After a relaxing meal and a great night's sleep, both Azure and Blitz were eager to start their day on good notes. Azure moved his head, signalling that he was awake. He lifted his head off Blitz's body and smiled. He looked down at Blitz, staring back at him with his own smile.

"I got to admit, I wouldn't mind you being my pillow for the future." Azure chuckled, making his ears flop from one side to another, almost like a dog's. Blitz cackled lightly, noticing his ears flopping, drooping and perking every couple of seconds, making Azure look like he was slightly confused about the situation.

"Only if you keep me warm at night, with your fluffy wings." Blitz stated, getting a scornful face from Azure. Blitz chuckled and tilted his head to one side. "I'm joking of course." Blitz stated, making Azure smile and cackle again. The mornings that Blitz and Azure spent together were some of the best times that they had ever experienced. They were always warm, waking up from bliss and most importantly, woke up in the embrace of the other. They enjoyed it nonetheless.

Blitz slowly got to his hooves, stretching and cracking almost every bone in his body. He looked over at some of the stuff that they were doing last night and smiled. There was a card game going on that was still unfinished and the two artifacts placed on the table, alongside the cards. Blitz slowly walked up to the cards and packed them away with his magic, before placing them back into a cupboard, originally where they had come from. As soon as Blitz closed the door of the cupboard, he turned to see Azure sitting in the chair closest to him.

Azure turned his head before pointing with a hoof at the other chair, on the opposite side of him. Blitz rolled his eyes before he walked over and pulled out the chair with his magic. He sat down shortly after and looked at Azure. Azure placed his hooves out onto the table and Blitz's first intention was to place his own hooves on Azure's. This released a slight little blush from both of them, Azure's being a slight pink and Blitz's being a slight blue. It was cute, but Blitz wanted to tell Azure about something anyway.

Breaking the blissful moment, Blitz used his magic to move the artifacts to his saddlebag, placing both of them within it. Azure was slightly confused by his actions, but tried to go along with it, only to have it ponder and bubble his curiosity to the surface of his fur.

"Blitz? What are you going to do with the artifacts?" Azure asked, being slightly curious to what was going through Blitz's mind. He looked back at Azure and sighed, before holding Azure's hooves again, no blush coming from him this time.

"I'm going to let Roselight look at the artifacts while we are out with Gretzky. Surely she has some idea or an insight that might explain all of this." He suggested, getting a careful nod from Azure. Azure rubbed one of Blitz's hooves with both of his, making Blitz's cheeks turn blue and making his wings flutter. "Stop it!" He blurted out with a smile, getting Azure to cut it out. He did, but he didn't stop looking at Blitz.

"I'm so lucky to have you here bud. Love ya like a bro, I hope you know that." Azure spoke aloud, getting a chirp from Blitz in response. He chirped when he was really happy about something, so Azure guessed that him saying that had an effect.

"Love you too dude." Blitz stated, his cheeks turning a dark purple. It was cute, but Azure knew then and there that Blitz was blushing incredibly hard, so he did the best and only thing he knew how to do. He hugged Blitz tightly by getting out of his chair and going around the table. Blitz hugged him back, getting closer to him with every hug. He closed his eyes during the hug, trying to make it last longer. It was inevitable anyway, which made Blitz a little sad that the moment of blissfulness had to end so quickly. At least let them both have another five minutes?

The moments that everypony wanted to last forever, came quicker than they always wanted. Blitz pulled away from the hug and slowly walked towards the window. It looked like it was the dawn of a new day outside, but in reality, they had no idea of time. There was just day and night, no in-between. Blitz thought it was the morning, but had no concept of time and perception, due to it always looking like the dawn of a new day.

Blitz turned away from the window and got another hug from Azure. It was a surprise hug, but Blitz could feel that Azure was meaning every fibre of it, from his emotions to his actions, Blitz could feel them all. He was a changeling, able to taste love and feel the strength of emotions to their fullest. Blitz wrapped his forehooves around Azure and nuzzled into his neck, not knowing what else to do but love him that little bit more.

Blitz saw that Azure had closed his eyes during the hug, making Blitz's cheeks turn blue again and making a smile appear on his muzzle, again. Blitz pulled Azure away from himself, before lifting up Azure's chin with his magic.

"You're my best friend right now Azure. I trust you with almost anything. I'm going to continue this adventure, only if you're with me to help." Blitz stated, making Azure's eyes gleam with a different type of magic, one which Blitz had not seen in a long, long time. His eyes were full of hope.

Blitz stretched, before making his way to the front door of the building. He picked up his saddlebag from the side and grabbed Azure's too. It didn't weigh him down as much as he had thought, which was a positive, but it was still heavy. Azure got to Blitz and looked a little confused, seeing that he had both of the saddlebags on his back. That wasn't going to be good for his health, so Azure decided to do the noble thing and take his saddlebag from Blitz's back, before they both set a hoof outside.

Blitz closed the door behind them and saw that the wall was somewhat fixed, judging by the spikes that were jutting out in different directions, within the settlement. Blitz walked closer to it and saw that it was a temporary fix, just so that the settlement didn't look weak.

