I groaned as I woke up, my stomach aching and gurgling a little. Rolling over in bed, Cross cuddled up to me in his sleep, releasing a soft sigh. I gently slid his hooves off of me, but gave him a little nuzzle before I climbed out of bed. Oog, drinking all that soda was not a good idea... stupid Twintails, making me drink that radioactive sludge. Managing to make my way to the bathroom just in time, the effect of all the soda started to kick in. Oh, Celestia, it’s glowing. I quickly washed my hooves clear and left, really not needing the image of a shining, illuminated toilet bowl now in my head. As I entered our bedroom, I found Cross sitting up in the bed, yawning and rubbing at his eyes. He glanced over to myself, wearing a soft smile. “Morning, Minty. You feeling any better?”

I shrugged a little, grimacing a bit. “I still feel a little bloated, but at least now I don’t feel like I’m going to burst.” I smiled a little, trying to lighten the mood. He shook his head, but still smiled as he slid out of bed and walked up to me, giving me a light peck on the cheek. I blushed and returned the gesture, the royal blue stallion giggling lightly and levitating his jacket off the bedpost. He made way to the kitchen as I went to wake up Twintails, tapping on the closed door. The golden pegasus came to the door quickly, his eyes stained a little red and mane in a mess. “T-Twintails! Are you alright?” He nodded, and I noticed a little plushie laying on his pillow.

“Yeah, I’m... I'm fine.” He sniffed, rubbing at his eyes and looking both a little embarrassed and... happy. “Thanks… by the way.” He smiled softly, motioning to the plushie. I gave a small smile in return before he turned around and moved to nudge Sweetie awake. Her eyes began to glow as her motors hummed softly, the robotic filly stretching before standing up, grinning widely at both of us. Why exactly does she need to stretch? We all trotted down the hall towards the kitchen, finding Cross boiling some water on the stove, some bowls already set out.

“’Fraid it’s only oatmeal today, though I think I have some sugar somewhere in the cupboard, maybe...” His horn lit up as one of the cupboards opened up and a pack of brown sugar levitated onto the counter, next to a pack of oats. I began to pour the oats into the three bowls as Twintails sat down, Sweetie hopping up on one of the chairs. Cross poured the hot water into each bowl, grabbing and extra spoon and offering us each some sugar. After putting several spoonfuls of sugar into my bowl (as per my request), he placed the pack in the cupboard, tossing the spoon in the sink. Cross chuckled as he sat down. “You sure that cutie mark isn’t incorrect, Minty? You’re going to get yourself sick again if you keep eating that much sugar!”

I rolled my eyes, swallowing the gummy mixture. “I thought you said you liked sweet ponies~” I said, sticking my tongue out a little. Cross chuckled and Twintails groaned a bit. “Oh hush, I’m sure your banter with Featherweight is no worse.” I said to him, to which he replied with a reddening face and a splotch of oatmeal to my muzzle. I licked it off, giggling as Twintails smirked. I swallowed, turning back to Cross. “I heard about the weather reports last night. If you’re planning on heading out to the Stable for now, we can take you there.”

Cross nodded. “Sounds good. Oh! I also modified you jacket last night, it should be a little more bulletproof now.” I grinned. A fluffy jacket that also stops bullets? Goodbye, frostbite! We soon finished up and washed the bowls, heading back to our rooms to gear up. Cross slid open his closet, levitating out the new jacket. I slipped it on, feeling the tough fabric padding my body. Bending my legs, the material accommodated my movements comfortably. Pulling the belt tight, the soft cotton of the collar brushed up against my neck. “How is it?” Cross asked.

I walked around in the jacket idly, taking long strides and adjusting the leg covering my pip-leg. It was a little more restrictive, but I think I can live with that if it means more heat and less bullets flying through my chest. “A lot better than my old armor, and it doesn’t smell of Old Colt… ehehe… ech.” My laugh faded as I thought back to that night. Ew... really wishing that I hadn't, right now. Cross slipped on his own jacket, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “Nevermind.” I said, folding up my old winterized armor and setting it on the closet shelf. He slipped his pistol into his saddlebags, along with a few health potions and sewing materials. I transferred the contents of my old saddlebags to my new ones, though most of that was more Sunrise Sarsaparilla. After that last binge, it may be a long while before I drink any of that again.

Cross and I walked downstairs, Twintails and Sweetie already there. We all left Cross’s house, pausing for a moment as he locked the door, and began to head out of town. Cross grunted a bit as Sweetie hopped onto his back, leaning into his jacket. “How far away is this Stable, anyways? I mean, must be close for them to move everypony from the hospital, right?” We turned down the street toward the giant oak doors, a few other ponies also bundled up and laden with supplies for the trek to Stable 92.

“Not too far. It’s a bit off the road though, the terrain will get a little rough.” We passed through the doors as Bloodbeak held them open for the crowd. “I sure hope nopony was planning on raiding this place anytime soon. There’s going to be nopony in town to stop them, at this rate.” He said, looking around at the others. We traveled along with the group, hanging back a bit due to some odd looks they were giving Sweetie. She’s an android, alright? You’ve seen robots before! Granted, probably not ones that can make snow explode like bombs. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how she did that...

We turned off the main road as we came to a crudely made sign pointing the way to Stable 92. I shivered a bit as we stepped into the deeper snow, it having taken on a grayer-than-usual color. If there was one thing my new coat could do with, it would be boots. At least Cross had the foresight to add some pants to the armored redesign. We trotted up to the small wooden storm door leading into Stable 92’s tunnels, my stomach suddenly clenching up. My mind flashed back to running through Stable 76’s tunnels, finding the broken door and Cross’s body…

I took a shuddering breath, gulping a bit. Cross and Twintails stopped, both looking worried. Cross stepped up to me, his ears lowered. “Minty… are you going to be alright?” I looked into his eyes, remembering seeing him lying on the ground, barely breathing. He wrapped a hoof around me, squeezing me a little. “It’s ok… look, I… I don’t really want to go in either, but…” He inhaled slowly, trying to find the right words. “I’m going to be a lot safer there than in town. Like Twintails said, if anyone wanted to raid the place, there’d be no one to stop them. I… I really don’t want to go in… that night… the blast… I…” He squeezed me again, and I felt a few tears fall from his face. “But I need to. If I don’t, someone might…” He sniffed, grabbing a hold of me, pushing his face into my mane. I pulled him close, giving him a few nuzzles. I felt my own eyes water as I hugged him. “Minty, please… I- I know it’s going to sound stupid, I know you wouldn’t but…” He looked into my eyes, tears falling down his face. “Don’t leave me in there. Promise you’ll come get me again.”

I sniffed, tears beginning to stream down my face. “I-I will. I’ll escort you out personally.” I smiled, Cross unable to help but do so as well. I squeezed him again before we broke the hug, Twintails and Sweetie waiting for us. I wiped my eyes dry, and as I did, I saw Twintails blink a bit of water out of his eyes as well, placing a hoof against the outside of his duster near his chest. We all made our way through the wooden door, the darkness of the cave leaving us blind for a moment. The tip of Sweetie’s horn flipped up, a small light appearing out of it, illuminating the area. We made our way to the open Stable door, Tom standing at the controls. Sweetie’s horn flipped off as Tom counted up the entering ponies, making a few tallies on a clipboard. We walked up the steps toward him as he set the clipboard aside.

“Hey boys, it’s been a while. You bringing in more audience members for me?” He chuckled, starting down the Stable’s hallway. We followed him, myself needing to pull Sweetie away from trying to head down to the reactor level. Tom looked down at her. “Who is that? Or, um, ‘what’ is that, I suppose...” Sweetie looked at him grumpily. I guess she was getting sick of ponies referring to her as “what”. We turned into a side room laden with recording devices and radios, Hi-Fi visible through a pane of thick glass, checking over several pieces of equipment while sporting an overmare's jumpsuit. Getting into the spirit of things, huh?

“I am to be referred to as quotation mark, Sweetie Belle, end quotation mark.” Sweetie said, her voice changing to a very low, even more so robotic voice for ‘quotation mark’. Tom’s muscles visibly contracted into a confused look, but he didn’t say anything. “I have downloaded reports of these Stables from RobronCo’s terminals. Stable 92 was a control Stable, aside from access to a larger supply of radio broadcasting equipment than normal Stables, correct?” Tom just stood, looking rather confused.

“U-uh, sure, I suppose?” He finally said. “Well, I guess it’s nice to know we haven’t been sitting in a Stable that was designed to self destruct after 300 years.” My stomach clenched again. Don’t say something like that! Tom suddenly smacked himself in the face, turning to Cross. “Where are my manners? I’m Tom Neigher.” He said, putting out a hoof to shake Cross’s, who did so, albeit a little reluctantly. “Don’t worry, I’m not offended. Only a mother could love a face like this. And now I’m a ghoul, I think she’d scream even louder.” He chuckled again. “Anyway, I’m guessing you weren’t at the last evacuation? The one right after that Kinetic Bombardment a few weeks ago. Can't believe Luna approved such a thing...”

Cross’s ears lowered slightly. “No, I... I was…” His voiced trailed off, and Tom’s expression grew worried, realizing he’d touched upon something sensitive. “I- I’m Cross Stitch. Minty and Twintails didn’t say they knew anypony here.” He turned to look through the glass, Hi-Fi looking up and waving to us before setting the tube she was fiddling with down. Cross thought for a few moments, looking back to Tom, the expression on his face brightening before a dawn of comprehension crossed it. “You're... you're Tom Neighrer, you're on that late-night talkshow! Eheh, ah, sorry, I guess I just use the radio more for background noise than I thought.”

