“If they’re just ponies that hide in the sky then why are they so bad?”

We made our way back to Equestrian Express and Box Tape looked worried when he said, “If you’re gonna go up against the raiders and their boss you’re gonna need somethin’ a little tougher than that stable barding ya’ll been wearin’ round.”

“What do you mean by stronger? Silver Snip added some extra armor to my barding,” I asked. The day before she'd taken my barding and added plates of metal under the fabric, and boiled leather over the shoulders and chest to help protect me better.

To that he replied, “I’ve been around the bush a few times and I know how to make somethin’ strong.”

He opened a wardrobe and took out a pretty average looking duster and tossed it to me. Just looking at it you'd think it’s just a normal duster, but as I felt it with my hooves I could feel metal under, no, in between the fabric. I was amazed at the way it was designed, not only did it have metal in between the fabric, it had pads where the metal was too. Not to mention how comfortable it was.

“You’re gonna need that fightin' those raiders, but havin’ fancy armor ain’t gonna save your ass. Ya’ll need some firepower you can trust, take ma old repeater, it’ll have more power than that crappy rifle you took off that raider,” Box Tape said.

I took the rifle and looked it over and saw a small plaque screwed into the stock it had 'Ol' Festus' engraved on it. “Thanks, but what kind of ammo does it use?” I asked.

“Good old .357 magnum. It’ll put a hole in a pony faster than taint mutates a bloatsprite. Here, take these boxes of ammo before ya go chargin’ in empty,” he replied.

“Ya see that hole on the side? Put the ammo in there and crank that there lever and you’re all set. Now you gotta get goin’ it ain't gonna take them long to drag those ponies over to the slavers,” Box Tape explained.

“I thought they said we had three days?” I asked, looking up from the rifle.

“The day ya’ll start trustin’ a raider is the day you die,” he said with a smirk.

I nodded and said, “Gotcha, I’ll get going now. Thanks again for the gear, I’m gonna need it.”

I opened the door and started to make my way out of town to the raider’s camp trying to make up a plan as I went, but everything I came up with sounded like suicide. Of course any plan that involved sneaking into a camp inhabited by cannibalistic psychos was suicide however you put it. It seemed like I’d only been walking for a few minutes, but in my scheming I must’ve lost track of time, I could see the camp in the distance swarming with ponies ready to tear me to shreds and use what they didn't eat as decorations. Fear started to take hold and I stopped dead in my tracks unable to move. What if I fail and get sold to slavers with the rest of them or even worse, what if I die? I couldn’t think about these things right now. I needed to be brave and save those ponies. I started to walk again and broke into a gallop.

I was almost to the camp in full gallop ready to destroy any raider that got in my way. Suddenly somepony stepped out from behind a rock and I slammed into her. “What the hell are you doing!? You’ve gotta be nuts if you think you can take all them on alone!” she exclaimed. It was the pony I’d met when I was in the camp before.

“I need to get them out of there! It’s my fault they even came and took those foals away and Silver Snip,” I replied.

“Calm down. I know about your friends and I can help you, but you can’t just go charging in there. If you just run in there you’ll be gunned down, but if you’re so determined to get yourself killed, I think I might have an idea to get you in. Come with me,” she said.

“Before I just go into a camp full of murdering psychopaths with somepony I don’t know anything about. I need to know what this supposed plan is. Also who the hell are you anyway?” I said.

She sighed rubbing a hoof over her head, saying, “I’m Star Paladin Sapphire Stone, I’m with The Steel Rangers. I was sent here to find out why these raiders have congregated here and if they’re onto something, to find out what it is. Their leader is a former Steel Ranger from Manehattan, who was exiled after committing crimes against The Steel Rangers. That suit of armor that he wears is standard issue for a Steel Ranger Paladin, he stole it when he was exiled. One of my objectives is to take the armor back and another is to recover a ledger that he keeps in his quarters under lock and key. I recently learned where he keeps the key, unfortunately he keeps it on him at all times so we have to catch him off guard and make him give it to us. The only other option is to kill him, but he always wears the armor unless he’s sitting on that shitty throne of his inside of his quarters.”

