Rain.

It had only been a few hours of walking before it started, and it hasn't stopped yet, three hours later. It was like the pagasi up above were purposefully trying to ruin my day by making the storm only follow us. I knew it wasn't true, seeing as the wasteland we tracked through looked like it had been turned to muddy slop quite some time ago. It wasn't even the cold rain itself that irritated me, it was the mud.

It was kind of alright, seeing as I had gone numb twenty minutes or so ago, but it just made it that much harder to make sure I had good hoofing when going up or down hills. We had all been relatively quiet the whole time, and I could feel it in my gut that Brass would be asking another dumb question soon.

"Hey, Backlash!" Brass yelled from just behind me. The one good thing about the mud was that I could hear him squish up behind me, so no more startling. Unfortunately, as I turned to look at him, I lost track of where I stepped and had my hooves slip right out from under me. I let out a sigh as I slid a few feet down the hill we were heading from. I got to my hooves and slicked the mud from my muzzle as I looked back up, watching as Gale carefully made his way down after us.

"What is it, Brass?" I grunted as I did my best to not slide any further.

"How exactly were you planning on finding things to sell?" He pointed out rather blatantly. Yeah, I have to take what I thought back, it's not a dumb question at all! The real answer was I don't really know. "Do you know of some M.o.M. facility around here you spotted but could never get into before, and might be able to open now?"

"I wish that I could say I did." I sighed as I took a few ginger steps down the hill, finding that as I went down, the dirt cooperated a bit more with each step. "I have a few ideas, and there a quite a few structures around here hidden amongst the hills. Those might still have something good." I knew that on our repeated trips through here, Sky and I had cleaned out most of the valuables along this trail. I was mostly just trying to keep him calm and relaxed.

"How do you even know we are going in the right direction?" Gale spoke up as he made it to the bottom of the hill, standing with Brass and I. "All these hills look the same to me."

"Well, my sister and I have travelled this trail many times when trading, so I know where everything is supposed to be along here." I stated rather matter-O-factly. "Plus, I've got the Pipbuck's map." I shook my left hoof, the bright pink shell of it barely visible under the thick layer of mud around it.

"But if you have been through here many times, how isn't that you never scavenged?" Gale scrunched up his muzzle in thought and rubbed his muddy hoof on his chin before realizing it was slathering it onto him. I looked down to Brass as he continued, giving the young ghoul a nervous smile. "As a trader, I would have thought you'd have picked the places clean."

Brass deadpanned and rolled his eyes, trodding past me toward the next hill. "Come on, Backlash. At the very least I want to get out of this rain." Gale followed and gave a nervous smile of his own. I frowned as I couldn't help but feel that I was getting us in over our heads again.

"There's an old rest stop a quarter mile from here." I mentioned as I quickly trotted after Brass, catching up to the two momentarily. "We can take a break there, see if the weather will let up." From falling into the mud, to standing still, my body was reminding me it was cold, and the near freezing rain was just going to take it's toll on all of us if we didn't dry off. "And I'll see about building us a fire."

I was surprised I had never thought about it before, but the maintenance closet of the rest stop had quite a few rolls of paper towels still wrapped up in their wax paper. Not only did it make for good starter fuel for the fire, we each split one and used it to get ourselves dried off a bit. The rain hadn't died down one bit by the early afternoon, and was beginning to get worried that if it didn't let up, we would be stuck here overnight.

Brass levitated a bottle of water over to me as the three of us sat under the covered rest stop. I hoped he couldn't read on my face that I was worried. I took it with a smile and guzzled it down, once again not even taking the time to enjoy it. I looked over to Gale, who had curled himself up next to the fire and appeared to have fallen asleep. I pulled myself to my hooves, wincing as my rear legs cried out for me to be done using them today.

I walked over to the edge of the roof, putting my head under the constant stream of water that flowed off it. I bit down on the bottle and twisted it, squishing the container into the mud before looking back to Brass who was adjusting our drying clothes with his still weakened magic.

"I'm going to take a walk alone; clear my head a bit." I smiled softly to him, hoping that he would just stay here for now. He forced a smile and nodded softly. "Thanks. I promise I'll figure this all out."

His smile dropped off as I spoke. "Why? Why do you need to be alone to do this?"

"That's the best Skyline impression I've heard in a long time." I laughed softly, getting him to smirk again at least. "I'm not trying to do this alone at all, in fact, I need you for this, Brass. I need you to make sure I keep a level head, one slip up, one wrong move is all it's going to take, and then 42 wins."

"I know. That's why I'm just extra worried." He huffed and scraped his hoof along the concrete. "What if... what if after we tell the elders what Sorbet is really up to... we just run?" He looked up to me with a flicker of hope. "She couldn't deal with the whole of the Rangers coming down on her, she'd have to give up."

"You think we can RUN?" I laughed half heartedly, really hoping he was joking. "You realize we can't, right?"

He shrugged and looked genuinely hurt that I didn't think we could. "Why not? You have the files that Forty Two needs!" He raised his voice loud enough that Gale was stirring awake. "If we take the Marauder, she'll..."

"SHE WOULD KILL EVERYPONY SHE COULD FIND UNTIL I RETURNED!" I screamed out at him, turning around. The cold rain stung on my bare flank, sucking what little heat I had absorbed from the fire right back out. "Don't you see? She's not going to stop unless I find a way to make sure she can NEVER use that pond!"

"Woah woah, what's this all about?" Gale groggily spoke as he rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Who's killing who now?"

I turned and trotted angrily out into the rain. Why couldn't he understand! 42 is so much of a stereotypical villain that she is predictable. I mean, not so much in keeping track of her, but with how she's been running everything! The most annoying thing is when she shows up when I least expect her to and have only made it out due to luck! Like my rib plate catching that bullet, my acidic blood, or how Harmony…

I stumbled at the thought of her, nearly falling onto my face in the mud. Just the idea that Brass wanted to run when she gave her life to help us. She would have died for NOTHING if we gave up now. Not only her, but the ponies of Whinny and Ponyville as well! I mean what about Pallet? If we stopped now, we...! The muscles in my neck really started to ache, badly enough that it knocked me out of my thoughts.

"The hell. What now?" I reached up and rubbed my neck with my muddy hoof, tilting my head down until it felt slightly better. My ears perked as an odd sound carried over the sound of the downpour. There were voices, what sounded to be at least two separate ones coming from just over the hill in front of me.

I did my best to climb the muddy incline, keeping myself low as I crested the top. It was a pony talking with a spritebot, their voices still muffled by the rain, but clear enough that I could hear that it was Watcher's voice in the bot. I got to my hooves with a smile, wanting to talk to him and trotting forward without thinking. Once again, my hoofing failed me as it was off on a cold slide down the hill. I slid into a rock at the bottom with a grunt, my muzzle completely entombed in a muddy pile.

