“Look all I'm saying is that I feel that he shouldn't have shot at us.” Cal said trotting beside me.

The town of Ponyville loomed on the horizon, casting shadows across the landscape in the afternoon setting sun. I had made it the majority of the way here with Cal on my back but, about ten miles prior to Sweet Apple Acres, my wings gave out. Cal managed to tuck and roll into a brier bush, becoming tangled in the torn covered ropes of vines. I on the other hoof, was graceful enough to land in an old apple tree, hit my hurt leg on a branch, fall 15 feet onto the same leg and roll around crying for 30 minutes. Thank Celestia for med-x, I'm pretty sure the bones held but that didn't stop it from hurting to the point of tears.

“I know right! what kind backwards hillpony shoots at his future buck-in-law. There should be a law.” I said.

“DAMMIT! FOR THE LAST TIME! I did not have sexual relations with that sheep!” Cal belted back at me.

“I know Cal.”

“Thank you! Finally.”

“You had sexual relations with both of those sheep. I know you're not a selfish lover.” I continued.

“THAT'S IT BIRD BOY, I'M KICKING YOUR ASS.” Cal said.

“You would hit me, a poor lame buck who's searching for true love in the wasteland?” I said falling back to my hunches in offense. Cal, wasting no time, had procured a week old pile of brahmin turds and threw it right in my face. Now, I know Cal and Cal knows me. He knows the fastest way to piss me off is to do something that would result in me being covered in some form of bodily waste.

“OH. It. Is. ON! Come here, you son of a whore bitch bastard!” I screamed as I took flight, grabbing Caliber and lifting him off the ground. Scanning the area around me, I spied a nasty looking quagmire, maybe if I'm lucky it will be a two century old sewage pit. Slowly I hovered over the pond of filth, doing my best to manage the kicking, flailing buck in my grasp. I think a good swim will do him some good, maybe cool him off a bit and get his brain off of sheep.

“Joey! What are you doing! Put me down!” Cal screamed. Just a little closer now.

“Damn it Joey, put me the hell down and I'll let all this go!” Cal continued. Almost there.

“Joey, so help me, if you drop me in that lake of ass water I'm going to really hurt you!” Cal said.

Close enough. I released my grip on him and grinned as he began to plummet to the earth. Goddesses only knows what's in that nasty pond, oh well, Cal could tell me all about it later. Pleased with my work almost instantly, I crossed my hooves and gave myself a firm nod of approval. It was just at that moment I noticed a heavy weight pulling down on my tail, I was also now aware of the fact that I was now failing to earth just as fast as Cal was.

Cal had latched onto my tail with his teeth and the sudden addition of his weight took me by complete surprise. Together now, we fell to the earth like two moronic stones with a date with the primordial ooze that had been cooking for 2 centuries. Through muffled noises I could make out Cal trying to say “Fwap dammit! Fwap!”. I tried my best to regain control but it was too late, the sudden jolt of weight had made my wings falter sending us into a free fall. My wings struggled to gain purchase in the air, flapping wildly and out of sync trying to recover from the momentum.

Splash

My vision filled with nasty, murky water. A bit of yellowish green algae was now lodged in my left nostril and the water began to sting at my eyes. In my vision I could see a host of warnings that all summed up to 'hey, did you know you are drowning in radioactive water?'. I couldn't help myself, still underwater I screamed.

“NO SHIT, LEG TOASTER!”

The scream was muffled down to the sound of water and air rushing past my face. Determined to not spend my life down here I decided it was time to find my way out of this pit of despair. Poking my head out of the water I saw Cal fighting with the sludge around the pond's bank. He was covered head to hoof in brown slime that clung to him like a second coat, and then the smell hit me like a rock. I could feel bile in my mouth at the stench coming from the ooze that he was slogging through, every step releasing more of the foul smell.

“Good one, Joey. Great job. I hope your balls rot off for this.” Cal said from the bank.

“You started this you know.” I said still working my way to the bank.

“Look, I didn't do anything to those sheep. I swear it. You know I can't stand being called a liar, you know me better than that. We must have stole them and they fell asleep in my room.” Cal said trying to fling the muck from his coat.

“Yeah, I know. I guess I was giving you a hard time for, oh I don't know, letting me jump off a building with my wings tied behind my back?” I said raising a eyebrow.

“Even?” Cal asked.

“Even. Now can we move past this and get back trying to find this Solar Array?” I asked.

“Hey, you're the one still in the puke pond. Com'on now little birdie, com'on. Come take a nice mud bath.” Cal said gesturing with both hooves.

“You forgetting something?” I asked

With a push I lifted myself from the water and started flapping for all I was worth, flinging green slime and brown water in every direction. Mercifully I began to rise, hover to the bank and landed next to Cal. Being a bird horse has it's benefits and if he was going to tease me about having wings, who would I be if I didn't use them to my advantage. Oh the look on Cal's face right now, it just screams 'I hate you so much'.

Despite landing in the same filth as he did, I managed to stay in the water rather than work my way through the mountain of disgust that was the ponds bank. Nevertheless, I reeked just the same as he did and by the weight, texture and body of the smell, it was going to be a long time before I could stand to smell myself again. The odor of rotten weeds, stagnate water and what I really hoped wasn't poo, covered us both. I began to crinkle my nose at the stench, felling my stomach begin to lurch at the same time as my eyes instinctively closed. The water was in my eyes, ears and nose, there was no way I was going to be able to smell this for long without losing my lunch. I felt my nose begin to itch and soon I could feel the signs of a sneeze coming on.

With one great 'ACHOO' that I tried to cover with my hoof, I sent the offending piece of algae rocketing right into Cal's face.

“That was an accident, I swe-” I was cut off by Cal wiping it from his face with never the mind wave with his other hoof.

“But I-” I was cut off again.

“No, no. I had that one coming.” Cal said.

“For what, you said we were even.”

“For this!” Cal said lunging at me and wrapping me in a bear hug. He then began to smear his nasty body all over mine covering me in the same nasty muck he was covered in. The smell, oh goddesses the smell! After he had concluded his assault he stood, wiped more of the muck from his chest and said.

“Now we're even.”

“Please... no more” I whimpered.

“Seriously Joey? You have to had smelled worse in your life. I have dated mares that smelled way worse than this.” Cal said.

“Not saying I haven't, I'm saying I didn't like it then either.” I said trying my best to scrape off as much of the crud as I could that was now drying to my coat.

“Well, no sense going on like this.” Cal said.

With a flash of his horn came an odd tingling sensation across my body followed by a warm sensation of being... washed? What the hell, a cleaning spell? I would say I'm not surprised but in all the time I knew Cal, the only tricks I had seen from him were levitation and a simple healing spell. The glow faded and I was left feeling fresh and cleaner than I had in weeks, I even smelled good. OK, if he could do that with a flash of the horn, there is no reason for him to trot around looking like trash the way he does.

“OK, what the hell. Where did you learn that?” I asked.

“Dated a spa tech in Tenpony. She showed me a few tricks in exchange for me to find some bottle of conditioner over in Fetlock.” Cal said.

“Well, thanks for that. But if you can do that, why don't you do it every day?”

“Ha... ha... ha... maybe it's because every time I do that spell I end up smelling like lavender for a week.”

“Now what's wrong with that! Better than the smell of whiskey, cigarettes and love juice.”

“I hate lavender! It gives me a headache.”

Curious if I too had taken on a notable aroma, I began to sniff my coat on my foreleg. Oranges! I like Orange! I could work with that, if nothing else at least it's not the smell of that pond. I seriously envy unicorns for their ability to do magic like this. But then again, I do love having wings, I just wish that it had not come standard with a fear of heights in my particular model. For some reason no matter how hard I tried to overcome my fear, I could only ever manage to go 300 feet off the ground before I got all woozy. At least I can make good time with them, even if the majority of my job keeps me grounded.

We started out towards the northern end of Ponyville towards the Hope Solar Array, walking side by side. I flapped my wings out and began to preen the crooked feathers back to their original resting positions. Wow, I taste like rad-away? Well if Radaway didn't taste so rank that is, and if it was a bit sour. Delicious! Heh, Joey, now available in tangy citrus flavor! If Shale ever found out about this, she would insist in doing all of my preening from here on out, hell she would probably spend most our time together licking me. Now why did that bring up a bunch of weird feelings and taboo emotions, nothing wrong with a brother and sister lic... Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Cal was watching me work the feathers back to their places with mild interest when he finally spoke.

“Why do you do that, nibbling at your wings like that?”

“Huh? Preening? Just straightening the feathers back out. They get all bunched up when I fold them up wet and it drives me nuts.” I said, continuing my work to my left wing.

“Why don't you just flap them a few times and straighten them out that way?”

“Because they would tear along the veins and get even more tangled. Mwakes fwying ah bish.” I said through a mouth full of wing.

“Huh, that's nuts, and here I though you just had a nervous tick all these years.” Cal said as I continued my work.

