Twintails, Buzzy, and myself all sat at the small table as Featherweight stood over a stove, cooking a stew of some kind. Buzzy shifted a little, having to stand on the chair so more than just the top of her mane was visible. She pushed a couple bottle caps forward into the small pile in the center of the table. “I’ll raise ya two.” Twintails and I tossed a pair of caps each into the pile. I flipped another card onto the table. Ok, two diamonds in my hand, two down already, one club, one heart. 52 cards in a deck, subtract ten for the ones in play, assume Buzzy and Twintails only have 3 or 4 diamonds together... so that’s 5 out of 42 chance... 12%?

Twintails tapped his hoof lightly on the table, Buzzy doing the same. I spun a cap around slowly in my magic, unsure if I should raise them. I glanced back at the pot - 30 caps wasn’t bad as is, and I definitely wouldn’t want to lose anymore with that bill to pay. Then again, the bill was pretty high, and I could use all the help I can get... I shrugged and tossed the cap in. Twintails grumbled and folded his cards to the table. Buzzy happily tossed another cap into the pile, Featherweight speaking up. “You better not be throwing away all our food money, Buzzy.” He stirred the pot a few times before shaking a bit of salt into the mix.

Buzzy rolled her eyes as I flipped another card. Another club, damn. “Calm down, Feaths, got a great hand here!” She looked at me expectantly. I tapped my hoof lightly on the table, Buzzy looking a bit disappointed. She did the same and we revealed our cards. “Full house!” She said, grinning widely. I groaned and smacked my head on the table. Stupid pair of fours. Twintails looked equally upset, having folded two pairs. Buzzy scooped the pile of caps towards herself, giggling a little. “Nice game, guys. Wanna play another?”

Featherweight looked over his shoulder at us again. “Come on, Buzzy, you don’t need to steal all their caps either. Besides, lunch is ready.” I gathered the cards and placed them back into their worn case before tossing them onto a bookshelf. Featherweight ladled a few scoops into each bowl before sitting down at the table, the rest of us grabbing our own bowls and spoons. Whatever was in the stew, it was great. I quickly gulped down the mixture of beans, plants, and small chunks of meat. “Were you two planning on sticking around for much longer?” Featherweight asked.

Twintails swallowed his mouthful of stew. “Ah, well, uh..." I passed him an idle look, seeing him blushing a bit. He cleared his throat, setrting the spoon down with his wing. "As much as I’d like to stay here, we... we probably ought to head out soon. Have a job we’re supposed to be doing, and Minty sleeping with his cousin didn’t help things along, either.” He smirked at me, myself glaring back with contempt. You’re just lucky they don’t have any snow on the floor here. He went back to eating his soup, as I smacked him on the head with my spoon. “Ach, geez.” He rubbed his head, looking back up at the large grey stallion that sat across from us. “We’ll probably stop by here on the way back to Mooscow though. Besides, long as we can keep pulling caps together I’ll probably have a new toy to test out with you guys by then, too.” Twintails chuckled, leaning back as I grumbled into my bowl of stew. "Saw a BEL back in Gun Runner's that totally had my name on it~"

Dinner continued in relative silence, aside from the occasional... ahem... release of helium from the three pegasi. Twintails tossed his bowl and spoon into the rusty sink, having finished first, myself doing the same afterwards. “You suuuuure you don’t want to play again?” Buzzy asked, tossing a cap into the air. I winced as she spoke - was her voice higher than before? Featherweight chuckled, his voice definitely an octave or two up. At hearing the normally baritone voice at Alto,Twintails laughed too - oh geez, this is awful. I put a hoof over my mouth, doing my best to keep from busting out as well.

“Yeah. Snrk. Yeah, I think we better go.” I said, grinning widely. I dropped my saddlebags and Ivan onto my back, caressing him a bit while Twintails hitched up his own bags, giggling a little as we left their house. We trotted through the gate created from the passenger cars and began to head down the snow covered road. Wind blew up from the testing range, my pip-leg's Geiger counter ticking a bit from the ambient radiation and fallout.

