Hours later we parked our vehicle inside a cold waterfall to wash out the blood and smell. We used a leftover box of Abraxo cleaner and an old shirt to scrub it out and dry it off. Felix boiled up some snow for deep cleaning. We left it to dry as looked out into the dry lake bed before us as the sand blew in swirls from behind this oasis waterfall. Aurora called for my attention.

“Yo Ranger! What do you think?”

I thought the vehicle looked like a piece of shit, but at least it was a polished turd and no pony will mistake us as raiders now.

“It'll have to do,” I shrugged, “By the way, did you see any good loot points when you were flying in?”

“Well, I found a vertibuck crash just near Northwest Airfield. I'll drive,” Aurora took her place at the front of the vehicle. I had noticed that the front of it was a spark battery powered engine covered by a cowling of some sort and the two panes of glass which my cousin referred to as a windshield were bullet resistant to all but armor piercing rounds.

Curiosity got the better of me and I inquired, “Aurora, how do you know so much about vehicles?”

“Like I said, I'm a mercenary. NFR hires us to do many things. You're just lucky your cousin is a pegasus that can drive a car,” she spoke not taking her eyes off our front. I was on the turret viewing the sand swirling landscape in front of us. It was getting into my mouth and the grit was, at least for me, pleasant to chew on. It reminded me of my many wasteland scavenging missions I had lead into the wasteland.

“So this is a car?” I must have sounded odd to her. Her face scrunched and then she sighed.

“Yes Ranger, this is a car. It's much faster than a pony or any chariot, save for those of the pegasi. But even in the New Fillypine Republic those are replaced by planes, vertibucks, and even helicopters. Our engineers finally got the idea that putting a fleshy pony or pegasus in front of an armored vehicle left the pilot or driver oh so exposed. It stemmed from our connection to the Ministry of Awesome.”

“The what now?” I squinted my eyes, not understanding a thing she said.

“Do I have to explain everything to you?” she pouted thinking like I was stupid or at least ignorant, which for the most part I was.

“Well, seeing as how I am a wastelander with limited knowledge of the world beyond I think you just might need to. We do have plenty of time after all,” I explained. Her eyes perked and nodded understandingly.

“Now that you mention it, I hadn't thought about it this way. Very well, I'll tell you what I know,” she started, clearing her throat, “Before the war there were six ministries in Equestria. With the Fillypines being a former commonwealth of that superpower this is important to note. The six ministries were the Ministry of Peace, Wartime Technology, Image, Morale, Arcane Sciences, and last but not least the Ministry of Awesome.”

She glanced back and saw that I had her full attention, “The Ministry of Awesome was a covert arm of the Equestrian government. Many of the best spies, loyalist mercenaries, soldiers, and aces were part of that project. Including our hero, THE Martyr and my ancestor: Sky Buster.”

I saw her glance at her cutie mark and continued, a wide smirk on her lips, “I, am part of his legacy. His legacy was two part: he conducted the covert and often highly dangerous missions deep behind Zebra lines with his hoof picked team. Second was his implemented plan of saving everyone, not just everypony, after the megaspells had detonated. The latter is a more interesting story. Day in and day out after the Last Day he rounded up the lone bomber crews flying aimlessly, sailors with no home or country to come back to, fighter pony squadrons left to die, cruise liners with so many innocent lives drifting, you name it. He vectored them to the safety of the Fillypine home islands. They were untouched by the balefire bombs. It wasn't a concern for Equestria or the zebras to bomb a little known country out in the ocean nor did they bomb Austrotia either. Within the span of a week he had saved hundreds of thousands of displaced lives. That was just the beginning.”

We came to a sudden skidding stop by the foot of a hill. I got the sense that we were near the crash sight. I was bumped headfirst into the gun and my horn dented the metal.

“We're here!” she smiled up to me and flapped her good wing, “Come on, we need to advance on hoof.”

“Ah, sneak to the crash sight and not draw any attention. Good plan.”

“Yup,” she brought out her rifle and trotted at the daisy cutters pace. I was surprised that she was as stealthy in her gate as I was. I had a burning question to ask her.

“Hey Aurora?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do they put parachutes in fighter jets for pegasus ponies?” I asked rather bluntly, “I mean, you do have wings.”

“Didn't you notice my copilot was an earth pony? In the NFR we take what we can get,” she started to whisper, “Besides they're all good for something. Earth ponies are strong so their control surfaces don't lock up. pegasi don't suffer from G-LOC and unicorns can get creative with the magics. Now please, stay quiet for a bit.”

