"Nnnnn.... stop singin' that boss! Yer killin' me!!"

I'd feel worse about Val rubbing her temples with a wince behind me, squinting in the early morning light grumpily and stumbling along the cracked streets. Really I was just amazed, I had never seen Val hungover... not once... Granted it took every drop of alcohol we could lay our hooves on to reach that point last night, but eventually she was forced to woozily cling to me still slurping booze down and admit defeat, sort of anyway...

Seeing the griffon's violet eyes spinning in front of my face as she held up one dark claw and slurred, "Hassat wuzza drnnnnkin... NO FAIR!" wasn't quite surrender. After struggling out that she crashed to the floor on top of me and promptly fell into loud snores and twitching legs. So I'd just count that as a win.

She was getting even with me now, but I could still mess with her despite her insane version of flight training, singing a croaking, bawdy rendition of a hilariously appropriate song Miles played during the night, local favorites Hayseed / Badseed, the drinking ballad was just rubbing it in this morning, but I felt ok with that at the moment.

"What's the matter Val? Thought I was a lightweight and... OW!!"

"Shaddup boss, keep them wings up! You are a freakin' lightweight... no good cheatin' alicorny-ness... Blue said ta give ya a good workout, keep goin'!" My private drill instructor grumbled and swatted me again with her new favorite teaching aide, an old radio antenna she had ripped from a carriage in the streets that left stinging lines on my flanks every time.

I had thought today wouldn't be quite so bad as literally holding my hooves to the fire when she said I could stay on the ground. Turns out I got to walk down the cracked streets merely because she tied far too much weight to the end of each weak new wing to fly, and insisted both remain out and parallel with the ground at all times... while keeping up a brisk trot...

The new limbs trembled and strained against the concrete rubble she had gathered and tied to them, just holding them still and straight like this wasn't easy, with weight dragging each down... new muscles were making themselves known and complaining loudly already, and she said this was just the easy start!? Hearing her wonder aloud where she'd find a big chunk of lead for each had me gulp as I sweated and strained, keeping up a quick pace as we walked the shore side streets of Trotson.

"Gimme awhile ta wake up an' shake this off, an ya can have a different kinda workout if'n ya want boss...." Looking back to her teasing voice, I caught her fluttering her eyelashes and swaying her scarred flanks as she drank a little hair of the dog and brightened. Swatting me again for letting the wings drop to the ground and drag the weights, she tittered before struggling to look somewhat serious. "Soooo... still havin' problems boss? Get it outta yer system?"

"Ugh.... noooo...." I groaned back and tugged the rocks back up, facing forward with a blush and continuing down the splashes of color of the Rainbow Trail. Away from the seductive griffon.

Jade had insisted on a full medical examination before we left, clear headed and in a positively giddy mood, even happy enough to not scowl at our new batpony companion.... that much... What she found just kept up her mood, pronouncing me in absolutely perfect health. I didn't feel quite so out of control this morning at least, after trying repeatedly to get it out of my system with the mare I loved. Even being whipped into shape by a crazy griffon trainer, I could still marvel at how good I felt at least. Other effects aside, after the last week of misery I felt fantastic physically, even this exercise wasn't so bad.

Those nagging thoughts were still there though, Val's playful flirting still wasn't a joke, every time she tried some new little gag or just decided to wiggle in front of me, she got an immediate reaction to her delight. The most Jade could tell me was it was a byproduct of two things; 1- Moondancer made her I.M.P. all around males, enhancing testosterone, libido and aggression in that interest, and 2- A side effect of pretty much everything being... enhanced...

Along with enhanced senses came enhanced everything else apparently, she said I'd have to adjust, like a second puberty or something... Like the first wasn't fun enough... Though it was a good analogy, I felt similar urges and strange, confusing sensations from a changing body then, I just thought I was past that now...

Just trying to get used to the flood of information my new senses gave me as we kept up our run was hard enough, everything had been turned up to 11 across the board. I could see for miles, in the dark... Smell the sea, rotting fish on the beach, the sand, the crisp fall air tinged with sooty smoke from the distance. Feel every pebble and bit of grit under my hooves, the texture of rotting old paper and even had a good idea what caliber the spent shells littering the streets I ran over were. Hear gulls and waves, skittering radroaches in ruined husks of buildings, the buzz of Bloatsprite wings a block away, Val's heartbeat behind me, the clicking of claws skittering down the asphalt towards us...

Miretanks... A cluster of the shelled monstrosities clattering towards us up from the worn stone steps leading to the littered beach. I had an aversion to the hulking horrors already thanks to one snapping onto my leg and not letting go, even in death, and I only really dealt with that one. Several of the monsters snapping as they clambered around and over rusting carriages and trash cans, that was a problem, doubly so since I had these stupid weights on my wings dammit...

This wasn't the first attack from the sea or the city on our little excursion, Val just thought of it as part of her training regimen. I had to do everything lugging the rocks around, she didn't care if that amounted to dragging them on the ground and trying to run like a plain old unicorn again.

Now that I knew what to aim for, the armored turtle monsters weren't quite as horrifying. Dodging around obstacles with my feathers sweeping the ground behind me, I could keep them back enough for the Terrible Shotgun to find their tiny, beaked heads. I was surprised to find I was already relying on my wings though, they subconsciously tried to flap and send me up and away from the danger, my first thoughts kept turning towards using them to assist in my acrobatics and they tried to comply. Usually this resulted in an awkward lurch up at the easy downstroke, then immediately sinking while trying to lift them again, but they were trying...

One of the nasty things nearly got a beakfull of feathers, I managed to yank the limb away just as the jaws snapped down, holding it protectively and blasting the Miretank with judicious use of S.A.T.S.. That wing was part of me now... it was sinking in slowly, having that beak clamp down on it was as frightening as the one that chomped my leg. Panting and checking Eyes Forward Sparkle, I didn't see anything more, Val's resounding explosions obliterated the last, though they were sure to bring something new...

"Not bad! Back ta work boss, wings out!" The griffon mercenary 'tsked' at a few scratches oozing blood and picked her teaching implement up from where she dropped it in the street, resuming her merciless training with a smack. "You ain't near worn out enough yet, didn't hafta handle half of those buggers for ya, hafta increase your weights tomorrow! Keep goin, Blue will be happy!"

Beyond agreeing with Val wanting to teach me to fly properly, Jade also found wearing me out to be a good idea. "Put that excess energy to good use Fast, find other ways to exhaust yourself first..." She had admonished when she saw us off from the Harborside Hotel, smiling slightly and waving with Glitter happily as we ran off into the chilly morning.

Continuing our course along the shore to do so, we ended up having to deal with a herd of zombies pouring out of the splintered heap of what were cheery, narrow apartments, a pack of mangy, hairless dogs living wild in the ruins who didn't fear ponies at all, and of course a few of the ubiquitous raiders of the Commonwealth.

A scarred, bloodstained buck wielding power hooves got close enough during the latest such attack, I had to resort to Best Served to take him out in his range. Relieved to see I gained something from getting the snot bucked out of me in the Combat Zone, but not very agile and falling to a panting heap when he fell.

"Alright boss, hold up a second, take a break!" Val ordered and I moaned from where I lay pitifully, sweating and watching my wings twitch from all the strain. She even reached over and cut the ropes tying them to the heavy weights with her claw, before sauntering off to go check the latest corpses of course.

With the ropes gone, I sat up in the street and dug around my bags for a bottle of Sparkle Cola RAD, chugging the lukewarm liquid and feeling slightly restored by the tingle of radiation sliding down my throat. Another of Jade's 'Increased Appetites' as she put it, snorting laughter when I told her just how much alcohol I put away to little effect last night.

