> Fallout: Equestria Girls
>  by Extradimensional Alien
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Intro
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Intro


War. War never changes.

That's what the locals like to say. Having lived among them, I see no reason to disagree.

This used to be a peaceful place. People lived their everyday life. They went to their jobs. They had dinner with their families back at home. They had fun with their friends. They visited shops, or posted things on MyStable. There was a bazillion things to do. Life was good.

Unfortunately, few realized that this good life demanded a steady influx of resources. Resources that were not infinite.

And one fateful day, people discovered that they would run out of said resources very soon. The world was teetering on the edge of an energy crisis.

Alas, the locals have a bad tendency of not being able to come to compromise when facing crises like this. Their historical records prove it.

Tensions rose between the lands. Every ruler tried to get their hands on as many of natural resources as they could at the expense of everybody else. The means of beating opponents at this dangerous political game changed gradually. At first, it was discreet sabotage and theft. Then everyone started hiring mercenaries to fight for them, so as to maintain plausible deniability. Later, open conflicts began. The world descended into madness. No one wanted peace; all geopolitical players wanted to remain the sole winner who takes all.

In the end, two strongest superpowers, in their desperate attempts to destroy each other, unleashed weapons the likes of which my kind has never known.

Nuclear bombs.

Both sides took casualties in untold thousands; whole cities burned under the unforgiving heat and crumbled before shockwaves. The destruction was insurmountable. None of rival superpowers survived the apocalypse. The government of this land collapsed, and society descended into total anarchy.

Before that, many men, women and children flocked into enormous underground shelters known as "Vaults", hoping to survive the possible Armageddon; but what they discovered upon climbing out of them was irradiated lands with dangerous mutated creatures and people who lost everything humane in them.

But even in these circumstances, people still fought. Not having an external enemy anymore, they turned weapons upon each other, either in name of ideals, or in order to survive, or in sheer psychotic rage.

The locals were right. Eras come and go, countries rise and fall, technology moves forward without a pause, but war...

...

War never changes.
> Prologue: Equine in the Wastelands
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Prologue

Equine in the Wastelands


If anyone told me earlier that I would have to live like that, I would have laughed in their faces. I guess I'll never be able to, mused a young woman in her mid-twenties with unusual fiery-red and yellow hair.

Her name was Sunset Shimmer.

And the words "live like that" meant "live in the post-apocalyptic irradiated wastelands".

How, you ask, did it come to this?

Politicians' stupidity, Sunset would say.

Someone else may be more elaborate and tell a mini-story.

The wastelands Sunset Shimmer found herself in are all what remained of a powerful country known as United Federation of Equestria, or UFE for short.

Pretty ironic that this country in the parallel world bears the name "Equestria" as well.

The country owed its name to the fact that horses of various kinds were highly venerated among the inhabitants of the continent where UFE eventually rose. The equines helped a lot against dangerous beasts that used to prowl the lands, and against some medieval invaders that were defeated thanks to the fact that they never had horses of their own and did not have the tactics necessary to defeat the natives; thus, many cities bore "horse-names", and eventually they all united under the banner of UFE.

The technology went on, but the respect for equine companions prevailed among humans even in these days.

United Federation of Equestria was a prosperous and rich state, with post-industrial society and high level of life, but the prosperity came at a cost of various natural resources, like oil, natural gas, coal and so on. Unfortunately, many of these resources could not be replenished, and UFE was not the only country in the parallel human world which Sunset now called her home.

Thus, when it became obvious that the world faced an energy crisis, all countries, UFE included, tried to find a way to deal with it.

Alas, they settled on a way that Sunset's compatriots would not approve of: each country tried to hoard all resources for themselves.

UFE was not only prosperous, but also powerful, and it had a strong military. Several other countries, rich in natural resources but not as strong, feared that they would be annexed, and formed a military alliance known as TransOceanic Defense Coalition, or TODC for short.

United, TODC became a superpower which could rival UFE in strength. Both sides quickly became bitter enemies.

And the enmity led to a war between them.

Both UFE and TODC hoped for a quick victory over each other, but the hopes were dashed pretty quickly. While UFE held an advantage in terms of military technology and number of soldiers, TODC had some unique armaments and unconventional tactics of their own, and war came to a stalemate.

The rate at which natural resources were draining rose even higher. In the end, one of the sides (no one knew whether UFE or TODC were to blame for this) had enough, and unleashed the most powerful weapon one could conceive: atomic bombs. And the other side responded in kind.

The result: many cities were burned to the ground, the land masses were irradiated, millions of people perished, and United Federation of Equestria, as a state, ceased to exist.

Some of the people, however, were able to save themselves in underground bunkers known as "Vaults". Built by Vault-Tec, a well-known pre-war company, these bunkers could shelter their inhabitants from nuclear disaster, and provide them with clear water and other necessities for survival. One could live there for years.

Even then, there were simply not enough Vaults to shelter the whole civilian population of UFE. Sunset Shimmer was lucky enough to get a place in one of them - Vault 75.

Seven years after the disaster, however, the inhabitants of Vault 75 left it: surface radiation levels unexpectedly dropped faster than anticipated, and it became possible to live outside. As such, the Overseer of Vault 75 felt it safe to come out.

How wrong he was.

While not everyone who lived on the surface before atomic strike perished, many lost whatever dignity they had. Vault inhabitants who wanted to try and co-exist peacefully were attacked by raiders (people who had no sense of morals whatsoever), and the Overseer was killed.

The revenge attack led by Vault 75 security personnel on the raider village resulted in majority of officers getting killed, but they took out each and every raider they could in a pyrrhic victory. The survivors occupied the houses previously used by these dregs of post-apocalyptic society, and helped themselves to raider weapons.

Thus, Vault Village was born.

And Sunset Shimmer lived there.

Alone.

Before the apocalypse, she lost contact with her friends. She had no idea if they were even alive, but she always remembered their names.

Applejack. Rarity. Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy.

Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Sunset shed a tear (which she rarely did; Wastelands did not tolerate weakness); she lost her magic book in a hurry to get into Vault 75, and she could not tell her royal compatriot what had happened.

She did not even know if the book survived atomic fire.

Sunset did contemplate to find the magic portal and go back to Equestria; but it was very likely that Canterlot High School and the portal were destroyed by nuclear bombs.

Meaning I am trapped here forever. Getting through the Wastelands to CHS would be a fool's errand anyway. Too big of a distance through the land filled with mutants, wild beasts, raiders and Celestia knows what else.

Sunset entered her house and went upstairs. Before going to sleep, she put her hunting rifle nearby.

You never know when you need a weapon in the Wastelands...





Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

The annoying sound of metal hitting metal snapped Sunset Shimmer out of the dreamscape. After a split-second of unwariness (Wha? What happened? What's the commotion about?) she noted that the sun was still below the horizon, but it was not pitch-dark outside (Somewhere between 4 and 5 a. m., it seems), and she also noted the sound of gunfire.

Gunfire?

Any remnants of drowsy state disappeared as if washed away by a bucket of cold water.

The village is under attack!

Sunset immediately grabbed her hunting rifle and dashed downstairs. On the way to her front door she managed to check whether the gun was loaded (it was) and flip off the safety, making the gun ready to fire.

The fiery-haired woman opened the door - to be greeted with a hulking scorpion-like figure mere few meters before her.

Fortunately, the radscorpion (as these creatures were known) was turned away from her, and it was distracted by several men in the uniforms of Vault 75 security firing at it.

Sunset did not think twice before taking aim at radscorpion's "back" and firing. She was by no means an expert (not being one of security personnel, she, like any other Vault Village inhabitant, had only a month of experience in gun-firing), but missing at this distance was nigh impossible.

It was also impossible not to attract radscorpion's attention this way.

What. An. Idiot, the little voice told Sunset Shimmer reproachfully, as she moved the bolt, preparing to take another shot.

Need to act quick!

Before radscorpion came close enough for an attack, Sunset fired another shot. The bullet entered radscorpion's body (Blast! I was aiming to hit the eyes!), inflicting some damage, but not killing it. Radscorpions were tough to kill if you were not experienced enough, and security personnel rarely engaged one without arming themselves with assault rifles, and only if they had advantage in numbers.

The fiery-haired fresh-out-of-the-Vault Wasteland inhabitant had neither of those, and instead of wasting time to prepare another shot, she bolted back into the house and closed the door, locking it with a mere block of wood.

BANG!

The radscorpion apparently did not slow itself in time. Sunset moved to the side (standing in front of door that may get demolished by a mutated monster is pure idiocy, after all) and prepared another shot.

CRASH!

Radscorpion's tail made a hole in the door (great, now I'll have to repair that!), its poisonous tip in the place where Sunset's head was mere moments ago. Before the beast retracted it, Sunset managed to put the business end of her rifle to it and fire at point-blank range. The resulting BOOM was deafening, almost drowning out radscorpion's screech of pain.

Brat-tat-tat-tat-tat! BANG!

Unmistakable sounds of assault rifle and combat shotgun preceded the mutated animal's screech of pain, before its still-stuck tail twitched one last time and dropped lifelessly.

Just like in all bad action movies, last second rescue. But cursed if I am not glad.

"Miss Shimmer?" Sunset heard the voice of one of security guards, Swift Sentinel. "Hello? Miss Shimmer, are you alright?"

"Yeah," she replied, shaking a bit as adrenaline in her system went down, "yeah, I'm fine. No scratches. You boys came in the nick of time."

"Glad to hear it. Miss Shimmer, we really hate to ask you this, but could you please help us?"

Wow, it appears to be serious. Guards don't ask for armed civilian's help unless it's bad, thought pony-turned-human. She unlocked the door and came out (not without some difficulty - radscorpion's corpse presented a problem), face-to-face with her saviours.

"How bad is it?" she addressed Swift Sentinel, who just finished reloading his assault rifle.

"Half a dozen radscorpions went on a rampage and came to the village. We downed four of them, this one included," he waved his weapon's barrel in direction of freshly-killed monstrosity, "and two still remain in southern outskirts. Other guys can't handle them on their own, too lightly armed."

"Fine," Sunset replied, "I'll help. Just need to reload my rifle."

"Reload on the run, if you please. Follow us," the guard said and turned into the direction where they needed to go. His partner and Sunset followed him without further word exchange.

Unfortunately, this situation was not entirely unusual for Vault Village. The raiders chose an imperfect (to put it lightly) location for their base, which was close to habitats of various mutated beasts, and when security personnel of Vault 75 eliminated all of the raiders they were able to get to, they became a target of beasts' rampage instead. Fortunately, raiders had a decent enough arsenal, which was quickly put to use, but there were too few guards left to properly defend the village on their own, and it was decided that villagers should be taught self-defense with firearms.

The results were, shall we say, imperfect. While this decision boosted Vault Village's defensive capabilities, barely trained militia also took casualties against monsters and those raiders that survived the attack on the village.

Sunset Shimmer felt uneasy about this development, at least initially. Ponies rarely killed, even in self-defense, and mostly fought only if they had no other option. And in fights, they sought to incapacitate, not to kill. Wars were extremely rare in history of Equestria, and while border skirmishes happened from time to time, diplomacy virtually never failed ponies. Even before her reformation, Sunset never sought to kill someone, with one notable exception of trying to dispose of Twilight Sparkle when she turned into a raging she-demon. This added to her hesitation of using firearms with lethal intent, even in self-defense.

Alas, horrifying deaths of other people at hands of raiders and claws of mutants quickly taught her that deadly force often served as not the last means of saving her life and those of her neighbours, but the only one. And if there was one thing that Sunset Shimmer did well, it was learning. She was not Celestia's personal student at one time for nothing, after all.

And so, she went with the guards to lend a helping hand (this phrase did not feel strange to her anymore; she did not even think of saying the word "hoof" instead of "hand") to others.

Celestia forgive me for the blood that will coat my hands, and help me prevail, so I do not fail those in need today, Sunset prayed to her ex-mentor...
> Chapter 1: Princess of Friendship to the...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1

Princess of Friendship to the...


Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, liked to believe that she was a very good friend.

Since that fateful day, when she went to Ponyville to supervise preparations for Summer Sun Celebration, and when Nightmare Moon was supposed to return - which she did! - she had come very far in studying friendship.

She also turned out to be a bearer of Element of Magic, which made her especially close to other bearers of Elements of Harmony; she accomplished a lot with help of her friends. She even managed to finish the spell Star Swirl the Bearded himself could not.

And that was not something to sneeze at.

But not all her friends were present in Equestria. No, there were others who did not live there, but in an alternate dimension.

And they were not ponies. They were humans.

Twilight still marveled at what forms intelligent life could take. Bipeds were not unfamiliar to ponies - minotaurs were a perfect example, for instance - but to become a biped herself? And see alternate versions of her friends in the same form?

"Mind-boggling" did not do it justice. (In fact, Twilight looked through many dictionaries trying to find an adequate description, and still could not find one that was perfect. Pinkie Pie could have found one, but there was no dictionary of pink pony's lexicon.)

Aside from human versions of her friends, she also had another one, who was originally a pony, but chose to stay in human world.

Sunset Shimmer.

Purple alicorn remembered vividly how they were enemies once. How Sunset stole her crown with Element of Magic embedded within and did everything she could to prevent Twilight from getting it, going as far as to throw a fireball of dark magic at her.

But unicorn-turned-human changed her ways after her defeat, and was instrumental in battle against the Dazzlings. That act earned her a sincere acceptance as a friend from everyone, Twilight included.

Later, Princess of Friendship helped Sunset when Anon-a-Miss debacle nearly destroyed all bonds between her and human versions of Elements of Harmony. Twilight was not there in person, but her advice helped to uncover the truth and repair Sunset's relationships (Twilight was shocked to discover that the culprits were the Cutie Mark Crusaders - their human counterparts, to be exact).

Magic book that they used to exchange messages between each other was a gift from the skies, indeed. Even when separated by dimensions, they could be in contact.

But no magic book could replace seeing someone in person.

Alas, this was outside the realm of possibility for the moment.

Twilight used her magic to levitate the magic book and flip the pages to the latest correspondence she had with Sunset Shimmer.

After spending a few seconds to find the message she wanted to begin with, she started to read:

Dear Princess Twilight,

We sure miss you a lot. Wish you could see the concert we recently had at Canterlot High School! Rainbooms rocked!!! (Even if "the Great and Powerful" Trixie disagrees. Is her pony counterpart as obnoxious as our Trixie is?)

We have almost finished our studies - our final year has begun. Pinkie Pie is already bouncier than usual, planning to throw an epic "graduation from CHS party". I think she is getting waaaay ahead, but it's Pinkie we're talking about.

Say, we haven't seen you for a long time. Do you have free time to come and see us? We will guard the portal so that no one else accidentally stumbles, as we did before.

Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer

Twilight smiled bitterly; much as she wanted to, she did not have the possibility, and she said as much in her reply:

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

It's great to hear that Rainbooms are doing so well! (And yes, pony-Trixie used to be a lot like human-Trixie, but after a couple of encounters, I managed to teach her some humility; she still has quite an ego, though).

Yeah, I've also learned long ago - don't argue with Pinkie. You'll only get a headache.

Sadly, much as I want to visit, I am not able to, at least in foreseeable future. My duties as Princess of Friendship now involve diplomatic missions into neighbouring lands, and those take a lot of time and strength from me. There are times when I can only crawl to my bed and sleep like a foal, until there's another function to attend.

Ugh.

But I am keeping this book with me, so we can still exchange messages. You mentioned that this is your final year at CHS? Do you or any of our friends need help with preparations? Or revision plans?

Tell everyone I said "hi", and also tell them to take their exams seriously!!! I am willing to bet you fifty bits that Rainbow Dash hasn't even thought of it yet.

Oh, Rarity wanted me to ask: is there anything interesting going on in your world?

Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle

P. S. Please don't address me as "Princess". It's bad enough that I am addressed like this here in Equestria.

Twilight interrupted her reading to get herself a glass of water and drink it. Having sated her thirst, she went on reading:

Dear Princess Twilight (hee-hee),

Wow. Diplomacy, huh? Now I am glad that I never became an alicorn Princess.

Ribbing aside, that's a great shame. But I guess that "I am sorry, but I need to see my friends in an alternate dimension" is not exactly an excuse to miss a function and offend some "hoity-toity" (as Applejack would say) diplomat.

About the bet: no dice, Twilight. First, I don't accept bets I would definitely lose, as your predicions on our Rainbow Dash are spot on, and second, I don't even have fifty bits on me.

I don't know any juicy gossip, to be honest. (Yes, I am pretty certain that pony-Rarity asked for gossip, even if you worded it otherwise.) They keep blabbering on television about some revolution in a faraway land, though, but none of us pay that much attention to it. I am certain that's not what Rarity wants.

I already told everyone about your stance on exams. Predictably, Rainbow Dash called you an "egghead". Want me to cuff her head for you? Because that's what I want to do when she calls me an egghead.

Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer

P. S. Riiight, and you stopped addressing Princesses Celestia, Luna and Mi Amore Cadenza by their titles? I'll believe it when I see it. You earned that title, and I respect that. Deal with it.

Twilight remembered how she wanted to hit Sunset with a tickling spell until she begged for mercy for that cheeky postscriptum. She even stated so in her next message (along with insistence that violence against Rainbow Dash was not necessary), eliciting amusement from fiery-haired pony-turned-human.

This banter was the last good-spirited message she had from Sunset Shimmer.

Following weeks have been very taxing on her, and writing to another world has been outside of her abilities. But she never hesitated to send a reply back once she got the following message:

Dear Twilight,

Things are not looking good here. There's tension between the countries in this world. Apparently, some types of resources present in this world are almost gone, and no one wants to share.

I know, this sounds stupid, but that won't change even if you have Pinkie Pie sing that "You've got to share, you've got to care" song you told me about to all of them. Humans tend to be stupid this way.

Despite that, we hope that diplomats will figure something out. Talks are in progress, although everything is hush-hush and almost nothing hits the news.

Everyone says "hi". Our studies go on well, and aside from that nervousness, we are all doing fine. Rarity is sewing our graduation outfits, Applejack does her best to store enough apple cider, and Pinkie is preparing "the ultimate super-duper graduation party to end all super-duper graduation parties in the world", as she puts it.

Gotta go now, it's deep in the night here.

Your friend,
Sunset Shimmer

As soon as possible, Twilight wrote this:

Dear Sunset,

This is bad! I do hope your world's leaders come to a compromise. We have our hard times, too, but so far nothing required... excessive force, so to speak.

And having Pinkie Pie sing that song may not lead to anything good, trust me. It didn't help when buffalos were arguing with settlers in Appleloosa; in fact, both sides called it the worst performance they've ever seen.

I am glad that you yourselves are doing well. Tell everyone "hi" from me!

Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle

After that exchange, everything went as usual. Twilight finally was able to catch a break and write about her experiences to Sunset.

However, the reply did not come within usual time constraints.

That was surprising... and worrying.

Twilight wrote once again, but still hadn't received a reply.

She was getting really worried when one day, she received the answer.

Suffice to say, it was not the answer she hoped for. It was also the last message she got from Sunset.

It said:

Dear Twilight,

I am so sorry for not replying. Were you worried? I bet you were.

I am afraid the news is worse. A lot worse.

War has begun!

The country we're living in is under attack by an alliance of other countries. As such, the government has declared martial law.

I don't know how it came to this, but diplomacy failed us. And when diplomacy fails, guns talk. ("Guns" are a human invention made specifically for war, it's what human soldiers use instead of spears and magic, and they are quite advanced.) Fortunately, none of us are on frontlines ourselves.  However, Rainbow Dash left to join the army. Said "I can't sit around when I can protect my country, protect you!" and left. She still writes to us, though, and asked to pass her well-wishing to you.

We didn't really want her to go, but she can be quite a numbskull.

It's not just her who went to war. Applejack's parents also joined the army, and she is left with Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith to watch over their farm. And some of our classmates volunteered to join, too. Do you have a pony named Bulk Biceps? He is one of my classmates, a hulking mass of muscles. He was the first to join.

I really hope everyone's okay. The news say that fighting on frontlines is intense.

With all that, it seems it was so long ago when we had that graduation party (sorry we started it without you). Everyone of us passed exams with flying colours, not that it matters now.

Twilight, I hate to ask you this, but I am afraid it would not be good for you to come now, or even write. Thanks to martial law, police checks our passports regularly (passport is basically a document with your name, photo, date of birth and other data that proves that you are who you claim you are), and since you don't come here with one, you may get into great trouble if you are caught without one. They are searching for spies everywhere. I am also spending virtually all my time at job, and can't get my magic book there, so it remains at home. And if someone finds it, Equestria may be in danger - the authorities have gotten very paranoid.

When it is safe to write again, I'll tell you, but for now, we have to cease communicating.

I am so sorry.

Your friend forever,
Sunset Shimmer

And that was it.

Days passed, weeks, months... and no message came.

Twilight was getting increasingly worried. Her friend did ask her not to try and initiate contact, but she couldn't just abandon Sunset, for pony's sake!

At first, she sent a message via magic book. 

No reply, not even admonishment for breaking silence.

For days. For weeks. For months.

Finally, Twilight had had enough. She was the Princess of Friendship, and she'd be damned to Tartarus if she just left her friend in trouble!

One day, she grabbed her book and set it into the magical device that could let her open the Crystal Mirror whenever she wished.

Against her expectations, the device failed.

After checking and rechecking her notes for dozens of times, Twilight concluded that she would have to wait until the portal opened on its own.

However, calculations showed that the purple alicorn would have to wait for twenty-nine moons to do so.

When Twilight came to this conclusion, she exploded into a rage no pony has ever witnessed. Spike swore that three weeks after that he could still smell smoke in her mane.

Twilight closed the now-useless magic book. Those twenty-nine moons surely felt like the longest in her life. While she still had her friends, and they made their best to make their purple friend less worried, the alicorn still could not help but feel fear for her human friends. (So did Spike, but... to be honest? He was most worried about human-Rarity. No surprise here.)

Finally, when the day came, she assembled everypony in her castle...





"Now ya be careful, ya hear me, Twilight?" said Applejack, while nervously trying to make her Stetson hat sit correctly atop her mane.

"Of course, Applejack," Twilight promised for bazillionth time.

"Chill out, AJ, it's not like Twilight and our doubles hadn't whooped butts of the evil guys!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash with her usual bravado.

"But... but Sunset said there was war!" Fluttershy exclaimed silently (when it comes to the butter-coloured pegasus, that's not an oxymoron). "What if it still goes on! Or what if they lost! Or... or... or DIED!" Fluttershy finished with an expression that clearly meant she would lose it very soon.

"Now, Fluttershy, darling," Rarity interrupted her friend, "no need to panic! I am sure the noble soldiers of the country where Sunset Shimmer lives will defeat the scoundrels and ruffians that attacked them!"

"But still," Pinkie Pie appeared, as usual, out of nowhere, "maybe Twilight will need to defend herself with a cannon! Do you need my party cannon, Twilight?" she asked, taking the aforementioned doomsday ("Not doomsday, silly, party-day!" Pinkie corrected) device out of nowhere - as usual - and rolling it to the alicorn.

"Er... no, Pinkie, this place has no magic, I don't think it will work there as intended," Twilight explained. "Plus, it's heavy."

"Are you sure about this, Twilight?" Princess Celestia asked her prized student, worry evident in her voice.

"Yes, Princess. I can't just leave them there! And what if someone discovers the portal? We can't leave it unattended and hope for the best! And I'll have Spike to protect me, right, Spike?" Twilight addressed the small dragon beside her.

"Sure will!" replied her Number 1 Assistant.

"Then may Sun and Moon watch over you and keep you safe," said Princess Celestia.

"And you as well. Owlowiscious? Be a good owl and listen to Fluttershy!"

"Hoot!" said the owl.

"Now, come on Spike! We have no time to lose!" the Princess of Friendship exclaimed, galloping into the portal.

"Right behind you, Twilight!" Spike replied, hot on her hooves...





Something is wrong! Something is terribly, terribly wrong!

The ride was extremely... well, if the word "bumpy" can be applied to inter-dimensional travelling, then it would be the best word to use.

Unlike the usual spiral-wike vortex that Twilight and Spike came through, they were twisted and turned into all directions and sent along the pathways that would make Discord, the Master of Chaos, happy.

Alas, what made Discord happy generally did not make ponies (or dragons) happy.

As such, the unfortunate travellers were wishing for this nightmarish ride to end, until...





Hot and dry.

Why is everything hot and dry?

And is it... sand?

"Argh... Twilight?"

"Spike? You okay?"

"Sort of... Nothing is broken... And you?"

"Same here, but... where are we?!"

The last words were spoken with an undertone of panic within.

Once Twilight stood on her legs (whoa, haven't done that in a while, I am out of practice) and looked around, her jaw dropped and would have fallen off to hit the ground, had nature not designed the body parts to prevent that.

First, there was no Canterlot High School in sight.

Second, there was devastation in sight.

Third, there was no portal in sight!

Twilight's breathing became erratic. Panic flooded her. She wanted to scream, but could not. She tried to inhale the air (this air is so dry!) to no avail, until...

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Spike, recognizing the signs of Twilight's incoming patented panic attack, decided to prevent a louder-than-hundred-decibel scream with an equally loud scream of his own.

Fighting fire with fire appeared to work.

Twilight did not look like she would scream soon anymore, at least.

Both unfortunate travellers looked around. The sight was grim.

There was barely any flora in sight, and whatever of it was present did not have a healthy green color, but a sickly-yellowish one. Wooden buildings stood here and there, all in a state of worse-than-disrepair (Rarity would faint at that sight, Twilight mused) and some looking as if one inaccurate motion would cause their collapse. The air was hot and dry, and the wind was blowing small streams of sand around.

And while during her previous visits this world was bursting with activity, this time there was...

...no one in sight.

It looked as if they came across a ghost town from the scary late-time stories little colts and fillies told each other.

After several moments of silence, Spike muttered:

"Well... it appears the portal was broken and it sent us somewhere else, because I don't see Canterlot High School or that horse statue around. What do you think, Twilight?"

He heard no answer.

"Twilight?"

Uh-oh. This does not look good.

He turned around...

Only to see that his first friend ever was gearing herself for another panic attack and he was too late to prevent it!

Spike only could drop to the ground and cover his ears with his paws to the best of his abilities (which is not as easy when you don't have normal fingers and are a quadraped instead of biped, mind you), as Twilight unleashed her patented higher-than-hundred-decibel sonic attack:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
> Chapter 2: ...rescue?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2

...rescue?


Once Twilight spent all oxygen in her lungs screaming, Spike felt it safe (relatively) to remove protection from his ears.

"Better now?" he asked sarcastically.

"No..."

Oh snap.

"...but we cannot afford to panic. We need a plan!" Twilight exclaimed, not looking on the verge of collapse anymore.

"Okie-dokie. Any ideas?"

"Well, we don't see Canterlot High School in sight, so it means that the portal dropped us somewhere else. The fact that our travelling here was Discord-worthy also adds to this theory. As such, to get back, we will need to get back to CHS as soon as possible!"

"And our friends?"

"I didn't forget about them, Spike. We need to find them and find out what happened here, and why there is so much desolation."

"Desol... deso... what?" Spike was not un-intelligent, but Twilight had a tendency to use very sophisticated words.

"Destruction!" the purple-skinned girl exclaimed, annoyed (as always) when her assistant stumbled upon hearing a complex word. Seriously, he has been my assistant for years, surely he could have enriched his lexicon?

"Oh... right. And in where should we go to fulfill your plan? CHS and our friends could be... well... anywhere!"

"I have no idea!"

Deja vu, everyone? Spike asked his imaginatory audience. The audience did not dignify that question with an answer, but Twilight continued her line of thoughts:

"However, if there's a chance of seeing a settlement that is still inhabited by someone, it would be... there!" she said, pointing her finger in a random direction.

"And why there?" Spike asked. He could not see any signs that indicated that one direction was better than others, so that was a legitimate question to ask.

"There's an asphalt road that is partially covered by sand," Twilight pointed to the object in question. "And if you look closely at the buildings, you'll see that some sides are more damaged than others." (When Spike looked at wooden homes more attentively, he understood that Twilight was actually right.) "And further to that side, one can see that the buildings over there suffered a bit less damage. This means that if we go there, we have a higher chance of finding a settlement not touched by whatever destructive force ruined these houses."

"Wow. That's impressive!"

"I try," Twilight smiled bashfully. "Now, shall we proceed?" she opened her backpack (that, fortunately, was still present with her) and held it in her hand, inviting Spike in.

"Let's do it!" the miniature dragon-turned-dog exclaimed with bravado, climbing into the backpack.

Once Twilight secured her backpack safely on her shoulders, she and her faithful assistant went into the chosen direction...





"So, Twilight," Spike decided to initiate a conversation to prevent boredom from setting in, "what do you think happened here?"

"Sunset Shimmer told us there was a war going on, but she did not mention where the frontlines were. Plus, a lot of time has passed. For all we know, this country could have been defeated."

"Or maybe they unleashed some superweapon that killed everything?" Spike asked nervously, looking as if he was about to start biting his claws.

"Spike, you've been reading too much anti-utopia again," Twilight sighed. Why wouldn't he read some classic books instead of that bunch of hooey? "I highly doubt that there was a superweapon capable of killing everything. The probability of such an event happening is below one percent."

"But still above zero, right?" the nervousness was not gone.

"Spike," Twilight's voice indicated that she was starting to lose patience, "to achieve such a horrendous result, one would need to create a weapon the attack by which could encompass the whole world, and not just surface, but air and ground as well, to the very planetary core! The requirements for such are so enormous one could call them infinite, which are unachieveable by default! Unless one can devise some sort of previously unknown all-permeating killing agent capable of what I had said, this scenario is not possible!" When the girl finished, the tones of her voice were considerably higher.

"OK, OK, I get it... but we still haven't seen anything living in sight."

"I'm sure we will!" Princess of Friendship exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"And those buildings we saw? What could have damaged them like that?"

"It looked as if there was some very strong gust of wind that tore them like that... although I am baffled as to what could have created it. Humans don't control weather like pegasi back in Equestria do, remember?"

"Maybe they could have learned how to do so?"

"And weaponize it? That sounds silly to me. This would be very cost-inefficient."

"Cost-ineff-wha?" Again with difficult words!

"It would cost so much to use wind as a weapon here that no one would use it like that!"

"Now I get it. And the war? Who do you think won it?"

"I surely hope it was this country, Spike. I don't know anything about the enemies, Sunset didn't tell me much. They could be more or less honourable, or they could be like Sombra or Tirek. I hope it's not the latter."

"She also mentioned that local army or police could think you are a spy..."

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it, Spike. Given the devastation that happened here, it may be within the realm of possibility to lose one's... passport, as Sunset called it. Do not worry, I am sure that everything is going to be fine."

Spike was tempted to remind Twilight that saying such things was tempting fates similarly to when one poked a sleeping adult dragon in the eye, but decided against it. He too hoped that they would find their friends (especially Rarity, he thought) quickly and not stay in this strange new-old world a second longer than necessary...





After what felt one hour and a half (unfortunately, anything that could have served as a chronometer was missing) of walking, two travelers encountered a slight problem:

A ruined bridge over the river.

"Well... that kinda puts a damper into our plans," Spike observed upon getting out of the backpack.

"Not really," Twilight replied, standing close to the edge (too close for Spike's liking, as Twilight didn't have wings anymore). "This river is almost dry, and to the left, I can see sand above water level. That would allow us to get to the other side."

"So... we leave this road?"

"We will have to make a slight detour, that's all."

The detour, as predicted, did not take very long, although the way up was a bit harder than Twilight and Spike had anticipated. When they finally made it back to the asphalt road, their stomachs, however, decided that it was time to be refilled, and started growling.

"Well..." Twilight muttered, a bit annoyed at her organism's betrayal. "...I guess it is lunch time now."

"Makes sense. We have been walking for what, two hours now?"

"I don't have a chronometer with me, Spike."

"Oka-a-ay... Hey, how about we sit under that tree?" Spike pointed to the object in question that stood no further than fifty meters away (and was the first tree they have encountered).

"Sounds great," Twilight replied with a smile, "that heat is becoming slightly intolerable."





Several minutes later, the travelers were sitting in the shade made by a massive tree, and enjoying their modest lunch: Twilight was eating sandwiches with cheese, and Spike was enjoying dog treats (he did not like admitting it to anyone except Twilight and possibly Rarity, but dog food from human world was very tasty to him) that he had gotten earlier when the Crystal Mirror still operated with the help of Twilight's magic book.

Speaking of which...

"Twilight, I just had an idea. If we manage to get to Canterlot - this world's Canterlot, I mean - maybe we should check Sunset's apartment? Maybe her magic book is still there?"

"Good idea, Spike, although it is hanging on the notion that we will actually get back there. For all we know, we are walking in an opposite direction."

"I sure hope not. The Crystal Mirror is usually open for what, two days?"

"If my memory does not fail me, yes."

"There is a possibility that we may get stuck here for thirty moons, you know..."

"I know, Spike. But this world has - or used to have, at least - pretty rapid means of transportation. If we get access to them, then we have a chance of making it to the portal pretty quick. If we don't, we still have a chance of finding Sunset's book and letting everypony know we are fine. If the worst comes to pass, we will have to wait it out until the portal opens again."

"If it is still present..." Spike muttered under his breath, but Twilight heard him.

"Celestia forbid that, Spike! This will... no, don't even think about it. We still got here, that means the portal should still be here somewhere, and it must work, even if... chaotically," she said sternly, picking an apple from her backpack and digging teeth into it with a crunch sound.

Number 1 Assistant decided it wise not to push the subject any longer, and switched the topic:

"You know, I just remembered our picnics back in Equestria. Rarity would never sit on the ground like we do, you know? She always insisted on laying upon something, but not the land or grass," he recalled with a somewhat goofy smile. (Twilight silently shook her head upon seeing that Spike's crush has never ended, but decided not to interrupt, since this topic was less depressing than the probability of portal being destroyed.) "And she always brought a whole set of tableware. I recall being told what she did one day when she forgot the plates."

"Yeah, I remember that too. She loudly declared it "the worst possible thing" and lay on the couch. And everypony else looked in surprise. And she told them: "What? You didn't expect me to lay on the grass, did you?" and nopony answered that."

"Well, I kinda wouldn't have expected that too. Would you, Twilight?"

Twilight was very tempted to say that she wouldn't have, but offending her only friend currently present did not seem to be wise, so she agreed with him.

"Wasn't that the time when she called you a drama queen?" Spike continued.

"Yeah, that was the day when I messed up with "Want It, Need It" spell and caused an epic commotion over my Smarty Pants doll," was the reply. "Speaking of which, I never got it back..."

"Oh, you wanted it back? Rumours had it that Big Macintosh took it. Once we get back, maybe you can ask him?"

"That I will, Spike. I really missed Smarty Pants," Twilight sighed.

Once they finished eating, Spike addressed Twilight:

"Er... Twilight? I need to... well... relieve myself..."

"Oh! Of course, Spike. I will wait for you," Twilight promised, standing up. "Just don't get too far!"

"OK!" Spike answered, and left to get himself behind a small hill.

Twilight inhaled deeply. The temperature has fallen a bit, and the air, while still dry, was more pleasant to inhale.

The sun, in fact, was starting to go down, which meant they would need to find a shelter for the night.

She was thinking of possible options, when suddenly...

"And what do we have here?"





Spike was feeling a lot better now, with hunger sated and no unneeded stuff present in his organism.

He noticed that the air was getting a bit cooler. Where will we sleep?

He thought, I need to ask Twilight this...

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Spike was shocke for a moment, and then, immediately bared his teeth.

Twilight's in danger!

He immediately started running back.





I have never seen humans like these before, Twilight thought. They are positively scary!

They were indeed. There were two of them, both of them were wearing dirty and mended clothes, plus they had vests that covered their torsos like armor, and they were holding small objects in their hands that were directed at Twilight.

While Princess of Friendship has never seen an actual gun before, her intuition was positively screaming that these objects were in fact guns, and were lethal.

Still, she hoped that she probably could settle this, and tried:

"Uh... hello?" It came out really timid. You sound like Fluttershy.

"Hello, poppet," the guy on the left said with a smile that was insincere and very unsettling. "Now mind telling us what have you got in that backpack of yours?"

They want my backpack? This sounds less like police and more like robbers, Twilight thought. Still, maybe I can just share.

"Just some food, sandwiches and apples, plus notebook and pencil."

"That's it?" the second man on the right drawled disappointedly.

"Shut it, food is better than nothing," growled the one on the left.

"Uh... well, I can share..." Twilight muttered.

"Share? What are you, five years old, or just fresh out of some Vault?" The Right (as Twilight designated him) asked derisively.

"Listen here, poppet. You give us that backpack, with everything, and you may go," threatened The Left.

"But I need that food too!"

"Do we look like we care?" interrupted The Right. "Do as my friend says, or it won't be pleasant for you, poppet," he finished derisively.

"My name is not Poppet, it's Twilight! And I am not giving you all of my food!" Twilight exclaimed indignantly, her pride wounded and blood hitting her brain, making her forget that she could not possibly offer any resistance to two armed men, and Spike was too far; even if he was here,  he could bite one, but not two. But that mattered little to the angered Princess of Friendship.

Alas, if back in Equestria she could have easily put fear of Celestia into these scoundrels, she had no magic here. Which was about to be proven.

"Oh yeah?" said The Left. Crossing the distance between himself and Twilight rapidly, he punched her in the gut. The victim of brutish assault felt as if her recently-eaten lunch would leave her stomach unprocessed, and she doubled over in pain. But she still stood on her legs; this seemed to infuriate the left, as he hit Twilight with his pistol's hilt. Not being able to defend herself, Twilight felt pain in her left cheek and felt as if her teeth threatened to come loose. She could not resist a cry of pain as she fell down.

"Now listen here, missy," The Left's voice did not have any pretense of politeness anymore, "that was a really stupid thing to do, or say. And Wastelands do not forgive stupidity. So, in fact, I'd be doing you a favour by ending your life right here and right now. And your food will serve smart people well. So say your prayers, poppet."

Gasping in pain and unable to move, Twilight could only lie and cry silently, hearing a click-clank as The Left did something...

Goodbye, everypony. Goodbye, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie. Goodbye, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Goodbye, Shining, my BBBFF. Goodbye, Mom, Dad.

Goodbye, Sunset. I am sorry I failed.





Unknown to everyone present at this cruel, but common (for the Wastelands) scene, The Left's head was currently in the ironsights of a hunting rifle.

The eye looking down at it did not twitch as the finger pulled the trigger.





BOOM!

Twilight felt...

Wait. Why is my cheek wet? Is that what is supposed to happen when I am shot? No pain?

Thud.

Twilight dared to open her eyes. In front of her, she saw grass, tilted to the left at nearly 90 degrees angle.

I am lying down.

"FUCK!"

Uh? Oh, it's The Right!

"Take that, you bastards!"

Bang! Bang-bang!

"You'll pay for that!"

Pay for what? Twilight thought dumbly. What happened?

Bang-bang-bang-bang!

"You're gonna die- AAAARRRGH!"

Twilight could not find the strength to stand, but she was able to rise a bit and see what happened.

Spike silently ran to The Right and bit his leg savagely.

It came at a great surprise to him, apparently, because he forgot about shooting at whatever he was shooting at.

A figure appeared from a tree and aimed something long at him.

BOOM!

The Right twitched as something hit him, and fell. he nearly squashed Spike, but the dog had enough sense to jump away before that happened.

Forgetting that another armed person was present, Spike ran to his mother/sister figure.

"Twilight! Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Ugh... yes, but... I think I can stand now," she replied, trying and succeeding to do this.

However, when she did, and looked around, her sight fell upon The Left's corpse. The man lay unmoving...

...he's missing a part of his head!!!

And this fact allowed Twilight to see everything that is contained within a human's skull.

The sight made Twilight sick. She collapsed on her knees, bruising her kneecaps on the process, and started regurgitating freshly eaten lunch into the grass near it, not paying attention to everything around.

Once she finished, she wiped her mouth with forearms, caring little about hygiene, when she heard a voice behind her ringing with incredulity:

"Twilight Sparkle?!"

Both unfortunate travellers turned around to see a figure in a strange light-blue suit with familiar yellowish skin and fiery red-and-yellow hair on her head.

"SUNSET SHIMMER!!!"

Two bodies fell atop the grass.

"And nopony invited me," grumbled Spike.





Sunset Shimmer had to drop her rifle so as to avoid any possible trauma to herself or Twilight.

"OOF!"

"Oh, Sunset, I'm sorry! I'm just so glad to see you because someone just tried to rob and kill me and I thought I was dead for sure and I would never see you or anyone else ever again and..."

"Twilight!" the loud shout made its recipient to pause. "I also am very glad to see you, but we need to move, and I can't do that if you are on top of me."

Bashful, Twilight stood up and helped Sunset to do so.

"No hugs for me?" came a voice from below.

"Spike!" Sunset beamed with a smile and picked the dog up. "Of course I'll give you a hug!" and she proceeded to do so, even scratching him behind the ears.

Having finished her greeting towards Spike, she gave him back to Twilight, picked up her rifle and intoned:

"Twilight, I have many questions to ask, but for now, we must get out of here. This place is too dangerous. You are lucky I was here, otherwise..."

"Yeah, I would have been dead. Thank you for saving me, but what are..." Twilight slowed down, as her brain realized something.

Sunset has this long thing - I think it's another gun - and I do remember a loud boom, and one of those falling, then the other one... Oh no! Did she..?

"DID YOU JUST KILL THEM?!"

Uh-oh, Sunset thought. I should have remembered that Equestrians, as a rule, despise killing, even in self-defense or when trying to protect others.

"HOW COULD YOU KILL THEM?! IT'S JUST..."

"TWILIGHT!" Sunset screamed, and, surprisingly, Spike joined her. This silenced purple-skinned girl, and Sunset continued hurriedly:

"Look, Twilight, I can explain why I did what I just did and what happened with this world, but we must leave, now! Just let me get you two to safety and then scream at me all you want, OK?"

"Fine," Twilight replied, but her tone clearly indicated that she was not over the events yet...





"But what are you doing here, Twilight?"

"There was no message from you via the magic book for such a long time, and I became very worried about you. Plus, my magic book could not open the portal, and I suspected something very bad happened here. And I could not just leave my friends. Wouldn't be much of a Princess of Friendship otherwise," Twilight replied, still in a clipped tone.

They had arrived at a place called "Vault Village" in an hour. Sunset presented Twilight to the chief of security, Swift Sentinel, as a "friend from out of town", and he agreed to let her stay with them. He gave Twilight the same set of clothes Sunset wore while taking away her usual clothes to wash them away of blood and "nasty-looking grey matter", and also some water to wash her face, as it was also blood-stained.

He also took away the pistols and ammo that Sunset took from dead raiders (as they were named) and gave some bottlecaps to them (when Twilight eyed those with suspicion, Sunset gave her an "I'll explain" look and she didn't push the issue).

Now, they were sitting in Sunset's house and eating remains of Twilight's food stock.

"Oh my... Twilight, I lost my magic book."

"WHAT?!"

"Look, let me tell you what happened to me. Remember me telling you there was a war going on? Well, it took a great turn for the worse at one moment. This country, United Federation of Equestria, or UFE for short, was fighting an alliance called TransOceanic Defense Coalition, or TODC. The war was brutal, and no side could achieve victory. In the end, someone decided to attack the enemy using atomic bombs."

"What are atomic bombs?"

"A weapon of incomprehensible destructive power. One single bomb like that can destroy, say Manehatten or Canterlot like nobody's business."

Twilight felt that her eyes were bulging out.

"That can't be!"

"It can. What you see around is the result of enemy's bombs falling on our cities. I survived only because I managed to get a place in the Vault."

"And the Vault is..?"

"A massive underground bunker that can protect from atomic bombs if they do not fall too close, and supply the people within with clean water. One can live there for ages, Twilight. Unfortunately, I had to rush into the Vault straight from my job, and my magic book remained at home, so I couldn't tell you what happened here. I am sorry, Twilight."

"No need to apologize, Sunset," Twilight replied, still in shock from hearing all the information. "So you hid in the Vault?"

"Yes, and initially we thought we would have to live there for a very long time. You see, atomic bombs leave behind invisible poison known as radiation. When they fell, people thought we would spend our whole life in the Vault. It was not true, but calculations said radiation levels would be too high to live on the surface for twenty years. But something was not right there, as we lived there for seven years only, and yet now one can walk around relatively freely, if one has a radiation detector. There are still pockets where one shouldn't go, but they can be avoided."

"So you left the Vault and came to live here?"

"You can say that. Remember these two who tried to kill you? They were raiders. These are extremely bad people, with no sense of moral whatsoever. They used to live in this village. When the Overseer, leader of everyone in the Vault, wanted to negotiate with them, they simply killed him and his bodyguards, and attacked us. Vault security counterattacked and drove raiders out if the village, but some of them survived. They rob and enslave everyone they can. And you barely survived meeting the two of them."

"So... you kill them... so they don't kill you?" Twilight said quietly. This is horrible! How did it come to this? How can these people be so cruel that putting them down seems to be the only defense?

"Precisely."

"And... Canterlot High School?"

Sunset sighed. Twilight felt as if a stone brick fell into her stomach.

Oh no...

"I got separated from our friends, Twilight. I have no idea what happened to them. I did not even live in Canterlot anymore, when the bombs hit. And that place was bound to come under nuclear attack, because it was the capital city, like back in Equestria. There was some defense system in place, but it was imperfect. At least one bomb did fall there. I am sorry, Twilight... but it appears that the portal back to Equestria is either heavily damaged, or destroyed."

Twilight felt wetness coming into her eyes. Am I to remain here, in this dead world? Forever?

The events of the day, combined with this knowledge, were too much.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, did a very un-Princess-y thing: burst into tears.

Sunset moved over to give her a comforting hug, words rining through her head:

Welcome to the Canterlot Wastelands, Twilight Sparkle...





Character creation complete.

Twilight Sparkle's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 4
Perception: 7
Endurance: 4
Charisma: 7
Intellect: 9
Agility: 4
Luck: 5

Sunset Shimmer's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 5
Perception: 6
Endurance: 6
Charisma: 5
Intellect: 8
Agility: 5
Luck: 5

Unique Trait (Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer)

Pony In Disguise: You are not a human, but a pony in a human form from magical land of Equestria, which lies in parallel dimension. Only you and other characters with this trait can actively sense and harness Equestrian magic... not that this world has it in abundance.

Unique Trait (Twilight Sparkle)

Make Friends, Not War! You react very badly to idea of killing, even when defending yourself or your friends. Killing a human or any other sapient being, plus attacking any beasts first, lowers your Karma. Killing a beast in self-defense or defense of others has no effect on Karma. Befriending other sapient beings grants you positive Karma.

Unique Trait (Sunset Shimmer)

She-Demon Inside Me: Some part of you is still tempted to commit bad deeds. When no friends accompany you, committing evil acts has no effect on your Karma. However, if you commit an evil act with friends nearby to see it (or your misdeeds are heard of later), the negative effect on your Karma is doubled.
> Chapter 3: Plans and crash course of survival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3

Plans and crash course of survival


Sunset Shimmer could not tell if Twilight cried for minutes or hours. She did not really keep track of time. After all, she had shocked her friend with a gory scene of death by gunshots, and then dropped an info-bomb of a truly massive scale on her. And after that, she basically told Twilight that she and Spike are probably doomed to remain in this anti-utopian, cruel, dead world forever.

For a moment, Sunset imagined an evil version of Pinkie Pie, with her hair straight instead of cotton-candy like usual, telling both of them with a maniac grin:

"You are doomed to stay here forever!"

"But..."

"FOREVER!!!"

Shaking the silly picture out of her head, Sunset focused her attention on Twilight, who only now managed to calm herself somewhat.

"So..." the purple-skinned girl said quietly, and then continued in a slightly raised voice, "are we to stay here... until we die?"

Good question, Twilight.

"To be honest, Twilight," the fiery-haired young woman said, "I really do not know. Interdimensional portals and effects of nuclear detonations on them are not exactly what I studied when still under Princess Celestia's wing. Given that you appeared here, however, I can safely assume that there is a way back. You did not come here from Canterlot, did you?" Sunset chose not to add the words You and Spike would have died ten times over before getting here into her question.

"No... when we arrived, we saw some wooden buildings, all of them in extremely bad condition. I noticed that some of them were less damaged on one side, and decided to go this way. Me and Spike were walking for... an hour, I think, before we stopped to have lunch under that tree, where I met those... raiders and... you," Twilight finished, still uncomfortable with what had transpired

That girl is surely smart, deducing where there is a higher chance of meeting survivors. Had she gone somewhere else, she would have stumbled into radiation pocket, Sunset mused.

"I see... from what I know, you appeared in a village near the city known as Baltimare. It was destroyed during the Day of Burning..."

"The what?" Spike interrupted.

"The Day of Burning. That's what the locals now call the day when the massive nuclear attack on UFE happened. On this day, many cities were destroyed, and millions perished," Sunset explained. "It's after this day when the United Federation of Equestria basically ceased to exist as a country."

"I'm still having trouble comprehending the scale of this attack..." Twilight muttered. "A weapon that can kill millions in one single explosion? I know of no spell that can do that, even among those of the darkest."

"Well, humans have no spells, they have got science instead," Sunset replied. "And science can bring both positive and negative results."

"And what of the war?" Spike inquired. "You told that this country, UFE, ceased to exist. Does this mean you guys lost the war?"

"Technically, the war is not over yet, but as far as I am concerned, there were no winners," the pony-turned-human answered. "Both UFE and TODC unleashed atomic bombs on each other. And given what destruction occurred here, I believe that TODC suffered the same fate as we did. But we really do not know. We do not even know who started dropping bombs first. I do know that when bombs started falling, Vault-Tec, the company that built the Vaults like the one where I and inhabitants of Vault Village hid from detonations, sent the order to seal all the Vaults and to cut all communications, to avoid detection. The Overseer of our Vault apparently received some additional instructions, but he never told us much about them. The members of federal government were supposed to hide in a special bunker somewhere, the one which could withstand more than the Vaults can, but they most likely did not survive, otherwise they would have assumed control of the country by now. The same with Vault-Tec headquarters, wherever it was located."

"Is there nothing left of the government? Nothing at all?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"As far as anyone is aware, nothing. There is some organization named "the Enclave" that calls itself the remnant of UFE, but no one really believes they are what they claim. Even if they are, they are not controlling this territory anymore."

"And they had no way to defend themselves from the bombs?"

"Canterlot had some sort of anti-missile defense system around it that was supposed to protect it from nuclear warheads," Sunset started, only to meet blank looks of fellow Equestrians. "Bombs are put into what we call "warheads", and these warheads are delivered by missiles; that's the mode of transport that allows warheads to fly very, very far, to put it quickly. But Canterlot was destroyed, thus it is safe to assume that the defense system failed."

"How does it work?" Twilight asked, her eyes having a manic trinkle in them. Horrible as these inventions are, I must know about them!

"Well... there are some books that will explain it better. I have a bookshelf, you can use it..."

"Thank you!" the Princess gave a hug to her fiery-haired friend.

"Tomorrow."

This latest word earned Sunset a look that basically said she just spoke blasphemy.

Yeah, when it comes to Twilight, it is blasphemy.

"We all need a rest, Twilight. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, and we need to stay strong in this world," she explained.

"Fine," came the answer, although the tone said I agree under protest.

"Let me show you where you and Spike will sleep tonight..."





Hard as Twilight Sparkle tried, she was unable to get good sleep that night. She either thought too much about the day's events, or she suffered through a nightmare when she fell asleep and could not get her nerves in working order after that. In the end, she found herself in some state where she was neither fully asleep nor actually awake, and remained like that until morning.

When she woke up (relatively speaking), she noticed that Sunset Shimmer was missing. On looking around, she found a note on Sunset's bed. It said:

Twilight,

I need to talk over some things with Swift Sentinel, the de facto leader of Vault Village. If you wake up while I am gone, please wait until I come back (it won't take long, I promise).

Should you or Spike feel hungry, I have got some food in the box that has "Food" written on it. I am afraid we have only water to drink. Please use the water sparingly; we can't afford to use a lot of it, even with the water purification system.

After that, I will have to teach you some things about surviving here.

Sunset

"Oh... Twilight, you awake already?" Spike's voice made its way to Twilight's ears.

"Yeah... awake."

"Bad dreams?"

"You could say that."

"Still thinking about these two raiders Sunset had killed?"

"Yes..."

"How do you feel about that?"

"I don't know, Spike! Killing is bad! Taking another's life is bad! That's what I always believed in! We never had to actually kill someone as far as I remember! I know that this world is not Equestria, and these raiders do sound like very bad people, but still... there could have been a way to deal with them without shooting them, right?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"You do not seem that upset over their deaths, Spike," Twilight muttered accusingly.

"They hurt you! They tried to kill you, Twilight!" Spike actually growled. The purple-skinned girl involuntarily took a step back; she had never seen him act like that. "And I could not arrive in time to prevent that! If Sunset had not done that, I would have LOST YOU! And if there's one thing dragons hate, it's losing what's precious to them!"

Twilight stood, mouth slightly agape. Spike was on the roll, however, and didn't notice that.

"You remember that dragon that pursued us when I was behaving like a numbskull over Owlowiscious? He was ready to burn all of us into a crisp, and that was because I ate his gems! Gems! Consider yourself lucky that you have never seen a dragon when his family is threatened! Even desciptions of their fury from books are scary enough! Hate me all you want, Twilight, but you are like my mother (you did hatch me), therefore, you are family, and while I am conflicted about what Sunset did, I am certainly not going to cry over those bandits! If I have to choose between their lives and yours, I will always choose yours!"

Twilight felt tears coming to her eyes at this declaration. While disapproving of his callousness towards the deceased raiders, she was floored by his admission on how dear she was to him. Am I glad he followed me here. He may not be the Element of Loyalty, but he is not lacking it.

"Thank you, Spike," she gave him a hug, "and I don't hate you. I do not want to die, of course. It's just... what Sunset did... reminds me of the time before her reformation."

"You mean when she turned into a raging she-demon and hurled a fireball of dark magic at you?"

"Indeed. I can't help but think that this side of her has returned after all these events played out..."





"A Pip-Boy? You want me to give this friend of yours a Pip-Boy?"

"I am not asking you for one of those fancy C-series or, fates forbid, one of those 5000 Exclusive collector's items!" Sunset exclaimed incredulously. "I only need a simple Pip-Boy 3000A for Twilight! She is going to remain here for a long time, plus, we do have a surplus of them due to latest attacks, do we?"

"We do. And do you know that we also need them to get the bottlecaps the local merchants now use instead of pre-war money? We don't really have that much to trade with them, and those Pip-Boys rack an income," Swift Sentinel was not willing to budge.

Great. How do I persuade him to part with one?

"Moreover, I am very certain that you and this Twilight Sparkle will leave Vault Village as soon as you are able to. I'd hate to lose you and valuable equipment."

"Well, we aren't planning to leave immediately. Twilight has virtually no knowledge of surviving in the Wastelands. She does not even know how to fire a gun!"

"Your point?"

"My point is that Twilight needs some tutoring and experience. Vault Village is a good place to get some. I'll be helping her, we may work on jobs together. And once both of us are confident that we can take care of ourselves, only then we will go."

"Leaving me with those less experienced and security personnel that is diminishing?"

Oh no you don't get to guilt-trip me! Sunset thought, irritated at Swift Sentinel for trying this tactic. If she were honest with herself, she did not like this idea too, but Twilight's well-being took priority in her mind.

"If there is one thing I am not planning to do, it is abandoning my friends. Twilight is my friend, and as far as I am concerned, no one in this village qualifies as one. Besides, I am not obligated by any instructions from Vault-Tec or the late Overseer to stay anymore. I will not be the first one to leave the village, remember?" she said bluntly.

"No. But I have no desire to have anyone leave this village while we are still vulnerable to beasts and those raider remnants."

"Fine," Sunset said in a clipped tone, "how about this: you give me a Pip-Boy for Twilight, I teach her everything needed, we help in securing the area and once you do not have to worry about beasts and raiders, then we go?"

Swift Sentinel lowered his head, clearly in thought. After what felt like hours to Sunset, he said:

"You really think you can take on these threats and stop them?"

"It wouldn't hurt to attempt to do so, at least."

"Fine," the head of Vault security opened a drawer and pulled a Pip-Boy from it, "we have a deal. Take care of threats to Vault Village, and you and Twilight may go wherever you wish."

Clearly, he does not expect us to actually do so, Sunset thought, taking the coveted device.

"Deal."

"But how will you teach Twilight to shoot a gun?"

The fiery-haired girl stopped for a moment, clearly surprised, but then a lightbulb went in her head:

"Do you still have that BB gun that nobody wants?"

"That pop gun? This stuff is useless. Even merchants do not want it, you can barely kill radroaches with it," Swift scoffed.

"Useless for defense, but to teach basics of using guns? That gun is perfect," Sunset said with a smirk.

"OK, you can have it, along with the ammo for it," came the answer, and Swift opened the gun safe, giving Sunset the BB gun and round boxes with metal balls for it. Now why didn't I have that idea? he thought.

"Thank you!" he heard the sing-sung answer, and the door closed behind the fiery-haired young woman.





"I have to learn how to shoot a gun?!" Twilight exclaimed, unpleasantly surprised.

She, Spike and Sunset were standing in front of improvised fire range where various bottles stood at various distances, joined by a security officer called Point Blank. The latter was chewing a bubble gum and had an expression of extreme disinterest on his face, listening to two girls bickering.

"Yes," Sunset replied unforgivingly, "if only in self-defense at least. The Canterlot Wastelands are very dangerous, as you may have noticed. Aside from raiders, there are mutated beasts that attack every human they see and cannot be tamed. And merchants also tell stories about aggressive mindless mutated humans as well. Not everyone believes them, but if they are true, walking without weapon is suicide and the height of stupidity."

The last words were spoken with intent to irk Twilight a bit. If she hates something, it is being called stupid.

"Fine," Twilight grumbled, "I'll do it, because I definitely hate being stupid."

Worked like a charm.

"And you said that on purpose."

What the..? Sunset almost jumped upon hearing that. Oh, very smart of you, Twilight.

"So how do I do it?" the purple-skinned girl asked, eyeing the BB gun as if it offended her.

"Here," Sunset helped Twilight to hold the gun as a human would usually do, "now, to properly aim the gun, you need to use the iron sights. There is rear sight and front sight," she pointed at objects in question.

"Uh-huh."

"Now, you need to put rifle's butt against your shoulder, like this," the fiery-haired girl adjusted her fellow Equestrian's position accordingly, "and look through the rear sight with your right eye."

"Uh-huh."

"Now you must align rear sight and front sight. To do so, center the front post in the notch of the rear sight and the tops of both sights should be level."

"Uh-huh," Twilight stood rigid, listening very attentively.

"Typically, when both sights are aligned and you can see the target through them, it means you aim the gun correctly," Sunset turned to Point Blank. "Did I miss anything?"

"Only the part where the slightest deviation of front sight can cause a complete miss," grumbled the security guard. "Otherwise, it is a fine, if amateurish description on how to aim a gun. I'm certain your bookworm friend can learn the details later from the books."

"There are books on this subject, and you didn't tell me?!" the equine Princess rounded on Sunset.

"This is not something you can learn solely from books, Twilight," her compatriot defended herself. "Practice is the best teacher here, trust me."

"If you say so," Twilight replied, a hint of doubt present in her voice. "Now what?"

"Now, you've got to aim at this bottle," Sunset pointed at the bottle closest to the "rookie", "then, and only then, pull the trigger to shoot the gun."

"Trigger? You mean this little thing where my finger rests?" Twilight turned the gun so her hand would be visible to Sunset. However, when she did so, she pressed on the trigger, releasing the metal ball, which flew in Point Blank's direction and hit his arm.

"HEY!" he immediately rounded on Twilight. "Watch where you point that thing, you imbecile!"

"Sorry, sorry!" the alicorn-turned-human apologized profusedly, shrinking from total embarassment. "Did that hurt?"

"Not as much as bullet would have done, girl, but still, be careful when friendlies are present!" the guard roared, and then turned to Sunset. "Just where did you find this klutz?"

Klutz? Hey! Twilight thought, offended.

"None of your business," Sunset cut off any attempts to inquire into her friend's past. Turning to the latter, she said, "Yes, that part. Do be careful with it, OK? Bullets hurt far worse than metal balls this thing shoots; that's why I picked it first for you to try. Now, move this lever to reload," she showed Twilight where it was located, "and shoot at the closest bottle."

"OK," Twilight replied, attempting to aim the gun as Sunset told her to.

This is not as easy as it sounds, she thought. Finally, when she thought she aimed the gun correctly at the bottle, she pulled the trigger.

Phut.

The metal ball hit the bottle, breaking it into pieces.

Twilight beamed with a smile, turning to Sunset.

"Nice," the latter said, "now reload and try the second closest bottle."

The purple-skinned girl did as she was told to, and fired again.

Phut.

This time, the shot went wide. Twilight frowned.

She reloaded and tried again. Another miss.

This time, she growled quietly.

"Try and aim the gun after you exhale, while not inhaling," Point Blank adviced. "That helps to aim. Breathing does a number on aiming."

"Thanks," Twilight replied, and attempted to follow his advice.

Phut.

Another miss, but the ball flew closer to the bottle this time.

"Remember what I had said," Point Blank spoke again, "even the slightest deviation can cause a miss. Align the front sight strictly level to the rear one, and strictly in the middle of the notch."

The equine said nothing, but aimed once again and fired.

Phut.

Crash.

The bottle turned into shards that flew in different directions.

"That's better," the guard said without a hint of being impressed, "now go on to the next bottle."





Twilight spent nearly fifty minutes on her basic training. Point Blank took over her training (much to Twilight's displeasure - the man was not exactly polite, and showered her with profanities when she did something wrong), correcting her stance when needed, and forcing her to learn how to shoot when standing on one knee, or when lying on her stomach. When Twilight questioned on why she needed to do so, he gave her a look that promptly discouraged her from attempting to do so again.

Once she hit all the bottles, the guard barked at Sunset to reload the BB gun and "ensure that this rookie does not shoot me in the back" (Twilight growled when she heard that, and so did Spike, who could not afford to burst into profanities) and went to put another round of bottles. Once he did so, he picked up some rectangular object and ordered Twilight to stand behind it. She did so, but asked:

"What is that for?"

"There's a chance that whatever you shoot at may shoot back, girl," came the answer, "and thus, you're highly unlikely to stand openly, because you'll need to hide from bullets behind cover. You'll shoot at the bottles again, but you will do so as if you were standing behind cover. Hey, Shimmer, come here and hold this!" he barked at Sunset, who did as ordered. "You," he addressed Twilight again, "once I say so, hit the closest bottle while not exposing yourself fully. And don't take too long!" he took several steps away and then shouted, "Fire!"

Twilight aimed at the bottle from behind cover. She was almost ready to shoot, when...

"Bra-tatatata! Too long! You are dead, Sparkle! Get back to cover and try again!"

"I didn't even aim properly!" the girl protested.

"If you meet any of them raiders again, they won't let you just shoot them! They'll shoot back! Stand in the open unmoving and you are dead! Expose yourself for too long and you are dead! Now, get ready again!" Point Blank shouted at his "student". "Ready! Fire!"

Twilight aimed at the bottle from cover again. She tried to aim quickly, and yet as precisely as possible.

Phut.

The shot missed. Twilight quickly hid herself behind the rectangular "cover".

"Hmpf," Point Blank scoffed, "at least you hid yourself fast enough. Surviving is the most important thing to do in a fight! Now try and hit the bottle again! Ready! FIRE!"

The violet-haired girl aimed again. She pulled the trigger, and the bottle broke into pieces. However, before she hid behind cover again-

"Bra-tatatata! Dead again!"

"What the hay?!" Twilight exploded. "You gave me even less time!"

"If the enemy knows where you hide, his chances to hit you are higher, and he needs less time to aim at you!" the guard shouted in turn, putting another bottle instead of the destroyed one. "Again! Hit this bottle fast enough!"

"Is he always like this?" Twilight grumbled quietly to Sunset.

"When teaching others to shoot? Trust me, he is polite with you," Sunset said in turn. "When it comes to others, he can drive everyone to hysterics."

"Ready! FIRE!"





Another forty minutes went on while Twilight learned to shoot while hiding in cover. Point Blank forced her to try all stances, as well as shooting from both sides of cover, shouting "bra-tatatata!" when she took too long and giving her gradually less and less time.

Once Twilight finished with this course, the guard barked "Dismissed!" at her, and went away.

"Gosh, I am tired," the purple-skinned girl complained.

"Understandable," Sunset replied, "I felt the same after his training course. Let's go home now, we need to eat and you wanted to read some of the books."

Home. This place feels like anything but home, Twilight thought, depressed. And I have got to spend at least thirty moons here now.





When they came back to Sunset's house and had a meal (if survival rations from Vault 75 could be called such; Twilight's displeasure at their taste was clearly written all over her face), its temporary owner said:

"Twilight, there is something you need to have, if we want to take a chance at getting you back to Equestria."

"What is it?" Twilight replied, with a hint of interest.

"This," Sunset showed her a strange object which looked like a cylinder with a small screen, buttons, a wheel and a switch on one side, "is a device named Pip-Boy 3000A. Everyone in the Vault had one, but since many of ours died, well... you need it more now. Here," Sunset unfastened the straps designed to hold Pip-Boy in place, "put it on your left forearm."

Twilight did as asked to, noticing that Sunset took her own Pip-Boy and secured it in the same place. 

"What does it do?" she asked.

"It's a pre-war electronic personal information processor, so it naturally can carry any sort of information within, except video images - this option is present in other models, which are quite rare. But it also can monitor your health, for instance. It has maps, and it can show you your location on them, and there is a compass. Plus, it also has radiation detector and a radio. Its screen also doubles as a flashlight, if it's too dark. There is also an Identify Friend-Foe system, which allows you to see where the enemies and friends are."

"And how does it discern enemies from friends?"

"Based on what others do. Typically, everyone is marked as a friend, with a green marker. If someone fires at you, IFF marks them as hostile and puts a red marker. Mutated beasts are also marked as hostile."

"And can I see where Canterlot is on the map?"

"Sure," Sunset showed Twilight how to use the map. When Twilight saw the distance from her current location to Canterlot, her eyes became wide.

"That's... quite a distance. I guess me and Spike are stuck here for a long time. Like, forever," she said dejectedly.

Sunset frowned upon hearing that.

"Not if I can help it, Twilight," she said resolutely. "You taught me the importance of friendship, and I am not going to just let you two wither here. I'll help you find a way back to Equestria!"

"But how? The portal is too far, and we don't even know if it works!" Spike exclaimed.

"Well, to be honest, I was not planning for us to go straight to Canterlot. We need to send a message back to Equestria. My magic book still lies in the basement of my last pre-war home, which was in Trottingham," Sunset showed where Trottingham was; it was considerably closer to Vault Village than Canterlot. "Trottingham, as far as I know, was not utterly destroyed during nuclear attack; the outskirts should be relatively untouched."

"And what of Vault Village? Will they let us leave it?" Twilight asked.

Sunset's face fell. That's the question I hoped to avoid.

"Not right now. You still need some practice, Twilight. And Vault Village is threatened by mutated agressive animals and raiders that survived the initial attack on it. Once it is no longer threatened, we will leave."

"What do I have yet to learn?" Twilight asked.

"Tomorrow, you'll learn how to shoot from more damaging weapons than that BB gun you practiced with today. I also hope you can learn some unarmed combat, meaning using your fists and legs, although..." Sunset gave her friend an appraising look, "you are not exactly built for it. We'll see about that. There are other things you need to know, but for now, you can use the books I have."

Twilight grinned at the last words and quickly excused herself. Spike and Sunset had a chuckle at their friend's enthusiasm.





The next day, Twilight met Point Blank once again on the improvised firing range. As Sunset had predicted, the grumbling security guard was now teaching Twilight on how to use a pistol.

"This here is N99 10mm pistol. An oldie, but a goodie. Pretty easy to find and maintain, as merchants say. This is not the only weapon you may find, but for now, we are not giving you anything else. Understood?"

"Yes," Twilight replied.

"Good. Now, unlike that BB gun, you do not need to reload after firing every shot. However, if you spend all ammo and have to reload your pistol, you will have to move the bolt to send cartridge into a chamber. Look how it's done," Point Blank showed how to do it, and after that, had Twilight memorise the sequence of actions via repeating the process several times.

"Now, before we move on to firing, you also need to know how to properly maintain your gun," he said, and spent nearly half an hour on teaching the Princess of Friendship on the subject, having her disassemble and assemble the gun several times until she could do it fast enough, screaming profanities if she missed something or was too slow. Twilight's hands were covered in gun oil and scratches after that, and she sorely wished she could wash her hands (which Point Blank allowed her to do only once he was satisfied with Twilight's progress).

"OK, now at least you will not look like a baboon while wearing and using it. Now, get to the firing range and better not miss, the ammo is very valuable!"





The live fire training was shorter than it was the day before. Point Blank went through the same routine of firing using various stances and from cover, but a lot faster, not willing to have Twilight spend too much ammunition. Whenever Twilight performed poorly, he berated her for several minutes before allowing to continue.

In the end, he had an impromptu exam for Twilight. Giving her a magazine with twelve cartridges, he ordered her to shoot as many of twelve bottles as she could.

Twilight, thanks to the previous day and several books Sunset had about guns, was now more accustomed to using iron sights and confident in herself, and hit seven bottles of twelve. Point Blank grumbled that "it was still five bottles short of perfect" and that Twilight "really must learn hitting targets at bigger distances", but admitted begrudgingly that the purple-skinned girl performed better than other "dunderheads" and allowed her to keep the pistol and two ammo clips for it.

Sunset beamed at her friend and gave her a congratulatory hug, and Spike was running around in circles, barking happily.

However, the happy moment was interrupted by a scream and sounds of shots being fired somewhere.

Twilight and Spike looked around, confused, while Sunset and Point tensed immediately and went for their weapons: Sunset for her hunting rifle and Point for combat shotgun on his back.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"I don't know, but if shots are fired, it's not good," Sunset replied.

"Less talking, lasses, and more moving! Follow me!" the guard barked at both of them.

"Spike, go back home and stay there!" Twilight ordered, taking off after others.

Spike looked like he wanted to protest, but Twilight went away very fast.

"Yeah, because getting myself worried about you is sooooo much better than jumping into the fray..." he drawled, sarcasm dripping in his voice.





"What in the world are those?!" Twilight shouted, pointing her finger at the monster in front of her. Said monster looked like a scorpion hit by enlargement spell to her.

"It's called radscorpion!" Sunset shouted back. "It is some type of scorpion that mutated due to radiation from nuclear bombs and became larger and meaner! And tougher, too!"

"Quit flapping your gums and SHOOT IT!" bellowed Point Blank. Sunset followed his advice and fired a round at it, but it was not enough. The radscorpion continued advancing at them.

"Why don't you die!" the guard exclaimed in rage. He fired his shotgun at the radscorpion, twice, and Sunset fired again. Only after that, the radscorpion fell and didn't move anymore.

"Why didn't you fire?!" Point rounded on Twilight.

"You told me yourself that this pistol is only for close quarters!" Twilight replied angrily, venting all her pent-up frustration at him. "Both of you shot it before I actually needed to fire my gun!"

"She's right, you know," Sunset defended her friend.

"Shut up and move on, both of you!" the guard ordered, taking off in the direction radscorpion came from. Both girls follwed him, slightly irritated at his rudeness.

Several moments later, Point Blank turned around the corner. The girls followed him to see three more radscorpions advancing on a dozen security guards and several armed civilians, and several more in the distance.

"Sunset, come with me and help us hold against this wave! Twilight, look around and see that no scorpion comes behind us!" he ordered, moving to join his comrades. Sunset followed him, leaving Twilight to gaze upon the battle of men versus mindless beasts.

Assault rifles and hunting rifles were damaging radscorpions from afar, while shotguns finished them off at close distance. The mutants were seeping blood from wounds, but did not relent. One of them came too close to a civilian and hit him with a sting. The man fell with a shout. Point Blank turned to the radscorpion and blasted him straight into the "face", killing the beast. One of the guards and another civilian took the wounded away, and another man in white clothes ran up to them (Twilight assumed it was a doctor). The helpers left the wounded in his care and came back to join the fight.

Twilight stood, mesmerized. She had read about famous battles that Equestrians had to fight in, and saw the drawings depicting them. While not of equally grand scale, this battle scene was no less enticing than those painted by other ponies.

A scream interrupted her musings. Twilight turned around - and her eyes widened in horror.

A radscorpion was advancing on a woman with a small girl in her arms, no more than six years old. The woman ran back into her house and closed the door, but the radscorpion started attacking it, and it appeared that the door would not hold for long against him.

Twilight turned around. Sunset and others were still engaged against the other radscorpions, and she assumed they would not hear her shouting. Running to them was not an option: the door already had cracks in it.

What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? the question rang in Twilight's head.

The woman screamed again.

Crack! Radscorpion managed to push one of his pincers through the door.

I have to do something... Twilight thought. In a split second, she realized what she had to do.

She looked at the pistol in her hand.

She flipped off the safety.

She moved the bolt. The weapon responded with click-clank.

She raised her pistol.

Align rear sight with front sight, level and center, see the target through it.

Pull the trigger.

BANG!

Repeat.

BANG!

Repeat.

BANG!

Oh snap, now it pays attention to me!

BANG!

Repeat.

BANG!

It's too close for comfort! What to do now?

RUN, you idiot, that's what!

The last sentence roared in Twilight's head like a thunder. Correctly assuming that the radscorpion's pincers or sting presented a real health hazard, she took off into direction of the defense line, expelling air from her lungs:

"HELP! I NEED HELP!"





These radscorpions just never give up! One would think that even most stupid beasts would stop coming to places which kill them!

This thought ran through Sunset Shimmer's head as she reloaded her hunting rifle. Once she was ready to fire again, she aimed her riflle at another radscorpion.

BOOM!

She moved the bolt and repeated the procedure.

BOOM!

Her target twitched and stopped moving. Sunset looked around quickly and noticed that there was only one radscorpion left in front of defenders.

She fired again, but missed.

Aimed too hastily, damn it!

Other defenders, however, quickly turned their weapons on the last mutant. A salvo of fire from assault rifles quickly finished it off.

The fiery-haired girl wiped the sweat off her forehead. The attack was over.

I wish Twilight did not have to see something this violent this soon, she mused. I hoped we would start with something less dangerous, like radroaches or maybe mole rats at most, but not radscorpions, and certainly not in such numbers.

I need to check on her. That girl is probably shell-shocked from this violence right now.

Sunset turned around...

...what in Celestia's name?!

Her eyes widened.

Twilight Sparkle was running from a radscorpion... in their direction.

Moments later, the panicked purple-skinned girl screamed:

"HELP! I NEED HELP!"

...and promptly tripped on something and fell over.





That hurts!

Twilight fell in a bad way, hitting her solar plexus. As a result, she could only helplessly inhale for a few moments, trying desperately to make oxygen stay in her lungs.

Steps behind her forced her to roll on her backside in half-sitting position.

The monster spawned by excess radiation, which she tried to evade, was advancing towards her now, his eyes visible.

Twilight fired aimlessly two times; missing the beast was an impossibility right now, but the bullets hit the base of radscorpion's tail. The beast raised his appendage to sting her...

BANG!

His sting came apart in a small shower of bloody bits.

Twilight looked behind. Sunset Shimmer was standing behind and moving the bolt of her hunting rifle.

BANG! She fired again.

The radscorpion twitched, but still did not keel over.

"Shoot! I am out!" she shouted.

Out of what? Twilight thought dumbly, but then realized that her friend meant "out of ammunition."

Meanwhile, the monster moved forward, coming very close to the Princess of Friendship. Twilight's right leg was planted feet first on the ground, making it stand up. The radscorpion moved his left pincer, pinching the standing limb with it.

"AAAAARRGH!"

Pain coursed through Twilight's leg. Panic ran through her head.

It's going to kill me! It's going to kill me! It's going to kill me!

No, it won't! said the other voice.

Twilight remembered that she still had her pistol.

Monster's eyes were close enough to eliminate the need to use iron sights.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Click! Click!

Twilight realized that she ran out of ammo.

Then she felt that radscorpion was not pinching her leg anymore (it still was in pain, but the pain was more tolerable now).

Then she saw that the monster stopped moving and was, in fact, lying down.

Dead.

Then, her head was forcibly turned around, and she saw a familiar face in front of her.

"Twilight, are you alright?" came the voice of Sunset Shimmer.

For a moment, Twilight did not know what to say.

Then she tried to stand up. Her right leg flared with feelings of pain, but she forced herself to persevere. Standing straight turned out to be somewhat problematic, however.

Sunset noticed that and quickly draped Twilight's hand over her shoulder, making it easier for her friend to stay.

"MEDIC!" she screamed.

"Already here," the man in white coat Twilight had seen before ran to them and started fussing over the wounded leg. "Damn, that girl is lucky. Skin not pierced, only some bruises. Put an ice pack and all will be fine in a jiffy," he said, and took an ice pack from his bag, proceeding to bind it to the purple-skinned shin with bandages. Twilight felt that the pain lessened somewhat.

"Thank you," she said.

"Oh, it is you I've got to thank!" the woman that was hiding from the recently deceased radscorpion ran up to the Princess of Friendship. "You saved our lives!"

"Wait a minute!" came the familiar gruff voice of Point Blank. "Dear, are you saying she saved you and our daughter?"

"She did! This radscorpion was breaking the door, and she fired at it, distracting it!"

"Yes she did! Yes she did!" Twilight felt something small hug her leg, and looked down to see the girl she apparently saved clinging to her. "She killed the meanie monster!"

That makes me look like some super-heroine from Power Ponies comic books, she thought ruefully, and said, blushing:

"It was nothing special..."

"Are you kidding?" the girl looked up at her with incredulous expression. "It was awesome!"

"Nothing special?" Twilight raised her head to look in Point Blank's face. "Kid, you took on a radscorpion with a pistol and wearing a jumpsuit, while many of my colleagues would not face one of these beasts one on one when in full armour and having an assault rifle! You could have tried running up to us and telling me about that radscorpion breaking the door, but you did not risk others' lives and distracted it so it would come after you instead! For someone who barely understands the way Wastelands work, it is not "nothing special", it is "better than one could expect", so don't be too modest!"

"He is right," Swift Sentinel came up to everyone present, "you risked your life for others who could not defend themselves and even got wounded, even if slightly. That is what a good person does."

Is it true? Twilight thought. Is killing in defense of those who cannot defend themselves justifiable, when there is no other way to defend them?

She turned her head to Sunset, as if expecting to find the answer on her face.

Her friend caught her look, and smiled, nodding to her.

Twilight smiled back... and started shaking.

"Wha-wha-what's hap-p-p-p-pening to-o-o me?" she stuttered.

"Your body is coming down from excess of adrenaline which was synthesized in reaction to danger," the medic explained. "It will pass. Just lie down and have a good night's sleep, and don't trouble that leg."

"Come on," Twilight heard Sunset say. "Let's do what the doctor says."

That sounds like a great idea, she thought, and allowed her friend to lead her back to home...





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Bookworm: You just love reading and re-reading books, and have a keen eye for details described in there. Whenever you read a book, you gain +2 bonus points to any skill the book augments, in addition to any extra points it gives.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Hunter: You have learned the intricacies of defending yourself from aggressive animals. You gain +5% damage bonus against mutated beasts, e. g. radroaches, mole rats, radscorpions, etc.
> Chapter 4: Stripping the naivete
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Chapter 4

Stripping the naivete


Once coming down from adrenaline rush ended, Twilight Sparkle was able to enjoy a somewhat decent night's sleep. She did not suffer through a nightmare this time, but in the morning, she largely attributed it to the tiredness of the previous day.

The leg, as the doctor had predicted (his name, as Twilight had learned, was Redblood), worked quite well, and she did not feel any pain.

She felt quite glad about it, although Sunset Shimmer told her in no certain terms to be more careful (or swift) next time, once they sat down at home to have dinner.

"Radscorpion's pincers are nasty business, Twilight," she said. "It was dumb luck that it was not able to pierce your skin. Merchants say that there are gigantic radscorpions that can actually break a limb with a pincer. Don't know if it's true or not, but it's certainly for better not to find that out by sticking legs to them. And don't get me started on stings. Radscorpion's poison is nasty."

"How nasty?" Spike inquired while munching on one of remaining dog treats.

"Nasty enough to kill in two days without treatment. And dying is not painless, either," the fiery-haired woman stated bluntly.

Twilight and Spike exchanged looks. And here's a reminder of why we should get out of here, they thought.

"Fortunately, we do have antidotes for that."

"Glad to hear," the equine Princess said quickly, munching on something that passed for food. She would say "passed for food" because the mess on her plate certainly did not look appetizing, and neither tasted well.

At least it could keep her body running. She already discovered that after trying one of MRE's (that, according to Sunset, meant "Meals Ready-To-Eat", but Point Blank once told her that this acronym should be read as "Meals Rejected by the Enemy", much to her amusement) in the morning. Much to her surprise, she did not feel hungry until 1:00 p.m. (local time).

"What do you think we shall do now?" Twilight asked her friend.

"If Point Blank hasn't reverted back to being grumpy-pants yet, probably he'll teach you something else about guns, with lesser amount of swearing," Sunset replied. "If he attacks someone else verbally, my ears will wither and die."

The purple-skinned girl imagined the scene and snickered.

"What's so funny?" came the inevitable question.

"I just imagined that happening."

"My ears withering and dying? And here I thought you would feel sorry for them," Sunset said, mock-offended. "Who are you and what have you done with Twilight Sparkle?"

"I'm sorry, Sunset," Twilight apologized. Shoot, I think I offended her.

"Don't be, I'm just messing with you," Sunset smiled at her friend.

"Oh you..!" the latter exclaimed in mock-outrage, but was unable to keep the angry expression on her face for long and burst into giggles herself.

Their moment of friend-bonding was interrupted, however.

Knock-knock-knock-knock.

"Who's there?" Sunset shouted, coming up to the door, with hunting rifle in her hands.

"Point Blank," the speaker's face appeared in the hole that was left after another radscorpion attack, "is Sparkle up for another training round?"

"Yes, Point Blank, I am," Twilight replied.

The security guard that had become a death threat to Sunset Shimmer's ears changed his approach towards Twilight after her saving his family. He behaved more politely towards her (although he said that he would still shower her with profanities if she did something horribly wrong), and allowed her to keep the pistol she practiced (and killed a radscorpion) with the day before.

Once he came in, he asked both girls to get to the firing range and also stated he had a "present" for Twilight. Said present turned out to be some bottle caps she had seen once before. There were fifty of them. At her questioning look, he explained:

"Merchants said that no one here uses pre-war money anymore. Now the most accepted currency here is bottlecaps from Nuka-Cider."

"Nuka-Cider?"

"A soft drink that became extremely popular with the folks once nuclear fashion had begun," at Twilight's dumb look, he exclaimed. "What's wrong with you, girl?"

"Amnesiac, remember?" Twilight said.

In order to keep the knowledge of magical land of Equestria to the minimum, Twilight and Sunset had agreed on a cover story. Twilight was presented as a "friend from out of town" who had suffered through amnesia and could not remember much from her previous life. The only things she "remembered" aside from basic skills like eating and walking and stuff were names and faces of her friends (this tidbit explained to those not in the know how Twilight knew Sunset) and "memories" of certain locations. The knowledge of the world's events from her latest adventure in human world prior to her arrival to Equestria were "lost", however.

"Oh... sorry," Point Blank apologized.

"Nuclear fashion is... a phenomenon of some sorts. You see, when UFE and TODC started gnawing at each other's throats, many of us were worried about the possibility of nuclear attack. It was expected that both sides would quickly bomb each other to smithereens. However, reason prevailed... for some time," the last words were said bitterly. "The fear did not go away fully, however. And some of businessmen decided to capitalize on it. Rack in some money."

"Making money on fears? Doesn't sound good to me," Twilight grumbled.

"You aren't the only one who thinks that. But many did not care. And they bought things that had something to do with the topic. Nuka-Cider was one of them. It was, basically, fizzy apple cider, but it was very tasty. And quite popular. It was not uncommon for a small family to order a whole crate of Nuka-Cider for themselves," Point Blank explained. "Even now, merchants say Nuka-Cider still remains popular. I don't really know who decided to use bottle caps as money, but I think it became so because this drink was very widespread."

"What else was promoted during this nuclear fashion?" Twilight inquired, always eager to learn.

"Things that looked like something out of the past century. You say you remember fancy electronics like computers and smartphones? They are good, but they have one drawback. When nuclear detonation occurs, it gives out an electromagnetic pulse, EMP for short, and this pulse messes them up really bad. Basically, they are rendered useless. People did not want that, and someone remembered the looks of long-outdated technology that, theoretically, was not vulnerable to such. I highly doubt it was, but there were a lot of old-fashioned TV sets or radio receivers or computer monoblocks sold. And Pip-Boy design was also heavily influenced by nuclear fashion. Of course, that did not mean smartphones were out of commission, too. One could order some sort anti-EMP insulation for them, if they desired so and had the money."

"That sounds like... I don't know, retro-futurism or something,", Twilight said.

"You wouldn't be too wrong in that regard, Twilight," Sunset replied to that. "It's almost as if we jumped back in time while going to the future."

"To the future?"

"Yes," Point Blank took over, "because along with that, there were some great technological advancements shortly before war and during it. The invention of microfusion cells, for example. That energy source could have revolutionized the whole world, replacing fossil fuels, but that did not happen. Instead, it was directed for war effort. Almost all applications of microfusion cells are military in nature."

"Meaning?" the ever-curious girl asked.

"As far as I know, these cells are used in energy weapons, like laser and plasma rifles. And microfusion backpacks serve as energy source for powered combat armour. These advancements helped UFE soldiers a lot on the frontlines."

"Energy weapons?" On hearing her friend's tone, Sunset became worried that Twilight would not stop bothering Point Blank with questions until he shot her in sheer outrage - or desperation. "How does that..."

"We are here! Get ready, Sparkle, I will be teaching you how to deal with combat shotgun!"

And there went the nice person, the Princess of Friendship sighed internally.





The next two days went without a hitch. Point Blank, after teaching Twilight several more skills (like repairing guns, silent movement and giving first aid to oneself or others - the latter involved Redblood as well) agreed to let her participate in patrolling the Vault Village and its outskirts along with Sunset Shimmer.

Their objective was to see that no beast or raider would try and enter the village.

The area around Vault Village was quite full with mutated animals, but they stayed away from Vault Village most of the time, recent radscorpion attacks being exceptions. Sunset explained that two attacks in the course of several days were unheard of, and most of the time radscorpions did not bother the village.

"What other mutated animals are dangerous?" Twilight asked.

"Mole rats, by their own, are less dangerous than radscorpions, but they usually travel in packs. If one encounters radscorpions, it's one or two of them most of the time. Mole rats travel in groups of four to seven. And they bite hard, tearing away pretty big chunks of flesh. At least they are not poisonous."

Twilight shuddered at the mental image in her head.

"What else?"

"Yao guai. Mutated bear. That one is very dangerous. Worse than radscorpions. It is fast, you cannot run from it, it withstands a lot more punishment, and its claws are sharp. There was one time when a patrol encountered one. When reinforcements arrived, they found no survivors, and lost four men themselves. Combined with patrol, there were seven casualties."

"Whoa!" Spike muttered from Twilight's backpack. "That's horrible!"

"What else is dangerous?" lavender-skinned girl asked, fearing what else could be there.

"Bloatflies. Flying creatures that attack with spike-bedecked larva. Those pierce through closing, and are quite an irritant. If the spikes go too deep, one may die. But bloatflies are easy to kill, you just need not to miss. There are also wild dogs that have gone mad and attack anyone in sight."

"Mad wild dogs? Surely don't want to meet them," Spike muttered.

"You don't, Spike. Those are largely of breeds designed to guard something, and bigger than you," Sunset replied.

"Anyone else I should be afraid of?" Twilight inquired.

"Radroaches, although "afraid of" part is debatable. Those are dangerous only in numbers. They bite, and their saliva is poisonous, but the human body can deal with small doses. But if too many radroaches bite repeatedly, that poison is dangerous. Radroaches are very easy to kill, however. Even that BB gun you practiced with can kill them with several shots. That's all I know," Sunset finished.

"Sweet Celestia. Radiation is not a good thing, is it?" Twilight said quietly.

"No, it isn't. Let's go on, and keep an eye on your Pip-Boy's IFF system. I don't want any surprises."

They continued their patrol in silence.

Half an hour later, Twilight said:

"Uh... Sunset? IFF shows a red mark."

"Mine does too. Get ready," Sunset immediately raised her rifle and crouched, "we do not need surprises."

Twilight mimicked her motions and took her pistol from the belt, flipping off the safety. Per Point Blank's advice, she kept the pistol loaded through their entire patrol, so she did not need to move the bolt.

As they advanced, the number of red marks increased. Two, three, four... four. Once they approached the hostiles, they were able to see what their enemy was.

"Mole rats," Sunset whispered. Twilight looked at the beasts in front of them (which stood with their backs to them and had not noticed them yet), unable to suppress a small shudder.

The animals did indeed look like overgrown, bald rats with complexion somewhat resemblant of moles and paws that (as Twilight guessed) could do very well in digging the ground. For a moment, she remembered the Diamond Dogs debacle Rarity had found herself in back in Equestria.

Unfortunately, these creatures are not intelligent, and they certainly will not give us gems.

Her musings were interrupted once she heard a loud BOOM go off. Turning her head to the left, she saw Sunset move her rifle's bolt and fire again.

BOOM! The second shot was more lucky, as the bullet hit the mole rat's head. The twisted creature fell and did not move again.

"What are you doing?!" Twilight shouted.

"We must get rid of them!"

"Just like that? In cold blood?!"

"Shut up and shoot or they will kill us!" Sunset shouted back, firing at another mole rat.

Twilight turned back to their enemies and noticed that other beasts were running in their direction with murderous intent. Grudgingly, she realized she would need to act in self-defense, as having Sunset to deal with three mole rats was a bad idea. She raised her pistol and opened fire on the closest mutant.

Three shots were enough to neutralize the already wounded mole rat. Another red mark disappeared from her IFF display (not that she paid very close attention to it - when in combat, wasting time to look at Pip-Boy is not exactly wise).

Twilight turned her attention to another mole rat, and released two more shots.

"Aim for their heads!" Sunset recommended.

For a while, Twilight had a flashback...





Lying on the ground...

Pain in stomach and in her face...

Resignation to grim fate...

A shot...

Wetness on her cheek...

Standing up...

Seeing the corpse, missing a part of its head...

...he's missing a part of his head!!!





"SHOOT, DAMN IT!"

Twilight snapped out of her memories - and immediately saw a mole rat standing dangerously close to her.

The pistol fired before her brain registered actually pulling the trigger. The beast fell dead, blood seeping from two wounds that were not caused by her.

Twilight turned to see Sunset trying to reload her rifle - with the last mole rat running after her, that proved to be a challenge.

Apparently this pack thought of Sunset as the biggest threat.

Twilight raised her pistol and fired four times. Only two bullets hit their target (shooting at something that is moving is obviously harder than at stationary bottle).

The beast, however, decided to turn its attention towards her.

Fatal mistake.

With no imminent threat hanging over her now, Sunset Shimmer finished her reload, and promptly fired at the beast. The shot hit the mole rat in the leg, making it stumble and fall.

Twilighr realized that the beast was at her mercy now. And she still had two shots left.

Kill it, said the voice in her head.

Just like that? When it's defenseless? another voice argued.

It's not defenseless. It still can kill you. It WILL kill you, if you do not act. Twilight realized that this voice was somewhat right. The beast was already starting to get up, although the hurt leg impeded its attempts.

This feels so wrong... She could not totally disagree with that, either.

The mole rat stood up, and tried to move towards the pony-turned-human...

BOOM!

..."tried" being the key word, as the beast fell, not to rise again.





Silence fell across the battlefield. As Sunset walked up to Twilight, none of them spoke a word, trying to calm themselves. Finally, after half a minute of silence (which seemed to last a lot longer to lavender-skinned girl) the former said in a nonchalant tone:

"I guess we are in luck. Usually we meet packs of five specimens."

The words (or maybe the tone they were spoken with) ignited something within Twilight, clouding her reasoning. Looking in her friend's turquoise eyes, she shouted:

"How can you do this?!"

The decibels that Twilight produced shocked Sunset to a halt. Looking at her friend's face, she noticed the expression of outrage there (and it apparently was directed towards her), but could not find any possible explanation for its appearance in her head.

"Do what, Twilight?" she asked, surprise seeping into her voice.

"This!" the Princess of Friendship waved her hand in the direction of mole rats' still warm corpses. "Attacking and killing others, in cold blood, like they do not matter! How can you do this?" 

Oh, that's what ticked her off, the fiery-haired girl thought.

"Was it necessary to fire first? We could have avoided that! Was it necessary to endanger us both and Spike?"

"Hey, don't involve me," Spike replied, "I was not in a position to do anything."

"We are on patrol, Twilight," Sunset explained patiently (no good to lose one's temper when dealing with a novice in the Wastelands), "and we must not let any beasts or, fates forbid, raiders get close to the village. We find them, we kill them. Simple as it can be."

Belatedly, she realized that her answer sounded too cold-blooded for Twilight, and braced herself for another angry burst. Twilight did not disappoint:

"Simple as it can be? That's it? So the only answer now is to kill anything in sight? Continue the conflict, when a lot of people had already died? Kill and kill and kill until blood floods everything? What's wrong with you, Sunset?!"

"Wrong? With me? What makes you think that, Twilight?" Sunset was starting to get angry herself. For all of Twilight's intelligence, she can be so dense sometimes!

"What makes me think that? You don't think that shooting to kill first is wrong?"

"And risking the lives of villagers is better? In case you hadn't noticed, not everyone in Vault Village has a gun, nor can everyone actually shoot! You'd rather let someone die if they stumble across such beasts while defenseless?!"

"Maybe the animals would not be so aggressive if nopony were aggressive to them first!" Twilight did not notice the slip of her tongue which gave away her Equestrian origin.

"Oh, so you would befriend everyone, even those whose nature simply prevents from having friends? You'd try and befriend someone when they are hurting you, or torturing you, or eating you?" Sunset was getting the urge to knock some sense into her friend with the butt of her rifle. Losing control of her anger, she drawled sarcastically, "O-o-ohhh, wait, that's what Princess of Friendships do!"

The mocking tone she put on Twilight's official title made its bearer explode.

"Well, I am certain that beats dealing with those standing in your way like a SHE-DEMON!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.





The words struck Sunset Shimmer like an extremely sharp icicle. The bubble of anger within her evaporated, replaced with feelings of deep emotional pain.

Is that what she thinks of me? That I am the same person I was before my reformation?

While still in Canterlot High School, Sunset have not been able to totally rid herself of the label Twilight had just sticked on her. Some people could hold a grudge for quite a long time, and not everybody had forgiven her totally. Her past deeds still stuck to her like an unwashable ink blot, which made her a convenient target to shift the blame on - which had happened already, during the Anon-a-Miss incident. Even her friends believed her to be the secret-stealer, so the others did not even think of digging further.

That debacle ended happily, but the pain remained; from that day on, Sunset felt especially vulnerable towards reminders of her dark past.

Having them thrown in her face by someone she called a friend whom she helped, and whom she saved, felt like tearing her insides out.

"Is that what you think, Twilight? That I reverted back to the same person I was before?"

Her tone had no trace of anger anymore, but sadness. Twilight looked like she still wanted to say something.

Fearing that she would get hurt again, Sunset did not give her the chance:

"We've finished our patrol here. Go back to the village. I'll catch up," and she turned away, going to mole rats' corpses.

With her back turned to the Princess, Sunset let the tears that welled in her eyes loose.

Once she heard the footsteps going away and disappearing into the distance, she took out her knife. Merchants paid caps for the meat; plus, the village needed to eat something.

Redblood would not approve of such rations, though. The meat is somewhat irradiated.





Twilight Sparkle was walking towards Vault Village, making large steps. She did not want to be anywhere near Sunset Shimmer right now.

Some part of her mind had registered the hurt look on the latter's face, but her outrage at what she perceived as a dishonorable move was still boiling over the top.

"Rude much?" she heard the voice from her backpack.

Deja vu.

"Don't tell me you agree with that action, Spike," Twilight growled.

"I have some reservations about that..."

"Good."

"...but going off at her like that? That's not like you, Twilight."

"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped.

"I don't remember you shouting like that at anyone."

"I said, I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine," Spike disappeared back into the backpack, clearly annoyed. "But I think you haven't learned yet that this world is not Equestria or the world you used to know."

Twilight left his latest remark without comment, and went on.

Some part of her couldn't help but feel, though, that Spike's comment about worlds was correct.





When Twilight finally approached the village, her ears registered the sound of gunfire.

What is that?

She started running towards the village, only to see a strange sight.

Several humans with guns, wearing some sort of haphazardly sewed clothes and/or armour that somehow seemed familiar, were walking on a street, laughing and shouting something in apparently mocking voices.

Another one was standing in front of a house, holding a bottle of something in his hand. The neck had some cloth stuffed into it - 

- and it was burning.

Before Twilight was able to think of possible applications of this strange bottle, the stranger threw it in the window of the house. A woman ran out of it - only to receive a bullet in the chest.

"No!" Twilight screamed. Stupid thing to do, but she was too far for strange humans to hear.

"What's up? What's going - whoa!" Spike exclaimed at the sight. He immediately jumped out of the backpack. "Them again!"

Them who? But as Twilight glanced toward her Pip-Boy's IFF screen, she understood immediately.

There were red dots that corresponded with humans' positions.

And she recognized now where she had seen clothes like that. Last time she saw them, she nearly lost her life.

Raiders.





Correctly assuming that charging at the group was suicidal, Twilight and Spike went as stealthily as they could. Fortunately, none of the raiders  thought of looking behind their shoulders, so their approach was undetected.

Twilight spared a glance towards the IFF screen. The red marks did not go anywhere, but now there were green ones, too.

When moving behind one of the houses, she came across Redblood. He quickly confirmed that Vault Village was under attack by raiders, and asked Twilight to help him get to security guards. Twilight agreed immediately and asked Spike to find them a safe way.

They moved undetected for a hundred meters, but once they moved around one of the corners, they came across one of the raiders.

Upon seeing an armed Twilight Sparkle, the raider immediately raised his pistol. Point Blank's teachings sprung up in her head (FIND COVER!), an she immediately bolted back.

Three bullets whizzed past them.

Oh what wouldn't I give not to find myself in this situation. Now I need to use Point Blank's training against targets who fire back to good use.

Twilight leaned out from cover and fired at him twice, reminding that she had teeth, too. Her bullets didn't hit the intended target either, but the raider decided not to stick in the open, and hid himself behind a long (but low) wooden crate that stood forgotten by someone.

"We have a problem," Twilight said. She fired at the raider again, but her bullets missed again, and she heard a click signifying that her pistol ran out of ammo. She swapped the clip, and moved the bolt, satisfied with click-clank sound.

"What kind of problem?" Redblood asked.

"Raider, behind the crate, firing at us," as if he wanted to prove Twilight's words, the raider fired at them again.

Bang, bang, bang.

Twilight crouched and leaned out again, fixing the iron sights on where the raider would appear again. Once he did, Twilight fired at him. Her bullet struck his right arm, making him cry in pain and drop his pistol.

"Bitch!" he screamed.

What's with the profanities? Twilight thought indignantly, and shouted at Redblood:

"Go, to next house, quick!"

Redblood nodded and ran in the intended direction, Twilight and Spike hot on his heels. The raider picked up his pistol and tried to fire again, but Twilight was careful - upon seeing that he wanted to repeat his attack, she fired at him three times before he pulled the trigger.

She missed, but the raider hid himself again, correctly assuming that he did not need more bullets in his flesh. As he did, Twilight noticed blood that coated his arm.

She felt sick. Is this what I will turn myself into?

Her hesitation nearly cost her, as another raider appeared from the front door of the house they wanted to hide behind, wielding a hunting rifle. Twilight ducked - and it saved her life: the bullet whizzed above her head.

"Come on, run!" Redblood shouted at her. She wisely decided to do that, and ran, firing wildly at the second raider as she did that. Her shots went wide, but the raider hid himself in the house, ceasing to be a problem for few moments.

"Ooh, the baby wants to play hard!" he shouted mockingly.

I'm just about to snap at you for such language! Twilight was getting angry now. As she hid behind another cover, pistol shots whizzed again.

She leaned out and fired once.

The bullet hit the raider's neck. He dropped his pistol again and clutched at his throat. Blood started flowing in a stream, seeping through his fingers.

He fell, trying in vain to hold the blood in, but soon, he stopped struggling for his life.

"NO!" another masculine voice screamed. The second raider appeared again and fired at Twilight. The latter, standing shell-shocked at what she had just done, stuck out like a sore thumb.

BANG!

"AAAARGH!"

Twilight dropped her pistol, hand flying to cover the wound in her left shoulder. A moment later, she was yanked back behind cover, hard.

"Thanks," she silently said to Redblood.

"You killed Brody, you bitch! I'm going to make you fucking pay for it!" the raider bellowed. "Have a fucking present, you whore!"

Twilight noticed some small metal apple-like object landing in front of her. Redblood screamed and dashed past her, picking the object and throwing it back and getting back to cover as fast as he could.

Moments later, Twilight heard a BOOM and another raider's screams of pain.

"What was that?" she asked.

"A grenade. Moments later, and we would have been cut down by sharp fragments. And now, that raider bastard suffered this fate, too," Redblood replied.

Twilight wanted to say something, but pain prevented her from doing anything more than grunting in pain.

"Hold still," Redblood said, "I need to see the wound."

Luckily, the bullet went through, missing the bone and major arteries. Redblood quickly disinfected the wound, wrapping the bandages around Twilight's shoulder. When he finished, he took out a syringe and gave her an injection.

"Ow," she complained.

"This is a painkiller. You will stop feeling the pain from this wound soon. Now where's your pistol?"

A loud bark turned their attention to Spike, who took it upon himself to drag the pistol towards Twilight.

"Good Spike," Twilight smiled, picking her pistol up.

"I think we need to loot the raiders," Redblood said.

"Loot their bodies?" Twilight said, shocked at the suggestion.

"They will not need their equipment anymore. It would do better now for us to defend ourselves from them," the medic explained.

These humans are crazy, Twilight thought, but, not wishing for another arguement, wisely kept silence.

She picked up the hunting rifle and some ammo for it for herself, and persuaded Redblood to take a pistol with an extra clip for himself.

"Where now?" she asked.

Redblood showed the direction. The trio sprinted there. Twilight spared the last glance at the corpses.

What could have forced them to live like this? This is wrong. This is so very wrong...





They were lucky enough to avoid meetings with other raiders. On their way, they met up with Swift Sentinel. He quickly explained the situation: a dozen or so raiders attacked the village. Twilight said that she and Redblood took care of two of them, and Swift said the guards and civilian militia killed seven; that meant three (probably) raiders were still on the large.

"Where is Sunset Shimmer?" he asked.

Twilight blushed, feeling ashamed now. She did not even spare a thought about a friend whom she left after the arguement.

Some Princess of Friendship you are!

"We... finished our patrol and she told we to go back, said that she would catch up with me..."

"You were not supposed to come back alone. What happened?"

"We... had an arguement..."

"Tell me the details later," Swift Sentinel said with a frown on his face. "For now, we need to get back to where you saw her last!"

Twilight nodded and ran in the needed direction, Swift taking after her.

Several minutes later, they arrived at the outskirts of the village where Twilight first saw the raiders. The house from which the now-dead woman ran out was on fire.

It was not the fire that scared Twilight, though.

It was the prone figure of Sunset Shimmer.

With two raiders standing above her.





United we stand, divided we fall. Oh the irony, the irony, Sunset mused.

Her body was on pain. She was unlucky enough to stumble into a trap. Her lucky shot took out one of the raiders, but she was unable to fight off the rest, and they quickly proceeded to stomp the snot out of her. Her brain was screaming to act, but the muscles simply refused to listen.

"So what shall we do?" asked one raider.

"I think the bitch needs some punishment for what she did to Johnny."

"What you have in mind? Hooks?"

"That won't be enough, pal. Got ideas?"

"Well... the girl's hot. Maybe we should have some... fun with her?"

Oh no! Sunset thought. She understood well what the word "fun" meant in this case.

"Ya know, that sounds good. Pack her up, we shall..."

BOOM!





Twilight, Spike and Swift were approaching two raiders stealthily, hiding behind whatever cover was present, and quickly changing position. The raiders mostly stood with their backs to them, so no one noticed them coming.

When Twilight hid herself behind the remains of a car, she heard one of the raiders say:

"Well... the girl's hot. Maybe we should have some... fun with her?"

Twilight felt as if a hammer hit her head, making blood and something else flow into it.

Rage. Pure rage was clouding her mind. She remembered what Point Blank said once about "fun" raiders had with women.

"It's rape, plain and simple."

The mere thought that these debased ruffians were planning to do that to Sunset set her rage ablaze.

She aimed the newly acquired hunting rifle at one of them. Having studied under Point Blank on how to use it, she felt confident that she aimed correctly.

"Ya know, that sounds good. Pack her up, we shall..."

BOOM!

The raider's head came apart.

Surprisingly, the puke reflex did not raise up.

Bra-ta-ta-tat.

The second raider also fell, struck by Swift Sentinel's bullets.

"I hate rapists," he said with pure malice.

"So do I," Twilight muttered in agreement.





Sunset Shimmer heard the shots and the bodies falling.

I'm safe! the thought ran through her head like electricity.

Then she saw Swift Sentinel standing above her. She raised her head (the nerves flared with pain, but she ignored that), and he helped her to stand up.

Once she did, Sunset found herself face to face with Twilight Sparkle, who held a hunting rifle in her hands. The barrel was still smoking.

In the violet eyes, the fire of righteous rage burned.

But then it flickered and died out.

Sunset found herself in an embrace.

"Oh, Sunset... Are you okay?"

"I'll live," Sunset hugged her friend back.

"I'm so sorry, Sunset! I shouldn't have called you a she-demon! I..."

"Twilight," Sunset interrupted, "I am sorry, too. I let my emotions run unchecked, and insulted you. I never should have mocked your title." Pulling herself back a bit, she asked, "We are still friends, right?"

"Friends," Twilight confirmed, smiling.

"Those were the last raiders," Swift Sentinel approached them, radio in his left hand. "Now, Sparkle, how did you get separated from Shimmer?"





After hearing the whole story behind their separation, Swift Sentinel said:

"I see... Twilight, going off at Sunset like that was definitely a mistake. I heard you had already apologized for that. The fact that you did not want to attack those beasts first, even though they were predators, speaks volumes of what a gentle soul you are. Since you do not remember the recent events, however, I need to tell you something. The Canterlot Wastelands are not what the world you remember used to be. I myself wish it were otherwise, but in this age, violence and lethal force are often the only way of saving yourself, or your friends, or innocent bystanders."

"I can't help but feel as I am becoming something... bad, each time I take a life," Twilight confessed. "Even when in defense of others. Those raiders used to have a life too, and yet something drove them to do this... I can't help but feel this could have been prevented..."

"Twilight," Swift interrupted, "as long as you feel sorrow as you take a life, you remain a good person inside. And remember that it's our choices that define who we are. You chose to kill the raiders to defend your friend. Sunset chose to kill mole rats so they would not prey on the defenseless down the line. She is more used to living in Wastelands right now than you are, that's why you felt badly about her choice to attack first. But you both had right reasons. I do not think of you as a bad person for killing those raiders."

"Neither do I," added Sunset.

"Besides, you heard what they wanted to do to Shimmer here. You saw what they do for fun," Swift spat on the ground. "Can you honestly say now that people like those do not deserve harsh punishment?"

Twilight thought. Can I agree to that? Can I continue like this?

She looked at the burning house. At the poor woman's bloodied corpse. At Sunset, who had a bruise under her left eye and a trickle of blood running out of her split lip.

Spike's words came to her mind:

"You haven't learned yet that this world is not Equestria or the world you used to know..."

Now I have, she realized.

"No," she said. "I cannot."





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Thou Shalt Not Raid: You no longer receive penalties of negative Karma from "Make Friends, Not War!" Trait when killing raiders.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Toughened Hide: You gain +10% bonus to Damage Resistance when receiving damage in unarmed combat.
> Chapter 5: It's them or us!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 5 

It's them or us!


Raider parties, as Twilight Sparkle learned, were generally very undisciplined, which explained why Vault security officers were able to get rid of them quite quickly.

In fact, if there had been less raiders when the guards executed their revenge attack (or if more Vault inhabitants had joined), the casualties would not have been so bad for the latter party back then. Even a civilian, if properly trained to use weapons and cover (and preferably given some protection) could stand on equal ground against a raider one-on-one with a little bit of luck. (Point Blank still advised sneak attacks and backstabbing, though. "If they can't see you, and you can see them, it means they can't hit you before you snuff them out - provided you are a decent shot and not a baboon with a gun", he said.)

Twilight herself was a living example of that. She did not come out without a wound, granted, but the raider that shot her had very bad aim: the bullet, as it turned out, "simply" scratched her. Most important part was that she survived.

Unfortunately, raiders had one factor that played for them, and that was intimidation. Not many had the courage to stand against these dregs of post-apocalyptic society, especially if they had witnessed their brutality first-hand. Many people from Vault 75 did not have any connections to police or armed forces where one could learn to withstand this element of psychological warfare. This severely limited the number of those who stood actively against them (aside from the guards). 

Point Blank refused to tell Twilight and Sunset what examples of brutality he had seen. He only said that several Vault Village inhabitants did not come originally from Vault 75.

He also mentioned that all of them were in civilian militia.

The attack which nearly spelled doom for Twilight, Sunset and Spike left one house burnt to the ground (the villagers were very lucky that no other buildings caught fire) and nineteen villagers dead, four of the militiamen included. Security officers lost seven of their own to raiders in the beginning; after that, the undisciplined attackers quickly broke to do what they wanted, which left them in groups of two or three - easy prey for the rest. Three officers received light wounds, and one suffered a wound that would keep him out of commission for three months, but Redblood said he would live.

Sunset's wounds were very easy to treat. Having made sure that the young woman had no broken bones that could pierce vital organs, the medic cleared up her wounds and gave her a small icepack for the bruise under her eye.

Twilight's bullet wound required more time. The anaesthetic wore off soon after the battle, which nearly sent her into pain shock. Redblood gave her another dose of painkiller and also gave her an injection of medical substance he called "RegenStim".

When asked by the ever-curious girl what that was, he answered:

"RegenStim is a pre-war military combat medication, designed to stimulate regeneration of tissues and accelerate recovery from bullet wounds. It was largely used by the UFE army during the war, in order to get wounded soldiers back to action as soon as possible, but it was also used by civilians in some cases. It is not really a cheap thing to buy now in the Wastelands, but even travelling merchants sometimes have some to sell, thanks to the fact that many agencies wanted to store up as much RegenStim as they could. Do not confuse it with combat stims, though. RegenStim only helps in recovery, while combat stimulators are designed to grant more strength, speed, stamina and so on."

"What kind of combat stims exist?" Twilight asked.

"You'd really do better not to get into situation that requires those, but... well, to make you more prepared..." Redblood thought for a moment, and said, "there's Med-X. It is a potent cocktail of morphine and other painkillers along with some regenerating meds that greatly reduce perception of pain and "stiffen" the organism, for the lack of better word. But morphine there is addictive; be careful, and do not abuse Med-X. Another drug is "Mentats", this is a neural stimulant meant to augment brain activity. When someone uses that, they think faster and clearer, and are more perceptive - but you overdo that, and you die from brain haemorrage. "Buffout" is a steroid, meant to make you stronger physically, but it's very addictive, and using too much buffout causes cardiac arrest, or even death. "Jet" is a combat drug designed for granting quick reaction and maintaining aggression, but yet again, it's highly addictive."

"Is RegenStim addictive?" Sunset asked, worried.

"There have been no recorded cases, no. But if you use too much RegenStim, your body will regenerate slower at its natural pace. So don't get wounded," Redblood said sternly. "And maybe both of you should train with me on how to give first aid."

"That's a great idea!" Twilight beamed.

"Sounds good," Sunset replied.

"Good, then see me at 13:00 tomorrow. For now, you need to rest. This has been an eventful day."

Understatement of a millenium, Twilight thought.

"Twilight, you need to take care that you do not disturb your wound, got it?" Redblood said, about to take his leave. As the Princess of Friendship nodded, he said, "Now, good night, everyone."

"Good night," two girls said, almost in unison. The medic left their house.

Silence reigned for a few moments. Twilight broke the silence first:

"Sunset... are you really OK?"

"Well," the fiery-haired girl replied, "this "make-up" the raiders gave me does not make me any prettier, but that's..."

"I do not mean physically," the lavender-skinned girl interrupted, "I mean internally. I mean, I already apologized for arguing with you and calling you... names, but..."

"Twilight," Sunset took over the conversation, "everyone makes mistakes. You had the guts to admit it and apologize, and that's what matters. True, I was hurt by the word "she-demon", but I also let my emotions get to me, and that was a mistake of mine, for which I also had said sorry."

"I think," Spike decided to add his two bits worth, "that given what we're dealing with, we should always stay together and watch over each other. We've separated once, and look what happened - all of us came very close to dying."

"You are right, Spike," Twilight petted her favourite assistant, "standing together as friends always helped us. We should not forget that, even if we are in another world."

"Hear, hear," Sunset agreed. "And now, let's follow the doctor's advice and get some rest."

"Sounds good," everyone agreed.





The next day came with a somber reminder that not all was over yet.

First, Twilight, Spike and Sunset witnessed the burial of deceased villagers. It was an unpleasant thing to watch, with friends and relatives of the dead ones crying either quietly or very loudly.

The overwhelming sadness in the atmosphere weighed down heavily on Twilight, and she shed some tears of her own. Sunset had wet eyes, too.

Security officers did not cry.

"They cannot afford that," Sunset explained to Twilight. "They are saddened, too, but they need to stay strong to protect those that are still alive."

"They cry on the inside?" Twilight asked, remembering what Pinkie Pie had said about Applejack once.

"You can say that."

After the funeral, Twilight asked Swift Sentinel about the raiders' bodies. He replied nonchalantly:

"Raiders? We just dumped them into trash pit."

Twilight felt indignant at treating dead bodies like that, before her eyes landed on Sunset, who still sported a bruise. She wisely decided to let the matter slide.

Another reminder of their situation was the gathering of security officers and civilian militiamen that Swift Sentinel held. Both girls were invited to join - Sunset had already been in the militia, and Twilight gained a spot by helping to save Vault Village twice and gathering a body count of two raiders.

As Point Blank explained to her later, "everyone who actually kills a raider and lives to tell a tale is already a part of militia - that's an unspoken rule".

Swift Sentinel spoke about the necessity of stopping raider attacks once and for all. Twilight was surprised to find out that raiders not only bothered the village, but also threatened merchants that wanted to trade with the villagers. As it turned out, Vault Village had a device known as "water chip" which could purify irradiated water - and after the Day of Burning, pure water became a rare commodity.

It also became a great thing for export. Vault Village did not sell too much water, of course, but it still brought a steady income. In return for water, villagers could repair their weapons and armour and buy extra ammunition. There was no such thing as "too much ammo" in the Canterlot Wastelands.

Unfortunately, raiders wanted purified water too, and did their best to take away the water from merchants - or Vault Village.

Twilight listened very attentively to what Swift Sentinel said. He spoke:

"It is clear to all of us, I believe, that such attacks can no longer be tolerated. They threaten the lives of those we are sworn to protect, the lives of those that depend on pure water we supply, the very existence of Vault Village! Once we drove them out, one could hope that they would not bother us anymore, but now it is obvious that the raiders are not going to relent until one side totally obliterates the other."

Many people exchanged uneasy looks. The prospect of local total war did not sit well with anyone present.

"We have taken casualties," Swift continued, "but they have taken casualties, too. In our attack on this village, we killed many of them, making them pay for the death of our Overseer," he gestured to a black-and-white photo of a man in his mid-fifties, which had a black ribbon in lower right corner over it, "and our compatriots. And subsequent raids have cost them more than us - that is, in terms of combat-capable personnel."

The last words were spoken morosely.

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked Sunset quietly.

"It means that if you compare casualties of combatants of both sides, our side has the lower number," Sunset explained. "However, if you add non-combatants..."

"It is higher?" Twilight guessed.

Sunset only nodded.

"Oh no."

"It is bad enough that we take casualties from mutated beasts," Swift continued, "we can't afford to lose more people, guards or civilians. If it goes on like that, the enemy is likely to bleed us out and take the village back."

A lot of "boo" sounds erupted once Swift Sentinel said that. There were even a few shouts of "like hell they will!" and "let the bastards try!"

"Fortunately, as I've said, the raiders have also lost quite a number of their own people already. They cannot replenish their numbers, as far as we know; thus, they are in an "all or nothing" situation. However, we do not know how they will react in that. They may try to dig themselves in, or they may try an all-out attack. And this may not be an undisciplined band, either."

"So what we are going to do now, sir?" one of the guards asked.

"We need to prepare for the worst-case scenario, which implies that all of surviving raiders will try to take the village back. Their base is located north-east from this village, so we may expect an attack from there, but we should not focus all of our forces there. For all we know, they may try an attack from another angle."

"Sir," Point Blank spoke up, "I am afraid that security force cannot cover all possible attack vectors by itself. There are too few combat-capable officers now. If we are to do as you suggest, we need to involve civilian militia." 

"How many people?" Swift Sentinel asked.

"All of them," Point spoke bluntly.

This piece of news caused a mixed reaction. Some of the militiamen accepted the news calmly, others gasped quite loudly. Point Blank rolled his eyes and went on:

"We estimate that there are what, forty or so raiders remaining?" At Swift's nod, he continued, "We, however, have only nine officers that are fully combat-capable. Sixteen have some wounds that do not prevent them from fighting, but do not let them fight at full strength. There are four more officers that are out of commission but can be given a role of last-line defenders of sort, but they can't be on the frontlines. This makes only twenty-five guards against at least forty raiders. If we spread thin, the main attack force, wherever it is located, will simply crush us with sheer numbers. Remember that we believe the impending attack to be more disciplined than those last raiding parties."

"But how can we help?" one of the more nervous militiamen asked.

"If we are to include our newest member who already racked up a body count of two raiders, one radscorpion and two mole rats in a course of several days," Point Blank gestured towards Twilight, who felt uncomfortable with the praise for killing others, "we have forty-three militiamen. Combined with twenty-five guards, that's sixty-eight fighters. That gives us numerical superiority, at least. Of course, around a dozen or so are chickens, and six are still under-experienced, but even if you take away those, we have around fifty fighters versus forty... provided that there are forty raiders and not fifty."

"I have to agree with Point Blank," Swift Sentinel replied, "I myself wanted to involve the militia, although it feels risky to involve all of combat-capable villagers now. But in situation like this one? I believe it's all or nothing for us as well as for raiders. We must defeat them, to get rid of at least one threat to our village!" the last words were spoken loudly.

"So let's do it!" Sunset shouted, to surprise of everyone.

"Yeah!" shouted a militiaman. "They will not pass!"

"Let's take revenge on them for our dead!"

"No blood for raiders!"

"For our home! For Vault Village!"

Various shouts lifted the spirits of all defenders, even those who were called "chickens" previously.

"Thank you," the de facto leader replied. "My plan is as follows: ten guards and fifteen militiamen will defend the north-eastern border as one of the most likely positions to be attacked. Groups of five guards will take the north-western, south-western and south-eastern borders. Groups of nine militiamen will join the groups on the north-west and south-west, and ten remaining will join the south-eastern group. I will be in charge of the north-eastern defense line; Point Blank, you take south-east; Wide Shot, south-west; Steadfast, you are on north-west. Pick your soldiers and start creating barricades!"

After his speech, the aforementioned officers and their subordinates started picking out militiamen for themselves. Point Blank went up to Twilight and Sunset and told them:

"You two; you are with me."

"Really?" Twilight asked. She still did not truly like her "drill sergeant", but if she were to pick someone to be a commander, she would have preferred his familiar face.

"Yes, really. Currently, you are not needed, so report at south-eastern border at 14:00. Got it?"

"We got it, sir!" Sunset accompanied her words by a military-like salute.

"Dismissed."

"Come on," Sunset said to Twilight, "let's go find Redblood. We still have time for that first-aid training course..."





Almost an hour later, once Redblood gave Twilight some quick training on giving first aid like making bandages (and stopping bleeding overall), giving injections, using medical tourniquet, making splint (in case of broken bones), he surprised the girls (and Spike, too) by joining them.

"You never know when one might need a medic," he explained.

The trio (dragon-turned-dog not included) made their way to south-eastern barricade, where Point Blank was giving (more like shouting) orders at everyone already present. Twilight was surprised to see sand bags thrown into piles everywhere.

"Those are meant to stop bullets," Sunset explained. "Surprisingly, they work well enough against small arms."

"So this is cover?" Twilight inquired.

"Yes, essentially. Bullets are capable of penetrating wood sometimes, and since some defense positions are most likely stationary, house walls will not make adequate cover."

Once she said that, both girls noticed Point Blank coming up to them.

"You two are here, good," he said. "We had to bust open our arsenal to improve the survivability of everyone present." He gestured to the table where among other stuff two armour vests similar to those worn by Vault guards lay and said, "Those are yours; put them on and get back to me. And quick."

Twilight and Sunset went there.

"Wow, this is serious. Security is not too keen on giving this kind of protection usually," the fiery-haired girl remarked.

"This seems counterproductive somewhat. I mean, they could have reduced casualties among militiamen before, right?" Twilight asked, watching Sunset put her armour vest on.

"The armour cannot withstand tons of bullets," Sunset replied, helping her friend to put on the armour. "Each hit reduces protection the armour gives. And repairing armour is tough and costs bottle caps. Plus, usually it is trained professionals that can wear armour well enough. For barely trained militiamen, this can be more of a hindrance. Do you notice that this vest is not really light?"

"I do," came the answer. Both girls went back to Point Blank, preparing their weapons on the way. Twilight's newly acquired hunting rifle turned out to be quite shoddy (apparently, raiders did not know how to properly maintain their weapons), and Sunset had had to share some of her spare parts for her own rifle so that Twilight would not have to deal with weapon jams all the time.

"You ready? Good," the head of defensive line said. "You two will be hiding behind those stacks of sandbags," he showed the direction with a finger, which turned out to be two windows of a first floor of a house closest to the defense line, "and your objective is to try and prevent as many of the raiders coming too close as possible. Shoot them with hunting rifles from afar. If they approach too close, use your pistols," he showed to another table and said, "On that table we have some ammo for the weapons everyone will use and some meds. Take your share and get into position!"

"Yes, sir!" both girls said in unison, and proceeded to do as ordered.

"Redblood, you stay with me. I want you close in case my guys need some help," they heard Point Blank say to the doctor.





Meanwhile...

"Boss, are you sure this is a good idea?"

Fast Grabber, the leader of the raider group, was sorely tempted to shoot the guy who asked this question. Sixth time I'm being asked that.

"Yes. The deaths of those that attacked this Vault Village before don't matter. These idiots were barely worth to act as cannon fodder. The villagers are likely to expect that we would be like them. They're going to be very surprised once they find out the opposite."

"But the villagers outnumber us, do they not?"

One more question like that, and I'll shoot the fucker, Fast Grabber vowed silently.

"These fucking sissies? You're scared of them? Are you shitting me? They don't know how to shoot a gun. And we should outnumber the guards now. The beasts were nice enough to thin their numbers for us."

"But civilian militia..."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! Militia? They're sissies as well. You kill all the guards, and they'll fucking scatter! Now don't bother me anymore, or I swear to fates I will SHOOT you!" the lead raider got seriously pissed off now.

The irritant proved to be somewhat intelligent by turning tail and running away. Probably scared him shitless, Fast Grabber thought.

He mused on the surprise attack that these Vault inhabitants had organized when he butchered their Overseer. The fact that someone dared to challenge his authority and managed to cost him his base of operations still caused anger. It didn't help that many of his best fighters perished in the onslaught.

Out of one hundred and twenty-two people who practically ruled this sector close to the remains of Baltimare, only forty-nine now remained, himself excluded. Of those, only fifteen could be considered as good fighters.

Fast Grabber initially thought that they should dig in at their alternate location (where his forces were amassing) and expect Vault guards to try and dig them out. But weeks passed, and no attack came. The raider leader concluded that the numbers of his enemies were lower than he had previously estimated, and tried sending his more expendable people to do some damage.

They all perished, of course, but they still made Vault Village bleed.

However, the defenders proved more resilient. Civilian militia, while undertrained, was quite willing to defend their own home, and when they were added to the mix, the guards (who were the biggest threat) took lesser casualties.

His "expendables" were almost depleted; plus, others caught on that he did not really care for them. That could mean backstabbing him in order to get into leading position. And Fast Grabber did not want it.

So he decided to do an all-out attack. But he added a little twist.

Vault 75 security force surely knew by now where his reserve base was. If they assumed he was as stupid as others, they would expect him to attack from north-west.

But he did not want to do that. Of course, he would need a distraction, so twenty of his people would attack from the north-east with heaviest weaponry they had, drawing the bulk of defense forces.

The main force, however, would attack from the other direction, in order to hit defenders from behind. And he would lead them personally.

With the defenders decimated, the villagers would panic and run. And the village will be theirs again. The perspectives looked good.

Fast Grabber smirked...





"Bo-o-ori-i-ing," Sunset Shimmer complained.

They have been sitting inside the building for two hours and twenty minutes already. Nothing of notice has happened. Twilight and Sunset were taking turns in looking into the field, trying to see if someone was approaching the village.

No one has tried to do so yet. Others did not see a raider either.

Point Blank, however, refused to let anyone go, and ordered to maintain vigilance.

Thus, both girls and Spike, who was ordered to bark in case raiders breached the house, had to sit inside.

"Trust me, Sunset, I would prefer this boredom to fear and adrenaline of fighting any day," Twilight replied, giving a glance to her IFF screen. Predictably, it showed nothing.

"The thing is, Twilight, that boredom can dull one's senses and lead to vulnerability. I'd rather not be vulnerable right now. We can't afford weakness, especially now."

"Wastelands do not forgive weakness; did I guess?" Twilight replied, looking out of the window again. Sunset told her to avoid sticking her head out, so she only raised her eyes above sand bags.

"Yep."

The conversation ended, and silence reigned once again.

Fifteen minutes later, Twilight groaned and said:

"You know, Sunset, I'm starting to understand how frustrating it is - to be forced to wait for Celestia-knows-what. You don't think Swift Sentinel and the others would stop this, do you?"

"No. If the raiders take too long, then maybe he will divide everyone to shifts, but the barricades will still be here. If there's no activity at all, there could be a chance he would order to attack the raiders first, but that would require splitting up our forces - too much of a risk."

Twilight groaned again.

"You know, I have never tried to use radio on this Pip-Boy," she mentioned. "Maybe I should try it?"

"Try, if you wish, but there are only two signals that the receiver catches: Enclave radio, which is full of patriotic music and some stupid propagandistic speeches and which nobody (myself included) wants to listen, and CWN."

"What is CWN?"

"Short for Canterlot Wastelands News. This is a pirate station, which supposedly tells the news about what's going on in the Wastelands now. I've never actually tried to listen to it; in fact, I don't use Pip-Boy radio at all. Try CWN, if you want. Maybe it will help against the boredom."

Twilight turned to her Pip-Boy again. After pushing the right button and putting the switch into the "Radio" position, she turned the wheel until the cursor set on the words "Canterlot Wastelands News".

She pushed the wheel.

An unfamiliar female voice, somewhat distorted by Pip-Boy's speakers, filled the room:

"...wrong thing to do. Also, I am being told that Vault Village has suffered an attack again. But this time, it was not mutated not-quite-friends of a man, but bad men, AKA raiders. The villagers successfully defended themselves, again. The raiders never learn, do they? Then again, who said they had brains in the first place? Trouble is, I think that Fast Grabber, the guy who leads the raiders in that area, may try something very bad. Where are the Regulators when you need them so much? Anyway, if any armed wanderers want to lend a hand to our friends from Vault 75, give them a hand..."

Twilight turned off the radio.

"Just how does that person know that we had suffered an attack?"

"Beats me," Sunset replied, surprised. "Maybe she's got informants here. Or surveillance network of sorts. Although I barely have an idea how is it possible - there are no drones in this area, as far as I know..."

"Drones?"

"Robots; machines controlled by humans that can do certain tasks. UFE army and police used them widely, primarily to keep eyes on what was happening."

"Oh..." Those things could become quite useful in Equestria, Twilight thought. "And what about these "Regulators"? Do you know anything about them?"

"First time I heard about them, Twilight, honestly," Sunset replied. "From what I've heard, they may be an anti-raider group. Or mercenaries."

"Mercenaries? But why..."

"Hush, Twilight! Something's moving there!"

"Where?" Twilight quickly picked up her rifle and started aiming in the direction where they expected raiders to come from. Along with that, she glanced at her Pip-Boy - and realised she forgot to switch back to her IFF system.

"Snap!" she quickly corrected her mistake (but still saw no marks) and looked through the iron sights again.

Nothing moved at all.

"Uh... Sunset, could that be..?"

The violet-haired girl was interrupted by an echo of what unmistakably sounded like a rifle shot.

"Open fire!" they heard Point Blank shout. Immediately, they heard BOOM and Bra-ta-ta-tat of the guns of the defenders.

At whom? Twilight thought. I can't even see...

But before she could finish her thought, a group of raiders became visible to her.

She felt as if a brick fell into her stomach.

BOOM!

The sound of Sunset's hunting rifle was deafening ("Ow, my ears!" - Spike complained) - and galvanizing as well.

Twilight aimed at one of the closest raiders and pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

Her ears started ringing from the sound of her rifle going off. She did not even register that she wounded one of the raiders.

Ohhhh... earmuffs would be perfect right now...





That's a lot of raiders, Point Blank mused.

He could see a dozen of them approaching his position.

He released a burst of bullets from his sub-machine gun. A feeling of accomplishment floored him when he saw a raider fall, spray of blood visible in the distance.

"AAAARRGH!"

"Medic!"

"I'm on my way!"

"Get him to cover!"

The guard did not turn around. He knew well enough from the voices that one of the militiamen just received a wound, apparently not fatal.

Suddenly, he felt something wet land on his face - right cheek, to be exact - and his helmet. This time he could not resist turning.

Another militiaman was lying beside him, shot into the throat.

Carotid artery damage. Fatal. No need to call for Redblood even.

He took aim at another raider, releasing four bullets. Shots went wide.

The raider fired at him in turn, but was too late - Point Blank already hid himself behind sand bags.

The cry of pain, followed by a loud "NO!" informed him that another militiaman just met a grim fate.

Eight against eleven or more. Bad odds indeed.

He rised a little bit to shoot at another raider - only to see the head of his target explode.

Who stole my kill?

Another rifle shot from the left - and a raider fell, clutching his stomach.

Even if he's not dead, he's surely out of commission. Well, those two are doing a decent job at least...

As soon as he thought that, he heard another cry of pain. He saw with peripheral vision that one of the guards fell.

Seven against nine or more - scratch that, eight or more. Nice shot, girls. Still bad odds, though.

Well, let's see if the raiders like one little surprise...





"Twilight, don't let them approach!"

"I'm trying!"

BOOM!

The words were barely audible through all the ringing, shots and cries of pain. Twilight marveled at the thought that she could actually hear something.

Another BOOM and Sunset's "Gotcha!" informed her that yet another raider met a bad fate.

She stuck out and quickly aimed at another raider. He was standing pretty close; aiming at his head was not truly difficult.

BOOM!

The raider's head cracked into splinters, splattering blood and brains around. Twilight had trouble fighting the gag reflex; even if she no longer thought raiders worthy of compassion, the grisly sights still did not sit well with her. the only thing that prevented her from regurgitating her lunch (if MRE's are to be considered lunch) was the stubborn thought that she was defending innocents, Spike, and Sunset.

"Reloading!" she shouted, dashing behind cover.

BOOM!

"Another one bites the dust - and I'm out, too!" Sunset said, hiding herself.

Streams of bullets soared through the window, hitting the ceiling or sandbags. Some bullets tore through the wooden panels where both girls were standing moments ago.

"I really hope Swift Sentinel and others are doing fine right now!" the fiery-haired girl shouted. "If this is what we get, I fear to imagine how bad it is for them now!"

"And you complained about boredom," Twilight grumbled.





"Don't let them come close!" Swift Sentinel bellowed.

The raiders were more heavily armed than he had believed. They had left behind a good arsenal in the village, that meant they were well-armed for a gang; but to see two of them now with light machine guns?

That was not on today's agenda.

Three of the guards and four of the militiamen already died, and two guards were wounded. The combat medic tried to return them into combat, but his efforts only could keep the unlucky pair alive.

The head of security took a grenade and threw it in raiders' direction. An explosion followed, joined by cries of pain.

Two red marks dropped from IFF screen.

He raised himself a bit, giving a long burst into the approaching line. His bullets hit another raider, sending him to the ground with a shot torso and left arm.

Hopefully the bastard bleeds out.

Swift Sentinel ducked behind snad bags, reloading his rifle, when suddenly - 

BOOM!

Riiiiiinnnnng!

Deaf for a few moments, he still was able to see two of the guards and two militiamen lying dead, bloodied, while another of armed civilians was lying on earth, his face a grimace and hands covering his ears.

Just where did the fuckers get a freaking grenade launcher?!





Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer heard that bullets stopped hitting their cover. Risking their heads, they looked out of the window and saw the last of the raiders they could see trying to run back - only to receive a burst of case-shot from Point Blank's shotgun which made havoc of his back.

"Gross," Twilight said, "I'll never get used to that."

"Pray that you never will," Sunset replied. "The violence in the Wastelands is so... well... common, that one day a person may start accepting it as something natural."

"But it isn't!" The lavender-skinned girl protested, reloading her rifle.

"It isn't, but humans are very adaptable. You'd be surprised."

"Hey, Sunset... is it just my IFF glitching, or yours shows a lot of red marks too?"

"What?!" Sunset quickly glanced at her own IFF screen - and nearly sat down, as her legs refused to support her. "M-mine does, too..."

Both girls looked out of the windows, rifles raised...

...only to be met with a sight of nearly twenty more raiders (Twilight was able to make a quick head count and realized there were eighteen of them) appearing closer to them than the first party had managed from the grass.

In the sea of red marks, there were only five green ones remaining.

SIX VERSUS EIGHTEEN?!!!

Twilight could not hold it anymore. The stress of coming close to death yet again was released in a form unbecoming of a Princess of Friendship - she swore loudly:

"Ponyfeathers!!!"





Fast Grabber smiled. He could see only three defenders in front of him. Two young women were noticed in the house on the right, and the last person was standing on the tower.

The losses were greater than he had imagined, but now, he could finally smite away the defenders and burst into village.

He screamed:

"CHARGE!"





"What do you mean, you can't send anyone?!" Point Blank was shouting into his radio.

"I mean what I say, Point! The enemies brought heavy weapons, I'm down to four guards and six militiamen! If more come and I divert anyone, we'll lose the position!"

"Point, this is Wide Shot," another voice came out of the radio, "I'll send two guards and two militiamen your way, they'll try and outflank the raiders. Can't spare more, sorry."

"Hurry, damn it! I can hear their leader screaming "Charge!" right now!" the guard turned his attention to survivors. "This is it, boys and girls! Hold this position, and we'll save the village! Show no mercy for the raiders!"

The roar of charging raiders almost sucked all the fighting spirit from survivors. Point Blank, however, fired a round from his shotgun and covered the roar with his own scream:

"FIRE!"





BOOM!

BOOM!

Twilight hid behind the sandbags, moved the bolt, and fired again.

Sunset tried to do the same, but was forced to get down by enemy fire.

Seeing that the enemy was distracted, Twilight fired another shot.

A red mark disappeared from IFF screen. There were fifteen left.

And four green ones. One of their own has already fallen to enemy fire. Five remained, including Twilight herself.

The girl saw two of raiders aiming at her and had to throw herself on the floor. She landed wrong, air expelled from her lungs.

Bra-ta-tat, bra-ta-ta-ta-tat.

Bullets broke wooden panels where she stood moments ago.

Suddenly, they heard an explosion and cries of pain.

There were fourteen enemies remaining.

KA-BOOM!

"ARGH!"

Thirteen.

Both girls decided to risk it and aimed at the enemies. Two shots rang out. Two raiders, caught by surprise, fell down, one with a hole in his head, another one with a torn throat. Another one took a step forward - and an explosion erupted from underneath him, killing him instantly.

Land mine! Twilight's mind recognized the weapon.

One of the raiders who recovered faster fired at Twilight from his pistol. The girl was unable to hide quick enough, and the bullet hit her armour vest.

Twilight felt as if a small but very powerful hammer hit her upper chest, painfully but she did not feel her skin tearing, or the flow of blood.

The armour vest worked as advertised.

She ducked down to recover for a moment, and heard Sunset fire another shot.

"Blast, I missed! No more ammo for my rifle!" the fiery-haired girl swore.

"Take mine," Twilight threw her a clip of five ammo, "and hit them! I don't have any more!"

Suddenly, they heard Spike barking.

The raiders breached the house!

"Spike, get over here!" Twilight screamed, and everyone heard another explosion on the ground floor.

She spared a quick glance at her IFF screen. There were only two green marks left now, against seven red ones.

"Ponyfeathers," she heard Sunset swear. "That booby trap was our last line of defense. Now it's close quarters combat now. Take a pistol, the rifle is too unwieldy," the girl proceeded to heed her own advice.

Twilight loaded her own pistol. Both girls crouched behind improvised barricades located behind the entrance to the second floor and covered the entry point.

"Three left against seven," Sunset muttered. "Bad odds indeed. It was a pleasure to know you, Twilight Sparkle."





Fast Grabber entered the house with three of his bodyguards.

"Be careful and check for traps!" he barked. "I don't want anyone else to suffer the same fate as these two idiots did!" he waved towards lacerated corpses.

Everyone proceeded carefully, checking the first floor. They did not know whether their enemy would hide on the first floor.

They were interrupted, however...

"Grabber! Grabber!" another raider ran into the room. "The attack failed! The main line held, I'm the only survivor! They sent me away shortly before they were killed!"

"Fuck!" Fast Grabber swore. "OK, back to the base, now! If we hurry, we will be able to prepare our defenses..."

BOOM! Bra-ta-ta-ta! BANG!

"What the..."

Every raider ran out - and saw one guard and two militiamen firing at two raiders who hid behind the very positions the defenders used. There was another corpse of a guard that had not been present before.

The combined fire of five raiders quickly mowed down the trio, but not before one of them managed to get a lucky shot to the throat of one of Fast Grabber's bodyguards and another killed one of the hiding duo.

"Let's move, now!" the leader ordered his five people remaining.





"Are they... leaving?" Twilight could not believe her eyes.

The red marks on IFF were moving away.

"They are," Sunset confirmed. "Come on, grab your rifle. Maybe we will get several lucky shots."

Both girls rushed to the windows. Indeed, six raiders were trying to escape.

BOOM! BOOM!

One of the raiders fell, two bullets finishing his life.

The remaining five turned around at fired at them. Twilight and Sunset hid themselves behind cover, and the bandits used their hesitation to start running again.

Once the fire stopped, they fired again, but their bullets did not hit anyone.

"To Tartarus with them!" Sunset shouted. "Let's see who survived!"

The girls ran out. They encountered a very grim sight.

Dead bodies were lying everywhere. Blood was flowing from the wounds, colouring nearly the whole defense line in various tones of red colour.

The wounds were different. Bullet holes were present almost everywhere. The raiders that got themselves blown up on mines had some parts of their legs torn off.

Twilight emitted a gasp when she saw Redblood lying dead, a hole in the middle of his forehead. She already felt a bond of friendship with the doctor, and now it was torn.

Then she saw another familiar corpse. One of the armed civilians was the woman whose daughter Twilight had saved previously. The lavender-skinned girl was surprised to find out that the woman could fire a gun, and was helpless against the radscorpion only because she did not have a gun on her person that day.

Tears of painful sorrow and helpless rage poured from Twilight's eyes. She slumped down, adrenaline flowing away from her system, legs not being able to support her.

"Hey... Hey, you two!" she heard a familiar voice.

The tears stood like a curtain, but once Twilight wiped them away, she saw Point Blank coming towards them, combat shotgun in one hand, another hand covering his stomach and coated in blood.

Twilight gasped.

"You are hurt!"

"I'll live," the guard snapped. "But I really can't run. Listen, you two, I hate to ask you this, but you need to intercept the remaining raiders. Don't let them go! Or they'll fortify themselves, and we won't be able to dig them out," he panted, barely able to breathe. "Take my guns," he gave his shotgun to Sunset, then pulled his SMG and gave it to Twilight, "and ammo," he gave them shotgun shells and several clips for SMG, "and stop them!"

Both girls tucked the newly-acquired weapons and ammunition.

"Twilight, drop the rifle," Sunset said, throwing away her own, "we're too low on ammo and there's no time to get more. Grab a helmet from a dead guard and let's go!"





Minutes later, both girls (and Spike) went after the raiders.

Their enemies were quite fast. When the girls arrived at the outskirts of what looked like raider holdout, they saw their enemy running to the entrance into their base - which was located inside a cave, apparently.

"Spike," Twilight told her assistant, putting him to ground, "go ahead stealthily, and we go after you. Warn us if anyone appears."

"Will do, Twilight," Spike agreed, and proceeded forward. Both girls lay down and started crawling, trying not to disturb the grass too much.

After ten minutes of crawling, they finally came up to the entrance. They encountered nobody, which meant the enemy was holed inside.

"This stinks of a trap," Sunset muttered. "Spike, you need to scout ahead. Be careful."

"Will do," and the light-purple dog disappeared inside the cave.

"Why did you send him ahead of us?" Twilight asked quietly.

"Because inside the cave, we may have to use our Pip-Boy screens like flashlights, and that will give us away. Spike's vision in the dark is better than ours. If there are no trip-wires with grenades, he'll tell us and we won't need to use the lights."

"OK... tell me, Sunset, are you scared?"

"Of what?"

"Just... we had other people back there to support us. Now, it's only two of us and Spike."

"If we are to try and find my magic books, you'll have to get used to it, Twilight. Three of us against the world, I mean," the fiery-haired girl turned away, shotgun trained at the entrance. "But... to be honest? I'm scared too. You mention it to anyone else, though, and I'll deny it."

"OK."

"Hey, you two," Spike said quietly, coming up to them, "the passage is clear. After fifty meters, there are lights, and no booby-traps on the way."

"Oh, good," Sunset beamed. "Let's go hunting, then."





The infiltration into the cave went smoothly. The trio quietly made their way, careful not to raise too much noise, hoping to quickly dispose of the remaining raiders.

The raider base turned out to be a mini-town, small houses built from iron pieces. Empty spaces between the lanes formed "streets".

There were also chains and hooks everywhere. On several of them, one could see skeletons.

One already dead human was hanging in a twisted pose, his body stuck on a bloodied hook. At this sight, Twilight muttered, "Sweet Celestia", Sunset cussed, and Spike growled quietly. Everyone of them silently, without words, agreed to ambush the raiders in their own habitat and kill them all.

The plan, however, did not survive contact with the enemy. As usual.

When one of the raiders came at them from around the corner, Sunset fired at him on pure reflex. the shot tore away his stomach, making his guts spill ("Ewww!" Spike remarked), but that quickly alerted the remaining raiders to their presence.

Twilight's IFF showed three raiders around the corner. The cave took a turn to the right in that place, which prevented outflanking, so the only option was a head-on fight.

Sunset changed her shotgun for a pistol temporarily and told Twilight to open fire at raiders with her on count of three. Twilight nodded.

Boths girls fired; Sunset crouched, and Twilight stood.

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta. Bang, bang, bang, bang.

One of the raiders was cut down by their fire. The other two did not plan to surrender, and fired at the girls, but their weapons ran out of ammo.

"Reloading!" one screamed, but too loudly. Sensing weakness, both girls fired at him from their cover. Many of their shots went wide, but the raider did not cover himself properly and paid for that with his life.

"Fuck this!" the last one shouted. "I'm not dying here!" and turned away to run.

However, once he made several steps, an explosion occurred, sending him tumbling to the ground, still alive, but incapable of moving.

Twilight, Spike and Sunset quickly but carefully approached the wounded raider. While falling, he lost his SMG and now tried to get it back.

Sunset exchanged her pistol for a combat shotgun again and prevented him from taking any more actions by firing once.

The raider's hand twitched and moved no more.

"Only one remains. Their leader, Fast Grabber," Sunset remarked. "Let's go get him."

The trio made their way ahead. However, there was a nasty surprise ahead.

When they were approaching the place that looked like Fast Grabber's office, they had to go through a relatively narrow passage with high wooden walls. When they were going  through it, an explosion took away the top of one wall. Wooden parts started falling down

Sunset pushed Twilight forward, but was unable to get out of dangerous zone in time. Her legs were buried under the pile in aftermath. Hard as she tried, the girl couldn't get out.

"Sunset!" Twilight exclaimed. She and Spike (who was running ahead and did not suffer at all).

"I'm fine," Sunset replied, "these blocks haven't broken anything. Fast Grabber is really desperate if he relies on such crappy defenses."

Anger bubbled within Twilight. The lead raider tried to hurt and kill her friend. And his underlings have caused untold suffering among Vault Village inhabitants and who knows whom else.

Twilight felt as she had felt when Tirek destroyed her Golden Oak Library. She was fully prepared to cause him pain then.

Now, she planned to do the same with Fast Grabber.

One thought was on her mind.

Revenge.

"Spike, stay here and guard Sunset. I'll deal with the creep myself."

"You need my shotgun?" Sunset asked.

"No, I'll manage," the Princess of Friendship replied, taking after the lead bandit.

"Wait!" Spike said, but Twilight paid him no attention.





The cave turned to the left, coming to the dead end. There, Twilight Sparkle found the "home" of Fast Grabber.

The front of the house was very close to the turn, so Twilight was able to crouch behind rocks first, and then near the front wall.

Assuming that frontal assault was a stupid thing to do, she decided to crouch below the windows in order to find the backdoor entrance.

She turned out to be right. Another door was located on the back side. Twilight quietly opened it a bit and, having made sure that no booby traps were placed near it, entered.

Her IFF screen showed a red mark in front and to the left of her. Fast Grabber was in a room that probably served as his bedroom, or office, or both. The walls were not of wood, but of concrete, apparently.

Twilight approached the entrance as stealthily as she could. The fight was getting to her; her heartbeat appeared traitorously loud, and she was breathing heavily.

She stopped. She did not know how to use a grenade, and even if she knew, she did not have one.

Plus, Fast Grabber could throw it back to her and she wouldn't be able to get away in time.

What do I do?

Her sight fell upon a standing coat-hanger with several jumpsuit on it. She quietly went to it and took one, then went back.

She assumed that Fast Grabber was aiming at the entrance, ready to cut down anyone that comes out. His nerves would be strained now, and if he was trigger-happy, he would fire if he saw anything to come at him.

She threw the coat.

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!

A stream of bullets tore into the jumpsuit that served as distraction.

A mocking laugh came out from inside.

"Oh very clever, very clever. I applaud you. But I am not out of ammo yet, and I won't fall for the same trick twice."

Twilight remained silent.

"Why aren't you saying anything? You already gave away your position. You are lucky that these walls can't be pierced by my bullets, or you would've been a corpse right now."

Horseapples! Twilight cussed internally.

"So you thought about taking me on? You think you are the paragon of justice or something?" the mocking tone did not go anywhere. "Ironic, isn't it? I lived in the village, with my friends and underlings, like a king! I had my own kingdom. But now seeing that you are here, I am left alone. And others rule the village, my village, now."

"Nobody rules the village, and it was never yours," Twilight snapped, her patience run out. "People used to live there. Then something happened there, and your merry gang took it. And when other people wanted to co-exist peacefully, you slaughtered their emissaries. Your gangsters were sowing sorrow and despair, and now all of them are dead."

"Never mine? Foolish girl. You thought we took this village away from someone? It was our village originally. Those you call "raiders" now, myself included, are from there. During the Day of Burning, radioactive cloud from nuclear explosions went away from it, making it a good enough place to live in post-apocalyptic world."

"Then why did you stand against those who came from Vault 75? Why rob an kill at all?!" Twilight's voice raised.

Something's got to make sense in all this butchery!

"And here I thought you were smart. If you ask this, you are a cretin squared. Have you never heard about the maxim "survival of the strongest"? The strongest ones prevail, while those weaker perish! The strongest remain free, to use everything they can, to do everything they want! We were the strongest here, but even we needed resources. Do you think the strong ask politely? They take what's rightfully theirs! That's the way it works in animal world, and humans are no different! We took what was rightfully ours, by the right of the strongest!"

"And if someone proved to be stronger than you?" Twilight challenged.

"Then they would gain the rights to everything... but if you think I'll just roll over and die because you villagers defeated my forces, you're sadly mistaken. If you want to prove you're stronger, I'll make you work for it."

Challenge accepted.

Twilight looked around, trying to find a way inside.

If I had a grenade and knew how to use one, I would have tried to flush him out of his cover. But what can I do?

Her gaze wandered around the room. One table close to her had weapons on it: two land mines and a grenade, but it did not have a detonator in it.

The mines had the words "Anti-personnel" written, and one of the switches present on them had an arrow and words "arm".

Kekeke.





Fast Grabber was tensed, every muscle wound up like a spring. He was ready to fire as soon as the stupid bitch would try and attack him.

The girl was smart enough not to stick out like a sore thumb, but sooner or later, she would snap, he was sure of that.

"What, you admit my superiority? Coward!" he cried mockingly in an attempt to provoke her.

I bet she wouldn't dare to attack me alone now.

He heard no answer, but several moments later a round object landed in the room.

Fuck! Grenade!

He saw that the metal object was too far away to try and throw it back, and he dashed out of the room.

Bleep-bleep-bleep!

"What the..?"

KA-BOOM!

Agony.





Twilight was hiding behind the sturdy sofa when she heard an explosion. She stood, taking in the result of her actions.

Her trap worked perfectly. Fast Grabber, too nervous already, snapped and ran out, not noticing that the grenade did not have a detonator - straight into the trap, too close to the armed mines.

The mines, however, proved to be lower in power than she thought. Fast Grabber, while wounded in the legs and lying down, was still alive.

And aiming an assault rifle of unfamiliar design towards her.

Twilight ducked quickly, moving to the right edge. Bullets soared above her.

She leaned out. Fast Grabber was already standing on bleeding legs.

She fired a burst, hitting his torso. He jerked from the impact, and several wounds started bleeding, but he still did not keel over.

Must have a vest of sorts.

Twilight ducked back and flattened herself on the floor, as bullets tore apart the back of the sofa. They were whizzing close, but Fast Grabber did not think to aim his assault rifle lower, which saved the girl's life.

She crawled to another edge, careful not to expose herself, then rolled on her back, raised a bit and fired blindly from cover.

Click. Her SMG ran out of ammo. The scream of pain and a clank indicated that the raider dropped his weapon.

She opted not to reload, drawing her pistol instead and sticking out to fire.

She did not expect him to be very close to her, however. Fast Grabber hit her in her left cheek, which was not protected by a transparent face shield, and she fell, losing her balance.

Her hand flew upwards and released the pistol while she was falling. The weapon flew towards a small locker, landed on its surface, slid and fell behind it.

Twilight landed on her face. The face shield on her helmet prevented heavy damage, but it cracked upon impact, and one of fasteners came loose.

She tore away the now-useless plate and tried to scram away from Fast Grabber who now jumped over the sofa and tried to stomp her.

He missed, and once he landed, Twilight managed to punch him into his right cheek. Her punch was quite weak, however - the raider's head only turned around, and he didn't fall.

Realizing that unarmed combat was not her forte, Twilight tried to get away from him, but he caught up to her, grabbed her right forearm and tried to deliver a kick to the face.

However, Twilight jumped to the side, closer to him, and his foot missed. Instead, he hit her with his shin into upper chest, which was protected by her armor. The girl did not feel any pain, but lost her balance again and landed onto the floor, hitting her coccyx.

Ouch! That's unpleasant.

The human monster tried to get himself above her, but Twilight managed to raise both her legs and use them to make Fast Grabber tumble head first into the floor. Not expecting that, he hit his head hard.

Twilight stood up and hurriedly tried to get to her pistol. However, she was not lucky: the locker did not have enough space near the floor to push a hand through there, and from the left, the pistol was too far. On the right, there was a wardrobe which prevented access.

The roar of the wounded but still moving human made her abandon her search. The man was standing now, and was aimimng her SMG at her.

"DIE!" he roared, and pulled the trigger.

Click.

He tried again.

Click.

Twilight grinned evilly at him.

"You really think I wouldn't have tried to grab that thing if I still had ammo there?" she taunted.

Quicker than she would have expected, Fast Grabber charged her and hit her head with her own weapon.

Twilight saw stars, but managed to hold her balance. She started withdrawing.

Something started flowing down into her right eye. She understood that the raider tore away some parts of her skin.

The enraged man caught her hand and turned her back to his face. The lavender-skinned girl raised her leg and tried to kick him.

She hit him straight between the legs.

"AAAARRRRRGH!!!"

Surprisingly, the man still managed to maintain his hold. However, he punched Twilight into her left cheekbone a moment later and threw her away to the side. His hands flew to his "wounded pride".

The Princess of Friendship landed on her back, hard. The helmet kept her head safe, but she did not feel like standing up.

She couldn't even bring herself to move now. Her whole body was in pain. She could only lie and breathe, trying to gather enough will to continue the fight.

What wouldn't I give for a painkiller shot right now.

"You'll die for that, bitch! Painfully!"

Fast Grabber's screams made Twilight raise her head, despite the pain and overall tiredness. She saw the raider try and push the locker away.

He's after my pistol!

In a panic, Twilight tried to look around. To her right, she saw Grabber's assault rifle.

She tried to stand, but her body refused to listen. She twisted and started crawling.

She moved a bit.

Fast Grabber moaned. His rage was no longer effective at dulling his pain, and he felt his wounds draining his strength. The locker creaked a bit.

Twilight thrust her left hand forward and pulled herself.

She heard the raider groan.

Right hand and another crawl.

Left hand. Crawl.

"Just a little... more..." she heard her enemy say.

Blast! Move it, Sparkle! Move it!

Her right hand landed on assault rifle's butt. She pulled the weapon to herself and rolled to her back.

"Got it!"

Fast Grabber got the pistol.

Twilight realigned the weapon, pushing the butt against her shoulder. She looked through the iron sights.

The raider straightened, aiming towards his nemesis with mostly violet hair.

"BA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!"

Click.

The kickback was stronger than Twilight thought, and the muzzle flare almost blinded her. Once the rifle ran out of ammo, she was fully able to see what happened.

Fast Grabber's upper chest and throat turned into a bloody mess, red liquid flowing quickly.

His eyes were no longer focused, as if staring at something in the distance instead.

His body was sliding down the wall, leaving a bloody trail there.

The hand was no longer aiming the pistol at her.

Fast Grabber was dead.

Twilight wanted to feel something, anything, but her body simply refused to work anymore. She simply registered the raider's death, and then saw black creeping into her vision, and felt her head go down.

She lost consciousness.





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Intense Training (Rank 1): Allows to add one point to one of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes.

Chosen attribute: Endurance (5)

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Marksmanship (Rank 1): You have gained some experience in firing various types of guns. You gain permanent +2% bonus to your accuracy, no matter what weapon you use.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

AP-79 TODC assault rifle

Cheap, reliable and easy in maintenance, this assault rifle model became very widespread among armed forces of TransOceanic Defense Coalition before and during the war against United Federation of Equestria. The performance of this model was so great that AP-79 became a coveted trophy among UFE soldiers, and many assault rifles made their way into UFE territory via various ways. While this rifle is harder to find than R91 assault rifle, it inflicts higher damage and is more durable with proper maintenance, but finding spare parts for it is tough (if you do not want to deal with traders, that is).

Weapon stats:

DMG: 36 (if 100% CND)
WG: 3.5 kg
VAL: 500 caps (if 100% CND)

Ammo type: 5.56mm rounds
Ammo capacity: 30
> Chapter 6: Rest and into the unknown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 6

Rest and repercussions


Light.

Although Twilight Sparkle's eyes were closed, she could still sense solar rays assaulting her eyelids. She did not feel pain per se (not there, at least; her other body parts that had suffered in her life-or-death fight with Fast Grabber still felt sore), but the sensation was still not in "pleasant" category.

But why is it bright in here? Am I not in the cave? There is not that much light in caves...

Finally coming to a conclusion that there was not enough information to go on by, Twilight opened her eyes - and closed them again, trying to accustom herself to the brightness of her surroundings.

Ugh, my eyelids feel like lead.

Once she felt it safe to give another try, she opened her eyes again, more slowly this time. She did not need to shield them again, fortunately.

The first thing she saw was wood. Wooden ceiling, to be exact.

That's when Twilight's vestibular apparatus finally managed to inform her that she was lying on her back, looking upwards.

And her nerve endings indicated that she was not lying on the hard surface of Fast Grabber's HQ/house, but on something soft, and that something else was lying under her head.

The brain made a titanic effort and finally came to a conclusion that Twilight Sparkle was lying in a bed.

The girl tried to move - and nerves flared with painful sensations in places where she was hit.

"Urghhh..." she moaned.

"Huh? Oh, Twilight, you are awake!"

Before Twilight was able to recognize the voice, hair of familiar red and yellow colouring fully obscured her vision, and she felt something resembling a hug (resembling, because hugging someone who is lying on a bed never works properly).

"Sunset?.." she tried to say, but her dry throat prevented the sounds from forming properly.

"Yes, that's me, and Spike's here, too," familiar barking sounds proved the statement to be correct, "and we were worried. We heard shooting, shouting, then all went quiet, and we couldn't do anything..."

Sunset finally stopped kinda-hugging Twilight, allowing the latter to see her properly. Sunset was not wearing her armour or helmet anymore, back in her Vault 75 jumpsuit, and no weapons were present on her person.

"Where..?" Twilight tried to say, but was unable to formulate the sounds properly.

"Oh, I forgot. Let me get you some water," the fiery-haired girl disappeared from her vision field, and returned with a glass full of water. "It's warm a bit, but it should do fine in making your throat feel better."

"Thanks," Twilight croaked, rising a bit and taking the glass with her right hand. The water was warm indeed, but it felt like a revitalizing nectar to her. She downed the whole glass in several big gulps and then tried to ask again:

"Where... are we?" This time, she felt no problem speaking.

"Back in the Vault Village," Sunset replied. "All of the raiders are dead. We won the battle, Twilight," she smiled, although her smile was a tired one.

"But... how did I get here?"

"Well..."





*FLASHBACK*

"Ugh..." Sunset groaned, "I can't get out from under here! Spike, go help Twilight, don't worry about me!"

"I want to, Sunset, I really do," Spike replied, quietly, "but I can't just leave you here helpless, too. Blast, I'm torn! I don't know what I should do!" his voice became more frantic. "Oh, I hope she'll be fine..."

No sooner had he said that than sounds of gun fire could be heard in a distance.

"Go!" Sunset insisted. "The last raider is busy with Twilight, he won't be thinking about me! Go, Spike!"

Spike turned into the direction where Twilight went, his mind in panic, when suddenly...

"Sunset," he quickly whispered to her, "someone's behind us!"

"Hey, lady!" both of them heard an unfamiliar male voice. "Need some help?"

"No, I'm enjoying lying buried under wooden blocks here," Sunset replied with sarcasm plainly hearable in her voice. "Of course I need help, you dolt!"

"Well let us just get there and..." the fiery-haired girl heard sounds that indicated someone trying to fit into the holes in the blockade caused by explosion, and then saw a man in an unfamiliar type of armour crawling his way out.

"And who are you?" she asked, trying to train her combat shotgun on the new arrival (but only with one hand, it proved nearly impossible and the attempt looked almost comical). 

"Name's Torso Shield (yeah, sounds stupid, I know), me and my buddies are known as Rapid Rangers," he said, helping another similarly dressed man out of the rubble. "We heard on CWN that your village needs help, and tried to get here ASAP. Turned out we were too slow," he grumbled, tones of regret present in his voice, "you villagers already turned the tables on these raider bastards. One guy, Point Blank, I think, told us that two girls had gone to this cave to take out remaining raiders. Our medic remained behind, we hurried here." 

Turned out that there were four Rangers, Torso Shield included. Three of them tried to push the rubble upward, and the wooden blocks gave way a little. The last raider quickly dragged Sunset out.

"Phew... thanks", the girl said, picking her shotgun and standing up.

"You're welcome," Torso said.

"Damn, girl, you are of stronger stuff than you look," one of the Rangers complimented, "those woods looked heavy."

"A little bit of luck, and you can beat worse odds," Sunset replied, but whatever else she wanted to say was drowned by an echo of gun fire.

"The second one went ahead?" Torso Shield asked.

"Yep," the unicorn-turned-human said. "My friend, her name's Twilight."

"Let's get there!" the leader of the Rangers barked, and everyone took forward.

While they were running, the shooting sounds stopped.

Sunset paled.

This is either very good, or very, VERY bad.

"Double time!" Torso ordered.

The group found a house situated in the cave's dead end, and stormed inside.

Immediately, a ceiling turret turned to them, but Rangers' assault rifles quickly finished it before it managed to shoot anyone.

"Watch it," one of the Rangers said, "there could be booby traps."

Fortunately, they encountered none of them. Proceeding further into a house, they encountered what Sunset believed to be the living room - and stopped.

The place looked horrid.

Scorch marks from explosions were present near a concrete wall that was the entrance to Fast Grabber's lair. The shells from 5.56mm and 10mm ammo were spraed haphazardly on the floor. Blood stains were also present there.

On the left, they saw Fast Grabber sitting slumped near the wall, blood trail leaving a stripe near the locker. The hole in his head, along with torn throat and indecent amount of blood covering him left no reason to doubt his death.

In the middle of the room lay Twilight Sparkle, an assault rifle of unfamiliar design beside her.

Unmoving.

"Twilight!" Sunset and Spike screamed. Sunset's scream was much louder, however, and Spike's voice was practically indiscernible.

One of the Rangers knelt down near Twilight's body and pressed two fingers against the carotid artery.

"She's got a pulse," he said several moments later.

"And her chest's moving," another Ranger added. "She's breathing. Must be tired out."

"Grab her and let's get back to the village!" Torso Shield ordered. The Ranger who checked Twilight's pulse scooped up the girl's body, and the whole group made their way to the exit...

*END OF FLASHBACK*





"...so we've got you here. You've been unconscious for nearly a day, Twilight. The Ranger doc patched you up a little and recommended that you rest and do not move around much," Sunset finished.

"Rapid Rangers, huh?" Twilight said.

"Yeah. A group of several people who act as mercenaries but have their own morals. They only go after raiders and slavers..."

"There are slavers here?!" the violet-skinned girl interrupted, aghast.

"Twilight, Canterlot Wastelands are full of various kinds of vices and bad people who are no longer kept in check. You shouldn't be too surprised."

"This world just keeps getting worse and worse..." the Princess of Friendship muttered, then said: "So now we need to pay them something? Bottle caps?"

"No, not really. They did not kill a single raider, after all. Turns out they do not have a base of operations, and Vault Village would serve as one perfectly. And we have taken quite a number of casualties, so the number of experienced defenders is now quite low. So in exchange for a place to live and access to fresh water, Rapid Rangers will help in the village's defense. There are nine of them overall, and they are quite experienced at fighting beasts and bad people. Which will let us leave the village once you are ready."

"Leave?"

"Yes. Swift Sentinel had told me that if we manage to help with securing this area, he'll let us go. Well, with Rangers here and all of the raiders dead, the area is pretty well secure."

Twilight kept silence. After all the training and chaos that had taken place, she forgot that they planned to leave the village and try and find Sunset's magic book.

The Wastelands are quite big. And we know only a small part of it. Can we actually accomplish what we had planned?

"Before that, though, we'll need to loot the raiders' cave," Sunset's voice snapped her out of her musings.

"Loot?"

"Yes. Rangers haven't touched anything yet, and Swift Sentinel is not risking anyone of the guards now. And militiamen don't want to even hear of going out there. So we can get everything we want out of there. I took your weapons with myself when we carried you out of there, and nothing else."

"Won't someone need what's left of raiders?"

"Finders keepers, losers weepers," Sunset replied without a care. "That's how it works. Of course, if there's something the village really needs, we'll share it, but I think we are fully entitled to what we want."

Twilight Sparkle's face fell. The words her friend has just said were not illogical per se, but they implied that her now-reformed friend cared little for the village. She asked if it truly was the case.

"To be honest, Twilight, it's at least partially true," was the answer. "Since I only arrived in Trottingham shortly before the Day of Burning, I was... not really accepted there by natives, despite my best attempts. It did not help that police kept tabs on me and visited me regularly - this became a standard practice when someone settled in another town during war time, since the government started suffering from spymania - which automatically made me sort-of-suspicious. And in Vault 75, while I was never told that in my face, I felt resentment coming from them for "taking the place which rightfully belonged to a Trottingham citizen", the girl made air quotation marks, "in spite of the fact that Vault-Tec gave places in Vaults based on who paid the needed sum, not on who lived where. So I've never been close to anyone in Vault 75, and I didn't have a single friend there and by extension here."

"That's awful!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Those who thought that are dorks, plain and simple," Spike grumbled.

"Spike! Language!" the lavender-skinned girl admonished him. Sunset hid her smile behind her hands.

"Yes, mother," the Number 1 Assistant muttered under his breath, so as not to be heard.

"So you befriended no one?" Twilight returned to the topic.

"No. When it turned out I had some skill in firing a gun and could defend myself and others, I gained some respect. And of course, when it came to survival, everybody worked together, no matter the feelings. But I always remained a lone timberwolf. That's partially why I was really hurt by your "she-demon" comment - don't apologize, one time was enough - and that's why I'm not... empathic to villagers. But I do care about my friends," Sunset finished with a smile. "That's why I want us to get the best loot."

Her now-apparently-only-equine-friend did not smile, however.

I had no idea that other people could be that... unfriendly. Sunset didn't even do anything to them.

Yeah, right, another voice sounded in her head. You forgot the Anon-a-Miss incident, apparently. Was anyone really friendly to Sunset during that time?

But there was at least a logical explanation behind those attitudes. But this? Sunset hasn't done anything to them!

Zecora hadn't done anything to residents of Ponyville either. And yet even you thought she was an evil enchantress for a while. Sunset could have looked more like those in Trottingham, but she was still an outsider, just like Zecora. Face it, Twilight Sparkle, these two worlds are not THAT fundamentally different.

But we haven't destroyed our world with weapons of mass destruction!

Yet. That's because no one has invented them at this moment. But what if someone discovers the science behind the atomic bombs? Or creates a destructive spell of equal power? Can you guarantee that someone will not turn this knowledge into an instrument of evil?

I cannot, Twilight realized.

"OK," she said, "so what happens now?"

"Now? You get your well-deserved rest. I'll tell the medic of the Rangers that you woke up," Sunset replied, turning to leave the room. "I'll have to go, unfortunately, but you may get visitors later."

"Alright," Twilight allowed a smile to appear on her face, "take care! And please bring me a book. Or two. Or three. Actually, bring as many as possible."

Sunset Shimmer laughed hard.

"Same old Twilight Sparkle," she said. "Some things never change! I'll do it, unless the doctor prohibits that."

And she left the room.

Twilight leaned back into pillows, feeling tiredness take over her once again.

Approximately three minutes later, the door opened and in came an unfamiliar man wearing a bloodstained white coat with red cross on the left sleeve over a set of armour. Twilight recognized the labcoat as the one which had belonged to Redblood previously.

Seeing another person wearing it felt... wrong.

"Greetings, Twilight," the new doctor said, "my name is Silver Needle. Your friend Sunset has already told you about Rapid Rangers, right? I'm their medic. Let me take a look at you."

Silver Needle spent several minutes examining Twilight, particularly her bruises. Having finished, he concluded:

"Well, as far as I can tell, you are quite well, aside from the bruising. I have noticed a bullet wound scar, but I have been told that it was old and that you had already received an injection of RegenStim, so no worries about tearing something there. I recommend that you rest until tomorrow, and use this ice pack," he handed her the item in question, "and then you may go."

"Thank you," the lavender-skinned girl said somewhat dejectedly and held the pack against her worst bruise.

"Something bothering you?" the doctor said.

"It's just, this coat, it belonged to Redblood..."

"The local medic? Ah, I see," the man nodded. "Want me to take it off?"

"Nah, it's just... well, I'll need to adapt to it."

What's wrong with you? A good person died, and you are moving on already? Adapting? someone snapped at Twilight in her own head.

Death comes for us all, someone else objected. And here death is rather common. Adapting means greater chances of survival.

"From what I have been told, he was a really good person," Silver Needle's face fell. "I'm sorry we were unable to arrive sooner. As soon as we heard on CWN that Vault Village needed assistance, we took off. But when we arrived, we only saw carnage at two entrances, corpses here and there, blood and gore, and a fellow named Point Blank telling me that two girls went after the remaining raiders..."

"Point Blank?" Twilight's face lit up a bit. "He's alive?"

"Amazingly, yes. He got off worse than you, and will need a lot more rest, but he will live. He can't move, though. I forbade him to move around so he would not tear his stitches. Alas, the medical stitches of good enough quality are rare now."

"How many are dead?" the girl asked the dreadful question. I must know.

"I don't know, truth be told," came the answer. "I only saw those wounded and in need of immediate medical attention. Two men perished when I was trying to operate - I was too late to save them," the doctor's face fell. He was obviously saddened by this fact. "In fact, there were... not too many wounded. Several villagers, two guards and one raider. I saved those of locals who could."

"And the raider?"

"I shot him."

"WHAT?!"

"I know, that sounds bad. But he was already fatally wounded, nothing within my abilities could have saved him. Besides, we Rangers aren't really... keen on saving these worthless scumbags. Killing him was a mercy, actually."

Twilight's eyes remained wide.

"I was told you are an amnesiac, that right? So you can't remember what it was like here on the surface. Trust me, these people have long ago lost all right to be called "humans". They are degenerated, rabid beasts, no better than a radscorpion. And rabid animals are put down. There's no other cure," with these words, the combat medic left.

Twilight lay on her left side, thinking. The callousness of the words spoken to her was shocking, but in a twisted, warped way, it actually made sense.

She remembered what hororrs she had seen in the cave.

She twitched, and had to suppress a gag reflex.

Then she remembered Fast Grabber. How he insulted and hit her, just because he believed himself superior. How he tried to kill her.

Well I'm certainly not sorry that he's dead.

She closed her eyes, and allowed the dreamscape take hold of her mind.





The next day...

There seems to be a lot less people here now, Twilight Sparkle thought.

When she was released from the "hospital", she was approached by Swift Sentinel, who had bandages around his left shoulder, right hip and stomach. He was profoundly thankful that she had risked her life in order to eliminate the last raiders.

When she asked how many people died, his face fell and he said:

"Seven on your defensive line, four guys who came to help you and seventeen on mine. And two more died on operating table. Thirty in total. Could have been worse. From what Point Blank had told me, your line had to deal with the main force of the assault."

"That was main force?" Twilight's eyes bulged out.

"Yes. We had to deal with twenty raiders, and you with thirty. Although your enemies were not as well equipped. Fast Grabber sent those who wielded the heaviest weapons against my line. Apparently, he hoped to weaken us and strike us into the back once he crushed your line. The rest of our forces would have been easy pickings then."

"But his plan failed?"

"Yes, although it was a miracle. Aside from you two, no one came out unscratched. You are an incredibly lucky young woman, along with Sunset Shimmer. When the Rangers brought you back and told that Fast Grabber was already dead when they got there, I thought they were kidding. How did you manage it?"

Twilight told him how she sneaked into another entrance and found the raiders' leader with the help of her IFF screen, set a trap for him with two mines and flushed him out with a fake grenade throw, then battled with him until she shot him with his own rifle before losing consciousness.

"Good gravy girl," Swift relpied, his mouth almost hanging open, "that's one clever way to take the bastard down."

"I kinda hoped that the mines would kill him," the girl confessed.

"Torso Shield believed so, too. You were somewhat unlucky enough - the raiders are not good with weapons maintenance. He told me that those mines were in a really shitty (pardon my language) condition. But even if you only crippled his legs somewhat, you still made a very cunning trap. Mobility is a deciding factor on the battlefield - or one of them, at least."

"I wanted to ask you something," Twilight decided to change the topic.

"Spill it."

"Sunset had mentioned to me earlier that you did not want to let her go with me. And that you wanted the area around Vault Village secured first. You never believed that we would actually achieve this goal, did you?" the tone of Twilight's voice became somewhat harsher.

"On your own? No. I was not certain you would do this even if assisted by someone. The guards are under my command, and militiamen did not really want to risk attacking the raiders in their nest."

"And you did not want to lose a fighter, right?"

"Right. I know that sounds very bad, but I had to think of all the villagers, not just you. Remember how you did not want to kill? Many of ours do not even want to risk themselves getting killed, relying on us instead. Problem is, there were not so many of security guards to do so, that's why I ordered to organize a militia. Vault-Tec instructions said weapons were not to be given to civilians, but... well, I find it unlikely someone will sue me for breech of contract now," the leader of Vault Village waved his hand around, showing the post-apocalyptic scenery. "If too many people with fighting skills were allowed to leave, then it could spell doom on us all. That's why I wanted to keep her around and made that demand. Now, of course, with raiders dead and Rangers staying here, going back on my word would not be honourable."

"Sunset also mentioned that people tended to treat her... coldly," Twilight said.

"Ah..." Swift Sentinel scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Yes, I remember that."

"Why?"

"Didn't she tell you?"

"She said that she had arrived at Trottingham and people did not like her for being not one of their own, plus mentioned that police checked up on her and that didn't help."

"Well... you still don't remember the war time, do you? I'll try to explain. You see, the government was overrun by spymania back then. Not without reason - several state secrets were leaked to TODC, including some advanced weapon and armour designs, and that had quite a bad effect on the war effort. People were hysterical - casualties went through the roof. So the higher-ups decided to take a hard stance against spies, introducing stricter measures aimed at finding spies or those who sympathised with TODC. One of them was restricting travel regulations and internal migration. If someone immigrated into another town, the police would check them up regularly, to see if someone was a spy. The enforcement varied between places. Shimmer was unlucky enough to choose a place where said enforcement was strong enough. You see, before the Day of Burning, Trottingham was one of the economical hubs of UFE, and TODC spies tried their best to siphon the money for their own war effort out of there."

"The police checked their own citizens?"

"Of course. TODC spies always tried to pretend being UFE citizens. And therefore police checked up on your friend. The people, who were also susceptible to spymania, thought her not worthy of trust, as a result."

"She also believes that behind her back, people resented her for taking someone's place in Vault 75."

"That, of course, doesn't sound rational, but... well, humans all too often tend to act irrational. Look where it got us - a land destroyed by atomic bombs. Anyway, Vault-Tec gave places in Vaults only to those who paid the money. Shimmer had paid, and she got her place, plain and simple; I had checked her admittance papers myself. And the places are not infinite. Each Vault can house only a thousand occupants, administration and security included. If you exclude those, there are around nine hundred places left, depending on how many of those work in a specific Vault. I believe that your friend, unfortunately, had the misfortune to share the Vault with those who believed that she took away a place that rightfully belonged to their friend, or relative, or significant other - simply because she paid for her place before them. Before you ask - no, I couldn't have stopped it, because she herself never approached me. I would have done my best to curtail that kind of talk otherwise. Instead, I simply believed her to be something of a loner, who doesn't need friends," Swift Sentinel finished apologetically.

"She did need friends - she does need friends," Twilight said.

"Well, she has you now. You two are quite close, like best friends forever of sorts."

"Believe me or not, we were enemies once," the lavender-skinned girl smirked.

"Well, we have a saying: "From fight to friendship, there's only one step". I had experienced something similar, too," the guard smiled. "Sorry, Twilight, but I've got stuff to do."

