Then the red pony went out and was then granted to take peace away from Equestria.

Dance. Flying is normally an elegant dance where your partner is the wind. The wind is typically a calm breeze that is easy to manipulate with a few flaps of the wings and even easier to navigate even in something that amounts to a storm. Stable 37 never had storms though and the only real chance I got at flying in harsh conditions was when I was allowed to check the internal components of a air purification talisman and even so the wind was only a fraction of a real thunderstorm's. When I stepped out into the vast, open environment of Detrot, the air seemed to be very much the same, if not a bit colder and littered with more things that want to shot me. There was still the feeling of freedom that came with that type of flying that only few ponies can truly understand as well as the average pegasus (if there were still any around to enjoy it with). With that being said, it would be rather easy to assume that I have never been in a storm of any kind before.

Especially if its a storm of bullets.

That was an issue I ignored. There was more rage welled up in me that all rational parts of my brain were cast aside and only one thing remained.

Kill the Steel Bastards.

At least half of them looked up to see the bright white figure of tormenting anger that soared into the sky at a pace that astounded them.

"They have a pegasus?" they all seemed to think as they looked up. "Where did they find one of them?"

The other half then took notice and pointed their guns up into the air.

"He's an enemy damnit!" the others seemed to think. "Kill him!"

I brought the rifle to bare and activated SATS. In that moment of desecrated time, I realized that I did not know which one was the leader. You would think that they would be the most decorated or the most heavily armed out of the rest but they were all in the same color armor with the same set of weapons.

Then there he was.

A massive Steel Ranger with bright, cherry red armor and two massive weapons loaded onto each side. There was an energy weapon on the top of his helmet and on the very beginning of his tail, both pointing in opposite directions. The lenses on his helmet where his eyes would theoretically be were glowing a bright orange with a large black pupil in the center of each. He had claws on his hooves that gleamed a darker red than his armor and an armored tail that had a large spike on the end of it. This was either the leader, or some other division of Steel Ranger. Either way, he had to die like the other greener rangers that he fought with.

Then I toggled as many shots to his chest as possible and released the spell. The blue illusion of slowed time faded away and time crawled back to normal pace as I watched the four bullets spin out of the gun and at the Red Armored Demon. The first bullet curved in the air so much that pinged off of his left ear and didn't make him even flinch. The second bullet skewed off course and missed entirely. The third bullet hit him square in the leg were an imaginary PipBuck would go.

But the fourth bullet stopped right in front of him, frozen in time. Then, it disintegrated into a fine orange dust as the ranger shot it with the energy weapon on his helmet. Slowly he looked up at me and fired a barrage of multicolored death lasers. Of course, being the pegasus that I am, I was able to dodge them with the closest beam grazing my shoulder and burning off of piece of my barding and singing a few of my white feathers.

Lesson learned, energy cannons can shot through Electrician's Barding.

With SATS still being on recharge, I resorted to nothing but luck shots as I tried to distract the ranger until I came up with some sort of plan. Each bullet that I fired didn't help my brainstorming as they all stopped just in front of him and clattered to the ground as if it was child's play to the machine. When SATS finally recharged, I landed and pulled out the double barrel shotgun and getting up close and personal with the ranger. Lets see if he could stop a shower of pellets just as good as bullets. I popped SATS and fired the two shells I had at the ranger and watching in horror that he, in fact, can stop pellets as good as bullets.

"What's the matter Tribal Fuck? Can't hit me?" The Ranger chuckled through great speakers built into his armor as he unleashed a deluge of fire from his side guns at me.

"What the hell!?" I yelped as I jumped back before the fires caught on my barding and turned me into a crisp.

Of course the biggest, most bad ass Steel Ranger had to have flamethrowers. Because nothing says destruction and death better than flamethrowers. His range of fire was bad but whatever field he could cover was too dangerous to traverse without a set of Steel Ranger armor. While the other Toledo Rangers were fighting, I had somehow called down a one-on-one match with a ranger who seemed to not belong with the others.