"Oh sweet Celestia! I forgot the artifacts!" Blitz stated, before racing back into the building that they had just left. Azure looked down to see Anti stooding next to him. She looked up at him, her tongue on display. He cautiously and hesitantly went to stroke her, before she barked at him, making him jump. She moved towards his hoof anyway, making him stroke her. He began to rub her head, feeling all of the twigs and sticks overlapping, which made him shudder with uncomfortableness. He sighed, before continuing to stroke her. She sat down, allowing his hoof to have an easier time traversing the terrain that was her head and pretty much the rest of her body.

Azure looked away from the wooden canine and chuckled silently, before seeing Roselight appear in front of him. It was unexpected and even she was surprised that she ended up there, but she smiled at Azure happily.

"Morning Alchem! I hope I didn't scare you at all. My teleportation spell is acting up this morning and that is what I'm so spooked that I ended up here." Roselight spoke aloud, not caring about who was listening to their conversation. Something about her was a little bit off. Her mane was different! Her mane was black, with gleaming white particles within the thick black locks that she had. This made Azure a little curious.

"Morning Roselight. May I ask you something?" Azure asked, keeping his eyes locked on the mane. The purple unicorn was slightly confused to see Azure staring at her mane, so she pushed forwards.

"Of course Doctor! What is it?" Roselight pressed, giving him a concerning look. He didn't reply instantly, he just continued to stare at her mane, which she then realised that he was focusing on that, rather than her. "Oh… yeah, about my mane… it's not important. Anyway, how have you and Soul Eater been doing?" She questioned, changing the topic almost instantly. It made Azure a little sceptical of what she might have been hiding. It was almost like her hair was flowing.

"We've been alright, just a little tired from waking up not too long ago." Azure announced to her, making her smile a little. "Actually, Eater wanted to speak to you about something." He added, seeing that she was vaguely interested. Azure turned around to the sound of hoof steps coming from behind him. Blitz ran back to him and Roselight and panted for a couple of seconds, before he spoke softly.

"I… need to… ugh… speak to you about...pfft… something." Blitz explained, trying to catch his breath. Azure held onto him, keeping him steady on his own hooves. "Thanks pal, but I gotta tell you, the pain in my hindleg is beginning to hurt again." Blitz thanked him, getting a nod from Azure.

"If you two come with me, we can have a little chat in my office." Roselight prompted, getting both of their attention. Roselight began to walk to her building, followed closely by two. Blitz kept looking around to see the effects that the invasion had on the settlement. There were some things, like the wall, that had been destroyed within the chaos. It consisted of a house and some of the ladders that they used to climb up onto the wall. Blitz felt a little bad that he didn't help as much as he could have, but he was grateful that everypony and creature was alright.

When he got to thinking about it, he didn't feel any pain from the point that he died at. He got blasted away by an explosion, but there was no damage. Blitz came to the conclusion, after a little battle with his mind, that he got blown up with air. It made him chuckle, which made both Roselight and Azure turn to look at him.

"What's so funny, Eater?" Roselight asked, waiting for Blitz to answer her.

"Nothing Roselight, it's nothing. Just something funny that I thought of inside my head." Blitz admitted. Roselight had her doubts, but turned away from him. Azure looked at him shortly after before he noticed something. Blitz was a little distracted, but his right eye kept flickering slightly to a red variation of his normal beautiful blue eyes. It freaked Azure out a little, but Blitz just shook his head and lost the effect. Azure turned his head and saw the building.

Roselight opened the door with her magic and stood outside it, allowing Azure and Blitz to travel past her, before she closed the door quickly and hit the light switch with one of her hooves. The lights turned on and Blitz immediately noticed the artifact that Roselight had. She noticed that he was immediately interested in it, so she walked towards the artifact and locked eyes with Blitz.

"The blueprint is not going to be used yet, Eater!" Roselight roared, not scaring him at all. He didn't react to what she said, which made her a little curious about it.

"Do you mind if I have a look at it?" Blitz asked her, not tearing his eyes away from the artifact. In the factory, the artifact did glow, which made Blitz realise that it was like the Daring Do figurine and the stone artifacts that they had, but he wanted to get behind why they glowed and why they were all important. Blitz realised that Roselight was contemplating on her decision, but she knew that she wouldn't trust him fully with it.

"You may look at it, but not touch." Roselight muttered, her head flickering a little, twitching like there was something wrong with her. Blitz and Azure both took this on board and kept an eye on her, just in case something happened. Blitz slowly walked over to it and turned to Roselight.

"Can you turn the lights off for a couple of seconds at the minimum? I want to see what the glowing writing says." Blitz asked, getting a stern look from Roselight, before she turned the light off, still being able to see Blitz, due to the light from the blueprint.

Blitz evaluated the blueprint, seeing that it was a plan to build a barn. It had all of the required materials written down to make it and had all of the measurements written down as well. Blitz signalled for Roselight to come over to him, which she immediately did, standing right behind him and watching his movements like a hawk.