I watched my trainer cautiously, hoping that was enough and we could just turn around, leery about her chuckling to herself and rummaging around in the back of a green Equestrian Army cart loaded with steel boxes. She popped several rusting metal lids, digging around for loot despite the impressive haul she still had on her from the M.O.M. hub, tossing anything of interest from the cart or the raiders into a smaller metal crate she had selected for ....something....

Finally clearing the destroyed shipping vehicle, she hefted her box of loot appraisingly, humming to herself and tossing one of the chunks of concrete in for good measure. With a wicked grin as she tied the whole thing up in her length of rope, she dove at me and wrestled me to the ground, scrambling and struggling under a lot of warm, soft griffon... stop!

"Quit yer fightin' ya big baby! Not jumpin' ya in the street dammit, wants me candles and silk sheets, flowers and such, the whole deal boss! This ain't fer fun it's... ha! 7.4 seconds! New record!" She cheered happily, finishing up and letting me loose to flop to the ground, trying to escape.

All four hooves were hogtied... she had done that in a flash, treating me like a rodeo pony putting on a show and leaving me tethered to her heavy box of junk. "Hey!"

That stupid radio antenna whickered out and stung my rump, sending me flapping up on the only limbs able to try to get away, my wings sending me straight up and straining against the heavy weight holding me down. "Go on boss! UP! Keep goin'! Lift that box, ain't that heavy!"

Oh no... not that heavy at all, only more than I weighed, that was all... I struggled and grunted, gritting my teeth and craning my neck back, trying to get up and away from that swinging bit of metal below on madly flapping wings. My bound legs all creaked against the weight but held firm, eventually helping tug the heavy weight up an inch or two and off the truck, nearly dumping me to the ground at the sudden downward pull.

"Good boss! Now keep goin'! That thing touches the ground, ya get smacked again!" Val whooped below me, staying on the ground and waiting for me to dip back into range again, this was how griffons learned to fly!?

"Unnnngh! R-Road Val... Trail... R-Rainbow... can't see it..." I hissed in effort back to her, trying to find the multicolored trail of bricks embedded in the ruined streets and nearly drooping back to the ground in the process, barely avoiding another swing from my drill instructor.

"I'll watch it, same as I'm watchin' fer any local wildlife or assholes with a deathwish, You just worry bout stayin' up boss, why yer so interested in these goofy bricks I don't get though, the aerial course maybe...." She looked up to the leaning, crumbling towers above us in thought, trying to find the matching colors up there in some kind of obstacle flight course through downtown Trotson that Rainbow Dash herself flew.

Not feeling up to even attempting to follow in Ministry Mare Dash's wingbeats, I shook my head and panted back, "Railroad... 'posed to... f-follow trail, gotta be... somewheres..."

"Oh... those nuts! Nearly forgot, whadya care bout them anyway boss? Savin' synths, you don't like them fake ponies anyway." She grumbled back and swatted me again, sending me straining back up another inch or two on trembling wings.

"I don't like... most of them.... One saved me... n-not all bad I think... hafta find out, find Railroad.... they fight Institute too...."

"Bleh... sound like a bunch'a silly crusaders, Blue was right, why help robots when flesh an' blood folks need it? Not that I'm totally buyin' inta the whole do-gooder lifestyle myself, but considerin' my employer I.... shit! C'mere boss, quick!" Her contemplation was cut off by something she spotted up among the skyscrapers she was still looking over, bounding off the road and towards the crumbling brick ruins of the seaside church we were passing.

I kept fluttering madly trying to follow, dragging the heavy box with me until Val grunted and turned back, grabbing the rope trailing from my hooves and just yanking both me and the box along with her, ducking into the gloomy shadows of the dilapidated structure and peering out the doorway as I gasped from the floor.

My sharper vision managed to track what she spotted easily enough, 3 dark specks up in the overcast skies, swooping along lazily, looking for something.... A blue speck, a green speck and a purple speck... Jade's sisters...

Part of me wanted to hide further in the church, another wanted to fly outside and directly to the three mares up there... I wasn't quite sure which side would win, stuck where I was by the heavy weight I was still attached to. Another aspect of Val's training I could do without, if anything happened it usually left me in some kind of compromising position like this...

Finally Val breathed a sigh of relief and sashayed back, loosening my bonds with a flick of her claws and leaning back into a tilted, rotten wooden pew to dig out a beer, giving me leave to get up and rest a second. "Phew, close one. Third patrol I spotted so far, they're really spreadin' out boss, pretty insistent ain't they? Still sure about hidin' out?"

"Yes... N-No... Mostly..." I argued with myself and took a look around, this ancient building to give thanks to the princesses, (the goddesses now) was in poor shape but was apparently on the Rainbow Trail, I saw a round marker with Dash's cutie mark outside by the tall green statue in the yard and went to investigate.

The corroded green copper statue showed a heroic looking pegasus buck, wings outstretched though the left was broken off, forelegs straight out and hindlegs trailing down to connect to the base. He wore a tricorne hat like Shamrock did, and a similar ancient Equestrian Army uniform of green metal, lots of buckles and flapping tails frozen in time.

Walking back into the church, I didn't see much to indicate any Railroad here... The wooden balcony above the doors had fallen in, leaning crazily and making an obstacle to duck under. The middle of the big room was a heaping pile of rotting junk from the roof and smashed pews, the once beautiful altar depicting the princesses of night and day smashed into the center of it all.

Nothing really here at all... a couple tiny rooms off to the sides, a set of stairs nearly hidden by another chunk of balcony nearly covering them, an odd chalk drawing on the moldy woodwork... A lantern? Grateful to be free of my training weight, I took a shaky flap up to get a better look, yes, that was a stylized lantern alright... A real one hung by the door leading down too... Actually it rather reminded me of a glimpse of a cutie mark I got back in Bunker Hill, one belonging to the strange Bright Beacon, member of the Railroad...

"This way Val... have to check something..."

The catacombs beneath the church were musty and dusty, smelling of damp and rot and long dead things... I could do without being able to smell quite so much actually... A confusing warren of crumbling, ancient brick, old even when the balefire bombs fell, full of alcoves that held brittle pony bones and littered with much fresher zombie corpses.

Wandering the maze slowly, we eventually came to something that caught my eye and stopped. Another Rainbow Trail marker, beside a fancier alcove holding another skeleton, but strangely wired into more recent additions snaking their way up the moldy walls.

The simple words arched in a circle around the engraven image of Ministry Mare Dash's cutie mark, a bronze cloud and lightning bolt design I knew well. This one was a little odd though... I would have had to look a lot closer before, but I could pick out the more recent tool marks and scratches easily enough, somepony had put this here... after the war...

Lightly brushing it with my magic, the round marker gave a reaction, the bronze letters lighting up in a rainbow colored display that raced around the circle before fading... Interesting...

"What the hell is that boss? The others don't do that do they?" Val only sounded a little curious, figuring out wasteland puzzles and pre-war mysteries was not really one of her favorite things.

Me on the other hoof... I loved things like this, it was a puzzle, a bit of arcano tech hidden away down in this damp dungeon for some reason, I wanted to know why. "No, they don't do this... I think it's a lock..."

The fiery griffon's dark claws flexed happily and her violet eyes darted all over, trying to find something to pick with them and coming up empty. "Lock? Where? For what? Treasure!?"

I sat down on the cold stone floor and floated my tools out, poking at the round disc carefully. Definitely some kind of puzzle lock... magic.... Not much to take apart without getting pretty forceful, not the best idea when trying to get around something like this. Hmmm... lightly touching a letter with my magic made just that letter E glow brightly red before it faded with a negative sounding noise... a combination lock!

"Not sure Val... maybe, it needs a password..." I hummed and thought to myself, tilting my head to look over the letters there and thinking.