Taking shelter behind a piece of snowy concrete, I reloaded the shotgun and loaded a few bullets into the rifle. I'd doubt that the Whinnychesters would do a damn justice at this point. At this point, my best guess would to be to get the element of surprise back again and try something else. I do remember seeing a few exposed wired and weakened metal plating on his side. If I could get myself into a position where I would be able to plug my RHT into a port on the Steel Ranger then maybe I could hack him and shut the armor off entirely. That however, would imply that I had the element of surprise back. Finding a pegasus in the sky, especially if he has a white coat, purple barding, blue and black hair, and a pair of dark blue eyes, would not be hard for the Steel Ranger and I am not easily forgotten.

Damn. I was in knee deep in this one.

Then some bits of the concrete exploded. My guess that it was stray cannon fire. Either way,

"FUCK!" I howled as at least a two inch splinter of stone slammed into my left wing and other small bits of shrapnel raked across the other as it successfully raked a whole clump of feathers off.

I staggered to the ground in pain as my body began to recognize that I was in a war zone. A small pool of blood started to form around my wings and back legs. They didn't escape the beating either. Instinctually, I pulled the splinter out and chugged down a Healing Potion. The gash didn't close but some of the bleeding stopped for a moment. I followed up with another one and was now considering a Hydra when that Healing Potion did less than what the first one did to the wound.

"Well, there goes my element," I hissed through gritted teeth.

Then a pair of hooves wrapped around my throat, choking me for a brief second. The great metal hooves of the ranger drug me up into the air and put me at eye level with him. His orange eyes flared with the fury of the sun but with a surprising amount of control that I couldn't even imagine. He looked at me with a long and angry stare.

Then he balked and dropped me from his grip.

"You are... not like the others," he said slowly.

"Thanks for noticing. If your going to kill me, please don't drag it out," I coughed trying to get some essence of oxygen back into my lungs.

He blinked and turned his flamethrowers upwards and away from me as he adopted another, more gentle, tone.

"I am known as War."

War? What the hell kind of name is "War"?

"Famine has told me about you. The white pegasus with blue eyes and a purple coat. I can see now what she means," War said as he looked back down at me.

"Oh yeah," I challenged, "Is it a good thing that Famine knows me or not?"

"That all depends on who your asking."

From only a few feet in front of me, I could hear the energy weapon on War's helmet start to hum as it charged itself.

"Well I'm asking you War. So is it a good thing that Famine knows me when I haven't even seen her?" I questioned trying desperately to get back to my hooves before War did anything creative.

War mulled the question over for a second before he said in a low, sure voice,

"You are the one Famine and Pestilence both fear. You never go hungry and you never get sick. Evading the effects of one is normal, but evading them both at the same time is another thing entirely. If you were only a problem for Famine, then I wouldn't worry so much about you and possibly let you live," War paused for a second as he knelled down beside me and whispered, "Pestilence is the one that wants you dead, not me."

"Funny. I'm making enemies with ponies I haven't even meet yet. That's a first," I replied sarcastically.

"I however, respect you and that is something that you should keep to yourself and yourself only."

War then turned his head and showed me a flat metal plate jammed under his right ear and between the targeting piece of the laser weapon on his head. It was a simple metal piece with a series of black curves and lines all arranged in an elegant, geometric pattern. At first glance I took it as a piece of shrapnel that slammed into his helmet one day and got charred with age and... well... war, but another look at it showed that the black lines that covered the metal all started moving and twisting around forming other shapes and other patterns. War lifted his hooves, took the metal off of his helmet and set it down in front of me.

"I respect you enough to know that underestimating you is a very bad idea that would probably result in my own death. I treasure my own life and I do so hope that you do too Stable Dweller. But I must warn you. Whether you like it or not, you will meet the other two Horsemen and they will not be as forgiving and understanding as me. And the Horseman of Death will try everything in her power to kill you beforehoof."

"Brilliant. Fucking brilliant. Anything else War?"

"Stay out sight of the orange eyes."

War then took a step back and vanished into thin air as if he was nothing but a sick daydream. His metal plate though, did not vanish with him.

That didn't matter. I was tired and aching from blood loss and the constant explosions did not help much either.

"Alright War," I said to myself as I looked at the metal with resentment and curiosity, "What did you give me now?"

