Fallout Equestria: Half Breeds

by LyNx_X_PiE_PiE

First published 18th of January, 2020

The Wasteland is a horrible place for all ponies, especially those who live in it.

Two ponies gain an unusual bond when they have nothing but themselves, after they get tasked with a mission, only to have their homes destroyed and their friends and settlement dwellers killed or captured by slavers. Join these ponies on their journey, to find out what they get up to as they travel the Wasteland.

Prologue

Equestria was having its very own death wish. It was only a matter of time until somepony pushed that big red button, releasing pony hell across the entirety of Equestria. A pegasus called Falcon was among the hundreds of thousands of victims. Victims that didn't know what was going to happen to them soon.

Falcon was a pegasus that have lived their life, following in the shadow of a certain pegasus mare, Rainbow Dash! Falcon remembered the time that all ponies had been together. Earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi. Now that everypony was believing superstitions, everypony was blind to the fact that they were super discriminating towards each other's race.

Falcon contemplated each of the race's goals for everypony and thought it over. The earth ponies were trying to build 'stables' to protect everypony from a worldly disaster. Little did they know, the stables would vary in survivability, some would eventually fall and some would never open the doors. The unicorns were heavily focused on research and making more stuff, protection spells and other things to keep ponies alive. This was all top of the list, but keeping ahead of the zebras seemed to be the top priority though. The pegusi, they were a strange bunch of ponies. They were helping all of the groups, but they were all slowly losing trust in their leader and the other types of ponies.

All of this forced everypony to change. It wasn't for the better, it was for the worse. Everypony had taken the entire situation out of hoof, just because one zebra had done something bad. Now, pony kind was hostile against any and all zebras. Falcon was sure that that was a bad move on the ponies part. They had lost trust in any zebra that they originally had trust in.

Falcon flew down from the clouds and observed everything. The ponies had ruined the landscape. Factories and plantations filled the once beautiful landscape, replacing the natural feeling for one of misery. Pony made buildings covering such a lovely landscape. He flew across the land and saw multiple buildings. It was a little clutter of cottages.

Falcon landed on the ground and walked about a bit. The vegetation was dull and nearly lifeless. This expanded across most of Equestria, because of the land being used up. Falcon hated it! He wanted things to go back to the times when everypony was friends with everypony. A time when ponies used to… talk. Now, they just communicated with one another, not expressing anything else. There were no feelings of happiness anymore, only drive.

Falcon observed a wall, showing the ministry mares. Each mare was fighting for something different. Twilight's ministry was fighting for intelligence and research. Rainbow Dash's ministry was fighting for protection of the skies. Applejack's ministry wanted protection for the land and ponies on it. Fluttershy's ministry was fighting for peace and equality. Rarity's ministry wanted technology and advancement and Pinkie Pie's ministry wanted the truth and law. Nopony had the same opinion and it was driving them apart.

All of the times Twilight and her friends had fought evil, they were together. They could accomplish anything, but since they weren't together, they hadn't been successful. That made them who they were to that day. No longer friends, but acquaintances. Their friendships didn't last, because life tore them apart from one another.

Falcon looked down at a puddle on the floor. It was so stupid that the world was falling apart, due to an attack that ponies blamed on he entirety of zebra-kind. Falcon then looked up as he heard something travelling in the air. He had never heard of that type of sound before, so he was curious to see what it was.

Falcon knew that death was coming, but he didn't know exactly how everything would work. He didn't know how death would appear, until he got to it. He turned around at a large bang, followed by the earth shaking. He had found death and was looking it directly in the eyes. A balefire bomb! A nuclear warhead! The end of pony kind! His ears folded back and he flew directly up. He wasn't fast enough though, as the hot flaming air filled his lungs, as the light crept closer.

Falcon looked at a ripped poster at the bottom. It was one of Fluttershy's posters, trying to promote zebra equality. It had been ripped and a faint 'never' had been written on it, in bold black ink. Falcon sighed, ashamed of all pony kind.

His life flashed before his eyes, as he looked over it all. He evaluated the problem that led to the events of the war. Twilight Sparkle and her friends, they fell apart! They got torn away from each other and fell at all hurdles when they were divided. They were all best friends and were all useless when they were apart. That combined with Princess Luna being on the throne, made Equestria fall.

That was what Falcon believed, as his wings evaporated, along with the rest of his body, turning it into dust as it landed softly on the ground. Falcon was no more, neither was Equestria. Anything that was outside, surely would have died. Falcon's necklace laid on the floor, in place of where he stood. Ponies that didn't get into the stables, accepted their fate and were reduced to nothing but shadows on the surrounding walls. A stain of a not so distant path.

A pony scraped their hoof on the slightly lighter section of the floor, realising that the lighter spot was in the shape of a pony. Maybe two hundred years ago, that could have been a pony, trying to survive. Those shadows were imprinted on some surfaces of buildings and even in some cave entrances.

The apocalypse was now, a new future was in the making. That was the last thought that went through the pony who scraped their hoof, before a bullet went flying through their skull, painting the lighter section of the floor, with a red stain. The mark of the present! This was the Wasteland!

This was the fallout!

Chapter 1: Missing Comfort

It had been more than two hundred years since the bombs fell. Communities were able to exist out of the stables and actually live. The air was somewhat breathable out in the Wasteland. That was the new name for Equestria, the Wasteland. It was pretty fitting how it went from something so beautiful, to something so beautifully destroyed.

A little community had already begun outside the vault of number 46. Although the vault was sealed, it didn't drive off any attention of raiders or scavengers. The settlement of Journey was made and had a thriving community of ponies. The settlement was like being in a huge family. Others would watch everypony's back and ensure that everypony was ok.

About twenty ponies lived in the settlement at the time, making it a pretty big community for recently forming there. The settlement wasn't short on supplies, but they were quickly running out of food and water supplies. The only thing that they didn't pack, was good weapons with a lot of ammo.

There were multiple buildings in the settlement. Houses for the ponies and a central point in a tavern that had been restored to a somewhat state of glory. It was the central hub of the area, meaning that it saw the most activity. Ponies came and went from the tavern, ranging from the drunken scavenger that couldn't hurt a fly, to commonly appearing arrivals, like the settlers that frequently appeared.

Inside the tavern, was a unicorn stallion going by the name of Soul Eater. They were not one to be taken lightheartedly. They were relatively new to the settlement, living there for about a month tops. He wasn't really one for talking, avoiding conversation with others in the settlement as much as he could. He requested a drink from the barkeeper, in exchange for a hefty amount of caps.

Nobody was generous in the Wasteland, which is why it annoyed Soul Eater the most. He used to be the most generous soul, until death knocked on his door, requesting entry. A drink landed on the counter, making Soul Eater jump.

"Thanks." Soul Eater stated to the barkeeper. The barkeeper nodded in response to the appreciation, before moving across the way, to the other side of the bar. The tavern was the hotspot, there was no doubt about it. All of the ponies filtered through here, then branched out into the world.

Soul Eater turned around in his bar stall, spinning himself a little too far and correcting himself shortly after, taking a sip of alcohol. Beer was something Soul Eater enjoyed drinking. It numbed the pain around him. As he took a sip of the delectable substance, the mayor of the settlement walked through the door. That didn't spark joy to anypony inside the tavern. Everypony liked her, it was just the face she made when she walked in. Depending on her face, it was either good or bad news. Judging by her face, it wasn't the former.

She looked directly at Soul Eater and signalled with a hoof, for him to come over to her. He had to do what she said, because that was the rules of the settlement. So, Soul Eater got out of his sitting position, on the stool and approached the mayor. She turned and walked out of the tavern, still wanting him to follow her. He sighed angrily, knowing that he was going to be sent off to do some chores.

To Soul Eater's surprise, he was being taken to the medical wing of the settlement. He definitely didn't know what was going on, so he was eager to see what was happening. The mayor showed him in and gasped when she saw somepony in bed. They were mega ill! Soul Eater looked around for the doctor, but only found his assistant.

"Eater? You've met with Doctor Alchem, am I correct?" The mayor asked. Soul Eater shook his head and extended his hoof towards Alchem. Doctor Alchem was a little sceptical, but that didn't stop him from continuing the transaction of movements. He shook Eater's hoof and then walked back a little, giving the others some space.

"Nice to meet you Eater." Doctor Alchem prompted. Soul Eater didn't reply, he was just wanting to get all of this over with.

"So, what are me and the doctor doing for you then?" Eater asked, raising an eyebrow at her. She smiled and then scowled at Eater. Soul Eater was a little nervous. Normally, there would be a smile on her face and he could see that she was stressed and annoyed.

"You two are the only ponies who know how to use weapons properly. I need you both to take care of a huge amount of raiders heading here. I got a radio call from some of the scouts and they were under fire. You're the best we got here." She admitted, making both of them look at each other with a significant amount of shock. Soul Eater sighed, regretting being part of the settlement then and there. He travelled solo for most of his life.

Doctor Alchem was very concerned. Sure he knew his way around any weapon, but he didn't like creating holes, he always tried to fix them, regardless of the creature. He followed the ministry of peace.

"Are you sure that I'm one of the best?" Doctor Alchem asked, being unsure more than anything. The mayor nodded, pointing at Soul Eater too.

"You two are our only shot at keeping the settlement safe. There should be like fifteen raiders on their way. We got some weapons that you could use in the Armoury." The mayor acknowledged. Eater nodded in unicen with Alchem, making them both look at each other with surprise.

The mayor led them both to the Armoury and allowed them to grab whatever they needed to. Eater grabbed a simple handgun and a saber. He remembered getting the saber from a scavenger that wanted to take all of his stuff. The scavenger made a wrong move and Soul Eater took it with his magic and plunged it straight through the scavenger's heart, making sure that he wouldn't lose his life in the tricky situation.

Eater looked at Doctor Alchem as he was sceptical about choosing a weapon.

"Mayor? I notice that you have no medical guns, why is this?" Alchem asked, being slightly curious on why there weren't any. The mayor didn't answer, so he chose a handgun, a smaller one than Eater had taken. Soul Eater rolled his eyes as he thought about how he was going to keep the doctor alive. He didn't have the mindset of a soldier, but yet again, who did anymore? They both grabbed some armour from a nearby table and some extra ammo for their weapons inside the Armoury, before they both walked out to the gate of the settlement.

"They are coming from the south, so if you set up an ambush down the road a little, you should be able to catch them by surprise." The mayor stated, opening the gate and revealing a path that travelled south. Soul Eater and Doctor Alchem began their journey south, getting a fair distance away from the settlement, before looking back.

"Alright then Doctor, you understand how to use a gun, right?" Soul Eater asked, being mildly curious about a doctor that could use a weapon. He had never seen a doctor be confident with a weapon. Alchem nodded and then loaded a magazine into the receiver. That made Soul Eater smile.

They both continued a little way down the road, seeing debris and ruins of buildings to either side of the road. The settlement was out of view, so they both guessed that the area they were at, was a good location to set an ambush. Doctor Alchem took a position behind one of the carts, to the side of the road. Soul Eater had another idea, running into one of the closer buildings to the left side of the road.

It was a solid five minutes before they could both detect some noise. Doctor Alchem looked through the window of the cart and saw them. Some filthy raiders were heading towards them, travelling on the road. Alchem signalled to Eater about them. The only response that Alchem got, was a nod, followed by Soul Eater moving back, away from one of the windows he was at. Alchem did the same.

Doctor Alchem could hear them laughing. When he originally looked, he saw that they had been covered in blood and were cackling to each other. Alchem waited for them to pass before counting out that there were only six of them. The mayor had told them both that they said that there was like fifteen of them on the way. Alchem shook his head as he then cocked his weapon and aimed it at the raiders, using his muzzle to hold his weapon. It was a little awkward, but it got the job done.

Before Alchem could shoot, he watched in pure shock, as Soul Eater pounced onto one of them, jumping from the rooftop of the building he was originally in. He landed on them and sliced the blade he held in his mouth, into the throat of the raider. This made blood squirt onto his face, making him look like even more of a terrifying being. The attack was quickly followed by three shots, landing into the head of the others around him, dropping them instantly. Alchem could see that he wasn't taking any chances.

Alchem rushed in and winced, as Eater shot one of the raiders in the leg, before sliding and balancing on his forehooves, releasing a devastating buck to the raiders skull, indenting it and killing him instantly. If he was still alive, he would have had brain damage for sure. One of the raiders shot wildly back, spraying a barrage of bullets in the direction of Soul Eater.

Eater jumped out of the way as he gave chase to the pony that was running away. He fled into a building by jumping through a window, making Soul Eater surprised because of it still being intact, until the raider jumped through it. Soul Eater followed him, jumping over the window and finding the raider inside. The raider tried to buck Eater out of the window, but he dodged it and dropped his pistol, bringing his knife to bear, in his magic. He used the opportunity to kill the raider, by dragging the knife underneath the stomach of them. Eater used brute force to plunge the knife into the raider and then dragged the knife towards him. The raider fell limp, being as dead as they come.

Eater plucked the knife out from the raider's stomach and watched as it fell to the floor. He picked it up with his magic and then placed it into his weapon belt. He began to loot the raider, seeing that he didn't have much on his body. Eater turned out the corpse's pockets, finding a hefty amount of bottle caps inside. He nabbed them all before grabbing his own pistol with his magic. He placed the raider's weapon into his saddlebag and realised that he held a pistol and a shotgun, both being loaded. He shook his head, before stepping through the doorway.

Soul Eater returned outside to see one of the raiders alive on the floor. Alchem was trying to fix him. Soul Eater came up beside the Doctor and then paused. He quickly pulled out his pistol and shot the alive raider in the head. Alchem looked back at him.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" He shouted, looking angrily at Eater. Soul Eater shook his head, before going down to loot the other corpses.

"I completed the mission!" Eater declared, bending down at one of the raiders. He began to strip all of the bodies for ammunition and weapons and Alchem did the same, starting with the fresh death that happened a foot away from the doctor. He found some medical supplies on some of the ponies and then looked to Soul Eater to see if he was ready to head back to the settlement.

Soul Eater turned to Doctor Alchem and sighed, before stopping. He noticed a glint behind Alchem and pushed him out of the way, as a loud bang was present nearby, followed by the crack of a bullet. The bullet barely missed Alchem, as he fell to the floor, due to Eater's push. Instead, Eater had the bullet pass through his hindleg, making him scream loudly.

Alchem scrambled to safety and began to take shots towards the sniper, using his tongue to pull the trigger and missing all of them. He did an effective job of making the sniper take cover behind a tree, allowing Soul Eater to get to cover as well. They both got behind a stone wall, something that the sniper couldn't see them through. Eater crawled into a building, leaving a blood trail behind him. Alchem waited a couple of seconds before he followed the trail and saw that Eater was trying to fix himself. Doctor Alchem sighed, before walking up to him and placing a hoof on his chest.

"Let me help you!" He commanded, looking Eater dead in the eyes. Soul Eater drew in a deep breath, before closing his eyes, perking his ears up.

"J...Just stay quiet when you do it, I'll listen for him!" Soul Eater suggested. Alchem didn't reply, he was too busy trying to fix Eater's hindleg. He had to get the bullet out, then patch him up. Eater winced in pain as Alchem used his wing to dig inside for the bullet. He found it! He placed the bullet on the floor, before getting up and grabbing some bandages. He proceeded to wrap them around Soul Eater's hindleg, making him wince again.

They both got up, Alchem allowing Eater to balance on his wing, as they walked out of the building. Eater slowly pushed off Alchem and stood on three legs, before sneaking around the outside wall. He signalled for Alchem to stay put, so he did. Alchem heard a pony approaching him, so he pointed his weapon at the pony's location. The raider came into view, sniper on his back.

"Aww! What do we have here? A pretty pony with some goodies for me? Maybe I should break you open like a piñata!" The raider spoke, somewhat muttering to himself. The raider grabbed the sniper from his back with his magic, before pointing it at Doctor Alchem. He was completely convinced that he was about to die, so he closed his eyes for about two seconds, before opening them to look at the raider.

A large blast punched a hole in the raider's hindleg. This shocked the doctor at first, before he saw Soul Eater behind the raider, holding the shotgun that he had looted from the raiders, in his magic. The raider turned to Eater, before having his muzzle blasted to pieces by another shotgun blast. This made the raider instantly drop to the floor, increasing Eater's kill count an additional kill. Eater looked down at Alchem.

"You alright?" Soul Eater asked Alchem, hoping that he wasn't hurt. Alchem nodded. Eater wasn't one to make friends, in fact, he hated making friends. He only cared about himself most of the time, but in this situation, he had to make sure that him and Alchem survived. "Despite me not liking anyone, including you, I must admit that we need to get back together. I'm slightly confused by the amount of raiders here too. Where could they have disappeared to?" Soul Eater added.

Alchem scowled and then got up. He looked around and then looked at the chunks of pony that covered the floor. He tried to avoid stepping on any, but it was nearly impossible to bypass. Alchem walked over to the sniper on the floor and picked it up, placing it on his back. He looked at Soul Eater and frowned, seeing that he was holding two full saddlebags with weapons on his back. Alchem felt a little bad about the entire thing and walked up to Eater. He took the bags off Eater's back, allowing him to move easily, without the weight being put on his back.

Eater looked at Alchem and then yawned, being more tired than anything else. Eater barely became tired often, but the blood loss must have gotten to him. Alchem kept him steady on his three hooves. Once he got back, he would properly sort Eater's hindleg out. They both could see the settlement, but something was off about it. Something was wrong. They could see that the gate to the settlement was destroyed. That meant bad things had happened. They never left the gate open, let alone unlocked.

They both began to pick up their pace, as they got closer to the open to all settlement. They could see flames on the inside, which made them both think badly, picking up more and more negative connotations about the settlement's new condition. Soul Eater broke away from Alchem and rushed as fast as he could to the gate. He stumbled, but instantly got straight back up again. Eater got to the gate and froze. Alchem rushed over and took one glance inside, to see the horrors that lived inside.

There were bodies of ponies that lived in the settlement, along with the bodies of raiders that attacked. Eater entered the settlement and saw a raider dragging their body across the floor, still being alive. Eater looked angrily at the raider, as he walked calmly over towards them. The raider turned and smiled at Soul Eater, still crawling along.

"We killed them all! Hahaha! There's nothing here for you anymore!" The raider spoke, before Eater landed a hit on the side of the raider's head, with his hoof. Soul Eater began to rapidly hit the raider and Doctor Alchem looked on in horror, as the raider kept getting punched by Eater. He didn't feel like doing anything, because he was in too much shock. The settlement and all of the ponies in it, were destroyed. Alchem looked back down at Eater and walked up to him.

Eater was still punching the raider, even though they were clearly dead, due to the amount of blood on the side of the head that Eater was punching. Alchem slowly began to drag Eater off the body, but Eater pushed him away, before biting hard onto the dead raider's neck. He pulled with such a force, that the raider's head snapped cleanly off, bringing part of the spine with it.

Alchem winced at the scene before him, recoiling back as he saw the head in Eater's muzzle. Eater dropped the head to the side, before throwing it with his magic, into some fire. He looked around at the flames around him, the burning buildings, the burning ponies. There was nothing left! Eater got up and walked around, observing the surrounding area. Alchem joined him, wanting to keep Eater from falling over or breaking emotionally.

They both walked up to what was left of the tavern. It was ransacked! They noticed a familiar body on the floor. Turning the body over, they recognised the mayor of the town, eyes open wide, with her jaw snapped and hanging low. This made both of them recoil in shock, but it impacted Alchem the hardest. Although Soul Eater had only recently travelled to the settlement, about a month before the events of today, Alchem didn't go anywhere else.

Eater rushed out of the tavern and travelled down the settlement road, towards his home. Alchem chased after him, trying to keep up with him as best as he could. He caught up to Soul Eater and looked at him, as Eater examined his home. It was leveled to the floor. He broke down in tears. Alchem was shocked by his reaction, having seen such a fearsome fighter of Soul Eater. He never could have imagined that Soul Eater was soft, but he was definitely showing his softer side through all of this carnage.

Doctor Alchem used his wing to hug Eater. Soul Eater didn't appreciate it, slapping his bloody hoof against the underside of Alchem's wing. It hurt Alchem slightly, but he folded his wings in and just stared blankly at Eater.

"Sorry Doc, I don't do affection! I can handle this shit alone!" He whispered, then roared. Alchem stood back, understanding that he didn't like the help, but he just wanted to be alone to deal with it. He didn't want to be felt sorry for. Alchem understood that! Alchem passed by Eater and entered into the debris, lifting up rocks of concrete to find some things. Eater joined him and lifted up some debris with his magic. His bed was mostly intact, but that wasn't what he wanted to find.

He eventually found the lockbox that he wanted. It was his own personal stash. Some things that he kept and wanted to keep hold of. Eater picked it up with his magic and then sat on the bed, Alchem joining him shortly. Eater opened the box and saw what he wanted to. There was a weapon, with some ammo, a syringe with some fluid in it and a photograph. Eater picked up the photograph with his hooves and looked at it, while Alchem picked out the syringe with his wing tips, before reading the instructions on the tag of it.

"To make an entire lake of water, pure! A purification Syringe that can sterilise and cleanse water and other substances around it. Crafted with special dark magic spells, found within the Canterlot library." Alchem read clearly to himself. He was really surprised at how he had this in his lockbox. Alchem looked up at Eater and saw that he was still looking at the image. Alchem turned to look at the image with him and saw two creatures in it. They were both the same type of creature, but they were different to whatever creatures that Alchem had ever seen in the Wasteland. It was almost like they were bug ponies, but why did he have them in there.

Eater realised that Alchem was looking at the photo too, so he jumped and hid the photo from his vision. Eater placed the image into the lockbox and closed it, before placing it into one of the saddlebags he had with him.

"Keep the syringe out, it will allow us to cleanse water as we go. That's the only reason that I returned here" Eater Convinced, not convincing Alchem in the slightest. Alchem noticed a change in mood from Eater, as he evaluated him more. He was becoming slightly less hostile, only slightly though.

"We should search the bodies, to see if there is anything else we could use before we go." Soul Eater advised, making Alchem nod. They both went in separate ways. Doctor Alchem heading towards the medical section of the once liveable settlement and Soul Eater heading towards the tavern and Armoury.

"Soul Eater!" Alchem shouted, making Eater turn. "Be careful!" Alchem added, turning back around and trotting to the medical wing. Eater smiled at that and turned around and paced towards the Armoury first.

Alchem strolled carefully up to the medical section. Like all of the other areas, there were a couple of corpses. He looked worried, as he walked up to them, each one individually. He recognised all of the bodies, including the true doctor. This doctor was somepony that he worked closely with, ever since he had gotten to the settlement. He was his assistant. The doctor's body laid flat on the floor, a hoof missing from him. His eyes were open and were staring into open space, clear air. Luckily for Alchem, the doctor had not been looted properly, finding a couple of healing potions and syringes. He was happy about that, but closed the doctor's eyes, using his wing tips. Alchem closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, before moving on, towards the building.

Alchem foraged through the rubble of the building and found some more supplies. Bandages, tape, screws, and a fully stocked medkit. That was a good haul, but sadly, the raiders had picked it clean, leaving some empty medkit boxes out, which Alchem picked up and stored in his saddlebag. There was no space in the saddlebags, since they were full of the weapons that the raiders had. He was just about able to fit the boxes in them, before closing them up and making his way back to the gate. He was going to wait for Soul Eater to get back there, so he was going to keep the main entrance covered, making sure that no raiders could sneak in.

Alchem got to the main entrance and ran to one of the closer buildings, before setting the saddlebags off onto the ground and opening them up. Since Alchem was going to wait for Eater, he was going to make himself productive. He opened the medkits that were empty and filled them with the same types of ammunition. He was sorting it out and emptying the weapons, so that they were organised. He kept the sniper next to him, just in case he needed to use it to defend the area, as he began his tedious and time consuming sorting out process.

Soul Eater travelled to the Armoury first, leaving the tavern for later. He picked up some more saddlebags from a pony that didn't need them anymore and came to the door of the Armoury. It was still intact! The raiders surely couldn't have got into the Armoury vault, if they didn't have an entrance in and out. The door was still locked, so Eater used the password to open it. This opened it a little, but not enough to get a pony inside. He used his magic and teleported through the small gap. He looked at the door and saw that some of the roof had caved in, making the door not open properly.

Eater turned to the wall and saw that everything was near enough like how they had originally seen it, when being handed the weapons. There were only a couple of guns missing, but there was still a rightful amount there for the picking. Soul eater opened his saddlebags and crammed weapon after weapon in. Most of them were pistols and knives, but there was a submachine gun in there too. There was a light machine gun in there too, but sadly, that didn't have any ammo for it in the ammo boxes that littered the room. Most of them were empty and none of them were full. He grabbed the lot and placed it into his saddlebags before teleporting out of the door.

He travelled to the tavern next, being surprised that his bags were weighing so much already. He was walking on three hooves and tried to avoid putting pressure on his back one. It hurt so bad, but the surroundings took his mind off it, if not for a brief second every minute. He entered the tavern and then paused. He re-looked over the mayor. She wore a scowl, but there was something off. The way she positioned her lips, made Eater think carefully. Out of all of the surrounding settlements, why did the raiders decide to attack here and not the others?

Eater scouted behind the bar and saw that everything was smashed. There was nothing left. There was a medkit box under the counter, so Soul Eater took it and placed it in the saddlebags, knowing damn well that it was empty. The box might have been useful for either holding medical supplies, or something else. Eater shook his head and smacked his hoof against a ridge on the floor, sending him tumbling onto the floor and landing on his bad hoof, making him wince.

He looked down and realised that there was a floorboard sticking out. He got down and lifted the floorboard out and found a stone of some sort. It wasn't any normal stone, it was a glowing stone, something that Soul Eater had never seen. He would consult with Doctor Alchem about it, when he got back to see him. He placed the stone inside the saddlebag and looked back down to see a note. It was a tag of some sort. He picked it up and looked it over. He then read it out loud to himself.

"Keep this artifact away from the raider's leader, Sawtooth will surely destroy the entirety of the Wasteland with it. Keep it safe Appleseed!" He spoke, reading from the paper tag. He placed the tag inside the saddlebag as well, as he travelled swiftly out of the tavern, forgetting to loot the body behind the counter. He looked back at the mayor's body, Appleseed's body. He was happy that he knew her name now. It brought a sense of joy to his body. He felt like he knew somepony, finally he could say that he knew somepony's name. He closed the door to the tavern and made sure that it was shut. "Rest in peace my friends." He whispered to himself, rubbing his eye with a free hoof, wiping a tear away.

He headed in the direction of Alchem and took a little look around as he walked towards the main gate. He couldn't see Alchem, but he was sure that he was staying out of sight. Alchem was probably out of sight, but doing something productive. As Soul Eater got to the gate, he looked up at the broken building and saw him on the second floor, counting out the bullets and placing them in different sections. Eater walked up the stairs of the building, nearly not at all intact on their own without him walking on them. He got next to Alchem and placed down everything that he had. Alchem decided that he would sort out the ammunition that Soul Eater had collected and would let Eater sort out the weapons, breaking certain ones and keeping the others.

It took them a couple of hours to sort all of this out, between what to keep, scrap, store or sell. Most of it was in the selling section of it, with only a couple of others needed to be kept. While they were doing the sorting, they turned on an old radio that was next to the bed and sorted out the items into saddlebags. The radio played classical tunes from before the war, before the bombs. Doctor Alchem and Soul Eater both enjoyed the tunes on the radio, ranging in different genres of music and sounds.

They both finished sorting the weapons and supplies out and were about to start heading out, before a noise could be heard close to them. They both got down and looked over the lip in the wall. There were more raiders and they were looking for something. Eater poked Alchem on the back, making him turn.

"We need to get out of here!" Eater whispered, making sure that only Alchem could hear. Alchem looked at the raiders searching bodies, then nodded to Eater. They both carefully picked up all of the medkit boxes and their saddlebags and quietly crept out of the settlement. This wasn't the last time that they would visit the settlement, that was for sure. They were also playing it safe by not engaging with the raiders, since they had plenty of ammo and weapons to continue a war.

Alchem and Eater travelled south, following the roads and paths for a little while, before they engaged in any conversation. They didn't get where they were meant to travel to. How could they with all of the raiders around? They saw an outcove and some rubble. It was a slight indent into the rock, enough to house two ponies for the night, as Alchem looked up, confirming that night time was coming. Alchem travelled towards it and dropped his items on the floor and laid down. Eater looked a little sceptical, but didn't hesitate to take a break from all of the running and gunning. Soul Eater sat down, across from Doctor Alchem. He didn't want to get too close to him, due to the fact that he wasn't with him by choice, he was with him for survivability, but he was growing on him a little.

"I think it would be smart if we stay here for the night, then in the morning, we head to the nearest town." Alchem stated, sounding like he was in command. Eater nodded and then curled up, sticking his hindleg out, to avoid sleeping on it and regretting it when he woke up.

Alchem placed his saddlebags on himself, keeping him hidden underneath them. Soul Eater looked at him and moved right next to him, before flopping to the floor again and lying next to him. Alchem poked him with his wing, prompting him to speak.

"Do you want me to wrap my…" Alchem stated before getting rudely interrupted.

"No! I don't need your warmth! I'll be fine." Soul Eater replied, angrily shuffling away, but not too far. Alchem found that a little funny. The fact that he came close meant that he trusted him enough to be that close, but didn't want to stay warm. This made his heart jump and he began to chuckle softly. Despite being hostile towards Alchem's wings, Soul Eater grew a smile on his face, just from the look on Doctor Alchem's face.

Alchem just looked at Eater and kept his goofy smile on his muzzle. Eater covered himself with his saddlebags and kept his eye out for any movement. Alchem got some of the medkits out of the saddlebag and placed them in front of Soul Eater, acting like a little defensive wall. Eater was now wearing the stupid grin on his face. He looked back at Alchem and chuckled.

"Go to sleep! I'll look out and wake you up when I get tired." Soul Eater commanded, making Alchem nod. Alchem got up and walked to the edge of the outcove, before curling up and resting his head down. Eater got up too and placed his saddlebags around Alchem, keeping him warm. Eater sat up straight and pointed his ears up, making them keep awake and aware. He closed his eyes and listened. If he heard anything, he would definitely pick it up and what direction it was in.

Alchem was asleep for a short time, before waking up to see that Eater was still sitting down, keeping a clean ear on everything. Eater's ear twitched as he looked back at Alchem. Alchem froze as he looked at Soul Eater. He was terrifying! His eyes were not the usual colour of dark blue anymore. They were red, bright red! They pierced Alchem with their brightness, making him fear Eater a little.

"This is why I got the nickname of Soul Eater. Ever since the bombs fell, I have developed something that makes my appearance terrifying at night time." Eater admitted, making himself feel a little worse. Alchem looked at him dead in the eyes. He was looking awesome, but he was a sight to behold. Some sticks broke a little way away, suggesting that somepony or something was there. Alchem picked up his saddlebags and placed the medkits back inside them, keeping an eye on the area where the noise came from.

Eater placed his saddlebags on his back, before there was another stick breaking, followed by another. Eater stared in the direction of the noise and made himself vicious. He snarled at the green glowing eyes that were approaching them. There was only one set of green eyes gladly.

"Slowly walk back onto the road and wait for me." Eater calmly announced. Alchem nodded at Eater and slowly walked to the road. He could see both sets of eyes and that terrified him. Soul Eater snarled angrily at the unidentified thing. It snarled back, then howled. Eater launched himself at it while it was howling and shut it up, placing his hooves on the muzzle of the timberwolf. He was surprised to see that the timberwolf didn't try to fight back. He slowly placed his hooves on the floor and eyed the wolf. It was fully made out of wood and had flesh fused to connect the pieces together.

Eater thought about doing something bad to the timberwolf, but it didn't seem hostile, it just eyed him, like he was a friend or something. The timberwolf turned back around and walked away, being quite smart to shield it's eyes, so it couldn't be followed. Eater was just a little confused, as he walked back onto the road and began to walk down it, with Alchem in front of him.

They continued to walk down the road as they originally did. Their next stop or idea or plan was to find another settlement and trade resources with them. They would sell the bullets that they didn't need, in exchange for weapons that they would need, as well as equipment and armour. They paced at the same pace down the road, before they came to an unexpected sighting, in the distance.

Chapter 2: Hidden Pasts

There were raiders searching for something. The sight made Alchem freeze and then jump into a bush. Eater joined him as the group of raiders got closer. They had lights of some sort and waved them about, scanning the area like hawks. Soul Eater held Doctor Alchem behind him, making sure that he was in the firing line, if anything bad was to happen. They both dropped to the floor and Eater scraped some mud over them both. They were somewhat camouflaged.

As the lights of the raiders passed by them, they kept still, not wanting to get caught. They looked like the stump of a tree, so they didn't move, to make it stay like that. Alchem kept his eyes on the group as they passed by, while Eater kept his eyes closed, to avoid being detected due to them glowing in the night. Alchem was being held by Eater, but didn't mind it at all. He was warm, so he was grateful for it at least.

As they walked a little further, Alchem looked at Eater as he opened his eyes and stared back at Alchem. He slowly turned to look at the now walking away raiders and splayed back his ears. Soul Eater looked back at Alchem with a look of sorrow and anger.

"I need to either get them away from us now, or take them out, without a gun." Eater whispered, keeping an eye on the raider group. Alchem kept an eye on them too, but was very hesitant when it came to that response. Surely he could have just waited for them to pass, but they did have some good armour and weapons. They just needed to be as safe as possible, so they could either choose to kill them or flee.

"Eater, let just go! They won't look back." Alchem tried to convince him. It worked to some extent, but he was very sceptical about the choice. Eater slowly got up, taking Alchem with him as he rose up. He stood up and glared at the raiders, wanting to end them badly, but Alchem was right. There was definitely a chance that everything could have backfired, so they both were taking the easy and safer route.

They both slowly stepped into the road, keeping an eye on the group of raiders and crept away, down the tracks that the raiders had just come from. As Alchem turned around and ran, Eater glared at their backs, allowing his eyes to stare into their soul. It made him feel a little safer at least. Eater turned and trotted up to Alchem, keeping his pace with him, despite only having three working legs.

They continued down the road for what seemed like hours, before the road disappeared. They travelled south still, hoping to find a town of some sort of even a little settlement, or a camp. Just some form of civilisation to keep them from thinking that they were the only sane ponies in existence. After about five minutes after the road stopped, there were some lights behind a big wall that came into sight, indicating that there might have been some life.

Another settlement, but they both didn't know if they were going to find thriving ponies in a community or thrashing ponies struggling to hold onto life. They approached the gate of the settlement wall and saw some ponies on the wall, weapons pointed at them.

"Who are you?" The gatekeeper asked, pointing his weapon directly in-between Eater's glowing red eyes. Soul Eater closed his eyes and sighed.

"We are survivors of the apocalypse, we have been travelling south of the settlement of Journey and found this place. Raiders have killed everyone there, so we had to travel away to try and save ourselves." Alchem announced to the guard of the gate. Eater opened his eyes and looked at Alchem with a smile.

"And that's why I'm not the talkative one!" Eater chuckled, before turning to the gatekeeper. He looked slightly confused, but they could see that he was trying to wear a fake smile. He really didn't trust Eater, but Alchem was or at least seemed nice. He sighed dramatically before turning around and opening the gate, bringing the settlement into view.

It wasn't a very big settlement and was in less of a state than Journey was now. They both walked towards the gate slowly and looked inside. A couple of ponies and other creatures were present inside the settlement. They looked like they had seen the worst of the worst. In other words, they looked like they had faced every challenge the Wasteland threw at them. Eater looked up to the guard and smiled at him.

"You're doing a good job, keeping these ponies and creatures safe. Just thought I'd tell you that." Eater announced to the guard, seeing a faint smile appear on the guard's face. He shook his head, before looking back down at Eater with a stern scowl.

"Don't flatter me kid, you two head inside so I can close this gate." The guard announced to them, making them hop a little inside the settlement, the guard closing the gate behind them. They were locked in the settlement now, so they had to make the most of it. The settlement was nice, not posh or anything, but just nice. The red and yellow filled the area with a sense of life-like compassion and determination. Alchem took in a deep breath, before looking back at Eater. He was still out of it a little, but his bright red eyes kept on shining and illuminating his presence, making him look like a very disturbing threat.

The lights only helped to illuminate the area, brightening it to the point that it looked like daylight, just with a black sky. Ponies came to the gate and saw Alchem and Eater. They were fine when it came to Alchem, but already, Soul Eater could understand that they were scared of him. He was sure that they hadn't seen anypony like him before, a mystery with bright red eyes, only in the moonlight.

Eater winced as he put pressure down onto his back leg, before lifting it back up again, due to the pain. Alchem noticed this and moved closer to him. Alchem placed his hoof on Eater's shoulder, before talking to him, right next to his ear.

"Do you want me to sort your leg out?" Alchem asked Eater, being surprised when he got a smile from Eater. He nodded, making Alchem smile too. Alchem grabbed a syringe from his saddlebags and injected it into Eater's hindleg. He felt a cool warmth flow through his body and relaxed significantly, making sure that all of his muscles were relaxed and not tensed. His hindleg was numb now, making his mind question his curiosity. He lifted his leg with his magic and watched as it flopped back down. He couldn't control his hindleg.

Soul Eater watched as Alchem stitched up his leg, admiring each stitch as it went in and out. He was using some materials to make some stitch-like strands. He closed his eyes and sighed constantly, making sure that Alchem could hear it, to know that he was doing a good job. Eater just watched his skills go to work and laughed as he was worked on, like a machine that needed fixing. As soon as Alchem was done, Eater thanked him immensely, stating that he was humbly grateful for his service and that he was happy to be able to be healed. Alchem wore a stoick look and just bragged about helping other ponies all the time. At least that made him feel good, that was all that mattered.

A tall unicorn mare walked up to them both and bowed, making them feel a little uneasy. The tall unicorn dragged them both towards a small building, directly opposite of the gate. They were both very confused and sceptical about all of this, but went along with it anyway. The unicorn mare opened a door, prompting them to enter behind her. They both looked at each other and Alchem went first, before Eater limped behind him, leg still being limp from the syringe that Alchem injected him with. As soon as they were all in, the mare closed the door, submerging them in complete darkness. The mare lit her horn and shone the light at Alchem, making him become visible within the darkness. Alchem held a hoof to his eyes and adapted to the brightness of the unicorn's horn.

Alchem looked around for Eater and could see his eyes glowing in the corner. He slowly turned around as the mare flicked a switch, turning on the lights. One by one, the lights turned on, Illuminating the area around them both. Alchem looked over to Eater and saw that his eyes were back to their normal dark blue state. This made Alchem sigh heavily, being able to see Eater without the scariness behind him.

"What are you two doing here?" The mare shouted, slamming her hooves against a wooden desk. Alchem jumped from the force that she bellowed her voice at. Eater moved forward, towards the desk and just sat down.

"I don't know actually. How about we ask you that? Why are we here?" Eater announced, making the mare slightly confused. The mare pondered that thought for a couple of seconds before coming to a conclusion. She shook her head before coughing.

"You're here for something." She muttered, picking up the attention of Alchem, but Soul Eater was in his own world, still not being able to feel his back hindleg at all. He was just playing with it. Alchem looked back at him and sighed, before turning back to the mare.

"We are here because raiders forced us away from our home. Our old settlement? Destroyed by raiders!" Alchem roared, scaring the mare. She walked back a little from the power of Alchem's voice. Nopony spoke for a couple of seconds before the mare spoke up, coughing just before she spoke.

"Sorry about all of this. My name is Roselight! I am the head of this establishment. We don't really have many ponies come in through the gate. They are mostly raiders, scavengers and the occasional Steel Ranger, which we don't at all let in." Roselight conveyed, making sure that her words were soft and unable to hurt them mentally, or not giving the wrong impression. Alchem bowed and looked at Eater shortly after. Soul Eater just rolled his eyes. Alchem chuckled at that.

"Nice to meet you Roselight! My name is Doctor Alchem and that pony over there is Soul Eater! We came from the settlement of Journey, which has been overrun with raiders." Alchem announced, making sure that Roselight could hear it all. She tilted her head and looked at them both. Her light purple fur got lighter at the top of her ears, appearing almost white. She was a stunningly good looking mare, for the Wasteland at least. She was taller than most unicorns, but she only had a horn, no wings. She was on par with an alicorn's height, judging by the pony tales.

Eater shook his head in annoyance and listened to them both talk. He looked at himself and wanted to test something. He got up and slowly stumbled around, looking at them both. They both slowly stopped talking, as Soul Eater circled them, slowly. They both looked at him and looked oddly confused on what he was doing.

"Roselight? What does the air taste like to you?" Eater asked, being curious to what she could taste. She took a deep breath in and then exhaled.

"It tastes like it always does. It tastes like home!" She admitted. "Anyway, if you're looking to stay, I might need to ask you to do something for me." She added, prompting a sigh from Eater. She looked sharply at Soul Eater, making him snap back to the cruel reality. He smiled shortly after, his ears folding back. Alchem just rolled his eyes, giggling a little shortly after.

"What do you need done?" Alchem asked, expecting it to be super dangerous or something like that. It was! Roselight walked over to the boarded up window and sighed. She used her magic to pull a picture out of the draw in the corner of the room, slowly getting closer to her. She showed them both the image and paused.

The image was of a stallion that the mare probably loved. It was slightly ripped and torn, but that didn't stop it from showing off the dark blue stallion. She took one look at it and then placed it back into the draw, slamming the draw in the process. She looked down at Alchem and sighed.

"They took him from me! Actually no, they took me away from him." Roselight muttered, a little louder than Roselight thought she knew. Soul Eater slowly walked up to Roselight and wore a blank face, with no hints of happiness or sadness. A neutral expression!

"Is he alive?" Eater asked, curiosity lingering on his mind. She shook her head, before clearing some tears that began to form, at the corner of her eyes. She shook her head and tried to move on with the conversation.

"Raiders! There are some that need to be talked to. I don't like killing, so try to avoid it, unless talking fails. I need you to tell them to move away from the settlement. They are around the back part of the settlement. We could use their supplies, but I'm not going to kill them for self gain." Roselight ordered. Eater nodded his head and looked back at Alchem. He looked confused by what he was going to do with them both, but he didn't back down from a challenge. "When you're finished, meet me here. I'll need to talk to you again about something." She added. They both nodded at her, before opening the door and stepping outside.

Eater walked down the road, scanning the left, then the right. Alchem did the exact same, hoping to catch the raiders in the process of moving to another location. It didn't take long for the raiders to come into line of sight. Yes, they were in the settlement, but they weren't wanted. That was what they both thought anyway.

They both walked up to the raiders slowly, seeing only three of them, sat next to a wall. They caught sight of both of them approaching and stood up instantly. They didn't ready any weapons, they just looked worried. Eater eyed them both with passion, feeling their fear irradiating the area around all of them.

"What do you two want?" One of the raiders asked, raising up and trying to look more fierce. Eater looked at him and just watched his movements, chuckling inside his head at the raider's life choices. The raiders looked more and more worried about what was going to happen. Both Alchem and Eater sensed this.

"Look!" Alchem stated, before Soul Eater continued the conversation.

"We're not gonna hurt you! Roselight wants you gone, all of you. That is unless you want to change. I'm giving you the choice!" Eater commanded, looking down at the floor and hoping the violence would cease to continue. There were now six of them as Eater looked up from the floor. He didn't look happy at all.

Eater and Alchem could both feel them thinking about the option, the opportunity that came their way. They looked into Eater's eyes and smiled, before one of them walked towards both Alchem and Eater and stopped as they stood beside them both. He pulled down the hood on his cloak and showed his face. The face of Zebra-kind! Alchem's eyes went surprisingly wide when he saw the zebra, but Soul Eater didn't take any notice of it. The zebra turned to look at the other raiders and sighed.

"I'm taking the smart choice here. These ponies gave us a chance to change. I'm seeing the longshot here for the success of myself. My people wouldn't bow down to the likes of… them, but I will, because I can see that I would be part of something bigger." The zebra spoke, before narrowing his eyes. "You two better watch out. These rebels won't change! They were already given the chance. Never liked them, but had to trust ponies in order to get here." He added.

The rest of the raiders looked at the zebra in anger, giving him the literal death stare. Eater took note of this in his mind and stepped in front of the new zebra. No discriminating on his watch. They all looked to both Alchem and Eater, before running through the little entrance in the wall. That was a job well done, Eater thought, just before Roselight came out.

"Get them! They've robbed a house in the settlement! A revolver and bottle caps! One thousand bottle caps!" She roared, making them both nod at each other. The zebra slowly walked back.

"If you're really wanting to change, you can help with the settlement!" Alchem stated to the zebra. The zebra just nodded and turned to Roselight, seeing that she was very mad, not only at him, but at the other raiders too. She pointed a hoof at the building that Alchem and Eater had come out and told him to move into there, her being there to meet him shortly. She turned back to Alchem and Eater and nodded, giving them the go ahead to do it.

"Dead or alive, it doesn't matter now! Just get that revolver and huge amount of caps back!" Roselight roared, giving them the all clear. They both turned and ran as fast as they could, before Eater slid through the hole and Alchem flew over the wall. They both got to the other side without trouble and could see the group in the distance. They darted into a forest that was to the left of them both. Alchem and Eater both followed!

The woods were a terrific place! That was a direct lie, because it was actually a terrifying place. Monsters and other sorts of creatures lived in it. Radioactive material littered most of them, burning the tops of trees and irradiating the area around. Even though the bombs had destroyed any wildlife it could find, the trees eventually came back to life, but were in an endless cycle of torture.

Both Alchem and Soul Eater stopped, seeing one of them hiding down behind a tree, clearly visible to both of them.

"Look! Just give the caps and the gun back and we'll leave you to do your things." Alchem declared. They shook their head, as they looked out and tried to hide behind the tree again. Alchem slowly approached the raider, while Eater kept watch. As he tried to keep watch, he turned to look around and got struck with a buck to the head, sending him a little distance away from where he initially was. Alchem raised his pistol with his maw, but got it pushed out of his grip, sending it sprawling across the ground.

Eater was bleeding from the buck to the head. He was having a nose bleed too, but that was the least of his worries. The group rounded in on Alchem as he was pushed to the ground by them all. Eater used Alchem as a distraction as he shot one of them in the head, a pistol dropping from the grasp of the unicorn. It was the revolver and it had ammunition in the cylinder. All of the raiders turned around and watched in horror as they saw one of their own fall.

"Do you all want to end up like him?" Alchem asked, getting looks from all of them. Eater picked up the revolver and shot some more in the head with it, dropping them instantly. It was another unicorn and an earth pony. One of the raiders charged at Eater from a different angle, knocking him over and making the guns fly across the floor. Alchem got up and rushed to one of the guns, only to be dragged back by another raider. This one was a pegasus!

Soul Eater got up and bucked the earth pony raider a little, before getting thrown across the way and hitting a tree, cracking his back on it. The noise made the stallion chuckle, before he lined up another life changing kick to Eater's head. Eater ducked, just as the stallion kicked, making him hit the tree, instead of hitting Eater, as well as getting both his hindlegs stuck. Eater used this opportunity to get a branch off the tree, using his teeth to bite it off. It came off and Eater used the momentum to slap the raider in the head with it, leaving multiple marks on his face.

Alchem was in a fight of his own! The pegasus matched his every move. Alchem was strong, but this pegasus was a real challenge. The raider used his wing to pick up the revolver and placed it in his mouth. He then tried to line up with Alchem's head and fired the shot at Alchem, missing in the process. Alchem used his wings to push against the gun in the raider's maw. The raider shot again, missing a second time.

Eater came in and threw the pegasus off Alchem and pinned him down.

"Wrong move dude! You've lost!" Eater roared before snapping down on the pegasus' throat, drawing blood as he began to start tearing the raider's voicebox and jugular out. Alchem nearly threw up at the sight. Eater watched the life drain from the eyes of the raider, making sure he went numb, before stopping. The raider went lifeless, so Soul Eater slowly got off. He turned around and received a buck to the chest and got pinned to the floor.

Eater looked at Alchem and saw that he was hurt. This made Eater struggle as the stallion placed the revolver into his mouth. He looked down at Eater's form and saw that he had a stitch on one leg.

"Let me help you with that!" The stallion bellowed, before aiming the revolver down at Eater's hindleg and firing. The bullet pierced through one side and came out into the floor, leaving a massive hole in Eater's hindleg. Soul Eater cried, as his body was in shock and agony. The stallion placed the revolver against Eater's waist before firing again, tearing another hole into Eater, making him screech to an ear-piercing level.

The stallion's face was painted in Eater's blood. He rubbed his face with a free hoof, before getting off Soul Eater. He looked at his hoof and stood still as physically possible as he could. Eater's blood was green! He looked back down at Eater and smiled.

"I'm going to let you lie there and bleed to death. It's the least you deserve!" The raider stated in his final words before getting hosed with bullets from the gun gripped in Alchem's muzzle. The raider danced like he was a professional, as his swiss cheese looking corpse fell to the floor. Alchem dropped the gun and ran to Eater, grabbing the stocked medkit that he had and using it. Eater was in a bad condition and needed help. He began to address the wound in his waist, making sure that he was losing as little blood as possible.

As Alchem was working, he noticed too, that Eater's blood was green. It was red on contact, but as soon as it left his body and into open air, it changed to green instantly. This interested Alchem about what had happened to Eater during his time in the Wasteland. He shook his head before getting back to saving Soul Eater.

Alchem looked at the raider, who had just pumped all of the ammo from Eater's pistol into and frowned. He hated that he had to do that to save his friends, but that's what it came down to. He looked back at Eater and smiled, making Eater smile through the pain he was in.

"The good news is that the shot didn't hit any vitals. The bad news is that you're going to struggle to walk." He informed Eater, trying to make it seem better than it was. In reality, he was going to need something to help him stay on all four legs, or three if they counted the damaged leg.

There was still a raider left. That was the only thought on Eater's mind as he struggled to get up, still being in the most amount of pain he had ever been in. Alchem scanned about for the raider and then got a pistol pressed to his head. The revolver! The final raider was holding the revolver in his teeth. The thing that the raider didn't understand was that the revolver was empty, so was the pistol that Alchem dropped. Eater was the only pony with any ammo in his weapon. The only guns that were loaded and on the floor were empty. He wore a smile as he held the gun in his maw, excited about this opportunity.

Alchem looked back at him, not being interested in the slightest. He continued to work on Eater and kept it so that Eater was in as little pain as possible. Eater had something in his mouth, while Alchem worked on him. This was to give him something to bite on, if the pain got too much. As Alchem stitched up the hole, Eater bit down hard on the item he had in his mouth. It was soft, but also flexible. It was like a sponge and was present in every medkit box.

The raider pushed the revolver to Alchem's head and laughed menacingly. Alchem didn't respond as he watched the raider. The most blank expression was on his face at that moment in time. The raider pulled the trigger and watched as… nothing happened!

The raider looked at the revolver and pulled the trigger again, eliciting the same response from the revolver. He tried again and again and nothing happened. Shots had been fired. The revolver was a six shot. So, two bullets went into the previous raiders, the others went next to Alchem's head and the last two went into Eater's leg and waist. All six shots had been fired and there were no more around. Alchem and Eater both knew that the gun was empty from the start, that's why they were so cool with being aimed at.

The raider dropped the revolver and scrambled to the floor, before they grabbed the other pistol, the one the Alchem just emptied into the other raider who shot Eater. Yet again, nothing happened when he pulled the trigger. He kept pulling the trigger trying to shoot an imaginary bullet into one of them, but yet again, it failed. Alchem was getting tired of this, so he turned Soul Eater over gently and started stitching up his back and hindleg. The raider kept being annoying with the pistol, as he kept screaming for it to work. Alchem got pissed, so he grabbed the saber that Eater had with him, with his mouth and pointed it at the raider, threatening his life.

The raider instantly dropped the pistol and sat down, keeping an eye on the blade. A roar came from the distance, but Alchem and Eater didn't make much of it. The raider on the other hand, was literally terrified. He was freaking out and was annoying both Alchem and Soul Eater again. Alchem was nearly done with the stitches. As he was finishing up with Eater's hindleg, there was a snap of branches and twigs. The raider snagged the saber as they both looked in the direction of the noise.

They both looked back at the raider, as he slowly walked backwards, towards the noise. Eater got helped up by Alchem, before they both walked backwards, heading in the opposite direction to where the raider was. The raider was so distracted by the thought that they were afraid of him, which they weren't, that he didn't notice the large figure towering behind him. Both Alchem and Eater looked up into the eyes of the huge, shadowy figure, as it loomed over the raider. It got through to him that they weren't looking at him, as he turned around and saw it too. A three headed monster!

The raider screamed and plunged the saber into the chest of the beast, making the beast react. It roared with the fury of the sun as it pounced onto the raider, making quick work of him. Alchem dragged Eater with him, as he darted into a bush. They watched the scene play out.

The raider was torn apart by the three headed beast. It ripped him in half to begin with, before cracking his skull with its teeth and slurping out his insides. The beast then devoured the raider's head, followed by the body and then the bottom half of the raider. It was a gory display, but when they thought about it, he kind of deserved it. The creature looked around and saw them both. It froze for some reason as it locked eyes with Eater, but then it quickly snapped back into action, slowly approaching the bush. They both ran!

Alchem ran straight, trying to gain as much distance as he could from the beast, while being on the ground. The forest was way too dense to fly. He could fly in the forest, but it would be slower than running, so he kept to the ground as much as he could. He continued forward, weaving past different types of trees, each one looking strangely different to the others.

Eater had other ideas. He kept low and crept through the forest. His eyes glowed red again. He knew the reason they kept doing it, but he didn't need to educate himself on the matter. All he had to do was escape a visible line of sight from the beast, then he would be fine. He kept as quiet and sneaky as possible, limping as he snuck around, keeping an eye on the direction that Alchem travelled. As he did, he saw the beast gaining on Alchem. Eater's fight or flight adrenaline kicked in as he quickly pursued the beast from the side, forgetting about both of his wounds in an instant, but still limping.

Alchem came to a cave entrance. There was no other route around the trees. The only way out was into the cave. He made it a little way inside, before turning around and seeing the beast there, eyeing him. He nearly passed out from the sight of the beast. The faces of the beast were not visible, but there were definitely three of them. One looked like a snake's head, but the others were definitely not visible, especially because they were both in a cave. Silence flooded the area, only broken by the breathing of the creature and the breathing of Alchem. It slowly approached him, licking its lips.

Eater literally flew in from the side and stood in front of Alchem, facing the beast directly. His eyes were glowing the brightest they had ever been, due to the time of night and the anger he felt. He wasn't going to lose anypony else today, so he was putting his life on the line for Alchem. The hydra slowed down and then stopped.

"Soul Eater? How did you…" Alchem stated, before getting cut off by the hydra. It roared like nothing Alchem had ever heard in his life. The sound echoed over and over for several seconds. All the ponies in the Wasteland could hear it. It was mesmerising to listen to and it also hurt Alchem's ears a little. He shivered a little and saw Eater turn to him.

"You might want to cover your ears." Eater suggested, using a hoof to keep Alchem behind him. Without a word, Eater changed form. He looked exactly like the creatures in the image he had. This made something within Alchem click, putting all of the pieces together. Eater was one of them, but this didn't make Alchem scared of him, it only furthered his curiosity into Eater's life.

Black chitin replaced where any normal pony's fur would be. The chitin consisted of different pieces, forming together like they were armour, but instead, they were plates that were able to move around and be quite flexible, or so Alchem thought. Eater looked back at Alchem and smiled. He had fangs and his eyes were still bright red. It was almost terrifying seeing him as such a creature.

His fangs were long! They were like icicles, sharpened to perfection by crafted hooves. Alchem looked down and saw that his hooves and hindlegs had holes in them, almost like the raider that Alchem filled full of bullets. Alchem looked at the wings that Eater had kept secret. Those too had holes, so did his tail. As Alchem evaluated Eater, he gave one final look at Eater's face. His horn was jagged and torn, as well as being a little twisted. It looked cool, but did it lessen the functionality of his horn? Alchem had no idea. He was in shock.

Eater turned to the hydra and moved back a little, taking a defensive stance. He looked at the hydra directly in the eyes and gave it a blank expression, before opening his mouth into three separate sections. His muzzle split into two, creating an alien-like mouth that looked a little like a three leaf clover. Along each open maw, there were two rows of razor sharp fangs. Eater let out a screech, as Alchem kept his hooves on his ears, the noise still getting through and becoming blisteringly loud. The noise made the hydra fall, it's ears started to bleed.

Eater stopped screeching and closed his triple mouthed maw, before turning to Alchem and pushing him lightly into the cave. Alchem took his hooves off of his ears and looked worryingly at Eater. Eater just stared at him, again giving him a blank stare. No words were swapped, as the only exit from the hydra, was the cave. They both walked in and hid behind some rocks. The hydra wasn't looking like it was going to go anywhere. This forced them to travel through the cave, a choice that they didn't want, but had to do.

The cave was dark, so Eater illuminated his horn and produced a torch-like spell, making him able to see around the cave. Alchem was able to see a little, due to the spell. It was nearly pure blackness in the cave, if it wasn't for Soul Eater's light being able to brighten the area up. Eater was barely visible in the light, which didn't make talking to him any easier.

"Eater?" Alchem asked, not getting a response. Eater looked at him, but didn't feel like he wanted to answer. He just sighed and continued to look at the floor again, while Alchem still pressured him with questions. "How much have you been hiding? How long have you been like this? Were those creatures in that picture your parents?" Alchem consistently questioned, stopping when Soul Eater looked up from the ground.

"Alchem? Can you please just stop? The pain is coming back and you're not helping at all." Eater responded, sitting one the ground of the slightly damp cave. Alchem came into the light more and then sat with him. Eater looked away, before Alchem pulled his head back with a hoof.

"I'm just so curious, sorry." Alchem pouted, looking into Eater's scarily beautiful eyes. That made a brief smile make an appearance on his muzzle, before frowning again and scraping his hoof on the floor. As Eater did this, Alchem just watched him, not pressuring him, but not wanting to hold on for too long.

"Those creatures in the picture are creatures called changelings. Changelings were the pony race that were shape-shifters and masters of trickery. It pains me to say it, but my kind was first off the bad or the villains of Equestria. Now, well now we are no better than the average pony." Eater admitted, staring blankly at the floor. Alchem took in every word.

"So they weren't your parents in that photo then?" Alchem asked, becoming slightly concerned about Eater. Eater nodded and then shook his head after.

"My mother was with a friend. I didn't really have a good photo of my father." Eater admitted to Alchem, making Alchem feel a little more attached to Eater, wanting to hear more about him. Eater put out the light on his horn and then sat there, his eyes making Alchem aware of his presence. Alchem wasn't sure what to do in the situation he had been placed in. The fact the Eater was a creature of some sort, made a shiver run down his spine, but it didn't give him any confidence that Eater was loyal. He had taken bullets for Alchem, so he had to be eternally grateful for everything that he had protected him from.

Eater re-lit his horn, before throwing light about the cave. It was like a flare, but it was just little balls of magic that stuck to the ground, illuminating the area more than Eater did before. Alchem could see Eater out of the darkness and smiled at him. That made him blush a little as he looked back at Alchem. Eater began to slowly limp down the cave, Alchem following him closely from behind.

"So what happened to them?" Alchem asked, getting closer due to his curiosity. Eater looked back at him and sighed, before finding a large boulder ahead. He sat his rump on top of it and carefully thought out his words.

"They were a weird bunch. My father was a hard worker, never skipping a day, even if he was ill. He perished as the bombs fell. My mother, she survived! She was resilient, but the raiders eventually found her." Eater announced, hanging his head in shame. Alchem used a wingtip to lift up Eater's head, brushing his cheek with a feather. That tickled him a little, making him smile the smallest amount, before seeing his face return to its previous position.

"What about you?" Alchem asked, looking excited to learn his origin. Eater looked over to him and tapped on the boulder, signalling for him to take a seat. Alchem happily followed his order, sitting straight up and ears directed to Eater. Alchem enjoyed a good fictional story, but the real ones were the best.

"I was born before the bombs. I saw it happen! I was only little, mind you. My vision was a little foggy back then. Since the bombs fell, me and my mother constantly went on the run, getting where we could and always assuring that each other were safe. We found things that ponies could only have dreamt of and traded them in for an incredible amount of bottle caps." Eater told, looking at Alchem. Every word got through Alchem's ears, as he nodded for the story to continue.

"Go on Eater, it's ok." Alchem convinced, trying to make the nerves of Eater die down. It worked a little, as Soul Eater closed his eyes and sighed heavily, taking in a deep breath before exhaling and opening his eyes.

"They ripped her apart, while I was hiding. They chopped off her head and… they… they violated her, right in front of me." Eater admitted, feeling a little worse now. He placed his hooves on his new waist wound, that Alchem had patched up a couple of moments ago. It began to hurt him as he thought more about the badness of his own life, so Alchem rubbed his shoulder with a wingtip.

Soul Eater flinched at the touch, but then looked up at him, meeting his eyes. He smiled as best as he could, before he turned and looked down at the floor again, still feeling Alchem's wing on his shoulder. As Alchem kept his wing on Eater's shoulder, he started to move it around in circles, feeling Eater's surprisingly softer than expected chitin.

"I couldn't save her, but they were stupid enough to give me a chance." Eater muttered. Alchem caught wind of this and stopped rubbing Eater's shoulder, moving around him and sitting on the cold cave floor, ears perking up.

"How come?" Alchem questioned, pushing on with the conversation. "If you don't mind me asking." He quickly blurted, adding to the question. Eater closed his eyes again, cutting out all sources of sight from his mind, as he thought about the events that were pinned to the back of his mind.

"A gun dropped on the floor. While they were busy violating my mother's corpse, I picked up the gun and crawled out from my hiding spot and aimed the weapon at them. They continued to violate my mother, so I did the next best thing. I shot all of them in the head, dropping them instantly, before I went to bury my mother. My only family left, before I became truly alone." Eater spoke clearly, making Alchem take in a deep breath.

"Wow! That's all I can say to that." Alchem admitted, feeling bad for Soul Eater and his mother. He couldn't have imagined that Eater's past was that brutal and gory. Sadly, the truth was horrible, but at least it was true. That was life in the Wasteland. Eater wiped his eyes, rubbing away any tears that were present on his face, before slowly getting up and sliding off the boulder. They needed to get out of the cave, that was their main objective.

The hydra was most likely blocking or waiting from the entrance that they entered, so they needed to find a tunnel that would allow them to escape through it, back into the outside world. A noise came from the area that they entered through, suggesting that the hydra was still outside, looking to snack on a changeling and pegasus.

They both pushed deeper into the cave, finding that it went down a little and then back up. There was some water in the cave, running water that flowed down through the cave. Alchem walked up to the water and dipped his hoof into it, finding it to be freezing cold. That put a worried look on Eater's face and made his new changeling ears fold back. His ears looked exotic to Alchem, so beautiful and perfectly cut to make it look like he was always vigilant.

They had to cross the running water to get to the other side and out of the cave. Eater was going to test whether they were going to need to fly across or if they could have just walked across, only getting their hooves wet. Eater took one step and found that the water was shallow and running slowly down the cave. He chuckled as he turned to Alchem and smiled.

"It's perfectly fine!" Eater convinced, taking a step backwards and falling into a deep section of the water. Alchem rushed to the water and saw that Eater was under it. He jumped in and grabbed Eater by the neck, before dragging him up and out of the running puddle. Alchem threw Eater onto the ground and sighed, seeing that he was shivering a lot.

"Death by cold is not how I wanna go!" Eater roared out, getting up and shivering still. Alchem rolled his eyes at Eater, thinking that he was making a mountain out of a molehill. Eater looked at him with worry. "You do realise that I'm cold blooded, right? I might need your help!" Eater questioned. Alchem shook his head and Eater looked worried. "Cold blooded creatures don't get hot, but if they get cold, they can die!" Eater blurted out, his face and body changing from a dark grey, to a dark blue. Alchem walked up to Eater and placed a wing around him. It didn't do anything. "We need to get someplace warm and fast!" Eater whimpered, beginning to run on three hooves up the cobbled cave, travelling towards the light. Alchem followed quickly.

As soon as they got out, they didn't know where they were. The trees looked the same, with no indication of where the end of the forest was. Eater did something smart amongst the confusion. He looked at the cave and realised that the cave didn't have any turns that they had to take, meaning that it was the way the cave led, straight back. Eater pointed this out to Alchem and he nodded, before they both travelled back, above the cave in the same direction that they had originally come from.

They had to be careful. They didn't know what type of creatures would be present in the forest, so they kept on high alert. The main point was to keep hidden from the hydra, as that would probably be roaming about to try and find them both. Eater's suspicion came to the harsh truth. The hydra was stumbling around and clawing at the cave entrance, trying to get in. They both carefully snuck around behind it, avoiding stepping on anything that would give them away, as they carefully picked each movement.

Alchem observed the beast, as I clawed and snatched at the cave, moving the entrance of it and making it change shape. The hydra roared, all three of its heads snapping and tearing at rocks, throwing them away, while in a rage. Both Alchem and Eater both wanted to fly away, but the noise would attract a hydra to come after them. They had to walk it off, even though Eater was not healthy to do so.

They slowly exited the forest, moving back onto the path that the raiders had run down. The settlement was visible again. It felt like weeks since they had seen it, but clearly it hadn't been that long. They wobbled down the cobbled path, evaluating the different designs on each of the cobble. Eater hadn't changed from his changeling self, which surprised Alchem to the fullest. Alchem saw a cart on the path with a pony next to it, looking dead. He had nothing with him, apart from the cart. The raiders had probably got to him first. The word 'raiders' sparked a question into Alchem's mind.

"Soul Eater! We didn't loot the raiders!" Alchem announced loudly, making Eater turn to him. He went wide eyed, as he continued to shake, due to the coldness that he was feeling. Alchem wrapped his wing around Eater and frowned. "We also need to get you warm." Alchem added to his list of things to do. They both turned around and walked back, seeing the scuffed hoof prints that indicated that one of the raiders had skidded when trying to turn. They re-entered the forest, trying to finish the mission that they had been given.

The hydra was nowhere to be seen as they looked around for any signs of it. The bodies were still as they were and the raider in pieces was still in the hydra's stomach. If the raider that got eaten had the caps on him, they wouldn't be getting that back. It was the same concept with Eater's saber. It was now lodged in the beast and taken away from him. He knew it was only a sword, but it was something else, compared to all of the other swords that he had seen.

They scavenged around the corpses and found the revolver next to Eater's pistol. They both were in the dirt, gathering dust by the second. Both were a little blood stained a little bit, but that was something that a little water could get off. Alchem found the caps on the stallion that shot Eater, getting shot with around eight shots in the back. Alchem was slowly getting familiar with weapons, but would never be as good as Eater with the knowledge of them. They continued to loot them, Alchem finding some extra things on the raiders that would eventually come in handy.

As Alchem finished scavenging, he looked over at Eater and paused. Eater was in rags, probably trying to warm himself up. Alchem walked over to him, seeing that he was still shivering and put a hoof on his shoulder, looking into his eyes.

"Once we get back, I'll clean you up and then keep you warm, ok?" Alchem commanded, prompting a raised eyebrow from Eater. They both smiled at each other and chuckled.

"Sure, just let me take this all off then. I'm freezing my ass off here!" Eater admitted, still shaking. They both got what they could before they both rushed to the path, not going too fast because of Eater's leg and waist, but fast enough to get them out quickly. They quickly strolled down the cobbled path again and could see that the moon was still up. It was blissful seeing the moon, but they could never see the sunlight. It was almost like Celestia herself was pissed at the world, but Luna wasn't. Most ponies in the Wasteland wouldn't understand that, but a couple would and would probably agree with it.

Roselight was in armour, as she saw Alchem and Eater return. She waved a hoof to them and Alchem raised a wing up, indicating that he saw it. Eater used his magic to raise up the caps and the revolver, but as soon as Roselight saw Eater, she stopped and looked tense. She pointed her weapon at Eater, as he rolled his eyes.

"Roselight, please don't! It's me! Soul Eater!" He tried to convince her. Roselight lowered her weapon slightly, but kept an eye on Eater as the gate opened for them. They both entered through it and waited for Roselight to get down from the wall, holding the caps and revolver close to them. As soon as Roselight came into view, she eyed Eater like a hawk. Eater stared at her and nodded, before placing both of the items on the floor and walking back. He limped backwards awkwardly and Roselight picked up on this.

"Alchem? What has happened to Eater?" She asked, trying to get more information about him. Alchem looked back at Eater as he sat down, shivering. Alchem took Roselight around the corner and began to talk to her, making it so that Eater was unable to see their conversation.

"Roselight, do you know what a changeling is?" Alchem asked Roselight, giving her a questionable look. She closed her eyes, trying to remember what they were. She shortly opened her eyes and nodded.

"Yes! They were shape-shifters that were ponies, but also bug-like. Am I correct?" She blurted out, getting a nod from him as a reply. She peaked around the corner of the building and looked at Eater, he was constantly changing the colour of his chitin, making it go from a dark blue, to dark green then a dark yellow and then red, before fading to a dark purple and back to dark blue. He was experimenting with some colours she guessed. She turned back to Alchem and sighed. "I'm a little on edge, but I'd like to talk to him sometime. Him and you in private, one at a time. For now, I will welcome you to the settlement." She announced to Alchem, dragging the revolver and the caps towards her grasp.

Roselight walked out from behind the building and walked towards Eater, Alchem following her slowly. She walked up to Eater and stopped, waiting for Alchem to come around to the opposite side of her. Alchem went behind Eater and helped him up, lifting him up softly with his wings, until Eater was on three of his hooves.

"You both can sleep in an apartment that we have free tonight. Go relax and rest up. We'll see you tomorrow morning." Roselight convinced, bowing and walking away with the caps and revolver. Eater turned to look at Alchem and was wearing a confused look. They didn't understand where they were meant to go. They walked over towards Roselight, before they saw her talking to a stallion while pointing to them both, before turning away again. The stallion pranced over to them and signalled for them to follow. Eater looked to Alchem for something to reassure him. Alchem just tilted his head before they both followed the stallion.

He led them both to an apartment that was slightly abandoned, but still looked good enough to live in. The stallion turned and bowed, before he slowly walked away. They didn't get the chance to thank the stallion, as they both watched him walk away. They turned back to the apartment and sighed, before opening the door and entering, making sure to close the door behind them both.

The building was cold, but that didn't get rid of the fact that the entire area was dark too. Lights didn't light up anything, as Eater tried to turn some on. Eater rolled his eyes before lighting up his horn and throwing a couple of balls of light around, brightening up the area around them both. Eater was still shaking as Alchem inspected him, making him feel a little bad. It hadn't been that long since Eater had fallen into the water, but he didn't want the only pony that had helped him to get injured more or worse, die.

Alchem laid on the floor next to where Eater was and opened his wings, making it look like he was stretching. Eater lied down next to him, lying on his side to make himself more comfortable with the pain, trying still to not let either his waist or hindleg hit on the floor. As soon as Eater was down, Alchem wrapped his wing over Eater. Eater turned to him with shock and watched as Alchem just kept smiling at him.

"Is this because I said that changelings die from being too cold?" He asked, getting an instant nod from Alchem. "Well then, take these to keep you warm." Eater added, as he used his magic to move his saddlebags around Alchem, creating some sort of blanket around him. That was going to be Eater's gift to Alchem for the night of warmth. He would return his warmth with more warmth.

Alchem closed his eyes and watched as Eater did the same. The last thing Alchem saw before he drifted off, was a twitch from Eater's ear, making Alchem smile as he left for his slumberland of imagination.

Chapter 3: Alone Adventure

Alchem woke up, instantly sitting up and looking around. They were in the same room, the same position, the same air. Alchem didn't want his mind playing tricks on him, so he looked over to Eater and saw him sleeping. Before Alchem did anything, he looked at Eater's face and admired it. Despite looking fierce while he was awake, Alchem had to admit that Eater looked a little bit cute while his eyes were closed.

Alchem laid in front of Eater and placed his wing over him, seeing that Eater liked the feeling of Alchem's wing. Eater grabbed Alchem's wing with a hoof, before nuzzling into it. Alchem enjoyed the feeling of it, but he quickly pulled his wing away as Eater was about to bite down on it. This action made Eater open his eyes and look at Alchem with an angry glare.

"What do you think you're doing?" Eater asked calmly, while stretching his forehooves and his not damaged hindleg. This surprised Alchem that Eater was speaking softly. He was caught so off guard, that he didn't notice Eater's wing creeping towards him. Eater rubbed Alchem's side with his paper like wing, making Alchem jump in the process. He looked over to Eater's wing and looked back at Eater, watching as he just smiled at him.

Alchem didn't know how to feel about the events that were spiralling out in the direction that they were, but he wasn't intending on stopping them either. Eater was going to be the one to stop it, as he turned onto his back, dragging his wing from Alchem's side and placing it back behind his back. Alchem smiled as he got up, being stopped by Eater's hoof.

"What do you want Eater?" Alchem asked politely, smiling as he looked down at Eater. Eater didn't say anything, but instead, he tapped the ground beside him, signalling for Alchem to at least sit down next to him. Alchem sat down and looked at Eater again, seeing that he was still tapping on the ground. Alchem lied down and kept an eye on Eater, still seeing him tapping his hoof, but not at the floor this time. Eater was now tapping his chest lightly. Alchem slowly moved, more or less shimmied, over to Eater before resting his head on Eater's chest. This made Eater smile, as he closed his eyes.

Alchem kept his eyes open and stared at Eater, his vision almost unable to pick up the changeling in the darkness around them both. Eater opened one eye and stared blankly at Alchem, making Alchem blush in the process. Alchem immediately got up, looking angrily and mischievously at Eater, before walking over to the window and sitting down next to it. Eater slowly got up, feeling a little stiff from yesterday's events and trotting over to Alchem.

Eater slowly brought the saddlebags over, being originally used as a hard blanket for Alchem to not get cold. He placed them down and sat down next to Alchem, before he began to open all of them and sort through the stuff inside. Alchem turned and opened a saddlebag at random, seeing that he opened the medkit box saddlebag first. The boxes contained different types of ammunition, but Alchem would have to go through them all to check what ammo was what.

Alchem saw a pencil across the room and walked over to it, picking it up with his mouth. He immediately spat it out and spat out the taste of it, making him feel sick. Eater picked up the pencil with his magic and saw that the lead was perfectly intact, but the wood around it was eroded away, as a result of the art of the Wasteland. Alchem returned to his place and laid down, before Eater chuckled to him.

"How about you choose a different saddlebag? I'll do the writing with… this!" Eater suggested, pointing at the eroded pencil. Alchem smiled at him, accepting his decision and taking another saddlebag. The next one had the guns inside of it. "Alchem? Pass me your pistol. I'll reload it for you." Eater commanded, seeing that Alchem followed orders as he passed the pistol with his maw.

Alchem watched Eater as he got to work. Eater took out the magazine of Alchem's pistol and got to work putting some bullets into the weapon. He knew exactly what bullets would go into the magazine, so he got out the maximum amount of bullets he could, that would fit into the weapon properly. He placed up to eight bullets into the magazine and slid it back into the pistol, sliding the chamber at the top of the weapon, to ensure that the pistol had a bullet loaded and ready to fire.

Alchem watched as Eater closed the box, before writing something on the box and putting it to the side. Alchem looked over at the box and saw that he engraved the word '45 ACP' into it. It was clearly visible, so they knew that the ammo was correct. They didn't want to be getting rid of ammo that they were going to use, so they needed to sort it out as soon as possible, so that a little later, they could begin to trade some of it for a big amount of caps.

A thought entered Eater's mind, as he remembered all of the caps that he had acquired from the raiders, the first time. He was eventually going to find those caps, it was just about which of the five saddlebags they were in. It was just a game of patience. As for right then and there, he was going to sort out everything that he and Alchem had, distributing all of the stuff they weren't going to use into a saddlebag for selling. At least that way they could keep two saddlebags each, while gaining some caps in the process.

They were both on the last saddlebag, sorting out some of the few remaining items they could. They thought to themselves that they were going to come to the conclusion of selling all weapons apart from the shotgun and sniper and the two pistols they already had, along with all of the ammo, apart from the ones that they needed.

Alchem was going to keep a couple of medical supplies, just in case one of them was to get hurt. As the thought of that went through Alchem's mind, his eyes darted to Eater for a quick second, before resting on the saddlebag again. Most of the second bag that Eater had searched was junk, so it was easy to get through. Apart from the syringe that he had from his home, it was all junk, so he came over to help Alchem with his problem of searching through the saddlebags.

They were nearly finished with the saddlebag, when the rock came out of the saddlebag. Eater looked a little shocked. He was sure that he put the rock into his saddlebag. Alchem picked it up with his wing and then instantly dropped it onto the floor, the rock being burning hot. Alchem was surprised that the rock wasn't able to burn through the bag of the saddlebag.

Eater picked it up with his magic and watched as it glowed slightly, illuminating the room a little. Alchem pouted, not able to be able to pick up the beautiful rock and examine it.

"I found this inside the tavern back at Journey. Apparently, a raider by the name of Sawblade or Sawtooth, or something wants it and can unleash its power. The only thing is that he is the leader of the raiders, so we need to keep it out of his or her hooves." Eater explained. Alchem just looked puzzled, like something didn't add up. He thought to himself for a second, before looking at the rock.

"What would the leader of the raiders want with a glowing rock? For all we know, it could be radioactive, which might suggest why it hurts when I pick it up." Alchem suggested. Eater nodded in response to that and pondered the idea. Alchem could be correct, but it would take some looking into to find what was so special about the rock. Eater placed it in one of his saddlebags and made sure that it was protected by something, before closing up his saddlebag and placing it over his back, hurting him a little in the process.

Alchem noticed that it was slowly getting lighter outside, so he decided that it might have been a good idea to go outside and get some irradiated air, because fresh air was a thing of the past. Nothing was fresh anymore because the radiation would get to the things first. The only way that crops could be considered 'fresh' is from keeping them away from the radiation, whether that would be locking them up in a quarantine zone or a place that the radiation couldn't get to.

"Alchem? Did I tell you that I'm immune to radiation?" Eater asked, getting Alchem to turn to him.

"I, urm… I really can't remember, but now I do, so urm… yeah, nice." Alchem replied, not focusing on the conversational question that Eater had asked. Instead, he was focusing on the weather outside. It was raining. It had not rained in a long while, but radiation in the water meant that it was dangerous to go outside, meaning that they would need to get some protective clothing to step hoof outside. It was still early in the morning, so they thought that they could wait a little while, before venturing outside and talk to Roselight about the plans for today.

Alchem walked over to a table and saw that it had some barely visible photos there. He sat down on an old rocking chair and grabbed one with a wing. He had to blow the dust off it and shake it a little, before the image was visible to view with normal eyes. Eater placed the saddlebag down and walked slowly over to Alchem and leant against the rocking chair, the holes on his hooves acting like grapples, keeping him latched onto the rocking chair.

They both looked at the photo, being confused due to many aspects. It was of a zebra mare and a pegasus stallion, both looking very happy. They had a little filly next to them, not looking at all like any of them. She was completely different. She had claws, a beak and a… a scorpion tail! The caption at the bottom read 'Project Chimera will be with you!'. Alchem and Eater both looked at each other as the image made no sense to both of them.

"Maybe chimera is a mixed breeds project?" Alchem suggested. Eater nodded and pondered that for a second. Maybe Alchem was right, but the scorpion tail definitely freaked Eater out. Eater placed the image back down with his magic and looked back at Alchem, still pondering or questioning what project chimera was. He was now very curious to know.

Alchem got up out of the rocking chair and stretched his legs. Eater was probably able to admire Alchem's body at that moment, but was too distracted with the thought of the picture. It was definitely something that they would have to find out about and ask about in the settlement. They still didn't know the name of the settlement, but they both guessed that they would in due time.

Eater walked over to the saddlebags and picked up his two, along with the spare saddlebags that they would sell. Alchem did the same shortly after, before they looked out the window again. The rain had calmed down, which made it viable to move outside safely. They both looked at each other, before walking to the door and pulling it open. They both looked around, looking about to see if they had missed anything, before stepping out into the drizzle and radiation.

As soon as they were outside, they closed the door behind them. Turning around, they noticed that the settlers were awake and busy. Roselight was talking to the zebra that was with the raiders yesterday. Alchem was curious to see if he had reformed into a better zebra. Eater too was curious, but he wanted to see if the trader was awake. They both walked towards Roselight and the zebra. It was a little awkward to see that they were both talking about something and shouting at each other, but hey, that was the Wasteland!

Roselight spotted them both and smiled, waving a hoof at them both. They both waved back at her. Alchem then waved to the zebra, who then gingerly waved back. He then returned to the conversation with Roselight. Alchem turned to Eater and smiled.

"Let's go and look for the settlement trader." Alchem suggested to Eater, getting a nod of confirmation from Eater as a result of it. They walked past both Roselight and the unnamed zebra and looked around for the trading post or building, something to give them an inside of if there was one.

They saw a shop-like area ahead. It was nicely decorated, with light and candles at the front of the building. There was a gryphon standing at the front of it, sorting different items out that were in display cases. It looked impressive. They both walked up to the front of the building and smiled.

"Excuse me sir, do you know where there might be any trading posts or what not around here?" Alchem asked, getting the gryphon's attention. He turned around and bowed his head. His beak was chiseled a little and he wore a couple of scars across his face. Apart from that, he looked relatively healthy.

"The name's Gretzky! I can tell you a little bit about the settlement, but not much. This is a trading shop or in pony terms, just a shop of miscellaneous items." The gryphon spoke. His voice was aggressively soft and persuasive. Eater liked it. "What is it you need me to help you with?" Gretzky asked, his face beaming with curiosity and concern.

Eater used his magic to pull the saddlebag with all of the irrelevant items, up to the counter. Eater looked back at Gretzky and chuckled as he saw the excitement in his eyes. It reminded him so much of a little colt that he used to get with, to go out at nights with. Mischievous little eyes, like he was going to do something bad.

Gretzky looked back up to him and blushed a little, before opening the saddlebag and diving his claws in. He nearly became one with the saddlebag, because his feather colour was also the same colour as the saddlebag. He was brown feathered with a white set of them going over his left wing, almost exactly like a stripe.

Gretzky pulled out item after item, as he evaluated each one as it passed, ranging from guns to plastic medkit boxes. He was happy to take all of them. He filtered through the items and saw that there were a couple of broken parts to weapons. He picked them up carefully and placed them in a different corner of the store. He came back and gave the saddlebag back to them both. As he was giving them back the saddlebags, he saw the ones that they were wearing and smiled.

"You two both have two saddlebags each? Tell you what, I have some good, good good good saddlebags here, plenty of room for anything you could come across and plenty more room for additional stuff. I could take those ones off ya for the other ones I have, if you're interested?" Gretzky promoted, turning around and flying across the room and grabbing something.

Eater pondered the thought, as Gretzky came back with a bigger saddlebag. Alchem looked at both his and Eater's saddlebags. They weren't the biggest, but they were just what they had to survive in the Wasteland. An upgraded saddlebag would have been amazing to have. There was no way that Alchem was walking away with nothing.

"This saddlebag here has at least four times the space, compared to your saddlebags. Let me make a little deal. I'll give you these two saddlebags, one for each of us, and you trade yours over to me. How's about that for a deal?" Gretzky prompted, making both of them ponder. Alchem had already begun unpacking his stuff and Eater just looked at the saddlebag, before coming to a conclusion, the same conclusion that Alchem had.

They placed all of their stuff onto the floor, making sure that all of it was in sight so that somepony couldn't steal anything that they had. Alchem had a load of medical supplies with a couple of medkit boxes, consisting of ammo and more medical supplies. Eater's saddlebag contained a couple of things, a couple of different guns. The SMG he had originally picked up, along with the shotgun, sniper and LMG. He was thinking of selling the SMG and the LMG because of the lack of calibre correct shots or just how impractical they were. The sniper and shotgun on the other hand, would be effective at saving ammo, so they were good options. Eater was thinking of giving the shotgun to Alchem, so he didn't have to worry about selling it.

Eater passed the shotgun to Alchem and got a curious glance back from Alchem. He looked at the shotgun, before gingerly taking it from Eater's magic, placing it in the pile that he was creating, opposite Eater's pile. They both gave their saddlebags to Gretzky and took the bigger one. Alchem snagged the first one and raced back to his belongings, leaving Eater to wait for Gretzky to fly back over and try to find another. He did indeed find another and flew back over to the counter and passed the bag to Eater. Eater happily accepted it and walked calmly to his items. He kept the sniper rifle next to him as he placed some ammunition and the image into his saddlebag, along with a couple of medical stuff that Alchem gave to him. After that, they turned back to Gretzky and gave him questionable looks.

"Why do you need the saddlebags anyway?" Alchem asked, getting both the attention of Gretzky, as well as Eater.

"There is a material in the silk of these specific saddlebags. I have collected a few of them, but I need more. The special material in the saddlebags allows me to create a more enhanced, longer lasting, maybe even permanent radiation resistance serums." Gretzky explained. Alchem was starstruck and Eater was confused. Why did the saddlebags hold the key to survival within the Wasteland? That was a thought that would keep Eater up at night.

"We'll keep an eye out for any saddlebags that look like that, if you want." Eater suggested, getting a praising glance from Alchem. He was probably going to back Eater up with that suggestion. Gretzky began to break apart the saddlebags, while keeping an eye on them both. Eater looked back at the saddlebags that he had. The saddlebag for junk was not applicable for Gretzky, that was the reason Gretzky gave the saddlebag back.

"If you did that, I would be happy to pay you for it!" Gretzky announced. Eater shook his head and looked at Alchem, before looking back at Gretzky.

"I think that paying us to get something for you, to help you out in your efforts is a little much. Caps don't mean anything right now. They aren't mandatory!" Eater said, looking around for anything that he could use within Gretzky's shop. Eater saw something in the distance of the shop, way at the back of the shop, buried under some items. "Do you mind if I hop over and check something out?" Eater asked, getting a look from Alchem.

"Sure, just hop over and tell me what you see." Gretzky commanded, seeing Eater hop over and walk over to a load of items. Gretzky followed and Alchem stayed put at the counter. Eater grabbed an item with his magic and pulled it up. It was a little rusty, but Eater clearly knew what it was. It was a syringe gun! Eater picked it up and walked over to Alchem, showing him the weapon or utility item. Alchem smiled, but then sighed. He loved it, but he felt a little bad about not getting Eater anything, so he too hopped the counter and walked over to Gretzky and whispered something into his ear.

Gretzky nodded and then searched through the piles of items, along with Alchem helping him. Eater just watched and smiled as they both searched hard for something.

"Found it!" Alchem shouted, getting the attention of both Eater and Gretzky. Alchem pulled out a cloak, but this wasn't a cloak that Eater had seen before. It made itself adapt to the lighting and kept itself hidden. "This, Eater, is a zebra cloak! Super sneaky pieces of fibers that blend together to keep the wearer warm and hidden." Alchem explained, watching in excitement as Eater walked closer. He seemed interested with the cloak, as he looked at Alchem and then back at the cloak.

Him being a changeling made him sneaky enough, because they were shape-shifters. The cloak was just an additional piece of warmth to Eater. Alchem used his wings to place it over Eater and stood back and looked at him. It was a perfect fit, but it didn't work that well. He needed to look pained and scarred for it to work well. Alchem paused for a second, before he looked at Soul Eater and focused hard. Originally, Eater had worn scars and marks on his chitin, but as Alchem looked closer, he didn't wear them anymore.

"Eater? What happened to all of your scars and marks?" Alchem questioned. Eater didn't look different, his expression stayed the same as he opened his maw, then immediately closed it again, trying to find the words to say, or at least spit out. He changed his form again and came back to his usual self. His scarred, worn, battered self. Alchem smiled, as he walked back and saw Eater with his new attire. It made him look good, if not terrifying, due to all of the injuries he had attained.

Eater looked back at the syringe gun and walked over to it. He picked it up and looked at it, before getting it snagged off him by Gretzky. Eater looked slightly confused at why he did so, but kept his cool anyway.

"How much do you want for it all, the cloak and the syringe gun?" Eater asked, getting to his saddlebag and getting out some caps. Gretzky smiled and shook his head.

"For all you have brought in, I suppose that I did owe you, so I'll let it be free." He claimed, sending a static look to Eater's face. He didn't know what to say to Gretzky in that situation. He was pleased with the result. He looked over to Alchem with a smile and saw that he was holding a sheet of metal in his mouth. It looked like steel, but it had something to it that made it not look like it, at the same time.

"Ah! Umm… Alchem? What is that?" Eater questioned, instantly losing the smile on his face. Alchem used his wing to take the metal out of his mouth and smiled.

"Just some metal I want to buy!" Alchem replied, showing a bright smile on his face. Eater thought that Alchem must have known what he was doing, so he just went along with it. Eater picked up some caps from his saddlebags and flew them over to Alchem, using his magic. Alchem extended his hoof and caught the caps, before handing them to Gretzky, in one fluent movement. He held his claws out and caught them, before bowing and putting the caps away.

"You didn't have to, but thank you!" Gretzky acknowledged, smiling at both of them. Eater nodded at him and then turned to Alchem, wondering why he wanted some steel. He tilted his head at the material and then stuck his tongue out at it, before turning away and looking back at Gretzky.

"I think that is all. If we come across anything that we might find interesting, we'll inform you." Eater said, watching as a small smile grew into Gretzky's face. Eater turned back to Alchem and saw that he was talking to Roselight. He slowly crept up to them and eavesdropped on their conversation.

"...well I don't think that he'll appreciate it. I'm not happy that you're making him go out on his own. What if something bad happens to.." Alchem spoke, before seeing that Eater was listening to the conversation. Roselight turned and looked at Eater, a little surprised that he heard the conversation. Her ears folded back before she coughed and then looked angrily at him.

"Sorry to tell you this Eater, but I don't trust you! I trust Alchem, but not you. So, that being said, I'm making you go out and get something for me." Roselight commanded, getting an alarming glare from both Alchem and Eater, as well as Gretzky in the distance. Gretzky hopped the counter and ran up to them.

"I'm sorry, did I hear that properly? You don't trust him after he took a bullet or two for your settlement to be safe?" Gretzky prompted, pressuring Roselight and challenging her for an answer. She didn't speak as she looked at Eater, seeing the new scars that he had, due to getting shot by the raiders in the settlement. She shook her head and looked at Gretzky with tired eyes.

"Can you get a radiation suit for Eater? He's going to need it where he's going." Roselight asked, seeing Gretzky nod in defeat, before he turned and flew back to the shop and grabbed a radiation suit. He came back shortly and passed the gear to Eater. Eater shook his head in annoyance.

"I'm immune to radiation, so I won't be needing this. The cloak is fine!" Eater admitted, holding the radiation suit in his hooves. Gretzky grabbed the gear and sighed, looking down at the suit, then up at Eater. A shard of life erupted in Gretzky's eyes and he smiled, getting an idea for something. He flew back to his shop and began to look for something. Eater looked back at Roselight and sighed, before she gave him a command to follow.

"I need you to locate something for me, an artifact of such. It's in an irradiated area, so you need to be careful. The only ponies that are able to go there right now, are the Steel Rangers. They got some firepower to boot, so you need to try to sneak around as much as possible." Roselight ordered. Eater sighed and turned to Gretzky, being signalled over by him. Eater walked over and saw that he was searching for something else. He pulled out something in a box and looked at Eater, smiling as much as he could.

"Don't tell Roselight, but I got something that would work wonders, if you happen to come across anything within the Wasteland. A flare gun, but not just any flare gun, a Steel Ranger flare gun. Once fired, an artillery unit fires multiple shots on its position." Gretzky admitted, sighing happily. "This is a rare piece of equipment, so take care of it. I'm only gonna give you one shot, so make it count." Gretzky added, handing over the flare gun, already being loaded.

Eater wanted to have a harness, so he grabbed a fair amount of caps and gave them to Gretzky. Gretzky looked confused, as Eater looked over to Alchem and then back at Gretzky for a final time before he needed to go.

"I need a harness!" Eater blurted out, trying to hurry up every action being made. Gretzky flew over to a specific section and pulled out a clean looking harness and flew back to him, throwing the cloak off, as well as the saddlebag Eater had and strapping the harness to Eater's body. The harness was set and comfortable, making it more enjoyable to wear. It had holsters for weapons and held a big weapon on the side. The pistol slotted in perfectly, along with the flare gun. The sniper fitted too, so Eater inserted it into the holster. There were additional pockets and pouches for other items, but they were irrelevant right then and there. Eater put his cloak back on and turned to Roselight, seeing that she held a map. He picked up his saddlebag with his magic and placed it on, under the cloak. He was ready!

Roselight showed him a map of the area and Eater evaluated it carefully. Without a second to spare, Roselight used her magic to place the map in Eater's saddlebag, making him feel a little less scared. His objective was to locate an artifact within an abandoned factory, flooded with radiation. Eater would be going alone, while Alchem was told to stay back and help with some stuff at the settlement. Gretzky and Roselight just stared blankly at Eater, making him feel mildly uncomfortable. Eater took one last look at Alchem, before he sighed and turned, making his way towards the gates.

The gates opened up and Eater looked up at the guard at the gate, the same guard that both Eater and Alchem met coming into the settlement. Eater smiled at him and watched as the stern look of pride was replaced with fear and uncertainty. The guard turned his entire body towards Eater, signalling that he was more than just tense. Eater shook his head before walking through the gate. As he was walking under, the bridge dropped instantly. Eater jumped out of the way, outside of the settlement. The gate would have decapitated him in the process of leaving. Eater would have been that it was the guard, but he didn't know what the controls for the gate were like. Still, he had his suspicions.

Eater walked out and looked to the wall, to see nopony on the wall. Now he was sure that the guard was up to something. He would have been sure to give the guard a visit when he got back. As for now, he turned around and began to walk, before somepony called out his name. He turned to see Alchem at the gate. Eater slowly trotted up to him and looked him in the eyes with anger.

"I saw what that stupid guard did. I'll have words with him, alright?" Alchem announced quietly, seeing a little smile appear on Eater's face. "Be safe!" He added, before letting Eater turn away. Eater ran into the light, before vanishing into a cloud of smoke in the distance. Alchem sighed as he turned around and looked around, looking for Roselight. "Be safe!" He whispered to himself, before walking back towards the centre of the settlement.

Eater followed the road as far as he could, before the road became hard to see. He could still make it out, it just wasn't easy, due to the conditions that he was in. The rain was beginning to fall and it would eventually begin to hurt Eater. Although he had the cloak on, it would eventually get through the cloak and get onto his chitin. Everypony else was more scared about all of the radiation in the water, but Eater was immune to radiation and radiation poisoning, so he didn't have to fear that at all.

It became very apparent that he was the only one that could have done this, due to not being affected by radiation. Originally, Eater had assumed that it was just a racial discrimination act, but he was beginning to disagree with his own mind. He was beginning to believe that Roselight wanted to take advantage of him, probably for her own benefit. Whatever the case, Eater had a job to do.

The rain came back and hailed over him, soaking him with its slippery wetness. It was going to be a matter of time before the water got through the cloak and onto his chitin. He continued to walk down the road, spotting distant sights getting closer and then further away, almost like he was hallucinating.

A house came to his vision as he walked down the road. It looked ransacked, but nopony could ever tell in the Wasteland. It was the land of mystery! Eater slowly approached the house, before stopping to think. He originally thought that the rain would have gotten through the cloak by now. He uses his magic to shake the water off the cloak, but there was no water that came off. Eater watched as a single drop of water landed on the fabric of the cloak and then danced across the surface of it, before it slid off it and back to the unsettled land. This cloak had to be enchanted, it just had to.

Eater returned his focus to the house, opening the door and watching as it fell off the hinges. It smashed to pieces instantly as it grazed the floor. It was almost like it was the shell of a once standing door, but that was just speculation. Eater entered the building and saw that everything was destroyed. It hurt to see things like that. He hated destruction to the fullest, so watching or seeing something like this, would have made him feel terrible. For everything, there was a backstory. If there wasn't, then what would be the point of something existing.

