After a few hours more of moving through the scorched earth and hollowed homes of what used to be a town, it became late in the evening. Probably around seven or eight at night. We had decided to rest up in the remnants of a single story house until early morning. Even though the house was empty, and by that I mean there weren't anypony's remains, it was still kind of strange to think, 'Wow! Somepony had actually lived here, and we're just standing right here in, or what's left of, somepony's house. That's not creepy or unnerving at all!'

Nonetheless, sleep actually came easy in the wasteland. You can hear gunshots all night, and they seemed to be moving closer, but you just kind of sleep through it. It all seems to blend into the 'hellish' environment.

I was awoken when something had gripped me and shook slightly. It was Erő, prodding me awake.

“Come on, Gust. Up, up. It's time to go” He said as I let out a deep yawn.

“Nuh-uh. Ugh, just like 5 more minutes.” My dreams of returning a hero to the Stable were nothing but a fleeting memory. I really didn't want to get up. I had actually missed the boring four walls, the hard, sterile floors, and most of all: a roof.

“Please, Gust. Don't make me drag you by your tail, because you know I will.” He said with a smirk.

“Fine. Fine. I'm up, don't worry,” I said defensively as I stood up to stretch out my legs. “Jerk.”

“What was that?” He said giving me a playful shove.

“Whoa, nothing. Just playin', man.” I bumped 'accidentally' back into his side.

“Riight.”

As I looked around, I noticed a lack of two ponies. The sleeping rolls and saddlebags were missing as well. There didn't seem to be a trace that they were even here, save for some imprints in the dirt where they were laying.

“Erő, where's Icebox and Jury?” I said as I strapped my own saddlebags and bow over my back.

“Left. They went to the hill over there to get a view on anything interesting,” He said, pointing a claw through the cracked and faded window towards a hill that seemed to come out of nowhere. “I chose to stay behind so you didn't kill yourself in your sleep. Generous, aren't I?”

“Quite.”

“So, let's check in with them. Come on.” The griffon said as he took flight. I never actually knew where he had learned to fly in such a small place. The most I had heard were stories about the griffons keeping their wings in check by racing down the more lengthy hallways of the Stable. I never bothered to check it out, as those stories also included details of the amount of pain you're in after getting hit head-on by a griffon at top speed.

I arrived a few minutes after Erő did. You know being earth-bound, and all. Despite constant clouds or no lights around, it was easy to see. Well-adjusted eyes certainly helps out here, for one thing. It might be a bitch during the day, though. One problem at a time, I guess.

“Here, lookie there. Light.” Icebox shoved a pair of binoculars into my hooves and pointed at a small, flickering speck off in the distance. It was obviously fire.

“I dunno, should we check it out?” I asked as I handed her the binoculars to be shoved back into a saddlebag.

“Well, yeah! That's why we're out here, right? To check things out and establish contact... with the ooother siiide!” She said as she waved her hooves around in a spooky manner. I fought to hold back a grin.

“This is serious, Ice. It could be something dangerous.” Jury said softly.

“Well, that's why you have a pair of wings. So, that way you'll be about 20 percent safer.” Erő said proudly as he flexed his wings.

“20 percent is pretty small, you know.” Jury said, scratching the earth off of his mane.

“You know what? Don't you worry your little, grounded head. I'll be back on you lickety-split, and we'll have our questions answered. Just tail me from behind, alright?” Erő took back to the skies and slowly moved up on the flame.

We were far enough from the camp to make out basic shapes, but not any fine details about them. After, ducking behind a hardly standing wall of some unfortunate pony's house, we waited for Erő to return with some news. Unfortunately, he came back empty-hooved, err, clawed.

“So, the old fashion way, right? 'We won't shoot you if you won't shoot us'? That sorta thing?” Icebox said as she checked her pistol. There were some ponies who were allowed firearm training in Stable 44. The bow might not be everyone's gig, or something. A pistol, in addition to a Pip-Buck, made Icebox the stand-out of the group. Y'know, other than the flying cat.

“I guess so. But someone needs to stay behind in case it goes down poorly. I'll watch with my bow, I can make the distance.” Jury unsheathed the bow and nocked an arrow. Freaking Earth ponies, the rearing combat stance was strange enough, but using their mouths for everything was also weird. Cushy unicorn logic, or something.

“Hey, Jury, I'll be your wingman. I got your back.” Erő nocked an arrow with his claws and flew up towards the sky. A nod of his head was enough of a signal to go.

“You and me, Ice. Let's not die.” I used my magic to keep a grip on my bow as well as an arrow, if need be. I noticed she used her magic for a passive grip on her weapon. She couldn't lift very well with that kind of magic, but if she needed to, she could raise her magic at a moment's notice. An added benefit was that her horn glowed softer, so hopefully it was less noticeable.

As we approached a broad looking stallion, I began to make out the details. He was wearing armor that was leathery and smooth looking, but it appeared to be caked in.. in.. Oh, no.