Slowly I inched my way to the metal piece. It was only a few feet away, but it felt like miles rather than feet. I did eventually grab it. The metal was lightweight, but thick with a sense of delicate precision being put into its creation. The plate itself was not smooth. More rather it was grooved around the edges like one of the old bits we used for trade back in Stable 37.

"What the fuck is this thing?"

Upon the ending of the word "thing", the metal piece suddenly turned red with heat. I dropped it and it fell to the ground making the old stonework and concrete smoke from mere contact with the metal. The metal then floated into the air, shining brighter than any light bulb I've ever worked with. It was blinding, so much so that the fighting all around stopped for a second to see what was going on. All of the Steel Rangers and all of the ponies from Foxes Theatre all paused to watch something they have never seen before happen to a pony they only know by a few good acts and many other strange rumors.

Then, when the metal plate cooled down and turned to a midnight black with a thick grey edge around it in the shape of a flat rectangle with a circular top, it floated over to my one shoulder with the missing bit of barding and placed itself on it. The metal curved in place with my leg and a thick, black strap wrapped around from each side and neatly met back up with itself making a firm bond all around. The strap tightened a bit and a surge of exhaustion washed over me like a great flood. I couldn't get up, even if I wanted to.

Then several of the Steel Rangers trotted up and surrounded me in a circle with a few of the Fox Ponies dispersed between them. They watched for a long second that seemed to last forever. Keeper then walked up to me and lifted me off the ground in her telekinetic hold. I couldn't hear what she said to the Steel Rangers as my hearing failed me again. One of the Steel Rangers nodded and departed with the others as if nothing ever happened.

They never even bothered to clear up the dead.

The other ponies however, did just so.

The world fell away in a vision of black.

***

I awoke to the sensation of something being pulled from out of my right hoof. I lay in a bed only lightly stained with blood in a room that smelled of blood and vomit. The smell was pungent enough that I was worried if I was to vomit myself in response. Every muscle in my body ached and every bone felt like it was broken along with them. My teeth even felt broken. What was I even thinking? Running into battle against heavily armed fighters and massive numbers without a plan and without any backup. Who does that?!

Well... maybe the bad ass Stable Dweller who could probably make Steel Rangers piss themselves just by looking at them. Or Security who can just tell them whose boss and become the leader of a group of Steel Rangers in ten seconds flat.

Not me of course. I was just an Electrician who was in over his head. Damn I can be stupid sometimes.

The door opened and two earth ponies in whitish lab coats walked in.

"Are you alright Quantum?" The one female earth pony with a blue-green coat, purple mane, and silvery eyes asked softly.

"I feel like every bone is my body is broken, my guts are made of jelly, my ears feel a hundred times heavier than usual, and I'm thirsty," I chuckled back trying to hide the pain and make it less obvious.

"That's normal for being thrown into a symphony of explosions and playing around with the most dangerous group of ponies ever to be created."

Keeper then tapped her hoof on the already open door and asked with a slight bit of attempted humor,

"Is the white pegasus awake?"

"Present," I coughed.

Keeper walked in and signaled the two ponies in lab coats to wait outside and close the door behind them. They did without question and soon I was alone with the pony whose job was to protect Foxes from any threats possible. She thought I was a spy. I couldn't blame her. I came out of the ground out of random and found a griffin who apparently thought of me as her master when I defeated her therefore giving me easy access into Foxes. Too easy of access for for any other pony who wasn't looking for trouble. And I was just such a pony who would look like they would be looking for trouble. Apparently due to the fact that I had wings and this Enclave thing.

Great. I found myself, once again, being the idiot and not asking about what the Enclave was (or is by the sound of it) earlier. I was, in fact, going to ask that question but Keeper stopped me thinking that I was going to say something else and answered with,

"No. You don't need to say it. You didn't lead the Steel Rangers here. It was selfish thinking on my part."

I paused, contemplating and formulating my next few words very carefully in order to keep me our of Keeper's radar.

"Its alright Keeper. At least I took care of War for you."

"War?" Keeper asked quizzically with a cock of her head, "Who's War?"