Who would put this here? Who was I looking for here... the Railroad... Yes there were all the letters needed alright... Ok, R... touching it with my magic made it light up green but it didn't fade, aha! A lit up yellow, I turned orange, L became red, a purple R, blue O, green A, aaaaand... the final D lit up yellow and the whole wall started shaking, sending both of us stumbling back in case I had just unleashed some fresh horror. The second the lock reacted, my pip-buck updated while I scampered away;

Mission Completed!: Road to Freedom

Objective--
--Wait
--Escape Biosciences
--Follow the Rainbow Trail

A large section of the brick wall simply slid aside, revealing a dark room beyond I peered into cautiously. Utter blackness, but I could hear breathing in there, nervous heartbeats, flickers of movement from somepony hiding in there... Pushing past Val's annoyed huff trying to be a proper bodyguard, I stuck my head in and spoke clearly.

"I know you're in there... Say something."

Bright beams of light blazed to life suddenly and I was blinded, my eyes adjusting from seeing in complete darkness to instant daylight painfully. Val's weapons clicked as she squawked at the light, wincing past my upraised hoof, I could see looming shadows in there, the lights burning from several shadowy unicorns behind them and hiding them effectively.

"Who are you and what do you want?" A strong mare's voice from the center called out, demanding an answer with her tone and followed up by their own clicks of heavy firepower in there with them. E.F.S. was lit with more than half a dozen marks in front of us, thankfully still green...

Before she had a chance to answer, a familiar voice piped up in shock. "F-Fast!? Oh thank the goddesses! You're ok!"

"Wha?" I managed to reply before a pale blur slammed into me, giving me a warm hug and nuzzling my cheek to happy noises, happy female noises...

"Holy Shit Des! This is the buck I told you about! It's ok, stop with the lightshow, he's a big deal out in the Commonwealth! Meet the Shrouded Stallion!" Another vaguely familiar male voice from in the room called out while I struggled under all the warm, sweet smelling... grrr!

Scrambling back and away from the affectionate stranger, those annoying floodlights finally cut off and normal lighting came up, letting me see easier and identify the mare squeezing me with relief. "A-Angel!?!"

I had to master the urge to blow the synth's brains out, the kindly Angel unfortunately shared a face with both Moondancer and the Confessor, thankfully she was nothing like them, and she had done a few things to help make the distinction since I saw her last. The blushing cream colored mare wore no glasses, empty frames or otherwise, watching with dancing purple eyes as I pulled away and looked her over.

Her formerly carefully styled mane and tail were done up in a simple braid, a little dirty and frazzled, the purple streak winding its way through the twisting rose colored arrangement. Instead of the incredibly alluring Alicorn Angel outfit she had worn before, now she had a heavy, brown leather duster, patched and armored with metal plates, only the lumps at her sides any indication she had a pair of wings to go with that horn too.

The minigun battlesaddle she wore had made getting close a little awkward, but she was apparently pretty good at lugging it around. I noticed she wasn't the only one so equipped either... Several ponies lurking behind their gawking leader were dressed in similar armored coats and wielded heavy battlesaddles, all pointing into the tiny chamber.... This could easily be a killing floor if I didn't have an in already...

"T-That's right! I'm so glad to see you again Fast, especially looking so healthy! Beacon was telling us the news and I hoped... but he said you disappeared and nopony was sure... So.... I suppose Master Moondancer's potion was successful..." Angel chattered happily, considering the last time I saw her was when she helped me get away from her former master right after I was injected to begin with, she was interested in what happened next.

"G-Good to see you too Angel, glad you're... that we're both still free. You look like you're doing well, who are your friends? The famous Railroad I hope?"

The synthetic alicorn opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off my their mysterious leader, stamping a hoof and coughing angrily. "That's enough both of you! Who is this Beacon? Start talking! Shrouded Stallion? Like..."

"That's right chief! The real thing! Er... little new and improved I guess, but that's him alright. Pony what started Sanctuary, raided Thundega, liberated Hexington, told those noble assholes off in Diamond City, killed the ultimate Gunner, saved Bunker Hill from undead robot things, frustrated the Brotherhood after helpin' them get here to begin with, and most recently opened a Ministry Hub and took it for himself, after putting on one helluva show for Nightmare Night!

Oh, and one of very few to ever be taken by the Institute and escape, let alone keep fighting them! Glad you found us Fast, lemme introduce..." Bright Beacon gave the rundown of the insanity I had been up to since leaving the Stable cheerfully, making me wince realizing everything I had gone through so far, along with the realization my training was practically advertising my new nature to anyone we happened across.... I'd have to start wearing my hat over my horn while airborne, find a way to hide my wings like Angel was doing.

His... leader? A light tan earth pony mare with a mousy brown mane, wearing ratty wasteland wear and a ragged scarf, but holding a big pistol on me still... Looked me over with a suspicious green glare, pacing back and forth in the small chamber in thought before standing straight and snorting. "This.... this is the Shroud? Not quite what I was expecting... The one you talked about Angel? Yes I see... You've suffered the Institute's experiments too then, though you came out a lot better than too many others. So... Mr. Times is it? Answer me a question, would you risk your life to help a synth?"

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Angel here when she asked that, depends on the synth. Ones like Angel or Nick Hearts n' Hooves, yes, i would, I have... Now I want a question, you fight the Institute, what do you know about them?"

The middle aged mare didn't like being questioned back, wrinkling her nose in a grumble that was actually cute... what would an older mare be like? STOP! Focus dammit, this was important, she huffed and thought before answering sullenly. "That entails a lot more than one answer, we're unsure we can trust you too... Even the great Shrouded Stallion could be an Institute agent. Be just like them, make some mad synth running around in a costume... Angel and Beacon both vouch for you though...

We are cautious Mr. Times, we have to be, the Institute is our enemy and they seek us out relentlessly. Do I trust you, after plainly seeing how you've benefited from their insane works? Everypony knows you love the Princess, who's to say you didn't ask for this? What did you give to be able to be with your mare?"

Alright... that pissed me off... All that new aggression joined the dark Shroud in my head waking up, my eyes burning as my wings flared and I stomped angrily. "ASK FOR THIS!?! To be injected with an experimental serum!? To be changed against my will!? To be something different I still can't get used to? To have to fight my own body constantly!? To keep feeling...

I nearly died you know!! I was miserable for a week, no idea what would happen or if I'd even survive!! I had to escape and trudge my way back, nearly got caught again, now I'm being hunted by what feels like half of Equestria, and you think I WANTED THIS?!?! I don't care who you are or what your stupid ideas about synths are, I want my Stable back! I want my family back! I WANT THE INSTITUTE!!! Are you going to help or not?!"

My horn lit up and the Shroud's booming voice tolled out, sending dust down from the rafters and flattening the mare's ears in a suddenly nervous expression. Val gaped beside me in silence for a moment before grinning and giving a whoop, her weaponry powering up menacingly in response to the Railroad mare's guards adjusting their aim and cocking a few weapons at the noise, then my own weapons were out in a flash and this was suddenly a rather intense standoff with a looooot of firepower in a small, enclosed space.... "Alright boss! I'm likin' the new you! All stallion now you stud! We kickin' their asses or what?!"

"I don't know, are we? I don't want to, but don't insult me like that again, they took everything from me, experimented on me! I am going to find them one way or another... You going to get in my way, or you going to tell me how to get to the Institute? We have a common enemy Miss....?"

Reverting to my normal voice shakily, I glared at the older mare and waited. Watching carefully as the thoughts whirled behind those green eyes before she finally nodded with a grimace. "Destiny Demon... A-Alright Mr. Times... Shroud... I believe you, had to make sure though.

