In a world filled with misery and uncertainty, it is a great comfort to know that in the end, there is a light in the darkness.

The clouds in the distance were of red and black, while the ones above us just consisted of the void. Ash from the burning trees of Saddle snowed down on us as we sat on the side of the highway on a small field of grass, around a campfire. The scent of burning wood filled the air. But another scent lingered with it...

Burning flesh.

The air wasn't as heavy where we were. We had gotten far away enough from the city that we could breathe properly, and we didn't have to worry about the killer trees now that we were out of the forest. I didn't see any of the shadow things either, but regardless, I kept watch for any trouble as we sat around our main light source and warmth.

Petiole had a set of pliers dug in Para's chest, who squirmed and groaned as he laid there. The red LED lighting on his armor had changed to green by the time we escaped the forest and city.

"Hold still." Petiole snapped. "You don't want this inside you when you're healing."

"But it hurts!" He cried out in a whiny tone.

"Where was this attitude when you were dancing in the park?" Petiole asked flatly. He sighed and hung his head down a bit. "Look... If you're good for it, I'll give you a candy cane by the end of this. Okay?"

Immediately, his ears perked up, and he grinned. "Candy cane?"

"Uh... Y-yeah..."

He nodded happily and beamed at him. "Deal!"

Petiole turned to me, but I shrugged with a faint smile. "Para's a slut for them."

He turned back to Para and resumed digging the pliers in.

Para groaned in pain as he gritted his teeth. "Just... don't touch the sides." I caught a smile behind that pained expression.

Petiole shook his head as he operated on him. "I think I got the bullet... Just... hold... still..." He slowly pulled the pliers out with the bullet in his grasp. "Almost there..."

"Bzzt!"

Petiole looked up at Para to see him grinning.

"What the hell is-" Para quickly flung a pebble at his head, knocking it against the visor. "Hey, what the fu-" Another pebble struck him in the side of his head. "Stop that!" He shook his head hard and backed up. I was stifling a giggle, but Fluky stayed focused on the fire in the distance... Where her home once was...

"What is your problem?" Petiole continued. "Do you want the bullet out or not?"

"Eh." Para shrugged with a smile. "Doesn't matter to me."

Petiole sighed. "Let me take it out and stitch you up. Otherwise, it's going to get infected, and you're going to die."

"I'm going to fly?" He raised a brow. "But I don't have wings!" He sat up straight, and I caught the bandaged stubs of where his wings once were wiggle.

"... What?" Petiole deadpanned, before looking to me for clarification.

"I don't think the word 'death' or 'die' or anything like that is in his vocabulary... Or the idea of it, for that matter."

Petiole groaned and rubbed his temple. "That's it." He looked back at Para. "Lie down, let me take the bullet out, and let me stitch you up. Or you're not getting a candy cane. Final warning."

Para gasped and immediately lied on his back. "Just hurry... It hurts."

"This would have been done already if you weren't messing around..." He stuck the pliers in once more, found the bullet, and pulled it out. "There. See?" He held the bullet out in front of him, then muttered to himself. "Freak..."

"Oooo!" He grabbed the bullet. "Red and shiny! Can I keep it?"

"... Sure. Why not?" He grabbed some sewing supplies. "Now stay still. This shouldn't take long..."

I looked over at Fluky to see she hadn't taken her eyes off the red glow in the distance. It was awfully warm out here tonight.

I quietly stepped forward and sat beside her. She still didn't take her eyes off the glow, and I noticed she was hugging the teddy bear she had gotten from Stable 32.

"Hey Fluky..."

"Robutt." She replied simply.

I watched the view she seemed to be lost in. "What's on your mind?"

She sighed and hung her head. "I miss my parents... My home..." She looked away and spoke softer. "I don't... blame you for what happened... I'm not happy with you for participating in it... but I also can't really blame you... It's the others." She hugged my forehoof and nuzzled it gently. "If it hadn't been for you, I'm sure they would have found me and killed me."

I looked down at her with a thought I dreaded.

"I'm guessing come tomorrow, we'll be parting ways. I got you out of Saddle, like I promised I would."

She was back to staring at the horizon, but her side was pressed up against mine. "We'll see..."

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and together, we silently watched the city burn in the distance.

I felt a hoof tap me on the arm. I opened my eyes to see Petiole looking down at me, wearing his helmet and armor like he usually did.

"We need to talk..." He spoke softly, as to not wake the others.

"This couldn't wait 'till morning?" I asked in a groggy tone, looking around. My armor was beside me, and the rifle was disconnected from it.

"I wanted to speak with you while the others were asleep." He replied before turning around. "Walk with me."

I got up and followed as we stepped away from the campfire and into the darkness of the street. Several wagons had been left abandoned here; some of which had crashed into one another. I saw mangled pony skeletons lying underneath some when I turned my pipbuck light on.

I stopped at a tipped over wagon at the sight of a full bottle of absinthe and a pack of cigarettes. I snatched both with a wide grin on my face, looking at Petiole. "Got a light?"

He turned to me, spotted the alcohol and cigs, then sighed. "So you're going to kill yourself now. Is that it?"

I shrugged with a mirthless smile. "Why wouldn't I? Dying in a year anyways." I paused briefly, shaking the pack. "So about that light..."

He shook his head. "I didn't bring you out here so we could talk about your... situation. Though, I will need some samples off you later, once we're in a safer environment."

I sat down, putting the bottle and pack down between us. "So why am I out here then?"

"There's something wrong with Para."

I scoffed at his statement. "You mean apart from him getting dropped on his head too many times when he was little? This'll be a doozy..." I deadpanned.

"Not that. But... it could be connected."

"Connected to what?" I raised a brow.

"There's a part of him that's... missing. I looked inside him, and... a big part of his soul is just... gone."

Wait... was this guy serious right now?

"I know... I know." Petiole looked down. "It's crazy talk. But ever since I died and came back, I could see into other ponies' souls. Even if they were completely infected and turned. I could see... or, at least... get an idea as to what they were like. A lot of Para's soul is missing... and it worries me. Whenever I try and look deeper, it hurts..."

"... Uh, okay then." I shrugged. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"There's nothing you can do. There's nothing I can do. But I wanted to get it off my chest. There's something wrong, and you needed to know."

I nodded for a few seconds before frowning. "Wait... is that why you were doing an analysis on me earlier, back in the stable? Were you looking into my soul?" Oof, that sounded weird to say...