We trotted along the western road, nothing coming between us and our destination for the first leg of the walk, minus a few bloatsprites. As we continued along the small stretch, Twintails stopped me, pointing out some small creature standing in the bottom of the basin to the south. I squinted towards it, shifting Ivan a bit. As much as I love him, even with the carbon-whatever parts, he’s going to snap my back at this rate... The creature looked somewhat like a bear, though much, MUCH larger, with longer forelegs. It slowly trudged back and forth idly, as if it was looking for something. I heard a bang, looking right and seeing Twintails regaining himself from firing his grenade rifle.

The small bundle of explosives flew through the air in a smooth arc, landing just short of a direct hit - talk about a lucky shot. The bear... thing, roared in pain, turning towards us with claws outstretched. That was... that was MUCH bigger than a bear... oh, crap! I wrapped my augmented leg around Ivan, pointing him towards the creature, which was currently barreling towards us with a growling roar that made me glad that stew was still in my stomach. Flicking the trigger, the pent up electricity discharged towards the animal in a massive blue bolt - thank the goddesses it was such a big target. The lightning jumped across the thing’s skin, a couple exposed bits of metal covering its body shining from the voltage. Who thought it was a good idea to augment this thing?! I let the drained charge pack fall into the snow, plugging another into the back.

Twintails fired a few more grenades into the thing’s face as fast as he could load them into the rifle, blowing one of its ears off. The beast swiped at Twintails, who leapt out of the way, if just barely, switching to his machine guns and starting to unload them into the beast - good, I don’t need to be caught in the middle of that grenade rifle-thing’s blast. I fired another jolt of electricity at the animal, lightning swirling around it once again, my mane standing on end. The thing started to stumble, some of the motors in its leg whirring as it strained to continue to support it. Twintails fired off a few more shots before the giant mechanical dog fell to the ground, dead. I panted a bit, recovering the dead batteries. “Okay... lesson learned, don’t fire at things we don’t know what they are, right?” I looked at Twintails. He nodded, double checking his rifle was properly secured to his waist before we turned to continue down the road, on the lookout for more of those beasts - and hoping the Doc won't start charging us for clothes washing.

We trotted up to the outskirts of Trotisk, still a little shaken from fighting off whatever that gigantic dog-robot-monster was. I saw a couple ponies in tattered robes gathered around a small fire in a trash can, lowering the heat lamp a little so it was a little more out of sight. It’s not that I don’t trust them it’s just... yeah. We headed through town, a couple other ponies milling about. “I suppose you’d want to head back to the Plasma Spaz?” Twintails asked, smirking at me a bit.

I couldn’t help but grin at the thought of all those energy rifles, pistols, and grenades. “Well... we- I mean, I do still need to pay off my debt.” I said, chuckling weakly. We walked through town, snow starting to slowly drift down from the sky, bringing with it the faint, familiar tick-ticking of our pip-bucks. We turned into the Plasma Spaz, my doppelganger fixing up a -very- beautiful plasma caster. She looked up as the bell above the door rang, smiling a bit as she saw Ivan. It was still a hundred levels of weird seeing me... her.

“It’s nice to see you two got back safe and sound.” She said, completely ignoring Twintails. He slipped off to the side, seeming to idly inspect a few Plasma and Pulse mines on display. “And it’s nice you actually bothered to show up. It probably would’ve been more trouble than it’s worth trying to hire some mercs to get my payment back.” She said. I bit my lower lip a bit, my eyes shifting away from hers.

“Daah, well... I may not actually be able to... pay off the debt.” I said, my ears lowering a bit. Mare-Minty looked disapprovingly at me. “B-but I can at least pay off part of it now, though! Eheh...” I pulled out my cap bag wit some haste, pouring out the contents onto the counter, letting Not-Me count them up.