Eater shook his head, diving in way over his conscience. He walked into the one beautiful kitchen and saw that everything was unsalvageable. He scowled at the thought of everything that he came across being ransacked. Again, Eater shook his head. He opened a cabinet and saw that there was some irradiated food inside it. He could tell that it was irradiated, due to the ominous green and red glow that emitted from the tin can. Eater could have probably eaten it, but he didn't know what to do with it. He took the can and opened it up, getting a whiff of the irradiated and gone off food within. The smell alone almost made him throw up. He emptied the insides out and held it away from him.

He spotted a river that ran alongside the road and paced over to it, dunking the tin into the river, giving it a wash. The river was most likely polluted anyway, so washing the tin in it made no difference, he hoped. He took a look at the tin and saw that it was a lot cleaner than the tin had originally been, so he popped it into his saddlebag for scraping. Anything in the Wasteland was a useful asset, so they needed to acquire as much as possible. Eater was literally becoming a scavenger right then and there. There was no doubt about it!

After he placed the metal into his saddlebag, he moved through most of the cupboards and cabinets, finding nothing else in them at all. It was a disappointment, but he wasn't going to expect everything everywhere, especially if the raiders or scavengers had gotten to them first. He would be lucky enough to find anything lying around.

That thought got him thinking about the entire factory that he was meant to be going to. The area, which he just assumed was a factory, was supposed to be irradiated with all sorts of horrors. Since he was immune to radiation, he would have been the perfect creature to take advantage of. That thought alone made Eater a little angry. His eyes still glowed bright red, probably due to the amount of radiation in the air. He was pretty sure that radiation was the reason they glowed red, but it only worked while there was no sunlight. Since the bombs fell, there was no sunlight, but that wasn't the focus of his day today. He had a job to do and by Celestia, he was going to do it properly.

He was told that a group called the Steel Rangers might be there, looking for something too, maybe the same thing that Eater was looking for, but he did have a counter to them. He had a flare gun for a Steel Ranger artillery unit, which made him feel that little bit safer. The area that Roselight wanted Eater to travel to, was visible, even from the settlement. It just looked like a factory from a far distance, back at the settlement.

Eater had been walking for a little while, but he was almost there. The radiation was definitely in the air, as the air became hazel and dull, like there was no freshness to it. Eater saw a pony that had been dead on the floor, for what seemed like years, judging by the state of them. Eater went to touch them and watched as his hoof grazed the cheek of the once living pony, as it fell to dust, before being swept away by the little amount of wind that there was. That made something twist and turn within Eater, something that craved life, ponies living within here. There was likely not going to be any, but he could always hope.

He saw that there was a cart that the pony was pulling, before he turned to dust. Eater looked in the cart and saw some supplies, all knocked over, but still in good condition. Eater couldn't tell how strong the radiation was, but it was definitely strong, due to the fact that nopony had looted this cart. It was untouched! Eater grabbed some cans of food, some cans of water and some bits. Bits were useless in the Wasteland. You could probably get a cap per bit or two. He grabbed them anyway, sweeping them up with his magic, before placing them in the saddlebag. He looked back and saw some makeshift armour, with a supply box with it. He opened the supply box with his magic and saw something very, very rare indeed.

Eater had found a material supply stash! It had materials that would help the settlement a ton, so he picked it up with his magic and placed it into his saddlebag. He was surprised that he fitted that stash in his saddlebag, but when he looked, he had only filled a quarter of his saddlebag. Surely his saddlebag was magical or something? He didn't know, but he was able to hold a lot of things. The power of saddlebags! He shook his head again and regained concentration on what he was doing. He found a weapon in a secret compartment of the cart and instantly dropped it into his saddlebag. He hadn't seen its type before, but he had something to do. He jumped off the cart and walked onwards, towards the objective.

The area that he was going, definitely was a factory, judging by the pipes pointing directly into the sky. That might have explained why it was so irradiated around the area. Maybe that factory had blown up? Maybe something had gone wrong on the inside? Who knew? Nopony, because everypony that did know was dead, most likely. Eater slowly approached it, watching it as it loomed over him. He changed the brightness of his eyes, being a shape-shifter and all, changing his eye colour black, just so that he wouldn't give himself away to anything that was inside the area.

Since he was a shape-shifter, he could change into anything he wanted to. It was useful in the Wasteland, because he could lose sight of ponies chasing him and change into a rock or something. He kept that aspect in mind, just in case he needed to hide or flee from something that he couldn't handle.

He got to the entrance of the factory and pulled on the gate with his magic. It was rusted and broken, as well as being stuck. He pulled against it multiple times, before he shot at it with his horn, sending a bolt of energy through the metal. It didn't work at all, making only a scratch in the metal. He sighed, not realising that the metal was not being damaged because of it being heavily irradiated and rusty. It would have broken into dust if it was a little softer of a metal.

Eater began to walk around the factory, seeing that there was an exit or opening to the factory that had been carved by the factory's exhaust tunnel or tube. It had fallen over and crumpled the wall, allowing a small gap to be able to fit through. Eater struggled through the wall and cut himself a little, more or less scratching himself in the process, rather than cutting himself. As Eater got in, he looked up at the top of the wall and went wide eyed, followed by putting a hoof to his face. He felt like such an idiot as he laughed to himself. He could have just flown over. He chuckled at his stupidity as he turned around and scouted out the area.

He used his horn to shine a beam of light around, using his horn basically like a torch. He could see that the air was thick and everything was quiet, a little too quiet for his liking. No noises but the sound of rushing water, coming from the river to the side of the factory. That was it! Eater scanned over his surroundings and saw that there were corpses of ponies and other creatures on the floor of the yard. The bodies were ranging from relatively new, to skeletons of ponies that would never be identified.

The ponies that had been there, relatively new to the body collection, looked like raiders. There were no scavengers around and all of the raiders that were there, died with their eyes open, making them creepier to advance towards. It brought a little bit of fear to Eater's mind, but he shook his head for the hundredth time today and went to loot them. He looted the corpses that just stared at him blankly, while trying to keep it in his mind that they were 'just dead'.

He found some medical supplies on a couple of them, a fair few caps on all of them and a couple of weapons and ammo. One of the raiders was even prepared to come to this place, packing a gas mask with some oxygen tanks. Eater didn't understand why the raider had oxygen tanks with him, but he clearly wanted them, due to him being somewhat buried into the ground. Eater took the gas mask, thinking that either him or Alchem could make use out of it. If not, then he could sell it to Gretzky for cheap, cause he had helped out so much, especially with the extra protection that he now had.

The weapons that he had acquired were above average weapons. They ranged from only ammo to a couple of snipers. Each sniper was different to Eater's, but he would have to check them all out in his spare time. He found some assault rifles on some of them and a huge amount of ammo for them. They were very expensive to run, so that would be some easy caps to gain for them. SMGs were present in the loot pool as well, making the trip already worthwhile, but he still hadn't even scratched the surface of what he wanted to do with the factory.

He regained his focus, after shoving two shotguns into his saddlebag. His saddlebag was beginning to become full with stuff, but he did have quite a big amount of room left in his saddlebag for more. He walked up to the factory entrance and pushed the door open, finding that the door jammed half way. He used his magic to teleport into the factory, through the little gap and turned as the rubble blocking the door fell, blocking him inside the room and blocking the door he came through. There was no turning back, or so he thought.

He looked about, using his magic to illuminate the area. He could see all of the inners of the factory, mostly the mechanical side. There was something that disturbed him though, the amount of pony corpses that littered the factory floor. There was evidence of life there and the pre-war efforts took it away. There was also evidence of what the ponies were making in the factory, due to the insides of the mechanical devices that they made. PipBucks! Eater didn't realise that any of them were being mass produced. This might have explained why most of the ones in the factory looked broke.

There was only debris on the floor, along with the corpses of hundreds of ponies. Maybe the factory was where everypony gathered before they all had their fur and blood evaporated? Who knew? Eater looked at all of the PipBucks on the conveyor belts and sighed. He looked around for an office of some kind, standing still and just pivoting. He spotted an overlook, which connected to a strange room above. Bingo!

He began to slowly move about, making sure not to make too much noise or step on the skeletal figures too much. It made him feel sick to his core, but he had to press on. The settlement rested in his chitin smooth hooves. He drew out his pistol and walked around making sure that nothing was a threat to him in there. He could hear something, but he was pretty sure that it was some rad-roaches or something. He ventured through the factory, finding more and more bodies of ponies who once had some life to live.

He eventually got to the stairwell of the building. There were sections going up and sections going down. Eater chose to go up first, trying to get into the area he had previously seen. He climbed up, deciding that flying would be a terrible thing to do, due to the buzzing of his wings or if he changed them, the flapping of the wings. His hooves were the lightest things he could step on, so he continued to use them. He had already forgotten about his wounds, but they were healed up a little anyway, due to Alchem being the medic he was, the medic that was needed.

Eater climbed each step, hearing a creek with each step that he stumbled up. It made his ears fold back, not knowing completely if anything was here. He kept his pistol up and ready, using his magic, as he scampered to the top of the steps. There was a door that wouldn't open, so Eater did the only other thing he could do. He bucked the door, making it fly off its hinges and fall over the side of the railings to the catwalk. He instantly regretted bucking the door as hard as he did, because the previous pain was beginning to come back. He laughed to himself for missing a couple of brain cells.

He regained composure and walked carefully across the catwalk and could see some rad-roaches scurrying across the ground. Since Eater was technically a bug horse breed, the rad-roaches didn't see him as a threat. He chuckled again to himself.

"Worst superpower ever! Immune to roaches." He silently chuckled to himself, looking down at the irradiated roaches. A noise stirred something within Eater. Fear! He readied his pistol and aimed at where the noise came from and began to growl, focusing on the exact point. Green eyes came from out of the darkness and slowly grew, showing that the creature was getting closer to him.

It stepped into his light and Eater watched in shock. It was the same timberwolf that he and Alchem had encountered previously, which threw Eater off completely. Eater watched as the timberwolf eyed him, moving closer and picking up a rad-roach, before chomping down on it. Eater picked up one with his magic and waited to get the attention of the timberwolf. After the hound finished chomping, it eyes Eater, then the insect. Eater could see that it was ready, so he chucked it a little way up and watched as the timberwolf pounced into the air and grabbed it, before swallowing it whole.

The wolf landed and made the entire catwalk shake. Eater got a little closer and saw that it was wagging its tail at him, its wooden tail. It was so cute! It was almost like a normal dog before the war, but it had been… Eater came to the assumption that because of the flesh being warped around the wood, that it might have been subjected to the likes of killing joke, a plant that would change anything to something that it feared or just didn't like. The effects were somewhat permanent, so there was little to no chance of something being reverted. Eater's guess was that it was a normal dog before killing joke.

The timberwolf raised its head and then snarled behind Eater, almost like trying to tell him that somepony or something was near. The timberwolf jumped over the railing before landing on the floor and running away, into the darkness beyond. Eater had to be weary of where he was going, just in case he was going to be followed. Eater rubbed his eyes with a hoof, before continuing to walk across the catwalk again, making sure to make it to the other side this time.

As Eater got to the other side of the catwalk, he noticed yet another door. This one was partially open and as Eater walked up to it and tried to open it, it swung open like it was nothing. That brought a little smile to his muzzle, before he ventured inside, having one goal of searching for an artifact of some sort. He entered the room and saw that it looked comfy, more comfy than any other parts of the factory. Eater walked up to the display area, overlooking the bottom of the factory, where he had originally seen the overview from the floor.

He turned around and could see that there was a very important looking desk that spoke to him, metaphorically. He walked over to it and began to search it, finding that the desk had multiple draws. He opened one of the four doors of the desk and saw that there were just a load of notes. Eater took a brief look through them, finding that they ranged from bills, to plans for the factory to build extensions to it. All of the stuff was irrelevant to Eater, so he looked through the draw, trying to find anything useful. He found a key in the middle of the papers, so he picked it up and placed it on top of the desk, before checking through the rest of the draw. He found nothing!

He closed the draw and opened up another. This was a more personal draw, because it contained a couple of images of a stallion, mare and filly. A family! Eater sorted through the draw, collecting the pictures and seeing if there was anything useful within them, which there was. He found a pistol with some ammo and some alcohol. Eater began to add up the pieces and realised that the stallion might have worked here, judging by one of the images including the mare and the filly, together. Eater was smart enough to know that the alcohol and the gun were for taking the easy way out, if the worst came to affect.

Eater turned around and grabbed the office chair, before siding down and examining the photos of the past. The stallion definitely loved his family, that was clearly shown in the images. The photos reminded him of his family, his father, his mother and him. Two of them were outcasts, while his father was just a normal pony stallion. He missed them so much that it brought a tear to his eye. He had to keep going, for their sake, for them to rest in peace that their child was successful in one way. He had never pleased his father to the extent that he liked. Sure, he did please his father, he did make him proud, but only a little, which encouraged him to stride on further.

Eater placed the photos back into the photos into the desk draw and took the gun, ammo and alcohol and placed them into his saddlebag. He would be sure to make use of them at least. He heard something move in the distance, but didn't take notice of it. He searched the last two draws and found that there was a locked one. He unlocked it with the key he had just found and opened the draw, seeing that there was a code of some sort. A four digit code that would open something, possibly a safe that was hidden in the area. He picked up the scrap of paper with the numbers and held it with his magic, before finding that there was nothing else in the draw and closing it.

The last draw was jammed, so he tried to open it with his magic. That did nothing and he accidentally snapped the draw handle off. He used his magic to pull on the draw once more and found that nothing was working. Eater regained focus on what secrets the code could have unlocked, so he swept the room and tried to find the safe or at least a number pad. He found the safe! It was behind one of the fallen bookshelves. He moved the bookshelf out of the way, using his magic and proceeded to enter the code.

"Two, eight, seven, one!" He read aloud, hearing the echo throughout the factory. The safe cracked open and he saw something that stood out from everything else in the factory. It was a perfect conditioned blueprint for something. He was pretty sure that that was what Roselight wanted. He placed it carefully into his saddlebag and looked back into the safe. There was a box with things within it, so Eater just plopped it into his bag. He looked back for the final time and saw a fully finished and hopefully functional PipBuck. He picked it up and walked away from the safe, hearing something in the factory. There was chatter!

Eater rushed to the overlook and peered down at the figures, seeing that they were all in suits of armour. Eater was pretty sure that he couldn't take on any of them, let alone five of them. He stayed quiet and listened to the conversation between them.

"Alright! Let's get straight to the point. We are here for that blueprint and the spare PipBuck. Let's find it boys and then return to base. That blueprint is key for the Steel Rangers to get back into the battle." One of them announced proudly, shouting in unicen. They began to scout about and that was Eater's chance to run. He wasn't going to be able to fight them, but they could fight themselves. Eater grabbed the flare gun with his magic and turned off the amount of light that he was emitting from his horn, to ensure that he wouldn't get spotted at all. He saw one of the exhaust pipes leading out of the roof, having a hole in the side of it. Eater aimed the shot at the hole in the side of the tube and fired, sending a volley of power and a tiny amount of light across the room and into the sky. He had to run!

He flew over the balcony and ran across the floor, seeing them all there. They were going up the stairs, towards the catwalk. One of them shouted as they spotted Eater flying down from the catwalk. They readied their weapons and pointed it at Eater. He froze and looked at them all, seeing that the ones without the headgear looked stunned and confused.

"Sir? What is that thing?" They shouted, making sure that the ponies that were higher up, could hear. They just aimed at him and didn't make a move. "Does it speak?" The same Steel Ranger asked, referring to Eater. Eater nodded his head, slowly backing away from them.

"Don't let him get away! For all we know, he could have the blueprint!" One of the Steel Rangers shouted, ordering them to aim at him and keep an eye on him. Eater sighed and teleported behind them all, a little down the downward staircase. He made it so that he was blended into the wall, before he began to move.

"God damn it! Find it! Kill it!" Another Steel Ranger announced, getting furious at the group for letting Eater escape their lines of sight. Before they could do anything, the radio on the Steel Ranger's armour began to freak out, with constant calls and messages. One of them picked up that there was artillery about to hit their position. Eater rushed down the stairwell and slammed open a door, before closing it, locking it and moving something behind it, so that they couldn't buck it down with the additional weight of the armour.

Without a second glance back, Eater rushed down the corridor and came to the river, running underneath the factory, to allow some motors to work. Eater dove into the water, his cloak still dry. It definitely had some zebra spell or enchantment on it. He swam down the stream and dove up for air. Turning around and looking behind him, he saw the artillery coming in. It hit! The explosion radius was huge, forcing Eater to return to being underneath the water, as he watched orange flames pass over the top of the water. Those were not any normal bombs.

There were one, two, three, four bombs dropped, one after another. Eater was close to drowning in the water as he couldn't come up to breathe, due to fiery flames spewing out and over the top of the water's surface. Eater came up to breathe and coughed vigorously. He scrambled out of the water and looked back at the factory. Where was the factory? Where were those Steel Rangers? He didn't want to stay to find out. He had to go!

Chapter 4: Resurrected Reunion

Alchem looked up at the guard, pondering what to say to him after he had nearly decapitated Eater. Alchem wasn't the happiest of pegusi, but he had to accept that everyone had an opinion, even if their opinion didn't matter to him. He flew up to the top of the wall and then tapped the guard on the shoulder, using a wing. The guard turned and looked at Alchem, his ears folding back. He could see that Alchem meant business, as the face that he was pulling suggested that he was pissed.

"Why the hell did you do that to Eater?" Alchem pushed, making the guard feel pressured. The guard just looked down. Alchem shook his head and sighed. "Do you ponies just hate different breeds that you haven't seen or even heard of?" Alchem roared. The guard didn't answer, he just avoided eye contact with Alchem. This made Alchem a little more mad, but he rolled his eyes and took in a deep breath, before hopping off the wall and gliding down. He looked back at the guard on the wall and shook his head in disapproval.

"Alchem? Can you come here please?" Roselight commanded, asking nicely with a lighter tone. He looked over in the direction of Roselight and began to travel in that direction, before looking back at the guard, still looking at the floor. He definitely didn't want to fight Alchem, nopony did!

Alchem approached Roselight with a menacing glare. She didn't express the same reaction that Alchem had thought. She tilted her head and frowned at him.

"What's bothering you Alchem?" Roselight asked carefully, not trying to set him off. He pointed to the guard on the wall and scowled, making sure to let Roselight know that Alchem wasn't a fan of him or his actions. Roselight turned her head and looked up onto the wall, then back down at Alchem. "He's doing his job Alchem. There is nothing wrong with him closing the gate quickly, he does it to everypony, even me." She tried to convince.

Alchem just looked back at the guard, before turning back to Roselight, sighing and shaking his head, snapping himself back into the Wasteland.

"What did you need help with Roselight?" Alchem asked, trying to move away from the thought of the guard. Roselight walked and signalled for Alchem to follow. He happily did so, trying to get away from the wall. He walked around with Roselight and saw different ponies and creatures, most of which were gryphons and ponies. Gretzky was working on something outside, looking up and waving to Alchem and Roselight. They both waved back at him, before he regained concentration and began working again.

Alchem continued to walk with Roselight, seeing more creatures working. He didn't know the names of them, but wanted to find out who they were and why they were here. He wanted to do that for every pony and creature and living things in the settlement. Roselight took Alchem to the area where the raiders had originally posted up, with the escape hole. There were some bricks and a metal grate there.

"Can you help me patch this up Alchem?" Roselight asked, hoping that Alchem would agree with helping. Gladly, Roselight was praised with Alchem's help, as he began to place bricks with his wings and hooves. He was pretty sure that Roselight could do it all by herself, but he just wanted to help wherever he could. He was the helping kind of pony anyway. As they came closer to completing the fixing of the wall, Alchem wanted to ask Roselight something.

"Roselight? Why did you make Eater go out and grab something for you? It wasn't discrimination, right?" Alchem asked, making sure that Roselight could hear him. She held the bricks in the air and paused, before placing them back onto the floor. She looked at the floor and then sighed, before looking up at Alchem, trying to smile.

"It's not discrimination, even though I don't trust him, but didn't he say that he was immune to radiation?" Roselight asked, getting an angry look from Alchem. Her ears folded back again as she looked away.

"Yes! He did!" Alchem growled. "You also said that you didn't trust him. Why was that? Because he is a changeling? Because you don't know him? Well, you clearly trust me, don't you!" Alchem pressured, getting to the point of wanting to slap the life out of the stupid unicorn in front of him. She nodded slowly.

"It was discrimination… as well as me using him for this." She admitted, regaining her train of thought again. She looked at the wall and shoved the last couple of bricks into the slots, before rubbing her head with a hoof and slowly getting up, Alchem following her actions. Alchem could understand that she was beginning to regret her decisions on what happened to Eater and how she acted towards him before.

They both walked to the wall and climbed up it, Alchem flew up while Roselight took the ladder up. They both sat on the wall and looked out into the Wasteland. It looked cool, but something was never perfect. This was only not perfect due to the dust and fog everywhere. Alchem felt strange. It wasn't a feeling that he was used to, but it did occasionally hit him every now and again, but this time it was different. He felt like something was wrong.

Alchem looked around and saw that the guard was walking towards them. Alchem got up and looked at him. The guard stopped approaching him and stopped in his tracks.

"If you ever do something like that to Eater again, I will make sure that you don't have anything else to hurt ever again!" Alchem made clear, seeing that the guard was terrified, as he visually gulped. Alchem smiled menacingly at the guard, making sure to get him to turn the opposite way. It worked, as the guard slowly turned and strolled scarcely along the wall. Alchem turned back to Roselight and wore a bored look.

"I'm going to go and do something quick, Roselight. I'll be back shortly." Alchem convinced, making her head turn and nod at him. Alchem hopped off the wall and glided down, using his wings and landing softly. He took one look at the sky and saw that, like always, the clouds were thick and grey, the sun never being visible.

He began to walk over to Gretzky to ask him something, but got interrupted from doing so by seeing the zebra raider from the other day. Alchem had never actually introduced himself to him, so he thought that it was a good idea. Alchem walked over to him and saw that the zebra was sweeping one of the house's porch. He lifted his head up and saw Alchem. He didn't speak, but he was sure that Alchem wanted to have a conversation.

"Hi! How are you doing?" Alchem asked him, not getting a response instantly. The zebra looked at him slowly and bowed his head. Alchem didn't know if he was bowing it in shame or pride, but either way, he was bowing his head. "Are you alright?" Alchem asked him again, getting a response from him this time.

"Y...yes. I'm ok. I'm not really… talkative, sorry." The zebra advised, not scaring Alchem in the slightest. Alchem smiled, noticing that Eater was the same, not being the talkative type. The zebra tried to smile back and failed a little, not being able to hold it for long. Alchem chuckled and stared at the zebra.

"A smile comes naturally, you don't need to force it. What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?" Alchem spoke softly, trying to make the zebra feel like not speaking. The zebra sat down and began to think about it, trying to come up with a name for himself. "What was the name you had in your tribe or the raider group?" Alchem added, watching as the zebra stood up again, this time with confidence.

"That's easy! My...My name from my tribe was Zeke! The raiders I w...was with, called me the zebra or zeeb." Zeke informed, smiling a little at somepony else knowing his name. Alchem could instantly see a change in Zeke's mood by him going back and finding his name. He felt happy for the zebra! He was slowly fitting into the settlement and that was because he was given a second chance.

"I'm Alchem and the pony that was with me is Eater." Alchem conveyed, making Zeke seem more familiar with them both. Alchem turned around and began to walk to Gretzky, Zeke following him. Alchem looked back and chuckled. "The only way that you're going to be developed or begin developing, is by talking to other ponies and doing other things for them." Alchem announced, making it sound a little like some goals that Zeke had to achieve or something. Zeke nodded in approval of this and watched Alchem from behind.

Alchem turned and was met with the sight of Gretzky, happily awaiting Alchem's presence. Gretzky wore a smile that could have broken through the darkest of souls. Alchem smiled back at him and leant against the counter and sighed a little, meeting Gretzky's gaze. Gretzky's face dropped, as he saw the expression that Alchem was wearing.

"What is it you need Alchem?" Gretzky asked, being slightly concerned by the look on Alchem's muzzle. Alchem looked up and closed his eyes before spitting out the words he needed to spit out.

"I need help!" Alchem blurted out, lifting himself up and watching some fear sweep over Gretzky. He looked back down. "Sorry, I'm just trying to get something done and I'm getting a little annoyed. I hate asking for help, but is there anypony or creature that is a blacksmith or something?" Alchem added. Gretzky lifted up a claw and suggested something.

"Follow me!" Gretzky commanded, flying up and slowly gliding over in a direct. Alchem joined him, not flying, but walking. Zeke was still continuing to follow Alchem, like he was a mother or something to a different animal. Alchem rolled with it and kept close to Gretzky.

Gretzky was flying in a direction that Alchem had not explored within the settlement. Alchem was being sure to remember how to get back to the main entrance of the settlement, to avoid him from getting lost in it. Gretzky looked back for a split second, before hitting a wall. Alchem chuckled lightly, making it so that Gretzky couldn't hear it. Gretzky picked himself up and blushed a little, before turning around and seeing another gryphon standing in front of him. Alchem looked at the gryphon and pondered the thought of someone new in the settlement. How Alchem was wrong.

"Umm… hi! You two meet Nightclaw! He's the settlement's blacksmith. He normally passes through to me to see if I have anything for him to smelt or have any materials that he might like to have." Gretzky explained, making both Alchem and Zeke feel a little more comfortable around Nightclaw. Nightclaw turned to Gretzky and tilted his head.

"Any reason that you have scampered over here Gretzky?" Nightclaw asked, sounding more like a pirate than anything. Gretzky shook his head and pointed a claw at Alchem and smiled.

"No, but this pony here could use your assistance Nightclaw." Gretzky pointed out to Nightclaw. Nightclaw approached Alchem and smiled.

"So pony, what can I do for you?" Nightclaw asked, a smirk on his face as he asked Alchem. Alchem pulled out the metal from the saddlebag and held it out in his wing. Zeke took on look at the metal and made some noises, indicating how shocked he was. Alchem looked back and smiled, before he placed the saddlebag back onto his back, bringing the metal to his forehooves. Zeke was beginning to look angry.

"I have this metal here and I was wondering if you could make a suppressor out of it. Maybe to fit a pistol or a sniper or something." Alchem explained, passing the metal over to Nightclaw, before he took one look at it and froze.

"Am I correct that this is zebra metal? If so, then I don't know if it would work." Nightclaw told, making Alchem's mood not change in the slightest. He just nodded at him, giving Nightclaw the confirmation that it was a type of zebra metal. Nightclaw looked back down at the metal and held it in his claws, before coming to the conclusion or an idea. "Would you want the metal back?" Nightclaw asked. Alchem shook his head before passing him some caps. It was a hefty amount too, being around fifty caps. Alchem placed them on the counter of his blacksmithing area.

The building was massive, easily being one of the biggest in the settlement. Alchem could make out all of the smithing equipment and tools and tool stations, alongside a house, probably Nightclaw's. Alchem was just taken back by the scale of it all and how little he had known about blacksmithing in general. The scale to him was pretty small, nothing compared to this.

Nightclaw took in the sight of the metal and the additional caps and nodded his head. He walked over to the counter and grabbed the caps, before he turned to Alchem.

"I think I should be able to create two suppressors from this sheet at least, but if you don't mind, I'd like to keep the metal and try to experiment with it a little, if that's ok with you?" Nightclaw proposed. Alchem nodded before moving away from the counter. Alchem turned to Zeke, still seeing that he was in a moment of shock.

"What's wrong Zeke?" Alchem asked, not understanding what he had done to make Zeke look like that. Zeke just pointed to the metal at first, before looking upset at Alchem.

"You just gave a zebra metal to a different race! That was something that was prohibited!" Zeke yelled, making Alchem smile.

"Are you still with your zebra tribe now? Do you still support their rules?" Alchem questioned, pressuring the zebra to answer. Zeke thought about it for a quick second before he opened his and immediately closed it again. He pondered it for a quick couple of seconds, before he shook his head.

"I… I guess I don't… I don't know!" Zeke admitted, not knowing if he did or not. This made him quite unsure if he even supported the tribe he was originally in. Alchem kept away from the zebra, just in case he lashed out at him while he was thinking about it. Nightclaw shook his head, before getting to work on the metal.

Zeke finally came down to the conclusion of not really supporting the tribe he was originally in, but still supporting the rules of the zebra ways. Although he wasn't going to like it, he would let the metal slide away from his sight, but only that time. Alchem couldn't blame him for supporting the rules. He sounded exactly like the Enclave, the entire pegasus community, above the clouds. They believed in one thing and one thing only, themselves!

Alchem turned around and waved to Nightclaw, signalling that he would talk to him later or somewhen. Alchem popped over towards where Gretzky was. He wasn't back at his shop yet, but he was looking at something, or that's at least what Alchem thought. He didn't seem focused on one thing like he previously was, which made Alchem a little confused. Alchem and Zeke approached Gretzky and saw that he was trying to focus on something. There was definitely something going on, above the clouds. Either that, or it was thunder from a higher up set of clouds, but that was highly unlikely.

Alchem snapped out of the gaze and brought Gretzky with him, making Gretzky's head tingle with something. He felt a little light headed, Alchem guessed. Gretzky looked at him and smiled, making Alchem aware that he was alright, before slowly walking down the path that led closer towards the main entrance of the settlement. Alchem saw the gate and slowly approached it, seeing all of the mist and dust on the opposite side. The mist and dust that Eater had travelled through.

Alchem looked up and saw the guard, looking directly at him. He immediately looked away when Alchem looked back at him, making Alchem roll his eyes and turn around, seeing that Roselight was coming towards him. Roselight had something in her mouth, something that Alchem had never seen before, until he remembered what the Enclave used for weapons. He had seen those grips before. They were energy weapon grips. That was an energy weapon, probably a rifle.

She looked towards Alchem and smiled, accidentally dropping the gun in her maw. She picked it up with her magic and placed it into a holster on her side. She looked up at the guard and wore an angry look. Alchem turned to the guard and saw that he wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was walking away from her, travelling around the wall.

Alchem turned backwards and forwards, realising that Zeke was not there with him. This made him slightly curious to where he was, but that wasn't the main priority. Alchem looked back at Roselight and saw that she was looking slightly confused and scared. Alchem met her gaze and got told to turn around. Turning around, he could see a bright blue light in the sky, over what seemed to look like a factory in the distance. It didn't bother him as much as it did Roselight, but he was sure that something was going on, something that Roselight knew and Alchem didn't. He was now slightly curious to know what was happening and why the factory gave off such a reaction.

"Why are you so shocked Roselight?" Alchem asked, getting no reaction from her at first, before she turned to Alchem with a worried look. She didn't say something at first, evaluating Alchem with how to approach him with the information, the information that Eater was at the factory. She dragged him a little closer with her magic and turned Alchem to look at the light, forcing his head lightly with her magic.

"Eater is at that factory!" Roselight pointed out, making Alchem aware of the situation and why the factory shocked Roselight so much. Alchem was left speechless, but he didn't understand what was happening.

"Isn't that just a flare?" Alchem asked, looking at Roselight with confusion. Roselight nodded before slowly walking backwards, understanding what was actually happening!

"Oh no!" Roselight said, making Alchem even more curious.

"What's wrong Roselight?" Alchem asked, becoming concerned by the state of Roselight seeing a blue flare.

"It's bad!" Roselight replied, looking back at Alchem and shaking her head, snapping her out of the trans. Alchem slowly flew back over to Gretzky, going to ask him for some items. Alchem landed and hit the counter with a hoof, getting the attention of the nice gryphon. Gretzky turned and smiled, seeing that Alchem was here with a want for something.

"What can I help you with Alchem?" Gretzky asked, getting ready to search his wares for an item of the type that he was going to request. Alchem drew a blank, his mind instantly forgot what he wanted to do. He looked back at Roselight and remembered in an instant what he wanted to ask Gretzky. He turned back around to him and smiled worryingly.

"There is a blue flare coming from the factory that Eater is supposed to be in. What does it mean? Does he need help or something, or would that be the forces there or something?" Alchem asked, watching as Gretzky's happy face, went south real fast. He frowned and flew past Alchem, hovering in the air. Alchem flew up and joined him. They watched the blue flare sparkle and crack in the distance.

There were gunshots coming from the factory too, suggesting that something was happening there. Gretzky bit his claw and shivered a little, before looking down at Alchem and then back at the spot in the sky. The spot that was burning bright blue. Alchem wanted to know why Gretzky was shivering and worrying so much. Alchem was a little worried, sure, but Eater was a fighter and a master of stealth. Surely he could have just vanished out of thin air, right?

Roselight marched over to Gretzky and scowled at him. He didn't look down at her, due to being focused on the events that were spiralling in the distance. Alchem nudged Gretzky with a hoof and pointed down towards Roselight. Gretzky regained his focus and flew down to talk to her. Alchem looked back at the events, not understanding a single detail that was going on.

He could gather that a battle was happening in the distance, but he didn't know if Eater was there or not. He didn't get too worried until something echoed in the distance. Loud booms broke the gunshots and made everything go silent. It was as if the entire Wasteland was a part of a dramatic pause or something. This dramatic silence broke as something began to make a light whistle in the distance. The entire settlement rushed to the walls as the gryphon's, Gretzky and Nightclaw, both flew up.

Alchem looked back at the factory and saw something that broke something inside of him. There was one final gunshot, before a massive explosion went off at the factory, followed by another and another. There were many explosions! Alchem's jaw dropped as he watched it all play out. This made a spark start to form within Alchem's mind. He knew exactly what it was, as all of the pieces connected together, like a jigsaw puzzle. That was a flare, but it was also an artillery marker. The entire settlement watched as bomb after bomb hit the factory. Parts of the factory began to crumble, as the bombs continued to hit it. If there was anything there, it was surely dead.

Alchem flew over to Roselight and flew in front of her. He turned to her, with a look of shock and disbelief at what just happened. She could have got Eater killed, due to discrimination. Alchem was slightly ticked off, but was more worried for the health of Eater more than anything. Hopefully he wasn't there. Hopefully he got out of there if he was. Hopefully he wasn't hurt. Roselight got up and ordered every creature that they needed to have a weapon on them, just in case the worst came their way. Alchem agreed with that, but didn't care. He wanted to look for Eater, but he was sure that Roselight wouldn't allow it.

He got in Roselight's way and landed on the ground. She didn't look him in the eyes, knowing that she could have gotten him killed right there and then. Alchem turned around as the entire world went silent again. The bombs had fallen and the firing had completely stopped. The quietness was almost unsettling to them all, making them feel a little more on edge.

"Why did you put him in danger?" Alchem quietly asked, turning back around to Roselight, seeing that her ears were pointed directly down, behind her head. She was a little scared of Alchem, but she knew that she was in the wrong. She wasn't exactly in the wrong though, wanting to grab the blueprint in the factory, before the Steel Rangers got their hooves on it, but she still felt a little bad.

Alchem rushed around a building and sat behind it, not wanting to see the rest of the Wasteland. He wanted to pretend that he was alright, that he wasn't now alone, but the thought bloomed in his mind like a cherry tree. He laid down on the hard, cold floor and rested his chin on the ground. He was beginning to have bad thoughts, thoughts that would make him make all of the wrong choices. He heard the sound of hoof steps and opened his eyes, seeing that Zeke was there. He sat down next to Alchem and rested a hoof on him. He was comforting him.

Alchem needed a little bit of comfort. It didn't matter who from, it just mattered how much they cared for him. If Eater was dead, then Alchem would have been the last survivor from Journey. He didn't want that to be the case. He wanted Eater to survive. He wanted his friend! He couldn't give up hope just there, he had to get revenge, if Eater was dead. He absorbed a little bit of emotional support from Zeke, then stood up on all four hooves and chucked his saddlebag off him, before scrounging around and grabbing his pistol. He threw his saddlebag back over his shoulder and then checked the ammo in the weapon. It was still full. Good, he thought.

He then stopped in his blind pursuit and remembered something that would have been useful. Alchem slowly moved past Zeke and walked over to Gretzky. He tapped him on the shoulder and got him to turn around. Gretzky smiled as much as he could, being slightly scared about giving Eater the flare gun. He wouldn't tell anypony or creature about it.

"Have you got a spare battle saddle? Alchem asked, feeling determined more than anything. Gretzky pondered the thought then came to a conclusion. He rushed back to his shop, not going too fast, but fast enough to look like he was in a rush. He hopped the counter and began to look from side to side for the battle saddle. He knew that he had one on hand, but he didn't see it there and then. He turned to Alchem and smiled.

"I might have to search through all of this and try to find it. I'm hoping that I have one here, I'm pretty sure I do, but I just can't find it right now." Gretzky assured, making Alchem turn around. He turned back after a couple of seconds and looked at Gretzky, before nodding firmly. Gretzky smiled back at Alchem and got to work. Alchem slowly walked up to the wall and then climbed the ladder, not feeling like using his wings in the slightest. Once he got to the top of the ladder, he saw that there was no factory left, just some ruins of where the factory was. The place had been leveled.

Alchem just stared, he didn't have any words that he wanted to say, neither did he have any words to think of. He just watched the fire in the distance, like it was a call for help, him being helpless to do anything. He didn't feel at all like expressing any emotions. He just wanted to watch. It hurt him a little, knowing that the bombs had possibly killed the one pony that he had originally trusted. Roselight sat beside the frozen pony, being sure to make her presence known with a cough. Alchem slowly turned his head, making direct eye contact with her when he turned it around to face her.

"I might have something that me and you can do to distract us, if you're up for it?" Roselight suggested, holding her hoof out to Alchem. He thought that there was no point dwelling in the past, so he took her hoof and began to follow her along the wall, travelling around the settlement, balancing on the verge of being either inside or outside the settlement. There was another ladder coming closer. Alchem flew down, while Roselight took the ladder, not having another way off the wall. There was a drainage basin that looked suspiciously odd. Roselight lifted off the lid of it and revealed a ladder, as well as the inky blackness that Alchem was getting more familiar with by the second.

"You got something to protect yourself? Like a melee weapon or something?" Roselight asked, making sure that Alchem was set for going down there. Alchem shook his head and looked back at Roselight. She teleported her saddlebag in front of her and pulled out a long spiked bat, with a mouth grip. She passed it over to Alchem and chuckled. "Maybe you could get more use out of this thing. I don't hold anything in my mouth, only my magic, so the mouth grip is completely useless and kind of awkward to hold in" Roselight admitted, shaking her head softly.

Alchem looked at what type of weapon she would have been using and chuckled around the bat in his mouth, seeing that she was wielding a blade. It was almost exactly like Eater's sword, which brought back good memories. Alchem nodded to Roselight, before slowly climbing into the sewer system. Roselight followed and used her magic to close them both in. It was completely inky blackness. If there was anything down there, it would have already finished off Alchem. Roselight got to the bottom, before lighting her horn and using an illumination spell, brightening up her horn and making a ray of light appear in front of her. It was almost like she had a torch on her horn. Alchem couldn't tell the difference.

"Alchem? Stay still quick!" Roselight whispered, touching her horn to Alchem's forehead and passing the spell to Alchem. Even though he wasn't a unicorn, the magic light stayed lit on his head. She had just passed her light. She used her magic to light up her own horn again, before looking over too Alchem again and chuckling.

"I was an exploration pony in the Wasteland. Found a book that gave me this spell and found out that it doesn't use magic once activated. Pretty handy!" Roselight announced, getting a pondered look from Alchem, before he turned to the sewer and kept his mouth closed. The air was most likely horrible and wretched. Alchem didn't want to even think about it. Roselight strapped something to Alchem's nose, making him feel pretty awkward and stupid. She had a gas mask on her face and looked down at Alchem with no expression, since it was blocked behind the mask.

"Breathe through your nose! It's hard to find a mask for pegasi and earth ponies, because of them not having magic to swing stuff. So hit with your mouth, breathe through your nose." Roselight ordered, making Alchem aware of why he was wearing such a ridiculous looking object. It was a different gas mask! The area around looked hazey and unloved, which was perfect, cause they were in a sewer system. It was very quiet, no ambient noise made down there, just complete quietness, apart from the occasional drip of water, but that was it.

Alchem began to look around, seeing that the water in the sewer was still. It looked almost solid, solid enough to walk over, but it obviously wasn't. The water was greatly irradiated, that was a given, so Alchem had to be careful about breathing through his nose and not his unconcealed maw. Radiation was always bad for ponies and other creatures. Eater was immune to it, but he didn't understand the feeling of having fur melt away from a pony's body and revealing pure skin. It was a terrifying thought, but it was true.

Alchem looked over to Roselight, seeing that she was travelling to the opposite side of the sewer. The water divided them both, as they just blankly stared at each other. There was a splash coming from the side that Alchem was on. He turned the corner and saw that the light didn't penetrate the inky blackness well. It only brightened a little amount, leaving the rest to be spooky speculation. Roselight teleported beside him, before using her horn to send a ball of light down the pathway.

As it travelled, I brought something into light. A figure, standing in the water. Roselight placed a hoof on Alchem's chest and stopped him from moving further. Roselight saw that there was something in the water too. The only things that were bound to be present in the radiation were ghouls. Ghouls were pretty much zombies. They were still creatures though, but they weren't able to think logically. Those ones were called 'rapid ghouls', the ones that went crazy. The ones that were able to think, were just ghouls. The only thing that changed from the stable ghouls, were that their faces normally looked deformed, but that was about it.

Roselight didn't want to test the water with the ghouls, just in case there were some that were hiding in the shadows. There definitely wasn't going to be just one ghoul down in the sewer system. There would most likely be a huge amount of them somewhere. The question was, where were they all? They both travelled together, avoiding contact with the ghouls and moving slow enough that they wouldn't be noticed by the ones in the water.

They got to another corner and turned it. Around the corner, there was a ghoul that was stumbling towards them both. Alchem and Roselight both backed up a little, getting behind the wall and getting ready to do something to the ghoul. It was slowly approaching, but it had no idea what was around the corner. Zombie-like noises came around the corner, as it came within hoof distance from them. It turned the corner and was met with a blade to the head. Roselight didn't separate its head from its neck and shoulders, she just rammed her blade into the forehead of the ghoul. This made it drop instantly. The ghoul made a tremendous splash in the water, as it fell backwards. The other ghouls were alerted from the noise and climbed over one another trying to get to the noise's location. Alchem and Roselight both went incredibly silent, as they heard splash after splash of things falling into the water.

Roselight spotted a booth on the opposite side of the sewer path. It was a long reach, but it would have been possible with a long enough jump. Roselight was about to gallop and jump to the opposite side, when she looked behind at Alchem, seeing that he was pondering about the booth. Alchem looked back at Roselight and frowned at her, seeing that she had a plan.

"We need to cross the water right? Well, if you're confident flying, I'll grab your tail with my magic and we could soar across safely, or at least safer than slipping on a wet floor and dying after." Roselight suggested. Alchem wore a stoick grin and opened his wings.

Alchem ran and jumped, allowing himself to glide across the sewer. Roselight grabbed his tail as he glided over her. It catapulted her into the air and dragged her through the wind. Alchem allowed Roselight to fall to the floor before he even attempted to land. Roselight skidded on the floor, finding the surface to be wetter than the previous side that they were both on. Alchem landed slowly, trying to not slip, as he used his wings to balance himself.

They were both right next to the door of the booth, but there was a downside with this. All of the ghouls had seen Alchem and Roselight fly across the gap and were coming in numbers. Ponies and other creatures were coming to kill them. They had to do this quickly! Roselight sharply opened the door and then walked inside. Alchem did the opposite, he flew around the door, which was blocking his path and he flew through the door before closing it and locking it shut. He narrowly grazed a ghoul with his hoof, as he flew into the building. That was close!

Alchem turned to Roselight and examined what she was doing. She was looking around in the draws of the booth. Alchem had never seen something like this before. It was strange, but yet again, since when did he investigate a sewer? He laughed at that as he looked to his right to see a ghoul staring at him. He jumped out of his skin at the sight of it trying to bite the glass. He looked out of Roselight and blushed in anger as she looked at him, chuckling behind the mask she wore.

Roselight and Alchem both paused as they heard gunshots in the distance. It was funny, because the gunshots above ground would have been quiet. Somepony or creature was down there with them! That made Alchem and Roselight worry a little. They both looked at each other, before getting back to work. Alchem was surprised that Roselight had known about this little booth down in the sewers. Had she done that before, had she been down in the sewers before? Alchem would probably have to ask her after getting out of here. As for now, Alchem wanted to focus on covering the door of the building.

Alchem looked back at the ghoul at the window and realised that it wasn't there. Most of them had walked or stumbled away, probably towards the gunshot, which made Alchem feel a little safer.

"Roselight, they're leaving, towards the gunshot!" Alchem announced, sounding surprised. Roselight shook her head.

"They'll be back if they don't shoot again." She stated, picking up a vial of liquid. It had the cork in the top of it, making it become something that was sealed up. Alchem had an idea of that being what she was looking for. She closed the draw and walked over to Alchem. She passed the vial of liquid to Alchem and walked over to some lockers in the room. Alchem evaluated the liquid. In the light he had on his mask, it appeared to show that the liquid was a dark blue colour, almost being completely black. It looked a little like some harmful poison that Alchem had seen in a book, when he was in his youth.

Roselight looked at a piece of paper that she had and opened the locker, instantly being a little shocked by what was inside. The body of a pony was within the locker and scared Roselight a little, judging by the little squeak she made. The body fell to the floor and had something attached to its back. Roselight took a look at it and realised that it was what she wanted to find. It was an artifact, like one that Eater had. It didn't shine, but it looked important as anything. Roselight plunged her sword into the body and cut around the artifact. It was a gory sight, but it was one that would probably prosper in the long run. Those artifacts definitely had a meaning behind them and Alchem wanted to know what they were, as well as why they were so damn important.

A screeching roar came from the sewer system and made Roselight pause. She ran up to Alchem and turned off the light that Alchem had and turned her own off too.

"What are you…?" Alchem asked, being cut off by Roselight placing a hoof over his mouth. She didn't speak as she watched some pegusi fly extremely fast, past them both. They were too quick to notice every detail on them, but they were clearly pegusi, that was sure. Roselight kept an eye on them as she slowly lifted her hoof away from Alchem's maw.

What are those… things?" Alchem whispered, looking over at Roselight. She looked back to Alchem slowly and didn't move after.

"They are still ghouls, but they are pegusi ghouls, which are way, way more dangerous than the average rapid ghoul." Roselight explained, making sure not to alert anything down in the sewer. Alchem just pondered on why the ghouls were so fast. It was most likely to be because of their wings. Roselight slowly took the vial off Alchem and wrapped it in a soft fabric, before slowly placing it into her saddlebag. Roselight then went back to the draws and grabbed something else. It was some firecrackers. Celestia knows why the original pony down here had firecrackers in one of his draws.

Alchem slowly moved over to the side and noticed that there was a warning alarm button below the desk. Alchem's mind drew a blank, as he explained it to Roselight, being just audible enough for her to hear him. She looked at the button too and pondered for a quick second, before another gunshot was fired, in the sewer. It was slowly getting closer. Alchem didn't notice anything, as the ghouls flew past the booth again.

Both Alchem and Roselight kept quiet, not speaking a word as countless amounts of ghouls, flying and not flying, passed the booth. As soon as signs of them disappeared, Alchem opened the door a little, taking a peak around. Alchem noticed that there was one ghoul that couldn't move. He walked out, bat in his mouth and swung the bat at the head of it. It connected, hard! The force that Alchem hit it with, shattered the skull it once had and brought pieces of it back, as Alchem pulled it out of its head. At least when Alchem hit it, it went quietly and quickly. Roselight exited the little structure and saw what Alchem had done. She walked past and peaked around the corner to see nothing there.

Alchem got Roselight on her back as he slowly flew across, not worrying this time about any ghouls that would approach them. They noticed that there were some odd noises as they landed, making them look around for the source. Suddenly, there was another gunshot. This time, it was just down the way. Roselight got out her pistol and used her magic to shoot a ball of light down the tunnel. Alchem was curious to who or what was down there with them. The thought kept crawling into his mind that it might have been Eater somehow. The light showed a shadowy figure, covered in blood a little and carrying a pistol in their magic. Roselight didn't hesitate to call out to the mysterious wondered, as the magic ball passed them.

"Friend or enemy?" She asked loudly, seeing the figure turn around with bright… red… eyes, the same eyes that they remembered. Eater didn't recognize them both, being slightly blinded by the light and then seeing them both wearing masks. He stopped and waved at them both.

"Friendly, but you two might wanna get out of here! I'm gonna burn these undead!" Eater explained. Roselight looked at Alchem and then back at Eater.

"And how are you gonna do that?" Roselight stated, being slightly curious. Eater brought out a vial of his own and shook it about a little, making the yellow, glowing substance turn dark red, almost looking like blood. Behind the mask, Roselight went wide eyed. She didn't expect that from Eater, but then again, Eater didn't know that they were who they were, because of the masks hiding their appearance.

"Run! To the ladders!" Eater yelled from across the way, turning to the door of the booth and opening it. Roselight turned and ran, pulling Alchem with her. Alchem kept looking behind at Eater, hoping that he wasn't doing something stupid.

"Where are you?" Eater talked to himself, looking for the filter for the sewage system. There was something that allowed the operators to deposit cleansing liquid into the sewage water. He had to find it quickly, before the ghouls came back from the gunshot. He took out most of the pegusi ghouls, but there were definitely one or two that were about and were definitely on the way for him. He found the filter. He saw a key code display and used his hindlegs to buck it open. It opened out and Eater poured the vials contents into it, before hitting a button that would have deposited it into the water.

Eater spotted the button that started the alarm. He pressed it with a hoof once, turning it on. A loud alarm beeped once, before he pressed the button again to stop it. One beep was enough to make them come running. Eater closed the door as he exited the building and flew across the gap. He caught up to Roselight and Alchem and looked back. There was a pegasus coming towards them all. Roselight and Alchem readied themselves, but Eater was one step ahead.

Eater flew towards the ghoul and lit up his horn, sending a beam of low brightness energy towards the pegasus, distorting its shape and figure. Without a second glance, Alchem stared at it,watching as it blew up into multiple pieces, as Eater smacked it with something. He didn't have a melee weapon on him, but Alchem did see something like a sharp shard of rubble or something on him. Alchem looked back and smiled happily, before he flew vigorously past them both, opening up the drainage pipe.

Eater vanished within a cloud of dust, making Alchem wonder where he went. Without a sound, Alchem gasped as Roselight was teleported out of the sewer. He was petrified! Suddenly though, he too was teleported out of the drain. Alchem's vision flashed to a bright white, before he landed on his rear. They were above ground, but just outside the settlement. Both Roselight and Alchem took off their masks, revealing that it was both of them, who he had just helped.

Alchem looked around and saw that Eater was wearing a smile on his muzzle. He couldn't hold back smiling back at him, so he did, running over to him and hugging him tightly. Eater recoiled, but then embraced the hug, feeling comfort in the experience. Roselight joined in on the hug, wrapping her hooves around both of them. This surprised both Alchem and Eater, as they stopped the hug to look at Roselight. She blushed a little.

"Eater, I'm sorry!" Roselight stated, feeling a little down about what she did. Eater looked a little confused at Roselight and then tilted his head to her, indicating that he had no idea what she was on about.

"What? Why?" Eater asked, having a slight idea why she was sorry.

"For the discrimination I prompted from myself. I feel ashamed! I could have…!" Roselight stated, before getting cut off with another hug. She looked like she was about to break down into tears, but both Alchem and Eater could tell that she wouldn't. She was strong, stronger than both of them. She wrapped her forehooves around Eater and sighed. "I'm really sorry!" Roselight added, getting a sorrowful look from Eater.

"Don't be! It all worked out in the end, right? Nothing went wrong, no?" Eater asked her. She didn't reply. Alchem slowly approached Eater and evaluated his state. He seemed to be in one piece, but there was something off about seeing him. Eater stopped hugging Roselight and dropped his saddlebag, before bringing out the blueprint. Roselight's eyes went wide, as she slowly observed the prints. Eater passed them to her and he watched as a smile raised from seeing it.

"Roselight? There wasn't a PipBuck that you needed with that, right?" Eater asked, making Roselight turn to him again, before she shook her head. He looked over at Alchem and smiled. "Alchem? I got a present for you!" Eater prompted, walking over to him. Alchem looked at Eater, before he looked at what Eater was holding in his magic. It was a dark grey coloured PipBuck. It was something that the stable ponies made. Alchem couldn't remember the name of them, but it would eventually come back to him. He was curious to know how it worked, but he was a little scared to try to use it.

Eater could sense that he was scared, but tried to convince him that it would be alright. He stated that it was just a quality of life thing, that it would help with aiming his syringe gun and let him know what he had on him. Alchem was very hesitant to use it, but held his right forehof out, allowing Eater to place the PipBuck on his hoof. Eater slid it on and clicked the straps, to make sure that they were on. Eater tightened it up and watched as it left enough of a gap to allow blood to pass into the end of Alchem's hoof. It was on properly, not being able to slide off and not being uncomfortable.

Alchem placed his hoof on the floor again, feeling a slight increase in weight from the PipBuck. He wasn't too keen on having it on, but he wanted to see what having one was like. He lifted up his hoof and looked at the screen. It was synchronizing the data that was being generated from his body. He was a tad bit confused, but Eater returned to his side and used his horn to hit a button, changing the screen. It showed a green pony. That green pony, apparently, was him! Alchem saw that it had gathered all of the data needed to complete its data collection on himself.

"The green pony represents your health. If any part of you is hurt or damaged, it will show up here. Even an ache in your leg shows up here, which right now, you have on your right leg." Eater informed, looking at Alchem and then back at the PipBuck, continuing with his lecture about the mysterious object that Alchem had never used. "There are multiple different screens. There is one for your items in your possession, like a saddlebag or even a fridge, that you hold on your back." Eater explained, getting a chuckle from Alchem.

"A fridge, really?" Alchem chuckled loudly, not understanding if Eater was being serious or not.

"I'm not joking! There was a pony with a PipBuck and it actually recognised that he had a fridge on his back, which he did at the time." Eater explained, making both Alchem and Roselight smile. "Anywho, you got the storage tab, you got another tab called the data tab, which includes a map of Equestria and where you are on it, along with any things that ponies want you to do within the Wasteland." Eater explained, showing Alchem the basics of the PipBuck. Alchem was having a hard time understanding the technology, but Eater was sure to help him, if he needed it at all.

"Is it waterproof?" Alchem asked, noticing that he couldn't take it off. Eater nodded and smiled, seeing that he was beginning to ease up with being so tense.

"Look at your PipBuck in the data tab when I say this. I'll meet you back at the settlement." Eater explained, before making sounds, indicating that he was leaving. The PipBuck added a little note or objective to the data section. Alchem smiled, noticing that Eater had been correct with what he stated, seeing the PipBuck function as he had intended. Eater clearly knew what he was doing, so Alchem was sure to listen to him, when it came to technical stuff. Alchem walked over to him and hugged Eater, making both of them smile happily. As Eater drew back from the hug, Alchem noticed that Eater wasn't wearing the zebra cloak.

"Eater? What happened to the cloak?" Alchem asked, being slightly curious about the whereabouts of the cloak. Eater used his magic to grab it out of the saddlebag and lifted up his saddlebag, placing the cloak over his body, before lowering the saddlebag again.

"I took it off for a little bit. I also forgot to put it back on." Eater admitted, walking past them both. "You two coming or what?" Eater asked, curious if they wanted to stay there or not. They were just outside of the settlement, so it was easy to get into it, but they both might have wanted to stay there for a little bit, maybe to relax or something. Alchem and Roselight both looked at each other, before getting up and moving towards Eater.

Eater stopped and dragged Alchem to his side, before looking at Roselight and signalling for her to get on their backs. She accepted the offer and grabbed both Alchem and Eater with her magic. Both Eater and Alchem set off into the air and cleared the wall no problem. They both landed right next to where the original raider group were. Eater didn't notice that the hole had been covered up, but Alchem didn't mind, neither did Roselight. Ponies and creatures would notice in their own time.

"Thank you Eater, you helped a bunch with those ghouls. We both owe you!" Roselight explained appreciatively. Eater nodded and then looked at Alchem. Roselight scurried off into the settlement leaving Alchem and Eater alone. Before they could get acquainted again, a noise came from where they had just been. It was a pegasus ghoul! It raised itself up and flew into the sky, before looking at the settlement and seeing both Alchem and Eater. It lunged down at them both, gaining as much speed as it could.

Eater moved Alchem to the side and charged up his horn, ready for another blast of magic. He charged his horn and waited for the creature to get closer, before letting loose his magic… that he didn't have. No magic escaped Eater's horn and the pegasus dived on him. It landed on him and he struggled to stop it from killing him. Without a word, Alchem pushed the ghoul off Eater and smiled.

"He's mine!" Alchem shouted, before he swung the spiked bat at the pegasus. It connected so hard, it penetrated the ghouls head and stuck it to the wall. The nails had come out of the other side of the ghoul, confirming that it's brain was destroyed. Alchem painted and turned around, leaving the bat planted on the wall, like some kind of statue. He saw that Eater was stooding up again and breathing heavily too.

"Thank you Alchem." Eater thanked, seeing that Alchem was smiling. Alchem shook his head and whispered into Eater's ear.

"This is between me and you, but my name isn't Alchem. My real name is Azure!" He whispered, making Eater go wide eyed.

"That's funny, because my real name isn't Eater. It's Blitz!" Eater added to Azure's change of name. They both looked at each other, before laughing and turning back around to the ghoul. Alchem pulled out the bat with his mouth and placed it into his saddlebag, before picking them up again and walking into the centre of the settlement, where Gretzky was waiting for them both.

Chapter 5: Close Secrets

Gretzky looked at them like they were crazy. He got told from Azure that they went into the sewer system, which made him very weary about their life choices. On the brighter side of things, they at least came back with some items that Gretzky could have, which he wasn't going to complain about. They both came together to sort through all of the items, so that Gretzky could have his supply of goodies.

Azure showed off the PipBuck several times to Gretzky, which made him become slightly curious about the architecture behind the magical device. Sadly for him, it wasn't up for being sold, it was Blitz's gift to Azure, to help him out either in the battlefield or just with everyday life. It was probably one of the greatest quality of life gifts that could have been acquired, at the time.

Azure passed over the weapons to Gretzky, which made Gretzky very happy, because he now had an arsenal of weapons up for sale. The look on his face was impossible to replace. He wore a smug and stoick grin, so they knew that he was happy about all of this. He brought out a portion of caps and passed them to both of them. They both looked confused, wanting confirmation on what he was doing.

"Here you go! I help you, you help me. Here's around five hundred caps in these bags, roughly one hundred in each bag. I hope that this will be sufficient for all of the work that you two have done for me." Gretzky thanked, pushing the caps closer to the pair. Azure and Blitz looked at each other and both looked back at Gretzky, making him blush a little.

"Why are you giving us caps?" Azure asked, taking the caps and passing them to Blitz, to put into his saddlebag. Blitz happily took them and put them into a safe pocket on the saddlebag, where he kept all of the caps that he had found. They both continued to look at Gretzky, even after Blitz had placed the caps into his saddlebag.

"Don't tell the others, but I could sell most of the stuff that they sold to me for about three times the price. What I mean is that if I chose to sell the stuff that you give to me, I could get three times the price, or at least three times the profit, by selling it to ponies and creatures outside the settlement." He explained, pretty much explaining it twice. They didn't mind it at all.

"Well thank you anyway Gretzky! If we happen to come across anything else that you might want, we'll collect it for you and bring it here." Azure announced, getting a firm and gentle nod from Gretzky. He looked back at Blitz and smiled, seeing that he was just bored of waiting for them to stop talking. It may have been rude, but it was funny to see his facial expression.

Blitz walked away, as he travelled over to Nightclaw's little area. He plainly stared at the gryphon and smiled after Nightclaw stared back. Nightclaw was in the process of finishing the different silencers for Blitz's weapons. He didn't know that Alchem had made the requests, but he was extremely curious to see how it all worked. Blitz walked up to the counter and leaned against it, watching the very satisfying movement of metal being filtered from each other.

Nightclaw approached him and bowed. He didn't know what to make of Blitz. He had never seen a changeling before, so he was very curious to get a look at Blitz for the first time. Nightclaw signalled for him to come into his area and Blitz happily accepted the invitation. Blitz travelled around the other side of the counter, allowing Nightclaw to see his chitin. Nightclaw was amazed! Azure approached the two of them and smiled, seeing that they were both interacting with each other, in some way at least.

"What might be your name, if I may ask?" Nightclaw asked, taking in the sight of Blitz's build in armour.

"My name is Soul Eater! What might yours be?" Blitz responded, adding another question for Nightclaw to answer.

"My name is Nightclaw and I'm the settlement blacksmith. Looking at your body, do those chitin plates come off?" Nightclaw continued to question, making sure that he understood everything about the chitin that Blitz was wearing. Blitz and Azure both shook their heads at the same time, indicating to Nightclaw that the chitin plates were like their fur, but it was changeling fur, he guessed at least. He knew that chitin was armour, but in the appropriate term, it was technically their fur.

"Well, if you don't mind then Soul Eater, I'd like to see how strong your armour is, if that is alright?" Nightclaw asked, looking to Blitz for reassurance, hoping that he would have said yes. Blitz nodded, sending a smile towards Nightclaw's beak. Blitz had never seen a gryphon so happy in all of his life, apart from Gretzky getting a huge amount of weapons and stuff from both Azure and Blitz.

That was another point to be explained. Azure and Blitz didn't want their real names being said, so they both just continued answering as Alchem and Eater. It was their little secret, to call themselves by their real names, as opposed to their display names, being visible and usable to all.

Nightclaw snapped them both into reality, seeing that both Blitz and Azure were distracted by something going on inside their minds. Blitz just stood there, before being dragged away from Azure, much to Azure's amusement. Azure followed them both, wondering what Nightclaw was going to do with Blitz. Nightclaw commanded that Blitz was to be stood up straight, on both of his hindlegs. Blitz abided by the rule that he was given, so he wobbled onto his hindlegs, to see that Nightclaw was washing his claws with something.

Nightclaw walked up to Blitz, before putting on some strange looking goggles. A gryphon in goggles! Not a sight that many would get to see, let alone enjoy. Nightclaw slowly walked up to Blitz, but Azure couldn't hold back a little chuckle. Nightclaw turned on him, staring at him blankly.

"Sorry, sorry! Continue please!" Azure apologized, trying to avoid another laugh. Blitz looked at him and smiled, watching as Azure blushed a little. Returning to Nightclaw, Blitz saw that he had a hungry look to him. He was hungry for the truth about chitin.

"Let me know if it hurts or if I'm about to split the chitin, if you will." Nightclaw commanded, pressing his claw against the chitin armour Blitz had. It was strong, Nightclaw knew that, but he wanted to see how much stronger it was compared to normal chitin. He pushed as hard as he could and Blitz didn't respond. Nightclaw was looking up at him and saw that he was still talking to Azure. Nightclaw shook his head before getting up and grabbing a syringe from the counter.

Blitz yelped, as a long needle went through his skin. The skin that was underneath the chitin was very soft, softer than a normal pony's fur and skin. It was also very sensitive to things like spikes and needles.

"Ouch! It really isn't meant to hurt that much is it?" Blitz called out, making not just Nightclaw look at him, but Azure as well. Azure chuckled a little, making Blitz's cheeks turn a little lighter shade of pink. This prompted Azure to cackle harder. "Don't laugh! It actually hurts!" Blitz enforced, making Azure's laughter calm down.

"I'm sorry, but you're just a little bit too dramatic." Azure spoke, trying to bring across his truth, which made Blitz look away from him. The skin that Nightclaw had penetrated the needle through was part of his body that didn't have chitin surrounding it. The chitin looked like it was armour, but it was just his exoskeleton. Exoskeletons were weird to most ponies, but for changelings, having fur was weird.

Nightclaw slowly pulled out the syringe and placed it back on the counter. He turned around and looked at the scene that Blitz and Azure were in. Azure was just where Blitz just was and Blitz was slowly walking backwards, not losing his eye contact with Nightclaw.

"Uhhh… ummm… ok?" Nightclaw stammered, not knowing what to make of their randomness. Blitz shook his head before moving forward and picking up Azure, before they both stood side by side. Nightclaw just didn't know what to make of them both, as they both continued to stare at him happily. He was awfully confused about the entire thing, but he decided to ignore it anyway.

As Nightclaw returned to his side of the counter, Blitz took notice of something that he was doing. He was checking on two pieces of metal that were in molds. They looked like pure metal suppressors and that was what made Blitz curious about them. He walked up to the counter to get a closer look, but Nightclaw submerged them back into a liquid, probably water or something similar.

"What's that there?" Blitz asked, Azure shaking his head and looking directly at Nightclaw. Nightclaw turned and saw Azure shaking his head first, followed by a curious and excited looking Blitz in front of him.

"Well, this is a little something that I'm experimenting with. I'm making gun modifications using a different type of metal." Nightclaw admitted, pointing one of his talons over at the metal that he had just submerged. He looked back at Blitz and smiled, taking a look at Azure and seeing that he was smiling. Blitz turned around and spotted Azure smiling, which he didn't stop doing, even when Blitz was still gazing at him.

"Anyway… is there anything that you want done at all? We got some free time here." Blitz explained, making Nightclaw raise an eyebrow at that response and smile.

"Ok then, but the only thing I need you to do for me now, is to wait for this to be finished." Nightclaw stated, pointing a claw at the metal that was submerged in a liquid, most likely to be water.

Umm… sure! How long do we have to wait for it?" Blitz stated, a little bit of excitement in his voice. Nightclaw sniggered at the comment that Blitz had just made, along with all of the excitement that proceeded with it. Blitz wanted to know what was so funny about the entire thing.

"Well, you'll have to wait for around… two or three days for it to be finished, with the state that this metal is in, the purities of the metal have changed, so I'm going to leave it to cool for a little while, so that I don't make a mistake." Nightclaw spoke, with a sense of advanced knowledge. Blitz could tell that he was proud of what he did, but when he heard that he'd have to wait two or three day, he couldn't help but crack a smile, knowing that Nightclaw was joking about wanting help.

Blitz knew that he was becoming more comfortable in the life that he was living, but eventually all of the good times would run out. Something bad was coming to sight on the horizon and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. This pondered Blitz's mind to focus on that thought, making his facial expressions stop and giving him a different perspective of reality. A reality within his head, his own reality.

Azure placed a hoof on Blitz's shoulder, instantly snapping him out of his apparent illusion. He kept looking at the ground, where he originally was looking, while he daydreamed away.

"Eater? You ok?" Azure asked, using his public name, instead of his real name. Blitz turned around and nodded slowly, making sure to only meet his eyes once.

"I… I need to go for a walk!" Blitz admitted, teleporting away. This made Azure get a little worried. He looked about before sighing.

"I better go and find him then. I'll see you later, Nightclaw." Azure said, turning around and slowly trotting, away from Nightclaw and his blacksmithing area. He raised a hoof to wave at Nightclaw and Nightclaw used one of his talons to wave back. Azure believed that Nightclaw was a nice gryphon, it was just the look of him that scared Azure.

Azure was looking about, within the settlement, for Blitz. He could have gone out already, but Azure knew, deep in his heart, that Blitz would be inside somewhere, preferably in the area that they were able to sleep in. Alchem raced to the building that they had already slept in and crept closer to it. By some luck, as Azure opened the door and saw Blitz looking at a broken mirror. Azure closed the door quietly and walked over to him, looking into the mirror and looking straight into Blitz's eyes. He struggled to look away from himself, but he eventually looked at Azure's gaze. Once he did that, Azure placed his wing around Blitz, making him feel a little comfier and warmer.

Blitz leaned back a little, not enough to get close enough to Azure, but close enough to Azure's wing, that he could get warmth out of it. Blitz sighed, trying to get rid of all of the evil thoughts within his head.

"Why do I think so negatively?" Blitz asked himself aloud, not noticing how loud he said it.

"Because it's the Wasteland. Just be happy that you're alive, cause I am." Azure mentioned, not seeing Blitz react. He slowly turned after a couple of seconds of thinking and looked dead at Azure.

"So you're happy that you're alive?" Blitz asked, questioning Azure's answer. He nodded, but then shook his head.

"That wasn't what I meant!" Azure stated, smiling brightly into the mirror.

"What did you mean?" Blitz asked, being curious to what exactly he meant. Azure got exactly behind Blitz and wrapped both wings around him, keeping him warm.

"I'm on about me being happy that you're alive silly." Azure admitted, making Blitz pause for a second. Azure used his hooves to massage Blitz's neck, plucking a feather from his own wings, wincing slightly but using it to tickle his neck and back, using his muzzle to hold the feather.

Blitz giggled a little bit, pushing back against Azure's tickling. Azure pushed back against Blitz's attempt to escape. It was futile! Blitz understood this, so he teleported just outside of Azure's reach, which made Azure pout sadly. Blitz rolled his eyes, before getting Azure's attention.

"Really? You just want to hug me?" Blitz chuckled, still seeing that Azure was looking really sad, like a colt had lost his toy. Again, Blitz rolled his eyes, before walking towards Azure and opening his hooves out wide. He wrapped them around Azure, sending loving warmth into the air. Blitz could sense that Azure was loving this a little too much.

Blitz opened his hooves again and accepted a hug from Azure, making them both feel a little better. As soon as they were done with their friendly hug, Blitz stepped towards the desk, the same desk that they had originally found the photo of the project chimera gryphon. He opened the draw and found the photo to still be in the draw. He took it out and carried it over to Azure.

"This 'thing' annoys me. I want to find out about this. How many ponies used it? Who was it originally meant for? So many questions to answer about this little project. Sure, there were bigger cases and projects that we could investigate, but this one is different." Blitz explained to Azure, showing that he was super locked onto the idea of investigating further into 'Project Chimera'.

Azure took hold of the photo and held it in his hooves. He had an idea, but he didn't want to cut directly to the chase. He had an assumption! He looked to Blitz and saw that he was a little too distracted for his own liking. Azure placed the photo to the right of him, before getting up slowly and walking over to Blitz, watching as Blitz kept changing his movement, going from left to right.

Blitz spotted Azure coming closer to him and smiled a little. It wasn't a huge noticeable smile, just one that he could feel, but not make anypony notice. Azure walked up to him and sat him down onto the bed, seeing that something was up. Blitz's chitin was hard, but the skin underneath was as soft as butter, just like him. His vicious exterior was unmatched by his soft spirited interior. The thought alone made Azure smile brightly. Blitz noticed this, but he didn't change his facial expression, due to having a battle going on inside his head.

"Is it bothering you that much?" Azure asked out of nowhere. Blitz snapped to Azure in an instant, before moving his head up and down slowly, indicating that he was bothered by it. "Just try to relax then. Just take time to sit back and unwind for a day." Azure suggested, getting a confused response from Blitz.

"I guess that you might be correct, but there is one thing that I do need to go and see." Blitz prompted, looking over to the window, hoping to see something that would change his mind. Azure was slightly curious to know what Blitz was on about, so he pressured him a little bit, moving a little closer.

"What do you need to do? Can I help you with it?" Azure asked, trying to speed things up, just so that they could get it done quicker and get Blitz relaxing. Blitz looked at him with confusion and then sharply turned his head away, thinking for a second. After about a minute of thinking, Blitz turned his head back to Azure and smiled softly. He could help, but he would need something first.

He held his hoof out to Azure, as he got off the bed. Azure blushed a little, before grabbing his hoof and being lifted onto his hooves. Blitz rushed over to the door and opened it, before allowing Azure to exit out of it first. Changeling or not, Blitz was the softest creature in the Wasteland. Blitz closed the door behind them and rushed towards Azure.

They both travelled across the settlement towards Gretzky. They were beginning to think that Gretzky would be their best friend within the Wasteland, due to how much they went to see him for things. The gryphon knew what he was doing, so he was an asset to any creature that was lucky enough to keep him in their settlement. They both passed by Zeke, raising a hoof to say hello to him. He bowed, before walking past them both.

"He's definitely grown to being inside the settlement." Azure stated aloud, getting a quick single nod from Blitz. They both looked back at Zeke and smiled, before turning back to facing forward and traveling on. Azure had no idea where they were going, but he knew that he would follow Blitz wherever he went. He had this effect on Azure, an effect of just positiveness, despite having such negativeness in the air, surrounding them both.

They saw that Gretzky was talking to Roselight and one of the other ponies of the settlement. Both Blitz and Azure were curious to meet that new pony, but that would have to wait. They stumbled closer, seeing that Roselight was just about to finish talking to him. Roselight turned to both of them and smiled, before looking back at Gretzky and taking a saddlebag with her.

"Umm… Gretzky?" Asked the mare, who was waiting with Roselight originally. He turned to look at her and smiled. His smile was one that they originally had seen on him. It was one of warmth, not excitement. It was a smile of comfort.

"Yes Plumjuice?" Gretzky replied, having a smile present on his face. He walked around from the counter and stood next to her, standing quite a bit taller than the dark red mare. The red mare had an even darker mane and tail, making her look like blood more than anything else. Her coat was a little dirty, mainly due to the dirt and dust on it, along with a couple of cuts and a distinct scar that was pure black on her face, next to her muzzle.

Plumjuice turned to both Azure and Blitz, seeing that she hadn't met them both before. She smiled and took a step back, offering the opportunity to speak to Gretzky.

"No, it's alright! We can wait, it's fine." Azure convinced her. Plumjuice nodded, before turning back to Gretzky and continuing with their conversation. Both Azure and Blitz took in the sight of both Plumjuice and Gretzky and remembered that they didn't originally have a good inspection of Gretzky. The Gryphon was huge, a lot bigger than the mare that he was speaking to, but he was soft, due to how he acted around both Azure and Blitz. He had a dark grey beak, with a lighter grey face. The rest of his body was the same look as charcoal, apart from his tail, which was a dark, rich blue. His tail looked so much out of place, that they nearly thought that it was a relic. Gretzky's talons were a little darker than his beak, showing that he had put his talons to good use.

The conversation between Plumjuice and Gretzky continued for a little bit, Azure and Blitz both dropping in and out of focus, multiple times. They picked up the fact that Gretzky and Plumjuice were dating, but judging by how they acted around each other, they didn't look like they were. Azure was about to go in and talk to them both, but Blitz placed a hoof around his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Let them talk. At least then Gretzky would be in a happier mood to speak to us after." Blitz suggested, looking back at the gryphon and the pony. They were about to finish their conversation, when something fell off the counter, due to Gretzky leaning over it. A white artifact was on display, until it fell down and smashed on the floor, making everyone jump. Gretzky looked to the floor in horror, as his artifact had fallen and was now a mess of while dust and shards.

"Great! Not anyone's fault, just me being clumsy." Gretzky stated, getting a brush and sweeping it into a pile, before depositing it into a black bag. Blitz's guess was that he was throwing it away, but he could have been placing it into the bag to give to Nightclaw or another creature or pony. Blitz shook his head and used his magic to make sure that there were not any little sharp pieces of the artifact on the ground. He deposited the remaining shards into the bag, making sure that no creature could hurt themselves by walking over it. Gretzky smiled at Blitz and nodded, before trying to finish his conversation with Plumjuice.

Blitz turned to Azure, who was looking at another artifact on Gretzky's counter. It looked beautiful, almost as beautiful as a changeling reforming. That was a sight to behold alone. The artifact was a little spiral, looking a little like a model of DNA. It had links that held it together, like that of a spider's web. It looked beautiful and slightly breathtaking. Azure was in awe, he couldn't deprive himself of the artifact. He just wanted the artifact, that was a given, due to the look on his face.

Gretzky approached them from behind the counter and smiled at them, knowing that they liked the artifact that had just come out onto display. Gretzky chuckled as he picked up the artifact, watching Azure's eyes tracking the object, like he was connected to it. He smiled and began to chuckle, instantly forgetting about the other artifact that had just dropped on the ground.

"Alchem is pretty fixed on this, ain't he Eater?" Gretzky asked, moving the object around and watching Azure's eyes track it.

"Indeed he is. That needs to change!" Blitz stated, sounding like he was getting slightly angry at Azure. It didn't do anything, so he did the only thing that he could think of. He dragged Azure back and rolled him over, breaking his eyesight from the object. Azure snapped out of his state and stared angrily at Blitz, making Blitz smile with amusement.

"What are you doing?" Azure shouted, pushing Blitz off him. Blitz got a little mad, as he hit his head against the floor from being pushed. Azure caught wind of this and instantly ran over to him. "My bad!" Azure apologized, checking to see if Blitz was ok. He checked his head for any signs of an injury. There were no injuries, which Azure was glad about.

Blitz gave Azure an angry look, which made Azure wince a little in response to it. Blitz then smiled at him, trying to reassure him that he was in fact okay. He gave a little chuckle before they both looked back at Gretzky. He was a little confused at the events that had just transpired, but that didn't stop him from talking to them both.

"Did you two need anything, or were you just hanging around here?" Gretzky asked, wanting to know the answer to his question. Azure shook his head, but Blitz had other ideas. He nodded and then looked down to Azure, making him smile softly.

"I want to see if you still had it, from the last time I saw it." Blitz stated, slowly walking up to the desk again and taking a peep inside.

"Had what?" Gretzky called out from across the counter, looking more like a customer, rather than the seller. Blitz continued to search for it, until he spotted it. A white fabric with a dark red cross on it. It wasn't spotless or in the greatest of conditions, but it was something that Azure could have possibly loved. Azure hopped over the counter, along the Gretzky. They both walked up to Blitz and inspected what he was looking at.

It was an old medical cloak, like ones that the head mares of the hospitals wore. Azure instantly recognized it instantly and smiled, making him begin to remember good memories and even better dreams.

"How much?" Azure asked rapidly, making his words sound like they were jumbled. Gretzky looked at him and smiled, being smooth and sly in his effort to sell the item. He looked it over before coming up with a price for it.

"How about ten caps?" Gretzky offered, making his order significantly cheaper than what other ponies or creatures would have made it. Azure went wide eyed and nodded dramatically, rushing across to Blitz, who was still looking at it. He wasn't moving though, like he was in a deep thinking process or something like that. Azure and up him and shook him.

"Can we have it? Can we have it?" Azure asked like a little colt being excited to get some ice cream. Blitz still didn't respond, not until Azure began to shake him, snapping him out of his alluring vision.

"What? How much?" Blitz muttered, not knowing what the price was.

"Ten caps!" Azure called out, being way too excited for just a simple medical coat. Why did Blitz immediately feel like a parent to a foal? No idea! He opened his saddlebag and brought out some caps. They only had twelve caps left.

"Celestia damn it! Some caps are gone! They must have dropped out when I jumped into the water to get away or just fell out, due to me not doing up my saddlebag." Blitz admitted, feeling a little worse about all of the events that had transpired in the last couple of days.
He passed the caps to Azure and picked up the medical cloak, being sure to check for anything or any damage. Gladly, he didn't find that there was anything wrong with it. It looked like it would fit Azure perfectly.

Blitz passed the medical cloak to Azure, before turning to Gretzky again. Azure went off in a direction, Blitz assuming that he was going to go and try on the cloak.

"Anyway, the main reason I came to you is because I need to borrow something from you, for Alchem." Blitz explained. Gretzky nodded his head, before turning around and grabbing something that looked like a rope, followed by a harness. It was a battle saddle!

"Alchem was asking for this earlier, so I searched around for it and found it under… this!" Gretzky pointed out, pointing toward all of his stuff. It wasn't junk, because junk was classed as useless. Blitz knew well enough that if anything was at a pony's or creature's disposal, it would be useful in one way or another. Nothing in the Wasteland was useless. That word was only used for creatures or ponies that couldn't or wouldn't do anything.

"I would pay you for it, but as you could see, I am a bit short on caps." Blitz spoke aloud, his ears folding backwards, before Gretzky chucked it over to him. Blitz caught it with his magic, before looking from the harness or battle saddle, to Gretzky.

"No need! If it keeps him alive, then I'm happy to give it away. Just don't let him die, I need as many customers as I can. You two are great business!" He joked, winking at Blitz and making him laugh.

"Thank you!" Blitz said, smiling at Gretzky, before walking over to Azure, but stopping to turn around. "That wasn't even what I was going to ask you for! You completely threw me off with that. I need a gas mask or radiation suit for Alchem." Blitz added, slowly walking over to Gretzky again.

"Like I said Eater, if it keeps you both alive, I'll let you borrow it, but I do want it back." Gretzky explained, going from being happy, to being stern. Blitz nodded at him as Gretzky tried to go back and look for the radiation suit, the one that he was going to use for Blitz originally. He had moved everything he had originally, to look for the battle saddle for Azure. He was going to need to look a little more. He turned to Blitz and smiled. "You might have to come back later Eater. I need to search for it. Go give Alchem the battle saddle and I'll come and grab you when I find it." Gretzky promoted, making Blitz nod in response.

Blitz travelled to where he knew that Azure was going to be, at home, or at least their makeshift home for the time being. Azure opened the door and saw Azure lying on the floor. Blitz rushed over to him and saw that he was perfectly okay. Blitz smiled a little, before he dropped the battle saddle on the floor. Azure was wearing the medical cloak and smiled at Blitz, knowing that he had forgotten the battle saddle on purpose.

"Blitz? Can I talk to you about something?" Azure asked, sounding somewhat sympathetic. Blitz looked at Azure with a confused look, not knowing exactly what was going on or what Azure wanted to speak to him about. He sat down beside Azure and kept his eyes locked on his ally's

"Sure Azure! What do you want to talk about?" Blitz asked, being super curious to know what he was going on about. Azure looked to the ground and placed his head on it, looking as if he was a little scared. "What's wrong buddy?" Blitz spoke softly, lying down next to him and transforming his wings, so that they were like gryphon ones. He then placed his wings around Azure, making him feel a little warmer. Azure then looked at Blitz with a strong and passionate glare.

"I've known you for a little while and that scares me. Everyday, I wake up to the thought that some ponies and creatures would leave me. I've made plenty of friends throughout my time, but none like you. You've had my back on multiple occasions and I'm just worried that on one occasion, you won't. I'll be forced to do whatever it takes to survive. I need a friend in this world, one that I can rely on. Can you be that one friend, Blitz?" He admitted, looking like he was starting to cry.

Blitz slowly got closer and nuzzled Azure, before taking the doctor's cloak away from him and making him stand on all four legs. Azure was slightly confused, until he saw that Blitz was holding the battle saddle in his magic. Blitz placed it on top of the medical cloak and got a look of surprise from Azure. Blitz pushed Azure onto his back legs and hugged him close. He noticed that Azure was speechless, just like he wanted him to be. He did need a friend and so did Blitz himself. Blitz trusted Azure with even the most difficult of tasks and didn't want anything to happen to him. Blitz considered every other creature and pony, an acquaintance, but not Azure. Azure was a friend indeed.

They both stayed in the hug for a little while, before they both contracted from the hug. As Blitz backed off, he could see that Azure had a couple of tears on his face. He walked back up to him and wiped his face, making sure that there were not tears to be had from their event, their moment together.

"You want me to help you put this on?" Blitz asked Azure. Azure didn't say anything, but just nodded back at Blitz. Blitz teleported the battle saddle onto Azure, scaring him in the process.

"Ahhhh! I… I didn't know that ponies could teleport things onto their bodies, let alone another pony's body." Azure admitted, looking a little surprised. It distracted him away from the previous feelings that he had, so Blitz was happy with just messing around and confusing Azure, to make him feel a little happier. Blitz teleported the medical cloak back onto Azure's back, before walking towards Azure with a smile.

"I need to tighten it up for you. Is that ok?" Blitz asked Azure, getting a quick nod in response. Blitz used his magic to tug at the straps that tightened the battle saddle and tilted his head in confusion. Blitz was unsure of something, so he took the battle saddle off Azure and placed the medical cloak on first, then the battle saddle on top. It worked better, so Blitz tightened it up for the final time and got closer to the calipers, the things that would hold the weapons that Azure had.

Azure took out a weapon with his maw, passing it over in Blitz's direction. The weapon slapped him in the back and got Blitz to turn, making Azure turn from a dark blue furred pegasus, to a burning purple mess, changing only his face to a dark purple. Blitz chuckled and placed the pistol that Azure chucked at him, into the system of the battle saddle. He needed a couple of tools, but he could bypass it by using his magic and creating the correct tool for the job. He spotted the pistol into the socket and tightened it up, making sure that the pistol was not misaligned.

"What else do you want on here?" Blitz asked, looking up at Azure. Azure pondered for a couple of seconds before coming to a conclusion.

"The syringe gun!" Azure stated quickly. Blitz nodded and pulled out the syringe gun from Azure's saddlebag. He placed it in the socket and tightened it up, again making sure that it was lined up properly. Azure let Blitz finish what he was doing on battle saddle, before he began to take steps to see how the saddlebag would work. It weighed a little bit extra, but it was no different to carrying another saddlebag. He enjoyed the comfort of it, especially with the medical cloak underneath it, not making the metal and plastic rub against his form.

Blitz observed the sight before him. He saw that Azure was enjoying himself to the fullest. He looked awesome in the medical cloak and was wielding his pistol and syringe gun. It made him look like the stallion that you didn't want to mess with. Blitz remembered something that he needed to do to Azure's battle saddle, so he sat him down with his magic, before he went to work. If Azure was to fire, it would shoot both the pistol and the syringe gun, defeating the purpose of having a weapon on there.

With a little bit of work, Blitz was able to make it so that one of Azure's weapons would fire when he got one of the mouth triggers into his muzzle. The same thing was done to the other side, the side where he had the syringe gun. This was making it so that Azure had the option to either kill or save somepony or creature. A ure was most likely to save somepony, as opposed to ending their lives. The gun being on there was as defense or as a last resort.

Blitz was satisfied with what he had done to the battle saddle and then allowed Azure to move around with it one. Azure looked like a medical pony had just gone crazy, so Blitz wanted in on the fun. As Azure turned around, he went stone cold as he saw Blitz in his corrupted looking state. He wore chains around his neck and had fake blood around them. He had a prison shackle around one of his hindlegs and he had a bandage around one of his forelegs.

He wore the same cloak, which made it a very nice addition to the uniform of the Wasteland. He was dirty as ever and looking menacing. Azure trembled a little, before realising that it was actually just Blitz. He looked like he fitted in perfectly with the raiders. That made Azure think about something, before raising a hoof.

"Wouldn't you be able to go back to Journey like that and blend in with the rest of the raiders?" Azure asked, being slightly curious if that would work. Blitz shook his head, the chain making a rattling noise in the process. Azure sighed, before getting up and walking around the room. Blitz just sat down and watched him march around the room. It was slightly entertaining, seeing him walk around with so much pride.

A knock came from the door, as Blitz slowly got back to his hooves and walked towards it. He had a good idea on who it was going to be, but pondered the possibility of a raider being at the door. Blitz opened the door to see Gretzky standing there, holding the radiation suit in his claws. Blitz looked down at it and smiled, looking back at Azure.

They began to walk down the paved road, the one that Blitz had travelled down earlier today. Blitz was marching happily ahead and looked behind to see a protected Azure. He was wearing the radiation suit that Gretzky had brought to them. Azure had to leave his medical cloak at the building, because it would have only made Azure overheat, plus, it was a tight radiation suit, so there wouldn't have been any room for the cloak.

Blitz managed to get the battle saddle on the radiation suit, without ripping the suit at all. It was almost as if they were designed for being used on a radiation suit. Azure still had his weapons on it as well, being the pistol to his right side and his syringe gun to the left. Blitz received a bundle of harmful and helpful syringe ammo for Azure's syringe gun, so he gave them all to Azure to use. The design for them worked almost like a tranquilizer, but a little bit less effective, but with a lot more force and acting more like a bullet than a syringe.

As Blitz slowed down a little, he allowed himself to ease up and look around, trying to distract himself from the badness of the Wasteland. Although he looked the part for venturing in the Wasteland, he didn't enjoy the risk of others coming out with him, especially if they were friends of his. He kept looking around and then at Azure, making sure that he was ok. Everytime he checked, Azure was fine.

"I hate this!" Blitz stated softly, Azure looking over at him in the process.

"What do you hate, Blitz?" Azure asked, getting a little quicker with his steps.

"Just… this! Walking around and risking the safety of others travelling with me." Blitz replied, stating his version of the truth. Azure just looked at him in disbelief, but could understand where he was coming from. Azure nodded, noticing that Blitz saw the nod.

"That is true, I'd hate that too, but you gotta remember that you'd probably go insane if you didn't travel around with anypony. On top of that, nopony or any creatures would have your back in a tricky situation." Azure told bluntly, trying to spin Blitz's opinion on its head.
Blitz shook his head and took in a deep breath, before sighing loudly. Azure smiled at that.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Blitz admitted, feeling a little defeated at the topic. If he could, Azure would have wrapped a wing around him and hugged him close, but due to the suit, it was near impossible. He needed the radiation suit to go with Blitz to the factory, the same factory that had been reduced to ruins, or so Blitz had stated.

They continued their little walk, until they got closer and closer to the ruins. The radiation levels were rapidly climbing. They could both tell this, due to the new PipBuck that Azure was wearing. As the radiation suit was being put on, they removed the PipBuck and placed it on, over the top of the suit. It stuck out a bit, but it was going to be more help than they both knew.

Azure looked down at the PipBuck and saw that the rads on it were soaring out of control. If the suit was to tear, Azure would surely die. Blitz knew this, so he kept his bright red glowing eyes on Azure, making sure that nothing bad could happen to him. They were just looking to scavenge and look around the once usable factory.

The factory doors were closed, which was a little funny to Blitz, because everything around those doors were fully open. The doors were the only things that were blocking their path. They both slowly walked up to the door and then walked around them, seeing that they were both still locked. That made Blitz chuckle a tiny amount, before they both continued to have a little look around.

Rubble was the only thing that was visible. Grey rubble! All of the colour that would have been in the factory before the bombs fell, must have vanished along with the ponies that worked there. It hurt a little, Blitz knowing that his father did something along the lines of working in a factory. It made Blitz stop and think, again getting the attention of Azure.

"Preserve Blitz! We have to move on!" Azure commanded, making Blitz smile a little. He knew that he had to forget about the past, but he couldn't help it half the time. Everything played with his mind and emotions. He shook his head and tried to press on, noticing that Azure had already started to move things. Blitz walked over to the stairwell that was somewhat standing. He began to scavenge through the debris of the building, picking up pieces with his magic and throwing them out of the boundaries of the factory's previously standing wall.

Time had passed them both, as minutes became hours. They had been looking around for a fair while. If there was an oxygen supply for Azure's radiation suit, then it would have been depleted soon. They had gathered a fair amount of resources through doing all of the scavenging. The items ranged from metal, to rubber, to caps and medical supplies. All of the items were not there before, which made Blitz a little skeptical with how it got there.

Azure was still searching around and kept looking back at the body of the Steel Ranger that they had found, under the rubble. The visor on the Steel Ranger's helmet was caved in, meaning that the Steel Ranger within was surely dead, due to not having an intact skull. They didn't have the items to restart the armour, which made it impossible to open. The PipBuck could have been used, but it was hopeless, since they both didn't understand any of the coding to do with restarting programmes. It confused both of them, let alone Azure or Blitz on their own.

Azure came to the stairwell that Blitz had originally started on and nearly tripped over something below him. He looked down and saw more steps going down, underneath the factory.

"Blitz? What's down here?" Azure asked, kicking the ground below him. Blitz's ears perked up, as he remembered the underground part of the factory. He ran over to Azure and bucked the ground trying to make the ground move. Nothing happened. Blitz remembered the second way to get in and out of the factory's underside. He signalled for Azure to follow him, before he walked out of the previous walls of the building and down to the river, which was still running without problem, meaning that there was a way in.

Blitz grabbed Azure with his magic and carried him, using his magic. He stepped into the running river, which was very, very cold and swam up steam, trying to enter the underside of the building, carrying Azure, using his magic. It was a dangerous struggle, but it was able to be done, as Blitz pushed forward and got inside. He dropped off Azure, before jumping out of the water and trying to get warm again. Azure dipped his hoof in the water, through the radiation suit and found that it was cold. Not just cold, cold cold! He turned to Blitz and watched as he used his magic to burn the floor, before sitting on it, to try and warm himself up.

As Blitz was doing this, he used his magic against a wall, to try and see whether standing on his hindlegs would work. He instantly regretted it, as a sharp pain made an appearance in his leg. From where he had been shot and sliced previously. He blasted a beam of razor, red hot energy at a wall and watched as it burnt the wall and knocked it down, revealing a secret compartment. Blitz instantly forgot about his pain and looked at Azure and then back at the entrance to the new area. He slowly stepped forward and into the room.

There were posters of inspirational ponies in it. They literally littered the wall, apart from a section that had all six ministry mares on it, surrounded with a lot of notes. Azure entered the room and looked around, finding the room to be somewhat eye-catching. They both looked around and looked to see if anything could have been of use. Azure spotted a safe and Blitz spotted something else. Something that he knew exactly how to use. There was a memory orb, but unlike all of the others that he had seen, it was slightly cracked.

Azure looked over to Blitz, before rolling his eyes and grabbing a lockpick and listening to the combination of the safe. He had done this before, but on a stronger, more secure safe, so this safe would have been easier. Blitz on the other hand, was looking at some notes that related to the owner of the factory. He was just skimming over them until he saw something in there mentioning 'Project Chimera'. He took the notes and folded them up, before placing them in a safer pocket of his saddlebag. He turned to Azure and watched him as he tried to crack open the safe. Without another second wasted, Azure heard a click on the safe and opened the door.

Inside the safe, was a load of bits, weapons and ammo, as well as some documents that were sealed in an airtight bag. There was some cheat armour as well as some leg armour, that was in very, very good condition. They took everything in the safe and began to chuck it carefully into their saddlebags. Blitz walked over to the memory orb and grabbed it, placing it in his saddlebag for later Without a trace, they left the under part of the factory, Blitz getting wet again, but wanting to get back to the settlement as fast as he could. As soon as they got outside the factory confines, Blitz suggested for Azure to ride on his back. Azure was hesitant at first, but he accepted the offer, climbing onto Blitz's back and keeping hold of Blitz's cloak.

Blitz took off into the air and hovered across the landscape, his wings creating a little bit of noise, as they glided along. Within five minutes, they got back to the settlement. It was surprising how fast flying was compared to walking, for the amount of energy both used. They flew over the gate, defeating the purpose of it entirely and landed on the ground, next to their makeshift home. Blitz quickly opened the door and allowed Azure to walk in, before closing the door and locking it shut. Azure didn't understand why Blitz was in such a rush, but he just rolled with it.

"Ok! I'm going to go into this memory orb. Don't distract me while I'm in it, otherwise you might lose me!" Blitz commanded, watching a look of fear appear on Azure's face. He nodded slowly, before watching Blitz run over to a corner and lying on the ground. He grabbed the orb from his saddlebag and touched it to his horn.

His world faded away, as he drifted into the unknown.

Chapter 6: Breaking Walls

Blitz was dropping through an endless void of blackness, not knowing at all, where he was. That was the problem with memory orbs, they made the user lose all sense of where they were. Blitz was a little worried about Azure being left alone again, but he didn't stress too much over it. Azure was capable of many things, especially looking after himself. Blitz had to focus on one thing while he was inside the memory orb. That one thing was himself.

Visibility was received, as Blitz was able to see the memory that was taking place. His head was locked in one direction, due to the memory being a perspective one. A memory orb that ponies could experience from the point of view of the pony that the orb had come from. Blitz tried to roll his eyes, but couldn't, as his character looked to the sky, seeing all of the pegusi working above.

All of the pegusi that Blitz could see, were bright and colourful. Where did the time go, Blitz thought to himself, only being able to watch and not to do. Blitz began to see a ripple in the memory, but didn't batter an eyelid at it, he just ignored it. Returning to the pegusi, Blitz saw that they all had cutie marks and were enjoying what they were doing, due to the happy smiles on their faces. How wrong he was about that!

