He gave a smile, an odd smile, especially for having his own gun crammed into his own eye socket. The smile looked genuine, but oddly it was not the unnerving psychotic sort of smile, he just seemed like somepony she had bumped into at the market and he was apologizing for the trouble. The whole scenario seemed so very odd, even Logical Lexi was stuck shouting out guesses and then countering herself. But all in all her brain was just blazing in an inferno of confusion as to why this specific pony was here.

“He’s from the shop! He’s the pony who wanted to buy my book!” Lexi nearly stumbled and fell forward as she popped out of the harness finally.

“Yeah… we know. He’s been following us ever since we left Pasternville” Oso’s grip tightened just a hair making the unicorn wheeze, but he refused to stop smiling.

“Ey! I had to. The fine lass has something that belongs to me, I offered to give her a bloody lot fer it.” He chuckled and Croce drew back the hammer to the revolver.

“It’s not yours, You followed us all across Equestria for nothing. I hope it was worth it.” Oso’s eyes narrowed and his talons tensed.

“Oi! Wait!.. Ye won’t want to be doin that lad…” He squirmed uncomfortably, clearly having trouble breathing under the iron like grip of Oso’s impossibly strong talons.

“Ok, I guess I can just shoot you instead of the turkey crushing you.” Croce’s talons tensed on the trigger but Lexi popped up with some urgency.

“Wait! We don’t really have to kill him do we?” She squirmed knowing the pain and pressure those talons could exert. She was also caught up in not wanting to see the Unicorn dead, additionally her own curiosity on his claims tugged on her mind tantalizing.

“Lexi, I know you’re not used to this, but you can’t be soft in the wasteland.” Oso grumbled suddenly a little uncomfortable killing the pony in front of her.

“Can we please just hear him out?” She looked at both her Griffon friends who looked at each other.

Croce shrugged. “Sure, if we can drop him from cloud level afterward.”

Lexi flinched and chewed her lip, but a touch of ease flowed through her when Oso sighed loudly and loosened his grip, but he clearly was not ready to let the stallion go.

Coughing his smile remained, it even brightened a bit when Croce feeling the group’s choice pulled back and took the gun from his face. The Unicorn breathed a little easier before clearing his throat. “Thanks love… As I was sayin, the book. It’s mine, kinda a long story…”

“It would have to be, it’s been locked in my library for 170 years.” Lexi sat, making eye contact as the Pony shifted as best as he could within Oso’s grip.

“Indeed, it’s a wee bit of a difficult thing to explain, but more or less lass… I’m suppose’t inherit it. I’m directly descended from the author, and we was supposed to get the bloody thing back from the Ministries…” He grumbled, his smile fading just a touch. “The family never got it back due to the world ending and all that.”

Lexi hummed, she had bought it, the book had not been borrowed from the Ministry of Wartime Technology. But it was not impossible that it had been misplaced or stolen from the MoT only to end up in the shop where she bought it, such theft was far from unheard of.

“Come now, it’s not all that big’o deal, I don’t even need to own it, I just need to read it fer long enough.” He smiled looking at her with a sly almost suggestive grin which faded when Oso glided his face between them.

“You still surprisingly successfully stalked us, proving quite the security risk. And you didn’t take the hint every damned time I tried to scare you off.” Oso’s talons tightened just a little causing him to grunt uncomfortably.

But Lexi’s mind churned, if he had been following them the whole time, that meant he went up north which was where she first found him. But the way Oso was talking, he knew that they were being followed. This made more sense and she could hear the Lexi’s bringing up the several times that Oso had been doing odd things and or staring off into the distance behind them at the path they had just come up. But why he hadn’t said anything was another question. The big thing dominating her mind at the moment was that this was the wasteland, Croce was willing to snap the scribe Scribble’s neck for the mere possibility of her having a key, clearly the world had gone to a very shoot first, ask questions later culture, but this pony had followed them, even helped defend her when she was in danger.

She breathed in deep and asked a single simple question. “Why didn’t you kill me?”

He looked at her and frowned. “Love… I’m just not that kind of pony… Sure I don’t got any problems with lift’in the book off ye when yer busy or sleepin, but I’m not in the business of offin poor naive lasses who can’t barely fend fer themselves.”

Lexi had always been intelligent, but the Unicorn was right, she was naive, she was desperate to find ponies to trust. She was certainly cautious since waking up in the Stable what felt like years ago, but here and now, looking this pony in the eyes, she couldn’t help it. “Can… can we let him go?”