I sat up and brushed the mud off my face as well as I could, squinting as the rain did its best to push it into my eyes. I looked over the pony talking with him, making out that he was a bright purple unicorn, but he had a bright pink mane that made him stick out from the dark browns and grays of today. I pulled myself up and began to trot towards them.

"Hey, Watcher!" I yelled out, making the purple stallion scream out and jump in terror. I watched as he flopped down in the mud, remarking that he looked a lot like I did every time somepony snuck up on me. The bobbing spritebot turned as I approached, drifting a few feet towards me.

"Oh, hello, Backlash. What are you doing out here?" His voice crackled slightly through the speaker. The frightened stallion pulled himself up from the mud and looked me over cautiously. "This is Notepad by the way, he's been chronicling some of the events that have been happening out west."

"That's great and all but I need to know if you have the location of any prewar supply caches in the area." I gave watcher my best pleading smile, still unsure of just how well he could see out of the spritebots.

"Backlash, I can't do that." His voice came through the speaker heavily strained with discomfort. "I can't get involved in wasteland affairs. I'm sorry, but that's why I call myself Watcher." I let out a grunt, kicking at the mud in frustration.

"You'd be content to just sit and watch as a town full of innocent ponies collapsed? Able to sit, knowing that mares and foals were force out into the wastes because you didn't want to help them." I prodded the bobbing bot with my hoof and glared at it. I knew that this was a very basic way to appeal to his sense of good, but to be honest, I'm desperate. "You may find that acceptable from wherever 'high and mighty' you sit, but from down here, you're just as bad as 42."

The sound of the cold rain on the hills around us filled the air. No pony said anything as almost a minute passed, letting me look over the nervous stallion next to me more closely. The old barding he wore was in tatters, but it looked to be the front half of an old Fillydelphia S.W.A.T. barding. There was an odd patch on the back of it, instead of the common SWAT, it read WRITER. He had a single leather pouch slung around him instead of a pair of saddlebags, which was an odd choice for somepony who's supposed to 'chronicle' things. And now that I've thought about it, what the hell does that even mean he does?

My thoughts were derailed by the sharp crack of static from the spritebot, the normal upbeat waltz the spouted spilling into the air as the robot bobbed away from us. Great, now I'm really screwed. I sat down in the mud and looked back at the other stallion.

"You wouldn't happen to know any prewar complexes where I could find anything worth trading, would you?" I gave a weak, forced smile as my body tried to make me collapse then and there. He shook his head, starting to shiver along with me. I sighed and turned back towards the hill, calling back over my shoulder. "We got a fire going at the rest stop over here, you can join us if you want. You know, get out of the rain for a bit."

"That's very kind of you." He smiled and trot over to me, nodding as he brushed his wet mane from his purple eyes. "Was it, Mr. Backlash that Watcher had called you?" We climbed the hill together, my bare flank feeling like it was being pricked with a thousand little needles with every step.

"It's just Backlash." I huffed out while we reached the top. "How do you know Watcher? If you know where he lives, I'd certainly love to go there and kick his lazy flank into gear."

"Actually, I've never met him outside of the spritebots." Notepad shrugged and concentrated at keeping his hoofing going down the hill. I made sure to do so as well, twice was enough for falling into freezing cold mud today. "I've just talked with him several times on my journeys, he's quite interested to hear the stories of the 'heroes' that appear around the wasteland."

"So, you then what, write about them?" I asked as my own curiosity was now peaked. Somepony who went around and wrote? How was that even a viable profession these days when everypony else was just barely managing to get by?

"Well, yes. Somepony needs to write these things down for future generations." He gave a smile as he gazed ahead of us, looking lost in his thoughts. "You should have seen the things that some ponies have accomplished out east. It truly gives me hope that we will have a better world one day."

I rolled my eyes at that. "Yeah, sure. You can live in your fantasy world of sunshine and rainbows, but me? I'm pretty sure we won't ever stop fighting ourselves." I stopped for a moment as the gears in my head fed me something odd. "Wait, if you take down what's happening. Why are you out here? Did you hear about 42?"

We were walking up to the rest stop, quickly ducking under the overhang of the roof to get out of the rain. "I'm here because Watcher explained to me that there was an event like no other going on. An epic battle of Good against Evil! It's going to be so fun to cover!" He sounded genuinely excited, which made one of the gears snap in my head.

I shoved him against the building as my blood felt like it was boiling. "Fun!?" I slammed my hooves next to his head as he cowered down. "For the last month, ponies out here have been dying to what 42 has been doing!"

"Backlash, what are you...?" Brass called out as he trotted around the corner, stopping dead in his tracks as he looked between Notepad and I. In my blind rage, I hadn't even felt the tip of the knife digging into my neck as the cowering stallion's magic pressed it against me. I took a step back as his scared eyes wavered, his magic keeping the weapon on me.

"P..please." Notepad stuttered, tears forming in his eyes. "I don't want to hurt you."

"None of us are going to hurt you." Brass said softly, doing his best to keep calm. "Just please, put the knife down." His talking was working, I could feel the pressure of it come off me slightly. "That's it, nice and easy. We're all friends here." Notepad's magic wavered as he nodded to Brass. Oh thank Celestia, for a moment…

A loud crash came from near the fire, startling both Notepad and I. It all happened so fast that I wasn't sure anything was wrong at first, but then I smelled the burning of my blood on the ground. I lost control of my legs as I felt dizzy, collapsing and falling to the ground while darkness crowded my vision. Funny that the cut across my throat didn't even hurt. In fact, I think it helped me feel warm again.

The warm breeze that flowed through the tree above me felt good on my coat. The wet ground I lay on wasn't in the least bit cold or uncomfortable. In fact, it was just the opposite, I wish I could lay here forever.

"Enjoying yourself?" Pinkie asked from beside me.

I opened my eyes and looked over to her. Her mane still lay flat like the last time we talked, but she had a smile on her muzzle. Her eyes conveyed both happiness and an incredible fear. Why was she so afraid? Why had she been last time? So many questions that I could ask, but I simply nodded.

"Listen, Backlash, I know I haven't been there for you when you've needed me." Her voice was deep with regret, her words nothing but the truth. "But I would like to change that, even though it's going to get me in trouble." There was a rumble along the horizon, making me sit up and glance over in that direction. A massive set of storm clouds were forming quickly, lightning arcing through them."