"No problem."

The guard went on his way. On an impulse, Twilight decided to listen to Canterlot Wastelands News.

"...a bad, bad idea. Heed my words, Wasteland wanderers: never leave your current place of residence without a radiation detector on your person, be it a Pip-Boy or something else! You can literally walk into ground zero of a past nuclear detonation without it. Of course, I'd like to believe no one would be that stupid, as we all know that those places are in city centers, and there's nothing to do there, but who knows? People always manage to surprise me. And now for something more optimistic. Remember my previous message about Vault Village? Well, I've been told that Rapid Rangers got there... and found no raiders to kill! Why, you ask? Simple - the raiders had already attacked this town, but the defenders managed to give them a good kick in their teeth - although not without casualties. But guess what? Two young ladies followed the retreating raider cowards, infiltrated their cave and slaughtered the remaining raiders! It was not as epic as you'd believe, but still - two ladies against six mean raiders in the enemy territory? That's nothing to sneeze at. I say, this duo has some nerve to dare to do so! So give an applause for Daring Duo! Heh, sounds similar to Daring Do, right? And now..."

"Ugh," the girl spoke, "definitely like those Power Ponies books. This is ridiculous."





"So... we venture there again," Sunset Shimmer remarked. She and Twilight were standing in front of the entrance to the former raiders' base again.

Swift Sentinel, out of curiousity, decided to join them.

"I've always wanted to see how they lived in there," he said.

"Trust me, some things are better left unseen," Twilight replied.

"Since there are no raiders left, I think it's safe to use our Pip-Boys as flashlights," Sunset told everyone, as they entered the cave.

Click.

"Mine's on," Swift replied.

"OK, I don't think we'll need more. Later we'll come across the lamps raiders had set up, then we won't need them."

Several minutes later, they arrived at their intended destination.

"Ewww..." the head of security drawled upon seeing the brutal displays raiders had set up.

"I still don't get it. What's the point of this... butchery?" Twilight asked no one in particular.

"I would say intimidation, but I don't see the point... unless Fast Grabber wnated to assert his authority in this way," Swift Sentinel took a guess.

"Killing his own? Hmm... I can actually imagine him doing that," the fiery-haired girl remarked. "Shall we proceed to his house? I think the best loot is there."

"Why not?" came the answer.

"Swift?"

"No objections from me."

The trio proceeded further until the cave came to a dead end, where Fast Grabber's house/HQ was.

"Twilight, did you find another entrance to this house when you got here?" Sunset asked her compatriot.

"Yes, there's a back door on the other side. Why you're asking?"

"It's just when me and Rangers got through the front door, we had to destroy a turret."

"Fast Grabber had a fucking turret?! Oops, sorry," Swift Sentinel apologized for his language.

"No problem. I had the same reaction myself. Lucky us, that guy did not know how to properly install it, and we destroyed it before it even fired."

"I take it that having a turret is unusual?" Twilight inquired, as the whole group proceeded to enter the house.

"You would need to raid a military base to find an automated turret, and then have enough people to actually haul it there. And you also need to know how to program it. I may believe that the raiders were lucky enough to get themselves a turret, but I highly doubt someone knew how to use it properly. I bet Fast Grabber actually used the back entrance when he activated the turret, so it would not kill him," the guard explained.

Finally, the trio arrived at the scene of the battle of Twilight vs. Fast Grabber. Scorch marks and blod trails were still visible there.

The lavender-skinned participant of said battle who actually survived immediately noticed one certain thing:

"Where did the body go?"

"The Rangers took all the bodies out yesterday," Swift Sentinel explained. "Is that his office?" he pointed his finger in the direction of the hole in concrete wall near which Twilight had placed the mines previously.

"I suppose so. He was hiding there when I flushed him out," the Princess replied.

"I'll go there and check if there are any other traps. You two wait here."

None of the girls had any objections, and the guard entered the office.

"Hey, Twilight," Sunset drew her friend's attention to the bullet-shredded coat that she was holding now, "what's with this coat?"

"Oh, I used that to check whether Fast Grabber was ready to shoot anyone who enters. I threw it and he unleashed a stream of bullets, tearing it."

"Oh, I already imagine what Rarity would have said. "It was such a beautiful coat! What kind of monster would do this?!"

"Better not tell her that I had sacrificed this coat, then," Twilight snickered.

"Yeah, better not," Sunset joined the fun at their absent fashionista friend's expense.

"It's safe! Come in!" they heard the voice of Swift Sentinel.

Both girls went inside the office.





"So how do we share all this?" Twilight Sparkle asked thirty-or-so minutes later.

Having searched through the surprisingly sparse office, the looting party went to search through the rest of the house. Whatever they found useful and could carry was now thrown into a heap near the door that led back to the cave. They had also found Twilight's SMG and pistol that Rangers hadn't taken when they carried the unconscious girl out. When she took them back, something resembling contentment flowed through her. Disturbed by this, she decided not to mention that.

There were weapons, some pieces of raider armour and what passed for helmets, boxes with ammo, food, alcoholic substances and some drugs. In a separate pile, there were bottle caps.

Another pile had junk items thrown into it. When Twilight questioned the need to bring them, Sunset explained that some junk was still useful and one could get extra bottle caps for it.

Raiders, it appeared, favoured hunting rifles a lot. The trio has found ten of them.

"Hunting rifles are pretty easy to find, since this weapon was allowed for selling to civilians, which makes spare parts more available," Swift Sentinel explained. "Also, they are quite reliable and durable. If one knows their way with this gun, they can kill better-armed persons than themselves."

They have stripped six rifles for spare parts, fixing three of the four remaining and taking one for themselves. Sunset claimed one rifle for herself and Twilight - "to sell to the Rangers," as she explained. Swift did not object.

Each of the girls also took forty-one .32 ammo for themselves, leaving the rest (one hundred and two) for the guards and militiamen.

There were nine 10mm pistols in the heap. None of the girls wanted an extra, since all of them were in worse condition than theirs, so the guard took all of them for militia. They shared the ammo this way: seventy-two for Twilight (two SMG clips and one pistol clip), twenty-four for Sunset (two pistol clips) and remaining one hundred and twenty-nine went to Swift Sentinel.

They also found one sub-machine gun, but it was so shoddy that it was not even good enough to strip for spare parts. Twilight still decided to take it, in case they could sell it.

Four R91 assault rifles were divided like this: two for the girls, and two for Vault Village. Each girl got two fully-loaded spare 24-round clips, and Swift got seven. As for the ammo, girls got one hundred 5.56mm ammo each, and the rest (two hundred and seventy) went into the favour of village defenders.

The medicine went almost exclusively to the guard. Twilight and Sunset only got two syringes of RegenStim and one dose of Med-X each. The latter was visibly displeased with this.

"Medicine is what's going to cost us most of our caps," she explained.

The food was shared equally; as for the alcohol, Twilight didn't really want it, but Sunset convinced her to take several whiskey bottles, as alcohol could bring a nice income.

As for the gun that Fast Grabber had used, Swift said this:

"This is AP-79 assault rifle, the weapon used by TODC soldiers during the war. A very durable and reliable weapon, coveted almost by every soldier. Packs a better punch than R91, too."

"Why don't you take it, then?" Sunset offered.

"Good as it is, there's no other rifle like it in vicinity, so we can't repair it. I take it Fast Grabber used it to solidify his status. And if we can't fix it properly, there's no use in it. Personally, I'd leave it here - we're almost overloaded already."

However, Twilight spared another glance toward the weapon. She couldn't help but feel some... pull.

One word uttered by Swift Sentinel stuck in her mind.

Coveted.

She realized that she actually wanted to take this assault rifle.

You have bested and defeated his previous owner. And no one else wants it. Now it's rightfully yours, a voice spoke in her mind.

The girl made a few steps, bent forward and took the weapon.

"You sure you want it, Sparkle?" the guard tilted his head.

"Yep."

"Suit yourself. Now let's share the load of this junk we've got to haul back..."





"Ugh. Am I glad to get rid of all this now," Sunset Shimmer groaned.

The trio made their way back to Vault Village with their loot. Swift Sentinel went to distribute his share with the defenders, and both girls went to the Rangers' merchant.

Both girls had to barter with him for almost ten minutes before they settled on a final price for junk items. At first, the guy wanted to pay them seventy caps for both of their shares.

Sunset told him flat out into his face that this price was pure robbery, and went on to tell him how many caps other merchants actually gave for the items. He stated that he was not other merchants.

He and Sunset bickered until Twilight lost her patience and told him that had the Rangers arrived faster, there would have been less dead people; as for now, the villagers needed any extra cap. Trying to fool them was dishonourable and not worthy of a Ranger, according to her.

The merchant begrudgingly agreed, but stated that his own caps were not unlimited.

In the end, they agreed on a price of sixty-seven caps to each of the girls for junk items. They also sold raider "armour" and "helmets" for ninety-eight caps in total.

That meant each girl got herself 116 caps.

Twilight had fifty extra caps (given by Point Blank previously), and Sunset had sixty-four. Also, each of them got fifty-five caps from the cave.

In total, Twilight had 221 cap right now, and Sunset had 235.

That was a small fortune. However, they had to spend their currency now.

The AP-79 rifle that Twilight took was in a bad condition. The merchant agreed to repair it - for 110 caps.

The violet-haired girl felt a bit stingy, but Sunset told her:

"If there's something you can't be stingy about, it's weapons, armour and medicine."

So Twilight agreed. Instead, she traded the R91 rifle she got from the cave, getting 79 caps for it.

She had 189 caps now.

The girls decided to pool their finances together (424 caps in total) and see what they needed.

At this moment, Twilight had:

1 pistol;
1 SMG;
91 10mm ammo;
1 hunting rifle;
43 .32 ammo;
1 TODC assault rifle;
148 5.56mm ammo;
1 Vault 75 security guard's armour (damaged);
1 Vault 75 security guard's helmet (no faceplate);
2 RegenStims;
1 Med-X;
4 bottles of whiskey;
3 days worth of food.

Sunset had:

1 pistol;
40 10mm ammo;
1 hunting rifle;
47 .32 ammo;
1 R91 assault rifle;
148 5.56mm ammo;
1 knife;
1 Vault 75 security guard's armour;
1 Vault 75 security guard's helmet;
2 RegenStims;
1 Med-X;
4 bottles of whiskey;
3 days worth of food.

The girls decided to sell all but one bottle of whiskey, bringing their capital up to 494 caps. Twilight also decided to get rid of her damaged armour, earning extra 43 caps.

"Five hundred thirty-seven? That's a fortune right there," the mechant grumbled. "Now are you going to buy anything?"

In the end, the shopping list looked like this:

42 10mm ammo (42 caps);
20 .32 ammo (20 caps);
84 5.56mm ammo (84 caps);
4 RegenStims (88 caps);
2 Med-X syringes (56 caps);
14 days worth of food (42 caps).

After that, girls still had 205 caps to spend.

Twilight wanted to buy a suit of combat armour in good condition, but the price of 450 caps was a definite turn-off. The merchant said, however:

"Well, I know a way to make you two a nice armoured jumpsuit each, and they would be more effective in firefights than those vests Vault security uses."

"And what kind of armour would that be?" Susnet inquired.

"Better than that riot-control armour you are wearing, girl. Titan-ceramic alloy with kinetic energy dissipating layer. Kinda the same that we Rangers wear."

"And how much would that cost us?"

"Each jumpsuit would cost 125 caps to make, so for both, it's 250."

"And this set of vest and helmet?" Sunset pointed to the object in question.

"I'll give ya 90 caps for them."

The girl agreed, and once they paid the merchant to have two sets of armoured jumpsuits ready for them on the next day, they left the "store" with 45 caps.

"What about water?" Twilight asked Sunset.

"I have twelve bottles stashed in my fridge. I'll get a little more that should last us ten days at least. Is there anything you want to do for now?"

"Visit Point Blank, maybe?"

"OK, let's see if Silver Needle will allow us that..."





The rest of the day was spent mingling around the Vault Village, doing basically nothing. The Rangers were patrolling the outskirts now, preventing wild beasts from threatening the village.

True to her word, Sunset brought ten more bottles of water. If they used it sparingly, there would be enough for two weeks.

Silver Needle also gave them a gift - two first aid kits which had bangages, plasters, tourniquets, disinfectants, 10 tablets of Rad-X and four bags of RadAway, four RegenStims and two Med-X doses.

Point Blank also gave away his shotgun, with 27 shells he had for it.

The girls did not want to take it, but he insisted.

"The wounds will keep me in the bed for quite a time. You'll make better use of it. You two've already done a damn fine job in keeping the village safe, better than the whole security contingent."

They thanked him wholeheartedly, and he replied:

"Ugh, don't go all mushy on me, or I'll start crying. Women, always infecting with tears."

Everyone shared a laugh at his rude but yet strangely welcome remark. At least Point Blank remained the same person.

When the night arrived, both girls went to bed. Sunset fell asleep almost immediately, while Twilight was contemplating what they could expect in the future.

She already knew that raiders and mutated beasts (and, apparently, slavers) were enemies. But what else could they expect? She did not put too much trust in merchants' tales, preferring to adopt "I'll believe it when I see it" policy.

But if the tales were true, then there were more enemies, a lot scarier than raiders.

We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it, she decided, and tried to get as good sleep as she could.

This is probably my last sleep in a somewhat-comfy bed I'll have in a while...





"You ready?"

Twilight has re-checked her equipment for umpteenth time.

"Ready!" she answered Sunset's question.

Both girls were now in their armoured jumpsuits, delivered as promised by the Rangers' merchant. Their weapons were locked and loaded, the gear was in their rucksacks (Spike was safely tucked into Twilight's), the load distributed comfortably.

They turned back to some of the villagers who came to see them off.

"Surely wish you could stay here, but... a promise is a promise," Swift Sentinel said.

"Thank you for keeping it," Sunset smiled.

"Wouldn't be a decent person otherwise."

"Are you going to become heroines now?" the small girl, Point Blank's daughter, asked them.

"Big heroines," it was Twilight's turn to smile at the girl's enthusiasm.

"Yippee!"

"You two be careful out there. And best of luck," Torso Shield told them.

"Wash your hands before eating!" Silver Needle quipped, and everyone laughed.

"Sure will! Goodbye, everyone!"

"Goodbye!" Twilight added.

"Bye! Goodbye! Take care!" a chorus of voices sounded.

Twilight, Sunset, and Spike turned away from the villagers, and went on away from the Vault Village, to find their missing friends, and a way to get the Princess of Friendship back into her world.

They did not know what the future had in store for them, but they were confident that their friendship could best any challenge they would meet on the way...





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Field Medic: The medicines you use on yourself or your allies gain a +5% effectiveness bonus.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Watery Woman: You can spend one day without drinking any water without suffering any penalties from thirst.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

Armoured Vault jumpsuit

It is not uncommon for anyone who comes from the Vault to wish for a good protection against the dangers of Canterlot Wastelands. In case Vault security armour is unavailable or proves insufficient, wandering merchants or persons who have some sort of armour-crafting experience may remake a Vault jumpsuit into a set of personal armour.

While this solution is not as effective as a full suit of military-grade combat armour, in the hands of a good craftsman this jumpsuit may become a great investment for a novice Wasteland wanderer. Depending on the materials available and the craftman's skill, this armour may range from kevlar-ceramic vests sewn into a jumpsuit to pieces of combat armour slapped onto it.

The armoured jumpsuits made by Rapid Rangers are Vault jumpsuits with added military grade titan-ceramic alloy vests and shoulder pads along with groin protection and kinetic energy dissipating layers underneath. While this kind of suit is not really effective in cases where the enemy may try to cripple the limbs, this armour is relatively light and quite comfortable to wear. Moreover, military-grade vest works very well against non-AP bullets.

Armour stats:

DR: 17 (if 100% CND)
WG: 10 kg
VAL: 125 caps (if 100% CND)

Effects:
+1 Agility
+5 Small Guns
> Chapter 7: Going south
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 7

Going south


"Let's run the plan again. As of now, we are searching for your magic book. You left it in your home at Trottingham. Your home was located on the southern outskirts of the town, so there might be a chance of it still standing, or at least of your basement surviving the atomic blast. In order to get to Trottingham, we must pass by the ruins of Baltimare first. There were a lot of villages near it, so we should find a shelter without any problems. The next day, we move a bit towards the south-west, instead of south, to get to the ruins of Hoofington. According to the information you had got from the merchants, there must still be a railroad that can lead to Trottingham. Once we arrive there, we will have to circulate around the city ruins, in order to get to your house and not find ourselves in fatal radiation pockets. Did I miss anything?" Twilight Sparkle addressed her Equestrian compatriot.

"No. You summed up my plan quite well," Sunset Shimmer replied. "Of course, there is a chance that something may go off. No plan survives contact with reality."

"Seriously?" Spike voiced his opinion, sticking his head out of Twilight's rucksack.

"Seriously. If we encounter a radiation pocket on our way, we will have to bypass it. No need to get any extra rads. If something goes really wrong and we absolutely have to, then we swallow a pill of Rad-X and run through the pocket as fast as possible. Provided that radiaton is not above survivable level."

"And if we encounter hostile creatures of humans?" Twilight asked.

"What is that hunting rifle in your hands for?" the tone of Sunset's voice implied that she thought this question stupid.

"Oh..."

"If it's animals, we may get ourselves extra meat. It's irradiated, of course, but not too much."

"Meat?"

"Oh, sorry, Twilight. Humans are omnivores, eating meat is not exactly unusual for them. Although, I admit, for us ponies meat would be an acquired taste."

"Eww..."

"Don't knock it 'till you've tried it. Besides, it's better than cannibalism, right?"

"EWWW! Sunset! Stop it, please!"

"Fine, fine. Just so you know, meat proteins are a vital part of a human's diet."

Two girls and a dog went on their way in silence...





Two hours later...

"Strange."

"What's strange, Sunset?"

"The merchants used to say that this area was inhabited by mole rats and wild dogs. And yet we don't see any."

"Wait. There might be dangerous animals here and you didn't tell me?" Twilight was not amused.

"There's always a chance to stumble on a wild animal - or a pack of them. It's everyday occurrence. We should have encountered at least one animal right now - but we haven't seen a single red mark on our IFF screens."

"That should be good, right?" Spike asked nervously.

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But Wastelands are not what used to count as "normal". If you know that there's a pack of predators and yet don't encounter them..."

"...then there's an apex predator around!" Twilight finished, fearfully.

"Precisely."

"What do we do?"

"Weapons at the ready and move stealthily. I really don't want to attract the attention of this apex predator, whatever or whoever that may be," Sunset followed her own advice.

Twilight did as asked to.

"Spike, keep an eye around. If someone's behind us, we need to know fast."

"Okie-dokie," the Number 1 assistant agreed.

Crouching, the girls proceeded to move forward in their intended direction, casting fearful glances around, determined not to miss any potential threats. Both had weapons' butts pressed firmly against their shoulders.

Twenty minutes passed on.

"Uh... Sunset? Is it safe to go on as previously planned?" Twilight asked.

"I'd rather not relax right now. You never know what may happen. We should get past the supposed beasts-infested area soon, then we may go faster," Sunset replied.

Approximately ten minutes later, the fiery-haired girl said:

"OK, I think we can go as usual, but let's keep our weapons ready, just in case."

The group went on.

However, they barely were able to make several dozen steps when...

"GRR-ROOOAAARRR!"

"Buck my flank!" Sunset cussed. "Called it! Twilight, where is it?"

"Where is what?" the lavender-skinned girl was frantically searching for the incoming threat until Spike's "Behind you!" met her ear drums. Once she turned around, she saw a strange creature resembling an ursa minor - but with bent hind legs which resembled hare's and very dangerous looking front paws. In her peripheral vision, she noticed Sunset's tanned face going pale.

"Oh, ponyfeathers..."

"Yao guai!"

The phrases were spoken at the same time, but Sunset's scream drowned out Twilight's un-Princess-y language.

BANG! BANG!

Two .32 bullets dug themselves into the monster's hide, but they were too weak to drop it dead. The yao guai growled and started jumping menacingly towards two girls.

BANG! BANG!

BANG!

"Forget the rifle, Twilight! Get your AP-79!" Sunset screamed, getting her combat shotgun.

"GR-ROAAAR!"

The monster jumped at the girls, swiping with its front paw. Sunset jumped away to the right, while Twilight went to the left.

The mutated bear stood, puzzled as to which prey to hunt.

BOOM! BOOM!

Shotgun's case-shots hit its flank, and it swiped its right paw, but missed: Sunset stepped away.

BOOM!

Another shot hit the yao guai in his head, but it didn't fall.

"What the heck? His skull is that tough?" the fiery-haired girl screamed, disbelieving.

That nearly cost her, as the mutant was about to swipe at her again, when - 

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA! BA-TA-TA-TA-TA!

Twilight's trophy was as loud as it was effective. Some bullets hit the monster's back, and some went wide, but most of them entered its left hind leg, making him stumble and howl in pain.

Smart girl, Sunset thought, crippling its hind legs lowers its mobility. Uh-oh, now it's running towards her!

Crippling one leg was not enough. While the creature was slower, one could not say it was limping. It made its way towards Twilight, and it was still fast.

Sunset dropped her shotgun and readied her R91 assault rifle, running towards her compatriot.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Bra-ta-ta-ta! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Unfortunately, her aim was hasty, and bullets dug themselves in monster's right side.

It was not enough to kill the creature, but enough to gain its attention. Sunset understood that in her haste to save Twilight, she had just made a very big mistake.

You don't get too close to the yao guai, you idiot!

The monster swiped.

"AAARGH!"

The claws hurt the young woman's right leg. Shocked by the pain, she fell backwards, barely avoiding hitting her head.

"Sunset!"

The yao guai's muzzle was too close to her for comfort.

She raised the rifle and fired without aiming.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-click! Click!

"Horseapples!" another swear word left her mouth as the unicorn-turned-human realized that she would not be able to reload in time. The yao guai reared back, ready to strike...

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!

A roar of pain, and the monster's head came apart under the bullets' strikes a moment later. The body fell down.

Twilight Sparkle came close, the barrel of her TODC assault rifle still smoking.

"Sweet Celestia!" she gasped at seeing the condition of her friend's right leg. Running up to Sunset, she took of her rucksack, taking out Silver Needle's first aid kit.

"Those claws are like razor! The wound must be deep!"

"I don't see any bright-red blood, which means no artery damage," Sunset Shimmer grumbled. "Which is good, because going back to Vault Village for extended care would have been freaking embarrassing."

"No dark-red blood, either. No vein damage, too. You are extremely lucky, Sunset," Twilight started disinfecting the wound.

"Ouch! Ponyfeathers! Extremely dumb, that's what I am," the wounded girl grumbled, wincing at the pain that disinfectant caused. "You never, ever, run up close to yao guai!"

"Well, there were two of us, and we killed it... speaking of which," the Princess of Friendship finished bandaging the wound, "do you need its'... brains washed away?"

"Don't waste the water. Just inject me with a RegenStim."

Twilight complied.

"OK... now... argh, Celestia burn it with her sunray! Urgh! OK, I can stand and... urgh... walk now."

"Maybe a painkiller?"

"No, we've got only Med-X for this, and I don't want morphine in my organism unless it's necessary. OK," Sunset took out a knife, "now let's cut ourselves some yao guai meat. This one is quite rare, you know..."

"Ugh," Twilight groaned in disgust, seeing her friend cutting away the chunks of flesh without a care.





"I still stand by what I had said. This looks terrible," the Princess of Friendship told Sunset, looking at her blood-coated hands.

"It may help us as an intimidation factor, though," the fiery-haired girl replied with a smirk.

"Argh!"

Getting the dead yao guai's meat proved to be a very dirty and bloody job. Once Sunset finished with it, her hands and sleeves were almost entirely covered in red.

They have been walking for nearly fifty minutes now, and Twilight still couldn't get over the feelings of disgust.

"Relax, Twilight, I was only joking. But the image of blood-coated hands does intimidate weak-willed people. Just keep that in mind."

"What's next? War-painting the face?"

"Eh, I don't think that really works here. Unless you paint your face for camouflage."

"Let's change the topic," Twilight suggested, not wishing to talk about anything "icky" anymore.

"If you wish," Sunset rolled her eyes. "What is it you want to talk about?"

"People have been mentioning Canterlot Wastelands, as in plural. Why plural? Isn't the world just one big Wasteland now?"

"I really don't think so. There may be a chance that some city or country may have been spared the horrors of atomic weaponry, but so far, we haven't seen any. As for why Canterlot Wastelands, well... as far as I am aware, that is because areas around Canterlot differ in various ways, from radiation levels to civilization remnants. We are in what is known as Northern Wasteland. This area comprises the Vault Village and some other small settlements, plus raider and mercenary groups. In this area, you can find the ruins of the cities of Trottingham, Baltimare, Hoofington and Whinnyapolis. To the east of Canterlot, there is Eastern Wasteland. There used to be cities of Las Pegasus, Stalliongrad, Mustangia, Maretania and Fillydelphia. To the south, there is Southern Wasteland. This area was home to massive military installations as well as closed cities, so it is irradiated as hell due to heavy atomic strikes, no one goes there. I know that the city of Cloudsdale was there..."

"There's Cloudsdale in this world?" Twilight interrupted.

"Yes. Pretty funny, huh? This city was of more recent foundation, that's why it doesn't bear any "pony-name". It was home to many war heroes of UFE, and later it became a closed town, strictly for the military. Kinda similar to the past of pegasi, who were a proud warrior race. No one knows what went there. I presume that there's nothing left now. And the Western Wasteland is where one could find the cities of Ponyville, Manehattan, Maretonia and frontier town of Appleloosa. And of course, there's Canterlot and its surroundings. No one visits it or even dares to try."

"Why?"

"Remember what I said? Canterlot was the capital city, thus it would become the priority one target of a nuclear strike. Of course, there was an anti-NBM defense system in place - NBM stands for "nuclear ballistic missile" - that was supposed to intercept the warheads, but since no one controls the land, I presume at least one bomb hit it - and one bomb would be enough. And if the enemy somehow was able to shut down the defense system, there would be more than one nuclear detonation. It is safe to presume that even now, Canterlot is very irradiated. Unless we find advanced anti-radiation defense, getting there would be impossible. Even if it is otherwise, merchants say no one who had ventured there has come out."

"But we will still need to go there? I mean, the portal and stuff..."

"I hope we won't need to. There may be other ways, but I haven't thought anything definite through yet."

"Oh... OK."

"Wait... red mark popped up on my IFF."

"On mine too."

"Get ready for battle," Sunset prepared her hunting rifle.

"But what about your leg?"

"It's in working order. I'll just have to deal with the pain," Sunset gritted her teeth together.

Three minutes later, they approached a small village and found out that there were four enemies in total. And their appearance was familiar...

"Raiders," Twilight whispered. "What do we do?"

"Shoot the one on the right, I'll take the one on the left."

The violet-skinned girl aimed her rifle at the head of the designated target and pulled the trigger.

BOOM!

The raider's head came apart like watermelon. A moment later, another BOOM signifyed the death of another one.

"What the... fuck! Enemies! Kill them!"

BOOM!

"Not today, you raiding scum," Sunset muttered coolly, as she dropped the one who ran off his mouth.

BOOM! The last raider stumbled as the .32 bullet hit his torso.

"Out of ammo, reloading," Twilight said.

"I'll get him," her compatriot said, and fired again. Her shot was better; the bullet hit the raider's carotid artery, and he bled out in a minute.

"Reloading," Sunset said as she inserted new ammo, "now that's a better confrontation. Five bullets, four dead enemies and not even a scratch on us. Not like the yao guai. I wasted a whole clip on him, and you fired somewhere about two-thirds. The assault rifles are better left for exceptional circumstances."

"An encounter with a yao guai doesn't count as one?" the violet-haired girl asked, surprised.

"It does, but I'd prefer to spare the 5.56mm ammo for completely unfamiliar threats. But if there are more of these mutated bears around, then maybe we'd better avoid confrontation. That may be difficult, though - these beasts can feel you even if they do not see you."

"And running is not an option?"

"Well, I am no fast runner with this," Sunset pointed to her leg, "but even if I were, outrunning one of them is impossible. It's not "fight or flight" with them, it's "win or die", and dying isn't an option."

No, it isn't. But how far will I go to preserve my life? And Sunset's life? Twilight thought.

"Let's loot the raiders' bodies and look around the village. Maybe there's something useful."

As it turned out, the raiders were not that "rich". A hunting rifle in a bad condition, fourteen .32 ammo, two 10mm pistols (each girl took a spare), thirty-four 10mm ammo and an assault rifle in such a shoddy condition that Sunset actually spat on it.

"If the guy actually expected this piece of junk to fire or not jam, he was more of an idiot than I could imagine," she remarked. "This stuff is not worth two caps. At least the guy had the brains to have spare ammo."

Sixty 5.56mm ammo, to be exact. Those were split equally, too.

Twilight asked if taking the raiders' armour was a good idea. Sunset thought for a few seconds, and answered that it depended on how good the trophy armour was. The girls agreed to try their luck.

The armour they got was in no good condition either, especially the piece that was pierced by Twilight's bullet.

"Let's strip the pieces and see if at least one piece can be salvaged from these sorry excuses of bodily protection," Sunset suggested.

Fifteen minutes later, they put two pieces of raider armour inside their rucksacks and went to search through the village for anything valuable. There was not much to go by - most of the time they only found junk which was not worth the effort of hauling to merchants.

One of the houses had a first aid kit mounted on the wall. Inside it, there were bandages and a syringe of RegenStim. The fiery-haired girl was visibly pleased with this development.

In the fridge, they found two bottles of Nuka-Cider, still full and good for consumption.

"Oh goodie, two extra caps and something to drink," Sunset commented, but frowned. "Ah shucks, irradiated. Let's see... five rads? Not critical."

"How much is critical?" Twilight inquired.

"If you accumulate 200 rads, you'll receive radiation sickness. Getting more than 600 rads results in very heavy sickness. You'll need some serious treatment after this. One of the villagers had once managed to accumulate such a dose, and Redblood had to push him through a course of several radiation-flushing injections. Nasty business. If you get more than 800 rads, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible, or you will die in short amount of time. If a doctor is far, keep using RadAway - it helps to hold on, or at least the merchants say so. 1000 rads? Instant death, if you are lucky. If you aren't, you'll die in several hours, in most horrible agony."

"So no more than 800 rads in worst case scenario?"

"No more than 600, I'd say. Finding a doctor with access to pre-war anti-radiation drugs is in no way simple."

"So... we don't drink this cider?"

"Preferably not."

The girls moved on to the next house. It was sparsely furnished, and the most notable things were green crates on the floor.

"Ammo crates! We're in luck," Sunset said. "Let's sort through them."

Inside, they found thirty 5.56mm ammo, forty 10mm ammo and twelve ammo of a caliber Twilight had never seen before.

"What are those?" she showed her findings to her friend.

"Given the shape, I believe these are sniper rifle rounds. Let's keep them. Maybe we'll find a sniper rifle or sell these ammo to someone. Given I have never seen this ammo type before, it must be rare."

Twilight complied, and moved to open the last crate. However, it did not open.

"Er... Sunset? This one is locked."

"Oh? Let's see what I can do," the fiery-haired girl moved closer. "Ah, I see. This lock is quite simple."

She took out a screwdriver and what Twilight recognized as a bobby pin. She bent the latter so it would make a right angle, and inserted it in the keyhole's upper part. The screwdriver was inserted lower.

"What are you doing?"

"Picking this lock. We want its contents, don't we?"

Sunset pushed the screwdriver. The lock turned to the right, but got stuck halfway. She tried to turn the bobby pin to the right and pushed again. This time, the lock didn't even budge, and the bobby pin broke.

"Ponyfeathers."

The young woman took out another bobby pin and turned it to the left instead. This time, once she pushed the screwdriver, the lock turned the whole 90 degrees to the right, and then a click was heard.

"Ha!" Sunset cheered in delight, opening the crate. "Oh and look, three full ammo clips for my rifle and two for your SMG, Twilight! Totally worth a bobby pin!"

"I'm curious," Twilight asked, "just where did you learn to pick locks?"

"Well..." her friend shuffled uncomfortably, "...it was one of those disreputable things I used to do before my reformation. Snips actually was the one who taught me. You won't believe how easy school lockers are to pick if someone is too stingy to buy proper locks. That helped me to accumulate my power base quite quickly. But later, Principal Celestia had the locks upgraded, and my skills became useless. Ironic, huh? One of the bad things I used to do is now actually useful."

"Ironic indeed," the violet-haired girl agreed. "And I should be displeased at you picking locks in order to steal something else... but I can't, given the circumstances we are in."

The girls left the house and went in their intended direction.

"By the way, Sunset, what happened to your mouth filter? You are quite swear-full today."

"Says the Princess who screamed "ponyfeathers!" while fighting the raiders. I bet your world's Rarity would scold you for uncouth language," Sunset chuckled. "But seriously? Twilight, live here for a longer time and you will notice your mouth filter slipping, too..."





Twilight, Sunset and Spike were walking for about an hour and a half when their Pip-Boys started emitting cracking sounds.

"Radiation pocket!" Sunset shouted. "Back away!"

Everyone did as ordered.

"Darn, we'll have to go around that. Have your gun ready, Twilight, just in case. I'll see if we can find our way around that."

Sunset went to the left, going a hundred meters away, and then tried to proceed forward - but immediately rushed back.

"It's even worse there," she told Twilight and Spike. "Let's see if it's weaker on the other side. Follow me."

The results were disappointing. The radiation levels were dropping as they went to the right, but very slightly. Soon, they would deviate too much from intended course.

"I guess we'll have to take Rad-X and risk it," Sunset muttered, taking a pill and drinking water from one of the bottles. Twilight repeated her actions and also gave Rad-X to Spike.

"Let's run," she said.

Both girls rushed forward. Pip-Boys started emititng cracking sounds again.

"1 rad per sec," Twilight read aloud.

"That's better than 20 rads per second I was getting in another direction!" she heard her compatriot's answer. "Do not stop!"

One minute later, the cracking stopped - although to the girls it seemed like an infinity. Once they checked their Pip-Boys, they found out that both of them had accumulated 50 rads.

"Already?" Sunset muttered. "This goes on, and we will have to waste our RadAway supply. Let's go."





The rest of the day was pretty un-eventful. The trio was approaching their intended target - a relatively undamaged village with several houses still intact - when they heard shooting.

"Of all the times..." Twilight muttered. She was not in her prime condition, and fighting would take away the last of her strength.

Moreover, the IFF showed one green mark and almost a dozen of red ones. The odds were very bad.

"We can ignore it and just leave for another village," Sunset suggested.

Both Twilight and Spike gave her a look that would have burned her where she stood if it were capable of doing so.

"Just... don't miss, then," she muttered, preparing her hunting rifle.

The girls started running into the direction of battle. Spike jumped out of the rucksack and ran after them.

When they came close, they nearly dropped the jaws at the horrifying sight.

There were naked (aside from what looked like horribly torn pants) human-like figures tearing into the body of a young man lying on the ground. The man was already dead, but the monsters did not notice that or simply did not care. They looked like humans, but their skin was damaged to the point of falling off, exposing muscles and sinews underneath. Their fingers ended with sharp claw-like nails

Seven such figures were lying dead, which meant that the man was fighting ferociously for his life, but was overwhelmed by sheer numbers. All in all, there were eleven of those still standing.

"Are those... zombies?!" Spike asked, alarmed.

"I don't know," Sunset replied.

"What wouldn't I give for a grenade right now..." Twilight muttered, taking aim.

BOOM! BOOM!

Two headshots dropped a couple of "zombies", drawing the attention of the rest. They abandoned their now dead victim and began rushing towards their attackers.

BOOM! BOOM!

Two more dropped. However, the remaining seven was now very close, making hunting rifles useless.

"Run and gun!" Sunset ordered. Twilight quickly tucked her rifle away and scooped up Spike, taking away after her friend. Her another hand went after the SMG. She half-turned around, firing blindly into the crowd.

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

The bullets dropped another enemy, and made one of them stumble and fall.

Meanwhile, Sunset was able to prepare her R91 assault rifle and fire.

Bra-ta-ta! Bra-ta-ta! Bra-ta-ta!

Out of the almost dozen attackers, only four remained now.

However, once Twilight glanced at her IFF screen, her insides went cold.

"Sunset! We're surrounded!"

As she said that, a dozen of zombies ran from the direction the trio wanted to use.

"Curses!" was the reply she got. Sunset turned around and fired at the incoming wave, but only managed to kill one enemy.

You're doomed, Twilight remembered Zecora's words for some reason.

She turned around to the ramaining four and squeezed the trigger. She didn't release it until the weapon clicked, signifying a lack of ammo.

Her onslaught finished off three attackers, but the zombie who survived came too close. He swiped - and hit the armoured jumpsuit.

The resulting screech was very unpleasant to hear, but the armour worked as intended. The claws were not strong enough to pierce it.

Chomp!

Spike jumped from Twilight's hands and attempted to bite the zombie's leg. However, it apparently could not feel pain, because it did not even flinch.

Spike gave a small tug. The monstrosity was in the process of trying to hit his hatcher again and lost the balance, falling face-first to the ground.

Twilight used this moment to her advantage and reloaded her SMG. Four bullets to the head made the zombie remain still forever.

She tucked Spike back into her rucksack (against his protests) and turned to Sunset - only to discover that another wave of zombies was coming. Her fiery-haired friend has managed to kill six more, but the rest were dangerously close.

We need to find a place that can withstand the assault of zombie-humans!

Hurriedly, she looked around. The houses that they were close to were damaged, and did not count as an adequate defense position.

She released a stream of bullets at the incoming hostiles, and felt glad that two of them dropped as puppets with cut springs.

"We can't hold for too long! We need to run and hide!" she screamed.

"Fine by me!" Sunset replied, and the trio ran for their lives.





As it turned out, the whole village was positively infested with these zombies. While they were running, they had to gun down small groups of two or three zombies that were in front of them.

And more of them joined the chase. There were twenty of them chasing Twilight, Spike and Sunset.

The situation was dire.

"Ponyfeathers!" Twilight cussed, as she spent her another SMG clip. Deciding to spare what ammo she still had, she took her AP-79 and released a three-round burst. The bullets killed the zombie that was in front of them, and path became clear.

For how long?

"I'm having trouble running!" Sunset's words exacerbated the situation. If they could not outrun the zombies, they would not be able to survive!

Where to hide? Where to hide? the Princess thought frantically. Her eyes came across a building made of concrete. It had a steel door which stood ajar, and reinforced windows.

Moreover, there were no red marks in the direction which they would need to take.

There!

"Sunset! Let's hide there!" Twilight shouted, waving her hand towards their supposed safe house.

Bang-bang-bang-bang!

"Let's!" her friend screamed, reloading her pistol on the run. The girls made a wild dash towards their salvation, zombies hot on their six.

Twilight got to the door first and turned back to cover Sunset. Despite her previous injury, the fiery-haired ex-equine was only two steps behind her, and when the lavender-skinned girl opened fire, she was grabbed from behind by the collar and roughly dragged in.

The door slammed close, and a clank sounded, making it known that the door was bolted.

However, the zombies were not deterred, and started pounding - but to no avail. The reinforced door, which could withstand bullets, was more than an adequate protection against claws.





Click!

Two Pip-Boys enlightened the indoors of the concrete house, and two figures slumped against the door.

"Oh my..." one moaned.

"You know what? I think we should have robbed the Rangers' merchant and not paid him a single effing cap."

"I do not approve of such measures, or your language, but... the idea seems more enticing now."

"He couldn't just share the supplies, huh?" a third voice sounded, one that sounded more male. "His profits were more important than lives!"

"Life means nothing in the Wastelands. Deal with it."

"That's cold," a feminine voice said disapprovingly.

"It's the truth. Blunt and disgusting, but truth."

"Well, horseapples."

"Language, Princess."

"Go soak your mane."

"Wow, Twilight," a male's voice sounde again, "I don't recall you being this pissed off."

"First time for everything, Spike."

"Let's see where we are hiding," the last voice interrupted.

Two figures rose up.

"Hmmm-pf. Is that a light switch?"

Click. Click.

"Why isn't that working?"

"No electricity. Blast. Keeping our Pip-Boys on all the time is not an option. We may not find a spare battery."

"It needs a battery?!"

"What else did you expect it to run on? Magic?"

"No, but... hey, what's this?"

"Whoa, careful..!"

Suddenly, the room was filled with artificial light.

"OUCH!" three voices sounded. Twilight, Sunset and Spike closed their eyes, opening them several seconds later.

"Ah, I see you have found the panel. Good. We have electricity, then."

"But how?"

"Independent power supply, I imagine. If one was rich enough, they could install a power generator. Now let's see if there's anything lying around."

"Looting again?"

"Something tells me that the dead man we had seen earlier is the owner of this house."

"And if not?"

"...we'll cross that bridge when we come across it."

The ground floor, however, did not have anything interesting aside from pre-war clothes.

"Well, I guess that's not what we need. Although I like this baseball cap. Helps against the sun. Want one?"

"Why not?"

"I bet Rarity would love these," Spike remarked.

"I don't know. These are in good condition, but I don't know if they are "fabulous" enough," Sunset replied. Twilight rolled her eyes; she prayed for Spike's sake that human-Rarity was still alive.

He would be crushed if she were dead.

"Let's go to the second floor," she said.

The second floor was somewhat more rich in loot. In the bathroom, they found a first aid kit with two RegenStims, one syringe of Med-X and one bag of RadAway. The bedroom had three full pistol clips.

"What's that gizmo?" Twilight asked, pointing to a strange thing attached to a barrel of the 10mm pistol she found.

"Silencer, I believe. Strange. Just who used to live here?"

"You don't know?"

"No certain idea. Keep the pistol, we may need it. Silenced weapons are rare here."

Aside from that, they found nothing.

"Darn, I hoped we would find some assault rifle ammo. I am down to two clips for my R91."

"Me too."

Once they finished, Twilight noticed something.

"Is that a computer? I don't remember them looking like that."

"A terminal by RobCo. They adopted the same radiation fashion look. Computers used to look like this almost a century ago. I wonder if it works?" Sunset turned one of the switches to "ON" position.

"Hey, what are you..." Twilight was distracted by the lines on screen.


ROBCO INDUSTRIES UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM
COPYRIGHT 2089-2094 ROBCO INDUSTRIES


"What year is it now, by local calendar?" she asked

"2101."

Sunset typed the words "LOGON ADMIN". Once she hit the enter button, though, she was greeted with a message:

ENTER PASSWORD

"Well, shucks. Password-protected. And I don't know it."

"Isn't there a way around it?" Spike asked.

"If there is, I have never heard of one. My work at Vault 75 never required hacking into terminals, you know."

"Maybe we should just leave it alone?" Twilight suggested.

"That would be a bummer. Hmm... Twilight, why don't you try searching through this table?"

"How would that help?"

"If the previous owner of this terminal was an idiot, his or her password should be in there."

"Why an idiot?"

"Because leaving the password to your terminal lying around is the height of idiocy."

The lavender-skinned girl rolled her eyes and started searching.

"Is this what you need?" she said a moment later, showing a small piece of paper with the words "admin" and "runner875" on it.

"Let's see. R-U-N-N-E-R-eight-seven-five..."

As Sunset hit enter once again, she was greeted with another message:


DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE OF UNITED FEDERATION OF EQUESTRIA
WELCOME BACK, AGENT #67-195


"Agent? Directorate of Intelligence?"

"Directorate of Intelligence is the governmental department that was responsible for spying on other countries. During the war, they targeted the countries that were a part of TODC," Sunset explained. "They had some sort of... hubs... all over the UFE. Apparently, this home was used by one of their agents who was supposed to stay here for some reason. Interesting..." she trailed off, looking at the options presented to her.

Contact other hubs

Review intelligence reports

Requisition equipment

Remove redactions

Open the hidden safe

Use file system

"Let's see... remove redactions," Sunset chose the according option.

ERROR: You do not have the necessary clearance. Please contact your supervisor.

"Yeah, and contacting..."

ERROR: Communication hardlines damaged. Contact not possible.

"...is not an option either. Predictable. I bet that trying to ask for some equipment is useless, too. Open safe."

A section of the wall opened, revealing the hidden safe. Much to the group's disappointment, it was empty.

"Apparently the owner took everything they hid there. And forgot the password. As I said, idiot."

The fiery-haired girl choose "Review intelligence reports".

Warning! Unauthorized viewing of the data within is considered an act of treason against UFE and is punished accordingly!

Continue (Y/N)?

"Yeah, well, too late to punish me. Does DOI actually exist now?" Sunset snorted and entered "Y"

She was presented with six reports. Opening the one that was the oldest, they read:

Report #379
The latest events in [REDACTED] are troubling. After the [REDACTED], the new government is by no means friendly towards us and leans more towards [REDACTED], but the increased marine traffic between [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] is too big, even with the good relationships [REDACTED] enjoy.

This can only mean one thing: [REDACTED] Unfortunately, our abilities are limited. Agent Gravity is requesting more [REDACTED], but I am not inclined to take this risk. The final decision rests upon [REDACTED], however.

END

"I can't make sense of it," Twilight complained.

"Me neither. Let's see what the other report says."

Report #382
Agent Gravity suspects that the latest shipment to [REDACTED] contains [REDACTED]. She has sent another request for [REDACTED].

Given that [REDACTED] is too close, the possibility of [REDACTED] is too scary to ignore. I request that Agent Gravity's request be approved.

END

Report #388
Agents Gravity and Ukulele confirmed the shipment of [REDACTED] from [REDACTED] to [REDACTED]. The Field Director states that [REDACTED] needs to be carried out.

I would rather wait. Such drastic actions may have terrible repercussions, especially if [REDACTED] has already secretly joined TODC. Agents Falls and Ukulele say the same in their reports, while the majority of other agents agrees with Field Director, and a small part says nothing on the issue.

This report along with all relevant appendixes is sent upwards. Such decisions are above our pay grade.

END

"This sounds like trashy spy novels, except that this is real life," Twilight muttered.

"And these agents "Gravity" and "Ukulele" have disagreed with this "Field Director" fellow, who must be the superior. That takes guts. Intelligence agencies do not forgive such actions - at least, I believe so. Let's see the next report."

Report #391
Field Director is having doubts in the loyalty of agents Gravity and Ukulele. They are the only agents that speak against carrying out the [REDACTED], while the rest insist.

Paranoia is a must in our job, but too much of it is harmful. Gravity and Ukulele are our best agents in [REDACTED]. Their information has never failed us. Of course, there's a possibility of them being double-agents and supplying carefully crafted disinformation, but I can't see the endgame in this case.

I'll contact [REDACTED] and ask for advice. Maybe we will need to involve [REDACTED].

END

"Ominous," both girls said at the same time. They read the next report:

Report #395
We have lost two more agents. It's no longer possible to argue against agents Gravity and Ukulele being traitors.

[REDACTED] will wait for them to bring Gravity back, while Ukulele will be brought back by [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] is being assembled at [REDACTED] in order to implement [REDACTED]. We will use [REDACTED] for [REDACTED].

END

Report #396
Agents Falls and Ukulele have boarded [REDACTED], as planned. Before that, however, they sent us one final report.

If its contents are to be believed, [REDACTED] does not threaten [REDACTED] at all and there is no point in [REDACTED]. The [REDACTED] that they presumably saw were [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], good for [REDACTED], but not [REDACTED]. The question is: why? Surely [REDACTED] is a good point for [REDACTED].

Anyway, since we believe them to be traitors now, their opinion is irrelevant. They will be separated and given over to [REDACTED]. The [REDACTED] will begin soon.

"Were these agents actually traitors?" Twilight asked, once they finished reading.

"Who knows? It's a mystery," Sunset muttered, turning off the terminal. "We need to go to sleep now. Tomorrow may be an even harder day, and we need strength."

"Don't jinx it," Spike muttered.

"I thought that in situation like this we can't sleep?"

"We can, but with a finger on the trigger and in turns. I don't think those zombies can break through the door, but one may never be too careful. You go first and sleep for four hours, I'll stand guard - my leg still hurts and I won't be able to sleep properly. Then I'll try and get some shut-eye and you stand guard."

"I can stand guard too, you know," the dragon-turned-dog said.

"You need your rest, too. Then you'll help Twilight while I sleep."

"OK," Twilight moved towards the only bed in the room, "we'll do it your way."

Tucking herself in, she heard Sunset say :

"Good night, Twilight, Spike."

"Good night," the equine Princess and her assistant replied.

Sunset turned off the lights, turning on her Pip-Boy lighting.

Night and silence reigned in the house.

Running out of ammo, besieged by zombies, and who knows what expects us out there on the remaining part of the way. Life is good, she thought sarcastically.





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Hardened (Rank 1): You gain additional 50 Health Points with each rank of this Perk.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

I Hate Hospitals! Your natural healing rate receives a permanent +5% bonus.
> Chapter 8: New faces, friendly and otherwise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 8

New faces, friendly and otherwise


Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes - and found out she could not recognize the place she was in.

The surroundings felt pretty familiar, but her mind just could not conjure the corresponding name to them.

She looked around. Much to her surprise, she saw green grass and asphalt roads surrounding her bed (which had been transported in this place somehow).

Honk!

She jumped up at the sound, but got herself tangled in the sheets (wait, did I use sheets?) and fell down on the pavement.

"I'm OK!" she screamed to no one in particular.

I'll never get used to these cars, she thought.

Once she got herself out of the mess her sheets turned into, she managed to look around properly.

She was in the same place where she would always find herself if she used the portal to the human world.

And there is Canterlot High School. But wait...

Before her mind actually managed to formulate a thought, the portal flashed with dark-pink light. The smooth stony surface became a swirl that resembled a tunnel of sorts.

Twilight immediately realized what it was. A gateway back to Equestria!

Without a pause, she rushed into the portal. This time, the transition went smoothly, without any Discord-worthy twisting and turning.





The transition from bipedal to quadrupedal form was never a pleasant business if you actually forgot (or did not know) on how to use it properly.

Twilight was unable to get used to her normal form quick enough, and ended up on her back.

"OW!"

She turned over to her stomach, planting her hooves on the ground. After a small muscular exertion, she managed to stand up.

Her wings were now in her usual place, as was her horn.

"Yeee-haw!" Twilight emitted a small scream, using her now-returned magic to levitate some random objects in the room and move them around aimlessly. "So good to have my magic back!"

After a minute, however, she paused. Then she put the objects she had levitated on the floor haphazardly.

Something did not feel right. Something was absent.

Where are my friends?

Twilight decided to move around her castle (for the place she was in now was her own Friendship Rainbow Kingdom Castle) and see if there was a chance of finding anypony within.

She did not need to move around for long, however.

Once she came into the throne room, she found all her friends sitting in their respective places according to their cutie marks, while her own throne was occupied by Princess Celestia, and Spike's place was converted to fit its current user - Princess Luna.

Twilight's spirits soared. She was back and everypony was waiting for her!

She did not notice herself lifting off the ground as she rushed into the circle formed by thrones, her wings giving her additional speed.

However, as she tried to approach her mentor in order to give her a hug (which she would not normally do, but her mood was too high for her to care)...

Bump!

Twilight bounced off from the magical force field that surrounded the throne where Princess Celestia was sitting, falling to the floor.

"Ow! What the..."

She rose. And only then did she notice that the sun-raising diarch was not, in fact, pleased to see her.

The expression Princess Celestia bore was stern and serious, and the glare she leveled at her student was usually reserved only for those who managed to piss the diarch off something fierce. In fact, her younger sister bore the same expression, with extra malice coming from her own glare.

The Princess of Friendship was puzzled.

Just what is going on here?!

Turning around, she noticed that hoping to find supoprt from her friends was futile, too. On their faces (muzzles?) she could see anything but joy at her own return.

Instead, she received the looks of contempt, anger, disappointment, fury, disapproval and hatred. Even Fluttershy was looking angrily at her, which was not something one would expect from the meek pegasus.

Her puzzlement only grew.

"What's going on?!" she addressed nopony in particular, but as she finished turning around, she found herself face-to-face with Applejack, which apparently made the latter think that the question was directed towards her.

The earth pony stepped from her throne and started stepping towards Twilight, the expression of disdain not going anywhere.

As she approached the purple alicorn, she suddenly turned around, putting more of her weight on her forelegs.

WHACK!

Twilight flew away from Applejack under the force of impact, landing on the floor and hitting the left side of her head, which only served to exacerbate the pain she was feeling now.

"Ah'll tell ya what's goin' on," she heard the accented voice of her friend somewhere above her, "we've put together an appropriate greeting for a murderer," the last word was laced with disdain.

"Murderer?" Words were more difficult to pronounce after the hard buck Twilight had received. "Wha..?"

"We know everything, Twilight!" If the alicorn did not see Fluttershy's mouth moving, she wouldn't have believed that furious voice to belong to her friend. "You are a killer! A murderer! You were killing others in that world! How could you do this?!"

"What? But I..."

"Of all the worst things you could have done, this is the worst. Possible. Thing!" Rarity's voice joined the other accusers. "Such an uncouth, barbaric thing to do! You behaved like the worst dishonourable ruffian!"

"I had to defend myself!" Twilight desperately tried to explain everything to her friends, but it appeared that nopony wanted to listen.

"Yeah, right," Rainbow Dash joined the fray, "try this excuse on something else. You didn't kill changelings, or Nightmare Moon, or Tirek! And then you started killing others! That's so totally undeniably unquestionably uncool!"

"They were different! They..."

"They were the same ponies as here, just in a different form!" Pinkie Pie's voice was bordering on frequencies that couldn't be heard by ponies. "And you killed them! Now my human counterpart won't throw the awesome super-duper parties for them! You have become a party-pooper!"

"Do you actually know what kind of ponies - curse it - humans they were? They were party-poopers themselves! The worst kind!"

"That does not, nor shall it ever, excuse the callous disregard for the lives of others you have showed, Twilight Sparkle," the calm, yet stern and angry voice of Princess Celestia cut the purple pony's heart like a thousand ice blades, "and such behaviour is not appropriate for the Princess of Friendship. I have believed you capable of being a good example of royalty, but I see now that I have made a terrible mistake."

Twilight's insides went even colder than she believed it possible. The appropriate description would be "below the absolute zero", but, as any good scientist knew, achieving that feat was impossible.

"I, Princess Celestia, do hereby declare Twilight Sparkle stripped of her status of Princess of Equestria," with the words, Celestia's horn glowed brightly and two beams of sun rays raced towards Twilight. To her horror, her wings started burning.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" she screamed from the unbearable pain she was feeling, trying to run but being unable to move at all. She could only scream as her wings were burning down to ashes until nothing was left of them, making her a unicorn once again. Once the pain subsided, she collapsed to the cold floor without an ounce of strength left inside.

The worst part, however, was yet to come.

"I also hereby declare that for her multiple crimes, Twilight Sparkle shall be banished to the depths of Tartarus forever!"

"What?! But..." Twilight's protest, however, was quickly cut by a stream of confetti to her face that came out of Pinkie's (in)famous party cannon that somehow was strapped to the ceiling, and Pinkie herself:

"For-EEEEEEEE-verrrrrrr!"

"MAY THOU BURN AND ROT IN THERE FOR ALL ETERNITY!!!" Princess Luna declared in her (in)famous Royal Canterlot Voice. Her horn glowed, and the blue beam from it raced towards Twilight.

However, it did not hit her. Instead, it passed through her and hit the floor.

Crack! A square appeared on the floor with Twilight in its center, and the floor contained within it began breaking apart and falling down.

The sound of cracking and crumbling stones felt more terrifying than anything else she had experienced before.

"No!"

She tried to move, but her muscles failed her - she was barely able to lift her head. Trying to use teleportation spell did not help, either - all of her magical energy has dissipated somehow, resulting only in a few sparks around her horn and causing a massive headache. The ex-Princess realized that she could not escape now.

"NO!" she screamed again, trying to find mercy among her friends and Princesses, but all she got were looks of disdain and hatred.

"Farewell, Twilight Sparkle," Princess Celestia uttered with a tone of finality that could only be heard in the voice of an executioner.

"NOOOOO!"

When there was nothing left to hold the central point together, the floor came apart under Twilight, and she fell into the deep abyss, totally helpless.

"Somepony... anypony... HELP!"

Only silence answered her.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Please! Help!"

"Twilight?"

Growl.

Twilight looked below - and saw Cerberus raising his three heads, sharp teeth bared, ready to pounce at the sentenced pony as soon as she hit the ground.

"NO! No! Don't let him get me!"

Again, silence. Twilight's brain calculated that she had only one thousand meter to fall.

"Rainbow! Applejack! Rarity! Pinkie! Fluttershy!"

No answer. Five hundred meters...

"Sunset!" in her vain attempts to save herself from certain death below, she screamed for the pony that had not been present at her sentencing. "Sunset... please!"

"Twilight."

Two hundred and fifty meters. I am doomed!

"Twilight, wake up!"

One hundred...





"AAAAARGH!"

Twilight Sparkle sat up, panting heavily as if she had just finished the Running of the Leaves at her maximum speed from the start to the finish.

"Twilight?"

She paid no attention to the voice to the left of her. The darkness around her was chafing. She sat still, trying to return her breathing to normal.

"Twilight, can you hear me?"

"Yes... No! Is this Tartarus? Where is Cerberus? I must hide, I must..."

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!"

Slap.

Twilight felt a palm contacting with her left cheek painfully, then her head turned around to the right under the force of impact. Immediately after that, she felt her head being turned around in another direction.

A barely-lit-by-Pip-Boy but still recognizable face of Sunset Shimmer appeared in front of her eyes.

"Snap out of it!"

For one moment, the violet-haired girl sat still, her brain unable to comprehend anything.

Then everything dawned upon her.

"Sunset!"

Thud.

"Ooof!"

Two bodies fell on the floor as Twilight tackled Sunset in a bear-worthy hug.

"What? Huh?" Spike ran up to them.

"Twilight, much as I enjoy the hugging, one day you'll drop me and I'll bonk my head and crack my skull," the fiery-haired girl said, only half-jokingly.

"Oh, sorry, Sunset! It's just... I had a dream, a very bad dream, most likely the worst nightmare I've ever had..."

"No kidding, you were screaming. I thought that someone was attacking us. But what exactly did you dream of, Twilight?"

"Well, I dreamed that I found myself near the CHS, and the portal... everything looked fine, just like I remember it, before this war and everything... then the portal flashed purple, as if inviting me back... I ran into it, and found myself in my castle, but nopony was there to greet me..." Twilight trailed off, remembering the contents of her nightmare in full and pausing.

"Was that all, or something else happened?"

"Yes..." Twilight inhaled, and went on, "I moved on to the next room, and found myself in the room with thrones, where me and my friends sit, and everyone was sitting... my friends were sitting on their thrones, and my throne was occupied by Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna was beside her... on Spike's place... and everypony was frowning at me, and as I wanted to hug Celestia, there was a barrier preventing me from approaching her... I bounced back, and asked what was going on, and... and..."

"What happened next?" Spike asked, genuinely concerned for his mother-like figure.

"Next, Applejack approached me, and... she... bucked me with her hind legs!"

"WHAT?!" Sunset exclaimed, joined by Spike.

"Yes, she did, and then..." Twilight's eyes were now full of tears, and first trickles were already running down. She sniffed and went on, "then everypony started speaking to me, hatefully; they said I was a murderer, and that they despised me... and after that, Princess Celestia... she... she..."

Uh-oh, Sunset thought, I think I know where this is going.

"She said that she would punish me for my crimes, and... she took away my title of a Princess... not only that," at these words, the lavender-skinned girl could not hold her crying anymore, "she burnt away my wings! It hurt me, hurt so much, i could not even stand once she finished with me... but that's not the end..."

"It's NOT?!" the dragon-turned-dog exclaimed in surprise.

"NO! She also said she would banish me to Tartarus, and Princess Luna screamed at me in her Royal Canterlot Voice, and the ground started cracking... then, once it disappeared from under me, I fell... and near the end, I saw Cerberus looking at me, ready to pounce... I screamed for help, but nopony was coming, and then I almost hit the ground when I... woke... up..."

Having finished her tale of dream-woe, Twilight broke down crying. Sunset and Spike sat still, shocked by what they had just heard.

Then, Sunset sat next to her friend, giving her a hug in return. Twilight put her head on the shoulder and continued crying there. Both girls sat still for several minutes in almost absolute darkness, the only source of light being their Pip-Boys.

Once the Princess of Friendship (who badly needed a shoulder to cry on) exhausted her supply of tears, Sunset gently patted her on the back.

"There, there... it was not a reality, it was just a nightmare. It wasn't true..."

"But it was! To a certain extent..." Twilight interrupted, wiping her eyes. "I mean, I did kill, and that's not something ponies accept well... even the Royal Guard has orders to use lethal force only as last resort, when all other means have been exhausted. And capital punishment hasn't been used in centuries... yet here, we almost always kill. The word "almost" may as well be excluded, actually. I've been thinking on how other ponies back in Equestria would react... my friends, and Princesses, and my family, too..."

"Twilight," Sunset interrupted her in turn, "I don't believe that your friends, or Princess Celestia would do anything of what you have described."

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"Because if they are truly your friends, they should know better than to start launching accusations at you. They may be shocked, that's alright, but they should also ask: "What forced you to make that decision?" I mean, we aren't raiders who kill just for fun and to enjoy the suffering of other people. We protected ourselves or those who couldn't defend themselves. Plus, if Equestria suddenly were to come through the same things the UFE had endured, I hardly think that ponykind would remain the same peaceful species we know them to be now."

That makes sense... sort of, Twilight thought.

"Back in Equestria, there is still a social system: ruling body, law enforcement, standing military and so on. There is a way to keep the worst urges a sentient being can have in check... sort of; the system tends to fail in certain cases, but you aren't likely to meet someone like raiders, because the system would isolate or eliminate them quickly. But if the countermeasures were to be removed? I would bet my head that the same disreputable elements like raiders and slavers would also emerge among ponies - perhaps not immediately, but they would."

"As they did here, when the federal government of the UFE was destroyed?" Spike asked.

"Precisely, Spike. With Canterlot and many other cities burnt to the ground by atomic fire, the system that contained the worst examples of human beings collapsed entirely. Now, what happens in the Wastelands can only be described as anarchy. And in this anarchy, without a decent society, people have to fend for themselves now. Food, water, medicines and so on - you have to scavenge them, or buy them, or, if you have a steady influx, protect their source - or take them away. Vault Village has a device called "water chip" - it's basically a water filter designed to work for a long time. That's how we always had a supply of purified water. And we had to protect it, at all costs. But I digress. My point is, Princess Celestia is not stupid. Having ruled for more than a thousand years, she has to know how society works, and this world isn't so different from Equestria. She may not approve of what we did, but I believe that if she knew what this world has turned into, she would not be so quick of a judge."

"You really think so?" Twilight looked into her friend's turquoise eyes, her face lit with a resemblance of hope.

"Positive."

"But what if..."

"If she or Princess Luna or your friends still happen to be naive idiots on this issue, you can always tell them to kiss your flank and return here, to me," Sunset interrupted.

"Really?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Sunset recited the famous Pinkie Promise. "I have been through the same events as you, and even some others; I know too well how things work here now. And I am not planning to abandon my friend just because she had to take lives of those whose rightful place was in prison or grave."

These sincere words, spoken with a resolute tone, made Twilight Sparkle smile.

If the worst comes to pass, at least I will have one friend.

"Now there's the Princess of Friendship we know and love," the unicorn-in-human-form smiled in turn. "OK, do you want to try and have more sleep? I can stand watch a bit more..."

"No, no," Twilight looked at her Pip-Boy, which showed it was time for her to maintain constant vigilance, "I won't be able to sleep decently now. Have a rest."

"If you insist," with these words, the girls exchanged their positions...





The night watch was uneventful. Once Sunset's four hours of sleep passed, she had a talk with Twilight about their plans for the day.

"We are not very rich when it comes to ammo. Both of us have only two full clips for our assault rifles, plus each of us has ten spare 5.56mm ammo. I am also down to fourteen rounds for my shotgun. We also have three full pistol clips."

"I have only one clip for my SMG, and I have not three, but five clips, since I have never used my pistol," Twilight grumbled.

"Oh... you can swap two clips and a half for one full SMG clip, then."

Twilight did as suggested.

"And the rifles... let's count the ammo for hunting rifles."

As it turned out, Twilight had forty-nine ammo, and Sunset had fifty.

"I guess hunting rifles will have to be our primary weapon," the fiery-haired girl said.

"How do we get to Hoofington?" Spike asked.

"As we had intended, by moving in the south-western direction. However, we will need to be careful. No getting into firefights, unless it's really necessary. And maintain distance, so we don't need to change our weapons. Reserve assault rifles for critical situations."

"Fine by me," said the dog.

"Me too. Although I really hate the idea of leaving someone in need," Twilight said.

"If we are not able to help, then what is the point in trying to except for dying too early?" Sunset replied bluntly.

Cruel as it sounds, it makes sense, the new voice spoke in Twilight's head.

"Let's move out, carefully. I don't want any more of those zombies chasing us. My leg is not in that great condition yet."





After the firefight of the previous night, the zombies have dispersed through the village, rarely being in groups of more than two or three. The trio managed to get out of the village undetected; only on the edge they had to waste some ammo on some zombies that had tried to attack them on sight as soon as they saw the girls and the dog in the open.

When they won the short battle, both ponies-in-disguise hastily ran away from the nightmarish village.

"Where do you think the zombies came from?" Twilight asked Sunset.

"Beats me, honestly. The merchants have not mentioned anything like this in these parts. Then again, the Wastelands are full of terrors. Since none of the residents from Vault Village have tried to venture beyond the captured houses, there may be something even I have not seen before."

"Could it be so that this is a new threat, which had never been encountered before?"

"Possibly."

"But what would be the origin of such horrific changes? If we were in Equestria, I would have stated that it is the influence of dark magic, either the result of necromancy or golem creation of sorts."

"My bet would have been on necromancy."

"Why not golem creation?"

"Golem creation, as well as other "artificial life"-fields is not something you can simply dabble in. If you try to create an abomination like that, you need to be a powerful dark sorcerer and have the knowledge on which metals or their combinations work best as conduits for dark magic - which is not the knowledge you can find in a book shop, mind you - and you also need to create a mental framework, which is even more difficult than finding the materials for a golem. Plus, the process is very taxing. Necromancy, on the other hand, is more "easily" available. You can simply infuse the necromantic energies and input a single command, like "attack anything that moves", and voila."

"Sometimes I forget that you used to be Princess Celestia's personal student, too," Twilight admitted bashfully.

"I was a very motivated student. Too bad my social skills were non-existent."

"Heh, mine were too."

"Have you noticed that the two of us share a lot of similarities? Both of us are very powerful magic practitioners with higher-than-average intelligence, both used to be Celestia's students, both believed that friendship was not important..."

"Oh, don't remind me," Twilight facepalmed in embarassment, "I still can't forget the trouble I went through when trying to reconcile things with Moon Dancer..."

"Your twin-in-anything-but-blood? What happened between you two?"

"Well, when I was studying the Elements of Harmony, she prepared a party for me, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine. However, I told the other girls that I had a lot of study to catch up on... then I got caught up in the Nightmare Moon business, and totally forgot to keep in contact with anypony. Turned out she felt humiliated by it, and decided that friendship was worth nothing, and became a social recluse, doing nothing but studying."

"Ouch. How did you make it up to her?"

"Threw a party for her with Pinkie's help. That's when she finally bared her soul. I thought she would hit me..."

"Hit you with what?"

"A wooden stick. It was there to break a pinata, and when trying to get to her, I gave it..."

"You gave her something that she could hit you with?! Twilight Sparkle, you can be such a dork sometimes!"

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that she would lash out in anger? She didn't even show any signs of aggression pefore that! And it was Pinkie's idea to have a pinata, not mine!"

"So did you two reconcile?"

"We did."

"Well, I guess Moon Dancer is lucky she didn't need a rainbow beam to realize the importance of friendship..."

"Hey, no venturing down that line. You are a lot better now, and you are a good friend."

"Thanks, Twilight," Sunset smiled, "that means a lot."

"It's the truth."

Having finished the conversation, the trio made their way in silence. Thirty minutes later, Twilight decided to check the radio on a whim. The only frequencies available were the Enclave Radio and Canterlot Wastelands News. The girl turned on the latter.

Immediately, they heard a female voice:

"...I am also told that the Daring Duo that had killed Fast Grabber have left Vault Village now. Apparently, one of them needs help, so the other one, as a good friend, promised to help her out. So now, they venture into the Wastelands. I wish them luck, and insist that my listeners do so, too! And if you happen to meet two young women, one of them with fiery red and yellow hair and lightly tanned skin and the other one with violet hair and a pink strand and lavender skin, give 'em a hug! That doesn't count for raiders, though. If any of you raiders are actually listening to this, you'd better stay away from the Daring Duo. They eat you guys for breakfast. Not literally, of course; cannibalism is nasty, but you get the gist, right? If you don't, and you get killed, don't blame me. I did warn you, although maybe I shouldn't have. And now, some music! This time, let's go for something nice and quiet - "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire". An oldie, but a goodie."

The sounds of jazz music rang out from Pip-Boy's speakers, and a male voice began singing a soulful song.

"This CWN makes us look like some overpowered superheroes. And seriously? Daring Duo?" Twilight said quietly.

"Hey, don't hate, appreciate. If that sends some of the cowardly opponents running for their lives, all the better. Now shush, I want to listen to the music," Sunset replied. Everyone paused to listen to the old song.

When the music ended, Twilight turned off the radio.

"I don't recall hearing music like that before."

"This is a very old piece of music; jazz, I believe. This kind of music was very fashionable during the war, right until the Day of Burning. I'm glad someone actually transmits that. I'm sick of Enclave's patriotic music."

"Ironic name, though. "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire"... and look at the world, now."

"The irony didn't elude me, either. But this song is almost a century old. I don't recall nuclear fission having been discovered back then."

"By local calendar, when was the first nuclear bomb created?"

"In 2029, I think."

"Wait a sec, is it gun fire I'm hearing?" Spike interrupted them.

"What direction?" Twilight asked him, reflexively preparing her rifle.

"I think... forward and a bit to the right."

"Sunset? Thoughts?"

"Move stealthily in that direction. Spike, tell us if that is truly gun fire you are hearing," Sunset ordered.

"Okie-dokie."

Several minutes later, Spike confirmed that he could hear at least three different guns firing. At that moment, both girls were able to see red marks on their IFF screens.

"How about we climb onto that hill and ascertain the situation from there?" Twilight suggested, pointing to the hill in question. Its position was perfect for covert approach - it was between the enemies (there were five of them, according to Pip-Boy's IFF system) and the trio.

"Good eyes. When we are close to the top, we lie down and crawl."

"Why crawl?"

"So as to remain undetected."

"Oh. Right."

The girls went up the hill. Twilight let Spike jump onto the ground to serve as six o'clock watcher.

When they finally saw the future battlefield, they saw a scene unfamiliar to them, but not uncommon for the Wastelands.

Five people were attacking a merchant caravan.

The merchant was hiding behind the stone, unable to fire a well-aimed shot. On occasion he raised his assault rifle and fired blindly into the direction of his assailants, but he could not hit any of them. His guard was already dead, and some strange animal with many backpacks on it was also hiding behind the rocks. The merchant was doing his best to protect the animal from stray bullets.

The enemies were resembling raiders, but their equipment appeared to be in better shape. In fact, two of the "raiders" were wearing armour vests similar to those Vault 75 security tended to use, and one (apparently the ringleader) wore what Twilight assumed to be a military-grade armour vest and a helmet. He was also armed better than others - he had an AP-79, just like Twilight. The armoured "raiders" were armed with R91 assault rifles, and the remaining two had different weapons: one used an SMG, and another one had a hunting rifle with some gizmo on it.

"These enemies are very well-equipped," Twilight remarked quietly.

"Horseapples," Sunset cussed. "You see that guy's armour? Bet you my R91 that this armour came from a military base. Our hunting rifles may as well be popguns."

"But we have too little ammo for assault rifles."

"True."

"I suggest that we try to hit those with assault rifles and without helmets first. Then switch to the other helmet-less guys, and hopefully the last one will fall under crossfire," Twilight suggested a plan.

"Good tactics," Sunset praised, taking aim. "You take the one on the right, and I'll take the one on the left. Shoot when you are ready."

The violet-haired girl aligned her rifle's iron sights with her target's head, very carefully. She spent two seconds to ensure that front and rear sights were level and center, then breathed out and used the pause to align her sights again.

BOOM! BOOM!

Twilight saw a red smudge appear near her target's head, and then the "raider" twitched and moved no more.

"Bucking ponyfeathers! Missed!" Sunset's voice rang on the left.

Oh snap!

"What the fuck?! Who fired that?" she heard one of the raiders shout.

"Slapper is down! Fuck!"

"You'll pay for this, whoever you are!"

Two "raiders" turned in their direction. Twilight and Sunset fired again, but the former missed, and the latter hit the armour vest. The enemy she hit twitched and his shots went wide.

The other one, however, did not miss.

"AAARRGH!"

The assault rifle rounds penetrated Twilight's left arm, tearing through the unprotected skin. The girl immediately lost the ability to aim properly and felt the blood trickling down.

"Ah, shit!" Sunset cussed more dirtily this time. She fired once again, but her bullet went wide. However, her target rose a bit too high, and during the short period of chaos, the merchant was able to pepper him with more rounds. The "raider" dropped his weapon as the bullets shattered his shoulder joint, but he was far from dead.

The ringleader, however, quickly forced the merchant behind cover again.

"You three deal with whoever dares to shoot at us! I'll kill the merchant!" he screamed.

Twilight, gritting her teeth, crawled away a bit. Spike was able to jump into the backpack and take out the first aid kit. The girl thanked him with a look and started applying disinfectant.

"Twilight, please make it quick! Three enemies are closing on us!" Sunset told her in an urgent tone.

"I'm trying!"

Bz-dang! A bullet hit Sunset in the shoulder, but was unable to penetrate the armour.

"Blast! Thank Celestia for the shoulder guards!"

Twilight finished bandaging the wound and injected RegenStim, but the pain in her left hand prevented her from properly using the hunting rifle. Thinking quickly, she crawled ahead a little bit and pulled out her SMG. In the meantime, Sunset exchanged her rifle for the combat shotgun and fired blindly. A scream of pain told her that she hit someone.

"Ewww, guts!" the exclamation told them they most likely had two combat-capable enemies now instead of three.

"Focus, Snorer!"

"Let's crawl back a bit," Twilight suggested quietly.

"Good idea, and watch the sides - they may try to outflank us," the fiery-haired girl replied.

"I think they are doing exactly that, according to IFF screen."

And indeed, on Twilight's side, one of the enemies was trying to get at them.

Twilight fired a four-round burst. The "raider" quickly dashed back.

"Bitch!" he cursed.

BA-DOOM! Sunset's shotgun "spoke".

"No passage for you here, scum," the girl muttered hatefully.

The enemy, however, turned out to be smarter - or just more daring. Instead of carefully trying to dispose of his enemy, he jumped out. Sunset reacted a moment too late - her shotgun's spread did not hit him.

Instinctively, she ducked.

Bra-ta-ta-tat!

Two bullets penetrated Twilight's shoulder guard from behind and dug into her flesh.

"AARRGH!" The girl barely managed to hold onto her SMG. The force of impact, however, sent her on her knees. Sensing weakness, the other enemy attempted to press his advantage, but Twilight, gritting her teeth because of the pain, managed to release a string of bullets that forced the un-armoured "raider" back.

BA-DOOM! BA-DOOM!

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bz-dang, bz-dang!

"Ugh," Sunset groaned. The bullets hit her vest; while the kinetic energy dissipator worked as advertised, she still felt as if two strong hammers hit her. She gave as good as she got, however; she fired another shot at the enemy as he attempted to aim better when standing up. While his armour managed to withstand the case-shots somehow, the force of impact sent him tumbling to the ground. 

In the meantime, Twilight noticed that the red mark corresponding with her enemy started backing away from her, slowly. While this gave her a reprieve, she was certain this was not the end.

The pain in her right shoulder, however, was not letting her aim properly. And there was no time to waste, as the other "raider"...

BA-DOOM! BA-DOOM!

...just perished under Sunset's assault. That made the odds better, until the red mark stopped moving.

Must get rid of him now! But the pain...

Then, she felt a jolt of electricity runnig through her. Med-X!

One of the syringes with the painkiller was on her person right now, in a place where she would be able to get it quickly. Twilight took the medicine out of the pocket, using her mouth to take off the cap.

She inserted the needle and pushed.

Once the syringe was empty, the potent cocktail of morphine and regenerative meds started acting. Twilight felt as if something cold was running through the nerve system, and then the pain subsided to non-existence.

She could move her right hand without limitations now. And just in time - the enemy just tried to charge her with a knife from the hill top.

Eight bullets to the abdomen ended his charge, as well as his life, in an instant.

"Holy crap, Twilight, you are bleeding!" Susnet exclaimed, finally able to see the condition of her friend. Taking away the shoulder guard, she immediately started applying disinfectant. "You are lucky - it appears the wounds are not too damaging. A bit closer, and they would have hit the joint."

"We need to check on the merchant," Twilight said through gritted teeth. "Ouch!"

"Hold still, damn it! The bleeding needs to stop! Just a second... there, the bandages are ready," Sunset gave Twilight a dose of RegenStim and fixed the shoulder guard. "OK, now I can check on the merchant-"

"I'm with you," the lavender-skinned girl insisted.

"Can you actually aim?"

"Yes... I took a dose of Med-X..."

"What?!"

"I needed my arm functional, but with my shoulder shot, I could not aim properly through the pain."

"...OK, then, let's go. Just don't abuse the stuff, will you? Addiction is virtually impossible to cure now in the Wastelands. And many of the raiders are drug addicts that lost everything humane and would do anything for a dose."

As the girls got their hunting rifles ready, however, they were met with an unusual sight.

The ringleader was still attacking the merchant, but to the left of him, there was a human figure in the distance, all covered in black. The figure had a weapon trained on the lead "raider".

None of the girls heard a shot, but the ringleader's head suddenly cracked, along with the helmet.

"Who is that?" Twilight asked incredulously.

The figure glanced in their direction, and then turned away and ran.

"I don't know," Sunset replied honestly. "But there should be one raider left. Let's go, carefully."

However, as it turned out, the precautions were not necessary. The remaining "raider" suffered the same fate as his supposed commander.

"I guess that does it, then," the fiery-haired girl muttered, and then shouted: "Hey there! It's safe to come out now!"

Suddenly, a figure of merchant appeared from behind the stone, his assault rifle aimed at them. However, upon seeing that the girls and a dog did not appear hostile to him, he lowered his weapon.

"And the rest?" he asked.

"Dead," Twilight replied in turn, nonchalantly.





"And here I thought I was a goner. Thank you both, and your dog, too," the merchant, who introduced himself as Cap Collector, told the trio.

"Glad we could help," Twilight replied. She tried smiling, but the pain in her left hand has not subsided yet, and the smile was resembling a grimace.

"Are you wounded?" Cap Collector asked, worried.

"Already bandaged the wounds and injected RegenStim, and my right hand's on Med-X," the violet-haired girl replied.

"Well, it's rare to meet anyone who is willing to risk their skin and limbs against the White Knives."

"Who are White Knives?" Sunset asked.

"A group of bandits that appeared recently in the Northern Wasteland. Nasty bastards. They are like raiders, but better armed and equipped. You saw that guy's rifle? That's TODC assault rifle, and it's in a very good condition, too. And I bet the armour is military grade, too. They are trying to control the area around Hoofington now, and charge anyone exorbitant sums of caps for passage. I refused to pay them, and when they tried to shake the caps, I offed their raiding party. It appears I moved up on their shit-list. Anyway, how can I thank you besides the words? I do not have many caps, but I can give some things for free or in exchange for the loot from these gits."

"Some ammo and meds might be useful, but let's see what these guys have first."

In the end, it turned out that the bandits had one AP-79 assault rifle, two R91 assault rifles, one SMG, four pistols and one hunting rifle with some kind of sight on it, two hundred and fifty-nine 5.56mm ammo, one hundred and twenty-two 10mm ammo and forty .32 ammo, two sets of civilian clothes, two riot armour vests, one military grade armour vest and one helmet, four RegenStims, two Med-X syringes, one small bottle of Rad-X, one bag of RadAway, three days worth of food, three bottles of purified water and two bottles of slightly irradiated water plus one full Nuka-Cider bottle.

"Nice loot," Cap Collector said, the envy visible in his eyes. Even Twilight could tell that the guy didn't want to share it with them. Both girls sent him a glare that reminded him that they had just saved him from an ignoble fate. "Just saying."

Sunset used one of R91's to fix her own rifle and gave the other to Cap Collector for 147 caps. Twilight took the ringleader's AP-79, as it turned out to be in better condition, and traded her own for 170 caps. The looted pistols turned out to be in worse condition than their own, so they (plus the two that the girls had got earlier) were traded for measly 50 caps.

The clothes and riot armour were deemed useless by Sunset and traded for 120 caps in total, and the ringleader's armour was used to fix the damaged armoured Vault jumpsuits. The raiders' armour were also sold for 86 caps in total.

The girls asked Cap if he wanted to have a share in the ammo they got, but he declined ("Already have a lot," he said), so the girls took all the ammo for themselves. Sunset was visibly pleased with this development.

Also, the merchant refused (albeit reluctantly) to take the medicine, the food and the water, saying he owed them to the girls for Twilight's wounds and Sunset's damaged armour.

All in all, the girls raked in 573 caps. Combined with 45 caps from earlier, they could have 618 caps now.

"Blast, I have only 470 caps on my person," Cap Collector said.

"What is this thing?" Twilight pointed at something that looked like an optical sight on the trophy hunting rifle.

"ACOG sight. Nice little thing. Helps to aim better. Want it? It's yours for free, as my thanks to you."

Twilight took the rifle with ACOG sight and stripped her own to fix it. Suddenly, she noticed a very peculiar sidearm that was not noticed previously on the ringleader's body.

"And what is this?" she took out a weapon that resembled a pistol but had no clip in the handle; instead, it had a drum. There were only six spare ammo for it.

".44 magnum revolver. Rare thing, good in close quarters and for concealed carrying. I would have paid you for it, but you already stripped me out of caps," the merchant replied. "Can I interest you in my stuff?"

As it turned out, Cap Collector was selling .44 magnum ammo. The girls bought thirty-six of them for 108 caps. They also bought armour parts for their legs and arms, paying 320 caps (initially Cap wanted 400, but Sunset and Twilight capitalized on the fact that they saved his life, and he agreed to give them a discount). The merchant also showed an interest in yao guai meat, which was sold for 150 caps. Sunset aske dthe merchant if he had any shotgun shells, but, as it turned out, he had already sold his whole supply. There was nothing else the girls wanted to buy or sell, so the parties decided to go on their respective ways.

"Oh, wait," Twilight said, "We have seen some figure in black killing the ringleader. Any idea who that might be?"

"No, none at all," Cap Collector answered at once, "but if they are against White Knives, they are good enough in my book, so I don't particularly care. Fare well, lasses."

"You too," both girls replied, and everyone parted ways...





"There they are - the ruins of Hoofington," Sunset Shimmer said.

After hours of travelling and two encounters with wild beasts (a radscorpion and a pack of six mole rats that were swapped up in no time), the group came up to the remains of what used to be a prosperous city.

"Did Hoofington have any particular importance?" Twilight Sparkle asked out of curiousity.

"Not that I can truly recall. It was one of the most populated cities before the war, so it was the primary source of manpower for the military, but Hoofington itself does not present that much of a viable target. Anything that presented some strategic value was not located in the city or its suburbs."

"What objects of importance were the closest to it?"

"Hmmm... if I am not mistaken, there were two oil fields, the source of fuel, but they were almost worked out when the bombs hit. To the west, there was a RobCo facility which was closed for the general public - I believe it was a factory where war robots were produced. Further to the south, there was an air force base, but the military hadn't used it for ages - as far as anyone is concerned, there was nothing of importance out there. No fighters, no strategic bombers, not even refuelling facilities or ammunition stocks."

"That all?"

"There was a rumour that there was a nuclear silo somewhere within the radius of one hundred kilometers from Hoofington. I am puzzled, though - there were too few forests in this area to hide a silo from surveillance satellites. But even if it was here, no smart person would place it where the possibility of it being destroyed is higher."

"Well, maybe people from Hoofington were working on all these objects of importance, and TODC hoped that without manpower there would be no one or too few left to defend them?"

"Huh, never thought of it that way. Could be so."

"So how do we try to find the shelter? In the city or around it?"

"I don't know, honestly. Last time we moved around the city, we stumbled into a pack of zombies and almost wasted all our ammo. I am afraid that trying this again will end even worse. Then again, in the city we may easily stumble into a radiation pocket, or a nest of bandits, or something else."

"Don't we have more cover in the city ruins?"

"So does the enemy. Or at least those that actually use covers."

"So it's a lose-lose situation. Great," Twilight grumbled.

"Well, I have a per-war coin here with me. With somebody's profile on one side and UFE's symbol on another. So... profile, we head into the suburbs; symbol, we head into the city. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

Sunset threw the coin into the air, then caught it and slapped it onto her palm. Once she uncovered it, they saw the symbol of UFE looking into the air.

"Into the city, then," she said.





The ruins of Hoofington, while rich with possible shelters for the night, were quite lacking in defensible shelters.

Twilight, Sunset and Spike were moving from building to building, taking care so they do not stumble into a radiation pocket or find themselves too close to ground zero of the explosion that leveled the city.

Their Pip-Boys had a decent map of Hoofington, fortunately, so navigating was not really a problem, except for the cases when ruins of the buildings were blocking the path. Every time that this very thing happened, Sunset cussed and studied the map, trying to find an alternate route.

One time, such alternate route took them through a radiation pocket. Even with Rad-X taken, both girls accumulated 120 rads by the time they left the dangerous zone. Once Sunset saw the readings on her Pip-Boy, she exploded into a rant that attracted the attention of a pack of rabid dogs, and they had to waste two clips of pistol ammo on the pack. After that, the fiery-haired girl lowered the volume, but still used profane vocabulary on occasion. Twilight only shook her head at that; however, once Sunset told her that a couple more routes like that would result in them getting radiation sickness and having to endure the dubious pleasure of using the RadAway, she swore herself.

The sun was going down, and the world around them was slowly delving into darkness. Both girls were feeling tiredness and were actively thinking on where to stay for the night.

Suddenly, their Pip-Boys chirped.

"What's that?" Twilight asked.

"Let's see... huh, we caught a new radio signal. Wait. Civilian General Distress, Hoofington frequency? Who would actually use that?"

"What kind of signal is that?"

"Civilian General Distress is the frequency that was used to transmit messages about various things like road accidents, the necessity for immediate medical attention, encountering wildfire and stuff. Anyone who had a receiver could easily set onto it and listen to what exactly was needed. When nuclear attack was deemed imminent, this frequency was used to declare the beginning of evacuation. I didn't know this stuff still worked. I wonder what's on it?"

As Sunset turned on the radio, they heard an unfamiliar voice, somewhat garbled by static:

"...and barely survived. I am in the ruins of RobCo central office, holding on, but ammo's dwindling. Will be grateful for help. Message repeats. I'm broadcasting this to anyone who is in Hoofington and not associated with the gangs. I've stumbled into an ambush while on the way to a secure location and barely survived. I am in the ruins of RobCo central office, holding on, but ammo's dwindling. Will be grateful for help. Message repeats. I'm broadcasting this to anyone..."

"I see," Sunset said, turning off the radio. "RobCo central office is located not far from here, we can be there in five minutes if we hurry. Daring Duo for the rescue again?"

"Please don't use that callsign," Twilight made a long face. Both girls broke into running.

Five minutes later, they came up to the central office of RobCo Corporation... and stopped in confusion.

They saw big, hulking, green humanoid figures firing at the windows on the first floor. Someone out there was desperately trying to defend themselves, firing into the monsters... with red beams.

"They have laser weapons?" Sunset muttered quietly. "I want that stuff!"

"Maybe you should pay closer attention to these... ogres, or whatever the Tartarus those are?" Twilight pointed at the abnormally big humans. "What should we attack them with?"

"Assault rifles. No alternative, at least until we get more information. If someone is trying to kill them with laser weapons, these guys are definitely tough. Stealth attack, let's try and kill the closest to us. Stick to cover," Sunset advised, grabbing her R91.

"Will do," the Princess replied, preparing her AP-79. The girls went on, careful not to give themselves away. One minute later, they had their weapons trained at the head of the closest hulking green monster.

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

The stream of bullets did not leave their target a single chance. It fell, its head torn apart and blood flowing freely from the severed arteries.

"Ew, gross," Twilight cringed, fighting the gag reflex.

"What's that?" the girls heard the gruff, rude voices of one the "hulks". "Shooting from behind? Kill these gits!"

A cacophony of gunfire followed, bullets hitting the stony blocks or whizzing past the girls.

"My IFF shows six enemies," Sunset said. "Let's concentrate fire on the same target." She risked sticking her head out and almost paid for that with her life - more bullets whizzed as she hurriedly hid behind the concrete once again. "Ponyfeathers! No, we can't do anything against such bullet storm."

BOOM!

"What has just exploded?" Twilight asked.

"Fucking grenade!" one of the "ogres" screamed.

"There's your answer," Sunset replied half-humorously, stuck out and fired again. Twilight followed her example, shooting at the same target. Overwhelmed by bullets, the "ogre" fell.

Meanwhile, a figure-in-distress fired once again. The red beam hit another hulking green anthropoid...

and ignited it, turning it to ash. The remains of the creature - the clothes, and the weapon it held - dropped onto the asphalt.

Twilight's lower jaw fell.

"What in Celestia's name..?"

"Fuck that!" they heard another shout. "Let's show 'em this!"

"What're they going to..?" both girls looked at the screamer. The "hulk" had something massive in its hands, and it had six barrels.

And it aimed the contraption in their direction.

"GET DOWN!" Sunset jumped onto Twilight, pushing her down. Moments later, a truly massive bullet storm ensued.

"The bastard has a fucking minigun?!" the unicorn-turned-human screamed, all mouth filters off. "And he, or it, fires it without falling on its ass?!"

"This is bad, I presume?!" Twilight shouted.

"Very bad! Miniguns are usually mounted on tripods; only those that wear power armour can actually carry and fire them!" came the reply.

"So what do we do?"

"I have no idea!"

The girls had to endure the onslaught for several more seconds until it stopped.

"That did it for the ammo, let's kill the bastard!" Sunset stood up from the ground and started firing three-round bursts, but quickly hid once again.

"Ponyfeathers, reloading," she said. Meanwhile, Twilight also hit the minigun-wielding monstrosity, but was unable to kill it. However, her bullets shattered the creature's right hand, making it drop the heavy weapon, and the figure-in-distress seized the chance. Two red beams to the head killed the "ogre". At the same time, another grenade landed near the two remaining hostiles, who were clustered together. One BOOM, and the splinters tore away their legs, killing them instantly.

"Reloading," Twilight changed the clip, "now let's see who this damsel-in-distress is."

"Let's," Sunset replied.

"Urrrgh..." Spike moaned from Twilight's backpack. "All this jumping gave me vertigo..."





As the trio made their way into RobCo's office, they saw the female figure crouching near something with her back turned to them.

"Never thought someone would hear my message. Damn transmitter. One would think there would be good equipment in RobCo's office, but noooo, I had to use this piece of shit," as she said that, she rose and kicked the transmitter hard, toppling it. "Anyway, thanks you two for coming."

"No problem, but pray tell, who are you? And what are these green ugly kinda-humans?" Twilight asked.

"Those are super mutants. You never heard of them? What are you, fresh out of the Vault or something?" the figure said somewhat derisively.

"Or something," Twilight replied, not wishing to divulge any extra information.

"Oh stop shitting me, it's plainly obvious with my back turned that you're lying."

"Listen here, missy," Sunset took over the conversation, "your behaviour really doesn't endear you to us; plus, the fact that you're wearing this mask doesn't make you trustworthy. Maybe if you showed your face and stopped showing your back to us, we can continue the conversation more politely?"

"That can be arranged," the anonymous female turned around and took off her mask. Both Twilight and Sunset inhaled sharply.

The face had an aquamarine colour, and the hair were a mixture of light-grayish cyan and white. Yellow eyes looked upon the girls.

"Hello, Sunset Shimmer. Fancy seeing you here with your friend from out of town."

"Lyra? Lyra Heartstrings?"





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

That Was Barely a Scratch! (requires Endurance 5): You receive a permanent +5% bonus to your Damage Resistance.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Fighting Dirty: Sneak Attack Critical Damage is increased by 20%. And no, that does not make you 20% cooler.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

Directorate of Intelligence

Directorate of Intelligence (DOI for short) was a governmental organization responsible for gathering information in foreign countries, via both legal and illegal means. Although many people believed this organization to be under command of UFE's Ministry of Defense, this was not true - the organization was separate from the military. Nevertheless, DOI and military intelligence often tended to cooperate, and during the Last War, they were virtually one and the same entity. It is presumed that this organization's agents and operatives were responsible for certain victories of UFE's forces.

Given the nature of DOI, little is known about this mysterious organization. Many of its activities were classified, and with apparent destruction of Canterlot, whatever archives the Directorate may have had were lost, and the information that had somehow survived the Day of Burning is almost always heavily encrypted and/or redacted. It is known that Directorate of Intelligence had a network of hubs and bases scattered throughout the country, and was very compartmentalized - agents of one cell did not know anything about the other cells. This allowed to reduce potential damage if one of the cells were to be compromised.

DOI hubs and bases can still be found in Canterlot Wastelands. A "hub" is the name for a place where an agent or agents reside and work. The hubs rely mostly on their unnoticeability, although in certain cases off-putting reputations were built around them if the hub still stood out like a sore thumb. A "base", on the other hand, is actually a mini-Vault that had apparently been commissioned by the Directorate. Unlike hubs, bases are very dangerous - DOI took many steps to prevent the infiltration. The exact means of defense are not known, but it is safe to assume that land mines, trip-wires, automated turrets, Mr. Gutsies and Protectron robots are used. Military-grade war robots can also presumably be found within the bases. Theoretically, it is also possible to encounter hostile personnel within. If one actually manages to penetrate such defenses, however, then the lucky wanderer (or the team) may gain access to advanced pre-war technology, armour and weapons; this makes DOI Vaults an attractive target for looters.

It is known, however, that a number of Directorate's agents and operatives have survived the Day of Burning. Since each and everyone of them had undergone rigorous training regime, they all know how to use and maintain various weapons that can be found in the Wastelands. Due to the aforementioned compartmentalization, the agents are unlikely to recognize each other, and there appears to be no contingency plan for current state of the UFE. Thus, their affiliations vary; some of them have apparently joined the Enclave (if Enclave Radio is to be believed), others may have joined various organizations, and the rest look for their own and travel either alone or in small groups.
> Chapter 9: The dark descent
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 9

The dark descent


"The one and only," Lyra Heartstrings smirked at the dumbfounded expressions on Twilight's and Sunset's faces. "Did not expect me to be in this position?"

"I did not expect anyone from CHS," Sunset replied. "I had no way to know whether anyone from our class survived the Day of Burning. I was in different town, remember?"

"Yeah, I heard you moved out quite quickly. Did you hide in one of those Vaults?"

"I did."

"Oh..." Lyra's eyes gained a faraway look, as if she was seeing something in the distance.

"Something wrong?"

"No," the green-skinned girl shook her head, "nothing. I just recalled that getting places in Vaults cost a hefty sum."

"I had paid the sum."

"And your friend from out of town? Twilight, if I am not mistaken?"

"Found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time with a memory loss," Twilight replied.

"Memory loss?"

Sunset sent Lyra a look that plainly told "none of your business".

"OK, I need to dismantle this transmitter first, and then I think we will move away from here."

"You have an idea where to go?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. I was already on the way to my intended destination, but walked straight into an ambush set by these super mutants. Barely got out. Killed all the ambushers, but caused such a ruckus that these goddamn White Knives crawled from their hideouts to see if there is any loot. The fools did not notice me, and I had no way to take them on. Slipped away - and found another pack of super mutants. Turned out they showed up to a party, too. Some of them clashed with the White Knives, and others followed me. I almost ran out of ammo when I found this office along with Civilian General Distress transmitter and some weapons. Sent out a call for help out of desperation."

"And that's when we found you," Sunset finished.

"In the nick of time, too. I have only two batteries for my laser pistol on me now."

"I also see a laser rifle there. Nice guns, wouldn't have said no to one of those."

"Good luck trying to find microfusion cells for that thing. I tried to spare as much ammo as possible and still wasted all of them quite quickly."

"Isn't there a way to recharge them?" Twilight inquired.

"Not that I know. Normal batteries for laser pistols are also rare. You'd do better with lead-spitters, that's for sure."

"Lead-spitters?"

"She means common firearms which use bullets, Twilight," Sunset interjected.

"OK, done," Lyra said, having finished with the transmitter, "now we need to get to the safe place I spoke about earlier. I see you have Pip-Boys? Let me send the coordinates to you," she did something with her own Pip-Boys, and continued, "There, done. Can you see the marker?"

Both girls responded positively.

"This place, as far as I know, is a hideout of sorts with a code-locked door. This would have been a problem for us, but I had looted the necessary codes previously. It is located on the other side of the city, unfortunately. This means we have to go the long way, since the city center is still lethally irradiated."

"Well, blast," Sunset said, "and what if we run into more of these super mutants? They are quite tough, and strong, too. I saw one of those carrying a goddamn minigun."

"That, and those bandits from White Knives may be a problem, too," Twilight added. "I am not sure whether they are active at night, but I would rather not run into them. Me and Sunset ran into five of those when they were attacking a merchant. We saved him, but I got wounded, twice."

"Ouch," Lyra winced. "Walking on the surface is not an option I wanted to recommend, anyway."

"Then what do you have in mind?"

"Hoofington had a system of underground trains. It was built with the aim of being able to withstand shock waves and protect people in case of nuclear attack. That did not really go as intended - some of the tunnels had collapsed - but you can still use what survived the atomic detonation so as to avoid the threats on the surface. There is a downside to that option, however. The tunnels are positively infested with feral ghouls."

"What are those?"

"Humans that received an unhealthy dose of radiation, but were lucky - or unlucky - enough to survive at a cost of losing their minds and looking like zombies from trashy horror movies."

"Zombies? Wait, so that's what they are called?" Twilight interrupted.

"You've encountered them?" Lyra asked incredulously.

"Yes," Sunset took over the conversation, "stumbled into a village overrun by them. First there were half a dozen, and minutes later, we were chased by what, two dozens? Nearly wasted all our ammunition. Hid ourselves in a house with a metallic door in order to survive. Then had to run away again in the morning."

"Drat, girls, you are something. Surviving a pack of feral ghouls? Now you know what to expect in the underground railway system. My advice - shoot their heads, if you can, or their legs so they don't come too close."

"Thanks."

"Now let's see if these super mutants have something decent on them."

"You gonna take that laser rifle?"

"Of course, although I am not hoping that I'll find some microfusion cells."

As it turned out, super mutants had assault rifles and shotguns for weapons. Lyra stripped the R91's for spare parts and took all the 5.56mm ammo, leaving shotgun shells to Sunset.

"Sorry, girls, but I would rather spare the batteries for my laser pistol in case we encounter something really bad," she explained.

"No problem," Twilight replied. Sunset did not look pleased, but said nothing. Lyra's words made perfect sense.

"Now, let's go on our merry way through the scary dungeons," the green-skinned girl said half-jokingly, smiling...





"So this is the underground?" Twilight asked.

The quartet has entered a tunnel that lead to the ticket booths and escalators. There were some door-like devices (Sunset explained that those were meant to stop those who did not have a ticket), but they were deactivated, and the plastic "doors" were broken down.

"Yep," Lyra replied. "A relatively convenient way to get around the city if you don't want to endure traffic jams. Or super mutants and bandits."

"Do we actually know which way are we supposed to go?" Sunset asked sceptically.

"There is supposed to be a map which shows the lines and stations."

"It's somewhat dark in here. The lamp light is insufficient. I am surprised that reserve generators actually work."

"What are your Pip-Boys for?"

"Right. But if we waste the batteries, you'll owe us."

"Chill out, Sunset. A-ha, here's the map. Let's see..."

Lyra studied the scheme for a minute before tapping something on her own Pip-Boy.

"OK, I have sent you the waypoints we will need to go through."

"We've got them," Twilight replied.

"Excellent."

"Uh... Lyra? Won't this way get us too close to ground zero?" Sunset said unsurely.

"Not too close. Maybe closer than one would like, but those tunnels should not be collapsed - Hoofington was not hit by a very powerful bomb. But there is a chance we may encounter feral ghouls."

"You mentioned feral ghouls. There are non-feral ghouls?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. These are the ghouls that have retained their intelligence while undergoing the mutation process. Those can actually speak and use guns. They would certainly be better than feral ghouls... provided that they are not hostile. Unfortunately, many people discriminate against them for their looks and call them zombies."

"That's awful!" the lavender-skinned girl exclaimed.

"Too true, but, unfortunately, it is practically impossible to distinguish a feral ghoul from a non-feral one without disturbing them. They look almost the same, and both groups wear clothes - although sometimes the clothes on feral ghouls are a lot more tattered - so you will need to get close and interact somehow so as to actually find out who is in front of you. And disturbing feral ghouls is highly likely to end in a horrible death, so people prefer shooting from the distance first and ask questions later. And, of course, if someone is shot at, they don't bother trying to talk and shoot back. That's the Wastelands for you."

"What about super mutants? Aren't they intelligent? I mean, they can talk, they use weapons and even have something resembling communities and tactics..."

"That's a tricky question you are asking here, Twilight. They are intelligent enough for that, but animals also have pack instincts and tactics, so it could be argued that super mutants retained enough intelligence to use other weapons besides their hands or armature pieces, like firearms, but not enough to actually have feelings or complex psychology. One thing is very clear, though - super mutants are always aggressive, unlike normal ghouls that can be reasoned with in certain cases. So when it comes to greenskins (myself excluded; pardon the bad pun), the best and only solution is shooting them until they move no more."

The Princess of Friendship kept silence, processing the information that highlighted the cruelty of Canterlot Wastelands. She was unable to ponder on the subject for too long, however, because they arrived at a junction. One way diverted to the left and into the darkness (there were no lamps shining there), and another one went straight ahead.

"Where to?" Sunset inquired.

"Straight ahead," Lyra replied.

The girls went on their way. The tunnel started turning to the right.

"Isn't that getting us closer to the city center?"

"According to the map, there is another junction ahead that has a way to the left, and that's where we'll go... halt!"

"What's the matter, Lyra?"

"IFF shows hostiles, ten of them, two o'clock."

"What does the time have to do with hostile entities? Besides, it's not even two o'clock now..." Twilight interjected, confused.

"Military slang," Sunset explained. "Basically, this means the direction relative of the way where one looks. Twelve o'clock is straight ahead of the watcher, six o'clock is directly behind, three and nine are strictly to the right and to the left respectively. Other designations are in-betweens."

"So I have to imagine that the direction where Lyra looks is twelve o'clock and the enemies are where the arrow would show if it were on two o'clock?"

"Correct," Lyra replied. "Apparently, they are around that corner."

"Twilight," Spike whispered to his almost-mother from his backpack, "those appear to be feral ghouls. I can feel their smell."

"Can we engage them?" Sunset asked the green-skinned girl in the meantime.

"Depends on whom are we engaging. Feral ghouls? That we can. White Knives? Not likely."

"I think those are feral ghouls," Twilight voiced Spike's advice.

"You think?" Lyra asked sceptically. "And what are you basing this assumption on?"

"Oh..." the alicorn-in-disguise stood, flustered. I can't tell her that Spike can speak, even if the whole school saw him speaking during the Fall Formal! Something feels... off. "Well... Spike felt them, and started just... well... moving worriedly around in my backpack. That's how he reacts to them."

"Ah, your dog felt them? Well, feral ghouls against three of us is not much trouble. But let's not charge ahead."

"Agreed."

Three girls moved silently around the corner. As Spike predicted, the enemies were feral ghouls indeed, although there were fifteen of them in reality. Fortunately, they remained undetected.

"Weapons ready," Lyra whispered, and raised her R91 assault rifle. Sunset did the same with hers, while Twilight chose to aim with her SMG.

"Fire!"

Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat! Bra-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

Bullets tore apart their intended targets; one of the ghouls was pierced through and another one standing behind him was also dropped. Others turned around, but the girls already picked new targets.

Another burst of fire, and only eight of zombie-like mutants remained.

"Aim for the legs!" Sunset shouted, and released another stream of bullets, killing one ghoul and making other two stumble. Twilight's disorderly fire managed to kill another two before she ran out of ammo. Not bothering to reload, she whipped out her pistol and put a bullet into the head of the closest ghoul.

"Nice shooting!" Lyra said, gunning down two ghouls that Sunset had dropped. She turned to others - and the gun clicked. "Shit, out of ammo!"

"Horseapples, me too! Twilight, cover us!"

"Wait, what? Are you kidding me?!" Twilight shouted, but two other girls already retreated, leaving her on the forefront. "Oh ponyfeathers! I'll remember that!" she shouted, firing into two remaining ghouls while taking back - which did not do well for her aim: the bullets that hit the torsoes did not drop the enemies.

Suddenly, a red beam hit the closest ghoul in the left hand and dropped him; another one received a shot to the head that literally burned him to ashes.

"Effective," Sunset remarked. "Sorry, Twilight; the bolt on my rifle got stuck. Had to apply some extra strength."

"And mine did not want to dislodge the magazine," Lyra remarked, scowliing at her assault rifle that she had had to drop in order to use her laser pistol. "Damn R91's can do that sometimes."

"Apologies accepted, or rather, excuses accepted," Twilight grumbled a bit. "Just... let's not leave me on the forefront again."

"No promises," the green-haired girl replied, "if that make stactical sense, we'll need to do that."

"Freaking great."

"Quit your whining, let's search their bodies and go on."

"Can feral ghouls actually have valuable loot?"

"Bottle caps are always valuable loot. Feral ghouls usually have some on them..."

However, no matter how hard they searched, they did not find any.

"Oh come on! Fifteen ghouls and not a single cap on them?" Lyra exclaimed, exasperated. Twilight heard Sunset mutter what suspiciously sounded like "pony piss", but once she turned her head to the fiery-haired girl, the latter was looking in tunnel's direction like nothing has happened.

"Well, blast. Waste of ammo and not a single cap. Let's move on."

The group went on, bitter about their bad luck. Soon, however...

"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me," Lyra said on turning around the corner.

"What are you swearing about... oh ponyfeathers," Sunset muttered once she caught up to the green-skinned girl.

Twilight was the last to join them. She understood immediately what was the reason for her comrades' foul language.

The quick way they were all hoping for was blocked by a cave-in. Stones, pieces of armature and concrete and parts of rails were blocking the path. There was literally no hole to crawl through.

"I take we will have to turn back?" the Princess of Friendship asked.

"Obviously. There is no way to get through this cave-in. Even if I had some industrial-class demolition charge on me, it would not help us," Lyra replied. "And I don't recall this part of tunnels being collapsed. Someone did it after the Day of Burning."

"What makes you think that? Can't atomic bombs cause something like this?"

"They can, but, as I had mentioned, Hoofington was not hit by a particularly powerful bomb. And the underground system was built with the possibility of housing refugees from nuclear explosion in mind. This section should not be collapsed."

Suddenly, an unmistakable sound of growling stomach was heard.

"Whose is that?" Sunset asked.

"Mine," Twilight admitted, embarrassed.

"Truth be told, I am feeling hungry, too," Lyra confessed. "How about a small pause? This cave-in at least has our backs covered, so we will be able to see anyone who is coming towards us."

"Sounds good," the amber-skinned girl agreed.

"And no one is bothered that there are... corpses nearby?" Twilight interjected, pointing to several bodies in armour of unfamiliar design.

"They aren't decomposing yet, so we don't need to worry about corpse poison. You can have your back turned to them, if you want."

The equine Princess only growled at that remark.





"So how's life been treating you after CHS?" Sunset asked Lyra while digging her teeth into what-passed-for-vegetarian-food-in-MRE's.

"Nothing atypical. Went on to find a job. Unfortunately, at that time the job market was not in best shape. For three months I had to struggle for living until I managed to join a small band that performed patriotic music. Turned out no one could play piano there, so I was a pianist. Then, one day, I was noticed by UFE's Military Orchestra. They asked me what instruments I could play, and once they found out I could play trumpet, they offered me a place and rank, along with relatively decent payment."

"What about Bon Bon? You two were virtually inseparable..."

Lyra did not answer at once. Twilight could have sworn that she saw a shadow cross the green-skinned girl's face when Sunset mentioned Bon Bon, but decided that was the trick of light.

"Well... we got separated. When the war began, Bon Bon almost immediately joined the army. Her dad used to serve in the army long ago, and he was a big patriot. And he passed these qualities on to his daughter."

"Did you at least maintain contact?"

"We tried our best. She was telling me the news from frontlines - at least, news that would not be censored - and I told her about my struggles with money. She was so happy when I told her that I joined the Military Orchestra. Once I did, exchanging messages became simpler - until the latest TODC offensive on the east."

"The Eastern Gambit?" Sunset's face fell once Lyra nodded. "Oh crap..."

"What is the Eastern Gambit?" Twilight asked.

"It was the offensive that TODC had launched against UFE shortly before the Day of Burning," the green-skinned girl explained. "It was a surprise attack from eastern direction, when a large TODC force made it to the shores of UFE. Bon Bon was stationed near the eastern border at that time, so I can only imagine what hell she went through. Our forces there were not as ready against potential invasion as those on the western borders, where it would be easier for TODC to attack. I still can't imagine how they were able to sneak a big enough force in there..."

"Did Bon Bon survive?"

"I... don't really know," Lyra's face fell. "I know that she had managed to survive the Eastern Gambit, but I have little idea whether she survived the Day of Burning. That's what I hope to find out."

"I hope you'll find her alive," Twilight put her hand on Lyra's shoulder.

"Thanks for the kind words," the green-haired girl smiled, "now eat your food before it gets cold. It's worse when it's cold."

"I still think that whoever dared to call this a meal must be thrown to dungeons," the Princess of Friendship glared at the MRE she was trying to eat now.

"Well, that's why they are called Meals Rejected by the Enemy," Sunset laughed.

"That's a lie, by the way. TODC soldiers were not above looting this stuff from corpses," Lyra remarked.

"What, their food was worse?"

"Don't know, don't care. Military rations almost always suck. Field kitchen for the win."





Once the girls (and Spike) finished their meal, Lyra suggested looting the corpses lying nearby. Sunset supported the idea; outnumbered, Twilight simply rolled with the idea.

There were four bodies in total. The armour they wore was military-grade, according to Lyra, so they decided to see whether it would suit them.

Twilight and Sunset had already attached armour plates on their arms and legs when they bought them from Cap Collector, so the only things they actually deemed necessary were torso vests with groin protection which were of better quality (visually, at least).

Lyra, on the other hand, had only light torso armour, so she unabashedly took the whole set of armour and stripped the remaining one for spare parts to replace the plates wherever she believed protection to be inadequate.

In terms of weapons, however, the situation was not as good. Aside from pistols, two hunting rifles and two assault rifles with ammo for them, there was virtually nothing of interest aside from two frag grenades and one flashbang grenade. Twilight refused to take any grenades, so Sunset and Lyra took one frag grenade each, and the former also took the flashbang when the latter refused to take it.

"I don't get it. How useful a flashbang can be now? It's not like we need riot control or conduct hostage rescue missions," she said.

The last piece of loot made Lyra happy, however. One of the bodies had two fully charged microfusion cells.

"Yay!" she said. "Finally, some serious firepower in case things go south."

The remaining ammunition for non-energy weapons was split equally between each other. Lyra and Sunset stripped the R91's in order to fix their own guns.

"What is that?" Twilight showed them the remains of something that resembled a cylindric block.

"No idea," Sunset shook her head.

"Let me see," Lyra took the object. Seconds later, she declared, "It's the remains of a bomb."

"A bomb?"

"Yes, and a very powerful bomb, too. Where did you find this cylinder?"

"Right there, near the debris," Twilight showed the direction. Sunset went over there.

"You think someone might have mounted this bomb on a ceiling?" she asked.

"That's possible," the green-skinned girl replied. "Although I don't think it was one bomb. There were several, I suppose."

"Hey, I found something else," Sunset came back to them. In her hand, there was a small rectangular object.

"Magneto-optic data disc? Give me. Maybe it had something useful," Lyra inserted the disc into a slot on her Pip-Boy. "Hmm, it's an audio recording. Let's play it."

Once she hit the play button, they all heard a male voice speak:

"I am heavily bleeding... I don't think I'll make it... no one else did... but at least we collapsed the ceiling. If you are listening to this... don't go to southern parts of the city. White Knives... base there... ways blocked by super mutants... won't use that way... and won't use the tunnel now. Another tunnel... full of feral ghouls, and no power there. Turn back. Turn... back..."

After that, a soft click signified the end of the message.

"They... if this message is to be believed, they collapsed the tunnel so that White Knives don't go through here..." Twilight almost whispered.

"Mm-hmm," Lyra replied.

"And since this way is a no-go, we have to take the other tunnel... with no lights, and feral ghouls, and maybe White Knives..."

"Mm-hmm."

"And it's the longer way, too."

"Mm-hmm. Well, it's not like we have a choice. There're no other stations nearby except the one we used to enter, so we'll have to go there," the green-skinned girl checked whether her assault rifle was loaded, and went first.

"Buck my flank," Twilight grumbled, angrily. She could have sworn that she heard Sunset snort with laughter, but the fiery-haired girl emitted coughing sounds immediately after that. The equine Princess still did not believe that her compatriot did not find her swearing amusing.





"This reminds me of cheap horror movies," Sunset grumbled.

All girls have been going through the dark tunnel for fifteen minutes already. Spike was moving slightly ahead of them, benefitting from being able to see better in the dark. Twilight had instructed him to run back immediately if he smelled or saw any enemies ahead. This arrangement would help the girls to prepare themselves for a fight before the enemy would detect the light coming from their Pip-Boys.

So far, they had not seen any enemies. However, their nerves were still strained, and not only because of possible dangers that they could stumble upon.

The tunnel which they did not want to take (but were forced to) was not only dark due to the total absence of electricity, but it also had very little space for maneuvers. The rail cars of underground trains were standing or lying in various places and positions, no longer standing on rails, either alone or connected to others.

This proved to be very frustrating for the group. Haphazardly threwn everywhere, rail cars turned into obstacles which had to be either bypassed or climbed over. Due to the fact that Twilight and Sunset carried more cargo than Lyra, they were the most displeased ones whenever this development took place. Lyra herself hated climbing over the obstacles, but prefered to keep silence while Sunset was inadvertently teaching Twilight obscene human language.

On several occasions, when the cars were blocking the way very thoroughly, the girls climbed inside them in order to pass through. The thing is, walking inside a totally dark rail car which is lying on its left or right side with light not going further than a meter ahead is never a fun experience, and everyone (Spike excluded) bumped their heads against something at least once. On these occasions, even Lyra's mouth filter slipped and she used some expressions that made even Sunset blush (not that it was clearly visible).

All this was not helped by the fact that the tunnel was forcing the feelings of claustrophobia on them. It being dark and gloomy only exacerbated the negative feelings... and also served as a prompt for Sunset's remark.

"It certainly does," Lyra responded. "Who wants to bet that we'll meet a crazy animatronic possessed by a soul of a murdered child who will stuff you into a suit resembling an iron maiden?"

"I said movies, Lyra, not games. How about finding a gremlin who replicates itself by having water poured on him here?"

"Lame, Sunset. How about an alien monster that jumps onto your face and implants an egg into you which will gestate into a xenomorph that bursts out of your chest?"

"You two are not helping," Twilight growled, pissed off due to extra pressure that the discussion was putting on her nerve cells. "Cut that horse manure out, will you?"

"Chill out, Princess," Lyra replied. "Discussions like this will keep you on edge, which we need now."

"Hmpf," Twilight harrumphed. "I still think we could do without your surrealistic horror imaginations."

"Sunset, where did you dig out this fossil who doesn't even remember the classics?"

"Amnesia. You forgot about that," the fiery-haired girl replied.

"I did not, in fact, that's a good game..."

"I mean Twilight's amnesia."

"Oh, sorry."

"Now why do I not believe that," Twilight muttered sarcastically, but she did it very quietly, so neither Sunset nor Lyra heard her.

Unexpectedly, they saw Spike running back. He immediately ran up to his almost-mother, who scooped him up and put him back into her rucksack.

"Weapons at the ready, and look at your IFF," Lyra ordered immediately.

No sooner had she said that than a previously unseen monster with a truly hideous look appeared in front of them.

"Holy guacamole, what is that?!" Twilight screamed as she saw the twisted creature. Its appearance was somewhat similar to human, and it was as tall as the girls, but it did not have any legs and used hands as the means of movement instead of legs. The creature's human-like torso had nothing but head attached to it, and from it's mouth, three long appendages resembling tongues were protruding.

In short, it was the most disgusting creature she had ever seen; even Smooze looked more appealing than that thing.

"Don't know, don't care! Kill it!" Sunset replied, discharging her combat shotgun into the monster. It responded by flinging all its tongues at the girl, but she managed to evade them. "God damn it, Twilight, shoot it!"

"Sorry!" Twilight replied, whipping out her SMG and unleashing a stream of bullets at the enemy.

Pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat-pat!

The creature stumbled a little bit under the lead storm, but did not fall. Stepping forward, it lashed out with its tongues, hitting Twilight's legs. The force of impact made the girl's knees and sent her to the ground. Twilight's SMG flew away as she released it while her hand flailed in the air.

BOOM! BOOM! Sunset's shotgun left two gaping wounds in the creature's torso. Meanwhile, Lyra grabbed Twilight from behind and tried to pull the girl away from the monster while firing her laser pistol at the monster.

Bzoot! Bzoot! Bzoot! the high-tech weapon spoke. Red beams were leaving burns in the twisted monstrosity in front of them, but the creature was very resilient.

It turned to Lyra and spat something at her. At nearly point-blank distance, the creature could not miss, and a strange green glob splattered against Lyra's armour vest.

Crack-click-crack-click - her Pip-Boy immediately started emitting the sounds that invariably spoke "radiation here, turn back if you are not suicidal" - but the source of radiation was the creature's spit, and the green-skinned girl could not get away from it, since it was on her.

"Aaargh! Argh! Argh!" her voice became high-pitched. "Fuck! Damn it! Fucking bastard irradiated me!"

Meanwhile, the monster lashed at Sunset again, and this time she was unable to evade. Tumbling to the ground, she pulled the trigger, making her shot go wide into the dark. Fortunately, her shotgun did not face her comrades.

Twilight was desperately searching for another weapon on her, when her fingers brushed against a recent acquisition - .44 magnum revolver, a trophy she had recovered after the skirmish with five White Knives.

Taking it out, she aimed it at the monster's head and pulled the trigger (noticing in the meantime that the trigger was giving way harder on this weapon).

BANG!

The weapon was loud; Twilight's ears started ringing from the sonic assault.

The high-caliber bullet hit the top of the creature's head, splitting its skull and taking a part of it away... and the creature turned to the lavender-skinned girl.

Just how resilient this monster is that it survives a split skulls and a part of its brain blown away?! This should not be possible!

Twilight pulled the trigger again.

BANG!

Another .44 magnum bullet went into the creature's face - and this time, the whole head came apart.

The headless body fell on its side.

And then, strong hands went under Twilight's underarms and tried to lift her up. Startled, the girl tried to resist.

"Hush, you, it's me," the voice of Sunset Shimmer calmed her down. "You fine?"

"Not really. It hit me in places not covered by my armour, but I don't think it pierced my skin. You?"

"Bruised my butt falling down. Celestia damn it, can that monster hit. It hit my armour only, and I fell down. Lyra? You fine?"

"Aside from being covered in saliva and having accumulated one hundred and ten rads?" Twilight turned around to see the green-haired girl looking very pissed off. "I'm fine. Word of advice - avoid its spits. I was hit and accumulated seventy-five rads in fifteen seconds."

"Thanks for the advice..."

"Woof-woof-woof!"

"What is it, Spike - oh ponyfeathers!" Twilight cussed as she turned around.

Her IFF showed two red marks - and her eyes registered two super mutants approaching too closely for comfort to them.

"You die now!" one of them shouted.

"Fuck me sideways!" Lyra swore, taking her laser rifle and taking steps back. "Eat fire, bastards!"

BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM!

Twilight immediately grabbed her AP-79 and, standing on one knee, immediately discharged it. Sunset's shotgun joined the chorus of firearms.

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA! BOOM! BOOM!

Bullets, case-shots and laser beams hit the closest super mutant; however, it shrugged off the assault, despite numerous wounds on its torso, and fired at the girls, joined by the second one.

Unfortunately, there was little to no cover available in the section where the girls had to fight. As they fired, all girls turned their backs and sprinted away, keeping their heads low.

Twilight managed to dive behind a small pile of debris which was quite low; in order to cover herself from bullets, she had to lie down.

Lyra hid herself behind a rail car; while it could hide her from sight, it did not serve as adequate cover against bullets. The green-skinned girl had to duck down as 5.56mm ammo tore through the metal like it was butter.

Sunset was the unluckiest one. She was in the middle relative to tunnel's walls, where no cover was available. She tried to sprint to cover while the monsters were distracted with Twilight and Lyra, and then zigzag around, but she was unable to get to adequate cover. Two monsters fired short bursts into her back.

Several bullets hit her in the back, where the armor stopped them, making her tumble and fall. Sensing weakness, one of super mutants fired another burst at Sunset, and this time, all bullets hit their target.

The armour plate on the girl's right leg did not withstand the onslaught, and four bullets entered her limb, tearing chunks of her flesh and splattering blood around.

Screaming from sudden pain, the former student of Princess Celestia fell down.

"SUNSET!" Twilight screamed, seeing her friend gunned down by hulking mutants.

BZ-DAM!

"Wha? You ruined my gun? Bitch!" one of the super mutants screamed at Lyra as his assault rifle's barrel was melted down by high-temperature laser beam.

Twilight's brain, however, registered this event only somewhere on the periphery as her eyes continued to gaze upon the prone form of Sunset Shimmer.

Unmoving. And even in the tunnel's darkness, barely lit by Pip-Boys, she could see that a pool of blood was expanding around the torn leg.

Four bullets, serious bleeding, perhaps chunks of armour in the wounds. Possible pain shock. Can't see if arteries are damaged. If they are, death from exsanguination highly likely.

One word stood above others. Death.

Twilight Sparkle was no stranger to the threat of death. She, as well as her pony friends back in Equestria, had had to endure the risk of potential loss of their lives on several occasion, confrontation with Tirek being the most notable.

Twilight did not tell this to anyone, but she genuinely believed that the centaur would kill her and her friends if he so desired.

However, she had never seen one of her friends taken down so violently.

Inside her, several voices were screaming. One from shock, another in fear.

And the third one was booming over them. With pure unadulterated fury.

Kill them.

Twilight turned around. Two green-skinned monsters were firing at Lyra. Several steps, and they would outflank her. After that, she would be easy prey...

Don't be the prey. Be the predator. Kill them.

Predator? But we are not predators by nature...

They hurt your friend. They want to kill you, all of you. Kill them!

Just like that?

Just like that. Kill them!

But...

You will die if you don't act!

Act. I must act.

Twilight changed her stance, readying her AP-79. The butt was firmly secured against her shoulder.

Kill them!

Iron sights fixed on the closest mutant's head...

Kill them!!!

Index finger pausing on the trigger...

KILL THEM!!!

Pull.

TODC assault rifle started spewing bullets. The finger did not relax as the rifle was kicking back against Twilight's shoulder, but she paid it no heed.

KILL! KILL!

The mutants head came apart under the onslaught of bullets...

KILL!

The remaining mutant turned and sprinted towards her as she trained her assault rifle on him...

KILL!!!

BZ-DAM!

...a laser beam hit the monster's head, igniting it and turning it into ashes, some of them landing on Twilight's face and front.

The bloodthirsty voice in her head calmed down, satisfied. But another one appeared.

What am I turning into?!

Later. Help Sunset! someone else snapped at her.

Oh ponyfeathers! I almost forgot!

"Sunset!" Twilight screamed, sprinting towards her friend. Lyra was hot on her heels, and in a second, both girls kneeled beside their comrade.

Sunset was unconscious, and the pool of blood near her was already of decent size. Even in Pip-Boy's faint light one could see that the girl's face was pale.

Twilight's hands were automatically rummaging in her rucksack (when did I take it off?), taking out the bandages and medicines.

"That girl is the luckiest lass in the Wastelands. No artery damage, no vein damage," Lyra commented. "But the leg is most likely crippled now. Give me another pack of bandages, we must stop the bleeding now."

Two girls disinfected the wounds extremely quickly, putting on the bandages and stopping the blood flow. Twilight took out a syringe of RegenStim, but Lyra intercepted the lavender-coloured hand and shook her head.

"RegenStim is useless when a limb is crippled. We need better stuff than that."

"But where shall we find it?"

"The field doctors in UFE army always carried bags with advanced medicines designed to quickly restore crippled limbs into working condition. These bags have "AMFAK-10" written on them. if we find one, it will help us a lot," the green-and-white-haired girl replied, injecting Med-X into the hurt leg. "To prevent pain shock once she comes around," she explained in response to Twilight's silent question.

Once all first aid procedures were finished, Lyra picked unconscious Sunset up, putting the fiery-haired girl on her shoulders.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be our main defensive force now," she said. "I can't attack properly while carrying her, and I don't think you will be able to carry her with all the arsenal you have."

"No problem," Twilight said, her voice turning dark. "Anything tries to attack us, it dies."

That's how you do it now? her consciousness gnawed at her. Dies?

They hurt my friend, an angry voice of her own snapped. We didn't do anything to them, and yet they attacked us first; they wanted us dead.

And you'll spill more blood to keep all of you safe?

They hurt Sunset. She's possibly the only friend I have remaining here. They. Hurt. My. Friend! 

With a newfound determination, Twilight moved forward, putting Spike on the ground and clutching her assault rifle hard, eyes staring menacingly into distance...

I won't let this happen again!





Later, Twilight couldn't really explain herself how she was able to move on like that.

One needs to remember a couple of things. Firstly, the evening was coming to its end, giving way to night. Both Twilight and Sunset were on their legs for the whole day, and the lavender-skinned girl was already feeling tiredness crawling into her muscles before the unlucky skirmish with some long-tongued monster and two super mutants. Lyra was in no better condition, having been forced to spend a lot of strength on during her misadventures, and she was tasked with carrying unconscious Sunset.

And secondly, Twilight had been wounded several times during this day. Two wounds on her right hand were almost fine thanks to RegenStim, but her right shoulder was on pain again once Med-X had run its course, and using her right hand was painful (less painful than when she was bleeding, but it could be debilitating enough to screw with her aim).

As such, plowing through dark tunnels like a storm should have been outside the realm of possibility.

And yet, the quartet moved on and on, determined to reach safety and, hopefully, find a rare AMFAK-10.

Twilight was clutching her AP-79, eyes peeling into darkness and darting to IFF screen from time to time, ready to discover any potential threat. The tiredness in her muscles, the pain in her wounded right shoulder and stinging right hand - all of this existed, but was somehow pushed into the backyard of her consciousness.

They have been carrying Sunset for thirty-five minutes already.

They have stumbled upon a few groups of feral ghouls, which quickly fell prey to 5.56mm rounds. When Twilight and Lyra had looted the super mutants that had wounded Sunset, they found an abundance of assault rifle ammo; since Lyra was carrying the fiery-haired girl, Twilight took the whole stock. As such, the latter was quite liberal with bullets.

Twice they have encountered the same beasts like the one they had fought before Sunset was wounded. During these skirmishes, Lyra put the unconscious girl on the ground and assisted with her laser pistol.

They also have encountered a lone super mutant once. Fortunately, this one was armed only with a block of wood with nails. When he tried to charge the girls, Twilight and Lyra spared no ammunition in bringing it down (the green-skinned girl actually used her laser rifle on that occasion). The monster fell in front of them before it reached them, his corpse covered in blood, bullet entrances and laser burns. (Also, he had some frag grenades on him, which the girls split equally.)

Spike has been a great helper. Whenever a threat was ahead, he quickly and quietly ran back, so the girls were ready for engagement before the enemy was in vision field. A couple of times, Lyra even shot blindly with her laser pistol, relying solely on her Pip-Boy's IFF. This trick helped them with feral ghoul packs.

All this time, the Princess of Friendship remained wound up like a clock, concentrated fully only on one purpose - save Sunset.

Finally, they have passed the dark section of the tunnel; they still haven't exited the underground yet, but they could actually see without the help of their Pip-Boys. As such, they had turned off the lighting, and took turns carrying the unconscious fiery-haired girl.

Twilight had relaxed a bit, still ready to annihilate any threat but believing that the worst has already passed.

On that day, she learned to try and not think like that, so as not to jinx the situation...





"Hey, you! You can't walk here!"

Oh ponyfeathers, Twilight thought. Sweet Celestia, please don't let it become a problem.

She and Lyra (who carried Sunset at that time) were about to reach the final point they so desperately desired when a group of five ragtag men who blocked their way immediately.

"What do you mean, we can't walk here?" she asked.

"Are you dumb or deaf? I said, you can't go through here!" the apparent ringleader repeated his statement.

"That part we understood, thank you very much," Lyra replied sarcastically. "Now who the fuck are you to tell us where we can and cannot go?"

"We live here, lass, and we don't let anyone pass!"

"Look," Twilight tried to appeal to him, "we have a wounded friend, and we need to heal her. But the needed medicines are hidden in another place, and we need to get through this tunnel to get them!"

"I don't care, lass. Turn the fuck back and don't turn around."

"How about caps, then? How many of them do you want?"

"None, bitch! Leave or we'll make you leave!"

"First, don't call my friend here a bitch," Lyra growled, putting Sunset on the ground and taking her R91, "and second, you and what army? In case you hadn't noticed, we have armour and assault rifles, while you only wear pre-war clothes and your best weapon here is a hunting rifle. You let us pass peacefully, we go as fast as possible and hurt no one, everyone's happy."

"Uh, guys?" one of the men found his voice. "These two mean business; maybe we'll just let them pass?"

"Don't be a pussy," the ringleader snarled at him. "You think they can fight just 'cause they got guns and killed a bunch of feral ghouls? And you," he turned to the girls, "take your corpse or whatever her state is and scram outta here."

"That's it?!" Twilight exclaimed, enraged, her AP-79 turning into the direction of the men in front of her. "Not only you do not want to help our friend, but you don't even want to let us help her?!"

"Don't get all high and mighty on me, you little whore!" the ringleader screamed into her face. "Get outta here! That's your final warning!"

A bomb of fury, fueled by worrying for her still unconscious friend, went off in Twilight's head at these words. How dares he? How dares he?! That good-for-nothing pile of horse shit! Celestia is my witness, he'll let me pass or else!

"No!" Twilight screamed back. "Either let me pass or I'll make you let us pass!"

Threats? her consciousness rose its head. That's how we deal with others now?

These humans don't have the most basic shred of decency, her fury argued. They only respect strength, and by the Moon I'll show them strehgth!

"Fuck you!" the ringleader went for his .44 magnum revolver in the holster, most likely trying to utilize his quick draw skills.

He's attacking!

Before Twilight formed any conscious thought, her AP-79 already spat five bullets into the ringleader's chest, piercing his heart and delivering instant death.

Others (except for the more wise one who was called a pussy) started going for their weapons, too.

Bastards! They want to kill us, just because their ringleader is a bucking idiot! They will die!

Her assault rifle was joined by Lyra's R91. None of the three now-hostile men managed to fire a single shot. The remaining one tried to turn back and run, shouting "No! No! Don't kill me!", but Twilight turned her AP-79 in his direction.

He's just like them, just more cowardly! her rage screamed. No mercy! Kill him! Kill him!!!

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA!

Five 5.56 mm rounds went into his back, piercing his aorta and shattering his spine. Even if he were to survive the latter, there was no way to survive the former. The last man of the five fell down as a puppet with cut strings.

Twilight's breathing became erratic, as if she was running a marathon and just stopped for a rest.

Her brain struggled to come up with a coherent thought. She just realized that she had shot a non-hostile person, who did nothing to her; who was the smarter one.

However, she was unable to ponder much on the issue. Nine more men ran out, sporting pistols, SMGs and huntng rifles, all determined to punish the intruders for their aggression.

"Kill the bitches!" one of them shouted.

"Cover me!" Lyra screamed, trying to drag Sunset behind a pile of stones near the wall while using only one hand. Meanwhile, Twilight fired a long burst of bullets while dashing to the train car which stood abandoned on the rails, trying mostly to halt the attackers in their advance than kill someone, but due to the fact that the attackers were all forming a single line, not hitting someone was impossible.

By the time she ran out of ammo and hid herself, three men were already clutching their wounds, and one of them dropped dead.

"Eat this!" she heard Lyra shout while she was reloading the rifle. Once she moved the bolt, she heard a panicked scream and a BOOM sound. When she stuck out from cover, she noticed that four more people were killed, lacerated by shrapnel, and two were out of fight from their wounds. A bra-ta-ta-tat, a scream, and another man fell victim to Lyra's shooting skills.

"How do you like them apples?" the green-skinned girl shouted mockingly, releasing another burst. Twilight aimed at the closest enemy and fired, dropping him in an instant.

The remaining attackers tried to shower them with bullets, but their aim was pretty bad, and their weapons were not automatic. As such, their "suppressive fire" did not have much of a desired effect. Twilight hid, crouched, then fired again. Another enemy fell, and the last one was vaporized by a well-placed shot from Lyra's laser pistol.

In a course of one minute, all attackers were dead.

And then, the equine Princess realized what she had just done.

Oh no. I just killed these people just because they refused to let us through. In my bid to help my friend, I have stained my hands (hooves, whatever) with their blood.

And that poor man who tried to run? He did not even try to take his gun, and yet I shot him in the back. Oh Celestia, what am I becoming?!

Twilight' breathing became erratic once again. The rage was washed down along with adrenaline, and the feelings of guilt and shame started flooding her. The legs gave out, and she fell to her knees; the familiar sting of tears could be felt in her eyes.

"Hey! Hey, hey, Twilight! You fine?" Lyra's face appeared in her vision, full of genuine concern.

"No... I'm not..."

"Wounds? Are you in pain?"

"No... it's just..." unable to form a coherent thought, Twilight shakingly pointed her finger towards the dead men.

"Them? Well yeah, that could have gone better. Then again, someone who is idiotic enough to give grief to alraedy-strained persons is simply begging for a bullet," Lyra replied, helping Twilight stand and giving her back the assault rifle she had dropped. The latter looked at the primary weapon of TODC soldiers as if it were slime.

"You aren't bothered?"

"I do wish we didn't have to kill them. Then again, that obnoxious person went for his gun. What was he going to do? Intimidate? Or shoot to kill? I can't blame you for the trigger-finger reaction. And after that, well... diplomacy didn't work, so guns spoke. It's not unusual for the Wastelands."

The lavender-skinned girl remained silent, still not at peace with herself. The subsiding rage also made her feel all the tiredness and pain return with a vengeance.

She only wanted to help Sunset now, and drop down, come what may.

"Look," Lyra said, "how about you carry Sunset while I move forward? We have almost arrived. I'll open the coded doors and then we'll help her."

"OK," Twilight replied monotonously. Once Lyra helped her to carry the fiery-haired girl comfortably enough, they moved forward.

Suddenly, she felt stirring.

Oh no. Sunset, please, don't see that carnage, don't see that...





Sunset Shimmer was not feeling well.

Her right leg felt as if it was put through a grinder, then frozen for some reason and reattached.

She realized that she had been pumped with Med-X, and now the cocktail of morphine and regenerative medicines was preventing pain shock.

She also realized that...

What is Twilight's butt doing in my vision field?

While she did see the aforementioned part of Twilight's body, she has never seen it from this perspective.

Once she raised her head...

What in Luna's name? Twilight's legs walk on the ceiling? Did the world turn upside down? What the hay?

"Uhhh..." she tried to speak, but her attempt quickly turned into a moan.

"Oh, Sunset!" She heard Twilight's voice somewhere behind and below. "You're awake!"

Did I get dumped into Discord's Chaosville or something?

"Yep," she replied. "Is it me or we're on the ceiling?"

"Ceiling?" Lyra's here, too. "Did you hit your head?"

"Er... no? But why..."

"Sunset, what's the gravity vector in this world?" she heard Twilight speak again.

"Down, I think. But..."

And then it hit her that she was not actually looking upwards.

"Oh... am I flung over your shoulder, Twilight?"

"Yes."

"Was I unconscious?"

"Yes."

"Am I on Med-X?"

"Yes."

"Is your hand touching my butt?"

"Yes - whoa, what?" Twilight sputtered, embarrassed.

"Never mind, you already answered."

"Sorry, but if I move my hand, I'll drop you..."

"No problem, Twilight," Sunset said, "just tell me, are we there yet?"

"Almost."

"All right," Lyra spoke, "I opened it! Get in!"

"Finally," Twilight breathed out. Something in her tone made Sunset pause.

She doesn't just sound... exhausted, but there's something else...

"Where do I put her?"

"On this cot. Wait, I'll help..."

Sunset felt another pair of hands grab her, and then she was lowered onto her back on a relatively soft cot. She groaned, feeling pain in her right leg coarse through her despite Med-X.

"OK, let me see, there's supposed to be something... Oh look! We are in luck! A bag of AMFAK-10!"

"How do we use it?"

"Come here, I'll need your help..."

Fifteen minutes later, Sunset felt a lot better as the advanced military medical science helped restore her leg into a working order.

"Thank you... thank you both," she looked into Twilight's and Lyra's eyes. "If you didn't carry me, I would have been a goner for sure."

"Unacceptable," Twilight replied, steel ringing in her voice. "I'm not about to lose you."

"And you're welcome," Lyra smiled. "I have locked the door. You rest now and don't move you leg much, and we need to sleep, too. Spike will guard us." The purple dog barked in agreement.

"OK," Sunset replied. The other girls went to other cots and almost collapsed onto them.

The fiery-haired girl closed her eyes, wishing for some real rest.

It sure is very good to have good friends in this world. And to think I had laughed at Princess Celestia's lessons of socializing. Holy nightmares, the old me was not only a despicable person, but an idiot, too...





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

You Do Not Hurt My Friends! Whenever your friend's HP falls below 50% and/or their limb is crippled, you gain +10% Damage bonus and +25% Critical Damage bonus.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Hardened (Rank 1): You gain additional 50 Health Points with each rank of this Perk.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

AMFAK-10

While RegenStim has proven to be a great medicine for healing wounds, there are cases in the battlefield where even this remedy is useless. Aside from obvious fatal wounds, RegenStim can't help when a limb is crippled or the torso has received significant damage. While it can speed up the regeneration, the wounded person would still need extended medical care.

Military R&D division has been searching for a way around this issue for a long amount of time. Ideally, it wanted a set of medicines that could be carried by field medics into combat and applied to crippled body parts when necessary. The research was called Advanced Military First Aid Kit Project, or AMFAK for short.

After a period of testing, the tenth version of such first aid kit was approved for use and dubbed AMFAK-10. The bag contains heavy painkillers, tissue regenerating medicines, tourniquets, surgeon tools, bone fixers, blood generation stimulants and other things a medic needs to restore a crippled limb (or several). Whenever a limb is crippled, a person needs to follow the instructions found inside the bag to help themselves or others. It is still recommended to let the medicines run their course, but in emergency situations, one can return immediately into combat as if their limb(s) had never been crippled.

Unlike RegenStim, AMFAK-10 was not intended for distribution among civilians, and is harder to find (and more expensive as a result). The only places where one can hope to find this item are military bases, outposts and hospitals not destroyed during the Day of Burning, as well as some hubs and bases of Directorate of Intelligence. Sometimes AMFAK-10 can be found in smugglers' hideouts as well, since it was a popular contraband item.

Item effect: Restores all crippled limbs.
Weight: 0.5 kg
Cost: 200 caps (average)
> Chapter 10: The wrong Vault
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 10

The wrong Vault


Twilight Sparkle woke up, groaning.

Holy guacamole, do my muscles feel sore. Ooof. Ouch. I really don't want to move...

"Wake up, sleepyhead!"

Gah, Sunset, do you have to be so loud?

"Don't wanna," she muttered. "I feel as if someone pumped lead into my muscles..."

"No wonder," another voice sounded above her. Lyra. "After that jog in the tunnels, I really don't want to move much, either."

"See? Lyra agrees with me. Now, let me sleep," Twilight turned around and wished for nothing to disturb her.

The wish, however, did not come true - she felt something warm and wet slide against her cheek.

And again.

"Argh!" she finally opened her eyes to glare at her irritant, who turned out to be her Number 1 assistant in canine form. "Spike!" she exclaimed indignantly, sitting up and wiping her cheek.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!" Spike answered with dog barks, trying his best to add an undertone to them that said "Wake up, you've been sleeping for too long!"

"I said that I don't want to move, not that I wouldn't move," Lyra spoke again. "So I'm afraid you're outnumbered, Twilight."

"Great, I've been ganged up on," Twilight grumbled, rising from her cot. "So..."

Then suddenly, she recalled the events of the previous day - travelling through the tunnels, encounters, Sunset getting wounded, a desperate charge through the tunnel...

"Oh my gosh, I totally forgot!"

"Forgot what?" Sunset asked, surprised. 

"Your leg, Sunset!"

"It's better now, since you two have dragged me here and found a bag of pretty advanced medicines," the fiery-haired girl replied. "It's not one hundred percent, yeah, but I can stand, walk around and even run. So it's fine."

"Oh, OK. So what now?"

"I think we'll stay here for a bit," Lyra took over the conversation, "and recuperate a little. The medicines from AMFAK-10 have not completed their course yet, so it would be best if we let Sunset's leg heal before moving out. I think it will be an hour or so."

"So I could have slept in a little more?" Twilight frowned. "Why wake me up, then?"

"First, we need to eat, and second, we've already been out for almost ten hours, which is a luxury," the green-skinned girl explained. "This place is more secure than your usual place to sleep through the night, but you never know whether it will attract the wrong kind of attention. There are people that can and will bring down the door of this hideout, if they want to."

"Who? White Knives?"

"Them or anyone who has enough explosive charges. So it's better not to sleep for too much. You'd better learn how to go on on six hours of sleep or even less."

"Fair point. So what now? We eat Meals Rejected by the Enemy?"

"Ha ha. That joke is rapidly becoming old. But yeah, let's eat."

Next fifteen minutes were spent consuming the tasteless yet (thankfully) nutrient food that could fuel them on for six hours straight (if the text on the package was to be believed). None of the girls spoke a word during that time, preferring to keep silence.

Once they finished, Lyra suggested that they look through the crates and shelves in the hideout.

"Usually, well-protected places have the best loot," she explained.

Twenty minutes of searching did not reward them nicely, though. Lyra found a spare battery for her laser pistol and an almost-depleted microfusion cell. Twilight and Sunset got themselves two assault rifle clips each, plus Twilight found a spare clip for her SMG and four .44 magnum rounds, but nothing more.

They also found a locked crate. Sunset put her lock-picking skills to good use and managed to open it. As they found out, the crate had spare batteries for Pip-Boys, which were distributed equally between anyone (Sunset, however, claimed the extra one remaining as an "award" for opening the crate, much to others' disapproval).

In the end, they also found a locked safe. However, once Sunset studied the lock, she shook her head.

"This lock is well beyond my own expertise," she informed the rest.

"I am not an expert in lockpicking either," Lyra admitted. "But there's a computer terminal nearby. Maybe we should check it out? Sometimes the locks on safes are computer-controlled."

As it turned out, the terminal was password-protected, and there was no sheet of paper with password conveniently written on it. The green-haired girl did not show disappointment, however.

"There's a way around this issue," she said. "Watch and learn."

Both Twilight and Sunset stood beside her, paying their utmost attention. Lyra launched the terminal (the words "WELCOME TO ROBCO INDUSTRIES (TM) TERMLINK" appeared) and typed:

SET TERMINAL/INQUIRE

As she pressed "Enter", she was rewarded with words:

RIT-V300

"Aha, the most popular model. That simplifies things," she said.

"How exactly?" Twilight inquired.

"RIT-V300 was the most widespread computer monoblock before the Day of Burning. Unlike later models, however, it did not really have a sophisticated file protection system. True, it could deter some hackers, but if one had patience, they could still break through the defense," Lyra explained, while typing:

SET FILE/PROTECTION=OWNER: RWED ACCOUNTS.F

Once she pressed "Enter", the terminal showed nothing. She immediately typed the next command:

SET HALT RESTART/MAINT

"And what are these two for?" Sunset asked.

"The first one transfers protection of files to one account - the account of administrator. Meaning that without an approval of an owner of administrator account, you literally cannot view any files. This is not good, of course. However, the second command launches maintenance mode, which allows for password retrieval in RIT-V300," Lyra explained, while the terminal showed:

Initializing Robco Industries (TM) MF Boot Agent v. 2.3.0
RETROS BIOS
RBIOS-4.02.08.00 52EE5.E7.E8
Copyright 2089-2094 RobCo Ind.
Uppermem: 64KB
Root (5A8)
Maintenance Mode

"And now we enter the command to allow us password retrieval for admin account," Lyra said, typing:

RUN DEBUG/ACCOUNTS.F

Once she hit "Enter", a mish-mash of symbols, words and HEX-addresses appeared on the monitor.

"And now, I must guess the password. If I fail, the system tells me how many letters from the wrong variant are in correct positions."

"Er, Lyra? It says you have only four attempts," Twilight pointed out.

"Yep, if I fail the last attempt, the terminal will lock down and become inaccessible. But simply powering down this terminal will let me try again. Although typing the same commands is irritating..."

Lyra looked attentively into the words available on screen. All of them were consisting of seven letters.

"Seven-letter password? Lame. I expected better."

"Why?" Sunset asked. Twilight caught onto something in her friend's tone, but she could not really name it.

"Well, this hideout was locked, right? It seems reasonable that the terminal would have better password protection," Lyra replied, not looking into Sunset's eyes and paying all attention to the terminal. 

After several minutes of thinking, she decided to try the word "DANGERS". She received the following message:

Entry denied. 1/7 correct.

"Only one of seven? Darn. With such a result, any of the words can be more fitting. And powering down would give me another set of passwords, different from this one," with these words, the green-skinned girl decided to type "ROADWAY".

Entry denied. 4/7 correct.

"I think I got it!" Twilight spoke. "If four of seven are correct, then the correct password would be "RAILWAY", it fits the best."

"Let's try it," Lyra agreed. Once she typed the word and pressed "Enter", the terminal showed the following message:

Exact match! Please wait while system is accessed.

"Good eyes, Twilight! OK, let's see what the terminal will show us..."

Lyra logged in and, as predicted, found the option of opening the safe. There was a loud click, and Sunset opened the door.

"Ha!" she said triumphantly. "Now that's what I call good loot!"

Inside the safe, there were two AMFAK-10 bags, seven RegenStims, three Med-X syringes, two doses of Rad-X, three bags of RadAway, four fully charged energy batteries and a laser pistol in reasonably good condition, and eight clips of 5.56mm ammo.

Once the girls split all the loot in what they considered fair proportions, they decided to leave the hideout and move on, out of the tunnels.





"Argh," Sunset groaned, "I'll need to get used to the light now."

"You're not alone in that regard," Twilight grumbled.

The path of three girls and one dog to light went without a hitch, thankfully. They encountered no enemies on their way, and once Lyra's Pip-Boy showed them that they had arrived at the exit point, all of them gladly left the underground.

The only downside was the necessity to re-adapt to sun light, but that passed very soon.

"OK," Lyra said, looking at her Pip-Boy, "we're almost at the south-western end of the city. There are only a couple or so kilometers remaining, and after that, I think we will probably part ways."

"Part ways?" Twilight's head snapped to look in Lyra's eyes so quick that the bones almost popped.

"Sorry, but I need to go another way. I'll be going in western direction, while you will probably go further to south-west. Am I correct in that regard?"

"Yeah," the equine Princess said quietly. The thought of her and Sunset being left to fend for themselves did not feel appealing; it was akin to an abandonment.

"I'm curious: just what are you after, Lyra?" Sunset voiced the question that she was pondering over the day before.

"Me? Nothing, really. Just trying to find my purpose in the Wastelands," came the answer.

"I'm not buying it. When I glanced at your Pip-Boy map yesterday, the waypoints showed that you wanted to go in southern direction, not western."

"Are you sure you did not misread? Pip-Boy maps allow to rotate the northern direction, you know."

"Actually," Twilight joined the conversation, "Sunset is right. I have noticed the same thing too. And your north arrow is not turned differently now."

"Urgh, you two sure are a curious bunch. Fine. I'll tell you. You see, I need to find one of the humans around here, and I believed that I would find that person to the south of Hoofington. But my latest findings (which were found shortly before I got tangled in that mess you saved me from) show that this person might be to the west. So when I woke up, I changed my waypoint so it would show another direction. That's all I'm willing to say. Sorry, but I'd rather keep the rest of the info private. OK?"

"OK," Twilight said. Sunset looked like she wanted to know more, but nodded instead.

"Thanks for understanding. Now let's get out of Hoofington. I've seen enough of these super mutants and bandits to last a lifetime."

Fortunately for the girls, they have not encountered any super mutants or White Knives on their relatively short way to the city outskirts. One hour later, Lyra declared that they have reached the point where they would have to part ways.

"It's a damn shame," Sunset said. "It never hurts to have an ally with weapons that fire beams of death."

"If you're trying to coerce me into giving you one of my own, dream on, Sunset," Lyra replied with a smile that belied her stern tone.

"Who, me? Please, I am a model citizen now!" the fiery-haired girl retorted with a mock-offended tone. Everyone laughed.

"Well, fare thee well, both of you," the green-haired girl told Twilight and Sunset, giving them a hug. When Spike barked indignantly, she hugged him as well.

"You too," Twilight said sincerely. "Take care, and good luck in your endeavours."

"Thanks," Lyra replied, and turned away from the Equestrians, heading off into the Western direction.

"Well," Sunset muttered, "time to go on, I guess."





"Sunset, may I ask you a question?" Twilight asked her fellow unicorn-in-bipedal-form suddenly.

Both girls have been walking for two hours; Hoofington could barely be seen from their position. The girls have not encountered anything extremely dangerous; a pack of five mole rats was quickly disposed of by their superior firepower, and a radscorpion was picked off at a distance. In the latter fight, Twilight was able to test the ACOG sight mounted on her own hunting rifle. While it was not the best choice for a marksman's weapon (according to Sunset), it still helped a lot in hitting the targets at greater distances. The lavender-skinned girl was able to reliably land painful hits with her hunting rifle, and Sunset's shots helped to bring down the beast fairly quickly. Now the girls had extra meat and a poison sack from radscorpion (merchants could pay some caps for it).

"You already asked a question," Sunset replied with a small smile, "but you may ask another one."

"Ha ha," Twilight rolled her eyes at her friend's attempt at humour, "very witty. Now, I have noticed you have not been very... friendly to Lyra. I get it that you aren't very... trustful of other people in the Wastelands, but I didn't expect you to be like this to her. What's wrong, Sunset?"

The fiery-haired girl's face instantly lost its cheerful expression. When she spoke, her voice gained a deadly serious tone:

"I know that I am... different from what I used to be, before this war, and I know that some of my older habits, so to say, have resurfaced. And I see that you do not like it, Twilight. I understand that. You might wonder if I am going to revert back to what I used to be before my redemption."

Twilight fidgeted a bit. She did think about this from time to time, but she never said that out loud.

How did she catch up on that?

"I am afraid you still need to learn some subtlety, Twilight," Sunset inadvertently answered the question. "I did not become the queen bee of CHS merely because I was super-evil or others were stupid, but because I was good at gathering information. Part of that involved reading body language. Granted, it is different here, but not impossible to learn. As to why I was not really friendly of Lyra? She was surprisingly good at concealing her body language, but some things still slipped that tell me that... well... that Lyra was not really truthful with us."

"You mean - she was hiding something?"

"Yes. That alone was not enough for me to get suspicious, but there's something else as well..."





*FLASHBACK*

Sunset woke up from the rustling sounds nearby.

What in the name of Equestria... wait. Who is messing with our rucksacks?

She opened one eye carefully. She saw Twilight lying on another cot beside her, sleeping as a newborn foal. That meant that her compatriot was not the one who was rummaging in their rucksacks...

For a moment, Sunset was tempted to grab her shotgun and pump Lyra full of small metal balls, but suppressed the feeling. For all she knew, the girl might have confused the rucksacks - it was almost dark in the hideout, and there was no Pip-Boy light in vicinity, so it was quite possible to mistake one's rucksack for their own...

"Got it," she heard Lyra's voice.

Or not.

Fine, let's play that game, Sunset thought with a hint of anger.

Careful not to break the disguise of her being asleep, she turned around and looked through half-closed eyes. Lyra was standing in front of her, almost turned away, holding a small object with her fingers.

The unicorn-turned-human recognized the object immediately in the dim lighting of the hideout. It was a magneto-optic data disk, similar to the one they had seen earlier. But this very disk was different. She had used it before in order to download the data from the hub of Directorate of Intelligence she and Twilight had used as a safe haven against feral ghouls.

What would she want with it?

She watched as Lyra inserted the disk into her own Pip-Boy and started (presumably) sifting through its contents. Pressing several buttons, she did something with the files, and then took the disk out.

Realizing that she might get caught, Sunset closed her eyes. She heard footsteps, another rustling through the rucksack. Footsteps again, then she heard Lyra lying down on a free cot.

I'll need to check the disk in the morning, Sunset thought...

*END OF FLASHBACK*

"Did you?" Twilight asked.

"I did. The data were still there, but I knew a command for Pip-Boy OS that allowed to check whether there was anything done to the files. They were copied. Lyra must have thought that I would not know about this hidden option, otherwise she would have been more careful," Sunset replied.

"But why would she need them?"

"That's a good question. As far as I can tell, she was specifically interested in them, and nothing else. She must have known about the DOI hub in that feral ghoul-infested village, because once she heard about it, her facial expression showed a hint of interest for a moment. If you remember, that hub was the only viable safe house. She must have known that, too. But I have no idea as to why she wanted those files. But the fact that she lied to us, and tried to get the data without me knowing about it do not really paint her as trustworthy."

"Maybe she is an excessively private person?"

"Maybe. But even if those facts I had mentioned were not true, I still had an... instinctive feeling. And it told me to beware."

"Instinctive?" Spike butted in. "You mean a gut feeling?"

"Yes, Spike."

"Is that enough of a basis for suspicions?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"Twilight, sometimes gut feelings work better than intellectual analysis. Especially here, in Canterlot Wastelands..."





The day went on. Twilight, Sunset and Spike were going into direction of Trottingham, being careful not to disturb any beasts and not to walk into an ambush of White Knives or other raiders.

So far, they have been lucky enough. However, that changed once they arrived to a small village of no more than dozen houses, closer to the evening.

Twilight walked a little ahead of Sunset, when...

Beep! Beep!

BOOM!

"AAARGH!"

On hearing the beeping sounds, Twilight tried to get away from the land mine, but the explosion still lacerated her shins, and she fell down. Fortunately, she managed not to hit her head, which was a relief - a storm of bullets ensued immediately, forcing Sunset to grab Twilight and hide behind a rock.

Thank Celestia this rock turned out to be here!

Bra-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-tat! BA-TA-TA-TA-TA! Bang! Bang!

"Great, I'm counting seven or more enemies," Sunset muttered. "Hold on, Twilight. I need to put a bandage on your legs."

"Please be quick," Twilight begged, clutching her hunting rifle.

Sunset quickly took out the first aid kit, trying to wrap the bandages around her friend's left leg. Twilight was trying to bandage her right leg in meantime.

The gunfire stopped.

"Hey, ladies!" a gruff voice sounded in the distance. "That's not a place ya should have come to! Now you're in big trouble!"

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Sunset muttered, tightening the bandage. "Twilight? How do you feel?"

"I understand now how Fast Grabber felt when I damaged his legs with mines," the equine Princess was already finished with the bandages and was injecting RegenStim into her right leg. "Not an experience I want to repeat!"

"I suggest that you snipe them from afar and don't move much. I'll bear the brunt of their attack."

"Are you sure?"

"I am. My leg's fine now, thanks to your and Lyra's help."

"Well? Are you ready to surrender now? We'll be gentle, I promise. Only one of us will have their fun with you!" another voice mocked them, female this time.

Twilight took her position, lying on her stomach, while Sunset stood on one knee, ready to fire her assault rifle.

"If you want us, come get us!" she challenged.

"O-ho, the girlies want to play tough! Let's show 'em!"

Looking down her ACOG sight, Twilight spotted six attackers coming to them. They were moving in zigzag patterns, despite the fact that  they had no cover between their village and the girls.

Strange, she thought, but she was unable to ruminate on that further, as Sunset's R91 spewed bullets in the direction of their enemies. She saw one body fall onto the ground with a hole in the forehead, and others threw themselves on the ground.

"Fucking dykes!" she heard one of them swear. "OK then, we'll teach you how to mess with White Knives!"

Them again? Twilight's eyes widened. Oh snap. Collect yourself, Sparkle, this is serious.

She tilted her head to the left, in order to look with her own eyes. She spotted one of the enemies rising, and looked down the ACOG sight again, aiming for the head.

Boom!

.32 caliber bullet cracked the skull of another bandit.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Sunset's assault rifle was not keeping silence, too.

"God damn it! Sniper!"

"The other bitch got me, too!"

"Let's fuck them proper!"

"Hey, watch it!"

The enemies attempted to charge at them. Twilight fired again, hitting the kneecap of a bandit and sending him toppling to the ground. Another bandit jumped to the right, trying to avoid Sunset's string of bullets...

Beep! Beep! Boom!

...and died from a mine he was unable to avoid.

"Reloading!" Sunset shouted.

"Got you covered," Twilight replied, firing again. The bandits were close enough that she couldn't miss, so she managed to drop another one (who was already wounded by Sunset) with a headshot. The last one aimed her SMG at them, and Twilight rolled behind the rock. The bullets either missed or were unable to penetrate the stone, and once the bandit stopped firing, Twilight rolled out and silenced her with a shot to a carotid artery. Her last round was to the head of a kneecapped bandit, who tried to crawl back but unwisely exposed his head.

Rolling back behind cover, Twilight reloaded her rifle.

"Nice shooting," Sunset scowled at the bolt of her assault rifle. "Celestia darn it, that thing got stuck again. I need a better gun, not this scrap metal that fails me at worst opportunities," with these words, she switched to her recently acquired laser pistol.

"You're going to regret what you've done, bitches!" an angry voice was heard, and the IFF showed another ten enemies approaching.

"That's kinda too many," Twilight said.

"Snipe as many as you can, and I'll finish them."

"Wait a sec. You have a frag grenade, right?"

"Uh, yeah. What do you think?"

"How about we let them closer, and throw it with a minimum timer setting? That should wound the most of them, plus, hopefully, they'll panic and trigger the mines."

Oh Celestia... I'm calculating the ways to inflict the highest casualties! What am I becoming?! a thought ran through Twilight's head.

"Sounds nice," Sunset prepared a grenade. "Look on that IFF screen and tell me when to throw it. And take your assault rifle, we'll need a bulletstorm now instead of marksmanship."

"OK," Twilight prepared for the execution of her plan, taking her AP-79.

"Hey you! Why so quiet now? Pissed yourselves in fear?" A mocking voice of another female bandit sounded, and others guffawed.

"When and where?" Sunset whispered.

"In that direction," Twilight showed with her finger where Sunset should throw the grenade, "wait a bit... a little bit..."

"Yo, are you alive out there?!"

"Now," the Princess of Friendship said.

Sunset tore away the safety ring and flung the grenade over the rock.

"Shit, grenade!"

"Run!"

"Hey, careful!"

Beep! Beep! Boom!

Beep! Beep! Boom!

Beep! Beep! Boom!

"AAARGH! AAAAHHH! SHIT, THAT HURT! ARRRGH!"

BOOM! the grenade exploded, shrapnel flying everywhere. Yet more screams of pain followed. Sunset and Twilight both rose and started firing at the surviving bandits which tried to run away, confused and frightened by the sudden counter-attack, but either fell to 5.56mm bullets or ran into the mines and went down after a beep, beep, BOOM sounds.

Several seconds later, there was not an enemy left standing.

Twilight almost gagged at the gory result and fought hard against her puking reflexes. Bodies were torn by bullets and shrapnel, pieces and chunks of flesh were torn away, and in some cases the limbs were missing.

"Ouch," Sunset muttered, "that was almost overkill. Almost. Let's see if anything salvageable survived this carnage."

Suddenly she turned around and put two shots into a bandit, startling Twilight.

"He was twitching," she explained nonchalantly.





Careful not to draw any more attention, they looted the bodies for ammo, spare parts for guns and medicines, and proceeded to the village.

As it turned out, the bandits that they had encountered were the only inhabitants of the village (aside from guard dogs, which Sunset quickly turned to ashes with her laser pistol).

Twilight was feeling pain in her legs despite RegenStim running through her veins, and complained that her walking would be a lot slower. Since it was closer to the evening, Sunset agreed to occupy a house for the night and maintain vigilance, so as her friend would recuperate faster.

The house they have chosen was not very high, having only one floor and a cellar which was stocked with conserved food (which was looted shamelessly by Sunset and consumed by everyone) and some ammunition (which was also looted).

The girls were almost ready to rest when suddenly they heard Spike crying for help.

"Spike!" Twilight shouted, forgetting about her legs. "Spike! Where are you?!"

"Down here," they heard him speak, "I must have stepped on a trap door or something..."

"Ah, I see," Sunset hurried into the direction of said "trap door", with Twilight close behind her. Bending down, they saw Spike, alive and unharmed...

...and staring into distance.

"I see stairs here!" he said. "Where do they lead, I wonder?"

"I see them, too," Twilight muttered. "But why would one need to hide them like this here?"

"I think this leads to some secure hideout," Sunset jumped down. "We need to check it out."

"Are you certain?"

"Positive. There could be more of these White Knives below. And we don't need to be surprised by them."

"OK, fine, let's check," gritting her teeth from discomfort in her legs, Twilight slipped down, too, and closed the "trap door" behind them.

The stairs lead down in something resembling a spiral. Using their Pip-Boys as lights, the girls stepped carefully, mindful of any possible traps.

Finally, the ladder led them into a cave of sorts, with a dead end. Sunset's face changed when she looked at what was in the dead end, and her eyes widened.

"No way," she whispered.

"No way what?" Twilight inquired.

In front of them stood a massive gigantic gear-shaped thing with a number 49 written in the middle. Nearby stood a console with switches. All these things appeared to be designed for something the equine Princess could not fathom. Sunset, however, seemed to be familiar with the objects.

"Twilight," the fiery-haired Equestrian exhaled, "it's a Vault!"

"Seriously?" both Twilight and Spike exclaimed.

"Yes! What you see is a giant door that separates the Vault from the outside world! And... yes, there is a console in case someone needs to be let into the Vault. Oh my gosh! I can't believe we have come across a Vault!"

"So this is one of those fallout shelters meant to preserve the population of the UFE?"

"Part of a population," Sunset's excitement evaporated. "Each Vault could save only one thousand people. And Vault-Tec wouldn't have been able to build enough to save the whole population even if they tried to. One would need hundreds of thousands of Vaults for that. And they are not cheap. Why do you think Vault-Tec charged money for securing a place within one?"

"That said... just how much did it cost to get a place in one?"

"The prices varied. Because of war, the economy suffered, and there was an inflation. I bought my place for one hundred twenty-five thousand UFE dollars; that equaled my half-a-year-worth salary with all taxes paid. Shortly before the Day of Burning, one had to pay two hundred forty thousand dollars; that was what, a yearly average salary or something? Somewhere around that."

"That sounds ruinously expensive." And elitist as well. It is obvious that there would be more rich citizens than common ones.

"Supply and demand, Twilight. Supply was not really high, but the demand... very high. Plus, Vault-Tec did not built those just for digging into ground. They did have to use materials that should survive shockwaves, protect from radiation, give a water supply, stuff like that. That technology did not come cheap. I heard Swift Sentinel mention once that the construction of Vault 75 cost one hundred and five million dollars."

"Meaning that if Vault 75 was filled to its maximum capacity, Vault-Tec would gain one hundred and twenty-five million dollars, with the net profit of twenty million dollars from it alone."

"Precisely."

"OK... I admit, I am curious to find out how these Vaults look like. But how do we enter? I don't think knocking on the door is an option..."

"There's a console standing. I think it has a communication device," Sunset walked up to the console and, after a slight hesitation, pushed several buttons and leaned down, speaking into something:

"Hello? Hello, can you hear me?"

Both girls and Spike held in their breaths. What would Vault inhabitants say? Will they reply? Or will they ignore the plea for help? What if they themselves are not friendly at all?

The questions, however, were left unanswered.

No one replied.

"Hello?" Sunset tried again. "Can you hear me?"

Silence, heavy as the air around them.

"Does this thing even work?" Twilight asked.

"It does. You see the lamps here? They are lit, which means the console is functional. It's someone in there," Sunset pointed at the door of Vault 49, "who is most likely sleeping at their workplace. There is supposed to be a person monitoring the comm systems, who would reply if someone used a console like this one."

"Did you have the same person in Vault 75?"

"We did; he never stopped complaining about his "lame job", as he called it," the fiery-haired girl made finger quotation marks when she said the words "lame job", "and thought it was useless, because no one has tried to gain entry into Vault 75 in all the time we were there before we left it."

"So what now?"

"The door isn't supposed to open easily. Swift Sentinel mentioned once that the entrances are password-protected. And unlike those terminals, these consoles do not allow for hacking. You merely input the password here, and the true password is kept on the other side."

"What about this switch with words "Open door" near it?"

"Without password, it shouldn't work - hey, what are you doing?" as Sunset spoke the last words, Twilight had her hand on the switch, and she pulled it down.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Hissssssssssssss!

The beeping sounds of what everyone presumed to be an alarm signal could be heard clearly, and almost immediately after the first BEEP, the hissing sound could be heard. Several seconds later, a loud SCREEEEECH forced both girls and Spike to cover their ears, as their ear drums struggled under the unbearable sounds.

"Was the door of Vault 75 as loud as this one?" Twilight shouted.

"No idea, but Point Blank complained about them once, so I assume it was!" Sunset shouted back.

The hissing sounds of what Twilight assumed to be air streams stopped. From the inside, they heard some sort of machinery creaking and screeching, as the blast door opening mechanism was connecting to the door itself. The alarms continued beeping for a few more seconds, and then everything went silent.

"Is it safe to uncover our ears now?" Spike asked.

"Not yet," Sunset replied. "If I'm not mistaken..."

SCRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!

The volume of the sound of metal scraping against metal as the blast door of Vault 49 was sliding backwards so great that girls actually ran away from it. Once the screeching sound stopped, the door rolled to the left with clanking sounds which gigantic gears would make if stressed (which was probably not untrue, since the door did resemble a gear).

The blissful silence reigned again. This time - for real.

Twilight and Sunset uncovered their ears, and walked back to the now-open entrance.

"Who the hay leaves Vault doors unprotected like that?" the latter could not keep confusion from her voice.

"Maybe no one lives there anymore?" the former took a guess.

"Still no reason to abandon it like that, or at least I presume so. Well, since it's open now, how about we enter? The door won't stay open for long."

"Oh... why didn't you say earlier?" Twilight scowled, as both of them ran inside the Vault.

"Forgive me for being shocked and awed because of this situation..."





The inside of the airlock of Vault 49 was barely lit with red emergency lighting.

"Strange," Sunset remarked. "This lighting means the reactor is down and they're using the backup power generator."

"Could it break down?"

"It could, but someone would be there to fix it. There's always maintenance personnel..."

"I don't think we will see any personnel here."

"We'll see. Now, if the layout is not different, we need to go from the airlock to the atrium. It is... there."

The girls opened the door that led to the atrium, and proceeded to go there.

The scene they saw there was shocking.

Tables, chairs, lockers and other things were thrown haphazardly all over the place and sported bullet holes. Their positions indicated that at least two opposing sides were involved in a shoot-out with each other. Bullet cases were strewn haphazardly all over the place. Blood was splattered everywhere - on the floor, on the walls, and there were even spots on the ceiling. Several skeletons could be seen lying around, likely undisturbed since the day when the poor souls inside them departed the mortal plain.

And all this was lit by red emergency lamps, which only added to the horror of the scene.

"What happened here?" Twilight asked, shocked at the scene.

"I have no idea," Sunset replied. "From the looks of it, there was a firefight, but why are the objects scattered like this? One would not place them like this if they were defending the Vault from someone. It looks as if there was a small war between Vault inhabitants themselves..."

"What makes you say that?" Why would anyone do that? Twilight thought.

"I don't think they would arrange cover like that if they were fighting outsiders."

The girls crept through the atrium, trying to avoid the blood splatters even though they knew that they could not get a stain, since the blood was dry.

"Where to?" Twilight asked.

"There," Sunset showed at one of the doors, "it leads to living blocks. If there is anyone alive, we should find them there or in maintenance area below the blocks."

The fiery-haired girl pressed the button, and the hydraulic mechanism opened the door with a hiss.

"Is it just me, or is this place creepier than the Everfree Forest?" Spike spoke from Twilight's rucksack, as the girls made their way in...





"I don't get it," Sunset spoke for umpteenth time.

The girls have just finished investigating the living blocks. Needless to say, the scenes they have discovered did nothing to ease the pressure on their nerves.

Many cells (as Sunset was calling the living rooms due to their uncanny resemblances to prison cells) were empty aside from cots and beds and any other objects that apparently were too heavy to carry properly. Nothing could be found inside closets or anything else.

On several occasions, they found Vault 49 jumpsuits, which they decided to take with themselves. Most of these suits were bloodstained, and some were slightly torn. There were also suits too heavily damaged to be of any real use; the latter were cast aside.

On the way, they had encountered several more barricades; sometimes they were blocking the whole corridors, forcing the girls to try another way. On these occasions, Sunset was loudly wishing for some TNT.

Blood stains and bullet holes and bullet cases were in abundance, however. Twilight had recognized familiar 10mm, .32 and 5.56mm calibers, and Sunset had also seen used shotgun shells. There were other calibers which they had never used before; they found bullet cases which  apparently belonged to ammunition made for sniper rifles.

The picture of carnage that had taken place long ago was omnipresent.

And Sunset Shimmer could not understand it.

It was not outside the realm of impossibility that someone could have deceived the inhabitants into letting them in, and then massacred the entire population. But unless the attackers had brought the entire army, the security contingent would have dealt with them in the airlock room - Sunset had seen automated ceiling turrets that could potentially deal even with soldiers in power armour with her own eyes. Said turrets were undamaged, however. Broken down or ammunition depletion?

And even if the enemy did get into the corridors, the cells of living blocks had hardened doors that one would have to blow up with TNT or other explosives. But there were no scorch marks consistent with the act of blowing up the doors. The armoured glass windows were mostly intact other - damaged by bullets, but almost never broken.

So far it appeared as if the inhabitants of Vault 49 had a civil war among themselves. Which wouldn't have been possible, since the security personnel was supposed to keep the weapons secure in special crates with hard locks that one couldn't just pick with screwdriver and bobby pins.

However, all such crates were empty on security outposts Twilight and Sunset came across, which totally went against Vault-Tec instructions.

In the medical lab, they saw a chemical mini-lab that apparently was designed for production of nitroglycerin, of all things. There was also sugar spread all over the table. Twilight was horrified to discover that someone was trying to synthesize the unstable and explosive liquid in a closed space, and even more horrified when Sunset informed her that the sugar was there to stabilize nitroglycerin, so as to create dynamite. Predictably, they found no medicines there.

The picture was flying in the face of everything Sunset knew about proper functioning of the Vaults.

And it irritated her to no end.

"I. Don't. Get it!" she growled.

"Sunset..." Twilight tried to calm her down, but the bacon-haired girl demonstrated her fiery side:

"What in the dark depths of Tartarus is this?! What kind of idiot just left weapons lying around? Who in their right mind would not stop the creation of nitroglycerin immediately? Why did security do nothing? And why was the Vault overcrowded?"

"Overcrowded?"

"Yes! There were spare cots all scattered around, likely for extra people! Typically, you can place four people into a cell, but there are beds and cots for eight people for cell! Do you know what kind of strain would that be? Water chip may malfunction, the stocked food would run out quick, air recyclers may break down as there would not be enough oxygen! What was Overseer thinking?!"

Suddenly, Sunset stopped in the middle of her tirade, as if struck down by a lightning. At first, Twilight was worried that her friend suffered a mantal breakdown, but then the unicorn-in-disguise grabbed her fellow compatriot and dragged her back towards the atrium.

"We need to see the Overseer's office," she said. "The answer to our question would be there."

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the destination.

The Overseer's office looked grim. Apparently, the doors to his office were blown apart (Twilight suspected that the nitroglycerin from the medical lab had something to do with it), blood splatters and bullet cases were present even here, and there was also a skeleton which most likely was Overseer's.

Fortunately, the computer terminal there was left relatively intact. While Sunset surveyed the carnage, Twilight decided to check out the terminal. Predictably, it was password-protected, but the lavender-skinned girl quickly remembered Lyra's improvised hacking lesson and put her newly-acquired skills to good use.

Once she finished guessing the ridiculously easy five-letter password, she was greeted with the following text:

Welcome, Overseer.
_____________________________

Vault-Tec Instructions

Systems Check

Access Vault PA System

Access Eye-on-You Surveillance System

Open Vault Log

Open Overseer's Tunnel

Curious as to whether the Vault was still functional, Twilight chose "Systems Check".

Systems check in progress, please stand by... Complete.

Nuclear power generator works at 12% of maximum capacity. No leakage detected. The reserves of uranium-235 will last for approximately 9 months, 3 days, 7 hours.

Air recycling units operate within acceptable parameters.

Water chip malfunction detected. WARNING! Water chip works at 0% of maximum capacity. Water purification and recycling is not possible. WARNING! Water chip is unsalvageable. Vault evacuation recommended.

Vault PA system malfunction detected. WARNING! Overseer's input device is destroyed. PA system unusable.

Eye-on-You surveillance system is turned off. Turning on... ERROR: override command triggered. Access denied.

Systems check complete.

"Well, this Vault turned out to be not as reliable as I thought," Twilight muttered. "Plus, no use in trying to access PA system or surveillance. Let's see the log..."

Vault 49 log:

21.09.2093: Vault 49 construction complete.
22.09.2093: Preliminary system check complete. All systems functional.
12.11.2093: Overseer chosen.
24.12.2093: First Vault inhabitant registered.
04.02.2094: Vault filled to maximum capacity.
17.05.2094: Omega-level threat protocols enacted. Vault closed.
[ERROR: Log section corrupted.]
09.01.2095: Overseer's vital signs flatlined.
[ERROR: Log section corrupted.]
12.06.2100: Water chip critical malfunction.
17.07.2100: PA system critical malfunction.
21.07.2100: Eye-on-You system critical malfunction.
25.07.2100: Vault opened.
29.07.2100: Vault inhabitants' number is zero.
16.05.2101: Outsider Pip-Boy signatures detected. Number: 2.


"It appears someone killed the Overseer here," Sunset, who found nothing of interest, commented while standing near Twilight.

"But why?"

"Who knows? I don't think this terminal will help us here."

"What about Vault-Tec instructions?"

"I think it's just some generic corporate jazz. Feel free to check it, if you want. I'll see if there's a clean enough place to sleep."

Once Twilight chose the instructions, she was greeted with two options:

Letter from Dr. Mobius Loop

Appendix A

"What does the letter say, I wonder?" the equine Princess mused out loud, choosing the letter.

To Overseer of this Vault:

If you are reading this message, it means that Omega-level threat protocols have been enacted and you and all inhabitants of this Vault are now securely sealed away from the horrors of the nuclear holocaust. Congratulations!

