Fallout Equestria: Half Breeds

Blitz just stared at the structure that was before him, while Zavier was walking around, trying to see if he could find anything that could have related to an event of some kind. They both were very confused about what happened to not only the settlement, but the ponies and creatures within. Zavier poked his nose all over the debris of the settlement, trying to find some evidence to where they could have gone or at the minimum, find out what had happened.

Zavier had finally found something that could have had some significant implications on what could have happened, so he dragged out a piece of debris. Blitz snapped out of the fake world that he was in and looked at what Zavier had found, bringing some sort of light to a situation that had none to begin with. Any evidence at that point was good enough for them, so when Zavier found a piece of a building with a huge amount of blood on it, Blitz painted a couple of images in his mind as to what could have happened. The most likely subject was that there was some sort of battle here, one that they could not have handled alone, convincing Blitz that maybe it could have been Sawtooth’s raiders coming back to get revenge on their fallen leader, or maybe it could have been to do with the Steel Rangers, making Blitz feel a little guilty about it, not being his fault in reality.

Zavier moved from within the debris and kept looking back at the blood soaked rock that was within the debris itself, making him think that it was probably used as some sort of weapon, maybe hitting somepony or creature and critically injuring them in the process. It was more than likely that, due to them not finding anything else in relation to the rock. Zavier stopped and looked at something, before notifying Blitz to come over and have a look at what he had just seen. Blitz hovered over the thing that Zavier wanted him to see and looked down at it, noticing the fangs and the wings. It was a bat pony! Blitz landed and stepped on something sharp, making him recoil a little bit and making him feel like he needed to get back to flying.

Blitz turned to the item that hurt him and began to brush it off, revealing another skeleton of a former pony, but this one was identical to the other one. Blitz knew who the two bat ponies were, but couldn't remember their names from the top of his head, then it hit him like a bullet hitting him.

“Lavender and Crimson!” Blitz blurted out, seeing the look of confusion on Zavier’s face. “They were both ponies that lived in the settlement. Something big happened here, but whether it was a battle or not, we need to find out. See if we can't find some sort of cloth of armour around here that might indicate what type of enemy they were going up against.” Blitz commanded, getting a smile and a simple nod from his new raider friend.

They both started to look in various locations to see if they could find something, but sadly they couldn't, gaining no information about the ponies and what they were fighting, until Blitz decided to look up, seeing some sort of flag that was tied to a poll and left on top of the biggest part of the debris, being the only thing that was still intact in the area. Blitz flew up, grabbing Zavier with his magic and letting him float beside himself. Zavier caught wind of the flag and got a closer look at it, Blitz allowing Zavier to walk up to the object on a floating platform. He admired the flag, but knew it was a flag or a bigger faction of raiders.

“They were attacked by the new leaders, Greyscale and Noname! This is their personal flag, which still gives me the chills.” Zavier admitted, shaking a little as he looked over the blood soaked flag. They liked soaking the flag in blood for some reason, but Zavier had definitely seen worse, but let out his discomfort due to seeing it again.

Blitz kept looking at the flag, noticing that there were a lot of designs that it had over it, making it stand out a lot more, due to both the designs and the amount of blood on it. It must have taken a lot of blood to be able to create the flag to be like it was, making Blitz think about how many ponies that they had killed that were within the settlement.

Blitz sat on the floor, looking up at the flag and wanting to think about something to take his mind off all of the killing and all of the paranoia that was jackknifing into his mind, cutting and slashing away at any good memories that he tried to hold onto. Blitz closed his eyes and looked within himself for something that would light his little colonel of joy and hope right up. He opened his eyes, seeing that both Death and Anti, as well as the nightmare, were all standing in front of him, looking down at him like he was some kind of failure. Zavier saw all three of them and just watched, not knowing exactly what was going on at all.

“You haven't come this far just to give up, right?” Death asked, getting no reaction from the changeling hybrid, making him a little sad about what Blitz was feeling. Death outstretched his hoof, giving Blitz the opportunity to shake Death’s hoof, but Blitz knew better than to do that, due to it probably killing him within a matter of seconds. Blitz got up and then looked around for something that might have suggested where they could have gone.

Zavier looked around, trying to spot anything that would give a little bit of a hint as to what had happened to the rest of his friends and former allies. There was a sudden gunshot heard pretty close to them both, making them turn in the direction that the old settlement of Journey was located, making them both a little curious to find out what made the gun go off. Zavier rushed to Blitz, before rushing to the others and moving out of the settlement and over towards the settlement of Journey, which gave Blitz some very fond memories back from when he used to live in the settlement, under the watch and protection of Appleseed, the former leader of the settlement.