He nodded, and my brows knitted as I looked at him.

"And what did you see?"

"You don't want to know what I saw..."

"Stop it, Petiole." I sat up straight; my muzzle a few inches from his. "What did you see?"

"... I saw a lot of pain, Charger." He spoke softly. "Pain... neglect... sorrow..." He looked away. "You're lost, and you can't find the missing pieces to complete yourself."

"Do you know what the missing pieces are?"

He shook his head. "I don't. I'm sorry. I'd help you if I knew. But not even your memories held the answers you seek."

"Of course they didn't..." I murmured, looking off into the darkness.

Two white lights wandered the distance, down the road. A few seconds after looking at them, they had stopped... almost as if they were looking back...

"Hey, do you see that...?" I pointed at it, and Petiole turned to look.

"See what?" He stared for a few seconds, then turned to me.

"Those lights over there..." I couldn't take my eyes off them...

He looked back, but said nothing until he turned to me once more. "Let's head back, Charger..."

I sighed, stood up, grabbed the bottle and pack, and together, we walked back to the campfire. I looked back to check on the lights that watched me in the distance, but they were nowhere to be seen.

My eyelids cracked open to the crude intrusion of my slumber that the sun felt was necessary. The radio was playing a soft tune - another one of Octavia's works - while everyone else was awake.

Fluky was chowing down on some fruit, while Petiole was checking something on his pipbuck. Para was just... sitting there with his tongue hanging out in a playful manner, watching me...

I've had creepier ways to wake up, but... dude, that's creepy.

"Good morning, Churro!" He said happily.

"Charger..." I murmured.

"Farther!" He quickly... corrected. Whatever...

He tilted his head, smiling. "Did you sleep well?"

"Meh..." I looked down at the bottle of absinthe I found last night to find a quarter of it was gone. I could still feel the warmth it provided in my gut. That nice, comfy, yet sickening warmth...

I unscrewed the cap and took one last gulp off it for the road, before screwing it back on and storing it in my pouch. I lightly smacked the bottom of the pack of cigs against my hoof a few times, to which Para raised a brow.

"What are you doing?"

"Waking up the cancer." I deadpanned before opening the pack and slipping one into my mouth. "Does anyone have a light?"

Petiole shook his head, Fluky shrugged, and Para replied with "a fight? That doesn't sound too pleasant. Why would I have a fight?"

... I wasn't even gonna bother. It was too early in the morning for this...

The campfire was burnt out. Nothing but smoldering wood, and that wasn't enough to light the cig.

"Alright..." I said with the cig in my mouth. "Fine. No light, no problem." And with that, I pulled the cigarette further into my mouth and started chewing.

Fluky and Petiole just stared at me, but Para didn't seem to realize that cigarettes tasted horrible... Goddess', the taste...

"Can I have one?" Para asked.

"No." I said behind a mouthful of cig. His ears folded back as he pouted.

It was hard to get down... But I got this far. I closed my eyes and shuddered after downing it.

"Why did you do that, Charger?" Petiole finally asked in disgust.

"Cause it tastes better than tentacles." I smiled back faintly. "And after having nightmares of tentacles, I needed something to cancel it out." I put the pack back in my pouch with the alcohol before continuing. "And the absinthe wasn't doing it for me. So I improvised."

He sighed and shook his head. "I don't approve."

"Well, you wouldn't, now would you? Seeing as you're a doctor and all." I waved a hoof at him and sat up, getting into my armor.

"I could really go for a kumquat right about now..." Para muttered, still sulking around the burnt out pile of sticks.

I reached into my pouch, pulled one out, and tossed it at him. "There ya go." I said with a smile.

He looked up and caught it, grinning again. "Oh!" He immediately starting chowing down on it. It was gone within a matter of seconds. "Sweet!" He looked back at me, smacking his lips. "Are you some sort of magic, that whenever I want something, you can make it happen?" His eyes grew full of hope.

Petiole groaned in annoyance. "Yeah, we're all in some failed Twilight Zone episode. Plot twist, Fluky is secretly a synth from the Institute, and Charger here shits rainbow-" He was quickly interrupted with a pebble striking his visor. He stared at Para silently for a while before resuming. "I'm going to punch you in the face if you keep doing that."

"No swearing in front of children." He replied with a frown. "It's rude."

He looked down at Fluky for a few seconds before returning to Para. "You could have just told me that, instead of throwing shi-" Pebble. "Dam-" A slightly larger pebble. "Okay!" He raised his voice a bit, then started coughing and hacking for a long while. When he calmed himself down, he resumed. "You're starting to irritate me."

"You get used to it after a while." I said with a smirk as I nudged Petiole's shoulder. "We all ready to head out?"

Fluky nodded, picking up her saddle bags and letting the teddy bear ride on her back.

Para nodded happily, and Petiole slowly turned to look at me with a simple reply.

"Yes."

"So..." I said as I walked alongside Petiole. "What the hel-" A pebble struck me behind the ear, and I sighed. "What's this 'Institute' that you mentioned?"

"Not quite sure, honestly." He replied. "But what I do know is that a lot of scientists in 32 had some sort of relation with them. " He paused for a short while, thinking to himself. "There were some... strange sightings, back when 32 was alive and kicking. Ponies we never even met just walking around as if they knew the place. Sometimes, they'd stop and talk to some of us. Ask us questions. And then we wouldn't see that individual again. I ended up having a conversation with one of them myself."

The road ahead was littered with crashed and abandoned wagons. The sky was still hot with smoke, and it still snowed burnt tree ash. But we were safe from the Saddle fires, at least.

"And?" I looked over.

"I asked where he came from, cause he sure as shi-" A pebble struck the back of his head, and he growled. "I asked where he came from, because he certainly wasn't a resident of 32. All he gave me was 'The Institute.' When I asked what he was doing in 32, he replied with 'studying.' Then he just walked off. Never saw him again after that."

My brows knitted. "Wait... but what was all that about... synths, was it? As in, synthetic?"

He nodded. "Security caught one of the visitors after it injured one of our engineers. It shut itself down, so in the confusion, we did an autopsy to find it was filled with wires and circuitry. Never saw any new visitors after that."

"Maybe that was a good thing."

"Definitely. The overmare was ready to start a war with them if they ever showed up again. Another reason she started the assembly line of robots." He went quiet, but even with the helmet on, I could tell there was something else he wasn't saying. He seemed to read my mind, as he started to continue after a short while. "When I died... I saw you."