Hi-Fi stepped out of the equipment room, smiling widely. “Hey, guys, what took you so long? You said you’d be back soon!” She turned to Cross and Sweeite “Ooh, and you’ve brought some company! Well, other than those taking refuge here.” She shook both of their hooves, giving Sweetie a pat on her metallic mane. “I'm Hi-Fi the, uh, Overmare of this place, I guess. It's a new position for me, I haven't really got much experience with it. More an engineer, to the single most dashing - hell, only voice on the radio in this icebox, Bert the Turtle!”

Yeah, only radio show host aside from Tom, that ghoul near Topatow, and Nikolai too, if you consider numbers a show. I snickered to myself, Twintails speaking up. “It’s nice to see you again. Anything interesting happening to you tw- uh, three lately?” Hi-Fi shrugged, tilting her head a little. Sweetie hopped up onto a desk, taking an interest in one of the busted up radios.

“Not much around here, aside from the lockdowns and show overrides, though from the sound of it you two have been having plenty of adventures!” She smiled, us beginning to move down the hallways again. “Rescuing some Pre-war mare from her own factory, getting abducted by the Steel Rangers, and we haven’t had confirmation, but I’m willing to bet this whole Stable that you two had something to do with that metal beast leaving tracks all across the wasteland.” She laughed as Twintails and I looked a little sheepish. “I'm convinced you two are going to end up blowing yourselves and half of the Wastes up if you keep at this. But, hey, if it’s the half that’s mostly populated with raiders and Hellhounds, I won’t be complaining.”

Sweetie hopped out of the doorway, catching up to us. “By my calculations, if we are to reach City Name: Turnpike by nightfall, with your average walking speed and probability of becoming stuck in Quebuck traffic, we must leave immediately.” From the doorway, the radio she’d been fiddling with sparked a bit, a couple of the tubes laying beside it. I let off a small sigh, looking to Cross - do we really have to go now? Almost as if she read my mind, Sweetie nodded, walking towards the door.

I faced Cross, my gut never having fully relaxed after we entered. He looked just as worried as I felt, both of us standing a little awkwardly for a moment. I reached up and hugged him, giving him a soft kiss. “Stay safe, alright? I’ll be back for you.” He nodded, giving me another hug before we let each other go, Twintails following me out of the room. We stepped into the entrance chamber, the large, steel cog still rolled to the side, waiting for more ponies. We walked through the large door, both of us turning to look back in. I could feel my eyes begin to water, Twintails sniffing as he rubbed his own dry. What would have happened if we’d stayed in our Stables?

I wiped my eyes clean, walking to the door control. I stared at the switch, thinking of the door rolling shut, sealing Cross in… sealing us out… Twintails looked up at me, trying to hide his damp eyes. He didn’t say anything, but his expression did. I gulped a bit of air, trying to hold back tears. A light aura covered the switch as Tom pulled it down, watching us both from the inside. Alarms began to blare, lights flashing as the cog was rolled to its original position. The metal screeched against itself, air hissing as the door slid shut. The cave was unnaturally quiet, Both Twintails and I still staring at the door, Sweetie waiting halfway through the tunnel with her lit horn. I turned to Twintails, whose eyes were red and puffy, tears sliding down his face. I wrapped my hooves around him, starting to feel tears fall down my own face again. We stood there for a moment before I broke the hug, both of us wiping our faces dry. Sweetie turned and trotted through the tunnels, Twintails and myself following closely behind.

What could have happened...

---

I fired off a few shots from my plasma rifle at some bloatsprites, Twintails firing off a round into a giant cockroach. Reloading my rifle as Twintails and I slid down the snow bank, we both trotted forth towards the soda carts. I can’t believe I already went through 20 bottles in just a few days... I kicked aside the bloatsprite corpse, fishing through the cart for undamaged bottles. I scooped up a few loose caps as well, slipping them into my coin pouch - suppose I could sell off all those energy cells too now, seeing how I already sold the pistol; it’d add a little weight to my purse. I dropped a few bottles into my saddlebags, popping the cap off of one and taking a swig. Ooh, that’s good stuff. Maybe not as nice as that RAD stuff tasted, but this won’t require my stomach being pumped... sheesh, don’t let Twintails here you think like this, or you’ll never live it down. Don't you tell him either, you pink-maned pegasus.

Twintails and I trotted back up to the road, Sweetie levitating a bottle of Sparkle Cola in her aura. “What is your fascination with these beverages? They lack any marketed carbonation and would easily have expired years ago.” I rolled my eyes, taking another sip of sarsaparilla. Yeah, yeah, ‘you’ll rot your teeth out’ and all that. I think being a little on the gummy side is the least of my concerns out here.

“Hey, you were the one always sticking your horn into the outlets at Cross’s, maybe you’ve got a problem too.” Twintails chuckled. Sweetie pouted as we continued down the road. “Don’t tell me you and Minty have already been sharing ideas. The last thing we need is both of you breaking into an old factory to get drunk off the generators.” Said the atomophiliac pegasus.

We walked down the street, the still deep grey clouds rolling over us. “Those outlets are for recharging purposes only!” Sweetie said. “If I were to overload my circuitry, I would be required to travel back to the RobronCo facility for maintenance. Or explode. Neither of which are appealing options.” As we walked, a large shape appeared in the distance, lumbering back and forth slowly with two ponies trotting alongside it. Ooh, another merchant, maybe they've got some extra MF Cells.

“She’s got you there, Twintails. Besides, electricity’s got to be at least twelve times better than any cup of coffee in the morning.” I smirked, the pegasus rolling his eyes and cracking open another bottle of that regular Sparkle-Swilla. The merchants drew closer as we trotted down the road, their pack… cow… thing, coming into clearer view.

"Hey there boys! Need anything?" The merchant waved at us as we trotted up, smiling politely. She was wearing some weird mask over her muzzle that covered a good portion of her lower face, and the goggles with it covered the rest. Ooh, a pair of those would be nice for bad weather...

“What’ve you got for sale?” She flipped open one of the packs on her cow, digging out a few guns, a knife and some miscellaneous items. Twintails looked through the other bag as I inspected the contents. “What’ll you give me for these energy cells?” I asked, pulling out my small horde of them. She looked them over, checking to be sure they were still charged.

“I’ll give you two caps apiece.” She said, counting out the cells and giving me the respective caps. I quickly counted up those. 218 caps, now I can actually pay for stuff! She walked over to Twintails, who was inspecting some breathing masks. He tossed aside his empty bottle of Sparkle-Cola, an idea sparking into my head. I turned to Sweetie, who was fiddling with a couple busted up 10 millimeter pistols, trying to repair one. I bent down, lowering my voice so Twintails wouldn’t hear.

“Sweetie… do you remember what exactly was in that Sparkle Cola RAD?” I asked. She continued to work on the pistols, starting to spout out a whole list of ingredients. Radishes, sugar, Strontium 90… my mind flashed back to chemistry class, when Pepper almost burned her mane off. It was the radioactivity unit, she accidentally dropped some of the cleaner into the beaker of Barium isotope… A devious grin crossed my face. “What reacts well with Strontium?” Sweetie looked up at me, a little confused. Don’t look at me like that, you were the one making the dart gun out of a paint gun and toy car.

Sweetie shrugged, starting to draw out diagrams in the snow. “Strontium Peroxide may explode with friction and accelerates other combustible materials. Burning may also create noxious and volatile gasses.” I nodded, following along in her equations. “Peroxide can be found in bleaches and other cleaning chemicals. Combine this with a flammable material and it may produce a large explosion.” I looked back over at the assembled junk before me, scanning it for anything useful. My eyes landed upon a box of Abraxo and a bottle of Turpentine. I scooped them up. Alright, if I pour these into the bottle and light a fuse…

The merchant came back over as I scuffed up the equations Sweetie was writing in the snow. “Uh, how much for these two things?” She looked more than a little confused, glancing between the cleaning solutions levitated in my magic and myself. Yeah, probably not too many ponies actually worried about using these for their intended purpose and keeping things cleaned. She shrugged, saying 12 caps would suffice. I gave her the money and slipped the items into my saddlebags as Twintails trotted back to our side of the cow. “Ready to go?” He nodded and I scooped up Sweetie onto my back.

We began to trot back down the road as the merchant gathered her things, placing them into the packs on the cows. He handed me one of the breathing masks, stowing the other in his saddlebags. “Here. It’ll be fastest if we can cut right through ground zero in Quebuck; these should help with the radiation a little bit. Cleaned her out of Radaway and Rad-X too, eheh...” I placed mine into my own saddlebags, raising an eyebrow to Twintails.

“It hasn’t taken that long before... Oh, Celestia, don’t tell me you just want to go wandering into ground zero of a nuclear blast! That’s a terrible idea!” I let my face fall into my hoof, shaking my head. Twintails tried to refute my theory, but I was concentrating more on hw crazy this pegasus I was wandering with really was. “Oh, whatever, let’s just hope there aren’t any glowing Hell Hounds lurking around there. Might be good for salvage.” We trotted down the road, the large buildings of Quebuck soon coming into view on the horizon. Sweetie stood up on my back, leaning on my head to get a better view. Ach, that hurts.

We came to the edge of the city, walking between the smaller houses towards the center. Sweetie hopped off of my back, running this way and that, eager to look at everything. I pulled out Jolts, Twintails readying his assortment of guns. I really hope he knows which bit goes to which weapon, I don't want to be vaporized in a balefire egg blast... My Pip-Buck began to tick a little faster, the reading in the upper part of my vision showing a steady dose of a few rad per second as we approached the downtown area. I removed the breathing mask from my saddlebags and pulled it over my face, Twintails doing the same. I fiddled with the straps a bit, trying to get the mask to be a little comfortable, but to little avail.