"You didn't need these blueprints to build things, did you?" Blitz questioned, feeling like he knew what she was about to do. He peeled over his shoulder to find a gun pointed to his head, like he had originally predicted. Azure flicked on the lights slowly and watched in horror. He pointed himself towards her and got ready to bite down on the mouth piece. Blitz caught wind of this and sighed.

"Alchem, put your weapons away. She isn't a threat." Blitz stated, as he watched him slowly get to a normal stance and walking over to stand beside Blitz. Roselight still pointed a gun at Blitz's head, which didn't help her case of being incredibly helpful.

"What do you know about the artifact?" Roselight growled, pushing the gun against his head. He smiled and chuckled softly, turning his head to her and looking into her eyes.

"Put the gun down and I'll be more relaxed and able to remember what I came here to talk to you about, in regards to the artifact you have." Blitz explained, changing his smile for a slightly worried look, watching her actions. She shook and Blitz could immediately tell that something was wrong. He could see that she was trying to put down her weapon, but something was stopping her from doing so. He looked into her eyes and watched in horror as her eyes changed from circles to slits, almost like Sadjoy's eyes.

The gun shook in her magic, as she tried to lower the weapon, which didn't work. Blitz acted quickly and slapped the weapon away with his magic, before he grabbed the weapon for himself, taking out the remaining ammo and sliding the receiver, making sure that there was no bullet loaded in her weapon. She just shook in place, wincing as she closed her eyes, forcing them shut. Something was definitely wrong.

Roselight shook her head and looked back at Blitz, smiling with a couple of tears in her eyes. Blitz walked up to her slowly, before he held his hoof out, meeting her terrified gaze.

"Have we got you back Roselight?" Blitz asked, still holding his hoof out for her to reach for. She looked at it for a couple of seconds, before she nodded slowly, taking his hoof and grabbing it softly. Blitz smiled and so did Azure. She closed her eyes and smiled sadly, making Blitz's heart melt a little. He knew that there was something wrong with her, but he didn't know what it was. The mane, the eyes, the hatred. None of those emotions of expressions existed naturally. There was something within her, somepony within her.

He dropped the subject and went back to the blueprints, looking at all of the little details before he came to the conclusion of something. He had a plan, but he needed to start a chain reaction of events to kick start it. Blitz opened his saddlebag and pulled out the stone and the Daring Do figurine, without Roselight seeing what they were.

"Roselight? What was the real reason you wanted the blueprint, the artifact?" He questioned, turning to her. "Please be truthful with me." He added, keeping both of the artifacts behind him. She hesitated for a tiny bit, before she opened her mouth to speak.

"There is something about those artifacts that link to the ministry mares in some way. I don't know which one the blueprint relates to, but I need more information if I am going to find out." Roselight admitted, seeing that there was a little bit of a smile appearing one Blitz's face.

He brought out the other artifacts that he had, the stone and figurine. Roselight went wide eyed and paused breathing, which spooked Blitz and Azure just a little bit. She regained her rhythm of breathing and slowly walked up to Blitz. He placed them both on her desk and stood back. She took a look at them both and tried to make out what ministry mare would match which item. She couldn't decipher who matched with what and vice versa.

"Where did you find these?" Roselight simply asked, looking to Blitz for an explanation. He sat his rump on the floor and thought for a second, Azure coming up beside him and sitting down with him.

"Well, the first one was in the possession of the leader of our old settlement. It was the stone. Our leader, Appleseed, was in possession of it, hiding it under the floorboards of a building in the settlement. Raiders killed all of our settlement dwellers and searched the area for something. Whether they found it or not, they didn't take the stone with them." Azure explained, surprising Blitz with him stepping up to the description and matching it perfectly.

"What about the other artifact, the figurine?" Roselight asked, giving Blitz a glare, which he replied back to her with a smile.

"That one we recently found. Yesterday, we found that within the medical compartment of the power armour that Nightclaw took in. It was blocking the compartment from opening, without a pony or creature inside the power armour. It's got something to do with Daring Do, a pony in a comic book collection." Blitz explained pointing to the figurine. He got up and grabbed it, before pointing at the writing that linked the item to the comic series. Roselight smiled a little, knowing that those made her collection halfway completed. If there were only six ministry mares, then she would have only needed three more artifacts to have them all.

"I… I'm a little bit shocked." Roselight admitted, stuttering a little bit.

"If it's okay Roselight, I'd like to leave them here with you, for a little bit anyway. Is that okay?" Blitz asked, getting a little look from Azure, suggesting that he was a little surprised by his actions.

"N...n… no, you… you can't… yes… yes… yes, of course you can, Eater!" Roselight hesitated heavily, like she was trying to fight somepony to stop them from saying no. Or was that the other way around? Blitz knew the answer. There was something wrong, but he didn't have time to sort it out right then and there. They had to meet up with Gretzky to do his little errand.

"We have to go, Roselight. I'll come back and talk to you when I'm back." Blitz told her, making her nod and smile, her eyes turning to those slits that Blitz saw before. The same slits that had been present in that stained glass window display. Blitz was trying to make it so that Roselight didn't know that he knew what was wrong. He instantly looked away from her eyes and then shook his head.