"Remember these numbers! 5706!" Pinkie raised her voice to contend with the rumbles. I watched as the hilly lands swept back towards us, a large blast of wind hitting us as the clouds moved closer. She grabbed my face with her hooves, making me stare into her eyes. "I'm sorry it's been tough, but it's going to get worse!" She smiled again, her eyes softening softly. "You are tough, Backlash, don't let her break you!"

A pulse of light came from the cloud, a bolt of lightning arced out of it and slammed into my chest, the force of it throwing me back into the tree and knocking me into the silent darkness once more.

I came to again feeling like I was drowning, forcing me to roll over and cough up what was probably close to a pint of blood. I gasped hard and heaved a few more times onto the concrete, sending what little was left of the beans from this morning out with quite a bit more blood. Opening my eyes, I looked about as the fuzzy world around me resolved into Brass, Gale and Notepad standing out in the rain looking at me.

I looked down to find out why it felt like I had been bucked in the chest, only to find two spoons glued to my chest. Each spoon had a wire that ran to the exposed workings of the energy weapon I had brought out of the East Orchard. Brass smiled and bounced on his hooves as I looked at him confused, the weapon dropping out of Notepad's levitation.

"IT WORKED!" He screamed and splashed about in the mud happily.

"What happened?" I asked, trying to sit up, but once again the world wanted me to stay down as it twirled around me. I flopped back down onto the warm concrete and groaned as my head thumped in pain.

"Well, from my understanding, me dropping the cookpot startled the new guy here, causing him to accidentally slit your throat." Gale said, raising his hoof to pat Brass on the head. "Your buddy here saved your life with his quick thinking. Having notepad apply a healing potion to your throat as he looked for things from your bags." He ruffled Brass's mane, making him glow bright red in embarrassment.

"When I noticed you heart had stopped," Brass spoke up to draw attention from his discomfort. "I managed to jerry-rig up a defibrillator using a pair of Gale's spoons, his wonderglue, and some wiring I found in your bags." He beamed a proud smile to me as I couldn't help but share it. He is one crafty stallion, I'll give him that.

"Look, I'm really sorry about that..." Notepad tried to apologize before I cut him off.

"No, I shouldn't have snapped like that. I've just had a bad month is all." I sighed out and rolled myself to my hooves. As I did, I couldn't help but notice that Notepad's hooves were wrapped in healing bandages. "I hope my mutation didn't cause you too much pain."

"I've had worse." He forced a soft smile, lying to my face in his attempt to be courteous. "Now that you are alright, do you mind if we get out of the rain?" The moment he said it, I started to shiver. The deluge held no signs of letting up as I looked up into the dark clouds, the storm from my dreams flashing in my mind.

I nodded to them and carefully pulled myself up, feeling as Notepad pulled the wires off; the spoons stuck to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to be alive and all, but did they really have to wonderglue them to me? I painfully hoofed the end of each one up, biting hard before tearing it off, taking most of the coat under with it. As I recovered from the pain for removing the spoons, I felt cold against my side, instinctively turning to look why. The entire right side of my body was coated in blood, slicking off to the me-shaped outline on the concrete that was the only clear portion left.

I stood just staring at it, my mind refusing to process that I had technically just died again. No, not refusing to process, that was a completely wrong assessment. The thing is, it just didn't phase me at all. How is it that in a month's time, this had become my life? Was I really expected to complete this journey?

The gears in my mind locked up at the overload of existential uncertainties, sending a sharp pain through my head. I shook it off and carefully made my way around the side of the rest stop, knowing to take it even slower as the browns and greys around me started to bleed into each other. After a few more minutes of walking, I had made it next to the fire with just enough energy to flop down in front of it.

"I hope you are hungry, Backlash!" Brass spoke excitedly while standing on a cinderblock for some reason. "Gale was nice enough to lend me a few things, so I'm making us all pancake battered cram and peas!" He turned back around and grabbed a spatula in his muzzle, flipping whatever he had said was in the pan set over the fire. As I lay there, I took in the warmth the fire gave, relaxing my body and making my eyelids feel like they weighed a ton each.

As I closed my eyes and listened to the others make light conversation, I couldn't help but think how much I missed Skyline. Even if she was here right now she would be smacking me over the head with how I almost died again. I mean, she would, wouldn't she? Even with the events unfolding around us all, the only thing I seem to do is screw things up. And with everything, why does everypony keep supporting me? Even Pinkie broke the rules for me, as much as '5706' helps.

I let out a yawn as I drifted off to sleep, my mind seeing fit that I didn't need any more dreams today, or nightmares.

And just as suddenly as I had fallen asleep, I was woken the next morning by a loud slam. My eyes shot open as I looked around, seeing that the ruckus was Gale tossing what remained of the maintenance closets wooden shelves into the fire. The smallest amount of light was coming over the horizon as my Pipbuck told me it was 7:44 am, making me fight to remember exactly what time it was when I fell asleep. I really needed to remember that this thing put a clock in my vision.

"Good morning, there. Feeling better?" Gale asked with a smile. "We missed you last night at dinner, but Brass saved you some for when you woke up." He pointed his hoof next to me where there was a pair of breaded cram slices left on a piece of old cardboard and a quarter of a can of pre-war peas. As all my senses returned to me, I noticed that it had ceased raining finally, which was good because we were WAY behind schedule.

"Where's Brass?" I groggily spoke, rubbing my eyes with my hoof. Rolling back up to my hooves, my head reminded me that I had lost quite a lot of blood the day before by making me light headed. I managed to keep myself upright, glancing down at the food as my stomach gurgled.

"He and that other stallion went off to search for something radioactive for him. Last night he told us he felt weak and thought it might help." Gale shrugged and sat down in front of the fire, holding his hooves out as the new wood burned. That makes sense, seeing as it's been quite a while since he's had his suit to keep him strong. Not that he's needed the suit to be helpful, but I probably should have saved something radioactive for just this kind of occasion. But that's something a pony who is a lot smarter than me would have thought of.

I leaned my neck down and sniffed at what Brass had left me. I would like to believe that it was because he could cook well, and not because I was starving, but it smelled like a slice of heaven to me. I couldn't help myself but I dove into it, messily chewing at the delicious sustenance. I didn't even pause between finishing the breaded cram before taking the can of peas in my hooves and shoving it against my muzzle. As I greedily slurped them up, I caught a glimpse of Gale staring at me, his eyes fixated on me with a worried gaze. I lowered the now empty can slowly away from my messy muzzle, giving him a small smile.

"Well that was a bust." I could hear Notepad say as him and Brass trotted towards us from the direction I had originally found him yesterday. I let out a belch and pulled myself to my hooves, stopping again as I felt light headed again. I really was hoping that this wouldn't become an issue today. I walked over to the mare's room, hoofed it open, and walked in. Overnight, Xin's outfit had completely dried, which was a relief to me. If I had to walk in that much rain again before the day I died for real, it'd be too soon.

