Bringing the two raider ponies back to the settlement was a tough one. Blitz was sure to keep an eye on them for a tiny bit, but the other settlers were not in for a happy time. Although they enjoyed the company, it was almost like their trust had been thrown out of a twenty story window, crashing to the ground in an extra ordinary fashion.

Blitz was able to get the names of the ponies that he had recruited, making Blitz's trust in them go a little upwards, as opposed to downwards. Azure looked at Blitz, while sitting down checking his saddlebag. Blitz didn't look too happy, but Azure was sure that Blitz was just in his usual spacing out phase. Azure noticed that Blitz seemed to be more relaxed and chilled than he originally was, making him zone out a lot more and become a little more distracted during certain times. Azure was not sure to either be worried, or just flat out concerned about Blitz's mindset.

The first stallion was called Grayscale. He was the earth pony that was in front of the unicorn that was on the ground and was also the one that moved out of the way for the other stallion to fire. Grayscale had a couple of scars on his body, resembling the form of Zebra stripes. There were only a couple, which made both Blitz and Azure think that he wasn't a zebra, but like somepony else, ponies didn't have to have many stripes to be considered a zebra. Azure knew this, being part zebra himself. The black earth pony had a quite nice mane and tail, being grey like his name stated, but having a couple of designs in them both, making him look slightly cooler.

The other stallion was called Noname, which was pretty fitting, because of how he wouldn't give his name the first time. Noname as a unicorn with a little bit of a temper, but that didn't stop Blitz from trying to get them into a place where they could work happily for a couple of meals a day. All they wanted at the end of the day, was a place to stay safe. Right then and there, there was no better solution than coming back to the settlement that had defended against a wave of raiders and scavengers. Noname was a grey unicorn with the same colour mane and tail, making him look like a pretty basic unicorn stallion.

Azure looked to Blitz, seeing that he was a little tense about all of the things that had happened, but not really making it show massively. Azure was pretty sure that he was just tired more than anything, but when he asked Blitz if he was tired, he wouldn't reply, only giving him a half crooked smile. The thought made Azure chuckle inside, while his outside showed symphony for Blitz, due to all that he had gone through.

Azure walked up to Noname and Grayscale and pointed them in the direction of Sadjoy, who would happily help them finst somewhere safe to spend the night, as long as they gave up their raiding habits. Azure had hope for them, but at the end of the day, they were still raiders, but they were different raiders, ones that wanted to change. Azure was happy enough to let them have a second chance, but others might not be as trusting with a new group that had only just got into the settlement.

As they walked up to Sajoy, Blitz smiled as she looked down at them all, hopping off her ledge on the wall and landing gracefully onto the floor below. She smiled at them all, before bowing.

“What can i help you with?” Sadjoy asked, being slightly confused by the new guests wanting her help already. One of the raiders was going to open their mouth, but instantly closed it again. Azure nudged him on the shoulder, before seeing that he was refusing to talk to Sadjoy about what the pair needed for the night. Azure just rolled his eyes, before smiling at Sadjoy with a happiness that he could find within himself, when helping others.

“Can you set these two up with a place to stay? I remember Roselight saying something about you being able to do something like that.” Azure admitted, getting a smile from the beautiful bat pony in response to that statement, followed by a quick frown, then her looking back at her post.

“Sure, but could either you or Eater guard while I am doing this. I would hate for there to be nopony on the wall and for a random raider to get in.” Sadjoy explained, pointing her wing at her post.

“Sure, i got it!” Blitz stated, using his wings to fly up to the wall. Azure looked back at his wings soon after, remembering what happened to him and Blitz, when they had their little falling out. Azure did use the potion that he had used on the raider that Lumia, on himself. He used it shortly after Blitz went to sleep that one night. He was happy that he had the potion in the first place, but it did take a day or so to go back to how it was, so there were still limitations on when he could use the special potion.

Azure watched Blitz fly up to Sadjoy’s viewing spot and sit down at the edge of the little tower. Azure didn't know if Blitz would have been safe up there, but then remembered Anti was his companion. Yeah, he would have been fine! Azure turned around and caught up to the others, who were a little further down the path. They were engaging with different conversations, as they travelled down the path to one of the empty spare buildings. They all stopped at the door, before opening the door with one of the keys under the welcome mat. Noname chuckled and looked at them all.

“Please don't tell me that everypony leaves their keys under welcome mats! That's just asking for ponies to come into here and rob the lot.” Noname explained, not knowing the half of it, before Sadjoy put him in his place.

“Do you really think we are that stupid? No, we dont leave all of the keys under the welcome mats. We only leave the keys under the welcome mats when the buildings are not in use. When they are, I would believe that ponies are smart enough to leave their keys with them, rather than letting them have a chance to be stolen. So yeah, you smart arse.” Sadjoy said, making Noname go completely silent. That comment alone, made her get a little heated and angry. Azure decided just to stay quiet, just to avoid any unnecessary conflict.