We came to the edge of the tree line that overlooked the crashed vertibuck. I readied my PSG and peered through the scope. My eyes forward sparkle blinked red. I assumed that a few raiders were guarding the chopper. They must have recently found it, as it was in a secluded location and hidden behind the crest of a sand dune. My assumption was correct. The raider ponies had no tents set up and there were only two guards armed with assault rifles.

“I think I got a plan,” I gathered Felix and Aurora next to me, “I'll provide sniper support. Aurora, you sneak up there with your suppressed AK. Felix, you flank from the right, Aurora to the left. When you hear the raven call weapons free.”

“Standard Trotakomai Pincher Maneuver? I missed that one,” Felix smiled, “I don't have a suppressed weapon though.”

“Aurora, you can do the honors of the stealth kills. Felix you're gonna be the backup.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Felix nodded and slithered away. His low profile made him blend with the surroundings.

“Got it, moving out,” Aurora dashed away in a silent gallop. I had a clear line of sight of the craft as they circled around. I saw them both get into position as their dots on my EFS stopped moving. I gave it a few seconds before I cawed. Aurora got a clean head shot off on the first pony but the second immediately dashed into cover. The raider started to fire suppressing shots at her but his aim couldn't hit a barn door.

“Everypony go loud!” I yelled to them as I started to fire shots to pin the enemy down. He was hiding behind the cockpit and I couldn't get a clear shot. All I wanted to do was to stop him from firing at my cousin.

Felix went around using the bushes and his slender stature to his advantage. I could see his dot drift behind the tiltrotor and I heard his pistol shoot three times. His dot was still there and he successfully killed the raider guarding the craft. I crossed the clearing and made my way to the wreck.

“Alright! Area's clear. Let's see what we got,” I browsed through the wreckage of the craft. Inside was a peculiar looking crate that glowed of magical energy. It was labelled: PROPERTY OF THE MINISTRY OF AWESOME in bold white letters crossed out by overlapping sprayed on letters that served to repurpose the crate. They read: PROPERTY OF THE NEW FILLYPINE REPUBLIC. I set to examine our prize. It was unlocked by the very helpful and now dead raider ponies that lay in the dirt just a few meters away. Felix had the pleasure to loot their bodies while Aurora came over to me.

“Ooo! It's an NFR crate. I wonder what's inside,” she cocked her head to one side as I opened the box. Inside was this awe-inspiring sight of a wither mounted magical energy weapon that gave off the telltale glow of the box. Along with it was a memory orb. Aurora and I carefully wrapped our prizes and went back to the jeep. Felix had picked up two 5.56 rifles off the dead ponies. One was an HK33 rifle with a claw mount for accessory rails. His friend also happened to have a working red dot sight stashed away in his large ALICE backpack with some blood bags and morphine injectors in a medical kit.

“In case of falling off a ladder, use bandage, blood bag, THEN morphine,” there was a note that came with it that I read out loud. I rolled my eyes, “Are raiders really this stupid that they had to put this in?”

“Dunno dude, but I am loving this new TBBBAP Tesla cannon! Hopefully we get to try it out unlike in the last story,” Aurora made no sense with her latter statement as we drove away from the crash sight.

“What?”

“You know, in Pokemon: Signs of Decay. The original story this one is based on? I never got to use the Tesla cannon we found today,” I felt a wall break.

“Say what?” I shot a look of confusion at her.

“Saaay Whaaat!” her voice rolled to a high pitch, “Crown me a prince why don't ya!”

“You are making no sense cousin. I think the wasteland air is getting to you. Maybe we should get you back home somehow,” I tapped her on the forehead with the handle of my revolver to knock some sense into her. A branch or a bit of lead piping crossed my mind as an alternative.

“Say, is this a radio?” Felix fumbled with the dials on the front of the jeep. The speakers of the vehicle sparked to life in a grainy and static filled assortment of sound. He caught wind of a working station.

“Hello my brony and pegasister friends! I'm Silver Rose bringing you the latest news in the wasteland straight from Rose Thorn News Network!” the voice was that of a mare. Young but optimistic, it was like hearing the voice of an angel. This was the first time I had heard of this. Felix and I listened close but Aurora seemed uninterested, “Well friends I have some good news and some bad news for you today. The good news is that the New Fillypine Republic has finally made landfall off the southern coast of Hokkaido. If you are ever in the need for some supplies remember the golden rules of wasteland conduct: holster your weapon, keep your finger off the trigger, and present yourself in a non-threatening friendly manner. And for the love of Celestia never shoot on sight like those dastardly bandits and raiders that roam the wastes! Speaking of raiders, bad news today as the town of New Trotakomai was-”

Felix cut it off before we could hear any more. We wanted to get our minds off that. I began with a question to my cousin.