We followed Sweetie, who ran into one of the smaller buildings in the city. The flickering lights illuminated the cubicles as I trotted to a spacious office within, Twintails having busied himself with reading through some of the terminals. I scanned the room, my eyes falling upon a safe embedded into the wall. I stepped up to it, pulling out my screwdriver and pins as I did. I slide the bit of metal into the lock, using the screwdriver for leverage. Alright, a little left… maybe right… after a few busted picks, the safe swung open to reveal a large pile of bits, along with one stuck in a plaque. I pulled it out, reading “First Bit made at Watt’s Wiring.” I scooped up the bits and slid them, along with the plaque, into my saddlebags. Maybe I’ll find someone willing to buy it.

I trotted back out of the office, Twintails and Sweetie trotting up to me. “Hehe, I bet you can’t guess what I got.” Twintails snickered, pulling out two bottles of Sparkle Cola RAD. My ear twitched a bit. I hadn’t expected to be able to test this out so soon. “Whoever left these in the staff refrigerator wasn’t very bright. I’m surprised somepony didn’t take them already! Oooh, I bet being in the radiation zone made these all the more tasty~” He handed one to me, putting his away. I debated drinking it… it really hadn’t tasted that ba- no, no, you don’t want to be vomiting again, not to mention needing to take off the mask in this place to do it. Let alone in front of Twintails... I slipped it into my saddlebags, feeling it land next to the cleaner and the turpentine. “And if you’re not going to drink it, at least give it to me.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find something to do it.” Drink, use in a grenade, same thing, right? We left the building, continuing down the road towards the center of town. As we did, the roads became more and more broken down, rubble piling up on either side. On building leaned precariously over, its foundation cracked in various places. We heard a loud roar, Sweetie giving a squeak of fright and jumping onto Twintails. A Hell Hound came around the corner, sniffing the air. Twintails and I jumped behind a pile of rubble, holding our breath in fear. The Hound stomped closer, still sniffing out in the air. Twintails tried to maneuver himself, adjusting Kindness and fiddling with a Balefire Egg. I felt the soda bottles clink around in my saddlebags, the Hound walking closer... Well, now’s a good a time as any to test this out, I suppose, before Twintails tries to fire that thing at point-blank range.

I pulled out the cola, Abraxo, and turpentine, popping the cap off of the bottle. Twintails looked over his shoulder at me, sighting in on the Hell Hound. “What the hell? This isn’t the time, Minty!” He hissed, but went silent as I poured half of the cola onto the ground. Oh, I'm so glad he wasn't strangling me over that. “What are you-?” The Hound roared again, leaving both of our ears ringing as he went back to aiming himself. I dumped the abraxo and turpentine into the bottle, which fizzed a little as the chemicals mixed and reacted. I looked around for a fuse, my eyes only landing on the cloak of my coat. Ooh, Cross wouldn’t like this... I tore off a strip at the bottom of my cloak, stuffing it into the bottle as a makeshift fuse.Sweetie’s eyes widened as she realized what I was doing. Her horn flipped back, a small flame appearing at the tip. How many functions does this thing have?

I poured the last of the turpentine onto the cloth and placed the end of it at the flame. The soaked coat quickly caught fire and I hurled the makeshift grenade over the rubble. The Hell Hound followed it, the bottle smashing apart on the concrete. The mixture exploded into a ball of purple flames, sticking to the Hound's fur and setting it alight. The Hound howled in pain as the flames quickly leaped across the fur on its body, sending it into a panic. It ran down the street, but soon stumbled and fell into a heap, groaning as it died.

We all stepped out from behind the rubble, Twintails looking aghast. “Wha- but- How in the name of the goddesses did you do that with -soda-!?” Twintails sputtered through the gas mask. I couldn’t help but grin as we trotted through the road, Sweetie giggling excitedly at the prospect of more Sparkle Grenades. Twintails pouted, looking up at the launcher on his back before glaring at me. “I thought I was the mad bomber here!” With a laugh, I un-holstered Jolts, sliding in a few new MF cells.

“I guess you’re just rubbing off on me~”

"I... you... hmph. Fine, just don't waste so much of it next time. Alright?" Staring down at the glowing puddle of soda draining away in the snowy slush, I grimaced and slid the breathing mask back on. Okay, note to self, when going to fire either... well, any of my weapons, try to breathe as little as physically possible. Stupid unicorn inventions, didn't they ever think that maybe somepony needed to fire a gun whilist in the center of a balefire detonation!? Or, wait, uh... okay, maybe they have a point. Guh, fuck it. "At LEAST let me drink it!"

"Yeah, I'm sure you glowing like a night light will be GREAT for stealth. Come on, no sense crying over spilled soda. I'm sure that we'll find more of it somewhere in here." Minty kept his goop-gun and mag-rifle at the ready, myself glancing at Sweetie Bot for a moment before following behind. The wire-supported bits clinked against the mask's filter as I walked along, drawing a small groan of annoyance from myself. I can handle a little bit of radiation, damnit! Then again, ground zero balefire explosions tend to have a little bit more than a little bit of radiation... and hell, I just want the bragging rights. The mare in my head gave off a look that distinctly screamed out the words 'are you crazy?!'. Or, maybe, 'are y'all crazy!?'. Hard to tell.

"I keep telling you guys, it only makes your pee glow! Would have to drink a lot more than a bottle or two to notice any visible glow." I let off a small huff behind the breathing mask, Sweetie Bot's servos whirring as she gazed up at the architecture. The buildings were getting taller, and the elevated rail platforms began to appear running through the center of the streets. We fell silent for a good while as we stepped further into the city, even Sweetie Bot seeming to quiet down as we walked. The blast shadows grew more distinct and sharper, every now and again illiciting a gasp or other quiet sound from one of us. Some of the sights were plainly chilling...

Minty came to a stop, looking down an alleyway that we were passing by. Sweetie Bot moved closer to it, doing that weird scanning thing with her eyes, myself finally catching up from sightseeing all the remnants of ponies vaporized into the facades. The air really did seem unnaturally colder around here - even Minty seemed to be shivering the tiniest bit under his new jacket. Sweetie finished with her scan, and the sight down the dark alley... well, at least most of whoever that was was contained inside his hazard suit. Oh goddesses, the faceplate was covered in blood...

"Identifying deceased as scavenger 'Lucky Strike'. Gore splatter suggests high explosive-laden rocket to the chest. Probability of accident - 22%" Okay, was it just me, or did her voice seem a little bit more... fuzzy, than usual? Oh, nevermind, more important stuff to focus on right now... like keeping that breakfast down. Stop looking at it you idiot! Turning to face the road and holding a hoof against the breathing mask, I swallowed the taste of bile down, momentarily contemplating following it with that Sparkle-Cola RAD if only to get the taste out of my mouth. The 2 Rads/sec that the mask was preventing from reaching my inner everything, however, dissuaded me from it. Maybe there's a basement or fallout shelter somewhere deeper inside the city...

"Check please. W-well, at least it looks like it was... Sweetie! What are you doing!?" Minty's screams caught my attention in time to see the robotic filly bounding through the bloodied snow with a smile across her muzzle, the gore being kicked up by her gallop more than a little gut-wrenching, to say the least. She skidded to a stop just in front of the mutilated stallion, searching over the remains and levitating off his saddlebags just as I was about to take a lovely little nap in this irradiated snowbank for a while. The glass clinking sound that the bags made as she triumphantly trotted out with them, however, certainly caught my attention, as well as Minty's. Bottles of soda?

"Sensors detected a sum of seven bottles of Sparkle-Cola RAD and five charged micro-fusion cells inside." The robotic filly kept that smile upon her face as her ozone-smelling magic levitated out the items she described, as well as a crumpled and bloodied piece of paper. Oh good goddesses above, I wanted to salivate and vomit at the same time... ahem. Minty seemed to choke back his gag reflex as he slid the cells and three of the bottles into his saddlebags, Sweetie Bot moving the remaining four and the note over to my own. Holding it in my hoof - at a safe distance from myself - I began to read it over. Written in pen, hah, really now...

"'Dated 20th December, caught word of SC-RAD goldmine inside Quebuck. Untouched distribution center near QGZ, bought a new Rad suit and a shitton of Radaway to explore it. Looks like Lucky Strike found his namesake...'" Taking an Idle glance up at the explosives-torn figure whom held the note, and seeing the suit he wore, I couldn't help but let off a dry chuckle. Oh irony, thou art a heartless bitch. Glancing back to the letter, it took me a moment to figure out what the acronyms meant, Minty keeping Sweetie Bot from playing in the poor guy's remains anymore.

"SC-RAD... Sparkle-Cola RAD! A Sparkle-Cola RAD goldmine, and this... that poor guy found it! Oooh, this is just too good to be true, imagine all that glowing soda lined up in crates, ready to be shipped out to everywhere!" I bounced on my hooves giddily, Minty and Sweetie Bot both looking at myself in a bit of confusion. Oh, now if only that guy made a map for us to follow back...

"Hold up, Twintails, you do see what happened to that guy, right? I don't know about you, but I'd really rather not wind up with my insides across a building wall. We don't even have any idea where this QGZ-place is!" Minty gestured madly in the air, Sweetie Bot enjoying herself as she was levitated in his magic. Okay, he did have a point, QGZ was kind of stumping me... but it apparently didn't stump him for nearly as long, if that groan of annoyance and hoof to the face meant anything. "Quebuck Ground Zero... oh, Celestia, fuck me." Yay for convenient excuses! Oh, if only Minty could see the grin I had on behind this mask...

