//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: Thicker Than Water 
// Story: Diamond of the Capital Wasteland 
// by Speven Dillberg 
//------------------------------//

“I’m so sorry.”
The six mares had retreated to Rarity’s suite so she could continue her story. Rarity’s face was crimson, even half an hour after her savage devouring of the cake. She had never done anything so humiliating in all her life.
“I’ve only ever seen Pinkie attack cake like that before,” Twilight said, trying to hold back a snicker. 
“Yeah, never thought Ah’d see you do that.” Applejack was holding her hat over her face, to hide the massive grin she was wearing.
“Applejack, tell me, how would you react if, after three months without apples, you were presented with an entire bushel?” Rarity’s blush began to subside slightly as she stared at the farmer.
She lowered her hat as she thought about it. “Ah... guess Ah’d go a little crazy mahself,” she admitted. She placed her hat back where it belonged and toned her grin down. “Sorry for laughin’ at ya, Rares.”
“Oh, it’s fine Applejack.” The unicorn waved a hoof airily. She glanced over at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, the pair still giggling. “I just wish those two would get over it so I could continue the story.”
“Don’t mind them, Rarity,” Fluttershy said quietly. “I want to hear more about this Megan. She seems quite interesting.”
“Oh, she is. How about I tell you about the time we went to Arefu?”





“Why are we doing this?”
“I’m getting paid.” To Megan, that was enough motivation. 
“You barely know this woman,” Rarity argued. 
“And we’ve hung around town for three days. I stepped on a goddamn frag mine for Moira!” she yelled. “Honestly, I just wanted to get the fuck out of town before I get roped into something equally stupid.”
“I still can’t believe you actually did that.” Rarity shook her head, muttering under her breath when she knocked her newly-acquired sniper rifle. “And just why did you give me this?”
“Because you can hold it steady. Steadier than I can, anyway,” she added. “That, and I doubt that you want to get too close to any more fights.”
“I’d rather not get into any fights at all,” the unicorn muttered, stepping over a rusted car door. 
“Which is the whole point of a sniper rifle,” Megan calmly answered, walking around the wrecked car. “If you can kill them before we even have to fight, it’s perfect, right?”
“It still feels wrong,” Rarity mumbled. 
“It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he’s got, and all he’s ever gonna have.” Megan sighed.
“That’s... quite profound, Megan,” Rarity commented. “You didn’t strike me as the type.”
“Read it in a book years ago. Never thought I’d be living it.” Megan froze. “There’s something behind us,” she whispered.
“What? I can’t hear anything.” As if to prove the pony wrong, something growled behind them.
“Oh crap.” Megan and Rarity turned around to see a large dog. It was missing large chunks of its fur, its ribs were very easy to see and its left ear had been torn off. “Rarity...”
The mare’s horn glowed as she reached for her pistol. She tried to look intimidating, but the way she kept glancing around ruined the effect. “What do we do?”
“It’s only one,” Megan muttered calmly as she pulled her assault rifle out of its sling. “This shouldn’t be a prob - ” She cut herself off and looked around, her expression turning into one of frustration. “Fate, you bitch,” she spat.
Three more dogs, each one malnourished and looking at the pair hungrily, appeared around them. Megan had to give them credit, these dogs were smart. 
“Megan...” Rarity muttered as she began to back away slowly.
To her horror, Megan seemed to do nothing. For a whole second she just stood there, her face completely devoid of expression. Then, the woman moved.
She started by bringing her rifle up, resting the stock against her shoulder. Then, four three-round bursts came from her rifle, with each burst aimed at a different dog. She moved with eerie efficiency, killing the dogs with ease.
Rarity gaped as Megan lowered her rifle, panting heavily. “God I hate VATS,” she mumbled as she looked at the dogs.
Rarity shook herself out of her shock. Killing wild animals was completely different to killing people. And again, it was in self-defence. There was nothing wrong with that. But the ease with which Megan had performed that act of violence... “What’s VATS?”
As she emptied a bottle of dirty water, Megan turned to the unicorn. “Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System,” she answered, tapping her Pip-Boy. “It... It’s hard to explain.”
“That thing on your arm isn’t some ghastly fashion statement?”
The woman chuckled. “Nope. Had this thing on since I was ten, only had it off three times since for routine maintenance.”
“So what does it do, exactly?” Rarity asked as they walked away, much to their relief.
“Do you know what a computer is?”
“Yes, one of... one of my friends has one in her basement. Takes up the entire room.”
“Heh. Kinda figured you’d still be all abacuses and stuff.” Megan brought her Pip-Boy up and tapped a few buttons. “Anyway, this is a small supercomputer.”





