A Wilder Wasteland

by Midnight Words

Chapter 1: Storm's a brewing

Chapter 1: Storm's a brewing

------------------------------ Everfree Forest ------------------------------

Dark magics were flowing through the Everfree Forest, the large twisting trees and large canopy blocked all sunlight that would fall to the ground. Normally the wildlife would be active during the day, but not today. Today was special for a certain pony, a day where he would finally prove that there were other worlds out there; worlds filled with creatures other than ponies.

And enslave them all.

A dark cloaked Unicorn swiftly made it to a small clearing. The pony quickly set up a number of runes where a small amount of sunlight would break through the large canopies of the forest.

Five runes covered the area, each were in a corner of the clearing. The Unicorn began chanting silently until the runes started glowing a dark blue, his horn began glowing a similar dark blue.

Power. There was power that rivaled even both Goddesses of the sun and moon, a power felt across the whole world, from the farthest reaches of the Diamond Dog Caves to the high cloud platforms of Cloudsdale and other cloud cities.

There was smoke, dark putrid smoke that filled the air, eating away at the surrounding area, the plants died and decayed in minutes, those unfortunate enough to be caught by the smoke were slowly and painfully being tortured, killed and rotting away.

And, just for a second, it was gone, the area was dead, the smoke was gone. The Unicorn was nowhere to be found. The grass and all plant and wildlife near the runes were dead, and at the center of it all, was a swirling portal, a portal not even the Goddesses of sun and moon would be able to create, yet there it was. Defying the laws of magic, made by one Unicorn with five common runes.

There it stood. A foreboding portal, a portal where nopony knew where it went.

------------------------------ Everfree Forest, The next day ------------------------------

The next day, a young Unicorn student by the name of Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic, was sent to investigate the strange magic from the day before.

Her friends were suppose to come as well, but the raw magic would kill any lesser Unicorn in less than a few seconds, even the Princesses would have a hard time staying on their hooves.

Being the bearer of the Element of Magic, made her far more resilient to most passive magic, do not be mistaken, she is not as strong as the Princesses, but far more... tolerant.

She stole her breath, readying herself for the dark forest that many foals feared, but she was not ready for what waited ahead.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing. No birds, no preying eyes, no foreboding lights in the distance. She was completly safe.

And this was what worried her, usually monsters would attack or at least observe anything that would go into the forest.

The closer she got to the clearing, the stronger the magic was, she felt heavier, like a ton of bricks were weighing her down. There, she saw a portal, a portal that she has never seen before. She knew better than to go through the portal, but she was being sucked in, such pure power was mesmerizing for anypony.

Before she knew it, she stepped in.

------------------------------ Goodsprings Cemetery, 12:00 AM ------------------------------

For the Courier, staring down the barrel of the gun was a familiar sight for him, but right now was different, he was tied and gagged, no way to get free or call for help.

This was the end for him. He'll remember this guy's checkered suit and face. He would find a way to kill this guy.

BANG

"Right, he's dead. Let's get out of here, Benny. I want to get my caps and score some Jet." The Great Khan on the Courier left said.

"Bury the body first, then we'll head back up I-15."

"We are not going back through I-15! We barely made it through the first time!"

"Fine, we'll go down through Primm."

When the thugs left, a lone robot came rushing up the cemetery, he quickly picked up a shovel and began digging. He picked up the Courier's body and headed to Doc Michelle's house

There was a loud crack of thunder above the sky. The robot looked up and saw a body falling through the sky. The body fell in front of him, a girl with black hair and a hot pink strip on her hair. She wore a short skirt and purple vest with a light magenta undershirt.

The robot was confused for a short while, deciding if he should help or not.

The robot picked up the girl and decided to help her as well. He quickly rushed his way to the Doctor's house.

------------------------------ Doc Michelle's House, 9:00 AM ------------------------------

The Courier didn't plan to wake up this morning, in fact, he didn't plan on waking up at all.

"Whoa," an old voice said. The Courier slowly got up, his vision was blurry and his head felt like a Nightstalker had been chewing on it. "Easy there, you had quite a tumble last night."

"Ugh... What..." The Courier tried to speak, but he felt very weak.

