(Note: So after meeting the Underground Railroad, can ya guess where Blitz and Capper are going next? We're gonna follow along one of Fallout 4's more prestigious storylines (as in it is my favorite DLC by far of the series). Let's see what happens :D )

Chapter 7 Far From Home

"Hold up now y'all," Capper went in with his hands raised in surrender, like that was going to get us anywhere. "We didn't come here to do any harm."

A bullet rang out through the air, pinging off something near Capper's feet. "Don't take another step," said a very light purple pony, her pigment so soft she was almost white. Her mane was flipped over and a soft umbrae purple.

"We're only here because we heard there was a problem with a synth," I stated. I didn't dare take a step though, I knew they were being serious.

"Problem?" Othello stepped forward, his cream colored fur thicker and rippling. "Synths aren't the problem."

"We're just here to help," said Capper, trying to calm him down. "Blitz didn't mean anything by it."

"Help with what," said the last pony, one who was so white he looked albino, and his mane was so shiny it looked almost fake.

Capper reached into his satchel and pawed off a couple documents to Othello. "This here is what I call a scam, and I think y'all might know a thing or two about it." Othello read through the papers with quickly widening eyes.

"Tiger!" he snapped and the purple maned one turned to salute.

"Yessir?"

"How did this information leave the compound?"

"It didn't," Capper told them, "I have an inside source. She got the scoop on your digs, so mind tellin' me what you folks are up to?"

"Beacon, let's bring em in." Othello nodded to the albino.

Suddenly, I had a gun pressed to my haunches. "Hey, what's the meaning of this? Get your hooves off me!" I cried out but they didn't listen. Next thing I knew we were in some sort of glorified pit for a command center. The burial chambers had been resurrected into something new, a makeshift bunker. In the very center of it all was a huge fountain, deactivated now, with wooden planks to cover the hole and make a command table. All around there were ponies hard at work, scientists on old versions of terminals hacking away on their research, weapons crafters at the smith melting down metals into guns or relic swords. It was a picture book in here, like looking back into a time long since past.

"Tiger, why don't you do the debriefing?" Othello commanded his youngest officer. I mena, you had to admit the mare was hot, but I wouldn't go getting the hots for her for the sake of hearts in my eyes. Besides I had eyes for only one creature, and I think I had to come clean sooner rather than later, but that was for a different time.

"Right away, sir." she looked toward us and set down a small roundish device in the center of the well. On came a holographic projection depicting a synth, then a large house on the edge of the sea, the tides lapping at the docks where a huge boat house sat, ships anchored at the harbor.

"What is this?" I asked, waving a hoof through it.

"Powerful ritualistic spellcasting founded by Starswirl the Bearded himself, and improved upon by our very own Dino," Beacon informed us, lifting a hoof to indicate the stallion in question. Over in his small corner of the HQ was a small unicorn who looked like a mad scientist. His mane was poofy and he wore goggles over his eyes. A blowtorch was busy causing sparks to fly.

"This here is the home of two deer ponies, the stag is named Bingo Nakano, the doe is named Ray Nakano. They are the parents of one young fawn, a doe named Mist Haze. They have reported her missing and it has been over a week. Bingo states that their daughter had been going through some rough times, and had been in contact with somepony over the radio. She took the family boat once belonging to the grandstag, and has not returned home since." Tiger explained, then flipped her view back onto us.

"Tell me," Capper rolled his wrist, "Do they know who she's been in contact with?"

"No, just that maybe her notes will lead you to the answer." Tiger said.

"Wait, us?" I asked, "But I thought you were against us."

"Not if you're here to help," said Othello.

"Oh, you got that right. Ya see, my name's Capper, and I'm from the Detective Agency down in Double Diamond City. The mayor sent me personally."

"While we have no connection to this city or this mayor of yours," Othello said, "you do seem to have a qualifying resume, and we would like to recruit you into helping this family."

"We'll do all we can. When do we leave?"

"As soon as you can!" Beacon jumped into the air, excited.

"Then let's hop to it," said Capper, and I knew it was because he liked to pounce on his prey, and carry his dead rabbits to his master to please him. But that was a whole 'nother ball park and I was not hopping aboard that bandwagon.

