Three weeks after first getting into Appaloosa, Pickaxe and her team were ready to begin their travels into the wasteland. The sun had barely come up, yet the group had already been awake for nearly two hours, packing and making some final arrangements. By the town's front gate a wagon was being hooked up to two of the Applejack's Rangers, both wearing their signature power armor. They would be the ones pulling it, taking full advantage of the armor’s strength boost. In the wagon was all of the team’s equipment; food, medicine, surveying equipment, sample containers, sketchbooks, and digging and excavating tools. Sitting on the wagon was Crystal Spell, who would also be riding in it while the rest of the crew walked. She was leaning against a large wooden box marked with the pink and yellow Followers cross, scrubbing off and shining the weapon she had bought the previous day. In her hooves was a large scoped revolver, similar in type to LittlePip’s signature weapon. That model had become fairly popular in the years since the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, no doubt thanks to its prominent place in the Book of LittlePip, which was standard reading for school children all over Equestria.

Crystal had the radio on and tuned into DJ-Pon3’s channel.

You’re listening to DJ-Pon3. Here’s the news. Weather: Bright and Sunny, but watch out for freak lightning storms in the areas around the Everfree Forest. In other news a gang of slavers north of New Stalliongrad has been wiped out in a battle with NCR Military forces. When asked about it, NCR General Olive said that it was a massive victory for the forces of good in Equestria. Now back to the music. Here’s a classic covered by that beloved duo, Velvet Remedy singing together with Calamity, talkin’ about the roads we all have to walk.

Some roads are straight and narrow,

Some paths are high and steep,

Some ways are slow and heavy,

Some tracks are dark and deep,

But this trail is the one I follow,

No matter where it leads,

And I know I’ll never wander...as long as I heed

“Do you think it’s the same DJ-Pon3?” Pickaxe said.

“What? Same as what?” Pickaxe had snuck up on Crystal while she intently cleaned her new gun.

“Same one who LittlePip was friends with.”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know. Maybe? it was only about 25 years ago. She could easily still be alive.”

“Yeah, but how old was she before she met the Lightbringer?”

“Hey Pickaxe, can you help me with a few of these boxes?” Cloud Runner flew over carrying a metal box with the Applejack’s Rangers logo on the side. “There is still a pile of gear we haven’t packed outside the general store.”

“Hey Cloud, what do you think? Is it the same DJ-Pon3 who knew LittlePip?”

“I really couldn’t say. Every DJ-Pon3 has always sounded the same. Even if there was a new one we wouldn't be able to tell. Given that, I don’t really think it matters if she is the same as the old one or not. Now come help me pack this gear.” Pickaxe fell into step besides the pegasus and the two started walking over to the general store located across the town square from where their wagon was.

“Why do you say it doesn’t matter? It’s a part of history, and history matters. If it’s the same one there would be so many questions I could ask her. If not, then an incredible person in the history of Equestria is gone and we should know. If you argue that history doesn’t matter then why’d you become an archeologist?”

“I’m not saying history doesn’t matter. I’m saying that you shouldn’t worry about certain things that you can never find the answer to. We will never know whether it’s the same Pon3 that the Lightbringer knew, and you will never be able to speak with her. I became an archaeologist so that I could find out the answers to questions of history that can be answered. Questions that actually matter.”

“Ugh! Philosophy this early in the morning? We haven’t even eaten breakfast yet! You guys really need to take a chill pill.” Cherry was coming out of the town apothecary carrying a bag of... something. Whatever it was was moving.

“What is that?” Cloud and Pickaxe said in unison upon seeing the strange wriggling bag.

“Just a baby bloatsprite. Don’t worry, it’ll die pretty soon. Baby bloatsprite stingers are just scrumptious when mixed with a little bit of radigator blood and pan fried. They make a great snack for the road.”

“But why’d you have to get a live one?”

“Seriously? Everyone know that bloatsprite stingers are best when they’re cooked fresh!”

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Expedition to Stable 34, Day 23, 30th day of the 3rd moon, 24 ASR

Finally got on the trail today. Day started off pretty simply. We got up a few hours before sunrise to pack all of our gear. We hooked up two of the Applejack’s Rangers to pull our wagon--Silver Luster and Thunder Gun I think? Couldn't really tell from behind the power armor. Cherry cooked us some snacks for the road and we left town just as the sun was rose.

