I trotted along side Twintails, as Bloodbeak followed. Twintails stood before the crowd, looking it over, a solemn expression on his face. The large group of ponies muttered between themselves, a few attempting to warm and calm their children as a cold wind bit at their skin. Twintails took a deep breath, looking around at everyone. He sighed, lowering his head a little. “We... we need to head out to Mooscow immediately. The weather’s only going to get worse from here...” He trailed off as the muttering increased a little in volume. “The Stable’s still too radioactive to be safe. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to send a few ponies into it in a few days to gather your things, but...” He took another deep breath, the group gathering up what they had been able to drag outside. “Mooscow’s not far, we’ll find shelter soon.” He was about to turn away when Lonelyheart trotted up to him.

“Twintails... about Gamma... I think you should know some things.” His voice died, his bottom lip quivering a little. Twintails nodded and Lonelyheart turned back, trotting off, away from the group. Twintails started to follow him. I watched as he trotted away. Should I... he already tried once...

“Twintails!” I said, rushing up to him. I wrapped my forelegs around him and pulled him into a hug. “Just... don’t take too long, alright? Bloodbeak said a storm was on its way.” He put a hoof on my shoulder as my eyes started to water a little. “And, please... don’t do that again.” I squeezed him before letting him go. I smiled, wiping my eyes clear. He smiled back, his own eyes tearing up slightly. He was about to speak, but he only managed a small squeak before tears began to run down his cheek. He nodded, still smiling, before turning and heading back towards the tent.

I walked back to Bloodbeak, who was handing out a few scarves. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this many to have made it out alive. I hope we don’t lose anypony on the way.” She said. We double checked everypony was ready and began to lead the large group out of the ditch, and onto the long road to Mooscow.

“Twintails and Lonelyheart will bring up the rear; they’ll help with the stragglers.” I said, walking along side Bloodbeak, whose heat-lamp was shining through the early morning sky. We walked in silence for awhile, the only sounds coming from the bits of conversation we overheard from the group and the occasional explosion and gunfire, which was always followed by a swell of chatter. “So, why exactly are you named Bloodbeak? No offence, but it doesn’t exactly sound like something your parents would name you.” I asked, trying to find a topic of conversation.

Bloodbeak chuckled. “None taken. My given name’s Bladebeak, though that sort of got lost a few years ago. Razorwing and I were prospecting in Emerald Ridge, looking for some more merchandise for the shop. We were walking into one of the buildings when Razor set off a tripwire.” It was clear a couple of the ponies listening in were not enjoying the story as they exchanged worried looks with one and other. “Something swung from the ceiling and blindsided Razor. I think it was some large chunk of rebar. It got him right in the side of the head, knocked him unconscious. Three raiders ambushed me. I managed to shoot one down, but I was running out of ammo, so...” Her grin wavered a little. “Well, I can’t exactly say I’m proud of it, but I tore open the dead raiders chest and pulled out his heart. I, uh, sort of just took advantage of the situation and took a bite out of it. Heart meat is tough.” She chuckled again. “You should’ve seen how fast they ran out of there. Unfortunately for me, Razorwing was awake by then. He just started calling me Bloodbeak as a joke and it stuck. Funny thing though,” She licked her beak, smirking at me a little. “I can’t say I disliked the taste of pony flesh... never tried it again, though, if you were afraid of that.”

My eyes widened as the ponies who were eavesdropping all pulled faces of disgust, one holding a hoof up to his mouth as he made a retching sound. Ooookay, point taken: Don’t piss off the cannibalistic Gryphon. We continued down the road, Emerald Ridge coming into view around the corner. I looked back over Stable 34’s inhabitants, most unhappy and tired, but still trotting along. I saw a pair of ponies far at the back, one a bright yellow helping a kid keep up with the group. I relaxed a little, seeing that Twintails was alright. “What about you? What exactly went on in your Stable?” Bloodbeak asked.