“125 caps... that’s still 325 caps left. Least you seem serious enough about it.” She said, leaning forwards onto the counter, adjusting her glasses idly. “If you don’t mind, I have a couple odd jobs from my employers you could pick up to make up the difference.” I looked over to Twintails, who was absent mindedly kicking at some lint and tin cans on the floor otherwise looking bored. Oh, come on Twintails, this stuff is awesome! Better than your silly bullets, anyways.

“What kind of jobs?” I asked, a bit eagerly. Not-Me took a step back, seeming a bit surprised at my enthusiasm, myself clearing my throat and pulling myself back. “Ah, I prefer to keep out of assassination, if you don’t mind. B-but I’d happily take something else! Eheh, these Emerald Charge Packs are expensive, let alone the repairs...” I chuckled, grinning weakly, shifting Ivan a bit on my back. Lightning jumped about inside the glass casing, my mane standing a bit on end.

“Hey now, the repairs were free!” She said, sticking her tongue out playfully. “It’s the other stuff that was expensive. And don’t worry, it’s nothing like that. You guys know about a group up north from here called the Steel Rangers, right?” She asked. I nodded. Puh, better than you'd suspect... "I- my employers, I mean, were hoping we could possibly set up some kind of trade with them. I know how crazy they are for old world tech, so I understand they'll be reluctant - Just tell them I'll take anything, no matter how busted up it is. Silver tongue might help."

I thought it over a bit. Getting a bunch of xenophobic mares and stallions wearing tin cans and sporting gigantic guns to open up trade? Well, I did need to pay off that debt... hopefully also won't have to get Nova to put in a good word. No thank you, I'll stick to ponies who don't drug me. "Ah, well, we'll try our best, but don't be surprised if they're unwilling to even give up recycled ammo. Do you have something they might be interested in?" Smirking, not-me nodded to Ivan.

"Well, I fixed that puppy up pretty well, didn't I? Tell them we'd be willing to help fix up anything they need in exchange for a regular supply of standard or heavy beam weapons, or at the very least energy cells." She said, smiling lightly. "My name's Sugar Rush, by the way." Twintails' ears perked up a bit at the name. Did he know her?... "Now, if you come back with an agreement, I'll wipe off... 200 of the caps. You could try rummaging around the broken down R&G facility in the inner city too. There's bound to be some stuff there I'd get, had I the time..." She seemed to let the rest of the sentence dangle off, as if she were hiding something, but... oh, forget it, I can't go around the wasteland a bill-dodger!

"Sounds like a plan. Better than having this debt with us..." Sugar nodded lightly, returning to her repairs. I walked to the door, Twintails following me out onto the snowy street. I turned to face him, catching him peering over at the windows of Gun Runners - don't worry you crazy pegasus, that Egg Launcher isn't going anywhere. "We're heading back to EQUAD, hopefully those ponies aren't too against helping out non-members. Oh, and, uh, do you know Sugar?" Twintails smirked, looking over at myself. Don't tell me he slept with two ponies while I was off kidnapped...

"The salespony, or is that your new nickname for Nova?" He asked, laughing. I smacked him upside the head. "Ow! Sorry, sorry. You walked into that one though. Buzzy mentioned her name when she told me that you were pony-napped - I can see why there'd be the mix-up, heh. That was all." I rolled my eyes, looking to the heavy metal wall that seperated the main boulevard from the rest of the city. A pair of fillies were busily drawing on the side of a dilapidated building in chalk, another wiping his tongue as his piece of chalk rolled down the cracked road.

We passed by the Gun Runners as another yellow and black maned pegasus wearing a green duster shot into the air, carrying a package on her back. I shook my head, doing a double take. Wait just a bucking minute here, does Twintails have a twin he never told me about? He seemed to have not noticed, the entrance to the inner city passing by as we moved through the outskirts, heading north to EQUAD. Looking back, you could see the large rusted sign of "R&G Manufacturing", the lowest of the high windows boarded up, graffiti scrawled on the bottom edge of the brick wall, reaching just over the metal barricade. I made a mental note of its relative location as we continued up the road.

