The stallion was a bit younger than I was. He was also thinner than me, and wore a greasy worn out stable barding that had the number "2" on its color. "Just place that crate over in the corner," he instructed me.

His workshop was on the edge of town, and was a bit bigger than the other buildings. One side was filled with scrap metal, scrap wood, and other random junk. The other side had several half-finished signs leaning on the walls and a large cage that has several guns and tools inside. I even spotted several objects that I couldn't recognize that looked more like abstract art projects.

"Thank you. I kind of overestimated how much I could carry." He smiled at me and offered a hoof, of which I took and we shook. "Names Spot Weld. I'm the town's craft pony."

"Slowtrot, the pony that fell through the roof of the free clinic," I responded.

Spot Weld tilted his head for a moment before his eyes went wide. "Oh ya! Some pony mentioned that to me. I spend most of my time here in my workshop, so I don't hear most of the gossip." He then looked up for a moment, and then back at me with a smile. "Truthfully, I don't like going outside. I mean, you get it. That sky, even after all these years, is still hard to get used too."

This time I tilted my head for a moment. "What's wrong with the sky?"

He raised an eyebrow, "You know where we stable ponies come from, right?"

It took me a second to realize that he thought I was born underground "Oh, that's what you're talking about. Sorry. I only spent like a week or so in a stable, though I think Stable-Tec was planning on giving me a stable ticket."

"So then how did you get that pipbuck, and that… is that barding?" he asked.

I looked at the sleeve of my Stable-Tec jacket. "It's a bit of a long story, but long story short, I won a pipbuck that ended up being super defective, spent some time with the R&D staff to fix the problem, and they gave me this stuff as a gift." I lifted up my pipbuck. "This here is the S&R pipbuck 3200. Neat, huh?"

Spot Weld took a closer look at my pipbuck. He brought his own up to compare the two. The frames of the pipbucks were relatively the same. Mine has a small antenna-like protrusion and engraving of my cutie-mark. "So what does 'S&R' mean?"

"Search and rescue," I responded. "It's actually an update of a much earlier model than an update of the three thousand. Its main feature is that the Eyes Forward Sparkle can now tell me if a pony is above or below me, though not with how far. I think the point was to just locate ponies trapped under rubble.”

“Oh, it also can be used to tag friends, though I think they have to have a pipbuck themselves." I added.

He nodded as he looked at my pipbuck. "Amazing. Is there anything else it can do?"

I nodded back. "Well, it has a medical scanning spell that projects the same spell it uses on the user to other ponies. I used it at Doctor Quacksalver's clinic. He was less than pleased due to me not having proper medical training, yet still giving out medical advice." I tapped on the pipbuck a bit more, thus activating my Stable-Tec Arcan Targeting Spell. "Lastly, the S.A.T.S. has an expanded movement spell in it. So, instead of just shooting, I can use it to force my body to run."

"Atomic!" He said with wide eyes. "I could kill to get my hooves on such a device." Pulling back a bit, I cradled my pipbuck, and Spot Weld chuckled. "I kid, but still, if you had another, I'd buy it off you with my cartload of caps… well, the caps I'll have after my projects are done."

Chuckling myself, I scratched my chin. "Actually, now that you mentioned it, I did have another pipbuck with me, a 3100 used by the acting overmare, but I didn't see it in my saddlebags. Maybe I just lost it mid transportation."

Spot Weld shrugged. "It happens. You'd be shocked by how many of our fellow stable dwellers lost their pipbucks after leaving the stable." He then looked over at the cage, tapping his chin. "Say, are you free? I've been needing a pony to assist me in getting a few projects done."

Needing some work and deciding not to mention that Doctor Quacksalver had just kicked me out, so I just nodded and said. "I can help… well depending on what you need help with."

He smiled and trotted over to his cage. "It's nothing much. I just need a pony I can trust as I get some work done."

Spot Weld then opened the cage and began digging through the different tools and guns inside. It gave me a better look inside as he pushed the clutter to the side. I could see other revolvers, lever action rifles, some odd guns I didn’t recognize, a four barreled shotgun, and there was also a revolver converted into some sort of sniper rifle. But then, hidden in the far back, I saw what looked like a thin party cannon, complete with wheels but, instead of one barrel, it had maybe ten all held together on some sort of crack weal. Above it were several large magazines that must have held some large ammo.

"Hold this." Spot called out to me.

I reached out my hooves and Spot passed me a rather worn out looking, but beautiful, rifle. It had a gold star welded on one side and engravings of a night sky around it. The other side had an engraving art of two ponies inside a heart. Under it was the letters 'A.O. & F.B.'. A few more guns were passed over for me to hold.

