//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 - Primm [OUTDATED] 
// Story: The Not-So Lonesome Road 
// by Bill the Storyteller 
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It was quite a long walk, I'd say nearly thirty minutes to get to Primm, but we finally made it. Twilight and I were both exhausted. After what we've been through tonight, there was no arguing about it. Nevertheless, we finally made it to the town of Primm, a town that remained independent from the NCR. Primm was pretty empty at night as most folks would have gone back to their homes and  warm beds after being cooped up in the Vicky and Vance when the Powder Gangers hit.

The town was also quiet at night sometimes. Occasionally, the town's folks would hear gunfire from the NCR camp southwest of here, some of the usual troopers using the old California Sunset drive-in as a firing range. The town's folks simply ignore it and just go along with their merry ways at home. The folks of Primm still don't like having the NCR around to protect the town, seeing how they already have a sheriff, but at least they still kept a steady relationship to trade supplies with each other once in a while.

"Well Twilight," I turned to her with a grin on my face. "Welcome to Primm. Not as lively at this time of day, but it's a nice town with a lot of good folks.

"To your left is the Mojave Express office. My job as a courier began right here, in this very building." I pointed to the building on my right and gave a nostalgic sigh. "It almost feels like yesterday when I had my first job here.

"To my right is the Vicky and Vance casino and the building we saw with the neon sign of a buffalo, that's the Bison Steve Hotel. Across the street is the NCR camp I was talking about. We'll be staying there for the night." 

"Why not stay at the hotel there?" Twilight pointed at the Bison Steve. "I'm sure the beds there are nice."

"Do you really want to stay a night in that hotel?" I asked. "The people haven't exactly cleaned out the bodies of the convicts that ransacked this town a while ago and I'm pretty sure you're going to have a hard time to sleep with all the decomposing bodies in there." Twilight wore a disgusted look on her face as I continued on. "You're welcomed to stay there for the night if you want, but since you're new here, I rather think you should sleep in a tent. Besides, sleeping outdoors is sometimes better than indoors."

"Then I guess sleeping on the ground it is." Twilight sighed.

We crossed the partially collapsed bridge towards the NCR camp across the town. An NCR trooper spotted us and came over to greet us.

"You're the Courier that's been doing a lot of good things around here." He shook my hand. "It's an honor to see a hero of the NCR come visit us." He looked down at Twilight and offered up his hand for her to shake. "And you must be the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, the one that helped the Courier burn down an entire Legion encampment. Word got out on the radio how you both saved that captured family and slaughtered those Legion bastards in that camp they built. A damn good job you did back there. Wish I could've been there to help."

"I really can't take all the credit." Twilight smiled weakly, still remembering that she had just killed someone thirty minutes ago. "Mr. Davis here actually did most of the work."

To cheer her up, I ruffled up her mane, causing her to giggle. "Yeah, but it was you who had to save my sorry ass in the end. I think you're more of a hero than I am today." 

"So, what brings you two to Primm?" The trooper asked.

"Oh, I'm just here to do some errands." I replied.  "Miss Sparkle here is just tagging along for the time being. You've got a tent or something we can spend the night at?"

The NCR trooper nodded and pointed at a tent behind us. "No one's using that tent anymore, so you two can go ahead and use it. If you're looking to buy or sell something, a merchant is staying here for a few days. He's set up shop over there, near Lieutenant Hayes' tent.

"If you're hungry, our chef is still serving some grub at this hour, near the grill." The trooper continued on. "If your weapons or armor are in need of repair, we've got a repairman on duty that can help you out. And if you just want to improve your aim, we've also got a firing range set up at the abandoned drive-in outside of Primm. Other than that, enjoy your stay around here."

"Thank you, sir." I nodded. "You have a goodnight."

We walked into the center of the camp and set down our bags on the nearest picnic table. Already, I could hear Twilight's stomach give a low rumble.

"You hungry?" I asked.

She gave a nod and sat down on the table. "I guess. After all, I haven't really gotten anything to eat today. Do they serve anything like dandelion sandwiches around here?"

	Dandelion sandwiches? What is she talking about? "No...I don't think they have anything like that around here, but I'll see what they've got that can satisfy your appetite."

The chef was dicing up some gecko meat, jalapeño peppers, and banana yucca fruit, putting up perfectly-made gecko kebabs. A few of these shish kebabs were already grilling along side with some squirrel kebabs and damn did they smell delicious! The chef looked up to see that I was nearly drooling all over the place and I quickly regained my composure out of embarrassment. 

"You're the Courier everyone's been talking about." The chef smiled. "It's great to see such a friend of the NCR here. Now what can I get for you?"

"I'll have eight gecko kebabs, two squirrel kebabs, and two bottles of Nuka Cola." I ordered. "Also, add two Fancy Lad Snack Cakes with it."
The chef nodded and reached for a large tray and two tin plates, adding four gecko kebabs and one squirrel kebab on each plate, followed by two Nuka Colas and two Fancy Lad Cakes. "There ya' go! Eight gecko kebabs, two squirrels on a stick, two bottles of Nuka Cola, and two Fancy Lad Cakes. That'll be 30 caps. A little discount for all that you've done."

"Done." I reached into my pockets and handed the chef 30 Nuka Cola bottle caps and in return, he gave me my food. 

"A pleasure doing business with you. Enjoy, and have a good night my friend."

I walked back to the picnic table with the tray of food in my hands. Twilight was sitting there, reading some of the books I had brought along to read. One of those books in particular was 'The Wasteland Survival Guide'. Other books such as 'Guns and Bullets', 'Duck and Cover!', and 'Dean's Electronics' all sat in a pile with the rest of the books I carried.

I set down the tray of food on the table, nearly scaring Twilight out of her skin when she saw me appear right in front of her. "You know," I began with a mischievous grin. "It's actually a crime to go around people's stuff and taking them without permission."

Twilight gulped in fear. "I, uh...I didn't know. I was only curious on what you were carrying and, uh...well, I couldn't really help myself when I saw those books. They looked interesting enough so I thought about giving them a read...given my current situation here. I-I'm really sorry, Bill. I shouldn't have taken them without your permission. I'll just...hand it back to you now."

