool a closer look at it.

"Hmm...he's knocked out cold, for some reason," She said, tilting her head a bit in confusion and looked at me. “I did not expect you to be that heavy.”

"And how did you know that?" I asked her, still a bit dazed.

“Hey, Ah’m a nurse, sugarcube,” She answered weirdly. “And ah am sure the this fellow is out cold. He ain’t even speaking. Want proof that ah’m some sort of medical expert? STARE AT MAH BUTT.”

"Err..." I looked away, feeling my face heat up a bit. Jewel just snickered.

“Pervert,” She said.

“Gaah!” I quickly trotted back towards the metal pony. “Don’t do this to me!”

“Ahem,” Autumn cleared his throat. “So we know he’s unconscious...What now?”

I gently kicked it. No response. Then I noticed the helmet was nearly removed, showing bit of white coat.

"Remove our guy's helmet for now." I told them. Jewel shrugged and followed. As the helmet was removed, it revealed the head of a stallion with a magnificient blue mane. The same couldn't be said to his white coat though, it looked like he took a bath in a sea of dust.

"He's a steel ranger. I should have said it sooner..." Autumn said, looking at the unconscious stallion suspiciously. “Well, I never noticed the mark until now. And the power armor he’s wearing doesn’t look like the ones I find elsewhere. It looks...too new…”

"Steel Ranger? What on Equestria is a…” She stopped then looked at the mark painted on the armor. I also took a peek. It looks familiar.

"Strange, even the paint looks fresh,” Jewel muttered. “Usually, the mark would be faded or something….”

I suddenly remembered something. Something that a ghoul once told me...or written to me anyways.

"You say he's a steel ranger, right?" I asked Autumn. He nodded.

"...I think we need to get the fillies back here...and maybe tie him up somewhere secure..."

Fast-forward a bit. Raindrops is sleeping in a sleeping quarter near the cafeteria, we tied our steel ranger in the medic bay and made Sweetie guard him, and three of us adults were talking in the cafeteria. I can’t believe we chose the cafeteria.

We talked about the steel ranger and what to do with him. We weren't sure how dangerous he could be, and I wasn't ready to have him around Raindrops. In the positive side though, we could try befriending him and make him our ally. That would make things for us easier, if we were still going to stick together anyways.

"Hey, you guys up for a few drinks?" Jewel asked us. "Hmm...maybe some beer?"

"First, where do you think you're going to get some beer? Second, do you think it's really good at this point?" Autumn said. Jewel pouted.

"Aww, don't be such a party pooper. Will ya lighten up a bit? It's just a few drinks..." She insisted. "And I found some in some sort of cooler in this area. You could say ah hit the...err...jackpot! So what do ya'll say?"

"Ugh...fine. I do feel like drinking." Autumn gave in, removing his hat and placing it on the table. The unicorn excitedly went to grab our drinks.

"Wierd...She wasn't like this before..." I muttered. “And how she speaks, it’s bothering me. That dang accent…”

Autumn gave me a look and leaned closer.

"What did you just say?" He asked.

"Well...she used to be so...demanding and annoying," I replied. "Or maybe that's just me...we did not really stay long together. Or it could also be the fact she wants A DAMN BEER!”

Autumn flinched as I yelled out that last part. Luckily, Jewel didn’t hear me, I think. There was this loud humming sound anyways. Kind of annoying.

"Wait, what do you mean you guys did not stay long together?" He questioned once more. Before I could answer, a pretty happy Jewel returned with our drinks.

"What are ya'll talkin 'bout~?" She cheekily asked. I was starting to think this was not Jewel. Did she already drink?

"Uhm, nothing." I quickly replied. “Nothing important at least.”

Jewel shrugged and placed our drinks on the table and sat beside me. She quickly grabbed one and started drinking. Autumn reluctantly grabbed his too. I just stared at mine.

"Whoa, Jewel, I think you're drinking too fast..." Autumn pointed out, a bit confused. Jewel finished hers and looked at him.

"Aww...are ya sayin Ah shouldn't be drinkin mine too fast?" She said, her speech slurred.

"Wow, she...is already like that on her first bottle..." Autumn whispered to me. I shrugged and continued looking at my bottle.

“I think...that wasn’t her first bottle,” I told him. “And maybe it’s best we don’t talk about how many bottles she drank. I don’t feel comfortable.”

Autumn nodded and took a sip from his bottle. I noticed Jewel looking at me.

"Yah gonna drink that?" Jewel asked me, pointing at my bottle.

"Yeah, leave it alone will ya?" I answered. She shrugged once more and grabbed another bottle (there's actually a lot on the table).

"Slow down with your drinking. We still have lots to talk about." Autumn said to Jewel. She pouted and reluctantly placed her drink down. Yup, something's wrong with her.

"Anyways, let's talk about Raindrops for a moment." Autumn said, taking a little sip from his drink. I grabbed my bottle.

"What about that cute little filly?" Jewel asked.

