As I walked on the empty, quiet road I noticed a small area with a barricade. It was probably an abandoned raider camp. I decided to avoid getting close to it in the end, because it seemed too dangerous, plus I should focus on my mission now. Better not get distracted.

Not so far from that I finally found Horseshoe Tower. Not really knowing where to go I went inside and upstairs. If they’re inside, then I’ll find them here, if they aren’t, then I’ll go on the roof and look around, just so I might find them. At least that was my plan, but then I heard some ponies talking, and some of them sounded as if they were speaking through an old radio.

I got my gun ready, just in case and sneaked to where the voice came from. The building was cramped up in the inside. Floors and walls destroyed making movement close to impossible. The main hallway was a dead end and the only way to go on was by going through big holes in the walls. I did found some dead bodies too. Some were older than the other, but none of them seemed fresh.

Finally after three minutes of walking mindlessly I got to a doorway where the voices came from.

“For the last time, where did you find it?” said a cold metallic colt sound.

“I’ve told you… *cough* We’ve found an empty stable not far from here and just brought one!” said a weaker sound.

BANG!

“Stop lying!” - said the same cold voice while the other one was screaming in pain. - “We don’t know any stable in this region that isn’t cleaned yet!”

“But we are telling the truth, stop shooting him!” said a third voice, this time a mare.

BANG!

“I shoot him whenever I want. All you has to do is tell me where did you find or stole that Pipbuck.”

I peeked inside and saw a Steel Ranger in power armor and dark green unicorn mare with long grayish white mane lying on the ground. Next to her was a dark gray earth pony colt with light blue mane and he was bleeding from one of his forehoof. On the other one he had a weird metal ring which emitted green light. The two pony was tied up together.

“One second, we have an intruder,” said the Steel Ranger.

Fuck! How did he find me! Who cares now, I have to hide!

The closest possible hiding spot was an open door not so far away. I ran there as quietly as I could and closed the door. The room was really small. In fact it was a wardrobe with a lot of tattered and torn apparel.

Fucking celestia, now what? If he finds me I’m gone for, but those ponies are probably the ones I’m looking for, I have to get rid of this bitch then, but how? Shooting bullets won’t help me, neither will grenades. Maybe if I surprise him by jumping on him and start beating the armor up… no, that wouldn’t work neither, he could just throw me off and kill me. Is there anything I can do?

I… I can’t win this… there’s no way. The only thing that I can do if he finds me is… surrender. Fuck.

And just as I thought that the Steel Ranger slammed the door open.

“I surrender!” I yelled and held my hooves up and closed my eyes in fear.

“Who are you?” he asked after a few seconds of waiting.

“I’m… Sour Peach,” - I said. - “I’m a scavenger and just happened to find you here.”

“How come that my E.F.S shows you as a threat?”

“How would I know, I don’t even know what an ‘E.F.S’ is.” (I really didn’t know)

“Eyes Forward Sparkle, basically it’s a radar that detects any living around you. It can even detect if the given thing is an enemy or not.”

“Maybe it’s broken,” I said with a bit more confident. He actually believes me.

“Maybe, but just to be sure,” he said and started tying up my hooves.

“Hey! What gives?” I yelled.

“Quiet or I’ll kill you. I still can’t trust you.”

Fair enough.

When he finished he took my weapons, grabbed and threw me to the other two ponies.

“Ouch!” I said while they looked at me a bit confused.

“Sooo, how’ya doing?” I said, trying to play the innocent and breaking the ice, but they just gave back a more confused and concerned look. The mare then pointed to the Steel Ranger.

BANG!

The bullet hit the floor next to me.

“I said quiet! Don’t make me repeat that again!” said the Steel Ranger.

Okay, I might’ve overdone it. Watch what you say Cold Blood or you get killed here.

“So, I’ll ask it one more time, and you’ll answer it, or else,” - said the Steel Ranger. - “Where did you find that Pipbuck?”

The other two looked at eachother and nodded.

“Alright, I’ll lead you there, just let us free,” said the worried mare.

“Finally! It wasn’t that hard, was it? There drink this,” - said the Steel Ranger and dropped a Healing Potion to the colt. - “We’re going right away, and I don’t want to get slowed down by your foolishness”

The colt drank the potion and when he finished the steel ranger tied a rope around our necks and he grabbed the end of it. After all of that we walked outside and headed east. The Steel Ranger was in the lead, but sometimes he looked back at us and asked them where to go. This was my first opportunity to talk to them.