If you have not opened the sealed envelope from Vault-Tec with your instructions, do so now. You are required to follow the instructions in the letter to the "t". Be warned - deviation from these instructions is in breach of your contract with Vault-Tec and is grounds for immediate dismissal.

Some of the Vaults will be provided with a device known as G.E.C.K. - Garden of Equestria Creation Kit. Whether your Vault is to receive one of those is written in Appendix A. Regardless of whether you have one or not, we hope that you feel excellent now, because you and everyone else have sufficiently prepared for the future!

Sincerely yours,
Dr. Mobius Loop,
Head of Project Safehouse

Appendix A, as it turned out, contained very little information:

Vault 49 shall not receive a G.E.C.K. device. The Overseer of Vault 49 is to act strictly in accordance with the instructions contained in sealed envelope.

"Sunset," Twilight called, "do you see an envelope or a piece of paper somewhere?"

"No, nothing resembles it here. How should it help?"

"Take a look at what I just read."

"Hmmm..." Sunset spent several minutes on familiarizing herself with the contents, then shrugged her shoulders, "I guess it is strange somewhat. Why not just put it into the terminal? Open the Overseer's tunnel, I'm kinda curious."

Twilight did as asked, and the semi-circular table rose up, revealing a small ladder going down.

"Well..." she said unsurely, "let's go?"

Weapons raised and senses sharp, the girls went down.

Predictably, they found no person alive. They knew, of course, that the chances of finding someone were zero, but the heavy eeriness of the dead Vault (for some reason, this description felt appropriate to both of them) strained their nerves to the point where they expected something to attack them.

And something did attack them.

A radroach that had somehow gotten in long ago.

It did not even last half a second.





"At least this place is good enough to sleep," Sunset grumbled.

The girls have closed the secret door behind them and prepared for sleeping. Fortunately, the Overseer's hideout had its own air recycling system that still worked perfectly, so they did not worry about dying from the lack of oxygen.

They had a small supper and were getting ready for bed, when Twilight found something under the pillow.

It was a piece of paper with Vault-Tec logo, and looked like an official letter. Curious, both girls decided to read it.

The letter said:


VAULT-TEC SOCIETAL PRESERVATION PROGRAM

OVERSEER'S INSTRUCTIONS


To the Overseer of this Vault:

The underground fallout shelter you are in charge of now has been chosen as a part of a vital project. While the primary purpose of the Vault lies in preservation of human lives, our country cannot afford to rebulid a society only to make the same mistakes that lead us to a mutually assured destruction. Thus, a sociological experiment known as "Societal Preservation Program" has been devised for the Vaults.

Vault 49, as you may have noticed, has been filled by less reputable members of society, i. e. crime lords, their cohorts and various types of criminals. The purpose of this is to determine how a society without laws and any type of government will fare when forced into an isolation from outside most-assuredly-irradiated world, and whether cooperation in the name of survival is possible between rivals. The secondary purpose is to determine how figures of power will assert their authority.

Your role as an Overseer of Vault 49 is merely observational. You have been given your own personal hideout, a cache of weaponry and food reserves designed to make you last for 10 years, as well as an independent water chip. Meanwhile, Vault 49 will have no administration, security or maintenance personnel, and the food reserves will be stocked as normal. However, the Vault will house 2000 people (twice the maximum capacity) instead of 1000, and will have several weapon cabinets that anyone with certain skills can access. Maintenance level will be sealed off as to prevent accidental damage to vital Vault systems.

Make notes of how the people will interact with each other. Do not reveal yourself and do not interfere with everyday life of the inhabitants of Vault 49 under any circumstances.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. Mobius Loop,
Head of Societal Preservation Program

Once Sunset finished reading the letter, she exploded in outrage:

"Celestia damn it all to Tartarus! What in Nightmare Moon's name is this sack of pony manure?! Who the fuck was the genius behind this idea? Oh yeah, a Dr. Mobius Loop. Who in the hoof is that?!"

"Oh ponyfeathers," Twilight cussed quietly, dropping the letter as if it burned her hands. She started shaking, and then sat onto the floor with her back against the bed, trying in vain to regain control of her nerves. Meanwhile, Sunset continued to rage, walking around the room like a caged animal:

"No wonder we are seeing skeletons and blood and barricades everywhere in this cursed place! This is what happens when you put criminals in a closed space and give them weapons and not enough food! Did the idiots behind this really think this idea would work well? Societal Preservation Program, my ass! Bet you my head that this is where White Knives came from! That's probably why this place is abandoned like this! Ponyfeathers!"

"Er... Sunset?" Spike said timidly, sticking out of Twilight's rucksack. The fiery-haired girl, however, did not hear him or simply ignored him, still furious over the whole mess.

"And what of my own Vault, I wonder?" she continued screaming. "What kind of experiment were they running on us, eh? Dictatorial authority? Exposing us all to radiation? Oh wait, "what to do when an Overseer is killed", yes, this is perfect! Nothing will go wrong with that! Horseapples! Buck their flanks! Screw this all!.."

Not being able to formulate an appropriate swear phrase, Sunset paced a little more around the room, breathing heavily (Spike was surprised that no steam was coming) and looking as if she were ready to throttle someone. However, once she tore through the haze of her fury and looked at shaking Twilight, her anger evaporated.

"Oh Twilight," she sat down to her friend, "you OK? Talk to me?"

"Oh, Sunset... I don't know," Twilight looked into the green eyes, and Sunset realized with a hint of anger that the equine Princess was crying, "I don't know! This world used to be such a pretty place. And now, everything is spoiled! Destroyed! Defaced! Debased! People have degenerated, and those who didn't fight just to live another day, and those who were supposed to save others did nothing at all! What's wrong with this world?!" once she said the last words, Twilight buried her face into Sunset's armoured shoulder and let her tears loose.

"I don't know, Twilight," Sunset hugged the lavender-skinned girl, "I don't know..."





Everyone agreed on leaving Vault 49 as soon as all of them restored their strength.

Thus, when Twilight, Sunset and Spike were all ready to brave the day, they abandoned the Vault as quickly as they could, and silently agreed never to visit it again.

Weapons in their hands, they were rising up the ladder, when they heard some shooting.

Once they got out, they discovered that a group of White Knives was engaged in a firefight with someone they could not properly see. The girls did not even debate on what they needed to do. Both of them unleashed lead hell upon the bandits that apparently did not have the decency to die in Vault 49.

The bandits were not prepared for a crossfire, and were mowed down in several seconds. However, once Twilight and Sunset risked sticking their heads out, they nearly lost them as the other side sent a bulletstorm their way.

"Hey, watch it!" Sunset shouted, hiding behind cover. "We're friendly!"

"Yeah right," a male voice replied, "and just what were you doing here?"

"We were helping you, dumbass! Don't fire at us and we will come out and talk!"

"Likely story!"

"Please, you've got to listen!" Twilight joined the conversation. "We've fought these White Knives several times already! We fought them yesterday, near the minefield!"

"Wait. What? Near the minefield? There's a carnage out there!"

"Wait a minute!" another voice interrupted, this one female, "Ah know these voices! Come outta there, an' we won't shoot ya, Ah promise!"

Twilight and Sunset stiffened as something stirred in their memories.

That accent, and the drawl... Could it be?..

Still somewhat unsure, they came out of the house and turned to the voice.

Several men and women who at best could be described as a ragtag bunch of misfits were standing in front of them, dressed in various types of armour and holding hunting rifles and shotguns. Closest of them was a tall young woman with a tanned gamboge skin, green eyes and freckles on her face, wearing a set of combat armour and carrying what Twilight recognized as AP-79 assault rifle in her hands. On her head rested a very familiar Stetson cowboy hat.

"Well colour me surprised," she said with a characteristic southern drawl while smiling, "if it ain't two of my BFFs! Ah sure am glad to see ya!"

There was no more doubt concerning the identity of the person in front of them. Putting their weapons away, Twilight and Sunset rushed towards her with a happy exclamation:

"Applejack!"





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Thus Ever To Criminals: You no longer receive penalties from "Make Friends, Not War!" Trait when killing bandits.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Eagle Eye: You gain an ability to spot land mines from afar.





Applejack's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 7
Perception: 5
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 5
Intellect: 4
Agility: 6
Luck: 5

Unique Trait (Applejack)

Gifted By Another World: You possess a piece of Equestrian magic. Under certain circumstances, you may gain a magical anthro-form that grants you additional bonuses.

Unique Trait (Applejack)

Element of Honesty: You are almost physiologically incapable of lying. If you do try to lie, you suffer a -3 penalty to your Charisma and -45 penalty to your Speech skill. On the other hand, you also gain an uncanny ability of being able to discover the lies told to you by others: anyone who tries to lie in your face suffers the same penalties. Note that lies of omission only suffer a -1 penalty to Charisma and -15 to Speech skill, and if you or your interlocutor truly believe that they are telling the truth (even if it's not), no penalties occur.
> Chapter 11: Applejack's past and present
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 11

Applejack's past and present


Applejack let out a heartfelt laugh while hugging Twilight and Sunset, and petting Spike whenever he barked (that was his way to demand some attention).

"Well, Ah sure am glad we have found ya," she said. "This area is full of all those White Knives. And they're not like your usual raider group, they're quite well-equipped."

"Yeah," Sunset replied, "we've already met them; twice, in fact."

"When was the first time?"

"When they tried to kill a merchant called Cap Collector."

"Ah know him, he came to our town a couple of times. So you saved him? Big thanks."

"You're welcome, Applejack," Twilight said, "but wait - you mentioned a town?"

"Yeah, we all live in a town not far from here. Y'all coming with us?"

"Sure, but aren't you going to loot the bodies?"

"We are, sugarcube. Not something Ah enjoy, to be honest, but free ammo is better than the ammo ya have to pay for..."





"Welcome to Appletown," Applejack told the Equestrians, as they (plus the town folk that had participated in a battle against bandits) stood in front of a small settlement.

Like all other towns and villages Twilight and Sunset had seen before, it was not really big. Wooden houses (some of them actually looked freshly built or repaired) were intermingled with small one- and two-storey buildings made of stone.

The streets were busy, with the inhabitants taking care of brahmins, or riding on horses, or doing some other tasks of their own. Several men and women were carrying baskets (apparently, not of a very big size) full of apples.

"There are apples in here?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Well, this place is located near one of the fields that belonged to Sweet Apple Acres. Ya do remember that Ah'm a country girl and used to work often in the field, don't ya?"

"We do, Applejack," Sunset replied, "but I don't recall any of your fields being here."

"Well, yeah, back when Ah was at CHS, we didn't have those. But once Ah graduated, the demand for apples rose. Ever heard of Nuka-Cider?"

"Of course."

"Well, that stuff was made from apples that came from Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack declared, beaming. One could plainly see that she was proud of that.

"Whoa, really?" the fiery-haired girl was surprised.

"Well, yeah. Although the story is a bit less happy. Our farm hit a hard time when the war began. Mah parents were called up, and that left me, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith to do most of the work. And Granny suffered from a hip problem with some weird sciency name; healing her hip set us back big time. We seriously thought we'd go bankrupt in short order. But then we got a call from Fizzy Fresh."

"Who was that?" Twilight asked. 

"That was the owner of the company that made Nuka-Cider. He was looking for apple suppliers. And before he founded that company of his, he actually was a regular customer, bought either apples or fizzy cider, depending on mood. So he proposed a partnership. We had to stop producing our own cider, unfortunately, but he paid us really handsomely for apples that he used in his Nuka-Cider. That allowed to heal Granny's hip and even expand the farm and hire some hands. The field nearby was the last one we bought. It is still fertile, so we can still grow apples in there. That's what Appletown lives on."

"But isn't the land irradiated?"

"Well, yeah, but we had overcome that obstacle. Let's go into mah house and Ah'll tell ya everything during lunch, OK?"

"OK, Applejack," both girls agreed.





"Hey, Applejack!" everyone heard the young girl shout before someone slammed into the blonde girl before she actually entered the house that the Apple family kept for themselves.

"Hi, lil' sis," Applejack laughed, messing up Apple Bloom's red hair. "But Ah'm not alone. Ah've got guests!"

"Hi, Twilight!" now it was the Princess' turn to get a hug. "Are you this world's Twilight or pony Twilight?"

"Pony Twilight," the lavender-skinned girl replied.

"No hug for me?" Sunset made herself known with a mock-pout.

"Sunset Shimmer!"

"Oof! Apple Bloom, careful, please, I've been wounded."

"Omigosh, Ah'm sorry!"

"No harm done, just don't hit my leg, fine?"

"OK."

"Say, is Big Macintosh here?" Sunset looked around, trying to find Applejack's brother.

"Eeyup, Ah'm here," a deep voice came from the right, and they all saw Big Macintosh himself appear and smile at the sight of the new guests. "Apple Bloom, mind setting the table?" he addressed his younger sister.

"OK," Apple Bloom did not sound really enthusiastic, but went into the kitchen nonetheless.

"Applejack," the tall muscular man continued, "how did it go?"

"Aside from finding these two, we cleared out that village. Turned out, Twilight and Sunset had actually done that for us, the idiots from White Knives stumbled upon a minefield, and those we saw were most likely a scouting party."

"Casualties?"

"None."

"Good. You do know Ah'm always worried whenever you go on "patrols" and so on."

"Ah've got to do this, Big Mac! The folk here deserve some peace and quiet! And Ah can't fail them!"

"Ah know, sis, but that doesn't stop me from being worried. You might bite off more than you can chew one day."

"Hey, don't worry, big bro."

"I take it White Knives are being a trouble here?" Sunset spoke.

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh replied, "since the last year. Appeared outta nowhere and started raiding this whole area. And spread from outta here to Trottingham to Hoofington. Maybe even Baltimare, never checked."

Twilight and Sunset exchanged grim looks. They had a suspicion that they knew just where White Knives came from.

"Now this area is mighty dangerous," Applejack took over. "It doesn't help that the land around here is slightly less irradiated, since the wind carried the radioactive dust in another direction right after the Day of Burning. Anyone who wants to live in relative comfort will want to come here. Did you notice that there are virtually no radiation pockets around here?"

"Now that you mentioned it, yes," Twilight replied.

"Lunch's ready!" Apple Bloom called.

"OK, let's sit down," Big Macintosh said.

As everyone entered the kitchen, their nostrils were assaulted with the smell of freshly-cooked food. Sunset almost salivated.

"Tell me that my eyes do not deceive me and that I actually see real, cooked food," she said.

"What, ya didn't have good food?"

"You don't say," Twilight did her best not to salivate, too. "MRE's are nutrient, but honestly, their taste sucks."

Everyone stared at the equine Princess in shock.

"What?" the latter huffed. "Did not expect me to swear and cuss?"

"Well, that's kinda an un-Princess-y thing to do," Applejack scratched her head, somewhat embarrassed.

"My status of Princess means zilch here, so allow me to say something uncouth once in a while."

"Enough chit-chat!" Sunset exclaimed, fed up with the pause. "Let's eat!"

Everybody agreed.





"So, Applejack," Twilight began (or rather continued) the conversation, "Sweet Apple Acres stood behind the most popular pre-war soft drink?"

"Eeyup," the blonde girl replied, "although our farm was not the only one. And since we still kept our old-fashioned ways, well, there were not really that many apples to sell. Our apples mostly went into some special lines, like Nuka-Cider Quantum or Nuka-Cider Electron. Ah remember having a big row with Fizzy Fresh about Quantum when Ah heard he was adding radioactive isotopes into it..."

"What?!" the lavender-skinned girl barely avoided choking on her food once she heard that.

"Yeah, that's kinda a dumb thing to do. But, believe me or not, Quantum was quite popular. It glowed in dim places, actually - that's what those isotopes were for."

"Who would be stupid enough to consume radioactive materials?!"

"Ah don't know. Thousands of buyers who liked this very brand, maybe?" Applejack's displeased facial expression clearly showed what she thought of that. "Ah'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but even Ah have more common sense than that. Goldurn nuclear fashion convinced almost everyone that small doses of radiation helped to build resistance to it. Whoever believed that had to suffer RadAway injections later."

"That's why RadAway and Rad-X are actually easy enough to find," Sunset interjected. "Due to people being stupid like this, they had to distribute the stuff around clinics, hospitals and so on. I think that closer to the Day of Burning, even paramedics were equipped with anti-radiation drugs."

"That's crazy," Spike added his two bits.

"You said it," Applejack continued.

"And what happened... well... during the Day of Burning?" Twilight asked.

"Ya mean how did Ah survive? Well, Ah knew that Canterlot would be the first possible place for nuclear attacks, and who knew what those TODC varmints might have tried. Our whole family - well, what remained of it - tried to choose a place where we could survive the attack. Eventually, we settled here, believing that this place would be as safe as possible in such events. Partially, that's why this place is now known as Appletown - a good number of Apple family lives here. We also were somewhat lucky - the winds blew the radioactive dust in another direction. The levels are still higher than normal, but not so high that one can't grow crops. So we continued growing apples. Then some other folk came around, settled here, and then caravans started coming and going. And here we are," Applejack waved her hand in the air, as if showing something. "It was quite fine to live here, until White Knives started messing everything up."

"So you didn't hide in the Vaults?"

"Ya mean those shelters by Vault-Tec? No, we didn't. At least, our branch didn't. Ah never really trusted that corp. And that one man kept coming and blabbering on "preparing for the future" and stuff like that, Ah was tempted to deck him."

"But Ah disagreed with Aplpejack," Apple Bloom piped in, "Ah thought he offered a viable choice. Yeah, the place was expensive, but still..."

"We could afford it," Big Macintosh joined, "but we chose not to. Applejack did not want to abandon the farm. Apple to the core, she is, but also stubborn."

"Ah know Ah sounded stubborn, but something just... told me Ah would regret it," Applejack turned to her brother.

"You might not have been wrong about it," Sunset spoke. "In that village where we met, me and Twilight had found a Vault. And it was... really contradictive to the stated purpose."

"Say what now?" Apple Bloom spoke, confused.

"Take a look at this," Twilight showed them the letter to Overseer of Vault 49 which had prompted Sunset's memorable outburst of rage the last night.

Everyone from the Apple family read the letter, and the further they read, the more they frowned. Eventually, Applejack slammed it down onto the letter onto the table with such a force that all the plates clanked loudly and shouted:

"What in tarnation?!"

"Yeah, that's almost the same as Sunset's reaction, only she swore a lot more," the equine Princess said.

"Experiments? On Vault inhabitants? That's a new low there, even for the megacorps," Big Macintosh said quietly.

"Maybe that's where White Knives came from?" Apple Bloom guessed.

"We suspect so, too," Sunset said. "And the reason I swore a lot is because I survived the war while hiding in another Vault. So the notion of possibly being the victim of some freaky experiment shook me more than a little bit."

"Don't ya worry, Sunset," Applejack said. "You're alive and you're here. That's what matters."

"But that stuff still sounds nasty," Apple Bloom said.

"Hold on a sec," the blonde girl scratched her forehead, as if digging for something in her brain, "Ah remember that one of former Vault-Tec employees lives here in Appletown. Maybe we should confront him?"

"Good idea," Sunset's voice took on a darker tone, "I'm very curious about this whole thing."

As she spoke, her hand twitched for a moment towards the 10mm pistol she carried. No one seemed to notice that.

"Then we'll do that once we eat," Applejack declared. "In the meanwhile; Sunset, how's life been treating you before all this mess?"

"Well..."





"...so when the nuclear attack sirens started wailing, I quickly hopped onto a vertibird standing nearby, and we all rushed to Vault 75. Made it in the nick of time - the Overseer was seconds from closing the blast door, as nuclear warheads were apparently close to Baltimare," Sunset Shimmer finished retelling the story of her life before the apocalypse. By that time, everyone has finished eating and simply listened to her.

"Well that's a more or less good life. Ah can't say being bothered by police all the time is good, and those Trottingham folks were varmints, but still..." Applejack replied. Both Twilight and Sunset could see that their friend was deeply saddened by something.

"What's wrong, Applejack?" Twilight asked.

"Ah think we'd better show you," Big Macintosh replied, and everyone rose from the table. He led them all to what passed for a living room, and showed two photos standing on a fireplace shelf. Twilight and Sunset immediately recognized Granny Smith on the photo to the right.

Another photo, however, showed two humans Twilight had never seen before. On the left, there was an athletically built man with dark hair, the same skin colour that Big Macintosh had and blue eyes. To the right of him stood a woman with blonde hair (similar to Applejack's), reddish eyes and somewhat yellowish skin (like Apple Bloom's, but paler), also built quite well. Both of them were wearing what Twilight guessed to be military uniforms, and had smiles on their faces, although the Princess of Friendship harboured a suspicion that the smiles were forced.

Then she noticed that two photos had something in common: both of them were black-and-white, and both had black stripes going diagonally near the lower right corner.

Also, the photo depicting the couple had a small piece of paper lying earby. Glancing upon it, Twilight read:


MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OF UNITED FEDERATION OF EQUESTRIA
OFFICE OF CIVILIAN-MILITARY INTERACTIONS

DEATH NOTIFICATION


Mr. Big Macintosh, Miss Applejack, Miss Apple Bloom, Mrs. Granny Smith
2795 Earth Pony Street,
Canterlot

Dear Mr. Big Macintosh, Miss Applejack, Miss Apple Bloom, Mrs. Granny Smith,

It is with deep and profound regret that I am writing to inform you of the death of your family members, Sergeant Apple Red and Sergeant Apple Yellow, who were killed in action on August 27, 2093 in the battle near Griffonstone.

In the course of battle, Sergeants Apple Red and Apple Yellow along with their fellow soldiers from 121st Heavy Infantry Battalion were tasked with the capture and destruction of a TODC artillery outpost that prevented the approach of our tanks. Upon performing a flanking maneuver, the battalion striked at the outpost, but not before the enemy called for reinforcements (as we believe), and additional TODC troops were deployed into the area.

According to the survivors from 121st Heavy Infantry Battalion, the enemy outnumbered our soldiers at least twice, but Sergeants Apple Red and Apple Yellow were in the thick of fighting, standing strong against enemy waves. Despite multiple wounds, they refused to retreat from their positions, and held off the enemy for a long enough time that hostile heavy artillery was completely destroyed. When the reinforcements from 17th Power Infantry Company arrived at the scene, their medics did their best to save Sergeants Apple Red and Apple Yellow, but, unfortunately, they were unable to - your family members passed away on the way to the closest military hospital.

It would not be an overestimation to say that without the brave and courageous actions of Sergeants Apple Red and Apple Yellow the battle for Griffonstone would not have been won. Their fellow soldiers, as well as myself, share your grief over their deaths. 

The bodies of your family members will be returned as soon as possible, and we will notify you immediately when that happens. Rest assured, they will be given full military honours, and I have sent a request for Sergeants Apple Red and Apple Yellow to be rewarded posthumously with Cross of Honour and Glory, the highest military reward in UFE, and my request was approved. I hope that this piece of news can bring a semblance of consolation.

I sincerely and unreservedly regret that I was not able to do better so as to preserve the lives of your family members and that I had to bring this devastating piece of news to your family. I assure you, they will not be forgotten, and our victory over TODC will be dedicated to them.

Sincerely yours,
General Deep Strike,
3rd Army Group

"Oh no..." Twilight gasped, turning to Applejack with moistened eyes. "Applejack..."

"Yep," the blonde girl replied, "exactly what that goldurn letter said. They were brought in caskets with flags draped on it. We even have their rewards in boxes around here somewhere. Not that it mattered to us. Ah'd rather have them here, without the darned medals or anything else, but alive. That general approached us, looking sorrowful and stuff, his own medals shining, talking to us how brave they were, how their sacrifice meant a lot and shit like that," Applejack didn't notice the slip of her tongue, and even if she did, she paid no attention to it, "but Ah could tell it was more important that he had conquered the darn Griffonstone and that UFE army had taken control of some large oil rigs that TODC had been unable to destroy in time. Prick and a rear-echelon motherfucker, that's who he was."

"Was he that bad?" Sunset asked.

"His casualties numbers were certainly not the lowest ones. That, and he had little strategic talent. Rumours had it he was promoted thanks to someone pulling the strings and putting him in a comfortable position. He never went into the field, preferring real-time satellite communications from his HQ. Coward," Applejack's face now carried a very angry expression. "Ah talked with folks from 121st, they said they had little to no support and were basically sent in blind. How they did what ordered to, Ah can't fathom, but mah parents paid the price for it."

"And Granny Smith?"

"She took the news real bad, and had a heart attack. She survived that one, but her health deteriorated, and one month after the Day of Burning, her heart just gave out," Big Macintosh took over. "We have a cemetery nearby; that's where she's buried."

"Can we... see her grave?" Twilight asked meekly. Both she and Sunset liked the kind elderly woman, and while the latter of the girls was not really the most favourite person, Granny Smith eventually accepted the fiery-haired girl as her grand-daughter's friend. As such, both of them wanted to pay their respects to the late matriarch of the Apple family.

"Why not?"





"I'm embarrassed. We didn't even bring any flowers," Twilight said, as she, Sunset, Applejack, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom were leaving the cemetery.

"No problem, sugarcube, it's not as if there's a lot of them lying around," her blonde friend replied. "Ah'm just glad that you decided to pay your respects."

"It's the least we could do," Sunset replied.

"Thank y'all. Big Mac, Apple Bloom, mind giving us privacy?"

"Nope," Big Mac said, and left along with Apple Bloom.

"Now, Ah assume that the two of you are trying to find a way back into Twilight's world?" Applejack addressed both Equestrians. "Can Ah help?"

"Applejack, from what I had gathered, you are already running yourself dry helping around the town. You sure you're up for it?" Sunset scratched her head, unsure.

"Hey, Ah'm your friend, and Ah'm not about to leave you hanging. Ah may not be the local Element of Loyalty, but darned if Ah abandon you two."

"It's a long shot anyway. I lost my magic book in Trottingham, and whatever happened to the portal messed it up bad, as Twilight and Spike found themselves somewhere near Baltimare. We only hope that we can contact Equestria and have someone back there figure out a way to fix the portal. If not, we will have to think of something else."

"Trottingham? Shoot, that's gonna be problematic, since White Knives and super mutants crawl there, but maybe three of us - four, if we count Spike - can..."

"Applejack," Twilight interrupted, "we are very grateful for the offer, but you need help as well!"

"Do not!"

"Do too! There are bags under your eyes, and you are showing the signs of fatigue! Your pony counterpart behaved the same way, and that created lots of problems before she agreed at last!" the equine Princess raised her voice.

"Way Ah see it, y'all need more help than Ah do, so..."

"OK, enough!" Sunset interrupted. "Applejack, as of now, me and Twilight kinda need a small rest, for several days. Any chance of a free house being here?"

"Why house? Y'all can use one of the rooms in a house mah family occupies. Don't know why the folks insist on it being ours..."

"Well, that's the help we actually need right now, and nothing else. Well, that and the address of someone who would trade things for caps around here."

"Fine, let me show ya where the local mercahnt lives, and then Ah'll show you to your room..."





The remaining hours of the day were not really eventful. Applejack showed Twilight and Sunset where the local merchant lived. As expected, he majorly was selling fresh apples, but he also could offer some weapons and ammo and was also fixing stuff. The girls sold him the meat of mole rats they had killed earlier and some other useless loot, raking in 297 caps. In return, they bought another laser pistol in relatively good condition and three batteries for it for 420 caps, plus Sunset gave 100 caps to have her R91 assault rifle fixed. Neither of the girls felt that they needed extra ammo, so they parted ways with the merchant after that.

The room that was given to Twilight and Sunset was sparsely furnished - two beds and small tables nearby, nothing more, but compared to their previous sleeping conditions, this was a small heaven. The girls spent the rest of the day making small talk with Applejack's extended family or maintaining their weapons. In the evening, both of them enjoyed seeing Apple Bloom pet Spike (and Spike enjoyed his petting, even if he grumbled a bit when the red-haired girl was trying to scratch his stomach).

In the end, everyone bid each other good night and went to sleep. As Twilight was closing her eyes, she remembered how Princess Luna guarded the dreams of ponies at night.

So sad that humans have nothing of the sorts. It would have helped them a lot against such traumatic experiences.





The tunnel looked strangely familiar.

Where did I see it before? Lamps that barely lit, train cars... wait... that's Hoofington underground!

But what am I doing here?

As Twilight walked forward, something else occurred to her:

And why am I not in control of my body?

Her legs walked ahead without any commands given by Twilight's brain; in fact, none of her limbs obeyed the impulses sent through the nervous system.

It's as if I am stuck in someone else's body...

Oh my gosh, what are those?!

"Twilight's" eyes rested upon some macabre figures resembling human bodies that were unlucky enough to be subject to a vivisector's mercy. Blood was seeping through open wounds, limbs were twisted at unnatural angles, and the faces screamed from the unnatural pain.

Suddenly, they all turned to "Twilight" and screamed at once:

"MONSTER!"

Why are these voices familiar? And the faces... they look like...

Oh no no no no no! Not them! Anyone but them!

Twilight realized that the faces she was seeing were the people that she and Lyra had massacred on their way to the hideout where they found the AMFAK-10 bag for Sunset. Together, they formed an unnatural, creepy and downright disgusting picture, being intertwined with each other.

This abomination was screaming at her in a cacophony of voices:

"MONSTER!"

"MURDERER!"

"FREAK!"

"KILLER!"

"No!" Twilight tried to scream, but the mouth did not obey her. "No, I am not!"

Meanwhile, "her" hands moved. Horrified, the equine Princess saw that "she" had her AP-79 assault rifle in her hands, and "she" was aiming at the macabre twisted pile of flesh.

"NO! Stop it!" she screamed, but to no avail - the finger was tightening on the trigger.

"YES! KILL US!" the high-pitched, unnatural voices screamed.

"MURDER US AGAIN!"

"IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT!"

"SHOOT! KILL! DESTROY!"

BA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!

The sound of the assault rifle was deafening. Bullets tore into the disfigured bodies, tearing through them, spilling more blood, and even blowing away the limbs.

"No!" Twilight screamed. "NO! Please, no! Stop!"

"DO IT! FINISH IT!" the voices urged on.

"NO! Please! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry..."

The shooting did not stop untill all the bodies were not turned into a gory mess of blood, bone splinters, internal organs, patches of skin and scattered limbs. If Twilight could, she would have puked, but "her" body did not feel even the slightest hint of gag reflex.

And it moved on.

An undetermined amount of time later, it encountered a mirror. As the body turned into it, the Princess of Friendship gasped.

The whites of "her" eyes have become green, while the irises were now red, and the pupils resembled cat's slits.

It was as if she had become something like King Sombra.

And then she saw two more reflections besides "her".

Sunset Shimmer and Applejack.

"Twilight..." the southern accent was even more pronounced in country girl's voice than usual. "What have you done?"

"What have you become, Twilight?" Sunset's eyes were moist with tears. "What have you done with my friend? Because you are not her..."

"This can't be forgiven, Twilight," Applejack's voice became more stern.

"You are not my friend anymore," Sunset declared, and with these words, "Twilight" turned around, raising her gun to shoot at the two offenders-

Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

-only to be met with a stream of bullets coming from the assault rifles of her friends.





"Gasp!"

Twilight woke up, trying to reign in her breathing. Several seconds later, she gave up and rose, sitting on her bed. She looked around.

Sunset was asleep; apparently, she didn't hear that Twilight had just had a nightmare.

It's probably for the best, the lavender-skinned girl thought.

She dressed up and exited the house, being careful not to make any noise. Once she felt the cool air of the night brush against her, she sat on the porch and started shaking - but not from the cold.

She almost forgot about the poor men that she had slaughtered in her fit of rage when they tried to prevent her and Lyra from saving Sunset's life. Even then she was shaken, but the events of the following day, most prominent of which was the dark secret of Vault 49, forced that encounter to the back of her mind for a while, and meeting with Applejack laid those events to rest... temporarily.

In the moonlight, Twilight could see the dried blood staining her armoured jumpsuit where the bullets had hit her previously. But while this blood was hers, she also saw the blood of all those she had killed, metaphorically speaking.

It was almost unbearable.

Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes with her hands and started crying, quietly, but bitterly. Salty tears ran on her palms, or her nose if they did not make contact with the hands, but they could not wash away the blood that the pony-turned-human believed to stain her both on the outside and on the inside.

How can I ever hope for forgiveness? I don't deserve it! Those people were not even raiders, but once they refused to let us through, I massacred them in a rage, just for standing in my way! Sunset was unconscious, so she doesn't know, but... oh Celestia have mercy, if she finds out, she'll hate me, and Applejack will, too, and they will abandon me, because their friend has become a murderer...

A hand laid upon her shoulder.

"What's wrong, sugarcube?" an accented voice sounded.

"Leave me be, Applejack," Twilight spoke through her tears.

"No can do, Twi. Something's wrong with ya. But what? Tell me; that's what are friends for."

"Friends..." I don't deserve friends anymore. "If I tell you, you won't want to call me a friend anymore..."

"Now that's stinking thinking! Unless you were the one to drop all atomic bombs on the UFE lands, Ah hardly think Ah would abandon you. But if you decide to lie, well... Ah'll have words with ya."

"Really?" Twilight looked at Applejack through her tears. The vision was too blurry, so she wiped her eyes.

"Really. Now tell me honestly, Twilight, just what do you blame yourself for?" the blonde girl sat near her.

The Princess of Friendship recounted her tale of woe in the tunnels of Hoofington underground, also sharing her feelings of rage at that time, and mentioning her nightmare.

"Well, shucks," Applejack said, once Twilight finished, "that's one bad event. But really, Ah don't really blame ya. Had that been mah brother or Apple Bloom in Sunset's place, Ah'm not sure Ah would have tried to negotiate. You didn't start shooting until that stupid varmint pulled his gun. You reacted instinctively."

"And Sunset? How do I tell her that?"

"Tell the truth, the same things you just told me. If she's truly your friend, she may not be pleased, because, to be honest, Ah wasn't, but she won't abandon you. And if she does, Ah'll knock some sense into her bacon head, even without magic."

"Thank you, Applejack," Twilight wiped her nose, "it's somewhat better. But... well... I'm really out of my comfort zone here."

"Shoot, me too."

Several minutes passed in silence.

"Goldurn it," Applejack muttered.

"What is it?" the alicorn-in-disguise inquired.

"Ah have to admit something, Twi. Ah... could really use your help," the blonde farm girl said.

"With what?"

"Well... these bandits, the White Knives, they're becoming a big problem around here. They're threatening our orchard now, and without that, we're doomed. Ah don't know if we can destroy them to the last, but could you please help us in makin' sure they won't be a bother? 'Cause that would be one trouble off of my shoulders..."

"But there are others?"

"Yep, damn it," with these words, Applejack took out a flask, and took a small swig out of it.

"What are those?"

"This thing? It's a hip flask. Ah keep whiskey in there. Wanna try?"

"I actually meant other problems of yours," Twilight replied, taking the hip flask into her hand and studying it visually.

"Well, there are some hoity-toity people who like our apples but don't like us common folks, some mutated animals, super mutants wandering around here, and a pack of nasty ghouls, and not feral ones, mind you."

"That's... a lot."

"Yeah, but those are smaller than White Knives."

"Well, here's to solving the problems, I guess," the lavender-skinned girl spoke, and took a swig. Immediately, her eyes widened, and she almost spit the liquid out, but managed to swallow it. Her throat felt as if it were on fire.

"Holy guacamole, Applejack! That's strong!"

"It's an alcoholic drink, Twilight, what did ya expect? Nuka-Cider?" Applejack cackled at her own joke, taking the hip flask back, "and I'll drink to that," she continued, taking another swig.

"You do know that stuff is not healthy for your liver, right?"

"You are right, sugarcube, but the odds of dying from bullets are higher in the Wastelands than dying from the worn-down liver," the blonde girl replied, standing up and turning to go back into the house.

Curses. That actually sounds logical, Twilight thought, following Applejack back into the house.





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Intense Training (Rank 2): Allows to add one point to one of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes.

Chosen attribute: Strength (5)

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Intense Training (Rank 1): Allows to add one point to one of your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes.

Chosen attribute: Charisma (6)
> Chapter 12: A mystery added, a town assisted
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 12

A mystery added, a town assisted


After her small talk with Applejack, Twilight Sparkle found it somewhat easier to sleep. Although she had a suspicion that the swig of whiskey she had taken before also had something to do with it, as she started feeling somewhat dizzy once the alcohol ran its proper course. (Given that the strongest intoxicating drink she had ever tried previously back in Equestria was the cider made by Apple family, and that she never drank much of it, she was unused to something as strong as whiskey.) Once she fell atop her bed, she fell asleep almost immediately.

She hated to admit it, but she was relieved a little bit at the fact that Applejack's whiskey cumbered her thinking abilities; she believed that if she thought too much on something again, she would never fall asleep.

Once sun rose up above the Wastelands again (as it always did), the equine Princess woke up only to see Sunset's bed empty and personal belongings gone. Taking her own things, she went downstairs, meeting Apple Bloom on the way.

"Oh, hi, Twilight," the young girl chirped, beaming at her.

"Good morning, Apple Bloom," Twilight smiled in turn. "Have you seen the others?"

"Big Mac and Applejack went out for a bit, they said they'd come back soon. Sunset's eating, and there's breakfast waiting for you. Ah cooked it mahself!" the country accent in the young girl's voice took on a hint of pride as she said the last words.

"Well, far be it from me to ignore your culinary skills," the alicorn-turned-human smiled even wider, and went into the kitchen. There she saw Sunset eating her breakfast, which turned out to be fried bacon and eggs.

"Oh, hi, Twilight," the fiery-haired girl greeted her with a smile. "Hurry and eat that until that gets cold."

"I can't help but feel that humans have weirdest eating habits," Twilight commented, sitting down and digging into her food.

"Humans are omnivores, surely you knew that already?"

"True, but eating meat? Sorry, that's kinda still new to me. And scary as well."

"Well, that was the same for me, too. But here, cows and other animals whose meat is used for food are not sapient; plus, human biochemistry is different. Soon enough, you may feel the craving for meat soon."

"What's so important in meat that humans require?"

"Proteins, for one thing."

"Hmm, that does sound important enough. Any ideas what Applejack and Big Macintosh are up to?" Twilight decided to change the topic. "Apple Bloom didn't say much."

"Big Mac told me they would pass by all the posts around the village, then they'll come back and we'll speak about how we can help them. I say, you didn't hit Applejack's head by accident, did you? Because this morning, she just sat here, and then said, "Goldurn it," and asked me for help."

"I didn't need to resort to such measures, Sunset," the Equestrian addressed her compatriot sternly. "I think she just realized she would burn out soon. Apparently, Appletown is besieged by White Knives, plus there may be other players vying for control."

"Buck my flank," Sunset cussed.

"Language, Sunset. And I do hope you aren't planning on abandoning our friend."

"That's not why I'm swearing. Seriously, Twilight, I have very few friends here, so I'm not planning anything of the sorts. The thing is, Applejack's probably not the best diplomat, and if there are other factions, we need them on our side, or at least not as our enemies."

"You think Applejack will upset someone?"

"You know she's stubborn. And I'm not even talking about the locals. Are they as loyal to the town as Apple family is?"

"Why wouldn't they be?"

"Multiple reasons. They might be sympathetic to someone who is the enemy. Someone may even be a spy - since Applejack virtually can't lie, and she is in position of power (sorts of), that means some crucial things aren't even a secret. They might not like the Apple family. There may be grievances between family branches for all I know."

"You are worried about the possibility of internal strife or betrayal in favour of someone who is not friendly to Appletown," Twilight concluded.

"Indeed. I take it you plan to help Applejack out and then have her help us with our quest?"

"Sort of. Oh... it sounds like a monumental task."

"Monumental may be hyperbolizing, but it's not simple, yeah."

"Sorry, Sunset."

"What for? Friends always get into trouble for each other. I'm only slightly stung because you didn't tell me sooner."

"Well, I actually wanted to tell you about this this very morning."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No problem."

"Hey, Twilight, you wanna listen to the radio?"

"The CWN? I don't know..."

"Ah come on, didn't you like the Daring Duo moniker?"

"I still think it sounds ridiculous."

"Is that because you don't like Daring Do?"

"I do like Daring Do, but I'm not ready to be compared to her."

"Well, I'm going to listen while you finish your food."

"Suit yourself."

Sunset fiddled a bit with her Pip-Boy, and soon they both eard a voice:

"...those White Knives. I swear, these bandits are becoming worse and worse. Someone may need to put a stop to them, and I think I know who can do it. Three guesses, who? That's right, the Daring Duo! How do I know that? Well, I have heard from Cap Collector that a couple of young ladies fitting the description of said duo took on the bandits as they tried to attack his caravan, and helped him to survive. That's not all, they have also been seen in a bandit-infested village close to Appletown, whose inhabitants desperately need these bastards dead, and guess what - that village is not bandit-infested anymore! Well, until they try to occupy it again. But Daring Duo or not, you still need to remember that the area between Trottingham and Hoofington is dangerous, and prepare yourselves accordingly. No guarantee that you'll be as lucky as Cap Collector. Better yet, go offer your assistance to Appletown, preferably free of charge. And now, song time! Prepare yourselves for the soul-igniting "It's All Over"! Boy, I love that song..."

"Oh come on," Twilight groaned, "you listen to this, it's like we eat the bandits for breakfast - metaphorically speaking, of course."

"Hey, would it be an adequate punishment if someone actually ate the bandits?"

"EWW! Ponyfeathers, Sunset, I just ate!"

"Relax, Twilight, I'm trolling you."

"Since when is the name of a mythical creature a verb?"

"Oh come on! The girls didn't teach you Internet slang?!"





"Alright, y'all," Applejack addressed Twilight and Sunset, "let's get this over with."

She, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and the Equestrians were in the living room again, gathered around a map lying on the table. The blonde girl initially didn't want her younger sister participating, saying "this was for grown-ups", but was unable to properly refute Apple Bloom's "I am grown-up!" and conceded defeat.

"This here," Applejack put her finger onto the map, "is Appletown. To the west of it, we have the small orchard where we take care of our apple trees. To the north-west of us, there is a prison. Now it's the base of the White Knives who apparently took it over. It's too well fortified, we can't attack them there. At least, not now. Scattered nearby are small villages, mostly abandoned, but sometimes the bandits venture there or use them as outposts. Trottingham is to the south-west of us, it's not really far. To the south-east, there is a military base, with ridiculously good automated defenses. Maybe they could be hacked, Ah don't know - none of us are that good with them computers. And there's some sort of twin towers to the north. That's where many of our apples go. Mah advice - don't go there, too many hoity-toity people who dislike us common folks and only tolerate us for fresh apples. That and they've got mercs of sorts as their protection."

"Against whom?" Sunset inquired.

"Anyone they don't like. The mercs will shoot without any questions asked if they are paid enough caps," Big Macintosh took over the conversation. "And if that's not bad enough, there are snipers in towers, too."

"White Knives also have at least a couple of snipers," Applejack spoke again. "Alas, we don't really have a sniper of our own. The only thing that helps us is that their snipers are crappy shooters... most of the time."

"Is it hard to find a sniper rifle?" Twilight asked.

"Hard enough, but this is not the main problem. The real issues are weapon maintenance (as it's hard to find spare parts) and ammo supply. Common sniper rifles need .308 sniper ammo, and those aren't lying around in bulks. A full clip of five shots may cost you from 30 to 50 caps."

"Expensive," Sunset remarked.

"You said it. Twilight, maybe your scoped hunting rifle will help?"

"I don't know, Applejack. It only has ACOG sight; this is more for marksman duties than for sniping others. I may try, of course, but no guarantees. I'm not even that great of a shot."

"None of us really are, sugarcube. But since you got into a firefight with the White Knives and survived, Ah assume that y'all shoot better than them."

"But we were very close to death both times. We would have been overrun if not for the mines that they did not disarm for some reason, and the first time we met them, I got wounded and had to inject myself with a Med-X. In fact, the last of those bandits was killed by some black figure, if I remember correctly... why are you looking at us like that?" Twilight asked the question with a tone of bewilderment, as all Apple family members just looked at both equines strangely.

"Was it something Twilight said?" Sunset asked. "Spill it."

"Did you..." Apple Bloom stuttered, and then continued, "did you see... the Black Widow?"

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack thundered. "Ah told ya not to say that name out loud!"

"The Black Widow? Who is that?" Sunset asked, puzzled.

"Y'all haven't heard of her?"

"I am afraid that both of us did not really keep up with what's what in the Wastelands, Applejack. Twilight hasn't been here for long, and I've been hiding in the Vault until recently. So I'm afraid we are out of the loop."

"Well, to be honest, Ah don't know much about her. Nobody does. And it's better not to know much, we think," the blonde girl looked afraid, which was a very rare sight; both Twilight and Sunset were quite surprised by this fact.

"But who is she?" the Princess of Friendship inquired.

"She's an assassin, armed with a sniper rifle of sorts and dressed in black. At first, when people found her first victims, they all found a paper with an image of a black spider on the corpses each time. Also, it was known that some of the victims saw a female figure dressed in black before they died, so the people started calling that assassin "the Black Widow", and the name stuck. Very few people saw her, and it's a good thing, 'cause virtually everyone who saw her, was later found dead."

"With an image of the black spider on their corpses?"

"Yep. The victims were mostly shot into the head, although sometimes a poison dart was found. Also, several times she got close and personal with her victims - not in an intimate sense - and killed in close quarters."

"And no one who saw her lived?"

"Well, if she saw someone looking at her, then most likely that person was just a dead human walking. In fact, Big Mac worries about me so much partially because Ah saw her once," the farm girl visually shuddered as the memory came to the forefront of her mind.

"You did?"

"Yeah. She killed one of our own. Cousin Braeburn. My stars, that was horrible..."





*FLASHBACK*

"Phooo-ey! Thanks a lot, Braeburn. Ah wouldn't have been able to do this by mahself," Applejack grinned at her cousin, as they set down the last crate full of apples. There were not that many of them, but most of the town inhabitants were on missions to the surrounding villages to check whether the White Knives would be bothersome. When the season drew to a close, the risks grew, and Apletown was not about to surrender its means of survival.

"No prob," Braeburn grinned. "Ah'm glad that you finally agreed not to stick yourself onto frontlines."

"That's temporary, cuz. Tomorrow, Ah'll lead one group, and Ah'm also on a patrol tonight."

"Ya'll burn out like that one day, Applejack. The people will need you strong and fresh. Tell you what, go have a rest, Ah'll finish the chores mahself."

"Ya sure of that?"

"Of course, it's not as if the task is hard to do. Go rest for a bit."

"Yeah..." Applejack yawned, "that actually sounds really attractive now..."

"See? Your body agrees," Braeburn grinned. The blonde girl scowled at him, but soon smiled, too. Braeburn was a good guy, after all.

She went to her home and lay down on the couch.

I'll get a quick shut-eye before I go on my patrol. No matter what Braeburn said, the town must be protected...





When Applejack opened her eyes, she was dumbfounded for several moments.

Why is it dark? I don't get up that early...

A quick glance at her watch let her know that it was eleven to eleven p.m. (amusingly enough).

Shoot the loot! I overslept! I'm supposed to be patrolling Appletown!

Quickly, she gathered what she believed necessary for her night shift (a flashlight and a 10mm pistol with four spare clips) and put on her armour vest. She contemplated for a bit whether to take her AP-79 (she didn't like TODC, but she grudgingly admired the sturdiness and the reliability of the assault rifle) or not, but decided against it - she was not the only one with an automatic weapon in their possession, and going after it may wake up Apple Bloom; the young girl became quite a light sleeper in recent years, and Applejack did not want to disturb her sister.

Going out of the house, she enoyed a deep breath of fresh air (albeit with a slightly higher-than-normal radioactivity) and went on.

Her routine was not really difficult. Typically, she walked on the streets, seeing if someone was out of the house in the late hours and whether there was trouble brewing. If there was, she intervened so that no one else may suffer. After that, she would patrol the outskirts, and then she would return to check the streets again.

Appletown was a pretty safe place at night. White Knives did not like attacking in the night, and dangerous animals did not usually try and attack the town. The only real threat at night were super mutants, but they never were stealthy; typically, someone could quietly raise an alarm and then the "ogres" would succumb to a crossfire from assault rifles and maybe even an LMG (the latter was carried by Big Macintosh; due to his great physical strength, he used the large and heavy gun quite easily).

Despite this, Applejack always maintained constant vigilance - Canterlot Wastelands were a hostile environment, after all.

And on her way back into the town, she noticed that the door of the house where Braeburn lived stood slightly ajar.

She frowned.

Was he so tired that he didn't close the door properly? That's not like him.

The country girl went up to the house, deciding to check on her cousin.

As he opened the door, her heart faltered, her eyes widened, and she recoiled in shock as her eyes surveyed the inside.

Braeburn was inside - and there was another figure beside him. Slightly taller and less stocky than Applejack, with the body complexion that proved that the mysterious person was definitely a female. She was dressed in black, almost imperceptible in the darkness. Armour plates (also painted black) were present on her, but they were not big; in fact, her armour looked designed for mobility rather than damage protection, and more suited for covert infiltrations than open combat.

The figure was holding a pistol of sorts - less bulky than the one Applejack had on her person - and it was aimed at Braeburn's head.

Only then the blonde girl noticed that her cousin was not, in fact, offering resistance. Slumped against his bed and unconscious, he could not do anything against the person aiming at him.

Phut. Phut.

The weapon fired twice in rapid succession, the bullets penetrating Braeburn's skull easily and tearing apart his brains, delivering instant death. The killer's hand did not even tremble; this female was quite resolute in her will to commit the evil deed, and the pistol had a very small kickback.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack exclaimed, her brain almost shut down from the scene of cold-blooded murder she just witnessed.

In hindsight, it was an extremely stupid thing to do. Not expecting to see an enemy like this, she did not even have her own N99 pistol in her hand, and the assassin was still armed.

A sharp turn of the head, a quick motion, and one moment later...

"ARGH!"

...Applejack was clutching her right leg, which received a bullet. Unexpected pain caused the girl to fall onto the floor, and the assassin quickly opened the window and dived out of the house.

Fighting against her flaring nerves, Applejack stood up, unholstering her pistol. Once she stumblled to the window, she fired wildly into the night, hopin against hope that the murderer would be unlucky enough and caught the bullet...

Click, click, click.

Releasing the empty clip, the farm girl inserted another one and resumed firing. By that time, her shots attracted the attention, and several armed men and women, her own brother included, stormed the house.

"Stay back!" Big Macintosh ordered, motioning Red Delicious (who served as the local medic) to help his wounded sister. Meanwhile, he set his LMG onto a bipod, and started laying down the bulletstorm on the grass in front of the window.

He kept his finger on the trigger for several seconds, then stopped.

"Useless," he said. "If Ah haven't hit anyone by now, they must've fled. Golden Delicious, go tell everyone who can hold a gun - we're pulling an all-nighter. Caramel Apple, Apple Fritter, see that no one attacks him."

"Got it," the man whom Big Macintosh addressed ran out, and two other Apples ran after him without saying a word.

"How's mah sister?" the eldest Apple brother asked Red Delicious.

"Bullet's stuck, I'm about to pull it... now," with these words, the medic pulled hard, causing Applejack to scream in pain.

"Horseshit!" she swore, and tried to cover her bleeding wound. Red Delicious slapped her hand away and started applying whiskey as an improvised disinfectant, causing a hiss of pain and a string of curses. Once he finished, he injected Applejack with RegenStim and told her to go to bed immediately. She protested, but the death glares she received from other Apples (her brother included) have triggered her survival instincts, and she agreed, but stubbornly refused to let anyone carry her, choosing to lean on Big Macintosh's shoulder.

"And Braeburn?" the latter asked Red Delicious.

"Dead. Nothing I can do," was the answer. "But who could have done this?"

"Ah know who did this," Applejack spoke loudly, her voice laced with anger. Someone hurt her family and killed one of their own. And she was very pissed off at that.

If that assassin's got brains, she'd stay away from Appletown. 'Cause once I'm finished with her, not even her own mother will recognize her!

Noticing the inquiring stares from other Apples, she decided to provide them with an answer which shed light to the murderer's identity:

"Black Widow!"

*END OF FLASHBACK*





"Oh no..." Twilight's hands flew to her mouth, her eyes stinging. Both she and Sunset were horrified to discover Braeburn's ignoble fate.

"Why would she decide to do this?" the latter asked.

"Beats me," Applejack replied. "Not that Ah care much. Ah'm only hoping that Ah'll put a bullet into her if she comes here again."

"Or she'll put a bullet into you," Big Macintosh interjected. "Remember, she's a skilled assassin, and she's also a master of sneaking around. She won't try to have an honest fight with ya."

"No she won't," Sunset agreed. "But what I want to know is her motives. Why would she kill Braeburn and all the others? Some of them might fall under the unfortunate witness category, but it puzzles me why she didn't kill Applejack then - from what I've heard, the assassin had the perfect opportunity."

"I'm curious, too. The victims must have something in common, something that made them the target," Twilight mused.

"Y'all think she has a reason or somethin'?" Applejack said with a tone that clearly spoke about her doubts in the equine Princess' logic. "Ah've always thought she was simply a murderer, even before Braeburn."

"It's possible that she simply enjoys killing and is a maniac, but the word "assassin" implies that the person actually has motives and plans to commit something like this, so I'm not dismissing the possibility that Black Widow is driven by something. Has Braeburn ever done something that might have offended the person with the means to execute vengeance?"

"Vengeance? He came here from Appleloosa shortly before the Day of Burning, and that town was pretty small. And he was well-liked there by, like, everyone. And here he was always polite and good to others, so Ah hardly think that could be the reason."

"What about outsiders?"

"Braeburn did not deal with outsiders here, that's mah job."

"And other victims? Did they have something in common? Who were they?"

"They were different. Some, from what the rumours said, were kinda decent folks. Some were stuck-up, like they're elites or something, but never did anything really bad. Some of the killed were scumbags, for whom nobody would shed a tear. Rumour has it that Black Widow actually killed the second-in-command of the White Knives. Now their leader, Curve Blade, sits in his prison fortress and doesn't dare to stick his nose out, the coward."

"Hm, that's not much. Maybe she is simply a gun for hire?" Twilight guessed.

"Nah. One guy did want to hire her. And he was found dead, too. With a note: "I am not one of your mercenaries without an ounce of decency. Heed this warning. Never try to do the same mistake this man did." So no one tried."

"That implies that Black Widow believes herself to be a decent person - somewhat - and that she cares little for caps. Maybe she loots her victims, too."

"Decent? Ain't no decency in a person that kills like that," Applejack scoffed. "Ah mean, it's not like Ah haven't killed, but Ah always did so trying to defend Appletown, and in open combat. Ah never sneaked around in the night. And y'all are probably right, some of the victims were kinda rich people, and all their valuable things were often gone. Not always, but often."

"OK, let's return to the issue at hand - White Knives," Sunset offered. "What's your plan, Applejack?"

"Ah wanted to swipe some of the villages where Ah know some of the bandits to be. Ah'm taking one team of ten people, Big Mac takes the other. Ah'm afraid Ah'll need to separate you two, unless you object?"

"Uh... well, I don't think so," Twilight looked surprised, but after some thinking, she decided that this decision would not affect her or Sunset. As for Sunset herself, she privately doubted that Applejack's plan was sound, but, knowing little about the local situation, she decided not to argue.

"OK, who comes with me?" the farm girl asked.

"I will," Sunset replied.

"OK, Twilight goes with Big Mac. Ah'll show you which villages we strike," Applejack pointed to the targets she specified for both attack groups.

"What about Appletown itself?" Twilight asked.

"Golden Delicious has this covered. There are what, thirty or thirty-five defenders under him?" the blonde girl asked her elder brother.

"Thirty-one; with himself included, that's thirty-two. Enough to defend against a surprise attack," came the answer.

"All right, we'll start in two hours. If anyone needs to clean their guns or restock ammo, time to do so. Twilight, Sunset, Ah'll take ya to Honeycrisp Jr., he's sort of in charge of our arsenal. He can give some ammo, but he has nothing for them fancy laser pistols, I warn ya."

"No problem, those are for tougher targets anyway," Sunset replied. "Lead the way."





Two hours or so later, Applejack's assault squad...

"OK," Applejack addressed her team, "here's the first village. Sunset?"

"My Pip-Boy's IFF shows four targets, but this system doesn't work at very big distances. Assume there are more."

"Typically, when bandits occupy one of the villages, there are from eight to twelve of them. Any advice?"

"Aside from shoting them all in the head and not getting shot? Watch out for mines, there could be some. Me and Twilight nearly git blown up on that mine field."

"There are only three villages with such traps," one of the Apples spoke. "This ain't the one."

"Doesn't mean that White Knives couldn't have planted some."

"OK, you heard her. Everyone, let's drop 'em!" Applejack interjected. Sunset gripped her R91 harder, and jumped out of the cover behind which the squad was hiding. The bandits were clustered together, and did not expect two girls to jump out at them. Ill-prepared, they were quickly mowed down, but the action attracted the attention of other bandits, and both Applejack and Sunset were forced into cover. At that moment, other Apples fired from the starting position, while several tried attacking on the run. Two more bandits fell under fire.

"Well that's a good start," Applejack stated.

"Let's hope the finish is not worse!" Sunset said, blindly firing in the direction where one particularly annoying White Knife was giving her problems...





Meanwhile...

Boom!

Twilight's hunting rifle just ended the life of one of the White Knives.

"Nice shot," Big Macintosh was impressed.

While Applejack favoured direct assault with shock and awe tactics, the eldest Apple brother was somewhat more cautious. While he also chose to assault the enemy openly, he preferred attacking from afar. The fact that half of his squad was armed with hunting rifles also influenced his decisions.

As such, marksmen (Twilight included) picked out the targets while heavy-hitters bore the brunt of enemy fire and distracted the bandits, sometimes finishing off the enemies that were wounded (but not killed outright) by marksmen.

Big Macintosh layed down suppressive fire most of the time. Due to a stroke of luck, Apple family has come across an ammo storage that had plenty of ammo for the LMG that he carried, so he could afford (relatively speaking) wasting ammo. Still, he preferred short bursts, enough to keep the enemy down. If someone was careless enough to stick out, then the bulky young man spared no lead, however.

Twilight moved the bolt, took aim and fired again.

She missed, but her target jerked from a surprise sound of the whizzing bullet, exposing himself in the process. Big Macintosh wasted no time in taking him down.

Suddenly, Twilight noticed that her IFF showed three enemies trying to flank both her and Big Mac, and she immediately warned him about that, while taking the SMG.

Not a moment too soon - the enemies could already be seen. The equine Princess did not even think and simply pulled the trigger.

The leading one did not even have the chance to evade as 10mm bullets tore apart his carotid arteries and windpipe. Meanwhile Big Macintosh also took out his pistol, placing a well-aimed shot to the head of the other bandit.

Suddenly finding himself at a disadvantage, the last bandit saw it fit to retreat; however, he went the wrong way and got caught in a crossfire that left him with no chances of survival.

"That's eight," the Apple patriarch commented, "oh, wait, scratch that, nine already out of fifteen."

Boom!

"Ten," Twilight corrected him. "Reloading. The rest are running, do we pursue?"

"Ah'd rather be careful. Biting off more than we can chew can have bad consequences."

"What if they bring reinforcements?"

"Too long until prison from here. They can only run to some other village. That may, of course, be problematic, but we may reunite with mah sister later. Twenty of us makes for a formidable force."

If there will be twenty, Twilight thought, but did not speak out loud...





"That's a risky tactic, Applejack. What if we had stumbled across a greater force?" Sunset asked her blonde friend quietly. The squad had just cleared the first village, but that nearly cost several Apples their lives as they attacked the house through the front door and survived only by sheer luck as the remaining White Knives did not even mount a proper defense. And some of the Apples required first aid due to light wounds they had received.

"Ah admit, Ah'm not the sharpest tool in the box when it comes to tactics and stuff, but this works... most of the time," Applejack replied.

"And when it doesn't?"

"We bail out as fast as we can and reunite either with the other group or perform a fighting retreat into Appletown. The bandits don't risk going there without big numbers."

"I see."

"You have other thoughts?"

"I am curious. Why don't you attack at night?"

"Ya mean why don't we cut throats in their sleep, Sunset? 'Cause Ah'm not afraid of them, and Ah want them to know it," Applejack was visibly displeased with the idea Sunset had just offered.

"And the others?"

"Same for others, too. Ah asked those people beforehand, Sunset. True, some of them do feel fear, but they still go. Because they want to overcome their fears. Ah can clearly see when one lies, remember? None of them lied to me."

"OK, I get it. But that puts their lives at a great risk, and one day someone may snap under the pressure. You need to use all the advantages you have and deny the enemy those advantages, that's what the books on military tactics tend to say."

"You had a suggestion?"

"Let's try attacking the next village from another angle, Applejack, somewhere they wouldn't expect us..."





"Snap!" Big Macintosh cussed. "Twilight, do you see that sniper?"

"No, but I am trying," the girl replied.

One of the Apples fell victim to the headshot delivered by a White Knife who knew his way with a sniper rifle. Not having a sniper of their own, the attackers had to improvise, and the marksmen were trying their best to either kill the sniper or thin the enemy ranks, barely succeeding with the second task.

Fortunately, the sniper was a lousy shot most of the time, and hat trouble hitting the moving targets, which saved the lives of others, but prevented Big Macintosh from occupying a stationary position - doing so was suicidal. Twilight was changing positions, trying to find the annoyance, but so far only managed to take down two other bandits with low-quality armour.

Her ammunition exhausted, she reloaded her hunting rifle and looked down the ACOG sight, to see one of the Apples getting shot to the left shoulder. Another one dragged the wounded to safety, almost suffering the same fate.

The picture, however, inadvertently helped Twilight. Seeing the way the blood splattered, she mentally drew the bullet's path, and traced it to the first floor of one of the houses.

She was surprised initially, as the house had several windows, but her attentiveness was rewarded as she saw the figure lean out with a weapon that definitely had the optical sight.

Unfortunately, she could not reliably hit the target, as her sight did not allow for too big distances. That and her rifle was not designed for very great distances.

She needed to get closer.

"Big Mac," she said, "I've found the sniper, but I need to get closer to finish him off. Can you suppress him?"

"Where to shoot?" he asked.

Twilight described the target to him.

"Understood," he said. "Whenever you are ready."

"Do it," she asked. Big Macintosh rose on one knee and immediately started firing at the house which the sniper used as his vantage point. The bullets predictably missed, but the sniper panicked and hid behind whatever cover he had, and Twilight sprinted to the better vantage position. Other Apples, no longer bothered by a sniper (even for a short while), had the good sense to provide her with covering fire.

As she hid behind the house which she planned to use as cover, the equine-in-disguise took a few moments to steady her breath. Big Macintosh stopped his suppressive fire, which meant that the enemy sniper would stick out again soon.

And she had to be ready to greet him with a .32 caliber bullet to his head. The task was somewhat complicated by other White Knives who still could in theory suppress her or even wound her.

Twilight decided to spend her frag grenade on them. Taking the metal apple-like object, she primed the grenade.

Sticking out for a few moments, she swept the battlefield with her eyes, quickly calculating where the grenade would have the desired effect. And then her hand moved in an arc, releasing the grenade which no longer had the safety ring.

"Oh shit!"

"Grenade!"

"Take cover!"

BOOM!

The explosion was followed by screams of pain and cursing, and then by more shooting, as Apple family members pressed their advantage. Twilight looked down the ACOG sight and saw the enemy sniper frantically trying to catch someone in his crosshairs.

Not happening, a voice said savagely in her head, as the lavender-skinned girl took aim at the enemy who had already managed to kill another Apple and wound several more.

Boom! her rifle spoke.

A splash of red liquid and chunks of something flying in different directions told her that she didn't miss. And Pip-Boy showed only three targets remaining.

Time to take out the bandit trash! the same voice paraphrased her rainbow-maned Equestrian friend.





"What the hell is happening?"

"I don't know! The Appletowners are here, but- AAARGH!"

"Reaver's down!"

"Enemies everywhere!"

The screams of panicked White Knives could be heard all around the next village that Applejack had chosen as their next target. Sunset could not help but feel pleased.

Earlier, she had proposed that she went ahead to scout the village stealthily, and then build a battle plan. The White Knives, in their arrogance, did not even patrol the place properly, and were concentrated in two ends of the village.

Thus, Sunset suggested taking out the smaller concentration and then splitting into two groups. As the main force would rush to the place of the attack, the Appletowners would attack them from both sides, resulting in a vicious crossfire.

The plan worked perfectly. The weaker group was overwhelmed by sheer numbers and the unexpectedness of the attack, and as the main enemy force arrived, they were subjected to a vicious bulletstorm from assault and hunting rifles.

The enemies did try to put a resistance, of course, but they were foolish enough to charge head-first into the ambush without thinking of adequate cover. And without cover, the chances of survival dropped to zero faster than one could say "oops".

As the last of the White Knives fell, an eerie silence fell for a few seconds upon the battlefield. The blood of the enemies almost drenched the whole street, and some bodies had limbs torn away from them. The gory sight that was the result of an effective ambush caused some of the Apples to barf their food, and even Applejack and Sunset felt nausea creeping up to them. The former looked at the latter with a raised eyebrow.

Sunset only managed to mutter one single word:

"Ouch."

"Ouch indeed," the blonde girl agreed. "That was very gory. Darn, Ah almost lost mah own breakfast."

"Are we looting the bodies?"

"If there's anything left worth looting..."





Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Boom!

"Bandit down!"

"Nice one!"

"Watch out!

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

"AARRGH!"

"MEDIC!"

"Someone shoot that fucker!"

Boom! Boom! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

"Cover me!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

"I got your six! Now get the bastard!"

"On it!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-tat!

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

"AAAARGH!"

"God damn it, the bitch got Rocky!"

"Someone show her- oh no!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"AAARGH!"

"That's the last of them!"

...

Silence. Simple, blissful silence.

Twilight Sparkle has never appreciated silence more than she did now. The bookish Princess always maintained the belief that silence was not, in fact, a bad thing (it certainly didn't distract her from reading), and she did enjoy the peace and quiet after some headache-causing debacles, but she was not really used to the noises of firing guns, explosions, screams of pain and repetitive dirty swearing and so on.

Thus, when the last White Knife fell to Appletowners, she took a deep breath and tried to enjoy the absence of the noises. The silence was not pitch perfect, of course, since her allies were still talking to each other, but still...

At least the noises aren't exceeding fifty or so decibels.

The result of the last assault was a moderate success. Unfortunately, one of the Apple men fell in combat, making the total number of KIAs three, and two more were severely wounded, so the medic was trying to create improvised stretches for them. Other people were checking the houses for usable loot or anything else of importance.

Big Macintosh stood slightly apart from the rest of the Appletown militiamen, a shadow crossing his features. Seeing this, Twilight decided to join him.

"You OK?" he asked.

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm OK."

"Then why the gloom expression?"

"Twilight, you are royalty in your pony country, right?"

"Er... yes." What could have spurred this question?

"So you had had to make decisions that affected the lives of many others. Right?"

"Sort of... I mean, Equestria is a peaceful country, and we haven't had a war like this one. The last one happened seven hundred and twenty-four years ago, and we certainly don't possess the weapons this world does... Are you trying to ask me whether I had had to make decisons like the ones you and Applejack did earlier?"

"Eeyup," unlike usually, Big Macintosh's voice was quieter and sounded sadder. Twilight's guesses were confirmed. He feels guilt for the people that died or got wounded.

"Not like these ones, no. Typically, even if I risked my life along with someone else's, I was surrounded by my friends. And... well... we have never suffered more than some wounds."

"I see."

"But from what I have seen of this post-apocalypse, I don't think that you've made the wrong decisions."

"Even if someone died?"

"Well, what exactly could've been done to prevent that?"

"Ah don't know. Better weapons, or attackin' somehow else, or doing another thing, or... somethin'."

"Big Mac, did Sunset tell you how she found me?"

"Nope."

"She found me at the mercy of two raiders as one of them planned to kill me simply because I refused to give them all of my food. I was not against sharing, mind you, but they wanted everything I had. I was moments from dying as she shot the one who held me at gunpoint to the head. As I learned later, she lived in a village of Vault inhabitants that was besieged by a raider group, and the leader did not have a lot of professional soldiers. So he had to form a militia, which I joined later. And shortly after that, I had to assist in defending that village from an all-or-nothing attack. Do you know what I had learned that day?"

"What?"

"That death is certain if one doesn't resist people like this. True, resisting may mean death too. But not resisting is guaranteed death. You and everyone else are fighting for your lives against these depraved bandits, and this is the right decision."

"Hmmm... Ah suppose you are right."

"Hey, Big Mac!" they were interrupted by Golden Delicious, who just ran up to them. "We've found a prisoner!"

"What? Show us!" the Apple patriarch took off, Twilight on his heels.

As they entered the house where the Appletowners had found the prisoner, both of them emitted a small gasp. The prisoner had familiar beige skin, cerulean eyes and blue and pink hair...

"Twilight? Big Macintosh?" she exclaimed, surprised.

"Bon Bon? How did you get yourself in this predicament?" the equine Princess inquired, surprised.

"No time for that talk right now! Big Mac, the bandits here just told me that the White Knives were planning to attack Appletown!"

"How soon?" the burly young man inquired as others untied Bon Bon.

"Very soon, maybe even now!"

"Goldurn it, and here we are away from Appletown. Bon Bon, I hate to ask you this, but can you help?"

"I can even fight," with these words, the recently-freed girl opened one of the crates and dug out a small sub-machinne gun of unfamiliar design with a mounted collimator sight, as well as spare clips for it, "with this little baby in my hands."

"We have to re-unite with Applejack, and then double-time back to the town," Big Macintosh said, his resolution coming back. "Let's go, people!"





"Ponyfeathers!" Sunset cussed as she ducked behind cover to avoid getting her head blown off by enemy fire. "This is certainly the toughest nut to crack!"

"Ya don't say?!" Applejack shouted at her.

The assault on the last village was not going well. Despite Sunset's best attempts at reconnaissance, the White Knives quickly turned the table on Appletowners, using heavy weapons and better armour. Three Apples had already fallen to the onslaught and it seemed that this would not be the final number.

"Any plan B Ah should know about?!" the farm girl shouted again, firing her AP-79 blindly from cover.

"I'm thinking of one!" Sunset shouted back, trying to hit one of the bandits. She succeeded, but the military-grade armour managed to withstand the impacts, if barely. The bandit thought it best to retreat behind cover.

"Think faster!" with these words, Applejack released another stream of bullets. Unlike Sunset, she managed to hit the unprotected throat of one of the White Knives, shattering his larynx and piercing his carotid artery. This made their situation only marginally better, however.

The main problem was that the Appletowners got pinned down in a position from which they could be seen relatively well. The bandits who defended themselves used this to their advantage, preventing the Appletowners from taking careful aim. If not for Sunset's initial plan that allowed the Apples to capture a defensible position, the outcome would have been disastrous; but the trench-like warfare was by no means a better option. Flanking or attacking from behind was inmpossible - the enemies had installed metal lists as impromptu walls, leaving only two entrances, one of which was used by the town inhabitants for their attack; the other one was behind the enemy line.

If only there was a way to limit their visibility... Sunset mused.

Then she remembered that she still had a flashbang grenade.

The fiery-haired girl exchanged her R91 for the laser pistol and prepared to throw her grenade. Catching Applejack's eye, she showed with gestures what she planned to do, and the blonde girl gave her a thumbs-up as a sign of approval.

Sunset pulled the ring and threw the grenade from behind her cover, closing her eyes and trying to cover her ears as best as she could.

KA-BOOM!

A loud sound of approximately one hundred and seventy decibels caused ringing in her ears, but she still could hear something at least. However, according to the surprised screams of bandits, they were less lucky.

Risking her head, she peeked out of cover. The enemies stood disoriented, unable to see or hear things, and some of them were shaking due to the negative effect the flashbangs always had on the vestibular apparatus.

She vaulted over her cover and raised her laser pistol at the closest enemy in sturdier-than-usual armour.

Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot!

The armour that was relatively good against bullets failed to withstand the heated beam of red light. Receiving horrific burns, the bandit dropped down like a puppet with cut strings.

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Applejack's assault rifle joined the fray, cutting down another bandit who did not manage to hide himself anywhere. 

"Go, go, go!" she screamed, and other Appletowners joined the attack, firing their own weapons at the disoriented White Knives.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Boom! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta!

The cacophony of gunfire and screams of pain reigned supreme in the village, as the Appletowners turned the tables on the bandits this time. Sunset noticed that the machine gunner on the balcony was trying to set his heavy weapon on the bipod again.

Must stop him before he kills us all!

Sunset dropped onto one knee, trying to fix the bandit's head in the iron sights of her weapon.

Ba-zoot!

The red beam of light ignited the face of the machine gunner, turning his body into ashes; with a clank, his armour and LMG fell onto the balcony.

Appletowners stormed the house which gave them so much trouble, splitting into groups; Applejack went deeper into the house, and Sunset followed her. As the blonde girl took cover, Sunset rushed forward; on noticing movement in the far end, she took a shot at the figure, but missed, and her target jumped into cover.

"What the hay, Sunset?!" she heard a familiar voice scream indignantly.

"Twilight? Is that you?"

"Who else, Discord?! Did yoi not check your IFF?"

"Horseapples, Twilight, I'm sorry. But what are you doing here?"

"We need to double-time back to Appletown," Big Macintosh said, appearing from around the corner. "We've freed a prisoner, an' she said that the bandits were planning an attack."

"Whom did you free?" Applejack asked.

"Me," Bon Bon spoke, joining everyone. "Oh, hi, Applejack. Hey, Sunset."

"Bon Bon? Well Ah'll be! Wait, did ya say that White Knives wanted to attack Appletown?"

"If they're not doing it now," the recently-freed girl said morosely.

"Shucks! We must clean this village and go back..."

"We've already taken care of another part," Big Macintosh interrupted, "and mah guys even found a car with enough nuclear fuel and a machine gun."

"What are we waiting for?" Applejack shouted. "Let's go!"

As everyone ran out, they saw Big Macintosh's squad push out the open-roofed car that he had mentioned earlier. The blonde girl quickly sat in front of the steering wheel.

"Ah-ha, 53% of nuclear fuel left. Excellent!" she said, taking the keys from ignition and starting the engine.

"Dibs on the big gun!" Sunset shouted, climbing onto the back section and standing behind the 7.62mm machine gun. Twilight decided to take the passenger seat near Applejack, and Big Macintosh and Bon Bon lay down on the floor in the back section, joined by two more Apples who jumped quickly there.

"Appletown, here we come!" Applejack shouted, pushing down hard on the accelerator.

"Medal for the pedal!" the fiery-haired girl replied. "Woo-hoo!"

Oh my gosh, Twilight thought, methinks I have just placed myself in even bigger trouble than I had thought...





"Oh shit!" Applejack swore as their car approached Appletown. "The fuckers are after our apple orchard!"

The situation looked grim. Bon Bon's worst prediction came true - White Knives were already attacking Appletown, and they were trying their best at destroying the orchard. So far, they haven't succeeded, but the resistance of the defenders was slowly wearing down - the enemy came well-equipped, like the last group that gave Applejack's group so much trouble. Some of them could be seen wearing helmets, and it was hard to spot a bandit that did not have at least riot control armour on them.

It appeared that the bandits were expecting someone to come help them, as several waved in the direction of their jeep.

"The nerve of these varmints," Applejack spat, as she saw the bandits doing that. "Give 'em hell, Sunset!"

"With pleasure!" the fiery-haired girl replied, putting her fingers on the trigger.

Dra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

The 7.62mm machine gun spat its powerful ammunition. The bandits did not expect the onslaught, but the weapon's recoil did not allow for proper aiming, and at least half of the bullets went astray - but Sunset still managed to kill one of the bandits and cripple another one. Twilight tried to fire with her own AP-79, but her attempt had a more psychological effect than a physical one.

The bandits fired back wildly, but their distraction cost them dearly, as the defenders took advantage of the situation. Their return fire managed to kill two bandits and wound two more. However, everyone in the car now found themselves in trouble - there was no cover between them and the bandits, aside from the jeep, but anyone can tell that using cars as cover was by no means the good idea. Moreover, there was no windshield, which left the driver and the passenger (in this case, Applejack and Twilight respectively) badly protected. Sunset was in a particularly bad position - as the gunner, she found herself as the primary target of the bandits. As two of them trained their rifles on her, she had to duck to avoid being riddled by bullets.

"Everybody hold on!" Applejack shouted, speeding up the car.

"What in tarnation are you... oh horseapples, please don't tell me you're - AAAAAHHHHHH!" Twilight screamed in fear as she realized just what her blonde friend was planning to do, and ducked below the front panel, as the jeep rushed towards the White Knives. The bedazzled bandits stood shocked for several seconds, which cost several of them dearly, as the car ran over several of them with the speed of nearly sixty kilometers per hour - which was never good for someone's health, armour or no armour.

"What the fu-UUUUUUUUCK!" they heard Bon Bon scream in fear. Along with her, the Apples (Big Macintosh included) were adding their own obscenities into the mix, some of them could make even a foul-mouthed Equestrian sailor blush.

Dra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Dra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Dra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Dra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Sunset was wrestling with the recoil in order to at least try and hit someone, which proved to be more difficult than expected, given that the road itself was somewhat bumpy, and the collisions with the bandits also threw off her aim. Still, the ensuing bulletstorm managed to kill two bandits and wound four of them, some of them seriously. As for Applejack's ramming attempt, she hit two of them directly, and two more who didn't manage to get out in time got glancing hits. After that, she was not able to hit anyone else, as the bandits ran off in different directions and tried to fire back at her; but the farm girl was relentless in her attempts, which led to a silly game of bowling where both ten-pins and bowling ball had intelligence and the ability to run around each other.

The defenders of Appletown used the chaos to their advantage, picking off four enemies. However, even after all this there were still twelve enemies remaining.

One of the bandits released a three-round burst in the direction of the car. Two bullets missed and hit the metal, doing little to no damage, but the third one hit Applejack's left arm in the place which was not protected by her armour. Screaming in pain, she abruptly turned the steering wheel to the left and pushed on the brakes. The car skiddled a bit, tilting dangerously to the right side but not overturning (thankfully). Both Twilight and Sunset tried to fire at the bandits, but only succeeded in making them scatter around.

"Applejack's hit!" Twilight shouted, firing another burst at the enemy. This time she was luckier - the bullets hit the face of a bandit, and one of them entered his forehead, killing him instantly. Sunset, on the other hand, found herself under the brunt of the enemy attack and was forced to abandon her position near the machine gun, dropping down onto the floor.

"Goldurn it, we left Red Delicious behind!" Big Macintosh bellowed. "Anyone here a medic?"

"I'm on it, cover me!" Bon Bon replied, jumping out and aiming at the bandits with her SMG.

The passengers of the jeep found themselves in a truly dangerous position - aside from the car itself, there was no cover between them and the bandits; moreover, Applejack managed to position the car that left the White Knives stuck between the defenders of Appletown and whoever fit into the jeep. The remaining Appletowners who went on a raid against the bandits still needed to cover the distance on foot (unless they were lucky enough to find a second car). This meant that the attacking bandits had two options - die in a crossfire or battle their way through those who blocked their way of retreat.

Assuming that they wouldn't try and destabilize the car's nuclear engine, that meant that whoever was near the car just became a primary target. With Sunset not able to discourage the bandits from rushing them, things took on a very bad turn.

Bon Bon, covered by Big Macintosh's LMG, fired several bursts at the bandits, and then tried dragging Applejack out of the car. Twilight reloaded her AP-79 somewhat clumsily (try reloading your gun when ducking in a car) and fired blindly once she finished. Sunset tried firing at others with her laser pistol, but while she wounded several bandits, she was unable to kill anyone, and soon was forced to duck as she needed to replace the battery in her weapon.

Bon Bon fired again with one hand, dragging Applejack with the other one. Twilight took aim at another bandit and fired, but missed, and was forced to duck again.

Celestia and Luna protect us all! she prayed to her land's rulers mentally, feeling desperation overtake her.

"How is she?" Big Macintosh asked Bon Bon as she put Applejack against the car.

"Bright red blood, means artery damage. Need a tourniquet!" the double-colour-haired girl replied, with a sense of urgency.

"My first aid kit in my rucksack!" Sunset shouted, taking potshots with her laserpistol again. Bon Bon quickly stepped up to her, rummaging through her rucksack until she found the needed object.

"Excellent!" the new medic spoke and began first aid procedures.

"Ah'll be alright! Just defend Appletown!" the blonde girl tried to act tough, although the grimace on her face utterly demolished the attempts.

"Like hell you will if I don't stop the bleeding!"

"They are coming closer!" Twilight shouted. Two Apples managed to drop three bandits but the return fire killed one of them, and Sunset killed another one. A bullet whizzed, wounding her left arm slightly and causing a hiss, but she only grit her teeth and resumed firing.

"Sunset!" her compatriot screamed in alarm.

"'Tis but a flesh wound!" the fiery-haired girl replied, landing a headshot and turning another bandit into ash. However, the bandits were very close now. In desperation, Twilight threw her last frag grenade.

"Oh shit!" she heard a White Knife scream, and then a BOOM resonated across the battlefield, followed by a scream of pain. As the violet-skinned girl risked sticking her head out, she noticed that two of the bandits were struggling to get up, and some of them managed to evade the flying splinters. Without a pause, she fired at the closest one. The bullets hit the helmet, piercing it and killing the bandit. Another one received a laser beam straight into the back of his neck, which was not protected - even if he survived, his spinal cord was most assuredly damaged, and he would not stand up.

Five more remain.

Unfortunately, the splinters damaged the car, too - both tires were flat, and the front was torn to shreds. Twilight suspected that being in the car was hazardous now, and dropped out, covering her head and running towards the back part of the jeep. Two bullets hit her armoured jumpsuit, but failed to pierce it; still, she almost stumbled under the force of impact.

She also realized that she ran out of 5.56mm ammo she had on her person.

Bucking flying ponyfeathers! she cursed inwardly, not even bothering with her un-royal language. For a fleeting moment, she imagined Rarity gasping and fainting upon hearing her swear, but quashed the image immediately.

No time!

"How's Applejack?" she asked, dropping behind cover.

"I injected her with a RegenStim, but she can't fight right now," Bon Bon replied. The beige-skinned girl fired at the bandit that got dangerously close and killed him with a well-placed burst.

"Ah can!" Applejack protested.

"No you can't!" Big Macintosh bellowed, firing on the bandits and managing to kill off another one.

"Ah must protect them!" the girl spoke desperately. The screams of pain seemed to prove her point, but then they heard:

"Applejack? Big Macintosh? Come out, you are safe!"

"Apple Pumpkin?" the eldest Apple brother spoke. "That you?"

"Yes, me. We hit the bastards in the back. Is everyone OK?"

"No, Applejack's wounded, and Apple Jam died. Seven of ours died in total," while Big Macintosh did not cry, everyone could tell he was saddened. Applejack herself wore the stoic expression, her face giving away nothing.

That's seven people too many. What a world. What a world, Twilight Sparkle thought.

Then, as the adrenaline left her, she simply dropped onto her butt.

"Twilight!" she heard Sunset cry. "You OK?"

"Ya alright, sugarcube?" Applejack spoke kindly.

"I... don't know," Twilight spoke. And everyone could see that she, in fact, spoke the truth.

She truly did not know.





Some time later...

"You wanted to see me, Curve Blade?" spoke the person standing in front of the leader of the White Knives.

"Yes. You are Slip Swipe, the representative of Crimson Hand, I presume," Curve Blade spoke.

"Indeed I am. You mentioned that you wanted to offer us a deal."

"True. You know the small settlement known as Appletown?"

"I know that they had resisted your forces again," Slip Swipe could not resist stinging the leader of the White Knives. While he knew better than to say it upfront, he viewed the raiders and bandits under Curve Blade's command as riff-raff unworthy to clean his guns.

Then again, we are professionals, and they are not. What would one expect?

"They did, but they actually had assisiance this time. Have you heard of this "Daring Duo" that dared to interfere with the chastisement of that merchant Cap Collector? Well, they had the nerve to assist the Appletowners in their "raids" on the villages that I control, and even managed to repeal some of my best people."

"Not by themselves, I assume?" That would be ridiculous.

"No, but with their assistance, the normally inept Appletowners dealt a... severe blow. I would like Crimson Hand to deal with these two... "heroines", the last word was spoken with contempt, something that Slip Swipe actually shared.

"In what manner?"

"However you wish, but I want their heads delivered to me."

"How many caps do you offer?"

"And how many would you charge for this?" Trying to extort extra from me, the nerve, Curve Blade frowned.

"The boss decides that, not me. His word is final. How many?"

"Five thousand," the leader of White Knives gnashed his teeth.

"I'll pass this on. Once the decision is reached, we will inform you. Anything else?"

"No."

"I'll take my leave, then. Have a pleasant day," with these words, Slip Swipe left.

If I have to deal with that slime again, I'll snap and gut this upstart pig, he thought.

Curve Blade had similar thoughts, but they were targeted towards the "Daring Duo" mostly.

Just you wait, Daring Duo, just you wait. Soon, everyone will hear on CWN that one does not mess with me and walks out alive.





Unbeknownst to him, someone else was listening to the conversation with the help of high-tech listening device that used laser beams to detect the tiny oscillations of windows that occurred whenever someone spoke.

The eyes, which were directed towards the prison that was now the base of the White Knives, narrowed.

The person grabbed the device, stood up and left, leaving no trace of their activity.





Unique Perk (Applejack)

Iron Skin: Your Damage Reduction is 20% higher than normal. The bonus stacks with whatever armour you wear.
> Chapter 13: When forged Steel meets a stubborn Apple
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 13

When forged Steel meets a stubborn Apple


"Is that all?" Big Macintosh asked two Apple family members who brought a dead body and put it near other corpses that were laying in a row.

There were six of them, and all of them were Apples who died in the latest onslaught.

"Yup," he heard the answer, "that's the seventh and the last one. Goldurn it, Mac, just how fierce was the fight?"

"Fierce enough. We musta took out fifty of them at least, an' that's before we came here."

"Thanks for arriving in time, by the way. I thought they would slaughter us and then set fire to the trees," another Apple spoke, his voice not as accented as Big Macintosh's.

"No problem. Ah don't know how we'll fix the car, though. The tires are flat, an' that baby just can't go on, even if one ignores the holes."

"Yeah," the first Apple spoke again, "that Twilight gal really messed up with that grenade."

"Hey, shut yer trap if you know what's good for ya," Big Macintosh snarled, taking offense at the behalf of his sister's friend. "She risked her life for everyone in Appletown, an' she was in a totally worse position than you, Ah'm still surprised how the heck she lived through this without a scratch."

"Whoa, sorry, man, Ah'm just pissed somewhat. Y'all know Ah love cars and hate it when one messes 'em up."

"Hate the White Knives, then, the majority of bullets were theirs anyway."

"Hey," the second Apple interjected, "where are Applejack and those friends of hers?"

"Somewhere in town, Ah think. Ah didn't really keep track, divin' into the job to let mah sister rest..."





"Y'all know how many bandits we killed? Ah lost mah count," Applejack asked her friends.

She, Twilight and Sunset, along with Spike (who spent the whole event being petted by Apple Bloom, as Twilight didn't risk taking him), were sitting in a bar ran by Berry Punch. Sunset was visibly surprised at that, but became somewhat happier at seeing a relatively familiar face.

"In the villages where I was, there were thirty-seven in total," the lavender-skinned girl replied immediately.

"I didn't really count the bodies, but I think all in all Applejack's squad killed twenty-nine," her compatriot spoke.

"Combined with the bandits we took out when we doubled back to Appletown, that's... wait a sec... there were twenty-one of them. That makes... eighty-seven?" Twilight's eyes widened from realization.

"Hoo boy, that's one big kick to the teeth for Curve Blade," the farm girl spoke, then raised her whiskey shot. "Well, here's to him remaining alone, then! Cheers!"

"Cheers," the Equestrians echoed, and after a clink of colliding glasses, they all drank. Twilight made a grimace as she swallowed the strong drink, while Sunset took it fairly well.

"How did ya learn to drink like that, Sunset?" Applejack inquired.

"Dunno. I've always had higher alcohol tolerance than normal, so whiskey and stuff are not too hard on me."

"Lucky you," Twilight spoke, "I already feel as if some blanket is covering my brain and prevents me from thinking. Why do humans like this?"

"Good question, Twi," the blonde girl spoke again, "guess we're kinda strange that way. This stuff is not always good for ya, but after that, one just feels... Ah don't know... well, better a bit. Relaxed. Happier."

"And dumber. It took me one second to remember the square root of nine hundred six point zero one."

"One second? Gee, Twi, Ah take three seconds to remember that. Just what is the square root of nine hundred six point zero one?"

"Thirty point one," the Princess spoke with a tone that clearly had "duh!" hidden beneath it.

"And how long does it take you normally to reemmber this?" Sunset spoke with a teasing smile.

"Zero point zero nine seconds," Twilight replied with pride.

"Darn, Ah'm glad Rainbow Dash isn't here. She would totally look at you and shout "Neeeeeeeeeerd!" out loud," Applejack smiled as she said that, and so did Sunset. Even with her mind in a slight haze thanks to alcohol, Twilight still understood that she was being teased, and grumbled:

"No respect for my brains. I should make it a law back in Equestria that anyone who mocks intelligent people is to be banished to the moon."

This statement provoked even more laughter from the other two girls, and even Spike rolled onto his back, waggling his feet in the air, laughing silently. Twilight growled at the obvious lack of respect for her intelligence, but soon burst into small giggles herself.

"Still," Applejack spoke more soberly this time, "eighty-seven bandits is no small feat. Ah think people said that there were around three hundred or three hundred fifty of them, and us Appletowners took out almost a hundred of them in the last months. That's a half of his men gone already. Not to mention that we took out twenty of his better-than-normal people, which is a plus."

"I take it there are normal bandits, which are not that good, and higher-ups, which are actually good?" Sunset asked.

"Pretty much so, the riff-raff an' the elites. The elites are mostly originals, and the riff-raff are those that joined later, boosting their numbers."

"Someone joined them?"

"Yeah. White Knives didn't want any competition, so they wiped out a couple of gangs. Then others decided to save their skins and flocked to them. Ah'd rather they didn't, but, well..."

"Well, if they receive no influx of men, they would be vulnerable in their base. Maybe we'll assault the prison later?"

"Ah'd think twice about that. They have, like, very well defensible positions. Ah scouted there a couple of times, it's a goldurn fortress. And we do not have that many people."

"What about hiring mercenaries?"

"Ah wouldn't trust 'em to carry buckets around here; besides, Curve Blade will offer more than Ah can. Not an option."

"So we are in a conundrum."

Everyone sat silently for a minute, and then Applejack spoke:

"Ah wanted to tell ya - the funerals of those who died are tomorrow, at noon."

"We'll be there," both Equestrians promised.

"Thank y'all kindly; Bon Bon agreed to come, too. Now, let's drink to the fallen," Applejack poured more whiskey, and then everyone drank without clinking the glasses, as the custom dictated.

"OK," she spoke, "Ah'll go see how Big Mac is doing, then we'll eat, maybe. Any plans, you two?"

"I'll go and lie down," Twilight said. "I'm tired as Tartarus and this whiskey is messing with my head..."

"I'll walk around," Sunset spoke, "and then maybe I'll take a nap too. Or read something."

"OK, see ya around. Thanks, Berry!"

"You are welcome, Applejack. Hope to see you again!" Berry Punch chirped, as the girls left the bar.





Sunset Shimmer wandered around Appletown, slightly drunk. Normally, this is a recipe for some unpleasant event happening to her.

However, she was not your usual drunk girl - first, she had higher resistance to alcohol, so she was not really handicapped, and second, she was still armed. Messing with someone who can shoot you to death is no laughing matter.

The news of her role in the assault already made it through the small town, and no one dared to bother her, so she walked on the streets wherever the legs carried her.

Some time later, she found herself near the orchard where she and the others had fought the elites of the White Knives. Their bodies were still on the ground, as no one even had the time to drag the bodies somewhere else, not that anyone particularly wanted to.

Sunset's eye fell on an axe that was standing near a tree. She recalled one of the Apples mentioning that one apple tree needed to be brought down for some reason; without thinking, she bent and picked it up.

The axe was not extremely heavy, and its blade was most definitely sharp. The fiery-haired girl did not even risk touching the sharp end with her finger.

Walking slower this time, she approached the bodies of the bandits. Everything worth looting was already taken from them, and only some clothes remained on them. Some faces did not have any grimaces of pain etched; Sunset wondered if anyone of the White Knives joined the battle while high on drugs.

I don't even want to know whether it is true or not, she decided.

As she walked slowly, looking into the dead eyes, she felt something stir within her.

Look at them. They came here with intent to kill, just because they thought themselves better, more deserving of what was created by honest hard work. Seven Apples died today, and how many had already died? And who else will join them?

Anger and fury, hot as lava, overtook her.

The nerve of them! Fucking bastards! Doesn't matter. They will die. They will ALL die! This scum won't bother anyone anymore!

As her eye fell upon the bodies, something clicked within her mind.

I will ERASE them from existence!

Without realizing what she was doing, Sunset rose the axe and hit the body of the closest White Knife with it. The blade pierced the skin, digging itself deep into the flesh, and as the Equestrian rose the instrument again, the blade was covered in blood.

Hack!

The blade hit the right arm, almost separating it from the body.

Fwoosh! Slash!

The skull of the bandit cracked into two, and brain fragments stuck onto it.

Sunset continued hitting the corpse until it became nothing more than a mangled mess of gore and torn limbs. As she stood up, she was breathing heavily.

Her green eyes fell upon the other bodies.

"Ny-AAAAARRRRRGH!" she screamed, and hit another corpse with her axe.

Hack!

The blade hit the neck, separating the head fully.

They shouldn't even be here! I will destroy these defilers!

As she continued hitting the bandits' bodies, she realized that the act actually felt... cathartic.

A truly malicious grin appeared on her face.

With new-found vigor, Sunset continued the "erasement"...





The gamboche eyes looked upon the scene in horror, widened by the uncontrollable nerve pulses.

A small figure hid behind the closest tree, mortified by the violence and gore that transpired nearby.

Several moments later, one eye looked out again - only to squeeze itself shut as one particularly vicious strike by Sunset sent the splatters of blood flying.

Without any regard for stealth, Apple Bloom ran away from the...

she-demon.





Twilight Sparkle woke up several hours, later, groaning quietly - her head felt as if it were filled with something heavy.

Lead, most likely.

"Curses-schmurses," she spoke. Standing up, she swayed a bit, but quickly regained control of her vestibular apparatus. Not trusting it fully yet, she walked downstairs, where she saw Applejack eating.

"Howdy, Twilight," the latter greeted her.

"Hey... do you feel as if there's lead in your head."

"Nope. Does it hurt?"

"No, it's just like something's heavy in there."

"Your brains?" Applejack joked.

"Hardy ha ha. Them and something else. Like lead."

"You sure you didn't catch bullets in there?"

"APPLEJACK!" Twilight exclaimed, feeling pissed off.

"Fine, fine. There's food for you on the table, it should be still warm."

"Thank you," the equine quickly sat down and attacked the fried meat lying on the plate. "Hey, where's Sunset?"

"Beats me, she's still walking somewhere- no, wait, someone comes in... Great galloping galoshes! What happened to you, Sunset?"

Twilight turned around - and gasped, inhaling a piece of her food, which sent her to a coughing fit and forced Applejack to hit her hard between the shoulder blades.

Sunset Shimmer was literally coated in blood. It covered her armour, her jumpsuit, her hands, and even her face. Even her hair did not escape the gruesome recoloring.

"Me?" she raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with me?"

"What's wrong? Your whole front is covered in blood!"

"Oh..." Sunset said, as she looked at her attire like she was seeing it for the first time. "I'm fine, I'm not wounded. Tripped while walking and fell into a pool of blood."

"An' just where did ya find one?!"

"The bodies of White Knives we haven't disposed of yet. Look, I'll go wash myself, OK?" Sunset turned around and left.

"Fine, but don't use too much water!" Applejack cried.

"I won't!"

"What in tarnation happened to her?" the blonde girl whispered to Twilight.

"I don't know, but I think we're missing something."

"You do think that she's not telling the truth, don't you?"

"It's obvious that she's not, but what in Equestria... oh, I hope she didn't kill anyone," Twilight whispered the last words, worried.

"Listen, maybe we'll take a look at that pool of blood she had mentioned once you eat?"

"I don't think finishing my meal would be a good idea now..."

"Suit yourself."





"Bleh-arr-kht!"

Twilight barfed at the gory sight she and Applejack just saw. The blonde girl, who typically was able to deal better with such sights, turned green, obviously having trouble keeping her food in.

"Is that the blood pool Sunset was talking about?" she croaked. "That's a goddamn gore-pool!"

"Horseapples," Twilight cussed, not bothering when Applejack gave her a somewhat disapproving look for her foul language. Suddenly, she noticed some object lying on the ground. "Hey, Applejack, is that an axe?"

"It is, but - oh snap, Ah think Ah know what Sunset did..."

"You mean she took the axe..."

"Yep."

"And walked to the corpses..."

"Yep."

"And..."

"...yep."

"Sweet Celestia," Twilight breathed out. "What the hay?"

"Um..." they heard a timid voice nearby. Turning around, they saw Apple Bloom carefully looking from behind a tree. "Ah'm sorry, Ah saw you two goin' here and..."

"Apple Bloom," the elder sister unterrupted her, "you can't go here! There're... scary things!"

"Ah already saw them, sis. It's... it was Sunset."

"What was she doing?" Twilight asked. Applejack sent her a glare, but it was too late.

"She... she had an axe in her hands... and then... she just, WHAM and hits one of the dead bandits, over and over... and then she screamed, and hit another one, and then another and she was just, hacking and shouting..."

"What did she shout?"

"No words, just... shouting. Angry shouting, like she was that she-demon again..."

"You are talking about me, I presume?"

Speak of the... Twilight thought, as everyone turned around to see Sunset Shimmer coming up to them.

The young woman looked better now, since her hands and face were free of blood, and wet patches on her clothes indicated that she tried to get the blood off of it too, but she was not very successful in that regard - the stains were stil clearly visible. The contrast between her cleaner skin and stained clothes made a macabre picture of contradictions between what she was now and what she was only a dozen minutes ago.

"Yup," Applejack replied to the posed question, "an' I have my own question - what in tarnation has got into you?!"

"Indeed, Sunset," Twilight asked, "that was... beyond brutal; I really didn't expect you to do that, Wastelands' cruelty or not."

"Plus, you scared mah sister!" the farm girl was shouting now, visibly angry. One look at Apple Bloom's face as she looked at Sunset from behind Applejack's back spoke volumes on how honest the latter was. The fiery-haired girl winced, as if stung, and Twilight took several steps towards her, speaking in a bit kinder tone.

"Look. I'm sure you had a reason of sorts, but this... well... this makes us worried, Sunset. It means that there's something bothering you, a lot. I want to help, and I'm sure Applejack wants to help, too..."

The look on the farm girl's face suggestes otherwise, but Sunset decided not to pay any attention to that and focused on her compatriot.

"...but we need to know what's on your mind. Please, Sunset, tell us," Twilight finished.

"Well..." Sunset began, unsure.

"Well what?" Applejack said impatiently.

"Applejack!" the lavender-skinned girl hissed at her.

"It all happened when I walked here," the unicorn-turned-human continued. "I was just... wandering around, and then I came here and... saw the bodies of those..." she paused, debating whether to use an obscene word regarding the now-mutilated dead bandits, but settled on not aggravating anyone further, "...White Knives. I saw them, and then something... burned within me. I saw them, and suddenly... I became angry. Very angry. I felt as if their bodies defiled the place where we fought earlier, and I wanted to... to..."

"Destroy them?" Twilight finished.

"Yes, sort of. When I saw the axe standing nearby, I just picked it, and then... I don't know... I just flipped out, and began..."

"Say no more," Applejack interrupted, noticing that Apple Bloom was getting fidgety again.

"So what are you going to do to me now?" Sunset asked. Time to hear the sentence.

"What?"

"I screwed up big, time, and you're pissed at me for scaring the living Tartarus out of your sister. So what are you going to do to me?"

"Heck, Ah don't know," Applejack shook her head. "Ah'm very pissed with ya, Sunset, make no mistake. That's very... undignified, what you've done to them. But believe you me, Ah understand your anger. They killed seven of Apples. True, they aren't mah closest family, but Ah'm still pissed and Ah want White Knives to pay. But what you've done to the bodies... that ain't right, Sunset. It's just... not."

"OK, I get it. I'm... really sorry, for letting my anger control me like that. And Apple Bloom, I'm so sorry I've scared you."

"It's... it's all fine... I guess..." Apple Bloom spoke quietly, feeling somewhat braver but still fearing Sunset somewhat.

"You haven't eaten yet, Sunset," Twilight spoke up. "Let's go back and have your stomach filled."

"If it will accept food at all."





"What do y'all think will happen next?" Applejack asked everyone who was sitting by the table.

Twilight, Sunset, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh and Bon Bon (the latter was invited to dinner by the farm girl, and she gladly accepted) emitted a collective hum of thinking.

"Ah don't know," the youngest Apple said. "Ah mean, you killed so many of them... won't they just stop?"

"Unlikely," Bon Bon said. "The guys who kept me prisoner were blabbering on about how they would burn Appletown to ashes."

"Can't we take them out?"

"They have a heavily fortified base, one we can't assault openly," Sunset interjected. "And the outposts in villages, too."

"Maybe we should keep assaulting the villages?" Twilight suggested.

"That might be a problem, Twi - we don't have that many fighters. Of all Appletowners, only thirty-eight actually can use a gun well enough; another forty-two know how to use the gun but totally lack the spirit."

"One needs to raise their spirit, then."

"Ain't that simple," Big Macintosh spoke this time. "These people just don't have a proper mindset for this stuff."

"Doesn't mean they can't change bit by bit," Applejack interrupted, "but before that happens, we might lose all the good fighters. And then there won't be a proper defense for Appletown."

"This means we must bring down their numbers somehow else," Sunset spoke.

"Any ideas?"

"I'm afraid we can't really fight them fair and square. No, Applejack, listen to me. We. Can't. They outnumber us three-to-one in best case and five-to-one in worst; if we try to fight them like we did today, we will be overrun by sheer numbers. We must play by our own rules and not let them dictate the rules."

"Exactly how?"

"Me and Twilight had found a silenced pistol once. Maybe one of us can use it to kill the enemies silently at night."

"The idea has merit," Bon Bon spoke.

"Like thieves?" Applejack looked displeased.

"If it saves Appletown, yes."

"Ah don't think Ah can do this."

"It doesn't have to be you," Big Macintosh spoke. "However, there's only one silent weapon. If something goes wrong, the assassin will be in big trouble. Besides, it has to be someone sneaky."

"I can try and pull this off," Sunset spoke.

"So can I," Bon Bon added.

"You too?"

"Yes. That's my preferred fighting style, given that I don't have guns with good damage output or decent armour. Problem is, I don't have a silencer."

"Maybe we can find one somewhere?"

"We can; I know a place. I wanted to go there before White Knives got me."

"We'll do so later. Will you need assistance, Bon Bon?"

"If two or three of the fighters could come with me, I would be very grateful. Last I have heard, there are super mutants wandering near that place - apparently, they overtook several villages, and this place is quite close to them."

"What is this place?"

"A base of Directorate of Intelligence. A mini-Vault, to be exact."

"Seriously?" Sunset's eyebrows shot up. "And how do you expect us to deal with any automated defense systems that will be in that place?"

"I have the codes for their deactivation. They will recognize us as DOI agents."

"Just how did ya get the codes?" Applejack inquired.

"Well... ah shucks, no use keeping this secret anymore. I am... or was... one of the agents."

"WHAT?!" a collective gasp of disbelief filled the room.

"But Lyra told us you joined the army," Twilight said.

"You saw Lyra?" Bon Bon's voice had a tone of surprise and... something else within it.

"In Hoofington, yes. She told us a bit about you."

"I did... but soon after that, I was recruited. Actually, my dad helped a lot with it. He was an ex-DOI, too, and although he retired when I was born, he still liked to tell me all these awesome spy-stories, and I wanted to be one, too. And when I joined the army, he pulled some strings. They tested me, and decided I would do as a good agent."

"Is that why your fighting style is stealth-based?"

"Perceptive of you, Twilight. Yes, exactly."

"And that SMG of yours - I take it that it's not a usual one?" Sunset eyed Bon Bon's weapon.

"It's not. It's Buffalo submachine gun, developed for special forces and Directorate of Intelligence agents and operatives. Nine millimeters, reasonably good damage for an SMG, allows to mount various types of sights on it. High ammo capacity. And it can use a silencer. I believe that that base I had mentioned may actually have some Buffalos there with silencers."

"Provided that super mutants did not get there first," Big Macintosh noted.

"They'd have to find it first. And then get past the blast door. Which is very tough, I assure you. Vault-Tec constructed those bases, so they made sure to put in the best stuff."

"When do you think we can try and get this weapon cache?" Sunset asked.

"Tomorrow, preferably. I'm not feeling one hundred percent ready right now."

"An' then y'all start doing sneak attacks?" Applejack asked.

"We can try. It will certainly bring fear to their hearts. And demoralized enemy is an easily defeated enemy."

"OK, then. Ah still don't like it, but if it saves lives... Ah just warn ya, Ah'm not really cut out for that stuff."

"You still need to get your hand healed, Applejack. I had applied some strong regenerative drugs from my own AMFAK-10, but they still should run their course."

"You are the medic. Ok, y'all, let's finish eating, and then we'll go patrolling. We might have kicked the White Knives hard, but one never knows what they might do..."

However, White Knives decided that they had had enough. The day ended without any more shots being fired, and once it was decided who of the Apples would get the night shift, Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Bon Bon went to sleep.





"What am I doing here?" Sunset Shimmer asked no one in particular. "And how did I get here?"

Looking around, she saw familiar walls of Canterlot High School and the statue which contained the portal to Equestria; however, the surface of the stone remained cold to the touch, making it clear that the gateway was closed.

Sunset also noticed that she was not wearing her armoured Vault jumpsuit, but her normal clothes from the days when CHS hosted the last Friendship Games.

What the hay?

She decided to walk back to the school entrance, believing for some reason that something would happen if she reached a certain point near it.

And something did happen.

The already dark sky (which looked disturbingly familiar to the Fall Formal night when Sunset had experienced the business end of rainbow beams of friendship) thundered, and a lightning bolt struck the ground near the entrance with a deafening CRACK!

Sunset fell down, blinded and deafened by the disturbingly close blast.

How in Equestria did I not get electrocuted? her mind briefly wondered.

As the fiery-haired girl managed to regain her senses, she gasped in horror at what she was seeing.

The lightning created a crack in the ground, from which black smoke was rising... along with something else.

A red hand appeared from below the ground, grasping at the edge of the cliff.

Then another one.

Sunset's sixth sense was tingling very uncomfortably. Her instincts screamed that something bad, very, very bad was about to come out from that crack...

These hands look so disturbingly familiar...

The red hands suddenly tensed, and a loud FWOOSH was heard as an anthropoid form with wings swiftly rose above the ground of CHS. As Sunset saw what exactly she was seeing, she screamed in horror and primal fear.

In front of her was... herself, as she was when she put on the Element of Magic and got corrupted.

A she-demon.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" the foul creation of darkness laughed evilly, looking down at Sunset. "Did not expect to see me, did you?"

"How..." Sunset's brain refused to comprehend the scene despite the evidence in front of her eyes. "How is this possible?!"

"Silly you," the demon mocked her, "you thought that the magic of friendship would just make me go away forever? You naive fool! Even after the Fall Formal, I remained, noting your progress in making friends," the last words was spat as something foul, "always there, although... I was pushed back, I admit. But then you moved to Trottingham and Vault 75, where you had zero friends to talk to, especially after the sturid humans destroyed their world with atomic bombs. That's some achievement; even Discord didn't quite manage that..."

"What in damnation are you even doing here?!" Sunset interrupted her corrupted alter ego, shouting in desperation.

"Why, are you not glad to see me? I am offended. I am your power, your might! And you think of rejecting me?!" the alter-ego began mockingly sweet, but very soon chaged to an angry scream. "You wrench! I have given you everything you are now!"

"I am not like you! I have changed!"

"Have you? Really? Because you didn't seem that keen on "friendship" when in Vault 75 or that village. Or even Appletown. But you so easily used the parts of me when you stepped onto the surface. The calculation, the cold-bloodedness, the cynicism... it has never left you, Sunset Shimmer. I have never left you, and I never will!"

"I'll make you leave, then!" Sunset screamed.

"You and what army?" the she-demon mocked her, and then, to her horror, Sunset found herself surrounded by a teenage zombie army similar to the one she had amassed shortly before her defeat.

She was cut off from any means to escape...

...I am doomed.

"Unlike you, I do actually have an army," demon-Sunset laughed, and then barked a short order:

"Seize her!"

Unbelievably fast, the teenage zombies lunged at Sunset...

"NOOOOOOO!!!"





"AAARGH!"

Thud!

As Sunset got tangled in her sheets while thrashing around, she realized far too late that she was on the edge on her bed, and fell down onto the hard stone floor.

"Ouch, ponyfeathers," she cussed quietly. Checking quickly that nothing was damaged too seriously, she untangled herself and stood up, immediately plopping down onto her bed and putting her face in her hands.

Hot feelings of shame and self-resentment overtook her.

I'm a failure, she thought. All these years, everything I had been through with my friends, and yet this part of me is still not gone.

She felt tears creeping their way through the fingers.

Get a grip of yourself, and end this pity-party, she ordered herself. No time for tears. Nothing good will happen if you fall apart now. The Wastelands will kill you. Go to sleep, everything will be fine. This is simply a nightmare.

Alas, some part of her still did not believe this, as she lay in her bed:

What if this thing is still a part of me?





Next day, near the noon...

"We've lost some good, decent folk yesterday, people," Applejack was speaking to those inhabitants of Appletown who were attending the funeral of the deceased, "but we took out a lot more of them bandits than usual. Curve Blade won't like this, and we don't know whether he'll try anything else, but Ah'm certain - we'll make him regret that if he tries again."

Looking into the crowd, Twilight Sparkle saw concern, doubt, anger, determination, resolution, sadness and sometimes tear tracks on the faces. To the left of her, Sunset Shimmer was paying utmost attention, her face almost impassive and the strain of facial muscles being the only thing giving away her turmoil of emotions; to her right, Bon Bon was sitting, calm and composed, her eyes focused on Applejack, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom, who were standing near the coffins where dead Apples were lying.

Nearby, seven graves were dug out.

Big Macintosh's lips were thin, and he was frowning, hands resting on his LMG, eyes searching for potential trouble starters. Apple Bloom had tears running from her eyes, but she was doing her best to reign them in. Applejack's face was expressionless, but everyone present knew that she was not the one to show tears, and "cried on the inside".

"Ah'd like to thank mah friends over there, Twilight and Sunset, and everyone from Appletown who helped to attack the villages. And also Ah want to thank Bon Bon who warned us in time about the attack. Without her, we might've lost the orchard. And finally, thank y'all who came here on this day. Now, Ah'd like to declare a moment of silence. If y'all would please stand up," the blonde girl took off her Stetson hat, and everyone who had something on their heads took off their garments, too. Everyone stood up, the Equestrians included.

"What's this about?" Twilight asked Sunset quietly.

"Human tradition; it is done to honour the deceased," the fiery-haired girl replied. Twilight bowed her head a bit, and remembered a small Equestrian prayer for the dead:

Celestia merciful and almighty, guide the souls of these departed ones to the Lands of Eternal Harmony and Happiness, where the grass is always green, the skies are never stormy, and the Sun shines forever. May they enjoy their rest in peace under your benevolent rays.

As one minute passed, Applejack spoke.

"Thank y'all. Sit down," as everyone sat, she spoke again, "now, if any of you want to say a few words, you are welcome to do so. Anyone wants to?"

"May I?" Bon Bon raised her hand. Applejack nodded, and the beige-skinned girl walked in front of the audience.

"Um..." she hesitated a bit, and began, "it is no secret that I am here because the brave people of this town resist White Knives and their rule of terror. Yesterday, my fate made a sharp turn-around as I have found myself freed from what I believed to be an ignoble fate waiting for me, and I feel inexpressable grief that your freedom and my freedom from these bandits cost you so dearly. I am in your debt, and I fully intend to repay it. If you will have me, then I'd like to help you with the defense of Appletown. I know several places where we may salvage good equipment, some tactics, and I can fight myself. Will you accept my help?"

"Darn straight Ah will," Applejack said. "And what about y'all?"

"Of course!"

"The more the merrier!"

"Give 'em hell for us all!"

"Thank you," Bon Bon smiled. "I will do my best, I promise," with these words, she went back to her place and sat down.

"OK, then," Big Macintosh spoke again, "anyone else?"

"Sunset," Twilight whispered, "do you want to?"

"I..." her Equestrian friend hesitated for a moment, and then replied, "I don't know, Twilight. I'm not that big on motivational speeches, and I really don't know what I can say."

"I'd like to try," the lavender-skinned girl spoke loudly.

"By all means," Applejack invited her to the "stage".

Looking at the faces of everyone present, Twilight noticed that many of the people exhibited the signs of weariness.

These don't look like properly motivated fighters. I need to give them hope that everything may turn for the best, that they have a future, she thought. But how?

Setting herself to be more positive, she decided to give a try anyway:

"I have only been here for several days, but I have already seen that this place is full of good and honest people. People that are threatened by the lowliest dregs of this world. I know that you resist them, but I also see that some people have doubts."

She started walking from side to side, making sure that she looked into people's eyes.

"They wonder if they can defeat this enemy, who cares little for morals and does their best to erase all hope for the peaceful future. They wonder if all the fighting will be worth it in the end. The future is not set in stone, but one thing can be said with utmost confidence: if Appletown stops fighting now, if it just lowers its weapons and surrenders, then it will be a betrayal of those who gave all they could and had, including their own lives and health, because such an act is equal to everyone saying that their sacrifices were not worth it."

The words had something of an effect on the audience. As Twilight said her last words about betrayal, some people shifted uncomfortably, some frowned a bit (not at her, thankfully) and some had a hint of resolution showing.

"No one is unbeatable, and the same could be spoken of White Knives," she continued. "Numerous as they are, numbers alone do not win the battles, it's the people who do so. Despite being outnumbered, the Appletowners still held onto their territory. That alone is the proof that White Knives aren't omnipotent and all-mighty."

People looked around at each other, their faces not so glum now. Twilight turned to Applejack and saw that her honest-to-Celestia friend gave her a small smile of approval. Twilight smiled back, and then turned back to the town inhabitants. She resumed speaking:

"You may have heard of Vault Village which lies to the north. This village was also threatened by raiders and mutants, and their defensive capabilities were lesser than here; yet they refused to give up. They did not let anyone but themselves to control their own fate. They stood against Fast Grabber and his cohorts, and they won! There's more than that, though..."

If I have that exaggerated reputation, why not to use it to uplift their spirits? she thought.

"Two young women, whom you might know from CWN broadcasts as Daring Duo, took the fight to the base of the raiders, and utterly obliterated Fast Grabber and whoever remained after their failed attack on Vault Village. They did not care about numbers, or the fact that the enemy was better armed, because they did not want that raiding scum to control their fate and their future. Do you want White Knives to control your future?!"

"No!"

"Fuck no!"

"Them? They can screw themselves!"

"Second that!"

"Hear, hear!"

"They may try; I'll prove them wrong!"

"We'll prove them wrong!"

The various shouts of Appletowners caused a rush of gratification to flow through Twilight. The people listened to her, and were ready to go on and fight further.

"Then take control of your own future! Show them that you won't roll over! Do not give up, because surrendering is death! In the memory of those who passed on, make Appletown free of the fear of White Knives!" Twilight raised her voice, throwing her left fist into the air.

"Damn straight!"

"They won't get us!"

"For Appletown!"

"Eeyup!"

"Y'all heard her!" Applejack shouted. "Twilight speaks the truth. The fight may be hard, but we won't play by their rules, we'll make our own rules!"

Another round of thunderous approval reigned for almost two minutes before it died down.

"Thank ya kindly, Twilight," the blonde girl whispered. "Ah didn't really know what words to say, but you gave them fighting spirit."

"Thank you for letting me speak, Applejack."

"No prob, sugarcube," as Twilight went back to her place, the farm girl addressed the crowd, "OK, anyone else wants to speak?"

"Nah," Red Delicious spoke, "Twilight has already said what needed to be said, am I right, fellas?"

A murmur of approval was heard from the crowd.

"Then let us pay our respects to the fallen, and after that, we'll make sure that the White Knives deeply regret messing with Appletown!"





One hour and twenty-two minutes later...

"Thank y'all kindly for coming," Applejack expressed her gratitude to Twilight, Sunset and Bon Bon again.

"You're welcome," Bon Bon said. "Thank you for helping me. I so wish that my rescue did not cost your family that much."

"Nonsense. We'll help anyone who needs protection from White Knives. That's how some of the folks turned up here."

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh spoke, "some of the villages near Appletown were inhabited by other people. But once White Knives started terrorizing this area, virtually all of them moved here - Appletown has better defenses. Sometimes people from other areas turned up here chased by the bandits; we helped them, too."

"How many people come through here?" Twilight asked.

"Not... very many," Applejack replied. "People don't really wanna risk going here without some serious protection or hiring mercenaries. There are those small twin towers to the north of us where some hoity-toity people with their own protection outfit live, and they come here for apples. Gits always try to ditch the price. But they all like fresh apples, so they almost always buy at us, although they moan and bitch a lot."

"But they didn't try to help you? I mean, they do want your apples and stuff..."

"They want to live comfortably, not risk themselves. They could care less if Appletown's wiped out, as long as White Knives don't try to hit them, they'll ignore them. And Curve Blade is smart, he had never tried to attack them, even if he has his sights on towers, too."

"Well shucks. Typical higher-ups, never caring much for plebs unless they want their taxes or votes," Sunset spat.

"You said it."

"Hey, what are those figures in the distance?" Twilight pointed her finger at three very bulky metal figures coming their way.

"Those ones? Ah don't... wait... no flipping way! The nerve of them!" Applejack shouted, and walked towards the figures with an angry expression on their faces. Surprised, everyone followed her.

As the company approached the strangers, which turned out to be humans in very heavy-looking armour and carrying some hard-hitting weaponry - two LMGs and a laser rifle at the sight of which Sunset almost salivated - Applejack shouted at the newcomers:

"Did y'all forget what Ah said last time? You folk aren't welcome here in Appletown!"

"We didn't forget, Applejack," the apparent leader spoke. "But we do not care. You have several of our items in your possession, and we want them relinquished now."

"Ah already told ya - that Brotherhood of Steel of yours can be relinquished a fig! Now, we've just had to bury seven of our own an' Ah'm in a very bad mood right now, so kindly leave."

"If we leave, then there may be a need to bury a lot more than just seven later," the leader said menacingly.

"Hey, cool down, everyone!" Sunset shouted. "Applejack, who are these guys?"

"What, she didn't tell you?" the "leader" spoke.

"Forgive me if Ah need to defend Appletown and don't have the time to introduce my recently-found friends with just about everybody who has the gall to make demands of us," Applejack grumbled, glaring daggers at the newcomers.

"Well, I'll introduce myself, then. My name is Helmet Steadfast, and I am a Senior Paladin of Brotherhood of Steel. To the left of me - for you, that is, for me it's to the right - is Paladin Pickel Helm and to the right is Paladin Luminal Heat. We are here to reclaim what belongs to us from Appletowners."

"Ain't nothing here that belongs to y'all, Steadfast," the farm girl snarled.

"Applejack, please don't interrupt!" Sunset raised her voice. "I want to hear what they want, and what in stars Brotherhood of Steel is."

"Brotherhood of Steel is the organization that dedicates itself to preservation of pre-war technology," Helmet Steadfast spoke. "After the Day of Burning, the UFE, or the whole humanity as well, suffered a major technological setback. Relatively few pieces of pre-war technology actually remain salvageable, and don't get me started about advanced technology - it virtually ceased to exist. But humanity needs the technology it had created, or it won't survive. The Brotherhood seeks that technology and strives to preserve it."

"Hoard it for yourselves, you mean," Applejack grumbled.

"We aren't finding tech in neatly stacked crates in big numbers, tribal," Pickel Helm snarled.

"Tribal?" Sunset raised her eyebrow, clearly not amused. Applejack and Big Macintosh frowned, and Twilight sent Pickel a glare.

"Hey, Pickel," Luminal Heat spoke, "can your attitude. We were sent here to ask, not insult."

"Don't see why we should ask at all."

"Shut up, both of you!" the leader snapped at the Paladins.

"Yessir!" both soldiers stood at attention.

"Pickel Helm is partially correct. The technology isn't just lying around, and what we find is almost always broken. That and we need to find out how it works, actually. Which is why Brotherhood collects everything it can find."

"OK. That I understand. But what does Appletown have to do with this?" Sunset asked.

"They have tech that belongs to us," Pickel Helm spoke again.

"If there happened to be any tech that did in fact belong to you, Ah would have given it back," Applejack spat out.

"What kind of tech are you actually talking about?" Twilight inquired.

"Water chip, for instance," Luminal spoke.

"An' what are we supposed to water trees with? Tears?" the blonde girl looked visibly angry now.

"So that's how you can still have an orchard," the lavender-skinned girl addressed Applejack. "I was meaning to ask how you can still grow something, but a water chip explains everything."

"Well yeah. Appletown has one. Or its prototype, to be exact. Water chips usually went to Vaults or something similar in size, while this version of ours was designed for agricultural needs. We take the water out of nearby rivers, and it is purified, so our aples aren't dangerous to eat. Enough to water trees and ensure that no one dies of thirst. But the agricultural variant did not enter mass production."

"Which makes it all the more valuable to us," Helmet spoke again. "But that's not the only thing. We also know that Applejack possesses a suit of T-72d power armour, which belonged to one of us. And we would like to have it back."

"Silicon Stone was exiled, boss, don't you remember? He's not "one of us" in our chronicles anymore," Pickel Helm spoke.

"Oh, so you are after his armour as well, huh? Well here's what Ah'll say: Ah spoke with Silicon Stone, and he's a lot more decent folk than the three of you are," the farm girl spoke, while Big Macintosh added "Eeyup", louder than usually, "and when Ah spoke to him, he asked me to promise that should he die, then Ah'll do mah best to preserve his armour and never give it back to you! And Ah intend to keep mah promise. So, once again, no."

"He's not alive anymore, is he?" Luminal Heat spoke up.

"No he ain't. White Knives killed him when they attacked Appletown like a month ago, while you tin cans clanker around demanding stuff that shouldn't even belong to you," the venom in Applejack's voice was almost breathable.

"Why you insolent tribal..."

"STO-O-O-OP!"

Everyone looked in surprise at Twilight Sparkle who just surpassed a 100 decibel mark.

"Look, you three. I'm terribly sorry, but you really appeared at a very unfortunate time. As Applejack had said, we have buried seven members of the Apple family, and the pain is still raw. I am afraid that discussing this situation in a diplomatic fashion is... hardly possible now, with our tempers running high."

"Who the fuck said anything about diplomacy?" Pickel started again.

"Exactly my point," Twilight interrupted. "I am certain we can come to a solution that would satisfy both sides, but we can't do it right now. Helmet Steadfast, does Brotherhood of Steel have a leader we could talk with?"

"Taking it up with the top, are you? Well, our supreme leader is in another location, but Elder Aegis is our superior in the northern sector. You can take it up with him, in theory, but I would not expect that our stance on that will change. I see you have a Pip-Boy? 3000A model?"

"Yes."

"I can give you the coordinates for an... entrance point of sorts, since the coordinates of our base are strictly classified. Is that agreeable?"

"I think so."

"You certain that's a good idea, boss?" Luminal Heat spoke up.

"Well, I'll see what sort of compromise they may try to cook up."

"You think these tribals can think of something?" Pickel sneered.

"Don't underestimate anyone, Pickel Helm," the leader spoke, entering coordinates into Twilight's Pip-Boy. "Some of them can be more dangerous than you believe," as he spoke, the armoured eyeslits of his helmet were turned to the equine Princess' eyes, making her feel uncomfortable - as if she was being judged. "OK, Miss..."

"Twilight Sparkle."

"Hmm... Miss Sparkle, would it be comfortable to meet us tomorrow?"

"It would. Am I allowed to bring anyone?"

"You can bring one companion, but not Applejack or Big Macintosh. I am afraid that they are too... stubborn... for diplomacy," turning to the Apples, he spoke, "No offense."

"None taken," Big Macintosh spoke quickly, before Applejack managed to put a word in. The latter scowled, but said nothing.

"Fine," Twilight looked visibly displeased, but was unable to find an appropriate counterargument.

"Then we will see you on the specified date. Your Pip-Boy has a set of codes that will let us recognize you for who you are. Fare well," Helmet Steadfast turned around and walked away, followed by his companions, but paused, and then turned back.

"And Applejack?" he spoke. "For what it's worth, I am truly sorry about your losses. I admit that I picked a very bad time to come with my... request."

"More like "demand" than "request", but still, thank ya kindly," came the answer. 

The Senior Paladin followed his soldiers away from Appletown. As soon as they left, Bon Bon rounded on Applejack:

"Are. You. Nuts?! These guys were wearing flipping power armour and had LMGs and a laser rifle as main weapons! Do you want to die or something?"

"Hey! I can't just let them steamroll us all over!" the country girl retorted.

"And how were you planning to defend yourself if they got hostile? Power armour is one of the toughest available, it can withstand multiple shots from assault rifles and my SMG is merely a popgun for it! Only Big Macintosh actually had a decent chance to damage them!"

"OK, stop arguing," Sunset interjected. "Applejack, just what did that Silicon Stone guy say about Brotherhood of Steel that you don't want to give them his power armour?"

"You want the long story or short story?"

"Short, this time."

"Well, he had a mighty big disagreement with his fellas and bosses in Brotherhood and they tried to execute him and some of his soldiers that stood by him too. Everyone was massacred, and he himself was in very bad condition when Ah and several others found him in an abandoned village and gave him first aid. We had to pry him out of his armour to carry him into Appletown. Didn't think he'd make it. The guy was tough, though; he recovered quickly and told us the whole story. Basically, the Brotherhood wanted him dead because he wanted to go out and help people with the technology they almost venerate, not just hoard it. So he asked me not to give his armour back to Brotherhood, and Ah agreed. Helmet Steadfast had already asked me once, and I said no. Then he made some threats, and tried to get all close and personal, but we surrounded him. And Ah told him that he and their whole Brotherhood aren't welcome here. Didn't think he'd have the nerve to come back."

"With power armour and big guns? Not have the nerve? That's an oxymoron, Applejack," Sunset almost facepalmed.

"Oxy-what-now?"

"Oxymoron, basically speaking, is combination of incompatible words. For example, the words "black sun" would be an oxymoron, because a sun can't be black."

"Darn, Ah forgot that sometimes you speak fancy, Sunset... anyway, we have Silicon Stone's armour now, and Ah'm not planning on giving it away."

"May we look at it?" Twilight asked.

"Sure. Follow me."

As Applejack led them to the shed where some of the instruments, guns and ammunition belonging to Apple family were present, they saw the suit that was remarkably similar to the armour that the Paladins had worn, but it was in a worse condition - chest plate had bullet holes in it, left shoulder pad was almost destroyed and there was no armour on the areas where right arm and left leg were supposed to be protected. The helmet was missing, too.

"Some of the armour plates were so badly damaged that we simply threw it away - they were unsalvageable," Applejack explained.

The left shoulder pad had something painted on it. Coming closer, Twilight recognized a stylized set of wings half-encircling a white circle with shapes of three black gears inside it (one big and two smaller ones), the whole picture bisected by a sword.

"This armour looks really heavy. How can one wear it when armour plates on my jumpsuit already feel rather constricting?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Well, this is power armour," Bon Bon spoke. "It has the means to assist the wearer and augment their natural strength. See the frame underneath where armour plates are supposed to be? That stuff is an exoskeleton designed to help the user move around in this heavy armour and wield heavy weapons, which gets energy from a power source. Upon it, armour layers are added to protect the user. Typically, power armour used by UFE forces relied on microfusion power packs on the back. That's how one can lug this carcass around. It requires some special training to wear such armour, though."

"In theory, Ah could probably use this armour - Silicon Stone told me how to use it, and he has practically the same body proportions as me, but the microfusion power pack is out of energy," Applejack said.

"And without it, power armour is simply a metal coffin. But still, it would be valuable loot. Although if we were able to recharge the power pack somehow or replace it..."

"It would assist us pretty well in the defense of Appletown," Sunset spoke up. "But aside from these Brotherhood of Steel types, I really have no idea where to find the missing plates or power pack."

"Military bases could have some, but those of them that had that kind of stuff would probably have heavy automated defenses or even warbots," Bon Bon said dejectedly. "Who knows, though..."

"Bon Bon, will we be able to get to the base in time?" Sunset asked.

"No, it's almost a day-lasting travel from here to there and back. This place is located near the south-eastern border of Hoofington."

"Well, bummer. This certainly is a setback to our original plans." 

"I'm sorry," Twilight spoke. "I couldn't think of a way to convince him to give us more time without antagonizing him further."

"No problem, Twilight. To be honest, once they came here, I felt that we would need to take care of that problem first, anyway. Brotherhood of Steel appears to be very well-equipped, even by pre-apocalypse military standards. Unless that base has an overabundance of weapons that can deal easily with power armour, going after it now would not be extremely beneficial. What kind of weapons can we expect to find there, Bon Bon?"

"Most likely normal firearms and perhaps an energy weapon or two - it varies from base to base. Nothing that would give us a clean advantage over Brotherhood, unless we encounter pulse grenades - those things emit an EMP that does a number on the power armour systems."

"Then Ah think we should maintain defensive stance for now," Big Macintosh spoke, "until we obtain better guns and can be certain that Brotherhood of Steel will not bother us with their requests."

"Ah agree," Applejack spoke. "Ah'll tell anyone to warn us immediately if them Paladins or anyone else come back, but now, let's worry about White Knives."





"They are meeting with Brotherhood of Steel?"

"Yes, tomorrow."

"Time?"

"Unspecified."

"What?"

"From what I have heard, the Paladin simply uploaded something to that lavender-skinned girl's Pip-Boy."

"Authorization codes or IFF markers, most likely. Brotherhood is paranoid; you come uninvited and you are in big trouble."

"When will you ambush them? Before they meet?"

"No."

"How come?"

"If they don't arrive, Helmet Steadfast or Elder Aegis may think something's wrong. They aren't fans of Crimson Hand and White Knives too, remember?"

"So you'll try it on the way back?"

"Yes. Inform me if anyhing changes."

"Will do."





Appletown, while already having better defensive positions than other locations nearby, was slowly being converted into a fortress. Bon Bon noticed some glaring weaknesses in defense lines and lended her expertise which she had got from her time in DOI, which was gladly accepted.

Several scouting groups were sent to search through the villages in order to check whether White Knives occupied any of them, but found none of them. Apparently, Curve Blade was hesitant to spread his forces thin now.

Twilight, Sunset and Bon Bon scouted the area near the prison that served as the main base of White Knives. Using Bon Bon's binoculars, they quickly determined that with more than a hundred bandits still remaining, frontal assault without some heavy reinforcements would not be possible.

Much to the ex-DOI agent's frustration, there was no visible possibility for a sneak attack either.

"I had hoped that their main base would have an exploitable weakness that would allow one person or a small squad to infiltrate the prison and assassinate Curve Blade and all the top dogs of this gang," she explained.

"If Curve Blade pulled all of his forces back, that would become a suicide mission," Sunset spoke. "How would you expect to sneak past a hundred or so bandits without the plans of the building, which kinda was not built with the intent of allowing sneak-ins?"

"I can improvise, but... yeah, you are right. Without any kind of special infiltration equipment or a diversionary attack, that wouldn't work."

"And a diversionary attack would require..?" Twilight asked.

"At least fifty troops."

"Well, that one blows this plan out of the window. Can we hope to find that "special infiltration equipment" you had mentioned in the DOI Vault?"

"Who knows. The stockpiles are never the same in there. Let's go back to Appletown, I have already marked everything necessary."

"Fine by me. By the way, I need to think about who would go with me to see Brotherhood of Steel tomorrow."

"I had promised Applejack earlier that I would stay in Appletown, so I can't come; sorry about that," Bon Bon bowed her head a bit, abashed.

"No problem. Sunset, aer you up for it?"

"Need you even ask? I'm in. The sneak peek at their guns alone would be worth it."

"I never picked you for a gun fan, Sunset," the beige-skinned girl interjected, surprised.

"I'm not. But usually, if you have a better gun, you have better chance of survival..."





The next day...

"OK, then; be careful, ya two," Applejack told Twilight and Sunset, as they were standing near the edge of Appletown. "Ah'd hate to lose the two of you now. Ah still don't really like this idea, though."

"Neither do I, but Appletown can't afford enemies like these," Twilight answered. "We'll see how we can come to a compromise. I mean... they don't look like bandits or raiders, and they seem to be reasonable."

"That they do, sugarcube, but the rule "don't shoot the messenger" kinda doesn't work here in the Wastelands."

"I know, but that's a risk we'll have to take."

"Ah don't know; maybe we can scrounge up something..."

"No, Applejack, we are not backing down from that."

"OK, fine. Just..." Suddenly, Applejack drew both Equestrians into a hug and said, "...just be careful, will ya? Ah'd hate to lose mah friends along with mah family."

"Of course we will," Sunset spoke up. As they broke the hug, two ponies-in-disguise turned around and walked away from Appletown.





Twilight was looking regularly at the local map stored on her Pip-Boy, checking whether she and Sunset were walking in the right direction. Thirty minutes have passed since Appletown became invisible below the line of horizon, and they were moving west-north-west.

Both girls had assault rifles at the ready, their ammo supply refilled. They also had their laser pistols on their hips, and Twilight also brought her .44 magnum and SMG, while Sunset picked her combat shotgun as a reserve weapon.

"How much further?" the fiery-haired girl inquired.

"If I'm reading the scales correct, it's... three more kilometers."

"Meaning we'll be there in an hour. Thanks."

"No problem."

Suddenly, Spike (the girls decided to bring him along, just in case) ran up to them. Being their forward scout, he was supposed to keep them ready for any possible attack, and he was taking his responsibilities very seriously.

"Twilight," he spoke quickly, "trouble ahead. I am smelling some animals."

"Which ones?"

"I can't be sure, but they smelled like radscorpions, and I felt at least two of them."

"Thanks, Spike," Twilight tucked her Number 1 Assistant into her rucksack, readying her rifle. Both she and Sunset entered combat stances, and crouched slightly, trying to move stealthily.

They did not need to move for long, however, as two radscorpions charged at them. The girls discharged their weapons at the mutated beasts, killing both quickly, but suddenly they found themselves surrounded as five more dug themselves out from the ground.

"Shit!" Sunset swore. "We must have stumbled onto their nest!"

She turned shrply to the right, and Twilight did the same.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

5.56mm rounds tore into the radscorpions that were on their right, and both girls started running so as to put more distance between themselves and the remaining mutants. Several moments later, they turned around and fired again.

The string of bullets killed one radscorpion and tore away several legs from another one, but the last one received minimal damage before getting too close to comfort. Both girls jumped away to different sides as the radscorpion swiped his tail at them, intending to sting.

Aiming at it again, they released another burst of bullets, and this time, the radscorpion did not survive the crossfire.

Another two shots ended the life of a crippled radscorpion...

...however, it was too early to celebrate.

Another eight radscorpions burrowed themselves out.

"Oh COME ON!" Sunset screamed. "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Language!" Twilight spoke automatically.

"Bite me and shoot!" came the not-so-polite answer, followed by gunfire. The lavender-skinned girl turned into another direction this time, trying to pick apart the enemies that would be best targets in order to create a breech in the circle of enemies.

Not an easy task, given the four-to-one advantage that the mutated beasts had.

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Ba-ta-ta-ta! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-tat! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

The combined fire killed two of the beasts, but did not really help their situation. One radscorpion attempted to sting them, separating both girls - which immediately put them in a dangerous position, as they were separated now and each one had three beasts surrounding them.

The worst part was their clips running out of ammo at almost the same time. With the enemies closing in, they could not afford spending several seconds reloading.

Sunset exchanged her rifle for shotgun and immediately pumped the enemy closest to her full of small metal balls. Apparently, this was not compatible with the creature's life. Not surrounded anymore, she started a game of tag, shooting at the mutants whenever she could.

Twilight whipped out her SMG, sending a burst at one of the radscorpions, but failing to kill it in time. The beast swiped, and Twilight jumped to the side, firing at another radscorpion that was in front of her. Fortunately, her aim was better this time - the bullets hit the creature's eyes, and tore its "face" in a gory display.

Swish! Kh-sting!

"ARGH!" Twilight felt pain in her left hip from behind. Turning around, she discharged the remaining clip at the mutated monstrosity, finishing it - and being forced to duck as the last monster tried to swipe at her.

BOOM!

A shotgun shot tore away the radscorpion's tail, and Sunset jumped onto the carapace. Putting her weapon against the monster, she fired point-blank.

The monster twitched, and then lay still.

"Thanks, Sunset. I was in some trouble here, and... oh-h-h-h..."

Suddenly, strong vertigo assaulted her, making it difficult to stand. Her vision became less focused, and she saw doubles everywhere.

"Twilight?"

"Oh... I'm not feeling well..." she started swaying, and almost fell, but her Equestrian friend caught her.

"What's wrong?"

"Stung... me..."

"Damn it!" rummaging around in her rucksack, Sunset took out a syringe that contained an antidote for radscorpion's poison. Seeing as Twilight grabbed her leg and her face was distorted with a grimace of pain, she understood immediately where she needed to inject the drug.

Turning Twilight around and tearing away the girl's hands forcibly, she stabbed the hip with the needle, and then pushed with her thumb on a plunger, injecting the antidote.

The equine Princess stopped twisting her face in agony, but as she tried to sit up, her vertigo only got worse.

"Hush, Twilight," Sunset spoke, "this antidote's nasty. Rest a bit, and don't stand."

"OK... ohhh... ponyfeathers, that's unpleasant. I..." suddenly, Twilight felt as if her stomach was constricting, and then she turned away from her friend, vomiting her breakfast violently. The fiery-haired girl held her hair back, much to her relief.

"Yeah, that's the unpleasant side effect of this antidote. Hold on, it will finish soon..."





"...Appletown just lost seven of their own, but White Knives definitely paid for that in full - the count suggests there were eighty-seven of the bandits killed. Nice ratio, Curve Blade! Keep it up, and Canterlot Wastelands will be rid of your baleful presence forever! The Appletowners also rescued a prisoner, which is a bonus. But that's not all! My sources tell me that our favourite Daring Duo was spotted among the honest folk of Appletown! It may even be claimed that without them, there would have been a lot more casualties. Great job, Daring Duo! I'm sure Appletown appreciates your assistance! And now, some music. Today, it's "The Wanderer", and those who roam from town to town will appreciate it, I'm sure..."

"Ugh. They just unveiled our Daring Duo identities," Sunset grumbled, as the first tones of a song could be heard. "If I ever see the DJ who spews this, I'll strangle him. Or her. Whatever."

"You'd rather this remain a secret?"

"Yes. If word gets around who we are, this may attract a lot of wrong attention - more than we can handle."

"Point taken. Although I'm not sure anyone takes this seriously."

"Who knows? Compared to Enclave radio, this CWN at least talks some facts, so maybe someone will put stock into it, even if there tend to be... embellishments."

"Understatement of a century."

"How close are we to that navpoint anyway?"

"It's not far - no more than half a kilometer, I believe."

"Let me see... Yes, indeed, five hundred meters or even less. Come on."

Both girls walked forward with renewed vigour. The latest skirmish with radscorpions left them winded a bit (Twilight in particular, since she had experienced the unpleasantness of animal poison and subsequent side effects from the antidote in full), so the thought of the ir target being pretty close lifted their spirits.

Once they arrived, though, Twilight checked the map, then re-checked it, then double re-checked it and was on her way on triple re-checking it but was interrupted by both Sunset and Spike.

There was nothing in sight that could have indicated the presence of a base or anything that resembled an outpost at least.

"Could he put the wrong mark?" Spike wondered.

"But what would the point of that be?" Twilight spoke back.

"I don't like it. Smells like an ambush," Sunset tensed, anticipating trouble, her R91 in hands.

"Doesn't look like a good place for an ambush," the dragon-turned-dog expressed his doubt.

"Unless there are remotely-controlled explosives underground," the fiery-haired girl was beginning to feel paranoia creeping into her mind.

"Wait a moment," the Princess of Friendship called out. "I found something."

"What is it?" everyone else came up.

"Look."

In the place that corresponded directly with the marker on the map, there was a small, barely noticeable construction that Sunset identified as air vent designed for underground bunkers used primarily by the military. Near it, though, there was a small panel covered by dry grass; as Twilight took away the grass, the panel turned out to be something of an electronic security lock with anti-EMP protection. A retractable cord was present, its end designed to fit a Pip-Boy slot.

"Maybe this is the place we need?"

"Could be. You are planning to use the codes?"

"Precisely," the lavender-skinned girl found the file with codes in her Pip-Boy and activated it. A beep sounded, with a message "Disconnect the cord", which she obeyed.

Immediately, the ground directly behind them opened up, and with a mechanic whirrrrr sound, a platform rose with six Brotherhood of Steel Paladins on it, their weapons trained directly at both girls.

"Halt!" one of them shouted. "Who goes there?"

Both Twilight and Sunset pointed their assault rifles to the ground, letting the weapons weigh in one hand, in an attempt to show their non-hostility.

"Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer," the former spoke clearly, "here to see Elder Aegis on behalf of Appletown."

"How did you get here at all, missy?" the same soldier spoke.

"Helmet Steadfast gave us the coordinates of this place and the codes. We agreed to meet today," Sunset spoke.

"Wait a moment," the greeting Paladin spoke, putting his finger to the helmet radio and speaking: "Yes? Yes, sir, two yound women... almost girls... they say they passed the codes. Sir?.. Are you certain? Yes, sir," deactivating his radio set, he addressed the Equestrians, "Elder Aegis said that we let you in. Step onto the platform, and no funny business."

"OK," Twilight and Sunset, along with Spike, went to the Paladins. As they stepped onto the platform, the Paladins rearranged themselves, surrounding the trio.

"That dog's kinda too small," one of them commented. "What're you keeping that mutt for?"

"Grrrrr!" Spike growled at him, showing his obvious displeasure. Alas, with his size, he barely came across as intimidating, and his little defiance actually caused some Brotherhood members to chuckle.

"Keep him on a leash, will you?" the same soldier who insulted the dragon-in-disguise addressed Twilight.

"Keep your derogatory comments to yourself, because Spike can understand when he is insulted," the equine snapped at him.

"He?"

"Force of habit."

"Don't mind that guy, lady," another soldier spoke up, gesturing to the mouthy Paladin. "He's a dick."

"Shut up."

"Cut that out!" the apparent leader snapped at both talkers, who immediately saluted and said, "Yes, sir!"

As the party arrived to something resembling an underground train, the commander addressed both girls.

"OK, you two, listen up and don't keep your ears shut, because I am not going to repeat myself twice. This is a monorail that leads to our main base. Before you board it, you'll have to surrender all weapons and ammo, and I mean all, up until the smallest knife you may have. And take off your armour, too. Then you'll be searched. After that, your items will be stored in a crate, which remins here under guard, while you meet with Elder Aegis. You won't be allowed to wander around our base, and there'll be soldiers accompanying you at all times. If you don't like these rules, tell me now and I radio back and say that you cancelled the meeting."

"Fine, we'll obey," Twilight spoke. She and Sunset moved to the crate and dumped all their weapons and armour in there. Once Paladins saw laser pistols, one of them whistled and said:

"Hey, guys, they actually found some laser weapons. You think they can shoot them?"

"What's so different in shooting them from slug weaponry?" Sunset snarked. "Aside from the fact that it fires a high-temperature beam of light in a visible spectrum instead of lead projectiles and uses energy batteries, that is?"

"Er..." the soldier clearly didn't expect the remark.

"Dude," one of his comrades said, "just because they're tribals, it doesn't mean that they're dumber than a mutant, you know."

"And once we are finished, I'd like to see them in this crate, not everywhere else," the girl continued.

"You think that lowly of us?" the commander spoke.

"You don't trust us, I don't trust you. Easy as pie. Besides, my gut says that someone was eyeing up our laser pistols."

"We collect technology, or didn't Helmet Steadfast tell you?"

"Given that you have laser rifles," Twilight spoke up, "I'd like to believe that it won't be a hindrance to the Brotherhood to let us keep our laser pistols."

"You'll have every single item of yours back, I give my word," the leader spoke with a firm tone. "Pleased?"

"Yep," the girls chorused.

"Alright, you there, with bacon hair, come up to me, you'll be searched," one of the soldiers spoke.

"Bacon hair?! It's flame hair, not bacon, asshole," Sunset spoke quietly, irritated with the nickname, stepping up to the Paladin.

"You there, to me," another soldier spoke to Twilight, and the girl moved.

"Alright, arms parallel to the ground, legs slightly apart," as Sunset obeyed, and Twilight copied her movement, "her" soldier said, "Excellent," and started roaming his hands around her body, searching for weapons, while another one frisked the lavender-skinned girl.

Twilight stood rigid, keeping her face expressionless, while Sunset looked at the Paladin in front of her as if she felt sick simply by standing near him. As his hands found his way to her chest, she frowned and glared at him, to no visible effect.

"Hey!" losing her patience several seconds later, she raised her voice. "I am not hiding any bombs in my breasts, you know!"

"Really, man," the commander reprimanded the "security guard", "I know it's body search, and that she's hot and stuff, but be polite, damn it, and don't molest her!"

"Yes, sir!"

The soldier who was frisking Twilight looked into her face after the verbal exchange. She sent him a frown and a death glare, which promised a certain body part would be utterly destroyed if he even thought of "copping a feel". It was impossible to see whether he was intimidated, given that he surpassed her in terms of strength and protection, but he did not let his hands linger on Twilight's breasts longer than it's necessary for someone to ensure that no bomb is hidden in chest area.

"Hey," he asked once he felt something, "what's there?"

"Papers," Twilight showed him a file full of sheets of paper that she took out from under her jumpsuit. "I need to show this to Elder Aegis. It regards our negotiations with him."

"OK, keep it," the soldier went on with body search.

"Imagine it, though, man," one of Paladins spoke from behind, "actually hiding bombs in breasts. The Big Breasts of Doom..."

"You are sick," someone else spoke, disgust evident in his voice.

"She's clean," the soldier who had just molested Sunset.

"Good. Follow me onto the monorail," the commander ordered.





"Welcome to the command bunker of Northern Chapter of Brotherhood of Steel."

Both Twilight and Sunset were amazed at the sight of underground military facility, despite its claustrophobia-inducing lack of space.

"Wow," the former gasped.

"Wow indeed," one of the Paladins spoke, "consider yourself lucky that you are invited in here, outsider. Typically, we don't allow anyone in."

"I can guess. But how do you feed yourselves?"

"We trade a bit. Although it's... jarring, that they use bottle caps of all things as money now."

"And water?" Sunset stepped in. "You have a purification system with a water chip?"

"Wow, somebody knows what a water chip is," another soldier spoke.

"Dude, soak your head, don't you see a Pip-Boy along with a Vault jumpsuit?" the third one interjected.

"What would that mean?"

"It means that they do know what a water chip is, dumbass."

"Shut up!" the commander barked at the arguing Paladins, and turned to Sunset, "yes, we do have a water chip. Oh, we have arrived."

The group was standing in front of a wider-than-normal door, where two Paladins in full sets of power armour were standing guard. They saluted as the commander approached them.

"Two outsiders from Appletown, here to speak with Elder Aegis," he spoke.

"He's waiting for them. Come in," the guard replied.

"Alright, ladies," the leader of the escort group addressed the Equestrians, "you two go in, and both of you will be accompanied by me and one of the guards. No funny business, and be polite. Get it?"

"Yes," both girls spoke. The guard opened the door, and Twilight and Sunset stepped into the room.

The place that Elder Aegis used as his office closely resembled what Sunset guessed to be the bunker's strategic room. There were terminals mounted on walls, and a map of the Northern Canterlot Wastelands was visible on the right. Several holographic tables were around the room, although they showed nothing at the moment - which was not a coincidence, apparently.

They don't want anyone to know their secrets, the fiery-haired girl thought.

In the middle of the room, there was something resembling a pedestral. In the center, a table was located with a computer terminal on it (both girls noted that this terminal was more advanced than RIT-V300 models they had encountered) and some things like pencils and small papers lying haphazardly around.

A man in his forties was sitting in the chair, one Paladin standing behind him and to the left. As both girls approahed him, he raised his head and spoke:

"I see you have accepted an invitation Senior Paladin Steadfast had given you. Good. I am Elder Aegis, the leader of Northern Chapter of Brotherhood of Steel. Care to introduce yourselves so I don't confuse you?"

The equines-in-disguise did as asked. Elder Aegis put his hands together, intertwining his fingers and putting his head on them.

"Thank you," he said. "Now, as I understand, you came here to try and broker a peaceful solution of the... disagreement between Brotherhood and Appletown, or more like its de facto leader Applejack?"

"Indeed," Sunset spoke. "Helmet Steadfast told us that Brotherhood of Steel sought to "reclaim" several pieces of technology from Appletown. Namely, the water chip that the inhabitants use to water their apple orchard, and the suit of power armour left to Appletown by Silicon Stone, an ex-Paladin of Brotherhood."

"True and true."

"The question is, why do you require a water chip if this bunker already has one?"

"Who told you about that?" the Paladin behind Elder Aegis inquired.

"I did," the commander of the girls' escort force spoke.

"It's against the rules to tell outsiders of our capacities, and you know that, Ion Titanium." the voice came across as almost snarl.

"It's also against common decency to assume that all outsiders are stupid, Star Paladin Rampart," Ion Titanium replied. "They basically guessed that themselves."

"Enough, you two," Elder Aegis did not raise his voice too high, but both soldiers shut up immediately. He turned his attention to Twilight and Sunset again:

"Now, I presume that you want to persuade us to withdraw our claims on the items of technology possessed by Aplpejack?"

"By Appletown," Twilight stated, "not by Applejack. The water chip is not just Applejack's personal property, it's what allows Appletown to flourish despite the interference of White Knives. Seeing that this bunker already possesses a water chip, I am... confused as to why it is so important for you to obtain another one, especially given that this particular water chip did not enter mass production and is... unlikely to be compatible with whatever system you have here."

"I was not informed that Appletown's water chip was somehow different. Star Paladin Rampart, any explanation?"

"I hardly think that this is the case, Elder. We know that there's a Vault nearby, it is plausible that the Appletown water chip was taken from there."

"Which Vault? Vault 49?" Sunset asked.

"This one. Why do you ask?"

"We have been there. The Overseer's terminal showed that Vault's water chip was at 0% capacity and unsalvageable."

"Can you prove it?"

Sunset took out a magneto-optic data disk and gave it to Overseer.

"Where did you get this disk?" Twilight whispered to her friend.

"It was in the drive. I thought we'd need it, since it was essentially a back-up device," the fiery-haired girl whispered back.

"Hmm..." Elder Aegis read the information. "I see. Appletown could not have gotten their water chip from there, it appears."

"I still don't think that that farm girl would know the difference," Rampart was not standing down.

"Applejack gave me the technical documentation for their water chip. If you have doubts, see for yourself," Twilight took out the papers and gave them to the Elder, who, in turn, studied them very carefully.

"It appears that they are correct. The water chips for agricultural class water purification systems have different characteristics from those we could encounter in Vaults or military installations."

"Wouldn't that make this very chip more valuable, Elder Aegis?" the Star Paladin spoke up again.

"Not if you plan to grow crops outside the bunker," Twilight interrupted.

"Be silent, outsider!"

"Shut up, sir," Ion Titanium interjected. "Unless you suggest we slaughter the whole population of Appletown to get our hands on that unique purification system, this water chip is of no use to us. And I will not approve of that course of action."

"You think too much about outsiders, Ion."

"I think that pissing off every single faction out there will bring no good to us, technology or no technology."

"Can it," Elder Aegis snapped at two bickering soldiers, who saluted and said "Yes, sir!" almost in sync. Addressing Twilight and Sunset again and giving back the papers, he spoke, "Well, it appears that this particular water chip is indeed of little use to us, since it is incompatible with our systems. I think that the Brotherhood can withdraw our claim on that device. However," he frowned again, "this still leaves us with an issue of the power armour suit that Applejack refuses to give back."

"What is your basis for claiming that armour, Elder Aegis?" Twilight spoke.

"It is tradition of Brotherhood of Steel to try and reclaim the possessions of the deceased brothers, especially those that have a great value to us. And if a brother is exiled, then Brotherhood tries to return their weapons and armour even before that. Paladin Silicon Stone was exiled for attempted theft of valuable technology, but he put up a resistance along with his Knight subordinates, and attempted to flee. All his Knights perished, and he was considered dead too, but, as we had found out later, he managed to outwit his pursuers and disappear. Then we found out that he took residence in Appletown, and sent a reclamation team, but when Senior Paladin Steadfast spoke with Applejack, she basically threw him out and declared the whole Brotherhood personas non grata."

"Did Silicon Stone say anything about why he wanted that tecnology?"

"He intended to give it away to outsiders, which goes against the rules of Brotherhood."

"And he infected some Knights with his seditious ideas, too," Rampart spoke again.

"Why exactly is Brotherhood against giving technology to outsiders?"

"You dumb, girl? The tribals outside barely manage to tell the business ends of guns apart from magazines, and you want us just to give away tech that breaks down without proper maintenance?"

"I would not describe it as... colourfully... as Star Paladin Rampart just did," Elder Aegis spoke up, "but he is correct in essence. Humanity needs technology to survive, but simply giving it away to those who don't understand how it works is tantamount to utter disaster. And many Wasteland dwellers simply do not care about intellectual pursuits necessary to use advanced technology."

"And if the dwellers are intelligent enough to use this technology?"

"I'd like to see one," Rampart sneered. The girls heard something resembling a growl, and noticed on turning around that Ion Titanium was holding his rifle very tightly, as if he wanted to shoot somebody.

"This is barely relevant," Aegis said.

"But it is," Twilight did not back down. "Because I'd like to know exactly why Brotherhood wants that power armour so much. You say that it is a tradition to reclaim items of deceased and exiled brothers and the rules are against giving technology to outsiders, but so far the only justification for these rules that I see is that Brotherhood considers outsiders too uneducated. However, Applejack had told us earlier that Silicon Stone gave her lessons on using that power armour suit..."

"He what?!" Star Paladin Rampart looked as if he would pop a blood vessel.

"Don't interrupt the lady!" Ion Titanium snarled.

"...so it is reasonable to assume that she does know how to use the armour without breaking it. Thus, the justification "Wasteland wanderers are stupid and will break everything down" doesn't wash here. So why do you really want that armour?"

"You have a lot of nerve, asking us questions like that," Rampart's tone was becoming positively hostile.

"We came here to ensure that we find a solution to this problem that will satisfy both sides, not just yours," Twilight glared at him, refusing to be intimidated.

"You just got a promise that we won't touch that precious chip of yours. That's not enough for you?"

"No, because shortly before his death, Silicon Stone made Applejack promise that she won't give his armour back."

"And Applejack is not one to break promises," Sunset added. "So unless there is a really good reason why that particular suit is needed, we are at an impasse."

"Silicon Stone must have spewed a pile of bullshit to sway this Applejack into his opinion, or maybe she herself bullshits everyone," Rampart spoke derisively.

"Well it just shows that no one from Brotherhood actually cared to learn something about Applejack, because she is honesty embodied; she hates lies, never tells one yet has an uncanny knack for feeling others' lies. If Silicon Stone were to lie, she would know immediately that this guy was full of shit, but he wasn't. And surely there would be no benefit in lying to us?" the fiery-haired girl's voice had traces of anger within, and Twilight was openly frowning at the stubborn Star Paladin.

"Enough!" Elder Aegis spoke up. "I get your point, Twilight and Sunset. The primary reason we need that power armour suit is because we are experiencing a shortage of them. Each and every suit we can find is needed to outfit our brothers, the one in Applejack's possession included. However, I do not believe that she would give the suit away if you tell her that, given her low opinion of us, so if she really wants to keep that armour, here is my condition: we must get four full sets of T-72d power armour. I don't care where you get them. If you find more modern models, like T-80b, that's even better. And if you give us more than four, that will be excellent. I want these suits here within the time limit of one month. If you deliver them in time, then one of ours will teach Applejack how to wear and maintain power armour, and we will let her keep Silicon Stone's suit. If not, then we will return in force to claim that armour back. Do you understand?"

"We do," Twilight spoke. "We will try our best, but, given the scarcity of power armour, I am baffled as to where we can find four of them."

"You may try to look for these suits at the base of 9th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, which is located not far from here," Ion Titanium said.

"Thanks for the tip," Sunset said. "We will pass this to Applejack. If that's all?"

"That's all. Titanium, see that our guests leave the base."

"Of course, Elder. Ladies, after me."





"Your weapons and stuff are here," Ion Titanium said. True to his word, nothing disappeared from the crates, which pleased both girls.

"Thank you for keeping them safe," Sunset replied.

"No problem; I keep my word. Be careful if you'd want to visit that base, though. We have no idea whether their automated defenses are tough; you might want to try a stealthy approach."

"We will."

"Oh, and I've heard what kick to the teeth you had delivered previously to the White Knives. Good job, but be careful - Curve Blade won't let this slide."

"He hasn't tried any attacks yet," Twilight said.

"Maybe, but he may conclude that you are vital to Appletown's defense and target you specifically. Remain sharp."

"OK."

As the girls finished their preparations for the return trip, the Senior Paladin spoke:

"Well, Twilight, Sunset; good luck, and may Steel be with you."

"Er... thanks, you too?" Twilight offered, unsure how to reply to that remark.

"You're welcome," with these words, Ion Titanium pushed the button, and the elevator began rising upwards, sending both Equestrians back to Canterlot Wastelands...





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Negotiator (requires Charisma 7): Words are as much your weapon as an assault rifle is. Depending on a situation, this Perk will allow you to achieve a result that is beneficial to you, unlocking dialogue choices that would remain unavailable otherwise.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Smooth Talker: Adds +5 to your Barter and Speech skills.
> Chapter 14: Hands covered in Crimson
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 14

Hands covered in Crimson


As the door to the bunker of Brotherhood of Steel closed behind them, Sunset muttered:

"Whelp. That's one fine task we've gotten ourselves into."

"Would you rather force Applejack to break her promise or risk conflict with the Brotherhood?" Twilight asked.

"No. Although I do think they need to be knocked down a peg or two. And honestly? When that creep fondled my breasts, I wanted to introduce my shotgun to his testicles."

"You wanted to hit him with your shotgun?"

"No, I wanted to shoot his balls off."

"Ewww! That's... too cruel, Sunset."

"I don't like the idea of some sex-starved creep fondling my erogenous zones. It's... practically violating."

"So I shouldn't allow anyone to, err... touch my breasts, too?"

"Or your butt. But yeah, you really shouldn't. And if someone does, remind them that testicles are really a painful spot to hit."

"What if a female tries to do that? They don't have testicles."

"There aren't really that many of those... but on the off chance you do meet one, feel free to threaten bodily harm."

"Does this need to invoke threats of bodily harm?"

"Typically, it's the only language people like these can understand."

"As Rarity would have said: gah."

"Gah indeed."

The uncomfortable topic of molestation and appropriate violent responses to it was wisely considered exhausted by both girls, and they continued their way in silence.

"I really don't like some of them Paladins, though," Spike spoke up from the rucksack. "Anyone else thinks that they are very arrogant?"

"Not all of them, Spike. Ion Titanium seemed nice enough," Twilight replied.

"That he did, but some of them are real jerks. Take Star Paladin Rampart, for instance."

"Urrrgh," Sunset growled, "don't remind me of him."

"He just gives these... bad vibes, I think," the dragon continued.

"And Elder Aegis?"

"I don't know. He smells nice, but he's also not friendly. Perhaps he simply is slow to trust?"

"Who knows, Spike," Twilight spoke again. "I hope you are right in this case. If the whole Brotherhood (or overwhelming majority) is like Rampart, dealing with them is going to be... vexing."

"Understatement of a century," Sunset muttered, but she was still heard by her companions.

"I liked how Twilight glared at that guy who was searching for... something on her, though," Spike continued.

"You did?" the fiery-haired girl turned to her compatriot.

"I assumed that since you snarled at that guy, I should not let mine do the same. So once he looked at me, I gave him a glare."

"I assume that worked. Lucky you."

"Hey, don't think about that insensitive ruffian, Sunset."

"Fine, I'll try."

The trio went on their way, oblivious of being watched by someone.

Someone who bore ill will...





A figure was lying in the shadow of a tree, carefully observing the surroundings.

As soon as something caught the eye, the human looked into the optical sight of a sniper rifle. The hands carefully adjusted magnification and focus, and soon, an eye was pressed against the rubber protection.

After several movements, a head with fiery-red and yellow hair was in the crosshairs.

Moving the rifle a bit, the human studied the armour and armaments that the detected person wore, and then shifted to another person.

The reticle fixed itself on sapphire blue, almost violet hair with bright violet and pink streaks.

The unknown human frowned, and then hit something on their left forearm.

Suddenly, the light shifted, and then the figure became... invisible.

Nothing indicated the presence of an unknown watcher near the tree.





Both girls and Spike made their way through one of the empty villages which could be found not far from Appletown when Twilight felt that she should admit her... misdeeds done in Hoofington underground tunnels.

"Sunset?"

"Yes?"

"I... need to admit something to you."

"Oh Celestia. You aren't a changeling, are you?"

"What? No, changelings have nothing to do with this!" Twilight facepalmed, and Sunset snickered quietly, covering her mouth with one hand.

"OK, joking aside, what did you really want to admit?"

"Remember these underground tunnels near Hoofington, when you were rendered unconscious and me and Lyra had to go on?"

"Yes."

"I... had done a very bad thing there."

"What exactly?"

"Well... we were close to that hideout that Lyra had pointed out, when we encountered some men on our way. They blocked the path, and we had tried to negotiate for a pass. Or rather, I did. But... we weren't successful. I tried everything I could think of," Twilight felt tears gathering in her eyes, "offering caps, leaning on the conscience, but nothing worked, and I became furious, very furious, because you were in danger and here they stopped me from doing the right thing..."

"Oh, Twilight," Sunset hugged her friend's shoulders, understanding the emotional turmoil that raged within the lavender-skinned girl.

"...and then one of them went for his gun, and I shot him, I shot him first, and everything went to Tartarus from there, because others went for their weapons, and me and Lyra started shooting everyone else. One of them tried to run, but I didn't let him - I shot him in the back, like a coward," at this moment, Twilight hung her head ashamedly, "and then I realized what I had just done, but then there were others runnig and shooting at us, so we fought with them, too, and... and killed everyone..." finally, she gave in, and tears flowed downwards on her face. She turned away from Sunset, drowning herself in misery and shame.

Suddenly, she found herself turned around forcibly, and then engulfed in a bear-like hug.

"Oof," she breathed out from surprise.

"Were you worried I would get angry with you for what you've done?"

"Yes..."

"I am not angry."

"But how can you not be? These were not even raiders or bandits, or they didn't seem so, at least. They were common people who tried to survive in Wastelands just like us, and yet... and yet I killed them just because they stood in my way..."

"Twilight, answer me something. Was there any bypass in that tunnel?"

"Er... not that I'm aware of. Lyra certainly didn't look like she knew of one."

"Then I can't get angry with you. You saved my life. I do admit that the cost was... too high, but you had exhausted all your options. I am sure that had that guy not pulled his weapon, you might have found a peaceful solution."

"And the fact that I shot him once he went for his gun?"

"It was reflexes, Twilight, and sometimes they are the only thing that can save you. When it comes to this, milliseconds may decide your survival or death, and you sought to defend yourself, me and Lyra. Who knows whether he would have shot you or just pointed his gun at you?"

Still not convinced, the Princess of Friendship sniffed. Sunset put a small distance between themselves, so that they could look each other straight to the face, but did not break the hug.

"Twilight," turquoise eyes met violet ones, "I know that you consider this wrong, and it is wrong, but you are not to blame for it. It's the government and the worst parts of human nature that reared their ugly heads that forced you into this situation where you had to kill someone just not to die and not to fail your friend. But I, for one, am very grateful that you pulled my sorry flank out of the fire. For these last seven years, I had no one to look out for me, and I was certain that should something happen to me, I would have no one to rely on. But you saved me. I won't hate you for it," with these words, Sunset hugged Twilight tightly again. Her compatriot returned the hug, giving an unsure smile.

I am so lucky to have such a friend, even if I do not feel like I deserve to have friends at all after this, the lavender-skinned girl.

"Well, well, isn't this heart-touching," a mocking voice came out of nowhere; Twilight and Sunset jumped away from each other, guns in hands and trained at the newly-arrived man in his early thirties and in decently-looking armour who had just interrupted their friend-bonding moment while holding a modded AP-79, "but it's so sickeningly saccharine sweet, I've got diabetes just from seeing it."

"No insulin for you," Sunset snarked, scorned at the fact that a private moment between friends just got so rudely interrupted.

"How rude. But I guess I'm not the one to talk, given I haven't introduced myself," the man's face became deadly serious. "Foul Shot, Crimson Hand mercenary group."

"Why do I get the feeling that you are not alone here?" Twilight asked. Her gut churned around, inducing the feeling of something very, bery bad incoming.

"How perceptive of you," Foul Shot snapped his fingers, and both girls discovered to their horror that they were surrounded surrounded by more mercenaries who had hidden themselves in houses and now aimed at them from the windows or door entrances.

Oh shit! Sunset thought, and with good reason - with them being "on street" and mercenaries in cover, the Equestrians just got caught in the worst possible positions. Moreover, they most likely wouldn't even be able to deal good damage in return, and quickest ways to cover meant close quarters combat with mercenaries who outnumbered and outequipped them.

Nine mercs - four on sides and this smug git ahead. Great, Sunset thought. Twilight, in turn, felt that she was ready to curl into a teeny-tiny ball and cry, but decided against it.

Focus, a voice spoke. If he wants to gloat, there is a chance you can turn the situation into your favour.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I take it you are not here with friendly intentions. So who's the client?"

"Wha?"

"The client? You know, the one who hired you to dispose of us?"

"Curious one, aren't you? It's not really in our group's policy to reveal this, you know..."

"Oh come on, you got us into a perfect trap and even took time to introduce yourself and your companions. I hardly think several more seconds will have that great of an impact on our fate," Twilight frowned.

She didn't know that the words would be prophetic...





The watcher from before looked around the corner to see their previous targets of surveillance surrounded by mercenaries.

Even from afar, the mercenaries did not look friendly towards two young women.

The human frowned. Then, tapping the wrist once again and disappearing from sight, the mysterious stranger proceeded in the direction parallel to the girls and mercenaries, taking care so as not to be heard.





"Well, if you are that curious, I can indulge you," Foul Shot was walking from side to side without a care, knowing he was perfectly safe from any forms of retribution. "Our client is Curve Blade."

"The leader of the White Knives hired you?" Sunset spoke incredulously. "His goons are not good enough?"

"Pffft, think what you are talking about, Miss Shimmer. White Knives, while well-equipped, are still a bunch of undisciplined thugs, and Curve Blade realizes it. That's why when you two made such a ruckus along with Appletowners that he lost eighty-seven of his men, he bit his pride and agreed to pay us five thousand caps just to have you two taken out. You should feel proud of yourselves. It's not so often when someone agrees to pay that much just to have two young women killed."

"Oh we are proud of ourselves, make no mistake about it, but it would not make me or my friend here any less dead."

"Well, it might make it easier for you to go on knowing that you have managed to cause quite a ruckus. Feeling better?"

"Let me think..." the fiery-haired girl put her left hand to her chin, striking a thinker's pose, and exaggeratedly moved her eyes from right to left and vice verca while looking at the sky. "Hmm... nope. Not feeling better at all."

"Well, I hope that you have said your prayers, 'cause now it's time to die, Daring Duo," any pretense of cheerfulness was gone from Foul Shot's face, and in her peripheral vision, Sunset saw that the mercs prepared to fire. "It's been a pleasure... hey, what's that sound?"

A rapidly approaching vrooom of a car engine was unmistakable over generally-quiet village, and the sound was getting louder.

Suddenly a car swerved from behind one of the houses, and the machine gun immediately spat: 

Dra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Foul Shot did not even have a chance to exclaim "This cannot be!" before powerful bullets pierced his armour, creating a mish-mash of his internal organs and blood vessels, which was, naturally, fatal.

Other mercenaries were shocked into stand-still, and as the gunner turned the machine gun turned to its left, the mercenaries there ducked into cover as one of them reacted too slowly and was torn by lead storm.

Twilight and Sunset turned away in sync and opened fire on the Crimson Hands who were hiding in the opposite house. Some of their bullets were stopped by armour, but both girls managed to hit one merc in a throat and one in the forehead, and other two disappeared inside the building, clearly frightened.

The brakes screeched as the car slowed down and stopped slightly behind them, and both Equestrians saw the familiar figures of Applejack (who was behind the steering wheel) and Big Macintosh (who continued to rain bullet storm of justice upon Crimson Hand mercs).

"Come on!" the farm girl bellowed.

Neither Twilight nor Sunset needed a special invitation, and jumped into the back section. As soon as they got in, Applejack put gas pedal to the metal, and the wheels screeched before the car moved, rising clouds of dust.





"Who were those guys?" Applejack asked the others as everyone returned to Appletown.

"They introduced themselves as Crimson Hand mercenaries," Sunset replied. "Nasty bunch, very mean-looking and quite well-equipped. They hid themselves so well, me and Twilight basically walked right into their trap."

"Well, Ah certainly ain't going to let them enter Appletown, that's for certain," the farm girl said sternly. "They go after you, they'll hafta go through us!"

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh supported his sister.

"Yeah, I just worry that they may come here in an attempt to find us," the fiery-haired girl said worriedly.

"Or try and assist the White Knives," Twilight added.

"They were paid to kill us, Twilight, not to attack Appletown."

"And if they decide that the best chance to kill us is to unite with Curve Blade's goons?"

"Eh... Celestia banish it to Tartarus, I really missed that possibility."

"Er," Big Macintosh spoke again, "what does our Principal have to do with this?"

"Sorry, pony habit. In Equestria, Celestia is a Princess, responsible for raising and lowering the sun, and she's almost always deified by ponies," Twilight explained.

"Ah, Ah see."

"Anyway," Applejack interrupted, "what's with the Brotherhood of Steel? What happened out there?"

"We underwent frisking and I got molested by a bastard who had too much testosterone for his own good," Sunset growled, getting irritated at the memory of undue treatment of women.

"Oh, hay, that's no way to treat a girl."

"Nope," the eldest Apple browser voiced his agreement.

"And what 'bout Twilight?"

"Once I expressed my extreme disapproval, Twilight gave the guy a glare of death, and he didn't molest her."

"All hail the Glare of Death!" Applejack joked, and everyone chuckled, even Sunset. "And what happened later?"

"We talked with Elder Aegis. He's not totally... unreasonable," Twilight took over the conversation, "but he still looks out for the Brotherhood first. Long story short, here is what we have come to, Applejack: he agreed to let Appletown have the water chip and they won't try to take it away. However, he did not relent on the topic of power armour. If you don't want to return it..."

"Ah still don't."

"...then he insists that we bring him at least four full sets of power armour in one month, or they will come in force to claim Silicon Stone's suit. He explains their "need" for such armour with the fact that he needs to supply his troops."

"Holy guacamole, that's one fine task. Ah mean, it's not like these suits are lying around."

"No, but one of their Paladins mentioned that a military base that lies nearby may have some. And if we do pull this off, Elder Aegis promised to have someone teach you how to properly wear Silicon Stone's armour."

"Mighty generous of them. Well, the game's worth the candles, Ah think. But what about that base? Is it guarded?"

"Most likely. Maybe we should ask Bon Bon about this?"

"Won't hurt to try..."





"A military base?!" Bon Bon almost spat out her Nuka-Cider. "Do they want to get you killed?"

"Who knows? Elder Aegis is not very forthcoming about his plans for us," Sunset replied.

"How hard would it be to accomplish this task?"

"Quite hard for someone with our current weaponry and protection tier. Even if the sensor net is down, there would still be warbots patrolling the base, provided it hasn't been touched yet."

"What kind of warbots?"

"Mr. Gutsies, which are the military versions of Mr. Handy helper robots, Protectrons, maybe Siege Breaker sentry bots. And don't get me started on advanced military robots. If even one of them is there, then, without heavy weapons, we are screwed. And I am willing to bet that the defenders would have laser or even plasma weapons. I take it there's no chance of avoiding a trip to that base?"

"Nope," Applejack replied.

"Well, before we go there, I strongly insist that we go find that DOI base first. We may encounter some defenses there, too, but I think we will overcome that. The only other problem is - how do we transport suits?"

"The car has been repaired," Big Macintosh said. "We can drive the car and transport the suits straight to that bunker."

"Then I suggest we move out tomorrow," Bon Bon spoke. "You agree?"

A chorus of "Yeah" followed.

"Nice. I don't think we'll need to take the car, since who knows what White Knives may try."

"You aren't worried about Crimson Hands?"

"Admittedly, they do present a problem, but I think we'll be able to avoid them. I suggest we get up very early, then, like 3 a. m. I don't think they'll expect any of us to act that early."

"Then we'd better hit the hay early," Applejack spoke. "Big Mac, you stay here in Appletown and help with defenses, OK?"

"OK, but what about heavier weapons? Bon Bon, is there a chance you may need one?"

"It could be needed," was the answer.

"Then you'll take mah LMG, sis."

"Wha? What about you?"

"We have the jeep, if it stays here, there's no need for me to hold onto that. And Ah know you can handle that stuff."

"Oh... OK then, big bro. Thanks."

"No problem. Alright, settle your needs, and go to sleep no later than 9 p. m."





"They came back."

"What?! I sent Foul Shot and eight others after them! How the fuck did they escape?"

"Applejack and that bulky brother of hers repaired the car. I think they wanted to surprise the Duo with a quick ride and stumbled across Foul Shot as he was bragging his ass off. Did anyone come back?"

"Haven't seen anyone yet. Tartarus damn it. Now what? Do they have any plans?"

"They said they wanted to try and go to the abandoned military base nearby."

"The one where some Mechanized Infantry battallion was stationed?"

"The 9th, I think, yeah."

"Are they going there immediately or do they plan to do something else?"

"I can't find out without blowing my cover."

"Try your best."

"I will. Over and out."





"Witching hour," Twilight whispered, as she, Sunset, Applejack and Bon Bon were creeping their way to the ruins of Hoofington.

"What?" the fiery-haired Equestrian whispered back.

"I just remembered Rainbow Dash saying this phrase in similar situation."

"Ours or yours?"

"What do you... oh, I mean the pony Rainbow Dash."

"Similar situation, you say."

"Yes. It was deep in the night, we were trying to figure out who was sucking apples dry in Applejack's orchard."

"Wasn't it vampire fruit bats who did such things?"

"I had enchanted them previously to make them not want to eat apples."

"Oh... that's a big feat. Did you find the culprit?"

"Thanks. And yes. It was... Fluttershy."

"Very funny, Twilight."

"No, I am serious. Dead serious."

"Oh come on! Why would she do this?"

"Well... an unknown side effect made her more like vampire fruit bats."

"Oh... oh. Spooky."

"Indeed."

"Y'all aren't helping matters, you know," Applejack interrupted.

"Sorry."

"Bon Bon, how far is it to that DOI base?"

"Four more kilometers," was the answer. "Hopefully, we can get there in an hour and avoid any super mutants or night hunters."

"What night hunters?"

"The animals that hunt at night. There is a reason people don't really like going out at nights, you know."

"Well, that's just fan-flippin'-tastic."

"Don't worry; with luck, we won't meet any of them."