"Ooh, ooh, sensors also discovered a metal plate in the street. Opportunity for snow sled is high!" The robotic filly's magic flared up again, dislodging a snow-covered metal sheet from the bloodied snow in the alleyway. The patch of snow that it lifted - other than showing just how much of a difference in color blood has from snow - was flipped over and landed, showing a fine cake of distinctly greyer snow below the blood layer than the top layer. One could only guess where that could've come from... what was going on in Pripytrot, anyways? "Anomaly on plating, letters without recognizable word pattern!" Turning my attention to the thick metallic plate that the robotic filly levitated in her magic, the four surviving letters upon the front of the metal plate froze both Minty and myself solid.

- E A M O.

"S-Sweetie, can you remove those letters in any way?" Minty fidgeted, moving himself over to me, sharing a very worried look. NEAMO retrieval robots... they had rockets with them, too? Goddesses above, was this guy even armed with anything to begin with!? And they did... they... fuck me with an enriched strontium fuel rod, thank Celestia we quit working with that ass. Sweetie Bot was busy laser-etching the painted-on letters off, grinning widely as she dropped the now-clean plate into the snow and jumping onto it giddily, sliding for a few feet down the thoroughfare. Minty rested a hoof upon my shoulder, looking over to myself. "Doc needs to be stopped. You're always going on about those balefire bombs and megaspells, do you think you could disarm the ones around NEAMO without killing us?"

"I..." Now THAT made me really wish I could crack open one of those Sparkle-Cola RADs right now. Disarm a megaspell? Let alone twenty-five of them... "I don't know, Minty. I just like watching the explosions, I guess, maybe, if I had an idea of what we were facing there... I just don't know." My mouth was all kinds of dry. I wasn't an ordinance specialist, damnit! I just liked watching explosions! Why did I have to be the one to call on for everything that had to do with balefire and megaspells!? Minty took a step backwards, myself turning and moving a hoof against my head, rubbing at my temples slowly. As I regained myself, my vision settled on the horrific display down the alleyway. I let off a sigh, putting on a stern face and turning to face Minty. "But I do know that somepony's going to have to do something. For better or worse, the Doc needs to die, before more ponies like him do."

Minty released a clouded breath through the facemask, nodding once and then turning to continue moving along down the road, myself following behind. Sweete Bot had sped on along, playing around one of the pillars for the elevated railway, sliding down the embankment of snow on the retrieval robot's breastplate like, well, a foal. It'd almost have been cute, if there weren't distinct shadows of ponies and structures vaporized into the facades of the buildings just to her left and in full view of both of us. A filly's laughter in this sort of place was just... creepy.

---

"Good afternoon wasteland, you're listening to CONELRAD Radio, 640-1240 on your AM band reciever, and this is Bert the Turtle tantilizing your tense and tired ears! Lot's been happening out there in the icebox lately, so let's get on to the new news, eh? To start things off, I'd like to extend my thanks to all the lovely Stallions and Mares of Mooscow that have taken up residence with myself, my assistant Hi-fi, and Tom in this hole in the ground we call a home. Tom told me that the weather reports say that Mooscow and Quebuck are going to be getting a nice dusting of radiation and fallout from the Pripytrot reactor over the next few days, so I certainly hope that everyone's comfortable down here. You'll be here for a while...

"In other news, everypony remembers that report of a gigantic metal beast rolling across the wasteland I made a while ago, right? Well, as it turns out, it's in control of the Steel Rangers, and they just rolled it over outside Turnpike to help with whatever's going on in Pripytrot! To everypony living out that way hearing exceptionally larger booms every night, don't be worried, that's just the sound of that thing's gun making the wasteland a little bit safer for everypony around here. Word of advice - leave the Steel Rangers alone, kiddies, they're not in a particularly enjoyable mood nowadays and I don't think I need to remind you that they have guns that can blow you in half. If you approach one, please be bringing a smarter gift for them than a bullet.

"And finally, the activity of robots from out RobronCo-ways has laxed off in the past few days, much to the relief of everypony living in Mooscow and the owner of the factory herself. We do plan on getting a follow-up interview from her eventually, and we would like to remind anypony that discovers a destroyed robot between Mooscow and Quebuck should bring it to the Sparkplugs' RobronCo factory for a lump sum of caps and to help figure out where the hell these things are coming from. Less destroyed the better.

"Anyways, that's the mid-day news reports for all you pony popsicles up there in post-apocalyptia, and you're tuned into CONELRAD Radio, six-forty twelve-forty on your AM band reciever. Up next is a sampler from Tom, one of the recording's he's made right here in fine Stable 92 to a captivated audience. Or, well, captive audience, anyways..."

"Used to be that when somepony was planning a trip or going abroad, back when there was an 'abroad' to go to - any establishments that may be out there in the wasteland posing a fine selection of 'broads' don't count, thank you - they would be told by their friends or the guidebooks to not drink the water. With the state of things nowadays, however, assuming somepony or someone from a less-destroyed section of the planet were to visit our fine wondrful crapsaccharine Equestrian wasteland, they may wish to heed this warning here.

If you visit Equestrian city,
you will find it very pretty!
Just two things of which you must beware;
don't drink the water and DON'T breathe the air!

Pollution, pollution,
we've got smog and sewage and mud!
Turn on your tap,
and get cold irradiated crud!"

---

"Goddesses, the storm's bringing a lot of radiation with it..." I exhaled a breath, stuffing the anti-radiation pill into my mouth and quickly following it with a pair of packets of Radaway, draining both swiftly and discarding the packages into the snow, snapping the mask back over my muzzle. If we could find somewhere in this damn place that wasn't irradiated, it'd be a miracle. Minty was doing much the same, practically stuffing himself with the medecine with his magic, Sweetie Bot watching us both curiously. I gave my head a shake, looking along the road that led towards the crater and impact zone.

"I'm holding you responsible if I come out of this sterile." Minty shook his head idly, looking around the area and keeping his goop rifle and mag-rifle at the ready. Stupid unicorns with their stupid magic... my Pip-buck made an odd sound of static, the way it did when it picked up a new station. Blinkibg a few times, I looked down at the screen, resting my rear in the irradiated topsnow and scrolling through to the stations. U72-BV6? Was that... no, Nikolai's Station was deactivated, right? Or, was that supposed to be when we went back after the air base... oh goddesses, we never went back after the air base! Okay, don't panic, Minty and Cross haven't been vomiting their guts out, I'm sure that it's fine. But this station, though... Glancing up at Minty, I flicked onto the station, a stallion's voice playing through the speakers.

"H-hello, is anypony alive out there? I-I'm, uh, I'm Quickscope, a weapons repairpony. Goddesses... T-there's a, a lot of explosions and, and rumbling going on outside. Please, somepony, please get this message and come get me, or at least my daughter. W-we're in a closed-off section of the sewer, intersection of South 12 and East 17. P-please, I-I'm begging you come save my daughter..." The speaker crackled loudly, Minty grimacing and grabbing at his head, a deep rumble and sound like something exploding coming from somwhere in the city. Sweetie Bot blinked a few times, her eyes refocusing and scanning in a wide arc around the decaying buildings.

"Sensors indicate only a few friendly sentient lifeforms within the city, including Sweetie Belle." Sheesh, was the radiation actually messing with her voicebox? She sounded a lot more fuzzy than she usually did... "I would proceed with caution. City map says that the sewer we are looking for are further down the street, Sparkle-Cola plant upon the cusp of the cratering zone."

"Minty, do you think that the message is recent? I mean, why would a city need a weapons repairpony? It's on the way, anyways." I blinked a few times, looking over to my augmented friend. He thought for a few moments, then moved to make sure his mag and goop rifles were fully loaded, giving a nod to myself in response. Okay, detour while we try and escort this poor guy and his daughter out of this place before the fallout from the reactor gets to be too bad. Here's praying to the goddesses that we get there before they're ghoulified and feral... I slowed in my trotting as we headed for the sewer grate. Of all the things I've killed so far in this wasteland... a feral ghoul filly...

Luna above, please let us not be too late.

Sweetie Bot reached the sewer grate ahead of us, the radiation in this area having fallen to only a few clicks every few seconds. Her ozone-smelling magic lifted the heavy metallic plate free from underneath the snow and fallout, casting it aside. The thick smell of sewage met us both through the breathing masks, myself gagging for a few moments before taking a breath and catching myself. 200-year-old sewage was bad, but vomiting in these things was probably a lot worse. Taking a breath and swallowing a gulp of air, I leaned myself over the hatch, looking around inside the darkness. Minty likewise met myself, his rifles levitated at the ready nearby as he peered down.

"Hello? Anypony there? We got your signal, and, uh..." Minty let himself trail off momentarily, looking up to me. "They could be asleep, or something. Have the distress call on repeat." He leaned himself back, my own self glancing up at the large form of Kindness upon my back, and the pair of auto rifles either side. Well... Minty'll have his guns, and I think it's safe enough in there for me to use my Luger without getting too much radiation... I took a breath, undoing the latches of my battle saddle and setting it down in the snow, sliding myself over the hole in the road. My rear hooves found purchase on an old rusted ladder, letting me lower myself down into the darkness with some sense of ease. Goddesses, the smell was even worse down here... "See anything?"

