John Hancock was rolling a cigarette using a roller crank. He'd rolled a dozen already, feeding the tobacco into a hopper, placing the filter and paper in one end, and then cracking a handle down to pack the tobacco in, and plug the cigarette.

He awoke three hours earlier, feeling the cold in the air, and the blood in his veins get thicker like tar. Harder to pump, he beat his chest twice. Kick-starting his heart, and to make sure it was still beating, the benefits of being a ghoul, also meant feeling the chill in your bones.

Smoking brought a damp-heat to his chest. A warmth that only hot soup, a dozen blankets, a roaring fire, and healthy living could bring.

Growing his own plants and herbs that could be ground up and rolled helped extend his personal supplies as well.

Ever since Kellogg hung five days ago, he'd woken up excited, high's had been absolutely fantastic, he spent the rest of Halloween and November 1st completely trashed, partying just as hard as any other night, but he couldn't help but jump up and say 'God! Revenge is the best drug!'

He even ventured out to the Boston Common, and saw a six Yao Guai, radiated bears tearing off sections of rotting meat from Swan's body. In an already inebriated state, his mind made jumps in logic and reasoning, walking out to a fire truck, he jerked and tugged at the fire axe held in place, until the clasps finally gave.

He already knew where he would do it too, he watched as the bears walked right under the gate awnings that lead in and out of the Boston Common, and climbed up. Waiting there, he watched as a bear walked right underneath him, and his mouth was already watering.

Bonzai! He jumped, swinging the axe down from high above his head, down onto the backside of the bear's skull, chopping right at the base of the neck. Embedding the fire axe all the way down to the stock, the bear died instantly and Hancock was cackling manically at the thought of trying to do it again.

\111/

That release, that lessening of pressure in his skull made all the beer taste better, and the drugs make him all the more high. He was happy and didn't need as many drugs to feel that intense rush of euphoria he was still riding five days later. It was energy, it was enough to make Hancock ask the Neighborhood Watch to inform him if the guy in blue came back.

While Hancock was hunting bears, Meathead passed through with Thunderstruck and proceeded to disappear down into Bobbi's warehouse, while Nate and Curie were dealing with mutants and Gunners in Malden.

\111/

Thunderstruck and Meathead left Diamond City with Nick Valentine, Nate and Curie left Bunker Hill and Charlestown behind them to go to the U.S.S. Constitution.

As Hancock was grilling himself a bear steak in Goodneighbor, Nate was making enough breakfast for a family gathering of eggs and sausage with rice in the galley of the Constitution. He didn't have to wait long, as his doppleganger and Thunderstruck both walked onto the ship.

"" Meathead said, "Good to see you." Quickly embracing each other with a hug and pat on the back, Meathead was surprised at the burn on Nate's hand.

"" A green flash of fire turned Meathead back into a german shephard, ""

"Hi!" He said, dropping down to one knee to shake her hoof. "Glad you're alright. You went through quite a bit. I'm gonna go bring up Nick Valentine, and we'll all get caught up."

"Why don't you want the detective knowing about each other?"

Nate was already walking across deck when he turned back and answered. "As much as I trust what Nick says, I don't know for certain if he knows that he's being monitored. The Institute, the people who made him, could be logging everything he sees and hears, waiting to play it back, or if they've got a live feed camera beaming signals straight back to base. Until I know without a doubt that's not happening, this is the way our relationship with Nick will stay. I don't need the Institute knowing about Meathead."

Curie wasn't sure what to make of the two monsieur's, when what must of been a lag in her optical relay showed an intense flash of light and then a dog. Isolating the incident in her memory banks, she labeled the entire experience as a corrupted file and deleted it.

\111/

Introductions all around, Thunderstruck saw what type of game Nate and Meathead were playing at. A level of disbelief that she wore unceremoniously until she processed the whole sight, of how a man and his companion...changeling could bounce back and forth under the same identity and get away with it. How Meathead didn't have any objection to following behind as a dog, when he had the strength to overwhelm Nate, Nick, Curie, and herself in a heartbeat.

Spooning up bowls of sausage, eggs, and rice Meathead voraciously ate his portion, licking the bowl clean. Thunderstruck ate hers out of a bowl at the table using a spoon, and Nate ate a small portion with two mis-matching chopsticks.

It felt so alien to have a family meal, that she was missing out on the conversation. "What are we doing?" She asked.

"We're deciding on either going to Goodneighbor or Libertalia first. If we went to Goodneighbor, I'd need to talk with Hancock for a few minutes, or however long it takes, and then we'd go North. After freeing the other ponies there, we would come back to the ship." Nate said. "Afterwards, you and Nick would be off on your own adventure, tracking down other ponies from Nuka-World."

"But, it doesn't sound like Thunderstruck's friends have all that much time. We're racing against an unknown deadline for whenever those raiders at Libertalia get peckish for fresh meat." Nick argued.

"Right, so we should load up, and move North. Goodneighbor will still be here-" Rapping his knuckles against the wooden table, "...when we get back."

\111/

Meathead appeared in Goodneighbor, stepping out of an empty warehouse and right next door to the Old State House. He passed by a few Neighborhood Watchmen and went upstairs to the second floor which was curiously quiet for the early afternoon.

Trapsing up the steps, the wooden boards creaked and announced his presence to Hancock long before Meathead reached the top of the stairs.

Hancock had been listening to the footsteps, hearing the creak of each wooden step, focusing on how long the noise was, guessing in his mind how much they weighed, how fast they walked, because everyone was different. Seeing the top of Nate's head as he wound the spiral staircase, Hancock nodded to himself.

"So, my new favorite ball-buster breaks into my warehouse cause of a bad tip-from Bobbi No-nose," Hancock said, closing the door behind Nate as he entered. "And, sounds like you know a thing or two about assets I like keeping close to chest. You made a wise choice putting Bobbi down like that."

Meathead replied, ""

"That's usually how the story goes around here, but, lemme ask you. How is it that your story involves stops at Pickmans, Bunker Hill, Goodneighbor, and two trips to Diamond City? Got a way of getting around I don't know about?"

""

"Yeah?"

""

"I've heard a few things."

"<Like the names Equestria, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, any of those ring a bell?" Meathead was watching Hancock's expression as he listed off the names, for as scarred Hancock's face was, he still couldn't hide his reactions.

"Okay, so you know about them too?" Hancock asked "Alright. The story I heard was that ponies showed up before the Great War, the bombs fell, and they got ditched by their Princess. No line of communications, no check-ups, no choppers coming down to pull them out of the shit. Or, if there were, it didn't happen around here. They all fucked off to Equestria and haven't shown their faces around here since."

"" Meathead said, pausing, "What if there was a fifth? What if there were more? A sixth, or even more?>"

"So you got one of these ponies following you around?"

Meathead was quiet for a moment, wondering how to word his next sentence.

""

"Cause, I feel bad for them, same as you, if you're going through all this trouble to hide your friend, but for the other reason too. I know what they can do, I seen it, and I may of been high, but I seen 'em move the weather, and make things happen that no man could ever accomplish in a million years without magic."

""

"Afraid of? Nah, they'd shoot them all the same. The Institute is afraid of Jack shit as far as I can tell. They're bunch'a shadow government cronies."

""

"Well hey now, I didn't even know anything like that existed. Can your friend do that?"

"" Looking out the Old State House's windows, Meathead looked for any birds roosting. ""