"Now you are just temptin' fate to screw us all over."

Several dozen minutes later, Bon Bon raised her hand in a universal "stop" gesture.

"IFF detects hostiles," she warned, preparing her Buffalo SMG. "Be ready."

The clicks of safeties being flipped (where applicable) seemed to reverberate traitorously loudly across the area. Bon Bon ducked, and others followed suit.

The beige-skinned girl looked around, trying to determine just where they should expect a meeting with someone unpleasant, which was not really simple - the area they were traversing was rocky enough so that the hostiles could hide from their eyes. As far as she could tell, the enemy was somewhere behind one particularly large rock to the right, and was moving slightly, as the red mark was moving from left to right and vice versa. She waved her finger in the direction from where the target could appear, and everyone aimed there, when...

GRRR-ROOOAAAAR!

A large hulking mutated bear jumped from above right in their direction. With fight-or-flight instinct triggered, all girls scattered around, not allowing the monster hit anyone, although Applejack, with her mobility reduced a bit, barely avoided a hit of its front paw.

"Yao guai!" Sunset shouted, notes of fear tangible in her voice as her R91 was spewing Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat sounds and bullets. "Shoot it, shoot it!"

Bon Bon immediately opened fire at the monster, although it appeared that all the bullets did was to simply tickle him. As the yao guai attempted to swipe at Applejack again, Twilight opened fire with her AP-79. Most of her bullets dug into the creature's hide, some went wide and few embedded themselves in its left hind leg. Apparently, they hit some painful spots, as the creature flinched... and turned its attention to her.

Oh ponyfeathers!

She squeezed the trigger again, hoping to deal critical enough damage to the monster. One bullet hit the monster's left eye, making it roar in pain, and more tore into its face, but it still was charging.

As it swiped at the lavender-skinned girl with its right paw, she was trying to avoid it by turning to the right and moving away. As such, instead of a cutting strike, the paw hit her like a blunt hammer, making her stumble and sending her flying forward.

Letting go of her assault rifle, she landed hard onto her stomach, face first to the ground and a barely audible crack signifying that her nose was broken; moreover, several blood blots appeared in front of her. despite armour protection, she still felt as if something just hit her solar plexus, making her gasp for air. As she tried to crawl towards her weapon, some part of her realized that the chances of her succeeding were too close to zero.

GR-ROAR!

Horseapples! Not another one! Twilight thought. With memories of how difficult one yao guai was to kill for her and Sunset, she was not certain that outnumbering them two-to-one was a guaranteed victory.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

Sunset's assault rifle joined the fray. The stream of bullets went straight into the monster's face, making it howl, and as Twilight finally managed to recover her own AP-79 and fire at the monster from point-blank range, its skull finally cracked under the lead rain.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

Applejack's LMG joined the fray as she valiantly attempted to draw the attention of another yao guai towards her instead of Bon Bon, who was forced to play a lethal game of tag with it.

"Come here, ya varmint!" she shouted. Her wish got granted, as the monster charged her. Unluckily for it, Twilight and Sunset just finished reloading their assault rifles, and the creature buckled under heavy crossfire, falling down.

"Everybody OK?" the farm girl shouted.

"No," Twilight replied with a messed-up voice, "my nose is broken."

"Let me see," Bon Bon came up to the Equestrian and, after a few seconds, grabbed her nose and set it back with a crack. In her rucksack, she picked out a small plastic bag filled with some liquid and another bag sealed inside. Hitting it hard, she caused the internal bag to burst, releasing its contents, and gave it to Twilight.

"Hold it against your nose, that should stop the bleeding," she said.

"Oof! Thank you," Twilight said, following her advice.

"Come on, people. The base is still faraway, so let's just quickly cut ourselves some yao guai's meat and go on."





One hour and fifty minutes later...

"Here it is," Bon Bon spoke.

The quartet (quintet, if Spike is to be taken into account) was standing near a door that lead to a small cave located in a small mountain.

"Ya sure, Bon Bon?" Applejack asked, doubtful.

"Of course. I wouldn't come here if I didn't know about this place.

"This doesn't kinda look... secure enough."

"Well, first and foremost, this cave has a bad reputation. In this cave, there is a complex system of grottos deeper underground, and allegedly, several speleologists went missing in there, and were never heard from again, so the local folk didn't like going there. And even if they did stumble across the mini-Vault, they wouldn't find anything unusual or different from a normal civilian-class Vault. So no one really bothered in making reinforced steel doors and stuff. Hiding in plain sight and all that jazz."

"Do we have to go through the grottos?" Twilight asked nervously.

"Not too deep. We'll have to pass one, and there is a barely noticeable passage in the second grotto, and we'll be able to get to the DOI base very soon."

"Any automated defenses we must worry about?" Sunset asked.

"I have the codes, remember? They must recognize us as allies."

"OK then," Sunset inhaled and exhaled sharply, "let's get this over with."

Twilight put Spike onto the ground and said quietly, "Scout ahead for any trouble."

"Woof," the dragon replied as a sign of agreement. Bon Bon opened the door, and he ran in first, followed by the beige-skinned girl, then Equestrians, and Applejack came in last, closing the door behind them.





Click!

Several Pip-Boys chased away the darkness around them, illuminating the foreboding cave. Not having a Pip-Boy of her own, Applejack took out a flashlight, turning it on.

"Welp," she spoke, "those are some darn creepy caverns. Where to, Bon Bon?"

"After me," was the answer, and the ex-DOI agent lead the party through the cave.

As they went on, feelings of claustrophobia began creeping up on them. Given there was no natural light in there, it was bound to happen, but the additional knowledge of several speleologists finding their doom in this very place made hairs want to rise even in places where they could not exist in principle.

After a couple or so minutes, Bon Bon led them to the first grotto, which was not too big, but certainly presented a challenge in terms of passing through: anyone who would want to go deeper would need to go down step by step, using the rocks and stones like a ladder, and in several places one would need to jump across several (thankfully narrow) chasms, where one could easily get their leg stuck. Fortunately, there were phosphorecent plants growing around, which made it easier to plan their moving.

The party went on, Bon Bon instructing them where and how to step so as to avoid any trauma that might occur. As they all went down the uncomfortable staircase made by nature itself, they went through the narrow corridor which led to the second grotto.

There were more phosphorecent plants there, and while the land was not as rough as in the first grotto, there were small water streams flowing around, making a complex network of rivers. Twilight noted to her displeasure that many rivers had to be crossed by stepping on stones, and said stones did not have flat surfaces fifty percent of the time. Moreover, some of them were glistening, which meant that they were slippery.

In the far end of the grotto, Twilight could see several passages that undoubtedly led into that complex underground system that held an infamy among the locals.

Makes sense that Directorate of Intelligence would create a base here. Few would want to wander in this place. Although I wonder whether this base would survive the nuclear attack.

"We need to go there," Bon Bon showed the direction with her finger.

"Ah don't see any passages there," Applejack replied.

"You aren't supposed to, at first sight. You'll see. Come on," the beige-skinned girl lead the group further.

The path through small streams was relatively easier than the descent in the first grotto, but there were several times when one girl or another would have trouble keeping balance. Sunset was unable to remain on a stone once, and her right foot went into the water. With a hiss, she immediately set it on another stone, and once she found herself on solid ground, she took off her boot and did her best to shake out the water.

"Curses," she spoke, "that water is flipping cold. And I'll have to tolerate my foot being wet now. Shucks."

"Whow-whoa!"

Splash!

"ARGH! Horseapples! That's freezing! Oh! Ah! Ponyfeathers!"

As Twilight Sparkle rose up from the water, clothes wet and dripping water, she marched onto the stony bank and gave Sunset (who was still standing on one leg with the boot in her hands) a hard look.

"You were complaining about your foot?" she said.

The fiery-haired girl wisely decided not to comment on the situation, despite its absurdity.

A minute later, Bon Bon led them to something that resembled a hole some snake would come out of.

"This is the place," she declared.

"Is it?" Twilight spoke, in doubt.

"Yes. We will need to crawl through this small tunnel here. You will need to take off the rucksacks and push them in front of you," as she said that, the beige-skinned girl put her own rucksack into the hole, lay on her stomach and pushed the rucksack, crawling up after it. "Well come on, we haven't got all day!"

One by one, the girls entered the tunnel. Sunset went after Bon Bon, Twilight went next and Applejack went last. The tunnel itself was not particularly scary, but the free space was very limited; it was somewhat problematic to see in front of oneself when pushing the rucksack, but as everyone not familiar with the place quickly understood, keeping their gear on their backs would have been impossible. The only one relatively comfortable with the tunnel was Spike.

As Bon Bon crawled out, she helped Sunset to get out of the tunnel, and then both of them helped Twilight and Applejack.

"How soon until we get there?" asked the farm girl, shaking dust off of herself and putting the rucksack on.

"Around the corner to the left, and we'll be in front of the door."

True to ex-DOI agent's words, there indeed was a Vault blast door in front of them, along with the console.

"Whoa nelly," Applejack spoke, in awe of seeing the most well-known product of Vault-Tec. "Is that what a Vault looks like?"

"Sort of," Twilight answered. "The Vault that me and Sunset saw had a bigger blast door, and the console looks more advanced."

"That's because these particular Vaults have never been intended to house more than fifty people at a time," Bon Bon spoke, coming up to the console with a magneto-optic disk in her hand. "OK, here we go..."

"Close your ears, Applejack," Sunset recommended, "it's gonna be loud."

Twilight already heeded the advice, fingers in her ears. Meanwhile, on inserting the disk, Bon Bon pulled down the switch on the control panel and also covered her ears.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Hissssssssssssss!

The sounds of alarm bells and hydraulic systems of door access mechanism filled the tunnel as the base of Directorate of Intelligence was about to reveal its mysteries. After several seconds, when silence reigned, Applejack uncovered her ears.

"Ah don't understand," she spoke. "What's so loud in that..."

SCRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!

"ARGH! Consarnit!" her swearing could barely be heard because of the screeching sound of metal scraping against metal as the gear-shaped blast door slid back first, and then rolled to the left. Only when the door stopped did everyone uncover their ears.

"Well," the farm girl said, "ain't that loud. How come this base even remains a secret if the door makes such a racket?"

"I didn't design the place," Bon Bon spoke, taking out the magneto-optic disk. "Let's go. The codes I punched in should allow us to go through without a hitch."

"You do know that saying things like these is tempting fate, right?" Sunset replied.

"In the books, yeah. In real life? I wouldn't bet on it."

The party crossed the airlock room.

"Ah don't get it. Where are those defenses?" Applejack inquired again.

"You don't see them here in the airlock. They are in corridors and vital base points, such as reactor, armoury, clinic and so on..." the beige-skinned girl spoke, coming up to the door and pulling the lever on a control panel near it. With a hiss, the door opened.

"OK, now we..."

Whirrrrrr!

As the door opened, everyone saw a turret mounted on the ceiling - and it was turning in their direction now.

"Oh shit..." the ex-DOI agent spoke, her eyes wide, her finger flipping off the safety of her Buffalo submachine gun, and her other hand grabbing Sunset and pulling her away from the line of fire. At the same moment, Twilight and Applejack rushed to the opposite side.

"...take cover!" she finished.

Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

The machine gun, which was strapped to the ceiling, spat a line of bullets which (thankfully) missed everyone. As the targets disappeared, the computer within the turret calculated the variables and opted to remain trained on the side where Bon Bon was hiding - for some unfathomable reason.

"What in tarnation, Bon Bon?" Applejack shouted from her side. "Ya said your codes would let us through!"

"They were supposed to let us through! I have no idea why the security system considers us hostile!" Bon Bon replied, bewildered.

"Maybe they changed the codes?" Twilight shouted.

"No, I had the latest pre-apocalypse codes, and even if someone did change them, there was a contingency plan to let DOI agents access to bases under circumstances like catastrophic line of succession collapse! This shouldn't have happened!"

"Told you that you were tempting fate," Sunset's voice sounded from behind the now-apparently-unrecognized ex-agent.

"Of all the times when this could have happened..." the girl with bi-coloured hair replied, and then shouted, "OK, new plan! We must get to the main security post and deactivate the defenses!"

"Any ideas on opposition aside from turrets?" Twilight shouted again.

"Protectron robots, maybe a couple of robo-brains or sentry bots!"

"Sentry bots?!" the fiery-haired girl spoke with incredulity evident in her voice. "Fan-fucking-tastic!"

"Shut up and fire!" Bon Bon released a short burst before the turret forced her back into cover. Twilight fired at the turret in turn, making it turn to her, and once the lavender-skinned girl was in its sights, it opened fire - only for her to jump back into cover in time. Sunset and Bon Bon stuck out and opened fire on the turret together, causing it to turn to them. This gave Applejack the opportunity to come out of cover and unleash a stream of bullets at the turret from her LMG. At least a dozen of bullets hit the base of the ceiling-mounted machine gun, disrupting its work and causing sparks to fly out. The turret's business end aimed at the floor and stopped moving.

"Well..." Sunset said, "things just got a lot deadlier."





Directorate of Intelligence did not hire slouches when it came to designing the defense of their underground Vault bases, and the quartet (Spike didn't participate, since his skills were not really useful in that combat) saw it first hand.

Every corridor had a turret that they had to destroy without exposing themselves to counter-fire, but larger rooms had more than one, which presented a real challenge. To top it off, they had to deal with Protectrons, too.

When they encountered the first one, Twilight almost got a fully-charged laser blast to the face and only a desperate turn to the left and a jump to the side saved her - but she still suspected that her hair were singed.

Aside from laser weaponry, the Protectrons also had better armour that resisted bullets relatively well. Everyone was forced to aim for the "eye" or the joints of the limbs (except Applejack - her LMG did quite fine against Protectrons' armour). Twilight and Sunset eventually settled for laser pistols - the damage might not have been that great, but armour penetration paid off.

"Typically, Protectrons were not that much of a defensive force," Bon Bon explained when everyone decided to take a small rest before attacking the main security post, "and shouldn't have posed that much of a threat. But the models commissioned by DOI were improved: more powerful laser weapons, better armour and combat programming, and so on."

"Were the robots popular as defenders?" Twilight asked.

"Quite so; hell, warbots became a significant part of UFE armed forces before the apocalypse. It allowed to reduce casualties."

"Spent a lot of tax payers' money on that stuff," Applejack replied, having finished reloading her light machine gun.

"That the government did. OK, everyone ready?" receiving a round of confirmations, Bon Bon led the party further.

The fight got tougher when they came close to the medical center. When the party was trying to turn around the corner, some floating robot appeared from a nearby room.

"Die, TODC scum!" it shouted, and from one of its legs, a burst of flame emitted, forcing everyone to duck. Only by sheer miracle did everyone not suffer a third-degree burn.

The combined fire quickly put the robot out of commission.

"Mr Gutsies, brilliant," Bon Bon spoke. "In the corridors, flamethrowers is exactly what we needed."

"Why did it think us to be TODC soldiers?" Sunset asked.

"Pre-programmed response, most likely. Security system considers us hostile, and since the main enemy was TODC, the robot would taunt the invaders as if they were TODC troopers."

"How far it is to our destination?"

"According to the layout I have on my Pip-Boy, there are two rooms we need to pass through before we get to the main security post."

On opening another door, the group had to deal with another ceiling-mounted turret in the corridor. In the first room, they quickly took out the turrets, only to encounter another Mr. Gutsy that turned one of its "legs" with a strange weapon-looking gizmo towards them. Something green flew out of it.

"DUCK!" Bon Bon shouted.

The green bolt flew over their heads as the advice was followed, and it hit the door behind them. Instantly, some part of it melted away, while the edges of the newly-made hole were dripping hot metal.

"Plasma weapons?!" Sunset shouted, as the team unloaded bullets on the unlucky robot and reduced it to scrap. "Are you fucking shitting me?!" she continued, losing her brain-to-mouth filter.

"Are you seriously saying that this weapon just shot something at us that is actually composed of something you encounter on the surface of a star?!" Twilight continued the train of incredulity.

"Yep," Bon Bon replied, "it just did."

"A weapon that shoots miniaturized suns. What else the humans had invented in terms of weaponry?"

"Technically, it's not exactly a sun, per se, but yeah, the effect may be somewhat... similar. And we created many things."

"I don't even want to know."

"Maybe it's for the best."

Several minutes later, they encountered a turret in the corridor, and in the next room, there were four Protectrons, a Mr. Gutsy and three ceiling turrets. Bon Bon said "fuck it", and threw a grenade of some sorts. Once it exploded, Twilight and Sunset saw that the robots that got caught in the blast zone had blue lightnings running on their surfaces, and then they just dropped down.

"Pulse grenade," ex-DOI said. "Does a number on robots. Just don't get your own electronics caught in the blast."

Ceiling turrets were less of a problem due to an unlucky design: when the party was near the door, only one turret could track them, and it was quickly eliminated. Two others guarded the doors that led to the security post, and were destroyed, too.

"Well?" Bon Bon told Sunset, as they stood near one door, while Twilight and Applejack went to another one. "You ready?"

"Yes."

"Twilight, Applejack, you ready?"

"Ya bet!"

"Yes!"

"OK, opening the doors on the count of three! One... two... THREE!" punching the button, Bon Bon ran first, Sunset after her...

"Oh fuck me sideways!"

The outbirst of the beige-skinned girl was not unfounded.

A robot stood in front of them. But it was not like any other robot. It stood taller than a protectron, had four "legs" that had tank-like threads. One hand had a heavy-looking weapon with six barrels, and another one had a weapon that had a much bigger barrel and looked extremely heavy.

"You were not invited," the robot said in a mechanical monotone voice. "Now you die."

The minigun turned into Twilight's and Applejack's direction, while the other weapon turned to Bon Bon and Sunset.

"Take cover!" The farm girl grabbed the Equestrian Princess and pulled her behind the sturdy stony mini-wall that supposedly was put there for the defenders of the base. The minigun's barrels started rotating, and a massive bulletstorm erupted.

Meanwhile, Bon Bon and Sunset were in a panic - both of them recognized another weapon as a rocket launcher. That stuff was a lot worse than a minigun. They rushed to the closest cover, realizing that the rocket could still kill them...

Click.

"Error. Rockets depleted. Do not think that this will save you, TODC scumbags."

"Of all the goddamn robots out here, we just had to encounter a sentry bot!" Sunset shouted, firing blindly at the big robot for fear of being torn to shreds by bullets.

"How bad is it?" Twilight screamed in their direction.

"Pretty bad! My SMG is pretty much a popgun and I don't have another pulse grenade on me!" Bon Bon replied, also trying to damage the robot - to no avail. The sentry bot simply turned to her and forced her and Sunset into cover.

"Pitiful. Bring a bigger gun," it taunted.

"Happy to oblige!" Applejack shouted, releasing a Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat from her light machine gun, Twilight following suit with her AP-79. The stream of bullets managed to inflict minor damage on the robot, and it immediately turned its attention to them, forcing both girls back into cover.

"Sunset, try using your laser pistol to hit its head, while it's distracted. It's more vulnerable, and laser works better against its armour," Bon Bon advised.

"Got it," Sunset exchanged weapons and, sticking out of cover, took careful aim at the robot and fired.

Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot!

"Ow. Ow. Bad girl. Now you die," the sentry bot aimed its minigun at Sunset, who barely got out in time.

"Does this bastard ever need to reload?" she asked.

"In a sentry bot's body, one can stock at least nine thousand and six hundred 5mm rounds."

"At least?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"

If Sunset was not looking at Twilight as the latter spoke so, she wouldn't have ever believed that the equine Princess just threw her brain-to-mouth filter out of the window - from the height of Canterlot mountains, no less.

"Gee, Twi," Applejack spoke from behind her, "Ah knew you swore sometimes, but damn, Ah'd never believe you of all people would swear like that."

"Can we please focus less on my vocabulary and more on the fact that there is a big robot with shit-a-ton of ammo trying to kill us?!" with these words, the lavender-skinned girl fired at the robot's head several times, trying to hit its optics. Unfortunately, the robot was not blinded yet - its optics were fairly resilient.

Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Sunset fired with her laser pistol again, and Bon Bon added her own 9mm bullets to the mix, but aside from the sentry bot turning to them again and forcing them into cover, it did not have that much of an effect.

Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

Combined fire from Twilight (who also took out her laser pistol) and Applejack managed to pierce the protection that the robot had around its optics. The glass of the cameras shattered despite being hardened, and the robot became blind.

"Oh no."

However, what happened next horrified everybody.

The sentry bot began waving its minigun indiscriminately in random directions. Some of the bullets splattered themselves against the walls, but some ricochetted, which presented a clear danger to the girls, possibly even a worse one than a non-blind robot.

Several bullets which ricochetted off the walls actually hit the girls. (Later, Twilight calculated that the statistical odds of their survival were lower than ten percent, but refused to disclose her methods or make a more precise calculation.) Some embedded themselves in their armour, and Twilight turned around upon hearing a gasp, only to gasp herself in horror on seeing Applejack slumping herself against the wall, blood seeping off her arm, which was closing the wound her neck.

"Ah'll live!" the farm girl shouted. "Artery's fine! Just take mah machine gun an' kill that fucking varmint!"

"Bon Bon! Shut it down somehow befor it kills us with fucking ricochets!" Sunset shouted, nearly in panic.

"Twilight, try and dislodge the minigun arm!" the ex-DOI agent shouted. "Aim for the joint!"

Applejack gave her LMG to Twilight, which she promptly took. The gun turned out to be quite heavy; without the strength that the farm girl possessed, it would be pretty hard to wield. Fortunately, it had a bipod ready for usage, and the robot was firing in another direction, which allowed the pony-turned-human to set the LMG in a relatively comfortable position. Meanwhile, Bon Bon took a chance and vaulted over the stone block; when the robot's minigun turned in her general direction, she dropped herself on the floor and slid, finding herself close to the mad machine.

Twilight aimed at the visibly damaged joint (Must have been a lucky strike, she thought) and pulled the trigger.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

When it sounded so close to her, the sound of the LMG sounded almost deafening.

Owww. What wouldn't I give for earmuffs right now...

The recoil was pretty hard to compensate for, and the girl was sure that her right shoulder would really, really hate her later, that and her ears, but still tried to persevere as best as she could.

And she was rewarded.

The bulletstorm ensued, ripping through the damaged joint and managing to dislodge it. In the meantime, Bon Bon slipped behind the robot.

Several seconds later, something within it whirred down, and it stood still.

"Phew," the beige-skinned girl came up to everyone. "That was too close. Now, the mainframe is closed in the separate room on the left, so let's..."

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!

A beeping sound sounded from the recently shut down sentry bot. Bon Bon's eyes widened.

"Uh-oh. Get outta here!" she screamed. The girls followed her out of instinct, running out of the room...

BADA-BOOOOM!!!

As soon as the hydraulic doors closed, a loud explosion signified the final fate of the robot - which they barely avoided.

Everyone looked at Bon Bon with an eyebrow raised.

"Oops... I think I might have accidentally wired him up to self-destruct..."

"MIGHT HAVE?!" an indignant shout immediately pointed out the logical fallacy in saying the word "might"...

"...instead of shutting down..."





Fortunately, the mainframe and the terminal, which stood separated by a wall and another reinforced hydraulic door, avoided damage, even from sentry bot's explosion.

As Bon Bon tried to use the mainframe, she was greeted with an unpleasant surprise.

"What the hell is this shit?!" she shouted in surprise.

"What now?" Twilight almost whined; tired and hungry, she was slumping against the wall so as to conserve strength.

"After those skirmishes with turrets and robots, I decided to bypass the usual procedure and gain some information about myself from the system. For some reason, I am listed as a defector! What the fuck?"

Both Equestrians had exchanged brief looks.

"But you ain't?" Applejack asked, her LMG shifting closer to the ex-agent in a blatant warning.

"No, I am not!" Bon Bon spoke vehemnetly. "Why the hell would I do that? Especially since TODC counter-intelligence captured, tortured and murdered my friends?"

"Other DOI agents?" Sunset inquired.

"Yes, them. It would take a real sick person to defect to them after such a stunt."

The amount of real sick persons seems to have increased very rapidly in the last years, Sunset thought cynically.

"So what now?" she asked?

"Well, I have managed to gain root access to this mainframe, so I already shut down the security systems and unlocked the armoury. In the unlikely event someone else appears and tries to turn security back on, I have changed all the passwords and encrypted them. Now come on, we need to see if there is anything of value."





As it turned out, there were some things of value.

"Goldurn it, Ah wish we had brought the car," Applejack mused.

In the armoury, someone had stocked not only weapons, but also a good cache of ammunition and even several suits of pretty high-quality armour, which were quickly used - either put on or stripped for spare parts and repairs. Twilight and Sunset noted with pleasure that new armpour plates were less heavy than their haphazardly-sticked previous ones, and offered more mobility.

There were several crates of various types of ammo. Sunset and Twilight did not miss the chance to grab themselves spare 5.56mm ammo for assault rifles and energy batteries for laser pistols. Applejack picked several full boxes of ammo for her/Big Macintosh's LMG as well. Bon Bon picked up some 9mm ammo for her Buffalo SMG, and everyone who wanted to stocked up 10mm ammo as well.

As for the weapons, there were four Buffalo SMGs, along with some modifications for them - namely, collimator sights and silencers. Bon Bon quickly taught everyone how to mount and dismount the weapon mods on something she called "Pontrottiny rails", and everyone took one fully modded SMG with them.

Twilight and Sunset also found several AP-79 and R91 assault rifles in quite a good condition, along with Pontrottiny rails mounted atop. They decided to put a collimator sight each, so as to aim better.

Bon Bon picked a scoped military-grade carbine with detachable silencer for herself, but noted with displeasure that it used 5mm ammo instead of normal 5.56mm, and took an indecent amount of ammo boxes, explaining that the explosion of the sentry bot they had destroyed would render the minigun's ammo unsalvageable.

There also was a laser rifle and two microfusion cells; however, once Bon Bon gave it a good look, she declared that the rifle hadn't been properly maintained and would not deal very big damage. Still, Sunset was dead set against leaving a weapon like this, and ended up with the long-coveted energy weapon.

There were other things they had wanted to take, but carrying them all was outside the realm of possibility, so everyone decided to get a snack and return as quickly as possible.

It was already 9 a. m., and who knew whether White Knives or Crimson Hand mercenaries would try and attack them...





"Damn, carrying this stuff is not simple," Sunset spoke, struggling a bit under the weight of the loot they had taken.

"What did y'all expect?" Applejack replied, "feathers?"

"Ha flipping ha. Says the girl who outclassed two athletic boys in table-carrying."

"Try being a country girl instead of a city-slicker, and Ah'll see what becomes of you."

The fiery-haired young woman thought of making a snarky remark, stung a bit by the "city-slicker" tidbit, but held herself in.

No use in upsetting anyone right now.

"Still," Bon Bon spoke up, "your little chat reminds me of a child's cartoon, where one small character asks a big and strong one: "Let me carry your case for you, and you'll carry me, then we'll go faster!" and the strong one says: "That's a great idea!"

"You're pulling my leg," Twilight said. "Such a statement is a logical fallacy. The added weight of the smaller character would only increase the load on the strong one and reduce speed, unless the latter tries to go faster, but that may lead to all kinds of trauma..."

"Twilight, it's a kids' cartoon we are talking about," Sunset interrupted. "Cartoons do not always follow logic or laws of physics."

"But why?!" the Princess' eyes widened as if someone suggested that she should burn a book. "Why deceive the easily-impressionable children and show them falsehoods and lies?! Why would anyone..."

"Chill out, Twi," Applejack recommended. "Good parents teach their kids to distinguish reality from cartoons."

"Oh... OK then... sorry I blew my top..." Twilight was blushing from embarrassment now and was trying to shrink herself to invisibility, which, naturally, failed. All others quietly shared a laugh at her expense.

Suddenly, Spike (who was walking ahead of them) barked loudly once, twice, thrice.

"What happened, Spike?" Sunset asked.

"Arf! Woof! Woof!" the purple dog barked several times, facing in a direction to the right and slidely ahead of them (2 o'clock, to be precise).

"Did he sense something?" Bon Bon asked.

"I think he heard gunfire," Twilight said, recognizing the "bark signal" that they had set up before.

"Any idea who is up there?"

"Arf! Arf!"

"No idea! He doesn't know them! Should we check it out?"

"Who knows?"

"Our load's kinda heavy, and we can't just leave it anywhere!" Sunset spoke.

"Ah don't like the idea of leaving someone in trouble!" Applejack replied.

"Eyes on IFF screens, if you have them!" Bon Bon decided. "We'll see who is that!"





"Them? Again? Ah can't believe it," Applejack spoke, once she saw through Bon Bon's binoculars just who was involved in a fight.

The fight was taking place in one of the small suburban towns near Hoofington which they had tried to avoid when going to the DOI underground base. This particular town was ill-famed among Appletown and other inhabitants of Canterlot Wastelands due to White Knives capturing the most intact and well-defensible stone buildings and using it as one of their bases.

While the town was not really under their full control, not many risked an encounter with their patrols to come here, even if there was a chance of useful salvage. One required either some big guts or good enough equipment to venture there, and those who did rarely bothered to try their luck when there were better places to loot.

However, this time, someone who had both guts and equipment came to town: Brotherhood of Steel.

Four Paladins in power armour were fighting a dozen or so White Knives - and were not losing - but one could see through binoculars that reinforcements were about to come to the bandits - another twenty people. Well-equipped and professional as they were, the Paladins faced a grim fate, since even T-72d power armour could not withstand automatic fire of that many assault rifles.

The quartet could help them turn the tables on the bandits, though.

"Well, isn't that fantastic," Sunset said. "They are spreading around like cockroaches, it seems. So what's the plan?"

"Ah don't know, honestly," Applejack spoke. "Ah don't like White Knives, but Ah sure am hesitant to stick my neck out for those guys."

"Won't it be useful to have someone who can actually vouch for us?" Bon Bon interjected.

"To be honest, the idea of abandoning those Paladins does not sit well with me," Twilight added. "I know that you don't like the Brotherhood, and honestly, I am not that impressed either, but I don't think they'll be the type to just dismiss our attempts to help them."

"You havn't been for long enough in the Wastelands, then," the farm girl spoke up.

"Even if the Brotherhood thinks nothing of it, these Paladins certainly will," Sunset spoke again. "The problem is how much influence do they wield and whether it will backfire. Remember, Silicon Stone got exiled for disagreeing too openly with Brotherhood's policy."

"I really don't want those guys pissed off at us. What if Elder Aegis says: "We lost men, give us more suits?" and send us out again?" the beige-skinned girl inquired.

"He may do so even if we save these guys, but I don't think this will earn him a good reputation among some elements of Brotherhood."

"We put it to vote, then? Help the Brotherhood?" Twilight inquired.

"I vote that we help," Bon Bon spoke.

"Seconded," Sunset replied.

"Oh hay, Ah'm outnumbered anyway. Truth be told, Ah hate White Knives more. Let's go," Applejack finished.





Focus Glass was not a happy Paladin of Brotherhood of Steel. Who would be when facing an overwhelming wave of bandits that could simply choke you with numbers?

I so hate it when the decisive factor is flipping numbers, he thought, emptying his LMG into the closest bandit. Thankfully, the White Knife had the decency to die almost immediately.

He had faced such bad odds before in the Last War, twice, and both fights ended in defeats, which he was very fortunate to survive. The first one was near Griffonstone, when general Deep Strike made a mistake and did not fortify their position in time. What began as a skirmish between TODC scouting force and UFE Mechanized Infantry battalion turned into a massacre, as the enemy scouts managed to call for reinforcements before dropping a comm jammer, leaving them unable to call for reinforcements. Eventually, UFE soldiers were forced to abandon their barely defensible position, and TODC forces managed to fortify it shortly before the main battle, when it gave a lot of problems to them.

If he remembered correctly, 121st Heavy Infantry Battallion suffered a lot of casualties in that main battle. Some of other Paladins had friends there.

The other time was their deployment in Bovinia, once the country decided to join TODC. The folks from Directorate of Intelligence messed something up big time, because their forces had encountered an army which outnumbered them three-to-two. The successful landing quickly changed into a desperate battle for the second largest city, which was eventually lost simply because there were too few soldiers left in the end to defend even strategically important points.

It was then that Focus Glass decided that he hated urban warfare. TODC soldiers, especially those who were born in that city, held an advantage, and guerillas from jungles did not help matters either.

And now this.

I survived in those damn hell holes, survived the fucking apocalypse, just to die now?!

Naturally it wasn't fair.

He saw three bandits coming close, assault rifles in their hands. While his LMG was naturally more powerful, his armour had already caught some bullets, and would give away soon under the constant fire.

Suddenly, one of the bandits jerked as blood and brains left his head. Immediately after that, gunfire erupted to the left, and the bandits were mowed down.

Focus Glass looked attentively. He saw three young women - correction, four - who were dressed up in decent enough armour and carried some mean-looking guns: two AP-79 assault rifles, one LMG and one RM90 marksman carbine.

When more bandits appeared, the women scattered into cover and began firing at the bandits.

We will never hear the end of it if we tell anyone we were saved by some girls... but that beats being dead.

"Guys!" he bellowed. "I think someone came to help us!"





Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

F-pat! F-pat! F-pat!

"Took out one!"

"Nice job, Bon Bon!"

"You too, Applejack!"

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"Out of ammo, reloading!"

"Got ya covered, Sunset!"

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

"Dropped one! Reloading!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"Another one down!"

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

"Hit three of them! No, wait, two are rising up!"

"Nah, they won't, the guy with LMG killed them."

F-pat! F-pat! F-pat! F-pat!

"Dropped him, changing position!"

"Watch it, someone's comin'!"

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-CLICK!

"Goldurn it, need ta reload!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"Scratch two!"

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

"Scratch one more!"

"Nice one, Twilight!"

"Hey! They are retreatin'! And Paladins killed two more!" Applejack noticed some movement along White Knives.

"Already? Something's not right here!" Bon Bon shouted back.

"I think so, too!" Twilight said. "Maybe we should unite with Paladins first!"

"Good idea!" Sunset called.

"Well... OK," Applejack agreed. The party made their way to the Brotherhood members. The closest one noticed and came up to them himself.

"Thanks for interfering with these damn bandits. Hey, isn't that Applejack?" he pointed his finger at the farm girl.

"Pointing fingers is kinda impolite, dude, but yeah, it's me," came the answer.

"Just asking. Rumour has it that Brotherhood isn't pleased with you, but I don't know why. Kinda curious."

"Long story. What're y'all doing here? Looking for tech?"

"Sort of. We wanted to go to another place, but info came to us that there was nothing to look for. So we were scouting here, when those blasted bandits set up an ambush. We were this close to getting to our truck and outta here. Lost our CO, so our XO took command."

"Hey, Focus Glass, whom are you talking..." another Paladin with a laser rifle came up to them, and stopped at the sight of young women in front of him. "Twilight?! Sunset?! Applejack?! Bon Bon?!"

"You know them, sir?"

"Hard to forget the people you once met in school. See that no one blows my head off, will you?"

"Yes, sir."

Although the voice was distorted by the helmet, it still felt... familiar somehow to Twilight.

Where have I heard a voice like that before?

Meanwhile, the Paladin detached his helmet and took it off, revealing amber face, light-blue eyes and darker sapphire blue hair.

Twilight gasped, Sunset muttered, "Well, that's a surprise," Bon Bon's eyebrows disappeared behind her hairline and Applejack said with a grin, "Hoo boy."

In front of them stood no other than Flash Sentry.

"Hi, girls," he spoke, then, slightly hesitating, he said, "Hey, Twilight."

"H-hi, Flash," the Equestrian stammered a bit.

"Finally, we met each other without making a "splash" around here," the guitar player spoke again with a lopsided grin.

Twilight blushed.

"Eh?" Focus Glass stammered. Flash Sentry gave him a "none of your business" look, cutting off any inquiries, and then addressed the girls:

"On behalf of Brotherhood of Steel, I thank you for your help, but I think you do realize that this skirmish isn't over yet."

"Yes, about that," Sunset spoke up, "we suspect that there is a trap of sorts. They outnumbered us two-to-one or something and yet started running? Smells like a trap."

"Are you certain? Four soldiers in power armour plus your support is quite enough to make them break."

"Maybe," Twilight agreed, "but what if they are trying to lure you - us - into a trap?"

"Hmmm... I don't like the idea of letting them go, especially after what they just tried to do to Appletown, but yeah, Twilight, you raise a fair point. Focus Glass, what's our status?"

"Our bloody status, sir? Almost fucked. I'm on my last goddamn ammo box, and boys aren't faring better. I think only you can really put up a fight now, sir."

"Well yeah, I'm not assaulting them all alone," Flash Sentry agreed. "OK then, let's get to our truck and bail out of here. You girls are welcome to join us - we can give you a lift to Appletown," he addressed the girls, fastening the helmet back.

"Thank ya kindly," Applejack said. "These rucksacks are getting uncomfortably heavy, even for me."

"Wait... I'm not seeing Spike anywhere," he looked around.

"Woof! Woof!" Spike jumped out of Twilight's rucksack.

"Ah-ha-ha, come here, pal," Flash petted the dragon-in-dog-form a little bit, carefully.

"OK, Spike, come back here," Twilight said half a minute later. When Spike ran up to her, she tucked him back into her rucksack, and spoke, "Now, where's the truck?"





The path to the truck took ten minutes, during which Twilight and Flash took some time to have a small chat (lagging slightly behind the group, their talk could be somewhat private).

"So, er..." Flash began, "just to make sure - you are from the alternate world, "out of town", as we used to talk, or from this world?"

"From out of town," Twilight replied.

"Oh... but how did you find yourself here?"

"I tried to maintain contact with my friends here, and one day, I receive the news about the war going on here. And then, it just... stopped. I became worried, and decided to investigate."

"And found yourself here."

"Yes. Almost died in very first hours. Raiders," the lavender-skinned girl explained at Flash's increduled expression.

"Oh. Them. Just where do these people come from, I could never fathom. What or who saved you?"

"Me too. And Sunset saved me."

"I'll need to thank her. Do you have any plans now? Like... about going back?"

"Oh..." I've almost forgotten about our plans. "Sunset said that she left her book that she used to talk to me through dimensions in Trottingham. Her house was on outskirts, so we hope it survived. After that, I have little idea, since going to Canterlot is not an option right now."

"It isn't. Two of our scout squads did not report back from there. There's something else besides radiation. Wait... wasn't the portal near Canterlot High?"

"It threw me out somewhere else near Baltimare. I think it's not really destroyed, but destabilized."

"I see."

"How did you wind up in the Brotherhood, Flash?"

"I joined the army when war began, and aptitude testing showed I could actually try for Mechanized Infantry battallions. I have got your local counterpart to thank for that, actually."

"How come?"

"Well... when she transferred to CHS, she helped around a few people with studies, myself included. I had some trouble with Maths and Physics, but once I passed her tutoring, I could do them a lot better. And after school, she actually invented microfusion energy cells."

"Wow!" Twilight's eyes widened.

"Wow indeed. She was concerned with shortage of resources and was trying to find an alternative energy source. Her invention could have changed the whole world, but instead, UFE government got its hooks into her and her work and quickly adapted it into energy weapons and power armour like the one I'm wearing," the last part was spoken somewhat bitterly. "Don't get me wrong," he continued, "these inventions by themselves are also good. But I can't help but think that had UFE not concentrated on one-upping everyone too much, she would have eventually designed a microfusion power station, which would have revolutionized the world. Instead..." he trailed off, but Twilight still understood him.

"Everything was militarized."

"Yeah."

"And after the apocalypse?"

"Well... our unit survived the Day of Burning, but we lacked sufficient resources to last for long, and contact with government was lost. Brotherhood of Steel basically co-opted us. They always try and recruit those with advanced technology."

"What do you think of them?"

"Of their ideals?"

"Yes."

"Their ideals aren't bad per se, but can be too easily twisted into egotism. And they really don't like malcontents. Exiled one of ours, Silicon Stone, without even so much as a trial."

"Brotherhood has trials for that?"

"Yes, it was in some founding charters or something."

Might be useful later, Twilight took note.

"I have heard that Elder Aegis gave you the task of finding power armour suits?"

"That he did. Ion Titanium said we could try and find some at the military base nearby."

"Oooh, it's gonna be a doozy. This place is packed with still-active robots. At least sensor net is down, so automated turrets won't rip you to shreds. Even our Paladins would hesitate to go there."

"Well, I don't want Brotherhood and Appletown to come to blows, so we need to try."

"I can help you, if you want to."

"Really?"

"Really. I'll need to try and convince others to assist, but that base is serious business."

"If you do, I'll be very, very grateful, Flash," Twilight smiled a bit.

"Hey, we've arrived!" Applejack shouted. "Get over here!"

"Finally," both humans breathed out. Coming up to the truck, they separated, 

"Hey, Applejack," Flash asked, "where are the other Rainbooms?"

"Heh, Ah wish Ah knew, Flash. Rainbow Dash was in the army an' she was transferred to counter the Eastern Gambit, no idea whether she survived or not. Rarity got herself and Sweetie Belle a place in one of the Vaults, so Ah don't know what to think about it. Fluttershy worked as a civilian medic somewhere outside of Canterlot; Ah can only hope she didn't get caught in the fallout. And Pinkie Pie just... disappeared from the radar before the apocalypse. No idea what could have happened to her."

"We hope that we'll find them later..." Twilight spoke, but got interrupted by one of unknown Paladins:

"Watch out!!!"

Everyone turned to him and then to the direction where he and the other Paladin started firing.

White Knives decided to attack them when they were supposed to feel the safest.

"Everyone to the truck!" Flash Sentry commanded, firing his laser rifle. "Focus Glass, get it rolling!"

"On it, sir!"

Cacophony of gunfire erupted across the battlefield. Applejack and two Paladins with LMGs were laying down suppressive fire while Twilight, Sunset and Flash were trying to pick the bandits one by one. Flash was faring a lot better, given that he had served in the army and that laser rifle beams were a lot faster than bullets.

The troubles, however, were not over. One of the bandits carried some weapon that any savvy enough person recognised as 40mm grenade launcher. Not sticking properly to cover, he was shot pretty quickly, but not before he managed to squeeze the trigger. The grenade went somewhat sideways, from Paladins and the girls, but still was too close to them when it exploded in front of them, catching Twilight, Sunset and one of the Paladins in the blast radius.

While power armour was more than adequate protection from badly self-made grenade and Sunset was lucky enough not to get splinters embedded in her, Twilight got it the worst.

"AAAAARRGH!"

The girl's cry of pain alerted Sunset and Flash. Turning to the left, they saw her fall down on the ground as a puppet with cut strings.

Sunset's insides went cold. She knew more than enough about weapons to know that 40mm grenade launchers tend to be a very effective anti-infantry weapon. And since Twilight was the closest to the blast...

No. No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no! This cannot be! It can't!

She noticed a pool of blood forming under Twilight's body...

"They are running!"

"Casualty! Need a medic!"

"I'm on it!"

...and noticed that the bandits were indeed trying to retreat.

And something snapped within her once again, unleashing a molten lava of fury.

Where the fuck do they think are they going?!

"I'LL MURDER YOU!!!" Sunset Shimmer screamed, taking after the running bandits at speed no one imagined her capable off.

By the time when Applejack's desperate "Sunset!" was registered in her ears, she covered half the distance between their position and the one of bandits.





"That fool's gonna get herself killed!" Applejack shouted. "Sunset!"

"Someone needs to cool her off!" Focus Glass said.

"Good luck trying!" Flash replied. "When that girl's dead set on something, she can be something, trust me! How's Twilight?"

"Alive, thank every existing and non-existing deity," Bon Bon said, applying AMFAK-10 medicines to Twilight, who was now on her back, several empty RegenStim doses and two Med-X syringes lying beside her. "But she really needs medical attention, because I don't want to risk getting this shrapnel out of her in the field!"

"Our bunker has advanced medical facility," Focus Glass spoke up again.

"Flash..." Twilight croaked, weakened.

"I'm here, Twilight," Flash took her hand in his, cold metal touching warm flash.

"Where... Sunset?"

"She's..." enraged and ran off to Tartarus-knows-where, the foolish girl. "...defending us."

"Please... help... her..."

"I will, now don't exert yourself."

"Please..." with that word, Twilight lost cosciousness. Flash looked at Bon Bon, scared beyond belief.

"Sedative," she explained, "needed to use it to avoid pain shock. Now go get Sunset before she needs medical attention, too!"

"Get to the bunker ASAP," he replied, "we'll get there ourselves."

"What?!" one of Paladins spoke. "Sir, you're..."

"That's an order!"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Checking the charge of his microfusion cell, Flash Sentry ran in the direction where Sunset ran...





"Eat this!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"AAARGH!"

"No!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Whack! Smash! 

"Oof! OUCH!"

Bra-tat!

"Take that, bastards!"

"Someone get the bitch!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

Sunset slid into cover and quickly reloaded her R91 assault rifle.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"AARGH!"

"Man down!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"What is she doing?!"

"You are dead!"

"Someone shoot her- AAARGH!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM!

A bandit disintegrated to ashes right in front of Sunset's eyes as she killed another bandit with a well-placed three-round burst to the throat.

"Flash?" surprised, she addressed the blue-haired human while concentrating on her next targets. "What are you doing here?"

"Seeing that the bandits don't hand your butt to you," was the answer.

"I'm managing pretty well, thank you."

"I care about Twilight too, you know!"

Shit, Sunset thought, I totally forgot that he was crushing on Twilight! Wait, after all these years..?

Later!

Being unprepared, the bandits were overwhelmed by Flash's superior technology and Sunset's rage. Two of the bandits tried throwing down their weapons and even dropped to their knees.

"No! Please! Don't kill us, we surrender!"

Disgusting, slimy, cowardly filth, Sunset's inner demon raged within. They attack others with sheer numbers on their side, they kill my friend and have the gall to ask for mercy when they gave none?!

Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"No! Please, no!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-tat!

The bodies of last two bandits dropped to the ground.

Sunset stood, breathing heavily, having no other outlet to her rage. She flinched when Flash put his hand upon her shoulder, but did not move.

"She's alive," at these words, she turned around sharply, her eyes wide, "but she needs immediate medical attention. I had to send my guys and your friends away, so we are on our own right now."

"Twilight's alive?! But how..." the fiery-haired girl stammered, shocked beyond all expressions listed in dictionaries.

"Incredible luck and very badly produced grenade. If this were a real one, everyone would have felt it."

"Thank Celestia and Luna... wait... send away the truck?"

"Yes. So we have to get to the bunker on our own two legs."

Oh buck my flank, I am such an idiot! Sunset thought.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

SFW-85 "Buffalo" submachine gun

Developed for special forces units of UFE military and operatives of Directorate of Intelligence, Buffalo submachine gun combines the latest achievements in weapon technology, along with certain weapon design solutions typical for TODC armaments. Easily modifiable with variety of modules, starting from silencers, collimator and reflex sights to detachable butts, complex electronic target tracking systems, like V.A.T.S., and advanced flare and sound suppressors, this SMG is surprisingly light for its size and its recoil is very small. Moreover, Buffalo SMG can hold 60 rounds in its helical-feed magazine, making it a very effective weapon for CQC.

In Canterlot Wastelands, Buffalo SMG is a rare sight; aside from its intended users, only people with connections in high echelons of Ministry of Defense or Directorate of Intelligence could get their hands on this type of weapon. Certain security guards employed by Vault-Tec received special permission for using these weapons in their line of service, but they naturally would not want to part with them. Moreover, this model can be found only in DOI bases, which makes Buffalo SMG one of rarest and most expensive weapons of this class. It should also be noted that while this weapon is highly durable and reliable, its maintenance is tricky. Finally, this weapon uses 9mm rounds instead of more widespread 10mm ammo; thus, it is recommended not to use Buffalo SMG as a primary weapon.

Weapon stats:

DMG: 18 (if 100% CND)
WG: 1.5 kg
VAL: 400 caps (if 100% CND)

Ammo type: 9mm rounds
Ammo capacity: 60
> Chapter 15: Divided we must not fall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 15

Divided we must not fall


"I am such an idiot," Sunset Shimmer hung her head.

Flash Sentry privately agreed with her, but he knew better than to make comments like that.

"You aren't the only one who wants to tear the bandits apart for that," he spoke instead, putting a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

Right, Sunset remembered, he's still crushing on Twilight. Must not forget.

"But we must not hang around for too long here," the blue-haired man continued. "Given that we have caused quite a ruckus, I won't be surprised if everyone will drop here to see if there's anything of value."

"Oh... wait, shouldn't we loot the bodies?"

"What for?"

"Well, ammo, maybe a decent enough spare weapon or two..."

"Oh, OK. I will assist you."

"Much appreciated."

The looting did not take long, however. Not many things were of any actual use, since the deceased bandits apparently were complete amateurs in weapon maintenance. All Sunset took was some junk that one could sell for more than one or two caps, some knives and a few armour plates that survived her hell-fury. Flash did not find anything useful for himself, but did not comment on that.

No sooner had they finished than they heard gunfire somewhere to the right of them.

"We must go," Flash decided, showing the direction which was opposite to the apparent battle.

"Agree wholeheartedly," the fiery-haired girl said, and both of them took off, so as not to be caught in the crossfire...





"How is she, partner?" Applejack asked Bon Bon, as the truck was moving through the Wastelands.

Twilight Sparkle was still lying unconscious, under the effects of a powerful sedative. Earlier, Bon Bon had extracted several splinters out of her to the best of her abilities; these wounds were covered by bandages now. However, there still were several places where she did not risk removing the splinters, for fear of tearing something important or causing dangerous bleeding. In order to prevent Twilight from dying, she had to give the unconscious girl RegenStim injections every ten minutes. Two empty syringes were already lying down next to her.

"Critical," ex-DOI agent said bluntly. "I cannot risk removing these splinters in the field without appropriate medical equipment. How long until we reach the bunker?" she asked the Paladin who was riding with them (Focus Glass and the other one were sitting inside the cabin).

"Ten minutes tops," was the answer. "Focus Glass is already trying his best to drive you there quickly. He has radioed ahead, they said they will be preparing the surgery. Although I think they'll want a favour from you now," he finished, addressing Applejack.

"Ah just want my friends to make it," the farm girl replied. "All of them. Goldurn it, Sunset took off so fast..."

"Don't worry your head over her. She's got Senior Paladin Sentry with her. If she always fights like this, they'll own the White Knives."

Applejack could plainly see that the Paladin was not fully truthful, and that he simply wanted to make her be less worried. She did not appreciate the lying, but thought better than to call him out on it. She jerked a bit when the man in power armour spoke to her again:

"Pardon me if I am mistaken, but you are Applejack, right?"

"Yep, that's me."

"I wanted to tell you one thing. I have heard about the beef that some of our higher-ups have with you and Appletown folks. While no one's here," the Paladin lowered his voice, so he was barely audible above the noise that their truck was making, "I want you to know that I don't buy into that shit, and Senior Paladin Sentry doesn't, either."

"If y'all don't, why didn't Ah hear about it sooner?"

"We haven't been in the Brotherhood for long. Our detachment joined only about one week ago; we haven't even got a full hold of local news yet. But when Sentry heard about that stuff about you "stealing" Brotherhood's stuff and spreading misinformation about us, he called them out on their bullshit."

Applejack raised her eyebrow, looking at the Paladin. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.

"OK, partner, Ah'll believe ya for now. But let's focus less on mah spat with the Brotherhood, alright? Ah'm worried about mah friend here."

"Don't worry. Our bunker has very good medical equipment and doctors. They'll fix your friend up damn well."

"In exchange for what? Ah doubt they'll do it for free."

"We'll tell them that you bailed our asses out of fire, that should shut everyone who even thinks about making you pay for this up."

The country girl was not convinced that the Brotherhood would be that benevolent, and said disbelief was clearly visible on her face, but again, she wisely decided not to comment.

Meanwhile, Bon Bon took out another RegenStim syringe and gave Twilight another injection.

"We'd better hurry," she said. "Soon enough, RegenStim will lose its regenerative effect on her due to overuse. And if we cannot compensate for all the trauma she had endured, Twilight will die."

If she does, both Flash and Sunset will be devastated. Flash is still crushing on her, and Sunset got extremely angry when she thought that those White Knives killed her. I don't want to know what would happen to Sunset if Twilight truly died, Applejack thought, worried. Then she cast a glance on her friend, who had rekindled her friendships with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

Twilight, I am going to see that you arrive there safely and that no one of them Brotherhood types does harm to you, or I am not an Apple, she vowed to herself there and then.

The Paladin with them jerked a bit, putting two fingers to his right ear. Once he put them down, he spoke:

"Brothers are opening the bunker. Get ready, we'll need to carry her, carefully."

"Thank the stars," Bon Bon breathed out. Applejack fully agreed with that sentiment.





"Oh shit!"

Flash Sentry generally did not appreciate swear words coming out of any mouth, much less a girl's mouth, but their predicament made him want to repeat this statement. He resisted, believing that swearing with ladies nearby was no way for a man to behave.

Instead, he calmly put four laser beams in a super mutant's torso, causing it to collapse on the ground, dead.

Sunset also took several shots at another super mutant with her laser pistol, driving it into rage. The hulking humanoid monster attempted to rush her, wielding some heavy-looking piece of armature.

BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM!

A lucky shot to the head by Flash Sentry ignited the super mutant, and with a ersounding clank, the piece of armature and all other gear fell onto the asphalt.

"Clear," he said, "but I think there will be more coming here. Let's move."

Both of them ran into the direction perpendicular to where the super mutants ahd come from. They did not even stop to loot the bodies - the super mutants only had a shoddy hunting rifle and very heavy armature as weapons; neither of which sounded like an attractive piece of loot (not to mention that only Flash Sentry could have used the armature thanks to his power armour).

"Grrr! Goddamn humans! Go get 'em, boys!"

Bullets whizzed past them. Apparently, other super mutants were not too far behind. Sunset and Flash darted behind the closest cover (concrete blocks near the destroyed building) and opened fire in return.

Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! Ba-zoot! BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM! Ba-zoot! BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM! BZ-DAM!

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Boom! Bang! Boom!

Beams of laser weapons went from one side to the other; in return, assault rifle and hunting rifle bullets whizzed in the air, striking against concrete.

"We have to perform a fighting retreat!" Flash spoke up.

"Where to?"

"If we stick here, they'll surround us! There is an old underground station nearby, according to the maps; we can use it to escape!"

Privately, Sunset doubted the idea; she remembered vividly what had happened to her last time she had entered the tunnels.

But who knows what will happen this time? Maybe it won't be as bad...

"Run for the nearest cover behind us! I'll cover you!" the blue-haired guy shouted, sticking out of cover and raining down laser fire on the green-skinned hulks. Sunset ran like hell for the nearest concrete block that could be used as cover; vaulting over it, she stuck out and shouted:

"Come on!"

Flash left cover, running for the place where Sunset was hiding, his power armour allowing him to make great steps. The fiery-haired girl envied him a bit.

Sweet Celestia, that armour is nice. Wish I knew how to wear it. Maybe I could convince him...

Yeah right, how exactly? Did you forget what you had done to him?

I have changed! He saw that at the Friendship Games!

That was quite some time ago. And it's obvious he doesn't fully trust you yet. Focus on helping him now!

As Flash took his turn in covering Sunset, the Equestrian ran for the building where an entrance to underground was located. Once she took position, she fired at the super mutants, signifying that Flash could run now, and he did.

Several bullets hit his armour, despite Sunset's best attempts, but failed to do any significant damage.

Passing her by, the guitar player said:

"Now come on, we need to get to underground!"

"No need to tell twice!" Sunset replied. Both of them ran to the door and opened it...





"We're here! Come on!" Focus Glass shouted, getting out of the truck.

A welcoming committee of Brotherhood of Steel was waiting for them - six Paladins with mean-looking guns the likes of which Applejack had never seen before, and four persons in what appeared to be red robes standing near a surgical transport. As soon as the truck stopped, they rushed to it, ready to receive the wounded.

When they saw Twilight, who was being offloaded by Applejack and Bon Bon, one of them frowned.

"Really? That's the emergency you called us for? A near-dead tribal?"

If looks could kill, the speaker would have been atomized where he stood. Instead, he found himself in front of Focus Glass, who was visibly not pleased, even if his helmet hid his face.

"This tribal, as you so eloquently put it, is the reason why me and all others are still fucking alive! She and the others pulled our asses out of the fire even though they didn't need to and you'd better ensure that this girl doesn't die here! Now get her to Scribe Redheart this instant!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the scribe immediately turned back to the surgical transport and wheeled Twilight away along with others. Applejack tried to follow, but two Paladins stood in her way.

"Where are you going?" they asked.

"Ah'm goin' after mah friend!"

"You can't go inside!"

"An' how can I be sure that Twilight'll be alright?"

"You don't trust our doctors?"

"Look, Ah promised Senior Paladin Sentry that Ah would look after her," Applejack tried to convince the Paladin to let her through.

Look at me, she scolded herself, now I'm telling lies, just to make sure my friend will be OK.

"Sir, where's Senior Paladin Sentry?" one of Brotherhood soldiers addressed Focus Glass.

"He and another girl of this company had to separate from us so we would get here. They are still in that outskirts town."

"We need to extract Senior Paladin Sentry, then."

"I'll come with you to help you trace the way," Bon Bon offered.

"Fine, just don't interfere with us."

"And Ah can give mah LMG and some ammo... just give it back once it's over, OK?" Applejack said.

"Hmpf," one of Brotherhood soldiers spoke, "I wouldn't say no to that gun, that's for sure."

"Here, take it, then," and the farm girl gave away her weapon and spare ammo. "Now can Ah see mah friend?"

"Eh..." one of the Paladins who had stopped her hesitated.

"Oh what the hell, let her come. But know this, lady - we'll be watching you," another one spoke.

"Fine, lead the way."

"And so, two Paladins with Applejack entered the bunker, while Bon Bon and seven Paladins went to the rescue...





"I hate these places," Sunset spoke.

"Claustrophobic?" Flash inquired.

"No. But it's harder to see in here. I hate it when I can't properly see the possible threats."

"No flashlight?"

"No, only a Pip-Boy's lighting. What about you? How do you see everything?"

"My helmet's visor has a night vision option. Puts stress on microfusion power packs, but I certainly won't be blind."

"Lucky you. Do you know where we can find night vision goggles?"

"Aside from Brotherhood arsenals? No."

"And Brotherhood does not trade with outsiders."

"Indeed."

"Blast."

Language, Sunset. "Why would you want one?"

"So that the light of Pip-Boys or flashlights wouldn't give us away."

"Ah. You can't counter what you can't see."

"If there is a chance to avoid detection, why not use it? Unless you have power armour, of course."

"Power armour does not automatically mean invulnerability. Armour piercing rounds and heavy weapons are a danger, and energy weapons also work better than standard ammunition. And EMP is almost a death sentence."

"You aren't worried about giving away such knowledge?" Sunset raised an eyebrow.

"I think you of all people would know that already. You are a smart girl."

"Well thank you, Flash, but I'm not the one you should be giving compliments to now."

"I know," Flash's voice was terse. "I only stated the truth."

Damn, Sunset realized, I'm an insensitive git now.

"Sorry, Flash, didn't mean to..."

"I know you didn't, Sunset," the blue-haired man spoke. "Sorry if I came off as a jerk."

"You didn't; nothing to apologize for."

Silence hang between them for several minutes.

"Flash... may I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Pardon me if it's not the right time, but... back at CHS... why did you agree to date me?"

"Before your... reformation?"

"Yep, when I was a supreme git. What was it that you found attractive enough?"

"The word "git" would be an understatement... let me remember... oh hell, it sounds like it was an infinity ago..."

Indeed it does, Sunset thought.

"There were multiple reasons. You were not like other girls; you kind of stood up above them. I was popular even back then, the majority of them would have readily agreed to date me, but I didn't want to simply... how to put it... snatch one, I guess, and have fun..."

"You wanted a challenge?"

"Sort of. I also noticed that you were highly intelligent; I always found that bit attractive in girls. And your looks, of course. Your flame hair, leather jacket and that skirt kinda... completed that impression that dating you would be... thrilling."

"Thrilling, you say... Interesting," the fiery-haired girl mused aloud. "So you genuinely enjoyed our time together?"

"I did... until, of course, I had learned about your... negative side."

"When did you learn about it?"

"Three months before our break-up."

"That long?"

"Yes."

"But you only broke up with me three weeks before the Fall Formal..."

"Well, when I first learned about your not-so-good deeds, I decided not to rush things up. The network of relationships in CHS was quite complicated. Instead, I decided to gather additional information. Three weeks later, I finally ralized that I... couldn't date you anymore. But I knew that I could not simply dump you without covering my weaknesses first. Two months were needed to ensure I would be protected. Finally, I was also planninng the break-up for a week."

"Why a week?"

"To find the best way - well, for me, that is - to announce it. I had to plan carefully, so as to mitigate the fallout."

"I have to admit, I had been impressed when you announced it. I recall people being surprised I hadn't done anything nasty to you in the aftermath."

"Had you... planned to?"

"You want a blunt, honest answer?" 

"Yes."

"Your... precautions did throw a spanner into my revenge plans, but in several weeks I would have concocted a way to mess with you. I did not believe it necessary until the completion of Fall Formal, though. It wouldn't have mattered by then."

"Determined and passionate. A wonderful combination."

"But a dangerous one."

"If used to commit evil deeds, yes. But you are different from then. I had been too... stubborn to see that before Friendship Games, though."

You didn't see what I did to White Knives' corpses from the last attack, Sunset thought sadly.

"Stubborn?"

"Yes. I... never believed that a person could change overnight, and remained suspicious. And honestly, a part of me also felt... vindicated whenever I saw your struggles."

"Ouch. That stung, even if I deserved it. And forgive me for saying this, but it kinda sounds... petty."

"Yes, it does - now. But eight years ago, I would have disagreed. When I realized that you used me to gain popularity, I was... very upset and angry. I never liked being used for selfish gains."

"I'm sorry, Flash," Sunset looked into the helmet's visor. "I was a supreme bitch to you and everyone else in that time."

"I already forgave you. I did see you change for the better. It's just... I moved on."

"Thank you."

Two wanderers went deeper into the tunnel.





"You can't enter there while we perform surgery, Applejack," Scribe Redheart, previously a nurse at Canterlot High School, was telling the farm girl. Other Scribes wheeled Twilight into a medical bloc and into surgery room, but as Applejack tried to go in, she was blocked. "I promise, I'll do whatever it takes to save your friend, but if you carry an infection in there, it will all be for naught."

"OK, Miss... Miss Redheart, Ah... understand," Applejack spoke.

"Splendid. Now, I need to go," with these words, Redheart closed the doors to surgery room. The farmgirl exhaled, suddenly feeling weakness invading her muscles.

Now is not the time! she scolded herself. However, her organism seemed to have lost any strength she had with adrenaline flushing out of her system. In the end, she lowered herself onto a bench.

"Rough day?" one of the Paladins asked her.

"Y'all can say that."

"What happened?.. That is, if you want to tell..."

This fella kinda sounds like Fluttershy, Applejack thought.

"Well, me and mah friends needed some decent guns and ammo, 'cause, ya know, Elder Aegis wants us all to find him four power armour suits."

"Where were you going to look for power armour?"

"They say there's an old military base of Mechanized Infantry nearby, might be worth checking out."

"Wow, babe, you certainly have guts," the second Paladin spoke. "The bases have automated defenses, you know that?"

"Duh. Naturally."

"Even Brotherhood hesitates to venture there. Just why do you need four suits?"

"'Cause there is a suit that belonged to a decent guy who was exiled for disagreeing with superiors, and Ah promised him Ah wouldn't give it back. Helmet Steadfast already came for it once, and Ah threw him out."

Two Paladins guffawed at that.

"What's so funny?!"

"Forget what I said about guts, this girl here has some big balls - not literally, of course - to do that," the second Paladin spoke again.

"Point is, Aegis still wants that suit, so he told mah friends - and they told me - about this little demand of his. They agreed, so we have a deal. Ah need to find the suits."

"Indeed we had a deal," came a voice out of seemingly nowhere. The Paladins stood at attention immediately.

"Elder Aegis, sir!"

"At ease, brothers," the aged man turned to the country girl who was looking at him suspiciously. "Applejack, right?"

"Eeyup."

"I need to talk to you. Please follow me to my office."

"Why not here?"

"This conversation is not for ears of any third parties."

"Can't it wait 'till Ah know mah friend is alright in there?"

"Your friend is in the surgery?"

"Yes, sir," the first Paladin spoke, "this lady and her friends bailed Senior Paladin Sentry and his squad outta some big problem, but got separated from him and their friend. Others went for Senior Paladin Sentry, and she remained here."

"Our troops went along with non-Brotherhood members?"

"Yes, sir."

"I see. Scribe Redheart is overseeing the operation?"

"Yes, sir."

"I see. Miss Applejack," Elder Aegis turned to Applejack, "I guarantee to you that your friend will be safe in there. If her wounds are not fatal, Redheart will cure them. The operation will take long, and our talk won't, but it's no less important than the life of your friend.

Best I can tell, he isn't lying. "OK then, lead the way," the country girl said.





"Feral ghouls again?!" Sunset exclaimed disbelievingly, firing her newly-modded R91. "Does someone up there have no imagination?"

"I think it's better to not insult the powers that be!" Flash answered. BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! One of the ghouls fell onto the ground. "Wait, what do you mean, "again"?"

"Me and Twilight had already encountered feral ghouls in Hoofington underground!" Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Two ghouls down. "It's kinda exasperating! Reloading!"

"They are quite annoying, aren't they?" BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! Three ghouls down.

"They wouldn't be if they weren't rushing us!" Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Two down. "All rush and no brains!"

"I agree!" BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! "And those were the last ones. Reloading," Flash replaced a microfusion cell in his laser rifle.

"You have a sidearm? Might be better to use it, since feral ghouls aren't that tough. Now if we meet super mutants..."

"Please don't give fate ideas on how to screw with us," the ex-guitar player swapped his weapons as recommended.

"I tend to believe that fate already knows all the ideas on that point."

"Then don't remind fate of it."

"Ha ha. Point taken."

On picking up bottle caps that somehow remained of feral ghouls they had just killed, Flash asked Sunset:

"Ahem... if you don't mind, I would like to know where you have spent these last seven years."

"After the apocalypse?"

"Yes."

"I was hiding in Vault 75."

"A Vault?!" Flash turned to his ex-classmate, shocked. "But..."

"What?"

"I don't know if you knew, but... Vaults, they were... built not to preserve human lives... not exactly, at least."

"I am aware of this. Me and Twilight had encountered another Vault not far from here somewhere. Vault 49. The stuff in there could induce nightmares, if one is very impressionable."

"What did you find there?"

"Blast-a-ton of shell casings, blood stains, empty armouries, a chemical lab for creating explosives and skeletons. Also, when we went to Overseer's office, we found a secret hideout, and there was a letter. Turned out that a certain Dr. Mobius Loop had a "brilliant" idea to stick criminals into a Vault twice beyond its capacity and have more armouries than normal which could be broken into and see whether they would build a society there. Societal Preservation Program, my flank."

"Wait... did you just mention a Dr. Mobius Loop? And Societal Preservation Program?"

"I did. What? You heard something of that?"

"Yes. Dr. Mobius Loop is... or was... the head of one of branches of military R&D department, but not the usual ones... he was involved with Blacklight branch."

"Never heard of it."

"And you never will. The stuff they were doing in there, according to the rumours, is nightmarish. No one truly knows what exactly they did there. It could be weapons of mass destruction, or sick experiments designed to create super soldiers, or advanced interrogation and torture techniques... no one truly knows. But if it is true... then that means that Vaults were designed with a far more nefarious purpose."

"Wait. Wasn't Vault-Tec a private company?"

"Until a certain moment, it was. But somewhere along the line, Vault-Tec and various governmental programs became so intertwined that, for all intents and purposes, Vault-Tec became government property."

Sunset felt even sicker than when she had learned about the true purpose of Vault 49.

It's... astounding. I can freely believe in an out-of-control corporation with a corrupt CEO going off its rails and doing sick experiments... but if Vault-Tec was co-opted by the government, then the latter was supposed to shut it down! But they didn't! Didn't they know about this?

Or they did know? another voice appeared in her mind, reminding her of her own demonic form. What if they knew and allowed it to go on?

What if it was the government who was behind this?

And just what was Vault 75 designed for, then?

"Sunset? You OK?" Flash's voice derailed her line of thoughts, for which she was only grateful.

"I'm... fine. Just surprised. Come on, we must go further..."





"Hulks on your left!"

"I see them!"

BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

"One down!"

"Take cover!"

Boom! Boom!

"Headshot!"

"Nice one, girl!"

"Thanks!"

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

"More ogres incoming!"

"Throwing a frag!"

BOOM!

"Ha-ha, tore his leg clean off!

BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat! 

"Targets down!"

"Clear!"

"Not for a long time," Bon Bon breathed out.

This was the third firefight the rescue team of Brotherhood of Steel had gotten themselves into.

First it was a pack of feral ghouls that had occupied a former hospital. They rushed the group when the team was passing by, but, fortunately, they proved to be no match for superior protection and firepower.

However, the ruckus attracted the attention of local super mutants, who proved to be a greater threat than mindless zombies. Their weapons could actually make Brotherhood Paladins scatter for cover, so Bon Bon performed the role of a marksman along with two other Paladins who were armed with laser rifles.

Fortunately, super mutants generally lacked any viable tactics, which allowed the rescue team to outsmart them reliably. Two packs of greenskins (considering the one they had destroyed only several seconds ago) have already fallen to their superior training, and Paladins were optimistic in general; only Focus Glass was not as cheerful, trying to raise Flash Sentry on the radio but failing to establish contact.

"Still no success?" Bon Bon addressed him.

"No. Our radios are not as strong, but I still should've been able to raise Senior Paladin Sentry now. Something's not right here."

"Can you trace his last known location somehow?"

"That's where we are actually going," Focus Glass showed on his own Pip-Boy where they were supposed to go.

"Wait... I know that place. It's an entrance to Hoofington underground stations. If they went in there, the signal of T-72d's integrated radio will not be strong enough."

"Tartarus damn it. We can search for them forever in there!"

"Actually, we might not need to. If they would try to go to Brotherhood bunker..."

"That they would."

"...then the only tunnel they can use is this one," Bon Bon showed the location on the Pip-Boy map with her finger.

"So we need to go there?"

"Actually, I thought that we should go to another exit of this tunnel instead."

"How come?"

"The tunnels in these areas should not be dangerous - I have camped in there for some time before these White Knives caught me. But the other end of the tunnel is overrun by super mutants who lure others into their trap. If they travel there unprepared, they'll be in great trouble. We must meet them halfway."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

"I suggest that we take the truck to this location," Bon Bon showed the needed place, "and descend into the tunnel via staff entrance. Perfect opportunity to strike super mutants in the back. That way we can catch up to Sentry and Shimmer instead of tiring ourselves out."

"I agree. Boys, get back to the truck, we need to give the greenskins a good old backstab!"

The cheers of other Paladins made Bon Bon's hair rise on the neck.





"OK, partner," Applejack spoke with her usual country girl drawl and without formalities, "what did ya want to talk about? Spill."

Both Paladin guards, along with Star Paladin Rampart, bristled visibly at her lack of courtesy, but Elder Aegis didn't even move an eyebrow.

"Miss Applejack," he began, "while we haven't been on best terms lately, I do not wish for our... antagonism to continue. I have laready told your... emissaries, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, that the Brotherhood of Steel will withdraw their claim on your water chip, since, according to technical documentation, it is vastly different from those that our bunker utilizes and is ultimately of little use to us. Moreover, given that the survival of Appletown apparently depends on it, I am... not as inclined to deprive its inhabitants from the only means of survival. However, you do not wish to give us the T-72d power armour suit that you have, even if it is of no use to you. Twilight and Sunset already passed me your words on that one, but I would like to hear you say them in person."

"Well, you'll hear the same thing Ah told Twilight and Sunset: Ah made a promise to Silicon Stone not to give his armour back, and Ah keep mah promises."

"Even if it might mean the death of Appletowners?" Rampart spoke up.

"If ya folks are willing to stoop that low, that'd mean Silicon Stone was mistaken and y'all are actually worse than he described," Applejack spat out.

Elder Aegis frowned.

"And how did he describe us?"

"Technology hoarders, self-centered egotists, arrogant hoity-toity snobs, murderers, traitors - those are the words he had used."

"Bit rich of him, since he is a traitor himself," one of the guards spoke up.

"Why did you believe him?" the Elder asked.

"You might have heard that Ah'm honest and bad at lying?" at the older man's nod, Applejack continued, "Well, partner, there's another side to it: Ah can spot fairly well when someone's lyin' to me. And when Silicon Stone told me that, Ah could plainly tell he wasn't lying."

"You claim that you are honest and a good lie spotter; but how are we supposed to trust your extra-sensory abilities?" Star Paladin Rampart spoke up again, derisive tones blatantly hearable in his voice.

"Well, you can try and tell me something, then Ah'll say whether you lie or not. It's not foolproof, of course, but works most of the time. So, you wanna try?"

"Fine, oh mighty truth-finder. I have a hidden laser pistol on me."

"That's true."

"How?" one of the guards spoke up. "You didn't see his back, did you?"

"No Ah didn't."

"OK. I patrol the Wastelands with my plasma rifle."

"Ah call horseshit."

"On which part?"

"The part where you said 'bout patrolling."

"She is correct," Elder Aegis spoke.

"Bah, she could have guessed that," Rampart snorted. "I won two hundred caps playing blackjack yestarday."

"It's true."

"Yep," one of the guards spoke up, "saw that personally. May I try? I wear boxers."

"You're lyin'."

"How?!" the Paladin sputtered.

"You didn't sound like you were tellin' the truth, fella. Your voice was strained a bit."

"Damn it."

"How about me?" Elder Aegis spoke up again. "I don't have a weapon magnetized to the underside of my table."

"True."

"And yet I have it here," the older man's hand appeared from under the table, holding a laser pistol.

"Then it was on your knees, most likely. 'Cause when you told me that part, I saw that you were not lying."

"OK. I see that you do appear to have an uncanny ability to weed out liars, Miss Applejack. And since Silicon Stone has never been a great liar, it's obvious now why you believed him over us," Elder Aegis put the laser pistol away and intertwined his fingers, resting his chin on them.

"There is one certain point that I would like to turn your attention to, however."

"Which is?" the country girl prompted him.

"I have always maintained the belief that each and every human has their own truth. There is no such thing as a "universal truth" - the closest thing that would come to it is something that an absolute majority of humanity would agree on, like our planet revolving around the sun, and not vice versa. Silicon Stone told you his own truth, but, naturally, his truth is not the truth of the whole Brotherhood, or even my own."

"Maybe you're right about every human havin' their own truth, but there's got to be decency at least instead of shooting people in the back!"

"What?" the Elder's voice gained a surprised yet harsh tone.

"Yep. He told me that a group of his Paladins and Knights encountered another Brotherhood patrol an' all was fine. They parted ways, and ten seconds later, lasers, plasma bolts and bullets cut into his squad! Someone ordered to outright assassinate him, like a goldurn bandit!"

"I never ordered an assassination of Silicon Stone," Elder Aegis spoke firmly, tones of anger held within.

Applejack studied his face, looking for any sign of deception. A talk with Silicon Stone crept up her mind...





*FLASHBACK*

"Why would they do this to ya, Silicon?" Applejack asked their newest Appletown inhabitant, shortly after his wounds were no longer life threatening.

"Hmpf," the man in his late twenties harrumphed, lying in his makeshift bed, "probably to ensure that no one else would have the same ideas as we did. If someone linked our disappearance to the disagreements we had with the higher-ups, they were supposed to figure it out that they would better keep silent."

"That's..." the farm girl had trouble finding an appropriate word in her outrage; even some of Granny Smith's sayings she had picked up seemed inappropriate for the wrongness of what she just heard, "that's just disgusting."

"Well, that's the Brotherhood of Steel for you. Everything to ensure that they are well-off themselves and fuck everyone else in the Wastelands," Silicon Stone spat.

"Who do ya think did it?"

"You mean "who shot us in the back" or "who ordered this"?"

"The latter."

"Interesting question. Wish I knew that myself, so as to know whom to strangle. But the power to officially declare me exiled and after that - to give the order to assassinate me can be exercised by very few: Elder Aegis, Star Paladin Rampart and Sky Scribe Scient. But Scient never involves herself in these affairs, so it had to be someone of those two..."

*END OF FLASHBACK*





I... don't think he is lying, Applejack realized, looking into Elder's grey eyes.

"Rampart..." she growled, then shifted her look to the Star Paladin, "...so it was you! You gave the assassination order!"

"What?" the guards sputtered, taken aback. Even Elder Aegis looked perplexed at first, but then turned to Rampart, his face set in stone and promising nothing good.

"Care to explain?" he spoke, and everyone felt as if the temperature fell by several dozens degrees.

"Silicon Stone, along with his followers, was a clear and present threat to the Brotherhood of Steel, Elder Aegis," the Star Paladin answered, his voice flat and bereft of any emotions. "I acted to remove the threat."

"Rampart, when I approved the order to exile him, he didn't even get back to the base yet! The rules of Brotherhood clearly state that the one who is to be exiled must be given a right to justify their actions, so as to receive the other side of the story! Did you forget the incident with Senior Paladin Diopt in Western Canterlot Wastelands? He and his cadre were accused of unjustified waste of valuable resources, but in reality, they actually gathered even more valuable resources needed for the bunker to fully function, including a nuclear rod! Silicon Stone should have gotten the chance to defend himself, and you broke the rules by denying him this chance!"

"Yeah, and what would have resulted from that? Did you forget already how he spoke about sharing the technology and giving it around to everyone, even those who can barely tell a trigger apart from a bolt? And how others agreed with him and followed him? If he spoke, this whole chapter would have been infected by his ideas, and our primary mission would have failed!"

"Whether our primary mission fails or not is up to me and Elder Council to decide, Star Paladin Rampart, and not you."

"It is when such failure may occur thanks to your actions, Elder. I warned you against accepting outsiders into our ranks, remember? They do not mesh in the Brotherhood as well as the original members. Silicon Stone is no more and yet that latest guy - Senior Paladin Flash Sentry, I think - already thinks in the same manner."

"I had explained before why I decided so, Rampart," casting a glance towards Applejack, Aegis looked at his subordinate again. "And Elder Council agreed with my reasoning, and so did Supreme Elder Iron Gear. if you have a problem with the decisions they have approved of, take it up with them. We will discuss more later. Kindly vacate the room."

"Yes, sir," Star Paladin Rampart spoke flatly, and left the Elder's office.

An uncomfortable silence reigned for several seconds before Applejack sputtered:

"What... in tarnation just happened?"





"Pony piss! Not again!" Sunset shouted in exasperation as a super mutant charged her and Flash.

"Rrrrrr-aaaaarrrrrrggh!" the hulkish figure roared, bringing down its heavy-looking piece of wood with nails stuck in it. Wisely deciding that the improvised weapon was potentially fatal, both humans jumped to the side.

Bz-dzoot!

Flash's laser pistol was louder than the usual one for some reason; however, as the super mutant fell, Sunset noted that the burn mark was bigger and nastier looking.

"Rip 'em to shreds!" they heard someone shouting, and a group of super mutants apeared from around the corner, guns blazing and armature in hands. Sunset and Flash jumped into cover, returning fire.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

A stream of bullets hit the closest super mutant's face, but its abnormally sturdy head managed to withstand the onslaught. However, it halted in place, which allowed Flash to ignite it and turn it to ashes.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

The return fire of super mutants forced him back into cover. Sunset managed to aim with her collimator sight and hit another monster to the head. This time, she was luckier - one of her bullets hit the hulk's right eye, making him roar.

"Oi! You!" another super mutant charged at them, armature in its hands. "No one hurts my fellas!"

The fiery-haired girl fired at it, but the tough skin along with some armour pieces did not let her topple the creature.

"Rr-argh!" with a growl, it swiped at her, forcing her to jump back and closer to the wall - and out of cover.

"Yaaargh!"

Sunset thought for a moment that another super mutant just appeared instead of Flash Sentry, but several laser pistol shots convinced her otherwise.

Red beams sliced through the greenskin's right arm, making it drop its armature. Seizing the opportunity, the ex-rocker grabbed it and clubbed the monster to the head, making it topple.

Seeing an opportunity, other super mutants unleashed a bulletstorm, but, lacking armour-piercing ammunition, they could not do much damage. Sunset fared worse, however - two bullets pierced her left shoulder and one got embedded in her torso, dangerously close to her lung. The girl screamed in pain and rushed back into cover, rummaging her pockets for the first aid kit.

Meanwhile, Flash jumped onto a super mutant's head. Its skull could not withstand the pressure and cracked.

"Ew," the blue-haired man commented, "mutant brains."

Hiding in cover near Sunset and taking shots at super mutants again, he asked her:

"How seriously are you wounded?"

"No arterial bleeding, thank the stars," the fiery-haired girl replied, bandaging her wounds, "but having bullets stuck within is not fun."

"You need help?"

"Deal with the mutants first."

After firing several times, Flash managed to take down one mutant. However, there were still three of them remaining, and while Sunset was out of fight, the odds did not work in their favour.

I need a gamebreaker, he thought. 

Taking out a grenade of unfamiliar design and threw it into the crowd of enemies. When it exploded, it threw green flames around, dealing horrific damage to the enemies. His pistol's shots were barely hearable over the screams of pain, which reverberated through the tunnel.

Bz-dzoot! Bz-dzoot! Bz-dzoot! Bz-dzoot! Bz-dzoot! Bz-dzoot! Bz-dzoot!

Silence reigned.

"We're clear... for now."

"OK then, can you help me with the wound on my torso?" Sunset spoke, injecting her left shoulder with a Med-X and throwing the empty syringe away...





"Here it is," Bon Bon spoke, looking into the optic sight of her rifle. "The entrance."

"And super mutants," Focus Glass added, using his binoculars.

Indeed, several hulking monsters could be seen patrolling the area around the entrance to the underground station. Something resembling a fortress was built around it, but whoever did it, the ex-DOI agent did not think it to be a very well-defensible position.

Also, the fortress seemed to be undermanned.

Or is it undermutanted? she thought, then shook the non-existing word out of her head. All in all, she counted only half a dozen super mutants within, which seemed... strange. When she had scouted the location the last time, she counted a full dozen. And this pack was not inclined to leave that area understaffed (this word certainly sounds better), which either meant someone having inflicted casualties on them before (which was improbable - White Knives stayed the Tartarus away from this place, Brotherhood of Steel did not usually venture here, and no one else could even try and battle such a force), or...

"Damn it," she swore, "I think they have gone into the tunnel."

"So there will be more of them inside?" Focus Glass spoke again.

"Yes. I had hoped that in the worst case we would be able to draw the bulk of their force away from Paladin Sentry and Shimmer, but it appears they have managed to cause some big ruckus in there - or simply were unlucky enough to go to these tunnels when majority of these super mutants decided to stay underground for some reason."

"So what do you recommend?"

Bon Bon kept silence; instead, she lined up a shot to one of the green heads and fired.

Bo-bang!

"Never mind," the Paladin aimed at the same super mutant with his laser rifle...





"Buck my flanks, both of them," Sunset cussed again. Flash Sentry could no longer find it within himself to scold her.

Their situation was quite dire.

If stumbling into a pack of super mutants living underground that cut off your only means of escape can be called "dire", the ex-rocker thought. They had just eliminated another group of green monsters, and their ammunition reserves were almost exhausted.

They did not escape unscratched either. Sunset received three more wounds, which, while not life-threatening or too heavy, took a toll on her body, adding to the combat weariness she was feeling already. Even with RegenStim, she could hardly compensate for the stress. 

Flash's power armour was hit repeatedly, as he valiantly tried to protect her, and several lucky shots hit him in places between outer armour plates. Naturally, they were more vulnerable.

The medical systems in his suit attended to his wounds, but he found it unlikely that a lucky bullet would not disable the system soon. And he definitely did not want to think about what would happen if his microfusion power pack ran out. It was not supposed to, but the energy drain had increased, taking more power than usually needed; the counter already showed 29% remaining, while normally it was supposed to be 45.

Methinks it's more than dire.

"Is that one of the swears from... your birthplace?" he asked.

"Yes. Considered quite rude. Although compared to some human swear words and phrases, it's actually tame."

"I remember looking surprised at you when you shouted "ponyfeathers" once. You told me that this swearing was your own invention."

"I'm afraid I lied about that part."

"Oi! You! Humans!" they heard a gruff voice shouting at them from the side they were supposed to go to.

"What now?" Sunset moaned.

"You be good fighters! The Crusher like good fighters! But you fight us! We no like that!"

"Then let us through! We promise we won't shoot as long as no one shoots us first!" the fiery-haired girl shouted in the voice's direction. Flash looked at her with his eyes wide, mouthing, "Are you for real?" and receiving a glare which told him not to say a single word.

"We no let you through! You kill our buddies!"

"Well, we were defending ourselves!"

"You say that! All humans say that! They lie! You lie too!"

"Am not!"

"Bah! We no believe it! Go back!"

"I am afraid we can't go back now," Flash whispered.

"No kidding. If we go, we will inevitably stumble onto others. Besides, we may already be cut off if those others actually followed us. You still can't raise your team?"

"Radio signal's still too weak, but we are close to the surface. If only we can get where a signal would pass through..."

"Yeah... only that I have almost no strength... wait... I have a Buffout dose!"

"You sure you wanna mess with that?"

"It's not like I have much of a choice... dying is certainly not a choice."

"No it isn't," Flash took out his laser rifle. "Curses, I have only one cell left."

"We had managed to pick a few spares," Sunset gave him two microfusion cells she had picked earlier. "These are full."

"Much appreciated. Now, are you taking Buffout?"

"I am, it appears," the fiery-haired girl spoke, looking at a small bottle she had in her hands. Opening the cap, she shook two tablets out of it, and took them in her mouth. The instructions said to chew them, so she did as necessary (noting that the tablets tasted quite bitterly) and swallowed them.

"Argh! We tired of wait! We go kill you!" they heard the same super mutant shout again.

"Here," the blue-haired man gave two grenades to Sunset, "when I say so, take out the rings and throw the grenades at those green monsters. As soon as they explode, we try to push forward. Stay behind me, you cannot take any more bullets."

"Uh-huh," the girl replied weakly. She was not certain if she could properly stand now...

...and suddenly, Buffout kicked in.

Sunset felt as if her body was revitalized in an instant. The tiredness in her muscles was flushed out, replaced with energy and... power. The wounds were still there, but they were pushed to the back, becoming an insignificant irritant to her otherwise great newfound strength.

I feel... I feel that I can take on them without weapons! I can take on the whole world!

"Throw!" Flash commanded.

Four metal apple-sized objects flew from behind cover, and almost immediately, the humans heard four BOOM sounds reverberated by closed space of tunnels, followed by cries of pain. Flash grabbed his laser rifle and jumped out, Sunset following him.

Five super mutants were still standing, but several laser bemas quickly dropped them. Two streams of bullets to the heads of other two ended their lives in an instant. The last one tried to charge the fiery-haired Equestrian, but a BZ-DAT! later, it fell onto its stomach, and Sunset hopped onto its back. Turning around, she turned its head into a gory mess of skin, skull fragments and brains with point-blank shots.

"Reloading!" she shouted, quickly moving on. Flash checked his microfusion power pack energy level... 

...and did not like what he saw.

21 percent already? What kind of strain the system's under?!

Tapping onto his Pip-Boy, he brought up a mini-screen of system diagnostics.

Energy consumption:

Power exoskeleton - 70%.
Medical systems - 15%.
Heads-up display - 7%.
Targeting system - 5%.
Secondary systems - 3%.

Seventy percent? How come I... 

...and then it hit him.

Power armour was designed to augment the strength of its user, both to allow a human to actually wear the bulky suit (with it being quite heavy, only very few would be able to wear such armour without the exoskeleton) and make him (or her) a more capable soldier on the battlefield, allowing usage of such heavy weaponry as miniguns or gatling lasers. The exoskeleton assisted in any movement a soldier made within the armour, while drawing power from the microfusion pack. A special program calculated how much "augmentation" each movement needed. The more "augmnetation" it took, the more power was needed.

If a person was becoming weaker, the suit would compensate by diverting additional energy to the exoskeleton... while there was still energy to give.

One of the drawbacks of T-72d power armour was an impossibility of manual adjustment of necessary augmentation levels with the intent to save power, which meant that the weaker Flash Sentry grew, the more assistance from the exoskeleton would be needed along with the energy.

I must be on verge of exhaustion, and the armour struggles to compensate. But soon, I'll run out of energy, and most likely I won't even be able to exit the suit. What a clusterfuck.

Trying to concentrate on the fight, he still took note of how much power the power pack still held. As they destroyed another pack of super mutants, he caught two unlucky shots, one of which apparently hit his...

Warning: power exoskeleton damage. Increasing power drain to compensate. Seek the repair station immediately.

The message on his HUD made him swear silently. Checking energy consumption again, he saw:

Power exoskeleton: 80%.

"Damn it!" he swore. "Sunset... we have a problem."

"What is it?" she asked, shooting at yet another group of super mutants that blocked their way.

"My power armour is almost depleted of energy, and I'm losing it fast - the exoskeleton's damaged."

"Well that's just fan-fucking-tastic! Oh, and I've run out of ammo," the pony-turned-human took out her laser pistol and tried to do some damage to the super mutants, but despite this weapon shooting lasers instead of bullets, the damage output was not that great.

"So have I," popping out the last microfusion cell, Flash took out his modded pistol, and tried to assist his ex-girlfriend - not that he made that big of a difference.

"Well damn. Is this the part where we say "It's been a pleasure to know you" or does it come later?"

Suddenly, laser beams and bullets tore into the ranks of super mutants from behind. Not expecting an attack from that direction, the monsters fell pretty quickly.

Sunset and Flash stood, dumbfounded, as the Paladins of Brotherhood of Steel, along with a smug beige-skinned ex-DOI agent known as Bon Bon walked up to them.

"Anyone needs a free ride to the bunker?" Focus Glass asked humorously.

"Only if someone can carry my armour," Flash answered. "The power's almost depleted."

"Well two of us can do that."

"OK then. Someone let me out of this tin can."

One of the Paladins walked up to him and turned a wheel to the left several times. Almost immediately, the armour opened up, the section on the back rising, while leg sections opened to the sides.

The ex-rocker stepped out of the armour onto the solid ground.

Sunset almost lost her jaw at the sight as her ex-boyfriend turned to her.

"Enjoying the show?" he asked with a lopsided grin, as the Paladin closed the armour suit. "That's the wonder of pre-apocalypse technology."

"Wow," the fiery-haired girl could only utter that.

"Wow indeed. I..." suddenly, Flash lurched forward, barely keeping his balance. "...oooh, I think I'm exhausted..."

A Paladin barely managed to catch him in time.

"Just for how long was he awake?" Bon Bon inquired.

"Er, before our operation, he was doing some important stuff, so it's... twenty-two hours, I think," Focus Glass replied.

"It's a wonder his power pack's not depleted yet," the beige-skinned girl shook her head.

"Yeah," the fiery-haired girl spoke up, "I..."

Before she could properly speak, however, the dose of Buffout she had taken earlier ran its course, depriving her of extra strength. And without it, there was not much she could do.

As her eyes rolled up and exhaustion finally took its hold on her, Sunset Shimmer fainted.





"They still haven't returned?"

"Not yet."

"What's taking them so long? Our plan cannot go on until they return!"

"Are you certain we need to wait? They plan to go to Trottingham, and the conditions for fulfilling the order will be perfect at that point."

"I'm afraid that Applejack will come with them."

"Won't it be an added bonus?"

"I am not certain of that."

"Anyway, is there a word on Foul Shot's group? Did anyone survive?"

"No. Most were killed by Applejack and her friends, I think. But the last two... were killed by someone else."

"By whom exactly?"

"You don't want to know..."





Earlier, 12 minutes after a failed attempt at Twilight's and Sunset's lives...

"Boy, were we lucky," one of survivors told his partner. "I'm telling ya, we're the luckiest sons of bitches in the Wastelands!"

"I wouldn't say that. The boss won't be pleased that we failed the task."

"Hey, he knows that unpredictable things can foil up the mission, and that car showing up definitely counts."

"Maybe you're right."

"Of course I'm right. Now come on, we need to get back to the base. I hope that we do get another shot at this, though."

"Maybe it's better we didn't?"

"Oh come on! You're scared of that Daring Duo?" the first one spoke mockingly. "We've been shooting such goody two-shoes like nobody's business for months. And..."

"And what?" the second one turned around to look at his comrade, who was several steps behind him and for some reason became silent.

The reason became very apparent in an instant: one can't talk with half a head missing.

As the second mercenary comprehended what just happened, a bullet entered his right shoulder - straight to the joint, making him howl in pain and drop his weapon. Turning around, he tried to run, only to cry again as another bullet went through his kneecap and sent him tumbling on the ground.

As he desperately tried to crawl away from the unknown assailant, he saw a shadow looming in front of him and then he felt a jolt of pain, as someone delivered a good kick to his side.

He felt someone turning him over. Involuntarily, he looked up.

He immediately wished he didn't.

A human was standing above him, sniper rifle of what he guessed to be a custom design hanging on his back, and a pistol with an integrated silencer in his hand.

Wait... his?

Quickly looking over the mysterious stranger, he realized that their body proportions were not like ones of a human male; plus, males did not wear armour designed like that...

And then he realized that this person was a woman.

Completely losing it, he emptied his bladder in fright.

"NO! PLEASE... PLEASE!!!" he begged for his life, but to no effect.

Phut. Phut.

Two bullets to his head quickly ended his begging abilities, along with his life.





The woman stood rigid, sensing something wrong, and sniffed the air, trying to identify the smell that just assaulted her senses.

As soon as she realized that she was smelling urine, she snorted in contempt. Taking a small sheet of paper, she tucked it securely on the mercenary's corpse, before tapping her wrist and disappearing from sight.

Anyone who would look at that sheet of paper would clearly see a stylized image of a black eight-legged spider.





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

I Hate Hospitals! Your natural healing rate receives a permanent +5% bonus.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

You Do Not Hurt My Friends! Whenever your friend's HP falls below 50% and/or their limb is crippled, you gain +10% Damage bonus and +25% Critical Damage bonus.
> Chapter 16: Recovery, chatter and relevations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 16

Recovery, chatter and revelations


When the grenade exploded next to her, Twilight Sparkle was sure that she met her doom.

Her whole existence was reduced to unbearable PAIN.

Splinters of a clumsily-made grenade, while of lower quality than military-grade ammo still could have a devastating effect, especially at close distance and against targets not in heavy armour. And Twilight fulfilled both criteria.

She collapsed, but, against her expectations, she did not die immediately. Which meant that her chances of dying in extreme agony rapidly went up closer to one hundred percent.

Currently, they were at 95.7374878 percent... and climbing.

She barely felt anything through searing pain - but even through the red haze that clouded everything, she still could hear Sunset Shimmer's enraged scream.

Unable to open her eyes, she still understood that her friend was putting herself in unnecessary danger - and she was powerless to prevent it, because she was going to die now.

Then she felt being turned onto her back, light assaulted her eyelids, adding to the pain she was feeling, and then something pierced her skin.

And again.

And again.

Two more injections followed, and she felt her pain subsiding slightly. Med-X, she realized.

She managed to open her eyes, looking at the sky and the faces that were swimming in her vision. One particular face stod out, with blue hair...

Blue hair... Flash!

She tried to raise her hand, but the mere thought of moving was painful.

"Flash..." she croaked.

"I'm here, Twilight," cold metal of her crush's power armour enveloped her fingers.

"Where... Sunset?" even speaking was painful now, despite Med-X in her system.

"She's... defending us."

"Please... help... her..." the words were getting harder and harder to pronounce. Another needle stab, and soon, she felt that her body was getting heavier, slipping into unconsciousness.

"I will, now don't exert yourself."

"Please..."

Twilight felt as if something was pulling her underground.

Her eyelids fell as if filled by lead (not bullet-formed), and she felt nothing.





Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

An annoying high-pitched sound was piercing her ear drums at regular intervals.

Is that what's supposed to be in Tartarus? That doesn't seem like it.

And given how annoying this sound is, I don't think it's Lands of Eternal Harmony and Happiness, either.

Coming to a conclusion that without visual input it would be impossible to determine what kind of afterlife she presumably found herself in, Twilight opened her eyes and almost closed them again as bright artificial light assaulted her eyes.

Once she got more used to it, she realized that her surroundings did not resemble afterlife at all.

First, there was a ceiling.

Second, there were white walls, and apparently, a floor, and she was lying on something resembling a bed.

Except it's kinda high for a bed...

She tried to move - and winced, as she felt pain and soreness invading her nerve system.

"Oh, you're awake! Don't move," she heard a voice to her right.

Where am I? Twilight wanted to ask, but her throat was so dry one could scratch a skin to blood with it. She felt something poking near her right mouth corner, and the same voice told her to drink, which she eagerly did.

When she finished, the other person came into a full view: a woman in her mid-thirties, with a kind-looking face, wearing red robes adorned with the sigil of gears, word and wings.

Brotherhood of Steel!

"Thank you," she said.

"You are welcome. Let me introduce myself. I am Scribe Redheart of Brotherhood of Steel, and I am the head medic here. You are in our bunker; you were brought in by your friends and some other Paladins who claim that you assisted them against White Knives. This is true?"

"Yes."

"The Brotherhood greatly appreciates your selflessness. There are too few people that would try that. Most of them would let our brothers die, then finish off the bandits and help themselves to our technology."

"Why would people be this... cold-hearted? Surely Brotherhood is better than White Knives?"

"Of course. But..." Redheart looked around, and then leaned closer to Twilight, whispering:

"...but our superiors seem intent on antagonizing the whole Wastelands. And many Paladins are arrogant. So when someone gets in trouble, others seem content watching the high and mighty brothers get their due. Don't speak of this to anyone, OK?"

"OK," the equine answered. "So... how come I am not dead?"

"Well, it was luck and the fact that your armour is decent enough. While it was pierced in enough places, most of the splinters did not do serious damage. That DOI agent managed to extract most of them safely. But there were a few that hurt you really bad, and we had to perform surgery on you."

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Almost a full day. Your friends stubbornly refuse to go, earning themselves dirty looks from some of our more... caustic persons."

"Do I need to stay here?"

"For several more hours at least, so that regenerative medicine runs its course. After that, you can leave this room. Meanwhile, is there anything you want?"

"A book or two wouldn't hurt."

"Which ones?"

Good question. There are some things I cannot still understand. Let me think...

"How about a couple of books on computers and something about pre-apocalypse technological advancement?"

"OK. I will be back soon. Also, your friends wanted to see you - Applejack, Bon Bon and Sunset..."

"Sunset's OK?" Twilight blurted out.

"Yes, aside from some minor wounds and total exhaustion, not to mention Buffout crash. A good rest and some RegenStim did her good. Oh, and Senior Paladin Sentry also received the same treatment. He's also here waiting, for some reason."

Twilight's cheeks pinked a bit.

"I can let someone in, but not all at once. Whom do you want to see?"

Feeling herself torn between wanting to see Sunset alive and well and having a chance to finally have a good chat with a rocker she found herself crushing on, the lavender-skinned girl decided to play it safe:

"Can I see Bon Bon first?"





"How're you holding up, Twilight?" Bon Bon asked her not-very-lucky-lately friend.

"It's sore and my wounds are painful. And yet I feel giddy inside, because I am still alive. You were helping me, right?"

"Yes, I was. As a DOI agent, I was supposed to know well how to treat life-threatening wounds. Having an AMFAK-10 also helped. But still, you were in grave danger. Usually, chances of surviving what you went through are fifty percent or so with medical equipment nearby. Without it? Almost always fatal."

"Ouch," Twilight winced. These near-death experiences are becoming too common for me.

"Ouch indeed."

"How is Flash? And Sunset?"

"Both are fine now, but when we found them, they were on verge of exhaustion. Sunset was running on Buffout only, and Flash's power armour almost went limp."

"Went limp?"

"Sorry, military jargon. That's when power armour's microfusion pack is out of charge and using it becomes impossible."

"That would have been bad?"

"Very bad. Trying to move in power armour without energy is something even an athletic person would have trouble with. When you're exhausted? Impossible."

"And Applejack?"

"She remained here, near the surgery, for all time. Elder Aegis spoke to her on something, and it appeared that she was... very surprised by something."

"By what?"

"I didn't ask, and you'd rather not speak about it here. There may be listening devices," Bon Bon said in a hushed voice. "I'm glad that you feel fine enough, Twilight," she spoke louder. "Whom do you want to see next?"

"Er... Sunset?"

"I'll let her come in, then," the beige-skinned girl went out, and a few seconds later, a fiery-haired Equestrian in human form rushed in, gently hugging Twilight.

"Thank Celestia you're alive!" Sunset breathed out. "When I saw you fall, I thought... I thought..."

To the lavender-skinned girl's surprise, she felt her shoulder getting moist. It appeared that while Sunset fought tears for a while, seeing her compatriot alive and well broke the proverbial dam.

"I'm alive, Sunset, and I'm OK now... please don't cry," Twilight patted her friend on the back.

"Oh, Twilight," the fiery-haired girl broke the hug, making her tears visible, "these are tears of joy... if they didn't save you, it would have been tears of pain and rage... I was friendless for years, and to lose my friends just after I found them..."

"Don't worry. We will endure," the Princess put her hand on Sunset's shoulder, smiling. Sunset gave an unsure smile in return, and wiped her eyes.

"Are you in pain?" she asked.

"I am sore in places where the splinters hit the hardest, but it's bearable. Think I'll be one hundred percent ready soon. Scribe Redheart patched me up well."

"Wait. Redheart? She was a school nurse at CHS! She is seriously here?"

"Yes, she's here. And..." suddenly, Twilight stopped.

She wanted to say that nurse-turned-Scribe Redheart did not approve of Brotherhood's policy, but remembered Bon Bon's voice about listening devices.

Is that how they check the loyalties of their members? How they found out about Silicon Stone's intentions?

I can't put her in danger... or Flash. We need to ensure that our sympathizers remain alive.

"...and she is a very good doctor," she said instead. "Was she a good medic back at CHS?"

"Quite good. I never experienced the necessity of going to her, but some people were regular "customers", so to speak. If a certain lead guitar player was present here, I could have said "Just ask Rainbow Dash" - she had had to visit Redheart at least once in two weeks because of scratches or gashes or something else. I wonder how Nurse Readheart found herself in the Brotherhood..."

"Me too, but I guess that's not the most important topic here. How are you, Sunset?"

"Physically or psychologically?"

"Physically."

"A good night's sleep returned all my strength. I slept like a newborn foal, despite the fact they gave us sleeping bags and put us in between some shelves full of junk in some storage room. Good thing I didn't need another Buffout dose. While I got wounded, RegenStim took care of that - my arm is well and in working order."

"Did Flash help you?"

"He did. If not for him, I might have fallen victim to my stupidity. It pays to have someone in power armour to soak up the damage."

Twilight frowned at the latest words. Sunset understood that she spoke wrongly, and apologized:

"Oops... sorry, Twilight, I am not implying that I used him as meat shield or something... It's just... well..."

"I understand, Sunset. Don't apologize. If we speak tactically, then someone in power armour would be quite useful to our team, given that this type of armour absorbs damage better."

"...yeah."

"Is Flash alright?"

"He is fresh as daisy now, also thanks to a good sleep. He only got some scratches. Lucky guy," the smile on Sunset's face belied her grumpiness.

"Did you speak of... anything related to the past?"

"If you don't mind, Twilight, it's... kinda personal."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No problem. Now, do you want to see the dashing rocker?"

"Sunset!" Twilight blushed. "Please don't talk like that! And... er, may I see Applejack first?"

"OK, fine. Can't even tease the royalty these days..." Sunset rose to leave, grumbling good-naturedly.

I can banish you to the moon if I want to, the equine Princess thought without any real malice in her mind. As her compatriot left, she saw the country girl come in, Stetson hat sitting on her head as always.

"Howdy, Twilight."

"Hey, Applejack. I've heard you were keeping watch?"

"Sorta. They wouldn't let me in the surgery, which's kinda fine, 'cause, you know, infection and stuff. But Ah didn't want to leave ya alone."

"Thanks, Applejack. You didn't have to."

"On the contrary, Twilight."

"You didn't have any problems?"

"Well, some people might've given me a stink eye once in a while, but the word has spread out that we helped some of their own. So others're kinda more accepting of us now. A couple o' folks even came up and thanked us."

"Well, that's good, I guess."

"Ah guess so, too."

"Did anything happen here?"

"Well, Elder Aegis wanted to speak to me, and we had a chat. Turns out that he didn't order Silicon Stone killed, or at least, Ah believe so - he didn't look as if he was lying. It was that varmint Rampart."

"Rampart? Does he even have the authority?"

"Apparently, yeah. Turns out he decided to kill Silicon before the latter actually found out about him being under threat of exile. He didn't have the chance to defend himself in front of others."

"That's... extremely cold-blooded."

"Indeed, Twi. Naturally, Silicon was quite bitter 'bout this mess, and since he wasn't actually lyin', Ah also assumed the whole Brotherhood ta be jerks. Helmet Steadfast didn't really help matters either."

"Did Elder Aegis say anything about me?"

"He said he wanted to talk to you once the doctors let you out."

"Nothing else? I thought they would want to ask us something in return for the medicine..."

"Ah brought that up, an' he said that he would raise that up with you."

"Oh..." That can't be good. Why me? Does he have a secret?

"An' he also said that he would talk about that power armour quest, too."

"I... see. Thanks, Applejack."

"Heh, you're welcome. You wanna see Flash now?" smiling slyly, Applejack gave a wink, making Twilight blush. Temporarily incapable of speech, she nodded. As the country girl left, Flash Sentry entered, wearing his usual attire from Canterlot HIgh, also slightly blushing.

"Hi, Flash..." the lavender-skinned girl said.

"Hi, Twilight... How are you doing? Are you in pain?"

"Not quite... I am sore, but not debilitated. I see that you saved your old school clothes?"

"Yes... as a tribute to old times. Man, it seems like it has happened an eternity ago..."

Indeed, Twilight realized. With everything that had happened in this world, it surely seems like this had happened in previous life, actually. And that might not even be metaphorical.

"What happened to you, Flash?"

"Well, when the war began, I joined up, believing that UFE needed me and all that jazz. Fought in several small battles until the mess in Bovinia, one of the countries that had joined TODC."

"What happened there?"

"Tartarus squared. Pardon the rhyme. You never experienced tropical climate before? It's a mess; I'd have said something else, but swearing in front of a woman is inappropriate. Humid air, torrential rain that makes you almost instantly wet, poisonous snakes, jungles. And TODC soldiers."

"Why did the UFE attack that country?"

"Besides from being a member of TODC and declaring war on us? Bovinia had some reserves of oil, natural gas and uranium that our High Command did not want in the enemy's hands. Problem is, no one from DOI had bothered to do their stuff properly. We quickly captured the main processing plants only to find that they were, like, twenty percent of overall export, and the rest was split up in rural jungle areas, cleverly hidden - and guarded by TODC soldiers, naturally. Those of them that weren't Bovinian did not fare much better than us, but natives... oh my... they showed us who's on whose turf! Their guerilla tactics left you either dead or mad. In the end, when High Command finally had enough, they dropped barrels of some pathogen native to that area..."

"Pathogen? Wait... they deliberately caused diseases?!" Twilight felt outraged at the dirty tactics (for that is how she perceived it) used by UFE military.

"Yeah, our people were not amused either. There were anti-war protests all over the country. Sandalwood participated in one..." Flash's face took on a hint of sadness, which did not escape unnoticed.

"What happened?"

"The riot police arrived, but there were armed provocateurs in the crowd. Once they fired at the officers, killing two of them, the officers began flinging grenades everywhere and shooting water jets, trying to disperse the crowd, but it quickly degenerated into an ugly firefight where police whipped out their own weapons. Sandalwood got caught in a crossfire when trying to help one person to get out of there. It was said that a stray bullet from a policeman killed him."

Celestia merciful, no! Twilight's hands flew to her mouth. She had heard of the friendship that formed between Flash, Sandalwood and Micro Chips, and the unlikely group became a shining example of a good group of friends. To lose one of them in such a way...

"And Micro Chips?"

"He is actually in the Brotherhood now, serves as a Scribe in the bunker. Deals in some complex computer stuff I really have trouble understanding and upgrades power armour software."

"Oh good. At least he made it."

"Indeed."

"What's up, Flash?" Twilight asked the blue-haired young man, noticing his sullen expression.

"It's just..." Flash sighed, and went on, "...well, you had had to defend yourself with guns, right?"

"Right..." What is he leaning to?

"I... can't help but look around... and think of myself as a failure."

"What?! Flash, you aren't a failure! You helped Sunset, you survived the Day of Burning..!"

"Yes. The Day of Burning. The day I swore to prevent, along with all my comrades in arms when I gave the Oath of Service. The day when I failed."

"It didn't depend on you alone, Flash!" Twilight raised her voice. "You didn't launch the nuclear missiles! You fought through Bovinia and who knows what else, to keep everyone safe, but you couldn't be everywhere at once! You didn't destroy the world!"

"Didn't I? I fought for the country that used weapons of mass destruction and underhanded tactics, all in the name of being the sole controller of rapidly diminishing natural resources! Initially I fought because I believed in a righteous cause; in the end, I fought in the name of mere survival, because it was obvious that if we lost, we'd all be dead, killed for Tartarus-cursed war crimes! It wouldn't matter who committed the crimes - TODC would kill us all, and I didn't want to die; I didn't want to admit that I was fighting for something I could no longer sincerely support! The only thing that kept me going is the hope that achieving yet another victory, big or small, would end the war, at least on equal terms, so that the world would become safer!"

Running out of air, Flash breathed in and continued, in a calmer tone.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you... when the Day of Burning came and went, I understood that all I did was for naught. I couldn't keep the world safe."

"Flash... the world is never truly safe."

"No, but can you honestly tell me that it is safer now than... well... at the time of Battle of the Bands?"

"...no."

"I didn't want you to see this world..." Flash spoke dejectedly.

"Wait, what?"

"I said it out loud? Oh blast... yes, Twilight, I really didn't want you to experience this side of the world. I had hoped that when we... met again, I would show you some beautiful things around it. But I can't now, because they're gone, and the life has turned into a vicious fight for survival."

"Flash... come here."

As the ex-rocker approached his crush, he felt Twilight's arms snake around him and pull him into a hug. Hesitantly, he palced his hands on Twilight's back, hugging her in return.

"I don't blame you for all this, Flash. It's those in power who didn't deserve it in first place who are to blame."

"And I followed them. Am I any better?"

"They lied and deceived, and from what I see, very cleverly. And they brought ruin upon all of us because of arrogance, greed, selfishness and paranoia. Let them wither in Tartarus, and don't think of them. They aren't worth it."

"I..." Flash felt his eyes stinging, and fought over control of his tear ducts. Can't cry in front of Twilight! "Thank you for kind words, Twilight."

"You are welcome."

"Ahem..."

The pair turned to the entrance - and immediately broke, blushing furiously, on seeing Nurse Redheart with books coming in.

"Sorry... bad time?"

"No, I... actually, I was about to leave," Flash turned to the side, trying to hide the blush. "Er, see you again, Twilight!"

"See you!" Twilight replied. "Scribe, how long until I can come out of here?"

"One hour and fifty or so minutes. I am afraid that you need to be alone for now - but you seem to enjoy reading, so I hope these books will help you."

"Thanks."





As soon as Twilight was cleared to leave the medical section, she was approached by two Paladins, who wanted to lead her to Elder Aegis. She complied, and, to her relief, her friends followed her, despite grumblings from the escort.

As she entered the now-familiar office, she saw Elder Aegis in his usual place, but, to her surprise, she didn't see Star Paladin Rampart around.

Strange. I know he had disobeyed Elder's orders, but isn't he second-in-command?

"Ah, Miss Sparkle. Sit down, please," Aegis pointed his hand in the direction of the chair.

His tone is... less antagonistic. I don't want to bet on it, but he seems... pleased to see me, Twilight thought, doing as told to. The Elder typed something on his terminal's keyboard, and pressed a button on it. After that, he turned to her.

"First and foremost, Miss Sparkle, I want to thank you for the assistance you have provided to Senior Paladin Sentry's group. It is... very unusual, for an outsider to offer assistance to Brotherhood of Steel, given... our isolation. May I inquire as to why you decided to do so?"

"Flash's... sorry, Senior Paladin Sentry's group came across White Knives, in whom, I believe, we share a common enemy."

"I see. Did you seek any reward for that?"

"Material?"

"Any kind."

"While I did hope that this act would show that we want to maintain peace and friendship between Appletown and Brotherhood of Steel, we were not seeking any material compensation."

"I see," Elder Aegis repeated, putting his elbows on the table and intertwining his fingers, putting his head on them. 

Silence reigned.

Twilight waited.

Neither of them were willing to break silence.

There is a game of sorts in the air, the equine Princess thought. What is his angle? What does he want?

The silence continued. Elder Aegis looked as if deep in thought, and Twilight was trying to analyze covertly what was going on on his mind.

"Why are you silent?" the older man asked suddenly, startling her.

"I presumed that you were pondering on an important matter and did not want to be interrupted."

"Indeed I was thinking, but you didn't need to worry about that."

"I apologize."

"Apology accepted. You see, Miss Sparkle... there is something I don't really understand."

"What is it?"

"You."

Whatever Twilight expected to hear, it wasn't this.

"Me?" she repeated, eyes wide as if caught in a car's headlights.

"Indeed. You are an... anomaly, so to say. In these days, the people do not really hurry to help others, especially if offered nothing in return. If nothing else, ammunition and medical supplies, along with food and water, have to be paid for, so altruism alone won't cut it. Yet you are willing to go out of your way to facilitate a compromise between us and Appletown, and help our people out. You were even wounded because of it."

"About that... thank you for doing this surgery on me. I'm not certain what can I do about medicines, though..."

"Well, we didn't spend a lot of it on you, but if you do happen to find some spares and are inclined to share, we won't decline. In fact, we will buy them. But let's return to the topic at hand. What drives you to do these things?"

"Er... the fact that these things are right to do?"

"The definitions of "right" and "wrong" are quite... subjective, now more than ever. In fact, your way of thinking actually predates the Last War."

"And that's a good thing... right?"

"Indeed, but many people with morals as yours... didn't survive for long. Or were forced to change their views in order to survive."

"I had to, too. I used to think killing was unforgivable, unless it's the last option in self-defense, and yet I had to attack first in some cases, like when preventing the deaths of innocents at the hands of bandits."

"But still, your views hadn't changed much. Many people, on the other hand... their views changed substantially, if not radically."

"But why? I can understand if it were a minority, but you speak "many" as if you mean "majority"..."

"Tell me, Miss Sparkle, do you not remember what transpired during the Last War?"

The question caught Twilight off guard. The latest events almost made her forget the cover story of her "amnesia". Given that her human counterpart had already been at CHS before, she could be confused for human Twilight by someone, and no one aside from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep was supposed to know about her extradimensional origins. Given that human Twilight managed to make an impact on this world by inventing microfusion power sources, it was a small wonder why no one had confused them before.

But then again, one had to know that she did invent microfusion cells. And since Brotherhood actively uses energy weapons...

...

...Celestia and Luna buck my flanks!

"No... I cannot," regaining control of herself, the equine spoke. "You see, I seem to have suffered an amnesia. I remember certain times and people from before the war, but I can't remember the technological progress before and during the war, nor can I remember where I had been in the years while it was still too dangerous to roam on surface... presumably in a Vault, but the first after-war memory I have is standing up in some deserted area, presumably near Baltimare."

"I see. It's a real shame that such tragedy fell upon you. And you don't have any detail that could bring your memory back?"

"Not right now, at least."

"Can you please come over here, to me, and look at my terminal?"

"OK..." What's all this about?

Coming up behind the Elder, Twilight looked at the screen (which turned out to be flat and coloured, unlike RIT-V300 models she had seen), and gasped.

Her own face looked at her from the screen. Her counterpart was dressed in a lab coat, holding Spike (apparently, the other one), smiling unsuredly at the screen and wearing glasses. Her hair was in a mess of strands, some of them in two ponytails, others falling freely.

There was a text on the screen below the picture. Twilight read:


MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OF UNITED FEDERATION OF EQUESTRIA

SCIENCE, RESEARCH AND DELELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

Electronic message
To: Dr. Sharp Nerve
From: [REDACTED]


Dr.,

This girl, Twilight Sparkle, is a walking and talking genius, I kid you not. Just look at this article! Her theories about "microfusion power source" may sound ridiculous at first, but only at first. Our guys have already tried to build one power element according to her specifications, and while the prototype is rough, it is showing good results.

Seriously, hire her ASAP!

Attached: 1 file.


Electronic message
To: [REDACTED]
From: Dr. Sharp Nerve


You don't need to ask, man! I have looked at her ideas. Seriously, this stuff can advance our army by decades!

"As you see, Miss Sparkle... you are not yet another Wasteland wanderer. You are... more than that. In fact, you are the reason why power armour, laser and plasma rifles exist, why Brotherhood of Steel exists," Elder Aegis' cool voice sounded silkily from behind and to the left.

Twilight was forced to clutch at Elder's table so as not to fall down.





"Does anyone have an idea why Elder Aegis wanted to speak to Twilight alone?" Applejack asked the others.

"None whatsoever," Sunset replied. "And why her and not Bon Bon or me?"

"Beats me," the beige-skinned girl replied. "But there must be a reason."

"I just hope it's not because he sees her as weakest link when alone. That won't be good for us at all."

"Y'all think he'll try to manipulate Twilight?" the country girl spoke up. "Isn't she, kinda... better trained to deal with that?"

"She's used to dealing with other people, Applejack," Sunset replied. "Not military. And Elder Aegis must have been an officer before the apocalypse. Did you notice how effectively is this bunker being run? He surely knows a thing or two about organizing... and motivating people."

"To do his bidding, you mean?" Bon Bon spoke again.

"Precisely."

"But Twilight isn't in the Brotherhood, right?" Applejack asked.

"No. But we already owe them four sets of power armour. And they spent some valuable medicine on her, despite her being an outsider. This world is not big on generosity. He seeks to gain something."

"But what?"

"I don't know. And that's the worst thing, because it doesn't let us counter him. I don't think of the Brotherhood as enemy... but I wouldn't call him a friend at this moment either."

"Fair point."

With a hiss, the door opened, revealing Twilight Sparkle being safe and sound. And yet Sunset saw the signs of stress, which naturally didn't make her feel friendlier to Elder Aegis.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine," the equine Princess answered. "But we'll need to talk once we get back to Appletown. This is serious business."
> Chapter 17: Canterlot Wastelands Wubs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 17

Canterlot Wastelands Wubs


Fortunately for the quartet of girls, the way back from Brotherhood of Steel was free of any trouble. Once they got back to Appletown, they were greeted by Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom, who gave Applejack a very strong hug.

"Thank heavens you're OK, big sis!" the youngest Apple exclaimed. "We were so worried!"

"We're all fine, Apple Bloom. Big Mac, how's it going? Any trouble?"

"Nope. Ah think Curve Blade doesn't want to risk more people after that last good kicking, but we aren't relaxing, 'cause who knows if Crimson Hands will try something. Or Black Widow..."

"Black Widow?" A thunder of emotions appeared on Applejack's face. "Did she kill someone again?"

"None of ours, AJ, don't worry. But yes, she did."

"Ah have a recording," Apple Bloom held a pre-war dictophone and turned it on. The distorted yet distinguishable words sounded, spoken with a familiar voice:

"...that was not cool. And that's not the only karmic justice for Crimson Hands. Two of their mercs were found dead later, and a familiar image of a spider was found on their corpses. You guessed it right, kids - the Black Widow has struck again! One may question why she did so. Sorry, folks, no answer on that one. Last I heard, she killed decent people, too. Who knows - maybe these guys offered her a threesome? What're you laughing at? I wouldn't put it past Crimson Hands. The last insult is that one of the mercs pissed themselves. Totally not sorry for spoiling your appetite. But I'll make up for it with music..."

Pushing a stop button, Apple Bloom turned off the recording.

"Wouldn't those be the two mercs that remained alive when you two bailed us out?" Sunset addressed Big Macintosh and Applejack.

"Could be," the eldest Apple brother answered. "Ah know that at least two were still alive. If there were only two, could be that Black Widow mopped up the mess, so to speak."

"But why would she do that?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Beats me."

"Maybe she was hungry for a kill thrill," Applejack snorted derisively, "and decided to off someone?"

"Could be, but... if those two are in fact the only survivors from that ambush, then it means she could be there at the same time with us!"

Everyone felt as if a brick fell into their stomach.

"Wait, were those really the same mercs?" Sunset stopped her train of thoughts.

"Ah didn't record it earlier, but CWN did say 'bout six mercs found dead with machine gun and assault rifle wounds, and the same village was named."

"Well blast. Then she really was there."

Everyone present remembered some swear words of their own. Naturally, no one liked the idea of having an assassin very close to them. Twilight and Sunset felt particularly uncomfortable, blood draining from their faces. If Black Widow were to be after them specifically, Applejack and Big Macintosh would most likely have found their corpses in that village, with accurate bullet holes in their heads.

Privately, Twilight felt glad that Black Widow was not an assassin for hire. Curve Blade wouldn't have missed an opportunity to deal with her and Sunset in that way, despite the fact that the mysterious assassin had killed his second-in-command. This fact, however, raised an important question - just what made other people her targets? What made her want to see their heads in crosshairs and pull the trigger?

And how to avoid becoming her target myself?

"That said," Big Mac's words interrupted her line of thoughts, "there's a guy here, who claims to work for CWN. He wants to see Twilight and Sunset."

"Yeah?" the fiery-haired girl raised an eyebrow. "Where is he?"

"In Berry Punch's bar. Rented a room, but last I saw him, he's waiting for you in the bar. The guy with black hair and red eyes, dressed in green camo. Name's Ear Drum."

"Thanks. We'll see him. But why'd he ask for us?"

"Well, he was asking for Daring Duo, to be more exact."

"Ponyfeathers, will this name never go?"





As Twilight and Sunset entered the bar, they saw that there were more people in the bar than the last time they had been there. However, the guy in green camouflage was still noticeable, his hair black as coal. His eyes were covered by sunglasses, but once he took them off to see the newcomers (i. e. the two Equestrians,) the latter saw that his eyes were indeed red.

The CWN's emissary (as they privetely dubbed him) also had an assault rifle behind his back, and a holster on his right hip held an easily recognizable N99 10mm pistol. He didn't have any visible armour, but his clothes were somehwat baggy. Sunset suspected that he was wearing armour underneath, but didn't see it showing. In his hand, he was holding a glass of beer, which was two-thirds full.

As he noticed the girls coming in, he waved them over with a smile. Twilight went in his direction, Sunset slightly following behind her, failing to resist an eye-roll.

"A pleasure to see you, ladies," the "emissary" spoke. "I'm Ear Drum. Been wanting to speak to you, but you were absent on some important business, or so I am told."

"We were," Sunset said shortly, giving a hint that the man should not inquire further.

"I see. Well, I was asked by CWN boss to tell that they would like it very much if you visited them in their HQ. They asked me to pass this phrase: Go, Canterlot Wondercolts. No idea why this one."

Both girls looked at each other for a second, before turning back to Ear Drum.

"I take that was a password of sorts?"

"Of sorts," Twilight said, falling into Sunset's routine of divulging as little information as possible.

"OK. So do you want to visit them or not? They also wanted me to tell you that they could offer you some assistance against White Knives, if you helped them to settle an issue with Brotherhood of Steel."

"Why am I not surprised?" Sunset said after a sigh.

"This is getting ridiculous," Twilight agreed.

"For once, I'd like to ask for help, and hear: "Sure, let's go, right now, no strings attached, but noooo," the fiery-haired Equestrian grumbled, "it's never like this in the Wastelands."

"Sorry, girls, I'm just telling what the boss wanted me to tell. Don't shoot the messenger and stuff," Ear Drum interjected.

"No prob, Ear Drum. We've just had a rough day and stuff. Anyway, yeah, let's meet your boss, whoever he or she is."

"Great! Here's the magneto-optic data disk for you two," the emissary slid over a data storage device for a Pip-Boy, "it has the coordinates for the HQ of Canterlot Wastelands News. Kindly don't spread it around."

"Thanks," Twilight replied, taking the disk. "And we won't."

"Appreciated. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back there," with these words, Ear Drum drank the last of his beer, and rose to leave. As he did, Sunset spoke:

"Drat, I'm getting thirsty. I wonder if there's cold beer left?"

"Sunset, it's not healthy to consume alcohol at will."

"It's a bar, Twilight. Their purpose is to sell such beverages. Berry Punch doesn't sell anything else here, it's a trip to someone else for other stuff."

"Horseapples. Fine, let's drink this "beer", but I swear, if I get cirrhosis, I'll banish you to the moon."

Sunset snorted, trying and failing to suppress her laughter, earning a glare from her royal friend.

"Sorry, Twilight. Couldn't resist at you proclaiming this with that "dead serious" face."

"I am dead serious."





Once Sunset and Twilight gulped down their beers (which turned out to be surprisingly well-preserved and better yet, cool), they joined Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh and Bon Bon in the house which they currently occupied.

"Hey, Twi," Applejack spoke, waving. "Ya mentioned earlier that we had serious business to talk about."

"Yes, we have," the Princess of Friendship sat down on the couch.

"So what is it?"

"You all remember that I have a mirror twin here? Well, it appears that she has done her part in pre-apocalyptic technological progress. As I have been told, she was the one who invented microfusion energy cells, opening the path to energy weapons, power armour and, apparently, some other stuff. And while this was not something spoken openly about, it appears that certain people who had connections to the higher-ups do know about... other me. And Elder Aegis is one of them."

Apple Bloom gasped, hands covering her mouth in an instant, Big Macintosh and Sunset swore under their breaths, Applejack almost lost her jaw, and Bon Bon muttered:

"Well, that is certainly going to make things interesting, especially around those not in on our CHS secret."

"That explains them being generous with your treatment," Sunset spoke up. "They believed they were helping out the person who basically made the existence of their organization possible. And you stuck with amnesia story, right?"

"Right. But I don't know if he bought it or not. He showed me two letters, one to a Dr. Sharp Nerve from some unknown source, and another one which was basically his reply."

"Sharp Nerve?" Bon Bon interjected. "I heard of him. Head of military R&D deprtment, or at least the public head. He had some contacts within Directorate of Intelligence who threw ideas of hiring this or that scientist. These letters must've been someone from DOI telling him about the other you and invention of microfusion cells, if his correspondent's name is redacted out."

"Did he ask anything else?" Applejack inquired.

"Well, before he dropped the bomb on me, he was chatting about morals. Like "it's unusual to meet a selfless person", "I am surprised to see you helping Appletown and our Paladins" and stuff. Must have been gauging my stance and comparing it to other Twilight."

"Drat. Did he demand anything?"

"No. But he dropped a hint that he would like it very much if I "remembered" something, and told him that."

"Ah'm surprised he didn't try to "cure" you."

"I don't think Brotherhood of Steel has anti-amnesiac medicines," Sunset butted in. "The development of such stuff took a big hit when the war began. If anyone happened to have memory loss, it was easier to remake them as a soldier. It was never out there in the open, of course, but... I heard about such things back in Trottingham. And the tones with which this was spoken about indicated that this was true... at least partially."

"UFE government sucks."

Everyone turned to the equine-in-human-form who just put her attitude to the higher-ups of United Federation of Equestria into a form no royalty would dignify themselves with (although Twilight would argue that since this world did not have royalty, she was allowed some leeway), shell-shocked expressions on their faces.

"What? That not true?"

The question hung in the air until Bon Bon snorted, emitting repressed laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"More like ironic. When someone from another world tells you that your government sucks, then most likely it really sucks."

"Y'all mind not using that kinda language in front of mah sister?!" Applejack interrupted, irritated at the losses of brain-to-mouth filters.

"Applejack, Ah'm not a little kid!" the redhead Apple spoke up. "Ah hear Appletowners say worse words everyday, like "shit" and "fu..."

"Apple Bloom!!!" This time both of her siblings gave her an angry glare along with a reprimand.

"OK, OK, Ah'm sorry..." the youngest Apple shrunk visibly in her seat.

"Swearing aside," the farm girl took over, "Ah can't say Ah disagree with the sentiment. Twilight - this world's Twilight, Ah mean - had writtn long ago that military was hirin' her for a load of money, and she didn't tell much after - in fact, her MyStable account was deleted later. Gosh, I hope she didn't get mixed up with Vault-Tec or any other varmints..."

"Military R&D had many people, some of them decent, some not. But when the war took a turn for the worse, they started giving out some... heavy tasks, as far as I have heard," Bon Bon said. "And morally ambiguous as well. All in the name of victory."

"That's not the end of it. Many freedoms were getting revoked or repressed," Big Macintosh spoke up for the first time. "Government was overrun by spymania and you couldn't sneeze without the police knowing it. Total surveillance, all in the name of security an' safety. Ah don't say it was a bad idea per se, not after Manehatten Massacre, but some of the things..."

"Wait," Twilight interrupted, "what is Manehatten Massacre?"

"The worst terrorist attack in the history of the Federation," Sunset spoke. "Even the Solstice of Horrors in December 2061, which claimed the lives of forty thousand or so people, pales into insignificance before it. And it was performed by TODC agents."

"What happened?"

"A terrorist cell brought a new weapon of mass destruction - some sort of advanced bio-virus," Big Macintosh took over. "They made several bombs laced with it, and blew them up all around Manehatten. The virus was very contagious, and quite deadly - the rumours were that it suppressed immune system and killed various cells, causing catastrophic organ failure and death. Even corpses could be contagious."

"Corpses?!" Twilight exclaimed, horrified. What monster would create such a weapon?!

"Yes. It was... "horrible" doesn't cut it even. Horrendous, maybe? Nah... beyond that. Thousands of people died in first hours, tens of thousands on the second day. Out of nineteen million people living in Manehatten, only two and a half million survived the event," the eldest Apple brother finished, struggling with his emotions. Apple Bloom had tears running down her cheeks.

"Babs... Babs Seed and Sunflower lived there... we managed to make peace with each other... hoped to see each other... but they..." unable to speak anymore, Apple Bloom rushed into Applejack's hug, beginning to cry silently. Twilight herself felt her eyes water, and tears rolled down her cheeks at hearing the level of atrocity TODC leaders had stooped to.

"Yep..." the blonde girl spoke, "that's how bad it was. After that, the folk were furious beyond belief. An' the higher ups introduced the Commissariat. Even in mah grief, Ah really wished they didn't."

"And Commissariat is?.."

"National Security Commissariat, or simply NSC, a governmental agency with very few limits to what they can't do," Sunset took over. "Like the police, but higher. Catching spies, terrorists, insurgents, TODC sympathizers and other riff-raff. Good thing, except that simply wanting peace could get you labeled a sympathizer for the enemy. They imprisoned and executed innocents not once and not twice, brushing everything off with "better kill an innocent than let a guilty one go, remember Manehatten, pity is treason, yadda yadda yadda" and all that jazz. In the end, I think people hated them as much as TODC."

"They were that bad?"

"Remember me writing to you about bad consequences of getting caught without a passport or any other identificating document? If that happened, one should have prayed it were the police and not the Commissariat. The latter could take you away for interrogation, which would have involved torture - yes, they were allowed to torture - and chances were no one would have seen you again."

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as everyone processed the information about the repressive ways of UFE.

"So..." Applejack decided to change the topic, "what did Ear Drum want to talk to you about?"

"He said that his boss at CWN, whoever he or she or they may be, wanted to see us, and promised help against White Knives," Sunset replied.

"Sounds good to me. Ah'll be ready to go as soon as I can."

"Actually, Applejack, the guy implied that CWN boss wanted only us."

"Are y'all crazy?! Did ya forget what happened last time y'all went alone? You were nearly done in by Crimson Hands, and Ah'd rather not bet on Black Widow keeping ya safe!" Applejack burst into indignant rage.

"I remember that. But we won't be able to stay here forever. And Appletown needs you as a defender - Big Macintosh can't shoulder this burden alone."

"Ah still don't like that. Bon Bon, maybe you can dissuade them?"

"Sorry, Applejack, I don't think I really can. Plus, I have noticed that you don't have any snipers or marksmen. What if Appletown is attacked? I know that there are several other raider gangs around here, and if they join White Knives out of fear that you'll destroy them, they can boost their numbers quite well."

"Ah hay. An' Ah can't really get the car this time. Blast. OK, if that's what you want, fine. But be careful, an' look around. Stars know that this area's becomin' less and less safe. Is it far from here?"

"No, actually. Several hours there and back, no villages on the way."

"Well, OK, when y'all are ready, let me know."





An hour and a half later, once Twilight and Sunset restocked their ammunition and got themselves food and water reserves, they left Appletown for Canterlot Wastelands News HQ.

Twilight was carrying her preferred AP-79 in her hands, while keeping her Buffalo SMG on her hip and .44 magnum revolver hidden on her back. Sunset had R91 and combat shotgun, along with her own Buffalo SMG. They decided not to take too many weapons with themselves, since carrying everything would slow them down tremendously. (Although Sunset really didn't want to leave her laser rifle behind.)

The Princess of Friendship was currently listening to the radio broadcast by CWN. The loud speaker of her Pip-Boy was ringing out the words:

"...cut through White Knives and super mutants like nobody's business. Once more, I reiterate that messing with Brotherhood of Steel is a bad idea. Stay out of their way, guys and gals. Unfortunately, I can't help but wish that they were more willing to protect the folk. I have just been told that several raider gangs that used to operate independently have aligned themselves with White Knives, boosting his numbers up to two hundred bandits. Some gangs are still thinking on whether survival is better than independence, and I'd rather they choose independence. So be careful if you venture in the area between Hoofington and Trottingham - that place may unexpectedly become a war zone. And now, for some music! Today, it's - once again - "The Wanderer"!"

"Oh, can you please leave it on? I love that song," Sunset spoke up.

"Sure," Twilight replied, as the jazz sounds filled the small area around them.





Fortunately, the fates were kind upon the "Daring Duo", and very soon they came to the coordinates pointed out in the file given to them by Ear Drum. The latter was waiting for them, assault rifle in hands. In the distance, a building was visible, antennas visible on the top of it.

"Ah," his face gained a smile, "you came here! Excellent! Please follow me, I'll show you the way."

As they approached the HQ of Canterlot Wastelands News, both girls could discern some haphazardly created walls and watch towers, as well as some barbed wire designed to close the gaps where the guard did not want anyone else to enter.

The entrance to the area around the building was made from various lists of metal primitively welded together and set on a mechanism resembling gates. As the group approached the gates, the guards on watch towers moved without a word, and the lists went apart to the sides with loud clanking and creaking, making the entrance available. When they entered the area, the gates closed behind them, clanking once again. Ear Drum led the girls inside the building, nodding to a bored "guard", who nodded back.

"Did everyone here expect us?" Sunset asked, frowning a bit.

"Not quite. But you're with me, which in our group means you're OK."

"Aren't you worried about the possibility of infiltrations?"

"The guards here work on voluntary basis, coming and going. Wasteland wanderers aren't interested in making CWN silent, even raiders, aside from the nastiest ones. Plus, should the worst come to pass, the boss has some surprises for the intruders."

"Like what?"

"Darned if I know. Boss's silent on that."

"OK, fine."

"Listen," Ear Drum stopped, turning to the girls, "I must go tell the boss you're here, but it may take time. To the left of you there is a bar, you can have whatever alcohol and soft drink you want, and food - if you dare to call rations food. Of course, not for free, but we pride ourselves on affordable prices. You OK with that?"

"Heh, OK then. Just don't take too long, please. We're busy."

"Wouldn't expect Daring Duo not to be," the man flashed a grin and went away, ignoring Sunset's angry muttering. Deciding not to stand out in the open like idiots, the girls went to the "bar".

The place had the atmosphere of a small but cosy frontier town saloon, with good (albeit artificial) lighting, tables and chairs put in accurate rows, men, women and children sitting around, eating, talking, and some of them were playing cards. The selection of alcohol and soft drinks was surprisingly rich for such a place; Sunset managed to recognize a couple of alcoholic drinks which were considered elite and cost a lot more than your normal beer or whiskey.

Behind the bar stood a man in his early thirties (at least he looked like that) with dark brown hair, bright emerald green eyes and very tanned skin, a rifle slung behind his back. When he turned for a moment, both girls were able to see the optical sight on it, recognizing that this man had a preference for sniping. A holster on his hip held a .44 magnum revolver, the same model that Twilight had. As both Equestrians approached the bar, he looked up at them, and his face split into a smile.

"Welcome to Canterlot Wastelands News HQ Bar, ladies. It's rare to see such beauty walking around these parts," he spoke, giving the girls a wink. "Anything I can offer to you?"

"Nuka-Cider, please," Twilight replied.

"Me too," Sunset added.

"Two Nuka-Ciders coming right up," the bartender said, taking out two bottles (that turned out to resemble rockets) and two quite clean glasses - much cleaner than some of the others, as Twilight has noticed - and took care to pour the fizzy drink into the glasses.

"Here you are, ladies," he said, giving them the drinks.

"How much?" Sunset asked, her hand coming into a pocket with bottle caps.

"For beautiful girls like you two, it's on the house," the bartender flashed both of them a grin. "You may even keep the caps."

"Wow. Mighty generous. Thanks," Twilight spoke, taking her cap and her drink.

"You're both welcome. And call me Mr. Rose or Hunter Rose. Yeah, strange name a bit, but I prefer it."

"Thanks, Mr. Rose."

"Anytime, beautiful."

Twilight blushed a bit at his words. Although she was in human body and not equine, she could not really recall anyone calling her "beautiful", not even Flash Sentry. But then again, her experiences with opposite gender were quite... limited. So she decided not to ponder on it and lifted her glass of Nuka-Cider to her lips.

Her taste-buds got assaulted with a sweet but not saccharine mixture of fermented apple juice and fizzy bubbles. As she swallowed and felt the liquid rush down, she smiled a bit.

If that cider was made from apples from the Apple family farm, I can see why it was so popular.

"Tartarus-damned flirt," one of the men sitting nearby grumbled. "Won't stop bugging if you forget a single cap, yet two pretty faces come here and he's all lovey-dovey..."

Unfortunately, the "plaintiff" didn't bother with lowering his voice, which allowed not only for Twilight and Sunset to hear him, but for the bartender too, and the latter didn't hesitate to go on counter-offensive:

"That's because your memory is worse than one of a feral ghoul, Fathat. Also, with an attitude and manners toward women like that, no wonder you can't find a girl willing to sleep with you, even for money."

"Shut up, Hunter!" Fathat shouted, apparently very hurt by the insinuation against his manliness. "Like you're any better, chasing after every skirt that comes here! Don't presume to teach me!"

"First, I do not "chase after every skirt", as you put it, I compliment the girls who oh-so-richly deserve it, especially since the Wastelands seem to consist of more and more people like you, Fathat. And second, I am being polite, and you are not. Did your momma never teach you manners? I can always compensate for that," with these words, Hunter Rose moved his hand to his revolver, very uncovertly.

"As if your manners ever got you laid!"

Twilight and Sunset looked around and noticed that the scene was attracting a crowd of curious bystanders who were edging closer to a bar.

Uh-oh. This is going to deteriorate fast.

"And now I think you need eye surgery as well," Hunter Rose showed a wedding ring on his finger. "This ring disproves your claim."

"Yeah, that was like, more than seven years ago," Fathat snorted. "If you want a woman so badly, then for Tartarus' sake, just get one and fuck her. I bet one of these two will gladly open her legs..."

Even if Twilight did not understand the implication, the death glare that Sunset and Hunter Rose were giving Fathat now told volumes of how insulting that man was now. However, what really ticked her was that some of the men were actually nodding along. She left her Nuka-Cider and discreetly brought her hand to the revolver, cocking the hammer.

"...or get them both, damn it. I bet that lavender-skinned one is still a virgin and will be screaming like a whore bitch once you - AAAAAARRRRRRGH!!!"

Those insults Twilight understood perfectly, but before she rose up to do anything, Sunset launched herself at Fathat like a wound-up spring and delivered a strong kick to his testicles before anyone managed to react somehow.

The rude man collapsed to the ground in pain, rolling around and insulting Sunset with very dirty swear words regarding the circumstances of her birth, the mutual fidelity of her parents, her own sexual preferences and so on, until...

BANG!

A loud revolver shot almost deafened everyone present, and Fathat saw the wood in front of his face splinter under the impact of a .44 magnum bullet. Raising his eyes, he saw Twilight holding her revolver in his direction, smoke coming out of a barrel.

"You missed," he taunted.

"I wasn't aiming at you. This time," the Princess of Friendship growled, feeling positively un-friendly to the man right now. "But next time, I might consider shooting your dirty tongue off. Or better yet, your testicles!"

Several people who were standing close to Fathat thought it wise to back away from him. Twilight looked like she was ready to beat the man with the handle of her own revolver.

"You are banned from this bar, Fathat," Hunter Rose growled at the rude excuse of a male. "Like, forever. Get outta here before I'll make you leave this place legs first."

Geting up, Fathat gave all of them a glare and turned away. As he was nearing the exit, he was heard muttering:

"...stupid asshole, and the bitches, too..."

BANG! BAT!

The hat that was sitting on his head flew off, pierced by two bullets - one of Twilight's, and one of Sunset's (the latter was holding her assault rifle). Fathat hurried out of the bar, clutching his destroyed hat, at an impressive speed.

"Anyone else has a problem with me and my friend?!" Sunset shouted to everyone, her face twisted in fury. People wisely decided to reassure her otherwise, and dispersed, going back to their places. One of the men who wanted to support Fathat stopped to look at Sunset again, who gave him a death glare, making him scurry away.

"Sorry about that, ladies," Hunter Rose spoke, putting his revolver back into the holster. "That guy has been trouble before, but this went too far."

"Why is he even here?" Twilight asked, going back to her Nuka-Cider.

"He can hold a gun and fight, and this place is relatively well protected, so he used to contribute to safety. But now he has become a lazybones who thinks he saves the whole CWN single-handedly every day. The boss will kick him out soon if this goes on."

"And what was that about the stuff... well... about women?"

A sad look crossed the bartender's face.

"Oh, sorry, I'm..."

"Nah, it's fine. The thing is, I had a wife. Met her in Baltimare while I was travelling around the country, doing my tour of "thank heavens I survived the war" around UFE. While I never hesitate at giving compliments to beautiful women, I believe in treating them with respect. Her name was Rose Essence, and she captured my heart, like, in an instant. We dated for a while, seven or eight months, before I proposed. My friends were thinking I was stupid for waiting that long, with war and what not. But none of us regretted it. I loved and cherished her, and she loved and cherished me, and we were happy. But... the Day of Burning came. Long story short, we were trying to evacuate when the shockwave collapsed the bridge our car was on, and we fell. I survived... but she didn't."

Pausing a bit, he looked the girls into the eyes and continued:

"Since then, no girl had captured my heart like Rose Essence did. And while I am a flirt, I also pride myself on being a gentleman, and I am not looking for one-night-stands."

"I wish there were more people like you, Mr Rose," Sunset muttered, taking a swallow of Nuka-Cider.

"So do I; then pretty ladies like you two wouldn't need to don weapons and armour to defend yourselves when there's no good man nearby."

"You really think we are pretty?"

"Why not? The nature certainly wasn't greedy when lavishing you with beauty," Hunter Rose gave a smile that faintly resembled those of Pinkie Pie. "That, and your spirits only add to it. You," he turned to Sunset, "give off a fiery passionate aura, like "I can be the best companion in your life if you are a good guy and I can become your bane if you piss me off", and you," he turned to Twilight, "are like "hug me, I'm adorable" with a hint of "I can be badass adorable" thrown in. And that makes you two even more alluring."

Both girls felt blood rushing very quickly to their faces, and they quickly tried to cover that by gulping down the rest of their Nuka-Cider. Further blushing was prevented by Ear Drum who told them that "the boss" was ready to see them, so the girls left (Hunter Rose refused to accept caps when they tried to pay him) and went into the heart of CWN.





"Heh, you girls are lucky," Ear Drum said as they were going upstairs. "Few have ever spoken to the boss personally."

"Really?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Yep, even I haven't seen him or her personally. They're quite secretive. Then again, you piss off raiders and other scum, you need a tougher place. Oh, here we are."

The man went to an intercom and spoke into it:

"Boss, they are here."

"Let them in."

The steel doors near the intercom opened, revealing the short corridor with another door.

"Step in. The system won't let anyone through until the door is closed."

The girls looked at each other, and then at the corridor. Not noticing anything suspicious, they decided to go in. The door closed behind them.

"Please put your weapons into the crate," a voice spoke from upstairs, too garbled by electronic noises to discern whether the speaker was a man or a woman. As the girls did so, the second door opened and the same voice spoke:

"Come in."

On entering, Twilight and Sunset gasped at the sight.

The sanctum of Canterlot Wastelands News looked like a musical geek's wet dream. Various machines designed for checking on the status of the radio were standing near walls, recording equipment stood here and there, a DJ panel was in the farthest corner, and a door to recording room was in the far end.

That door opened, and two figures tumbled out of it, one with electric blue hair, white sporting clothes and purple shades covering her eyes headphones on her neck, and another one with lime-green hair, a pair of expensive-looking headphones and a sports uniform of vinous colour that vividly reminded Sunset of the latest Friendship Games.

"Oh, hi there!" they spoke in unison, and rushed forward to hug their guests. Twilight and Sunset lost their jaws, shell-shocked, and only when the hug was broken did they take a better look at the boss - or rather bosses.

In front of them stood Vinyl Scratch and Lemon Zest.

"Oh my, Vinyl," the former Crystal Prepper laughed, "we sure gave them a shock."

Vinyl gave a thumbs up.

"So you're the bosses of CWN?" Sunset asked.

"Yep!" Lemon replied. "All news that tell the truth, no matter how hard it is, and awesome music to boot!"

"Well, then... Why in Equestria did you two come up with a moniker of "Daring Duo" and put a flipping target on our backs?!" Sunset's sudden mood twist took everyone by surprise.

"Whoa, there!" Vinyl spoke up. "A target?"

"Didn't you know? Fucking Crimson Hands are after us! We nearly died in an ambush by them!"

"Sunset, please calm down," Twilight said. "I know that this didn't play in our favour, but don't go off like that."

"...you're right. I'm sorry. But I do worry about our safety, and seriously, who came up with that moniker?" the fiery-haired girl inquired.

Vinyl quickly pointed to Lemon.

"...why am I not surprised?"

"What? It's good!" the acid-green-haired girl spread her hands in an I-really-don't-get-what-all-the-fuss-is-about gesture.

Sunset facepalmed.

"Your emissary mentioned you had some business to talk about?"

"Yes," Vinyl spoke. "Let's come inside, this place is too stuffed."





"Me and Lemon have managed to get control of several stealth Commissariat eye-bots, that's how we get our news along with couriers," the favourite DJ of Canterlot High spoke, taking off her shades. "Recently, we have found out that several independent raider gangs have joined White Knives, and more are coming. We can't let Curve Blade lick his wounds. As you have noticed, we have a reinforced position and a volunteer force, so we can spare some people... or we could have if not for the Brotherhood of Steel. Because of them, I can't risk leaving HQ defenseless."

"What does the Brotherhood want?" Sunset inquired.

"This building has powerful siganl transmitters, and they want those, since their communication capabilities seem to be... limited. If they gain access to it, they can communicate with their cells over this whole sector and other ones. However, they want full and total control, but I am not ready to give up CWN to them, since they care little about plight of others. Neither me nor Lemon are good fighters, but our job here helped a lot of people."

"And Daring Duo moniker?"

"You may not know it, but once your example was broadcasted, many people became more willing to stand up for themselves against raiders, bandits and slavers. You have become a symbol of hope in dire circumstances. You helped save the Vault Village and wiped out the remnants of Fast Grabber's gang by yourselves. You arrived in Appletown, and soon, Curve Blade lost more people in a single day than in the last three months. You have become heroines to the people, and while that is a risk... I can't take away the heroines from other people."

"I see. So you want us to find a compromise with them?"

"More or less. Actually, this radio hub has enough bandwidth that both sides can be pleased... but I lack a microfusion core to power up the extra transmitters. And those are super rare. If you can find one or trade it out of Brotherhood, excellent. If not... yeah, try to find a compromise."

"Twilight? Thoughts?"

"Can a military base have microfusion power cores?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Lemon Zest gasped. "You want to assault the Mechanized Infantry base?!"

"We'll need to go there for other stuff anyway."

"Wowzer, guys, you do have guts. So, you agree?"

"I do. Sunset?"

"We already have a lot on our plate, but yeah, can't refuse my friends," Sunset smiled.

"Cool!" Vinyl said. "Hey, while you're here, wanna see our music collection?"

"Heh, why not? We could use some break from the Wastelands."

Everyone followed the DJ into another room, where several terminals stood upon tables, and cabinets were stacked with magneto-optic data drives with music recorded on them. Sunset and Vinyl took off in one direction, while Twilight stayed behind and looked at the disks. The names of some songs sounded familiar, but she was quite shocked to discover that some songs she had heard were from 2040's and 2050's. She did not believe that anyone would listen to the music that old.

Maybe I can ask Vinyl about this... she mused, looking at the electric-blue-haired girl and her Equestrian compatriot, who were already digging some song which sounded in Vinyl's headphones. The sight was certainly relaxing. Turning back to the shelves, she was pleased to discover several songs by the Rainbooms.

"Dude!" her thoughts were interrupted by beaming Lemon Zest, who was holding her own headphones. "You've got to hear this!"

Before Twilight realized what happened, the headphones were on her head, and loud sounds of electric guitars and bass drums were BLARING INTO HER BRAIN.

ARGH! How can she listen to music this loud?!





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Quick Draw: Makes weapon equipping and holstering 50% faster, which makes you 20% cooler.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Balls Shot: Sometimes you can deal +20% damage to characters of male gender if you hit their, ahem, testicles.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

National Security Commissariat

One of the most notorious and controversial organizations in pre-apocalypse UFE, National Security Commissariat (NSC or Commissariat for short) was an organization aimed at protecting the Federation, its government, secrets and citizens at any cost. Its roots lie in Manehatten Massacre, a terrorist attack made by TODC agents that claimed the lives of 16.5 million people which involved a bio-weapon later identified as "Omicron 7". The following investigation indicated that this attack was made possible thanks to a betrayal from within, and that factor, coupled with the theft of important military secrets, made the government adopt extreme measures, thus giving birth to NSC.

Compared to police or Counter-Terrorist and Security Division, Commissariat's authority was much greater. NSC members could enter everywhere, tap every comm line, arrest anyone on mere suspicion, and apply forbidden torture techniques. Many lawyers claimed that Commissariat had supra-legal authority, and they were, in essence, correct. While these methods allowed for the capture of a good number of deep cover TODC intelligence operatives, many innocents experienced physical or mantal trauma or even died when arrested and interrogated by NSC. Any accusations of going too far were rebuffed by the mantra "better let an innocent die than let a guilty one to kill a million of innocents", and later, accusations of unpatriotism. A number of anti-war protests or demonstrations for peace were mercilessly crushed by NSC forces, which fostered an atmosphere of fear.

After the Day of Burning, surviving Commissariat operatives dispersed around the area and deny any involvement with it, since the general attitude towards them is highly negative, and their deaths are rumoured to be the stuff of nightmares. The fact that they tend to have higher quality weapons and armour also makes them a more attractive target. However, such a target will be quite difficult to kill, since NSC operatives were very well-trained, and a number of them could be serious rivals to Directorate of Intelligence Black Ops task forces. The Commissariat also had several Vault-like hideouts, but no one aside from those involved with the organization knows their locations.

Perhaps the most evil irony lies in the fact that National Security Commissariat was based on Ministry of State Security of Minotauritania, the country ruled by a dictator which was one of the countries that created TransOceanic Defense Coalition and remained the most bitter enemy of United Federation of Equestria until the Day of Burning.
> Chapter 18: Ambush and attacks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 18

Ambush and attacks


As soon as Twilight managed to recover and take off Lemon Zest's headphones for volume to be adjusted to the normal levels instead of "I-won't-go-deaf-in-several-months-because-I-am-Lemon-Zest" levels, she actually enjoyed several pieces of music. She, Sunset, Lemon and Vinyl enjoyed the next several hours just listening to music and generally having fun around.

After several rounds of beer, the girls tried dancing (except Vinyl, who took her usual DJ spot) in a limited space. Lemon Zest was dancing like she did at Friendship Games, intermixing some new dance moves with her style; Sunset did not restrict herself to any particular style, changing moves as she saw fit depending on the music.

And Twilight...

Once the Equestrian Princess started dancing, Lemon Zest collapsed into laughter as soon as she saw Twilight's... "moves", Sunset facepalmed, and Vinyl giggled into her hand (she had seen this type of dancing before), pretending that the spectacle was most definitely not amusing to her, but failed.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, Twilight!" the lime-haired girl was holding her stomach, in danger of ripping her abdominal muscles. "Who in the name of... heavy metal dances like... that?"

"I do!" Twilight replied without a care in the world. "What? You don't like it?"

"More like... I am wondering what chem one... must be on to dance like... that!" Lemon was having trouble with managing the flow of air from and into her lungs, making others worried that she might be hyperventilating.

"We don't abuse substances, Lemon," Sunset replied curtly.

"I have seen Twilight dance like that before," Vinyl spoke up, giving up the pretense of being un-amused at Twilight's antics. "It's called pony dancing."

"Geez, I wish MyStable still existed - the video would have been a hit!" Lemon proclaimed, as the pony-turned-human blew a raspberry to the side and made an energetic kick to the air with her left leg.

"Too bad it doesn't," Sunset spoke.

"Wait! I want to capture the memories! Vinyl, where's the camera?!"

"Over there, somewhere. Dunno if the battery still has juice, though..."

"I don't care, even a few seconds are worth it!"





Having enjoyed their rest and recreation (and Twilight's "pony dancing" style at the latter's expense), everyone felt better, as if the frustrations and hardships of previous days were simply flushed away somewhere below the ground.

However, both Equestrians could not stay any longer, and with a heavy heart, they said their goodbyes to the now-known DJ's of Canterlot Wastelands News. Naturally, they promised to keep the identities secret (although Vinyl said it was OK to let Applejack know about them), and Lemon promised that as soon as they brought up MyStable again, the video of Twilight dancing would instantly get uploaded - much to the latter's chagrin.

Sunset told her, although, that the task of restoring the servers necessary to host such a project as MyStable was nigh impossible, since the Internet was basically destroyed along with the cities and towns of UFE, so Twilight was safe... until her shenanigans were recorded on a magneto-optic data disk and copies of it were distributed.

As they were about to exit the lair of DJ's, Vinyl stopped both Equestrians for a "private talk". As it turned out, the electric-blue-haired girl lost contact with Octavia Melody, the cellist whom Twilight and Sunset knew to be Vinyl's best friend and roommate.

"Did you two separate?" the fiery-haired girl asked.

"Yes. We both left Canterlot, but I went for Baltimare, and she went to Trottingham where she performed for fundraisers - you know, support for UFE soldiers and stuff. She was fairly active, but some time later, she just... dropped off the radar. Deleted her MyStable account, her e-mails, her phone was no longer available... I suspect that she got herself involved with higher-ups somehow, or crossed a wrong person - I recall she protested quite loudly when Commissariat trashed down one anti-recruitment protest. I don't know if she can be still alive... but if you happen to come across a hint of what happened to her, let me know, OK?"

"If we do caome across, we'll tell you," Twilight promised.

"Thank you both. Well then, goodbye. See you," with these words, Vinyl closed the door behind them.

On their way to leave CWN HQ, the girls went by bar again, buying some spare food for their travel (Hunter Rose insisted on a discount) and saying goodbye to the bartender.

"Travel safe," he told them, "and shine upon the Wastelands with your beauty," he added with a wink.





"This Hunter Rose certainly looks like a decent man..." Twilight reflected. "A big flirt, though."

"At least he has better vocabulary than some other people," Sunset answered. "His compliments are way better than "that ass" or something else."

"I take it that males are also obsessed with female butts in this world?"

"Essentially, yes. Although it depends on a particular person. There is a whole science behind what humans consider attractive in opposite gender... or used to be, at least."

"I wouldn't deny this knowledge."

"Going to check whether Flash Sentry is good enough?" the fiery-haired girl smirked.

"Wha- Sunset!" the Princess blushed. "Stop teasing!"

"Spoilsport," Sunset grumbled, but decided not to press the topic of her friend's personal relationships.

"What about you, Sunset?"

"What?"

"Have you ever... well... noticed someone as a probable... romantic partner?"

"Well, Twilight, how to put it best... After my reformation, no one really wanted to approach me. I was the ex-she-demon who tried to brainwash the whole school, and who did a lot of bad things. That certainly did not help me on dating market, pushing me firmly to the bottom. When I was more accepted, I was not really interested in relationships myself, and once I graduated... I never met the person whom I would want to consider a romantic partner. With whom I would feel complete. I was not interested in one-night stands with a male with too much testosterone for his own good, and once I got into the Vault, many singles wanted exactly that. No thanks."

"Didn't that get you... frustrated? If you get what I mean..."

"I do get what you mean, Twilight. I'll tell you this: that wasn't much of a problem for me."

"Oh... OK."

"I do wish that there was a guy who would retain good manners when it comes to relationships with girls, though."

"I think we'll find one," Twilight smiled optimistically, trying to reassure her friend.

"Or we could share Flash, you know..."

"SUNSET!"

"Teasing! Teasing! But I've got to tell you this - guys sometimes dream of a threesome with two hot girls..."

"Something tells me that Flash wouldn't agree to it," the equine Princess spoke calmly, trying not to let the irrational feeling of jealousy seep into her words.

"You're most probably right."

I'm glad.

"Well, Celestia willing, I-" 

Ba-dang!

"AAAAARRRGH!"

"Sunset?" Twilight turned to her friend... 

...who was clutching her right arm, teeth clenched in pain.

"Sunset!" Twilight shouted, giving short bursts in direction where she believed the bullet to come from, looking frantically for cover. Fortunately for them, the area they were travelling in now had rocks scattered here and there, and they were close to one - however, the rock was very low, and could only provide cover if someone was lying down behind it. Still, it was their best chance for survival now, and thus the lavender-skinned girl pulled her unlucky compatriot there.

Ba-dang!

"Argh!" Twilight grunted, as the sniper bullet tore away a part of her flesh unprotected by armour on her left leg. "Ponyfeathers!" she cussed, noting that her speed lowered. Using her right hand to wave her assault rifle in the enemy's general direction and unleash a stream of bullets until the magazine was emptied, she limped on, as Sunset overtook her and pulled her behind the rock. They barely got down on earth in time before another bullet whizzed past their heads.

"How did I... not drop my rifle's... beyond me," the fiery-haired girl grunted in pain.

"How bad is it?" Twilight took out her first aid kit.

"Not good, my arm is crippled. Bucking horseapples, artery's nicked! Twilight, give me a tourniquet!"

"Here."

"Help me."

As the girls were frantically trying to stop the bleeding, two more sniper rifle rounds flattened themselves against the rock (metaphorically speaking).

"Good thing that sniper is a lousy shot," Sunset grumbled as the tourniquet was fastened and the bleeding stopped.

"That was lousy?!" Twilight exclaimed, injecting RegenStim and Med-X into Sunset's arm.

"When a sniper is not lousy, you are dead."

"Well, piss," a voice came from the violet-haired girl's rucksack.

"Spike?" Twilight addressed her loyal assistant.

"I'll scout; good thing I am small and less noticeable," the previously silent dragon-turned-dog climbed out of his usual place and went in the enemy's direction.

"I hope he'll be OK," the Princess of Friendship whispered, wrapping bandages around her leg.

"So do I," Sunset replied. "Reload your assault rifle."

"Oh, right," Twilight changed the magazine and pulled the bolt (which took her some time - ever tried reloading when under sniper fire and nothing must stick out?), getting ready to greet whoever thought to use them for target practice with lead storm...





"Demons fuck it all, Scope, you couldn't shoot better?"

"You think it's that easy? Try it once we get back to the base!"

"Shut the fuck up, both of you. They are wounded, approach carefully and finish them off."

"You sure we shouldn't just pepper them with grenades, boss? Wounded animal is a lot more dangerous."

"If you have spare caps, feel free."

"I don't."

"Then shut your tramp. Snap Scope, keep them pinned." 

"You got it, boss."

"Others approach them carefully. Disperse, so we can surround them."

"Don't they have Pip-Boys with IFF?"

"There are ways to counter that..."





"I see red marks on my IFF screen, so far I'm counting five," Sunset wiggled to take a peek at her Pip-Boy.

"So do I, but... what the hay?"

Twilight's IFF screeen just exploded with a flurry of green and red marks that were moving chaotically all over it. Intuitively, she understood that the enemy has just gotten an advantage over them, and suspected that the attackers could have caused this deliberately. Her suspicions were confirmed once Sunset said that the hostiles have just deployed something she called an "IFF-blinder", some sort of device that generates a signal which, when caught by Pip-Boy IFF systems, renders them useless.

"So what now?"

"Now our only ace up our sleeves is Spike and his nose," the fiery-haired girl replied, holding her Buffalo SMG in her left hand. While the pain had subsided, Med-X made the nerves virtually unresponsive, and Sunset couldn't use it properly, much to her displeasure. "Because when electronics fail, sensitive noses don't..."

At that time, Spike came back and spoke quickly:

"Twilight... there are nine people crawling towards us, and it looks like they want to surround you."

"Pony piss," Sunset swore, "I bet that that sniper is still watching us; that makes ten enemies. Who in Tartarus are those guys?"

"Don't really know and don't care. We must survive."

"Spike, can you show us their approximate positions?"

"Yeah, I can, but what use would it be?"

"I think that we'll have to settle for blind firing..."





One of the attackers was slowly crawling towards the position occupied by intended targets. Snap Scope messed up (as usual), but he still could keep them pinned down.

He could barely look up for fear of exposing himself. The girls may have been hiding, scared out of their panties, but that didn't mean he could relax. Any being with a weapon could end a life even if they themselves were about to die. He saw personally what happened when someone decided to sell their life as dearly as possible.

Needless to say, he did not want a repeat.

He continued crawling...





For Twilight Sparkle this was not the first time when she was staring into the face of death. Even back in Equestria, certain encounters could actually prove fatal. From manticores to hydras to Tirek...

I have been close to death many times, even before I landed in this world. I should have gotten used to it by now.

Still, the odds were not looking in their favour. The enemy outnumbered them five-to-one (presumably), and who knew whether they outclassed the girls in weapons and armour.

Screw the odds! The odds of you - a barely-prepared pony in the form of a human - surviving in this world which is more dangerous in Equestria were quite low. As long as the odds are above zero, resist! Surrender is death!

Oh no I am not planning to surrender!

That's the spirit!

She glanced to Spike, who tensed and showed her the direction of an outflanking enemy. Shifting to aim better, she waited for a second...

And then raised her AP-79, squeezing the trigger, and putting hands down almost immediately.

Ba-dang!

The sniper fired again, but his shot went wide. However...





The attacker could not hide his surprise as two hands holding an assault rifle - which pointed in his direction! - pop up from behind the rock.

In the mere moments before his luck ran out and one of the bullets penetrated his skull, he managed to briefly admire and curse his adversary, who somehow guessed the direction of his approach or was simply lucky enough.





Sunset promised to herself that if she survived this somehow, she would take care to find some gems and give them to Spike, should he and Twilight return to Equestria.

The little dog, while hardly threatening to their enemies physically, still retained heightened dog senses, including smell and hearing. His little size also helped in making him less noticeable in rather dense grass.

Spike went from one side to another, quickly determining the approximate direction of threat and relaying the information. Once he did, Twilight and Sunset took terms in trying to eliminate the attackers. Most of their bullets went wide, since the hostiles were hiding well, but twice Sunset managed to hear a scream of pain.

Unfortunately, IFF system was still useless thanks to the blinder, which left her unable to determine the exact number of attackers. For all she knew, there could be half of enemies left... or all of them could still be alive, including that damnable sniper.

Despite Med-X, she still felt pain, and she knew that the fix was only a temporary measure; without AMFAK-10 and its advanced medicinal drugs that allowed to quickly stop the bleeding, fix the walls of artery, restore the blood flow and prevent necrosis, she could actually lose a limb. 

Cybernetics is unlikely to come by now, she mused darkly. RegenStim could mitigate the negative effects for some time, though. Even with it, there was still a risk of limb loss.

Then again, if she and Twilight died here, limb loss would be the least of worries.

Her Buffalo SMG spat the last bullets and clicked, signifying lack of ammo.

Well fuck, and now I need to reload that finicky mechanism. What else? she thought exasperatedly.

Suddenly, Twilight screamed in fear as assault rifle fire rained on them and their cover.

I just had to think that!

"Urgh," Twilight groaned, "with this suppressive fire, I'm too afraid to try and attack again," she said loudly, trying to "outspeak" the sounds of enemy fire.

"Pray that they don't have grenades, or we're fucked," Sunset said.

"Please don't give them ideas," Spike grumbled.

"Grenades... grenades... that's it, grenades!" Twilight's face brightened, at which both Sunset and Spike stared, puzzled.

"Er, Twilight, we don't have any grenades..."

"I know! But if they have them..."

Suddenly, the equine Princess frowned, and turned to her Number 1 Assistant:

"Spike... what I'm about to ask of you is very dangerous."

"Spill it, Twilight; if it helps save you two, I am all ears."

"I want you to check if there are grenades on bodies. I think that we definitely killed or at least severely wounded someone. If we did, take any grenades you can and bring them here. And please hurry."

"Will do, Twilight. Where to go?"

"To the right, I think," Sunset spoke up, having released several bullet streams blindly before she was forced to pull her hand back. "Twilight's rifle packs a better punch."

"I'm on it!" with these words, Spike left the cover, invisible in the grass.

"I so hope he'll be OK..." Twilight muttered, worried.

"So do I, but... oh shit, grenade!"

A small apple-sized metal object landed between them. As the lavender-skinned girl looked at it, her eyes widened...

Blooping sound...

Explosive flying...

BOOM!

Splinters everywhere...

PAIN.

Bleeding.

Dying...

"Eat this!"

KA-BOOM!

In the few moments during which Twilight was reliving her near-death experience, Sunset managed to roll onto her back, pick the grenade with her left hand and throw it over the rock (but not in Spike's direction), where it exploded. She heard a scream, which signified that someone did not like the taste of their own medicine.

"Snap out of it!" she screamed in her friend's face, causing the latter to shake her head violently and unleash a stream of bullets when the intensity of suppressive fire was lower.

Spike, if you save us all, I'm definitely getting you the biggest gem I can find!





Spike was no stranger to danger. While position of Number 1 Assistant to Celestia's ex-personal student and now Princess of Friendship did not have being endangered in its description, the various adventures made him adapt to it. And now, when the lives of Twilight and Sunset (whom Spike eventually began thinking of as a friend) hanged on him being able to get a grenade or two and slip back undetected, he was resolved not to fail.

He desperately wished he could still breathe fire, though. Dog form, while granting better hearing and olfactory senses, made him more vulnerable. Skin and fur were not as resilient as scales, and he was not a breed of dog that could easily clamp and topple an enemy. And he really didn't want to try and find out how a bullet wound feels like. Seeing the girls hurt was enough of an indication that bullets are nasty.

Man, am I glad Equestria doesn't have these "guns".

He sensed two humans lying down to the left of him, firing at the rock the girls were hiding behind, and smelled blood. Feeling revulsion, he went in the direction where blood smell was coming from.

Another man was lying dead, his head pierced by a bullet. His dead fingers were clutching an assault rifle similar to the one that Sunset had, and he was lying on his stomach. And on his left side...

Ah-ha! There's my prize!

...were two attached grenades. just what Spike needed.

Now how to get them? Man, this is bad when I don't have claws...





Both Twilight and Sunset have noticed that their enemies were quite disciplined when it came to suppressive fire. Unlike other combatants that would fire all their weapons, the assailants were shooting in turns; while one group fired, the other reloaded, thus making a never-ending stream of fire.

Both girls gave up their attempts to fire blindly in approximate directions, wisely deciding that such an attempt would more likely result in their arms getting shot off than in doing actual damage to the enemies. They were now keeping an eye on their respective sides, trying to prevent the enemy from outflanking them. Several times they fired from behind a rock to dissuade enemies from advancing, although Twilight fired less bullets for fear of hitting Spike by accident.

Another grenade landed in front of her. Screaming in fear, she grabbed it and threw it away in direction of the enemy sniper. A BOOM resonated across the field, but this time no screams of pain followed.

Sunset felt less optimistic now. She remembered that grenades also had a timer setting, and should someone set a grenade accordingly, then both of them will be lacerated by fragments before they had a chance to react.

Suddenly, a blip sounded, and both girls saw on their Pip-Boys that their IFF systems were no longer blinded. The screen showed five marks, which meant - six enemies left, including the sniper.

About time something went in our favour, both girls thought.





Spike was panting; taking the grenades off the corpse was harder than he believed it to be. Once again, he wished his normal dragon claws were in place, as they were better designed for manipulations with objects of human world.

As the second grenade rolled out on the ground, another task presented itself: how in Equestria was he supposed to bring two grenades in one time? Only one grenade could relatively reliably fit in his mouth. Paws were not that great of an option: grenades could roll the wrong way and he would be detected sooner than he would get back.

Oh snap, he thought once he realized what his transportation option was...





"If that continues, we're done for," Sunset muttered quietly, so as her compatriot would not hear her.

The situation did not look any less grim than it had looked several minutes ago. Even if they had only six enemies to deal with now (which was six enemies too many, in Sunset's opinion), their adversaries still kept up the pressure. So far they have survived in this combat mostly thanks to dumb luck. Had the sniper been better or had there not been a good cover nearby, and they would be dead.

Nearby, Twilight hissed as the needle of a pneumosyringe with RegenStim entered her leg. While her wound was not as dangerous as Sunset's, she could not afford to bleed too much, and while the enemy was not trying to advance and outflank them, she used her chance to fix herself.

Maybe they will run out of ammo soon? she hoped privately, but then realized immediately that if the push came to shove, the enemy would attempt to rush them.

The rustle nearby alerted her to the presence of someone approaching, and a moment later, Spike emerged with two grenades.

"Sunset, Spike's back!"

"Good! Now give them here and - what in Nightmare Moon's mane?!"

The fiery-haired girl's outburst was warranted by the fact that Spike carried grenades by safety rings, which were set on his canine teeth.

"What?" he said, as Twilight carefully pried the grenades out of his mouth and gave one to Sunset. "I had no other way!"

"OK then," Sunset said, "we need to ensure that they don't do the same trick we did... now, the timer's... set. Twilight, give me your grenade."

"Here."

"Aaand... done, three seconds. Now, you throw them to the right of us, I'll do to the left, look at IFF so as to hit best."

"OK."

"Now, on count of three, one... two... three!"





The sniper was getting really bored; the targets were not even trying to shoot back anymore, which meant that his comrades successfully suppressed them.

His mood was further spoiled by the fact that he had few ammo left. His fire has done more psychological damage than physical; unless the targets were really unlucky not to have medical supplies on hand (and he knew they were not), they would have done first aid procedures and fought back.

And fight back they did. Despite his best attempts, they managed to take out four of their group already. Daring Duo, despite the absurdity of their moniker, were no slouches and gave as good as they got - scratch that, they gave more than they got.

Suddenly, two hands simultaneously appeared from behind the rock, and he seized his chance.

BA-DANG!

His ears rang again from the loudness of his shot. Through his optical sight he saw a spray of blood. His peripheral vision made out the shapes of grenades...

...grenades?!

BOOM! BOOM!

His ears made out screams of pain, and then the suppressive fire his comrades were laying down has ended abruptly.

What the..?

For a moment he lay there, dumbfounded, struggling to comprehend what happened.

Just where did they get grenades? And why didn't they use them earlier? And how were they able to discern the direction?

The latter question could be answered with IFF-blinder running out of juices. If he could scramble their IFF systems again...

His hand came up empty.

Oh shit, I forgot that we had only one IFF-blinder!

Realistically, he was not defenseless at all, and still could kill them both - but he had only two full clips of five .308 ammo, and he was not really a great shot. His reserve weapon was a mere pistol - not a match against assault rifles. His armour was not that great either.

Tartarus damn it! This has gone to the dogs really quick! I think I need to make myself scarce while I can still breathe...

He began crawling away from the ambush site, keeping an eye on the damnable rock where the targets just turned the tables on them.





"Argh! Ouch! Ahh... Bucking ponyfeathers!"

"Hold still, damn it!" Sunset Shimmer swore, trying to force Twilight to cease moving. The task was extremely complicated by Sunset's own wounded right arm, which she favoured, and their position of lying down.

"Oooof..."

"This is getting out of hand," Sunset muttered, trying to bandage the wound. The bullet did not nick any arteries or veins, which was well and good, but it still tore away a good chunk of flesh, making the experience quite painful. Also, it made blleding harder to stop.

Still, once Twilight stopped thrashing around and assisted with her left hand as much as she could, the job became easier. The pressing bandage was now firmly secure, and Sunset gave her compatriot an injection of RegenStim.

If this goes on, we will run out of medicines pretty soon.

"How are you, Twilight? Can you use your hand?"

"I can, but... OUCH... it hurts..."

"Hey, the firing's stopped," the fiery-haired girl noticed. "And my IFF screen does not show any targets remaining..."

"This means only the sniper is left!" despite the pain she was feeling right now, the Princess' face brightened.

"I'll scout carefully," Spike offered.

"Do it," Sunset said. As the dragon-turned-dog went on his way, she asked:

"Hey, Twilight, how much do gems cost in Equestria right now?"

"I..." the equine stumbled. 

I... I can't remember! The realization struck her harder than the most powerful concussive spell she could muster back in Equestria. Why can't I remember?!!!

"I can't remember!" she almost shouted in panic. "Was it fifty bits a ruby when I left? Or sixty? And emeralds? Were they fifty-five? No, there was a drop - average price should have been fifty..."

"Twilight!" Sunset grabbed her friend's arm. "Calm down!"

"But I can't! I should have remembered this! I know that one month and four days ago a ruby cost fifty-two bits a piece, an emerald cost fifty-four, and sapphires..."

Slap! The sound of flesh meeting flesh sounded to both girls as loud as a gun shot, even if in reality it was otherwise.

"Twilight!" the unicorn-turned-pony was looking pretty pissed off right now. "Shocking as it is, we still have a sniper on our hands! Stop with Celestia-darned panicking!"

"Oh... sorry, Sunset... but I..."

"Later! Focus on the task at hand, which is survival. We need an idea on how to get rid of that sniper."

"OK..." Gritting her teeth from the pain she was feeling right now, she went silent, listening for any sounds of danger and trying to think of a way to bypass their last enemy.

Several minutes passed, during which both girls did nothing, their nerves strained, until...

"Hey, girls," Spike returned, panting, "I just scouted ahead, and... well... the sniper just... bailed out!"

"What?!" both girls exclaimed.

"It's true! I could sense his smell, but only a faint one... I searched and searched, but he... well... it seems he crawled back a bit, and then got up and... ran away. Far away."

Both girls looked at each other.

"Far enough not to threaten us anymore?" Twilight asked.

"It seems so... I think he is at least one kilometer away by now."

"One kilometer?" Sunset spoke up. "OK, that should be a safe distance. Let's crawl out of here carefully, then, if it's safe, we'll loot the bodies and go on. Maybe someone was generous enough for some medicines."





As the girls were crawling out, Spike ran ahead to scout out the area once again and confirmed that the sniper did, in fact, run away. After that, the girls quickly looted the bodies for ammo and weapons. The armour of their attackers was of generally good quality, so they decided to take as many armour plates as they reasonably could. They also stripped some armour plates to fix their own armour suits (as theirs took some beating).

As they examined the armour more closely, they noticed the insignia on the shoulder pads, which looked like a red hand print. As Sunset saw it, she swore loudly, using one of the most ill-wishing curses known in her time:

"Celestia banish them to the moon! It's Tartarus-damned Crimson Hands again!"