Truth is, it is a nervous tick to a extent, it's also a necessity from time to time. But I have been known to 'chew' on my wings when I'm nervous, a habit that has cost me more than one primary feather in my time. Where as it may not seem like that big of a deal to lose one feather to ponies without wings, you can feel it in everything you do. The spot feels naked and raw, everything that touches it feels like an annoying sensation akin to rash but without the pain. Where it's not painful, its distracting as all hell and has even caused me to fly head on into a dead tree when I was younger. As stupid as it sounds, one misplaced feather to somepony like me, will agitate me to the point of not being able to complete a simple task.

We spent the next few hours of travel in silence. Less because of lack of conversation topics and more due to the raiders that were on a knife's edge and acting weirder than normal. They would randomly poke their heads out the windows of the buildings and burned out houses looking for, best I could tell, nothing. It was making travel problematic, usually they have a rough schedule of rounds that they would make. But something had them checking the windows every 15 seconds, sticking their muzzles out just far enough to be seen.

“I don't like this, something's wrong.” Cal said.

“Me neither, what do you think's got them so spooked?”

“I don't know. But if it's badass enough to scare the shit out of a raider, do you really want to find out?”

“I do not.” I said, ducking behind a building.

“This way, we can work our way around the town from the outside.” I said looking back to Cal who had taken post under a window sill.

He had is head turned parallel to the window sill and was edging his ear closer to the window's edge. His ear twitched a few times and he raised a hoof for me to come to him, mouthing that he could hear voices. Slowly I edged my way to him along the wall, once at his side, I slid my back up against it and leaned in, standing on my hind legs. I could hear the voices of two bucks and a mare inside talking about a pony, but from the way they were talking, it sounded more like a ghost.

“It's fucking nuts! First that retard Twitch Blade and now Tram is gone! Just fucking gone!” One of the bucks said.

“Awwww, what's a matter. You scared of ghosts now too?” The other buck said.

“Dumb shit probably offed himself. Always was a pussy.” The mare rasped.

“I'm fuckin' telling you, that fuckin' thing got them! I saw that shit with my own eyes!” The buck said.

“Yeah, yeah, sure it did. I bet next you're gonna say Twitch grew wings and became one of those alicorn things.” The mare rasped.

“Fuck the both of yous, I know what I saw!” The buck yelled.

“Com'on, what are you a foal? Go find the thing and kill it!” The other buck said.

“Fuck that, I'm not going anywhere near that fuckin' place.” The buck who says fuck a lot said.

I looked down to Cal who...was no longer there. Looking around I saw that he was edging a door open with his nose with a grenade in his magic. Doing my best impersonation of his mom, I did everything in my power to stop him, but it was no use. He looked back to me and scratched the ground with a hoof 3 times, a trick he used often to relay numbers of combatants. He then, pulled the pin of the grenade, sending the stem flying and...kept holding it. Wait, did he even know how to use those things!? Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever seen him with a grenade before! I motioned for him to throw it but he just kept smiling. One second, two seconds, three seconds. I was gnawing my wings to nubs, throw the fucking thing!

Finally, after four long seconds and with a swiftness I had never seen him use before, he lobbed the metal apple into the room and ducked. One second later an explosion tore through the room with its concussive force, shaking the ground and rattling the walls. The grenade must have landed near the wall I was standing near because the boards against my back gave way. The force sending me flying against the wall of the other house, dropping me in a pile of old rope, tangling me. I landed head first on my pipbuck, sending little spots though my vision while I did my best to cover my head from the flying bits of house.

Through the window came a spray of blood that spattered across the neighboring wall and dripped down to the spot where I had taken cover. A giant blob of what was once raider, dripped down and landed right on my left flank. I could feel the warm blood running down my leg and pooling on the ground around my hoof. I didn't have the time to mourn the death of my freshly cleaned coat before Caliber jumped to his hooves and shouted.

“RUN!”

In a spray of wood, blood and bits of what was once raider, I plowed my way through the fallen debris, flailing and sending it in every direction. taking half of the pile with me as I emerged, I began to scramble to my hooves and try to run as straight as I could. Cal had just disappeared behind the wall of a house when I had managed to free myself and tear out after him, still tangled in a length of rope. Taking the corner far too fast, I slid wide and toppled over onto my back, taking out several trashcan in the process. If the loud report from the grenade had not woke this town up, the panicking buck crashing into garbage cans had to. Finally managing a sure footing I took chase after Caliber who had gained a sizable lead over me. Looking back and noticing this, Cal slowed his pace for me to catch up. Something that was taking much longer than I had wanted due to my hind leg sending spires of pain up my hip and down my back.

“What the hell was that! Are your trying to get yourself killed?” I screamed as we rounded the last house and pointed north.

“They looked hungry, I gave them a baked apple!”

“What the sweet flank is a baked apple!? You could have blown yourself to hell you maniac!”

“Pull the pin, wait three or four seconds and throw. They go off in Five, I like to let em' cook a few before throwing them.”

“Why in the hell would you do that!”

“Cuz they can't run, no chance for them to toss it back!”

“You're crazy!”

“I know, right?”

What kind of foalish thing was that! 'cooking' a grenade? I don't care how effective that is, the very thought of holding an armed grenade and throwing it at the last second is just so stupid on every level. Then again considering who I was traveling with, I shouldn't be surprised. He always had a way of ending a problem in the most bizarre of ways, I'll just have to add cooking grenades to the ever growing list of things that he did that scared the hell out of me.

“How far to the Solar Array?” I asked.

“Uh, about 9 miles.”

“Shit! I can't run that far!”

“You have wings dumbass! Use them!”

“I'm still tangled up in rope! I can't get my wings out!”

“Then you better learn to run that far! It's all open ground from here!”

“Why the fuck did you do that!”

“Those were the assholes that killed the buck that saw Zu. I couldn't just walk away from them.”

“Yeah, next time wait till I'm healed up before starting a war. This hitch is killing me!” I said looking back for all of the raiders...that weren't chasing us?

Stopping in my tracks, I spun and looked back at the town, scanning for raiders, hell anypony at this point. But there was nothing. I was sure that we would have at least 20 of them on our tail by now, but the town was almost dead in it's appearance. I stood there watching the sun sink lower in the sky trying to wrap my head around why we weren't being shot at. This was a first for me, usually when you set off a bomb in a town full of raiders, they all come out to play. But there was nopony, not even a sound came from the old town of Ponyville despite every house seeming to be full of raiders.

“What.s going on here.” Cal asked.

“I don't know, but something tells me it's more than just a zebra picking off raiders.” I said giving a nervous glance around.

“Hellhounds maybe?”

“Maybe. One thing is for sure, we don't need to go around setting off explosions if it's as bad as they are letting on.” I said trying to free myself from the tangled mess I was in.

“What is with you, I had to take them out, it was the right thing to do Joey. I know the ponies in that town hate me, could you imagine if they knew I had a chance to take out the raiders that killed that buck and did nothing? Even still, that buck had kids, would you like to the be the one to tell them you let their father's killers go?”

“Nopony would have known Cal! You could have just let it be, but no, you had to take a chance to make up for your own bad name!” I said.

“I would have known! You would have known! That's two ponies too many!” Cal said raising his voice.

“So you're protecting your virtues was worth putting us both at risk? Did you forget we are out here for a reason!?” I said mirroring his tone.

“Dammit, now I remember why I don't like traveling with you. Always bossing me around, always telling me how to do things, always second guessing me! Did you ever stop to think that maybe it's all I have left? The only thing that makes me the least bit palatable to other ponies?” Cal said, now yelling.

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe there are consequences for acting the way you do? Did you ever think that maybe if you stopped being a self-centered ass for five minutes, then maybe you wouldn't have to protect your morals? Maybe if you would listen to what other ponies say about you, you wouldn't live up to their expectations of being a loser!”

“Oh! I'm a loser? Who's clinging to the only mare that ever had anything to do with him? Who's the one that's been depressed for 10 years now over a girl that's most likely dead!? Tell me! What did she promise you that was so fucking grand to make you throw 10 fucking years of your life away waiting for her?” Cal said.

“Don't you dare bring her into your bullshit Cal! That's crossing the line! Unlike you, I don't need a stable of whores to bury my guilt under! I may be depressed, pathetic even, but I'm not like you! I don't have to spend my life drunk to try and forget killing one of my own family members over something stupid I did!”

“Fuck... you... I only came with you in the first place because I felt sorry for you.” Cal said pointing at me.

“You did this out of pity for me?” I said narrowing my eyes.

“Yeah. I did. You go on moaning about that damn zebra so much that sometimes it's all we ever talk about. I thought if I went with you, maybe I could get you to stop this shit and move on but no, here I am busting my ass and getting yelled at. I don't need this shit from you, maybe I should just go back to town and let you get killed out here.” Cal said.

“If that's what you want. Fine with me.” I said turning away from him.