They all stepped into the front of the building as soon as Sadjoy opened it, admiring the living quarters that they now had. It was a nice area, but it was just… empty. They weren’t exactly happy with that, but they were happy to have a safe place to sleep at least. Azure walked around and inspected the so-called empty room and found it to be somewhat nice. The walls were painted a single colour of dark maroon, which gave to the effect of being simple and likeable. Azure thought that the building as a living space was perfect, apart from the fact that it didn't have anything inside of it. Azure felt a little bad about that, but he had to remember that it was not his fault at all. It was nopony’s fault at all. Azure turned around to see that there were a couple of notes on the wall that he was now facing, making him curious about learning what they were. Before he could get closer, he was stopped by the sound of something happening outside. Azure turned to the door and ran up to it and said that there were two ponies arguing about something. Scarlet and Lavender were bickering to each other, ticking the other off more and more. Azure sighed, being glad that he didn't have to help with anything at that precise moment

“Can you two quit yapping?” Sadjoy lashed out, striking her hoof on the ground and looking both the bat pony mares in the eyes. She wasn't one for all of the hassle and Azure agreed with that. He was not one for hassle either, but if he needed to explain himself to others, he would hassle his way to the top, just to get his point across and out into thin air. The two bat pony mares chuckled, not achieving a smile from any of the ponies who were inside the house.

Sadjoy turned around and nudged Azure out of the way a little, allowing her to close the door completely and making it so that the two mares on the opposite side could not be heard. Sadjoy breathed a little sigh of relief after all of that. Azure was pretty sure that she was either tired or at the very least, stressed. Azure didn't wish that upon anypony, let alone a pony that he cared about. Azure walked back out the door, before closing it and sitting down on the outside step, waiting for Sadjoy to exit the building. She took her sweet time, but eventually she came out of the building, then drew a sharp intake of air, before exhaling slowly.

Sadjoy noticed that Azure was sitting down on the floor and wondered what his intentions were for wanting to sit on the cold and wet floor. Azure slowly got up and checked that none of the bat mares were watching or either around, before hugging Sadjoy, making her smile and chuckle.

“Thank you Alchem, I needed that for sure. I am a little stressed as you can clearly see.” she spoke, confirming Azure's answers. Sadjoy smiled a little before taking his hooves off her, making her chuckle a little again. Azure felt like she was part of their little group that they were forming. So far, the group consisted of himself and Blitz. Who was to say that Sadjoy couldn’t hop on that bandwagon as well? Azure looked towards the door of Noname’s and Grayscale’s new home and just smiled, feeling good about what Blitz had done for them. He was surprised with Blitz’s decision, thinking that he would have at least hurt them or something, but happily he didn’t. Azure was chuffed, which made him irradiate his mood onto others, almost like an aura of some sort.

Both Sadjoy and Azure walked back to see Blitz aiming down the scope of his latest weapon, an anti-material rifle. It looked scary from down below, which made Azure question what it would look like from afar. It made him curious about the rifle, but it didn't stop him from climbing onto the wall, using his wings to lift him. Despite using the healing potion, he could still feel something wrong with his wing. It ached more, making him a little confused on why the potion didn’t work properly. That was going to have to be something that he needed to work out, before he attempted to use it again. It felt like it was just going to ache after the initial healing, but that wasn't meant to happen at all. The purpose of the healing potion was that it would heal wounds. He stopped to think about it for a second before realising something that made him sound like an idiot. Of course it wouldn't heal completely, because he wasn't using the entire thing. He chuckled to himself, before making his way over to Blitz.

Blitz looked over to Azure and smiled, taking his rifle down from his eye and placing it on the ground beside him. He didn't want to risk it with going off, so he looked for a safety, which he couldn’t find on the weapon, due to it being originally attached to a suit of power armour. He scowled at his weapon, before looking back up at Azure and smiling once again. Sadjoy flew over to Blitz’s anti-material rifle and looked it over, making her smile in the process of looking it over and having a better close up view. She was a sucker for guns, but they had to be good enough to pierce through stuff. Blitz’s rifle definitely could.

“Everything all good then?” Blitz asked, being curious about the lives that he didn’t take. Azure nodded, pointing over at the house that they had been situated into. Blitz nodded, before turning around and grabbing his weapon from Sadjoy with his magic. As soon as he did that, he got a chuckle from Lumia, suggesting that he had either done something wrong, or stupid. Blitz chose both. Lumia walked over to the wall, before using her metal wings to fly to the top of the wall and land perfectly softly. Her form had always been so fascinating to Blitz, making him strive to learn more about robots and technology. Azure felt a little jealous of Lumia, due to her wings. They were completely beautiful, each metallic feather lined up perfectly with the other, making them seem more clipped and looked after. Azure was pretty sure that it was just a couple of sheets of metal or something like that, but he didn't completely know what the process was or what the material was.

“Yeah, they are held up in a little building down the way from ours. They seem to be happy with the place, but you never know with some ponies.” Azure stated loudly, speaking it directly to Blitz. Blitz looked over to the houses that Azure originally pointed at with his hoof and then looked back to Azure. Blitz knew that there were definitely a couple of buildings to accommodate ponies and creatures left, so it was their job to fill them, somewhat, with ponies. Blitz placed his anti-material rifle away and looked back at Sadjoy.

“If I find any other rifles like that one, i'll collect it and give it to you. Does that sound good?” Blitz asked, getting a couple of swift nods from the devious bat pony. The look of excitement on her face melted not only Azure’s heart, but Blitz’s and Lumia’s. Azure thought about it more and then looked at Lumia. She was definitely part of the group too, but that needed more time to evaluate on, just like Sadjoy’s case.