"What?!" Twilight gasped.

"Yeah. See that red hand print image? Canterlot Wastelands News spoke several times on how to discern them. Apparently, they tried to assassinate us again. And the sniper got away. Damn it! They might bring reinforcements! And we spend time looting! Let's get out of here!"

"Agreed," the lavender-skinned girl scooped Spike up, tucking him to his rucksack. Both girls ran as quickly as possible away from the confrontation site...





Fifty minutes later...

"Oof... oof... my side," Twilight huffed out, holding her hand against the aforementioned body part, which was currently in pain; other hand was resting against the trunk of a tree. Sunset was making coughing noises and spitting out the phlegm that accumulated in her throat due to the long run, standing several steps away.

"Oooh, horseapples," she spoke with difficulty.

"More like... hoarse apples," the equine Princess could not resist some "trolling".

"Oh you..." Sunset doubled over, holding herself against the tree, trying desperatrly to inhale some air for a laugh. "Worst... pun... ever..." she spoke through hoarse laughter.

"Is... not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"I don't care!" Spike added his two bits worth, causing a bout of laughter at his expense. Grumbling, he was about to hide back into Twilight's rucksack, as something attracted his attention.

"Hey, isn't that smoke?"

"Where..?" Twilight turned around and indeed, saw the cloud of soot-black smoke rising slowly.

"Wait a sec..." Sunset came up from behind, "isn't that the direction to Appletown?"

Two Equestrians looked at each other, looks of horror etched on their faces.

"Oh shit!!!" the fiery-haired girl swore, dropping the spare armour plates out of her rucksack. "Dump the trophies, Twilight, we need to make haste!"

"Buck me in the face..." the Princess of Friendship moaned, following her friend's example and dumping the armour of now-deceased Crimson Hands. "We were running not long ago... Sunset, wait for me!" she shouted, trying to catch up with her compatriot...





"Oh no... oh fuck no," Sunset breathed out in horror upon seeing the current state of Appletown.

"Celestia and Luna merciful!" Twilight gasped.

The source of smoke turned out to be Appletown indeed; several buildings were on fire, and gunfire could be heard from the far, its constant staccato being very grating on Equestrians' ears.

"There's a battle... but who's fighting whom?" the Princess asked.

"Don't care, as long as Applejack and others remain alive, we must help them," her compatriot replied.

"If we can... I can hardly lift a gun right now..."

"Oh buck my flank, Buffout time again..."

"Buffout? You sure?"

"We're almost out of strength, and we won't be of use in that state," Sunset pointed out, taking out a bottle with Buffout tablets. Shaking out a couple for herself, she shook another couple to Twilight's hands; the latter viewing them with a mix of disgust and suspicion. "Chew them, ignore the taste, swallow, and it will kick in a bit later," the fiery-haired girl followed her own advice, grimacing at the taste. Unable to hide her disgust, Twilight followed.

"Ugh..." she muttered, as she swallowed the tablets. "This tastes worse than onion and garlic combined."

"I call an understatement, but yeah, it's somewhere close," Sunset replied.

"I don't think one can adequately do it justice..."

And then, Twilight felt it.

As the cocktail of anabolic steroids and stimulants rushed through her, the soreness of her muscle got pushed somewhere far away. She could move without a hitch. Heavy breathing became lighter; she inhaled and exhaled freely. Earlier, she felt that she needed to hunch a bit; now she stood straight and strong.

Her weariness gave way to determination, and she looked at Sunset. The fiery-haired Equestrian smiled back.

"Ready to kick some major ass?"

"I'm ready to kick some ursa major ass!" Twilight replied with enthusiasm. Sunset facepalmed mentally at the cocky Rainbow Dash-worthy pun, but said instead:

"Then let's do it!"





"Oh hay," Applejack spoke, looking out on the street tattered with corpses of civilians and bandits from White Knives from the ground floor of her house, "this has gone to Tartarus big time."

"D'ya think this is it, sis?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Heck no! As long as Ah live an' breathe an' this baby," Applejack pointed at the AP-79 assault rifle in her hands, "has ammo, Ah'm gonna make as many bastards regret comin' here as Ah can!"

"That's the spirit!" Bon Bon said from the other side, her scoped marksman carbine in her hands, eye pressed against the optical sight. "But we'll have to get out of here soon, we can't sit around here!"

"Ah would've hurried long ago, but Big Mac said Ah shouldn't charge blindly," the farm girl grumbled.

"Eeyup," the senior brother said.

"And he's right, but we really can't - oh crap, heads up! More are coming!"

"Oh blast me," Applejack swore as she took aim at the incoming raiders. Big Macintosh's LMG was spitting out bullets already, making the enemies run for cover. Firing several times, she managed to hit two of them, one to the torso somewhere near aorta, and another to the leg; the wounded raider fell and was promptly finished off by Big Macintosh. Bon Bon dropped two and wounded one, but not fatally, and the wounded bandit got safely to cover.

A swarm of bullets hurried towards Applejack's house, trying to suppress the three defenders (Apple Bloom was hiding in the basement). Some bullets flew inside, ricochetting off the walls. Fortunately, no one was hit.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! Big Macintosh's LMG was making very loud sounds in the closed area, making the enemies more careful, but their numerical advantage (nine attackers versus three defenders) allowed them to rain down their own lead storm in response to LMG fire.

"Goldurn corns!" the elder brother swore. "Ah can't keep 'em all pinned!"

"Fuck!" Bon Bon swore. "With that fire, I can't really stick out."

"Wait, what's that?" Applejack spoke up. Everyone looked out to see what was happening.

Two raiders that were hiding behind one of the houses on the right side left cover for some reason. Big Macintosh immediately turned his LMG on them, but before he managed to shoot, the raiders were mowed down by someone else.

"Who do you think is that?" Bon Bon asked.

"Ah don't care!" the blonde girl shouted back, firing her assault rifle. Two bandits on their left side who were stupid enough to look out of cover got their well-deserved lead to the head and the carotid artery.

"Now that's better!" the ex-DOI agent exclaimed, visibly pleased. With suppressive fire quelled, she managed to pick out two more enemies. The rest tried to run, but were mowed down by combined fire of Big Macintosh and the unknown assistants.

"Whoever this is, they made it in nick of time," the bicolour-haired girl commented.

"Hey, it's Twilight and Sunset!" Applejack shouted, taking her Stetson hat off her head and waving it in the window. "Twilight! Sunset! Over here!"

Ten seconds later, the door opened, and two girls, one with violet hair with purple and pink streaks and another one with flaming red and yellow hair, rushed inside, slapping the door shut behind them.

"Ponyfeathers, piss and poop!" Twilight swore loudly, setting her back against the stony wall and sliding down, fatigue visible despite Buffout in her system.

"Bon Bon, you still have AMFAK-10?" Sunset asked.

"What's wrong - oh, is that tourniquet? Artery wound?"

"Yes."

"Did those varmints get ya here?" Applejack asked.

"No, Crimson Hands set up another ambush..."

"WHAT?!" a collective cry was no less deafening than weapon discharge in closed rooms.

"Yep. A sniper got me, but he had radscorpion claws for hands..."

"If he didn't have them, you would be dead."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. Ouch!" Sunset could not hold her shout of pain as Bon Bon was treating her wounded arm.

"Mouth off at me again, and I'll have no Med-X for you," the beige-skinned girl threatened.

"Damn it."

"How many were after you?"

"Ten, one sniper and nine with assault rifles. We hid behind a rock, and they tried to get us. They also threw an IFF blinder, so we had to rely on Spike. The guy saved us all."

"He did?"

"Yeah, I did," Spike showed himself out of Twilight's rucksack.

"He sensed where the enemies were, and he also brought us a couple of grenades that decided everything," Twilight said.

"Hey, Twilight, you're wounded, too!" Applejack noticed.

"'Tis but a flesh wound, Applejack. I already have RegenStim running its course."

"OK, I'm done!" Bon Bon declared. "Try not to get crippled again, 'cause that were my last medicines."

"Ponyfeathers," Sunset swore. "OK, AJ, what's going on?"

"Fuckin' White Knives got reinforcements somewhere an' came in force, an' them Crimson Hands are here, too," the country girl explained. "They overran our outer post and are now shooting shit up. They blocked us here, an' I don't know how's it goin' on in other places."

"Where do we go?"

"Ah think we need to check on orchard an' water system first, 'cause those are critical."

"You ready to go?"

"Yep. Apple Bloom's in the basement, safe an' sound. C'mon!"





The attack on Appletown was brutal.

Corpses were lying on the streets, blood flowing freely. Less luckier people had their limbs torn off, and one or two had their skulls cracked, brain matter splattered around. The gory sights were complete with several clearly burnt corpses.

Twilight Sparkle quickly learned to appreciate the IFF system on her Pip-Boy. Without it, it would be too easy to stumble upon an enemy in a less than fortunate time. Urban warfare, as Bon Bon explained, was extremely ugly for the reason that one never knew where the enemy could hide - too much cover.

"Ideally, the forces must properly secure al the houses on their path, but we aren't that numerous and we have too little time. So we have to risk it."

The orchard, as they quickly learned, was not heavily threatened. Three bandits and one mercenary were quickly mowed down by the combined fire, and they gave first aid to a wounded Apple family member who had to defend the orchard alone as her partner was taken down by surprise fire.

As they finished, Bon Bon spotted several hulking figures running towards them from the distance. One had a laser rifle in their right hand, which was raised above their head. Applejack and Twilight ran forward to meet them half-way.

"What're y'all folks doin' here?!" the farmer demanded.

"I saw the smoke rising and tried to get help," the leading Paladin said. As he took off his helmet, Twilight gasped upon seeing the familiar face of Flash Sentry. "Alas, that's not much, only five of us."

"Frankly, Flash, Ah don't care. It's darn good to see your face here instead of Aegis or that varmint Rampart."

"Oh yeah, he was issuing all kinds of threats to me over the radio. I said there were connection problems and turned his frequency off," the ex-rocker smirked.

"Won't that get you in trouble?"

"It will, but I think I'll make up good enough of an excuse for Elder Aegis. Now, how can we help?"

"We need to protect our water system," Applejack took over. "There's a lotta White Knives and Crimson Hands 'round, plus Twilight said Crimson Hands tried to ambush her an' Sunset..."

"They did?! OK then, let's see how they like lasers..." Flash growled, now visibly pissed off.





The water system did indeed bear the brunt of the attack. Anticipating the possible attacks on it, Applejack took care to put defensive positions there in advance, but the enemies came in large numbers.

However, neither Crimson Hands nor White Knives anticipated an attack to the back, which was quickly exploited by Flash and others. His squad was fairly heavily armed: one minigun, two LMGs and two laser rifles. And Brotherhood Paladins didn't hesitate to utilise their arsenal in full.

To their credit, the enemies did try to counter them with grenade launchers, but power armour was tough, and Bon Bon took care to snipe out any enemy that could threaten them. Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Big Macintosh took position with the defenders and contributed to the chaos and confusion around. Desperate, the bandits tried to rush the positions and overwhelm the defenders, and nine attackers came close enough for CQC. Sunset abandoned her R91 in favour of her shotgun, while Twilight whipped out her Buffalo SMG.

Despite bandits' best attempts to break through, they failed, but not before killing five Appletowners.

Other groups of bandits were simply sowing chaos in the town, and were not as numerous. However, it appeared that there was some form of coordination between them, as all the groups Twilight and others saw were retreating. They tried to intercept as many as possible, but the enemy had wheeled vehicles with high-caliber LMGs which Flash did not dare to confront in the open.

In the end, they did a quick tally. Appletown lost one hundred and seven people, twenty-nine of them were from Apple family. Applejack took the news stoically, refusing to cry, but everyone plainly saw that she was very shaken. What was worse, there were only fifteen combat-capable persons left active. Others were either dead or too heavily wounded. Naturally, this raised questions of whether Appletown was actually defensible now, with Crimson Hands added to the list of problems.

The only sun ray among dark clouds was the fact that the bandits did not escape unpunished. White Knives lost seventy-two of their own in badly carried out attacks, and Crimson Hands lost twenty-seven of their mercenaries. Combined with nine dead ambushers, the enemy lost one hundred and eight people.

The mood was dampened. Twilight and Sunset were sitting on the ground resting, exhausted and no longer under Buffout effects, Bon Bon was providing medical assistance where possible, Applejack and Big Macintosh were discussing their next steps. Flash and his soldiers were standing aside, drawing suspicious looks - the locals did not trust Brotherhood of Steel.

Twilight was shaken very badly by the occurence. She was no stranger to violence now, but the latest attack felt... violating, as if someone just raided her library and burnt all of her books. She remembered Tirek, and how angry she was with him for his wanton violence.

And Curve Blade is no different.

So what now?

Kill him.

Kill? No trial, no chance for defense, just kill?

He and his cronies are responsible for numerous deaths, pain and suffering they gave to others. And we can't really ahve a trial now, can we? He lost all rights to a trial anyway.

You speak as if we were in savage ancient times.

Surprise, idiot, these times may not be ancient, but they are savage enough. Every second this motherfucker breathes is a spit on the grves of his victims. Kill him and be done. They'll actually sing you praises.

Disgusting.

Naive.

Twilight bowed her head. What was she becoming? She already had blood on her hands, but now she actually felt that a part of her wished to spill more blood. And she did not like it, even if Curve Blade could be considered worse than Tirek.

"Twilight?" she heard a gentle voice. Flash. "You OK?"

"I don't need medical attention."

"I did nit mean that."

"Then what did you mean?" she said coldly.

Best if he stays away from me. I've become a monster, eager to kill. He doesn't need this Twilight Sparkle.

"How are you inside?"

"Oh, I don't know. I just saw more death and violence, killed more people, and actually want to kill more and more of these White Knives and Crimson Hands until they are no more, and I am a monster! How do you think I feel?!" the equine Princess shouted to his face.

"Bad, I conclude," was the calm answer.

"Flash... how can you withstand this? Is this what war and violence do? Make them unfeeling? Uncaring? Cruel?" Lavender eyes were now full of tears.

"I'll... go sit somewhere else," Sunset said, and stood up, shaking slightly as she moved. "Oh. Oh. My legs. Buck..."

Flash sat down next to Twilight, wiping her tears away. The girl flinched at the contact of cool metal with her face, but did not act, and he spoke:

"Yes, Twilight, war does that. But the question is whether you are strong enough not to give in. I guess you feel angry at Curve Blade and want him to die?" At Twilight's nod, he went on, "this man committed atrocity after atrocity. It's natural to feel anger and want revenge. The question is: on whose behalf you want revenge?"

"On behalf of Appletowners... my friends... and myself..."

"And are you willing to kill innocents in name of revenge?"

"What?! No!"

"There you go. You care about innocents, and you have morals. You have the strength not to give into your anger, and to remain a good girl. I believe in you," Flash smiled, and Twilight smiled back through tears.

Suddenly, Applejack shouted:

"Hey, Flash! These folks yours?"

"Who?" Looking at a group of eleven heavily-armed newcomers in power armour with Brotherhood insignia, Flash frowned. "Oh blast, not now!" 

He stood up, joined by Twilight and others. As everyone came up to the leader, they heard the latter speak:

"You are in some trouble now, Senior Paladin Sentry!"

"Star Paladin Rampart, sir," the blue-haired young man replied.

"You disobeyed my order, my direct order, and left to help these tribals when I directly ordered you not to!"

"These people are in possession of technology that you still consider valuable, sir..."

"SHUT UP! This technology isn't that much of worth right now since Elder Aegis withdrew our claim on it. You know the punishment, don't you, Sentry?"

"Exile, I believe," Flash Sentry replied, unnaturally calm.

"Indeed. Which means that all you possess shall be taken away, and given that neither you nor your men have personal weapons and armour, you are unlikely to survive. But you can be forgiven."

"Really?"

"If you reclaim the power armour suit that Applejack has, you and your soldiers will have a clean record."

Twilight felt as if she were punched in the gut. She knew Flash would not want to betray them, but he also owed loyalty to Brotherhood of Steel. And he was being forced to choose.

Flash met her eyes, full of pure fear. He was doubting what to do, but the eyes affirmed him that his initial decision was right.

"I think that these people can accommodate me well enough, sir."

"I don't think so, Senior Paladin Sentry. Tell me, what is Brotherhood's stance on TODC and their agents and those who have deals with them?"

"Hostile to the point of "shoot first and ask questions never", I believe."

"Indeed. I wonder what you will say if I say that these people," he showed at Twilight and others, "are guilty of associating with a traitor!"

A collective "WHAT?!" reverberated around the area.

"That's a bunch o' horseshit!" Applejack shouted.

"I'm afraid not, and one person can confirm that," with these words, Rampart and another Paladin stood aside, letting another person come to the front. As she approached, everyone recognized her mint-greened skin, light-green hair and brilliant gamboge eyes. Bon Bon, her eyes wide in disbelief, stepped forward.

"Lyra... Heartstrings?" she muttered.

"Bon Bon," Lyra replied. "Or rather..."

What happened next served as a great shock to everyone.

Instead of rushing forward to greet her best friend forever, Lyra raised her laser rifle, aiming it at Bon Bon's head. Bon Bon, in turn, aimed her marksman carbine at Lyra.

Silence reigned, so thick that one could hear a pin drop.

"What in tarnation is goin' on, Lyra?!" Applejack thundered, but the mint-haired girl ignored her, eyes focused on Bon Bon.

"Special Agent Sweetie Drops of Directorate of Intelligence, by the order of National Security Commissariat of United Federation of Equestria, you are under arrest for state treason, espionage in favour of an enemy and sabotage!" she declared loudly.

Another collective "WHAT?!!!"

"What the fuck are you talking about, Lyra?!" Bon Bon shouted back. "I am no traitor! And why in fuck are you with Commissariat of all fucking people? Did you come here to purge this whole village and slaughter everyone?!"

"No, Bon Bon. Just you. You betrayed our country and our soldiers! You and agent Ukulele!"

"Ukulele?!" Twilight and Sunset exclaimed.

"Wait... how do you know about it?" Bon Bon turned to Equestrians. "Are you with her, too?!" she shouted, notes of being hurt in her voice.

"No, Bon Bon, or Sweetie Drops, or whatever... but me and Twilight have been to one of DOI hubs near Baltimare. We read the information about agents Gravity and Ukulele. And the notes on the terminal said that their author, whoever they were, considered those agents traitors... you are agent Gravity, aren't you?" Sunset asked.

"You read it? How did you... oh wait, near Baltimare? That idiot must've left a password lying around and got himself killed," the beige-skinned girl muttered.

"But wait..." Twilight spoke. "Lyra, I believed you were agent Ukulele!"

"Yeah, it would make sense, right? No, I was not, I never worked for DOI. Agent Ukulele was Octavia Melody."

"Octavia?" Everyone who knew the grey-skinned cellist from CHS exclaimed.

"What happened to her?" the equine Princess asked, dreading the answer.

"When her transfer back to UFE was complete, she was briefly questioned and summarily executed by Commissariat," Lyra spoke with a tone one usually reserved for talking about weather. Twilight gasped.

Vinyl won't like this... not at all...

"No..." Bon Bon shook her head, "no! Octavia was no traitor! Neither was I! Why do you accuse me of this, Lyra?!

"Because I have the very notes Twilight and Sunset have read..."

"So it was you rummaging in my rucksack back at your hiding place!" Sunset shouted, getting angry. "You must have found the magneto-optic disk and copied the data, didn't you, Lyra? And the person you were looking for was Bon Bon?!"

"True and true, Shimmer. And you have impressive hearing. Yes, when I realized that Bon Bon was here, I went straight to the Brotherhood of Steel. I know that they hate traitors, and they are one of the few people that still... hold respect for Commissariat agents."

"If you read the notes, surely you knew that they were not one hundred sure?!"

"You really think I didn't have other data proving her guilt? Get real, Sunset!"

"Bon Bon? What do you have to say about this?"

"This is bullshit! I don't know who the fuck from NSC spun the fanciful tale of me betraying UFE, but neither me nor Octavia were traitors, and I am not going to surrender to anyone of these paranoid jerks, even if my best friend turned out to be one!" Bon Bon shouted, distressed.

"Ex-best friend, Sweetie Drops. I do not acknowledge traitors as friends," Lyra growled.

"Don't get high and mighty, Heartstrings," Sunset snapped. "You could have told us from the very beginning that you were looking for Bon Bon, and we could have helped you uncover the truth, whatever it might be! UFE does not fucking exist right now, Lyra! Why this wild goose chase!"

"I joined NSC for the same reason Bon Bon had joined Directorate of Intelligence: to protect my country!" the mint-haired girl shouted back, showing first signs of distress. "And unlike her, I stayed true to my oaths, although it cost me a lot of nerve cells, blood, friends, all to see the war won! But it was all for naught! When I learned about what Bon Bon and Octavia did... words can't describe the pain I felt! I knew I had to punish them myself! The country may not exist, but I will complete my last mission for my country! Octavia is already dead, and Sweetie Drops is the only one left! So, Sweetie Drops... what do you choose?" Lyra turned to her former BFF.

"I have a choice? Are you fucking kidding, Lyra?"

"Yes, you do. Either you surrender now, I leave with Rampart and no one suffers... or you resist, and I and Rampart's Paladins will do everything to get at you."

"Ah won't let you commit a murder like this, Lyra!" Applejack bellowed. "Ah can't believe you won't give her best friend even a benefit of the doubt! Did you forget the Anon-a-Miss incident?"

"School scuffles can't be compared to national secuity, Applejack!" Lyra shouted back.

"And if you do dare to stand up for the traitor..." Rampart prepared his plasma rifle, "...then you will be eliminated, too. That goes for you as well, Senior Paladin Sentry."

"So..." Lyra turned to Bon Bon, finger on the trigger of her laser rifle. "What do you choose?"

The question is... what do I choose? Twilight Sparkle was looking around in panic. For the first time, she really had no idea what to do...
> Chapter 19: Might of the military
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 19

Might of the military


Unbeknownst to anyone present at the scene, a device was currently recording the event.

The device was invisible to anyone thanks to the wonders of advanced technology. The advanced optical camouflage device installed on it prevented visual detection, while other parts generated a fake signal designed to fool electronic surveillance systems.

Its cameras captured the images dispassionately, its microphones were recording the sound waves of human speech, and a powerful transmitter was sending the recordings to another transmitter, which in turn was showing what the device was seeing on a coloured pre-war terminal.

The man sitting in front of the terminal was calmly watching the scene unfold. He did not expect Flash Sentry and his squad to show up; then again, the blue-haired war veteran was well-known for his moral fibers. And Appletown held residence to people that were important to him. Naturally, he would show up to help.

Applaudable, the watcher mused, but his presence will complicate things. Not to mention this NSC operative with a grudge against the ex-DOI agent. Damn it, she just had to meet Rampart of all people.

"Gotta love these Commissariat Hawkeye-class stealth eyebots," he muttered instead.

Two figures clad in power armour looked up at him, but he ignored them, for the eyebot's cameras were now focused on the lavender-skinned girl with violet hair.

"Now, Miss Sparkle," Elder Aegis spoke, "what will you do?"





As Lyra and Sweetie Drops (also known as Bon Bon) continued their stand-off, Applejack spoke up:

"You do realize, Lyra, that Ah simply can't let anyone just off someone who was instrumental in defending Appletown, don't you?"

"You do realize that you are outclassed and outnumbered, Applejack, don't you?" the mint-skinned girl mirrored the question.

"Lyra?" Twilight spoke up. "You said you watched the files. Did you watch them in full? I mean, without redacted parts?"

"Of course I did," came the answer. "Why do you ask?"

"Can I see the files?"

"Hmpf. It's not really within Commissariat's guidelines, but... fine, whatever. Maybe you'll be less inclined to stand up for her after that," Lyra took out a magneto-optic data disk and threw it towards the equine Princess, who caught it with her hands. "It has those files I had copied from Sunset and some extra bits."

Inserting the disk into her Pip-Boy, Twilight opened the entries she had seen previously, but now, there were indeed no redacted parts. Sunset, Applejack and Flash came up to her, curious to see what was written in these files that were forbidden for general public.

Report #379
The latest events in Yakyakistan are troubling. After the coup that saw Prince Rutherford killed, the new government is by no means friendly towards us and leans more towards relationships with TransOceanic Defense Coalition, but the increased marine traffic between Minotauritania and Yakyakistan is too big, even with the good relationships their leaders seem to enjoy.

This can only mean one thing: Yakyakistan is preparing to join the TODC, which is the worst that can happen now. This must be prevented, or at least we must know more of relations between Yakyakistan and TODC. Unfortunately, our abilities are limited. Agent Gravity is requesting more personnel be sent, but I am not inclined to take this risk. The final decision rests upon General Skywatch, however.

END

Report #382
Agent Gravity suspects that the latest shipment to Yakyakistan contains components that TODC uses for construction of their bases for nuclear missiles. She has sent another request for additional personnel.

Given that Canterlot and major military complexes do not lie far from Yakyakistan, and TODC submarine base there is too close, the possibility of the Yak Island being used as a stage for a nuclear attack on critical hubs of military and civilian infrastructure is too scary to ignore. I request that Agent Gravity's request be approved.

END

Report #388
Agents Gravity and Ukulele confirmed the shipment of uranium-235 from Minotauritania to Yakyakistan. The Field Director states that a black operation aimed at destruction of nuclear silos needs to be carried out.

I would rather wait. Such drastic actions may have terrible repercussions, especially if Yakyakistan has already secretly joined TODC. Agents Falls and Ukulele say the same in their reports, while the majority of other agents agrees with Field Director, and a small part says nothing on the issue.

This report along with all relevant appendixes is sent upwards. Such decisions are above our pay grade.

END

Report #391
Field Director is having doubts in the loyalty of agents Gravity and Ukulele. They are the only agents that speak against carrying out the Operation Balefire, while the rest insist.

Paranoia is a must in our job, but too much of it is harmful. Gravity and Ukulele are our best agents in Yakyakistan. Their information has never failed us. Of course, there's a possibility of them being double-agents and supplying carefully crafted disinformation, but I can't see the endgame in this case.

I'll contact General Skywatch and ask for advice. Maybe we will need to involve the Commissariat.

END

Report #395
We have lost two more agents. It's no longer possible to argue against agents Gravity and Ukulele being traitors.

I have contacted Operative Heartstrings. She has instructed agents from Group 16 and will wait for them to bring Gravity back, while Ukulele will be brought back by Group 18. Task Force Dominator is being assembled at 5th Fleet base in order to implement Operation Balefire. We will use mini-subs for infiltration.

END

Report #396
Agents Falls and Ukulele have boarded their respective vessels, as planned. Before that, however, they sent us one final report.

If its contents are to be believed, Yakyakistan's nuclear force does not threaten Canterlot at all and there is no point in Operation Balefire. The nuclear missiles that they presumably saw were Minotauritanian X-22 long-range ballistic missiles and LX-17 short-range submarine-based missiles, good for taking out our population centers and industrial complex in UFE's geographic center, but not for hitting us where it hurts the most. The question is: why? Surely Yakyakistan is a good point for staging medium-range ballistic missiles which could easily threaten Canterlot.

Anyway, since we believe them to be traitors now, their opinion is irrelevant. They will be separated and given over to NSC. The first stage of Operation Balefire will begin soon.

END

These files certainly do not paint Bon Bon in best light, Twilight mused, but there has to be more, right?

Looking at another file on the magneto-optic disk, she did find more information, unredacted:


FIELD REPORT (with addenda)


From: Field Director (Yakyakistan)
To: DOI HQ, Canterlot

Sir,

the residency of Directorate of Intelligence in Yakyakistan is taking a hit after a hit. While the totalitarian control that the new government of Yakyakistan has installed makes it more and more difficult for us to gather useful intel, recent arrests leave me no other option but to conclude that our residency has been compromised and a mole - or more like two moles are present within our ranks. Thus, I am afraid that we may need to involve the 6th Department of NSC to get rid of them.

After studying the situation, I have come to a conclusion that the traitors are Agent Gravity and Agent Ukulele. I cannot transfer the audio and video files via this channel and will send them via other means, but I can describe their latest activities.

Agents Gravity and Ukulele, first and foremost, vehemently oppose the sanctioning of Operation Balefire, ruining the consensus necessary for such an operation. Agent Gravity had sent a transmission to the CO of Task Force Dominator which shows enemy force composition that indicates the unfavourability of Operation Balefire without my authorization, risking the residency's security (or what was left of it). The data she had sent are contradicted by the images from surveillance satellites, however, and those images have been verified and re-verified, which suggests that Agent Gravity was either grossly incompetent or was trying to mislead the CO of Task Force Dominator. Agent Ukulele has sent us the photos she had allegedly made with her cell phone, which seem to show the placement of enemy forces in positions sent by Gravity via the geolocation tag; however, the covert checking of her phone has revealed that the metadata of those images have been altered. These actions, if supplemented by additional data, leave no conclusion but deliberate attempt of misinformation.

Both Agent Gravity and Agent Ukulele have met on several occasions with certain persons that work for Yakyakistan's counter-intelligence service or are known by us as said service's informants. Whenever such a meeting occurred, one or two agents of Yakyakistan's residency would disappear within two weeks; most of the time, it took from three to ten days. Agents Gravity and Ukulele claim that they were trying to convince said persons to work with DOI, stating that those persons are not at all pleased with the new government (admittedly, at least one third of them indeed harbours resentment towards the authorities), but they apparently were not successful. Such events have happened too often to be a coincidence. It also bothers me that on no occasion have we managed to record a conversation between agents and enemy counter-intelligence informants: the places where they spoke are remarkably difficult to penetrate. All other agents agree that unless one cooperated with the enemy, it was impossible to know of them in advance. Meanwhile, the enemy counter-intelligence has somehow obtained concerning our agents, which was known only to very few within our cell - myself, my XO, Senior Agent Prominence and four other agents - Gravity and Ukulele being two of them. Since two ther agents were executed and Senior Agent Prominence is missing, this only confirms my suspicions.

Finally, about Senior Agent Prominence, who was one step higher than agents Gravity and Ukulele: he has disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. His place of residence appears to have been ransacked by someone, but we have found no evidence of struggle. Several drops of soporific barbiturates were found, however, as well as two drops of blood that belonged to Prominence. His terminal was hacked by someone, and the last images from CCTV's we have recovered show that agents Gravity and Ukulele were the last ones to enter his place of residence.

The risk that Gravity and Ukulele pose is too high to ignore. Please consider my request for involvement of NSC's 6th Department.

Field Director (Yakyakistan)


END



MEMO (DOI)


From: DOI HQ, Canterlot
To: Field Director (Yakyakistan)

Your request has been granted. 6th Department of Commissariat has reviewed the data and agreed to eliminate the traitors. The details will be sent later.


END


"Well..." Sunset commented, making Twilight twitch - she practically forgot that her compatriot was standing behind her - and jump, "...that's one fine condemnation I am seeing. But who is Senior Agent Prominence?"

"Prominence?" Bon Bon spoke up. "That was one guy named Sunburst."

"Sunburst?" Twilight perked up.

"You know him?"

"Not really... I remember the name, but not the face... but it seems familiar somehow," the lavender-skinned girl muttered.

"Oh. I hoped you knew him."

"Who was he?"

"My and Octavia's direct superior. Genuinely nice guy. He disappeared for some reason two weeks before DOI vessel came to transfer me back. The circumstances were suspicious, but... I had an audio message from him that I wanted to transmit to HQ, but was not sure whether I should have - after the arrest of one of my colleagues, the counter-intelligence really stepped up their game."

"A message?" Lyra spoke, her voice laced with distrust.

"Yes, it's still on my Pip-Boy."

"Can we hear it?" Twilight asked. Bon Bon looked at her apprehensively for two seconds, but then put her carbine away with a sigh and pushed several buttons on her Pip-Boy.

Everyone present heard a voice of a young man, who sounded like he was in his early thirties:

"Senior Agent Prominence to Agent Gravity, urgent. Agent Gravity, listen. I have stumbled upon two guys from TODC joint counter-intelligence team talking to each other, and they were not locals. I recorded snippets of their conversation, since they were a bit careless; they said they had a list of DOI agents in Yakyakistan, and they got it from our HQ, no less! I don't know if it's true, but the copies of the recording I made and of this message are hidden in my place; you know where. Find a way to get them to Skywatch, he must know! Prominence out."

Stunned silence rang out across the field.

"...w-w-what?!" Lyra muttered, stung. "Infiltrator at the DOI HQ? Impossible! It must be! That building was as secure as the President's Vault!"

"Yet Ah haven't heard of the President comin' out of that Vault," Applejack remarked. "So maybe it was not as secure after all."

"That building is packed with security systems of all kinds! How could said infiltrator remain undetected?!"

"Did he?" Bon Bon interjected. "I have heard rumours that someone who worked there was caught stealing secret info. I never knew who did it or what that person wanted to do with it, but the rumours were running around nearly at the same time when my work in Yakyakistan was almost finished... You did not know of this?"

"No, I didn't..." the mint-haired girl lowered her head, her laser rifle also going down a bit. "But that would mean... that there was a chance that Octavia was... was..."

She faltered, but the unspoken word was understood by anyone. Innocent.

"Lyra," Sunset stepped forward, coming closer to the ex-NSC operative and inconspiciously standing in front of Bon Bon, "I understand that you must have felt outraged. And you didn't know about that possible infiltrator. But now that you do... please don't hurry in... performing judgement."

"Oh drop that pretense, Shimmer," Lyra replied, "you want me not to kill her, right?"

"Yes, I do. Because if you kill Bon Bon right now, and find out that she was innocent... imagine how that would feel."

"Won't be worse if I let her go and find out that she is still guilty."

"Lyra. For seven years when I was stuck in that Tartarus-forsaken Vault 75, I didn't have a single friend. All the others went separate ways, and we failed to re-unite. I still don't know of the fates of half of them! Try to imagine how exalted I was when I found Twilight, then Applejack. Heck, I was very happy to see you and Bon Bon, too, although, I admit, I turned suspicious of you later. Don't cast away a friend - especially best friend - that quickly, especially if you don't know the whole truth - and it appers you really don't."

Instead of responding, Lyra looked away from Sunset in one direction, then another, as if she were weighing something. Then she squeezed her gamboge eyes shut for several seconds, and as she opened them, Sunset saw tears in them.

"I..." the girl croaked, and then lowered her laser rifle. "Tartarus damn it... fine. You've convinced me to... wait. I really don't have any more friends wait, so if there's a chance..."

"No friends?" Bon Bon interjected, surprised.

"No, Bon Bon... Minuette, Lemonhearts and Twinkleshine died in Manehatten Massacre; in fact, that's why I opted to join the Commissariat in the first place. And Moon Dancer was recruited by Dr. Sharp Nerve into some very hush-hush project for R&D; even with Commissariat authority, I didn't have the necessary clearance. I don't know if she's still alive... so yes, you're the only friend I still know to be alive."

"Didn't you mean "ex-friend", operative?" Star Paladin Rampart interjected.

"You heard the message. I had known Sunburst, it's certainly his voice, and it doesn't sound modulated. So if it's true, there's a chance that Agent Gravity was framed by TODC spies. Since there is really no more UFE to speak of, I think the safety of Wastelands doesn't hang on her living or dying right now. But know this, Bon Bon..." Lyra's expression became hard again, "...if I find out that you lied to my face about your innocence, and lied to these other people as well, I will end you."

"You won't have to, Lyra," Bon Bon smiled unsuredly, "because I will prove my innocence." 

Raising her hands slightly, she said with trepidation, "So... hug?"

Lyra gave a small but genuine smile, and then took step toward her pre-war BFF. As she closed the distance, so did Bon Bon, and very soon, both girls hugged each other tight.

"I... I missed you so much," Lyra admitted, tears running down her cheeks.

"I missed you so much," Sweetie Drops AKA Bon Bon AKA Agent Gravity replied to her would-be executor.

"Well..."

Two girls broke their hug at Rampart's voice. Everyone else also turned to him.

"That settles that tidbit... temporarily, at least," the Star Paladin of Brotherhood of Steel spoke. "However... Senior Paladin Sentry, you still haven't answered whether you will recover Silicon Stone's armour for us or be exiled."

"I haven't? I think I spoke pretty clearly on that," Flash Sentry replied.

"You do realize that you're heavily outnumbered and we are also better-equipped? And do not count on extra assistance."

"We have a deal with Elder Aegis that we have one month to get those suits!" Sunset shouted in anger.

"I would not count on Elder Aegis still being an Elder for that long, girl," Rampart snorted derisively. "And I am next in line, and my conditions won't be as nice."

"Well, become Elder first and then come back."

"Can't do. And It won't be smart of me to give you time to organize a good resistance. So, am I to proceed to wherever the armour is kept?" Rampart cocked his plasma rifle menacingly.

"Wait!"

The strong country-accented voice rang clear in the streets of Appletown. Everyone turned to Applejack.

"Ahem... Star Paladin Rampart? Me and mah friends were planning to visit a place where we could actually recover other suits of power armour we promised to Aegis for you."

"Where?"

"The base of Mechanized Infantry battalion. Ah was waiting for mah friends to come back and rest when this... calamity... happened. But they need some rest, so Ah have to give them some time."

"Fine. Rest for six hours. Then we will go there."

"We?"

"Yes. I will take my squad and come with you, to ensure that no... cheating happens. Sentry may join, too, if he so wishes."

"I will join. Men?" the ex-rocker addressed his subordinates, who voiced their agreement to follow him.

"Fine. Applejack, meet me in six hours at the eastern gate of Appletown," with these words, Rampart and his men turned and walked away.

"Git," the far girl muttered as the Star Paladin went out of sight, and then turned to her friends. "Twilight? Sunset? Ya two alright?"

"Sort of..." the Princess of Friendship muttered.

"Same here," Sunset replied. "Six hours of rest after all this? Damn it, this guy sucks. Big time."

"You said it. Bon Bon, any ideas on whether they should go with me?"

"Why shouldn't we go with you, Applejack?" The fiery-haired girl frowned.

"Ahem - artery damage? Exhaustion? Coming down from the goldurn Buffout?"

"Well," Bon Bon interjected, "I certainly won't recommend any more action for Sunset at least for a full day. If an artery was damaged, it's recommended to rest for a full day after treating the wound with AMFAK-10. Twilight, on the other hand, can have a rest and then go with you."

"Twi?" Applejack turned to her extradimensional friend. "Are you comin'? Ah can handle this mahself, ya know..."

"No way I'm leaving you alone, Applejack," the equine-in-disguise replied. "Just need some rest first."

"I'll join you, too," Lyra spoke up. "Extra firepower wouldn't hurt you."

"Me too," Bon Bon said.

"You sure it's better for me to stay behind, Bon Bon?" Sunset asked.

"Positive. Trust me, it is quite possible that the stuff that keeps your artery in one piece until complete regeneration may not hold under stress and you will suffer fatal internal bleeding. Such cases had happened on the battlefield."

"OK then... damn, I feel useless now."

"Don't be hard on yourself. You survived getting shot by a sniper; that's already something to brag about. You can go to a bar and show your cool scar now."

"I can do without testosterone-filled man gaping at my scars, thank you," the fiery-haired girl snarked, although a small smile still made it to her face. "OK, Twilight, let's get ourselves some rest."

"Sounds good to me," Twilight said, already feeling as if she would collapse like a puppet without strings soon...





Twilight Sparkle was in panic.

She was caught unaware, and now she had no idea on how to get out of the situation she was in. It was as if fates themselves conspired against her.

She saw bandits, whom she recognized as White Knives, holding Applejack, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom. A man was walking in front of them, and while Twilight could not see their faces, she knew somehow that it was Curve Blade himself.

"You fools!" the leader of the bandits was mocking them, interjecting his speech with maniacal laughter. "You thought you could oppose me? Such naivete, I am almost touched! Almost! I admit, you hurt me, you hurt me well... but that friend of yours," he jerked his thumb in Twilight's direction, "hurt me more, and all by your requests! Oh, she'll get her punishment, don't worry... but first, she'll see you die!

"No!" Twilight shouted, realizing what was about to happen. Curve Blade got a shotgun out of somewhere and, fast as a lightning, shot Big Macintosh in the right knee, point-blank. The hulky but kind farmer cried out in pain as his knee turned into a gory mess of destroyed kneecap, mutilated joint and bone splinters. Applejack and Apple Bloom cried simultaneously with dismay, and immediately, the leader of White Knives repeated the same with Big Mac's left knee, which led to the same results. The bandits that were holding him dropped him unceremoniously, and with a vicious kick, Curve Blade turned him over on his back.

"Don't hurt him!" Twilight cried, but the bandit either could not or would not hear her. Instead, he calmly, as if he were walking around, stepped onto Big Macintosh's throat. To the latter's credit, he put up decent resistance in trying to get the leg off him, but before he managed something, Curve Blade twisted his leg, crushing the throat of the eldest Apple sibling.

"Big Mac!!" Apple Bloom shouted again, tears running freely from her eyes. Curve Blade laughed again and turned to her.

"And what do we have here? The youngest one of the bunch, huh? Your family tried to protect you from all that they thought of as a threat... and where are they now?" He put his hand forward.

"If you dare to even touch her, ya varmint..!" Applejack tried to threaten him, but a bandit came in front of her and punched her to the solar plexus, leaving the farm girl winded and unable to breathe properly. Curve Blade laughed and tried to touch Apple Bloom's face - and jerked his hand away as the youngest girl tried to bite him.

"Naughty, naughty girl," he mock-berated her. "I was actually going to spare you. It's been a long time since I had a good girl in my bed..."

"Fuck you!" Apple Bloom shouted, and spat at him, but her saliva did not make it.

"How rude. Alas, at this age, rudeness is unlikely to be corrected," with these words, he aimed his shotgun at her face.

"NO!" Twilight shouted again.

"APPLE BLOOM!" Applejack shouted as hard as she could. She tried to break out, but the bandits holding her were too strong.

BANG!

The stream of metal balls practically disintegrated Apple Bloom's head, letting out a fountain of blood from carotid arteries. The bandits released the corpse and it fell, gushing out bright-red blood.

"You extra-uterine prematurely born cocksucker!" Applejack screamed at him. Twilight noted with shock that her country friend was actually openly crying now.

"Wow. How inventive," putting the shotgun away, Curve Blade mockingly clapped his hands in faux-applause, then laughed again. "But you are the one who gave me the most trouble out of your wretched family, so..."

He took out a knife of some sort. Twilight noticed that this knife was quite big and vicious-looking, and its blade was curved a bit. Applejack looked at it with fear in her green eyes, and without preambula, the lead bandit stabbed her in the gut. Taking out the knife, he stabbed her again, in another place, but this time he turned the knife before jerking it out, making the blonde girl give out an inhumane cry of pain.

"STOP!" Twilight shouted, her voice breaking down. "PLEASE... STOP!"

Her plea of mercy was left unheeded. For a couple of minutes every second of which went on like an infinity, Curve Blade was stabbing Applejack over and over again, opening new wounds everywhere. Very soon, the farmer's form became unrecognizable from the cuts and gushing blood. Her throat became hoarse from crying, and once the sadistic bandit stabbed her lung, she began coughing out blood.

Finally, after two minutes of the prime example of sadism, other bandits threw Applejack onto the ground with her face facing the sky. Curve Blade came closer to her and spoke.

"And now look who is left standing now. It's me! Your silly little resistance could have survived just by moving out, by running away. But you chose to stay and to rally others. But you didn't save them; you didn't save anyone! Not your family, not even yourself! And once we march through Appletown, we will spare no one! Know this and die!!!"

With these words, the knife went into Applejack's throat. Paralyzed, Twilight could only watch as her friend twitched on the ground for several moments before life left her body.

BZ-DAT!

"Argh!"

The cry of pain made her jerk her head to the left...

"NO!"

She saw Flash Sentry, standing in front of Star Paladin Rampart in his normal suit that he wore back at Canterlot High. He was holding his right hand, where the equine Princess could clearly see the burn made by Rampart's laser rifle.

"You see, Miss Sparkle," Elder Aegis' voice sounded somewhere behind her, "you are of no use to us, after all... which means that Sentry's transgressions against the Brotherhood cannot be forgiven now..."

"Let him go!" she wailed, but was denied any mercy, and for next dozen of seconds, she could only register the sound of laser rifle going off again and again, Flash crying out and jerking whenever a focused beam of photons hit him, but amazingly not falling... until the last shot was delivered to his face and his whole body disintegrated into ash.

"FLASH!" Twilight cried, her vision blurred by tears. She wanted to close her eyes forever, to be blinded so as to see this cruelty no more...

"Twilight..."

The voice was almost a whisper, and yet it forced the equine to open her eyes again.

Right in front of her, two Crimson Hand mercenaries were standing.

And Sunset Shimmer was in front of them on her knees, her hands tied up behind her.

And she was looking at Twilight with large eyes.

"Twilight... help..."

But instead of jerking into action, Twilight stood paralyzed as whatever force was holding her tightened its grip. Her voice got caught in her throat, and she only managed to croak:

"Sunset..."

As she uttered this, Sunset turned away from her and looked up at the mercenaries with a resigned expression. As if it was a sign, one of them immediately put his assault rifle against her forehead and pulled the trigger.

A mix of blood and brain matter flew out of her head, and as she fell, her eyes rolled up - with the whites staring at the Princess of Friendship who had just lost her last friends.

Her spirit completely and utterly crushed, Twilight could not even muster the strength to scream or cry anymore. Apathy and resignation took rule...

...and then she felt something crawling up on her body.

Looking down, she saw a gigantic eight-legged black spider making its way upwards by using her leg, then her torso. While she did not suffer from arachnophobia, she still got scared because of the abnormal size of the creature that was making its way inexorably to her face. Her hands were still held away and she could not break free. In desperation, she craned her head upwards as the spider was moving...

...and gasped as it bit her throat.

Immediately, she was paralyzed; whatever or whoever was holding her let her go, and she fell down, then dropped below the ground, falling into the great darkness...





"AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGH!!!"

As the air in her lungs was depleted, Twilight breathed heavily in and out, looking at her surroundings.

She was in Applejack's house in her usual place, in her bed.

And Sunset was in another bed with back turned to her, living and breathing. The equine surmised that her compatriot was apparently too tired to notice Twilight's scream in her bed.

Another nightmare. Princess Luna, if I ever come back to Equestria, I will never take your help for granted again.

Looking at her Pip-Boy, she noticed that she had only twenty minutes until she needed to get out of bed. Deciding that it was useless to try and get extra sleep, she left the room and spent the ret of her time doing weapon maintenance and eating food that Big Macintosh had cooked earlier.

No one seemed to be in the house except her and Sunset. Good. I am not in the mood for being weepy right now, the Princess of Friendship thought. Neither can I afford weakness right now. The odds are stacked heavily against us and I wouldn't trust Rampart any more than I can throw him without magic - that is, I can't - and we're lacking numbers. At least Lyra and Flash with his men decided to come along.

Finished with her chores, she stacked up on ammo and what few meds were available, took her weapons (AP-79, Buffalo SMG and laser pistol) and went to the designated place of meeting. She noticed with displeasure that she was the last one to arrive, as Big Macintosh (alive and well) gave Applejack his light machine gun and took the latter's AP-79 instead.

"Be careful, sis," she heard him say.

"Ah will, Big Mac. Take care of Appletown, will ya?"

"Ah will."

"Oh, an' here's Twilight!" Applejack gave a smile to the violet-haired girl, but the latter was not really in a mood to return it. Frowning, the farm girl turned to Rampart and muttered, "Told ya that Twilight was punctual."

"I am glad my suspicions were wrong," the Star Paladin replied curtly. "Now, let's move out. Show the way."





Several hours later...

"Here it is. The base of 9th Mechanized Infantry battalion," Twilight said, checking the map on her Pip-Boy.

"I don't get it," one of Flash's soldiers spoke up. "How were you going to get past the turrets, not to mention robot guards? Not to mention the sensor net that would direct all enemies on you like a swarm of bees."

"We have heard that sensor net is down and turrets are inactive. The robots, well... they aren't really scary, unless it's sentry bots."

"Or something worse," Rampart spoke up. "If that base holds a warbot, you would have been in some serious trouble."

"Warbot?"

"Unlike usual robots," Lyra spoke up, "warbots are heavily armed and armoured automatons used only by the military. They put up quite a fight. And one usually needs heavy weapons to get rid of those."

"You mean..."

"Missile launchers, grenade launchers, anti-tank railguns, electro-cannons, Fat Men, EMP generators or gatling lasers."

"OK, I think I understand most of those, but what kind of weapon is a Fat Man?"

"Nuclear mini-bomb launcher."

"Wait, what?"

"How could you not... oh right, amnesia. Yes, UFE was rich with uranium, and when the command did not want more nuclear missile warheads, they decided to create small mini-bombs. That idea had been there before, but the first examples kinda sucked. But when they made new models with modern technology - ohhh, did things get fun. By itself, Fat Man is merely a catapult. But this catapult launched mini-nukes, which made this weapon serious business."

"I see. Thanks."

"Had a good chatter?" Star Paladin Rampart butted in.

"Yes, it was informative. You wanted to say something?" Twilight turned to him, maintaining an impassive face and a flat tone of voice. Can't believe I am grateful for these political talks in Equestria.

"Yes. I have looked at this base and whoever told you about the sensor net being down was correct; in fact, even the turrets seem to be destroyed. However, this doesn't mean robots won't be a problem - or land mines. So before we go on, my men will scan the area with a portable mine detector," he pointed at two Paladins who were carrying something resembling a ring on a stick. "You don't rush ahead of them and see that robots don't get a jump on them. Clear?"

"Clear."

"Let's move."

The walk forward was pretty slow. As Rampart did not want the whole group forced to move one by one in a line, the minesweepers had to walk around quite a lot, which was holding up the squad. Wherever they found a mine, they searched for an alternative path or defused them if there was no other way. Meanwhile, others were looking to the distance in order to see if the robots would try and attack them.

"I don't get it," Twilight asked Lyra quietly. "Why would robots attack those who are in essence UFE soldiers? I'd understand if we were intruders..."

"If you are not assigned to the specific base, then generally you have no business to do there," the ex-NSC operative replied. "Even if you were military, you'd still be an intruder. Who knows - maybe you are a spy? Commissariat did catch some TODC agents who did that stuff."

"Makes sense."

"Glad you understand."

The mine sweep went on until Bon Bon alerted everyone to the presence of two Protectrons and one Mr. Gutsy within her visual range. Rampart ordered to eliminate the robots, and the ex-DOI opened fire from her carbine, which naturally made the robots aggressive.

The sheer advantage in numbers made a quick work of them, but the metallic enemies surprised them with laser weapons, and the Mr. Gutsy spewed a green projectile that made Rampart dodge.

"Tartarus-damned plasma!" he swore. "That's it, men, maintain caution. Security is tight here even without turrets. Continue the sweep. You," he addressed Twilight and others, "keep your eyes open. There is a chance that other robots may come to this location."

"How come?" Twilight inquired before stopping herself.

"The robots may give out a signal to other robots: intruders here, come and kill them," Bon Bon said. "If those robots did that, then we can expect reinforcements, unless other robots have superseding directives."

"I see."

"Hostiles!" Flash shouted, taking shots from his laser rifle at another bunch of robots: two Mr. Gutsies, a Protectron and a strange robot resembling a barrel. Unlike the previous ones, Mr. Gutsies were trying to get closer to them.

"Take out those Gutsies!" the ex-rocker shouted. Twilight and Applejack raised their guns and opened fire from standing-on-one-knee positions.

Despite their fire, one Mr. Gutsy came close, a strange weapon aiming at Twilight. Seeing this, Flash dashed to the right, giving Twilight a hard push, making her tumble and fall...

...just in time, as the tongues of flame appeared where she just stood. Some fire landed on Flash, but his sealed power armour granted him adequate protection.

"Whoa nelly!" Applejack exclaimed, firing almost at point blank range at the robot. The stream of bullets broke its shell, shredding the electronic components.

"Did this thing just spit fire?!" Twilight exclaimed, getting to her feet with Flash's help.

"Yes, it did," Lyra said, "now don't just stand there, kill something!"

Is it even "killing" when robots are involved? the equine Princess mused for a moment before firing at the cylindric robot. The combined fire quickly brought it and the Protectron down.

As they proceeded, Twilight took a closer look at the unfamiliar robot. It was not good-looking by itself, but one particular detail made her recoil in disgust.

"Is that... brain?!"

"Yes, these robots are called "robobrains" most commonly," Lyra said. "The brain is basically the main processor."

"That's... disgusting. Why use human brains at all?"

"At one point, there was a shortage of silicon in the UFE, so in order to negate this disadvantage, someone in top-secret labs came up with this idea. It's...  well, revolting, I totally agree, but hardware for robots was needed badly, and human brain is a central processor by itself. So they decided to plug brains with some modifications into these robots."

"Clear!" one of minesweepers called out. "We can proceed to the base now!"

"Alright men, stay focused, and do not disperse around too much! My squad goes first! Sentry, your squad along with outsiders is the reserve! Keep the robots off our backs, and flank them if necessary!"

"Yes, sir!" Flash replied.

"May the Steel be with us!" with this shout, Star Paladin Rampart and his men stepped onto the grounds of the abandoned military base, Twilight and the "ousiders" following them...





"Four contacts, 12 o'clock!" one Paladin shouted.

"Take cover!" the other replied.

BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! BZ-DAT! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! 

The sounds of laser rifles and LMGs rang around them as laser beams and 7.62mm bullets redused one of the robobrains to scrap metal.

"Target down!"

"Mr. Gutsy on 3 o'clock!" another Paladin shouted.

"I see him!" Twilight replied, firing her assault rifle on the automaton that advanced menacingly on them, the saw in his manipulator whirring. Bon Bon landed a couple of her own shots, and the combined fire rendered the machine inactive.

"Good shot. Oh shit - take cover, sentry bot!" the same Paladin waved at them desperately. Both girls, having experienced first-hand how nasty these robots are, did not require a second invitation as a sentry bot rolled out on wheels with two Mr. Gutsies accompanying him.

"Intruders. Run while you can. Better yet, stand still and let me kill you," the monotone voice was almost completely drowned by minigun fire. Brotherhood Paladins scattered to cover and began peppering the machines with laser beams, bullets and (in case of Star Paladin Rampart) plasma bolts. Unfortunately, cover position was imperfect to the point where only four Paladins in total could fire at once, and Mr. Gutsies did not hesitate to shoot plasma too, which no one wanted to take. As Twilight learned later, plasma bolts were effective even against power armour.

"Flank these bastards!" Rampart ordered, sending another bolt at the sentry bot and diving back as his position was again peppered with 5mm bullets.

"Squad!" Flash Sentry ordered his troops. "On me! Twilight, take others and follow us!"

"Right behind you!" the equine Princess replied, obeying the order. Lyra, Bon Bon and Applejack followed her without further questions.

The "second squad" (as everyone agreed to call Flash, his troops and Twilight and co.) went around the building, hoping to use the alternative path. While there did happen to be a way around, they encountered three robobrains, three protectrons and two Mr. Gutsies, who did not hesitate to unleash the barrage of fire upon them. Fortunately, that area offered more cover, so the whole squad could use their arsenal in full.

"Auxiliary squad, take out Gutsies!" Flash ordered. ("Auxiliary squad" was the term that he had chosen for "the outsiders" and that the majority had agreed upon, much to Rampart's displeasure.) As he said that, Twilight and Lyra chose the Mr. Gutsy on the right, while Applejack and Bon Bon targeted another one. Combining bullet spray (although this applied more to Applejack than to Twilight, since the latter benefitted well from the collimator sight while the former carried the weapon designed for "spray and pray" and suppression tactics than marksmanship) with precision fire, the girls forcibly deactivated the robots within ten seconds. Twilight and Applejack imagined for a moment how Rainbow Dash would say "Ten. Seconds. Flat." if she was there to destroy the robots, and then turned their fire on the protectrons. Meanwhile, Flash's troops used laser rifles or LMGs to deal with robobrains, whose lasers were pretty annoying.

One protectron managed to land a hit with his laser on Flash, which did not go unnoticed by Twilight.

"Flash!"

"I am OK, the armour held!" he reassured her. "We can deal with their fire, just take them out!"

Taking a careful aim, Twilight unleashed three bullets - and managed to hit the robot's "head", cracking the protection and causing a fatal short-circuit. Meanwhile, Lyra and Bon Bon combined their fire against one of the robobrains, peppering the transparent dome with beams and bullets. As the dome cracked and the brain inside got splattered, the robot deactivated and stood still. Another robobrain exploded as the Paladins cracked open its armour and hit his energy source, which destabilized.

One of protectrons fired at Twilight as she was trying to follow Lyra and Bon Bon's example and crack open the last robobrain's dome and hit her left arm with his laser beam.

"Argh!" Twilight ducked into cover and clutched her arm, which was now in burning pain.

"Twilight!" Applejack exclaimed, a hint of fear traceable in her voice.

"I'll manage!" the violet-haired girl snarled and, ignoring the pain, spent the last ammo in the magazine so as to make the robot pay. And pay it did - already weakened by a couple of stray shots, the armour plates crumbled, and the bullets mercilessly tore the circuits apart, deactivating the robot.

Another BOOM indicated that the last robobrain also met its demise. Bon Bon approached Twilight and demanded that she show her the wounded arm. The laser beam burnt a hole in the jumpsuit that she still wore under the armour plates, and the skin reddened.

"You're in luck," the beige-skinned girl said, taking out a small-sized cold bag from her first aid kit and hitting it, making the inner bag burst and release the cooling agent. "These beams can easily make third-degree burns. I'll tie this up around your arm so the burn gets cooled off."

"Thanks," Twilight said, feeling that the pain was subsiding now.

"Take care that nothing bursts the bag - it's not recommended for this liquid to make contact with skin. Does nasty stuff to it."

"OK."

A loud KA-BOOM sounded to the left of them. Flash Sentry frowned behind his heavy helmet.

"Welp, there went that sentry bot. Rampart's gonna be pissed. Let's go and reunite with him."

However, as the squad made it to their intended location, they (and Rampart's squad) saw two more sentry bots approaching. One of them unleashed a missile which struck one of the Paladins directly to the chest.

A BA-BOOM sound, followed by a short cry of inhumane pain signified the unlucky Paladin's death.

"Oh shit," Flash cursed, his brain-to-mouth filter temporarily forgotten. "Get out of the open!"

The second sentry bot unleashed another missile which flew in the second squad's direction. This time, the Paladin who saw it reacted quickly enough and threw himself on the ground, making the missile fly over him and hit the wall of the building that had separated two squads previously, exploding with a loud BA-BOOM.

"DISPERSE!" Rampart bellowed, and everyone tried to maximize the distance between each other to make sure that neither of the hulking robots would have a bright idea to fire a missile at the crowd of two or three people. This resulted in squads going in separate directions...

...and each sentry bot chose its own squad for pursuit, which did not remain unnoticed by anyone.

"Oh shit indeed," Twilight followed her crush's bad example and swore, while adrenaline flowing through her granted her some desperately needed extra speed.

As she came across a concrete slab which could serve as cover, she twisted her body so that she managed to lie her back on the slab. Using the inertion, she rolled to the other side and fell down on her stomach. The height was not very big, but she still was left winded and barely able to breathe for several seconds.

Still, her actions proved to be correct, as the swarm of bullets flew over her, and other bullets splattered themselves against the concrete. But she knew that if the robot fired a rocket, then the slab will not protect her - it was not surdy enough.

As she recovered, she carefully looked around, seeing Flash and his Paladins hiding behind other slabs and firing at the sentry bot. Behind her, Applejack, Lyra and Bon Bon were clustered together behind a small building, and the farm girl was firing at the robot, but their position was not ideal - only one person could reliably fire from that cover without risking dangerous exposure to counter-fire.

Twilight exchanged her assault rifle in favour of the laser pistol, remembering the scuffle in DOI Vault. When she made certain that the sentry bot was not paying attention to her, she carefully aimed at it, and opened fire, aiming to destabilize its optics.

This immediately earned her the ire of the metal behemoth, as the minigun turned towards her, and bullets flew towards her like an angry swarm of bees. Over the sound of bullets hitting the concrete, Twilight could hear Bz-dats and da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-das of Brotherhood Paladins.

Lyra and Bon Bon risked getting out of cover as the sentry bot turned its attention to Flash's troops again. They opened fire along with Applejack, trying to hit its head, and their combined fire managed to penetrate the armour on its head, blinding the robot.

In response, the machine fired a rocket, making girls scream in fear and run back behind cover. The aim was bad, and the rocket impacted against the building, blowing out the bricks and breaking them to pieces. Twilight had to cover her head to protect herself from the bricks.

Turning to the other side, she saw Flash carrying some sort of long tube that he had on his shoulder, with something resembling a handle with a trigger mechanism, and he was aiming it at the sentry bot. As he pulled the trigger, a rocket flew out of it and raced towards the blinded automaton, shredding its armour and causing a big explosion.

Silence reigned, interrupted only by the sound of falling metallic pieces. The squad gathered around.

"We are in luck," Flash spoke, showing everyone another rocket launcher. "These babies were lying in a temporary storage, and one of my guys noticed them. Let's go and see if Rampart and others are fine."

They did not have to go far. Rampart's squad had destroyed the sentry bot that chased them, but at some point it was joined by yet another one, and the soldiers were now fighting against it. The remains of other types of robots were also present, indicating that Rampart's squad got caught in a bad situation, and three unmoving bodies were also there to prove it.

The blue-haired guitar player wasted no time in sending a rocket to the sentry bot's back, causing a loud BA-BOOM.

Silence.

Clank - the rocket launcher fell onto the ground, no longer useable.

Star Paladin Rampart went up to Flash and ordered briskly:

"Report."

"Sir, the sentry bot that chased us was destroyed. We encountered no other enemies. No casualties," the young man's tone remained equally cool and professional.

"Lucky you," Rampart did not bother to hide his resentment. "We are coming close to the storage. Let's move on and get the armour suits."

Without a further word, the first squad went after their leader.

"Is he always like this?" Lyra asked Flash.

"He is not liked by a good number of people who have values that differ from his own."

"And he came across as such a decent man..."

"Trust me, Lyra," Applejack butted in, "if he did, it's because you were Commissariat. Just ask Twilight and Sunset later how "decent" he was to them when they spoke with Elder Aegis."

"I'll do that."





"Here it is," Rampart announced. "Our target."

They were standing in front of a larger-than average building with a pretty gigantic hardened steel door.

"Isn't that... an HQ or something?" Twilight asked, perplexed.

"If there's any power armour to be salvaged, then it's most likely here. As far as I am aware, the 9th battalion was not here during the Day of Burning, which means that there's no armour in conventional storage rooms," the Star Paladin explained. "But the headquarters always had an extra armory and several spare suits. Only selected few could open these rooms, so even if they fled, there would still be spares. But this place also should have a car that will let us transport the suits to the base."

"I see."

"The only problem is this password-protected terminal," Rampart showed the object in question.

"Not a problem," Lyra said. Taking out a magneto-optic disk, she came up to the terminal and inserted the disk there. Curious, Twilight looked at the screen and saw the words:


===COMMISSARIAT OVERRIDE ACCEPTED===


Welcome, officer.

Open door

Pressing "Enter", Lyra turned and smirked at everyone present.

"Working for Commissariat has its perks," she said.

The complex locking mechanism clicked and clanked, about to unveil its secrets to the people that came for remnants of pre-apocalypse technology. Five seconds later, the slightly-unmaintained double doors opened and began collapsing into an accordion-like structure.

Rampart entered the hangar-like room, lighting his Pip-Boy.

"There's supposed to be a power switch somewhere," he muttered, and went along the wall, trying to find it. So did other Paladins from his squad, then Flash's squad went in, and the girls came last.

None of them had noticed a small laser ray located near the entrance. As everyone entered, the ray was interrupted several times.

Everyone who had a Pip-Boy had its lighting turned on, trying to find the switch.

"Strange," Flash commented, "I can't see the switch. Star Paladin, sir, what's on your end?"

"Nothing, Sentry."

"Maybe it's not the switch?" the ex-rocker mused. "On one base, I saw the guys using a mobile armoured generator in the HQ. They did not use any switches but the one on the generator itself."

"Ah found it!" Applejack called. "It's in "off" position!"

"Turn it on, then!" Rampart ordered in a pissed-off tone. The farm girl complied.

The bright lights blinded everyone for a couple of seconds. As their eyes adapted to the change of lighting, they looked around.

There was no vehicle in sight, only some crates stacked into small groups here and there, concrete slabs used to separate the traffic (suposedly), ladders that led to catwalks and cabinets on higher floors.

And there was one object on the same level as them.

When looking at it, Twilight was reminded on how she and her friends traversed through the Everfree forest. The form was familiar to her, and yet it was not, for she never saw the form in metal.

"Oh shit..." someone spoke, but she could not say who - it was as if she lost the ability to recognize voices.

Stuck in deja vu, she gaped at it, lower jaw in danger of falling down, somebody's scream almost failing to penetrate her ears.

"MANTICORE warbot!!!"

And then, the tail rose, and a barrage of lasers snuffed the life out of the unfortunate Paladin closest to it before the man managed to move.

A violent jerk, and Twilight found herself behind some crates, a tanned freckled face with green eyes in front of her.

"Snap out of it!" Applejack screamed, accent showing through.

And suddenly, the sounds of gunfire, screaming and orders being barked returned with a vengeance. Shaking her head, she saw Flash, Lyra and Bon Bon hiding in the same cover as them.

"What in fucking Tartarus is that thing?!" she screamed, coming down from shock.

"MANTICORE warbot," Lyra replied, "the worst news we could have received today!"

"How bad is that thing?!"

"It makes sentry bots a preferable option!" Flash shouted, his mimic twisted in genuine fear. "It has gatling lasers, and a good stock of rockets, too! And it can't be destroyed by one rocket!"

"Well FUCK!" unable to cope with the stress, the equine Princess threw her mouth filter out of the window.

"What should we do now?" Applejack asked, genuinely worried.

"Our only hope to survive this mess is to get to the armories on the third floor and get ourselves some heavy weapons! Rampart knows this too, and he definitely will try that, but he and his men got caught with proverbial pants down!" as if to confirm his words, a scream signified the death of another soldier. Wincing, the ex-rocker continued, "So we'll need to get past this thing somehow! There are two armories, on both sides, so you will have to split up! I will see if I can keep the warbot distracted!"

"What?!" Twilight screamed. "Flash, that's fucking suicide! This thing chews Paladins out like nobody's business!"

"For this to work, they will have to do the usual checkers tactic - first guy fires, second guy moves, then second guy fires, first guy moves, and so on. Only you don't need to fire - you don't have power armour and your best bet is not drawing attention at all! That's what we shall do!"

"But you might die!"

"Everyone might die, Twilight! And if we argue, we all will die!" Flash's face held an agitated yet deadly serious expression, and the lavender-skinned girl understood that arguing was useless.

"Just... be careful, then!"

"I will! Now, everyone, GO!!!" Sticking out, Flash fired at the warbot. Twilight and Applejack looked out from the left side, while Lyra and Bon Bon did so on the right. The horrific war machine had a gatling laser on its "tail", which was swinging everywhere and spewing red beams of death. Fortunately, it considered the Paladins close to him as a greater danger.

Without talking, both girls rushed out of cover and ran for the closest concrete block. The enemy did not notice them, fortunately. As they found another useable cover ahead, they got ready and rushed again.

They were not lucky this time - the warbot's targeting system locked on them, and the gatling laser fired with a threatening "whirrrrrr-bz-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z". One of the beams hit Applejack's leg as she was almost hidden.

"Argh! Oof... ow, ow," the country girl moaned in pain, trying to keep herself on two legs behind the large stack of crates. Slightly panicked, Twilight took out a RegenStim syringe and stabbed the needle inside.

"Oof," Applejack breathed out as the regenerative medicines flowed inside her, countering the burn damage.

"Can you walk?"

"Of course Ah can, just... give me a couple of seconds, and Ah... Ah'll go with you," despite assurances, it was clear that the blonde farmer was in pain and was calling on her stubborness to endure.

"Med-X?"

"No, just..."

"Oh no!" Twilight gasped, as she saw MANTICORE fire a rocket to the crates where Flash was hiding. The blue-haired man apparently was ready for it, for he dashed out before the crates were thrown around by the force of explosion and slid behind a concrete slab.

"Focus, sugarcube!"

"OK, I'm ready... let's go!"

The girls dashed again. The Paladins were tryind to keep the warbot's attention away from those tasked with retrieval of rocket launchers, but the combat programs were well written. The Paladin ahead of them was cut down by gatling laser fire, and the warbot fired a rocket at one of concrete slabs where Rampart was hiding, but the experienced soldier avoided fatal consequences and sent several plasma bolts at its "face" -  alas, that did not accomplish much.

The next cover was the line of slabs where Twilight and Applejack could move by crawling. Neither of them were very experienced in crawling under fire, however, and so their advancement was slow. When they reached the end of the line, Twilight noticed that Lyra and Bon Bon were already on the catwalks, and two pre-dying screams sounded.

Celestia merciful, please! the equine-turned-human was on the verge of panic. Please help us!

The next cover was the last one on the way to the ladders, but with MANTICORE so close to them, the distance looked as big as if they were trying to get to the moon.

"Twi," Applejack said, "Ah think you should go on without me. Ah'll cover you while you move."

"Are you crazy?!" the Princess of Friendship rounded on her.

"No Ah ain't! Everything'll be fine!"

"How?!"

"Sugarcube, Ah promise Ah'll be fine. Just trust me!"

For a moment, Twilight remembered looking at pony Applejack as the latter was holding her above the cliff, convincing her to let go and promising that she would be safe, despite all her knowledge stating otherwise.

How she believed the country pony and did as she said...

How she let go and fell...

And how it all turned out in the end...

Twilight dashed out of cover, fighting against the soreness in her muscles, the burning feeling in her lungs, the desperate desire to fall down...

Bash.

She did not notice how she managed to get to her intended point. Looking back, she saw Applejack and Flash Sentry (who changed cover again) give her thumb-ups, and then they both opened fire on the warbot.

Twilight ran again.

Fwoosh-BOOM!

She did not turn back to see Bon Bon successfully landing a hit on MANTICORE with a rocket launcher. The only thing that mattered was the ladder.

She ran.

First floor.

Another explosion and screams of dying men.

Gatling laser fire.

Fwoosh-BOOM!

Gatling laser fire.

"Shit!" she heard someone cry in a distance.

Second floor.

Explosion.

Another explosion.

A horrible screech of metal from the other side and a loud CLANK of metal torn loose and surrendering to gravity.

Gatling laser fire.

A scream of pain.

Third floor. Armory... Armory...

Gatling laser fire.

There it is!

Twilight did not have time to properly think as to why the armory would open so easily to her, not knowing that Lyra providently used her Commissariat override codes to unlock all armories. She did not even care at the moment.

All that she cared about is having a rocket launcher. And there was one indeed.

Sweet Celestia, is it heavy! she thought when she picked it up and put it on her shoulder. It only handles easily in power armour, I guess. Or if you have as much strength as Bulk Biceps.

The iron sights were pretty easy to figure out, fortunately. As she finally was ready, she aimed at the warbot and pulled the trigger.

Fwoosh-BOOM!

The kickback nearly threw her off her feet as the rocket flew out, and a moment later, she desperately threw herself backwards as gatling laser fire rained on her location. Not daring to stand up, she retreated back to the armoury.

There were no more rocket launchers.

Is that it? Is that how it ends? Trapped here to die like rats?!

A mix of desperation, resignation and anger flowed through her...

Wait... what is that?

She saw another object in the corner, which looked like the rocket launcher but was not one. On inspection, it looked like a catapult, like the ones that Royal Guard would use in war times, with a rail of sorts and some object stuck on the far end.

With desperation and madness of the cornered beast, she grabbed it without even thinking whether this is what she actually needed. All she thought about is that something had to help them, and this thing was the perfect candidate.

Handling it the same way as she did the rocket launcher, she ran out on the catwalks again. Subconsciously aligning the catapult to compensate for apparently parabolic trajectory it would take, she pulled the trigger, hard.

Hrrrt-HISSSSSSSSSS.

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!

The explosion blinded her temporarily as she did not expect the light to be so bright that it hurt, and the loudness of the explosion was so high that she idly suspected whether she would bleed from her ears due to ear drum rupture. She dropped the catapult as she fell onto her back, blinded and deafened.

Her head hit something, and then everything slipped to blackness.





"Uhhhh-argh..." Twilight Sparkle moaned, opening her eyes.

"Oh thank the stars you are alive!" Flash breathed out, looking into her eyes.

"Flash? How are... where is..?"

"Where is what?"

"That... thing..." Oh for the love of Celestia and Luna, I do not forget things that easily!!!

"MANTICORE warbot?" Lyra said as she helped Twilight to sit up and pushed a wet cloth against the back of the Princess' head. "It's done for. I say, I never thought they would have a Fat Man here, but..."

"Wait... this thing was a Fat Man?!"

"Yep. Man, am I jealous. You got to fire, like, one of the coolest guns ever..."

"It's not as cool as you'd like to think... and the armour?"

"My guys went to retrieve it; the storage is underground. There should be no traps there, and Lyra has just turned off all security. We should..."

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da!

"What the - is it Applejack's LMG?!" Twilight almost jumped up. Everyone rushed to the catwalk, with her in the lead.

What she saw almost made her lose her jaw.

Applejack was aiming at Star Paladin Rampart, whose armour was badly damaged and burned in many places and who was lying down, apparently having just fallen thanks to the barrage he just received.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da!

"Applejack!" Twilight shouted, and rushed to the ladder, surprising everyone with her speed, given that she was on the verge of exhaustion.

Another shot rang out from the farm girl's LMG.

As the whole party arrived at the scene, they saw something else: a floating ball with various antenna, a tube that supposedly was a weapon, and some sort of screen on it. With Applejack standing with her back to them and slightly to the side, all of them could clearly see a familiar face on the screen.

And they could not believe that they were seeing it, or the words that rang out from the speakers.

"Well done, Miss Applejack," rang the smooth voice of Elder Aegis.





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Weapon Savvy (Rank 1): Knowledge is power, and knowledge of weapons is double power! With each rank of this Perk, you can use any kind of weapon with accuracy and damage penalties reduced by 10%.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Hard Skin: You gain a permanent +3 to your Damage Threshold.

New Perk (Applejack):

Redskin: You gain +5% Damage Resistance against energy weapons.





Reputation increased: Brotherhood of Steel (Northern chapter)

Your honourable actions impressed the leader of this faction and he will be more friendly towards you in the future.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

MANTICORE warbot

One of the most widespread anti-infantry warbots, MANTICORE saw great popularity in UFE military. Its versatility allowed to use this automaton as base defense weapon, caravan protection, troop support and even anti-vehicle purposes (if equipped with proper missiles). Owing its name to a mythical creature, it utilizes GLX-80 gatling laser as a primary weapon that can easily deal with all types of infantry and unarmored vehicles which is located in a "tail" that can easily move and turn in all directions. Additional weaponry may include rocket launchers, grenade launchers, additional gatling lasers and even a Fat Man, making this unit a very dangerous foe. Heavily armoured, it requires heavy wepaons to defeat.

MANTICORE warbots are not often seen in the Wastelands, since most of them were urgently pulled from bases to counter the Eastern Gambit of TODC shortly before the Day of Burning. However, tales still go on about horrible pre-apocalypse war machines that massacred careless scavengers who wanted to loot the remains of military installations. Even when in power armour, it is recommended to maintain extreme caution when dealing with these machines.

Stats:

Health: 700
Damage Threshold: 22

Weapons:
GLX-80 gatling laser (additional lasers optional)
Grenade launcher (optional)
Rocket launcher (optional)
AAS-24 MANPAD (optional)
12,7mm/14,5mm machine gun (optional)
Fat Man (optional)
> Chapter 20: Black revelation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 20

Black revelation


Twilight and others stood there, gaping at the eyebot's video screen.

Did he just... praise her? Why? What's going on? And where the Tartarus did that thing come from?

These were the questions that were running through everyone's mind at the moment, in one form or another.

"You have performed admirably, and your assistance to Brotherhood of Steel is invaluable," Elder Aegis continued. "I am sending a transport to the base. Once it arrives, you are free to return to the village. In the meantime, help yourself to whatever loot you deem necessary."

"Much appreciated," Applejack replied in a cool tone. "And the deal?"

"You have honoured your part, and I will honour mine. I relinquish the claim on Silicon Stone's power armour suit. Now it is yours. I only ask that you erase Brotherhood's sigil from it."

"That Ah can do."

"Thanks. May the Steel be with you. Aegis out," the screen went off, and the eyebot flew away. For a couple of seconds, silence reigned, until Flash Sentry snapped himself out of stupor and came up to the farm girl, an angry expression on his face.

"What the fuck, Applejack?" he spoke. "What sort of stunt did you just pull, killing Rampart? And what is this deal with Elder Aegis?"

"I am curious, too," Twilight came up to them, frowning. "While I am not that sad to see Rampart dead, this whole thing does not look good. And I am certain that this deal is something me and Sunset should have been aware of. This isn't like you, Applejack."

"Ah understand y'all are pissed, and Ah'll explain it. But Ah want to make sure we aren't overheard. And Flash... sorry, pal, but this should be just between me an' Twilight."

"Exactly why?" Flash crossed his hands on his chest.

"Let's just say - part of this deal was that you aren't to know of the exact details of that deal."

"This stinks to high heaven, but... OK, Applejack, I will trust you," the blue-haired Paladin said reluctantly, and went away.

"Come on, Twilight," Applejack beckoned her otherworldly friend, "let's get away from others."

As they found a relatively isolated room that looked like commanding officer's personal office, they both sat down on the chairs, facing each other.

"This deal was kinda foisted on me by Aegis, as he spoke to me when you were in their bunker, wounded an' still unconscious..."





*FLASHBACK*

"What... in tarnation just happened?" Applejack muttered, taken aback at the sudden conflict between Elder Aegis and Star Paladin Rampart and the latter's abrupt departure.

Sighing, the leader of the Brotherhood's northern Chapter sat down at his table and spoke:

"As competent as Star Paladin Rampart is as my second-in-command... he has an unpleasant habit of overstepping his authority. Back in the army, he was always known as a maverick, well-intentioned, but still - maverick. He was almost court-martialed once, and if not for the fact that his actions prevented a major catastrophe for our troops, he would have experienced a penal battalion first-hand."

"Why do you keep him as your second-in-command, then?" the blonde girl asked.

"Because he is an experienced officer, and his technical knowledge is of big value to the Brotherhood. However... I have reason to believe that his... shall we say, negatives begin to outweigh the positives."

"Can't you exile him?"

"As a Star Paladin, he cannot be exiled the same way one can exile a common Paladin. First, he needs to be stripped of his rank, but Rampart is too popular with a good number of troops for me to do so and not risk a fracture in our ranks - and that is the last thing I need. Second, you have heard of Elder Council. Let's just say that there are members that share... common views with him. I am certain that should I strip him of his rank, the Council will pounce on me and I will have trouble justifying it to them."

"So what then?"

"I am afraid Rampart cannot be allowed to run amok. Given his maverick tendencies, I am certain he will try to force you into relinquishing that suit sooner than the time I had given you expires. In that case, you will find yourself in an unenviable position of either breaking your promise to Silicon Stone - which is unacceptable - or risking facing him and whoever comes with him, because he certainly will show up in force. The latter may cause many Appletowners to lose their lives, because, frankly, your militia lacks the necessary means to take on Paladins in power armour."

"Ah know that."

"I can offer a way around that."

Applejack perked up at hearing that, on which Elder Aegis did not hesitate to capitalize:

"Rampart may be a maverick, but he will never refuse an opportunity to scavenge more technology, so if he does come in force prematurely, offer him to go to the base with you. Try to ensure that as many allies join you as possible, just in case. I don't believe you will be able to avoid fighting alongside him, but he and his troops will do the majority of the work, and that will make him weakened. When he is weak... dispose of him."

The farm girl stared at him, eyes wide. She did not expect that for sure.

"Are you suggesting that Ah just kill him?!" she shouted.

"Yes. It is the only way to ensure that he does not threaten you or me. And I will return the favour."

"Really?" Applejack rose a skeptical eyebrow.

"Really. First, no matter how many power armour suits you find there, even if there is just one, give it - and Silicon Stone's armour is yours. Second, if Appletowners are willing, the volunteers Brotherhood may assist in defense of your town. And third, I can open trade with Appletown. We severely lack good food here, and none of us would mind good apples. So if you agree to sell apples to us, we will appreciate it."

"Apples in return for what?"

"Bottle caps that everyone uses for money now. Of course, we may sell some trophy weapons, ammunition, armour and medicines."

"If I kill Rampart."

"Yes. And none of your friends or other Brotherhood members are to be aware of this, even those that are more sympathetic towards you."

"Ah don't know..." the idea of keeping this important thing a secret from persons important to her.

"Think, Miss Applejack. Appletown is already besieged by White Knives and super mutants, which are bad enough, and our intel shows that the defensibility of it is lowering. And your latest stunt which left eighty-seven bandits dead may force other gangs to join Curve Blade simply out of fear. Don't forget the mercenaries, either, like Crimson Hands. If this happens, you will be overrun, plain and simple."

"Goldurn it, Ah knew you were spying somehow! But... well, you're right. Fine. Ah accept."

"Excellent," Elder Aegis smiled and offered his hand. After a second of hesitation, Applejack shook it...

*END OF FLASHBACK*





"I... see," Twilight spoke slowly, rubbing her chin in thought. "Should Elder Aegis truly honour his part of the deal, it would offer a great benefit to you."

"It would save Appletown, Twi," Applejack said. "After all the mess that Curve Blade is up to, caravans don't go that much around here. Last time we saw one was two months ago, while they used to appear once every month. A bit more an' we would run outta caps pretty soon. Ah didn't feel right for not telling that to ya, but... Ah'm kinda desperate right now, Twi. So Ah followed his instructions. And... well... as Ah said, he made me promise not to tell anyone."

"I understand. Although... I'll be honest, I still don't like that."

"Yeah, but you saw that he was spyin' on me."

"Oh yeah, this floating thing... stealthed eyebot, right?"

"Right."

"OK then... let's see if this base has any good loot left."





When Flash's soldiers returned, they were very surprised to find Star Paladin Rampart dead, but Flash told them that he had encountered a booby trap which pierced through the already battered armour and finished him off. Twilight could not say whether they believed the tale or not, but they asked no questions.

As it turned out, the military base did have some decent loot. All girls took care to get themselves a full set of standard military personal armour, along with helmets, along with some spare armour plates. The medbay was also well-stocked with medicines, including AMFAK-10 bags, which were gleefully taken.

As everyone raided the armoury, Twilight found some AP-79 assault rifles which she used to do minor repairs for her own, and she also found a holographic sight, which Lyra insisted was better than a collimator sight. Replenishing the ammo stock, she took some extra ammo for Sunset and herself. Also, she managed to find two laser rifles in a good condition, which she decided to take, along with twenty fully charged microfusion cells, 9mm ammo for Buffalo SMGs, and energy batteries for laser pistols.

Applejack also found several full boxes of LMG ammo, which she took for herself. When Twilight found a sniper rifle, she offered to carry it and something else for her, since the equine Princess already took a lot of loot, which was hampering her mobility.

As for Lyra and Bon Bon, they merely stocked up on ammunition, and Lyra stripped one laser rifle to fix her own.

Twilight also found two fusion cores, one of which would be certainly needed for Applejack's armour, and another for Vinyl's radio station.

As for the power armour they set out to find, there turned out to be four T-72d models and one T-80b, which looked less bulky yet had less unprotected places. Flash Sentry whistled when he saw it.

"Damn, wish I got to wear one of those. This model has better protection yet runs longer, and combat programs are better," he explained to Twilight.

When the truck of Brotherhood of Steel arrived, the Paladins loaded the power armour suits into it. The driver went to Flash Sentry and asked:

"What about outsiders, sir? Do we give them a ride?"

"I don't see any reasons against it. Girls?"

"Ah'd be mighty grateful for that, an' Ah don't think others'd mind," Applejack answered, and others confirmed her words.

"OK then, ladies, hop up," said the driver. "Where to?"

"Appletown. You know the road?"

"I have the map, yeah, so don't worry. One way trip to Appletown; all aboard!"





Approximately forty-five minutes later, the former army truck with nuclear engine stopped on the outskirts of Appletown. The local folk gaped at the transport; working automobiles were quite rare in the Wastelands.

As Applejack and Twilight jumped off, simultaneous cries of "SIS!" and "TWILIGHT!" occurred, followed by hugs from Apple Bloom and Sunset Shimmer respectively. Both girls eagerly returned the hugs.

"Hey, Sunset," the Princess of Friendship smiled. "How is your arm?"

"Feeling better. Give me some time and I will be back in action... ohhh, is it a laser rifle?"

"Yep! That base had quite good loot."

"Ohhh, I'm officially jealous."

"Don't be. We almost died ten times over. Boy, if I never see another robot again..."

"That bad?"

"You have no idea."

"Hey, I'm not seeing Rampart. Is he..?"

"Dead? Yes, he died."

"Well... I am not sorry at all."

"Honestly? Me neither."

"And Flash?"

"I am here," Flash Sentry joined them.

"Hi there," Sunset waved to him.

"Hello, Sunset. How's your arm?"

"Almost healed, thanks. Twilight said it was bad at the base?"

"Oh yeah, we encountered a MANTICORE warbot..."

"WHAAAAT?! You're kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"That's... oh sweet Celestia and Luna, now I get it why Rampart didn't make it out... how did you make it?"

"Twilight found a Fat Man and offed that thing like a boss after it ate a few rockets."

"Oh come on, it was not that impressive, and I passed out..." Twilight blushed, averting her eyes.

"MANTICORE warbot? With a Fat Man? Oh my goodness, Flash, your girlfriend's a badass," Sunset muttered.

"What? No, she's..."

"But we aren't..!"

Both Twilight and Flash spoke at once, then stopped and blushed heavily.

"Ha ha, I'm teasing you two... but seriously, don't tell me you don't want to."

"There was... kinda no time to ponder on that, you know?" the lavender-skinned girl said.

"Point taken."

"Ahem... Twilight?" Flash asked. "May I speak to you in private for a bit?"

"Oh, OK, sure."

"Don't forget to kiss!"

"SUNSET SHIMMER!!!"

"Geez, you're no fun."

"You're so going to the moon for that," Twilight muttered half-angrily, as she and Flash walked away to find a more or less secluded place. Once they found a small unused building, they went inside and closed the door. The ex-rocker began:

"Twilight... I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"Do you have any... ideas on how to return to your world?"

"More like a desperate hope. There's an artifact of Sunset's that should still be connected to Equestria. I hope that we can use it to inform my friends - on that side, I mean, - of what has happened, at the very least, but it would be better if its magic could be harnessed to remake a portal."

"Are you planning to go to Canterlot to rebuild the portal?"

"I thought we may have to do it in the future, although I didn't arrive there. The portal threw me out somewhere not far from Baltimare."

"Going to Canterlot might not be a good idea. Radiation aside, there's something else, clearly fatal. Brotherhood had sent a couple of squads before, and they never came back."

"How so?"

"I don't know; something else out there kills as surely as radiation. We hope to scout this place with hacked eyebots later, but so far I wouldn't recommend to even think of going there."

"The artifact I mentioned is in Trottingham. I hope that we can deal with Appletown's bandits problem before going there."

"Can I help you when you go there?"

"What about your duties of a member of Brotherhood of Steel?"

Before answering, Flash looked around carefully, as to check whether someone was listening in. Lowering his voice and leaning closer, he said:

"If honestly, I am not at all pleased with the Brotherhood right now. I'm beginning to think I made a mistake when I joined them. Instead of trying to help others, they only care for themselves, and use anyone who might be of benefit to them. Just look at Applejack; Elder Aegis basically used her to get rid of Rampart, whom he didn't like at all. What if Elder Council knows of this? I hardly think he will take the fall."

"The possibility... did cross my mind."

"That's why I quietly recorded the conversation," Flash took out a magneto-optic data disk out of his Pip-Boy and gave it to Twilight. "If he tries to set you up somehow, use it to either blackmail him into submission or set the Elder Council against him."

"Thank you, Flash," Twilight hid the disk in her pocket.

"You're welcome."

"But still, I don't want to make you choose between us and Brotherhood of Steel. Such conflict of loyalty won't end well. And they need more people that think like you."

"So you think..."

"...that you should stay there, yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Just where did that come from?"

"I guess I... hate the idea of you girls risking your necks out there, with no one but yourselves to rely on."

"We rely on each other, Flash. That makes us stronger, right?"

"Right, of course. But this will make me worry about you, you know."

"I'll be alright." If only I could believe that myself, Twilight thought. If Flash noticed that she was not entirely truthful, he did not comment on that.

"OK... someone from Brotherhood should have fixed fix that armour suit that Applejack has by now. Hopefully, Aegis will be more amenable to kicking Curve Blade where it hurts now. I hate it, but... I have to go now."

"Oh... OK."

"Take care," Flash said, then hesitated slightly. After a second, he drew Twilight into a hug, being careful not to crush her with his gauntlets. Initially surprised, the equine-in-disguise hugged him back, and said:

"Thanks... you too."

As they went out and returned to others, the Paladins that were on the truck began climbing back into their truck. Putting his helmet back on, the blue-haired rocker gave one last look to Twilight, and then went to the cabin. With a roar, the truck moved away.

"Hoo-ey!" Applejack exclaimed, coming closer to everyone. "This day was a doozy, don't y'all agree?"

A chorus of various affirmative answers sounded.

"OK then, don't know about you, but Ah need some rest," the farm girl asid, and went in the direction of her house.

"I think I'll do that too," Twilight said, following her.





Cold, mocking laughter assaulted twilight Sparkle's ears as she was looking at...

...herself.

The form in front of her was wearing the same Vault 75 jumpsuit as she, and carried the same weapons, AP-79 TODC assault rifle most noticeable of them.

The only difference between them both was the strange colour of Other Twilight's eyes. The whites were not white, but green, the iris was red and the pupils were turned into slits.

It was as if King Sombra's eyes replaced her own.

As Twilight struggled to process what she was seeing, the Other Twilight drew a mocking laugh.

"What's the matter, Princess? Are you not happy to see me?"

"Who are you?!" the lavender-skinned girl screamed, a mixed feeling of fear and resentment running through her.

"Why, I am surprised. I am you. The part of you that has always been with you. When you hurt. When you maimed. When you killed... I was there."

"Horseapples!" Twilight shouted. "This cannot be! You're... impossible!"

"Am I?" the mocking tone did not go anywhere. "Then how could you commit those acts? You, Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, the wielder of the Element of Magic, who did not destroy Nightmare Moon, or Discord, or Tirek, or Starlight Glimmer, despite what they have all done in the past and tried to do again when you were there? These types, let me remind you, could have destroyed the whole world of Equestria, and yet you turned them all back... except Tirek, but oh well, nobody liked him anyway. Sombra doesn't count; it was Cadence who struck the final blow. And yet look!"

Suddenly, the area around was laden with something that certainly did not resembled earth.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!" the Princess of Friendship screamed once she saw...

...corpses.

Each and every corpse was somehow familiar to her. Some faces were more familiar than the others. She could clearly see Fast Grabber and the men that she had shot in that accursed tunnel, but other faces were also there - the raiders, the bandits. Some corpses belonged to animals: radsorpions, mole rats, and various others.

"Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. Who could have guessed that she was a killer! That she would abandon the ideals of friendship and kill, kill and kill anyone who stands in her way!" the Other Twilight screamed in delight, and laughed evilly. "Oh, if only Celestia could see it..."

"That's... not true! It's you who delights in death and wanton destruction!" Twilight pointed an accusing finger at her evil doppelganger.

"Ah, but Twilight..." suddenly, the Other Twilight was standing very close to her and approaching, "I am you."

And she put her hands around the equine Princess' waist, drawing her into a hug.

"And I am not leaving you," the voice of the double dropped in volume.

Suddenly, as their bodies contacted, the Other Twilight began melting into real Twilight, trying to forge itself into her...

No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no! Get away! GET AWAY!!!

The words, however, were stopped as the red slitted eyes met the violet ones and filled the field of vision completely...





"AAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"

Panting, Twilight realized that she just had another nightmare.

"Celestia banish it all to the moon and to Tartarus!" she cursed. "I have had enough of this..."

Rummaging in her rucksack, she took out a canteen with whiskey within. Uncapping it, she took a good swig. The harsh liquid burned her mouth and her throat as it ran down, but she paid it no heed.

She only wanted to make her brain empty so that no grotesque imagery would disturb her rest.

She took another swig, and waited. Several minutes later, she realized that she started feeling slightly dizzy.

Taking another swig for good measure, she screwed the cap back, put the canteen away and plopped back on her bed, praying to Celestia that nothing pervaded her dreams...





The next day was not promising to be eventful.

While Twilight was drowsy from all the whiskey she had drunk, no one called her out on that, presuming that her state was from the tiredness and excitement of yesterday.

Brotherhood Paladins arrived the next day and went to teach Applejack how to wear her power armour suit. While the girl knew the basics, some of the intricacies were still a dark area for her, and she had to undergo several hours worth of rigorous training.

However, it was worth it in the end, as she walked and moved around with no problems, which made Twilight, Sunset, Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh smile. Since she did not have a helmet with heads-up display, the Paladins used Silicon Stone's Pip-Boy as the status monitor for Applejack's power armour.

Finally, she stepped out of the suit and closed it herself, beaming, causing a small round of applause.

"And there you are, Miss Applejack," said one of the Paladins.

"Thank ya kindly, sirs."

"No problem. Wear that armour proud and use it for good. May the Steel be with you."

With these words, the Paladins left. As they were gone, Sunset approached Applejack and said:

"Applejack, do you remember telling me about a Vault-Tec rep that lives here in Appletown?"

"Oh, Umbra Deal? Yeah, Ah do. You wanna talk to him about the Vaults and the nasty stuff they did there?"

"I do."

"I would like to hear something about this too," Twilight said.

"Ah'll lead you to him."

The trip took only a few minutes. Umbra Deal turned out to live in a wooden house that was almost luxurious by Wastelands' standards. As Applejack knocked on his door, he opened it, wearing decent pre-apocalypse shirt and trousers.

"Ah, Miss Applejack!" he exclaimed with a voice that was not atypical of various public relation managers or shop sellers that really, really wanted you to buy this very item. "To what do I owe the pleasure."

"Mah friend here wanted to talk with you about something regarding Vault-Tec," the farm girl replied, pointing at Sunset, who was trying to maintain a friendly expression. "She is out of the Vault herself."

"Oh, is she?" his face lit up. "Well, OK, come in, come in, miss..?"

"Sunset Shimmer, and this is Twilight Sparkle, my comrade."

"Welcome, welcome," Umbra Deal said with a jovial voice. As everyone entered, he asked:

"May I interest you in tea or something else?"

"No, thank you... some answers would be nice, though," Sunset said, dropping all pretense of friendliness.

"Answers? I do not get it..." he started, but stopped as three pistols aimed at him. He shouted, in an unnaturally high-pitched voice:

"What are you doing?!"

"Read this," Twilight brandished the letter to the Overseer of Vault 49, "very carefully."

Shaking, Umbra Deal took the letter and read it. As he finished, he dropped it in shock and his face went even paler than others believed possible.

"I don't believe this! This cannot be!" he shouted.

"And yet it happened. And if you are this unbelieving, there is always Vault 49 to check out," Sunset said.

"I want to see it! I don't believe you!" Umbra Deal said, suddenly feeling very brave - perhaps foolishly brave, since the trio was quite ready to gun him down in case he tried something.

"Ah can arrange that," Applejack growled.





The trip to Vault 49 took no more than an hour. Fortunately for them, the village where Twilight and Sunset had encountered Applejack for the first time was still empty - apparently, Curve Blade did not want to waste his troops on holding small villages anymore.

All the way, Sunset was giving filthy glares to Umbra Deal, making her displeasure with vault-Tec well-known to him. The man did not look comfortable in the slightest, but all attempts to protest were squashed by angry looks of Twilight and Applejack. The latter let him know that she did not like megacorporations at all to begin with, and since he contributed little to Appletown, she felt no obligations toward him and would gladly kick him out if he ran his mouth off.

When they arrived at Vault 49, he did not take the scenes inside it well, confirming the suspicions that he was a mere white-collar worker. As he explained, his work was centered on finding clients who would buy a place in the Vault, but he never dealt with Vault 49 - or Vault 75.

At one place where there was a lot of blood, Umbra actually vomited, making others look at him with distaste.

"Oh come on," Twilight said, "even I did not vomit, and I am no hardened warrior."

As they had inspected Overseer's office, Umbra Deal was forced to admit that something was not right, since the Vaults he had worked with looked differently and never possessed the data he had seen on the Overseer's terminal.

"There was nothing suspicious in those Vaults I worked with," he told them as they left the Vault and were walking to the end of the village, "so someone else was responsible."

"And how do I find that out?" Sunset asked.

"The only way is to find Vault-Tec HQ in Canterlot or the CEO's Vault somewhere in the Wastelands, but I honestly don't..."

Suddenly, Umbra Deal's head split apart as a bullet tore through it, splattering the girls with blood and brain matter. He died before his body even hit the ground.

"SNIPER!" Applejack bellowed, opening fire in the approximate direction of the unknown assailant. "Quick, get to the building!"

"Isn't that where the sniper might be?" Twilight questioned the order.

"We can't just stand here in the open!"

Good point, actually, Twilight thought as she sprinted towards the house, adding some of her own bullets to the mix. She ran inside...

"OOF!"

...and hit something, bouncing back and bringing Sunset with her. 

Wait - there was nothing in front of me... she thought, but a jolt of pain did not let her. As both Equestrians tumbled on the floor, Applejack was unable to stop in time and tripped against them, falling hard on Twilight.

"OUCH!"

"Sorry, sugarcube!" the farm girl apologized. As they tried to untangle themselves, they suddenly saw just what Twilight ran into.

Or rather whom.

A human figure, female, judging by the body proportions, was also half-lying, a bit winded. Everything she wore was black or painted black, she had a mask that was hiding her face, dark motorcycler's glasses that were certainly of military class were hiding her eyes behind solar-proof lenses, and a hood was also present.

Along with an unmistakable profile of a sniper rifle with a silencer on her back.

"Black Widow!" Applejack snarled, clumsily standing up and charging at the infamous assassin. However, by that time the latter was already on her feet, and she quickly delivered a strong kick to the farmer's stomach, making her double, and then did a vicious uppercut to her nose, making her tumble.

Both Twilight and Sunset lost their weapons when they fell, so the former tried to go for her pistol. However, the assassin quickly struck her as she pushed the trigger, making the shot go wide, and then punched the lavender-skinned girl to the nose. Twilight saw stars as she fell, barely able to avoid a hard strike of her head.

Sunset, being more prepared for close combat, attacked Black Widow as the latter took out some strange pistol and was aiming at her. She grabbed the right hand and twisted it; however, the assassin stepped hard on Sunset's toes and added a hit with her head, unblocking herself. As she turned, Applejack, who already recovered and was standing, took a swing at her, hitting her right cheek-bone. Black Widow fell, but managed to use the momentum to do a backward roll and stand on her legs. This put her in a precarious position, as the only exit was blocked by three enraged girls (Twilight managed to get her pain under control and also stood up, pissed off).

She did not wait until anyone tried to move against her and went after Twilight, seeking to incapacitate her and use the "hole" to escape. However, Applejack intercepted her half-way and tried to land a hit on the assassin with her powerful fists. Black Widow, however, either deflected the attacks or outright dodged them, and once was able to, she hit Applejack to solar plexus and threw her away to the corner.

Without talking, Twilight and Sunset lunged at Black Widow, who jumped to the side so as the equine Princess would be closer. This time, Twilight was not planning to go down that quickly, and blocked the assassin's attacks more or less successfully, but as she tried to punch the black-clad woman, her hand got caught in a grip, and then she was thrown over the back to the side.

Applejack tried to attack again, but the assassin caught her hand and pulled, making the farm girl's face meet her fist as it flew forward.

Crack!

Howling in pain, Applejack fell back again, clutching her back. Losing no time, Black Widow lunged at Sunset, seeking to remove her only block to the exit and brandishing a vicious-looking knife. Sunset took out her own and engaged the assassin in a knife duel.

The blades clinked and clanked as both adversaries were fighting each other. Black Widow's attacks were quick and aimed to be precise, while Sunset used more brawlish attacks as if she were using a saber and an advantage she had in terms of personal defense (Black Widow was wearing less armour than her and had to protect more of her flesh).

Twilight grabbed the assassin's right hand from behind, which prompted the latter to elbow her to the stomach. Gasping from pain, Twilight jerked back, but did not release her hand, making Black Widow lose her balance slightly, and as the black-clad woman tried to stand, the equine Princess hurled her away from the exit...

...and the assassin banged her head against the table standing nearby, which knocked her out.

Silence reigned.

"Owww..." Twilight moaned, rubbing her stomach as she went to pick up her weapons.

"Everyone OK?" Sunset spoke, picking her own weapons as well and putting the knife back.

"Ah think mah nose is broken," Applejack spoke nasally, her face stained with blood.

"Hold on," the fiery-haired girl came to Applejack, "I'll just..." twisting the nose, she snapped it into its place, making Applejack gasp and then breathe out.

"Thanks," she spoke nasally.

"No prob."

"Hey, let's tie up this assassin. Ah'm quite curious as to who she is."

"What are we going to tie her with?" Twilight asked.

"Ah have some rope," Applejack set her rucksack on the floor and brandished several lassos she had. "Just a couple o' minutes an' she's secure.

"Here's the chair," the Princess of Friendship put the aforementioned object away from the table. She and Sunset unceremoniously hoisted the unconscious assassin on it and took away all weapons they could find. Applejack tied Black Widow to the chair, then tied her hands behind it, and also took care to tie her legs against the chair's legs.

"If this were anyone else, i would've called you paranoid," Twilight commented.

"Well, she warrants it," the farm girl replied.

"Uhhh..." they heard the woman moan and move her head slightly as she regained consciousness.

"Well, well, well, sugarcube," Applejack spoke coldly and menacingly, "now what in tarnation d'ya think you're doin', huh? Runnin' around, killin' people... Ah bet you would've killed us too? Well, too bad: you won't. 'Cause Ah owe ya for Braeburn, bitch. But before that, Ah wanna see your face an' look to your eyes..."

With these words, the country girl approached the assassin and took down the hood first. Then she slightly pulled the glasses forward and hunked them upwards, taking them away. As it turned out, Black Widow had azure eyes, which were now glaring ice-cold daggers at Applejack.

"Figures your eyes would be cold as winter," the latter commented. "An' now let's see what you look like..."

With these words, she took off the facial mask...

The girls gasped. Twilight gasped, Sunset muttered, "This cannot be!", and Applejack simply lost her jaw as the assassin's aristocratically pale flesh came to light, and the refined voice thundered with higher-class Canterlotian accent:

"Untie me this instant, Applejack!"

Unable to hide their shock anymore, the girls gasped:

"RARITY?!!!"
> Chapter 21: Widow's vendetta
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 21

Widow's vendetta


Twilight, Sunset and Applejack stood, mouths agape. The sheer wrongness of what they were seeing was so great that their brains had problems comprehending it.

"Ow, ow," they suddenly heard someone moan; Spike got out of Twilight's rucksack, rubbing his head. "I don't remember being thrown around like that..."

Then his eyes landed on the human counterpart of the pony he had been crushing on for a long time.

"Rarity?" he exclaimed, initially happy, but immediately frowning afterwards. "But... weren't we fighting Black Widow?"

After saying this, his eyes immediately shrinked to pinpricks (metaphorically speaking), and he gasped.

"This... this is a joke, ain't it?" Applejack muttered. "It can't be..."

Suddenly, she grabbed a fistful of Rarity's hair and gave a hard tug.

"OWWW!" the (now former) fashionista screamed in pain. "Can you please desist from making me bald?"

"What did you do that for, Applejack?" Twilight asked, bewildered.

"Ah kinda hoped that Rarity's face and hair were a fake, a mask, that someone else was just hiding under it..." the farm girl spoke quietly, green eyes still wide wit disbelief...

But suddenly, they narrowed to slits, and with an inarticulate cry of rage, her face twisted in unrecognizable fury, Applejack lunged at Rarity, hitting her right cheek-bone hard near the eye. The indigo-haired girl cried out of pain and the chair almost fell back under the force of impact, but Twilight caught it in time, while Sunset intercepted the farmer half-way and attempted to push her back while the latter tried to take another swing at Rarity. Recognizing the threat, Twilight slowly moved the chair further away (the weight of the fashionista-turned-assassin did not help matters).

"LET ME GO!" Applejack thundered, giving Sunset a full taste of high-decibels voice.

"Applejack, calm down!"

"AH WILL NOT CALM DOWN! SHE KILLED BRAEBURN! AH'LL MAKE HER PAY!"

"No you won't, not right now! We still don't know why!"

"AH DON'T CARE WHY! SHE KILLED ONE OF MAH FAMILY, AND SHE WILL PAY FOR THAT!!!" the country girl was unrecognizable right now, full of unmitigated hatred and malice, raging and trying to get past Sunset. The fiery-haired girl was doing her best to prevent Applejack from doing further body damage to Rarity, but the apple farmer was stronger than her, and was gaining ground, forcing Twilight to drag the chair further and further away.

"Stop messing with the chair, Twilight, and help me!" the unicorn-turned-human shouted to her compatriot, drawing on the last reserves of her strength to stand her ground. The equine Princess heeded the call and began pushing Applejack away from the newly-revealed Black Widow.

"YOU TOO, TWILIGHT?!"

"Me too, Applejack! I am not pleased at all, but I want to listen to her!"

"WELL AH DON'T WANNA LISTEN, AH JUST WANNA MAKE HER HURT!"

"You're not yourself right now because you want revenge!"

"DARN TOOTIN' AH WANT REVENGE! FOR BRAEBURN AN' ALL THE DECENT FOLK SHE MURDERED!!!"

"Decent?!" Rarity spoke for the first time, exclaiming in apparent outrage. "I will have you know, Applejack, that none of the people I have killed deserved to be called "decent"! Not at all!"

"WHAT?!" if Applejack was furious before, the last statement made her apoplectic. "HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT ABOUT MAH COUSIN, YA FUCKING BITCH?!"

"I dare, Applejack!" the fashionista snarled, looking unfazed by Applejack's now purple enraged facial expression. "And please refrain from using such slanderous words about me!"

"LIKE TARTARUS AH WILL REFRAIN! YOU DARE CLAIM THAT, YET YOU TRIED TO FUCKING KILL US NOT EVEN TEN FUCKING MINUTES AGO!"

"If I wanted to kill anyone of you, at least one of you would be dead right now!"

"YA TRIED TO KILL ME WHEN YA KILLED BRAEBURN!!!"

"Again, if I wanted to, you would have been dead!" Rarity's face reddened from her own anger, too.

"HOW CAN YA SPEAK OF FUCKIN' DECENCY WHEN YOU HAVE NONE LEFT, KILLIN' LEFT AN' RIGHT AN' BACKSTABBIN' LIKE A THIEF?! WHOM ELSE WOULD YOU KILL IF YOU DECIDED THEY LOST THEIR DECENCY?! SUNSET?! TWILIGHT?! MAHSELF?! OR EVEN YOUR OWN FAMILY?!"

Unnoticed by anyone, the blood has abruptly left Rarity's face, making her look even more pale than she normally was, almost unnaturally grey-pale. Paying no heed to it, Applejack was basking in her own anger at what she thought of as the ultimate betrayal of their friendship.

"AH BET SWEETIE BELLE WOULD FUCKING DENOUNCE YOU AS A SISTER IF SHE KNEW WHAT YOU WERE UP TO..."

"Sweetie Belle is DEAD!!!!!"

The last word came out as a full-out shriek, as loud as some female tennis players' shouts.

A loud "Whoa!" and a tumble followed as Applejack stopped her furious advance on the former fashionista who adopted the title of Black Widow and became an infamous assassin. Twilight and Sunset, who were not expecting it, fell on top of the country girl as they lost their balance after her. When they stood up and turned to their (possibly former) friend, they gasped.

Rarity was breathing heavily now, her face was contorted in a grimace of pain and rage at something that was still plagueing her, azure eyes glistening with tears, some of them making their way down. Everyone noticed the lack of blackness as the tears were not intermixed with cosmetics; apparently, Rarity did not use mascara anymore.

"You are angry because I killed your cousin, Applejack?!" she screamed, unable to contain her emotions. "Well newsflash, I was angry with him too! My parents died in a terrorist attack in Stalliongrad, and Sweetie Belle was my only relative! I tried to send her away to one of the Vaults, and he was supposed to get her in there, but he let in someone else, for money, and when the Day of Burning came, she didn't get in, and was left to die from radiation sickness! You have Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh and others... but because of him, I have no family left!!!" the assassin finished in a hysterical voice.

Silence reigned, broken only by loud sniffs as Rarity tried to prevent the mucus running down from her nose. For several minutes, nobody spoke: Rarity did not want to, and Twilight, Sunset and Applejack were too shocked and unable to properly formulate a thought; it was as if something opened a hole in their heads that blew away all the minds. Internally, Twilight cynically decided that this something was a proverbial sniper bullet.

"Why..." Applejack was no less angry, but she relented in her attempts to tear Rarity a new one, "why didn't ya come to me?" she asked as everyone rose up and dusted themselves.

"Why?" the pale-skinned girl laughed without a mirth in her voice. "Yeah, imagine that scene where I come to you and say: "Hello, Applejack, Braeburn is guilty of my sister's death and I want to kill him; want to join?" and you say, "Sure, no problem" - for stars' sake, this is ridiculous!"

"We could've done something else that didn't involve killing him!"

"And how, pray tell, would he pay for Sweetie Belle's death?"

"Must you be so fixated on vengeance?!"

"For seven years, I was living perfectly sure that my sister was safe and sound in a Vault where Braeburn was supposed to put her in. Seven years, Applejack! And yet here I learn that she was not let in, and as the bomb exploded, she was left behind the door of the Vault, all because Braeburn took a bribe so that someone else would take her place!"

"WHAT?!" Everyone was nearly deafened as the blonde girl almost exceeded one hundred decibels. "He'd never do that!"

"I wouldn't have killed him if I hadn't obtained proof beforehand, Applejack."

"An' where is it?"

"In my safehouse. I do not really have a habit of carrying proof around."

"OK, wait a second," Twilight spoke up. "You killed Braeburn because he took a bribe and swapped Sweetie Belle with someone else?"

"Yes, except he did not swap Sweetie Belle himself; it was done by another guy when he was deciding who would be the odd one to cross out."

"And that guy is..?"

"Dead. By my hands."

"OK. I think I understand your reasons behind killing those two. But what about everyone else?"

"Oooh, darling, it actually gets better - or worse, depending on your viewpoint. Do you know of Societal Preservation Program?"

A chorus of "yes" answers followed.

"Then you have an idea on what am I talking about. You see, Vault 94, where I lived, had a strict military management. Each and every inhabitant, myself included, was expected to be proficient at fighting. That's how I became a sniper: the Overseer, who doubled as the military commander, noticed this and assigned me to sniper training. We used virtual reality simulators to try different scenarios. As it turned out, our mini-society was supposed to be militarized, to see how well we would do in re-colonizing the Wastelands. When radiation levels were reduced to tolerable levels or twenty years passed, whichever came first, we were supposed to exit the Vault and form our community. The experiment failed when a freak accident in the reactor area caused a catastrophic leak of radioactive materials, which were scooped up by ventilation system and distributed throughout the whole Vault. We had to abandon the Vault as radiation levels rose to critical, but it was so quick that aside from those not already in full hazmat suits, very few survived - many simply did not get out before catching a fatal radiation dose. But compared to Vault 85 where I had sent Sweetie to, our experiment was benign..."

"And what was in Vault 85?"

"The most interesting thing... experiments with Forced Evolutionary Virus! Or FEV as it's more commonly known. Ever seen a super mutant? Well, turns out that this is the result influence of this very virus. A super soldier experiment the kind of which everyone liked to read in various conspiracy stories or science fiction, except that now it is not fiction - it has existed since war times as the military was desperately seeking for a way to one-up the forces of TODC. The super soldier mutants they had got from the first more or less successful batch did indeed possess great strength, but it significantly reduced their intelligence, and they were not at all controllable. So they decided to try and create a new strain of FEV, with advantages of the first version but which would not make super mutants stupid, and of course, they needed living stock for experiments. And such equipment was found in Vault 85. Three guesses on whom they did the experiments?!"

The expressions on girls' faces told Rarity everything; no words were needed.

"And Vault 85 was not the only one. There were other Vault Dwellers who told horrid tales of just what was done in the Vaults... some of those bunkers worked as needed, but others are a stuff of nightmares. When I learned of that, I just... lost it. The whole Vault-Tec was a cesspit that not only profited from the desperate people, but treated them like disposable trash! And I... I was helping people to get a place in the Vaults!" the sudden shout started everyone.

"You did?"

"Yes! I was running a charity designed to help those who were worried for their loved ones but lacked the money... I was earning a great sum of money with my outfits for the higher-ups, so I managed to coax them into donating... some other people volunteered to help... even the stars, like Sapphire Shoes and Photo Finish, organized charity events aimed at helping people in saving their future. Common citizens also cashed in, of course. Even the government supported us a bit! And these ruffians at Vault-Tec used all of this, used me, for their sick experiments!!!" 

Everyone stood slack-jawed as the former fashionista lost control of herself and spilled out her compressed fury:

"My fury was indescribable. Of all the things this could have happened, this was the WORST! POSSIBLE!! THING!!! I could not take it anymore. It was as if someone drove daggers into my back over and over again, hurting me not only physically, but morally... and that someone was Vault-Tec. I could not bring back the people who died because of me, or my sister... but I still had my sniper rifle, and I had a set of armour. I thought that if in this world, justice has been relegated to mere vengeance, then I will have it, on behalf of everyone who suffered from the hands of Vault-Tec. I swore to myself that I will exact revenge for Sweetie Belle, for those whom I helped but in reality failed..." 

"And so the Black Widow was born?" Sunset asked.

"Not immediately. I began tracking my targets who worked in Vault-Tec and disposing of them with my sniper rifle, one by one. I left an image of a black spider on victim's corpses each and every time, as my personal sign. It caught on with whoever runs Canterlot Wastelands News, so some time later, they gave me the moniker of Black Widow. And I decided to utilize this to my advantage. By then, I had already established a hideout, so I repainted my armour black, started wearing black clothes, and put on a mask so that my identity would remain unknown."

"But no one realized you were hunting Vault-Tec employees?"

"No one liked to brag about that by that time. Depending on one's personal experience with Vaults, the relationships between Wastelanders and Vault-Tec employees varied from "tolerated" to "killed on sight", so now everyone of the latter ones prefers to keep quiet. So no one had made a pattern. And I did not restrict myself to them..."

"Of course ya didn't..." Applejack muttered angrily.

"...I also hunted those... disreputable types like raiders, slavers or bandits from time to time, which added confusion - and benefitted me. Perhaps you have heard - I killed the second-in-command of that gang, White Knives."

"There were also Crimson Hands mercenaries that ambushed us in a village. Applejack and Big Macintosh saved us back then, but two mercs escaped - or we so thought, because they were found dead with images of a black spider on them," Twilight remembered. "You were there?"

"Yes. I was ready to kill Foul Shot and sow confusion among his cohorts so that you would escape, but Applejack and Big Macintosh did that first, so I only... mopped up the rest," Rarity replied.

"I have heard that one of them... er, pissed himself with fright," Sunset said. "Is this true?"

"Sunset!" Applejack scolded her.

"What? I am curious."

"Yes," the (ex?) fashionista's nose wrinkled as she vividly remembered the disgusting smell of urine, "he did. I almost decided not to leave my mark on him."

"Your mark?"

"The image of a spider."

"Oh."

"And how come I didn't see you when we collided into each other?" Twilight inquired.

"I use an optical camouflage device, known as Stealth-Boy. Useful little thing. But, unfortunately, when you bumped into me, I fell the wrong way and smashed it against the floor, which broke it. I planned to escape unseen before or after you entered the building, but..." Rarity rolled her eyes. "Well, I was unable to."

"There's one other question I wanted to ask you, then," the facial expression of the Princess of Friendship turned deadly serious. "Why did you not contact anyone when you learned we were alive?"

The question was unexpected for the indigo-haired girl, and she almost lost her jaw at hearing it.

"I mean, you obviously saw me and Sunset, and you knew Applejack was alive as well. Why did you contact no one?"

Rarity cast her eyes down and looked away, trying to fight the tears that threatened to come from her eyes. When she looked back at Twilight, her expression became sad, not one of her usual patented drama-queen-moment sad, but depressingly sad.

"Because I knew from the very moment when I saw Applejack that night when I killed Braeburn... that should you learn of what I have become, what I have done... you will hate me. All those seven years before I returned to the surface, I have lived assured that all of my friends were dead. I never made any new friends in Vault 94; we were supposed to be mere soldiers and killing machines, not friends. The survivors dispersed, and when I realized that Sweetie Belle was dead and Vault-Tec were even more morally bankrupt than I had believed, I felt I was alone: no family, no friends, nothing but armour on me and a sniper rifle behind my back... and my desire for revenge. With nothing to keep my dark urges in check, I fully gave into them. Some part of me knew that this was not really the right way... but these urges were the only thing that powered me and kept me going on. But seeing you... makes me feel that all I had done has been for nothing... again... and I did not want to admit that. I knew you would never approve of what I had done..."

"Damn right Ah wouldn't," Applejack interrupted her.

"...and I fully believed that you would denounce me as your friend. Having learned you were alive... I did not want to lose you again. I thought that it would be preferrable if you considered me missing, or dead... but not as a cold-blooded, merciless assassin."

Once again, silence reigned as Rarity finished speaking. Everybody was processing the newly-received information on how their generous (sometimes over-generous) friend has turned into one of the most infamous personas in Canterlot Wastelands, blindsided by her grief, anger, and loneliness.

Sunset Shimmer knew all too well what kind of a person one can become when all alone and confronting the demons inside them. Remembering her times in Vault 75, she reflected on how she was slowly reverting to some of her old habits of bitterness and cynicism, and how Twilight's appearance melted her heart - at least, partially. She was fully certain of one thing - in Rarity's place, she would have done the same.

Applejack was furious beyond belief at how Rarity turned herself into what the country girl wholeheartedly despised, and yet she understood well that the indigo-haired girl was not lying. There was no hint of deception in the azure eyes; when cornered and denied escape, Rarity bared everything in her soul, believing that she would be judged, abandoned, condemned and forgotten. Moreover, if the blonde were to be honest with herself, she would have gone axe-crazy, should someone murder Big Macintosh or, Tartarus forbid and forget it, Apple Bloom. She took Braeburn's death very hard, but someone you shared parents with? Privately, she admired Rarity's restraint and calculation - her decision would have been along the lines of "burst through the front door and shoot everyone".

Twilight Sparkle was incensed at the unfairness of what had happened to their fashionista friend. Feeling betrayed by those whom she trusted, and the belief that all of her good work had been twisted into evil, coupled with the collapse of the whole world on the Day of Burning, Rarity was left desperate and desolate, and latched onto the very first thing that could offer her some comfort - the desire for revenge. In the absence of her friends, revenge has become her friend.

"So," Rarity spoke, "here I am now. What are you going to do to me now?"

The question shook everyone out of the stupor. As everyone looked at her, she prayed that someone would end this nightmarish occasion soon.

Finally, Twilight said:

"You mentioned you had a hideout, right? With the proof of what Braeburn did?"

"Yes. I do not have the coordinates in my Pip-Boy, though."

"I didn't want them in the first place. Lead us there. Show your proof."

"Twi? Ya sure?" Applejack spoke skeptically.

"We won't give her weapons back to her, for now," turning back to the fashionista-turned-assassin, the equine asked: "You agree?"

"It's not like I have better options, darling. I agree. But am I allowed to walk or will someone carry the chair with me tied to it? The latter option is garish, not to mention impractical..."





Rarity's hideout, as Twilight, Sunset and Applejack learned, was a cleverly-masked cellar in a destroyed house in one of the villages that were located further from Appletown and closer to twin towers (although the fashionista said that those buildings were not towers at all if compared to those of pre-apocalypse megacities) where some of the surviving elite settled themselves.

"Ya live in there?" Applejack asked, surprised.

"Yes. They charge exorbitant sums of caps, but many of the inhabitants want to dress well, and since I am the only fashionista that had higher-class connections in there, they usually go to me if they want something sewn. Caravans deliver pre-war clothes which I can reuse to create something else. The end product costs a lot, but the elites pay well... and I can use the caps to purchase something discreetly, if necessary."

"And this hideout?"

"I don't know whose it was, but the owner or owners never got the chance to use it, judging by their skeletons on the ruined sofa," Rarity pointed to the objects in question.

"Oh."

"But that hideout had been stocked pretty well - while I was not inclined to use many things like assault rifles or shotguns, I could reliably restock my sniper rifle and silenced pistol ammo, as well as spend some time here if needed. Without it, my ability to operate as Black Widow would have been limited. It even had Stealth-Boys and night vision goggles, which were literally a star-gift, as they allowed me to hunt during the day as well as night."

"You aren't kidding," Sunset remarked, studying the weapon stash. "Methinks this hideout was used by smugglers. I already recognized a number of things that were not allowed for distribution among civilians, and the silenced pistol you mentioned - is it SHW-77?"

"Yes, it's .22 pistol with integreted silencer. Quite easily concealable."

"Can we please see that proof we were talking about?" Applejack spoke, annoyed.

"Oh, of course. Here," opening a drawer in a table, Rarity took out a small book and gave it to the country girl. "It's Braeburn's diary. I have bookmarked the places which... influenced my decision to kill him."

Taking it, Applejack delved into the secrets of her cousin that he never shared with anyone. As she read it, her eyes got progressively wider and wider, until she just dropped the book out of her suddenly numb fingers.

"Applejack?" Twilight asked, worried.

"Oh consarnit, Twi... Rarity was right..." the blonde muttered, positioning herself near the wall and sliding to the floor. Picking up the book, Twilight read just what drove Braeburn to commit a crime. There were no dates; apparently, Applejack's now dead cousin did not feel the need to specify what happened when, but the writings did follow a certain chronological order.

Oh my stars, am I in trouble!

The bank where I had deposited my savings just got seized by Commissariat. Turns out it was a front for some TODC agents that were trying to siphon funds!

I don't know what deity I've got to praise for walking out alive out of NSC's building after that, but they have confiscated all the money and are not going to give them back - apparently, Trottingham's High Commissar thinks we should all be able to tell if some bank or company is a TODC front and not invest in it, and taking our money is the punishment for being "too naive".

I am happy that my money will further fund the war, but what am I supposed to eat in meantime? The prices are skyrocketing, and mere Vault-Tec salary isn't cutting it. Where will I find more to last?

Flipping the page, Twilight went on:

Oof. Now I feel how bad is it not to have food in your stomach. Boy, I miss Appleloosa, and my family, but I can't even scrounge up enough many to get a transport and not to starve. Besides, whenever I see someone from Commissariat on the streets, they give me nasty looks.

For the last time, it's not my fault!

I am stretching my reserves, but a bit more and... I don't know.

A big gap of empty space followed, and another entry was now in focus of Twilight's attention. This time the writing was scrawnier - apparently, Braeburn was writing something while distressed.

NSC just tramped a food riot. I can't believe it! Maybe they should look for spies instead of doing this? I heard they even coerced some Mechanized Infantry troops into smashing the crowd.

At least it was only stun batons and non-lethal gas, but rumours are flying around that they might give heavy weapons to soldiers and just order to shoot. Lunacy.

Luckily, Ding Dong, my friend, said he could help me with my money problems. Good. I am hungry.

The page ended, and Twilight flipped over again.

Vaults are more popular than I thought. Some two guys really wanted two places in Vault 85, which is brimmed to full capacity already. And they were willing to pay a hefty sum.

Ding Dong, being in charge of managing that Vault until we choose an Overseer, can alter the papers, but he needs approval from someone who has a master key and a password... and I have both. So we decided to share the sum fifty-fifty.

I am not really sure if it is right (Applejack would definitely not approve), but I am having trouble sustaining myself even when stretching everything to the limit, and NSC has banned me from leaving Trottingham ("unreliability", they say), so what other choice do I have? If we exchange two rich guys with two other rich guys, this won't really be bad.

Another gap, and a series of small notes followed which Twilight skimmed through. Apparently, this deal brought Braeburn two point five million UFE dollars which he was careful not to spend around, and he also took care to make a passable cover story in case he was searched. The two last entries were circled in red ink, presumably by Rarity. Reading it, Twilight could not contain the expression of horror on her face.

Tartarus damn me!

Ding Dong screwed up big time - and so did I!

On a fancy, I checked the files on Vault 85 - and gasped in horror. He didn't scratch out some rich hoity-toity guys, he scratched Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara off the list. But Tiara was moved to another Vault (presumably the executives' Vault, if it exists), and yet Sweetie Belle's documents are listed as "invalidated"!

I honestly care little about other guys, but Sweetie is a best friend of Apple Bloom's, and her elder sister used to be pals with Applejack! I have to rectify this somehow!

The last entry, however, had a different tone to it. The paper had stains near it; apparently, Braeburn was crying when he wrote.

I am a failure.

The bombs fell. Trottingham is no more, and the Vaults sealed in, including Vault 85. I couldn't save the best friend of my closest relatives. I saw her body near the Vault door, along with her Pip-Boy.

Oh how I wish I hadn't agreed to that deal back then! But now, nothing can be done.

As soon as possible, I must make my way to Appletown. Radiation winds are blowing in a different direction, so I won't even need a full sealed hazmat suit there.

What to do with my life now...

"And Ding Dong?" the equine Princess asked. "Is he..?"

"Dead," Rarity confirmed. "By my hands, too. He was hiding somewhere else, until he climbed out. He never really hid his employing company - apparently, back then, really nasty news of it had not made it to the Wastelands yet - and I heard of him pretty soon after I started my quest. Killed him with a sniper rifle, one bullet to the head. He was the first one."

Suddenly, Applejack stood up and abruptly left the hideout.

"Applejack?" Sunset called after her, but received no response. Both Equestrians exchanged serious looks.

"Sunset, stay with Rarity; Spike, you stay here too. I'll go look out after her."

"Will do," both spoke in unison, and the fiery-haired girl added, "Your Highness," with a sly smile, which earned her a glare.

"Wait, "Your Highness"?" Rarity spoke up. "So this is Princess Twilight?"

"Yep."

"Oh my," the fashionista gasped, "I can't imagine how she's adapting to this world..."

I am adapting just fine, Rarity, Twilight thought. Perhaps too fine, I think...





The Princess of Friendship did not have to look for Applejack for long. The country girl was standing in a relatively intact room of the half-destroyed house that held Rarity's hideout, her back to the equine-turned-human, her posture so rigid that a drill sergeant would parade her as an example to rookies.

"Applejack?" Twilight called out.

No response followed.

"Applejack?"

Silence reigned supreme.

Strange. Is she alright?

Walking up to her friend, Twilight put a hand on her shoulder. Applejack jerked, but still said nothing.

"Applejack?"

"Ah dunno what to do, Twi."

"About what?"

"About Rarity!" suddenly, Applejack turned around, and Twilight saw (much to her shock and surprise) that Applejack's eyes were moist. "Ah hate her, Twilight, hate what she's done to mah family, to other people, to all those Vault-Tec employees,  yet at the same time Ah feel that Ah can't hate her, 'cause 'fore she met us, she had no one! You an' Sunset found each other an' stuck together, Ah had mah family to support... but Rarity... she lost everyone and was backstabbed! What Ah'm feelin' toward her is hate, rage, pity an' sadness mixed together! How is this possible?!"

"I don't know, Applejack," Twilight answered honestly. "In Equestria, I have never been in such a situation. We never had a friendship problem like that. The question is: what do you want to do?"

"Uh?"

"Do you want to kill her? Hurt her? Beat her to unconsciousness?"

"That's the thing... Ah want to, an' yet some part of me thinks Ah shouldn't..."

"Then you will have to decide whether you still want to have her as her friend... we all have to decide that..."

"Ah... Ah don't wanna lose a friend... but... it will take time. Ah... wanna talk to her some more, to see if there's still the Rarity we know an' love."

"Good idea."

Suddenly, Applejack enveloped Twilight into a hug.

"What's the hug for?"

"Do Ah need a reason?"

"Just humour me."

"Well... Ah'm grateful that you came here to find me."

"Well let's get back before Sunset and Spike get too worried."

"That fella still fancies Rarity in your world?"

"That he does..."
> Chapter 22: Spider's bite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 22

Spider's bite


As Twilight Sparkle left after Applejack, Rarity turned to Sunset and asked:

"So... Twilight has seen this world and..."

"And what?"

"Has had to adapt to it?"

"If by that you mean learning how to operate weapons and kill other things within days, then yes."

"Oh my... Has this been hard for her?"

"It certainly hasn't been easy. It wasn't easy for me, but I had the benefit of learning at a slower pace."

"And how did she get out of Canterlot? This place is considered a deathtrap..."

"She didn't appear in Canterlot. The portal's destabilized on this side."

"Oh no!" Rarity gasped. "Is she doomed to stay here? Forever?"

"We surely hope not... we have a plan."

"Oh?"

"But I am not telling you right now."

"Why would you... oh, wait. Right. I am the Black Widow."

"I think it's better for Twilight to decide whether to trust you with this information or not."

"Man, Rarity," Spike spoke for the first time in minutes, "if honestly, you were the last person I would have expected to become Black Widow."

"Well, I didn't expect it either. I never wanted to become a fighter. Fighting is not really my thing, I am more into fashion..." 

"...but you would rip anyone to pieces if they dared to attack those dear to you," Sunset finished.

"I would," the indigo-haired girl nodded.

"This reminds me of one time I tried to join some dragons to discover what it really meant to be a dragon. Alas, those dragons turned out to be plain bullies, and when they wanted me to smash a phoenix's egg and I refused, my friends, who followed me, were ready to fight them. And Rarity - the pony one - said: "Fighting is not really my thing, I am more into fashion... but I will rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on his cute little head!"

"Sounds like me alright," Rarity laughed a bit, but at this moment, the door creaked and Twilight and Applejack came back in.

"You two fine?" Sunset asked.

"Yes," Twilight answered.

"Eeyup," Aplpejack replied.

"Got any plans?"

"We still need to give that fusion core to CWN's boss... I don't want Brotherhood of Steel hounding them."

"Sounds good ta me, but what 'bout Rarity? Ah still don't wanna give her weapons back," Applejack spoke.

"Well, we can still carry them. You ready for some walk, Rarity?"

"I am darling. But may I change armour first? I do not want anyone to know Black Widow's identity... not yet, at least."

"Where is it?" Sunset asked.

"That crate close to the... ahem... bed."

Opening it, Sunset saw a full set of armour similar to the one Rarity had, but it was painted in camouflage for dry grass instead of black. As she gave it to the ex-fashionista, the latter took off her signature black armour and put it on instead.

"OK, I'm ready."

"Good," Twilight said, "let's go."





The quartet (or quinted, if one is to take Spike into account) arrived at the headquarters of Canterlot Wastelands News pretty soon. As they arrived at the gates, they noticed the familiar form of Ear Drum, who grinned and gave a sign to open the gates.

When they went in, he came up to them and asked that the "boss" wanted to see Twilight and Sunset first, while Applejack and Rarity would have to wait.

"How come?" the farm girl inquired.

"The boss didn't tell; they have some business they wanted to discuss with them," Ear Drum replied. "The boss is kinda very secretive about their identity. There could be more than one "boss" for all I know."

At these words, Twilight and Sunset did their best to maintain a straight face.

"An' y'all are fine with that?" Applejack continued.

"Sorta. CWN is not simply for music, surely you know? They also inform where it is too dangerous to go, where the raiders were last seen, that sort of thing. Many folks owe their lives to the broadcasts, so yeah, most don't care that the boss - or bosses - likes to hide themselves. So people volunteer themselves for the common good."

"I must say," Rarity interjected, "it seems like you have already established a solid community."

"True; aside from several bad apples, the people here work fine. That said, rumours say that the boss may lend some assistance to Appletown, is that true?"

"Ah don't know."

"We will ask about it," Sunset said.

"You may try, although I'm not sure they'll answer."

"That'd be a bummer. OK, we'll go to see the boss."

"And what shall we do?" Rarity asked.

"There's a bar, you may sit there."

The fashionista wrinkled her nose, not amused at the idea.

"It's decent, and if the bartender today is a man named Hunter Rose, you may enjoy chatting with him. He's a flirt, though."

"That does not sound reassuring, darling."

"Ah hay, Rarity, gentlemanry's almost dead here, don't be picky," Applejack interjected as the girls parted ways.

"Fine. But if he compliments me in an uncouth manner, give me back my pistol."

"No promises. Ah still wouldn't trust you with weapons right now."





"Hey there, you two! How's it rocking?" Lemon Zest greeted both Equestrians enthusiastically, giving both a hug, while Vinyl Scratch restricted herself to a big smile and a thumbs-up.

"We're doing good, Lemon," Sunset replied, "and we came with gifts. Twilight?"

"Oh yeah!" Twilight took out a fusion core that she had not taken out of her rucksack (luckily, as it was evident now). "Vinyl, remember you asking for a spare fusion core? Well, we found one."

"Ooohhh, that's fantastic!" the DJ beamed at them. "Now I will be able to power up some additional transmitters! Mind if you two wait and chat with Lemon while I do that? 'Cause I really don't want to invite her up there."

"Hey!" the acid-haired girl exclaimed. "I didn't know one wasn't supposed to plug that... whatever that stuff was... into that socket!"

"That socket was not designed for that... ah screw it, just stay here," with these words, Vinyl left with the fusion core.

"OK then," Lemon chirped, smiling widely, "anything you guys wanna listen to? I have some awesome rock to rock your brains!"

"More like wreck your brains," Twilight said. "How can you listen to music at those volumes?"

"Dunno, I just preferred it so," the former Crystal Prep student shrugged her shoulders as if that fact was as undeniable as Princess Celestia raising and lowering the sun in Equestria.

"And ear health never worried you?"

"Nah!"

Twilight facepalmed, while Sunset emitted a small chuckle, hiding it behind her palm.

"Anyway, Lemon," the fiery-haired girl said, "want to tell us what happened to you before apocalypse?"

"Oh, nothing much. Me, Vinyl and Octavia became close buddies, although you wouldn't have said from first sight. I mean, Vinyl's into dubstep and electronic music, I prefer rock, and Octavia's into classics, but our creative union actually bore good fruit. Our music was popular among some people, we even made it to the tops of charts once or twice... until Octavia left."

Both ponies-turned-human pointedly refused to look at each other.

"Vinyl was distressed. She tried to contact her, but Octavia disappeared without a trace. Her MyStable account was deleted, her phone was rendered unavailable, her flat was abandoned... we filed a "missing person" report, but the police told us plainly that we shouldn't be too hopeful... at that time, a number of missing persons was going overboard, apparently. We still composed music, but it was not really as good as our previous hits with Octavia, so we had to give up and go work on radio."

"What, right here?"

"Not really, the station was in the city, albeit on the outskirts. That's where we picked up on operating stuff like what you see here, by the way. Shortly before the apocalypse, Vinyl believed that bombs would fall soon, so we turned in our resignations, got our essentials and moved away, to one of the makeshift villages. It was nice and all, but turned out it was not far enough - when the bombs fell, the radioactive fallout came there with the winds, so we had to bail outta there. By chance, we stumbled upon a village that had a well-stocked hideout with some anti-radiation measures as an added bonus - apparently, the owner was paranoid enough to set that up. We waited out until most of more dangerous radionuclides fell apart, then donned hazmat suits that the basement's owner had apparently smuggled, and went around." 

"Ballsy," Sunset said. "Walking around on surface at that time was almost suicidal."

"Thanks," Lemon Zest beamed, taking the words as a compliment. "We tried listening to emergency broadcasts, but there were none. When we came here, we understood why - this very building was supposed to act as an emergency broadcast station, but no staff was here - apparently, they either didn't make it or just outright abandoned this place, so we got here and brought it up as best as we could. Vinyl had dabbled in some programming, so when we found a couple of deactivated Commissariat eyebots, still with original programs - that is, not those of NSC - she screwed up some code and we were able to observe the situation. So we started broadcasting once interference was tolerable. At first it was irregular messages, but then it slowly developed into an information network; plus, we found some music recordings and played them sometimes. So we started calling ourselves Canterlot Wastelands News, and the name stuck... oh hey, Vinyl, did it work?" the girl turned to the girl with shades who just appeared in the room.

"Yep," Vinyl smiled and gave a thumbs up, "and it all worked well! Thanks, Twilight, Sunset. If possible, can you tell the Brotherhood that I can reprogram the extra transmitters now?"

"We will at our first opportunity," Twilight replied. "Also, Vinyl... about Octavia..."

"Yes?" the smile faltered; somehow, the DJ felt that she would not like the news.

"We have encountered Bon Bon. She told us that she and Octavia worked for Directorate of Intelligence..."

"Oh! Well that explains why she bailed out on us!" Lemon Zest exclaimed.

"Yep, if DOI grabs you, you're essentially gone," Vinyl mused, "but why Octavia? And Bon Bon, for that matter."

"No idea," Sunset took over. "Patriotism, maybe?"

"Maybe, but it's still too out of character for her... anyway, what happened?"

"Well, they were working in Yakyakistan against TODC, but something went wrong with their cell - she and Bon Bon were considered to have turned away from UFE."

"Wha-a-a-a-a-at?!" the DJ raised her voice, disbelieving. "Octavia may not have been a gung-ho UFE patriot, but she certainly wouldn't do that!"

"Well yeah, Bon Bon also insists that they were not traitors, but they lacked proof - in fact, both of them were unaware of them being considered traitors. They were divided and "evacuated", and Octavia was apparently handed over to Commissariat..."

"She was executed, wasn't she?"

"Yes," the fiery-haired girl did not beat around the bush.

An uncomfortable silence fell across the room. Slowly, Vinyl Scratch raised her hand to her face, shaking, and took off her shades, revealing her cerise eyes, which were sparkling with tears. Lemon Zest's eyes widened as she heard Sunset speak, her hands flying to cover her gasp.

"Oh, Octy..." Vinyl's voice cracked as the air from her lungs met obstructions in form of lumps in her throat. "My best friend..."

Then, suddenly, she flung her arms around Lemon, burying her face in her shoulder and sniffing as the torrent of emotions overwhelmed her. Stunned for a moment, the lime-haired rock music fan embraced the DJ, lending a friendly shoulder. Twilight and Sunset looke slightly away, feeling bad about upsetting the one who helped them defeat the sirens.

However, Lemon shook her head in the direction where she and Vinyl were standing, and mouthed "group hug" at them. Taking the hint, both Equestrians joined in. Though surprised, Vinyl appreciated the gesture of comfort.

"Thank you," she said, turning to Twilight and Sunset. "I know what they say about ignorance being bliss, but I would rather know what happened than torment myself with not knowing."

Going up to one of the cabinets, she opened the door and rummaged inside for a bit, before approaching both of them.

"Here, for your trouble," she gave them a small box with neatly organized Nuka-cider bottle caps. Doing a quick count, Twilight realized that there were 400 caps in total.

"Thanks, Vinyl," Sunset said.

"Since you've given me the power core, I will keep my promise and send some of my militiamen to Appletown. I know that you have other business to do, but if you help me once more, I will be very grateful."

"What does this help entail?" Twilight asked.

"If Commissariat got their slimy hands on Octavia with treason charge, it's highly unlikely that she survived, so I am not holding out hopes for her miracuously appearing out of nowhere... but if there is something of her belongings that survived, I would like to get it. There is also our apartment in Trottingham - if it survived, check it out; we had a secret stash of sorts for something to leave for others if one of us... didn't make it."

"We will see if it's possible," Sunset said. "Twilight, your opinion?"

"Well, I hope we can spare some time," the Princess replied.

"Then you accept?" Vinyl asked.

"Yes."

"Splendid!" for the first time since receiving news of Octavia's death, Vinyl smiled for a bit. Rummaging in her pockets, she took out a small piece of paper and a set of keys. "The address is written on paper, and the keys are for our flat and the safe in there. Don't know if your Pip-Boys have the map with streetnames, though."

"It doesn't, but I lived there for a while; I remember some things," Sunset replied.

Suddenly, a buzzer sounded, its annoying tones resembling those of an annoying insect. Upon hearing this, Vinyl quickly came up to one of the panels and spoke, pushing down one of the buttons:

"Yes?"

"Boss," Ear Drum's voice sounded from the loudspeaker, "we've got problems. Raider gangs incoming."

"White Knives?"

"Doesn't look like them; may be their allies, though."

"Defend the base, I'll send the guests to help," closing the connection, the cobalt blue-haired girl turned to the Equestrians. "Girls? If you two and your friends assist my men in defending the HQ, me and Lemon will have more men to spare for Appletown."

"Say no more," Sunset answered, "I, for one, am already tired of raider scum."





"...so yet another green FNG comes to me and says: "Quartermaster, Sir? I was ordered by Lieutenant Adamant to fetch a bucket of prop wash", and I was so fed up with Adamant's jokes that when I informed that poor private that "prop wash" is slang for the turbulence created by the air being blown by an active propeller of a helicopter, I offered him a chance at revenge," Hunter Rose spoke, taking a swig of Nuka-Cider and telling Applejack and Rarity a story from his army days.

"How uncouth of the Lieutenant," Rarity scoffed. "To deliberately misinform the new soldiers for mere amusement? Lunacy."

"Hey, it's never easy in the army, Rarity, surely the soldier fellas you knew taught you that?" Applejack spoke up.

"I do know that it is not easy, but doing such things is still rather counterproductive, don't you think?"

"She has a point there," Hunter said. "Anyway, I knew from my friend that there actually was a real Prop Wash, which is a solution used to clean propellers of aircraft or the rotor blades of helicopters, borrowed a car, drove for about 6 hours to a nearby Air Force Base that had some extra for their own airplanes, and then drove back. My god, when the private showed Adamant the cans of Prop Wash - man, his face was priceless!" the bartender laughed hard, and both young women joined him. "Needless to say, he stopped pranking FNGs after that."

"Did he give ya beef for that?"

"He was pissed, but hey, he gave the order himself, so he had no reason to complain."

Suddenly, someone burst into the bar and shouted:

"Raiders incoming! Everyone to the defense wall!"

The patrons of CWN HQ's bar immediately dropped all their business and rushed out to join them. Frowning, Hunter Rose unholstered his sniper rifle and said:

"You two aren't obliged to join, but if you do, no one will say anything against it," he said, and went out. Rarity turned to Applejack and said:

"Applejack, are you planning to help them?"

"Ah'd rather wait and see what Twilight and Sunset will say 'bout this," the farm girl replied. "Why're you asking?"

"You still have my weapons..."

"Oh hay no, Rarity! Ah'm not givin' those back!"

"Do you expect me to stay away and not fight?"

"Ah don't think you can actually fight," the stress on the last word was laced with sarcasm.

"Oh puh-leeeease," Rarity adopted the high-and-mighty tone she tended to use when miffed, "I am no less of a competent fighter just because I prefer precise strikes over spraying and praying," the derisiveness towards Applejack's method of fighting was plainly hearable, and the latter got pretty irritated.

"Now listen here you..."

"Applejack! Rarity!" Twilight shouted at them as Sunset rushed past her towards the exit. "Come on, we must help the CWN militia! That means you as well, Rarity!"

"I will be most delighted to help," the indigo-haired girl replied, giving a pointed look at Applejack. Seeing this, the blonde girl asked:

"Ya sure about this, Twi?"

"Positive, now come on!" with these words, Twilight ran away. Sighing, Applejack handed over Rarity's sniper rifle, silenced pistol and knife to their rightful owner.

"Much obliged," the ex-fashionista said.

"Yeah, yeah; don't cry too much when mah count is higher than yours!" Applejack shouted over her shoulder, sprinting out of the bar.

"Oh; it is on..."





The militia defending the HQ of Canterlot Wastelands News was already busy with defense when the quartet arrived at the scene. The raiders were apparently packing a punch - one of the militiamen was already dead from a headshot, and three more were nursing their wounds as the medics were working on them. The defenders were firing into the embrasure-like holes, covering the whole area with a nasty un-rhytmic staccato of gunfire.

Smart move, Twilight thought, noting the position of embrasures and sand bags near them. This provides the fighters with some decent cover while having a good vision on the battlefield. Just like the castles back home...

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as she recognized the similarities between Equestrian and human warfare. While the instruments of war were vastly different (Twilight has decided long ago that human guns were vastly superior to bows, crossbows and lances in terms of military effectiveness), the underlying principles were not.

War remains the same, no matter the world... apparently.

All these thoughts ran in her head for no more than a second as they approached the wall and stopped, trying to analyze the situation. Fortunately, a militiaman who apparently passed for an officer (and who already had a bloodied bandage on his left forearm) quickly dispersed the concerns and shouted at them:

"Stop gawking, ladies, we're in a pickle here! You, with a hat," he addressed Applejack, "go support our fighters on the right wall! You two," he pointed his finger at Twilight and Sunset, as the farm girl ran to her post  "support those on the left wall, we're taking most casulaties there! You, the sniper, - pick a position and snipe as many as possible!"

"I already found one," Rarity replied, pointing at a place to the right of her.

"Then don't stand here looking pretty, kill something!" with these words, the "officer" left to get at the wall.

"On it!" Sunset replied and dashed away.

"Stay safe, Rarity!" Twilight called, following her compatriot.

"I will! Same to you!" the ex-fashionista called, unholstering her modified sniper rifle.

Now is the time to focus on something else aside from vengeance, she thought as she approached the position she had picked for herself. As she came close, she recognized Hunter Rose with his sniper rifle, who was steadily trying to pick the raiders away.

"Came to join the fun of sniping, beautiful?" he called flirtatiously to her, moving away to reload his sniper rifle.

"Certainly," despite the rather chaotic situation around, Rarity answered with her trademark prim and proper voice.

"Well, Miss, not gonna say no, although I am not sure if that scout-sniper infiltrator armour will work well. Maybe you will throw on one of those spares?" the man jerked his thumb into a direction where several armour vests were scattered.

"Thanks, but no thanks - I find them too cumbersome," the indigo-haired girl slipped her rifle into the embrasure, putting herself on one knee. Looking into the telescopic optical sight, she adjusted the distance and the focus, taking note of the enemies clustered below. Some of the raiders were very lightly armoured, while some had more high-quality armour plates on themselves.

Could be that some of those would be military-grade.

Noting one of the enemies who stuck out from the nearby tree and unwittingly exposed himself, Rarity set the reticle on him.

Phut.

Equipped with a silencer, her weapon emitted a quiet sound, barely distinguishable among gunfire. The enemy fell, a cloud of blood appearing shortly before his head's contents fell down under the influence of gravity.

One down.

Quickly surveying the battlefield, Rarity noticed a raider with a squad automatic weapon who was trying to lay down suppressive fire. As soon as his head appeared in her crosshairs, she fired.

Phut.

The aim went sideways a bit, and her bullet hit the throat instead, but a destroyed windpipe is no more life-compatible than a torn brain.

Two down.

Suddenly, a storm of gunfire rained on Rarity's position, making her squeal and fall down somewhat clumsily - undamaged, thankfully.

"You OK, pretty?" Hunter Rose shouted.

"Aside from a bruise on my - ahem - butt, I am unharmed!" she replied.

"Bruised butt?! That's what you're worried about? Really?" Applejack shouted as she changed position closer to Rarity and heard the latter's complaint.

"Change positions from time to time, and don't stick the weapon out if you can!" the bartender gave some advice.

"Will do!" carefully, Rarity took position neighbouring Applejack's. The farm girl asked:

"Well, how many kills you have? Ah have five!"

"Two," Rarity replied curtly, pulling the trigger. Phut. "Scratch that, three." Phut. "Four. Maybe you should be more precise?"

"Ah'll show you precise..." Applejack growled, and began laying down bursts of three shots upon the raiders below. Spending half of her magazine, she changed her position again, moving to the left.

Meanwhile, Rarity caught another raider in her crosshairs. Phut, and his carotid artery was split in two and he fell, gushing blood around.

How undignified, she thought, and changed position, finding herself close to Applejack yet again. Aiming down the field, she aimed at another raider with an assault rifle, but before she pulled the trigger, his torso was torn by several 5.56mm bullets from Applejack's AP-79.

"Oops. Sorry Ah stole your kill," the country girl said, smugness hearable in her tone. However, her victory was short lived as her embrasure came under a strong assault, with no less than five assault rifles and one LMG raining down a lead storm on her. Applejack managed to evade the onslaught in time, but was forced to crawl away from her point quickly, as some of the bullets were penetrating the metal plates used as "fortress walls". Rarity decided to capitalize on that and focused her fire on the enemies suppressing Applejack.

Phut. Phut. Phut. Phut. Phut.

Five .308 bullets went to the heads of the raiders, killing them instantly. The last one turned his assault rifle in the approximate direction of the fashionista and fired blindly.

Rarity ducked as some of the bullets pierced the metal walls and got stuck in sand bags, gritting her teeth and doing her best to stop herself from unladylike swearing.

This matter of firing is most gauche, not to mention wasteful.

A loud BOOM of a sniper rifle to her right snapped her out of her thoughts, and then she heard Hunter Rose shout:

"He's down, you can look again!"

"Thank you kindly, Mr. Rose!" the ex-fashionista called out.

"Anytime, beautiful!"

Focus, Rarity, the girl told herself, gentleman as he is, compliments are way less important right now...

She noticed one of the raiders running away, with his back to her. He was at a considerable distance, so she opted for aiming at his back instead of his head.

Phut.

The bullet hit him straight between the shoulder blades, shattering his spine and piercing the spinal cord. Even if his major blood vessels somehow remained intact, one would not live very long with injuries like that in the Wastelands.

"They're retreating!" Applejack shouted.

"Cease fire!" Ear Drum shouted, running up to them. "We have repelled their attack, no use in wasting bullets. We'll be guarding the walls, but this seems to be it for now. Hunter, get back to the bar and give everyone some drinks, I will replace you here. You two can cool off," he addressed Applejack and Rarity.

"Alright, fella, thank ya kindly," the farm girl replied, dropping the spent magazine and inserting a fresh one. Rarity did the same thing with her sniper rifle.

"So how many magazines did it take?" she asked, as they made their way back to the HQ's entrance.

"Come again?"

"How many magazines did you spend on the raiders?"

"Three, if you consider the last one. And you?"

"Just one. And how many bandits did you kill?"

"Eleven of 'em varmints," Applejack gained the smug expression again. "And your precise fire got how many?"

"Eleven," Rarity flipped her hair in a grand gesture of smugness of her own.

"Wha-huh?" the farmer raised an eyebrow. "An' how did ya do that if that magazine holds ten rounds?"

"Easy. I pre-loaded one of them into the chamber and added another one to the magazine."

"Uh-huh. So?"

"So, I think that you shouldn't mock my preference for careful and precise work, especially when it's more cost-efficient."

"Cost-efficient how?" Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if we are to count the average cost in caps, you wasted ninety caps worth of ammunition, while I spent only thirty-three," Rarity finished haughtily.

"Uh-huh. An' you never heard the saying? About the greedy one pays twice? Probably with one's life?"

"Why I never..!" the fashionista-turned-assassin's face reddened with anger. "I will have you know, Applejack, that while I prefer not to overspend, the sin of greediness is not something that you should say about this!"

"Really? It sounds a lot kinda greediness. Ah guess you just aren't generous when it comes to giving bullets to those who deserve them."

Rarity gasped at the insinuation behind Applejack's words, the feelings of being gravely insulted flooding her veins. Blood rushed into her head, and her ice-cold glare bore into Applejack's emerald green eyes; the latter stood unflinchingly, her own angry stare judging Rarity for her past, her face unapologizing.

Seething, Rarity prepared herself for a long and loud tirade, when...

"Hey girls!"

...Sunset's voice snapped both of them out of their mutually directed anger. The unicorn-turned-human was marching towards them with a grin on her face, Twilight lagging slightly behind her.

"Hey Sunset," Applejack greeted the fiery-haired girl, forcing a smile onto her face. "Hey, Twi."

"Hello, darlings," Rarity did the same. "It fills me with joy to see you both up and around."

"Heh, feels good to be alive, especially when one kicks raiders' ass!" Sunset exclaimed vigorously.

"Must you use such crude lexicon, darling?" the indigo-haired girl grimaced at the language used.

"Ah dunno," Applejack butted in, "she kinda got to the point, if you catch mah drift."

"Still, there were other ways to do that, more ladylike and fitting of us."

The country girl rolled her eyes.

"By the way," Sunset continued, "how many kills have you scratched up?"

"Eleven of 'em varmints," Applejack replied.

"Same here," Rarity said.

"Aw man, I have only ten. Twilight here scored fifteen, though."

"It's not my fault!" the equine Princess exclaimed. "They just shot less in my direction!"

"Pfft, yeah, sure, stick the former she-demon out and have her soak bullets while you steal all the kills," Sunset grumbled, but a smile on her face betrayed her cheeky faux sarcasm, and Twilight punched her in the shoulder with mock indignation.

"Shut up, you. Anyway, wanna hit the bar again?"

"Good idea, Twi," Applejack agreed. "Ah could use a drink."

"Me too," Sunset agreed.

"Me three, then," Rarity spoke. "This fighting is truly tiring."

"Maybe ya should exercise more," Applejack quipped, making the fashionista puff her cheeks in indignation.

"I will have you know that while I do not buck apple trees, I am not a frail brittle-boned porcelain doll..!"





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Like Me! You gain Reputation bonus when helping some group.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Like Second Skin: Penalties imposed on your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats by middle armour are reduced by 1.





Reputation increased: Canterlot Wastelands News HQ

Your help in the defense of people and territories controlled by this group make you an always welcomed guest there. You gain a 10% discount at local shops.





Rarity's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:

Strength: 4
Perception: 7
Endurance: 4
Charisma: 8
Intellect: 6
Agility: 6
Luck: 5

Unique Trait (Rarity)

Gifted By Another World: You possess a piece of Equestrian magic. Under certain circumstances, you may gain a magical anthro-form that grants you additional bonuses.

Unique Trait (Rarity)

Element of Generosity: You can be very giving. Each act of generosity towards your allies or Good characters has a positive effect on your Karma and betters your Reputation with an individual or a group to which said individual belongs. This also gives you +1 bonus to your Charisma when interacting with said character/group for the first time or if your Reputation with them is neutral, and +2 bonus if your Reputation is good. When trading in shops, you can choose to pay extra caps while buying and/or make a discount while selling for positive Karma and +1 or +2 Charisma bonus and +10 or +20 bonus to your Barter skill in future dealings with the trader, depending on how generous you are.

Unique Perk (Rarity)

Femme Fatale: In combat, you do +10% damage against male opponents. Outside of combat, you'll sometimes have access to unique dialogue options when dealing with the opposite sex.

Unique Perk (Rarity)

Fearsome ("Black Widow"): When you use a certain persona, you gain +3 Charisma bonus and +45 to your Speech skill when you try to intimidate someone.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

Scout-sniper infiltrator armour

Designed as a lighter variant of standard personal body armour, it was primarily used by snipers and scouts of UFE military, hence the "scout-sniper" prefix. While it offers less protection and leaves some body parts uncovered, it has lesser weight and offers greater mobility both in and out of combat, which is very valued by scouts and snipers and anyone else who mimics their combat style. It also integrates well with Pip-Boys and Stealth-Boys - optical camouflage devices - making its user an unseen (and thus more dangerous) threat. Typically, this armour is painted in camouflage colours that are based on the chosen area of operation (e. g. forest, desert, steppe, Arctic and so on).

Being military-grade armour, this item is not seen too often in the Wastelands, but it can be relatively easy maintained with spare parts salvaged from standard issue combat armour.

Stats:

Damage Threshold: 15
Weight: 8 kg
Value: 480 caps (if 100% CND)
Effects: +1 Agility bonus; Stealth-Boy lasts for 20% more. 





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

MSR-90 sniper rifle

This sniper rifle became standard issue shortly before the Day of Burning, but quickly became popular among snipers in UFE army (and a coveted trophy among TODC troops as well). Its higher ammunition capacity and compatibility with many types of sights as well as barrel modifications and silencers earned this weapon a good reputation.

Unfortunately, few of such rifles are available in the Wastelands, and they are quite expensive. This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that this weapon is more durable than common sniper rifles available on the market, and it is easier to maintain; with proper cleaning, this rifle can serve for a long time.

Weapon stats:

DMG: 75 (if 100% CND)
WG: 3.5 kg
VAL: 700 caps (if 100% CND)
Critical Damage chance multiplier: x2
Critical Damage bonus (Head): x4

Ammo type: .308 rounds
Ammo capacity: 10
> Chapter 23: Driving the Knives
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 23

Driving the Knives


"Cheers!"

Five glasses of cold beer clanked against each other as Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Hunter Rose congratulated each other on a work well done.

The raiders that attacked the HQ suffered massive casualties, with more than sixty of them dead and about a dozen lying debilitated from heavy wounds; the latter were exterminated with shots to the head without any mercy.

CWN militia also suffered losses - seven men were killed and eight were out of commission due to their wounds, but the five-to-one casualties ratio that worked in favour of the militiamen was still considered a good thing.

Vinyl told Twilight and Sunset in private that she would still honour her earlier promise, and send out twenty-five of her own people to assist Appletown. When asked whether she would be able to protect the HQ, Vinyl smirked and said:

"Got it covered. You just need to relax for a couple of hours and then you'll be able to go back to Appletown with everyone."

She also gave Twilight two hundred caps, "for everyone who assisted". Heeding the hint, Twilight split the caps into four equal shares and gave each of her friends their own.

Which lead to the celebration that they were currently having right now, drinking the second glass of beer. Rarity huffed a bit at drinking such alcoholic beverages, but buying wine for ten caps per a wine glass was not on her current financial agenda, and so she settled for what others drank. She begrudgingly admitted that the beer was good, though.

Once the glasses clanked, everyone drank their beer in their own way: Applejack took a healthy swig while raising her head upwards along with the glass, Sunset drank in large gulps, Twilight in lesser gulps, and Rarity was more sipping than gulping.

"That's some damn fine beer, partner," Applejack addressed Hunter Rose. "Where did ya find it?"

"There used to be an old alcohol drinks factory nearby; when apocalypse happened, everyone who survived swarmed that place like vultures. Dunno how did those babies make it here, though; rumour has it that the boss raided it, although what for... they don't seem to be the kind to drink themselves to a stupor. The other folk trades sometimes if they find something decent, like a couple of those red wines," the man pointed to the bottles in question, "although people aren't that keen on wines now."

"Too bad," Rarity sighed. "Not many appreciate how exquisite a taste of good wine is."

"How would good wine taste any better than not-so-good wine?" Applejack spoke up. "Isn't it the same drink?"

The indigo-haired girl looked at the farmer as if the latter had just spoken blasphemy, and huffed:

"Of course it isn't! The older a bottle is, the more it is fermented and more exquisite it becomes! Provided one is produced in accordance with all wine-making traditions and from good grapes."

"Oh hay; Ah don't think there's too much of a difference."

"To each their own, I guess," Hunter Rose spoke up. "While I like wine, I don't think I would be able to easily tell a difference between a bottle of wine from year 2090 and, say, a bottle from 2070."

"Well, I cannot claim to be an expert in wines," Rarity spoke again, "but I did enjoy the more refined vintages before the apocalypse."

"Uh-huh, and going down with gout like pre-revolution nobles didn't worry you?" Applejack interrupted.

"Well it is not like I would drink wine every day, you know!"

"Alright, you two," Twilight barked authoritatively, "can it! Honestly, if one of you were a man, I would have said that you argue like an old married couple!"

"OK, sugarcube."

"If you insist, darling, although I resent the implication about arguing like a married couple."

"Well don't argue, then. That goes for you too, Applejack."

"You two rivals or something?" Hunter Rose asked the quarreling friends.

"Not quite," Sunset interjected. "More like they just have different outlooks on life. Applejack is a practical, down-to-earth, hard-working person, while Rarity aspired to enter higher society and had refined mannerisms and tastes, which she apparently retains. I say "apparently" because we only just... reunited," Sunset stumbled for a moment when thinking of their "reunion", "and haven't really had a serious talk about it."

"Well you aren't wrong, darling," Rarity spoke, "I do try to retain my usual pre-apocalypse manners, even if in this world they are largely... ahem... unsought."

"Which is too bad," the fiery-haired girl sighed. "I didn't tell you that I got molested once, did I?"

"What?!" the ex-fashionista's indignant cry attracted the attention of bystanders, but Rarity ignored it. "Who was the uncouth, barbaric ruffian who did this?!"

"No idea, some Paladin of Brotherhood of Steel. He decided to cop a feel of my chest when me and Twilight were being frisked - they didn't want us armed inside their bunker. When I expressed my... disapproval, Twilight gave another Paladin who was frisking her a death glare, so he didn't molest her... or maybe he was just more well-mannered."

"Methinks that that ruffian should be deprived of his, ahem, baby-makers for that so he would use his head for thinking," the indigo-haired girl declared with a deadly serious frown that would normally have looked out of place on her face.

Suddenly, other girls remembered that Rarity was, in fact, the Black Widow.

"Well here is to girls not being molested and karma punishing the molesters!" Hunter Rose declared in an attempt to discharge the tension, raising his glass of beer.

"I'll drink to that!" Sunset beamed, and the glasses clanked together again. When everyone finished drinking, all the cups were empty.

"Aaaaallllll-right," said the phoenix-haired girl, stretching herself backwards. "That was some damn fine beer, Hunter. I think I'll call an end to it."

"Me too, I am feeling slightly... dizzy," Twilight spoke, standing up and slightly swaying. "Oh, I think I do not have that good of an alcohol tolerance."

"Yes, I think all of us should cut it out," Hunter Rose agreed. "You might not believe it at first sight, but this beer kicks quite well."

"Indeed," Rarity said, standing up and also swaying slightly, "I am actually feeling the slight buzz forming in my head."

"Maybe we should go to the front yard, have some fresh air?" Applejack suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Twilight said. "Thank you for the beer and the company, Hunter."

"You are welcome, pretties. Shine upon the Wastelands and stay safe. We'll be glad to see you again," replied the bartender.

As the quartet of girls left the bar in higher moods, content and slightly drunk (although the levels of drunkedness varied - while Applejack and Sunset were not that visibly drunk, Twilight and Rarity were more lightweight and were swaying slightly), they saw several Paladins of Brotherhood of Steel, fully clad in T-72d power armour coming up.

"Applejack?" one of them called out to the farm girl, and everyone recognized the voice of Helmet Steadfast.

"Steadfast?" she asked. "What're y'all doin' here?"

"We were invited here by the boss of CWN."

"Really?" Applejack raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, really," Vinyl Scratch appeared from behind the girls, wearing a set of police riot armour, a hunting rifle with a magazine protruding behind her back. "I managed to send a message to the Brotherhood, telling them I could provide them with access to the radio network. In exchange, they agreed to help protect the HQ. So you can relax now."

"OK then," Applejack said, and turned back to Senior Paladin Steadfast. "Sorry Ah was suspicious."

"With how... checkered our relationship was, I am not surprised," Steadfast said.

"So," Vinyl took over again, "thanks a lot for your help girls. You can go back to Appletown now, I am already sending the militia."

"Thank ya kindly, Vinyl," the country girl said, "we really need it."

"Hey, no prob. Make those White Knives pay."

"Heh, Ah definitely will. Bye, Vinyl."

"Bye, everyone! Rock the Wastelands!"





The path to Appletown was one of the most pleasureable moments Twilight Sparkle felt while enduring the Canterlot Wastelands.

The group of twenty-five militiamen was present and ready at the gates, as their de facto leader, who asked to call himself Hotlock, addressed the girls:

"OK, ladies, which one of you is Applejack?"

"Ah am Applejack," replied the country girl.

"As the boss promised, we will help you with defense of Appletown to the best of our ability. Our forces include ten common infantrymen with assault rifles, five assault troopers with assault rifles and heavier-than-usual armour, five marksmen, two guys with LMGs and three snipers. We also have a portable radio station so we can contact the boss if necessary. While we are required to stay in Appletown until you no longer need our help or the boss calls us back, only volunteers will accompany you on any attack missions; the boss trusts you, but it won't be good for CWN if you use us as bullet sponges to preserve lives of Appletowners."

"Makes sense. Ah wasn't plannin' on throwin' you to the grinder in the beginning."

"Thank you. Now, if all of you are ready, we will move out."

"We're ready."

"Let's go, then!"

Their group formed a circle where the girls along with several more women were in the middle, with men surrounding them. Applejack was giving directions to Hotlock, sometimes asking for Twilight's help if the map on the latter's Pip-Boy was needed.

As they were going, mutated beasts like radscorpions or bloatflies were encountered; however, even though creatures were in packs, they were not only outgunned, but also vastly outnumbered, and dealt with very quickly. Privately, both Twilight and Sunset were very grateful to the militiamen for keeping guard, because all girls were still inebriated and their aiming was not very good; Rarity in particular bemoaned her inability to steady the crosshairs on the targets, which eventually led to Applejack shutting her up and advising to simply walk. While irritated with the farmer's rather stern and somewhat rudely given advice, the ex-fashionista followed it.

Closer to the end of their trip, Twilight tuned her Pip-Boy to the Canterlot Wastelands News wavelength on an impulse, and heard the female speech:

"...raiders once again proved that their intelligence level remains abysmally low. I would have thought that their brains were turned into muck because of sleeping in radioactive craters if I didn't know that they would have to compete with packs of pissed-as-Tartarus feral ghouls for those. Anyway, the attack on our HQ failed, as usual, and the raiders' corpses will make an excellent fertilizer for trees and plants to grow. Oh yeah, their deaths also prevented passing down their genes of being a nasty asshole... I hope so, at least. Moreover, Canterlot Wastelands News has made an accord with Brotherhood of Steel, so don't be surprised if you see big-ass Paladins in power armour walking nearby. And don't piss them off. Actually, never piss any Brotherhood Paladin off. Still, my advice on being careful with them if you have valuable technology holds. Now, time for some awesome music! Today it's something to remind us of what we have lost but still can obtain: "Happy Times!" Enjoy the ballad, faithful listeners!"

"Hey," one of the militiamen turned to Twilight, "can you leave it on? It's sort of one of our favourites."

"Suit yourself," replied the lavender-skinned girl.

As everyone went on, the militiamen began singing in tune to the song, although, admittedly, not many of them had singing voices. Still, the singing certainly uplifted the moods, and despite the severity of the situation, Twilight emitted a heartfelt laugh.

She was surrounded by friends and allies, they were going to their base, the weather was fine (more or less), a good song was playing on the radio and everyone was singing.

The equine Princess barely was able to stop herself from asking "What could go wrong?". Unfortunately, human wisdom of not asking the question because it tempts fate to screw with someone was not as superstitious as she had initially thought.

As they finished the song, they were standing near Appletown. Their singing almost caused a panic among the inhabitants, and Big Macintosh and several Apples came up to them, armed to the teeth.

"For a moment, Ah thought there was a circus runnin' amok," he spoke. "Sis, mind explaining what all the ruckus is about?"





"So, this boss of CWN let you come here and help us?" the eldest Apple brother asked Hotlock once the latter was finished with explanations. The girls were also present, plus Lyra and Bon Bon joined in on the conversation as semi-official Appletown defense advisors.

"Yep; these raiders are becoming quite a nuisance, and we need caravans running more or less safely now more than ever. Few people want to risk their lives running here now, and those who do will skyrocket their prices 'cause Curve Blade's "taxation" is a robbery even by standards of other raiders' groups," was the reply.

"A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Applejack laughed uproariously. "Raiders? Having standards? Good joke, Hotlock!"

"Well, I did use the word "standards" relatively loosely."

"Well, we're mighty grateful to you and your boss for that, 'cause a little more effort an' they would've overrun us with sheer numbers," Big Macintosh gave a small smile. "It wouldn't hurt to have some extra firepower."

"It wouldn't," Lyra agreed, "but I am afraid that the stakes have been raised too high for purely defensive action now. With more raider groups flocking to the ranks of White Knives, there is a chance that a well-coordinated attack on Appletown or CWN HQ will take one of the groups out of the fight. The fact that Brotherhood of Steel actually agreed to assist CWN in the defense is a major victory for us; since Elder Aegis definitely would not want to lose the new possibilities of communication he has now, the headquarters is in good hands, more or less. Appletown does not benefit from such protection now, although Aegis did promise better relationship now. But we need to cull the enemy's numbers fast; time is not on our side."

"Don't forget the mercenaries of Crimson Hands," Twilight spoke up. "They have already tried to assassinate me and Sunset twice, and have participated in the last attack on Appletown. As far as I can tell, they have higher-quality armour and weapons, a good number of them military-grade."

"Which certainly does not play in our favour, too," the mint-skinned girl replied again. "I am afraid that we are no longer able to fight them on fair ground. We will have to do covert strikes."

"Covert strikes?" Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Ya mean backstabbing at night or something like that?"

"Well, I thought of assassinations, night strikes, sabotage and so on."

The farm girl frowned, clearly not amused at the idea.

"The idea has merit," Rarity spoke for the first time, earning a glare from Applejack for agreeing with Lyra and promptly ignoring it. "Provided we could find more silenced sniper rifles somewhere, I would suggest sniping them from afar. But silencers are pretty rare, and, to be honest, I cannot recall having seen an MSR-90 sniper rifle aside from mine."

"Oh, that's MSR-90?" Bon Bon paid closer attention to Rarity's sniper rifle. "Damn, I'm officially jealous. And you outfited it with silencer? Cool!"

"Why thank you, Bon Bon," Rarity gave her signature "I am flattered" smile and gesture, "and while I would not want to make you more jealous, but I also have a Stealth-Boy device."

"It's great," Lyra said. "So, Rarity can perform covert attacks even in broad daylight, provided that Stealth-Boy is fully charged. Bon Bon, Twilight and Sunset have Buffalo SMGs with silencers, which could also help. I would have preferred to obtain night vision goggles if we want to attack the enemy at night, but finding them is quite problematic."

"Is there a chance Brotherhood of Steel can loan some military equipment if we promise something in return?" Sunset spoke up. "We can, say, borrow their stuff, kill a dozen of bandits or so, then return it."

"Good idea in theory," Big Macintosh said, "but why can't we ask them for assistance, too?"

"Me and Twilight had a short chat before this conversation started, and there's one thing we need to ask Applejack first."

"What is it, Sunset?" the farm girl turned to the fiery-haired Equestrian.

"You mentioned you had scouted the prison that White Knives use as their base. How hard, by your estimates, would it be to assault it, if we presume that there is no other way inside or that we cannot find it?"

"That might be a bloodbath, Sunset. There are four good sniper points at least, and the prison is built so that whoever would assault it would have a lotta trouble taking it."

"Applejack is right," Lyra spoke up, "that prison is like a fortress. If I remember correctly, it was built to house some of the more... undesirable society elements. Curve Blade was actually an inmate there; before they moved him to Vault 49 for whatever reason, he was a head of one nasty drug cartel that smuggled stuff from certain TODC countries, like Bovinia or Griffonada. These countries had plants from which one could derive highly addictive drugs, and TODC intelligence sometime used the addicts as disposable saboteurs. He was given a lifetime imprisonment shortly before the introduction of Commissariat. I recall that NSC really wanted to outright execute him, but they did not allow to act retroactively then."

"My thought is that we may require assistance from Brotherhood," Sunset spoke up again, "and that Elder Aegis won't miss a chance to smash the White Knives once and for all, but his forces can't be spent walking around. I think we can deal with weaker targets by ourselves or with limited assistance, and keep their forces reserved for assaulting the main base."

"Do y'all think he will agree to that?" Applejack looked at everyone, doubt clearly visible on her face.

"It would be logical of him to let us handle the more or less easy work so he would retain the more important resources," Twilight spoke up. "Given that we have built some rapport, I think we may capitalize on it and enter a mutual pact. I recall he has a stealth eyebot; if he could do some reconnaissance and share the data with us, it would be mutually beneficial. Plus, isn't there an agreement that he would buy apples from you, Applejack?"

"Yep."

"Then it would also make sense for him to give at least some help to you."

"Hmmm, ya think we should ask him?"

"Wouldn't hurt, I think."

"It always pays to have power armoured troopers on your side," Bon Bon said. "Remember the military base of 9th Mechanized Infantry battalion?"

"Oh, don't remind me," Twilight shuddered at the memories of that ill-fated assault.

"Well yeah, Curve Blade might not have sentry bots and like, but he surely has the numbers to make up for it. Quantity over quality, as they say."

"So all in favour of trying to cooperate with Brotherhood of Steel?" Twilight asked, and hearing the majority of others agree, continued, "then what should we do first? Ask them for assistance or perform the covert strikes?"

"We cannot do a strike until we know where to do it," Lyra pointed out. "So we should ask Elder Aegis first. Who will do that?"

"Ah will, Ah think," Applejack replied.

"I'll join," Sunset spoke up.

"Me too," Twilihgt added her voice.

"When?"

"Hmmm, maybe tomorrow? Ah think beer we drank at HQ will wear off by then."

"Whoa whoa," Bon Bon interrupted, "are you saying that you were travelling here while drunk?!"

"Well..." Sunset scratched the back of her neck, abashed. "We kinda had this big squad on our side..."

The bicolour-haired girl facepalmed and muttered, "Well, at least you were escorted... But you want my advice? Never, ever go travelling while drunk on something! This really screws with your thinking and aiming in critical situations."

"Duly noted. Now, can we take our leave?"

"Suit yourselves. We will discuss the defense plans with Big Macintosh."





When the quartet of girls was on their way to Applejack's house, they were enthusiastically greeted by Apple Bloom, who was quite glad to see her sister and her friends unharmed.

"Aplpejack! Twilight! Sunset!" she gave each girl a hug as she cried out their names, and then her eyes fell on Rarity. She gasped:

"Ohmigosh! Rarity? That you? You're alive?!"

"Unless ghosts somehow manage to be solid and warm to the touch now, I am pretty sure I am alive," the indigo-haired girl gave a warm smile to the red-haired girl, and suddenly got herself wrapped in a crushing hug.

"Oh, Ah'm soooooo glad to see you alive and well, Rarity! Ah missed havin' you around during war... but where's one of mah BFFs and fellow Crusader?"

"You... you mean Sweetie Belle?" Rarity stumbled on her words, the question clearly not expected to her.

"Well last Ah knew you weren't Scootaloo's sister, so yeah, Ah mean Sweetie Belle... Rarity? What's wrong?" Apple Bloom asked, puzzled by the painful expression on former fashionista's face. "Is something wrong? You aren't wounded, are you?"

"No, no, my dear, I am unharmed, but... Sweetie Belle... she is no longer with us," Rarity breathed out the last words in one go, fighting with her storm of emotions and trying to keep the tears inside.

"What?!" Apple Bloom gasped, her gamboge eyes wide in disbelief. "Sweetie Belle... she died?"

Rarity nodded, not trusting herself to speak further as a lump constricted her throat. However, said lump disappeared with a gasp she emitted when the olive-skinned girl enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. Applejack jerked forward and opened her mouth as if she wanted to pry her younger sister away from the indigo-haired girl with a littany of curses, but stopped almost immediately. Sunset, whose attention was focused on Apple Bloom and Rarity and who did not have the country girl in her field of vision, did not notice that; however, Twilight caught the movement with her eyes, and frowned.

If Applejack confronts Rarity over this, it won't help the atmosphere in our group at all.

"Oh mah gosh, Rarity, Ah'm so sorry!" Apple Bloom shouted, her eyes filling with tears. "Ah didn't know!"

"You couldn't know that, Apple Bloom," Rarity hugged the youngest Apple sister back, her eyes moist as well now. "There is nothing to be sorry for."

"How did this happen? You sent her to the Vault, didn't you? Wasn't she supposed to be safe?"

