“Well, if I knew you two were gonna spend the night down here I wouldn’t have gotten the second room.” Noble said, waking me up.

I rubbed my eyes and tried to remember where I was. I’ve said it many times before, I am not a morning pony. The hotel lobby was empty other than three of us. The mare who ran the front desk had yet to start her day.

It took a minute but I finally registered what Noble had said. “Hehe, yeah, sorry about that.”

Rose slowly stirred. “Morning.” she said as she hopped up from the chair she had spend the night in. It did kind of annoy me to see her able to wake up so easily.

“Come on you two. Let’s go get some breakfast.” Noble said as he turned to walk away.

Deadbolt was waiting for us outside. He had gone ahead and bought some food for us and found a place to sit at a table in the main lot. A few hay sandwiches and some dirty water, It was better than nothing, but it did make me miss the always fresh water of the stable.

“How’s our inventory looking?” Noble asked as he finished his meal. “We need to be thinking about getting you guys some better firepower.”

We all brought out everything we had in our saddle-bags. We didn’t have a ton. My bag had my two guns and a bit of ammo for them, though I was running low on shells for the shotgun, the picture of Pinkie Pie and her friends, three pills of Dash and my Stable 12 barding. Rose had her revolver and ammo along with some healing bandages, two healing potions and thirty caps. Deadbolt had the alcohol from SlapJack’s, his knife, fifty caps and some miscellaneous ammo for weapons we didn’t have. We also had our traveling food and some water.

Noble gave me a confused look. “What are you doing with Dash?” He said as picked up the pills.

“We found it on some raiders on our way to the city.” I explained.

“Okay then, Dash isn’t the worst drug out there but it can still be dangerous if you’re not careful.” Noble continued to look over everything we had, trying to decide if anything had any decent value. “Alright, Rivet, that shotgun could be effective but it’s a bit too limited with the range, that nine millimeter won’t do much to those armored suits. We’ll need to find something with a bit more power. Deadbolt, you got anymore grenades?”

The brown stallion shook his head. “I used the last one when we were running from the power armor yesterday.”
Noble sighed. “Add those to the list then.” He picked up Rose’s revolver and gave it a lookover. “Twenty-two caliber revolver, again, not very effective against heavy armor. I’ve got a few caps to throw in as well but we’re not going to have enough get fully equipped. Rivet, you're going to have to deal with just having the shotgun to fight them for now. We’ll get Rose a bigger weapon and some grenades for Deadbolt. What’s the plan after we get some better equipment?” He looked over to me as he said the last sentence.

“We still need to get to the Stable-Tech building. We think we can find out something about the Y34RK on a computer there.”

Noble nodded to himself. “Alright, that sounds like a good place to start.”

We packed back up and started to look around at the various shops that ponies had set up in the lot in front of the clinic. Grenades weren’t hard to find. One stand run by a griffon with a scar that stretched diagonally across his face was showing off various types.

I had never actually seen a griffon before. I knew what a griffon was, but we were never taught much about them back in the stable, most because no one ever thought we would see one ever again.

“You got a problem buddy?” He asked in a gravelly voice.

I didn’t realize that I was staring at him. “No, sorry.” I said sheeply and averted my eyes

He shrugged and looked back to Noble and Deadbolt who were looking at the various grenades. “What are you looking to kill? I got something for everything.”

“We need something that will get through thick armor.” Noble said, clearly avoiding saying anything about power armor specifically.

The griffon cocked an eyebrow at him. “Well, a regular frag has enough explosive force to do some serious damage, but if you're looking for something for robots or electronics I have some EMPs. They’ll stop anything electric dead in its tracks.”

Noble thought it over for a minute. “We’ll take two frags and one of those EMPs. Those could be useful.”

Even just buying three grenades drained most of our money. The griffon directed us to someone who might have some decent firepower. A pony named Overhaul who had a store set up in one of the other buildings that made up the block.

“Welcome to Overhaul’s Weapons and Mods.” The gray stallion said as we entered. Racks of weapons and gun parts lined the walls and tables in the room. The store was a single room that looked similar to the rooms that Noble had rented for us last night.

He showed us a large variety of the weapons he had. All of them would have more power than Rose’s revolver, but they were all in great shape and far out of our price range. “Well I got something that’s a bit less reliable but it would still do a bit more to thick metal than that little pea shooter you got.”

He went behind the counter and pulled out what looked like a toy gun. It was boxy and had some weird electronics covering the casing. “It’s old but I figure a magical energy weapon in any condition would be far more effective than that revolver of yours.” He said looking over the old weapon.

“What’s a magical energy weapon?” Deadbolt asked looking at the strange pistol.

