We were now back in the wasteland. The sun had set and it was dark, I hate the dark. Ugh, I maybe should have asked if he would let us crash there for the night. If I meet any more strangers that ask for anything, I shouldn't help them, at least not until I get the jobs have done.

We were already more than halfway there, I could see the lights in the distance, but we still weren't going to get there for a little bit. I hate the dark, I absolutely hate it, too many things can happen while you are in its blind grip. I have had too many occurrences at night and in dark buildings, I would get caught in traps, get ambushed by raider parties, wasteland creatures would find my scent and try to get a bite out of me while i'm shooting at air. Just horrible, I try to only move in the safe daylight and to sleep in buildings at night, not the other way around.

Bait was walking as he normally would, didn't seem to mind the darkness. but me, not so much.

"Bait, how good is your eyesight?" I said while peaking over his shoulder.

"Absolutely terrible." He said while smiling.and trotting.

Well, out of all the things he could say clearly, that takes the cake.

"Well... that makes two of us." I grumbled to myself.

Another thing, I didn't really have the best of eyesight's. I could see well in the day, but at night, my eyesight was horrible.

As we walked, I felt that I could hear noises, like somepony or, something following us, but the darkness makes me more than a little paranoid, it most likely is...

"Okay, did you hear that?" I quickly asked Bait.

"No." He said.

I didn't find that comforting, but I'll just pay attention to the lights of the town, a lot better than being freaked out by probably nothing.

After a few minutes I realized I didn't hear anything else that sounded unusual anywhere nearby. That was a good sign, I'm not really good at close combat, I'm more of a medium range to long range kind of shooter. I couldn't see far due to the darkness, so that was bad, I could see partially close, but I was horrible at fighting anything within a few feet of me with a gun. I would use some sort of melee weapon, but I didn't have any on me. If we were attacked at all anytime soon, we would be in trouble, and I definitely don't think Bait could fight whatsoever.

We were getting a lot closer, I really didn't want to stay out here any longer. I started to see a couple corpses of various creatures, I even saw a few dead Venorm's laying around, they were basically large, irradiated earthworm's with a potent venom that can sprays though a few of the couple hundred spikes around the front of their head, it will irritate the skin if in contact. I rarely saw them, and I even more rarely saw them dead, they were tough creatures.

The air had a horrible smell to it, obviously caused by the corpses. The dirt and rocks were stained with blood. Some large stones in the area had some claw marks, some in groups of four and fewer in groups of two.

Well this is starting to look a little creepy...I stopped walking and decided to take a few spikes off of a Venorm, they were mostly rare but more native to this area and quite useful for dart guns, I even have heard of a few ponies that raise a few and farm their spikes.
I had to make sure I didn't poke myself, their venom can paralyze a pony for days, don't ask why I know that, please. I then set them into a side pouch on the outside of my bag and continued walking.

I noticed that Bait looked a little bit on edge.

"Whats wrong? Other than the bodies." I asked.

"Eh, mmmm, the marks on the rocks and dirt, you see dem?" He asked me.

"Yeah?" I said

"The pairs of two, I may know who theys belong to." He said.

"Uh, what? What do you mean that you know who they belong to?" I asked.

"Mmmm, I don't really want to talk about it. Maybe later." He said while turning to the road ahead.

"Okay, I guess." I said. He really has to tell me.

There was maybe another 40 feet until we would get to the entrance. I could see a large gate with a couple of ponies guarding it on one side, and on the other side I saw, a Hellhound?

"The hay?" I said to myself.

*** *** *** ***

Bait was visually uneasy when he saw it.

We were about ten feet away, and I could clearly see what it was, it was a Diamond Dog, a regular unirradiated, not a hellhound, Diamond Dog. It stood at least a foot and a half taller than a pony, wasn't very large but it was still menacing. I looked at its paws, it had them crossed across it's chest while one paw was missing its thumb and pointer. Crudely made stitching had been where they had used to be, I'm guessing it had been the one responsible for the corpses. It wore armor made of pieces of metal plates wielded together and leather holding them onto shoulders. The Diamond Dog itself had a light grey color, didn't look like it was too strong, but it still looked that it could do some damage if it wanted to, i'm going to guess that it is a male as well.

"Hello." I said to the mare next to the Diamond dog.

"Hello." She said back to me simply.

"May we enter?" I asked her.

I noticed Bait was looking at the ground away from the Diamond dog, he seemed to not want it to see him. It looked at him, uncrossed its arm's and started to walk to Bait.

"I know you, turn your head." It had said while giving him a disapproving look.

Bait had not moved at first, but slowly turned his head towards the Diamond Dog.

"Yep that's you, you still owe me." He said while crossing his arms again.

"Wait, why does he owe you, and what does he owe you if you don't mind me asking?" I asked.