“So,” - I whispered. - “How did you get into this situation, oh and by the way, name’s Sour Peach.”

“Green Vines, just call me Viney, and he’s my special somepony, Skybright,” whispered Viney. She looked at Skybright with a smile and Skybright gave a smile too.

“We heard there was a treasure somewhere near Horseshoe tower. Not much of a story though. Rich pony, got scared of the war and built his own safe house underground. In the meantime Steel Rangers found us and since then they want to know where did I find my Pipbuck,” explained Skybright.

“What’s so special about it?” I asked.

“Other than a default Pipbuck, not much. It has some extensions, which others don’t have. For example a bigger storage, S.A.T. S. Jammer and self-explosion.” said Sky.

“Whatever those things meant… But why didn’t you tell him where did you find it?”

“Because Steel Rangers. Not so long ago we with several other ponies moved to a Stable. We managed to stay under cover from them yet, but I heard they wiped out whole stables just to get their hooves on some pre-war tech.”

“And we’re going there?” I asked as quietly as I could.

“Of course not, we try to get away from him, but we couldn’t come up with any plan. But then you came, and now I think we can beat him,” said Viney.

“I have an EPM grenade, since he was careless enough and didn’t took my Pipbuck. The problem was that we can’t run away in time before it’s effect wears off, so naturally, we have to beat him. I can hack his power armor in no time, but to do that he’ll get a few seconds where he can move and shoot again. Thankfully, Viney can cast a shield on me. The real problem is, if he realizes that and jumps out. He could get his weapon really fast out of the armor while we’re stuck there. Then it’s just the matter of time before the shield breaks. That’s where you come in, if he tries to do that, do anything it takes to stop him,” explained Sky.

“Sounds like a plan, but you think I can beat him with my bare hooves? He took my weapons,” I whispered back.

“I’ll give you one, don’t worry,” answered Sky.

After a bit more walking both Viney and Sky gave me a wink. I nodded back and Viney stumbled in a small rock.

“My leg!” screamed Viney, lying on the ground.

“What’s the matter, get up and get going!” threatened the Steel Ranger. In the meantime Sky started to press buttons on his Pipbuck and got a grenade out of nowhere. Then he pulled the trigger, waited a bit then threw it to the Steel Ranger while Viney was still complaining.

BAAM!

The grenade exploded like a small lightning orb.

“YOU FUCKING BITCHASSES, I’LL KILL YOU FOR THAT!” yelled the Steel Ranger with other ‘nice’ things as well. He even mentioned our relatives, celestia, luna, applejack and loads of other ponies and probably other creatures as well. In the meantime Skybright got back control over his Pipbuck and started to hack it. I stood next to him and Viney was ready with her magic to absorb any shot.a

“Okay Peach, ready?” asked Sky. After a few seconds I’ve realized that he was talking to me and nodded back.

He gave me a switchblade and opened the Power Armor from where the Steel Ranger jumped out instantly, only to find out that he can’t get through Viney’s shield. Turns out he was an older dark grey-brown-ish earth pony with a short light grey mane.

I jumped on him while he tried to recover from hitting the shield and started cutting his limbs and head while I held him on the ground. This made him really weak and when he finally gave up the fight I started smashing the switchblade into his head. After 27 (Who doesn’t count it, right?) thrust I stopped only to find out I was covered in blood and under me was something that didn’t really look like a pony anymore. At least not his head.

“I might’ve overdone it,” I said while smiling in embarrassment. They were just looking at me with wide open eyes and mouth and didn’t say anything.

Sure, it felt amazing to kill that fucker, but get a hold of yourself Cold Blood. They might find it disturbing and leave me, which means I won’t get my revenge on Blueberry.

“Oh, yeah, maybe… I mean he deserved it… I just… didn’t think you’ll be this… forceful,” said Viney after about half a minute of staring.

“Well, you know. You gotta make sure they die for real, right?” - I said, trying to make me look less of a psychopath. - “But hey, we all made it out alive, so that’s something.”

“I guess so, right Sky?” said Viney. Sky was still frozen, but after Viney repeated it a few times he came back to his senses.

“Oh, yea, totally,” said Skybright, probably not really knowing what we were talking about. - “So, Peach, what’s your story? How did you find us?”