"Victor found you up in the graveyard last night, you're damn lucky Victor saw the goons that jumped 'ya." The old man said. The Courier's vision slowly cleared and soon he found himself sitting on an old dirty bed in a room that looked like some sort of lab. "I'm Doc Michelle, so mind telling me your name."

"... Name... My name is... Daniel... Dan for short." The Courier said.

"Huh, not a name I'd pick for 'ya, but if that's your name then that's your name." Doc Michelle said. The Doctor reached for something behind his chair. "Now, hope 'ya don't mind, but I had to go digging around that head of yours." He handed a small mirror to Daniel. "Tell me if I left something out."

"I... look find, Doc..." Daniel said. The only difference he found was that he had a small scar on his forehead.

Daniel had a gruff appearance and a 5 o'clock shadow on his chin, his eyes were a bit wide for a person of his heritage, but all in all, he'd seen worse.

"No point keeping 'ya in bed," Doc Michelle said and gave the courier a helping hand. "Whoa there, take it easy." He said as the Courier also tripped. "Why don't we check on your vitals on the Vigo-matic? Now take it slow, this ain't a race."

Daniel slowly made his way to the machine and grabbed the joy-stick.

Strength: 6
Perception: 5
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 5
Intelligence: 10
Agility: 9
Luck: 1

"Whoa." Doc Michelle said in awe. "I think that bullet may have done 'ya some good." He said. "I still got a few more test for 'ya. Follow me."

The Courier tried to ignore the unintended insult the Doctor made and quickly followed him to an old ruined couch. The Doctor sat down on a chair in front of him.

"Now I want you to say the first thing comes to mind." The Doctor said. "Friends."

"Missing."

"Kindness."

"Needed."

"Loyalty."

"Misplaced."

"Generosity."

"Rare."

"Laughter."

"Calm."

"Honesty."

"Trust."

"Revenge."

"Objective."

"I would show you a few inkblots, but I've lost them all somewhere. Hope you don't mind." The Doctor said with a slight frown.

The Courier nodded.

"Alright, now I'm going to say a phrase and you tell me if it describes you or not." Doc Michelle said and picked up a small book. "Fighting just ain't in my nature."

"Disagree."

"I trust my feelings instead of doing it logically."

"Agree."

"I'm slow to take in new ideas."

"Strongly Disagree."

"I charge head on against my problems."

"Disagree."

"My friends are the people that make me strong."

"... No opinion..."

"Well. that's all she wrote. Now I don't got nothing to compare it to, so you might as well take a look." Daniel took a checklist and slowly examined it.

Nodding, he returned the checklist back to Doc Michelle. "Now this is just a formality, but if you could fill out this form for medical history. Now if you don't want to I understand."

Daniel took the form and filled out his name his medical history. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"I'll walk you out." Doc Michelle said and got up from his chair. Daniel followed him and got up from his own chair.

They reached the front door. "Uhh... Thanks for patching me up, Doc."

"It's not a problem." Doc Michelle said. "Here. You can have this, it ain't much use to me now." He said and gave the Courier some sort of bracer. "It's a Pip-boy, everyone had one back when I lived in a Vault. Oh, I hope you don't mind, but I went rummaging through your stuff, found a piece of paper, thought it might help me find a next of kin, but all I found was something about a Platinum Chip." He said and returned the items and clothes back to the Courier.

"Thanks." Daniel said and quickly put on his clothes. "And thanks again for the help." He said and reached for the door handle.

"Now hold-up now. Aren't 'cha going to wait for your friend to wake up?" Doc said.

"Friend? I'm pretty sure I got shot in the head alone." Daniel said with a confused look.

"Yeah, she was pretty exhausted looks like. She looked like she went through an entire nest of Deathclaws and lived, and I wouldn't be surprised if she did." Doc said and went to the other room.

Daniel looked confused and decided to follow the old man. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I checked her with the Vito-matic when she was brought in. Her Strength and Endurance ain't something to boast about, but her Intelligence broke the darned machine, had to get someone in here and fixed the damn thing. I'd think she could beat any danged robot in chess any day." Doc Michelle said and sat down on a chair next to a bed.