I wanted to run, but I was too scared to at this point. All I could do was follow behind Icebox. It's funny, you know. She loses her shit about an oversized roach, yet blindly walks over to the pony who is caked in, well, another pony.

I think she noticed it too, her horn was glowing brighter as the grip on her pistol seemed to get tighter. Still, she got a few yards from him before lowering into a defensive stance.

“Friendly, or not?” She asked the crazy-pony. Even his eyes were haunting, they were darkened in the outer whites of his eyes, and seemed to have lost their natural glimmer. They just seemed hollow. Dead.

“Suure, honey, I can be friendly. Just come over here and lemme show ya'.” His voice sounded like hooves on a chalkboard and made me feel really uncomfortable. As if seeing a pony wear another wasn't already.

“Yeah, no. Mind telling me who you are, or am I just wasting my time?” She rolled her eyes at him. Really! There's brave, there's stupid, and then there is whatever she's doing.

“Sheesh, toots, you've gotta mouth on you. I'd love to see you use it. Anyhow, name's Shrapnel.” Words didn't roll off of his tongue, they just sort of oozed out. Something about this stallion seemed different, besides from the pony-caked armor and weapons, he seemed collected. Sane. The others looked like they were about to start hoof-fighting, or bang their heads against pans. You know, the crazy kind.

“Not in your lifetime, pal.” She said back to the gruff pony.

“I'm sorry? I wasn't asking, bitch!” A hoof came down hard against her cheek. Icebox hit the ground with a soft thud.

“What about you, huh? Anything smart you wanna add, punk?” He was looking right at me. I thought I was about to faint.

“N-nothing at al-OH SHIT!” I screamed and threw myself backwards as the pony's head exploded.

“What happened? Backup?” Icebox seemed to shake the hit off and began to back away from the pony who was pooling in his blood.

“A-arrows don't explode ponies, Ice!” It was my turn to lose my composure as the late Shrapnel's friends seemed to be closing in on us.

“Say, honey, nice trick shooting with a holstered gun.” One of the crazies said to her as he inched closer.

“I-I didn't. It was somepony else's shot.” This was good, not the whole crazy murder-pony part, we were leading these ponies back into Erő and Jury's killbox.

We found ourselves against the same wall that Jury was behind. I heard a clop of hooves against the wall, signaling that we weren't alone. I looked up to see a very welcomed sight. A nocked arrow pointed towards me.

An arrow went straight through the head of a back up raider, causing their leader to turn, we took this as our cue to jump through a chest-high hole in the wall. It was strange, like we all knew what to do and where to be. As soon as we cleared, Jury had taken our spot and pulled the raider through the hole before a pair of heavy hooves came down on his wind-pipe.

Oh, Goddess, I never want to hear that crack again.

There it was again! Another bang, and down goes another crazy! It was down to just two of them, and wooden bats and sharpened pieces of metal don't look like good odds against ranged weapons. One of them, however believed that luck was in her favor, she charged Icebox before getting slapped across the muzzle with an electric stick.

I've seen those in the Stable before. They were used for breaking up fights. The most you'd get was your muscles seizing up on you. If it was turned higher, loss of consciousness. But, this pony was on the ground, twitching and vomiting. I'd no idea that they even went that high. I didn't even check to see if she was breathing.

The other brave soul took one look at his companion before he dropped his bat, turning tail and bolting. Smart pony, I guess. Icebox drew her pistol and lined the sights with the back of his head.

“Don't! He doesn't have a weapon!” I pushed the pistol away before she gave me a shove back that caused me to fall over.

“What gives?! You saw those monsters! Who's to say he's not gonna go back to this once he's gone?” Her anger was replaced with shock as another crack in the sky caused the pony's head to explode. She just sighed and gave me a hoof back up. “Sorry, Gust. That wasn't me, though. You saw it.”

“Yeah, I know. We have a guardian angel, or something.” I heard Jury say from behind. I couldn't take it. I turned to face away from Jury and Icebox before emptying my stomach all over the ground.

Erő landed without a sound behind us, and went to go retrieve the arrow from the raider's head. I didn't understand why these people are so unphased by this. Exploding heads!? Psychopathic murder-ponies?! The Goddess-damned apocalypse!? No ceiling!?

Erő came back with an arrow soaked in another pony. How lovely. “I didn't see where the shot came from, but I heard it just fine. They're nearby.”

“Should we try to find him? He seems like a nice enough guy, what, with saving our flanks back there.” Icebox said, rubbing the cheek that Shrapnel struck.

“No. He might try something. Best we just get out before something else comes down on us.” Erő seemed concerned. Maybe the wasteland was chipping off his cool demeanor. Or maybe it was the exploding heads. It doesn't matter.