“Ok that’s a lot to take in. How are we supposed to get to him? How are we supposed to get into the camp? I can’t just walk in with you wearing a duster and carrying a rifle on my back. And how will any of this help me get my friend and those foals back?” I asked.

“If you want to get them back, the best way to take down a monster is to cut off its head. Basically if we take down The Boss, his followers will fall into anarchy and kill each other in a fight for power. As for how I’ll get you in there, I’m going to take you prisoner,” Sapphire said before I could continue ranting.

“If I take you prisoner and you play along The Boss is gonna want to see the pony who killed his raiders. I’m his right-hoof pony so he won’t have anypony else in the room, since he trusts me, so he’ll let me in with you. When we get in there I’ll twitch my left ear if I decide we’re gonna jump him and knock him out. I’ll twitch my right ear if we’re going to kill him, but that most likely won’t be the case,” she explained.

“That sounds freakin crazy. Are you sure that’s gonna work?” I replied, trying to go through the plan again in my head.

“It has to. Otherwise we might as well put a bullet in our heads right now. We’ve wasted enough time already, we have to go,” she replied.

“I’ve already spent more time here than I was supposed to, I was planning on doing this soon, and you just gave me a good excuse to,” she said with a cocky grin.

“They’re being held in cages on the east side of the camp near the ah...meat…pit. We can get them out after we take care of The Boss,” Sapphire said with a little bit of a gag.

"Yeah but he only goes by The Boss now. Probably just to quench the thirst of his ego," she replied.

We walked toward the entrance to the camp, Sapphire took my gun and had it slung over her back. To keep up the act she had her shotgun pointed at me. I felt a little uncomfortable at the thought that she might accidentally shoot me. We walked through the entrance to the camp and were stopped by one of the guards posted there. “Who’s this prisoner you’ve brought with you?” the foul smelling stallion asked.

“A gift for The Boss,” Sapphire said smugly around the grip her shotgun. For a shotgun it was relatively small like the barrel was cut in half.

“Well I hope he likes it. She’s a little too small to ride that ride. I'd ask for first dibs, but I like having my head. I know what The Boss does when he gets sloppy seconds. Bring her to him and let Scythe know when he’s done so he can clean up, you know likes his quarters nice and neat,” the guard said.

We made our way to the center of the camp where there was this large corrugated metal shack, “He’s in there. Are you ready?” Sapphire whispered.

The door opened and Sapphire shoved me in and followed as I stumbled almost tripping over my hooves.

“Boss, this is the little bitch that slaughtered our comrades. She tried to kill me when I was out looking for Razor,” Sapphire said almost convincing me that it really happened.

Sapphire closed the door behind us and without The Boss noticing, she locked it. The lead raider looked even more menacing out of his armor than he did when he was wearing it. He got up off of a makeshift throne made out of pieces of other benches and chairs, then took three steps toward us. “Boss she was carrying this too,” Sapphire said, taking my rifle off her back and dropping it in front of him as she stepped in front of me.

“I have to say. This is a beautiful firearm, but the thing that gets me is where she got it, because the only settlement close to camp is Cartwheel. If she was able to kill our comrades on the northeast side of the camp. How was she able to get another gun that looks freshly maintained? The only town close to the camp that she could’ve possibly got a new weapon from is Cartwheel and that means she got passed our camp somehow. Didn’t she? I know she stole armor from Blade along with his rifle, and snuck through the camp. She even evaded my eyes when she was here, but how did she make it to town so easily without anypony noticing?” The Boss said threateningly.

“That is exactly what I said Nail, or dare I say Paladin,” The Boss said angrily.

“What are you sayin’ Boss? I’m not the mole. Are you losin’ it or somethin’?” Sapphire said defensively.

He gave an evil smile and said slowly, “You know for a Steel Ranger you sure are stupid. I'd think the Rangers would’ve taught you to be more perceptive, I’ve had my real right-hoof follow you since you joined up. Do you think for a moment I really trusted you? I would’ve killed you a lot earlier, but I was interested to see what you were up to.”

