//------------------------------//
// The Last Bearer by SilentCarto 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons.  Competition Compilation 
// by Katarn 
//------------------------------//

"Consarnit," I growled, fiddling with my necklace. Rainbow Dash's necklace. "Where could she 'a' gone? The cave ain't that big!"

"We'll just have to find her, won't we, Calamity?" replied the charcoal unicorn beside me. "Keep getting ready, everypony. This shouldn't take long."

Homage and Charity chorused agreement. Ditzy just grinned, then returned to scribbling something to Lionheart and Silver Bell.

Velvet and I stepped out into Spike's main room. The big dragon hunched over his terminal, watching the feeds from a dozen spritebots he'd suborned into a perimeter patrol. Between him, Homage, and our little guardian angel, I reckoned no computer in the Wasteland that was safe. Speaking of which...

"Calamity? Velvet?" Littlepip's tinny voice crackled from the terminal's speakers. "Is something wrong?" The dragon looked up in surprise.

"Not 'zactly," I said. "Any o' y'all seen our Bearer o' Magic?"

"No?" Spike said, faintly alarmed, glancing nervously toward the cave entrance.

"This camera can't see much," Pip replied apologetically.

"I'm afraid I haven't," a third voice cut in, mellow as melting butter. "But don't worry. I would have, if she had set hoof outside."

Velvet let out a relieved sigh. "Thank Cel-- ah, I mean, thank you, Celestia." Her expression reflected my own thoughts. That will never not be unsettling!

My fiancee trotted to the little tunnel that led to the barracks. "Only one choice left, then." Her horn lit up and a little white packet floated out of her saddlebags. She rustled the waxed paper loudly, then tore it open.

Moments later, the pale mare wearing the tiara of the Element of Magic trotted eagerly up the corridor, trailing fifteen feet of belted ammo from  her mouth. Where in Equestria had she found that?

"There you are! Come along, now, Boo," Velvet said as the Bearer of Magic happily chowed down on a two-century-old snack cake.