Her horn glowed violet and using some magical, levitation spell, she placed the books back into my hands. My mischievous grin soon vanished and was replaced with a comforting smile. I simply handed back the books to her, surprising her quite a bit.

"It's fine, really." I assured. "I have no problem with you looking at whatever I brought along. Though, you really should ask for my permission next time before going through my stuff." I sat down at the table and handed her one plate of gecko kebabs and a squirrel on a stick, along with a Fancy Lad Cake and a bottle of Nuka Cola. "The next time you do that, people aren't going to take it kindly if they catch you doing that. I'm letting you off not because you're curious, but because you're tagging along with me for the time being. In all seriousness, if you need anything, just ask me. You want some medical supplies, I can lend you some as long as you don't rob me completely dry. Want me to carry some stuff around? Well, as long as you don't treat me as a pack brahmin, then we're cool. You got that?"

"I understand." Twilight cracked a nervous smile as she politely took back the books. "Thank you, Bill. I promise that I'll return these books as soon as I can."

"Take as much time as you need to read those books, but maybe you should eat first before you continue on reading." I picked up my squirrel on a stick and bit into it, moaning in delight as the taste of barbequed meat and fresh spices danced around my mouth. As I took another bite of the squirrel, I noticed that Twilight had this terrified and disgusted look on her face.

"Uh, you okay?" I asked.

She pointed at the squirrel kebab in my hands. "Is that a squirrel?"

I looked at the piece of cooked rodent on a stick. "Yes? Why, you don't like it?"

"Bill," she pointed at it once more. "That's meat you're eating."

"So?" I asked, taking another bite of the seasoned, barbequed rodent. "You got a problem with...aw, shit."

I immediately set down the squirrel kebab on my plate and nearly slapped myself on the head as I suddenly remembered that Twilight was an equine and from what I read about on some pre-war books, equines are herbivores and they're supposed to eat stuff like fruits and veggies. I just almost nearly introduced her to cannibalism and that was not the right way to treat a new traveling companion.

"Heh, sorry about that Sparkle," I rubbed the back of my head embarrassingly. "I forgot that you were a herbivore. See, we humans are omnivores, meaning we eat both veggies and meat. That's not to say we're cannibals, it just means we need a source of protein. Nuts, legumes, and grain products are a huge source of protein, but every now and then, having meat in our diet is alright."

"That's a relief," Twilight gave one last uncomfortable look at the plate of meat given to her before pushing it my way. "But just to be sure, are there any humans that only just eat meat, including those sentient enough?"
"Well...There are some people that actually eat nothing but meat. And by those kind of people, I'm talking about cannibals. Out here in the wasteland, when all options of survival are exhausted, people would actually eat their own dog just to survive. It's sickening, but what other choice do they have? Though, there are some people out here that actually go far into eating the flesh of their own kind."

Twilight gave a shocked and disgusted look. "That's awful! Why would someone do such a thing?"
"That what I ask myself sometimes." I shrugged. "Either way, eating the flesh of your own kind is a crime, and anyone caught doing cannibalism out here is going to get a bullet in their eye, no questions asked. In NCR territory, you would be publicly executed if you were caught cannibalizing the flesh of you kind."

"I see." Twilight looked a bit more relieved now. I hope that was enough for her to be alright with me eating meat.

"So, what do you want?" I asked, digging into my knapsack. "That Fancy Lad Cake and the bottle of Nuka Cola ain't going to be your dinner tonight, so how about some 200 year old packaged mashed potatoes or Mac and Cheese. They taste a bit stale, and they're slight irradiated, but they're still good to eat."

"It's fine," Twilight opened up her saddle bag. "I'll just eat the food I brought along. The ones you gave me, I'll save them for later."

"Suit yourself." I said, picking up my squirrel kebab. "In the meantime, more for me."

Minutes flew by and I had already finished up my dinner while Twilight had finished her last apple from her saddle bag. I ripped open the white package and chowed down on my Fancy Lad Cake. It was a bit stale, but it was still delicious. Twilight didn't seem to like it so she just threw it away. She did enjoy the Nuka Cola, so that was fine by me. Soon she reached into her bag and pulled out this brown paper bag full of...something. She opened it and levitated out this sort of round, flat, golden brown pastry with these tiny little dark dots on top of it. My eyes went wide as I realized that it was a chocolate chip cookie. These treats were luxury food items compared to Ruby's radscorpion casserole and the Ultra-Luxe's brahmin wellington. As Twilight bit into her cookie, I nearly drooled all over the place as I can only imagine how delicious that cookie was. 

I remembered having a cookie when I was a kid. My father always went on business trips all across California and he always  returned with some good stuff for me and my sister from his travels. Usually it was food, other times it was toys or books. After a business trip to Modoc, Dad returned with a wrapped package that carried six chocolate chip cookies that he had purchased from a diner. I remember him telling me that one cookie was worth at least 50 caps, making the entire package of cookies worth 300 caps. He was sure right about it, because when I took a bite of it, I was in heaven for a few seconds. It was so chewy and soft, and the combined taste of sugar, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and bighorner butter all melted in my tongue, making it one of the most sweetest and delicious food items in the world. Even though it has been years since I had my first chocolate chip cookie, I can still never forget its taste.

"Bill?" She waved a hoof in front of me, snapping me out of my trance. "You okay?"

"Huh? Wha? Yeah...I'm alright." I took another sip of Nuka Cola and while Twilight took another bite of her cookie, I just couldn't stand it anymore. I really wanted a cookie so badly. Of course, being the polite gentlemen I was, I decided to ask nicely for one. I pointed at the cookie levitating in her magic. "Twilight, is that a chocolate chip cookie you got?"

She looked at me in confusion. "Uh, yeah...do you want one?" She levitated another one out of the paper bag and handed it over to me.

	Her willingness to offer me a cookie took me by surprise. "F-for me?"

"Sure, go ahead." Twilight insisted. "I've got lots of them."

I took the cookie in my hands and felt its smooth and crispy edges. It was almost exactly like the one my dad had given me. Now, came the tasting. I felt hesitant on taking a bite of that cookie. Sure, it looked good to eat, but because this was food made from wherever Twilight came from, I wasn't sure if it was safe to eat. Was it poisonous? Would eating it make me grow a second head? 