Death flew behind them, along with Anti running beside Blitz and the nightmare running beside Zavier, which freaked him out a little, due to the nightmare being the one that the zebra’s called a curse, which was the same pony that they feared for in real life, if anything was to go badly or something along those lines. Zavier stayed calm, noticing that the zebra myths that he had been told about the nightmare within the stars were a little wrong, apart from her looking terrifying, which was something that stuck true to home for her.

They all travelled as a group for around five minutes, before they had reached their destination. Death and the nightmare faded, but Anti was still there, making Anti feel like the backup plan if all didn't go well. They locked eyes with each other and Blitz smiled at Anit, while Anti only stared blankly at him, before nodding a little bit, suggesting that they were ready. Blitz looked to see Zavier and saw that he too was ready for whatever laid ahead of them. Blitz moved forward and saw the walls of a settlement, which confused him a significant amount, as well as confusing Zavier, due to not knowing about the settlement that was thriving, just like Journey originally had been.

Blitz could tell that something was up, due to the walls originally not being there to protect the settlement from attacks from raiders and bandits and the other many groups that plagued the Wasteland and corrupted it with unnecessary fighting and pure murder and chaos, something that Blitz and Zavier wanted to avoid at all costs. They walked a little bit closer, before a red dot appeared on the floor, making them freeze in place. It was a laser of a weapon, which made them get put into the spotlight real quick, giving them a little bit of initial anxiety, but that eventually passed away when no shots were fired, only the laxer being pointer towards them both, making them both stay completely still.

Some sort of guard came out and looked at both of them, before looking over to the direction of the lazer and raising his hoof, making the lazer disappear from view and leaving them all with complete certainty that they were going to be okay. Blitz looked at the guard with confusion and then looked at Zavier, before smiling and nodding. Blitz turned back to the guard and smiled at him, only getting a confused scowl. He moved to the side and then opened the gate for them to pass on through, after seeing that they did have weapons, but didn't have them aimed at anypony, which was something that made them trusted already within the settlement.

Blitz was a little sceptical about the entire thing and amount of trust that they were receiving, when Blitz himself was a creature that the settlement in front of him knew nothing about and that Zavier looked like a raider and had the properties of one. Blitz was really, really confused at that moment in time, but needed to ask something to the guard, just to confirm what had happened to the settlement.

“When did the settlement come back from the ground? When did it get rebuilt?” Blitz asked, generally curious about everything that was going on with the area, due to him previously living there and wanted to know what had happened to the place that he had originally called home. Did they destroy it just to make room for more buildings, or did it still remain within the new settlement as a house that somepony was using to live their life to the fullest? Blitz was hoping to have the latter be true, rather than the former one being true.

Both Blitz and Zavier entered the settlement and both stayed together, to avoid losing each other within the walls of their new adventuring zone. Blitz was walking directly towards where his house originally was, before stopping and looking at something. Zavier caught up to him and looked at what he was looking at, before questioning what it was that he was looking at, noticing that there was nothing there at all. That was what Blitz was staring at. His original home… was gone! He looked to Zavier and smiled, trying to force himself to not break down and let everypony see how broken he was. He had lost everything, but he wasn't going to let that get him down. Instead, Blitz smiled to try and hide the pain that he was carrying around on his back and made it so that he was able to at least relax a little bit from the initial thoughts that were damaging his mental attitude a little.

“Is there something that is wrong, Blitz?” Zavier asked, getting a simple nod from Blitz, not really denying the fact that the last thing that he had originally had was now gone.

“My old home was here, although in ruins, it was still there. Now... now it is gone!” Blitz stated, getting off his chest, making him feel a little bit better due to letting out his emotions and telling somepony that he could trust about it. Blitz smiled a little, remembering his main goal, which was finding Azure and making things right with him and helping him for whatever it was that he needed helping with. Azure was overthinking everything, making him a little stressed, or a little more than was healthy. He walked back to the entrance of the settlement, being followed by Zavier, who seemed to be the follower in this situation, making Blitz become the leader of their two pony group, which was not something that he was too confident with, but he had to take some form of action to be able to get stuff done, which made him smile a tiny bit more.

“Do you want to grab a drink or something?” Blitz asked Zavier, giving him a slight smile with the statement that he had just made, getting a brief and bright smile from his new friend Blitz. They both turned back to the start of the settlement and then looked over to the left of the gate, seeing the place that Blitz used to go when he needed to take a load off his mind, remembering the good times that he had spent in the settlement that they both were presently in, making a tear of joy come to meet his eye, rolling down his face, all while keeping a smile on his face, forgetting about the pain in his heart for a second. They both began to walk over to the building that was looking more beautiful than ever, due to it being restored near enough completely.