Azure felt a claw on his shoulder, making him turn around to see Gretzky standing there, holding a saddlebag in his claws. Azure was slightly confused about all of the actions that Gretzky was taking and didn’t have anything click until he saw that Blitz was walking towards him, pulling out his scopeless sniper rifle. Even then, he didn't have anything click in his mind about what they might have been preparing for, or he did, but it wasn't correct.

“Who wants to come with me and scout out the SS Celestia?” Gretzky asked, having Blitz by his side before he had even said anything. Sadjoy cheered aloud, making herself feel a little embarrassed by her own action. Lumia calmly thought about it and tilted her head to both sides of her body, thinking about it slowly and calmly, like she had done since she had met Blitz and Azure.

“I'll have to check with Delta about that one, but I would enjoy the adventure aspect of it.” Lumia stated, being as relaxed as ever with it, but still showing her excitement over it using her muzzle to smile. Gretzky nodded and looked at Azure, before offering his claw out to him.

“Are you wanting to take part in this little voyage west, Azure?” Gretzky asked, getting a little dainted look from Azure. Blitz walked past Gretzky and looked at Azure in the eyes.

“I’m with you either way. If you stay, I'll stay.” Blitz admitted aloud, making sure that all of them around both Azure and Blitz could hear. They all looked at each other, before looking back to Blitz and seeing that he was dead serious about it. They looked back to Azure, making him think that all of the pressure was being impacted onto him. It wasn’t in reality, but in his head, it was all that was going through his mind, making his heart beat quicker with every second that passed. He hated being the decision maker, but he didn't want to let anypony down.

“Yeah, i… I will go.” Azure admitted to them all. Blitz didn’t look too pleased with his decision, but he eventually lost the face he was originally pulling and replaced it with one of confidence, shedding off a little bit of doubt as well, but nopony else could see said doubt, so he was happy for the most part.

“Alright then, i'll let you all get some sleep and then we will head out in the morning.” Gretzky said, getting ready to go for his adventure. He flew off towards his shop and vanished from sight. Lumia began to walk off to see Delta, knowing that he wasn't asleep because of him being in a machine and not needing rest. Sadjoy pulled a Gretzky and vanished towards her home, gliding down from the wall, but quickly remembering that she was a guard, so she had to stay at the wall. She flew back up and stood at her post, blushing a little from her forgetting that she was indeed a guard.

Blitz and Azure slowly walked back to their building, wanting to get at least another couple of hours of sleep for the journey in the morning. Azure was a little bit mindful, but Blitz was a little bit excited. They both had different opinions on the matter, but that didn’t mean anything to anypony. If they wanted to, they could have stayed up, but then that would have only caused downsides to their lives in the morning.

Both Azure and Blitz rushed through the door of their home and closed the door behind them, making sure that it was indeed shut, before coming towards each other and chuckling. Azure laid in the chair, on his back and with his wings outstretched. Blitz took his mark and then climbed into the chair with him, feeling comfortable as ever. Azure wrapped his wing around Blitz and cuddled him, making sure that Blitz wouldn't be cold through the night. Azure watched as Blitz took off his cloak and grabbed a long piece of cloth that they used for warmth. They used the cloth like a thin blanket, but it worked surprisingly well being one, which shocked Azure, but made them both comfortable. Blitz closed his eyes and sighed heavily, making sure that Azure heard the sighs that he was making, which Azure did, making him yawn, due to how tired Azure was all of a sudden. Blitz nuzzled into Azures chest, making Azure happily giggle, but making it quiet enough that Blitz didn't need to open his eyes

Azure thought about the little adventure that they were going to have in the morning and just pondered on it for a little while. It was a pretty big convoy going to the SS Celestia, in the morning and Azure hoped that all of them would be safe going there and back. If they got into a battle of some sort, they would definitely need Azure to heal all of their wounds, so he would need to be going on the trip regardless. He was a medical pony, so it was kind of required for him to go. Blitz may have counteracted his opinion if he was to say it out loud, so he kept it to himself. Azure knew it was bad to do something like that, but he didn't want to cause an argument.

Azure closed his eyes again and waited patiently to fall asleep. It didn't take him long to drift off into that state, as he calmly entered the land of slumber. The only problem was that he was transported back to the same nightmare that he had originally had. He was back in the pitch black room, with a gun on display and Blitz in front of him, looking at Azure with a different type of anger than Blitz would normally look at Azure with. Azure knew that it was just a dream, but the feelings in it felt too real for him to be confident in the ability for him to detect if it was a dream or not. If it was, he would have to take pot luck that it would continue to be a dream.

Azure walked over to the fake Blitz, remembering last time that the entire thing was about healing ponies and the syringe gun. Last time they tore chunks of Blitz face and body off. This time was different. He had been given a gun, so he just presumed that his brain was testing him on the fact that he would have to choose if people were worth being put out of their misery. Azure was actually wrong on that regard, but he would still need to use a gun of some sort.