I shrugged. Eh, it's just a cookie. What can go wrong?

I bit into the cookie, chewing slowly before being my eyes widened with delight and the taste buds from my childhood came back to me. I took a big bite at the cookie before gobbling it up.

"OH MY GOSH, THIS IS AMAZING!" I exclaimed with delight. "JUST LIKE A SHOOTING STAR, THIS MARVELOUS LITTLE TREAT APPEARED RIGHT BEFORE ME! WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE!"

My exclamation got the attention of most people in the camp, whom they all stared at me with dumbfounded expressions. Twilight seemed flustered as everyone's eyes were on us, but I didn't really care. I was in heaven with that cookie.

"Uh, take it easy there Bill," Twilight giggled. "It's just a chocolate chip cookie. Besides, I've still got plenty more of them."

I turned to look at Twilight. "Just a chocolate chip...are you kidding me?" She held up the bag of cookies and offered another one for me, which I simply took and snacked down on. "Twilight, these things are a luxury to afford. Cookies around here are very hard to make due to having to find the right ingredients to make it. And if finding the right ingredients aren't hard, you really need to be good at making them. Believe me, I tried making some with the right ingredients and they end up tasting like shit."

"Seriously? Are cookies that valuable around here?" Twilight asked.

"You'd better believe it." I nodded. "If you had food like this, everyone here must think that you're super rich."

I finished up my remaining Nuka Cola and pulled out my wallet to add another bottle cap in it, followed by Twilight's cap after she had finished her Nuka Cola. Closing back up my wallet, I tossed away my Nuka Cola bottle and grabbed myself another cookie. While I ate my third chocolate chip cookie, I noticed Twilight giving me this befuddled look.

"You collect bottle caps?"

"I have to." I said . "Bottle caps are the standard currency around here in the Mojave."

"Bottle caps are really the currency in this world?" she asked. 

"Yup." I took one of my pouches completely filled with bottle caps and handed it to Twilight. "Most of the technology that was used to manufacture and paint their surfaces were lost during the Great War from two hundred years ago,  making it difficult to counterfeit bottle caps. This made bottle caps rare enough to become the standard currency of the wasteland.

"There are other currencies used in other parts of the wasteland besides bottle caps." I reached into my pockets and handed Twilight a few wards of NCR dollars. "The NCR uses paper money as currency. It's quite similar to the money that was used back in the old days, but now it's pretty much useless around here.  At least it's still worth something, so there's a little upside for the NCR's currency. The Legion on the other hand," I tossed over a few Legion denarius and aureus at Twilight's direction. "Made their own currency based on the ancient Romans' denarii and aurei. Despite Caesar's poor relationship with the rest of the wasteland, it's still quite valuable to many traders."

"That's pretty interesting," Twilight nodded as she pulled out a pen and some type of journal and began scribbling down some notes. "I'm sure that when I get back to my world, Princess Celestia will find this all interesting."

I gave a light chuckle at seeing her being all of a sudden so interested about my world. I'd say she and I were almost related in some way, seeing how we always want to learn about something new.

I gave a quick peek on my Pip-Boy to see what the time was now. It was 9:00 p.m. and already a bright moon had risen over the horizon. None of us seemed tired yet so I decided to take the time to get to know Twilight a bit more, and perhaps give her the chance to know more about me and this world. 

"Well, since none of us are that tired yet, I suppose you got some questions for me." I said, resting my elbows on the picnic table. 

"How'd you know?" Twilight asked.

I nodded to her journal. "Your journal said it all. I'd take it that you're some kind of researcher?"

She blushed slightly. "I guess my eagerness gave that away, hasn't it?"

"Don't worry, I'm like that as well . I'm into history and just about anything else that's interesting." I grinned. "Well, come on then, don't be shy. I'll be glad to answer anything you'd like to know as best as I can."

"Well...okay, I suppose." Twilight flipped to a brand new page and got her pen ready. "What can you tell me about your kind?"

"Well, I'm human, like I mentioned before." I answered. "We've been on this world for quite some time now and over the years, we went from mindless apes swinging from trees and tossing our dung around to becoming doctors, teachers, and astronauts that help change the world every single day."

"I'd take it that you also kill each other every single day?" Twilight added nonchalantly.

I glared back at her sharply. Her face bore an expression of horror and her ears were flatly pressed down. "S-sorry," she softly muttered. "That was wrong of me to say that."

I gave a smile of reassurance. "It's fine, but might I remind you that just because we live in one fucked up world, doesn't mean that all of us our crazy, raving marauders bent on killing each other.

"But you are sorta right in a way." I continued. "Mankind has not always been perfect and I guess it never will for generations to come. Unless of course, some alien entity comes to our world and tells us to stop killing each other.

"Since the beginning of time, our ancestors have been killing each other like it was going out of style. We fought for territory, positions of power, money, religion, the list just keeps going on. To sum it all up, WE love to fight. Truly, it is our greatest blessing, and our most terrifying curse."

"Why?" Twilight asked, confused and shocked from my explanation. "Why would you humans kill each other over all of...this?"

I shrugged and shook my head. "That's a question I ask myself all the time. After all humanity has been through, the wars we have fought, I thought that we were able to learn from our mistakes and learn to trust each other. We could have been living in harmony with the rest of the world, sipping bottles of ice cold Nuka Cola and living the good life, but our human nature has gotten in the way of life.

"Did you know that the Mojave Wasteland, before it was a dry, desolate wasteland as it is right now, was once part of the richest nation in the world known as the United States of America? Two hundred years ago, we didn't need to fight to survive or scavenge for supplies when we have factories that can make millions of whatever people could ever want. With the right amount of paper money, we could easily buy ourselves as much food, water, medicine, and clothing as we wanted to. We didn't had to worry about thieves breaking into our homes when we have ourselves robots that can not only protect us and our families, but help us do our everyday chores. While all of this sounds nice, change eventually came, and with it, came war. And war never changes.

"Hundreds of years ago, most of our little technological wonders had been powered by a fuel known as petroleum. We depended on it so much that it wasn't until later in the middle of the twenty-first century did we realized that we began to run out of it. All the technology we created needed something to power them up and that was where atomic energy came in. Thanks to it, this once, proud nation was able to continue on and prosper.