Sapphire’s left ear twitched and I jumped on The Boss. With his focus aimed at Sapphire I was able to at least get the element of surprise and bring him to the ground. Finally realizing what happened he started to fight back. He was able to turn the tables and get on top of me, he brought his hoof up to strike me when Sapphire jumped on his back and got him in a choke hold. He rolled off of me and started slamming himself against the wall trying to get sapphire off his back. As quick as I could I scanned the room for Ol’ Festus, it was still on the floor where Sapphire dropped it. The Boss slammed Sapphire as hard as he could against the wall and I could hear the wind get knocked out of her as she released her grip. I started to scramble toward the rifle on the ground as he came toward me, the rifle was so close I could almost feel it in my hooves when it was suddenly kicked and slid across the floor to the other side of the room. Once again the large stallion was on top of me and he was relentlessly bludgeoning me with his hooves.

This was it, I was going to die, beaten to death by this monster of the Wasteland. Suddenly the constant pounding disappeared and I noticed that he was now on top of Sapphire trying to strangle her against the ground with his hooves. I have to do something, I have to get him off of her. I looked around the room and noticed that his throne had been knocked forward during the struggle.

On the throne I saw that there where jagged metal spikes tied to the back of it, like some sort of sick and twisted decoration. I tried to get up, but started to get light headed, I couldn’t stand. If I succeeded in getting to my hooves I'd probably pass out.

As best as I could, I focused my magic on the throne and turned it so it was facing The Boss and then grasped the largest spike in the center and started to pull it out with my magic. I could see the life fading from Sapphire’s eyes, I had to try harder. Focusing I pulled and I saw the spear like spike start to slip from its holding and finally with one last ounce of my mental strength I pulled on it as hard as I could.

The spike released from its hold and hurled toward The Boss. With a sickening sound, it impaled him through his shoulder throwing him back into the wall with the tip of the spike pinning him to the wall. “Take that you psychotic bastard,” I managed to get out.

“She’s probably dead already and when I get free of this you’re next,” The Boss said in pain.

“Hey kid. Thanks. I really owe you one,” Sapphire said with a hacking cough sounding horse as she spoke.

I heard a disgusting sound. It was like somepony was pulling their hoof out of a vat of slime. “AAAHHH!!!” The Boss exclaimed.

“Looks like she gotcha just right. There’s no way you’re getting free of that without help,” Sapphire said to The Boss. She got up and walked over to him and pushed on the rod that was sticking out of his shoulder. He screamed in pain, as Sapphire said, “That’ll make sure you stay put.”

“What’s goin’ on in there?” a raider stallion asked from outside the door.

“Everything’s fine, the bitch just fought back a little and managed to lay one on The Boss,” Sapphire said as she put her hoof on The Boss’ mouth.

I could hear the stallion walk away and Sapphire took her hoof off The Boss’ mouth, “I swear, I’ll tear your head off with my bare hooves when I get a hold of you,” he said with absolution in his eyes.

Sapphire smirked. “I’d like to see you try with that severed tendon in your shoulder.”

My vision was starting to return to normal and I could see that he was bleeding badly from his wound. I still couldn’t stand. Sapphire came over to me with a bottle of healing potion and put the opening to my mouth. “Drink this, it’ll heal your wounds,” she said, slowly pouring it in my mouth.

I drank the strange tasting purple liquid and I could feel the pain in my face fade. After a minute I felt almost like I’d never been beaten. I was able to get to my hooves still feeling some soreness, but the light headedness was gone.

“You’re after my ledger eh? Well that’s just too fuckin bad isn’t it? Cause I’m not telling you where it is,” The Boss said confidently.

“Fine I’ll just search for it. I know you keep it with you,” Sapphire said as she started to pat him down.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. You’re digging for gold in a mine full of ordinary dirt. You’ll never find it,” The Boss said laughing.

“Let’s just say the key isn’t in the passenger wagon itself, it’s in the trunk,” she said disgusted.

“Oh Godesses. You can’t be serious. Even if I’m not touching it physically it’s still...you know…icky,” I said, grossed out by just the aspect of doing what was suggested.

“I know, but it’s the only sanitary way we’re going to get it out of there,” she said.

“Only other place on him he could keep it, and I know he wouldn’t keep it anywhere else,” she replied.

