//------------------------------//
// 21: Happier Times 
// Story: Bear, Scribe and Paladin 
// by Speven Dillberg 
//------------------------------//

“Okay, Veronica, I’ll be back in a day or so.” Thomas reached into his duster and pulled out his green Transportalponder.
“Nice to know you’re actually taking me seriously.”
“Hey, if someone wants me dead, they’re gonna have to go through a proper set of body armour and all the firepower I can carry.” Veronica shook her head at that. “Want me to bring back something for you?”
“A Ballistic Fist, maybe?” she asked hopefully.
“I’ll see if I can find one.” With those parting words Thomas pointed the device skywards and pulled the trigger. 
As the ball of light disappeared, the Scribe heard something. “And where the fuck is he running off to?”
She turned and saw a grumpy ghoul and a curious griffon. “He’s getting better armour and weaponry,” she explained. 
“And you’re sure he’s coming back?” Dom asked skeptically.
“Of course he is!” Veronica yelled back angrily. “He wouldn’t abandon us!”
“Woah, calm down,” the ghoul replied, holding her hands up as she took a step back. “No need to get your armour in a bunch.”
Veronica made a point of ignoring the jab and turned to the griffon. “Sarge, you got any idea why that pegasus just did it, though? He didn’t seem like the violent type.”
“We had a few unicorns look at the weapon. They found a compulsion charm on it,” he explained. When all he got were two matching, blank looks, he chuckled gently. “Heh, don’t worry. I needed Miss Twilight Sparkle to explain it to me.” The griffon cleared his throat. “An object with a compulsion charm on it forces whoever is holding it to undertake a series of actions. Our poor friend was not only forced to attack Thomas, his mind was also altered to make him believe it was his idea from the start.” He shook his head, though whether it was with anger or sorrow was unclear. “Exactly the reason why such magic is illegal. Those caught doing it are dehorned.”
“Yeesh.” Dom grimaced. “I’ve seen plenty of fucked up shit, but that’s just...”
“Wow. Now I feel bad about the stuff I said to him,” Veronica mumbled. “Anyway!” she exclaimed loudly, “I need to find the pony that makes dresses.”
“What, the prissy one? Why?” the ghoul asked.
“I still feel bad for nearly suffocating her,” the Scribe admitted sheepishly as she tried to walk past.
“What?” Dom tried to hide her smile, she really did, but it was futile. “This I gotta hear.”
Veronica sighed angrily when the ghoul began to follow her, leaving the griffon to return to his soldiers. “She came to my room this morning and said she was going to make a dress for me.”
“I don’t like wearing dresses, but I’ve never tried to murder someone because of that,” Dom replied seriously. “You should probably try to talk to someone about that.”
“No! I didn’t try to kill her! I hugged her and... well...”
“Go on...” 
“I might have overreacted and sort of... nearly suffocated her with my boobs.” Veronica’s shoulders slumped as the ghoul burst out into raspy laughter.
“Oh god! That... ahahaha!” Dom doubled over as tears came to her eyes. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!” 
“Yes, laugh at me, just like everyone else,” Veronica quipped. “Not like I care or anything.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just...” the ghoul cleared her throat as they walked towards their rooms. “Seriously, the last time I laughed so hard, we found Kodiak in his underwear tied to the flagpole in the bailey.” Veronica cracked a smile at that. “And that’s why we don’t let him drink anymore.”
“Who can’t drink anymore?” Both wastelanders turned to see a lavender unicorn walk past, a small stack of books floating in front of her.
“One of my squadmates,” Dom replied, suddenly very serious.
“Hey, Twilight, right? Where’s your white friend?” Veronica blinked. “And that sounded a little weird, didn’t it?” she asked quietly, looking at a wall for no real reason.
“What’s with the books?” the ghoul asked, pointing at them.
“I’m trying to find out everything I can about Diamond Dogs. But because of our history with them, there’s really only common knowledge.” Twilight Sparkle let out an aggravated groan at that point. “The castle’s library is supposed to be the most comprehensive private repository of knowledge in Equestria. This oversight is just unthinkable.”
“At least you have a library.” Dom leaned over and took the top book from the stack. She flicked it open and stared blankly at the unreadable text.
“Don’t you have one where you’re from?”
“We have archives, but they’re mostly digital. Books have a habit of being used for fires and toilet paper.” Dom looked up when she heard the unicorn splutter. “You okay?”
