Azure woke up to something that was not too pleasant to hear at all. The rain poured like it was the final day in the Wasteland, making Azure dread to go outside and travel some more. He looked down at the bat pony mare that was wrapped around him, cuddling him for warmth and nothing else. Sadjoy was asleep, there was no doubt about it, but something made Azure feel like something was off, due to how tired he still was. His body refused for him to stay up, making him plop right back down onto the floor and feel a little exhausted. This response from his body, made Azure become a little more worried about the state of himself, seeing that his body had never pulled this stunt before, making him feel like something was definitely wrong.

Due to Azure’s flop, Sadjoy woke up and looked at him in his eyes, before smiling and then instantly scowling again, as she noticed that Azure didn't look one hundred percent. She was about to ask him something, beginning to open her mouth, before closing it again and listening to the rain that hit what remained of the roof, which made it echo onto every wall. She looked back at Azure and rolled her eyes, before getting up and stretching. Azure tried to get up, but his body refused to follow Azure’s actions, making him think that there was some sort of ghost holding him down or something along those lines. Azure sighed, before confirming to himself that he would get up and that was exactly what he did, continuously telling his body that he would achieve the little goal, as if he was trying to train his brain again to start doing normal functions.

Azure stretched, hearing a couple of cracks down his back, which made Sadjoy shudder a little, due to how loud the cracks were. Azure has somewhat more control of his body, due to him sounding like he was breaking his spine directly in half. It made Azure shudder too, hearing the pop and crack of each bone along his spine, like he had never done before. Azure looked over to the door that they had put up for defence and saw that it was still standing, meaning that nopony else had entered the area, unless they were a pegasus or a bat pony, the latter being pretty rare to find.

Azure tapped the door with one of his hooves, before watching the door roll down that stairs, hitting the wall at the bottom, sending a vibration up the wall, sending a small amount of dust tumbling down, being almost as slow as a feather. Azure looked behind him, towards the area where he put the rocket launcher and saw his saddlebags slumped against it, having slung it off before he went to sleep last night. Although Azure didn't want his saddlebag being taken, he preferred comfort over most things, comfort in where he was, comfort of who he was, comfort of who his friends were. Those types of comforts was something that Azure preferred over anything, but didn't always choose them, due to the situation that he was placed in. It always depended on the situation at hoof, which was something that Azure kept in mind.

He picked up his saddlebags and looked at Sadjoy, seeing that she was doing the same. Azure smiled at that and was a little annoyed about the state of the weather around them, but being so far from home make the rain the least of their worries, coming a little before ghouls, because of them being able to fly up and away from the ghouls that could have possibly charged them down. Azure glided down to the rubble floor, seeing that there was less than when they got there, making Azure think that the damage to the structure was new, due to the amount of dust, dirt and debris being swept away by the wind. Azure couldn't get his head around hit, so he just scratched his head with one of his hooves, making him focus a little more on the real world and not the fake world that was within his mind. Azure walked over to the two that had tried to kill them last night and started to loot them both, seeing that they both had some good things on them, including two of the saddlebags that Gretzky needed for the armour. Greedily, Azure grabbed the two saddlebags and wrapped them around his own saddlebag, making a little braid of saddlebags.

Azure looked over to see Sadjoy glide down from the top, looking remarkable as always and making a soft landing look so easy. Sadjoy went to go and loot one of the bodies that were on the floor, seeing that they too, had a saddlebag on them, with something within them, making Azure question it a little bit too. Why were those bodies not there when Azure came in the first time and confronted the two before?

Azure went too deep into that, making him shake his head and change his train of thought from that to thinking about what might be useful to take with them and what to leave behind. Azure looked about to see that there was a blood trail from the body that Sadjoy shot through the wall, leading out of the building and around one of the corners, making him curious to see where it went. Azure followed it for a tiny time, before he saw a vent that the blood ran into. It was a vent that led under the house, which confused him, due to there not being a door or anything else that led under there. Azure walked back around and tried to look for something that resembled a door or trapdoor. He looked all over the area and couldn't find anything that would allow him entry to the area, making him think that it went directly into the sewer, but yet again, why would there be a sewer below one building. Azure definitely had his suspicions on the house, that was for sure.

Sadjoy looted the bodies for all of their ammo for their weapons, their weapons as a whole, getting a couple of rifles and shotguns in the process, as well as a little bit of food from the corpses that didn't need it anymore. Sadjoy saw that their armour was really badly damaged, making it not worth taking their armour, even for caps, due to how damaged the material and metal were. Sadjoy stood up and turned around to see Azure still looting the same body that he had been looting since she had begun. She shook her head in disbelief, before looting the pony that had turned into a ghoul. There was a locket that he had around his neck, which held an image of a mare and the stallion that had been turned into a ghoul. It was indeed a little sad, but that was probably one of the worst ways to go, even worse if his family was in front of him, or even his marefriend.

Azure finished looting the body by the entrance, getting the weapon that he had pointed at his own head, as well as some ammo to accompany it. Apart from that, Azure was pretty sure that there was nothing left or worth taking away from the dead body of the stallion who had nearly killed Azure. The stallion did have any armour, instantly eliminating the possibility of being able to acquire some armour for the ponies back home, but Azure was pretty sure that there was going to be more opportunities to get more armour from other means, so he let the body go back to its state of decomposing. Sadjoy was ready to go, but Azure wasn't yet, due to him needing to get back to the rocket launcher and grab it, which is exactly what he ended up doing, weighing him down a little more, due to the amount that it weighed. It wasn't that light, but Azure found a perfect place on his back that allowed him to be able to fly while having it on his back, making it his idea to secure it.