“Why don’t you do a little something extra while you’re at it,” The Boss said smugly.

“Why don’t you just take a little NAP!” Sapphire said as she hit him in the face with the stock of Ol’ Festus, knocking him out.

I walked over to him and after a couple minutes of choking, gaging, and focus, I retrieved the key. “Alright let’s get the ledger. It’s in the room behind that door over there,” Sapphire said as she pointed to the door to The Boss’ quarters.

I opened the door and went into the room. I saw the hooflocker under his bed and pulled it out with my hooves while floating the key with my magic. I unlocked it with the stinky key and saw a little book inside. I picked it up and put it in my saddle bag and went back in the other room leaving the key and the hooflocker.

As I came back into the room, loud gunshots erupted outside, followed quickly by a loud knock on the door. “Boss you gotta get out here, we're under attack!” a raider mare yelled outside the door.

“This,” she said as she grabbed Ol’ Festus and opened the door. The next thing I knew the raider’s head exploded as the bullet from Ol’ Festus pierced her skull.

There were three more raiders outside the door, she killed each one swiftly with headshots. She took out a strange looking gun that almost looked like it was made out of plastic. “What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s a magical energy pistol. Here take your rifle, kill any raiders coming at you,” she said as she tossed me my gun.

“What about whoever’s attacking the camp, did you call in for help?” I asked.

She looked back at me and said, “I have no way of getting a message out to The Rangers that fast. Whoever they are, we can use the distraction to get out of here.”

I was expecting there to be complete carnage outside for how much gunfire I heard, but what I saw was strange. All the raiders where firing wildly into the air and at the top of the nearby cliff. “What are they shooting at?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but we should get to your friends and get out before we find out the hard way. You see that pit over there? They’re in cages right next to it. We have to make it over there and let them out. We also have to get them to safety, luckily where they’re being held is close to the town side of the camp so it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle to get them out of the camp,” Sapphire said sounding a bit worried.

“Okay let’s go. The sooner the better,” I said, getting ready to run out the door.

We started making our way to the cages and it seemed like the raiders were too distracted shooting at whoever was attacking the camp. We finally made it to the pit by the cages and there were more raiders guarding them. We stopped and took cover behind a hay cart. “We need to get them away from those cages,” Sapphire said.

“Okay, I’ve got an idea follow my lead,” I said feeling highly self-confident.

I came out from cover and took aim at the raiders and started shooting. I was only able to take out one of six raiders and needed to reload. While I was reloading I noticed a message on my Pip-Buck.

[Combat initiated S.A.T.S. suggested]

I almost forgot about my Pip-Buck’s targeting system. Once again I came out of cover and slipped into S.A.T.S. and time seemed to slow down as the spell activated. Different body parts where highlighted on different ponies and I could see a percentage bar which I guessed told me the probability of a successful shot. I took four shots, two in one raider’s torso, and one in two other raider’s heads. All of my shots where hits. There were only two raiders remaining, I came out of cover to shoot again and I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my right hind leg. I dropped back behind the cart in pain dropping my gun. As I grabbed at my hind leg where I’d been shot I heard a strange zapping sound. Sapphire started shooting at the raiders with her magical energy pistol and got one in the foreleg incapacitating him. She hit the other with three shots to the torso and suddenly his body started to glow red and turned into a pile of ash.

“Alright they’re taken care of, let’s go let them out and get the hell out of here,” Sapphire said sounding proud of herself.

With my leg for the most part healed we went over to the cages and what I saw was horrible. Some of the foals had been beaten and others looked like they’d been raped. I saw Silver Snip in the cage on the end. She looked like hell, her mane was tangled and dirty and she looked like she’d been beaten too. She was passed out in her cage bruised and battered. I unlocked the cage and started to shake her and get her conscious. “Silver. Wake up, we’re getting you out of here.”

Sapphire and I unlocked the rest of the cages and freed everypony, but they all looked like they could barely stand, “They aren’t going to make it out alive in this condition,” Sapphire said urgently.

“Do I really look that scrawny to you? Yes I can pull a cart, but not for very long on my own I’ll need help,” she replied.