"However, not every country from across the world had atomic energy, which is why there were some countries that still depended on oil. It was more precious than ever and petroleum rich countries were selling their supplies of oil at a higher price. Soon afterwards, the oil wells ran dry in most parts of the world and the uranium mines were scraped clean. And as I had mentioned before, the changes came slowly at first, and with it, came war.

"While the countries from across the world began fighting over the scraps of petroleum, there was one other part of the world that still had natural resources. Miles and miles away from where we are sitting at right now, there used to be a state known as Alaska, just up north from here. Alaska still had some petroleum left in its soil and this made it an easier target for another superpower nation known as China. With that, came the Great War."

Twilight had probably filled in at least a few pages already after my little brief history lesson before continuing on. "What happened in this Great War?"

"Don't know." I shrugged. "According to some of the Vault archives, China had managed to capture Alaska and has held it captive for over a decade or so. Before and during those times of the Chinese occupation in Alaska, America and China began using their own resources on developing their weapons of war. The Chinese used their resources to create one of the most advanced stealth technology. They created cloaking suits that allowed their recon units to infiltrate and assassinate high value targets without being detected. We Americans also had developed something like that." 

I detached the used-up Stealth Boy from my right wrist and handed it over to Twilight. "That right there, is a Stealth Boy. Using some reverse-engineering and atomic energy, the bright minds of the United States were able to create themselves a piece of stealth technology to spy on their Chinese adversaries. Besides the Stealth Boys, the Americans still had the power of the atom at their hand. They built fusion-powered weapons, power combat armor, and sent out robot butlers on the battlefield with flamethrowers and plasma guns. There were some rumors that they had even built a gigantic robot that fired death rays and tossed mini nukes like they were footballs.

"With all these weapons of war, the United States was the one nation that had triumphed over its Chinese enemies in the end and retook Alaska. But even as grand as this victory was, peace would not be easily achieved. China would not simply sulk away in defeat, nor did the United States believed this war would come to an end that easily. A final confrontation was coming between both superpowers and everyone knew that it wasn't going to be pretty."

"What was coming?" Twilight asked, continuing to scribble down notes on her journal.

"The end of humanity was coming.” I replied grimly. “If you want it to make more sense, the end of the world happened." 

She nearly dropped her pen as her face now bore a look of sheer terror. "What?"

"Long ago, before the Great War, the United States had took part in one of the most ruthless and atrocious wars known as World War Two. I don't know much about it, but what I do know is that many people died because of the atrocities committed by the enemy. In the end of all that, the United States had invented a weapon known as the nuclear bomb. Fueled with atomic energy, it could easily level one of the biggest cities in the world. Over the years leading up to the Great War, they got bigger, more powerful, and we just kept making more of these awful weapons. They went all the way from simple bombs to long-distance rockets. With weapons like these, we can easily destroy all life on this planet if we wanted to do. And you know what," I looked straight into Twilight's disbelieving eyes. "We actually did it.

"The bombs fell, we believe on October 23, 2077. On that day, nuclear fire rained from the heavens and people ducked and took cover as they were taught to do, hoping that if they hid well and kept still, the merciless radioactive fires would harmlessly pass them." I laughed humorlessly. "Bullshit, all of it. The Duck and Cover tactic proved to be ineffective to save everyone. Hundreds and millions of people were killed in minutes, and billions of more died in the days to come  as the radioactive fallout settled across the globe and poisoned the environment."

Twilight was nearly speechless. "Bill...my gosh..." 

"Those who have survived became the lucky few who formed the many tribal societies that struggled to survive after the war. However, over a hundred thousand people were fortunate enough to survive the apocalypse by being selected to live in these great underground shelters known as Vaults."

"Vaults?" Twilight ears perked up with interest as she flipped to the next page of her journal and was readied to fill up about two or three pages.

"Built by the Vault-Tec corporation, these shelters could save thousands of lives from the horrors of nuclear devastation while waiting for conditions on the surface to calm down. The vaults had everything that could keep many of its population alive in the decades after the Great War; geothermal power, hydroponic farms for growing food, and water purifiers so powerful you wouldn't think that you were drinking your own urine."

Twilight gave a disgusted look at that last part about the water purifier, but nevertheless, continued on listening to my little history lesson. 

"Vault-Tec had made sure that their vaults look homey as possible. Their cafeterias were designed to look like the pre-war dinners back in the old days so folks can still imagine themselves eating a plate of Blamco Mac and Cheese on the side of a road. They had automated medical robots to help treat illnesses and injuries without the need of a doctor every time. There wasn't exactly any good housing left on the surface, but the vaults were able to hold several hundreds of people, and those that held more than a thousand were able to find ways to share beds. Each vault was run by a leader known as the Overseer, folks that had been selected for their exceptional leadership skills and trustworthiness to help keep the peace in the underground community. 

"The Vaults were comfortable, but after ten years or so, the vault dwellers would soon emerge from the safety of their underground bunkers and begin rebuilding civilization. Vault-Tec also provided each vault with all the research material they would need to help rebuild the world from how to grow an oasis in a barren wasteland to cooking critters in 101 different ways."

"Sounds like a good deal for humanity." Twilight scribbled down onto her research journal. "After all the destruction that was laid onto them, they were able to learn from their mistakes and begin rebuilding humanity, that sounds like something good humans would do."
"You really think so?" I asked, staring at her with great seriousness. "Did you honestly think that after being cooped up underground for more than a decade changes anything for us?

"Nope! Humanity was still imperfect just the way it was before. If we humans were that good to each other, then the big mushroom cloud two hundred years ago would have never existed. Even with the vaults, humanity was still as crueler than ever. Out of all the many vaults throughout the States, only a few of them opened, while a majority of them were to suddenly malfunction as part of a cruel experiment designed by Vault-Tec to see how far can the human mind can be pushed before it snapped.

"I've seen it all myself and even I can't help but imagine the suffering those poor vault dwellers were going through. I visited one of the vaults just far northeast from here, Vault 11 to be exact. That Vault was designed to offer up a living sacrifice every year in order for the population to survive, when in truth, the didn't even need to sacrifice a single soul in the first place."