“W-why would anyone do that?” she asked loudly, her eye twitching at the thought of her beloved books being treated that way. The very idea disgusted her.
“Partly the fact that a lot of people are illiterate, mainly that survival comes first.” Dom shrugged. “The illiterates are mainly raiders, though. I helped write a book, once,” she added.
“Wait, really? You wrote a book?”
“Well, the actual research for it, yeah. Seriously, you would not believe how many times I nearly got killed for that damn thing,” she added with an eye-roll. 
“What... what was the book called?” Twilight asked, both worried and curious about what book would involve such danger.
“The Wasteland Survival Guide,” the ghoul said proudly. “A whole month of doing stupid things so someone else wouldn’t have to.” She chuckled at the memories. 
“What kind of stupid things?” Veronica asked, her desire to find Rarity temporarily forgotten.
“Well, there was that one time I jumped off a house onto a frag mine.”
Both mare and Scribe just stared. “Why the hell did you do that?”
“Moira wanted to practice some first aid. Nearly killed myself.” Dom scratched absently at something under her pauldron. “Looking back, doing one or the other would have been more than enough.”
“Wow.” Twilight grabbed the book Dom had taken and replaced it on the stack. “That’s... kinda stupid.”
“I was young, and I needed the money,” she shrugged. “I could’ve slept around, but I have standards. Not that I... that I wasn’t asked.”
“You’re okay with the fact that people wanted to pay to have sex with you?” Veronica asked, sounding curious. Twilight, who until that point wasn’t entirely sure what they were talking about, blushed.
“Not at the time, but...” Dom sighed. “I kinda regret not taking advantage of how good I looked at least once.”
“Wait. You’re a virgin?” Veronica asked, eyebrows shooting into her fringe.
“No, no. Had a lover a while back. He... he was a good man,” she said sadly. “Made me feel special. God I miss him.”
“I... I know how you feel, Dom.” Veronica bowed her head, trying to push back the painful memories.
“Uh, Veronica, you wanted to find Rarity?” Twilight asked, a little uncomfortable with the depressing turn the conversation had managed to take. “She’s in her room.”
“Oh. Right. Which way is that?”
“Her room is three doors down from yours’,” the unicorn elaborated, pointing in the general direction she needed to go. 
“Sweet. Thanks.” The Scribe quickly disappeared in her hunt for the white unicorn.
“Why does she need to see Rarity for, anyway?” The lavender mare watched curiously as the power armoured woman disappeared from sight.
“Something about smothering your friend by accident. So where were you going, anyway?” Dom asked before Twilight could interrupt.
“I’m returning these to the library. I still can’t believe I couldn’t find anything, though.”
“It happens. You just need something to take your mind off things.”
“That’s why I’ve been studying,” the mare admitted as she resumed her walk. “I’m still having trouble believing that Ponyville was attacked. I hope Spike will be here soon,” she added.
“I was shown a map earlier. Pretty gutsy attacking a town so close to the capital, let alone one almost in the middle of the country.” Dom looked at the ceiling. “Reg did say something about ‘strategic importance’, though.”
“I don’t know where those rumors about the Elements of Harmony being a superweapon came from,” Twilight muttered angrily. “It’s not like we can just use them on just anyone. Nightmare Moon and Discord threatened the harmony of the natural state of the entire world. Two or three countries fighting a war isn’t enough to force them to activate.”
The area where Dom’s eyebrows were rose. “Nightmare Moon? Discord?”
“Oh right, you wouldn’t know.” Twilight perked up as soon as she realised what she had said. “You don’t know! Come on, I’ll tell you all about it,” she said eagerly as her pace quickened.
“Those sound like the names of myths. Like Thor or Heracles,” Dom replied, lengthening her strides to keep up.
“That’s what everypony used to think.” The ghoul blinked at that. “I’ll start with the story of Nightmare Moon first...”





Thomas pushed his way past the old railway crossing outside the ruins of Nipton. Despite the threat of attack being nonexistent and the ease with which the town could be resettled, it had been left abandoned after the Legion had wiped out its inhabitants months earlier. Bones and ash littered the streets, and the buildings had fallen into disrepair. All of this was ignored by the black man as he made his way to the Vegas Strip. Accompanying him was the sound of music coming from his left arm.
“I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle...”