“I should be able to help, my leg feels better than it did and I shouldn’t have a problem pulling that much weight,” I said.

We both carried foals to the hay cart and I had to go back and help Silver Snip walk to it, but eventually they were all loaded up and it was time to go.

“Everypony is on the cart, let’s hook up and get out of here,” I said as I ushered the last foal onto the cart.

“Crap! I forgot to tell you about the orb. I’ll hook up to the cart and get a head start to Cartwheel you go back and get it,” Sapphire said frantically, rubbing her face with a hoof.

“Yes you can. Just be careful. I need to get these ponies to a doctor and you can’t pull this on your own, you need to hurry and get it, it’s important. I’m gonna get them out of here. Now go,” she said quickly.

“Alright, good luck. I’ll see you soon,” she said as she started to pull the cart away.

I started to make my way back to The Boss’ quarters, hiding along the way so I wasn’t seen by any of the raiders who weren’t shooting at the camps attackers. I was able to get back to the shack without getting seen and slip inside. I went into the bedroom where the hooflocker was and noticed that it was moved. It looked like it’d been kicked across the floor, everything inside scattered everywhere. I saw the shimmer of the orb, it must’ve rolled out when the hooflocker was sent flying. I walked over to it and my heart almost jumped out of my chest when I saw the huge suit of armor standing next to me. After realizing it was empty I grabbed the orb and stuffed it in my saddle bag and started to make my way to the door when I remembered that Sapphire needed the suit back.

I went back over to the suit and tried to figure out how to put it on, but I couldn’t even find an opening or anything, so instead I just left it there. It wasn’t like it was my mission to get it back somewhere, I didn’t even know how to use it. I went back into the other room to make my way out when I noticed The Boss was no longer pinned against the wall. He was gone.

As fast, and as sneaky as I could, I made my way out the door. I got outside and looked for what the raiders where shooting at out of curiosity. A shadow flew over the camp. It looked like a pony with wings, it was a Pegasus. Knowing a pony in the sky with a gun couldn’t be a good thing I headed toward the town-side gate when I was suddenly tackled.

“I got you now, bitch,” The Boss said as he held me down on the ground. He put his hooves on my neck and started to choke me like he had Sapphire. My vision was starting to fade and everything was starting to go black. “I’ll make you pay for this hole in my shoulder.”

There was a loud bang and something wet and chunky splatted over my face. Suddenly everything was getting clearer, I could breathe. My vision was tinted red and there was this chunky grey stuff wetly stuck to my face. When my vision cleared to a degree to where I could see clearly through the redness I saw what happened. The Boss’ head was blown to bits, and even worse, it was all over me. I couldn’t help but vomit all over the headless husk that lay on top of me twitching.

“Gross! If I had my life saved by a complete stranger I wouldn’t barf on the body before they can drag it off of me. C’mon that’s just rude,” the strange pegasus stallion said.

He was light gray with a blue mane and his wings faded from light grey at the base to blue at the tip to match his mane. I couldn’t see what color his eyes where behind his sunglasses and he had a strange cutie mark, it was just a circle with intersecting lines meeting in the center. He dragged the headless corpse off of me and helped me to my hooves. “Who the hell are you?” I asked.

“That’s not important right now. There’s a raider with a cart full of prisoners, we gotta get to those ponies and rescue them,” he replied.

“She’s not a raider, she’s my friend. She’s bringing them back to a town called Cartwheel to get medical treatment, they’ve been hurt pretty bad by these monsters,” I explained.

Suddenly he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at me, then fired. After a second I realized I hadn’t been shot, and I looked behind me just in time to watch a raider mare drop to the ground. “We gotta go. Now!” he said as he picked me up and took to the air.

“AAAHHH! Put me down right now!” I screamed as we flew into the air higher and higher.

“If I did that, you’d fall and I don’t think you want that,” he retorted.

“You don’t like to listen do ya? I told you where we’re going, but I guess the plan’s changed. We’re gonna meet your friend and make sure those ponies get safely to that town you were talking about,” he replied.

“No. Flying’s faster. I promise I won’t drop you as long as you don’t squirm,” he said arrogantly.

