Expedition to Stable 34 Day 1, 8th day of the 3rd moon, 24 years After the day of Sunshine and Rainbows

As is standard on all Followers archaeological missions, the expedition leader is supposed to keep a detailed journal of everything that happens. Since the professor decided to wimp out and not come, that leaves me as expedition lead. Dammit, I’m already getting tired of writing these fucking journal entries and I haven’t even finished one yet! Since these logs are supposed to be the official expedition records, I guess I better start with some introductions. My name is Pickaxe (guess what my cutie mark is?), and I am an archaeologist with the Followers of the Apocalypse. I was supposed to be the assistant to the most senior archaeologist in the whole FoA, but at the last minute he wimped out. Never did have a thing for field work. He’s a bit too soft to go out exploring the wasteland; Guy’d get eaten by radroaches the second he stepped out of the Civilized Lands. That leaves me as leader, which means I actually have responsibilities. Fuck. It’s times like these when I regret not joining some wasteland team to go “civilize” the badlands. That’s what the NCR gives as an excuse to pay mercs to go out and claim territory. Also gives the mercs an excuse to hunt raiders (like anyone needs an excuse).

Anyway, that was off topic. Also on this expedition are 3 others, 1 earth pony, 1 unicorn, and a pegasus. The first earth pony is a mare (barely, she’s closer to a filly if you ask me) fresh out of the Followers training program and on her first real mission. Her name is Cherry Pie, and the only good thing about bringing her along is that she can make some damn fine pastries. Okay, that’s not really true. She’s really good with her hoofs, and can lockpick like LittlePip herself, not to mention being able to fix almost anything. Don’t know why she doesn’t just do that for a living. She can get more annoying than the weather in the Everfree forest though. She has a dark red mane with Pinkie-Pie pink coat, which she uses as evidence when she brags about being a direct descendant of the Mare of the Ministry of Morale herself. Everyone knows it’s utter bullshit (Pinkie Pie never had kids) but no one can convince Cherry of that. Next is Cloud Runner, our resident pegasus. He was never part of the Enclave, but his parents and older brother were. I think he sees it as his duty to make up for his family’s wrongs, often taking it a little overboard. One time he tried taking out a whole slave camp by himself, which didn’t turn out to well. He also tries to break his relation to the Enclave by trying to cover up his natural accent with a more ground-associated one, causing him to sound pretty strange sometimes. He’s not bad with a magical energy weapon, but his main strength is in reconnaissance and explosives. He has eyes like a hawk and can fly damn fast, not to mention being able to rain explosive ordnance down from the sky with unparalleled accuracy. Last in our ragtag band of explorers is Crystal Spell, our medic and a good friend of mine. We were roommates while going through Followers training. She can be a bit obsessive about a wide variety of things, including her looks. She makes sure her off-white coat sparkles (as much as that color can) and that her hair is always kept just the way she likes it. She actually acts a lot like Rarity, one of Fluttershy’s pre-war friends, in the stories we were told as children. With the important exception that Crystal Spell is definitely NOT the element of generosity. We also have a unit of 4 Applejack’s rangers who volunteered to accompany us. There have been rumors of heavy raider activity in the areas we are going, so they volunteered to give us some protection. I’m sure the possibility of a fresh stable’s worth of tech that they can get their hooves on is their true motivation, but we’ll take what we can get. The Rangers will probably be disappointed though. Stable 34 was probably cleaned out a long time ago, but really though, we have no clue about the condition of that place. It’s in a difficult to reach area of the wasteland, and for all we know it could still be sealed and have ponies living in it! That’s the point of this expedition. Find the Stable, and find out all we can about it.

We are currently at the New Appleloosa branch of the FoA. We will be heading south to Old Appleloosa by rail. From there we hoof it south until we hit the Macintosh Mountains, which we then follow west. The mountains run into the San Palomino Desert, at the heart of which is Stable 34. Who decided to build a stable in the middle of a Celestia-forsaken desert in the first place? I mean, seriously, that place was a wasteland even before the war. Anyway, after we are done exploring Stable 34 we will be heading north to the Las Pegasus Boneyard to meet up with another FoA group so we can travel back to New Appleloosa together.

That’s all I have to say for now. I probably won’t write on any sort of schedule, just when something important happens or something pops into my head I feel like writing down. If the day's events are really significant, I’ll have Chrystal Spell record my memories of it into a memory orb and include that instead of a journal entry. I’ll also be recording any archaeological finds we make here, with detailed accounts of the material, and copies of any documents found. Well, of we go, to the hell-blasted badlands that surround Stable 34.