Several minutes, songs, and errant PSAs later, the road began to curve around and rise up the side of a mountain, overlooking the large expanse of frozen nothing labeled as 'Horseshoe Basin'. A couple ponies in power armor stood at a makeshift checkpoint, one brandishing an almost embarrassingly small assault rifle and another with a more respectable laser rifle. We trotted up to the barrier, one of the ponies drawing his weapon and aiming it at us both, the circuitry whining to charge. “State your business here.”

“We’re trying to set up a trade between you and Pripytrot.” I placed bluntly, smiling. Twintails fidgeted, taking a step back and lowering his head for his rifles' bit. The power-armored stallion didn’t move. “Ah, I’m that pony you guys captured the other day?” I waved my augmented leg at them. The guard still said nothing, but turned to the winch on the side of the blocker across the road. He started to crank it, the arm raising into the air to allow us through. Gee, friendly.

We walked through the gate, trotting towards the tunnel entrance. The two mounted laser miniguns had been replaced, one of the steel rangers seeming to cross his hind legs as Twintails passed between them. He wore a smug smirk as we approached the main entrance, a large metallic door in the side of the hill, well far back within the tunnel. We trotted down the steps leading into the bunker, which opened into a large atrium, a flag of a sword and gears over a large green apple, purplish stars substituted for the gears' axle holes... whatever those things are called. Scribes and soldiers trotted back and forth, a few carrying large pieces of machinery about upon the backs of their power armor. Oooh, how much I wish I had that...

“Hey, I didn’t expect you two to be back so soon!” A familiar voice shrieked up over the hustle and bustle, drawing our attention. Twintails and I looked to our left, Nova trotting up to meet us. She shook our hooves, motioning to follow, starting to lead us through the bunker. “I see you’ve taken good care of your new toy.” She chuckled, pointing to Ivan. Well, I may not have gotten to use him much, but at least I haven't electrocuted myself, eheh. “Knight Fringe just radioed in that you two were coming in hoping to start some trading agreement... ah, I just hope my mom’s not too against it.” She led us through another large door and down a flight of stairs. We were soon in the Elder’s office, Quasar digging through a couple files in the round desk. “Hey, mo- ah, sorry, Elder Quasar? Minty and his friend are back!” She said.

Quasar looked up from her papers as we approached her desk. She seemed rather unamused, setting her reading glasses down upon the desk idly, resting her elbows on the desk and holding her forehooves together. “Right, what is the purpose of your visit? I'd thought we'd made amends enough after that small incident concerning my daughter and yourself.” She asked, almost disinterested, and otherwise seeming to be annoyed. I knew she was probably a very busy mare, but, sheesh, the wasteland seemed warmer... Twintails spoke up as Nova stepped back to stand by the door, along with the other guards.

“Ah, well, there’s a shop in Trotisk, ‘The Plasma Spaz’. The owner wants to know if you would be interested in opening trade with them.” He said, shifting his weight about on his hooves awkwardly. The Elder grimaced a little, clearly not keen on the idea. “The mare at the counter said she’s willing to fix up anything that may need help with.” I slid Ivan off of my back, placing it gently on her desk with my magic.

“She’s already fixed up the beat up Tesla Cannon you guys had.” Quasar inspected the weapon, her expression only changing slightly as her eyes slid across the wires, glass and flashing lights - she seemed a little surprised. I shifted a little, hoping she’d accept the offer.

“I’m sorry, but even with this evidence of her experience in repair, I can’t allow such a trade to occur.” She said, allowing me to levitate Ivan back onto my back. “Only members are allowed to attempt to restore the technology we house here, as much of it would likely cause more damage to the surrounding areas if they were to be released. As well, I can admit to having never seen this particular cannon before, either.” I groaned a little on the inside. She tapped her hooves idly, looking between both of us. “However... we have heard of the 'R&G Manufacturing' factory in Trotisk that may hold something we need. I would have sent a scout in, but we aren’t exactly viewed highly in the city, and any activity may arouse suspicion. The pre-war owners of the factory supposedly built and designed technology to aid the war efforts, as a functioning subsidiary of the Ministry of Wartime technology - unfortunately, many of their schematics have likely either been lost or stolen. I’ve heard rumors the owners designed a safe house in the facility. I’d like you to investigate, and if you can find any schematics, and return them, we’ll... we'll agree to supply you with some of the recruit-standard weapons from our storage. ONLY if you return the schematics."