The door opened behind me as Brass trotted in. I smiled brightly as I saw him, unable to hold back how proud I was to be his friend. And he beamed a wide smile back, using his magic to nudge his leather armor from the counter I had hung it over. He let out a giggle as I hoofed the leather trench coat on, making me do the same. I walked over and pulled him into a tight hug, feeling at his flesh squished a bit more than it had when he first became a ghoul.

"Don't worry, buddy, we'll find you something radioactive soon." I said as I pat him on the head softly. "No family of mine is going to need a sick day if I can help it!" The gears in my head started up suddenly, trying to pull something out of my head that I was curious about recently... but what was it?

He chuckled and stepped back, hoofing at his armor. "Yeah, well you've already used enough for the both of us." He slipped the oversized armor onto him, the plating fitting nowhere near as well as yesterday. In fact, now that I looked at him, he visibly looked smaller. Was that because of lack of radiation? Or just something that normally happens when you become a ghoul? "Damnit! I swear this fit better yesterday." He slipped out of it and kicked it in frustration. "Why couldn't I have just learned mom's spell!?"

The gears in my head feed me the question I had wanted to say. "Can you tell me about them?" I asked slowly, watching as he looked over to me in confusion. "You never did tell me about your parents."

He let out a sigh. "Well, I've never seen my father. Mother tells me that because he was so good at repairing terminals, he was transferred to a Las Pegasus chapter to help out on some project." He kicked at the armor again. "Must still be working on it, seeing as he's never contacted manehattan HQ or Mom again." I turned around and hoofed the wide brimmed hat onto my head, listening as he continued.

"As for mother, she was so scared she'd lose me, she never wanted me to leave the base. Even working in artifact cataloging was too dangerous for me to be around, even when that was her job." He rolled his eyes and sat down hard, sorrow filling his words. "So when I told her I was going on the mission to the Ministry, she flipped out and told me that 'if I went, she would disown me'." He flopped on the floor, doing his best to mimic his mothers voice as pain built, tearing up as he turned his gaze over to me. "I sure showed her, didn't I?"

I took a page out of Skyline's book and decided to walk up and smack him. "That's fucking right you did. You went out into the wasteland and you survived." He covered his head as he looked up to me, his eyes still reflecting the pain he felt. "You left the base and have done incredible things. Saving my life on more than one occasion is one of the things I'm personally proud you've done." I prodded at him as he wiped his cheeks. "So when we get back to Manehattan, you are going to walk right up to her and tell her how wrong she was. You tell her all about how you've become a big damn hero out in the real world."

"Thanks, Backlash." He sniffled, getting to his hooves. "You're right. I don't want to be afraid of disappointing her anymore. But you know, even if she is my mom," He dropped his gaze to the floor as sadness crept into his voice again. "What if she does disown me? She's the only family I've got."

I smacked him across the head a second time, bringing a wave of anger washing over his face as he looked up to me. I smiled as he glared. "You're part of my fucking family too, don't you forget that."

We had been walking all morning and were now well into the afternoon, trudging through the cold mud was taking its toll on us, but nothing had caught our attention that we needed to be concerned about. Which was odd, seeing as Skyline and I had to defend ourselves nearly every time in the past from a few manticores roaming this side of foal mountain, and I haven't been spectacularly lucky this last month. So where were they?

"Let's take a break up there." Gale boredly remarked, pointing to a two story brick ruin that jutted out of the hills ahead, an old pharmacy built for a small town that's since rotted away. The gears in my head turned as I remembered that Sky and I would sometimes stop in there to either prepare to fight or rest after one with the local wildlife. Each idea depending on where we were headed.

"Let's not stay too long though." I called up to him, not wanting to have something or someone sneak up on us while we were vulnerable. "We are already late as it is, I don't want to take too much more time." Even though I needed all the time I could get to search the place for anything I could use to barter with. If it came down to it, I'd give up everything but my pipbuck just to make this happen.

As we walked up to the front of the decrepit storefront, the wind picked up sharply, and a familiar voice carried words into my ears

"Remember..."

I stopped. Everything in my brain came to a halt as my body went rigid. Slowly, the gears in my mind strained, turning slowly to carry my memories back to me. It was something Pinkie said, something in the last dream I had. How could I have forgotten it so quickly?

"Backlash, everything alright?" Brass asked so softly I couldn't really hear him. He was probably speaking normally, but my brain couldn't pay attention to him as it worked. It was a set of numbers, I'm sure of it, but what numbers I just couldn't recollect. Why was it I can remember everything about Low Ball's perfectly styled mane in Hoofington, but I can't remember something I was told yesterday!?

"Backlash." Gale said as he put his hoof on my shoulder, breaking me out of my thoughts almost painfully.

"WHAT!?" I screamed, glaring over at him as I startled him into stumbling back against the brick facing of the building. I blinked, dumbfounded as he now sat underneath the address written on the pharmacy. The tarnished brass lettering spelling out 5706, cracking the gears in my head over and dragging what Pinkie told me to the forefront of my mind.

"This... this is it." I spoke slowly in disbelief, ignoring the others murmurs as I trotted inside. "There's something here, something we need." I called out, hoofing open the cabinets and drawers of the front counter that had long been scavenged by sky and I. What could there be here that Pinkie knew I would need? I must have gone over this place two or three times since we found this place years ago.

"You two, wait here." Brass called back to the others as he followed my incessant and frantic searching. "What are we looking for, Backlash?"

"Pinkie told me she would help us and gave me the numbers '5706' to remember." I trotted out from behind the front counter, turning and heading down the hallway toward the store room. As I opened the door, Brass slipped through ahead of me and and stood in my way.

"Backlash, stop." His stern voice did little to deter my want to continue, but I stopped to hear what he had to say. He has so far proven to have better decision making skills than I have had, and it would be wise to at least hear him out. "I understand you think she wants to help, but aren't you forgetting she was the one who set all of this up? Your's, Sky's, and My name were all on that folder left there for you BY her."

"You think she's just toying with us? Like she wants to see this happen?" I don't want to believe that this has all been some sadistic game for her, but with everything I know about Pinkie and 42, I can't actually put that off the table.

"I'm just saying that she wanted you to find something here, so why not let me look instead?" He shook his head and sighed. "Everything she's had you do has gotten you nearly killed. All I'm saying is, let me look this time."

I rolled my eyes. "Look, I know what..." As I looked back at him, I glanced at the side of the empty vending machine against the wall across from me. 5706 was barely visible through the grime. "There. The numbers again." I pointed my hoof over to it as Brass spun to look.