"Just sewer. Sweetie, are you sure this is the right... wait, I think that's a lantern down that way." Peering through the murky darkness, the faint flicker of a portable lantern shone in an alcove down the line, a small wall of sandbags and collapsed rubble further down being lit up by it every now and again. Minty slid himself down the ladder, his horn offering a small bit of illumination in the tunnel as we pushed forth. The recording played back again, myself flicking off the radio as to not cause too much interference, sliding my breathing mask off with a hoof. The water - if it could be called that - was stagnant, but it didn't really stink as much as the stuff near the hole cover. The geiger counter silent, Minty did the same, both of us nearing the small alcove that held the flickering lantern. "Hello? We're here to-"

I've seen bomb shadows before; those were haunting. I've seen ghouls like Greasy, who kept on doing what they knew for all the years after the bombs dropped. There were a lot of skeletons in the theatre where we found Tom, it was almost morbidly comical to see all those former ponies in fancy dress sitting in their seats or crushed on the floor. But... in the alcove that held the lantern and radio transmitter... I stood and stared for a long while, trying to comprehend the sight before me. Against the wall was a stallion's skeleton, an old degraded battle saddle mounting a shotgun having fallen into it's lap, the bit completely destroyed, along with the entire front of the skeleton's skull. Nearby was another pony skeleton, this one surrounded by several needle syringes. It looked like it was just sleeping. It was smaller.

It was holding a small plush toy.

Minty stumbled backwards as he rounded the corner, myself still frozen by the sight, jaw having fallen slightly open as I breathed in the musty, stagnant air and kept looking at the scene inside the alcove. The radio buzzed with static softly, constantly repeating a message over and over again, a cry for help out to nopony in particular. The air was chilling to the bone. Minty was retching up the breakfast we had both had, adding to the liquefied waste still in the pipe. In a bit of a trance, I guess, I found myself starting to move over to the radio at the back of the alcove. Minty's retching stopped, himself releasing a weak groan as he regained himself, looking up at me from the corner. "Twintails! What are you..."

With a click, the radio went silent, my pip-buck releasing a faint buzz of a radio signal having been lost. The air in the sewer was quiet, almost peaceful, as I carefully stepped around the smaller skeleton surrounded by needles, stepping back to the main walkway and staring at Minty. A small gust of wind found it's way inside the sewer, making both of our counters click with the radiation it carried along. Minty righted himself, moving around to climb up out of the hole, his energy weapons moving first as he fitted the breathing mask back on. I did much the same, following behind closely, Sweetie Bot staring at us both curiously as we stood back on the city street, myself sliding my battle saddle back on in a daze. She moved to the hole, peering down into it for a moment before turning her view back to us.

"The radio signal went silent. Were the ponies unable to be helped?" That fuzzy, robotic voice was almost muffled in my ears, Minty shaking his head back and forth in response to Sweetie Bot. The robotic filly's ozonic magic levitated the metal cover back in place, a gust of wind blowing some loose snow and fallout over it, already beginning to re-bury the entrance. Re-bury those ponies.

The road to the impact point, save for the muted sounds of the geiger counters playing their endless clicking melody at each new gust of wind, was silent.

---

"It's not just me that thinks everything is glowing green around here, right?" Climbing over another pile of rubble and working our way through a fallen structure, the air was certainly far more luminescent than further out in the city. The click of our geiger counters was almost steady, the little red triangle ever so slowly creeping up the bar in our vision as we pressed forth. Minty paused for a moment as he dug through a desk that'd fallen over in the collapse of the building, myself reaching a fire escape door at the end of the hallway. I threw my weight against it, the heavy door not budging - locked? Sheesh, what kind of place locks the fire escapes? Oh, no worries, a shot from Kindness and we'll be... dead. Releasing a small sigh, I looked up at the tactical balefire egg launcher on my back, resting against what was once the floor of the building.

"Ah, Minty? Think you could pick this?" My augmented friend looked up from behind the desk, myself shoving against the door again. Might need a bit more than just the lock picked, in retrospect... "Or, well, something? Don't want to risk blasting this place down on us." Releasing a weak chuckle, I stepped aside, Sweetie Bot clambering over the desk Minty was cleaning out. Her voice had just been getting fuzzier and fuzzier as we neared the center - of all the things I know radiation does, screwing royally with electronics wasn't particularly one of them. At least she's still moving on her own.

"Think I can get through it... might want to duck." There was a clatter of rubble as my augmented friend lifted the desk he was going through from the debris on the wall, holding it at about the height of the doorway. Blinking a few times, it took a moment for me to work out what he meant... which was just about enough time for me to dive for cover as the heavy metal desk plowed through the doorway and landed out in the snow, both of our geiger counters clicking faster with a renewed blast of heavily irradiated air. Ooh, if we could get out of this without turning into ghouls, that'd be great...

We stepped through the now-opened doorway, looking out across a massive circular field of debris and vaporized buildings that surrounded a shallow, still-glowing central crater. Pausing for a moment to take in the sight, a rather morbid chuckle escaped myself, leaning against the heavily bent landing of what was once a fire escape. "So, this is what a balefire bomb impact crater looks like. I honestly didn't expect it to be so... flat." Slowly we eased ourselves along the rubble, scanning about every now and again, Minty with his goop guns still at the ready and myself... still griping about not being able to use my battle saddle. Even my EFS was a little fuzzy as we neared the crater as close as we dared to, the heat from the heavily irradiated site able to be felt almost two centuries after it had been created. Explains the lack of snow here, I suppose...

"Okay, calling it now, this place takes the cake for freaky. I keep seeing friendly bars around here... oh, please don't let them be ghouls..." Minty gulped audibly, us all slowly working our way around the rim of the destruction zone and sliding onto what seemed like a nearby road. For all I could tell, it was just another section of rubble - the map on my pip-buck was way too fuzzy around here. We pressed on, myself unable to keep in a slight giggle as a massive fallen familiar soda bottle appeared in our path. Certainly looked like it was Sparkle-Cola alright...

"If there are ghouls here, they have a great taste in soda~" Playfully sticking a tongue out at Minty - and finding that breathing masks do not taste good - he rolled his eyes, stepping over a piece of rebar and concrete. The building that formerly had the large soda bottle atop it still proudly advertised the brand-new Sparkle-Cola RAD, the few intact skywagons parked in the lot nearby all bearing the Sparkle-Cola logo, if heavily weathered. Oooh, this was almost as good as finding the TOG! I couldn't stop giggling like an idiot as we moved inside, myself hovering above and checking in the backs of the skywagons. Every now and again, through the slats of the crates, the faint glimmer of irradiated light could be seen; ooh, the note was right! I was wearinga really stupid grin as I hovered myself back over to Minty, seeing them checking out the back of one of the wagons. "If we can get one of these things loaded with RAD, I think I might be able to fly it and us out of here. These things have lifting matrices in 'em, made to be pulled by pegasi."

"Alright, alright, cool your wings. Sooner we can get out of here, the better, I'd say..." Minty looked around the area, myself giggling madly and making way to the main loading docks. Oooh, please please pleeease let this really be a Sparkle-Cola RAD goldmine... Wrestling with the steel bay door, it eventually yielded with a loud groan of metal, sliding upwards enough for myself to squeeze underneath with Kindness. The squee I let off when I caught sight of the multiple shelves of shipping crates all labeled with 'Sparkle-Cola RAD' probably could have been a little toned down... oh, fuck it, just look at all that Sparkle-Cola! Forget a night light, I could light the entirety of Mooscow with this stuff! Carefully I pulled one of the crates off of it's shelves, popping open the lid and being met with a glow that almost made me have to shield my eyes - jackpot!

"Minty! Sweetie! Gimmie a hoof over here!" Wearing a wide grin, I began to slide some of the crates out of the shipping area, leaving them on the dock. Hehehehe, so much Sparkle-Cola RAD, kept completely cold, this was so awesome~ Six or seven crates out, Minty and Sweetie had begun loading them into the back of one of the less-destroyed wagons, every now and again the bottles clinking as they were loaded. Sweetie's mouth still buzzed with static every now and again, myself still working on getting every last box that I could out and ready to be carried off. Giggling as I pushed the last box that I could find that wore the Sparkle-Cola RAD label out underneath the door, I finally worked myself back out, looking over the haul. Ten crates with twenty bottles of soda per crate... "We are loaded!"

"I know! Just think of all the grenades I can make with this stuff~" Minty let off a snicker, looking at myself coyly, climbing up into the back of the cart alongside Sweetie. Undoing the latches on my battle saddle, I let the loaded thing rest carefully in some empty space between them, Minty pulling the back hatch up and fixing it in place. My augmented friend shuffled to the front of the cart as I fitted myself into the harness, adjusting and tugging at it with my hooves so it'd rest better around me. "So, uh, you think you can manage this? I mean, I'm not even sure if this thing'll actually work..."

"Oh, of course it will! It's a Sparkle-Cola certified carrying vehicle, and it wasn't too badly affected by the bomb!" Giggling gleefully, I spread my wings wide, flapping a few times. The wind picked myself up and started tugging at the harness, talismans and circuitry underneath the wagon kicking into gear and starting to levitate it into the air, albeit slowly. Better than pulling it on the wheels, at least. Grunting and straining, and flapping, we began to move along, myself still wearing that stupid grin underneath my breathing mask. "Aw yeah, we are scott free!"

---

I have lost count of the days I have wandered Equestria with War Mare. They number in the tens of thousands. It is miraculous that she still functional, and I am still sane. Saving ponies probably has helped me with that; it gives me some purpose in my life. Something to keep moving and living for. Something like my husband.