"You know, the big red Steel Ranger with the flamethrowers that can stop bullets before they hit him," I explained half expecting War to have just slipped Keeper's mind for a second, "Did you see the fires?"

"Quantum, that was a Steel Ranger Flamer Unit. The Toledo Rangers always send at least three of those our way. We managed to rid them of only one and none of them identified themselves as 'War' when we checked their tags on your PipBuck."

My mind snapped.

"You used my PipBuck while I was out?!"

"We had to check your scanner thingy to make sure no other ponies were coming our way. We had to make sure all of the Steel Rangers got the idea that you were the one in their way if they try something stupid like that again. By now, I could imagine Elder Whistler shitting himself when he got the news of you."

Brilliant. Not only did DJ-Pon3 project me over the radio as some sort of super pony, but now I have made enemies with ponies I haven't even met yet. At this point, other than Phantom Wing, Sawbones, and a few ponies from Foxes, I have made good ties with Iron Melody and maybe War. If War even existed.

"What about the bullet stopping thing? You must've seen that right?"

"Steel Rangers can't be unicorns. It's just not..."

"But he wasn't a unicorn!" I snapped in irritation completely interrupting Keeper, "He was a big, red Steel Ranger with blades all over him! How could you not see him?!"

Keeper looked like she wanted to either plant a bullet into my head or shudder off into a corner and hide like a scared foal. My gaze softened and all of the anger that I didn't get out seemed to have melted away. Taking a breath I said softly,

"Sorry Keeper. I forgot that this a big deal."

Keeper gathered as much of her composure as possible and nodded in acceptance. She walked over to the foot of the bed and the maroon pony reached into her saddlebag and pulled something out of it. It was wrapped with what appeared to be old newspapers and other random scraps of junk. There was also a letter tied to the tip of it. She set the package on the bed and turned to leave. I watched the battle scarred pony with light armor trot out. Then, only a few seconds later a familiar griffin and a familiar robot floated into the room both hovering in the air on their versions of flying equipment. I sat back up onto my haunches in response to the visit.

I could tell that Sawbones kept himself busy while the fight was going. Keeper probably had him guarding the entrance or something like that. It could very well be possible that he was also helping deliver medical aid and field medicine too while I wasn't paying attention and dealing with War. He had a few new scratches and dents as evidence and I could tell that he used his flamegun more than once.

Phantom Wing looked more shaken than anything. I don't know where this "Griffinstone" is or how the griffins there think, but I guess she didn't like it there anymore or something. She had a few patches of grey feathers missing from her arms and wings showing that she saw some action very recently too. A deep cut ran across her face and just under her left eye, almost taking her eye out. I couldn't even imagine a griffin with a missing eye like that would even look like.

Probably pretty awesome now that I thought about it.

The griffin sat down on the bed next to me and let out a breath. It sounded labored, like she had been flying for an extended period of time.

"What's the reason?" I asked breaking the silence that annoyed me too much.

Phantom Wing turned her head and a small tear ran down her eye. She wiped if off with a talon.

"I just couldn't abandon my friend," she answered so quietly that only my supersonic hearing made it at all possible for me to hear her, "When I heard that the Toledo Rangers were attacking Foxes, I knew that you were going to be on the front lines trying to fight them off."

She shook her head.

"Dumbass."

"I missed you too Phantom," I added as I wrapped my hooves around her in a hug.

She tensed for a second. Probably due to the nature of how I was expressing my emotions to her. That and that she was probably still thinking about the "silver scarf means slave" rule that she explained to me yesterday. Realizing that the hug was making her uncomfortable, I let go my face blushing and turning to a slightly warmer temperature all the while.

"Sorry Phantom," I said wearily, "I forgot about the whole..."

She stopped me by giving a hard slap to the back that send me off of the bed and onto the floor. I got up, brushed some of the dust off, and looked back at the mischievous griffin. She crossed her arms and said,

"Sorry. Had to do that out of principal."

First it stared out as a slight chuckle for me. Then from her. Then somehow Sawbones joined in with a chuckle of his own. Then it gradually turned to laughter. We laughed through the pain and the experiences (Sawbones probably did it because we were). We laughed through the events of the past and the things we have seen. We laughed as friends.