At her raised hoof the wall of armored muscle behind her stood down and our side lowered our weapons as well, I still wasn't sure if that was me or the potion, but it worked... sort of... Destiny sighed and continued wearily, "We're a small group and under a lot of pressure, if we both stand against the Institute though... Alright Beacon, you win, you're responsible for him, start him off as a tourist and go from there. We'll meet again Mr. Times, I hope it will be more pleasant then..."

At that she simply turned and trotted off with the bulk of her guards, down tiny, weaving passages leading into the dark behind her and dismissing us. Angel looked torn, but ran over for a hug before following her leader, whispering in my ear and helping soothe my anger, with not entirely unwanted recognition of the bouncy pony under that coat. "I'll see you again Fast, believe it. Don't be too upset at her, give it time and trust Beacon, he's a good pony."

An alicorn synth... not as big as the real ones, what were synths like? They blended in perfectly... there shouldn't be any differences.... that would be interesting to.... DAMMIT! I had to smack myself to yell at the retreating Destiny in the dark tunnels, "That's it!?! HEY! Where do you think you're going!?! GET BACK HERE!!!"

Beacon chuckled at my ranting and ambled over to us, Val still not trusting the 'guard' she had met in Bunker Hill going by the name Drift at the time. Now it was just him and us in the damp room, the mysterious Railroad melted into the shadows and escaped both E.F.S. and my enhanced senses.

I was surprised either of us recognized him actually... The pale stallion was dressed in coveralls and his dark mane was spiky instead of slicked back, the flash of his cutie mark I caught under his rags wasn't the lantern that should be there either, another fake... This pony was a master of disguise, only his voice helped figure it out, and his blue eyes.

With a carefree smile, the odd buck just trotted out of the strange chamber and back through the catacombs, calling over his shoulder happily. "That went good! She's a little twitchy Fast, but a good leader, cut her a little slack buddy. Can't say I agree with her here though, using you as a tourist... Like askin' Sweetie Belle to go sweep up the stage instead of take it herself! Oh no, can't waste an arteest like yourself in anything so boring..."

"Er... Tourist? Hey! What are you talking about!? I want to know..." I shouted, trying to keep up as Beacon wandered the maze of tunnels with practiced ease.

"Tourist, ponies we give a try out to, want to help the Railroad. Usually give them piddly little jobs, hold this note until so and so comes for it, let this pony hide out with you for a few days, that kind of thing. Totally impractical for you anyway! Nope, got a muuuuch better idea for you pal! Take a little convincing to get you in, but it'll be worth it, I promise! Patience grasshopper, we really do have to be careful but you'll have answers in no time, trust me!" He prattled on, slowly making his way back up to the church above, acting for all the world like everything was peachy and I was a new recruit for the Railroad without answering anything.

Val was still annoyed with him and disappointed there wasn't any violence, gruffly speaking to me loud enough for him to hear. "How we know this jerk ain't lyin' again boss? They didn't tell ya nothin' after all that work to find em too! Let's just blast our way in an' take whatever they..."

Fighting back the urge to just agree with the griffon and start wiping out the cryptic group in search of answers, I gritted my teeth and shook my head. "No Val. I know he's... they're weird... but they fight the Institute! I want to know what they do, right now... but a-anypony hanging around and still doing that over a long time is somepony I want to be friends with if I can. They're jumpy, but probably for a good reason, let's just see what he wants first. Then you can blast him..."

Beacon pranced out of the church doors and into the courtyard beneath the tall statue, putting on a wounded look and answering with a hoof to his heart. "Ow.... that hurts, and here I'm trying to be helpful! Des would want me to give you some stupid chores, prove yourself before she lets you in and tells you anything. You're in more of a rush than that right? Then just hear me out ok?"

"Talk..."

Considering the menacing griffon still itching to hurt something, along with the new alicorn brimming with aggression despite myself, Beacon gulped and nodded, walking to the streets and waving south towards the thin spire of the S.P.P. hub in the sky. "Ok, our current headquarters isn't quite as glamorous as our previous accommodations, one good reason she's so twitchy alright? Institute raided our old base, killed a lot of us... ruined months... years of work... But! In the escape we had to leave goodies behind, goodies they might not have gotten to yet, see where I'm going with this?"

"You want me to clear the place, get you to whatever it is you want..." Why did I feel a new 'mission' incoming from my pip-buck...

"Exactamundo! Bad ass killer pony like yourself isn't for running errands, he's for kickin' Institute ass an' taking names right? You're no tourist Fast, you're a heavy and we need you, just gotta make Des see that!" The pale buck nodded sagely, the plan already set in his mind.

"So I suppose you're going to hang around until we go do this for you?"

Surprisingly, I didn't end up with yet another new companion wanting something. Beacon shook his head and trotted over, lifting my pip-buck and fiddling with the map after remembering to ask for permission. A few taps and zooms later, he had it focus on the marker for the S.P.P., a new marker nearby bizarrely reading 'Pony Joe's'. "Nope! Sorry, I'm a busy buck you know. Lot's of spying, undercover type stuff to do all over the Commonwealth. Saw you in Goodneighbor actually, thought about saying hello but you didn't recognize me! Give me a few days or so, meet right here by the fallen road and I'll fill you in, we'll clean the place out, get the loot and get out, stick it to the Institute but good! Sound alright?"

Val still wanted to dislike the odd stallion, but the word 'loot' caught her attention and her eyes shot up, asking greedily. "Loot? What loot... how much? What do we get?"

"You'll just have to find out doll! See you there, busy, busy!" At that he cantered off, into the maze of falling skyscrapers and junk littering the streets of Trotson, without a care in the world and totally unconcerned about the dangers hiding within, actually singing as he went insanely;

Mission Added!: Trotson Calling

Objectives------------
----Meet Beacon near Pony Joe's
----Clear the Switchboard

The text in my vision made me groan, yes pip-buck... I know... more missions.... For every one I cleared from the weird device, 2 more came in. I still wondered why only mine seemed to do this, I had given several away by now, but nobody else complained about strange suggestions from the arcano-tech device.

My groan just deepened at Val finding her abandoned box of junk and leaping to retie me to the heavy bundle, finding some new implement to whack me with until I managed to struggle my way up high enough and stay there. Oh such a fun and exciting life for the Shrouded Stallion, full of intrigue and adventure...

By the time I weakly flopped to the roof of the Harbormaster Hotel, I was a quivering puddle of hurt pony... So, my muscles could get sore and hurt, like everything else it just took a lot more... Oddly the designers of this place had built a pool up on the roof of the walkway connecting the two buildings below. Inching my way all the way up three stories to get here was a frantic struggle of blurring wings, but it was worth it to see the others lounging around the pre-war convenience, and to get to the puddle of radioactive water still pooled at one end.

Val stuck her beak up and cut me free from the heavy weight I had to drag up here, leaving me free to crawl across the rooftop patio towards the edge of the pool, Glitter running up besides my sluglike progress with a giggle. "Hi Dad! You look reeeeeally tired, did you and Auntie Val have fun?!"

"F-Fun.... sure...." I wheezed and squirmed ever onward, ignoring the batpony sleepily hanging upside down from what had been the tropical themed bar, finding Zed on the opposite side of the roof rooting around in makeshift structures the raiders had built up here, firing positions and rough, outdoor spots to sleep.

Jade looked amazing lounging on one of the sturdier old beach chairs still scattered about, all she needed was an old world bikini... maybe some sunglasses.... and she'd be a vision of every buck's dreams on any beach in the world I came from. The poor lounger looked a little out of its class though, I was surprised it could still hold up after all this time and all that alicorn.

Stretching in a languid yawn that made the poor old lounger give a warning creak, she called over as I reached the edge and pulled myself towards the lip. "Nice and tired dear? Not feeling too worked up or energetic?"

"Hrrrrrrgggghh..."

