“So... what’s your story, exactly?” I said, trying to find something to take our minds off of what just happened, whatever that was. Twintails shrugged, rubbing the excess blood off of his wound.

“Not that exciting really. Gamma, my... boss, of sorts said there was a piece of technology that wound up breaking, part of our reactor's cooling system... a Neutron-Dampening Radiothermic Coil, I think it was called.” We continued to crunch through the snow, passing more worn signs. There was even one with some choice words regarding this thing called the 'Grand Pegasus Enclave'. Lovely.

I cocked my head and raised an eyebrow. “A Neutron-Dampening... what?” I shook my head, trying to think. “I’ve never heard of that before, and I knew every bit of tech that was in the Stable. Trust me, this thing wouldn’t be nearly as powerful if it wasn’t for some... ‘borrowed’ spare parts from the maintenance sections.” I tapped my horn, smirking a little.

“Well, a lot of machinery in the reactors were meant to be kept on a need to know basis, we didn’t need any ponies such as yourself breaking in and making some kind of uranium gun. Dunno if every Stable had a reactor like Bruce, though...” Twintails chuckled. I shivered, cursing my lack of foresight yet again. I always thought nuclear winter was just a theory... I sighed, my ears flopping down as I followed.

“Ah, cheer up. We’re almost at Mooscow, maybe we can spend the night there.” I looked up, seeing another collection of buildings. It looked much bigger than Emerald Ridge had been, though from the looks of it, it was hit a lot harder during the war. The road wended its way towards the town, another broken old road sign dandling from its pole directing us towards it. As we approached, it was easier to see most of the town was surrounded by metal sheets crudely bolted together into a sort of barricade. There were a few buildings outside the walls, though it looked as if much less effort had been put into rebuilding them than the ones beyond it.

We trotted up to a huge set of oak doors embedded in the gate, attempting to open it. I was looking up at some of the larger buildings when Twintails suddenly shouted. “Watch out!” Suddenly, I found myself on the ground, lights popping into my view and a heavy wooden board ontop of my body. He’d pulled the ENTIRE door off of it's rusty hinges, which, of course, managed to land right onto me. He helped lift the aged piece of wood off, letting myself wriggle free from beneath it. “Shoot, sorry.” I caught him smirking, but he fished out the remainder of the health potion he’d used for his gash, tossing it to me.

As I took a swig, something jumped through the door; a very angry something, with two guns aimed at us. “Hold it right there, gate-crashers. I'm going to have to see some caravan ID before I’m letting you into this place.” The speaker was a Gryphon who wore nothing, no doubt shielded enough by the cold by her feathers... which were stained with irregular splashes of red. Dried red. She clicked her beak a little, which was, of course, also bloody.

“We’re not merchants.” Twintails said, looking up at the Gryphon. She narrowed her eyes slightly, tensing her muscles. She lept into the air, settling herself onto the metal barricade, glaring down at us.

“Then I suggest you two get lost. We’re having a problem with raiders at the moment, so Proper’s under lockdown. No new residents.” I scraped idly at the ground with a hoof, gnawing at my lower lip as she continued her staredown, working up the will to speak.

“Are you sure there’s no way we can get in, even just passing through?” I asked tenatively.

She flicked her tail a little, thinking. “Hmm... I guess you two don’t look the raider type, not to mention you're both clean... chemically and physically. Mostly, anyways.” My eyes widened a little, a touch surprised at her response. “Don’t look so surprised, my beak's particularly sensitive to chems. Wouldn't have a job here if it wasn't... Anyway, how about you leave your weapons with me, and I’ll let you go in, simple as that.”

I nodded fishing out my plasma pistol and presenting it to the gryphon. Twintails grumbled a little, reluctantly sliding his pistol out of his saddlebags and laying it in it's hardwood case. “Just make sure that thing’s still there when we come back out." The Gryphon took the box and pistol, placing them in a safe behind the wall, shutting it and closing it tight.

“Alright, you can go in. Welcome to Mooscow, make no trouble.” She said with a light growl, stepping aside.

“Thanks.” I said, feeling the lump on my head growing smaller. I tossed the empty bottle back to Twintails, heading through the empty frame. The remnants of Mooscow were notably more destroyed than Emerald Ridge, yet at the same time, it still stood as a bastion of civilization that managed to go on upon the surface. We trotted down the street, looking around at the dilapidated buildings, a few other ponies milling about, all minding their business, and dressed thickly. Looking at them, the wind seemed to bite at my uncovered flanks harder, sending a shiver down my spine - this Stable shirt was NOT designed for winter. We turned, another pony stepping up beside us both, dressed in a thick vest and a distinctly aged hat. He simply walked along with us before finally striking up a conversation.

“You folks new in town? Lookin' for supplies, I bet... c'mon, I'll lead ya both t' Razorwing's.” He said, a grin upon his face, his voice a little gravely from age. Myself and Twintails shared a glance before shrugging, still alongside the old colt.

“It couldn’t hurt, I guess.” I replied, shrugging lightly.

“C'mon, jus' a short trot away, haha!” He chuckled, stepping ahead of us a little, leading us down the street. “Sure you met Bloodbeak on the way in. Girl can be a little inhospitable, but she’s only doing it to keep the place safe. Had some raiders stealing from caravans coming through town, so our trading's been lacking lately... Could always ask Razorwing about it, sure he’d be happy to find somepony to bring in extra goods.”

We soon came to a large, well rebuilt building. It had a big glass window with some holes in the front, displaying some old world clothing. “Oi, Razor, there’s some new colts in town!” The stallion said as he entered. Another gryphon was standing behind the counter, adorned in a small, old sweater vest over his black fur. He stepped around the counter, revealing shiny metal blades running along the leading edge of his wings.