“Aside from the obvious?” I asked, tapping my horn. “Well, everypony gets augmentations when they get their Pip-Buck. It’s not exactly a good idea to give super powered horns and skeletons to foals. The school taught us just about anything we needed to know for life in the Stable: Basic programming, some English, a bit of the arts, and how to maintain our new metal bits and pieces. Oh, and history of course.” I said as we approached the outskirts of Emerald Ridge. “If it weren’t for those bloody striped-skins, we wouldn’t be talking now.”

Bloodbeak raised an eyebrow. “Striped-ski- oh, Zebras? Well, yeah I guess that’s kind of true. You do know they weren’t the only ones slinging bombs around, right?” She asked. I rolled my eyes as we passed some corpses that were partially covered in snow. A couple large bloatsprites were chewing on the frozen flesh. The group of ponies all grouped closer together, staring at the creature warily.

“Of course I know that. You think Equestria would just let striped-skins make those Balefire Eggs without someway to combat them? Doesn’t change the fact they fired first, those foal-eating, mare-raping, flank-holes.” I said. Bloodbeak raised an eyebrow. I looked at her a little aghast. “You can’t honestly tell me you’re a Zebra sympathizer, Bloodbeak. What they did was disgusting, I could barely watch those videos in class. They kidnap foals, rape mares then they just stop sending coal to Equestria! Not to mention their stripes look absolutely awful.”

Bloodbeak rolled her eyes and looked back to one of the ponies who were walking directly behind us. The brown pony was wiping his mouth, a new yellow and green splotch in the snow at the side of the road. He looked to Bloodbeak, his face turning slightly greener when he saw the blood stains on her feathers and beak. “Say, stablepony who just tossed his lunch on the road, what do you think of Zebras?” She asked.

“Ugh... those flies...” He said, shaking his head, still looking a little queasy. “Sorry, Zebras? I don’t know. I’m not exactly a fan of them, but I don’t see why we needed to fling the Megaspells.” My jaw almost fell open. I can’t believe this; I just helped evacuate a stable of Zebra sympathizers! Well, at least Zebra apathetic-ers. “Obviously those Balefire Eggs and Megaspells didn’t exactly improve life around here...” The stable dweller said, shivering.

I grunted a little. I suppose he had a bit of a point there, the wasteland isn’t exactly my kind of idea for a summer getaway. “What about the coal trade? We had a perfectly good deal with them and they just stop sending us coal for no reason!” I snapped. This day didn’t start off well, and wasn’t getting any better. I took a deep breath, trying to relax. “Ah... sorry. I’m just worried about Twintails.”

The colt flinched a little when I yelled, but looked back at the crowd, Twintails lost somewhere in it. “Sorry... I know what you mean though. Gamma and Twintails spent nearly everyday together, I can’t really imagine how this hit him.” We walked through the snow, the sky still its eternal gloomy appearance. The colt sighed. “I hope he’s ok too, he was looked up to in the Stable, everyone was expecting him to return with that chip or coil-thing…heroically," He coughed, spitting up a small bit of blood. “I guess that bomb sort of changed our plans.”

I felt a small pit open in my stomach. The colt looked forward as I exchanged glances with Bloodbeak. I didn’t want to tell him about the real purpose of the coil-thingie, so I just fixed my eyes back on the road. We walked along, the rest of the group’s talking having died down, replaced by the chattering of teeth and occasional cursing of the clouds. Snow started to drift down from the sky, thankfully lightly. The fillies and colts looked up in awe, a few holding their mouths open and attempting catch a couple on their tongues. Those that did spit the snow out almost immediately. Fallout doesn’t exactly taste that good, I would imagine.

We were soon arriving at Mooscow, the Stable inhabitants all muttering thankfully and rubbing their eyes. Razorwing was sitting outside the barricade, attempting to keep himself awake. He looked up as we approached, snorting a little. “Oh, thank goodness!” He ran up and pulled Bloodbeak into a hug, squeezing her. “Is everypony ok?” He asked, stepping back, but not before Bloodbeak had returned the hug.

