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.