A dysfunctional group of friends.

"So," Sawbones said inquisitively finally taking a part of the conversation, "Did you open up Keeper's gift yet?"

"No. No not yet," I answered as I floated the little present with the purple telekinetic sheath of my magic.

I examined the gift for a second. It wasn't very tall or wide and seemed to have evidence of some sort of obscure shape that did not match any basic geometric shape that I could think of.

A cylinder? No.

A cone? No, not a cone.

Maybe a hemisphere? No... its too tall to be one without a wider base.

Wanting to know more about the little thing that Keeper got me, I plucked the note off and opened it.

To Quantum,

Thank you for stopping the Steel Rangers. I owe you one. If you need a favor just ask. Same goes for Cherry Bud, who is equally grateful. Best of luck always.

- Keeper

I set the note aside. Grabbing some of the paper with my wings, I tore the wrapping away with anticipation. It wasn't any sort of can or other object that was common around Foxes.

It was a small statue.

A statue of a purple pony with darker purple hair and a magenta stripe running through it greeted me. She was standing in mid-trot with a small smile that made me put one on in response. Her cutie mark was of a magenta star with several smaller white stars surrounding each of the star's vertices. The figure stood on a dark brown wood base that hasn't yet become the victim of old age. There were no obvious scrapes and dents. The figure was in prime condition.

Using my magic to brush a little of the dust away and found some golden colored engraving in the wood. It proclaimed boldly,

"Be Smart!"

It was after reading the engraving that I felt the cobwebs of my brain being brushed away making room for more, clearer, thoughts. The things that I studied back in my stable seemed mere foal's play now. I could calculate and process dozens upon dozens of results with what felt like a comforting ease. Whatever this statue did, it made me even smarter than I could have thought before. Hell, at this point, I would even think I was as smart as the Overmare!

"Be Smart huh?" Phantom Wing said grabbing the statue out of my magic field, "You definitely need that."

"At this point, I think that it would be wise to agree," Sawbones added as he too got a look at the statue before I grabbed it and set it in my saddlebag.

"At this point I have to agree," I uttered mockingly as I stuck my tongue out at the robot and griffin.

No respect. I saved Foxes from a tirade of Steel Rangers and I get no respect.

I probably deserved it though.

***

The wind and snow whipped across the barren streets at what seemed like an unstoppable rate. According to my PipBuck, it wasn't even winter in the Wasteland. Ever since I left the stable I thought that it emerged in the middle of the snow season but after a week I found out that it in fact should be summer... Or whatever summer was in the Wasteland. Finding this very odd, I looked in the "Why is the Weather so Bad" section in Detrot's Wasteland Survival Guide.

Apparently due west of here was another city called "Manehattan", one of the main targets of the zebra's Balefire Warheads. The bomb was a two stage weapon; The first charge was to be detonated on the ground and the second was to be detonated in midair. The second charge wasn't as powerful as the main charge but, as far as I could see from the Guide, radiation spreads farther and faster in air, covering more of an area quicker than your typical single charge megaspell. Upon secondary detonation the radioactive cloud was picked up by atmospheric winds and spread all over Equestria.

More specifically, all over Detrot.

Another deadly thing about atmospheric radiation was that it takes more than double the time to decay than normal, ground radiation. This therefore makes that particular section of clouds inhospitable to anything with wings and thus pegasi. The group known and refereed to as the Grand Pegasus Enclave have abandoned any sort of attempts of settling in areas above Detrot as the radiation is strong enough to get them killed within a matter of hours. As of now the cloud cover above is more sporadic than most other places in the Wasteland, being described as "One of the coldest places in all the Wasteland. In fact, it could very well be the coldest place in the Wasteland.".

I had no idea what was wrong though. The snow was sweeping across my face and for some reason I wasn't cold. Taking off my black overcoat and saddlebag, I found that it was still as warm as it was when I wore it. Then, off came the outer layer of my electricity proof suit and the belts and straps that went with it. Still warm. Then I shrugged the final, bright yellow undershirt and it was still a rather tolerable temperature. At this point, I should be a Quantumsicle.