The sands of the east coast beaches were horrendous and cold. There was black glop in the dunes and green froth on the sea. Every few miles there were new horrors to behold, such as the dead rotting corpses of expired Harbor Lurks laying about like discarded trash. Then we finally made it, to the house in the hologram. The lights inside were flickering and on. We could hear two people arguing inside.

Capper slunk to the side of the hovel, were leaning against the doorframe, he held up a small gun, one I hadn't seen in a long time because it was so old, even the newer 10mm was better. He held onto a 9 mil, its black frame dusty with use. "What are you looking at hotshot? I bust this out myself, it's got that old cat-o-nine-tails ring to it thanks to me."

I nodded, "Yeah, right. I'd love to see that. Besides, why are you holding onto it anyway?"

"He, my compadre, is not an it. He is named Lugnut and he has two brothers, but they were lost on an island that I'm getting a sinking feeling these two know about."

"Interesting…" I nodded. "Ok, but no shooting big guy."

"Not to worry," he winked and put the gun away. He knocked a few times on the door and the chatter inside died down.

"Come in!" called Ray, her voice high pitched and heavily accented. The 'in' sounded like een.

"Just turning the TV off now!" the old man, Bingo, sounded similar but deeper, his 'just' like juice and his off like oaf.

I opened the door, and it must've been upkept well because the hinges didn't squeak at all. "Hello, we're from the Capper Detective Agency, we're here to inquire about your daughter?"

The couple stood by the antique table, one staring out the window and the other staring at an old family photo hanging on the wall, depicting a family of four, an old buck, the young stag and his doe wife, and their fawn daughter. I examined the deers, as I had never seen them and had thought they'd gone extinct way back before my time. I guess not.

I did notice the couple had some blemishes on their once snow soft fur. The father was mostly white with a couple large black spots, but those weren't the rough patches. Bingo had a large amount of red marks that looked like raised flesh, burned and tinged with green glowing sores. Similar with Ray, but she was a lavender charm color, soft and subtle yet rich and tasteful. Her cutie mark was visible, whereas Bingo's was covered by his scars. She had a wonderful misty formation that encircled her flank in a fresh breeze. It even moved which I had never thought possible! I had never seen a deer pony, and I didn't know they had cutie marks let alone moving cutie marks, but I did know one thing.

"Radstags!" Capper and I both breathed at the same time.

"Yes, it's true," Ray began, sitting down and inviting us to join for dinner. "We are only alive today because of the poison the radiation has caused us. We are mutated, no better off than ghouls, however, we don't have many of the nasty side effects."

"Our daughter, she has left us. Ran off into the ocean like a regular old Moana." Bingo painted a picture in the air beautifully and it made me wonder what his hidden cutie mark might be, his special talent.

"I heard on her radio, the sounds of song on sunrise," stated Ray, "and it sounded dark. Strange ponies on the other side, beckoning our daughter to them."

"We didn't think anything of it," Bingo shook his head and put his hooves on his head, rubbing the spot between his magnificent antlers. "Not for awhile. But then she began to abandon all her projects. She turned her attention on her grandstag's words and on fixing up my old fishing barge."

"If you could just find out why," sobbed her mother, "Bingo can patch up the old Sea Captain, our ferry, and bring you to where we think she went."

"And, where might that be?" Capper put one claw tip on the tabletop.

"Cumber Harbor." Ray said and I could almost hear the dun dun dun music in the background.

"Oh, that's just an old soap on the radio, forgot to turn it off," said old buck Bingo. He got up to go fix that, while Ray continued.

"Her radio's upstairs, in her room. I'm sure you can also find a lot of her memory orbs lying around too, her notes."

"Oh colt," I facehooved.

OOO

"I say I'm for it," said Capper. "I've never been in somepony else's horseshoes, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean old friend. Let's just get this over with." I sighed and lifted the sphere so we could both touch it.

We sat in a small wooden room, a red sofa pressed against the wall just behind us. We were in the body of Mist Haze. On the sofa was an old pony, a long white beard, and his antlers going softly from brown to white. Young Mist looked up at her grandstag. "Grandstag Whist, what was sailing like? You know, before the war?"