They both walked through the doors of the main exchange area, also known as the bar, before looking around and seeing that there were some stalls right next to the counter. They both looked at each other, before going to sit down on them, making them finally able to rest their legs, getting the weight taken off them for a little while. They both smiled at each other, before listening to the radio that was playing. An announcer came out called DJ Pony and announced that somepony had spotted the events that had gone within the area of the Hoofington docks, which made them both cackle loudly, getting the attention of the other settlement dwellers. They looked a little confused and went back to talking about their original topics, before the radio presenter faded out and put the music back on.

The bar pony came over to them both and looked a little confused, due to them both matching the description of the two ponies that were mentioned in DJ Pony’s broadcast, making her a little sceptical to ask them if they both were the ones that he was on about. She coughed, before waiting for them both to order something.

“Oh sorry! What is your selection?” Zavier asked, getting the mare to look at him in response.

“Well unfortunately, the only thing we have in stock right now is some Sweet Apple Acres cider, due to our shipment being cut off by some raiders and scavengers.” She stated, getting a response from Blitz, who seemed interested in the matter, but could have used any drink he could have got his hooves on. Blitz looked at Zavier and nodded, before resting his head on his forehooves.

“We’ll have the cider, please!” Zavier stated, getting a smile from the bar pony, along with a little wink, which made him feel better about all that was going on around them. There was some noise coming from outside, before a pegasus entered the building, pinning himself against the door, as if he was trying to block it. Due to his size, being more of a colt than anything else, he wouldn't have got far blocking the door, getting him to chuckle a little.

“You do not want to go out there!” He stated to the entire room, getting no response in return, apart from Blitz and Zavier. “Wow, tough crowd.” He added, getting to Blitz’s funny bone and making him smirk. The pegasus caught sight of him and then walked over to him, getting a closer look at him and bringing out a magnifying glass, making Blitz question where he got it from in the first place.

The pegasus was red, with a generic blue mane, not even knowing what shade his mane was, which was a little confusing to say the least. It wasn't light, but it wasn't dark either. It was directly in the middle, being one of the most generic he had seen, finding that that word was the only word that Blitz would have accepted to describe the pegasus. He looked like he should have been familiar to him, but he wasn't the one that came to the front of his mind. The pegasus placed his magnifying glass away, but it vanished into his fur or something, but Blitz knew that the pegasus was hiding something, due to it not vanishing, but disappearing, leaving a little bit of light red smoke to trickle into the air. Blitz narrowed his eyes, before turning around and seeing the same pegasus perched up on the bar stall beside him, almost like he had teleported to it.

Blitz jumped a little at the sight of the pegasus being right next to him. That got the pegasus to laugh a little and made Blitz a little more curious to see what the pegasus was like. Both of the drinks that Zavier asked for came, before he passed one of them to Blitz, making him smile a little and pick it up with his magic, before licking his lips and taking a sip of it. The initial taste was normal, but the aftertaste was what made it so hard to stop drinking the substance, but Blitz learnt from his past how bad it was to get drunk, while within the Equestrian Wasteland. It ended badly for him last time, so what was to say that it would change in an area that was so familiar to him, yet so different?

Blitz took another sip of the drink and then turned around on his stool, before seeing a bunch of other ponies and creatures talking within the bar. It was somewhat wholesome to see ponies acting like this, rather than being like the usual raider that he used to see with the ‘kill or be killed’ motto sticking by them. Blitz focused on nothing, before looking around and letting his mind become flooded with happy visions and thoughts, probably being helped by the alcohol that was being more and more intoxicating, which was something that would not corrupt Blitz, due to him already being able to stand more than just his weight in fluids.

Blitz looked over to Zavier, seeing that he had wandered off in some direction, leaving him alone with the pegasus, which was something that Blitz didn't want to have to put up with. He took another sip of the lovely substance, before turning back to the counter and taking the bottle out of his magic, before resting his head on his forehooves. Blitz noticed that his drink was slowly moving away from him, but he caught wind of something that was happening. The aura of the magic that was slowly moving his drink was a light red, much like the smoke that he had seen on the pegasus. Blitz looked at him and used a spell that his mother had taught him how to do, although he had never used it properly before.

Blitz looked at the pegasus and then scanned him, using his horn as some sort of detector and made it so that Blitz was able to see if there were any changelings hiding within the room. Apart from himself and the changeling beside him, there were no other changelings within the room. Blitz paused as he stopped looking around the room, before looking back at the other changeling that he had found. The fake pegasus looked at him funny, before spreading out his wings a little, like he was getting ready to run.

“Relax, why would I hurt somepony who is like me?” Blitz asked, making the scared changeling confused, making him tilt his head a little in response. “I can see that you are not a pegasus, and I know what you really are, but I ain’t going to announce it to the world, so don't worry about it.” Blitz explained, making the changeling look down a little.

“Did mother… Do you remember mother?” The hidden changeling asked, catching Blitz off guard, making him spit out a little bit of cider in response.

