"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.