After Sadjoy had helped Azure strap the rocket launcher to his back, she stated to him that she was ready to leave when he was. Azure nodded, before getting a little run up and using his wings to propel himself into the sky, making him wonder how it worked for a pegasus to be able to carry such a heavy workload and still be able to fly high in the sky with no problems. Sadjoy quickly caught up to him, before she looked at the rocket launcher and smiled. Azure looked like the zebra’s attempt to make power armour, which made her chuckle when she repeated it to herself for the second time. Azure wasn't going to ruin her laughter, making him avoid asking her about what it was that she was laughing about. Azure wanted the positive atmosphere to be positive and stay that way. There were not many moments that ponies got like the one that they were both having, so Azure was going to let it last as long as possible to avoid making anything awkward or to make the mood go away.

There were some buildings in the distance that made an appearance as soon as they left the area around ten minutes into their flight. Azure looked down at his Pipbuck and looked at his map, seeing that it was Canterlot up ahead, not Ponyville. Azure slowed instantly, getting a look of confusion from Sadjoy. She came closer and looked at his map and saw that Canterlot was about a mile or two away, making them question if they were far enough to experience radiation or any sort. Sadjoy could hear the occasional click of the radioactive monitor that was within Azure’s Pipbuck, telling them that there was little to no amounts of radiation that were in the area. Azure turned in the air and pointed himself to the direction of Ponyville, seeing that it was a fair amount of miles away, but that didn't matter for both of them, due to them both not being tired or exhausted at all.

Azure began to fly in the direction of Ponyville, getting into the speed of things as he checked his inventory for anything that he could have had to eat, that he didn't have to heat up. Sadly, there was nothing like that, mainly being meals that they needed at least a fire to cook. Azure could tell that Sadjoy was hungry, so before they got too far away from Canterlot, Azure figured that it might have been a good idea to have some food while being able to look over the main city of Canterlot, the area that was home to the mass amount of ponies in the region. Azure hit his back against a rock on purpose, using the rocket launcher like a piece of flint, creating a little spark that turned into a flame as soon as Sadjoy placed something next to the spark. Sadjoy had a pack of logs that allowed her to create a makeshift fire for a little while. She used the wood to create a fire for both of them and then allowed herself to start to cook some of the canned food, having not eaten last night.

Azure sat down and watched the flames engulf the wood, like the two items were bound together. It was almost hypnotic, making it so that he couldn't look away from the events that were unfolding right in front of him. Sadjoy opened two of the cans and placed them on top of the fire, making Azure feel a sense of hunger lingerie rise within him from nowhere. Azure looked and felt hungry and so did Sadjoy, but she didn't look it at all, she only felt hungry. As the fire crackled, the rain began to let up, making the day that little bit better for having something to eat, as well as allowing them to not worry about the radiation within the rain, like they had to yesterday.

As Azure watched the fire, Sadjoy scooted herself next to him, giving him a little kiss on the cheek and resting her head on his shoulder, making her feel more relaxed than ever. Azure looked at her, before leaning his head onto hers, making them both enjoy the feeling of one another and their own comfort combining with each other to make their moods the same. Pure relaxation! Those two words could have described any situation in Equestria and they chose to use it on them looking into a fire that refused to die, within the company of one another. Love was hard to find in the Wasteland and was hard to hold onto, but they both had a firm grip on one another, making their lives not only happier, but better.

Azure went to go and grab one of the cans, but immediately regretted it, due to how hot the cans were. Azure shook his hoof, before Sadjoy chuckled and used her fangs to pick one of the cans up, using her lower teeth to hold onto the bottom of the can and avoiding her from burning her lip. She placed the tin down, before seeing that Azure had a couple of plates that were made of plastic, allowing them to eat it from the plate, rather than the burning hot can. Azure placed a plate under Sadjoy’s mouth, prompting her to tilt her head to the side and allow Azure to catch it all on the plate below. Azure caught all of it, before repeating the process on the other plate.

After Sadjoy had disposed of the cans into her saddlebag, she turned and sat down, being able to finally eat the meal that was placed in front of her. The meal consisted of a certain type of meat, some beans and carrots, which was something that they both surprisingly enjoyed. They were both curious to find out what meat was within the cans, but they knew that they would have had to ask Gretzky when they got back to the settlement that was too far away for them to shout to. They were not far off Ponyville, so they would finish eating up their food and then travel South West a little more, to find the town and see what they would have come across in that area.

“I guess that we both are having a goodish morning?” Sadjoy questioned, getting a swift nod from Azure and relaxing Sadjoy’s conscious to something that she wanted to say as they both got up this morning, but was rudely interrupted by the rain, so she didn't get to say it until now. Azure placed both plates back into his saddlebag, before getting up and stretching again. Sadjoy watched him, as he flexed this way and that way, admiring his body more and more as time went one. She noticed his stripes at first, which made her blush a little bit, due to them being less visible as time went one. The reason that she was blushing was because the stripes led perfectly to his crotch, which was something that she had already seen, but it flustered her whenever she saw it. Azure noticed her staring and stopped, seeing that she was trying to get the image out of her head, but it was imprinted there for a little while, making her feel a little weird. Not horny weird, just weird weird.