A petite looking girl lay asleep on the bed, she looked like she was having a nightmare. The Courier narrowed his eyes at her.

"Never seen her in my life." He said with distrust and disbelief.

"You can go out if you want." Doc Michelle said with a nod.

"Nah, I think I'll stick around for a while. Can I use your chemistry set." The Courier said. "I'm sort of curious to see if she's all you say she is."

"Feel free to stick around."

------------------------------ Doc Michelle's House, 3:00 PM ------------------------------

The Courier had been busy the pass few hours. He made several Stimpacks and fixed several broken equipment Doc Michelle just didn't have time to.

Twilight slowly opened her eyes.

The world was coming into view, everything was blurry, yet she could make out a few odd shapes around her.

She tried to sit up, but that only made her headache stronger.

"She's waking up." Doc Michelle said. "Now, don't 'ya worry none, we ain't gonna hurt 'ya." He said in a calm tone.

Twilight felt somewhat relieved to hear that, she was a small plastic bottle of water on the nightstand next to her bed. She focused her mind and tried to concentrate lifting the bottle.

The small bottle slowly shook and floated a few inches off the table, but the bottle quickly fell down on the table. She was too weak to even lift a water bottle.

Doc Michelle was speechless. He just stared with his jaw slightly agape. Daniel came through the door, and saw the shocked look on Doc's face. He saw the bottle of water on the ground, he picked it up and gave it to the girl.

Twilight tried to use her magic again, but nothing happened. Her vision was still very blurry, but she could make out that she was in a very old or ruined bedroom. Twilight took the bottle of water and saw that her hooves turned into some sort of fleshy thing with five appendages. She tried to scream, but her voice was parched and nothing came out.

The Courier figured that she was either too weak right now or too lazy to open the bottle herself, so he took the bottle and removed the cap and slowly position the water bottle on the girl's mouth.

He slowly tilted the bottle, the clear liquid went down the girl's throat.

"Tha-thank you..." Twilight muttered. Her vision was slowly clearing up, she was less thirsty now, but she felt as if she needed some more.

"No problem." Daniel said, and turned his attention to Doc Michelle. "Uh, Doc? I ain't a doctor, so I'm gonna need your help to see if there's anything wrong with her."

The Doctor snapped out of his slight trance and shook himself awake. "Right, I don't want to risk the Vito-matic again, but I have her records right here." He said.

Strength: 2
Perception: 8
Endurance: 3
Charisma: 6
Intelligence: 13
Agility: 4
Luck: 5

"I think her Intelligence goes a little bit higher, but the darned thing would break." Doc Michelle said, and both him and Daniel turned their attention to Twilight.

"His name is Doctor Michelle. I'm Daniel." Daniel said.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said and slowly sat up on the bed. "What... are you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Daniel said.

"I mean species, and what happened to me? I... used to be different..." She said, concealing what she actually was.

The Courier looked at the Doctor. "Do... do Ghouls change back?" He whispered.

"Not that I know of. Though there were some cases where people thought they were Ghouls." Doc Michelle said with a concerned look.

"Right... Anyway," He said and turned his attention to Twilight. "We're called Human, by we I mean all of us, including you."

Twilight didn't display any sort of emotion on her face. She slowly felt her hands and skin, she tried to feel the top of her head, and found something was missing. Realization slowly started to creep in her.

Her eyes grew wider and she started to breath faster, her heart pumped quicker. "Where's my horn!?!" She exclaimed.

"Pardon?" Both the Courier and the Doctor said in unison.

"The thing on top of my head that makes me cast magic!" She yelled.

The Courier turned to Doc Michelle with a concerned look. "Are you sure about these results? I mean, she's more of a loony-bin than someone who's eligible to be the next Mr. House."

"Sure as rain." The Doctor replied. "Maybe she's just in shock."

Twilight tried to get up, but she quickly lost her balence and fell face first on the floor.

The Courier got up from his seat and held out his hand. Twilight grabbed his rough hand, it was a strange sensation for her, instead of the hard alabaster hooves, her soft skin felt... nice? She couldn't quite place her hoo-hand on it.

"Think you can walk?" The Courier said and pulled her up. Doc Michelle got up from his seat and made his way to the door.