Blitz used his magic to move the artifacts onto the table more, just pushing them back to preventing them from falling off. He then turned to Roselight and bowed to her, before looking at Azure. Azure nodded before getting up and following Blitz out of the building. Roselight stayed behind, eyeing the artifacts like they were hidden treasures.

The door closed and Blitz sighed dramatically, letting out the biggest sigh he had ever let out. That got Azure's attention and made him turn to look at Blitz. He noticed that Blitz's focus wasn't on getting to Gretzky, but to looking back at the door, back at Roselight.

"Is everything okay, Blitz?" Azure asked, checking up on Blitz, to make sure that he was okay and focused. Blitz shook his head, before locking eyes with Azure.

"Something is up with Roselight, something that could be big." Blitz admitted, trying to make it so the nopony else could hear. Azure moved closer, allowing Blitz to whisper into his ear. "Roselight has the same eyes as that mare I was telling you about." Blitz whispered into Azure's ear, getting a simple nod in response.

"Are you sure?" Azure asked, making sure Blitz was one hundred percent confident about it. He nodded, making Azure worry a little, before they both turned away and walked towards Gretzky's area. On the way there, Blitz kept thinking about it more and more, until he had one of those experiences again. Everything faded to black and white again, being gray-scaled again. The only thing that wasn't being gray-scaled, was Azure. Blitz looked left and right, seeing that it was the inner walls of the palace. They were just as beautiful as the memory orb had pictured them.

Blitz stopped for a couple of seconds, before noticing that he was in the part of the palace that was occupied by the stained glass window.

"Azure, stop and look at this!" Blitz commanded, getting Azure's attention. Azure came back and looked at what Blitz was pointing at. It was a brick wall, just one solid red and brown brick wall.

"It's a wall?" Azure questioned, not knowing what Blitz was seeing. Blitz looked over to him and Azure saw something that he didn't like in Blitz's eyes. They were dark grey and were twitching a little. It scared Azure a little, but he didn't say anything to Blitz.

"Oh right, you can't see this. Well, like when I fell over the first time, I can see the palace walls again and I'm looking at the image that I was on about, again. This is definitely the one!" Blitz explained to Azure. Azure realised that the eyes were a result of Blitz's experience. That made him feel a little bit less afraid of Blitz as a changeling.

"If you don't mind Blitz, are you able to explain to me what you are seeing?" Azure asked, wrapping his wing around Blitz's waist. Blitz looked to Azure and smiled, before looking back at the stained glass window. Blitz closed his eyes for a short period of time, before he opened them and explained what he was seeing. Blitz sighed for a couple of seconds, before sitting down and looking into the imaginary window.

"Right here, there is a stained glass window, from within the memory orb. Something happened to the memory orb that made me get transported into their world. Anyway, the stained glass window held an event of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They fought each over, due to Princess Luna becoming evil and wanting power. The evil was due to something called the Nightmare. It tried to take over Princess Luna's mind and body, which in the end, it did, due to the regret that Luna faced. It took her over and tried to end Celestia." Blitz explained. Azure just wore a confused frown, looking back at Blitz and pondering what he might have been trying to explain.

"Go on!" Azure commanded, letting Blitz take a breath, before continuing.

"Well… the Nightmare was terrifying apparently, razor sharp eyes, sharp fangs and changing a pony's appearance. I noticed that with Roselight earlier. Did you? Her mane turned black and shimmery and her eyes changed, everytime those artifacts were mentioned. It was weird, but I am pretty sure that that is the case." Blitz explained, making Azure look a little way back to Roselight's building and then back at Blitz.

"Hmm… let's forget about that right now and focus on what's important. We still need to get to Gretzky, so come on!" Azure stated, before sprinting down the path, towards Gretzky's area. Blitz didn't move, but then he saw his little K-9 companion. Anti wagged her tail, before chasing after Azure and catching up to him instantly. Anti passed him and teleported Blitz to her location, which scared and confused both Blitz and Azure. The last they checked, timberwolves and animals in general weren't able to use magic, so this only tightened their curiosity on what Anti really was.

Blitz fell to the floor, due to being teleported without notice and sighed, dropping his gaze to look at the floor. Azure held out a hoof for him to grab onto. Blitz did, grabbing Azure's hoof and getting put to his hooves and walked over to him, before wrapping his hooves around Azure's body and hugging him. Azure blushed dramatically, but kept his cool and hugged back. It was a nice little moment, but all good things had to come to an end eventually. The both exited the hug as fast as they had entered the warm embrace.

"Feeling better?" Azure asked, enjoying his company like always. Blitz nodded and smiled, knowing that Azure did too. They made their way over to Gretzky's little shop area and paused when they saw Gretzky having his own warm embrace, with Plumjuice. Both Blitz and Azure smiled as they looked at each other and Blitz got a little closer to Azure, allowing Azure to wrap a wing around Blitz's body. It was nice, especially for Blitz, since his changeling genes allowed him to see and taste love. Their love was exotic!

Gretzky looked over and smiled, seeing that both Azure and Blitz were waiting patiently. Gretzky finished hugging his mare, before focusing on his goal for today. Plumjuice waved to both Azure and Blitz, which in turn, they both waved back happily. Regaining focus, Blitz and Azure both walked up to Gretzky and smiled.