"Sweetie didn't make it to the Vault, Apple Bloom. She... didn't have enough time to get there before the bombs fell," the last part was said with some hesitation, as Rarity was clearly uncomfortable with telling the whole truth. Applejack scowled at her, and then said:

"Ah'll... Ah'll make us somethin' ta eat."

"Want me to help?" Twilight asked.

"No thank ya Twi, Ah'll manage."

She must have caught on me intending to speak with her about this attitude, the equine Princess mused. I'll let her off the hook for now, but this still needs to be addressed.

"Ah so wanted to see her an' Scootaloo again... Ah hoped she would come out of the Vault... An' now Ah'll never see her again!" Apple Bloom was crying into Rarity's frontal armour plate now, staining the cloth on it with tears. At hearing this, both Equestrians looked at each other, both having dark looks and communicating the same thought silently.

Apple Bloom would not have seen Sweetie Belle come out of Vault 85 even if she had made it there. Unless you count the form of a hulky, ogrish, greenskin monstrosity commonly known as "super mutant".





The dinner was a bit lively, as Big Macintosh returned shortly before Applejack was finished with her cooking. He greeted Rarity warmly, carefully hugging her, and she hugged him back.

Noticing that Apple Bloom's eyes were red and poofy, he sternly inquired as to the reasons thereof, but quickly relented when he heard the news about Sweetie Belle's death.

"Ah goldurn it to Tartarus," a curse slipped from his tongue. "She didn't deserve such bad luck, in mah opinion."

As he said it, Applejack shouted that dinner was ready. When they left, Twilight, Sunset and Rarity exchanged dark looks and followed them.

While everyone ate, Big Macintosh described how he and Hotlock planned to defend Appletown.

"Admittedly, we heavily count on Brotherhood of Steel being amenable to our request, although we can scout by ourselves, if necessary. Once we see which abandoned villages are used as outposts and know how many of them raiders are there, those who can operate stealthily will strike at the villages. Lyra and Bon Bon insist that everyone works as a single team; Rarity, if you're up to it, that means you'll work with both of them."

"Fine by me," Rarity replied.

"Majority of Hotlock's militia will remain here, so that we have better chances of holding Appletown. Hotlock insists - and Ah agree - that daytime raids need to be done only if absolutely necessary. Also, we'll be training civilians in using weapons. Luckily, many folks realized that if they stay aside, they'll die, so we might rebuild our numbers - but it will take time."

"What about Curve Blade's main base?" Twilight asked.

"We attack it if we're sure that Brotherhood of Steel agrees to help, so Twilight, we really hope that you'll convince Elder Aegis to help us. If they disagree, we may try an all-or-nothing type of attack, but Ah'm not keen on the idea."

"Neither am I, to be honest," Sunset spoke up. "This will be a bloodbath for sure, and we need to preserve at least some part of Appletown's militia, because who knows what will happen next?"

"When should we ask Elder Aegis for help?" Twilight asked again.

"The sooner, the better, Hotlock says."

"Well, I think that tomorrow morning, I can do it."

"Ah'll join," Applejack spoke up.

"Count me in... although if anyone gropes me again, then I'm outta there," Sunset replied, saying the last part under her breath.

"Can I join you too, darling?" Rarity asked Twilight. "Given that Crimson Hands are quite insistent on claiming the reward for your heads, I think that spotting them before they spot you would be quite beneficial."

"Well..." the lavender-skinned girl thought for a second, and then answered, "can't argue with that logic. Especially considering that last time we were shot at by a sniper."

"Then it's an absolute must even," the ex-fashionista said. "Our Overseer always told us that during the war, UFE army's methods of eliminating enemy snipers were either a counter-sniper or an artillery barrage. And we don't have mortars lying around, do we?"

"Artillery barrage?" Applejack asked, confused. "Isn't that overkill?"

"No, Applejack," Sunset spoke up, "if one wanted to avoid casualties that a sniper would undoubtedly inflict, it's either artillery barrage, or air support, or a tank. Or drones and warbots, if you had those; but a sniper could take those out too, especially with proper equipment. And while it's overkill, it also diverts some important assets for a task that might not even succeed - a good sniper will never let themselves get caught under such an attack, after all - and that means spent (if not outright wasted) fuel and ammunition, which is never good. So if, theoretically, Rarity takes out the enemy sniper or snipers first, or at least boggles them down in sniper duel, it's better to ahve her with us... at least, that's what I believe to be a logical conclusion."

"Well, Ah can't say anythin' against that..."

"Then in the morning, we go to the bunker?" Twilight asked.

Everyone who volunteered nodded.

"Good. Tomorrow at 8 a.m., everyone."





Spike could not sleep.

Being a dog meant that he had enhanced senses, namely smell, hearing and vision. That alone could bring problems for him when unaccustomed to the canine body, but eventually he learned to deal with the senses, after his trips to the human world.

(He really disliked being colorblind, though. While he learned eventually to "guess" colours based on their monochrome representations, this was still extremely annoying to him. When in Equestria, he was most definitely not colorblind.)

This time, however, it was not the enhanced senses that gave him trouble; it was this annoying, nagging feeling that something, somewhere is not right. Problem is, he could not really determine what could possibly be wrong now.

He looked around. Twilight was lying on her left side, deep within her dreams' embrace. Judging by her facial expression, she was not having a nightmare at the moment. Neither, it seemed, was Sunset having one; while her face that was directed towards the ceiling was a bit scowling, she was laying calmly and was not thrashing around.

A figure of another person, as well as her smell were missing, however.

So that's what was wrong, Spike realized.

At Applejack's insistence, Rarity was to share a room with Twilight and Sunset for that night, and a folding bed was brought there. Rarity pouted for a bit, but declined when the Equestrians volunteered to exchange their beds.

"No thank you, darlings," she said, "I am quite capable of sleeping in more... rough conditions, given what has become of the Wastelands. Do not worry too much about me."

And yet she is gone now, Spike scowled as he remembered the words. And now I am supposed not to worry?

While human Rarity was not the pony he was crushing on (and he had learned previously that zoophilia was considered taboo in the human world, so he decided against going for infatuated look), he still cared about her on some other level, neither romantic nor generically friendly. And thus, he decided that he should see where the fashionista went.

He could relatively easily track her scent, having smelled her military-issue boots once. Since said boots were not present, it was suffice to say that she was outside somewhere.

Sniffing carefully, Spike began tracking the human counterpart of his crush. As he descended downstairs, he realized that the scent went beyond the door, which Applejack and Big Macintosh were kept locked for the night.

Which means that Rarity must have picked the lock. Think, Spike, think!

On an impulse, he gently pushed the door... and it did not open.

OK then, how am I supposed to proceed right now?

"Spike?"

"Ahhh!"

"Shhh, it's me, Applejack!" the blonde farmer was standing in front of him, speaking in a quiet voice.

"Sorry, AJ," the dragon-turned-dog replied abashedly.

"What're you doin' here up late?"

"Well, I..." Spiek was at a loss. He did not want to tell Applejack of how Rarity was missing, knowing of the festering antagonism between them, but he really did not have a plan of getting out of the situation...

"Ya need to go outside for... well... bathroom?"

...and Applejack just unwittingly provided him with one.

"Well yeah, I kinda really need to..."

"OK then," Applejack took out a key that was hanging on her neck, and inserted it into the keyhole. Turning it, she unlocked the door and opened it.

"Come on, fella, Ah'll wait for ya here."

"Thanks, Applejack!" Spike was already outside, tracking Rarity's boots' scent with new vigor.

I surely hope she doesn't see Rarity missing!

About five or six minutes later, he managed to trace his target to the...

...graveyard? That's where they buried those Apples that died not long ago...

After a small bite on his tongue (ouch, hurts, means I'm not dreaming), he approached Rarity, who was currently sitting on her knees. As he came closer, he was able to discern the sounds of sniffing.

Sniffing?

Forgetting about stealth, he ran up closer to the indigo-haired girl (who had her back to him and failed to notice his approach) until the only thing separating them was one not-so-fresh grave. He could clearly hear Rarity crying now, as silently as she could. Between her sniffs, she inserted various words.

Looking more carefully, Spike realized that Rarity was in front of Braeburn's grave right now.

He was puzzled. Why Rarity would be here? And crying, no less? She hated Braeburn, didn't she?

"Oh, Braeburn," he heard her speak quietly but loudly enough for him to discern the words, "why? Why did you agree to this? I know you didn't want Sweetie Belle dead... but... but you still killed her!"

Just how hard was it for her to realize that she will never see her little sister again? Spike wondered.

"I knew you as a decent person... I know you regretted it... but... I can't find it in my heart to forgive you! Just... can't!" with the last word said, Rarity burst into tears again. Unable to deal with it anymore, Spike decided to at least try and offer a semblance of comfort, so he spoke quietly:

"Rarity?"

"Who goes there?" quick as a lightning, Rarity whipped out her silenced pistol and turned around sharply as if turned by an axis.

"It's me, Spike," the dragon-turned-dog replied, frightened by her sudden change in posture. "Just... don't shoot me, please, will you?" he spoke, showing himself. The former fashionista immediately relaxed and put away her weapon.

"Oh, Spike, that's you. Are you... alone?"

"Yeah. Rarity, pardon my bluntness, but why aren't you in bed?" Spike asked, coming closer to the girl and sitting beside her.

"I couldn't sleep. Seeing Applejack once again... it awoke old memories."

"Memories?" Following Rarity's gaze, he saw her looking at Braeburn's grave once again.

"More like memories mixed with emotions, but you get the point, I believe."

"I do. Are they... connected with Braeburn?"

"Very closely. I remembered the night when my vengeance cost Apple family one of their own..."





*FLASHBACK*

Rarity was quietly creeping through Appletown, hidden by the darkness of night and the optical cloaking field produced by her Stealth-Boy.

It took her some time, but she finally managed to track down one of Vault-Tec employees.

She was feeling slightly uncomfortable, since she actually knew the person in question: Braeburn, Applejack's cousin.

A part of her did not want to kill him... after all, a good number of Vault-Tec employees were pawns in reality. And while one does not ignore pawns in the game of chess, they never were real masterminds. Now those she definitely was not going to ignore.

She was shocked to discover that one highly-positioned person from National Security Commissariat actually was in the know and allowed this to happen. Needless to say that she did not give a second thought whether to dispose of him or not.

Especially since she discovered that he was secretly being a patron for her charity, thus allowing the horrible experiments on Vault dwellers to continue and flourish.

Unforgivable, she snarled internally.

All of a sudden, luck seemed to smile upon her, as she noticed Braeburn entering what she presumed to be his house. Checking whether her Stealth-Boy was still on, she sprinted towards it.

When she reached her destination, Braeburn has already locked the door, but she was not going to enter the house immediately. It would not be good stealth-wise, given that her (potential?) target was still wide-awake, and if she got caught, she would be surrounded by a mob of angry town folks who might not mind inflicting some payback on her for her previous... vengeance cases.

She needed to wait.

And if there was one thing she knew fairly well, it was patience. So she chose a spot near the house where she could hide with Stealth-Boy turned off, and wait until it was her time...





Deep in the night, when all Appletowners aside from those who patrolled the outskirts were safely asleep, Rarity emerged from her hiding spot.

The moonlight that brightened the streets somewhat was not helpful to her efforts to stay hidden, but careful observation revealed that it was relatively safe to proceed without wasting more of Stealth-Boy's remaining energy. Taking out a lockpick, the fashionista-turned-assassin made a quick work of the lock, and stepped inside.

The only source of light inside was the moon, or rather whatever light reflected from its surface that managed to find its way through the window.

Braeburn was asleep; the perfect target. Rarity checked whether her silenced pistol was loaded. It was.

However, the tendrils of doubt made their way to her mind again. No matter how much she hated Vault-Tec and everything and everyone connected with this corporation, she knew that Braeburn had a relatively low position there, and may not have been involved in the atrocities. Of course, she believed in guilt by association, which was the sole cause of several deaths by her hand, but what little she knew of Braeburn made him a decent guy.

She considered whether she should just interrogate him, but she never spoke to anyone when in Black Widow disguise, and there was a chance that he may recognize her. She was not ready to blow her cover.

Instead, the indigo-haired girl opted to search through his belongings, looking for any signs of him remaining good - or turning corrupt.

There was little of interest - some pre-apocalypse books, well-preserved and otherwise, a 10mm pistol (most likely his own) and spare ammo for it, various trinkets and bottle caps.

Finally, she found a small book that she recognized as a personal diary. Some part of her felt revolted that she picked it up with the intent to read it, but many of her morals had suffered during the time she spent outside of the Vault. Hard as she tried, it was simply impossible to preserve the morals in their original form in the increasingly amoral Canterlot Wastelands.

Wishing she had night vision goggles, she left for another room, ducked and turned on a small flashlight she carried around, keeping it very close to the diary.

As she read further and further, her face was twisting into a furious-beyond-belief expression (which no one could see, since she still was wearing the mask), and her eyes narrowed. 

It was him, one thought 

When she finished reading, she snapped the diary shut, and proceeded to stuff it into her backpack.

It was him.

Whipping out her silenced pistol, she moved back to the room Braeburn was in, intending to unload the whole magazine into him.

However, her initial plan got botched, as Braeburn for some reason was wide awake right now, and naturally, seeing a person in black with a weapon in his house was certainly not on the agenda.

"Hey, who're... OOF!"

Not giving him a chance to raise alarm or go for his weapon, Rarity lunged forward and delivered a strong kick to his solar plexus, making him wheeze for air and double in pain. Holstering her pistol, she gave Braeburn a hard slap on each of his ears, shocking him and causing loss of consciousness.

He slumped against his bed, utterly helpless and at her mercy.

The red mist of anger and grief clouded her mind, guiding her body as if she were merely a bystander, looking from inside as it moved on its own (sort of).

She took her pistol out of the holster again, and aimed at Braeburn's head.

Phut. Phut.

Two .22 bullets two the head ended the life of a former Vault-Tec employee...

...who killed my sister!

For a moment, Rarity just stood there, hand still holding the pistol, as if she expected Braeburn to rise again.

He did not.

"What in tarnation?!"

The voice cracked down the silence like a thunder across the sky, both literally and figuratively. Rarity was dumbstruck; the voice was hauntingly familiar.

The drawl, the countryism, the general manner of speech and its unrefinedness - everything screamed...

Applejack!

Belatedly, Rarity realized that when she picked the lock, she forgot to ensure that the door was properly closed. And now she was busted.

Her mind panicked. She could not afford witnesses... but she also simply could not simply kill one of her now-revealed-to-be-alive friends. However, if she knew anything about Applejack, she knew that the farm girl would not allow her to escape that easily.

In a moment of panic, she turned around and took a shot to Applejack's leg.

"ARGH!"

The bullet hit its mark, and the blonde collapsed to the floor. Seizing the opportunity, Rarity quickly opened the window and dived out of it. As soon as she got out, she turned on her Stealth-Boy, and the optical camouflage field enveloped her form. She immediately ran perpendicular to the cone of fire that could be made from the window.

She heard pistol shots, joined later by heavy staccato of LMG rounds, but it was too late for them.

She ran, and ran, and ran.

She could not remember clearly how she got to her hideout, or what was around her while she was on the way.

All she could see were Braeburn's lifeless body and Applejack's angry eyes.

I've killed her cousin... She must not know... she will NEVER forgive me for that.

Rarity cried, for she knew that she had found one of her closest friends... and lost her at the same moment.



*END OF FLASHBACK*





Spike was conflicted. On the one hand, he could genuinely understand Applejack's reasons for being angry with Rarity; on the other hand, his dragon insticts kept telling him that should anyone threaten "his" girls, he should tear them apart, and buck the fact that he was a dog, and not of a combat breed to boot.

He was certain that if the roles were reversed, Applejack might have done the same thing. And what it could cost others was uncertain - the farm girl was not one for precise strikes; she was more of a hard-hitting brawler.

"Listen, Rarity," he finally spoke, making the indigo-haired girl look at him, tears still present in her eyes, "I am certain that you have made a mistake, blinded by anger that you always carried since learning of Sweetie Belle's death and flared on that night when you learned of Braeburn's... actions. And I, honestly, do not approve of that. But the fact that you're here, expressing your regret, means that the Rarity we know and love is still there. We only need to see it to fully accept you back. Applejack may take more time for that, though."

"Thank you, Spike," Rarity hugged the dragon-turned-dog against her chest, "your words are like a healing balm on my blackened soul. I dare not hope for the best, but if I am utterly rejected... I honestly don't think I'd get over it."

Spike was unable to formulate a proper answer for some time, enjoying the hug. Although it was less comfortable than before, since he felt a hard armour plate.

"Well, that's what firends are for, right?" he finally responded. "To set you back on the right path?"

The ex-fashionista emitted a melodious laugh.

"Truer words were never spoken."





On the next day, four girls plus Spike (who was let out of rucksack for this case) left for the main base of Brotherhood of Steel in Northern Canterlot Wastelands. Fortunately, they made their way without meeting any Crimson Hands mercenaries, and the only trouble they encountered was a lone yao guai whom Rarity quickly killed with three precise shots to the head before he even managed to approach the girls close enough for assault rifles to be effective.

Applejack muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "show-off", but Rarity did not notice (or pretended not to), and they went on.

When they arrived at the "entrance point", Twilight used her old set of access codes. Brotherhood Paladins were very surprised to see them, but once Elder Aegis gave the "all clear" via radio, they let the girls in.

Of course, they had to store their weapons and undergo a search once again, but this time no one attempted to feel them up... well... beyond the acceptable limits of frisking.

Rarity found the inner design of the bunker "extremely utilitarian" and "lacking aesthetics"; the latter comment earned her a glare from Paladins, and she tried to wiggle herself out of the faux pas by saying that she meant only a small "pretty-up" of the walls which would not interfere with the bunker's functionality. The glares stopped after that, someone sighed and muttered "civvies", and one of the Paladins said:

"Well, Miss, it's up for the command to decide. Thing is, we aren't going mad with grey walls yet, so nobody really cares."

"Oh. Well thank you."

"No prob."

When everyone entered Elder Aegis' office, he greeted them politely and asked what business they had with him. Twilight explained their plans and laid out her request for help in reconnaissance and final assault.

The leader of the Brotherhood Chapter thought for several minutes, before replying:

"Your request is... not unreasonable. White Knives are proving to be a nuisance to the Brotherhood of Steel as well. The stealth-bot we have can be quite helpful in this regard. If we work out the details, i can certainly help you in the matters of reconnaissance. And maybe I will convince the Knights to share a couple of night-vision goggles for some time, but we'll naturally want them back."

"Of course," Twilight replied.

"As for the assistance in final assault, that might be trickier. While we are indeed enemies with White Knives, some people are still uncertain about allying with you, so I can't promise the full support. Also, my men won't really be amenable to the idea of being used as bullet sponges, which you undoubtedly thought of."

"We hoped to get additional intel on the prison with your help and then think of an attack plan that improves survivability of both Appletowners and Brotherhood soldiers," Sunset remarked.

"I appreciate your forethought. Then, once we are able to get additional intel, we will need to think of a plan. It also depends on which soldiers will agree to come. Senior Paladin Sentry will most likely agree to participate, and so will Senior Paladin Ion Titanium. Miss Sparkle and Miss Shimmer are passably familiar with him. Helmet Steadfast is now in charge of defending the HQ of Canterlot Wastelands News, but if there is no risk of attack from outside parties, he might come too. Head Knight Frost might also join with some of the Knights. Senior Paladin Luminal Heat will obey me if ordered to. I am not certain of others."

"That will be how many people, in best and worst cases?"

"At least ten Paladins and ten Knights, and in the best case, twenty-five Paladins and thirty-five Knights."

"That's one big fighting force," Applejack whistled.

"Indeed."

"I have an idea of sorts," Rarity spoke up for the first time.

"I am all ears, Miss..."

"Rarity, sir."

"Miss Rarity?"

"I have heard rumours going in twin towers that a certain assassin, called "Black Widow", has assassinated the second-in-command of the White Knives via a secret passage. I have... purchased the information on its location from an information trader, and think that it might be worth scouting."

Twilight had to give Rarity credit; not a single muscle quivered on her face as she lied to Elder Aegis' face. Applejack's eyes narrowed, but the Equestrian princess sent her a warning look, and the blonde girl relented.

"Well, supposedly, we can do that. You believe that it may help a group of infiltrators to strike where they least expect it?"

"I have thought that this group may try taking out Curve Blade first, but the lines of thoughts are similar, yes."

"I will have my Knights scout this place. Can you give the location?"

"Certainly," Rarity transmitted the information on her Pip-Boy.

"Much obliged, Miss Rarity. That will be of use to both parties. In return, here is the map of villages that we know to be occupied by White Knives or those allied with them," Elder Aegis sent the coordinates to the Pip-Boys carried by girls. "That is all I can do at the moment. The stealth-bots will do more reconnaissance, and I will send one with extra intel as soon as I am able to. Deal?"

"Deal," Applejack said, and shook hands with Elder Aegis.

"Then let our alliance, even if it is of convenience, prove strong. May the Steel be with you."





Later, deep in the night...

Grab Limb felt quite content in his position as the lieutenant of the White Knives. His "promotion" was quite... recent, since the latest attack of Appletown's militia cost them a lot in terms of people, including his own superior.

He was not complaining, though. He was definitely better off now.

First, his share of caps was much higher now. Second, he could enjoy some privileges that were unavailable to him earlier, like a comfortable bed or purified water instead of irradiated water. Third, he could have more Jet to himself now.

And now, as the night was falling down, he decided he could enjoy one dose before passing out for the night, since Appletowners never conducted night operations.

Injecting the drug and feeling the euphoria, he did not know that there were other people aside from Appletowners who could be hostile to White Knives.

Who could and would come after them at night...





Three figures in dark clothes and masks were observing the village from a nearby hill.

"Unbe-fucking-lievable," one of them snarled quietly. "They do not even have patrols outside, and yet there are fires burning in the barrels. Are they for real?"

"They're bandits, Bon Bon," another one replied. "What did you expect? Military discipline?"

"For a gang that terrorizes this whole area, they woefully lack caution, Lyra. You think it's not just asking for a bullet?"

"They are not used to attacks at night, because Applejack never did that. So they are relaxed. This gives us an opportunity to thin their numbers and inflict massive casualties."

"Then what's the plan?" a third person asked, silenced sniper rifle in her hands. 

"Observe the main street and keep radio contact. If any of them Knives moves out somewhere, tell us over the radio."

"Will do."

"I have to say, it was quite generous of Elder Aegis to give us personal radios, even if for a while."

"That it was, Lyra. Now let's move."

As Rarity lay down, covering Lyra and Bon Bon with her sniper rifle, the latter two sprinted to the village, ducking a bit so as to be less distinguishable. None of the White Knives showed up on the streets, and two girls quietly entered the house, silenced Buffalo SMGs at the ready.

However, firing proved unnecessary, as four bandits were lying on the floor, clearly passed out, half a dozen empty bottles of whiskey lying around. A putrid stench of sweat and alcohol permeated the air, making Lyra wrinkle her nose in distaste. Looking at Bon Bon, and seeing that the latter was also looking at her, she made a movement with her hand across her neck. The bicolour-haired girl nodded, getting the message.

Putting SMGs away, they took out their UFE army knives and chose their targets. Lyra picked the closest bandit and approached him from his head's side, while Bon Bon moved further away. Covering the bandit's mouth, she quickly made a cut across the throat.

Slink.

The blade cut across carotid arteries and the trachea, releasing a torrent of blood and preventing any further breathing. The man did not even jerk, and after some waiting, Lyra was convinced that he would never rise again.

Meanwhile, Bon Bon almost sat on another bandit, holding her knife in a reverse grip above his throat. She covered his mouth and immediately brought the knife down, cutting his windpipe. The man woke up from the shock, but was unable to scream or resist anyhow. Snarling, Bon Bon wrestled the knife out and stabbed the man in the eye. He twitched once and lay still, the pool of blood spreading.

Without any words, the ex-DOI agent and the former NSC operative moved to the remaining bandits, and slit their throats without any preambula.

Another bandit, attracted by something, stumbled into the room, also quite drunk.

"Hey," he slurred, "who are..?"

Fwooosh!

He was unable to finish his sentence, as Bon Bon's knife flew through the air and hit him straight into the right eye. Easily cutting through the flesh, its tip tore into the bandit's brain, instantly killing him.

The body fell with a thud. Bon Bon muttered a swear word under her mouth, and proceeded to get her knife back. Tearing it out, she wiped the blood and other... fluids... on the corpse.

Taking the Buffalo SMGs again, both girls sweeped the house, but found no one. Lyra spoke to her radio:

"Dagger-2 to Dagger-3, first house clear, five hostiles down, no scratches. How copy, over?"

"Dagger-3 to Dagger-2, solid copy, acknowledged. No hostiles on street, you're clear to proceed to the next target, over."

"Dagger-3, acknowledged. Dagger-2 out."

"Come on," Lyra told her dubiously-former-BFF, "next house."

"On your six," Bon Bon replied.

The pair turned on their Stealth-Boys and left the house, careful not to produce any noise. Moving to their next one, they noticed that one of the windows was open wide, and they decided to ignore the front door. On checking for hostiles, Lyra helped Bon Bon get inside, then followed her.

At that moment, two bandits moved to the room, clearly not as inebriated as the previous now-dead bandits. Two girls stood rigid, not daring to breathe, covered by the optical cloaking field, praying that the enemies would not notice the distortions of air which were a dead giveaway. Fortunately, they did not, and went out of the house.

Relieved, both girls turned off their Stealth-Boys. As quietly as possible, Bon Bon spoke into her radio:

"Dagger-1 to Dagger-3, two bandits just left the house, what're they up to? Over."





Rarity was somewhat worried as she noticed two gangsters come out of the house that Lyra and Bon Bon were supposed to infiltrate next.

Oh I do hope they were not noticed. This plan is quite dangerous due to the enormous numerical superiority they have on us.

Thus, when she heard the quiet whisper in her earphone, she was relieved, and responded immediately:

"Dagger-1, they're standing near the doors as sentries, or it appears so, at least."

"Snipe them, Dagger-3, we don't want them getting suspicious. Over."

"Understood, Dagger-1. Dagger-3 out," with these words, Rarity adjusted the magnification and focus on her optical sight, and carefully aimed at one of the bandits. She did not have night-vision goggles or a thermal visor, but, fortunately for her, the fiers in barrels were still burning and the full moon in the sky was also giving enough light. The non-windy weather was a bonus.

Taking her elevated position and gravitational force into account, she pulled the trigger.

Thud!

Her MSR-90 sniper rifle spat out a bullet, which immediately shattered the bandit's head like a watermelon. Before the other one was able to actually turn, his head was in crosshairs.

Thud!

The bullet went straight into his eye, and he slumped down.

"Daggers one and two, this is Dagger-3. Targets down."





"Thanks a bunch, Rarity. Maintain vigilance. Dagger-1 out," Bon Bon replied.

"Callsigns!" Lyra hissed. "Use the fucking callsigns, not names!"

"Sorry!" the beige-skinned girl whispered back. "Help me get those two inside, will you?"

"What for? The blood will be a dead giveaway anyway."

"What're you... Oh, wait, I see," Bon Bon saw the corpse with a shattered skull out of the window. "Damn. He should have eaten more calcium."

"What the heck?" a new male voice sounded, slightly slurred, and a man walked into the room, unsteady on his feet. "Who's whispering in here?"

The only answer he got was the phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut-phiut of silenced Buffalo SMGs. He was dead before his body fell into the girl's hands, who carefully put him down.

As they proceeded further into the house, they saw several more persons awake; all of the bandits were eliminated in cold blood and without mercy. In total, ten more bandits (including two sentries sniped by Rarity) were dead now.

"Daggers one and two, be advised, five hostiles on the street, moving in your general direction," Rarity's voice echoed in their ears. Both girls ducked immediately and took position near windows, carefully peeking out. The fashionista-turned-assassin's information turned out to be true, to their frustration.

"Dagger-3, prepare to attack on my mark," Lyra whispered.

"Acknowledged," was the reply.

Former DOI agent and former NSC operative took positions behind and below the windows. Waiting for three seconds, Lyra spoke:

"Mark!"





Rarity pulled the trigger, sending the .308 lead sort-of-cone slug flying and into the neck of the closest White Knives' bandit, which shattered the larynx and made him choke to death in less than a minute.

Before he died, though, Lyra and Bon Bon managed to surprise the other bandits with streams of their own bullets, opening fire. The fashionista could not hear the silenced shots, but she could clearly see through optical sight that the bandits were unable to defend themselves. Very soon, they were dropped.

The trouble did not end there, however. The last bandit accidentally pulled the trigger on his weapon as he was collapsing on the ground, and the loud sounds of fire has alerted everyone else. One by one and by groups of two and three, the bandits were coming out.

Rarity pulled the trigger again, not bothering to line up a headshot and going for the center of mass. The bullet went below her intended point and hit the target to the groin instead.

Even from her position, the screams and swearing of a downed bandit could be clearly heard. The girl allowed herself a small dark chuckle.

Groin shots are super effective.

The enemies, however, were not willing to play the role of targets in a shooting gallery and tried to get to cover. Some of them shot blindly in her direction, making her flinch - she was out of her comfort zone, as she was used to picking positions and acting in a way that would not leave her enemies even one-in-a-million chance to return fire. While none of the bullets hit her, she crawled a bit to the side and looked down onto the battlefield again.

Lyra and Bon Bon managed to drop two of the bandits while they were scampering for cover; there were five enemies left, and all of them were in positions that made sniping difficult.

"Dagger-3 to others, bad visibility of hostiles on my end, must change position," she spoke on the radio.

"Do it quick, we don't want to stir even more hornet's nests!"

Hitting the button on her Stealth-Boy, Rarity stood up and sprinted in the direction where the enemies were hiding, intending to give them a nasty surprise.

Slinging her sniper rifle behind her back, she pulled out her silenced pistol, leaning against the wall and taking several moments to breathe. When her breathing steadied, she aimed at the head of the closest bandit, still under optical camo cloak.

Thud.

A .22 caliber bullet hit him, turning his brains into a mush of torn nerve endings and blood, and he fell. Quickly aiming at another bandit (Rarity noticed with displeasure that her next target was a woman), the assassin pulled the trigger again, hitting her target. Unlike the previous one, the dead female slumped forward, which was not left unnoticed.

"Hey, what the..." one of the bandits started as he turned to the corpse, but he forgot to hide back, and that cost him dearly - Lyra and Bon Bon seized the chance and pumped him full of 9mm rounds.

One of the bandits fired blindly back, but hit nothing, as Rarity hid behind the wall again. He tried to run back, but underestimated the ability of girls who served in special governmental branches to shoot, and ended up dead.

"OK, OK, stop!" the last bandit shouted. "I surrender, please!" He dropped the weapon and raised his hands, standing up in plain view. "Please don't shoot, I surrender!"

Rarity leaned out again and put two bullets into his back in rapid succession, one of them hitting the aorta and another one shattering one of his spinal disks. Turning off her cloak, she left cover and gave an extra bullet for each bandit to the head. Coming up to the last one, she muttered:

"Your offer of surrender is denied, raider scum."

Thud.

"Wow," Bon Bon commented, dropping her optical camouflage. "That's cold."

"Do you feel that he deserved the chance to survive?" Rarity countered with her own question.

"That would depend on what he had done and why. Alas, we can't find that out now."

"I'm not sure that this is largely relevant right now," Lyra said, appearing near Bon Bon. "What is relevant is that this person is - pardon me, was willing to attack innocents just because his boss, Curve Blade, may he rot in Tartarus forever, wants to drive Appletowners out of their places, and wants to collect "fees for passage" from caravans. He is already stifling the economy of Appletown, and if he is not removed, this place may not survive. We must remove this threat, and we must cull their mumbers, which means that everyone under the banner of White Knives is a fair target."

"Agreed," Rarity said. "Now what, two more villages to go?"

"Yes. Let's go."

The trio hit the "on" buttons on their Stealth-Boys, literally disappearing into the night...





"I am bored," Sunset groaned quietly.

"Shush, you," Twilight hissed at her, "or you want them to hear us?"

Two equines-turned-humans, Spike, Big Macintosh, Hotlock and twelve more people from Appletown and CWN's militias were hiding in the night near one of the villages occupied by White Knives. When the girls returned with the news of Elder Aegis agreeing to cooperate, an idea of a small volunteer force hitting the villages at night was proposed. Surprisingly, it was well-supported by everyone who wanted to fight for Appletown, so they had t spend some time picking the candidates.

Since Twilight let Lyra borrow her silenced Buffalo SMG and Sunset did not have the mindset for stealth operations, they both joined the task force. Twilight was feeling slightly apprehensive about attacking first, but the nature of their enemy made it nigh impossible to argue against the idea.

She was worried that she was becoming desensitized to the loss of life, and admitted that to Sunset. The fiery-haired girl disagreed with her on that point, though.

"Desensitized is if you lose regard of any life, friend's or enemy's," she said. "Since you fight to protect the innocents and preserve their lives, I can't call you "desensitized" at all, especially since it's White Knives we're dealing with."

Despite her friend's assurances, Twilight still had a worm of doubt in her mind, and was fighting it all the way to the occupied village. However, with tension rising, the strain of her nerves allowed to squish that worm.

Need to focus. And wait for signal.

Brotherhood of Steel allowed them to use some of their personal radio commlinks, which improved their possibilities of coordination. The plan was to attack as soon as Lyra, Bon Bon and Rarity (whom were aptly named the "Dagger squad" by Applejack; no one objected) moved on from the first village and infiltrated the second one. Once the Dagger squad signaled that they were attacking the other village, their "Hammer squad" was supposed to start their own attack.

Since the two villages were very close to each other, the noise coming from one of them could attract the attention from another, and tying both of them in a chaos of battle would prevent reinforcements coming at the least opportune moment.

Now, Hammer squad was waiting for the signal from Dagger squad. In the meantime, they were supposed to sit quietly and avoid detection. And Sunset Shimmer found that boring as Tartarus, hence the complaining and the subsequent "shut up" from Twilight.

"I don't," Sunset replied, "but this is seriously straining my nerves. Remember how we were waiting back in Vault Village?"

"Don't remind me," Twilight grunted.

"Everyone!" their talk was interrupted by Big Macintosh, who had the radio set and was listening to it, "a signal from Dagger squad! Time to attack! Go, go, go!"

"Finally!" Sunset breathed out, and rose. Twilight followed her and Big Macintosh, clutching her AP-79.

The whole squad was running towards the village, guns at the ready. The streets were empty, and they made it unnoticed to two closest houses, splitting into two squads. Big Macintosh, Twilight and Sunset, along with five more militiamen chose a larger house.

"On the count of three," the eldest Apple spoke. "One... two... THREE!"

BAM! With a mighty kick, he kicked the door open, and immediately started firing his LMG at something. Twilight and Sunset followed him, noticing several bandits standing in the open, clearly taken by surprise. Two White Knives were dead already, one was crying from pain and clutching his stomach.

Twilight aimed at one of the bandits on the left, while Sunset chose her targets on the right side.

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!

Their fire incapacitated all of the remaining bandits in the room, and other militiamen rushed into the house, splitting into groups of two and three and going further into the house. Big Macintosh and the girls went into what appeared to be a living room.

The bandits were not as surprised as those caught near exit were, but they were drunk (and some of them were high on some clearly addictive substances) and were still scrambling for their weapons. The girls immediately fired on any target that stood in the open, while Big macintosh made quick work of those who tried to hide behind sofas or uprooted tables - while the thought was sound, cloth and wood could not withstand the impact of 7.62mm bullets.

Twilight's ears were ringing from the fire in closed quarters despite her mouth being open, but she could still hear shooting coming from other parts of the house. Several seconds passed, and the noise ceased.

Big Macintosh set his radio to the Hammer squad frequency and spoke:

"Hammer-1-1 to others, report!"

"Hammer-1-1, this is Hammer-2-1, we cleared the house, how is it going on your side?"

"Hammer-1-1, this is Hammer-1-4, we killed the bandits."

"Hammer-1-6 here, we're fine."

"Gather near the exit, now we've got their attention!"

"Now the real fun begins," Sunset spoke quietly to Twilight.

"I seriously hope you're not being serious," the equine Princess grumbled, and mentally facepalmed at her own words.





Red Bullet woke up from a very pleasant dream involving two hot blonde twins doing... things to him. Wonderfully pleasant things.

His dream might have been influenced by Jet and some hallucinogenic drug mixed with it, though. Still, it was still extremely hot, and of course, being ripped from the realm of such dreams by gunfire was not good at all.

He paused, and then sat up sharply, startled.

...gunfire?

All wisps of sleep disappeared from him and he scrambled around for his guns and armour. Other White Knives were waking up, too.

"Whassamatter?" one of them slurred, whiskey doing his speaking for him.

"We're under attack, you fucking idiot!" Red Bullet snarled, giving the speaker a hard kick to his back, eliciting an "Ouch!" and a string of filthy expletives, which were promptly ignored. "Get up and get your guns!"





"Whelp, now we've gotten their attention!" one of the militiamen spoke gleefully, releasing a string of bullets in the bandits' direction.

"I would have preferred the opposite," Twilight grumbled, but no one heard her over the noise of gunfire.

I sure understand the appeal of infiltration tactics now.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da! Big Macintosh's LMG was spitting out bullets at a fast rate, its owner determined not to let the bandits get a good angle of fire. Sticking out of cover, Twilight managed to get one of White Knives into her collimator sight, and pulled the trigger.

A short ba-ta-ta later, her target fell onto earth, motionless.

Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"Aaaand I'm out!" Sunset ducked back behind cover, swapping the magazine of her R91. "How many kills have you scored? I have six!"

"Five," Twilight replied.

"Seven, and mind comparing the count later?" Big Macintosh replied before firing another string of bullets. Both girls rose from behind their cover and fired at any bandit stupid enough to have a part of their body sticking out.

Some of their bullets penetrated the wooden walls that served as cover for the White Knives, causing one death and two injuries. Sunset also hit one of the raiders to the throat before return fire forced her to duck.

Twilight spent the last of her ammunition, resulting in another raider casualty, and ducked to swap a magazine.

So far, their situation was far from perfect, but it was not favouring their enemies either. White Knives, not used to the attacks at night by anything except a stray beast or two, could not believe for a moment that someone was actually attacking them, chalking the sounds up to some drunk shooting some people indulged into.

When Red Bullet, the local lieutenant, realized what was going on, he proved to be no slouch, however. Under his profanity-ridden command, the raiders organized (or at least tried to) some sort of defense, but by that time Appletown militia has already cleared half of the houses and were entrenched in well-defensible positions. Plus, a good number of raiders forgot to put on their armour in haste, making themselves easier pickings.

Twilight had actually taken out a female bandit who had nothing but bra on her upper body. To add insult to injury, 5.56mm bullets tore through the raider's mammary glands, turning them into a very unattractive mess of gore. The equine Princess was barely able to avoid retching at the sight.

Still, the bandits were dead set on surviving, and were not intent on giving Appletowners any quarters, not that the latters asked for it or were willing to offer some.

A fierce positional firefight took place, with Appletowners covering the street in a crossfire and taking care to prevent any attempts at hitting them in the back, and bandits laying down suppressive fire to halt their advance.

However, bandits were soon struck in the back.

"Hammer-1-1, this is Dagger-3," Rarity's voice sounded in their headsets. "We've come to return the favour."

The bandits were caught completely unprepared, and Lyra, Bon Bon and Rarity killed almost half of the bandits under cover of Stealth-Boys, while Hammer squad killed anyone distracted or trying to escape.

The battle turned into a massacre, with the bandits getting slaughtered by the crossfire. Red Bullet and a handful of raiders tried to escape while firing wildly with LMGs and trophy laser rifles, but the machine-gunners were sniped by Rarity from afar, and the local lieutenant caught several bullets from Sunset, one piercing the artery in his hip and another hitting his groin. The ear-piercing wail he emitted was so loud that several Appletowners worried that it could actually be heard back at the prison.

Another bullet to the head silenced his screams forever.

A minute and a half later, Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon appeared and approached the Appletowners.

"How'd it go?" Big Macintosh asked them.

"Perfect, they were running around the village with their pants down, sometimes literally," Lyra spoke; as she said the last words, Rarity presumably made a face (no one could tell because of the mask).

"None escaped?"

"Well, some wanted to run and help you, but Rarity got them all. And we finished off those who were too slow."

"Medic!" someone screamed.

"Oh dear," Bon Bon was startled, "excuse me, I need to help! Hold on, medic is coming!" she shouted, running in the direction.

"Wounded?" Lyra asked.

"We only just finished, Ah didn't even have a chance to sound off," the eldest Apple explained, abashed.

As it turned out, three Appletowners received light wounds and one had a serious enough wound that could threaten his left arm. Bon Bon used the meds from AMFAK-10 to keep his arm in working order and recommended to stay away from action.

"Well, no KIAs yet. Excellent job so far," Lyra commented.

"Please don't jinx us," Sunset replied, "I don't want some flying spaghetti monster to get a drop on us."

"There are flying spaghetti monsters in this world?!" Twilight almost shrieked.

And frowned as Big Macintosh, Lyra, Sunset, Bon Bon and Rarity giggled or outright laughed in response to her sentence.

"What's so funny?!" she demanded to know.

"Twilight, darling," Rarity replied, "there is no such thing as a flying spaghetti monster. Sunset was merely... being somewhat sarcastic."

"Was not. With what the Wastelands throw at us, I fully expect a flying spaghetti monster to appear out of somewhere," the fiery-haired girl snarked.

"But if they don't exist, how can one appear?" Twilight pointed out the obvious (to her) logical fallacy.

"They don't exist yet. People also thought that there was no such thing as a giant radscorpion or a yao guai when we settled in Vault Village, despite what merchants told us. So I am kinda more open to the unbelievable now. Including flying spaghetti monsters."

"That's... icky."

"Can we please stop the discussion about some imaginary creatures of Tartarus and focus on the task at hand?" Bon Bon interrupted the discussion. "We still need to clear up one more village, as we planned to."

"You won't need to do that," a new voice appeared out of nowhere, and an eyebot decloaked close to them, the face of Elder Aegis visible on the screen. "Two squads of Brotherhood volunteers have already cleared them and wiped all bandits out. Unless you are looking for more fights, I think you can call it a night."

"Sounds good to me," Sunset muttered.

"But y'all will send more coordinates on the villages occupied by raiders?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Certainly, Mr Macintosh. I will do so tomorrow at noon, via this stealthed eyebot. Please pass my regards to Miss Applejack. May the Steel be with you. Aegis out."

The screen went off, and the eyebot flew away, cloaking itself.

"Ah'll never get used to them iron football balls," the eldest Apple grumbled. "Lyra, Bon Bon, Rarity, Ah hate asking you this, but if it's possible, can you scout the other villages we wanted to hit? Ah know Aegis is kinda on our side, but Ah want to be sure."

"I think me and Bon Bon can split and quickly check them out," Lyra replied. "We won't need sniper support on this one."

"Are you sure?" Rarity asked. "I am not an owl by any means, but I can hold myself together at night."

"No, I think it'd be better for you to be well-rested," Bon Bon said. "We can't have you too tired for the final battle. And it may come sooner than we think."

"Oh, alright then."

"OK then, everyone else, bak to Appletown!" Big Macintosh ordered.





Several days passed in a similar fashion, with Appletowners and Vinyl's miliitiamen attacking known White Knives' holdouts at night, inflicting serious casualties. Sometimes the attacks were quiet assassinations and sabotage, done by Lyra, Bon Bon and Rarity, sometimes it was a bold attack in the open, sometimes a mixture of both. The combination of stealth and open assault produced massive casualties for the bandits in the shortest amount of time.

On several occasions, volunteers from Brotherhood of Steel also attacked the raiders, smashing any resistance. As Twilight learned, Flash Sentry's unit was the most active, although a couple of other Senior Paladins sympathizing with them also helped.

The retaliation attacks by White Knives, their allies or Crimson Hands mercenaries did not have the desired effect. While the enemy did inflict some casualties, the recommendations by Lyra and Hotlock resulted in improved defensive capabilities, and the kill-to-death ratio always stayed firmly in Appletown's favour.

Curve Blade tried attacking the HQ of Canterlot Wastelands News once, but Helmet Steadfast and his heavily-armed Paladins quickly made mincemeat of White Knives with the support of HQ's guardians, proving that this was a bad idea, too.

The tactics of night assaults have been successful. In nine days, Appletown lost nineteen of their defenders and CWN's militiamen, but Curve Blade's force, which had recently upped to three hundred raiders, was now reduced to a mere one hundred. Forty Crimson Hands mercenaries were also a nuisance, but, as people suspected, there was little to no trust between the sides, which they saw as a bonus. For several other days, eyebot surveillance showed that the White Knives no longer were trying to establish the outposts, instead focusing on defending their main base. This raised the morale, and Applejack, Big Macintosh, Twilight, Lyra, Bon Bon and Elder Aegis were now working on the plans of a final battle.

By that time, Appletown's militia was bolstered by newly-trained people, which offset their losses (at least in numbers). To Applejack's dismay, Apple Bloom also volunteered to learn how to use firearms. One day, she noticed Rarity teaching Apple Bloom the intricate parts of marksmanship, and began stomping to them, fury etched on her face, when Twilight intercepted her.

"Stop, Applejack," she said quietly (both not to attract attention and to make ensure her friend would not cause a scene), but firmly.

"Stop? Why in tarnation should Ah stop?!" Applejack kept her voice low, but very laced with displeasure.

"First tell me, what is it that has you angry? Apple Bloom learning how to use firearms? Or Rarity teaching her?"

"Er... Both!" the farmer hesitated for a bit before giving her answer, and that told Twilight all she needed to know.

"Applejack. You and I both know that Wastelands are dangerous enough, and Appletown is currently under a great threat. Plus, Apple Bloom is an adult, she can decide to learn weapons by herself now. There is no logical reason for you to deny her that, and honestly, I am convinced that you simply don't want Rarity near Apple Bloom."

"Well... Fine, ya caught me, Ah was never that good at lyin' anyway!" Applejack spat out, glaring at her equine-turned-human friend. "Ah don't wanna see Rarity near mah lil' sis teaching her how ta kill. Actually, Ah'd rather not see her 'round Apple Bloom at all. Happy now?"

Twilight almost dropped her jaw at the vitriolic tones coming from Applejack, but stopped herself in time and frowned in return instead.

"Because of Braeburn." She decided that it was useless to phrase the sentence as a question.

"Eeyup."

"Only around Apple Bloom or around anyone from your family?"

"Preferably anyone from the Apple family, but Ah know it would be stupid of me, so Ah'll settle for Apple Bloom and Big Mac."

"You believe that she might murder them, too?"

"Ah don't remember her stopping before killin' Braeburn, Twi. What if she finds that someone else from Apple family is "guilty" of her sister's death?" Applejack made quotation marks fingers when she said "guilty". "Ah really doubt she'll stop and think."

"Have you tried to ask her what she would do?"

"Ya think she'll tell me the truth?"

"You'll call her out if she lies, right?"

"Maybe. But Ah'm not sure. Remember Aegis an' how she told him 'bout the bypass to the prison? And Curve Blade's second-in-command having been killed by Black Widow? Ah saw her face; if Ah didn't know better, Ah swear Ah would buy into her story. Ah think she might actually fool me, Twi. But that's not the most worrying part. What if she just... snaps? Ya know, like when she learned 'bout Sweetie Belle dyin'? What if she snaps at the next guilty one and attacks an' that happens to be one of mah family?"

"You don't want to have a conflict of loyalties?" Twilight hazarded a guess.

"Yep, sort of. Ah don't wanna fight her... but Ah will if she does so again, Twilight, and Ah will fight lethally. Frankly, Ah'm still not trusting her."

"Well... I wouldn't expect you to forgive her so quickly. But has Apple Bloom done something that may paint her as guiulty of Sweetie Belle's death? Or Big Macintosh?"

"Of course they hasn't, but will that stop her if she decides otherwise?"

"Well, then we will see why she beieves so. And if she attacks, we will fight back."

"We?"

"You think I would let my friend kill a relative of my other friend just like that?"

"Oh... OK then. Thank ya kindly, Twi," Applejack suddenly hugged her otherworldly friend.

"You're welcome," Twilight returned the hug.

"Hey, big sis!" Apple Bloom ran up to them, face lit in excitement. "Rarity taught me how ta shoot at big distances! It's so cool!"

"Is it?" Applejack did her best to maintain a "glad" face.

"Indeed, darling," Rarity approached them. "Apple Bloom actually has a talent. In the end, I had her shoot twenty-five 5.56mm rounds with a varmint rifle, and she made twenty of twenty-five hits."

"Really?" Applejack was genuinely happy now.

"Really! Ah never thought shootin' was so complex! But Rarity taught me some tricks on breathin' and concentratin', an' Ah worked better an' better! Ah think Ah had the best result!"

"Wowzers! Rarity, how did ya manage that?"

"Well, I am quite knowledgeable when it comes to precision," Rarity flipped her hair, "and I know a couple of tricks that can help with that. Maybe soon you will have another sniper."

"Soup's on!" Big Macintosh called them.

"Come on, sis! Ah'm hungry!" Apple Bloom pulled her elder sister to their house, Twilight and Rarity following them...





After dinner, Big Macintosh and Hotlock have organized a meeting regarding their next action. In attendance were Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Lyra, Bon Bon, Rarity, several members of Apple family and Elder Aegis (via his eyebot). Twilight was pleasantly surprised when she saw Flash Sentry come into the building they used as their HQ of sorts.

"Sorry I am late," he said. "Just got told by Elder Aegis to reinforce your positions with my men and come here. Sir," he addressed the eyebot, saluting, "Senior Paladin Sentry reporting as ordered!"

"At ease, Sentry," Aegis replied. "Now that we are here, this... conference, shall we say... will begin now. Ladies and gentlemen, our strikes have been more successful than I had hoped to achieve. The latest surveillance shows that Curve Blade has no more than eighty men remaining under his command, and thirty or so Crimson Hands mercenaries. He withdrew all his forces back to his fortress."

A small round of applause burst out, primarily from Appletowners who were feeling glad that they were able to inflict such massive casualties upon the group that had nearly the whole area around them cowering in fear.

"Unfortunately," the Brotherhood Elder continued, "he seems no longer willing to get out of his fortress, except for small raiding parties that are still capable of threatening caravans. Just this noon, Sentry's troups found a ransacked caravan, the merchant and his bodyguards killed, almost all goods stolen and brahmin carved for meat."

"It's true," Flash spoke, "and by the looks of it, they have been dead for two hours at least when we found them."

"But how can they still threaten caravans?" Twilight asked.

"Because it doesn't take that much to attack a caravan," Hotlock replied. "A group of five to eight persons can take on a caravan and, depending on luck and their opposition, have a chance of winning ranging from fifty to eighty percent. Remember, they don't play fair, and rely on numerical advantage as much as on weapons and armour. Also, very few merchants can afford well-trained and well-equipped mercenaries for protection; the best ones are considered to be Crimson Hands, and we know they are currently in contract to White Knives. Curve Blade, even in his weakened state, can still send out small parties and raid the caravans, because we cannot cover that big of an area, and a caravan's path is not really predictable."

"It's true, unfortunately," Lyra spoke up, not minding the cold looks that some people were giving her. "If Commissariat's mass surveillance network was still active, we could regain control of stealthed eyebots that survived the Day of Burning and spread them out; then we would know, at least, what happens where, and react accordingly. But the network appears to be offline for some reason, and to reactivate it, one would need to get to the NSC Master Vault beneath Canterlot, which is impossible right now, since Canterlot is irradiated as hell, so you cannot venture in there without advanced environmentally-sealed power armour or armoured hazmat suit. Plus, there is also some shit in the city that kills as surely as ten sieverts dose in one day, and we still don't know what is it. Another way would be searching for surviving stealthed eyebots and rewriting their code to form a separate network; with my Commissariat codes, this is feasible. But stealthed eyebots are not something that just lies around."

"Long story short," Big Macintosh said, "Appletown is still threatened economically. So, as far as I get it, we still need to wipe out all of the bandits. Speaking of which, Elder Aegis? Are there Brotherhood soldiers ready to assist?"

"Yes. All in all, we can provide twenty-two volunteering Paladins," Aegis replied.

Everyone gasped.

"I honestly never thought that many would come," Sunset spoke up.

"Neither did I," Flash said, "but White Knives have been a nuisance for us, too. They covet our energy weapons, and have managed to steal some from our brothers, so we have a score to settle with them as well. That said, you should be careful. Energy weapons are most likely used by Curve Blade's elite raiders, and those guys are career criminals with high kill counts. I bet they have better armour than normal gangsters, too."

"With all new people pouring in, Ah think we can put up seventy people now," Applejack spoke. "True, most of them are novices, but several have already proved to be capable of takin' care for themselves."

"Ninety-two people already," Sunset said. "If you count me, Twilight, Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon, that's ninety-seven against one hundred and ten in worst case. Still not good odds, but we've seen worse."

"Fifteen militiamen from our group will join, while others will guard the town," Hotlock said. "Also, boss said they gave out a call via CWN, and people are coming from various parts to help. They said that twenty-two people already came to our HQ, and they will send the people towards us.

"That's one hundred and thirty four on our side," Twilight calculated. Some people whistled.

"OK," Aegis put the conversation back on track, "now let us think of the battle plan..."





Somebody please please pleeeeeeease shut that bastard up before I shoot him in sheer outrage, Slip Swipe was thinking while having to endure the assault that Curve Blade was mounting on his ears with admittedly impressive lung capacity. Why the fuck did I agree to be negotiator, again?

"Your men not only failed to do any significant damage to Appletown militia," the leader of White Knives was shouting, "they could not even assassinate that Daring fucking Duo! They keep running around with Appletowners and some bitches from former higher-ups and shoot my men! Fuck, they seem to have allied with fucking Brotherhood of Steel of all people!"

Well if you are stupid enough to mess with them, then maybe you should be put out so that your genes of stupidity would not pass down?! "You have to know, Curve Blade," Slip Swipe was doing is best not to let frustration slip into his voice, "that the resources that were granted for this task are... limited, both in quantity and quality, and that Daring Duo has proven to be more... crafty than we had estimated. Clearly, they are not your usual run-of-the-mills goody two shoes like Regulators."

"Don't tell me they are some super soldiers," Curve Blade spat out.

"They aren't, and they do not possess any significant military training. However, as I have said, they are crafty, and they bite a lot harder than one would expect. They also possess an indecent amount of luck which they use to their advantage."

"And Appletown?"

"We did do some damage. However, it appears that your aggressive stance is finally bringing players interested in your demise together."

"Are you saying this is my fault now?!" the bandit had red face now.

Maybe you will do me a favour and die now from cerebral apoplexy? "Fault is subjective. You pushed people, and they pushed back. Frankly, I am surprised Appletown had not formed an alliance before, but given Applejack's undiplomatic tendencies, that was not unanticipated in retrospect. I would expect them and CWN allying if push came to shove, but certainly not Brotherhood of Steel. Our informant has stated repeatedly that Applejack thinks lowly of Brotherhood and is antagonistic towards them."

"Not so lowly now, it appears. Did she spread her legs or something?"

Oh for Tartarus' sake!!! If you continue with such attitude, I will tell the boss to abandon you, and fuck the money and the consequences! Slimy bastard! Slip Swipe raged inside, wishing that someone would re-hire Crimson Hands to kill Curve Blade.

"No, she didn't. As far as I understand, Daring Duo helped her solve a conflict between her and Aegis, and now they are on speaking terms," he replied, frustration showing.

"I need more people. And not these mooks that seem to be barely above my men, I want real professionals," Curve Blade snarled.

"Real professionals cost real caps. And we have only one of them available, unless you count a small unit of slightly more experienced troups."

"Your price?"

"One thousand caps for all of them."

"Deal," Curve Blade put forward a small sack of caps. Slip Swipe took it and pocketed it.

"Much obliged. Oh, and one more thing," he paused before living, "my informant told me that a joint force of Brotherhood of Steel, Appletowners and CWN militia will attack this place tomorrow. He could not tell me the hour, unfortunately. Thought you should know," the last sentence was laced with a tone that clearly showed that the representative of Crimson Hands thought otherwise.

The door closed behind him.

And then it suffered a brunt of a heavy object being thrown at it.

Temper, temper, Slip Swipe shook his head, leaving the prison complex that served as the main base of White Knives. His troops met him with nods, and their group moved away.

Suddenly, an earphone buzzed, informing him that someone was trying to use the radio to contact him.

"Yes?" he said, putting a hand to his ear.

"This is Tooth."

"Go ahead."

"The attack will happen on dawn. They did not specify the hour, but my estimate would be from three to five a.m."

"Thanks. How many people will participate?"

"They say it will be more than one hundred and twenty. One hundred and thirty-four, to be exact. They're waiting for some people to pull in as of now."

"What of Daring Duo?"

"They will participate, too."

"What is the battle plan?"

Silence fell, and then, the voice on the other end became less confident.

"They... didn't tell us."

"What do you mean?"

"At the insistence of that bitch from NSC, only the highest-ranking commanders, so to speak, will discuss this. That means only Applejack, Big Macintosh, Hotlock, someone named Sentry and Elder Aegis via remote commlink are allowed."

"No one else?" Slip Swipe was genuinely surprised.

"No, not even their friends."

"Strange."

"Wait... someone's coming, I'll call back!"

"Tooth? Come in, Tooth."

Silence.

Slip Swipe turned off the connection and switched to another frequency.

"Swipe to HQ. Tooth has been compromised and is of no longer use to us."





Meanwhile...

Lyra Heartstrings approached Twilight and Sunset as they left the "conference room".

"Twilight, Sunset, we need to talk."

"About what?" Sunset replied.

"Not here. Let's find a more secluded place first."

"OK then..."

When they were on their way to exit, Lyra saw Bon Bon. Catching her look, she motioned the beige-skinned girl to follow them, and received a nod of compliance.

When on the street, Lyra led them into a narrow and unused alley between two stony houses, and said bluntly:

"We have a traitor in our midst. And before you ask, no, this isn't about the stuff with Bon Bon and me. It's about Appletown."

"Why do you think that?" Twilight asked.

"We know that Crimson Hands were hired to eliminate you two. They had attempted to do so twice already. Problem is, they knew perfectly well where you would go and where to ambush you. How come they knew?"

"A stealthed eyebot?" the equine Princess ventured a guess. 

"Could be, assuming they have a competent hacker, but as I said, it's not a commodity lying around, and a lot of them are damaged. Repairing them is much harder than you think, by the way - they were made with intent to prevent any tampering, and crude screwing-up could make an eyebot detonate."

Everyone present winced at the idea.

"Besides, if a stealthed eyebot were here, I would be able to find out, since my Pip-Boy has programs for eyebot detection. The only one I saw, however, is the one used by Brotherhood of Steel, so this is not an option. Therefore, we have a traitor."

"But who?" Sunset asked. "Appletown is quite populated for a settlement in Wastelands, and finding him won't be easy."

"Since Appletowners do not leave the city in general, according to Applejack and Big Macintosh, except for when they counter-raided the White Knives, this means that the spy has a radio to pass the information along; coming and going would look too suspicious. After the second attack on you, I took time and jury-rigged a close-distance radio frequency scanner, and managed to catch a signal and locate its source."

"Then we should tell Appejack, right?"

"Not so fast, Twilight. The traitor is one of the Apple family. The guy with abnormally long teeth and a cap."

"His name is Hayseed, as far as I know," Sunset spoke up. "Oh bummer, Applejack will blow her top."

"I insisted that only selected few people remain in the conference room. This is, as far as I understand, not normal for Appletowners, and I believe that the traitor will try and tell our enemies of this. We must confront him."

"When?"

"This buiding," Lyra poked her finger at the wall behind Equestrians, "is where he lives. I expect that he will begin his transmission soon. That said," she opened her rucksack and took out two 10mm submachine guns, giving each to the girls, "arm yourselves. Here are the spare magazines," she gave the ammo, "and I recommend you be careful - I have no idea what Hayseed would do, if pushed. Me and Bon Bon have our Buffalos."

"I will record his talk for some time," Bon Bon said, showing her Pip-Boy, "and then we confront him."

"OK then," Sunset Shimmer said, "time to take out the traitor trash."

"My scanner picked a burst of radio waves! He must be talking now! Come on!" Lyra ushered them into Hayseed's house. As quietly as they could, they creeped deeper into the house, struggling to hear anything. Bon Bon suddenly raised her hand in a universal "stop" gesture, then showed at one of the rooms with an open door. The girls went there; pretty soon, they heard someone (presumably Hayseed) talking beyond the other closed door. Bon Bon set her Pip-Boy to record the voice.

"The attack will happen on dawn. They did not specify the hour, but my estimate would be from three to five a.m."

"That's definitely Hayseed," Bon Bon whispered, and everyone clutched their weapons tighter. Sunset, in particular, looked as if she wanted to empty the whole magazine into the traitor, but stood rigid and listened as hard as she could.

Silence hung in the air for some moment, and then Hayseed spoke again.

"They say it will be more than one hundred and twenty. One hundred and thirty-four, to be exact. They're waiting for some people to pull in as of now."

More silence.

"They will participate, too."

Silence again.

"They... didn't tell us."

"What wouldn't I give for a proper surveillance network right now..." Lyra muttered.

"Quiet!" Bon Bon hissed.

"At the insistence of that bitch from NSC, only the highest-ranking commanders, so to speak, will discuss this. That means only Applejack, Big Macintosh, Hotlock, someone named Sentry and Elder Aegis via remote commlink are allowed."

"I'll show you who's the bitch here..." the mint-skinned girl was positively angry now.

"Quiet!"

"No, not even their friends," the traitor went on.

"Girls," Lyra turned to Twilight and Sunset, "confront him, we've heard enough!"

"OK," both girls moved forward. Sunset moved the handle and opened the door.

"Wait... someone's coming, I'll call back!" they heard Hayseed speak. As the Equestrians entered, they saw a man with grayish-gold skin with headphones on his head, which he quickly took off - but not quickly enough, and despite his rather comic attempts to hide it, a portable radio station was present.

"A-ha-hah... hello, ladies," he laughed, as if he was embarrassed. "Can I help?"

"To whom you were speaking via radio?" Sunset asked him.

"Radio? Which radio?"

"Oh don't play coy with us, this isn't funny!" Twilight snapped at him. "We can plainly see it standing behind your legs! Now, Applejack has never told me that she uses radios of any kind, which means she doesn't know about this particular portable station."

"I found it not long ago, and wanted to surprise her," Hayseed tried to lie, but he was so unconvincing that one did not need to be an Element of Honesty to catch him on it.

"Bullshit," Sunset snarled, and whipped out her SMG, aiming at his torso. Twilight copied her actions. "If you wanted to, you would have done it sooner. Now, to whom you were speaking?"

"Hey, you can't do that!" the traitor tried to bluff.

"Can't we?" Twilight glared at him. "You have betrayed Appletown. You think Applejack or Big Macintosh will like that? Or that we would do it without obtaining proof beforehand? We have Pip-Boys, you know. Everything is recorded." The last part was a lie; the Pip-Boys that Twilight and Sunset had were not equipped with built-in or jury-rigged microphones, but Hayseed did not know that, and judging by the sweat on his forehead, the Princess' bluff succeeded. "So here's a deal. You admit to everyone what you did, and tell us why, and you will live. If you go for that pistol in your holster, well..."

"...you will have more holes in you than it is necessary to breathe," Sunset finished threateningly.

"Fine! Fine, I surrender! Here, have my pistol!" Hayseed threw his pistol on the floor, and Sunset picked it. Both girls stood by his side, SMGs aimed at him; Sunset also took care to take his radio unit.

"Now to the conference room," Twilight said authoritatively. Bowing his head, Hayseed complied.

When they came out of the room, Lyra and Bon Bon stood by his side, in order to prevent any attempts to escape. The Equestrians stayed slightly behind.

The road to the "conference room" was uneventful; whoever was on the street did not pay much attention to them, and since Twilight and Sunset took care to hide their SMGs, no one called them out on looking like they were guarding a prisoner.

Finally, they arrived at the intended destination. Going up to the door, Lyra pushed the door open, and they pushed Hayseed inside before coming in. All chatter in the room stopped immediately, and everyone looked at the newcomers.

"Lyra? Bon Bon? Twilight? Sunset? Hayseed? What're y'all doin' here? Lyra, didn't ya say that the less people knew, the better?"

"I did, Applejack," the former agent of National Security Commissariat replied. "And I have to apologize, since I'm afraid I... deceived you all somewhat."

"Care to explain?" the farm girl frowned.

"Do you remember that Twilight and Sunset were under attack by Crimson Hands twice and barely got out both times? The mercs somehow knew almost exactly when and where to ambush them, and I wondered as to the reasons thereof. It is because we have a spy!" with the last words, Lyra kicked Hayseed's left leg straight to the back of the knee, making him drop on his fours from surprise.

"What in fuckin' tarnation are ya talkin' about?!" Applejack shouted. Big Macintosh frowned, and everyone else had their interest drawn to the scene.

"We found a portable radio station in his room," Sunset held out the object in question. "And we heard him talking to someone else, and he behaved like he did not want to be found while doing so. Bon Bon, you have the recording, right?"

"Right," hitting the buttons on her Pip-Boy, the ex-DOI agent played the voice of Hayseed talking to an unknown person, and then desperately trying to get out of the sticky situation he found himself in when Twilight and Sunset confronted him.

"But- couldn't it have been someone else?" Big Macintosh asked, shocked at the insinuations.

"Unlikely," Lyra said. "My Pip-Boy has a small radio frequency scanner, and it picked up a faint transmission once, coming from Appletown to somewhere, and I had heard enough about it to assume that you don't use radio communications. That happened when Twilight and Sunset were away to talk with CWN's boss and then were ambushed by Crimson Hands, right?"

"Right," Twilight confirmed it. "I also recall that a large attack on Appletown happened, and then you showed up with Star Paladin Rampart."

"Well, when I settled here, I once caught a transmission again, and it happened relatively shortly after one of our strategic meetings, which I found suspicious. I had managed to trace it close to Hayseed's house, but not precisely to it. Then, I picked up one again, and this time, it was definitely his house, and again it was after one of our strategic meetings. So I decided to spring a trap. I insisted that very few people remain, meaning Hayseed wouldn't be with you, and roped Twilight and Sunset to help. Bon Bon was suspicious, too, so when I confided in her, albeit... reluctantly, at first, she agreed to obtain proof - turned out she had a hidden microphone in her Pip-Boy. And the rest is history."

"Goldurn it to Tartarus, Hayseed! Applejack shouted, clearly upset. "Why in the name of all that's holy would ya do it?"

"I... I didn't want to, Applejack, but they made me!"

"Who?!"

"Cr... Crimson Hands! They captured my nephew when he left for some business one day; we thought he just died, but he was with them! One day, when I was alone in the field, this guy walked to me, gave the radio and said, "Either you tell us regularly what is going on in Appletown, or we'll kill your nephew." And so I did!"

"And you were dumb enough to believe it?" Lyra shouted at him. "Most likely they just offed him and told you a fancy lie and you bought it, hook, line and sinker!"

"They didn't lie, that's the gyst! That day, the guy who ordered me to tell them everything showed him my nephew! He was tied and gagged, but still alive! And they let me see him sometimes, even talk to him!"

"Why didn't ya tell me?" Applejack asked.

"Because that guy threatened to kill us both if he found out... and he said he would find out, because someone else here works for Crimson Hands..."

BANG!

A loud revolver shot reverberated through the room, and Hayseed's head came apart like an overripe pumpkin. Everyone jerked from surprise, and as Twilight turned around, she saw a man charging at her. She managed to whip out her SMG while turning, but before she fired, she received a hard punch to the stomach and dropped her weapon. Swiftly, the man turned her around and grabbed her, using her as a shield and putting his revolver against her temple.

"TWILIGHT!" Sunset and Applejack screamed in fear; the former went for her own SMG.

"Everyone drop your weapons or this girl will lose something important," the assailant said menacingly. With no room to maneuver, everyone complied.

"You bastard," Flash growled, furious beyond belief.

"So you're that other varmint who would order to kill Hayseed's nephew?" Applejack growled.

"I don't really think I need to do it. With Hayseed, or, as we called him, "Agent Tooth", compromised, there is no sense in his nephew living anymore... unless to be sold as a slave. And we don't do trades with slavers."

"Why Ah shoulda..." the farm girl made a step forward, and the assailant immediately pressed the revolver harder against Twilight's head.

"Stop," he growled, halting her advance, and began backtracking to the building's exit.

"Let her go!" Sunset shouted at him.

"Nuh-uh," the mercenary taunted, "there's no way I would do that. I simply cannot abandon my prize - one half of the Daring Duo, can I?"

"Can and will," the fiery-haired girl growled, which only served to make him laugh.

"Oh really? Make me, bitch. If anyone of you comes too close, the hammer goes off, and BOOM go the girl's brains. Well yeah, I might die if I do that, but that won't resurrect her, would it? And I know you're too soft-hearted to let her die, especially that blue-haired jock in a casket and you bacon-haired pseudo-action girl."

"Oh come the fuck ON!" Sunset shouted to the ceiling. "It's fiery hair, not bacon hair! Who the fuck was the smart guy to coin this term?"

"Dunno, never cared," the man shrugged his shoulders, continuing his retreat. "But this is getting boring. So far all I saw is trash talk."

"So what're you going to do to me?" Twilight asked, unable to reign in her curiousity despite a part of her saying that she did not need to know.

"Well there is a reward for your head, and your head is what I will give to Curve Blade. We have a contract, after all."

"Death by beheading. Well, fuck."

"Wow, how uncouth; did your momma never teach you not to swear?"

"She isn't in this world and you're not my dad, so fuck you."

The man used the handle of his revolver to give her a hit on the head, resulting in an "Ouch!"

"Keep quiet, girl. I have enough on my plate without your bullshit. You," he addressed Applejack, "open the door, and no tricks."

"OK," the blonde replied nervously, looking at him and Twilight. The bandit positioned himself so as to avoid any possible attacks, and once Applejack opened the door, he ordered her to go back to the group, and she complied.

"Now, all of you stand there. If I see anyone coming out of the house, she gets a bullet," he spoke, and again began retreating. Both him and Twilight slowly made their way outside.

Bi-DANNNNNNNGGGG!

A bullet hit the Crimson Hand's wrist joint; the force of impact forced the weapon away from Twilight's temple, and he dropped it.

Ba-puff!

A clap-like sound rang off, and the spy was crying in pain, his left knee shot.

Ba-puff!

Another bullet hit his right knee; this time, he was unable to stand and fell, releasing Twilight.

Immediately, the lavender-skinned girl went for the revolver that the mercanary had dropped, and aimed it at his head, face distorted in a furious expression.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Click. Click. Click.

Twilight continued pulling the trigger, although no more bullets came out, breathing heavily. Her recent fear for her life mixed with anger at being taken hostage and used as a shield and adrenaline was running through her, and she began shaking.

"Twilight!" she heard a shout, and a bipedal form of Sunset Shimmer wrapped her in a big hug. "Are you OK?"

"I am unhurt, Sunset."

"Well, I am glad to hear this," Flash Sentry came up to them. "I swear, Sunset, you ran as if you were on Jet mixed with Buffout. I was, like, a second behind you."

"Wearing that iron crate must be making you slow, Flash," Sunset smirked.

"Har har har. Very funny."

"You OK, Twilight?" Apple Bloom came up to her, followed by Rarity.

"I'm OK, Apple Bloom. Wait... you were the one shooting?"

"Well, me an' Rarity. She hit the wrist, 'cause Ah wasn't sure Ah would hit them; instead, Ah went for the knees."

"But how did ya two know where to go?" Applejack, who was outside with others now, asked with surprise in her voice.

"It was dumb luck," Rarity said, "we heard a shot coming from inside, so I told Apple Bloom to hide and cloaked. When I noticed that ruffian coming out, I rushed back and explained everything. We hid behind crates so that he wouldn't notice anything; when I fired, Apple Bloom popped up and put two bullets really fast in him."

"Really?"

"Yeah... sorry, Applejack... Ah really didn't wanna do that, but Twilight was in danger... Ah couldn't just stand still!"

"Ah'm not angry, mah little sis. That said; Twilight, did ya really have to crack his skull like that?"

"Sorry," Twilight replied sheepishly. "I just felt so angry..."

"Understandable," Bon Bon interrupted, "but this changes little. We must proceed with our plans. They would expect an attack now, but they don't know the exact hour, and that gives us an advantage. Stock up on your ammo and do some weapon maintenance while you can, and check your medical supples. And go to sleep early. We will wake everyone when necessary."





The following morning...

Rarity, Bon Bon and Lyra were creeping through the tunnel that led to the prison complex that Curve Blade used for his headquarters. Their Stealth-Boys were still on, just in case - the sun was about to rise, and the visibility was more or less fine anyway; they were more reliant on "guards" being drowsy and on the verge of sleep than on the notion of the leader of White Knives being careless.

Stealthed eyebot used by Brotherhood of Steel really came through. While the bandits tended to keep their weapons close, Curve Blade did not trust his men with explosives or less frequent weapons like laser rifles, and kept them in one small building that had been used for storage purposes. Several carefully placed DP-25 detonation packs could make the whole place light up in flames.

Which is why the girls had one each. Brotherhood Knights that had scouted the area and remianed behind to make sure that no one would attack the Dagger team in the back have provided them with these items, with "compliments of Elder Aegis". Apparently, the leader of the local chapter was feeling quite generous with them, which was found as a surprise. When Rarity commented on it, mentioning the stories she had heard from Twilight and others, one of the Knights looked around and said:

"Well... don't go blabbing about it, but when your friends messed up the whole robot security of that military base, we found a lot of various loot, including detpacks. Heck, there are still some good things lying around; we just can't get them all because we need to use the nuclear fuel for our truck sparingly. And even in power armour, you can't carry too much. So yeah, Elder Aegis can afford to be somewhat generous, especially since we're allies now, of convenience at least."

Having made their way, they checked with their Pip-Boy IFF systems if anyone was nearby, but they found no one. Carefully peeking from the exit (which was located behind one prison block and cleverly disguised as asphalt), they made sure no one would see the manhole cover slip, and made their way out, closing the manhole behind them. The group made its way to the marked building that was used for storage.

There were two guards beside the doors, clearly bored out of their minds but not as sleepy as the girls would have wanted them to. Noting that creeping with a knife behind them was nigh impossible (they might detect light distortion made by Stealth-Boys at close distance) and shooting them was the last resort, they needed to bypass the problem somehow.

The fortune smiled on them, though - on the other side of the building, there was an open window, wide enough for any of the girls to get in.

"Idiots," Bon Bon muttered quietly; her voice was heard by others via radio. "Why not just unlock the damn door and hang an "Everyone's invited!" neon sign? Give me the detpacks. Lyra, help me up there."

Getting the explosives, the ex-DOI agent stepped on Lyra's shoulder (who crouched down a bit and winced at feeling her friend's weight) and quickly got herself through the window. There was one bandit inside, who was supposed to be the quartermaster, apparently; but the empty bottles of whiskey, him lying on the table and a putrid smell of alcohol signified that the man was clearly unfit for the role. Bon Bon gave him a bullet from her silenced Buffalo SMG out of sheer frustration and proceeded to stick the detpacks in proper positions.

Meanwhile, Rarity and Lyra noticed another bandit approaching the window; clearly, the "smart guy" wanted to nick something from the storage. Both girls stepped closer to the fence, so as he would have lesser chances of noticing them, but he clearly wasn't interested in looking around, instead glancing behind. Rarity took out some object that resembled collapsible combination pliers; however, when she flicked it open, it turned out to be a balisong knife. As the man prepared to get himself inside, she crept up to him, covered his mouth and stabbed the knife straight into the larynx.

"You have a present for me?" Bon Bon joked, "appearing" in the window.

"Shut it," Rarity wiped her balisong against the bandit's clothes.

"Grumpy, grumpy-pants. Give him to me," Bon Bon hoisted the body and got it inside, then jumped out.

"OK, let's get outta here," she said. The girls hid back in the tunnel; when they were safely away, they turned off their Stealth-Boys to spare the batteries. Lyra took out a detonator, flicking off the safety switches.

"Wakey wakey, bastards," she said, pressing the red button.

BOOM!!! Even underground, the volume and the force of explosion could be felt, and sand fell on their heads.

"Ugh," Rarity complained, shaking her head and trying to shake off the sand, "now I'll have to get this earth out of my hair. How annoying."

"For a moment I thought the tunnel would collapse," Bon Bon replied, "and you're worried about your hair? Yep, now I am one hundred percent certain that you're Rarity."

Everyone chuckled a bit, even Rarity herself, although she did not lose the chance to retort about being a "fabulous-looking vigilante".

"After all, isn't there a certain charm in how fabulousity trumps their ruffianism?"

"It's bullets that trump ruffianism, Rarity, not fabulousity," Lyra said.

"Still, it doesn't hurt to look good while hunting bandits. Now, we wait for some moments, then return and see if we can covertly pick out some more people without getting the whole base on our metaphorical tails?"

"Precisely."





Meanwhile...

The main force was "camping out" in a small valley surrounded by hills that were very good for hiding the armed people. Brotherhood's truck had to have been used twice, since it could not transport one hundred people at once even if the whole space were to be cramped. Curve Blade's unwillingness to establish outposts allowed them to use the truck relatively freely - while they still could not use it to drive very close to the enemy base, the walking distance was shortened by more than half.

Now, everyone was resting, watching the area for ambushes or trying to catch some last shut-eye before the operation would start. Twilight Sparkle, however, did not want to try and catch some extra sleep; instead, she was checking out her weapons and ammunition.

Her AP-79 assault rifle was freshly maintained, and Rarity helped her yesterday to re-adjust the collimator sight for more precise fire, and seven spare clips. She also had her 10mm SMG on her for close combat emergency purposes, with three clips. Three fragmentation grenades and one flashbang were also present. The .44 magnum revolver was hidden behind her back as a last resort weapon.

Flash took her aside at one moment, and also gave her a laser pistol.

"But I already have one," she said.

"I know, but this pistol is special. I modified it myself when preparing for this assault, and I think you should have it, just in case. And I have three spare batteries for it. Sorry, but our base had no sweets or flowers to accompany," Flash chuckled half-abashedly, and Twilight smiled wryly.

"So now the men are giving us girls weapons as gifts?" she spoke with a non-serious tone. "Oh what has the world come to?"

Both of them laughed, trying not to remind themselves of the dark irony behind that last joke.

"But seriously," she continued, "what modifications does this pistol have?"

"I have tinkered with the power system and replaced the focusing lense array with a higher-quality pre-apocalypse one, plus did some things to avoid overheating, which was common enough with improperly made modifications. Your pistol won't explode in your hands, as it had happened sometimes. This pistol - I called it "Burning Flash" - deals almost twice the damage a normal laser pistol would do. The only drawback is that, unfortunately, that this power comes at the cost of battery capacity; I was unable to get it to fire more than twenty shots with normal batteries."

"I see you also drew your favourite shield and lightning bolt symbol?" Twilight remarked.

"Yeah, I did."

"Thank you, Flash," Twilight put the pistol away and hugged him - well, as much as one could hug someone dressed in power armour - which lead to a small blush and a careful return hug. The blue-haired Paladin went back to his men, while Twilight returned to her friends.

"Still not kissed?" Sunset Shimmer smirked at her compatriot.

"Suuunseeeeet," Twilight drawled her voice, exasperation and displeasure palpable. "Not now. Say, are you sure you want that laser rifle?"

Sunset did indeed pick a laser rifle for this event, which was now hanging behind her back. She had her Buffalo SMG in her hands (Twilight's was given to Rarity), with silencer in place (although she decided that she would most likely detach it later) and a collimator sight in place on Pontrottini rails. Sunset also had her combat shotgun secured behind, for close quarters.

"Yep, been wanting to test that bad boy in a while," the fiery-haired girl moved the bolt on her SMG, sending the bullet into the chamber, and secured the SMG on her hip, proceeding to take the laser rifle into her hands. 

"I see that Flashy boy gave you a gift?" Applejack came up to both of them, noticing the newest weapon of Twilight's.

"Applejack!" the equine Princess shouted, blushing heavily.

"Relax, Twi, Ah'm just teasing."

"OK, Miss Applejack," Senior Paladin Ion Titanium said, coming up with a suit of T-72d power armour that was carried by him and three more Paladins and setting it upright, "time to check out this iron maiden."

At the words "iron maiden", other Paladins guffawed.

"Ya know that that was a torture device, don't ya?" Applejack said, unamused.

"Oh shoot, wanted to prank you a bit. It was common to treat FNGs in Mechanized Infantry to this joke. Whenever someone entered power armour for the first time, they told him or her that they were entering the iron maiden, and the FNG thought that other guys meant the suit. So when the suit clamped shut, the officer sends the override command to shut down the suit, someone would shout "You're dead!" in the FNG's face and other guys in power armour would carry the unlucky FNG to the military hospital's morgue. And then they would tell him he died from enetring the iron maiden, while explaining what that really meant."

"Was there a way to avoid this joke?" Twilight asked.

"Well, if the FNG knew what an iron maiden was, he would call others out on this bullshit, but avoiding the ritual needed more than that. You had to tell the others that you were "stepping into the tank" and ask to "close the door". Then the officer would personally close the armour suit and proudly declare the FNG a tankman. Then there would be no joke, since a tankman "remains alive", so to speak."

"Heh," Applejack chuckled as the power armour suit, which was now adorning her personal mark of three apples instead of Brotherhood's sigil, was open. "So... is it ready?"

"Yes."

"Well, Ah'm steppin' into the tank!" the farm girl declared loudly and proudly, stepping inside the suit and aligning her body with it. "Close the door, please!"

"Yes ma'am!" Ion Titanium closed all the segments behind Applejack, turning the wheel lock to the end. "Congratulations, you are officially a tankman now! Or tank girl, if you prefer. We didn't do gender distinction back then."

"OK, where's mah LMG?"

"Here," Big Macintosh, who was silent for the whole affair, gave the weapon to his sister.

"Much obliged. Hey, it's easier to handle now, Ah can actually fire it one-handed!" Applejack tried holding the LMG in one hand, and it remained relatively steady. "What's the Pip-Boy for, though?"

"Since you have no helmet and we can't spare one, all information regarding armour status will be displayed there instead," Ion Titanium replied.

"Oh. Thank ya."

BOOM! A big explosion sounded in the distance.

"That's our signal! Go, go, go!" Hotlock shouted, and immediately, the people began running towards the White Knives' main base.





"What was that?" Curve Blade shouted when he heard the explosion.

"An explosion of something," a silky voice sounded nearby, and a man in milspec assault armour with the insignia of a red palm re-settled his AR-22 assault rifle in his hands. "What do you have out there that can detonate like that?"

"The only thing I can think of is that storage house... FUCK! Someone must have managed to breach our security and get there! But how?"

"I am afraid I have no idea, aside from the saboteurs using the same way of infiltration that the Black Widow had used when she killed your second-in-command."

"Saboteurs? Are you kidding me, Shock Gauntlet? We are under attack! Lieutenant! Order our people to get to the area where our storage house was and kill whoever attacked us!"

"Yes, sir!" the third man ran out.

Several minutes have passed until Shock Gauntlet's radio went off.

"Yes?"

"Sir, no one's attacking us there, but... Oh shit!"

BOOM! another explosion sounded off in the distance.

"What's going on?"

"Sir, they came from other side! Brotherhood Paladins with missile launchers destroyed the towers and the whole force of Appletowners and who knows whom else is on the move! They caught us unaware!"

"Respond to attack. Gauntlet out."

"What's happening, Gauntlet?" Curve Blade shouted.

"A clusterfuck. Your people got duped and now you have no sniper support, the towers got taken out by missile launchers. Which means they can approach our position without any big problems. If you'll excuse me, I need to find a position for marksman fire."





"Attack!" Helmet Steadfast ordered, and Brotherhood Paladins rushed ahead, trying to get to the closest cover.

"Let's go, let's go!" Big Macintosh ordered.

Their plan so far has worked as intended. The distraction provided by Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon drew a good number of enemy forces to the explosion site, making them believe that the attack was coming from that side. After that, the Paladins with missile launchers (which were also scavenged from the military base) fired simultaneously at the sniper towers. The towers, being made from wood, could not withstand the explosion and collapsed, killing the snipers. This allowed the allied force to advance to prison without opposition for some time.

When the defenders opened fire on the attackers from the windows, the bulk of the allied forces already managed to clear three one-storey buildings and dig themselves within. Thus, when the previously distracted bandits and mercenaries returned, they were greeted by a deadly torrent of bullets, laser beams and even some plasma bolts. Twenty bandits and seven mercenaries died in short order.

However, the battle quickly turned into positional quagmire, as the surviving defenders dug themselves in another one-storey building, and those sitting in main prison building did not allow anyone to cross the open area. The LMG and laser fire from bandits made even Brotherhood Paladins hesitate to come out in the open.

The snipers that were on Appletown's side did their best to eliminate their oppositon. Hunter Rose and some other people used the chaos of battle to their advantage, picking off enemies in the windows wherever they could, but hitting the targets was quite difficult when under fire. One of stray bullets pierced Hunter's hat, making him drop down and cuss profusedly.

"Oh fuck you, Curve Blade!" he swore, as if the lead bandit personally shot his hat off. "This was my favourite hat! Where am I going to find another one?" 

With these words, he aimed at yet another bandit and fired. This time, the bullet hit its target. Losing her balance, the female raider fell out of the window, which would destroy any chances of her surviving.

Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Big Macintosh, Flash and six more people were majorly busy with bandits that occupied the one-storey buildings surrounding the prison block, having to deal with fire from both sides. Three of their squad already died, and two were waiting for painkillers to kick in so as to continue the fight. Twilight and Big Macintosh were busy trying to deal with bandits in the buildings, while Sunset, Flash, Applejack and those with LMGs and laser rifles tried to pick out the bandits in main building.

The Appletowners desperately needed a game changer, and that's where Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon, along with a cadre of Brotherhood Knights, had to come in.





The hidden manhole opened again, letting the girls and the nine Knights chosen for the "dagger in the back" attack out. The "Dagger squad" cloaked immediately and went for the one-storey houses, while the Knights quietly moved to the building's back door. Not bothering with picking the lock, they set a breeech charge and detonated it, letting themselves inside.

The windows in the houses largely did not have any windows, which left the backs of bandits exposed. The girls utilized it to their advantage, shooting the bandits in the backs with suppressed SMGs and killing four of them (plus two mercenaries) before someone actually thought of firing back. When they did, Lyra and Bon Bon simply tossed several grenades inside, which resulted in a carnage. Since the building did not have any internal walls, everyone inside was pierced by shrapnel; of eight persons still living, only one survived long enough to necessitate two final shots to the head.

The count of their enemies was brought down to sixty-seven persons remaining. However, the allied force was also taking casualties: fifteen Appletowners, seven CWN militiamen and three Paladins were killed by enemy fire. Twelve more people were put out of the fight by heavy wounds.

The odds tipped into the favour of the allied force, though. With the bandits that were in the single-storey building that gave Twilight and others so much trouble eliminated, the defending bandits found themselves under heavier fire than before.

Seeing the situation, Shock Gauntlet ordered to back off from the windows and set defensive positions inside. Built with the intent to withstand enemy force assaults if necessary, the prison boasted an architecture that favoured the defenders heavily, along with ceiling turrets re-purposed by White Knives to attack anyone whom the security system did not recognize as an ally.

When the security system was installed, the turret cameras also had facial recognition software put within. If the system had not been deactivated for some reason on the Day of Burning, Curve Blade and his posse would have eaten bullets if they so much as entered there. Instead, their hacker managed to reprogram the turrets to recognize any of the White Knives (and, when necessary, Crimson Hands) as allies. They did not have the system on constantly, as it required a lot of power, but for emergency cases, it was brought online.

As the main bulk allied force stormed the prison, they realized this first hand, as they were met by a storm of bullets from turrets and bandits. One of Brotherhood Paladins fired a missile launcher into the enemy midst, killing or severely wounding eight people, but not before five Appletowners, one militiaman and one unlucky Paladin ate too many bullets to actually live.

Twilight and her friends, however, did not take that route. Realizing that a frontal assault would see heavy fighting and greater casualties, she, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity, Lyra, Bon Bon, Big Macintosh and Flash Sentry went to the back door. According to the plan, their strike team was to bypass the defenders' main force and eliminate Curve Blade, with hopes that the loss of their leader would serve as an imperative to surrender. No one was really keen on actually letting them live; when the talks were going on, the majority agreed that they would simply round the bandits and mercenaries up and execute them.

The group of Knights that had entered previously was the scouting element; once they secured the position close to the back door, they were supposed to keep it until the end of the battle, to grant the others safe passage and exit through said door. When they entered, they saw three Knights dead, and other six keeping positions (one of them wounded).

"Ceiling turret," the Knight Sergeant explained. "Be careful when you move, the White Knives have apparently gotten them active, and this prison has a lot of them, for riot suppression."

"More like riot extermination," Twilight commented, looking at the now-harmless turret. Methinks that it's 7.62, she thought while looking at the barrels.

"That was a prison for foulest guys; clsoer to the end of the Last War, escaping from such prisons was considered a capital offence," Sunset replied. "So if they tried to riot, the administration would simply turn on the turrets and kill them. No use in wasting money on more trials."

"Cold, but pragmatic," the Knight Sergeant said. "We will hold this position to keep you safe."

"Much appreciated, Knight Sergeant," Flash told him. "May the Steel be with you."

"May the Steel be with you, sir."

The group made their way deeper into the building. Applejack and Flash went in first, due to having power armour; unlike others, they could withstand hits by ceiling turrets if the worst came to pass. The blonde girl found out that power armour allowed her to handle the LMG as if it were an assault rifle, achieving precision she usually did not have with such heavy weapon. She also could reload much faster now, not dealing with the excessive weight. And she could carry a lot more boxes, too. This made her very happy.

One White Knife was unlucky enough to be in front of her when she went around a corner once. She backhanded him with her left hand so far that he flew to the opposite side of the wall and hit his head against it. A sickening crunch sound signified that he broke his neck fatally because of that. Rarity made a grimace at the brutish way Applejack dealt with him.

A downside to their plan was clearly evident. Having been here only as Black Widow quite long ago, Rarity could not recall the layout in precise details, as she had not seen much of it. While the information she "had bought from an info trader" was useful for the ground floor and first floor, she did not really know the second floor, since she had not investigated it in full before killing the second-in-command of White Knives, and the third floor, where Curve Blade was supposed to be in, was completely unknown.

They encountered turret after turret, sometimes also encountering small groups of bandits. Once, in desperation, White Knives rounded up their prisoners and forced them to fight the attackers at gunpoint. Some people tried to turn the weapons on the bandits instead but were quickly gunned down, while others tried to fire.

The tactics worked to some extent, depending on persons. Lyra and Bon Bon were mercilessly picking apart any target in front of them, bandit or prisoner; Flash, Rarity and Sunset were attempting to disable rather than kill (that usually resulted in bandits killing the incapacitated, though), and Twilight, Applejack and Big Macintosh could not bear themselves to attack innocents. Still, they were unable to avoid collateral either: Twilight killed one prisoner by accident, and Applejack's fire caught three of them, killing one (hitting carotid artery) and wounding two, who were in turn shot by White Knives.

When they cleared that section, Twilight was visibly shaken, tears running from her eyes. Sunset was trying to calm her down, giving her a hug.

"Shhh, Twilight, it will be fine."

"How can it, Sunset? I killed them, but they weren't bandits, they were just forced to do that, I shouldn't have killed them..."

"You couldn't have avoided that," Lyra bluntly pointed out, which earned her a "Not helping" glare from everyone.

"Goldurn it , Lyra, you just reminded me of Sugarcoat," Aplpejack spoke.

"Sugarwhat now?"

"Sugarcoat. Remember that girl from Crystal Prep? Wears glasses, has pigtails, blunter than me and almost monotone voice?"

"Oh, her. Now I remember. I see where you're coming from, and I take offense at that."

"Deal with it, Ah'm not gonna apologize."

"Let's move on already," Flash ordered, "we..."

"EEE-YAAAAAAARRGHH!!!"

Twilight could not tell how she managed to turn around and shoot that quickly; it was as if her body was possessed by something that forced her to sharply turn around, raise her assault rifle and put all remaining ammo she had in her magazine (six) into a junkie who had a wicked-looking machete in his hand with saw-like blade. He made a couple of steps forward and fell by inertion, his blade almost hitting the equine Princess.

As they proceeded further, they made it to the third floor. However, once they managed to get rid of the turrets, they ran into a snag: low ammunition.

As they made a recount, it turned out that Applejack had only one box with fifty or so ammo remaining, Flash had only one spare microfusion cell left, Big Macintosh had only one spare clip and Lyra and Bon Bon almost ran out of ammunition for their Buffalo SMGs. Unfortunately, they saw nothing resembling an armoury on the way, and they already took care to look for any spare ammo they could find.

Surprisingly, only Twilight, Sunset and Rarity had something to spare in terms of ammunition.

"Assault team, come in. What's your status?" Flash contacted the other team.

"Our bloody status, sir?!" one of Paladins replied. "The goddamn defenses cut down thirty-three on our side! A little more and we will have to pull back because we're not only losing people, we're losing ammo too! I already sent away a couple of dozen folks who ran out of ammo! Kill that bastard already, will you?"

"We'll see what we can do. Sentry out. Blast!" he swore. "The main assault team lost thirty-three people and twenty at least ran out of ammo. If we don't finish Curve Blade off, it's gonna be bad. His organization most likely wouldn't recover, but he'll escape to Tartarus knows where!"

"We did not come this far to fail like this!" Sunset said. "We must take this bastard out!"

"I am afraid that most of us can't be of much help," Lyra said. "The only thing we can do now is give our remaining ammo to Twilight, Sunset and Rarity and hope that they will accomplish the task. On the way down, we will see if there's any extra bullets we missed."

"That means 9mm ammo, 10mm ammo, microfusion cells, shotgun shells, and 5.56mm ammo," Twilight said. "And energy batteries, if there are any."

"No," Flash said, "I already gave you all my spares, and if we're to go down, I must retain one for worst case."

"Isn't there another way?" Twilight asked, not liking the idea.

"I am afraid that even if we ask the truck driver to bring us more ammo, it will take too much of a time. We will have to retreat first. And that cannot be allowed."

"Don't worry, darling," Rarity said, "We'll manage."

"Be careful, girls," Applejack said, genuinely worried. "That... that means you too, Rarity."

"Why..." Rarity was taken by surprise, but quickly recovered. "Thanks, Applejack, that means a lot."

"Good luck," Lyra said, before their group went away.

"Well... let's go, I guess," Twilight said. Rarity looked on her Stealth-Boy and hissed.

"It's almost depleted. I'll see if I can spare the energy somehow," she said.

As they entered the third floor, they immediately had to duck for cover as Crimson Hands mercenaries and some White Knives (eight of them in total) rained fire on their positions from catwalks. This floor had some sort of machinery standing everywhere, apparently for prison labour, which allowed them to hide from enemy fire.

"So, the little band of heroes decided to storm my lair?" a mocking voice came from above. "Men, weapons down. I want to talk to them."

"Really, Curve Blade? Talking trash instead of just shooting them?"

"Shut it, Shock Gauntlet. I want to look in the eyes of these people who gave me so much trouble."

"If you say so. Men, don't shoot unless they shoot first."

"Hey, you! Show yourselves, I want to look in your face!" Curve Blade shouted.

"Should we do it?" Twilight asked.

"I rather wouldn't, but we need to wind down a bit," Rarity said. "It's clear he wants to gloat. We'll let him, and then we'll kill him and all the others."

"Fine!" Twilight shouted. "If you want to talk so badly, you'll have it!"

The equine Princess carefully peeked out to see whether others were aiming, and seeing that no one did, she stood. After some hesitation, Sunset and Rarity did the same.

Curve Blade was a man in early forties, with balding head. He was wearing casual clothes, underneath which a military armour vest could be seen. A carbine was slung behind his back, and his holster held a .44 magnum revolver.

Shock Gauntlet was younger at least by a decade, but it was clear that the man was an experienced fighter. His armour was covering almost his body, making it clear that this was an advanced type of milspec assault armour. An assault rifle of unfamiliar design with holographic sight and joint magazines was in his hands, and while he was not aiming at girls, it was obvious he would not hesitate to use it if he decides to. It also looked heavier, and its barrel was bigger, making it obvious that this assault rifle was of bigger caliber. His quick-draw holster had some big pistol (also of pretty high caliber, apparently) inside it.

When the girls saw him, they thought, in essence, one thing:

Well, fuck. Taking this bastard out will be a bitch.

"So, that's it? That's the assault team sent to kill me? I am disappointed. Did so very few survive?"

"No," Sunset said. "They're busy grinding your mooks down there into sacks of bone and meat."

"And you thought to get up here and kill me while my men are busy? Smart. I give you two points for that, out of one-hundred."

"Your grading scale is impressive. Did you trip yourself on Mentats to invent it?"

"Smart-mouthed, too, aren't you? You should be smacked like a bitch for that. And I didn't use Mentats, by the way."

"Shame. Maybe you would have done a smart thing for once and offed yourself."

"Now why would I when there're so many things to enjoy? Tell me, is Appletown so desperate that they seriously decided to come to my place and try to kill me? The fact that there are three of you tells me that your plan went wrong or was stupid in first place."

"Your turrets were an annoyance. And I guess that the control terminal is here somewhere, right?"

"Bingo, give this girl a cookie! It's in my office, actually."

"Thanks for the invaluable info."

"It won't be of use to you. You are horribly outmatched, and your main force is unlikely to help you, if they aren't here now. So kindly put down all your weapons, and I will let you leave."

"Even if we are to assume that we would be dumb enough to believe you," Twilight spoke up for the first time, "I am certain that he," she pointed at Shock Gauntlet, "will not. After all, there is a reward for our heads, and I bet he immediately recognized us. Didn't you, Shock Gauntlet? Did you recognize me and one of my friends?" she pointed to Sunset. "The Daring Duo?"

"I did," Shock Gauntlet replied. "And I give you credit for your logic."

"Thanks. So, Curve Blade, I am sorry, but the only way this is gonna end is with violence, because I am certainly not willing to die or let my friends be killed, and asking you for surrender is pointless."

"What, you don't wanna try diplomacy? You did help to unite CWN militia and Brotherhood of Steel with Appletown, after all. Maybe you can negotiate a ceasefire for us and I won't kill you then?"

The audacity of his request nearly made Twilight choke with rage. She felt as if molten lava flooded her insides, burning everything within and then wanting to burn more, to explode and take the leader of White Knives away with it. How DARES he?!

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" she shouted, then, lowering her voice, she continued, "Are you really on Mentats withdrawal, as Sunset had thought? You and your people pillaged this whole area, sold prisoners to slavery, killed who knows how many people and now, when we have projected strength and willingness to fight back and hit you where it hurts, you want ceasefire now? "Mercy," you mean? When you showed none yourself? Your audacity is astounding. No, Curve Blade. You have committed so many atrocities that no one who is sane will believe your pleas for peace or ceasefire or whatever. And given the chance, you will do so again. No. I refuse to let you continue this. I abhor killing, but you? Killing you would be applaudable. And we will do that. Shock Gauntlet, if you value your life and lives of your men, leave. While I am not amused that Crimson Hands had tried to kill me twice, I know that was because Curve Blade hired you."

"Applaudable of you to make this gesture to me and my people, Twilight Sparkle," Shock Gauntlet replied, "but alas, I am under contract, and cannot break it."

"Shame," Twilight replied.

"So be it," Curve Blade snarled as the girls ducked back behind machinery. Going backwards so as to avoid any potential accidents, he shouted:

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

Firestorm erupted; bullets were hitting the metal everywhere, making ding and dang sounds. White Knives and Crimson Hands were laying down massive suppressive fire, preventing any possibility of return attacks.

They didn't account for Rarity, though. Using her Stealth-Boy, she was able to get into another cover and fire her Buffalo SMG. She took out one bandit, and then managed to switch her attention to one of the mercenaries and fire at him, too. This time she was less precise, and most of her bullets hit the armour on the Crimson Hand's torso, which was not really efficient, but two bullets hit his unprotected neck; one shattered his trachea and one tore through carotid artery, guaranteeing death.

Bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada-bada!

Rarity was forced to duck back as Shock Gauntlet turned his assault rifle towards her. His rifle was louder than others, and the girls realized that he actually had not fired once.

He was biding his time to see whether someone was brave enough to get out, and then wanted to pump them full of bullets.

"Credit where it's due," Rarity shouted as she dropped her cloak, "Shock Gauntlet knows his business! I was cloaked and he nearly got me!"

"He is tougher, that's for sure," Twilight said. Looking at her IFF, she risked blind firing a short burst of fire, and was rewarded with a cry of pain; however, the mark on her IFF remained, which meant she only wounded her enemy and not killed him. "And if we continue relying on luck, we'll run out of bullets pretty soon."

Bz-dat! Bz-dat! Bz-dat! Sunset also tried blind-firing her laser rifle. A scream of pain followed, but then that same assault rifle of Shock Gauntlet's fired several times.

"Ouch!" Sunset shouted, shaking her now-bleeding forearm. "I got one of them bandits, but that bastard with this loud rifle got me!"

"Hold still!" Twilight ordered, taking out her first aid kit and taking off the piece of armour off Sunset's arm. Bandaging the wound, she gave Sunset an injection of RegenStim, noticing that the armour plate that they had salvaged from the military base was pierced through. Armour-piercing rounds or higher caliber rifle? she wondered.

"There you go. Do you need Med-X?"

"I'll manage!" Sunset spoke through clenched teeth, picking up her laser rifle and firing again. Twilight joined her, and they managed to wound one of their enemies. While the raiders and the mercenaries were distracted, Rarity cloaked again and changed position, then finished their target off. Once again, however, Shock Gauntlet proved himself to be a capable opponent, and fired back again. This time, the indigo-haired fashionista was not as lucky, and the bullet pierced her shoulder in a place unprotected by her scout-sniper infiltrator armour.

"AWW!" she screamed, barely holding on to her SMG. "This hurts! This hurts so bad!"

"Rarity!" Twilight screamed. She tried to edge closer to her another wounded friend. "Hold on, I'll..."

However, Curve Blade himself decided to participate in the "fun" and stepped forward once again, firing his assault rifle and forcing the equine Princess back to cover. Sunset tried to blind-fire him again, but Shock Gauntlet threw something towards them, and one moment later, their IFF systems got scrambled.

"Cheater, cheater!" she heard him laugh. Pissed beyond measure, she fired at the sound of his voice, and was rewarded with an "Ouch!" and more bullets in return.

Suddenly, she noticed a large, hulky form charging through the entrance they came through. As it turned out, this was a Brotherhood Paladin... 

...with a rocket launcher on his shoulder.

"Surprise!" the fiery-haired girl heard the familiar voice of Flash Sentry. The enemies turned their weapons on the new target, and even mamaged to score a few hits, but the ex-rocker pressed the trigger almost simultaneously with his speech."

"Shit, down! all of them heard Shock Gauntlet shout. Risking her head, Twilight saw the elite mercenary jumping down with Curve Blade, barely evading the rocket.

KA-BOOM! The explosion rattled the catwalks, completely destroying some part of it; the shock tore the screws loose in some places, and two bandits who did not die from the explosion lost their balance momentarily, which turned fatal for them as Flash quickly whipped out his laser pistol with the last battery inside and fried their heads.

"Rarity! How bad is it?" Twilight approached her pale-skinned friend, who slid down and slumped against the machinery, face contorted in pain and hand pressed against the wound.

"Straight to the... joint... ruffians!" Rarity hissed. Twilight and Flash looked at the wound; it looked bad. The bullet did indeed hit her in the joint, which meant that she needed AMFAK-10. Fortunately, Flash had one, so he quickly took care of it and stopped the bleeding, injecting an advanced tissue regenerating medicine.

"She must be taken away from here," he told Twilight and Sunset. "After taking such a wound, she must stay away from fights for two days at least. Where are the rest of the bandits? I saw two jump down, but didn't see them moving..."

"There they are!" Sunset shouted, firing several laser beams, but she missed. Still, everyone saw Curve Blade and Shock Gauntlet stumble into one door on the same level as them. From a glimpse, neither of them looked that good; they were hurt, and Curve Blade was apparently bleeding.

"Flash!" the fiery-haired girl shouted. "Take Rarity out of here! We'll finish them off!"

With these words, she rushed after their remaining enemies.

"Sunset, wait!" Twilight shouted, but the unicorn-turned-human paid no heed.

"What. An. Idiot!" the lavender-skinned girl shouted in frustration and ran after her friend. "She'll get herself killed! Flash, take care of Rarity, I'll see that she doesn't get pumped with lead!"

"Er, maybe we should wait..." Flash began, but both girls have disappeared already. "...for reinforcements. Oh well," he sighed and picked Rarity bridal-style. "Let's get you out of here, Rarity."

"Much appreciated, Flash," Rarity spoke weakly, still feeling pain despite having been given a small dose of Med-X. "Oh I do hope they will be alright..."

"Twilight and Sunset are made of tougher stuff than they look," he spoke, trying to convince himself as much as Rarity. "And Tartarus hath no fury like woman scorned. Curve Blade is a dead man walking..."





Twilight and Sunset were indeed scorned, both by the fact that Rarity was wounded and by the escape attempt of both Curve Blade and Shock Gauntlet. Their enemy proved to be surprisingly fast; while the girls ran as quick as they could and they were not wounded, they had trouble catching up to both men. Twilight suspected that they were on drugs or just had abnormal pain tolerance.

Once or twice in a while they managed to see enough of their enemies to fire a shot, but they were either unable to hit their targets or they fought back, messing with the girls' aim.

The chase brought them into the depths of the industrial area where the prisoners were forced to work. Now that the prison was no longer used for free (if unwilling) labour, the machinery stood still, and some of the catwalks were in danger of falling off. With annoyance, Sunset noticed that certain machines did not have any protective measures against trauma, as evident by blood stains and skeletal remains of some limbs.

Ugh. They didn't care about safety at all, did they? Then again, the prison was for those who committed serious crimes. Probably they thought no one would miss the occasional prisoner or two.

Carefully advancing through the area, the girls kept an open eye for any ambushes or traps. Several times they passed through narrow corridors where using assault rifle was uncomfortable, so Twilight took her SMG and Sunset decided to use her combat shotgun.

"This looks like an overcomplicated escape route," Twilight said.

"Quiet," Sunset hissed at her.

Apparently, the enemy duo decided to stop while they were ahead, because soon, the girls caught up to the men.

Without any hesitation, they opened fire. Curve Blade and Shock Gauntlet dodged their attack, however, and fired back, forcing the girls to jump to different sides. As Twilight was in the air, she pressed the trigger by accident, and her SMG went off wildly.

Two of her bullets hit the control panel used to control the metal section that was designed to cut two halves of the giant room they were in apart. The panel sparked, destroyed by the lead cones, and the heavy "door" fell down.

Shock Gauntlet, who was standing right under it, ducked desperately to his right to avoid being crushed and got separated from Curve Blade. However, when the girls had dodged the bullets, they also found themselves on different sides. Thus, Twilight got stuck with Shock Gauntlet, and Sunset had to deal with Curve Blade all on her own.

"Twilight!" Sunset shouted. "You OK?"

"I'm fine!" Twilight's voice was muffled a bit, but intelligible. As soon as Sunset breathed out in relief, she had to duck and rush into cover again.

"She won't be fine for long, bitch," Curve Blade spoke up. "She is stuck with Shock Gauntlet, one of the best mercenaries Crimson Hands have at their disposal! She has as much of a survival chance as a meat slice in a river full of piranhas!"

A sinking feeling told the fiery-haired girl that the leader of White Knives was right. She had to get to her friend right this instant!

"And if you so want to see her die, you'll have to get through me!"

"Happy to oblige!" Sunset fired her shotgun as soon as she saw Curve Blade, missing him by mere centimetres. The bandit fired back blindly, forcing the girl into cover.

"You won't beat me!" he boasted.

Challenge accepted!





"The game is over for you, young lady," Shock Gauntlet was speaking from his cover. "Give up, and I promise you will die quickly and without pain."

"No," Twilight replied, desperately thinking of a way to reunite with Sunset or bring reinforcements. Unfortunately, they did not have enough radios, and Twilight did not have one on her person. Neither did Sunset. The only one who could call for reinforcements was Flash, and he was not with them. In any event, the reinforcements would most likely arrive too late. And escape was impossible - the area was too open, and Shock Gauntlet would shoot her dead if she tried to do that. The only thing she could do now was to circumvent him somehow and pull a fightimg retreat through the area in hopes that another door leads to the area where Sunset was fighting Curve Blade now.

"You persist. Admirable. But pointless. I am way out of your league, girl."

I am not going to give you satisfaction of confirming that. Twilight scooted closer to the edge of cover, evaluating her chances of making it.

"And you know that the chances of both of you surviving the encounter are nil. I am wearing an assault armour which is tough to withstand your meager 10mm SMG, and my assault rifle is of 7.62mm caliber, which can punch through your standard issue armour quite well, as your flame-haired friend has learnt."

Twilight carefully moved, trying not to make a noise, and crept as quickly as possible to another machine.

"Why aren't you speaking?"

Twilight saw the door on the far end of the room. It stood ajar and led somewhere deep into industrial area of the prison. She was really counting on her luck there. There was another machine in her way, and her IFF was still scrambled, so she could not reliably know where her enemy was. However, with him speaking, she could tell that he was on the right end of the room, clearly expecting an attack from there, and since he was apparently straining his throat to speak louder, she knew he could not see her through his cover.

She moved again, positioning herself against the side of the machine. Indeed, he was there, and he was looking in another direction.

Excellent.

However, as she tried to creep away, he turned his head around and saw her. For a moment, both stood stock still.

Then Twilight dashed for the door, spraying 10mm bullets chaotically in his direction. The mercenary dropped on the floor out of instinct, but quickly recovered.

Bada-bada-bada-bada-bada! The 7.62mm bullets raced after her, but they all missed their target.

He got up and started running. As he turned around the corner, he saw the girl running... and turning her SMG against him again.

A short burst, and several bullets that did not miss wedged themselves into his armour, making him slightly stumble. Twilight turned around the corner, making him chase after her again.





BANG!

Sunset spent her last shotgun shell in the magazine and dislodged the disk used for containing ammunition.

Curve Blade tried to hit her with the butt of his AP-79, but she dodged his attack and dashed towards the closest machine that could serve as cover. Since it was not so high, she managed to vault over it just in time - the bandit's bullets pierced the air where she had been a moment prior.

She inserted another disk-shaped magazine into her shotgun and moved the bolt. Sticking out, she fired, but missed - Curve Blade dodged with a roll. Unsatisfied, she fired blindly again and was rewarded with a scream of pain. Apparently, some of her metal balls did hit the target.

"Bitch!" he swore, and fired at the machine in turn. Unlike others, it was not as durable, and two bullets pierced the metal it was made from on both sides, hitting Sunset from behind. Fortunately, her armour held, but she was not tempted to stress-test it, and ducked lower, crawling to the other end. When she looked out, Curve Blade was not there anymore.

He hid back behind that machine that is parallel to mine.

She ran behind the other machine in her row that could hide her better and looked sturdier.

Maybe I can outflank him?

She began moving carefully to the end of the row.

"Gotcha, bitch!"

Sunset could not understand later how she managed to duck, twist herself, fall on the ground and fire at Curve Blade at the same time. Unfortunately, this time the metal balls went wide and practically didn't hit him.

Curve Blade fired at her.

Bam!

"Argh!" Sunset screamed, pressing the trigger instinctively.

BANG! Her shotgun went off. This time, her shot hit the bandit's torso and his right hip, making him howl and hide himself. Sunset noticed how he threw away the magazine.

So that's why he didn't shoot more. He had literally one bullet. Yay me.

Stumbling behind the machine to put some distance between her and Curve Blade, Sunset quickly gave herself a RegenStim injection and quickly (but somewhat sloppily) bandaged the wound. Picking up her shotgun through pain, she fired blindly again.

"Missed!" Curve Blade taunted her from somewhere to the right. Sticking out, Sunset dropped on one knee and the bullets went above her. She, however, missed too - the lead raider hid himself in time.

Then, a grenade flew in her direction.

"Shit!" she was unable to stop from cursing and quickly repositioned herself.

BOOM! the grenade went off, nearly deafening her. She saw Curve Blade running to another door and charged after him, firing wildly. The door led into a section of corridors, where both of them were taking turns firing at each other.

Unfortunately, the ammo ended soon, and when she tried to reload the shotgun, she could not find another disk.

I burnt through the shells that quickly?! she thought before being forced back into cover by return fire. She threw the shotgun and whipped out the Buffalo SMG, charging after the bandit again.

Soon, Curve Blade ran out of ammo, too, and was forced to rely on his .44 magnum. He managed to hit Sunset once, but Sunset in return put four 9mm bullets into his left leg and right arm, messing with his aim. To act further, Curve Blade took a double dose of Med-X to cope with the pain, while Sunset gave herself another RegenStim injection and a dose of Med-X.

They stumbled into a room that was bigger in height than width, ladders and catwalks going to different directions. Sunset could not see where Curve Blade was, and proceeded to move carefully, her Buffalo SMG at the ready.

Several minutes lasted in creepy silence. Every nerve of Sunset's was strained from the pain and the effort she was giving to locate the hated bandit that was threatening Appletown...

...suddenly, she found herself face to face with Curve Blade as she turned around one corner. Without any words, the humans aimed at each other's heads and pulled the triggers.

Click.

Click.

Silence.

"Oh COME ON!!!" both of them answered in perfect sync, exasperated at the sheer stupidity of the situation.

Curve Blade went for his knife. Realizing that she wouldn't be able to get her laser rifle in time, Sunset took out her own and moved to block the attack.

Clink! The blades met each other.

Sunset began withdrawing carefully, trying to avoid getting slashed or stabbed, while Curve Blade was advancing on her.

She almost stumbled when she got to the stairs and began rising...





Twilight Sparkle has officially run out of luck.

Escaping Shock Gauntlet proved to be more difficult than she thought. And fighting him was almost impossible. She tried to do so at first, but he was quickly able to negate all her advantages and force her to run from him again. She could clearly see now that he was quite competent, and a deadly opponent if he put his mind to it.

Twilight expended all her SMG ammo, and so picked her AP-79 again in order to try and stall him, but that proved hardly possible. She managed to score several hits on him, but they all were in armoured locations, and so her attacks only made him stumble and lose his aim. He did not stop to fix himself when her bullets did manage to pierce his armour plate once.

She did her best to navigate her way through unfamiliar territory and to Sunset (hopefully), but even that proved to be difficult. Shock Gauntlet was determined to prevent her from getting closer to her firend, and tried to force her to change directions or even intercept her way, if possible.

One time he managed to chase her into a room which was a dead end, and was taking shots at her whenever he could. In order to get out of that place, Twilight had to force him out with a grenade (her last one, by the way), and then fire at him at almost point blank range, charging. Only by this desperate attempt was she able to shock him (as well as score some hits before he dodged away) and escape the trap, but it cost her her last assault rifle ammo.

When she found herself in a really high room with some windows to the right of her, and could not hear Shock Gauntlet coming, she allowed herself a small moment of rest, and then began moving towards the ladder on the far end of the room, hoping to - finally - find Sunset.

Bada-bada-badam!

"AAAAARRRRRGHHHH!!!" Twilight screamed in pain as three bullets pierced her shin and her hip, making it impossible for her to stand. As she turned on her back, she noticed Shock Gauntlet standing on the catwalks in the air running parallel to her intended direction, inserting a new magazine.

The lavender-skinned girl quickly took out the "Burning Flash" and fired twice at him.

Ba-bzdat! Ba-bzdat! This pistol was louder, and its beam was somewhat wider, and it hit the mercenary right to the right shoulder.

"ARGH!"

Surprised, Shock Gauntlet dropped his assault rifle, which was not above the catwalk, and it fell to the ground below him. He immediately vaulted over the rails, hanging himself for a moment, and then jumped down, picking his weapon and getting behind cover. This was complicated somewhat by Twilight raining down laser fire upon him, but she managed to hit him only three times - the pain and exhaustion were taking their toll.

"I am impressed. You actually hurt me," the mercenary spoke. "Curve Blade was wrong to underestimate you."

Twilight stabbed herself with a Med-X syringe and stood up, although not without difficulty.

"This only delays the inevitable, however," he continued, sticking out to fire at Twilight.

Click. The gun did not fire.

Ba-bzdat! Ba-bzdat! Ba-bzdat! Twilight did not hesitate to return fire, hitting the mercenary again.

"Argh! Damn it..."

Suddenly, a silver line (or so it appeared to Twilight) whisked through the air, and Twilight screamed in pain, dropping her laser pistol as a ballistic knife got stuck in an unprotected area on her right hand. Shock Gauntlet charged her immediately, hitting her in solar plexus, and then to the face. The girl flew back, and would have knocked herself out if not for the military helmet she had on her head.

Twilight tried to get out her .44 magnum as Shock Gauntlet took out his high-caliber pistol. They fired at the same time: he hit her in another leg, and she got him in the stomach area.

The pain that the equine Princess was feeling after the shot was unbearable. The bullet tore through her leg, taking chunks of flesh with it, and splinters of titano-ceramic-carbon polyalloy that was not designed for high caliber ammunition got stuck in the wound. Twilight's throat was hoarse from screaming; she could not get enough air in her lungs to scream, and when she failed to get enough of it, she merely whimpered pathetically, tears running out from her eyes. Her body completely failed her.

"I was mistaken," Shock Gauntlet's voice sounded as if it came from another planet. "You're more than just another goody-two-shoes. Slip Swipe was correct. I guess that if both of you were to go against me, Daring Duo, I would have been in trouble."

Despite the pain she was feeling right now, Twilight still was trying to raise her revolver.

"I have to applaud you, Twilight Sparkle. You are basically dying right now. Yet you never gave up. Never plead for mercy. Even now, you are spitting in the face of death as it comes towards you."

With the last of her strength, Twilight pulled the trigger.

BANG!

"I am sorry, but you missed. A shame that we had to met like that. In other time, I would gladly share a drink with you."

The numbness spread through her body, catching more and more of it. Unwilling to give up, but unable to anymore, Twilight lost consciousness, and her hand dropped, still holding the revolver.

The finger twitched as her brain barely managed to pass the signal through neurons.

BANG!

"Oops," Shock Gauntlet commented. "A bit more to the right, and she would have got me. What a spirit!"

Despite his massive irritation at getting shot by her, he could not hide the notes of admiration in his voice.





Sunset was not very lucky either.

She was never good in melee weapons combat, and Curve Blade, true to his name, was slashing his heavy military knife here and there, making the pony-turned-human dodge, retreat or block his attacks, and all of it costed her energy, of which she did not have much.

He already managed to give her several slashing hits, but they all went against her armour; fortunately, the plates were resistant to slashing strikes, but could potentially be stabbed through, and Sunset did her best to avoid spear-like stab strikes that the bandit was dishing out.

She was determined to give as good as she got though. Aside from knives, they were using fists and legs, and she broke his nose once with a lucky hit and gave him a slash wound. Still, Curve Blade, thanks to Med-X abuse, was unwilling to back down. If this went on, he would win, Sunset was sure of that.

They found themselves in some sort of control room, and the fiery-haired girl realized it was a trap - the only way out was through a window, several meters down. This would most likely be fatal for her, and Curve Blade was blocking the exit now, which meant she had to overpower him somehow and retreat or kill him.

They punched and kicked each other at a regular pace, making stab or slash attacks with their knives. Sunset was trying to make Curve Blade move away, but he stood still as a rock, not moving an inch.

At one moment, Sunset did a sabre-like slashing attack on him, and he dropped down, managing to hit Sunset to the back of her knees and make her tumble. Before she was able to respond, his knife pinned her left hand to the floor, and her own knife was wrestled away. She screamed in pain, fighting it.

"Well, bitch?" the ugly mug of the leader of the White Knives was almost in her face now. "Who is the winner now? I warned you that you wouldn't be able to beat me, and now..."

His words were interrupted by an ungodly, hoarse scream of agony. Sunset felt her insides going frozen with fear and dread.

No... Twilight...

"Oh, it appears that your friend has met her grisly fate, or is about to, anyway," Curve Blade chuckled, twisting the proverbial knife further. "And now, once I end you, your Daring Duo," he pronounced their moniker with a mocking voice, "will cease to exist. Shame that I wouldn't see if you two are as hot in bed now, although..."

He leaned closer to Sunset, who was fighting not to vomit. While it could have made for an effective projectile, she lacked the strength to launch it properly. Lowering his voice, Curve Blade almost whispered:

"...who cares if you're cold when in my bed?"

The ice that was piercing Sunset's insides disappeared almost instantly, replaced by boiling, hot fury, and it exploded as she hit the despicable bandit to the right temple. In his arrogance, Curve Blade did not think to secure her right hand, and dearly paid for it as she made him tumble off her. She took his knife and pulled it out with a mighty grunt and scream of pain. Blood flowed down her hand, but she paid no heed to it. As she rose to her feet, so did Curve Blade, but before he was able to react anyhow, she slashed him across the eyes.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" he screamed as his eyes leaked out, mixed with blood. He stumbled to the side and back, and that made him look even more disgusting and contemptible than usual, and Sunset attacked again.

She stabbed his shoulder joints, first the left one, then the right one, making him howl and take several steps back. Drunk on his pathetic attempts at self-defense, his helplessness and his defeat, Sunset lunged at him once again, driving the knife into his guts.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

"You'll never put a woman in your bed again!" she screamed, and drove the knife between his legs.

And then she did it again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

"You will never hurt any man, woman, or child again!

She pushed him away from her, and he hit the window, which cracked under the impact. He stood still, blood gushing, totally defeated now, in stark contrast to the self-conceited bandit he were just a moment ago.

"You have committed so many evils that the deepest depths of Tartarus won't be enough for you! But I will still send you there RIGHT NOW!!!"

She kicked him. The already fragile glass was unable to withstand the force of Sunset's kick, and Curve Blade fell down. A sickening crunch made its way to her ears, and she understood, somehow, that he was most assuredly dead.

She spent several minutes bandaging her bleeding hand, and had to inject herself with the last dose of RegenStim. The coming down from adrenaline hit her hard. She was shaking badly, and dropped Curve Blade's knife, and slid down one of the walls. For several she-did-not-know-how-long-moments, she rested, because her body just could not hold it anymore.

Suddenly, she jerked as if struck by electricity.

Twilight!

Forgetting her tiredness, she stood up and unholstered her laser rifle, running as fast as she could. Exiting the room, she took a turn to the left and went to the catwalks with a ladder.

She saw a familiar form of Shock Gauntlet living the room. She fired at him several times, but missed.

Amazingly, he did not fire back. He did not even turn around - he simply disappeared into the door instead.

She looked down.

Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, the Bearer of the Element of Magic, her friend, was lyind without motion.

"TWILIGHT!"

Forgetting everything, Sunset ran down the ladder, almost losing her balance several times. Passing down the body of Curve Blade with his neck twisted at unnatural angle and skull cracked and brain matter splattered on the ground, she came up to her friend, dropped her laser rifle and fell to her knees, pulling her friend's body onto her knees.

"Twilight? Twilight! Wake up! Say something!" 

Her compatriot remained unresponsive, giving no signs of life. Sunset felt tears blanketing her eyes, starting their way down her nose and cheeks. Desperate and gripped by ice-cold fear from knowing that she had no medical supplies left, she cradled her friend's body and went on, her voice breaking:

"Twilight! Wake up! Don't die! Please don't die..."





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

Diamond Skeleton: Your limbs gain 20% health bonus, making it harder to cripple them.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Fight to Your Friends: If separated from your allies and they are under attack by superior enemy, you deal +10% damage and +10% Damage Resistance until either you manage to get your allies into your line of sight or your allies defeat their enemies by themselves.





Reputation increased: Appletown

Your assistance in defeating the enemies of this faction has forged the strong bonds of friendship between you and the community. You can rely on them for help and gain a hefty discount at local shops.





Reputation increased: Brotherhood of Steel (Northern Chapter)

The good history of your relationship with this faction has proven that you can be considered trustworthy. In the future, you may build even stronger bonds.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

AR-22 advanced assault rifle

This version of assault rifle was developed in response to the deployement of battle-hardened TODC heavy infantry units in Bovinia and near Griffonstone. Unlike standard-issue R91 model, this rifle has 7.62mm caliber, which makes this rifle a better choice for piercing enemy armour. Combined with specialized ammunition, it becomes a very dangerous weapon. This weapon is more rare than R91 or even AP-79 (and thus, more expensive), and maintaining it is harder due to the rifle's more complex inner workings. Also, while this weapon is relatively reliable, it is recommended not to expose it to water, mud or sand if possible.

Weapon stats:

DMG: 57 (if 100% CND)
WG: 4 kg
VAL: 790 caps (if 100% CND)

Ammo type: 7.62mm rounds
Ammo capacity: 30
> Chapter 24: Recuperation and reconciliation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 24

Recuperation and reconciliation


"Twilight..."

Sunset Shimmer could not tell for how long she has been crying and cradling Twilight Sparkle's body. Time lost any meaning for her. It could be seconds, minutes, hours or even days, but it would still feel the same to her.

Grief and desperation were overwhelming her, sapping any strength she still had.

And a sense of guilt as well.

My fault. It's all my fault. Just like when I charged after those bandits and forced Flash to follow me, I forced Twilight to go with me now, after two very dangerous individuals. We separated and she was left all on her own against this elite mercenary. I saw him limping away; he got hurt, it appears, but that was not enough.

She was left all alone, and now she's... she's...

Sunset's brain simply could not make itself think the word "dead", even if the logical conclusion appeared to be exactly that.

She can't be dead, some part of Sunset argued desperately. She can't!!!

"There they are!" she heard someone speak. The voice was not familiar, and she could not tell if it was a friend or a foe. In any event, she would not be able to lift her laser rifle now even if she wanted to, and she honestly cared little if death was coming after her right now.

"Oh thank the stars, we found them," another voice sounded, this time more familiar. Flash... Flash Sentry? "Oh shit, they're both heavily wounded! Redheart! Redheart! Get here, now!"

"Sir, I hear you! Where're... oh my goodness, what happened to both of them?!"

The human figures moved closer to her. One of them dropped to her knees, and Sunset vaguely recognized Scribe Redheart, the medic of Brotherhood of Steel.

"Twilight..." the fiery-haired girl tried to protest as Twilight's body was taken away from her hands. She did not want to let her friend go, feeling that if she goes, she dies for real...

"Shhh..." she heard someone else speak, and then Flash gently hugged her shoulders. "It's OK. You're safe now."

It's NOT OK! She's dying, and you're taking her from me! Sunset wanted to shriek, but even her voice failed her.

"Twilight," she muttered once again, and then reeled slightly as exhaustion overtook her.

Her eyes rolled up, and she collapsed.





Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Celestia banish it to Tartarus, what the heck is that incessant beeping noise?!

Sunset Shimmer stirred, groaning at the annoying high-pitched sound of some stupid machine, and opened her eyes - closing them immediately, as the bright light of the surgery lamp proved to be too bright for her.

Wait... surgery? What the fuck?

Turning her head to the left (and receiving a flare of muscle pain in her neck), and opening her eyes again (more slowly), she realized several things.

First, she was lying on her back, as it appeared. Apparently, the vestibulary apparatus had been unable to inform her brain of it earlier.

Second, she was indeed in a surgery, and the annoying beeping was coming from some medicinal equipment.

Third, she was looking at Twilight's bare shoulder.

Her eyes widened.

Wait... bare shoulder?

She gaped at the sight of her Equestrian friend lying under the covers... apparently, without clothes.

Why in the wide world of Equestria would she be lying... there... naked...

And then the memories hit her like a speeding train without brakes.

The battle.

The fight through the main base of the White Knives.

The confrontation between them and Curve Blade, along with the reinforcements of Crimson Hands.

The pursuit.

The separation.

The duel between her and Curve Blade.

Twilight's scream of pain.

The untimely demise of the leader of the bandits.

Twilight lying unmoving...

She noticed that her compatriot had a breathing mask on her, and that her chest was rising and falling at a measured pace.

A wave of relief flooded her.

She's breathing. She's alive. Thank Celestia!

She felt tears of happiness coming to her eyes; her muscles sagged as the relief from emotional and physical tension she had experienced prior.

Sunset faced the ceiling again, salty liquid running down her cheekbones. Quiet sobs escaped her throat as she drowned in irrational euphoria.

She's alive! I'm alive! These thoughts were racing to and fro in her head right now, and she smiled.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Sunset saw the now-familiar form of Nurse Redheart.

"Oh, you're awake," she said. "You have been through quite an ordeal, young lady."

The fiery-haired girl tried to speak, but her throat felt very hoarse, and she was unable to make coherent sounds.

"Here," Redheart gave her a glass of water with a straw, "drink."

Sunset drank the vitally important liquid, feeling immensely better.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem. Are you feeling any pain right now?"

"No... no, I am not," she tried to move her limbs a little bit, and noticed that she indeed felt no pain. "Everything seems fine."

"Good."

"Twilight... how is she?" Sunset tilted her head to the left. where Twilight was lying under cover.

"Your friend over there? She got shot up pretty well; when we brought her in, her heart was on the verge of failure, and we had to give her a blood transfusion to compensate for the loss. There were also a lot of armour splinters; of all things, she got shot by a 12.7mm pistol of all things, and was very lucky that nothing pierced her arteries. In short, we had to perform some quite careful surgery on her."

"She will live?"

"Yes, but for now, we're keeping her sedated or she'll go into pain shock."

"And others?"

"All of your other friends are alive, although some of them got nicked by bullets, but they're fine, nothing life-threatening. But some of Appletowners and our own Knights and Paladines are in severe condition right now. I'm afraid the casualty number was not that low, too..."

"How many?"

"Thirty-nine Appletowners, eleven CWN militiamen, five Paladins and six Knights."

"Sixty-one in total?!" Sunset gasped.

"Yes, but, given what kind of fortress Curve Blade had for a base, I am grateful that there were no more victims."

"Still, that's... too much."

"Well, it's true. But White Knives paid dearly for it - none of them survived. No one. Even among the mercenaries there was only one survivor, that elite merc with advanced armour..."

"Shock Gauntlet?"

"Yes, him. I have to say, the couple of you are extremely lucky. Twilight survived a fight with him, if barely, and you killed Curve Blade. The Daring Duo will be, like, ultra-famous throughout the Northern Wastelands now."

"You've heard of Shock Gauntlet?"

"Only snippets, none of them really that informative. You might be better off asking Elder Aegis about him."

"OK then. May I go out?"

"Not yet, you need to rest for several more hours; in fact, I should probably let you and Twilight out of here together, not separately. While you were not shot by high-caliber ammunition, you got wounded pretty severely as well, not to mention your exhaustion."

"Sedatives, or..."

"No sedatives, unless you want to?"

"Ack, please no."

"OK then, try to have a rest."

"Thanks."

As the door closed, Sunset allowed her body and mind truly relax. Of course, some part of her still was wary of Brotherhood of Steel, but she was simply too tired to care.

They might try and capitalize on the fact that they saved our lives, though...

She was unable to ponder on this more, though, as she slipped away into the realm of dreams.





Several hours later, Sunset woke up again, this time to find Twilight Sparkle consciousness and no longer with a breather mask.

"Hey, Twilight," she called.

"What the... oh, hi, Sunset," the Princess of Friendship replied. "Where are we?"

"Brotherhood bunker again."

"Oh my."

"How you're feeling?"

"Sore," Twilight winced. "They took me off sedatives, but my whole body still hurts. They gave me some light anaesthetic instead of Med-X, and it helps, but I still feel it."

"Well, Med-X has morphine in it, and that stuff is addictive. You'd better not get too accustomed to it."

"Makes sense... but let it be known that I hate pain."

"Pampered Princess," Sunset could not resist some teasing, which made Twilight groan.

"Disrespect towards the ruler of Equestria should be made a punishable offense," the alicorn-turned-human grumbled.

"Punishable by what?"

"Telekinetic hurl in random direction."

"The paperwork for this punishment would be obscene, Twilight."

"You're right, damn it. Still, am I a Princess or not?"

"Not in this world," Sunset gave her a wry smile, to which Twilight responded by blowing her a raspberry, very maturely. Said action resulted in more laughter, however.

"Say," the unicorn-turned human continued, "are they letting you out soon?"

"I hope so," Twilight responded, "I hate just lying around here. And why in Equestria do I have to lie almost naked beneath these covers?"

"Sanitation, probably - if they were doing extensive surgery on you, then typically all clothes except underpants are taken off, if possible. Although how would they get you out of them that quickly..."

"We had to simply cut them," the voice of Scribe Redheart sounded as the Brotherhood's doctor came into the room. "Except the Vault jumpsuits - they can be taken off pretty quickly if needed. How are you feeling, Twilight?"

"Sore as Tartarus, and I really want to get out of here soon. Also, mind telling me why I got these tubes sticking into my hand under covers?"

"It's an IV system, and it is to introduce healing medicines straight into your cardiovascular system. You have never seen one?"

"More like she never had the need to experience intravenous injections in hospitals," Sunset interfered.

"Ah. OK then. Sorry to disappoint you, Twilight, but the medicine has to run its course, and it's not that quick. We can release you the day after tomorrow and not sooner.

"Aaaaaawwwwwwww," Twilight whined at the prospect of lying there and doing nothing. "Can I at least get a book here?"

"Perhaps several hours later, when the medicine in bottle ends. Disturbing the system is highly discouraged."

"And me?" Sunset spoke up. "You'll release me tomorrow, too?"

"I did say I'd like to let you out of here together, so yeah. And don't make puppy eyes at me, young lady. You were very exhausted when you came here, and were basically running on medicines. Your organism needs rest."

"Tartarus damn it. Fine, you're the doc. Can I at least get some books, too?"

"I'll see what can be done."





The day was spent primarily in boredom and frustration at not being able to get out of the room, and reading books. Both Sunset and Twilight used diligent students of Princess Celestia (the former to a lesser degree, though) and knew better than to dismiss books as egghead-ish stuff.

Next day, Scribe Redheart did some quick analysis on them and declared that they were free to leave the medical wing, giving them their freshly repaired and washed Vault jumpsuits. As they exited the room, they were met by Elder Aegis.

"Congratulations on your recovery, Miss Sparkle, Miss Shimmer," the leader of Brotherhood's local chapter spoke.

"Thank you, Elder Aegis," Twilight responded, and Sunset added a simple "Thanks".

"Your friends are already waiting for you, and your possessions will be returned on exit, but before you leave us, there is something I would like to discuss with Miss Sparkle in my office, in private."

Both girls looked at each other, silently communicating; a moment later, Sunset shrugged her shoulders.

"I see no reason against it," she said.

"Good. Shall we proceed, then?" Elder Aegis said, leading the way to his office. As they came up to it, Sunset remained outside, while Twilight followed the elderly man inside. As they assumed their positions at the table, the Elder spoke:

"Miss Sparkle, I have already spoken to Miss Applejack about this, but our alliance has proven to be much more... effective than I had believed. While the casualties the allied force has suffered are regrettably high, we have managed to prevent more fatalities by providing medical aid to the wounded, yourself included."

"For which you have my gratitude," Twilight replied. "I thought that my life had come to an end when I was out there."

"It would have, if someone had not provided you with some quick first aid, or you would have quickly bled out."

"I see," Twilight frowned. "Anyway, what do I owe you for my surgery and recovery?"

"Nothing in the immediate time, but Miss Applejack had mentioned that you wanted to investigate the ruins of Trottingham, and there are some things of interest to the Brotherhood. But we will talk about this later, if you don't mind. I would like to inform you that we have come to an agreement with Appletown and CWN militia regarding the compensation of the cost of medicines; Appletown shall supply us with some apples in return, and CWN have paid us in caps. So we are quits, as the saying goes."

"I am relieved to hear that. What else did you want to talk about?"

"You, to be exact. You have not yet recovered from amnesia, have you?"

"No, I have not. We hope that our quest in Trottingham will help me with that, although that hope is... rather slim. But it is the only lead I have."

"I see. You did ask for some books regarding the pre-apocalypse science while recovering, though."

"I hoped to recover some knowledge on the technological advancements that took place before and during the war, yes. While I am more well-informed now, I cannot help but notice that the books on some things, like microfusion energy, are rather... scarce in details."

"That is because the overwhelming majority of research and development you have conducted, either allegedly or assuredly, fell under the category of classified military research. Due to the paranoid secrecy regarding your works, the intricate details of many things have never been put into books for masses, for fear of enemies learning our secrets. When the potential of microfusion energy was realized by the government, it instantly forbade exporting anything that has to do with this field, or releasing to mass market. Instead, they concentrated on creating power armour, energy weapons and so on."

"Was microfusion energy the only thing I appear to have worked on?"

"No; we have fragmentary data showing that you participated in the design of Vaults, and were even employed by Vault-Tec for some time."

Uh-oh. Better not mention that to Rarity.

"There must be something else you have worked on, but we have no data on that. What we have available about you mostly points to microfusion energy and things related to it. The data also point to one particular location: the offices of Vault-Tec in Trottingham."

"Do you want me to explore the offices?"

"Yes, if this is possible. We do not have immediate plans for venturing there, as we're still dealing with super mutant packs in Hoofington, and if you scout the area, it would be extremely beneficial for both of us. The copy of whatever data or you find or samples of valuable technology will also earn our gratitude. There is one thing, however - Vault-Tec offices were located within city boundaries, and I have no idea if the area around is heavily irradiated. If it is, kindly tell us and we'll see what to do next. That's what I ask of you in return for our help."

"I see."

"Is there anything you want to ask of me?"

"Well..." Twilight took several moments to ponder what she wanted to know and what questions the Elder might not answer. Eventually, she spoke:

"I was meaning to ask about the Brotherhood of Steel."

"Could you be more specific? And keep in mind that I may not be able to answer some things for security reasons."

"The origins. What I know is that the Brotherhood of Steel just... up and appeared, clad in power armour, having advanced technologies and hiding in bunkers. But where did Brotherhood come from? Who founded it? And with what purpose?"

Elder Aegis kept silence for several seconds before resting his head on his intertwined fingers, arms propped up on elbows.

"Well, this is something we do not really hide, altough we do not advertise it that much either. Truth be told, Miss Sparkle, I cannot give you the full picture myself, and certain parts are conjencture, pure and simple. Our founder is named Iron Gear, and he used to be a Colonel in Mechanized Infantry division of UFE armed forces. He is now called the High Elder, and is a supreme leader of the Brotherhood. His location is kept in secret, but he maintains connection with other chapters via hardened and well-protected cable connections between military bunkers, as well as military radio network, if possible. It is also thanks to him that we have our circle, gears, sword and wings sigil: this was the emblem of his unit before the formation of the Brotherhood, and this carried over to other people who joined the organization later."

Twilight listened with rapt attention, greedy for each and every tidbit of information; something that has not gone unnoticed by Aegis.

Such passion for knowledge. It is a shame that her talents were misused by the government, he mused. She could have revolutionized the world, if it had not been plunged first into war and then into atomic flames.

"As for why Elder Gear formed the Brotherhood, with its current ideals... I'm afraid I have no data on this particular subject. He never disclosed the underlying reason behind his views."

"Yet others follow him?"

"Remember, Miss Sparkle, that our organization consists majorly of those who served in Mechanized Infantry Corps, like Elder Gear himself, or played some role in military engineering and even R&D. His name was - and still is - greatly respected even before the apocalypse. In fact, our "May the Steel be with you" farewell phrase used to be his unit's motto. So he holds a high degree of authority, both formal and informal, for many of us."

"OK, I understood that. But why did Brotherhood tend to be unfriendly to common people?"

"I am afraid that is widely because many people themselves have not been friendly to the Brotherhood. Iron Gear did mention that they had had to fight off one attack after another before they found seclusion in wherever they are located now, and the attackers were not exclusively raiders, I am afraid."

"But who else would attack them?"

"Probably some particularly disgruntled groups who developed hatred towards the UFE military for its involvement in riot suppressions."

"The army participated in riot suppressions? I thought it was the job of the police!"

"Closer to the end of the war, when poverty and food shortage, not to mention war weariness, became a bad issue, the number of anti-war riots grew, and the police was struggling and at times unable to contain the tide. National Security Commissariat augmented the police with their own riot control squads, which had much bigger authority - they even could open fire on civilians without warning in self-defense or in response to provocations - but sometimes even these measures did not help, and they had to mobilize the army reserves to suppress the riots. What's worse is that sometimes rioters managed to form violent anti-government guerilla groups, which resorted to terrorism in order to end the war, and a good number of them were aided by TODC intelligence operatives. Some of them actually managed to form well-armed insurgent groups that were really dangerous, and NSC again mobilized the army along with SWAT units to destroy them. Mechanized Infantry had had to participate in such activities as well."

"But why the hatred?"

"Because, unfortunately, neither NSC nor the army gained much love from the citizens in such riot suppressions or anti-guerilla operations, because it resulted in civilian casualties, sometimes quite high. Once in Baltimare, the police SWAT groups, 14th Mechanized Infantry battalion and Commissariat's assault troopers practically burned down several blocks of the city in their attempt to destroy a dangerous insurgent group. For that task, they did not hesitate to bring APCs, tanks and even gunships. They accomplished their mission, but at a very terrible price: aside from the insurgents, the final casualties report said 3,161 dead civilians, and 10,582 wounded."

"What?!" Twilight exclaimed, shock and horror showing on her face. "Why did they do it? What could have possibly justified such death toll?"

"Probably the fact that the number of insurgents themselves exceeded two thousands, according to the intelligence gained by Commissariat. But the people were not that inclined to trust NSC, since they had exaggerated the threats more than once when trying to justify their more... atrocious acts. Some of the people who are under my command had actually taken part in that operation; they told me that the number of more than two thousands was in fact true, and that the insurgents were defectors from UFE military, disgusted by some atrocity our forces had committed sometime, but NSC forbade the dissemination of said information, and summarily executed each and every insurgent they got their hands on."

"...and the people of the Brotherhood are disliked for having participated in such operations, right?"

"Yes, the stigma is still strong. Before we got into contact with Appletown, none of the people wanted to actually talk to us. They were more inclined to shoot first, having ensured their numerical superiority before."

"Before Appletown, your people never met a friendly face?"

"Aside from a couple of merchants, no. We were originally stationed to the south of Canterlot, but on the Day of Burning, we were forced to retreat underground to the closest bunker. We were isolated there for one hundred or so days, hiding from radiation. We learned about Brotherhood's existence on the fourteenth day, and Iron Gear agreed to accept us in absentia, but we could not go anywhere: the area which is now known as Southern Canterlot Wastelands had a good number of military bases and installations along with some ICBM silos, and was bombarded with nukes very heavily; plus, some asshole (pardon my language) from TODC had decided it would be a good idea to drop a couple of salted warheads there, to irradiate the area further, so we had to stay there for a long time. But we could not last that long; the bunker's supplies were not designed for as big of a number of personnel as ours was, and eventually, we would need to leave the bunker - and expose ourselves to radiation. While power armour grants some protection from it, it is not a perfect choice and you certainly cannot walk into a ground zero. Fortunately, for some reason, once we decided to leave the bunker, the radiation level was... tolerable. Still potentially dangerously high, but with enough Rad-X and RadAway, we managed to get to this area without coming down with fatal radiation sickness. The road... was not easy. We had had to endure constant attacks by raiders and people bent on revenge, plus some mutated beasts and super mutants, and lost twenty percent of our personnel, until we settled here. Up until one year ago, we only had hostile contact with locals, so that's why we're... slow to trust."

"I see. And why exactly is Brotherhood of Steel so focused on recovering pre-apocalypse technology? Did that come from High Elder Gear?"

"Yes, this particular idea comes from him; unfortunately, humanity has become very reliant on technology, and without it, the society that we had before the apocalypse has collapsed very quickly. That is not the worst thing; many people who are ignorant of the importance of technology pilfer, misuse or outright destroy it for their own purposes, and since many of the databases are lost now, there is a chance that some technologies may never be recreated. We have the advantage of being formed from Mechanized Infantry Corps and some members of military R&D department; this gives us the level of necessary knowledge to at least understand - most of the time - what a certain sample of technology is, how it works, how it is to be maintained and if it can be reproduced."

"Reproduced?" Twilight raised her eyebrow.

"In theory, that is. We are not numerous, and the industry is now in tatters; we cannot feasibly reproduce many things as of now. Currently we can only salvage and repair what survived and maybe reconstruct some items from spare parts. But we are only at the start of our path. Eventually, I hope, we will be able to run the surviving industrial plants again."

"Then why is Brotherhood so focused on weapons and armour?"

"...force of necessity. Our organization simply won't be able to function if our staff is under-equipped. The stunt that you pulled back then at the base of 9th Mechanized Infantry battalion has greatly improved our situation; before that, we were having a risk of running low on some items of critical importance, power armour being one of them - and no, I am not telling you about other items."

"Fine, I guess. Last question, not about Brotherhood."

"Yes?"

"From what I understood, radiation from nuclear explosions lasts for a very long time, that is, decades and centuries. Yet seven years have passed and yet people can relatively safely live and walk on surface. Sunset mentioned once that the population of Vault 75 fully expected to just live there for the rest of their lives. I also know that some device known as Garden of Equestria Creation Kit was issued to some Vaults, but I have little idea on how it may help."

"Garden of Equestria Creation Kit is a mystery even to us, because it was developed by Future-Tec, a subdivision of Vault-Tec, and these guys were extremely secretive. We only know of some rumours. Basically, the idea behind this device is to accelerate the decay of radioactive isotopes by spraying... something... an agent of sorts into the air, and this agent would easily go into water, and even underground. Once the isotopes become stable and non-radiating, the work is complete. The drawback is that during these processes, the radioactivity greatly increases and it is dangerous to be in the area. We have certainly never seen one. Only some Vaults were equipped by such devices, because, according to the rumours, they were ruinously expensive, even for a megacorp like Vault-Tec."

"You think that the radioactivity could have subsided thanks to these kits?"

"Unlikely; they work in a limited area, and aside from decay accelerator, they were supposed to have the means to recover the land contaminated by chemicals and biological agents as well. I think that maybe Future-Tec might have developed the separate means to combat the issue of radiation exclusively, because I have no other ideas on why is radiation not as big of an issue as expected. If someone could pull this stunt off, it would be Future-Tec."

"I see. Thank you, Elder Aegis. May I go now?"

"Of course, I will see you to the exit."





As Elder Aegis, Twilight and Sunset disemarked from the monorail that connected the main bunker with entrance point, they were pleasantly surprised to see all of their friends ready to see them.

"Hey everyone!" Sunset shouted, and Twilight waved at them with a smile.

"Twilight! Sunset!" the joint cry of happiness resounded across the closed space, and the girls were quickly drawn into a group hug. The majority of it was directed at the equine Princess, though, given that she was the one to return from the brink of death (again).

"Howdy, Twilight!" Applejack bellowed, wearing her usual attire instead of power armour, drawing the girl into a strong hug.

"A pleasure to see you back, darling," Rarity said as she faced Twilight and then hugged her (much more gently than Applejack).

"I see Redheart pulled the miracle again," Flash Sentry's face had a genuinely worried expression as he hugged the lavender-skinned girl as well, careful not to squash her with power armour-augmented strength. "How are you feeling, Twilight?"

"Better now than when I was lying there," Twilight replied.

"I am sorry, Twilight, I tried to bring help as fast as I could. I was not fast enough..."

"If there's someone who should apologize, it's me," Sunset spoke up. "I charged foolishly after the enemy again, like an idiot, thinking I could kill them quickly before they escaped."

"Given that you have no military training, that's understandable," Elder Aegis interrupted. "But I think that you know better than to do that now."

"I sure do. I should control my temper better."

"Enough of that!" Lemon Zest, who was dressed in a riot police uniform (and still had her headphones on) exclaimed, pulling Twilight into a hug as well. "We defeated Curve Blade, we destroyed the White Knives, we're cool with Brotherhood of Steel now! Life is good! Let's celebrate!"

"Ah agree; Big Mac's waitin' for us," Applejack spoke up. "Elder Aegis, thank you again. For... well, everything."

"You are welcome, Miss Applejack. Also, my men want to pass the compliments to you. We have not had such good apples since... well... I can't recall since when."

"Really? Well, you're welcome, partner."

"I hope that we can continue addressing each other as such. Fare well on your adventures, everybody, and may the Steel be with you."

"May the Steel be with you, Elder Aegis," Twilight said, as the elevator began climbing.

"Thank you, Miss Sparkle," Aegis replied, but quietly, so no one heard him.





"Congrats on your recovery, Twilight," Big Macintosh said, sitting behind the steering wheel as the previously-expropriated car raced through the arid land. Twilight was on the shotgun seat, while everyone else was behind them (Sunset called machine gun again).

"Thanks, Big Mac," she replied. "I say, does this car have a windshield?"

"A bullet-proof windshield, no less. We found it while looting the main base of the White Knives. So no worries about getting killed by shot to the front."

"Oh, that's better."

"Indeed. Lucky us, Brotherhood did not want it."

"The Paladins of Brotherhood were trying to get all the loot and not share?"

"Eeyup. Or Ah think so, at least. They were so eager to get all the high-tech that the prison had, we just picked this thing quietly before they saw it."

"I see that many people follow the "finders keepers, losers weepers" routine."

"Unfortunately, that's the norm."

They continued the road in silence until they arrived at the apple orchard, where they disembarked.

"I say, Flash," the lavender-skinned girl addressed the blue-haired ex-rocker, "are you staying in Appletown for a long time now?"

"Well, I have some free time on me now, thanks to this whole stunt, so Elder Aegis allowed us some rest, and I would like to spend it here for some time."

"Well, it's good. Have you been wounded?"

"No, not really. Whatever wounds I had were mere scratches, barely worth more than RegenStim. No need to bother Scribe Redheart."

"OK, if you're sure, but please don't fall into the trap of macho invincibility."

"Will do."

"Hey... what're those?" Twilight pointed to the row of objects in distance.

"Bodies."

"Bodies?!"

"Yes... wait."

Indeed, what Twilight saw was a row of bodies that belonged to unfamiliar people; the style of clothing indicated that these people were raiders. The holes left by bullets left no place for speculation as to the cause of death.

"Has there been an attack?" Applejack approached the nearest town inhabitant.

"Yes, some ragtag group decided to have one final blast after you guys took out the White Knives for good. Just charged here, no plan, no self-preservation. Just began shooting. Well, we dispatched them quickly, but they killed one unlucky fellow."

"Fuck!" Applejack swore, making Rarity wince at the foul word. "And wounded?"

"Just one CWN militiaman. By the way, your sister also helped in defense."

"What?"

"Yes, killed two of them actually. She's shocked now, though..."

"Goldurn it, she wasn't supposed ta be in the line of fire!"

"I know, Applejack, it's just they caught us by surprise and Apple Bloom just happened to be right there when they attacked. We couldn't send her back, not without her getting shot in the back..."

"She's shocked, you said?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"The attack was just an hour ago; Golden Delicious is watching her, but she does not really want to talk."

"I saw this kind of behaviour before," Flash Sentry interrupted. "It happens when someone kills for the first time, in self-defense. Applejack, may I try and get through her?"

"Just don't make it worse, Flash."

"I had had to talk to a good number of soldiers who dealt with this kind of thing."

"OK then. Show me where is she," he addressed the man who informed them of the attack.

"Sure, sir," the man spoke nervously, slightly afraid of the towering young man in power armour, and led Flash away. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.

"C'mon y'all, let's drop the luggage at the house, shall we?" Applejack said.

"OK," Sunset said, and no one objected.





Apple Bloom was sitting in the "hospital" on a free bed, hugging her knees. Golden Delicious was keeping a careful eye on her, and the varmint rifle she carried was standing rather far away from her, along with all the ammunition for it.

This is basically suicide watch. Can't blame him.

He had tried to talk to her about the attack, but she did not want to. She felt...

...stained.

Apple Bloom was not unaware of how much violence tended to plague what remained of United Federation of Equestria. First it was war, when every day there was a prime-time piece of news on TV regarding this or that battle. Further down the line, it was crime rate increase and riots, and even insurrections on occasion.

Violence became an everyday occurrence, just like eating or going to job.

After the Day of Burning, when the mechanisms holding the worst parts of human nature collapsed entirely, violence became a norm instead of an exception. She knew it because she heard Applejack and Big Macintosh speak about how raiders or super mutants attacked Appletown on many occasions.

She felt that one day, she too would pick a gun and fight for her life, just as not to be killed.

However, when the deed was done, she found herself facing an inner conflict.

She, like everyone else, were taught this one thing: Thou shalt not kill.

She had broken this unbreakable rule.

She was not stained with blood; her targets stood far away from each other. Not a single drop of blood had landed on her.

But why do I feel it did?! How do Applejack, Big Mac, Twilight, Sunset and others deal with it?

Suddenly, the door opened, and she noticed the big form of clad-in-power-armour Flash Sentry bustling in.

"Hi, Flash," she squeaked out, scared out of her wits.

"Hi, Apple Bloom. Me and others just came back and learned of the attack."

"Then you know that Ah... k-k-killed... two attackers?"

"Yes, they told us."

Apple Bloom hung her head.

"Hey."

"Uh?"

"I was a soldier during the war, Apple Bloom. I know this particular feeling."

"Did you feel as bad as I do?"

"Yes."

"Can you... tell me how you moved on from it?"

"Well, "moving on" might be the wrong words to use, more like "learned to live with it". Let me tell you how I felt after my first battle; that was before they put me in Mechanized Corps, by the way..."





"Do y'all think it was a good idea, to let Flash come alone?" Applejack asked Sunset as they were standing near the "hospital". Twilight decided to come inside but let Flash do the talking, while Rarity was standing to the side, outside of their hearing distance, cleaning her MSR-90 sniper rifle.

"You don't trust him?" Sunset raised her eyebrow.

"Ah just felt that it would be good for her to see family first."

"I can't fault your line of thought, but Flash fought in the war; he has the most experience in dealing with this sort of thing than we do."

"Maybe, but d'ya think that a soldier may not really get what a civvie thinks?"

"It depends on a soldier, I think. When I killed for the first time, it was one of the raiders. Point Blank, the guy who played drill sergeant in Vault Village, had already trained me in gun usage, but I was still hesitant to use them. However, when I saw the ugly mug of that raider coming at me with a cleaver... I panicked, and the pistol was in my hand. Before I realized what happened, the guy fell face first in front of me, his cleaver several inches away from my toes and blood pooling on the ground."

"What happened then?"

"I felt like the lowliest scum possible. We..." Sunset made a sign to signify that she was talking about Equestria, "are very averse to killing, even if it is in self-defense; most of the time, we fight to make an attacker retreat or incapacitate them. I was bawling my eyes out, thinking I didn't deserve to live. Then Point Blank just held me and let me soak his vest until it was drenched through. He talked to me about his war experiences and assured me that no one would hate me for defending myself with lethal force. But he took away my pistol for a time, so I would not get suicidal. We talked more about it."

"So, talking with someone who experienced this helps?"

"Yes, and I believe that Flash, thanks to his past, is the best candidate to make Apple Bloom feel better."

"If you say so, Sunset. Ah'll trust ya."

"Thanks, Applejack."

"Eh, Sunset?" Twilight appeared in the front door. "Flash wants us both to have a talk with Apple Bloom as well."

"And what 'bout me?" Applejack asked.

"Er, he said that Apple Bloom does not feel ready to meet you or Big Macintosh right now, so..." Twilight rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Ah, OK then. Good luck, you two."

"Thanks, Applejack," Sunset replied, coming inside and closing the door, leaving the blonde farmer alone with her thoughts.

Great. Apple Bloom's up and killed two people and now feels bad about it. That rascal is too young to gallivant with a gun around here, it's too dangerous for her! It's not like we don't have other people to defend Appletown! Rarity just had to...

Applejack stopped pacing (which she did not remember start doing), then slowly turned around and marched, her face twisted in anger.





Rarity set the cover for the firing mechanism back in place, pressing hard so that the lock would click and fix the detail firmly in place. After that, she set the Pontrottini rails and the optical sight back into their proper positions, and took away the cleaning kit.

Inserting the fresh magazine of .308 ammunition, she flipped off the safety, moved the bolt (noting that it was moving much more smoothly now), and then took out the magazine to insert an additional round.

"Rarity!"

Applejack. What does she want from me? the ex-fashionista thought, securing the magazine back in its place.

"Yes, darling?" she asked, turning around while holstering the sniper rifle behind her back.

"Don't you "darling" me, Rarity," Applejack snarled, glaring daggers. "Ah'm not in the mood."

Obviously, Rarity thought, given that if looks could kill, I would be dead right now. What lit your fuse this time?

"What happens to be the target of your wrath?"

"You."

Called it. "Could you be more specific?"

"What were you thinkin' about when you decided to teach Apple Bloom how to use guns?!"

"Are you accusing me of something?"

"She is sittin' in the hospital, her emotions wrecked by her killin' the attackers! What're you tryin' to do with mah sister?"

"I am not trying to "do anything" to your sister, Applejack, I was trying to teach her self-defense!"

"Right, and you conveniently forgot the part of dealin' with emotions, huh?"

"I did not anticipate this suicide raider attack to happen! I would never be so callous and irresponsible as to not prepare anyone psychologically, this simply happened sooner than I had planned, and..."

Rarity stopped as one of the words said by Applejack suddenly made it to the forefront of her mind.

"Wait... did you say "conveniently forgot?" What in the name of all that is holy are you insinuating, Applejack?!"

"Isn't that obvious?"

"To me, it is not, and can you please stop running around the issue in circles?!" Rarity's face was slowly becoming redder as anger began manifesting within her.

"Ah can't believe that you're not gettin' it... Fine, Ah'll spell it out loud to ya! You want to rope Apple Bloom into your revenge quest, don't ya?!"

Silence rang in the air as the indigo-haired girl stood aghast, her lower jaw in danger of dropping low. Whatever accusation she had expected, it was not that one. Finally, she croaked out, almost inaudibly, the one word that her brain managed to produce:

"...pardon?"

"You've been runnin' around the whole Wastelands killin' anyone on your hit-list, right, 'cause Sweetie Belle died an' Vault-Tec used you in their moustache-twirl evil plans? What better way to exact your precious revenge than to rope one of her best friends into your crusade?" Applejack came closer to Rarity, jabbing her index finger into the indigo-haired girl's armour-covered chest. "But listen here, prissy: Ah won't let ya take another person outta mah family!"

For several moments, the girls stood still in front of each other, Applejack jabbing Rarity with her finger and Rarity standing still, aghast at the turn of events. Once again, silence rang in the air as none of them spoke a word...

SLAP!

...until Rarity slapped Applejack's hand away, gnashing her teeth in anger that has erupted within her.

"How DARE you, Applejack?!" she shouted. "How dare you say that I am trying to snatch your sister to satisfy my personal desire for vengeance over the injustice done to Sweetie Belle and me?! She doesn't even know about it, and as far as I am concerned, she does not need to!"

"Really? She does not need ta know that you're the one who murdered mah cousin?!"

"Braeburn was not innocent, I have already showed you that, and besides, I was angry and did not know that you, or any of my friends actually were still alive! Do you really believe me to be so despicably heartless that I would not care a single bit about what you would feel?"

"How can Ah believe you? You never came to me after it!"

"Because I know how you would react! You never let anyone so much as glare at your family! Even Sunset Shimmer before her... ahem, turn-around did not dare openly bully Apple Bloom, because she knew you would come after her with fury demons of Tartarus would recoil from, with no regard for consequences! This world may be dead, but I still want to be able to walk away!"

"Yes, because that's what you do, right?! You walk away, as if nothing had happened! And go on to shoot other people, without a care for anything in this world!"

"What... you..." Rarity choked from the indignant rage coursing through her veins now, and then began to shriek, which meant that she was on her wits' end:

"I had nothing in this world to care about, Applejack! NOTHING! I was alone against the world, with no one to rely on except myself! I know how it is to feel utterly alone, and let me tell you that it was extremely UNPLEASANT! I almost committed SUICIDE at one point when I was at my lowest point, right there near Vault 85 when I found Sweetie's Pip-Boy, with her last message to me, when she was on the verge of death from radiation sickness!" By that time, tears were running down Rarity's cheeks (unstained by mascara due to the absence of latter), but she did not even notice that as her voice was growing louder, about to reach one hundred decibels mark. "And you dare to think that I would want to inflict THIS kind of pain upon you?!!! YOU DUMBASS!!!"

"Oh so you're invokin' the dumb blonde card now?! Well, you're a lyin' dishonest BACKSTABBER!!!" with these words, Applejack slapped Rarity hard on the cheek, which almost made the ex-fashionista tumble to the ground, but she managed to retain her footing.

Slowly, she turned her head back to the farmer, and snarled in a low, menacing tone:

"IT. IS. ON!!!"

Unholstering her sniper rifle and dropping it to the ground, Rarity lunged at Applejack, swiftly crossing the distance and raising her right fist. Applejack was ready for this, but Rarity predicted her movement and punched her into the stomach with another hand, which did not have the desired effect - Applejack's abs were rather hard, given her occupation.

"Ya gonna need to do better than that!" the blonde girl taunted, swinging her right fist and forcing Rarity to dodge.

"I have not even started!"

The indigo-haired girl attacked again. This time, when Applejack blocked her attack, Rarity suddenly kicked her opponent straight under the knee, making her shift her weight to the right leg and duck a bit. In return, Applejack delivered a massive kick with her left knee, but Rarity managed to half-successfully evade the blow. The pale-skinned girl tried to kick, but Applejack jumped back in time.

"That's all your fancy-shmancy martial arts classes teach you?" she taunted.

"They certainly are better than fighting like an orangutan."

The snark prompted the blonde into action, who swung her fist. As she tried to strike, however, Rarity managed to evade her attack, grab her wrist and flip Applejack (who had no heavy armour on her or any weapons at that moment) and throw her to the ground. Applejack struck back with her legs and hit Rarity in the chest, making her stumble backwards and release her hand, and stood back up, Stetson hat remaining on the ground. She tried to punch Rarity again, but the fashionista stopped both her hands, grabbing both wrists.

Undeterred, Applejack forced her hands to the sides, coming closer to Rarity and headbutting her.

"Aaah!" the indigo-haired girl screamed and stumbled back, blood gushing from her nose. Seizing the opportunity, Applejack punched her in the stomach, making Rarity double over; however, the latter lashed out with her strike that hit Applejack straight into the solar plexus. The blonde girl doubled over as well, unconsciously using Rarity as support. This earned her an uppercut into the eye.

"Ooof! Now Ah'm pissed!" Applejack snarled, and tackled Rarity, making her fall onto her back. Straddling the fashionista so that she would not escape easily, Applejack tried to punch her opponent in the face, but Rarity moved her head to the side and the blonde girl hit the ground instead, hissing as her wrist left the aftershock. Rarity, in turn, raised her hands, digging her nails (which were not that sharp) into Applejack's face.

BANG! BANG!

"Alright everybody, THAT'S ENOUGH!!!"

Both belligerents tumbled to the ground, looking at the source of the noise.

Sunset Shimmer was looking at them with hands covering her mouth and eyebrows almost gone above hairline.

Apple Bloom was staring wide-eyed, jaw dropped, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Twilight Sparkle was holding her still smoking revolver in her right hand, livid.

"You two immature imbeciles go back to the house," inhaling deeply, she suddenly shouted:

"RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!"





"I can't believe you two," the Princess of Friendship was pacing in front of Applejack and Rarity, who were sitting on separate chairs in the living room of Applejack's house. "You two are mature people, why can't you act rational and reasonable?!"

The only answer she got was silence. Spitting to the floor in frustration (and missing the wince that Rarity made at this uncultured gesture), Twilight continued:

"There's enough fighting and violence going on around here without you brawling like foals! And you two did it out in the open? I can't even properly tell how stupid it was; just look what happened to Apple Bloom!" Twilight pointed at the youngest Apple who was crying into Big Macintosh's chest while the latter was glaring daggers at both his sister and the former fashionista (and now assassin).

"It's not mah fault!" Applejack shouted loudly. "Rarity's the one who taught her guns and started this mess!"

"I did it only to help her defend herself if the need arises!"

"No ya didn't, ya only did it so you..."

"SHUT!!! UUUUUUUUUUUP!!!" Twilight's face was red as a ripe tomato, she was breathing heavily, and she was so furious that Sunset nervously backed away from her. "I swear to sun and moon, if one of you starts shouting at another once again, I will bitchslap you both until you beg for mercy!"

Everyone in the room thought "Oh shit!" as the alicorn-turned-human swore, forcing everyone into total silence.

"Wow," Spike muttered, "I forgot how Twilight looks when pissed..."

"Now listen to me very carefully. These spats have to stop! Your frustrations are understandable, but now is not the time for fracture, especially if you two plan on helping me and Sunset in Trottingham! So whatever caused this fight needs to be resolved, like right now! Applejack, why did you two begin to fight?"

"Can we not talk about it in front of Apple Bloom?"

"Nope," Big Macintosh spoke, "you two upset her with your fightin', and now y'all need to confess. She deserves it."

"What we say might upset her more, Big Mac."

"Ah don't care!" Apple Bloom shouted angrily, cheeks stained with tears and mucus collected under her nose. "Ah don't think it can be worse than that!"

"You have no idea."

"Enlighten me!"

"Alright, fine!" turning to Twilight, the blonde spoke: "Ya want the reason, Twilight? Well, that's because she wants to recruit Apple Bloom into her revenge crusade!"

"What?!" Apple Bloom shouted again. "Why?"

"May I speak?" Rarity raised her hand as if she was in CHS and Twilight was this teacher that would sentence her to corporal punishment.

"Yes - Applejack, don't you dare to open your mouth or I will sock you into the face," Twilight growled, making the farmer cower in fear. Rarity inhaled deeply and said:

"Apple Bloom, when I learned that Sweetie Belle died, I knew immediately someone from Vault-Tec was guilty of it, and I... swore revenge. Later on, I learned that Vault-Tec used the charity organization that I ran - which aimed at helping people get into the Vaults - for nefarious purposes, as Vaults turned out to be places of some... truly sick experiments. I began hunting people connected to Vault-Tec; that's the "crusade" Applejack is talking about. But I never intended to rope you into anything, since this revenge quest is mine, and mine alone; Applejack simply thought that I was teaching you how to use firearms in order to turn you into a cold-hearted killer."

"Like you ain't one..."

PUNCH!

"ARGH! What the fuck, Twilight?"

"I did promise I would punch you! Dare to speak again?!" Twilight raised her fist again, ready to strike.

"Why did Applejack accuse you of being a cold-hearted killer?"

"Because she - goldurn it, Twilight! - killed Braeburn!" Applejack shouted again, while trying to avoid Twilight's angry punches.

"What?!" Apple Bloom gasped, and Big Macintosh's eyebrows rose. "Rarity... no, this can't be true!"

"I am afraid it is, darling," Rarity replied, her eyes downcast. Apple Bloom gasped, and Big Macintosh immediately leveled a glare at Rarity.

"Why?" he asked. Instead of answering, Rarity simply took out the diary she had apparently hidden in her rucksack and silently offered to take it. The Apple patriarch snatched it and read it quickly, from cover to cover, frowning as he went on.

"Fuck," he swore, shocking everyone. "Braeburn messed up, the damn noble fool. Ah told him we'd help, but he just didn't want to be a bother..."

"What's there? Let me read!" Apple Bloom snatched the diary, resisting all attempts to have it taken away. As she read the entries circled by Rarity, she gasped:

"Oh no... Braeburn... No! He caused Sweetie Belle's death!" With a new torrent of tears, she clung to her big brother again, wailing loudly.

"Told ya it would be too much, Big Mac," Applejack spoke up, eyeing Twilight carefully, but the latter decided that punches no longer were a good enough deterrent.

"Yeah, I get it now," turning his head to Rarity, he asked, "So, you exacted your vengeance upon Braeburn?"

"Yes, Big Macintosh. I lost control of myself when I learned of it... I did not know any of you were alive, and was shocked when Applejack discovered me. I shot her to the leg so she would not chase me, because I knew I could not outrun her, and escaped. Then I kept my identity a secret because I believed you would just shoot me if I admitted it..."

"Can't say Ah'm not tempted."

"...and I went on until Twilight, Sunset and Applejack fought me and managed to disable me. I told them and showed them everything."

"Ah can... believe that Ah understand your anger an' your hesitation to reveal yourself, 'cause trust me, Ah was quite angry at Black Widow - meaning, you - but Ah gotta ask: did you regret doing it?"

"Ah don't believe she did," Applejack interjected.

"Hush, you!" Twilight reminded of her presence.

"Actually," Spike interjected, "she does. I once saw her crying at Braeburn's grave at night."

"Really?" every Apple exclaimed.

"Yes," Rarity said, no longer holding her tears back, "because I knew right then that in my anger, I did to you what was done to me, and I knew Braeburn, and I regretted losing control... so one night, I snuck out of the house and went there, to... well... just say everything I felt to him. Spike found me there, and we talked quietly a bit."

"I can vouch for her," Spike added.

"OK... Ah believe you, Spike," Applejack said. "Rarity? Please... look at me."

The pale-skinned girl complied with the request.

"Ah shouldn't have thought of you as a cruel monster who was after mah family," Applejack took off her Stetson and held it as a shield of sorts in front of her chest, eyes sparkling with barely contained tears. "And Ah shouldn't have accused you of ropin' Apple Bloom into your plans. Ah'm sorry that I shouted at you and fought you. Could you... hopefully... forgive me?"

"Applejack, darling," Rarity could hardly speak because of her own tears, "of course I will... can you ever forgive me that I lashed out at your family?"

"Rarity, Ah always think of mah friends as family. Just... please, in the future, if something like that happens, let us resolve this as family  and not strangers, agreed?"

"Agreed."

And suddenly, two friends lunged at each other, enveloping their friend into a hug and breaking into tears.

"Nice job, Twilight," Sunset whispered to her compatriot, and Twilight sighed in relief.

Well... we got that out of the way, at least.
> Chapter 25: Preparations underway
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 25

Preparations underway


The rest of the day was spent on resting from the ordeal of the attack on the prison from which now-late Curve Blade staged his attacks. Twilight and Sunset agreed that hurrying to Trottingham was not in their best interest, especially given that they were already suffering from combat weariness, and decided that spending a few more days in Appletown would not hurt them at all.

Privately, Twilight felt that she was reluctant to leave the relative safety of the small town where they were living. Appletown was inhabited by decent people who simply wanted to get on in the post-apocalyptic world, and desired to take nothing that did not belong to them. But not all people were like that, and the Princess of Friendship privately feared that Curve Blade was not the worst kind of human in the world.

For now, though, she was content to enjoy whatever moments of relative peace they had before their quintet of her, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Spike left their "base".

The news of White Knives' destruction made their way pretty quick throughout the Northern Canterlot Wastelands, as several merchant caravans already made their way through Appletown and stopped to trade their items for apples and fresh water. Some of them traded weapons, ammunition and equipment, and all the girls used the possibility to stock up on important items. Unfortunately, none of the merchants could offer military-grade armour plates, or ammunition for energy weapons, but they all had some medicines, which were readily bought - Appletown expended a lot in the recent attacks.

The girls also decided to try and see whether there was worthy loot left on the base of 9th Mechanized Infantry battalion. The Brotherhood of Steel was still in the process of looting it; in fact, they encountered Brotherhood Knights on the base when they arrived there. The Knight-Sergeant was surprised to see them, but allowed them to try and see if there was something left. The girls made their way out with some laser pistols and rifles - albeit in rather poor condition. Said weapons were stripped down for any spare parts that could be used to fix their own laser weapons.

Fortunately, there was a rather decent cache of energy batteries and microfusion cells, which were promptly taken.

Twilight and Sunset received a surprise one day when they saw a familiar face coming in with one of the caravans with purified water. One of the guards with a shotgun turned to them and exclaimed:

"Well I'll be impaled by a radscorpion, if it isn't Sparkle and Shimmer! I hear you got to be big damn heroines here?"

"Point Blank!" both of them exclaimed in joy, and Sunset asked, "What brings you here?"

"Well, we're selling some water from Vault Village and got here to trade for some apples; we had bought them here several times before raider attacks made it too risky. Now that you helped with Fast Grabber and kicked Curve Blade where it hurt, we can relatively safely go around again."

"How's Vault Village going?"

"Fine, more or less. Security personnel can't be replaced, but more folk joined our militia lately. Some two-bit raider gangs tried to mess with us and paid for it with their lives. But they aren't as bad as White Knives used to be. Thanks for helping everyone in the Wastelands to get rid of the bastards. For that, you can stock up on purified water free of charge."

The girls saw little reason to go against the suggestion, and took ten bottles of purified water each.

While discussing how to try and find Sunset's magic book, every person who was planning to go on said quest (Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity) were thinking on how to get to the south-western area of the city remains. Rarity, as it turned out, had been there under the disguise of Black Widow on several occasions, and knew the general layout of the area well enough.

"Normally, the best approach would be the outer radial line of Trottingham underground, or rather its section that starts in the nortern area. One could use it to get to the western area and then it's not too far from the places where Sunset used to live," she said. "Unfortunately, this area has recently been taken over by a group of ghouls that calls themselves "Metro Survivalists", and while they do not seek to hurt others deliberately, they react with deadly force if someone wants to pass there."

"I'd rather avoid needlessly antagonizing anyone," Twilight said.

"Why Metro Survivalists?" Applejack asked.

"Most likely because when the nuclear attack sirens wailed, they found themselves in the underground tube, which was built with the intent to house people in case of nuclear bombardment," the fiery-haired girl explained. "While nowhere as reliable as Vaults and built before the invention of the most powerful thermonuclear bombs, the underground system could still help in sheltering the population at least for some time. Given that this section is occupied by ghouls, however, it appears that radiation must have seeped its way down there."

"Where Metroists - that's their common denomination - now reside, there's little to no radiation," Rarity took over. "Many people got pissed at them because of that, and there were talks of massing an attack, but the chances of success aren't that big - the Metroists are numerous and rather well-equipped."

"What would be the other way?"

"If we arrive to the north-eastern section and go south, we will encounter a settlement known as Brightlight. This place had some of grandest casinos in Trottingham with neon lights and stuff, and someone managed to restore power there. Now one can find a small casino there, known as "True Trot", and nearby buildings are occupied by anyone who decided to work there or live near it. We can stop by there and continue through eastern and south-eastern sectors. There we'll need to be careful: earlier, this area was divided between several raider gangs who swore fealty to Curve Blade; now that they have been exterminated, this is a no-man's land where super mutants, looters and feral ghouls battle. I think we can slip by unnoticed to the southern area, where is another settlement, known as Horseshoe Highway. From there, it's not far. It would be quicker if we could cross through the city centre, but that area is the ground zero of a nuclear explosion; I think I do not need to tell why we cannot go there."

"How will we pass the no-man's land?" Applejack asked.

"That part might be tricky," Rarity admitted. "Earlier, when disguised as Black Widow, I simply used my Stealth-Boy; keeping silence helped me slip by any hostiles unnoticed, no matter where I went. But since I have only one device left now, this is obviously not an option."

"Can't we use underground to slip by them in that zone?" Twilight questioned.

"Only if you're ready to fight horde after horde of feral ghouls, darling. They have positively infested the tunnels down there, according to the locals. That is, assuming some of the sections did not collapse; as far as I know, the tunnels in that area were built closer to the surface for some reason, and the shockwave could have damaged them too heavily. No, Twilight, that will not work."

"I see."

"What do we need to know about Brightlight and Horseshoe Highway?" Sunset inquired.

"Brightlight, as I had said, has a casino; the whole settlement is simply centered around it. People go there to win - or lose - caps, and there are shops that offer a rather diverse set of merchandise. Some people live there because the casino and the area around it are more or less suitable for defense, and attacking it will see the whole town united against whoever dares to do that; that's why this place is attacked only by super mutants. On the other hand, though, Brightlight allows the sort of riff-raff that any decent town will not let in; you are quite likely to see raiders, mercenaries, drug addicts and other unlikeable people in there. Even slavers appear there once in a while, although only under heavy protection - even for Brightlight, these people are a blight upon the face of the Wastelands, and tolerated only as long as they spend money."