"An old vending machine?" He remarked sarcastically as got up with a chuckle. "I know you've been hungry big guy, but this was the help she was going to give?" (Brass has earned enough of my respect to poke fun at my weight, so don't get any ideas about it, yourself.) He stood in front of the empty machine and looked it over. I walked over and looked at it.

It was just the same as the last few times I had seen it, and like usual, the only thing that looked intact was the selection pad. Which was useless, seeing as Sky had just bucked the glass plate out when we raided it before.

"If you a sure this is it, maybe it has a hidden compartment?" Brass tapped along the bottom and side of the machine.

I looked at the keypad as the gears in my head turned. I hoofed the numbers on it slowly. 5-7-0-6 and then hit select. I was pleased to hear a soft hiss as the machine rumbled softly, slowly being drawn into the brick wall by some unseen mechanism. once it slid far enough in, it slid sideways, stopping when it was flush with the gap it had left. I had always wondered why the front room and back room were spaced so far apart.

In front of us was a large steel door that looked a whole lot like the one under the family farmhouse. "It's... another vault." Brass gasped and jumped about giddily. "The location alone of something like this would be worth a fortune, even not knowing what was inside! He looked over the door confused for a moment. "Actually... how do we get inside?"

I looked around the small recess the whole thing sat in, spotting a small hatch that nearly blended into the wall. I hoofed at it, finally hoofing it open. The inside of the hatch was painted yellow, and the three pink butterfly's that denoted the Ministry of Peace were inlayed above another keypad.

"Well, I think we can take a guess at what's stored in here." I shrugged and looked at the keypad. I had seen one of these models before, something I never liked to work on. It had a deadlock system built in. If you didn't know the code, the doors would seal shut and start a reset timer. Until that timer ended, the room was completely sealed shut. It's a good thing I have the code, I really didn't want to have to find a thermal lance to cut my way through.

I hoofed the same four digit code in as before, sharply hoofing the return key and waiting. A series of whirs and clicks preceded the massive door swinging open. The lights kicked on, revealing shelves upon shelves of healing potions, both normal and extra strength. Clear boxes were nearly overflowing with Rad-Safe, Med X, RadAway. lines and lines of bandages, crutches, splints, and jugs of surgical prep supplies. And set against the back wall were two pristine MkII Auto-doc units, still wrapped up in their plastic.

"Oh, Dr. Fitz would kiss me if he was here right now!" I managed to spit out amongst my stupefying wonder. Brass trotted in, looking over boxes of miscellaneous medicines.

"Backlash, this is..." Brass was cut off as the number pad next to me let out a loud pop, sparks shooting out from it as the door motors whirred to life again, swinging the massive steel place quickly towards me. Brass's hesitation cost him, the door already more than halfway closed when he started to run.

"BRASS!" I screamed, shoving my hooves uselessly against the relentless push of the hydraulic mechanisms pushing back. The gears in my head spun sharply, making me throw up my left hoof before it shut completely, jamming my Pipbuck between the frame and the heavy door. I've seen Pipbucks take the full force of dozens of large caliber rounds without getting a scratch, so I hoped the pressure of the door wasn't high enough to do crush it.

The gearing in the door whined as it press down on my hoof, warping the Pipbuck ever so slightly. Brass pushed at the door, grunting as he pushed his way through the small gap. If there was one time that I was glad he was as small as a colt, it would be now.

"I'm through!" He gasped as he wound his way past my legs. I breathed a small sigh of relief at that before feeling the Pipbuck twist and press into my foreleg. A thought about losing another leg shot through my mind as I tried to pull it from the door, but the best I had done was manage to only let the door get a better grip. "Backlash, just pull your hoof out of it, leave it behind!"

"NO!" I screamed as the door groaned, the screen of the Pipbuck cracking in thin lines as I strained and pulled my hardest. The E.F.S. display in my vision fuzzed as I felt the case splitting. "IT HAS THE ANSWERS!"

And with that, my muddy hoof slipped free, sending me tumbling backwards as the door whined, a loud crunch all I heard as I slammed onto the floorboards. Brass ran up and hugged me as I lay there panting heavily. It was gone. All the audio logs, all the notes. Everything I had that gave me the advantage over 42. If Pinkie was truly doing this all for a good laugh, I hope she was having the time of her unlife about now, because this was just cruel.

Notepad and Gale galloped into the room, confusion and concern all too clear on their faces. "What happened?" Notepad asked, slowly walking over to the sealed door.

"The door to that room was going to close with me inside, Backlash used his Pipbuck to keep it open." Brass's voice told me he was immensely grateful, but ashamed as well. "If I wasn't so stupid, he wouldn't have had to sacrifice it."

I pushed Brass off of me, getting back to my hooves. "Brass, you were right about the room. If you hadn't gone in, I would have." I shook my head and picked Xin's hat up off the floor, putting it back on. Notepad levitated something toward me in the corner of my vision. It was the top half of the Pipbuck, the screen completely shattered as the whole thing had been folded over onto itself. I took it in my hoof and put it into my saddlebag. "Thanks, but it's pointless now."

I walked past everypony and back out to the hallway. "Come on, no use in staying. We got what we came for."

The light was fading on the horizon as we walked toward the bridge checkpoint for the Pool, the bright lights of the three remaining towers shining as brightly as ever down onto the street below. Two ponies were standing at the guardpost, both of them wearing leather jackets and a gaudy plastic-looking mask of Pinkie Pie's smiling face. A face which I was beginning to hate, even if she was my relative.

"Hey!" One of them called out, trotting out as his buddy leveled his shotgun battle saddle to us. "Nopony gets inta the Pool anymore without being checked, forty two's orders." The four of us stopped, my heart rate jumping as he approached, the gears in my head spinning into action.

I lifted my left hoof, showing it to him. "We're not the guy she's looking for, you see a Pipbuck on any of us?"

"Yeah, I don't." He replied quickly, suspicion still rampant in his voice. "No pony who's lookin' for him was told to look for that 'til forty two got back yesterday." And that was me fucking up again. Great job, Backlash. He walked up and peered under my hat, his eyes studying me through the mask. "So then, if I ain't seen ya b'fore, how'd ya know?"

The gears in my mind shoved an idea to me that was crazy enough it might work. I hooked my hoof into his collar and pulled him up to me, glaring at him as his eyes went wide in shock. "You know why Myron hired a hunter named Grinder? Cause I crush everything in my way lookin' for somepony." I growled at him, enjoying as he squirmed in my grip. "The reason I know about the Pipbuck is that I'm the one who dropped a skycar on the fucker and ripped it off his cold, dead leg."

I nailed it.

