(When left alone in a harsh world, your friends are often the difference between life and death)

Looking at the words on that paper gave me a very uneasy feeling but I decided to ignore it, at least until I could gather more information. For all any pony knew the editor could have gotten a few facts wrong, it had happened in my stable after all. Looking to Blaze I simply told him as much and at least for the time being that seemed to nullify him and he dropped the subject.

As we started to trot in the opposite direction of the now departing Spezneighs ponies it suddenly dawned on me that both me and Fuse were putting our lives in the hooves of two ponies we had barely known for a month; one of whom had just shown me possibly fake documentation that the Spezneighs, or at least their leader was not who he/they seemed to be and it was either stay with them or brave the wastes alone. Needless to say, we stuck with Blaze and Sweet shot. Cold Storm had told us that as soon as she had escorted the group back to the city limits that she would come back and join us four. We all of course agreed that was a good idea and told her that we'd make camp in Ponza until she returned. It would also give us some time to explore and find clues as to why the town had been attacked as well.

As we started setting up camp Fuse never left my side and kept asking if we would be attacked as well; Sweet shot assured her that as long as she and Blaze were with us nothing would happen. That at least comforted her and she soon was busy helping set up our camp. It was almost nighttime by the time camp was established and we were getting ready to eat dinner when Cold Storm flew into camp.

"Nice set up here; very well defended. While I was flying around I saw some light coming from the forest about a mile from here, probably the ponies responsible for the attack. We should be safe though; it looked like they were clearing out."

We all took in the information and elected to have a night watch established seeing as there were five of us we would take shifts of three sleeping and two on watch. Seeing as both Sweet shot and Blaze were ghouls and really needed no sleep they decided to take first watch while Fuse, Cold and I slept. Before going to bed we all agreed to check out the town at first light. With that being done we settled in for an uneventful night. Both me and Fuse were cuddled beneath our sleeping bag while Cold attempted to get comfortable on her bed roll, finally being able to do so after about an hour.

*BLAM!*, *BLAM!*, *BLAM!*"

We were all woken up by gunfire not even three hours after going to bed. I looked at Cold who was groggily fumbling for her weapon and told her I'd see what was up. She looked at me and said thank you and fell face first on her pillow hugging it and mumbling before snoring.

Poking my head out the tent flap I was greeted with a sheepish smile from Sweet shot.

"Sorry, it was a small Ursa cub that got too close to camp and we scared it off. go back to bed, you still have a couple hours til your watch."

Lightly cursing under my breath about the stupid wasteland I cuddled back next to Fuse and drifted off once again; only to be woken up what seemed like a minute later by Fuse saying it was time for our shift. Cold for her part was just getting into her armor as I started to move. As the three of us stepped out into the night Sweet shot apologized for waking us up, Cold simply shrugged as Fuse looked confused. I simply gave her a look of understanding and stoked the fire. With all three of us now by the fire it suddenly became quite clear that we were now in the actual Wasteland. There were noises all around and yet we saw nothing; well except for the occasional red blip on our E.F.S's. Cold seemed to just ignore the noises and said she'd do a flyover of the woods outside of camp and alert us to any threats. Agreeing on that idea both me and Fuse huddled by the fire. Though not quite winter it was still cold enough to send a chill through you if you left the fire and it was also lightly snowing as well. Having not ever seen snow both me and Fuse were in awe of the white powder falling from the sky. I was so enamored by it that I almost drew my gun when a snowball hit me in the head. Fuse looked at me innocently and laughed.

"I didn't do anything. It must have been a wendigo"

She said, making a ghost noise. I tackled her and started forming a snowball of my own as she attempted to buck me off. Grinning at her i smashed my snowball on her head earning me a satisfying yelp from her. We were suddenly interrupted by a red beam of light cutting the darkness in the forest. Looking to Fuse I said I'd check it out and to be ready to wake both Blaze and Sweet shot if need be. I loaded my Ck-47 and headed off in the direction of the beam; only for me to hear maniacal laughter followed by Cold flying and yelling to get bigger guns. Looking at my E.F.S I noticed a lot of red markers following her and heard a few voices.

"Oh look guys, a turkey, I want the wings. Awwe its flying away, what's the matter turkey, scared?"

"We don't want to hurt you; all we want is your flesh!"

Turning back to camp I galloped back just in time to see Blaze raise his rifle and take a shot. Looking just a few feet behind me I saw a mare drop with a clean hole in her head. Fuse was taking aim with her ten millimeter pistol and fired as well, taking down another pony. I turned to face the woods and fired off a short burst earning a few yelps and screams of pain. I watched as the red blips went dark one by one and then seemed to retreat back into the forest; then as suddenly as it started it was over. The forest grew quiet once again and a since of piece fell over it. Blaze looked to Storm and asked if it was the same ponies she had seen earlier and she said no.

"I was flying back to camp and suddenly I heard a scream from the edge of the town; I flew over the area and found a poor mare being...... well you know. I took a shot at the stallion vaporizing him, but my shot alerted the other nearby raiders. So I attempted to lose them in the forest but one of them must have a Pipbuck and they followed me."

Blaze looked at her for a minute and then gave her a smile.