Wait, what?

I turned and looked at him, my brow raised. "What do you mean?"

"In a vision. I saw you. It was just you... nothing else. But you told me you were going to find me."

"That's..."

I didn't really know how to respond to that... Huh...

"Crazy, I know." He continued as we stared ahead at the hundreds of scattered wagons. At the far end of the highway was a tunnel that ran underground.

We stopped as we waited for Para and Fluky to catch up. They had fallen behind... somehow.

We looked at the burning city together as we waited. Black, fiery smoke rose into the clouds in great big stacks. Pillars that looked as if they held the sky itself up. The sun was an ugly, sickly yellow through the clouds overhead.

"Would it be wrong to take comfort in seeing that place burn?" Petiole asked softly, keeping his green, glowing visor locked on the ruins.

"If it is, then I guess we're both fucked up." Thankfully, Para's pebbles didn't meet me. They were too far away to hear us.

"Heh... Yeah..." Petiole sat down, and soon after, I joined. "There's a certain beauty behind it..."

"I see it." I replied with a nod as we gazed out at the burning horizon.

Para and Flukes trotted up to us, and the filly dropped a few bottle caps from her mouth, letting them drop on the asphalt before me.

"I found a bit of money." She said with a smile.

"You keep it." I replied, looking down at them. "If you're gonna be leaving us, I can only imagine you'll have more use for it than we will."

She looked down at the caps, then back up at me with sad eyes. "Yeah... Well..."

The radio broke into static, interrupting her. Para frowned at the intrusion. "Darn thing. Always breakin' down." He pulled it out and started smacking it against the side of a wagon. "Work, you stupid radio! Work!"

"Here, let me see it..." I took the radio from him before he broke it for good and examined the inside through the cracked casing. It all looked... Wait... This shouldn't have been-

"What's that noise?" Petiole asked, looking around. His ears were folded back, as if he were worried.

I stopped and looked around, just now noticing the faint buzzing of spinning propellers. They were getting louder...

I tried to turn the volume down on the radio, but it seemed to have jammed on me.

Before I knew it, two Vertibucks flew down from the clouds, tearing holes through the thick curtain to reveal the bright blue before it was sealed away from the surface once more.

Fluky was already hiding underneath one of the wagons next to us, and Petiole pulled Para into a separate one with him.

"Charger, hide." Petiole said calmly, looking at me. His visor and LEDs had changed from green to red.

It was already too late. I already knew they could see me. If I hid, then I'd sacrifice the safety of my party. I couldn't do that.

The two Vertibucks flanked me on both sides of the road, and a familiar voice spoke through the speaker as two Steel Rangers aimed the mounted guns at me. A voice that triggered my anger...

Electricity started crackling in my hoof...

"Give it up, Charger!" Crimson shouted. "Surrender the anomaly!"

Anomaly...?

I looked around at both of the Vertibucks that kept their guns locked on me. "Shit..." A pebble struck me in the back of the head, but despite the increasing level of annoyance, I chose not to acknowledge it. I slipped the radio in my ammo pouch.

"Uh oh!" The host on the radio channel said as the static faded away, and the beginning of a song took place. "Seems we're in a bit of trouble, folks. But don't touch that dial! We're just getting started..." At once, the music increased in temp with the rapid strum of a guitar.

My instinct was to run. Just run. Don't fight! Run!

The barrels of the guns spun to life as lead shredded the asphalt all around me. Splinters of wood swept over me from the wagons left and right of me, while chips of road struck my armor.

SWEET FUCKING CELESTIA, HOW WAS I NOT DEAD YET!?

The two miniguns buzzed aggressively as they rained hellfire down on me, but somehow not a single bullet struck me.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Crimson shouted over the speaker. "He's just one pony! Kill him! Wait... was that a pebble...?"

I kept running! I couldn't stop!

The music was certainly motivational, considering the situation!

My hoof was growing a bigger charge as I bolted down the street. A rush of wind grew before the wagon to my right became fire. Planks of wood rammed against me, and splinters stabbed at my armor, but I wasn't knocked off course.

A missile sprung asphalt up from my left, clouding my vision momentarily. The missile, however, didn't detonate. It was a dud!

I swerved right and slipped into SATS as the Vertibucks continued to fly past, and I looked through the scope, aiming up at the ranger spraying lead down at me. I aimed, and without hesitation, bit down on the handle. The thorn round penetrated through his visor, and blood spewed out as he fell back, crying out. His body fell out the other side, landing on the street below the overpass I was crossing.

I went back to running. If I stopped for too long, then I was asking to be killed.

Two more Vertibucks flew in ahead, and four Steel Rangers dropped down between the street tunnel and where I was.

"YOU'RE DONE, CHARGER!" Crimson shouted as I witnessed he too, was jumping out of the Vertibuck on my right. "YOU'RE MINE!"

He landed a few feet to my right, bringing up a cloud of asphalt upon impact. As he recovered, I looked to my left to see the ranger beside the pony operating the turret was about to launch another missile my way from the cannons built into both sides of his armor. I had witnessed the last moments of their reload.

In an attempt to fire them down at me, the first one jammed. Flames burst from his side as he panicked to get the armor off, but that too, seemed to be malfunctioning.

I ran around a wagon just as Crimson fired a shot from his cannon, causing one side of it to explode in a wave of splinters.

"I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN YOU WERE BORN!" He called out, and shortly after, I heard the heavy hooffalls of his armor chasing after me.

The flames in the ranger's cannon to my left grew before the Vertibuck detonated from the inside. It spun out of control, heading for my path ahead. The Steel Rangers that had landed had formed a firing squad ahead of me, ready to eliminate just as I made one final turn around a wagon.

Before they could, the Vertibuck slammed down on them; the propellers cutting through their armor like a blender, before detonating completely. Shrapnel whizzed past like bullets, some of which struck Crimson's armor. It was a shame it didn't do anything to him.

Wagons were set on fire in the general area of the explosion. Scorched pieces of wood rained down on the two of us.

"Give me the fucking anomaly, Charger!" His voice sounded much closer than it did earlier... and so did his stomping, for that matter!

I leaped through the burning wreckage of the Vertibuck before me and came out the other side, unscathed.

Crimson charged through the same wreckage, but stopped in his tracks as I continued to run for the dark tunnel ahead.