I have stopped inside the city of Quebuck. The warring parties in Pripytrot ignored my arrival, and assistance. They all wore old Equestrian powered armor, upon both sides. I did not stay to discover what they were fighting over. I am glad that I didn't. War Mare is groaning enough attempting to traverse the ruins of Quebuck. Hopefully her engine will be able to hold out long enough for me to reach the nearest military installation. Sunrise Castle had the equipment for servicing tanks at one point; I pray to Celestia above they still do.

-RT

---

"How was I supposed to know this thing wasn't fully charged when we left!? Ow..." Letting off a groan, my hooves dug into the snow, Minty and Sweetie Bot trotting alongside behind me. We'd at least gotten free of the heavily irradiated areas and could take off the masks, and Sweetie Bot was back to being coherent once again. The old wheels and axles of the cart groaned as I pulled it through the thick snow and new fallout, parallel ruts left behind us as they dug in deeply. "At least the soda's fine. We didn't lose any crates, did we?"

"For the hundredth time, all the soda is there, Twintails. I don't have any Abraxo or turpentine left, so you don't have to worry." Minty rolled his eyes, the sound of his magic pulling a glass bottle out from his saddlebags and uncapping it catching in my ears. "Besides, you know I won't drink that stuff. Far as I'm concerned it's just... mmm... just a few hundred gallons of incendiary grenade fuel." Rolling my eyes, I glanced behind at the pile of loaded crates, catching glimpses of their manes as they moved along either side. Sweetie Bot's trotting sped up, her eyes doing that weird scanning thing again. Don't tell me I'm going to be critisized for my tastes in soda by both of them now...

"Sensors indicate FRIEND; Minty Candy is ingesting irradiated material containing Strontium 90. Data also indicates his lies are as white as his coat!" My augmented friend choked and coughed, myself coming to a full stop in the street and turning to look at the side where Minty was trotting. Places in the snow in front of him glowed with a familiar hue, melting through and making my pip-buck's geiger counter faintly click faster. That was... he... he actually liked this stuff? A sly grin came across my face as my augmented friend stepped into view, his magic levitating something behind him and a blush on his face. Oh, this was just too good...

"You... you like Sparkle-Cola RAD, don't you, Minty?~" Faint snickers escaped myself, Sweetie Bot looking smug as Minty shot her an embarassed and furious look. He chewed at his lower lip, really trying hard to not let it on, his face as red as the radishes on the crates. Oh, he was so cute when he blushed~

"I-I do not! I was pouring one of the bottles out so I could make a few more grenades, she's the liar here!" Minty pointed a hoof accusingly at Sweetie Bot, who reeled in disgust and anger. I rolled my eyes over, letting off a sigh. If they start bickering...

"Sweetie Belle is not a liar! You are the one who has swallowed radioactive isotopes! I can see it in your stomach!" Oh, to think that we would've gotten out of here without any fighting. I let off a long sigh, listening to the both of them starting to go back and forth like a pair of foals. Goddesses, what I'd give for a bottle for myself right now... There was a dull thudding sound from a road further down the one we were on, followed by a thick black plume of smoke. I blinked a few times, watching as it rose up into the sky, and hearing faint, raspy screaming. Oh, that can't be good, not at all. Digging my hooves into the snow and flapping my wings, the wheels of the cart groaned and squeaked in protest, rolling forwards and slowly leaving the sounds of fighting between Minty and Sweetie Bot behind. I don't want another pair of skeletons...

The thick smoke and hiss of snow turning into steam drew closer as I rounded a corner off the road, the wagon still in tow and cargo shaking and clinking loudly. That was definitely a mare screaming, but... were those actually words she was saying? Oh, please don't let her be absolutely insane... I peeled around another corner, skidding to a stop as the source of the plume was found. An earth pony mare was hastily shoveling snow into and onto the back of a white-painted tracked vehicle, large metal turret glinting in the fading light. Another kind of tank? Uh...

"Chto? Kto ty?!" The mare dropped her shovel, staring at myself. What did she just say? 'Stow coat-keys'? What? She leapt up onto the back of the tank, her old jacket shaking in the small breeze that blew down the city street, myself simply tring to make sense of what was going on. She syared at myself for a moment, before her eyes went wide and she dove back into the tank, reappearing a moment later with a gun that somewhat resembled Bloodbeak's Thompson with the drum-type barrel. "Derzhis' podal'she ot moyego tanka!" Still not understanding a word of what she was saying, the several bursts of machine gun fire she aimed in my general direction I picked up perfectly. Undoing the harness and diving for the corner, I nearly threw myself right into Minty, Sweetie Bot taking a moment to stop herself as her momentum carried her sliding out into the firing zone. A few bullets pinged off of her mane, herself turning her head to face directly at where the tank was. Interestingly enough, the volley of gunfire stopped; maybe she was reloading?

"Mare of the Ministries... w-wait! I am a friend!" The voice finally changed to a language that we understood, both myself and Minty breathing heavily and looking out at the robotic filly. Sweetie Bot sat down on her haunches, her eyes doing that weird scanning thing again, my augmented friend keeping both of his rifles at the ready. "I-I am so sorry for shooting at you Miss Belle, I didn't realize that you were traveling with an entourage... p-please don't take my tank away, War Mare is all I have left!" O...kay, mare with a tank was completely bonkers. Sweetie Bot finished her scanning, myself and Minty peeking around the corner at the silently weeping mare.

"Scaning complete. Added sentient life form 'Rolling Tracks' under list FRIEND." The robotic filly blinked a few times, us all now looking at the ghoulified mare before us. Her blue coat was ragged and torn, decaying, her brown, curly mane and tail thinning. She wore a faded, yellow jacket, her tired eyes being revealed as she lifted herself from the snow, wiping them off. "I don't think that I have the power to take your tank away if it makes you feel better." The earth pony mare - Rolling Tracks, Sweetie Bot called her? - blinked a few times, recovering herself and looking over our small group, very confused.

"You aren't... who are you ponies?"

I simply stood still in the snow, my Geiger counter giving off a few ticks. I really should just give up the notion of ever having a relatively normal day right now. “Well, we’re… prospectors, I guess.” What with the recent arguments with The Doc and his new robotic employees, I suppose it’s safe to say we’re not working for him at the moment. “We were just scouting the area, seeing if there was anything valuable.” Rolling Tracks still looked a little confused. She looked back to Sweetie, who only stared back up at her.

Rolling Tracks shook her head, looking between us three, and then over to the cart. “Are you sure you are here for… goods?” She asked, in her thick accent. What language was she talking before? I’m sure I’ve heard it somewhere. “This is not a good place for treasure hunting, unless you were planning on being eaten by Hell Hounds as well. From the state of things I had seen while passing through Pripytrot, little seems of worth so far up here, even pony life...” She appeared to be more than a little suspicious as I gulped audibly. I did not need to get into a fight with a pony that drives a tank... “Where did you find her?” She pointed to Sweetie.

“We… uh… bought her.” Twintails responded, both myself and him regretting that he'd said that as Rolling Tracks’ eyes widened in horror. “N-No, no! She’s not a filly! Well, sort of, not, but,” Twintails stammered, trying to calm her down. “She’s an android, a robot!” He seemed to fall back, waving his hooves in the air defensively. Okay, starting to see the downside of super-realistic robots... Rolling Tracks just looked even more confused, taking a few steps backwards. Sweetie waved a hoof, her motors whirring rather loudly as her aperture eyes blinked. The ghoul mare stopped stepping away, but still looked between us all, thoroughly confused and worried. “What did you say about her being a Ministry mare?”

Rolling Tracks took a deep breath, trying to relax. “Miss Belle was the younger sister of one of the Mares of the Ministries, and a founder of Stable-Tec. I had never heard about her transferring intelligence into an android.” She took a step forward to get a closer look at Sweetie, her centuries-old eyes blinking as she examined her. "Bogini vyshe, who did you, ah, 'buy' her from?” She continued to examine Sweetie, muttering little exclamations of amazement all the while.

“There’s an old RobronCo facility northeast of here. I don’t really know if they built her or found her, there wasn’t any other model like her there, and the mare running the building was happy to just get rid of her.” As Rolling Tracks stepped back I began to think of what she said about an intelligence transfer. That… wouldn’t happen to work with a chunk of surgically removed augmented brain, would it? I could feel my gut writhe in disgust, my flanks clenching together to cover myself. I really hope I’m wrong about that. “Say, what are you doing here, anyways? You said you came through pripytrot, right?” She immediately became a little more nervous, clearly hesitant to answer.

She scuffed the ground with her hoof, digging a small hole through the gray topsnow and revealing the whiter fluff beneath. “I was driving through, looking for the Sunrise Castle Air Base. War Mare needs some replacement parts. However, from the looks of things she needed them sooner than later...” Twintails raised an eyebrow. Sunrise Castle... she means that glowing crater in the ground where we found our tank, right? “If you happened to have any scrap metal on yourselves, that would be most fantastic.”

"U-uh... Oh, wait, I know!" Twintails wore a small smile, digging through his saddlebags for a moment and producing a weird tube of... something. It looked like toothpaste and was half used up, my pegasus friend trotting up to Rolling Tracks and smiling, nodding with the tube in his mouth. She followed behind him, looking back at myself in confusion, my own response being to shrug and follow as well. The tank before us wasn't nearly as big or boxy as the one we'd pulled from the SCAB, but that certainly didn't make it any less imposing, the strange cryllic words on the turret assumedly reading out the name of the tank... War Mare, right?

"Sumasshedshiy zhivushchiye na poverkhnosti pegas..." She shook her head in disbelief, watching as Twintails started to squeeze the tube out into the hatches in the tank's back. the snow she was shoveling earlier had melted to water, Twintails humming happily as he worked, Sweetie Bot stepping up alongside. Rolling Tracks stopped, looking over to myself for a moment. "Where were you two heading with so much soda?"