"Oh I beat all the friskiness outta him Blue! Ought'a behave awhile now! Still a pitiful flier an' a big baby! What's fer breakfast?" Val replied for me, saving me from trying to grunt out more of an answer as I slid over the edge and into the scummy puddle of tingly water below.

Splashing around in the sludge was a little gross, but eased my twitching wings and gave me a little energy to work with again. Better stop though... being too energetic was obviously a problem now, though I did wonder if I sat here long enough, would I get taller like Jade? If I ended up as worked up and huge as other alicorns like Swan could get... Maybe I could turn the tables on her sisters, be a little too much for them to handle... No!

Intriguing as that line of thought was, it would take a lot more radiation to test it out. This puddle was pleasant enough, but not near enough rads to effect that kind of change on Jade, so not on me either. It was interesting though, if I could find somewhere toxic enough, maybe I could try being just a little taller... actually up on Jade's level and we could...

Clenching my eyes shut and shaking the sludge from my mane forcefully, I buried those impulses and tried to think productively. That was made easier by Glitter at least, no insane thoughts came up to my daughter's sweet voice and I could listen with a clear head. "So where we goin' dad? Somewhere fun? I sorta miss Goodneighbor... or home maybe?"

Hearing that hopeful tone, I felt a little crestfallen and fluttered up to disappoint her sadly. "S-Sorry sweetie... can't go to either of those places for awhile... Er, we're trying to get to Witchy's home eventually though! Town of batponies? That'll be neat right?"

That was enough to cheer her right up at least, whooping with joy and running to the thestral mare hanging upside down and curled up in her leathery wings, yawning and blinking over at her name and the foal racing around under her, yelping happily. "Really!? A town of other ponies like you Witchy? What's it like?! Are there batpony kids my age? Games and stuff like Goodneighbor?"

"Dreadnot is... Well, it is my home, I am biased... it is a nice enough place little one. There are foals your age yes, we do not have near the entertainment of a place like Goodneighbor I'm afraid, you'll just have to see yourself! So when are we going Fast?" Witchy answered sleepily, well at least I wasn't the only nightpony around now, she seemed as sluggish as I felt when Glitter woke at the crack of dawn, were batponies nocturnal?

"Sooner the better I guess, we need to go to the S.P.P. spire first, and we'll have to meet Preston pretty soon, maybe find somewhere better to stay while we're at it. How would you like to see a castle sweetie?" Trying to make plans as I caught my breath, I glanced at Zed and frowned in thought, everyone except him could just fly... "Er... g-guess you'll have to hitch a ride Zed, I wouldn't advise trying me though..."

The zebra came up from behind a junk filled raider nest with a yellow box in his teeth, setting it down to dig in his packs and pull out some weird zebra fetish with a smile. "Not to worry, I made my own travel arrangements...."

Ok... Seeing Zed just sprout a pair of leathery bat wings on slipping that strange talisman around his neck was strange enough... The burly stallion immediately being a better flier than I was was just annoying... He flapped along easily beside me as we flew south, the zebra fetish he uncovered in the evidence lockup of the M.O.M. hub let him join us in the air and simplified travel, but it was disgusting how easily he adapted... cheating zebra magic...

"Part of the magic of the fetish Fast, I assure you I am no pegasus or griffon in terms of flight ability, just helped along a bit." Zed called over to my continuing grumbles, watching him make smooth, easy strides through the mostly clear skies.

"Cheating..."

Glitter insisted on riding me despite the lurches and sudden drops, she just squealed in delight at the ride. Jade or Val would have been a much better, more experienced choice, but she liked where she was and Val said it was pretty light training, flying behind me and watching carefully in case I managed to lose her.

That little danger made me extra cautious as we flew on, low enough to duck into some of the crumbling buildings slipping by if we had to hide, but still quite high... making me even more nervous, I hadn't been up this far before... Well I had, plenty of times actually and much higher, but I wasn't relying on my own uncooperative wings at the time to keep me up. Looking down at the ground passing below was usually a nice way to pass the time, now it made me a little queasy and I focused grimly on the horizon instead.

The tall buildings of Trotson were slowly falling away, ribbons of crumbling asphalt marked our course still, but the houses and ruins as we went south got progressively shorter and more dilapidated, nearly non existent in some places in this more rural area. A low soggy plain turning to marsh between all the sluggish creeks or rivers and the sea nearby.

Spindly, blackened trees were showing up with more frequency again, shattered old subdivisions, ruined roadside attractions, leaning billboards hung by the remains of elevated road and railways. The one we were passing now showed a fading picture of Celestia holding a brown bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparilla, the beautiful goddess' image marred by crude spray paint 'Why did you forsake us!' followed by the later addition of 'Bitch'... blasphemy...

The dark bulk of Castle Equinox dominated my view though, perched on its cliff overlooking the sea like some black, crumbling dragonlord of stone. It was still a good distance off, but my eyes could pick out plenty of details, helped along by a bouncy pink mote in my head "Awareness!". It was in poor shape, large rents in the imposing stone walls, leaning towers and spires topped with once delicate peaked roofs of dark blue, now mostly chewed up and fallen in. A huge, round image topped the tallest of these, still in place somehow, a crystalline creation like a stained glass window, depicting the crescent moon, the rest of the circle filled with darkness.

Interestingly, it looked like the place had seen some wartime renovations too... Anti-aircraft cannons and squat mortars still pointed out, menacing spikes to go with the dragonish appearance of the place, rusting and tilted wildly, but still there... Hmmm, those would be fun to fix... I could spot other additions rusting away to ruin too, barricades, sandbags, a couple ruined and crashed vertibucks, hulks of downed power armor that made me think the place was occupied until I really focused, realizing none of them moved and all were long past fallen defenders.

A checkpoint strewn road wound its way up the rocky cliff from a small town of ruins below, lots of short, brightly colored homes and businesses turning to ruin under the relentless assault of the sea. As we got closer to the arrow in my vision, I noticed the predominant colors were blues and blacks, tattered old decorations depicting Luna's own cutie mark hung everywhere and the place had a formerly festive, vacation town kind of feel, lots of diners, souvenir shops, inns and even a horseshoe shaped arch of cabins to rent, over near the beach and they looked enclosed at a glance.

I could barely remember what it all looked like before the war, a single field trip in Mrs. Patience's class when I was a foal wasn't much to go on, our bus just kind of passed through on the way to the castle. I never went here on vacation or anything. It must have been a popular tourist destination anyway, now it was just sad... like most of the wasteland.

Slowly gliding our way down to the main intersection of the town, a round park like area surrounded by a circle of ancient asphalt with four roads arrowing out in the cardinal directions, decorated with cracked stone tiles that matched the huge crystal moon on the castle and a crumbling dark statue of Luna herself in the center. My pip-buck flashed in my vision as my hooves touched down to blessed, solid ground again; Discovered Location: Eclipse.

A dirty stone at the western roadside entrance to the village confirmed what the arcano-tech device said, covered in mold and cracked in places, but still barely legible. "Welcome to Eclipse Village! Princess Luna's home away from Canterlot!" Though 'Village' was mostly lost to time, figured out by the different colored blank spots on the smooth marble.

A newer, rough wooden sign was propped against it, sloppily painted with a simple message. "Traders Welcome - Raiders Not". Huh... was this place inhabited? It didn't seem like it from just outside the village, but that sign was pretty new looking...

Glitter hopped off my back with interest, staring up to the sign with me and refraining from simply running off on her own as I drew Vengeance just in case. E.F.S. wasn't picking much of anything up yet, but that was no guarantee, until they moved zombies were just regarded as corpses after all.... I saw no green or red yet though, actually remembering to tuck my hat down and hide my horn, I kept flicking my ears for any sound other than the ceaseless waves.