The 50. caliber cannon on his left side fired heavy, rapid rounds at me, leaving half of a second of a time gap between each shot.

Asphalt sprayed at me, stinging the parts of my hide that wasn't protected. Missiles whistled as they flew past, blowing up the wagons in the tunnel.

I turned, slipped into SATS, and looked at my options. 5 percent for the head!? What the fuck!? Damn it!

The missile launcher was a fiver as well, seeing as there was a missile currently blocking the way. But... hm...

I plotted two shots at the missile launcher, and one on the 50 cal., in case things didn't work out. I had a 25 percent chance of hitting the 50 cal.

I fired my first shot at the missile launcher, but ended up striking the missile instead; causing it to explode in midair before getting anywhere near me. The next shot went through the flames and struck the cannon, but failed to hit any of the missiles within. Go figure...

My third shot bolted for the caliber and, to my surprise, traveled down the barrel of the gun, causing it to smoke from the inside after a tiny burst had occurred from the bullet that waited in the chamber.

I slipped out of SATS, and the world went back to its regular pace. Fuck, the adrenaline felt good!

I spun around for the tunnel as Crimson continued to launch missiles my way. It was a shame I couldn't get rid of that, and him with it!

"SEE YA, FUCKER!" I called out as I ran into the dark tunnel ahead. Missiles continued to fly in after me, striking the wagons around me as I ran further into the depths.

The music seemed to go on in a loop, and turning it down didn't seem to be an option. Once I escaped Crimson's wrath, maybe I could find a way to fix that.

Dust and dirt fell from the ceiling with each rumble of explosion. Looking behind me, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, followed with the occasional explosion. I continued running, in case he decided to come after me.

I looked ahead, but I couldn't see anything in front of me. It was too dark in here...

I slowed down for a few, pulled out the radio, and tried the volume again. It still wasn't turning down! Damn it!

I hit the power button, but the music resumed. Agh, damn it!

Groaning out of frustration, I slipped it back into my pouch and looked at my E.F.S.

Oh fuck...

There were dozens of hostiles in the area ahead... and behind. Judging by how fast they were moving around, they were pretty close...

I turned on the pipbuck light, and my surroundings lit up in red. In an instant, I flicked the gun to full auto.

For there before me was what I was afraid of lurking in the dark...

Ferals.

They hissed and growled as they charged for me. I backed up, spraying a stream of thorn rounds at them. Their bodies convulsed as they fell at the first sign of penetration. Blood spewed from their eyes, ears, nose and mouth, and after a few seconds, a few red markers vacated from my Eyes Forward Sparkle.

I could hear more in the distance, aggravated from the sound of gunfire and the radio, which was echoing through the tunnel. I switched to semi and continued running ahead with the music, realizing that using full auto with thorn rounds was a waste of resources when facing ferals.

Running around a line of wagons, I came to an opening with five more ferals... and one of the zomponies from 32. Tentacles spilled out from its sides and lashed out at the ferals as it hissed. The ferals attacked it from all sides as a group, going in to rip and tear the flesh with their teeth. The zompony growled as they tore away at it, and the tendrils wrapped around them. Some were forced into its abdomen, which split apart for entry, while others were being fused to its body. There, fused and melted into the hide of the zompony, they continued to thrash around, trying to bite at it.

Didn't the hosts need to be living in order to infect...? What was this then...?

Was it trying to grow like the beast back in 32...?

I didn't want to wait to find out.

I pelted the monster with the rest of my mag, which didn't hold much more rounds.

As it screamed and burned away from the inside, I switched out the spent mag with some normal rounds and continued running further into the tunnel once I had heard several more ferals closing in from behind.

I switched to full auto again, thinking that normal rounds wouldn't be anywhere close as effective as the thorns. I didn't want to use the Tungstian rounds on ferals, because it seemed especially useful against machines.

I heard Crimson's screams far behind me.

"YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER, CHARGER! WHEN I FIND YOU, I'M GONNA FINISH THE JOB LIKE I SHOULD HAVE, THE DAY I CRUSHED YOUR MOTHER'S SKULL!"

I stopped, dead in my tracks.

He... he did what...?

My heart... felt like it had stopped beating...

Several ferals moved in from ahead and behind, ready to strike...

My... mother...?

One pounced on me from behind, trying to bite into the armor. I rolled over on top of it and struck it repeatedly in the gut until it let go. I jumped up, aimed the rifle down, and riddled it with holes until it stopped thrashing. Another feral moved in, biting into my side while another went for the neck. I kept the barrel of my rifle against the neck biter's chest, keeping it at bay. A third went for the other side of my neck, but I raised a forehoof to keep it away from me as I filled the second ghoul's chest with lead. After maybe half a mag later, it dropped dead. I spun to face the third ghoul; my rear facing the first. As I spent the rest of my magazine on the ghoul in front of me, I raised my hind quarters and gave the feral behind me a good set of bucks. I heard bones snap upon impact, along with the thunderous boom of the electrical discharge. I looked back to discover I had not only electrocuted it, but I had also snapped its neck.

With the three bodies around me, dead, I looked around my surroundings on my E.F.S. to find I was surrounded in nearly every direction.

I had woken up the tunnel.

I looked to my left, and at the far end, on the wall opposite me, was a door to maintenance. Without having a second thought, I pushed forward.

Two ghouls ran into view and came at me, snarling. I bit down on the handle, but the gun simply clicked.

I shook my head hard and pressed on. My hoof was building up another charge with the frustration that I was in. And it was building up fast.

I took a chance at seeing what was behind me, and found several more ferals on my tail.

I quickly jumped up on the back of a wagon, ejected the magazine, and popped the first one I pulled out from the ammo pouch in. Unfortunately, it was T-rounds.

I didn't care. I didn't have the time to go searching for normies.

I cocked the rifle, aimed it down at them as they gathered around the wagon, and unleashed a storm of lead down on their undead forms. It wasn't as effective as the thorns, but it wasn't as weak as the normal rounds, either. Each round definitely packed a punch.

Fragments of brain and skull flew out from their heads, and some of those skull fragments had even tore new holes through the back of their head as T-rounds entered through the front. Coagulated blood oozed out of their wounds as, one by one, I put an end to their miserable, undead life.

By the time the magazine was empty, a bunch of corpses laid before me.

I pocketed the empty mag at my hooves, hopped off the wagon, and continued running for the door. There were more coming, and I didn't have the ammo or the focus to take them all on... My E.F.S. was pretty much red all around.