"He owes me Mint-al's. He kinda took them when I was sleeping in my home."

"So, how do you know it was him if you were sleeping?" I asked

He pointed at Bait.

"Take a guess." He said.

"Oh. oh." I said.

"He took them when I was sleeping, but he was clumsy and woke me up, I managed to, scrape him when he escaped, mainly cause I was mad, secondly so I would know who the thief was later."

He Chuckled.

"I guess it worked." He said while grinning.

"Why would you steal from a Diamond Dog!?" I said to Bait.

"I don't know! Ah couldn't find anywhere an It was dark an I don know what I was thinking!" He said to me.

"Okay, we really need to fix your addiction, somehow. Its going to get you killed." I said while putting a hoof to my chin.

"We do have a doctor in town that might be able to help." The mare said as we turned to her.

"What?" She asked while raising an eyebrow.

"You were all complaining about drugs and addictions and withdrawal and whatever, I just thought you should know." She added.

"Oh, uh, thank you, that actually helps a lot." I said.

"Your welcome, now another thing, can you all please go inside and argue about whatever else there please?" She said as she turned to the Diamond dog. "And Rivet, come back out and continue guarding when you are done." She added.

We turned back to each other.

"Well, lets go in shall we." Rivet said as he flipped a lever on the wall next to the gate.

The gate opened and rose into a space in the top of the wall with some steel chains. With the gate gone, we could see the town, most of the lights were off while few were still on. Couldn't really see much of it in the dark.

We all walked to a building with a light pole in front. The store was closed so I don't think anypony would mind us there.

"Now, lets make a deal." Rivet said.

"Since you obviously didn't steal cause you wanted to irritate me and because because im a good guy, I'm going to be easy on you, I want you to find me some new Mint-als, but not just regular ones, the party time variety, and I want to you see the doctor and get that addiction removed, one less addict is one less pony to steal my stuff." He said while crossing his arms.

"You do those things, and we'll be good." He said.

We stood there for a few seconds.

"Okay, I can try, but I dun know were to fine any of those." Bait said.

"Hmmm, ask around town, I've seen a few ponies walk though here with some once in a while. I would do it myself, but I don't have the time to, I guard the gate most of the day, and as you can see, some of the night as well. The rest of the time I spend either eating or sleeping." He explained.

"Why do you have such a small span of time to do anything else?" I asked.

"I was asked to do this job and I agreed to its conditions to have have somewhere to stay and to get caps, and I get a lot. One condition was to guard the gate for most of the day from noon till near midnight. I don't really need sleep to begin with, any radiation that I do have as made me a living energy source, or at least enough to keep me alert and not need hardly any sleep. He somehow managed to interrupt me during the time that I rarely get sleep which I enjoy. So don't wake me, unless you want your head severed and found somewhere celesta's sun don't shine." He explained.

"Well, we'll remember not to do that. Right Bait? I said nudging him lightly.

"Yes, Yes I will remeber, and did I said I was sorry yet?" He said frantically.

"You have not, and apology excepted." He said while grinning.

"Now, I assume you are tired, you can visit Split down the road, she run's a motel you could stay at. There doesn't seem to be anything left to talk about, so I'm going to go back to my post." He said as he turned to the gate.

"Wait, can I ask two more questions?" I asked

"Yes you may, you have one question left." He said

"What?" I said, oblivious to his joke

"You asked a question when you... Never mind, you may ask your questions." He said while frowning.

"Thanks.. Um, I was wondering, do you know where any other Diamond Dogs are? I haven't seen any live ones in my life, other than some pictures in some old books and skeletons of a few, and anything close to one iv'e seen is a Hellhound. Other than that, you are the first." I asked.

"Sorry, I'm just as clueless as you are." He said.

"Okay, second question, you said you use Mint-als right? You don't look as if you have ever gotten an addiction." I asked.

"Well that's because I haven't, I don't know how, I just know that I have never had any side effects to them. When I use them I get all of the advantages that ponies get, but they don't seem to last as long or as potent. They also don't last as long, but it works. The most I have ever gotten as a side effect is being really tired after they wear off." He explained.

"Wow, interesting. Well, I guess that's it for the questions for now, thanks for answering." I said to him.

"No prob." He said as he started to turn to the gate when he stopped.

"Is that a Cutler Series pistol you got there? Looks like a C15 Variant of the pistol am I right?" He asked me.

"You are correct, why do you ask?" I asked him.

"Oh I just happen to have a collect of a few in my place. I'll tell you what, after you get some sleep, come to my home in the morning, it is the small house on the corner of the street over there." He pointed to a metal house that was as he said, small.

"Okay, sure. Well bye for now, and goodnight." I said

"Night." He said as he opened the gate and walked back out.

"Well, he seems interesting. What do you think?" I said as I turned to bait.