"Well, let's let him talk," Autumn pointed at me. "Maybe you can tell us once more how you found her? "

I took a reluctantly took a sip from my bottle and nearly spat it out. It sure was bitter, I could go for something sweeter. Swallowing the little bit of beer in my mouth gave me a headache.

"Hmm...yeah. C'mon little brother, speak up." Jewel insisted. It took a lot of willpower for me not to hit her right now. I cleared my throat and place the bottle back on the table.

"Well...I found her back at the big building, the one at the center of town." I slowly told them. “She...she was alone. When I approached her, she...She was scared. I managed to persuade her that I was friendly though.”

"Wait, before you found her, she was all alone?" Jewel asked. “That poor filly…”

"Yeah, I blame her uncle for that." I replied, staring at Autumn. “I can’t believe he would do that.”

"Her uncle? What did that rascal do?" The unicorn, who was getting a bit angered, asked once more. Autumn wore and tilted his hat to cover most of his face.

"Now it's time for you to speak," I said, pointing at Autumn. "After all, you are Raindrops' 'uncle'."

I took another sip, this time it was not as bitter as before, and heard Autumn sighed.

"I did not mean to leave her alone...we were under heavy fire and we needed to get out quickly...In our rush, we forgot about her...and her father..." He explained. I noticed Jewel calmed down a bit, which was good.

"Oh...but that do-" Autumn cut off Jewel quickly.

"I know that was careless of us, but as I said, we were under heavy fire. But the past is the past..." He took a sip from his bottle and sighed once more.

"What happened t'her father?" Jewel asked.

"His right beside you," He replied and looked at me with a smirk.

"You're jokin, right?" She said in disbelief. “This guy? Pfft”

"Technically, I'm her guardian," I explained. “Not her father.”

"She still calls you her daddy," Autumn insisted. “Heh, daddy. I wonder how that makes you feel.”

"Now ah'm confused..." Jewel muttered and grabbed her bottle to drink once more.

"Did you tell her what happened to her real dad?" Autumn asked. I nodded.

"She did not believe me at first and got angry," I told him. "Then she stopped talking to me for some time. "

"Wait, what happened t'her real dad?" Jewel interrupted.

"Killed by some raiders. She's lucky she never saw it happened." I answered, simple as that.

“Oh…”That was all she said.

Silence followed. I swirled my drink for a while. I wasn’t really into drinking as much as they do. Did I actually even drink before?

“You only took two sips from that bottle, Eclipse,” Jewel told me. “Are ya sure you wanna continue drinkin?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I quickly replied. “Meanwhile, you should slow down with the drinking. I’m starting to worry about you.”

She just scoffed and placed down the bottle. At least she tried to slow down, I think.

“Guys, I have a question…”

Both of them looked at me, waiting for my question. I took a deep breath and hope his conversation won’t be as awkward as a while ago.

“Why are you still here?” I asked. “And, if I was to assume, why continue to come with me?”

Silence. They continued to stare at me silently. I gulped and nervously took a sip of the beer.

“Why I’m still with you?” Autumn rubbed his chin for a moment before smiling. “Because of your kindness. I saw how you acted when we were in trouble. Even if that was just a short time. The fact that you decided to take care of Raindrops, even if she isn’t related to you at all, it just shows...how much you care. ”

“And me?” Jewel smirked. “Eclipse, ya know me...no wait, ya don’t. Anyways, it’s because of yer guts. Sounds weird...ah know.*hic*Heh, you know how to take care of...yourself. And ah think ah owe ya for savin me…”

“Oh wow...that’s why, huh?” I smiled. “Thanks, for still being here with me-”

“Shush,” Jewel interrupted me. “No need for emotional talks.”

So we sat in silence, slowly drinking. Not soon after, we heard a thump. Looks like Jewel finally passed out. Autumn just shook his head while I shrugged. It was expected, she drank too much, now she has to suffer the consequences of hangovers. Strange, how do I know that?

"Hey Autumn, I’ve been thinking of some the words you told me a while ago,” I said, breaking the silence. “We are not siblings. I mean, we are so different that any normal pony would now that we aren’t related.”

"Wait, so you aren't siblings?" Autumn looked at the passed out unicorn. "But I thought...with your...and..."

“And...I don’t understand a thing you’re trying to say,” I shook my head. “I call her ‘sis’ for fun. She calls me ‘lil bro’ or ‘little brother’ because...of either the beer or I really remind her of her own little brother. Seriously, where did you get that kind of conclusion?”

"So what happened to her little brother?" Autumn asked. I shrugged and finished my bottle.

"She wouldn't tell, but by the look she gave me when I asked her before made me wonder what really happened to him." I answered him. “Must be something bad.”

"Could be if she was really that silent to you about her real brother." Once again, silence. I looked at Jewel and sighed.

"So...do you have a thing for her?" Autumn awkwardly asked. I gave him a look. What kind of question was that?

"What makes you say that?" I asked him. “Autumn, you’re really not making sense anymore.”

"Well, since you guys ain't siblings, I just thought that maybe…," He answered, though it was barely audible. I chuckled at that thought then I cringed. No, bad, mental image be gone.