My mother...

I opened the door, ran in after seeing it was safe, and closed and locked it behind me. Ferals hissed and growled on the other side as their beat their hooves bloody against the metal surface. I swapped out the old mag with a new normie and aimed around the storage room. There was a hall at the far end of the room, in the corner opposite of me.

My E.F.S. didn't show any hostiles around that area, so I let my guard down, even though I knew it was a bad idea, and took out the two boxes of ammo, followed by all the empty mags. The two full ones in the pouch were filled with normies, so I filled the three empties with T-rounds. Tungstian rounds weren't that bad to use against ferals, after all.

I released an exasperated sigh at my situation as I put the boxes of ammo away. I leaned the back of my head against the door, looking up at the ceiling. I was locked in here... alone...

The ferals kept at it with the door, eager to get their next meal.

They'd have to try harder than that.

I hoped that Petiole, Para, and Fluky were safe...

Suddenly, the music stopped.

"Psst!"

I looked around the room, but I didn't see anybody.

"Hey, you with the face."

I continued looking around, puzzled as I pointed a hoof to my chest and mouthing the word 'me?'

"Yeah, you."

Wait... that voice...

I took the radio out and looked at it. No, that couldn't be possi-

"So you finally figured it out, huh?" The DJ that played on Para's radio said through the speaker with a soft chuckle.

"W-wait... what the hell?" I turned the radio around, examining the body. This had to be some sort of trick... Maybe he heard me through the intercom of the radio, seeing as it was a HAM. But... how did he know what I was doing...?

"Ah, ah, ah!" The DJ continued in his cheerful tone. "Make sure Para doesn't hear you say that around Flukes. Unless, of course... you like pebbles being thrown at you."

"Who... What? HOW!?" I asked, baffled at the radio before me. This wasn't happening, was it? Have I flipped? Gone mad?

"Heh... Consider yourself lucky, Chargie. You're the first one I've ever come out of the closet for. You're very special. As for the who of the question... My name is Tuner. I've been watching you for quite some time now. Been watching others as well, but... you? Mmm... you're a sight for sore eyes. Tellin' you right now, if you were in here with me, I'd let you plug your auxiliary cable in my AUX input anytime, anyday babe." He let out a small laugh that implied he was enjoying himself a little too much.

"This is some sort of joke, right?" I asked, still checking around the radio. Maybe there was a hidden camera or something... "You're just some DJ in the wasteland somewhere, and you have a connection to this radio?"

"I wish it were a joke. But I'm a pony stuck inside a radio. Or... actually, a battery. The radio is just the messenger."

I stopped and observed the blue glow through the casing in the back, where the battery resided. "Wait... Battery?"

"Mhm. There I am, listening to some tunes and relaxin' on my couch back home, and suddenly BAM! Get knocked out. When I wake up, my body is gone, I'm somewhere I've never even been before, and my new body is that of a battery. The one you're seeing now. The adventures I went through after that... Bombs drop. I get tossed around. I've been put into a crap ton of stuff throughout the generations in the wasteland. The sex toys were the most... awkward..."

"But... wait... Crimson... anomaly... wha?"

"Yep. I'm the anomaly. Was hoping they wouldn't see me on their scannermajigs, but look where we are now. And man, did you kick some serious tail out there. I'd pay to see that body in action again."

"Wait, hold on..." I frowned, and my hoof started to generate a soft electric current. "You were keeping me from turning off the music, weren't you!?"

"Yep. Hope you like music from beyond the stars, cause that's mostly what I've been feedin' ya even since you stumbled across Para."

I glared down at the radio I held. "You fucking asshole. Why did you do that!? I was trying to get away from danger, not lure it in! And now I'm stuck down here alone!"

"I was protecting you."

"Protecting me?" I raised a brow. "You sure have a funny way of 'protecting.'"

"Take a look at yourself, man. Do you see any bullet wounds? Any bites, scratches, or burns?"

I paused, remembering that not too long ago, I was running through gunfire of not one, but two miniguns, missile launchers, and 50 calibers... and I got through it all unscathed.

"Well... no..." I murmured, looking away.

"Exactly. So you can call me Blackjack, cause I just gave you a big stroke of luck."

"Blackjack?"

"Heh, yep. Been keeping an eye on her, too. And Little Pip."

"Her?" I asked puzzled. "Who's... Blackjack? Who's Little Pip?"

"You know that story you heard from your steel buddies out there about Thunderhead being destroyed, over in Hoofington?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"That was from Blackjack. Security. Or... she was involved, anyways. Right now, she's flying off to the moon to get her body back. As for Little Pip... Ahem... Lightbringer."

Uh... okay then. Kinda hard to tell if this... Tuner... was crazy or not. Lightbringer was enough for me, though. The Steel Rangers were invested on trying to reach out to her... or so I thought. I had high doubts they just wanted to talk.

"Don't believe me? Take a look at the night sky tomorrow. Hoofington is going through the grinder right now. Keep an eye on the moon."

I blinked once, before resuming my series of questions. "Sooo... what, you can just see things, even if you're not there?"

"Oh Charger, of course! I've seen beyond the stars. I know things that no one in all of Equus know about. Not even the zebras."

"Prove it."

"I can't." He said quickly. "There are rules... and if I break them, then you can kiss all of ponykind goodbye. Honestly, that thing about the music from beyond the stars might have been pushing it, but no one's blown up yet, so..."

"How wonderfully convenient..." I deadpanned.

"Charger. Male. 25 years old. Born and raised among the Steel Rangers, but had difficulties with them growing up. Always considered the weakest link. Unicorns were scared of being affiliated with you, and earth ponies always picked on you for not being as physically strong as they were. So it made you lonely. Until, of course, Snow Star entered your life. You two fell in love with each other."

I froze as he told me my life story...

"You got her pregnant, and she was found out. Your good for nothing sister gave your 'fearless' leader the idea to either have her abort it, or leave the bunker and make you suffer the heartache. Snow left, and your soft, fluffy heart was left cold and broken. Throughout the years, you pushed on and built their trust, making them think that you were on board with whatever they did. And you did so by believing your own lies. So you hurt unicorns. Killed them at times, even. It hurt you immensely, but the show had to go on. You buried your true feelings behind a mask, until one day you were promoted to Knight. Your plan was to get away from them and go looking for Snow Star, should she still be alive."