"Ready when you are, Gretzky." Blitz stated, ready for the course of today.

"Actually, where is Zeke?" Azure asked, a little curious to where the zebra was. Gretzky smiled pointed in a direction behind some buildings. Gretzky grabbed some razor sharp claws and a shotgun, along with his saddlebag, before turning a little sign around on his shop, to indicate that it was closed. Blitz looked at Gretzky's shotgun and smiled.

"Umm… Gretzky? Isn't that Azure's shotgun?" Blitz asked, pointing at the weapon with his hoof. Gretzky smiled back and nodded.

"It was his shotgun, but I brought it off him." Gretzky told him bluntly, making Blitz chuckle a little. Blitz and Azure both nodded to Gretzky, before he took them to see Zeke. Zeke was sitting on a box, patiently waiting for the group to stumble across him. He jumped off the box and looked towards them, before waving his hoof at them. He had a cloak on, just like Blitz should have had. He left his cloak at their home, which made everything a little more awkward, due to Azure pointing it out. Blitz blushed slightly, making both Gretzky and Zeke smile and chuckle.

"Hello there!" Zeke whispered, making Azure chuckle a little. Azure nodded back happily, going up to him and engaging in a friendly conversation, while Blitz was left with Gretzky to talk to.

"So what's the plan Gretzky?" Blitz asked, getting curious to the plan that would eventually unfold the events. Gretzky pointed a claw at one of the sewer entrances and looked back to Blitz.

"So, we go down to the sewer and travel out of the area and then resurface outside the settlement and follow me to an area that contains some not so nice ponies and creatures." Gretzky stated, checking the ammo in his new shotgun, before sliding the slider and letting a shell fall out, which he then put in a little pouch that he had around his waist.

Blitz checked the ammo that he had on his weapons. He firstly checked the sniper rifle that he had, still having the suppressor on it, but had the scope removed from it. Blitz thought that he would have used the weapon for mid ranged engagements, but still being able to land a shot or two at a far distance. He pulled back the weapons cock handle just a little and saw that he had a bullet ready to fire. He slowly moved the cock handle forwards, to stop the bullet from jumping out. The sniper had a bullet ready in the chamber, so that was enough for him. Blitz put his sniper away and brought out his pistol.

The pistol was in very good condition, having seen most of the action. The semi automatic pistol was a little bundle of lethality. Blitz took out the magazine of the weapon, noticing that there were six bullets in the magazine. He pulled on the slider of the weapon and watched as a bullet flew out to the side of it. He caught it with his magic and slid it back into the magazine, bringing the magazine to its full amount of seven. He loaded the magazine back into the weapon, but didn't cock the weapon. He left it with no bullet in the chamber. It was a bold move, but Blitz would slide the chamber when he needed to do so. He moved his pistol into his pouch, allowing it to be accessed quickly.

There was a weapon the Blitz's did want to check, and it would make all of them question why he had it. Blitz teleported the anti-material rifle to his side, getting some questionable looks from them all.

"Did you really take Nightclaw's advice and take the weapon?" Gretzky asked, getting a chuckle from Azure. Blitz nodded back to him and focused on the weapon. The anti-material rifle was in very good condition and was one of the heaviest weapons that Blitz had ever wielded. He put the weapon onto it's stock, before pulling down the cocking handle and seeing the biggest bullet he had ever seen, loaded into the weapons chamber. He closed the weapons slider before looking at the scope. Blitz replaced the scope on his other sniper and placed it onto the anti-material rifle. The weapon was going to be Blitz's last line of defense weapon. He teleported it away before looking at the others.

"What? It's only a last line of defense, if I need it." Blitz explained, getting a confused look from Zeke, but seeing the other two smiling.

"Alright, now that we are ready, do we want to shoot off?" Gretzky asked, being the leader of the little platoon. Zeke and Azure both nodded together, before Blitz nodded as well. Azure saw the sewer entrance and stopped Gretzky.

"Don't we need gas masks down there?" Azure asked, holding Gretzky from moving forward. Gretzky shook his head, before opening the manhole cover.

"The radiation isn't strong down there, as of recently and Roselight only wanted you to wear a mask or something over your mouth Azure, because she doesn't want you to get something bad in your mouth." Gretzky told Azure flatly, Blitz and Zeke watching from the side. Gretzky signalled for the group to enter the sewer system, one at a time. Zeke was the first to climb down the ladder, quickly followed by Azure. As Blitz walked towards the manhole cover, he looked at Gretzky and nodded, before getting a smile and a nod back from Gretzky. Blitz climbed down into the sewer system before hopping off the ladder and looking about. Gretzky slid the cover over the entrance, sealing them inside. He flew down and landed, before being startled by Blitz's glowing red eyes.

Anti appeared with glowing green eyes, which lightened the area close to her a little. Azure looked at Blitz and noticed that his eyes were glowing too, making Azure smile and chuckle.