“Well, we were eventually heading out to EQUAD, but we were planning on stopping in Turnpike for the night. If you really don’t mind, I'm sure your tank has enough power to pull a simple wooden cart, right?” Well, that could've been delivered smoother, but it was worth asking. Sooner we get there, sooner I can find something to wash down the taste of that Sparkle-Cola RAD... like more Sparkle-Cola RAD. Damnit, brain, what good are you!? Twintails smiled and trotted back towards us, the mostly emptied tube dropping into his saddlebags as Rolling Tracks stepped up to examine his work. My pegasus friend then latched himself back to the cart, grunting with the effort of dragging it forwards through the snow, the rotten wood creaking in protest.

"Selestiya i Luna vyshe, her motors look good as new! What is that stuff?" She blinked in surprise, Twintails looking smug as he could while dragging the cart along behind him. Rolling Tracks appeared dumbfounded, blinking a few more times and climbing up onto the back of her tank, unhooking a length of cable and tossing it down. "By all means, it is the least I can do."

Sweetie hopped up onto the treads, inspecting the barrel of the gun idly. After affixing the cable to some latches on the front of the wagon, I followed suit, scooping her up and climbing onto the turret, sliding down the hatch behind Rolling Tracks. Okay, think I like the other tank more, this one is pretty cramped... She continued past the gunner’s seat towards the lower body. Twintails climbed in after us, pulling the hatch closed and latching it behind, hanging back in the turret. Rolling Tracks sat down in the driver’s seat, sliding open a narrow view port in front of herself. I sat down into the seat beside Tracks with Sweetie on my lap, struggling to keep her from touching what appeared to be a very deadly machine gun mounted in a metal ball. There was a loud screech of metal as the turret rotated, Twintails releasing a quick giggle.

“Oy, stop messing around up there! Do you know how easy it is for her to break in her old age?!” I chuckled a bit. You’ve just asked the impossible from Twintails: Leave something that shoots high explosive death alone. The screeching immediately stopped, followed by a quick apology. Tracks fiddled with a few dials, checking the internal compass and pulling out a faded map of Quebuck covered with scrawled edits. “Alright, unless you want to turn back and go all the way around inside the city, I would get ready to fire that machine gun so we don’t get ghouls and Hell Hounds swarming War Mare.” She pulled a lever, the engines rumbling to life behind us. “And, please, tell your friend not to shoot that gun. I only have a few shells left and I doubt I will find any more until I reach Sunrise Castle.”

She leaned forwards in the seat, her back hoof pressing upon a pedal and making the tank begin to trundle forward. Sweetie stepped off my lap and climbed up to the gunner’s seat to get a closer look at the cannon's breech. I leaned forward, squinting through the machine gun’s port, looking around the area. Nothing appeared at first, the tank slowly rolling forward, proceeding down the roads towards the edge of town. My horn lit up as I pulled back the charging lever, right, the belt in the gun feeding a new round. A small pack of ghouls ran out from between two buildings, turning towards us before giving their raspy shout. I turned the gun in their direction, grunting a bit with the effort. Alright, this thing has a lot less maneuverability than I thought. Pulling the trigger, the box mounted underneath fed the gun as I opened fire towards the group. The snow burst around them as the bullets struck, a few ghouls going down.

I heard the hatch fly open again and the sound of Twintails firing off his own grenade rifle. The grenades blasted up the snow and sent the ghouls flying to the ground in a heap of blood. Twintails cheered as he shut the hatch again, giggling and looking through his saddlebags for more rounds. I shook my head, looking back through the gun sight - he is absolutely mad. Tracks pulled a few more levers, turning the tank down the road, the setting sun now shining through the view ports. “Alright, we’re near the edge of town, then it’s a straight shot to the Turnpike.” The engines rumbled as we plowed ahead, the cart’s creaking wheels barely audible.

I shielded my eyes from the glare of the sun, turning to face Tracks a bit. “So… where exactly did you find this tank, anyways?” I asked, trying to make idle chatter. “It’s not like these are just strewn about everywhere, it’d take a really competent fighter to be able to recover one from a pre-war facility single hoofedly.” Tracks looked suddenly uncomfortable, shifting a little in her seat.

“I had bought War Mare after my husband was lost at Shattered Hoof Ridge. The mare of the Ministry of Wartime Technology personally responded to my letter and sent me her, along with a crew.” There was the faintest waver in her voice as she spoke, still peering through her small driver's hatch. “They… they did not survive when Stalliongrad was struck.” She looked sullen, releasing small shuddering breaths and wiping her eyes with her old yellow coat. I tried to apologize for bringing up the subject, but she waved me away. “No, no, it’s fine, I just… memories are more painful when you have had time to think about them.” I nodded, silent, leaning back into my chair as the tank rumbled on.

The engines died down as we approached a small turn off to the packed snow, the walls of the Turnpike barely visible in the distance. Tracks pulled a few levers and turned a crank to close the view ports. I climbed out of the chair, twisting my neck and hearing it crack audibly, resonating in the small space - ouch. Climbing up the ladder, Twintails flipped open the hatch and led us out. Tracks, being the last one out, shut the hatch behind her. We trotted to the back of the tank as I used my magic to undo the cable tying it to the back as Twintails immediately went to inspect the boxes, checking to make sure none of them had been damaged. I rolled my eyes, turning back to Tracks. “Thanks for the lift."

“Nyet problem,” She said, smiling again. “I should thank you both. I would have died had I tried walking to Sunrise Castle. Perhaps we shall meet each other again, like that old song goes. Do svidaniya!" She smiled, gathering the cable from the cart and coiling it back up on her tank. Waving a hoof and wearing a smile, she disappeared back inside the turret hatch, the engines whirring to life again. Twintails and myself both watched as it trundled off across the Snowdrop test range, my pegasus friend already latched to the cart.

“Huh." Not really able to think of any other way of describing our encounter with her, I felt that would be enough. Twintails shrugged idly, Sweetie Bot clambering up the tower of crates and looking down at us both. With the light from the sun being fast to fade, we pushed forth towards Turnpike, Sweetie Bot humming a faint tune.

We soon passed through the gates and continued on towards the familiar old railyard, unhitching Twintails and beginning to unload the cart. I carried several crates of soda in my magic, Twintails hefting some on his back, knocking and adjusting himself as we stood on the platform of the caboose. Featherweight looked on in surprise as he answered the door, holding it open for us as we stepped inside with our loads, being careful not to spill the contents. The sun was nearly completely below the horizon, casting long shadows inside the small railcar. “Haven’t seen you two in a while! How’ve you been?” He smiled, us both setting down the crates. He blinked a few times, looking them over, a smile crossing his muzzle. “What’s with the soda? You looking to really be my cuddly little balloon tonight, Twinnie?~” Well, that certainly made him blush!

“Ohoho, just you wait. Y'know that stew you made up awhile back, that glowing bottle of soda you used? Apparently that stuff is so good, even Minty likes it!” I glared at him as he chuckled. “We’ve been doing pretty good too. Blowing up buildings, buying robots, trying to stop spontaneous orgasms, nothing out of the ordinary.” I resisted the urge to kick him. Hard. Between his flanks. Featherweight’s eyebrow raised as Buzzy took to chatting with Sweetie Bot. “Anyways, how’ve you two been? Keeping safe from the fallout?” We sat down at the table as I pulled out a Sunrise Sarsaparilla, taking a swig.

“We’ve been doing well too. Heard about a large encampment of Hell Hounds north of here, so we’ve been taking a few bombing runs to clear them out. We’ll be sticking closer to town with that radiation storm coming through, though. We’ve tried giving that area a fly-by to see what’s going on, but whoever’s there now aren’t exactly friendly to visitors..." The large stallion pulled a small box down from a shelf, setting it on the table nearby. “I have some leftover Hell Hound meat, if you guys are hungry.” He smiled, pulling out several large steaks from the metal box. My stomach rumbled loudly in response, as Featherweight chuckled and slid the steaks into the oven.

Buzzy and Sweetie continued to chat, Sweetie starting to draw diagrams in the snow. “6 fluid ounces of Sparkle Cola RAD, along with 2 ounces of Abraxo…” I grimaced, watching them. Putting those two foals together doesn’t seem as pleasing an idea now... They bounced ideas off of each other as Featherweight heated up the steaks, setting out plates and utensils. The food was soon done, and he slid the steaming slabs of meat onto the plates. I immediately took a bite, the somewhat metallic tasting meat burning my tongue a bit. Eh, I was hungry enough to eat anything at this point.

Twintails pulled out a couple bottles of RAD, tossing one to Featherweight. He looked over the glowing bottle, grinning and letting off a light chuckle, undoing the cap and taking a healthy sip of it. Healthy sip, yeah, maybe that wasn't exactly the best wording... We ate in silence, aside from the occasional chatter from the fillies. I levitated the dishes over to the sink once we’d finished, Twintails’ and my own belly slightly more distended than normal. Featherweight went to scrubbing the dishes as Sweetie yawned, revealing a small speaker near the back of her throat.

I too stretched a bit, suddenly feeling a lot more tired. “Nnnyagh, I suppose we’ll be heading off to bed. Thanks for the dinner, nice seeing you!” Featherweight nodded as Twintails picked up Sweetie, laying her on his back. I tossed my empty soda bottle in the trash as we made for the door. Buzzy zipped in front of myself, stopping me in my tracks.