"I don't think I'm going to be much help with guns unless you need me to help make bullets. I did a bit of that during the war." I offered.

Spot Weld poked his head up from his cage. "Oh, don't worry about those. I don't need help with that. Just wait a moment." He ducked back in before pulling out a harness, a toolbelt, and a lot of rope before tossing them out of the cage and trotting over to me. "Thanks. Let me put the guns back inside before we can start."

"How much work do you do on guns?" I asked as I passed him back the guns.

He began placing the guns on a rack. He seemed to try not to recreate the mess that he had started in.

"A fair bit, actually,” Spot Weld answered. “It's my main job when there's no commissions to work on."

He took a mostly clean rag and rubbed it on his flank. This revealed a cutie-mark of a cylinder next to a spring and bolt.

"Got my cutie-mark in engineering, and I was the apprentice to the stables armory master before the stable had opened their doors to the wasteland. Lucky me that gunsmiths are in high demand. I've done quite well for myself out of the stable." he further explained.

I passed him the last gun. "Real lucky, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole wasteland thing. On that, it sounds like you have better options, so why here?"

He closed the cage. Its lock made a loud clunk noise.

"True,” Spot Weld confessed, “the NCR were offering me a lot to stay with them, but I couldn't just trap myself in a dimly lit factory and make guns day in and out."

Spot Weld trotted passed me over to the back wall where a large object stood. It was covered in a patchwork tarp.

"What I really want to do is art!" he exclaimed as he pulled on the tarp which revealed a huge sign that said "Welcome To New Appleloosa" spelled with both paint and lights.

I clapped, feeling a bit impressed. Though a bit crude, it reminded me a lot like the signs used in Loss Pegasus. "Does that mean you're the one who made all the signs in town?"

Spot Weld nodded. "Yep. The mayor wanted some pony to help improve the atmosphere of the town, and the sheriff needed a gunsmith. I could do one, and wanted to do the other, so I bought one ticket to New Appleloosa and haven't looked back."

I clapped again. "Impressive. So what do you need me to do?"

"Right" he said as he tossed me the rope while he grabbed the harness and tool belt. "I need to fix a few flaws in the sign before I can say I'm done. I require some pony to pull me up as I work."

I looked down the rope, then up at the sign, and then at Spot Weld. I cocked an eyebrow. "You do know we just met, right?"

Spot waved his hoof dismissively. "I'm not worried. We're both stable ponies, if there's any pony like us that we can trust, it's another stable pony." He then sighed. "You're lucky. You haven't seen how nasty these wastlanders can get."

I wanted to remind him again that I was not, in fact, a stable pony, but I also needed caps. So I activated my workforce survival mode, also known as being overly agreeable.

"Well,” I say, “it's a good thing you're here to help me then, or I'd be at a loss."

Spot smiled as he put on the harness and tool belt. "Gladly. Us stable ponies gotta stick together. Still don't know how Pip and Velvet managed to make it out here." He trotted over to me, taking one end of the rope, and trotting back to the sign where there was a nearby crain-like pulley system set up next to it. "Alright. The job’s simple. I'm going to place this at the sign and hook myself onto this pulley system. You’re going to pull me up to where I need to be. Easy as pie."

"And dangerous." Looking at the crane, I had a feeling that he built it himself. It was made from scrap metal and old looking wood. "You sure this is a good idea? You could just build some scaffolding instead."

"Scaffolding?" He said as he tilted his head before chuckling. "Don't worry. It looks rickety, but it's safe. I made it myself, so I know."

His smile was beaming with confidence. So much so that it did make me feel a bit at ease. Now thinking about it, lots of construction ponies worked with less safety than Spot Weld. There were even those famous photos of a group of earth ponies sitting on a steel beam far above the ground.

"Alright, but maybe we should put on safety helmets first, for safety." I pointed out.

Spot rolled his eyes and sighed. "Alright. I do have something like that." He trotted off to a dark corner of his workshop and brought back two rusty firefighters helmets. "Good enough?"

I nodded and took the helmet, putting it over my own hat. "Alright. I'm ready."

He put on his helmet before pulling the rope through the pulley system. He then moved the crane over to the big sign. I followed, holding the other end in my mouth. I watched as he attached himself to the pulley. Spot checked and double-checked his knots, harness, and his toolbelt in order to make me feel at least a little more at ease in that he had some safety sense. After a few tugs on both of our ends, it looked like we were ready to go.

"Like Icarus with his new wings of wax arrogantly flying where ponies don't belong," a voice whispered. The shadows seemed to twitch. It might have been my eyes playing tricks on me, but I was sure I could see the outline of a mare in the shadows. "Rise high, fall low, and once more become the clay that birthed your kind," the whisper spoke with malaise and contempt.