“Wait, what? I barely remember my own birthday kid!” Blitz stated, trying to remember anything that could have allowed him to answer that question. “What did she look like?” Blitz asked, trying to get more information on what had happened. The pegasus thought for a moment, before using his magic to spawn a picture of her… along with Blitz! It confused him a great deal, but then something sparked in his mind, making him want to ask something. “Did she have a job when you were born?” Blitz asked, getting the attention of the changeling.

“How the fuck would I even know that? I was a baby bug, more or less a worm. I do remember mother getting a job as a mane cleaner or something.” The changeling stated, trying to think more and more about what Blitz had asked. Blitz tried to think of something to ask, but then something hit him.

“What is your name?” Blitz asked, getting a hesitant response from the little bug. He didn't answer for a couple of seconds, before he opened his mouth.

“It’s Shifty… Shifty, the bug…” Shifty stated, getting a grin, but then a frown from Blitz, making him a little curious as to why Blitz reacted like that. That name rang so many bells to Blitz that it was strange to him. He was pretty sure that he remembered something like that… but then a thought hit him, making him stare blankly at Shifty, making the changeling wear a confused scowl.

“Does that make you my son?” Blitz stated quietly, getting somewhat of a nod from Shifty, before getting a smile that brightened Blitz’s heart a little. “And what is the situation with your mother?” Blitz asked, getting a frown from Shifty, not really wanting to look into Blitz’s when he spoke.

“Well, she ain’t in the clouds, but she is around a meter below ground though.” Shifty stated, trying to make a joke out of her being dead, only to lighten the conversation and not to give anypony the wrong idea of what was happening. Blitz knew how it felt to lose a mother, making him feel a little bad for Shifty. “But anyway, what have you been up to, pops?” Shifty asked Blitz, making him envelope this idea of Blitz being a father to him. Blitz hesitated a little, before stopping completely and closing his eyes, before he opened them again and sighed.

“Nothing much, just recently came out of being a statue and am trying to get a grip on the world around me and how much it has change.” Blitz stated, taking back his cider and taking a swig of it and relaxing into the drink, just enough to make the bad thoughts, anxiety and depression, disappear for a little bit. Blitz looked at Shifty and then smiled, seeing that he might have been right about him being his own son. At least he wouldn't have been alone to get back to Azure with, apart from travelling with Zavier of course. Blitz felt the weight of the world slip off his shoulders for a little bit, allowing him to be able to focus on making new friends, ones that would be able… to fill his army! Blitz shook his head, not having that thought on his own, thinking that the thought was either one of the nightmare’s or one of Death’s, but it was definitely not one of Blitz’s own thoughts.

Blitz noticed that Zavier was coming back with some ponies that he was talking to, making Blitz feel ever more anxious about his current situation as it stood. He closed his eyes and then sighed again, before putting on a fake smile and looking at the four ponies that he was bringing back. Blitz flicked his eyes to Shifty to see what he was doing, which he was doing the same, showing off a fake smile.

“These guys are going to come with us to the next settlement over, which is far up to the North.” Zavier stated, Blitz knowing that they had already come from an area like that. The area that they originally had come from was up North and to the West as well. It would have been quicker for them to go straight there, but he was wrong. He wouldn't have known that there was a settlement there, so Blitz quickly cleared his head of all of the wrong thoughts that were trying to get into his deepest part of his mind.

Blitz nodded, thinking that it might have been good for Shifty to probably tag along, since it was a journey that was going to take a while to venture to. Blitz thought it was a good idea and in turn asked Shifty if he would want to come along, which to his surprise was an instant nod, making him a little shocked as to how little he had to think about it. Blitz was going to be okay with either answer but he was happy that Shifty made short work of it, allowing him to focus on more things, rather than pondering on the same question that he had asked for a little while.

“You ain't bringing him, are you?” one of the settlement dwellers asked, pointing a hoof at Shifty, making his ears fall down to either side of his head, feeling a little bit caught up in an argument. Blitz looked to Shifty and then back at the unicorn that was pointing hooves. “He can’t even defend himself! Yeah sure, he can make us crack up with jokes while we are fighting ponies, but he gets hit more than he should.” the unicorn added onto his original statement, making them all look at Shifty, making his ears try to fold back more than they already were, which was somewhat impossible, due to them already being flat against his head.

“Oh, I have a feeling that he will be getting hit a lot less, if he comes with us.” Blitz stated, raising an eyebrow at the changeling hidden in a pegasus form. That got him to perk up a little bit, his ears not being pinned to his head anymore, which gave Blitz a little bit of a smile and a look of somepony who was proud. Combat was not going to be only about fighting anymore, it was going to be more about cracking some good jokes within the tide of battle to give their fellow ponies some much needed brightness within their lives, which is what Shifty was able to deliver to the team. Blitz was pretty sure that Shifty kept his changeling form behind the skin of a pegasus, just like Blitz originally did, before meeting Azure and getting to know him. Blitz was pretty sure that Shifty only used his magic for when he was behind closed doors, making his moves predictable, or more so due to not using his form to the most of its ability. Blitz left his stool before turning around and grabbing his drink from across the room, before taking another sip of it, before teleporting it into another area, so that it would not spill over and leak all over the place.