"L-Living sacrifice?" Twilight replied, horrified.

"And if you think that's worse, wait until you hear about all the other vaults across the States. All the vaults were to be open after a decade, but try living in some vault for twenty years now, or maybe eighty, perhaps even two hundred. Vault-Tec came up with experiments that only a madman could conceive. Take for example: a thousand men and one woman, and a similar one had a thousand women with just one man. There was even rumors of one vault that only had twenty men and twenty women with one hungry, ferocious panther set loose. Whether or not that's true, it's just another one of Vault-Tec's cruel jokes, and it shows that not only were the vaults never meant to save anyone, but just how far humanity still has to go. For the struggle of survival is a war without end, and war - war never changes."

Twilight was completely stunned silent. Maybe my little brief history lesson on humanity was a bit too dark for her likings. "Maybe we should move on to a lighter topic now, shall we?" I asked.

"That would be much better." Twilight nodded, finishing up on the last few notes in her journal. "And to start it off, I'd like to know more about you."

"About me?" I asked.

"We've only just met today, and I just want to be a bit more comfortable with who I'm sticking around with for the time being."  Twilight explained. "It'd be nice to know about who I'm working with and what I'm probably going to get myself into."

"Don't you already know, I'm a courier. A mailman. I help people deliver packages and in return, they pay me back."

"There's got to be more about you." Twilight said. "At least tell me a bit more of yourself."
I gave a sigh. "Well, I'm not one who easily shares his personal life, but what would you like to know?"

"What's that weapon you carry?" Twilight pointed at my holstered sidearm.

"Oh, this?" I pulled out my scoped .44 magnum revolver and twirled it around. "This is my scoped .44 magnum revolver. In other words, it's a gun."

"I know." Twilight said with a hint of disgust. "I've read part of the 'Guns and Bullets' book already. You humans are terrifying with weapons like that."

I gave her a dumbfounded look. "How did you even read through part of Guns and Bullets when you were just reading...never mind. What do you want to know about it?"

"What type of ammunition does it use?" She asked.

"The gun uses .44 magnum rounds, obviously the reason why it's called a .44 magnum revolver. Lots of weapon have various types of ammunition for range, accuracy, and power. My .44 magnum revolver can be fired at a medium-to-long range, making it one of the most reliable and deadliest firearms in the world. With the scope on it, it'll make hitting medium range targets much easier. My hunting rifle," I pulled out my rifle and set it down on the table. "Uses .308 rounds to travel at a high speed and long-distances.  The scope attached makes it easier to hit targets at long rage.” I then pulled out my .45 submachine gun to show, and also set it on the table beside my rifle. “My submachine gun uses .45 ACP rounds and can fire lots of bullets at a high rate of fire, becoming one of the most devastating weapons to be used at close range. The short cylinder at the front of the barrel is a compensator that decreases the spread of ammunition and I've equipped this gun to use 50-round drum magazines for increased ammo capacity.

“I've got a couple of more weapons I'd like to share if you're interested.” I pulled out my suppressed 10mm pistol and pulse gun and set it down on the table as well. There was no need to show her my knife, Transportalponder or Codac. “This pistol is quite common in the wasteland, as it was standard-issued for the United States military in the pre-war era. The 10mm pistol uses, obviously, 10mm ammunition, and is perfect for close-to-medium range. The thin, long cylinder you see wrapped around the barrel is a suppressor. It silences gunfire so no one can hear the shots. Perfect for taking out targets quietly when you don't want to be detected. This pistol also comes with 16 round extended magazines and a laser sight for improved accuracy.” I put down my pistol and introduced the pulse gun. “Now this gun, is what many consider an energy weapon. This one uses energy cells rather than bullets. The pulse gun fires energy-based projectiles at enemies, but rather than disintegrate enemies like laser or plasma-based weapons, this gun can fry the circuits of a robot or disable  power armor. I'm not always an energy weapons person, but it's always nice to have a weapon like the pulse gun with you.

“I could go on and on with just about every known weapon in the Mojave Wasteland, but that'll take all night, so lets move on with other questions.”

Twilight nodded in agreement as she focused on writing down everything in her journal. While she was writing, I reached for my sister's handkerchief and began polishing my revolver when Twilight asked me the next question. However, it was one question I hoped she never asked. "What can you tell me about your family?"

I looked up at her. "My family?"

"You mentioned that your father gave you the revolver for your birthday, so you must have a family. I'd like to know more about them."

At that point, I felt completely uneasy. "I...I kinda don't want to talk about it."
"What happened?" she asked, her expression changing. "Did something bad happen between you and your family?"

"N-no...absolutely not!" I blurted out, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "I would never hurt my family, nor would they hurt me in return. I loved them more than anything else in the world, so there's no reason why I could ever harm them."
Twilight winced at my sudden volume of voice. "Look, Bill...I'm sorry. I didn't me to-"

I immediately waved it. "Don't apologize. It was wrong for me to explode like that.” I heaved a deep sigh. If she really wanted to know about my family, then I guess there was no harm in telling her about them. Besides, she seems trustworthy. “If you must know, yes, I did have family – a mother, a father, and a little sister."
"What happened to them?" Twilight asked again. "Are they okay?"

From that moment on, my eyes which were once full of bright life, now turned dark and stormy. It was then Twilight realized that I didn't want to talk about it any further. I still told her though. 

"They died."

"W-what?" Twilight gasped in shocked

"I'm serious. They've been dead for over five years now. I'm perhaps the last one of my family." I said.

Twilight put a hoof on her chest. "My gosh...Bill, I-I didn't know about that. I'm so sorry..."

"Raiders killed them all." I explained. "At least, that's how I think they died. I guess I was to traumatized to even remember how they died."

"...Did you have any other family members? Cousins? Grandparents?"

"No," I shook my head sadly, but then gave a small smile. "Just my friends though. They're more family than I could ever imagine.

"Remember how I said that it can get pretty lonely out here in the wasteland?" Twilight gave a nod. "Well, having friends are not only important, they can be the best family you've ever had.