Oso frowned and Croce laughed. But much to Croce’s sudden disapproval, Oso turned back to the pony and spoke firmly. “How did you get past the wolves?”

The Shop keeper chuckled shaking his head. “Do I look stupid to ye? I didn’t set one single hoof into their territory. Just waited fer ye to come back to the cave. But I came runnin when I heard the shots. Almost got the bloody thing, but the lovely lass kicked me right in the todger. Can’t blame her after what I saved the lass from… but I backed off and waited.”

“And the green?” Oso tightened his grip on the pony.

“Can’t say I know what the ell yer talking bout..” He grunted, nervously trying to shift under the pressure. “But I gather yer talkin bout where I lost ye trail. All I know is ye lot went ahead and after I checked around the corner, ye were gone. Then a bloody Enclave patrol came in. I dug in and waited, but ye didn’t come back. I had to pick up yer trail when ye came back out, but that grizzled ole bird… I found em first, and I learned pretty quick like that I didn’t want to follow em. But I found ye lot shortly after.”

Oso tightened his grip just a little more as he breathed in deep, and with a little more aggression than Lexi thought he had in him, he growled one last question. “And how exactly did you follow us?”

He laughed and shook his head. “I aint tellin ye that until I get yer honest to holy word that ye wont kill me. And trust me mate… yer gonna want to know… yer REALLY gonna want to know.”

Oso glared and very clearly tightened his grip. Lexi stood and raised a hoof in concern, only to be met to the enormous palm of Oso. The Unicorn’s smile faded into a grit toothed pained expression as he struggled to breath. “Are you certain you want to risk my temperament?”

Nearly changing colors and gasping for the air being forcefully squeezed from him, the pony wheezed. “Are .. are ye… certain ye wanna risk not knowin?”

And with those few words the pony clamped his mouth shut glaring Oso in the eyes. Both stared firmly as slowly Oso’s crushing grip tightened more and more, but the pony refused to say a word, even as his eyes began to involuntarily wander as he consciousness began to fade.

Lexi was nearly on the verge of trying to futilely push and pull on Oso to free the pony. She knew it would be beyond useless, but she was nearly desperate at this moment. She honestly did not want to see him die. Biting her lip, Lexi finally clenched her eyes shut and turned away, so very certain that Oso was just about to finish the Unicorn.

There was the sound of hooves on the ground and loud desperate gasping. Lexi’s eyes opened and Oso stood over the pony pushing him onto his back. “Very well. As much as I dislike this… you have my word, I won’t kill you for this. I trade your life for the information.”

Gasping, his chest heaving the pony tried to roll upright, but Oso kept him from doing so. Eventually he simply lay back and caught his breath.

“I’m not technically following you lot…” Panting, his eyes never left Oso who cocked his head as if reconsidering sparing him. “After you lot left my shop. I scrambled, tryin to put together supplies and follow ye. But somepony else came up and started askin questions. They asked about ye three specifically, dropping plenty’o caps on my counter. I told him only what ye looked like and what ye bought. He seemed right pissed off. He left in a hurry, but he made quite a mistake, the tosser whipped up one of em fancy invisible cloaks as he turned the corner. But his cloak set off one of my devices, ye see… I got lots of little doo dads left over from me pop, one of em monitors sub variants of radiation, I think his cloak been damaged, my little sensor picked up his cloak for miles. I figured, he’s followin you lot… I’ll follow em, and I get a chance to nab meh book, nopony gets hurt…”

Oso narrowed his eyes, a very clear look of concern crept across his features, but he stepped back and the Unicorn put his hooves under him.

Croce seemed a bit angry, but he was at least a little used to the fact that he didn’t get to make all the decisions.

Oso's eyes narrowed on the unicorn and he spoke very calmly. "An invisibility cloak?" As if his ribs were still adjusting after nearly being crushed he breathed slow deep breaths, but he looked up and nodded. Oso in turn grumbled. "Well, I guess Tyrin wasn't pissed off enough already."

"What is it?" Croce looked over a the big Griffon. His curiosity perked when Tryin was mentioned. "He's not a fan of invisibility?"

Oso shook his head. "He doesn't care about tech or magic... he just cares about who makes the stuff..."

Lexi blinked and the thought hit her, after all it was a rather well known and talked about subject in some of the other project groups. "He's worried about Zebras?"

Oso glanced over with an odd look, as if he were to shake his head and explain her naivety. "No... He hates them, almost more than anything..."