“So Aurora, who was that?”

“That is our voice in the wasteland, Silver Rose. She was dispatched to the Hokkaido wasteland to spread the word of the NFR. She's currently occupying one of the radio stations in Sapporo preaching about fighting the good fight with the NFR. She's really something huh?”

“Something is right, she seems oddly cheerful,” Felix added, “Does she have to put on that show?”

“Yeah, makes us look good around here. Hey Ranger, you should probably give that memory orb a view and tell me what you find,” Aurora brushed her mane away from her eyes and focused on driving.

Curiosity got the better of me as I unwrapped the orb I so carefully enveloped in cloth. I got down from my machine gun and sat down to focus on the orb. The world faded and I was thrust into the memories within.

“How long has he been out there?” I felt myself speak through another voice. It was a warm but wet rainy night that poured down from a typhoon. I could feel my hat soaked by the torrential downpour as I looked into the night worried for a friend. A light glowed from my horn with a green tint that replaced my brown magic. By my guess his magic was the same as his coat color. I noticed another thing: droplets formed in front of my face as they gathered on a pair of eyeglasses, blue in color. The stallion whos view I witnessed wiped it with an equally soaked blue cape that he kept on his back. He was talking to another pony, a mare. Wait-no, a stallion with the facial features of a mare. His red jacket matched the color of his mane, drooped by the rain but you could tell that it was somewhat spiky if it was dry. As the stallion came closer I could see his light grey coat and blue eyes that shifted to look at me.

“You know Sky Buster. He won't stop until he saves everypony he can. I'm surprised you made it out Puzzle,” he spoke in a rather odd accent and I could see the pain and worry in his eyes. It looked like lived through something catastrophic and he was shaking from both cold and fear.

“You'll be okay Redcord, what's important is that we're alive and we have Sky Buster to thank for it. I just wish we could do something to help him,” I patted my friend on the back and draped my cape over him. From out of the night sky a bunch of lights started to edge closer and closer to us. They were large planes that came in for a landing being lead by a light blue dot in the night sky. The blue dot morphed into the shape of a pony and landed right next to us. He was heaving, soaked, and exhausted. White wings spread and drooped like his short red mane and yellow banana-like tail. I'd never seen a pony with so many colors and he really looked like he'd been through hell and back. I took notice to his cutie mark. It was exactly the same as that of Aurora's: a bright yellow Fillypine sunburst.

“Saved two Equestrian bombers that flew all the way from Cloudsdale! They've got wounded on board so get some medical personnel on the tarmac! I need to go back and save more!”

“Sky, you're in no shape to fly any more tonight. You need to rest,” Redcord approached Sky, “Besides, there's a Typhoon out there.”

“Don't give me that bullshit Redcord! The less time I search the more innocent lives die out there! We need to save everypony still flying with no home left! I want you to go into that damned control tower and have them scramble as many SAR assets as possible you hear me?” he was passionate as he was furious. I took the hint that this was an old memory orb left over from right after the bombings of Equestria and the Zebra Nation.

“Buster, you're tired, soaked, and you need a break. The search teams can handle it from here and your kids are worried about you sick. Just take a break. It's already hard enough for them without Rainbow,” Puzzle tried to reason with his friend. The worry in his voice was all to apparent as a flash of lightning and drum of thunder lit up the midnight sky.

Buster held his head low and started to cry at the mention of Rainbow, “Dammit! Just-Dammit! Do you know how much I worked for an end to this war? All those clandestine operations, all those missions, all the times I've taken Kim and Antony to lead them into some black ops hellhole because we believed that it would help win the war! It was all for nothing! I wanted to save everyone, not just Equestria, not just the Griffin Kingdoms, not just the Zebras. Celestia dammit! Everyone! I... Failed.”

Fulling sobbing into the concrete of the paved area where the planes had landed I felt my gut wrench at the feeling of pure empathy to my friend and savior. I, as Puzzle, went up to him and took him in my embrace.

“You didn't fail, you never did. You saved so many lives, hundreds, thousands, maybe even a million. It wasn't your fault that the war ended like this but what you gave to us was more than anything we could have imagined. You went out of your way and risked your life to save me, Redcord, Lucid, and all the others that managed to escape. You need a break, and you've earned it. Come on, let's go.”