"Welcome to the Wasteland kid, and good job saving that poor mare. Fucking raiders; nothing but scum and wastes of pony bodies. We'll search them tomorrow, for now let's get a bigger fire going. Its not like any of us will be getting anymore sleep any way."

Quickly throwing more wood on the fire we all huddled next to it and I looked at my clock. It was getting close enough to dawn that Blaze's words about not getting anymore sleep was made valid so we decided to check the bodies closest to the camp seeing as the fire gave off plenty of light to do so. I trotted over to the mare the Blaze had shot and pulled what useful items I could from her; every pony was busy doing the same and by the time we were done we had a decent amount of caps and ammo, not a bad haul if I was completely honest. We had even acquired a few new weapons as well; including two marekarove semi automatic pistols, one CK-74 assault rifle and four RGO grenades. The other bodies would have to wait until daylight to be checked.

It wasn't long before day broke and we were making our way through the forest in the direction Cold had flown looking for anymore dead bodies and the trail they had taken. Along the way we acquired more useful items and found the main route the had taken. Following the trail led us to a small burnt out house which we assumed was the raiders hideout; judging by the pile of ash right outside this must have been what Cold flew over. It was surprising to us and her just what she had come across during her patrol. Looking to her I said as much, earning me a slight shrug from her.

"Its not like I was looking for a raider outpost or anything; I simply heard a scream and flew over to see what it was. Call it captains intuition."

Giving her a nod I trotted into the house followed by the other four close behind. The house.... if you could call it that had two makeshift rooms with a nonfunctional toilet and sink; along with a small kitchen with a fair bit of supplies which we quickly took for ourselves. Going into one of the rooms we found a working terminal which Fuse set to work on hacking. After she hacked in I looked at what was on it. There were some old corrupt files on it along with an audio file; this is what was on it.

"This damned war has gotten worse, no pony can trust anything the government says and there is talk of possible use of our Mega-spell arsenal. Goddesses I hope it doesn't come to that; Rusha doesn't need such a burden brought on right now, not with the corruption going on at the higher levels. I've served the Motherland long enough to know that if it ever comes to that...... Well; we can kiss our country goodbye, along with the planet. I hope it doesn't come to that but just in case I have bought a spot for me and my family in Stable eighty, a few miles away. I have also stashed my old military gear in the basement just in case. This is former Major Night Blaze signing off and may the goddesses bless the Motherland now and forever more."

Well; it had come to it and my only hope was that he was at least able to make it to that stable along with his family; though judging by the kicked around skeletons i had to guess that wasn't the case. Leaving the room we then went to the basement where we found a locked chest. Fuse set to work on unlocking it as we looked for any useful loot. There was a soft click followed by a "got it" from Fuse.

Inside the chest was enough prewar trinkets to start a small prewar museum including pictures, ribbons, awards and more important; armor and weapons. Looking at both my and Fuse's raider armor compared to the two almost brand new sets of combat armor in the chest we both stripped and put on the new gear. Careful as to not damage the dress uniform and other items we placed them into our bags and collected the weapons and ammo and turned to leave the house.

...

Upon leaving the house we then made our way to the former town hall. We figured that if we were going to find any information past or present town hall would our best bet. We followed the street lined with rubble and debris where houses and businesses used to be. We made it to the three story building that looked to have served as both the local police station and town hall. I looked to Blaze and wanted to ask him about other places besides Rusha and what had actually happened during the great war; but figured now wasn't the time to do so. I checked the door and found it unlocked so we made our way inside. Turning on our Pipbuck lights to illuminate the dark entrance hall we found ourselves at a receptionists desk; the terminal on which was unfortunately dark with a bullet hole through it. Sighing, Fuse looked at it and pulled out a few tools and other things she'd keep on her just in case she'd ever encounter a nonfunctional terminal. I just rolled my eyes but let her trot to the terminal; as the rest of us started to fan out.

"Pin, i think we should stick together for now; we have no clue what's in here or if there's any security active."

I looked to Blaze who'd just said that and nodded. Instead I went looking through a few filing cabinets, the few that weren't locked that was. Blaze and Sweet were busy going over their weapons; cleaning and doing maintenance on them. After a few minutes Fuse let out a *squee* and clopped her hooves together.

"Well, the terminal was shot to hell but what ponies fail to realize is that the actual information is still on the device; I simply transferred everything on it to my Pipbuck; including the codes to disable the security.....wellll..., some of it that is."

"Fuse; what do you mean by some?"

"Welllll; i can disable the turrets and entry security at least. I mean I'm sure the main security panel is probably in the former mayor's office or chief's office. Those two places would make the most sense i think. Looking at the map I've downloaded it looks like there's a lot of ground to cover in this single building. Including the meeting chambers, jail cells, cafeteria, gym, offices and other areas; it looks like the mayor's office is on the third floor and heavily guarded. Makes since to be honest; seeing as some of the information downloaded tells the story of prewar Ponza."

Author's Note

I'm using an Xbox 360 to write this now, so editing and actually typing will take longer. I'll continue this, along with more chapters soon i hope. I hope you all enjoy this and I'll continue it A.S.A.P