Azure saw that Blitz was getting up and moving, like he was almost completely confused. Blitz looked at Azure completely confused on what was happening. He looked at Azure and then at the weapon that he was given and froze. Azure saw that Blitz had been frozen looking at his pistol, which when Azure looked down, had changed into the pistol that he had in the Wasteland. It was almost like the gun was real. He picked it up, before firing it off a couple of times and waiting for a reaction from Blitz. Blitz just looked so confused.

“Why are you shooting in my dream?” Blitz questioned, not knowing if Azure was real or not.

“Why are you in my dream, Blitz?” Azure asked him, getting a look of subtle anger irradiating from Blitz’s general direction. “How do i even know if you are real?” Azure asked him, getting Blitz to think of some way that he would be able to prove that he was the real Blitz and not just an illusion within Azure’s mind.

“First of all, I don't know how to prove to you that I am real, But you have to trust me right now. To make sure that i am real, the first thing I'll say when I get up is: That dream was a red bubble of blood. Too much for this buggo. Secondly, why did you just fire off your weapon?” Blitz explained, making Azure check his ammo. He had shot around two or three shots and was surprised to find that he hadn't shot any bullets from the magazine that was originally in his weapon. Azure placed the magazine back into the weapon and placed it in his mouth, before shooting off around five or more rounds in quick succession. He dropped the weapon onto the floor and checked the ammo again, to find that the shots were completely refreshed in the magazine. It was a confusing sight, but there was an upside to all of the shots being unlimited, they could test their aim with the weapons.

Azure saw some moving targets off in the distance, looking like a couple of training dummies. They were slowly getting closer to both Azure and Blitz, making Azure look down at the pistol. He loaded it back up, before facing the attackers that were coming their way. He tried to line up the weapon in his mouth to where the dummies were quickly approaching, but it wasn't very accurate. Blitz used his magic to take out the pistol from Azure’s mouth and placed it into his battle saddle.

“Hey, I haven't seen you use that SATS system inside the Pipbuck yet. Why don't you try to use it now, given that you can't really lose with it, since you have an unlimited supply of ammo? I'm pretty sure that these skills would be identical to real life, Azure.” Blitz explained, making Azure still feel like he was fake and in his head, but if he was fake, wouldn’t he have said something already, being directly linked to his mind? Surely he could have, but Azure just believed that it was a little too much to be diving into all of the speculation when there was time being wasted on not practicing.

Azure activated SATS on his Pipbuck and watched as time nearly froze, making Azure look around and at Blitz, to see that he too, had been slowed down to a millionth of the speed of real time. A system flashed in front of Azure, making itself known and showing off all of the enemies in a dark red. There were percentages that displayed over each of the body parts, making it so that the torso had the biggest percentage, due to being bigger than the other parts of the body. Azure placed the first shot onto the body of the dummy and then placed the next shot into the head of another dummy that was rushing them both.

He ended the system and saw that the bullets were shot in slow motion, but himself not being in slow motion at all. He could look around, but could not let the target out of his line of sight. Azure watched as the first bullet passed straight through the dummy, making it explode into a mist of white dust and matter. The second shot was not so lucky, making it wizz straight past the approaching dummy’s head. Azure felt a little bit out of breath for a couple of seconds, letting himself to rest for a couple of seconds.

One of the dummies brought out a rifle and started to take shots at the pair. Azure slid to some cover, while Blitz was looking down his sights of his anti-material rifle. If he was going to do a job, he was determined to do it properly. The dummy landed a good shot, shooting Blitz in the shoulder and making him drop his weapon out of pain. Blitz scrambled to his weapon and quickly looked down the scope of his weapon and fired, green blood dripping down his front and side. Azure was horrified at how Blitz could even use his magic and concentrate. Blitz was lucky or a good shot, because he had hit the dummy in the head, making it explode with an earthshaking pop, followed by some blistering flames bursting outwards. More dummies approached them, making Blitz hobble to some cover, across the way from Azure.

Azure remembered that there was unlimited ammo in this dream or nightmare that they were in, so he knew what had to be done. Azure used his SATS targeting again and locked onto Blitz. He placed two very high chanced shots at both Blitz’s foreleg and torso, before Azure locked in the shot and fired. A syringe flew through the air and landed in the exact areas where Azure had originally placed them, making Blitz gasp out in pain, as the syringes slowly dug into him, but the sighed in bliss as they worked their magic into his wounds, clearing them up to be like nothing had happened before. Blitz used his pistol with his magic, taking out another two dummies with two precise shots to the head, making them pop like balloons. Although Blitz was cutting down on the killing that he was doing, he was finding that shooting the dummies was a little fun, but only because that they were not real, nor were they alive and breathing. They were animated!

Azure took another shot at a dummy, hitting it in the hindleg and making it disappear. Azure was pretty sure that he was becoming more and more accurate with every shot, due to using the gun more and getting more comfortable with the situation. Although it was not his priority to kill ponies and creatures, Azure could still use this time to increase his awareness and control with not only his pistol, but his syringe gun too, because he was bound to use that more during his lifetime. Azure had the title of doctor for a reason. He needed to show why he had gained that title in the Wasteland.