“Wait, you're seriously going to go alone.” Cal said.

“Bluff's called, I don't need this from you either. I have all the pity I need, just not any friends apparently.” I said walking away.

I kept walking in the vague direction of the Solar Array, looks like I would be back to a one pony band yet again. If he meant what he said and was doing this for pity, then I didn't want him with me. I actually thought that he cared about this, cared about me and how important this was to me but I guess I was wrong. I actually let him fool me into thinking that he might actually be my friend, even the way he acted made me to feel that he cared about me. Was I just another fucked up buck that he can drink with to forget his own problems? No wonder he doesn't have any friends, hell, with judgment like mine, no wonder I don't.

Behind me I could hear Cal murmuring under his breath but the growing distance was fading his words away with the wind. I turned back to see him still sitting in the same spot, looking down at the town, seeming to have a argument with himself. Part of me wanted to go back and try to talk things out but a bigger part of me said to keep moving. So that's what I did, I turned and started to walk away, feeling a all to familiar pain in my chest that I had be let down.

I walked for what seemed like hours towards the direction we were heading, I tried flying but I was still upset from the fight I had with Cal. My rage had faded to guilt for the things I had said to him, thanks to the newly acquired loneliness I had picked up along the way. I could have said I was sorry for yelling at him, maybe meet him in the middle somehow. But that comment about throwing my life away on Zuri really bit deep, who was he to bring her into this anyway? At that point I didn't want to reason with him, I just wanted to be mad, even if it meant us going our separate ways. I made it this far in life on my own and so had he, there was no reason for us to be together for this. Hell he was running from a farmer for kidnapping his sheep for Celestia's sake!

Thinking back that was pretty funny but still, I didn't want to be a escape route for him, I wanted him to be my friend. He and I had been through alot in the past, worked jobs together, traveled together for a few months. It was always business when we were together, I always went to get him when I needed a heavy hitter. Somepony who wasn't afraid to get the job done or go someplace I would never go alone. Hell, there were times that he had charged head first into the fray with almost no gear to pull off a extraction for me for nothing more than a thanks.

He's a good fighter, creative when it comes to magic and usually has a way out, even when things get all 'explody' as he liked to say. Once he even crawled through a sewer drain for 3 hours just to get a door open for me. Even then I didn't think he would make it out of that nasty pipe, but low and behold the door clicked open with him standing there smiling, covered in filth. Maybe that's why I always went to him when things got hard, maybe he was my secret weapon when I had nothing else. I can't say we don't have fun together, but having him with me on a job would sometimes feel more like babysitting than working. But there was also times where it felt more like a practical joke on anypony that go in our way of getting things done.

It dawned on me in my lucid reverie that maybe I was the one that used him, rather than the other way around. Could it be that this whole time that I was the pony using him to do my dirty work and he thought I was his friend in return? Had I just seen him as a tool this whole time I had known him? Somepony who was a expendable yet fun and useful asset? No, that couldn't be, I wouldn't do that to somepony...would I? Everypony I met while I was with him had some bad story to tell about, something he did to turn a whole town on him. Yet, despite all the bad things I had been told, he was always eager to got on missions with me at a moment's notice. I had always just assumed that he wanted to get out of town and I was the logical best excuse for him to do so.

I expected a lot out of him when we went out together. He had to be fast enough to keep up, willing enough to fight somepony other than his owns fight and crazy enough to get the job done. I don't like to admit it but there were times where I needed him more than he needed me and he would always be there. And now I was expecting friendship from him with no reciprocation and no questions asked. Had I really just quantified him as a asset rather than a pony who was just looking for somepony to lean on? If that's the case then I can't help but feel like he and I are a lot alike despite us being polar opposites. Him needing somepony to see him as something other than the asshole he can be and myself needing somepony who actually wants to be with me?

Even now I was looking for a mare that I had only knew for a short time, all because I had a connection with her so long ago. I had even slacked off on looking for her for years because I lost hope until I saw she was still looking for me. Even the act of going to the mountains where I met her had become symbolic rather than a search to end my loneliness. Yet she had maintained hope this whole time where I had lost it all long ago. Almost like she knew deep down that we would be together again, she never gave up on me finding her.

Cal was always ready to hit the trail with me the moment I showed up, granted his last entrance was a bit more grand than usual. There were even times when he came and found me almost like clockwork when I was in Hoofington taking a risky job. I had always chalked it up to his freaky timing but, now that I'm thinking of it, he had done that several times. More times than I had ever done for him when he was in trouble. Had he had not given up on me and wanted to be there to see to my own safety, isn't that what a friend would do? Yet never once did I come to his rescue even when I knew that he needed help because of his stigma of him being a troublemaker. Had I been blind all these years that he actually wanted me to be his friend, somepony to lean on when everypony else had walked away?

I looked up from my guilty train of thought to see something looming on the horizon in the shape of a building and what looked like several half tents outside of it. That must be the Solar Array, it's oddly shaped panels now broken and thrown about the countryside with few left standing. The building to the left of them seem to be intact enough, maybe I could hold up in there for the night and get a fresh start in the daylight. It was already getting dark out and this is not the kind of place you want to be when you can't see anything.

As quickly as I dared I moved closer to the Array, using rocks and bushes for cover as I approached. I moved from cover to cover, giving a wide distance between movements to keep my signature down. There was still some light coming through the clouds but I thought it better not to take chances at whatever might be out there. To my left was the everfree forest and dead ahead was the Array that might hold the clues to putting this all behind me. Just beyond the broken panels I could make out the outline of buildings of what looked to be a small town. All I had to do was get there, hold up for the night and scope the place out in the morning. Who knows maybe I'll actually find Zu and I can bury all this guilt I'm feeling and move on as Cal had said.

Slowly I made my way to the first stand of panels in the field of broken glass and blue circuits that had been long since destroyed. As I walked down one row of panels, I could feel that finally I could rest easy and try to forget this day. I was tired, emotionally exhausted and excited to see if there was another clue here. Up ahead I could see marked 'Hope Solar Array – control room access' leading into the building. The door was surrounded on all sides by the concrete walls of the building in a horseshoe shape. Slowly I trotted to the door and under the amber light that was still glowing over head to check the door. I really don't want to have to shoot the lock off a door that I would really like to lock on the other side. Giving the knob a few pulls my worst fears were realized when it refused to grant me access.

“Well well well, what do we have here?” Came a voice from the darkness.

thump

I felt the cold steel of a blunt object impact the back of my skull and everything went black.

I woke from the darkness in shock. What happened? I remember hearing a voice and then everything gets fuzzy. I could feel that my hind legs were bound tight around the hooves, holding me suspended upside down. My front legs were lashed to my sides over my wings so tight that it made every breath a struggle. Even now after being unconscious for celestia only knows how long, I still felt short of breath. How long had I been like this? Minutes, hours, days even? I could hear the faint echo of hooves on a concrete flooring that would rise and fall almost like a gust of wind. How did I not see this coming! I mean I have this E.F...

I cracked a eye open and I noticed that the dim overlay of colors that had been assaulting my vision the last few days had gone dark. I could still feel my pipbuck on my leg so I know it's still there but the E.F.S. had stopped working at some point. Had it stopped working back in New Appleloosa? No I remember using its compass to get my heading correct. Maybe in the blast back in Ponyville? I think I hit my head on it when I fell, maybe then? I had gotten so use to only paying it any attention when I saw a red mark on the screen that I had not noticed that it had winked out completely.

I looked to check my surroundings and was greeted with a staircase that lead presumably to the same door I had been trying to open. To my right I could make out a row of terminals that had long ago died out, save for one that was still blinking. To my left I could see a few old crates labeled 'Ironshod Firearms' and 'M.W.T' holding up a filthy mattress. Empty and broken liquor bottles littered the floor around me accompanied by... oh celestia please don't let those be bones. Opening my eyes farther I could see the remnants of what use to be a pony's skeleton, still stained pink from blood. With my now widened eyes I could see several other piles of bones, blackened with age and rot.

Earth ponies, unicorns and even a few skeletons of foals lay about in heaps around me, all stained black from the decayed blood. The floor below me had been darkened with old blood that was beginning to peel up in great chunks. Through the dim light I could see smears of bloody hoof marks along the walls leading up to the stairs. This wasn't a command center, it was a butcher shop. A place where ponies are taken to be dismembered and cast to the winds of deaths mercy. The very thought that I could become one of those piles of bones sent chills down my spine and turned my stomach upside down... Well... You know what I mean.

Despite the grotesque appearance of my surroundings, the smell had been muted by a strong odor that wasn't foul, but was very pungent. I had smelled this aroma before but I couldn't place its whereabouts in my confused state. It was almost palatable with it's weight and volume that stung at my nose like pepper? Garlic maybe? It was garlic. Licking my lips and sticking a tongue to my check I felt a slimy liquid covering my coat and could taste the familiar flavor of herbs. Garlic, salt and pepper filled my mouth and burned at my taste buds in it's sheer amount that was drenching my coat. The realization hit me like a rock to the head and I looked back to the pile of bones closest to me. There were teeth marks on the bones, not blunt indentations but sharp deep marks like you would see from a hellhound. These ponies had not been butchered, they had been eaten and judging by the blood on the walls leading to the door, eaten alive.