Not being in control, the body that he was possessing looked back down towards an orange mare. The possessed pony couldn't help but look at the orange pony's flank, which Blitz immediately tried to avert his eyes from looking at it. Sadly, he was unsuccessful in doing so. It was almost as if he was paralyzed, but able to move at the same time, which was what was happening. The feeling of being paralyzed was bad enough, let alone somepony moving his body for him, making the choices that he didn't want to make. This frustrated Blitz a lot.

Returning to what Blitz was doing, or what the pony that Blitz was inside of was doing, he looked away as soon as her head turned to look back at him.

"You'll do fine, sugar cube!" The orange mare called out from ahead. Blitz's controller just nodded and sunk his head to the floor, admiring the floor, as they both cobbled along towards someplace. Blitz took this time to understand who the mare was.

The mare was called Applejack! She was one of the ministry mares that ran Equestria, turning it into what it was now. How badly could pony-kind mess up the beautiful landscape of post-war Equestria? That was a question for some notes or another memory orb to answer.

Getting back to the scene, the pony that Blitz was spectating looked back up at a massive castle. It was unlike anything Blitz had ever seen. He knew exactly who the castle had belonged to, but didn't know anything else about it. The castle in question was Canterlot Castle. It was home to two of Equestria's most iconic duo, Celestia and Luna, both of them being princesses. Blitz wanted to know what Applejack and the pony, that Blitz was being forced to watch, were doing at Canterlot Castle.

Judging by the name of the castle, Blitz knew exactly where he was in a time that he was unfamiliar with, although living in it for a brief amount of time. He was in Canterlot! Canterlot was a place of wonder, because Blitz had lived there secretly for years, but was evacuated away from it. Remembering that he was a part of the timeline that ruined Equestria, put a frown on Blitz's muzzle, behind the pony shield he was observing from, almost being exactly the same as one way glass, just in the shape of a pony.

They were both walking to the main entrance of the castle, when out of nowhere, a couple of other ponies were spotted entering the castle too. The other ministry mares! Blitz, still being unable to move himself, thought that it might have been a better use of his time to take in all of the scenery, while the pony that he was spectating was outside.

All of the clouds that covered the sky, had vanished and left a familiar, yet unfamiliar light in the sky. The sun! Princess Celestia's orb of blinding that she could move on command. If the sun was not in the sky, then Celestia would not have been awake. Would that have ment that in Blitz's reality, Celestia was gone? Or was the cloud layer too thick? Those were the questions that Blitz wanted to know.

Armoured pony guards patrolled around the area, eyes glancing at every corner, making sure that not even a rock could move. They turned their stone-like head and glanced in Blitz's direction. Inside the body, it made Blitz tremble a little, but that didn't scare the pony who was on the outside, the one that Blitz was unable to command.

Walking closer to the main door, the pony that Blitz was observing, stopped. They turned their head to look at one of the guards, putting them a little more on edge than Blitz was. The pony that Blitz was observing obviously had some power about them, due to them being confident enough to walk up to a guard, let alone make one sweat. Blitz observed a single beat of sweat drop down the forehead of one of the guards.

Blitz eased up a little, knowing that he was behind an even more powerful pony. Regaining composure, the pony turned and caught up to Applejack, looking back at the guard as they got to her. turning back to Applejack, Blitz was introduced to the most fabulous door he had ever seen. The door to Canterlot Castle!

The door opened to a sight that only a couple of ponies and creatures had ever seen. Lines of guards, standing side by side, looked at both Applejack and Blitz's carrier. Applejack stared back, making most of them look away, not trying to challenge the ministry mare. The rest of the guards stared somewhat angrily at the pony that Blitz was seeing through.

As they both began to walk in, the doors began to close behind them. Blitz's vision panned around behind him to see two guard ponies following them both. Blitz could feel anxiety pass over the pony's emotions, as he looked forward again and resumed walking, as casually as he could.

The guards either side of Blitz kept their eyes locked to him, observing the pony's every move. Even Blitz felt a little anxious and he wasn't even real in this timeline, he hadn't even been born at that date. They both continued their never-ending march, towards another set of doors, the doors to the main room.

The pony that Blitz observed, turned his head around, looking at all of the pictures and stained glass windows that displayed stories of events. One of them stood out to Blitz, one of all of the ministry mares banishing a darkened figure. Blitz couldn't make out what the figure was, but he was pretty sure that it was part of a pony. It felt like Blitz knew who the pony was, but it didn't click into his head instantly.

All of the windows were stained glass. It made the inside seem so beautiful and bright, even in the dark times of the upcoming war. They didn't know that, did they? Was it inevitable? Blitz shook his mind, not being able to shake his actual head. Blitz's controller looked forward and paused, seeing that there was another pony coming to them both. This one was a pink one!

Blitz knew her name, she was another ministry mare after all and probably one of the most memorable too. Pinkie Pie approached them! She was looking at the stained glass windows and then looked over in their direction. She waved to Applejack and began to walk over to speak to her. Blitz wanted to see what all of the ministry mares were like, so he did his best to take in everything he could.

"Hi ya Pinkie! How ya been?" Applejack asked Pinkie, trying to start up a conversation with her. Pinkie nodded and walked over to Applejack, looking like she was onto something, something that had an end. Applejack noticed that Pinkie Pie was acting a little weird too, so she walked over to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. "Pinkie?" Applejack questioned. Pinkie Pie looked at her and tilted her head.

"Yes Applejack? Did I not already answer your question?" Pinkie Pie asked her. Applejack shook her head like there was no tomorrow and then looked back at the pink pony. "Hmm… well I'm in the middle of thinking of something that our good old friend Blitz here can use during his time in the Wasteland, to protect himself!" Pinkie Pie explained, shocking Blitz in the process. How did Pinkie…? Nevermind!

"Umm… Pinkie? What are you on about? We are here for the meeting with Princess Luna. What is the Wasteland? Wha… Who is Blitz?" Applejack pouted, getting slightly annoyed that she didn't know the answers. Pinkie Pie chuckled softly, making Applejack cock an eyebrow at her.

"Well, I could tell you that Blitz is right there…" Pinkie Pie stated, pointing to the pony that Blitz was spectating from. Applejack looked over to the pony that he was inside and she turned back to Pinkie Pie with a blank expression.

"No, that's Night Shadow, one of Princess Luna's associates that she wanted me to gather for her. Twilight has the other associate." Applejack butted in, pointing a hoof at Night Shadow. "He's a factory owner and helps create PipBucks!" Applejack blurted out, adding to the reasons why Night Shadow was there. He coughed slightly and raised his head up, before stopping and bringing it back down again, to normal head level.

"...anyway, before you stopped me AJ, I was going to say that Blitz is a pony… yeah, a pony who is watching this through a memory orb of Night Shadow's here. He picked it up from your desk, in your little secret area." Pinkie Pie explained, looking to Applejack for confirmation. She had none, only the look of fear of what secrets Pinkie Pie knew. The ministry of morale was a strange place for Pinkie Pie to be, but somehow she managed to fit in fine.

"Why did Pinkie Pie state me as a pony and not a changeling?" Blitz asked himself, unable to speak. He just thought about the words and put them into the sentence. At that moment, Pinkie Pie stopped talking to Applejack and slowly turned her head to Night Shadow's location. She slowly walked up to him and held him still and put her mouth to his ear.

"Because I don't discriminate against changelings. They are still ponies to me!" Pinkie Pie stated, hearing a crack somewhere, almost like she had just broken something. The fourth wall? Definitely! "Yep! I'm good at that." Pinkie Pie added, before walking back to Applejack and regaining where she left off. Night Shadow was very confused, but not as confused as Blitz was.

Night Shadow shook his head and walked up to Applejack, before waiting for a little while, before both Pinkie Pie and Applejack were finished with their conversations. Pinkie Pie bounced into the next room and Applejack followed her, only walking and a lot slower. She looked back at Night Shadow and raised an eyebrow.

"Ya coming or what? This is a conference for you, so that your products can reach far and wide across Stable Tec." Applejack inspired, seeing Night Shadow trot over to her. She opened the huge door, struggling a tiny bit, before the entire room was revealed. It was beautiful.

The room was full of ponies and creatures. They were all chatting and mingling with each other, making Night Shadow feel at ease. Blitz spotted a number of ponies that he had seen from posters around Equestria. Some of those ponies included the ministry mares, all of them, Derpy, the CMC and the princesses, Luna and Celestia. Blitz was overwhelmed by all of this. If he was in his body, able to feel his emotions, through his chitin and blood, he would have fainted.

Most of the ponies ignored them, as they passed plenty of talkative ponies and creatures. It was overwhelming for Blitz, let alone Night Shadow. Applejack got up onto the main part, where Night Shadow would be standing. He slowly climbed a couple of steps, before turning around and facing the audience. This was going to make him scared, but what could he do? He needed this! To promote himself as an individual and to promote his factory that he was running.

Applejack stopped all of the talking, using her hindlegs to create an earth-shaking noise. All of the ponies and creatures stopped and turned, Applejack gaining their attention. She stood back and pointed a hoof to Night Shadow and bowed.

"Thank you, Applejack!" Came a raspy voice, the voice of Night Shadow, as he thanked Applejack.

As soon as he was about to start talking, he closed his eyes and held his head, almost like he had a sudden headache. Within an instant, Blitz was free. He was petrified to see that none of the ponies noticed him. He looked around and actually took in his own view of the castle. It looked so nice and good compared to the Wasteland buildings.

Blitz began to have a walk around, not knowing how all of this had happened. He walked around, feeling the floor beneath his hooves. It felt strange, like it wasn't a dream or an illusion or even a memory of the past. It was almost like he was exactly there, not in a dream, illusion or bad memory, like he had already suggested. It just surprised him how life like all of the memory orb was, comparing it to all of the other ones that he had entered previously.

Blitz wanted to try something new, something that only this memory orb would allow, seeing how he was able to move in this one, made his test even more curious to him. He slowly walked towards the crowd and stopped, before taking in a deep breath and pushing into the group of ponies. He didn't have to use force to move the ponies out of the way, because he faded through them all. This made Blitz understand that even his being was not real in this timeline, not yet at least.

He moved backwards, out of the crowd and turned to look at Night Shadow. He was speaking about the PipBuck that he created, but everything that he spoke, became fuzzy and static-like. Soon he was unable to hear him speaking, just replacing him with a blur and a slurry of words that didn't make any sense to Blitz. He slowly walked back, away from all of the others in the room and began to walk down the corridors again, getting a better look at everything.

There was one image that was on the stained glass window that Blitz just wanted to stare at for a little while. It was one that he spotted out, while in the perspective of Night Shadow's gaze. It was a commendation to Celestia and Luna, with Luna being a slightly darker form than they originally were.

As Blitz was staring into the abyss of the image, something was coming closer, somepony. Blitz looked to his left and saw Princess Luna, getting dragged over by Pinkie Pie. She looked unsure about something, but continued to try and look stern, if not to please the likes of everypony around her.

"Pinkie Pie? Is this really necessary?" Princess Luna asked, looking a tab bit concerned. Pinkie Pie didn't reply. Instead, Pinkie placed Luna perfectly beside Blitz's location and sat on the opposite side.

"So Blitz, you like the image? I'm pretty sure that even though you are using the memory orb that Night Shadow will place on his desk." Pinkie explained, freaking out Blitz.

"Pinkie Pie? You are aware that memory orbs view the events from somepony's perspective and not allowing you to do anything more than feel everything that the other pony is experiencing." Luna commented, getting a glare from Pinkie Pie. She sighed before coughing, clearing her throat. "So Pinkie Pie, whomever is Blitz?" Luna asked, curious about his origin.

Pinkie looked directly at him. He didn't know if Pinkie could hear him, so he just nodded, allowing her to tell Luna his story. He turned back to look at the stained glass window, but it didn't look right. Something was off about it. There was a little black and read square that was slowly growing in size, like a virus or something along those lines. It scared him a little, but it was just ticking away at the time that he had.

He turned back to Pinkie Pie and the Princess and saw that hey we're both talking about him, while looking at his exact location, almost like they could see him.

"Don't worry Blitz! We can't see you, I'm just pointing the Princess in your direction." Pinkie Pie convinced, making him ease down a little bit. He looked back at the window and saw that it was still growing bigger. "Blitz? What's wrong?" Pinkie asked, moving up to the stained glass window and looking it over.

"A black and red void is growing! What do I do?" Blitz asked, panicking just that little bit too much. Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, before grabbing Blitz by the neck, with her hooves and throwing him into the dark red and black box. He hit the window and didn't break it. The squares of darkness had vanished. He turned around and raised an eyebrow at Pinkie Pie, seeing that she was smiling and Luna was a little surprised.

"Now that is how you break the fourth wall!" Pinkie Pie smugly announced, only loud enough that Luna could hear it. Blitz looked at the painting again and sighed.

"It's such a good image displayed on the window. What is it Pinkie?" Blitz asked, saying quiet. Pinkie Pie walked up to him and dragged him back, Blitz not figuring it out yet. Pinkie Pie stood Blitz next to Princess Luna, making Luna chuckle a little.

"Ok! Before I tell you the origin of that masterpiece, do you want to tell me how you just did that without magic, Pinkie Pie?" Luna questioned, looking at Blitz with a little bit of confusion.

"A magician never reveals their secrets!" Pinkie snapped happily, making Luna smile a little.

"You look a lot like Chrysalis! Any resemblance, Blitz?" Luna asked nicely, waiting for Blitz to understand that he was no longer in the memory orb, thanks to Pinkie Pie breaking the wall of the memory orb. Blitz stopped and turned to Luna and went wide eyed.

"Can you see me Princess?" Blitz asked the ruler of Equestria. She nodded before chuckling.

"My sister and I know about different universes and what not, also time travel, but an earth pony breaking the fourth wall, without a horn and bringing somepony back from the future, now that's a mystery!" Luna briefly stated. "Anyway, how is it there?" Luna added, looking at his attire. "Not well, I'm assuming?" She admitted, folding her ears back and smiling.

"Well, there is nowhere in Equestria that looks this clean for a start, so yeah, not well. I'm not gonna talk to you about it, but I've read those books about time travellers talking and changing the future, changing events and guiding ponies to perfectness, so I can't tell you much." Blitz explained, making both Pinkie and Luna smile.

"Seriously though, you look like Queen chrysalis. Any relation to her at all?" Luna asked, being slightly curious to his origin. Blitz shook his head.

"Chrysalis was my enemy, even if she was technically my aunty." Blitz admitted, feeling a little angry at that memory. Luna nodded, before turning back to look behind her. Nopony was noticing that Luna had been away for a little bit, so she turned back around and continued to talk to Blitz.

"Any tips from the future then, Blitz?" Luna asked, pleading for a little bit of guidance. Blitz had to think of that for a second, before he came up with an appropriate answer. He looked at Luna with a happy face and closed his eyes.

"Keep doing what you're doing and striding for Equestria's survival!" Blitz said, making Luna smile. Blitz realised that he was in some questionable clothing, compared to the others, making him feel a little more awkward about himself. He saw that ponies were wearing suits and dresses, compared to Blitz's cloak. Blitz realised that he had weapons on him too, which wouldn't go down well with guards, if they saw him. Pinkie Pie took note of this and walked up to Luna, before whispering into her ear, making her eyes go wide.

"Blitz? You have weapons? That… that… that shouldn't be an issue with my word around here!" Luna prompted, sticking her tongue out at him with a smile, before she looked away and chuckled. "Do you two want something to eat or drink while we talk?" Luna asked, looking to both Blitz and Pinkie. Pinkie rapidly nodded, but Blitz pondered for a second. He didn't get the type of comfort in the Wasteland, so why did he need change? He shook his head, surprising Luna in the process.

"Umm, Princess? You haven't talked to me about the image yet." Blitz mentioned, making himself look happier and more willing to listen. Luna blushed a little bit, before getting back to the main point why Blitz was there.

"Well, this is both an amazing tale, but also a bit of a mistake and a little embarrassing. That is Celestia and that… that was me." Luna announced to him, pointing a hoof at Celestia and then over at herself, on the opposite side of the stained glass. Blitz nodded, taking in all that he could. He was most likely going to tell the tale to Azure, once he woke up.

"Oooh! Are you going to tell him about 'her'?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking to Luna to continue the story. Luna pouted, making Pinkie Pie calm down a little. "Sorry, but I enjoy a good story." She whispered. Luna coughed, clearing her throat, so that she could speak again.

"Anyway, that pony is me, but that is also another form. That is the Nightmare, Nightmare Moon! A pony that was not one to be second in command. It wanted it all, so they took over my fragile state and broke my train of thought, making me turn evil and corrupted."
Luna admitted, feeling a little defeated with herself. Pinkie Pie brought light to the area, by changing the topic of the conversation.

"Anyway, I think that we might have to get back to the ponies that are waiting for us. Can't go making them sad and keep them waiting, can we?" Pinkie Pie suggested, making Luna shake her head and nod in response.

"Yes, that would be best." The Princess agreed, looking back at all of the ponies waiting for Night Shadow to stop talking. She began to walk over to the crowd.

"Ok Blitz, I've given you around ten minutes to do whatever you want, before you wake up. Go for a little fly or something, but keep the words I say now in mind. A war is coming! The great war of the Wasteland! I can see it!" Pinkie Pie predicted, turning around to see Luna wide eyed at her.

"Pinkie Pie? What was that? What's the Wasteland?" Luna questioned, thinking she was doing wrong. Blitz folded his ears back, before perking up and smiling.

"Princess! Don't worry, Equestria does survive in the future!" Blitz admitted, not being exactly wrong, but not lying either. Luna smiled and perked up again and turned around, before walking to the crowd and vanishing within it. Blitz was glad with himself, trying to make the princess feel better. Pinkie Pie turned to look back at Blitz and smiled, before jumping away, around a corner. Blitz looked across and saw an open window. Without hesitation, he walked up to it and went for a little fly, outside.

The sky was pink with clouds around the area being fluffy. This was a strange world, a world in which he did remember. Life before the bombs was beautiful, life after the bombs were dreadful, but also beautiful. Blitz wanted a reminder of what the sky was like, so he flew up high. He flew past the clouds, remembering that there were no restrictions to flying up so high. Before he could do anything else, he closed his eyes and fell down, closing his wings and letting the breeze tickle his back.

It was relaxing, falling into the ground from such a height, with nothing but silence hitting his ears. Blissful was the perfect word to describe the events that were transpiring, under his control. Was any of this real? Had Blitz really time travelled from a memory orb? Only he could make an answer on that.

He opened his eyes and soared across the landscape, changing his big wings for some gryphon ones. It helped him to conserve energy during most of his traveling. He loved the sky, he always had. He just wasn't able to fly since the Enclave had taken over the skies. There were clouds that were so thick, that they blocked out sunlight, let alone a pony.

He looked down to see fully built houses and shops, looking as beautiful as ever, adding to the already impressive landscape and colour. Orange and light pink, glittered the dusk of the landscape, sending Blitz's head into a softer, more emotionally attached version of itself. He wasn't going to let anything spoil the perfect opportunity he had to admire everything that was right in the world of Equestria, before the bombs.

As Blitz thought about it, something entered his head and made him want to think. He landed on the edge of a cloud and sat down on it. The cloud was acting as some sort of a cushion, just for him to relax on. Blitz tensed up at his mind, beginning to ponder questions that he needed the answer to. What was the war that Pinkie Pie was on about? The great war of Equestria? Of the Wasteland?

All of the thinking of what she could have meant by the war in his time, got him thinking about a friend. Azure! Blitz started to get a little anxious, but knew that his friend would have been there for him, when he woke up from the memory orb, right? He was beginning to doubt himself. He valued Azure and even considered him a great friend. He knew how Blitz acted and helped him understand that some of the bad in the Wasteland, could have been good, if given the right circumstance. He admired that about him, always seeing the good in ponies and creatures, that others couldn't, wouldn't and shouldn't see. There was something about him that made Blitz like him a lot, but he couldn't put a hoof on it.

Azure was a pony that he trusted very well. Azure was one of the only ponies that Blitz knew wouldn't stab him in the back, instead, he'd have his back one hundred percent. Blitz just worried about losing a friend like that and ending up alone. Although he had only known Azure a little while, he already felt that bond with him that some ponies and creatures felt after having friends for years.

Blitz actually felt a little sad, not having his friend next him to relax and see the sky that he dreamed of so much. It broke his heart a little, but he would promise it to him, to allow him to see the sky, just once, so that he could be happy with himself. That was going to Blitz's goal for himself, to allow Azure to see a sky that Blitz was seeing in the memory orb, even if it killed him.

Blitz shook his head vigorously and sighed, wishing that he could share the experience with somepony, just so that he didn't feel so alone in the memory orb. He got up from the cloud that he was on and looked around and saw a mountain. The mountain pierced through the clouds and seemed to extend forever. Blitz wanted to keep himself distracted, so he climbed the mountain.

The mountain was so tall, that Blitz had to stop flying to conserve more energy and had to climb it by hoof. He began to see something changing above him, making him ponder in confusion about what was happening. It was the memory orb ending. He could see the corner where he was laying and pursued for the goal, to reach reality again.

Blitz pushed harder and harder, seeing that his chance to wake up was getting closer and closer. Using his wings, he propelled himself up and straight through the ripple. The world around him faded to a pure white and made him question what had just happened. Was any of that real, or was it all just inside his head? Either way, he'd talk to Azure about it once he got back to his reality.

The whiteness seemed to be endless, trapping Blitz in a state of purgatory. He wasn't awake, but yet again, he wasn't in the memory orb either. He flew around and tried to change his changeling flapper wings, his usual wings, to some gryphon ones. Surprisingly, he wasn't able to do so. He wasn't allowed to change. He tried to change his entire form, but again, it failed. What was going on with the dimension that he was in? He looked around and didn't realise that below him, the ground was approaching fast.

Blitz eventually looked down and saw the ground. He didn't have enough time to react, so he closed his eyes and felt the floor under his hooves. He opened his eyes and was back in his normal state, back in reality. He took a moment to adjust to the area once again, recognising so many familiar features of the area that he was in a little while ago, before the memory orb. He let his eyes adjust and found himself to be still in the exact same position. He looked to his left to see his partner in crime, asleep next to him.

Azure was asleep, but didn't hesitate to keep Blitz comfy and warm. Blitz saw that Azure had kept his wing over Blitz, while being right beside him, practically sleeping against him. Blitz didn't mind, in fact, he admired the company of his best pal in the Wasteland. He lifted his head and moved it closer to Azure's, allowing the pegasus to feel warmer. Blitz used his magic to grab his saddlebag, which Azure clearly took off. He brought out a little piece of fabric that looked like cloth. He kept pulling out the fabric and found that it extended quite far. Blitz lifted up himself and Azure, with a little bit of a struggle and placed the fabric around them both. It was warm, and quite comfy for what it was.

Blitz moved his head and rested it on top of Azure's, guarding him like he was a little foal. He had protected him, while Blitz was asleep. It was time to turn the tables on his friend, allowing him to rest peacefully, without any fear of being interrupted by any other living being.

Chapter 7: Unplanned Assault

Azure woke up, noticing an unfamiliar pressure on his back. He craned his neck and saw that Blitz was sleeping on him, having woken up and then falling asleep again. Azure noticed that he was wrapped up, making him look around for what Blitz used on them both. He noticed that one of the sofa rags was missing, so he looked down at the rag and low and behold, it was the sofa rag. Despite it being uncomfortably dusty, it was unbelievably comfortable.

Azure moved a little bit, waking up Blitz, with sleepy eyes. Blitz looked at Azure, before sliding himself next to him and curling up. Azure smiled at this, grabbing around the changeling and relaxing slightly, before a knock came from the door. This made both Blitz and Azure jump. Blitz rushed to his hooves, rubbing his eye with one of them, before walking to the door. It was surprisingly early to be knocking at this time, but Blitz didn't care.

He opened the door to see Nightclaw there, holding the zebra metal suppressors. There was a big one and a slightly smaller one. Nightclaw just held them out, waiting for Blitz to grab them. He looked at Nightclaw with surprise, but took the suppressors, before Nightclaw drew a second glance.

"Thank you Nightclaw!" Blitz thanked, bowing as he did. Nightclaw nodded, before flying away, not giving either of them a word. It seemed a little strange that he didn't say anything, but life was strange, so Blitz couldn't argue with that. He turned around and closed the door, before seeing Azure there.

"Was that Nightclaw with your gifts?" Azure asked, smiling at Blitz, while trying to ease the tension. Blitz nodded, bringing the suppressors around to his front and looking back up to see Azure's face change from curiosity, to surprise and happiness. Azure snatched one of the suppressors and looked it over, seeing that the metal was beautifully crafted, with designs on the metal that Azure had never seen before.

Blitz looked at the bigger suppressor and also admired Nightclaw's craftsmanship, seeing that the designs were melted into the metal and not etched into it, making it then less effective. It looked awesome, so Blitz wanted to try to see if it would fit properly. He took out his sniper rifle and tried to attach it, without damaging anything on either the suppressor or the weapon. Without him struggling, Blitz managed to fit the suppressor onto the weapon, making it look far more exotic than it was. Blitz looked back at Azure and smiled, seeing that he was still toying about with the other suppressor.

Blitz noticed that his stomach was rumbling, so did Azure, as he carefully passed Blitz the suppressor. Blitz took one look at the suppressor and closed his eyes, before sighing, bringing out another smile from him.

"Keep it. Place it on your pistol Azure." Blitz suggested, making Azure tilt his head.

"But… it's my gift to you!" Azure rebounded, trying to make Blitz feel like he was in the wrong, but it didn't work. Blitz eyed Azure and watched him with every step that he took. Blitz was just being too nice and supportive. Azure sighed, admitting defeat in the battle. "Are you sure?" Azure asked, being hesitant to ask. Blitz nodded and smiled.

"So we can look like a group, rather than two completely random strangers." Blitz admitted, seeing that a smile was appearing on Azure's face. Blitz walked up to Azure and took the suppressor off him, using his magic to place it on the weapon. It took some screwing to get it on the pistol, but it worked, making his pistol not only look awesome and stylish, but making it more effective and stealthy.

As soon as Blitz was done with the pistol, Azure placed a hoof around Blitz's neck and then pulled him in for a hug. Blitz was a little spooked, but quickly lightened up to the hug that Azure was giving him. He wrapped his hooves around Azure's neck and brought him closer to himself.

"Thank you… thank you for everything that you have done for me." Blitz stated, a blush present on his face, looking at the ground and trying to avoid eye contact with Azure, which would only make things more embarrassing. Blitz felt like they both had that type of connection that only blood brothers, or at least the closest of friends, could feel.

For the first time in his life, Blitz felt safe. This was a new feeling for him, since he had always been one to be behind in the shadows, constantly in danger, but unable to get hurt. Being in the position that he was in, with Azure right next to his side, made him bubble with a safety that he had never felt before, making him bubbly and happy. Azure had begun nuzzling Blitz, making him blush even pinker, the chitin on Blitz's body making the complexion of colours look weird on his body.

Azure could tell that the stuff that he was doing was making Blitz blush. It would make most ponies and creatures blush. Blitz pulled away and smiled at him, making sure that Azure could see his face. Azure smiled back, before shaking his mane a little and stretching. Blitz's ears raised up sharply, making him aware of something. He flew as quickly as he could to the door, before opening it and flying out.

Azure noticed his behaviour and walked up to the door, before sighing happily and stepping outside, closing the door behind him. Azure looked up to see a bug looking down at him. A pony bug!
Azure began breaking down into laughter, as Blitz just stood above the door, looking down at Azure. Blitz smiled, knowing that he made Azure laugh. Blitz hopped down from above and held a hoof to Azure, which he carefully reached for and held for a split second, coming down from the laughing fit he just had. That wasn't going to wipe the smile Blitz had for a while.

Blitz felt a surge of energy rush through his veins and that made him feel slightly more enthusiastic and energetic than normal. He was beginning to feel happy again, something that he hadn't felt in a while. Azure began walking and Blitz followed, putting a bounce in every step that he could. Azure could tell that he was happier than usual, because of his movement. He bobbed along a little more on each hoof, almost like he was bouncing around or weighing less than one of his own feathers. The joy of seeing Blitz in such a happy mood, sent Azure into a slightly happier, more satisfied mood too.

They both didn't know where they were going, but they didn't really care. At least they were doing some exercise to seem like they were being productive. They both were heading in the direction of Gretzky's shop, so they decided to pop over and have a little browse and look over there.

They both saw Gretzky and smiled happily towards him, seeing that he too was in a happy mood.

"Hey Gretzky! How are you doing today?" Blitz asked, not really caring about being outside his comfort zone for talking to others. Gretzky waved a claw at him, before he looked under the counter for something.

"I'm good, Eater. I see that you and Alchem are in a happy mood today. What's the occasion, if I may ask?" Gretzky asked, seeing that both Blitz and Azure were happier than normal. Azure shook his head before he began silently laughing. Blitz turned to him and saw something, making his smile fade away. Azure was looking different.

Azure wasn't a bright blue pegasus, or what Blitz had originally seen. Azure was the same pegasus, but didn't have any colour to him. It was almost as if he had been drained of his colour entirely. Blitz began to back up against a wall, before falling through it and onto the ground. Everything went silent, before he opened his eyes slightly and saw that everything was back to normal. What in sweet Celestia was that? Azure was his usual blue self and he was looking over him. The wall that Blitz had just fallen through, wasn't there at all. Blitz thought about it for a second, and he recalled that the wall didn't look like any of the walls in the settlement, but more in the line of the castle. Canterlot Castle! The orb did shatter and bring Blitz in with it, didn't it?

"Eater…? Can you hear me?" Azure called out, seeming like he was so far away from where Blitz was. Blitz knew that he had to focus on what was important and what was happening in the real world that he was living in and not dwelling on the past. Azure grabbed Blitz and pulled him up, making Blitz's mind snap straight back to reality. Blitz shook his head and sighed.

"I could hear you Alchem, I just had a moment. I'm alright now." Blitz lied to him, making sure not to make Azure lose the happiness that he had. He hated every second past the lie, but what was he going to do? Dwell on the fact that he would never be normal again? Talk about his depressing issues? No! Those were for him to worry about, not anypony else. Blitz shook his head again and smiled, wearing his now fake smile with confidence.

"What was that about, Eater?" Azure asked, not being fully satisfied with Blitz's original answer. Blitz shook his head at Azure trying to avoid the topic further. Blitz had an idea of what it could have been, but was mostly in the blind with his accusation.

"No really Alchem, it was nothing. I just zoned out a little. It won't happen again, I can assure you." Blitz tried to convince him, understanding that he would probably make Azure doubt that he was okay. Getting back to grips with the world, they both looked back over to Gretzky and coughed, before Blitz answered Gretzky's previous question. "As for the question that you were asking Gretzky, we just both had a little chuckle before we began walking here. I awoke in a happy mood, Azure awoke in a happy mood. What's not to love about the morning?" Blitz stated, following his explanation with a rhetorical question. Gretzky smiled at them both, noticing that the smiles were slowly coming back to them both.

"Alright, so now that you two are here, do you mind helping me do something soon?" Gretzky asked, getting the attention of the pair. Their ears poked up and pointed in the direction of Gretzky himself. That made him smile. "It might take a little while to get ready, but I need two ponies to come with me for this, maybe even three. How about you go and scout out somepony else that might want to embark on a little journey." Gretzky asked, seeing that both of them nodded.

Blitz tilted his head, wanting to know what it was that they were going to be doing for him.

"So, what is it that we will be being you with, Gretzky?" Blitz asked, trying to get more information about the topic. Gretzky shook his head, before smiling.

"You're not going to get an answer out of me Eater. I'll tell you once we get out of the settlement, because one pony would not approve of my actions." Gretzky spoke, pointing a hoof over to Roselight, standing on the wall, talking to the guard. Blitz and Azure turned back to face Gretzky and smiled, before nodding at him and looking back at each other.

"Ok then Gretzky. We will go and look for somepony or some creature to assist us on this trip." Blitz told him, making Gretzky smile, before he nodded his head in approval. Blitz slowly turned around and looked at Azure, before trotting over to the wall, Azure following him there.

"Remember Blitz, Roselight is not to know about this, so let's keep this on the down low, ok?" Azure questioned, making sure that Blitz knew what he was doing. Blitz looked to Azure and nodded. "Who are you going to ask anyway?" Azure asked, seeing that Zeke was up on the wall. He then realised why Blitz wanted to go up there.

They both pushed up to the wall, before flying up it at some speed and landing on it. Roselight, Zeke and the guard turned around to see them there. Both Blitz and Azure smiled happily, as they were evaluated by the trio. Roselight turned and looked into the endless distance, past the wall, as did the guard. They seemed to be on very good terms, from what Blitz saw of it.

"Zeke, can I talk to you in private, please?" Blitz asked him. Zeke looked at him and smiled, not understanding why he wanted to talk to him, but went along with it anyway. Blitz hopped off the wall and landed gracefully. Zeke dropped and got caught with Blitz's magic.

"Wh...why did you catch me? I was going to land perfectly fine!" Zeke questioned, being a little angry. Blitz spread his wings and pointed to them with a hoof, before pointing to his horn after.

"I've jumped off the wall and… well, landing on the ground from up there hurt, so if you want to jump, make sure that you have wings or some sort of magic to ease your fall." Blitz explained, chuckling a little bit. Zeke just growled at him, before they both walked away and around a corner, becoming out of sight.

Azure was still on the wall, alongside Roselight and the guard. Azure looked at the guard and coughed slightly, getting his attention. The guard turned to look at Azure, trying to predict what he was going to say.

"I don't believe that I've heard your name said anywhere around the settlement. Do you mind if I ask for it?" Azure asked, trying to become closer friends with the guard. He went to open his maw, but then closed it. He looked away from Azure and wore his usual stubborn look.

"His name is Saber!" Roselight calmly stated, getting an angry look from the guard.

"Why would you announce my name?" Saber asked her in an angry tone. She didn't reply, she just kept looking forward. Saber puffed, sighing as he too just looked onwards. Azure smiled and tilted his head, slightly confused on why Saber didn't want anypony to know his name.

"At least we know what to call you now, instead of the guard." Azure announced quietly, making sure that Roselight could hear it too. Saber glared at Azure and slowly walked up to him, a menacing look in his eye. Before Saber was able to get close to Azure, Blitz flew up and stood in front of Azure, in a defensive stance. Roselight smiled, before sharply calling out Saber's name.

"Saber!" Roselight shouted, making him look away from both Blitz and Azure. He looked back at them one last time, before turning around and going to Roselight. Once he got to her, he sat on the opposite side of her, putting Roselight closer to Azure and Blitz, rather than he was. "You stay there, okay?" She ordered with a question, just to make sure that he was listening. He nodded a tiny bit, before Roselight turned away and walked closer to Azure and Blitz.

"Is he okay? I didn't mean to set him off like that." Azure asked, simply caring about the unicorn. Roselight nodded, sitting down and facing them.

"I'm sorry for his little outburst, with the gate originally and now with this. He's just scared and… well… how can I put this… not willing to create new bonds or get attached to ponies." Roselight explained looking over her shoulder at him and seeing that he was listening. She slowly got up and walked over to him and hugged him softly. He relaxed a little bit, before looking out into the endless horizon that was before him.

Blitz turned to Azure and saw that he wasn't hurt at all, which was the main thing that Blitz worried about. Both Blitz and Azure turned to see Zeke climbing up the ladder. He nodded to Blitz and Blitz nodded back to him.

"Does he know?" Azure whispered, getting only a simple nod in return, to avoid Roselight from finding out about it. That made Azure look at Zeke, getting a smile from him in response to the look, which made Azure smile. "Do you want me to go back to Gretzky and tell him that we got Zeke to agree to help?" Azure asked Blitz, literally whispering it as close to his ear as he could, making Blitz's ear twitch in the process.

"Yes, if that's ok with you." Blitz replied. He watched Azure shoot off, not worrying about anything in the world. As soon as Azure landed, Blitz turned to look at the other side of the wall and saw Zeke come and sit beside him. Zeke didn't say anything, but he did just relax next to Blitz. It was almost like he was trying to unwind, making his muscles less tense.

"Umm… Why are there ponies approaching?" Saber announced, making both Blitz and Zeke aware of their presence. It was around ten… no, twenty raiders or scavengers coming towards them. Roselight didn't do anything apart from look. She noticed that something was up, but she wasn't quite sure. She knew that they weren't here for some trading, so she was a little ready for what was about to happen.

"Get your weapon ready." Roselight stated to all of them, making them aware that stuff could get messy. Zeke slowly descended down the ladder and took a position down below, waiting for them to get through the gate before pouncing. Blitz grabbed his trusty sniper and kept his pistol to hoof, just in case things got a little closer. The ponies got closer and closer, unaware that the ponies on the wall could see them.

One of the ponies lit their magic and brought a sniper rifle to view. Roselight quickly activated an alarm with her hindleg, which let out an ear piercing screech, before Roselight brought her rifle to view as well. She aimed her rifle before the raider or scavenger was even able to control their magic and shot them with clear precision. Blitz watched in shock as the bullet travelled straight through the raider's skull, making them drop in an instant.

All of the raiders pushed up as one, storming up to the gate and trying to pry it open. One of the raiders pulled out some explosives from their saddlebag and threw them at the wall and mainly at the gate, forcing the four of the ponies on the wall to jump down and reposition. Blitz flew off and saw a roof that he could perch onto, digging his hindlegs around some poles and aiming down the sight of his sniper rifle, waiting for them to get brave and blow the explosives.

They got brave! Earth shattering sounds turned the quiet landscape into a warzone. It shook the ground and made dust go everywhere, turning the area into a place of range, testing the sight of ponies. Everypony, even the raiders, began to cough. The dust was strong, but Blitz knew his way around it. He had to stay low. His sniper would have been useless in the situation he was in, so he put it away and pulled out his pistol, making sure that it was fully loaded, which it was. He flew down from the roof and got behind cover. There were gunshots all around him, so he kept his eyes peeled. The dust was beginning to clear and he could make out a pony that was not a raider or scavenger, but hadn't been seen in the settlement.

A bat pony was using a battle saddle, strapped with two belt fed auto shotgun. She looked badass! She shot a raider in the stomach before shooting him in the head, making his head explode all over the place, including onto her. Another pony charged her, but got a bullet straight through the head, due to Blitz's pistol. He hopped out from behind cover and walked up to her.

"I know that this is a terrible time for ya fella, but what's ya name, hunny?" The bat pony mare asked Blitz, aiming her weapons at him, only cause she didn't know who in Celestia he was.

"My name's Blitz, I'm one of the new settlers here." He explained carefully, due to having two shotguns pointed at his head. "And if I may ask, what might your name be?" Blitz questioned, asking the question that would make him pull the trigger or not.

"That explains why I haven't seen ya about the place. The name's Sadjoy! I'm the bat pony night guard." She explained, shooting a raider that was creeping up behind Blitz. The gunshot made his ears ring and made his back hurt, due to being hit with the raider's insides and painting his back red. Blitz turned around and looked at the raider on the floor and scowled. He hated doing this, but it was his only choice. It was all of their only choice. The ponies that didn't want to hurt, had to, to survive.

An explosion made itself known, knocking over part of the wall and creating even more dust. It became hard to see, so Blitz tried to shield his eye from all of the dust. A couple of raiders ran past both Blitz and Sadjoy, as Blitz turned around. Sadjoy closed her eyes and vanished into the dust. Blitz heard three shots from a familiar sounding shotgun and that equilled the same amount of raiders and scavengers that had passed them both.

Blitz moved around the dust and caught sights of different ponies fighting. He moved around at a constant speed and saw different scene's being displayed on different sides of him. He tried to visualise them as quickly as possible, but he needed to keep himself safe too. Time almost stopped as Blitz evaluated his position in the battle, the war for the settlement. The war of survival!

In front of him, Roselight and Saber were fighting several raiders. Roselight was wielding a rifle. It was a fully automatic carbine rifle, but Roselight had triggered it to only fire a single bullet, everytime she pulled the trigger with her magic. She aimed her weapon with deadly precision, making sure that every bullet mattered and had its own way of sinking into the flesh of the other ponies around her. Those ponies being raiders and scavengers.

Saber was wielding a pistol and a sword with his magic, most like what Blitz had done originally. The saber was super sharp, much like the one that Blitz originally had, that the previous raider had lodged into the hydra. It looked almost identical to that saber. He sliced into a pony and then shot them in the head with his pistol. The pistol that he also had, was a revolver. It had increased stopping power and much more lethality than a normal pistol, but had the downside of not being able to load multiple magazines into the weapon. Instead, the user had to manually open the cylinder and slot a single bullet in at a time. There were certain things that he could put the bullets into and load all of them into the cylinder, but he didn't have any. He had to stick with the single bullet method.

Both Roselight and Saber were fighting back to back, helping each other and making sure that they didn't get snuck up on. Blitz admired that. They were pretty good shooters and tried to make every bullet count. The shot one bullet after another, hitting most of their shots and missing very rarely. They had that! They were going to win that fight.

Blitz looked to his left and saw Plumjuice and Zeke. Plumjuice was being an expert with some certain horseshoes that she was wearing. They had spikes on them and seemed to be very, very sharp, due to the way that she bucked a raider and sliced his jaw off. She was a sight to behold, being the true love of a gryphon would have made her fierce enough, let alone the weapons that she was capable of using. Unlike the others, she didn't wield a gun, meaning that she lacked range, but what she lacked in range, made up for it in manoeuvrability and strength. Zeke was the same.

Zeke didn't use any weapons at all, relying on his hooves and unbelievable strength. Being a zebra, gave him an unbelievable amount of strength, strength that earth ponies would have been jealous of. He proved that he had such strength, due to the way that he disassembled two raiders with only his forehooves, let alone his hindlegs. Blitz was so glad that he was able to convert Zeke from a raider, because otherwise he would have caused some serious damage.

Both Zeke and Plumjuice fought with courage and stamina, pushing themselves to the limit and not slacking for one second. Luckily, all of the melee fighters were flocking to them, so they didn't have to deal with any ranged fighters from there. There was a pegasus flying above with a pistol in their maw, taking shots at both Zeke and Plumjuice. Blitz wasn't going to let them get hurt by the raider, so he pulled out his sniper and aimed through the scope, before letting out a lightning-like crack into the air and blowing the brains out of the pegasus. Zeke and Plumjuice didn't break their concentration, which Blitz was glad about, as he put his sniper away.

Blitz looked up and saw that Sadjoy had risen up to the sky, along with Nightclaw. Sadjoy blasted some pegusi above with her shotguns, before looking to the ground and dive-bombing some of the raiders and scavengers on the ground. She landed on the ground shortly after and pounced on one of them, biting into their necks before snapping them. She made very quick work of the raiders she came across, which made Blitz glad that he himself wasn't a raider.

Nightclaw swooped about, doing the same as Sadjoy, only not blasting ponies and snapping necks. Instead, he dived down and took out chunks of ponies, using his razor sharp talons to carve them into bloody pulps. It would have been nice to know that he ended them quickly, but as he swooped down and carved into a pony, he left them in two pieces, torturing them with the pain of having no hindlegs. Blitz took out his pistol and shot the raider in the head, to end his suffering. Blitz got a look of confusion from Nightclaw as he did that.

"Don't these ponies get to suffer for all they've done?" Nightclaw shouted at him, before he soured back into the sky, ready to strike again. Blitz shouldn't have, but he thought about what Nightclaw had said for a couple of seconds, before Blitz shot a raider that had been charging him, not really caring too much for it, as it too, slumped to the floor to join the others, it's friends.

Blitz shook his head, before looking to the only forward facing area left. He looked to his right and saw the final two left in the settlement. Azure and Gretzky. Gretzky was wielding Azure's shotgun, spitting out bullets left and right. He made sure to have Azure's back, as he unloaded some bullets into a gryphon that was hurling themself into the pair. The both dodged the flying corpse of feathers and blood and got back to what they were doing. Although Gretzky wasn't the perfect shot, he had some good reaction times, making him able to react quick enough to not get himself killed.

Azure was a dodger. He didn't really want to fight, but he did what he had to. He dodged most of the attacks, while Gretzky filled them full of buckshot and others, he shot with the pistol on his side, using the modified battle saddle to its fullest. He had never been an accurate shot, but he was slowly getting better and better. Blitz had never doubted him, but he did need to get better eventually. Doctors after all were not born to be shooters, but medics. Azure had a couple of syringes with him, possibly due to Gretzky giving him some. He was avoiding using them, probably because they were healing syringes.

Another explosion hurt Blitz's ears and pushed him back, encasing him in a cloud of thick dust. He struggled to get up, his head shaking with the blunt trauma that he had just survived. The explosion deafened him, making all of the other sounds disappear. It was almost like all of the gunshots had stopped. He slowly hobbled to get back up and fell a little, before he got to his hooves fully. He couldn't see anything around him, except for the dust and fog around him. He couldn't hear anything else apart from the ringing in his ears. At that point of time, he was alone.

Blitz's vision flickered from grey scale, like when he had freaked out about Azure and fell through an invisible wall, and normal. It was beginning to scare Blitz, but he knew that he had to be strong. He didn't know how to handle the situation, but he just tried to exit the area around him, only to find that it would bring him back to the same spot every time, like a never ending loop. It only confused him about what to do next. He couldn't exit the area, but there was nowhere else to go. He did the only thing he could do, he waited for something to happen.

Two minutes went by and still nothing. It was until a hoof came out of the fog and dust, that Blitz regained focus. He wanted out of the illusion, he wanted out of the torture that he was in. He wasn't able to go anywhere, he didn't have any friends to hoof. It was just him, on his own! The hoof of the pony coming through the fog was strangely white and Blitz noticed that no dust was collecting on the hoof, which it did him. The hoof, turned into a forehoof. A skeleton of a hoof, followed by a black fabric. The figure teleported into the centre of the dust and fog circle and Blitz couldn't miss a sight quite like that.

The skeletal figure towered over Blitz, making him feel too small to be worth any time in the world. The skeleton wore a dark bluish, blackish robe, almost like some religious groups who worshiped Celestia and Luna. The most devious of traits that set it apart from anything else, was the scythe that it wielded. This was a weapon of one pony or in this case, Alicorn would use. The Grim Reaper! Blitz was standing face to face with Death himself.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" Blitz questioned him, noticing that the Grim Reaper was moving.

"Not yet…" It stated, pointing a hoof at a scene just below them. All of the ponies and gryphons were together, Blitz being able to see the faces of all of them. A figure was approaching them from the mist and it shocked Blitz with what it was. A raider, with Steel Ranger power armour. They all turned to it and time stopped. Blitz noticed that nothing was happening and turned around to see Death gazing into his eyes. Blitz was too worried about what was happening down below to worry about Death.

"Time has stopped right now, right?" Blitz asked Death, making sure to keep eye contact with him the entire time. He didn't feel like Death was an enemy, Blitz considered it to be somewhat of a friend, in his eyes at least.

"Indeed it has! Why do you ask, young Changeling?" Death asked, curious about why Blitz was so concerned. Death didn't look away from Blitz, only looking at him and keeping a grasp on their scythe with their magic.

"Because I want to go back! I have unfinished work to do!" Blitz stated angrily, looking back down at the ponies that he trusted, that he had come closer to. Blitz clenched his jaw shut and wiped his eye with a hoof.

Ha...ha...ha! Do you really think that YOU… of all ponies and creatures, DESERVE to go back, TO DIE again shortly after?" Death chuckled, not realising that it didn't make Blitz break yet.

"Why so much emphasis on those words for? Why do I, of all ponies and creatures, deserve to die?" Blitz stated, cutting Death's laugher, like a sharp knife. It paused and looked at Blitz, pondering his intelligence and taking in the full sight of him. Of Blitz!

"I have already given a mortal creature a gift, why do you deserve another one?" Death spoke, before swinging it's scythe at Blitz, only for him to dodge the attack. Death chuckled, making Blitz feel a little uneasy.

"Why did you chuckle?" Blitz asked, slowly gathering up some of the pieces to what was happening.

"Because now you and I can both agree. You've dodged Death!" It said, before using it's magic on Blitz and pushing him back to where his body was. He felt uneasy, but he could move. He opened his eyes and could hear a gun being spun up, like it was charging something. Without a second thought, Blitz took to the air and dove down, before placing a shield in front of himself, keeping the creatures behind him safe. They all had their eyes close and thought that they were getting gunned down right then and there, but they couldn't feel the pain, so they opened their eyes to see Blitz there.

The gun stopped firing and out came a laugh from the pony inside the power armour. They slowly got out and saw that every single pony and creature was alive. Blitz was a little light headed from all of the magic that he had used and nearly passed out from exhaustion. He was steadied by Azure, using his wing and wrapping it around Blitz to balance him.

The shield from Blitz's magic dropped, revealing the sight of the raider to all. Blitz used his magic to tip over the power armour, making it inaccessible to all. The raider pulled out a pistol from his saddlebag and aimed it at the group. Blitz's eyes went bright red, which signalled something that he still didn't understand. He thought that it had just been the radiation, but when he thought about it, it only happened towards the end of his journey from the factory and when he and Azure were hiding. That was…

Before Blitz could elaborate, the raider cocked his gun and smiled, making himself look way more menacing than normal. Blitz closed his eyes and heard a familiar sounding howl. The howl of a timberwolf! The wolf hopped over them all and rushed towards the raider, before snapping and tearing at the raiders neck. The raider's head rolled a little bit on the floor, before the timberwolf turned around with a vicious glare. Blitz walked up to the timberwolf slowly, making sure that it didn't rush him. He sat down in front of it and tilted his head, the wolf mimicking him exactly.

"Are you what it was on about?" Blitz said out loud, knowing full well that the others didn't have any idea what he was on about. He turned to the others and smiled, seeing that they were all okay, apart from a couple of cuts and bruises, which he was grateful for them not having more than that. They could have gotten seriously hurt, but luckily the raiders had been a terrible shot.

"Wow! Is that a timberwolf?" Plumjuice asked, being slightly ecstatic about seeing the timberwolf in front of her. She reached out to pet it, but it moved back, hiding behind Blitz. "Is it yours?" Plumjuice questioned, becoming less excited, due to it moving away from her, when she tried to pet it. Blitz looked back at the scared timberwolf and stroked it with a hoof, noticing that it was not afraid of him, and only him.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Blitz explained, turning around to the timberwolf and gave it some loving scratches, seeing that it was reacting positively to the petting. It looked around and then backed up, before vanishing into the ground. It had disappeared, but I would be back. Blitz knew it.

"What in Celestia's name? Where did it go?" Nightclaw called out, a bit confused that it fell through the floor. Blitz looked at his hoof, realising that it had some dust on it. The same dust that he had when he tried to exit the dust and fog, while he was dead. Did that mean that…

"Where did it go, Eater?" Azure asked, being slightly curious, caring a bit about the mystery of it. Blitz was a little confused on what to say, but he didn't keep himself from being too silent, so he turned to him and smiled.

"I have no idea. It just kind of comes and goes, I guess." Blitz answered truthfully, knowing that there must have been a way to summon it on command. Blitz thought for a second before coming to the conclusion. It must have been either a random occurrence, or it must have been something that Blitz was feeling.

Blitz looked back at the others and saw that they were slowly getting themselves together and scavenging the bodies. Blitz turned back to the Power Armour and chuckled.

"He shouldn't have got out!" Blitz silently told a joke to himself, Azure hearing it, and felt slightly confused by it. Blitz got up and walked to the power armour and saw that it had a built in anti-material rifle, pretty much a superior sniper than the one that he already had. The ammo was an issue to get and no suppressor could be attached to it, so it was a weapon that he could have fired and the entire continent would know that he was coming for them. It was loud!

Blitz worked on trying to unequip the anti-material rifle, while Azure stood behind him. Azure noticed the blood on Blitz's chitin and looked for his facial expression, so see if he was hurting at all. He looked back down to Blitz's form and saw that there were several spots of blood that were running down his sides. Azure rolled his eyes before grabbing some healing supplies from his saddlebags.

Azure sat on his rear, grabbing a medical syringe for Blitz and injecting some liquid solution into his needle. Blitz looked over to him and saw that he was holding the needle, filling it up with different kinds of liquid, which Blitz didn't mind. The bit that he cared about was the needle. He hated needles! He shook his head before trying to get back to work on the anti-material rifle.

"Blitz? What really happened? Don't give me no lies, no bullshit again. I want to hear what really happened!" Azure spoke aloud, surprising Blitz with the language that he used. "I've seen your eyes. They look bloodshot, almost like a corpse's eyes. Now tell me what the fuck is going on, or so help me, I will dig this needle into you and keep it in there." Azure stated with a smile, eyeing Blitz's eyes. Blitz sighed and rolled his eyes, so Azure stabbed him with the syringe. Blitz yelped!

"Ouch! Okay! I'll tell you!" Blitz cried, hating the feeling of the needle in-between his chitin. "I… I… I died! I got given a gift and dodged Death apparently." Blitz explained, as Azure pulled the needle out from inside him. After Azure pulled out the needle, he threw it on the ground before wrapping his hooves around Blitz and pulling him in for a hug. Blitz happily hugged him, relaxing in an instant, as Azure slowly broke down.

"No! No… shhhhh… it's okay! This really should be me, but… shush." Blitz said to him, making him chuckle a little. As soon as Azure finished hugging Blitz, Blitz wiped a tear from Azure's cheek. "I would hate to lose you, my special friend." Blitz stated quietly, making Azure smile. Azure let go and went to go check on the others, which left Blitz alone with his thoughts. He saw a bright red reflection in the metal of the power armour and turned around. Behind him was the timberwolf, sitting there with somewhat of a smile on its face.

"What do you want your name to be?" Blitz asked it, seeing that it understood him. The timberwolf tilted its head for a second before coming over to Blitz and sitting beside him. It growled at the anti-material rifle and Blitz went back to work on it. It came off instantly and Blitz used his magic to place it on the floor. The timberwolf scratched the anti-material rifle and growled.

"Eater? Is it back?" Azure asked, slowly coming back over to him. Seeing that it was indeed back, Azure crept up to Blitz and sat down next to him, watching as the timberwolf made its movements. It kept scratching the anti-material rifle lightly, still making claw marks on the weapon.

"You want to be called, Anti-material rifle?" Blitz asked, getting a growl as a result of calling it that. "Anti?" Blitz asked it, not getting a growl, but getting a wag of a wooden tail. Blitz petted his new companion for a little while, while looking at the power armour. He had a quick question for the timberwolf, his timberwolf. "Anti? Are you a male or female?" Blitz asked, looking down at his four legged friend. It tilted its head at him. "Male?" Blitz asked, receiving a growl. "Ah, so you're a female timberwolf. Okay!" Blitz stated, a smile on his ever growing face. Anti rested her head on the floor, right next to Blitz, while he worked on trying to open the medical compartment of the power armour.

"You need help with that?" Asked Azure, trying to grab the compartment and pull on it lightly. Blitz is able to get inside the compartment and disconnects the hatch completely, before turning off the power on the power armour. It made the process of getting to the medical compartment easier. "Was that not it?" Azure asked, wearing a slight smile on his face. Blitz nodded and then got up.

"I need to grab Gretzky or Nightclaw to help with this, because from what I remember, it takes a screwdriver or something to be able to take the hatch off. That and… well, the medical compartment is jammed for some reason. If it wasn't, I could have done it with my hooves." Blitz stated, getting a firm nod from Azure and a bark from Anti. The bark from Anti made the others turn and look at her, which made Azure chuckle.

Blitz walked over to Gretzky and tapped him on the shoulder. He was scavenging off a fallen gryphon that he had killed, while protecting Azure and himself. It seemed to be the only gryphon that the raiders and scavengers had sent. The gryphon was a raider for sure, but what didn't add up, was why the raiders and the scavengers were working together. Gretzky turned around and smiled at Blitz knowing that he had just saved them all. Gretzky was one of the citizens that were grateful to have Blitz as an ally.

"Do you need some help with something, Blitz?" Gretzky asked, being overall more chirpier than normal. That thought alone made Blitz smile. He regained focus, but kept the smile on his face, for as long as he could at least.

"Yeah, I need help with the medical compartment on the power armour. It seems to be jammed or something." Blitz explained, looking back at the power armour, before turning back to him. Gretzky nodded and looked over at the pony chassis, before slowly going back to his shop and nabbing a screwdriver. Blitz met him at the armour, Anti lying down beside him. Gretzky got close to the medical compartment, before seeing that it definitely was jammed.

"So, how do you think it happened?" Blitz asked, trying to see if anything was blocking the hatch from opening. Gretzky tried to open it with his claws alone, which didn't work. So instead, he used the screwdriver and managed to bend it, which wasn't an easy task for his screwdriver.

"Mmm… I have no idea Eater. Could you do me a favour? Could you enter the power armour? I have a feeling that there is a lock that prevents ponies from getting into it, without being in it." Gretzky explained, hoping that Blitz would understand. He did understand and went to go get into the armour, before Anti paused him with a growl.

"Umm… Anti? Are you ok?" Blitz asked, before he witnessed something that could have only happened with him around. Anti turned around and barked, before jumping into the armour. The armour closed around her, making it known that a living being was in a suit of power armour. "Umm… okay? That works, I guess." Blitz explained to himself, trying to convince himself that it actually was okay.

Blitz walked back around to Gretzky, noticing that he was trying to get into the hatch, still. He finally broke it open and saw that there was another glowing artifact inside. He picked it up and looked at it a little bit, before Blitz came closer to look at it too.

"What is… Wait… that's like those two of those other artifacts that I found!" Blitz noted while Gretzky passed the artifact to him to look at, while he got into the doctor's hatch, as it was written on the inside of the hatch.

Blitz evaluated the artifact and tried to see why there were certain ones that were glowed. The artifact was a figurine of a pony called 'Daring Do'. It was almost like it was dipped in a super reflective solution. Blitz needed to know what the artifacts were and why they were all glowing.

"Soul Eater? Who's in the power armour?" Gretzky asked. A bark echoed and vibrated the area and the armour, telling Gretzky that Anti, Blitz's new timberwolf, was in the armour. Blitz chuckled, before Anti stepped a paw outside of the armour and ran around to Blitz's side, before barking again. Gretzky smiled and chuckled, before looking at the timberwolf. "Do you think that if I threw a stick for your timberwolf friend here, that it would be considered cannibalism?" Gretzky asked, making Blitz chuckle.

"Probably." Blitz stated, looking down at Anti and stroking her with a forehoof. Stroking her wasn't the most comfortable experience, but at least he was showing compassion to her. He focused back onto Gretzky, before seeing Anti vanish into thin air, within the corner of his eye. Gretzky grabbed the medical supplies that were in the medical hatch of the armour, finding it was filled with most of the most common drugs in the Wasteland. He took them all and placed them all into his saddlebag.

Blitz looked at the artifact and held onto it, placing it into his saddlebag carefully, before turning back to Gretzky.

"I'm going to hold onto that item for a little bit. I'm going to take a closer look at it later and possibly see about talking to Roselight about it." Blitz instructed, getting a firm nod from Gretzky, gaining his approval. Blitz slowly turned and walked away, before Gretzky put his claw on Blitz's shoulder. Blitz slowly turned around to see both Nightclaw and Gretzky looking at him.

"Maybe tonight, we should invite you and Alchem to have a little bit of grub. Haven't seen you and him eat since you both got here." Gretzky spoke aloud, Nightclaw nodding in response. Blitz smiled and nodded.

"That would be nice. When would it be?" Blitz asked. Nightclaw smiled, looking to Gretzky, who was wearing the exact same smile.

"Right after we have finished here and moved all of the bodies out of the settlement, which is what I am doing." Nightclaw stated, wearing a smile that would warm any creature's heart.

"Oh that reminds me Nightclaw, ta dah! You get the power armour!" Gretzky said, waving his claws around while looking at the power armour. Nightclaw nodded, before taking the power armour and getting in it.

"It's better than that my young friend. It has literally full charge on the battery!" Nightclaw screamed from inside the armour. He ran away with it, heading back to his blacksmithing area. Gretzky chuckled a little from that, before looking at the bodies around him.

"Nopony or creature wanted anything like this to happen, but we had to do what was necessary to survive. I hate killing ponies and creatures, but when family and friends come under fire, there is only one thing that you can do… to save them. You have to stop the attackers by any means necessary." Gretzky stated, feeling a little defeated. Blitz could feel Gretzky's pain and emotions from that statement, so he did the only thing that would make him better in that situation. He rushed over to Gretzky and gave him a hug. Blitz instantly felt the tightness of Gretzky as he hugged him and allowed him to begin to relax.

Bodies were looted and then placed in their own little grave, outside of the settlement. Nightclaw used the power armour to dig the graves. The reason that he went back to his area is because he needed to make some 'modifications' to the armour and added two shovels to the side of them. It was pretty funny when they heard about it, but it was scary how good the modification worked.

As soon as all of the bodies were looted and buried, Nightclaw got out of the power armour and began to cook various items. All of the residents came to Nightclaw's blacksmithing area, ready to eat. Azure sat to the side, watching all of the food being cooked. It made his mouth water, but he didn't know if he could eat the things being cooked. Meat was not something that he would ever eat, but they were short on food that ponies used to eat.

Nightclaw passed the piping hot food to Gretzky, who then sliced it into slices and placed it on plates for the hungry residents. As soon as all of the other residents were fed with various meats, Azure, Gretzky and Nightclaw were the last ones to be served, until they saw Blitz approaching. He held the two artifacts with his magic, looking between the Daring Do figurine and the glowing stone.

"Eater? Take a break will you. You've been looking at those things since you got back to your little area. Have some grub!" Nightclaw called out, getting a couple slices of meat ready for Blitz. Gretzky looked over to Azure, seeing that he wasn't looking okay.

"Alchem? Are you okay?" Gretzky asked, being slightly concerned. Azure lifted his head and smiled, before Gretzky smiled back. He passed a plate of thinly cut meat over to Azure. He turned his nose up at it, but then looked it over. Nightclaw passed over a plate to Blitz, before serving himself and Gretzky with the rest of the meat. They both sat next to Blitz and Azure hoping that they both enjoyed the meat. They knew that it wasn't what ponies were used to eating, but it would have given them so much more muscle and energy from it.

Blitz looked at Azure and smiled, sliding the plate closer to him. Azure gave an angry scowl at Blitz and growled slightly.

"Please bud. For me? Beggars can't be choosers, remember?" Blitz stated, making sure that Azure knew that Blitz only tried to help. "I can promise that you'll like it, ok?" Blitz promised, making a smile appear on Azure's muzzle.

"And what if I don't like it, what will you do?" Azure asked.

"Nothing!" Blitz chuckled, before tasting some of the meat. His eyes widened and focused directly on Nightclaw. "What is in this? It's so good!" Blitz admitted, looking to Azure for a brief second. Azure sighed, before taking a bite of the meat. He tasted it for a couple of seconds before he commented on it.

"What meat is this Nightclaw?" He asked, curious to what it was. Nightclaw pondered for a little bit, before coming to his conclusion.

"I'm pretty sure that this is wolf meat, if I'm not mistaken." Nightclaw admitted, making Anti summon. Anti growled at him and kept biting the air.

"Anti, ain't you just made of sticks?" Blitz asked, getting a response from the angry timberwolf. She slowly walked over to him and glared at him. Blitz picked up a little piece of meat from his plate and carried it down to her height. She slowly walked over and licked the meat, before taking it from Blitz's hoof. Blitz stroked her, getting a simple wag of her tail in response.

Blitz continued to eat the food, as too did Azure, coming up with topics to talk about and enjoying their first meal in several days. It was good, it was a happy time. Blitz's only thought though, was what linked the artifacts together?

Chapter 8: Linked Legacy's

After a relaxing meal and a great night's sleep, both Azure and Blitz were eager to start their day on good notes. Azure moved his head, signalling that he was awake. He lifted his head off Blitz's body and smiled. He looked down at Blitz, staring back at him with his own smile.

"I got to admit, I wouldn't mind you being my pillow for the future." Azure chuckled, making his ears flop from one side to another, almost like a dog's. Blitz cackled lightly, noticing his ears flopping, drooping and perking every couple of seconds, making Azure look like he was slightly confused about the situation.

"Only if you keep me warm at night, with your fluffy wings." Blitz stated, getting a scornful face from Azure. Blitz chuckled and tilted his head to one side. "I'm joking of course." Blitz stated, making Azure smile and cackle again. The mornings that Blitz and Azure spent together were some of the best times that they had ever experienced. They were always warm, waking up from bliss and most importantly, woke up in the embrace of the other. They enjoyed it nonetheless.

Blitz slowly got to his hooves, stretching and cracking almost every bone in his body. He looked over at some of the stuff that they were doing last night and smiled. There was a card game going on that was still unfinished and the two artifacts placed on the table, alongside the cards. Blitz slowly walked up to the cards and packed them away with his magic, before placing them back into a cupboard, originally where they had come from. As soon as Blitz closed the door of the cupboard, he turned to see Azure sitting in the chair closest to him.

Azure turned his head before pointing with a hoof at the other chair, on the opposite side of him. Blitz rolled his eyes before he walked over and pulled out the chair with his magic. He sat down shortly after and looked at Azure. Azure placed his hooves out onto the table and Blitz's first intention was to place his own hooves on Azure's. This released a slight little blush from both of them, Azure's being a slight pink and Blitz's being a slight blue. It was cute, but Blitz wanted to tell Azure about something anyway.

Breaking the blissful moment, Blitz used his magic to move the artifacts to his saddlebag, placing both of them within it. Azure was slightly confused by his actions, but tried to go along with it, only to have it ponder and bubble his curiosity to the surface of his fur.

"Blitz? What are you going to do with the artifacts?" Azure asked, being slightly curious to what was going through Blitz's mind. He looked back at Azure and sighed, before holding Azure's hooves again, no blush coming from him this time.

"I'm going to let Roselight look at the artifacts while we are out with Gretzky. Surely she has some idea or an insight that might explain all of this." He suggested, getting a careful nod from Azure. Azure rubbed one of Blitz's hooves with both of his, making Blitz's cheeks turn blue and making his wings flutter. "Stop it!" He blurted out with a smile, getting Azure to cut it out. He did, but he didn't stop looking at Blitz.

"I'm so lucky to have you here bud. Love ya like a bro, I hope you know that." Azure spoke aloud, getting a chirp from Blitz in response. He chirped when he was really happy about something, so Azure guessed that him saying that had an effect.

"Love you too dude." Blitz stated, his cheeks turning a dark purple. It was cute, but Azure knew then and there that Blitz was blushing incredibly hard, so he did the best and only thing he knew how to do. He hugged Blitz tightly by getting out of his chair and going around the table. Blitz hugged him back, getting closer to him with every hug. He closed his eyes during the hug, trying to make it last longer. It was inevitable anyway, which made Blitz a little sad that the moment of blissfulness had to end so quickly. At least let them both have another five minutes?

The moments that everypony wanted to last forever, came quicker than they always wanted. Blitz pulled away from the hug and slowly walked towards the window. It looked like it was the dawn of a new day outside, but in reality, they had no idea of time. There was just day and night, no in-between. Blitz thought it was the morning, but had no concept of time and perception, due to it always looking like the dawn of a new day.

Blitz turned away from the window and got another hug from Azure. It was a surprise hug, but Blitz could feel that Azure was meaning every fibre of it, from his emotions to his actions, Blitz could feel them all. He was a changeling, able to taste love and feel the strength of emotions to their fullest. Blitz wrapped his forehooves around Azure and nuzzled into his neck, not knowing what else to do but love him that little bit more.

Blitz saw that Azure had closed his eyes during the hug, making Blitz's cheeks turn blue again and making a smile appear on his muzzle, again. Blitz pulled Azure away from himself, before lifting up Azure's chin with his magic.

"You're my best friend right now Azure. I trust you with almost anything. I'm going to continue this adventure, only if you're with me to help." Blitz stated, making Azure's eyes gleam with a different type of magic, one which Blitz had not seen in a long, long time. His eyes were full of hope.

Blitz stretched, before making his way to the front door of the building. He picked up his saddlebag from the side and grabbed Azure's too. It didn't weigh him down as much as he had thought, which was a positive, but it was still heavy. Azure got to Blitz and looked a little confused, seeing that he had both of the saddlebags on his back. That wasn't going to be good for his health, so Azure decided to do the noble thing and take his saddlebag from Blitz's back, before they both set a hoof outside.

Blitz closed the door behind them and saw that the wall was somewhat fixed, judging by the spikes that were jutting out in different directions, within the settlement. Blitz walked closer to it and saw that it was a temporary fix, just so that the settlement didn't look weak.

"Oh sweet Celestia! I forgot the artifacts!" Blitz stated, before racing back into the building that they had just left. Azure looked down to see Anti stooding next to him. She looked up at him, her tongue on display. He cautiously and hesitantly went to stroke her, before she barked at him, making him jump. She moved towards his hoof anyway, making him stroke her. He began to rub her head, feeling all of the twigs and sticks overlapping, which made him shudder with uncomfortableness. He sighed, before continuing to stroke her. She sat down, allowing his hoof to have an easier time traversing the terrain that was her head and pretty much the rest of her body.

Azure looked away from the wooden canine and chuckled silently, before seeing Roselight appear in front of him. It was unexpected and even she was surprised that she ended up there, but she smiled at Azure happily.

"Morning Alchem! I hope I didn't scare you at all. My teleportation spell is acting up this morning and that is what I'm so spooked that I ended up here." Roselight spoke aloud, not caring about who was listening to their conversation. Something about her was a little bit off. Her mane was different! Her mane was black, with gleaming white particles within the thick black locks that she had. This made Azure a little curious.

"Morning Roselight. May I ask you something?" Azure asked, keeping his eyes locked on the mane. The purple unicorn was slightly confused to see Azure staring at her mane, so she pushed forwards.

"Of course Doctor! What is it?" Roselight pressed, giving him a concerning look. He didn't reply instantly, he just continued to stare at her mane, which she then realised that he was focusing on that, rather than her. "Oh… yeah, about my mane… it's not important. Anyway, how have you and Soul Eater been doing?" She questioned, changing the topic almost instantly. It made Azure a little sceptical of what she might have been hiding. It was almost like her hair was flowing.

"We've been alright, just a little tired from waking up not too long ago." Azure announced to her, making her smile a little. "Actually, Eater wanted to speak to you about something." He added, seeing that she was vaguely interested. Azure turned around to the sound of hoof steps coming from behind him. Blitz ran back to him and Roselight and panted for a couple of seconds, before he spoke softly.

"I… need to… ugh… speak to you about...pfft… something." Blitz explained, trying to catch his breath. Azure held onto him, keeping him steady on his own hooves. "Thanks pal, but I gotta tell you, the pain in my hindleg is beginning to hurt again." Blitz thanked him, getting a nod from Azure.

"If you two come with me, we can have a little chat in my office." Roselight prompted, getting both of their attention. Roselight began to walk to her building, followed closely by two. Blitz kept looking around to see the effects that the invasion had on the settlement. There were some things, like the wall, that had been destroyed within the chaos. It consisted of a house and some of the ladders that they used to climb up onto the wall. Blitz felt a little bad that he didn't help as much as he could have, but he was grateful that everypony and creature was alright.

When he got to thinking about it, he didn't feel any pain from the point that he died at. He got blasted away by an explosion, but there was no damage. Blitz came to the conclusion, after a little battle with his mind, that he got blown up with air. It made him chuckle, which made both Roselight and Azure turn to look at him.

"What's so funny, Eater?" Roselight asked, waiting for Blitz to answer her.

"Nothing Roselight, it's nothing. Just something funny that I thought of inside my head." Blitz admitted. Roselight had her doubts, but turned away from him. Azure looked at him shortly after before he noticed something. Blitz was a little distracted, but his right eye kept flickering slightly to a red variation of his normal beautiful blue eyes. It freaked Azure out a little, but Blitz just shook his head and lost the effect. Azure turned his head and saw the building.

Roselight opened the door with her magic and stood outside it, allowing Azure and Blitz to travel past her, before she closed the door quickly and hit the light switch with one of her hooves. The lights turned on and Blitz immediately noticed the artifact that Roselight had. She noticed that he was immediately interested in it, so she walked towards the artifact and locked eyes with Blitz.

"The blueprint is not going to be used yet, Eater!" Roselight roared, not scaring him at all. He didn't react to what she said, which made her a little curious about it.

"Do you mind if I have a look at it?" Blitz asked her, not tearing his eyes away from the artifact. In the factory, the artifact did glow, which made Blitz realise that it was like the Daring Do figurine and the stone artifacts that they had, but he wanted to get behind why they glowed and why they were all important. Blitz realised that Roselight was contemplating on her decision, but she knew that she wouldn't trust him fully with it.

"You may look at it, but not touch." Roselight muttered, her head flickering a little, twitching like there was something wrong with her. Blitz and Azure both took this on board and kept an eye on her, just in case something happened. Blitz slowly walked over to it and turned to Roselight.

"Can you turn the lights off for a couple of seconds at the minimum? I want to see what the glowing writing says." Blitz asked, getting a stern look from Roselight, before she turned the light off, still being able to see Blitz, due to the light from the blueprint.

Blitz evaluated the blueprint, seeing that it was a plan to build a barn. It had all of the required materials written down to make it and had all of the measurements written down as well. Blitz signalled for Roselight to come over to him, which she immediately did, standing right behind him and watching his movements like a hawk.

"You didn't need these blueprints to build things, did you?" Blitz questioned, feeling like he knew what she was about to do. He peeled over his shoulder to find a gun pointed to his head, like he had originally predicted. Azure flicked on the lights slowly and watched in horror. He pointed himself towards her and got ready to bite down on the mouth piece. Blitz caught wind of this and sighed.

"Alchem, put your weapons away. She isn't a threat." Blitz stated, as he watched him slowly get to a normal stance and walking over to stand beside Blitz. Roselight still pointed a gun at Blitz's head, which didn't help her case of being incredibly helpful.

"What do you know about the artifact?" Roselight growled, pushing the gun against his head. He smiled and chuckled softly, turning his head to her and looking into her eyes.

"Put the gun down and I'll be more relaxed and able to remember what I came here to talk to you about, in regards to the artifact you have." Blitz explained, changing his smile for a slightly worried look, watching her actions. She shook and Blitz could immediately tell that something was wrong. He could see that she was trying to put down her weapon, but something was stopping her from doing so. He looked into her eyes and watched in horror as her eyes changed from circles to slits, almost like Sadjoy's eyes.

The gun shook in her magic, as she tried to lower the weapon, which didn't work. Blitz acted quickly and slapped the weapon away with his magic, before he grabbed the weapon for himself, taking out the remaining ammo and sliding the receiver, making sure that there was no bullet loaded in her weapon. She just shook in place, wincing as she closed her eyes, forcing them shut. Something was definitely wrong.

Roselight shook her head and looked back at Blitz, smiling with a couple of tears in her eyes. Blitz walked up to her slowly, before he held his hoof out, meeting her terrified gaze.

"Have we got you back Roselight?" Blitz asked, still holding his hoof out for her to reach for. She looked at it for a couple of seconds, before she nodded slowly, taking his hoof and grabbing it softly. Blitz smiled and so did Azure. She closed her eyes and smiled sadly, making Blitz's heart melt a little. He knew that there was something wrong with her, but he didn't know what it was. The mane, the eyes, the hatred. None of those emotions of expressions existed naturally. There was something within her, somepony within her.

He dropped the subject and went back to the blueprints, looking at all of the little details before he came to the conclusion of something. He had a plan, but he needed to start a chain reaction of events to kick start it. Blitz opened his saddlebag and pulled out the stone and the Daring Do figurine, without Roselight seeing what they were.

"Roselight? What was the real reason you wanted the blueprint, the artifact?" He questioned, turning to her. "Please be truthful with me." He added, keeping both of the artifacts behind him. She hesitated for a tiny bit, before she opened her mouth to speak.

"There is something about those artifacts that link to the ministry mares in some way. I don't know which one the blueprint relates to, but I need more information if I am going to find out." Roselight admitted, seeing that there was a little bit of a smile appearing one Blitz's face.

He brought out the other artifacts that he had, the stone and figurine. Roselight went wide eyed and paused breathing, which spooked Blitz and Azure just a little bit. She regained her rhythm of breathing and slowly walked up to Blitz. He placed them both on her desk and stood back. She took a look at them both and tried to make out what ministry mare would match which item. She couldn't decipher who matched with what and vice versa.

"Where did you find these?" Roselight simply asked, looking to Blitz for an explanation. He sat his rump on the floor and thought for a second, Azure coming up beside him and sitting down with him.

"Well, the first one was in the possession of the leader of our old settlement. It was the stone. Our leader, Appleseed, was in possession of it, hiding it under the floorboards of a building in the settlement. Raiders killed all of our settlement dwellers and searched the area for something. Whether they found it or not, they didn't take the stone with them." Azure explained, surprising Blitz with him stepping up to the description and matching it perfectly.

"What about the other artifact, the figurine?" Roselight asked, giving Blitz a glare, which he replied back to her with a smile.

"That one we recently found. Yesterday, we found that within the medical compartment of the power armour that Nightclaw took in. It was blocking the compartment from opening, without a pony or creature inside the power armour. It's got something to do with Daring Do, a pony in a comic book collection." Blitz explained pointing to the figurine. He got up and grabbed it, before pointing at the writing that linked the item to the comic series. Roselight smiled a little, knowing that those made her collection halfway completed. If there were only six ministry mares, then she would have only needed three more artifacts to have them all.

"I… I'm a little bit shocked." Roselight admitted, stuttering a little bit.

"If it's okay Roselight, I'd like to leave them here with you, for a little bit anyway. Is that okay?" Blitz asked, getting a little look from Azure, suggesting that he was a little surprised by his actions.

"N...n… no, you… you can't… yes… yes… yes, of course you can, Eater!" Roselight hesitated heavily, like she was trying to fight somepony to stop them from saying no. Or was that the other way around? Blitz knew the answer. There was something wrong, but he didn't have time to sort it out right then and there. They had to meet up with Gretzky to do his little errand.

"We have to go, Roselight. I'll come back and talk to you when I'm back." Blitz told her, making her nod and smile, her eyes turning to those slits that Blitz saw before. The same slits that had been present in that stained glass window display. Blitz was trying to make it so that Roselight didn't know that he knew what was wrong. He instantly looked away from her eyes and then shook his head.

Blitz used his magic to move the artifacts onto the table more, just pushing them back to preventing them from falling off. He then turned to Roselight and bowed to her, before looking at Azure. Azure nodded before getting up and following Blitz out of the building. Roselight stayed behind, eyeing the artifacts like they were hidden treasures.

The door closed and Blitz sighed dramatically, letting out the biggest sigh he had ever let out. That got Azure's attention and made him turn to look at Blitz. He noticed that Blitz's focus wasn't on getting to Gretzky, but to looking back at the door, back at Roselight.

"Is everything okay, Blitz?" Azure asked, checking up on Blitz, to make sure that he was okay and focused. Blitz shook his head, before locking eyes with Azure.

"Something is up with Roselight, something that could be big." Blitz admitted, trying to make it so the nopony else could hear. Azure moved closer, allowing Blitz to whisper into his ear. "Roselight has the same eyes as that mare I was telling you about." Blitz whispered into Azure's ear, getting a simple nod in response.

"Are you sure?" Azure asked, making sure Blitz was one hundred percent confident about it. He nodded, making Azure worry a little, before they both turned away and walked towards Gretzky's area. On the way there, Blitz kept thinking about it more and more, until he had one of those experiences again. Everything faded to black and white again, being gray-scaled again. The only thing that wasn't being gray-scaled, was Azure. Blitz looked left and right, seeing that it was the inner walls of the palace. They were just as beautiful as the memory orb had pictured them.

Blitz stopped for a couple of seconds, before noticing that he was in the part of the palace that was occupied by the stained glass window.

"Azure, stop and look at this!" Blitz commanded, getting Azure's attention. Azure came back and looked at what Blitz was pointing at. It was a brick wall, just one solid red and brown brick wall.

"It's a wall?" Azure questioned, not knowing what Blitz was seeing. Blitz looked over to him and Azure saw something that he didn't like in Blitz's eyes. They were dark grey and were twitching a little. It scared Azure a little, but he didn't say anything to Blitz.

"Oh right, you can't see this. Well, like when I fell over the first time, I can see the palace walls again and I'm looking at the image that I was on about, again. This is definitely the one!" Blitz explained to Azure. Azure realised that the eyes were a result of Blitz's experience. That made him feel a little bit less afraid of Blitz as a changeling.

"If you don't mind Blitz, are you able to explain to me what you are seeing?" Azure asked, wrapping his wing around Blitz's waist. Blitz looked to Azure and smiled, before looking back at the stained glass window. Blitz closed his eyes for a short period of time, before he opened them and explained what he was seeing. Blitz sighed for a couple of seconds, before sitting down and looking into the imaginary window.

"Right here, there is a stained glass window, from within the memory orb. Something happened to the memory orb that made me get transported into their world. Anyway, the stained glass window held an event of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They fought each over, due to Princess Luna becoming evil and wanting power. The evil was due to something called the Nightmare. It tried to take over Princess Luna's mind and body, which in the end, it did, due to the regret that Luna faced. It took her over and tried to end Celestia." Blitz explained. Azure just wore a confused frown, looking back at Blitz and pondering what he might have been trying to explain.

"Go on!" Azure commanded, letting Blitz take a breath, before continuing.

"Well… the Nightmare was terrifying apparently, razor sharp eyes, sharp fangs and changing a pony's appearance. I noticed that with Roselight earlier. Did you? Her mane turned black and shimmery and her eyes changed, everytime those artifacts were mentioned. It was weird, but I am pretty sure that that is the case." Blitz explained, making Azure look a little way back to Roselight's building and then back at Blitz.

"Hmm… let's forget about that right now and focus on what's important. We still need to get to Gretzky, so come on!" Azure stated, before sprinting down the path, towards Gretzky's area. Blitz didn't move, but then he saw his little K-9 companion. Anti wagged her tail, before chasing after Azure and catching up to him instantly. Anti passed him and teleported Blitz to her location, which scared and confused both Blitz and Azure. The last they checked, timberwolves and animals in general weren't able to use magic, so this only tightened their curiosity on what Anti really was.

Blitz fell to the floor, due to being teleported without notice and sighed, dropping his gaze to look at the floor. Azure held out a hoof for him to grab onto. Blitz did, grabbing Azure's hoof and getting put to his hooves and walked over to him, before wrapping his hooves around Azure's body and hugging him. Azure blushed dramatically, but kept his cool and hugged back. It was a nice little moment, but all good things had to come to an end eventually. The both exited the hug as fast as they had entered the warm embrace.

"Feeling better?" Azure asked, enjoying his company like always. Blitz nodded and smiled, knowing that Azure did too. They made their way over to Gretzky's little shop area and paused when they saw Gretzky having his own warm embrace, with Plumjuice. Both Blitz and Azure smiled as they looked at each other and Blitz got a little closer to Azure, allowing Azure to wrap a wing around Blitz's body. It was nice, especially for Blitz, since his changeling genes allowed him to see and taste love. Their love was exotic!

Gretzky looked over and smiled, seeing that both Azure and Blitz were waiting patiently. Gretzky finished hugging his mare, before focusing on his goal for today. Plumjuice waved to both Azure and Blitz, which in turn, they both waved back happily. Regaining focus, Blitz and Azure both walked up to Gretzky and smiled.

"Ready when you are, Gretzky." Blitz stated, ready for the course of today.

"Actually, where is Zeke?" Azure asked, a little curious to where the zebra was. Gretzky smiled pointed in a direction behind some buildings. Gretzky grabbed some razor sharp claws and a shotgun, along with his saddlebag, before turning a little sign around on his shop, to indicate that it was closed. Blitz looked at Gretzky's shotgun and smiled.

"Umm… Gretzky? Isn't that Azure's shotgun?" Blitz asked, pointing at the weapon with his hoof. Gretzky smiled back and nodded.

"It was his shotgun, but I brought it off him." Gretzky told him bluntly, making Blitz chuckle a little. Blitz and Azure both nodded to Gretzky, before he took them to see Zeke. Zeke was sitting on a box, patiently waiting for the group to stumble across him. He jumped off the box and looked towards them, before waving his hoof at them. He had a cloak on, just like Blitz should have had. He left his cloak at their home, which made everything a little more awkward, due to Azure pointing it out. Blitz blushed slightly, making both Gretzky and Zeke smile and chuckle.

"Hello there!" Zeke whispered, making Azure chuckle a little. Azure nodded back happily, going up to him and engaging in a friendly conversation, while Blitz was left with Gretzky to talk to.

"So what's the plan Gretzky?" Blitz asked, getting curious to the plan that would eventually unfold the events. Gretzky pointed a claw at one of the sewer entrances and looked back to Blitz.

"So, we go down to the sewer and travel out of the area and then resurface outside the settlement and follow me to an area that contains some not so nice ponies and creatures." Gretzky stated, checking the ammo in his new shotgun, before sliding the slider and letting a shell fall out, which he then put in a little pouch that he had around his waist.

Blitz checked the ammo that he had on his weapons. He firstly checked the sniper rifle that he had, still having the suppressor on it, but had the scope removed from it. Blitz thought that he would have used the weapon for mid ranged engagements, but still being able to land a shot or two at a far distance. He pulled back the weapons cock handle just a little and saw that he had a bullet ready to fire. He slowly moved the cock handle forwards, to stop the bullet from jumping out. The sniper had a bullet ready in the chamber, so that was enough for him. Blitz put his sniper away and brought out his pistol.

The pistol was in very good condition, having seen most of the action. The semi automatic pistol was a little bundle of lethality. Blitz took out the magazine of the weapon, noticing that there were six bullets in the magazine. He pulled on the slider of the weapon and watched as a bullet flew out to the side of it. He caught it with his magic and slid it back into the magazine, bringing the magazine to its full amount of seven. He loaded the magazine back into the weapon, but didn't cock the weapon. He left it with no bullet in the chamber. It was a bold move, but Blitz would slide the chamber when he needed to do so. He moved his pistol into his pouch, allowing it to be accessed quickly.

There was a weapon the Blitz's did want to check, and it would make all of them question why he had it. Blitz teleported the anti-material rifle to his side, getting some questionable looks from them all.

"Did you really take Nightclaw's advice and take the weapon?" Gretzky asked, getting a chuckle from Azure. Blitz nodded back to him and focused on the weapon. The anti-material rifle was in very good condition and was one of the heaviest weapons that Blitz had ever wielded. He put the weapon onto it's stock, before pulling down the cocking handle and seeing the biggest bullet he had ever seen, loaded into the weapons chamber. He closed the weapons slider before looking at the scope. Blitz replaced the scope on his other sniper and placed it onto the anti-material rifle. The weapon was going to be Blitz's last line of defense weapon. He teleported it away before looking at the others.

"What? It's only a last line of defense, if I need it." Blitz explained, getting a confused look from Zeke, but seeing the other two smiling.

"Alright, now that we are ready, do we want to shoot off?" Gretzky asked, being the leader of the little platoon. Zeke and Azure both nodded together, before Blitz nodded as well. Azure saw the sewer entrance and stopped Gretzky.

"Don't we need gas masks down there?" Azure asked, holding Gretzky from moving forward. Gretzky shook his head, before opening the manhole cover.

"The radiation isn't strong down there, as of recently and Roselight only wanted you to wear a mask or something over your mouth Azure, because she doesn't want you to get something bad in your mouth." Gretzky told Azure flatly, Blitz and Zeke watching from the side. Gretzky signalled for the group to enter the sewer system, one at a time. Zeke was the first to climb down the ladder, quickly followed by Azure. As Blitz walked towards the manhole cover, he looked at Gretzky and nodded, before getting a smile and a nod back from Gretzky. Blitz climbed down into the sewer system before hopping off the ladder and looking about. Gretzky slid the cover over the entrance, sealing them inside. He flew down and landed, before being startled by Blitz's glowing red eyes.

Anti appeared with glowing green eyes, which lightened the area close to her a little. Azure looked at Blitz and noticed that his eyes were glowing too, making Azure smile and chuckle.

"Blitz, you're the scariest thing down here. Don't be hiding around corners!" Azure joked and Blitz rolled his eyes in the process. He likes the jokes but they were beginning to become too consistent. Although he was getting all of the jokes towards his eyes, Blitz was actually able to see down there. Everything was bright, but not as bright as it was outside. The only bad thing was something that Zeke pointed out.

"What is that awfully wretched smell?" Zeke asked, not knowing where it was coming from. Gretzky rolled his eyes, before putting on a light, so that he was able to Zeke clearly and walked up to him. He pulled out a bandana from his saddlebag and gave it to Zeke.

"Put this on and it should get rid of most of the smell. This is where all of the sewage goes. This is where all of the aftermath of everypony's body coming, like…" He explained, before Zeke butted in.

"Where poop goes?" Zeke asked, convincing the others that he didn't know about this area or what it was. Gretzky nodded and Zeke was nearly disgusted by it. He tied the bandana around his muzzle and made sure that it covered all of it, not allowing the rancid air to get to his nostrils or mouth. Gretzky offered a bandana to Blitz and Azure, which they both turned down.

"We were both down here with Roselight. I think that we will manage with the smell." Azure explained, getting a smile and nod from Blitz and a growl from Anti. They all looked at her and she stuck her tongue out, like she was trying to smile. Blitz rubbed her woven head and looked down the sewer. Did they even know where they were going?

Gretzky pulled out a map from his saddlebag and held it out. He turned it about a little, before stopping and reading something on it. He didn't waste long on the map, before he placed it back into his saddlebag and walked down the way. Zeke followed closely, hugging the wall nearly as much as he could. Blitz looked at Azure and smiled, his smile reflecting his bright red eyes. Blitz wrapped a wing around Azure, as they walked down the side of the elevated walkway within the sewer.

"I'm only doing this because you have no torch or light of any sort. I can see, but I don't want you wondering off, so stay close to me." Blitz whispered to him, just loud enough for Gretzky to hear it up ahead. That made him smile a little, before looking back and shining a torch on them both.

"That's sweet, Blitz!" Gretzky cooed, adoring the compassion that Blitz had for Azure. Blitz blushed a little, before looking to the ground and watching as Anti growled at Gretzky. He chuckled from both the reaction of Blitz and Anti and turned around, focusing on the way forward.

All of the ghouls from their previous encounter were gone. It was almost like they had just evaporated into thin air, which they technically did, due to Blitz mixing acid with the water in the previous solution that Blitz inserted into the water flow machine. They really didn't want to jump into the centre of the sewage, because even the littlest of contact with the water could have killed a living pony or creature. It was a little worrying, but it didn't make the others worry, which made Blitz just a little better.

The lack of ghouls in the sewers made Blitz become a little on edge, but he had the rest of the squad with him. Azure noticed that Blitz was in deep thought and booped him before he could get to his deepest type of thinking. Blitz went cross eyed for a second, before looking at Azure angrily. Azure chuckled, before looking away.

Blitz kept his wing wrapped around Azure, as they journeyed through the sewer system. It was a little complex, but Gretzky got them out in the exact spot. A load of weaving and wondering later, they spotted a manhole cover that was down in the sewer, rather than being above it, like it was meant to. As they got closer to the exit, it looked like the hole was huge, bigger than the one that they had traveled down. Zeke ran up to it, before meeting a ghoul that was trying to bite him. Zeke spotted the ghoul, before bucking it in the head, making its head break into pieces.

"And that is why you don't try to touch a zebra!" Azure whispered, Blitz picking up on it, but not adding anything to it. It confused him a little, but it didn't let him become off guard. He kept his ears and eyes scanning for any danger and Anti joined him in the sense. Azure didn't move like Zeke did, but moved out of the hold of Blitz's wing and walked towards the ladder, before flying up beside it. Zeke climbed up the ladder as fast as his legs could carry him. Gretzky turned to Blitz, before flying up and out of the hole. The hole was beginning to cave in, from the weight of all three of them standing above, waiting for Blitz to climb up.

"Eater! Hurry, it's collapsing!" Gretzky called out, seeing a bright flash, followed by a changeling standing next to them all. Blitz was a little surprised by the ground that they were all standing on, but it didn't really matter. It was a soft and brittle type of mud, much like it had been near the hydra. It made Blitz a little sceptical, but he shook it off quickly, before coming to grips with the situation.

The ground had fallen, due to the weight of Gretzky, Azure and Zeke. Blitz didn't understand why the ground was so soft, but he wanted to find out how the sewer exit was broken. Blitz looked down into the rubble, seeing that there was still a way to get back into the sewer, had they needed to go back that way. Blitz turned to Azure and Zeke, seeing that they were both in the mindset of doing the same thing that Blitz was just doing. They were becoming their own detective. That thought alone got Blitz to cackle softly, getting the attention of the other two.

"What's getting you to chuckle so much there, Soul Eater?" Zeke asked, not understanding why he was giggling so much and so softly. Blitz didn't respond, getting a confused look from Zeke in response.

"He's fine. He just does that from time to time." Azure stated, looking at Blitz walking up to Gretzky. He shook his head, before walking back over to Gretzky too, leaving Zeke to ponder on what he was hiding. Zeke calmly strolled over to Gretzky, looking at Blitz the entire time. They all forgot about the sewer for the time being and began to walk down a cobbled pathway, similar to the one that they journeyed down while returning from the raiders.

Zeke was still technically a raider, he just betrayed his allies when he was given a choice. Blitz thought of that a little, going into detail with it. Would he betray them when another opportunity came about, that would benefit him more? That was a scary thought that Blitz couldn't shake away. In the future, Blitz would keep his ears out for anything that would assume that Zeke was having second thoughts about being on their side.

Azure walked alongside Blitz, keeping his wing wrapped around Blitz, due to the weather turning south really, really fast. Azure remembered the first time that Blitz got cold. Azure had to keep him warm for a couple of hours, risking Blitz's life, due to him being a changeling and all, making him cold blooded. He was a bug. He was Azure's best bug. This made himself smile and also made his mind happy. That was something that he wanted to remember for a long time.

Zeke was silent. He didn't speak much, but when he did, it would come out in short bursts. Something was definitely on his mind, which got Blitz a little worried. Zeke shook his head, before looking around, seeing if anypony or creatures were watching. He caught Blitz's gaze, but didn't challenge his concentration. That made Blitz's mind wonder just that little bit more, not helping his situation as they followed behind Gretzky.

Gretzky was too indulged into his map to realise that there was something moving in the distance. A quick bark from Anti got his attention, making him look up and see the figure, before it moved out of sight. What didn't make sense, was that it was daytime and yet the figure just vanished from view. It confused everyone who saw the figure.

"That's… strange… let's keep moving along!" Gretzky commanded, keeping an eye out for anything that was unordinary. Blitz, Azure and Zeke all did the same, looking around for something, during the daylight. Without realising it, they picked up the pace. Blitz thought it was a good time to lighten the mood, by talking to Gretzky about what they were doing, now that they were out of the settlement.

"Gretzky? What are we actually doing out here?" Blitz asked, very curious as to why they were wondering down a path. Gretzky stopped, before turning to look at Blitz. Gretzky sighed, before looking Blitz, dead in the eyes.

"We are out here to gather some resources and to meet one of my contacts to gather some materials for my shop. The only problem i have is that I haven't heard from them within a couple of days, which worries me dramatically." Gretzky carefully explained, getting both Azure's and Zeke's attention.

"So we are pretty much going into this blind." Blitz spoke out, getting a firm nod from Gretzky. Blitz didn't like that very much. He much preferred them going in and knowing the situation, rather than going in like they were. Gretzky called out to all of them that they were coming closer to the settlement, which got them all on edge. Blitz was a little more on edge than the others, because he had some thoughts already on his mind. Blitz's mind began to play tricks on him, which didn't help the situation.

Blitz closed his eyes, to only be revealed with another scene before him. Yes, he could still see all of his allies and the road ahead, but the tree line either side of them was now just the constant corridor that kept blocking his mind. He looked down at Anti and smiled. She looked up into Blitz eyes and paused. In turn, Blitz also paused, waiting for her to catch up. She slowly walked to Blitz and kept as close to him as she could, while trying to catch up to the others.

The response from those two events got the attention of all three of the others. Azure knew what was going on, as he looked into Blitz's eyes, but Zeke and Gretzky had no idea.