They had begun to travel North and were following a road that Blitz had never really seen before, making him wish that he explored more than he did before. Blitz was walking at the back, just behind Zavier and Shifty, while the others up ahead were getting a move on with all of their equipment on their back. Blitz didn’t know what the ones ahead were wanting to do in the settlement that they were going to, but it was more or less something to do with trading, due to how much of it went down throughout the Wasteland. Zavier and Shifty seemed to be on good terms and what not, but Blitz was feeling a little less motivated than usual. Was he home sick? Probably!

Blitz decided to slow down a little more, losing the convoy a little and letting them go on without him struggling behind them. He noticed a couple of things that kept flashing through his vision, piercing the corners of his eyes with something that was distracting enough for him to look away from the path that he was travelling on, which made him slow down even more than he had already done. He looked off into the trees and noticed that his vision was actually lying to him, warping the trees to look normal, when there was something in the trees that was being corrected by his own vision, or was somepony wanting him to not see what he did.

Blitz flew over to the tree and notice that there was a ghoul being hung up in there, which was something that he didn't want to see, but at the same time did, due to him not enjoying the sight, but knowing that his sight was still working as it should have been, which was what Blitz was trying to find out about. Something within his mind was breaking his vision, slowly and little by little, until he was seeing what they wanted him to see. It was indeed a little worrying, but it was something that he would have to sort out at a later date. He left the ghoul to hang by himself and then went back to the road, before looking to the left and seeing the group, still noticing that nopony was there.

Anti spawned beside Blitz, before he rubbed her wooden textures with his wing, making her purr in delight, due to the soft touch of Blitz’s wing as it graced her. Zavier looked behind and then saw that Blitz was slowly catching up, making him wait for a second so that he could talk to Blitz about something. Shifty paused before he looked behind him to see Anti, a beast that he had not seen yet, but didn't fear at all, due to seeing things that were much worse than what Anti was. Blitz watched as Anti scooped up Shifty onto her back and then ran with him, Shifty grabbing onto a part of Anti that was sticking out, which was a pun of itself, which he thought that only he could have been put into. He held it with his hooves as Anti took off, charging around and making sure that Shifty didn't fall off at all. The ride not only put a smile on Shifty’s face, but Blitz’s too, seeing his friend and so called son playing together and having fun.

“Blitz, can I ask you something?” Zavier asked, getting a chuckle from Blitz.

“You just did!” Blitz joked, getting more into a good mood, rather than the worried state he was in before, which gave him a little sliver of hope that one day he would have felt the same way as he did right then and there. Zavier looked at Blitz with a slight bit of annoyance, which Blitz felt a little sorry about, making him go back to being serious with the zebra that was talking to him and trying to ask him something that might have been important.

“I noticed that you were falling behind, but kept talking to your supposed son about other things. Are you alright with everything that is going on around us?” Zavier asked, getting real serious with Blitz. Although Blitz couldn't tell him the entire thing, he could at least tell him that he was not okay at least, which was something that he would have never been again, due to both Death being trapped within his body, inside his soul, as well as the nightmare that had been haunting Princess Luna for years upon years. He couldn't tell him about any of that, due to it being so much more complicated than Blitz could describe, which was only the beginning of his troubles.

“Just a little confronted with time is all, other than that, I am alright.” Blitz lied, hating his guts for doing so, but needing to keep the others from worrying about his, as it would only bring them down if he was, so what was the point of telling them that he was down and keeping them distracted. It was becoming more and more apparent how not alright Blitz was with everything that was going on around him, making him worry more and more about his mental health. Zavier walked a little quicker, to catch up with the ponies ahead to talk to them about something. Everypony looked convinced, apart from the one that was able to through somebody else's lies, due to being one of the creatures that used to use that kind of stuff against ponies. Shifty could tell that something was off, just by looking at Blitz's face and how he acted, although he had only known Blitz for a short amount of time.

Shifty got off Anti and got slower and slower, allowing himself to walk beside his father, making Blitz want to avoid eye contact with him. Shifty didn't speak too much, only due to him being a little bit more concerned about Blitz’s health than all of the other and that was what was slowing him down a little, due to his mind having to process all of this new information that he was getting put with. Shifty knew that there was something that Blitz was hiding from everypony else, but he didn't know why he was trying to hide it. Shifty didn't know what to do, seeing that his father’s ears were pinned to the back of his head, almost like they had been stapled there, unable to move at all. Shifty did the only thing he knew how to do, which was to act like a clown to make others laugh.