We’d only been flying for a couple minutes when he suddenly decided to break into a nose-dive. “What are you doing!?” I exclaimed, feeling my stomach jump somewhere into my throat.

“Calm down. Don’t you see the cart? It’s right down there, we’re not gonna crash,” he said nonchalantly as we dove toward the ground.

“Okay. Just don’t scare me like that, I’m not used to being flown around by a crazy pony with wings,” I said.

We descended down to the cart and he finally put me down. Sapphire was hiding with the other ponies in the cart. I walked closer to the cart to talk to her. She jumped out and pointed her pistol at the Pegasus. “Stop! He’s not going to hurt us, he was the one that was attacking the raider camp. I don’t know why, but he was,” I said.

“She’s right. All I want is to see these ponies safely returned to their homes,” he said in his own defense.

“Horse apples, he’s Enclave. Look at his cutie mark. He’s a pegasus under the clouds. If he wasn’t Enclave it would be branded off,” she yelled.

“They’re called The Grand Pegasus Enclave, and they’re the ones who keep this eerie cloud cover over the sky with their weather machines. They’ve been hiding up there since the first bomb went off 200 years ago. Those cowards think that they can shut themselves away from The Wasteland and act like there’s nothing down here but dust, collapsed buildings, and dead trees,” Sapphire said angrily.

“If they’re just ponies that hide in the sky then why are they so bad?” I asked, really confused by her sudden anger.

“The Enclave themselves are the government up there and the only time they come under the clouds is to cause more death and destruction. Then they say that the ponies on the ground aren’t worth saving yet and run back home to safety," Sapphire explained, 'Wait a sec. You, pegasus. Where’s your armor?”

“Armor? The only armor I had was what I brought from my stable and I had to ditch that a while ago,” he replied.

“Stable? What do you mean stable? I’ve never heard of a pegasus stable,” she said sounding confused at the fact that he was a pegasus and apparently from a stable.

“Yeah, it’s north of here Stable 97. It’s a couple days flight from here non-stop. It’s run by some questionable ponies, but they wouldn’t go and rampage in The Wasteland. They’re too scared to leave because it’s like instant death or something,” he explained.

“Can’t we discuss this later!? We’ve gotta go and there are sick ponies that I think take precedence!” I interrupted.

“Fine. But I’m keeping my eye on him. If he does anything out of the ordinary there’s going to be a hole in his head,” Sapphire said, holstering her gun.

Sapphire and I hooked up to the hay cart and began pulling it to Cartwheel. The Pegasus was up in the sky keeping lookout for any danger coming our way. I could see the town in the distance, this cart was so freakin’ heavy. I didn’t know if I could go on for much longer. How did Sapphire pull this thing by herself and get so far from the camp? I guess she’s stronger than she looks.

We got into town and made our way straight to the clinic so the ponies in the cart could get treated for their injuries. I helped the Pegasus and Sapphire unload the ponies from the cart and carry them to beds in the clinic. Sapphire kept staring at the pegasus like he was going to fly away with one of the fillies or something. From what I could tell he wasn’t bad, he was just an ass. After we made sure the ponies from the camp were getting the help they needed, I had all three of us go to Equestrian Express so we had somewhere to talk things out, and hopefully find out who the hell the pegasus was.

We walked into Equestrian Express and were instantly greeted by Box Tape. “Well flatten a snake and call it jerky! Ya actually made it out alive. How the hell did ya pull that off?" Box Tape said excitedly.

“I just happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to lend a hoof, and blow the head of the big raider pony choking her on the ground,” the pegasus interrupted.

“I didn’t take all the credit, you and grumpy hooves there, took down a lot of the raiders on the ground that I couldn’t see through my scope,” he retorted.

“Correction. I had a rifle, I flew down to get the big raider’s body off of uh…uh. Hey what’s your name again?” the pegasus asked.

“I’m Stardust. Anyway, so I flew down to get the body off of Shadow Star and put my gun on the ground. When we flew away I forgot to pick it up,” he continued to explain.

“I don’t know whether to laugh at your name or the fact that you forgot your gun,” I said while trying to keep from laughing.