"Figures," Applejack spat, unamused. "They'd drink with demons of Tartarus if said demons would spent money like a sailor in a whorehouse."

"Really, Applejack?" Rarity huffed. "Must you use that idiom of all things?"

"What? That ain't true?"

"...point taken. Still, your choice of language for the matter was rather poor."

"An' the Miss Prim and Proper is back," Applejack grumbled, but the mirthful grin she had took out the sting of her words, and Rarity smiled wryly. Twilight and Sunset exchanged smiles, too.

"And the Horseshoe Highway?" Twilight asked.

"A rather small settlement, nothing really remarkable about it, except that it is located at the control point which in turn was on the highway that led to Canterlot from there. That gives the settlement marginally better defense capabilities and an access to a small armaments stash, but nothing more. No idea why they picked the name "Horseshoe Highway", to be honest. As for the people, they are regular Wastelands' inhabitants, growing their own crops and brahmin. As I said, nothing truly remarkable."

"OK then," Sunset said, "I think we follow Rarity's suggestion and avoid the Survivalists. Anything else to discuss?"

"There is one thing," Twilight said.

"What is it?"

"Elder Aegis asked me a favour. There is a Vault-Tec office in Trottingham, and he asked me to investigate it."

"He still believes you're this world's Twilight?" Applejack butted in.

"He does, and he apparantly really wants to pick my brains."

"What for?"

"The other me is apparently responsible for at least several breakthroughs in human technological progress, microfusion energy being one of them. The works she had worked on are classified, however, and my "amnesia" does not let me "recall" the details."

"But why would he need you?"

"Brotherhood of Steel is dedicated to retrieving and restoring pre-apocalypse technology. Imagine what they would gain if they managed to recover the theory at least from the source?"

"Ah got it. It would make him look real good."

"Indeed. He hinted that he considers me - the other me, that is - the very reason why Brotherhood of Steel exists."

"Wouldn't that be the truth," Sunset spoke. "When microfusion energy hit the world, it was as if science fiction made its way into real life. The military must have been praising the other Twilight's name as if she were a goddess. Their wet dreams came true."

"Wet dreams?" Twilight asked, puzzled. 

The fiery-haired Equestrian blushed slightly and whispered something into the lavender-skinned girl, which prompted a blush as well.

"Oh."

"Figuratively speaking, of course."

"Right."

"Alright y'all," Applejack spoke up, "Ah think we can spare some time to see the HQ of the goldurn Vault-Tec in Trottingham if we have time. Anybody got an idea where it used to be?"

"South-eastern area of Trottingham, 77 Fulltrot street, almost at the edge of the city," Sunset replied. "I remember because I had to ride there for quite a number of times before I managed to get my Vault 75 admission papers."

"So you can guide us there, if necessary?"

"Provided that some landmarks still exist and the building at least partially survived, yes. But I am not for making this a priority. We need to get my magic book and send a message to Equestria, to at least let everyone out there know that Twilight's actually alive, at least. I dare not imagine what might happen if they declare her dead."

"I'd rather not think about it," Twilight replied.

"When do we move out, then?" Rarity asked. "I would like to know so that I can recover some important things from my stash."

"Ah'd prefer if that was the day after tomorrow," Applejack said. "Ah need to arrange some things before Ah go with y'all. An' that power pack needs a recharge - the goldurn Brotherhood did not give me a fresh one back then."

"Fine by me," Sunset replied.

"No objections," Twilight said.

"Works for me as well," the indigo-haired girl said. "I can do it tomorrow at dawn, while the majority sleeps. I would rather not be followed."

"Then it's settled."

As everyone exited the room, Twilight spoke to Sunset:

"I've got to thank you?"

"What for?"

"I was told that someone gave me first aid while I was unconscious before everyone else found us."

"Wha... Twilight, I... didn't do that."

"You didn't?" Twilight's eyebrows were in danger of disappearing.

"No... when I saw you, I just ran to you and scooped you into my arms, bawling my eyes out. I thought you were... d-d-dead," Sunset hiccupped at the last word. "I did not give you any first aid."

"Yet Scribe Redheart said someone did, and if not for that, I would have died... But who else if not you?"

Sunset shrugged her shoulders, and Twilight felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.





Twilight and Sunset spent the next several hours by doing nothing specific; aside from maintaining equipment and checking whether their armour was still sturdy enough, there was nothing currently to do, and both girls had no desire to interfere with Appletowners' everyday business.

When they had dinner with the Apple family, Apple Bloom looked better than before; while the red-haired girl was still not as chipper, she was much less withdrawn, and actually smiled. She stated that teh stories that Flash, Twilight and Sunset shared with her helped a lot.

"Ah'm still not feelin' one hundred percent, but Ah'll manage. It's just... hard to adapt."

"Ah'm sorry, little sis," Applejack spoke up, saddened. "Ah tried mah best to protect you from the Wastelands, but that wasn't enough."

"Applejack, Ah'm not a baby, you know. Ah would've hadta experience that sooner or later; you just tried to make "later" happen rather than "sooner". Ah know you're always protective, but... you can't be here all the time, AJ."

"Yeah, 'bout that... Ah made a promise to Twilight and Sunset that Ah'd help them out on a quest, and we're gonna go to Trottingham for that."

"When're you leavin'?" Big Macintosh asked.

"Day after tomorrow - that's what we agreed on."

"Have you thought who'd lead Appletown?"

"Ah hope that would be you, Big Mac, although probably we need to let the folk decide."

"You'll hold a gathering?"

"Yep."

"When?"

"This evening."

"Ah see. Ah'll spread the word around."

The rest of the meal was spent in silence, and everyone spread around. Twilight was pleasantly surprised to see Flash Sentry still being in the town, and asked him on what he was doing.

"Elder Aegis asked me to present Brotherhood's good face, so to speak," the ex-rocker replied. "Since the local folk are apparently more trusting of me - at least, they don't shy away, even if they still are slightly worried when being around me."

"How is it going within the Brotherhood?"

"Fine, more or less. People mourn the dead, cremate them and move on. Many were pleased to see Curve Blade dead, though; and discovering that Shock Gauntlet actually escaped hurt when confronting you impressed even those who does not think much of "tribals". You and Sunset are the talk in the Brotherhood; there's even talk that you should be initiated into our ranks."

"Initiated?"

"That's how we call accepting into the Brotherhood."

"...wow. I am not sure what to think."

"Well, consider this a compliment. Even Elder Aegis was impressed with what you two have done, although he called the decision to go after Curve Blade and Shock Gauntlet "the most unintelligent and half-arsed decision in combat", quote for quote."

"In retrospect, it was."

"Still, if you two wanted to join the Brotherhood, I don't think he would refuse."

"I thought Brotherhood does not really like getting volunteers that aren't ex-military or related to science?"

"Depends on an Elder, actually. Since there are too few possible assets in Northern Wastelands to draw from, Aegis can't be too choosy. Other Elders may actually be like you described; in fact, the Elder Council once gave flak to Elder Aegis for getting tribals into our ranks, but he candidly told them that if they don't like it, he always can take some of their own people. And an Elder doesn't like losing their followers; that gives them a bad image."

"There's something else I want to know."

"Shoot."

"Shock Gauntlet seems to be a rather well-known person. How come?"

"Well, Crimson Hands by themselves are rather famous, but some of them are even more so. Anyone who is a capable fighter is sooner or later heard of, either by rumours or with help of CWN. Shock Gauntlet is a former UFE soldier; he had participated in several battles for cities under control of TODC, so he knows his way around urban warfare. During war, he received an award for single-handedly wiping out a squad of TODC assault troopers - not a small feat - but fell out of favour with Commissariat for his rather loud and cynical words that UFE high command and government were worse than those of TODC, and almost got brought up on sedition charges. No one truly knows why he thought that; probably he encountered a less-than-savoury fact and was severely disappointed, because he used to be quite patriotic. Nowadays, he is a rather cynical person who looks out for himself mostly, and runs with Crimson Hands because the job gives him caps and something to shoot at - he cares little at whom he shoots."

"So he was a good man?"

"Was is the key word - whoever he was before the apocalypse, that man is dead."

"But he is dangerous?"

"You saw that first-hand. He is one of the best mercenaries; for you to survive for more than five minutes is nothing short of impressive. If you don't mind me asking, how did you react?"

"I tried my best to reconnect with Sunset; I hoped that if I made him fall behind, we would overwhelm Curve Blade and turn to him, or at least fall back. But he did his best to cut me away, and caught me as I was, apparently, very close to Sunset."

"You were, in fact. As Sunset told me, she killed Curve Blade a mere minute after she heard your scream of agony."

"That's when he shot me with that high-caliber pistol of his."

"Ouch," Flash winced, "that's some pain. 12.7mm ammo is something to be feared even in power armour. Maybe not from a pistol, but TODC had a model of 12.7mm submachine gun for their special forces; when loaded with armour-piercing ammunition, these things made mincemeat of Mechanized Infantry troops."

"Ponyfeathers."

"Did you just cuss?"

"Bad examples are infectious," Twilight wryly smirked.

"Please don't. I never liked it when girls swore."

"Sorry. Will try to avoid it."

"Thank you."

"In any way, Flash, what do you plan on doing?"

"I don't really know. I was thinking of leaving Brotherhood and joining to help you."

"You would do that for me?" Twilight's eyes widened.

"Why not? I only joined the Brotherhood of Steel because neither me nor my men had anywhere else to go. But we never really fit in, and honestly, I am not sure I am feeling that loyal to the High Elder Gear."

"I... get the feeling, Flash, but are you sure that's the best way to help me?"

"You have something else in mind?"

"Please keep it a secret," Twilight leaned closer to him while looking around. Determining that no one would hear them, she whispered:

"Elder Aegis thinks that I am Twilight from this world, and she invented a number of things that Brotherhood likes. He really wants to pick my brains. I do not want him to know my... peculiar background, and I don't want to become his pawn. He seems honourable enough, but looks out for himself more than others, and I want someone whom I can trust to help me in case of something, since this is not the last time I deal with him."

"Well... if you're sure..."

"Very sure."

"Then your words make sense. I hate not being able to help you, but..."

"Trust me, Flash, it's better that you and your men stand ready to support me in worst case. Because if there's something I don't want to take on without serious assisstance, it's Brotherhood of Steel."

"OK. Deal."

"Thank you," Twillight smiled, and Flash's heart fluttered inside. "And besides, I do appreciate that you would like to stand by my side. But currently, I need reliable allies in the Brotherhood, and you are the only one who fits the bill."

"I understand. When do you leave?"

"The day after tomorrow - that's the plan, anyway."

"OK; maybe I'll get to see you off. There's currently no plan on pulling me back into the bunker."

"See you then. Bye."

"Bye," Flash replied after a slight hesitation, watching Twilight walk away from him.

A turmoil was raging within him; he did not want to see his crush leave, and yet he did not want her to see even more of the depravities of the Wastelands either.

What I had seen after the Apocalypse and before joining the Brotherhood is worse, and more deplorable than White Knives. Curve Blade, despicable as he was, still had some lines he would not cross...

I hate to see her go, but if she sees something worse than raiders... No. No, she must succeed in her quest. And I must help her. Even if it breaks my heart.

The next thought filled his heart with something resembling lead.

Even if I... will never see her again...





Closer to 18:00 local time, Applejack collected the inhabitants of Appletown in an area that served as central street of sorts. Standing on a small crate, she spoke:

"Listen folks; we've all accomplished a great deal here, with killin' Curve Blade an' his pack of gangbangers an' murderers. We've lost many of our people to them, but with the help of our friends from CWN, as well as Paladins from Brotherhood of Steel, we've made them all pay."

A cheer interrupted her speech, and Applejack waited until the emotions died down.

"An' Ah'm very grateful to y'all for puttin' your trust into me. Stars as my witness, Ah did mah best to lead ya... but Ah don't think Ah made a great job of it."

Now, surprise and shock overcame the crowd; everyone was watching the blonde girl with surprised eyes.

"Ah've been too stubborn on some things, an' that nearly cost us everything. In truth, the real leaders here are mah friends, Twilight an' Sunset. Without them, Ah'd never have thought of tryin' to make peace with Brotherhood of Steel, or gettin' CWN militia to help us. Ah wanted us to deal with everythin' on our own, an' that nearly cost us all we had. They helped me to realize where Ah was wrong, and corrected mah mistakes."

"But you led us into fights, too!" shouted one of the Appletowners.

"Ah did, but Ah only attacked in broad daylight, when them Knives could fire back. Ah never attacked at night because Ah felt that was dishonourable, even though the raiders never were above that. Had Ah overcome mah stubborness, maybe more folks would be alive right now. Ah'm a good farmer, and Ah'd like to believe Ah'm a good fighter, but Ah'm not a good leader. Ah didn't listen to people when needed. And Ah don't feel Ah should be the leader anymore."

Another gasp ran through the crowd.

"That's right y'all; Ah'm steppin' down from mah position of Appletown's de facto leader, an' I hope that y'all could elect someone else, who can do a better job."

"But whom?" one of the Apples asked. "The Daring Duo won't stay here forever, right?"

"Right; in fact, Ah'm plannin' to help them with a very important quest, an' Ah'll need to leave Appletown."

Murmurs ran through the assembled crowd, as everyone processed the news. Many were surprised, some of them were saddened. However, Sunset thought she saw a fleeting expression of grim satisfaction among a small group of people, and frowned.

That's... strange.

"I nominate Big Macintosh as our new leader!" shouted Golden Delicious, silencing the crowd.

"Why me?" asked the Apple de facto patriarch, surprised as a deer caught in headlights.

"Big Macintosh has interests of Appletown at heart. He had risked his life virtually every time when Appletown and its people were in danger. He had given valuable advice to Applejack and all of us when it came to running our town, or growing crops. Now that the threat of White Knives is gone, I believe he would make the best candidate for our leader."

A murmur of approval, mostly among Apples, ran through the crowd.

"Anyone else wanna be a candidate?" Applejack asked, but the only answer she got was silence.

"Then we've gotta vote. Who's for makin' Big Macintosh the new leader of Appletown instead of me?"

A literal forest of hands rose into the air. Even at first glance, it was obvious that the majority were in agreement with the motion.

"Who's against?"

Not a single hand rose; Twilight noticed that some people who did not vote for Big Macintosh did not vote against him either.

"Then it's settled; Big Mac, come 'ere."

Big Macintosh came forward and stood on the low crate, still clearly uncomfortable.

"Do ya promise to protect Appletown an' to see it prosper to the best of your abilities, Big Mac?"

Silence reigned for a few seconds before the eldest Apple brother answered in his usual manner:

"...eeyup."

Chuckles were heard among some of the Apples.

"Then Ah step down from my position of a leader an' announce you as the new leader of Appletown! Congrats, Big Mac!"

"Hooray!" Apple Bloom shouted, jumping up to hug her brother, and an applause thundered from the crowd.

"Thank y'all," Big Macintosh spoke up, "thanks for the trust you put in me. Ah promise Ah'll do mah best. Now, let's move on."

The people of Appletown went in different directions.





As the sun was about to come down, Twilight and Sunset were re-checking their equipment when Apple Bloom burst into house, frantic and out of breath.

"Twilight! Sunset! Is Applejack home?"

"Ah'm here, lil' sis, what's the matter?"

"There are Crimson Hands mercs! Three of them!"

"Three?" Sunset asked in disbelief. "That doesn't seem an attack."

"One of them has a white flag an' he's askin' for Twilight and Sunset!" Apple Bloom continued.

"Ah'm not lettin' them go there alone!" Applejack declared, grabbing her AP-79.

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh, who ran down at Apple Bloom's voice, also cocked his own assault rifle.

"Let's see what they want with us," Sunset grumbled, moving the bolt of her R91. The weapon gave a click-clank. Twilight opted for a laser rifle instead. Spike joined the group as everyone ran out of the house.

The quartet (Apple Bloom was ordered to stay inside) made its way to the edge of Appletown. There indeed were three Crimson Hands mercenaries, one of them (the apparent leader) had a small stick with a white handkerchief tied to it. Every merc had their weapons slung behind their backs. Appletowners were aiming their weapons at the intruders, still remembering what chaos had ensued because of Crimson Hands; Twilight and Sunset felt pleasure at seeing unmistakable profile of Rarity aiming her sniper rifle at the leader's head. Hunter Rose (his hat now having a bullet hole in it) was doing the same from the other barricade.

"What do y'all want?!" Applejack barked, none too pleased to see them. Others also did not bother to hide their hostility.

"To talk. I am Slip Swipe, and I was tasked to pass several messages from my boss," said the lead mercenary. "Let me say what I must say, and we'll leave."

"Fine."

"First and foremost, I must inform you that since Curve Blade is dead now, the contract to harass Appletown, as well as the contract for assassination of Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, is no longer in effect. As such, unless there is another contract with similar stipulations, Crimson Hands will not be hostile to you. However, we expect that none of you try a revenge attack on our personnel or our bases, for we reserve the right to defend ourselves from such attacks with lethal force."

"How about you never come to Appletown ever again an' we won't need to shoot ya?" Applejack snarled.

"Are you banning us?"

"Well, Ah'm not the leader anymore, but Ah think Big Mac shares mah sentiment."

"Mr. Macintosh, I believe you do not want to let any Crimson Hands operatives into Appletown?"

"Nope."

"Very well. This term is acceptable. Second, we would like to inquire whether you would return the possessions of deceased Crimson Hands to us."

"Nope," BigMacintosh repeated.

"Didn't think so, but the boss had to insist. Lastly; Miss Twilight Sparkle," Slip Swipe took out a folded piece of paper, "Shock gauntlet asked me to pass you a letter."

"What?" Twilight lost control of herself for a moment. "Why did he write me?"

"I have no idea. I did not read the letter. Will you accept it?"

"Eh, whatever," Twilight took the letter and unfolded it. The letter said:

Twilight Sparkle,

in case Slip Swipe, the one who gave you the letter, did not tell you, it is me, Shock Gauntlet. I wrote this letter because there are some things I need to tell you without risking getting pumped full of bullets while coming to Appletown. Besides, I am under another contract already, so I cannot tell you anyway.

First, Slip Swipe must have told you that Crimson Hands are no longer obligated to kill you; that means that I am not returning to finish you off either. At least unless I get hired to kill you again. Given what kind of person you are, you are likely to piss off another person with will and caps to hire someone to get rid of you, which means that you and Crimson Hands are likely to cross swords again, metaphorically speaking. If said person is generous enough, it might as well be me who will come after you. So watch your step.

Second: you already know that, but I am way above you. You might be red in anger right now, but it is the truth. And yet... I must admit: you impressed me. Vigilantes like you or Regulators who are concerned with pre-apocalyptic justice and morals do not end well in Canterlot Wastelands. They either die prematurely and their corpse becomes a nutrition for wild mutated animals in a ditch somewhere, or they gradually lose themselves and become no better than those they claim to oppose. Your track through Canterlot Wastelands was already enough for either of said options to happen, yet it did not. And despite me having a big advantage over you, you managed to hurt me, and survive long enough for your friend to kill Curve Blade, thus eliminating the contract between him and Crimson Hands. However, you were still on the verge of death, and could not have survived without first aid.

Twilight felt something slowly make its way into her stomach, as she read the words. She remembered how Scribe Redheart told her that without first aid, she would have died, yet Sunset told her she did not do anything of sorts...

Casting her eyes at the letter again, she continued to read:

Yes. It was me who gave you first aid.

You might ask: why, if only seconds ago I had tried to kill you? Primarily, it is because Curve Blade died, and no one would pay us for your death right now. But there is another reason. There is something... different about you, Twilight Sparkle. I am curious as to what it is, and would like another chance to see it. 

Besides, unprofessional as it is from me, I would like to see how you would fare if we were to battle again.

Also, remember me telling you that I would have gladly shared a drink with you under other circumstances? Well, the offer still stands. Drinks are on me.

(From someone like me, such an offer is a compliment.)

Until we meet again (and I am sure we will),

Shock Gauntlet,
Captain of Crimson Hands Mercenary Group

The equine Princess slowly folded the letter into its original shape, putting it in her pocket. Then she stared at Slip Swipe.

"Should I pass anything to Shock Gauntlet?" the latter asked impassively.

"Yes," Twilight said in a clipped tone. "Please tell him that I am thankful for his first aid."

Other people gasped at what they heard, but the lavender-skinned girl paid them no heed.

"Also tell him that should we meet again as enemies... he will not find me as easy of a target."

The venom in her voice surprised even her. Her part said, Twilight turned around and started walking away, head high and posture rigid.

Slip Swipe looked at her back and said:

"Well, this is everything I was instructed to pass. Can we go away now?"

"You can," Big Macintosh said. "An' never darken our borders again."

The mercenary "diplomat" ignored the venomous spat and left with his "bodyguards" in tow. Everyone kept their weapons trained on them until they disappeared over the hill. Only then did some of the people lower their weapons. As soon as they did, Sunset hurried back to the home Applejack shared with them.

When she entered their room, she saw Twilight looking out of the window, tense as a coiled spring.

"Twilight?" the unicorn-turned-human probed. "You OK?"

"I will be... in a moment. Just... let me collect my thoughts alone, Sunset, OK?

"If you insist," Sunset said unsurely, but left the room. Silence took over for a few moments, until Twilight uttered, looking out of the window:

"So you helped me... just because your employer died and you lost your cash. And you felt impressed with me because I was somehow different. Well, Shock Gauntlet... I have never been an ordinary person. If only you knew how unordinary I am..."

The equine Princess fell silent, reliving her memories of Equestria and her friends. She closed her eyes, fighting the tide of tears. When she opened them again, the image was misty, and she furiously blinked to get it away.

"So you say you will meet me again? Because someone else as deprived as Curve Blade, Celestia banish him to the moon, would hire you to get rid of me because I would step in his way? And you will let yourself become a weapon in their hands? Well, it's your choice, Shock Gauntlet. But remember this..."

Inhaling deeply, Twilight spat out all her negative emotions that she was feeling for the elite mercenary at that moment:

"I will not be merciful to you if you ally yourself with such people. And you will regret preventing my death at that prison. That I promise."





Shock Gauntlet listened to what Twilight Sparkle passed to him. As Slip Swipe went, he decided to look out of his window.

"Of course you won't be an easy target, Miss Sparkle. But I won't be as lenient either..."





Reputation decreased: Crimson Hands

Repeated firefights between you and this group have strained your relationship to outright hostility. While the group is happy to leave you alone if you do not attack them, they will jump at another chance to get even, since many will not forget the deaths of their comrades at your hands.





Quest Perk added (Twilight Sparkle):

Nemesis (Shock Gauntlet, Crimson Hands): This character has become your nemesis. Both of you are tied by the bounds of hostility beyond usual. Given the chance, this character will be hunting for you, and should you kill him or her, you will gain 400 XP.





Loyalty Perk won! (Applejack)

Stubborn Fortitude: As long as designated character is loyal to you, you gain +5% bonus to your Damage Resistance and Damage Threshold, and +10% bonus to your maximum HP count.

Applejack may be very stubborn, but said stubborness allows her to prevail in situations where others may falter; now, she will share her fortitude with you.
> Chapter 26: We trot to Trottingham!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 26

We trot to Trottingham!


"OK, girls," Sunset Shimmer said, "we need to check all of our loot and see if we require more items. We have already bought five RegenStims, two Med-X syringes and one AMFAK-10 bag, but I think we may require more. We also need to ensure we are well stocked on ammunition - who knows whom or what we may encounter on the way, and what prices others charge."

"Brightlight has slightly higher prices for essentials," Rarity replied, "but not what I would call a robbery. However, the shop at the casino does have inflated prices. They also have rare items, though."

"We also need a cap recount. I think the stash of caps that Appletown got as its share of loot from the prison is still in the town, right, Applejack?"

"Eeyup, Big Mac has already decided who gets how many caps. Curve Blade has amassed quite a sum, although he squandered much on Crimson Hands. Part of our share goes into Appletown's treasury, and part is distributed among militiamen and other folks. Y'all are entitled to a part as well."

"Glad to hear it. Given the prices, more caps would not hurt."

"Regarding ammunition," Twilight spoke up, "Applejack, is there a chance we can get a share from Appletown's ammo stack for one last time before we leave?"

"Ah don't think Big Mac would say no, and hey, you've done so much for Appletown, Ah hardly imagine anyone saying anything against it. Y'all are practically heroes here for taking on Curve Blade. The only thing is, we don't have fancy ammunition like .308 sniper rifle ammo or anything for energy weapons. We only have ammo for assault rifles, hunting rifles and 10mm pistols and SMGs, plus some boxes for the LMG me an' Big Mac use in turns."

"Speaking of said LMG, are you taking it?" Sunset inquired.

"Big Mac said Ah could have it, so why not? Besides, the guys from Brotherhood of Steel recharged the microfusion power pack for mah power armour, so Ah can easily lug an' fire that big bad boy."

"Rarity, what weapons are you going to bring?"

"My MSR-90 sniper rifle and the silenced pistol most definitely, plus combat knife and balisong. I was not thinking of bringing anything else. I do have a marksman carbine, also with a silencer, but that's not my first weapon of choice, because it's more for open combat than sniping, which I don't usually do."

"Given the latest events, Rarity, Ah think open combat may be in your future," Applejack spoke up.

"Fair point, Applejack, but I cannot lug too many weapons at a time, it severely limits my mobility. If either Twilight or Sunset were to give one of Buffalo SMGs to me, then I can deal with open combat well enough."

"Take mine," Sunset offered. "I am not really much into infiltration tactics."

"Much obliged, darling, thank you."

"I am concerned about ammunition for your weapons, though."

"Do not worry about that, Sunset. I can restock from my hideout. I may even have some spare 9mm ammo for Buffalo SMGs I can share."

"Twilight, Sunset," Applejack took over, "are you bringing your energy weapons?"

"Most definitely, especially if we risk encountering super mutants," Twilight replied. "Ammunition for those might be a pickle, though, but I think we can try scavenging from the military base."

"No can do, Twi, Ah spoke with Flash an' he said that Brotherhood already stripped it clean."

"Drat. Given that we're on better terms now, do you think they will trade extra energy batteries and microfusion cells?"

"Ah doubt it, but who knows? Ask Flash or Aegis, if that metal soccer ball of his happens to fly around."

"I will."

"Ah also heard 'bout one big merchant caravan comin' here in an hour or two, so if y'all have a chance, look at what they have."

"Thanks, Applejack."

"Alright y'all, let's get our share of caps an' move on."





As it turned out, Curve Blade did leave quite a sum behind, which was divided into shares depending on everyone's contribution to the fight. Twilight was amazed that Appletowners did not get into serious fights over each and every cap, but Big Macintosh told her that while there were some squabbles, the town council (of which he was in charge) was well-respected and listened to, so no one raised a ruckus.

Twilight and Sunset got 800 caps each, Applejack (as a former leader) got 1000, and Rarity got 700 due to her rather late joining in battle. Nobody protested their income, so everyone left pleased.

Twilight asked Flash about the possibility of refilling their supply of energy weapons ammunition via Brotherhood of Steel, but the answer left her rather disappointed.

"Even if Elder Aegis does prove amenable to the idea, he'll most definitely overcharge you for them, and chances are he would give you recycled batteries and microfusion cells instead of fresh ones, so I would not recommend it - you would be better off buying from merchants, if you meet one who sells this sort of things."

"Recycled?"

"Spent batteries and cells still have some leftover charge, which can be recollected and directed into another battery or cell, if you have the right workbench and skills for it," Flash explained. "This helps to spare some caps, but recycled ammunition for energy weapons has a negative effect on its circuits, which worsens the weapon's overall condition. Which is why Brotherhood is not keen on using recycled batteries. They are left for those outsiders whom the command trusts and are sold for a rather overblown price."

"Drat. We aren't that poor with energy weapon ammunition, but I hoped to get a good stash - who knows how long will we be in Trottingham? I have heard that super mutants are rather active there, and I would rather avoid spending all our reserves on them."

"I know, Twilight, but that's the actual truth. I am sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Flash."

"If it helps, I can tell that super mutants' heads are still quite vulnerable to bullets. And high-caliber ammunition is still devastating on them. I think that if you encounter those, you can rely on Applejack's LMG or Rarity's sniping to take them out quickly. I think that you'd be better off using laser rifles if you encounter five or more of them at a time - super mutants are very dangerous when they hold a numerical advantage over you, and that's when you must negate it ASAP. Also you can use energy weapons to bring down super mutants with LMGs and miniguns, if you encounter those - even power armour can't hold for long against those."

"Thanks for the advice," Twilight smiled, receiving a smile in return.

"You're welcome."





Some time later, Rarity left Appletown in order to re-stock on ammunition that she could not find in there, namely .308 and .22 ammo. The trip took her three hours overall, which prompted Applejack to comment jokingly on Rarity taking time to stock on fanciness and others to laugh at former fashionista's expense. Rarity pouted and frowned, but took the joke in good stride.

A merchant caravan arrived to Appletown while the alabaster-skinned girl was absent, offering a variety of goods. The girls took the chance to sell the unnecessary items they had (including their hunting rifles, .32 ammo and spare weapons they did not need). Twilight earned 620 caps that way, and Sunset earned 797.

The girls bought 9mm ammo for Buffalo SMGs, since they almost depleted their reserves in the latest days, coughing up 300 caps in total. Sunset also bought spare ammo for her shotgun for 144 caps and five energy batteries for her laser pistol for 390 caps, while Twilight bought twenty-one .44 magnum ammo for 63 caps. Both girls also bought four frag grenades each, spending 240 caps.

As for assault rifle and 10mm ammunition, the girls went to the arsenal of Appletown. As promised, Big Macintosh allowed them to restock free of charge before they left, so each girl got herself fifteen clips worth of ammo for assault rifles. Twilight got restocked up to twelve spare SMG magazines and five full N99 pistol magazines. Sunset decided not to take more pistol ammo, as she had enough of those.

As the girls recounted their caps, they discovered that Twilight now had 1401 cap and Sunset had 917. Applejack brought 1199 caps with herself (all of her savings plus recent prizes) and Rarity brought 1636.

As the time to leave the friendly town drew to a close, Sunset gave her Buffalo SMG and all spare ammunition for it to Rarity, who accepted it with thanks. Applejack stepped into her T-72d power armour, and Twilight closed it, turning the wheel to firmly lock it in place. The blonde girl looked at the Pip-Boy connected to the armour, and smiled upon seeing that microfusion power pack's charge was at 100 percent.

Finally, they assembled at the edge of Appletown, with Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Flash Sentry, Hunter Rose, Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon and (surprisingly) Vinyl Scratch coming to see them off.

"Surely wish Ah could come with you, lil' sis," Big Macintosh said.

"Don't worry, Big Mac, we'll do fine. An' Ah'm not little."

"Just like Ah'm not little to ya, big sis?" Apple Bloom smirked, and Applejack sputtered as everyone chuckled.

"Ya'll always be mah little sister to me, Applejack," the eldest Apple brother spoke in an unusually soft voice. "Even though you're all grown up now an' almost tower over me with this power armour of yours."

"Ah hay's bails, Big Mac," the blonde girl lowered her voice, "an' ya'll always remain the biggest brother in the world ta me. And Apple Bloom, ya'll still remain a little sis ta me."

"You're the best sister Ah could ask for," Apple Bloom drew Applejack into a hug (or tried to), which was returned. The red-haired girl could not help but let some tears loose, and Applejack also visibly struggled to cry solely on the inside as she first hugged her younger sister and elder brother.

"I hope you will succeed in your quest, Twilight," Flash told the lavender-skinned girl.

"Me too, but I am not alone now. We'll look out for each other, I promise."

"That said, Elder Aegis asked me to pass along a message. A patrol of Brotherhood went missing in Trottingham, we can't establish contact. If it's possible, he wants you to find out where they are or bring back their holotags if they're dead."

"We'll keep our eyes open for that."

"Thanks. Be careful out there. Look out for each other, and may the Steel be with you," Flash carefully hugged Twilight. The equine-turned-human returned the affectionate gesture, but hesitated as they released each other.

Then she rose on her toetips and kissed Flash on the left corner of his mouth.

Both of them felt as if some electric current ran between them for the brief moment and blushed, mouths agape, as they slowly moved away from each other. Twilight drew her gaze away, abashed, while Flash simply stood shocked.

Finally, both of them looked each other into the eyes, and Twilight said:

"Well... take care, Flash. And... er, see you again."

"Thanks, take care as well," the ex-rocker regained some control over himself. "See you later."

"Hey guys," Vinyl Scratch approached the quartet (plus Spike), "thanks again for all you did for CWN. If you have a chance to drop by our flat, will you look through it?"

"We'll see if we get a chance," Sunset said. "This is somewhat farther than we need to go, but it may be possible."

"Hey, it's not urgent. And do something impressive, so the listeners of CWN get awed by Daring Duo, or should I say Daring Quintet now?" the girl smirked.

"Seriously, stop it."

"Good luck," Hunter Rose told the girls, "and shine your light upon the Wastelands."

"Thank you, Mr. Rose," Rarity replied. "Ahem, are you sure you want to keep your hat like that?"

"Eh, it'd be hard to try and repair it, so I think I'll keep it like that. Makes me look more badass."

"OK then. Take care, sir."

"Hey you," Lyra came up to them, "thanks for saving Bon Bon and keeping me from... well... my revenge quest."

"You're welcome, Lyra," Twilight replied. "Sure you don't wanna join?"

"I wish we could," Bon Bon said, "but I'll be busy trying to find out who set me up, and that's gonna take us in different directions from yours. So no, not this time at least."

"Sorry to hear that. Good luck to you."

"You as well."

"Alright everybody," Applejack declared, moving the bolt of her LMG and listening to the click-clank of the firing mechanism, "it's time."

After the last round of hugs and bye's, Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Spike started to go away from Appletown in direction of Trottingham. Everyone who saw them off looked at them until they disappeared out of sight.

At one moment, Applejack turned back to look around, but Appletown was already below the horizon line. A look of sadness crossed her face, and she stood in place for a couple of seconds before turning around and hurrying to catch up to other girls.





One hour or so later, the group came up to the railroad that was going in the direction of Trottingham. The girls and Spike went parallel to the tracks, keeping eyes open for any potential threats.

"Merchants told me that sometimes raiders used trolleys for transport," Applejack mentioned, "so keep an eye on both sides. And be careful."

"Understood," Sunset replied, lifting her R91 assault rifle and looking down the sights. Rarity did the same with her sniper rifle, turning back periodically to ensure that an enemy was not creeping up on them from behind.

The railroad went into a forest that used to be lively and green, but the drought caused by atmospheric changes that occurred after atomic explosions made both grass and trees yellowish, resulting in a rather depressive mood. The plants surrounded the railroad track on both sides, and the girls had problems seeing deep into the forest.

"Urgh," Rarity complained, "my sniper rifle is virtually useless here."

"Think you should switch to SMG?" Sunset asked.

"Sounds good, but I still think we need better visibility on 12 and 6 o'clock, so maybe I'll cover those directions, and you will do flanks?"

"If this were in Equestria, it might have sounded soooo wrong..." Sunset muttered, taking place near Twilight and behind the ex-fashionista; Applejack moved forward, to the left of Rarity.

They moved forward, not seeing any enemies (be it raiders or mutated animals) for approximately twenty minutes. Several times they heard the familiar click-click-click of radiation detectors in their Pip-Boys, which lead to them sprinting forward so as to pass the dangerous area more quickly. Still, over that course, all of them received 18 rads.

"Horseapples," Sunset swore, "if it goes on like that, we might go down with radiation sickness."

"Don't worry, there has never been more than five rads per second in this area," Applejack replied.

"That won't be comforting if there are dozens of these areas or if an area is quite long."

"Merchants travel along this road all the time, Sunset, don't worry. This area is better than other ways, according to them - either there is more radiation or that area is infested with packs of dangerous animals. People regularly meet a yao guai or several if they stray off this path."

"Do they come here?"

"They shouldn't, but ya never know."

Crack!

"Y'all hear that?"

"Yes," Twilight said, "and I don't feel that it's anything good. Weapons ready!"

More cracks followed, coming closer in their direction. A minute later, a massive hulking figure of a mutated bear climbed out of high bushes that hid its approach, and roared.

"Speak of a motherfuckin' demon an' he'll come! Fire!" Applejack bellowed, unslinging her LMG and pulling the trigger. The massive weapon spat out bullets in a deafening staccato, followed by Twilight's and Sunset's assault rifles. Roaring in pain, the beast lunged at the blonde farmer, swiping at her and forcing her to duck and move away, stopping her onslaught.

Meanwhile, Rarity managed to detach the optical sight on her sniper rifle, using ironsights instead. Dropping onto one knee, she opened fire at the yao guai's left hind leg, aiming to shatter its knee. She managed to release three shots before the monster jumped at her.

"Aaaaaargh!" the indigo-haired girl shrieked, diving into the bushes. The beast turned its left side to Twilight and Sunset, and both Equestrians did not hesitate to use that to their advantage as they unleashed 5.56mm bullets on the already-wounded leg. Their combined fire smashed the damaged limb to pieces, resulting in a roar of pain. The yao guai limped into their direction, intending to swipe at the girls. However, Applejack stood in its way and aimed at its head.

"Nope," she said, and pushed the trigger.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat! Heavy 7.62mm bullets smashed the skull of the creature, piercing its brain and making it topple. Not satisfied, Applejack jumped into the air and landed hard on the beast's head. With a sickly crunch, the head came apart, dirtying the feet of the power armour.

"Eurgh," the farmer groaned, "yao guai brains."

"Oof!" Rarity untangled herself from the bushes, several scratches on her face. "Oh, I should've put on the mask when I went after ammo! Now there are scratches on my face!"

"Just dab some disinfectant an' ya'll be fine," Applejack said. "Ah don't know how to get this brain matter off now," she grumbled, wiping the boots on the grass.

"Ew, gross," the former fashionista went green in the face, but held the vomit reflex back.

Suddenly, all of them heard some whining from the side where the now-dead yao guai came from.

"The heck?" Sunset spoke up, and everyone went in that direction. What they saw beyond the bushes surprised them.

Four little mutated and ugly cubs were whining, cuddled together in a small hole in the ground.

"Yao guai cubs?!" Sunset gasped. "Well that's something I have never seen before..."

"We stumbled upon the mama bear, it seems. Or should Ah say mama yao guai? Eh,  whatever," Applejack said. "This must be dealt with."

"Dealt with? Applejack, what're you..." Twilight started, but a loud burst from the blonde girl's LMG interrupted her.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

Several pitiful shrieks, and four descendants of a mutated bear lay still, unmoving.

"What in the name of... APPLEJACK!" the lavender-skinned girl shrieked.

"Whassamatter, Twi?" the farmer spoke up, totally unconcerned.

"I know that yao guai are dangerous and all, but... should you have just... shot all of the cubs?"

"If Ah don't, either those cubs will get eaten by someone else or they grow up an' become a problem. Ah'd rather not have them grow up."

"That's... cold."

"You've been in the Wastelands long enough, Twi. Surely ya know how dangerous those beasts are? An' a yao guai cub will always grow up as a yao guai - a horrifyingly massive, aggressive, fast and dangerous yao guai."

"I get the logic. Just... I wouldn't have done that, to be honest."

"Well, it's your choice. But many folks would not understand that. They aren't Fluttershy, ya know that," Applejack lowered her head, and everyone else stood in silence, their mood dampened.

We have found each other... but we are still lacking some of our friends. This thought ran through their heads in one form or another.

"OK y'all, let's go," the blonde girl offered. "Ah don't wanna risk someone else following the noise of our guns."

"Agreed," Rarity spoke up.

"Come on, then."

As everyone left, Twilight spared one last glance at the dead bodies of small mutants.

This isn't right, she thought.

Really? Is it better to have them grow up as vicious killers? And have some poor sod die at their claws? Another voice, one she was all-too-familiar with right now, flared up.

We can't kill someone on mere what-ifs!

Didn't you kill White Knives and go after Curve Blade following the same what-ifs?

That's different! We knew already they were bandits and murderers, and I am not that sorry that they are gone. But can we kill anyone else on the mere notion that someone will grow up as a murderer? Like, well, killing a baby raised by raiders?

Bad example. Human kids are not animals. You can take that baby from raiders and raise him or her as a good individual. But a yao guai cub will always grow up as a yao guai. And you know that these beasts are awfully dangerous.

This is still so wrong and not fair.

Well, life is not fair, but I think we can agree on that. But if you want to survive, you must fully adapt to this world; become a part of it.

I am NOT a part of this world! I am from another dimension, for Celestia's sake!

And yet you aren't in THAT dimension. You're in THIS dimension. And your return to that dimension... is not guaranteed. At all. If you want to return, you must survive. And I already told you what must be done.

And if I lose myself in this world? I won't fit in back home!

People change. They shouldn't be surprised once you tell them what you have been through. Heck, I don't think they have ever fought a raider.

Thanks, Captain Obvious.

You're welcome... Private Sparkle. Heh-heh-heh.

Why you..!

Shaking her head, Twilight focused on the road ahead, quickening her pace so as to not get lost behind.





As the girls went out of the forest, the sun was lowering in the sky, making them squint slightly as it shone up their faces.

"Blast," Sunset muttered, "this sunlight has us at a disadvantage. Should have foreseen this, given that we are going west-south-west at this moment and the sun sets in the west."

"Ah don't think it will be an issue for long, Sunset, it's 17:49 now an' the sun sets somewhere around seven o'clock p.m.," Applejack responded, looking at the Pip-Boy secured on her power armour.

"Still not pleased."

"The road is turning to the left up ahead," Rarity spoke, looking through her optical sight.

"Mind that your sight does not catch the sun," the fiery-haired girl advised.

"Sunset, I am a fropessional, surely you don't think I did not know that?"

"Fropessional?"

"What are you - oh goodness, I misspoke, didn't I?" Rarity's face was flushed from embarrassment at her orphoepic faux pas.

"You did."

"Oh snap," the alabaster-skinned girl facepalmed, but said nothing else. Applejack chuckled, earning herself a mock-outraged glare.

"Oh shut up," Rarity snapped at her power-armour-clad friend, but was unable to resist a small smile at her own expense.

"Hey guys," Twilight interrupted, "is it me or there are figures up ahead?"

"I smell humans as well," Spike spoke up.

"Let me see," Rarity adjusted the focus and the magnification on her optical sight, and responded, "Yes, I see some humans in the distance, their backs are turned to us."

"Everyone drop!" Sunset ordered, and the girls lowered themselves on the ground, weapons ready - except Rarity, who dropped herself on one knee, since the high grass would impede her visibility.

"I have counted... six armed humans... scratch that, seven... eight... yes, eight armed humans, and I also see unarmed humans as well, four... no, five... oh, there's another armed human, nine in total... unarmed humans are standing behind the armed ones... wait... the ones who are unarmed... their hands are tied behind their backs!"

"What?!" Twilight gasped.

"Quiet!" Sunset hissed at her.

"Yes, it is as I said... oh... unarmed humans have dropped on their knees now. They are forced to sit in an uncofortable position... wait... I see collars on their necks?"

"Collars?" Applejack spoke confusedly, but then her face was split by a scowl and she snarled, "Slavers!"

All the girls felt like they had stepped into a cold shower and liquid ice was flowing down their spines as they realized that they have met one of the most detestable and dangerous threats that they could encounter. Applejack and Rarity frowned immediately, while Sunset and Twilight kept more concerned expressions.

"I see the image of two dice, six and six, on their backs," Rarity continued. "I recognize the emblem. It's Traders Sixty-Six, one of the most notorious salave trading groups. They themselves have a number of slaves, but as far as I know, they operated mostly in Western Canterlot Wastelands and near Whinnyapolis. Seems they have expanded."

"What do we do?" Twilight asked. "We can't let slavers detain these people, right?"

"Right you are, Twi," Applejack nodded, "but we need to act carefully. We need to ambush them."

"There's too much open ground," Sunset interjected, "and from this distance, only Rarity can work well enough."

"I wouldn't be so sure, there's a wind blowing," Rarity spoke up. "Plus, I am afraid I might hit one of the prisoners from this distance. We have to come closer."

"They might notice us," Sunset said.

"How about we try to approach them, but showing no hostility?" Twilight offered. "Pretend we don't care, and when they don't expect it, we fire?"

"Nice idea, Twi, although that might be sorta hard ta me," Applejack admitted.

"Plus, you might be more recognizable with your Stetson, Applejack," Rarity noted. "Take off your hat and put on this mask, it will hide your facial expression," she said, taking out the object in question.

"Alright then, if ya say so," Applejack muttered, following the instruction.

"I might try something as well," Sunset spoke, taking out a bandana and tying it so it would cover her face below the eyes.

"Interesting," Rarity said. "Twilight, put Spike inside your bag, just in case."

"I agree. Spike, come here."

"Can I at least jump into their faces?" the pup asked.

"If we get the chance."

The group went forward, weapons pointing down or in relaxed stance. Sunset stepped forward, while Applejack was on her right. Twilight went behind Applejack. Rarity, however, slagged slightly behind.

"Cloaking," she said, and tapped her wrist, activating the Stealth-Boy. As Twilight turned back for a moment, she could not see Rarity anymore, and only a slight light distortion which indicated her presence. She (and others) still heard her say:

"I will take the best position I can; once I open fire, hesitate slightly and then attack."

"Understood," Twilight muttered barely audibly.

The group approached the slavers with confidence, and soon enough, they were noticed. One of the slavers stood up from the ground and said:

"Hey! Whacha doin' here?"

"Just passing by, man," Sunset replied in an authoritative tone, "wanna try our luck in Brightlight."

"Ah, ya wanna play some poker in there? Sounds good to me, I haven't been there in month. Just need to get to Trottingham and drop off the load," he pointed his gun at the tied up prisoners. "Say, you wanna stay with us? You look like you know your way with guns, and, well, safety in numbers and stuff. Especially with that butch in power armour."

Applejack growled and stepped forward, but Sunset stopped her with a hand gesture.

"Be more polite to her, man," she said. "Last guy who tried to mouth off at her got his balls literally torn off. By bare hands."

"Hey, it's cool, I meant no offense. So are you staying or not?"

"For how long are you pausing here?"

"Ten minutes tops, gotta drop something into our bellies."

"Fine by me, we'll just hang around until then."

The slavers went back to their food, except for the guards who kept their eyes on prisoners rather than the girls. Sunset and others maintained some distance from them, pretending to look around for any threats. Applejack kept her back to the girls, casting furtive glances at the Traders 66 themselves. She noticed (not without pleasure) that the slavers were looking a little bit intimidated when in her presence. She also recounted them; as it turned out, there were ten Traders Sixty-Six in reality.

Dang it, I hope Rarity reacts accordingly - ten is worse than eight, she thought, looking at the slavers as they ate and drank.

As the slavers finished eating, several of them threw the remains at their captives, forcing them to twist themselves so as to catch the food with their mouths, but they only collided with each other, falling to the ground in a heap.

Traders laughed uproariously at the display, enjoying the pitiful sight as their prisoners tried to untangle themselves. Sunset remained impassive, Twilight clenched her teeth, and Applejack snarled quietly:

"Thrice-cursed motherfuckin' beasts! Just ya wait, until..."

Suddenly, one of the slavers jerked forward and fell down, exposing the hole in the back of his head. A second later, another slaver's head came apart, splattering brains around. At this point, others stopped laughing and looked into all directions

"What the..." one of them began, but promptly caught a bullet into his temple.

"SNIPER!" Sunset shouted, dropping onto one knee and firing blindly in a random direction; Twilight added her own bullets to the mix. "Over there!"

Other slavers opened fire in the same direction, exposing their backs to the girls. Twilight nodded to Applejack, and the blonde girl grinned maliciously, aiming her LMG at the slavers and pulling the trigger.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat!

"Surpsise, motherfuckers!" she shouted, as Twilight and Sunset turned their guns on the slavers as well.

Ba-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Bra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tat!

"The fuck - oh shit, we've been had!" shouted one of the Traders, dodging to the side and firing his AP-79 at Applejack. However, his bullets were unable to penetrate the heavy power armour, and he fell quickly as a .308 bullet entered his larynx.

Very quickly, there were only two slavers left. One of them ran out of ammunition at the same time when the girls emptied out their magazines and tried to charge at them with a combat knife. However, before he was able to swipe at Twilight (who was the closest to him), Spike jumped out of the rucksack and swiped his claws across the Trader's eyes. Surprised, he stumbled and fell down onto his back, which allowed Twilight to whip out her revolver and shoot him to the head as Spike jumped off him. Meanwhile, Applejack took her LMG as an improvised club and charged at the remaining slaver who frantically was trying to reload his R91 assault rifle. He only managed to insert the maagzine as the blonde farmer hit him viciously across the face, knocking him out.

Silence reigned for several moments as the girls reloaded their weapons.

"No other targets in the vicinity," Rarity spoke, decloaking. "We got 'em."

"And one of 'em is still alive to sing like a canary," Applejack gave a none-too-gentle kick to the surviving raider, taking off the mask and putting her Stetson hat back on, while Sunset uncovered her face.

"Damn, wearing bandana like that is uncomfortable," she said.

Twilight approached the prisoners who were gazing up at her with a mixture of surprise and shock.

"Are you all OK?" she asked, concerned.

"Well," a gruff voice sounded from below one of the bodies, "if you help us untangle ourselves, it's gonna be better."

"Sunset, help me," Twilight asked, and two girls took apart the small pyramid of bodies. Once they got to the bottom of it, Twilight saw a blotched, mutated face with no eyelids and few hair remaining, skin blistered and raw.

"Oh shit!" she swore uncontrollably, and Sunset jerked a bit.

"Yeah yeah, I am ugly as a mole rat's ass, now, care to untie us, smoothskin?" said the same gruff (and raspy, as Twilight noted) voice.

"Please excuse my friend," Sunset spoke, cutting the ropes with her knife. "The only ghouls she and I have seen were feral, so... no offense meant."

"Hmpf. None taken, then," the ghoul stood up and rubbed his wrists, "since you didn't shoot me at sight."

"Why would I do that?" Twilight inquired.

"Because most folks can tell a feral apart from a non-feral only by coming close, and people don't wanna risk their sorry behinds, smoothskin."

"So they shoot first and ask questions later?"

"Change "later" for "never" and you got it right."

"Hey Sunset, any ropes out there for this fella?" Applejack called.

"How about these?" Sunset showed the relatively intact ropes she took off from the last prisoner.

"Perfect, gimme."

The fiery-haired girl moved away as Twilight stood in front of the group of three men, one woman and one male ghoul.

"Anyone needs medical assistance?" she asked.

"No," one of men replied, "we're fine enough. They don't want spoiled goods, after all," the hatred was clearly discernible in his voice. "But we're quite hungry."

"Please wait a moment," Rarity called from one of the bodies, "I am almost done looting these ruffians. They have got some food and water."

"Thank you for saving us," the woman spoke, looking into Twilight's eyes. "You have spared us from a horrible fate. They were planning to sell us to Hominus Trent!"

"Who is he?"

"A guy who got himself a coal mine somehow and now does a big business selling coal to anyone who wants to make energy out of it," the ghoul said. "And since not everyone can have something nuclear-powered here, he rakes in big money. But he doesn't want to work himself, so he has slaves doing that for him. I tell you, finding yourself there is a fate worse than death. Only TODC concentration camps can compare to that, and I'm not convinced they would win."

"Where is he?"

"Somewhere in the desert in the Western Wastelands, around Appleloosa, but where exactly, no one knows."

"Alright y'all," Applejack approached them, hauling a now-conscious slave trader by his collar, "now's the time to ask him some questions. Ya hear me, partner?" she shook him.

"I ain't tellin' ya, bitch," he snarled.

"Well too fucking bad. Sunset?"

The fiery-haired girl took out her pistol and shot the slaver to the leg below the knee.

"AAAARGH! You bitch! You shot my fuckin' leg!"

"Quit whining," Sunset replied in a bored tone, "the bullet didn't get your bone. That's bullshit, not a wound. Next time, I won't be so nice. Now, where you were taking these people!"

"Fuck off!"

Bang!

"AAAARGH!"

"Now it gets serious," Sunset warned. "I wanted to go for your kneecap, but now that you have soiled your tongue with such language, I think I'll just shoot your balls off if you refuse to answer my questions again."

"You can't be serious," the slaver sneered.

Bang! Another bullet entered his hip, very close to a man's prized organ.

"Oops. My wrist twitched. Won't happen again," Sunset inhaled deeply, and then suddenly shouted into his face, "Now tell me right fucking now where you were taking them or I will castrate you without anesthesia!"

"All right, all right! We were going to trade them off to a guy named Cream Wuss! He works for Hominus Trent, transfers the people to his mine from here!"

"How much did he pay you?"

"He promised six thousand caps on delivery!"

"That's a nice sum," Sunset whistled. "Except I don't think you would have gotten everything, right?"

"Right, the boss takes ten percent from any transaction."

"And the boss is..?"

"Silver Shackle, surely ya heard that?"

"Rumours were going about change of power."

"Nah, that's bullshit."

"Well, thanks for the info. Now, what to do with you? Hey guys," Sunset addressed the liberated persons who took some weapons and ammo for themselves, "you wanna have some fun with him?"

"You know, lass," the ghoul answered, "that might be a good idea."

"Well, that's settled!" Sunset declared brightly, and promptly delivered two shots to the slaver's kneecaps; Aplpejack tossed him on the ground. "I think we'll take what's left, if there's anything nice, and then we'll part ways."

"Works for us. Thank you."

"Heh, you're welcome."

"Now, pretty boy," the ghoul and others approached their recent captor, "wanna play the same "bondage game" you played with us, but with role reversal?"

"No-no-no-no-NO!" the slaver repeated quickly until a dirty boot to the face silenced him.

When the girls were done picking their loot and decided to part ways, the slaver was hanged from a nearby tree, his corpse ridden with bullets. The bullet holes were added after the hanging.

"Eugh," Twilight commented, "gross."

"Ah dunno, seems fittin' for the scum like him," Applejack commented offhandedly, as the girls made their way further...





The rest of the day passed uneventfully. As the sun almost fully sat down, the girls stopped in order to eat, and continued their way along the rail tracks. By that time, they could already see the outline of the city, and the feeling of being close to their target rejuvenatted them.

Finally, both girls came close to the husks of the nine-storey buidings and remains of skyscrapers that made up most of the surroundings of post-apocalyptic Trottingham.

"That's where I lived before the Day of Burning," Sunset mused. "That seems so long ago."

"Seven years does count as long ago," Rarity agreed. "I had come here on several occasions, to sell dresses or for charity events designed to get people into the Vaults... if only I knew their true purpose..."

"Hey," Twilight put her hand on ex-fashionista's shoulder, "don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. It's those higher-ups that deserve to burn in Tartarus."

"Agreed," Applejack put her own hand on another shoulder, making Rarity stumble slightly, "ya can't be blamed for that."

"Thank you," the indigo-haired girl breathed out. "Pardon me my small moment of weakness. Let's move. Brightlight is not far from here."

As they approached the (in)famous settlement, they could hear some gunfire up ahead.

"What the hay?" Sunset asked, and everyone quickened their pace.

As they approached the gates into the city, they saw the reason. People in various types of armour, from ramshackle raider stuff to Crimson Hands armour to some of the White Knives' and armed with an assortment of weapons, were attacking the gates of Brightlight. The guards of the town were desperately fighting, but the attackers were equal to them in terms of numbers, and some of them had superior armaments.

What's worse, Twilight and others clearly saw two figures in unmistakable Brotherhood of Steel power armour.

"What the fuck?" Sunset asked. "Why are there Brotherhood troopers with raiders and bandits in White Knives' armour?"

"Wait, I caught a radio signal on my Pip-Boy," Twilight said, and seconds later, they heard:

"This is Brightlight authorities to any traveller approaching Brightlight, be advised - hordes of... zombie-like people are attacking. Yes, sounds ridiculous, but the attackers are a mixed bunch that would never work together under normal circumstances, so bear with me. We are offering a bounty of one thousand caps to any traveller willing to assist in our defense. If you agree, go to the north-eastern gates! messgae repeats. This is Brightlight authorities to any..."

"We are actually near the north-eastern gates," Rarity spoke. "I count twenty-five or so attackers. We can get them in pincers, they can't hide from two sides at once, but we need to eliminate the opposition as fast as possible, and these Brotherhood soldiers, if they are indeed from Brotherhood, really worry me."

"Can we deal with them?" Sunset asked.

"It's possible," Twilight spoke, "but tricky. I know for certain that Applejack's LMG may give them problems, and laser rifles can as well. Rarity, how good is your sniper rifle at penetrating armour?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have armour-piercing ammunition, and standard ammo can reliably punch only through the visors," the indigo-haired girl replied.

"What about microfusion power packs? Can they be disabled via shots?"

"I hardly think that creators of power armour would be so careless as to not think of that, but one may try," Rarity said. "There is one point in there, hitting which could disrupt the power supply."

"Then try to hit at least one of them in such a point," Twilight said. "Applejack, try and dispose of as many attackers in as short time as it is possible - it won't do us any good if we are overwhelmed by bulletstorm. Me and Sunset will act according to situation, but best option is to melt the other Paladin's helmet and fry his head or disrupt his power pack as well."

"I got ya, Twi," Applejack moved forward, two Equestrians lagging behind her and Rarity being the last with her Stealth-Boy turned on. The girls hid behind concrete slabs of which there was no lack; Twilight and Sunset took out their laser rifles.

"Rarity, you ready?" Twilight called.

"I am!"

Suddenly, one of the Paladins jerked, hit by a .308 bullet. Rarity missed the first time and the shot went below her intended target, ricochetting to the side. Before the Paladin recovered, however, Rarity fired again and this time she was able to hit the small joint which transferred power from the microfusion power pack to the whole armour.

This particular joint was a design oversight by the creators of T-72d power armour. Since it was believed that Mechanized Infantry would take most fire to the front, the power backpack was not armoured as properly as it should have been, and while non-AP ammo were still rather ineffective against the titan-kevlar-carbon polyalloy that comprised the armour, two "joints" (as they were commonly called) that served as power conduit to the whole system were not placed efficiently enough (below some less thick plates), and with luck, one could disrupt the power flow by hitting said "joint". Said disruption rendered the armour into a metal casket, as one joint could not compensate for the loss.

Which is why when Rarity hit one of the "zombie" Paladins, he dropped his minigun as it has become too heavy for him to hold, as well as the armour. The other Paladin received a barrage of lasers into his back, but the armour held and he turned around, raining suppressive fire on Twilight and Sunset from his minigun. However, he did not account for Rarity and Applejack: the latter started peppering him with bullets, and the former managed to land a perfect shot through his visor - from a third attempt, though - and the armoured transparent plastic did not hold against a sniper bullet. The Paladin went down in a heap.

Applejack immediately began raining indiscriminate fire at other "zombie-like" attackers who began raining fire down on them. The distraction provided by girls turned out to be costly, however - the defenders seized their chance and at least half a dozen frag grenades bounced across the battlefield, cutting down seven attackers at once. Applejack managed to kill three and severely wound two with her fire, and Twilight and Sunset were merciless as well - although Twilight felt physically sick each time as she hit another target with a laser beam.

Fifteen attackers were remaining as the enemies tried to charge the girls, apparently deciding that they stood a higher chance of surviving if they could get out of the crossfire (there was no way to retreat to the sides, as the passages were blocked by collapsed rubble), which put them in a predicament. Rarity could snipe the targets relatively easily, and Applejack, Twilight and Sunset were relentless, but when the enemy came too close for comfort, there were eight left. What's worse, all the girls expended their magazines for primary ammunition, which led to an unpleasant situation of close quarters, and the defenders could not fire for fear of hitting them.

Twilight whipped out the "Burning Flash" pistol, Sunset took out her own laser pistol and held a knife in her left hand in a reverse grip, and Applejack took out her N99 sidearm in her left hand while holding a quite vicious-looking large knife in her right hand. A string of "phut-phut-phut-phut" sounds indicated that Rarity brought out the Buffalo SMG. A cacophony of gunfire sounded, as laser beams, 10mm bullets and 9mm bullets raced towards their targets, but in the confusion, only two attackers were killed, and six were remaining, while the girls (except Rarity, who was still covered by tactical cloak) received several bullets to torsos (fortunately, few of them penetrated, and those that did stuck close to the surface). Without hesitation, the enemies split into pairs of two and charged, brandishing various knives.

Applejack fired several times at her attackers, until a click signified a lack of ammunition. Not deterred, she pistol-whipped one of her enemies, sending him flying to the side, and drove a knife into another "zombie"'s left side. Amazingly, he did not even flinch. Applejack took out the knife and drove it again, this time to the throat. Turning to another one, she only saw bullet holes appear as more phuts sounded, and then she saw Rarity with her hand outstretched, Buffalo SMG in it.

"Thanks," the blonde girl said.

"No problem," she replied, and quickly whipped out a balisong, throwing it in a direction somewhere behind Applejack.

Sunset fired her laser pistol several times, hitting one of the attackers to the torso. The female in raider armour went on undeterred, and slashed at the unicorn-turned-human, but Sunset sidestepped her and drove her knife straight to the heart. Not bothering to pull it out, she fired at her other attacker, igniting him and turning him to ash.

"Help!" Twilight shouted, who had the worst luck. Her attackers were milspec armour, and while "Burning Flash" was rather effective in armour penetration, she did not manage to kill them quickly and was forced to run away, firing blindly until the energy battery was empty. None of the attackers died, and once Twilight began wearing out, they caught up to her. Rarity's balisong hit the neck of one of them, making him fall, but another one dropped the lavender-skinned girl to the ground, pinning her and trying to hit her with his knife while Twilight used her hands to stop his hand from lowering down and delivering the fatal blow.

As she fought, she noticed something strangely unnatural... the eyes of her attacker were purely white.

There was no retina, no pupil, no iris - only the whites. The image was very disturbing and disgusting.

Is that why they were called "zombie-like"? Because I am pretty sure this is not natural!

After what seemed like an eternity to her, she saw an alabaster-skinned hand hold a knife to her attacker's throat and slice it. Bright red blood flowed freely, showering Twilight's face and her armour. The last "zombie" fell down, pushed aside by another hand of the same color.

"Urgh," Rarity made a face as she helped her blood-stained friend stand. "Sorry about that, darling. I promise, if we find a source of water, I'll help you clean."

"Thanks, Rarity, but I think I'll manage."

"Nonsense, you need some special detergents to get clean of those stains. I'll look into them once we go inside."

"Hey!" a new voice sounded, and several people in green armour vests came close to the girls. "Thanks for the help. Anyone needs medical attention?"

"We took some shots," Sunset spoke, "doesn't seem serious, but won't hurt to check."

"Let us see. My name is Chip Drop, I am the head of security here. Gonna tell me your names?"

The girls introduced themselves in turn while Brightlight guards helped them with first aid and bandages.

"Nice armour you've got there, that helped you avoid more serious consequences," Chip Drop commented. "Anyway, I promised you a reward, each of you, so we now need to clear that with Round Risk, the local mayor."

"Sounds good to me," Sunset said to the contentment of the other girls.

"OK then. And, while this is not how we tend to invite our guests, still... welcome to Brightlight."





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle):

To Punish the Enslavers: You no longer gain negative Karma penalties from "Make Friends, Not War!" Trait when killing slave traders and slave owners - and anyone else who deals in the deplorable business of trading humans for caps.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer):

Hey, Not Fair! (requires Level 15 and Perception 6): If your enemy has twice as many people as you and your companions (at least), you gain +10% weapon damage bonus and +15 Damage Threshold bonus. Level the odds!
> Chapter 27: Trot through the ruins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 27

Trot through the ruins


"Why are there Brotherhood Paladins and decent-looking militiamen mixed with some gang-banging raiders and mercs and other disreputable-looking types?" Sunset asked, puzzled, while searching the dead bodies for usable loot. "And why are their eyes fully white, without pupils and other stuff?"

"Beats me, lass," Chip Drop said while rummaging around for loot as well. "I am just as baffled as you are. I can believe Brotherhood and some types uniting to destroy Brightlight for some reason, but they would never consort with raiders, and vice versa. Even if they all started really hating Brightlight at the same time. This makes no sense. And the white eyes are another fucking mystery."

"Has this been the only attack of this kind?"

"On Brightlight, yes. However, Horseshoe Highway got pretty banged up, we actually have refugees from there."

"Really?" Twilight spoke up.

"Yes, and they all said the same thing, white eyes and all. We thought they were joking, the mayor almost chased them out of the city. But now, it seems, they were not joking. Which is a fucking conundrum. Hey, lass, mind not looting our guards?" Chip Drop addressed Sunset as she moved on to the next body, which was of a dead Brightlight guard. "We don't take kindly to that, and we kinda need the stuff that remains from them. Anyone else is free game, but don't touch our folk."

"Alright, sorry, man," the fiery-haired girl apologized, and moved along to another body - of a raider this time.

"Why did Mayor want to chase the refugees out?" Twilight asked while hiding the holotags of dead brotherhood Paladins.

"Well, lass, Brightlight is not fucking charity. Harsh, I know, but we don't have infinite resources. The influx could easily sap us of all we have, sometimes it's not simple to keep the settlement afloat. Heard of how Daring Duo and Appletowners, along with CWN militia and Brotherhood of Steel wiped out the White Knives? Well, some folks aren't happy with that."

"How come?"

"Well, I don't give a fuck about these bastards; if you ask me, they were asking for it for a long damn time. But they were, like, one of the main cash-spenders here in Brightlight. Whenever they got lucky and got themselves some caps, they would come here and spend it in casino or on alcohol and hookers."

"Hookers?" Twilight gasped.

"Yep, Round Risk thought it would be profitable to have some call-girls here, and boy, was he right. We had strippers before, but that "innovation" boosted the profits like a goldmine."

"So Brightlight is in not in best shape, economically speaking?"

"We suffered a major drop after that event, yeah. But honestly? I am not really sad. These guys were acting like masters here, me and other guards had to regularly throw them out of here when they couldn't pay their fines. Gits. And I'm certain that if Curve Blade could, he would try and take Brightlight for himself."

"Yeeeesh," Applejack spoke up, "glad that didn't happen."

"Me too. Say, how did you get that power armour? Only Brotherhood has it, as far as I know, and they hunt the deserters like NSC did traitors."

"Ask me no questions, partner, an' Ah'll tell ya no lies."

"Classified, I got it. Anyway, ladies, you got all the loot you wanted?"

"Wait a bit," the farmer detached the power packs from dead Paladins, "might come in handy. And... gimme a moment," she grabbed the frontal piece of the power armour and after some fiddling, pulled it off. "Ah-ha! Rarity, mind helping me with mah frontal piece?"

"Of course not."

Rarity spent three minutes detaching the damaged frontal torso piece from Applejack's suit. Finally, she gave a mighty tug, and the piece came off, exposing the internal exoskeleton. Applejack picked up the relatively undamaged piece and set it against her chest, pushing it.

"OK, now help me fasten it," she said. In two minutes, the piece was firmly secured in place, and she turned to Chip Drop:

"Now we're ready."

"Good. Come on, we need to see Round Risk."





As the girls entered the town, they immediately noticed some tents erected haphazardly here and there.

"Refugees," Chip Drop explain. "The locals live in flats that have not collapsed yet and are not irradiated as shit, of which there is very little, so there hasn't been much place for that many people in the beginning. But the refugees have been arriving more and more, which forces them to live on the street. I don't envy them."

"You mentioned the mayor wanted to get rid of them?" Sunset asked.

"Yep, he did, but the refugees do not simply hang around here, thankfully, or most of them don't at least. They do odd jobs around here, some of which people hate doing, and people who are fit and know how to tell one end of gun from another volunteer as guards. That actually boosted our defensive capabilities somewhat."

"Is everyone from Horseshoe Highway gone?"

"No. They actually had bigger numbers than everyone believed - apparently, they have some people living in underground basements which are connected by makeshift tunnels. The majority of those who escaped are women, children, people who can't really fight or those who were tasked with protecting them. The road from Horseshoe to Brightlight is dangerous, you know."

"Yeah, I heard."

"The last batch of refugees said that around half of the people remained there when they ran, determined to fight these pseudo-zombies, but these fuckers are relentless. And it's not advised to go into the western area either."

"What for?"

"There're rumours about mind-hacking technology of sorts. Sounds kinda stupid; personally, I think it's some virus or something."

"Virus?" Twilight butted in.

"Yes, there was a corp here, Stable Hearts Limited, that specialized in microbiology. Rumours were that they dealt in pathogens, so I would not be surprised if someone was careless and broke a vial with something infectious."

"Hmm. Is there a way to defend oneself from viruses?"

"You can buy some in local shops if you want. We actually have some military-class masks designed to withstand chemicals, radioactive dust and virii."

"The correct word is "viruses", Chip."

"What-fucking-ever, I am not a damn linguist."

How eloquent, Twilight thought sardonically.

"We're here," Chip Drop declared as they arrived at a more well-preserved building with two guards standing outside. As they entered, they rose up the stairs to the second floor and went through the door in the end of the corridor.

Round Risk was a man in his early fourties. He was dressed in a striped business suit and trousers and wore a tie. The suit and the trousers used to be white, but the time appeared to be merciless to it, as the colour looked pretty dull. The black vertical lines were also dull and some even slightly grayish. This partially made the mayor look not as imposing, and he apparently understood that (as the girls judged by his sour face), but he stubbornly refused to deviate from some sort of pre-apocalypse social norm that demanded from VIPs to look as presentable as possible.

"Welcome, ladies," he said briskly, and made a hand gesture to the chairs situated in front of his desk. "Sit down, if you will."

"Ah'll stand if ya don't mind," Applejack said. "Mah armour is kinda heavy, ya know."

"Your choice, Miss."

Other girls decided not to ignore the invitation and sat down.

"I see that you have answered my call for help. On behalf of Brightlight, I thank you. As I promised, each of you is entitled to a reward of one thousand caps. Here," he pulled out four bags with caps, "this is for you. And don't be surprised - local prices are quite high, you're likely to run out of caps in a month or so if you are not careful. Not as soon if you don't play at "True Trot" casino. Now, should I brief you on the local laws?"

The girls nodded.

"Very well. First and foremost, you are allowed to carry weapons around, but you must keep them holstered. You can unholster them only if you see that someone attacks you. There is also an "appropriate response" rule. Basically, it means that if someone attacks you with a knife, you shouldn't waste them with a rocket launcher. Take out a knife, a pistol, or an SMG. Or assault rifle at worst. But LMGs and grenades will be considered overkill and the owner might get fined. This is more to avoid casualties among bystanders, so most of the time everything goes in defense as long as you do not put others at risk. If you do, the victim or someone who is close to the victim in case the victim perishes can accuse you of being tardy with guns and seek to fine you, exile you or kill you. If they choose to fine, you must pay the sum the victim or their rep states or be exiled. Exile means you are banned from entering Brightlight, either for some time or forever, and if you try to enter while exile is in effect, you might be killed by guards. If someone decides they want to kill you, you may want to settle this via a one-on-one duel - we have a special arena for that - or refuse a duel. In the latter case, the victim or their rep may still try to kill you, and if they succeed, they will not be arrested or shot by guards. Do you get it so far?"

"Yes," Sunset spoke, while Twilight sat eyes-wide at harshness of the laws, Applejack frowned, and Rarity sat with an impassive expression.

"Attacking someone without provocation with anything from your bare hands to Fat Man, robbery, theft, and killing without my official permission is strictly forbidden. The guards may deal with violators as they see fit, including deadly force. You are also expected to obey the guards without hesitation. Disobedience is punished at guards' discretion. When you enter the casino or shops, you must obey all rules they set, otherwise they may ban you from their premises as they wish. You can dispute the ban, if you so wish. You also can defend yourself if a charge is brought against you. That's the gist. Got it?"

"Yes," everyone chorused.

"Excellent. Grab one of these papers each," he pointed to a small stack, "these show more detailed rules as well as what counts here as crimes, punishments for them and local legal procedures. There is also a local map."

The girls did as asked to.

"I would like to discuss one more thing with you tomorrow when you are well-rested."

"Not today?" Sunset asked. "We can listen now."

"This is a serious matter, and, frankly, I am rather tired, so not today, no."

"OK then. Thank you. Shall we take our leave?"

"Yes, off you go."

As everyone exited the mayor's office, Chip Drop said:

"You can get a room in any of the hotels you desire. You might have to bunk together, as rooms are hard enough to come by here. I need to return to the post, so if you'll excuse me."

"Of course," Twilight replied, "and thanks."

"You're welcome," with these words, the guard left.

"Well," the alicorn-turned-human said, "let's find ourselves a motel. I'm tired of carrying this extra loot as well."





Half an our later, the girls managed to find themselves a "motel" that still had a free room for four persons, and each of them paid fifty caps for the room (which Sunset found outrageous, but the owner refused to lower the price and even railed against bringing Spike inside; to which Twilight threatened to spread bad word about his motel). As the girls dumped the load and settled themselves on cots (the room had no beds) they agreed on a schedule of guarding. Applejack and Sunset got the first watch, and Twilight and Rarity went to sleep. Both girls were rather tired, so they were able to dream undisturbed by nightmares, until five hours passed and they were shaken up by others and stood guard.

The sun was about to rise, and both girls could clearly see the street below - more or less. They watched the street below and checked the corridor on occasion. Fortunately, no one has attempted to disturb them, and the street below was quiet, with a rare exception of refugees doing something actively down below. Rarity also looked down her optical sight, whih remained mounted on her sniper rifle.

"Some binoculars or maybe a magnifying monocle would not hurt," she spoke. "Too bad it is problematic to find those here."

As three hours have passed, the alabaster-skinned girl asked Twilight:

"Darling, may I be so bold as to ask you some questions?"

"No problem, I am bored out of my head anyway," the equine Princess leaned away from the holographic sight on her AP-79 and looked at her friend.

"Pardon me if I am being insensitive, but I have wanted to ask you for some time... how are you adapting to what this world has become? Is it different from Equestria? No, wait, that's a stupid question. I mean, how different it is from Equestria?"

Twilight cast her eyes down, withdrawing deep into her own thoughts for some time and keeping silence. Her facial expression changed from neutral to strained, and the former fashionista worried she crossed a red line she should not have. Suddenly, Twilight sighed, looked out of the window, and spoke while not meeting Rarity's eyes:

"To answer your last question, Rarity? It is quite different from Equestria. Radically different, I would say," she waved her hand in the direction of the street. "Equestria does not possess the kind of technology you have here, this I have learnt long ago. But the people? Hoo boy, it is as if Tartarus itself opened here and either corrupted many people or simply spawned many monsters in human bodies, because I have never seen such uncovered and wanton cruelty, selfishness and downright debasement everywhere. It's not like we don't have crimes or wars in Equestria, but if you were to pick a random pony, most likely that pony would be a good person or a here-and-there, not what one would call good but neither would call evil. And here? I am starting to think that whenever I talk to a human, I must shake my hand and hold a pistol behind my back at the same time."

"Well, darling, the idea regarding a pistol does not actually sound ridiculous in these times... but I agree, this is rather frustrating."

"I don't understand, Rarity," Twilight locked her eyes with Rarity's, violet meeting blue. "How come there are so many evil humans in this world, without any morals whatsoever? Where did these raiders and slavers come from? Were they always such despicable, or something forced them to it? I can't help but think that humans embrace evil too easily..."

The ex-fashionista bristled slightly at this remark, but stifled the small feeling of indignation that rose up within her.

"And the terms of good and evil themselves are... are... messed up," Twilight continued. "In Equestria, we put a high value on a sapient life. Even more war-like species like griffons or minotaurs shun trigger-happy violent thugs and dispose of them as quickly as they can. Killing someone is always taught to be a last resort, even in self-defense, although it is not as heavily restricted if there is a war. Even if there is a war, we always try to come to peace and a compromise. Here? I do not see a life having any value at all. Life here is the cheapest thing, because it is worth nothing," she spat in disgust. "And that is if I do not think of slavers. I don't think there has been an instance of slavery in Equestria for... what, half a millenium or something? I'll have to ask Sunset. And everyone kills here... well, not everyone maybe, but those who want to live longer will definitrly kill at some point. We consider ourselves good, but we kill and kill and kill... because the alternative is death or worse, and there is no other option. I... I hate that, Rarity. What's worse..."

The lavender-skinned girl sighed, and continued:

"You ask me how I am adapting? Oh, I am adapting all too well. I am no trained soldier, but I have already learned how to operate and maintain all these weapons I have on me, how to wear armour, how to fight and how to give first aid to myself and others if necessary. I do not think I can fight as well as Equestrian Royal Guard, since their tactics are vastly different and they are based on magic, but give me some of these guns and my magic back and I might be able to bring a good number of them down with me. My hands... or hooves, if you will... are stained with blood. I have already killed more people than any Royal Guardpony can kill during their service. I... I have changed, Rarity. And I don't think it was for the better. I have killed trying to defend other, I know that, but that does not make me feel better, and does not stop me from fearing what will my pony friends think once I return... if I return."

"No ifs, darling," Rarity said sternly. "We will get you back there. What kind of friends we would be if we didn't try to help? As for your feelings, Twilight... I understand where you're coming from, but, if I am to be honest... I cannot judge you at all, and if I did, I would be a hypocrite."

"What do you mean?"

"You do remember my... vendetta?"

"Yes."

"Well, when Applejack shouted at me for killing decent people, she was not fully wrong. I did kill people whose only so-called crime was to be a former employee of Vault-Tec. I looked at them and only saw what I wanted to see: persons blindly serving the evil mega-corporation who used me in their nefarious scheme known as Societal Preservation Program, white-collars without conscience. I refused to consider that they were not aware of this, that they were deceived as I was... I looked at them, and all I saw was the face of Sweetie Belle, all I heard when they plead for their lives was..." suddenly, the ex-fashionista stopped, and shook her head, "I am sorry, Twilight, I am not comfortable remembering that particular moment. Bottom line, I cannot claim to have a moral high ground to judge you for anything you have done when I myself am stained by blood, or when I experienced pure schadenfreude killing someone who deserved to die."

"Care to share an example?"

"Revolving Axe, a Colonel of National Security Commissariat. He was an officer who vetted candidates for a place in a Vault. They did not want un-loyal citizens in these bunkers, or so they claimed, at least. However, when it came to Societal Preservation Project, there were cases when the standard procedure went out of the window. You mentioned Vault 49 which was filled to brim with criminals? Normally, the Commissariat would not even approve of that, but most likely someone decided to wave this off. As for Vault 85, the poor people of which were used for FEV experiments, Revolving Axe chose people whose political reliability was rather low - by NSC standards, at least."

"How come Sweetie Belle got herself on that list?"

"She criticized Commissariat on MyStable. She wasn't unpatriotic, and it took me a lot of time and nerves to prevent her from signing up for the army after the Manehatten Massacre - she wanted to do that because she was furious over the death of Babs Seed, with whom she, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were friends - but when NSC began cracking down a little too heavily, she left rather scathing remarks on whenever they messed up and the government was not willing to reign them in."

"Why would she want to sign up for the army? They didn't accept child soldiers, right?"

"Right, and the law clearly states that children are legally allowed to volunteer only when they turn eighteen, even if the country is in a state of war. But she was only fifteen, she could not serve, and I told her as such. We argued a lot, but some time later, a terrorist attack in Stalliongrad took the lives of our parents, and she was devastated, so she stayed with me."

"So she was deemed politically unreliable?"

"Revolver Axe's files showed that very thing, yes. But, you see, her criticism was only of Commissariat. His files on Vault 85 show that there were other people who were even more politically unreliable than Sweetie. They either criticized the whole government, or shown anti-war sentiments, or even were caught sympathizing with TODC. Compared to them, Sweetie was small fish. And while it was Ding Dong who invalidated her papers officially, he only did that with Revolver Axe's blessing, as I had learned from his personal diary. He wanted to get bigger fish, so instead of having Forced Evolutionary Virus injected into her, he sentenced her to die from overexposure to radiation. And he thought nothing of suffering of the people who disagreed with the higher-ups. I was all for punishing traitors, but that took things too far."

"How did you kill him?"

"He was hiding in Baltimare, in the part of the city that was not as irradiated as the rest of it. His hideout did not allow me to snipe him from afar, and he did not need to go out for resupplying, so I was forced to infiltrate and take him on in close quarters. He did not expect anyone to have a Stealth-Boy, though, so I shot him with my pistol in seconds. And I felt revitalized when I did it. But that's not the end. Want to know the ironic part?"

"What's the irony?"

"Revolver Axe was the one who captured TODC agents responsible for Manehatten Massacre. He was lauded as a hero on the news. Heck, Sweetie Belle actually got a letter of condolences from him when she mentioned on social media that Babs Seed died. She seemed really pleased about that, and even called him the best Commissar she knew. Pardon my unladylike language, but the irony is a fucking bitch."

"I don't know whether to scold you or to agree with you. I mean, a hero whom your sister liked went bad, sentenced her to death and who was killed by you? That's messed up in the extreme."

"The whole world is messed up, darling. I am messed up. We are messed up."

Twilight felt as if something punched through her solar plexus and went through, exiting from her back. Rarity's statement, bitter and dejected, resonated within her on a level she did not anticipate.

She is right. We're messed up. I am messed up...

"Let us continue our overwatch, darling, so that no one gets the jump on us," the indigo-haired girl leaned against her sniper rifle again, prompting Twilight to gaze into the awaking Brightlight.





When Applejack and Sunset woke up, both Twilight and Rarity were on the verge of exhaustion, so while the latter two were allowed to catch some extra sleep, Sunset and Applejack went outside with the extra loot they planned to sell.

There were several shops in Brightlight, each of them specialized in selling something particular: there was a shop that sold weapons and ammo, a shop with drugs and medicines, a shop that had clothes of all things, and a shop that traded armour. Street vendors majorly sold food and water or some junk, and some offered repairs to weapons, armour and clothes.

Sunset and Applejack came inside the weapons shop and proceeded to barter with the owner on the price of weapons they planned to sell. As they expected, the owner tried to lower the price as much as possible, which was naturally met with resistance. In the end, the assault rifles and pistols left behind by slavers and "zombies" yielded them 1751 caps, although Sunset still angrily muttered later that they should have gotten at least two thousand caps. In return, Sunset bought some energy batteries and microfusion cells for 920 caps in total, and Applejack bought several 7.62mm ammunition boxes for 400 caps, leaving 431 caps of profit. Both girls wanted to see if they could buy some weapons, but of the models that were for sale they either already had the same or the price for what they put an eye on was (in their opinion) outrageous. Sunset gagged when she saw that in this shop, AR-22 assault rifle (the one that Shock Gauntlet had) cost 2970 caps and Applejack muttered quietly, "Did he spit his bit or something?" and they left the shop.

In the armour store, they sold off bits and pieces of the armour salvaged from dead bodies for 1212 caps. Sunset had her eye on a set of used urban assault armour in good condition, but it had a tag of 3000 caps on it and she decided against it. After a revision of medicines they had, they decided not to visit the local drug store and returned back to see Twilight and Rarity fresh as a daisy. Splitting the profits, each girl got 410 caps, and Sunset (with everyone's agreement) claimed the extra three.

Soon, they approached the entrance to the buiding where Round Risk resided. The guards let them in almost immediately, and they were sitting in front of the mayor again.

"You have already seen the "zombie" attack of yesterday, so I will not bother you with description. They are aggressive and they have white eyes without irises and whatever else one has in an eye, and they consist of people that under normal circumstances would never work together. The refugees from Horseshoe Highway told us that they came from south-western or western area of the city, since relative to their position, the attack came from north-west."

The girls looked at each other, their expressions grim.

"We don't know what may be the reason for this happening," Round Risk continued. "The refugees don't either, and there are various theories. Some people think that there is some sort of secret Commissariat brainwashing technology. Some think it's some toxin or a rage-inducing substance. Some think it's aliens, believe me or not. Lunacy. I suspect that there is some sort of a bio-weapon loose in that part, since Stable Hearts Limited, as far as I know, dealt with pathogens for some governmental project. We can't be certain. One merchant, Cap Collector, has dug up a small collection of military-class gas masks, which he wants to deliver to Horseshoe Highway. He is currently looking for guards, since he will go through area full of super mutants and two-bit raider gangs. If you agree to investigate this mystery and tell me what is the reason, I will offer you a sum big enough to cover the costs for four gas masks. Sorry, but I don't think he has gas masks for dogs," he spoke, looking at Spike.

"Spike'll be fine," Twilight said.

"I hope so. Do you agree? If you uncover what it is, I will grant you a right to a discount at local shops. I believe you will not be against it."

"You're telling me," Sunset grumbled.

"I also will offer a cash reward of one thousand and five hundred caps for each of you."

"OK, now why do Ah think ya don't expect us to return?" Applejack spoke up, frowning.

"I don't deny that the chances of success are low. But I have asked around and found out something interesting," looking at Twilight and Sunset, he said, "never thought I would see the Daring Duo here."

Immediately, all girls tensed, and took on a defensive stance.

"Since you managed to prevail against White Knives and Crimson Hands, I think you stand a higher chance of returning, given your ability to defy the odds."

"Uh-huh," Applejack continued, unconvinced. "An' you're not pissed at them for sending Curve Blade to Tartarus, where he belonged? Ah'll eat mah hat if that's true."

"His death did deprive Brightlight of a good part of the profit, and these zombies showed up at the worst opportune time. If you four manage to give me information on what the heck these zombies are, good. And if you somehow nip this problem, six thousand caps is not that much of a loss compared to other variants."

"Hmpf."

"I believe we can look into it," Twilight spoke. "Can we get the caps now?"

"Yes. Here," Round Risk took out a sack, "four hundred caps. This should suffice."

"Thank you," the lavender-skinned girl took the sack and quickly recounted the caps. Convinced that everything was in place, she said:

"We'll be on our way. Good luck in defending Brightlight."

"Thank you. Good luck to you as well - stars know you're gonna need it in spades."





As the girls exited the mayor's office, they did some quick asking around where they could find Cap Collector, and were told to go to a specific "district" in the southern area of Brightlight where merchants tended to hang out before leaving the safety of the settlement. Also, this apparently was the place where caravan guards offered their services. Fortunately for them, there were not that many merchants around this particular time, as few dared to try and leave in southern direction now.

When the quintet met Cap Collector, he laughed heartily and shook their hands (Spike excluded; instead, the dragon-turned-dog received a small piece of fried meat, which he ate prompltly).

"Well aren't the Wastelands a tight place," he exclaimed. "What brings you two to Brightlight?" he addressed Twilight and Sunset, "and who are your companions?"

"We have some business here in Trottingham," Twilight replied, "and these two are our friends; we reunited by chance."

"Well aren't you lucky gals; many people wish they could say the same about their friends," his face fell a little, but he quickly changed his expression to a more bright one, "and I'll be damned, one of you even has power armour! Wish I could have one of the guards like that."

"Actually, since you mentioned guards - you said you want to go to Horseshoe Highway?" Sunset interrupted.

"Yeah," the merchant scowled, "and I can't find anyone to help me guard my caravan. As soon as I mention Horseshoe Highway, these chickenshits refuse to even discuss payment with me or charge an indecent price."

"Well, I have heard on the grapevine that you sell gas masks of military class. Let's make a deal: give us each a mask plus some caps minus the cost of said masks, and we will guard your caravan until you arrive at Horseshoe Highway."

"How about six hundred to each of you?"

"Er..." Sunset looked as if she wanted to negotiate a better price, but then spoke: "Eh, what the Tartarus, six hundread to each of us... Spike included," she smirked.

"What?!"

"He is a vital forward scouting element and without him we can't react to threats accordingly," Sunset continued with a deadly serious face. "It's only fair he is compensated as well."

"OK, lady, now you're just shitting me," Cap Colelctor crossed his hands and frowned.

"Alright, chill out, I was just messing with you," the fiery-haired girl laughed. "Six hundred to all of us and some free bits of meat to Spike, is that good?

"Hmpf. OK then, you have a deal. When will you be ready to move out?"

"Girls?" Sunset asked. "Anyone feels they need some last-minute shopping or repairs?"

A chorus of negative answers followed.

"Then we can move immediately," the fiery-haired girl told the merchant.

"Then let me do some quick pack-up and we move out."





As the gates of Brightlight closed behind them, Cap Collector addressed the girls:

"OK, everyone. I would like for my brahmins to remain alive, so I hope you do everything you can to get them and myself alive through this."

"We will," Twilight said. "We need to think on tactics, though. Clustering together is counter-productive and too high of a risk."

"Good thought, there is a chance someone might have a rocket launcher. It would be nice if someone were to scout ahead and the others remained close, just in case."

"Rarity is a sniper, and I have Spike, so I think both of us can scout relatively well. Applejack has power armour and she can take more punishment, though, which is no less important, I think. I don't know about Sunset."

"My scope works well from both positions, but I would like to avoid using too much of my Stealth-Boy if possible, and me sticking out will require much of its energy," Rarity replied.

"Why?" Applejack inquired. "You can't go without it?"

"Need I remind you that my armour isn't exactly built for frontline combat? I am not suggesting that you need to be thrown out into the fire line, far from it, but I am far less covered."

"She has a point," Cap Collector pointed out. "I think that if she remained close to me, she could look down the scope from the brahmin in all directions."

"That would make her too much of an attractive target," Sunset disagreed. "Better to have feet on the ground."

"Darn, didn't think of that."

"Then who goes forward? I go with Spike, anyone else goes with me?" Twilight continued. "If honestly, I thought Applejack would do good in defense."

"Ah ain't lettin' ya go out without support after your recent wounds, sugarcube," Applejack cocked her LMG and stepped forward. "Ah'm with ya."

"Me and Rarity stay in the back, then," Sunset declared. Twilight let Spike out of her rucksack, and the small dog ran forward, Twilight and Applejack running behind him, Sunset, Rarity and Cap Collector keeping distance.

The distance they needed to cover was not small by any means. There were forty kilometers between Brightlight and Horseshoe Highway, and they actually chose the shortest possible route without getting dangerously close to the ground zero. Cap Collector motivated the decision by the urgency, but this carried an additional risk of feral ghoul attacks or getting caught in a radioactive wind. As such, everyone agreed to try and cross the distance as soon as possible.

Spike was in the head, sniffing around for threats and barking if something caught his attention. When it happened, everyone brought their guns up, scanning around for potential threats. Most of the time, though, it was land mines.

"People drop them around sometimes, hoping that feral ghouls or super mutants get caught," Cap Collector spoke. "Honestly, I think it brings more harm than good."

Since none of them had the knowledge necessary to risk disarming the mines, this led to them having to take slight detours off course. This resulted in them losing time, which was deeply frustrating for everyone.

Several times, when Spike barked, they had to meet feral ghouls. Since everyone (except Rarity) had automatic weapons, they noticed the threat from afar and the groups of ghouls did not generally exceed 10-15 of them, they were quickly dealt with.

One time, however, they encountered super mutants. This forced Cap Collector to remain behind and struggle to control his two brahmins as the girls engaged the hulking green monstrosities. The combined-arms approach worked better than they expected: Applejack sprayed the area with suppressing fire or focused on pumping the enemies full of heavy bullets, Rarity worked with deadly precision, and Twilight and Sunset did their best to cripple the monsters or split their heads with bulletstorm, depending on the situation. Despite the resistance put by greenskins, they died pretty quickly.

As they approached Horseshoe Highway, several armed people ran up to the group and pointed their weapons at everyone.

"HALT!" a male voice cried, and everyone stopped.

"What the hay, man?!" Sunset screamed. "We're here to trade!"

"Shit, sorry, everyone!" the same voice shouted. "The zombies are sieging us again, we're a little tense here! Mind giving us a hand?"

"Just let the caravan in and we're coming!" the fiery-haired girl responded.

"Come on, then!" the armed men led everyone to the wooden fence surrounding Horseshoe Highway. There was a massive wooden gate which had two towers; as soon as the people standing there saw the incoming group, they shouted something, and the big doors slowly opened.

"Quick, man," the militiaman shouted, "I don't want them zombies coming here through the back gate. Oh fuck, called it!" he suddenly shouted, turning to the left, and sure enough, a ragtag group of people with familiar white eyes was charging them.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat! Applejack's LMG spat out 7.62mm bullets in a steady heavy staccato, halting the zombies in their tracks or dropping them. The militiamen of Horseshoe Highway joined in, getting rid of the stragglers.

"We're inside!" one of them shouted as the caravan crossed the gate. "Close it!"

The people began pushing it, Applejack and Sunset joining them, while Twilight, Sunset and Cap Collector began shooting in the narrowing hole, trying to keep the zombies away. In what felt like eternity, the Highwayers closed the gate and slid heavy bars into rings.

"OK, partner," Applejack spoke, dropping the empty box of her LMG and inserting the new one, "where's the gate we need to help y'all defend?"

"It's on the western side, come on, after me!" the militiaman responded, running in the aforementioned direction, Twilight after him, Rarity being next, then Sunset, and finally Applejack, as the latter one fed the belt into the feeder and closed the cover.

They passed small streets with broken asphalt, makeshift wooden houses or the remnants of pre-apocalyptic houses, and as they came closer, they heard shots and screams come closer and closer. A couple of minutes later, they came to a grisly sight.

The western side had extra walls and catwalks added to it with piles of sandbags thrown in, and like with the entrance they had just seen, there were two makeshift towers for snipers. However, zombies have managed to climb onto the defensive walls, and the defenders were engaged in a desperate fight for their lives.

Twilight barely suppressed a gasp as she saw one of the defenders fall down with a slashed throat, as the zombie brandishing a bloodied combat knife charged another defender, a young female in glasses. However, she managed to dodge his slashing attack and shot him point-blank with her revolver, then pistol-whipped him down off the wall. Unfazed, she took out the knife from behind her back and proceeded to stab one of another zombies in the back of the neck. The lavender-skinned girl shook herself out of stupor and raised her AP-79, aligning the holographic sight with another zombie that tried to attack the bespectacled female. Rarity dropped herself onto one knee and began sniping, taking zombies out with impeccably precise shots, and the chorus of other guns joined the fray.

Sooner than they thought, the attack winded down as the last zombie fell and landed onto her neck, which was bent at such an unnatural angle that it was pointless to doubt the fatality of such landing. As the Highwayers rushed in to help the wounded, the abovementioned bespectacled woman approached Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity; as she came closer, everyone took note of her blood-stained short pigtails. Angrily wiping off the droplets of blood of her glasses, the woman spoke:

"And here I thought I was hallucinating. You're just like the cavalry in every bad action movie, you know that? Arriving just in nick of time and such; if there were no fatalities among us, I would be actually laughing right now."

"I see your manners haven't changed at all," Sunset remarked.

"I saw no reason to change them. Still, happy to see some familiar faces. Let's head somewhere inside and talk. Maybe you'll be able to help me out of this clusterfuck."

"Lead the way, Sugarcoat."
> Chapter 28: Resurfacing of forgotten past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 28

Resurfacing of forgotten past


"Give me a second first," Sugarcoat replied and turned to Cap Collector. "Did you bring the goods we requested?"

"Yes," Cap Collector said.

"Bring them to that shed," the bespectacled girl waved her at the building in question, "I'll wait for you there with the promised payment. Girls," she told the others, "after me."

The shed was not big and it had no roof except for some wooden fragments that hung loosely on the armatures. A transparent plastic film covered the whole shed as a makeshift defense against bad weather. There was various junk heaped in the corner, starting from metal scrap to electronic boards. Near the wall, there were some weapons stocked in a neat column, and small crates of ammo were also there. On bigger crates, there were disassembled pistols and assault rifles. A crate with medicines was standing next to them.

"Let's talk here," Sugarcoat said. Everyone plopped down on the floor, which was covered by straw. Rarity noted with displeasure that the "floor" was quite dirty.

"How long have you been here for, Sugarcoat?" Sunset asked.

"Not long. I have been here for, like, two or three months. Thought I could settle down and have as good a life as possible in this shithole that remained of UFE. The locals accepted me here, I bunked down with a nice family, all was well, and then these white-eyed freaks from a crappy horror movie arrived. Now I have the house all to myself, because that family I bunked with? They're all dead," the former Shadowbolt's facial expression remained impassive aside from a frown for the whole time she talked, making others feel uncomfortable. "Half of the locals tugged their proverbial tails between their non-proverbial legs and bailed to Brightlight, and the remaining half has been reduced to one-third of total Horseshoe Highway's population before this clusterfuck began."

"You seem to curse a lot more now," Rarity said, frowning in disapproval at Sugarcoat's crass language.

"Should I give a damn? Since the world is Tartarus unleashed now, me swearing should be the least of your worries," the pig-tailed girl fired back in her trademark blunt manner.

"Let's focus on the situation now," Twilight said as the brahmin they had guarded were chased inside by Cap Collector.

"The situation is bad and it will become worse until we all die, if it goes on like this," Sugarcoat replied. "Do you have a plan on how to stop this madness?"

"We wanted to investigate the cause of this mess. There are various rumours flying around, from viruses to Commissariat mind control to aliens."

"Uuuuuurrgh! The people have nothing better to do about this than to create rumours?!" A slap sounded as the former Crystal Prepper nearly knocked her glasses askew while facepalming. "Stupid cowards should have done better than that if they really want to know, by coming and looking instead of gum-flapping, but no, let's hide behind the walls and chit-chat while others fight and die. Fucking cowards and egotists. Humanity has truly gone to shit."

"Here's the cargo," Cap Collector said, lowering down bags with military-grade gas masks, ammo boxes and guns. Sugarcoat went further into the shed and pulled out the sack filled to brim with something - caps, Twilight presumed, considering the jingle that came from it.

"Here're the caps," Sugarcoat said. "You gonna recount while I check what you brought us? And don't try to fucking cheat us out or I will shoot your balls off and feed them to you."

"Sweet stars almighty, lass, chill out."

"I'll chill out when I die and my blood circulation stops completely, making me cold as ice."

Several minutes were spent in silence as both sides checked and re-checked everything until declaring that everything was alright.

"You gonna bail?" Sugarcoat asked the merchant.

"Not likely," he shook his head. "I won't risk running around here alone, and these lasses were literally the only ones who agreed to get me here for what I could offer. Unless they agree to get me back, I won't risk my buttocks."

"We have business around here," Sunset said. "You'll have to wait or seek for someone else."

"Well, there's your answer. I'll stay here in Horseshoe then. I'll give everyone here a discount. That reminds me - girls, here are your caps," Cap Collector gave the promised money to the quartet, which was recounted and eagerly accepted.

"Thanks."

"Thank you. I wouldn't have meade it here alone. I'll go and set myself up for trade. Can I talk to your leader?" he asked Sugarcoat.

"We don't have a leader. Feel free to set yourself on any street you want. Just don't start any trouble or others will leave you as a bullet-ridden corpse," the girl replied disinterestedly.

"Duly noted," with these words, the merchant left. Sugarcoat sighed and plopped herself down again.

"At least somebody bothered to bring some supplies. And he also brought us gas masks. Kinda stupid, because if this is a WMD of sorts, one will need a full hazmat suit, but we'll have to take what we can. One can never be too careful."

"WMD?" Twilight asked, not familiar with the acronym.

"Weapon of mass destruction, a denominator for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. I presume I do not need to tell you why they are called that?"

"I can make an educated guess, seeing what nuclear weapons have done to this world."

"So," Sugarcoat set her glasses straight, "what are you planning to do now?"

"Well," Sunset took over, "Round Risk, the mayor of Brightlight, is curious as to what is causing this mess, and sorta hired us to investigate. We had other reasons for going into this direction, and decided that spare caps won't hurt."

"So you're going to have a look into this mess?"

"Uh-huh."

"May I join you?"

"Eh?" Sunset almost sputtered.

"Your ear drums got ruptured from gunfire or something?"

"My ear drums are fine, thanks. I just didn't expect your offer."

"Well, I am sick and tired from this mess - these zombie attacks, people running away, this feeling of impending doom and the locals' inability to stick out of the settlement to at least try and nip this whole thig in a bud. I have been telling them that the attacks won't stop; since they have been going on for some time, it's obvious that this thing has been affecting people en masse. I told them that we needed to investigate the cause, but no one wants to risk sticking their asses out of here. The fact that zombies have already got through our defenses twice apparently didn't make them realize that sitting here like ducks is going to get us killed. So if you want to get to the bottom of things, I'm game."

"Well I wouldn't say no to a familiar face, that's for sure. How well can you shoot and what equipment do you have?"

"Moderately well, or as well as you, I expect. I have an R91, a .44 magnum revolver, a knife and a couple of frag grenades, and I also have a riot police armour vest. Plus I have five hundred or so caps to spare."

"Nice, but we may need to look for some extra armour for you, since that leaves your limbs and head uncovered."

"I may not have the caps necessary to outfit myself like that."

"Nonsense, dear," Rarity said, "I believe I can help you with that predicament."

"You would throw that many caps on me?"

"I refuse to let our friend wander around in dangerous area ill-prepared."

"Now I see you are indeed Rarity," the pig-tailed girl gave a small smile. "While I cannot say that we have been that close after the Friendship Games - I think you were closer to Sunny Flare than me - I am very thankful for that."

"We'll cash in as well," Twilight offered.

"Thanks again. When are you planning to move out?"

"I think the following day will do, at the noon or one hour after that."

"Sounds good to me. The sooner we get out of this clusterfuck, the better. Now who will accompany me to that merchant?"





Cap Collector, as they have found, was not located that far from the shed. The experienced merchant found himself a place where he could potentially gain a lot of customers, and already sold some of the goods he offered.

In the end, Sugarcoat got outfitted with a full set of riot police armour, including a helmet and armour plates for limbs. She was especially pleased with a helmet that had a bullet-proof transparent shield.

"Less chance that I will crack my glasses," she said.

The whole outfit cost them 1300 caps after some heavy bartering. Sugarcoat stubbornly refused to let the girls give more than two hundred and fifty for her, and paid the remaining three hundred herself.

Rarity also took care to buy Sugarcoat a collimator sight for 275 caps, despite the former Shadowbolt's protests.

"Darling, iron sights are positively dreadful to deal with," the ex-fashionista spoke.

"Fine, but I am paying for my ammo myself. And... thanks," Sugarcoat replied.

"You are quite welcome."

The rest of the day was spent in relative silence. Rarity volunteered for sniper duty in the towers, and Applejack was standing on the wall with her LMG primed for firing, but no attack happened again. Meanwhile, Twilight and Sunset took some time to plan their route through the ruins, so that they would be able to find Sunset's magic book and take time to investigate the "zombie mystery", as they called it.

They also did some brainstorming, but were unable to come to a definite conclusion as to what could be the reason behind these attacks. Giving up on that subject, they also volunteered to help with patrolling, but nothing else happened.

Somewhere about eleven p.m., everyone went to sleep, so as to prepare themselves for the next day and the hardships is would bring...





"OK everyone, you ready?" Twilight addressed her companions. Her voice was somewhat stifled because of the gas mask she had on.

Everybody replied with an affirmative answer, and Spike barked, running in circles around Twilight's leg.

"Hey," Sugarcoat addressed the men standing near the exit from Horseshoe Highway, none-too-sweetly, "open the gates."

"Kinda wish you didn't do that, ladies," one of them sighed. "You know getting out there is basically a death sentence, right?"

"Sitting here is a death sentence as well. Might as well go out with a big bang," the pig-tailed girl said. "Could you be any faster, damn it?!"

"Doing my best here," another man snarled. "I don't see you hurrying to help."

"Shut the fuck up, milksucker. Your attempts to act tough don't convince me since you crapped yourself in that fight two weeks ago. You didn't even have brown pants on."

Stares of various levels of judegment were levered on Sugarcoat, who paid them no heed. The gas mask hid her face partially, but the scowl could still be guessed.

"And your flirting is downright dreadful, you won't even seduce a whore to sleep with you."

"Hey!"

"OK, Sugarcoat, maybe you won't rub the salt in his wounds? Please?" Twilight said.

"I refuse to be considerate of his feelings since his flirting consisted of fondling my butt and saying, quote, "We both have some guns to oil... wanna bang?", end quote."

"Seriously?" Sunset leveled a glare at the unfortunate male, who scowled and went back to work.

"Yeah," the first man said, "saw him try and do this. Thought she would shoot his testicles off for sure."

"Only out of respect for you," Sugarcoat replied. "I know you still love your son, no matter how miserable an excuse of a human being as he is in my not humble opinion."

"Thank you, Sugarcoat, for at least being considerate of my feelings."

"You're one of the few locals of whose feelings I actually consider being considerate. Yes, I just made a horrible pun. Indulge me."

"There ya go, lass," the man said. "Good luck out there - ya'll need it in spades."

"Thanks, you as well."

The girls went out of the small settlement which had the bad luck to be on the front lie of the "zombie plague" and hurried along in the direction of Stable Hearts Limited, as intended.

"If it's a bioweapon of sorts, and I think it is fully possible, since Stable Hearts Limited had their full share of very hush-hush military orders, then we should search for it there," Sugarcoat said. "That's where the gas masks come in. If the bioweapon's airborne, we'll be fine as long as gas masks aren't compromised. If they are or the bioweapon gets via some other way... we're fucked."

With that unhappy reminder, the group went on. They tried to choose narrow enough streets to allow for enough cover, but not so narrow so as to catch each other in a crossfire or have hard time retreating. They looked around, ready for any sort of ambush or a nasty surprise. Applejack and Spike were in the lead, Twilight and Sugarcoat were slightly behind, Rarity looked around with her sniper rifle, and Sunset watched their six.

Twilight was unable to fully take in the sights of post-apocalyptic Trottingham, and was trying to compensate while not getting too distracted. She took notice of some things like broken glasses of shops or remains of billboards.

One particular poster caught her attention. It had an image of smiling couple with a small kid giving pre-war money to a man in a businessed suit, most likely a functionary. An arrow went from the man to the right, pointing to a soldier in power armour stomping a twisted form of an enemy soldier. Its text said:


Can't fight? You can still do your part!



BUY



WAR



BONDS



Patriotic and Profitable!


"War bonds?" Twilight asked. "What are those?"

"A way for the government to legally take the citizens' money for war effort while promising some profit in return," Sugarcoat said. "But you shouldn't trust that text. In reality, it meant "take money now, pay back never", and that's not taking the apocalypse into account."

"Why would the government need citizens' money? We never do that in Equestria..."

"Equestria? Oh wait, you're that parallel version of Twilight?"

"Yeah, but don't shout that too loud, will you?"

"OK, I won't. Well, truth is, the government isn't that mega-rich, and war is very expensive business, and no one wants the government going bankrupt. But citizens, most of them at least, have money. So the government says, "give us money, or we won't be able to protect you!" and people give money, hoping to get them back when the war is won. But by that time, the inflation is likely to snuff out all the profits."

"I remember campaigning for buying war bonds when I ran my charity," Rarity spoke up. "Brought the government a good couple of billions of dollars, they even awarded me with a small medal for being a true patriot and all that jazz."

"Hmmm. Well, seems like they won't be giving the money back now, right?"

"They certainly won't, and even if they did, I think Canterlot Treasury is irradiated right now, so nobody would want anything out of there."

"Makes sense."

"Heads up!" Applejack called, as Spike barked and ran back to Twilight. "Enemies!"

"Everyone to cover!" Sunset commanded, and everyone hid behind the closest object that could hide them from bullets.

"Super mutants!" Rarity said. "I'm counting three... no, four... and... are there... normal humans with them?"

"What?" Sugarcoat said. "Are you sure you aren't mistaken?"

"I most certainly am not, and... watch it!"

A cacophony of gunfire echoed from the buildings as the strange group of attackers opened fire at them.

"Alright, varmints, y'all asked for it!" Applejack shouted, and opened fire with her LMG.

"Rarity, help Applejack dispose of super mutants! Sunset, Sugarcoat, pick out the others!" Twilight ordered, and looked through her holographic sight. Aiming the reticle at the head of one man in old Vault security armour, she pulled the trigger. One BAM, and the man jerked back, blood flying in the air.

Two R91 assault rifles joined the fray. Sunset and Sugarcoat took cover on opposite sides and now were trying to create some sort of crossfire. Meanwhile, Applejack and Rarity brought down one super mutant and focused their fire on another one.

The hulking green monstrosities behaved strangely, taking cover just as normal humans did. They were still too big - and thus easier to hit - but they were no longer in the open now.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack's voice was hardly hearable because of gunfire and of the gas mask that covered her face. "Since when super mutants take cover?"

"The worst fucking time for them to learn some basics of combat!" Sugarcoat snarled. Taking a risk, she emptied the rest of her magazine into a normal human hiding behind flimsy cover, and her foe fell down, riddled by lead. However, the former Shadowbolt had no time to relish her victory, as several bullets hit her torso and her right arm.

"Oof!"

"Sugarcoat!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Armour held! Kill those fuckers!"

"Reloading!" Sunset shouted.

"Reloading as well," Sugarcoat replied. Twilight let out a string of bullets, and a click signified that her magazine ran empty.

"Darn it! Reloading," she said, swapping the magazine. Sugarcoat stuck out and fired again.

"Dropped one!" she said.

A hoarse, guttural scream of pain sounded across the battlefield, followed by another scream, but of fury. Twilight's insides went cold. Sticking out of her cover, she saw one of super mutants lying dead, and the last one (when did Applejack and Rarity take care of others?) was charging them. Looking into the beast's eyes, Twilight noticed something strange...

...they were white!

The equine-turned-human could not explain how she did that, but one moment later, her holographic sight reticles had the super mutant's head in them, she was screaming, her trigger finger tightened, and her AP-79 was kicking against her shoulder.

The ogre's head came apart in a shower of gore, and a fountain of blood erupted. His raised right hand fell down...

"Look out!"

Twilight was jerked sharply to the right, as a heavy slub of armature swung just where she stood moments ago. This action quickly chased away the fog she had in her head.

She noticed that the area around them was silent. They killed all the enemies.

"Whoa, what happened?" she asked.

"You spaced out, stood still like a target and nearly got clubbed by that ogre," Sugarcoat said. "The salt in the wound is that this super mutant was dead already. If he were to crack your skull with that, your death would have been extremely humiliating. Because, really. Killed by a dead enemy? Humiliating doesn't even cover it."

"Thank you, Sugarcoat," the lavender-skinned girl grumbled, sarcasm dripping.

"I'll pretend to be sarcasm blind and consider that as thanks for me yanking you out of the way. Now what made you space out?"

"I noticed that the super mutant that charged us also had white eyes..."

"WHAT?!!!" a collective shout made Twilight's ears ring. She squinted and stuck her index finger inside her right ear, trying to dislodge the perceived cork.

"Please don't make me deaf, gunfire is bad enough," she said.

"Sorry, darling," Rarity apologized, reloading her sniper rifle, "did you say that that brutish ogre had white eyes?"

"Yes."

"Let's look at the bodies," Sunset offered. "If that's those zombies..."

She walked up to one of the normal men, wepaon at the ready, and gave it a hard kick, making it roll over onto its back.

"Yeah, this one has white eyes alright..."

As it turned out, the whole group that they just took out actually consisted of the "zombies"... and super mutants all ahd white eyes as well.

"Well, fuck," Sugarcoat said. "So this affects super mutants as well. And they actually seem to get a grasp of tactics, heck, they even work together with normal humans, as long as those are zombies as well. If this goes on, we're buggered."

"Buggered?" Twilight repeated, puzzled. Sunset's face turned green, and she quickly whispered something into her compatriot's air.

"Ewwww!" the equine Princess said, her face looking as if she just ate a lemon. "That body part is not designed for that!"

"I know, right?" Sunset muttered. "Humans have some ultra-weird kinks. Let's drop the subject and loot them."





The zombies were not extremely rich with loot. The hunting rifles and assault rifles they had were rather shoddy, so they were mercilessly left aside. Those who used assult rifles as primary weapons got themselves twenty-seven 5.56mm ammo each.

"Good," Sugarcoat said, "that's twenty-seven caps spared."

They also looted some 10mm ammo, but except Twilight, no one wanted them, so the lavender-skinned girl decided to fill a spare SMG clip with it. Rarity also found twenty .308 ammo, which she was very glad to have.

When they took everything they wanted, they decided to make haste for fear of attracting more enemies, and moved forward.

Half an hour later, they came across a block of flats. When Twilight read the plaque with the street name and number, she exclaimed:

"Girls! This is the house where Vinyl, Octavia and Lemon used to live?"

"Really?" Sunset replied.

"Yes. Vinyl asked us to investigate it, remember? Maybe we should take a quick look at it?"

"Hmpf. Might be worth it. Sugarcoat?"

"I think it's a waste of time, but I admit, I am curious to see where Lemon Zest used to live. Can't say I'm surprised she hooked up with Scratch and Melody. They always were kindred spirits. Kinda miss them."

"Vinyl and Lemon are still alive, by the way," Twilight noted.

"Really?" Sugarcoat's face brightened for the fist time. "Where are they?"

"Er... I'm afraid they swore us to secrecy, but I can tell them about you and maybe they'll let you see them."

"Why so much secrecy? And why isn't Octavia with them?"

"Octavia's... dead. She worked for Directorate of Intelligence and was accused of betrayal. Commissariat executed her."

"Shit," the ex-Shadwbolt swore. "Bad luck if I ever saw one. OK, let's head inside."

The girls entered the building and went upstairs, going to the third floor. Sunset took out the keys that Vinyl had given to them and unlocked the door to the flat that current heads of Canterlot Wastelands News used to inhabit. Everyone entered inside.

The flat was covered in dust that has accumulated over the years that have passed. The flat did not look any different from any others that could be seen in typical blocks: a living room, two bedrooms, a kitchen and a hall. The livibg room had an old-looking TV and a massive radio set which had a stylized plaque reading Radiation King on it.

"Radiation King radio," Sunset commented. "One of the most popular products of nuclear fashion."

"We're looking for a hidden safe, right?"

"Right. It's not here, though. Let's look somewhere else."

The kitchen had suffered the brunt of a nuclear shockwave, as everything was torn from its place and the ceiling partially collapsed.

"Yeah, certainly won't find anything there," Sugarcoat commented.

In one of the bedrooms, however, they found what they were looking for. A safe was hidden below the bed that was crashed into splinters by concrete slabs that fell from the ceiling. Sunset, however, frowned.

"I can't pick the lock on this safe," she said.

"You don't need to," Sugarcoat said. "There is a monoblock. If it has SoftLock Solutions program, and the combination of a safe and a controlling monoblock connected to it was quite popular, we'll unlock it from the terminal. I hope it was insulated against EMP..." with these words, the pig-tailed girl flicked the "On/Off" switch on the monoblock. A beep sounded, and a command line appeared.

"A-ha! Let's see if we can hack the password..."

"We don't need to," Sunset interrupted. "Vinyl wrote the password for the administrator account for us."

"Give me that," Sugarcoat said, and logged into the system. "OK, let's find SoftLock Solutions. Yes... found it! Launching the application... "Open lock"... done! Try opening the safe now."

Applejack pulled the safe door, and it gave way. Inside, they found one 10mm pistol, one 10mm SMG, some ammo stacked in spare clips, official weapon carry license, and a magneto-optic disk that had a label with Octavia's name for it.

"Hmm. Interesting. What does it contain?" Twilight wondered. She inserted the disc into her Pip-Boy and accessed the data on it.

"Hey, Vinyl, Lemon," a refined voice of Octavia Melody filled the room. "If you are hearing this, most likely you have found this disk in our stash. It also means you might never see me again. I've got to tell you something. I'm working for DOI now. Yeah, strange, I know... I did not exactly have a choice, girls. If I wanted to, I would not do it. But there is an international classical music festival coming, and it's a rare chance to get into TODC countries now... and Commissariat has found out that one of my donors was a TODC agent. So yeah, you know what that entails. I was told to cooperate or get turned over to NSC, and you know that they would get you too! Now that Manehatten Massacre happened, they're running around helter-skelter. Girls... most likely you'll never see me again. DOI won't let me out of their clutches, and I'll get killed, either by Commissariat if they as much as suspect me of betrayal, or by TODC if they catch me. Maybe they'll torture me..."

A silence followed, interrupted by a sob, and Octavia continued, clearly distressed:

"I'm sorry, girls! I didn't want it to come to this. Vinyl, continue to wub the Tartarus out of everyone, and Lemon, rock the whole world. You two are my best friends, I wouldn't have anyone else as music-writing buddies. Goodbye, girls!"

Click. The recording ended. No one spoke, mulling over Octavia's last message to Vinyl and Lemon.

"Shucks," Sugarcoat muttered, "that's sad."

"You don't say," Sunset replied. "OK, there's nothing else to see here. Let's go on with our mission."





"Fluttershy was a model for war posters?" Twilight exclaimed, surprised.

Her eyes were currently focused on another poster that was glued to a concrete wall, and it indeed depicted a familiar pink-haired girl. She had her signature tank top, green dress and knee-high green boots, and was posed full face, sitting on the ground, her face stained in tears, eyes looking upwards to a black male figure with a red outline. The scary silhouette of a pistol in the man's right hand was aimed at Fluttershy. The background was grey, as if dark clouds covered everything above the horizon, and the ground itself was also dull and grey, although light-gray if compared to the sky. The only thing that actually was colourful was Fluttershy herself.

The bold red letters above the picture formed the words "PROTECT HER!" and below, "ENLIST NOW!".

"Yes," Rarity replied, "Photo Finish had Fluttershy as a model for some posters. And they were actually pretty effective. I have heard that volunteer enlistment went up fifteen percent after they distributed these posters. People were even buying them for collections."

"I remember how Fluttershy tried modelling back in Equestria. She gave up soon; she didn't like the attention."

"Well, our Fluttershy didn't either. But her short time made quite an impact. I mean, can a man look at her depicted like this," Rarity waved her hand at another poster, "and not have protective instincts kick in?"

Twilight looked more closely at the poster that Rarity pointed out. Fluttershy was standing back to the wall - supposedly, as the whole background was black and Twilight could judge only by her pose - with an expression of extreme fear on her face and tears in her eyes. A rifle was aimed at her; in fact, the rifle had a bayonet that was actually touching her breast, clearly aimed to pierce her heart, and the bayonet had blood dripping from it. Fluttershy's top was actually stained crimson. The person holding the rifle was not drawn on the poster, which only intensified the horrific effect.

In lower right corner, red bold letters formed the words: "Soldier of UFE, save me!"

"Damsel in distress. Used and overused ten times over," Sugarcoat's voice grated on Twilight's ears. "But damned if she isn't pulling this look like a master. Didn't expect this of her, though. I thought you would be more likely to play the damsel in distress, Rarity."

"Well... Photo Finish decided Fluttershy had a more natural charm for that than me. Let's go on, Stable Hearts Limited should not be that far away."

Indeed, fifteen minutes later, the girl arrived at the building that used to house the private microbiological laboratories. The letters "S...BLE H...R...S" were still barely hanging above entrance, while the rest were absent.

"OK. We're here, and we're not turned into zombies yet," Sugarcoat commented. "That's good. Now let's go unsolve this mystery."

"Applejack, you're in the front of the door. I'm behind you. Twilight, left side, Sugarcoat, right side. Rarity, pick whichever side you prefer and switch to your Buffalo SMG," Sunset ordered.

Everyone acknowledged the order and positioned themselves.

"OK. Applejack, ready?"

"Ready, sugarcube."

"Open the doors."

Applejack pushed the doors open and aimed her LMG inside. Twilight, Sunset and Sugarcoat stuck out, aiming inside.

"Intruder alert!" a metallic voice screeched, and two Mr. Gutsies floated out. "Lethal force authorized!"

"Waste them!" Sunset ordered, but the girls already opened fire at the robots. Mr. Gutsies spewed out plasma bolts, forcing Applejack and Sunset to dive away, but that did not save them from being reduced to scrap piles.

"OK then," the fiery-haired girl muttered as everyone entered carefully, "we have automated security here. Robots, most likely turrets as well. We need to find the main security office, it should have the master control terminal."

"There is a map," Twilight looked at the wall where a paper depicting the buiding's layout hang in a wooden frame behind the broken glass. "It is on the third floor. We are on the ground floor right now."

"Obviously," Sugarcoat snarked. "So where now?"

"We need to pass the desk, enter the lobby and use either the elevator or the stairs."

"I bet you fifty dollars that the elevator is a goner," Applejack said.

"No dice," Sunset replied. "Means we will have to fight our way upstairs."

The girls went to the large doors which served as entrance to the lobby. When Applejack kicked it, they were faced with two ceiling turrets and three Protectrons armed with laser weapons. The blonde girl hurried to cover, but not before catching several red beams.

"Drat!" she swore. "Good thing Ah have this armour on," she stuck out and tore a Protectron apart with a well-placed burst from her LMG.

"Nice one," Sugarcoat praised, sticking out and taking a potshot at the left turret. It swerved in her direction and forced the former Shadowbolt into cover. Twilight took out "Burning Flash" and fired at the same target. Five beams melted the armour and the electronics, making the turret limp uselessly. Meanwhile Sunset and Applejack took out another Protectron. The last one turned around and fired, hitting Sunset in an unprotected area of her left arm.

"Ah, shit!" the fiery-haired girl swore, taking out the first aid kit. Twilight took her position and fried the optics of the last Protectron, making it go haywire and fire blindly, making him an easy target for Sugarcoat. The latter, however, caught a few bullets from the turret and withdrew. Twilight and Applejack took out the last turret with combined fire.

"Clear," Applejack said, "Ah see no one else, and mah Pip-Boy shows nothing."

"Sugarcoat, you OK?" Rarity asked.

"I'm fine. Gotta thank you for buying me extra plates though. If not for them, my limb would have been torn. Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome, darling."

"Sunset?" Twilight addressed her compatriot.

"I'll survive," Sunset replied, fixing a cold bag on her burn. "No need to waste RegenStim on it. Let's move on."

The girls looked around the lobby. Two semi-circular desks were standing opposite each other, with broken monoblocks on them and various papers scattered. In the far end, several elevators stood, but their doors were bent or broken, and one glance beyond them was enough to understand that the prospect of cutting their way short was unfeasible. The party took their way upstairs.

Each staircase was covered by a turret, and the architecture prevented them from being able to concentrate all of their firepower on it. As a result, Applejack had to go face to face against all the turrets they encountered while going to the third floor, and replace an ammunition box for her LMG twice.

"Finally, we did it," she said, getting the ammo belt into the feeder, closing the cover and moving the bolt. "Ah'll run outta ammo soon if it goes on like this. Let's finish this thing."

The door that led to the third floor was locked, and the mechanism for accepting keycards was fried my an electromagnetic pulse. Applejack did not bother trying stealth an charged into the door. Her strength and mass, augmented by power armour, were enough to smash the rather flimsy door and make it fly off its hinges - as well as expose her to two ceiling turrets and a Mr. Gutsy.

"Ah fuckin' hate these things," she snarled, diving into cover. Sunset took out her laser rifle and started raining red beams on the robot, while Twilight did the same with ceiling turrets. Laser once again proved itself effective against their automatized enemies: a minute later, the hostiles were eliminated.

"That's fuckin' annoyin' me now," Applejack snarled again.

"Agreed," Sugarcoat said. "Now where's the main security office?"

"Forward until the end of the corridor, the massive door ahead," Twilight pointed out the direction.

Come on, then.

As the quintet (Spike did not count as he was tucked in Twilight's rucksack) opened the door, they were greeted with the sight of a sentry bot.

"Die, intruders," it said, and promptly launched a rocket at them. Applejack threw herself back in desperation, and the rocket flew overhead, hitting the wall and tearing chunks of concrete and armature from it.

"Fuckin' scrap heap!" she swore, rolling behind the wall as the robot fired at her with a minigun. Twilight and Sunset attacked it with laser rifles, while Sugarcoat tried to hit its less vulnerable parts with her assault rifle. Applejack joined the fray, peppering the sentry bot with 7.62mm bullets and drawing its ire to itself. Fortunately, the sturdy walls could not be penetrated by 5mm minigun bullets, otherwise they would have been turned into cheese full of holes, but that helped them only slightly.

The sentry bot launched another rocket, and while it missed, the explosion was too close. Everyone felt their ears splitting in pain, ringing echoing in their ears. Twilight closed her eyes from the pain, unable to perceive anything with her senses. When she opened them, she noticed Sugarcoat desperately bandaging her wound as Sunset injected RegenStim into her - the pig-tailed girl caught several ricochetted bullets that were fast enough to penetrate her armour. Twilight picked her laser rifle again and aimed carefully at the robot head.

She fired until the robot's head exploded, and her rilfe beeped, signifying that the microfusion cell was empty. She pulled the lever, ejecting it and inserting a new one.

"Phooo-ey," she said. "Everyone OK?" she shouted over the ringing in her ears.

"No," Sugarcoat said, "I was wounded, but RegenStim will help me."

"Ah'm unhurt," Applejack said, "but some more scuffles like that an Ah'll have to find new armour plates."

"I'm fine," Sunset said, and gasped. "Twilight, you're bleeding!"

"Am I?" the equine-turned-human looked, and true enough, her left leg was stained with blood. "Blast!" she exclaimed, detaching the armour segment on her hip. "I didn't even notice. Ponyfeathers!"

"Let me help," Sunset said, helping Twilight with the bandage, and injecting RegenStim with the syringe given by Twilight. "You need painkillers?"

"I think I'll manage. Where's that Celestia-damned master control terminal?"

"Here, I'm sitting in front of it," Sugarcoat said. "Good thing, it's insulated against EMP. Bad news, it's password protected, I am hacking it now. Don't distract me or this stuff will lock down and we're fucked."

The others wisely chose to follow the bespectacled girl's advice, and for the next five minutes, the silence was interrupted only by Sugarcoat's more and more inventive (and anatomically impossible) curses regarding the parentage of the terminal and the notion of someone copulating with the terminal. One particuarly colourful swear made Twilight and Sunset gag and Rarity's face go green, but before it got any worse, Sugarcoat declared:

"Done! All security in the building has been deactivated. We can go anywhere we wish. Where now?"

"Let's explore the building, I guess," Twilight said, unfastening her helmet. "Curses, am I tired from wearing that thing. Do we need to split up?" she asked, fastening the helmet to her side.

"Yeah, maybe we'll cover more ground that way," Sunset agreed, taking off her own helmet. "Ohhh, I think my head will cook soon..."

"I agree," Sugarcoat said.

"Then me and Twilight will go end explore the ground and the first floor, you three search through this floor and the second one. Search for everything interesting."

"Will do," Rarity replied.

Twilight and Sunset spent twenty minutes searching through the first floor, but the only things they have found were the worker's personal messages, corporate rules and some ammo and medicine.

"At least the security does not bother us," Twilight said. "Ground floor?" she said, turning back to Sunset as she was about to turn around the corner.

"Uh-huh, coming," came the answer.

Twilight turned around and stepped forward...

Bash!

Suddenly, she saw stars, and her head responded with the mother of all pains that could come from being hit by a lead pipe.

"Hey, what the fuck?!" Sunset exclaimed, but before she was able to react, she was hit by another pipe and collapsed into darkness.





"Watch out," Sugarcoat called, "who knows what is in here."

She, Applejack and Rarity were making their way through the ruins of the laboratories on the second floor. Their heartbeat was increased, and it echoed in their ears as they went along. Each girl could hear her own breathing inside the gas mask; breathing in it was no easy feat at best times, and they were getting tired from the day's ordeals.

Fortunately, they encountered no airborne biohazards; if there were any, their gas masks seemed to be an adequate protection... for now, at least.

Finally, they reached the last lab. The only things they had encountered on the floor were broken vials and stains left by various liquids that they dared not to touch. One room was scorched; Rarity hazarded a guess that a mix of gases exploded there from a spark, and they decided to get out of that place.

The last lab on the floor was small; apparently, no more than four or five scientists were supposed to work there. There were strewn papers, but this particular lab was more in order than others. It had a heavy door, but Sugarcoat's bypass of the defenses turned off the magnetic locks and sophisticated electronic defenses that were supposed to keep the door permanently closed, and they entered freely. Sugarcoat noticed a monoblock that was insulated against electromagnetic pulses, and decided to turn it on. Unsurprisingly, it was password-protected, and she spent several minutes hacking it. Surprisingly, the password was rather short and easy to guess, which prompted some insults to the scientists' intelligence from Sugarcoat, as well as insinuations of them being directly related to apes and actually having apes for parents.

Unfortunately, most of the data was corrupted, and Sugarcoat was only able to bring up the logs. Having nothing better to do, the girls decided to read them. Most were boring, but some caught their eyes:



Log #2131
We were brought a sample of Omicron-7. Under some very heavy guard - police, Commissariat army, even fricking soldiers in power armour. I can't believe it. They brought us the same weapon TODC had used for Manehatten Massacre! And this guy from the army says they :need an improved version of it".

Are they fucking serious? It's a war crime to use a bioweapon like this! Something tells me that if I ever say that, I'll be shot. Stars know these NSC guys are quite trigger-happy.

Log #2136
Credit where it is due, TODC microbiologists know their business damn well. We have discovered what Omicron-7 does. When it enters the human body, it attacks the immune system directly, destroying all natural defenses that a human has. Layman's terms, but more scientific speak is for reports, not logs. But it does not stop there. New viruses, when they are released into the bloodstream, start infecting other cells and causing their autolysis. This eventually leads to catastrophic organ failures, as the virus stops differentiating. Further infection happens via droplets. Once the infection happens, there is no turning back. Unless a special serum is injected immediately, this weapon will kill.

Goodness.

Log #2145
I can't believe they are making us create this... atrocity. We have managed to improve this weapon, much as it sickens me to say that. Now we have made it so that this weapon can induce coma, and that upon necrosis, the dead bodies remain infectious.

The general is pleased with our progress. Tartarus damn him! We are supposed to find cures against diseases, not make a competition who creates a deadlier weapon!

Log #2151
I have placed another vial in the biohazard safe. This is the twelfth strain.

The government has us making modifications to the weapons, dropping shit-a-ton of money. What's the use? They can't exterminate every last TODC citizen. Although... I have heard that a version of our weapon was used in Bovinia and helped us achieve victory.

I feel sick, but... fascinated. Deep down, I always wanted to get back at TODC fucks, but denied it...



"Biohazard safe?" Applejack asked.

"It's right here," Rarity said, standing in front of a human-sized steel door.

"OK, let's see if it can be opened. Aaaaaaand... open!" Sugarcoat exclaimed. Rarity and Applejack turned the heavy wheel and opened the safe. Inside, they found only one metal box, small, but rather heavy.

"Ah guess it's heavily protected."

"What it says?" Sugarcoat asked.

"There's only some letters and numbers," Applejack grumbled. The box had "CPAX-12" written on it in bold letters, biohazard signs adorning the surface.

"CPAX-12?" Rarity asked, puzzled. "I've never heard of it."

"Neither have I," Sugarcoat added.

"Me neither," the blonde girl said. "OK, Ah think we've found what we needed, but we'll have to find the right person to ask what in Tartarus that is," she said, hiding the box in her armoured compartment.

"Girls, don't you think Twilight and Sunset have been gone for far too long?"

Blank stares, and then widened eyes of horror met Sugarcoat's bespectacled ones.





As Twilight came around, she noticed several things.

First, her gas mask was off.

Second, she was hanging.

Third, her hands were handcuffed above a poll, which created a very unpleasant feeling of being stretched.

Fourth, she had no weapons on herself.

Fifth, her head hurt like a bitch.

"Hey," she heard a raspy voice to her left. Turning her head and wincing in pain, Twilight saw Sunset in the same predicament as her.

"Hey," she replied. "What in Celestia's flank is going on?"

"Fucked if I know. I felt my head getting bashed, and next I know, I am here."

"Same. You know who captured us?"

"The same fucking zombies."

"Seriously? They were so eager to shoot us, and now they captured us? Something's not right. And that certainly is no bioweapon."

"Yeah, but now we're back to square one, not to mention hanging from a pole Tartarus knows where."

"We still should be in Trottingham. And we're in a building. Sunset, does anything in the windows seem familiar?"

"I don't know. Let me see."

Sunset spent several minutes twisting her head and body to different directions, trying to get a hold of her surroundings. Once she got a good look, she relaxed and said:

"We're not far from the place where I lived. We're close to our target. If only we could get out of here..."

"Ah-ha-ha, but I am afraid both of you will serve another purpose."

The newest voice rang sharply around, making both Equestrians tense. Twilight's hair tried to rise even in places not covered by it.

It's... familiar... somehow... where did I hear it?

"So the Perfect Princess and her Bacon Bitch returned here to find something that links them to Equestria? How touching."

"Oh come on, seriously?!" Sunset shouted. "Bacon Bitch? That sucked back in Canterlot High! Have some decency to be more creative with your insults!"

"Funny that you should mention Canterlot High," the voice continued, coming closer, and a person in Wastelander outfit appeared - a woman. Her face was covered by a mask and the hoodie she had covered her head, but this was not what made Twilight and Sunset gasp.

This person had Sunset's magic journal against her chest, hanging on a chain.

"I see you recognized this little book? Imagine my surprise when I learned that this small thing ultimately led to where I am now..." the person took off the hood and whipped off the mask. Pale yellow skin shone in the limited light the building had, and vivid orange hair, still bushy, but slightly saggy, cascaded down the person's shoulder. Raspberry eyes rested upon the Equestrians, and a scowl twisted the person's face.

Twilight and Sunset gasped again.

They were looking into the dagger-throwing, hot with fury, hate-filled eyes of Adagio Dazzle.

The siren who lost to them in the Battle of the Bands kept scowling at them for several seconds.

Then she smirked.

"Surprise, bitches," she said. "Pick up your jaws before they fall off for real."

Both girls noticed that they indeed were in danger of dropping their jaws, and promptly closed their mouths.

"You," Sunset spat with fury. "I take it you control the zombies?"

"Bingo, Shimmer," Adagio's smirk became even wider.

"But how?" Twilight shouted, desperate for understanding.

"Come on, you're the smart one here," Adagio turned the magic journal to the other side; both girls noticed something red on it. "What you, the Bacon and Mustard and I can use in our home land, but not here."

Twilight's insides grew cold.

"Magic," she almost whispered. "You're controlling their minds!"

"Bingo again. Yes. These people adore me, and give me power, and I, in turn, can command them."

"I don't get it," Sunset muttered, and Twilight turned to her:

"The magic journal! Notice these three red smudges on it? It's the gemstones we cracked! Adagio has used the journal to fuse the shards together!" she shouted. Sunset went pale and muttered:

"Celestia banish me to the moon..."

"But wait..." Twilight turned to Adagio. "Where are Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk?"

"Aria Blaze thought to challenge me for leadership. I could not have that. So when she made a mistake, I overwhelmed her, and extracted her essence."

"You WHAT?!" both Equestrians gasped.

"She was of no longer use anyway," Adagio continued as if she were talking about breakfast. "Sonata disappeared soon after that. The ditz must have been afraid I would do the same to her. I don't think she survived the nuclear attacks."

"So... you're here, controlling the minds of anyone who has the bad luck to come here... with the help of my magic book..." Sunset said. "Why do you need us?"

"Well, while the discord that my followers here have among them when I am not controlling them directly does power me, it's not enough. They still don't have Equestrian magic. But you, on the other hand..."

Both girls gasped again, in horror.

"And don't think your friends will avoid the same fate. I have seen with whom you travel through the eyes of those who attacked you. My followers are already on the way. They will bring Applejack and Rarity here, and their magic will be mine as well. As for that foul mouth in glasses, she will be a welcome addition... or a bullet-ridden corpse. It matters little. With your magic, my reach will extend..."

Giving both Equestrians a haughty smile, Adagio approached them, but not too close so as to avoid possible kicks. In a sultry voice, she almost whispered:

"Tenfold."
> Chapter 29: Opening notes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 29

Opening notes


"Twilight! Sunset! Where are you?" Applejack was shouting to no avail.

"Darlings! Where did you disappear?!" Rarity was trying to call out to their friends as well.

Unfortunately, all the strain they put on their vocal chords was to no avail, as they could find no trace of their friends.

"This is just like the Tartarus-damned trope," Sugarcoat muttered under her nose. "You split up one time and something bad happens immediately. Seriously, where did they go? Oh how I miss mobile phones..."

They spent twenty minutes combing through the buiding, but were unable to find any trace of their friends from alternate dimension.

"Oh shit," Applejack started to genuinely fear for the lives of Twilight and Sunset now. What if someone else was here and they got the drop on them? What if this were zombies? Or those slavers we pissed off? Or someone else?

"This is strange," Rarity spoke. "No trace whatsoever, even Spikey-Whikey isn't here! It's as if some flying spaghetti monster came and whicked them..."

"Oh can it, Rarity!" Applejack shouted. "This is not helping us!"

The former fashionista brisked at the brashness in the farmer's voice, but decided not to respond so as not to exacerbate the situation.

This is neither time nor place.

"I don't know about flying spaghetti monsters," Sugarcoat shouted, pointing out of the window, "but I see a horde of other monsters running here!"

Applejack and Rarity hurried to the window. What they saw made their insides liquify - metaphorically speaking, of course - and twitch incontrollably.

A large group of "zombies" was approaching them. There were no less than fifty of them, and they comprised of both normal humans and super mutants, and even ghouls.

"Fuck me!" Applejack shouted, mounting her LMG on a bipod and opening fire. Rarity took out her sniper rifle and leaned against the optical sight. Sugarcoat dropped on one knee and leaned against her R91.

We're buggered, she thought.





Twilight Sparkle looked down, horrified.

Sunset Shimmer glared, angered.

Adagio Dazzle smirked, smug.

"It took me a long time, and truth be told, I almost lost hope... but now, with you in my grasp and two more to be added soon? I almost wish your other companions were here, so I could have a full set. It would have been poetic," she said.

"You..." choking on anger, Sunset almost spat out her words in fury, "why? Why are you doing this?"

"Well," Adagio's smirk was gone, replaced by a cold and dispassionate expression, "if there is a reason to do this, it's you two. I wish I could actually shove this in Starswirl the Bearded's muzzle, but he's bucked the bucket long ago, so that's kinda unfeasible. But you two have ruined our moment of glory, when we could become something higher and better than what we had been!" Slowly, her face twisted in anger, and she glared at both Equestrians. "You and your clique of friends have ruined everything! And now, fate has brought you in my hands! Oh, this is delicious..."

"So you've been out for revenge? That's it?" Sunset spoke.

"I did want revenge, but without my powers, I was not certain I would succeed in any plan. You almost always were surrounded by friends, or someone else was around. And the Pretty Princess here vanished to Equestria after zapping me with her freaking rainbow beam; I would not last two minutes there. So I was forced to abandon my dream and survive along with Aria and Sonata. That was miserable as Tartarus, let me tell you. I'd rather not relive it. Plus, Sonata was getting more and more annoyed with us, and one day, she just up and disappeared. Good riddanve, me and Aria thought. But we went on, until the humans bombed each other to smithereens with their mega-bombs. I've got to say, it's impressive in a twisted way. Such destructiveness is way beyond what Equestria could do back when I was there, and I don't think that has changed."

Twilight decided against dignifying the siren with an answer.

"I guess it hasn't. Well, we used what knowledge we had of this world to avoid radiation and what not, hid as well as we could. Whinnyapolis had many abandoned houses we could hide in. We lived on, but White Knives started making appearances there, so we got to Trottingham with a merchant caravan. Settled up here, scavenged whatever we could. That is, until we found Shimmer's house. That's where I found this little gem," she stroked the magic journal, "and that's when we realized that we could get our magic back."

"How?" Twilight asked before thinking.

"This journal by itself is a conduit of magic. As for us, we still had our gems, or what remained of them - we collected the shards the day after - and if we were to channel the magic of the journal, we could re-fuse the shards together, at least partially, and get some of our powers back. A jump-start would let us continue. That's when Aria tried to wrestle control of me."

"And you absorbed her essence?"

"Yes. We had already fused the gems, and she decided to jump me. The idiot did not think I would be ready."

"And that made it OK to absorb her essence? That's not simply killing someone! That's basically absorbing everything your opponent is, and then erasing it, making the energy your own! This is punished by banishment to Tartarus! It's one of the few crimes which can warrant capital punishment!" Twilight jerked around, disbelief and fury claiming her.

"Yeah, well, I am not in Equestria anymore, and you do not rule this world, Princess," Adagio said dismissively. "I see my followers brought your things," she nodded at the zombies that carried the rucksacks that belonged to Equestrians, "let's see if you have something useful..."

However, as she unzipped Twilight's rucksack, Spike jumped out at her face, claws out and digged into the siren's face. Adagio fell onto her butt, shocked.

"Spike!" Twilight shouted in surprise and fear. "RUN!"

Her Number 1 assistant obeyed and ran to the closest exit, leaving the siren alone.

"Kill him!" Adagio shouted, trying to wipe the blood off her face. Twilight saw a zombie try and raise his gun, and lashed out with a kick. Her foot connected with his jaw, making him drop down out of surprise. Sunset did the same with another zombie who was behind her, screwing his aim. Other zombies were too slow, and once they fired in the direction of a lower floor, Spike was gone.

"We missed him, Mistress," said one of the zombies in an unnaturally grating tone.

"Find him! He must not let the others know!" Adagio's eyes flashed red for a moment.

"Hey, Adagio," Sunset called.

"What?"

"Remember how you sicced Trixie and her merry band on us? How they dropped us under the stage?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Well, you know what? Spike got us out of there. It will be simply karmic when he does the same again," Sunset smirked, and Twilight did the same.

"I agree," she said, "and pretty poetic as well, don't you think, Adagio?"

The siren was not amused by their antics, predictably enough. Her features twisted in fury, which was even more unnerving, given her scrathed face.

"You think this is funny? Well, I think I need to remind you something..."

Suddenly, two red orbs appeared in her palms, which made both Equestrians lose their smiles.

"...I am the one with the magic here. I am the one who has power!"

With these words, she thrust her hands forward, and red lightning bolts struck Twilight and Sunset, setting all their nerves ablaze. Their scream pierced the building:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"





The scientists that worked for Stable Hearts Limited would have thrown a hissy fit if they saw how their building was used now.

That was the primary thought running through Sugarcoat's head, and it was not unfounded. The building was full of sounds not commonly associated with science.

Gunfire.

Clutter of metal cases against the floor as the gunpowder burned and the bullets raced forward, out of the barrels.

Swear words shouted by everyone in the vicinity (even Rarity; the former fashionista was gradually losing her brain-to-mouth filter along with patience).

Roar of the hordes of zombies.

"This is the biggest fuckin' horde Ah've ever seen!" Applejack shouted over the Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-dat of her LMG.

"Agreed! I literally cannot miss!" Rarity responded.

"Keep shooting instead of gum-flapping!" Sugarcoat commanded.

The zombies besieged the building, clearly intending to breach the entrance. Some of them were trying to suppress the girls, but Rarity utilized her Stealth-Boy to the fullest extent in such cases, and sniped everyone trying to make them duck. This barely helped, however; the attackers were close to the entrance now, and there were a dozen of them.

"What wouldn't Ah give for a grenade launcher!" Applejack shouted, dropping another box magazine out of her LMG and ducking below the window to reload it.

Grenade... grenade... Rarity thought. Why am I thinking about a grenade? I don't have frag grenades, none of us do. Twilight and Sunset had those, and they are not here...

Suddenly, a flash went through her head, and a desperate idea formed in her mind.

I don't have a frag grenade, and I am sooo not sure that will work, but desperate times call for desperate measures...





Spike hated himself.

He was running.

He was running, and he hated himself for that.

I abandoned them in danger. I abandoned Twilight and Sunset. This thought was running uninvited in his mind.

Logically, he knew he could not help them. He knew there were too many zombies for him to handle, and neither Twilight nor Sunset were armed. He was lucky not to have been detected earlier. When Twilight fell, he got squished uncomfortably and lost consciousness for a while. When he came around, he understood immediately that something was wrong. There were too many wrong smells, and from what he understood, both Twilight and Sunset were taken as prisoners.

By Adagio Dazzle.

That twit does not know when to give up. She didn't even have the decency to die in the nuclear blast!

Twilight wouldn't have approved of his line of thoughts, but dragons were more aggressive by nature, and he really disliked Adagio.

When he heard her approaching steps, he understood that his time was limited. He quickly formulated a plan of action.

When the siren approached Twilight's rucksack and opened it, he seized his chance and clawed at her face. His hope was that zombies would be too slow to act, and he was right.

However, his initial guess of having too many enemies to handle was right, and when Twilight shouted at him to run, he obeyed without hesitation - although his guts insisted he stopped and mutilated Dazzle's face, and preferably blinded her.

He heard two sounds of a foot connecting with something as he disappeared below the floor. Apparently, both Equestrians kicked someone so he would not get shot.

Thanks, girls!

It was not too long before he heard their screams of pain. His heart bled as if their anguish was cutting it, but he forced himself to go on.

To leave them to the vindictive siren's definitely-not-tender mercy.

She is torturing them, and I can't do anything! I have to go out and bring Applejack, Rarity and Sugarcoat to help, despite the dangers it may bring! But I don't know where I am, or if they're still at that lab!

Sharp sounds of gunfire and small fountains of dust reminded him of stealth and of the fact that he was still hunted.

An interesting situation for a predator species! Garble would laugh his ugly face off if he saw that! he thought wryly, deftly dodging to the side and turning around the corner.

If only I had longer legs! At least I would be able to lose them quickly! he thought, running inside a building so as to lower the chances of being noticed...





"Flashbang out!" Rarity shouted, tearing off the safety ring and tossing a flashbang out to the street into the charging horde.

"What use it's gonna be?" Applejack shouted.

"We'll see!" Sugarcoat replied.

KA-BANG!!!

Rarity looked out of the window... and felt relieved.

It worked!

The desperate idea was to use the flashbang grenade to startle the zombies. While they did not appear to have vision, they still were able to aim and fire guns, and that implied that they actually could see somehow.

And that meant that their ability to see could theoretically be disrupted.

Which lead her to use one of the three flashbang grenades she had at her disposal.

"Fire!" she shrilled, unloading her Buffalo SMG at the enemies and quickly eliminating three of them. Applejack and sugarcoat joined the fray, quickly dispatching the rest of the zombies.

As they finished, every zombie was lying dead. The whole street approaching the building of Stable Hearts Limited was strewn with corpses and stained with blood.

"This place's gonna stink real hard," Applejack commented. "Does anyone actually dispose of the bodies here?"

"Are you kidding me?" Sugarcoat said, increduled.

"But this is so unsanitary!" Rarity said. "Not to mention the corpse poison!"

"Nobody cares. And it's nigh impossible to die from cadaverine or any other ptomaines, unless you inject them directly into a bloodstream."

"Eh... everyone? Am Ah seein' things or there are more of 'em comin'?" Applejack said.

"I desperately hope you're joking," the pig-tailed girl replied.

"Am not. Look."

Rarity picked up her sniper rifle again, and sure enough, there was another horde approaching.

"We can't defend this position," Sugarcoat observed. "We barely held last time, and this horde is bigger than the last one. We'll be overrun."

"But we still haven'd found Twi an' Sunset!"

"And we won't find them if we die here!"

"Applejack, painful as it is, I do think we need to find a more defensible position," Rarity said. "There's an exit in the back of the building. If we hurry, we may have a chance to lose the horde."

"So what're we waiting for?! RUN!" Sugarcoat shouted, and everyone followed her.

"But where?" Applejack asked. "Do we have a plan except "run and gun" or do we not, Sugarcoat?"

"As far as I remember, there is a police station nearby!" came the answer. "It is more defensible and we can hope to at least use the robots there for our purposes! If they followed standard protocol, there should still be protectrons in anti-EMP-insulated storages!"

"How do ya know that?"

"My dad worked as a policeman! I myself was a cadet in the police academy when the bombs fell! And I have both our ID badges!"

"Last one's a skunk then! Come on!"





"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Another scream pierced the air inside the building as red bolts of arcane energy hit the two ponies in human form.

Twilight and Sunset hung by handcuffed hands, feeling the toll on their bodies. The dark magic that Adagio invoked acted like electricity, causing them to thrash around like weird puppets.

When the torture stopped, however, they simply hung, their muscles stretching even more as they had trouble even when raising their heads.

Satisfied with her handiwork, Adagio approached them.

"Get it who has the power now? Get it?!" she shouted. "Face it, you have lost! I have already dealt a fatal blow to Horseshoe Highway, and Brightlight won't last long as well! As my powers grow, I can extend my reach more and more! And when your magic is mine, not even dead will escape their service to me!"

Both Equestrians only managed to moan in pain, trying to recollect their bearings.

"I will finally have my power back, and I will be adored, as I am supposed to be! It is even good that I don't have Aria and Sonata with me anymore, since it means that the power will be mine, and mine alone!"

"You..." Twilight moaned.

"What is it? The Pussy Princess wants to say something?" Adagio mocked her.

"You... are..."

"Come on, you! I don't have all day!"

"You're... the... worst... thing... to ever come from Equestria..."

"That's the best you've got? I thought you would call me a monster or something."

"Oh, you're a monster all right... but that's not the end of it. You... are... a fucking fish-cunt!" Twilight spat out, returning the glare of hatred she had seen earlier in spades.

"Oh-ho-ho, she's got you there, Dazzle," Sunset laughed out, and immediately received another bolt of lightning for her cheek. "Awww... totally worth it..." she whispered, but Adagio did not pay her any attention anymore.

"OK, you cunning linguist," she addressed Twilight, "you stung me. That was quite offensive, especially considering sirens don't like comparisons with fish. As for cunts, why don't I introduce a bolt to yours?"

"What the- AAAAAAARGH!!!" the lavender-skinned girl screamed as another red arc hit her in the... genitals.

"That was for your cheek, Princess bitch."

"Fuck you!" Twilight snarled. Her body was stiff form the dark magic used on her, but she still managed to pull her right leg back. The muscles flared in sharp, unbearable pain, but she was able to jerk forward and deliver a hit straight to Adagio's nose, despite the agony she felt at the slightest movement.

Crack!

The heavy boot, powered by the kinetic energy and Twilight's righteous fury, broke the bridge of siren's nose. Adagio screamed in pain and stumbled backwards. Sunset laughed again, and Twilight choked out several chuckles from herself.

"Looks like you like getting cosmetics on your face! First Spike, and now Twilight!" the fiery-haired girl shouted, genuinely having fun despite the mortal peril she was in now. "Hey Adagio, want me to add some shadows under your eyes! Free of charge, only today!"

Zzzzzzzap!

Another lightning arc hit Sunset straight into the head, causing her to drop her head as the unicorn-turned-human lost consciousness.

"Tartarus curse her to oblivion," Adagio snarled. "Now she'll be out of it for some time. Not what I wanted. But this was merely a reprieve, Twilight Sparkle," she addressed her another captive. "Your defiance is both annoying and stupid, and for it, you will have the pleasure of seeing your dearest friend being the first one to give her magic to me. I assure you, I won't be nice to her, or you, for that matter, once she comes around."

Twilight simply glared at the orange-headed siren.

"And if you are still hoping for your dear friends to save you, abandon all hope. My followers are chasing your mutt, and your friends are about to face another horde of them. You have no chances whatsoever. My followers are far greater in numbers than you would believe. Some of them are hiding underground, in the tunnels."

"Tunnels? But they're collapsed, or occupied by Metroists... wait. You don't say..."

"Indeed, Princess. Metro Survivalists follow me as well. And the deaths of those who entered the tunnels were fake. Instead, those too curious for their own good contributed to my growing power by participating in ritual fights, and filled the ranks of my followers."

Utterly horrified, Twilight could only stare at her opponent, who managed to turn the situation in her own favour, and now had perfect means to implement her revenge.

"No one else has the numbers I do, and once Horseshoe Highway and Brightlight are eliminated, no faction will be able to oppose me as I ensnare more and more minds with your magic. The only ones who are immune would be your clique of friends, but you will be in my grasp anyway. So this ultimately doesn't matter. Now, I have an army to command."

With these words, Adagio Dazzle turned around and went away, taking the zombies with her.

As soon as she left, Twilight Sparkle broke into tears. The salty liquid mixed with the dust and dirt on her face, flowing down freely as she could not wipe it out.

I'm sorry, she thought.

Despair overwhelmed her.

I'm sorry, Applejack. I'm sorry, Rarity. I'm sorry, Sunset.

I'm sorry, everyone. Point Blank, Swift Sentinel, Cap Collector, Big Macintosh, Apples, Round Risk, Sugarcoat, Vinyl, Lemon, all the people of Appletown, and Brightlight, and Horseshoe Highway. I'm so sorry!

I failed you!

I DOOMED YOU ALL!





"Oh why it is so hard to breathe inside gas masks?" Rarity whined as she clutched her chest.

She, Applejack and Sugarcoat were standing near the police station now. The path to it has not been easy: despite their haste, the zombies were able to notice them as they ran out of the back door and to the street, and promptly gave chase.

Fortunately, Sugarcoat knew this part of Trottingham relatively well, having been there on multiple occasions. She directed other girls in directions where zombies would have hard time pursuing them due to the sheer number of the white-eyed enemies, but all that allowed for was to stay slightly ahead, and the trio has not been able to lose the pursuers completely.

Still, they managed to stay ahead of their enemies for long enough to reach the police station, and now they were inside it, locking the door, their lungs burning and diaphragms aching.

"Screw these masks," Sugarcoat said, pulling off her own, "We're fucked anyway, so I don't think any viruses in the air will make a difference."

Applejack and Rarity looked at each other and did the same thing.

"While I do not want to admit defeat yet, Sugarcoat, I must admit that your assessment of the situation is apt enough," the ex-fashionista said.

"Thanks. Now, where is that damn control terminal..." Sugarcoat muttered, sudying the schematics of the building. "Ah-ha! Found it! After me, everyone!"

The girls ran deeper into the building, doing their best not to trip on the garbage collected on the floor or concrete slabs that fell from the ceiling due to a shockwave. Half a minute later, they got themselves into a room where several Protectrons, two Mr. Gutsies and one sentry bot, all painted in police colours, were stnading behind semi-transparent domes, insulated against electromagnetic pulses. Sugarcoat went up to the terminal and began typing furiously into it. At one moment, she took out her police badge and let a camera scan it. then she typed something else, and the domes opened with a hiss. The robots went active.

"Robotic Police Unit of Trottingham number 15: Online," they said in sync. The sentry bot scanned the area and intoned:

"Scanning. Result: One cadet. One soldier of Mechanized Infantry. One UFE scout-sniper. Standard subordination protocol active. Cadet, show your badge."

Sugarcoat did as requested.

"Identity confirmed: Sugarcoat, rank "Cadet". Paging superiors... error. Unable to contact a superior officer."

"I have been deputized to take command on behalf of Officer Herring Coat," Sugarcoat said. "Here's the badge," she showed the other badge he had, more ornate than her own.

"Authenticity verified. Request acknowledged. Unit is at your disposal, cadet."

"Hostile force is on approach to the police station. They are armed and will not surrender. I am authorizing lethal force. Open fire at them without warning at my command or at command of my companions. They are to be considered equal to me in terms of authority."

"Acknowledged. Moving to designated position," the robots moved out. The girls followed them out of the room.

"Before we get back, we need to see if the arsenal is intact," Sugarcoat said. "We're low on ammo, and if we run out of them, it will be bad."

"Where's the arsenal?"

"Follow me."

One minute later, they were standing in front of a metal door. Sugarcoat inserted her badge in a slot, but nothing happened.

"Damn it, the EMP must have fried the lock. Let me see if emergency unlocking will work. Step away from the door."

"Emergency unlocking?"

Instead of an answer, Sugarcoat opened an electric box next to the door and pulled the red lever labeled "Emergency unlocking".

BOOM!

A small explosion tore off the lock, blowing the hole in the door and making it open slightly. Inside, the girls could see racks of guns and crates of ammo.

"Help yourselves," the ex-Shadowbolt opened the door fully and ran in, picking up the pre-loaded magazines for R91. Applejack and Rarity stood still, mouths agape, before shaking off the stupor and moving in.

"Why would an emergency unlock be in an electric box?" Applejack asked.

"Don't ask me," Sugarcoat replied. "I didn't design the place."

They managed to stock up on all the ammunition they required. As a bonus, they found frag grenades, as well as additional flashbangs. Applejack looked around and noticed a heavy, six-barreled weapon standing in the far corner.

A minigun.

"Now why would they have a minigun here of all places?"

"Someone had to buy surplus military equipment," Sugarcoat said. "This is an older model, HSRBW-275, which was replaced by HSRBW-300 a year before the apocalypse. Maybe they wanted to buy power armour for someone to use it as well. Police militarization at its finest."

Applejack hung her LMG behind her back and slowly approached the weapon which usually mounted at tripods, and stretched her hand out, putting it on the minigun. Then, she hefted it, right hand on the firing handle, left hand on the grip handle. The exoskeleton of her power armour slightly whined as additional strain was put on it. As shepulled a lever, the minigun's electric engine, covered by insulation against electromagnetic pulse, coughed as it started.

The blonde girl pushed the safety button, making the barrels rotate with a whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr sound. As she released the button, the barrels stopped their rotation.

Silence reigned. Everyone stared at Applejack as she gazed at the minigun almost lovingly.

"Now that's mah kind of gun!" she exclaimed like a kid who got her Hearth's Warming present.

"Well," Rarity said, "it certainly fits your style, Applejack."

"Don't forget the spare ammo," Sugarcoat pointed at the extra boxes. "This model only has two hundred and forty 5mm ammo per magazine."

"Thanks for advice," Applejack did as asked, and picked the minigun again.

"I have also found some mines. Now, let's return to our position until the zombies get here."

"What are mines for?"

"The first room is not worth holding for too long, we will be overrun quickly. It will make more sense to put mines there and activate them remotely once it becomes indefensible. The robots and us will be in the second room. There are more possibilities for barricading. Let me think... Applejack, you and the sentry bot will need to stand in the first room and try and do as much damage as possible. They will inevitably break through the window, but while they try the door, you can deal massive enough damage. Retreat when it's too much, and I will activate the mines. Then we will try and defend against this wave. Then we see what happens."

"Hmmm. OK then. If ya insist."

"Now come on. Time's a-wasting."





Sour Note used to be nobody.

A failure before apocalypse, a failure after apocalypse.

Before apocalypse, he was a lonely cleaner in the mall, with meager and shrinking pay.

After apocalypse, he became a loner and a hermit, surviving on plants and fruits, and sometimes he puked from radiation sickness. And some time later, he was picked by a gang of raiders.

He had a choice: die, or help them.

And he did not want to die. So he joined.

He saw horrible and disgusting acts. Crimes. Murder. Rape. Even cannibalism.

This made his insides rot.

But one day, they encountered a young woman. Their leader thought she would make a great sex toy.

But...

The woman started singing.

Her song was magical. All his worries washed away. All he felt was bliss, and joy.

It was the most beautiful song he has ever heard.

The song enveloped him whole. He would do anything to experience this true joy.

And other raiders did as well.

Now, they were standing beside their comrades, ready to bring new people to the Song Bringer, as he called her.

And there was a door in their way. A flimsy door will not stop those blessed by the Song Bringer!

He and others pushed hard, and the door broke.

Inside, there was a mighty robot, painted blue, with white letters spelling "POLICE" adorning its "chest".

And there was a young blonde woman in very heavy armour, holding something that pointed at them.

Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The "something" had six barrels, and all of them started rotating.

Sour Note remembered what this thing was. A minigun.

"Y'all weren't invited!" the woman shouted, and her button pressed the electrotrigger.

As 5mm bullets tore him apart, Sour Note regretted only one thing: he would not be able to hear the Blessed Song in the afterlife.





"Urgh..." Sunset moaned as she came around.

That was some mean dark magic. My everything hurts badly. Especially my head, I think I know now what "mother of all headaches" means.

"Waking up, are we?"

Oh sweet Celestia and Luna, somebody eviscerate this siren bitch before her voice splits my skull, dear Starswirl, I cannot take it anymore, Sunset thought as she reluctantly opened her eyes...

...and came face to face with Adagio Dazzle.

"Finally, damn it," the orange-haired girl snarled. Her cuts were not bleeding anymore, and her voice was only slightly nasally. Her nose was also in the right posistion.

Fuck. She either fixed her nose or had one of the zombies do it, Sunset thought as she glanced upwards.

Wait.

Upwards?!

That's when her vestibular apparatus finally informed her that she was actually lying on her back on some hard surface. Her hands were still handcuffed to something, and her legs were immobilized as well.

Throwing a few glances, the fiery-haired girl realized that her legs were tied together, and several zombies were holding them tight. She also noticed Twilight still hanging by her handcuffed hands from the pole.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Twilight said in return.

"Silence!" Adagio snapped and sent a red bolt at Twilight, who yelped in pain. "I have no more patience for you. You," she pointed her finger at Sunset, "will give me your magic, and you will do it now!"

"Yeah, how about you give me a cunnilingus, whore?" Sunset spat in disgust. Instead of using dark magic, however, Adagio punched her hard in the solar plexus. Since Sunset no longer had any armour on her, she felt the brunt and gasped heavily as pain coursed through her body, trying in vain to get air inside her lungs.

"Mouth off at me again, Bacon Bitch, and I won't be as nice," the siren hissed.

OK, now I'm officially pissed off, Sunset thought. Next person who makes a remark on bacon hair gets scalped. With salt dropped in the wounds. She desperately wanted to get back at her captor, but she still had trouble breathing, and was unable to do so.

"Let's get the process started," Adagio said. She took out a wicked-looking knife with a curved end, and pierced Sunset's finger with it. Squeezing it so blood would leak out, she collected it in a small cup, and then poured all of it onto the magic journal.

The shards of the gemstones that used to power the sirens' ability to sing began glowing in a baleful red light. Adagio's eyes became red themselves, and some runes appeared on the knife she had, also glowing red.

"That's all?" Sunset asked.

"As if," she heard the answer.

Then Adagio rose the knife above her own head, aiming it at Sunset...

"What're you doing?!" Twilight shouted in panic, but she was ignored by everyone.

"Powers of the seas!" Adagio chanted in a voice laced by dark magic. "Powers of the seas! Grant me my wish! Grant me my wish!"

Ancient sirens' ritual, Twilight recognized, and her insides froze in fear.

She guessed what was about to happen.

NO!

Sunset also recognized the ritual, and her eyes widened. She whimpered:

"Oh no... not that ritual... please, Celestia merciful and almighty, please not let it be that ritual..." she repeated, tears flowing out of her eyes.

"Give me the magic of this mare," Adagio continued, "and make it mine! What was hers, will be mine! What was hers, will be mine!"

The air cracked around the knife, as the runes glowed even brighter.

"SO MOTE IT BE!" the siren sharply moved her hands downward.

The knife pierced Sunset's chest, going further and embedding itself in her heart.

"NO!" Twilight cried out, tears flowing down freely as she witnessed the scene. "SUNSET!"





"Incomin'!" Applejack shouted as she and the sentry bot were holding the line.

The first wave of attackers utterly failed. They charged through the door, and were immediately greeted with the bulletstorm from two miniguns. Consisting of only ten zombies, the wave was quickly eliminated.

The next wave, though, was smarter. Instead of simply charging through the door, they were going through the windows, climbing over the windowsills. The defenders were forced to split their attention between two sides, which meant that the enemies could take potshots at them.

Another uncomfortable thing was that Applejack's minigun could hold only 240 bullets, unlike the sentry bot, that had 9600 5mm ammo in its compartment. She already had had to recharge once; fortunately, power armour made that a very quick job, but that necessity nearly made her go to close quarters combat as the enemy almost came to point-blank range.

Still, the blonde farmer was having a time of her life. As the third wave approached, this time both through the door and the windows, she wound up her minigun again.

"Come get some, ya varmints!" she shouted, spraying the fire upon the attackers.

"You are disturbing the peace," sentry bot taunted. "Face your punishment."

"Stupid machine!" a super mutant roared, charging at the robot. "Silence!" he shouted, trying to whack the bot with his armature.

"Hey, dumbass, forgot 'bout me?!" Applejack discharged a string of 5mm bullets directly into the super mutant's face, tearing his head off.

"Police: one. Criminals: zero," sentry bot taunted again. "Face the judgement!" It launched the rocket at the entrance, where a group of enemies was located. The rocket exploded, sending cooked blood and chunks of meat everywhere.

"Gross!" Applejack said. "But awesome!"

Several bullets ricochetted off her armour.

"Oh come on!" she shouted, turning her minigun in the direction of the offenders. "Eat lead, fuckers!" she fired at the incoming wave, until the barrels stopped rotating.

"Ah goldurn it, not again!" she swore. Pulling the release lever, she dropped the ammo box and picked another one. Setting it in place, she fed the belt into the feeder, and pulled the reloading lever. A clank-chick sound signified that the weapon was ready once again.

Several more bullets ricochetted off her. Applejac noticed that the zombies were assaulting every window now.

"Retreat!" she shouted.

"Acknowledged. Retreating protocol active," sentry bot replied, turning around, but keeping his weapon levered at the zombies. He fired another rocket, splattering more ground with flesh chunks and gore.

"Sugarcoat!" Applejack shouted to the pig-tailed girl that was waiting further in the back, detonator primed. "Blow' em up!"

"OK!" was the reply. Sugarcoat looked behind Applejack's back, and sure enough, the zombies were getting in the perfect position for her strike.

She pushed the button.

BA-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The explosions shook the police station. The zombies standing near the mines themselves were almost evaporated, little remaining of them. Those a bit further were heavily lacerated by shrapnel, and aside from super mutants, suffered fatal wounds. Others were either lightly or heavily wounded, or incapacitated, and became easy pickings for the sentry bot's minigun.

"KA-BOOOOOM, baby!" Sugarcoat shouted, adrenaline flowing through her veins along with the excitement of battle and the thrill she felt from blowing up so many enemies to smithereens. "How do you like them apples, huh, you stupid freaks?!"

"Hate to interrupt, sugarcube, but we still need ta retreat!" Applejack shouted, turning around to quickly take out some still standing zombies.

"Spoilsport," Sugarcoat grumbled, but followed. As she and the farmer went further to the room, the latter quickly went upstairs to the second floor balcony, where Protectrons were located. Mr. Gutsies were floating below, plasma weapons and flamethrowers primed. Rarity was standing at the bottom of one set of stairs, holding a marksman's carbine. As soon as she saw other girls running, she began placing some objects on the ground. Sugarcoat did the same on her own side.

"What are those?" Applejack asked.

"More mines, but I won't trigger them manually - they throw shrapnel in one direction," Sugarcoat explained.

"Ah see."

"Heads up!" sentry bot fired a rocket again, minigun fire following. Mr. Gutsies began spewing plasma bolts as well.

"You lawbreakers have done enough! I'll spare the court the trouble of sentencing you to firing squad!" one of them taunted.

"OK, everyone," Sugarcoat addressed the others as everyone assembled on the balcony overlooking the exit which they were covering. "Fire at any fucker who has white eyes! Hold the line!"

They did not have to wait soon. Despite the best attempts of the sentry bot and Mr. Gutsies, enemies began crawling in by groups of two and three.

Protectrons opened fire with their integral laser weapons, Sugarcoat and Rarity began raining precise shoots, and Applejack focused her lethal attention on the heavies.

Bullets raced in both directions, as zombies and the defenders fired at each other.

"You're going down!" Applejack exclaimed, cackling in glee as she kept pressing the electrotrigger button...





"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Twilight struggled to get herself free, to no avail.

Adagio ignored her, instead focusing her magic on the knife embedded deep in Sunset's heart. The fiery-haired girl lay unmoving, eyes closed.

Then, she jerked, her eyes opened, and she screamed.

Adagio began pulling out the knife, which was now fully covered in Sunset's blood, and the runes were glowing white now. As the knife went out of the Equestrian's body, Sunset was thrashing and screaming. More zombies piled on her to keep the girl down, while the siren slowly pulled it out.

Finally, as the knife left out, a bright flash of light blinded everyone for a moment. When Twilight opened her eyes, she saw Sunset lying on the surface, with no wounds as if they had never been inflicted.

Her mind went blank.

What?

Sunset whimpered, and her eyes were filled with tears. She did not see Adagio licking the blood off the blade.

Twilight did, however, and the sight made her sick to the core. Her stomach revolted, and she puked; unfortunately, some of the vomit mass ended on her own person, which did not improve her already low-beyond-belief mood.

Adagio licked all the blood from the knife, and her eyes flashed with bright red light.

"Aaaahhh..." she said. "Finally, Equestrian magic instead of all those negative emotions my followers generate when they fight among themselves! And I did not take the entire magic the Bacon Hair had! You," she addressed the zombies, "put her on the pole again!"

The mindless servants did as ordered.

"And now, you two will witness as my army grows even more!" Adagio exclaimed, triumph witten on her face. "Look behind you! If you can, that is..."

Sunset did not react, still whimpering in pain and hanging uselessly. Twilight did not want to look... really did not want to... but she still twisted herself around.

She was shocked again.

Behind her were people. Some faces were familiar from Horseshoe Highway. Some were not. But all of them were unarmed, and held down by the zombies.

Their mouths were moving, but no sound came.

Silencing spell, Twilight guessed.

"As my followers are hunting down your friends and your worthless mutt, Princess Twilight," Adagio made sure to properly mock Twilight's title, "another group captured all the remaining defenders from Horseshoe Highway, as well as any person and super mutant they could find! Witness, as they join me!"

The red gems glowed again on the magic journal, as the siren moved to her other captives. Inhaling deeply, she opened her mouth.

"Aaaaaaahhh-aaaahhh-aaaaahh, aaaaaahhh-aaaaaaaah. Aaaaaaahhh-aaaahhh-aaaaahh, aaaaaahhh-aaaaaaaah..." she sang.

As Adagio sang, Twilight noticed how people began swaying to her voice, first slowly, then more and more actively and eagerly. They began moving closer to Adagio, who noticed that. Her eyes glowed red again, and beams of magic shot from her hand to each and every hypnotized person.

"Praise your Mistress!" she shouted, raising her hands.

"Praise the Mistress!!!" the voices echoed across the building. Twilight turned back and cried, having no strength to witness the spectacle anymore.

It's all over...





"This is bad!" Applejack shouted.

Sentry bot, Mr. Gutsies and the Protectrons were destroyed. They were left alone.

They had survived four waves of attackers, each of them more and more ferocious, and suffered some wounds. Rarity was limping on her right leg, Sugarcoat's left side and arm were a bandaged gory mess, and Applejack herself has had three RegenStim injections from the armour's medical system.

"Well, we had a good run," Sugarcoat said. "It was a pleasure to know you."

"Don't give up yet," Applejack said.

"Face the facts, Applejack. We are about to be overrun. The robots are gone, and we lack the heavy weapons needed to resist. And even if we had, they will overrun us with sheer numbers."

"If this position is indefensible anymore, we'll have to retreat somewhere again. Maybe we should try and find Sunset's house and complete our mission?"

"I agree that we must go, but... I don't know if we can outrun them," Rarity said. "My leg's busted."

"Ah'll carry ya," Aplpejack offered.

"Thanks, Applejack, but I can walk, as long as Med-X holds."

"OK. Let's prolong our suffering by resisting," Sugarcoat said. "Follow me," she rose up. Everyone followed her, sombre with the impending feeling of doom.

They ran.

They did not exactly know where, but they ran.

They did not know for how long they ran, but they ran, until...

"Ooof!" Rarity exclaimed as she tripped on something and fell down. If that was not enough, she landed flat on her face, and broke her nose.

"Oh whyyyyyyy?!" she whined. "Of all the things to happen, I have to be humiliated by this?!"

Suddenly they heard a whimper.

"Is that a... dog?" Sugarcoat asked.

"Spikey-Wikey!" the indigo-haired girl with freshly broken nose scooped up the dragon-turned-dog, who in fact did trip her unintentionally.

"Guys, help!" Spike panted. "Twilight and Sunset are captured by Adagio Dazzle, she is the one to blame for this zombie mess, and she wants to suck out their and your magic to gain herself a personal army!"

Silence reigned for a few seconds as everyone digested the shocking news.

And then bullets flied as Spike's pursuers caught up to them and opened fire.
> Chapter 30: Adagio of desperation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 30

Adagio of desperation


"Fucking Tartarus on a stick!" Sugarcoat screamed, firing her weapon at the zombies. "Get to cover, idiots!"

Applejack grabbed Rarity by an arm and dragged her unceremoniously into closest cover as Sugarcoat desperately threw herself behind a large pile of broken concrete slabs.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Rarity complained, still clutching Spike with her another arm against her chest. "Don't pull my arm out of the socket, will you?"

"No time for bein' gentle!" Applejack took her minigun again and stuck out of cover, pushing the electrotrigger button.

Whirrrrrrrrrrrr-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! A string of 5mm bullets cut the horde's numbers to half in three seconds. Sugarcoat and Rarity assisted with R91 and Buffalo SMG fire respectively.

Soon, no zombie stood around.

"Let's find some shelter," Applejack said. "We need to rest a bit. Spike, tell us meanwhile the details."

"I was sitting in Twilight's rucksack when she suddenly fell and I got squished and lost consciousness for some time. I think someone hit her on the head, and Sunset too. When I came around, there were smells of other people, and I did not risk coming out myself. So I sat and listened. For some time, nothing happened, then Sunset came around, then Twilight. They talked for some time, and then I heard Adagio Dazzle come out. She told them both that she was the one controlling the zombies. She also said she wanted revenge now that she managed to capture them, and she has sent out waves of zombies to capture you all and bring you to her."

"What plans does she have in store for us?" Rarity asked.

"Ooooh, they aren't good at all, Rarity. Adagio has the magic journal we were looking for, and she has planted the shards of their magic gems on it. They're fused together now; that's how Adagio can use magic. She pulled it from the journal. She plans to greatly expand her magical reserves by sucking out the magic that Twilight, Sunset, you and Applejack have. As for Sugarcoat, she plans to add her into the army."

"Out of everything you've said, Spike, I only understood the part of this Adagio Dazzle wanting to zombify me," Sugarcoat said. "What is it about journals and gems and shards?"

Applejack and Rarity filled the former Shadowbolt in about the Battle of the Bands, about the sirens who opposed them, and about the magical artifacts Spike had mentioned. Sugarcoat listened attentively, without interruptions.

"And so one of our aims was to find Sunset's magic journal so that she could communicate with her pony world?" she asked.

"The world is named Equestria, and yes."

"Tartarus in a fucking handbasket!" she exploded. "I know you can't exactly blab of this to other people, but I was there at the Friendship Games! I saw Twilight turn into a demoness and almost tear our world in half! I know of magic! You could have told me, you know!"

"I'm sorry, Sugarcoat," Rarity said. "This Twilight is from Equestria, and she was confused for this world's Twilight who is well-known in some circles for her great contributions in technological advancement. We're maintaining the ruse of her being amnesiac and being on a quest to recover her memories. The less people know of this - even those who do know of magic - the better."

"I see," the pig-tailed girl replied. "Make no mistake, I am still miffed, but your reasons are valuable. So, we're supposed to somehow bypass all the zombies, kill this Adagio Dazzle, save Twilight and Sunset and get this book back?"

"Yep," Spike said.

"While being wounded, exhausted, running on RegenStim and in Rarity's case, Med-X."

"That bad?"

"We've been on the run from the zombies for quite a while, Spike," Applejack said. "Ah understand now, at least, why so many zombies pursued us. Ah think Adagio found us, got the jump on Twilight and Sunset and is throwing more and more zombies at us so that we would get overwhelmed and taken prisoner."

"And in order to liberate them, we actually have to go to the very place she resides in and is surrounded by fuck-a-ton of zombified people," Sugarcoat said, paused for a moment, and spat out, "This sucks balls."

"There's more," Spike said morosely. "Apparently, Adagio can actively use her magic not only for mind control. As I was running, I heard some zapping sounds, and Twilight and Sunset screaming. I think she was... torturing them."

Everyone's faces turned green as they processed the ghastly mental image.

"Why that insufferable little..." Rarity began, paused to take some deep breaths, and launched into a quiet tirade:

"Fuck it! No polite word can describe this miserable excuse for a sapient being! This wench has decided to kidnap and torture my friends for her own amusement, and she wants to deprive them of their magic so as to convert even more poor people and zombify them? Well fuck that shit! I don't care what stands between her and us, this extra-uterine bitch and daughter of a whore is going to die!"

Everyone stared at the former fashionista as if she just grew a second head, an extra set of limbs and a male reproductive organ to boot.

"What?" she looked at her companions in return. "I meant what I said!"