"Nah, I still prefer 'brother and sister'," I quickly answered, then added. "And she's one hell of a mare. You can't tell what the hell she's thinking or what she's feeling easily in any given time..."

Autumn nodded then yawned. I realised that we must have been in the cafeteria for a long time now. I decided it was time to hit the hay. Get it? Hit the-oh nevermind.

"Autumn, do you mind if you put Jewel on my back?” I asked the pegasus. “Ya know, ‘cause I’ll carry her to...uhm...bed”

He gave me a weird look.

"Of all the things you could do, you decided to carry her to bed...on your back?” Autumn looked at me suspiciously.

"Before we go to any more horrible conclusion, I won’t be doing anything nasty to her,” I quickly answered. “I just want to see if my back is still fine. If it’s still strong. Jewel seems heavy so why not?”

"Again, there are many ways to test the strength of your back, though I don’t know what’s wrong with it, but fine,” He finally agreed. “Wait, you never told us which room is ours.”

“Choose whichever room you want, there’s plenty of beds in this place,” I told him. “So c’mon, are you going to do it or not?”

“Yeah, yeah…”

With great difficulty, Autumn lifted Jewel and placed her on my back. My legs nearly gave way but I managed to continue standing.

"You sure about this?" Autumn asked one more time, breathing heavily. “Because she really is heavy.”

"Yeah, I’m sure. We don’t want her getting drool all over the table now, hmm?." I told him.. He just shrugged and went of to one of the room.

As soon as I got used with the weight of the passed out unicorn, I made my way towards Raindrops’ room since there was at least 2 beds there. Gently, I placed her on the 2nd bed. I was about to leave when I heard her mumble.

"Nghh...n..no..."

I turned around to see Jewel was half-awake and looking at me.

"Hmm?" I slowly walked back towards her. She seemed scared, I could see it in her eyes.

"P...Please....don't leave me again...." She said once more. I looked at her questioningly. It was either the drink getting to her or she's really, genuinely scared.

I was now at her bedside. She tried reaching out for me but it was more like a weak attempt to punch me.

"Jewel, you okay?" I asked her worriedly. She was not same mare I met before. Something bad must have happened. “Jewel? Can you even hear me?”

"Nghh..." That was all she can say before she suddenly closed her eyes and continued sleeping. I stared at her one more time before I quickly left the room, heading towards another separate room.

Sleep finally came to me, after some thinking, and I'm back to the plains. It was still dark but this time, my necklace also provided a soft glow.

"Ah, finally. I was wondering when you'll go to sleep," A voice spoke behind me. I turned around to face Luna, who was smiling a bit.

"Oh, I...just had stuff to do," I said quickly. Luna just laughed a bit.

"So, what have you learned so far?" She asked.

"You tell me, everything that happened to me, especially today, is crazy," I replied.

"And what happened today that made you emphasize it with much confusion?" She pressed further.

"Lot's of things, starting with Jewel," I sighed.

"Ah, her. Of course...her mind seems to be...wandering, if you get what I mean," She told me. I looked at her with confusion.

"What do YOU mean?" I asked.

"Remember when she was captured?" She asked. I nodded.

"She was at the mercy of her captives, and guess how much mercy she received."

I thought, then looked at her, eyes wide. Luna gently nodded her head.

"But...how can that be? She seemed fine when I rescued her and she doesn't seem to be the type to..." My voice trailed off.

"Get traumatized?" She finished my sentence. "Phantom, think about her reaction when you asked about her brother. Now think how she felt when she temporarily lost you and got captured. And there’s more, her past is crushing her. Anymore trouble and she might just go insane."

"It was too much for her, huh?" I sighed once more. “Never thought she’d actually be...like that.”

"You need to try to help her. At least ease her sufferings. At her state right now, she's very vulnerable." Luna told me.

"How?" I asked. “she won’t even tell me anything about her past!”

"You'll figure it out eventually,”Luna answered. “We'll speak again when we have time, dream or thought. Sorry if our talk is so short but I don’t control what time you’ll wake up.”

Everything soon became blurry. Luna was slowly fading away. Dangit, I still have questions. She can’t do this to me again!

"Wait! There’s one more thing I need to ask!”

Too late, everything became pitch-black. Then the scene shifted to another place. I was in a room with 2 ponies wearing army fatigues. They started talking about something but it was hard to hear a thing they were saying. I just stayed there until they finished.

“Sir, I think we found him.”

“What makes you say that, soldier?”

“Sir, we have detected a magical disturbance in the old building near ponyville. Then another such disturbance at Stable 05. We decided to research on both anomalies and both have the same magical algorithm.”

“How can you be sure it’s him?”

“Sir, we also detected it. His power has been activated twice now.”

“Good job soldier. I knew it was a good idea to install that device on his leg.”

“What now sir?”

“Monitor him. Watch his every move. Find out his strengths and weaknesses We’re going to start Project: Bloodmoon once we have him under my command.”

“Yes sir.”

“Soon, we will have the wasteland under our control…Nobody can stop us now.”