Azure shot one of the dummies with SATS, while using his syringe gun. He wanted to test out two things with it, during the time that they were having together in the land of mystery. He wanted to firstly check how far the weapon would be effective, but also to find what would happen if he tried to use it on one of the dummies. He shot one of the dummies with the syringe gun, that was further away than the others who were trying to swarm both Azure and Blitz. The syringe went directly to it, making Azure surprised that the syringe didn't miss or drop down during travel. Once it hit the dummy, it started to take out the other dummies, using its rifle to make quick work of the ones that were out in the open.

Blitz observed the strange behaviour of the dummy and got a little confused on why it was killing its own. He didn't care too much about it, but it was weird. The dummies had stopped coming, making both Blitz and Azure come out from behind their cover and looked around. They both looked around and saw only the dummy that Azure had stuck a healing syringe in. it was a little weird to them both that the dummies had just completely stopped appearing. Blitz walked a little closer to the dummy, his pistol raised to his face, allowing him to look down the sights of the pistol and target the dummy. Without warning and like a lightning strike, the dummy lashed forwards, before Blitz even had a chance to fire.

The dummy sliced Blitz throat making him drop his pistol and grasp his throat. Azure shot a couple of healing syringes at Blitz, making them quickly heal up his throat, but something was wrong with Blitz. Once the wound closed, there was the same wound again, opening back up. This made Azure panic, realising what the nightmare was trying to do to both of them. The nightmare that they were in wanted to show Azure that he couldn't save everypony he came across. Azure already knew this, but saw that Blitz was in a hell of a lot of pain. Blood spurted out of his mouth and dripped onto the floor, making Azure wince, before he locked onto Blitz with the pistol he had, using SATS. Azure just stood there, his energy slowly depleting away, just like Blitz’s life during the nightmare. Azure couldn’t do it, he couldn't ease Blitz’s suffering, even if he wanted to, to make Blitz become one with peace. He exited SATS and looked to the dummy, before pulling his body in the direction of the dummy.

Blitz watched with open eyes and saw that there was a little ripple behind the dummy making the floor shake in the process of it. Out of nowhere, Anti lashed onto the dummy with her sharp fangs, making short work of the fabric and revealing the nightmare underneath. The real nightmare. She grinned at Blitz, seeing that he was slowly fading out of consciousness within the dream that they were all in.

“Looks like I won, Blitz!” The nightmare spoke, getting no response from Blitz whatsoever. That made the nightmare a little more aggravated with Blitz, but it also slowed her down in her attempts to capture Blitz’s mind. The nightmare may have thought that she had won, but there was still a pony that she was missing. As soon as Blitz thought of him, he appeared. Death made his grand appearance, making Azure freeze in place, as well as the nightmare. Death walked directly up to her, looking so deep into her eyes, that he was looking into her soul. She visibly gulped and made Blitz chuckle a little bit, chucking up blood in the process and making him rest his head on the floor. Death turned his head and removed the cut from Blitz’s throat, before turning back to the nightmare and pinning her up against the wall.

“You can either help me, or I can find a use for you myself. That being completely nothing and for me to turn you into nothing. You got me?” Death explained to her allowing her a choice that she couldn't have refused, or at least shouldn't have been able to refuse. The nightmare didn't say anything, as she felt her head nearly pop, due to the amount of pressure that Death was putting on her skull. Everything was painfully silent, as Death pinned her against the wall. It was almost like she was afraid of him or something. Blitz chuckled, getting his breath back from losing the ability to breathe before, then locked eyes with the nightmare. The only thing that was displayed in those eyes was sadness. Blitz was going to give her one more chance to change, before he gave Death the order to kill her.

“One chance! That’s all you get left before I tell Death to get you out of my system, Nightmare!” Blitz explained, not facing the nightmare properly, but looking off to the side. The nightmare frantically nodded, before being dropped by Death, realising that she had to change in order to survive. Blitz didn't think of it that way, he thought of it as a third chance that she was getting, if not more. If the nightmare didn't change and help Blitz, then she wouldn't have been any use in his system. As long as she helped him, rather than hindered him, he'd be okay, but all she had done since was try to get him killed, or get him stressed.

Azure walked up to both Death and the nightmare, taking a good look at them both. Death was a skeletal figure underneath a cloak, much like Blitz’s, but darker, making Azure gasp out in confusion and curiosity at the same time. Death was slightly confused, but just rolled with it, looking at Azure like Azure did to him, before Death turned into the form of Blitz, making Azure scowl at him.

“Be nice you two! Azure, Death! Death, Azure! Welcome to my mind and consciousness, Azure. I didn't realise that we were here until the nightmare turned up, thanks by the way Death.” Blitz stated, pouring himself an imaginary drink of confidence and laughter. The only reason it was imaginary was because it was in his head, as opposed to actual life, but the feelings were definitely stronger after the drink, making Blitz believe that there was an aspect of it all that linked to life. Azure watched as Blitz threw a glass down, watching it disappear into the abyss below, confusing Azure in the process. Blitz chuckled a little, watching as Azure tried to work out why the glass fell through the floor.

Time was cut short, due to morning approaching slowly. Blitz was going to keep an eye out for anything that seemed nightmare related or something along those lines, while Azure kept an eye on Blitz, without him really wanting to, due to not giving Blitz much privacy. Wasn't that what friends did anyway, looking after each other? That was something that Blitz and Azure were both going to find out one way or another.

