Chapter 4: Hoofington Bound
If we don't get a move on, it'll be dark before we get to the camp site.

"Shut it! Take us to your base now!"

Okay, I've got a group of griffins (am I supposed to say flock?) pointing weapons at me. Azel is at the camp we just cleared out, so I don't have any backup. And to top it all off, these feather-brains think I'm a raider. Well, at least they don't have the firepower that the Steel Rangers had. I looked at the griffon who yelled at me. He was almost entirely gray and had a scar on his beak. He looked old enough to have been in the Enclave-Griffin Kingdom war. What is he doing here? "Look, I don't know who you are and what you're doing, but I'm not a raider."

"Likely story air-head! Comply or you'll be shot!" For an old timer he sure can yell. Also, air-head?!

"Nice to meet you too Old Yeller. Hate to tell ya, but you've got the wrong pegasus. Now can we please talk in a sensib-"

"This is your last warning raider scum!" He's really starting to test my patience. "Now listen this time and you might survi-" Fast as lightning, I darted down, landing inches from his face.

"No, you listen! I'm not who you're looking for! I've had enough to deal with these past two days and I don't need a group of stubborn griffins to handle as well! If you're willing to help out a nearby settlement, I might have something for you! Otherwise, beat it!"

To the lead griffin's credit, he hadn't even flinched from my outburst. He was about to respond, probably yelling in the process, but one of the other griffins interjected. He was noticeably younger than the first one. His body feathers were dark brown while his wings and head were a light tan. "You'll have to excuse Gruff, he still holds a grudge against pegasi for the war." While he was talking, the new griffon pushed me and the griffon that was apparently known as Gruff apart, now standing between us. He then turned to me, giving me a good look at his copperish eyes. "Name's Grindel. This is my sister Grizell," He geustered to the last griffon who I assumed was also his twin. The reason being that they looked very similar to each other, excluding their eyes. Her's were closer to being bronze instead. "and you've already met Grandpa Gruff. Yours?"

"Daybreak. What was with the hostile greeting?"

"Sorry 'bout that. We were hired to eliminate a raider camp somewhere around here. We thought you were one of them at first."

"I can tell." I shot a glare at Gruff. "What changed your mind?"

This time it was Grizell who spoke. "Well unlike these idiots, I noticed that you were much more than a cannibalistic raider right away. Glad I was able to get the message across before Gruff started a fight."

"Aw c'mon sis. Grandpa was just looking out for us. Cut him some slack."

"Phft, whatever."

"Anyway, have you seen a raider camp around here? We would normally fly up and look ourselves but we're trying to keep the element of surprise."

"You forgot to ask him what he meant by help out a nearby settlement."

"I was 'bout to but you interrupted me."

I may have been an only child, but I could tell that there was about to be a sibling argument if I didn't interject soon. "Sorry, but me and a friend of mine already cleared out the raiders. We found all the supplies they had pillaged from the caravans they attacked. If you'd be willing, I was hoping that you could deliver them the rest of the way. What is this settlement called anyway?" Yes! Remembered to ask a question of my own this time.

"Doesn't have one yet. They've been so busy trying to survive that they haven't been able to give it much thought. Unless of course, my brilliant sister knows more than me 'bout that too." Grizell rolled her eyes behind him. "Anyway, we'd gladly get those supplies to them for you. Were are they?"

"We have them back at the camp. Follow me." I took to the air and began heading back.

"Hold on there." Oh, so he can speak without yelling. I looked back to Gruff. "What d'ya mean we?"

"You didn't think I was out here all alone did you? My friend Azel is still scavenging the camp for any extra resources." I turned around and began leading again. Thankfully, I heard the wheels of the caravans following me this time.

We didn't get five feet before I heard Grizell's voice. "Azel? Odd name for a pony."

"That's because he isn't a pony. He's a zebra."

"Hold on a second!" Oh great, he's back to yelling. "We're not only trusting a pegasus that he won't lead us into a trap, he has a sneaky, underhanded, no good zebra as his ally! I don't trust him!" It took all my self control to not blast his arrogant face into putty when I turned to look at him.

"I'm going to tell you this once, so listen carefully." My voice had a dark tone that I didn't know I could pull off. "I don't care if you don't like pegasi. I don't care if you think zebras aren't to be trusted. I don't care if you want to kill us both. Whatever your opinion, keep it to yourself. If you insult Azel or I one more time, your grandkids won't have anything left of you to bury. Got it?" To my surprise, and slight delight, Gruff seemed to actually be afraid of me. He didn't respond. Instead, he went under the canvas and probably sat down. I turned back around and continued to lead the way.

After a few minutes of navigating the rocky area around the camp, we finally made it to the damaged building. I went straight to the door and entered the building. To my left I saw Azel organizing his saddlebags. He looked up as I stepped inside and waved. Then he picked up his chalkboard on the ground next to him.

"Find anything?"

"Yeah, found a group of griffins that were hired to clear this place out. They have an empty caravan and have agreed to take the supplies to the settlement."

"Where are they?"