This time Croce was a little more interested. "Oh? There's gotta be a story there. What did they do to piss off the perpetually pissed off bird?"

Oso's only answer was shaking his head as turned back to the Unicorn. "You have a name?"

Lexi let out a breath she was unaware she was holding, if Oso wanted his name, it was unlikely he would just off him. Clearly, by the way the Unicorn smiled, he believed this was the case too and responded firmly. "The name's Fobwatch! Pleasure and all that..."

Again, Oso looked him over as he spoke calmly. "How much do you know about what we are up to?"

An odd smile spread over Fobwatch's face. "Well, yer headin right towards the Ghoulies up that way, and ye got lots of tech. So I'd wager ye have business with em. And yer in luck lad... I can help ye out right fast. I've got me a few little doo dads I don't need that I can add to yer pile if you let me at least read the book. Don't even need to have it... just need to read the little thing. I'd wager it's almost a guarantee that ye'd be let in with a wee bit of me charm and goodies."

There was odd grumble in Oso's throat, as if he would prefer to kill Fobwatch, but instead was willing to put up with him. "Talk to Lexicon about the book, if you can win her over then sure, but you're not getting your gun back until you leave, and if you're out of the group we will kill you on sight if ever we see you again outside of your shop. Consider this your short leash... if Lexi is hurt for ANY reason, we will kill you, if we think at any time that you are putting us, our goals, or Lexicon in danger... we will kill you. If you piss off Tyrin even by existing too close to him... he will kill you. Any further involvement with the group will depend VERY closely on whether or not the other members feel like we can trust you, it's entirely possible that Tyrin will just kill you for safety sake. So... make your choice now... leave or stay."

Fobwatch didn't even pause, he just smiled and looked to Lexi. "Well lass? my help for a chance to read a good book?"

Lexi, oddly finding it hard to look into his eyes nodded with a shaky smile and Oso turned to the road as a grumpy Croce fluttered in place over and behind the Unicorn.

The trip was rather uneventful, mostly just a few moments when gunshots would go off in the distance and then nothing. Only once did Oso have to go and scare off a few desperate scavengers. But here they were, in the full might and beauty of possibly the most in tact building Lexi had yet to see after the war.

Rebar reinforced concrete and the vague signs of slightly fading magical wards. The whole structure still looked brand new, only one little spot had taken a touch of damage and looked to be suffering a repair talisman malfunction showing off a very small gash in the concrete and revealing the thick rebar within. Even the door looked like it was made of flawlessly polished and ready to go tempered steel.

It was all refreshing and impressive, almost inviting. Until that was, the voice started up.

"You're not allowed here bird! We made that clear last time!" The voice was prim and proper, old fashioned Canterlot as Lexi knew it, but something sounded very wrong with it. It sounded much more like an alien or monster trying to imitate the old fashioned Canterlot tone. Raspy and wheezing, if pony flesh was capable of rusting, she imagined this was what a fancy Canterlot noble would sound like after their throat suffered 100 years of rust.

"Yeah... that's kinda why we're here. To patch things up..." Oso calmly gestured to the box Lexi pulled inside her armor.

But all at once, two very large turrets unfolded from the building and leveled at Oso. Very VERY large turrets, weapons that looked like nobles bought them after being spooked and went to Ironshod arms and asked for the biggest scariest thing that could be created. "You aren't welcome here bird!"

Oso sighed. "Please don't make me break your guns... we just want to talk. To make up for the... problems in the past, and make sure they remain in the past..."

There was some sort of uproar in the background, barely caught as whoever was pressing the button to talk had caught a tiny amount of the feedback. "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY BIRD! These puppies can turn a whole pack of hellhounds to a fine red mist at 200 yards, they fire so fast that you can't even..."

Oso reached out and grasping both of the turrets he tore out a piece at the base and both went limp. "Please... let's just talk..."

There was a moment of silence before a very VERY angry voice just garbled in the microphone. Lexi was certain it was supposed to be words, but she had heard nobles in Canterlot get that angry before. She didn't feel very good about this mission so far.

Under the flinching twitching and over eager watch of Croce, Fobwatch moved forward and cleared his throat. "Let's see here lads, L-12 series power crystals, might need a little charge but easily could reinforce the power issues your repair talisman is having on the south side and no doubt any other issues deeper in. Flash industry shield lenses, no labels but I'm positive they look to be at least from the series 5 heavy shields. Armored power actuators for your turrets, so big birds can't just tear em out like that. Oh goodness.. there's a lot of good stuff in this box. Sure, some of it needs a wee bit of work, but surely some fine civilized folk with minds great enough to hold a fine pre war building like this would be civilized enough to at least speak face to face with somepony willin to give so much just to patch up a rocky relationship." His accent wasn't completely covered, but it was clear that being a shop pony left Fobwatch with just enough conversational ability to smooth over at least some problems.