“Oh it’s nothing it just sounds like a mare’s name,” I said still trying not to laugh.

“That’s because I am a mare, nice comeback genius,” I replied through my snickering.

“Why were you attacking the camp in the first place?” Sapphire asked before Stardust and I could continue bickering.

“I was just flying by the camp and I saw the mare and those foals in cages, so I just landed on a cliff and started taking out the raiders so I could rescue them,” Stardust replied.

“So you just happened to fly over the camp, notice that there were prisoners, and decided to save them out of the kindness in your heart. I don’t buy it, especially when you said you’re from a Stable. Not only have I not heard of Stable 97, I’ve never heard of a Stable that had pegasi in it. Even if you were in a Stable. How did you get out? From what I know about Stables that are still operational, they don’t usually let ponies just leave,” Sapphire said accusingly.

“Yeah, I did just happen to fly over and wanna help, and yes I am from a Stable. They didn’t just let me waltz out either, I had to escape, and in turn do some things that I didn’t want to do. I don’t really care if you believe me or not, but I’m telling the truth. I know you think I’m one of those Enclave ponies, I’ve known who the Enclave are since I was a colt and until two weeks ago I didn’t even know what they really do. My whole life in the Stable I was raised to believe that The Grand Pegasus Enclave was pony kind's best hope of rebuilding Equestria. Before I left the stable I found out that the Pegasi in the Stable weren’t the original occupants, The Enclave invaded the Stable a couple generations ago and killed them all so they could use it to brainwash us into joining their garrison of soldiers,” Stardust explained.

“Well, I apologize for accusing you, but I still am a little suspicious," Sapphire said.

"Hey Sapphire what did you mean earlier when you said that his cutie mark would be branded off? I asked.

“They’re called Dashites. When pegasi betray the Enclave and leave the sky, they’re hunted down and branded with the cutie mark of the first Dashite to permanently mark them as contaminated. Once branded as a Dashite, I’ve heard that you can’t return to the clouds. If you do then you’ll be shot on sight,” Sapphire explained.

“That’s horrible. How could somepony do that to another pony?” I asked again.

“If you ever meet an Enclave soldier you’ll find out pretty quickly what they’re capable of,” Sapphire said.

“If ya’ll are done arguin’ I’d like to say somethin’. Who’s this mare that’s with ya’ll?” Box Tape interrupted.

“Oh, please forgive me for being so rude. I’m Steel Ranger Star Paladin Sapphire Stone, it’s nice to meet you sir,” she replied.

“A pleasure Ms. Sapphire. When ya see Star Paladin Sandstorm tell him that Box Tape said howdy,” he said with a wink.

“Sure do. The little guy used to be my bodyguard in my courier days when he was just a young fella, barely an adult. He joined up with ya’ll just before I retired from bein’ a courier and became the postmaster of this here town,” Box Tape explained.

“Hey Sapphire. I almost forgot to ask you. Didn’t you say you needed to get The Boss’ armor back to the Steel Rangers?” I asked.

“The only raiders who knew I wasn’t one of them are dead. I should be able to go back to camp, take the armor, and finish off the rest of the raiders in the camp,” she replied.

“I’m pretty sure he’s already dead. Razor was his right-hoof before I was until I planted something that I stole from The Boss in his hooflocker and he was punished for it by being dethroned as his right-hoof. I should leave now so they don’t get suspicious of my absence. Do you still have the ledger and the orb?” Sapphire said.

“Yeah, I still have them. Here. What’s the orb for anyway?” I asked giving her the items.

“It’s a memory orb, it contains a memory of a pony who was recording that moment with a recollector or if a unicorn takes the memory out of their mind. I was told that this memory orb contains a memory of a mare that came from a nearby stable who had some valuable information. My elder think’s it might have some information that could help us. I’m not sure with what, but she still wanted it. I’m still not sure how The Boss got his hooves on it,” she explained.

“My mother left my Stable about eight years ago and I want to find out what happened to her. I think she might’ve been the one whose memory is in that orb. The Overmare of my stable was looking for something she left in the Stable when she decided to leave, it sounded like what she was looking for was important. The reason I left was because whatever she was looking for I think is on this Pip-Buck’s memory or something because she was willing to cut off my leg to get it from me,” I answered.