"He better when he ain't trying to kill me, so I guess he, good." He said while turning and started to walk down the street.

The town looked like it hadn't gotten a lot of damage from any bombs, but still could use a fix. The street was mostly intact, there were a few holes here and there but was solid. The air had a cleaner smell than the rest of the wasteland, I don't know how, it just did.

*** *** *** ***

After walking for a minute or two, we found the Motel. It was a fairly large building that didn't have much damage than most building around here. Most of the letters on the sign had fallen off leaving only M-O. I found that slightly amusing for some reason.

We stepped inside to see a yellow earth pony mare with light green hair standing behind a counter. Her hair had been tied behind her head with a small dark green bow. Her Cutie Mark had been Ice cream with a banana on top.

"Hello, do you have any rooms we could stay in for the night?" I asked her while smiling.

"Yes I do, i'm going to assume you will be staying just for tonight? Or will you be staying for a longer period?"

"Tonight's fine I guess.." I said.

"That will be, 100 caps, it is 50 caps a night if you plan to stay more than three days." She informed us.

"Okay then, your room will be on the second floor, room 19B." she said.

I reached into my bag and took out the bits and handed them to her.

You know what, we might want to stay here for a while, and it would be a better deal too.

"I decided that we will stay for three days. " I said.

I took out some more bit and gave them to her as well.

She then reached at a shelf and gave me a key.

"Have a good night." She said while smiling.

Me and Bait then turned went up the stairs to find the room. We searched for a little while when we had found it.
I pulled out the key she had given me and and unlocked the door.
The room was clean, other than the few small holes in the walls or the partially stained carpet. I don't think it was coming out anytime soon.
There was a bed in the corner of the room with a table at the end of it and a mirror with a dresser on the other side of the room, the mirror had a few cracked but was in overall good condition.

We walked in and I turned on the light with the switch on the wall by the door. I wonder how this place is being powered. I took off my bag and set it in the corner of the room near the bed and set my riffle next to it leaning against the wall.

"Bait, there only seems to be one bed... but I have my sleeping bag, so you can take the bed if you want." I said to him.

"Thanks you." He said while smiling. He walked to the bed and laid down onto it.

"Your welcome." I said.

I walked to the door, shut it and locked it, I didn't want anypony to come in while we were sleeping.

I walked to my bag, opened it and pulled out my sleeping bag. I set it into the floor next to the bed Bait was now going to be sleeping it, and rolled it open.

I just realized I never asked them where the doctor was, I should probably do that in the morning.

I could hear that Bait was already sleeping, that was fast. I went to my sleeping bag and laid down facing the wall.

"Well, goodnight Bait." I said to the sleeping pony knowing he wouldn't hear me.

I laid there for a few minutes before I fell asleep as well.

*** *** *** ***

I opened my eyes to a blinding white light. I used my hoof to cover it, but it didn't seem to help at all. The light felt like it was inside my eyelids.
I was laying down on what felt to be some sort of tile floor, it was smooth and I could feel the spaces between each tile.
I got up, slowly but I did, I realized that I hadn't had any of my stuff with me, even my courier coat was gone.
The light eventually faded and I could clearly see where I was. I was in some sort of ancient looking marble room. There were gaps between large blocks that were maybe 2 feet across, it looked unfinished.
I looked at the floor and realized my gun had been there, it didn't have the saddle attached, or the gas tank that supplies the propulsion. What had replaced it was a bright blue glowing orb. I picked it up with my telekinesis and and continued to look around.
I turned, and what I saw made my jaw drop.
The room's wall was gone, and what was behind it, was an endless void-like open space. There were carved blocks of stone in various shapes floating absolutely everywhere. Each of the sides looked to be perfectly smooth. Some of the stone blocks had pillars on them, with some glow at the top with no apparent light source, and each of them seemed to have a core that looked to absorb themselves, causing a glow but not casting light onto any surface's.

"Where the hay am I?" I asked myself.

"You are in my Dream Dimension." A mare's voice said to me from no direction I could pinpoint.

"How did I- Oh, i'm dreaming." I said.

"Yes you are, it was the only way I could bring you here. Now, come to me." She said as multiple small stone blocks floated in a path like pattern.

I walked to the edge, and I hesitantly placed a hoof onto the first block.

"Ok... this is really creepy." I said to myself.

I continued to walk over the rest of the blocks to a platform that formed in front of me.

It was made into a square shape of 20 by 20 blocks. There were four pillars on all sides with the same glow from before, but had a red tint to them and were slightly larger than the rest..

"Now, I want to test something." She said.

"Prepare yourself." She added.

"Wait, prepare myself for what?" I asked before the orbs began to glow brighter and multiple red glowing ponies made of stone shards appeared and jumped onto the platform. Glowing pistols made of the same shards materialized around them and they began to wield them in a telekinetic like hold.

