“Get it away from me!” Rarity screeched.
“Calm down, it’s just a radroach!” Megan pleaded.
“It’s hideous!” the mare replied, shooting at it with her 10mm.
The woman watched with raised eyebrows as Rarity quite eagerly attempted to murder the giant insect. “Stop wasting ammo!” she yelled over the gunfire. She stepped over to the ‘roach and planted her foot right through its shell, creating a sickening crunch and causing bug guts to coat her boot. Her newly-acquired sniper rifle bounced against her assault rifle.
As Rarity slid a new magazine into her pistol, she shuddered. “How can you not be disgusted by those things?”
“Vault 101 had more than a few ‘roach infestations. One time, I got a bottle of whiskey and an old pilot light.” She smiled as memories of a happier time surfaced. “Those fuckers burned.” She looked up at the ceiling. “There’s more upstairs. This time, actually hit them.”
Rarity huffed and held her snout up. “Well excuse me for panicking. I’ve just never seen anything like those... ‘radroaches’ before.”
“You came from a land that runs on magic and rainbows. How could you not have giant insects?”
“I’m not saying we don’t, just never anything so... horrible.”
“Well, radroaches aren’t the worst. I’ve seen ants as long as I am tall,” the woman explained as she led Rarity through the house, taking care to kill every ‘roach.
“Oh my goodness.” The unicorn brought a hoof to her mouth and gasped as she saw what was on the bed of the main bedroom.
“Oh jeez.” Megan cringed at the sight of two aged skeletons, the bones stained brown from two centuries of dirt or, more likely, decomposing flesh. “At least they died together?” she said unsurely in an attempt to try and make the situation seem better than it was. Her eyes flicked over to the bedside table, where she saw an empty bottle and a Med-X syringe. “And it wasn’t the bombs that killed them, either.”
“What do you mean?” Rarity asked, giving the bed a wide berth.
“They mixed alcohol and painkillers. Died sleeping. Died peacefully.”
“And that wasn’t the last time we saw something like that, either.”
“So a lot of folks went and... offed themselves?”
“It wasn’t like they were going to survive anyway. Better to go like that instead of... well, it would have been a slow death.”
“God, that reeks!”
“Oh goodness...” There was a thump as Rarity fainted at the sight of the decomposing body.
“Great,” Megan muttered. This was the least dilapidated of the houses they had checked, and she was not going to sleep under the stars because of a rotting corpse. But she didn’t want to touch it so she could move it outside. “This is gonna suck.”
Ten minutes later, the corpse was now resting against the outer wall of the house, three feet from the door. It was bound to be an unpleasant surprise in the morning, but that could wait. “Rarity, wake up,” she said quietly, shaking the unicorn. When that failed to achieve anything, she slapped her. While that did succeed in waking the mare, it also resulted in a blast of magic sending Megan across the room. “Ow!”
“What?” Rarity asked as she looked around.
“What was that for!?” the woman asked as she brushed herself off.
“What was what for?”
“Blasting me across the room like that!”
“I did?” To Megan’s increasing disbelief, the mare seemed completely innocent.
“Self-defense mechanism?” she asked, her anger fading.
“But I’ve never done anything like that before,” Rarity replied, sounding worried.
“Really? That can’t be good.”
“A unicorn’s magic acting without any sort of conscious input, it’s dangerous. They might exhaust themselves, or hurt somepony they care for,” she explained.
“From what you told me, you’ve been thrust into a dangerous world from a peaceful one.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” Rarity looked at a wall as she thought of what she had been through so far. The event that stood at the forefront of her mind was the fact that she had killed someone. She had killed before, but that was simply swatting a fly or squashing a bug. This was different, she had killed a thinking being, one that could have possibly been talked out of it. She stopped that train of thought, only depression lay further.
“Well, the place is clean now,” Megan said loudly, referring to the moved corpse. “Let’s go upstairs and see what the beds are like.”