Fear. Deep seated fear took hold of every fiber of my being and sent me to shiver almost uncontrollably. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs for help, for somepony to come and take me away from this place. Even worse, I don't think this was a hell hound that did this, I can still hear hoof steps, hell hounds don't have hooves. The very thought of being eaten alive by another pony sent sharp convulsions through my bound body causing the chains that were holding me up to rattle. no matter how I tried, I could not keep my own body from betraying me and soon I could hear the faint hoofstep's growing louder. No matter what I did I could not move, I couldn't even budge my fore hooves from their bindings. The hoof steps grew louder and louder until they sounded like they were right behind me and finally stopped.

For several long moments that felt like an eternity, there was nothing more than the hushed sound of somepony breathing behind me. Their presence almost felt like having my back to solid ice, as the time stretched on, the subconscious effects began to feel more and more real. The moment of calm was replaced by the shock of a cold hoof near the small of my back, sending a involuntary jerk through my body. The hoof worked it's way down my spine to just above my wings and stopped followed by the all too familiar feel of ice cold steel. I could feel the blade tracing its way up my back to my shoulders where I felt it pause and begin to lift from its side to its edge. So this was it, this was how I was going to die, after all this time of chasing Zuri, my luck had finally ran out.

The piercing cold touch of the sharp tip of a blade fell right between my shoulders sending a shock through my body. The tip pressing just hard enough to break the skin ever so slightly, forcing a trickle of blood that began to run down my neck and into my mane. The knife then began to slowly slide its way down my spine towards the back of my neck. Mercifully, the tip rolled over the punctured skin and scratched, rather than sliced my hide, stopping right at my mane line. The blade fell away and I could again hear hoof steps working there way around my hanging form. I was about to meet my captive who had decided to have me for dinner.

“My, my, my! A pegasus! I don't think I have had the pleasure of meeting one of your kind before.” Said the dark green buck. His voice was surprisingly smooth with just a hint of a lisp that hung on the end of his every word. It was subtle, but it made its presence known when he said the word pegasus with a almost demonic hiss. His jet black mane was all but hidden under the cloak he wore, shadowing his eyes and leaving only the faintest glow of yellow that almost glowed where the light hit.

“You all are always so hard to catch. Always flying about, this way and that. Never once have I been able to stop one of you to invite you to my humble abode for dinner! It's always raiders that come my way. Dreadful ponies really, filthy vermin that litter the land like rad-roaches.” He said leaning closer to my face, lowering his gaze to mine.

“Taste near the same I'm afraid. I can't remember the last time I had a good meal that didn't reek of rot and bile. That is, until today.” He said as now had discovered the cause of the lisp that he tried so hard to hide through over annunciation. He had sharpened his teeth to points, not just a few but all of his teeth in his grotesque mouth. Some of them so much so that I could make out dark spots where his roots were exposed. The sight forced my eyes wide, letting more of the slimy marinade creep into them and sting at my tear ducts.

“Oh come now, surely you have something to say. I would hate for our time together to be so awkward. I even brought out my best ingredients, just for you, my little bird.” He said as he ran his tongue from the bottom side of my jaw to the nape of my neck.

“Why. Why are you doing this!” I managed to squeak out.

“Why? With all that is wrong with the world, you would ask why I choose to devour our own? Why seek out a meager life searching trash can to trash can for scraps. Why spend your everyday avoiding raiders, gangers, rad scorpions and hellhounds, all just to one day die at their whim anyhow. Why try to be good in a world of anguish. A world where your very existence is a curse to the land that you were born unto! Why... even... try, when your were just bred to die!” He rasped.

“Because it's better than just giving up!” I shouted.

“Oh, stupid boy. You gave up the moment you walked into my home, you delivered yourself to me almost as if I had ordered you myself!” He said pacing away from me.

“I didn't deliver myself to you, you sick fuck. You knocked me unconscious!”

“Oh? Is that not how I should greet a guest? Where are my manners! I suspect you will start complaining about your formal attire that I provided you next. The truth of the matter is that you did deliver yourself to me whether you wanted to or not.” He said.

“I'm not a fucking pizza, stop talking to me like I'm some piece of meat!” I shouted. This guy was disturbed on a deep, spiritual level that not even a priest could understand. There has to be some way out of here, I refuse to be someponies meal.

“Is that not what your are? You are a weak, skinny pony who trotted head on into my web like so many others. So many other weak, pathetic ponies who thought that this world was theirs to roam freely. They are all so naive, not one of them could match wits with myself. Such creatures deserve nothing less than to be a feast for a predator like myself.” He said. Was that a touch of agitation I heard? This guy was a lunatic, he actually put himself on a higher level than others to justify eating them. That's not even a power play, that's a crutch.

“Weak? Please. You have to hide in the shadows and brain somepony over the head to get your 'meals'. You can't even go out to hunt for them like a REAL predator.” I yelled back at him.

“Fool! There are many ways to hunt. I chose to trap my prey rather than chase them down! Why use brawn when you have brain!” He said snarling.

“Unless you don't have brawn and you have to rely on blind luck to even survive like you are. A true predator would have stalked his prey, track them down, hunted them, not hide in the shadows waiting for something to walk by. You're not a predator, you're a sheep with teeth.” I spat back at him.

“ENOUGH! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF ME!” He shouted.

“I know that you're hiding some sort of inferiority complex behind a veil of filed teeth and persona of being a great predator. In my book that makes you a raider. I mean, after all. You are what you eat.” I said.

“Well. If that's the case...” He trailed off as the wheeled on me. “let's see if I can grow wings!” He screamed as he sank his teeth into my shoulder and began to gnaw a mouth side piece of meat. I couldn't help but scream at the searing pain that shot out like bolts of lightning through my right side. I could feel every fang working their way deeper into my hide, tearing at the muscle beneath with every manipulation of his jaw. Tears flooded my vision bringing with them more of the fluids I had been washed in. the burning that it usually carried with it had been almost completely deadened by the agony that was coming from my shoulder.

I felt his teeth start to work their way closer together, pinching the muscle between them sending new and fresh pain through my body. Once he had confidence in his purchase on the chuck of meat on my side, I felt him start to pull. With every rip and tear of the muscle I felt, I shrieked, with every pull I screamed and with every squeeze of his jaw, more tears streamed. Finally I felt the hoof sized chunk of flesh tear and pull free from my body. Nothing could have prepared me for the sensation of cool air against my exposed tissue. It was almost euphoric in its form of hurt that it was dealing to me. The corners of my vision were beginning to blur and darken from the sheer trauma of what just happened to me.

“No, no, no. This simply will not do! This flavor is all wrong for a pegasus!” He said chewing on a piece of my skin.

“Who would have thought that your kind would taste like oranges, I feel silly even having put myself through marinating you for 4 hours. I could have eaten you right on the spot!” He said spitting out the wad of half chewed meat.

“Oh well. I'll just have to wash you off and start over.” He said trotting out of my vision.

Oh...Oh Luna...I have never felt pain like this before in my life. The feeling of losing a actual piece of your body. No. Not just losing a part of yourself, but having it chewed and pulled from your body by several knives. I could feel myself shaking from the trauma that he had inflicted on me with his defiled mouth. The pain had been so intense that I had not even noticed that I had wet myself to the point that my mane was now dripping a conglomerate of fluids onto the floor below me. I was terrified, in crippling pain, covered in fluids, violated and completely humiliated. The only thing I was able to do or even control at this point was fight back the tears.

For the love of Celestia, thank you Caliber for your spell. At least now I could think clearer now that he wasn't trying to eat me, if just barely. The blood from my fresh wound was pouring down the side of my cheek and was now pooling on the floor below me. How many other ponies had been in this position with him, waiting for death while a maniac tried to get his recipe just right. I have to get out of here somehow, there was no way I could handle this pain, it was too much. Looking around I couldn't see anything that would help me get free from my bindings, he had even taken the knife with him.

Not finding anything that would help we out of this situation, I squeezed my eyes shut and started pray, scream, beg anyone that might listen. Ok cosmos, I don't like you and you clearly don't like me but for the love of everything that's good and holy, please get me out of this! I'll do anything to end this, I'll build a damn church if that's what it takes! I don't care what I have to do, just don't let this crazy fucker gnaw off my private parts before I die if I don't get out of here! Opening my eyes and trying to clear my head of the nonsense, I restarted my search for anything that would get me out of here. Still nothing. Well fuck you too universe!