Death stopped both Azure and Blitz instantly, waking them both up together by hitting them with some lightning, making them jump in the process because of how loud and bright the flash and crackle of the lightning was, as well as it hitting them both directly. Both Azure and Blitz woke up quickly and sat up, hitting their heads together and wincing, but shortly laughing it off after a couple of seconds. Azure had to admit that the dream that they had just had, whether it was real or not, had been an insight to what either Blitz’s head was actually like, or Azure’s mind’s version of what it would be like, but didn't Azure not know Death, or even the nightmare for that matter, so i couldn't have been his mind’s version of it.

Azure cleared his mind before looking over to Blitz and seeing that he was sat up and closing his eyes. Azure didn't know what Blitz was trying to do, but he wanted to make sure that Blitz was okay, so he slowly shuffled over to where Blitz was sitting, in the chair.

“That dream was a red ball of paint. Too much for this bug.” Blitz said, rubbing his eyes. Azure remembered that was along the lines of what Blitz said in the dream or nightmare. Although it wasn't correct, he knew that Blitz was trying to at least make it seem like he was in the dream, which Azure clocked that he was indeed in the dream.

“It was actually ‘that dream was a red bubble of blood. Too much for this buggo.’ but i'll say that it was close enough to prove that you were indeed in the dream.” Azure stated, making Blitz smile a little bit. He was a little confused about it too, due to the confused look on his face, followed by the cutest yawn that Azure had ever seen in his entire life. Blitz noticed that Azure was watching him and Blushed a little, shying away a little and stretching his body as soon as he got to the floor. Again, Azure watched Blitz with a loving smile, making him feel like he had somepony to share everything with. His feelings, his thoughts, his love with. Blitz was bound to get more use out of the last one, due to him being a changeling and all. That put a smile on Azure’s face, making him get out of the chair and stretch as well. He wasn't used to feeling so happy, spending time with his special friend and possible lover, but love was for a more relaxed time and had no place in the Wasteland. Lovers always died in the end, so Azure didn't want to take the chance of having one of them meet a swift end, so he shut his mouth up and kept stretching.

As soon as Azure stopped stretching, a thought went through his mind, making him sit down to answer it. He didn't sit on the chair again, instead resulting to the floor for some mild comfort. Blitz looked at him, pondering what could have been happening inside Azure’s mind. It looked like he was pondering on something serious, making Blitz feel a little uneasy. ALthough Azure was thinking about love, Blitz didn't know that, just watching him from halfway across the room. Blitz was just going to have to get over the fact that he would not know everything about somepony, but he could know an awful lot about them, if not nearly everything. Nopony truly opened up, especially in the time of the Wasteland.

Azure was only thinking about what a lover truly was to him. Whether it counted as a close friend, or just somepony who Azure loved. He didn't know the true definition of love, but he was guaranteed to find love somewhere along his life. MAybe Blitz was the pony that he loved, he didn't know exactly, but he was sure of something else though. If Blitz wasn't a lover, then he was a Celestia damn good friend, one that cared for him like he was his own brother. Azure looked to Blitz, who was looking at Azure with some intent to do something to him, making Azure blush because of that.

They both got ready for the days ahead, making sure to get everything perfect and that no rock was left unturned. They filled up on everything that they possibly could, ranging from healing to snacks that they would probably want to have once they got there. It was going to be a long journey that they were going on, varying at around a couple of hours, because of how far away from their home settlement they were going. It baffled Blitz, because he hadn't been outside of the general area for a little while, let alone going to another area in the world of Equestria, the Equestrian Wasteland. As soon as Blitz and Azure had checked for every scenario, they walked to the door, before stopping and looking at each other with a questionable look on Azure’s face and a slightly delighted smile present on Blitz’s face.

“Are we really ready for this? It could be dangerous!” Azure stated, worrying quite a bit about where they were off to. Blitz simply nodded, looking to Azure with his grin, followed by a brief chuckle.

“There is nothing to worry about, Azure. We will be fine. After all, you were in the same dream as me last night and now you have seen what type of good distorted mess I am. Helpful in so many ways, but corrupted by Death, a nightmare and a spirit trapped within a wooden cage, in the form of an unkillable timberwolf. We will be fine!” Blitz promised him, making Azure become less tense and making him relax a lot more. Sure, he was still tense, but not as much as he originally was.

Azure opened the door and watched as Blitz strolled straight passed him, making Azure roll his eyes in the process, making him feel like he was looking after a colt. It did manage to make him smile, which was Blitz’s first goal. They put their hooves outside and looked up into the sky, seeing that although it was the morning, it was incredibly dark. Blitz looked around and saw that there were a couple of ponies around, which boosted his confidence a little. Azure closed the door behind them and turned around to witness the dark sky. It looked ominous, but slightly pleasing, to his eyes at least.

Azure walked away from the house and looked around. Black clouds were the only thing that Azure could see in the sky, so he was a little worried about their traveling for the day. Blitz didn't worry too much about all of it, but did worry that it would make it difficult for others to move at the speed that they would have needed to move, to ensure that they got there quick enough to make it worth it. Blitz worried more about the other's safety, rather than his own, due to the face that he could hover. Blitz really should have been worrying about himself, due to the temperature of the area. If it got too cold, Blitz would be impacted in the process, probably while fighting, making him die or something.