"Follow me, I still need to run a few tests, here and there." The Doctor said and made his way towards the living room.

Daniel had to led her towards the living room, Twilight was still unstable and was losing her balance ever other step or so. Both of them sat down on the ruined couch.

"I'll run the same tests I did with Daniel over here. I want you to say the first thing that comes to mind." Doc Michelle said and took a seat.

"Friends."

"Loving."

"Kindness."

"Shy."

"Loyalty"

"Dash."

"Generosity."

"Rarity."

"Laughter."

"Pink."

"Revenge."

"Useless."

"Well then, let's get started with the rest, but before that I need to ask you a question." Doc Michelle said. "You made that water bottle back there float for a good five seconds, how did you manage that?"

"It was just a basic levitation spell. Though I guess I'm still a bit weak right now." She said with a small smile. "Now that I think about it, how did I use magic without a horn?"

The Courier coughed and made small circles with his index finger next to his head.

The next few tests were all standard. Nothing out of the ordinary and by what Doc Michelle's test had proven; Twilight was not crazy... well not to the extent on killing everything she sees on sight, and a chemical test proved that she hadn't used any drugs whatsoever.

"Looks like you're both free to go. If you're looking for the man who shot you, I think Victor might know or you can go talk to Sunny Smiles at the saloon."

The Courier didn't trust Twilight, but he knows that she couldn't do any harm right now.

Twilight had walked slowly and started to learn how to run for a short while. Daniel thought that the strange girl might need something to defend herself with, he gave her the old laser pistol that Doc Michelle gave him. She didn't know what the device was for, but she took it anyway.

The two of them walked out the front door and into the town of Goodsprings.

------------------------------ Goodsprings, 3:30 PM ------------------------------

Light assaulted both of their eyes and blinded them for a split second.

Goodsprings was just a small town with several ruined houses, a small general store, a bar, and an abandoned school. The two of them walked out of Doc's property and went towards the saloon.

"So, where are you going now?" The Courier asked as they walked down the street. He couldn't find the robot that Doc Michelle talked about.

"I... don't know... I want to go back to my home with my friends." She said sadly.

Both of them saw an old man sitting right outside the old saloon.

"Didn't think I'd see you walking around." The old man said.

"Huh?" The Courier replied. "Who are you?"

"Name's Easy Pete. I tend to the Big Horners 'round here." Easy Pete said. "Used to be a Prospector back in the day."

"Prospector? Like digging for gold and metal?" Twilight asked.

"Huh, didn't see 'ya there." He said with a small nod. "Well some people call 'em Scavengers, but the way I see it is that 'scavenge' means looking for anything they can sell to get a few caps. Me? I only looked for the good stuff, scrap, weapons, food, water, you know that stuff."

"See 'ya later Easy Pete." Daniel said and walked towards the saloon. Twilight said her goodbyes aswell and rushed in to meet up with the Courier.

They both went in, a low growl came from a wolf. Next to the wolf was a red-haired woman that held her rifle down. "Cheyenne, down girl. Don't worry, she won't bite unless I tell her too." She said with a smile.

"You must be Sunny Smiles, I heard that you can give me a few pointers about surviving the wasteland." Daniel said.

"Sure, who's your friend?" Sunny asked.

"Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and we just met actually." Twilight said with a formal tone.

"Huh, alright. Meet me outside, I'll teach both of you a few tricks." With that, Sunny Smiles and her wolf ran out the saloon.

Daniel a bottle of whisky on the table, he was... sort of an alcoholic... actually he was very alcoholic. But he restrained himself and made his way to the backdoor.

Twilight was more interested in the several stacks of magazines and old books next to the whisky, but she soon found that Daniel had already left the building.

The duo met with Sunny Smiles and she threw them both an old Varmit Rifle. Daniel expertly caught the gun while Twilight fumbled with her's.

There were a few empty Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles on the fence post.

"Alright, it's pretty simple. Aim and shoot, crouch to stabilize your shot, reload in cover." She said like an old instructor.

Daniel quickly picked off three Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles in quick succession.

Twilight on the other hand, accidentally dropped her gun due to the loud shots from Daniel's gun. She was scared of the guns that much was sure.