"Umm… Eater? What has happened to your eyes?" Zeke asked, moving over to help him. As soon as he got close enough, Anti growled at him, making the zebra stop trying to help Blitz. Zeke looked down at the female timberwolf and slowly moved his hoof forward, towards Blitz. The original grow was replaced with a snarl, and then a form of air chomping. Blitz looked to Zeke and pushed him against the supposed wall of the Canterlot hallway that he was in.

"Stop messing with Anti!" Blitz warned, tightening his hold on Zeke with his magic. Azure rushed up to Blitz and pulled him back.

"Eater… shhh! It's okay!" Azure tried to tell him, to calm him down. Azure was going to be on Blitz's side most of the time, due to him knowing what Blitz was going through. The thoughts, the illusions, the nightmares and the constant flicker changes would surely hurt him bad. Azure was pretty sure that Blitz was corrupted or something along those lines, but he didn't give up on who Blitz was, so he was going to support him as much as he could.

Blitz sighed, letting go of Zeke with his magic and moving back. Anti kept her eyes locked on the zebra and growled slightly. Blitz could hear her growl and shook his head, trying to clear the scene before him.

"Eater, are you okay?" Gretzky asked, being slightly concerned about Blitz's health and mind. Blitz nodded, before grabbing his head with a hoof, while Azure steadied him, keeping Blitz on at least 3 legs. Gretzky began to walk off in the direction that he was originally going, quickly followed by Zeke. Blitz and Azure followed shortly after.

Anti walked alongside Blitz, making sure that he was out of harm's way. She made sure that he had enough room to walk, but not enough for anypony or creature was able to stand on her side of him. Blitz looked down at her and rubbed her head with a hoof, making her nuzzle his hoof.

Without warning, Gretzky stopped moving, making it so that Blitz walked into the back of him, accidentally. Gretzky didn't turn back to Blitz, he only held his claw out to him, signalling for him to stand back. He did so without hesitation, not knowing that Gretzky was doing. Blitz looked around and saw that there was a settlement in the distance, but it was very, very quiet.

Blitz spotted some movement in the distance, which didn't lie right with the possibility that the settlement could have been taken over. Gretzky was trying to keep as quiet as possible, scheming a plan that would allow them to get closer to the settlement, without alerting anypony or creature. He looked around and could see figures moving in the distance too. He slowly moved across the way, straying off the path and into the woods a little. Zeke and Azure joined him, leaving Blitz alone with Anti.

Anti just looked up at Blitz and sat down, implying that she was either going to stay put, or that she would stand by Blitz, throughout it all. Blitz was hoping that it was the latter. He took out his sniper rifle and carried it with his magic, before he looked back to see Anti was up on all four wooden legs. She tilted her head to Blitz, before walking towards him and nuzzling his injured hindleg. He couldn't feel the contact of her scaly wooden body, which worried him a little.

Blitz put the rifle down and realised that the bandages around his wound were cut and torn, but that didn't surprise him. He took the bandage off carefully and saw something odd. His hindleg was sharper and heavier than it previously was. He had chunks of his leg taken out, like most changelings did, but he looked at it and saw that it was less edged, less smooth, which made him worry, but not too much.

A pony came towards Blitz and aimed a weapon at him. He looked up and saw the barrel of a pistol, pointed directly towards his head. Everything went white, before visions flashed into his view. He couldn't recognise anything that was happening in those views, but he could recognise one pony in particular within one of them. The guard pony for their new settlement. He was laid down on a board, almost like he was injured by something.

Blitz shook his head and watched as all of the corridors faded away, leaving the trees, but no friends. Blitz looked to the floor and looked around for Anti. He eventually spotted her ahead of himself, where she was looking at the others. Blitz breathed in a sigh of relief, before moving to them all and sneaking down.

"What are we going to do, Gretzky?" Azure asked, checking around for some more activity.

"I go in and see whether they are willing to comply or not!" Blitz spoke out, getting up and walking past them all. Azure went to stop Blitz, but Gretzky held him down.

"Do you want us to get spotted? If not, then stay down. I trust Eater will be fine, due to that look in his eye." Gretzky admitted, looking back over to Blitz, while he hid in the trees and bushes from a distance. The settlement definitely had somepony or creature within its walls, but it definitely was not right, due to how little activity was going on within it.

As Blitz got closer, his mind began to play tricks on him, flashing memories from the memory orb into his view, which was quickly going to annoy him massively. He had Anti by his side, which made his little experience that much less of a problem, because he was pretty sure that she could just disappear when the danger got too much and then reappear again when it was gone.

There was definitely something within the settlement, due to figures moving about, beyond the gate. Blitz readied his sniper rifle and made sure there was definitely a bullet in the chamber. He kept his sniper aimed to the ground, to avoid any conflict with anypony that wanted to come across him. Blitz walked up to the main gate, before flying up a little bit and landed on the side of the wall, just hanging there while he worked up to courage to peek over. Eventually, he worked up enough courage to hop onto the wall and look down to the grounds within the walls.

There were multiple ponies… collecting bodies. Blitz put his weapon away before hopping down into the main grounds. He looked back up and could see multiple guns being pointed at him, ranging from hoof claws, to rocket launchers. Blitz bowed, before sitting down.

"Has something bad happened here? I've brought somepony or a special gryphon along with me." Blitz explained. "I mean no harm to any of you!" Blitz added, his ears folding back. One of the ponies raised their hoof up, signalling for the guns and weapons alike, to be lowered. Blitz smiled softly. "Thank you!" Blitz thanked, standing back onto his hooves. "I'm just going to go ahead and signal the others that I have brought with me to come over, is that okay?" Blitz asked, getting a nod from the pony that signalled for the others to drop their weapons.

Blitz got out his anti-material rifle and aimed it in their general direction, before shaking the weapon about slowly, trying to send a glint of the scope on the weapon, to grab their attention. Blitz looked down the scope and could see them moving to him quickly. He teleported the anti-material rifle away and turned back to the others.

"We are so glad that you are not another one of those scavengers!" One of them admitted, stepping forward. Blitz was slightly confused, but noticed that something was definitely wrong. All of the scavengers attacking the settlement, in conjunction with the raiders, was a little jarring. The mare looked at him and smiled.

"Our settlement got attacked by raiders and scavengers yesterday. Something is definitely wrong with all of this and I want to get to the bottom of it!" Blitz explained aloud, hearing some hoofsteps behind him. He turned to see Gretzky, Zeke and Azure. Where was Anti? He didn't need to worry about her, because she walked with him to the settlement and probably disappeared before Blitz got to the inside of the settlement.

As Blitz was speaking about her, she appeared next to Blitz, nuzzling his hindleg. He smiled at the sweet gesture for his wooden K-9 companion. Gretzky smiled as he went to hug the mare that stepped out to Blitz. He turned around and started to chuckle.

"You three, meet Petalbreeze, Roselight's sister!" Gretzky informed them, making them all look shocked.

Chapter 9: Dodgy Deals

"So you're Roselight's sister?" Blitz asked Petalbreeze, getting a nod from her in response. She didn't look much like Roselight, but he guessed that something happened to Roselight to change her shape.

"I bet you're curious about what happened to her, right?" Petalbreeze questioned, knowing full well that Blitz wanted to know the answer. Blitz nodded his head in response and kept his eyes locked to hers. She sighed, before pressing on with the conversation. "Roselight is one hundred percent my sister alright. She acts like me and talks like me, well… she used to at least. She went off on a journey a couple of years ago and came back at… that! That purple and white mess is my sister, but it's like she is a different mare altogether." Petalbreeze admitted, wiping a tear from her eye. She then looked into the dense woodland that was beyond both of their views.

Blitz turned to look at the woodland too and then sighed, before looking to Petalbreeze and scowling.

"I think I have an idea of what has happened to her, but it's only a theory." Blitz warned, watching as she turned to look at him.

"Go on then, take a shot at it. Please explain to me why my sister has turned into something else." Petalbreeze lashed out unintentionally. She hung her head down and sighed. "Sorry, I'm just a little stressed. Still getting over the fact that there are only a hoof full of us left." She added, scuffing her hoof against the concrete floor of the wall. Blitz just looked down either side of the wall, to check to see if anypony or creatures were watching them talk or listening to the conversation that they were having. Gladly, there wasn't. Blitz looked back to Petalbreeze, before turning his entire body to her.

"Do you know what happened to Princess Luna? Like as in the banishment to the moon?" Blitz repeatedly questioned her, getting a nod from her in response.

"Yes, I think that Princess Luna called herself something along the lines of Nightmare Moon, right?" Petalbreeze tried to confirm, getting a swift nod from Blitz.

"So the demon or magic that entered Princess Luna was called 'The Nightmare'. When Princess Luna returned, that energy from that nightmare vanished. After the bombs fell, Luna and Celestia most likely died to protect everypony else. Do you think that the nightmare could have taken hold of Roselight, cause she looks like an Alicorn with no wings?" Blitz queried, making Petalbreeze think for a little bit, before she tilted her head in response and went back to thinking again.

"I have to argue with that, because why would a nightmare go after my sister?" Petalbreeze questioned, trying to get her head around the situation.

Blitz looked around and tried to get a grip on what was going on with Roselight. The eyes, mane and attitude matched up with the nightmare, judging by the little conversation he had with Luna and Pinkie Pie. Roselight looked nearly identical to the likes of Nightmare Moon in the image and that got Blitz's mind to wander into scenarios.

Without thinking of them anymore, Blitz shook his head and looked back to Petalbreeze, getting to grips with the question that would surely make or break the situation that they were in.

"Was Roselight ever jealous? Just need a yes or a no." Blitz explained. Petalbreeze nodded, before looking back out into the Wasteland. That definitely made Blitz's opinion change about whether Roselight was possessed by Nightmare Moon or not. She definitely was! Blitz slowly got up and felt that strange pain in his leg again, the same leg that originally felt it and was now jagged. Blitz ignored it as best as he could and flew slowly off the wall. Petalbreeze teleported to the floor and blocked Blitz.

"Please don't hurt her, even if she has got Nightmare Moon within her. We have got to find a way to get rid of that nightmare from within my sister and I'm willing to help." Petalbreeze prompted, standing up tall and mighty. The made Blitz smile, before he walked over to the others. Along with Petalbreeze, there were also around five different ponies and creatures around with her.

Azure looked over to Blitz and ran up to him, giving him a little hug, before turning around and pointing at all of the ponies. They were all chatting away with Gretzky, catching up on all of the time that they hadn't seen each other.

First, there was an Earth pony called Cidershot, a mare that had thick black fur and a purple mane and tail. She looked pretty cool and Blitz noticed that she spoke with a funny accent. It made him chuckle slightly, before Azure pointed to another pony.

Secondly, there was another pony of some sort. She had a curly red mane and a dragon-like tail in the same colour. She had short, light brown fur and had a twisted like horn. Azure told Blitz that she was a breed of pony called a 'kirin', which apparently meant that she was part Dragon and part unicorn. A hybrid called Lilly.

Next, Azure pointed over to two bat ponies. Crimson and Lavender. The only difference between the two Bat ponies, apart from Crimson being a male Bat pony, was that they both had different mane styles. They both had dark blue fur, but Crimson had a crimson mane and Lavender had a dark purple mane, along with the same eye colour as their mane colour. Blitz smiled.

Azure finally finished it off with pointing a hoof at a dog. This dog was not like Anti, but taller and a lot more menacing. Azure told him that their species were called 'diamond dogs' that made Blitz super curious to learn more about the dog's past. Apparently, his name was Brick, which didn't surprise Blitz in the slightest, because Brick was built like a brick. He had dark grey fur and was bold, which surprised Blitz a little.

All of the new faces got to Blitz and made him think for a second, before coming up with a question to ask Petalbreeze. He looked to her and opened his mouth, ready to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. It was like he was afraid to ask the question, but really wanted to know.

"What is it?" Petalbreeze asked, not noticing the Blitz was trying to find the correct words to ask. Blitz sighed, before hanging his head down and looking at the floor for a couple of seconds, before looking into Petalbreeze's eyes.

"How many ponies and creatures did you lose from the settlement?" Blitz asked, finally building up the courage to ask those words. Petalbreeze froze for a couple of seconds, making Blitz think that he had said something bad, something wrong. Blitz walked a little closer to Petalbreeze, to make sure that she was alright. As Blitz looked at her and saw that she wasn't grimacing, she was counting, which was never a bad sign.

"We've lost around twenty ponies and creatures to that attack and now... now it's only the five of six of us." Petalbreeze stated, before falling over into tears. Blitz didn't know what to do in that situation, but tried to comfort her in any way he could. He walked up to her and hugged her, allowing her to cry into his neck. The others turned around and saw the act of kindness.

Crimson and Lavender both looked at one another, before walking up to Petalbreeze and hugging her.

"Hi! What's your name?" Lavender asked, wanting to know a little about Blitz as a pony or creature, or whatever he was. Blitz stood back, allowing Lavender and Crimson to comfort Petalbreeze in her uncomfortable time.

"I am Soul Eater, Gretzky is the gryphon, Doctor Alchem is the pegasus and Zeke is the zebra." Blitz explained, getting a questionable look from the pair. He didn't stop to look at them and continued to Zeke and Gretzky, who were talking to the Brick about something. Blitz walked up to them all, dragging Azure along with him and stood there and watched.

"What are we going to do?" Blitz asked himself, announcing it a little louder than he thought. Azure heard what he said and wrapped a wing around Blitz's waist, before pulling him a little closer.

"We relax!" Azure whispered into Blitz's ear, making his ear twitch in the process and making him smile, as well as shudder. Azure's soft voice, along with his cold breath made Blitz's back shudder and feel really, really weird. It was one of the weirdest feelings that he had ever felt, but it wasn't a bad feeling, which made it even worse.

Blitz looked to Azure and could see that he was smiling at him. That, in return, made Blitz smile too, adding a little blush to his face. He turned back around to see all of the others still talking to each other. Blitz was glad that only Azure heard that sentence, because he had stuck with Blitz since the beginning of their journey.

Azure was the special friend that Blitz needed in his life. Ever since his childhood was ruined, Blitz had never really connected with anypony like Azure. Azure meant the world to Blitz and nothing was going to change that. Brick looked at Blitz for a couple of seconds, before walking over to him. Blitz slowly slipped out of his daze and looked up at the figure towering over him. Brick was huge!

Blitz used his wings to fly up to Brick's height and hovered there for a couple of seconds, before circling Brick and looking at his figure. Blitz had never seen a diamond dog before and it actually scared him, due to how tall they were. Blitz circled Brick and returned to the original position that he was in.

"You're a changeling, right?" Brick asked, his voice low and viscous. The raspiness of it made Blitz's body twitch with shock. Blitz slowly nodded, not wanting to get onto the wrong side of the diamond dog. Brick sensed this and chuckled loudly. "Don't worry, little bug. I won't bite! I'm too old for getting into fights, or for being evil." Brick sharply announced, making Gretzky laugh. Blitz looked over to Gretzky and smiled, chuckling a little.

"Nice to meet you too, Brick. I'm Soul Eater!" Blitz announced, making Brick burst into tears of laughter.

"I'm… I'm sorry kiddo, but you're parents must have been so evil to call you that. Couldn't you have been called Soup Eater instead? My soul is definitely going to be taken by a bug. Where's my fly swatter?" Brick joked, making Blitz smile and laugh. Zeke was trying to hide a smile, as well as a laugh. Gretzky was alongside Azure, who were both on the floor laughing. Acting serious, Brick looked at Blitz and put his paw on Blitz's shoulder, before sighing. "Sorry, I had the opportunity there. I have a good idea on why you are called that. Something along the lines of changelings being able to absorb love, right?" Brick asked, being serious this time. Blitz smiled again and nodded.

"Spot on." Blitz acknowledged, beginning to like the diamond dog. Brick gave a little fist bump to the air and moved back slowly, before turning away and chuckling.

"I think that we will be good friends, Soul Eater." Brick stated, turning back around with a large sword. It… was… huge! Blitz had seen big swords, but nothing that big, which made him slightly confused. He didn't question it, but he really wanted to question Brick on how he acquired the sword.

Blitz was about to open his mouth, but then thought about what he could say. He didn't do anything for a good couple of seconds, before he closed his mouth. Nopony noticed that he had opened his mouth, which made him chuckle on the inside, because if somepony or even Brick had seen him, he would have looked crazy to all of them.

Blitz shook his head, before looking over to Azure. He realised that Azure still had his wing wrapped around Blitz's waist, but Azure was chatting to Gretzky and Zeke. Blitz looked up at the sky, as it began to get darker and darker. It wasn't night, but storm clouds. All of the ponies and creatures around, looked up to the sky to see a big load of thunderclouds heading towards them all. It was oddly beautiful to Blitz, which made his mind drift away, giving him a pleasant couple of seconds of a daydream.

Anti barked next to Blitz, making him jump a little and immediately made Blitz look at Anti with anger. The timberwolf stuck her tongue out of her mouth and made it look like she was smiling, which brightened Blitz's emotions a little. Petalbreeze walked towards Gretzky and signalled for him to speak with her in private. They both walked away and went behind a building, which made Blitz a little curious on what they were going to be talking about.

Blitz was getting distracted way too easily, which made him a little angry, but that didn't stop him from trying to motivate himself. He walked around, finding dead bodies of raiders, scavengers and settlement dwellers. It made Blitz heart sink, that all of these ponies were dying. He didn't enjoy killing, he just had to do what it costs to ensure survival, for him and his friends.

He looked at one raider in particular that sparked his interest. He had a tag with a symbol on it. Blitz picked up the body with his magic and dragged it over to the closest wall, which allowed him to pin the body up to search it easier. It was wrong in so many ways, but he had to do what was necessary. Azure spotted what Blitz was doing and looked around at the other, before walking over to Blitz and finding him searching the raider's corpse.

"Already looking for stuff, Eater?" Azure asked with a frown. Blitz didn't respond, as he yanked the tag off the corpse lifeless shell. Blitz held it with his magic and looked at it. It didn't make Blitz understand where the raider had come from, but it did let him know that the same pony that Appleseed had left on the note was in charge of all of this carnage.

"Sawtooth!" Blitz spoke aloud, making Azure come closer and look at the tag that Blitz had pulled off with his magic. Azure went wide eyed, as he too understood the situation of what was happening. Sawtooth was in charge of all of the attacks around the area and was definitely searching for something. Blitz remembered the rock from the floorboard and gasped. Azure grabbed Blitz gently and held him in place. "Sawtooth is behind all of this and wants the artifacts!" Blitz called out, getting the attention of the others.

"Eater, what's wrong?" Gretzky called out, running over to him and looking at him. Blitz's eyes were still the normal colour, but something was definitely off about them, to Gretzky at least. Blitz moved back slowly and looked at them all, before shaking his head.

"These attacks have been planned!" Blitz stated, getting a chuckle from Brick in the background.

"No shit, my friend!" Brick called out, chuckling loudly after and making Blitz smile a little.

"No, but seriously, there have been attacks around the area of our old settlement. We survived, found something that they were most likely after and fled. We then came across the other settlement and then that got attacked, and then here. I'm pretty sure that there were another two or three settlements nearby that also got attacked. Sawtooth is looking for something!" Blitz carefully explained.

"And what did you do with that artifact?" Gretzky asked, along with Petalbreeze.

"We talked to Roselight about them and she is now holding onto them for us. She's trying to find out what they mean." Blitz explained further. Gretzky just paused and then tilted his head, not quite understanding what the artifacts were for, or why they were important. He slowly nodded his head, before looking around.

"We might want to start heading back, before this thunderstorm hits. All of the residents here might want to pack up too and set sail, cause you're all coming back with us." Gretzky announced, loud enough for all to hear his voice clearly. Blitz and Azure both froze, looking at the other ponies and seeing the same reactions on their faces. The only one that wasn't phased by this news, was Brick. He nodded, before walking away slowly.

"I have agreed with Gretzky that it is now too dangerous to be here, in its current state that is. We've already looted and picked clean the bodies, so let's get ready to move." Petalbreeze announced as loudly as she could, using her horn to echo the noise, making it a little louder. Within seconds, they were all gone from sight, flooding into their apartments or homes.

Seeing all of the dead bodies, the settlement being almost destroyed and all of the ponies and creatures leaving the settlement, made Blitz a little sad. He hated change as much as the next pony, but life was never easy, nor merciful. It was always a grind to try to stay on top of everything and mask out the badness from the world, but there would always be that little sliver of dread that came through and tested all that everypony had built up upon. Nothing would be perfect, but nothing would be impossible either, which made sanity a thing that most ponies needed within the Wasteland.

"Is everypony and creature ready for this? Grab all of the stuff that is personal to you or just all of your stuff in general and wait down by the gate." Petalbreeze called out, making sure that everybody could hear her. Going to the gate, Zeke, Azure and Gretzky began to talk to each other, trying to pass the time as much as they could. Blitz had other ideas, and slowly walked around, rifle in his magical grasp and K-9 companion by his side, even though his companion was made of flesh and wood.

The buildings made Blitz feel small, as he walked up to all of the rubble of one of them. The pile was about two or three times taller than he was and about twenty times wider than he was. He picked up a piece of debris with his hoof, before dropping it, due to the heat of it. Why was it hot? Blitz dropped his sniper rifle and used his magic to pick up the piece of debris that he had just dropped. He looked over it and thought about it. Why was it so hot? Blitz looked back at his weapon, because it made some noise. He witnessed Anti picking up his weapon, like a massive stick. Would that make Anti a cannibal if she did pick up a sick and break it? That thought alone got Blitz to chuckle softly.

Looking back to the debris, Blitz noticed that the rubble was slightly burnt. Upon closer inspection, it had some material on it, almost like radioactive material. Blitz didn't want to test anything, but he did want to check something. He lifted up other pieces of debris with his magic, picking up a couple from the same pile, before going to a completely different pile of rubble, from another building and taking a couple of pieces from the other. He placed them all together and looked at them all. He used his magic to look over all of the rubble that he had collected and found that there was a link. They all had the same radioactive like substance on the back of each.

Blitz began to think about doing something, before letting his brain take control of his body. He used his gut and curiosity together, for the first time. He turned and raced over to Gretzky, getting a scared expression from him.

"Is everything okay, Eater?" Gretzky asked, feeling a little dimmed from all of the events that had transpired already that day. Blitz opened his mouth to tell Gretzky about what he had found, but instead, he used his gut and curiosity.

"Do you have a jar with a lid that I could have?" Blitz asked, cocking his eyebrow up. This confused not only Gretzky, but Azure and Zeke as well. Gretzky went into his saddlebag and emptied some caps into his saddlebag, before handing Blitz the jar and lid that he requested.

"That was my cap jar, so go careful with it." Gretzky explained, Blitz not taking a notice. He ran back over to the buildings and began to do some research work. He used his magic to scrape some of the material off the debris and into the jar. As soon as the material made contact with the jar, it began to burn the inside of the jar. Blitz was afraid that the jar was going to break instantly, but instead, it warmed the glass, but never allowed it to get hot. Blitz filled up the jar all the way to the top, before placing the lid onto the top of the jar, sealing the material inside. Blitz didn't know what to do with the material, but he did know that he could use it to warm himself up during cold nights. He tucked it away into his saddlebag and looked up to see Azure standing there.

"What did you just do?" Azure asked, being curious to why Blitz wanted the jar for. Blitz just pointed at the debris. Azure wanted to grab the debris, but quickly got attacked by Blitz, as Blitz slapped Azure's hoof away.

"Don't touch! It will burn you!" Blitz warned, being quick with his words. He held it up with his magic and moved it closer to Azure, making Azure's PipBuck click. Blitz moved it back and understood that it was radioactive, so he had to be careful what he did with it, while it was in his saddlebag. Azure took note of this too and stepped back a little.

"What do you think it is?" Azure asked, getting more and more curious as time went on. Blitz raises an eyebrow, before moving all of the debris back to the rest of the buildings, or at least what was left of them. Blitz slowly moved back to the gate, Azure joining him by his side. "Why would the buildings be irradiated?" Azure questioned himself, Blitz picking up on it.

"I have no idea bud, but don't tell anypony. The last thing we want is ponies knowing about the radioactive material and going to touch it for themselves." Blitz explained, getting a swift nod from A ure in response to that. They slowly got back to the gate and realised that everypony and creature was waiting for them to return.

"There you two are! Where were you? We're ready to go now." Petalbreeze stated, tilting her head slightly. Blitz coughed slightly and shook his head.

"I was talking to Doctor Alchem here about coming up with a remedy for burns. You know how bad they can get." Blitz lied, making a smile appear on Petalbreeze's face.

"Okay then, let's start heading home, or at least to our new home." Petalbreeze announced, being incredibly loud in the process. It hurt Blitz's ears a little, making him fold them back to his head. Azure placed his wing around Blitz and comforted him. That put a smile on Blitz's muzzle, making him feel a little happier with his current situation in time.

They began to walk up the path that the original four had walked down. Petalbreeze was leading the convoy, whereas Blitz and Azure were towards the back, only in front of Brick. The reason for that was because he was pulling a cart along with him. That was most likely his things, or they could have been Petalbreeze's items, due to her not having a saddlebag.

Blitz and Azure just kept close to each other, not wanting to move around the convoy and chat to the others. It was a little unsociable for them, but it would be a quiet time that they would most likely not get again, so they took all of the relaxation time that they could. They could both hear some conversation happening more towards the front, most likely between Petalbreeze and Gretzky or Crimson and Lavender.

It took a couple of minutes for both Blitz and Azure to get bored of everything that was happening. They were around five minutes into their walk and most likely had around another twenty or twenty-five to go. They paused their unwanted silence and looked at each other.

"You want to head back to Journey and see if anything has changed there?" Blitz asked, making Azure look skeptical. He was contemplating the idea, but didn't really want to risk the trip there.

"I don't think that we should. There could be raiders and scavengers there!" Azure emphasized, making Blitz roll his eyes.

"Where is your spirit of adventure, Doctor?" Blitz tempted, making Azure frown a little. He would have got angry with Blitz, due to the fact that he was going against Azure's word of keeping safe, but he was bored as well, which didn't help his curiosity at all. Blitz flew up and over all of the convoy and landed at the front, before turning around and trotting backwards. His theory was correct, as he looked at both Petalbreeze and Gretzky speaking to each other. They both looked at him with confusion, but then both smiled.

"Me and Alchem are going to fly to the East and see if we can't find out the condition of our old settlement. Hopefully it will be alright, but if not, we'll be careful lurking around." Blitz explained, making both Petalbreeze and Gretzky look at each other with the same confusing look as before. The both looked back to Blitz and nodded a tiny bit, before Blitz leapt into the air and picked Azure up with his magic. A loud noise escaped Azure's muzzle, making him blush a little.

"Why did you do that? You could have just told me!" Azure angrily announced, Blitz getting an angry pegasus in response. Not only was he angry, but he was moody as well, making him a mixed ball of fluff and emotions. That thought alone made Blitz chuckle, making Azure that little bit angrier.

"Sorry bud." Blitz stated, before flying a little away and letting Azure go from within his magic. Azure opened his wings and shook his head, gliding around like a… like a normal pegasus. Azure slowly floated to the ground and landed within the forest below, Blitz joining him shortly after.

"I have no idea why we are doing this, but let's just get it over. In my opinion, it was better if we stayed with the others." Azure explained, making Blitz question his actions. He shook off the thought and Azure could see that he was doing that, which made him just that little bit angrier. He rolled his eyes and followed Blitz through the bushes and trees, making sure that he didn't step on anything that would hurt his hooves.

The trees rustled in the wind, making the area around them both feel a little more ominous and unnatural. Blitz was alright with it all, but Azure on the other hand, didn't like the idea of going through all of the trees and bushes, just to get to a place that should have been forgotten.

Azure began to lift off the ground, getting annoyed with the bushes constantly slapping him in the muzzle. He took to flying for a little bit, while Blitz was on the other side of the spectrum. He was slowly picking up his pace, Anti joining them both as they raced, intentionally, to the previous settlement of Journey.

They were definitely getting closer to settlement, due to the likes of the trees around it. The trees were always a faded light yellow, rather than a dark green. It was confusing at first, but it was due to all of the work that had gone on while working on the walls. They originally tried to paint the walls a light yellow to make the settlement seem like one of a friendlier nature. It didn't go to plan, as the paint dried and chipped off, making most of it spray off and scatter into the tree line. It was tried several times, hence the reason why the trees were like they were.

They got to a point where they could both see the walls. Azure landed softly and looked around for signs of other ponies of creatures, which to his surprise, there wasn't. They slowly moved around, not daring to leave the comfort of the forest, due to how uncertain they were of ponies being in the settlement. They used the forest to their advantage and walked around, trying to see if they could get a good view into the settlement from the likes of the forest.

Anti growled, sensing something from within the settlement. Blitz looked at her growling and sighed, before looking at Azure. He didn't look too happy about the events that were spiralling down. Blitz took out his sniper rifle and looked down the sight, making sure that it was all working and what not, before looking over to Azure, who was making sure that their battle saddle was on properly.

There was one problem with Blitz being hidden in the bushes. His eyes. His eyes would glow whenever Anti was out or about, which didn't help his cause. Anti somehow noticed this and vanished away, making Blitz's eyes turn to their normal colour of a dark, navy blue. He was hidden again, which made him happier.

They slowly moved to the front of the settlement, seeing that there were definitely some ponies in the settlement, but they didn't look like raiders. Blitz slowly exited the bushes, looking both left and right, like he was crossing a road. He got to the wall and signalled for Azure to come across, which he did quickly, making a little amount of noise in the process, but not making enough noise for them to be spotted.

Blitz peeked through a hole and saw something that scarred him instantly. His eyes went wide and Azure picked up on this. Azure joined him at peaking through and immediately looked away, feeling like he was going to throw up. He didn't want to look through the hole anymore and neither did Blitz, as he took his eyes off the scene and sat with his back against the wall.

Those ponies inside the settlement had weapons aimed at them, two ponies with rifles sat down to the side, keeping their eyes on the pair in the middle of the settlement, the original ones that both Azure and Blitz saw first. Then, there were the corpses! There were about ten or twenty corpses hidden behind one of the overturned carts that was inside of the settlement. That… was not what made them feel sick. There was another scene which was most likely worse. There was a mare, alive and well, getting ridden by a stallion, while another stallion had mounted her face. It was clear as day that she had not given consent to those raiders, but how Blitz despised them. A tear falling down from her eye was enough to make Blitz turn away.

Blitz put away his rifle and brought out his pistol, pulling the slider back with his magic before checking that there was a bullet loaded. He checked before, but forgot that he had already checked.

"Blitz? What's your plan?" Azure whispered, leaning closer to Blitz. Blitz looked through the hole again and pointed his weapon at the two raiders that were sat down.

"To get those innocent ponies out!" Blitz said, not whispering in the slightest, making the two that Blitz was aiming confused.

"Dude, did you hear that?" One of them said, shortly before a weapon was fired in their direction, penetrating one of their heads with a brute force that would rival the most lethal buck. The raider turned to his former ally and got a face full of blood, as well as the attention of the other raiders. A second shot went off, killing the other raider that was sitting down, turning both of their bodies into bags of nothingness that were jumbled together.

The two ponies in the middle of the settlement made a run for it, making their way out of the rear of the settlement, which didn't end well for them.

"Fuck!" Blitz whispered, seeing that the two ponies got captured.

"Oh no! Sweet Celestia Blitz! There are so many more! Why the fuck did we do this again?" Azure whispered, letting all thought of keeping harsh language at minimum fly out the area. Blitz took another two shots, killing the two who were rutting the mare. The mare didn't do anything, only looking to Blitz and gasping for a couple of seconds. She then ran in the direction of Blitz and Azure, which made Blitz smile that the pony had some good idea on what to do. She ran away into the woods, making both Blitz and Azure smile a little.

They both retreated into the trees and watched from low down, still having a very good view on the main entrance. A few raiders came out and looked about for them both, failing in the process. Both Blitz and Azure turned into statues, making sure that they made as little movement as possible. After that, even more raiders came out. What was a little weird, was that all of the ponies that came out were raider and not a mix of both raiders and scavengers.

Blitz kept his eyes on the closest raiders and held his pistol with his hooves, making sure not to let his horn glow. Being a changeling, with chitin, made him almost invisible within the dark, which made his kind the king's and queen's of hunting in the night. Blitz's eyes swept across the different raiders as they pointed their guns above both Blitz's and Azure's heads.

A figure walked out into the gateway of the settlement, scars on his face and a couple of teeth missing from his muzzle. He held a stallion by the neck, with his magic. Blitz's eyes locked onto the scene as quickly as they could from scanning the other raiders. Azure was sure to be looking at the scene too, which drove their attention away from the other raiders.

The figure looked around and looked directly at both Blitz and Azure, making him smile.

"They're there! Come on out, don't be scared. We won't hurt you…" The raspy stallion announced. A raider went over and moved a couple of plants out of the way and found Blitz, before dragging him out onto the road. Azure was shortly pushed out towards Blitz, knocking both of them over. They slowly got up and watched as the stallion walked closer to them.

"...Yet!" The stallion finished, eyeing both of the ponies who were causing so much trouble. He looked at the stallion in his magic and sighed, his metal wings coming into view. It was almost like he was an alicorn, but he didn't have proper wings to fit in with one, plus he was a lot shorter than a normal alicorn.

"You two have caused me some problems I see. I can't be having somepony or…" He stopped talking and pointed at Blitz. "...some creature jamming up my operation or in idiotic terms, putting a spanner in the works!" He roared, making the stallion in his magical grip tremble.

"Who are you?" Azure asked, getting a death-stare from the fake alicorn. He quickly looked to the stallion, before the stallion began to scream. Before Blitz could react, the stallion's neck gave a ear piercing crack, followed by the stallion beginning to stop struggling. A couple of seconds passed and the stallion's body fell limp, before the figure fell to the ground. Blitz eyed the stallion and fell silent on the inside. His thoughts that were racing to curiosity, were dimmed to almost silence, little whispers creeping around still.

"That hurts me that you don't know who I am!" The unicorn announced, grabbing Blitz with his magic. "Maybe your friend could help me though." He added, before bringing Blitz closer to him. Without a word, Blitz closed his eyes, before opening them again, one of them glowing a bright red. "I am Sawtooth, leader of the raiders! How have you not heard of me? I sent my friends to attack you all, as a gift on my behalf." Sawtooth announced to Azure, slowly eyeing him like a vulture.

Sawtooth looked back to Blitz and smiled. He saw that Blitz's eye was glowing and that made him chuckle. Blitz looked over to Azure and smiled himself, before looking back to Sawtooth for another couple of seconds.

"You know what kid, you remind me of that earth pony called Redeye, which he too has a bright glowing eye." He stated, loosening his grip on Blitz. He dropped Blitz onto the floor, before turning around and pointing to one of the bodies behind him. Blitz slowly got back up and walked backwards. He feared Sawtooth a little bit, but he realised that he was trying to stall, almost like he was allowing them to go.

Anti faded into reality and sat down, eyeing the fake alicorn impersonator. As soon as Sawtooth turned around, he saw that they were still there. Although Azure was a little further back, Blitz just stood there, eyeing Sawtooth as he looked at them all.

"You know that you killed all of the ponies in this settlement, right? Well… almost all of them." Blitz taunted, making Sawtooth smile evilly. He nodded, before stopping. His eyes locked with the timberwolf's, sitting beside Blitz. Anti growled, not showing her fangs yet. He recoiled the littlest amount before frowning.

"I haven't seen a timberwolf in the Wasteland. That is mighty odd. Where did you find it?" Sawtooth asked on a serious note. Blitz shrugged, before he paused and looked down at Anti.

"I found her down by the factory near here. She seemed to have been stalking me, most likely trying to kill me." Blitz lied, knowing that Anti was a timberwolf from Journey and had followed Blitz and Azure around.

"Ah, well, as for you little bug, how are you alive? Didn't my fellow comrades kill off your kind after the bombs?" Sawtooth questioned, making Blitz lock onto him. That was the reaction that Sawtooth wanted. Anti walked in front of Blitz and growled at Sawtooth, making him smile in the process.

"Wait, what did you say?" Blitz asked, bearing his fangs at Sawtooth. Before Sawtooth could say anything, Anti lashed out and vanished, making Sawtooth look around. Blitz's head began to ache a lot, making him place his hooves on it. It was very subtle, but he could hear the faint echo of some words repeating inside his head.

"Run!" Blitz's head roared, making his vision go fuzzy. Almost like he wasn't controlling himself, he turned and ran, along with Azure. Blitz looked back to see Sawtooth looking at them, pointing his hoof out to them both, before Anti appeared beside him and jumped, ripping his forehoof off in the process, before vanishing again. Blitz turned his head and continued to run, north of where they previously were. They didn't want to go back to the settlement straight away, because if they did, Blitz was scared that they would most likely be followed.

They both looked back while they were running and could see distant ponies sprinting at them. Ponies and stallions that would most likely be wanting to kill them both. Blitz looked to Azure and saw that he was not happy with him at all. He was giving Blitz a stern and disapproving glare, which made Blitz feel a little worse for wear.

They had been sprinting for almost a minute, still being pursued by raging ponies and stallions. Blitz looked forward for a brief second before falling down into a pit, closely followed by Azure. Blitz landed in the mud below and Azure landed on Blitz, which hurt Blitz more than Azure thought. Blitz raised himself up and saw that there were only ghouls in the pit, consisting of only earth ponies and unicorns. Luckily for them, there were no pegusi in the pit, otherwise they would have been screwed.

Azure brought out a bat with nails in it, making Blitz ponder on how and when did he get it. It didn't matter, as Blitz brought his own weapon to bear. He had a little dagger-like sword, one that was sharp enough to pierce a skull like butter. Blitz and Azure were outnumbered by at least fifty to one, making the situation seem worse.

Without noticing, the raiders mainly fell down into the pit with them. Some of them were smart enough to stay at the top of the pit and to not fall in. Blitz wished that at least two of those raiders could have been himself and Azure, just so that they didn't have to be in the mud filled pit. Azure looked to Blitz and tapped him on the shoulder. Blitz turned to look at him, while keeping his eyes on the raiders behind them.

"Why don't we just fly out of here?" Azure yelled, getting the attention of some unwanted pegusi ghouls. Two of them dive-bombed both Blitz and Azure. The one on Blitz got torn apart by Anti, ripping both of its wings off before it could get to biting Blitz. Anti then went to its neck, before chomping down on it, crushing its neck. The pegasus fell limp, falling to one side.

Azure screamed out in pain as the pegasus bit down on Azure's wing. Blitz reacted as fast as he could, slicing at the ghoul with his sword. Blitz caught the ghoul with the sharpest end of his blade, separating its head from its body, before chopping off its muzzle. Fresh blood from Azure's wound made the other ghouls speed up, making them more of a threat. Blitz and Anti both protected him, while he applied some bandages and some painkillers to himself. He injected himself with something, before wrapping up his wing carefully.

"This is all my fault!" Blitz muttered under his breath, being a little louder than he would have wanted to be. Azure picked up on this as he winced, trying to avoid moving his now damaged wing. He thought about how stupidly convenient those pegusi ghouls were at the point of time of himself mentioning the idea of flying.

"Yes, yes it is!" Azure muttered, loud enough for Blitz to hear it. Anti teleported to one of the closest raiders and tore a chunk out their chest, making them fall to the floor and dropping their weapon. Blitz walked over to one of the ghouls that had fallen over into the mud, before slicing its head from its shoulders. It was painfully satisfying, but Blitz didn't really enjoy the thought of killing, making the entire thing a little less enjoyable for him. Technically, they were dead, but Blitz's self consciousness got the better of him and flooded his mind with questions that would slow him down.

Blitz shook his head, not allowing his thoughts to slow him down. He carved his way through some more ghouls, making quick work of them, the mud also becoming something else that was trying to slow him down. Blitz hacked through each ghoul, before taking another step towards, restricted due to the thick brown earthiness of the mud.

Azure joined in with Anti, battling the raiders that came at them both with spiked swords and other weapons. Luckily, none of the raiders actually had a firearm with them, making the fighting become easier for them. Azure smacked the bat he had into a raider that was approaching him, with a rusty pipe of some kind. The bat stuck the raider in the head, making each individual spike from the bat, enter his skull. This killed the raider instantly, which was something that Azure wanted. He hated to make ponies suffer, but if he did have to kill them, he would want it to be quick and painless. He continued to swing his bat, holding it with his muzzle. Anti chopped at different raiders, making dedicated holes in certain parts of their bodies. She was a fierce little fighter indeed.

The ponies above the pit just stood and watched their raider brothers and sisters get murdered by three creatures. They began to notice that the ghouls were becoming smarter, due to the ones who were not attacking Blitz. They noticed that they were slowly moving around the entire pit, swarming and surrounding all of the raiders in there. Without a second to waste, the single pegasus ghoul that was left began to attack the raiders above, almost helping Blitz, Azure and Anti.

Blitz noticed this and smiled, watching as the pegasus tore into the raiders above, while he and the others fended off the rest of the opposing threats. Blitz noticed that the ghouls were beginning to surround the area, which made him freak out a little.

"Azure! They're adapting!" Blitz shouted out, making Azure look around, to see all of the ghouls circling them, making him freak out a little as well. The ghouls were constantly flooding in, which made both Blitz and Azure scared that they wouldn't be able to get out of the area. Azure turned to Blitz and smacked him over the head with the blunt end of the bat, making sure not to properly hurt him. That was most likely the last thing that Azure would have wanted.

"This is all your fucking fault! We're going to die in this pit and then eaten! Thanks for being there for me, but unless you have any other plans, we are trapped in this hole!" Azure announced, Blitz's head stinging and his vision going blurry. Blitz shook his head, before his nose started to bleed, making Azure feel a little guilty that he lashed out. That sentence put an idea into Blitz's head, but it was going to be even more difficult, due to the blunt trauma that Blitz had just received.

Blitz looked around and saw that all of the ghouls were closing in quickly, making Blitz begin to panic. He closed his eyes and heard a faint echo, followed by a loud scream from within his mind.

"Teleport!" Blitz's head screamed making him place his hooves on his ears again. Blitz opened his eyes and lit his horn charging up his magic before teleporting Azure out of the pit and at the edge of it. Blitz screamed as he did this, making the pegasus ghoul look at him from across the way. Blitz teleported himself shortly after, making it so that he was right on the edge of the pit. He shook his head, before turning around and looking into the pit. All of the raiders in there were getting swarmed. They were preparing to fight the ghouls, but Blitz realised that there was an exit down inside the pit, but the ghouls were flooding in from there. It was almost like the entire pit was being filled up, but instead of filling it up with water, it was filling up with ghouls.

Blitz turned around and looked at Azure, who was tending to his wing. Blitz felt a little bad, but he knew that there was nothing he could do to help. Blitz heard a noise behind him a second later and felt hooves digging into his back. He was about to be killed, or so he thought. Azure went wide eyed at the pegasus ghoul that was perched onto Blitz's back. Blitz used his magic to grab his sword and tried to stab the pegasus ghoul, which failed and made the ghoul bite into the side of his neck, before tearing a chunk out. Blitz let out a silent scream and dropped his weapon.

His vision went bright red and everything stopped, he noticed this and pondered, the pain was still there, but was a fraction of what I really was. A familiar face stared at him through the inky redness of his vision and he just stayed silent. Death was back! Had he died again?

"No, you haven't Blitz! I'm here to help you. I'm going to give you the strength you need to take out that pegasus, but you need to allow me to do something." Death explained, making his offer more and more tempting. Blitz pondered for a second, moving one step forward, experiencing an out of body experience. He looked back at himself and frowned.

"Do I really deserve to get a third chance?" Blitz asked silently. Death didn't answer, all he did was float past Blitz.

"Who said that you were on your third chance or even your second for that matter?" Death convinced Blitz.

"But didn't I die?" Blitz asked, seeking the answers that he already knew the answer to.

"Indeed you did, but you didn't fail me. Instead, I am asking you for something." Death carefully spoke, trying to persuade Blitz to make the deal. "I want to reunite this world and TOM, my brother seeks to end this world, so that life may reform and choose a different path, one that isn't paved with pony-zebra hate relations. May I gain access to you and your mind, to help bring the old Equestria back?" Death asked, one final time. Blitz closed his eyes and sighed.

"If it's for Equestria to return to how it was, then I will do it…" Blitz stated before pausing. He walked up to Azure and kissed his cheek. "...as long as he gets the best life he can, with or without me there." Blitz convinced, closing his eyes and sighing.

"Consider it done, my apprentice." Death cheered, clicking his horn and sending Blitz back into reality. The sharp pain came back, but it immediately stopped for some reason. Blitz opened his eyes and saw all red still, but he felt like he didn't have control over himself, at least for a split second.

"Strength!" The voice in Blitz's head whispered, making Blitz feel the pain again. He screamed so loudly, that Azure covered his ears, but kept looking at him. Blitz used his magic to rip the pegasus ghoul off him, before sticking both of his hooves into its mouth. The pegasus tried to close its mouth and chomp down on Blitz's hooves, but it couldn't. Blitz's mind was filled with anger and he snapped, moving his hooves apart from within the pegasus' mouth. It went wide eyed as Blitz snapped its jaw from the inside, before ripping it's skull completely in half, with just his hooves alone, which were some of the weakest parts of his body.

Blitz's sight returned to normal and he fell to the ground. Azure slowly came over to him and wrapped some bandages around his neck. Blitz was in too much pain, but somehow knew that he wouldn't die from it. It was like he was gaining unknown knowledge and strength from somewhere, but he didn't know where. Without a second thought, the voice made its heartwarming appearance inside Blitz's head again, making itself more prominent with each new word.

"Deal!" Blitz's head stated, making Blitz instantly understand what was happening. Death was real and he was inside of him. Azure just watched Blitz, making himself more and more agitated about knowing how Blitz killed the pegasus ghoul. He wanted to find out the reason on how Blitz gained the strength, but didn't want to pressure him to say. He was going to leave that question for a little while, until Blitz was better at least.

Azure went to go and grab some of his medical supplies and found that he had no type of painkillers left. He looked back at Blitz, who was staying quiet, but was in way, way too much pain. This made Azure feel a little bad about his actions before, especially with hitting him over the head with the blunt end of the bat. He would most likely dwell on those thoughts later, but for now he needed to get him and Blitz out of there.

Azure helped Blitz up, but it didn't keep him up for long, as the pressure and the pain brought Blitz back down.

"Blitz! Please, get up! We need to move!" Azure announced, seeing that there were a couple of ghouls coming towards them. Blitz held his neck with a hoof and slowly got up, making Azure feel a little less tense. Although the pain hurt, Blitz's body was refusing to let him die. Blitz slowly started to hobble away, going towards the direction that Gretzky had taken the others. Blitz picked up his sword from the ground, before placing it back into its allocated position. Azure followed close to him, making sure that there was nopony nor ghoul that could sneak up to attack Blitz.

As they were walking, Blitz saw Death to the right of him, making him sigh. Death kept his hoof over his head, making him look even more sinful. He kept note of what Blitz said, making Blitz feel worse, because now he didn't have a space to think. Death looked at him, gliding sideways, almost like he was sliding on ice. Blitz looked at him, hurting his neck in the process.

"I can dim the pain, if you want?" Death prompted. Blitz shook his head, before tensing sharply. Azure noticed that Blitz was communicating with somepony or something, so he walked a little closer to Blitz as they continued to walk along the cobbled road. Anti teleported next to Blitz and wagged her wooden tail at him, making him smile a little as he tried to look down to meet her gaze. Blitz put a hoof on his neck and sighed, the pain getting to him more that he would have liked. Death's offer was promising, but he didn't want to feel pain free, at least not yet.

They travelled for what seemed like five minutes, before they gained sight of the settlement, but something was off. Azure was the first one to realise, after listening to Blitz constantly talk to himself. Anti walked in front and stopped, growling at the gate of the settlement. Blitz and Azure both peeped in through the gaps in the gate, before Blitz teleported Azure to the other side of it. Blitz flew up and over, which saved his magic in the process. Blitz looked back at Anti, who phased through the gate by disappearing on one side and then reappearing on the other.

They slowly entered the settlement, seeing the cart that Brick was pulling, suggesting that they were at the settlement, but why was everything so quiet? Blitz looked up and saw something dive-bombing down towards them. Blitz teleported Azure and himself to a safe position, before looking at Azure. They were both underneath the cart that Brick had pulled to the settlement.

"I have to go out there and take whatever it is on, otherwise we'll be stuck here for a very, very long while." Blitz stated, before tensing sharply and twitching significantly. This made Azure worry a bit, but Blitz continued to assure him that he would be alright. Azure was consistent in not allowing Blitz to do anything, due to him being his friend, but also because he had a chunk missing out of his neck. Azure didn't want Blitz to hurt himself.

Blitz saw the figure land, giving him the opportunity he needed.

"Stay here. I'll make sure that I come back!" Blitz commanded, before teleporting out from under the cart. He slowly looked back at where Azure was hidden, before turning to see the figure staring at him from across the way.

The nightmare was back and more frightening than ever.

Chapter 10: Death's Mercy

Roselight stood still, making herself look like more of a threat. She definitely looked different, making Blitz realise that she wasn't herself. Those eyes were not hers and neither was her smile, let alone the darkened fur and the wings that she took advantage of. She was going insane from the outside in. Roselight smiled menacingly, making Blitz stand stiff.

Her fur was a lot darker than usual, going from a dark purple and white, to a dark purple and dark blue. It was a lot shinier than he remembered too, making the appearance more scary as a whole. She was clean, no dirt, no blood, just fur and mane glistening like there was no tomorrow.

Her mane was glossy and very weird. It was almost like her mane was animated in a way that it would constantly play over and over again, different spots of white appearing at different points. It almost made Blitz think about stars, above the clouds. Although he didn't know what stars looked like, he had a pretty good idea of what they were through books, which gave him a seemingly bad image of what a star looked like. Everything was more beautiful through a real view anyway.

Roselight's teeth were sharper than usual, making them look like they could carve through flesh like a knife. Her teeth were sharp enough to be classed as fangs, which didn't help the mental image that Blitz was holding inside his head. Her fangs, like her fur and mane, were immaculate. They glistened within the hazy fog that lingered around, piecing all of the dull colours around Blitz with a freshness of bright white.

Her eyes were narrow pins, becoming less of a round shape and more of a sharp and pointy pair of slits. She had the same type of eyes as Sadjoy, which made him slightly curious to what the nightmare actually was. As they looked at Blitz, it felt like he was being attacked, due to how sharp her eyes were, digging into him with every little chance that she could, making him a little scared. A voice within him told him that he was going to be alright. That little voice was Death.

Her wings were not her own. The nightmare must have grown them out from Roselight's body, making Blitz wince a little bit at the thought, making her take a couple steps closer. The fear within Blitz's body was there, but it was like it was being hugged or at least tied down so that it could not overrun Blitz's mind with a guilty conscience. She kept her wings out wide, trying to make herself look more fierce, which must have gotten to the others somehow, but not to Blitz. He shook his head, before stepping a little closer.

Having evaluated her, he tried to begin a conversation. Without hesitation, before Blitz could even breathe another short breath, she raced forward, bringing a weapon to bare, in her magic. As soon as she slashed, Blitz dodged it quickly, making a swift leap to the right. She laughed, before realising that she hadn't hit Blitz. Blitz looked at himself, noticing that he had the power to dodge her attacks, which made him smile.

Before he could do anything, Death paused time, making her freeze too. Death walked out Infront of Blitz, looking exactly like… himself. Death was a changeling, one blue eye and a red eye, like himself. The only thing that was different, was the colour of Death. He was a grey scaled version of Blitz, which made him a little creepier. Blitz looked at him in shock, before shaking his head and trying to think of something to speak. Death sat down and highlighted Roselight's form, making Blitz wonder what he was about to do with her.

Death looked Blitz directly in the eyes and made him feel a little uncomfortable with his current situation. Anti came and sat down, beside Blitz, making Anti appear on the opposite side, sitting down next to Blitz. Blitz began to get very confused by Anti not being affected by the paused state that everypony else was. This made Blitz question what Anti really was.

"She is my gift to you, Blitz." Death stated, making sure that Blitz could hear him. Blitz looked back at Anti and then stroked her with a hoof, before she laid down on the floor and nuzzled Blitz's forehoof. "Right, now that you're relaxed, you got a choice to make Blitz!" Death explained, bringing up another copy of Roselight's form.

On the left was Roselight's form as she was. The nightmare form didn't change, but she was untouched. On the right was a blood-soaked Nightmare Roselight, cuts being all over her body and wounds displaying very gory details, such as her head being decapitated, stomach being cut open and more.

"No, no! We are not killing Roselight. She is the leader of this settlement and must continue to be the leader." Blitz explained, trying to make it clear to Death. Death shook his head.

"Oh but come on Blitz. Roselight would make a very good companion for you, like little Anti here. Plus, a nightmare would be a great addition to my collection. I mean, Anti is closer than you think to…" Death spoke, before getting cut off by both Antis, them both growling at Death like he was out of line. He smiled and chuckled. "Sorry girls, my bad. I almost spoiled the secret." He added.

"What secret?" Blitz asked, getting very caught up in the conversation. Death shook his head, before getting back to topic.

"Anyway, going back to this, I will help you either way, but remember that there are consequences to your actions, regardless of what path you take." Death explained, getting a little nod from Blitz in response.

"My opinion is the same. Despite you trying to persuade me to kill her, I think that she should be saved. We still need to find out what is up with those artifacts, don't we?" Blitz explained, making Death raise a brow in response.

"I almost forgot about that Blitz. Welp, now you know why I chose you over anypony else like that 'Stable Dweller' or 'Security' for example." Death acknowledged.

"Who?" Blitz asked, not getting a response from Death. Instead, Death just continued to stand there in Blitz's form, making Blitz feel a little frustrated about time not resuming. Death sensed Blitz's frustration and smiled.

"Eager to get back into the flow again, Blitz? Well then, let's have some fun!" Death stated, resuming time. Roselight looked menacingly at Blitz, who wasn't going to stand for Roselight's antics any longer, or at least the nightmare's intention. Blitz stood his ground and dropped his saddlebag, before kicking it off to one side.

"I'm not going to fight you Roselight! I refuse to, even if my body and mind seek to." Blitz stated, knowing full well that Death was smiling at what he had just said. Blitz slowly stretched his forehooves and hindlegs, letting his body get ready for the commitment that he was just about to make. Roselight smiled mischievously at Blitz, bringing her weapon into view again.

Blitz looked at the weapon, not really noticing what it was until that point. It was almost like the sword that Blitz had lost, due to the stupid raider stabbing the hydra with it. Blitz remembered that moment and probably would for the rest of his days. The sword looked lethal, having both a sharp end to it, as well as a dull end. Blitz didn't fancy catching either end of the sword, due to the nature of how most swords were lethal to normal ponies, let alone changelings.

Changelings were basic glass cannons or just glass, if they didn't learn any spells. Although the chitin was strong, the bits that connected the chitin together were as weak as paper, probably even weaker than that. Blitz had proven that he was the one exception to that. He had pried open a pegasus ghoul's maw and ripped it into two pieces. If that didn't show how strong Blitz was, then he could have proven it during the fight that he was in at the moment.

Roselight lashed out at Blitz, trying to hit him with the sharpest part of her blade. Blitz reacted quick enough and jumped out of the way of Roselight's swipe, missing him by a couple of inches. She looked angrily at him, beginning to understand that he wasn't just going to lie down and take it. He was going to be shifty about it. Roselight took another swipe at him, making him jump back. She followed it up with another swing, which Blitz didn't dodge. He blocked the attack with his magic, making Roselight push down on the sword with her magic, increasing the pressure.

Unlike all of the other times that Blitz used a shield spell, this time it didn't take any of his magical capability. It was almost like he wasn't casting the spell, or even channeling it for that matter. Roselight pushed harder and harder against Blitz's spell, but to no avail. Blitz teleported away, before Roselight regained her force.

"Roselight! I… I'm not going to hurt you!" Blitz stated, shifting the saddlebag that he had dropped more out of the way and teleporting his cloak to him. He put it on, before pulling the hood up, over his mane. Roselight cackled, making Blitz feel a little on edge.

"This should be fun then!" Roselight stated clearly, Blitz hearing an echo to her voice. That was not Roselight, that was the nightmare speaking! Blitz moved back slowly, giving Roselight the impression that he was beginning to fear, when in reality, he was preparing for Roselight to attack. She charged her horn and shot a bolt of blistering hot lightning towards Blitz. He tried to dodge it, but he didn't move. Instead, his body casted the blocking spell, dissipating the electrical bolt into thin air. Blitz was in shock, not because of the electricity, but because of his body's lack of movement and understanding. Was he even controlling himself anymore?

Roselight didn't hesitate, as another bolt of pure electrical power, blistered through the air and hit the ground beside Blitz, being originally where he had just been. Blitz charged up his horn and shot a weak bolt at Roselight, hitting her in the process and doing nothing, apart from annoying her a bit, which was what Blitz wanted. He wanted to try and annoy her, making her bring her own guard down, so that Blitz could finally see what was wrong with her.

Roselight shot another bolt towards his general direction, which Blitz just deflected and made it ricochet towards the sky. Roselight went wide eyed and just stared at Blitz, which made him feel a little on edge at the fact that the fighting had just stopped for a couple of seconds or so.

"How… how can this be? How can you block all of my attacks?" Roselight asked, trying to make Blitz fall into the false state of security. It didn't work, which made Blitz pressure himself to not attack her, making her more and more frustrated. "Fine! I'll just kill you myself!" Roselight screeched, the nightmare within her wanting to end Blitz's life. She rose up and began to charge her horn.

"Run!" Death commanded Blitz, making Blitz turn and run for cover, which there was little to none around. Blitz teleported himself above Roselight as she shot the beam of energy at Blitz's old general direction. She laughed like a phyco, but to no avail. She didn't even scratch Blitz, mainly due to the reason that he was behind her. Roselight heard the buzz of wings finally and turned to see Blitz flying there. She lit her horn for a second time, trying to smite the bug that was pestering her. Blitz teleported to another location, avoiding the beam that she tried to shoot at him.

"Stay still! Let me swat you like the bug you are!" Roselight shouted, looking around for said bug. Blitz stood on the ground, back where he originally was standing. Without hesitation, Blitz slowly began to walk up to Roselight, before she vanished into thin air. Blitz looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. Blitz turned around to check on Azure, when he saw the huge alicorn, looking above him. Roselight placed a magical aura around Blitz's horn, prohibiting the usage of magic from Blitz. While doing so, she lifted him up to eye level, giving Blitz a look of superiority.

"Urgh! Get off me!" Blitz yelped, struggling at Roselight's tight grip. She began to charge up her horn, before letting off a little amount of green electricity. It turned into smoke as soon as it hit Blitz, but it didn't hurt him, which surprised Blitz. His vision started to turn green, as Roselight dropped him to the ground. He laid on his stomach for a couple of seconds before gingerly getting up, struggling to do so.

Fake voices started to speak within his head, as his vision slowly blackened at the edges. He could see some sort of mist coming off the corners of his eyes, which made him worry a little. He looked around and didn't see Roselight anywhere. The blackness in his very was like a thick fog of some kind, dispersing when he got closer to the blackness. It was almost like it was an aura around Blitz, that blocked his distant vision.

Blitz felt a sharp buck to the side, making him feel like he had been hit by a cart. He looked in the direction of the buck and received a buck from the rear, which made his legs tremble, before he slumped to the ground. Azure wanted to go out and help, but he had no way of defending himself against telekinetic powers, let alone the spell. Bullets on the other hand, he would be fine with that.

He felt something hit his back left leg softly. Turning around, Azure saw Petalbreeze and Brick hiding next to a building. Azure slowly got out from the cart and slowly scampered over, trying to avoid all of the action that was happening on the opposite side of the buildings. Azure heard a shrieking noise from their general direction and pegged it over to the others.

Brick was slanted against the wall. He was almost looking like he was chilling out and trying to distract himself, but Azure could see a shred of doubt within him. He looked over to Azure and smiled softly, before looking at the ground again, almost like he was ashamed of something. Azure looked to the directions of the fighting and walked back a little, tripping over a rock that was sticking out of the ground. Petalbreeze turned around and looked at him, making herself chuckle.

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you to watch your step." Petalbreeze laughed, only for a split second, before going back and peaking around the corner, keeping sure that the coast was clear. Azure admired Petalbreeze's survivability skill, but he could see that she was beginning to lose faith in coming to the settlement.

Blitz closed his eyes, trying to maximize the senses that he was getting. He could hear her gliding around him, within the darkness of the black mist that enveloped his view. He couldn't see that far, but he was pretty sure that he could make out her figure, flapping her wings around Blitz, going around in circles, as he opened his eyes. Roselight was just a thin, white outline within the blackened smoke, which didn't help Blitz at all.

Roselight came through the mist after a couple of seconds of Blitz following her movements. Blitz shot a beam of energy at her, making her dive out of the way, but Blitz was still able to hit her. Although he didn't want to hurt her, he had to make her know that he could. He didn't want her to think that Blitz wouldn't attack, he wanted to show her that he would attack if he was provoked. Blitz was pretty sure that she got the message.

Roselight lunged for Blitz again, missing by a hair as Blitz jumped backwards, making Roselight a tad bit angrier. She continued to slash at him, getting closer and closer until Blitz decided that enough was enough and teleported away. Roselight looked behind her to see that Blitz's shadow was on the ground, suggesting that he was above her. She looked up and saw him staring down at her, talking to someone that wasn't there.

"Who are you talking to, you stupid roach?" Roselight screamed at Blitz, making him tilt his head. He lowered himself for a couple of seconds, before throwing a magical bolt her way, making her jump, due to not expecting it. Blitz's eyes both began to glow red, before a voice that was not Blitz's spoke aloud.

"Hehehe, you really are a silly nightmare, aren't ya, little scared moon?" Death spoke through Blitz's mouth, teasing her, so that she began to get more and more confused. Blitz regained the ability to speak, so he tried to convince Roselight.

"Roselight, I know that you can hear me! So, don't be scared, don't be afraid, don't give up yourself to the nightmare that is within you, controlling you. Break out of those chains and…" Blitz stated before getting struck with a bolt of blisteringly hot energy, which sent Blitz upwards.

"I am the one you call Roselight!" Roselight screamed, clearly being the nightmare and not being the mare that Blitz was trying to save. The pain of the bolt hurt Blitz too much, which made him wince in the air. He looked down to his stomach and saw that his chitin had protected him for the most part, but all of the flesh around it was now yellow and dusty. It should have been white or something, but Blitz could smell his blood dripping into the dustiness, which didn't help issues. He could feel all of the pain, which only made him angrier and angrier. He flew down and then landed with an earth shaking rattle.

Roselight looked over to him and began to laugh loudly. She thought that he looked so stupid, but Blitz wasn't one to take looks into account. He didn't care how he looked right then and there. All he knew was that Roselight would be saved, one way or another. Roselight lit up her horn, before Blitz's eyes turned green again, making him disappear into thin air.

Blitz knew that all of the ponies and creatures there would be worrying about him and maybe even thinking he was dead, but he wasn't. He was in what Death called, an 'enraged vision'. It was something that tried to corrupt the minds of the host, due to dark magic and dark knowledge that was getting pumped into their minds. It could either be acquired through getting hit with a dark magic spell, or reading a book about the matter. How did Blitz know this? He didn't, Death did and sent his knowledge through Blitz's head.

Blitz opened his eyes to see that he was on a path, surrounded by the black and inky void, the void that he needed to avoid stepping into. It was almost like Blitz was walking on air, but he wasn't. The path created a snake like pattern, weaving through different sections that haunted Blitz's now corrupted mind. He followed the path, being sure to not step off the path. Death displayed himself behind Blitz, making him turn. He displayed himself again, as a grey scaled version of Blitz, but wore a completely black hood, rather than Blitz's brownish one.

Blitz noticed that the path behind him was slowly disappearing, which made him continue to walk forwards, allowing the darkness that was slowly eating away at the ground behind him to not catch up to him. Blitz made himself walk a little quicker, trying to get away from the blackness what was approaching him. He was in some type of purgatory that was riddled with fear and deception. In the moment that he was living, he was neither dead, nor alive. He simply ceased to exist, for the time being.

"Scared?" Death asked, making Blitz turn his wounded neck. He just blankly stared at Death, both of them being underneath the safety of their own hoods, making them look like out of place figures. Blitz slowly shook his head, not feeling the pain that had hurt not too long ago. Death wasn't so convinced that Blitz was not scared. In fact, he was uncertain on how Blitz was feeling. All Death knew was that Blitz didn't feel safe.

Building began to come into view, making Blitz's mind feel a little bit better. Although they were only outlines, Blitz knew that this was probably the best chance that he would have got a sense of where he was. His mind was already corrupted enough, he didn't need more corruption going on within his mind, did he?

First it was the bombs dropping, Blitz seeing the carnage with his own eyes, but not remembering a single second after the flash had initially blinded him. It was rather unusual and Blitz normally felt a little weird trying to remember all of the actions of it, but he never could remember what happened after that.

After that, it was the grim death or his mother, which hurt him in so many ways, other than physical scarring. He was definitely mentally scarred from those events. His mother getting abused by those raiders and then them putting her out of her misery, before doing stuff to her corpse. That is nothing that a colt should have seen, but it was and it hurt Blitz a little more, just remembering it a little. A tear crawled down Blitz's cheek, which got Death's attention.

Next, it was the actions that transpired to watching a couple of Blitz's old pals. He got them into a situation that ended up in their demise, which haunted Blitz, because it was his fault. He had got them killed, due to his stupid actions. Just like with his mother, Blitz had to endure the pain and suffering of his friends getting murdered by a group of raiders. Blitz shook his head, beginning to understand what was happening in the area around him. He pushed forward, seeing that the path was behind him and almost being within a step of Blitz's previous position.

Blitz continued to get reminded of all of the bad that he could have done. This ranged from fighting the raiders who were hurting his mother, to letting the raiders within Roselight's settlement, without hurting them. This was not like Blitz. It almost felt like there was something messing with his emotions, making him feel that way. He had never dwelled on the results of what happened, he just moved on from them and allowed himself to see the actions that could have happened, if there were different times.

Death picked up on something being off with where they were. Everything seemed to be dark and gloomy and tried to scare Blitz whenever it could. Dark magic was always so tricky to understand, but Death was able to wrap his head around it. There was only one thing that Blitz had to do to escape the everlasting nightmare. That thing was to stand up against his greatest fear.

Blitz could see eyes looking at him, slowly approaching him in a way that friendly faces couldn't. He began to see all of the eyes coming into view, through the thick void that was blocking his view. He looked behind him for a couple of seconds, before seeing that the path wasn't slowing down, still rapidly approaching Blitz, making him panic a little.

"Blitz, that's just what it wants you to do!" Death whispered into his mind, making it so that the dark magic couldn't have an increased impact on Blitz. Blitz nodded and saw figures lining up in front of him. They were unrecognisable, which threw Blitz off a tiny bit. He tried to squint, to see who or what it was, before it revealed itself. A sword teleported into Blitz's hooves, which made him worry. He placed it into his magic before slicing at the raider that was in front of him.

The raider fell and was then replaced with a different raider. Blitz noticed this one, it was one of the raiders that both Blitz and Azure had ended the life of. Was this going to be something that tried to make Blitz feel bad? Most likely. Blitz looked at the figure, not having the confidence to smite it down, but still wanting to do so. He placed the sword within the raider and made him vanish, before pulling the sword back and allowing another pony to spawn as the black mist.

Next up was the raider that had almost killed Azure, earlier when they had both met and went out of journey. Blitz plunged his sword into him like he was nothing, having nothing else to say or do about his emotions about the pony that was in front of him. He kept the blade within the ponies body for a couple of seconds, before sighing and pulling it out, before swinging the sword about, readying himself for the next one.

A couple of seconds passed before the mist around him grew thicker and closer, the path still being eaten away at the edge. Roselight's voice echoed within the darkness, trying to make Blitz regret his actions.

"What gives you the right to kill? What if those ponies had families? What if you killed them out of cold blood, when all they wanted to do was protect themselves?" Roselight tried to persuade, making Blitz hold his head. Blitz began to doubt himself, making all of the questions come up stronger and more often. Blitz shook his head, before having a specific timberwolf come up to him and nuzzle his back hindleg.

Blitz looked down and instantly drew a blank, making Roselight or the nightmare inside his head, angry. Death looked at Blitz, shaking his head.

"You do realise that the nightmare will make you feel these feelings. You need to just forget thinking about things at this point of time and you need to get moving!" Death explained, pointing his hoof at the path behind him. Blitz took the sword and sliced it into the wall in front of him, making a big enough gap that he could teleport through it. Blitz saw a bright flash in front of him and saw another figure in front of him. This time, it was somepony that Blitz knew.

Appleseed eyed Blitz, making him rethink his entire goal in the first place. He wanted to find out about what the artifacts were and what their significance was. With that in mind, Blitz looked at Appleseed again, before slicing a chunk out of her, making her vanish. Appleseed was stopping Blitz from getting out of this area, but he did have some regret with doing it, making purple mist spark from the corners of his eyes.

Next up was Sadjoy, although Blitz didn't know the bat pony well, the bat pony still didn't have enough of a spark or a connection to Blitz, to make him panic about the choice. Blitz sliced at one of her legs, making the illusion vanish, only to be replaced with Blitz's fear. Blitz dropped the sword, before staring blankly into his mother's eyes. Blitz missed her the most out of anypony or creatures. She was his idol and she was taken away by them, without any reason. Blitz couldn't kill her, he wouldn't.

"I… I can't!" Blitz stated, feeling defeated, Death and Anti looked at each other, before looking towards Blitz.

"Welp, we did say that we had your back!" Death stated, before summoning his own personal scythe and slashing at Blitz's mother. Blitz went wide eyed, before Death teleported his scythe away, before looking back at Blitz and smiling. Blitz didn't know if he should have smiled, or if he should have been angry at Death. Without Blitz wanting to, he was brought back into the real world. Roselight was cackling, until she saw Blitz return.

Blitz had his eyes closed, before he opened them with pure green vision and purple haze at the side of his view, which made her smile madly. She slowly walked over to Blitz, before seeing that he was enveloped by dark magic. She smiled and then pointed at Azure and Petalbreeze, having caught them hiding. Azure looked at Blitz and Blitz looked at Azure, displaying no emotions. Blitz then looked up to Roselight and blinked again, extinguishing the purple flames and the green tint.

"Who said I was in your control?" Blitz spoke out, getting a surprising glance from Roselight. She shot a beam of magic at Blitz, which didn't scare him, only making him move closer. Roselight's beam was being cut off by another beam, coming out of Anti's maw, which surprised Blitz a little. Roselight forced her beam more, not yielding any better results. Blitz walked forward and smiled at her, before using a magic cancelling spell and touching his horn to hers, making his vision go back, almost like he was within the illusion before. He walked down the path again, only to see Roselight chained up, with a certain nightmare there too. Blitz shot a beam at Roselight's shackles, releasing one of her hooves within the illusion.

Blitz turned and ran the opposite way, running towards the path that was slowly getting eaten. He jumped into the blackness and saw that his vision went black and then went back into reality. He was trying to set Roselight free, making her able to escape the nightmare's grasp. The nightmare had her in chains, so Blitz had to make it a fair fight. Roselight backed off, trying to keep away from Blitz.

"Come here nightmare! I need to take those shackles off for Roselight." Blitz teased, making her look angrier. She blasted another beam at Blitz, which Blitz quickly dodged, teleporting behind her and pulling her neck backwards. Blitz touched his horn against hers again, before Blitz went into her head again, seeing that the path was getting quicker and quicker to catch up to him. Blitz saw Roselight trying to break out of her shackles with her free hoof. The nightmare was blocking Blitz line of sight with any of her other shackles, making the nightmare tense up a little and shudder.

"You will not best me, mortal!" The nightmare commanded, prompted by a pure desire for power and pretty much nothing else. Blitz flew around, barely missing a couple of shots from the nightmare's horn, which didn't scare Blitz in the slightest. He just continued to hover around and dodge whatever attack she sent his way, making him smile when he got the opportunity to teleport next to Roselight. He teleported to her and smiled, before burning an additional shackle off, before getting hit with another blistering hot lightning bolt, straight to the stomach.

The bolt shot Blitz out of the illusion and into the air, making Roselight able to batter him with a couple of other lightning bolts. These extra bolts visually hurt Blitz, showing green blood on his chitin and mane. Blitz got pushed out of the settlement, landing not too far off the main gate. Azure came blisteringly fast over to Blitz, seeing him in the state he was. He tried to heal Blitz's wounds with all he could, but Blitz refused it.

Blitz got one good look at Azure, before he rolled his eyes and nuzzled Azure, making him blush. That wasn't the end of it though. Blitz also kissed Azure on the top of the head, making him blush a bright red, counteracting poorly with his fur colour. Blitz chuckled, before spitting out a little bit of blood. His now blood-soaked chitin began to harden and make his actions stiffer and harder to achieve, but that didn't stop him from trying to break himself, to make himself work better.

Azure helped Blitz to the gate and saw a scene which was not going to go well in Roselight's mind. Petalbreeze was hurt, most likely due to Roselight, which made Azure look at Blitz. Azure knew that Blitz was a dangerous pony to deal with, so he let go of Blitz, only to have him teleport away.

"That's my boy!" Azure muttered, before going to help Petalbreeze with some of her wounds. Roselight took to the sky, rivaling Blitz's actions of teleporting up there. Blitz could see that Nightmare Roselight was getting weaker and weaker, due to Roselight being able to get out from within the shackles she was placed in, within her own head.

"Are we going to end this?" Roselight asked for the final time. Blitz nodded, only to have Death take over his mouth and voice.

"Of course!" Death admitted in his raspy voice. Blitz shook his head before charging up his already damaged horn. Roselight did the same, only she was going to be using dark magic to be able to hurt Blitz, both mentally and physically. Roselight let out a channeled beam of energy, constantly being cast by Roselight as she figured for dominance. Blitz countered her beam with his own beam, beginning to feel slightly overwhelmed by Roselight's power.

Blitz needed help and quickly received it, in the shape of Death himself. He took control of Blitz's body for a split second before giving Blitz something.

"Cast the spell I gave you Blitz!" Death called out from within his mind. Blitz used a new spell that he now recognised within his memory and teleported above Roselight, making her point her beam up. Blitz charged up his beam again, but this time, lightning sparked at the corner of his eyes and he released a black beam of magic. The beam made quick work of Roselight's magic, which made Blitz feel like he was too strong, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that Blitz was able to get the nightmare out of control of Roselight's head.

Blitz hit her pretty quickly with the force of the beam and quickly knocked the mare down to Equestria once again. Blitz flew down and pointed his horn at hers, sparking when they both made contact. Blitz shot through the blackness and found Roselight trying to get off the last shackle, after taking one off herself. Blitz shot it off with his magic, before the nightmare bucked Blitz in the head, sending him into reality again, without getting the collar around Roselight's neck off.

Blitz opened his eyes and watched as Roselight charged up her horn for another time, before getting hit with a stool from the side. Both her and Blitz looked over to see plenty of angry faces. Petalbreeze, Gretzky, Azure, Brick, Nightclaw and Sadjoy all held weapons up at Roselight, making the nightmare within her chuckle.

"Oh, you all are the funniest of ponies! Sick and twisted mortals cannot stop me!" Roselight announced, cackling to herself once again. Blitz rolled his eyes before allowing Death to take control.

"Oh? And I assume that you are immortal, right nightmare?" Death asked Roselight, getting the painfully disturbing look from not only Roselight, but all of the others as well. "Blitz, if you would hologram me, then I'd set her straight." Death asked, Blitz's mouth moving with every word. Blitz's eyes went bright red, before he used a hologram spell, allowing Death to move about, without being in the confines of Blitz's head.

Nopony spoke, only gawking at the sight of a myth that Blitz was in the possession of. Death looked at his hooves, seeing that they were bony and discoloured, which made him smile, before he changed form. Blitz didn't know why, but he wanted to understand why Death kept changing into a dark and twisted version of himself. He would eventually ask him, but it wasn't the place for it now.

"So, nightmare? How have you been doing? It's been a while since you sent me somepony to keep me company." Death explained, noticing that there was some trembling that was happening nearby. Blitz looked around and saw two ponies shaking. One of them was Roselight and the other… the other was Zeke. Everypony else was just standing silent, allowing Death to do what was needed or required, which Blitz supposed was pretty nice, allowing him to just get on with it.

"Let Roselight go!" Petalbreeze called out, not to Blitz or Death, but to the nightmare that had taken over Roselight's mind. Roselight shook her head at her and smiled, before trying to drag the unicorn over to her. Roselight realised that something was making the telekinetic power that she had, very, very weak. Roselight looked to Blitz, seeing that he was using his magic to not only display Death, but to stop Roselight from getting to Petalbreeze. Roselight flew up into the air, before charging her horn and making her eyes bubble with a purple haze.

"Feel the wrath of a tormented corrupt nightmare!" Roselight stated one final time, before shooting out a black and dark purple beam of magic. No, dark magic! She was shooting a dark magic beam and she was an alicorn. That was not good. She shot the beam down to the group of ponies from both settlements. Blitz wouldn't allow any of them to die, so he did what was right. He teleported in front of the entire group and used a protection spell, blocking all of the magic that was draining his magic, by the second.

Death knew that Blitz couldn't hold that magic for long, especially it being dark magic. He quickly used his magic, from the hologram, to push the magic back. He was quickly joined by Anti, shooting a continuous beam back at Roselight, making her work harder to keep up the spell. Blitz felt his magic drain at a slower rate, which made him feel a little safer with everything that had happened to lead up to the events that were happening then and there.

Azure came up to Blitz and wrapped his hooves around him, trying not to disturb Blitz's magic flow. Blitz accepted the hug that Azure was trying to provide. It gave Blitz a bit more confidence going into all of the fighting that was bound to happen within getting Roselight free. Blitz looked back at Azure and smiled, knowing that he was a true and humble friend. With that, he turned to look back to Nightmare Roselight and smiled a little, before walking towards with the shield going.

Death and Anti were still going strong, which made Blitz worry a little. Blitz focused all of his magic into the shield, pushing forward and letting Death re-enter his mind and soul. Blitz eyes went bright red again and he laughed a little, before Anti disappeared again.

"It makes me laugh that you chose a unicorn to control, since there were no pure minded alicorns in the Wasteland. Ready for the final assault?" Death asked in his lingering, painfully raspy voice. Roselight nodded and smiled, before going to slash at Blitz with a sword. Blitz didn't block, nor did he dodge the attack, like he normally would. Blitz had cheated the system of living, thanks to Death.

Before Death stopped talking, he charged a spell he used to watch over everything, making Blitz start to phase into limbo, which was pretty cool when Blitz thought about it, but also terrifying when he thought about it more. He was in a state that was still visible, but his matter was not able to be touched by anything. Blitz slowly walked up to Roselight, making her shiver a little bit at the sight of a God within a pony.

Blitz didn't ask for any of it, but he happily accepted to help Death cleanse the Wasteland. Blitz was proud of himself, which he cherished for a short while, before coming face to face with Roselight. Blitz touched his horn to Roselight's and entered the blackness, for the final time. Blitz was glad that Death turned off the limbo spell before getting to Roselight.

The path was as ominous as ever and there were breaks in the path in front of them. Blitz, Death and Anti all tried to avoid the cracks, while avoiding the being too slow and letting the path disappear under them. It didn’t take them long to find Roselight and the nightmare together. Blitz looked over and saw them both fighting. Even though Roselight was still restricted due to her one remaining shackle, that didn't stop her from resisting the nightmare’s attacks against her.

Blitz was sure that both Roselight and the nightmare couldn't see them, which made him a bit happier. Blitz looked at Death and Anti, checking that they were both thinking about what he was thinking about.

“If that is what you want to do Blitz, then I am behind you.” Death said, reading Blitz’s mind for a split second. BLitz nodded, before walking up to both Roselight and the nightmare. Blitz’s steps almost became completely silent, as Blitz walked over to the two. Roselight spotted him, but she didn't want the nightmare to realise that he was behind her. Thinking of that only made the nightmare realise that Blitz was there behind her.

“It's time to end this, you nightmare!” Blitz pressured, making the nightmare feel the effect of its actions, making the nightmare’s smile so much bigger. The nightmare lashed out, swinging the sword at Blitz, in the hope to hit him and finally end this, so that the nightmare could get back to what it was doing. Blitz wasn't going to stand for that, so he blocked and blocked and blocked. Blitz didn't want to do anything to the nightmare, so he just kept her busy, while Roselight tried to struggle out of the restraints.

The metal collar that Roselight was trying to take off was very solidly put into place and looked like it had been welded into place. That wasn't the case however, which was quite surprising that the metal was slowly melting, due to the head of Roselight’s magic. Blitz spotted the action from the corner of his eye and smiled, making it a little more obvious that he knew something had happened. The nightmare was way too distracted in Blitz, that she didn't realise that Roselight was melting herself free of her final restraint.

Anti slowly walked over, followed closely by Death himself. They just watched both parts play out for the most part, but wanted to contribute to help. They both looked at each other, before nodding and walking to either one of the scenes before them. Death walked over to Roselight, going over to help her and Anti calmly pranced over to Blitz and the nightmare, knowing full well that Blitz wasn't going to give up.

Roselight looked at Death and froze, knowing full well that she was going to wind up dead somehow. She panicked as Death got closer, which made him smile a bit, but it wasn't his intention to scare her. Death shot a beam of magic at the collar that she had been trying to take off, making it shatter into pieces and allowing Roselight to breath. She looked over to Death and smiled softly, making him know that she was grateful for what he had done. Death smiled back, before looking over to Blitz blocking the nightmare’s attacks. Death had confidence in Blitz, but knew that he would eventually get hit, due to exhaustion.

Death walked over and pinned the nightmare to the path, before eyeing her down. She cackled, before understanding who she was up against. She stopped laughing completely and didn't even breathe, as she observed a pony that made her tremble. Death wasn't planning on doing anything with the nightmare, which got him thinking about something they could do to the mare. Death was going to keep the nightmare and torment her, but he was planning on using her powers to enhance Blitz’s knowledge, power and resilience. Death was displaying those ideas into Blitz’s mind and waiting for Blitz to respond to them.

Although Blitz liked the idea of the power and the knowledge, he understood that that would change him more than he would have felt comfortable with. Blitz did ponder on the idea for a couple of seconds, but then decided to refuse the idea, leaving Roselight to ponder the option that Blitz had taken. Blitz walked a little closer to Roselight and saw that the mare looked awfully confused on what was actually happening. Blitz found it easier to allow others to pick up the pieces that were slowly crumbling away his past, making his past harder to describe.

Blitz looked over to Death pinning down the nightmare. The look of fear that was present on her face was one that Blitz would remember for a long while. She couldn't look away from Death’s gaze, which made her feel more and more on edge. She deserved to feel like that, for tomenting and torturing Roselight into turning into the creature that she was now. Although her mind was set free, Blitz knew that he had to eliminate the nightmare from the body. He didn't know how to do that, that was the only problem.

Roselight placed a hoof on Blitz's shoulder, making him turn. She stared into his eyes and smiled, making Blitz feel a little better about himself in general.

"Thank you Eater, I appreciate it." Roselight announced to him, making him feel that much better than he previously was. He was grateful for the appreciation, but knew that his work was not over completely. Although Roselight was free, the nightmare was still in possession of Roselight's body. Blitz needed to find any way to get Roselight back to her normal self, without the nightmare interfering with her life.

Death looked over at Blitz with an idea, but he knew that it would be a risk. He used his magic to talk to Blitz, without letting anypony else know.

"The only way to end this, is to either kill Roselight and the nightmare, or take the nightmare away and put it into another pony's body. That would corrupt their mind instantly and let the nightmare mingle within. The only exception is you, because you have me in your head, and I'll probably be able to manage the nightmare's activity." Death explained, making Blitz worry a little.

Blitz nodded to him, before walking up to him and looking directly at Death's blank expression.

"What do you need me to do?" Blitz asked, not liking where it was heading. He would sacrifice himself just so other ponies and creatures could live without the added fear in their lives.

"Don't let her corrupt you. An illusion within an illusion." Death simply stated, before Blitz's vision went clear white. Blitz heard some voices, making him fear where he was going instantly. Blitz was sure that it was just going to be him and the nightmare in the illusion, so he prepared himself for what was to come.

As soon as his vision cleared, he couldn't hear the voices anymore and saw nopony around. The nightmare appeared down the corridor and Blitz growled at her, making sure that she knew who she was dealing with. Blitz was pretty much Death’s right hand stallion, Death’s apprentice. The nightmare didn't flinch, only moving closer with every breath that Blitz took. He stood his ground, making sure that he wasn't going to run into a trap that she could have placed somewhere along the room that they were both in.

They were in a room that Blitz remembered very well, a place that burned itself into his mind. The memory orb that the room came from flickered red every now and again, suggesting that the area was corrupted and not really real. Blitz looked around the corridor and saw that every stained glass window was clear. There were no images or designs on any of them, making the place feel less and less familiar to Blitz, as he kept looking around and waited for the nightmare to do something.

She teleported her sword to her side, making Blitz smile, due to the repetition that she showed towards him. She swung her sword in Blitz's direction, missing by a couple of inches, as Blitz dodged the attack by hopping backwards. She looked up into his eyes and saw that there was no mood within them. No emotions at all.

Blitz didn't want to fight back, but he had to keep the nightmare distracted for Death, for him to complete the spell. Blitz pulled out a dagger of some kind, one that didn't look too familiar to him. Blitz looked at the inscription on the handle of the dagger and saw some words transcribed onto it.

"Death's soul ripper!" Blitz read aloud, making the nightmare slow down and listen. Before Blitz could do anything, the nightmare charged him, knocking him over with the dagger still in his magic. He pulled it over to him and watched as the nightmare cackled over him. Blitz clutched the dagger tighter with his magic and felt a surge of energy rush through his body, like somepony was giving him love or like a certain pony had infused a little bit of themself inside the object. The surge from the dagger gave Blitz a different approach to the situation and even to his normal functioning state.

Blitz jumped up, having all of the energy in the world to get up and start distracting. The nightmare stopped cackling and watched Blitz with a mindful eye. She didn't know what to make of the events that were transpiring, but she was sure to have a smile while she was doing it. She lashed out again, swiping the sword in Blitz's general direction. She couldn't hit him, due to how evasive he was, which was making her more and more angry.

Blitz jumped in all directions, avoiding each and every single slash that the nightmare could unleash. He came within a couple of inches of a couple of the slashes, but for the most part, he was relatively safe for avoiding the slashes. The nightmare was having the worst time trying to hit him. She was beginning to get angry with the fact that Blitz was too fast for her to keep up with. She began to change her strategy, mixing in some blasts from her horn as well, which proved to do nothing to him, even though he was still a mortal being.

The nightmare’s ego was way, way too big. Too big for her to even handle, but that made her believe that she was the best of the best, a god in other words. Blitz would normally roll his eyes at ponies with huge egos, but he was finding some sort of humour out of all of the stuff that the nightmare was coming up with.

Blitz found an opening to go for an attack and went for it, wielding the dagger in his magic. He ran closer to the nightmare, before plunging the dagger into where her heart should have been, only there was no contact, not even any other force that restricted his movements. She was just an illusion! The nightmare laughed at Blitz and shot him with some red hot lightning, singeing some of his chitin with a chalky whiteness that rubbed off. Blitz was surprised to find that the burns in his body didn’t hurt. They more or less made him feel fresher, which was not a good sign.

The nightmare went wide eyed and stopped laughing. She noticed that Blitz was still there and still breathing. She tried to hit him again, charging her horn again, before releasing the magic and watching Blitz teleport beside her.

“Why are you so surprised?” Blitz asked the nightmare, hoping to learn what would have happened to regular ponies. She didn't follow along with it, slicing the sword at Blitz previous location, nearly catching herself with the sword in the process. Blitz teleported away without a second to spare, ending up a little distance from the nightmare.

The nightmare changed the surroundings a little, making the walls shit inwards and making them look like they were constantly getting closer and closer together. Blitz didn't fall for it, still dodging the attacks that the nightmare sent his way. Blitz noticed that the walls behind himself and the nightmare were quickly closing in, which scared them both, until Blitz realised what was happening. Death had completed what he had to do and it was going to fuse the nightmare and Blitz together. The nightmare didn't know this, but eventually, she would.

Blitz held his head as a voice spoke to him from within his mind. It was Death speaking to him, but not speaking like he normally did.

"You are able to kill her now. Stab her with the dagger and she will be fused to you! The time limit of the spell is those walls that are closing in on you. You have to do it, fast!" Death explained, not being able to hear a response from Blitz, which Death hoped was a good sign. Blitz looked at the ground and closed his eyes before smiling evilly and looking up with a single tear in his eye.

Blitz launched himself at the nightmare, before he teleported away. The nightmare was surprised by what Blitz had just done and tried to teleport away, but it didn't work. She began to panic as the room was getting smaller and smaller. She pushed against the wall, hoping to stop it, but nothing happened. He got pushed back and felt the other wall against her hindlegs, making her worry more. Without warning, Blitz dived down and landed on top of the nightmare, before stabbing her in the heart. She didn't scream, she only looked down at the dagger in her heart, before they both were crushed by the wall.

Snapping out of the illusion, Blitz saw Nightmare Roselight still in front of him, which made him pause. Didn't he just kill the nightmare? Roselight blinked rapidly, before looking around with a pain in her head. She looked over to Blitz and smiled.

"Is she gone?" Roselight asked Blitz, noticing that he wasn't thinking straight. He nodded, not looking towards her for a couple of seconds. Roselight looked at her new skeleton like wings and sighed. "Well, I guess what I'm going to have to learn to fly!" Roselight added, hovering in the air with her magic.

Roselight landed on the ground and had Petalbreeze run up to her, before giving her a hug and nuzzling into her. Gretzky joined the hug, along with Sadjoy, Plumjuice and Nightclaw. Blitz landed on the floor shortly after and turned around, before noticing that something was off. He knew that he was now in possession of the nightmare, but where was… Blitz was interrupted by Azure coming over and tapping him on the shoulder.

Blitz turned around and saw Azure stood there, a couple of tears in his eyes. Blitz smiled and opened his hooves, before Azure tackled him, pinning him to the floor.

"Now you get to relax! No exceptions!" Azure playfully commanded, making Blitz smile.

"Sure, I can do that!" Blitz answered back, making Azure hop off him, before going over to talk to Gretzky and the others. "...But for how long, Blitz?" Blitz stated in a slightly corrupted and demonic voice. That wasn't his voice. That was the nightmare!

Chapter 11: Recovering Research

All was quiet in the settlement. Everything was calm after the torment of Nightmare Roselight had begun and then swiftly ended, which for Blitz, felt like a lifetime. The air dimmed with emotionless radiation, so light that it didn’t even disturb the flow of everyday life. Blitz was casually sitting outside on a bench, watching as the world got darker and darker and darker.

Roselight walked over to Blitz, seeing that he was sat on the bench, with not a single soul to accompany him, which made her feel that little bit worse for him. Roselight sat on the bench, trying to disturb him, but still trying to be noticed by him. Blitz turned his head and looked at her, seeing a little smile on her face. Seeing that her ears were drooping down, Blitz just rolled his eyes.

“What happened to the nightmare that was inside of me?” Roselight asked, making Blitz tense up a bit. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he took the nightmare away from her, just to place it into himself. He had to come up with an excuse that would allow him to play it off like she just vanished.

"I was able to remove it, without too much trouble. It's a wandering spirit now." Blitz lied, knowing that the nightmare was within him, like putting it into a pony shaped cage. The thought terrified Blitz enough to make him shake his head, trying to shake the mental image away. He knew that life was about to get that little bit harder, but didn't really know how bad it could get.

Roselight caught Blitz's look of distortion and held his cheek, before turning it to meet her gaze, Blitz's face being gently pulled to look at Roselight's.

"That's really not happened to the nightmare, has it?" Roselight digged in the question, making Blitz feel more and more guilty. He had to hide his emotions, to make the others not worry about him, so he simply just shook his head, making Roselight look confused. She knew that he was lying from his face alone, but she knew that Blitz didn't want anypony worrying about him.

Blitz looked around to try to keep his mind stable in the condition that it was in. Blitz knew that the nightmare would play with his emotions, but Death could have kept that in check, right? Blitz shook his head again, trying to clear it completely of the thoughts. It didn't remove a couple of thoughts, but those were quickly pushed to the back of Blitz's mind. Before he could do anything else, he received a kiss on the cheek from Roselight, making him turn, cheeks turning bright blue.

"That is a thank you for saving me and my mind." Roselight admitted, smiling and showing a blush of her own. Blitz smiled, before getting up and nodding at her, before teleporting away. Blitz didn't teleport far, only a couple of meters around a corner, but felt like he needed to talk to Death a little. Blitz used his hologram spell to summon Death, the nightmare being on the end of a leash.

"Well, you worrying about the nightmare here isn't an issue. She's in good hooves!" Death explained, tugging at the lead for the nightmare to come closer. She looked almost scared of him, shivering and refusing to look into any eyes that were around her. She had finally learnt where her place was. It was on a lead that Death had, ready to do whatever he asked of her. The more Blitz thought about it, the more he realised how messed up that was. Was Death a slaver? "No!" He shouted, putting that question to rest

Blitz smiled at Death, getting a smile back from him, before Blitz stopped the spell and walked back to his and Azure's home. On the way back, he spotted Gretzky talking to one of the new ponies that had come from the previous settlement. Lilly was talking to Gretzky about something, which made Blitz wonder and want to travel over to them, but ponies did love curiosity, but that would have to wait. Ponies also loved their privacy as well, which Blitz agreed with.

He turned away, before walking up to the front door. Blitz quickly looked around, seeing that the sky was still black and uncertain, which made Blitz curious to how long he was outside for. He opened the door before walking in and closing it softly, trying not to wake the sleeping pegasus. Azure was laid out across the entire soft, making Blitz quietly chuckle. Blitz was going to try to be the more energetic and enthusiastic one, but it would be difficult to adapt to within a couple of days.

Blitz saw that Azure was in a very uncomfortable position, so he decided to do something about it. He took Azure with his magic and carried him over to the bed that they had. Blitz slowly and softly placed Azure onto the bed, before covering him up in the covers, making sure that the pegasus was nice and warm. Blitz curled up beside him and tried to fall asleep too, but kept getting nudged by Azure. Noticing this, Blitz looked up and saw a smile on the pegasus' face, showing that he was awake. Blitz smiled, before shimmying next to the somewhat sleeping Azure and curled up right next to him, before getting the covers thrown over him, thanks to Azure.

Blitz looked into Azure's eyes, seeing that they were open, but just barely. Blitz smiled and blushed, before Azure gave a lick to Blitz nose, making him blush a deeper shade of blue. Azure chuckled softly, before wrapping his hooves around Blitz's waist, pulling him in closer. Before Blitz could do anything else, he noticed that both him and Azure were beginning to fall asleep. Letting the actions fall into place, Azure fell asleep first, followed by a chirping changeling, being in the warmth of somepony's embrace.

The next morning, Blitz woke up, feeling a little bit under the weather. He turned to his left and saw that Azure was not there. He was a little worried about that, but let it settle that he was probably outside doing something. Blitz yawned, feeling the most tired that he had ever felt. It wasn't his fault that his life was tiring and exhausting.

Blitz got up and stretched, cracking his forehooves loudly, before cracking his hindlegs too. It was weird to hear a bug cracking it's bones, but it was even weirder knowing that nobody was around to judge him on everything he did. Normally, he would have been put in line, put in his place when being around other ponies and be told what to do and what not to do. In his home, in the settlement, he had freedom, something that his kind originally didn't have.

As soon as Blitz stood normally, he felt some-kind of spring in his step, due to either him feeling good or excited about today's events, or there was something wrong with the chitin on the end of his hoof. He checked his hoof, not believing in him being happy or excited about today's events. He felt a little off, but that was probably due to the actions of yesterday taking a toll on him. After all, he did have a couple of burns and really nasty cuts all over his body.