"I'm still upset over the loss of my family to this day, but with the help of my friends, I've been able to go through all the troubles I faced without any worry. I'd say that we've become more family than we could imagine. Raul and Lily, although they're not related, both of them are like grandparents I've never had in my life. Arcade and Cassie are like older siblings while Boone and Veronica are the younger siblings. Rex is perhaps the family dog, even if he's with the King. And ED-E, well, let's just say that he's the lovable robot we're all glad to have around. They may call me the big boss around here, but I still look up to them, no matter how old they might be, what their race is, or what differences they have. When you're in my circle, we all become one, big happy family. It's like my mother always said, 'once you make good friends, you have one, big happy family.'"

"That sounds really nice." Twilight said, smiling. "Tell me more about your parents. What were they like?"

"Oh, my parents," I sighed happily, thinking back to all the loving times I spent with them. "They were the best parents any kid could have ever asked for. Out here in the wasteland, it's tough to stay together as a family. Some folks might have a mother who always has to go to work as a prostitute in order to get the caps to take care of her family, or a father who drinks himself into a coma and abuses the family he loves. Not my parents though. They were loving and compassionate human beings. We had always looked out for each other.

"My father, Edward Davis, was a business man in the NCR. He traveled around the wasteland a lot, so he taught me how to survive and fend for myself. My mother, Maria, was a tribal, but not like the ones that go barefoot or speak foreign languages or hunted with stone-tipped spears. Her tribe was more of an advanced tribe, like the New Canaanites."

"New Canaanites?" 

"They're a tribe...well, they WERE a tribe that was just like us, but that's something I'll tell you another time. Anyway, back to Mom...she was a doctor and the repairman in our tribe. She was also a damn good cook. She was the one who taught me modern and tribal medicine, as well as preparing and cooking food out in the wastes. Mom also taught me some basic maintenance skills, but it was Dad who practically made me an expert when it came to maintaining guns and putting stuff back together."

"What can you tell me about your mother's tribe?" Twilight asked.

"I don't remember much honestly." I admitted, shrugging sadly. "All I know is that they were from the East and knew quite a lot of things back in the pre-war days. We wore casual clothes and all of us spoke fluent English instead of a made up tribal language. We also knew more science, technology, and advanced medicine than any other tribe we've known. We were pretty friendly and sociable with everyone in the wasteland and outsiders were welcomed in our village, so long as they behaved themselves.

"As a tribe, we still learn how to survive the tribal way. When we want to conserve ammo or stay quiet, we use spears and tomahawks to hunt. When there's no stimpaks to fix up a cut, we brew ourselves healing powder and sprinkle it on our wounds."

"How did your parents meet?" Twilight asked.

"Where did you get off asking a man about his parents?" I chuckled. "Like I said before, my father traveled around a lot as a businessman in the NCR. He travels the wasteland in two different ways – by foot, or by driving his car, a restored Chryslus Highwayman."

"What's a car?" 

"You ponies have something like a carriage in your world, right?" Twilight nodded in response. "Well, think of it as a...horseless carriage that's powered by nuclear energy."

"A horseless carriage?" Twilight scribbled in her journal. "Amazing..."

"One day, he was driving out east when his car died all of a sudden. Stranded out in the middle of the wasteland with nightfall approaching, he was soon rescued by my mother and a few members of our tribe that were out hunting. Since our tribe knew more about technology, we also knew how to restore old pre-war cars. So, Mom and a few of the tribals offered to help Dad push his car back to their village and repair it. I remember Dad telling me that it took nearly eight hours to push that car back to the village. By the time they got back, it was almost dawn.

"If I remember correctly, our village was established in an old town that had survived since the Great War. It had a couple of houses, a saloon, a general store, a school, a clinic, a police and fire department, as well as a chop shop for repairing cars. In no time, Dad would be able to get his Chryslus running again and continue his journey. It was going to take a couple of weeks before it was fixed, so Dad stayed at Mom's village for a while. Little did he know, he was soon going to stay there for the rest of his life.

"During his time in our village, Dad did his best to help out around the village while Mom went to fixing his car. It wasn't long before my Dad began to have a crush on my mother, and soon afterwards, Mom had taken notice and started crushing on him. Or she might have already did when they first met out in the wasteland. Every time my Dad came into the repair shop, my Mom would always greet him with a smile and toss around her long, silken hair. I remember Dad telling me about his meetings with Mom, always complementing that 'she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met.'"

Twilight giggled. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Dad began helping around the car shop since Mom was practically the only one working on his car. I think it was so that he could get closer to her. A month later, Dad finally got the courage to ask Mom out on their first date, which she accepted. Their first date went so well that they decided to spend the night in each others' arms and...well, it's probably best not to go in full detail..."

"Yeah..." Twilight laughed awkwardly. 

"Two months later, his car was finished and he can finally head back to NCR. As he was starting up his car, he couldn't help but not leave the village just yet. I already know why. There was no denying the fact that Dad was in love with Mom." I gave a light chuckle. "No...'in love', is too weak. Dad really did love her. In fact, he had offered to take her back to NCR so that they can get married. At the last moment, she accepted the offer and the both of them went back to NCR.

"They stayed there for a couple of years. A few months after they were married, I was born, and for six years, I lived in the NCR to have a better education in a safe environment. Dad continued his job as a businessman while Mom stayed home to take care of me. When I was about 7 years old, I was old enough to be sent off to the NCR military academy or work at the farms. 

"See, that's what the average citizen looks forward to – either to become a soldier in a couple of years, or be the man who feeds the soldiers. Mom decided it was best for me to return to her tribe so that I wouldn't have to live that kind of life. I didn't want to become a farmer since I would never be happy shoveling brahmin shit for my entire life, nor did I wanted to become a soldier since there are a lot of dangerous risks in the military. So, we packed our bags, took all the caps we had, and together we left California on Dad's Highwayman. I still remember riding in his car for the first time. I'd seen many pictures of them in the books I've read, but having to ride in one was just a fascinating experience. Something about seeing the whole wasteland flying past before your eyes was what made this car trip very interesting and memorable.

"For the next few years, I became a part of Mom's tribe. Like any normal kid in the wasteland, Dad taught me how to shoot and trading while Mom taught me the many skills I needed to survive out here. Often times, I'd be attending the school at my village or do the usual odd job that Dad asked me to do. Meanwhile, Mom went back to fixing things and caring for the tribe while Dad established a trading business in our village. Since he was still in contact with the NCR, our village became one of NCR's best trading partners. Once I got older, I was soon hired by the NCR to work with them as a courier. Not very exciting, but I loved seeing the world, and delivering people's mail seemed like the best way to see it all.