"Blitz, you're the scariest thing down here. Don't be hiding around corners!" Azure joked and Blitz rolled his eyes in the process. He likes the jokes but they were beginning to become too consistent. Although he was getting all of the jokes towards his eyes, Blitz was actually able to see down there. Everything was bright, but not as bright as it was outside. The only bad thing was something that Zeke pointed out.

"What is that awfully wretched smell?" Zeke asked, not knowing where it was coming from. Gretzky rolled his eyes, before putting on a light, so that he was able to Zeke clearly and walked up to him. He pulled out a bandana from his saddlebag and gave it to Zeke.

"Put this on and it should get rid of most of the smell. This is where all of the sewage goes. This is where all of the aftermath of everypony's body coming, like…" He explained, before Zeke butted in.

"Where poop goes?" Zeke asked, convincing the others that he didn't know about this area or what it was. Gretzky nodded and Zeke was nearly disgusted by it. He tied the bandana around his muzzle and made sure that it covered all of it, not allowing the rancid air to get to his nostrils or mouth. Gretzky offered a bandana to Blitz and Azure, which they both turned down.

"We were both down here with Roselight. I think that we will manage with the smell." Azure explained, getting a smile and nod from Blitz and a growl from Anti. They all looked at her and she stuck her tongue out, like she was trying to smile. Blitz rubbed her woven head and looked down the sewer. Did they even know where they were going?

Gretzky pulled out a map from his saddlebag and held it out. He turned it about a little, before stopping and reading something on it. He didn't waste long on the map, before he placed it back into his saddlebag and walked down the way. Zeke followed closely, hugging the wall nearly as much as he could. Blitz looked at Azure and smiled, his smile reflecting his bright red eyes. Blitz wrapped a wing around Azure, as they walked down the side of the elevated walkway within the sewer.

"I'm only doing this because you have no torch or light of any sort. I can see, but I don't want you wondering off, so stay close to me." Blitz whispered to him, just loud enough for Gretzky to hear it up ahead. That made him smile a little, before looking back and shining a torch on them both.

"That's sweet, Blitz!" Gretzky cooed, adoring the compassion that Blitz had for Azure. Blitz blushed a little, before looking to the ground and watching as Anti growled at Gretzky. He chuckled from both the reaction of Blitz and Anti and turned around, focusing on the way forward.

All of the ghouls from their previous encounter were gone. It was almost like they had just evaporated into thin air, which they technically did, due to Blitz mixing acid with the water in the previous solution that Blitz inserted into the water flow machine. They really didn't want to jump into the centre of the sewage, because even the littlest of contact with the water could have killed a living pony or creature. It was a little worrying, but it didn't make the others worry, which made Blitz just a little better.

The lack of ghouls in the sewers made Blitz become a little on edge, but he had the rest of the squad with him. Azure noticed that Blitz was in deep thought and booped him before he could get to his deepest type of thinking. Blitz went cross eyed for a second, before looking at Azure angrily. Azure chuckled, before looking away.

Blitz kept his wing wrapped around Azure, as they journeyed through the sewer system. It was a little complex, but Gretzky got them out in the exact spot. A load of weaving and wondering later, they spotted a manhole cover that was down in the sewer, rather than being above it, like it was meant to. As they got closer to the exit, it looked like the hole was huge, bigger than the one that they had traveled down. Zeke ran up to it, before meeting a ghoul that was trying to bite him. Zeke spotted the ghoul, before bucking it in the head, making its head break into pieces.

"And that is why you don't try to touch a zebra!" Azure whispered, Blitz picking up on it, but not adding anything to it. It confused him a little, but it didn't let him become off guard. He kept his ears and eyes scanning for any danger and Anti joined him in the sense. Azure didn't move like Zeke did, but moved out of the hold of Blitz's wing and walked towards the ladder, before flying up beside it. Zeke climbed up the ladder as fast as his legs could carry him. Gretzky turned to Blitz, before flying up and out of the hole. The hole was beginning to cave in, from the weight of all three of them standing above, waiting for Blitz to climb up.

"Eater! Hurry, it's collapsing!" Gretzky called out, seeing a bright flash, followed by a changeling standing next to them all. Blitz was a little surprised by the ground that they were all standing on, but it didn't really matter. It was a soft and brittle type of mud, much like it had been near the hydra. It made Blitz a little sceptical, but he shook it off quickly, before coming to grips with the situation.

The ground had fallen, due to the weight of Gretzky, Azure and Zeke. Blitz didn't understand why the ground was so soft, but he wanted to find out how the sewer exit was broken. Blitz looked down into the rubble, seeing that there was still a way to get back into the sewer, had they needed to go back that way. Blitz turned to Azure and Zeke, seeing that they were both in the mindset of doing the same thing that Blitz was just doing. They were becoming their own detective. That thought alone got Blitz to cackle softly, getting the attention of the other two.

"What's getting you to chuckle so much there, Soul Eater?" Zeke asked, not understanding why he was giggling so much and so softly. Blitz didn't respond, getting a confused look from Zeke in response.

"He's fine. He just does that from time to time." Azure stated, looking at Blitz walking up to Gretzky. He shook his head, before walking back over to Gretzky too, leaving Zeke to ponder on what he was hiding. Zeke calmly strolled over to Gretzky, looking at Blitz the entire time. They all forgot about the sewer for the time being and began to walk down a cobbled pathway, similar to the one that they journeyed down while returning from the raiders.