“Well, if my father won't smile, I guess that I will just have to make him smile.” Shifty stated, taking off his head like he was some kind of headless horse. Blitz watched the changeling as he proceeded to throw his head a little behind, before catching it on his body, which got a little smile from Blitz. Shifty didn't change to his changeling form, even though Blitz knew that he was a changeling, due to him having too much of a reputation of being a red pegasus with a blue mane and tail. Zavier looked behind at the two and saw them both walking together along the cobbled path to that side, being a little softer on their hooves, rather than staying on the road that was all chipped and broken.

“We still don't know if I am your father, kid.” Blitz pointed out to Shifty, making him shake his head almost instantly after being told that by Blitz.

“Well, until then, I can bond with another changeling at least!” Shifty blurted out, making it so that the others couldn't hear it. It made Blitz smile a little bit that he wasn't the only changeling left in Equestria, which brought him hope, as well as Death a little bit of happiness, before regaining focus on the current objective at hoof. Blitz shook his head before smiling at Shifty and calling for Anti to come to him. She teleported beside him and then licked Blitz with he leathery like tongue, before making him chuckle a little bit.

“How are you doing girl?” Blitz asked, getting a simple nod from the creature. This was enough to amaze Shifty, due to him not knowing that somepony actually had it in them to train a timberwolf, let alone see one before him. Anti rubbed herself against Blitz, purring as she did it, almost sounding spot on to a cat. Blitz chuckled a little, before teleporting a piece of metal out of the air, making Anti wag her stiff wooden tail, like knew what Blitz was going to do. Blitz threw the item with his magic, stopping for a brief second to play with his wooden K9 friend. Anti launched herself into the sky and grabbed the piece of metal in her wooden maw, before landing softly and turning back to Blitz and seeing that he was smiling, which was what she had intended to do, doing anything she could do to see him smile.

Shifty walked backwards and kept his eyes on Anti and Blitz. Blitz noticed that and saw that Anti was looking over to Shifty as well. That gave him a pretty fun idea for Anti to do, which was to get Anti to chase the little bug about, almost making it as if Anti was chasing a fly.

“Get him!” Blitz commanded, making Anti eye down Shifty. Shifty didn't hesitate to fly directly up, making him think he was safe against a hound that Death created. Anti did something that Blitz hasn't seen before. Anti climbed up a tree within a second, almost like her gravity was around the tree that she climbed up, making Blitz a little confused. Shifty flew a little further up, making sure that Anti was unable to get him, due to how high she would have had to jump in order to reach him while he was high in the sky. He knew about the pegasi above and knew their system that had been put in place, so he knew about the field in the sky that he was not able to go through, making his movement limited when it came to height.

Anti jumped from the tree and almost began to glide over towards Shifty, making him move back. He was amazed by the brains of the timberwolf, so he just accepted it and fell down to the floor. Anti began to fall, before landing on her wooden paws and walking over to Shifty.

“You win!” Shifty stated, before Anti put him in her mouth, before running over to Blitz. Blitz looked at her with a very confused look, before she placed Shifty on the floor gently, making sure not to cause any damage to the changeling that she had just placed sideways into her mouth. She took one look at the others that were watching her, before she ran to Blitz’s side. Blitz chuckled a little before looking down at the timberwolf that was trying to hide her face from all who were looking at her. That made Blitz, persuading him to push on through all of the bad emotion and try to spot the light spots within the darkness that he had been shrouded in, within his mind.

They ventured on, Blitz being with all of the ponies that he had met since he had come out of being encased within some stone. Zavier was somepony that Blitz found to be somewhat ‘special’ in regards to the situation that he had kept putting himself within, due to him becoming a raider, then not, then becoming a raider again, now he wasn't and was travelling with Blitz in a little convoy. Blitz admired Zavier’s passion to help others, which was something that probably rubbed off from Azure, due to them apparently meeting previously, while Blitz was encased in the cocoon of rock.

Shifty seemed to be alright, which was something that Blitz took into consideration. He was a clown, that was for sure, but there was something about him that Blitz liked. Whether it was the mindset that Shifty was in, or how serious he wasn't, Blitz didn't know. Shifty was somewhat like Blitz in the way that he had presented himself to others, making him become more and more of a lier as time came and went, due to him living the same lie every day and making him hide himself further and further back, due to gaining the trust of the others around him, using the pegasus form that he had created for himself and based his life around. If he was to change to his normal form, which was the cute little red eared, red horn changeling, then he would have lost all of the trust that he had built up within his time at the other settlement.