The guard pulled himself away from me, stumbling a few steps back before re-adjusting his jacket. "Ok, ok, I swear I didn't know that ya worked for tha kid!" He apologized as he stepped back out of the way. I grinned slyly and looked back at the others, Brass's face locked in a smirk that told me he was impressed. I nodded for the others to follow and walked over the bridge.

The pool hadn't changed much since I had left with the exception that armed patrols of Pinkie masked ponies were mixed in with the hustle and bustle of the night time shift change. That would make it easier to get past the guards, but with 42 here, who know's if I'll be able to make it out without her knowing. Best to get right to it then.

As I continued forward, a shady looking unicorn stallion trotted over from the Red Lantern, catching my eye as someone who was curious about me. I stopped as he approached, trying to make sure it seemed casual and not draw attention to me. "Hey, you work for Myron?"

I looked over his face as he spoke, his muzzle twitching in irritation as he mentioned the tiny drug lord's name. I studied his eyes as he waited for a response, noting that he was doing the same to me.

"I have a feeling that if you thought I did, you wouldn't have asked." I kept my voice down, tilting Xin's hat down a bit to better hide my own eyes. "Whatever you want, make it quick." I glanced at his cutie mark, wondering exactly what three lightning bolts was supposed to signify.

The odd stallion smiled, his blood red eyes shining under the artificial lighting. "I need you to kill him for me." He took joy in merely asking me. "You see, he murder..."

"Spare me the exposition, I'll do it." I cut him off. "Just tell me where he is, and get the hell out of town." As much as I feel everypony deserves a second chance, there is a small list of exceptions. Namely being 42, Myron, and Sorbet. Evil like them shouldn't have a second chance.

"He's at the Tanker." He responded quickly, sounding confused. "Don't you even want to know..."

I was already trotting off down the street, Brass galloping to catch up with me after a minute. "But, I thought you said everypony needs a second chance?" He asked, a bit of disappointment coming through his words.

"You weren't here, Brass. You don't know what he's like, what he’s done." I brushed off his question and kept my hat down, slipping up alongside the tower that used to belong to the stalliatore twins. It looks like it had been repurposed into 42's head quarters as the bottom quarter of it had been painted pink, old M.o.M. banners had been hung outside the entrance where four masked goons with light machine guns on battle saddles stood guard.

Brass and the others followed silently as we entered Peppermint's bar, the tired looking mare doing her best to look happy for all the ponies flooding the counter with thirsty muzzles. There were several other mares all dressed in pink serving drinks while a couple of ponies sat on a few pushed together tables in the corner, playing music for the crowd. If it weren't for the circumstances, I would have congratulated her on how popular she's grown.

I pushed my way toward the bar, keeping an eye out for Myron. As I got to the counter, I tilted my hat up slightly when Peppermint swung her gaze over. A flash of surprise grazed her face before hope filled her eyes. Something was going so badly for her that I had started to look welcoming. This made me a bit nervous. She nodded for me to follow her, trotting out from behind the bar. I turned as Brass approached, putting my muzzle right next to his ear so he could hear me over the deafening crowd.

"When she tells us where the alcohol is, go tell Gale and meet me back here." I frowned as I felt bad for having him be an errand boy for now, but if 42 did decide to show up at Peppermint's meeting, at least I could minimize the chance of him being there. "Oh, and tell Notepad to go with him, I don't want him here with us." I added as he nodded and followed at my side. As we climbed the stairs to Peppermint's store room, I was stopped by one of the guard she hired years ago stopped me.

He put his enormous hoof out and shook his head. "You know the rules. No gear inside. You can pick it up when you leave."

I sighed and took off Xin's disguise, also hesitantly handing over my saddlebags before being leg into the back room. The guard opened up an old trunk and stuffed our things inside. My eyes beheld a surprising sight set into the lid, an old off-white crate with the letters B.E.L. stenciled on in black. He shut the trunk and looked over to Peppermint, waiting for her to nod before leaving. She was standing nervously in the center of her room, waiting until the door clicked shut before even appearing to relax at all.

"Peppermint, I need a favor." I tried to ask as courteously as I could, watching as her eyes lit up.

"Whatever it is, I'll do it." She smiled and nodded enthusiastically before her expression turned grim. "That miniature psycho has it out for me. He wants to buy my stills off me, but I'm afraid that if I accept, he'll just kill me rather than pay." Which does sound like something he would do. "I just need you to either deal with him or get me out of here."

"And I need a cart full of moonshine, loaded up and ready to go. Not to mention a contract for the town of Red Wing stating that you will supply them with moonshine for 5 caps a gallon." I smirked. I know I was taking complete advantage of her situation, but I had played fair enough up until now. I've risked everything for this and I'm not going to take well enough for an answer.

For a moment, she looked like she was about to explode on me, her face turned crimson with rage. I looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to argue the point, allowing me to ask for an even more outrageous deal. She sighed as she conceded, walking over to her desk and grabbing a pen in her mouth. After a minute of writing, she picked up the paper and spit it out at me.

"Take that to my guys out back, they will get you rigged up." She sounded like she had just signed her life away, and I basically had. 5 caps was going to lose her money overall, which was making me regret what I had just done. This is why I don't push customers, because not only does their business suffer, but so do they. I just wish that I had an better option at this point. I looked down to Brass, who levitated the paper over to him and nodded to me before leaving the room. "So, about Myron?" She asked, a note of hopefulness in her voice.

"Oh, some stallion on the street told me to murder him as well." I said with a shrug. "I told him I would. The wasteland is too full of evil as it is." I shook my head and sighed as the door opened behind me, brass coming in quietly. "Myron's drugs are a scourge on everypony, but with 42 behind him, there is no telling what lengths he'll go to in order to succeed." Peppermint stared blankly behind me, raising her hoof as I spoke. "And he's right behind me, isn't he."

She nodded, making me sigh. I knew something was bound to go wrong.

"You know, Backlash," Myron's voice was as full of arrogance than ever. "I misjudged you. Here I thought you were a sensible business pony, maybe willing to join us and make hoof fulls of caps." He continued as I turned around, looking down into his pale eyes. "But now I see that you're just another wasteland dipshit who doesn't know a goddess-damned thing."

"I mean look at me!" He giggled giddily, while pushing the safety glasses he wore up his muzzle. "I just finished manufacturing the first batch of PTM's and with our illustrious pink queen at the head of my operation now, the whole of the wasteland will know the name of Myron!"

"No." Brass remarked as he turned the corner, his horn glowing as Myron spun around in surprise. Brass thrust a combat knife forward, the tip punching through the back of Myron's neck. "No pony will know who you were." Brass frowned and looked up to me. "He was the pony we were supposed to kill, right?"