Overhaul snapped what looked like a battery pack into the bottom of the handle then turned and took a shot at a target he had on the wall. A red laser fired from the strange weapon, leaving a searing hole on the target. “It’s a weapon that uses magic charges that create a superheated laser instead of firing bullets. Others can can shoot larger blasts or plasma but for what you're asking this is the only thing I got your gonna be able to afford. Tell ya what. Throw in that revolver and I’ll throw in a few charge packs”

We traded him the last of our caps and the revolver for the pistol and some ammo for it. We also gave him all of our miscellaneous ammo in exchange for some shells for my shotgun and some .308 ammo for Noble’s rifle.

“Pleasure doing business with ya.” Overhaul said as we left.

Leaving Overhaul’s we heard some commotion coming from the bridge side entrance to town. Some ponies were gathered in groups and staring toward the gate entrance. We moved out to the main lot to get a better view. I quickly regretted that we had.

At the gate stood two suits of power armor. Both had massive dents in their armor. The two suits from yesterday. Behind them stood two unicorns in leather armor, each had a magical energy weapon strapped to their back, some kind of rifle by the looks of them. In the center of the group stood a suited pegasus. He had a jet black mane and a midnight blue coat. He wore a black suit with white pinstripes. His cutie mark had been burned off, a brand of a cloud with a lightning bolt replaced it on his flank.

One of the ponies in the armor noticed us immediately and the group started toward us. The pegasus raised a hoof and his guards stopped as he continued to approach us.

“Don’t worry, they’re not stupid enough to start a fight here.” Noble whispered as the pegasus approached. I was hoping he was right about that.

The pegasus stopped in front of us to examine the group. He stopped on Noble. “So you're the one they told me about. A cowpony with a large rifle.” The pegasus’ voice was deep and he spoke with an air of superiority.

Noble gave him a wry smile. “That’s right I am.”

The pegasus just gave him a bored, half-lidded look. “No matter, which one of you is Rivet Turner?”

“I am.”

He took a quick glance at me. “ My name is Apostace, I am here representing Mr.Avarice.”

“What, was Mr.Evil taken?” Noble said interrupting him.

The pegasus huffed. “Say what you will.” He said to Noble before turning back to me. “You have something that belongs to us. I’m here to make an offer for it.”

“What makes you think he want to hear any offer from you?” Deadbolt asked. I could tell he was fighting the urge to pull his knife.

“Because, I’m here to make an offer for your lives. Give us the chip and we will let you walk away without harm.” He kept his voice calm, almost bored.

“And what if we don’t?” Noble challenged.

The dark pegasus turned to Noble, keeping his bored expression. “Then we will take it from you by force.”

“What does it do?” I asked him. I wasn’t going to give up the chip until I knew what it was for. Even then, I wouldn’t be giving it to The Organization.

“Nothing that you need to know about. Just, give me the chip.” I could hear that he was starting to get annoyed with us.

Deadbolt grabbed him by the collar with his magic and pulled him close, nearly knocking him off his hooves. “Nothing we need to know about!?” He shouted in the pegasus’ face. As Deadbolt grabbed him, the guards that he had told to stay back quickly advanced, but again the pegasus waved them to stand still. “You fuckers slaughter hundreds of ponies, ponies that we grew up with and you say we don’t need to know?”

Rose grabbed Deadbolt by the shoulder and pulled him back, making him release his magical grip on the pegasus. “Deadbolt, we really don’t want to start a fight with them right now.” She said as she looked around.

Guard ponies and merchants had been watching the exchange. Once Deadbolt had started to yell, a lot of them had hooves on their weapons, ready in case someone opened fire. Seeing this, Deadbolt took a step back from the pegasus.

Apostace readjusted his suit. As he did, I could see something in his inner pocket. A small glass orb was just barely sticking out. Once he noticed however, he shoved it back into the pocket and adjusted his suit so we couldn’t see it. “Fucking brute. I had thought that they taught manners in stables. Last chance, surrender the chip.”

“Or what? You’ll gun us down right here?” I asked throwing my hoof around at all the nervous onlookers.

He chuckled. “No, I would prefer to not be killed here. We’ll simply keep hunting you. Think about it. How long do you think you can keep running. You’ve managed to get lucky a few times but everyones luck runs out eventually. It’s only a matter of time until we get that chip from you. Just give it to us now and you’ll walk away with your lives.”

“Fuck you.” Deadbolt said slowly, stepping forward to meet his face.

The pegasus met his gaze. “If that’s the way you want it, fine by me.” He turned and walked back to his bodyguards.

Noble nudged me. I turned to see him looking around at the ponies that had been watching us. “We should make ourselves scarce.”

“Where do you think we should go?”

“We’ll go back to the hotel. I don’t think leaving while they’re here is a good idea. We’ll wait a few hours for him to leave before heading out.“

I nodded and we quickly made our way back to the hotel and gathered in one of the rooms we had rented. I kept my eye on the pegasus and his guards as we left, they didn’t seem to care to keep eyes on us. The pegasus wasted no time in forgetting about us and started trading with some of the shops.