The beds were in rather good shape, albeit dusty from two centuries of neglect. Unfortunately, one of the rooms was too painful for Rarity to enter.
“So it’s a kid’s room, so what?”
“I have a little sister!” the mare yelled back, on the verge of tears.
Megan facepalmed at her amazing lack of sensitivity. “Shit. Sorry! I didn’t know. You never told me.”
“I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have yelled,” Rarity admitted, wiping at her eyes. “But I’m not sleeping in there.”
“Fine,” Megan conceded. “But neither am I. I’m too big for those beds.”
“Well, we could share the big one,” Rarity suggested.
“That’ll work. Never slept on the same bed as a unicorn, though,” the woman said.
“And I have never slept with a woman.” When Megan burst into laughter, Rarity looked at her. “What?”
“You’ve never slept with a woman?” she asked through her laughter.
“Well, no, I - oh!” Rarity picked up a plate that was on the floor and flung it at the blonde. “You are so immature!” The only response she got was more laughter.
Megan woke up the next morning to a growling stomach. Only it wasn’t her’s. “Didn’t she eat anything last night?” she mumbled. She stood up and walked around to face the pony. “What the...? Rarity?” she asked quietly, noting the tear-stains on her face. “Are you okay?”
“No... No!” The mare shot up suddenly, looking around in panic. “What?” she asked, taking in her surrounding and remembering where she was. “Oh thank goodness.”
“You’re glad you woke up in the Capital Wasteland?” Megan asked, looking at the unicorn like she had lost her mind.
“If it means what I just dreamt never happened, then yes,” she replied, sounding shaken.
“What did you dream about, anyway?” The pair made their way downstairs, their steps kicking up dust.
“... My friends abandoning me.” Rarity mumbled. “The five ponies I care for the most in the world, telling me they want nothing to do with me.”
“Like that would happen,” Megan replied calmly as she stepped into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and looked around. “Ooh, Salisbury Steak!”
“After what I’ve done, I’m not sure they want anything to do with me,” she mumbled again, taking a seat on one of the old chairs at equally-old table.
“I’m sure they’ll understand. Self-defense and all that.” Megan tore open the box and sniffed the contents. “Still smells fine.”
“But what if they don’t?”
“Then get new friends.”
Rarity stared agape as the woman chewed happily on her breakfast. “What?”
“If they can’t understand, they don’t deserve to have you as a friend. Simple as that.” The statement would have been a bit more poignant if it weren’t for the small bits of preserved meat that came out with it, but the impact of the words remained the same. “If they are your friends, they won’t care about that.”
“You’re right.” Rarity looked at the table and chuckled. “I really must have more faith in them.” Her stomach chose that moment to loudly announce that it required filling. “Eh-heh,” she laughed weakly, the blood rushing to her face.
“Check the cupboards, you might find something.” She finished her breakfast and tossed the box into one of the room’s corners. The way she saw things, there was no way they would ever be back in this part of the Wastes, and there was no-one to tell her to not throw random things wherever she wanted outside of whatever few settlements there actually were. It was also a very nice, if mild, form of stress relief. Not that she necessarily needed it, but throwing stuff always helped her relax.
“Sugar Bombs? Sounds like something Sweetie would enjoy,” Rarity muttered.
“Those are good. A little stale, but they’ll give you plenty of energy.” Megan left the room. “I saw a safe upstairs. I’m gonna try and force it open, might be something nice in there.”
Rarity ate in silence. True, the cereal was stale and had lost most of its flavour, but she could still taste the chocolate. For something called ‘Sugar Bombs’, they were surprisingly mild in their sweetness. Normally, she wouldn’t eat two bowls of cereal in one sitting, let alone an entire box, but this box was smaller than the ones in Equestria (or so it seemed), and she was starved.
“Fuck yeah!” she heard Megan yell from upstairs.