Oso looked a little annoyed that Fobwatch had spoken up but his eyes held some hope at the odd silence from the speaker phone. They were left in silence until the same raspy sandpaper voice spoke up. "T...Tyrin isn't there is he?"

"No... we specifically made sure to leave him behind." Oso looked a little nervous, even looking behind him as if to make sure that the old gray bird wasn't sneaking up on them.

Again, there was some silence before the doors loudly clacked and an inside door rumbled open. "Come in then... but DON'T EXPECT EVERYTHING TO JUST BE FINE!"

"Goodness gracious... What did Tyrin do?" Lexi was almost uncomfortable asking, as she too looked over her shoulder as if to check for the old Griffon.

"Don't ask..." Oso shook his head and they moved inside.

As they entered more turrets whirled and clicked, tracking their movements through a long hallway. Lexi nearly had to bite her tongue as she spotted a shriveled up husk of a dark pony with grotesque protrusions from his back that gripped at the machinery he worked on. He only gave them a passing glance and it took Lexi a moment but she came to the conclusion that she was looking at what used to be a bat pony of some sort, the leathery membrane of its wings had simply been removed, leaving long frightening limbs that looked like they belonged in her darkest nightmares.

Wordlessly, Oso lead them past the various displays and half constructed works before they entered a much larger room and a voice came out, almost as if it were some dark and ominous creature, but the unicorn who strode forward was a bright pink. Despite the missing patches of mane and severe damage to his undead flesh, the ghoul smiled as he spoke.

"You've brought some newbies." Oso looked left and right before nodding.

"The gray one is just coincidentally with us, if he breaks your rules, you're free to punish him any way you like." Oso gave Fobwatch a soft glance and the Unicorn shrugged.

"I see.... well then fillies and gentlecolts... Welcome... to the Dependable Equestrian Reclamation Project!" The ghoul stood tall and proud as he gestured to the many other ghouls, almost all exclusively Unicorns who spread over the room, most at work and very few turning to acknowledge the guests.

Lexi blinked. "DERP?... You named your group DERP?"

The Unicorn paused for a moment before whipping around and throwing a glass from a small table at another ghoul. "Damn it Sandbox! You said that nopony would notice!"

"No, I said nopony would care!" The other ghoul grumbled and scooted back. "Our goal is more important than a name, if we succeed or even make progress, literally any progress at all... nopony in this world or the next will care about how odd the name is..."

"Goal?" Both Lexi and Fobwatch spoke in unison.

The Ghoul unicorn glanced at them both then at Oso. "Do they know?"

Oso shook his head. "Not yet, and as much as we can agree Tyrin is a bit of a hindrance to the plan with his stubbornness, he is adamant that they don't know unless it's absolutely necessary."

Lexi blinked. She was so certain that she was so very close to being told. For something she knew so little about, the little project was horribly tantalizing to her. She felt a little betrayed that her mere existence seemed to be more than enough for the old Griffon to deny her the knowledge, especially since the wolves only agreed to help because of her. But then a possibility tickled her senses. Perhaps he was guarding his plans, the griffons had been at odds to some degree with both the ghouls and the wolves, probably a problem exclusive to the stubborn and very angry Tyrin. Maybe the troubles boiling up between them was easier to hide small details in.

"Well... as physically painful as it is, for now I agree." The ghoul looked to shudder very clearly painting how much he did not like Tyrin. "Well... I suppose we can speak, Sandbox can see what you have to offer. Just keep your ponies away from anything important..." The ghoul glared at Lexi and Fobwatch but looked to Croce as if he hadn't noticed him before. He looked like he was going to say something but just shook his head and gestured for Oso to follow him up the catwalks and further into their little headquarters.

"...Sooo.... What's DERP exactly?" Lexi's words were rather quiet, adopting her old work tone. Back in the Ministry of Technology, most ponies were always busy working and glared if you uttered a single word louder than a whisper. This place seemed to be similar. Despite the living dead tapping about on computers and monitoring systems it felt oddly familiar, almost safe.

