Edit: How stupid of me. Thanks to ProtheanBrony for proofreading.
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“You’re sure you want to do this Scarlet?” Applejack asked in Braeburn’s room.
“Gee Applejack, are you always so paranoid?” Scarlet stated while removing a few things from her bag. “Before you answer that, yes I’m sure I want to take simple walk through the desert. I’m just going to scout out the land. It’s not like I’m about to walk into a dust storm that could rip my skin off.” Applejack looked at Scarlet with a bewildered look at such a statement. Scarlet waved her hand to dismiss the example, “Forget about that statement. I’ve traveled a lot throughout the Wasteland, and fought things that would normally kill a person. I can take care of myself.” She finished organizing her bag and strapped it across her back. “Now I’m going to leave a few of my things here, so please don’t mess with them. I’ll be following the river upstream, and I’ll be back some time when the sun is setting.”
“That’s a long time for a simple walk through the desert.”
“I like to take time strolling through the sand, picking up any shiny object along the way,” Scarlet sarcastically said. In a more serious tone, “When I was up on the hill overlooking Appleloosa, I saw some towering rock formation that was near the river. That’s my destination, and it’s going to take some time to walk up there, look around and come back.”
“And you think you’ll find the source of the radiation up there?”
“Maybe, maybe not; I’m going on a hunch here. Besides, I need the exercise.” Scarlet made her way downstairs with Applejack closely following her.
“You sure you don’t need anypony to help guide you, just in case you get lost?”
“No, I don’t need anybody…or anypony’s help. I’m mostly going to stay near the river, and it’s kind of hard to lose track of a river.” The two of them passed by the kitchen and Scarlet overheard Braeburn and Strongheart talking about a pegasus (whatever that was.) “Look Applejack, I know you’re worrying about what I might do out there. But rest assured, I’ll try to remain out of sight and only use non-lethal attacks when it is necessary.” Scarlet opened the front door and finally said, “Like I said, I’ll be back some time before the sun fully sets.”
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“What do you mean you are unable to sell any of your apples,” the angry earth pony yelled. “I’m almost out and I need to restock!”
“Sorry Backlog, but due to a sickness in the trees and apples, we can’t sell any apples until we can cure them,” Braeburn said.
“I’m also sure the rest of the Apple family, including myself, will be more than happy to sell you apples when you run out,” Applejack said. “I'll even throw in a discount.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” Backlog said. He let out a small agitated sigh, “I guess I’ll put an order out for the next supply run on the train.” He reached under the counter and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. “Now unless both of you are about to buy something, I think we’re done here.” He grabbed the pencil with his month and began to write, ignoring Applejack and Braeburn.
As the two left the general store, Applejack let out a small, annoyed grunt. “Is he always like this?”
“Only when business is bad,” Braeburn answered. “He’s really a nice fella, and like most settlers wanted to make a name for himself. Plus he does manage to make sure that every store has its entire inventory in stock. He’s very organized and extremely busy.”
“Sounds almost like Twilight.” Both of them let a small round of chuckles.
Then a voice spoke out, “Are you Applejack?” They both turned around to see a lime green unicorn wearing a white coat, and he was levitating a scroll in the air.
“Yes,” AJ answered.
“I have a letter for you from Canterlot, and apparently you need to read it immediately.”
“How could a letter from Canterlot gotten here so fast?”
“By usage of the Emergency Magical Letter Spell; it’s a spell given to talented unicorn so that outer most towns can send messages to Canterlot in case of trouble. It can also work in reverse as well.” He floated the scroll to Applejack, which she took. “Now, I bid you two farewell and have a nice day.” The unicorn turned and walked away.
“You too Doc,” Braeburn called out. He looked at Applejack who was already opening the letter. “What does it say?”
Dear Applejack,
I have received your letter about your apple field and the human Scarlet. And with a heavy heart, I can tell you I that know about the energy source known as radiation. Now we do need Scarlet’s help in getting rid of it, but I want to meet with her first before any of you try to find the source of the radiation. I should be in Appleloosa in about three hours after you get this letter.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia.
Applejack lowered the letter, “Well it seems Princess Celestia is coming to Appleloosa to help with our apple problem, and she wants to meet with Scarlet. She said she’ll be here in about three hours.”
“Celestia is coming here?!”
“Eeyup,” Applejack answered with a small chuckle to Braeburn’s sudden shock and surprised of the news. “Now I think we should try to find Scarlet before….,” then something hit AJ’s mind. She looked back the letter and re-read the first part. “Now how in world did she know that?”
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Scarlet walked in a nice fast pace, and she took a sip out of her Vault 13 canteen, keeping an eye out for anything that looked suspicious. She been walking for about an hour and the apple field was getting to be part of the horizon behind her. She had no idea how much longer it would be till she reach the rock formation, nor what she would find up there. She took a glance at her Pip-boy and noticed she had a visitor.
“So you’re the infamous Scarlet,” a male voice spoke out.
Scarlet quickly drew Lucky and spun around to see another griffon. Its fur color was a gray with some black mixed in. “It seems you have me at a disadvantage with names,” she replied.
The griffon smiled slightly, “My name is Beta, human.”
Scarlet narrowed her eyes, “I see. Let make a guess, you want to take me to your master?”
“Oh, we have smart one don’t we? How did you come to that conclusion?”
“Easy, there are only four creatures who know what race I belong to. Three of them I told myself, the other one wanted to drag me to his master. Add to the fact the other one was the same creature as you also helps.”
“Ah yes, Stromwing and his crew. It was just supposed to be a simple mission; however, it ended up being the end of their lives.”
“And yours too, apparently.” Scarlet fired a round right at Beta’s head. However, the bullet bounced off a sickly green dome that suddenly appeared around Beta.
Beta grin devilishly, “You thought my master would send me and make the same mistake twice? You know nothing of the type of power we can hold.” There was a green aura coming out of Beta’s body and he dragged a single claw in a half circle forward. Several hand sized rocks in the area started glowing with the same green color and floated several feet in the air. Soon they were positioned around Scarlet and Beta said, “Now surrender.”
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Fallout New Vegas is copyrighted Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks.
MLP: Friendship is Magic is copyright to Hasbro.
All characters that belong to their companies are rightfully theirs. This writing is for fun and nothing else.