A *ching* the sound of a metal rifle clip hitting the floor caught my ears.

"If he dies, then he dies. There are plenty of ponies that can replace him" This voice was uncaring, yet seemed a tad excited over the idea of death.

My nose twitched due to the serial smell cleaning supplies and strong scent of herbs passed by my nose. "The amount of ponies that come by with broken bones from fall injuries is annoyingly stupid. They are taking time away from those who have injuries outside their own control." This voice was tired, irritated, and yet, caring.

"Slowtrot!" Spot Weld spoke up loudly, getting my attention. "Gees, you had me worried there. You just zonked out on me. What was that?"

"I…" What had just happened was a haze, like a barely remembered dream. "Sorry. I thought I heard something so I got distracted."

Spot seemed to chew on my words for a moment before returning his attention back to the task at hoof. "Right, well don't do that while I'm hanging, alright?"

Pulling on the rope until it no longer slacked, I tied it to my fetlock. "Worst-case scenario, I still got you."

His eyes widened. "Brilliant! And this is why we stable ponies outclass those wastelanders." He then happily adjusted the tall crain, getting in what I guess was the best position before motioning for me to start pulling him up. It turned out to be surprisingly easy, likely because of his smaller frame, but it didn't feel like I was pulling a whole pony into the air. "You can stop and hold!" He shouted. I did just that. Spot Weld pulled out a wrench and got to work on some bolt, though it was hard to see from below.

*click*

A new sound came from behind me. It was followed by lights, a breeze, and a dry dusty smell. I didn't have time to be distracted by my mind playing some sort of trick again, so I focused on holding the rope steady as the sound of hoofsteps got closer along with some muffled chuckling.

Trotting into my view was a short and skinny unicorn stallion. His mane was slicked back. He had a dirty brown business suite and his smile showed several golden teeth alongside his yellow teeth. "Looksy like Spot got himself a helper." He spoke like a stereotypical gangster pony from an old detective movie. All he needed was a fedora to complete the costume. The undersized stallion looked up, still smiling. "Hay Spot'sy, ya got ta caps ya ow us? You were due yesterday?"

Spot Weld looked down at us, forming a frown on his face. "The deal was when I get my caps, you get yours, so tell your boss to stop interrupting me. It's messing with my groove!"

The gangster pony scowled at Spot, then huffed. "Ya, and ya were supposed to have diss junk done a week ago!"

"Then fuck off and let me finish!" Spot shouted back.

"Boss says that's fine." Another pony spoke up from behind me. This time a pegasus mare in a dusty gray suit trotted into view. Her wings were tattered. Her mane was haphazardly put into a bun. She also had a rusty pipbuck on her right fetlock. "But he will have to pay 15% interest for every day he misses paying off the loan."

I don't know what it was, but her pipbuck gave me a bad feeling. It was as though something dangerous was attached to it, and it was not that mare.

She then looked over at me, putting on a friendly smile full of rotting yellow teeth. "Say, stranger, if you're ever looking to buy anything on the cheap, a quick loan, or sell off some goods no questions asked, come find us." She then pulled out a business card and put it in the color of my jacket. "We even buy pipbucks at a premium, though better conditions will gain you more caps."

The two ponies turned around, trotting out of view. The clicking of a door announced that they had left.

"See what I mean by dirty and just no good? There was never any pony like that in a stable," Spot huffed as he crossed his hooves in annoyance. Because of this, he lost his grip on his wrench. I watched as it descended right at me. I tilted my head down just in time for the wrench to bounce off my helmet with a loud thud. "Shit, you okay?" he shouted.

Other than some ringing in my ears, I wasn't hurt. "And that's why you should wear a helmet, but ya, I'm okay," I told Spot Weld.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "I see your point. You were right." He then checked his toolbelt, then sighed with frustration. "Hey, can you throw that wrench back up here? It's the only one I got that can get around some of the bolts on this thing."

I nodded then trotted over to the wrench while doing my best to keep Spot steady. The heavy adjustable wrench was undamaged. It only had a few scratches on its mostly solid blue and yellow paint job. I took off my helmet then examined it. There was a big dent on where the wench fell. The thought of how much I could have gotten hurt sent a chill up my spine.

"Seriously,” I said, “Stable-Tec doesn't mess around with anything they make, even the paint job lasted two hundred years."

"Stable-Tec makes thing's to last," Spot said with pride. "Though that wrench was a newer addition to my toolbelt. My old one gave up the ghost over a year back. By luck, some scavengers happen to have passed through with that, They said they found it in some half-buried factory infested with radscorpions."