The old buck chuckled and stroked his beard, "Why young lady, back in my day you'd trade your hat for a chance to feel your fur in the cold sea breeze of a nice sail." He raised his hooves and whooshed them through the air to improvise water waves, "It was the real deal, sweetheart."

"Did you ever get sprayed by the ocean, grandstag?" giggled young Mist, making Capper and I feel the happiness of a young foal.

"Oh, everyday, you scallywag!" he picked us up and set us in his lap. He grabbed a picture book from it's place on the nightstand and opened it up to page one. "She, this here's me, on my first ever vessel. Every stag marks the day when he earns his sealegs. I was in the Canterlot Navy I was."

"Whoa!" gasped the little doe, "What was that like?!"

"I was a ship's mechanic, in fact, the forestallion as they put it." he lifted a hoof and tapped it against his knee like a hammer, "I supervised over 15 stallions on that tub, and we were a jolly ol' crew. We worked endlessly to keep that boat ship shape. There's nothing like getting your back into a hard day's work."

"You sure did earn your keep mister," Mist, we, tapped on our grandstag's chest playfully a few times.

"We sure did," he beamed down at his grandfoal, proud of us. "You know what keeps me keeping on young lady?"

"No, what?" she looked up at him with bright wide eyes, so excited for what's to come next that we couldn't see it hittin' us like a ton of rocks.

"Working on that old barge with your Papa keeping me going another day," he chuckled, "keeping me sane. Just know, I'll always love you." that's when he started coughing and we was coughing up blood.

"Oh no, Grandstag!" Mist Haze cried out, her round crystal blue eyes frightened for her grandstag. "Whist!" she jumped up, cream fur ruffling, and she ran out the door to find her parents.

Everything went black and Capper and I were back to business in the foal's room. I glanced at him, he had his arm over his belly like he was going to puke. "Everything okay?" I asked, taking a step toward him.

"Whoa, back it up now," he coughed, "hairball!" and out it came. He wasn't kidding. How did cats manage to get all that down their throats?

"How was it for your first time in then?" I snorted.

"Don't make fun of me," he put a paw up, looking to cough up more crap, "it was a very interesting ride. Not sure I wanna be forced down onto all fours again though, unless it's in the bedroom."

"Sounds good," I grinned like a foal. Still wondering when the perfect time would be to tell this puss I loved him. I was blushing again, my cheeks were very warm. But Capper was too preoccupied to notice. I didn't realize till later but Capper noticed, he was just too aroused and polite to say anything at the time.

He straightened himself up. "So now we know why she went, motive, and the how, that barge, means, but we still don't gotta a clue as ta where she went."

"Well, we do have a radio." I gestured toward it.

"Great!"

"zz-Come in mainland. This is an S.O.S., we need help immediately. Our shores have been overrun by mutants and we're running low on ammo. Bring all the firepower you got, we're gonna need it if we wanna get to those defoggers. Out-zz. This message is set to repeat."

"Well buck," I kicked some dust up with the tip of my hoof.

Capper put his paw on the radio dial, "Let's see if she tuned into anything else." he turned it and for a moment it was only the buzz of static, then a voice came through.

"This is Achilles of Acadia. We have food, water and shelter here. This is a synth refuge. If you can hear my call, you're in luck. Come to Cumber, we will guide you. Achilles out. THIS MESSAGE IS SET TO REPEAT."

Capper lowered his paw, and his face was in shock. "What is it?" I asked him, taking a step toward him. He slashed out, and the radio fell, "Oh, Faust. I apologize," he was still attempting to smooth talk but I could hear it in his voice, he was shaky.

"Who is that?" I glanced at the radio, now smashed on the floor.

"He's my brother."

The couple came running upstairs, "What was that? We heard something fall." Ray had worry written all over her features.

"Just a radio," I assured them. "Nothing serious."

"Do you have any leads?" asked Bingo, scratching his antler.

"Why yes, in fact we do. But we're gonna need a boat, if you don't mind." said Capper with one finger raised.

Bingo led us to the docks, smiling. "Dontcha worry. I have my old rig from back when I was a boy and it was my pa showing me the waters." we stepped aboard a large ferry, one that had a powerful propellor engine.

"You don't mind if we take her for a spin?" asked Capper.

"No, not at all," smiled the old sea captain. "Not if it means getting my daughter back safe and sound."