This... this wasn't possible... How...?

"I know who you are, Charger. I know what you are."

"Then..." I started in a low tone. "What am I...?"

"I'm... afraid we aren't ready for that just yet."

I sighed and shook my head, quietly setting the radio down before me. "Well... since you seem to know a lot that's happening around the wasteland..." I paused and regarded the radio. "Is Snow Star alive...?"

My heart pounded for the answer. I was scared, but also hopeful that she was. I needed her to be alive...

"I can't answer that, either. It breaks the rules of the game."

"This isn't a game... I need to know if she's out there..."

"Everything's a game, Chargie. But some games just aren't as fun as others..."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Alright, well... tell me more about this... battery. Seeing as I'm being hunted down for it, I should get to know what it actually is."

"Little Pip controls the SPP. Blackjack held EC-1101. And you possess the UPC-07. Consider yourself a cornerstone of the wasteland now. The UPC-07 stands for 'Ultimate Power Cell - Prototype 7.' What happened to the others, I'm not quite sure. It was a little before my time in this one, and I can't see anything that happened before I was put in here." He paused as I sat there, waiting for more explanation.

"Oddly enough, there are seven souls in this thing, including my own. Some are just fragments of others, but there are some who have most of their being poured into this. There's only one in here that has all of their soul trapped within, however. Me. Therefore, I have the most control in here. Every once in a while however, one of them slips through the cracks and takes control. So... be careful. Some of a bit unstable."

"Duly noted."

I couldn't believe I was talking to a radio that turned out to carry a battery filled with souls... This was absurd.

"Who are the other souls that are trapped in there with you?"

"One was a bum on the streets of Manehatten, two was put through flying lessons, three was me, who found some glee when I was finally put into a radio, four tore into gore, five went to thrive behind a killer grin, six was kind of a bitch, seven was eleven, and eight was a bit late. All but one of them came from before the bombs, but only one had a part of their soul trapped in here, two centuries after the fact."

"Implying that they're immortal." I stared flatly.

He laughed softly. "Hardly."

"Didn't you say something about there being only seven? Why did you bring up eight?"

"Because what fun is there in making sense?"

"Who is 8?" I spoke emphatically.

"8 takes great caution around your kind, yet they are also quite... curious."

Okay, I guess I wasn't getting a straight answer from him... again.

I thought back on Petiole's memory...

"Five is the Killer Grin, right? Mr. Happy? He was in the papers about how he was frozen in a block of ice."

"That block of ice still exists, too. Kinda... And a part of Happy remains frozen within. Yet he walks around the wasteland, still smiling." There was a brief pause before he continued. "I think by now, you've had a growing suspicion that Para isn't all that he seems. I heard you and Petiole talking last night."

"Para is... Happy...?" My ears folded back as I grew worried for the others. As if I wasn't already...

"Not anymore. When he found me, I took away the demented parts of his soul and kept it safe from himself... and others, for that matter. So long as he has the radio around, and it stays on, Happy stays away. But if he's away from me for too long... then Happy is back to murdering other ponies, thinking he's saving them from misery. And you should know that fighting him is a death sentence. He's a lot stronger than you think. Even as Para."

He was right about me having a sneaking suspicion... It started with the bullet hole in his chest, but my belief became stronger after my conversation with Petiole.

"What happened to his wings?" I asked, frowning.

"That would be where the block of ice comes into play..."

"His wings are still in there...?"

"Mhm. Not a very pleasant story, I'm afraid. One that even the Grand Pegasus Enclave would shudder at. There's something about it, though... It feels almost like there's a connection between you and him. You both relate to something similar... tragic. Some part of you being taken away."

I looked down at my metal hoof, sighing as I rubbed it gently with a fore. "Yeah, well... we're nothing alike..." I rubbed my eyes, wanting to change the topic. "How did you two come across each other?"

"That makes for an interesting story. But I'm gonna save that for another time. Tuner's tired, and he needs his shut eye."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Wake me if you need anything. I'll keep some tunes playin' for ya."

And with that, came the sudden shredding of a guitar.

I was tryin' to find my way home

But all I heard was a drone

Bouncin' off a satellite

Crushin' the last lone Equestrian night

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

I got up and started searching through the lockers and cabinets in the room while the music continued. I found a few bottle caps here and there, along with a zippo lighter. I shook it next to my ear to hear some fluid swishing around within.

Yes!

I was spinnin' 'round a dead dial

Just another lost number in a file

Dancin' down a dark hole

Just searchin' for a world with some soul

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

Is there anybody alive out there?

I had to admit, this song was pretty good. I hadn't quite heard anything like this before. It was new... I had never really imagined music like this before.

I sat down, pulled out the pack of cigs, the bottle of absinthe, and flicked the lighter open to test the wheel. First test was just sparks, but the second worked just fine. Juuuuuust fine...

I put a cig to my lips, lit the end, and took a nice, long pull off it before looking up at the ceiling and blowing smoke up into the air.

I want a thousand guitars

I want poundin' drums

I want a million different voices speakin' in tongues

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

Is there anybody alive out there?

I spun the cap off the bottle of alcohol and raised it to my lips, taking a few large gulps before the burn became too much for me. I choked a bit and coughed as I set the bottle back down. There wasn't really much else to do except wait for those damn ghouls outside to shut up and leave...

Did ferals ever give up...?

I was drivin' through the misty rain

Yeah, searchin' for a mystery train

Boppin' through the wild blue

Tryin' to make a connection with you

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

Is there anybody alive out the-

The music shut off abruptly, and the light within the battery died.

"Enough of that..."

I quickly looked up to see... myself...?

They had my coat and mane, but no cutiemark. She had a horn, but her eyes... Her eyes were like the static of a tv channel that was either out of reach or dead. She grinned as she looked at me.

"Hello, father."

"W-who are you?" I stood up, swaying a bit from the alcohol. I kept my gun on her, in case she tried anything.

"I am your gehenna. I am your sad but true. I am you."

... What was that supposed to mean?

"What's your name?" I asked, studying her from afar.

"I do not have a name, for you never gave me one." She paused and tilted her head to the side, still grinning. "Tell me father. What do you see in my eyes?"

I looked for a few seconds before closing mine. It hurt too much to stare. I looked down at her chest when I opened my eyes again. "... White Noise...?"

"Then that shall be my name." She nodded and stepped forward, but I backed away. She stopped and regarded me. "You do not trust a being of your own making?"