Blitz knew the feeling all too well about having the ones that trusted him turned against him instantly, having to regain their trust as well as their loyalty, due to a lie that he was too scared to admit to. He regretted it in the end, but that was life in the end. He had to sacrifice his actual self, for a little more trust, with the initial trust loss that he received that damaged him a little bit, emotionally and physically. Blitz didn't want his supposed son to experience the same thing he did, because he had built up more of a trustful relationship with all of the ponies and creatures in the settlement than Blitz had originally done, which made him fear the likelihood of the outcome being the same for Shifty.

Blitz focused on moving forward, getting rid of any bad thoughts that were going on within his mind and walking onwards, catching up to the others that were up ahead. Blitz fell in line and walked alongside Anti and Shifty, while Zavier was talking to the ponies in front again, hitting them with questions that he could have only asked them and not Blitz and Shifty, due to them knowing nothing about the North of Equestria and what laid within there for them to discover. Blitz had somewhat of an idea as to what he could have expected, but didn't know one hundred percent.

A little over an hour into the journey, they kept passing up buildings that Blitz would have stopped to loot, which was something that he guessed that the other ponies didn't like or enjoy, or even didn't need to do, since they were only going to get slowed down by it. Blitz missed so many opportunities to loot some buildings, but he would have rather stayed with the group, rather than getting sidetracked and losing the group that he wanted to stick closely to.

The ponies ahead turned to a bunch of buildings, before darting in and setting up themselves to be ready for the journey that would have happened more, if it was a brighter time of day, or even approaching midnight slower, due to it either being heavy rain or the sun had gone down behind the thick cloud layer. Blitz had to accept that it was time to settle down and wait for the brightness of tomorrow to come to help them all. Blitz noticed that all of the ponies that were leading them all were now looting the house, after not looting anything all day and persisting on and making the most of the sunlight. There was still a little bit of sunlight left, but Blitz wasn't going to hold it against all or any of them. He had to admit that he was a little tired, due to him teleporting him and Zavier over to the old settlement and then walked over to Journey and found a lovely community, consisting of ponies who wanted to help and most importantly, his son.

Shifty walked over to Blitz, seeing that he was sitting in the window like some sort of cat that was staring at the moon. Blitz looked over to Shifty and waved for him to come over. Shifty didn't hesitate, before he joined Blitz in the window and laid down on the opposite side, making Blitz look at him like he was a little animal or something. Blitz began to try and tickle Shifty, knowing where the changeling’s weak points were, due to all changelings having the same points. Blitz didn't hold back on making Shifty feel happier than he currently was, making him laugh and giggle softly. Shifty teleported away, before walking back over to Blitz, a smile present on both of their faces.

After about a minute or two, Shifty returned to the windowsill and watched as the rain hammered the outside landscape, having no glass within the window to protect them from little raindrops that occasionally came on through the open gap, hitting Shifty more than it did Blitz, due to the angle of which the rain was coming in at. Blitz looked around at the rest of the house, seeing that it was really sturdy for a house of its age, due to there only being a couple of holes in the roof and that was about it for the issues with the house. It was a nice house, but no place would be up to Blitz’s liking, unless it was a house that he could call home, but right there, he didn't even know where home was, which in his eyes was pretty sad.

Blitz just stared endlessly out of the window, before Shifty came over to Blitz’s side of the window and hugged him, before lying down next to him. Shifty knew that something was wrong with Blitz, but he didn't know what it was, which made him a little unsettled and anxious, but as soon as Blitz’s hoof came down and stroked Shifty, all of those bad thoughts that were causing him harm mentally vanishing like there was nothing there to begin with. Shifty hoped that he was right about Blitz being his father, due to them having so much in common with each other, thinking that it would be a huge shame if he wasn’t.

Blitz kept stroking Shifty, like he would his son normally, if he was one hundred percent confident about Shifty being his son, Blitz closed his eyes, before slumping against the wall of the windowsill and trying to fall asleep, due to it being a little difficult due to the rain shooting down on them on occasion, making them just a little from the sudden coldness, which was not good for either of the bugs. Blitz didn't really know how long Shifty was going to keep up the game of staying as a pegasus, but Blitz again was hoping that it would not end the same way that it did for him.

Closing his eyes for another time, Blitz found himself within a world that was not the one that he was originally in, making him not only a little paranoid, but also a little confused as to where he was. He was not awake, that was apparent, but something about the world felt off, before Death teleported to him and spoke with a low and raspy voice.

“This is what the Wasteland will look like if my brother achieves victory and tries to kill everypony and creature off with a couple of balefire bombs!” Death explained, showing Blitz around using his magic. It was just a bigger, emptier Wasteland, which was something that Blitz didn't want to see, due to it being a little scary to think of such a world where nothing existed whatsoever. No wildlife, no plants, not civilization, nothing! There was a little piece of Blitz that didn't want the world to end up this way, but there was something within Blitz that refused to believe that the world would end up like this. That part of Blitz got him motivated to do more, whether that was to help that of others, or eliminate anything that got in his way to make Equestria beautiful again. Blitz paused, knowing that he had never seen Equestria as something that was beautiful, but he saw it as being normal. Blitz didn't put that memory in his head, Death did! Blitz agreed with it for now, trying to make it so that Death didn't know what was happening with Blitz’s thoughts.