“Haven’t gotten a lot of new faces lately... what can I get for you?” He asked, his eyes lighting up at the potential for some new business. I glanced around at the shop's wares before a realization smacked me like a, a boat or something.

“Uh...” Twintails said, rummaging through his saddlebags with a wing, letting loose a nervous chuckle. It finally became apparent to us that neither of us had bothered to come out with any form of money... can't blame us, wasn't expecting there to be any places where stuff could actually be sold in a radioactive wasteland! Thankfully, the gryphon behind the counter finally noticed my Stable jumpsuit, a little smirk coming across his face as his expression changed.

“Oh, are you guys just out of the Stable?” He asked. We nodded, and he smiled knowingly. “Ah, don’t worry if you don’t have any caps on you... if you’d like to earn some, though, I do have a small task that needs doing.” He leaned against the counter, ruffling his wings a little as he grinned wider.

“W-We’re interested.” I said without hesitation, a chill breeze blowing through. At this rate, I was sure I was going to end up a mare if I spent another hour in just this damn denim jacket. Razorwing chuckled.

“Hold on there speedy… I haven’t even told you what I need yet. Well, as I’m sure my sister, Bloodbeak... or more likely Old Colt Johnson,” He tilted his head towards the stallion who’d come in with us, snickering lightly, “told you, we’ve been having a little problem with raiders lately. They keep driving off caravans, so my inventory has been running a bit sparser than usual.” He let off a sigh, prodding at a few empty bottles that lined the counter. Sparkle-Cola, really? Uck...

“Well, how can we help?” I asked, smiling widely, glancing over at Twintails as he fiddled with his pip-buck.

“Well, from what I’ve heard, they're holed up in an abandoned RobronCo factory up the highway. I’d like you to go there and see if you could get them cleared out, by whatever means. Don’t care if you convince them or blast them into next Tuesday, I just need them gone. It’s worth 500 caps to me, and the town. Anything you salvage there is free for the taking as well, just can't have it anymore when those goddess-damned bastards are killing off every caravan that comes up from the I-135...”

I looked over at Twintails, my grin widening considerably. He looked at me in a mix of confusion and worry, taking a slight step to the side. “What?”

“Do you have any idea what kind of stuff they could have there? Wires, servos, capacitors, lasers, sensors...” I started to rattle off, my mind going wild with ideas. “Heck, I could build myself a whole new body with the stuff there! I’m in!” I spun around, looking at Razorwing enthusiastically, himself returning a glare like I'd just gone off the deep end.

Twintails was a little hesitant, still thinking back to the greenish-brown puddle melted in the road. “Well, there’s probably worse places to go. Do you have any kind of ammunition we could use? We’re running a little low.”

Razorwing nodded, smiling. “What kind d'ya need?”

“Well, any .45 Auto you've got, for one. And energy cells.” Razorwing winced a little at the second one, already ducking under the counter and pulling up a few boxes of ammunition.

“Sorry, all I can spare is a few boxes of surplus .45 rounds. Like I said, business has been rough, haven't been getting things for energy weapons since the storm season started, and the raiders just made everything worse off than usual. I’m sure if you can conserve your shots for when you’re at the factory, you’ll find plenty there... even if it also involves getting some scrap metal as well, heh.” He smirked, pushing the four boxes of surplus ammunition over to us. Twintails lifted each of them up with a wing, dropping them in his saddlebags. Pegasi are weird...

“I try to not fire if I can help it. As for this guy, though...” I snickered softly, as Twintails rolled his eyes.

“I have a singed mane that’d beg to differ.” I rolled my eyes as well, Razorwing giving a light chuckle while Twintails kept rummaging in his saddlebags. He pulled out a few small bags of Rad-X and tossed them on the counter in return, Razorwing looking them over idly before sliding them up on the shelf.
"Yeah, this ought to cover costs until you get back. Don't go getting too shot up now, y'hear? Want to keep those clothes from getting too bloodied up, heh..." He grinned slyly, us both turning around as Old Colt Johnson stepped up to us.

“It’s getting pretty late, and the weather’s never good here at night. If you two need somewhere to stay, I wouldn’t mind letting you share my shack. It’s been awhile since I’ve had company, eheh..." He gave a grin, myself looking over at my pegasus friend, seeing him shrug idly. Not like we could afford to stay anywhere else, anyways...

"Sounds good to me. Thanks for the hospitality, really." I replied, smiling at him as we all stepped out into the Mooscow square. Streetlamps and shop fronts all were illuminated by arcane generators, casting strange shadows as the flaky snow from above fell down to the street, blown about in wisps from the wind. I tucked my tail between my haunches, trying to stave off losing a 'limb' that I'd really rather like to keep, as we soon arrived at the base of a rather massive brass bell, it's surface adorned with great mouldings of the two princesses from before the war, and their respective cutie marks. The old colt uncovered a small wooden door at the base, flipping it open and crawling inside, followed close behind by myself and Twintails.

"Welp, ought to nod off for the night, I reckon. All's bed, just drop down anywhere, make yourselves at home... oh, and uh, I'm kind of a cuddler..." He chuckled weakly, moving aside some dirtied blankets and sheets into a second pile. What kind of pony needs his whole floor to be a bed, anyways? Then again... oh, those blankets look -so- warm... it wasn't too long before I found myself belly-first on a pile of musty old pillows, wrapped in a heavy blanket, still in my Stable clothes. Every now and again a thick clump of snow would fall onto the massive bell, causing the whole room to ring softly with resonance, slowly lulling us all to sleep. A pony could get used to life like this, I suppose...

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