Azure chuckled and saw that she was still blushing, making him go over to her and kiss her directly on the lips with no regret whatsoever, making him chuckled a little, due to her still being shy about seeing things on a stallion. Azure backed up and gave her some room to breathe, before beginning to walk down the path, seeing that the fire was lit still. Azure pointed to it, before Sadjoy rushed over and used her wings to take out the fire, with ease. She turned back around and looked at Azure, smiling and wanting to continue on their adventure that they had almost completed. They set off in the direction of Ponyville, with little to no regret at all, giving them the confidence to take flight again.

As they flew, both Azure and Sadjoy could see the outskirts of a town, a town that was called Ponyville. They were both nearly there, which made their hearts race a little. Azure was more or less focused on what they could find in the town, given the information that they did, that all of the raiders in the area were dead. That possibly couldn't have been true, could it? Azure was a little anxious to find out if there were any ghouls or not in the area, if not ghouls, then more raiders.

Sadjoy was more or less going to focus on doing the tasks that she had been given, which was to look for Sweet Apple Acres, which was a close walk from Ponyville. She was not worried at all about if they came across anything while they were there, due to her wanting to protect her medical pony, her pride and joy, her lover. She blushed at that last one, before shaking her head, clearing her mind and getting any romantic thoughts out of her head, because all they would do was distract her from what her tasks were.

They were getting close to the town that they needed to get past, which made them brace themselves for anything that could have come into their way. Although they had a task to do in Ponyville, they were going to pass through it first and then come back to it, due to it not really being their main request that they were given. Azure felt a little shiver creep its way down his spine, giving his body a sense that they didn't belong there.

Ponyville was quiet as they began to walk through the abandoned town that the ministry mares had started their adventure in. There were books everywhere about the ministry mares. Before the times got tough for them, all of them were very close friends and had started their journey in the town that Azure and Sadjoy were standing in. Some would have called it history, others would have called it just another story. To Azure, it was nothing special, due to everypony starting their lives from somewhere.

Azure and Sadjoy crept around Ponyville, feeling like they were being watched. There were countless bodies of raiders, which relaxed Azure’s nerves just a little, making him able to think and make his own decisions still, but enough to make him think differently. Azure saw that the lovely town that the ministry mares had grown up in, was an abundance of different messes combined into one. Azure didn't even see the resemblance between the images that he had seen in the books and the area that he was seeing with his own eyes.

Azure could tell that Sadjoy was a little confused, only noticing one building from their history, which was the Ponyville library, which looked similar, due to the tower at the top of it. There was definitely going to be something there if anypony was to inhabit the area. They wanted to check it out, but went along with the plan that they had first, which was getting to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Azure kept his eyes on the library, making sure that there was nopony in it, ready to strike down onto them. Luckily enough for them, the cloaked mare had been true about there being no ponies in Ponyville, which was pretty ironic, given the name that it had. There should have been a striving community here, but there wasn't.

The thought that nopony was around chilled Azure to the bone, making him shiver a little bit, almost like he was ill or cold, but he wasn't, he was the complete opposite. Azure took a couple of glances back at the once striving town, before they continued to the farm that was just down the road from Ponyville, called Sweet Apple Acres. They had done it! They had gotten to the area that they were meant to be going to, all without there being a problem at the location, unlike a couple of Azure’s last adventures. He was pretty surprised that he was going to be meeting no raiders and ghouls at the barn in Sweet Apple Acres, but it wasn't going to be one hundred percent chance that they were going to be finding no enemies at the barn, but it would make sense for some ponies to be in Ponyville if they were, due to how much of a good spot the area had become with no opposition.

Azure turned his head back to the front of his body, looking at the path that they were walking down to get to the barn within Sweet Apple Acres. Azure was quite surprised to find that there were no trees, no debris, nothing, around the area, feeling almost like the area had been protected by something. They both looked at the fence, noticing that it was broken, but none of the pieces of wood had been broken off and left on the ground. The ponies that had built the barn and area around it clearly knew what they were doing and what not, being able to create a fence that was unable to get fully destroyed, making Azure wonder how strong the wood was at this farm originally.

They both passed under an archway that had the name of the area imprinted onto it, making them both look at each other and then back in front of them, giving them the creeps that something was lurking within the barn. As soon as they got closer to the barn itself, Azure’s head started to hurt, along with Sadjoy’s shortly after, making them cover their heads and ears with their hooves and wings. Azure was the first one to notice that there was something wrong in the area that they were, due to the amount of radiation that they were taking. Within no time, they would have both taken too much radiation that they would have died on the spot. Azure noticed that his vision was flicker, making only one object look normal within the area, which was a type of alarm.

Azure walked closer to the alarm on the side of the barn and then rammed his hoof into it, hurting Azure’s hoof in the process and making him shoot backward, due to the pain that he was feeling. Azure got really angry and shot his pistol at the alarm, breaking it in an instant and making them feel a million percent better. Azure closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, before backing up, away from the barn. Sadjoy shook her head and saw exactly what Azure was seeing. The barn was nearly nonexistent, making them both stare in awe at the transition from undamaged barn to a barn that was nearly long gone with the rest of pony history.

Azure looked back at his Pipbuck and noticed that he had a lot of radiation in him, making him go instantly to his saddlebag and get two packs of radaway. He passed one to the bat pony that he was with and chugged the other one, making him feel so much better. Azure looked at his Pipbuck for a couple of seconds, before he noticed that the radiation in his system was flooding away from his body. The radaway tasted good, that's all he could say in that situation. He looked over to Sadjoy and saw that she was doing the same, feeling instantly better.