A click came from the door at the top of the stairs and a clean, white muzzle poked its way through the door jam. Soon followed by the blue tips of somepony's mane and a dark blue eyes that seemed to be scanning the area before falling to my hanging form. A distinct scent of lavender filled the air as Caliber stepped through the doorway, his eyes growing wide at the sight before him. Doing my best to keep quiet I shook my head back and forth when he started to bolt my way, freezing him in his tracks. He then lifted a hoof and tapped it one time and looked to me for confirmation. Nodding my head once he then raised the same hoof and began to sweep the room wanting to know where my captive was.

I focused my hearing the best that I could manage and tried to zero in on where the predator had rushed off to. In the distance, I could still hear him clamoring to himself about what herbs would go best with orange flavored meat. The best I could manage, I placed him in the back right corner of the building and waited for Cal's hoof to land in the vague area where I thought he was. Now knowing how many ponies he had to deal with and where they were, Cal slouched his stance and worked his way down the stairs to me. Pausing at the bottom step to look to the corner where his enemy now was, waiting a brief moment and ducked around the cement wall into the shadows.

Of all the things that could have happened to help me, this was the last I was expecting, I'm grateful don't get me wrong. I'm just surprised that he came back for me, after all that we said to one another he still came back to find me. Well, if I didn't feel guilty before, I really did now. All the thoughts that I had of him not being a friend melted away the moment I saw his ugly mug poke through the door. I swear I will never boss him around again if we get out of this alive. Shit. I'll have to build a damn church now too.

From the darkness came the faint blue glow from his horn, followed by glowing orb being unsheathed from his saddle bags. When the glowing metal apple found its way to the light it slowly started to rise and follow the ceiling towards the direction of the predator. Just as the grenade left my vision Cal emerged from his hiding place and snaked his way to my side.

“What the fuck are you doing!” I whispered.

“Saving your ass!”

“Cal, that thing will kill all three of us. Those things put out shrapnel!”

“Shut up, I got a plan.” He said putting a hoof on my back and turning me to see the green buck now digging through a box labeled 'spices'.

“Just trust me for once.” Cal said now looking at the hole in my shoulder and giving me a grimace.

“Ok, I trust you. Just, please don't kill us.” I whispered.

“Trust me, I think he's going to catch all of the shrapnel.” Cal said grinning ear to ear.

Slowly as it had ascended, the grenade began to fall to eye level and hovered for a moment while cal pulled the pin but held the stem in place.

*Sniff*

“Gross, you reek Joey.”

“Now isn't the time!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Cal replied, again screwing up his face and narrowing his eyes at the bucks flank. Soon a blue light began to envelope the bucks tail near it's end.

“Oh no, your not going to do what I think you are...”

My last word hung in the air as Cal, with all of his magical prowess, raise the bucks tail and sent the grenade flying right at his tail hole. With a sharp ''eep'' the cold metal apple found its mark and firmly inserted itself deep within the bowels of the predators... rather not say.

“WHAT IN THE FUCK!” He managed to yelp out as he turned to look at me clenching my eyes shut and Cal, I'm sure giving the smuggest of grins.

“Bad psychopath! My pegasus!” Cal said shoving himself between me and the blast, wrapping me in a hug and burying my face in his stomach.

The blast tore the through the bucks lower half, sending both of his hind legs in opposite directions. Blood showered the room followed by bits of gore and finely sharpened teeth that bounced, splattered and mashed into the exposed parts of my hide. Cal, who's nose was in a place that I would hope it would never go and laughing maniacally at his own mess he had made. I looked down just in time to see a bit of hide with part of a cutiemark on it fly between Cal's hind legs and...oh that's not a pretty view I have. Finally releasing me from the awkward hug, he set himself to freeing me from my bondage.

“Heh, had these circumstances been different, one could say you are fit to be tied.” Cal said smirking.

“Pervert” I said with as much sarcasm as I could find through the pain.

“Hey, how did you end up someponies dinner in the 10 hours I left you to your own devices?”

“Please, med-x. Anything for med-x.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Cal said digging through his bags for the syringe of pain reliever.

“I was a bit emotionally inebriated at the time.” I said as he jabbed the needle into my shoulder. Oh sweet sweet relief! Where med-x really only dulled the pain, it's almost euphoric effects made me not care about what little pain was left.

“Yeah, I had my own demons to work out too. I must have sat there for 2 hours trying to go back to town but something kept telling me 'you know, I bet that dumbass is going to get eaten alive on his own'. Had no clue that was a literal thing at the time though.” Cal said as he undid an clasp and I fell to the floor, hitting my head and again seeing spots in my vision. The bindings that once held me tight, fell free with my descent, only to get tangled in my right hind leg, leaving it dangling in the straps.

“Ow...”

“Sorry...you ok?”

“I was almost somepony's dinner...”

“Yeah...sorry about that too.”

“It's OK, thanks to you, I'm not being digested right now.” I said with a small grin. This is a side of him I had never seen before. Caring? That just seemed out of place for him, it's almost like he was acting... guilty?

“Would you just look at this dis-ass-ter.” Cal said. There's the Cal I know and love.

“Heh, guess he really worked his ass off for his meal.” I smirked back, still on the ground.

“Com'on, lets de-ass the area.” Cal said.

“Hang on, check... can you check that medical cabinet for a healing potion for me... please?” I asked politely, still tangled up in the leather straps.

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, any luck finding love notes?” Cal asked, trotting his way to the corner of the building.

“By the time I got here, I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, then before I walked in, he bashed me in the head.”

“Hey now, looks like your luck might be turning around. We got three healing potions and some bandages.” Cal said, trotting back to my side.

“Hey, do you think your healing spell will work on... this?” I said pointing to my shoulder.

''Wow that's gross! He actually got a chunk out of you huh?”

“He would have had more but he said something about the orange flavor clashing with the garlic.”

We both couldn't help ourselves, with Cal riding the high of a job well done and myself riding a high of different sorts, be both fell back laughing. Even though a few moments ago I was fit to be a three course meal and my shoulder was oozing blood at a alarming rate, it felt good to laugh. There's something about dodging death that makes you feel more alive than you ever have. Mix that with copious amounts of painkiller and somepony who just shoved a grenade up somepony else's ass to save you and you have a recipe for a coping mechanism. Through the laughter Cal had managed to stop the bleeding from my side with his healing spell and was finishing it off with a vial of potion for good measure. The warm sensation from the magical liquid in the open wound felt so good after being chewed on. Cal finished me off with a layer of bandages after I insisted that he save the other 2 potions for later.

“The skin will grow back, but your gonna have a wicked bald spot for a while.” Cal said.

“Well, better than a disfiguring scar, I can live with a bald spot.” I said. Looking at all the piles of bones.

“Hey look, I'm sorry about that 'not being able to get your life together remark' and all that other things I said.”

“Yeah, that one hurt a bit but I shouldn't have said those things about Zuri either. Look I know how much this means to you, but you gotta understand I hate seeing you like this. I don't have a lot of friends, in fact you're probably the only pony that's willing to be around me, so that makes you the closest thing I have to a friend. So when something's bothering you, that means it's bothering me too. ” Cal said.

“Cal, I am your friend. I guess I just never actually realized it until today. You're a good guy Cal, I would have been dead several times if it wasn't for you. But you gotta stop putting yourself through hell over the past. I'll admit that in the past I saw us more as partners than friends but in all honesty, you're the closest thing to a friend I have. So I guess that make you my best friend.” I said tearing up.

“You're high as shit right now aren't you?”

“You have no idea...” I trailed off, my eye shifting from different piles of bones.

“Hey, you don't think she's...” I asked, the words feeling lost to me.

“Don't. Don't do that to yourself. If she made it this long without getting caught by him then I'm sure she's still out there.” Cal said.

“It doesn't make sense then. Why would she send me here if she knew this guy was chowing down on other ponies.” I said.

“Maybe she had faith in your tracking skills not to walk into a trap?” Cal said smirking.

“Too soon.” I said.

“Sorry. Hey, forget about that for now. What do you say we toss the place and find us a zebra!” Cal said helping me to now wobbly hooves.

Looking the place over didn't turn up much in the way of supplies. Only a few bottles of water, a sparkle cola, a few knives that barely could be called such and a couple of caps that were stashed in a drawer of a office table. Apart from that the Predator, as I was now calling him, had a impressive supply of spices and herbs from all over the wasteland. I decided to take as many as I was willing to carry with us for when I got to Tenpony as a peace offering to the baker there. If nothing else maybe he would go easy on me when I asked for the muffins to settle mine and Ditzy's debt. Cal had used his time wisely in the form of making several witty remarks about the now assless stallion all over the room. 'this smells like ass' and 'mind the ass on that cabinet' seemed to be his go to jokes but my personal favorite was "Booty, Booty, Booty, Explodin Errrwhere!” accompanied by a cute shake of his flank.