"Even if it means you'll be getting a synth back?" I asked the old stag.

"There's no way in tartarus she's a synth," he said. "Now you two have a safe journey. I expect I'll be seeing you soon."

"This is gonna take us to Cumber?" Capper looked about, inspecting the deck.

"Back in my day it was called Cumberland Island. Pa used to take me and my siblings there all the time for fresh catches and delectable produce. The market was wonderful this time of year. I suspect it won't be as so when you arrive I'm afraid." the deer pony looked down at his cloven hooves.

"Deer!" called Ray, "Tea's on. I have dinner almost ready and soups boiling. Why don't you let the fine detectives do their job?"

"I'll be seeing you," nodded Bingo and we parted ways.

Into new territory, one I'd never known could be possible. I didn't even know we still had operable boats, but I suppose if vertiherds were still flying then so were seabearing vessels, so to speak. Did boats swim? I don't know but I suppose I should go see what Capper was doing in the control room. He was at the wheel, and it was literally a big spired thing. The helm, and I suppose he felt he was a captain. He was even wearing a pirate hat though I don't know where he got it.

"Where'd you get that?" I pointed at the hat.

"What, this old thing? Just a tricorne, or cocked hat," he winked at me.

"But it's a pirate's hat, won't that send the wrong message to whoever we meet?" I pursed my lips, which was actually rather difficult with a muzzle now that I thought about it.

"Pirate?!" he guffawed, "No, no, no. You're a treasure hunter aren't you?"

"Um. Yeah?"

"I prefer the term "Swashbuckling Treasure Hunter," don't you?"

"Sure, whatever you say old pal." I nodded. Sometimes I just needed a break from his general ramblings.

"Look, land ho!" he pointed and we both smiled. I guess now was not the time for a break and that was just fine with me. I think I was starting to get a little seasick anyway.

We pulled up in the docks to a dark and damp seaport. There was a small haze shrouding everything and I could just barely make out the lights poking through the shadows. "Is…is that a town?" I squinted my eyes but couldn't tell.

"I think so. Come on, we should check it out." Capper waved me on and we hopped off the ship.

"Ah ah, I don't think so." on the planks of the dock we came face to face with a mare wearing a bandana, white button up and black vest and pointing a sword in our faces.

"Quite the welcoming party," said Capper, holding up is paws.

"Who are you?" asked the mare.

"I might ask the same of you," I planted a hoof forward, taking a defensive stance.

"I'm Captain Aviary. We don't get many visitors around here and we're in the middle of a crisis. You aren't here to add to that are you?"

"Nope, we're just here searching for a young mare from the Commonwealth, Mist Haze." I told her. "And to possibly get a drink."

"Well you're far from home, aren't ya? We do have drinks but the pub isn't open right now," she nodded and lowered her weapon. "Listen, I can help you out if you help me."

"What's the trouble, Aviary?" Capper smirked.

"We've been having problems with the defoggers. They're the only things keeping the fog, radiation, and creepy crawlies away." she sheathed her blade and turned to lead us into the town. We walked up the stairs, and past a huge sign stating the name of this place, "CUMBER ISLAND," however, the name was blown off halfway through, and it was impossible to see what came right after Cumber. Up ahead was a box office looking housing, perhaps the ticket booth for tourists visiting back before the megaspells.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" called a stallion, running up and stopping Aviary in her tracks. "Who's this? What are they doing on the docks?"

"Allen, these aren't your docks, these are the entire town's." said Aviary with a heavy huff of breath, like she'd told him a million times. "They're here to help."

"Oh great, oh yeah." he turned his fiery gaze on us, "Listen here, we don't need or want your help, so why don't you just get back on your little ship and get lost!"

"What's this guys' problem?" I said behind a hoof to Capper.

Ring a ling ring! Ring a ling ring! Bells sounded far off, some sort of alarm system and somepony yelled, "There's something coming through the fog!"

"Follow me, if you help, it'll be much appreciated." Aviary turned to go. I lifted my weapons and checked my inventory on my Pip-Buck.

"Um, Cap, we've got a problem here."

"Same with me."

"I'm running dangerously low on ammo and I have no idea what we're dealing with." I told him. We were running and talking.

"I guess we can restock once we stop these things," Capper said.

