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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Right after we have finished here and moved all of the bodies out of the settlement, which is what I am doing." Nightclaw stated, wearing a smile that would warm any creature's heart.

"Oh that reminds me Nightclaw, ta dah! You get the power armour!" Gretzky said, waving his claws around while looking at the power armour. Nightclaw nodded, before taking the power armour and getting in it.

"It's better than that my young friend. It has literally full charge on the battery!" Nightclaw screamed from inside the armour. He ran away with it, heading back to his blacksmithing area. Gretzky chuckled a little from that, before looking at the bodies around him.

"Nopony or creature wanted anything like this to happen, but we had to do what was necessary to survive. I hate killing ponies and creatures, but when family and friends come under fire, there is only one thing that you can do… to save them. You have to stop the attackers by any means necessary." Gretzky stated, feeling a little defeated. Blitz could feel Gretzky's pain and emotions from that statement, so he did the only thing that would make him better in that situation. He rushed over to Gretzky and gave him a hug. Blitz instantly felt the tightness of Gretzky as he hugged him and allowed him to begin to relax.

Bodies were looted and then placed in their own little grave, outside of the settlement. Nightclaw used the power armour to dig the graves. The reason that he went back to his area is because he needed to make some 'modifications' to the armour and added two shovels to the side of them. It was pretty funny when they heard about it, but it was scary how good the modification worked.

As soon as all of the bodies were looted and buried, Nightclaw got out of the power armour and began to cook various items. All of the residents came to Nightclaw's blacksmithing area, ready to eat. Azure sat to the side, watching all of the food being cooked. It made his mouth water, but he didn't know if he could eat the things being cooked. Meat was not something that he would ever eat, but they were short on food that ponies used to eat.

Nightclaw passed the piping hot food to Gretzky, who then sliced it into slices and placed it on plates for the hungry residents. As soon as all of the other residents were fed with various meats, Azure, Gretzky and Nightclaw were the last ones to be served, until they saw Blitz approaching. He held the two artifacts with his magic, looking between the Daring Do figurine and the glowing stone.

"Eater? Take a break will you. You've been looking at those things since you got back to your little area. Have some grub!" Nightclaw called out, getting a couple slices of meat ready for Blitz. Gretzky looked over to Azure, seeing that he wasn't looking okay.

"Alchem? Are you okay?" Gretzky asked, being slightly concerned. Azure lifted his head and smiled, before Gretzky smiled back. He passed a plate of thinly cut meat over to Azure. He turned his nose up at it, but then looked it over. Nightclaw passed over a plate to Blitz, before serving himself and Gretzky with the rest of the meat. They both sat next to Blitz and Azure hoping that they both enjoyed the meat. They knew that it wasn't what ponies were used to eating, but it would have given them so much more muscle and energy from it.

Blitz looked at Azure and smiled, sliding the plate closer to him. Azure gave an angry scowl at Blitz and growled slightly.

"Please bud. For me? Beggars can't be choosers, remember?" Blitz stated, making sure that Azure knew that Blitz only tried to help. "I can promise that you'll like it, ok?" Blitz promised, making a smile appear on Azure's muzzle.

"And what if I don't like it, what will you do?" Azure asked.

"Nothing!" Blitz chuckled, before tasting some of the meat. His eyes widened and focused directly on Nightclaw. "What is in this? It's so good!" Blitz admitted, looking to Azure for a brief second. Azure sighed, before taking a bite of the meat. He tasted it for a couple of seconds before he commented on it.

"What meat is this Nightclaw?" He asked, curious to what it was. Nightclaw pondered for a little bit, before coming to his conclusion.

"I'm pretty sure that this is wolf meat, if I'm not mistaken." Nightclaw admitted, making Anti summon. Anti growled at him and kept biting the air.

"Anti, ain't you just made of sticks?" Blitz asked, getting a response from the angry timberwolf. She slowly walked over to him and glared at him. Blitz picked up a little piece of meat from his plate and carried it down to her height. She slowly walked over and licked the meat, before taking it from Blitz's hoof. Blitz stroked her, getting a simple wag of her tail in response.

Blitz continued to eat the food, as too did Azure, coming up with topics to talk about and enjoying their first meal in several days. It was good, it was a happy time. Blitz's only thought though, was what linked the artifacts together?