Apart from the odd joke and witty remark about flanks, the place seemed devoid of anything of real use to us. The last thing that we decided to look over was the still flashing terminal in the corner of the room. Less because we wanted to save the best for last and more because neither one of us had ever had much luck hacking terminals. Sure in the past I had managed to crack a few of them, but after the fifteenth terminal of somepony writing about how much he hated his boss, it lost it's charm. Very rarely did I ever uncover anything that might be useful or be granted access to the safe in the same room. Fewer times did I ever find anything that would help me with a case I had been working on at the time. Sadly this had lead to a more than lackluster skill for hacking the damn things, leaving the few times it would have been useful with a locked terminal.

“Ok, who wants to break something expensive first.” Cal said.

“You wanna take a crack at it?” I asked.

“Hmm... I think, I can hack this...” Cal said with a hoof to his muzzle.

Cal looked the terminal over from front to back several times, taking in the various wires that ran into it. Falling back to his haunches, he began to rifle through his bags looking for something that I guess would help him in the task. Finally after several long minutes, Cal produced a long chunk of metal scrap from his bag, clutched firmly in his fetlock. Slowly he began to tap at various parts of the terminal, each time checking the screen for any change.

“Cal, what are you doing.” I asked.

“I'm hacking. Shhhh! I think I found the spot.” He said placing his ear closer to the screen.

“Cal, for the love of Luna quit dicking off.” I said in frustration.

“Ah ha! Got it!” He said, giving the terminal a hard smack with the large chunk of metal. With a loud beep and a bit of smoke, the screen went from the lock code screen to the overseer's screen.

“Ha! I knew there would be a glitch somewhere.” He said sitting down.

“Bu... but... HOW!” I said sitting down hard. Cal, not looking up from the screen, tapped the side of the machine with a hoof at the company's name that read 'Neightendo'.

“All these models have a fault in them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.” He said.

“How in Luna's purple nethers did you come by this knowledge.” I asked.

“I have one of these back in New Appleloosa, I use it to play games on when I'm bored.” He said.

“Games? Like cartage games?” I asked. I had never heard of these things having games on them.

“Yeah, Pink, Pon-man, Ponio Brothers, Zebra Combat Master...I have a few others but you have to blow on them to get them to work.” Cal said.

I sat wide-eyed by the fact that my partner had just assaulted a terminal into submission with a piece of scrap iron. Of all the times I had attempted to work on these things, never had it occurred to me that you could just hit it and make it work. In my time I had locked many terminals through the use of my pipbuck, even more through some botched hackery. The amount of times I wanted to resort to violence on the damn things outweighed the caps I had seen in my life. The thought this whole time I might have been able to access a few of the ones I locked by doing that very thing, made me want to hit them even more now. Deep down a small ball of rage began to boil inside me at every piece of pre-war tech in the wasteland.

“I hate these things. All they are, are overly advanced toasters.” I said pouting.

“Oh come on, they're not that bad. It's just a computer.”

“One of them electrocuted me once....”

“Hey! Looks like old sharp tooth wrote about your girl!” Caliber said, backing away from the monitor.

“What!? Let me see!” I said running to his side. The terminal was near barren of any content, except for one entry labeled 'she's back'.

“Oh my my my, it would seem as though my stripped shadow has

returned yet again! Despite all of traps and my best efforts, she has

yet again slipped beyond my grasp. She's a cunning little zebra,

Somehow she has managed to break her way into my home and

pilfer my belongings yet again. I was so close to catching her just

the other day that I can still taste her scent on my tongue! She was

just inside the treeline of the Everfree behind this very building!

Had she not seen me, I would have had the most amazing opportunity

to finally taste zebra meat! No use crying over lost supper, I will catch

her and when I do, I plan to savor every moment of our time together.”

Even though I had just avoided the same fate that Zuri had, I still felt like the Predator's teeth were sunk deep in my flesh, just from reading this. Feelings of worry and anger flooded my mind at the thought of him hunting her down like a deer. Even though he was long dead, I felt an undeniable urge to kill him all over again for what he had done. Not just for hunting Zu, but for the small piles of bones that were presumably from young fillies and colts. It was as if he had infected me with his hate the moment he had bitten into my flesh, forever altering me to begrudge him. Even his death, albeit very gruesome, was too good for a murderer like him, he deserved so much more suffering for what he did.

“Joey, you ok there bud?”

“This was a very sick pony...” I said turning away from the monitor.

“Yeah, you're just now figuring this out? I mean, he did chew on you for a bit.”

“He talks about eating other ponies like I talk about guns. This guy is just vile, and Zuri KNEW he was here. If she actually did send us here, then it would have been a death sentence."

“What are you talking about.”

“He said he saw her multiple times. That means either she was watching him or was about to try and take him out. Now I'm pretty sure she's a pacifist so the latter is out. If she was watching him, then she knew what he was doing and if she did make it this far and get in here, she had to know what was going on. She's here, somewhere and she knew how dangerous this place is, but she still sent me here.”

“Ok, stop. You don't think she was trying to kill you...do you?”

“I don't know anymore. Ten years does a lot to anypony, but I don't know why she would want me dead.”

“What if she knew what was going on here, didn't kill him because she's a wuss and sent you here first to do her dirty work for her?”

“Not even then I don't think. It's not like her to even have somepony else do her dirty work when it comes to killing. Hell! She wouldn't even approve of me killing other ponies to protect myself.”

“Then why would she want you dead then. Its stupid. Chances are she thought you would see him long before he saw you and work your way around.”

“It feels right but I just don't know anymore” I said walking away from Cal towards the door.

“One thing is for sure though, she's nearby and I can't wait to ask her why.” I said, trotting up the stairs with Cal not far behind.

Outside the sun was just making it's way to it's midway point in the sky judging by the light, how long had I been down there. At this point my internal clock was all messed up from my previous state of unconsciousness. The landscape shown a much different view in contrast to the night before. Now in the daylight I could see the small town of Hope, just down the hill from where I was currently standing. I sat down, not out of exhaustion but more in the way of just needing a moment to process everything that had just happened.

The fight with Cal, me not paying attention and getting captured, being mutilated by a psychopath, Cal coming to my rescue, finding another clue about Zu...ugh... I have been up for no more than an hour and already this day has tried to kill me both physically and mentally. I turned my gaze to the ruined city of Hope, scanning it's broken buildings and burned homes to try and take my mind off of things. I wonder what this place would have looked like before the bombs fell. I bet a town named Hope would have been a beautiful place to live. The very fact that there is an Ironshod Firearms plant just on the outskirts of town almost defiles that daydream.

Caliber dropped my bags at my sides just as I noticed something out of place in the landscape. Something was moving down there, just off to the side of the old munitions plant. Squinting my eyes I could just make out the tale tale blue and yellow suit of a stable pony's barding, standing just in the open.

“Cal, is that, a stable pony?” I asked nudging him.

“Huh? Oh yeah...I guess she made it out of there alive.” He replied.

“Wait, what? Made it out alive?”

“Oh yeah, I was going to tell you but things got weird down there and I forgot. When I got here, I saw her go in that place for some reason. I thought for sure that the security system would have turned her in to mince meat. Guess I was wrong.”

“Hey, pass me your binoculars.”

Cal reached into his bags and fumbled for a few moments looking for the pre-war optics.

“I was going to run down there and tell her it was a suicide mission going in that place but then I heard you screaming. I just figured she was either another dumb stable pony or a lunatic.” Cal said passing me the binoculars.

Looking through the glass I could see that she seemed to be talking... no arguing with herself over something. That's when I noticed the sprite-bot, bobbing up and down just a few inches from her face. What in the fuck. This crazy mare was actually talking, no, screaming at a sprite-bot?

“What do you see? Is she cute?” Cal asked.

“She seems to be cussing a sprite-bot.”

“Ha! Called it. Lunatic! I mean, don't get me wrong, I hate those things. I would cuss them too if I had to hear that shitty music all the time. But the question still remains...” Cal trailed off looking at me. I returned the gaze and waited an uncomfortably long time for him to finish his statement. Oh for the love of Celestia!

“Ugh, yes... she's cute...”

“Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me...”

“She's leaving.” I said, halting his would-be advancement.

“What! So soon? I was just about to fire up my cleaning spell and go say hello.”

“Cal, I seriously doubt you would have any luck with that one.”

“ No confidence in my skills huh. Please, humor me. Tell me what makes her so special.”

“ Oh I have confidence, but I'm about 90% sure she...'bats for the other team'.” I said.

“How in the hell tell that from way up here” Cal asked, gesturing a hoof in her direction.

“It's her walk. It's more pronounced. She steps heavy with her hind legs when she moves. Also her mannerisms, she doesn't flourish her hooves around when she speaks aggressively. Mares that fancy boys tend to be more theatrical than those that don't, they carry more masculinity about them in how they act. It's subtle, but it's there.”

“Maybe she's just a tomboy. You ever think about that smart guy?”

“Yes, but judging by how small she is I don't think so. Also she keeps her hooves close together when talking and from what I saw I think she even leans away. That would mark her as reserved in my book, definitely not a tomboy.”