We made it to the Hull, looking over the railings and seeing ponies running to the gates, "Open the gates! I've got more Mariners down here."

"There's no time," Aviary shouted, "You've gotta hold your own until we can kill these things!"

"Will do!"

"Are you sure you saw something?" somepony asked aloud.

"Oh shut up," a mare rebutted.

That's when I saw it and on my EFS it was labelled Gulper and Young Gulper. What in tartarus that was I had no clue. It looked somewhat like a lizard, but it was coming straight for us and swiping anything it saw out of the way. Including cars. "What the buck?" I gulped. I suppose that's why they called it a Gulper. I raised my revolver, checking the ammo and it read 6/23. I was screwed but at least it was down there and I was up here. But those Mariners, whoever they were, were trapped down there with them.

I fired off a couple rounds, but my most powerful weapon, ranging at 55 damage per shot, barely put a dent in the thing's HP. Either it had a lot of Hit Points or it was one tough cookie. "Capper, I'm going down there."

"What?" he shook his head, looking concerned.

"Somepony has to do something."

"Good luck," he told me.

"Don't need it," I said as I put my legs over the railing and leapt. I landed and rolled to take away the force of impact. I ran straight into one of the beasts, towering over me and roaring, and it really did look like a salamander. "Say goodnight," I shot it 5 times in the crotch and it yelled, covering itself as I slid underneath it and ended up behind.

"There's more coming in from the East and West!" cried the mare. Shots rang out all around, ponies desperately trying to stay alive.

"Eyes on the Hull," cried Aviary, and swiping away a white bang, she tossed a grenade. I jumped to the side, just narrowly avoiding the impact of the explosion.

The Gulpers were dead, but something else was coming. I saw bobbing lights, not entirely sure what I was looking at. It came at me though, looking like a big giant fish with large sharp teeth and a weird lantern hanging above its head. I fired at it and it seemed to do nothing. Instead, it reached for a defogger and sucked in some air, I could see the vapor going into its dreadful mouth. Then it turned to me, looking pleased with itself. "What the hell," I said slowly. It spewed fire like a flamethrower, turning radiation into arcana burst in five seconds flat. "Fuck!" I yelled and ran for it.

A Mariner helped fight it off, keeping it at bay until I reared my weapon and fired, shooting the lantern clean off its oversized appendage. It roared, a dangerous sound, and most of us covered our ears. For those that didn't they bled out from every opening in their body and they fell flat on their faces, dead. But that was all the Angler had left, because it too fell down, slain. Nothing else was coming, at least by the looks on everypony's faces. "Open the gate!" called Aviary.

We trudged into the town marketplace, seeing a fish shop nearby and a large tavern a little ways off at the very edge of town, with a many number of other shops in between. This didn't even reach the residential district. "Welcome to Far Cumber," said Aviary, walking up to me, her hooves clacking crisply against the wooden planks we stood on.

"Thanks," I said, a bit confused. It had all happened so fast.

"For your help, you've earned this." she nodded and placed a large coin purse in my open hoof. My EFS gave me a message in the upper left corner: [Bottlecap (275) added]. "I recommend grabbing yourself a harpoon gun before hitting the road. Or if you like faster weapons, I'd go for the radium rifle myself." she nodded and gave me a smile, showing off the smile lines near her eyes.

"You've got a lot to smile about if you look like that," I pointed out her cheery features.

"Well, yes. I'm pretty much glorified mayor of this place. But alas, not too long ago we had better control of this island. Now little by little those monsters are taking over. I'm not sure how much longer we can last behind these gates. But maybe with you and your friend's help, we can finally find a way to fix all this." she left me with that and I continued on to find Capper slinking his way toward the bar.

"I'm off for a good cup of booze," said the sly cat. "Couldn't hurt after all that."

"Of course not, I wanted one the second we got here," I smiled. All in a day's work.

(Soo, you didn't think I had anymore surprises did ya? Well how bout them radstags? I've always like the concept of deer ponies but why not combine them with Fallout lore and create Radstag characters? Hehe. Anywho, now we know Blitz's true feelings towards Capper, and it's soo cute! I can't resist. Now that we've seen what the island is like first hoof, why not go check out the rest? In the next Chapter! Love ya!

Brohoof /)