"What's the matter?" The Courier asked, he picked up her gun and held it out to her. "Just point and shoot." He said like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Twilight took the gun and swallowed the lump in her throat. Sunny walked over to her and adjusted her stance.

"Fire." Sunny said. Twilight squeezed the trigger and the recoil made her arm sore. The shot went wild and missed the target completely, the shot ricocheted towards the Courier.

Daniel dropped to the ground and dodged the bullet, by a hair.

"I think you should just stick to the laser." Daniel said and dusted off his clothes.

Twilight tried again, this time slightly more confident. She fired a shot and grazed the bottle and made it topple over.

"Good enough, I guess..." Sunny said, unsure. "Anyway, let's put your skills to the test. I have a job of clearing out the water supply from Geckos. You guys wanna come along, there'll be some caps in it for you."

"Sure, I'm running a bit low on caps." Daniel said, a small smile creeping on his face. He then turned to Twilight. "You can stay here if you want, maybe work on your aim."

"No! I mean, no, I want to come along." She said with a fake grin. In truth, Twilight just didn't want to be left alone.

"Sure, we might need some help." Sunny said and ran ahead.

Twilight and the Courier looked at each other in confusion.

"Tell me, where did you come from?" Daniel asked out of nowhere. The duo began to walk towards the water pumps.

"I... I don't remember." Twilight lied, badly.

"Nobody in the wasteland couldn't survive more than a day without knowing how to shoot properly. Everyone here knows how to hold and fire a gun." The Courier said and pointed to a travelling merchant. "Especially people that are travelling." He said and took out a 9mm pistol.

"Have you traveled far?" Twilight asked, eyeing the handgun.

"Traveled from the Capital Wasteland to Mojave Wasteland and everywhere between, I been to Vegas, The Strip, Freeside, I had to deliver a package to Camp McCarran and Cottonwood Cove." Daniel said with a wishful sigh. "How the hell did I manage to survive that anyway?" He asked no one in particular.

Twilight saw the forlorn look on Daniel's face. A slight contortion of an angry glare and sad frown. "You alright?" She asked.

"Huh? Yeah, of course." The Courier laughed. "I was just remembering a few runs I did a while back."

The two of them made it to the outcropping where Sunny was waiting.

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Daniel said with a grin. There were several Geckos that haven't noticed the trio of humans.

"So are we going to chase them away?" Twilight asked.

"No, these things multiply by the dozen, and irradiate the water, and they're more likely to run at you than from you." Sunny said and crouched down low. "We're taking them out. Feel free to get the hide if you want, those things fetch a good price."

The Courier crouched next to Sunny. "Come on, Twilight." Daniel said.

The Courier saw a young Gecko wander very near the water pump. He took the shot, the Gecko's head exploded in a pool of blood and gore. Twilight felt that her lunch was about to make a return trip from her stomach, but she tried her best to hold it in.

There were more Geckos running at them. Daniel got up and switched to his pistol for a close up. Sunny and her wolf, Cheyenne, easily dispatched several of the Geckos. Twilight on the other hand was having a hard time trying to take down one Gecko.

The Gecko tackled her down and bit her arm. It's sharp teeth bit deep into her flesh.

"Twi!" Daniel yelled and shoved the Gecko off her and pelted the Gecko with 9mm bullets.

The rest of the Geckos had been dispatched. "Phew, that was a close one. Looks like I did need the help." Sunny said. "You should head back to Doc Mitchell to get that treated."

"It doesn't look infected." Daniel said. Taking out a stimpack and held out Twilight's arm. "This won't hurt at all." He jabbed the needle in her arm. A sharp pain quickly shot up from Twilight's arm, and she let out a small yelp. "Sorry, I lied."

Twilight glared at the Courier.

"I still got more pumps to clear, feel free to he-"

"HELP!!" A female voice yelled from one of the nearby water pumps.

Daniel jumped up and took out an old knife, he sprinted to the edge and saw a local from Goodsprings fighting a horde of Geckos, Sunny couldn't make it at time, and he knew it. Daniel jumped off the small cliff he was standing on and landed on a Gecko, breaking it's neck.

The other Geckos jumped back in surprise as the Courier raised his knife in a combat stance.