“WHAT!?”
The other five ponies turned to stare at Twilight Sparkle, alarmed by her sudden outburst.
“A... a wrist-mounted supercomputer!? But... but that...” The lavender mare fainted as her brain tried and failed spectacularly to understand how such a thing was even possible.
“Somepony get some water,” Rarity said, prodding the prone mare with a hoof. “It wouldn’t be fair to Twilight if she missed anything.”





“Ow ow ow ow ow!”
“Stop moving so I can pull it out!”
“ARGH!”
Megan looked at the metal slug she had just pulled out from Rarity’s leg. “Looks like a low-calibre round. Must’ve been that one with the pistol.”
“That’s quite fascinating, but maybe it can wait until I’ve stopped bleeding to death!?”
“It’s just a flesh wound,” Megan replied, doing her best to ignore the pony’s screeching. “A stimpak and some bandages, you’ll be fine.” She reached into one of the small pouches on her vaultsuit, pulling out a roll of bandages and a small hypodermic. “This might sting a bit.”
“What do you - ow!” Rarity glared at the needle poking into her leg. “What are you doing?”
“Stimpaks force the body to heal faster. The bandages should stop infection.” Megan injected the contents of the stimpak before pulling it out. 
“What do you mean, should?” Rarity asked uneasily.
“You try finding sterile medical supplies,” Megan pointed out, wrapping the mare’s leg. “Okay, that should do it,” she said, standing up.
Rarity stood up uneasily, at first not putting any weight on her injured leg. She let out a cry of pain the moment her hoof touched the ground. “I can’t walk like this.”
“Well I’m not carrying you. What?” Megan asked when the pony shot a glare at her. “No offense, but you’re kinda heavy. Ow!” She rubbed at where the rock had struck her.
“Well, we have to find some way to get to Arefu,” Rarity said politely, acting as though she hadn’t just hit the woman in the back of the head. 
“I have some Med-X, that should help.” Megan pulled out another syringe, this one much smaller and thinner than the stimpak. “Hold still.”
“Ow.” Rarity winced as the needle pierced her skin. 
“And done.” Megan threw the hypodermic over her shoulder. 
“What? That’s it?” Rarity uneasily placed her hoof on the ground again. To her delight, there was absolutely no pain. “Oh my.”
“You’re still injured, so no running. You should be good in a few hours, though. Stimpaks are awesome.” She unclipped the magazine for her rifle and attempted to attach a new one. After several moments she gave up. “Fuck!”
“What’s wrong?”
“My gun’s broken. I can’t reload it. The receiver’s not taking the magazine.” She paused and looked over the small slab of broken bridge they had taken cover behind. “Hey. There’s one over there.” Megan climbed over the barrier and made her way towards the ruined house the raiders had used as their base.
“I know I said I can understand taking from the dead, but...”
“Help me go through their pockets, would ya?”
“What!?”
Megan looked at her as she walked towards the assault rifle. “I’m not asking you to touch their junk.” Her eyebrows rose up. “You’re not into that kind of stuff, are you?” Rarity spluttered at the accusation. “Just take the ammo and caps. Their armour isn’t worth the effort of taking off.” The mare watched in revulsion as the woman calmly went and relieved the raiders of their possessions. “Why the hell do people smoke? Isn’t the radiation enough?” she asked herself before putting a half-empty packet of cigarettes in her pocket. “Hey Rarity!” she called out. “I found some ammo for your sniper rifle!”
Rarity took the bullets and placed them in one of the pockets while trying to ignore what her friend was doing. “Are you done?”
“Hang on, I think I saw one of them with...” Megan’s voice trailed off as her eyes lit up. “Oh my god. Is that what I think it is?” She leapt over a corpse and hefted something, giggling like a little girl the whole time. “It is!” she squealed, picking up the firing mechanism for a Flamer.





“It was that day that I learned that letting Megan near fire was a bad idea.”





It wasn’t long after that that they found the settlement of Arefu, been shot at by Evan King, explained to him what they were doing there, told him to stop gawking at Rarity and doorknocked every other shack. To make things go by quicker, Rarity had opted to wait outside every time.
“Mister and Misses West?” Megan knocked on the door. To her alarm, it swung open. “That... can’t be good. Can it?” she asked Rarity.
“At home, this would be normal. Here, though...” The mare looked around uneasily. “We should check.
She instantly regretted that decision when she was greeted by a pair of corpses.
“Okay. Not good.”
“What could do this?” Rarity asked, repulsed at what she was seeing.
“No blood.” Megan was kneeling by the bodies, seemingly unphased by them. “And look at their necks.”
“What about them?” she asked, still refusing to even look.
“It’s like they’ve been... chewed or something.” Megan leaned back. “Okay. Now what could do this?”