Not ten minutes out of town we ran into our first radscorpion. Pearly quickly dispatched it with his Plasma Defender, but it still isn’t a good sign. We might be needing our metal-clad companions for more than taking out raiders afterall.

The rest of the day went as expected. We made good time, making it about a third of the way to the Macintosh Hills. Tomorrow might present some challenges however. CR flew ahead and told us that the semi-paved pre-war road we have been following completely disappears. That’s bound to slow us down. Add that to the increased numbers of varmint we are likely going to see, and I expect to only cover about half our planned distance per day. Luckily we brought more than enough food and water, so we should be fine in that regard.

We are currently camped out under a rock outcropping. The Rangers will be taking turns doing patrols throughout the night, so we should be safe. But just incase, I’m going to be sleeping with a power hoof on.

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Expedition to Stable 34, Day 26, 2nd day of the 4th moon, 24 ASR

The last few days haven’t been nearly as bad as I thought they were going to be. We have definitely been going slower than that first day, but overall our pace hasn’t been too bad. We have been running into radscorpions at a pace of about one or two an hour, but we have plenty of firepower to take care of them,

Today we also got a glimpse of what Cherry did to her Magical Energy Blaster. It now fires 3 beams instead of its original 1, and I’m pretty sure she boosted the power output per beam as well. Even Pearly’s impressed by the punch that little thing packs.

We haven’t seen any raiders yet, and I’m starting to believe the rumors of them being active around here are false. We still have quite a ways to go, but so far things are looking good in that department.

For tonight we’re sleeping in a cave we found. It doesn’t look like anything lives in here, but we have two Rangers on lookout duty tonight just incase.

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Expedition to Stable 34, Day 27, 3rd day of the 4th moon, 24 ASR

It’s raining. It’s Celestia-damned raining. What the fuck. The weather forecast was clear skies for the next 4 months. We knew we were going out of range of the SPP towers and the weather would start getting sporadic, but we should have been well into the San Palomino desert before that started happening.

To add to the problem, we can’t pick up any radio signals. Cloud tried flying a few of our radios up above the clouds and they still didn’t work. We can’t even pick up Pon-3’s channel in order to get the news and find out what the hell is happening!

But by far the weirdest part of this is how the Rangers are acting. While me, Crystal, CR, and Cherry are freaking out, they act like nothings wrong. Of course if we talk to them about the rain they will recognize that it’s different, but to me it seems like they expected this. When I asked them about it, they said they had no idea what I was talking about, and that they were just as perplexed as we are. I think they know something about what’s going on and aren’t telling us.

Until the rain stops we have no choice but to stay in this cave. For once the Rangers aren’t rushing us and agree we need to hunker down until the storm passes. They say it’s because they don’t want to run into any freak floods, but I think they just don’t want any of their fancy tech to get wet.

Hope this storm ends soon. The rain tends to bring out the worst creatures.

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Expedition to Stable 34, Day 28, 4th day of the 4th moon, 24 ASR

It’s still raining.

As long as I have nothing else to talk about (or do) might as well tell you a little bit about the device currently in my hooves. I’ll be talking about it a lot, so might as well get the explanation over now.

This device is probably the most useful tool I currently have. It’s a PipBuck 2000. A PipBuck is given to the head of every Followers expedition in order to keep track of things, record events, and generally make the expedition’s life a whole lot easier. You probably know about PipBucks thanks to the Book of LittlePip, but you likely don’t know much about the one I’m currently holding. This one is an older model with less capabilities than the model 3000 LittlePip wore. It isn’t a device worn on your leg but instead is a little box with a screen on front that you have to carry around. I keep it in a little pouch I wear around my neck. Being an older model, it doesn't have some of the more well known features, like Stable Assisted Targeting, inventory manipulation, or Eyes Forward Sparkle, but it does have the mapping capabilities, can store a crap-load of data, and will help me hack into any terminal that we find. And yes, it can even be made to glow like a lamp. I have been using it to write these journal entries on, and we will be using it constantly.

I hope this rain stops soon. I don’t know how long my sanity will last cooped up in here.