The local went to cover behind a few rocks and silently coward there. Twilight got up and followed Daniel, even though her arm was badly wounded, she saw that the Courier was surrounded from all sides.

Daniel dodged an incoming Gecko and stabbed it at the base of its neck. Twilight focused her power, and picked up two Geckos with a purple aura and slammed them both to a wall. A loud sickening crunch resonated from the surrounding area.

Daniel saw Twilight up on the ridge, her hands glowing purple. A Gecko tackled the distracted Courier and knocked him down. Twilight saw this and fired a purple energy bolt and blew the Gecko to tiny bits and pieces. The terrain was covered in blood and gore from that one shot alone, the Courier was stunned as a few more Geckos tried to jump him, only to blasted away by Twilight.

Sunny came running and quickly dispatched the rest of the Geckos. She saw the bloody area where the Courier laid, she extended her hand and pulled him up.

The local ran up towards the Courier and gave her thanks and a few bottles of water.

"Got a little exciting back there." Sunny said with a smile. "Good work." She said and gave the Courier a pat on the back.

"Twilight saved my ass back there." Daniel said with a small grin.

Twilight smiled and waved at him, the ground was slowly giving way, she lost her footing and fell down the rockface. Daniel rushed in and caught her just in time.

"Looks like we're even." Daniel said and let Twilight down. "How'd you do that with your hands anyway?"

"Magic." She said. "I mean... uhh..." She tried to come up with an excuse, but came up with nothing.

The sun was slowly starting to set, the Mojave desert basked in the descending star's orange light.

"Anyway," Sunny began. "It’s getting late, there's a small camp right down that way. I've got one last thing to show you."

The trio made it to a small abandoned camp. "I'll teach you how to live off the land." She took out a few flowers and a strange root. "I'll teach you something the folks on the road call 'Healing Powder'. It'll come in handy."

------------------------------ Outskirts of Goodsprings, 6:30 PM ------------------------------

Twilight and Daniel each made a small pack of Healing Powder.

"Good. Well, that's all I've got to teach, you should head on over to the saloon. Trudy would have a fit if she found out I didn't tell you to stop by." Sunny said and made her way back to Goodsprings. She slung her rifle on her back and whistled to Cheyenne to follow.

The Courier tucked away the two bags of Healing Powder and made his way back to the town. "First," He began. "Let's get that arm fixed." He said took out a syringe of Med-X. "This'll dull the pain."

"Thanks but..." Twilight saw strands of purple light slowly close up the wound. "I don't think I need it."

The Courier gave a cautionary glance at Twilight's arm. "How do you do that? Might come in handy." He said.

"Oh, uh..."

"Magic, right. You might as well stop lying. Tell me about your 'Magic'." He said with a stern look.

Twilight sighed. "I think it's better if we sit down for this."

They neared the saloon. Easy Pete was keeping a watchful eye on the road, a duel-barreled shotgun rested on his lap. Daniel suspected he was on a look-out in case a few nasties from the wastes were to wander near the town.

The duo entered the saloon.

Sunny was silently playing pool as the jukebox repeated a song from before the bombs fell.

Twilight and Daniel heard some yelling from the bar, and even some shattering glass.

A man wearing blue and short hair had the words "NCR Correctional Facility" written on his back. The man smelled of trouble, and dynamite. The man was red furious, shards of a shot glass laid on the floor. The radio fell over, a few knobs were loosely fit.

There was also a woman wearing a normal set of yellow clothing. She had her arms crossed and held no fear against the other man.

"Look, bitch, just give us Ringo and we'll be on our way." The man said rudely.

"And I said no. You can either try to fight here, and get your ass bitten off by Cheyenne--" The wolf howled in approval."--or you could leave with your dignity and all your limbs intact." The woman expressed no emotion whatsoever, but a tiny, unnoticeable smile crept on her face.

"You little..." The man cursed under his breath and ran to the door, pushing the Courier and Twilight away.

"Excuse me." The Courier said. "Who was that asshole?"

"Language." Twilight muttered.

The woman snapped up at attention. "Oh, sorry you had to see that. That was Jacob Cobb. An outlaw and, as you said, an asshole." She said and cleaned up the glass shards. "My name is Trudy, I run the saloon as you see, can I get you anything?"