"Eclipse? What are we doing here? Dreadnot is further south Fast!" Witchy landed and stared around in confusion, familiar with the place but determined to drag me back to her home immediately.

"Meeting friends, maybe making new ones... This is a town Witchy? What's it like? Are they friendly?"

The pretty batpony mare looked around nervously and tapped her chin in thought before answering. "I guess... We've had pretty limited contact with them, the braver ones try scavenging from Goddess Luna's castle which we still view as our charge, we buy artifacts they come up with, but no one can take the castle so we don't come here often..."

Val was a little more informative, landing atop the sign and slugging back a shot of whiskey. "Not bad last time I was here boss, scavvers mostly, few fishers an' farmers too. Little twitchy but can't blame em there, kinda between a rock an' a hard place here."

"I am sure they are friendly, most likely in need of help if things are so dire here yes? Where are they?" Jade asked hopefully, already plotting ways to expand the Followers and help ponies.

"Oh they're around... we'll probably..." Val replied cautiously, peering about and interrupted by some threatening clicks from all around us.

Shadows started appearing in the ruined buildings surrounding the plaza, on leaning rooftops and out broken windows, E.F.S. lighting up with one dash after another, sneaky... They had us surrounded as soon as we landed, I could barely pick out a few nervous looking ponies, holding rough weapons aimed at us, some down to hooked spears or strange guns with pointy arrows sticking out of them.

"State yer business! Ya'll with the Gunners? Who's that griffon!" A gruff male voice called from one of the tallest standing buildings, a dark blue wooden hotel, only a few major holes in the wooden sides.

"Oh knock it off! See the scars? Not a Gunner no more!" Val screeched at the warning, insulted and pointing a claw at the long healed gouges crossing out her odd barcode cutie mark... thing...

"H-Hello! We do not mean to intrude! We are from Sanctuary, so we are far from our home! We only wish to help, we hoped to meet some friends here! I am P-Princess Jade, pleased to meet you!" Jade called out bravely in her melodious voice, tucking Glitter under her wing protectively in case things went bad.

My ears flicked in every direction, hearing whispered murmurs I couldn't quite make out at this distance, but catching 'Princess' and 'Sanctuary' more than once, along with 'Minutemares', they sounded frightened but hopeful anyway... After a few minutes, the first voice answered warily. "Princess... From tha radio? Ruler of those Minutemares what came? A real Princess? L-Like Luna?"

Jade gave a weary huff, digging in her medical box bags for something she preferred not to wear except for official things like this. She might not be completely confident in the role, but she made an excellent princess with that silvery blue tiara from her Alicorn Angel costume atop her head. "A-Ahem... Yes, that would be me... Perhaps you could come out and we could speak under more friendly circumstances? I assure you, we mean no harm to your community, only to help!"

That got a long pause, I caught more than a few heads peeking out for a look curiously. Dirty, battered wastelanders, lots of wet weather gear, armored rain slickers and floppy hats. Finally a sea green stallion cautiously came out of the broken doors of the hotel, stepping over a sign reading 'Lunar Nocturne Hotel' and approaching us with a... a harpoon gun? That's what those things were!?

The older buck stared at each of us in turn, his dark blue mane spilling out from under a dirty old sea captain's hat, nearly matching his grey flecked beard. His pale green eyes hung on Val's flanks, making sure those Gunner markings really were crossed out, then on Jade's flank too... A sudden surge of all that new aggression surprised me, jealousy... for a look... how odd... Why did I feel like stomping him into the dirt and ripping his throat out with my pointy new teeth?

I had to shake those impulses off and try to look friendly, her mark... he was looking at her mark, most alicorns didn't have one and it identified Jade quite well as the Princess of Sanctuary, I just reeeeally didn't like seeing anypony admiring those flanks, they were mine... stop that dammit!

The Eclipse resident paused at Witchy a moment, not that surprised by a batpony so I guessed she told the truth, her kind must have some contact with the ponies here. Zed was a bit more of a surprise, but he seemed to take it in stride, finally ending up with me and looking me up and down closely. Down to my wings struggling to fold in to my sides properly, up to my head... over to Vengeance floating beside me... shit...

I dropped the gun with a clatter as my magic imploded, scrambling to grab it in my mouth and look innocent. Damage done though, this was going to take some adjusted thinking to remember to hide what I was now. The wary buck came close and stared right at my hat, reaching up a trembling hoof and lifting the brim just enough to see the horn under there, flinching away and waving his comrades off immediately.

"It's alright! It's really them!! They weren't lying! The Shrouded Stallion, the real one!! We're saved!" He shouted and every guardian relaxed at once, giving a whoop under the bright sun almost directly overhead and abandoning their hiding spots in a rush, a thunder of hooves filling the round plaza and surrounding us with starry eyed wastelanders.

"Ummm..... what?"

What were pretty frightened and jumpy wastelanders had suddenly become friendly, too friendly actually, following us in a parade as their leader led us towards the sea in the shadow of the castle overhead. They kept pressing in and trying to get a good look, ignoring the oddities of a tall alicorn princess, a bright griffon, a zebra and a batpony in favor of a small, dark pony trying to pretend to be a pegasus.

It was the foals that ruined it... A gaggle of half a dozen rushing in from the ruins once the adults had declared it safe, prancing around in a circle jealously and chattering with Glitter on my back. Taking pride in the answer to their constant questions, the little filly just stretched right up and grabbed my hat, sticking it on her own head with a giggle while they all gasped.

"Yup! Sure is, see! My daddy's an alicorn too!" Glitter cheered happily, smirking under my dark hat and puffing her little chest out.

What had been curious whispers rose as one, an awed gasp that made me flush and try to behind my wings like Jade could, instead smacking myself in the face and groaning to Glitter. "T-Thanks for that sweetie... if you could give me back my hat now..."

The filly saw no problems, cheerfully slapping it back to my head and adjusting it to a proper jaunty angle so my horn stuck out. Then came the most unwanted... wanted... attention, several of the mares of Eclipse pushing in with the foals, all wide eyes and rosy cheeks, huskily whispering and asking questions as my mane started itching.

"An alicorn?"

"A buck... never seen one..."

"A prince! He's a prince!"

"C-Couldn't be..."

"Sure! He's with a Princess right!?"

"Shroud wasn't a prince, was Luna's defender, just cause he's got the equipment don't mean..."

"He's cute! I don't care either way! Hey are you a prince? Please say yes!"

Grinding my teeth and trying to ignore that lovely, sweet smell of so many mares so close, I shook my head forcefully in answer. "No! N-Not a prince! Just a regular old pony! Er... I like the Shrouded Stallion is all... c-costume..."

Thankfully Jade saved me, bulldozing her way through the crowd through sheer bulk and curling a wing around Glitter and I, looking down her nose at the excited villagers of Eclipse and speaking primly. "My Fast is not a prince, er... e-except in so much as w-we are together... and I am a p-princess... so I suppose, n-no... He is spoken for in any event, if you please?"

The leader of this little parade, Captain Salty Swim, helped her disperse the crowd with a chuckle as we approached the cul de sac of weathered cabins near the beach, rusting shipping containers and carriages, along with a lot of junk from the old town formed decent walls around the former vacation spot.

"Oh don't mind them Princess, boring little town and we've been under the gun awhile, anything new is interesting anyway, but a prince and princess visiting? Ain't been royalty in these parts for more than 200 years, excuse a little over-excitement. So, really are with those Minutemares that came to town? What they been saying true? Really here to help?" Captain Salty grinned, as happy as his fellows now that they believed us.

"Yes indeed, that is what Followers do, and the Minutemares as well of course. It would help to know how we can help however, you speak of problems making you so cautious? What is wrong?" Jade answered while peering around as we passed some imposing gates, walking into a round enclosure of refurbished cabins and an open, weedy yard full of activity.