"So that's about it on my parents. What else do you want to know?"

"What about your sister?" Twilight asked with interest. "When did she come into your life?"

"My little sis?" I let out a content sigh. "She came into our life when I was 10 years old and brought light and warmth. Her name is Emily, by the way."

"What was she like?" 

"Emily was the best sister I could ever have. The good kind too. Not the one that will drive you crazy all the time."

Twilight let out a giggle at that remark.

"We always looked out for one another and we stuck together like glue, so I guess you can say Emily was the only best friend I had out here. She's the most kind and caring person I'm proud to call my sister. She would've love to meet you. You and her would be good friends in a heartbeat." 

I'd thought back to the time of when I had that stomach flu in which Emily helped take care of me during that terrible time. "When I was 18 years old, I had gotten the worst stomach flu after eating some bad food. It was one of the worst times of my life. My stomach was in knots and every hour or so, I had to run to the bathroom to shit or vomit. It was absolutely disgusting. 

"But Emily, who was always so caring like Mom, was the first to take care of me when I was that badly ill. Just like that, she'd sit by my bed to read me a couple of stories, sing me lullabies, and help me take my medicine. No questions asked." I looked up into the night sky with a sad smile. "She really was the best little sister I could ever ask for."

All of a sudden, I felt my eyes began to moisten, which is something that rarely happens to me nowadays. "She wanted to be a doctor. After how she nursed me back to good health, I knew that she'd be a damn, good doctor." I heaved a sad sigh. "She...she could've help made the world a better place..."

Twilight, noticing the sudden my sudden change of expression, asked, "Are you alright, Bill? You seem sad?"

"What?" I quickly rubbed my eyes just to make sure I had no tears. My hands turned out dry, so I was relieved to know that I did not cry. "Y-yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Just dandy!"

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked with concern.

"Yup!" I gave an assuring grin. "Don't you worry about me. I'm fine."

Twilight shrugged. "Alright, if you say so."

"Anything else you want to know about?" I said, changing the subject from that tiny emotional breakdown I had.

"Well, besides being a courier, are you into any other hobbies?" Twilight asked.

"Aside from delivering mail to folks? Of course I have other hobbies." I laughed. "If you must know, I've been a hired gun, doctor, cook, repairman, and an author."

"You write books?" Twilight asked, intrigued.

"Most of them are stories about my adventures out here in the Mojave." I explained. "Places I've been to, the people I've met, stuff like that. None of them that important, but could be interesting for children to read. They're still in the editing process."

"What other books have you written?" 

"Well..." I scratched the back of my head before leaning close to her ear, whispering, "Don't tell anyone I said this, but I actually made all those books I was carrying."

"You wrote the Big Book of Science?" Twilight smiled in amazement before it faded into suspicion. "But it's written by a different author..."

"Well, when I said that I made the book, I meant that I 'crafted' it, not wrote it." I explained. "I actually 'copy' the entire book onto a blank book, then sell it for caps afterwards."

Twilight gave me a disgusted look. "Bill! That's plagiarism!" 

"Hey, some people need to make a living out here in the wasteland, and since books like these are practically rare out here, I make copies of these books and sell it to those who need them. Besides, how many people do you think would care about plagiarism after a nuclear apocalypse from two hundred years ago?"

"I still don't like the idea of you taking someone's ideas and putting them on a blank book to sell afterwards." Twilight pouted. "But, you got a point. Still, how do you manage to copy all of the information down on one book with just a pen? That would take months to finish a book."

"The Big Empty has everything I need to make copies of the books." I explained. "There are holodisks that contain every major and minor details from books such as 'DC Journal of Internal Medicine'. Book recipes if you want it to sound simple. These 'book recipes' are simply inserted into a terminal that is connected to an automated printing press. Afterwards, throw in a couple of blank books into the machine and watch as a hundred copies of your desired books are printed out in full HD color and print."

"Where do you get the blank books?" Twilight asked.

"Like I said, the Big Empty has everything you need to make it possible, such as a talking book chute that can mulch up destroyed books into clean, pristine blank books. Pretty efficient recycling if you think about it.

"So yeah, that's about my hobbies on writing. Pretty much what any average wastelander would do, so long as the pay is good."

"What about your courier hobby?" Twilight indicated. "Do you still do it?"

"Not much anymore," I shrugged sadly. "Besides, job's too dangerous anyway."

Twilight cocked her head sideways. "How dangerous?"

I brushed my hair to the side to show the two bullet marks left behind. "Dangerous enough to leave two bullet marks on my skull."

Twilight winced slightly at the sight of the bullet marks. "Oh, sorry..."

"Don't get me wrong, I'll still do it for the right causes." I said. "But from now on, I'll be a little more careful about what I'm carrying the next time."

It wasn't until I finally felt the exhaustion creeping in. I got up from my seat and stretched my limbs with a yawn. "Well, I guess that's all we can talk about today. Time to hit the sack."

Twilight gave a light yawn and pulled out her water canteen and toothbrush. "I agree. I'm going to brush up and then get some sleep."

While Twilight went to wash up, I went to do some trading with the merchant. I needed to sell and trade away most of the things that were weighing me down for some more caps and better supplies. In the end, I sold the weapons I scavenged off from the Legion and traded a few food and water supplies for more ammo and extra space in my pack. In total, I got about 3000 caps from selling the weapons, most of them being in good condition, so that was a huge bonus for me. There was still the matter of having to repair my armor, since it was damaged in a fight today, but I could do that in the morning. With my business complete, it was time to go to bed.

As I got near the tent, I could hear the sound of sniffling, like someone was crying. I gently pushed open the tent's flaps and see Twilight sitting on one of the mattresses, sobbing her eyes out. 

	Great. Now what? I thought to myself.

I approached her slowly and I noticed that she was looking down at a picture frame. Getting, closer, I could see that it was a picture of her with five other ponies and what seemed like a small purple gecko with them.

Kneeling down beside her, I asked, "Family?" She shook her head. "Friends?" She nodded slowly.