"For them." She said.

"Uh oh." I said before they started firing at me.

I ran to my left to dodge the oncoming attack.

"What the hay, this is crazy!" I shouted.

She was silent.

"Well if that is the way you want it!" I shouted before I sprinted around the ponies and jumped off the side of a pillar. I turned and slammed my hoof into the jaw of the closest pony to me, shattering it into dust. I brought around my gun and fired into the chest of another, shattering it as well. The other two turned to me while one tried to punch me, I brought my hoof into the attacker's, in the process breaking it's leg into a fine powder, causing the pony to fall into the stone. I turned to the last and slammed my gun into its face, and sticking the end into its mouth and fired. On its "death" it too had broke into dust.

I was panting heavily and dropped my gun onto the floor.

"What...now?" I said between breaths.

"Well, that wasn't much, you do realize its all in your head, you aren't really tired. But nonetheless you have passed my small test, and you did complete it at an amazingly fast pace, I'm impressed. Come, I think its time you met me." She said with a chuckle.

Usually i'm not good at fighting close quarters...

More blocks floated into place in a stair pattern up to a round platform above me.

"Ugh, why am I here, what is the point of all of this. Way too much is happening way too fast..." I said while walking to the first step.

"You will know shortly, just get to me." She said.

"Well this is the weirdest dream I have had in a while." I said.

I continued to walk up the steps without asking any more questions for the time being.

There were about four more steps left before I got to the top. I could see that the platform had been circular with a strange rock-like buildup below it.

I had made it to the top and I saw her. She was a light blue alicorn mare with a purple mane and tail. Her eyes were a light shade of blue as well, but lighter than her coat. Her cutie mark was a light bulb with four or more stars, I couldn't tell how many due to her large wings covering it partially.

"Well, you made it. I would say impressive but I think I already stated it with you little fight down there." She said as she started walking to me.

"Your an alicorn?!" I asked.

"Yes and no, I am an 'Elecorn', something my brother came up with a couple hundred years ago. It is short for Elemental Alicorn which is also something he came up with. There aren't many of us left, and most of the one's that do remain are not really elements. I can't really explain the whole subject right now, you could ask my brother a bit when you get to him."

"And your brother is?" I asked.

"The one you are delivering your package to, I'm sure you know his name, Dark matter?" She said.

"He's your brother?!" I asked.

"Yes, he is" She said with a bored expression.

"I was just making sure." I said.

"Okay... now to the reason why you were here." She said.

"I brought you here, mainly to thank you for excepting the task of delivering the package for my brother. Well you excepted it from the one that gave you it, but you still agreed to do it. Secondly, that small fight was to test and see if you can fight well, we can't have you die and have somepony else take package can we? I wanted to see if you are worthy of it, it is very important, or so I am told."

"That's a great way to thank somepony." I said sarcastically.

"Indeed..." She said.

"Now, I understand that your trip will be long, I honestly can't tell how long it will be till you get here. But for the time being, I think I will give you a little something when you wake."

"I thought you said I was far away." I said flatly.

"Yes, you are, but I can teleport an item to you, now that I have a sort of mental lock on your location."

"Well that's not creepy at all." I said.

"So, do you have any question's you wish to ask before I end this?"

"Um, let me think..." I asked.

"Why is my gun like this? Why the strange energy orb, and is there any specific reason why this "Dimension" looks like this? It is kinda freaking me out a bit, a lot." I said.

"Quite a bit of questions. Well, I don't know exactly, most likely something to do with your subconscious, my plain generates based on the ponies mind as well. Sorry that it, freaks you out, blame your mind. Any more questions?" She said.

"Hmm, do you know the pony's name that hired me?" I asked.

"His name is Timely Notes, good friend of Dark. I assume that is your last question?" she said with some tiredness in her voice.

"Yeah, I guess so, I can't really think of anything else at the moment." I said.

"Very well, I have to get some proper sleep myself." She said.

"Sorry for taking over your sleep session, if you feel angry in some way." She said.

"It's fine." I said. I was a little bit mad, mainly for the sudden fight to the dream death.

"Okay, Oh, and another thing, watch out for my brother's patrol's around certain location's within a mile radius of this area when you do get close, They are ordered to not take kindly to visitors, but I will make sure they know when you might be coming if we do this again." she said.

"And especially watch out for any ponies wearing armor with a sigil of a triangle of various weapons. And watch out for Griffins or Hellhounds wearing it as well." she added.

"It was a pleasure of meeting you striker, I hope to see you again in person, farewell, good luck and goodnight." She said.

"Goodnight and, wait what?" I quickly said.

All of the lights above the pillars began to glow brighter and brighter, blinding me, I covered my eyes to shield from it. It became a painful glow and then, darkness.