Azure looked back at the fence and saw that it was nearly nonexistent, as opposed to what they saw earlier with it being relatively untouched. Azure looked back at the barn and sighed, seeing that there were pieces of it scattered across the land, making Azure question what the item was that was giving them the image of something different. Azure was a little confused, as he went back over to the alarm that was giving off both radiation and a fake vision, making Azure question how it worked and what it did. It was just so confusing to the pegasus, that it kind of annoyed him a little. Sadjoy was just admiring the sight of the changed barn, compared to how it looked the first time.

They both slowly walked towards it, not knowing what to expect from the shapeshifting barn. They went into the front of it and noticed a cellar below them was a little bit open, making their curiosity go wild. They both walked down into the cellar and found that the area below was pitch black, making it so that they couldn't see down in the dark. Azure looked at his Pipbuck and saw that there was a light option on it, making their little exploration down below the barn not so bad. Azure turned it on, before seeing the surrounding area turn a little bit greener, making them able to see around the area. Azure saw that there were multiple kegs of apple cider, making him feel like he needed a drink, but knew that all of the cider in the area would have been super radioactive, making him change his mind about wanting a drink.

They found a little lockbox that was in between the kegs, making Azure feel like he had found some kind of secret or something along those lines. It was locked of course, so Azure had to use one of his lockpicks that he had to pry open the lock, making him feel a little bit evil for a second or two, before the lock opened and he opened the lockbox. There it was, the artifact that was shining bright blue. Azure picked it up, before noticing that it was a piece of fabric. This didn't hit him with the thought that he originally had, but had an idea that it was for one of the three remaining ministry mares. Azure placed it quickly into his saddlebag, before noticing that the area extended down, past the area of the barn itself, making Azure a little curious to what it was. Both Azure and Sadjoy looked at each other, before they both went down the narrow tunnel that left the cellar.

They didn't know where the tunnel was going to lead to, but they were definitely ready for anything that wanted to cross their path, whether that was a simple ghoul, or a raider army, they were ready for it. Azure could see something reflect the light from his Pipbuck, which got him a little curious about what it was. It came from the end of the corridor, making him pretty certain that the tunnel led nowhere, until they stumbled across the door of a Stable. Stable 2! Azure had never seen a stable before, making him a little confused on how to open the big metallic door. Sadjoy shook her head, before holding Azure still.

“Stables only open from the inside Azure. That was a design to stop ponies from breaking into them, which did work in the end.” Sadjoy explained to him, making him give up on trying to find a way inside the metallic structure. Azure began to walk back up to the tunnel, before noticing that there were some ponies coming towards them, making Sadjoy and Azure a little scared of what might have happened to them, if they got spotted. Sadjoy used a potion that she had and gave a little bit of it to Azure, making them both turn invisible, making them harder to spot, but not completely invisible. They were more or less transparent, but needed all of the stealthy properties that they could, to avoid the group that was rapidly approaching them. It was the raiders!

Azure and Sadjoy hugged the wall, making them not get bumped into and allowed the little raider convoy to pass them. There were about five of them, armed up to the teeth with weapons and armour, making them look more like assassins more than raiders, which scared the pair more than anything else. As soon as the raiders got past them, both Sadjoy and Azure sprinted along the tunnel, making them a little louder than they wanted, but still being unable to be spotted. Sadjoy got to the cellar first, before going to the door to the apple cellar and beginning to move it, signalling for Azure to follow her. Azure came to the apple cellar and then saw that the door was moving, making him rush towards it, before he bumped into the invisible bat pony, knocking them both onto the floor outside. The potion wore off and Azure could see his mare with a smug grin, making him wear his own with pride and passion.

Azure kept his mind fixed onto the stable, knowing that there was probably a way to get into them from the outside, which got his mind curious about other stables that could have held potential information to the past or the future. Azure was instantly cut from his trans as he saw Sadjoy fly across the area, towards the abandoned town of Ponyville. Although Ponyville was more like a village, it didn't have as much activity to make it sit in the village category, making Azure keep referring to it as a town, due to towns being the most abandoned types of areas and seeing how abandoned Ponyville was, make him refer to it as no different.

Sadjoy landed on the ground just outside Ponyville, waiting for Azure to catch up, before moving any further into the area. They had an objective to find an object within the area and without a doubt, they were going to do it. The place that they wanted to explore first was the library, which looked like the perfect place to start, due to how much of the area it watched over, giving them a little bit of an area to look around and see where they needed to go to. Sadjoy walked along the floor with Azure to her side, keeping an eye on him, like she was his bodyguard or something along those lines. They looked about, seeing that there were different types of buildings that held their own stories and secrets about them and who lived in them. If they spent enough time in Ponyville, they would have come across all of the ministry mare’s homes, which didn't excite either of them that much.

They both walked along the cobbled path of the road that was once smooth with no bumps or ridges whatsoever, but sadly, due to radiation and bombs going off, giving off more radiation, the surfaces were never going to end up being smooth, making all of the walls, floors, roofs, surfaces and terrains feel rough, like they hadn’t been perfectly polished. Azure looked around at all of the surfaces that he could find, seeing that not even a single one was smooth, due to the radiation eating away at the protective layers that normally protected things from water, rain, acid rain and more that Azure couldn't remember. He looked at all of the structures and noticed that even some of them were merged together, like something out of a horror show or an illusion spell that would make anypony trip out and see things that weren't there. It hurt Azure’s head a little just seeing that building.