"Should be walking up now." I looked back outside and sure enough, they were almost at the door. With my wings I motioned for Azel to follow me and walked out to greet them. Gruff was scanning the horizon most likely to make sure this wasn't a trap. The twins looked at Azel with curiosity when he came out with me, his chalkboard reading "Hi."

Grizell was the first to speak. "Uh, hi. What's with the chalkboard?"

I whispered to Azel, "Is it fine to tell them?" He nodded and I answered them, "This is my friend Azel. He can't speak due to a zebra curse so he uses his chalkboard instead. Azel, this is Grindel, Grizell, and Gruff." I gestured to each griffin as I named them.

"Nice to meet you Azel. Thanks to both you and Daybreak for clearing this place out."

"Nice to meet you too. Follow me to where we found the supplies." With that we made our way inside. Well...except for Gruff, who countined to watch the surrounding area. I took up the rear of the group as the two griffons, talking in hushed voices to each other, followed behind Azel. As we turned the corner into the hallway, Grindel slowed his pace until he was walking beside me.

"Me and my sister were talking and..." he reached into his saddle bag and tossed a small bag to me, hearing a small jingle of metal hitting metal when I caught it. "We thought you should have this."

I shook the bag, hearing it jingle again. "What is it?"

"It's our payment for coming to clear out this camp. Or, I guess I should say it was our's. We figured that you and Azel deserved it instead of us since you two did the work."

"You're sure?" He nodded. "Well, thanks, how much is it?"

"500 caps."

"Just that much? I thought that this was an important job."

"What do you mean? That's easily enough to see you through a month's worth of ammunition and supplies."

"How can caps be worth that much? Back home, this would barely get me a meal."

"Back home? Oh, you must be in the Enclave."

"Was in the Enclave. Not sure if I still am." I stuffed the bag into a compartment located just beneath my grenade launcher .

"So you're a dashite?" Dashite, a word that most pegasi say with disgust. Those that abandoned the sky and go against the Enclave, wear the title with pride. All of them outcasts, forbidden to be above the clouds. I used to simply accept that they were traitors until "Deadshot" Calamity, the greatest shot in the Enclave and son to a powerful member of the council, was declared to be one. Since then I've wondered what they did to betray us in the first place.

"I'm not sure. What do describe as a dashite?"

He seemed to have been caught off guard by my question, but quickly gave an answer after a moment's consideration "Well, I haven't met a dashite before. I've only heard 'bout them from clients and associates so my answer might be misinformed. Anyway, from what I've gathered dashites are pegasi that leave the Enclave and spend the rest of their life on the wasteland. Usually they are kicked out for some reason and from then on cause trouble for the Enclave when they can. One thing I know for a fact is that dashites aren't the bad guys, at least when they first arrive. Some, like any other pony, will eventually become an emotionless machine caring only for their own survival or a mindless raider that only knows killing. However, most become guns for hire or adventures looking for anyway to help out others. Honestly, I think they were kicked out because they wanted the Enclave to help everypony down here and it refused. Apparently dashites also have a brand over their cutie mark that is similar to some other pegasus's cutie mark, think here name was Rainbow Splash or something. Where they got the brand and why they have it, I have no idea. Any of that help?"

"Yes, thanks. From what you described, I guess I am a dashite, not including the brand."

"Well like I told you, anything I said might be wrong. Maybe the branded dashites are a weird group of ponies which worship that Rainbow Sash pegasus or something."

"Yeah...maybe." He was almost right. While Rainbow Dash is known throughout the Enclave mostly as a hero, near the end of her life she abandoned the Enclave. Less than a month after the world blew up, she was insisting that the Enclave break apart the cloud layer, the only thing protecting the citizens of the Enclave from the deadly radiation, and help the ponies that were on the surface regardless of the fact that by doing so we'd forsake thousands of pegasi to die of radiation. Eventually she gave up trying to convince the council and left for the surface, never to be seen again. It was then declared that attempting to interact with ponies of the surface was an act of treason that could lead to branding with the mark of a dashite, shaped like Rainbow Dash's cutie mark, and exile from the Enclave. Still, many others followed the same path throughout the 200 years of isolation, some attempted the same methods as her, some threatened revolution, and others simply disappeared on their own. All my life I had believed what the Enclave told me without question. But now that I'm here on the surface and finding their truths to be false, I'm beginning to question whether Rainbow Dash was the one who betrayed us.

By the time I had come to this question we had reached the storage room with all the supplies.

"Was that your entire caravan outside?"

"Yeah, what 'bout it?"

Azel opened the door and replied, "I think you're going to need two trips."

"So I guess that you couldn't find any scrap to build another one."

"Not enough and no wheels."

Grindel looked away from the hoard and told us. "Our caravans have hidden compartments that are completely empty so we can get 'bout 90% of this on our first trip."

"Even with the bags you're already carrying?"

"Oh, those? They're just filled with rocks and stuff. We can dump them out."

"Why aren't they filled with supplies for the settlement?"

"Most of the supporters for this project like Tenpony Tower thought that this had become a lost cause and decided that it wasn't worth the effort to send in some more supplies. We needed to bait the raiders somehow so we made it look like we had supplies."

"If everypony thought this was a lost cause then who hired you?"