Spotting the hulking forms of Miretanks made me twitchy, but they were dead and in the process of being slaughtered, like slaughterhouse slaughtered, along with nets of sickly looking fish being gutted and smoked. They were a food source here? Ew... eating Miretanks... what would they even taste like? I guessed they were meat, meat wasn't bad... bacon was good...

Holding a hoof to my mouth as my fangs decided to extend along with the rush of saliva at the thought, I almost missed Salty's answer. "Gunners! Plenty of other things of course, but Gunners been makin' life hell all through this part of the Commonwealth. Once they took Whinny, they got cocky... up against a wall themselves too though, something's riling up the monsters of the Glowing See, pushin' them north and east, right into us... Yer Minutemares came an' said you were gonna come an' help, but not sure even royalty can do much against that army."

Managing to pull away from Jade's protective grip, I tried to catch up to Val grousing to herself, scratching the scars on her flanks absently. "You ok Val? Should you be here? You don't have to..."

Answering in my own whispered tone, Val blew her plumage out of her eyes and grumbled. "S'Fine boss... hafta deal with em eventually... A-Ain't been down this way in'a long time... fer obvious reasons..."

That worried me, every Gunner we had ever run into all recognized Val, called her Traitor... I had never pried and she had never shared why, but I was afraid for my friend. If the Gunners were so strong here, she was in danger... Well, I didn't like the mercenary company anyway, I still had a bounty on my head as far as I knew and was far from safe territory myself.

If they wanted to start shit, that new aggression had a good outlet and I almost welcomed it. I killed the ultimate Gunner after all, I wielded Kellogg's pistol still, what were the rest of them? If they wanted to hurt Val, bring it on... I was almost surprised by the surge of that same jealous feeling as when our guide had glanced at Jade's flank actually, a dark mutter from the depths of my mind just said 'Mine' but was actually augmented by 'Be Kind...'

Fighting with myself was getting annoying, but this time was particularly odd. Did I really feel that way about Val? Was my stupid body just pitching in because she was female? I had to really search my feelings honestly 'Be Strong!' before reaching a conclusion. Supercharged sex drive or not, I loved Val, she was family, I cared about her and wanted to protect her as much as she did me... Didn't want anypony to hurt her ever again, to love her and show how much she meant to me...

A good smack to the forehead cut off that thorny little mental thicket, I wanted to... But I didn't... But I did... Ugh, what was real anymore and what was just mutated biology? The important point was still I was worried for her and determined to protect her from her former comrades, that was all that mattered for now. I'd be there for her like she was for me. 'Be Unwavering!'

I tried to distract myself looking around the settlement, still marveling at the flurry of activity surrounding pulling food from the nearby sea. Did they need this much? Were they stocking up for the winter or something? That was a loooot of fish and miretank meat, and I could pick up the clattering chug of a refrigeration unit somewhere close.

The arch of rental cabins was supplemented by makeshift scrap structures, a few sad little stalls for merchants and housing, some spindly looking mutfruit plants struggled in the sandy soil. The original cabins were repaired and maintained as well as possible, seeming to be reserved for communal areas, the biggest businesses, a guardhouse and armory... one was tilting at a horrible angle, the ground under the back corner eroding away and sending the whole thing cockeyed, only a matter of time before it collapsed entirely...

It was this ramshackle structure Captain Salty was leading us to, a familiar blue cart with the yellow crossed lighting bolt and rifle emblem of the Minutemares and Preston Gardens himself on the porch, an overwhelmed Sassy Saddles sitting in a dirty old rocker nearby, expertly applying her skills to the tattered clothing the residents of Eclipse brought her.

Glitter ran right for the old ghoul, squealing happily and pouncing at her like a pale guided missile. Asking about how she fared in Goodneighbor, how she was, if she and Shamrock managed to take their tour together to her stammering reply. I was just grateful I wasn't having bad thoughts about the ghoul too, Sassy was probably a real beauty when she was alive, tall and slender still... but being with an undead pony? Nooooo thank you... There might be other bucks out there with that particular kink, but not me.

Preston trotted over with relief, tipping his funny hat to the Captain -apparently interchangable with 'Mayor' here- and gave me a hoofbump. "Fast! Good to see you made it! Glad you're all here, things down this way are worse than I had heard, they need the Minutemares here and we need to step up for them. Losing Whinny still stings, we need to decide what to do about the Gunners once and for all... wouldn't mind a little payback..."

"Yeah, I'm I was kinda thinking the same thing Preston... Thought we were here for the castle though? Not that I mind at all, have my own reasons to dislike the Gunners, tell me all about it."

I spotted Val giving me a warm look at that, she had to be reminded every once in awhile she was family, by her own admission such things had been absent from her life for a long time. Not anymore though.

"C-Can you do something about them? They threaten us constantly, take potshots if we venture out into their territory they keep expanding, demand regular tributes of food so they don't just come in and take it all... Can you help us Princess?" Captain Salty asked hopefully, what all had they been dealing with here? The remains of the crowd we attracted nodded along, looking desperate and needy, praying for help but not truly believing any would ever come.

Bullies were not high on Jade's list, actually drawing a little anger out of the kindly mare as she stamped her hoof and spoke to the audience softly. "That... That is unacceptable! Of course we will find a way to help you, er... my Fast helped broker a deal with the Gunners once, Sanctuary and any allied settlement I believe. If Eclipse were to join us, it would be protected as well, would they not?"

Unfortunately Preston shook his head tersely, "Fraid not Princess, they're more well behaved up north, still have to play nice to be able to get jobs. Down here... they're starting to run their territory like their own little empire, any town unlucky enough to be in their borders is theirs according to the Gunners. No contract is gonna help here, if we get involved... I gotta be honest Jade, we already ticked them off plenty, but if we actually take what they say is theirs away? Could be war..."

My princess stammered at that, completely nonplussed. Thoughts of war after seeing what happened in Goodneighbor were abhorrent to her, this was more my territory now though... Every Princess needed her Knight right? 'Be Dark...'

"Then why don't you, Captain Salty and us all sit down a minute and talk Preston... fill me in on what's going on here and what we can do. If fighting the Gunners is what it takes..." I glanced at Val and gulped nervously, "then that's what we'll do... It was bound to happen eventually, we'll find a way."

-

We ended up talking well near sunset, the first stars twinkling on the twilight horizon over the Celestial Sea. Once we were done, I trudged out of the crazily leaning cabin full of Preston's Minutemares to think. My first thoughts were fixated on that cabin after fighting with every scrap of paper and loose drink trying to slide away during our talks, but that was just the repair-pony in me, there were bigger things to fix here.

I watched the residents of Eclipse still working frantically, dragging food from the beach and hacking it up efficiently, storing it away in what had been an old diner for the resort, the freezers still barely chugging along with a lot of makeshift fixes that I could certainly improve... They had to work so hard, just to give it away to Gunners... making their tormentors stronger and themselves weaker in the process.

They said Gunner patrols could show up at any time to demand their tribute, so they always had to have something ready, always had to be working... slaving away... Jade didn't like the thought of being the aggressor with the Gunners, with anypony really... but despite both her and the soft mote whispering 'Be Kind..' in my head, I didn't see many other options yet. They were bullies, they wouldn't back down until somepony stood up to them, sometimes you had to fight for what was right.

The castle looming above the town presented an interesting question too, Preston wanted to take it, have a fortress for the Minutemares, a better place to grow and help the Commonwealth from. The residents of Eclipse tried their best to dissuade him, speaking about monsters and miretanks lurking within, and curses... They viewed the castle with a kind of superstitious dread, believing the real Shroud was haunting the place, mourning his master Goddess Luna and just waiting for some poor scavver to slip up and fall into his clutches.