Blitz opened his eyes and looked over towards his so called son, noticing that something was up with him, making him feel slightly concerned about Shifty’s health. Blitz used his magic and dragged the changeling closer to him, before grabbing a sheet of fabric from across the room, being the only thing that they could have used to keep warm, apart from using each other. Blitz hugged Shifty, before wrapping them both up in the fabric, which kept them as the term would suggest; like bugs in a rug.

Blitz looked across the room to see the others talking about some things that Blitz really wasn't interested about. Being tired and what not, Blitz looked down just in time to see his fellow bug yawn, feeling like he was just a little more tired than Blitz was, making him feel like they all needed to settle down for the night. Blitz felt Shifty’s head land against his chest, showing that he was going to try to sleep against Blitz, which Blitz could only find cute.

Blitz relaxed, noticing that Shifty was falling asleep pretty fast, knowing that he was in the protection of the others and that he wouldn't have to do anything or have to worry about anything that was to happen to him or anypony around him, allowing him to sleep easier and to make him feel safer, which was something that Blitz liked the feeling of, to be safe finally, with all of the protection that he could have asked for.

Blitz looked over at the others and found that they too were beginning to head to sleep, giving him an incentive to get some sleep, just to make sure that there were no distractions when he needed to focus or whatnot. Finally, Blitz closed his eyes and smiled, knowing that everything was going to be alright, while he had this group around him. It was a silent night, making it so that all of the ponies in the building were able to sleep better with little to no distractions at all, making their slumber ever more enticing to them and making them all drift off easier.

Blitz thought about dreaming about being in a zombie apocalypse, but he didn't really have the motivation to make it through all of it, shaking that idea from the back of his mind and throwing it directly back into there, making him have to think about what he wanted to dream about, which was a hard choice, due to there only being certain things that Blitz either enjoyed doing, or have the motivation to do, which was a little bit of a problem when it came to dreaming. Blitz lit up his horn and dragged himself into a random dream, making it so that he couldn't choose what dream he wanted to be in, making him somewhat afraid for what he might have been entering into.

Before Blitz could do anything though, he froze or something went wrong, due to there being nothing that was going on within the dream, apart from Blitz looking into a mirror, wanting so badly to judge himself for everything that had happened before those moments long ago, while he was encased in stone. Blitz thought that there was something off about the mirror, but there was not sadly, due to him wanting to point out more things that might have been wrong with something that was happening within the dream that was blanker than his emotions at that time, making Blitz feel like Death had to step up the pace of the good dreams or the life impacting nightmares that occurred pretty commonly for him, which was something that would not be heard of from any other pony, but Blitz.

Blitz looked closer into the mirror and saw that there was definitely something off with the display of the mirror, due to it giving off an aura of some sort, molding his image into one of a murderer, holding a sharp sword with a couple of heads in his possession, making even Blitz cringe a little, due to the way what the heads were cut off. It was like they had all been wretched off, like pulling the cork out of a bottle, only the bottle was the body and the cork was the head, making Blitz feel a little unsettled, going back on his words about Death stepping up his game.

“That’s me!” Blitz spoke to himself, having nopony else to talk to at that moment, until he was teleported to some place that was not where he wanted to be, due to the area being under creation, which was very strange to see within a dream. Blitz wondered if he was dreaming at all, before he looked around and saw Shifty passed out on the floor, a bottle of alcohol laying on the floor. Blitz laughed a tiny bit, before rushing over and helping Shifty up, allowing him to walk, if not for him being drunk… or injured.

Blitz was unable to hear Shifty for some reason, making it almost impossible to make out what his son was actually saying. It was a dream after all, so Blitz didn't think that it was too mandatory for him to understand the drunken words of Shifty, but Blitz did want to hear what the bug had to say about the situation that was currently happening around him. Blitz placed a magical orb around him, before being able to hear, being just as he suspected, that the air was keeping him from listening in on what Shifty had to say.

“The end is coming closer and closer!” Shifty stated, getting a look from Blitz that could only be described as traterous, which was something that Blitz had to think about, because Shifty wasn't able to get into Blitz’s dreams, meaning that somepony or something that was able to get within his dreams was trying to tell him something about what was happening, before Blitz had an ear piercing scream enter his head, feeling like the voice alone was going to make him explode.

Blitz woke up and panicked a little, still having Shifty right in front of him, cuddling him like he would have done his mother. Who was trying to help Blitz and what was happening? Blitz was really going to have to think about all of the actions that he was going to make about this situation and wanted to test to see if he could indeed trick Death.