Sadjoy walked over to the front door of the library, seeing that Azure was taking his sweet time getting over to the building, due to looking at the other building for so long that it managed to mess with his mind. Azure was a little bit confused, but shook his head to try to get rid of anything that could have been distracting him at that point of time, making his thoughts clearer and his actions more fluent. Azure slowly opened the door to the library, seeing a pony that was dead in the doorway, which made him slightly more comfortable with entering the area, with or without Sadjoy. She slowly followed behind Azure and spotted the rotted corpse on the floor, which looked like the body of a raider, but she didn't want to get close to the thing, due to how much of a smell it was giving off. It had obviously been rotting there for a little while, which put even Sadjoy off checking the body.

Azure looked up and saw a body in a cage, hanging from the ceiling, which gave him the chills as to how badly the raiders in the area wanted to kill and torture the poor ponies and ghouls in the area. It clearly showed that the raiders didn't care about the lives of others, seeing as how one of the ghouls was hunched over inside the cage, not moving an inch. The ghoul was clearly dead, which gave Azure even more chills that made his back crawl like there was something on it, like a radioactive bug or something.

Azure and Sadjoy went from room to room, finding more bodies of raiders that had been there for quite some time, making Azure realise that there was somepony who hated raiders more than he did, which surprised him a little, due to him despising raiders so much. They both went back to the spiral staircase and ascended it, taking it a step at a time and noticing that there was more writing on the walls above, like they had originally seen below in the library, making both Azure and Sadjoy look at each other with a surprised expression. They didn't know what to expect getting onto the second floor, but they could have at least guessed what they weren't going to see above, that thing was alive ponies, which they could both put their lives on that bet, due to the massacre that went on below on the first floor.

Azure could see more cages hanging above, but luckily, there were no bodies in the one above them, making them happy that there were bodies only on the ground floor. Azure closed his mouth and his mind as soon as he saw the body of a raider, this one not being there on the ground for too long, due to blood still leaving its system. Azure walked along and noticed that something was making noise above them, meaning that it was either in the tower above or on the roof of the building, making the two look at each other and stay closer together than they had been in bed. That thought alone made them both chuckle as Azure told it to Sadjoy, trying to lighten the mood just a little bit, enough to make them still be positive, but still being scared of what had just killed the raider.

In the back of their minds, they were both terrified of what was walking around on the roof, knowing that it was probably a ghoul that had some smarts or something a lot worse than that. Azure kept quiet, only to try to keep track of what was lurking about above them and trying to see if they could identify what it was due to the footsteps that it was making. When they were quiet, it was quiet, frightening the two a little, making them feel like it was either watching them or listening to each breath that they were taking, making the feeling a little worse than it already was.

As soon as Azure built up some courage, he managed to move about quietly to a little ladder that was in the middle of a little room, the same ladder that led to the roof, he was pretty sure. Sadjoy followed him slowly, making no noise in the process, due to her being lighter than Azure, but also more nimble, making her hoofsteps lighter. Sadjoy’s race was more about sneaking, whereas Azure’s races were about speed and agility, as well as strength, though Azure didn't see himself as being too strong, making him reevaluate his rolls that he was being used for or what he thought himself as being good at. He guessed that the doctor role worked for zebras too, due to them being able to make potions for various elements.

As soon as Azure finished talking about potions, it reminded him about his own potion that he created, the self sustaining potion that kept being refilled over and over again. He opened his Pipbuck menu and looked through his inventory and saw nothing. There was no special healing potion in his inventory, which is what he named the item in the Pipbuck. In disbelief, Azure dropped his saddlebag and rummaged through his little medical section within his saddlebag and found nothing, making him a little angry that he had lost it and didn't know how he did. It aggravated him more than it should have.

Sadjoy noticed his anger and raised her hoof to signal him, getting his attention almost immediately, making him calm down and take deep breaths to relax himself. There was a door down the end of the corridor that led onto the roof, which was open, making Azure feel like something had gone down that direction. They could still hear the steps above, but they seemed to be heading for the door that they had entered the roof from. Azure and Sadjoy both tried to hide away from the figure, Sadjoy grabbing Azure and hiding in the darkest corner that she could find, making little to no noise. The figure was in the corridor and was walking down it, toward them and the many rooms that they saw ahead.

The figure did nothing to hide their audio, with the roar of each step that it took echoing down the empty corridor. Azure kept his pistol in the direction of the doorway, just in case the figure decided to enter the room that they were in. Azure watched carefully as the figures shadow pieced their sightline, making them brace their weapons carefully in preparation for the thing that was slowly approaching them. Azure could make out that the figure was a little bit bigger than both of them, suggesting that it might have been an earth pony of sorts. Azure was shocked to see that he was right, as the raider’s leader walked past them, not bothering to shine the light that he had with him into the room that they were in. Why was Sawtooth here?

Azure slowly walked out and stopped before pointing his weapon at Sawtooth, still not noticing that Azure was behind him. Sadjoy came out and aimed the rifle, which was now suppressed, at the raider leader’s head. She didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, making a tiny amount of noise, before the raider leader was even able to turn around. Azure watched as the most powerful raider in the Wasteland, fell down to the bottom of the spiral staircase that they had crept up, before noticing that something was around his neck. A timer started to tick down, making a loud alarm like noise. It only had ten seconds on the timer, before something happened.