"Neat," I said, half hoping to never find out what exactly a radscorpion is. I could only guess that it was some sort of large scorpion, maybe two hooves wide. I did know their sting can melt flesh, so yeah, let’s not meet one.

Lifting the wrench, I quickly came to a problem. It was too heavy to throw up to Spot.

Well, I could, but not without risk that it would fall back down at me.

"Maybe I should lower you down and just hoof you the wrench?" I suggested.

Spot Weld rolled his eyes again. "No way! I got my groove going up here. If I go back down, it's going to, you know, poof. No more inspiration." I tilted my head at him for a moment. "Just throw it. It will be fine."

I shrugged. "Alright, but I'm using my S.A.T.S. to make sure it gets up to you." He nodded. I took a deep breath. "Iron Buck, activate S.A.T.S."

The world slowed to a crawl. A green hue as my E.F.S. took over my vision. It still felt odd. Option scenes in the side of my vision, and a little arrow being controlled with my mind, along with "%" next to anything the arrow hovered over. Moving the arrow up to Spot Weld, I got a "80%" chance to hit, of which I didn't want to do. Moving to the big "A" of Appleloosa gave me a "90%" chance to hit. The option was to toss which showed a toonish pony throwing a baseball hard. I felt that would be a bad idea, so I thought about throwing it slower. The option changed to lobb, showing the same toonish pony throwing a ball, but this time in a less violent way, such as the ball moving in an ark then in a straight line. Selecting that, I then let the pipbuck do the rest of the work.

My body relaxed as the world slowly began to move. I stood up on my back legs as the hoof that held the wrench swung back, looping once before throwing the wrench up with ease I knew I didn't naturally have. As the wrench flew through the air, Spot Weld was waiting for it. His hooves reached out to grab it. A split second later, he missed. The wrench passed through his hooves then bounced off the top of the big "A" going further up and over the sign.

"Critical!" Flashed in my vision as I looked up. The big "A", now with a noticeable dent in it, shifted a little. Spot Weld gasped and attempted to push it back in place. He only managed to swing himself back then bounce off the big "A" that then seemed to shift it a bit more.

*Ping… Thud!*

I looked down to see a rusty nut on the ground, something I was sure was not good. Not good at all.

"Slowtrot, look out!" Spot Weld yelled, his voice slow, but quickly returning to normal speed. I looked up in time to see the big "A" fall off the sign. It happened too fast for me to react.

For a moment I thought I died. I could hear or see. The only thing I could smell was dust. Eventually the dust cleared and I found myself between the legs of the big "A". It had missed me by less than a hoof step.

*thud!* The wrench bounced off my helmet again then landed into my hooves.

After a moment spent in shock, I eventually let Spot Weld down. He seemed more distressed over his sign getting messed up than my three near-death incidents in a row. I was not mad over it. They were accidents after all.

It took a few minutes for Spot Weld to calm down. He was going through a spectrum of emotions over the big "A", seemingly unable to put together a coherent sentence.

"Maybe you should invest in some scaffolding. That should help avoid accidents like this in the future." I suggested as I pat him on the shoulder.

"I… but… how?" Spot seemed deflated. His eyes were wide but vacant.

I didn't know how to deal with this level of shock in a pony, or any shock relay.

"Should I go and get some pony?" I offered.

He shook his head. "No… just… go… leave… I gotta figure out… how to fix this."

Backing away slowly, I had a strong feeling that I might not have gotten the job helping this pony.

"Well, if you need any more help, I'm available." His eyes narrowed at me. He then pointed at the door, sending the message loud and clear for me to get out.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust after being inside the dim workshop. The light breeze blowing away some of the dust covered me. Rubbing my neck, I felt the business card that was given to me earlier. Taking it from my color, I gave it a look. One side was all blue, the other side read "Blue Sky's Merchant Guild" in big bold letters. In smaller text, it said, "We buy and sell anything and everything you desire."

"Slowtrot, what are you doing out here?"

I turned to see Karat Gold with two foals who were making faces at each other. "And why are you covered in dust?" she went on to ask.

I brushed some of the dust off me then pocketed the business card.

"Oh, there was an accident inside the workshop. Luckily, nopony got hurt, but I think Spot Weld needs some space for a while, so I'm out of work right now."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "But I left you with Doctor Quacksalver…" She then took a deep breath. "Never mind that. If you're free, then that’s good luck for me. I mean, you are free, right?" She asked as she fluttered her eyes.

I thought for a moment if I should say yes to her, but both she and I knew that I literally had nothing else going on.

"Alright,” I accepted. “What do you need help with?"