“Well, what do we do now?” Deadbolt asked looking down at the lot from the large window.

“I still can’t believe these ponies even let them in town.” Rose said quietly. I’ve heard Rose mad before but this was more than just being angry. She was thinking about the slave camp.

Noble sighed. “Rose, we’ve been over this.”

“I know, it doesn’t make it right though.”

“It’s the way the wasteland works. Somethings you just have to deal with.” He said coldly.

She bit back her response and tried not to think about it anymore.

“We need to think about how we’re going to get to Stable-Tech.” I said, getting us back on track.

Noble laid on one of the beds and took his hat off. “Well if we follow the main road out of town the way you three came in we should find it. But I doubt that getting to it that way will be that easy. I have no doubt that Apostace will have someone watching for us to leave.”

“And the subway is still filled with ghouls.” Rose interjected.

“What are our other options?” I asked. “Noble, you know the area better than any of us.”

He ran a hoof through his mane as he thought and let out a long sigh. “Well the way I see it, we’re gonna need to go around. We could cross the bridge, make our way to one of the others in town and head in from the side, but I would rather stay this side of the river.”

“Why’s that?” Rose asked.

“This side of the city is infested with druggies, raiders and ghouls, This is the nice side of town. North of the river is full of mutants and radiation. It’s not somewhere I would like to go. I also don’t know my way around north of the bridge, that half of the city is a lot older than this half. The roads are harder to navigate, I guess it took ponies a while to figure out how to make nice city blocks.”

If this was the good side of town then I would rather never see the bad side. “Could we not go across the bridge and still go around?”

Noble nodded. “We could, but like I said, Apostace will probably have someone waiting for us to leave that way. The other side of bridge is normally too dangerous to stay in one place too long, be a lot less likely someone would be waiting for us on the other side. What is he doing down there, Deadbolt.”

Deadbolt was still staring out the window. He had been watching Apostace ever since we got back to the room. “A caravan came in a while ago. He’s been talking to the merchants in it. Other than that, not much.”

“What about his guards?” I asked

Deadbolt shrugged. “They’ve barely moved. They’re still standing next to the bridge side exit.”

“That means we can’t leave that way either.” Rose said solemnly.

Noble sat up. “Leaving while they’re here isn’t a good idea. Be too easy for them to follow us.”

I didn’t like the idea of waiting around for them to leave, but it was sounding like we didn’t have much of a choice. It was already taking us too long to get to Stable-Tech and I didn’t want to delay getting there anymore than we had to. “So what? We just hang tight and wait for a chance to slip out unnoticed?”

*Knock Knock Knock* We all turned our attention to the door.

“Who the hell is that?” Deadbolt asked.

I moved over to the door and opened it slightly, just enough to see who it was.

“Hey Rivet, you mind if I come in?” Hermes asked.

I opened the door and stepped to the side to let the white unicorn in. “Yeah sure. Come on in.”

“How’s your leg feeling?” The doctor asked as he entered.

“It’s fine now. Thanks again.”

“Hermes, what are you doing here?” Rose asked

I Introduced the him to Deadbolt and Noble. He had met Rose yesterday at the clinic. “Guys, this is Hermes. He’s one of the doctors that works at the clinic. What’s going on?”

The stallion looked nervous. “I saw what happened earlier. What did you do to piss off Apostace?”

“You know who he is?” Deadbolt asked.

“Yeah, everyone in the Junction does. He comes by every couple weeks to trade with the caravans. He also donates to the clinic occasionally.”

The sound of that pony doing anything charitable sounded like bullshit to me. “Why would he donate to the clinic?” I asked the nervous stallion.

He gave a mock laugh. “Probably to help his image around town. Ponies here hate him, he’s fucking slaver scum if you ask me. Only reason he’s ever allowed anywhere near town is because he’s loaded. Ponies hear that he gave something to the clinic and think he’s not all that bad for a while, until they remember that he sells slaves. Besides most of what he gives us is useless. Sometimes we get something we can use, like a couple of potions or a few shots of antibiotics, but mostly is drugs like Dash and Buck.”

“Couldn’t you just not accept his donations?” rose asked.

Hermes sighed. “Trust me, everyone at the clinic would love to tell him to fuck off, but we need anything we can get. The little that he gives us that is useful can help a few ponies, we can’t turn that down.” The stallion shook his head. “I’m getting distracted. Why was he looking for you guys?”

“It’s a long story.” I told him.

“Hermes.” Noble started. “How long does he usually stay when trading with the caravans?”

Hermes look confused at the question. “I don’t know. A couple of hours I guess, never stays past dark. I know that much. I guess he doesn’t want to get caught north of the bridge at night.”