Out of instinct, Sadjoy grabbed Azure and flew as quickly as they could to the door, before flying up into the sky. There were gunshots whizzing past them, presumably from the raiders that had just lost their boss. The timer got louder and louder, before even the raiders began to run away. Azure and Sadjoy continued to fly up, but moved away from the area. The timer was definitely over, making Azure and Sadjoy a little confused as to why nothing was happening. Azure spotted something flying above and knew exactly what it was. He grabbed Sadjoy with his hooves and flew as quickly as he could with her, before he looked back and saw a couple of explosions pepper the area, followed by some bigger ones and the one up above, which was coming straight down in the area.

Sadjoy saw the object and flew a lot quicker than Azure was, leaving him a little behind, before noticing that she was flying to the ground to get behind cover. A massive blast made itself known in the area that they were just at, before noticing that fireball heading in Azure’s direction. Sadjoy reached out to try and Azure, before the force alone hit both him in the sky, but her on the ground, knocking her over onto the floor, but not as bad as Azure being in the air, due to nothing covering him. His vision went black before he could do anything else. Before he was completely lost to the world, he could hear the brief sound of a scream, supposedly coming from Sadjoy as she was bracing against something.

Azure woke up within the dust, with nopony around, already knowing that the world that he was in right then and there, was not the real world. Azure got up, noticing that he was in no pain, had no concussions at all, only being perfectly okay with no sign of injury. Azure looked around him, seeing nothing else but dust and trees, covering the area perfectly so that he was unable to see out of the little dust bubble that he had been placed in. Although all of this was unfamiliar to him, he wasn't threatened whatsoever, making his actions as calmly as possible. A pony came into view, only being visible enough for Azure to make out the shadow of a pony. The pony stepped into the little area where Azure could see, making it turn out to be his old fallen friend again, being covered in scars and tattoos, making him look like he had killed off all of the raiders by himself. Blitz didn't look the same, but that didn't matter.

“Have you accepted that I’m dead yet?” Blitz asked, coming closer to Azure and noticing that the zebra pegasus hybrid looked baffled. Azure nodded, looking around to see if there was anypony else that wanted to make their way into the area to try to talk. Azure saw a couple of outlines slowly getting more clear, indicating that they were sprinting towards them. Blitz summoned a bladed staff to his side and stood in front of Azure. “Some night terrors again, I'm assuming?” Blitz questioned, getting a shrug off the pegasus that he was protecting.

The figures were getting more and more clear, making Blitz prepare for the worst, before noticing more and more entering their vision from different angles. Blitz was a little surprised, but Azure wasn’t, due to the amount of ponies that he gave a second chance to. Blitz looked around and saw that there were more enemies than him and Azure could take out themself, if they were both in the real world. Luckily for both of them, right then and there, Azure was trapped in the dream world for some time, meaning that Blitz had to do what he could to get Azure’s brain to wake up from being knocked out by the explosion. Blitz was locked in the dream world until he got unturned from stone, which wouldn't happen, so he settled on helping others who he knew out, almost like Luna would have done back where she too was alive.

Azure brought his syringe gun out and placed it on his battle saddle, before placing it onto his back, with the help of Blitz, making Blitz feel like he was helping more and more, giving him the satisfaction within the dream world. Azure noticed that his battle saddle was a little bit heavier, so he looked back to find that there was an additional syringe gun on his battle saddle, thanks to Blitz nonetheless. Azure could see that he had an infinite supply of syringes too, making the dream only better. Blitz could see that all of the ponies were getting to around the same mark, before charging in.

Blitz made his little group visible, bringing Death to harm's way, as well as Anti, his beloved timberwolf. There were a couple of ponies that Blitz spawned that Azure didn't know about, but he was pretty sure that Death had to be something to do with that. The enemies that came through the dust were a variety of creatures, ranging from raiders, ghouls, Steel Rangers and more timberwolves, as well as a couple of diamond dogs. Azure shot one of the timberwolves, noticing that a green glow emitted from the wolf, making it turn onto its former allies, ripping another timberwolf apart with one chomp. A rain of bullets came towards Azure from a couple of directions, making Blitz place a shield around Azure, keeping him safe, due to him being their top priority to protect. Azure continued to heal things and change them to his side, making him smile a little, but then he stopped, getting the idea of what was happening.

“No! I'm getting others to do… no! I will not kill or get others to do it for me!” Azure shouted, getting new ammunition for his syringe gun, as well as making the nightmare appear. She swooped in like a dragon, breathing green and dark blue fire onto the enemies down below. She stopped and looked at Azure, before scowling.

“Ah, I thought I had nearly changed you then.” The Nightmare stated, getting a magic beam to the back of the head from Blitz, burning a bit of her mane. He growled at her, before making her fly back overhead and shooting more blistering bolts of fire down onto the war below.

“My apologies bud, she can be a bit of a bitch to deal with, but eventually we all have to act like a filly to get our own way.” Blitz joked, getting a slight smile from Azure. A stream of gunfire distracted Blitz, making him teleport in front of Azure and letting him keep the shield up for Azure’s complete protection. He then teleported in front of a couple of enemies, before letting his skill with the blade become known. He used both ends of the bladed staff to full effect, pushing ponies and creatures away with one side of the staff, before slicing them with the other side of the staff, the bladed end, making smooth cuts into the abundance of enemies that he was fighting. Azure shot a couple of syringes at Blitz, hitting him in the back and making him smile a little more, giving him the extra power to deal with the rest of the visions that were being sent from something within Azure’s mind.