I carried Sky Buster into the shelter of a large rectangular building with the help of Redcord's support. The memory cut off as the light of the hallway blinded my eyes.

“Ranger!” Aurora was clapping her hooves in front of my face, “Ranger! Wake up. We're about to go into a city and we need you awake. Let's go bitch.”

“Where are we?” I shook my head clear and rubbed my eyes.

“Check your map dummy. It's on there for a reason,” Aurora pointed to my watch.

“This thing has a map?” I navigated through the menus to find myself on the map screen of the Pipwatch, “Well what do you know.”

We were on the outskirts of the port city of Otaru. What used to be a major port turned into a cobbled maze of concrete and steel filled with mutants, raiders, and all sorts of deadly vermin. Although the waters of the canals were clean enough to swim in the occasional bit of debris floated by. We kept our eyes and ears on high alert as cities were highly dangerous places to loot and go through. The crumbling buildings posed a threat, as bits of rubble and iron beams eroded and sometimes fell. Of course, the many bones and skeletons of those who lived here are present. Picked clean by feral animals years ago. Destroyed cars and the occasional armored vehicle littered the streets and I could see in the distance was a roadblock.

“Stop stop! My EFS is going crazy with red dots. That roadblocks ain't friendly,” I prodded Aurora's shoulder for her to take evasive maneuvers. We turned tail and made a U-turn to park the jeep away from the roadblock. Roadblocks were always a death trap, if you don't know if it's friendly you bet your ass it's hostile. That didn't require an EFS to reason out. Felix kept guard by the jeep as Aurora and I made our way into the buildings to try and get a better vantage point on the roadblock.

"I can see a few raiders, they're fanning the area to search for our jeep," I whispered to Aurora as we hid in the second story of a hotel, "Okay, this is gonna get tricky. We've got a squad of four guarding the roadblock with two manning big fifties. See those cars they set up? I want you to blow up those and make damn sure they set off a chain reaction. Once you shoot, move to the jeep and guard it. I'll be in a building beside this one. That explosion is gonna bring the rest of their guys back and I'll ambush them, sound good?"

“Yeah, I'll wait for your signal,” she gave a salute with her good wing and scurried out.

I sneaked out into the back alleys and set up on the last floor just before the roof of the building to the left of Aurora. I had my G3, better for close range engagements with the red dot sight. I could get a clean shot off the four guys on the roadblock, so I gave Aurora the all clear signal. She was on the roof to provide the first blow with her mighty Tesla cannon. The brilliant blue bolt of lightning impacted the cars and set them off in a loud explosion. Three of the guards died in the explosion and I killed the last one with one shot of my battle rifle. Aurora galloped out of the building and made it safely to the jeep. The remaining raiders came back to the roadblock and all of them ran out into the open. I opened fire and with each pull of the trigger was a kill up until the last guy. He dashed into the building I was hiding in and I just barely missed his head, the bullet whizzing past him by merely an inch.

"Shit!" I shouldered my rifle and unholstered my .44 magnum, “Go ahead, make my day.”

I could sense that they were clearing each room one by one. I think he might have been the commander of the group, experienced for sure. He was even checking for booby traps. As he approached my room I ducked behind the left side of the door, as people usually checked the right first. I could hear his steps and my heart raced. My horn tinted brown as I hovered my revolver close to my chest. I saw the barrel of his gun stick out and grabbed it. Using what Aurora taught me I disarmed the commander, unloaded his AK-74, and threw it out the window. He drew his knife from a side sheath and I drew mine. We slashed and struck blades, parrying each other with quick strikes. I managed to nick him in a face.

"Hey! You're pretty good boy, why don't you just put down that knife and become my bitch! How's that? It's not gonna be that bad, just take it up the ass now and then. Or maybe you'll love to meet my contractor," the scum was actually talking.

"Never, but nice offer," I sarcastically remarked. I threw him a quick buck but he caught my leg and stabbed his knife through. I screamed in agony as the sharp and inflaming pain engulfed my leg. I could see my blood dripping out and I was incapacitated. I heard Aurora and Felix scream.

“You shouldn't have done that, you'll do fine as a slave,” this was the last thing I heard before he pulled an improvised dart gun from his saddle and shot me unconscious.

Author's Note

Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk: Trot n' Shot

Reduced accuracy penalties with one-handed ranged weapons, be they firearms or magic energy, while trotting or galloping.