Then I remembered the about the crown. Of course the crown was keeping me warm. It could soak up radiation, make me shoot rainbow colored sludge out of my nose when I take a Hydra, turn all of my body fluids into what amounts to the stuff in glow sticks, and now it can keep me warm in the cold climate of Detrot. Oh well... advantages, unexpected or not, are better than nothing. Especially out in the Wasteland.

A little alert came up on my EFS as a yellow bar appeared in front of me. I put the barding and belts back on as quick as I could and flew over to where the bar originated from. Over the cry of the wind and snow, I could hear a pony yell,

"Mamma! Mamma where are you?"

Oh please don't let it be a foal. If there was any bit of mercy in the Wasteland left, let that not be a foal.

Picking up speed, I took to the air and looked around at where the bar should be. The visibility was shit in the air and the only reason why I still had a relative idea of where the pony is was because of the EFS. There was a small mote of white light that shined through the furious snowstorm. I banked towards it and found that it was, indeed, a filly. Snapping my wings shut, I landed next to her and held her close to me with a wing. She was shivering; a few minutes longer out here and she would have probably froze to death. She looked up to me with a pair of teary teal eyes and forced a small smile on her face before sobbing into my chest.

"Monsters!" she said through a combination of coughs and labored sobs, "Monsters everywhere!"

She finally took notice of my wings and blinked with drops of sorrow streaming down her face and mixing with the snow.

"A-are you real?" she asked softly.

"I'm real," I answered holding her closer, "I'm as real as you."

***

The filly sat outside with me after she calmed down a bit. I gave her my coat for her to curl up in and she gave me an old silver bit for my troubles. The filly didn't seem to have anything else on her but the surprisingly shinny bit. I guess that bit was all she had. When I told her that it was okay for her to keep it, she shook her head and gave it to me anyways. At that point I didn't want to argue. She made up her mind.

More than once she looked through my saddlebag to find anything to eat, but I told her that I had nothing of actual value. I did giver her a RadAway and a RadX for good measure. I had no idea how much radiation the snow carried with it and it wasn't like I would need radiation purging medicine anymore anyways now that I had a crown that was apparently powered by the stuff. The filly drank it eagerly.

"So...," I said looking at the pony from the snow, "What's your name?"

The dusty blond coated, scarlet maned, teal eyed filly unicorn looked away from her orange medicine and at me with wide, sad eyes. After a soft hiccup, she responded with,

"Seam Stitch."

"I'm Quantum," I said softly as I pulled her closer with a wing.

"Quantum? That's an odd name," she added with a tiny chuckle.

Seam Stitch sniffed and then asked,

"Have you seen my mama? Her name is Landfall. She's green and white and black. About your size but...," Seam Stitch paused.

"But what?" I asked with a little smile.

"Not as big as you."

Great. Now a filly was calling me fat?! I swear that if I ever had kids and they called me fat that I would beat the living shit out of them.

"I'm not fat!" I answered brushing my hoof through my exposed feathers, "I'm just... insulated that's all."

The filly poked my open wing and then back at my waist. She thought for a second and then laughed.

"Oi! I'm not fat! I'm fluffy! One big white fluffy pegasus!"

That seemed to make her burst out into even more laughter as she rolled on the snow covered ground and turning my overcoat she wore from a midnight black to a greyish white.

"So you want to play that game huh?" I asked raising an eyebrow and putting on as mischievous of a smile as possible.

Seam's eyes went wide. Then, faster than she could've thought possible, I sprung up from my seat and tackled the filly to the ground. She tried to resist my strength but there has not been a skill strong enough to withstand the powers of feathery wings on a ticklish pony. She twitched and jerked on the ground as she laughed so hard that the filly was very near the point of crying. Seam Stitch then gathered as much focus as possible and lifted me off the ground with her telekinesis for just a second. That was enough time for her to recover and get back to her hooves. When her magic faded and I dropped to the ground, she responded by running around trying to escape from the wrath of left wing and right wing.

"Oi! Don't think for a second that I'm through with you!" I laughed as I too took off after her.

"AH! The white and blue chicken is after me!"

"Oh now you've done it!"