"A bottle of Whisky." The Courier said.

"And a few of those books you had out earlier." Twilight chimed in.

Trudy handed over a few books for Twilight to peruse and a bottle of hard Whisky for Daniel. "This one's on the house, for saving Ol' Sally from the Geckos."

"Thanks." Daniel said and downed the bottle in one go. "That hit the spot!" He said and dropped the bottle on the table. "So what was that little argument about, anyway?"

"Oh, a traveller came into town, said he was attacked by bandits. Figured he was in shock so we let stay in the abandoned gas station up that way. After a few days, these Powder Gangers came along and demanded we give him up. I for one hope that Ringo leaves during the night and takes these idiots with him."

"Powder Gangers?" Twilight asked.

"A bunch of organized bandits that took over the Correctional Facility a few ways from here. They were sent here to mine and make a railway using dynamite. Turns out, giving convicts some high-yield explosives wasn't such a good idea." Trudy said with an exasperated sigh. "The NCR is full of idiots."

"NCR?" Twilight asked again.

"New California Republic, bunch of politicians sitting on their asses all day trying to figure out how to grab the entire Mojave Wasteland and defend it from Caesar's Legion." She let out another sigh. "Like I said; idiots."

"Caesar? The old guy that runs a pack of rapist and slave traders? Can I get another bottle?" Daniel said and fiddled around with his Pip-boy.

"That's the one, brutal dumbasses that deal in slave trade and raiding. They're just a very deadly bunch of bandits that have a surprisingly good leader." Trudy said and gave the Courier another drink.

"Anyway, I think I can help with that Ringo problem of yours." The Courier said with a smirk. "And that radio."

"Really? I would be really grateful for that. Everything looks fine on the outside, but I can't be sure."

The Courier walked over towards the radio. "Twilight? I could use a little help."

Twilight had just finished reading a magazine about fixing busted radios and knew exactly what to do.

After some tinkering, the radio buzzed back to life.

"--listening to Radio New Vegas, and this is your host, Mr. New Vegas. I have news that a Mojave Courier that had been shot in the head, and a young girl that fell from the sky, found near Goodsprings had miraculously recovered. Now that is a postal service you can count on."

Trudy got out a handful of caps and gave them to Twilight. "I heard that thing came back to life, it's nice to hear someone with a voice like Mr. New Vegas. Here are some caps for the trouble."

"Let's talk to this Ringo tomorrow. Right now, let's head back to Doc Mitchell and get some shut eye." Daniel said.

Twilight yawned, agreeing to his suggestion.

The duo left the saloon and headed back to the Doc.

"We still need to talk about that 'magic' thing of yours." Daniel said with a small glance to Twilight's shoulder. "Your wounds are already patched up."

"Let's... talk about it tomorrow."

Author's Note:

Story, can't get out of my head.

Drunk!

Blagh, how the hell did I write this?

Comments

[Tank the turtle]

My opinion is so far neutral. My only nitpick is that Twilight has a-INT score of 17 which I'm fairly certain would put her in omnipotent levels, considering that level 10 INT are usually insanely smart scientist. On the other hand it would balance the lack of skills she has considering just how alien the wasteland would be to her.

[Midnight Words]

2721907 fixed, I was sort of drunk when I wrote that part.

[coldrunner]

2723128

pfffft drunk man oh man hehe you seem pretty sober in writing this but man you should have SEEN! the shit i wrote when i was tippsy writing was like "then she um i mena he wiat what?" that's how i write when drunk to the um dunno what ever! pinkie has some hard cider and well you can probably see where this is going no need to explain bye!!!

[Midnight Words]

2754337 I rewrote a lot of it before posting.

[AccessDeniedLULZ]

memeorama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/there-be-a-shit-storm-a-brewin.jpg

[TheShadower]

2723128 you also turned Doc Mitchell into Doc Michelle, creating the first sex change to be seen in New Vegas. But I respect his/her life choices.

[HB_DS2013]

I didn't think it was possible to have an INT stat higher than 10. Then again... Twi broke the Vigor-meter or whatever the name is.