Zeke was still technically a raider, he just betrayed his allies when he was given a choice. Blitz thought of that a little, going into detail with it. Would he betray them when another opportunity came about, that would benefit him more? That was a scary thought that Blitz couldn't shake away. In the future, Blitz would keep his ears out for anything that would assume that Zeke was having second thoughts about being on their side.

Azure walked alongside Blitz, keeping his wing wrapped around Blitz, due to the weather turning south really, really fast. Azure remembered the first time that Blitz got cold. Azure had to keep him warm for a couple of hours, risking Blitz's life, due to him being a changeling and all, making him cold blooded. He was a bug. He was Azure's best bug. This made himself smile and also made his mind happy. That was something that he wanted to remember for a long time.

Zeke was silent. He didn't speak much, but when he did, it would come out in short bursts. Something was definitely on his mind, which got Blitz a little worried. Zeke shook his head, before looking around, seeing if anypony or creatures were watching. He caught Blitz's gaze, but didn't challenge his concentration. That made Blitz's mind wonder just that little bit more, not helping his situation as they followed behind Gretzky.

Gretzky was too indulged into his map to realise that there was something moving in the distance. A quick bark from Anti got his attention, making him look up and see the figure, before it moved out of sight. What didn't make sense, was that it was daytime and yet the figure just vanished from view. It confused everyone who saw the figure.

"That's… strange… let's keep moving along!" Gretzky commanded, keeping an eye out for anything that was unordinary. Blitz, Azure and Zeke all did the same, looking around for something, during the daylight. Without realising it, they picked up the pace. Blitz thought it was a good time to lighten the mood, by talking to Gretzky about what they were doing, now that they were out of the settlement.

"Gretzky? What are we actually doing out here?" Blitz asked, very curious as to why they were wondering down a path. Gretzky stopped, before turning to look at Blitz. Gretzky sighed, before looking Blitz, dead in the eyes.

"We are out here to gather some resources and to meet one of my contacts to gather some materials for my shop. The only problem i have is that I haven't heard from them within a couple of days, which worries me dramatically." Gretzky carefully explained, getting both Azure's and Zeke's attention.

"So we are pretty much going into this blind." Blitz spoke out, getting a firm nod from Gretzky. Blitz didn't like that very much. He much preferred them going in and knowing the situation, rather than going in like they were. Gretzky called out to all of them that they were coming closer to the settlement, which got them all on edge. Blitz was a little more on edge than the others, because he had some thoughts already on his mind. Blitz's mind began to play tricks on him, which didn't help the situation.

Blitz closed his eyes, to only be revealed with another scene before him. Yes, he could still see all of his allies and the road ahead, but the tree line either side of them was now just the constant corridor that kept blocking his mind. He looked down at Anti and smiled. She looked up into Blitz eyes and paused. In turn, Blitz also paused, waiting for her to catch up. She slowly walked to Blitz and kept as close to him as she could, while trying to catch up to the others.

The response from those two events got the attention of all three of the others. Azure knew what was going on, as he looked into Blitz's eyes, but Zeke and Gretzky had no idea.

"Umm… Eater? What has happened to your eyes?" Zeke asked, moving over to help him. As soon as he got close enough, Anti growled at him, making the zebra stop trying to help Blitz. Zeke looked down at the female timberwolf and slowly moved his hoof forward, towards Blitz. The original grow was replaced with a snarl, and then a form of air chomping. Blitz looked to Zeke and pushed him against the supposed wall of the Canterlot hallway that he was in.

"Stop messing with Anti!" Blitz warned, tightening his hold on Zeke with his magic. Azure rushed up to Blitz and pulled him back.

"Eater… shhh! It's okay!" Azure tried to tell him, to calm him down. Azure was going to be on Blitz's side most of the time, due to him knowing what Blitz was going through. The thoughts, the illusions, the nightmares and the constant flicker changes would surely hurt him bad. Azure was pretty sure that Blitz was corrupted or something along those lines, but he didn't give up on who Blitz was, so he was going to support him as much as he could.

Blitz sighed, letting go of Zeke with his magic and moving back. Anti kept her eyes locked on the zebra and growled slightly. Blitz could hear her growl and shook his head, trying to clear the scene before him.

"Eater, are you okay?" Gretzky asked, being slightly concerned about Blitz's health and mind. Blitz nodded, before grabbing his head with a hoof, while Azure steadied him, keeping Blitz on at least 3 legs. Gretzky began to walk off in the direction that he was originally going, quickly followed by Zeke. Blitz and Azure followed shortly after.

Anti walked alongside Blitz, making sure that he was out of harm's way. She made sure that he had enough room to walk, but not enough for anypony or creature was able to stand on her side of him. Blitz looked down at her and rubbed her head with a hoof, making her nuzzle his hoof.

