//------------------------------// // Chapter 71 // Story: Fallout New Vegas: Unexpected Friends // by Sleepyted //------------------------------// “Not her.” Twilight heard Ulises mutter under his breath as he pulled a staff off her back, a golden eagle shining in the dull light at the top. “You thought you could launch some nukes without me eh?” Anne called out with a cackle. “Me and my boys wanted to join in before the fireworks got started!” “Just leave, we’ll leave once we stop this.” Michelle stated, sadly looking over to her sister. “Don’t think you can just run away like last time. Everything will end here now and I have no intension of dying.” “Maybe we can take turns then settling everything? It looked like Ulises wanted to get his speeches out of the way before you got here.” “Why did they have to be related?” Ulises muttered as he sat down on the stairs of the platform he was on, Twilight trotting over to sit down next to him. “I left the doors unlocked in case I couldn’t kill your friend, but I thought it would just be a few troops, not their leader…” “Trust me when I saw she is very hard to kill, so many people have tried but she keeps on going.” She said before sighing sadly. “You came to the Divide and found a new home right?” “Correct.” The man stated looking down at the princess. “I’ve lost my home as well, I might never see it again and I know the pain you feel inside because of that.” She said. “But that also means that you shouldn’t want this feeling on others… That’s what would happen if you launch them…” “I couldn’t stop them if I tried, I locked it out so they’re going to leave no matter what in a while.” He stated as he pulled up an arm, looking at an old, dirt covered watch on his wrist. “Half an hour or so…” “There would be a way to stop them. But we can’t allow the type of destruction that is here to happen anywhere else.” Twilight explained, looking at the two sisters still arguing loudly. “But that may be a problem.” “She lost her mind when the ground cracked open, there’s no finding it again.” He said. “The Courier won’t be able to end it herself, so you’ll have to do it for her.” He stated as he stood himself up. “I’m leaving, I won’t stop you in trying to stop the rockets, but I’m not staying.” Twilight nodded, looking down at the concrete ground. “Friends can make even the worst pains more bearable, don’t forget that.” He didn’t say anything more, slowly walking away from everything. Twilight’s head snapped back to the two yelling as a gunshot rung out follow by a lot of others, one of the Marked Men getting a bit twitchy and letting one off and scaring everyone else to both run for cover and open fire. A few bullets visibly hit Michelle as she dove for cover, a few holes in the leather trench coat and dints against the armor she wore. Once she was behind cover she pulled off her shotgun, pumping it loudly. Twilight got behind something when a few bullets also whizzed past her, finding an old console to protect herself as she pulled Benny’s pistol off her back and racked the slide back to chamber a round. Peeking around her cover she saw that a lot of the Marked Men were just shoving their guns above cover and firing wildly, hitting nothing of note. A couple were actually aiming but Twilight took a few of her own shots at one man and he went down behind over, limp body sticking out. “Move up you ninnies! There are only two of them!” Anne could be heard yelling, a few moments later before a few of the Men listened and jumped up above their cover, yelling loudly with their shredded vocal chords with their guns firing out. Two went right at the alicorn and she managed to take one down before he arrived but the other got to her and brought his gun around to hit her. Stopping it suddenly with her magic he lost his grip and stumbled to the side, looking in confusion as his marksmen rifle spun around and unloaded the rest of its clip directly into his chest. Michelle had a few more coming at her but she easily took them down with a number of well-placed shotgun shells right into the middle of their chest, although one got over but a stab with her claws right at the flesh of his neck ended that quickly. Michelle took the opportunity to grab the rifle the ghoul had and charge herself forward to more advanced cover to get closer. Resting the barrel on the wall she was hidden behind she took aim and opened fire on one Marked Men who wasn’t quite hidden safely and yelled out in pain as his body fell to the ground. Twilight slid a new clip into her pistol and teleported herself far above, up in the rafters that held the rocky roof up behind the Marked Men. Taking aim she managed to down three of them before they noticed her and she had to get away, teleporting back to where she was before. Michelle jumped up with her shotgun again but just as she went up she was forced back down as a high powered round from her sister tore through her fleshy thigh. “Fuck!” She yelled in pain, clutching the bleeding limb with her hands. “Just come out, make this easy on yourself, we’ll kill you both quickly!” Anne could be heard shouting from behind her cover. Twilight grit her teeth, another empty clip dropping to the ground next to her before clicking yet another one. “Not going to happen!” She yelled, teleporting herself forward to the next cover with a flash. “I’m going to use your horn for a sex aid!” The woman taunted, a bright blush on the princess’s muzzle as her eyes looked up at the bone jutting from her head. “I already use it as mine.” Michelle