Blitz walked up to the only mirror in the building and froze. He was cut all over, making him look like a zebra with dark green and red stripes. This made Blitz worry a little, but he just thought to go along with it. It would have been normal for Death to interrupt one of Blitz's crazed ramblings, but he didn't. Blitz called out for Death in his head, only for no response to be heard. This made Blitz a little confused, but it didn't stop him from experiencing the day.

Blitz walked over to the front door and teleported his cloak over to him, before putting it on. He looked back at the mirror, having a clear view of it from the door and smiled. None of the cuts could be seen when Blitz had the cloak over him, which made him feel a little more comfortable going outside. Blitz quickly remembered that he had to go and talk to Roselight about those artifacts, which got his head immediately thinking about them.

Blitz was pretty sure that those thoughts came from the nightmare and Blitz was almost one hundred percent about that, because as the ideas entered his head, they immediately left his mind and got replaced with his original plan of finding Azure. Death was definitely still there and definitely doing his job of keeping the nightmare in line. What did that make Blitz? Was Blitz's nickname now Death's little nightmare? That made him chuckle, as he opened the door and peeked outside.

The day was new and bright, making Blitz understand that it was the morning. Blitz hopped outside and closed the door behind him with his magic, before turning to see that the area around was much, much cleaner and neater, making Blitz immediately think of all of the new settlers. He would eventually go and talk to them all individually, but for the time being, his objectives were Azure and what the nightmare had suggested, because even before the nightmare, his first intention was to return to Roselight and learn about what she had learnt from the artifacts.

Blitz jumped down the paths, seeing that they were all cleaner than before, which made the settlement look so much cooler and tidy. He came up to Gretzky's shop, before seeing that Gretzky was within it. Blitz tapped on a little bell that was placed next to his serving table, which made a little 'ding' noise, before getting the attention of the happy gryphon.

Gretzky came out with a smile on his face, before looking at Blitz with an even bigger smile.

"Hey Eater! How may I help ya?" Gretzky happily asked, being in a very good morning mood. Blitz nodded before coughing, clearing his throat.

"Hi Gretzky. Have you seen Alchem?" Blitz asked, still using Azure's fake name to all of the other ponies, because it actually fitted him and acted like his own little nickname, something that Blitz really didn't have, apart from the lame fake name of Soul Eater, compared to Azure's fake name of Doctor Alchem. That was so much cooler!

"Oh yeah, he's over in Roselight's building, talking to her about those so called artifacts. If she is correct with them, Roselight might be onto something that might help cleanse this part of Equestria." Gretzky explained, telling something to Blitz that was entirely new to him. He would have to talk to Roselight to elaborate on that. Blitz looked around and saw that there were a couple of missing items in Gretzky's shop. Blitz would have originally stated or called out that they had been stolen, if only there wasn't a sign in their place, indicating that it had been sold.

Blitz continued to look at Gretzky's shop, noticing that he had a couple of new weapons for sale. Blitz spotted a pickaxe, which would actually be useful, if Blitz saw anything and needed help getting to said object. Blitz spotted another weapon, which shocked him a little when he saw it at first. A harpoon gun was present on the display table. It was about the size of a rocket launcher, but instead of firing missiles, it would fire sharp jagged pieces of metal at the enemy, impaling them instantly, but there was certain type of harpoon gun that fired the same types of spikes, but we're able to recall the harpoon, due to it being attached to some rope. Blitz was sure to look out for one of them, just so that he could sell it to a potential buyer.

Blitz looked up at Gretzky, who was trying to get a PipBuck to work, without putting it onto his foreleg. Blitz's idea of what he was trying to do was to put the PipBuck so that it was displayed like a tablet would display an image. Blitz shrugged at that and tried to gain Gretzky's attention again. Due to Gretzky being so enticed with the object, Blitz was unable to gain his attention again. Blitz rolled his eyes before waving to Gretzky, before heading over to Roselight's building.

On the way there, Blitz saw all of the settlement dwellers beginning to emerge from their new homes. That filled him with a sense of pride, but why didn't it make him feel motivated? That thought was most likely the nightmare going at it again, because that feeling then swapped itself out for a big amount of motivation. Thanks Death!

Blitz stopped at the door, before knocking a couple of times, before entering slowly, making sure not to make too much noise upon entry. He turned and saw Azure looked dead at him. If it wasn't for the light and the unfamiliarity of the room, Blitz would have been fine, but there was something about the way that he was looking at Blitz, which made Blitz shudder inside, not displaying his emotion on the outside. He walked closer and saw that Roselight was wearing a big smile on her face.

Azure hugged Blitz, before laughing. Blitz was slightly confused by the actions of Azure, but rolled with it, knowing that Azure would never try to hurt Blitz, right? That was the nightmare's thoughts getting into his head again, so he just ignored all of the negativity coming from within his head.

Azure stopped hugging Blitz, noticing something was wrong. Azure used his hoof to pivot Blitz's head around, making Blitz look directly into his eyes. Blitz blushed the faintest shade of blue, while looking into Azure's beautiful golden eyes.

"What is wrong Eater? What's on your mind?" Azure asked, being the friend that he knew Blitz needed. Blitz immediately sighed, before shaking his head, giving Azure the 'something is up, but I refuse to tell you' impression.

"I'm fine, just some negative thoughts is all." Blitz truthfully admitted, but also shifted the words into a lie. Blitz didn't know if he should have sat down with Azure in private and talked about what was really going on within his head, but Blitz knew that that would only hurt him if he did, so he kept it on the low-down, or as discreet as he could.

Blitz sat in a chair that was beside Azure, noticing that Azure wasn't taking his eyes off Blitz. That made Blitz feel a little uncomfortable, but he knew that Azure really, really cared for him, like a brother or a lov… Blitz's thoughts were interrupted by Roselight slamming her hooves on the table in front of her. Blitz jumped, snapping out of his enchanted abyssal daydreaming and focusing on the source of the noise, which was Roselight.

"Now that I got both of your attention, you want to learn more about the artifacts, right?" Roselight stated in her new form, wings spread out wide, filling half of the room with them. Both Blitz and Azure looked at each other and nodded, before looking back to Roselight, both of them having smiles on their faces. "Good, good! Anyway, the nightmare that was within me taunted me while I watched over the artifacts. It gave me a choice that I refused then gave me one that would increase my knowledge of the artifacts, only in exchange for my body. It took it, knowing that I would have no control over my actions, but Alchem and Soul Eater, the nightmare was constantly in about you two for some reason. It called you Azure and Blitz for some reason. Any ideas?" Roselight explained, adding a question to the end of it.

Blitz looked at Azure and closed his eyes, before taking in a deep breath before Azure cut him off with his hoof.

"We don't like ponies using our real names…" Azure announced to Roselight, making Blitz lower Azure's hoof from his mouth. Blitz would have said something similar, but Azure got it spot on. Roselight just chuckled before she winked at both of them.

"Don't worry you two, your secret is safe with me." Roselight announced quietly, winking at both Azure and Blitz, which made them both awkwardly smile back at her. "Alright, getting back to it. I now have a good idea on what these artifacts were meant for. Apparently…" Roselight stated, before placing the artifacts on the table. "...These artifacts are from the ministry mares, but it's mainly from past memories. Instantly, the Daring Do figurine comes from Rainbow Dash's collection, so that is RD out!" Roselight showed, before moving the figure to the side.

"So the nightmare knew about this?" Blitz asked, knowing that the nightmare was still listening to everything that he was. Roselight nodded, making Blitz wear a frown on his face. Nopony around Blitz took a notice to the frown, but he couldn't help but know that somepony knew something about his own actions and knew that something wasn't quite right. Blitz continued to show an interest towards the artifacts, while perking his ears upwards, trying to understand as much information as he could about the artifacts.

"Anyways, the plans that you acquired, Eater, were the blueprints for a particular structure. It is the blueprints for the barn that Vault 2 is sat beneath. The barn only has one relationship to one of the ministry mares, so it applies to Applejack. That's two!" Roselight explained. "The rock on the other hand, could either be Rarity's or Fluttershy's, so that is undiscovered for now." Roselight added, before placing the rock in front of them. Not even the nightmare knew about that, which was a little terrifying at the least.

Blitz knew that there were at least six ministry mares that ran all of the main powers of Equestria, so that would have just left three more artifacts to grab. Blitz used his magic to look over the rock, seeing it was as smooth as he had ever seen a rock, but there was something about it that didn't feel right. Blitz didn't know the feeling, but wanted to remember the name of the feeling that he had at that moment of time.

"Yes, so we have three more artifacts until we have the entire amount." Roselight announced proudly, knowing that they would find them all, but it would be a challenge. "Also, I know where another artifact is! It's… at the Steel Ranger's base of operations." Roselight added, her ears drooping down and sticking to the side of her head. Blitz didn't see what the big deal was with the Steel Ranger's, but he knew that they liked their technology, so any chance that Blitz had to gain a bit of tech, just to trade it for a bit of access to the base, was his idea.

Blitz was sure that he would be able to get into the Steel Ranger's base, but didn't know where to begin. Eventually, he would have learnt so much about the Steel Ranger's, that he would know the ins and outs of it without even looking, but that was very, very unethical.

"Where is their main base?" Blitz asked Roselight, hoping that she knew what it was and more importantly, where it was. Roselight laughed loudly, nearly falling over in the process. Blitz wasn't laughing, he was trying to ask an actual question to Roselight. This only fueled his drive to try to find out more.

"They don't have a main base. They have multiple ones across Equestria, to avoid one of the bases falling and for them not to have a place to fall back on." Roselight explained, still chuckling a little and whipping tears from her eyes, due to Blitz's question. That made a bit more sense to Blitz's, but still didn't answer his question, so he changed it a little.

"Okay, so where is the most packed base? And also, do you even know where the artifact is?" Blitz asked, hoping that she would answer both questions easily. Roselight wore a serious look, making Blitz smile a little.

"The biggest base right now is at Hoofington. They hold up in a ship which… well, let's just say that it could indent this entire area within a quarter of a shot from one of their cannons. It is a literal fort!" Roselight explained carefully. "And also, I can't guarantee that the artifact will be there, just have a hunch, because it is the biggest one right now. It's not even that far from her, just a few hours to the west by hoof." Roselight added, making Blitz's smile a little.

"Oh, isn't that called the… something Celestia? It's got something in front of the Celestia. It's a huge warship!" Azure added to Roselight's additional comment, making her give a simple nod. Blitz was very curious to find out about this ship and was really badly wanting to explore it, but he knew that he wouldn't even be allowed to get close to it.

"I'm going to try to find some backstory into any of the ministry mares and see if something about a rock is mentioned." Roselight explained, going to her desk in the corner of the room and leaving Blitz and Azure to look at each other with blank expressions.

"I think I might go for a little walk around and try to see if I can't find anything about. You wanna join me, Alchem?" Blitz asked Azure, getting a nod quickly after his question ended.

"That would be good, it would give me time to stretch my legs." Azure admitted, looking down at his hooves and scraping the floor lightly. That got a little glance from Roselight.

"We'll if that's the case, stay safe boys!" Roselight commanded, making them both look at each other and smile, before they both burst out laughing, making Roselight roll her eyes.

"Us? Staying safe? When does that even happen?" Azure joked opening the door for Blitz, before walking outside. Roselight tapped Blitz on the shoulder, making him turn to look at her.

"Thank you!" Roselight tipped, making Blitz feel that little bit better about all of yesterday's actions. Blitz just simply nodded, before closing the door behind him, leaving Roselight to get to her work.

About twenty minutes or so later, Blitz and Azure were walking along the same studded path that they had travelled along originally, but they took a different approach and slowly began to enter through the trees within the woods, hoping to not come across another hydra. Before they got too deep into the woods, they heard a flap of wings. They weren't hydra wings, so they both guessed that they were in the clear. It was a slightly more leathery set of wings, something a normal pegasus didn't have. They turned around to hear a crack as a particular bat pony landed.

Turning to see her, the grey furred bat pony stared at them both. Now that Blitz had a better light on her, he could see that her mane and tail, although clipped and cut like the royal guard had before the war, was pitch black. It really matched the personality that Sadjoy emitted.

"So, I saw that you two went out and I thought I might stretch my legs and wings while you two were off adventuring, as well as join you for some fun." Sadjoy giggled, flicking her tail in the process.

"Sure you can join, we are just gonna head west and see if we can't find something out that way." Azure stated, giving Sadjoy an idea of what they were searching for. She nodded and smiled, closing her eyes while doing it. Blitz had to admit it. That was cute. They turned back around and began walking through the woods. The combination of both sets of fangs, coming from Sadjoy as well as Blitz, helped keep them visible to Azure's gaze. It was beginning to get quite dark in the woods, all of the trees blocking out the daylight with ease.

It took them a couple of minutes of travelling, before they came across something that showed that there had definitely been some activity going on within these woods. Blitz and Azure both caught a glint of something, reflecting the light in several directions, which meant it was still shiny. Azure walked over to it and got a closer look at it, while Blitz continued to look around and keep his eyes on Sadjoy, just in case she happened to stumble off in a different direction.

Azure examined the shiny object and saw that it was a pistol of some kind. It didn't look like a pistol the Azure had seen before, so he picked it up slowly, checking to see if there was anything that would set off a trap of some kind. Gladly, there wasn't, but there was a lot of blood on the weapon. Azure just evaluated the weapon, before seeing a glimpse of something else beside where the gun was. There was a note that was more hidden than the pistol was, so he picked that up as well.

Blitz checked around a little more, before turning back to Azure and seeing that he was reading something. Letting curiosity get the better of him, Blitz decided to go over and see what he was doing. Blitz instantly saw the weapon and froze. It looked like some alien pistol of some kind, but it had a slot for bullets, so it was completely weird in his opinion. Blitz sat down beside Azure and nudged him a little.

"Sadjoy! We found something here!" Blitz called out, before not getting a response. Blitz looked over to her and saw that she was frozen.

"Yeah! I've found something too, probably way bigger than yours." Sadjoy stated, getting both the attention of Blitz and Azure, before they both looked at each other in confusion. Azure put the notes and the weapon into his saddlebag and walked over to Sadjoy. Blitz decided to teleport over, feeling like he was in a lazy mood and couldn't be asked to walk over. That thought made him smile and chuckle to himself, before his ears went flat against his head, looking at the structure that was in front of them.

It was a shack, but not a large one, just a little one. What was it doing out here in the woods? That was the only thought that penetrated Blitz's mind as curiosity would begin to overthrow him.

"Good find, Sadjoy!" Azure stated aloud, before looking towards Blitz, who was way too distracted to appreciate her being there to spot things for them. They both walked next to Sadjoy and looked at the vine snared shack, moss and dust gathered within the combination of mess. It looked somewhat intimidating, but that only added to the mystery behind the shack in the first place.

Blitz was the first one to move forward, inching closer towards the shack that held some unanswered questions. Without giving it a second thought, Blitz raced up to the building and saw that there were some vines wrapped around and in front of the door. Blitz did the simplest thing he could, he melted the vines like they were butter, using his red hot magic. He shot a bolt of energy at the vines,cutting it instantly and burning the wood of the shack a little. Blitz bucked down the door, before slowly lighting his horn and waiting for the others. They hastily walked forward, not enjoying the sight of the vines.

Blitz turned and walked inside the shack, seeing more dust than he had ever seen in one area. He didn't want the dust to get in their eyes or mouth, but there was nothing that he could do when all there was, was dust upon dust. Blitz found a couple of candles at the doorway of the shack, which were quite convenient in their current situation. He lit one up, pressing his horn to the tip of it. The first brightened half of the shack on its own, surprising all of them that the candle emitted so much light. Blitz quickly rushed to the one on the opposite side of the room and lit it with his horn, making the entire area brighter than it was outside the shack, possibly brighter than it was in the Wasteland.

The entire room of the shack was visible, so they all dispersed across the room and looked about. Blitz turned to see that Azure wasn't looking about. Instead, Azure was looking at the weapon and the note that came with it. It was still new information, so Blitz let Azure off with that fact alone. It might have really hit them hard if they didn't learn as much about stuff as possible, so Blitz was fine with it.

Blitz turned back to see what was in front of him. There were different types of notes displayed on the bench in front of him, ranging from simple notes per page, to folders with different things in them. There was a chair behind him, so he grabbed it and sat down, before looking briefly over each little piece.

Sadjoy scanned across the surfaces of the slide out table next to her and found a tape, with a note on it. 'To anypony or creatures who find this place, please watch this short video.' the note read. Sadjoy took off the note before looking around on her side and finding a tape player. It was really dusty and old, but Sadjoy was pretty sure that the machine was what the note was on about. She opened up the labelled tape player and placed the tape inside it, before closing it down and pressing play. Without her doing anything, the video came to life with a pony walking towards a chair. This got both of Azure's and Blitz's attention, making them watch the video with her, from their respective positions.

"Hello! I am Professor Delta. Grey Delta is the full name. If you are watching this, then it is already too late for me. I'm probably just a rotting carcass outside my shack here, but this is where I stand." The professor spoke through the screen. Blitz and Azure both stopped what they were doing and got closer. Blitz liked the look of the grey furred unicorn, seeing his blue mane and reminding him of an old friend that he used to have. The voice went back to speaking though the screen, so Blitz decided to grab the chair with his magic, before sitting down on it.

"Anyway, you might want to know why I am even recording this, or even why I was important. Well, I was one of Twilight Sparkle's first researchers for the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, before the ministry mare herself fired me, because there were a better bunch of ponies with ideas that could innovate Equestria, or could have, if given the time." The Professor explained carefully.

Blitz noticed that something was up, that there was more to the professor than met the eye. Blitz shut himself up and listened to the rest of the stuff that the video had to say.

"Anyway, a little while passed before I met with the leader of the Ministry of Wartime Technology, ministry mare Applejack. She recruited me to help with the development of protective armour and gear for all of the troops. I was so chuffed, but things can only last for a little while before everything falls apart or begins to break. The bombs feel and well, here I am to record this after all that. One hundred and fifty years have passed since the bombs fell and Equestria still isn't in a liveable state and probably won't be for hundreds of years." The professor informed them. Sadjoy just looked at Blitz and Azure, before looking back to the screen.

"One hundred and fifty years gives you a lot of time to sit down and think, sit down and plan, sit down and create. So, despite all of the things that have happened here, I went to work on a little project that might stop me from going insane. Insert the numbers zero, one, eight, two, five, into the terminal and it shall open a secret compartment under the rug in the middle of the room." The professor prompted, changing the video into a number pad.

Azure inserted the numbers correctly, inserting the numbers: zero, one, eight, two, five. Without a moment's notice, the screen changed to a bright blue display, like there was nothing in the tape player. A large latch moved within the room, making the rug shift a little. Sadjoy walked over to the rug and picked it up at one end, before flying over to the other side and placing the rug to the side of the room. Blitz walked over to the hatch and pulled it up, with his magic, before it revealed a ladder going down. Blitz looked over to Sadjoy, before looking over to Azure and then back down at the hole. Blitz hovered down the narrow space, as opposed to him taking the ladder down. Azure and Sadjoy both took the ladder down, due to them not being able to hover like Blitz could.

As soon as they all got to the ground, they could see some more candles, like the ones they had come across above. Blitz walked up to them and lit them with his horn, illuminating the area there and down the corridor a bit. Due to Blitz lighting the first candle, the ones further down also lit up, displaying a small room down the end of the corridor. They all moved slowly, Blitz going first and Azure going last, keeping his back against Sadjoy's. They didn't know where they were going, but it creeped them out nonetheless. They slowly walked to the room and Blitz peeped inside, seeing that there was a machine.

"Ah, you three have arrived!" A voice stated, sounding as clear as day. Blitz looked around the room and saw nothing, until a camera screen flickered to life, displaying the same face as Professor Delta. "Yes, hello! Finally, some good company here. As you could probably tell, I am Professor Grey Delta, ex-helper of the ministry mares, or am a part of myself at least." Delta admitted. Blitz, Sadjoy and Azure entered the room, in that order. They looked around the room and then at the monitor.

"Professor, can you hear us?" Blitz asked, looking up at the monitor. He had his doubts that the professor would just let his research go to the hands of some random ponies.

"Of course I can't! I'm a machine! Do I look like I have ears? Hahaha, I'm just joking with you, of course I can. I have three audio receivers placed in the shack, so yeah." Delta informed them, making Sadjoy gawk at the monitor in awe.

"That's some pretty intelligent work that you have done throughout your time in the Wasteland." Sadjoy admitted, looking at the monitor. The professor chuckled softly. Blitz was still in awe at the sight of all that the professor had done. One hundred and fifty years was a long time, but the amount of work and time that was spent on doing all of the stuff he did, amazed Blitz.

Did you place yourself inside a computer?" Blitz asked, getting a light hearted chuckle from the professor. The professor just looked at Blitz, like it wasn't obvious to him already.

"I guess you could say that, but I bound a little bit of my soul to this machine, allowing me to live here even after I had perished. At the time, yeah, there were two of me, but it was fun while it lasted, but bones were eventually meant to break down, just like everything else in this world, especially the machine I am in now." Delta explained, opening a little space within the computer for them all to see where he put his soul. There was a memory chip that was sticking out slightly, having his soul on it and making them all look confused at the sight for a second, before they continued on with the conversation.

"This is really cool, Professor, but how can you stand living here? Surely it must get boring, right?" Azure asked, thinking that he already knew the answer to that question. The professor sighed, before opening a metal door that was in the corner of the room. They all turned to see a lifeless body of an alicorn. It wasn't any normal alicorn, it was a robotic alicorn, which only made it more and more interesting that they were an alicorn and not a unicorn of a pegasus.

"This is my greatest creation! Yet, I can't access the body, due to it already having a mind of its own. I was also unable to activate it, due to not linking the proper cables to manage the bay. So basically, it's been around forty years since I have been able to unlock its door and see that beautiful creation that I fought so hard to create and did, but I've just been sitting here, unable to operate or turn on the bot." Delta explained, feeling a little uneasy.

Blitz walked over to the robot and saw that there were some exposed wires leading out of the back of the bay. Blitz had seen a couple of posters talking about something called a 'Sweetie Belle bot' or 'SBB' for short, dotted around in some of the bigger cities, as well as the smaller ones. There were one or two of the posters in Journey, so Blitz knew a little bit about them. He wanted to see if he could have at least helped in any way, but as soon as he went down behind the bay, there was just an assortment of wires that overwhelmed Blitz at first glance. Blitz pulled back up and looked at the robot. He saw that there was a start up plug that was located next to the ear of the alicorn.

"So, you need the cable wired up to the machine. Wouldn't it just hurt me or electrocute me if I try to plug it in." Blitz asked, making Delta sigh and nod through the computer screen, before he ran some diagnostics. His face of sadness was quickly changed to happiness when he found out that there was a spare power regulator in place. All Blitz had to do was get to it. Delta displayed the layout of the room and highlighted where the power regulator was, so Blitz grabbed the wire with his magic, before taking the exposed power regulator and stuck it in, as quickly as he could to avoid shocking himself, which he didn't succeed in, getting a quick shock from the power regulator, as he touched it with his hoof.

That got the attention of all of them, as Blitz winced from the shock, rubbing his horn and hoof. Blitz looked back over to the alicorn and saw that the connection on the machine was active and ready for Delta to use. Delta looked up at the bright green light above the bay of the metallic alicorn and smiled softly, looking like he was proud of something.

"Welp, I'm going to activate her. She might be a little confused and a little stiff, but nothing that some oil can't fix." Delta warned, making the others get ready to see the robotic alicorn in action. Sparks started to come out from the wire behind the alicorn and they all watch on in pure confusion and curiosity. The alicorn's eyelid's opened up, still with no life to the eyes of it.

"She is awakening!" Professor Delta called out, before the others saw her bright cyan blue eyes flicker to life. Her eyes moved around and saw Blitz, Azure and Sadjoy standing there. Her eyes focused and recalibrated go fit her starting up sequence. Blitz held both Azure and Sadjoy still with his magic, not allowing them to move forward. The alicorn disconnected herself from the machine and used her magic to grab a can of oil that was placed beside the three. She rubbed a little on her metallic hoof, before rubbing it around her neck, mouth and eyes. She began to blink a little and then moved her mouth a little.

"First of all, who the hell are you? Second, where is the professor?" The alicorn spoke, her voice sounding exactly like a pony's voice. Blitz looked at both Azure and Sadjoy, before stepping forward, giving the tall figure a smile.

"I am Soul Eater, that is Doctor Alchem and that is Sadjoy. Nice to meet you. We understand that you might be a little confused, but we definitely have to let you catch up." Blitz explained, pointing to Azure and then Sadjoy. The alicorn stopped rubbing herself with the oil and began to stretch her legs, like a normal pony would do. Did she really need to do that? Blitz refused to move and so did Azure, but Sadjoy had other plans entirely. She walked a little bit closer and had the alicorn look at her.

The glare in the robotic figure's eyes sent shivers down Sadjoy's spine, as well as Azure's, but Blitz was strong. He walked up to the robot and looked her over, allowing her to keep an eye on him.

"I'll ask you again. Where is the professor?" She shouted, making Blitz smile slightly. Seeing the smile only made the crazed robotic alicorn that little bit more mad. Blitz noticed that her expression had changed a little, making him roll his eyes.

"The professor is right here, right beside you, all around you!" Blitz shouted at her, pointing his hoof to the computer console with the professor's face on it. Delta just smiled and raised a hoof from within the screen. The robot just paused, staring at the screen in shock.

"Di… did you really die already, Delta?" The robotic figure asked, hesitating to really ask that question. The professor didn't make a noise, but slowly nodded. She looked back at the other three and then back at the professor. "Wait, did they kill you?" She asked, making Delta speak up.

"No! No, they actually helped me turn you on again. I've been like this for forty years or so. Oh, everypony, meet Lumia, my personal friend and companion. She is a direct copy of Princess Luna's form, but has a different mind." He stated, turning to a modeling sheet on the display, before pivoting the three dimensional model around. It was pretty awesome, knowing that Professor Grey Delta was able to do all of the stuff that he could, during the time of such downfall. He was an extraordinary pony, but it was such a shame that he was confined to the likes of the shack. Blitz would try to find a way for the professor to get out of the system, eventually. For now, he would focus on helping as much as he could.

"Professor? Might there be a way to link you to other systems? Maybe you have a little chip or something that would extend your reach?" Blitz asked, curious to try to get him into a place where he could observe more than just the shack. The professor had to think about it, before he printed something off and showed it on the screen. He opened a hatch within the computer and watched as Blitz looked confused. Inside, was an abundance of wired and connectors.

"Inside, there are some connectors. If you use a wireless device and place two pins in the two ends, the ends being the connector and what you want me to connect up to, I should be able to run a simple couple lines of code through the system and allow myself to link to it." Delta explained carefully, making sure that Blitz knew what to do. "If needs be, I could send Lumia out with you." Grey Delta added, making Lumia scowl.

"Hey! Why do I have to…" She stated, before getting cut off by Delta's roaring voice.

"...because it might be good for you to go and stretch your legs. Also, I don't want you being restricted anymore. I know I did it a bit too much before, when I was alive, but that was only to protect you and I was still one pony. Now, you have not just a pegasus and a bat pony, but a rare changeling as well. You'll be fine! As soon as Soul Eater plugs me into a computer or whatever he plugs me into, I'll be with you again." Delta butted in, making his opinion and reason known.

Lumia sighed, before walking over to the computer. She looked at the buttons on the keyboard and sighed.

"I know, but you know how I am about leaving you. I still fucking hate you for shutting me down, but it was the right call, I guess." Lumia explained to him, Delta knowing it already. He nodded, before looking at the other three.

"Will you look after her?" He asked calmly. Blitz nodded, followed by Azure and then Sadjoy, making Delta smile. The only one in the room who wasn't smiling, was Lumia, but that would eventually change, or so they hoped. Blitz picked up a couple of pins and the connector, before closing the hatch with his hooves and putting the electronics in the saddlebag he had.

Azure and Sadjoy began to walk out of the room, heading towards the entrance, before climbing up the ladder and waiting above for Blit and Lumia. Blitz looked at her, seeing that she was uncomfortable with the situation that she was being put into, but Blitz just gave her a gentle smile as she looked at him, making her turn away, before she began walking down the corridor, he metal hooves clashing with the metallic floor, making her very loud on her hooves.

"Soul Eater? Can I get a good look at you?" Delta asked softly, not making Blitz feel pressured or anything like that. Blitz looked at the computer screen, before pulling down his hoof with his magic. His face was slightly scarred, making Blitz so much happier that he didn't see the other parts of himself. Professor Delta just looked him over, keeping his eyes directly on Blitz's eyes and facial features. "Was your mother called Shadow by any chance? Another changeling that looked like you?" He asked, making Blitz stand completely still.

"H… how did you know that?" Blitz asked, being quite concerned about the subject. Blitz hadn't spoken about his mother to anypony else other than Azure and maybe one other. How could he have possibly known? Delta just chuckled, enjoying the sight on Blitz's face.

"She was a friend. I didn't get to talk to her much, but she was a funny mare, so I enjoyed all of the company I got with her. How is she now?" Delta asked, a sickening smile on his face. Blitz almost threw up there and then, but he was pretty confident that Professor Delta was not trying to be cruel in any way. Blitz doubted that he knew about her demise, so he just frowned at him.

"She's dead. She's been dead for around one hundred and twenty years." Blitz explained, making the smile instantly disappear from his face. Blitz had an idea that the professor didn't know about the death of Blitz's mother, but didn't want him to get too emotional to the point at which he would go insane from thinking about it too much. Blitz was sure to not go further with that conversation.

"Oh my! I'm so sorry to have brought that up. I'm sorry for your loss." The professor stated, feeling slightly bad that he had brought up the sensitivity topic like that. Blitz was pretty sure that Delta had a pretty close friendship with Blitz's mother Shadow. She was the greatest and most supportive mother in Equestria and the Wasteland. Maybe her being so supportive made her meet her demise. Blitz shook his head vigorously, trying to shake all bad emotions and thoughts out of his head. After he did that, he gave a slightly swift good-bye wave to Delta and began to walk down the hall. As soon as he got to the end of it, he immediately flew up it, before closing the hatch behind him, and placing the rug over it. That would prevent somepony from coming in and robbing the stuff that was there.

They began to walk down into the woods, Blitz closing the door behind, making sure that it was indeed closed up tight. He caught up to the group and decided to hover through the trees, using his changeling wings to full effect. The others looked at him, constantly hearing a faint humming noise coming from Blitz's wings, which was sure to get annoying very, very quickly. Before anyone got annoyed at Blitz, he landed and folded his wings to his sides, just realising that there were holes in either side of his cloak, making it so that his wings were able to stick out, without having to remove the cloak. Had those alway been there?

Blitz let his mind wonder in a void of emptiness, making him stay quiet for a little while. Blitz walked along next to Sadjoy, whereas Azure began to slow down, looking to see that Lumia was agitated.

"Everything okay, Lumia?" Azure asked, feeling a little worried about their robotic friend. She shrugged, before looking to the floor. He felt really sorry for her, the professor making the choice for her, rather than letting her make her own choice, but that wasn't the main issue at the time. The main issue was that she felt alone and having the only pony she knew leave her too, made Azure feel a little bad about the entire situation.

"I'm just trying to catch up to this world again. I love life and all it has to offer, but I'm so behind, forty years or so behind and want to try so hard to catch up." She explained, looking to Azure with a little smile. "I'll be alright, Doctor." She added, showing off a little metallic grin. It wasn't the biggest grin, but Azure would have taken any happiness he could get his hooves on.

"Well, once you get to our little settlement, make yourself at home. Robot pony, cyborg pony, nopony will judge you at all. Everypony at the settlement is different and if I'm not mistaken, half of the settlement is a mix of half breeds, ranging from what Eater is over there, to me. I'm the complete opposite end of the spectrum, but that doesn't make me less likeable as an individual. Just don't be scared to be yourself." Azure mentioned, only making the smile on Lumia's face bigger.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it and I appreciate what you're doing for me now, as well as the professor." She explained, meeting Azure's gaze. Azure nodded before looking over to Blitz's and Sadjoy. They weren't talking, but they were walking kind of close together. Azure didn't see anything of it, but did see the faint glimpse of a timberwolf in the corner of his eye. Lumia saw it too and gasped, staring dramatically at Anti. Anti turned backwards and started to walk back, walking at her normal pace, but eyeing both Azure and Lumia.

"Meet Soul Eater's personal companion. She is a beautiful gal indeed, as well as being friendly to everypony." Azure stated, walking up closer to Anti, before giving her a stroke with his wing. Anti wasn't going to ignore Azure's soft wing, so she nuzzled into it, tickling both Anti and Azure. Lumia just watched, a smile growing on her face.

"That's a nice timberwolf." Lumia simply stated, before turning forward and walking along, trying to distract herself from some thoughts. Blitz and Sadjoy looked back and chuckled at both of them.

"You do realise that we can both hear you up, right?" Blitz told them, immediately making Azure chuckle, but not so much Lumia. Blitz knew that Lumia was scared to be in the outside world, so he would try to help her as best as he could, ensuring that she would feel comfortable all the time, with or without somepony breathing down her neck. Blitz turned around and began walking backwards, staring blankly at both Azure and Lumia. Blitz didn't say anything, he just eyed them, to make sure that they were alright.

"How are you feeling, Eater?" Azure asked, making Blitz's eyes lock onto Azure, almost giving him a direct death stare. Azure's ears went flat against his head, seeing the look that Blitz was giving him. Blitz chuckled softly, making the air around everypony less tense. He shortly nodded towards Azure before coughing.

"I'm feeling alright I guess, just a little down due to the professor being on his own right now, but as soon as we plug this thing into a camera system, he should be able to control some things back home." Blitz explained, making Lumia nod from the corner of his eye. The metallic pony just stayed silent, before looking to Blitz.

"Thank you for having me along, Soul Eater." Lumia thanked, bowing her head down and thanking Blitz, for doing nothing. Blitz was slightly concerned about what she was thanking him about, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

After a couple of hours walking, they eventually got back to the settlement. They walked through the gate, after having it opened by Saber, before he closed it after they had entered. They all thanked him, making a tiny noticeable smile appear on his face. Blitz turned to see Roselight looking at them, seeing the metallic alicorn figure and smiling softly. Sadjoy flew off to go and talk to Gretzky and Zeke, who were having a conversation before getting dive-bombed by the bat. That made Blitz chuckle.

"I'm going to go and read the stuff that Delta wrote down on the paper with the weapon. I'll be at home if you need me, Eater." Azure stated, before going off to read some instructions or something along those lines.

Lumia looked at Roselight and smiled softly. She didn't feel comfortable in the situation that she was in, but knew that eventually, when she started to talk to ponies, it would ease down on the mind crushing anxiety that she felt. Roselight walked forwards and hugged Blitz, before Blitz returned the hug.

"Quick question. Do you have a camera system or like a base computer that runs security here?" Blitz asked, getting a confused look from the alicorn mare.

"We do, but you'd have to ask Nightclaw or Gretzky about that. They monitor it regularly." Roselight clearly stated, looking over to Lumia shortly after. Lumia softly smiled, but let a sigh escape her muzzle afterwards, making Roselight that little bit more concerned. " Is everything okay? Do you want to talk it out?" Roselight asked, getting a little nod from Lumia. "I'll speak to you later, Eater." Roselight said, before walking with Lumia, around the settlement. This left Blitz on his own, before Nightclaw came over to talk to him.

"Is everything okay there, Eater?" Nightclaw asked calmly, snapping Blitz out of his trans. He looked at Nightclaw and nodded quickly, before bringing out the pins and connector.

"Can you help me with something?" Blitz asked, awkwardly holding up the pins and connector with his magic, a smile also present on his face.

Chapter 12: Racking Up

Nightclaw flicked the switch on the back of the monitor and stood back and evaluated his work. The screen displayed some images of the settlement, with a three sixty degree view of the settlement from above. It had taken a little while, but Nightclaw was able to create a tower in the centre of the settlement that he then strapped a camera onto. It wasn't any normal camera, it was one that had a full spin rotation, giving the viewer a view of the entire settlement. Blitz observed the screen with Nightclaw, holding the connector and pins in his magic again.

There had been multiple cameras in the settlement, placed mainly in the corners and the centre, which provided a good few angles over the settlement. Blitz looked through a couple of camera perspectives, before finally stopping. He looked around the room and saw that there was another camera that was looking at them both, one that was there to catch anypony that thought it would be a good idea to mess around with the camera setup.

Blitz used his magic to connect the connector onto a loose wire, before slowly inserting the pins. As soon as he did, a screen appeared on the monitor, with a bunch of code. The placement of the entire thing was inside one of the unused houses in the centre of the settlement, which would have given both Lumia and Delta a fair bit of room to chat and catch up.

A couple of codes were being written on the screen in front of them, followed by a faint crackle of static. Blitz watched as the monitor flickered and then faded to static, before Delta's face was displayed on the monitor.

"Please tell me that it has worked. Can you both hear me?" Delta asked, getting a smile from Blitz and a very confused smile from Nightclaw.

"Yes, we can hear you Professor Delta, and yeah, it has worked. Has it worked for you though? Can you see around?" Blitz asked, letting Delta know that he had control over the cameras. The camera behind Blitz's head began to move, making Blitz aware that Delta did indeed have control of the cameras, but hoped that he had the ability to see through them.

"Yes, I can indeed see you and… your friend." Delta explained, calming down Blitz's nerves, but making Nightclaw's nerves rise as a result of it all. Nightclaw coughed a tiny bit, clearing his throat in the process.

"Nice to meet you Professor. My name is Nightclaw and I'm here if you need any assistance with the system." Nightclaw hesitantly stated, making Delta chuckle a little.

"Ease down on the nerves big fella! It's all good, Nightclaw. I'm not here to judge you or anything, so there is no need to get nervous. Also, yeah, I'll let you know if I need assistance with anything. It might take me a tiny amount of work to get used to it all, but that is because it is a new experience here." Delta carefully explained to them both, looking at both of them through the camera.

Blitz turned around and saw that Azure was waiting by the door, having it open a little bit in the process. Blitz smiled at his presence, but didn’t run off with him on the first chance that he got. Instead, he turned back to Delta and Nightclaw and smiled back at both of them. He waited for them to finish their conversation and then attempted to move into the conversation.

“I’m going to head out with Alchem. Just call out my name if you need me at all you two.” Blitz explained to them both, getting a firm nod in response from Nightclaw and a smile from Delta. Blitz was sure that those two would have a lot to talk about, which gave Blitz a reminder to talk to Delta. “Delta, might i borrow you for a quick second before i go?” Blitz asked politely, getting a firm nod from the computer.

“Of course Eater. What is it?” Professor Delta asked him, being quite curious to find out what Blitz wanted to talk to him about. Blitz slowly went into his saddlebag and found a lot of scraps of paper and notes, before showing them to the camera behind Nightclaw. Delta instantly noticed that it was his notes, which made him smile a tiny bit. Blitz was confused on why the professor was smiling, but he placed the notes into Nightclaw’s claws, allowing him to hold the information filled folders and pieces of paper.

“Is it okay that i took these notes, just so that some random ponies couldn't have come out and took some of the notes? I know that you have just met Nightclaw, but he is a Blacksmith. While reading through, i noticed that some of the notes were about energy weapons, which Nightclaw could hopefully create.” Blitz explained, allowing both Nightclaw and Delta to keep up.

“Of course it is! Didn't I tell you to take the notes anyway?” Delta asked, getting a quick shake of Blitz’s head in response to the question. Nightclaw took the notes and allowed himself to store them within his saddlebag, putting a smile on not just his face, but an even bigger smile on Delta’s face. “I just want my resources to aid ponies and creatures, since i can’t use them right now. Maybe hook me up to an automated guncreating machine and set me going.” Delta suggested, making Blitz chuckle lightly. Nightclaw started to talk to Delta, making Blitz think that it was as best of a time as ever, to leave the area and allow them both to continue with their conversation. Blitz turned around and looked at Azure again and smiled, making a little warmness grow within his heart, if he still had one.

They both walked out of the building and closed the door behind them, allowing both Nightclaw and Delta to have their conversation with nopony around to interfere with it. As soon as Blitz closed the door, he looked to Azure and smiled, knowing full well that Delta was going to fit in perfectly with the rest of the settlement and would be hugely helpful. They both started to walk back to their home, before Gretzky cut them both off. They both looked at each other and smiled.

"I have met with Lumia and she is pretty awesome for a cyborg pony. I'm pretty sure that she'd make a good protector for this place." Gretzky told them, making them both look at each other and chuckle, making Gretzky a little confused.

"It will take her a little while to adapt to life now, because she has only been awake for a couple of hours at the most." Azure explained to him, making Gretzky nod in response. Blitz felt like it was time to ask somepony what the name of the settlement was, but a poster that was in the far distance caught his attention. It displayed the name 'Paradise Soils' on it, which made Blitz think that the settlement was named that, which he shortly found out after that it wasn't.

"The name of the settlement is based on the now disappeared area of Flankford, but the name standing right now is called Sharpened Death, due to the Radiation that came out of the nearby pond at one point, killing everypony around and leaving a single patch of fertile soil in the shape of a blade or an arrow head." Gretzky explained carefully, allowing them both to intake all of the information of the settlement.

Gretzky turned around to see that Plumjuice was calling him for something in the distance. He turned back to both Azure and Blitz and waved, before running off towards her. Blitz smiled, tasting their love in the air, but their love wasn't as sweet as last time when he could taste their love. It was slowly becoming sour. Blitz turned to look at Azure, before getting booped on the muzzle, sending his eyes into a crossed state, looking at his nose on the end of his muzzle. He rubbed his nose, before running after the pegasus that had just violated him emotionally.

As Blitz was chasing Azure, he slowed down and saw all of the ponies communicating with each other. The three bat pony mares were having a little bit of fun, which Blitz's didn't despise. They all looked at him and licked their lips, making Blitz smile and blush awkwardly. Crimson, Lavender and Sadjoy talked to each other, while staring directly into Blitz's eyes, making him feel like he was going to be in for a very creative time. Before Blitz had the chance to go over, Azure slapped Blitz in the head with his saddlebag, making him look at Azure, as he shook his tail, trying to intimidate Blitz, which worked.

Blitz chased Azure to the house and saw that Azure locked the door behind him, locking both Blitz and Azure in, as they entered the house. Azure chuckled, before wrestling with Blitz and pushing him onto the chair that was there. It was a small chair, but a comfy one nonetheless. Blitz curled up in the chair, having Azure curl up behind him, practically spooning Blitz, in the most friendly way possible. For once, Blitz felt completely satisfied. He had helped so many ponies and just wanted to relax for the day. Blitz was pretty sure that Azure felt the same way, having his hooves wrapped around Blitz's waist.

"You comfy?" Blitz asked Azure, getting a nuzzle on the cheek from Azure in response, before he pulled Blitz a little closer. Azure placed both his forehoof and hindleg over Blitz, trying to make him as comfy as possible. Blitz moved backwards and nuzzled into the little amount of fluff that Azure had grown onto his chest. It was very soft against Blitz's neck, which made him sigh inside.

Blitz was happy, there was no doubt about that, but there was definitely something that was off, something that made everything around Blitz feel uneasy. Azure noticed that Blitz had the thinking look on, before he put one of Blitz's sensitive ears into his mouth and lightly applied pressure, getting a happy chirping noise from him. He loved it, but it didn't pull him from his thinking state. Blitz was way too focused on why Death had gone silent. Although Anti had shown up, there was no sign of Death or the nightmare. His head was clear, but it didn't make him feel any more relaxed.

"Blitz? Can I tell you something?" Azure asked, getting Blitz's full attention as he looked over his shoulder to see that Azure had a blush on his face. Seeing that, made him smile and produce his own cute blue blush.

"Of course Azure. What is it?" Blitz questioned, making some pressure appear on Azure's hooves. Blitz smiled up into Azure's golden-like eyes and turned his entire body, making it so the Blitz's hooves were now on Azure's chest. Blitz rested his head on Azure's neck, while he waited for Azure to spit it out.

"Can… can I love you?" Azure asked, hesitating dramatically, but keeping stern with his questioning. Blitz didn't have to respond to the question, he just simply kissed Azure on the lips, making his answer clear. Blitz was a changeling, so that was a simple question.

"Of course! Let me feed off your love!" Blitz joked, making them both laugh and giggle. Blitz was trying to make the most of the situation that he was in, due to having no thoughts in his head, so he let his body gain control. His hooves glided over to Azure's wings, before he ran his hooves down them slowly, making Azure arch his back in response.

"I must admit that I need to thank you for all you have done. You have supported me all the way and I am truly grateful for that, Azure." Blitz admitted, making Azure blush more. He lightly chuckled, making Blitz smile in response. He didn't want to ruin the beautiful moment that they were having, so Blitz decided to lie on Azure and close his eyes, listening to Azure's breathing. It was calm and relaxing to say the least, but there was a certain warmth that emitted from Azure that brightened Blitz's mind. It could have been his love, but that was a taste, not a feeling.

Azure wrapped his wing over Blitz and nuzzled into him, making himself more comfortable within the chair. Blitz was slowly drifting off to sleep, along with Azure slowly catching up to him and entering the land of eternal slumber. Azure fell first, which gave Blitz the opportunity to nuzzle Azure more, before falling asleep too.

Blitz drifted into a different type of dream, one that could scare him, if he let it. His surroundings were pitch black, save for a faint light in the distance. He didn't immediately travel towards the light, he just looked around into the darkness that enveloped him. He didn't fear, but he had his doubts about all of the negative space within his head. Blitz began to walk over to the light, taking small steps in the process and looking around to see if he could make out anything within the darkness. After a minute of looking, he did. The nightmare was present within all of the darkness that drifted around, being slightly in motion. Blitz smiled, knowing that the nightmare was definitely there and trying to scare Blitz, probably trying to make him break. He wasn't having any of it, shaking his head and trotting over to the light.

Death was playing a card game with Anti, her picking up the cards with her magic, showing how smart Blitz's K-9 companion was. Death looked at Blitz and smiled, changing the card in his magic for some completely blank ones. Blitz noticed this, before peaking over Death's shoulder. Before Blitz could react, the cards changed to three types.

The first card showed Azure, being taken away by a group of slavers, which made Blitz a little mad. The second card was Blitz's and Azure's hooves moving away from each other. This made Blitz feel a little uneasy and anxious about everything. The last card showed up and made Blitz back up. The image showed Blitz pointing a gun to Azure's head, making Blitz scream before instantly waking up.

Blitz looked around as he jerked upward, nudging Azure in the process, but gladly not waking the sleeping pegasus. Blitz sighed, knowing full well that the events that had transpired were the result of the nightmare being within his system. Blitz used his forehoof to wipe the sweat from the top of his head. He knew it was a dream, but why did it feel so real? It was almost like the cards were live events that were happening right there and then. Blitz shook his head, it was becoming a staple of his to do so, everytime something bad or weird entered his mind at the wrong time.

Blitz looked at Azure, hoping that he didn’t wake him up. Luckily, he hadn’t even come close to it, only moving him a tiny bit out of the way. Blitz was glad that he didn’t wake him, because Azure deserved his sleep. He could tell that the long walk there and back had tired Azure out completely. Blitz walked over and saw that the notes that Azure was reading were on the spare desk, along with the weapon that he had found. He walked over and just stared blankly at the notes, before looking back over to Azure and seeing that he was sleeping quietly.

Blitz used his magic to pull up a chair, before sitting down on it and making himself more comfortable. Blitz heard a noise from behind him as he sat down, making him turn to see that nopony was behind him. The made Blitz feel a little off about whether or not the house was haunted or not. Blitz did notice that the only thing moving was Azure, as he began to look like he was having a night terror or something along those lines.

Azure was indeed having a night terror. Azure was running away from a bunch of metallic machines, ranging from steel machines, to platinum mech-like creatures. He didn't seem to be getting any further away from them either, as everytime he looked back, they were a couple of paces closer. He was fearing for his life, before all of the machines vanished, being replaced with nothing. Azure was in the dark abyss, like that of what Blitz had originally been in.

Azure caught his breath before he stopped and saw Blitz walking towards him. Azure slowly approached the bug and watched as each step that Azure took, hurt Blitz in a little way, ranging from making him grunt, to ripping pieces off him. He immediately stopped when he saw part of Blitz’s face get torn off, like it was butter being cut with a sharp, heatest blade. This almost made Azure sick, but he stood his ground as Blitz got closer, everytime that he blinked, Blitz would speed up. Was this his mind telling him that he was better off staying away from Blitz? As soon as Blitz got close, he fell to the floor, almost like he was really hurt. There was a needle that Blitz had dropped, which made Azure take a step and made Blitz scream out in pain. Azure walked back to where he originally was standing, pretty much trying to take his last step back. As he looked at Blitz, he realised that it didn't work, as another piece of his body had been torn completely off. His hindleg was just a stub now, making Azure wish that he had never taken the step in the first place.

He heard a noise behind him so he turned around and saw a medical syringe gun, plastered in a little amount of blood. He walked towards the syringe gun and went to pick it up, before seeing a couple of quick flashes. He could have sworn that one of the displays was Blitz eating a dead pony, which didn't sit well with Azure. He had regained his control over himself and turned to face Blitz, only to see that Blitz had left for him, waking him up out of the night terror.

Blitz rushed over to Azure, as he saw him fall from the chair and onto the floor. Blitz could see that Azure was in distress, so he quickly hugged him, ensuring Azure that he was there for him. Azure looked around and saw that he was back in the room of their home, back to a safe place. He saw that Blitz was there to comfort him, making Azure nuzzle into his embrace, still feeling a little bit scared of what was playing out within his head.

“How was the night terror?” Blitz asked him, making Azure instantly remember the events that had taken place within his mind, swirled with darkness. Azure looked up at Blitz and tried to make light of the situation, but he was a little confused on how he could achieve such a result. Instead of him doing that, he just picked himself up and stood still, pretty much daydreaming a little.

“They were terrible! It kept telling me to stop moving and let the world work around me and tempted me very well with displaying you in front of me. As soon as i took a step towards a needle you had in your hood, it would tear chunks of your body off, which scared me a lot.” Azure admitted, hugging Blitz as much as he could. Blitz hugged him back before walking backwards.

“So, what do you want to do?” Blitz asked him, trying to quickly change the subject and move on with their life. It was better to look to the future, rather than trying to keep an old flame alive.

“I feel like i want to see that massive ship that me and Roselight were on about, but it wouldn't be worth it to travel that far of a distance, would it?” Azure asked, not really knowing the answer to that question himself. Blitz nodded, then raised a hoof up to his chin, pondering on an idea that was locked within his mind.

“Maybe it might be worth it, if we could catch a glimpse of what they might have been doing in that area. It might be an idea to bring a couple of ponies with us, just to hold more saddlebags and have more protection. We might get up to a lot of looting on the way there and the way back, so it might be beneficial to take one or two extra ponies or creatures.” Blitz explained to him, making sense to Azure and making him smile at that idea. Blitz smiled himself, thinking about the idea and wanting to see the SS Celestia in all of its glory.

Blitz could feel a familiar feeling within his head, indicating the presence of Death into his mind. Blitz smiled at that and saw Death displayed within his vision as a hologram. Although Azure or anypony else couldn’t see Death, it still made Blitz smile to see a grin on his face.

“My apologies for the nightmare giving you a night terror, along with Azure over there. She was given what she deserved for waking you up like that.” Death explained, bringing up another hologram, but this one was of the nightmare, not looking quite like herself. She was a little beaten, but also a little scared. Blitz felt almost a little bad for her, before Death removed the hologram from view and shook his head at Blitz. “Don't feel bad, i'm trying to reform her to be a better demon, or whatever she is.” Death added, looking to Azure like he cared, making Blitz feel a little bad about Azure’s night terror.

“Thank you, Death. It was much appreciated for you helping us like that. Why were you quiet for a little while before this?” Blitz asked him, using his mind and not his voice. Blitz looked at Azure and went over to grab the notes for the weapon on the desk, before returning to Azure with them clenched within his magic.

“I was trying to change her to be a good spirit, or demon, or whatever you want to call her! A nightmare maybe?” Death blabbered out, not understanding what she truly was either. Blitz was pretty sure that the nightmare was classed underneath the demon category, but didn't know one hundred percent. Death vanished from Blitz sight line, but he could still feel his presence within his head. Blitz shook his head,before dragging Azure back onto the chair.

On the chair, Azure was comfy and warm and reading the note that Delta or somepony had left with their weapon. Apparently, the weapon used radiation to create quite deadly beams of energy. Surprisingly, the weapon had an explosive yield, meaning that the beam of energy would blow up as soon as it touched anything. This made Blitz smile, but got him slightly confused about how laser or beam weapons worked.

They both seemed to be enticed in reading the notes together, since they didn't hear a knock on the door. The pony knocked a second time, which got their attention immediately. Lumia stood there, half of a smile displayed on her muzzle, which gave her an almost smug look. Blitz and Azure just watched her as she walked closer to them both, not saying a single word.

"Am I able to sleep here tonight?" Lumia asked, getting a confused look from not only Azure, but Blitz as well. Robots or cyborgs didn't need sleep, so why did Lumia ask that? Azure and Blitz both looked at each other and shrugged, before looking back to Lumia and nodding. Her half smile went into a full on, followed by sharply hugging them both. Her hugs were a bit tight, but Blitz could feel the appreciation in the air, so he rolled with it.

"Don't robots and cyborgs not need sleep?" Blitz asked, breaking the question wall that Azure wouldn't push on with. She nodded, but then pointed to her face.

"Yeah, I don't need sleep, but I still have a brain inside. A pony brain. So sleep just helps my brain to relax and release tension within and helps keep my mind stable and my systems active and working properly. What the professor had me in, was a medically induced coma, so coming out of that, I might need a little bit of rest every now and again, just to refresh my systems." Lumia explained to them both, making them understand quite quickly.

Blitz turned to Azure and looked for a response. He unfortunately didn't have an opinion on the matter. He looked like he was okay either way. Blitz turned back to Lumia and nodded, before asking her a simple question that was kind of ticking Blitz off a little.

"Lumia? Why not stay with the professor?" Blitz asked, making Lumia sigh sadly. She walked over and laid down beside them both, on the floor next to the chair, before resting her head on the floor.

"I have many different reasons why I can't and shouldn't. One, I would just be another machine getting in the way. Two, I wouldn't be able to get to sleep, cause my sound receptors are way too sensitive with all of that machinery going on as well as the professor constantly doing different things with the cameras and other equipment that he now has access to. Three, I would just be a distraction that would constantly ask him questions and disturb his work flow. I do love the professor, so I am giving him the benefit of not worrying about me right now. Maybe when he has some free time, I'll go and see him. Until then, I'm here I guess, if that's okay with you two." Lumia explained with detail. Blitz got off the chair and sat in front of her and smiled.

"I doubt that you would be getting in the way. You are his greatest creation and he probably cares for you as much as he did his family. Hell, he'd even probably call you family from how much I have gathered from it all. Just keep yourself relaxed and get some sleep, alright? I'm probably going to go out for an evening walk." Blitz explained, giving her a comforting smile. Lumia smiled back, noticing that they were allowing her to be comfortable in their home. She smiled at that and rested her head on the floor once again, before closing her mechanical eyes. Both Blitz and Azure watched her close her eyes, before smiling happily and looking at each other.

Blitz got up and walked over to Azure and stayed silent, for the sake of Lumia getting some much needed rest. Blitz felt a peak of potential about him, unlocking himself to others around him. He pointed at the door and then back at himself. Azure was slightly confused about what Blitz was saying about, but just felt like he should have known by that point. Blitz shook his head before getting closer to Azure’s ear.

“I am going to head out for a little walk. Do you want to stay here with Lumia, or do you want to have a little walk with me?” Blitz asked, giving the choice to Azure. Azure didn't have to sleep on that decision and instantly got up and walked to the door, before turning around for Blitz and smiling. Blitz smiled back at him and walked towards the door and took their adventure outside.

Outside was a different adventure for sure. The sky was in the state of turning to dark and light at the same time, but Blitz knew that it was slowly becoming night. The sky right then and there, was unlike Blitz had ever seen it. It was slightly confusing and baffling, but it was so beautiful. Blitz could have spent hours just sitting outside and admiring the sky and the view, but wasn’t that why they were outside in the first place?

Blitz grabbed Azure with his magic and flew them both up onto the top of their little building. Azure was not too happy with Blitz picking him up without a warning, but that was quickly forgotten as Blitz hugged him on the roof of their building. The both lied down and looked up at the clouds blocking most of the night sky. They could make out some sparkles behind the faint clouds, but the others completely blocked out the beautiful night sky. Blitz was annoyed with all of the pegusi who were selfish enough to block out the beautiful sky and all it had to offer. Azure was not one of them. He wasn’t a bad pegasus. Blitz looked over to him and noticed that he was doing some heavy thinking of his own. Bitz reached out to him with a hoof, causing Azure to snap and lash out at Blitz, pivoting Blitz’s hoof away and cursing at him in a different accent.

Blitz recoiled and stayed quiet, before Azure came back to reality and realised what he had done. Blitz knew what tongue he was speaking in, but didn't know if he was half of that race or not. It was pretty strong, but he pushed it aside as Azure began to feel sorry for what he had done. Blitz knew that Azure didn't mean it, but he had to be skeptical the next time Azure started to daydream. Azure reached out to Blitz, apologizing multiple times, before he kept quiet, getting the attention of a curious chitin wearer. Blitz wrapped his wing over Azure and nuzzled his neck, almost being tempted to nibble on his ear, but refused to do so. That was a more playful mood that Blitz could have been in. Azure accepted the nuzzle from Blitz and nuzzled him back, making sure that Blitz knew that he was sorry for what he had done.

Blitz quickly brushed off all negative emotions from Azure's end and looked back up at the sky. Blitz pointed at all of the clouds surrounding the perfect view that they could have had, if the clouds hadn't been there due to the pegusi. Blitz looked over to Azure and saw that he had an angry and a sad looking face. Did Azure feel like this was somehow his fault? Blitz locked eyes with him for a brief second, before watching as he turned away and sighed.

"It ain't even your fault, Azure. Why feel bad for it? Why feel bad for something that you are not even responsible for?" Blitz asked, which made Azure a little angrier than he already was. He took one look at Blitz and sat up, before pivoting his body towards him.

"Because both of my kinds fucked everything up. The Zebra's provoked a war and the pegusi just became idiots and blocked out the sun from the earth ponies and unicorns. So there! Are you happy now, you annoying bug…" Azure stated, before quickly covering his mouth with his hooves. Blitz raised an eyebrow and sat up and just blankly looked at him, not being too impressed with him.

"Wanna continue?" Blitz asked, challenging Azure with a fire within his eyes and Death and a nightmare within his mind. Azure backed down and laid back on his back, allowing himself to cool off after all of his anger was wasted on Blitz at that one particular moment.

"Sorry, I'm just angry with myself and my kind. You ain't annoying, you are charming actually, but I was just ticked off and I lashed out. I'm really sorry. When I get angry, I kind of… you know what? Nevermind. I'll just tone it down with all of this anger." Azure explained, admitting defeat to his anger, which made Blitz chuckle a little, before he placed his hoof on Azure's cheek. That made him smile at least.

They both just tried to relax, comforting each other with one another's embraces. The view only got better as the sky began to dim and the light faded away. Blitz loved the sky above, seeing all of the colours behind the thick grey clouds, but that didn't matter. Blitz could see so much detail beyond the greyness of what was the covered sky. He looked to Azure for a brief moment, before closing his eyes and falling asleep. Azure wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon, but noticed that Blitz was already asleep, so he had a little time to just completely calm his nerves. Before he did anything, he would have to get Blitz into the house and warm.

Azure grabbed Blitz with his muzzle and flew down onto the floor. Blitz was slightly smaller than Azure and way, way lighter, which made it easier for Azure to carry him. Azure noticed that Blitz had some marks on his body, which Azure didn't really care about at first, but as he moved, he saw that the hood was covering more than he had originally thought. Azure got Blitz inside before placing Blitz on the chair, keeping him comfortable within the house, before he slowly began to remove Blitz's cloak and stared in shock at all of the marks that Blitz had on his body. Red lines enveloped Blitz's body, from head to hooves. Azure didn't know how to respond to that, but he was really, really scared at that point.

Azure closed his eyes and sighed, before letting something run through his mind, before he went calm again, but still worrying about Blitz's form.

"Shhh, Azure! Blitz wouldn't want you to threat. He's just tired, that's it. But what if… No! Shut the front door, Azure! He's gonna be fine." Azure spoke to himself, trying not to wake anypony. He was pretty sure that his mind was slowly trying to wear him down, but he wasn't going to let it. He grabbed Blitz's cloak and placed it around him, followed by a blanket that was there as well. Azure wanted to make sure that Blitz didn't freeze to death at night, but the night was beginning and the temperature was dropping. Azure decided that he needed to go for a walk, with only the air between his feathers.

Azure was outside the settlement, after talking to Sadjoy about letting him out. Being her friend, she agreed to let him out, but he had to promise that he would stay out of trouble. He accepted the offer, not really seeing a reason to get into trouble in the first place. He was just casually walking down the path, not knowing where it would take him if he followed it to the end. He was just going to walk for a little bit.

Before he was able to get a second thought about doing something bad, he sat down and looked at himself. He lifted up his foreleg and looked under his leg. There were two or more marks on the back of his foreleg, where the leg met his body. Apart from those zebra marks, there was no other trace that Azure was half zebra, half pegasus. Although he didn't like to fight, he would if it was for the survival of anypony else.

He hated himself for snapping at Blitz, but what could he have expected? He came from two of the most hated types of ponies in the Wasteland, technically making him the most hated, yet ponies still treated him like a friend. He sat there motionless for a couple of seconds, before hearing rustling in the bushes ahead of him. He looked directly at them and stood up slowly. Without a second chance, he made sure that his weapon was loaded, which made him frown that it was loaded, courtesy of Blitz.

Dark red eyes pierced through the bushes, making Azure feel a little uneasy and unsafe. He glared back at the beast, not knowing what it was at all, before a wooden leg creeped out from the bush. It was definitely a timberwolf, but weren't they only ever found in the woods, or something along those lines? Azure didn't make any sudden movements, being sure to keep his eyes on the timberwolf as it came out of the bushes, revealing it to look like a friend. Azure didn't realise it at first, but he was looking straight into Anti's eyes.

Anti stepped out of the bushes and walked around Azure, not really knowing what to make of him, while he was in the state he was. Anti had some knowledge of ponies, but nopony knew how. She walked closer and laid down on the floor, making Azure realise that it was indeed Anti. He sighed and eased up a lot, before going down to stroke her on the head. She enjoyed the good head scratch, making sure to make Azure how much she was loving it by twitching her leg. That made Azure laugh a little, before he went quiet again. Anti noticed this and crept her way under him, making it so that if he looked down, he would have seen her. She was doing her best to keep him happy, while he was alone.

A loud bang caught both of their attention, before Anti's horn lit up from within her mouth, spitting out the exact same spell that Roselight had done for Azure, while they were exploring the sewer system beneath Sharpened Death. The more Azure thought about that name of their new home settlement, the more he began to believe that the place had a curse or something on it, due to how much death was happening near that area. Azure watched as the ball of light and energy strolled causally past a couple of trees, before lighting up a single female raider. The raider looked at the ball of magic and froze in place. It almost looked like she was terrified.

Azure and Anti both got closer, watching as the raider looked around. There was a ghoul behind them, which made Azure laugh quietly. The raider looked like she was out of ammo and had a single ghoul chasing her, which made her look like a complete sissy, as well as making her look a little dumb in the first place. She emptied her saddlebag out, before dropping to the floor to try and find something. She was a little too late, as the ghoul grabbed her, before chomping on one of her forelegs. Azure couldn't just stand there and watch her get hurt, even though she was a raider.

"All lives have meaning, regardless of who they are!" Azure stated, giving Anti the same idea. Azure and Anti both rushed over, Anti jumping into the pony ghoul and wrestling with it, and Azure going to the mare, who was screaming out in pain. Azure dragged her away from the ghoul, before tending to her wounds. She lashed out and tried to buck him off her, but it didn't work, only making her scream out in pain, due to her foreleg rapidly bleeding. She still kept struggling, making Azure get more and more ticked off with her actions.

“If you want me to help stop the bleeding, let me work without issue!” Azure explained, shouting at the crazed mare. She instantly went wide eyed and paused her resisting, allowing Azure to go to work on her, grabbing some of his supplies, before laying them all out. The raider eyed them all and freaked out a little, before Azure gave her a stone cold stare, making her not move an inch, only eyeing Doctor Alchem, or in this case, Doctor Azure.

Azure cleaned up the wound, before dropping a couple of drops of a healing potion, before closing up the wound. Because of the healing potion, the wound healed instantly enough that it wouldn't require the whole bottle to heal the raider completely. Azure had a special medicine with him. That healing potion was brewed by a zebra and had a very slow regeneration effect, making it regenerate all of the liquid back, if there was more than twenty-five percent of the bottle left. With that in mind, if Azure used the potion properly, it would last forever, with as many uses as he could have ever wanted.

The raider felt her wounds become almost non-existent, but could still feel a numbness around the area of the wound. Azure got off her and allowed her to stand up, before turning to Anti, who had ripped off the head of the ghoul and held it by its spine. Azure was pretty sure that Blitz's timberwolf was just as lethal as he was, making Azure laugh under his breath in the process. Azure threw the head over at the body, getting a growl from Anti in response.

"Why did you help me?" The raider asked, being so confused on the situation that was at stake. Azure looked to Anti, before Anti vanished into thin air, making Azure's eyes roll. Looking back to the raider, she looked at Azure with a confused plea, making Azure sigh in the process.

"I'm a doctor, it's what I do." Azure stated with so much disbelief, that he didn't even believe it himself. Azure wanted to help, not hurt. It played tricks with his mind, which threw him off balance completely. He eased up on the ramblings and stood up, before backing up and keeping his eye on her, making sure that she didn't try to attack him. The raider didn't do anything, only looking at Azure and questioning why he decided to help her.

Azure decided that that had been enough exploring for his liking, so he decided to begin to walk back, before the raider went to attack Azure. He just looked at her, admiring her bright red eyes, which reminded him of Blitz, as opposed to the raider. Her glossy blonde mane stood out, making her look quite beautiful for a raider of her type. Azure just watched her movement, not batting an eyelid at her attempt to attack him. He was pretty bored of the entire kill or be killed aspect in the Wasteland. It was almost making him a little mad about the entire Wasteland, if he wasn't already.

Azure turned and walked away from the crazed and confusing mare, making her shout out into the abyss of the Equestrian Wasteland.

“Why did you help me? Why couldn’t you have let me die?” The crazed mare asked, her voice shifting from confusion, to anger. She brought out a knife from her pocket and walked up to Azure, with it clenched in her mouth. Before she could say or do anything, there was a sniper shot that passed Azure’s right shoulder, straight into the raiders head. Azure had his suspicions about who had shot the raider that he had just helped, thinking that it was Blitz. He turned slowly and saw Lumia with Blitz’s rifle in her magic.

Seeing Lumia wielding a weapon was a little strange, but Azure had to remember that he hadn’t seen Lumia with a weapon before, let alone fight. It really shouldn’t have been so much of a shock to him, but it was. Blitz walked out from behind Lumia, seeing that she had hit the raider square in the head. He walked over to Azure and hugged him softly, not trying to hurt him at all.

“We came to look for you. Anti found you and gave me the information to find your exact location. We are glad that the raider didn't hurt you.” Blitz admitted, letting go of Azure and looking down to the corpse of the raider.

“I healed that raider from a life threatening injury and this is the thanks I get? Them going to hurt me and then having them killed in front of me, like my work was all for nothing!” Azure stated, getting a little bit angry in the process of explaining to them both. Lumia passed Blitz back his rifle and he happily accepted it, placing it on his back again. Blitz looked at Azure flatly and nodded at him.

“I admit, it might have been wrong to kill the raider, but not only were they going to kill you, but you gave them a second chance at having their life in check and what do they do? They try to kill the very pony who gave them that second chance.”Blitz admitted, making sense to Azure. Blitz watched as Azure thought about it for a couple of minutes, Anti becoming visible and laying down on the floor. Azure nodded, but Blitz and Lumia could both see that he was in a little distress. Blitz was going to care for Azure when they got back to Sharpened Death, making sure that his mind was in the right place, rather than delving into the ditches for the past and what he believed in. Blitz admired Azure’s admissions and personal life goals, but not all ponies and creatures in the world were good. Azure just had to accept that that was the consequences of life. That and decision making, which was there to advance the world in a different way, regardless of what path was taken.

They began to walk back to the settlement, Blitz staying to loot the raider and the ghoul, making sure to take anything of value back to Gretzky. Azure began to talk with Lumia, during their walk back. They left Blitz in the paws of Anti, which made Azure know that he had left Blitz more than well protected. Lumia kept looking at Azure, most likely keeping her eye on him.

“No two ponies are the same, meaning that there will always be ponies who are bad. You gave that stupid mare a second chance and she refused to change. Because of this, she got shot. Never feel that you are in the wrong, cause you wont be.” Lumia explained carefully, making Azure smile in the process. He thought about it for a second, before going and putting that memory to the back of his mind, not allowing it to bother him anymore.

Blitz had finally caught up to them both, flying up to them and landing quickly, trying to make as little noise as possible. For Blitz, this was a little more difficult than he stated, sliding a little bit in the process. Blitz looked at Azure's wing and sighed, remembering that it was his fault for it becoming damaged. Without a second thought or glance, Blitz overtook them and walked backwards, listening in on the conversation for a little bit.

"Lumia is right!" Blitz added in, not completely hearing what Lumia had said. She appreciated it, smiling in Blitz's direction, making him smile back, despite being desperately tired. All Blitz wanted in life right there and then, was a soft bed to sleep on, maybe with a pony in it that he could cuddle up to. He was a softy for comfort, and loved it too much in his own opinion.

As they all began to walk back, Blitz strayed a little away from the group, Anti staying with Azure and Lumia, just in case anything bad happened. Blitz crept around in the woods, keeping an eye on the group from the safety of the darkness. Blitz preferred keeping himself hidden and quiet. It sent good, pleasant shivers down Blitz's spine, but filled his mind with 'what if' questions, which kind of counteracted the pleasant feelings that he would have got.

Azure was tired and a little aggravated about himself and all of the negative emotions that he had been feeling lately. He looked behind him to see that Lumia was looking directly into his eyes, making her seem like she knew that he was acting like that and was going to turn his head around. That freaked Azure out a tiny bit, before they were halted in their tracks by two raiders.

One of the raiders was badly wounded and the other was trying to help him. They both spotted Azure and Lumia and screamed, thinking that they were both going to kill them, which was not the case at all. Azure backed off a little, before seeing that one of them was hurt, like the mare that Azure had just tried to save, only to get killed by Lumia, with Blitz's rifle. It was a combined task, but they got it done at least.

"Please don't hurt us!" The raider shouted as he went back to helping his ally. Azure walked a little closer, before feeling a magical glow around the area. He looked around and saw Blitz's horn lit up, along with his red eye, due to Anti being with them both. If Death was there with him, his other eye would have gone red too. Azure knew that Blitz was keeping Azure safe from attacks, due to the faint shield around Azure's body, making him seem a little glossy. Blitz knew that it was the right call, before Azure did anything about the raiders.

"I am a doctor, so if you allow me to help you, I can." Azure stated softly, getting the other raider to step to the side, revealing the raider who was injured to not be. Instead, the raider had concealed a gun and was pointing it at Azure's head. Without a second to spare, the raider shot the pistol he had at Azure. The bullet whizzed through the air, towards Azure's eye. Azure closed his eyes and heard a metallic noise from in front of him. He opened them again to see that the bullet had hit the shield, leaving a ripple like effect.

The raider fired off a couple more bullets, each one creating new ripples in the shield. As soon as the raider with the gun ran out of ammo, he grabbed a weapon and started hacking at the shield, making Blitz's energy begin to feel a strain. Blitz shook his head before running in from the woods. He did a full one hundred and eighty degree turn, straight into a bucking position. Blitz kicked the raider into a close tree, making him crack his back on a branch. This didn't paralyze him, it only slowed him down.

Blitz looked back at the other raider, who immediately sat down, making sure not to cause trouble. Blitz turned back to the raider that he had just bucked into the woods and walked towards him, making sure to bare his fangs. The raider was scrambling to get up, repeatedly failing multiple times, due to him being in some mud. He almost looked helpless, making him easier to kill. Was that his thought, or the nightmare's, because he couldn't tell the difference.

Blitz just stood there and watched the raider, Azure and Lumia keeping an eye on the other one. Azure looked over to Blitz and sighed, hoping that he wouldn't try to do anything stupid. Blitz allowed the raider to get up, without having the fear of dying. Although he allowed the raider to get up, the raider didn't get up. Instead, he accepted defeat and placed his head in the mud. Blitz poked him with a hoof, before waiting for the raider to turn to him. The raider did indeed turn to look at Blitz, before getting a hoof offered to him. The raider was confused, knowing full well that Blitz would try to kill him the moment he got a chance to.

Azure watched on in happiness, as Blitz offered his hoof to a random raider, almost like he cared about them. Was this Blitz not wanting to kill anypony? Azure didn't know anymore, because he was stuck in the mindset that Blitz was letting him live, but what he didn't know, was that Blitz was holding a pistol with his magic, behind his back.

Azure watched as the raider accepted Blitz hoof, allowing him to get up and out of the mud. They both stayed there and looked at each other, before the raider nodded.

"I… I am sorry for that. I've been a raider for years and it's all gone to my head." The raider spoke, walking over to the speechless friend that he had.

"I will admit that I am sorry for bucking you, but you can't just go shooting ponies that I care about." Blitz explained to him, making the raider nod in response to that explanation. Azure was pretty sure that Blitz was going to let them live, but saw the gun behind his back and paused, taking in the possibility that Blitz might kill them. Blitz sensed this and made his weapon disappear from sight, making sure the Azure knew that it was only for self defense purposes.

The raiders stopped moving and looked back at Blitz and Azure. One of them smiled, while the other cried, getting the warmth from the one who was smiling. One of them was a unicorn and the other was an earth pony. They both looked into Blitz's eyes, making Blitz feel a little softer and lighter on the heart.

"We can't go back to the settlement that we had come from, so is there anywhere that we could go, to gain a new start?" One of them asked, getting Azure and Blitz to look at each other for a couple of seconds, before turning back to the two raid… ponies and nodding.

"Come with us!" Azure announced, getting them both to nod at Azure.

Chapter 13: Dream Training

Bringing the two raider ponies back to the settlement was a tough one. Blitz was sure to keep an eye on them for a tiny bit, but the other settlers were not in for a happy time. Although they enjoyed the company, it was almost like their trust had been thrown out of a twenty story window, crashing to the ground in an extra ordinary fashion.

Blitz was able to get the names of the ponies that he had recruited, making Blitz's trust in them go a little upwards, as opposed to downwards. Azure looked at Blitz, while sitting down checking his saddlebag. Blitz didn't look too happy, but Azure was sure that Blitz was just in his usual spacing out phase. Azure noticed that Blitz seemed to be more relaxed and chilled than he originally was, making him zone out a lot more and become a little more distracted during certain times. Azure was not sure to either be worried, or just flat out concerned about Blitz's mindset.

The first stallion was called Grayscale. He was the earth pony that was in front of the unicorn that was on the ground and was also the one that moved out of the way for the other stallion to fire. Grayscale had a couple of scars on his body, resembling the form of Zebra stripes. There were only a couple, which made both Blitz and Azure think that he wasn't a zebra, but like somepony else, ponies didn't have to have many stripes to be considered a zebra. Azure knew this, being part zebra himself. The black earth pony had a quite nice mane and tail, being grey like his name stated, but having a couple of designs in them both, making him look slightly cooler.

The other stallion was called Noname, which was pretty fitting, because of how he wouldn't give his name the first time. Noname as a unicorn with a little bit of a temper, but that didn't stop Blitz from trying to get them into a place where they could work happily for a couple of meals a day. All they wanted at the end of the day, was a place to stay safe. Right then and there, there was no better solution than coming back to the settlement that had defended against a wave of raiders and scavengers. Noname was a grey unicorn with the same colour mane and tail, making him look like a pretty basic unicorn stallion.

Azure looked to Blitz, seeing that he was a little tense about all of the things that had happened, but not really making it show massively. Azure was pretty sure that he was just tired more than anything, but when he asked Blitz if he was tired, he wouldn't reply, only giving him a half crooked smile. The thought made Azure chuckle inside, while his outside showed symphony for Blitz, due to all that he had gone through.

Azure walked up to Noname and Grayscale and pointed them in the direction of Sadjoy, who would happily help them finst somewhere safe to spend the night, as long as they gave up their raiding habits. Azure had hope for them, but at the end of the day, they were still raiders, but they were different raiders, ones that wanted to change. Azure was happy enough to let them have a second chance, but others might not be as trusting with a new group that had only just got into the settlement.

As they walked up to Sajoy, Blitz smiled as she looked down at them all, hopping off her ledge on the wall and landing gracefully onto the floor below. She smiled at them all, before bowing.

“What can i help you with?” Sadjoy asked, being slightly confused by the new guests wanting her help already. One of the raiders was going to open their mouth, but instantly closed it again. Azure nudged him on the shoulder, before seeing that he was refusing to talk to Sadjoy about what the pair needed for the night. Azure just rolled his eyes, before smiling at Sadjoy with a happiness that he could find within himself, when helping others.

“Can you set these two up with a place to stay? I remember Roselight saying something about you being able to do something like that.” Azure admitted, getting a smile from the beautiful bat pony in response to that statement, followed by a quick frown, then her looking back at her post.

“Sure, but could either you or Eater guard while I am doing this. I would hate for there to be nopony on the wall and for a random raider to get in.” Sadjoy explained, pointing her wing at her post.

“Sure, i got it!” Blitz stated, using his wings to fly up to the wall. Azure looked back at his wings soon after, remembering what happened to him and Blitz, when they had their little falling out. Azure did use the potion that he had used on the raider that Lumia, on himself. He used it shortly after Blitz went to sleep that one night. He was happy that he had the potion in the first place, but it did take a day or so to go back to how it was, so there were still limitations on when he could use the special potion.

Azure watched Blitz fly up to Sadjoy’s viewing spot and sit down at the edge of the little tower. Azure didn't know if Blitz would have been safe up there, but then remembered Anti was his companion. Yeah, he would have been fine! Azure turned around and caught up to the others, who were a little further down the path. They were engaging with different conversations, as they travelled down the path to one of the empty spare buildings. They all stopped at the door, before opening the door with one of the keys under the welcome mat. Noname chuckled and looked at them all.

“Please don't tell me that everypony leaves their keys under welcome mats! That's just asking for ponies to come into here and rob the lot.” Noname explained, not knowing the half of it, before Sadjoy put him in his place.

“Do you really think we are that stupid? No, we dont leave all of the keys under the welcome mats. We only leave the keys under the welcome mats when the buildings are not in use. When they are, I would believe that ponies are smart enough to leave their keys with them, rather than letting them have a chance to be stolen. So yeah, you smart arse.” Sadjoy said, making Noname go completely silent. That comment alone, made her get a little heated and angry. Azure decided just to stay quiet, just to avoid any unnecessary conflict.

They all stepped into the front of the building as soon as Sadjoy opened it, admiring the living quarters that they now had. It was a nice area, but it was just… empty. They weren’t exactly happy with that, but they were happy to have a safe place to sleep at least. Azure walked around and inspected the so-called empty room and found it to be somewhat nice. The walls were painted a single colour of dark maroon, which gave to the effect of being simple and likeable. Azure thought that the building as a living space was perfect, apart from the fact that it didn't have anything inside of it. Azure felt a little bad about that, but he had to remember that it was not his fault at all. It was nopony’s fault at all. Azure turned around to see that there were a couple of notes on the wall that he was now facing, making him curious about learning what they were. Before he could get closer, he was stopped by the sound of something happening outside. Azure turned to the door and ran up to it and said that there were two ponies arguing about something. Scarlet and Lavender were bickering to each other, ticking the other off more and more. Azure sighed, being glad that he didn't have to help with anything at that precise moment

“Can you two quit yapping?” Sadjoy lashed out, striking her hoof on the ground and looking both the bat pony mares in the eyes. She wasn't one for all of the hassle and Azure agreed with that. He was not one for hassle either, but if he needed to explain himself to others, he would hassle his way to the top, just to get his point across and out into thin air. The two bat pony mares chuckled, not achieving a smile from any of the ponies who were inside the house.

Sadjoy turned around and nudged Azure out of the way a little, allowing her to close the door completely and making it so that the two mares on the opposite side could not be heard. Sadjoy breathed a little sigh of relief after all of that. Azure was pretty sure that she was either tired or at the very least, stressed. Azure didn't wish that upon anypony, let alone a pony that he cared about. Azure walked back out the door, before closing it and sitting down on the outside step, waiting for Sadjoy to exit the building. She took her sweet time, but eventually she came out of the building, then drew a sharp intake of air, before exhaling slowly.

Sadjoy noticed that Azure was sitting down on the floor and wondered what his intentions were for wanting to sit on the cold and wet floor. Azure slowly got up and checked that none of the bat mares were watching or either around, before hugging Sadjoy, making her smile and chuckle.

“Thank you Alchem, I needed that for sure. I am a little stressed as you can clearly see.” she spoke, confirming Azure's answers. Sadjoy smiled a little before taking his hooves off her, making her chuckle a little again. Azure felt like she was part of their little group that they were forming. So far, the group consisted of himself and Blitz. Who was to say that Sadjoy couldn’t hop on that bandwagon as well? Azure looked towards the door of Noname’s and Grayscale’s new home and just smiled, feeling good about what Blitz had done for them. He was surprised with Blitz’s decision, thinking that he would have at least hurt them or something, but happily he didn’t. Azure was chuffed, which made him irradiate his mood onto others, almost like an aura of some sort.

Both Sadjoy and Azure walked back to see Blitz aiming down the scope of his latest weapon, an anti-material rifle. It looked scary from down below, which made Azure question what it would look like from afar. It made him curious about the rifle, but it didn't stop him from climbing onto the wall, using his wings to lift him. Despite using the healing potion, he could still feel something wrong with his wing. It ached more, making him a little confused on why the potion didn’t work properly. That was going to have to be something that he needed to work out, before he attempted to use it again. It felt like it was just going to ache after the initial healing, but that wasn't meant to happen at all. The purpose of the healing potion was that it would heal wounds. He stopped to think about it for a second before realising something that made him sound like an idiot. Of course it wouldn't heal completely, because he wasn't using the entire thing. He chuckled to himself, before making his way over to Blitz.

Blitz looked over to Azure and smiled, taking his rifle down from his eye and placing it on the ground beside him. He didn't want to risk it with going off, so he looked for a safety, which he couldn’t find on the weapon, due to it being originally attached to a suit of power armour. He scowled at his weapon, before looking back up at Azure and smiling once again. Sadjoy flew over to Blitz’s anti-material rifle and looked it over, making her smile in the process of looking it over and having a better close up view. She was a sucker for guns, but they had to be good enough to pierce through stuff. Blitz’s rifle definitely could.

“Everything all good then?” Blitz asked, being curious about the lives that he didn’t take. Azure nodded, pointing over at the house that they had been situated into. Blitz nodded, before turning around and grabbing his weapon from Sadjoy with his magic. As soon as he did that, he got a chuckle from Lumia, suggesting that he had either done something wrong, or stupid. Blitz chose both. Lumia walked over to the wall, before using her metal wings to fly to the top of the wall and land perfectly softly. Her form had always been so fascinating to Blitz, making him strive to learn more about robots and technology. Azure felt a little jealous of Lumia, due to her wings. They were completely beautiful, each metallic feather lined up perfectly with the other, making them seem more clipped and looked after. Azure was pretty sure that it was just a couple of sheets of metal or something like that, but he didn't completely know what the process was or what the material was.

“Yeah, they are held up in a little building down the way from ours. They seem to be happy with the place, but you never know with some ponies.” Azure stated loudly, speaking it directly to Blitz. Blitz looked over to the houses that Azure originally pointed at with his hoof and then looked back to Azure. Blitz knew that there were definitely a couple of buildings to accommodate ponies and creatures left, so it was their job to fill them, somewhat, with ponies. Blitz placed his anti-material rifle away and looked back at Sadjoy.

“If I find any other rifles like that one, i'll collect it and give it to you. Does that sound good?” Blitz asked, getting a couple of swift nods from the devious bat pony. The look of excitement on her face melted not only Azure’s heart, but Blitz’s and Lumia’s. Azure thought about it more and then looked at Lumia. She was definitely part of the group too, but that needed more time to evaluate on, just like Sadjoy’s case.

Azure felt a claw on his shoulder, making him turn around to see Gretzky standing there, holding a saddlebag in his claws. Azure was slightly confused about all of the actions that Gretzky was taking and didn’t have anything click until he saw that Blitz was walking towards him, pulling out his scopeless sniper rifle. Even then, he didn't have anything click in his mind about what they might have been preparing for, or he did, but it wasn't correct.

“Who wants to come with me and scout out the SS Celestia?” Gretzky asked, having Blitz by his side before he had even said anything. Sadjoy cheered aloud, making herself feel a little embarrassed by her own action. Lumia calmly thought about it and tilted her head to both sides of her body, thinking about it slowly and calmly, like she had done since she had met Blitz and Azure.

“I'll have to check with Delta about that one, but I would enjoy the adventure aspect of it.” Lumia stated, being as relaxed as ever with it, but still showing her excitement over it using her muzzle to smile. Gretzky nodded and looked at Azure, before offering his claw out to him.

“Are you wanting to take part in this little voyage west, Azure?” Gretzky asked, getting a little dainted look from Azure. Blitz walked past Gretzky and looked at Azure in the eyes.

“I’m with you either way. If you stay, I'll stay.” Blitz admitted aloud, making sure that all of them around both Azure and Blitz could hear. They all looked at each other, before looking back to Blitz and seeing that he was dead serious about it. They looked back to Azure, making him think that all of the pressure was being impacted onto him. It wasn’t in reality, but in his head, it was all that was going through his mind, making his heart beat quicker with every second that passed. He hated being the decision maker, but he didn't want to let anypony down.

“Yeah, i… I will go.” Azure admitted to them all. Blitz didn’t look too pleased with his decision, but he eventually lost the face he was originally pulling and replaced it with one of confidence, shedding off a little bit of doubt as well, but nopony else could see said doubt, so he was happy for the most part.

“Alright then, i'll let you all get some sleep and then we will head out in the morning.” Gretzky said, getting ready to go for his adventure. He flew off towards his shop and vanished from sight. Lumia began to walk off to see Delta, knowing that he wasn't asleep because of him being in a machine and not needing rest. Sadjoy pulled a Gretzky and vanished towards her home, gliding down from the wall, but quickly remembering that she was a guard, so she had to stay at the wall. She flew back up and stood at her post, blushing a little from her forgetting that she was indeed a guard.

Blitz and Azure slowly walked back to their building, wanting to get at least another couple of hours of sleep for the journey in the morning. Azure was a little bit mindful, but Blitz was a little bit excited. They both had different opinions on the matter, but that didn’t mean anything to anypony. If they wanted to, they could have stayed up, but then that would have only caused downsides to their lives in the morning.

Both Azure and Blitz rushed through the door of their home and closed the door behind them, making sure that it was indeed shut, before coming towards each other and chuckling. Azure laid in the chair, on his back and with his wings outstretched. Blitz took his mark and then climbed into the chair with him, feeling comfortable as ever. Azure wrapped his wing around Blitz and cuddled him, making sure that Blitz wouldn't be cold through the night. Azure watched as Blitz took off his cloak and grabbed a long piece of cloth that they used for warmth. They used the cloth like a thin blanket, but it worked surprisingly well being one, which shocked Azure, but made them both comfortable. Blitz closed his eyes and sighed heavily, making sure that Azure heard the sighs that he was making, which Azure did, making him yawn, due to how tired Azure was all of a sudden. Blitz nuzzled into Azures chest, making Azure happily giggle, but making it quiet enough that Blitz didn't need to open his eyes

Azure thought about the little adventure that they were going to have in the morning and just pondered on it for a little while. It was a pretty big convoy going to the SS Celestia, in the morning and Azure hoped that all of them would be safe going there and back. If they got into a battle of some sort, they would definitely need Azure to heal all of their wounds, so he would need to be going on the trip regardless. He was a medical pony, so it was kind of required for him to go. Blitz may have counteracted his opinion if he was to say it out loud, so he kept it to himself. Azure knew it was bad to do something like that, but he didn't want to cause an argument.

Azure closed his eyes again and waited patiently to fall asleep. It didn't take him long to drift off into that state, as he calmly entered the land of slumber. The only problem was that he was transported back to the same nightmare that he had originally had. He was back in the pitch black room, with a gun on display and Blitz in front of him, looking at Azure with a different type of anger than Blitz would normally look at Azure with. Azure knew that it was just a dream, but the feelings in it felt too real for him to be confident in the ability for him to detect if it was a dream or not. If it was, he would have to take pot luck that it would continue to be a dream.

Azure walked over to the fake Blitz, remembering last time that the entire thing was about healing ponies and the syringe gun. Last time they tore chunks of Blitz face and body off. This time was different. He had been given a gun, so he just presumed that his brain was testing him on the fact that he would have to choose if people were worth being put out of their misery. Azure was actually wrong on that regard, but he would still need to use a gun of some sort.

Azure saw that Blitz was getting up and moving, like he was almost completely confused. Blitz looked at Azure completely confused on what was happening. He looked at Azure and then at the weapon that he was given and froze. Azure saw that Blitz had been frozen looking at his pistol, which when Azure looked down, had changed into the pistol that he had in the Wasteland. It was almost like the gun was real. He picked it up, before firing it off a couple of times and waiting for a reaction from Blitz. Blitz just looked so confused.

“Why are you shooting in my dream?” Blitz questioned, not knowing if Azure was real or not.

“Why are you in my dream, Blitz?” Azure asked him, getting a look of subtle anger irradiating from Blitz’s general direction. “How do i even know if you are real?” Azure asked him, getting Blitz to think of some way that he would be able to prove that he was the real Blitz and not just an illusion within Azure’s mind.

“First of all, I don't know how to prove to you that I am real, But you have to trust me right now. To make sure that i am real, the first thing I'll say when I get up is: That dream was a red bubble of blood. Too much for this buggo. Secondly, why did you just fire off your weapon?” Blitz explained, making Azure check his ammo. He had shot around two or three shots and was surprised to find that he hadn't shot any bullets from the magazine that was originally in his weapon. Azure placed the magazine back into the weapon and placed it in his mouth, before shooting off around five or more rounds in quick succession. He dropped the weapon onto the floor and checked the ammo again, to find that the shots were completely refreshed in the magazine. It was a confusing sight, but there was an upside to all of the shots being unlimited, they could test their aim with the weapons.

Azure saw some moving targets off in the distance, looking like a couple of training dummies. They were slowly getting closer to both Azure and Blitz, making Azure look down at the pistol. He loaded it back up, before facing the attackers that were coming their way. He tried to line up the weapon in his mouth to where the dummies were quickly approaching, but it wasn't very accurate. Blitz used his magic to take out the pistol from Azure’s mouth and placed it into his battle saddle.

“Hey, I haven't seen you use that SATS system inside the Pipbuck yet. Why don't you try to use it now, given that you can't really lose with it, since you have an unlimited supply of ammo? I'm pretty sure that these skills would be identical to real life, Azure.” Blitz explained, making Azure still feel like he was fake and in his head, but if he was fake, wouldn’t he have said something already, being directly linked to his mind? Surely he could have, but Azure just believed that it was a little too much to be diving into all of the speculation when there was time being wasted on not practicing.

Azure activated SATS on his Pipbuck and watched as time nearly froze, making Azure look around and at Blitz, to see that he too, had been slowed down to a millionth of the speed of real time. A system flashed in front of Azure, making itself known and showing off all of the enemies in a dark red. There were percentages that displayed over each of the body parts, making it so that the torso had the biggest percentage, due to being bigger than the other parts of the body. Azure placed the first shot onto the body of the dummy and then placed the next shot into the head of another dummy that was rushing them both.

He ended the system and saw that the bullets were shot in slow motion, but himself not being in slow motion at all. He could look around, but could not let the target out of his line of sight. Azure watched as the first bullet passed straight through the dummy, making it explode into a mist of white dust and matter. The second shot was not so lucky, making it wizz straight past the approaching dummy’s head. Azure felt a little bit out of breath for a couple of seconds, letting himself to rest for a couple of seconds.

One of the dummies brought out a rifle and started to take shots at the pair. Azure slid to some cover, while Blitz was looking down his sights of his anti-material rifle. If he was going to do a job, he was determined to do it properly. The dummy landed a good shot, shooting Blitz in the shoulder and making him drop his weapon out of pain. Blitz scrambled to his weapon and quickly looked down the scope of his weapon and fired, green blood dripping down his front and side. Azure was horrified at how Blitz could even use his magic and concentrate. Blitz was lucky or a good shot, because he had hit the dummy in the head, making it explode with an earthshaking pop, followed by some blistering flames bursting outwards. More dummies approached them, making Blitz hobble to some cover, across the way from Azure.

Azure remembered that there was unlimited ammo in this dream or nightmare that they were in, so he knew what had to be done. Azure used his SATS targeting again and locked onto Blitz. He placed two very high chanced shots at both Blitz’s foreleg and torso, before Azure locked in the shot and fired. A syringe flew through the air and landed in the exact areas where Azure had originally placed them, making Blitz gasp out in pain, as the syringes slowly dug into him, but the sighed in bliss as they worked their magic into his wounds, clearing them up to be like nothing had happened before. Blitz used his pistol with his magic, taking out another two dummies with two precise shots to the head, making them pop like balloons. Although Blitz was cutting down on the killing that he was doing, he was finding that shooting the dummies was a little fun, but only because that they were not real, nor were they alive and breathing. They were animated!

Azure took another shot at a dummy, hitting it in the hindleg and making it disappear. Azure was pretty sure that he was becoming more and more accurate with every shot, due to using the gun more and getting more comfortable with the situation. Although it was not his priority to kill ponies and creatures, Azure could still use this time to increase his awareness and control with not only his pistol, but his syringe gun too, because he was bound to use that more during his lifetime. Azure had the title of doctor for a reason. He needed to show why he had gained that title in the Wasteland.

Azure shot one of the dummies with SATS, while using his syringe gun. He wanted to test out two things with it, during the time that they were having together in the land of mystery. He wanted to firstly check how far the weapon would be effective, but also to find what would happen if he tried to use it on one of the dummies. He shot one of the dummies with the syringe gun, that was further away than the others who were trying to swarm both Azure and Blitz. The syringe went directly to it, making Azure surprised that the syringe didn't miss or drop down during travel. Once it hit the dummy, it started to take out the other dummies, using its rifle to make quick work of the ones that were out in the open.

Blitz observed the strange behaviour of the dummy and got a little confused on why it was killing its own. He didn't care too much about it, but it was weird. The dummies had stopped coming, making both Blitz and Azure come out from behind their cover and looked around. They both looked around and saw only the dummy that Azure had stuck a healing syringe in. it was a little weird to them both that the dummies had just completely stopped appearing. Blitz walked a little closer to the dummy, his pistol raised to his face, allowing him to look down the sights of the pistol and target the dummy. Without warning and like a lightning strike, the dummy lashed forwards, before Blitz even had a chance to fire.

The dummy sliced Blitz throat making him drop his pistol and grasp his throat. Azure shot a couple of healing syringes at Blitz, making them quickly heal up his throat, but something was wrong with Blitz. Once the wound closed, there was the same wound again, opening back up. This made Azure panic, realising what the nightmare was trying to do to both of them. The nightmare that they were in wanted to show Azure that he couldn't save everypony he came across. Azure already knew this, but saw that Blitz was in a hell of a lot of pain. Blood spurted out of his mouth and dripped onto the floor, making Azure wince, before he locked onto Blitz with the pistol he had, using SATS. Azure just stood there, his energy slowly depleting away, just like Blitz’s life during the nightmare. Azure couldn’t do it, he couldn't ease Blitz’s suffering, even if he wanted to, to make Blitz become one with peace. He exited SATS and looked to the dummy, before pulling his body in the direction of the dummy.