"Some higher-up at Junction R-7. Said he had invested too many of his precious gems for this to flop. Think his name was Sir Topaz or something."

"It was Mister Topaz stupid. Why can't you remember any of our clients' names?"

"Does it really mater sis? I don't think many ponies go by the name Topaz.

"It's disrespectful to them."

"Oh please, it's not like he can hear us."

"The point is tha-"

"What did you mean by gems?" Luckily both of them took the hint and dropped the subject, Grizell grumpily walking into the storage room with Azel.

"The junction was a mining facility at some point during the war so it had quite a stockpile of gems and metal, which they use instead of caps for the most part. In fact I think Mister Topaz is the only one who has gems. The way he hoards them would make you think he was a dragon."

"If you two don't mind, we could use some help getting all of this to the caravans!" Well, if there was any doubt she was Gruff's granddaughter before, it's gone now.

Grindel rolled his eyes and we went in to help. After about half a hour later we had packed the caravans as much as we could. We stood outside trying to think of a way to get the remaining supplies to the settlers without making two trips. Even Gruff was trying to help come up with a solution. Sure he was just pointing out the flaws in our plans without making any suggestions of his own, but the point is that he was trying.

"Can't we just make the caravans bigger with the scrap you already found Azel?

"The best we could do with that is make a shelve or two."

"How 'bout those structures surrounding the building? Can't we use that?"

"I that will take to long to take apart. I say we just leave now and come back later."

"Ugh, this is getting us nowhere. There has to be something we can do." For some reason my vision was drawn to the cloth covers of the caravans. An idea began to from. "Hey, what if we repurposed the covers as bags? We could just attach them to the side of the caravans."

"Wouldn't the supplies break from all that bouncing around?"

"Grandpa, not everything in the room was food and medicine. I think this is our best option. Don't you Grindel?"

"Yeah, I'm with Daybreak on this."

"Hmph, fine. Be quick about it." With that Gruff flew back onto the first caravan and began to nap, helpful as always. The rest of us got to work on storing the remaining supplies and after about 8 minutes they were ready to go.

"Is that everything from the supply room?"

"Yeah. Azel and I made sure we didn't leave anything behind. You two finished with the bags."

"Despite my brother's clumsiness, yes. I assume you two aren't coming along."

"As much as I'd like to, we have some things to do down in Hoofington. We've detoured enough as it is. Good luck to all of you."

"Wait, did he just say Hoofington?" Grindel asked as he came around the caravans. "Why in Equestria would you want to go there?"

"Let's just say Azel and I have some...questions...we'd like answered. What's so bad about Hoofington?"

"A lot of things really. There's the high levels of radiation, the rival gangs, the extremely insane raiders, something called enervation, and many other dangers. Not many go there and return in the same state of mental and physical health."

"All of that is in the city?"

"No, the city itself kills anything that gets near it. Far as I know, no one has ever explored even the outskirts. Everything else is just in the wastes around the city."

"Sounds like fun."

"To each their own I suppose. Anyways, good luck."

"Thanks Grindel. Hopefully we will see all of you again." The griffons loaded up on their caravans and made their way back to the trail while Azel and I continued on our way to Hoofington. After about half a hour of walking later I decided to check and see if I was picking up any signal from the hideout beacon. The feed turned up empty on that as I had expected. I was however surprised to find that I was picking up a signal from something else. Curious and with nothing else to do but walk, I tuned in to the transmission to see what it was. I heard a male voice speaking mid-sentence.

-inging you the news. Turns out the Stable Dweller, the pony who cleared out the salver encampment in Old Appleoosa and saved many of the slaves there in case you forgot, is on her way to Manehattan now. Bad guys beware. Also, looks like some of the Talons are on their way to help get rid of those raiders that have been causing some trouble for the new settlement that's been having difficulties getting set up. My best wishes to those settlers. This next song goes out to you. Here's Sapphire Shores with "The Sun Can't Hide Forever".

As music began to play I noticed that Azel was trying to get my attention. Quickly I turned off the radio and asked, "Sorry, what is it?"

He held up his chalkboard with something already written on it. "What is that?"

"Well, I was searching for any transmissions and I picked up what apparently is the local radio station. I didn't even think the surface was capable of having a radio station."

"You sure it isn't just a repeat of a radio broadcast from the war?"

"Don't think so. I mean, I'm pretty sure there weren't any slavers back then and it sounded like whoever the host is was talking about the same settlement we just helped out. I wonder who runs it."

"Wouldn't have been my first choice of a hobby."

Footnote - Level Up!

New Perk! - But I'm Not Your Enemy!: +5 to Speechcraft when attempting to convince somepony (or griffon as the case may be) that they shouldn't shoot you.

Skill Note - Speechcraft Level 20

Author's Note

Finally, I finished chapter 4. Sorry the wait everyone. At first it was studying for the mid-term and holiday prep but then a few things came up and some data loss forcing me to rewrite almost the entire chapter. Regardless, it's here and I'm glad to move on to the next one. As always I want to thank Kkat for the fic that is easily one of the greatest stories ever, and thank you to everyone who's reading this messy pile of words. Oh, and Happy New Year!