shot back as she stabbed a stimpak onto her leg to heal up the bullet hole, although she had an empty 9mm clip bounce off her head from a fuming pony. Twilight leaned herself against the cover and grimaced as she felt something hard digging into her back from inside one of her pockets and when she pulled what it was out she saw it was the detonator. A lightbulb went off in her head as she spotted the numerous warheads filling the room and flicked the power on the device. Taking aim she pulled the trigger as the beam of light impacted against a warhead behind her enemies, small bouts of flame to spring from between the plates and soon a deafening roar came out as it went off. Because it was indoors the shockwave was funneled along the room and knocked the wind out of everyone. It was a lot worse for the Marked Men, limbs going past through the air and blood splattering around. Twilight got to her hooves quickly, pistol at the ready as Michelle slowly got to her feet with her hands on her head as she tried to get the ringing out of her ears. The princess spotted movement where the Marked Men were and quickly rushed forward, only finding a twitching corpse of half a ghoul and the groaning body of Anne, both legs missing and large shards of metal jutting from her body as a pool of blood puddled around her. The woman reached out for her large .45-75 caliber revolver, but couldn’t reach it once Twilight picked it up and slid it through a loop on her barding. “R-rot in hell.” The woman growled, blood leaking from her mouth as she glared at the pony. “I hope you find peace…” Twilight said sadly as she brought up the 9mm pistol before rapidly firing thee bullets into the woman’s chest. She let out a wheezing sound as her eyes went wide and body went stiff. And just like that the life left her eyes, soft sigh coming from her mouth as she went limp. Using her hoof she gently closed the woman’s opened eyes, taking a step back. She saw that the woman had Anne’s .45 pistol and undid the holster and pulled it away and put it into her bag. Michelle slowly stumbled over, tears in her eyes before she fell to her knees next to her sister, taking her hand into her own and clutching it to her head as she cried softly. “I’m sorry…” She whispered. Twilight rested her living wing over her friend’s shoulder. “We need to get out of here, there isn’t much time until the nukes launch…” Michelle couldn’t speak, just nodding as she wiped her nose with the back of her arm, slowly getting to her feet as she looked down on the body. “Goodbye…” She said taking a step back. “I’ll try to force the blast doors shut with my magic…” Hopeville burned lightless in the night, invisible fires of radiation scorching it from within and without. It is said a man still walked its streets, with a tattered jacket, an Old World flag etched on the back... He remained there, perhaps as punishment for the scars he left on the wastes - or a reminder of a history he could not forget. For Ulysses... his journey was over. The Courier had been the end of his road. As for the Courier... she turned her back on her home for the second time and made her way back, navigating the treachery of the Divide. Tunnelers and the Marked Men... avoided the twin figures, as if recognizing the Courier's right to passage... or out of fear. The Courier walked until she stood again upon the edge of the Divide, the last road she would walk before the second battle for Hoover Dam. There, beside her feet, was a final package, from one Courier to another - a footlocker, bearing a gift, and a message. But that message - it is something for Couriers to carry, and for them alone. The lights flickered across the Divide, reminders that the Old World histories persist, and find meaning in the present. It said War. War never changes. Women do, through the roads they walk. And this road has reached its end. Twilight and Michelle stood before the footlocker holotape in her hand as she slid it into her pipboy and pressed play. “Last tape, last message. In case... you best me. If you're hearing this, you have, through blood or word. This message, and all that lies with it - it is for you, Courier. If you want to know the... why of things. This world, I've walked a good part of it... I stopped only because of you. What you did - gave me pause. Long ago, I crossed the Colorado, the first among the Legion to see Hoover Dam in all its glory... an Old World wall, yet bridging two sides. And beyond it, a symbol of a two-headed Bear, an idea great enough to challenge Caesar himself. Might kill him, taking it, whether he won or lost. The Bull needs to fight, needs the challenge, without it... it falters, dies in the dust. Might be a lesson there, in you and me. I’ll leave the thought behind the message to you. My message is this - the destruction that has been wrought, at the Divide - or elsewhere, if you couldn't stop me... It can happen again. It will keep happening. If war doesn't change, men must change, and so must their symbols. Even if it is nothing at all, know what you follow, Courier...just as I followed you, to the end. Whatever your symbol...carry it on your back, and wear it proudly when you stand at Hoover Dam.” Michelle reached into the box and pulled out a large duster, turning it around and seeing the flag of the old world painted onto the fabric. “Ready to go home Michelle?” Twilight asked unsurely, her friend looking blanking at the jacket before the landscape of the Mojave. “Yeah… Let’s go…” She said. “But… Just call me Anne.”