Blitz watched with open eyes and saw that there was a little ripple behind the dummy making the floor shake in the process of it. Out of nowhere, Anti lashed onto the dummy with her sharp fangs, making short work of the fabric and revealing the nightmare underneath. The real nightmare. She grinned at Blitz, seeing that he was slowly fading out of consciousness within the dream that they were all in.

“Looks like I won, Blitz!” The nightmare spoke, getting no response from Blitz whatsoever. That made the nightmare a little more aggravated with Blitz, but it also slowed her down in her attempts to capture Blitz’s mind. The nightmare may have thought that she had won, but there was still a pony that she was missing. As soon as Blitz thought of him, he appeared. Death made his grand appearance, making Azure freeze in place, as well as the nightmare. Death walked directly up to her, looking so deep into her eyes, that he was looking into her soul. She visibly gulped and made Blitz chuckle a little bit, chucking up blood in the process and making him rest his head on the floor. Death turned his head and removed the cut from Blitz’s throat, before turning back to the nightmare and pinning her up against the wall.

“You can either help me, or I can find a use for you myself. That being completely nothing and for me to turn you into nothing. You got me?” Death explained to her allowing her a choice that she couldn't have refused, or at least shouldn't have been able to refuse. The nightmare didn't say anything, as she felt her head nearly pop, due to the amount of pressure that Death was putting on her skull. Everything was painfully silent, as Death pinned her against the wall. It was almost like she was afraid of him or something. Blitz chuckled, getting his breath back from losing the ability to breathe before, then locked eyes with the nightmare. The only thing that was displayed in those eyes was sadness. Blitz was going to give her one more chance to change, before he gave Death the order to kill her.

“One chance! That’s all you get left before I tell Death to get you out of my system, Nightmare!” Blitz explained, not facing the nightmare properly, but looking off to the side. The nightmare frantically nodded, before being dropped by Death, realising that she had to change in order to survive. Blitz didn't think of it that way, he thought of it as a third chance that she was getting, if not more. If the nightmare didn't change and help Blitz, then she wouldn't have been any use in his system. As long as she helped him, rather than hindered him, he'd be okay, but all she had done since was try to get him killed, or get him stressed.

Azure walked up to both Death and the nightmare, taking a good look at them both. Death was a skeletal figure underneath a cloak, much like Blitz’s, but darker, making Azure gasp out in confusion and curiosity at the same time. Death was slightly confused, but just rolled with it, looking at Azure like Azure did to him, before Death turned into the form of Blitz, making Azure scowl at him.

“Be nice you two! Azure, Death! Death, Azure! Welcome to my mind and consciousness, Azure. I didn't realise that we were here until the nightmare turned up, thanks by the way Death.” Blitz stated, pouring himself an imaginary drink of confidence and laughter. The only reason it was imaginary was because it was in his head, as opposed to actual life, but the feelings were definitely stronger after the drink, making Blitz believe that there was an aspect of it all that linked to life. Azure watched as Blitz threw a glass down, watching it disappear into the abyss below, confusing Azure in the process. Blitz chuckled a little, watching as Azure tried to work out why the glass fell through the floor.

Time was cut short, due to morning approaching slowly. Blitz was going to keep an eye out for anything that seemed nightmare related or something along those lines, while Azure kept an eye on Blitz, without him really wanting to, due to not giving Blitz much privacy. Wasn't that what friends did anyway, looking after each other? That was something that Blitz and Azure were both going to find out one way or another.

Death stopped both Azure and Blitz instantly, waking them both up together by hitting them with some lightning, making them jump in the process because of how loud and bright the flash and crackle of the lightning was, as well as it hitting them both directly. Both Azure and Blitz woke up quickly and sat up, hitting their heads together and wincing, but shortly laughing it off after a couple of seconds. Azure had to admit that the dream that they had just had, whether it was real or not, had been an insight to what either Blitz’s head was actually like, or Azure’s mind’s version of what it would be like, but didn't Azure not know Death, or even the nightmare for that matter, so i couldn't have been his mind’s version of it.

Azure cleared his mind before looking over to Blitz and seeing that he was sat up and closing his eyes. Azure didn't know what Blitz was trying to do, but he wanted to make sure that Blitz was okay, so he slowly shuffled over to where Blitz was sitting, in the chair.

“That dream was a red ball of paint. Too much for this bug.” Blitz said, rubbing his eyes. Azure remembered that was along the lines of what Blitz said in the dream or nightmare. Although it wasn't correct, he knew that Blitz was trying to at least make it seem like he was in the dream, which Azure clocked that he was indeed in the dream.

“It was actually ‘that dream was a red bubble of blood. Too much for this buggo.’ but i'll say that it was close enough to prove that you were indeed in the dream.” Azure stated, making Blitz smile a little bit. He was a little confused about it too, due to the confused look on his face, followed by the cutest yawn that Azure had ever seen in his entire life. Blitz noticed that Azure was watching him and Blushed a little, shying away a little and stretching his body as soon as he got to the floor. Again, Azure watched Blitz with a loving smile, making him feel like he had somepony to share everything with. His feelings, his thoughts, his love with. Blitz was bound to get more use out of the last one, due to him being a changeling and all. That put a smile on Azure’s face, making him get out of the chair and stretch as well. He wasn't used to feeling so happy, spending time with his special friend and possible lover, but love was for a more relaxed time and had no place in the Wasteland. Lovers always died in the end, so Azure didn't want to take the chance of having one of them meet a swift end, so he shut his mouth up and kept stretching.

As soon as Azure stopped stretching, a thought went through his mind, making him sit down to answer it. He didn't sit on the chair again, instead resulting to the floor for some mild comfort. Blitz looked at him, pondering what could have been happening inside Azure’s mind. It looked like he was pondering on something serious, making Blitz feel a little uneasy. ALthough Azure was thinking about love, Blitz didn't know that, just watching him from halfway across the room. Blitz was just going to have to get over the fact that he would not know everything about somepony, but he could know an awful lot about them, if not nearly everything. Nopony truly opened up, especially in the time of the Wasteland.

Azure was only thinking about what a lover truly was to him. Whether it counted as a close friend, or just somepony who Azure loved. He didn't know the true definition of love, but he was guaranteed to find love somewhere along his life. MAybe Blitz was the pony that he loved, he didn't know exactly, but he was sure of something else though. If Blitz wasn't a lover, then he was a Celestia damn good friend, one that cared for him like he was his own brother. Azure looked to Blitz, who was looking at Azure with some intent to do something to him, making Azure blush because of that.

They both got ready for the days ahead, making sure to get everything perfect and that no rock was left unturned. They filled up on everything that they possibly could, ranging from healing to snacks that they would probably want to have once they got there. It was going to be a long journey that they were going on, varying at around a couple of hours, because of how far away from their home settlement they were going. It baffled Blitz, because he hadn't been outside of the general area for a little while, let alone going to another area in the world of Equestria, the Equestrian Wasteland. As soon as Blitz and Azure had checked for every scenario, they walked to the door, before stopping and looking at each other with a questionable look on Azure’s face and a slightly delighted smile present on Blitz’s face.

“Are we really ready for this? It could be dangerous!” Azure stated, worrying quite a bit about where they were off to. Blitz simply nodded, looking to Azure with his grin, followed by a brief chuckle.

“There is nothing to worry about, Azure. We will be fine. After all, you were in the same dream as me last night and now you have seen what type of good distorted mess I am. Helpful in so many ways, but corrupted by Death, a nightmare and a spirit trapped within a wooden cage, in the form of an unkillable timberwolf. We will be fine!” Blitz promised him, making Azure become less tense and making him relax a lot more. Sure, he was still tense, but not as much as he originally was.

Azure opened the door and watched as Blitz strolled straight passed him, making Azure roll his eyes in the process, making him feel like he was looking after a colt. It did manage to make him smile, which was Blitz’s first goal. They put their hooves outside and looked up into the sky, seeing that although it was the morning, it was incredibly dark. Blitz looked around and saw that there were a couple of ponies around, which boosted his confidence a little. Azure closed the door behind them and turned around to witness the dark sky. It looked ominous, but slightly pleasing, to his eyes at least.

Azure walked away from the house and looked around. Black clouds were the only thing that Azure could see in the sky, so he was a little worried about their traveling for the day. Blitz didn't worry too much about all of it, but did worry that it would make it difficult for others to move at the speed that they would have needed to move, to ensure that they got there quick enough to make it worth it. Blitz worried more about the other's safety, rather than his own, due to the face that he could hover. Blitz really should have been worrying about himself, due to the temperature of the area. If it got too cold, Blitz would be impacted in the process, probably while fighting, making him die or something.

They both walked up to Gretzky's shop and waited, Blitz feeling that there was going to be a big amount of rain falling in the process. Gretzky appeared out of nowhere, carrying a massive sack over his wings, as opposed to his traditional saddlebag. Blitz found it a little funny, due to the sack being bigger than he was, but kept it to himself, making Gretzky ponder what he was thinking. He looked to Azure and nodded, before walking out from behind the counter.

"Are you two okay? Are you ready to meet at the main entrance?" Gretzky asked, being a little concerned as to why they were at his shop, rather than at the meeting up point.

"Yeah, just came to check on you. We have a little bit of time before we are shooting off, so yeah. We thought that we'd see what you were up to." Azure admitted, getting a shy smile from Gretzky. He blushed a little before noticing that there were some scars on Blitz's body, making him question them.

"Umm, are you okay, Eater? Those scars look kind of painful." Gretzky pointed out, making Blitz chuckle, followed by him wiping his eye with his hoof.

"I'm fine, just laughing through the fact that I look like a changeling zebra." Blitz admitted, cackling to himself and seeing that Azure was on the edge too. The thought of a changeling zebra made Azure begin to calmly laugh too. Gretzky rolled his eyes, Blitz still seeing a smile on Gretzky's face, which was his main goal still. Blitz was pretty sure that they weren't going to get to where they were going, if he kept up the conversation like this. Blitz rushed away, towards the main gate, followed by Gretzky walking in the same direction. Azure laughed a little at that and began to walk over there as well, making sure that they were a little early to the gathering, like usual.

Both Blitz and Azure didn't know who was coming with them, but knew that there were around eight ponies in total going, meaning that the others would have to look after the settlement while they were gone. Azure, Blitz and Gretzky made up three of them, so there were five others that would be coming along with them, helping to assist them in combat, if they indeed got into any combat at all, within this little adventure that they were partaking on.

Zeke showed up shortly after Blitz and Azure arrived at the gate. This made them a little curious to know why Zeke agreed to all of this. It didn't bother them, they were just very curious as to why. Zeke looked to both of them, before nodding at them with a frown. Why did he look sad? Was it because he was doing his own stuff then and there, around the settlement? They didn't know, all they could do was presume that Zeke was just under the weather or something along those lines.

They waited around for around ten minutes before somepony showed up. Sadjoy arrived, being followed by Brick, making Blitz smile. Brick waved to them, yawning and scratching his back with one of his claws. It looked like it hurt when he scratched his back, but Blitz knew better. It didn't hurt his back at it, it was most likely satisfying to him, being able to get rid of the itch.

Sadjoy waved a wing at Blitz and Azure, before heading over to them both. She perked up and smiled at both of them, before shielding herself from a bit of rain that was beginning to fall. Blitz knew that it was going to be a terrible day, especially in the weather department of things. She continued to smile at them both, regardless of the weather. It was kind of heartwarming to say the least.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world. Another chance to explore an area would be amazing, so I didn't want to miss this chance." Sadjoy explained, getting a chuckle from Azure. Blitz walked off and spoke to Brick, Azure watching and smiling that Blitz was beginning to socialise more. Azure's gaze slowly drifted to Roselight and Saber heading in their direction. Sadjoy turned around and watched them both approach too. Was Roselight really going to go along with the little convoy?

Roselight looked at them all and smiled, then looked down at Saber, watching him with a well trained eye. Gretzky looked at both of them and frowned. Gretzky then walked up to both Roselight and Saber with a confused expression.

"Didn't we agree at eight ponies max? What is this Roselight?" Gretzky called out, questioning her and getting a little angry about it all. Blitz looked to Gretzky before stepping away from the group.

"I mean, if we need somepony to drop off the team so that Saber and Roselight can join, I could…" Blitz stated, before getting immediately cut off by both Azure and Gretzky.

"...No!" They both yelled out, making Blitz pause. Azure walked back up to him and dragged him back in. Gretzky walked up to Roselight and Saber and told them the cold, hard facts.

"We agreed on no more than eight ponies coming along on this adventure. We have eight, including you or Saber. One of you will have to stay behind and look after the settlement with Petalbreeze." Gretzky commanded, getting a sad look from them both. Roselight counted five ponies and a creature, standing behind Gretzky, meaning that there were two more places left, but there weren't.

Lumia teleported into the group and looked at both Sadjoy and Brick. Sadjoy smiled and nodded and Brick stood there confused, scratching his head and wondering what Lumia was. Roselight sighed and scowled. Seeing this, Sadjoy spoke up.

"As much as I want to go on this adventure, there are sacrifices in life that you have to make. I'll stay here so that Saber could go. There isn't a problem, cause he is a guard…" Sadjoy stated, cutting herself off before she was able to blurt out something that would have sent Roselight's emotions through the roof with anger. The look of happiness overwhelmed Roselight, as her and Saber joined the team, while Sadjoy was taken off.

Blitz felt a little bad about it, but didn't let his anger onto anypony else. Blitz just angrily stomped the ground once and then sighed, being pretty annoyed that Saber was here, instead of the loveable bat mare. Blitz just looked at her and smiled as best as he could, her doing the same to all of them, but Blitz could see that pain that she felt beneath that fake smile, so he was ready for an outburst somewhere along the line.

Sadjoy flew to the top of the wall and opened the gate for them all, allowing them all to go out and down the path. Sadjoy just watched in sadness as she was left behind, sacrificing her enjoyment in life, so that some spoiled colt could enjoy an adventure. She watched them until they became a couple of dots in the distance and sighed. She sat down and looked at the floor.

"...but he isn't good at being one." She finished her statement, making her mind go to negative places, before she slapped herself with her own hoof and went to go find some work to do from Petalbreeze.

An hour into their journey, they were still travelling. They had found one of the main roads leading to Hoofington, so they followed it, hoping the roads weren't patrolled by raiders or scavengers or anything else at that point. Blitz, Azure and Brick lead the way, stirring up occasional conversation with Brick about his life. Further back, Roselight was talking with Saber and Zeke was talking to Lumia about something. Gretzky was just staying quiet and listening to all of the sounds around him, ranging from gossipping in the conversations, to each step of the group.

Blitz felt a little bad about him, but he was pretty sure that Gretzky was daydreaming too, so he didn't think too much into it, only enough to make him concerned. Blitz walked ahead, seeing some overturned carts on the road ahead. He had his pistol out and ready for if somepony was going to try to attack them. He didn't aim his pistol, he only had it to the side of his body, using his magic to hold it in place.

Blitz saw some movement ahead and froze. He watched it for a couple of seconds, before moving closer to it. He was far enough ahead to not alert the others with his actions, but was close enough that they could hear him if he needed them. Blitz rushed forwards, Anti spawning in beside him, being his protector. They moved swiftly and silently, making quiet movements to scare off any unsuspecting ponies or creatures around the area. Blitz did originally see something before and now it wasn't there, which made him slightly confused. He moved around the carts on the road and received strange looks from the group, as they caught up to him. They were pretty sure that Blitz was fine, but didn't want to take the chance that he really was alright.

Blitz looked back to the carts and saw the same movement that he had before, but this time it was more visible. He aimed his pistol at the area and pivoted around the cart. He couldn't see anything on that side, meaning that there was only one place for that thing to go. Blitz looked under the cart and saw it. It was just a radroach. Blitz picked it up with his magic and held it next to him, looking at it and laughing. Blitz placed it on his back and watched as it just stayed there, almost like it was liking its position on Blitz's back. The radroach saw the others, but refused to leave Blitz's back, which was pretty strange.

Umm, Eater, why do you have a radroach on your back?" Gretzky asked, making the group turn to look at it. It was just chilling on Blitz's back, which got him remembering what the young version of himself did. Blitz's mother told him to stick onto her back, as she would go about her normal day. It was a trait that Blitz remembered, but why did the radroaches do it too. That made Blitz come up with a speculation, but he didn't trust it.

"Wait, does that mean that… No, surely not. All changelings couldn't have mutated to these little things. Maybe they could." Blitz muttered to himself, letting everypony else hear what he was saying. Brick gave a brief chuckle, before becoming one of the many voices in the crowd of ponies, shuffling towards Hoofington. Blitz was slightly worried about travelling there, but he was sure that each pony in the convoy had their own individual qualities, ranging from Azure being one to heal others, while Blitz himself was technically Death's advocate, but Blitz refused to kill more, unless he had to.

They moved along, pushing past sceptical scene after sceptical scene, dead foliage after dead foliage and shattered remain after shattered remain. It was a constant reminder that they were in the Wasteland and not in pre-war Equestria. Blitz pondered whether Equestria would ever get back to how it was, before all of the war that Blitz read about in a lot of the pre-war books he found. The authors were very talented, which made Blitz's heart flutter for a couple of seconds, before being dragged back to the harsh reality that was life.

All of the pondering that Blitz was doing made it so that he passed time. Before he knew it, they were all looking at the skyscrapers in the distance. There was some green light coming from Hoofington, making all of them seem a little bit off about all of it. Roselight paused them, quickly telling them something that made them get a little confused.

"We need to go around Hoofington! Right now, it is impossible to get in, because of some lazer defense weapon or something like that. The only way in is through Chapel, which is the settlement right in front of the bridge that evaporates anything living that goes halfway across the bridge." Roselight explained, getting confused looks from all of them apart from Brick.

"As much as I hate to say, she is right! I saw one of my pals get vaporised by that thing. Ain't that where most of the princess' nightmare went?" Brick asked, getting a swift and happy nod from Roselight. Blitz and Azure looked at each other and then looked to Roselight.

"So, we go around? How long would that take?" Blitz questioned, getting another nod from Roselight as she began to lead the pack, with Brick supporting her at the front. "She didn't answer my question! Hmm…" Blitz stated to Azure, not knowing how long it would have taken them to get there. If they had to go around, they would have to keep away from the massive whole that was around the city. As ponies moved past Blitz, Azure noticed that something was definitely eating at Blitz's mind, but he didn't know what it was.

They all moved off the road and headed North, more towards the mountains and valleys of Hoofington. What they would find there was unknown to them, but what wasn't unknown to them at that point, was the feeling of dread that irradiated from the city of Hoofington, the core of pain within the Wasteland.

Chapter 14: Losing Love

Trees and rocks littered their path, as the little convoy continued to move towards the Hoofington Docks area. Leaves of dead trees made their presence known within the vast emptiness of the forest. Brick, Gretzky, Roselight and Saber lead the way, carving their own path through the trees and dead bushes. Blitz, Azure, Lumia and Zeke were all bunched up, walking at their own speed. Blitz looked around and saw that Death, Anti and the nightmare were following them slowly, Anti being the only visible one to all of them.

Azure looked over to his left, seeing Hoofington in the distance. It was really scary to see a green void that separated it from the rest of the Wasteland, which made him shudder a little and put him on edge. Azure looked away, but his eyes were slowly being dragged back to it, almost like it had some type of spell attached to it. Blitz turned Azure's head with his magic, snapping him out of its invisible trance. Azure smiled at Blitz, silently thanking him for doing that.

They were heading towards the SS Celestia, which was inhabited by Steel Rangers. Blitz and Azure were pretty sure that they would have been able to just stand outside the boundaries of their base and observe the ship. This was their little tour convoy. The radroach on Blitz's back was still there, waiting for it's perfect time to strike ponykind down. Blitz looked back at it and stayed silent, before seeing it scuffle about on Blitz's back a little. Azure found it pretty cute, but it was still something that could hurt a pony, so he stayed around a meter from Blitz.

Azure realised something to do with Lumia. Since the Steel Rangers were heavily focused on technology, wouldn't that make Lumia a priority to get hold of? Azure looked back at her and smiled, before falling back to her a little.

"Lumia, can I talk to you quickly?" Azure asked, getting a little nod from Lumia.

"You may, what seems to be wrong Doctor?" Lumia asked, being a little curious as to what Azure wanted to tell her.

"Are you able to hide from the Steel Rangers? They focus heavily on technology and… well… yeah, you are just technology. If they see you, then they will definitely want to have you and would probably use force to get you." Azure explained to her, getting her to understand why she couldn't be spotted by the Steel Rangers. She nodded, understanding a little bit, but now knowing that the Steel Rangers were power hungry or tech hungry.

Azure caught back but to Blitz and Zeke, who were having a little talk about some of their previous experiences with weapons and how they got familiar with them. Azure heard something about 'starting out young' from Blitz and 'becoming a traitor to their kind' from Zeke, which worried Azure a little, but he was relieved when he saw Blitz laughing. That eased Azure's nerves enough for him to stay chill and continue on with the journey ahead of them all.

Hoofington was now behind them, and they were all following a stream that went from somewhere in Hoofington to the sea. Nopony there had any idea on how the water was getting from Hoofington to the sea, but they didn't even want to challenge the idea of it. They were beginning to enter a valley, making Azure want to choose the high ground of the valley. He began to hover up, watching Blitz do the same in the process.

"If you two go and catch up to the others, we will take the higher part of the valley and hopefully protect you all from fire." Blitz commanded, watching as Lumia nodded and grabbed Zeke with one of her hooves and teleported away, leaving Azure and Blitz to themselves.

Azure looked up to the sky, seeing that all of the clouds were covering a sky that should have been cloud free, or was before the bombs dropped. It made him almost sad, like he didn't know that this area, this part of the world, was Equestria. Azure looked to Blitz and saw that he was deep in though too, probably thinking to himself about Death and the nightmare. At least Azure knew what was happening within Blitz's head, rather than not knowing what was bothering him. Blitz was still Azure's right hoof stallion, so he could have trusted him with any decisions that Azure himself couldn't make up.

Blitz was indeed in his own little world, daydreaming about something that was bothering for a while. There was a figure that Blitz tried to remember, but always drew a blank to when he did indeed try to remember them. It was almost like something had deleted that memory entirely. It had something to do with a previous relationship that Blitz had, before something happened to him and he woke up in a bed at Journey. It was something that kept creeping to the front of Blitz's mind, so he kept trying to think about it.

Blitz tried to shake it off him, making him look like he was going a little insane, due to his vigorous body moment and twitching. Azure flew closer to Blitz and tapped him on the side, making him turn to him, both eyes being blisteringly red, almost like he was bleeding from his eyes. A strange ghoul came running at them both, making Blitz turn to see it. Being in the state he was in, Blitz turned and pinned the ghoul to the floor next to them both, before pulling out a long metal spike that was jutting out of the ground beside him. Without hesitation, the rapid like ghoul had a metal rod pinning its body to the ground. He was aiming for the head, but just didn't feel like killing the pony ghoul, just in case somepony had a cure for ghouls. Blitz stood up and turned around, seeing that Azure was still looking at the ghoul. Blitz turned back around and drew out his anti-material rifle and aimed down the scope of it. Within a second, the ghoul's head was reduced to shrapnel and blood jelly. Azure flinched, before rushing up to Blitz and seeing that his eyes were closed.

As soon as Blitz opened his eyes, he had both Gretzky and Azure looking at him, Azure being the closest to Blitz and Gretzky being pretty far away, but still able to see Blitz and the state of which he was in. Blitz looked back at the ghoul and saw that the head was gone, most likely into bloody pieces of flesh and bone. The rest of the ghoul's body was slumped against the floor, having been pinned down with the metal rod. It made Blitz a little twitchy, but he was sure that the ghoul was in a better place now.

Blitz turned and continued to walk, seeing that Gretzky was waiting up for them both. Azure followed Blitz and tried to stop himself from looking back, but found it very difficult to avoid doing so. It was something that was going to play out in his head later on, so he tried to avoid thinking about it at least, focusing on the relationship that him and Blitz had. It made Azure feel quite special, because of the love that him and Blitz shared for one another. It made his heart flutter, but he had to bring himself back down to the harsh reality that was the Wasteland, a land where good events were rare and extraordinary events were non-existent.

Blitz looked over the side, seeing that the lower down group were a little way ahead, not stopping for anypony that would have slowed them down. Gretzky looked down too and felt a little emptiness start to fill him, almost like a hole getting filled with water or a bucket getting filled with water. There were so many similes that could have described that one moment, where the smile on Gretzky's face began to fade, making him look like he was slowly going crazy or that he realised what they were walking into.

Azure looked down at Roselight and Saber talking happily. Although he saw that Lumia, Zeke and Brick were speaking together, he didn't focus on them. He focused mainly on Roselight and Saber and looked at what made Saber come out of his shell so much when Roselight was around. Was there something that wasn't being said about their friendship as a whole or was there a lot more that both Roselight and Saber weren't telling?

Azure flew over to Gretzky, seeing that he was looking directly forward and not in any other direction, making Azure think that he was daydreaming or something. Azure flew up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, getting no response from him in the process. He quickly tapped his shoulder again, making his tap a little harder this time and finally getting a response from Gretzky. He turned around to look at Azure, a little confused as to what he wanted to speak about. Azure landed and began to walk alongside Gretzky, looking down at the others on occasion.

"What's the chemistry behind both Roselight's and Saver's friendship?" Azure asked, seeing that Gretzky had a smile on his face once again. He rubbed the back of his head trying to explain it, but thought of a way to break the news to him, having not known already.

"Well, for starters Alchem, Roselight is Saber's mother, which is always nice to have around for chemistry reasons and emotional support that not everypony in the Wasteland is miserable. Also, they have a strong bond that kind of reminds me of my parents…" Gretzky stated, before cutting himself off and looking down at the pair below. Azure guessed that the reason that Gretzky kept looking down was a reminder that not all was bad in the Wasteland and not all was lost. That, or he just really enjoyed seeing a mother and son together on a journey. It made sense that they were mother and son, but Saber looked so different compared to Roselight, which is why Azure got thrown off track.

"Is that why you keep looking down, cause you miss your family?" Azure asked, seeing a little nod of disbelief and a little tear fall down Gretzky's cheek, which was quickly removed by his own wing. Azure felt a little bad about bringing it up, but the more that somepony grieved about something, the more that they would either work, or forget. Having heard that, Azure hugged Gretzky, wrapping his wing around him and pulling him in closer. Not only was Azure a great doctor, but he was also a great hugger, which every little group needed. That made him even more mandatory to keep alive, so that he could heal ponies and give them hugs of affection.

Azure looked back at Blitz and felt a little bad about all that had happened to him, seeing his mother die the way that she did and not being able to do anything about it. He must have hurt so many times over, compared to anypony else in the Wasteland, which made Azure feel even worse, but as long as Azure was there for him when he needed it, that would surely be enough, right?

Azure washed the thought away from his mind, as both Blitz and Gretzky stopped at the sight of the ship that they were looking for. Blitz looked down and teleported the others on top of the top of the valley, allowing them to individually see the ship. Most of them stared in awe, but also felt that they were a little dumb. On the side of the ship was the name of it. Although they hadn't had a problem with calling it the SS Celestia, it was clear to them that it was not actually called that. It was actually called the HMS Celestia, but that really didn't make a difference because it was still the ship with the name of a former ruler of Equestria, before it was loomed down to the little sister, Princess Luna.

As soon as Blitz got everypony up on the top of the valley, he began to walk up a little extra part of the valley, leading up to a higher point, allowing him to overlook the warship. Gretzky joined him, quickly flying up the hill towards Blitz. Azure decided to stay with the others, just in case something bad was to happen while he wasn't there.

Blitz pulled out his anti-material rifle and looked down the scope of it. Gladly, there was no scope glint, due to the sun not shining as bright behind the clouds. Blitz used this to his advantage and peeked into the base that was so much bigger than he had even thought. Yes, there were Steel Rangers, but the base was so much bigger than he had originally thought. That got him curious as to what was inside there, but he knew that he wouldn't have been able to get into the base, but would he have been able to get next to the checkpoint, surely.

Blitz saw that there were plenty of Steel Rangers inside the base, as well as a ton of technology, hence the reason why he wanted to hide Lumia or at least had to hide her, just so that those Steel Rangers couldn't get their hooves on her. Blitz was tempted to make Lumia sit on the hill that he was on, but thought that it would have been risky enough her being where they were right now, but he had faith in them not being able to see as far up as Blitz initially thought.

"Lumia, are you able to stay here with all of our technical stuff?" Blitz asked, getting a swift nod from her, followed by her shaking off the PipBuck on Azure's forehoof. Azure was a little surprised by the action, but willingly let her try to take it off. It took a good couple of seconds, but she managed to get it off and place it on the ground beside her. She looked over them all and tried to see if they had any items on them that would have counted as technology. She looked to Gretzky and smiled, seeing his massive bag on his back, compared to the other saddlebags that he would normally be carrying.

"I hate this!" Gretzky stated, walking with the rest of the group as they walked down the hill, carrying no items on them that were electrical. Blitz had given Lumia his cloak, showing off his scars a little more and making him look like a changeling zebra, which made him chuckle quietly. The others didn't see them as he did, rather than seeing them as a joke of the past, they saw it as a sign that Blitz was either a tough nut to crack, or that he needed medical attention. Although Azure hated the look of him like that, it was something that he was going to have to get over, in order to move on with everything that was happening. He went back to the words that he remembered getting told by Blitz, some night ago.

"Looks are deceiving. Looks don't define a pony, it's what parts are in said pony that should get an evaluation." Blitz stated, some time ago. It was a memory that Azure would never forget, because everytime he thought about it, it reminded him of who he was, being a zebra and pegasus hybrid after all. Blitz was similar, Azure thought, but he couldn't be too sure. He was pretty sure that Blitz talked to him about him being half changeling and half earth pony, but Azure couldn't remember exactly.

Gretzky, Roselight and Saber looked on in shock at Blitz's form. Cuts, bruises and scars were permanent on his body, making for a more vicious look to him, rather than being the big softy that he was outside of combat. If there was anything that would make the Steel Rangers fear, it was Blitz. Azure ran up alongside Blitz and strolled along with him. They both looked down and saw that the base was huge, but there was a checkpoint that allowed them to see the ship. They all calmly walked down, seeing that there was a guard or two at the checkpoint. As Azure looked at them, they locked eyes with him. To ease the tension, Azure waved to them, making them look at each other and wave back.

There was a pony in power armour just outside the gate to the checkpoint. It tracked them and all of them watched as one of the guards walked towards the power armour and spoke into its ear, making it look straight again. It didn't seem to be a threat to them, so they all just looked at each other, before setting foot on the ground, being the same level as the guards and the power armour user.

They slowly walked towards them all, keeping their weapons away from the group. Blitz looked behind, at the group that he was escorting and smiled, before turning back to the two guards that were approaching. He raised a hoof to the guards and watched as they became a little wary of their actions outside a Steel Ranger base of operations. It was unusual that ponies came to the base, especially ones that were unarmed.

"Hello, may I ask what you are doing out here?" One of the guards asked, being a little aggressive with his questioning. Blitz looked from one to another and then gulped.

"We have travelled out here to see the HMS Celestia. Not trying to get close to it, but to have a good view." Blitz explained, seeing part of the ship and not the whole thing. The two guards were a little sceptical about his decision, but they knew that they weren't up to no good because they had no weapons and seemed a little hesitant at first.

The guards got a good look at Blitz and turned around to see that power armour user had gotten up and begun walking towards them. He stopped as soon as he got to the other guards and looked over Blitz's form, seeing his changeling resemblances.

"If I may ask, what are you?" One of the guards asked, getting a little curious about seeing his first changeling. Blitz looked back to the others and then saw that they were getting a little bit closer to Blitz's location. The guards pointed to a nearby hill, which would have given them a look into the warship's location and what it looked like. It was a huge ship, from what Blitz had initially seen of it. The group walked to the hill that the guards pointed to, leaving Azure to wait for Blitz and Blitz standing next to the guards.

"I am a changeling, a being that is pretty much a shape-shifter with unicorn properties and wings." Blitz explained, pointing at his horn and wings, before changing into one of the guards. "I am pretty much able to change my body into anything that I want." Blitz added, before changing into some power armour, which made them smile at each other, before looking back at Blitz.

"Hey, that's pretty cool. What else can you do?" One of the guards asked.

"Yes… what else can you do, changeling?" The power armour spoke, their voice dull and raspy, almost like they were clinging on to death, or were a ghoul within the armour. Blitz looked at them and changed into rock, then into a stick and then into a timberwolf. They all smiled and laughed a little, before Blitz changed back into himself. They were really surprised to say the least.

"I will clarify, I don't know how many changelings there are left in Equestria, due to the bombs, but I stay positive and hope to find some more someday." Blitz explained, making them feel a little bad. "Alchem, go and enjoy the view. I'll be up there shortly." Blitz explained, telling Azure that he would definitely be up on the hill. "I promise!" Blitz added, finishing off his worries that Azure would've gotten hurt around the area that they were at. Blitz looked back at the guards, a fake smile in their face. Blitz knew what was coming.

Blitz's prediction was that since the Steel Rangers were hoarders of technology, they would try to get him to turn into something that they found useful and try to capture him. Blitz got that right as soon as they looked at each other. They talked to each other, before Blitz looked back, in the direction of Lumia and asked her to do something, using his mind to speak directly to hers. As soon as he looked at the group, they began to vanish one by one, each pony becoming more and more confused.

Blitz looked back to the group and smiled, being pretty shy in the process.

"Can you turn into a big structure?" One of them asked, before seeing Blitz shake his head.

"Can't do huge things and the biggest I could possibly go is an animal with three times my height." Blitz lied a little, knowing that an animal three times his size wasn't his limitation, but knew that if he focused enough, he could turn into a huge structure. They looked back at each other and then looked back shortly after.

"Can you change into a weapon?" They asked, getting a quick nod from Blitz in the process. Blitz changed into a fully automatic rifle, before getting picked up by one of the guards. "I think that you will be an awesome addition to the collection we already have." The guard stated, watching as Blitz teleported back to the original spot and changed into his beaten and holed self. He looked at them with disgust, but didn't want to hurt them until it was necessary. They one of them pulled out a pistol and aimed it in Blitz's direction.

"I ain't saying here." Blitz told them bluntly.

"What are you going to do, run to your friends? They have left!" One of the guards told him, making him smile.

"Good!" Blitz stated, before seeing Anti peeking behind them. Blitz commanded in his mind for Anti to attack the right one, which had the gun aimed at Blitz's head. Anti jumped onto the back of the pony who was aiming at Blitz, giving Blitz enough time to draw out his suppressed rifle and shoot the other in the head. No mercy was allowed. The Steel Ranger that was left panicked a little, seeing the timberwolf ripping through their friendly ally. He aimed his weapon at Blitz, but paused as he saw an anti-material rifle pointed directly at his head, making him pause. He didn't say anything, probably due to him being frozen in fear.

Anti growled and snarled at the Steel Ranger within the power armour, making him aim his weapon at Anti, purely out of fear that the wooden wolf would melt his armour. Green liquid dripped off Anti's fangs, making Blitz feel a little uncomfortable. Blitz was going to hold a grudge against the Steel Rangers, just for wanting to take advantage of him. Blitz commanded for Lumia to do something, using his mind to chat with her again. Lumia teleported to Blitz's location, before pulling down the hood of the cloak. The Steel Ranger stood motionless, before Lumia used a spell to cancel out all of the sound around them. The noise cancelling spell would prevent any sound from escaping the bubble, which was beneficial to Blitz for him to not get spotted.

"You need to teach me this spell somewhen." Blitz explained, getting a quiet nod from her in response. The Steel Ranger looked at Lumia and stood motionless, not understanding how it was possible for a pony to become technology. Blitz chuckled, before seeing the Steel Ranger bringing up some weapons that were slotted into the side of his armour, which made the smile fade from Blitz’s face. He brought up his own weapon and aimed it at the Steel Ranger’s helmet, before refusing to give him a chance and shooting him flat in the face. The anti-material rifle tore through his armour like it was butter, making it slightly delve inwards towards his face, but his face had completely exploded from the inside out.

Lumia dropped the spell, before being able to hear sirens going off, due to the cameras seeing everything that had just happened. There was the tiniest amount of doubt that was present in Blitz’s mind, but those doubts were quickly washed away into fear as a couple of Steel Rangers charged at them, different types of weapons ranging from pistols, to laser miniguns firing upon their position. Blitz used his magic to cast a shield of magic that could protect them from enemy fire, but it was quickly running his magic reserves dry, due to the sheer force of the artillery of weapons firing on his position. As soon as Blitz felt that his magic was getting low, it instantly filled itself back up. It was almost like Blitz was not in control of his magic supply, but that was the least of his worries, as the bullets still continued to fly towards them both. Lumia eventually teleported them both and landed the teleport on a nearby hillside, not the hillside that Lumia originally had teleported to. Blitz looked over to the base and then to the other hillside and saw the group hiding behind some trees.

“Lumia, this is my fault entirely. All of you are in danger because of me. I need you to teleport to the others and run. I'll create a distraction so that they don’t follow you back to the settlement.” Blitz stated, getting his rifle ready and looking down at the base. They were all flooding out and heading in the direction of the others. Blitz had to act fast, otherwise it wouldn’t be him being the only one that made a sacrifice on that day. He looked back at Lumia and nodded, before seeing her nod back and teleport off. A tear ran down Blitz’s cheek as he aimed down the scope of his rifle and shot another bullet that was blisteringly loud through the air. All of the Steel Rangers turned from their original position, to look at Blitz and begin shooting at him. Although he was their main target, there were still two or three ponies with no power armour going off in the same direction as the rest of Blitz’s group. When Blitz looked back at the group, they had vanished, making Blitz’s heart feel a little bit of happiness, as he now had an entire army to deal with.

“Good luck, my lover…” Blitz stated, before picking up his cloak off the floor and putting it on, the same on the Lumia should have been wearing, but probably left it there for a reason that Blitz had not yet picked up on. Blitz aimed his anti-material rifle at another Steel Ranger, before firing and beginning the start of his slaughter.

Azure and the rest of the group were running at some speed, seeing that this was their chance to get away from all of the fighting, without any problems. Although they wanted to believe that, they had lost one team member that had a huge impact on the group. Azure refused to speak at that point, trying to hold back the anger that he had for the Steel Rangers taking Blitz away from them. They were now divided from him, which didn’t make their goals any easier to get to, due to them having to run away from all of the badness that was happening behind them.

Gretzky and Lumia, along with Roselight were flying in the air, making their journey go quicker. They still had a little way to go, but they couldn't get any faster than they were going then, but eventually they would have to slow down, due to being out of breath and being tired of all of the running and flying that was going on with them. Azure could have begun to fly, but he didn't in the end, due to the fact that he didn’t really feel like doing it at all. Azure was too busy focusing on what he had lost, rather than thinking about what he could have lost next. Zeke kept looking back and seeing little movement in the trees behind them. It was most likely all of the foliage that they were running through, but he kept a watchful eye out for anything that would have related to an animal or a pony. He looked forward again, but had his doubts that there were no ponies following them.

Azure kept his eye on all of the remaining group, trying to make sure that they all would be alright and not end up getting divided, like Blitz had been. It broke his heart that Blitz was the distraction that they needed to get away from the Steel Rangers, but wasn’t that life? He shook the bad thoughts out of his mind and tried to focus on the main thing that he and the rest of that group had to do. They had to get back home, before anything bad happened.

“Come on, this way!” Gretzky stated to the rest of the group, still trying to fly between the trees. It was difficult and getting even worse, due to the density of the trees around the area getting closer together. It was like they were trying to stop all flyers and make the woodland a no fly zone, but they were only trees. Gretzky landed after a couple of trees got into his way and blocked the path in front of him. Azure followed him close, hoping that the others were okay behind him.

"Saber, come on!" Roselight stated, looking back at Saber and seeing that he was falling behind a little bit. Azure looked back to see this as well and began to slowly decelerate his momentum and wait for Saber to catch up. As soon as Azure stopped, he saw some rustling in the bushes behind Saber and raised his gun, slowly moving towards both Saber and the thing in the bush. Gretzky had stopped and raised his gun to the rustling bush as well.

Anti slowly emerged from the bushes, making everypony and creature feel less tense. Anti howled, before being turned into sticks, symbolising death. The only problem was that Anti didn't come back to life after. They all looked at the timberwolf and saw that it was only an abundance of sticks, making it seem like the timberwolf was gone. A thought crossed Azure's mind, which hurt his mental state a little. He shouldn't have delved on it, but he did and couldn't help himself.

A gunshot was shot next to Saber, followed by another gunshot, hitting Saber in the chest and spurting blood out in all directions. Saber dropped to the floor in shock, followed by Roselight screaming and running over to him. She picked him up carefully with his magic, before flying up, out of the tree line. Brick caught sight of one of the Steel Ranger spotters and shot one of them with the shotgun he had, plastering the non armoured Steel Ranger in buckshot and turning him into pulp. Azure was refusing to hurt anypony and fled with the same ambition that Roselight had done, to save Saber.

Gretzky stayed with Brick, Lumia and Zeke. Lumia welded one of Blitz's old weapons. The shotgun that he had offered to Gretzky to use. It was the perfect size for her to get some revenge on some Steel Rangers, which was perfection for her. She just had to be mindful that she was most likely the Steel Rangers main target, being a machine and all.

Gretzky was whirling about, welding his own modified weapon. It was a single shot assault rifle that had been modified to shoot sniper rifle ammunition, which made it pack a punch, especially against non armoured enemies. He was grateful for the company that he had right there.

Zeke didn't use a weapon like theirs. Instead, Zeke had some lightweight claws on his hooves, which were made by Nightclaw to be fast, agile and able to deal some serious damage, even to some armoured enemies. Zeke was skulking around, being as low to the floor as possible.

The Steel Ranger scouts were using Stealth Bucks to keep hidden from the small group that was able to kill the scouts over and over again. Zeke saw one of them, before lashing out and sticking one of the claws into the neck of one of them. The Stealth Buck wore off and made the scout that Zeke had stabbed visible. This only pushed Zeke to stab further into the neck of the scout. Zeke was close to ripping off the head of the scout, but resisted himself to do so, going to the PipBuck that the scout had and smashing it with his hooves, ending all communication and tracking from the PipBuck. He let the now limp body drop to the floor and continued to find the last one that was firing at the group.

Brick found the other one, trying to reload the weapon that he was using to shoot at the group. Brick pinned the scout to the wall, before looking him over. Zeke ran up to the scout and plunged the blade from his hooves into the PipBuck, breaking it and destroying the screen and interface on it. The scout screamed, as the blade tore into his skin, causing a huge amount of blood to be lost. Brick chuckled before aiming his shotgun at the scout's head. The Stealth Buck wore off and Brick smiled, before unloading a shot into the skull of the scout. It covered Zeke's head and Brick's head in bloodz which made them recoil a little bit, but made them look back to the scene that they had changed. Blood was spurting out of the scout's head, or where his head had been. It was a gory display for sure, but it was necessary to ensure that they weren't followed. They quickly forgot about the bodies and tried to make their way back to the settlement. It wasn't too far away, but it was far enough away for the Steel Rangers to not know where they were going.

They all began to run, pushing their bodies to their limits, as they kept trying to escape the scene. They were all tired and out of breath, but they could all agree on one thing. The HMS Celestia was a beautiful ship, but very, very scary. They all moved as a group, not allowing anypony else to get separated from the group. It was a weird way of moving, but it worked in their favour. They were making sure that there was no chance of losing somepony from the group, after losing a key member already.

Time took its toll on Azure, but before long, they were all back, safe and sound. It didn't take a genius to know that they weren't happy about their little adventure, but they had an amazing view, over a pony that they cared a lot about. Petalbreeze and Sadjoy were at the gate, having big smiles on their faces, but seeing that all of them didn't have a smile at all on theirs. They were slightly confused, but then Sadjoy clocked in on the situation.

"Where is Eater?" Sadjoy asked, being concerned at her friend's disappearance. Azure just looked down and walked past her, going to the house that they both had called home. It was a sad thought that he had lost a friend then and there, but at the back of his mind, he knew that there was a chance of Blitz being alive. He didn't stay strong to believe in that chance and instead, walked into his home, alone, a tear creeping down his face as he entered.

Azure was definitely down about all that had gone on with Blitz's sacrifice, but Azure was having his doubts about Blitz's survival. He was crying because he thought that Blitz was dead, never coming back again. Although he didn't know it, Blitz was most likely, in Azure's mind, fighting against the Steel Rangers, being the one pony army that he had originally shown to Azure.

Azure rested his head on the chair, lying flat in it and making sure that he didn't get interrupted by locking the door. He closed his eyes and stayed silent, hearing his muffled breathing as he remembered the fallen. He let out a sigh and tried to fall asleep, not failing in the slightest, because Blitz knew that Azure was great at anything he did.

Blitz was still alive and he was still kicking with life. The Steel Rangers couldn't get him out of his cover, challenging an entire army with the skills and knowledge that he had. He unloaded shot after shot, ensuring that the Steel Rangers were dwindling in numbers, before they did something that Blitz had never seen before. There was a very special type of modification added to a rocket launcher one of them was using. It carried a type of tentacle with a stone attached to it. The stone glowed with magic, making Blitz slightly afraid of what it could do to him. He teleported to another piece of cover, knowing that they didn't know where he was other than the original cover he had. He kept hidden and then as a rocket was hurled in his original direction, along with the rock and tentacle after. The explosion blasted the cover away and revealed that nopony was there at all. The tentacle was meant to attach to the victim, being part of killing joke after all, meaning that it would most likely jump to the target, before exploding, due to the rock.

Blitz wanted to find out what the rock would do to a pony, so he kept quiet for a couple of seconds, before being bucked to the side of the head, feeling his head jerk from metallic hooves hitting him directly in the head. He felt like his skull was bleeding internally, filling with unnecessary blood that didn't belong in that part of his head. His vision went fuzzy and he looked around at the entire army ready to beat him up. He smiled and coughed up blood, before feeling like he was going to pass out. He got dragged to the centre of the viewpoint, being surrounded by the entire base, planning on what to do with the changeling.

"We can keep him for storage, maybe he could shapeshift into something that could help us have an advantage." One of them suggested with a deep and raspy voice. Blitz chuckled, coughing out blood is eyes beginning to drip blood too. That made his nose, mouth and eyes drip green blood out. He kept his eyes closed, because he was hurting all over and hated the feeling of his eyes bleeding.

"You want me to change into something useful do you? Well, how about this, just so I can see what it does!" Blitz explained, turning into the ball that he had seen, the stone. Before any of them could get a chance to run, the stone that was Blitz's exploded, making the closest Steel Rangers turn into some statues of stone, which gave Blitz an idea of what they wanted to do with him. They wanted to freeze him and turn him into stone, so that they could use him for a use later on.

Blitz looked to his right and saw that there was a good portion of the Steel Rangers left, who were not looking too happy with him. Blitz saw that one of them was holding the same rock, before throwing it at Blitz, slowly turning him into stone. He smiled, before closing his eyes and letting the stone take him, eventually giving up. His vision and movement became blackened and still, allowing him to do nothing, while he slowly suffocated within his own stone prison.

Azure was dreaming about things to help him relax, but surprisingly, they weren't helping him at all. Happy places that he had once known before, sent him happy little wake up calls and satisfaction thought his body. Now, those happy places weren't so happy anymore, giving off negative emotions and showing him a life that would never have been so perfect, showing how his life could've been, if the war didn't hit Equestria.

Although clouds were meant to be a happy thing to dream about, Azure didn't dare dream about it, because it would have just brought back memories of the past and generally would have made him angry, regardless of where he was or how happy he was. Everything was spiralling downhill and the last thing that he wanted to think about was the area that was home to the entire enclave, the entire area of the world that became hostile towards any ponies on the ground, regardless of race.

"Everything would be alright Azure, if you didn't create arguments all the time!" Azure muttered, trying to keep himself cool. He had just lost one of his closest and last friends from the original settlement, meaning that he was mainly just on his own. He was the last one from Journey. Azure waited for a couple of seconds before trying to do anything else, being restricted, due to him having the possibility of having a bad dream or even worse, a nightmare. That was something that crossed his mind. Why in the end did Blitz have Roselight's nightmare within him, after the fight? Azure was still confused by that part, but felt like he should have known somehow, like he knew exactly what was happening for Blitz.

Despite seeing Blitz nearly dying to a ghoul previously, he never thought that after that he would have to say goodbye to his friend. The sad part about that, was that he never got the chance to say it. He never had the chance to kiss Blitz on the head, before saying goodbye. That got him a little bit emotional, but made him smile a little, knowing that Blitz wouldn't want him to dwell on the loss of him. Blitz would have wanted Azure to use his death as an excuse to do crazy stuff, more daring stuff or just motivational stuff. That thought made a tear run down Azure's cheek, but didn't make him sad, it only made him chuckle, as he looked at the image of the small pony with animatronic limbs. Project Chimera was something that both Blitz and Azure never got into or looked up or even talked about. Azure was sure to ask about it whenever he could, but was pretty sure that it was an interesting topic to try to get some light shined onto.

Azure stopped trying to rest and just got up and walked over to the barred up window and looked through the cracks. It didn't help that the cracks were super small, making Azure's head work super hard to try to find a comfortable position to look outside. There was no end result of being comfy and being able to see outside, so Azure set his ideas on a different idea to look outside. He opened the door and stood in the doorway and looked to the sky, seeing that the clouds were getting darker and darker. It wasn't looking good for the entirety of Equestria, as it looked like it was going to try to send a thunderstorm sweeping across Equestria.

Sadjoy saw Azure and gazed at him for a couple of seconds, before walking up to him and stopping in front of him. Azure looked down from the sky and met the grey bat pony's purple eyes. The shimmered within the darkness, being the light that he so desperately needed to cling onto. He smiled at her, before looking back up at the sky, being scared that he would have had another year fall down from his eyes. Sadjoy walked quickly up to the blue pegasus and hugged him, wrapping her hooves and wings around him. Azure did the same, wrapping his hooves around the bat pony that was trying to comfort him. They clung to each other and passionately hugged one another, making sure that the other couldn't get away and feel down about the loss of their good friend.

Azure pulled away from the hug at first, followed by Sadjoy slowly recoiling away from Azure, just to make sure that he was able to get all of the space that he wanted. Azure offered Sadjoy into the house, smiling as soon as she entered and closing the door behind him. He walked over to the chair and hopped up into it, not saying a word about anything and just watching her, like a cat stalking its prey and waiting for it to get close enough, before pouncing at it. Sadjoy looked at all of the pictures on the wall and then down at the Project Chimera picture, featuring the mare with the metallic limbs. She questioned it, but quickly moved on and saw that Azure was sat up in the chair. It was big, but there was room for multiple ponies to lay down and take things easy.

Azure offered her a place on the chair, which Sadjoy quickly accepted, as she jumped up and laid down next to Azure, placing her head on top of his. They both didn't dare say a word, not to break the beautiful silence that they had and for the time that they got to remember Blitz in all of his glory. Although he wasn't actually dead, they didn't know that, they just assumed that he was. He was actually encased in stone, not being able to break out of it and being frozen solid, like a statue. Azure closed his eyes, before letting out a sharp exhale of breath and making it so that he was able to get comfy with Sadjoy on his head.

He tried to dream, which didn't work too well for him. Nothing went his way, did it? Azure's head began to spin, as flashback after flashback played in his mind, displaying a full image like view within a matter of seconds. Azure stood on a ledge, making it impossible for him to fall, due to his wings not being tied up and a barrier in the way, preventing anypony from jumping off and causing huge damage to their minds. Without a warning, the barrier melted and Azure's wings just weren't there. He got instantly shoved forward, pushing him towards the edge and giving him a look down into the void beneath.

Azure was lightly tapped off the edge and made his way down not the void, silently screaming and frantically trying to correct himself in the air. There was no ground in sight, but he just didn't want to be falling. Giving up on correcting himself in the air, Azure just relaxed and tried to unwind while he was in the air. It was anticlimactic, but it was actually helping him, rather than hindering him. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, before opening them again and looking around.

The original blackened walls that surrounded Azure previously, changed to an almost galaxy like pattern, making Azure feel like he was falling through space, making the dream less real, but more relaxing for him. He casually glided down, not allowing his wings to take over, like his body wanted to so badly, due to fear of falling down and splatting on the floor. In the reality that Azure was in, there was no ground, just an endless loop that kept dropping him further and further.

The galaxy-like background faded a little bit, allowing for Azure to see memories of his past, one of them involving Blitz and making his mood snap to an angry one, vibrating the flashes of his life on the galaxy wall. Azure shook his head, before seeing one that stood out to him, which he didn't tell anypony about. The moment that he should have been branded a dashite, but got away with a little flimsy sticker. He still had said sticker over his cutie mark, but he didn't dare remove it. It was safer to be a fake dashite, rather than a real one.

Azure wanted to look into Blitz's past, to see what life was like within the Wasteland, before things had gotten bad. He was pretty sure that there was no way of doing that, without having him lose the memories. Not only that, but he wasn't there right then, so Azure relaxed a little on that idea and swayed away to look at another image, as he continued to fall into the void beneath.

His brain placed him back into the dream or nightmare that both Azure and Blitz had previously, seeing that they had both been within close proximity of each other, not only in the dream, but in real life. He watched the events of the dream unfold and noticed something quite spectacular. Death was standing by Blitz and looked at him. As soon as Blitz got hit by one of the dummies that were shooting at him, he healed a little, almost like somepony was watching over Blitz and his position.

Azure paused the events that were going on and walked around the battlefield. He was able to interact with everything, changing everything to see what would happen and what effects could have occurred. Azure walked up to Death and blankly stared at him. He didn't look like anypony in existence, adding to the mystery of the Wasteland. It didn't help that Azure was unable to identify Blitz's massive helper, that healed him for a little bit, before fading away to someplace else entirely.

Azure looked about at the setting of the area. It was a training course, but it was in a place that looked far too familiar to both him and Blitz. The area was a part of Journey that didn't exist. Blitz used assets from his mind to create the settings, using the walls of buildings found in Journey. It was like the nightmare that enveloped his mind, used things that he had seen against him. It was a cruel joke to think that somepony would stoop so low to do something like that, using memories of the past to alter his vision and thoughts.

Azure was able to view all of what happened in that nightmare and saw that something was definitely distracting Blitz, due to the look on his face. Blitz looked over to Azure's ghostly figure, almost like he was looking directly at him and able to see him. He slid a memory orb towards Azure actual direction and went back to shooting the dummies, seeing that one was getting closer to him, than what Azure saw in the dream. Real Azure looked down at the memory orb and picked it up.

"Clutch this as hard as you can and get somepony else to allow you to view it!" Azure said out loud, before seeing Blitz get shot, before the fake Azure shot a syringe in Blitz's direction, hitting him in the side, before Azure shot one of the syringes at the ghouls, turning it over to their side. Azure still didn't know how he did that with the syringe or the gun itself, but it might have been something to do with the recipe he used to create the syringes. Maybe it had something to do with the syringe gun or something? Azure couldn't really tell, all he could do was speculate.

The vision of the nightmarish events faded away and got replaced with flashes of Azure's life as a doctor's assistant, back in Journey. It was a great time there, a great time to be alive, but sadly, like most things in the Wasteland, they have to come to an end. It hurt Azure at first, when it actually happened, but it didn't hurt him anymore, almost like he wasn't able to remember the feelings in those events, but he did still have his feelings, which was a little weird to say the least.

Sentences rang out in Azure's head, ranging from hateful comments about him, to the most heartwarming ones that would have made him cry, if he wasn't already so emotionally attached to one of the sentences that was said.

"When this is all over, somepony will buy you a drink and tell you what it is really like to be happy." A voice called out. It was a voice that Azure could remember, but couldn't remember the name of said pony. All he remembered was that it was the main doctor of Journey who said it. Azure was pretty sure that those words would stay true, but who he was having that drink with, was always changing. First it was the doctor, then it was the mayor, then it was Blitz and now, now Azure did have a single clue who that pony would be.

He feared that all of the decisions were slowly changing and soon, he didn't know if he was still going to be the same stallion that all of the other ponies had seen. He was determined to keep going, regardless of what happened. With that, he closed his eyes in the hope to wake up, just so he could be productive and get more stuff done.

Chapter 15: Denied Remembrance

Azure woke up in a hurry, seeing that Sadjoy wrapped her wing around Azure, like he was something that she was trying to protect. Azure rubbed his cheek and found that his cheek was matted in water, either coming from being tears or sweat. Giving his circumstances, it was most likely his tears, but he couldn't tell at that point in time. He was pretty sure it was thought, which didn't help too much with his emotions.

There was one thing that he needed to get out of his head, in order for him to feel somewhat normal as a pegasus. He needed to get the thought of Blitz still being alive out of his head, otherwise he would go on to doubt himself for the rest of his life or what remained of it. Azure was pretty sure that it would be difficult, but he was going to try to trick his mind to change the knowledge of Blitz's state.

Azure closed his eyes again, before feeling a wing tighten around his shoulder, making him look into Sadjoy's eyes, before she pulled him closer and nuzzled into him. Azure felt a new load of warmth enter his body and made him feel a little better, but he was still trying to get rid of any memories of Blitz from his mind, only to make him not feel guilty about his death, even though there was nothing that they were able to do. It hurt Azure a little that that was the case, but that was how life worked. There were no lucky ponies, only normal ponies and unlucky ponies. Blitz fell into that unlucky section of ponies.

"What's up, Alchem?" Sadjoy asked, seeing that something was bothering him. She had her guesses, but she was pretty sure that he was remembering Blitz's best moments. She nuzzled him a little, making sure that he was okay, which officially he was, but he didn't want to accept it. He looked to the floor and dropped his noggin down to match his eyes looking at the floor and then slowly looked over to Sadjoy.

Sadjoy looked adorable, giving Azure a confused, yet confident look, making him not understand what emotion she was feeling mainly. She became even cuter, due to her ears flopping and flapping about. This made Azure show the tiniest of smiles, but it didn't last too long, before he went back to his basic looking self, rather than his happy looking self.

Azure got up and stretched, making his body click multiple times, before stopping and loosening his legs, stretching them shortly after he had stretched his body. The pegasus looked into the mirror and saw a pony that looked similar to the strong, determined Azure, but he wasn't feeling those emotions right then and there, especially because he had just got up. Azure was never a morning type of pony, because he enjoyed his bed whenever possible. It was his home away from home, taking him away from all of the hassles of the Wasteland and put him in a land that was easy and satisfying land, where the harshness of the Wasteland couldn't hurt him, as well as the rules of life.

Azure looked at himself and saw that his mane was a mess, which didn't help his mood, it just distorted some kind of grunt from him as he tried to get his mane into a nicer shape, not really caring too much for it. He had bags under his eyes, which showed how tired he was, but there was no time for rest during the mornings, or at least that's what he felt. He didn't like to take naps, only allowing his day to live up to its full potential and not wasting a second, unless he was severely sick, which made it its own little story.

Azure looked away from the mirror and looked towards his saddlebag and slowly walked towards it. He got to it and picked it up and got a couple of syringes out, before just looking at them. The red liquid was there to heal ponies, so why couldn't Azure have stayed with Blitz's original position? He could have possibly helped him survive and possibly went down with him if the worst came to be.

Azure did indeed blame himself, but Blitz in the end was the pony that would sacrifice himself so that the rest of his group could survive. It hurt Azure a little to know that about Blitz, but he guessed that Blitz was more noble than he let on. Officially, Azure was going to have to change and adapt to the lifestyle of possibly losing one of his friends. He didn't want ponies to be immortal, but he wanted each and every pony to live their life to the fullest, hence the reason he became a doctor in the first place, or an apprentice or assistant.

Azure closed his eyes before stomping his hoof on the ground, getting a somewhat scared reaction from Sadjoy, who came over to check on Azure, just to see if he was okay. He looked at her with anger in his eyes, anger that was not directed at her, but anger that was directed at everypony but her. Azure shook for a couple of seconds, before taking in a deep breath and looking to the door of the room.

Azure walked up to the main door of the building and rested his head against it, before opening it and stepping outside. The pitter patter of rain splashed against the floor, as Azure stepped out into the drizzle that was the Wasteland weather. The rain was slightly acidic, making it not beneficial to be standing out in it for too long, but Azure didn't care as much for the details of it and stepped a hoof into a radioactive puddle.

Azure quickly rushed over to Gretzky's shop and saw that the gryphon was there. Gretzky was checking out some of his stock, making sure that it was all in good order and that he wasn't running out of anything. Gretzky turned to see Azure standing on the opposite side of the counter, making Gretzky show a huge, proud smile. He slowly walked over to speak to Azure, chuckling to himself in the process, due to a thought that he had.

"Hello Doctor Alchem! How may I help you this fine morning?" Gretzky asked Azure, seeing that there was no smile on Azure's face, making Gretzky feel a little bad and made him cough, to change the tone of his voice to a deeper pitch.

"I need some radaway and some rad-x. How much is it for one?" Azure asked, no life or joy being present in his voice when he said that statement. Gretzky could see that he was annoyed and trying to vent all of his anger off, so he went to grab a hazmat suit that he had lying about. He grabbed it, before dragging it over to Azure and giving it to him.

"This might be more beneficial, just make sure to return it to me, okay?" Gretzky asked, using his question to be as polite as he could have been. Azure sighed, before grabbing the suit and putting it on. It seemed to fit perfectly to his body, almost being perfectly moulded to his body.

"Thank you. I'll return it back then I have finished with it." Azure informed Gretzky, getting a smile from Gretzky in return, brightening his mood the tiniest of bits. Azure was unable to fly in the suit, so he had to talk to Saber about letting him out. As he was walking to the gate, he noticed that Sadjoy was standing at the door of Azure's home, watching Azure walk in the rain. She eyed him with her pin like eyes, piercing his own with her own beautiful eyes. Azure was glad that she had come to stay with her, because he was pretty sure that he would have probably gone insane if she didn't.

Azure raised his hoof up to say hello. Surprisingly, Sadjoy smiled and lifted up a hoof to reply back, instead of breaking the silence that was guarding the area. That little wave back from Sadjoy made Azure smile, if not for a brief second, before he looked serious again and continued onwards towards the gate.

A couple of minutes later and Azure was out of the settlement and just walking around it. Saber had given him a knife that he could use to defend himself, if he did indeed come across any unwanted ponies or creatures. Azure didn't see himself as wanting to use it, but he did keep it.

The yellow and black striped hazmat suit protected Azure from the radiation that came from the rain. Each little drop of water not wanting to harm anything, but was spiked with poison from the war and the surroundings to do so. Azure was just ensuring that his light blue mane and tail, as well as his bright blue fur, were able to be immune to all of the harshness of the world.

Although Azure had been in the radioactive rain before, he had taken some rad-x and danced in the rain, as if nothing ever bad had happened. Although his mood was getting better, he still didn't feel like dancing. Instead, he would push himself to work harder and to try to achieve more. That would be what Blitz would have wanted, right?

Lucid daydreaming made him phase from reality to a fantasy land of pure imagination. Azure kept flicking from harsh environments to beautiful mountains, which didn't help him focus on where he was going, making him trip over a root of a tree. He landed face first into a puddle of radiation, making him feel a little dirty, even though the water and even the radiation couldn't get through. Azure picked himself up just in time to see a ghoul standing in front of him.

Azure scrambled as soon as he noticed the ghoul, not initially seeing it when it was in his vision the first time. Azure drew his knife out in fear, holding it with his muzzle and making sure that the sharp end was facing the ghoul, rather than having it facing himself. The ghoul just looked at him, not knowing what to make on the situation.

The ghoul was feral, that was for sure, but it didn't show any signs of being feral. It didn't attack Azure, it didn't look like it had any plans to attack him and it ignored him, making him slightly confused. The ghouls didn't look at Azure, as it passed him, making him a little confused. Azure kept moving forward, still with the dagger in his mouth. Azure heard a twig snapped and turned to see the ghoul jumping at him. The only thing that the ghoul didn't notice was that Azure tilted his head away, trying to dodge the attack, but also bringing the knife up to be standing tall, making the ghoul's stomach and entire chest get sliced by Azure's actions.

Azure looked behind him, in the direction that he originally wanted to go and found the ghoul bleeding out on the floor. Azure observed the ghoul carefully, knowing full well that they were beginning to get smarter, using a bit more of what they had less of, their brain. Azure had to admit that what the ghoul had done in that moment in time was pretty smart. It would look like it didn't even care about him, with a big chance to fail if it attacked Azure from the front. So instead, the ghoul strolled past and didn't bat an eyelid at Azure, until it got behind him, having more of a chance to successfully complete its attack.

Azure went to go and help the ghoul, but saw that it tried to lunge for him, making Azure think about not trying to save it. He didn't mean to hurt it, but if the ghoul continued walking, then it wouldn't have been a problem. Azure just tried to turn around, but he couldn't do it. He walked closer to the ghoul and watched as the ghoul lashed out at him a couple times, nearly catching Azure with its claws, carved out of bone and dead dry skin.

The actions of the ghoul made Azure shrink back, making him feel like there was nothing that he could have done to make it so that the ghoul was able to at least walk again. Azure just watched as the ghoul suffered, then made it come down to the final thing that he could have done in that situation. Azure pointed the knife he had at the ghoul, showing the ghoul that he would do something if it refused to listen to him or stop. The ghoul was having none of it, trying to claw Azure from the floor. Since Azure only had a knife at his disposal, making him wish that he could have just brought his gun along with him. Azure looked down at the ghoul, who was eagerly trying to come closer to him, its mind shrouded with pure intent to hurt, kill, eat, repeat.

"Why do you want this?" Azure shouted, realising that there was no visor on the suit, making him question how he didn't recognise that earlier. Azure regained his focus when the grunts of the ghoul slowly turned into a voice. It was almost like it was pleading for help, but at the same time sounding like sarcasm.

"Because eat!" The ghoul answered, blood dribbling down its mouth as it spoke. While that happened, the ghoul quickly lapped up the blood before it reached the bottom of its muzzle, or what was left of it. The made Azure wince a little, before the ghoul tried to lash out at him again, snapping what it had left in Azure's direction. It failed, due to the distance that Azure was at, but didn't make his choice any easier, due to the ghoul bleeding out. Azure didn't want the ghoul to suffer, but he also didn't want the ghoul to hurt him or any other pony.

The choice for Azure was a lot harder for him, due to him caring about all life, but he had to come to a conclusion, one way or another. Nopony said that it would have been easy, but he was going to do it. Azure closed his eyes, before signing and standing on his hindlegs, before jumping up, with the knife in his mouth. He landed on the back of the ghoul and watched as it tried to turn over, but it couldn't, due to both the wound on its stomach tearing and Azure being on the back of the ghoul. Before Azure could do anything, he closed his eyes before jamming his head to the right, tilting his head to get the knife into the skull of the ghoul.

The groans of the ghoul died down completely, after Azure jammed his down. A tear went down Azure's cheek and made him open his eyes to the sight that he had just killed. The ghoul was lying limp on the ground and blood was sporting out of two locations; one on its front, where Azure went through it accidentally. Two, was now in the top of its skull. It looked awfully painful and Azure expected that it probably was, but at least the ghoul wasn't in any pain anymore, that was what Azure wanted to do, only because he felt like the ghoul would have been in so much pain otherwise and didn't want to see it suffer.

Azure backed up a little bit from the ghoul's body, seeing that it was gone from the world. He didn't want to hurt anypony, yet he didn't want anypony to get hurt because of his actions, making him dwell more on stuff that really shouldn't have bothered him. He kept his eyes on the ghoul, seeing if it would reanimate again and make him kill it a second time. Gladly but sadly, it didn't. That brought joy and sadness to Azure's mind instantly, but he shook his head and tried to get around the fact that he didn't need to worry about something that was already dead.

Azure placed the knife in his mouth again, before walking away from the ghoul, hoping that it wouldn't come back to life in any way, shape or form. He noticed that he was feeling a little bit different, noticing that he was thinking a little bit straighter after easing the suffering of the ghoul, making him give the slight sigh possible, before thinking straight for a little bit. All emotions seemed to get filtered away from him, giving him more of a positive vibe from all that he had done. Maybe this was a way of Blitz telling Azure that he was fine. Azure only wished that Blitz could have been there to help him, but sadly, he wasn't.

Azure rounded the settlement once, before finally stopping and entering the settlement, thanks to Saber guarding the gates of the settlement and allowing him entry. Azure looked at him and passed the knife back to him, before seeing a reaction that Saber wouldn't normally portray. Saber looked confused about the amount of blood on the dagger that Azure had just passed back to him. It was literally covered from handle to the tip of the blade, in blood. Saber took one look at Azure, before looking back to the blade.

"Are you okay? Where did this blood come from?" Saber questioned Azure, making Azure smile slightly. That smile that Azure pulled didn't make Saber smile, it just made him scowl. Azure looked around the hazmat suit for any signs of blood, before noticing that there was a little on the back of his hindleg. That didn't go down well with Saber. "What happened?" Saber asked with a straight face.

"I got attacked by a ghoul, but it isn't going to be a problem anymore." Azure stated, a stern look on his face, making Saber look away from him to try and hide any fear that he might have had of Azure. Azure just let Saber be alone with the knife, as he went to return the radiation suit back to Gretzky. He wanted to know why there was no face cover or face shield on the hazmat suit. It really threw him off when he wanted to understand the reasoning behind it, but sadly, he couldn't get his head around the reason at all, so he was going to ask Gretzky for clarification.

As Azure walked around in Sharpened Death, he noticed the area was more populated with ponies. There were a huge amount of ponies over at Nightclaw's shop, making Azure a little confused on why they were there. Did they want something from him? Azure slowly walked up to the group that were buying from Nightclaw, before stopping when he saw that Sadjoy was watching the group carefully, patrolling the area, just in case anypony wanted to steal something and make off with it.

Azure turned and continued his journey to see Gretzky, seeing that he was indeed in his shop. Gretzky noticed Azure with a smile, making one also grow on his face, because nopony wanted to see another pony sad. Gretzky walked out from behind the counter of his shop and helped Azure with getting the suit off. It was a bit of a struggle getting it off on his own, so Gretzky decided to help Azure, to make it quicker and less awkward to see him struggle. Eventually, they got the suit off, making Azure thank Gretzky for the help. Gretzky nodded back and went back behind the counter, before placing the hazmat suit below his counter to dry off.

"Yeah, that reminds me of something that was on my mind, Gretzky. Why didn't the suit have a visor with it?" Azure questioned, hoping that Gretzky was up for answering his question. Happily, Gretzky had all the time in the world, having done most of his tasks earlier in the day.

"It simply didn't come with one when I found it. If it did, I would have still left it off, due to it only being used for rainy days and nights. If the opportunity comes up to go to a radioactive place, then yeah, I'd attach the visor to it." Gretzky explained, getting a firm nod from Azure, as he just relaxed and let the air wrap around him like a blanket.

"Okay then, thank you for the information." Azure stated, getting a response from Gretzky. He gestured his claw in a manner that meant no problem. Azure stood on his two hindlegs and placed his forelegs on the counter dropping his head a little. Gretzky knew what Azure was going through and knew that Blitz was close to him, so he wanted to help as best as he could. He tried to change the subject and had an idea.

"So Alchem, how was the walk? Did it work?" Gretzky asked, getting Azure's attention and seeing that his ears perked up, making Gretzky smile. Azure was about to explain it all to him, but he was going to sum it all up into a couple of words. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but Azure was going to keep it brief.

"Short, relaxing and aggravating." Azure told him flatly, making Gretzky a little confused.

"Why aggravating?" Gretzky asked, a sense of doubt rising in his mind that Azure was still thinking about Blitz.

"I had to kill a ghoul who was smart enough to attack me from behind and just walked past me like I was nothing." Azure explained, making Gretzky smile again. He nodded and grabbed something from beneath his counter. He brought it back up, using his claws and Azure saw that it was a drink of some kind.

"I had a bottle of this lying about and I thought that Eater would have wanted you to have it. It was his favourite drink after all." Gretzky explained, making Azure look at him in confusion. Azure didn't drink, but he knew that Blitz would have, if given the option to. How did he know that it was Blitz's favourite as well. Blitz probably talked to him, duh!

Azure grabbed the bottle and looked at it. Applejack's homemade cider was the name of the bottle and the liquid within, making Azure wince a little, due to how old the bottle must have been. Gretzky opened the bottle for Azure, before waiting for him to take a sip of the mixture. Azure took a sip of the mixture and smacked his lips together, while he swallowed the drink. It was alright, but he wasn't too much of a drinker, but at least he would have been able to finish the mixture. It didn't really taste like alcohol for starters, but was in the end, but that was quite refreshing for Azure and definitely shifted his mood.

Gretzky walked out from behind the counter and hugged Azure softly, before going to the edge of his shop and signalling for Azure to follow him.

*You know the saddlebags that you originally had when you came here, Alchem? Well, I have been busy and have found a couple of extra saddlebags along our journey and have finally gotten around to doing something with them." Gretzky explained, before going around the back of the shop with Azure. "I'm pretty sure the Steel Rangers will be surprised that they haven't been working on this. It was one of the ministry mares that incorporated souls of ponies into material, only this material was chopped up into multiple sources, to help with saddlebag use. What if we used that purpose for… I don't know, armour maybe?" Gretzky added, before showing Azure the armour that he had made. It looked like a bandaged mummy costume, but Azure could tell that a lot of detail went into the design of the rags. The rags created a somewhat type of armour.

The armour looked like it wouldn't have any protection whatsoever, but in fact, the rags were somehow armour. That confused Azure massively, but it was pretty cool to say the least. Azure walked up to the armour and touched it with his hoof, reminding him that he had to go and see Lumia to receive something of his, his PipBuck to be precise.

Gretzky watched Azure's amazement of the armour, seeing that Azure was constantly feeling it, only because he couldn't believe it. Azure walked back and Gretzky brought out two items to test on the material. The first one was a hunting rifle and the second one was some aerosol with a lighter attached to it, making a cheap flamethrower. Azure walked back when he saw both items and made sure that he was out of the way for when Gretzky wanted to test them on the armour.

First of all, Gretzky used the flamethrower on the armour, after dragging it out and away from the shop, to prevent it from burning the shop down. Azure watched as the flames danced in the air, almost like a phoenix did, swirling in motion as the fire danced around the object and sent Azure into a daze. The flames began to heat up the dummy and made Azure wince and then look surprised because of the dummy not bursting into flames.

The armour was protecting the dummy from the flames and making it seem like it was heating up, even if it wasn't. It was pretty smart, but Azure wanted to learn more on the matter of soul energy. It was something that confused Azure, but he would eventually get his head around it. Azure just admired the craftsmanship that went into it, knowing it wasn't Nightclaw's doing, because he dealt with metalwork, rather than material work.

Gretzky stopped with the flames from the aerosol and placed it down, before getting out his rifle. He aimed the rifle at the body of the dummy and fired, seeing that the bullet just bounced off and ricocheted off the armour, which surprised Azure immensely. The shot was loud and probably echoed across the land, but it was at least for testing purposes and not used for harm at all.

Zeke walked behind the shop, just to check on what was happening and saw that Gretzky was standing there with a rifle in his claws with Azure watching. He smiled, before nodding and backing away. Azure and Gretzky both looked at each other and chuckled softly, before paying their attention back to the armour.

"Alchem, I want you to have it. It has a button system that will allow you to put it on and off with ease and i have a feeling that being a medical pony and all, that you would probably have the most positive impact wearing it." Gretzky explained, going to grab the armour and trying to take it off the dummy. It was still hot, but not boiling hot, so Gretzky used the button to unclip the back of the armour, before passing it to Azure. "If I'm not mistaken, soul magic does multiple things for the host, especially if you communicate with said entity every once in a while." Gretzky added, before placing the dummy back under the dust sheet that he had and moving with Azure to the front of the shop.

Azure carefully placed the armour on, after taking off his medical jacket and saw that it had some holes for his wings, which he didn't see before. This made Azure a little confused, but as he got the armour properly equipped onto himself and pressed the button, he could hear a faint voice echoing in the back of his mind.

"Help the world and I shall help you!" The voice whispered, barely enough to be audible. At first, Azure thought that the voice came from Gretzky, but realised that he wasn't paying any attention to Azure at that point, making him question what had actually spoken to him. Was it the armour? Probably. Azure placed his medical jacket and saddlebag over the armour and felt that they were both significantly lighter, especially the saddlebag. It almost felt like the saddlebag was empty, which made Azure actually question if he did indeed have anything within it.

Gretzky walked around the front of the shop and continued to work on some other things that he had to keep working on, while Azure walked past him while he was going back to it. Azure looked at him and saw that he was busy, so he didn't want to disturb him. He supposed that he would come back after he had collected his PipBuck from Lumia, then he would see if Gretzky was busy enough to talk about something with Azure.

Azure turned and walked away from the shop, waving to Gretzky with his hoof, but not getting a response from the hard working gryphon. Azure could understand that at least. He continued to walk away from the shop and saw that Zeke was talking to the kirin,
Lilly. Azure hadn't talked to her much, if not at all, but he was pretty sure that she was a nice mare after all.

Azure walked over to the pair and got the same reaction from both of them. A smile! Azure stopped as soon as he got to Zeke and smiled at them both.

"How are you two doing?" Azure asked, his expression neutral. Zeke looked to Lilly and then back at Azure, drooping his ears in the process.

"To be completely honest, Doctor Alchem, I'm not sure what emotions I am feeling today, especially after what events unfolded and what happened to…" Zeke explained, before Azure cut him off and stopped him completely from finishing the sentence.

"I know, I think that we all know Zeke! I just want to remember him as somepony I held onto for a while." Azure explained, making himself go cold, as well as Zeke. Zeke didn't speak for another good amount of time, before he went to try to speak, but refused himself to do so, keeping the peace within the air.

Lilly walked up to Azure and wrapped her hooves around Azure, feeling that she was hugging him with so much emotion, trying to help him to forget about the events that happened to hurt him so much. Azure was happy that somepony was finally giving him some physical affection, because he really needed it at that moment in time.

"Thank you!" Azure whispered into her ear, making it twitch as soon as she heard the words come out of his mouth. She looked at him and kissed him on the head, sending him into a daze of what in the sweet Celestia happened right there and then with Lilly. Azure was starstruck, emotions flooding his mind and body like they did with Blitz, only he didn't love her. Azure snapped back to reality and shook his head, before tilting his head to her. He walked past them both and regained focus on his main objective, getting his PipBuck back from Lumia.

Azure walked up to the exact house that Lumia and Professor Delta were set in previously, being that it was actually the new security room, for monitoring things that were going on around the settlement. Azure knocked on the door and waited for either Delta or Lumia to open it. The door was metallic and had electricity running around the outer part of the doorframe, making it so that Delta could have opened the door, if he wanted or needed to.

Lumia opened the door slowly, making Azure slowly peep inside, the anticipation killing him as slowly as Lumia was opening the door. As soon as she opened the door, she signalled for Azure to come in, which Azure didn't reply at all. The room was huge! The house or building was made to have multiple rooms, but instead, they planned to just have one room for the computer and setup that was needed.

"Welcome to my home, Azure!" Lumia stated, before going over to a mattress on the floor, next to the computer that Delta was inside. Azure was glad that both Blitz and Nightclaw were able to get Delta over to the settlement. At least then, he could have been kept from being in the wrong hooves. Azure looked at Lumia for a couple of seconds, seeing that she wasn't too happy at all, but still tried to smile. It was so easy for Azure to tell that her smile was fake.

"Yes, welcome to our humble abode, Azure! Feel free to make yourself feel at home." Delta explained, getting a smile from Azure in the process. Azure walked over to the computer, before looking at one of the cameras in the corner of the room. He turned and walked closer to it and watched as it followed his movement. Azure stopped right next to it, seeing that it too had stopped.

"I never really understood how you did this, Professor Delta, but maybe someday I will be able to get an explanation as to how it all happened and how it works?" Azure stated, hoping that someday he could just pop in and get told the story and how it happened.

"Of course! The professor would love that!" Lumia told Azure, getting up from the mattress and going over to Azure's PipBuck. "I knew that you would come back for this machine. Maybe one day the professor could find one that hasn't been used before and integrate himself onto it, or even look into it, to see if he could unlock its potential." Lumia explained her thoughts, making Azure slightly curious as to if he could indeed do that. Surely it was just like getting a virus on the thing, right?

Azure walked up to Lumia and got a surprise hug from her, making him pleasantly surprised that she did anything that loving. She wrapped her hooves around him tightly, trying to literally squeeze the badness out of his body. He appreciated the hug, but also appreciated the air getting to his lungs a little bit more. She lessened her grip on him and smiled.

"Sorry, I guess I squeezed you a little too hard." Lumia admitted, backing up a tiny bit, just to give Azure some space. Delta would have hugged Azure too, but sadly, he didn't have a body to show affection from. He was a little surprised that Azure hadn't broken down at Blitz's loss, but he was genuinely happy for Azure, happy that he was able to stay so strong.

Azure placed the PipBuck on the same forehoof that he did originally, finally feeling like he could have nearly completed his life and put things back to normal, only that isn't how it worked.

"Anyways, thank you both for the affection and comfort. I don't know what I'd do without you both." Azure explained, before rushing out of the door and closing it behind him, almost like he was rushing to get to somewhere, but was he? He looked up and saw that it had stopped raining altogether. That thought made him smile. He flew directly up, riding the wind as he swirled and spiralled up into the sky, but not daring to get anywhere close to the clouds.

Azure used his PipBuck to slow down time, using SATS and letting his body loosen up. He was pretty high in the sky and knew that he was most likely endangering himself and making himself a target, hence the reason why he activated the PipBuck so quickly, to avoid anypony targeting him and being able to get a shot off on him. Sniper or no sniper, he was an easy target for all, which explained why he wanted to keep his time in the air short.

Azure looked around, while still being in the protection of SATS. He was able to see and describe things like he had never been able to before. Everything was enhanced by the slowness of the PipBuck, which was quickly draining his stamina away. Azure looked about the area and relaxed, easing his muscles and loosening all of his joints, trying to make himself feel as comfy as possible.

Azure admired everything that he could within the amount of time that he had left before SATS turned off and sent him plummeting towards the ground. He wanted to describe everything to himself as the most positive that they could have been. He looked around for something to start on, but then looked up and smiled.

The clouds above wore a crimson glow, making the sunshine behind them irradiate them with a warm and calming light. Although the clouds were really thick, the sunlight's beam was far more effective, separating the darkness and light into two completely different entities. All of the shapes of the clouds worked together to fit into place, just like a jigsaw puzzle, not missing a single piece. It was truly remarkable how the Enclave was able to get all of the clouds so compact together and tight enough to not allow much sunlight through to the ground below. They were without doubt selfish though, making Azure hate them for what they had done and what they had contributed to.

Azure looked down and saw that the ground below was poor, but so rich at the same time. Although the ground looked like it hadn't been looked after in decades, the soil was so fertile, especially in some places. That would allow for farmers to be able to create food, but sadly, because of the selfish pegusi, there was little to no sunlight, making it that the plants below would not be able to grow. That left an imprint in Azure's mind that the pegusi were no better than the zebras.

Although Azure kind of hated most of the pegusi and the zebras, he didn't hate himself for being one of them, combined to technically be the worst of all of them. Sure, he grew up with stripes and wings, but he wouldn't judge himself for it, because he never spent time with any groups. If he was to openly show off his stripes, he was pretty sure that he would have been judged for it and everypony's opinion of him would change.

His stamina was draining quickly, which allowed him to stay for one more carefully detailed sight. The settlement of Sharpened Death was one that didn't stick to its name, giving ponies the complete opposite of what they would have been expecting from a place with a vicious name like that. The name hadn't changed from when Roselight and all of the others had moved into the settlement, so there was no point bringing up a debate to change the name to something else.

Looking at the settlement, Azure was proud of what he helped to create. A settlement with a name that not only didn't suit it, but scared off others that might have wanted to attack the settlement. That thought alone made him chuckle to himself while he was frozen in place. The settlement was beautiful, a community below Azure, held together by love, support and friendship. It was an example of what most settlements should have been, but sadly, it wasn't reality for all of the settlements to be like Sharpened Death, because there were some ponies in Equestria that were not made up to be nice and kind. Instead, they had murderous intent, regardless of what it was. Nopony was perfect and that was a fact!

SATS ran out for Azure, making him feel like he needed to take a deep breath in, which he did within a couple of seconds after he had thought about the idea. He was slowly falling through the air, but had his wings out, hence the reason that he was falling slowly. He turned over so that he could land properly and succeeded in landing with perfection, almost like there was nothing that happened. Azure looked around and saw that Saber was just standing there, face blank and showing no emotions on it whatsoever.

Azure looked at him and smiled, before walking in the opposite direction, back towards his home. Although he now has the house to himself, it wasn't the same experience as sharing it with somepony that he cared about a lot. He had mourned Blitz's death, but knew that Blitz wouldn't have wanted him to do so. Blitz would have wanted for Azure to be strong and continue to fight for what was right, in his eyes at least. Azure closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, before a tear rolled down his cheek, making a smile appear on his face.

"Thanks for being there…" Azure stated, being grateful for something that Blitz had done simply for him. Blitz had protected Azure multiple times, but now it was time for Azure to show Blitz that he was going to use the chances that Blitz had originally given him, to his advantage. Azure looked up and saw that the world had gotten a lot darker, signalling that rain was approaching. A clap of thunder shook the world with a blistering roar, as Azure was unfazed by the clap of thunder, making him seem fearless at that point.

Before long, it began to rain, soaking Azure in radioactive water, falling from the sky. He walked back under some cover, before shaking himself like a dog, trying to shake all of the water off his body. His fur was plastered in water, so I did help get rid of a lot of it at least. Azure looked at his PipBuck and sighed, before turning into one of the 24/7 radio stations. There was one that was outputting some of the best songs before the war, without any breaks. He felt like he had made a great choice by choosing it and was glad to hear that jazz was coming up next on the radio station.

Azure smiled as he listened to the music that was emitting from his PipBuck. The jazz was smooth and relaxing, making Azure feel like his head was being massaged from inside out. He loved his music, always had done, it was just that he had never been able to listen to it a lot, but now that he had his PipBuck back, he could listen to it on the fly.

Roselight rushed under the cover that Azure was sitting under, skidding to a stop as soon as she saw him. She heard the jazz coming from the PipBuck and smiled at him, noticing that he was relaxing and listening to music to clear his mind. Roselight sat down next to him and looked around at the rain falling around them, the constant pitter patter of rain splashing onto the ground and creating small puddles, which then would merge together to create a bigger puddle.

A loud crack of thunder broke her silence, making her scream out loud, before more flashes of lightning lit up the world with sharp forks of electricity. Although Azure didn't like thunder and lightning too much, Roselight hated it so much more. Azure used a wing and wrapped it around the alicorn, making her look at him, giving him a scared look.

"It won't hurt you anymore that it will hurt me!" Azure pointed out, making her relax a little, before another crack of thunder shook the air, roaring with vicious intent to scare the entire world. Roselight wasn't having any of it, rushing over to Azure and lying down, before placing her hooves over her ears and her wings over her eyes, trying to hide from something that wasn't even alive.

Azure placed his wing over her and looked down at her, seeing that she was cowering a little. He placed a wing over her, protecting her from the light that she was afraid of as well. She slowly opened her eyes to see what Azure was doing, before smiling and going back to the position that she was in before.

Gretzky ran over to them and stayed quiet, seeing that Roselight was behind Azure's wing, while she cowering herself. Gretzky went to open his mouth, but then closed it again instantly as he looked to Azure and saw that he was shaking his head at him.

"I… I have some news for both of you. It needs to be addressed quickly." Gretzky addressed quickly, stuttering at the start of what he was trying to say. Roselight looked up and saw that he was dead serious about it, making her look at Azure for a response. Azure… really didn't have a response to that. It was Gretzky's plan that originally got Blitz killed, so why could he trust him with going on probably another voyage to see something else.

"What is it?" Roselight asked Gretzky, making him look down at her on the floor. Azure looked out to the rain and saw that it was getting heavier, making their chances of going out on that day, very unlikely. Gretzky looked to Azure and then sighed, before looking back to Roselight.

"Some raiders are in a factory that is about a couple of miles away. It looks like they have found something that the Steel Rangers would want and are trying to use it as bargaining chips for them to come out of hiding and for the raiders to get a bunch of power armour suits." Gretzky explained, making Azure's ears perk up.

"So basically, the raiders are trying to lure out the Steel Rangers to kill them and take their armour? Why is that bad?" Azure asked Gretzky, getting a worried look from him in response to that last question.

"Because if the Steel Rangers die, the raiders around us get stronger. If the raiders die, the Steel Rangers will search for the source of the raiders, potentially coming closer to us and finding out about our new member, sitting inside a computer. Professor Delta, as well as Lumia." Roselight stated clearly, sounding much more confident about her situation. Lightning flashed in her face, but she didn't even recoil, as she thought about something that could have been done.

Azure was getting to the point where he knew what was coming, although he didn't like to admit it, due to it being something that he wanted to stop, because that wasn't the role of a doctor. Azure was scared, but knew that they were going to have to eliminate both the Steel Rangers and the raiders. This sent a shiver down his spine, but also made him feel a little more comfortable with everything, because it was the two factions that gave Blitz trouble, while he was alive that was.

"Welp, I guess I'm in then. How many ponies are we taking into the battle or the operation… or the… whatever you wanna call it?" Azure asked, trying to get a rough estimate as to how cautious he had to be. Gretzky thought for a second, before sitting down.

"I think it is going to be me, Nightclaw, Roselight and Petalbreeze. Would you want to chip in Alchem?" Gretzky asked Azure, noticing that he was in deep thought about it. Azure did indeed have to think about it, because it was a decision that might have cost him if he did go, but might have cost him if he stayed at the settlement. It was a hard choice for the zebra-pegasus hybrid, but he came to the conclusion that it would have been more beneficial for him to go with them, just in case they were to get damaged while fighting.

"I'm in, but I will not be killing others unless it is necessary." Azure announced, getting a firm nod from both Roselight and Gretzky. They both looked at each other and nodded, before Gretzky flew away, back to his shop. Azure was left wondering how they would kill the Steel Rangers behind their armour, but he was pretty sure that was why they were bringing Nightclaw along with them.

Roselight rested her head against the wall that they were sat against, before shortly closing her eyes and sighing. Azure looked to her again, before hearing somepony approaching them. Azure turned his head to see Sadjoy walking towards them, entering the cover and laying down beside Azure. She looked at him and tilted her head to one side, making her ears follow and bringing a smile to Azure's face. She chuckled lightly, before resting her head on the floor.

"We really can't do much until the rain stops, so we might as well relax for a little bit." Roselight suggested, looking at Sadjoy and Azure. Roselight smiled for a short time, before looking to the sky by peeking her head out of the cover that they had from the rain, thunder and lightning. The clouds extended across the sky, being as black as the night itself, making Roselight question if it was actually the pegusi' doing. She highly doubted it, but kept her suspicions about the matter.

Azure laid down and looked at Sadjoy, seeing that she was not one for the rain. She was soaked. Sadjoy was most likely cold, so Azure used his wing to cover her and warm her up. It worked a little, but then Sadjoy got up and curled around before lying down again, curled up next to Azure. Azure tried again with his wing and saw that it covered her entire form. Azure was pretty sure that she was cold, so he was sure that she would have appreciated the comfort that he was giving to her at least.

Sadjoy peeked her head out from beneath Azure's wing and rested her head on the floor, looking into Azure's eyes. Azure was beginning to think that Sadjoy enjoyed Azure's company, which gave him happy thoughts. That was a first in the Wasteland. Azure had to think about how he was going to approach the situation of going with Gretzky and the others, whether that would involve him staying back just in case something happened to land wrong and mess up, or whether he should have been sneaking about and trying to knock ponies out.

Gretzky made it clear that both parties had to be eliminated, but A ure couldn't bring himself to kill somepony, not again. He hated it and didn't necessarily like the ones who did, but they had to do what it took to survive, just like Azure probably would, if it came down to it. When it came to ghouls, Azure wouldn't mind taking a stand against them, due to them already being dead, an aftermath of pre-war Equestria.

"I can do this!" Azure whispered to himself, before looking to Sadjoy and noticing that she was looking up at him.

"Yeah, you can do this!* Sadjoy mimicked, making both Azure and Sadjoy both smile in unicen. It was a happy sight, to see Azure smiling in the way that he was. Sadjoy knew that she was helping, but knew that Azure would mostly be a little upset about Blitz's death. Sadjoy was determined to make her friend feel like he hadn't lost a single friend at all. That was how determined she was to make him happy, so she would try, at all costs.

The thunder picked back up, startling not only Roselight, but both Azure and Sadjoy. Sadjoy didn't mind it, but it was extremely loud for some apparent reason, which was news to her, because she normally would fly up to the sky to hear the thunder as loud as it was right there. Life was confusing, but she liked the confusion a lot.

"Roselight, how many artifacts do we have remaining?" Azure asked, getting a look from her that was not too pleasing.

"I told you to keep this quiet!" She announced, feeling like she had been defeated in some way.

"Hey, we ain't going to find these on our own, are we? You are our boss, our leader, our friend! I don't think that for one minute that anypony will betray you. We have all been loyal, so we only strive to help others as much as we can!" Azure announced, standing up slowly and looking down at Roselight. Roselight closed her eyes and then thought for a couple of seconds, before opening them again and actually agreeing with him, wanting her to be right so much, but in the end, Azure was correct. It would be better if they were all looking for it, rather than a select few.

Roselight nodded to him, before Azure sat down and wrapped himself around Sadjoy, making her feel ever so warm. Roselight looked at the two and smiled, before looking away and making her smile fade away. Azure noticed that she was looking at them both and was feeling like she was missing something. Azure whistled at her, getting her attention, before using his hoof to signal for her to come to him. She slowly crawled over next to him and made herself get as close to him as she could, before Azure wrapped his other wing around her, making her feel all of the warmth in the world.

They all sat there for a couple of minutes, admiring the storm, before Roselight's leg began to twitch rapidly. Azure took notice of this and smelt that something was off within the air, almost like somepony was…

"Azure, Sadjoy, do you two want to go and relax in my home?" Roselight asked, making Azure smile and making him also look at Sadjoy, who was inches away from being asleep. She woke up more and went wide eyed.

"Wait, Roselight? Are you in heat?" Sadjoy asked, getting a massive blush from Roselight. Sadjoy looked to Azure and smiled. "Yeah, sure!" Sadjoy added. Roselight looked into Azure's eyes and tilted her head slightly, trying to give off a cute look. Her heat was beginning to become overwhelming to her, making Azure's choice make or break the situation that they were going to have, or the orgy.

Azure nodded, before Roselight teleported them both away, bringing them both to her home.

"Roselight, why did you call Alchem Azure for?" Sadjoy asked, before getting a blank from Azure.

"Wrong name!" Roselight yelled out, as she closed the windows and locked the door, before opening the door to her bedroom and pushing the two into it, closing and locking the door behind them. Azure was going to have a feeling that he was going to be excited to go on the mission tomorrow, but was still a little worried.

All of the worries seemed to vanish, as two mares playfully teased him, behind the locked door. Tonight was a great night!

Chapter 16: Ambush Army

Azure woke up in a bed that was not his. He was slightly confused, before the memories of earlier flooded through his mind, almost like a dam breaking and bellowing out water. Azure looked at the beam on the roof that was looking over him and smiled. He could definitely remember what he did earlier and could remember each and every detailed moment, from the way he moved, to what he did and what he was thinking and feeling.

Azure looked to his left to see Roselight. She was still asleep and probably would have been for a little while. Azure was pretty sure that it was still the same day, but he couldn't really tell or at least care, due to him looking at the grin on her muzzle. She had been happy the entire time, so Azure was pretty sure that he had helped her out a lot. He could tell that she was having happy dreams too, due to how she was chuckling while she was asleep. That thought alone made Azure's heart melt.