I nodded, looking back at Twintails, who just shrugged. “Fair enough. We’ll go see if we can find anything.” We turned to leave, Nova trotting ahead of us to see us out. We were climbing up the first flight of stairs as Twintails groaned a bit. “Ugh, I wish we didn’t walk all the way here just to walk right back...”

I nudged Nova, wearing a smirk and looking back at Twintails. “Say, did I ever show you what this baby can do with a generator?” I smirked, tapping my horn. She immediately brightened up and led us to the testing room, Twintails' head dropping as he let off a groan. C'mon, a little bit of high-voltage electricity never hurt anypony!

---

“All wired up?” She asked, flicking some switches to a portable generator. I nodded, Twintails huddled close to me, grumbling. Nova glanced down at the paper measuring my brain waves. “This is so cooooool! According to this, you shouldn’t be able to consciously function right now!” She squealed a bit. “You guys better come back soon! I wanna see what happens when you’re hooked up to a nuclear reactor!” I chuckled a bit as my horn started to warm up. There was a flash of blue light, and I found myself underneath Twintails in front of the R&G factory.

Twintails shook his head a bit, wobbling as he stood up. “I’m never going to get used to that...” I stood myself up, picking Ivan up from off the ground as we turned to face the building, the rusted letters and dark, dilapidated street not exactly creating an inviting atmosphere. “Well, let’s see what we can find. Hopefully it's not too deep in, this place is seriously giving me the creeps...” We trotted into the factory, the walls protecting us from the biting wind. Unlike the old RobronCo facility, the factory looked much more designed for the building of hardware or basic mechanics. What kind of schematics did the Elder expect to find here?

I walked to a broken door labeled “Authorized Personnel Only”. Pushing on it gently, the door fell completely off of its hinges, creating a cloud of dust as it slammed to the ground. Jeez, that's the second time that's happened to me... Behind the door were a few cubicles, a large cockroach crawling out from under one of the desks. Oh, this is going to be gross. I levitated out my well-worn Plasma pistol, quickly firing a few shots at the bug. The first burst of energy knocked it on its back, allowing the second to pierce through its softer underbelly. I made a couple retching noises as bug guts spilled onto the floor, Twintails following me through, putting a hoof up to his mouth to stop himself from losing his lunch. Oh, why can't they all just melt all the time...

We trotted through the cubicles, checking the filing cabinets and desks for any clues. Finding nothing, we headed upstairs, being greeted by more old, dilapidated offices. Twintails finished off a pair of roaches with his pistol - thanks for the tinnitus, Twintails - as I opened the door to what looked like an executive’s office. “Huh, maybe in h-eep!” I leapt back in surprise, finding a skeleton lying in the center of the room. It didn’t possess any bones suggesting a horn or wings, and it looked as if it was clutching a Holotape in an outstretched hoof. I gingerly removed it as Twintails trotted up behind me.

“Minty, what's wrong!? Are you... who the heck is that?” He asked, moving up to the lone skeleton, poking at the bridge of the nose on the skull. He jumped a bit as it fell over, making the room fill with bones rattling. “Ah... you think it was the original owner, or something?” I shrugged, allowing the Holotape to download onto my Pip-leg. An audio file appeared, and I let it play. The voice was... distinctly not pony in origin, a heavy, foregin accent sticking to it. I knew I've heard that diction before...

“Agent 014, your objective is to locate and retrieve weapon schematics held by the R&G company. This holotape contains the password to one of the owner’s computer’s. Download the information and return to base. The will of the people be with you.” My eyes burst wide open, memories of days in the Stable's school rushing into my mind - the posters, the scary stories on Nightmare Night, the videos, the audio recordings... and now this. This confirmed everything.

Goddesses above, I -hate- zebras.

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