“The bartender in Tenpony Tower sent me. He told me that you were looking for something and that you went to the bar quite often until the last couple of days. His name is Cheese Slice.”

“Well, actually, we were looking for somepony, not something,” - corrected Viney. - “The Steel Rangers took our friend, Night Star. We had a fight against them, but we’ve lost against them. The next thing we remembered is that we were lying on the ground the next day.”

Viney got sad when he finished this small story. This was my chance to get them in my team.

“I’ll help you find Star!” I said, but after that I got a weird feeling. This ‘help’ word… it was strange to say it.

“Will you?” - asked Viney while a small star of hope glistened in her eyes. - “But we can’t give you anything in exchange.”

“No worries, I’m sure you’ll find something,” I said.

“Oh, thank you!” said Viney and hugged me. Though after a few seconds she noticed that I was still covered in blood. The hug surprised me and felt really weird. I never hugged anyone before, but it wasn’t bad.

“Eww,” - said Viney in a disgusted voice while she tried to clean herself from the blood that now covered her as well. - “You should clean that up.”

“Oh, right… sorry,” I said in embarrassment.

“We still don’t know where Night Star is,” interrupted us Skybright. I could tell from his look that he was worried and impatient.

“Steel Rangers took him, right?” - I asked and they nodded. - “Then probably they took him to their settlement or to one of their camp, probably for the same reason that Steel Ranger captured you.”

“But we couldn't find any bunker in the area.” said Viney.

“What happened to the one near Horseshoe Tower underground?” I asked because I remembered getting a report from some raider scouts about it

“Wait, wait, wait… “ - said Sky. - “You say there was a Steel Ranger bunker right below us all the time?” I nodded.

“And Star might be there?” asked Viney. I nodded again.

“Then why did we got captured by this one, but not get imprisoned inside if the bunker was one hoof away from us?” asked Sky.

“How would I know? Probably his ego was too high for that and thought he could handle us.” I answered.

“Fair enough,” said Sky and chuckled a bit.

“So, now we know where Star probably is, but how will we free him?” asked Viney.

She was right. We can’t just go in with all we’ve got and try to shoot them all. We would be outnumbered. We have to try a bit more quieter approach, but how could we even get in? From what I can remember from the reports, there is a sensor that lets in only steel rangers.

With that an idea came to my mind.

“What if, we use this power armor to get one of us in. We don’t know how does the bunker looks from inside, so planning ahead more wouldn’t make sense,” I explained.

“Hmm, yes,” - continued Skybright. - “And we could stay in touch via my Pipbuck and the power armor’s radio.”

“But who will go in?” asked Viney.

“I’ll do it,” - said Sky. - “This power armor belonged to a colt. It’d be weird if a mare’s voice would come out of it.”

“Are you sure? It sounds really dangerous,” said Viney.

“It’s the only way,” answered Skybright. Viney looked scared, but agreed in the end. Sky gave me his Pipbuck, stepped in the power armor and we went back to Horseshoe Tower. In the meantime he retrieved some information about the owner of this power armor. Turns out the guy was a paladin named Ironwill.

“Alright, can you hear me?” said the Pipbuck on Sky’s voice as we got to the same frequency.

“Yes, we hear you clearly,” I replied.

“Awesome, let’s get going then,” replied Skybright.

We got back to Horseshoe Tower pretty quick. Just as I’ve been told, there was a small bush on the other side of the building with a small red button in it.

I pressed it and the ground nearby me started to descent making a staircase leading to a closed door with a terminal next to it. The whole thing happened quietly and pretty fast. I could’ve barely heard a small shush when the whole thing finished opening.

Sky and Viney was watching it too with a surprised look. At Least Viney, the power armor covered his face.

“Be careful down there,” said Viney and hugged Sky.

“I won’t leave you alone, don’t worry,” said Sky then looked at me.

“Uhm, yeah, good luck,” I said, not really knowing what did he expected from me.

“Thanks,” said Sky with a bit of chuckle and then headed downstairs. Just as we guessed the terminal let him in and as the door opened the staircase began to close separating us from Skybright.

After a few deadly quiet minutes the Pipbuck on my foreleg gave out a sound.

“I’m in,” - said Sky. - “This place is huge, so it might take a while to find where Night Star is, but no one suspects a thing.”