Azure then looked to his right to see an adorable little bat pony nuzzling his fur, only this mare was awake. Azure looked into her eyes and smiled. They sparkled like they were looking directly at the sun,which made her all the more cuter. Sadjoy yawned, making Azure do the same in rapid succession, due to yawns being highly contagious, if you saw somepony do it. After Azure yawned, Sadjoy kissed him lightly, on the lips. He was slightly surprised, but knew exactly why he had been kissed. Sadjoy closed her eyes and enjoyed it to the fullest, rubbing her body against his in an attempt to get as close as she could to him.

Azure slowly backed away from the kiss, seeing that Sadjoy was enjoying every second of it, until it ended. She smiled at him and giggled, showing that she had enjoyed his company more than she let on. Azure blushed slightly and rolled his eyes, before sitting up and trying to stretch his wings without waking Roselight. She deserved all of the sleep that she could have got. Azure acknowledged how hard it was to manage a settlement, let alone run it as their leader. Azure admired that about Roselight. She was a natural born leader and was really, really good at it.

As Azure got up, he noticed that there was an additional weight that was pulling him down. When he went to look, all he saw was Roselight holding him down, being wide awake. The proceeded to freak Azure out a little, due to how much of a deep sleep she was in. She smiled at Azure before seeing the shocked look on his face, making her cackle a little bit harder.

Azure pouted, pushing Roselight off himself and onto the bed, making sure that she didn't hurt herself at all. She landed on the bed softly, before making the bed bounce a little, due to the old springs of the bed being rusty and worn out. It was good enough to sleep on at least, which meant that it could be used for other fun activities as well.

"Morning then you lot! Did I help you with that issue, Roselight?" Azure asked, before getting a swift nod from her, while she moved her hips on the bed. Azure couldn't take his eyes off her, before Sadjoy dragged Azure's head to the side, allowing his eyes to stray away from her soft flank. Azure really did have a thing for them, that was something that they both knew by that point. Sadjoy looked him dead in the eyes, before smiling.

"You got better things to be doing than staring at Roselight's ass! Come on Alchem!" Sadjoy prompted, making Azure smile slightly. He did what he was told and stretched, before moving swiftly out of the door. He was in the main room and could see the door, but part of him didn't want to leave at all, making it a bit of a struggle for his mind to come up with a solution to the situation. Should he stay with both of the mares, like Roselight wanted, or should he have gone away from the two and begin to work? He didn't know what to choose at that point.

He closed his eyes and thought about what needed to be done, that he knew of at least, before remembering about the plans that Gretzky had. It involved both him and Roselight, so Roselight's option was instantly put out of the window, leaving Sadjoy's option last, so it was the option that he had to go for. Azure opened his eyes back up to see Gretzky standing in front of him, quickly accompanied by both Nightclaw and Roselight. Sadjoy was off to the left a little bit, before Azure looked over and saw her.

"Are we all ready then?" Gretzky asked, a sliver of doubt crossing his mind when he said that. Azure noticed that and then nodded, but then looked at Sadjoy to make sure that she was okay about staying back, out of the action. She swiftly shot Azure a smile, convincing him enough to let her stay safe. Azure had to keep a couple of friends close, but also some of them far away, just in case the ones that were close died. Azure was a little bit more open with death, but hated it just that little bit more.

Azure walked over to Sadjoy and hugged her, before letting go and kissing her on the cheek.

"Thank you for the time!" Azure thanked her, making her blush a little and kissed him on the cheek. She nodded, before she looked at the others, her mind still full of worry about what might happen to them if things fell as badly as they did last time. Azure wanted to avoid all conflict if possible, but this time, it was inevitable, due to the parties involved.

Azure gave Sadjoy one last hug before moving to the front door. He looked back to the others behind him and nodded, before stepping his hoof outside. The floor was damp and cold, signalling that it had been raining a short time ago, making their journey have a little bit of a risky one. Azure looked around and could only see the blackness of the outside world. It was coming to be night-time, making their journey dangerous, if not already. He exited the building and walked around, feeling that the floor was very, very wet. To save his fur and legs from getting muddy, Azure thought that it would have been a good idea to make more use of his wings, so he was going to fly all the way to the next area. That area was their objective, only Azure didn't know where it was, Gretzky and Roselight did.

They all travelled to a nearby building and knocked on the door, using a free hoof. Azure looked at Sadjoy as she nuzzled him, before walking away, probably to get her guard uniform or armour on. Azure really did enjoy her company, especially after earlier, which made him kind of a suck up for her. Azure could tell that she enjoyed his company as well, due to the way that she wanted to be as close to him as she could. Azure had a feeling that he had a new mare friend, but was she only doing it to make him forget about Blitz? That was something that was now bothering him, but he couldn't do anything about it anyway, so he just focused on the job ahead.

The door opened slightly, revealing a mare in some armour. That mare in the armour was Petalbreeze. She was ready by the looks of things, which made the process of getting off into action easier. Azure seemed a little confused at first, but then realised that she must have gotten ready earlier, hence the reason that he saw her running to her home.

"Are we going now?" Petalbreeze asked, getting a nod from her sister, Roselight. Petalbreeze stepped out and looked about, seeing that the entire group was either less armoured than her, or not even armoured at all, which made her a little confused.

"This is a stealth mission, not a full blown assault." Gretzky quickly pointed out to Petalbreeze, giggling a little from the mare in her armour. Petalbreeze didn't respond, hopping about and trying out her armour. She didn't look like she was going to take it off anytime soon, so they just rolled with it and went to pick up something from Nightclaw's shop.

Nightclaw flew as fast as he could, passing Azure like a blurt, which made Azure's head spin. He quickly landed and then cleared his head and made sure his eyes worked properly, before beginning to fly again. Azure could make out Nightclaw scrounging about inside his shop, looking for something in particular. Nightclaw pulled a face as soon as he had found it, before picking it up and placing it into his saddlebag. Azure didn't get a glimpse of what Nightclaw had picked up, but knew that Nightclaw knew what was good to have on a mission like the one that they were about to partake in.

Moments passed as they were let out of the gate, a stoic Sadjoy and Saber at the gate, protecting the settlement like their life depended on it, like it pretty much did. Azure waved back to Sadjoy as she gazed on in happiness that he had helped her have a stress free sleep. She wanted to thank him somehow, but how?

Night fell across the land, darkening the area and the sky as well. What was a once grey sky littered with clouds, was a black abyss with clouds above. The clouds destroyed any hope Azure had of seeing the so-called 'stars' in the sky, but he was told a lot of magical things about them.

"We shouldn't be long! I'm pretty sure that we're nearly there." Roselight explained, getting the group to be more focused. Nightclaw was flying and toying with a weapon that he had. It looked like a shotgun but also a rifle, which confused Azure a lot. There was a lot in the world that Azure couldn't wrap his mind around and one of them was weapons.

Azure could see weapons on all of the ponies and gryphons around him, making him roll his eyes and making him try to tell himself that they were for protection purposes only. Azure thought the truth, knowing full well that they wouldn't kill unnecessarily and only focused on defending themselves and their friends.

Petalbreeze could see that Azure was a little bit spooked, so she slowed down a tiny bit, before picking up speed again, as she got to his side. She noticed that he wasn't right. He looked a little more drained than he previously did, but she thought that it must have been what he had been feeling for Blitz was beginning to build up in his mind.

"Are you okay, Alchem?" Petalbreeze asked, looking slightly concerned at the state that Azure was in. Azure nodded, before looking at her, directly in the eyes. She could see that something was off, just by the look in his eyes and how his eyes kept twitching and darting from pony to gryphon. Petalbreeze didn't believe him for a second, before she pet her hooves on Azure shoulders, having to jump a little to bring him down to a lower level.

"What is it?" Azure asked, being slightly confused about what she found wrong with him.

"Relax! Please!" Petalbreeze commanded, being a little too loud and grabbing the attention of the rest of the group. Azure's ears folded over and made him look at the ground. He closed his eyes for a split second before perking his ears up again and opening his eyes. He nodded to her and flew up a little bit, clearing some of the trees above and instantly flying back down after catching a glimpse of a couple of raiders in the trees ahead. They didn't see him, but he wanted to make sure that they weren't spotted by them.

Azure tapped Gretzky on the shoulder, before whispering into his ear, telling him that he had just seen some raiders in the trees up ahead. Gretzky looked up and then back down at Azure, nodding to him quietly and pointing directly at Roselight and Petalbreeze talking, signalling for him to tell the two about the situation that they were in. Azure did as he was suggested, walking over to Roselight and Petalbreeze and noticing that they took an extended interest in the conversation that Azure wanted to have with them.

Roselight quickly and quietly rose up, using her wings to flap as quietly as possible and spotted the two raiders, before landing again and speaking with Petalbreeze. Petalbreeze nodded, before getting onto Roselight's back. Azure watched as both of them rose into the tree line, fading out of sight. A couple of seconds later, two bodies fell on top of Gretzky and Nightclaw. It was the two raiders, with knives plunged into their necks. Roselight and Petalbreeze both landed, before they used their magic to pull the knives out of the lifeless bodies. Azure should have felt something from the raiders, some sort of emotions, but sadly, he didn't.

Azure watched as the blood drained from the wounds in their necks, making everypony else look away, apart from Azure. It was almost like he was watching something like a bottle falling over and watching the water come out, only this water was blood and the bottles were bodies. Azure found it very hard to take his eyes off them , but knew that he had to move along. They were really close to the area where the raiders were meant to be setting up an ambush.

Azure looked at his PipBuck and saw that there were a couple of red blips on the screen of it, making him a little bit curious to see how many raiders were really inside such a small area. Azure looked up and could see the corner of the factory. Just like the last factory that both him and Blitz travelled to, the walls were crumbling just at the sight of it. It gave Azure a little bit of a reminder of finding the memory orb and one of the artifacts, that being the Daring Do figurine that was passed quickly from both of their grasps, to Roselight's tormented state. Roselight was back on their side at least, which filled Azure with a sense of achievement, boosting his confidence, ego and motivation.

Gretzky raised his weapon, along with Nightclaw, pointing it at the factory and wondering about what happened to the place. It looked exactly like one of the other areas that they had to clear out originally, which gave them a false sense of dread and made them a little confused, if not confused already. Azure didn't raise up his weapon, he only kept it to his side, being ready for if any ghouls wanted to intrude into their battle, making his mind race from the thought of a war occurring right there and then.

All of the group flew up, making it so that they didn't stumble across the raiders that were already inside, giving away their cover. They had an idea that they really wanted to stick to, which they hoped that it would work perfectly. They were going to hide in a position that would allow them to watch over the battle between the raiders and the Steel Rangers. They would then come out and finish off the side that was the last remaining, hoping that the raiders would win, due to them having no armour, unlike the Steel Rangers did. They were more confident going up against raiders than any member of the Steel Rangers, especially ones that had bigger mounted weapons on their sides.

The group landed on the top of the factory, before lying down and trying to see if they would be able to spot any raiders below. Gretzky had an abundance of weapons at his disposal, which made him the heavy hitter of the group, the one that could rain the pure light of the sun down onto the enemies below, making for a large assault on the ponies that challenge them and definitely the ground. Gretzky, with the amount of weapons and bullets that he had, was sure to leave a crater in the ground, especially if it was a Steel Ranger on the opposite side of him. Azure was a little confused by the amount of power that Gretzky was able to put out, but he understood that Gretzky would only use the weapons if he needed them.

As they all laid down, Azure could see that Roselight was holding Petalbreeze on her back, making her slowly slide down off Roselight’s back, making Azure smile and chuckle lightly. He was pretty confident that the group would have succeeded, if they managed to stay quiet and hidden all of the time. Azure was most likely the one to make them all stay quiet, due to him being the only one to want to avoid all conflict altogether. He was pretty stubborn about that as well, seeing that everypony had p[otential, if they tried at all to show a spark of good. If they did show a spark of good, Azure would have helped them set that spark into a fire of light and generosity. Azure looked at the group and smiled, knowing that they would have done anything to have helped Blitz, if they could have had the opportunity at all, that would lead to their survival of course. Azure had to stop thinking about his friend Blitz, but it was hopeless to try and forget somepony who meant a lot to not only himself, but others around him. Everypony in the settlement enjoyed his company and that was what made him such a remarkable changeling.

Azure caught sight of some raiders below them, which made him a little anxious about the entire situation, but then looked to Roselight and saw that she was smiling at him. The way that she smiled at him made Azure build up his confidence about the situation that they had placed themselves into. Bit by bit, Azure’s confidence increased for every member that was smiling, which gave him the confidence to smile as well. It made the tension of the situation die down just a little more than it previously did, making Azure’s nerves die down just that little bit quicker. Azure was still scared that he might have a chance to lose a friend, but he didn't let that stop him. Instead, Azure was slowly becoming more and more confident as the seconds went by, each one feeling a little longer than a minute, as the group waited for the perfect opportunity.

Gretzky brought one of his rifles to bear, before looking down the scope and locking onto one of the raiders, but refusing to fire until the time was right. Azure looked at the other raider and thought to himself about how the group would have gone about the situation to take out the remaining enemies, making him actually stop and think. Azure looked at his PipBuck and looked through his inventory. He didn't have too much stuff on him, only a few medical supplies, the pistol that Blitz had given to him, some canned food for when he got hungry and his syringe gun with some healing syringes. He really didn't have too many things, especially when compared to the others that he was tagging along with. Gretzky’s backpack was nearly full, due to the sheer amount of weapons and ammo that he had brought along with him.

Two more raiders appeared out of nowhere, making the group think that the raiders would have surely won. One of them was holding a rocket launcher, strapped to his back with the trigger in his mouth, getting ready for when he needed to use the weapon that was strapped tightly to the back of the raider stallion. All of the group spotted him as well and kept their eye on him, moreso for the reason of him having a rocket, when the rest of them had rifles in their magic or attached to their sides, on a battle saddle, much like the one that Azure had.

Before long, the raiders picked up on something, before scattering and hiding. They knew that the Steel Rangers were coming in their direction, so they hid out of sight quickly, to avoid the armoured units from getting the first initial shot off, one that would most likely cause the raiders to lose their ambush. Gretzky spotted a couple of them hiding in the factory below them and made out that at least one of them was trying to get onto the broken roof part that they were one, which made them all look to the ladder that was close by. They could hear one of the raiders climbing up and aimed a weapon at the position of the ladder. Each of their weapons were pointed at the ladder, pretty much making the situation completely overkill.

“We can't do that! It will alert the entire ambush team and it could make our time a little harder, potentially losing another good member of the group, which i don't want!” Petalbreeze called out quietly, making sure that she didn't talk too loud and getting them spotted or found out about. They all went completely silent as soon as they heard somepony climbing up the ladder, making each of them go breathless, apart from one pony, who was getting something out of their saddlebag.

The raider peeked his head up and over, not spotting the group originally, but noticing that something felt off with something, somewhere. As soon as the raider spotted the group, Roselight placed an orb around him, trapping the screaming that he was doing, due to spotting the group and trying to call out to his team of raiders that were pretty close by. It didn't work, making Roselight push on with her actions. She used her magic to lock the raider in place, before he was able to use the rocket that he had strapped to his back. Roselight was going to end it very quickly and quietly, moving up to him within the bubble and pressing a pistol to the frozen stallion’s head, before pulling the trigger and not hearing anything, only seeing his body go from life-like to dead within a matter of seconds.

Blood poured from the body of the raider like his head was a waterfall, for blood. It trickled down his head and made a little puddle on the floor beneath him. Azure disliked the scene before him, but didn't have the willpower to do anything about it. Azure just watched in shock as a pony was left to rot like the rest of the Wasteland. It was a sad sight, but Azure was determined to help those who deserved a second chance, not the ones that ruined their first chance so bad.

The rocket launcher on the pony’s back was heavier than they had originally expected, but they were able to unfasten it off the stallion’s corpse and take the rocket launcher away from him, allowing them to use it for themselves and for the entire team. They moved it into a suitable position and then got it ready to fire, waiting for the perfect moment to fire the rocket and release hell apun the opposition. All they had to do was wait for the perfect opportunity to use the rocket and then the battle would have been closed quicker than it normally would without it.

They all waited patiently as Roselight moved back down, removing the noise canceling bubble and waiting for something to happen. Just like them, the raiders were also waiting for sight of the Steel Rangers, which filled them with a little bit of excitement. Azure slowly shuffled over to the corpse of the raider and looked at it. As blood oozed from the bullet wound in his head, Azure was sure that there was no chance at all of saving the raider that he was looking at, making him frown a little. Despite them not really caring about anypony but themselves, Azure wanted to at least give some of the nicer raiders, a second chance.

Azure looked at the battle saddle and saw that it was similar to the one that he was wearing on himself at that point in time. Azure was pretty sure that all battle saddles were the same, but he couldn't tell for sure, due to how much of the world Azure still didn't know about, making him want to travel the world, not only Equestria. That thought alone got him thinking about what he wanted to do when it was all over, but that was a thought that would need to leave his head, due to him knowing that the world would probably not go back to how it used to be, but with time anything was possible, so he could hope for a better future at least.

Azure was called over again by Gretzky, telling him to get to position, do to them seeing the convey that was coming in their direction. As quick as a flash, Azure returned to the position that he was in originally, making them know that he was ready to do nothing at all, apart from being the medic and all. From where they were, they could see the Steel Rangers coming in their direction. From the looks of things below, it looked like there were only three of them, two in armour and one without armour. Azure was pretty surprised to see that there were not more of them, being how their battle with Blitz ended up. It was one changeling versus about ten or twenty Steel Rangers, making Azure chuckle a tiny bit, before going silent again. Azure looked at the convey coming towards the and wanted to wait for the perfect time to be able to signal to use the rocket launcher. Gretzky and Nightclaw both toyed about with the rocket, before Roselight moved it away with her magic, making the group focus more on the things the were going on in front of them, rather than the things that were beside them, like the rocket was before Roselight moved it away.

They all focused on the situation that was happening and tried to make out what was going on with all of the raiders below them. There were raiders pretty much everywhere, making it impossible for them to move around from the spot that they were already in. That made the situation that they were in worse, because now they couldn't rely on a plan B, which was to run back and set up further down the treeline. That sadly, wasn't an option anymore, as well as running away completely, due to more raiders being behind them.

Roselight had a plan, a plan that would make them able to stay where they were without giving off the impression that there was somepony on the roof of the factory, instead of nopony being up there. Roselight was going to stay behind cover with the rocket launcher and fire it off when the fighting started. Roselight noticed that the stallion had a timestamp on one of his forehooves, indicating that something was going to happen at that time. Roselight was hoping that it was the time that the Steel Rangers would have got there, rather than being anything else.

Azure could pretty much see all of the raiders about the area. Some were scattered across the area and some were packed into tight areas, getting ready for a fight that they were not really ready for. Azure could at least tell that nopony below had a strong enough weapon to be able to penetrate the armour that the Rangers used. Metal suits have a pretty high protection pattern, making Azure know that there was at least a couple of minutes worth of distractions, making him doubt the raiders.

Although they could see the ponies approaching, the raiders below couldn't make them have to wait for the others to call out and start shooting at them. If they were lucky, they could take out the non armoured pony, but that was a slim chance that they would have accomplished anything down below. Azure saw that there were a couple of raiders in the trees and behind them as well, making them pinched even more than they thought. One of the raiders spotted the convoy and shot a flair directly up, making it so that all of the other ponies around knew. Before they knew it, the group saw a lot of other flairs rise up after being shot, indicating that there were at least another fifty raiders outside of their view range, making all of their hairs on their tails stand on end. The flairs were all red, indicating nothing until roselight looked at the body. She found a flair gun too, noticing that it was green. Without a blind notice, she took it with her magic and aimed it at the air, before firing a green pulse into the air. The green flair traveled through the air and exploded, before hearing a blisting howl, followed by a lot of yelling.

The raiders charged into battle, shooting at all of the Steel Rangers from every angle, apart from above. Roselight noticed something as she was about to go and fire the rocket at the defending convoy. The convoy was delivering some boxes of food and the non armoured mare was also defenceless, having no weapon to defend herself with. Roselight could see that the Steel Rangers were protecting her with something, but she didn't know what they were using to do so. All Roselight knew was that the mare was not with the Steel Ranger, more or less being escorted by them.

That was bad for the entire party that was involved, not only the Steel Rangers, but also Azure's group that he was with. Not only were there too many raiders for them to handle, but they weren't even intercepting a convoy from the Steel Rangers. This was an escort! The Steel Rangers in the power armour used their guns, being able to take out raider after raider. Roselight spotted a crowd of raiders that had bunched up, about five or six of them and shot the rocket at them. It didn't go directly where she wanted it to go, but it did still hit all of them, making it not matter as it did a little swirl, before exploding and taking out the group.

The non armoured mare spotted the group and got shot in the foreleg, making her recoil in pain and shock. Gretzky flew overhead and let loose a stream of buckshot as he unloaded one of the shotguns that he had with him. The rest of them, being Petalbreeze, Roselight and Nightclaw stayed on the roof. Azure had a different idea, making him want to test the durability of Gretzky's design

Azure jumped down and landed on the ground, using his wings to slow the fall and prevented him from breaking or at least damaging his legs. As soon as his hooves touched the ground, he looked around and saw a couple of raiders getting closer to him, holding some sharp weapons in their mouth and magic, making them more of a threat than Azure had originally thought. A bullet whizzed past Azure’s ear, hitting one of the raiders directly in the centre of the head. Azure just stood there as the raider fell to the ground, his body becoming lifeless and still. The other raider looked at Azure, as Azure gave him a dead gaze, making the raider shake.

Azure outstretched his hoof, only wanting peace and for all of the violence to fade away and die down, rather let ponies battle one another like Celestia had not wanted them to do. The raider froze, not knowing exactly what to. Azure still had his hoof outstretched for the raider to join him, not wanting the raider to get hurt in all of this. Azure had to hurry up with the entire saving process, otherwise there wouldn't have been anypony left to save at all, making him feel like more pressure was on him, rather than anypony else in the group. The raider looked at the battlefield that they were in, before looking down at the body of his ally. The raider was pretty much siding with the enemy if he did agree to stop all of the murderous intent, but it was a difficult choice of the raider.

Out of nowhere, a raider rushed towards Azure, before knocking him over and making him roll onto the floor. The raider then proceeded to pick up the weapon that the fallen raider had and was about to plunge it into the body of Azure, before the blade of the weapon broke right in front of him. The raider looked at the blade and saw that it had been broken clean, leaving a straight line where the blade should have been. The raider got angry at this and turned around before lifting up its back legs. Azure rolled out of the way as two hooves came crashing down in the location that he was originally in, making him glad that his head was not in that position anymore, otherwise it would have been turned into mush. Azure was ready to keep rolling, but could see that the raider was not moving anymore. Azure looked over and saw that the previous raider, who Azure gave a chance to redeem himself, had done something to the raider that almost killed him. Azure got up and looked at the front of the raider and saw that there was a huge cut in the raiders throat. Azure looked down at the weapon that the raider had and saw that it was covered in blood, from the head of the blade, to the bottom of the blade. Without warning, a bullet whizzed past Azure again, hitting the already dead raider in the head and separated his head from his body, perfectly from where the somewhat good raider had cut him. Did the raider really decapitate his ally? If so, then it was a very clean cut.

Azure placed his hoof on the raider’s shoulder, before looking up at who was providing the protection from above. Azure looked over and saw that Roselight was looking directly at him, a sniper rifle in her magic, showing that she was indeed a good marksman. Azure looked back down to the raider and saw that he was smiling. He didn't seem to have any words to say, but Azure could tell that he was grateful for not killing him, like the other raiders. Azure was glad that he was able to change the thoughts of yet another raider, the first one being of course Zeke. The raider dropped the weapon that he had and waited for Azure to do something.

A scream came from the mare that had no armour and and both Azure and the new ally that Azure had acquired, looked over at the mare to see that one of the Steel Rangers had fallen, the armour getting blown to pieces with the Steel Ranger still being inside of it. Azure rushed over to the mare, charging through multiple gunshots and getting a couple of shots to the side, which quickly broke the bullet physics, making them bounce off the thin material, almost like it acted like metal. At least Azure now knew that the armour worked, putting his mind at rest, just long enough for him to be able to think of a strategy that they could do to allow not only the mare to survive, but the other Steel Ranger as well.

Azure and his friendly raider ran along the floor and got to some cover that was able to block them from most of the shots coming from different directions. Azure looked to his raider friend and saw that he was okay. Azure thought of something that might or might not have been a bad idea at the time, but it would have surely helped him get to both the Steel Ranger and the mare. Azure grabbed a spare pistol that he had within his saddlebag and dropped it in front of the raider, making the raider look at him with shock. Azure looked away from the raider and looked to where the mare was, before bolting out of cover and running towards them both.

Azure felt like the world was in slow motion, due to what was happening. Azure could hear multiple gunshots being fired directly at him, yet they took their sweet time to get to him and ping off his armour, like a piece of dust. It was almost satisfying, if it wasn't for the risk of death being there as well, with any well placed shot to the head being able to kill him within an instant. That was one of the fears that Azure had, which scared him a little bit every time he thought about it. As he continued to daydream, running across a battlefield, he shook his head and looked around, as his legs carried him forward with a great amount of speed behind each fluent movement. Azure was dodging so many bullets, which made him feel a little cocky in the situation that he was placed into. Bearing that in mind, Azure didn't go overboard with his decisions, making them and planning out how to carry them out carefully. Azure was nearly there, still trying to get across to the others. He could also see that Roselight was trying to help still, making sure that no raider could get to him, so that he could get over with the mare and the Steel Ranger.

A barrage of bullets came in Azure’s direction, making him have to take cover behind debris that came from the remains of the factory. It made a perfect amount of cover for Azure to creep behind and allow him to get a couple of peaking glances out of. Technically, he was pinned, dead as a doornail, but something happened that hurt him and surprised him at the same time. His armour, having a soul or fair few souls woven into the fabric, enhanced the armour a little bit, giving him an aura to him and giving him a visor made of magic and wing guards to protect his wings. Although that was good, there was still a downside to the entire thing. That being the fact that there was a full blown conversation between the souls and Azure, within his head, making him feel a little bit light headed and nearly making him feel like he was going to have a nose bleed. That thought alone made him smile and try to forget about the pain that was growing inside of his head, which allowed him to make another push, hopefully being the final push that he needed to get to the stranded two. It was!

Azure slid behind some cover and used his syringe gun on the mare, allowing her leg, that originally had been shot, to heal up properly and quickly, so that they were able to either sneak away or survive. Azure liked the first idea better, but had to go with the second option, due to them being the main focus of all of the raiders. Gretzky was shooting overhead as Azure stayed in front of the mare, allowing his armour to soak up all of the shots that would have torn through the skin of a pony, but it didn't for Azure. He was pretty much unkillable, until the voices finished their frantic nagging, within his head, thus removing the magical visor and wing guards.

The armour was dealing with some heavy fire, but Azure was pretty sure that it would have been able to withstand the full force of most of the raider’s weapons. Azure was pretty sure that there would have been another rocket launcher being used by another pony somewhere within the field, but Azure didn't have time to focus on all of the other ponies that could have had different weapons. He had to focus on the task before him, protecting the mare while the others protected the Steel Ranger. Azure slowly began to move, watching as the mare behind him moved along with him, shuffling as much as he did, making them both look like they were doing some type of synchronised dance or something else along those lines.

Gretzky was constantly diving on the enemies, making them shoot up at him, as well as throw stuff at him. Luckily, he was able to dodge all of the bullets, but not every item, as a random chair hit him, making him go off balance and do a little spiral, correcting himself almost instantly, as he flew back up into the sky, not wanting to even go close to the clouds out of fear of what they might do to him if he did get close. Each strafe that Gretzky did, ended up with a couple bullets less in his rifle and more bullets in the raiders.

Nightclaw joined Gretzky on that, with the entire strafing strategy, but instead of using a rifle, Nightclaw wanted a bit more gore and a bit more power, so he used a shotgun with a huge magazine, peppering some of the raiders that he got close to with molten hot buckshot, little pellets that ripped little holes into the body of the pony who was on the wrong end of Nightclaw’s barrel. Before he needed to reload his weapon, he threw some explosives at some of the raiders trying to hit him with debris from the factory. Nightclaw laughed before he landed with a shotgun in his claws and a couple of explosives on him, him wearing them like a belt.

The raiders charged Nightclaw and got instantly deleted from the world, as Roselight took out some of the raiders with her sniper rifle, allowing Nightclaw to have a little bit of fun. Using her magic, she lifted the side sight of the weapon to her eye, allowing her to look down the weapon with ease. She lined up another shot and took it, tearing a huge hole through one of the raiders head, making sure that he wouldn't have been able to get up from that. Roselight could hear a pony climbing up the ladder behind her and turned to load her gun for another shot, before the gun jammed. The raider got to the top of the ladder and laughed, before pointing a pistol at Roselight, using his mouth.

Petalbreeze darted in with a very sharp knife that one of the original raiders had, allowing her to threaten the raider. She skipped the talking phase of the ‘make friends’ plan and went straight for the ‘can't be trusted’ plan. Petalbreeze stabbed the raider directly in the throat with the knife, using the magic to carve into it, thinking bad thoughts to bring her to the limit of what she could mentally cope with. She took the knife out with her magic, before she lashed at him one more time, decapitating the raider in an instant and making his body drop to the floor, just like his head did. Roselight turned to her right and saw that there was a pegasus looking at them that was a part of the raiders.

The pegasus raider aimed their gun at both Roselight and Petalbreeze, making them stand still. A shot tore through the back of the raider’s head, forcing her to land forward, due to the force of the shot. Both Roselight and Petalbreeze looked to see who saved them, before seeing Azure’s new raider buddy holding a pistol in his mouth, before he lifted a hoof at them, waving at them like he was a friend that had not seen them in a while.

“Don't shoot him sister, he is friendly, thanks to Az… Alchem.” Roselight informed Petalbreeze, seeing that she was pulling out her own rifle, to be able to join in the action from the roof of the factory.

The new friendly raider looked about and saw one of his own approaching him, a gun within his grasp, his magical grasp. The raider came along and slapped Azure’s new friend with the back of the pistol that he had within his magic. They both didn't say anything, they just looked at each other, before the raider stood back and aimed his pistol at Azure’s friend’s head, before nearly shooting a bullet right into his skull. The thing that stopped him was a small brick that was travelling at the same speed as a bullet or near enough the same speed.

Azure shot a piece of debris at the raider that was harassing his new friend, using his syringe gun to shoot the brick at lightning speed, knocking out the raider in the process and hopefully not killing him, as Azure didn't intend on killing ponies that were alive anymore. He didn't care too much for ghouls, but alive ponies were different. They could still live a life, like the ghouls had originally done, making them more of a priority to save and keep them in the state that they were. Plus, it didn't help that only a hoof full of ponies were able to turn into ghouls after they died, so there wasn't even a chance that some ponies would get a second chance. Azure was thinking too much about all of the actions and choices that he would have made, making him not focus on the task that he had set himself, protecting the mare. Azure shook his head before getting back into the action.

Azure looked around and saw that there were only a couple of raiders left, as according to Roselight, making Azure breath a sigh of relief. The friendly raider walked towards Azure, making him smile before looking over at a raider that was rapidly coming towards Azure. Azure’s friend stepped in front of him and raised a hoof to the raider, making him slow down and come to a complete stop, before the charging raider looked at his former ally with confusion. The raider looked at all of the surrounding ponies, including Roselight and Petalbreeze on the roof, making him feel a little confused.

“They won't hurt us, not like the others would. If you want your life back, to be as normal as it could get, then join me in what i have done. There are more corrupt raiders out there, being put in control of others, choosing the life that they have to follow, otherwise, they die if they do not follow or do it right. These ponies, gryphons and other creatures could give us a chance to get our lives back, as long as we help them, that's what I'm guessing at least.” Azure’s friend spoke, looking back at Azure for confirmation on what he had just said being even the slightest bit right. Azure nodded with pride, knowing full well that his friend wanted to change how the raiders saw them. Azure was pretty shocked to see that his friend had been so outspoken and correct with his speaking, giving Azure a little bit of an insight of how the raiders worked a little. Azure was always wanting to work out and find out more about the world that he was living in, so this was the best chance that he could have got to show how interested he was with all of the raiders that were in front of him.

One by one, the raiders dropped their weapons and looked to Azure’s friend for insight into getting their lives back into working order. There were about ten raiders that were now interested in becoming better, which filled Azure with a little bit of confidence that he could offer the world a hoof and change it for the better. Azure looked at the mare behind him, before she stepped out from being behind him and watched with a little amount of scaredness, as she walked around without any protection and looked at each raider individually. She limped around, picking up her bad leg and keeping it off of the ground, making Azure remember that he had forgotten to heal her. Without warning, Azure placed a medical syringe into the syringe gun and fired it into the leg of the mare, with a bit of range to it. The mare recoiled a bit, before looking down at her leg, which was now rapidly healing due to the medical formula that Azure used to make the healing product. She looked over to Azure and smiled, making him blush a little, before she turned around and continued to look at all of the raiders, one by one. Her look was a little intimidating to say the least, but at least she didn't have any intention of murdering anypony, which satisfied Azure’s nerves.

Azure could tell that even the Steel Ranger was surprised, due to him stopping with all of the raiders as well. Azure felt proud as ever, being able to stop a fair few raiders from killing ponies that were innocent. Roselight and Petalbreeze came down from being on the roof of the factory and landed on the floor, Petalbreeze being placed on the floor by her alicorn sister’s magic, making her feel like she had just got off a magical dragon or something along those lines. Azure placed his hoof on the shoulder of his new friend, before looking at all of the ponies that he had changed.

Roselight looked at all of them, before looking at Azure with a somewhat angry face. Azure smiled back at her, almost like he was trying to overpower her frown. It worked for a tiny amount of time, before she went back to frowning.

“This is a good amount of ponies we have, but do we have enough space left to house them?” Roselight asked, Azure not really putting that into consideration at all, making Azure feel a little bad for doing all of it, even though it wasn't his fault at all.

“If needs be, i could share my area with a couple of them, just to make life easier for you, Roselight.” Azure told her, making her ponder for a couple of seconds before nodding. Azure's friend was pretty happy with what he had done, but knew that he would have to prove himself in order to make the entire group trust him, which was pretty respectable, even for a former raider that was trying to reform and change his way. He looked around to see a bunch of raiders that had changed for the better, knowing what was right, from what was wrong, making him feel even more proud of what he had accomplished.

Azure looked around, before turning to the mare that he was protecting originally from the raiders, before they had a change of heart. She was a little bit caught up in all of the aftermath of the fighting, but at least she didn't have any major injuries, due to the potion that Azure gave her to heal her wound on her leg. Azure was another pony in the crowd that felt like they had achieved something today, despite all of the fighting and the killing, he still viewed the actions of today as a success.

Roselight looked at the Steel Ranger before checking him over, just to see if there was anything damaged or missing from the power armour that he was in. Fortunately, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary for the Steel Ranger, apart from a fair amount of bullet marks, not holes.

“Thank you for the support there. I'm not sure how long we would have lasted if you weren't here to help. I extend my gratitude to all of you for the help and even thank all of the raiders for changing. If you saw the damage that the raiders have done to other settlements and areas, you would have changed on your own, without the help of the pegasus in front of me.” The mare explained, pointing to Azure for being the pegasus that changed the raiders for the better. Azure blushed a little bit, but deserved all of the praise that he had gotten that day. “We need to make up some lost ground and mourn the death of my other guard. I hope that you all will understand.” The mare stated firmly, getting a subtle nod from both Azure and Roselight.

The mare went on her way, allowing Azure and the rest of the old group and new group to look around the area, looting the long range weapons like the guns, rather than the close range weapons like sticks and batons. That lasted for a little while, before they decided that it would have been a good idea to head on home, due to the clouds forming above, making it seem like it would rain hard or creep in with some thunder and lightning. That thought alone made Azure walk at a quicker pace, making the others follow suit. Azure’s new friend walked beside him, along with Roselight walking the opposite side of him too. Knowing this, Azure walked calmly, his mind slowing down and relaxing, easing all of the nerves that were pent up and trying to exit his body at alarming speeds. For a little bit, Azure finally felt relaxed, which was something he definitely needed to feel once again, due to how nice it felt. Azure was in his own world, a world that was inside his head, as he trotted back to the settlement, with his new army of friends following beside him and behind him.

Chapter 17: Paranormal Protection

Azure opened the door to his home, allowing him, his new raider friend and another reformed raider, to enter the property, before he closed the door behind him and locked the door. Both reformed raiders looked about the area before dropping their weapons that they had with them. Azure’s main raider friend picked up both weapons before moving them out of the way, using his mouth to carry the pistol and the sharp dagger to a table that was empty. He dropped both, before unloading the gun and resting the magazine for the weapon against the weapon, allowing them to easily load it if they needed to.

“I never got your name…” Azure spoke, getting nothing but silence from the raiders, which Azure didn't expect from the raider that convinced nine or ten others to change for the better, to allow their lives to give other ponies joy and happiness, as well as stopping with all of the killing. If the killing didn't stop completely, then it was definitely being eased down to be as minimal as possible, which made Azure feel a little proud to say the least.

“...We… we don't have names! I am R37 and that is…” R37 announced, before getting silenced by Azure’s raider friend, who definitely wanted to keep his letter and numbers safe. Azure slowly walked over to the two and sat down beside them both. Azure looked at his nameless friends and thought about something in his head, before evaluating the two ponies individually.

R37 had a nice figure, especially for a pegasus mare of her stature. She was quite tall, which made him chuckle at the thought of finding another pegasus that was nearly as tall as he was, let alone a pure breed pegasus. Due to him being half zebra, he was bound to be taller than most normal ponies, due to zebras being bigger in general. R37 definitely needed a name, one that would allow her to express herself. Azure admired her fur, seeing that it was a dark grey, which made Azure realise something else about her as he admired her fur. Just like he should have been, Azure saw that R37 had been branded, not like Azure with something covering his real cutie mark, but hers was gone, being replaced with a cloud, almost like the one Azure had seen in a book somewhere. Azure didn't stay in the clouds for long enough to know too much about all of the history and remember it all, but it was definitely the same design. Azure continued to admire the likes of R37, evaluating her mane, which was as black as the sky during the night. It wasn't pitch black, but there was enough grey in there to know that it possibly could have been, if she cleaned her mane. Little blood marks were present all over her body, which didn't sit right with Azure at all.

Next up was Azure’s nameless friend, the one that wouldn't allow for Azure to know what his letter and number was for some reason, but Azure could completely understand, given the scenario that was going on with all of the housing and keeping track of which ponies were going where. Azure looked over his friend, admiring his black on black appearance that was going on. His fur was quite black, but his mane was black black, which Azure really liked. He didn't say anything as he looked at his cutie mark, which explained nearly all of his story. The letters ‘R1’ were present on his cutie mark, making Azure stop and think for a second. R1 closed his eyes, before sensing nothing. He opened them to see Azure still looking at the cutie mark and seeing the faint stripes that his cutie mark overlapped. Azure could definitely tell that he was a zebra, but he found it hard to clarify if he was only half zebra or not.

Azure looked over to R37 and looked her over again, seeing a brief outline of her originally unbranded cutie mark underneath. The brief outline showed a letter with two numbers with it, making Azure realise that her cutie mark was also their name. It made Azure feel a little sad about it all, but that was what their early life did to them. They didn't have the best childhood, let alone a great life, especially if they grew up with the raiders. As Azure was about to finish up with identifying the two, Azure noticed something extra about R37. Her wings were a little crooked and sharper than most of the pegusi that Azure had seen during his time, suggesting that she could have even been a half breed, just like R1 and Azure was. She could have been a crossbreed of a pegasus and a bat pony, which made Azure a little sceptical about the devious and confusing pair of ponies that stood before him.

R1 didn't notice that Azure knew his number, but could see that he was evaluating everything, so he made the idea of keeping his identity a secret, vanish like he didn't even say anything. R1 was a little shy to say the least, keeping his eyes on Azure to avoid starting up a conversation with him, due to the situation already being tense enough. Azure didn't really care too much for their backstory, he just wanted to get to know them a little more and gain their trust, but they most certainly must have been tired from the rally of today's events. Azure knew that R1 was tired, due to the amount of times that the hidden zebra was yawning, making both Azure and R37 yawn in unison. It was contagious after all, making Azure chuckle a little bit, showing them how relaxed and happy he was, despite…

Azure shook his head before looking at both of the raiders that he had adopted into his little abode, his little group, his family. Both R1 and R37 smiled at him, noticing how happy Azure was becoming.

“Okay them! My name is Azure and I am a pegasus. Now you two try it out.” Azure commanded, seeing both of them look at each other before sighing and following the orders that they were giving, displaying that they weren't going to refuse not to try.

“I am R37 and i am a pegasus!” R37 announced to the world, being very loud with her saying. Azure was pretty certain that the entire Equestrian Wasteland could hear her screech, making Azure chuckle at the thought of it. Next up was R1, Azure was pretty certain that he would politely decline it, but he didn't know for sure, making him sit in his own little mysterious void of speculations that hadn't come true yet.

“I am R1 and I am a z… earth pony!” he yelled, stuttering in the middle of the statement, almost saying that he was a zebra, making Azure know that he was aware of himself being a zebra, rather than not knowing that he was at all, a little bit like R37. Azure wanted to find them names that actually described them, rather than having a letter with a number or two next to it, making Azure work his intelligent mind to work out a name for both the mare and the stallion that were both in front of him, one of them lying down and the other standing up strong, like the stallion that he was. R1 was the one still standing up and R37 was lying down on the floor, looking at both Azure and R1 with contempt, smiling at them both.

Azure took a quick glance at R37 and looked her over one last time. Her eyes were the same colour as he mane, being more of a brown than black, but it was still a black nonetheless. Azure saw a little glimmer of hope from within her eyes, making Azure like the name that he was thinking of. He looked at her mane and instantly stuck with his idea or name for her.

“R37, if you want a name, I got a great one for you that you might like indeed.” Azure explained, getting a look of excitement from the bat pony pegasus hybrid. “Abyss, because of your mane and tail, as well as your eyes being an abyss themselves.” Azure explained, giving reasoning as to why he would have named her that. Azure could tell instantly that she was loving the name that he had just given to her immediately, due to her miming out the words with a happy smile. She nodded and then kept miming the word ‘abyss’ to herself.

“And what name would you give to me, so that i can forget about my old name and number?” R1 asked, letting Azure examine him and giving him all of the time in the world to do so. Azure admired all of R1, seeing that his form was very impressive to say the least. Azure looked at his mane, his fur and his tail and couldn't really think of a name for him, until he remembered what happened on the battlefield that they both fought on, Azure using syringes and bricks rather than what R1 used. R1 used his words as well as his blade to cease the fighting altogether, making Azure very proud that a raider went from somepony that Azure hated, to a hero. That gave him a name for R1, making Azure smile in the process.

“How about Zavier?” Azure asked, getting a look of confusion from the secret zebra. “Because you helped change the lives of some raiders, so you are technically their saviour, but i wanted to put my spin on it, for reasons…” Azure admitted, making Abyss smile.

“I like it! Sounds pretty exotic and… sexy!” Abyss stated, making Zavier blush a little due to the complement from a name that he didn't even own… yet. Azure smiled, seeing how much of a good reaction he got from Abyss and liking the name as well. Azure looked to Zavier and smiled, before nodding and looking at Abyss.

“So we have Abyss and Zavier. Those are your names!” Azure shouted, being a little excited about helping out the two. He was pretty sure that they enjoyed the names as well, seeing how they were both smiling and looking at him. Azure sat down and closed his eyes, before sighing and letting out a little grunt. “I did it bud, I have helped more ponies…” Azure murmured to himself, getting the attention of the other two.

Umm, Azure was it? Are you okay?” Abyss asked, being a little concerned about Azure’s health. Azure only just realised that he gave the two his actual name, but he didn't care too much for hiding it anymore. He looked up from the floor and nodded, before wiping a tear that came down his cheek.

“It’s nothing, just keeping myself in check by talking to myself, like i would have if my best friend was still here.” Azure explained, slowly losing his smile and having it replaced with a fake one, making him emotionally unstable on the inside, not showing any signs on the outside as he slowly looked back down to the floor and closed his eyes again. He did what Blitz would have done and shook his head softly, clearing all thoughts from his mind, positive or negative and making his mind clear enough to think openly. Zavier looked at Azure and knew that something was wrong, but really couldn't put his hoof on what exactly was wrong. Zavier walked up to Azure, before placing his hoof on Azure’s shoulder, making Azure jump before looking up at the pure black zebra. Zavier, even though he looked really tough and not a pony that anypony wanted to mess with, he was a complete softy, sitting down beside Azure and making sure that he was alright, using his hoof to rub Azure’s back. It was definitely relaxing, making Azure slow down a little bit and relax just a little more.

“Is that better?” Zavier asked, getting a little nod from Azure in response, trying to lose sight of what he wanted most. Azure laid down and looked at Abyss walking towards him, seeing that she was going to sit down, before a knock came from the door, making the two pegasi jump. Azure got up and slowly walked over to the door, before unlocking the door and seeing one of his favourite ponies on the other side of the door, standing outside in the cold rain. Azure moved back to allow Sadjoy into the house, which she did almost immediately, making Azure lighten up a little bit. That was something that brought joy to both Zavier and Abyss, seeing that their new friend was feeling alright.

Azure watched at Sadjoy dried herself off, before watching her look at him, almost like they were in a staring standoff. Sadjoy opened her wings and let out a growl, showing her teeth and fangs in the process, making the other two worry a little. She lunged for Azure, kissing him softly and then retreating back, seeing that he was a little bit star struck at that point in time. Azure definitely enjoyed her company!

Hours passed, as the small group sat around a fire. It bellowed out yellow and orange, just like the sun did above, filling Azure with even more warmth that it would have done alone with just the fire. Sadjoy was resting next to Azure, making him wrap a wing around her to keep her from getting cold. Zavier was in a similar scenario to Azure, only he didn't have a wing to wrap around a pony, so he just laid on top of Abyss, as she rested. Zavier was able to lie on top of her, allowing her head to be visible in between his two forehooves, making it look like he was her protector, which was definitely a cute little moment that those two shared. Azure really liked his new friends, knowing that they were willing to change to make life better for themselves, making Azure smile even more than he already was.

The light from the fire was almost an illusion itself, making Azure feel a slight tiredness creeping up behind him, like a raider or something. Thinking about raiders got Azure to look at the other two, seeing that Zavier was looking after Abyss like she was his marefriend, keeping a watchful eye out for danger so that she could sleep. That or he just didn't want to sleep at all, due to the sky outside crying loudly, raindrops falling onto the roof, creating a slight crackle noise every time a raindrop hit the roof. Since it was raining heavily, it did indeed make a pretty good beat, making Azure chuckle to himself, before he looked next to him to see that Sadjoy was awake, her beautiful eyes reflecting in the darkness and the flames ahead. She was indeed a beautiful mare and Azure realised that nothing could really have changed that in his head, making her even more breathtaking than she was.

She bopped him on the nose, making him go cross eyed for a couple of seconds, due to the contact of her hoof hitting him in the face, right on the nose. Sadjoy chuckled for a short time, before Azure joined in on the action, making them both become a puddle of laughter, which got the attention of Zavier. Azure had already introduced Sadjoy to the two, making them know her name at least, but it didn't really give them a whole lot of stuff to work with to get to know her a little bit more. Zavier nuzzled Abyss, getting a smile and a chuckle from the tired pegasus mare. That moment was a one to remember for Azure, due to him helping with changing the raiders in the little group and finally helping somepony relax and find happiness within the Wasteland. That thought alone sent more pride and happiness through Azure’s veins than ever before, giving him a rush of energy and motivation, which was a feeling that he loved to experience over and over again.

As the fire crackled and the rain above fell, Azure founded himself in a world of bliss, tilting on the edge of sleep, rather than the edge of staying awake, like he wanted to do. He was tired, so his best option was to try to get some sleep, but he didn't even try. Azure slowly got up, before looking at the others and seeing that all of them, apart from Abyss, were looking at him and wondering what he was doing. Sadjoy was a little confused, but it didn't matter too much for him. Azure walked to the window and looked outside, getting a mixture of emotions that flooded through his mind. He wanted to do something, but what he wanted to do was unclear to him, making him stay in a state of deja vu for the odd minute or two. Azure placed himself within the windowsill and looked outside to the mess that was the sky above, hating every pegasus that didn't even try to help the rest of pony kind. It annoyed Azure a little, making him scowl at the outside world.

Sadjoy got up and walked over to Azure, making each movement quiet, to avoid alerting him that she was walking over to him. Azure turned and saw Sadjoy, seeing that she was still trying to creep over and surprise him. As soon as she got detected, she blushed before pacing the distance to Azure and wrapping her hooves and wings around him, comforting him with all of her will, making him smile and hug back, wrapping his wings around her, just5 like she did for him. Azure looked over at Zavier and Abyss and saw that they were both sleeping now, making Azure feel a little bad about getting Sadjoy up, due to his actions.

“Why did you get up?” Azure asked, making Sadjoy frown softly, not really thinking that he understood why she was always keeping in close proximity to him. She chuckled softly, making Azure look a tad bit confused. “Umm, why are you laughing? I know you love me, I can clearly see that. I love you too, but you know what my mind is saying, don't you.” Azure spoke quietly, getting a soft nod from her and watched her as she closed the distance and hugged Azure strongly, making sure that the pegasus couldn't get away from her. Azure was slightly surprised by her actions, but definitely was not complaining about anything that was going on. He endured the moment, loving her as much as she did him, feeling her soft leathery wings as they wrapped around him. It was nice.

Sadjoy looked at the others and then looked at Azure, stepping back a couple of steps and letting go with her wings. She slowly walked over to the corner of the room where the weapons were placed on the table. She walked over to the pistol that was lying on it, before pulling the slider back, revealing a loaded bullet. Sadjoy looked to Azure, before letting the bullet fly out the side of the pistol, catching it with her wing. Azure was a little surprised that she was so accurate with all of the actions that she did with her wing. It didn't just surprise him, he was shocked! She looked at him and smiled, before looking back at the gun and placing it on the table once again. She took the remaining bullet from the slider that she had in her wing, before she put it into the magazine, where all of the other bullets were being kept. Azure was a little surprised that Sadjoy knew so much about guns, due to her being a guard of the settlement, but then Azure realised that she had been a guard since this place was here, so that cleared any disillusions that he had with her knowledge.

“How do you know so much about guns?” Azure whispered, getting a tiny chuckle from the bat pony, suggesting that she knew that he was confused on her knowledge. She walked up to him before kissing him on the cheek and holding his head up to meet her eyes, using her hooves to do so. She did have a beautiful eye, that was something that Azure could acknowledge at least.

“Some things are best left unexplained!” Sadjoy explained to him, nibbling on his ear as soon as she said that to him, making him laugh a tiny bit, due to the sensation of her fangs lightly rubbing against his soft ears. Azure moved her away from his ears, making her giggle softly as she looked into Azures golden like eyes. They were more brown than golden, but that didn't stop her from describing his eyes like that. They were little orbs of golden delight that made anything smile when he looked at anything with them, inanimate objects or not, it would smile.

The clap of thunder outside got the better of the two, making their ears ring with violent intent to have the thunder not destroy their hearing. Azure watched outside as more thunder shook the earth and more lightning lit up the sky, almost like it was sunlight or brighter. Azure walked over to the window and looked out, past the boards that were covering it up, to see that the rain was horrible, making for their night to probably be a restless one, not making them able to sleep. Azure did need the sleep, but he was pretty sure that he could pull an allnighter with Sadjoy and keep her entertained at least. Azure laid down on his side, before looking over to Sadjoy and tapping on the ground. Without hesitation, like a cat to a box, Sadjoy ran across the room and slid on the floor, before plopping herself next Azure and giggling softly.

Before Azure and Sadjoy could begin talking, a knock came from the door, making the two look at each other with a tad bit of confusion. Azure got up, along with Sadjoy slowly getting up shortly after. Azure walked up slowly to the door, before opening it slowly, trying not to wake the former raiders. Azure opened the door to see that Gretzky was standing there, looking wet and out of place. Azure allowed him entry to his home, but Gretzky refused to enter, wanting to say something.

“If you two are free tomorrow, I need both of you with me. I have found the location of all of the other glowing items. I was speaking to Roselight when she flicked a switch on the figurine that associates itself with the ministry mare of the Ministry of Awesome and it lit up some locations on the map that was close by. It probably will still be like that when i see you tomorrow, making the voyages so much easier to know where we are going to, but they are much, much further away!” Gretsky explained, getting both Azure and Sadjoy to nod in unison at his request. Gretzky nodded before flying away and leaving a trail of rain in his position, forming a puddle just outside of the doorway. Azure chuckled slightly, before looking to Sadjoy as she closed the door.

“I don't know what he meant by that but i am pretty sure that i am up for another adventure, especially if it is with you, Azure.” Sadjoy stated, making Azure blush in the process, making her laugh. Azure was a little taken back by what Gretzky had said, putting him into a place he didn't go too much within his time in the Wasteland. Azure was unsupportive and unsure about something, but couldn't put his hoof on what it was, so he shoved the thought to the back of his mind and kept it there to be the last of his worries. Azure was pretty sure that it would resonate again, but he was hoping it was in the correct time for it to do so again.

Azure opened the door again and looked at Sadjoy, before exiting into the radioactive rain. It felt like it was going to stop at any minute, due to how slow and inconsistent the raindrops were around Azure, giving him the impression that it was going to stop. Sadjoy just wondered what the confused pegasus was doing, not noticing that the rain was slowing down, still noticing that it was a storm outside, being with the thunder and lightning that crept its way back to the sky above them.

“The truth is that i need to clear my head. Do you want to join me?” Azure asked, getting a smile and a nod from Sadjoy in response to his question, making her fly outside and close the door behind herself. Azure didn't attempt to lock the door, due to the other two still being within the property. By locking the door, Azure would most likely trap them within the house, making him understand that that was a horrible feeling alone, so he kept the property unlocked, hoping that nothing would have been robbed from the area while they were gone.

Azure and Sadjoy exited the settlement and went for a walk along a path that they hadn’t originally been down. It was a slightly cobbled path that was slightly corroded and worn out, but it had a confusing texture to it, making it a little weird to walk onto. Azure let out a huge sigh, before getting a wing wrapped around him from his favourite bat pony friend, pulling him in closer and nuzzling his cheek, making him blush slightly due to her warm touch. Azure looked at the trees and saw that some of them were beginning to get some of their colour and leaves back, bringing a sense of hope to Azure’s mind and making him understand that there was some chance at least to get life back to near enough how it should have been, but knowing full well that life would never return to normal, ever.

As they continued to walk down the path, the rain eventually stopped, bringing some quietness to the surrounding area, making them both happier in general. Azure looked to Sadjoy and saw that she was most likely enjoying the walk, allowing most of her stress to finally subside and be replaced with thoughts of happiness and tranquility, making her more open to more controversial thoughts for the duration of their walk. It was nice to just get out of harm's way and to just have a stress free walk, something Azure appreciated for being able to do at that moment. It did bring up a recurring thought, but that was a thought that needed to get out of his head as quickly as it could, to avoid him getting upset about it again and making him a little more stressed than he needed to be. There was one question that was floating around in his mind about a familiar face that he had never actually realised.

Sadjoy? How did you end up here? I have not seen a bat pony like you before. Yes, we have Crimson and Lavender here now, who are bat ponies as well, but you have fight in you, whereas they don’t. I'm really interested to know.” Azure asked, pressing his thoughts to be able to make her choice that little bit easier. Her ears folded back a little as she closed her eyes, before she took in a deep breath and opened them again, allowing her ears to point to the sky, like she was trying to detect something.

“The truth of the matter is that I have amnesia, making it nearly impossible for me to remember my past, due to something that happened that i still can't remember. I can remember a tiny bit, but that is all there is to it pretty much. I don't know how i got here, due to me gaining amnesia and what not, but i woke up on a bed, being in Roselight’s care. She helped me to get out of my state of paranoia and showed me around the settlement, before she showed me to one of her old friends, who tried to attack her on sight of her. I'm pretty sure that she was a ghoul that went feral, but who knows. As soon as she saw my defensive skills and my ease of attacking, she immediately put me as a guard of the settlement, keeping my bat like nature and guarding during the night, just like the other bat ponies did apparently, before the war. There was a proudness that Roselight had for me then, but it has died down to me just being an ally now. I'm just like any other pony now.” Sadjoy explained, getting Azure to feel bad for her, just because she couldn't remember her past and that she was somepony special to somepony else and now she wasn't. That thought alone hurt Azure in a way that he couldn't even describe, making him hug her that she lost out on so much.

“I'm sorry that you are unable to remember your past.” Azure blurted out, getting a smile and chuckle in response.

“There is no need to feel sorry. I feel like losing my memory was a good thing, otherwise I probably would have been looking for a way to get to my true home, but now, this area is my home! I'm pretty sure that I was a bat guard or something before I lost my memory, which explains how I got my skills immediately.” Sadjoy pointed out, getting Azure by surprise that she was happier that she lost her memory.

“Ah, that might explain it then.” Azure added, continuing their conversation. He heard a rustling in the bushes across from him, thinking that it was something other than the wind hitting it. He didn't think too much of it, as they both stopped to talk more on the subject that they were. Azure used his wings to hover in the air for a short period of time, allowing his hooves to rest for a tiny bit, before he landed back on the ground and stretched.

“How about you Alchem? What is your past all about, or did you get amnesia too?” Sadjoy asked, before stopping and chuckling to herself about the little joke that she had just made, making her happiness rise, due to forgetting the topic of herself. Azure pondered for a moment, not really diving too much into his past before, apart from when he was talking to Blitz, but even then, Azure didn't give Blitz the entire story.

“It’s all a little bit more complicated than you might think. I’m not any normal pegasus…” Azure stated, before getting silenced by Sadjoy, her placing a wing tip onto Azure’s lips, stopping him from talking in the slightest. She giggled slightly at Azure’s statement, being happy that she cut him off before he was able to get anything else out. She glared at Azure, almost like she was angry at him to go on. This somewhat prevented him from moving on with anything like that. Instead, Azure remembered back to a time when he was in a more peaceful part of the Wasteland, an area that didn't see too much activity at all.

“Okay, start again! I wanna hear about your life, since we are on the topic of it.” Sadjoy commanded, making Azure chuckle a little bit. He didn't want to tell Sadjoy that he was a zebra, or that he had been telling her his wrong name, but he hated lying as well. Azure sighed slightly, before releasing all of the air he had stored in his cheeks from him getting cut off from the outrageous bat pony mare.

“So, before i do anything, i must tell you that i will not lie to you, at least anymore, because i trust you enough for you to understand the situation that i was put into. My name is not Alchem, at least not anymore. My name is Azure, Doctor Azure would be my real title, if i didn't use that other name with my doctor title. Anyway, my name is Azure and i am a pegasus zebra hybrid!” Azure explained, letting it all out and seeing the look of shock on her face. She was more confused than anything else, making Azure feel like he had done something wrong to hurt the mare that was standing right in front of him. Azure felt the sins of what he had just admitted to, crawling down his back and sharpening his wings, making them stick out in fear.

There was some more rustling coming from the bush that Azure originally had pointed out to himself, but he was pretty sure that it was the wind, making him look back at Sadjoy with an apologetic look, making her look even more confused.

“Why do you look like that? You ain't done anything wrong!” Sadjoy explained, making Azure brighten up a tiny bit, Sadjoy still seeing him in the state that he was before. Azure still felt that she was angry at him, when she suddenly smiled, her ears folding back and pointing to the ground, as Azure’s expression slowly changed from being apologetic to being somewhat happy about all of the stuff that was going on in his life right there and then. Without a second to spare, Azure ran up to Sadjoy and hugged her tightly, not noticing the bush rustle again. He was more distracted on hugging a pony that looked like she needed one.

Suddenly, a couple of voices could be heard traveling in their direction. Azure stopped his hugging and turned to see one of the raiders slowly running away from something. Brick and Cidershot came into view, looking nearly as apologetic as Azure did, making the two completely starstruck by what was happening. The raider took one look at both Azure and Sadjoy and then started to slow down, before stopping a couple of steps past them, being closer to the bush than the others were. There was no rustling from the bush at that moment in time, which made Azure a little curious as to why all of the other bushes were rustling in the wind, but not that one, almost like some of the branches from the bush were being held together. Azure regained his focus and returned to the topic at hoof, that raider’s activity.

Brick and Cidershot came closer to both Azure and Sadjoy, making the raider move back a little bit. Brick noticed that there was something off about the raider, but when he went to investigate it further, the raider ran away from them both. Cidershot was as confused as Azure and Sadjoy were in this scenario, making him know nothing about the pony that Brick was tracking down. The diamond dog looked at the raider with different eyes than he had earlier, making Azure think that Brick was up to something that nopony else knew about.

“We don’t want to hurt you, pony! I just want to help you become better, but it ain’t easy when they are running away from you.” Brick explained, stating a fact in the process. The raider took one look at Azure and then smiled, before the bush rustled again, but stopped instantly, making Azure a little afraid of the bush or what was within it. Something was definitely within it, but what it was, Azure couldn't tell. The raider stared back at Brick and Cidershot, making them both feel like they were somewhat to blame for the raider’s action. They weren't to blame for the raider being afraid of them, they were only trying to help after all, which confused Azure a little and made him step out to the raider.

Before Azure could get close, a figure rose up out of the bush, armed with sharpened, glistening fangs that reflected Azure’s own image back at him. The figure was not the tallest, but it didn't help that it had wings on it. It licked its lips, before lashing out of the bush, dashing straight at the raider. Within the course of a second, the figure ripped into the raider’s neck with its fangs, before dragging them down the raider’s body. The worst part about all of it, was that the raider was still alive, but that was short lived as the figure bent the raider’s head back a little and stuck its fangs into his eye sockets. It was a horrific gory display, one that almost made Azure spill his guts right there.

Sadjoy flew up, before disappearing into the sky, leaving the others to deal with the… thing! They still didn't know what it was, even though it was that close to them. The figure threw the lifeless body of the reformed raider onto the floor, splashing in a little puddle of blood from his own system, making Azure nearly urge. Cidershot and Brick both brought out their weapons and started shooting at the figure, before it darted behind a tree that was close by. Azure ran to his own piece of cover, overlooking the entire fight.

Brick hit a shot on the figure, before he pissed it off big time. It came out from cover and opened up its wings, before vanishing from sight. Brick placed his gun in a little pouch that he had around his waist, before reading his fists and looking around. A couple of seconds passed, but Brick didn't lower his fists, keeping them ready for when the thing came back to strike him down. There was noise that came from above, almost like a bat screech, making Azure look up and ready himself. A second passed and nothing happened, so Azure decided to go up and check on where Sadjoy was. As Azure was about to extend his wings, the figure appeared, lashing out at Brick and scratching his arm, making it bleed a little. Brick striked back, hitting the figure with some force, before it moved back, due to recoiling.

The figure looked right at Azure before flying directly at him, just to get smacked in the stomach from the diamond dog who was out to avenge a fallen friend. The figure wrapped around Brick, before biting him in the neck, like it did to the raider before putting him out of his misery. Azure wasn't going to let that happen, making him leave his place of safety. Azure charged at the figure, flying at full force towards the diamond dog with the figure as a backpack. Azure rammed into the figure, making them detach from the diamond dog and fall onto the floor. It looked at Azure before growling and lashing out at him, before a certain bat pony came down and landed on the figure. Sadjoy looked furious! She landed so hard onto the figure's head, it cracked and smashed underneath her, making her wince, still being as angry as she had been before coming into contact with the figure. Brick whimpered a little, before Azure shot him with one of his syringes, taking the pain away from the pained diamond dog and slowly closing up all of the wounds that Brick had, due to the figure. Sadjoy saw Brick healing and stepped away from the lifeless body that she had just made. The blood was still red, making Azure understand that it wasn't a changeling of any kind, due to them having green blood.

Azure got a little closer to the dead body, before looking it over. It had little jagged pieces sticking out of its skin, looking almost like bone. It was bone! Azure saw that there were red marks around the area that the bones stuck out of the body. Azure was pretty sure that the pony must have been dead already, due to how painful it looked. The wounds didn't look like they were from fights, they looked like they had been carefully opened, slowly allowing the bones to grow out from their usual positions, rendering the figure to be able to use their bones as weapons. Azure evaluated the wings next, seeing that they were sharp.

“Sadjoy, can you come here please? I need your help for something.” Azure asked, not looking up, but keeping his eyes on the wings, almost like he had seen them before. Sadjoy walked over to Azure, before stopping in front of him, seeing that he was evaluating the body that was lying before them. She gulped a little, feeling like she had done something wrong, like it was her fault or something. Azure looked up to her and then stood up, being able to take his eyes off the body again. He turned her around and evaluated her back and wings, seeing that they were almost identical to the body on the floor.

“Well then, that makes life just a little bit scarier for the ponies in the Wasteland.” Azure muttered to himself, catching Sadjoy’s attention as she was walking away to go and talk to Brick about what he was feeling. She turned around and stared at Azure, directly in the eyes, seeing that there was a bit more fear in his eyes than normal, making her feel like she had to know what was up. Azure slowly looked at the body again, before going back over to it and sitting down, before turning the body over to reveal the cutie mark of the once alive pony, but it wasn't there, just like the rest of them hadn’t been for the others. Azure backed up, before closing his eyes and sighing. “At least this one is dead…” Azure added, shortly after inspecting the body.

“What are you on about Azure? What is wrong?” Sadjoy asked, being slightly concerned that he was acting like this. Azure took in a deep breath, before sighing and letting it all out slowly.

“It is a good thing that you killed this, because if you didn’t, then I am pretty sure that this pegasus… no, bat pony ghoul would have killed a fair amount of ponies.” Azure explained, thanking Sadjoy a little for doing a good deed that she didn't even know she did. Sadjoy was a little confused at this and looked over the body, seeing the body was morphed more than she realised, noticing the bones that were jutting out of the bat pony’s body, making her feel a little uneasy due to the sight of it alone. She slowly backed up, making sure that she was a safe distance from the body, just in case it was to reincarnate itself somehow, even though she had killed it and its brain, or what was left of it, before she crushed it.

Azure took another look at Brick, seeing that he was recovering from his wounds, helped by Azure using his healing potion solution on Brick’s body, due to the syringe gun and the syringe. Azure was so happy that he was able to help ponies and creatures like that, because the only thing that Azure planned on doing, was helping out other ponies and creatures. This thought alone gave Azure something to smile about, before he remembered the raider who had been murdered by the bat pony ghoul.

Azure slowly walked over to the lifeless body and sighed, being a little annoyed that he was unable to save the life of one of his potentially future friends. Azure had given him a second chance and all he did was brush it away, like it was a bit of dirt on a clean floor. Azure felt a little bad about all of it, seeing exactly how the raider had died and hating every second of it, making him wish that he had never seen it himself. He was sure enough to go to sleep and have nightmares about what he had witnessed, making the thought of going to sleep less and less wanted. Azure shook his head to clear his mind, before turning to Sadjoy, seeing that she was trying to clean herself.

Azure walked over to the bat pony who was trying to clean herself and scooped up some water with his wings, before dropping it all, over her hooves, making it easier to wash off all of the blood that she had accumulated on them, due to smashing in the head of the feral bat pony ghoul. Azure took one look at the dead body of the ghoul and sighed, noticing that there was still blood rushing from the crushed head of the headless ghoul, sending shivers down his spine and making his feather on his wings stand on end.

As soon as Sadjoy was clean enough, she kissed Azure on the lips and thanked him for helping her, which made him blush a little and also helped to clear his head of any negative thoughts or ideas that he might have had within his skull and allowed him to focus on all of the important parts of the night that he had remaining, which was getting back to the settlement without getting anymore hurt that they already were, mentally of course. The other objective that Azure had was to get back to the settlement in one piece, which at that point, seemed somewhat likely, but he had his doubts. A clap of thunder was enough to put his plans into action, scooting back to the settlement with his little convoy of ponies and the diamond dog. Azure walked alongside his little group, seeing Sadjoy to his right and Brick and Cidershot to his left. Cidershot had his guns out, just in case anything was to go south at all during their journey back to the settlement.

By now, the moon was slightly visible though the cloud, being lighter than the sun at some points. The moon irradiated some violent light out of its core, making Azure feel like he was being watched by something that wasn't actually there, which made sense because of how different night was, compared to day. That might also have explained how there was a bat pony ghoul instead of a normal pegasus ghoul or even a standard unicorn or earth pony ghoul. The bat pony ghoul seemed to hunt better, hiding in the bushes while it waited for the perfect moment to strike on a victim that was not expecting it, making it more efficient than most of the raiders in the Wasteland, making Azure chuckle a little as he thought about it more than he should have.

Azure kept looking back at Brick, checking to see if he is okay, which he was, bringing his mind to rest at the fact that one of his friends had been hurt during a fight with a different type of enemy that they had never seen before the events that unfolded around five minutes ago. Azure looked at all of his friends, just to check that they were okay, before looking at the ground for the remainder of their journey back to the settlement. Sadjoy could sense that something was off with Azure, due to him acting like he was, which made Sadjoy get a little curious to know what was affecting him so much. Sadjoy walked a little closer to her special friend, before wrapping her wings around him, slowing his movements down a little, so that she was able to talk to Azure without the fear that he would have just ran away.

“What’s up Azure? What’s making you feel like this all of a sudden?” Sadjoy asked, clearly caring a lot about her friend, wanting to see him smile again, but was it ever that simple.

“I was the reason that the raider died. I gave him a second chance to live his life, like any normal pony would and he just threw it away, all because he had trust in me. If he didn’t stay there looking at me, he probably would have been okay and probably would have lived.” Azure admitted, not crying at all, just giving off a blank stare into the void that was the ground. Sadjoy knew that it was not like Azure to act so down, but he really did hate killing people and couldn't face the fact that somepony choked their second chance that they got.

“Azure, you just need to accept that ponies and creatures will always die, some sooner than others. You are not the reason that the raider died at all. You were the pony that stayed motivated on your motto of killing being wrong and gave a huge group of ponies a second chance. Maybe the one that died was a bad apple or something along those lines, but i can tell you something. You are probably one of the best ponies in the Wasteland, especially due to you showing mercy to those you come across, always giving ponies a second chance. If they accept your offer and then die after, they have themselves to blame for it, not you!” Sadjoy explained, making Azure tear up a bit, due to all of the nice things that she said about him.

Azure thought about it for a second, before agreeing with her explanation. Nopony was safe from death, but Azure definitely agreed that he was trying to prolong the lives of many ponies and creatures, due to what was happening with the Wasteland. Azure wanted the world to go back to normal, or as close to normal as the world could get, knowing full well that the world would never return to that state, at least not for a long while. Azure could always dream, which gave him the motivation and the inspiration to keep going, due to him wanting to show that he was a better pony than all of the others. He would try to be ‘The dashite that could’, which gave him even more motivation to keep going.

Azure wiped a tear from his eye, before hugging Sadjoy with all of his might, before kissing her on the cheek, to show his gratitude that he had for her, for being able to help him get out of the loophole that he was beginning to get stuck into. Sadjoy blushed a little bit, knowing that he was grateful to say the least. They regained focus on their task at hoof and continued to walk back to the settlement, speeding up a little bit to catch up with both Brick and Cidershot ahead.

They reached the settlement, before the group split off in different directions. Sadjoy walked back to her home, Azure knowing that she was definitely going to sleep, while Brick went to go and buy something from the gryphon that was surprisingly still awake, Nightclaw. As for Cidershot, he just stood by the gate, waiting patiently for something to happen, which Azure didn't really understand. Azure began walking back to his home, when he realised that his vision was slowly fading to blackness. This made him panic, before he dropped to the floor, unable to move his body. Time felt like it had been frozen, before he was forced to close his eyes, on the wet floor. Before he knew it, he had passed out, right in front of the gate to the settlement, making him worry as he slipped into a trance that he didn't know how to escape from.

Azure pushed against the floor and tried to get himself up, failing multiple times in the process, but succeeding some time later, which made him worry about what happened. Azure stood still on all four of his hooves, keeping himself tall and sturdy, as well as making himself look more like a pony that nopony wanted to mess with. Azure was pretty sure that he was unconscious, but he couldn't tell for sure, due to how real the events that he was seeing were. He just needed a sign that he was unconscious and he had found it in the form of nothing.

Azure watched and originally saw a couple of ponies on a roof talking, before he had passed out. Azure looked back up to that same roof and saw that not only were the ponies not there, but the building itself was also replaced by something else, maybe another type of building, but it definitely wasn't the same. Azure now knew that he was in a fake world, just being another thought within his mind now. Azure decided that it would have been useless to just stay still, so he began to look around the unfamiliar settlement, which intrigued him enough to venture into the houses of others. Azure entered the first house and saw that it looked just like Roselight’s house, but it wasn't. There was a figure within the house, but Azure didn't pick up on it at first, making him close the door and move onto the next one, one that was unused in the real world that he was living. As soon as he opened the door, he was a little bit shocked. It was the same at the other house.

Azure stepped into the property, before noticing the figure, making him jump a little. Azure looked at the figure, noticing that it was a little smaller than him, making him feel a little more powerful overall. Azure walked around the room, noticing that it was exactly like Roselight’s house. Infact, the house was Roselight’s, on the inside at least, making Azure get a little confused for a second, before he understood why it did it. The reason it did it was because that was one of the only buildings other than his own, that he had entered in the settlement, so his mind was making all of the houses look the same. The figure lit up their horn and moved through the shadows, lighting its path ahead of itself, to make it easier to see what it was doing.

Azure watched it with a little bit of amusement, wanting to know first of all, what it was and second of all, why was it in his illusion? Azure watched the figure carefully, before noticing that it made a little bit of a mistake, which was revealing one of its hooves as it came out of the shadows, to go into another set of shadows. Azure smiled a little and walked towards that shadow, which noticed Azure’s movement, making Azure realise that he was probably dreaming, but somepony was within his dream or illusion that was able to control themselves, making them have another shared dream experience.

“Blitz? Just come out of the shadows! I know it’s you, you sneaky fuck.” Azure joked, knowing Blitz’s humor very well. The figure stopped before looking directly at Azure, not really showing any happiness at all, just a little bit of sadness. Azure knew that Blitz was happy to see him, but something was bothering him, making Azure worry. Blitz stepped out from the shadows before teleporting them both to Azure’s home. Azure could see that something was stressing Blitz out, making him want to hug him as tightly as possible, which is exactly what he did, tearing up a little bit. Blitz teared up a little as well, before pushing Azure a little away, keeping his distance from him. Blitz didn't want to speak, but he did do something that made Azure question himself. Before Blitz did anything, he teleported something onto the wall, next to the picture of the Project Chimera project. Azure noticed it, due to the big green flash that appeared there.

Azure didn't get time to read it, before he was flung into the bed that he owned, before blinking and gasping. He saw that the room was the exact same, only Sadjoy was sleeping on his chest. Was he dreaming, or did that just happen?

Chapter 18: Ambush Adventures

Azure panicked for a second, before realising that he was back in the real world for sure, due to being able to feel the weight of the bat pony that was on top of him, crushing him for air a little, as he slightly moved her while she was on top of him, trying not to wake her up at all, due to how adorable she was on top of him. Azure shifted her slightly, allowing himself to catch some air and breathe a sigh of relief due to him being back in the real world and not in the fake one. Although Azure liked Blitz’s company, he had to be real for Azure to take a blind notice, due to how much he needed him, for company, for emotional support, or more. Azure missed him, but the more that Azure thought about him, the more he would get off track and make more mistakes, which is something that nopony wanted to do within the Wasteland. More than likely, it was Azure’s brain trying to play tricks on him, making him see illusions that were within his memory.

Azure closed his eyes before remembering something that happened within the dream that he had, involving Blitz and himself. Azure rolled Sadjoy off himself, before standing up on his own hooves, finding it a little harder than normal. Azure looked down to see that nothing had changed from before he passed out earlier, making him think it was just a little bit of light headedness from him originally passing out. Azure kept that as his excuse for not being able to walk straight, before clambering on with his little investigation. Azure looked at the wall, originally where the Project Chimera image was, before noticing that the image had disappeared and had been replaced with an image of a map, a small map to be exact.

The map was of Equestria, pre war and being all bright and colourful, making Azure wish more that the world would have gone back to that state in the future, but it seemed unlikely. The map showed areas that Azure’s Pipbuck recognised, like Sweet Apple Acres and the Steel Ranger’s base in Hoofington Harbour or Docks, whichever one was the correct one. There was another location that Azure’s PipBuck understood, making Azure question the machine that was on his leg. An area called Blitz’s Cove was marked as a point of interest, making Azure feel like that was his last objective to go to, but when it was all over, he would go there.

There was a location that showed three dots together, which Azure thought was the three artifacts that they had already. There should have been more dots, indicating five out of the six in total that they needed. Azure zoomed out on the map on his Pipbuck, but nothing happened, only showing three dots, due to the three that they had condensing together and creating one icon on his Pipbuck. Azure looked back at the image, before noticing that it had been replaced by the Project Chimera image, making Azure get a little creeped out by what had just happened. It was definitely real, due to the locations being on Azure’s Pipbuck, suggesting the routes to take to get to said objective.

Azure looked back at Sadjoy, seeing that she was beginning to wake up. Her ears twitched before snapping to an upright position and making her look around to see if Azure was still close to her. She spotted him across the room before smiling at him, showing him that she was awake, rather than being half asleep. She began to get up, stretching as she did, before walking over to Azure and placing her hoof on his head, trying to take his temperature with her hoof. She noticed that he was still a tad bit too hot for her liking, so she walked to the window and looked outside to see what the weather was like. It was raining hard!

“In a minute, we will both go outside to get some fresh air and wake up properly, okay Azure?” Sadjoy asked, beginning to sound like she was a parent looking after a foal. Azure was a little confused, but nodded, understanding that a little rain was probably good to wake them both up, especially him, due to him passing out last night for no reason whatsoever. Sadjoy walked up to the door, before flinging it open and hopping out into the cold, noticing that it wasn't nearly as radioactive as it should have been, making her question if it was a good thing or not.

Azure slowly walked outside and looked to the sky, seeing that it was as dark and as grey as always, due to his kind slowly caring for themselves and no other race. Azure hated them for that, as the rain fell on him, waking him up more and giving him a more of a fresh sense to him. Sadjoy joined him in the rain, slowly outstretching her wings and getting them wetter. It was beginning to chuck it down, as the rain fell on the two below, soaking them in water that refreshed their bodies and made them feel cleaner. Sadjoy tackled Azure to the ground, before pinning to the floor and kissing him on the lips. She closed her eyes as she did the action, making Azure do the complete opposite and made him keep his eyes wide open, being a little bit in shock that she was doing that out in the open, but was also in pure bliss, due to how soft her lips were. Azure didn’t know how to respond to the bat pony’s actions, so he just rolled with it, as more rain continued to fall on the pair.

Sadjoy was the one to break the kiss, Azure holding on for as long as he could, so that he could enjoy her taste. It was so enticing, but allowed for him to feel like he had a goal in life at least, so that was a positive to keep his mind positive too. Azure looked over to see Gretzky staring at them both, making Azure yell in surprise. Sadjoy jumped a little from seeing the gryphon just stood there silently, watching the scenes and they unfolded.. Azure got to his hooves and shook himself off, getting a confused look from Gretzky.

“There really wasn’t a point to shaking off here Alchem, you’ll just get as wet here as you would anywhere else without cover. Anyway, I need you two to go to Roselight’s area. We have the locations for the artifacts and we are sending you two to get one of them.” Gretzky explained, getting a sympathetic look from Azure, due to the fact that Azure got caught kissing Sadjoy. Gretzky rolled his eyes, before flying off to his little shop, working on something as soon as he landed on the shop floor. Azure looked at Sadjoy, as they began to walk to Roselight’s home.

“So, what happened last night for me to be in bed with you this morning?” Azure asked, getting a cheeky glance from the bat pony as she eyed him down. She went to speak, but hesitated to say anything for a couple of seconds, coming up with something to say.

“You passed out and they yelled out your name as I walked away, but I turned around and flew you back home. It began to thunder last night, so I held up in your home, I hope that that was okay for me to do, Azure.” Sadjoy answered, getting a smile from the pegasus zebra hybrid and making her blush a little. Azure had no idea why she felt bad about staying at Azure’s home, since she had already stayed there before, making his mind try to get around that thought, but unfortunately, it couldn't do it quick enough. Azure chuckled, before kissing her on the cheek.

“You don't have to worry about stuff like that, because I trust you enough for me to know that you wouldn't hurt me, at least not intentionally.” Azure joked, laughing a little to clear the air around them, making the tension between them seem less powerful, turning it into a loving tension, instead of an anxiety one.

The rain continued to batter them with its wrath, hitting them occasionally with its water, which added to their already wet coat of fur and water. The rain felt nice for once, making Azure want to walk slower, to allow him to experience the most of the situation. Azure didn’t want to fall behind too much, so he quickened his pace a little, catching up with Sadjoy and nuzzling her neck. She was cold!

Sadjoy looked behind her to see Azure nuzzling her, making her blush a little, before using her wings to soar into the sky, making Azure’s eyes follow her with every movement. She looked so exotic when she was flying, due to the shape of her wings and what they were made of. Azure was a little bit jealous that the bat pony mare in front of him was showing off something Azure could never get. It aggravated him, but he enjoyed everything about himself anyway, so the jealousy slipped right off his train of thought.

A couple of slow minutes later, they got to the home of Roselight and stopped, before knocking on the door. Azure watched as Sadjoy landed next to him, happy as ever, but also being soaked from head to hoof, making Azure chuckle, as her main flopped in front of her vision. It made her all that more adorable and cute, within the harsh confines of the Wasteland. Nothing was meant to be good in the Wasteland, making it almost a rule for all of pony kind to not be good, but Sadjoy broke every rule in that fake ruleset, making her a devilish criminal, which Azure liked a little.

Roselight opened the door with her magic, a dark blueish gold aura surrounding the entire door, making it look like it was from another era, another world. Azure and Sadjoy both walked through, before shaking off before getting any closer to any of Roselight’s work. It was carefully sketched out on paper, making it become weak to water, which was something both Sadjoy and Azure both had all around them, so they made sure to make themselves both kind of dry, just to lower the chances as much as they could to avoid getting water onto Roselight’s sensitive work.

Roselight rolled her eyes, before sending a blistering wave of heat past the two, evaporating any water they had on their bodies. It worked really well, due to Azure noticing that his mane was perfectly dry and his fur was fluffy, making him look a little bigger and wider than he was. Sadjoy laughed at Azure, before noticing herself, making Azure fall to the ground in laughter. Sadjoy was the literal definition of a fluff ball, but she came with a pair of wings. She was literally a ball, with on legs, but with wings. Azure was too busy laughing on the floor to notice that they both moved away. Once Azure did notice, he chased after them, into the next room. Azure was pretty sure that the walls would have been littered with notes, but to his surprise, they weren’t. All of the notes that were there before were now gone and replaced with the wall. It made the room look so much nicer, and gave Roselight less distractions at least. Azure walked to the table and saw the map of locations, just like the other one that he had seen pinned to the wall in his home, only this map was bigger and missing one of the points. Azure was about to point that out to Roselight, but Gretzky slammed open the door and entered, before he could get a word out. It was a little bit aggravating, but Azure could wait his turn for him to speak.

“Okay all of you, listen up! We now have the locations for all of the artifacts, so we can plan out when we are going and where we are going.” Roselight roared out with confidence, Azure still seeing the same thing on the map, making Azure think that she was still wrong, due to him seeing only one area highlighted on the map, but then he realised that there were multiple maps underneath, making him think that he was a bit of an idiot. Roselight went to the maps and spread them all out, noticing that there was one that had a suspicious looking note on it. Roselight picked up the note and read it out aloud.

“I got this one for you. You will receive it when i next get back from my job.” Roselight said aloud, reading the note word for word. To her, it didn't make any sense, due to everypony being accounted for within the settlement, unless somepony snuck out without enlisting it to the guard. Roselight was still sceptical, due to nopony knowing about the maps until last night. Azure looked at his Pipbuck and saw that the location marker for the artifact at the Steel Ranger base was dimmed out, being replaced with a different tag. The tag was now set to optional, making Azure look a little confused and making him think that Blitz had something to do with it, despite him still being encased in stone, or was he?

Roselight looked back at the map and saw that it was the one from their last exhibition, to the Steel Ranger base that they had to run from. It was confusing her enough to make her forget about the note, before throwing it away and continuing with the plan, like she had intended. She looked over all of the maps and tried to figure out which ones were the ones that she wanted to use to show the others what to do. After a good minute of searching for the correct ones, she eventually found the one for the happy pair.

“Ah, here we go. I want both of you to travel down to Sweet Apple Acres, right next to Ponyville. It may be a long journey, but it is the only one that I can trust you two to go on, due to Gretzky needing to be here for business purchases and nightclaw being her for weapon crafting and assembling. I don't expect anypony else to be able to do it as well as you two could.” Roselight admitted, seeing a smile on Sadjoy’s face and the complete opposite on Azure’s face. He had learned that it was right next to stable two, which had the myth of never opening. Maybe both himself and Sadjoy could have a closer look at the stable and see if it was like the myth said it was. That thought of adventure alone, put a smile on Azure’s face, making Roselight seem satisfied with her decision.

A couple of minutes later, Azure and Sadjoy were on their way to Ponyville first, to scout out the area and then move to Sweet Apple Acres. Roselight had ordered Gretzky to give them all of the supplies that they would have needed to travel such a distance, knowing that it would take them literal days just to get there. They were given enough food to be able to survive about a week, before they would have to fend for themselves. Something seemed off about that in Azure’s eyes, but he didn't care too much about it. Instead, he was focusing on the main task at hoof, which was not dying and getting to Ponyville. It seemed a bit excessive to make two of them go on an adventure like this, when she could have made any of the raiders go after the items, but he guessed that she didn't trust them enough to do a task like the one that they had been assigned to, making Azure feel a little special, due to his own mind coming up with that solution. Sadjoy kept her eye on Azure, knowing that if worse came to worse, then Azure still wouldn't pick up a weapon. That was the only thing that annoyed Sadjoy, but she loved him nonetheless. He had his rights and she had hers, so she actually admired him a little bit more for his resentment to kill, always turning to a non lethal option to take out creatures and ponies.

Azure noticed that the sky was getting brighter, making him hope for a good day to begin their journey. To get to Ponyville, they would either have to climb the very tall mountain that was in the distance, or go around the mountain and try to keep clear of Canterlot, due to the amount of radiation around that area. The amount there made it so nopony, not even Blitz, could survive there, due to something that they called pink radiation or pink mist or something along those lines. It was so bad, that it would melt everything it came into contact with, including metal, which gave Azure a painful image that entered his mind, making him want to clear his mind as quickly as possible.

Both Azure and Sadjoy had a huge journey ahead of them, making their minds race with both motivation of what they might find within the Wasteland, while being on the journey that they had been sent on, but feared for both the settlement and themselves. They feared that something might happen to them that they couldn't escape from. It made them both expressionless figures, wandering the Wasteland looking for answers, or so it felt like to them, having all of the dread within them. Azure closed his eyes before sighing and then yawning, indicating that he was tired. Since yawns were infectious, Sadjoy yawned shortly after, her body forcing itself to mimic Azure’s actions, due to… reasons.

Azure kept looking at his Pipbuck every five minutes, just to check how close they were getting to Ponyville. Azure was surprised to find that there was little to no progress that happened after five minutes of walking, making him feel like the journey would have taken longer than expected. Sadjoy was left to ponder what they might have come across when they got there. Were they expecting to see ghoul after ghoul, rampant about killing them and eating them, or were they expecting to see more raiders patrolling the grounds, ready to kill them in cold blood for no reason whatsoever, other than being in their sight. The thoughts that Sadjoy was having dampened her mood and made it so that she couldn't think straight, getting Azure’s attention.

“Are you alright Sadjoy?” Azure asked, before stepping closer to her, making sure that she was in fact okay. She didn't answer for a couple of seconds, before shaking her head, before looking up and over to Azure, feeling like she needed a pony to lean on. Luckily enough, Azure was the said pony that she needed, nopony else was equal to him. Azure covered Sadjoy with his wing, wrapping it around her, before pulling her closer to him and nuzzling her, building up her confidence a little and bringing her out of her little anxious bubble that the was pinned within
“I just don't see anything good coming from going to this area. I’m just a little afraid of what we will find there, whether that is raiders like the ones that raided last time, or ghouls that are ready to either turn us or kill us.” Sadjoy announced, getting into a little bit of a panic. Azure comforted her by rubbing her with his wings, each little feather on them massaging her back and making her unwind a little, making Azure chuckle as he noticed that she liked it. Sadjoy noticed the smile on his face and paused him before he was able to say anything to her. “Don't you say anything!” She recoiled, snapping at Azure but loving the massage so much more than she could have anticipated, making her lean into it, making her lean into Azure, only making his smile grow.

Before long, it was raining and the lovey dovey mood changed for one that was more about focusing on themselves. Azure was trying to stay as small as possible, still moving at his normal walking speed. Sadjoy on the other hoof was above. She flew higher into the sky, trying to find a middle ground between the sky and the floor. If it was up to her, she would have gone above the clouds, but unfortunately those clouds were monitored by the Enclave, the pegasi above.

Lightning began to form, flashing in front of both of them, giving them a similar reaction to each other. They both didn't care about it, watching as the lightning bolt began to disappear, retreating back into the sky after seeing both of the duo. Sadjoy decided that it was safer to land, rather than being in the air and be more of a target. She landed next to Azure and said nothing, trying not to break the concentration for either of them by ruining their beloved silence.

Azure noticed Sadjoy and turned to smile at her, before another bolt of lightning striked the sky, lighting up their world, like nopony else could. A roar of thunder quickly followed behind, feeling like it shook the ground that they were stood on. Azure looked back to the front and said nothing, noticing that there was an abandoned building in front of them. It would have kept them dry, so they both decided to stay within the building to dry off.

They got to the building, before Sadjoy peeked through one of the broken windows and saw some ghouls within the building. She didn't want to waste her bullets on some ghouls that could barely move, so she decided to use a piece of metal from outside the building, probably being a piece of the frame of the house. Azure tried to open the door, but found that he had no luck in opening it. Sadjoy tried to pry open the window frame, using the object that she had just picked up and failed, watching the metal snap in front of her and breaking the window frame, making it bend inwards, making it near impossible to open without something like a crowbar.

Sadjoy was giving up with entering the house and not too much later, Azure was done with the house, finding no other way to enter the still solid structure. The ghouls within clawed at the window, finally catching sight of the duo and making them notice them, due to the noises that they were making. It wasn't like any normal ghoul, but maybe could have been one that had changed recently, still having some sort of voice box in place still. Azure got a little angry that they weren't able to get within the property, but he relaxed a little, closing his eyes for a couple of seconds, before opening them and walking away from the house.
Azure turned back around and rushed at the window, an object present in his mouth. Azure charged at the window of the building and stopped, using his momentum to throw a piece of debris into the window. It broke the window, but still didn't allow them to enter the property. Sadjoy flew up and looked around the building, before noticing that there were no other windows on the second floor and had no chimney, making her get a little frustrated at the sight of no other options. Azure and Sadjoy had to leave the property, due to them being unable to get within the property. They had to be smart about where they went and what they did, due to them needing to get back before the food ran out.

Azure signalled for Sadjoy to follow him, which she would have done anyway. Sadjoy rolled her eyes before looking back at the property, her wet mane getting in the way of her vision, forcing her to move it to the side or to a new position, so that it didn't get in her way. Sadjoy turned her head to look back at Azure and noticed that he was going to risk himself getting killed, wanting to pick up the pace at which they were moving. Azure flew closer to the clouds, fearlessness within both of his eyes as he glanced over at Sadjoy. She looked to the ground before flying up a little bit, only enough to clear the building and the treetops, which was enough for her as well as Azure.

Azure was going a little over the top with what he was doing, due to how close he was to the cloud level. He was just a hundred or so metres from the first cloud level, but he was about twenty five metres away from something that zapped anything that tried to enter the cloud level. Once pegasi went down to the ground, they would be unable to come back up to the clouds, forcing some groups of the Enclave to stay down below and make cloud-like terminals to connect with groups above the clouds.

Azure slowly made his way back down to the ground, trying to be more sensible as lightning flashed in front of both of them, making them keep their cool and not really focusing on the lightning. The thunder crept towards them, like a ghoul growling at them from far away, but with more of a sound behind it. Both Azure and Sadjoy were unaffected by it, being more annoyed at the weather than anything, due to how it was always bad when they both went on an adventure together. Azure caught up to the rampant bat pony and looked at her, before she looked back to him, wanting to kiss him mid air, so she did. Sadjoy placed a single kiss on Azure’s cheek before getting back to her normal flying position, making Azure blush in the process.

Their pace was definitely better, due to how much ground they were coving in the span of a couple seconds. Azure was satisfied with their progress, as they flew over countless trees every second and was able to spot everything that was going on below them. Both Sadjoy and Azure spotted countless ghouls as they got closer to a run down settlement. They both didn't stop to look at it, but Azure was instantly reminded of Journey as soon as he looked at the settlement below, bringing back bad memories. Azure shook his head before getting the water out of his mane, or at least a good amount of water out at least, before focusing back on the task of flying.

After about an hour of flying, Azure and Sadjoy needed to land, their wings being a little stiff from the non stop flying that they had been doing since they got into the air. Azure landed next to a tree, seeing that the ground below was dry, tempting Azure enough to make him want to land there, so he did. Sadjoy followed his lead, before landing on the dry ground. She was really grateful for the rest, due to bat pony wings being a little harder to use during harsh weather, but knowing full well that bat pony wings were extraordinary during the dry days and nights, due to how streamline they were, without having the additional weight of all of the feathers that a pegasus like Azure had.

Azure looked around, seeing nothing around them that might have posed as a threat to them, making him smile a little before opening his saddlebag to check if everything was within his saddlebag or if anything had fallen out without him noticing it. Luckily, it was all still there, making Azure breathe a sigh of relief that their long adventure wasn’t kicking off badly. Azure looked over to Sadjoy before noticing that she was ready to cover some distance on her hooves, making Azure smile that she had so much determination about her, raring for more action and more adventure. Azure looked to his Pipbuck and saw that they had made a good amount of distance, making him want to cover some more. With that being said, Azure began to trot slowly South West, Sadjoy following him happily, a great big smile on her face, making her look like she was actually enjoying it. Azure was a little sceptical about her mood, but he wasn't going to question it, not without worry at least.

They both travelled through the lands, the rain doing little to nothing to slow them down, if they found a muddy patch, they would just fly over it and land on the opposite side, making it so that the mud wouldn't slow them down at all. Although flying was easier, in the current weather, they were happy to trot along on the floor and use their wings when they were needed. Azure spotted a cluster of buildings ahead and figured that it was time for a break. They slowly walked over to the buildings and stayed vigilant, ready to pounce if something spooked them.

As they got closer to the settlement, Azure noticed some noise, pointing it out to Sadjoy, who could probably hear it before Azure could anyway, due to bat pony ears being able to pick up more noise, due to being more sensitive, as well as having echolocation, which made it easy for Sadjoy to pick up their exact location. Azure stayed completely silent and still, as Sadjoy went around the first building to see that the ponies were huddled around a fire. The ponies looked nothing like raiders, making Sadjoy think that they might have been normal settlers of the cluster of buildings. Sadjoy signalled for Azure to come to her, which he did within an instant, before Sadjoy coughed, getting the attention of the group by the fire. There was a look of shock on their faces, before there were two firearms pointed to both of them, not really scaring Sadjoy and Azure, due to them probably having the same reaction if some random pony came up behind them and coughed.

“Hello, we are not here to hurt you! We came here looking for a little bit of shelter or a place to just sit down.” Sadjoy announced, seeing no difference from them lowering their weapons. Azure was beginning to think that all wasn't like it seemed, until a pony ran up to the group, before looking at both Azure and Sadjoy.