They both walked up to Gretzky's shop and waited, Blitz feeling that there was going to be a big amount of rain falling in the process. Gretzky appeared out of nowhere, carrying a massive sack over his wings, as opposed to his traditional saddlebag. Blitz found it a little funny, due to the sack being bigger than he was, but kept it to himself, making Gretzky ponder what he was thinking. He looked to Azure and nodded, before walking out from behind the counter.

"Are you two okay? Are you ready to meet at the main entrance?" Gretzky asked, being a little concerned as to why they were at his shop, rather than at the meeting up point.

"Yeah, just came to check on you. We have a little bit of time before we are shooting off, so yeah. We thought that we'd see what you were up to." Azure admitted, getting a shy smile from Gretzky. He blushed a little before noticing that there were some scars on Blitz's body, making him question them.

"Umm, are you okay, Eater? Those scars look kind of painful." Gretzky pointed out, making Blitz chuckle, followed by him wiping his eye with his hoof.

"I'm fine, just laughing through the fact that I look like a changeling zebra." Blitz admitted, cackling to himself and seeing that Azure was on the edge too. The thought of a changeling zebra made Azure begin to calmly laugh too. Gretzky rolled his eyes, Blitz still seeing a smile on Gretzky's face, which was his main goal still. Blitz was pretty sure that they weren't going to get to where they were going, if he kept up the conversation like this. Blitz rushed away, towards the main gate, followed by Gretzky walking in the same direction. Azure laughed a little at that and began to walk over there as well, making sure that they were a little early to the gathering, like usual.

Both Blitz and Azure didn't know who was coming with them, but knew that there were around eight ponies in total going, meaning that the others would have to look after the settlement while they were gone. Azure, Blitz and Gretzky made up three of them, so there were five others that would be coming along with them, helping to assist them in combat, if they indeed got into any combat at all, within this little adventure that they were partaking on.

Zeke showed up shortly after Blitz and Azure arrived at the gate. This made them a little curious to know why Zeke agreed to all of this. It didn't bother them, they were just very curious as to why. Zeke looked to both of them, before nodding at them with a frown. Why did he look sad? Was it because he was doing his own stuff then and there, around the settlement? They didn't know, all they could do was presume that Zeke was just under the weather or something along those lines.

They waited around for around ten minutes before somepony showed up. Sadjoy arrived, being followed by Brick, making Blitz smile. Brick waved to them, yawning and scratching his back with one of his claws. It looked like it hurt when he scratched his back, but Blitz knew better. It didn't hurt his back at it, it was most likely satisfying to him, being able to get rid of the itch.

Sadjoy waved a wing at Blitz and Azure, before heading over to them both. She perked up and smiled at both of them, before shielding herself from a bit of rain that was beginning to fall. Blitz knew that it was going to be a terrible day, especially in the weather department of things. She continued to smile at them both, regardless of the weather. It was kind of heartwarming to say the least.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world. Another chance to explore an area would be amazing, so I didn't want to miss this chance." Sadjoy explained, getting a chuckle from Azure. Blitz walked off and spoke to Brick, Azure watching and smiling that Blitz was beginning to socialise more. Azure's gaze slowly drifted to Roselight and Saber heading in their direction. Sadjoy turned around and watched them both approach too. Was Roselight really going to go along with the little convoy?

Roselight looked at them all and smiled, then looked down at Saber, watching him with a well trained eye. Gretzky looked at both of them and frowned. Gretzky then walked up to both Roselight and Saber with a confused expression.

"Didn't we agree at eight ponies max? What is this Roselight?" Gretzky called out, questioning her and getting a little angry about it all. Blitz looked to Gretzky before stepping away from the group.

"I mean, if we need somepony to drop off the team so that Saber and Roselight can join, I could…" Blitz stated, before getting immediately cut off by both Azure and Gretzky.

"...No!" They both yelled out, making Blitz pause. Azure walked back up to him and dragged him back in. Gretzky walked up to Roselight and Saber and told them the cold, hard facts.

"We agreed on no more than eight ponies coming along on this adventure. We have eight, including you or Saber. One of you will have to stay behind and look after the settlement with Petalbreeze." Gretzky commanded, getting a sad look from them both. Roselight counted five ponies and a creature, standing behind Gretzky, meaning that there were two more places left, but there weren't.

Lumia teleported into the group and looked at both Sadjoy and Brick. Sadjoy smiled and nodded and Brick stood there confused, scratching his head and wondering what Lumia was. Roselight sighed and scowled. Seeing this, Sadjoy spoke up.

"As much as I want to go on this adventure, there are sacrifices in life that you have to make. I'll stay here so that Saber could go. There isn't a problem, cause he is a guard…" Sadjoy stated, cutting herself off before she was able to blurt out something that would have sent Roselight's emotions through the roof with anger. The look of happiness overwhelmed Roselight, as her and Saber joined the team, while Sadjoy was taken off.

Blitz felt a little bad about it, but didn't let his anger onto anypony else. Blitz just angrily stomped the ground once and then sighed, being pretty annoyed that Saber was here, instead of the loveable bat mare. Blitz just looked at her and smiled as best as he could, her doing the same to all of them, but Blitz could see that pain that she felt beneath that fake smile, so he was ready for an outburst somewhere along the line.