The waves of enemies were beginning to thin down, thanks to the efforts of Blitz and all of his friendly faces that he spawned within the nightmare that they were having. Azure slowly walked over to Blitz, seeing that he was dealing with two more raiders. He sliced one of them, turning them to dust, making the nightmare feel faker, due to them not bleeding, but turning to dust. Also, how would Blitz be in the fog where Azure was? Was he not trapped in stone or something at the Steel Ranger base? Azure knew all of the events that were happening were fake, but wanted to see what his mind could produce to throw him off. Everything went quiet, making Blitz a little confused on what Azure had just done, due to the raider in front of him fading to dust without Blitz doing anything to it.

A roar echoed from nowhere, making Azure shiver a little bit. Seeing this, Blitz went over to comfort him, but before he could, a massive hydra came out of nowhere, charging towards Azure. Blitz closed his eyes, before pulling off a teleportation spell and lighting his staff on fire, making it glow light blue and purple, almost like it was a blue flame instead of an orange one, but there was a purple glow around the blue flame, which threw Azure off completely.

“Where did you get the balefire phoenix spell?” Death asked, being a little surprised more than anything that the pony that he had been within casted a spell that seemed to be rare. Blitz looked back at the reaper that was Death and smiled.

“I saw it around and never had the chance to test it!” Blitz admitted, looking back at the hydra, before closing his eyes. The combination of animal heads was enough to scare them, but surprisingly enough, the creatures had been like that before the war as well, making them only scarier the more they found out about them. One of its claws lashed out at Azure, before being cut off by Blitz with a single clean slice. Before the creature was able to get out another roar, Blitz flew up with his staff, before spinning around and slicing one of the heads clean off, making the creature billow out in pain.

Blitz didn't land, as he slashed at it again, taking out the second head with little to no effort. He used the recoil of the monster to teleport behind it and make it land on his blade, slicing off the third head with a little help from Blitz’s horn forcing the head of the hydra down onto the side of the blade. The hydra screeched loudly, before going silent and giving up, suggesting that it had either passed out from blood loss, or died from the lack of a connection to its brain, or last brain. Blitz teleported away, letting the creature lie limp on the floor with the rest of the heads.

Before Azure could do anything, his vision flickered and phased into a blurred sight of Sadjoy picking him up and dragging him further away. Blitz looked at Azure and smiled at him, knowing that he will be fine in the end.

“Go, she needs you!” Blitz stated, before getting Azure and pushing him into the vision that he was seeing. Azure looked at Blitz one last time, before smiling. Azure looked back to the vision and closed his eyes. When he opened them, all he could hear was ringing, followed by bullets whizzing past both of them, suggesting that they were getting shot at by somepony or something. Azure got up, to the surprise of Sadjoy, and ran in the direction that they had originally come from, due to it being time for them to head home. Azure realised that the mission from the strange hooded mare was now going to be impossible to check, due to the bombs going off in Ponyville and all of the raiders that were shooting at them then and there, making their life harder to live, due to them narrowly avoiding death everytime they shot a bullet.

Azure ran, with Sadjoy trailing beside him, looking a little worse for wear, making him a little worried about her condition. There was something wrong with her, but Azure couldn't see any damage, until he looked at one of her wings. It was broken, making it impossible for her to fly. Azure felt really sad about that and commanded her to climb onto his back, before stopping for a brief couple of seconds. Sadjoy didn't fight with him, scrambling onto his back and locking her hooves around him, locking herself to his back and making sure that she was secure.

Azure took to the sky as soon as he was able to ensure that Sadjoy was safe on his back. They glided more than they flew, making Sadjoy grab hold of Azure with her hindlegs, as she pivoted around and placed her hindlegs where her forehooves originally were, giving her a little area that she was able to sit and pick off anypony that was foolish enough to follow them. She spotted one of the following raiders, making them her prime target. Azure looked back to see Sadjoy aiming her rifle at a raider that was a fair distance away, while straddling the rocket launcher that was on his back, making for some great support and something else to grab onto if they got a little nervous, because the rocket launcher was connected via a strong hoof that was on the top of Azure’s battle saddle, making him smile as he watched her for a couple of seconds, before turning his head back to the front, keeping an eye on where he was going.

Sadjoy tried to line up a shot that would have at least slowed the raider down, but was failing a little to do so, due to her having to put up with the pain that was present in her wing, making it so that she couldn't focus or concentrate. Azure could tell that she was in distress, but there wasn't much that he could do about a broken wing right then and there. He would have needed to be slow and have a surface to work on before he would have been able to work on Sadjoy’s wound, making him feel all the more worse. Azure couldn't really give her any healing syringes, due to them being for wounded tissue, rather than broken bones. Azure could have tried one of them, which was worth a shot in their given scenario.

Azure grabbed one of the healing syringes out from his saddlebag, making Sadjoy’s ears perk up instantly, before leaning in towards the syringe, like a cat rubbing against something hot or warm, to warm it up. Sadjoy felt something work, as she felt the syringe enter her body, giving off a small amount of pain relief, as Sadjoy tried to flap her wing, getting some movement out of it. Sadjoy continued to flap it, just to get the blood back into it and made sure that it was all working, as opposed to just a bit of it working. Sadjoy aimed down the sight of her weapon, making subtle movements to pick off the pony that was nearly out of sight. Sadjoy shot her weapon, making Azure look back at the pony that was approaching them and saw that he was no longer following them, making Azure believe that Sadjoy hit her shot. Azure looked back at the bat pony that was on his back and saw that she had a little bit of a smile on her face, giving Azure the impression that she had hit her mark.