As we were making our way through the raider camp, we noticed the something that Erő was talking about. A unicorn mare with a soft red coat that mixed nicely with a brown mane. A largish rifle was slung over her back. I'd've said she was pretty attractive if she hadn't just decked me in the face.

“You idiot! You almost got yourself killed, and you almost fucked up my bounty! Stupid Stable ponies!” She barked at me, in particular. Shoot, all I did was nearly piss myself at the exploding heads. Cut me some slack, lady.

“Whoa, slow down, hon, he didn't do anything. Mind telling me what your piece in all of this is?” Erő said as he defensively shoved a claw in front of me.

“You honestly couldn't tell? Is spikes and dead ponies normal for you?” I just cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Hell, everything was confusing to me right now. “Those were raiders, jackass. Ugh, you know, 'not-nice-ponies'?”

“Yeah, I get the gist of it. Why'd you pop that guy's head, anyhow? No warning shots?” I asked as she began to back off of me.

“Again, bounty. That old buck Shrapnel had a price on his head for some not-nice things. His friends were just scum, no reason to let them live, either. 'ts the law of the land. Get used to it.” She rolled her eyes at me. Hey, it's not my fault I'm ignorant to the apocalypse, excuuse me!

“Hey. You're wearing nothing but one of them Stable suits.” She looked at me like I was crazy.

“Yeah. So are they,” I pointed over the two ponies and the griffon behind me. “What about it?”

“No no no, see? Their suits have armoring. Yours doesn't,” Huh? Can't believe I missed that. “If you get hit... Bam!” She punched me with a hoof for added emphasis.

“So can't I just take one of these poor pony's armor sets?” Hey, good ideas, already!

“Sure, if you wanna get your head blown off by some town's watch.” Goodbye, good ideas!

“You're in luck, pal. Since you're new here, and your probably gonna die in that suit, I'll let you scavenge off ol' Shrapnel's armor. It's the least murderous looking out of the bunch.” As she set the body down towards me, I thought I was going to lose it again.

A few seconds passed before she rolled her eyes and and started unstrapping the armor from his body. “Really? Ugh, whatever.” She got up behind me and started pulling down my suit's zipper with her teeth.

I jumped back and freaked out, sort of. “Whoa! Second base on the first date, already?!”

“I-I.. really?! Just take you damn suit off, kid!” She blushed before returning to her stern demeanor.

After pulling the Stable suit off, I never noticed actually how chilly it was out here. And, after a few bangs and pops from her horn, she levitated over a Stable 44 Suit with Reinforced Leather Barding. I swear I could hear a tune playing as she set it down in front of me.

“Ta-da! Don't thank me, I'm just that nice of a pony.” Yeah, a real charmer.

“So, you never even told us your name.” Erő stated quietly to her.

“Name's Lucky Shot. Yours?” She seemed to survey our group, rather than keeping her eyes on one of us.

“Erő.”

“Sunny Gust.”

“I'm Icebox.”

“Jury Rigger, miss.”

“Great, so now that we are all acquainted, I'll take my leave.” She began to trot off before something stopped her. “Say, what're you doing out of your Stable, anyhow?”

“We were sent to establish contact with the outside.” Erő said with pride.

“Yeah, and I'm guessing that raiders weren't in the brochure, right?”

“Well, yeah. We mostly just expected scorched earth and the likes. Sure, there was bound to be something, just not psychopaths and murders waiting for us.” I said bluntly.

“Well, somepony's gotta crack those Stables open eventually. After a century, boredom's a bitch. So are drugs, I guess. There's always gonna be bad ponies.” Something was off, she was eluding to something.

“Okaay. If that's all..” Icebox trailed off.

“Look. I've seen your type. You ain't gonna last a day out here. Tell you what, I'm heading to a city southwest of here, New Saint City, it's where I'm collecting the bounty on Shrapnel. We all head there, you got yourself a sniper. Sounds like a deal?” She gave a pretty convincing case. We would have been worse off if it weren't for her intervention with the raiders.

After a few moments of muffled whispers between the group, we'd reached a consensus. She's in.

“You've got a deal,” Erő held his claw for a shake, but Lucky just punched it. “But, I've got a question, first, why are you so eager to help us?”

“Couple years back, I met a buck from some Stable out in Marizona, I just let him go. Few days later, I found him strung up off a goddess-damned light post. Raiders were just waiting for me. For someone who wanted to help. I killed all those fuckin' monsters and never looked back. I just wished I could have done more for the poor kid, y'know?” She looked away and wiped something from her eyes. “Doesn't matter, it's no time to get all misty-eyed, and daylight's burning. Let's hit the road, huh?”

Yay! Somepony who knows what's going on! This could finally be looking up. Wait, no, jinx! Dammit! I take that back!

Footnote: Level Up!

Perk Added: Hunter - You do 75% more critical damage against animals and mutated animals.

Companion Perk Added: On Target - While Lucky Shot is aiming at the same target as you, your aim is 20% steadier!