“Yeah, or she's freaked out by the talking Sprit-”

“INCOMING!” I screamed just as the sprite-bot that the mare had been screaming at, flew past our heads.

Cal looked up just in time to get knocked out by the flying orb of death, being thrown clear of the area to the solar panels. I landed flat on my face, covering my head with my hooves. No wonder she was yelling at that thing, it's gone completely nuts! I rolled to my back just in time to see the metal ball turn, rise and hover above me. I covered my face with my hooves waiting for it to fall on me, blow up, something!

“For the love of Celestia don't fucking kill me maniac flying death radio!” I screamed out of pure desperation. It had taken me by complete surprise, I didn't even have a gun anywhere near me to defend myself with. What was wrong with this thing, it wasn't even playing music anymore, the thing had gone to straight evil killer death mode.

“Who are you?” I hear ring out in a metallic voice.

“Wait, what the hell!” I said looking up at the silver orb.

“WHO ARE YOU! WHY WERE YOU WATCHING US? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” The Sprite-bot crackled from its overdriven speaker.

“I'm Joey! Some bastard tied me up and tried to eat me! My friend just saved me and I saw you two talking and I was trying to figure out what the hell was going on! DON'T KILL ME!” I said pleadingly.

“Wait...Joey...as in Coyote Joe, Joey?” The bot said, almost in disbelief.

“Yes, Coyote Joe. Wait, how did you know my name?” I said pulling hooves the rest of the way from my face.

“I have heard of you. You must be the one Zuri told me about.” He said bobbing above me.

“WAIT, YOU KNOW WHO ZURI IS!? WHERE IS SHE! TELL ME!!”

I said grabbing the orb in my hooves. It responded by levitating me a few inches of the ground where I released it and fell to all fours.

“Yes I know her. She's a sweet girl. One of the few zebras I have ever spoken to in fact. I'm sorry but I don't know where she is. Once that guy moved in and started eating ponies, she left.”

“Did she say why? Where? Anything!?” I said panicking.

“All she said was that she couldn't stay here any longer and that it wasn't safe.”

“Shit! Well I hope she left a fucking clue somewhere. I have been at this for 10 years now.”

“Calm down, I'm sure she would have if she knew you were coming. Hey, did you kill him?”

“What? Oh the creepy guy with the pointy teeth? Yeah, well no, Cal literally shoved a grenade up his ass so technically he killed him. He tried to eat me.” I said pointing to my shoulder. I have no clue if this thing can even see but it was more of a compulsory action.

“Wait, he caught you? I thought you were suppose to be some great tracker. How did he catch you?”

“It wasn't my finest hour, I was a little out of sorts... Great tracker?”

“This place will do that to you. Its a harsh, place that takes...”

“Yeah, yeah save it. I was born in the wasteland. Hey mind telling me why I'm talking to a flying radio?”

“Im Wat-”

BOOM!

“DID THAT THING HURT YOU JOEY!” Cal screamed from behind a solar panel. The once bright and shiny sprite-bot, now lay at my hooves in pieces from the round Cal has sent through it.

“Damn Cal, I was talking to that thing! I was about to figure it out!” I screamed back at him.

“What? Really? Shit! My bad.” He screamed back to me.

“Next time wait before you shoot. I mean I appreciate you protecting me and all but... nevermind.” I said rubbing my temples with my hooves.

“Hey, what did he say anyhow.” Cal said, now leaving the safety of the solar panel.

“He said she's not here anymore. She left after shark face down there moved in.”

“Bummer! ”

“Yeah, bummer...”

“Hey, she had to leave something behind right? I mean, she left you that note before, maybe she left you another one?”

“I'm sure she did...”

“Well, what are you waiting for! Track! Com'on! Find the zebra, boy.”

“I don't know where to start. I mean look at this place! Chances are that if she left anything for me, it would be in that damn forest and that will take weeks to cover on hoof.”

“Yeah... it would... but what about on wings?”

“Oh no! No, no, no! I'm not flying over that damn thing!”

“Com'on, it will be fun, I can ride on your back and use the bino's to scope one area and you can search another. TEAM WORK!”

“But I don't wanna! That place scares the shit out of me!”

“You'll be fine. Look we can stash our gear in the creepy cafeteria down there and fly light. Unless you want to take your chances with what might be in there. Com'on Joe, if anypony can find a zebra in the woods, its got to be you.”

“Ok Cal, we do this your way.”

“YAY! This is going to be so much fun!” Cal said as he gathered our belongings.

"But if we die because of this, I'm kicking your flank!"

Cal began throwing our bags over his back, stopping only when he reached my kit.

*sniff, sniff*

"Holy dumpster diver! You smell like ass Joey!"

"I know I do! I'm me! I have to live with me, so I know what I smell like!"

"Ain't no way I'm riding you smelling like that."

"OH! Just close your eyes and pretend I'm one of your marefriends."

"Did you pee on yourself at some point? Gross!"

I looked up to Cal with an ashamed look across my face, the embarrassment was almost as painful as what the Predator had done to me down in that house of horrors. The full weight of what had just happened, along with everything that had happened between us came crashing down on me. What had happened down there wasn't like anything I experienced before. The feeling of hopelessness, abandonment, violation. It all felt so much more personal to me, like he had found a part of me that no other pony could have hurt. This was much more than what he had done, it brought to the surface a feeling that I had long since suppressed. The feeling of being completely alone. Cal, seeing my look of being almost on the verge of tears, dropped my bags at my hooves and sat down next to me.

"Hey, I'm sorry."

"I'm fine. It's OK."

"No, you're not. I can see it in your eyes, talk to me."

"It's just... You came back... After everything I said, you still came back."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Cal, said giving me a small smile. And just like that, the dam I had spent so many years building, shattered and I started crying. Somewhere deep inside me, I felt a tense knot release that had been building all these years on my own and of all the ponies in the wasteland, Cal had been the one to untie that knot.

"I'm so sorry for saying those things to you, I didn't mean them!" I squeaked out through broken sobs.

"I know Joey, I know." Cal said, wrapping his hooves around me and pulling me into a hug.

"Cal, no! I Stink! I'm covered in pee!"

"Oh shut up, I don't care."

Cal, the pony who I had passed off as just another tool in my arsenal, had shed his thick layer of smug remarks and done something I never thought he would. He cared. I had been wrong all this time, I had been the one using him, he had been my friend all along.

The view of the Everfree Forest would have been absolutely stunning had I not been on edge the whole time. It's such a strange place, the tree tops nearly covered the forest floor entirely, giving only small glimpses of what was beneath us. I have been in forests all over Equestria, but none of them matched the sheer density of the Everfree. We had been airborne for over 3 hours, the sun was starting it's descent from the sky, well at least from what I could tell. Cal had adopted a scanning search method while I was picking holes in the forest canopy and searching for abnormalities. Despite searching for signs of anything out of the norm, we were keeping a distance just to be safe.

I don't know what all is down there for sure but I have heard tale that a myriad of animals lived in their depths. Beasts that once were avoided in times of the past, were now irradiated creatures that commanded fear from anypony who dared venture too close. None of which I had ever seen for myself and none of which I plan of ever meeting face to face. The few times that we had decided to venture close to the tree tops were to investigate a suspicious object. Most of the time it turned out to be nothing but there was a surprise encounter with a timberwolf that nearly ended our search early on.

With Cal perched on my now-clean and orange scented back, I would have thought that I would have tired quicker than I was, in fact, I was starting to find his weight manageable. Granted I rarely flew outside of trying to cover great distances, but carrying him was actually a lot easier than I have thought it would be. As much as I didn't like the plan, Cal was right to suggest it. With him covering one side of the forest and me the other, we were clearing ground at a substantial rate.

“THERE! SOMETHING SHINY!” Cal yelled over the wind.

“Point it out!”

“Just there! Beyond the treeline! On the hillside!” Cal yelled, pointing to our right.

“Ok, hold on!” I said, looking in the direction he pointed out. I folded my wing and fell on my right side, send both of us into a curving dive. Cal was enjoying himself immensely, leaning into the turn and letting out the occasional 'Woohoo!' and 'Onward sky horse!' as he did so. Now with the spot dead ahead of me, I could see a faint glint of light just overcoming the trees. Judging by the faintness of the reflection, I gauged it to be some type of metal. More than likely another piece of junk but still worth giving it a closer look nonetheless.

“Cal, what do you see?”

“Uh...I think it's a pot?”

“Great more junk! We have been at this for hours, is it worth setting down for a few minutes?”

“Uh, Joey...I think it's a campsite”

“Anypony there?”

“I don't think so, best give it a circle first.”

Coming closer to the camp proved it to be void of any life from what we could see. I swear if I ever get that magical E.F.S. thing to start working again, I'm never turning it off! I hate to admit it, but I really, really miss it right now! It would have came in very useful back at the Solar Array and even more so now. I had toggled around with my pipbuck before we left but I wasn't able to produce the emerald glow that once adorned my view.