Without warning, Gretzky stopped moving, making it so that Blitz walked into the back of him, accidentally. Gretzky didn't turn back to Blitz, he only held his claw out to him, signalling for him to stand back. He did so without hesitation, not knowing that Gretzky was doing. Blitz looked around and saw that there was a settlement in the distance, but it was very, very quiet.

Blitz spotted some movement in the distance, which didn't lie right with the possibility that the settlement could have been taken over. Gretzky was trying to keep as quiet as possible, scheming a plan that would allow them to get closer to the settlement, without alerting anypony or creature. He looked around and could see figures moving in the distance too. He slowly moved across the way, straying off the path and into the woods a little. Zeke and Azure joined him, leaving Blitz alone with Anti.

Anti just looked up at Blitz and sat down, implying that she was either going to stay put, or that she would stand by Blitz, throughout it all. Blitz was hoping that it was the latter. He took out his sniper rifle and carried it with his magic, before he looked back to see Anti was up on all four wooden legs. She tilted her head to Blitz, before walking towards him and nuzzling his injured hindleg. He couldn't feel the contact of her scaly wooden body, which worried him a little.

Blitz put the rifle down and realised that the bandages around his wound were cut and torn, but that didn't surprise him. He took the bandage off carefully and saw something odd. His hindleg was sharper and heavier than it previously was. He had chunks of his leg taken out, like most changelings did, but he looked at it and saw that it was less edged, less smooth, which made him worry, but not too much.

A pony came towards Blitz and aimed a weapon at him. He looked up and saw the barrel of a pistol, pointed directly towards his head. Everything went white, before visions flashed into his view. He couldn't recognise anything that was happening in those views, but he could recognise one pony in particular within one of them. The guard pony for their new settlement. He was laid down on a board, almost like he was injured by something.

Blitz shook his head and watched as all of the corridors faded away, leaving the trees, but no friends. Blitz looked to the floor and looked around for Anti. He eventually spotted her ahead of himself, where she was looking at the others. Blitz breathed in a sigh of relief, before moving to them all and sneaking down.

"What are we going to do, Gretzky?" Azure asked, checking around for some more activity.

"I go in and see whether they are willing to comply or not!" Blitz spoke out, getting up and walking past them all. Azure went to stop Blitz, but Gretzky held him down.

"Do you want us to get spotted? If not, then stay down. I trust Eater will be fine, due to that look in his eye." Gretzky admitted, looking back over to Blitz, while he hid in the trees and bushes from a distance. The settlement definitely had somepony or creature within its walls, but it definitely was not right, due to how little activity was going on within it.

As Blitz got closer, his mind began to play tricks on him, flashing memories from the memory orb into his view, which was quickly going to annoy him massively. He had Anti by his side, which made his little experience that much less of a problem, because he was pretty sure that she could just disappear when the danger got too much and then reappear again when it was gone.

There was definitely something within the settlement, due to figures moving about, beyond the gate. Blitz readied his sniper rifle and made sure there was definitely a bullet in the chamber. He kept his sniper aimed to the ground, to avoid any conflict with anypony that wanted to come across him. Blitz walked up to the main gate, before flying up a little bit and landed on the side of the wall, just hanging there while he worked up to courage to peek over. Eventually, he worked up enough courage to hop onto the wall and look down to the grounds within the walls.

There were multiple ponies… collecting bodies. Blitz put his weapon away before hopping down into the main grounds. He looked back up and could see multiple guns being pointed at him, ranging from hoof claws, to rocket launchers. Blitz bowed, before sitting down.

"Has something bad happened here? I've brought somepony or a special gryphon along with me." Blitz explained. "I mean no harm to any of you!" Blitz added, his ears folding back. One of the ponies raised their hoof up, signalling for the guns and weapons alike, to be lowered. Blitz smiled softly. "Thank you!" Blitz thanked, standing back onto his hooves. "I'm just going to go ahead and signal the others that I have brought with me to come over, is that okay?" Blitz asked, getting a nod from the pony that signalled for the others to drop their weapons.

Blitz got out his anti-material rifle and aimed it in their general direction, before shaking the weapon about slowly, trying to send a glint of the scope on the weapon, to grab their attention. Blitz looked down the scope and could see them moving to him quickly. He teleported the anti-material rifle away and turned back to the others.

"We are so glad that you are not another one of those scavengers!" One of them admitted, stepping forward. Blitz was slightly confused, but noticed that something was definitely wrong. All of the scavengers attacking the settlement, in conjunction with the raiders, was a little jarring. The mare looked at him and smiled.

"Our settlement got attacked by raiders and scavengers yesterday. Something is definitely wrong with all of this and I want to get to the bottom of it!" Blitz explained aloud, hearing some hoofsteps behind him. He turned to see Gretzky, Zeke and Azure. Where was Anti? He didn't need to worry about her, because she walked with him to the settlement and probably disappeared before Blitz got to the inside of the settlement.

As Blitz was speaking about her, she appeared next to Blitz, nuzzling his hindleg. He smiled at the sweet gesture for his wooden K-9 companion. Gretzky smiled as he went to hug the mare that stepped out to Blitz. He turned around and started to chuckle.

"You three, meet Petalbreeze, Roselight's sister!" Gretzky informed them, making them all look shocked.