"What are you talking about?"

She clicked her tongue and shook her head gently, still smiling. "You really do not remember, do you?"

Her horn lit up in black and white smoke, and everything around me changed.

I was back in the leaning tower, hacking up the black gunk from my second day in the wasteland. It grew a set of tendrils and ran off, squealing.

Reality came rushing back, and my limbs shook for a few seconds, trying to adjust from lying down one second, and standing up the very next with little to no motion...

"You're...?" I pointed a hoof at her, feeling my stomach start to turn again.

She nodded. "Yes."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want to bear witness." She stepped closer.

I backed away until my flank pressed against the wall. She took a few more steps until the barrel of my rifle pressed against her chest. My mouth worked around the handle, ready to fire.

She moved in; her muzzle a few inches from meeting mine. I could feel her breath... but it was cold...

"Why do you not trust me...?"

Looking into her eyes hurt more and more. Not only did it send my head spinning - the absinthe probably didn't help with that either - but the glow behind them blinded me and made them burn. I closed my eyes, but even through my eyelids, I could still see the glow.

"Is it because you do not trust yourself? Because you know you are a monster for the things you have done? Even before you left the bunker, you were a monster. The acts you have made, you did for yourself. You are of greed. Just like the rangers you loath. You think you will go to the place that is the best? You think you are pure of heart to be accepted? Hell awaits for the wicked, father."

"Go away." I said around the grip.

"You are pathetic. You have to poison your insides to shut out the poison in your mind, because you are too weak to face your demons. But unfortunately for you... your demons are stronger than alcohol and cigarettes, and they will go uninterrupted."

I bit down, and a bullet drove through. She just laughed, and opening my eyes, I saw a hole start to close in her chest. There was no blood. Her insides were black...

"This is not the first time you have resorted to alcohol and cigarettes, is it, father?" She smiled. "You have slept more comfortable at night with a bottle beside your bed, back in that place you used to call home. Nothing you did to others mattered, because at the end of the day, you could forget it all at the bottom of a glass. Your sister raped you? Made you do things you did not wish to happen? You would forget it for a night. When you thought of Snow Star and what could have been? You would forget it for a night. When the thoughts came too early, you would go for more. Because you are weak minded and frail. You are afraid."

"Shut up!" I glared, wanting to shoot her again. But it was just a waste of ammo if she could regenerate. Instead, my hoof expressed my anger. "I said shut up!"

She chuckled. "Does it hurt too much to think about?" She caressed the side of my face with a hoof, looking into my eyes, which I closed soon after. I swear, I was going to go blind if I kept looking... "You may run from the truth, but like the demon you refer to as time, it always catches up and wins. No matter what. Because that is life... and life is a sadistic. Fickle. Bitch."

Her hoof slid away from the side of my head, and the lights of her eyes grew distant.

"I will see you around, father."

When I opened my eyes, she was gone.

I looked down at the lit cigarette on the floor, next to my bottle. I walked over and picked it up, before putting it back in my mouth and taking another pull off it.

It was hard to tell if she appeared from the absinthe, or if she was really there... really was a part of me...

I picked up the bottle, stuffed it in my pouch, put an extra bullet in my mag, and started for the hallway. If I couldn't get out the same way I came in, maybe there was another way further in. At this point, there was an angry undead mob at the door, judging by the big patch of red on my E.F.S.

The hall turned right. When I turned, the hall continued on, but I couldn't see where it ended, as all the power was off in the tunnel, and my pipbuck light didn't travel very far. The good news was that my E.F.S. didn't show any hostiles ahead.

Still, I moved with caution.

For a short while, I walked until a door swung open ahead of me in the distance. I didn't even know it was there, had I not heard the creaky hinges rub against each other, followed by the metal door slam against the wall.

Two white, static glowing eyes looked at me as they approached in a calm manner.

I took a quick peek at my E.F.S. and... well, the blip wasn't there.

Even though I couldn't see its body, I knew what it was.

I held my fire and stayed my ground as it walked toward me; stepping in the red light my pipbuck provided.

"Expect to see me so soon?" She asked, smiling at me.

"Not particularly..." I muttered, looking away from White Noise's eyes.

She released an amused chuckle and nuzzled my neck, to which I pulled away a bit. She turned around.

"Walk with me, father. We must talk."

"About what?"

She looked back with a calm smile, but it was more creepy... what with those eyes of hers...

"Your past, present, and future."

I rolled my eyes, but reluctantly followed beside her. "Stop calling me father, then."

"I cannot." She looked over. "For you are my father. I am your daughter."

"You're not my daughter." I snapped, and the electricity grew a bit. I looked ahead of us, but all I was greeted with was black. "I don't have a..." I tensed up and closed my eyes, hanging my head down. "I never had a kid..."

"I could give you one." There she went, nuzzling my neck again...

I pulled away and glared at her; the electricity around my hoof flaring up a bit. "I'm not having sex with you."

She laughed softly at my response.

"What, did I say something funny?"

She shook her head as we stepped through the doorway she came through, and found ourselves on the second floor to a generator room. We walked for the catwalks that hung over the heavy, long dead machinery.

"Say you did find Snow Star out here. Alive. What would happen next?"

"What are you going on about?" I asked as my brows knitted.

"What would you tell her?"

I didn't say anything... I just stared down at the machinery that was caught in the dim glow of the pipbuck.

I... hadn't thought of what I would say to her... if I ever found her...

"Would you tell her of how you planned your escape? Of the things you had done to plot your little runaway? I find it odd that, even when you were on the surface, you still stuck around to kill off a town full of helpless ponies trying to survive the cold, harsh wasteland. Why did you not run then, father?"

"Shut up..."

"Did you need a little more target practice? Did you enjoy it?"

"I said shut up!" My rear hoof flared up to the point I could see bolts of the red current without turning around. She laughed.

"And now look at yourself. You are a wreck. Made up of flesh and machine, and infected twice over."

"What do you mean, 'twice over?'"

She wrapped a hoof around my shoulder and pulled me in close. "You think that this 'F-virus' is all that you have to worry about growing inside you? Have your good, undead friend Petiole take a closer look if you really wish to know the truth. But life is a lot easier with eyes closed." She smiled again, looking at me. Her muzzle was practically pressed up against mine. I wouldn't entirely be surprised if tentacles came out...