Azure looked back to the front, before feeling a weight get taken off him, which in his case was Sadjoy. She swooped around Azure and then planted a kiss on his cheek, thanking him for carrying her away from danger on his back. Azure shook his head, before looking at his mare and smiling.

“I should really be thanking you there. You dragged me away from danger and grabbed me when you saw the timer to the bomb. So thank you!” Azure stated, thanking Sadjoy for what she did, which brought her mood straight back up to how she normally was. They both tried to avoid being shot and travelled back in the direction of the settlement they had passed, with the strange cloaked mare within it. Azure and Sadjoy both flew to the East for a little bit, before coming to see Canterlot again, being a little closer to it than last time, making Azure smile because of the view of the once beautiful city. It was still beautiful, but definitely not as beautiful as the original state of it, before the bombs dropped, when the city had ponies and creatures living within it. It hurt Azure a little, going a little too far into the thought of the societies being so far apart now, making him a little bit sad that they all couldn't team up to take out the scum of raiders. It did truly hurt.

Night began to fall, as they passed over a landscape that was not their usual one, being accompanied by gunshots going off in the distance, acting almost like fireworks. The shots were super far away, but gave off a beautiful sound and an amazing lightshow. However bad it was, it was still beautiful, being able to watch a lightshow with the one that Azure cared about, but at the same time, ponies were being shot at because of it, making Azure change his mindset pretty quickly, only allowing the thought of getting back to his home as his number one priority.

Azure and Sadjoy found a tree that was perfectly still alive, allowing them to rest upon it, Azure sleeping on one of the branches, while Sadjoy did bat things and hung upside down on the same branch, like most bats would have done. It was pretty was that night, so Azure and Sadjoy didn't need to cuddle for warmth, which made them have more room to relax, instead of focusing on keeping themselves warm all night. Azure closed his eyes, after watching Sadjoy drift off to sleep, caring for her light he would have done for Blitz, but he was dead and Azure had to acknowledge that and move on, which was exactly what he was doing, being a little bit hard to forget somepony who saved him. Azure drifted off to sleep, the thought of Blitz being in the back of his mind at all times.

Sadjoy woke Azure up very early, making him snap a little bit. She knew that he would have done that, due to that being what she would have done if somepony had woken her up really, really early. Azure apologized, getting a kiss from his special marefriend within the matter of a second, brightening his day already and setting it into motion. Azure got up and walked around, getting some wood for them to be able to have some more food. Sadjoy created some sparks, using a piece of flint that she found on the floor near them. It worked like a charm, making Azure and Sadjoy both smile, as their food began to heat up on the fire that they had just made. They felt like they had achieved a lot on their little adventure, making them feel satisfied enough to just return home, but it wasn't that simple. They at least had to travel to the area they originally had and told the mare that a bomb went off in the library and blew the entire area up. Azure wished that they could have gotten the item for the mare, but it didn't matter, all that mattered at that point in time, was that they were still alive.

They unloaded their piping hot food onto their plates and ate it like they had nothing all day yesterday, which was partly true, due to them eating in the morning and nothing else that day. Sadjoy was happy having one meal a day, but it would have been better to begin with it during the middle of the day, due to them needing more of a boost then, rather than the morning, which Azure perfectly agreed with. They finished munching on their canned meats, peas and carrots and placed the cans back into their saddlebags, before setting off again, not putting out the fire, so that maybe another lucky few could cook something nice on it. Azure looked back and saw nothing but trees and sticks, making the area perfect for a fire to be placed. They took to the sky for a much needed stretch of their wings, setting off on their journey to the area they found the mare. Azure originally marked it, so they had no problem getting back there, as they raced to the location, together.

After travelling for around half of the day, they came across the area, which was pretty quiet, for a little community. Of course it was going to be quiet, but something was a little too quiet. Azure and Sadjoy both landed, before seeing some bullet casings on the floor, suggesting that a weapon was fired around the area, making Azure’s brain instantly start inputting bad memories into his brain, forcing him to look around and try to find the others. Azure turned the corner, next to where they were all gathered originally and saw countless bodies on the floor, dead as they came. The ones who eyed Azure, had their jaws snapped off and a couple even had their eyes gouged out, making Azure feel sick to the stomach. Azure tried to look around for the mare, but couldn't see her, until they got to the next corner, which had the mare in half. One part of her was a little far away and the other half of her was by the corner that they had just walked around. Azure noticed that she might have still been breathing, due to the blood still running out of her. Azure noticed a message on the floor, before looking to Sadjoy for confirmation.

It stated: ‘Sawtooth is following you!” on the floor, giving Azure the creeps that the mare who helped them with the saddlebags and what not, was now dead. It actually hurt Azure, as he saw the body fit and started shaking about, indicating that the body had had its final moments. Azure could hear some loud talking coming from behind them, indicating activity that was not at all good. Sadjoy and Azure headed home, narrowly avoiding the activity that was about to spot them and finish them off. Azure kept those words that the mare had written with her own blood in his mind, saving them to tell the rest of the group once he got back to the settlement, making him worry a little bit if they would get back in time.