The pony from before, Sandbox turned with a surprisingly happy smile, but it was not him who answered. "Old ghoulies left over from the ministries working on trying to preserve old Equestria and probably doing some secretive stuff'n such to make Equestria a thing again." Fobwatch mumbled the information almost as if he wasn't paying attention.

Sandbox blinked and nodded. "Well... yes, how did you know?"

Fobwatch smiled and shrugged. "Ponies remember things, and ye lads didn't always exclusively bring ghouls into yer little group. I've met more than meh fair share of ponies who recall invitations into your group. And while it's rare, yer group does have those who leave it. Ponies talk... even ghouls who were a part of a semi secret group."

Sandbox grimaced and looked back to the box of salvage. "It's just odd that you know so much and have such knowledge so readily available."

Fobwatch helped him pop the lid off the container and start sorting through the gear. "It's nothin really, I'm just aware of groups around and I got me a good memory. I'm just a good pony to ask, that's all, plus the name kinda gives it away even if I didn't already know. I mean... hell, try as ye might, but Equestrian Reclamation Project can't be much else..."

They pushed through the gear and cataloged the salvage, there was very little conversation, Lexi was simply enjoying the aura of the place. The soft sound of silent ponies going about their daily work, it was like taking a bath for the first time in ages. A work space for the intellectual and cultured, even if they were all undead monsters. Lexi nearly whimpered and quickly slid the hood to her helmet down when she closed the distance and caught a few eyes from the local ghouls. She had come a long way from screaming, wetting herself, and passing out from when she saw her first ghoul back at her old apartments. But they still drove a cold shock down her spine. At least the talkative Sandbox seemed rather easy to endure, even if he like all ghouls was hard to look at. But the way he looked over each item, the way he smiled as he went about his business, she felt an odd warmth just watching him. She had spent the best years of her young life learning from professors just like him.

"Excuse me..." She raised a hoof, watching her volume but happily she only gained the attention of Sandbox. She struggled looking into the decayed face, but she took relative comfort in the kind open eyes. "You're from one of the Ministries?"

He smiled and to her comfort the image didn't haunt her. "Oh yes... I was in the Ministry of Morale." He beamed rather happily but almost instantly Lexi's reaction was a little more than noticeable. "What?"

Lexi forced a smile, but couldn't help the dread in her heart. She was pretty certain he wasn't one of the Ministry Mare's enforcers or agents, and even if he was, which she highly doubted due to the way he poured over the parts and spoke back and forth with Fobwatch, and even if he was, they were out of business for the last 170 years. But the number of times Lexi felt like she was just one stuttering misspoken word from being thrown in the 'friendship dungeon' or simply being disappeared during an interview with any member of the M.o.M. was beyond counting. A sudden new voice erupted in her mind, she didn't quite know what to call it, but it appeared to be birthed from her logical and cautious sides. 'He doesn't know how old you are, he doesn't even know who you are. Keep it that way, it's a valuable ace in the hole'. She shook herself and cleared her throat.

"I've... um... I've read some journals. Scary stuff from the Ministry of Morale, sorry... I just kinda got spooked. I have a very vivid imagination." She sheepishly rubbed her hooves together trying to find a way to ask questions without revealing her past. She didn't mind telling the story, but watching the Griffons she was starting to understand the value in not giving her life story to every stranger she met.

Sandbox laughed, it wasn't malicious or mocking. He just genuinely seemed amused. His old eyes showed an equally old and kind soul, despite his decaying body. "I'm an engineer... Chief researcher of the Ministry of Morale's branch in Salt Cube City, I was not one of Pinkie's spooks..."

This did a lot to calm her nerves. It was a little intimidating to spend time with somepony who outranked her by so much, but appeared to be on the much more relieving 'birthdays, music, and entertainment side of the M.o.M. "Ah, so you probably did a lot of work on those pre wartime projects..." She paused as her new Lexi glared at her and quickly she added. "The journals and books say a lot about that stuff."

"Oh yes, certainly I was working on the Friend Force One and most of it's incarnations." He happily picked up a small piece of the equipment they had brought in and looked it over before setting it to the side. "Well, as much as I love a little chat, I think we got it all cataloged and I'm actually kinda impressed. I really hope we work things out. I could really use this stuff to fix a lot of stuff around here. And when the project is finished, I can bring a lot of this back where it will be even more needed home in the dome..."

"Salt Cube City still..." Lexi cleared her throat remembering the whole bit about hiding her origins. "Sorry... how is the city?"