“Minty and Twintails are fine. Seventy seven survivors.” Bloodbeak said, looking back at the group who was still shivering. “They’re cold, hungry, a bit irradiated, and tired, but they should all be relatively alright. The hotel was fine with keeping them for a couple days?” She asked. Razorwing nodded, waving to the group.

“Stable 34? Follow me, there’s a hotel open you can all stay in for a few days. It’ll be crowded, but it’s better than the snow banks!” He shouted. He opened the doors, leading the group through the metal barricade. I searched through the crowd, spotting Twintails at the rear, still looking a little gloomy. I walked up to him as he came to a stop next to Bloodbeak.

Bloodbeak looked over her shoulder at us, preparing to shut the door. “You guys planning on staying? I still don’t like the look of the sky.” She said, looking up at the sky. The clouds had grown a little darker, the cold wind and snow picking up. I looked over at Twintails, watching him toss the idea around in his head.

“No... no, we need to get going. If that storm is as bad as you think it will be, we could be stuck here for awhile.” He looked through the opening in the barricade, the large group of ponies led by Razorwing turning the corner to the hotel. “And, well... I think I need to spend a little time alone. Or, as alone as I can be.” He looked over at me, smiling slightly.

I returned the smile, Bloodbeak looking concerened. “Alright, but make sure you get there and back as fast as you can, wherever you're going.” She said. She fished around in her saddle bags for a moment before pulling out a large lamp. It swung a bit on its handle. “Here, it’s my spare heat lamp. I always like having an extra in case this one dies out.” She patted the one currently hooked on her left wing. “Take good care of it, I’d rather not have to steal my brother’s to fix it.” She grinned a little.

I levitated the lamp up, hanging it in the air between Twintails and me. The talisman powered lamp flickered every now and then, but even its weak glow helped against the cold. “Thanks.” I said, Bloodbeak settling herself down in a makeshift tent. She hung her lamp up and tore open an MRE. We crunched through the snow, heading in the direction of NEAMO.

We walked quietly, the snow starting to fall a little harder as we approached the raider camp. There were a couple bloatsprites lazily hovering above a cleaned corpse, its bones shining slightly in the dirty snow. I pulled out my pistol, Twintails placing his mouth over the trigger to his machine guns. The sprites took notice as we approached them, one spitting some glob of acidic spit towards us. I fired my pistol a couple times, one sprite melting as Twintails swept the area with his big rifles. Uhm, overkill much? “Hmh, didn’t feel like using your fancy new rifle?” Twintails asked kicking aside one of the dead sprites.

“Saving ammo.” I said. “It wouldn’t hurt for us to stop by the factory, they might have some more batteries." Twintails tilted his head to the side a bit to acknowledge he heard me. “Hey... are you sure you’re feeling alright?” I asked. Twintails sighed, looking down at the ground. He didn’t respond for a while, just leaving me to scan the road for any raiders.

“I don’t know... I...” He searched for words to explain. “I think I just need to mope for awhile. Try and accept it.” I looked worriedly at him. He glanced over, trying to smile. “I’ll be ok, Minty. You... you'll make sure of that.” I grinned at him. He returned it, even if it was a little shaky. We walked along the side of the hill, kicking the occasional clump of ice into the valley.

Time seemed to pass slowly as we walked, though flipping on the Pip-Buck radio helped a little. As we passed the RobronCo facility, there was an especially long break between songs. There was a crackle of static before Hi-Fi’s voice came on. “Hey, all you wastelanders, just got some news in from Mooscow,” Her voice wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic as it normally was during her broadcasts. “A personal friend of mine’s Stable was destroyed last night. He and some of his companions were able to rescue many ponies... except the one that mattered the most to him.” I looked over at Twintails, seeing his pupils shrink a little again, his eyes starting to well with tears. “If you’re listening to this, I just want you to know we’re all sorry for you... for what it’s worth, in this cold icebox, we’re all sorry.” The voice died, another song starting up. I watched as Twintails’ lip trembled as the familiar voice started up.

"We'll meet again,
Don't know where,
Don't know when,
But I know we'll meet again,
some sun-ny day..."

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