Myron gurgled and collapsed to the floor, Brass's horn sparking and turning the tip black as his already weak magic finally gave out again. He panted lightly as I sat in shock. He... killed Myron.

"Brass! What the hell did you do!?" I screamed and flailed my forehooves. "You... you just stabbed him!" I trot over and hoofed the knife from the dead drug lords neck. It was a highly polished combat knife, almost to the point of being brand new, even it's blue handle wrapping was in remarkable condition. Well, aside for the yellow lightning bolt painted onto it. "Where in Celestia's name did you even get this anyway!?"

"Lil' Zeus gave it to me!" Brass smiled and bounced on his hooves. "He gave it to me after you walked away from him."

"Lil' Zeus!?" Peppermint nearly screamed out. "As in Zeus Maredino Jr.!?" I watched as Brass shook his head to this.

"I'm confused." I closed my eyes in frustration and tried to let the gears in my head spin. "I thought Myron killed the Maredinos."

"He killed Mr. and Mrs. Maredino, but Lil' Zeus wasn't on the train. He's been missing ever since the hit, although somepony said that they saw him with White Bishop's daughter, but since YOU killed him, she's gone missing as well." She walked up behind me and pushed at me with her hooves. I turned around and pushed her away, watching as she nervously looked about. "Oh, this is bad! VERY bad. You need to go."

I felt a sharp pain in my eyes, making me force them shut. The gears in my head spun to life and sent me warning signals over and over. Shit, if my eyes hurt, that means...

I was about to respond when there was a loud zap behind me, sounding like an electrical device just shorted out. I spun around, opening my eyes to see Brass, unconscious on the floor, 42 standing over him with a cattle prod in her scarred up muzzle. The burns my blood had caused had warped the flesh on the right half of her muzzle and continued down all the way to her stomach. She let the rod go as a pink-masked unicorn levitated it towards me, pressing it to my neck.

"You can't leave yet, the party was just about to start!" She cackled as the prod discharged, making me slump to the floor. "You'll want to stay to the end. I promise it's going to be a BLAST!" She stepped up and reared up, coming down onto my face hard, sending me into the sweet bliss of darkness.

I stirred awake on a cold metal floor, opening my eyes as I heard a large amount of talking ponies all around me. An odd perspective had me perplexed, resolving as I sat up to my hooves. The cage I had been placed in swung in the night breeze, tilting and rocking what looked to be 40 feet off the ground. I glanced around, trying not to focus on how much the swinging felt like I was on a boat again, finding that Brass was laying behind me, unmoving. I prodded him with my hoof, relieved when he groaned. My neck hurt from where I had been shocked, but other than that, we seemed fine.

A whirring sound caught my attention as the cage started to descend somehow, an old carnival dunk machine came into view, most of it covered in a white sheet. 42 was standing on her hind legs next to it, holding a megaphone in her hooves, just watching as the crowd of ponies lining the street parted for us so we could see. As the gears in my head spun up, the cage stopped with a jolt, setting down on the street with a clang.

"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" 42 called out "We have a little show for you tonight!" The crowd cheered at this, quieting down again as she waved her hoof at them. "We have a special game set up for you, courtesy of the very talented..." She raised her hoof and pointed it to the covered game. A unicorn on the other side used his levitation to throw off the sheet dramatically. "Miss Peppermint Shnapps!"

Peppermint was tied up and had been set on the dunk seat. She went as wide eyed as I did when we noticed that the tank had been filled with Taint. The rainbow liquid shimmering slightly as the crowd erupted into cheers and whistles.

"Backlash, she's going to kill her!" Brass shouted as he looked over to me as I hoofed at the bars on the cage, powerless to stop her.

"And we have a special guest here tonight who will have the honor of playing our little game!" 42 yelled enthusiastically. If she thought that Brass or I would play her game, she was sorely mistaken. "That's right, the only survivor of the ponyville massacre, committed by your's truly..." Oh, goddesses no. She can't! "Miss Pallet Jack!"

The tiny green pegasus filly was levitated out, being kept in a cage barely big enough to fit her. But she must have been strong like her father, seeing as the cage had been bent out of shape, looking more like a sphere now than a box. She flapped her wings uselessly as she was levitated from it, being held high for all to see.

"Now Pallet, I know you don't like your auntie 42 very much." She went on, her nefarious tone only making my blood boil. "But if you play my game and win, then I'll take you for ice cream." She leaned down as Pallet was dropped before her. "Doesn't that sound good?"

Pallet said something I couldn't quite hear, but it cause 42 to smile and look up to the crowd. "You hear that, my little ponies? She just wants to go home to daddy." A collective 'Awww!' came from the crowd, their tone denoting that they thought it was adorable. 42 nodded and raised her hoof again, leaning back down to the filly. "I'm sorry, but I killed your daddy. He's not there for you anymore."

Pallet spun around and bucked 42 square in the muzzle, not even visibly causing her to flinch. I guess after you've had your muzzle burned as badly as she did, you'd probably lose feeling in it. 42 reached her hoof back and hit Pallet hard, sending the young filly to the ground.

"let the games BEGIN!" She shouted, getting the crowd to explode into cheering again as she nodded to the unicorn who had revealed the tank. He levitated a bucket of balls next to Pallet as 42 looked at her. "Remember, no ice cream until you win the game."

Pallet nodded softly and hoofed a ball out of the bucket and looked at it. She swung it around, throwing it toward the bright red and white ringed target. The crowd silenced as the ball traveled all of three feet before dropping to the ground. 42 facehooved at this before looking back up with a smile.

"Awww, she's just tired. Let's give it up for the filly folks!" She shouted, making the crowd stomp their hooves. Pallet cried out as she was levitated forcefully back into the cage, then was carried off out of sight again. "She certainly gets an A for effort, but I need somepony who can REALLY throw!" She raised her hoof above her eyes and looked around the crowd. "Do we have any volunteers!?"

She smiled and set the megaphone down as the wound up ponies cried out energetically, rushing to form a line for a try. She made her way over to our cage, nodding to random ponies as they called out a compliment to her. She sat down and canted her head, shaking it as her expression beamed exuberance.

My ears picked up the sound of the ponies in the line start to throw, so I figured I'd start the conversation. "You realize that I'll never tell you anything?" I smiled as a twinge of irritation popped into her eyes. She whistled, holding her hoof out before somepony ran over and deposited an old 10mm pistol into her hoof. She pointed it at Brass, watching for a reaction from me.

One that I didn't give. "Wow, you're as bad as the Goddess at this, you know that?" I smirked and shrugged. "Nothing in this hellish wasteland will make me tell you where the facility is."