“Interesting. I’ll tell you what, keep the orb for now and bring it to these coordinates when you’re finished with it. To watch it, all you need to do is touch it with your magic since you’re a unicorn. Also since memory orbs take just as long to watch as the memory took to experience, there’s no telling how long it'll take for you to watch and I need to get back to the camp,” Sapphire said as she took my left foreleg and added a marker to my Pip-Buck’s map.

“Where will the coordinates take me? Also, don’t you need the orb to bring back to The Steel Rangers?” I asked.

“I can work something out. The coordinates will take you to an underground bunker. The bunker is where my Steel Rangers chapter is, I’ll meet you there when you find your way. When you get there tell the guard at the intercom that you’re there to speak with Star Paladin Sapphire Stone. If they ask why, just tell them to shut it and to find me. They'll give you some crap I’m sure, but it'll get you in,” she replied.

“Alright, thank you for all your help. I couldn’t have gotten those ponies out of there on my own,” I said.

“You’re welcome. I’ll be leaving now, I can’t waste any more time. It was nice to meet you Box Tape, and Stardust thanks for the help, sorry we got off on the wrong hoof,” with that, she walked out the door after giving me the memory orb and saying goodbye. I slipped the memory orb back into my saddle bag deciding to watch it later.

“So what happened at that camp anyhow? Everything I’m hearin’ just ain’t addin’ up in my head,” Box Tape asked.

“Well, when I was on my way into the camp. Sapphire saw me and was able to get to me before I was discovered by the guards. She was the one that helped me get passed the camp when I was on my way to Cartwheel in the first place. I told her why I was there and she was able to get me into the camp by pretending to take me prisoner and that got me to The Boss’ quarters so we could get what she needed to get from his room, and take him down in the process. When we were in his quarters he told her that he knew who she really was and she gave me a signal that we needed to jump him. We both wrestled with him and were both almost killed, but when I was on the ground half beaten to death, I was able to pin him against the wall using my magic to stab him through the shoulder with one of the metal spikes he had attached to his throne.” This next part I decided to bend the truth a little “He had a key to his hooflocker in one of his saddle bags, which we retrieved and were able to get his ledger. After that we heard gunshots outside and made our way to the cages while the raiders where distracted. Later I found out that it was Stardust that they were shooting at,” I explained.

“Yep! Sure was. Those drugged out idiots thought I was a monster,” Stardust interrupted.

I gritted my teeth. “Anyway, we had to kill the raiders guarding the cages and then we were able to let them out and get them onto the hay cart. When we were leaving Sapphire remembered that she forgot to tell me to grab the orb too. She pulled the cart by herself out of the camp as far as she could and I went back and got the orb. When I was on my way out of The Boss’ quarters I noticed that he got unpinned from the wall somehow and I ran out the door and got tackled by him. He started to choke me and…”

“I blew his head off and flew her ass out of there,” Stardust interrupted again.

“Uuuggghhh. Yes he saved my life and brought me to where Sapphire was after I told him she wasn’t a raider trying to take them somewhere else,” I said annoyed.

“Wow! What a tale, and even better, we don’t gotta worry about those raiders comin’ to terrorize the town again. I gotta say, I didn’t think ya’ll could pull it off. That was a damn suicide mission and ya made it out alive,” Box Tape said.

“She sure did thanks to me, and for a little pony she really can eat a lot of food,” Stardust said.

“Oh really. How do you know that?” I asked Stardust in an obviously pissy tone.

“Cause you totally blew chunks all over that Boss pony’s body after I took him out,” Stardust said embarrassing me beyond all belief.

“HA! I don’t care who you are. That’s funny as all hell,” Box Tape laughed.

[FOOTNOTE: LEVEL UP!]

NEW PERK ADDED!

Action Filly! Level 1: You know your Targeting Spell like the back of your hoof, making you about 20% cooler in combat. For each level of this perk, you gain +15 action points in S.A.T.S.

Fallout Equestria: Falling Shadows

by Drako Moon

Chapter 4: Another One Bites The Dust