I had to put off a lot of questions there, these ponies seemed to know almost as much as Witchy on the subject of the real Shrouded Stallion. I supposed living in the shadow of the castle where he fell explained their knowledge on the subject, but I was curious how they knew, I knew everything about the Shroud, or so I thought before meeting the batpony on my tail still.

Witchy was bright eyed and bushy tailed now that the sun was sinking, trotting along behind me as I paced the village with my head down. If we fought the next Gunner patrol to come and steal food, they'd come back, they'd send more if we wiped them out or come down like a hammer if any escaped... Any action we took to help would result in the same thing, the Gunners would know we were here and send a much stronger force to overwhelm us. We were in their territory, not ours...

Spotting a colt playing in the sand, my eyes locked on the dark object in his hooves, a tiny Shrouded Stallion figure like my own perched menacingly on a sandcastle, making dramatic speeches to half broken old toy soldiers below. "Eclipse is under da Shroud's protection now you bad ol' Gunners! You just go away an' never come back!"

Oh if only it was that easy... I sat in the sand beside the little colt and pulled out my own Shroud figure, floating in my magic in front of his, noting with fascination just what it should look like after 200 years, really noticing the differences with another to compare. It was immaculate... still in perfect condition, just like when I took it out of the box... Another nagging mystery concerning my favorite hero, how had I apparently made the toy a lesser soul jar as Zed had insisted?

The dirty green colt looked up in awe, both at the figure and the life size version next to him while I puzzled over the faded colors and scratches in his toy. "Where'd you get this anyway kiddo? Never really seen anypony else playing with my favorite toy."

"T-Tha museum Mr. Shroud! Umm... dad gots the soldiers fer me from some ol' toy factory, but da Shroud came from the museum!" He yelped back, goggling at my wings closely in awe.

"Museum?"

Witchy coughed and sat with us, nudging one of the broken toy soldiers back up and nodding. "Bobbing Cane's foalhood home and museum, he lived here you know. The creator of...."

"MR. CANE LIVED HERE?!?!" I shouted and had to slow my heart, Bobbing Cane?! The artist/writer behind the Shrouded Stallion?!? There was a museum!?!

Giggling to herself, Witchy nodded again with a soft smile, "I take it you know the name then. Yes, he lived here, it was he who spoke to Goddess Luna after chancing across the legend, asked to make his silly comics..." She paused at my angry snort and amended that thankfully, "His... talented adaptation... The Shroud was so strongly tied to Castle Equinox, the ponies here took advantage of it as part of trying to be a resort community, another draw for tourists I believe. His home included a museum dedicated to his works for guests to visit, full of silly... i-interesting junk like our young friend's toy here."

"Where!?!?!" I leapt up and grabbed the batpony by her strong shoulders, shaking the pretty mare and only mildly noticing I was right in a very kissable face.

"R-R-Right that way! I-In the outskirts! I can show thee if you wish!?" Witchy gasped from my shaking grip and weakly tried to point, flapping free as soon as I released her.

I ruffled the colt's copper mane in thanks and flew up after her, army of evil mercenaries, haunted castle of dangerous monsters, all that could wait... Mr. Cane's home! A museum! What kind of stuff would they still have? The rest of the toys maybe? The cityscape playset?! Limited editions? Original comic panels like at Hubris? Oh the possibilities! My own streak of griffon greed woke up and I trailed right after the anxious batpony leading the way.

Granted I shouldn't really wander off too far... but it was right outside the walls for Celestia's sake, in a dead town of ruins, the worst there was to deal with would be local wildlife. I had too much to try to figure out, taking a tiny break to go explore a wasteland ruin I was incredibly interested in wouldn't hurt, it would probably help! Clear my head, help me think...

"Are thou really going to try to take Castle Equinox Fast?" Witchy called over her shoulder, snapping me out of my dreams of untold comic treasures.

"I guess so... Seems like a good idea, nopony's using it anyway, it shouldn't keep going to waste and rotting like that... Maybe I can fix it..."

She gave an appraising stare with those slitted amber eyes, swishing her tail in thought and drawing attention to.... no! Shroud! Comics! Toys! "Hmmm... I do not know how my leaders would feel about that... We do regard Luna's castle as holy ground Fast, we tried to take it repeatedly, but expanding so far away from Dreadnot was always too difficult, too much to deal with at a home that was already secure to waste time trying to move and abandon it. If you were to simply take it though... I don't know..."

"I believe Val has repeatedly told me the only rule to the wasteland is 'finders keepers', the Brotherhood didn't have a claim on the M.O.M. hub just because they thought it was theirs, I got there first. If we take the castle, they don't have room to bitch."

A snort of laughter drifted back at that, "Oh yes they do... trust me. If it is you though... perhaps I can help convince them, provided you ever do come back to Dreadnot with me, you seem to be making plans right here..."

"Sorry Witchy, I said we'd work our way there. Personally I need to get to the S.P.P. tower in a hurry, but these ponies need help, we can't just... ignore them. I won't do that. I promised I'd come though, I keep my promises, I er... promise..."

That got another tinkling, squeaky laugh that was distressingly adorable... following her down as she glided silently towards a fairly intact two story home with a larger steel building in the next lot over, attached by a walkway to the preserved home. Landing in the picket fenced yard that now looked like rotten, broken teeth sticking up from the weeds, I read the sign still hanging on to the bigger building with delight.

We had a field trip to this town for the castle and not here!?! What horrible priorities Mrs. Patience had, a terrible teacher... Ok that wasn't fair, but still... a museum! I cantered happily to the waiting steel door, broken out of my visions of every possible Shroud collectible by a gust and squawk from above.

"Ah, ah, ah boss! Where ya wanderin' off ta alone with little miss fluffy ears huh? You ain't 'posed ta be alone with her right?" Val grinned and landed between us, pushing the batpony back with a claw to her gleaming breastplate.

"Val! A museum for the Shroud! Look!"

"R-Really! We were perfectly fine on our own!" Witchy squeaked with a blush at the leering griffon, only resulting in getting shoved back further.

"Nope! You just get in line missy, I gots dibs first, no cuts! Think I'll just let ya tempt the boss away with his toys an' junk, leave ya alone together? Ooooh no, ferget it ya batty mare. Yeah, yeah, boss, I see, s'pose ya insist on clearin' the place too don'tcha?" Val huffed and shoved her way to the door, checking for a lock before pushing it open and peering into the gloom inside. "Alright goofy, let's go, get it outta yer system so we can go get real loot..."

At that I ran past her gratefully, into an often ignored slice of the old world and the home of one of my heroes, giddy with the possibilities. Also more than a little relieved, I might be different now and still have to get used to it, quicker to anger and aggressive, far too interested in any mare that passed by, pointy fangs and uncooperative wings, but I was still essentially me.

My priorities might be a little odd, but they were mine dammit, my quirks, just like I always had before. I was still me and happy to confirm it.

New Perk Added!----------------------------

Ditzy Deliverer----
---Earth pony strength and wings take some getting used to, but have their benefits! You are able to fly while over encumbered and gain an additional +50 to your maximum carry weight, hauling more junk around with ease. A good thing too as your flight instructor's favorite methods involve overloading you!

Reputation Change!---------------------------

The Railroad - Mixed
---- You finally found the mysterious Railroad, sort of... and were promptly turned away again with no answers... So kind of mixed on both sides actually. Thankfully you had a couple friends on the inside to vouch for you! You're not viewed as a threat or enemy at least, improving this faction may lead to some enlightenment, so keep working!

Eclipse - Dark Hero
---- The wary residents of Eclipse have heard of the famous Shrouded Stallion on the radio and are desperate for somepony to believe in, better live up to it! You receive a lot of positive treatment and good prices for the most part, but some residents may be too frightened by the imminent and very real threat of the Gunners.