"Hey," I whispered. "Don't cry now. I'm sure you'll see them again soon."

"It's not that..." Twilight sniffled. "Even if I get through all of this and return to my home world, what are my friends going to see me as?"

I gave a light laugh as if she were joking. "Why, they're going to see you as Twilight Sparkle! What else?"

"But are they going to see me as the Twilight Sparkle they all know?" Twilight quivered. "By the time I return to Equestria, my friends may no longer see me as a friend...but a monster...a killer..."

She choked out another sob, and I could understand what she was talking about now. "Is this about that legionary you killed today?"

"I didn't mean to..." She began, before stopping herself. "I just...I just wanted to scare him, that's all I wanted to do. I just wanted him to leap out of the way, not stand there to be...to be..."

I sensed that Twilight was about to have another breakdown, so I did something that I would never do to a complete stranger unless I knew him or her long enough to trust them. I wrapped my arms around Twilight and pulled her into a hug. I could tell she was surprised when I embraced her, but eventually, she slowly wrapped her own hooves around me and hugged me for comfort, crying softly on my chest.

"Do not think about it any further, Twilight." I said as I gently stroke her mane. "You saved my life back there. It was a horrible accident, I get it, but if you hadn't done what you had to do, none of us would be alive right now."

"I can still see him," Twilight looked up at me with tear stained cheeks and red eyes. "Getting sliced open and Celestia knows what else I was doing to him. I don't know if I can forget it all. Just how do you manage it?"

"Mange what?" I asked.

"Today, I just watched you kill all those men without a care of the world." Twilight explained. "And I'm sure you've killed more in the past. Now, I'm responsible for the death of somepony..."

"No, you're not." I interrupted.

"...and I feel sick to my stomach because of it. Just how do you manage to cope with all of this? How do you cope with the memories of those you've killed? The knowledge of taking a life?"

I looked around the tent as if making sure no one was listening in on us, before I gently grasped her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "I'm going to lay it on you, Twilight. The truth is you don't. You move on with your life and assure yourself that you did what had to be done. Today qualifies as a 'them-or-you' situation, and that's okay. Be thankful that you survived and continue on living your life. What's done, is done. You can never change what has happened, but you also can't let it get to you."

"You're maybe right," she sniffled and wiped away her tears. "But I don't know if I'm able to do that."

"It ain't easy, but if you don't put any effort on it, your guilt is what's going to end up killing you. And believe me, that's what nearly happened to me." I pulled out my .44 magnum revolver and shook out all of the bullets from the chamber. Twilight then looked on in horror as she saw me shove the empty revolver barrel into my mouth and pulling the trigger, making the empty 'clack' sound whenever a gun has ran out of ammo. I pulled the barrel away from my mouth as I continued. "I was only fifteen years old when I killed my first man. My sister and I were the only ones home while Mom and Dad were out of the village for a couple of days. One night, a raider snuck into our village and broke into our home to steal some valuables. I awoke to hear some screaming coming from my sister's room and I saw that the raider had her pinned to her bed, preparing to rape her. Fortunately, I already had my gun out while the raider just held a rusty kitchen knife in his hands. One peak out of my sister's door and he immediately caught a .44 hollow-point round in his eye. He died in an instant.

"When you hear stories like this, you'd probably expect to hear that I felt proud afterwards when I killed the raider and protected my sister in the process. Well, I felt the exact opposite instead. Shortly after I killed that raider, I sulked into deep depression, feeling sorry for killing the raider. Yes, he was evil, and yes, he tried to hurt my sister, but I was still a kid back then and I had known nothing about taking the life of a human being. I couldn't sleep for days, couldn't eat, couldn't talk with anyone. It got so bad that I was this close to doing what I showed you just now. It took a lot of talking from my Mom and Dad to finally get me to stop pushing a gun into my mouth."

"Seriously?" Twilight asked, forgetting about her grief. "But you look so calm and collected."

"On the outside, maybe." I explained. "But it was still really hard for me back when I was fifteen year old. As I got older, it didn't bother that much, but it's still hard. Having periods of peace and quiet has helped me get through all the hardship. Even having friends such as yourself helped me out greatly."

Smiling, Twilight blushed at the compliment as she waved a hoof in front of her face. "Oh, stop it. We've only just met."

"I hardly shove a gun in my mouth anymore. Each morning, I wake up feeling pretty optimistic about the day ahead. Despite all that has happened in my life, I'm happy to be where I am. It was a long, hard road for me to find peace in life, and it still is. But as long as I think about the bright side of the future, I'll make it one day."

I took her hooves into my hands. "I know that you're worried about what this world may throw at you. I get it. But you don't have to worry a thing about it. Do you know why? Because you've just made a new best friend out here.

"No matter how tough the road may be, I'm there for you. I'll be by your side, protecting you from whatever harm the wasteland throws at you, all the way until we can get you back home. You'll get through this, Twilight. You just got to believe."

I released her hooves and ruffled up her mane, making her giggle again. "Feeling better now?"

Twilight gave a light nod. "A little bit, I guess." She then used her magic to pull me in closer to hug me. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, buddy." I grinned. "Now you'd better get some sleep. We've got a lot of work to do tomorrow. Good night, Twilight."

And with that, I crawled onto my mattress and immediately fell asleep. Man, did I need sleep after all that drama today.




Before going to sleep, Twilight had her emergency blanket taken out of her saddlebag to use. Wrapping herself in the warm blanket, she was about to go to sleep when she noticed William was shivering slightly from the cold. 

Seeing how William was able to take care of himself, she'd thought that he wouldn't need the blanket, but the poor thing looked like he was going to freeze to death. Twilight quietly walked over to William and gently laid the emergency blanket over him.

	I guess I don't really need that blanket. Twilight thought to herself. Besides, I don't think it's too cold tonight.

The moment she laid the blanket over William, the human tightly wrapped the blanket around himself in his sleep. Twilight giggled softly as she noticed the small smile on William's face as he slept warmly.

"Good night, William." Twilight yawned. "Sleep well. And thanks for everything today."

With that business out of the way, Twilight Sparkle walked on back to her mattress and fell asleep, allowing all of today's troubles to fade away.