Spinning on my hooves I found where the little yellow bar on my EFS was pointed and galloped. She was fast, damned fast. But it is a known fact that pegasi are faster than unicorns in terms of running and, of course, flying. Seam Stitch wasn't going to get very far very quickly if I kept up my pace and followed the all powerful navigational perfection of the EFS.

The yellow bar directly in front of me then stopped. Now was the perfect time to charge. I lowered my center of gravity and went into a full frontal, full force charge. My heart thundered in my ears and my great pegasus lungs sucked in breaths of cold, Detrot air as I powered towards the yellow bar. Within seconds, I slammed into the target and went rolling only coming to a stop at the foot of a curb.

"That'll teach you to tempt..." I said triumphantly before stopping myself cold.

It was not the filly. It wasn't even of the same age bracket. The mare... no... stallion looked up at me with a single red eye through his mess of green mane. He wore an old, grey hoodie with a tear that allowed his horn to protrude through and several bits of repairs in the form of patchwork. The pony had many obvious scars on his orange coat that made an interesting combination of both old and new injuries.

"My... patience...?" I mumbled weakly as I looked around for where the filly had gone, but she was nowhere to be found.

As I stood above him I felt him shake and quiver. Not from the cold, by now I could tell the difference. It was from fear. The pony pined below me was frozen in a state of absolute terror. I knew that felling of fear all too well because he was acting nearly the exact same way that I was when a Steel Ranger took my ear off with a bullet and was when I was being fired upon by all sides. It was only when Phantom pulled me out of the parallel universe of fear that I was in before I could tell what was going on and how to solve the problem. Right now, this pony was no different.

"Please...," the pony rasped, "d-don't kill me."

"Why would I..." I began before I stopped myself short and remembering that I was the one that came out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground for no apparent reason.

I got up off of him, helped him back up to his hooves, and brushed a bit of the snow off of his coat. Taking the time to glance around, I noticed that the filly named Seam Stitch was still not there and the EFS wasn't picking anypony else up.

"Sorry to ask this, but did you see a filly run out into the snow with a black coat on? About half your size and has a red mane?" I asked as I once again checked my EFS for good measure.

"N-no. I don't think so," he answered still obviously unsure about the white and blue pegasus with purple barding that just tackled him to the ground and is now asking for directions.

"Sorry about that mate," I said holding a hoof out to him, "M'name's Quantum. What's yours?"

The orange pony broke eye contact with me for a second and mumbled something so quietly that I almost didn't pick it up despite my cartoonishly large ears. He looked back at me and then said softly,

"Beanie."

A few indicator lights went off in my head. This was the pony that Phantom Wing and I have been looking all around Detrot for! It was almost four days into our search and I was the one who found him after all of this nonsense with War and the Steel Rangers.

Phantom Wing was going to owe me SO many caps when I bring this pony in.

"Beanie... right," I began as I tried to hold myself together and save my victory dance for when the griffin was forking over the caps we bet, "Well... your parents are looking for you back at Foxes."

"Your from Foxes too?" the pony asked.

"Um... well... no. No I'm not. But I was hired to bring you back to them though."

"You do realize that we are several miles from Foxes in the middle of a Detrot snowstorm right?" Beanie asked as he gave me a hard and scolding look.

My ears folded back. I knew that Seam Stitch was fast, but how did she manage to move several miles in such little time? On a related note, how fast was I going when I went after her?

"Oh... damn," I mumbled to myself.

"Is this type of behavior normal for you Enclave?" Beanie moaned in disgust.

Then, a rage that kept on building deep inside of me suddenly burst like an weakened dam. With every ounce of energy I could summon in such short of a time, I screamed at the top of my lungs,

"I'M NOT ENCLAVE!!"

Author's Note

LEVEL UP

NEW PERK EARNED

FOAL AT HEART

This perk greatly improves your interactions with children.

QUEST PERK ADDED

THE GIFT OF WAR

You have either defeated or befriended the Horseman named "War" and you have obtained one of the Three Metal Plates. Your telekinetic strength has dramatically increased and any armor you wear grants you 10% more protection from bullet, flame, and explosive damage than armor of the very same type.