“Thank Celestia,” said Viney who has been breathing heavily since Sky was gone.

“I’ve gotta go, someone is coming,” said Skybright.

Again minutes of silence. Not knowing if Sky got caught or not.

“Phew, good news, I found the cells. Those two ponies gave me a weird look at first when I asked them about the whereabouts of the jail, but in the end they told me,” said Sky.

“Awesome, how far is it?” I asked.

“Not far… actually I’m pretty much there already,” said Sky.

“Mind your business,” said an unknown voice.

“Paladin Ironwill, I’m here to check on one of the prisoner,” said Sky on a different voice.

“Who would that be?”

“Night Star, I believe I can make him talk.”

“Alright, I’ll let you in,” said the same voice, who was probably a guard.

“Alright,” - said Sky after a few seconds. - “I’m about to meet Star and bring him out from this place. Wait a few minutes and we’ll be outside.”

“We’re waiting for you, just get out both of you safely,” said Viney.

Sky didn’t answered. We assumed he turned it off, because someone was close. After about five minutes of waiting the ground started to move again. From underground ran up Sky and another pony. He had short black mane and dark purple coat. He also had a small beard.

“Sky!” yelled Viney and hugged him while he was still in his power armor.

“You must be Night Star,” I said to the purple pony.

“Yes,” - replied Star. - “But there’s no time for that! They’re on our tail!”

“Wait, what?” I asked, when from the door underground bursted out two Steel Rangers.

“Oh, fucking celestia by the sun,” I said and we started running south.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

One of the Steel Rangers shot, but missed. I looked behind and saw four ponies running behind us. Two of them had power armor. They were about 50 meters behind us.

I have to come up with something, because we can’t run forever and we can’t beat them. Somehow I have to stop them from following us, or just slow them down enough, so we can get away.

We could try and block them, but the main road is too wide… maybe in one of the smaller street. With that I got an idea.

“Hey, do you have any explosives? I might have a plan,” I said to the others.

“I have a few grenades,” said Skybright. I had one or two as well, if I remembered correctly.

“We’ll have one shot, so let’s hope it’ll work out. Follow me!” I said and ran to the left inside the narrowest street I could find.

When we were getting closer to the other side of the street I stopped and threw down my grenades next to a wall.

“Quick! Drop your grenades here as well, Sky!” I shouted pointing to my grenades.

Without a second thought he did as I said. I pulled one of the trigger and we continued running behind the others.

“Please, celestia work,” I prayed.

BOOM! BOOM!

I heard the explosion and when I looked back the whole house was collapsing on the steel rangers.

“Yes! It fucking worked!” I shouted in joy only to realize that the house was about to collapse on us as well.

We started running as fast as we could, but the collapsing house was faster. Plus the falling brick didn’t help either.

When we finally reached the end of the street I jumped out with my last breath, because there was literally no distance between me and the collapsing building.

“We did… we… survived,” said Viney.

“Yea… holy fuck… that was close,” I said breathing heavily, just to realize that a part of my tail is under the ruins.

After we rested a bit I pulled out my tail with my remaining strength.

“Oh, Star, I was so worried, thank celestia,” said Viney and hugged Star. In the meantime Skybright went out from the Power Armor and joined the hug.

“So, who are you?” asked Night Star from me.

“Oh, she’s our new friend, Sour Peach. She saved us from a Steel Ranger and even found the bunker. She was a HUGE help,” explained Viney with a big smile.

“In that case, thanks a lot Peach, I owe you my life,” said Star.

“D… Don’t worry about… it,” I said it, still feeling weird. I’m really not used to help someone without asking anything for it.

“Let’s celebrate,” - suggested Viney. - “Today was long anyways, we totally deserve it.”

We agreed and decided to go to Tenpony Tower.

One beer turned into three, and three turned into celestia knows how much. Cheese Slice, the bartender seemed to be happy for us, or maybe he was just glad that we were spending our caps there, but we couldn’t care.

At some point we decided that we should go outside, to chill off a bit, but the next thing I remembered was us sitting next to a campfire. I couldn’t even see anything else, because of the darkness.

“So, Peach,” - said Night Star after we got a bit sober. - “What’s your story?”

Footnote: Level up! Party Pony!

You grouped up with some ponies, making your life in the wasteland a tad bit easier.

+1 Charisma and +20 damage to companions.