Sadjoy flew to the top of the wall and opened the gate for them all, allowing them all to go out and down the path. Sadjoy just watched in sadness as she was left behind, sacrificing her enjoyment in life, so that some spoiled colt could enjoy an adventure. She watched them until they became a couple of dots in the distance and sighed. She sat down and looked at the floor.

"...but he isn't good at being one." She finished her statement, making her mind go to negative places, before she slapped herself with her own hoof and went to go find some work to do from Petalbreeze.

An hour into their journey, they were still travelling. They had found one of the main roads leading to Hoofington, so they followed it, hoping the roads weren't patrolled by raiders or scavengers or anything else at that point. Blitz, Azure and Brick lead the way, stirring up occasional conversation with Brick about his life. Further back, Roselight was talking with Saber and Zeke was talking to Lumia about something. Gretzky was just staying quiet and listening to all of the sounds around him, ranging from gossipping in the conversations, to each step of the group.

Blitz felt a little bad about him, but he was pretty sure that Gretzky was daydreaming too, so he didn't think too much into it, only enough to make him concerned. Blitz walked ahead, seeing some overturned carts on the road ahead. He had his pistol out and ready for if somepony was going to try to attack them. He didn't aim his pistol, he only had it to the side of his body, using his magic to hold it in place.

Blitz saw some movement ahead and froze. He watched it for a couple of seconds, before moving closer to it. He was far enough ahead to not alert the others with his actions, but was close enough that they could hear him if he needed them. Blitz rushed forwards, Anti spawning in beside him, being his protector. They moved swiftly and silently, making quiet movements to scare off any unsuspecting ponies or creatures around the area. Blitz did originally see something before and now it wasn't there, which made him slightly confused. He moved around the carts on the road and received strange looks from the group, as they caught up to him. They were pretty sure that Blitz was fine, but didn't want to take the chance that he really was alright.

Blitz looked back to the carts and saw the same movement that he had before, but this time it was more visible. He aimed his pistol at the area and pivoted around the cart. He couldn't see anything on that side, meaning that there was only one place for that thing to go. Blitz looked under the cart and saw it. It was just a radroach. Blitz picked it up with his magic and held it next to him, looking at it and laughing. Blitz placed it on his back and watched as it just stayed there, almost like it was liking its position on Blitz's back. The radroach saw the others, but refused to leave Blitz's back, which was pretty strange.

Umm, Eater, why do you have a radroach on your back?" Gretzky asked, making the group turn to look at it. It was just chilling on Blitz's back, which got him remembering what the young version of himself did. Blitz's mother told him to stick onto her back, as she would go about her normal day. It was a trait that Blitz remembered, but why did the radroaches do it too. That made Blitz come up with a speculation, but he didn't trust it.

"Wait, does that mean that… No, surely not. All changelings couldn't have mutated to these little things. Maybe they could." Blitz muttered to himself, letting everypony else hear what he was saying. Brick gave a brief chuckle, before becoming one of the many voices in the crowd of ponies, shuffling towards Hoofington. Blitz was slightly worried about travelling there, but he was sure that each pony in the convoy had their own individual qualities, ranging from Azure being one to heal others, while Blitz himself was technically Death's advocate, but Blitz refused to kill more, unless he had to.

They moved along, pushing past sceptical scene after sceptical scene, dead foliage after dead foliage and shattered remain after shattered remain. It was a constant reminder that they were in the Wasteland and not in pre-war Equestria. Blitz pondered whether Equestria would ever get back to how it was, before all of the war that Blitz read about in a lot of the pre-war books he found. The authors were very talented, which made Blitz's heart flutter for a couple of seconds, before being dragged back to the harsh reality that was life.

All of the pondering that Blitz was doing made it so that he passed time. Before he knew it, they were all looking at the skyscrapers in the distance. There was some green light coming from Hoofington, making all of them seem a little bit off about all of it. Roselight paused them, quickly telling them something that made them get a little confused.

"We need to go around Hoofington! Right now, it is impossible to get in, because of some lazer defense weapon or something like that. The only way in is through Chapel, which is the settlement right in front of the bridge that evaporates anything living that goes halfway across the bridge." Roselight explained, getting confused looks from all of them apart from Brick.

"As much as I hate to say, she is right! I saw one of my pals get vaporised by that thing. Ain't that where most of the princess' nightmare went?" Brick asked, getting a swift and happy nod from Roselight. Blitz and Azure looked at each other and then looked to Roselight.

"So, we go around? How long would that take?" Blitz questioned, getting another nod from Roselight as she began to lead the pack, with Brick supporting her at the front. "She didn't answer my question! Hmm…" Blitz stated to Azure, not knowing how long it would have taken them to get there. If they had to go around, they would have to keep away from the massive whole that was around the city. As ponies moved past Blitz, Azure noticed that something was definitely eating at Blitz's mind, but he didn't know what it was.

They all moved off the road and headed North, more towards the mountains and valleys of Hoofington. What they would find there was unknown to them, but what wasn't unknown to them at that point, was the feeling of dread that irradiated from the city of Hoofington, the core of pain within the Wasteland.