Her eyes lit up for a moment, a snicker escaping from her muzzle. "Wait, you think I'm looking for the LAB?" Her giggles quickly evolved into an uncontrollable laughter, making her gasp and drop onto her back as she tried to contain herself. "I'M NOT... LOOKING FOR... THAT, SILLY!" She shouted in between her gasping. I looked over to Brass, who was just as confused as I was.

"Ohhh. I'm going to miss this when we're done." She remarked in what so far was the only truthful thing to come out of her muzzle tonight. My ear registered another miss on the dunk game, thank Celestia none of these ponies could throw well!. "You do know that the Lab is inside Foal mountain, right? I mean, I know where I came from, it’s not something you forget. I was locked up in Orchard Seven for years before they sent me into that tank in Manehattan." She shook her head, dismissing the negativity that was in her words. "The Pool contains all the magically charged flux for the machine. You had to have at least figured the machine was inside the mountain when I took this place over." She said as she smiled brightly.

I blinked and scrunched up my muzzle as the gears in my head put everything together, only being pulled from my thoughts as 42 fell to the ground again in more giggle fits. "YOU DIDN'T KNOW! THAT'S JUST TOO GOOD!" Her annoying taunting and flaunting was doing nothing to quell the growing rage inside me.

I slammed my hooves against the bars in anger, making her quiet down quickly. "Then what the hell do you want from me?" I barked out, wishing for nothing more than to just get my hooves around her neck. "Why keep me locked up like this!?" Not like I was ever considering it, but screw what B.I.T. had said, ponies like her didn't get a second chance.

Another whack preceded the disappointed moaning of the crowd. 42 sat back up and pressed herself into the bars, her sadistic grin as wide as ever. "I want you to tell me where to find the pond." Her words oozed with the pleasure she pulled from my hatred. I swung my hoof forward, slamming it into the bar again, not even making her flinch.

"Never." I growled out

She ignored my answer and continued. "Once I have the pond, I am going to force you to watch as I tear down everything you've ever liked. I'll murder everypony in in Tenpony tower, making sure to save that DJ a seat right next to you for it. Next, I'll focus on ridding the wasteland of the troublesome Steel Rangers..." 42 put a hoof to her chin can looked to the sky in thought. "Maybe I'll start with your little monster friend." She smiled as she glanced down at Brass.

"Go ahead!" He screamed at her, breaking me from my growing rage. I turned and grabbed him, pulling him close and covering his muzzle with my fetlock. That didn't make him too happy, but I couldn't afford pissing 42 off enough to actually kill him. There was another thump as another softball missed it's target. How much longer could she go on doing this?

"Maybe I'll just start with your pretty, blue mare friend." 42's oily voice made me shiver.

I smirked as I thought of something I could use.. "You won't even get the chance 42. Come a week from now, there won't be a wasteland for you to control." I said proudly, thinking about how I may be stuck in here, but at least my words didn't have to be. "You see, Steel Ranger Elder Strawberry Sorbet has the location of every megaspell still hidden inside equestria."

42 met my smirk with her own, softening her voice as she leaned in close. "What do I care? I'll have an unending army that megaspells won't stop. I can just overthrow her rule and retake equestria." She chuckled to herself as another pony missed their mark at the dunk game.

"You just don't get it, do you?" I leaned up to the bars. "She doesn't want to rule the wasteland, she wants it wiped clean." I smiled as my words erased 42's smug look. "You, me, she doesn't care about us. She's content with the Steel Rangers retreating back underground for another century while we rot away to nothing in the balefire and radiation." I sat back and shrugged. "Your army may be unending, but how long will they last against starvation and radiation poisoning?"

DING!

The ringing of a solid hit on the dunk game was punctuated by a mix of cheering and disappointed 'Awws' from the line. I looked up just in time to see Peppermint drop below the surface. I growled and slammed my hooves against the bars again as 42 smirked, not even bothering to look back. After a few quiet moments, Peppermint resurfaced, coughing and gasping, hanging half of herself out of the tank as she tried to catch her breath.

But... that wasn't right, 42 didn’t strike me as a non-lethal prankster. She looks to have only filled the tank with taint colored water, leaving Peppermint unharmed. The gears in my head spun to work again, trying to figure out what exactly 42's reasoning was. I looked at 42's muzzle, mouthing words silently as she kept her gaze locked on me.

Three…

Two…

I shut my eyes and curled myself around Brass, feeling the pressure of the explosives in the tank slam into me. I could feel splinters of wood jab into my coat, cutting jagged lines across my side. The ringing that filled my ears faded slightly after a few seconds, letting me hear the screams of agony and pain of other ponies around me. I got back to my hooves, turning and looking over to 42.

She had several large chunks of wood jutting out of her body, one had completely torn into her right foreleg and was still lodged through both sides of it. She let out a deeply psychotic laugh as she pulled herself off the bars, wincing from the pain. I glanced around the smoking street, the bodies of at least half a dozen ponies lay scattered or in chunks.

"If what you say is true, I suppose Tenpony will have to wait." 42 choked out as she looked over to her unicorn friend as he returned, nodding as he levitated a healing potion over to her. "I'll look into it, but I’m only doing it because we are family, Backlash." I was knocked from my hoofing as the cage began to rise up again, stranding us in the air once more, and leaving me to contemplate whether or not I should be blaming myself for Peppermint's death or not.

"So what do we do now?" Brass asked slowly, the spark of hope he normally had gone from his voice.

"I don't know, Brass." I sighed and flopped down. "I don't know."

-------------------------

LEVEL UP!

+ 9 Speech

+ 6 Barter

New Perk: Fission Mailed - Not even a good disguise can help you sneak, so you instead shift your focus to striking first whenever you inevitably get caught! You now gain an additional 2 points towards your combat initiative.

Author's Notes:

Lets do the thanks a bit differently this time since I've been getting more and more interested in participating in a FoE PNP game.

I'd once again like to thank Kkat for the amazing Core Fallout Equestria universe. Somber, for the Hoofingon expansion. Mimezinga for the addition of the Innocence stat. No_One, for the Caledonian Factions guide. Psychoshy for the Manehattan Bounty Hunter class. John Colt for the Delusional Psychosis Trait. Hetnu for the Fight the power! Perk. Xjuan for the Steel Rangers: Expanded set. Sawyer for helping develop the Background resources ruleset. And lastly, to Vocal for showing me what true strength of character looks like.

Thanks to Regolit for being a damn fine party member on Backlash's journey!

To Bad Pun, who deserves a level up because he busted his flank today to get this done for me!

To the IRC crew, who's inane, completely OOC rambling does wonders for my creative drive.

And lastly, to you. As a party member to the travelers, it is up to you to carry the story forward, and I can't thank you enough for staying with it and pressing on.