He chuckled. "Well, things are pretty good, us ghouls aren't treated very well, but that's pretty much common no matter where we go. And yeah... still a megaspell locked into the salt cube... that hasn't gone off yet." He chuckled and Lexi smiled a little awkwardly happy he didn't seem to catch on to her awkward attempts to hide the fact she was from the past.

They shared a moment of silence before the doors up above the catwalks opened and Oso ducked through the doorway and exited the small room. There was another few awkward moments as Oso struggled to come back down. His size made the short trip more than a little difficult and if he took to the skies he would have simply created so much wind that everypony present would have to hold down their paperwork and even their computers.

"You're asking a lot Oso.... a whole lot... but nopony ever said that the path forward would be an easy path..." The Unicorn ghoul following Oso out seemed a bit distressed. "Sandbox? What did they bring."

Sandbox stood upright and smile. "It's some really good stuff, I could really put this to good use."

The ghoul Unicorn grumbled and he paused for a moment, his eyes seemed to float gently across the room. He was very unsure, but then something clicked. "I think I know... look, I'm not going to pretend any of our little groups has any love for each other. And one such required artifact needed for the project..." He paused looking to Oso who scowled knowingly. "Yeah... that artifact... we're going to need it eventually. And I don't want to send two dozen of my ghouls only to get three back... if any. Retrieve it and bring it back, and we'll not only put up with the fleabags... but we'll even work with that insufferable ass Tyrin..."

"That's a pretty big undertaking... I'll look it over, we don't even know where it is..." Oso's low grumbling voice almost sounded like he was losing his patience when he could not afford to.

The Unicorn grinned from leathery decaying ear to leathery decaying ear. "It's last known location was the Crystal Empire..."

Oso's eye twitched angrily. "The Empire is gone, nopony has even seen it since the bombs dropped, and it's physical location if it even still exists is a frozen wasteland that even I can't survive. You're asking the impossible."

"Our goal is impossibility itself, and you know full and well we need that scroll... we aren't going to get very far without it. And after last time I'm pretty sure you owe us big... somepony has to make the trip, has to do the mission. You're the only ones with your super soldier oh so much better than ponies non coward Griffons..." His grin started to scare Lexi, but the more she thought about it, she would likely be the same if she got such a massive advantage on somepony who had angered her as much as Tyrin appeared to have angered this one Unicorn.

Oso answered through a beak clenched in anger. "I'll speak to the others.... come now ponies... we have an old Griffon to piss off to a degree never before seen..."

Lexi let out a soft 'eep' at the massive talons nearly scooping her and her armor up and pushing her to the door. Hearing the remark on Tyrin, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to go back, even if it meant staying with the rotting ghouls.

"Sandbox! Get that gear packed up for distribution and use, then help our friends out. Then I want those damned turrets back up and working before sundown, and I want them armored!" The unicorn disappeared back up the catwalks and into his office.

Sandbox groaned, but at least he had already prepared the parts. "Come on, and I know I don't have to say it, but sorry... Old Artie is still bent out of shape from Tyrin's last visit... Look, that trip is close to impossible, just come back next year or at least when summer is going on, then maybe Arctic Star won't be as angry and we can make a joint effort. A year or so does wonders in calming ponies down."

Oso sighed loudly. "Yeah, but you still have no idea how long Tyrin holds his grudges. I might have to leave Lexi and Croce outside for a bit while Tyrin throws his tantrum... it's damned impossible to get to where the Empire was.... perhaps not impossible to get in... if you have Tyrin on your side. But Even I would die on that trek..."

"It's not impossible." Oso and all ponies present turned and looked at Croce who at first looked uncertain, but then upon closer inspection he just looked VERY uncomfortable. "It's not impossible, I know a guy... a guy who's done it before, and so long as we pay, he'll take us there and help us survive."

"Is he expensive?" Oso's voice almost sounded in relief, but the look on Croce's face was just a little too uncomfortable to ignore. Even Fobwatch looked in, he might not have been welcome, but for now he was a part of the group and his curiosity had been piqued as well.

Croce broke eye contact, almost as if he really did not want to talk about it. But with a sharp sigh, he looked back and answered firmly. "A little, but... he's... well... he's more of the problem than the price..."

Footnote: No level achieved

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat, Fallout Equestria Pink Eyes by Mimezinga and Fallout Equestria Project Horizons by Somber; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

Author - Sanguine Eyes

Chapter editor - Currently N/A

Earl: Concept artist, Proof reader.

Nick Valentine: Artist

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long.

It's kinda hard to write a cockney accent....