We got to the other side of the catwalk, and she let go of me to open a door ahead of us. It led to another hallway, similar to the one we were in earlier. I followed beside her as she continued on.

"What are your... kind... called?" I asked, glancing at her.

"We do not have a name, for one is not given to us but the names you desire." She kept her eyes focused on whatever was ahead of us.

"Like... White Noise?"

"The very same." She nodded. "My species is not of this world, as you may have gathered. But your kind became reckless, and a gate opened for us. Allowed us to seep in and grow here. Grow stronger."

"With the generator..." I muttered under my breath, to which she nodded. "Whose side are you on?" I asked, looking over.

"Sides are petty." She looked back at me. "Sides are for those who cannot fathom the idea of unity. Sides are what scorched the surface of your once lively little world and soured the soil your ancestors once walked. Sides are what turned the air they breathed to bitter toxins. We do not like the idea of 'sides.'"

We stopped at a door, to which she opened. We walked through to find ourselves back in the tunnel.

I quickly spun around while searching my E.F.S. There were still a few reds here and there; some closer than others, judging by how fast certain markers moved.

"Didn't really give me a straight answer..." I murmured, biting down on the grip to my rifle. It'd certainly be nice to see farther than what my pipbuck light offered.

She didn't reply, and that was starting to make me worry more than I already was...

Keep the suspense, why don't you?

Eventually, as we walked further into the tunnel, away from where I came, I looked over at her. "So, you're not gonn-" I froze for a few seconds before looking around at the wreckage around me. She was nowhere to be found...

A door creaked open behind me, and I spun around, ready to fire at the sound of a snarling feral. But at the sight, I took my mouth off the grip, feeling relief wash over me in one big wave.

"It's nice to see you alive and well, Charger." Petiole said, standing in the doorway. He held a feral by the neck as it hissed and snapped its jaw at me, trying to dig in. He calmly snapped its neck, and once it fell to the ground, he stomped its head in.

"I don't know about well, but I'm alive..." I muttered, looking up at him from the corpse.

He looked down at his victim, then back at me. "I hate ghouls..."

"How did you find me?" I asked, stepping over a bunch of feral corpses as we made our way down the way he came in. The hall was packed with the dead, and the stench...

I quickly pulled out my pack of cigs and lit the end of one, but damn it, if that wasn't gonna do it...

I put the cig out after a few puffs and swallowed it with a shudder. It still tasted better than tentacles and the smell of rotting meat combined...

Petiole looked away from me with a sigh before speaking. "I tracked your pipbuck tag. Figured you were in trouble." He looked to me again. "Before I opened that door on you, I heard you talking to someone. But there was no one there. Are you alright?"

I shook my head and laughed. "Let's see... I got demons in my head, the taste of tentacle juice haunting my tongue, a fucked up series of decisions, and a permission slip to die in a year. I'd say I'm doing just peachy."

Petiole was silent for a moment before he spoke. In that time, we were starting to descend a flight of stairs with just as many bodies as the hall behind us.

"Fluky told me about what you did." He regarded me. "How you two first met."

I sighed and looked back at him. "Yep... I'm a real monster, aren't I?"

He didn't respond. Just stared quietly behind his visor.

I looked ahead and continued. "Guess I deserved getting infected with that virus. And everything else that's happened to me."

"Maybe. Maybe not. It's not my place to decide your judgement." He looked ahead finally.

I raised a brow and looked back at him, realizing something. "So Fluky told you? You hadn't already seen it in my memories?"

He shook his head. "No. My best guess is you were trying to block out what you had done."

I looked down and sighed. "Guess I could have handled my escape plan a lot better, huh?"

He nodded simply. "Definitely. But mistakes are made. Some worse than others. The world ended. That was a mistake. What you did was horrible, I won't deny that. But worse things have happened, Charger."

For a while, we walked down what felt like was going to be a never ending descent. I pulled out another cig and ate it to try and block out the awful scent of decay around us... Admittedly, it helped for about a minute or two.

"I'm starting to think you wanna die..." Petiole muttered, keeping his visor ahead.

"Hey, where are Para and Fluky anyways?" I asked abruptly, ignoring his statement intentionally.

"The unicorn mentioned that caravans used to go to Saddle for trades from the south, and that, according to the scouts and caravaneers of her home, the outsiders were coming from said trading town. A few miles or so away from the forest. Para and her are heading there now. We'll meet them there."

I smiled faintly, glad to hear nothing bad happened to them. The smile, however, was short lived. "So... are you sure it's a good idea for Para and her to be traveling together?"

He looked at me as we approached a metal door to the outside, judging by the light underneath.

"It's just... that talk we had last night... What if he ends up being dangerous?"

He looked at the door and cracked it open to take a peek. "When we get to this trading town, I'll do an analysis on him, if it makes you feel better."

I rubbed my hoof against the back of my armored head, to which he noticed. Well, no point in keeping quiet now...

"Can you do some tests on my blood when we're there as well...? I... need to know if there's anything else inside me..."

He nodded and looked back out through the crack. "Of course." With that, he swung the door open to reveal the outside. The land was coated in a sick smoke that tested my sight. Flakes of ash fell from the white, foggy skies, and the scent of burning wood mixed with the stench of rot.

"Your sad but true will bear witness..."

I looked behind me to see the glowing eyes of White Noise over the corpses of ferals at the top of the stairs, looking down at me.

Author's Notes:

We're back, everyone. Sorry for the long wait. Pines is back from the army, and it's permanent. Nothing bad he did. Just medical issues. I hope this chapter was entertaining. It was fun writing. The copy edit, not so much...
Also, it came to my attention that I tend to make characters with missing body parts. I wondered why this was for a time, then realized it's because I have a part of me that's missing as well. Each character I make is a part of me in some way, as it should be. A part of my skull is missing. Replaced with a metal plate.
Just thought it was interesting enough to point out.
Credit for the songs go to Dick Dale & The Deltones (for the chase scene) and Bruce Springsteen, for Radio Nowhere.
Also, I know caravaneer isn't a word. But it should be. So I made it one.
Special thanks goes to Kkat for making the wonderful world of Fallout Equestria, Somber for PH, Pines for getting back to business (slowly), and Alchestbreach for making sure the radio army doesn't grow too large in numbers and take over the world.
Hope this chapter was worth the wait.

Now for Pines:
Ladies, Gentleman, I know it's been a rough life out there in the wasteland, but I'm back. You get to listen to this idiot speech once again!