“Wait, what's happening here? The boss told you idiots to let ponies pass come and go!” The mare stated to the others, making them lower their weapons, still eyeing both of them and not letting them go from their view. There was a pony in particular that didn't seem to like Azure, but Azure simply just took it as a sign of distrust. Sadjoy kept her eye on that one for Azure, being ready to make the first move, if they were planning anything at all. Azure and Sadjoy noticed that all of the buildings that they had seen were indeed run down, but there was a cart with some items in it, which got their attention. If they were able to find some more supplies for their adventure, then they could ensure that they would have enough to go out on an adventure while they were already out in the wild. It was indeed a good idea, but they had to check if the pony running the group was wanting to sell for some caps.

Azure knew that he had some caps to spend, so they walked closer to the cart, getting an alarming glance from one of the armoured ponies that was in the area. The guard walked up to them both and eyed them down like the other ponies did. Azure felt like somepony else was watching him from behind. He turned to see nopony behind him, so he turned back around to look at the guard that was eyeing them both down. Azure had to admit that he felt a little uncomfortable in the situation that he was in, due to all of the eyes being locked onto him for some reason.

“Is there a problem here?” Sadjoy asked, getting Azure behind her, protecting him like he was her foal. Azure did feel a little more protected, until he saw another pony walking up to them both. It was a hooded figure, with a cloak that went down past the end of their hooves, dragging along the floor. Azure noticed that it was a pony, due to the tail that was attached to the pony, that was the only thing that was exposed through the cloak. Azure felt a shiver slap his spine with vigor, making his ears droop. The hooded figure walked past them and up to the cart, before turning around and leaning on the cart itself.

“There shouldn’t be!” The aggressive cloaked mare roared, making the guard back away from Azure, looking like he was almost afraid of the cloaked mare. “I do apologize for all of this little group’s actions. I can assure you that it won't happen again. Do I make myself clear?” The mare added, making the guard nod slowly, showing how much she could do to enforce her rank of being in charge of the group.

“Are you open to trade?” Sadjoy asked, stealing Azure’s words right out of his mouth. He would speak, but Azure was pretty sure that she had it all under control. Azure just stood back and waited for Sadjoy to work her magic, making Azure ponder a tiny bit about if they knew anything about him that even he didn't know about himself. He began to question himself a little, but immediately returned to reality within an instant.

“Take a look at what we have and i will give you an offer that i will take for it.” the mare admitted, letting both Azure and Sadjoy look at what she had to offer. Azure wasn't going to miss the opportunity to look through somewhere for possible stock that they could add to either their collection or to Gretzky’s collection, back at home. Azure and Sadjoy both got taken to the rear of the cart, before the mare opened it with her magic, suggesting that she was at least a unicorn. She walked back a little bit, allowing both Azure and Sadjoy to look about to see if they wanted anything from her collection.

Azure could see some canned foods, making him instantly move towards them, before stopping as he spotted something else. Sadjoy looked at Azure and saw that he was looking at a weapon, but brushed it off instantly, making her go back to worrying about her own business. Azure wasn't looking at the weapon in front of him, he was looking at something that came in a little pack. It looked like the saddlebags that Gretzky wanted, back when Blitz was alive. It was the same material as the rags he wore under the medical jacket, which grabbed his attention. There were four or five saddlebags that were there, so Azure decided to grab the lot, before heading over to the mare. She looked at Azure, before chuckling lightly.

“You really want those pieces of shit? They can’t hold anything inside them. Plus, don't you already have a saddlebag?” She asked, making Azure look down at his saddlebag and smile, knowing that she didn't have a single clue what he was actually going to do with them. She thought for a second, before remembering that both of them were travelling through the old houses to get to someplace else, making her come up with an idea for Azure.

“Where are you two heading to, if you don't mind me asking?” The mare asked, getting a strange reaction from the pair. They didn't expect that question at all, they were more or less thinking that the hooded mare would talk more about the items, rather than what their goals were.

“Umm, we were on our way to ponyville. Why do you ask?” Sadjoy questioned the mare, making her look around. The mare stayed still for a couple of seconds, before sighing loudly, allowing Azure and Sadjoy to both hear her sighing.

“As much as I hate trusting random strangers for things, I need to ask you for a favour.” The mare asked, getting another strange look from both of them. They could agree that it was a little weird to be trusting complete strangers to go so far and grab something for somepony else that they didn't even know if they could trust. The mare seemed a little bit hesitant about asking it, making Azure believe that it was true that she needed a little bit of help.

Azure walked a little closer to the mare, seeing that she was beginning to become a little more timid, making Azure realise that she actually did need some help.

“What do you need help with?” Azure asked, getting the mare to turn to his direction, before she went quiet for a couple of seconds, before pulling out a box. Inside the box was nothing, which confused Azure slightly, as well as Sadjoy, as she looked over Azure’s shoulder, trying to figure out what was going on. The mare put the box away and brought out a photo with her magic, which showed a little box within one of the shops in Ponyville. The box had a circle around it, which made Azure instantly know what the mare was after. She had the box, but didn't have the item within the box. Azure thought at first that it was something to do with greed, but then he realised that there was a little hole in the bottom of the box, which made him get the picture.

“It is a piece of jewelry that my mother had made for me, but unfortunately it fell through one of the many bullet holes in the box. It is in the shop within the image, if it helps at all. You might have to have a little look about the floor around the area, but surprisingly, you should find it still being there, due to all of the raiders that did hold that area being dead somehow. I have absolutely no idea on how they all died, all I know is that there is no threat right now in Ponyville.” The mare spat out, trying to convince the pair as much as she could. Azure grabbed the image that she had, along with the box, before looking at it and wondering why she still kept it. It was too damaged to protect anything else, which made life a little harder when it came to protecting the jewelry. Nonetheless, Azure was determined to help the mare with finding her jewelry, which Azure knew made her smile behind her cloaked face.

Azure turned and noticed that Sadjoy had gone to go talk to somepony else, making him need to walk over to her to tell her that they were ready to go. Azure walked over to Sadjoy and the mare that she was talking to, before noticing that something was completely off. Azure still felt like he was being watched, making him regret staying for so long. Azure walked up to Sadjoy, before tapping her on the shoulder with his hoof, before she turned around with a scowl. Sadjoy looked a little distressed too, making Azure believe that something else was going to happen, but after about a minute, it didn't.

Azure walked out of the cluster of buildings, before looking back at them, Sadjoy to his opposite side doing the exact same. The feeling that Azure felt brought him back to the days of Journey and gave him the exact same vibes that Journey did, just with fewer ponies in it and it not being a settlement at all. Azure looked forward again, trying to forget about all of the stuff that went on at the settlement or little cluster of buildings. Azure tried to focus more on where they were going, rather than where they had just come from. Sadjoy was trying to do the same, feeling the same way that Azure did while at the settlement, which made his stomach crawl like something bad was going to happen and they both didn't know it.

Azure cleared his mind, before spreading his wings and rising himself up into the air. Azure didn't realise it at first, but the rain had actually stopped falling, making their journey more enjoyable and allowed them to travel greater distances, due to them not being dragged down by the rain, which was a positive that came out of this sea of negative thoughts. Azure was shortly accompanied by Sadjoy, as she flew up and glided alongside Azure, making him smile, before he looked forward again. Azure wasn't wanting to take another break until they had got to Ponyville, but knew that they were going to have to during the night, due to exhaustion approaching quicker and quicker, the more they travelled. Azure was beginning to get a little tired, but he pushed on, to try and better himself overall.

Azure was a motivated pony, being the one that would drop other things, so that his friends and family could enjoy themselves to the fullest. His only friend that he had left by his side right then and there, was Sadjoy, which did make him a little sad, due to all of his other allies dying on his adventures. As soon as all of the bad was gone, Azure would continue to fight for peace and equality, even if it was never going to happen. He promised himself that he wouldn't stop pursuing until the world went back to normal, due to him wanting to see the best in ponies and creatures alike.

Sadjoy turned her head and saw that the pegasus was deep in thought, zoned out from the rest of the world and their horrors, making her smile that he was doing something that she would do quite often, due to her emotionless and non-rememberable past. It hurt her to want to find who she was and where she came from, but the chances of that were very, very slim, due to her not knowing where to start looking. It was a journey for another day, but right now, it was a timewaster, something that would get her into the same state of daydreaming that Azure was locked into at the current time.

They both flew together, hours becoming sheer minutes, due to them not noticing anything around them, as they flew below the cloud layer and glided along with the wind. Azure began to smell something, making him realise that they were both daydreaming. Azure nudged Sadjoy and grabbed her, before they both saw something ahead of them that hurt them a little bit. The land below them was burning, making them both feel like something happened at their current location. Azure wanted to investigate, but he decided that they should have gotten to the jewelry as soon as possible, to avoid anypony from stealing it. Sadjoy agreed with Azure’s decision, sticking with him as much as she could and not at all questioning his opinion, which meant that she trusted Azure a lot, almost as much as a leader.

The day slowly turned to dusk, making them both realise how long they had both been flying. Azure landed on the ground and slumped to the floor, due to his legs being too little used to bring up the strength to land properly. Azure’s wings ached bad, so did Sadjoy’s, making them both start to stretch and relax their muscles. Azure looked around and saw nothing, meaning that they would both have to use their hooves to travel across the land to reach an area that they could have at least stayed the night at. Azure looked back at his Pipbuck and saw that they were pretty close to Canterlot, which was really bad. Azure knew that they needed to stay away from that area, due to the concentration of the radiation that was around the area and in the city itself. Being close to Canterlot meant that they were also close to ponyville too, being only a couple of miles out from it, to the South West of them. It was only another hour or two walk away, making it sound pretty far, compared to Azure and Sadjoy spending most of the day getting to where they were then.

It took them a little while to know where to look for shelter, but they eventually found some, in the shape of a house that had been broken open. Azure walked closer to the structure, expecting to find nothing there at all. It was the complete opposite! The broken house was run down, but had a lot of supplies in it, making Azure feel a little excited to explore it. It was the complete opposite feeling that Sadjoy had. She knew that something was up, that nopony would have not been in the location they were just about to explore. It seemed too good to be true, which was nearly right.

Azure carefully walked closer to the building, before noticing a pony that was sat in a chair. They seemed to be dead, but Azure had a feeling that he was probably faking it. Azure walked over and looked at the body, before a gun was pointed to his head from the side, being covered in darkness. Acting on suspicion, Sadjoy aimed at the wall with her rifle, before letting a shot out, flying through the wall and catching the figure in the head, taking them to the floor. As soon as the body hit the floor, the pony in the chair opened his eyes and looked at the body on the ground, before looking back up to Azure and smiling, their ears dropping to the side of their skull, like they were being stapled to the sides of their skull.

Azure didn't say anything, just making him be feared more than he should have been in that scenario. Sadjoy walked closer to the building, spotting the body on the floor, before pointing her gun at the figure in the chair. They were obviously using all of the resources as a bait, to attract ponies and kill them for all of their items. Not this time though. Sadjoy bent down and looked at the body that she had just made lifeless and scowled. She didn't want to do what she did, but it was either their life or Azure’s, which made the choice easier when she thought about it more. Sadjoy looked up with anger and walked over to the pony in the chair, before punching them with a hoof, causing blood to come out of their mouth. Azure watched in shock, as Sadjoy repeatedly punched away at the pony, causing it to bleed more and more.

Azure had to step in to get Sadjoy to stop punching the pony who was in the chair. Azure grabbed her wings before pulling on them, making her yell out in a little bit of pain. She turned around and went to attack Azure, but stopped as soon as she saw him standing there, looking almost scared enough to make her believe that she had done something wrong. She then realised what she was doing and backed off a little bit, seeing that the pony was chained up and now in a bad state. Azure walked up to the pony, before going to grab one of his syringes from his saddlebag, before seeing the life drain from the eyes of the pony who was chained to the chair.

Azure stopped as he saw the pony die in front of him, before sighing heavily, making it easy enough for Sadjoy to hear. She didn't say anything, as she had just assaulted a pony who was being used as bait. Azure took a lockpick he had from his saddlebag and unlocked the chain, seeing the corpse of the pony fall to the ground. Azure went to pick it up but stopped as he noticed some twitching that was going on with the body. Azure slowly backed up, before he noticed that something was off. The pony should have been dead, due to the blood loss that he experienced.

The figure launched itself at Azure, before trying to chomp away at his face, being only a couple of centimetres from being able to tear his face into shreds. Sadjoy propelled herself into the ghoul that was attacking Azure, knocking it off him and making it tuble along with her. Sadjoy dropped her rifle on the floor by doing so, making it so that she was unarmed. Sadjoy scrambled around with the ghoul, before pushing it away and getting to her hooves. The new ghoul got up and charged right at the bat pony mare, making herself become a harder target by jumping out of the way of the ghouls first attack, making it grow more enraged.

The ghoul was no longer focused on Azure, it instead was focused on its next meal and the greatest part about it was that it had a side course of wings to go along with it as well. The ghoul pounced multiple times at Sadjoy, making her dodge as hard as she could. After a good couple of seconds, the ghoul was more determined than ever to catch the quick bat pony and make a meal out of her. Sadjoy had no intention of stopping and neither did the ghoul, until something happened that wasn't planned.

Sadjoy tripped over a box that was on the ground, making it so that she was down and vulnerable. The ghoul got over to her and was about to bite her, before Azure ran over to the ghoul and bucked it over Sadjoy, wounding the ghoul in the process. It got up and rushed towards Sadjoy, as she got up and walked back slowly, passing Azure. The ghoul was still locked on Sadjoy as Azure came to his limit, only wanting to sleep for the rest of the night. Sadjoy kept her distance from the ghoul, before something strange happened to the ghoul. Sadjoy looked behind the ghoul as Azure placed one of his syringes into its back, forcing it to turn around. It was about to lash out at him, before Azure pulled the trigger to the rifle that was in his battle saddle. Sadjoy’s rifle! Azure blew the head off the ghoul, covering himself in chunks of the undead pony’s skull, as well as a lot of blood.

Azure was sick and tired of all of the unnecessary fighting that they were getting themselves into, making him change his mind about killing, only for the ghoul that was now dead in front of him, giving him a little feeling of dread for what was to come after. Azure dropped the weapon from his battle saddle, before putting the pistol that he had on him, back into the holder, before making sure that it was fully loaded, only for the off chance that they would have run into more ghouls.

Sadjoy picked herself up, before looking at Azure with a sort of appreciation in her eyes, making Azure feel slightly better about himself, before he passed the rifle back to the bat pony mare, who happily appreciated that gesture. Azure looked back at the destroyed house and realised that the two ponies were dead, leaving all of the bait that they were using to be theirs. Azure felt a tiny bit wrong for taking off the two dead ponies, but then thought to himself something that completely changes his perspective on it. Could it have not been theirs?

With that being said, both Azure and Sadjoy went about looting something that they thought might be of value or of use. Azure noticed that the pair had found some questionable items, making Azure want to take it all, not out of greed, but out of not wanting another soul to get their hooves on it. There were a couple of rockets that were definitely worth something to somepony with an explosive background, making Azure chuckle to himself that he made that pun. Sadjoy was finding some caps and found a whole bunch of food supplies, making her smile before she raced to put it into her saddlebag, nearly filling it all the way with canned goods and beverages, making her happy that they found this place.

Azure spotted a rocket launcher over in the corner of the room, making him go over to it and move it away from an area that was so out in the open, into more of a secluded area. Sadjoy moved about and was making the area safe for them, using a door that was broken to block the stairs, making so that if somepony touched the door, it would fall down and make a loud bang on the floor. It was really smart thinking for them being out in the open. Azure placed some rocks over the rocket launcher, making it so that it was unable to be seen, unless somepony had perfect eyes and could see metallic items within a rock cluster. Sadjoy and Azure moved to the top of the stair, behind the door that Sadjoy had trapped and laid down on the floor, making it so that they were out of all lines of sight.

Sadjoy laid next to Azure curling up next to him and making him realise that they didn't even have that much of a break earlier, making them want to stay on the floor longer. Azure rested his head on Sadjoy and began to close his eyes, seeing the world fade to black and making him want to drift off to sleep immediately, which was exactly what he did.

Chapter 19: Unreal Encounters

Azure woke up to something that was not too pleasant to hear at all. The rain poured like it was the final day in the Wasteland, making Azure dread to go outside and travel some more. He looked down at the bat pony mare that was wrapped around him, cuddling him for warmth and nothing else. Sadjoy was asleep, there was no doubt about it, but something made Azure feel like something was off, due to how tired he still was. His body refused for him to stay up, making him plop right back down onto the floor and feel a little exhausted. This response from his body, made Azure become a little more worried about the state of himself, seeing that his body had never pulled this stunt before, making him feel like something was definitely wrong.

Due to Azure’s flop, Sadjoy woke up and looked at him in his eyes, before smiling and then instantly scowling again, as she noticed that Azure didn't look one hundred percent. She was about to ask him something, beginning to open her mouth, before closing it again and listening to the rain that hit what remained of the roof, which made it echo onto every wall. She looked back at Azure and rolled her eyes, before getting up and stretching. Azure tried to get up, but his body refused to follow Azure’s actions, making him think that there was some sort of ghost holding him down or something along those lines. Azure sighed, before confirming to himself that he would get up and that was exactly what he did, continuously telling his body that he would achieve the little goal, as if he was trying to train his brain again to start doing normal functions.

Azure stretched, hearing a couple of cracks down his back, which made Sadjoy shudder a little, due to how loud the cracks were. Azure has somewhat more control of his body, due to him sounding like he was breaking his spine directly in half. It made Azure shudder too, hearing the pop and crack of each bone along his spine, like he had never done before. Azure looked over to the door that they had put up for defence and saw that it was still standing, meaning that nopony else had entered the area, unless they were a pegasus or a bat pony, the latter being pretty rare to find.

Azure tapped the door with one of his hooves, before watching the door roll down that stairs, hitting the wall at the bottom, sending a vibration up the wall, sending a small amount of dust tumbling down, being almost as slow as a feather. Azure looked behind him, towards the area where he put the rocket launcher and saw his saddlebags slumped against it, having slung it off before he went to sleep last night. Although Azure didn't want his saddlebag being taken, he preferred comfort over most things, comfort in where he was, comfort of who he was, comfort of who his friends were. Those types of comforts was something that Azure preferred over anything, but didn't always choose them, due to the situation that he was placed in. It always depended on the situation at hoof, which was something that Azure kept in mind.

He picked up his saddlebags and looked at Sadjoy, seeing that she was doing the same. Azure smiled at that and was a little annoyed about the state of the weather around them, but being so far from home make the rain the least of their worries, coming a little before ghouls, because of them being able to fly up and away from the ghouls that could have possibly charged them down. Azure glided down to the rubble floor, seeing that there was less than when they got there, making Azure think that the damage to the structure was new, due to the amount of dust, dirt and debris being swept away by the wind. Azure couldn't get his head around hit, so he just scratched his head with one of his hooves, making him focus a little more on the real world and not the fake world that was within his mind. Azure walked over to the two that had tried to kill them last night and started to loot them both, seeing that they both had some good things on them, including two of the saddlebags that Gretzky needed for the armour. Greedily, Azure grabbed the two saddlebags and wrapped them around his own saddlebag, making a little braid of saddlebags.

Azure looked over to see Sadjoy glide down from the top, looking remarkable as always and making a soft landing look so easy. Sadjoy went to go and loot one of the bodies that were on the floor, seeing that they too, had a saddlebag on them, with something within them, making Azure question it a little bit too. Why were those bodies not there when Azure came in the first time and confronted the two before?

Azure went too deep into that, making him shake his head and change his train of thought from that to thinking about what might be useful to take with them and what to leave behind. Azure looked about to see that there was a blood trail from the body that Sadjoy shot through the wall, leading out of the building and around one of the corners, making him curious to see where it went. Azure followed it for a tiny time, before he saw a vent that the blood ran into. It was a vent that led under the house, which confused him, due to there not being a door or anything else that led under there. Azure walked back around and tried to look for something that resembled a door or trapdoor. He looked all over the area and couldn't find anything that would allow him entry to the area, making him think that it went directly into the sewer, but yet again, why would there be a sewer below one building. Azure definitely had his suspicions on the house, that was for sure.

Sadjoy looted the bodies for all of their ammo for their weapons, their weapons as a whole, getting a couple of rifles and shotguns in the process, as well as a little bit of food from the corpses that didn't need it anymore. Sadjoy saw that their armour was really badly damaged, making it not worth taking their armour, even for caps, due to how damaged the material and metal were. Sadjoy stood up and turned around to see Azure still looting the same body that he had been looting since she had begun. She shook her head in disbelief, before looting the pony that had turned into a ghoul. There was a locket that he had around his neck, which held an image of a mare and the stallion that had been turned into a ghoul. It was indeed a little sad, but that was probably one of the worst ways to go, even worse if his family was in front of him, or even his marefriend.

Azure finished looting the body by the entrance, getting the weapon that he had pointed at his own head, as well as some ammo to accompany it. Apart from that, Azure was pretty sure that there was nothing left or worth taking away from the dead body of the stallion who had nearly killed Azure. The stallion did have any armour, instantly eliminating the possibility of being able to acquire some armour for the ponies back home, but Azure was pretty sure that there was going to be more opportunities to get more armour from other means, so he let the body go back to its state of decomposing. Sadjoy was ready to go, but Azure wasn't yet, due to him needing to get back to the rocket launcher and grab it, which is exactly what he ended up doing, weighing him down a little more, due to the amount that it weighed. It wasn't that light, but Azure found a perfect place on his back that allowed him to be able to fly while having it on his back, making it his idea to secure it.

After Sadjoy had helped Azure strap the rocket launcher to his back, she stated to him that she was ready to leave when he was. Azure nodded, before getting a little run up and using his wings to propel himself into the sky, making him wonder how it worked for a pegasus to be able to carry such a heavy workload and still be able to fly high in the sky with no problems. Sadjoy quickly caught up to him, before she looked at the rocket launcher and smiled. Azure looked like the zebra’s attempt to make power armour, which made her chuckle when she repeated it to herself for the second time. Azure wasn't going to ruin her laughter, making him avoid asking her about what it was that she was laughing about. Azure wanted the positive atmosphere to be positive and stay that way. There were not many moments that ponies got like the one that they were both having, so Azure was going to let it last as long as possible to avoid making anything awkward or to make the mood go away.

There were some buildings in the distance that made an appearance as soon as they left the area around ten minutes into their flight. Azure looked down at his Pipbuck and looked at his map, seeing that it was Canterlot up ahead, not Ponyville. Azure slowed instantly, getting a look of confusion from Sadjoy. She came closer and looked at his map and saw that Canterlot was about a mile or two away, making them question if they were far enough to experience radiation or any sort. Sadjoy could hear the occasional click of the radioactive monitor that was within Azure’s Pipbuck, telling them that there was little to no amounts of radiation that were in the area. Azure turned in the air and pointed himself to the direction of Ponyville, seeing that it was a fair amount of miles away, but that didn't matter for both of them, due to them both not being tired or exhausted at all.

Azure began to fly in the direction of Ponyville, getting into the speed of things as he checked his inventory for anything that he could have had to eat, that he didn't have to heat up. Sadly, there was nothing like that, mainly being meals that they needed at least a fire to cook. Azure could tell that Sadjoy was hungry, so before they got too far away from Canterlot, Azure figured that it might have been a good idea to have some food while being able to look over the main city of Canterlot, the area that was home to the mass amount of ponies in the region. Azure hit his back against a rock on purpose, using the rocket launcher like a piece of flint, creating a little spark that turned into a flame as soon as Sadjoy placed something next to the spark. Sadjoy had a pack of logs that allowed her to create a makeshift fire for a little while. She used the wood to create a fire for both of them and then allowed herself to start to cook some of the canned food, having not eaten last night.

Azure sat down and watched the flames engulf the wood, like the two items were bound together. It was almost hypnotic, making it so that he couldn't look away from the events that were unfolding right in front of him. Sadjoy opened two of the cans and placed them on top of the fire, making Azure feel a sense of hunger lingerie rise within him from nowhere. Azure looked and felt hungry and so did Sadjoy, but she didn't look it at all, she only felt hungry. As the fire crackled, the rain began to let up, making the day that little bit better for having something to eat, as well as allowing them to not worry about the radiation within the rain, like they had to yesterday.

As Azure watched the fire, Sadjoy scooted herself next to him, giving him a little kiss on the cheek and resting her head on his shoulder, making her feel more relaxed than ever. Azure looked at her, before leaning his head onto hers, making them both enjoy the feeling of one another and their own comfort combining with each other to make their moods the same. Pure relaxation! Those two words could have described any situation in Equestria and they chose to use it on them looking into a fire that refused to die, within the company of one another. Love was hard to find in the Wasteland and was hard to hold onto, but they both had a firm grip on one another, making their lives not only happier, but better.

Azure went to go and grab one of the cans, but immediately regretted it, due to how hot the cans were. Azure shook his hoof, before Sadjoy chuckled and used her fangs to pick one of the cans up, using her lower teeth to hold onto the bottom of the can and avoiding her from burning her lip. She placed the tin down, before seeing that Azure had a couple of plates that were made of plastic, allowing them to eat it from the plate, rather than the burning hot can. Azure placed a plate under Sadjoy’s mouth, prompting her to tilt her head to the side and allow Azure to catch it all on the plate below. Azure caught all of it, before repeating the process on the other plate.

After Sadjoy had disposed of the cans into her saddlebag, she turned and sat down, being able to finally eat the meal that was placed in front of her. The meal consisted of a certain type of meat, some beans and carrots, which was something that they both surprisingly enjoyed. They were both curious to find out what meat was within the cans, but they knew that they would have had to ask Gretzky when they got back to the settlement that was too far away for them to shout to. They were not far off Ponyville, so they would finish eating up their food and then travel South West a little more, to find the town and see what they would have come across in that area.

“I guess that we both are having a goodish morning?” Sadjoy questioned, getting a swift nod from Azure and relaxing Sadjoy’s conscious to something that she wanted to say as they both got up this morning, but was rudely interrupted by the rain, so she didn't get to say it until now. Azure placed both plates back into his saddlebag, before getting up and stretching again. Sadjoy watched him, as he flexed this way and that way, admiring his body more and more as time went one. She noticed his stripes at first, which made her blush a little bit, due to them being less visible as time went one. The reason that she was blushing was because the stripes led perfectly to his crotch, which was something that she had already seen, but it flustered her whenever she saw it. Azure noticed her staring and stopped, seeing that she was trying to get the image out of her head, but it was imprinted there for a little while, making her feel a little weird. Not horny weird, just weird weird.

Azure chuckled and saw that she was still blushing, making him go over to her and kiss her directly on the lips with no regret whatsoever, making him chuckled a little, due to her still being shy about seeing things on a stallion. Azure backed up and gave her some room to breathe, before beginning to walk down the path, seeing that the fire was lit still. Azure pointed to it, before Sadjoy rushed over and used her wings to take out the fire, with ease. She turned back around and looked at Azure, smiling and wanting to continue on their adventure that they had almost completed. They set off in the direction of Ponyville, with little to no regret at all, giving them the confidence to take flight again.

As they flew, both Azure and Sadjoy could see the outskirts of a town, a town that was called Ponyville. They were both nearly there, which made their hearts race a little. Azure was more or less focused on what they could find in the town, given the information that they did, that all of the raiders in the area were dead. That possibly couldn't have been true, could it? Azure was a little anxious to find out if there were any ghouls or not in the area, if not ghouls, then more raiders.

Sadjoy was more or less going to focus on doing the tasks that she had been given, which was to look for Sweet Apple Acres, which was a close walk from Ponyville. She was not worried at all about if they came across anything while they were there, due to her wanting to protect her medical pony, her pride and joy, her lover. She blushed at that last one, before shaking her head, clearing her mind and getting any romantic thoughts out of her head, because all they would do was distract her from what her tasks were.

They were getting close to the town that they needed to get past, which made them brace themselves for anything that could have come into their way. Although they had a task to do in Ponyville, they were going to pass through it first and then come back to it, due to it not really being their main request that they were given. Azure felt a little shiver creep its way down his spine, giving his body a sense that they didn't belong there.

Ponyville was quiet as they began to walk through the abandoned town that the ministry mares had started their adventure in. There were books everywhere about the ministry mares. Before the times got tough for them, all of them were very close friends and had started their journey in the town that Azure and Sadjoy were standing in. Some would have called it history, others would have called it just another story. To Azure, it was nothing special, due to everypony starting their lives from somewhere.

Azure and Sadjoy crept around Ponyville, feeling like they were being watched. There were countless bodies of raiders, which relaxed Azure’s nerves just a little, making him able to think and make his own decisions still, but enough to make him think differently. Azure saw that the lovely town that the ministry mares had grown up in, was an abundance of different messes combined into one. Azure didn't even see the resemblance between the images that he had seen in the books and the area that he was seeing with his own eyes.

Azure could tell that Sadjoy was a little confused, only noticing one building from their history, which was the Ponyville library, which looked similar, due to the tower at the top of it. There was definitely going to be something there if anypony was to inhabit the area. They wanted to check it out, but went along with the plan that they had first, which was getting to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Azure kept his eyes on the library, making sure that there was nopony in it, ready to strike down onto them. Luckily enough for them, the cloaked mare had been true about there being no ponies in Ponyville, which was pretty ironic, given the name that it had. There should have been a striving community here, but there wasn't.

The thought that nopony was around chilled Azure to the bone, making him shiver a little bit, almost like he was ill or cold, but he wasn't, he was the complete opposite. Azure took a couple of glances back at the once striving town, before they continued to the farm that was just down the road from Ponyville, called Sweet Apple Acres. They had done it! They had gotten to the area that they were meant to be going to, all without there being a problem at the location, unlike a couple of Azure’s last adventures. He was pretty surprised that he was going to be meeting no raiders and ghouls at the barn in Sweet Apple Acres, but it wasn't going to be one hundred percent chance that they were going to be finding no enemies at the barn, but it would make sense for some ponies to be in Ponyville if they were, due to how much of a good spot the area had become with no opposition.

Azure turned his head back to the front of his body, looking at the path that they were walking down to get to the barn within Sweet Apple Acres. Azure was quite surprised to find that there were no trees, no debris, nothing, around the area, feeling almost like the area had been protected by something. They both looked at the fence, noticing that it was broken, but none of the pieces of wood had been broken off and left on the ground. The ponies that had built the barn and area around it clearly knew what they were doing and what not, being able to create a fence that was unable to get fully destroyed, making Azure wonder how strong the wood was at this farm originally.

They both passed under an archway that had the name of the area imprinted onto it, making them both look at each other and then back in front of them, giving them the creeps that something was lurking within the barn. As soon as they got closer to the barn itself, Azure’s head started to hurt, along with Sadjoy’s shortly after, making them cover their heads and ears with their hooves and wings. Azure was the first one to notice that there was something wrong in the area that they were, due to the amount of radiation that they were taking. Within no time, they would have both taken too much radiation that they would have died on the spot. Azure noticed that his vision was flicker, making only one object look normal within the area, which was a type of alarm.

Azure walked closer to the alarm on the side of the barn and then rammed his hoof into it, hurting Azure’s hoof in the process and making him shoot backward, due to the pain that he was feeling. Azure got really angry and shot his pistol at the alarm, breaking it in an instant and making them feel a million percent better. Azure closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, before backing up, away from the barn. Sadjoy shook her head and saw exactly what Azure was seeing. The barn was nearly nonexistent, making them both stare in awe at the transition from undamaged barn to a barn that was nearly long gone with the rest of pony history.

Azure looked back at his Pipbuck and noticed that he had a lot of radiation in him, making him go instantly to his saddlebag and get two packs of radaway. He passed one to the bat pony that he was with and chugged the other one, making him feel so much better. Azure looked at his Pipbuck for a couple of seconds, before he noticed that the radiation in his system was flooding away from his body. The radaway tasted good, that's all he could say in that situation. He looked over to Sadjoy and saw that she was doing the same, feeling instantly better.

Azure looked back at the fence and saw that it was nearly nonexistent, as opposed to what they saw earlier with it being relatively untouched. Azure looked back at the barn and sighed, seeing that there were pieces of it scattered across the land, making Azure question what the item was that was giving them the image of something different. Azure was a little confused, as he went back over to the alarm that was giving off both radiation and a fake vision, making Azure question how it worked and what it did. It was just so confusing to the pegasus, that it kind of annoyed him a little. Sadjoy was just admiring the sight of the changed barn, compared to how it looked the first time.

They both slowly walked towards it, not knowing what to expect from the shapeshifting barn. They went into the front of it and noticed a cellar below them was a little bit open, making their curiosity go wild. They both walked down into the cellar and found that the area below was pitch black, making it so that they couldn't see down in the dark. Azure looked at his Pipbuck and saw that there was a light option on it, making their little exploration down below the barn not so bad. Azure turned it on, before seeing the surrounding area turn a little bit greener, making them able to see around the area. Azure saw that there were multiple kegs of apple cider, making him feel like he needed a drink, but knew that all of the cider in the area would have been super radioactive, making him change his mind about wanting a drink.

They found a little lockbox that was in between the kegs, making Azure feel like he had found some kind of secret or something along those lines. It was locked of course, so Azure had to use one of his lockpicks that he had to pry open the lock, making him feel a little bit evil for a second or two, before the lock opened and he opened the lockbox. There it was, the artifact that was shining bright blue. Azure picked it up, before noticing that it was a piece of fabric. This didn't hit him with the thought that he originally had, but had an idea that it was for one of the three remaining ministry mares. Azure placed it quickly into his saddlebag, before noticing that the area extended down, past the area of the barn itself, making Azure a little curious to what it was. Both Azure and Sadjoy looked at each other, before they both went down the narrow tunnel that left the cellar.

They didn't know where the tunnel was going to lead to, but they were definitely ready for anything that wanted to cross their path, whether that was a simple ghoul, or a raider army, they were ready for it. Azure could see something reflect the light from his Pipbuck, which got him a little curious about what it was. It came from the end of the corridor, making him pretty certain that the tunnel led nowhere, until they stumbled across the door of a Stable. Stable 2! Azure had never seen a stable before, making him a little confused on how to open the big metallic door. Sadjoy shook her head, before holding Azure still.

“Stables only open from the inside Azure. That was a design to stop ponies from breaking into them, which did work in the end.” Sadjoy explained to him, making him give up on trying to find a way inside the metallic structure. Azure began to walk back up to the tunnel, before noticing that there were some ponies coming towards them, making Sadjoy and Azure a little scared of what might have happened to them, if they got spotted. Sadjoy used a potion that she had and gave a little bit of it to Azure, making them both turn invisible, making them harder to spot, but not completely invisible. They were more or less transparent, but needed all of the stealthy properties that they could, to avoid the group that was rapidly approaching them. It was the raiders!

Azure and Sadjoy hugged the wall, making them not get bumped into and allowed the little raider convoy to pass them. There were about five of them, armed up to the teeth with weapons and armour, making them look more like assassins more than raiders, which scared the pair more than anything else. As soon as the raiders got past them, both Sadjoy and Azure sprinted along the tunnel, making them a little louder than they wanted, but still being unable to be spotted. Sadjoy got to the cellar first, before going to the door to the apple cellar and beginning to move it, signalling for Azure to follow her. Azure came to the apple cellar and then saw that the door was moving, making him rush towards it, before he bumped into the invisible bat pony, knocking them both onto the floor outside. The potion wore off and Azure could see his mare with a smug grin, making him wear his own with pride and passion.

Azure kept his mind fixed onto the stable, knowing that there was probably a way to get into them from the outside, which got his mind curious about other stables that could have held potential information to the past or the future. Azure was instantly cut from his trans as he saw Sadjoy fly across the area, towards the abandoned town of Ponyville. Although Ponyville was more like a village, it didn't have as much activity to make it sit in the village category, making Azure keep referring to it as a town, due to towns being the most abandoned types of areas and seeing how abandoned Ponyville was, make him refer to it as no different.

Sadjoy landed on the ground just outside Ponyville, waiting for Azure to catch up, before moving any further into the area. They had an objective to find an object within the area and without a doubt, they were going to do it. The place that they wanted to explore first was the library, which looked like the perfect place to start, due to how much of the area it watched over, giving them a little bit of an area to look around and see where they needed to go to. Sadjoy walked along the floor with Azure to her side, keeping an eye on him, like she was his bodyguard or something along those lines. They looked about, seeing that there were different types of buildings that held their own stories and secrets about them and who lived in them. If they spent enough time in Ponyville, they would have come across all of the ministry mare’s homes, which didn't excite either of them that much.

They both walked along the cobbled path of the road that was once smooth with no bumps or ridges whatsoever, but sadly, due to radiation and bombs going off, giving off more radiation, the surfaces were never going to end up being smooth, making all of the walls, floors, roofs, surfaces and terrains feel rough, like they hadn’t been perfectly polished. Azure looked around at all of the surfaces that he could find, seeing that not even a single one was smooth, due to the radiation eating away at the protective layers that normally protected things from water, rain, acid rain and more that Azure couldn't remember. He looked at all of the structures and noticed that even some of them were merged together, like something out of a horror show or an illusion spell that would make anypony trip out and see things that weren't there. It hurt Azure’s head a little just seeing that building.

Sadjoy walked over to the front door of the library, seeing that Azure was taking his sweet time getting over to the building, due to looking at the other building for so long that it managed to mess with his mind. Azure was a little bit confused, but shook his head to try to get rid of anything that could have been distracting him at that point of time, making his thoughts clearer and his actions more fluent. Azure slowly opened the door to the library, seeing a pony that was dead in the doorway, which made him slightly more comfortable with entering the area, with or without Sadjoy. She slowly followed behind Azure and spotted the rotted corpse on the floor, which looked like the body of a raider, but she didn't want to get close to the thing, due to how much of a smell it was giving off. It had obviously been rotting there for a little while, which put even Sadjoy off checking the body.

Azure looked up and saw a body in a cage, hanging from the ceiling, which gave him the chills as to how badly the raiders in the area wanted to kill and torture the poor ponies and ghouls in the area. It clearly showed that the raiders didn't care about the lives of others, seeing as how one of the ghouls was hunched over inside the cage, not moving an inch. The ghoul was clearly dead, which gave Azure even more chills that made his back crawl like there was something on it, like a radioactive bug or something.

Azure and Sadjoy went from room to room, finding more bodies of raiders that had been there for quite some time, making Azure realise that there was somepony who hated raiders more than he did, which surprised him a little, due to him despising raiders so much. They both went back to the spiral staircase and ascended it, taking it a step at a time and noticing that there was more writing on the walls above, like they had originally seen below in the library, making both Azure and Sadjoy look at each other with a surprised expression. They didn't know what to expect getting onto the second floor, but they could have at least guessed what they weren't going to see above, that thing was alive ponies, which they could both put their lives on that bet, due to the massacre that went on below on the first floor.

Azure could see more cages hanging above, but luckily, there were no bodies in the one above them, making them happy that there were bodies only on the ground floor. Azure closed his mouth and his mind as soon as he saw the body of a raider, this one not being there on the ground for too long, due to blood still leaving its system. Azure walked along and noticed that something was making noise above them, meaning that it was either in the tower above or on the roof of the building, making the two look at each other and stay closer together than they had been in bed. That thought alone made them both chuckle as Azure told it to Sadjoy, trying to lighten the mood just a little bit, enough to make them still be positive, but still being scared of what had just killed the raider.

In the back of their minds, they were both terrified of what was walking around on the roof, knowing that it was probably a ghoul that had some smarts or something a lot worse than that. Azure kept quiet, only to try to keep track of what was lurking about above them and trying to see if they could identify what it was due to the footsteps that it was making. When they were quiet, it was quiet, frightening the two a little, making them feel like it was either watching them or listening to each breath that they were taking, making the feeling a little worse than it already was.

As soon as Azure built up some courage, he managed to move about quietly to a little ladder that was in the middle of a little room, the same ladder that led to the roof, he was pretty sure. Sadjoy followed him slowly, making no noise in the process, due to her being lighter than Azure, but also more nimble, making her hoofsteps lighter. Sadjoy’s race was more about sneaking, whereas Azure’s races were about speed and agility, as well as strength, though Azure didn't see himself as being too strong, making him reevaluate his rolls that he was being used for or what he thought himself as being good at. He guessed that the doctor role worked for zebras too, due to them being able to make potions for various elements.

As soon as Azure finished talking about potions, it reminded him about his own potion that he created, the self sustaining potion that kept being refilled over and over again. He opened his Pipbuck menu and looked through his inventory and saw nothing. There was no special healing potion in his inventory, which is what he named the item in the Pipbuck. In disbelief, Azure dropped his saddlebag and rummaged through his little medical section within his saddlebag and found nothing, making him a little angry that he had lost it and didn't know how he did. It aggravated him more than it should have.

Sadjoy noticed his anger and raised her hoof to signal him, getting his attention almost immediately, making him calm down and take deep breaths to relax himself. There was a door down the end of the corridor that led onto the roof, which was open, making Azure feel like something had gone down that direction. They could still hear the steps above, but they seemed to be heading for the door that they had entered the roof from. Azure and Sadjoy both tried to hide away from the figure, Sadjoy grabbing Azure and hiding in the darkest corner that she could find, making little to no noise. The figure was in the corridor and was walking down it, toward them and the many rooms that they saw ahead.

The figure did nothing to hide their audio, with the roar of each step that it took echoing down the empty corridor. Azure kept his pistol in the direction of the doorway, just in case the figure decided to enter the room that they were in. Azure watched carefully as the figures shadow pieced their sightline, making them brace their weapons carefully in preparation for the thing that was slowly approaching them. Azure could make out that the figure was a little bit bigger than both of them, suggesting that it might have been an earth pony of sorts. Azure was shocked to see that he was right, as the raider’s leader walked past them, not bothering to shine the light that he had with him into the room that they were in. Why was Sawtooth here?

Azure slowly walked out and stopped before pointing his weapon at Sawtooth, still not noticing that Azure was behind him. Sadjoy came out and aimed the rifle, which was now suppressed, at the raider leader’s head. She didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, making a tiny amount of noise, before the raider leader was even able to turn around. Azure watched as the most powerful raider in the Wasteland, fell down to the bottom of the spiral staircase that they had crept up, before noticing that something was around his neck. A timer started to tick down, making a loud alarm like noise. It only had ten seconds on the timer, before something happened.

Out of instinct, Sadjoy grabbed Azure and flew as quickly as they could to the door, before flying up into the sky. There were gunshots whizzing past them, presumably from the raiders that had just lost their boss. The timer got louder and louder, before even the raiders began to run away. Azure and Sadjoy continued to fly up, but moved away from the area. The timer was definitely over, making Azure and Sadjoy a little confused as to why nothing was happening. Azure spotted something flying above and knew exactly what it was. He grabbed Sadjoy with his hooves and flew as quickly as he could with her, before he looked back and saw a couple of explosions pepper the area, followed by some bigger ones and the one up above, which was coming straight down in the area.

Sadjoy saw the object and flew a lot quicker than Azure was, leaving him a little behind, before noticing that she was flying to the ground to get behind cover. A massive blast made itself known in the area that they were just at, before noticing that fireball heading in Azure’s direction. Sadjoy reached out to try and Azure, before the force alone hit both him in the sky, but her on the ground, knocking her over onto the floor, but not as bad as Azure being in the air, due to nothing covering him. His vision went black before he could do anything else. Before he was completely lost to the world, he could hear the brief sound of a scream, supposedly coming from Sadjoy as she was bracing against something.

Azure woke up within the dust, with nopony around, already knowing that the world that he was in right then and there, was not the real world. Azure got up, noticing that he was in no pain, had no concussions at all, only being perfectly okay with no sign of injury. Azure looked around him, seeing nothing else but dust and trees, covering the area perfectly so that he was unable to see out of the little dust bubble that he had been placed in. Although all of this was unfamiliar to him, he wasn't threatened whatsoever, making his actions as calmly as possible. A pony came into view, only being visible enough for Azure to make out the shadow of a pony. The pony stepped into the little area where Azure could see, making it turn out to be his old fallen friend again, being covered in scars and tattoos, making him look like he had killed off all of the raiders by himself. Blitz didn't look the same, but that didn't matter.

“Have you accepted that I’m dead yet?” Blitz asked, coming closer to Azure and noticing that the zebra pegasus hybrid looked baffled. Azure nodded, looking around to see if there was anypony else that wanted to make their way into the area to try to talk. Azure saw a couple of outlines slowly getting more clear, indicating that they were sprinting towards them. Blitz summoned a bladed staff to his side and stood in front of Azure. “Some night terrors again, I'm assuming?” Blitz questioned, getting a shrug off the pegasus that he was protecting.

The figures were getting more and more clear, making Blitz prepare for the worst, before noticing more and more entering their vision from different angles. Blitz was a little surprised, but Azure wasn’t, due to the amount of ponies that he gave a second chance to. Blitz looked around and saw that there were more enemies than him and Azure could take out themself, if they were both in the real world. Luckily for both of them, right then and there, Azure was trapped in the dream world for some time, meaning that Blitz had to do what he could to get Azure’s brain to wake up from being knocked out by the explosion. Blitz was locked in the dream world until he got unturned from stone, which wouldn't happen, so he settled on helping others who he knew out, almost like Luna would have done back where she too was alive.

Azure brought his syringe gun out and placed it on his battle saddle, before placing it onto his back, with the help of Blitz, making Blitz feel like he was helping more and more, giving him the satisfaction within the dream world. Azure noticed that his battle saddle was a little bit heavier, so he looked back to find that there was an additional syringe gun on his battle saddle, thanks to Blitz nonetheless. Azure could see that he had an infinite supply of syringes too, making the dream only better. Blitz could see that all of the ponies were getting to around the same mark, before charging in.

Blitz made his little group visible, bringing Death to harm's way, as well as Anti, his beloved timberwolf. There were a couple of ponies that Blitz spawned that Azure didn't know about, but he was pretty sure that Death had to be something to do with that. The enemies that came through the dust were a variety of creatures, ranging from raiders, ghouls, Steel Rangers and more timberwolves, as well as a couple of diamond dogs. Azure shot one of the timberwolves, noticing that a green glow emitted from the wolf, making it turn onto its former allies, ripping another timberwolf apart with one chomp. A rain of bullets came towards Azure from a couple of directions, making Blitz place a shield around Azure, keeping him safe, due to him being their top priority to protect. Azure continued to heal things and change them to his side, making him smile a little, but then he stopped, getting the idea of what was happening.

“No! I'm getting others to do… no! I will not kill or get others to do it for me!” Azure shouted, getting new ammunition for his syringe gun, as well as making the nightmare appear. She swooped in like a dragon, breathing green and dark blue fire onto the enemies down below. She stopped and looked at Azure, before scowling.

“Ah, I thought I had nearly changed you then.” The Nightmare stated, getting a magic beam to the back of the head from Blitz, burning a bit of her mane. He growled at her, before making her fly back overhead and shooting more blistering bolts of fire down onto the war below.

“My apologies bud, she can be a bit of a bitch to deal with, but eventually we all have to act like a filly to get our own way.” Blitz joked, getting a slight smile from Azure. A stream of gunfire distracted Blitz, making him teleport in front of Azure and letting him keep the shield up for Azure’s complete protection. He then teleported in front of a couple of enemies, before letting his skill with the blade become known. He used both ends of the bladed staff to full effect, pushing ponies and creatures away with one side of the staff, before slicing them with the other side of the staff, the bladed end, making smooth cuts into the abundance of enemies that he was fighting. Azure shot a couple of syringes at Blitz, hitting him in the back and making him smile a little more, giving him the extra power to deal with the rest of the visions that were being sent from something within Azure’s mind.

The waves of enemies were beginning to thin down, thanks to the efforts of Blitz and all of his friendly faces that he spawned within the nightmare that they were having. Azure slowly walked over to Blitz, seeing that he was dealing with two more raiders. He sliced one of them, turning them to dust, making the nightmare feel faker, due to them not bleeding, but turning to dust. Also, how would Blitz be in the fog where Azure was? Was he not trapped in stone or something at the Steel Ranger base? Azure knew all of the events that were happening were fake, but wanted to see what his mind could produce to throw him off. Everything went quiet, making Blitz a little confused on what Azure had just done, due to the raider in front of him fading to dust without Blitz doing anything to it.

A roar echoed from nowhere, making Azure shiver a little bit. Seeing this, Blitz went over to comfort him, but before he could, a massive hydra came out of nowhere, charging towards Azure. Blitz closed his eyes, before pulling off a teleportation spell and lighting his staff on fire, making it glow light blue and purple, almost like it was a blue flame instead of an orange one, but there was a purple glow around the blue flame, which threw Azure off completely.

“Where did you get the balefire phoenix spell?” Death asked, being a little surprised more than anything that the pony that he had been within casted a spell that seemed to be rare. Blitz looked back at the reaper that was Death and smiled.

“I saw it around and never had the chance to test it!” Blitz admitted, looking back at the hydra, before closing his eyes. The combination of animal heads was enough to scare them, but surprisingly enough, the creatures had been like that before the war as well, making them only scarier the more they found out about them. One of its claws lashed out at Azure, before being cut off by Blitz with a single clean slice. Before the creature was able to get out another roar, Blitz flew up with his staff, before spinning around and slicing one of the heads clean off, making the creature billow out in pain.

Blitz didn't land, as he slashed at it again, taking out the second head with little to no effort. He used the recoil of the monster to teleport behind it and make it land on his blade, slicing off the third head with a little help from Blitz’s horn forcing the head of the hydra down onto the side of the blade. The hydra screeched loudly, before going silent and giving up, suggesting that it had either passed out from blood loss, or died from the lack of a connection to its brain, or last brain. Blitz teleported away, letting the creature lie limp on the floor with the rest of the heads.

Before Azure could do anything, his vision flickered and phased into a blurred sight of Sadjoy picking him up and dragging him further away. Blitz looked at Azure and smiled at him, knowing that he will be fine in the end.

“Go, she needs you!” Blitz stated, before getting Azure and pushing him into the vision that he was seeing. Azure looked at Blitz one last time, before smiling. Azure looked back to the vision and closed his eyes. When he opened them, all he could hear was ringing, followed by bullets whizzing past both of them, suggesting that they were getting shot at by somepony or something. Azure got up, to the surprise of Sadjoy, and ran in the direction that they had originally come from, due to it being time for them to head home. Azure realised that the mission from the strange hooded mare was now going to be impossible to check, due to the bombs going off in Ponyville and all of the raiders that were shooting at them then and there, making their life harder to live, due to them narrowly avoiding death everytime they shot a bullet.

Azure ran, with Sadjoy trailing beside him, looking a little worse for wear, making him a little worried about her condition. There was something wrong with her, but Azure couldn't see any damage, until he looked at one of her wings. It was broken, making it impossible for her to fly. Azure felt really sad about that and commanded her to climb onto his back, before stopping for a brief couple of seconds. Sadjoy didn't fight with him, scrambling onto his back and locking her hooves around him, locking herself to his back and making sure that she was secure.

Azure took to the sky as soon as he was able to ensure that Sadjoy was safe on his back. They glided more than they flew, making Sadjoy grab hold of Azure with her hindlegs, as she pivoted around and placed her hindlegs where her forehooves originally were, giving her a little area that she was able to sit and pick off anypony that was foolish enough to follow them. She spotted one of the following raiders, making them her prime target. Azure looked back to see Sadjoy aiming her rifle at a raider that was a fair distance away, while straddling the rocket launcher that was on his back, making for some great support and something else to grab onto if they got a little nervous, because the rocket launcher was connected via a strong hoof that was on the top of Azure’s battle saddle, making him smile as he watched her for a couple of seconds, before turning his head back to the front, keeping an eye on where he was going.

Sadjoy tried to line up a shot that would have at least slowed the raider down, but was failing a little to do so, due to her having to put up with the pain that was present in her wing, making it so that she couldn't focus or concentrate. Azure could tell that she was in distress, but there wasn't much that he could do about a broken wing right then and there. He would have needed to be slow and have a surface to work on before he would have been able to work on Sadjoy’s wound, making him feel all the more worse. Azure couldn't really give her any healing syringes, due to them being for wounded tissue, rather than broken bones. Azure could have tried one of them, which was worth a shot in their given scenario.

Azure grabbed one of the healing syringes out from his saddlebag, making Sadjoy’s ears perk up instantly, before leaning in towards the syringe, like a cat rubbing against something hot or warm, to warm it up. Sadjoy felt something work, as she felt the syringe enter her body, giving off a small amount of pain relief, as Sadjoy tried to flap her wing, getting some movement out of it. Sadjoy continued to flap it, just to get the blood back into it and made sure that it was all working, as opposed to just a bit of it working. Sadjoy aimed down the sight of her weapon, making subtle movements to pick off the pony that was nearly out of sight. Sadjoy shot her weapon, making Azure look back at the pony that was approaching them and saw that he was no longer following them, making Azure believe that Sadjoy hit her shot. Azure looked back at the bat pony that was on his back and saw that she had a little bit of a smile on her face, giving Azure the impression that she had hit her mark.

Azure looked back to the front, before feeling a weight get taken off him, which in his case was Sadjoy. She swooped around Azure and then planted a kiss on his cheek, thanking him for carrying her away from danger on his back. Azure shook his head, before looking at his mare and smiling.

“I should really be thanking you there. You dragged me away from danger and grabbed me when you saw the timer to the bomb. So thank you!” Azure stated, thanking Sadjoy for what she did, which brought her mood straight back up to how she normally was. They both tried to avoid being shot and travelled back in the direction of the settlement they had passed, with the strange cloaked mare within it. Azure and Sadjoy both flew to the East for a little bit, before coming to see Canterlot again, being a little closer to it than last time, making Azure smile because of the view of the once beautiful city. It was still beautiful, but definitely not as beautiful as the original state of it, before the bombs dropped, when the city had ponies and creatures living within it. It hurt Azure a little, going a little too far into the thought of the societies being so far apart now, making him a little bit sad that they all couldn't team up to take out the scum of raiders. It did truly hurt.

Night began to fall, as they passed over a landscape that was not their usual one, being accompanied by gunshots going off in the distance, acting almost like fireworks. The shots were super far away, but gave off a beautiful sound and an amazing lightshow. However bad it was, it was still beautiful, being able to watch a lightshow with the one that Azure cared about, but at the same time, ponies were being shot at because of it, making Azure change his mindset pretty quickly, only allowing the thought of getting back to his home as his number one priority.

Azure and Sadjoy found a tree that was perfectly still alive, allowing them to rest upon it, Azure sleeping on one of the branches, while Sadjoy did bat things and hung upside down on the same branch, like most bats would have done. It was pretty was that night, so Azure and Sadjoy didn't need to cuddle for warmth, which made them have more room to relax, instead of focusing on keeping themselves warm all night. Azure closed his eyes, after watching Sadjoy drift off to sleep, caring for her light he would have done for Blitz, but he was dead and Azure had to acknowledge that and move on, which was exactly what he was doing, being a little bit hard to forget somepony who saved him. Azure drifted off to sleep, the thought of Blitz being in the back of his mind at all times.

Sadjoy woke Azure up very early, making him snap a little bit. She knew that he would have done that, due to that being what she would have done if somepony had woken her up really, really early. Azure apologized, getting a kiss from his special marefriend within the matter of a second, brightening his day already and setting it into motion. Azure got up and walked around, getting some wood for them to be able to have some more food. Sadjoy created some sparks, using a piece of flint that she found on the floor near them. It worked like a charm, making Azure and Sadjoy both smile, as their food began to heat up on the fire that they had just made. They felt like they had achieved a lot on their little adventure, making them feel satisfied enough to just return home, but it wasn't that simple. They at least had to travel to the area they originally had and told the mare that a bomb went off in the library and blew the entire area up. Azure wished that they could have gotten the item for the mare, but it didn't matter, all that mattered at that point in time, was that they were still alive.

They unloaded their piping hot food onto their plates and ate it like they had nothing all day yesterday, which was partly true, due to them eating in the morning and nothing else that day. Sadjoy was happy having one meal a day, but it would have been better to begin with it during the middle of the day, due to them needing more of a boost then, rather than the morning, which Azure perfectly agreed with. They finished munching on their canned meats, peas and carrots and placed the cans back into their saddlebags, before setting off again, not putting out the fire, so that maybe another lucky few could cook something nice on it. Azure looked back and saw nothing but trees and sticks, making the area perfect for a fire to be placed. They took to the sky for a much needed stretch of their wings, setting off on their journey to the area they found the mare. Azure originally marked it, so they had no problem getting back there, as they raced to the location, together.

After travelling for around half of the day, they came across the area, which was pretty quiet, for a little community. Of course it was going to be quiet, but something was a little too quiet. Azure and Sadjoy both landed, before seeing some bullet casings on the floor, suggesting that a weapon was fired around the area, making Azure’s brain instantly start inputting bad memories into his brain, forcing him to look around and try to find the others. Azure turned the corner, next to where they were all gathered originally and saw countless bodies on the floor, dead as they came. The ones who eyed Azure, had their jaws snapped off and a couple even had their eyes gouged out, making Azure feel sick to the stomach. Azure tried to look around for the mare, but couldn't see her, until they got to the next corner, which had the mare in half. One part of her was a little far away and the other half of her was by the corner that they had just walked around. Azure noticed that she might have still been breathing, due to the blood still running out of her. Azure noticed a message on the floor, before looking to Sadjoy for confirmation.

It stated: ‘Sawtooth is following you!” on the floor, giving Azure the creeps that the mare who helped them with the saddlebags and what not, was now dead. It actually hurt Azure, as he saw the body fit and started shaking about, indicating that the body had had its final moments. Azure could hear some loud talking coming from behind them, indicating activity that was not at all good. Sadjoy and Azure headed home, narrowly avoiding the activity that was about to spot them and finish them off. Azure kept those words that the mare had written with her own blood in his mind, saving them to tell the rest of the group once he got back to the settlement, making him worry a little bit if they would get back in time.

Chapter 20: Long Journey

Some time had passed since they had taken the advice of somepony else. Azure and Zeke looked at each other as they went to fight within a pit, Azure not really being the fighting type, rather being the dodging type, to one that would exhaust the opponent first, before letting his friendly ally finish them off. Why were they in a pit? It was a fighting arena of course, one that only allowed for zebras to take part in, making it just that little bit more difficult, due to zebras having just that little extra strength that most other ponies didn't have. The idea of them going to the arena was all thanks to Roselight, being able to make a huge amount of bits for the settlement and being able to buy more food for everypony that was there.

Azure watched as one of the zebras tried to distract him, which didn't work, due to Azure being able to keep both of the opponents within his line of sight, making it so that he didn't focus on one of them, rather for the protection of his fighting friend, Zeke. Zeke was more of the aggressive type, making them a pretty good duo when it came to fighting like this. Azure didn't take his eyes off both of the enemies that both him and Zeke were fighting, making them both feel a little threatened that Azure didn't want to try and attack them. One of them lashed out at Azure, making him focus more on them, rather than the other, allowing Zeke to fend for himself by attacking the following zebra, the one that was not attacking or trying to attack Azure.

A punch from the zebra nearly hit Azure on the side of the head, potentially knocking him out, if it did connect. Azure smiled at the zebra, knowing that he was pretty quick, but thanks to Azure being a hybrid, he was able to slide to the left and right with ease, due to his wings being able to propel him sideways, like he was able to be skating on ice or something like that, making him giggle at the thought. Azure waited patiently for the zebra to attack again, but found that the zebra too, was waiting for Azure to lash out at him, which Azure wasn't going to do… yet.

The zebra Zeke was fighting was down for the count, thanks to Zeke’s really good fighting during hoof to hoof combat, making Azure smile as Zeke crept up behind the zebra waiting patiently. Zeke purposely made some noise, getting a reaction from the zebra, making him turn. The striped menace looked back to Azure, knowing that he shouldn't have looked away, which he was one hundred percent correct on, due to Azure waiting patiently for that stripped stallion to make a beautiful mistake, which was what happened.

Azure waited for the striped stallion to look back at him, before flying up and instantly back down onto the head of the zebra, Zeke playing a little bit of a role there too. As soon as Azure flew up, the zebra kept track of him, letting his guard down and allowing Zeke to tackle the striped creature, making it grunt as it hit the floor, along with a lighter Zeke on top of them, making him chuckle. The zebra pushed Zeke off himself and stood up, coming to fight with the other hybrid zebra that was within that very ring or pit.

Azure had eventually found out, during his time with him, that Zeke was half zebra and half kirin, making him a little surprised that the horn didn't transfer over, but the ability to turn into a literal fireball did, making him be able to become immune to any type of fire, due to his body being able to turn into something that was hotter than fire, which was pretty cool in Azure’s eyes.

Azure was unaccounted for during a little bit of Zeke’s battle, making him become the element of surprise, dive bombing every couple of time to pick off any attack that Zeke might not have been ready for, giving Zeke a guardian angel for a little bit, before Azure decide that enough was enough. He knew that Zeke was playing with the zebra, but Azure just wanted to get it over with, flying down at alarming speed, straight towards the remaining zebra.

Azure connected a hit that ruptured the zebra’s knowledge, making him feel like he was about to lose his head, but he wasn't. The zebra got catapulted into a corner, knocking him out in an instant, allowing the two to win the fight within the pit. Azure looked at Zeke with a scowl on his face, not approving of his actions in playing with his win. Azure was more of a determined specimen, knowing what should have been done and what needed to be done and knew exactly what the difference was between them, making him appreciate decisions more and more.

It had been a fair amount of months since they had killed Sawtooth, being around six or so months since those events, when Azure himself was nearly killed by the radiation that bomb gave off, without him knowing about it. Azure kept checking his Pipbuck at all times, due to what happened then and how he lived his life now. Azure was able to be more relaxed about things and became more confident as he mixed with everypony and creatures from the settlement. Azure looked at all of the ponies that were around the pit and smiled at each of them, making them feel like he was going to pull off something. He wasn't, but he just had the mindset to scare off anypony or creature who didn't believe that him and Zeke would have won the event that they partook in.

A ladder was lowered into the pit, allowing the two to get out of the pit. Azure was perfectly able to fly out of the pit, but wanted to show some love to the ladder that they were using, so he became a little lazy and climbed the ladder, when he could have easily flown out. As soon as Azure got to the top of the pit, he looked to Zeke before looking over to the pony who had sent them down into the pit, which was Roselight. She was in the middle of receiving some bottle caps for the fight that they had both just won, making it look and feel like she was taking what was rightfully theirs, but they didn't care too much for the caps, as long as they went into improving the settlement that they had around the area, it was perfectly fine.

Roselight had a couple of injuries that made it difficult for her to do specific things. One of them in particular was flying. The alicorn had scars on her wings that made it difficult for her to fly, putting her off the idea of doing so, unless it came down to it. She originally wanted to get rid of her wings, due to them hurting so much when she did try to fly, but that was when she got the injury to them, so it was bound to hurt, making Azure feel a little bad for her. She never asked for her wings and the only thing that they were doing then and there was giving her problems and making her life a living hell, due to how much they stung at the time. Right at that moment, Azure was pretty sure that it didn't hurt her at all, but it was a little difficult to regain the ability to fly after not doing so without pain for so long.

Azure walked over to Roselight, seeing a big smile on her face. She looked at the caps and then smiled back at the pony who gave her the caps, before turning to see Azure there. She looked a little surprised that Azure was there, but she didn't stress, taking a fair amount of caps out of the bag and passing them over to Azure, which made him look a little confused. He stepped back a little, not wanting the caps that she was giving to him.

“I don't want your bottle caps, Roselight.” Azure stated, knowing that they would have done better sitting in Roselight’s saddlebag, rather than his, allowing them to be able to afford more defence for their settlement. Azure walked back a little, not wanting to accept the caps that were in Roselight’s magic, but she then placed them back into her saddlebag, saving them for something that might have been useful later on. Azure turned to Zeke, before seeing that he was talking to the both of the zebras who were in the arena with them. Azure didn't want to disturb them, so he fled away from the group, seeing the settlement before running to it and noticing that Saber was not at his post. He was normally so trustworthy with guarding, but as of recently, he had been acting strange, like something was wrong. Azure walked to the door of the settlement, before waiting for Saber to open the door, but he didn't, making his life so much more difficult than it needed to be.

Azure backed up and used his wings to propel himself upwards, allowing him to land on the wall of the settlement. He looked around and saw that Saber was nowhere to be seen, making Azure a little confused as to what had happened to the guard of the new settlement. Azure walked down the stairs and began walking back to his home, making the negative thoughts fade away, replacing them with positive ones that didn't baffle his mind nearly as much as looking for Saber did.

Sadjoy was still his one and only, making him grateful that she was still loyal and wanted to stay by his side regardless of consequences or if she was able to or not. She was something that Azure was grateful to have and even she knew it, due to how romantic he was around her. She had gone over to talk to Nightclaw about something to do with a gun upgrade, so Azure knew where she was, making him confident that she would have probably come back happier than she originally was. Azure didn't feel happy most of the time, due to him still having occasional nightmares and bad days, but becoming more and more common as time went one, making him a little concerned about all of what was happening in the world around him.

Azure got to his home, before taking out his key and turning it in the lock, making him smile as he walked into his little retreat from the Wasteland and it’s horrible nature. Azure closed the door behind him, before noticing that there was a note on the front of the door for Sadjoy. Azure took it off, before looking at it and then placing it down on the side of the cabinet, making it so that it would be the first thing that Sadjoy saw when she got back from her little meeting with Nightclaw. Azure sighed happily, looking over at the window and seeing that there was a drink already in the window for him, making him thank Sadjoy in his mind for the nice hot drink that she had made. It was a mixture of honey, a little bit of radaway and hot water. Azure had grown to like it a little bit, liking and enjoying the taste and the warmth more than anything else and was happy that it was able to be made easily.

Azure looked out the window to see Zeke walking down the cobbled pathway that was right outside his house, making Azure think that something was up with him or something. Azure took another casual sip, before hearing a knock at the door, making him jump and nearly spit out his lovely drink that his lover made for him.

“It’s open!” Azure shouted, getting the attention of the pony or creature that knocked on the door. The door opened slowly, before a certain familiar looking gryphon walked into Azure’s home, Azure being very happy that Gretzky had walked in, because he had been wanting to talk with him since before the fight in the pit.

“Hello Azure, I take it that Sadjoy ain’t here?” Gretzky asked, getting clarification as soon as Azure shook his head in response to the question. Azure took another sip of his drink and then placed it back down on the windowsill, looking towards Gretzky with a big smile on his face.

“Yeah, she’s over with Nightclaw right now. I have been meaning to talk to you about something though.” Azure stated, gaining the immediate attention of the gryphon, making him look at Azure with a curious glance. Azure walked over to him and grabbed his syringe gun from his saddlebag and placed it within Gretzky’s claws, seeing that it was a little banged up and a little damaged. “The loading mechanism is completely broken and the barrel ain’t straight. I don’t think it’s been straight since I fell on it when I was being attacked in the old settlement.” Azure explained, seeing that the syringe gun had lived longer than even Gretzky had thought, giving him a reason to repair the item, but it was pretty worn out at that point, making him ponder on what to do with it.

“If you leave it with me, I have an idea that might help.” Gretzky reported to Azure, making Azure smile a little bit. He knew that Gretzky wasn't going to fix it, that was obvious, but he didn't know what he was going to do whatsoever, making the surprise even more special. Azure nodded, before climbing back into the window and sitting on the windowsill, making him look almost like a cat looking outside a window, just a very heavy one, with wings. Gretzky turned back to the door and began to walk out, looking at the syringe gun with a little bit of curiosity in the back of his mind.

“How’s the armour coming along?” Azure called out to Gretzky while still looking out of the window. Gretzky turned and looked back at Azure, getting a slow head turn from Azure, followed by a slurp of a mug that Azure had, containing his beverage.

“It is coming along well, just got a couple of ponies and creatures left before everypony has a piece of the armour that you got. Speaking of which, how is your armour holding out?” Gretzky asked, betting that there were at least a couple of bullet holes. Azure moved to the opposite side of the room, before grabbing the clothed armour and smiling, throwing it in Gretzky’s direction, allowing him to catch it and look it over. He was surprised to see that there was no damage done to the fabric, other than the initial tear that he had done before making the armour, making him seem almost impressed about his work, seeing that he could create a durable piece of armour for sure. Gretzky threw the ragged armour back at Azure, who immediately put it on, making his body feel more ready for action and ready for the danger to charge at him.

Azure was unable to wear the armour during the fight, so he placed the armour in his home for safekeeping and allowing him to hide it somewhat. Azure placed his medical jacket over himself and felt like a new pegasus, apart from having the story of multiple bullet holes in his jacket, which annoyed him, because there was no jacket like the one that Blitz had picked out for him originally, making Azure get really aggravated that the one last thing that he had to remember his one fallen friend was damaged beyond repair and there were no other medical jackets that Gretzky sold. At least it kept him warm, that was what it was going to be used for, keeping Azure warm. Gretzky left the house with the syringe gun, making Azure feel a little lighter on his hooves and made it so that he wasn't in the predicament of healing anypony anymore.

Feeling a little bit on the adventurous side, Azure walked outside and closed the door behind him, leaving his delectable drink within the safe confines of his home. Azure locked the door, before flying across the settlement and made it his mission to try and find Sadjoy and Nightclaw. Azure swooped over Gretzky, before seeing the little area that Nightclaw had to set up his forge, making Azure feel bad for the gryphon, due to all of the equipment being squeezed into one small area. It must have been a nightmare to move around that area without bumping into anything. Azure landed and immediately saw both of them talking away, spotting him landing there, but continuing to talk among themselves.

Azure looked over, before walking closer to them both. Sadjoy smiled mid conversation, making Azure know that she was happy with him being here, which Azure immediately replied with a smile of his own, before shuffling next to them both and engaging in the conversation, which seemed to involve a lot of talk about how he was able to set up the forge and all of the other equipment. It got a little boring, but Azure was there to stay with his mare Sadjoy and needed to talk to her about something that was on his mind.

Azure waited for the conversation to die down between the bat pony and the gryphon, allowing him to sneak in a little advance that suggested that he wanted to speak to her about something. Azure gave a little cough, followed by a little bit of a twitch, signalling Sadjoy that he wanted to speak with her about something, making her chuckle and roll her eyes at Azure.

“You know that you can just ask me, right, instead of making a bit of a fuss about it?” Sadjoy chuckled, before kissing Azure on the cheek, making him blush that little bit more. Azure nodded, before coughing again, clearing his voice and allowing him to speak without issues occurring within his throat, pretty much meaning that he was clearing his throat.

“First of all, Gretzky I think was looking for you for some reason. Secondly, I got nothing else to do right now, so I thought that it might have been a great idea to hang out with one of the greatest mares that I have met along my travels and adventures.” Azure stated with a smile present on his face, making Sadjoy blush a little and lean into him, burying her face into his fluff to hide her embarrassment, but there was nothing embarrassing about telling a pony that they were loved and that they were awesome.

Azure noticed that Nightclaw was smiling a little, due to seeing the happy couple getting on with each other, giving the area more of a positive vibe that irradiated like radiation, which spread around the area and affected Nightclaw to make him feel a little more positive about the life he was living, knowing that he was in the presence of somepony who was positive. Azure noticed that when him and Sadjoy tried to embarrass each other, everything around them became more positive, giving life more reason to keep living, to see the events of their happiness to the end, which that thought alone made Azure look at Sadjoy and smile, knowing that they would both be fine in the long run, only if they kept each other happy and entertained.

“I think my job here is complete, due to the smile that Nightclaw is wearing with pride.” Azure stated, getting a stronger smile in return from the gryphon. Azure knew that he was doing something that made the area around them better, so he was going to keep doing the things that he was, only to make the areas he went to more positive and brighter.

Without any warming Roselight teleported to them all, making them all jump, due to her teleporting and quickly speaking about something, making them all believe that she was a little concerned about something or something was bothering her at least, making them worry a little bit.

“Have any of you seen Saber? He ain’t at the gate, but never leaves his post. Never!” Roselight stated, becoming a little worried about the pony that she looked after. Azure calmed her down a little, convincing her that he was probably perfectly fine, making her feel a little more relaxed, thanks to Azure. Azure looked at both Nightclaw and Sadjoy, before kissing Sadjoy on the head and walking with Roselight to try and find the pesky unicorn that had mysteriously disappeared.

Azure and Roselight both climbed the stairs by the wall, hoping that Saber was on top of the wall again. Sadly and unfortunately, he wasn't, making Azure get a little angry that something happened due to the fighting that was going on within the pit. Azure had a strange feeling that he knew that the fighting was the main source of his disappearance, but was not one hundred percent sure that it was.

“Don't worry, we will definitely find him and find out where he went.” Azure said, trying to keep the nerves away from Roselight, already knowing how much torment that she had already gone through, due to the nightmare that was within her originally and the transformation into an alicorn, which was a first for pony kind, as far as Azure knew. They tried to understand where Saber could have gotten to, but couldn't bring themselves to understand where he would have gone within the settlement, which Azure then stopped and thought about something. Azure bolted into the air, before looking at his Pipbuck and looking around for allies, which seemed to prove useful. Azure flew around slowly, trying to see if he could find Saber on his Pipbuck, which he did almost immediately, which made him breathe a sigh or relief. He was on the opposite side of the wall on the opposite side of the settlement.

Azure signalled for Roselight to follow her, before seeing that she was already in the air, travelling towards Azure’s location and waiting to follow him as quickly as she could, to find out where Saber was hiding. They got to the opposite side of the settlement within a minute and flew over the wall, to see Saber slumped against it, looking like he was in pain. Roselight panicked, knowing that somepony had hurt him, making her get a mixture of anger and sorrow brewing within her being. Azure landed on the ground, allowing Saber to notice him landing, giving him a gentle smile, before looking behind Azure. Azure turned around to see three of the zebras aiming some melee weapons at them. One of them wielded a staff, much like Blitz had wielded within a nightmare that Azure had months ago. Another wielded a sword, while the final one wielded a knife that looked like it had been used recently. Azure noticed that it had blood dripping down it, making Azure immediately look back at Saber, before seeing that he was trying to cover up an injury that he had gotten, making Azure that little bit angier.

Azure got into a more defensive stance, being ready to fight if it called for it as a last resort. Roselight walked closer to Saber and noticed the wound, making her worry, as she ran and tried to look after him. Azure passed Roselight some elixirs that he had made a little while ago, before looking back to the trio that was ready to give Azure and Roselight a hard time.

“Why do this?” Azure asked, getting nothing but silence in response for a couple of seconds, before one of them laughed. One of them launched themself at Azure, making Azure dodge their little ramming attempt, before noticing that there was a laser that was pointing to the raider that had just passed him. Azure stayed quiet about it, before noticing that same zebra trying to attack him, forcing Azure to defend himself. Without warning, before the zebra was even able to attack, another zebra wielding a rifle aimed his weapon at all three of his kind, making them pause for a couple of seconds.

Sadjoy and Gretzky had their weapons pointed at the group, as they flew in behind the zebra. The zebra in question was one of the fighters that Azure and Zeke had fought against, being a little worse for wear than he originally was, but still being well enough to fix himself up and come over and sort this entire event out. Azure looked back at Saber and noticed that he was drinking the elixirs that Azure had made, being able to heal the inside of his body first, before working its way out of any unwanted holes in his body. The thought that Saber was getting better made Azure smile a little, before scowling back at the zebras.

The little group of zebras were not backing down, making Sadjoy and Gretzky keep their sights on them, along with the fellow fighter that was taking their side. The fighter looked down and realised that Saber was hurt, making him a little angry.

“We did not come here to kill! You have betrayed me and my trust, all of you!” The fighter stated, before unloading a bullet into the air, making them all jump, before one of the zebras became a little too confident. He looked at Saber and took a smaller knife out of his pouch, before throwing it right in the direction of Saber’s head, being able to finish him off with the throw. Azure noticed the zebra reaching into his pouch and jumped in front of both Saber and Roselight, taking the knife to the ear, making him scream out in pain, but not killing him.

Sadjoy unloaded her rifle into the striped stallion that had thrown the knife, not backing down until he had more holes in him than stripes. Even when the zebra was dead, Sadjoy didn't back down, not until Gretzky grabbed her and lowered her gun, making her realise what she had just done and to what extent that she had carried it out. Azure stood there, knife in his ear, as he witnessed the protection of himself from his marefriend, which made him smile, within the pain that he had right then and there. The worst part was that he had to get the knife back out, as well as being out of healing potions, which made him feel so much better. He rolled his eyes at himself, making him feel like such and idiot for not having any potions that that point, but felt a little better when he noticed that Saber was getting up, only a little bit of blood on his armour and fur, making Azure feel better that he used his last potion to restore a life threatening injury.

The two other zebras began to run, before both getting shot by the fighter that Azure and Zeke had fought within the pit, feeling that he was loyal to the ponies and creatures that he had fought against or with. Both of the shots that he landed were both headshots, showing off the zebra’s incredible marksman with a rifle, but killing both of the zebras who hurt their little family that they had.

“I am so sorry for all of the trouble that they caused. They make my kind look more worthless and useless than they actually are. Stupid equines! Again, my apologies.” The fighter apologized, feeling bad for the rest of the group, before slowly walking to the bodies that were still within the settlement. Azure thought that he was going to probably take the bodies with him, but he wasn't. He was looting the bodies for all of the stuff that they had, leaving their bodies for the rest of them to clear up. That was a little bit stuck up and selfish, but Azure couldn't have cared less, due to all of the action that had gone on within that short period of time, making him hope that something like that wouldn't have happened again.

Sadjoy rushed to Azure, before tearing the knife out of his ear, making him scream in pain, due to her violently taking it out, but at least it was quick and gladly didn't cause too much damage to his ear. Sadjoy then proceeded to wrap Azure’s ear within some bandages, feeling a little better, but in more pain than he originally was. He knew that Sadjoy meant to help, but she didn't know that she was wrapping the bandages too hard, making it rub against Azure’s wounds more. He would let her off with it, due to her being in a little bit of a panic and then wanted to help out and take the role of assistant doctor, which was pretty cute, for Azure at least.

Azure looked over to the bodies and saw that they had been looted clean, making them have no point to keep the bodies around, so Azure walked away from the group and went up to the bodies, before seeing that they had absolutely nothing on them, no armour, no saddlebags, nothing. They were going to have to start working on graves for them, but that was not their top priority. Azure turned back to look at Saber and saw that he was walking over to Azure, making Azure stand up straight and look down to Saber, due to him being a fair bit taller than all of the other members in the group, apart from Roselight, because alicorns were very very tall. Azure tried to look back for the fighter that was with them, but he was gone, like they were not even there.

Roselight flew over with Sadjoy trailing behind her, before landing next to Azure and checking him over, looking for it he was hurt anywhere else. Saber paused as soon as he got to Azure, making him clear his throat, before speaking up about something that he wanted to get off his chest.

“Thank you Azure, for all of this.” Saber admitted, getting a smile from the pegasus, making Azure nod back at him, giving him all of the information that he needed to feel like he had accepted that appreciation. Azure had originally given up on using his fake name of Alchem and openly admitted to the entire community that his name was really Azure, getting some mixed reactions by all of the group. Brick was one of the members that didn't approve of him being lied to, but he accepted the world for what it was and looked at Azure no different than before, which was good in Azure’s eyes. Gretzky was happy for Azure, as were a couple of other ponies and creatures, making Azure feel more comfortable with all of them, which originally made him happy, but now, he felt like just how he did before, not satisfied, not alone. He was in the middle of an average mood, just like always.

Roselight checked her favourite doctor, as did Sadjoy, making sure that he wasn't hiding any other wounds that were left unattended, which Azure chuckled at how supportive both of them were all the time, now that they had been to new areas and moved in a direction that was only giving off positive vibes in the area that they were now situated, bringing a smile to Azure’s face, him knowing how much the community had moved on and developed at a family within some walls, which nearly made Azure start chuckling with job, but he stayed serious, making the others get on with what they wanted and or needed to do in order for them to feel satisfied with themselves.

Both mares stopped checking Azure after finding that there was nothing wrong with him whatsoever, making them focus more on the ear injury more, making Azure chuckle a little louder, catching the attention of the two, before Azure wrapped his hooves around them both, giving them both a gentle hug, which was something that made them both smile with glee, as they stopped being so protective over the doctor. Although Azure was in more pain than the others realised, he was perfectly okay to function as intended, like normal as the doctor. He definitely needed to go back to his home and make some more healing potion, but he didn't have the ingredients to make it, due to them needing a specific resource that he couldn't find anymore, due to it not being abundant in the area that they were now situated, making him a little annoyed, but gave him hope that he would be able to grow the radioactive plant that he needed to complete the potion. The reason that Azure was able to create the potion was because he was able to get the resource at the old area, due to it being close to their home, but sadly now, it wasn't.

Azure slowly turned his head, noticing that his head was a little stiff, so he tried to loosen it, turning it left and right slowly to make the muscles in his neck work easier and to make them not lock up as easily. Azure looked around to see the zebra corpses beginning to rot, slowly decomposing but being sped up, due to the radiation that was around them within the air. Azure slowly walked over to one of the bodies and then looked back to the others, hoping that they would also come over and help, which is exactly what they did. Roselight came over and picked up on of the bodies with her magic, as did Saber, following Roselight with the body in the air, trying to keep the body away from anypony due to the stench that was coming from the dead corpse, making even Saber hold his breath, as he held it up high above him.

Nightclaw walked over to the group, noticing the bodies that Saber and Roselight were moving away from the group, making him question what happened. He turned to see Azure with his wound to his ear, making him seem like he had left one fight and entered another. Sadjoy kept Azure under her wing, making him feel safer as well as warmer, which Azure was happy with, because the air was a little nippy after all. Sadjoy looked at Nightclaw with a little bit of a smile, but then she looked back down at Azure looking down to the floor, the pain in his ear giving him a major migraine, making his head twist and turn in pain.

“So what happened here?” Nightclaw asked after a couple of seconds of standing still, curious as to why Azure was hurt and why there were two of the zebra fighters dead. Sadjoy rolled her eyes, before looking to Nightclaw.

“I’ll tell you in a minute, but let me get Azure back home and then get him resting, then I can tell you, maybe over a drink or two.” Sadjoy stated to him, placing Azure onto her back and beginning to take off after a short period of time. Azure closed his eyes and rested, letting his body relax, as he tried to get rid of the headache that he had. Nightclaw flew after them, being a little more casual about the entire thing, but seeming like he was interested in something out of the conversation, making Azure a little curious as to why he was interested. He had never been before, which made things a little dodgy.

They got to their home within no time, before Sadjoy landed and unlocked the door with her own key, which was exactly the same as Azures. Sadjoy flew up the stairs and placed Azure in their bed, making him feel instantly better, due to the not so soft mattress being softer than Sadjoy’s back, which was a little sad, but it was the sad truth. Sadjoy tucked him up well and watched as Azure slowly drifted off to sleep, before turning around and slowly going down the steps, seeing that Nightclaw was waiting for the bat pony to come back downstairs, before going into the first room of the building, the living room.

Azure opened his eyes slowly, knowing that something was up with those two, but he couldn't put his mind on what it was. Azure knew that Sadjoy was loyal, but how loyal was she to him. Azure noticed that Sadjoy had spent a lot of time with Nightclaw for a short while, which made Azure question everything, due to being paranoid. Azure thought about it more and more, before noticing that something was going on downstairs, because there was music playing down there through one of the many radios that the house had. Azure knew that Sadjoy only listened to music when she was stressed, making Azure question if he was that reason, sending him down a rabbit hole that he shouldn’t have been going down into. Azure was too curious to go to sleep, as well as having too much of a headache to do anything else, but he had one thing that he had to do.

Azure could hear somepony coming up the stairs, before closing his eyes and pretending that he was asleep. Azure was going to make sure that he was pretending to be asleep as best as he could, so he began lightly snoring, making Sadjoy fall for his little trap that he had set for her. She rushed back downstairs, before Azure slowly and quietly got out of bed and went down the steps using his wings. Because the music was so loud, they couldn't have heard Azure fly down the steps. Azure made sure to land quietly, before slowly waiting for them to stop talking.

Azure could hear Sadjoy chuckling, something that he was unable to do himself, due to him being one of the more serious ponies in the settlement. NIghtclaw was the most serious, but he got Sadjoy to laugh, which made Azure that little bit more sad than he already was. Azure could hear how happy Sadjoy was with Nightclaw, rather than himself, making Azure feel worse and worse, as Nightclaw kept doing things that would make Sadjoy that little bit happier. Azure felt selfish for that moment of time and thought that all of the problems were coming off himself, but that wasn't the case as he moved his head around the corner and went wide eyed at what he saw. They had their lips locked together and both of their eyes closed. Sadjoy was blushing furiously and enjoying every second of it.

Tears streamed down Azure’s face right then and there, forcing him to fly back upstairs without making a sound. He walked quietly over to the bedside table and grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and began writing a message on it. Azure then placed the pen on top and wiped his eyes, clearing his vision slightly and making him see things more clearly. His last pony that he trusted was now untrustworthy. Their relationship, all the time they had spent together, was worthless. Sadjoy was Azure’s best friend, but not now. They had been lovers for so long, but Azure knew that he was just being used until somepony or some creature else came by.

Azure grabbed everything that was important to him, which was not a lot outside of his saddlebag. Azure placed everything that was valuable inside his saddlebag, before slowly flying downstairs again. He landed a little louder, making no audible difference outside of the blaring music. Azure sat there for a couple of seconds before hearing something happening on the opposite side of the wall.

“We have to be quiet, so that we don't wake up Azure.” Sadjoy stated, being the relationship cheater now. There were some muffled growns coming from the same area, followed by them both happily sighing. Azure felt sick, but had to do what he did. He quickly turned to the corner to see both pony and gryphon connected via gryphon’s tube, which was happily out of vision of Azure’s perspective. Both Sadjoy and Nightclaw looked at Azure with shock, like he had done something that he shouldn't have done. There were tears of sadness within Azure’s eyes, along with a look of anger at both of them. Betrayal was the better word to use. The gryphon was mounted on the back of Sadjoy, but Azure didn’t care anymore.

“Nice to know that the last pony that I could trust is now the pony that I can’t even call a friend. There is a note for you both upstairs, you traitorous fucks! I hope I never run across either of you ever again.” Azure stated, louder than the radio could transmit the music. Azure really badly wanted to hurt both of them, but he couldn't. Azure turned and ran out of the door, bucking it open in the process and seeing that Gretzky was coming towards the house. He stopped to look at Azure in tears. He rushed over to stop him, before giving him a gentle hug.

“Stay here quickly!” Gretzky commanded, before walking inside the house, weapon in hand. Gretzky walked into the living room and found the other two starting to put their armour back on, ready to chase after Azure. Gretzky aimed his weapon at both of them, knowing exactly why Azure was crying. He knew how close Azure and Sadjoy were, so he knew how much it hurt Azure. Gretzky scowled at both of them, knowing that he had lost faith in both of them, making him not see eye to eye with either of them anymore. Gretzky turned and ran back to Azure.

“If you want to come back to my shop, i’ll let you stay with me and Plumjuice, is that okay?” Gretzky asked, getting a simple nod from Azure, but Azure opened his mouth.

“If I come to your shop later, while you're still open, i’ll meet you there. I want to go and pay a close friend a visit for comfort.” Azure stated quietly, Gretzky nodding happily as he hugged Azure and looked angrily back at the house. Both Sadjoy and Nightclaw came out, making Gretzky raise his gun and point it at both of them, making them stop.

“Come any closer and I will blow your fucking heads off!” Gretzky threatened, making them both take one step back. Azure began walking in the direction of his friend’s home, not even taking a glance back, while Gretzky kept pointing his gun towards them both, making them cower a little and made Sadjoy tear up a little. Gretzky followed her crying with something that made both Azure and Sadjoy tear up even more.

“It’s all your fault, so there is no need to cry!” Gretzky roared, getting the attention of a couple of other ponies and creatures. Azure continued walking towards the direction of an old friend’s house, making him feel even worse than before, due to Gretzky’s quote going through his mind most of the time, constantly. Although Azure knew that Gretzky was directing that statement to Sadjoy and Nightclaw, he couldn't help but think that he definitely slipped up somewhere, making Sadjoy betray their relationship, making it official once they had gotten back to the older settlement and began relaxing. Azure couldn't help himself and thought about the good old days that he had with Sadjoy, knowing that at any point, she could have snuck off and lied to Azure at any point in their relationship, making him now begin to trust her as far as he could throw her, which was not very far.

Azure noticed that for the first time in his life, it was not raining while he was sad, making him feel a tiny bit better, due to the weather, but only the weather and nothing else. Azure thought that talking to a specific pony might have helped get rid of some of the unwanted pain that was within his heart, easing it a little and making him feel a little better with somepony telling him about stories that might have distracted him from the harsh world that he was living.

Due to the satellite on the roof of the house, Azure instantly knew that he was in the right place. He walked to the door and then knocked on it, before waiting and clearing some of the tears out of his eyes. He had come to speak to the pony within quite often, just to make sure that they were okay with living like they were. Azure noticed that a camera moved and twisted, making him think that somepony was on the camera’s within the house, making him assume that there was definitely somepony home. A metallic figure opened the door and Azure walked in and hugged Lumia, knowing that she would have been able to help with Azure’s pain.

Some time passed, as Azure sat in a comfy chair along with Lumia and Lilly, Lilly being a new friend of Lumia’s and was over to talk to her and relax. As soon as she saw Azure, she began to feel sad for him, hearing about what had happened to him. He needed all of the support that he could get and was not refusing to help a friend that was in need of a little bit of warmth and or love. She rested her head next to Azure’s, before noticing that there was something a little bit off about Azure, noticing that he wasn't caring as much as he used to about keeping himself in a stable condition. Delta was doing some monitoring of their own, making sure that Sadjoy was within their sights and making sure that she didn't come anywhere near the house, now not knowing where Azure went off to, due to being with Nightclaw for so long. She cried in front of one of the cameras, but Delta didn't play any of the audio, knowing that if they did, Azure would probably break down more than he already had, making him more vulnerable to anything.

Delta stopped watching Sadjoy and went back to focusing on Azure, the friend that had helped them to get out of that little shack that both him and Lumia created, which was way too dangerous to still be within that area, due to all of the radiation rolling around and all of the patrois now rolling around and through their old base, making them have to relocate from there to where they were now, which was in between Hoofington and Tenpony Tower, which made them a little confused on where they were, due to them being in the middle of nowhere. Although there was some trees around their little home, there were still opportunities to attack the base with ease, due to there only being three wall left, out of the usual four walls that created the outer walls of a settlement, but sadly, the settlement that they were living in now didn't have a final wall, making them have to use debris to block that entire wall, still making it easy to get in and out of the settlement due to sneaking out and under the debris, which there was a pony sized gap that allowed them entry to the settlement from the outside in.

Eventually, Azure and a couple of other ponies were going to try and fix that area, allowing for maybe another gate into the settlement, just to avoid being attacked from additional sides. Azure was trying to think of other things to talk about, to avoid him falling back into the hole that he was trying so desperately to get out of, due to Sadjoy and Nightclaw going at it and trying to keep it behind his back, making him shiver just thinking about it. Lumia noticed another tear that was creeping down Azure’s face, making her wipe it away as quickly as she could, avoiding Azure going into tears. Azure was strong, but he had lost so much already that something simple could have hurt him even more than the mare that said that she loved him. Liar!

Azure closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of both Lumia and Lilly, making Azure feel like he was safe for the most part from the world that was existing around him. Azure relaxed a little, nuzzling into the metallic structure that was Lumia, but was heated by the warmth of the kirin next to him, radiating heat from her body like a heater, being able to heat up the area around her with ease, as well as herself, which made Azure look at kirins differently, due to Zeke being half of one and Lilly being a fully fledged one. Kirin were mythical creatures, but legends never stay hidden forever, especially an entire race of ponies that didn't even exist until the bombs dropped.

Azure didn't know what he was going to do next, making him a little angry that he had no plan to fall back on and had no plan that he was able to achieve. Azure was a pony that was more interested in being given tasks to do, rather than to be giving others tasks to do. As Azure thought about that, he noticed that it was getting a little late, due to them protecting him so much, which he was grateful for, being able to confidently say that their affection definitely helped a little, if not a lot.

“How are you doing Azure?” Lumia and Delta asked, their voices mixing and echoing in unison with each other, making them both look at each other before smiling softly and looking back to Azure, wanting to know the answer as soon as possible.

“I… I guess that I will be alright, but only time may tell.” Azure stated, getting a nod from Lilly beside him, before seeing her rest her head on top of Azure’s for a short period of time. Azure was a lot better than he was, due to the help of the friends that he had collected along his journey.

“If you need something like this again, like the rest and relaxation Azure, do feel free to come back. Our door is always open to you, dear friend.” Delta explained, making Azure smile that some ponies were way more generous than himself, but there was bound to be ponies that would have been able to see through the dark and put the lives and sanity of other ponies before their own, making Azure still have a little bit of faith with ponykind, which gave him hope.

Azure slowly raised himself up and slid himself off the chair, knowing that he was disturbing the relaxation that they were all having, making him feel the tiniest bit sorry for them, even though he knew that he didn't need to worry about it. Azure was just having his mind bombarded with bad thoughts, due to what Sadjoy had done, making him lose trust in her.

“I need to speak to Gretzky about something. I guess I will see you all tomorrow or something like that.” Azure stated, getting a look of happiness from all three faces that were looking at him, making him smile and build up his confidence a little, one by one, brick by brick. Lumia nodded and then looked to the professor, who just placed an image of a mare celebrating, before Lumia looked back to Lilly, seeing that she was trying to snuggle up against Lumia, making her wear a smile of her own. She nodded too, before looking at Azure and nodding to him as well, making the light that Azure was standing in feel a little brighter and a little bit warmer.

Azure turned and rushed out the door, before closing it behind him and making sure it was closed, before running over to Hretzky’s shop, seeing that it was still open and seeing that the gryphon was still there, standing tall and proud over the other ponies that he was selling his items too, making him look over to see Azure with an even bigger smile, before finishing off with the customers that he had, making him free for a little bit of a chat and able to have some free time.

“How you feeling now, champ?” Gretzky asked, getting a simple shrug from Azure in response, making it seem like he didn't want to talk too much about it. Gretzky came out of the shop from behind the counter and hugged Azure with both his claws and his wings. “Did going to Delta’s help in any way?” Gretzky asked, getting a slight nod from the pegasus, making Gretzky smile due to Azure feeling a tiny bit better. Any progress to make Azure feel better was good progress, which was something Gretzky believed, making him think of happy thoughts, while he tried to comfort Azure with both his wings and his claws.

“Thank you for actually giving me a place to sleep. I have still got a little bit of a headache, but i’ll be alright for the time being.” Azure stated, making the gryphon become a little worried about his health. Azure knew how to look after himself, that was something Gretzky knew, but he pondered if he was able to help with that in any way at all. Azure looked about, before going into his saddlebag and grabbing two images that would have helped him to forget about the events that had transpired a little while ago now.

One of the images that he brought out was the one from their home in the old settlement. It was the Project Chimera image, which looking back to the image, gave him some good memories and some good ideas on what the metallic limbs that the creature in the image had, were like for them. It brought back memories of their first actual place that Azure could have called home, but he didn't know about what Blitz had thought about the home at all, making him a little sad that he wasn't here with him right now. That got Azure to look at the other image that he had, of the two ponies. Although the ponies were not real, being Blitz’s fake pony form and his mother’s fake form, it still had the power to make Azure miss Blitz as much as he initially did and needed him a little, wishing that he was here for Azure to hold, just for comfort reasons.

Before Azure could get another word out, the midnight sky lit up with a bright green light in the distance, brightening the world that he was in. It looked like a balefire bomb detonated in the distance, but Azure was not one hundred percent sure if it was or not. The light got the attention of most of the settlement, before the noise hit their settlement and shook it to the core. Azure felt the world shift, as the bomb shook the ground beneath them. Azure noticed that parts of the settlement were falling off, making Azure fear that something was going to drop on top of him, but gladly it didn't. The tremor subsided, making the green flash darken and the noise settling. By the looks of things, the exploding was pretty far away, but not far enough that it was able to not be felt, making Azure think that something was going on, something that was bigger than they all knew.