The encampment was small, something only one pony would set up yet it had all the markings of one that had been well established. A well used fire pit and pile of ashes led me to believe that whoever had been here, had stayed for quite a while. Yet even with all those things, the place was completely clean of any tracks or items that would suggest somepony was coming back. I sat down on a log that had been placed near the fire pit and propped my hind hooves on the rocks surrounding it. After all of that flying, it felt so good to be back on the ground and resting for a moment, if only just.

Cal was searching the place over when I noticed that my hooves were getting warm. I had shut my eyes for only a moment and for a brief second I could have sworn that the campfire was actually burning. Opening my eyes reviled what I already knew to be true, there was no fire but my hooves wear in fact getting warmer. Leaning forward I placed my cheek to the very rock I was resting on and sure enough, it was warm. Whoever had been here before, had not been gone longer than 12 hours, 24 at the very most. If this was Zuri's campsite, then we had missed her by no less than a day.

“Cal, I think that somepony was here recently.”

“Yeah, like a last night.”

“Yeah I think...wait how do you know?”

“I found a letter addressed to you.” Cal said walking away from the lean to.

“Here, Looks like it's your girl. Damn and this whole time I had 20 caps on all this being a hoax.” Cal said sitting beside me on the log and passing me the crumpled note.

Holding the battered piece of paper felt almost surreal. An actual hoofwritten note from her! I can't even believe I'm actually holding something she had touched after all this time and it was something for me! I took care to smooth the paper out as much as I could without damaging the writing. Her writing showed the same characteristics that I had seen from the letter she wrote me so long ago. Even now I can hear those same words echoing in the back of my mind in her almost squeaky voice.

Joey, if you made it this far, I hope you won't mind going a little farther. I have to leave this place. There's a pony here who is trying to find me. One of the weird flying music thingies started to talk to me. He warned me to stay away from the place with the glass flowers. I told him about you and I think he knows who you are. I can't wait to see you again. I think I know where I'm going to go. Please Joey, remember!

Zuri.

Please Joey, Remember... What did she want me to remember? I had so few memories of her that it almost felt criminal to ask something like that of me. But then again, having so few memories of her left little to ponder on. She said she knew where she was going and that she wanted me to remember. But where? Obviously this had to be some callback from our past together, but as hard as I tried, I could not recall what she might have been alluding to.

"What's it say?" Cal asked, leaning in for a closer look.

"She wants me to remember something... but what?"

"Great... Just great. Why do zebras have to be so sneaky about things like this."

"Well, she is being chased by somepony. It stands to reason that she would only leave clues that I would know about."

"And that you can't remember either."

"OK, if I was a zebra, where would I want to go..." I said, tapping my hoof on the log.

"Filly?"

"No Cal... I doubt she went to Filly."

"Well shit. I guess that makes us just as lost as she probably is."

"Lost. Heh."

"So now what, do we head back to down and get shitfaced?" Cal asked in a almost begging tone.

"Lost... LOST! That's it!"

Frantically I tore into my saddlebags and began digging for the old notebook from my past. Of course! When you find yourself lost, you can always look back on your notes! I can't believe that I didn't think of this sooner! Sure enough, even after years of being jostled and smashed under Luna-knows how many things, I found the happy bunny time notebook that I had recorded all my notes in when her and I first met. The cover was torn, stained and bent from the years of neglect, but the pages seemed almost untouched by time. Opening it up to the first page I was greeted by the prints of the Lame Buck who I had tracked down, resulting in my cutiemark. Soon thereafter, I came across page after page of notes that I had taken, detailing the trip and me meeting Zu.

*suppressed laughing horse noises*

"What?" I asked, looking at a clearly amused Caliber.

"Nothing. I just never took you for the kind of pony who likes kids books."

"Ugh... It was all they had at the time so shut up."

"OK, Ok. What are you looking for anyhow."

"Notes I took back when I first met Zu. If I'm going to find anything out, this is my best shot."

"Wait, that notebook is the one from when you got your buttstamp, right?"

"Yeah, I used it to track down that guy who had my necklace."

"Your funky 'pony... zebra... necklace'. That's right." Cal said. looking closer at the pages.

I spent the next half hour flipping through the twenty some odd pages that I had taken down while waiting on the my target to make his presence known. Details about the path I had taken, the slavers I had killed, rescuing Zu, the map we had drawn together, but nothing about a location. Finally I came to a passage I had wrote after we had parted ways, chronicling our conversation going up the mountain to the summit. I remember now that once we parted ways and I had made it half way down the mountain to plains below, I had stopped to take a breather and decided to write down what all she had said. At the time it was because I wanted to remember every detail about her so that she would not fade away from my memory.

And now, here I am, desperately trying to remember the details from that day. Despite all of my reading through my notes, I came up with nothing. I was too tired and too emotionally drained to focus on the task at hoof, even if it meant being reunited with Zu, no amount of hope could help me focus. I sat the book down on the log, trotted to the cliff's edge on the far side of the camp and sat down hard. I just needed to clear my head, things were coming too fast for me to process them. Call it the excitement of what all had just happened in the last 24 hours, call it the lingering hangover from the Med-X, but my brain had gone into gridlock.

"Heh! Look's like me and Stripes have something in common!" Caliber said, now flipping through the book.

"Huh? What are you talking about."

"She used to read the same book I did growing up! I still remember it, 'Sapphire Shores Book of Sing Along's'." Caliber said with a wistful look.

"Wait. What!?" I said, broken from my moment of meditation.

"Yeah, Yeah! It was this book about a singer from before the war, you know, the one that sings 'The sun can't hide forever'? she's on the radio all the time. She had a kid's book that came with a little music player that would sing songs while you read the story about the Sea Ponies of Sapphire Shore."

I stood in awe, Caliber had just filled in the gaps to my puzzle I had been trying to find. Of all the ponies in the wasteland, he had been the last pony I would have thought of to have read such a book but, then again, with the lack of music these days, it was no surprise that he would have done so. I almost never even listen to the radio, It's always bad news, the same 5 songs or that slaver broadcast promoting Unity. I had completely forgotten about music even existed outside of the few bands that played at the bar in Manehattan, also playing the same 5 songs. You would think that talent died the same day everypony else had 200 years ago.

"You wrote here that she wanted to go to a place like the one she saw in the book right, if that's the case, do you think she would have gone to the ocean?"

"I don't know but at this point, it's all we have for a lead. The question now is, where at along the miles of shoreline would she be? Cal, you wouldn't happen to still have that book back in New Appleloosa, would you?" I asked, praying for a miracle.

"Nah, I lost that years ago. Besides, the music player was busted when I got it and I finished it off trying to fix it."

"Shit. That book might be the only thing that would have any answers. We got to get our hooves on a copy somewhere."

The problem with the wasteland, as if there weren't enough already, was that it was in fact in short supply of bookstores and libraries that had not become the home of raiders or been burned to the ground. Despite all that, there had been many books that I had recovered from said burned-out structures in the past, but I had never come across a children's book with a music player in that whole time. Such a thing would have at least struck a cord with me, especially if it had music on it that I had never heard before.

"You know, I think I know where we can find a book like that..." Cal said, still examining the pages of my logs.

"Yeah? Where in equestria would we find a foal's book in the wasteland..." I said with an amused expression.

"If it is the same book, and I'm ninety nine percent sure it is, then we could probably find it at Tenpony. That book had music on it, so it stands to reason that they would want to get their hooves on it."

"Cal, when did you grow a brain? I never gave you permission to be smart like this." I said, pushing him on the shoulder.

"What? I can have smart thinks too you know! There's all sorts of them rattling around up there in my brain compartments and departments."

"OK. So we head to Tenpony, find the book, get Ditzy some muffins and find Zu... Sleep at some point along the way." I said as I gathered my things to head out.

"Uh Joey? What's that?" Cal said pointing deeper into the forest. Instinctively, I spun on my hunches and drew Righty from it's holster to face down whatever it was that had Cal looking so worried. I was then met with random glints of purple flashes, coming from deeper in the forest. The light was subtle, but just strong enough to overcome the tree canopy that we were looking down on.

"What do you think it is?" Caliber asked, moving to sit by my side.

"... Alicorns. They must be coming here in mass for some reason."

"Alicorns? You mean those bitchy flying horn heads? Why the hell would they want to come here?"

"I don't know and I'm sure I don't want to find out either. I hate those things, the last time I ran into one, I almost didn't make it back out alive."

"Joey, we need to get out of here. Fast!"

"To Tenpony it is then..."

Cal hopped on my back and we took flight to the border of the Everfree Forest, keeping our altitude low as we went to avoid detection. From where we were now, it should only take half an hour to get back to the Solar Array. From there we could make our way to Fetlock to bed down for the night, then on to Tenpony in the morning, acquire muffins for Ditzy, hopefully acquire a foal's book and find Zu. No sweat!