“Look what I found!” the woman yelled happily, waving a pistol around. It was exactly like the 10mm she had given Rarity the day before, with one notable addition.
“What is that tube on the end?” Rarity asked.
“This is a suppressor. Makes it very nearly silent,” she proudly explained.
“And I’ve kept that gun ever since,” Rarity said, levitating the weapon in question. “Well, technically, anyway. I’ve had to replace so many of the parts that only half of the handle is from that first one.”
“Hey, you’re back!” Moira greeted the dusty pair as they entered Craterside Supply. “How are those hot little potatoes?” Megan just stared. “Because, you know, they’re on the ground.” More staring. “And hot, because they, um, explode.” Even more staring. “Anyway, what’s up?”
“There was a sniper, Moira. A fucking sniper.” Megan glared at the woman so intensely that she started backing away.
“I didn’t know! Everyone who’s been there said the town was abandoned!”
“Megan, remember what we said,” Rarity said, prodding the angry woman in the leg. “She didn’t know, it’s not her fault.”
The blonde woman took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. “Right. Sorry, Moira, just, nearly got killed by an old man with a sniper rifle.” She reached into a pocket of her jumpsuit. “Anyway, we got out alive, and I have a present for you.” Megan was sorely tempted to activate the explosive as she handed it over, but realised that she couldn’t escape the resulting explosion.
Moira gasped in delight. “My very own landmine! Just what I’ve always wanted.” She took the device and hugged it. “Well, always since I sent you out on this, anyway.” She set the landmine down on her counter almost reverently. “Now, tell me about it. What was it like going through there? What’s it like disarming a landmine?”
“That whole town is a trap,” Megan explained. “The sniper definitely did not help. He was just waiting.”
“Hmm... That’s not particularly useful, but that’s a good way to describe minefields in general. Now,” Moira moved behind her counter, “I know you may not want to see any explosives for a while, but obviously you know your way around them.” She rummaged around in a box underneath for a few seconds. “Have a couple rainy-day toys of mine.”
Megan’s eyes lit up when Moira handed her four frag grenades. “Wow, thanks!”
“Also, looking at this landmine, it gives me an idea. It’s a terrible device that does terrible things, of course,” she quickly added when she noticed the looks she was getting. “But it’s easy enough to make your own, too.” She quickly scribbled something down on a loose bit of paper and handed it to the pair.
“That completes the first chapter’s tasks, correct?” Megan asked, sticking the bit of paper into a pocket. She would look at it later.
“Yup, you’ve done a great job! I just need to add in the section on how to cook rat, and this chapter’s done. Here, for your services, I’ve saved up quite a few Stimpaks.” She handed over a handful of them. “Of course, you may need them: we’ve still got two chapters to go,” she added cheerfully.
Megan sighed. “Look, Moira, I’m glad for the work, you know that, but... I wanna take a break, for a while anyway.” She prepared herself for pleading and begging.
“Oh, okay. Just come back when you’re ready to help again.”
She hadn’t expected that. “Uh, goodbye then.”
“Farewell,” Rarity added.
“Thank god we’re out,” Megan muttered as soon as the door shut behind them. “I swear the crazy is contagious.”
“Must be too late, you’re the one talking to a unicorn.” They both turned to see the town sheriff grinning at them. “Lookin’ good there, Miss Rarity,” he added with a tip of his hat.
“Thank you, sheriff,” the unicorn replied uneasily.
“What, nothing to say to me?” Megan replied in a huff.
“Not really,” Lucas replied with a shrug before walking off.
“Wadsworth, we’re back!”
“Welcome home, madams!” Wadsworth floated into view. “How was your day?”
“Rather peaceful, actually,” Rarity replied, walking past the robot. “If you’ll excuse me, I need my beauty sleep.”
“Beauty sleep sounds like a good idea.” Megan followed the unicorn up the stairs
“You certainly need it,” the robot whispered snidely, its comment going unheard by both of them as the doors to the bedrooms closed.