“I don’t blame him.” Noble muttered to himself. “If he’s going to be here that long we’re going to have to wait until tomorrow to head out.”

“You said you need the medical supplies he gives you?” Rose asked. “Isn’t there any other way to get supplies?”

Hermes thought for a moment. “We don’t really have a ton to trade to get a large supply up here. We occasionally get some shipments from other branches of Remedium, but those are few and far between. There is the Museum of Medical Science though. The place is connected to a hospital. From what I’ve heard, the place is full of medical supplies that haven't been touched. Problem is, its north of the bridge, no one wants to go check without some proof.”

Rose perked up a bit, the way she does before volunteering to help somepony. “Hey, we could go check on our way to Stable-Tech tomorrow.” Rose said enthusiastically to the rest of us.

“Whoa, Rose, we still haven't decided if thats the way we want to go. That way will make the trip a lot longer. Besides we don’t know where the museum even is.” Noble said.

“Actually, that sounds like a good plan to me.” I said after giving it some thought. “If it’s on the way then we should head up through there on our way. Hermes,do you know where it is?” I wanted to help Hermes and the other doctors out as much as I could. I barely gave anything to pay them back yesterday for treating my leg. If we found that there is actually is a large medical supply there they might be able to cut ties with Apostace.

Hermes looked between Rose and myself. “It’s a few blocks away from the west bridge.” He said confused.

Rose turned back to Noble. “See, it wouldn’t be that far out of the way. We go in, see if there are any supplies and get out.”

Noble bit his lip. He was reluctant to have to make the trip any longer than necessary and I didn’t blame him. “If we’re going that way I would like to move as fast as possible.” He thought aloud. “Fine, we can go and check, but I want to be in and out. We don’t waste any time, we can either come back later or get someone else to collect the supplies, if there is any. The west bridge is pretty far as it is. Taking the long way around, we won’t get back until past midnight, even if we leave first thing in the morning.”

Deadbolt moved away from the window to face us. “You're all forgetting one important fact. They can track us. It won’t matter which way we go, they will know exactly where we are.”

Nobled nodded. “You’re right, they will. But I doubt they’ll be willing to follow us while we’re across the river. When we get back to this side we’ll need to make it hard for them to follow us. As long as we move fast and change up our route, they’ll know where we are but it will be harder for them to figure out where we are going, thats the important part.”

“So we have a plan?” I asked. “Leave first thing in the morning, head to the museum, cross the bridge and weave our way to Stable Tech.”

“Looks like it.” Noble said with a sigh.

Hermes stepped forward. “If you guys are going to the museum I’m coming with you.”

Noble cocked an eyebrow at the white unicorn. “Are you sure about that? We might run into some trouble.”

“Just because I’m a doctor doesn’t mean I can’t handle myself in a fight.”

“I’m actually more concerned about that.” Noble said pointing to Hermes’ robotic hind leg. “Do you think you can keep up with us?”

“Not a problem. I can move just as fast as anyone else with this thing.” Hermes said confidently “Besides, you’ll need me to check the supplies in the museum. you might not know what to search for. Even if you find something, it may not be good anymore.”

The orange earth pony shrugged. “Okay then. Meet us by the bridge side exit in the morning. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day. Everyone needs to get as much rest as you can, we leave first thing in the morning.” He looked over to Rose and I. “And you two better sleep in beds tonight, I don’t want you complaining that your back hurts because you slept in a chair two nights in row.”

Hermes returned to the clinic to finish out his day. There were still some sick and injured ponies there and he wanted to make sure they would get taken care of without him tomorrow.

Deadbolt continued to watch Apostace until he left later that day. He left with a small cart of supplies that he purchased from the caravan and merchants around the lot. Deadbolt said he mostly saw weapons and ammo in the cart before the pegasus left.

Hermes had gotten us a map of the city before returning the clinic. Rose, Noble and I spent the rest of the day planning our route. It was an old map, Noble knew some of the roads would be blocked by rubble or had raider nests. We would be taking the bridge out of town to the north and head west once we crossed, the northern part of the cities’ layout wasn’t as easy to navigate as the southern half. We could use our Pip-Bucks to keep us going the right direction. We would hit the Museum of Medical Sciences and check for supplies. After that we get across the west bridge as fast as possible. Then we weave our way through the southern part of the city and head east to Stable Tech.

With our plan set we spent the remainder of the day getting some rest. I didn’t get a lot of sleep the previous night. Thankfully, insomnia took the night off and I managed to get to sleep fairly quick. I guess my brain thought tomorrow was going to be exhausting enough without lack of sleep. Maybe we can finally figure out what the hell this chip is for.

Author's Note

To clarify: the name Apostace is a small play on the word apostasy. I was informed that this may not be entirely clear.

Again, many thanks to the user Snowfall1775 for editing and proof reading.