“Hang on there metal-horn, you can stay here!” I looked over at Twintails, who snickered and smiled, sliding up near Featherweight. “We've got plenty of space in the other cars, so you won't have to use the floor or share a bed, an-” Featherweight chuckled and stepped between her and us, only for her to hop onto his back, still chatting and smiling towards Sweetie Bot. “We’ve got blankets and stuff, if you guys don’t mind!”

Twintails nodded, Sweetie’s head bobbing as she tried to stay awake. Ooh, we better find her some batteries soon before she shuts down completely... I nodded as well, picking up Sweetie in my magic and heading into the guest railcars, Twintails proceeding into Featherweight’s room. Featherweight whispered something in Twintails’ ears, his face immediately turning red as his ears flopped back and his tails curled between his haunches. Lucky bugger...

Buzzy followed me into the guest railcar as well, dragging a smaller mattress off her bed frame behind her. “Featherweight doesn't want me being in the same room as 'em at night. Promise me you won’t be doing anything in here with Sweetie Bot...” She said, jokingly. I nodded, chuckling a bit. She threw her blanket over herself as Sweetie plugged herself into the wall, myself slipping into bed, not bothering to take off my jacket. “Did you really find some way to make that RAD stuff explode? I mean, it’s great, I wouldn’t want to waste it like that, but it’s cool anyway!” Buzzy said at a mile a minute. I nodded groggily as she continued to talk, clearly hyped up from the soda. This is going to be a long night…

---

I awoke to Buzzy muttering in her sleep, Sweetie still “sleeping”, a small green light slowly flashing on her ear. I rolled over in bed, checking my Pip-Buck for the time. 8:39… yeah, I guess I better get up. I yawned as I got out of bed, making sure to step over Buzzy as I unplugged Sweetie. She gave off a little jingle as she stood up. “Good morning, Minty!” I smiled in return as she poked at Buzzy, who snorted and woke up. She rubbed her eyes idly, following us across the platforms and into the kitchen area. Sweetie lit the small lamp hanging from the ceiling, her head lulling down every now and then as she tried to stay awake, myself going to knock on the door to Featherweight’s room.

He and Twintails soon entered the kitchen as well, both looking like they’d really had a good night’s sleep. Featherweight opened up the cupboard, pulling out several cans of tomato soup. He began to pour them into a pot, lighting the stove. “We are -not- giving any more of that soda to Buzzy.” I growled at Twintails. Buzzy hopped up onto the seat opposite me before flopping down onto the table, snoring.

Featherweight carried over a few bowls of soup, placing them in front of us. He nudged Buzzy, but she only snored again. I woke up a little more as I drank down the soup, feeling the hot mixture warm me up from the inside out. Featherweight and Twintails ate a little more slowly, chatting a bit. “You guys heading back out soon?” Twintails nodded, eating another spoonful of soup.

“Yeah, we ought to head out as soon as we can. We need to get back to EQUAD again, Minty thinks his augmentations are triggering his pleasure centers by accident.” Featherweight nodded and ate some more soup. “It’s going to be a bit of a pain trying to get all the way there with that soda, though. Could you hang on to it till we get back?” Featherweight looked over to the still sleeping Buzzy, Sweetie poking at her in a vain attempt to awaken her.

“I think I can find a place for it in one of the old sheds. Y'know, somewhere that little miss photon here won't get into it.” I chuckled a bit. Yeah, we don’t need Buzzy taking after Jumper Cables. Twintails sighed a bit, shrugging. We finished up and placed our dishes in the sink, Featherweight scooping up Buzzy to put her back to bed. “Thanks for stopping by, hope we’ll see each other again soon. Especially you, Twinnie, you still deserve a nice big Feather-bed one of these days~”

We gave our farewells and gathered up a few crates' worth of the soda for ourselves, turning to leave. Sweetie followed after us, carrying her own crate in a field of magic. How exactly can robotics do that? I made a note to ask Jumper Cables for her schematics the next time we stopped at the factory as we walked through the passenger car gate and made way for Trotisk. “As valuable as this stuff is, if we get attacked by a pack of Hell Hounds, don’t expect me to try and protect it.” Twintails rolled his eyes as he opened a new bottle, his loaded battle saddle clinking in the cool air.

“Oh come on, between Kindness and that mag-rifle of yours, we’ll be fine!” We began to trot down the road, the sun casting long shadows to our front. Twintails' soda caused his geiger counter to click lightly - I'm surprised that stuff is still kind of drinkable after being so close to ground zero for so long. “And don’t forget Sweetie Bot!” We continued down the road, myself flipping on my Pip-Buck’s radio, Hi-Fi’s voice as Bert the Turtle coming in with a crackle of static.

“-And that’s why you should never use a toaster as a hair drier. Weather reports indicate the recent radiation storm is going to last longer than was initially suspected, whatever happened to blow open the reactor in Pripytrot’s left it still leaking into the air. I’d refrain from buying any water from any merchants foolish enough to go wandering around there right now - then again, not many merchants coming out of that warzone, anyways. So, stay bundled up and keep those breathing masks on, and remember: the best course of action for a fifth hoof growing out of your stomach is NOT a bullet to the brain.” There was a moment of silence before the sound of a needle dropping onto a record was heard, and a song started up.

"Heartaches by the number,
Troubles by the score,
Every day you love me less,
Each day I love you more.

Yes, I've got heartaches by the number,
A love that I can't win,
But the day that I stop counting,
That's the day my world will end!"

---

The bell above the door rang as Twintails, Sweetie and myself entered the Plasma Spaz. Flash Bang was busying herself taking stock of all the weapons around the shop, as Sugar fixed up a rather appealing multiplas rifle on the counter. Sugar set aside the gun, along with her various tools, smiling when she saw us. “Hey guys! Oh, right, Greasy and Nikki probably want to see you. C'mon!” Sugar turned to head upstairs as Flash Bang placed her clipboard on a shelf. We followed her up into the living room, which was now strewn with various bits of technology, the walls lined with weapons and inventions, both Nikolai and Greasy tinkering at a table in the middle. Neither of them looked up, too engrossed in their work. “Greasy, Nikolai, quit your building for a second and look who came around to visit!”

Nikolai looked up, his expression brightening. “Hello!” He said cheerfully, Greasy still fiddling with the pile of talismans and metal. Flash gently swatted her on the back of the head with her wing. She looked over, irritated, but grinned widely when she saw us. Nikolai chuckled lightly. “Things have gotten pretty messy around here, as you can see. Try not to step on anything.” Sweetie trotted up to the table, examining all the various devices laying on top of it. “Oh, and who’s this?”

After going through the explanation of buying Sweetie for what felt like the fiftieth time, we sat down on the dusty couch, pushing a few laser pistols out of the way. Greasy stared intently at Sweetie, examining her various joints and features, paying deft attention to her horn. “Good gracious, first you bring me your Ferromagnetic Rifle, now her! Imagine all the possibilities with this kind of technology.” Sweetie politely complied with Greasy’s requests, showing off various functions from data storage to energy cell production. “And… would you happen to have any weapon capabilities?” Greasy asked. I let off a small whimper, looking over at the robotic filly. No live fire demonstrations, no live-fire demonstrations...

Sweetie nodded, grinning, and began to spout off an incredible list of various dangerous sounding abilities, ranging from crafting of rifles to full out missile silo software compatibility. I yanked her away from Greasy, covering her mouth. “Hahaha, yeah, that’s… uh… that’s not… um…” I stammered, Greasy looking both impressed and horrified, and Twintails likewise all the more intrigued about her. “Magnetic Rifle! Yeah, you said you might have something for this, right?” I placed Jolts onto Greasy’s table, scooting Sweetie Belle a little further away.

Greasy focused back on the rifle, picking it up and examining it. “Oh, right! Let’s see…” She looked through the scope, shifting her leg around to rest on the metallic butt of the gun. “I should be able to fit on an electromagnetic pulse generator to the pin box, it’ll be a lot more powerful against power armor and robots, then. Even cyborgs like Hell Hounds, maybe..." I nodded, grinning widely. She set down the gun and pulled over a small box with a few loose wires. “This might take a while. You sure you’re okay leaving this here for a bit?”

"Oh, sure! Take what time you need, we're not in a hurry." I smiled lightly, turning to Nikolai as Twintails and Flash chatted. “Much new around here?” He shook his head as we headed back downstairs with a few of the crafted weapons. Sweetie examined the various grenades on the shelves as Flash returned to stockpiling, still talking to Twintails. Nikolai cleared some space on the display tables, laying down the large tesla cannon and smaller guns around it.

“We’ve mostly just been building more weapons, and experimenting on others. Business has shot up since we’ve arrived, according to Sugar.” He smiled, letting off a small chuckle. “Flash has been looking around for old units of power armor, I’ve been hoping to modify a set of my own. What’re you guys doing back here, anyway?”

I didn’t feel like sharing the previous… experiences I’d been having, so I concocted a lie quickly. “We’re just heading back to EQUAD, stopping to see if they had anything new for us. Maybe I can convince them to give you a set of power armor when we’re there, I mean, my cousin is a paladin there, after all.” Nikolai smiled and thanked me. Twintails trotted over to us, carrying Sweetie on his back.

“Ready to head out?” I nodded, and we bade Nikolai and Flash farewell, turning to head out the door. The wind whipped at our manes as I buried my face into my jacket a bit, the sun having started it's slow ascent and shortened our shadows. We began to trot through the streets towards EQUAD as dirty snow began to blow down off the rooftops.

“I really hope I’m wrong about what’s been going on.” I muttered to myself idly, shuddering. Celestia above, please let me be wrong about it...