"I applaud your passion," Sugarcoat said, "but acting out of anger will definitely get us killed. We need a plan."

"I am already thinking of it... wait... you hear that?"

All the girls listened carefully. Spike, who had better hearing, said:

"There are many foot stomps coming our way."

"We need to hide!" Applejack hissed.

"In here!" Rarity pointed at the ruins of the house that apparently had internal walls that blocked any view from outside. Everyone quickly ran inside, and the indigo-haired girl turned on her Stealth-Boy, sticking out carefully.

Everyone listened while the stomping continued as the wave of the unknown people just ran past the building. They stood still, not daring to move, convinced that even their hearts were traitorously beating too loudly. Finally, the sounds of many feet moved further and further, until silence reigned once again.

Everyone breathed out in relief. Rarity de-cloaked.

"Those were Metro Survivalists," she said. "They were running in the approximate direction of Brightlight."

"Round Risk would never let them in," Applejack said. "Ah'm pretty sure of that."

"It's not that, Applejack. There were normal humans within their ranks. Including those who are supposed to be dead at the hands of Metroists. And they all had white eyes as well. What does that tell you?"

Everyone mulled over the information.

"Oh shit," Applejack muttered. "It looks like we are running out of time. Rarity, what kind of plan did you have?"

"I'm afraid it was rather lousy," Rarity admitted. "I planned to have Spike bring us to the building Twilight and Sunset are held in, then have you and Sugarcoat draw her out while I remain cloaked and put a bullet from my sniper rifle into her forehead."

"Yeah right," Sugarcoat said, "this plan sucks."

"Another idea was sto simply approach her stealthily and snipe her through the window, but I can't do that without knowing the layout of the building. We'll need to scout the area first."

"She will definitely have patrols or sentries or something."

"Probably. But if we want to save Twilight, Sunset and everyone in Brightlight, we need to act now."

"This is going to be a clusterfuck," Sugarcoat said. "Can't we get reinforcements?"

"They might get zombified as well. Won't work. The only ones who are immune are me and Applejack."

"Then I am a risk as well."

"Still, if she does happen to convert you, I think you could be at least taken out without killing you."

"Don't bother. If she does take control of my mind, kill me."

"Ah-d rather not have it come to that," Applejack said. "Don't worry, sugarcube, we won't let her do that to you."

"You can't be sure."

"Wait a minute," the farmer addressed Spike, "ya mentioned only Adagio. Where the hay are Aria and Sonata?"

"Aria was killed by Adagio, and Sonata ran away and is missing. They don't count."

"Now why do I think that this Sonata will pop out at the worst opportune moment?" Sugarcoat muttered.

"If Sonata did run away, she might have had an argument with Adagio. Less cause to worry," Rarity said. "Now, Spike, can you show us the way to the place where this nasty siren is keeping our friends?"

"Sure. Put me on the ground and follow me."





"Oooohhhh. Oh, oh, oh. It hurts... my everyhing hurts..."

"Sunset?"

"Who the... oh, hey, Twilight. We're still hanging?"

"Yes."

"Adagio took my magic?"

"Yes, but not all of it."

"That so makes it easier after a blood arcana crucio ritual..."

"Never heard of it."

"Never will. I read about it when I was in closed section of Canterlot's library which is dedicated to dark magic when looking for info on Crystal Mirror. Celestia is unlikely to let you in there. There is truly nasty stuff in there. Anyway, since I am alive, it means Adagio will let me regenerate before doing it again. Did she say if she will do you next or if she will do me and make you watch again?"

"No."

"That bitch."

Zzzzzzzzap.

"AAAAAARGH!"

"Language, Bacon Hair," Adagio said, appearing from behind. "How are you feeling?"

"Ask me again after you get buggered by a super mutant's dick."

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzap!

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH!"

"Seriously, what is it with you provoking me all the time? Are you secretly a masochist or something?"

Sunset chose to glare at the siren instead of dignifying that with an answer.

"Good girl. Keep silent, or you might accidentally bite your tongue in half later. Now, I have heard you wanted to know whom I'll "do" next, right? What an interesting choice of words you two have made. Taking your magic does not require me to sleep with you."

"Whoa, what, we didn't... what the Tartarus... oh get your mind out of the gutter!" Twilight snapped.

"Seeing that your companion is constantly telling me to do something sex-related, I have to question whether you hogged all the good-looking guys and left her with nothing," Adagio smirked.

Both girls simply stared at her with a blank look.

"Suit yourself. Although I have to say that we sirens are not really that choosy. And I can certainly incorporate sex into the ritual. Since you will be handcuffed anyway, think of it as bondage experience."

Now both girls subconsciously clutched their legs together, horror and revulsion written on their faces.

"In fact, in all the years I have lived, I never had a chance to add a Princess of Equestria to my conquered list," Adagio turned to Twilight and gave her a sultry look. "Guess now I can rectify that," she smirked as her adressee's face gained an even more horrified expression. "especially considering that you have quite a hot body by human standards. Besides, I do have needs, so if you give me a good orgasm, I may go easy on you during the ritual," Adagio gave a sultry wink and made bedroom eyes at the lavender-skinned girl. Sunset's cheeks bulged, and she vomited.

"YOU'RE A MONSTER, ADAGIO DAZZLE!!!" Twilight screamed in anger and fear, as tears flowed out of her eyes as she heard what an ignoble fate the siren had for her.

"You had it coming, Princess. Besides, your bitch here also needs to be punished as you were. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to command my army," Adagio said coldly, turning her back to Twilight and leaving. The latter broke into tears, seeing no way out.

Zzzzzzzzzap!

"Oh, and that was for that "monster" remark, you bitch," the siren snarled, leaving. Twilight's face scrunched in pain as small wisps of smoke came from her, and started crying again.

She had no way, no will to fight anymore.

She was broken.

She knew what was coming to her, and saw no way out of it.





"That's the place," Spike said while showing it with his paw, "I recognize the building."

The path to it has been nothing short of an ordeal.

Knowing full well that they had no hope of withstanding more waves of attackers, especially now that Metro Survivalists were now known as another element of Adagio's army and thus hostile to them, they had to move carefully and stealthily - not an easy task, especially considering that Applejack was wearing power armour, which was not designed for stealthy actions in mind.

They knew the approximate direction where they needed to go; Spike told them that the building was not far from Sunset's old home, and his help would be needed only if they were to be close to their intended target.

This allowed Sugarcoat to suggest an idea of them getting to the place via a sewer.

Rarity wrinkled her nose in disgust, and Applejack almost gagged at the suggestion, but both were forced to recognize that the idea had merit. Trying to get around the zombies on the surface was unfeasible, as they were now scouring the surface for them.

Adagio Dazzle was really unwilling to let them get out of her grasp.

Another factor that played in favour of this decision was the apparent fact that whenever a zombie was killed, Adagio could somehow learn of it and swarm the area where it happened. Rarity once sniped a lone zombie that was standing with its back to them. There were no other enemies that could see the act or the girls themselves - they were hidden behind walls of a building, and Rarity had her Stealth-Boy on when she killed the zombie.

Yet one and a half minute later, two dozens of zombies swarmed the street. The girls left with haste via back exit and managed to avoid detection, but their mood was soured by the fact that each and every kill would attract Adagio's attention.

Reluctantly, they decided to try the sewers.

Trottingham's waste disposal system was badly wretched by nuclear detonations; many sections were collapsed, and those that were not had fecal masses or something else running freely or collected in stinking pools. Unable to bear with the smell, the girls put on gas masks again, and Spike, with his more sensitive nose, had to suffer without any possibility of respite.

The only positive in that situation was that Sugarcoat's idea actually worked. As the Shadowbolt had predicted, Adagio did not think of checking the sewage system at all, so the problem of being detected by their enemies was irrelevant at that moment. Although Rarity suspected that once they climbed out, the zombies would be able to detect them by smell.

Once they spent two hours or so going through the labyrinth of sewer pipes, they reached the approximate location of their target. Rarity took Spike, activated her Stealth-Boy and carefully peeked out of a manhole once she made sure that her Pip-Boy IFF showed no enemies.

Their first time was unsuccessful. Spike declared that they were not there yet, and they moved further through the sewer.

On the second time, however, Lady Luck smiled at them. Spike immediately saw the building he escaped from not long ago, and Rarity took a quick look-around before going down and closing the manhole after herself.

"We've found the building where Twilight and Sunset are held," she told the others quietly. While there was no one else in the vicinity, she decided against unnecessary risks. "It's in that direction, Spike confirmed it."

"Good," Applejack said. "Mah hands are itching to introduce Adagio to mah little friend," she hefted her minigun.

"Unfortunately, there are zombies posted around it, there is no way all of us can slip past them undetected. I can use my Stealth-Boy to do so, but I don't know how to get around them once I get Twilight and Sunset back here."

"You don't need to," Sugarcoat said suddenly. "I've just remembered something. There is an outpost of National Security Commissariat nearby. It is far more defensible than that police station we were in. Can you bring up the map on your Pip-Boy?"

Rarity did as asked.

"Yes, it is here," Sugarcoat pointed to the location. "Theoretically, we can retreat there and defend ourselves. The only problem we face is that I might not be able to hack the defenses there."

"I have an EMP grenade for emergency cases."

"Good. I think that while you infiltrate and rescue Twilight and Sunset, me and Applejack can organize a diversion and lead them on a wild goose chase."

"That's very risky."

"There is no other option. While the majority of the enemies are distracted, take care to lead them out and hide them in the NSC outpost. Me and Applejack will retreat into the sewers again. They will lose us, and we will rejoin you out there. I only recommend that you scout the NSC building beforehand."

"OK. I don't really like this... but if we are to save our friends, as well as all the unfortunate souls in Brightlight and Horseshoe Highway, we have to act."

"Let's move it, then. I am sick and tired of the smell of fecal masses."





Adagio Dazzle was frustrated.

The mutt that had already foiled her plans back at the Battle of the Bands by releasing Rainbooms out of their prison has found the Princess' friends. She managed to see them through the eyes of her followers before they were gunned down by that dumb farmer in a powered casket.

Dumb she may be, but she knows how to effectively use a minigun. Stupid cunt!

Now they were on alert, constantly moving, and trying to avoid detection.

If Adagio had to give them credit, they were pulling it off really well.

They realized somehow that more zombies would appear and charge at them if they were to try and entrench themselves somewhere. Adagio could clearly feel and see where her followers were killed, and could divert other groups to them, and apparently they caught onto that.

Even if someone following her was killed but unseen, she could clearly feel where it happened, and swarm the area.

Now that the blondie, the prissy fashionista and the four-eyed brainiac were well aware of whom exactly they were against, they acted a lot more carefully. Adagio found it harder and harder to detect them, and at one point, they simply went below the ground, figuratively speaking.

How do they keep pulling it off?! she raged internally. Fucking bitches! Wait until I get my hands on them; they'll regret crossing me! Maybe I should wait before performing the ritual on Princess of fucking Friendship just so they would see that?

She paused for some time, measuring internally her levels of magic.

No... most likely I will not be able to do that. I already have many followers under my active control, and Metroists are on their way to Brightlight. If I am to prevail, I cannot allow myself to get overtaxed.

I need to wait a little more. Twilight most likely has even more potent magic than Sunset. I have to be careful and not take too much of it.

She smiled.

Revenge is a dish best served cold... better to concentrate and find all those friends of theirs right now. Even if I can't find them myself, they will come to me.

Their kind will never abandon a friend in need.

Perfect trap.





"Hey, Twilight," Sunset softly called.

Twilight Sparkle paid her no heed, too engrossed in her feelings of fear, revulsion and self-loathing.

I screwed up. I screwed up so badly, sending me back to magical kindergarten would be heaven comapred to what I deserve.

I hurried here, without information, having no idea what to expect. I had to rely on others and let them lead me, when I am supposed to be a leader. I coated my hands by so much blood, fires of Tartarus will never burn it away and no pain will be sufficient for me.

And I have lead others into this death trap. Now everyone will either die or be converted into mindless gibbering slaves while my friends and me will have to undergo one of the darkest rituals to give Adagio her magic reserve. She certainly won't let us simply die. She'll keep us alive for as long as she needs to.

"Twilight."

The call failed to penetrate her ears.

"Twilight!"

"Uh? What?"

"Pay some damn attention to me, damn it!" Sunset hissed.

"Sorry!" Twilight replied. "What?"

"I think we need to act. We can't wait for others. We have to find them ourselves."

"But how to get down from here?"

"This pole is not really secure. There's one support beam that looks like it's held together by boogers."

"Ewww."

"I'm not kidding. If we apply enough effort, we might shake it down. Can you reach the pole with your fingers?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Try and grab the pole with your hands."

"OK."

Twilight did as instructed.

"OK. Now you need to pull yourself up when I say "one". I'll say "two" after that, try to get yourself as high as you can. When I say "three", fall down. We should fall together."

"OK."

"All right. Let's try. One..." Sunset raised herself, and so did Twilight, "...two..." they rose even higher, visibly straining, "...three!"

Clank.

Both girls dropped down and the pole clanked slightly. The weak support beam moved slightly.

"OK. We can do this. Let's try again," Sunset said. "One... two... three!"

Clank.

"One... two... three!"

Clank.

They have tried that several more times. With each of their attempts, the weakened support beam gave way more and more. Finally, after a particularly vicious heave, it gave away, and the girls fell down along with the pole. By some miracle, they did not drop it on the floor.

"Thank goodness," Sunset breathed out, massaging her arms. "Damn it, it's all prickly now from the blood rushing in..."

"I hear you," Twilight did the same. "Now what?"

"I should have some bobby pins in my hidden pocket. Let's see if they... ah-ha, right here," Sunset picked up one of her bobby pins and began picking the lock on her handcuffs. Twenty seconds later, it clicked, and Sunset got one of her hands free.

"Come on," she motioned, "got to free you as well."

Twilight came closer, and Sunset spent another fifteen seconds on freeing Twilight's right hand. Once she did that, Sunset made sure to release the handcuffs off their wrists completely.

"We've got to find the exit," she said. "Forget the magic book for now, we can't fight Adagio alone. We have to regroup and make another plan."

"Got it."

"OK, let's see, I think Spike ran in that direction..."

The girls quietly creeped down the half-destroyed stairs, making sure not to produce any noise. Apparently, Adagio was already conducting the assault on Brightlight, since they encountered no zombies on the first flights of stairs.

When they went two floors lower, they managed to find a rack of weapons, where some assault rifles and armour vests were located. Twilight and Sunset quickly picked SWAT police armour vests for themselves and two AP-79 assault rifles with some spare magazines, as well as N99 pistols and several frag grenades.

"At least we're not defenseless now," Sunset said.

"Agreed."

They went further down, avoiding any patrols and producing no noise. Unfortunately, luck decided to turn away from them in that instance: they were almost at the exit when a group of zombies entered the building when they were in the middle of the room and could hide nowhere.

Sunset did not stop to think. She opened fire immediately and dropped two of them with one string of bullets. Twilight, slightly shocked at first, quickly brought down the rest.

"Fuck, we're busted!" the fiery-haired girl shouted. "Run!"

"Where?" the Princess of Friendship asked a perfactly legitimate question.

"Anywhere but here!" came a no less legitimate answer.

They ran out of the building as other zombies charged them. They gave several short bursts of fire that wounded or killed some of their pursuers, and ran further away.

Bullets rang around them. Twilight noticed that the zombies were trying to avoid killing them and were aiming for the legs, but so far they had trouble hitting them.

Good, that works to our advantage.

"And just where do you think you're going?!" the hated voice of Adagio Dazzle rang behind them.

Without any words spoken between themselves, Twilight and Sunset turned back and unloaded their magazines into the siren.

Or...

...tried to.

A red field of energy shimmered around Adagio, destroying any bullets that could do her harm.

Not hesitating, the Equestrians threw frag grenades in he direction and turned to run away so as to not be cut by shrapnel themselves.

BOOM! BOOM!

"No."

Adagio snarled, and two bolts of energy lashed themselves around Twilight and Sunset, making them drop their weapons and fall down.

The magic dragged them to their captor, who was most definitely not amused at their attempt.

"Your stubborness is not only stupid, it's just downright frustrating!" the orange-haired siren stood above them, eyes glowing with malice. "You thought you could outrun me! Idiots! One breeze of magic, and you are back in my clutches again!"

The zombies came up to them and firmly grabbed the girls by their limbs as Adagio released the ropes of magical energy.

"It is time for your ritual, Twilight Sparkle," she said with a tone of finality, and her mindless drones dragged the captives back.

"NO!" Twilight tried to resist, but the zombies' grip was too strong on her. "NO! NOOOOOO!"





Meanwhile...

Rarity, invisible under the cover of her Stealth-Boy, successfully snuck into the building that National Security Commissariat used to occupy before the apocalypse.

She was careful not to let anyone notice her. While the optical camouflage field gave good protection against untrained eyes, she did not want to try and find out whether the zombies (and Adagio, who controlled them remotely as if they were drones) truly had untrained eyes.

This did not end her problems, however. National Security Commissariat was notorious for their paranoia, and any outpost of theirs would have good defenses, as well as (presumably) traps designed to root out undesirable guests.

And Rarity, while she did not consider herself a bad person, could still be considered as undesirable.

So she did not turn off her Stealth-Boy for fear that some hidden trap or automated defense turret would kill her. Too much depended on her.

Sugarcoat and Applejack trusted her to use the distraction they would provide in order to infiltrate and rescue Twilight and Sunset.

Twilight's and Sunset's lives depended on her surviving and scouting this place successfully.

The lives of those living in Brightlight and Horseshoe Highway were on the metaphorical table of a game with Death himself.

She was playing against Death.

And she could not lose.

She carefully stepped inside another room, sweeping it with her silenced Buffalo SMG.

Clear. However, some whirring could be heard further.

Must be a security robot. I hate it that we have to destroy them, as they would be quite useful against the zombies, but I cannot hack well, and even Sugarcoat doubts her abilities. On the other hand, however, destroying a robot may trigger an alarm or something.

A memory surfaced in her mind how Rainbow Dash used to mock stealth games. The athletic tomboy always preferred games where speed of reaction and reflexes were the primary requirement; the notion of slow, deliberate and patient infiltration was boring to her, and the idea of not killing anyone on the level was blasphemous.

I wonder if this would be as boring to her now. Twilight and Sunset are held hostage, and their lives depend on me living or dying. Then again, she would probably try to dash in to save the day and dash out. Would be more "cool" and "awesome" to her. Tsk.

With these thoughts, Rarity went further to the corridor. She carefully went down and down, until...

Pow!

She hit something in the air and stumbled backwards. Immediately, someone punched her straight into the solar plexus, pulled her forward, knocked the SMG out of her hands and put their knee on her back.

"OK, you stealthy git," she heard someone speak above her, "now you've done goofed."

"What the... hey, who on Earth are you?" Rarity exclaimed indignantly.

"Wait," another voice spoke nearby, "that voice seems familiar. Rarity, that you?"

"Uh, yes, and you are?" the indigo-haired girl replied, puzzled. Suddenly, a figure of Lyra Heartstrings materialized out of air.

"Bon Bon, release her," she said, and the weight lifted from the former fashionista. Another person appeared, and Rarity saw the beige-skinned hand of former agent of Directorate of Intelligence offer her hand. Dropping the cloak, she took it.

"Oh thank the heavens I have found you here! But why did you come to this place?"

"Big Macintosh asked us to investigate what on Earth is happening here. CWN reported some zombie madness ongoing in Trottingham, so we're here," Lyra replied. "And why are you here, Rarity?"

"Basically the same reason."

"Did you find the answer?"

"Oh we did indeed. Remember the Battle of the Bands, girls?"

"Was that when three girls hypnotized the whole school except you and Vinyl? Yeah, we do remember them. Why? Are they involved?" Bon Bon asked.

"Yes. Their ringleader, anyway. Others seem to be dead. She managed to basically do the same to all the people she got her hands on. We were investigating Stable Hearts Limited, because we believed there was a bioweapon involved, when things went from bad to Tartarus in a handbasket."

"What happened?"

"We split up while trying to cover the building quickly, and Adagio's goons kidnapped Twilight and Sunset. Adagio sicced wave after wave at us, and has sent Metroists - they are her slaves too - to attack Brightlight and Horseshoe Highway."

"Fuck me in the ass with a hot iron pole!" Lyra swore loudly. "I thought that someone has got their hands on a Hypnotron and decided to fool around with it..."

"Hypnotron?"

"A device designed for pacification of crowds, developed for Commissariat and riot police. It was not released into wide service, because certain settings allowed to make a person fully subsrvient, and there was also a danger of fatal brain hemorrhage, but it could still be found in NSC stocks. But this is ten times worse, damn it. So this bitch is stirring trouble again, trying to seize control of other people again? To be adored or something?"

"Yeah, something like that. Please, you have to help me stop her!" Rarity put on her best pleading expression with teary eyes.

"Of course we will help you. We have managed to reprogram the local defenses, so as long as you are with us, you will be fine. What's the plan?"

"Applejack and one girl from Crystal Prep, Sugarcoat, are supposed to make a distraction. While they fight the zombies, I must infiltrate the building, liberate Twilight and Sunset, and retreat here undetected. Then Applejack and Sugarcoat retreat into the sewers, everything dies down, and they join me."

"Shitty plan, but given the circumstances, it's the best. We will distract others as well," Bon Bon said.

Rarity's eyes widened.

"No!" she said. "Did you forget that only the Rainbooms were invulnerable to her hypnotizing? If you get caught in Adagio's spell, we're doomed!"

"Damn, I forgot about that. Wait. And Sugarcoat?"

"She... was too stubborn to leave."

"Well we aren't leaving either. We have Stealth-Boys. If you don't want us to distract them, we will sic the robots on Adagio and her goons and infiltrate the building with you."

"Thank you. This will be better."

"But I have a question," Lyra asked. "What will you do if there are other zombies near them?"

"It's a shitty plan, but..." Rarity showed them a couple of riot control gas grenades. "I have a gas mask."

"So do we. But would gas even work against them? I mean, they're zombies and all that, they're supposed to be less vulnerable..."

"Flashbangs do work against them, I have ascertained that myself, so I think red pepper gas should as well. Or at least Adagio would get disoriented for some time if she does not expect it. Now come on, Applejack and Sugarcoat should begin their distraction attack..."

Rarity went silent as she looked at her Pip-Boy. Her eyes widened.

"...right now!"





"Take that, varmints!" Applejack shouted, pressing the electrotrigger. She and Sugarcoat managed to get out of their hiding space in sewers and take position in a building which was overlooking Adagio's base undetected.

Rarity gave them a timeframe of ten minutes before starting their distraction, and the time went out a mere second ago.

Some part of the farmer's girl felt... unclean about the whole situation. She understood, of course, that the people whom she was supposed to kill were as much victims of the situation as her captive friends were. They were hypnotized by the devious siren, and who knew how they felt?

Were they experiencing pleasure from her song?

Were they promised something extremely good, so good that they would do anything she told them to do?

Or were they trapped inside their own bodies, screaming for release, hoping to be saved, only to receive hatred, scorn and death from bullets and lasers?

Or would they be so tortured that they would welcome death?

Applejack did not know that.

She could not bring herself enough to care.

Her friends, her family, were threatened! Held captive against their will, probably being forced to give away their magic! And she knew that that orange-haired witch would not stop at Trottingham - no, she would go further, she would go to Appletown, and enslave each and every member of the Apple family! Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom - all would fall victim to her!

The mere thought of that wench going anywhere near Appletown made Applejack furious beyond belief.

I will stop her! No one threatens and hurts my family!

NO! ONE!

As the barrels of her minigun rotated, and 5mm bullets raced forward as a swarm of lead bees, the blonde girl felt her fury being unleashed.

One, two, three, four, five zombies fell to her fire. The small group she targeted was utterly destroyed.

Sugarcoat's assault rifle joined the fray as the pig-tailed girl fired three-round bursts at any zombie she could reliably hit. Before Applejack turned her minigun on another group and opened fire, she managed to take out for zombies next to her.

The enemy returned fire. Bullets swarmed the air around them, whizzing past them, ricohetting from the walls or splattering against the hard surfaces. Applejack paid them no heed. There was no need to pay specific attention to the bullets that missed her - that was her modus operandi.

Her minigun spat out more bullets, and a super mutant fell, his upper body utterly ruined by the embodiment of the farmer's fury. Another one came under her fire, and succumbed to the lead storm as well.

The barrels stopped rotating, as the ammo box emptied. Undeterred, Applejack dropped it, and installed a new one.

She did not bother getting into cover. It was reckless, but she wanted them to see that she was not afraid of them.

She wanted Adagio to see that, and choke in fury, because the siren would never be able to do that.

"You know, standing out there in the open while reloading is outright suicidal, and also fucking stupid!" Sugarcoat shouted, inserting a new magazine into her assault rifle.

"Well Ah am a blonde, ya know! So Ah am allowed ta be stupid, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Applejack laughed.

"That stereotype is highly offensive and it sucks cocks!"

The farmer laughed uproariously at Sugarcoat's remark, feeling strangely exalted despite the mortal peril she was in now. Adrenaline and endorphines were flowing through her veins, enemies were falling down, and the bullets of her enemies, each of them could pierce her heart, or her throat, or splatter her brains around simply stopped to exist around her.

Applejack was lost to the primal glee of battle.

And it only intensified as she noticed several robots roll out of the NSC's building and start pounding at the zombies as well, adding their own brand of chaos.

"Atta girl, Rarity!" she cried. "Show them who is boss!"

"It doesn't surprise you that these robots rolled out although she is not a hacker?"

"Ah don't care! Everything that plays in our favour is a plus!"

"Can't argue with that..."





Rarity's heart was beating rapidly as she, Lyra and Bon Bon advanced to the building that Adagio occupied for herself.

She was about to enter the manticores' den. While many zombies ran out of the building in order to counter the surprise attack, Adagio would not leave herself undefended and prisoners unguarded, of that Rarity was sure.

Her Pip-Boy was showing the same thing, actually.

Fortunately, the building had multiple entrances, and one of them was unguarded for some time as the robots took out the zombies posted there. The trio of infiltrator used the window of opportunity to get inside.

A dozen of zombies ran past them, forcing them to flatten themselves against a semi-collapsed wall. Rarity was more worried about the possibility of the wall collapsing than about them risking being detected, but neither of the events happened, fortunately.

They followed upstairs, sweeping the area, being careful not to disturb or kill any zombies that could be there. The indigo-haired girl rather passionately warned Lyra and Bon Bon that if they killed a zombie, others would swarm the place.

But Adagio seemed to be more focused on defending the entrances, however. They passed several floors, and saw no zombies.

On one floor, they found a room with a closed door. Rarity quickly used her lockpicks to open it. Inside, they found an arsenal, as well as some things that definitely belonged to Twilight and Sunset.

They quickly picked Twilight's AP-79, .44 magnum and "Burning Flash", as well as Sunset's laser rifle and combat shotgun, and frag grenades, plus spare ammunition. Rarity wanted to get their armour as well, but Lyra told her not to.

"We can't overload ourselves, and Commissariat's building has better armour anyway. You'll get their stuff later."

"OK," Rarity replied.

They went out of the room when they heard a shriek of painful agony.

Rarity's blood froze.

Oh no! I can't be too late!

"This is bad," Bon Bon stated the obvious. "Come on! Masks on! Prepare your gas grenades!"

Rarity held the riot control weapons in her hands, determined to make Adagio pay for all the pain and suffering she caused.

I may not be acting it right now, but I am still the Black Widow!

And Adagio will learn it...

...the fatal way!





"I have had enough of your shit," Adagio Dazzle snarled, as she entered the room designed for the magic extraction ritual, Twilight and Sunset being brought by zombies. Turning to them, she ordered, "Get the Princess on this table and secure her properly! And you," she addressed the zombies that were still holding Sunset, "put her on her knees, cuff her again and hold her! I don't want her to interrupt the ritual or do anything else!"

The zombies did as ordered. Twilight was brought to the table and the armour she had previously stolen was taken away from her. The mind controlled drones handcuffed her hands to a small pole above her head and tied her legs, completely immobilizing her. Sunset, despite her resistance, was handcuffed again and brought down to her knees.

"Oh, and gag that bacon-haired wench as well," Adagio added as an afterthought, "I'm not in the mood for her stupid antics."

One of the zombies immediately glued Sunset's mouth with a duct tape.

"Finally," Adagio breathed out. Coming up to Twilight, she said:

"You Rainbooms are much bigger trouble than I thought. Even now, your stupid friends are messing up with me. Your blondie bass player and some four-eyed girl from Horseshoe Highway, whom I distinctly remember coming from that hoity-toity Crystal School or whatever its name was messing up near this very building. I don't know where your stupid drama queen is, but I don't think she's far, because I don't believe she ran away, much as I want that to be the case. Your stupid mutt must have told them everything. They adapted to the situation, and until recently, they practically disappeared. But instead of calling for help, they came here themselves. Probably realized that bringing someone here would only give me additional advantage."

Twilight smirked, taking pleasure from the siren's frustrations.

"What are you smirking about? Do you think that they can save you? There are three of them, one is vulnerable to my brainwashing, and they are facing dozens of my followers. In fact, I actually diverted some of the Metroists, because your friends are being annoying as hell. You really think you can prevail? Face it, Princess Pretty-Face, you have lost."

"Maybe you're right."

These words brought a shock to everyone who heard Twilight speak and was not brainwashed at that moment. Sunset's eyes widened, and she moaned through the duct tape in protest, while Adagio slightly opened her mouth from shock.

"Maybe you're right when you say that we lost," Twilight continued. "But there is a snag, Adagio Dazzle."

"Oh?" the siren raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."

"You haven't won yet either!"

Now Adagio almost lost her jaw.

"Your goals have not been met yet! Brightlight still resists, and you are still far from accomplishing your ultimate goal! Even if we lost, this doesn't mean that you won't meet someone who defeats you!"

"Bullshit!" the siren snarled. "You haven't known humans for as long as I have, Twilight Sparkle! These creatures can never agree on anything! When there is a threat practically having a neon sign above it saying "I AM A THREAT, KILL ME" with an arrow pointing to it getting into their faces, they will still squablle over something! You have seen what they have done to their world!"

"Yes! But I have also seen them unite when the situation demanded so! Have you heard of White Knives and how they threatened this whole area? Appletown wanted to get rid of them, but they could not do it alone, and the militia of Canterlot Wastelands News and Brotherhood of Steel stood separately! Alone, they could achieve nothing! But when they banded together, they eliminated White Knives to the last man or woman that was in Curve Blade's ranks! When they see what kind of a threat you are, people of the Wastelands will turn into a force that will stop you!" Twilight shouted.

"The factions you mentioned banded together only thanks to you," Adagio sneered.

"That doesn't mean there are no other people like me!" Twilight countered. "A single person in the wrong place, in a wrong time, can make a decision that can change the whole world around them!"

"When they realize what kind of a threat I really am, it will be too late," the siren said. "Enough of that BS. Gag her as well, I have a ritual to conduct, and some pleasure to have."

Twilight's mouth got glued by a duct tape, despite the resistance she tried to put.

"Much better. Honestly, you two are too talkative," Adagio came closer to the captive Princess and took out the same knife she ahd used previously on Sunset. Pricking Twilight's finger, she collected a small cup of blood and splashed it on the gemstones on the magic journal.

Immediately, the shards glowed with baleful red light.

"Powers of the seas!" Adagio chanted. "Powers of the seas! Grant me my wish! Grant me my wish!"

The runes on her ritual knife began glowing again. Adagio's eyes became as red as they were when she fought the Rainbooms in the Battle of the Bands.

Twilight's heartbeat quickened as fear began to overwhelm her. She was keenly aware now of what the ritual held for her, but there was another factor to be taken into account.

The amount of raw magic within a person.

Since Twilight had more magic inside her than Sunset, the invasion of the ritual knife into her body would result in a more painful reaction as her potent inner magic would try and reject the foreign object designed to suck it away.

Thus, while Sunset's sufferings were not to be discounted, the Princess of Friendship would still have a worse time.

Twilight knew it. Sunset knew it. And Adagio knew it as well.

"Give me the magic of this mare, and make it mine! What was hers, will be mine! What was hers, will be mine!" the chanting continued, and the air cracked again under the force of arcane energies being collected. The shards grew brighter than ever before, and Twilight even saw several magic bolts striking the tip of the knife.

Adagio approached the tied prisoner, smirking.

"Do you know the excellent part of the ritual? Until I say "So mote it be" and stab you, these energies will remain here for as long as I desire. So I will not grant you a quick reprieve as I did your friend. I think I could spice the ritual a little more..."

With these words, Adagio cupped Twilight's cheek. The latter jerked her head away as far as she could, desiring no tactile contact with her tormentor.

"You still resist? Pity," the siren said.

Her hand moved down almost teasingly, touching Twilight only with the tips of her fingers.

Then Adagio cupped Twilight's left breast.

And squeezed it.

The lavender-skinned girl sharply breathed out, revulsion overcoming her at this unwelcome physical contact. Unfortunately, she could not really move away, so the deprived siren freely continued to fondle Twilight's chest, switching between the left and the right side as she pleased.

Feelings of anger, humiliation, fury, shame and utter hatred were coursing through Twilight's veins right now, as her brain brought up more and more creative scenarios of revenge on her captor. She was in the middle of imagining Adagio dying from choking on a human penis when the siren spoke:

"Seriously, you should look at yourself in the mirror. Your breasts are knockers for sure. I bet that blue-haired jock you were crushing on would do everything you said if you were to flash him..."

Twilight sorely lamented that angry looks could not be utilized as a deadly weapon. Otherwise, Adagio would have burst into flames long ago.

And then she felt Adagio's hand on her lady parts.

She clamped her legs as tight as she could, but she could not stop the siren from touching her inner hips.

What followed could only be described as intense feeling of rage and humiliation as Twilight desperately wished that the siren would just go on with the ritual already. Her resistance could at best be described as token, and it seemed more to amuse Adagio than deter her.

Finally, Adagio stopped, and Twilight saw the ritual knife raised above her.

"So mote it be!" Adagio chanted, and the knife dag into Twilight's heart.

AGONY!!!

The equine-turned-human could not say when was the last time she experienced pain like this. Not only her body hurt because of the stab, but her whole insides flared as something so alien, so wrong, set itself in her body and refused to go, and it needed to be purged, but no matter how much her insides flared and the pain intensified, it was impossible to reject the foreign object...

...and then Twilight felt something leak away from her, and the agony she was feeling increased by an order of magnitude...

Susnet could only cry helplessly as she saw her friend writhe in pain as the runes on the knife glowed so brightly that it was painful to watch at it, and the gems pulsated with the brightest shade of red. Adagio's eyes also gained a bright pulsating crimson colour as she absorbed Twilight's magic.

Finally, she dug the knife out, and greedily lapped up the blood that remained on it. Sunset noticed that Twilight's blood was glowing as well, and the wounds she had also sealed themselves with a flash of light.

Twilight's blood was more charged with magic, the fiery-haired girl realized.

Meanwhile, Twilight herself had tears flowing freely for umpteenth time as the pain was receding from her body, but very slowly. She saw the siren greedily drink her blood, and almost puked, but the only thing she could puke right now was her own stomach.

She did not want to try and do that.

Adagio, however, looked as if she was in pure bliss - and she was, for Twilight's magic-charged blood prove to be an ecstasy for her. She simply stood still for some time before opening her eyes and smiling triumphantly at the equine Princess:

"You know, that idea with some playing with you worked surprisingly well. Maybe I should test getting you naked beforehand?"

Twilight desperately tried to say something through the duct tape that glued her mouth. Sighing, Adagio motioned one of the zombies to take it off, and he complied. Immediately, Twilight shouted:

"Is there no limit to your depravity?!!!"

"Ah, but why should I impose limits on myself when I am at the top of the food chain?" Adagio smiled.

Suddenly, several metallic apple-sized objects flew into the room, bouncing off the walls and off the floor. The siren frowned:

"What the..?"

Suddenly, the objects burst, releasing smaller metallic balls, which in turn exploded, and clouds of something red appeared in their place, widening quickly. As it touched everyone in the room, everyone felt their eyes getting irritated, and began coughing.

Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, trying to prevent the irritating gas from getting in, but that was to no avail. She coughed as her ability to breathe got more and more constricted.

She was left without any power to struggle, and simply lay there, desperately trying to get more air but getting more of the gas instead. She did not notice how her legs became free, then her hands...

...and then someone picked her up and carried her.

"Spray the neutralizing agent!" someone shouted, but she paid no heed.

Exhausted by the mental and physical ordeal, Twilight Sparkle collapsed into the realm of unconsciousness.





Cold water sprayed onto her face.

"Urgh..." Twilight moaned. Who the heck thought spraying water on me was a good idea?

"Get up, sleepyhead!" an unfamiliar voice shouted. "We're not finished yet!"

"Wha..?"

Slap! Her head turned under the force of a palm strike, and she immediately experienced the stinging sensation.

"Come on, damn it! Can you open your eyes?"

"Uh..." Twilight tried to do so, and surprisingly, she managed to do so without a problem or tears leaking.

How in Tartarus..?

As her eyes slowly focused, she saw a mint-green face staring at her.

"Finally!" the owner of the face said, shaking Twilight slightly. "Come on, speak to me! Can you move?"

"Lyra..?"

"Your memory is still in place, good! Now come on, hurry! We are not out of the woods yet!"

"Adagio... where..?"

"Outside. We're in the building of local division of National Security Commissariat. Robots and automated turrets are holding teh zombies at bay for now, but we need to get you some weapons and armour fast, because we can't do it alone!"

"Sunset... Spike... Applejack... Rarity... Sugarcoat?"

"Alive and kicking, although Sunset's still giving me and Bon Bon evil eyes for pepper spray grenades. Can you stand and walk?"

"I can, but..." as Twilight stood up, her movements were sluggish and slowed down. "I am not really quick right now."

"Sunset suspected that you might feel like that. Here's some Buffout for you."

Twilight took the offered stimulants.

"Follow me, I need to get you armour and a weapon from the armory, and you can't get in there without a Commissar like me."

They went slightly deeper into the building, bypassing several rooms, until they got in front of a massive metal door. Lyra quickly typed the access code on the small keyboard, and the door opened.

"Come in," she said, and Twilight obeyed. 

"OK, put this on," Lyra gave the equine-turned human a set of sturdy-looking armour. "It's Commissariat shock trooper armour. Better than average protection and no extra penalties on agility. Don't forget the helmet."

The lavender-skinned girl put on the armour vest and secured all the plates on her limbs and joints, noting that the armour was slightly heavier than she was used to, but covered more of her body and had thicker plates. As she secured the helmet on her head, Lyra threw her a laser rifle with some gizmos attached to it, including a holographic sight.

"This rifle has a beam splitter and advanced focus optics, it packs better punch than a standard model," the green-haired girl explained. "We also managed to liberate some of your own stuff," she gave Twilight the .44 magnum revolver she carried and the "Burning Flash" pistol.

"You found them? Thanks!"

"Thank me later, now get the ammo and some grenades! Double time!"

"How did you get here?" Twilight wondered, collecting microfusion cells, energy batteries and .44 ammo.

"Long story short, me and Bon Bon were investigating the rumours of zombies in Trottingham when we ran into Rarity. She explained everything to us, so we know about Adagio and what the bitch has done. She, I and Bon Bon rescued you while Applejack and Sugarcoat were distracting the zombies; I also activated the NSC robots to help us."

"What's the situation?" Twilight asked as they ran out of the armory; the lavender-skinned girl was already feeling Buffout kick in.

"Tartarus in a handbasket squared. The zombies have gone mad and are trying to pry open the frontal doors that I dropped down as soon as everyone was inside, and they're also trying to get into the windows, but the turrets and robots are not letting them in. However, I predict that very soon we will have to deal with Adagio herself.

"About that - she can raise a shield around her that makes her impervious to damage."

"Fan-fucking-tastic!"

They ran to the balcony overlooking the entrance, where Sunset, Bon Bon, Applejack, Rarity and Sugarcoat were crouching behind cover, firing at any zombies that tried to enter.

"Howdy, Twilight!" Applejack exclaimed. "How're ya feelin'?"

"Up and around and ready to kick a certain siren's ass so hard that she will fly to the moon and leave a Celestia-damned crater on it," Twilight turned to Sunset. "Hey, Sunset, how're you?"

"Better than in that building, that's for sure!" the fiery-haired girl replied, nailing one of the zombies. "Now come on and help us get rid of that sorry excuse of a sea creature!"

"Gladly!" Twilight caught a head of one of the super mutant zombies in the reticle of her holographic sight and pulled the trigger...





Adagio Dazzle was not a happy siren.

In fact, she was a very angry siren at that moment.

These Rainbitches somehow managed to get her hands on gas grenades and decided it would be a good idea to use them while trying to free the stupid Princess and the Tartarus-damned ketchup-and-mustard-haired cunt!

If that was not enough, she saw a couple of other girls appear by their side. She recognized them as the Canterlot High's resident best friends forever, Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon. Adagio remembered how they performed in the Battle of the Bands, singing in duet, and touching cheeks together at one moment.

Honestly, she could not decide back then if she wanted to cringe at their too sugary moment or shout "Just kiss already!" at them. Surprisingly, despite their closer than normal bond of friendship, they did not appear to be a couple.

At least back then. That could have changed, for all she knew. But that was not that relevant.

What was relevant that Lyra had Commissariat armour of all things on her person, and Bon Bon also seemed to possess some sort of advanced weapons not readlily available for others. And they took control of the robots in the building that Commissariat used to occupy before the apocalypse.

She did not anticipate their presence, be it admitted. When the blondie and the four-eyes attacked her followers, she fully expected she would crush them soon, by sheer number if nothing else. But when the robots rolled out, she was forced to move out the majority of her forces out of the building to defend it, and apparently, the inseparable couple (and maybe that whiny prissy fashionista as well) used the opportunity to sneak inside and introduce her to riot control pepper gas.

She did not expect that, and spent around ten or fifteen minutes while tears washed the mix of capsaicine and who knew what else out of her eyes, and  coughing until her lungs got rid of it.

That was enough for them to shut down the NSC building and organize a good defense. The surviving robots retreated inside along with the girls, and she already lost fifty of her followers while trying to assault their holdout.

She snarled.

"Always a fucking spanner in the works," she said. Concentrating her magic, she mentally ordered her followers to withdraw.

"Always have to do the fucking dity work myself!" she snarled, concentrating a wave of destructive energy in an orb in front of her.

Glowing with red energy, she thrust her hands forward, and a beam of light sheared through the blocked doors, blowing a hole in it.

Hope someone of the bitches got in the way! Adagio thought viciously, preparing two more orbs. Unleashing them at the concrete walls near the doors, she smiled in malice as two explosions blowed the concrete apart, making the whole wider.

She commanded her minions to attack.





The defenders of the building were shocked and unpleasantly surprised to see a bright red beam shear through the blocked reinforced door and melt the armour on one of the sentry bots, causing it to explode as some critical part within it malfunctioned.

"Fuck!" Lyra shouted. "What was that?! What the fuck was that?!"

"Apparently, Adagio Dazzle decided to do what all book villains do at some point and decided to mop the floor with us herself," Sugarcoat said in her trademark monotone.

As she finished, two explosions took out the wall near the now destroyed door, making the gap very wide.

"OK, this is getting bad!" Lyra shouted as zombies started charging in. Firing from her squad automatic weapon that she got in Commissariat arsenal, she took out a high explosive grenade and flinged it into the charging horde. "Applejack, shoot a rocket!"

"Gladly!" the farm girl took one of the single-use rocket launchers that lay near her, and launched a rocket into the crowd of zombies. A loud BOOM, and body parts and blood flew everywhere, but that barely helped against the charging horde.

The remaining sentry bot also fired a rocket into the horde, taking out nearly a dozen zombies in one shot, and several more frag grenades joined the fray, as well as the flashbang grenade thrown by Rarity.

Blinded and disoriented by the flashbang, the zombies stumbled in place as a sentry bot, three Mr. Gutsies, five Protectrons, two .50 caliber automatic laser-guided sentry turrets on tripods and all the organic defenders of NSC building pounded the zombies into paste. They did not risk gas grenades for fear of losing combat ability, as Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon could not recover Twilight's and Sunset's gas masks, and Commissariat arsenal for some "mind-shatteringly moronic" (as Lyra put it) reason did not have the spares.

Several seconds later, almost all zombies charging through the hole and the windows were dead.

"Enough!" a voice sounded, lacerated by magic, and several red orbs of energy flew inside, exploding and destroying three Protectrons and two Mr. Gutsies.

"Oh shit," Sugarcoat said, "here comes the queen bitch!"

"Applejack!" Bon Bon shouted. "Prepare another rocket!"

The blonde girl picked up another disposable rocket launcher.

Adagio Dazzle went inside, eyes glowing red, face twisted in fury, defensive shield shimmering around her as bullets and laser beams were annihilated before they could reach her - a true spawn of Tartarus. As soon as she entered, she thrust her hands to the sides, and .50 caliber turrets were melted by superheated red beams of magic.

"Hey bitch, eat this!" Applejack shouted, and shot a rocket at Adagio.

BA-BOOM!

The sentry bot also fired a missile at the siren. Another KA-BOOM followed, adding to the formed cloud of dust.

What they saw was unbelievable.

Red energy shimmered through dust, and when it slightly settled down, they saw Adagio Dazzle standing unharmed.

And looking pissed off, two orbs of explosive magical energy ready to fire.

The first orb flew at the sentry bot, blowing it to pieces in a rather big explosion.

The second one was barely dodged by Applejack and hit the wall instead, showering her and Sugarcoat with dust and debris.

"Oh come on!" the pig-tailed girl shouted. "Do we need a fucking Fat Man to kill this bitch?"

"You're going to be my bitch soon," Adagio snarled, and started singing, "Aaaaaaahhh-aaaahhh-aaaaahh, aaaaaahhh-aaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaahhh-aaaahhh-aaaaahh, aaaaaahhh-aaaaaaaah!"

Realizing what she was doing, everyone opened fire on her, but her magical shield was proving to be too strong.

"OK, new plan - RUN!" Twilight said.

"Fine by me!" said Sugarcoat; she was already feeling something creeping up into her mind, something telling her to turn back...

No! She is the enemy! the ex-Shadowbolt reminded herself, running deeper into the building. Lyra and Bon Bon followed her, and everyone who had some piece of Equestrian magic in them was the last.

Several more explosions shook the building as Adagio blew apart the last robots and ceiling turrets that were still present near the entrance.

"What now?" Lyra asked Twilight.

"I... don't know," the pony-turned-human was breathing heavily, trying to restore the flow of oxygen. "This shield is very strong, but I do not think it can withstand a continuous strain. I think that if we were to concentrate all fire, we might overwhelm her defenses."

"That's gonna be problematic," Rarity said, looking down the ACOG sight on a marksman carbine she borrowed from Commissariat arsenal. "She is running inside, and all the zombies are charging after her! Wait... she is letting some of them forward!"

"Applejack! Fire the remaining rocket as soon as soon as she comes in!"

"Will do!"

"Rarity, flashbang! Everyone cover their eyes and ears!"

"Acknowledged!" Rarity followed the order and threw another flashbang grenade. Everyone hid themselves behind flimsy cover.

A loud bang sound, and everyone except Applejack unloaded their weapons into the charging horde.

Suddenly, two red lightning arcs of energy flew out of the direction of the attack and struck Lyra and Bon Bon. Both girls screamed in agony as their nerves flared up, and fell down, smoke rising from them.

"Oh no!" Rarity gasped.

"Alright, Adagio, you asked for it!" Applejack launched another rocket, but it was intercepted by zombies that stood in front of their mistress. The explosion tore them into a mess of limbs, organs and blood, but not a shimmer of Adagio's shield followed, signifying that the rocket went to waste.

"Fuck me! This was mah last rocket!" the farmer swore, picking up her minigun again.

"I am impressed," the siren called, "you actually eliminated all the followers I had at my command! Now I will have to call for reinforcements from Metroists! Guess I am more needed at Brightlight right now, then! Ta ta!"

"Not happening, bitch!" Sunset charged forward - only to receive a zap of red lightning and then thrown into the wall by telekinesis. "Ouch!" she shouted, falling down. "That hurt..."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You actually believed me, Mustard Mutt?" Adagio mocked the fiery-haired girl, coming into the room. "Fool! I don't need those idiots to deal with you!"

"Good, we're gettin' tired of 'em anyway!" Applejack shouted. Everyone opened fire at Adagio without any verbal command, but she made a slashing movement with her hand, and a shockwave threw them all back.

"Fuck!" Twilight shouted as she hit the wall and lost all air in her lungs for a moment.

"Submit to me, and I will let you live!" the orange-haired siren declared, all playfulness gone from her voice.

"Submit to this!" Sugarcoat shouted, throwing two high explosive grenades at her and following with assault rifle fire. Applejack and Rarity supported her, but several zaps shocked them again. Meanwhile, Sugarcoat expended all her ammunition and was swapping the magazine when Adagio sang her hypnotizing song again.

"No!" Sugarcoat shouted. "Must... resist! Must... must... resist... don't... resist... must... follow... Mistress!" she shouted, raising her assault rifle at her allies. However, Applejack saw in time what was happening, and charged at the pig-tailed girl. Before Adagio reacted, Twilight rained laser fire on her. Thisa act of defiance earned her a strong charge of red lightning bolt that sent her flying over a table, knocking it down as her leg hit it and bringing down the first aid box as her body hit the wall, and she crumpled to the floor unable to move, but this won Applejack enough time to punch Sugarcoat hard. The former Shadowbolt flew at the wall opposite to the one that Twilight got bashed against and hit her head, slumping unconscious.

Adagio roared in incandescent fury and unleashed lightning from both hands at Applejack, who roared in pain as the dark magic burned her. She tried to move in the siren's direction, and even unloaded her minigun at the siren, but Adagio intensified her onslaught, and eventually Applejack got thrown back as well.

Sunset jumped at the siren with knife in her hands, intent on taking the siren on in close quarters, but her knife could not penetrate the shield and her pistol bullets were mere pellets. However, Adagio tried to put as much direction between herself and Sunset as possible. They danced like that for several minutes until Sunset's exhaustion and wounds took their toll and the orange-haired woman managed to put enough distance between herself and the fiery-haired Equestrian to give the latter a strong telekinetic blast.

Meanwhile, Twilight noticed that strange behaviour of Adagio's.

A crazy plan formed in her head. The only problem was the pain she felt and the distance between herself and the siren.

The alicorn-turned-human noticed that the first aid box that fell down from the wall had some syringes in it. She injected herself with two doses of RegenStim and two doses of Med-X.

She saw another syringe, which she recognized as a drug named Psycho.

Psycho is a combination of combat stimulants, fast-acting short-term regenerative medicines and what is commonly called "anger hormones", designed to augment the aggressiveness of the soldier as well as increase pain tolerance and damage resistance in a combatant. For a short time after the injection, a trooper will possess better combat capability, even if they are on the verge of exhaustion. Psycho also increases focus, allowing a soldier to be more precise in firing weapons, and augments physical power for a short term.

She recited the words as the needle of a complex pneumosyringe was stuck in her vein.

While Adagio was too busy with Applejack and Sunset to notice, Twilight patiently waited as the medicines she has taken would take their effect. When everything went silent, she risked rising a little bit.

The siren was panting, strained after having spent a good amount of magical reserves in combat. She stood with her back to Twilight, having not heard the latter move and stand up.

She assumed I was done for.

Twilight whipped out "Burning Flash" and jumped over the upset table, firing at Adagio.

Big mistake! She's going to die and I will be the one who shall deliver death unto her!

The siren turned around, shocked. In a few moments, Twilight crossed half the distance between herself and her enemy, not stopping her fire. When Adagio raised her hands and released a bolt of lightning, the Princess of Friendship crossed three-quarters.

The lightning bolts that hit her brought pain, but Med-X partially negated the effect, and Twilight pressed on in inertion.

She pulled her left hand back and whipped out her .44 magnum revolver.

Adagio understood her plan, and the red eyes widened, but it was too late.

Twilight set the revolver against the siren's stomach and pulled the trigger.

The bolts of dark magic stopped, and Adagio Dazzle collapsed to the floor as a puppet with cut strings.

Smoke rose from Twilight's clothes and her hair was messed up from the electric-like arcs that she just experienced. The potent cocktail of regenerative medicines was still running their course, but as adrenaline started dying down, she felt exhaustion seeping in.

Suddenly, she saw zombified ghouls charging into the building.

She looked at Adagio and noticed that the siren was still alive.

In panic, she pulled the trigger on her revolver.

Bang.

The .44 magnum bullet cracked the forehead of the dark being who only recently tortured her, took a part of her magic, and...

I'd rather not think about this!

A shrill sound came from the zombies. Twilight looked at them and saw them shrieking as they were in apparent agony.

Their eyes burst, blood and eye components leaking out, and they fell down.

The equine stepped away, horrified.

They must have been tied to her magic, and without her, they died! Everyone whom she controlled has died along with her! I failed to save Horseshoe Highway! They are all dead, all those who remained behind! They are dead!!!

Tears leaked out of Twilight's eyes as she bemoaned the fate of the unfortunate souls who were trapped by the power-hungry siren whose blood was now tricking from a large hole in her forehead.

Twilight fired another bullet, just to be safe, and then unloaded the remaining ammo into Adagio's chest.

Better to make sure this bitch does not survive miraculously anyhow.

Then she turned attention to the object that she and Sunset were after from the very beginning.

The magic journal.

Twilight carefully took it away from the dead siren. The journal did not look any different, aside from the shards of sirens' gems that used to be re-fused together, but were now cracked again. She noticed with some anger that the gems also got fused into the journal's cover, which made it impossible to pry them away.

Bitch.

The alicorn-turned-human quickly looked around and ran to each of her friends, as well as Lyra and Bon Bon. Fortunately, all of them were alive and did not need any urgent medical attention - they were simply unconscious.

She did not dare approach Sugarcoat. She could not bear the thought that Adagio's death could have spelled doom for the Shadowbolt as well.

She looked around for a pen. Several minutes passed until she found one in the desk that was broken during the battle.

Her heart was beating faster than during battle with Adagio Dazzle.

She opened the journal, and saw all the messages that Sunset and Celestia had exchanged with each other, then the messages Sunset had exchanged with herself.

She briefly smiled at the memories.

Turning over to the empty page, she pushed the pen against paper and tried to write "Dear Princess Celestia".

The words did not form on the paper.

Twilight tried again, to no avail.

Strange. Maybe the pen doesn't work?

She tried the pen on the closest paper sheet. It worked.

What is happening?! The pen writes well on the paper. Why doesn't it work on the journal? Sunset could use any pen on it!

She tried a different page, then another page, then she tried to push the pen harder. The ink did not set on any page, even those that had already been filled.

Nothing worked.

Celestia banish it to the moon!

Finally, she tried the inside of a cover, and a small red lightning zapped her hand, making her drop the pen.

The magic journal fell as well as Twilight realized what has happened.

No. No. No, no, no, no, no! NO! NO! The magic that allowed for sending the messages across dimensions is gone! Adagio must have used the whole magical reserve hidden in this book to glue the gems, and I...

I...

I... I can't contact Equestria and tell them what happened! All that me and Sunset and my friends did, all that we suffered, all was for nothing, BECAUSE OF THIS STUPID FUCKING FISH-CUNT, THE SORRY MISERABLE EXCUSE OF A SAPIENT BEING, THE POWER-HUNGRY BITCH!!!

Disappointment, hatred and rage clouded Twilight's mind as she sent all the rules regarding the treatment of dead bodies out from the heights of Cloudsdale and proceeded to savagely stomp Adagio's corpse.

"Damn you!" she shouted, the dam holding all her negative emotions broken irreversibly, her legs breaking Adagio's body. "Damn you to the lowest fucking depths of fucking Tartarus! Rot in there forever, and get buggered by Cerberus, you fucking bitch! You doomed me to remain in this Celestia-forsaken world forever! I'll never be able to go back, because of you, you fucking extra-uterine inbred offspring of a horse and a whale..."

"Uh... Twilight?" a frightened male voice sounded, and Spike came up to his mother figure.

"Oh Spike," Twilight collapsed on her butt, "she spoiled the magic journal! It has no magic in it anymore! I can't contact my friends and tell them what has happened to me! And you know that Canterlot here is bombed, so we can't even get to the portal in front of CHS!"

Grabbing Spike and bringing him to her face, Twilight screamed hysterically:

"We'll never be able to return to Equestria, Spike! Don't you understand?!!! NEVER!!!"

Dropping him down, Twilight rested her hands on her knees and her head on her hands, and burst into bitter tears of sadness, rage and disappointment. Spike felt a turmoil of emotions swirl within him.

He sorely wished he could resurrect Adagio Dazzle so he could personally tear out her throat for what she did to Twilight.

Instead, he opted to simply come up to her corpse and piss on her face.

Serves her right. She deserves much more than that.

"Aaaaaargh..." someone moaned in the background. "Can someone fucking tell me what the fuck did I just miss?"





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle)

What Doesn't Kill Me, Makes Me Stronger! (Rank 1) You gain permanent +5% bonus to Damage Resistance against any sort of damage.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer)

Cool Under Stress: You gain +1 Intelligence when in combat situation.

New Perk (Applejack)

Big Girl With Big Guns: You gain +15 bonus to your Heavy Weapons Skill.

New Perk (Rarity)

Mark Them, Drop Them: You gain +10% bonus to your accuracy when using automatic weapons with holographic, ACOG or telescopic sights.
> Chapter 31: Veils of past and future
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 31

Veils of past and future


Twilight turned around, seeing Lyra moving carefully and wincing once in a while. Apparently, she was the one who just talked.

Wiping the tears and the mucus quickly and dropping the now-useless magic journal, she hurried to the former NSC agent.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"As OK as I can be after getting zapped by magical electricity, I guess," Lyra slightly rose up but opted for setting her back against the wall inside her. "My everything hurts."

"That was a nerve flaring spell, designed to inflict pain on others."

"Well that spell fucking worked, 'cause I'm still feeling it now. Where's that bitch?"

"Dead," Twilight said, anger and satisfaction mixed in her voice. "Turned out her shield did not prevent anyone from coming up close, putting a gun against her body and firing it."

"Good."

"Urgh..." Bon Bon moaned. "Curses. I feel like I am back in torture resistance courses back in DOI..."

"Are you wounded?" Lyra asked.

"I see no visible damage," Twilight said.

"Let me check the medical data on her Pip-Boy," the mint-skinned girl scuttled closer to her friend and tapped several buttons on Bon Bon's Pip-Boy. "No, nothing serious."

A sound of something rumbling filled the room as Applejack climbed out of the debris she found herself in after the last shock she received from Adagio. She lost her Stetson hat, and there was dried blood on her face. She held her head, wincing in pain and staggering slightly as she rose. Twilight guessed that the farmer had suffered some blunt force trauma to the head.

"Ohhhhhh... well that's a rodeo Ah don't wanna take a part in again," the girl in power armour spoke. "Where's the siren bitch?"

"I killed her," Twilight said.

"Jolly good... where's mah goldurn hat, damn it?"

"Somewhere near you, I think. Want me to help?"

"No, Ah'm good, just... a little... shaken," Applejack lowered herself to her knees and began digging around. "Goldurn it, if Ah lost mah head, Ah'll stomp on that bitch's skull..."

"Urgh, Applejack, don't you think we had enough crass language for today?" Rarity slowly rose, using the wall for support. Her face was covered by dust, scratches and dried blood, plus another small red trickle was running down her right cheek, and she favoured her right leg.

"No, Ah don't."

"Everyone OK?" Sunset said, rising unsteadily on her legs.

"No," Twilight said. "When I shot Adagio, she did not die immediately, and there were zombies charging... I panicked and shot Adagio again, in the forehead, and when that happened, the zombies screamed, their eyes burst and... leaked out... I think that they were too closely tied for her... I think... Sugarcoat's dead," tear trickles ran down her dust-covered face.

"I'll check her out," Lyra said. Coming up to Sugarcoat, she turned the latter onto her back, not too ceremoniously. Sugarcoat's glasses were broken, but for some miracle did not crack, so no glass shards were stuck in her eyes. A large gash was present on her forehead, and half of her face was covered by blood. A bruise was also forming in the place where Applejack hit her when she nearly turned on them, and it was not small by any means. 

Lyra pressed her fingers against the girl's carotid artery and waited. Then she moved them slightly.

"There is a pulse," she declared after a couple of seconds and took the broken glasses off the girl's face. Rarity approached them both and held a small portable mirror near Sugarcoat's nose.

"She's breathing as well," she declared, wiping the breath from her mirror and looking into it. "Oh, I look positively dreadful..."

"Uuuuurrrrgh... Ahhhhh..." Sugarcoat moaned, slightly opening her eyes. "Oh... can't see shit... where the hell are my glasses?"

"They're broken," Lyra said. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I have been skullfucked by an industrial-class drill. Repeatedly. I think I have a fucking great-grandmother of fucking headaches now, and - ARGH! - and I can't move my head without it going up by several orders of magnitude."

"Wait here and don't move. We'll bring stretches for you and bring you to the medical ward."

"Thanks."

"Bon Bon, keep an eye on her, you're a better medic than I am. Girls, can someone help me get the stretches here?"

"I'll help," Twilight said. Anything to distract my mind.

"Follow me, then."

The medical ward located in Commissariat's building turned out to be in relatively good condition. The first aid kits were fully stocked with all necessary medicines, the equipment was relatively untouched, and there even was a mini-surgery.

"For cases if someone needed to be quickly operated on, but in secret," Lyra explained. "We brought the needed medics and allowed them to work their magic."

"Commissariat received that much funding?"

"Our funding could bankrupt a megacorp, or at least that is what I believe. I have no idea what financial resources NSC had. They were vast, that I know, and given that I regularly saw advanced technology, security systems and so on virtually everywhere, not to mention top of the line equipment for our operatives, on par with that of Directorate of Intelligence, I had come to that conclusion."

"Could the government spend that much?"

"No corp ever came close to becoming richer than the government of UFE. I suspect they could get away with it. Taxes did rise pretty high, though. And all TODC assets that were found were seized by Commissariat."

"Like front companies?"

"Yep. Aha, here's a stretcher," Lyra hefted up two aluminium poles with some synthetic material between them. "Pick one end, I'll pick another one."

Twilight did as asked.

"I have heard of cases when some people stored their savings within a bank, and when NSC learned that said bank was a front for TODC intelligence agency, all assets were seized and people got nothing back," she probed carefully, remembering Braeburn's plight.

"Yeah," the mint-green girl replied, "shit happened."

"Isn't that kinda unfair? I mean, what would people live on?"

"I see where you're coming from, Twilight, and I can't say I was pleased by this either," Lyra spoke with a tone of "please understand me". "It is stupid to expect of people to be able to tell a TODC front apart from genuine UFE bank, but Commissariat viewed storing money in such fronts as treason - which it was to some extent, by the way, because the money would be used to fund insurgent groups seeking to overthrow the government... OK, we're here!"

They unwrapped the stretcher and carefully positioned Sugarcoat on it. The ex-Shadowbolt moaned and groaned as her head moved around, still in pain. Twilight noticed that Applejack had her Stetson back on her head; it was banged up and covered in dust, but undamaged.

When in the medical ward, they put her onto a bed. Lyra quickly found some tablets and told Sugarcoat to drink them, putting a straw in a bottle of purified water. 

"This is a heavy duty painkiller," she explained. "Probably overkill, but since you literally can't move without having a mother of headaches, this should do the trick."

The pig-tailed girl drank the tablets, and Lyra gave her an injection of sedatives to let the girl recuperate from pain. Meanwhile, Lyra and Bon Bon treated others, re-bandaging hastily closed wounds, injecting medicines (RegenStim most oftenly) and restocking on medical supplies.

"That was a doozy of an adventure," Applejack said, sitting down on the floor. "Never thought we'd see Adagio again."

"Agreed," Rarity said. "And I would never even suspect she had something to do with this "zombie" crisis."

"Are ya two alright?" the farmer addressed Twilight and Sunset, who sat down on collapsible chairs, their expressions grim.

"We will be... I hope," Sunset said. "Adagio was none too gentle with us."

"What did that bitch do?"

"Insulted us, threatened us, beat us a little, zapped us with lightning bolts of dark magic, performed an extremely painful ritual on us that allowed her to get stronger magically, threatened and tried to kill Spike and simply made our life miserable. Oh, and she molested Twilight when performing the magic extraction ritual."

The revelation prompted some extremely unpleasant insults to be thrown at the now dead siren, pertaining either to her heritage or to her ancestors' fidelity. Applejack's swears were the foulest ones, but even Rarity threw her usual mouth filter out of the window and bemoaned that Adagio could not be used as a living cushion pin.

"Ouch," Twilight muttered, "that's very vindictive of you, Rarity."

"I think it's well justified."

A murmur of content ran around everyone present.

"What happened to you?" Sunset asked Applejack and Rarity (Sugarcaot was still unconscious).

"We were searching for ya, thought you were still inside that building when a horde of zombies attacked. We barely managed to fight one off, and as soon as we did, there was another one coming. We all ran away, 'cause there was no way to hold out - we hoped to find you two as soon as we shook them off. Sugarcoat led us to a police station - that's where Ah found that big gal," Applejack patted the minigun near her. "We tried to defend ourselves, but the horde eventually overwhlmed the defenses an' we ran again. That's when we ran into Spike, an' another group of them zombies. He quickly told us what was goin' on, and we decided to try and save you."

"But before that, we had to play a cat-and-mouse game with the zombies," Rarity took over. "We had to go into the sewers to avoid being detected, because killing even one zombie resulted in a swarm running after us."

"Ew," Sunset said.

"Ew indeed, we were lucky that we did not need to swim in anything that was there. We managed to find the building where you were held. Applejack and Sugarcoat agreed to provide a distraction while I scouted this building; that's when I ran into Lyra and Bon Bon. We had a small... scuffle, since neither side was expecting another one to be there. But when I explained the situation to them, they volunteered to help, despite the risk of mind control."

"Hey, one time was bad enough," Bon Bon said, "and I hated the idea of that bitch getting control of me or anyone else again."

"Ditto on that," Lyra said.

"I'm curious," Twilight asked, "what were you two doing here in first place?"

"Big Macintosh asked us to investigate the rumours of the zombie attacks," the beige-skinned girl said. "They made it to CWN, and one of Appletown's caravans also returned with the same info when they returned from Brightlight. That made him worried, and since we were the most competent fighters here, we were the most obvious choice."

"Couldn't he ask Brotherhood of Steel for a stealthed eyebot?" Sunset asked.

"He did not want to risk their good will."

"Makes sense," Applejack said. "Ah know we're doin' better now when it comes to them, but Ah wouldn't trust them blindly. Aegis would want something in return, Ah'm sure of that."

"So we came here. We suspected that someone found a Hypnotron and decided to mess around with it, but the only possible place to find it or its traces would be the local Commissariat HQ - that is where we are now."

"What is a Hypnotron?" Twilight asked.

"A device designed for pacification of rioting crowds - at least, it was initially designed like that, and it was not called Hypnotron back then," Lyra took over. "Commissariat wanted a way to control riots without a risk of civilian deaths or using lethal force, so as to avoid giving ammunition to those who wanted NSC disbanded, TODC agents included. Basically, this device emitted some waves that, when affecting a brain, make it reduce stress levels of a body and make a human more pacified and less aggressive. And it worked, so Hypnotrons, despite their cost, were slowly but surely added into the arsenal of NSC riot control squads. But there was an unintended side effect, which was discovered by some Commissar who had a lot of brain mass. Turned out that if waves were set to specific length and frequencies, it was possible to deprive the subject of their free will and make them follow commands. This was like a goldmine for Commissariat."

"They considered actually taking advantage of that option? Seriously?!" Twilight hissed.

"They not only considered, they actually used it. But it turned out it was not foolproof. One could instead trigger a frenzy and the target would attack everyone in sight, or if the target resisted for some time, this could cause fatal brain hemorrhage. But NSC did commission a better version of Hypnotron after that. There were rumours that the improved version was actually built."

"Disgusting," Twilight said.

"Given what we have just been through, I am not going to disagree with you. So when we heard the rumours, we thought that someone might have found this advanced Hypnotron and decided to fool around with it, and learned its true capabilities."

"That actually gives me an idea," Sunset said. "You see, we can't just run around and say that dark magic was to blame for this mess. Your information on this advanced Hypnotron would be a good cover story, since everyone who experienced Adagio's hypnosis is dead now. The only exception is Sugarcoat, and I don't foresee her disagreeing with this. As for the device itself, we can claim it was destroyed beyond repair."

"I agree," Bon Bon said, "that's actually a good one. Lyra, Twilight, your opinions?"

"Works for me," Twilight said.

"I don't see anything wrong with it either," Lyra said. "The exact workings of this supposed advanced Hypnotron aren't known even to me, so I could theoretically even corraborate your tale, provided that people won't want to shoot me for my Commissariat past."

"Then it is settled," Sunset clapped her hands together. "I think that we should move out soon, and before that, I want to see if there is any useful loot. But until Sugarcoat comes around, it's too dangerous to leave her alone. I think that someone should stay and guard her, and others will go.

"I'm with you," Twilight volunteered.

"I will cover you with my sniper rifle," Rarity said. "Just tell me where you are going."

"I think that we'll start with the bodies inside the building, and then with the bodies lying in the street."

"Ah'm with ya as well," Applejack said, but as she tried to stood up, she moved very sluggishly. "Whoa, what the hay?"

"Your microfusion power pack is almost depleted," Bon Bon said, checking the readings on the Pip-Boy secured on the T-72d armour suit. "Power exoskeleton is almost shut down, and you're having trouble moving around because of that."

"Whelp. That's not what I needed."

"I will see if there is a spare somewhere," Lyra said. "In the meantime, stay here and protect everyone."

"Drat. Be careful out there, will ya?" the blonde called out to her friends.

"We will, Applejack," Twilight promised.

As the Equestrians went out, Rarity followed them. There were not many bodies, and all they brought was some 10mm, .32, .308 and 5.56mm ammo, as well as some caps and rather shoddy weapons that were deemed not worth the time needed to get them.

As Twilight and Sunset went out in the open, Rarity took position on the first floor, covering the whole area with her MSR-90 sniper rifle. While the area was calm and deserted, the ex-fashionista did not want to risk their friends' lives, and took care to look at them once in a while.

The girls watched by her methodically searched the bodies for some time in silence, until Sunset spoke:

"Twilight, I noticed that Adagio's corpse did not have the magic journal on her. Did you or someone else take it?"

A stab of pain ran through Twilight's heart as she was unwittingly reminded of the predicament she was now in.

"Yes, it is here," she took the journal out. "But... well, it's basically useless."

"What?!" Sunset gasped.

"I tried writing in it, to see if a message would pass, but... well, I have tried several pens, and they didn't work... I tried every page, both empty and not empty, and all other surfaces possible, but nothing worked..." Twilight continued, as tears began forming in her eyes. "In the end, a small bolt just zapped the pen out of my hand..."

"Oh no..." the fiery-haired girl breathed out, crushed by the news.

No! she thought. Our only plan, our only hope we had for returning Twilight to Equestria is lost!

"Did you tell the others?" Sunset asked.

"No, not yet."

"They need to know. Come on, let's go back. We can loot the rest later."

As they went inside, they waited for Rarity to join them. The indigo-haired girl carried a worried expression.

"Is something wrong, darlings?"

"Yes," Sunset said without preamble. "We will tell you, but we need to get Applejack first and find a room where we can talk in private."

"OK then."

The trio went further inside, just in time to see Lyra plug in a new microfusion power pack into Applejack's armour.

"And done," she said.

"Thanks. Ah can move freely again, at least."

"Take care not to use too much energy," the mint-skinned girl said. "This power pack is only at fifty-five percent."

"Ah'll try."

"Applejack," Sunset called, "can you come with us? We need to talk in private."

"Sure," the blonde said, and went out of the room after the others. The girls went up a floor where they entered a room resembling a working office, but of a maller than usual size. When everyone went in, Sunset started:

"I am afraid I have bad news, everyone. Adagio was using my magic journal, that we were looking for, as a conduit of magic. She fused the sirens' gems that we had shattered during the Battle of the Bands with the magic it contained, and the journal has been corrupted because of it. Whatever dark magic she used only strengthened the corruption. Girls..." the fiery-haired girl swallowed the unpleasant lump in her throat, and continued: 

"The journal is useless, girls. We cannot establish contact with Equestria."

As soon as she said it, Rarity gasped and covered her mouth, Applejack cursed, and Twilight, who was fighting her emotions all the time, burst again into bitter tears, covering her face.

Sunset quickly enveloped her Equestrian compatriot into a hug, letting Twilight cry into her shoulder. Rarity hugged Twilight from the back and the right, while Applejack carefully hugged the Equestrian from the back and the left.

They stood like that for several minutes while the lavender-skinned girl cried her eyes out, trying to convey their support to their friend via a hug, while fighting emotional turmoils inside themselves.

Rarity felt anger and bitter disappointment. Having talked with Twilight on her feelings on what the world was now, the ex-fashionista was determined to help her friend return to Equestria. Not only that; she would help her friend preserve whatever innocence she still had. Of course, she held no illusions that contacting Equestria would automatically complete their quest, but she assumed that the ponies in Twilight's world would know a lot more about dimensional magic, and maybe help them to do something on that. Now, they would be unable to bring in the expertise of the Princess' compatriots, and Twilight would see even more horrors that the post-apocalyptic human world could offer, and fight more and more until her soul was eroded to the point of bitter cynicism.

Rarity solely wished that Adagio had died on the Day of Burning.

Applejack also wanted to pound the now-dead siren into a pulp, immensely furious at the mere thought of what Adagio had done to her friends. Not only she tortured Twilight and Sunset, she threw a wave after wave of zombified innocent people (not all of them were innocent, of course, but still) at them, with the intent of capturing their group and using them for nefarious purposes. The farmer was sure that the siren would not have stopped at Trottingham; she would attack Appletown too.

Memories of Appletown brought another feeling to the forefront: guilt. Some part of Applejack felt that she should have acted sooner, and joined Twilight and Sunset on their quest immediately, instead of asking them to help. Of course, she understood that this feeling was not fully rational - their chances of surviving would have been even lower, probably, without the help of Rarity, Lyra and Bon Bon, not to mention the lack of power armour, and one should not forget White Knives - but the thought that she failed her friends could not be stemmed that easily.

Sunset, while putting on the brave face, also hurt inside. The journal was hers in first place, and to see it defiled and rendered inoperable... well, she was not certain there was something she would not do to the body of the orange-haired siren right now. She still remembered what she did to the corpses of the White Knives who had attacked Appletown, and sorely felt a desire to find an axe and hack Adagio's body to pieces. Or find a petrol-fueled chainsaw and use it on the siren's body.

She also felt extremely sad for Twilight. Both of them had high hopes for the journal, and now, their only link to Equestria was lost. While Sunset was more adapted to the human world than Twilight and honestly felt more comfortable in human body, she still missed her homeland, or certain parts of it, at least. And certain ponies as well. She vividly remembered the face of one particular pony she has not seen in ages...

"Girls..." Twilight sobbed, turning to her friends. "Rarity... Applejack... Sunset... I... thank you so much for the risks you have taken for me. You literally risked everything to help me... I couldn't have asked for better friends than you in this world... I'm... sorry that I've wasted your time..."

"Sugarcube," Applejack interrupted her, "we promised to help, and we did. You did not waste our time. While it is bad that our quest... did not finish as we thought... we still gotta stick together. And you can be certain that Ah'll be by your side. Because you are mah friend."

"Indeed, darling," Rarity said. "I went through many things since I joined you: battles, open combat, wounds, desperate running and fights for our lives that were more like walking on a razor's edge. As a Black Widow, I would have never done that, because I fought for no one but myself. But I would do all of that again if it is to help you. Because you are my friend."

"Twilight," Sunset spoke up. "When we were abck in Vault Village and you were still unaccustomed to the Canterlot Wastelands, I pledged to help you, while knowing that the odds of us succeeding were astronomically low, and that our plan was... well, a long shot. Despite that, I decided to help you, instead of convincing you to adapt to the life in this world and stay here until you die. Because I knew this would make you very unhappy. Because I knew you would sorely miss Equestria and your friends back there. I promised to get you back there, and although I cannot deliver on it right now, I will not abandon you. Because you are my friend."

"Girls..." Twilight looked at their faces, and then jumped, trying to hug everyone and bursting into tears again. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you so much for agreeing to stay with me!"

"That's what friends do, sugarcube," Applejack said.

"Besides," Spike spoke up from Twilight's rucksack, "we wouldn't have pulled this off without everyone here. If we're together, we'll kick the odds where the sun never shines!"

"That's the spirit!" Sunset said approvingly.

"But still," Twilight said, "what are we supposed to do now?"

"Right now," the fiery-haired girl said, "I think we simply need to go back to Appletown. We need some rest, since this ordeal was extremely taxing on us. Then we will plan what to do next. Because honestly, I can't even think properly on anything global like this situation."

"Neither can I," Twilight said.

"Applejack, Rarity, objections?"

"You're the experts, so if you say we do that, we do that," Applejack said.

"None whatsoever," Rarity shook her head.

"We still haven't looked into Vault-Tec's local HQ for Elder Aegis," Twilight said. "Maybe we'll investigate it while on the way back to Brightlight?"

"I think we can do that," Sunset agreed.

"If you say so," Rarity replied.

"If honestly, Ah don't really think we need further detours, but... well, Aegis is one fella Ah don't wanna be an enemy of," Applejack said. "Let's do it."

"Then it's settled," Twilight said. "Let's go and wait for Sugarcoat to wake up. Maybe she'll agree to come as well. And there are still bodies to search."

Luna help me, this actually sounds normal to me now, she thought. What have I become?





The girls made themselves busy by collecting ammunition, medicines, grenades and caps from all dead zombies they could find. There were a lot of bodies, and not all of them were in good condition, especially when it came to Applejack's minigun - the long bursts of 5mm bullets almost tore the zombies' bodies apart. They made sure to pick only the loot they needed; they did not bother with armour and weapons, since the items of that type that were carried by zombies were inferior to their own.

Twilight and Sunset also recovered all their things, which made them feel somewhat elated. They both agreed they would have been sorry to see their hard-earned things being lost.

All in all, it took them one hour to get the job done. When they returned, they saw Sugarcoat wide awake, another set of glasses on her face.

"Oh, Sugarcoat, you're OK!" Twilight exclaimed.

"That statement is a big fucking lie, but if by that you meant me being still alive, I'll bite," Sugarcoat replied. Everyone shook their heads at the former Crystal Prepper's antics.

"We brought some loot," Sunset said, dropping what valuables she found, the other girls doing the same.

"Oh, so I am included as well? Great. I am low on ammo."

Everyone spent twenty minutes dividing the loot in equal shares and taking what was deemed necessary. When they were ready, the girls re-settled the rucksacks, and Twilight asked Lyra and Bon Bon:

"Where are you going to go now?"

"We planned to go back to Appletown," Bon Bon replied. "What about you?"

"We thought of doing the same. On the way, though, we planned to check out the local headquarters of Vault-Tec."

"Mind if we tag along then? Safety in numbers, plus Lyra's credentials of an officer of NSC would help unlock some hidden data."

"I certainly wouldn't. What about you, girls?" Twilight asked the others, who gave the same answer.

"Then come on."





As the girls were on the way out of the Commissariat's building, they passed the dead body of Adagio Dazzle on the way out. Disregarding the usual ethical norms of treating dead bodies, everyone except Twilight and Rarity participated in mutilating the corpse. Sunset even went as far as to unload a whole magazine into it, and Applejack stomped so hard on the dead siren's head that it cracked and broke apart, resulting in a gruesome mess of skull splinters, blood and brain matter being stuck to the power armour's foot.

"Excellent," Lyra remarked cold-bloodedly. "Now no one will recognize the corpse."

The girls decided to take the same way back that they used while going to Stable Hearts Limited before the forced detour courtesy of Adagio Dazzle. The area was a lot calmer now, although everyone still remained slightly jumpy, half-expecting another wave of white-eyed humans and super mutants to rush them out of nowhere or Adagio to come after them again.

Fortunately, their fears were misplaced. Apparently, the siren managed to convert many victims into her service, and now that each and every of them died when Adagio was killed, the area was more clear and at least temporarily safer now. The girls certainly did not mind, and this improved their mood.

However, when they arrived at Horseshoe Highway, their spirits were dumped.

The settlement was a sight of destruction and massacre. Homes were burnt, some of them to the ground, some still had carcasses sticking. Bodies of men, women and even teenagers were lying around, with injuries of varying gruesomeness, from bullet holes to torn limbs and spilt organs. Twilight and Rarity puked when they saw several bodies simply torn in two.

The Equestrians were also distraught to find Cap Collector dead. His pistol was still in his hand, with its bolt stuck in the back position. Apparently, he was fighting to the last ammo. A throat torn apart by bullets left no doubts as to his cause of death.

Lyra and Bon Bon quickly and efficiently searched the houses, as well as underground passages that existed below Horseshoe Highway. When they returned, their faces were stony masks.

"We have searched everywhere," Lyra said morosely. "No survivors. Everyone is dead or was converted by Dazzle and died when she did."

Sugarcoat was looking at the scene of destruction, mouth agape at the carnage and destruction in front of her. She was slowly walking around, taking in the gruesome surroundings. Finally, she let her R91 fall, and fell to her knees, sobbing.

"No," her voice cracked. "No, no, no! This isn't fair! This isn't fucking fair! Why did all of them have to die? Why was I the only one to survive?!" she punched the ground, ignoring the pain in her knuckles and fingers. "Why? They deserved none of this!"

"They didn't," Twilight lowered herself to her knees in front of Sugarcoat, "but the person responsible for it is dead now, and you helped us defeat her. If it makes you feel better, consider your part as vengeance on their behalf."

"Vengeance won't bring them back, Twilight. I wanted to defend Horseshoe Highway... but now it is destroyed. I hardly think anyone who ran will even want to return here. All the brave souls who resisted are dead, and those fucking cowards who ran, few of them being an exception to my "cowards" remark, lived, when it should have been vice versa," the pig-tailed girl growled. "They will just stay in Brightlight and enjoy the meager scraps Round Risk and his ilk will throw at them from their table."

"If we hadn't stopped Adagio, they would have died as well."

"You're right, damn it. I just... so fucking hate it that Horseshoe Highway is basically dead right now," Sugarcoat had tears running down again. Twilight quickly hugged the former Shadowbolt.

Initially surprised, Sugarcoat went tense at the physical contact. Then, slowly and unsuredly, she hugged Twilight back.

"Th-thanks," she sobbed. "S-sorry for the moment of weakness."

"I probably would have been a basket case if I were you," Twilight said. "You're taking this better than I am."

"I would like to call bullshit... but I can't right now."

Both girls stood up.

"I... let me say my goodbyes to this place. Alone," Sugarcoat asked. "Then we will move on."

"If you say so," Twilight said. The former Shadowbolt stepped away slowly. Twilight  discreetly waved Rarity to herself and whispered:

"Cloak and watch after her, will you? I'm afraid she might do something reckless."

"Say no more," Rarity switched her Stealth-Boy on and disappeared. Others stood in place, except Sunset, who went to Cap Collector's stand and searched through its contents.

Both Twilight and Applejack gave her a disapproving glance.

"What?" she said. "I am sorry that he died as well. But I'd rather have his things in our hands than in ahnds of someone else who might not be benevolent."

"Sounds kinda cynical ta me, Sunset," Applejack said, "but Ah can't argue with your logic. Let me help."

"Er... Lyra, Bon Bon, what are shovels for?" Twilight asked the two other girls who indeed carried shovels.

"We thought that we should bury those vilagers who died here," Bon Bon said. "We'd be grateful if you helped."

"Are you planning to make a grave for everyone?" Twilight guessed.

"No, it will be a simple mass grave."

"OK, I'll help, give me one."

Mass grave, the words sounded alien in Twilight's mind. I don't think I ever had to see one in Equestria, much less dig...





The group did not notice as the night settled in while they were digging the mass grave for the unfortunate souls that died because of Adagio's machinations.

The work took a lot of effort. When the grave was dug, the girls split into pairs (Sugarcoat joined Twilight and Sunset) and dragged all the bodies, dumping them into the grave. Twilight felt miffed that the bodies were dropped without ceremony, but was forced to admit they did not need to stay here longer than necessary.

When the earth finally covered the whole grave, Lyra and Bon Bon collected several R91 assault rifles that looked the shoddiest (seven in total) and, after taking out the magazines, stuck them into the ground, barrel-first.

"Tradition," the beige-skinned girl explained, "for when soldiers were buried in the field."

After that, at Lyra's insistence, the girls formed a line and switched fire selectors of their assault weapons into "single" mode. When the former mint-skinned Commissar gave a command, they all fired in the air over the grave.

Sunset attached a piece of paper to one of R91's stuck in the ground, which read:


In the memory of the fallen defenders of Horseshoe Highway.

They fought to the last against the odds, to defend what they held dear.


When they finished, it was 12:43 a.m. Lyra declared that there was no sense in them wandering around in the dark. Tired and exhausted, everyone agreed to catch as much nap as possible. It was decided that two persons would stand guard, while others slept, and the sentries would change every three hours.

Sugarcoat was excused from night guard duty die to her head still slightly aching despite the advanced painkillers she had taken, so the first shift was given to Lyra and Bon Bon, the second one to Rarity and Applejack, and the third one to Twilight and Sunset. No one expressed disapproval, and everyone except former NSC and DOI agents went to sleep.

Twilight was too exhausted to even have a proper nightmare about what happened. She dreamt of some incomprehensible images that would please Discord, and distorted voices screaming something in an unfamiliar language while she either swam or fell down in some sort of space with no gravity. The images changed from Chaos-corrupted Ponyville-like image to red Tartarus-like landscapes, and the voices sounded like Nightmare Moon, Discord, Tirek and Starlight Glimmer combined. She could not discern one from another.

Unpleasant as the dream was, Twilight still felt displeased when she was shaken awake by Rarity and told that it was her and Sunset's shift now. Both Equestrians suited up and left the house, walking around the house and not far from it. Spike stayed at the entrance, ready to bark as soon as something approached the house the others were in.

Horseshoe Highway, of which only a dead husk remained, looked even worse at night. While the moon in the sky still made the destruction pretty visible, the blood stains and the absence of bodies which were dumped into the mass grave created an atmosphere of tension and ambient horror. Sunset could not help but compare the scene to a computer game of horror genre; shivering, she held her assault rifle tighter, eyes darting from one side to another.

In contrast, Twilight walked apathetically, checking for threats like an automaton. Her body's movements were slow and deliberate, and she was not jumpy by any means. Her mind was partially occupied by patrol duties, and partially by the situation she found herself now.

"Twilight, you look like you haven't seen enough sleep," Sunset said. "Let's head back; you'll go and sleep some more and I will finish my shift."

"I'm fine."

"I call horseshit. You don't see it, but you are moving and acting like an automaton. You are exhausted..."

"I'm fine!" Twilight snapped, interrupting her fiery-haired compatriot. "I don't need sleep. We will finish our shift and head back, OK?"

"Not with you acting like this," Sunset went in front of the lavender-skinned girl. "Everyone sees that you are most definitely not fine! We did not say anything because we did not know what to say..."

"There is nothing to say, Sunset!" Twilight raised her voice. "We failed, plain and simple! The magic journal has been corrupted by Adagio, there is no way to contact Equestria, I am doomed to stay here forever, end of story! Can we focus on patrol now?"

"No," the voice of the former student of Princess Celestia was hard as steel. "You are being obstinate and self-destructive right now. This can't go on."

"Self-destructive? Me?" the equine-turned-human Princess almost choked. "What in fucking Tartarus gives you that bunch of hooey?"

"The fact that you're behaving like this right now does."

"Well what in Equestria do you expect me to do?" Twilight was almost shouting. "Sit in one place and bawl my eyes out until my tear ducts wear out? Go axe-crazy on a murderous rampage? Or shoot myself? I can't afford that!"

"I expected you not to throw out the white flag."

This statement made Twilight explode:

"I am cut out from Equestria FOREVER, Sunset!!! I am knowledgeable, but if you expected that I am so much of a bookworm that I can recall all Starswirl's writings on portals and alternate dimensions and travelling between them and what-the-fuck-not, well newsflash, you're wrong! I needed that journal to contact Princess Celestia or anyone of my friends and have them look at anything that pertains to this field of knowledge so I could at least understand how in the name of demons I actually got here if the portal was destroyed by a nuclear bomb and why I appeared in the place I appeared and some other things! Even if the portal miraculously survived, didn't it occur to you that Canterlot is irradiated to Tartarus and back and there is something else one hundred percent fatal in there?! And without the knowledge, I cannot hope to restore the portal! Face it, Sunset, I have no way to return to Equestria now! Don't you get it?!"

"I do," Sunset replied, but that was not enough to calm the raging lavender-skinned girl as she continued:

"I'm having trouble believing that, with you acting so cool and collected. You don't even care, do you?"

The fiery-haired girl took a step back, shocked by the words that she just heard. The alicorn-turned-human breathed heavily, standing in front of her, eyes filled with rage.

Then, Sunset twitched.

SLAP!

Faster than it could have been expected, she slapped her friend across the cheek with her right hand. Twilight tumbled to the ground from the force of impact, ears slightly ringing, and looked up.

Sunset stood above her, breathing as heavily as she did a moment ago, hand still raised and eyes swelling in tears.

"How dare you?!" her voice cracked, also rising. "How could you think that I do not care about that?! Do you think that seeing you saddened and in pain does not make me feel the same? When I saw what Adagio did to you, I... I... words can't describe what horrible pain I felt! I prayed to Celestia that she would stop tormenting you, because I knew the ritual would bring you even worse agony than what I felt!"

"But you have lived in this world for years!" Twilight was unwilling to cede. "You can do it more easily! Nothing links you to Equestria!"

"What... you... Twilight, you're a Celestia-fucking IDIOT!!!" Suddenly, Sunset's angry teal eyes almost filled her entire field of vision, and the lavender-skinned girl got actually scared. "I have lived here for a long time, but that doesn't mean I never missed Equestria! Fuck, when I was stuck in a fucking Vault 75, I so longed to see the Summer Sun Celebration, or Hearth's Warming, or Nightmare Night, or anything else, because back there, we did not celebrate that, and there was no holiday atmosphere in years, not even for a fucking single day! There were times when I wanted to return, even if for some time, to see other ponies, to breathe the clean air of Equestria... to... to..."

To Twilight's shock, Sunset collapsed to the ground.

"I wa-wanted to see P-p-p-princess Celestia ag-g-g-gain... to s-s-s-say that I... to say that I, that I... miss her..." Sunset covered her face. "How could you say that, Twilight... how could you say I didn't care..."

The fiery-haired girl burst into tears.

Twilight sorely wished for someone to whack her head with a sledgehammer as a hot-as-molten-lava feeling of shame flooded her.

Twilight Sparkle, you are the dumbest, most foalish, boneheaded and retarted Princess in existence. Congratulations on setting the anti-record, dumbass! she thought, as more tears arrived.

They sat in silence for some time, until the lavender-skinned girl muttered:

"I'm sorry, Sunset... I didn't want... I didn't mean to... I am a bad friend!" she declared, getting up and running away, back to home.

Someone caught her by the hand and forcefully turned her around, wrapping arms around her.

"Twilight," Sunset almost whispered, "I understand you. I lost Equestria as well..."

They stood in place, as Twilight's sobs ripped the silence around them...





Fortunately, no one who could bear hostilities towards the Equestrians was nearby, which allowed them to finish their night shift without problems. When they returned, everyone was already up, and both Twilight and Sunset caught a quick hour of sleep before everyone moved out of the house and left Horseshoe Highway for the headquarters of Vault-Tec in Trottingham.

Everyone kept their eyes open for any potential threats. However, for some reason, they came across virtually no one, unlike when Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity were going together with Cap Collector.

The only threat they have encountered were small packs of feral ghouls that were seemingly more spread out now than before, and land mines left by some "well-intentioned" people who did not think of inexperienced Wastelanders coming across them. Feral ghouls were very quickly dispatched by the group, and mines were spotted by Sunset, Lyra, Bon Bon and Rarity and properly disarmed. Bon Bon actually took some time to educate others on disarming mines, for which others were very grateful.

When Twilight voiced her surprise at the lack of more threatening enemies, Lyra promptly told her not to tempt fate, and Sunset thought out loud that Adagio must have converted the majority of local threats into her mini-army. Others seemed to agree with her, since it was a rather plausible theory, but did not dwell too much on it, and went on.

A couple of hours later, Sunset decided to turn on the radio on her Pip-Boy on a whim. When she set it to the wavelength of Canterlot Wastelands News, they heard the final notes of "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire" playing as the song was coming to a close.

"Oh Tartarus damn it," she said, "that was one of my favourites..."

She went quiet, though, as a female voice, disguised by voice distorter, rang out:

"Greetings, Wasteland wanderers! It is I, your DJ Mysterious Stranger, here to bring you the latest batch of news! Alas, this batch has good news as well as bad news. And I will start with bad news. It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that the settlement known as Horseshoe Highway, located in the southern area of ruins of Trottingham, is indeed destroyed. Our scouts just confirmed that, reporting that many buildings have been burnt to the ground, with ruins standing everywhere and only a few houses escaping the destruction. Blood stains cover almost the whole village, and spent shells are lying around both inside the building and outside on the streets. The tunnels under the village have the same gory scene. It isn't pretty, according to the scouts. There is also a mass grave, with some assault rifles sticking from the ground. Apparently, some kind-hearted soul decided to give the victims, and maybe the attackers as well, a proper burial. Heavens bless them! Because they would drop dead if they saw the scenery in the south-western area of Trottingham. Yeah, that's what our next piece of news is about. Folks, the area near the local Commissariat building is a flipping abattoir! There are bodies upon bodies lying everywhere: normal people, super mutants, ghouls both feral and non-feral, the scouts report that Metro Survivalists actually came out as well. What is interesting, all of the bodies have either rolled-up eyes, or their eyeballs were burst. I... I have no idea what in the wide world this could be. This is abnormal. On a better note, though, zombie attacks seem to have stopped. Brightlight folks do not report any further incursions, and some of them say that at one moment, zombies just screamed and their eyes burst. Well... fingers crossed! That was a piece of good news. And there is one other thing: our favourite Daring Duo, along with some of their friends, was spotted last time going into the south-western area of Trottingham. Good news is that none of the bodies we have found yet belong to them, so again, fingers crossed! If someone can survive that, it's them, and I seriously hope they will make it, because heavens know the Wastelands have not seen that many truly daring souls lately. Well, that's the news for this hour! And now, some music! This time, let's have a repeat of "I Don't Want To Set the World on Fire!", the six-times winner of our favourite love song contest!"

"Oh, leave it on, leave it on!" Lyra asked. The girls enjoyed a piece of pre-apocalypse romantic music while it played, but then Bon Bon insisted that the radio be turned off.

"I know it's kinda boring, but announcing our presence to everyone is a bad idea even if there has been a dramatic drop in the number of threats," she said, and others reluctantly agreed with her.

Somewhere about forty minutes later, they were standing in front of the local Vault-Tec headquarters.

"Heh," Susnet remarked. "Looks a lot different from what I remembered."

The building, like the others, was damaged, although it apparently was less damaged by the atomic blast that leveled the city than by any looters that tried to get themselves anything they thought would benefit them. Applejack was surprised by the HQ's condidtion, but Lyra explained that this building stood rather far from the ground zero, so the only major damage it would suffer would be broken windows and short-circuits because of electromagnetic pulse.

"Even then," she said, "Vault-Tec would have at least their core parts insulated against EMP, and some of their stuff was running on their own energy supply. I am not hoping that this building has more than emergency power, but supposedly this should be enough to power some terminals."

"An' defense systems?"

"Them too, although who knows..."

"What exactly are we searching for?" Bon Bon interrupted.

"Elder Aegis did not specify anything," Twilight said. "We are looking for whatever might interest the Brotherhood of Steel. That includes data on weapons or any other advanced pre-apocalyptic technology."

"So, basically, everything?"

"Pretty much. My primary thought, though, is that we need to check through whatever terminals may have survived."

"I suggest we skip the first floors and get straight to the top floors, then," Sunset said. "I have been here enough times to know that the juiciest parts are where the top dogs resided. And they were on the top."

Everyone gave her flat looks.

"I am not in the right set of mind for good puns. Bleeping sue me," she snarked in response.

"Take positions to the side of the doors," Bon Bon instructed. "Applejack, you and Lyra breach the doors and prepare to blast anything that shoots at us, or take cover if it's something too heavy. We follow you. There might be looters or automated defenses."

"Gotcha," the blonde girl said, positioning herself. Once everyone was ready, she kicked the front door hard, making it fly off the hinges, and preparing her minigun. Lyra had her laser rifle cocked, but no one fired at them.

Everyone went inside the hall. It was large enough to have four sentry bots stationed within, with elegant marble still present somewhere on the floor and remains of once luxurious carpets thrown around. Multiple desks with terminals were present, a security outpost overlooked the entrance (but it was empty, and scorch marks of a grenade explosion along with scrap remains of a Protectron showed why) and there were six elevators.

Much to everyone's surprise, one of them actually worked. It was an elevator which, according to the battered plaque near it, went straight to the top floor.

"So..." Sunset said, unsure. "Anyone wants a ride? Or we go on foot?"

"How many floors are here, again?" Applejack asked.

"Twenty-five."

"Oh fuck no, Ah ain't gonna walk on foot an' waste mah whole ammo supply," the farmer said. "Ah vote for elevator."

"Applejack raises a good point," Rarity said. "We might not make it if we run into automated defenses all the time. Provided they are here, of course."

"Vault-Tec was deep enough in government's pocket to have a permission for their own automated defense system," Bon Bon said. "Especially since some of their offices were attacked by TODC terrorists. The top floor would definitely be heavily defended. The elevator actually is a bypass for that. What troubles me is that this elevator also has a mechanism for authentication. I'm worried that we may trigger a fatal trap while on the way or on the other side."

"Vault-Tec, while a megacorp, still wouldn't be out of Commissariat's control," Lyra replied. "I can easily grant us access to the top floor."

"How?"

Lyra picked a small plastic card that had National Security Commissariat insignia. When she slid it through the slot, the device beeped and glowed green.

"Easy-peasy," she said, smirking. "Perks of being a Commissar. Although, I don't think we should all pile in. Me, Bon Bon and Applejack will go first, the rest follow us separately. We'll send the elevator down."

"OK then," Sunset agreed, albeit reluctantly. Lyra, Bon Bon and Applejack went inside, and the doors closed behind them. Some clanking sounds were heard from the inside, and then the elevator moved. Twilight, Sunset and Rarity stood in place for seven minutes until the elevator arrived back to the ground floor. Going inside, they pressed the button with a number "25" on it - the only numbered button except "1".

As they approached the top floor of the building, they heard the rattle of Applejack's minigun, Lyra's laser rifle blasts and Bon Bon carbine's shots ring closer. Everyone frowned, and prepared their weapons: Twilight held her laser rifle, Sunset opted to use R91 assault rifle, and Rarity picked her marksman carbine.

When the door opened, they quickly dashed to the closest cover. Raising their heads, they saw Applejack, Lyra and Bon Bon blast away the security robots with Vault-Tec logo on them, that were quite hostile. As the girls arrived, though, the first group has managed to put down all the robots. Applejack pulled the lever, releasing the spent box, and Lyra explained:

"Seems that the robots were in autonomous security mode, not slaved to any control station. Under existing protocols, that meant everyone not wearing a special Vault-Tec badge is legitimate target. Stupid system."

They moved through the floor, disposing of the annoying robots as they encountered them. Fortunately, they did not encounter any heavily armoured robots on the floor, and were able to move largely unimpeded.

The situation changed when they approached the large metallic double door with a complex locking mechanism. Lyra explained that a corporate mainframe was located behind it, which would allow them to unlock all the terminals with a special master control code that could be possessed either by a corporate executive or an operative of the Commissariat with sufficient authority.

"Since when do you possess sufficient authority to pull that off?" Sunset asked, surprised.

"At one time, I had had to work with Vault-Tec in order to vet the candidates for a Vault..."

Twilight immediately glanced at Rarity, eyes widening in fear. Lyra doesn't know about Rarity's vendetta against Vault-Tec! An image of Rarity raising her carbine and shooting Lyra in the back of the head immediately flashed in her mind.

However, when she turned around, she saw nothing out of the ordinary on the ex-fashionista's aristocratically pale face. The expression she had was of rapt attention as she listened to the former NSC agent. Catching Twilight's look, she turned around, eyebrows raised.

What? she mouthed.

The lavender-skinned girl shook her head. Nothing, she conveyed.

"...and when the job was complete, I was allowed to retain my Vault-Tec superuser credentials," Lyra continued. "They are actually on the magneto-optic disk where I have my Commissariat override codes, and they are auto-executable, so once we get to the mainframe, it should be fine. Problem is, I don't know what may be located behind the door. Given that security is in autonomous mode, it will be hostile to us. Get ready."

Everyone took position in cover, except Applejack who had her minigun ready, barrels rotating. The mint-skinned girl unlocked the door with her Commissariat override card, and the heavy locking mechanism cranked for ten seconds before the door slid apart, revealing several strange one-wheeled robots behind it with some sort of TV sticking out of their front with a strict policeman face sticking out of it.

"Intruders detected! Fire!" one of them declared while everyone rained fire on the robots. Despite their seeming brittleness, these robots were more sturdy than Protectrons, and one of them managed to attack Applejack with a stream of lasers before falling to the onslaught.

"Motherfucker!" the blonde girl exclaimed, seeing the front of her armour slightly melted down from the barrage. "That varmint spoiled mah armour!"

"Are you hurt?" Twilight asked.

"Nah, Ah'm fine, but that fuckin' clanker did a number, that's for certain. Lyra, what in tarnation are these scrap heaps?"

"Securitrons," Bon Bon replied instead of Lyra. "Developed by RobCo, the closest thing to a military-grade robot civilian agencies were allowed to have. The police, the private security companies and the megacorps used them. Heck, an upgraded version was even used by the military, as well as Directorate of Intelligence and Commissariat."

"Yes," Lyra said, "Securitrons Mk. II were used in defensive operations, I remember that. Aside from gatling lasers, Mk. II version has rocket launchers and reinforced titan-carbon-polyalloy armour designed to resist energy weapons. These are Securitrons Mk. I we are dealing with here, thank the heavens. Maintain caution, though, gatling lasers are bad enough, and they might have powerful tasers for close quarters."

"Yay," Sunset said sarcastically. "I forgot how these robots used to wheel around and bark in that nasty metallic voice, "Move along!" or something else. Now I remembered. Shit."

"At least you can shoot them silly now, darling," Rarity said. "I also recall seeing those, and I positively hated them. Really wanted to just punch their stupid TV screens."

"Ha!" the fiery-haired girl laughed. "Now you're on my wavelength, Rarity."

"Vandals," Twilight shook her head.

"You have not yet realized the schadenfreude of wanton destruction, Twilight," Rarity chuckled and winked.

"I'd rather not."

The girls moved on, hiding behind every possible cover and eliminating any Securitron they encountered. They never encountered more than one or two at a time, which led to the robots being taken out ridiculously easy - aside from several hits each of them had gotten from gatling lasers. Twilight had to apply a burn salve when several beams glanced her face, which did not improve her mood and led her to recall the look she had when she tried to warn her past self not to worry of impending doom - much to Sunset's amusement.

They quickly got to the maneframe. Lyra quickly inserted her magneto-optic disk with override codes and executed the commands that brought down the whole firewall system. After that, she typed something else.

"I have allowed full access to the database from any terminal on this floor and reset all passwords," she said. "Now we can pull any information we want. Let's find ourselves some terminals."

Entering the closest office and disposing of two Securitrons, the girls found themselves in a spacious room with many separate cabins with their own EMP-insulated terminals. Not all of them were in working order, though, so each girl chose one.

Sunset tried to search for information on Vault 75, curious as to what was the purpose behind it. She has not forgotten what she knew about them at the moment, and so far, she did not find what she knew reassuring.

Vault 49 was overfilled with people who were criminals. They formed gangs and fought each other with easily accessible weapons. The survivors bailed out to form White Knives, one of the most dangerous threats they have encountered.

Vault 85 was a ground for inhumane experiments with Forced Evolutionary Virus. Had Sweetie Belle been put there, she would have suffered a fate worse than death, of that Sunset was sure. But why? What was there to gain by filling the Vault with others only to butcher them all?

Vault 94, from which Rarity came, was apparently a military-ran Vault. Each and every person was supposed to have been trained in combat. And, given Rarity's proficiency in infiltration and sniping, it was effective.

But none of that was in Vault 75. The million-bits question was: why? The only conclusions that Sunset could reach were either someone's extreme incompetence... or a far greater plan behind the Vaults.

The Societal Preservation Project.

Unfortunately, a lot of information was unavailable for viewing. The fiery-haired girl guessed that either even the top dogs of Trottingham division of Vault-Tec were not in the know, or data was corrupted. Still, she found several things she decided to look through.

The first one was an official record on Vault 75:



VAULT 75

Construction began: 11.06.2092
Construction finished: 27.11.2093
Budget: $105,000,000
Vault model: VTS-2200

Staff:
Overseer: 1
Security Personnel: 1 Head of Security (Captain), 1 Deputy Head of Security (Vice-Captain), 10 squad leaders (Lieutenants), 100 security officers (Sergeants). TOTAL: 112
Maintenance Personnel: 1 Head of Engineering, 1 Deputy Head of Engineering, 25 engineers. TOTAL: 27
Medical Personnel: 1 Head of Medical, 1 Deputy Head of Medical, 10 doctors, 15 nurses. TOTAL: 27

Planned number of accepted inhabitants: 834

Participant of Societal Preservation Project: YES
Project details: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.

G.E.C.K. supply: 1 (to be used only in case described in the letter to Overseer).

Number of admiitted persons: 834
Vault is at full capacity. Admittance process aborted.

Commissariat Vetting Officer: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.
Commissariat Vetting Officer's Vetting Result: All persons from the list have been vetted, and approved for being granted admittance into Vault 75. Vetting Officer: [REDACTED]



While it was somewhat naive to believe that the details of Societal Preservation Project would be found here, the mere notice that Vault 75 was a part of the atrocity that a Dr. Sharp Nerve had cooked up made Sunset's insides boil. It also added some other questions, which she decided to shelve for later.

Another interesting part was a record of an inter-department chat between two workers via e-mail:



Fence Bender wrote to Sail Wind:
Man, what is that deal with a freaking G.E.C.K. issued to Vault 75 and told not to use it? Aren't G.E.C.K.s for control Vaults only? These things are freaking expensive, the old hags at Accounting keep throwing hissy fits whenever they hear about a new one being commissioned! I know Future-Tec is one of our own branches, but [EXPLETIVE], man, this [EXPLETIVE] costs almost as much as half of a Vault! What the [EXPLETIVE] are they thinking?!

Sail Wind wrote to Fence Bender:
Shut the [EXPLETIVE] up, man. Orders straight from Canterlot, that's why. You want that Commissariat guy or the top boss to read your [EXPLETIVE] e-mail? Be my guest, but you'll be [EXPLETIVE] very quickly. Did you forget that Fleur Dis Lee mouthed off at someone from NSC and she has been missing for some time? I tell you, man, that's no [EXPLETIVE] coincidence. [EXPLETIVE] chill out.



"Fleur Dis Lee got messed up? Should have expected that. But... control Vaults? Interesting," Sunset said. Unfortunately, she was unable to find more information on what kept her interest.

Twilight was looking through whatever data could potentially be of interest to the Brotherhood of Steel. Little, if any information could be pulled on the topic, but one file caught her attention. It had the following info:



Memo #33279
To: Canterlot HQ
From: Trottingham HQ

Stalliongrad, Baltimare and Trottingham divisions of Future-Tec have corraborated on one of their latest ideas, which they call Project Swab - although I keep insisting that they change the name, but they seem to be intent on making jokes like that - and which may be a very worthy investment.

Project Swab is a derivative of Project Recolonizer, which has successfully resulted in creation of G.E.C.K.; unlike it, however, this project aims to combat the radiation that would undoubtedly cover the land, should TODC ever try to unleash their nuclear arsenal upon us. The core idea of the project is to accelerate the nuclear decay by stimulating the process; for instance, dangerous radioactive isotopes like cesium-137 or stroncium-90 should undergo acceleration of their beta decay process, which should render them into safer isotopes, which should, in return, negate their danger.

The exact mechanism of said acceleration is, quite frankly, beyond me. As far as I understood, it is somehow based on Twilight Sparkle's job on microfusion energy, and the device designed for this creates some sort of localized "temporal displacement" field (it is not the term the scientists use, and they insist it is the wrong one, but it is the best amateur description I can give), which would make an effect of time passing quicker on a scale of elemental particles in some area. A side effect of said acceleration, however, is increased radioactivity in the area where the acceleration takes place.

Frankly, it sounds a lot like science fiction, but I took care to see the scientists, especially Doctor Hooves, in person. The team has managed to assemble a small prototype, and they tested it near the Trottingham-6 nuclear station, where a leak had happened in 2063. They tested their prototype in an area ten kilometers away from it, and when their prototype finished working, the soldiers walking with dosimeters lost their jaws: the area affected by the test was fully clear of radiation! I covertly re-checked the area two days later and one week later - there was no spoof. The prototype ACTUALLY WORKED!

Given that Twilight Sparkle's theories on microfusion energy were also initially thought of as science fiction and now we have power armour and energy weapons, I believe Project Swab is a worthwhile investment. I have attached their schematics and theoretical papers to the memo and encrypted them by my own key.

Just convince Doctor Hooves to change the project's name. Seriously.

Signed,
Audro Stamp,
Head of Vault-Tec office in Trottingham

Attached: 9 files



This will be of value to Elder Aegis, Twilight thought, copying the memo and its attachments onto her magneto-optic disk. She hid the data storage device inside her own Pip-Boy, hoping it would be safer in there thanks to the hardened frame of the device.

Rarity, however, was trembling. She ahd tried to infiltrate the building before, but without Lyra's Commissariat override codes, she could not see the data she so desperately wanted to see.

Now, she had all the secrets at her fingertips!

Well... not all. But I can still get something!

She opened the record on Vault 94.



VAULT 94

Construction began: 21.02.2093
Construction finished: 07.01.2094
Budget: $485,230,000
Vault model: VTS-2400

Staff:
Overseer: 1
Security Personnel: NONE, SEE MILITARY PERSONNEL BELOW.
Military Personnel:1 UFE Army Colonel, 1 UFE Army Lieutenant-Colonel, 3 UFE Army Majors, 6 UFE Army Captains, 12 UFE Army Lieutenants, 48 UFE Army Sergeants, 240 UFE Army Privates. TOTAL: 301
Maintenance Personnel: 1 Head of Engineering, 1 Deputy Head of Engineering, 25 engineers. TOTAL: 27
Medical Personnel: 1 Head of Medical, 1 Deputy Head of Medical, 20 doctors, 35 nurses. TOTAL: 57

Planned number of accepted inhabitants: 595

Participant of Societal Preservation Project: YES
Project details: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.

G.E.C.K. supply: 0

Number of admiitted persons: 530
Omega-level threat protocols enacted. Vault sealed. Admittance process aborted.

Commissariat Vetting Officer: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.
Commissariat Vetting Officer's Vetting Result: All persons from the list have been vetted, and approved for being granted admittance into Vault 94. Vetting Officer: [REDACTED]

N.B. The following persons are on Commissariat's watchlist: Dodge Ball, Slap Foot, Augur Eagle, Rarity Belle. Cause: family relation to politically unreliable persons.

There are currently no sufficient reasons to deny entry to any of them; however, constant overwatch is advised. Vetting Officer [REDACTED].



"So they put me on the watchlist... Commissariat ruffians," Rarity muttered under her nose. Pulling the files on Vault 85, she saw:



VAULT 85

Construction began: 19.06.2092
Construction finished: 20.11.2093
Budget: $427,658,000
Vault model: VTS-2500

Staff:
Overseer: 1
Security Personnel: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.
Scientific Personnel: 1 Head of Science, 1 Deputy Head of Science, 20 scientists, 40 laboratorians. TOTAL: 62
Maintenance Personnel: 1 Head of Engineering, 1 Deputy Head of Engineering, 25 engineers. TOTAL: 27
Medical Personnel: 1 Head of Medical, 1 Deputy Head of Medical, 10 doctors, 15 nurses. TOTAL: 27

Planned number of accepted inhabitants: 500

Participant of Societal Preservation Project: YES
Project details: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.

G.E.C.K. supply: 1

Number of admiitted persons: 500
Omega-level threat protocols enacted. Vault sealed. Admittance process aborted.

Commissariat Vetting Officer: OVERRIDDEN BY CANTERLOT HQ. PLEASE CONTACT MAIN HEADQUARTERS IT PERSONNEL FOR CLEARANCE.
Commissariat Vetting Officer's Vetting Result: All persons from the list have been vetted, and approved for being granted admittance into Vault 85. Vetting Officer: [REDACTED]

N.B. The persons on the list are on Commissariat watchlist as potential TODC sympathizers. Maintain caution. Vetting Officer [REDACTED].



Rarity decided to dig in a little deeper. Out of the files pertaining to Vault 85, she maanged to find a record of admittance lists, and changes log.

Her eyes went wide as she looked through it.

Her hands shaking, she took out a Pip-Boy with a symbol of shield coloured in three stripes of magenta, pink and pale violet, with an image of a dark violet star and a symbol of musical note imposed upon it. It had a cord with small earphones plugged into a special socket. Turning it around, Rarity looked at a small picture.

Aquamarine and harlequin eyes of herself and Sweetie Belle looked back at her. The smiles depicted on the picture were genuine, if a bit tarnished by the worry they had felt in those years. Rarity took this selfie photo of herself and Sweetie in Stalliongrad, shortly before their parents were killed in a car bombing organized by TODC agents. They just managed to get themselves their favourite ice cream, and Sweetie offered to make an impromptu selfie. Rarity agreed, although it was hot and ice cream could melt at any moment...

The ex-fashionista plugged the ear buds into her ears and turned on the Pip-Boy she was holding. When the operating system loaded, she mechanically opened an audio file she had heard numerous times.

"I can't believe it!" the girl's voice was full of indignation. "Some asshole invalidated my papers, and the soldiers in power armour would not let me into the Vault! The bombs exploded, and everyone ran inside. Or tried to... when the soldiers went inside the Vault, someone turned on the Hypnotrons, or sonic emitters, I dunno, but none were able to enter - the crippling headache would not let us! And by then it was too late. The door closed. Of course, everyone ran to the console, begging to let them in, but it was all for naught. At least the shock wave did not get us in the cave..."

Click. The recording has ended. As if she were a robot, Rarity turned another one.

"It is useless to try and get to those fuckers in Vault 85. They are not responding. They won't open the Vault. Guess we're on our own. Damn it! Rarity would tan my hide for the language, but she isn't here. I gotta find somewhere to munch back in town. The radiation is there, but some Rad-X helps. The people would bulldoze anyone for food right now..."

Click. Rarity turned on the next recording.

"Tartarus damn it! We tried to get some remaining food when radioactive rain started falling! We doubled back into the cave, me and some other people, but few made it... very few. I myself caught five hundred rads, if my Pip-Boy doesn't lie. Fuck! I guess it's not gonna be good for me now. I wonder if Rarity got kicked out like me..."

Click. This time, when the recording began, the voice of Sweetie Belle was weaker and weaker:

"Damn it... I think I got radiation sickness now. My head hurts like Tartarus, my forehead is hot, I think I'm running a fever... can't think straight... puked several times... even when there was no food. My own stomach wants out... yeah, definitely radiation sickness... Goodness... can't think... hurts to talk... some other guys there gave me Rad-X. Rad-X... yeah, Rad-X will help... RadAway would do better... but can't go out... the world is dead out there... I'm gonna die if I step out. No, stay here, Sweetie... stay... sleep... can't sleep... head's splitting..."

Click.

"No, no, noooooo! Radioactive dust got blown inside the cave! My Pip-Boy's clicking like... like... a clicking bird... a clicker! Dunno if such bird exists... oooh, my head! Pip-Boy shows radiation climbing... I already got seven hundred fifty rads... no, wait... eight hundred, actually..." puking sounds rang out, and Sweetie continued, "my fucking stomach, all my organs just want out of my body! Rad-X is useless. I can't... protect myself... it's not enough. Tried to ring these assholes in the Vault again... silence. Earlier at least they said something... and now the suckers don't even wanna talk. Fuck 'em all! Oh, what's that..." Another pause. "Well great, I just shat. Diarrhea now kicked in. Fuck. Rarity must be sitting in comfort... Damn it, Rarity! Why? Why did you leave me here? Why did you not take me with you there!" another sound of puking. "I hate you, Rarity!"

Click. Rarity turned on the last recording. The clicking of a Pip-Boy's radiation detector was especially incessant in that one.

"Almost close to one thousand rads... gonna die now... stopped with Rad-X. Won't do any good... just wanna die now. I'm the last one left... everyone dead... I'm dead as well... almost... almost there... tried to listen to my logs... just made my mood worse... assholes in the Vault still silent. Fuck. Fuck this world, fuck this war, fuck Vault-Tec, fuck everyone and everything. Except... except... can't think... can't... fucking... think..." Silence reigned for several seconds, until Sweetie spoke again, "Urgh... stupid rad-clicker... shut up. Please. Eh... it won't... fuck... what was it I wanted to say..." Again, silence, twice as long this time. "Oh, right... Rarity... Sis... Dunno if you will hear this... but I... I..."

Then, Sweetie's voice was replaced by the sounds of pre-dying hoarseness, until a final exhale of breath signified the inevitable fate of being exposed to a fatal dose of radiation.

Click. Rarity turned off the recording and wiped out the unasked-for tears that formed in her eyes. She downloaded the admittance records, and tucked Sweetie Belle's Pip-Boy away.

"Hey, everyone ready?" she heard Twilight shout. "We have finished!"

"I'm ready, darlings!" the indigo-haired girl replied, faking a cheerful response. Falling behind the group, she allowed a frown to adorn her face for several seconds.

Black Widow had a new target now.

With this thought, she followed her friends through the ruins of Trottingham, until they arrived at the gates of Brightlight and Sunset said:

"Well, don't know about you, but I really wanna hit that cot in the motel with my proverbial name on it. Girls?"

A chorus of "hoorays" and "yays" sounded in response. Everyone allowed themselves to breathe in relief.

They made it back to Brightlight.

They were still alive.
> Chapter 32: Unhealthy venting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 32

Unhealthy venting


The girls saw Chip Drop and a dozen of Brightlight guards hurrying towards them. Some of the guards dropped on one knee, ready for trouble, and others stayed by the side of their superior. As he approached them, his face relaxed.

"Oh, that's you," he said. "Men, stand down!" he shouted to those who remained slightly behind, and they rose up.

"You seem tense," Twilight observed.

"The last days have gone batshit crazy. First the kinda-usual zombie attacks happened, and then the fucking Metro Survivalists attacked with some other people and feral ghouls mixed in. They managed to breach one of our walls and make a mess, we lost thirty guards and seventy civvies. Then, when we almost lost hope, all of them just screamed, and their eyes burst. We were busy dumping all the bodies into the ditch, thought we wouldn't manage. What about you? You look like you went through Tartarus."

"You can say that," Sunset said. "Look, we're tired as fuck and we want to sleep. We'll tell Round Risk what we have found out regarding the zombie situation in detail, but tomorrow. For now, we can only say that the zombie attacks should not repeat."

"Really?"

"Really," Lyra said. "But details later."

"OK. Come in then. I think that there are some rooms that should have cots for you..."





The next day, after catching almost nine (in Rarity's case, ten) hours of sleep thanks to the exhaustion, the girls spent some time going around the shops, selling the excessive loot they carried with themselves. Everyone felt glad to get rid of the items they did not need and receive some caps for it. In return, they replenished their supply of ammo and medicines, as well as for some repairs on their gear. Applejack had to buy a new frontal armour plate for her power armour, as the craftsman outright refused to repair the one she had - it was in such a sorry state that, according to him, "even if it's fixed, it's gonna hold itself only on prayers to whatever deity you may believe in". That set the farmer back a bit, but having a brand new plate was a lot better than getting shot, so she paid for it.

When the group decided they were ready to tell the tale, they went to the mayor's office. Round Risk accepted them, hiding his surprise at seeing more people than he had expected to see.

"I am sure you have heard how the last few days have been hell for Brightlight, so let's get down to business," he said. "Have you managed to find out the reason behind the zombie attacks?"

"Yes," Twilight said, "although it might sound strange. The rumours about Commissariat mind control have been... partially proven true, so to speak."

"More details, please."

"Do you know what a Hypnotron is?"

"Yes. NSC used it to quell riots, and got into scandals when the device caused fatal brain hemorrhages. It also supposedly made people more pliable to obey commands."

"Well, as we have found out, Commissariat wanted to perfect the mind-controlling aspect and commissioned research for a... Hypnotron Mk. II, if you want to put it that way."

"While plausible, are you sure that was not misinformation? NSC liked this tactic."

"I can vouch for that claim," Lyra spoke up. "I am one of the former Commissariat operatives myself."

Both Round Risk and the guards bristled, their attention focused on the mint-skinned girl.

"Can you prove it?" the mayor asked. Instead of answering him, Lyra took out some sort of a metallic token and showed it to him. He watched it carefully, and then nodded:

"I see. You wouldn't have this token without being a Commissar. You said you can vouch for Miss Sparkle's claim?"

"Yes. When I served in NSC, I have repeatedly heard hushed rumours about advanced Hypnotron devices being developed. While that information was most likely classified and meant for higher-ups only, the rumours were persistent even at my level - I held a rank of Captain - and I had access to the... more hidden information on Hypnotrons, which allowed me to assume that NSC would want to investigate the possibility of mind control even further. Some time before apocalypse, I saw that a large sum of money was dumped on some project for NSC. Commissariat rarely, if ever, commissioned something from the scientists, and none of the projects aside from an advanced model of Hypnotron could require that much."

"Pardon my curiousity, but how did you come across Miss Sparkle and her friends?"

"Me and my friend," Lyra pointed at Bon Bon, "were investigating the issue separately from them, and ran across one of her friends when she was in NSC building. We suspected someone found a prototype for this advanced Hypnotron and was playing around with it."

"And it was true," Twilight said. "A person was fooling around with one."

"Who?"

"Someone who called herself Adagio Dazzle. I have no idea how she found it; possibly it was by chance, or she might have been a rogue Commissar. She slowly and carefully indoctrinated more and more people, as well as Metro Survivalists, until she grew bold enough to openly attack Horseshoe Highway and Brightlight. We encountered her when we left Horseshoe Highway with our ally, Sugarcoat. Dazzle, or rather, her goons, took me and one of my friends prisoner when we got separated from the rest of my group."

"They knocked us out by hard hits with lead pipes on the head," Sunset said. "We were at the building of Stable Hearts Limited when this happened."

"When we found that Twilight and Sunset were gone," Rarity continued, "we were searching them throughout the building when zombies attacked. We repelled one wave, but retreated when another one appeared."

"I had been a cadet at police academy, so I led them to the police station," Sugarcoat said. "I activated the robots inside, and we fought off several waves until we were forced out of there as well saw Twilight's dog, Spike."

"He escaped from the building we were held in, and he brought everyone to us," Twilight spoke.

"But before that," Applejack took over, "we hadta sneak around the city, an' even get into sewers, to avoid detection. We decided to let Rarity check out the NSC building and me an' Sugarcoat would distract the zombies."

"That's when I met them," Rarity pointed at Lyra and Bon Bon. "I explained the situation and we joined forces. We managed to use the distraction to liberate our friends before they were brainwashed, and Dazzle came after us herself."

"You killed her?" Round Risk asked.

"Yes. I did it," Twilight said, nodding. "And we thoroughly destroyed the prototype she carried. It is nothing but scrap and cannot be rebuit now."

"Well," Round Risk said, "you really came through. Given the latest tendencies, this is a blow to our budget, but I had made a promise. Each of you gets one and a half thousand caps from me," opening the safe, he gave the reward to everyone.

"Much appreciated," Sugarcoat said.

"I have nothing more to ask of you. Do you need something else from me?"

The girls shook their heads.

"Then I wish you good luck. Enjoy your rest in Brightlight."





As the girls went back to their room in the motel, Applejack said:

"Truth be told, Ah didn't expect this Round Risk fella to actually pay us. Ah thought he would try to sneak his way outta that one."

"Probably," Sunset said, "but Brightlight still makes hundreds, if not thousands, caps per day. I'm pretty sure he taxes everyone who works here, and Brightlight has been established for several years. I think that dropping ten thousand and five hundred caps might be tolerable for him, if not pocket change."

"I doubt that it would be pocket change. I think he is just glad we dealt with the situation," Bon Bon grumbled. "And I am sure he would want us to spend the caps in the casino or other places here. He does tax the owners of any establishments here, after all. So the more we spend, the more caps to him."

"Well," Rarity said, "I don't know about others, but I am in the mood to try my luck. We have survived a horrible ordeal, so let us unwind at the "True Trot" casino!"

"Unwinding does sound good," Sunset said.

"Same here, but I don't know what agmes they play in the casino," Twilight admitted.

"I can help you with that, darling," the ex-fashionista said.

"Aren't y'all worried that you might lose all your money?" Applejack asked.

"We won't take all our money," Sunset countered. "Only a limited sum. Five hundred caps should be enough."

"Well, Ah'll go with ya, if only to get y'all outta there if you lose too much or become captured by excitement," Applejack said. "An' Ah'll bring mah own caps as well."

"Lyra, Bon Bon, Sugarcoat?" Twilight asked.

"I'm in," Sugarcoat replied, "although this is likely to result in me losing caps."

"We won't participate," Lyra said, and Bon Bon shook her head. "Not really interested. But we'll guard your things."

"I do recall that you've rummaged through my rucksack once..." Sunset squinted her eyes.

"I won't do that again. Promise."

"Pinkie Promise or no dice."

"Ugh... cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Lyra repeated the movements she had learned from Pinkie Pie long ago.

"Alright, everyone," the fiery-haired girl said, "let's have a blast!"





The quintet of girls (and Spike, carefully hidden in a rucksack) entered the "True Trot" casino, where two guards in rather clean and shiny (but still outwardly sturdy) armour greeted them with professional smiles and informed them of the ban on carrying weapons inside. Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow at that tidbit of information.

"As far as I remember, others from Horseshoe Highway said one could carry sidearms here," she remarked.

"That was earlier," one of the guards said. "Even with that limitation, there was not a month without a casualty, and the owner got tired of blood droplets and brain fragments adorning this or that surface. When there was more blood than money on one of the tables after a shootout, he banned all weapons."

"So if you have any weapons on your person, you give that to that pretty girl over there," the other guard waved his hand in the mentioned direction, "get a token which you'll need to return to get your stuff back, and then you will be searched for hidden weaponry. You can keep armour on, though. Oh, and if you do happen to... "find" a "lost" gun somewhere... kindly resist the temptation to use it. OK?"

"OK," Twilight said, slightly unsure. The girls surrendered whatever weapons they brought with themselves, and then guards searched them. Sunset noted that the guards acted more professionally than the Paladin that had molested her.

The guards also went through their bags and rucksacks. Both frowned when they found Spike in Twilight's rucksack, but the violet-haired girl assured them he wasn't aggressive and would not "leave a mess".

"OK," one of the guards said doubtfully, "but one mishap and you pray that the owner doesn't ban you."

Half a minute later, Twilight and Applejack were looking at Rarity, who was being searched. While the indigo-haired girl did surrender a 10mm pistol and combat knife she had got from somewhere, her .22 silenced pistol or balisong knife were not in the heap. She stood still, her face bearing a cold and impassionate - even bored - expression as she was searched.

The guards waved her through. She thanked them with a smile that both of them goofily returned, and went past Twilight and Applejack who shared a look that said OK, we both know that Rarity just smuggled her weapons inside, so let's not draw attention to it, and followed inside.

A doorman greeted them inside:

"Welcome to "True Trot" casino, ladies!" he smiled, and girls noted with displeasure that his teeth were almost fully covered in something yellowish.

"Pleasure to be here," Twilight said diplomatically.

"Since we have never seen you here, would you like me to tell you the basics of how we work here?"

"Yes, please."

"Very well. You need to exchange the money you have for casino chips at the cashier's. After that, you may follow in. We have blackjack tables, poker tables, roulette tables and slot machines. You can order drinks at the bar. Please follow croupier's instructions and don't disrupt the peace. Obey the guards, if they address you. Any questions?"

"What kind of poker do you have here?" Rarity asked.

"Appleloosan hold'em is the most popular here, ma'am."

"Thanks, that's all I needed."

"Any more questions?" seeing the girls shake their heads negatively, the doorman said, "Come on in!"

Everyone went inside and to the cashier's desk where the elderly man exchanged their caps for casino chips.

"Rarity," Twilight whispered, "I have no idea how to play!"

"Don't worry, darling, I can tell you the rules. Let us start with blackjack," Rarity took her own chips, and quickly explained the rules as everyone went to the blackjack table. The croupier who was near it greeted them politely and asked whether they needed to hear the rules. The girls replied negatively.

"Place your bets," the croupier said. Everyone placed a chip marked with number "5" (Twilight was the last one to put hers down). Then he dealt everyone and himself two cards. The girls had theirs face up, while the dealer had the second card face down.

"Hit me," Rarity raised her hand. The croupier gave her another one - eight of clovers. This lead to Rarity having 23 points.

"Bust," the croupier said. Rarity slid her chip to him.

"Hit me," Applejack said, and received a five of diamonds, upping her count to 20 points.

Twilight looked at her own cards. She had four of hearts and six of spades.

Ten points, not enough to hope for a win.

"Hit me," she said, and received nine of diamonds. Nineteen points. Decent.

"Stand," Sugarcoat said, looking at her cards that had 18 points in total.

"Stand," Sunset said, with 19 points of her won. The croupier turned his closed card face up. He had a ten of hearts and a nine of spades - nineteen points. Sugarcoat groaned and slid her chip to the dealer. Applejack whooped and took the "5" chip offered by the dealer, while Twilight and Sunset were instructed to take their chips back.

"Next round," the croupier (or dealer, as Rarity insisted to call him) took back the cards and reshuffled them while the girls placed a "5" chip again, then gave out the cards. Twilight looked at the cards - two tens.

"Split," she declared, and slid another "5" chip. The dealer moved one of the tens aside, and gave out a card. Ace of diamonds.

"Blackjack," he declared, and gave out another card to Twilight. Three of hearts.

"Hit me," she said, receiving a six of spades.

"Stand," she said after that.

Sunset decided to stand at seventeen, Sugarcoat got a card and upped her count to twenty-one, Applejack stood at nineteen, and Rarity doubled the bet and got a card, having twenty points in total.

The dealer turned out to have seventeen points as well, which meant that everyone except Sunset won.

For the next hand, everyone decided to bet a chip marked as "10". This time, Sunset hit a natural blackjack and won against dealer's 19 points, while Twilight also won with 20 points, Applejack busted, Sugarcoat won with 21 points and Rarity ended in a tie.

For several rounds they played while betting ten caps. Chips went back and forth, until Twilight managed to win 40 caps in total, Sunset and Sugarcoat won 20, Applejack won 15, and Rarity boosted her own count to 50 caps of net profit thanks to several lucky instances.

After that, everyone decided to bet 25 caps, and slid a "25" chip to the betting box. The dealer gave out the cards.

Twilight looked at her ace of hearts and a two of clubs. Either three or thirteen points. Depends on what comes next.

"Hit me," she said, and got a queen of spades.

Thirteen. I recall that the humans tend to think of thirteen as an unlucky number, and queen of spades as an unlucky card. I wonder if two negatives give a positive? she thought.

"Hit me," she repeated. This time, she got a four of hearts.

Seventeen. In theory, I should stop here, because the risk of bust is rather high.

"Hit me," she heard Rarity say, and groan a couple of seconds later as the dealer declared "Bust". Applejack also asked for a card, and then said "Stand", as her count equaled twenty points now.

Both Rarity and Applejack got higher-value cards, she noticed.

"Stand," Sugarcoat declared, having a jack of spades and an eight of diamonds already.

No doubt she also decided against the risk.

"Hit me," Sunset asked, and received a five of diamonds, which brought her total to twenty points.

"Stand," she said.

I wonder if... Twilight thought, and then breathed out:

"Hit me."

The dealer raised an eyebrow in surprise, but said nothing as he slid a card to Twilight face up.

Four of hearts.

Twenty-one! I am one lucky pony.

The dealer opened his cards, which turned out to read seventeen. Without a word, he slid "25" chips to everyone but Rarity. Collecting the cards, he reshuffled them again.

The girls played several more rounds, betting as they saw fit, raising or lowering the stakes whenever they felt appropriate. When they played four more round, Twilight had 60 caps of net profit, Sunset had 80 thanks to a risky bet of fifty caps, Rarity had 45 caps, Applejack had 25 and Sugarcoat had 55.

In the end, they decided to end the blackjack game with a small bang, and slid forward a chip marked "100" each. The dealer gave out the cards, and everyone went deep in thought.

Twilight had a six of hearts and a six of spades.

"Split," she declared, and slid another "100" chip.

"Split," Rarity said, sliding apart four of diamonds and four of hearts. Dealer gave both of them extra cards.

"Hit me," Sunset said, receiving a two of hearts and bringing her total to twelve points.

"Hit me," she repeated, and got an eight of clubs. Deciding not to go further, she said "Stand".

"Hit me," Applejack asked, receiving an ace of spades.

"Damn," Sunset laughed, "should have said "Hit me" last time."

"Ya never know what happens," Applejack smirked smugly, since her total count equaled twenty-one now.

"Hit me," Twilight said, receiving a queen of spades again.

Ponyfeathers! This is either very funny or very bad.

"Hit me," Sugarcoat said, and got a king of spades. "Ha! I've got a higher-ranking card than yours, Twilight!"

"It still counts as ten points, Sugarcoat."

"Can't even jokingly gloat anymore."

"Hit me," Rarity said and received a three of clubs.

"Hit me," Twilight said, receiving a five of diamonds. Twenty-one for my first bet, but will the second one go as well?

"Hit me," Rarity repeated. "Stand," she said, seeing as her first count equaled twenty.

"Hit me," Twilight spoke again, getting a five of hearts. She repeated her request and got an ace of diamonds.

Ouch. Good thing it's not always eleven points, or I would bust this bet.

Rarity requested another card, and received a jack of diamonds. She decided to stop.

"Hit me," she asked again, and got a two of spades.

Oh for the love of...

"Hit me," she repeated, and received another ace, of clubs this time.

"Oh for the love of..!" she exclaimed, as other chuckled. "Hit me!"

Nine of hearts looked up at her as the card slid to her. The lavender-skinned girl looked at it, slack-jawed, for several seconds, and the dealer did not even dare to say "bust" for fear of triggering an adverse reaction.

Twilight raised her head upwards and laughed uproariously.

"Flipping pony nuts!" she shouted at the ceiling, laughing uncontrollably. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me... Bust," she said, sliding the chip to the dealer. The latter calmly collected it and opened his own cards, which totaled nineteen points. He paid out the winnings, where applicable, and Rarity slipped him a chip marked "25".

"Thanks for the game, good sir," she smiled at him.

"You're welcome," he said. Seeing this, other girls gave him a tip as well, earning more thanks.

"Well, that was nice," Rarity said. "Anyone up for a game of poker?"

"Not me," Applejack said. "I have the worst poker face."

"I will abstain as well," Sugarcoat said. "I have had enough fun as it is; a little more and I will become a gambling addict."

"I may try a few rounds," Sunset said.

"I'll try as well," Twilight said.

"Splendid!" Rarity beamed. "Poker is so much more interesting than blackjack, if you ask me."

Everyone made their way to the table where three more men and two women were present. Twilight, Sunset and Rarity filled the last remainnig free places at the table; Applejack and Sugarcoat stood slightly behind them.

"Welcome!" the croupier greeted them cheerfully. "The game of Appleloosan hold'em poker is about to start! I am giving the token of the first player," he put the thing in question in front of the man sitting across Twilight. "Dealing out the cards!" he said, mixing two decks of poker cards in his hands, and giving each player two cards. "The small blind is five caps! Now, players, make your bets!"

Everyone looked at their cards carefully, so as not to flash their hand. Twilight noticed she had a six of clubs and eight of diamonds. Neither fish nor flesh. Let's see how it goes.

Two players folded right on that stage, forfeiting their bets, while others called the big blind and added ten caps to the pot. The croupier "burned a card" and drew up three more, putting them face up. A seven of spades, an ace of clubs, and an eight of hearts.

The first player after the dealer called the bet, and the next one raised it to twenty caps. The third player folded, while Rarity called the bet. Twilight decided to call the bet as well, while the man after her folded, and the rest called.

The croupier burned another card and opened another one. A two of clubs.

Damn, Twilight thought, there went my hope for a straight.

This time, the first player folded as well. The second one called the bet, and so did Rarity.

Twilight, however, decided to raise the bet to thirty caps. The player whose turn after her, folded, and the next one called the bet.

The croupier burned another card and put out the final one: a six of spades.

The first player folded, while Rarity decided to raise the bet to thirty-five caps. Twilight called it, but the rest of the players folded.

"Check," Rarity said.

"Check," Twilight parroted. Both girls opened the cards. Rarity had an ace of diamonds and a four of hearts.

"A pair of aces," the crupier declared, showing Rarity's cards. Then he moved to Twilight.

"Two pairs, eight and six. Player number five is the winner!" he pointed his hand at her, and moved all the chips in the pot to her pile.

"Thanks," she said.

"Another round," the croupier declared. "Who is in?"

"I'm out," three of the people said and left, leaving Twilight, Sunset, Rarity, and two more at the table.

"The small blind is ten caps this time!"

The first player made the small blind, and Rarity made the big one. The croupier dealt two cards to everyone. Twilight looked at her own and saw that she had a two of diamonds and a four of clubs.

No use to agonize myself, she thought.

"I fold," she said immediately, dropping the cards. The round continued without her, which resulted in the last player winning the pot with three of a kind (he had three nines). Sunset scowled as her own three of a kind with sevens was beat, while Rarity remained impassive.

The next round began with the small blind of fifteen caps. Once the cards were dealt, Twilight looked at her own nine of hearts and five of spades.

I wonder if..?

"Raise," she said, upping the bet from thirty to forty caps. The last player called the bet, and the croupier opened the first three community cards.

Five of diamonds, five of clubs and a king of hearts. Twilight called upon all her willpower not to smirk. She already had a three of a kind, but if there was a nine or another five somewhere...

The chances are minimal - but why not try and convince them I have the upper hand? the little pony inside her head giggled evilly.

The first player raised the bet to fifty caps, while Rarity raised the bet to seventy-five.

Wow, she is not pulling back. I wonder what cards she has? It is nigh impossible to read her - she is almost like marble now...

Sunset folded, and Twilight decided to call Rarity's last, while the last player folded as well. Everyone checked, and the croupier burned a card and opened another one.

Four of hearts.

Damn it. OK, I still have one more chance to intimidate Rarity and that other person into folding...

The first player raised the bet to eighty, and Rarity called it.

"Raise, to one hundred," Twilight declared. This is kinda fun! she giggled internally. The suspense, the tactics, the planning... keep your poker face, Twilight!

Everyone checked, and the last card was opened. An ace of diamonds.

Drat.

The first player raised his bet to one hundred and twenty-five, giving a smirk.

Big mistake - or is he bluffing?

Rarity folded, leaving Twilight alone against the player. She looked into her rival's eyes and gave a smirk of her own.

"Raise, to one hundred and fifty," she said.

"Raise to one hundred and seventy," he said.

"Call," Twilight said.

"Check."

"Check."

"Open up!" said the croupier. The first player opened his cards, revealing a three and an ace of clubs. A pair of aces.

"A pair of aces," the croupier said, and then looked at Twilight's cards, "and three of a kind with fives! Player four wins!"

Twilight genuinely smirked, grabbing all the chips in the pot. Rarity was right. This is fun... although it's fun at the expense of others, unfortunately.

"I think that's it for me," she said.

"Tip," Rarity whispered.

"What?"

"Tip the croupier, it's a sign of politeness."

Twilight slipped a chip marked "50" to the croupier, who accepted it with a "thank you, ma'am".

"I'm still in," Rarity said.

"Me as well," Sunset said. "Gotta compensate myself."

Both girls played several more rounds. Sunset quit after three of them, managing to get herself one hundred and sixty caps of net profut and deciding to stop while her luck did not run out, while Rarity played five rounds. The last round turned into a game of stress and patience, as Rarity, with her jack and seven of clubs, kept her face as impassive as possible, as the first three community cards revealed an eight and a nine of clubs. One of the players folded immediately, which left Rarity and the remaining player in a stand-off against three hundred and seventy-five caps that already were in the pot (the bets rose to one hundred and twenty-five caps by that point).

Rarity went first, raising the bet to one hundred and forty caps. Her rival raised the bet to one hundred and fifty, and she called it immediately. They checked, and the croupier took out another card - a four of diamonds.

Both rivals gazed intensely into each other's eyes, intent on discovering a sign of weakness, but neither found one.

"Raise to one hundred and seventy five!" she declared.

"Raise to two hundred!"

"Raise to two hundred and ten!"

"Call!"

"Check!"

"Check!"

The final card went face up. A ten of clubs.

The tension rose to critical levels, and the fire in remaining players' eyes went ablaze, as both were determined to win the pot.

"Raise to two hundred and fifty!" Rarity decided to sharply raise the bet.

"Raise to two hundred and seventy-five!" her rival decided not to go back.

"Raise to three hundred and twenty-five!"

Both of them seem assured of their victory, Twilight thought. Rarity has a good chance of winning, but what if he somehow beats her?

"Raise to three hundred and fifty!"

"Raise to four hundred!"

"Call!"

"Check!" Rarity gave a final smirk, trying to intimidate her rival.

"Check!"

"Opening cards," the croupier declared. Rarity's rival opened his cards first without invitation. A two of hearts and a jack of diamonds.

"A straight, starting with jack," the croupier declared, turning to Rarity. "Miss?"

With a casual, aristocratic gesture, Rarity flipped her cards open. Her rival sputtered upon seeing Rarity's hand.

"Straight flush of clubs, starting with a jack!" the croupier declared. "The young lady wins!"

"Well," the player who just lost to Rarity said, "that's it, I'm out."

"Me as well," the other one said.

"And me," Rarity said. "Gentlemen, thank you for the game. Here," she gave out two "100" chips to both remaining players and the croupier as well, which earned her a stream of words of gratitude.

"OK, girls," the indigo-haired girl said, when everyone left, "I'm in the mood to get to the local bar. You with me?"

"Heck yes!" the response sounded across the hall.





Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Sugarcoat were sitting at the round table in the bar, pleased with their winnings and their current state of slight drunkedness. Twilight and Sunset were enjoying a half-a-liter cup of beer each (Twilight's was dark, and Sunset's was light), Applejack settled for whiskey (and drank three shots already, but one could not tell by her face) as well as Sugarcoat, while Rarity was sipping red wine from an elegant-looking wine-glass.

They were drawing some looks - and chalked it up to Applejack's massive form in power armour - but paid little to no attention to this fact.

The equine Princess admitted to herself that this particular type of activity was in fact somewhat relaxing and stress-venting. Her current pains and sorrows regarding the sticky situation she found herself in were pushed back behind the joy of winning extra caps and the haze of alcohol.

I can see why "True Trot" is particularly popular here, she thought. It offers everyone a chance to let loose and forget about the Wastelands for a while. Forget that there is lawlessness and cruelty around, that there are raiders and slavers out there ready for you, that you may die the next day. This allows you to go wild for a while without a care.

I see the appeal now. I have to admit, if my life goes on like it did at Trottingham, I would go crazy without some eventing here.

"Alright y'all," Applejack declared, her voice not slurred at all despite the whiskey she had drunk, "another toast! To livin'!"

"To living!" everyone echoed, and the glasses clanked together. Everyone drank their beverage of choice, feeling alcohol flush down their throats, and feeling the slight burn in their stomach.

"Good toast, Applejack," Sunset said. "'Cause as long as we live, we can do eeeeeeverything we... well, can do!"

"Hear, hear!" Rarity sing-songed. "Live and fight to live, that's what we do!"

"Your tendency to repeat the words indicates that you two should stop," Sugarcoat said in her trademark blunt manner. "But I hardly think you will, and since I am not willing to stop either, that advice is hypocritical of me."

"Unwind, Sugarcoat," Sunset said. "Let your hair down!"

"Literally or figuratively?"

"However you want!"

"I like my pigtails, thank you very much. So no to literally... but yes to figuratively," Sugarcoat smiled and sipped more of her wine.

"Thaaaaat's the spirit!" Twilight declared, drinking down her beer to the last drop. "Aw ponyfeathers, it's empty already?"

"You did drink more often than we did," the pig-tailed Shadowbolt pointed out.

"Ah shucks, I'll go get another one."

"Need someone else with?" Applejack asked.

"Nah, I'm fine and... not falling," the lavender-skinned girl stood on her legs, wobbling slightly but regaining control almost instantaneously. "I'll manage."

"Well, OK. Come back soon."

"Will do!" Twilight said cheerfully, hand rummaging in her pockets for chips to pay for drinks with. Convinced that she had enough, she went towards the bar.

"What can I get you, Miss?" the bartender said, addressing her.

"Another big glass of your beer, please," the girl held out a "20" chip. The bartender pocketed it and signaled a young boy (no older than eighteen, as far as she could judge), who immediately ran into a room behind the bar.

"Sorry Miss, it'll take some time," he told her. "Need to bring another barrel here. In the meantime, can I interest you in something else?"

"No, thanks, I'll wait here."

"Here's a slip," the bartender held a small piece of paper with a number written on it. "If you decide to go back to your table and get the beer later, you'll need it so I'm sure that you paid."

"Thanks, but I can wait for some time. How soon will the new barrel be here."

"Hopefully, five minutes tops."

"Eh, I'll sit here then. Thanks for the slip, though."

"You're welcome."

Twilight sat at the table, pocketing the small piece of paper given to her by the bartender. The ambient noise of clinking glasses, conversations, sometimes rised voices surrounded her. Other people, mostly men with several women mixed among them, came up to the bartender, asking for more drinks and giving their chips.

Let them win and then spend their caps on alcohol. Profit. Or even better, let them lose and drink their sorrows. Even more profit, she thought, taking note of her surroundings. She noticed the stage where several girls in very... un-modest clothes (scratch that, call them skimpy) dancing, and taking off articles of clothing on occasion, much to the delight of the audience in front of the stage.

Twilight knew enough of the human world to understand the concept of striptease, strange as it was for the pony-turned-human, to whom the clothes were not that great of a necessity back in Equestria - although in winter it was better to have some - and she had learnt before that this profession had... moral stigma attached to it.

She turned away from the stage.

I don't know what to think. This job definitely looks safer than being a merchant or a mercenary or simply wandering around the Wastelands... yet I do not yearn for safety at the cost of being on display like that.

How... intriguing. Am I actually more comfortable with fighting than safety? Risking life and limbs, being shot and stabbed, dealing injuries and death everywhere?

No, another voice told her. You want to preserve your dignity. Your honour.

Can I actually lay a claim to that?

Everyone can.

That doesn't answer my question.

It does. Everyone can lay a claim. But your actions are what defines the truth of your claim.

OK. What about my actions? Are they honourable?

What do YOU think?

You aren't helping!

I can't. You have to decide that for yourself, and then learn what others think. Everyone has their own take on this issue, but no one has the truth fully in their grasp.

Ugh. Riddles.

I thought you liked riddles?

I'm... not in the mood.

Figures.

"Hey, babe," a heavy hand lay upon Twilight's shoulder. Turning around, the girl saw a man in his mid-thirties, who was smiling at her. He was missing some teeth, and those he had were covered in yellow and even brown colour. 

A heavy smoker, she concluded; the smell of tobacco that assaulted her nostrils only drove the point home. Behind him stood four more men, all smiling as if they were enjoying some show, and their eyes were focused at both of them. The one who touched her shoulder smelt of alcohol and sweat as well, whih resulted in a quite repulsive internal reaction from Twilight.

"What do you want?" she replied neutrally.

"Fun," the man's grin widened.

"Fun is over there," Twilight pointed her finger in the direction of the strippers who were by now clad only in what passed for bra and panties. "I am not a stripper."

"Well, me and the boys have a private cabin. How about you put a show for us there, babe? For a good one, we'll even tip ya."

The lavender-skinned girl almost gagged at the suggestion and fought hard not to cover the floor in vomit.

"Didn't you hear me? I'm not a stripper!"

"It doesn't really matters. Other girls can give shows as well."

"Well I am not those "other girls" you mention," Twilight shook his hand off her shoulder and turned away from him, "so leave, please."

"Not cool there, girl," the man said. "I'm offering two hundred and fifty caps, and you wanna toss that away?"

"Two hundred and fifty?" the violet-haired girl spat out. "I wouldn't do that for two hundred and fifty thousand caps! Leave me alone!"

"Tartarus fuck it, you're such a misandrist. What, you never let anyone here?" with these words, the annoying man copped Twilight's right breast.

A flurry of visions and sensations ran in Twilight's brain: Adagio, her smirk, the dark ritual, the humiliation that the Princess had been subjected to...

Rage exploded in her mind...

Alright, I've had it up to HERE with sirens and perverts and other bastards! ENOUGH!!!

...and coalesced itself in the muscles that powered Twilight's punch to the creep's face as well as her loud and shrill scream:

"Fuck off!!!"





The sound of Twilight's shrieked profanity, as well as a clatter of broken glasses and bottles startled Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Sugarcoat.

"Wha' was that?!" Applejack shouted.

"Nothing good, I think," Sugarcoat replied. Everyone stood up and hurried in Twilight's direction.

"You bitch!" the man who just got his clock cleaned rose from the remains of the table he and his comrades were sitting at. "You punched me!"

"Would you prefer a kick below the belt?!" Twilight shouted, livid.

"You destroyed our drinks as well!" the man continued, unfazed.

"Your own damn fault!"

"Just you wait, you bitch, imma..." the man stopped as Applejack intercepted his raised arm midair.

"Ah think ya had enough, partner," she said.

"Hey, unhand him!" one of the four other men who apparently wanted Twilight to give them a "show" as well threw a bottle at Applejack, but in his drunken state he only managed to smash it against her power armour. The blonde girl turned to him slowly.

"Excuse me?!" she snarled, and hurled the offender straight at the one who thought throwing a bottle at a person in power armour was a good idea. The force of her throw, however, made both men stumble into another table and drop it as well, and three others rushed at her.

Sunset, Sugarcoat and Rarity charged forward without thinking, intercepting the men who wanted to attack Applejack. Sunset ducked under the swirling punch of her opponent and punched him straight into the solar plexus, and then pulled him, hurling him away from herself. Unfortunately, the man tripped and dropped another table.

Sugarcoat kicked the person attacking her between his legs, then grabbed him by his long saggy hair and repeatedly brought his face against her knee, eliciting repeated grunts of pain. After thirty iterations of said act, she kicked him hard into the chest, making him stumble back... and bringing down the drinks from a table he fell on. Its occupants gave Sugarcoat sour looks.

"Not my fault," she said bluntly. The man who fell onto the table grabbed the only bottle standing on it and threw it at the pig-tailed girl... who caught it and took a swig.

"Hmmm. Nuka-Cider mixed with whiskey? They actually sell this shit for underaged beginners here?" she said. Her attacker charged her, but she promptly broke the bottle against his head. Seeing this, the table's occupants stood up and started advancing on her.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Suagrcoat threw them several chips. "Here's your damn compensation."

Rarity used her martial arts knowledge to full extent, quickly and efficiently depriving her opponent. Once he stood in place, gasping from several hits to solar plexus and his neck, Rarity delivered a vicious turn-around kick to his face, making him stumble and fall on another table, dropping it. Fortunately for its occupants, they were ready for this turn of events and quickly picked their bottles and glasses full of drink. Turning to Rarity, they saluted her with their glasses and quickly chugged their beverages of choice. The fashionista graced them with a smile of gratitude... and had to duck as someone tried to charge her from behind. She grabbed him from behind and threw him onto the floor over her back, but smashed another table in the process.

More and more people got drawn into the fight as bystanders got hit or simply decided to throw themselves in. Chaos reigned supreme as bottles, glasses, pieces of furniture and sometimes bodies started flying in the air as everyone was dealing punches and kicks to anyone they perceived as an enemy or an offender (which basically was the same).

Amidst that chaos, Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Sugarcoat were doing their best to reunite with each other - a task made difficult by other people standing in their way.

Sunset tried to pummel her way to Twilight, who was standing with her back against the bar, trading punches with her molester, but her opponent grabbed her hand from behind and pulled her back. Annoyed, she grunted and hit him in the solar plexus before delivering a strong kick to the stomach. The force of impact defeated the hardness of the man's abs, leaving him winded. Not content with simply driving him out of the fight, Sunset grabbed a bottle from the table and smashed it against his head. The man released her hand and stumbled onto the closest chair - which was, unfortunately, occupied. The occupant of said chair was not amused by a man sitting into his lap, and unceremoniously threw him into one of the corner, where he sat away from the fight, nursing his bruises and wounded pride.

Rarity did not try to attack anyone, but it did not save her from the ire of several people, whom she either sidestepped or simply shoved away. One woman, however, tried to knock her out with a bottle to the head, but missed and hit the shoulder instead.

"Oof! How can you be so insensitive?!" the fashionista snarled, promptly delivering a kick to the offender's face.

"How dare you kick my GF, bitch?!" someone roared, and Rarity barely dodged the swipe attack with a chair from a brutish-looking man.

"Did you just call me a bitch?!" the girl's face twisted in anger, and she snarled, "Oh it. Is. ON!"

Applejack, towering above anyone else in her power armour, utilized her superior size to the fullest extent. Her ruthlessness against Twilight's offenders, while effective, resulted in collateral damage, and others also wanted to try and deal with her. "Try" was the key word here, though. Applejack easily punched or them onto their backs, or just threw them away. Whena small crowd decided to rush her, she lifted one of the tables and charged them instead, using the table as a battering ram. The attackers fell into a heap, and the farmer abandoned her "weapon". Turning around, she saw Twilight besieged by the man who molested her and one of his cohorts. Charging through the crowd, she grabbed them both and bonked their heads together, hard, and threw them to both sides. Raising her fists, she stood in front of Twilight as a protector.

"Thanks!" Twilight shouted.

"No prob, sugarcube!"

Suddenly, Sugarcoat propped up from behind the bar (which surprised everyone - they did not see her hiding in there) and flinged a bottle of beer at the man with whom Sunset was struggling. The bottle hit him straight into the back of his head, and the fiery-haired girl gave him a vicious hook before rejoining her friends. Meanwhile, Rarity defeated her opponent with a strong kick to the testicles that made the burly man stumble onto the table at which the people who sluted Rarity with their drinks were sitting. With an inmpressive display of reflexes, they saved their drinks again, and one of them tilted the table, making the man roll to the floor.

"You weren't invited, pal," he said phlegmatically. Rarity seized the moment and rejoined her friends.

"Bar fights! Always a good way to vent!" Applejack shouted.

"Allow me to disagree, darling. Those ruffians will spoil the whole place!" the indigo-haired girl shouted.

"Not the first time it happens, doll," the bartender drawled loudly.

Suddenly, a large group of men with either riot shields or shield-like objects made of wood (Twilight suspected that these was a substitute for the riot shields) and large batons stormed the bar and began hitting people left and right indiscriminately. Every person they hit fell to the floor with convulsions. Twilight noticed with shock that the batons emitted electric sparks on every hit.

"Aaaaand here's the local riot control squad," the bartender spoke with the same drawling voice. "Better behave non-aggressively, they have stun batons, and those are really effective."

The girls were forced to admit that the bartender spoke truthfully - the local riot control squad quickly ended whatever pockets of fighting remained. A dozen of them approached the girls, with half of them pointing their stun bations threateningly at Applejack. The quintet raised their hands in a gesture of surrender.

"OK, what the fuck happened here?" the apparent leader addressed the bartender.

"Well, the girl with violet hair here wanted a refill when a bunch of assholes decided to try and "convince" her to give them a private show, and one of them molested her. She cleaned his clock, his friends got offended, then her friends arrived, and it all escalated from here."

"Where are the perpetrators?"

The bartender and the girls showed the initial instigators of the conflict.

"Alright boys," the leader pointed his finger at the man who molested Twilight and his cohorts, "take them away to prison. As for you, lady," he addressed Twilight, "we won't arrest you, but since you escalated the conflict, you must compensate the damages to the bartender."

"How much?" the equine Princess grumbled.

"This mess will cost you and your group one and a half thousand," the bartender grumbled.

"Girls?" Twilight addressed the group. Without further words, everyone took out the winnings and counted their share of damages, making a pile of chips on the table that Twilight slid over to the bartender.

"Here," she said, "sorry for the mess. Now, how about that beer?"





Next day...

The girls rose in the morning with varying levels of hangover, from light to moderate, depending on the strength of drinks and the individual alcohol resistance. No one was debilitated with a crippling headache, thankfully, so by the noon the group left Brightlight and went too Appletown.

Fortunately, they were able to avoid any trouble along the way (aside from two packs of feral ghouls, several mole rats and one particularly stupid group of raiders) and arrive to their safe haven. Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom were immensely relieved to see everyone alive, and rather horrified at the recounting of the events that everyone gave.

Once they finished, Twilight asked Big Macintosh whether anyone from CWN HQ or Brotherhood of Steel was present in Appletown.

"Ah think that Flash Sentry is currently in Berry Punch's bar, and Lemon Zest actually arrived here as well - said she was on some sort of a very important errand..."

"Thanks, Big Mac. Girls, I'll go see them real quick, OK?" the lavender-skinned girl said, receiving a chorus of okays. She wasted no time in finding the individuals she wanted to see.

"Oh hey, Twilight!" Lemon waved at her once Twilight entered Berry Punch's bar. "How's it going? We heard you were right in the middle of that zombie mess in Trottingham..."

"Yes, Lemon," Twilight interrupted, "we were. Sorry for interrupting, but we need to see... CWN's boss," she caught herself before saying Vinyl's name, "and with Elder Aegis as well. Flash, can you message him?"

"Certainly can," the bllue-haired rocker replied. "Is this important?"

"I wouldn't ask this of you otherwise."

"Wow. Was that zombie mess that big?" Lemon asked.

"You have no idea..."
> Chapter 33: New odds and a new gambit
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 33

New odds and a new gambit


"Twilight?" Flash Sentry appeared in the doorway of the kitchen of Applejack's house, where Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity, Sugarcoat and Lemon Zest (who invited herself along with her fellow Shadowbolt) were having a quick meal of fried bacon and eggs.

"Yes, Flash?" the lavender-skinned girl responded, her voice slightly muffled because of the food she had in her mouth.

"Elder Aegis just told me over the radio - he wants to see you as soon as possible. I am to bring you all there, with my squad."

"Ugh," Applejack groaned, "can't we have a rest?"

"He... was very insistent that you come there quick."

"Shucks. Twi, what you say?"

"Lemon," Twilight turned to the rock-loving girl, "would it offend you and Vinyl if I visited CWN HQ after Brotherhood's bunker? I am not sure I want to keep him waiting."

"Eh, if the man has big walking hard-to-kill tin cans with big guns under his command, it's not wise to piss him off," Lemon waved the concern away. Flash coughed, making Lemon jump.

"You do realize that a tin can is standing right here, right?" he crossed his hands over his chest, giving a pointed look.

"Er... no offense?" the acid-haired girl squeaked.

"None taken. But calling soldiers in power armour "tin cans" is one of the quickest way to find out exactly why a punch from one of them can require you to wear prosthetic teeth."

"Sorry..."

"Your ability to run off your mouth has not changed in the slightest, Lemon Zest," Sugarcoat remarked. "And given what I have seen of you in the last hour, you have somehow defied the odds of dying, which, by my calculations, equaled ninety five point zero five eight nine, for seven years. The possibility of this, according to my calculations, equals two point five two three percent."

Silence reigned as everyone stared at the pig-tailed girl.

"Oh ye of little faith, Sugarcoat," Lemon laughed, hugging her fellow Shadowbolt.

"OK," Twilight said, standing up from the table, "I am ready."

"Me too," Sunset said.

"Me as well," Applejack said.

"I am ready," Rarity responded. "Flash, does Sugarcoat need to come along?"

"I'm not sure, I didn't exactly tell Elder Aegis that you had another ally with you. But we have a rule that the less people know where the bunker is, the better."

"I'll stay, then," Sugarcoat said. "Much as I am surprised to say that, I missed you, Lemon Zest."

"Aww, I missed you as well, Sugarcoat," Lemon quickly drew the pig-tailed girl into another hug.





Twilight, Flash, Applejack, Rarity and Spike, along with Flash and three more Paladins, arrived at the bunker of Brotherhood of Steel relatively quickly and without exposure to dangers (several radscorpions did not count when going against a well-armed squad), and entered the safe underground shelter quickly.

As usual, the girls were searched and made to walk through a scanner near the entrance. The device emitted no sound when Twilight, Sunset and Rarity went through it; however, when Applejack's turn came, a loud alarm blared, and red illumination filed the room.

"Biological hazard detected!" shouted a Knight manning the scanner. Immediately, the Paladins leveled their weapons at Applejack, who raised her hands defensively.

"Whoa, chill out!" she cried. "What happened?"

"Applejack," Flash said, "you're carrying a biologically hazardous material on you, it is in your armour compartment."

"Mah compartment?.. Oh, shoot me in the back, Ah totally forgot! We had found a strange container in Trottingham and wanted to show it to you, but with all the mess..."

"Give it here," one of the Paladins came up to her with his hand outstretched, "right fucking now!"

"OK, OK..."

The Knight manning the scanner's control panel shut down the alarm, but none of the Paladins were any less tense. Applejack opened the compartment and quickly gave the container marked "CPAX-12" to the Paladin standing in front of her. As soon as the latter looked at it, he audibly gasped.

"Girl," he said, "you all here to see Elder Aegis? You better go in and tell him right this fucking instant where you found this shit!" he raised the container higher.

"OK... For corn's sake, why did everyone get so jittery all of a sudden?" Applejack asked Flash, as the Paladin turned around and barked the order to transport the container to the bunker's lab.

"No idea, but, judging by the reaction of the guy who took the container from you, whatever you brought was something really bad and you shouldn't have even been able to find it," the ex-rocker muttered darkly. "Could be some very dark government's old secret or something."

"Damn."

Pretty soon, they arrived to the office where Elder Aegis resided. The guards let the girls and Flash in, while the Paladins under the rocker's command remained outside. The leader of the local Brotherhood's chapter was pacing in his office, Ion Titanium standing near him with Star Paladin rank insignia on his T-80b power armour.

"It's never a dull moment with you," the Elder spoke up without preamble. "First you persuade us not to reclaim's Silicon Stone's armour, then you actually deliver power armour to us, then you manage to enter us into an alliance against the White Knives, and now you bring bioweapons into our bunker? Tartarus damn it, if you keep doing this shit, I'll go bald in no time."

"Uh?" Twilight muttered.

"My apologies," the man sat down, inhaling and exhaling loudly, "it's just that you managed to amaze me once again. All that mess in south-western district of Trottingham, all these "zombies", and you being in the thick of it? OK, I know by now that you seem to attract trouble - no offense, but it does seem like that - but getting out of there and massacring thrice-darned hundreds of those pseudo-zombies, and getting a container with what I believe to be a dangerous biological weapon in the process? Frankly, I feel somewhat embarrassed. Back during the war, we never pulled off stuff like that."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. Don't mind an old man's rambling. Just... tell me, right now, just where did you find that container?"

"That was... Stable Hearts Limited building in south-western area."

"Star Paladin Titanium!" Aegis turned to his current second-in-command. "Gather your troops and secure the Stable Hearts Limited HQ in Trottingham! Get everything you can out of there and bring it here!"

"Yes, sir!" the armoured soldier saluted and hastily left the room.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention," the elderly man turned to the girls again. "This will help us to ensure the safety of the Brotherhood from the most horrific pre-apocalypse inventions of UFE. I hope no one was able to get there before you."

"It didn't seem so," Sunset replied.

"Oh, where are my manners? Ladies, sit down," Aegis pointed to the chairs in front of him.

"Just how are there enough chairs for us?" Sunset asked.

"The security outpost radioed me."

"Oh."

The girls sat down in the chairs offered to them (Applejack sat very carefully, given her mass in power armour).

"Elder Aegis?" Twilight asked. "Just what was in that container that has everyone on the edge?"

"One of the deadliest biological weapons ever made, Miss Sparkle. CPAX-12 stands for "Combat Pathological Agent, Extreme lethality, strain twelve", and is a product of investigations into the Manehatten Massacre."

"We've managed to hack into a terminal that had some scientist's diary in it," Rarity spoke up. "It said CPAX-12 was an improvement of something named Omicron-7?"

"Yes; Omicron-7 was a bioweapon used for Manehatten Massacre."

"And..." Twilight swallowed; she did not like the thought that came to her head, "and UFE government actually wanted an even deadlier weapon? Is Omicron-7 by itself not enough? There were very few survivors from Manehatten, no?"

"Two point five million out of nineteen. Maybe not very, but few alright."

"Why?"

"Well... given that you had suffered from amnesia, I am not surprised you are queasy on this issue. But... many people were very angry after that massacre. You see, although UFE and TODC were bitter enemies on the battlefield, both sides still held themselves to a certain set of rules, and one of those rules was "no WMD attack on civilians", to put it simply. Manehatten Massacre was a gross violation of that rule. TODC command believed that the act, as well as the threat of a repeat of such attack, would force us to yield. Instead, it galvanized the whole society in anger, and calls for vengeance, as well as enhanced security, became common enough that the bill calling for creation of National Security Commissariat was actually passed unanimously - I imagine voting against it would have been political suicide under those circumstances."

"Did the introduction of Commissariat actually help prevent any further attacks like Manehatten Massacre?"

"It did, actually. The unprecedented authority they were granted allowed them to tear through the usual bureaucratic preponas that would have slowed down the process of delivering justice unto the terrorists and their supporters and arrest those guilty within days instead of months or even years. Proving their guilt took merely a week with the almost supra-legal authority NSC was granted. When those guilty of Manehatten Massacre were executed on live TV, Commissariat solidified itself as the defenders of the people. They began a massive sweep of the country, and did indeed manage to discover and stop other sleeping cells that were ready to commit other attacks with Omicron-7 if UFE were to refuse to surrender."

"OK... I think I understand why NSC was allowed the leeway they had. But making an already deadly weapon even deadlier? Was UFE planning to make a return attack similar to Manehatten Massacre?"

"Of that... I am not aware. I don't think UFE government would have tried and done that, although some of the more... savage persons did advocate that sort of a counter-attack. But I have not heard of any big terror attacks with bio-weapons happening on TODC territory, so most likely it did not happen. What the High Command did do in response, however, was to become more... liberal with using bioweapons in combat. Senior Paladin Sentry was on the frontlines in Bovinia, and I believe that after Manehatten Massacre, he and everyone who was there saw a steady increase in the drops of bioweapons. Am I right, Senior Paladin Sentry?"

"Yes, sir, you are," Flash responded. "I think that shortly before they pulled me out of there for an attack on Griffonstone, the drops of bioweapons were almost daily."

"There you go, Miss Sparkle. As for why UFE would want to make a deadlier weapon... a cold, pragmatic matter of weapon's efficiency. Omicron-7, while almost always fatal, could still be counteracted if a special serum - which did exist in UFE in many emergency stocks, since the weapon's composition was not a secret for us - was entered quickly, which is not a quality seeked in a biological weapon - or any weapon of mass destruction, to be honest. Plus, hazmat protection also nullified the threat - as long as the suit remained undamaged, you could walk in Manehatten when infection was still running rampant and not fear anything. UFE, like TODC, actually, wanted a weapon with guaranteed hundred percent lethality, which could bypass the enemy's protection and could not be counteracted by any antidotes."

"I... see," Twilight replied.

Suddenly, a buzzer hidden in Elder's table emitted a harsh sound, prompting the latter to push an intercom's button.

"Yes?"

"Sir, it's Head Scribe Chips," a familiar voice sounded from the speakers. "I have a preliminary report on CPAX-12 container that was brought. Permission to arrive to your office and report in person?"

"Granted, be here ASAP," Aegis released the button. "Head Scribe Chips will be here soon. If you don't mind, he will be present as you explain just what happened in south-western area of Trottingham."

"Fine by me," Twilight responded. Everyone sat in silence until the door opened, letting in a bespectacled young man in a reddish robe in his late twenties.

"Sir," he saluted to Elder Aegis, then turned to Flash and saluted him as well, and smiled as he saw the girls, "Hey, good to see you."

"Same here, Micro Chips," Applejack said.

"What are your preliminary findings, Head Scribe?" Aegis turned to the young man.

"Ah, yes, findings," Micro Chips turned to his CO, "Sir, I have compared a sample of CPAX-12 with a sample of unknown hazardous biomaterials we have acquired in Canterlot outskirts. They are... very similar to each other."

"What?" Flash exclaimed. "The whole Canterlot is covered in CPAX-12?"

"Not... exactly," Micro Chips continued. "The virii from the Canterlot sample are... different. Their DNA does not match the one of the CPAX-12 strain one hundred percent, although there are still many similarities. My best guess is that the unleashed virii mutated under the influence of radiation, and natural selection must have bred out... another strain of the virus, which has a much bigger lifespan and better adaptivity to the surroundings. This would explain why Canterlot remains fatally dangerous to visitors. While the original CPAX-12 strain, when released, dies out after some time when there are no more targets for infection, the mutated strain perseveres for a longer amount of time, and, unfortunately, it appears to have retained its predecessor's abilities in bypassing filters, given that even attempts to infiltrate Canterlot in hazmat suits have failed. Standard hazmat suits appear to be just as useless against the mutated CPAX-12 strain as against the original one."

"And if we are to use a fully isolated hostile environment hazmat suit? Like an AIHES-400?"

"Theoretically, it would help, since a person in an AIHES-400 suit would need to rely only on an internal air supply. As long as the suit is not comprmised, they would be fine. But... sir, this won't be enough. You know that feral ghouls are still present in Canterlot, according to the surveillance from eyebots we control."

"Feral ghouls?" Sunset spoke up. "Shouldn't this mutated CPAX-12 strain be fatal to them as well?"

"It should," Aegis replied, "but our eyebots have noticed that sometimes feral ghouls still wandered around on the outskirts of Canterlot, multiple times. I have no idea why they are immune, but the fact is that they are still present there. That complicates matters. AIHES-400 suits are good at anti-WMD defense, but their suitability for combat is abysmal, and if feral ghouls are there, combat will happen. One good swipe from a feral ghoul will compromise the integrity of the suit, and once that happens, you are dead. To the best of my knowledge, there has not been an antidote developed for CPAX-12, so talking about the antidote for the mutated strain is out of the flipping question. And if there are feral ghouls, there can be non-feral as well, and no one guarantees that they would not be armed or hostile or both. Micro Chips is right, AIHES-400 models won't cut it. We need an advanced military-grade armoured hostile environment suit, or at least try and screw up several of those out of AIHES-400 by slapping armour plates, should the worst come to pass."

"Does such an advanced armoured hazmat suit even exist?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," Micro Chips replied, "there is such a model. Armoured Biological and Chemical Warfare Hazmat Suit, or ABCWHS-600. Problem is, we don't have one in our stocks."

"ABCWHS-600 suits were ready for production only very shortly before the Day of Burning," Aegis took over. "To the best of Brotherhood's knowledge, only one facility has such suits in their stock - Future-Tec industrial complex in Western Canterlot Wastelands. Western chapter of Brotherhood has been trying to access it for several years already, but was met with no success."

"Sir? Do we even need to worry about that?"

"In a minute, Head Scribe. Miss Sparkle, I apologize for the digression with this CPAX-12 business. Have you managed to identify the reason behind this zombie mess?"

"Yes," Twilight replied. "It was a person whom we presume to be a former operative of National Security Commissariat who went rogue. Said person was in possession of a prototype of an advanced version of a pacification device known as "Hypnotron" - we decided to call it Hypnotron Mk. II for convenience - that was created on the order of NSC, and our ally who used to serve in NSC, one Lyra Heartstrings - I believe you should know her, since she had been here once - confirmed that rumours of such a device were too rampant among Commissars for this to be untrue. Unlike the usual Hypnotron, this prototype was specifically designed to rob people of their free will and make them basically slaves to the owner of the Hypnotron Mk. II. The person who obtained it carefully build, shall we say, an army, and when she - it was a she - decided that she could try and establish control of the Wastelands, she decided to make her moves against Brightlight and Horseshoe Highway, with the intent of capturing as many people as possible."

Elder Aegis, Micro Chips and Flash Sentry looked at each other, horrorstruck. The elderly man leaned forward.

"Tell me everything in detail, please," he said.

The girls spent the next forty minutes telling him the version of the adventures that they had agreed to tell anyone not in on the secret of Equestrian magic. The Elder's face displayed shock, amazement, immersion and contemplation, depending on which moment was being told to him right now. Rarity took over for places where Twilight and Sunset were not with them, and Applejack took care not to open her mouth on the stuff they would need to lie about, as she was unarguably the worst liar of the group.

When the girls finished talking, Aegis took out a military-issue flask out of his table, uncapped it and took a swig.

"Tartarus damn it all to Earth's center and back," he said, hiding the bottle. "You are the luckiest girls here. If this... Dazzle person was not so arrogant and did not hold a grudge against you, and had Miss Heartstrings and Miss Drops not assisted, you and Miss Sugarcoat would not have made it. But you did, and you managed to stop what could possibly be the largest threat to the Brotherhood and anyone else in this area. What of the Hypnotron Mk. II prototype?"

"Destroyed," Sunset said. "Thoroughly and utterly. Even if someone were to find its fragments - and we did not really keep track of places where we scattered the scrap that remianed of it - they won't be able to rebuid it."

"Good," Aegis breathed out, "good. The technology like this is better off destroyed, and not be in any hands... maybe not even our hands... But what of your quest, Miss Sparkle? Did you find the item you wanted to?"

"I did," Twilight responded, "but... all it did was trigger a flashback to a building of Canterlot High School and a statue that was in front of it... as well as some other building that I cannot recognize, but it is located somewhere near the Crystal Prep Academy."

"Hmmm... perhaps we may need those ABCWHS-600 suits..." Aegis muttered.

"Sir?" Micro Chips spoke up.

"Everyone except Miss Sparkle and the guards... please leave the room," he said. Everyone was confused, but still obeyed Elder's order. Twilight looked at the backs of her friends, and when the door closed, she turned back to Aegis.

"Why did you want to speak with me one-on-one... not counting the guards?" she asked.

"I am certain that now you will want to pursue the lead in Canterlot after your... mixed result in Trottingham, right?"

"Um..." Twilight desperately thought on her response. Damn it! I still haven't discussed a course of action with Sunset on what to do next! Of course, if I am to try and return home, slim as that hope is, it is reasonable that I might need to return to Canterlot, because it's not like the place where I was dropped off actually has a portal of its own...

"Well," she said, "I haven't really thought on that, but Canterlot now seems to be the only option to regain my lost memories, yes."

"Very well. Given what you have heard of mutated strain of CPAX-12 virus now, though, you realize that without ABCWHS-600 suits it is going to be impossible, right?"

"Right," the lavender-skinned girl replied, unsure of where the Elder was going.

"As I had mentioned, you're basically the reason Brotherhood of Steel exists in the first place, and if you are to ever regain your memories of your scientific achievements, it would be invaluable for us. You have also done a great service to the Brotherhood, several times, now that you have stopped this Dazzle person and ascertained the fate of our missing Paladins... speaking of which, have you managed to obtain their dogtags, by chance?"

"Yes, here," Twilight put the recovered dogtags on the table.

"Excellent. When you are on your way out, head to Knight Sergeant Shelf in the armoury, he will give you a reward in caps for helping us in discovering the fate of our lost soldiers. As I was saying, you have done a lot for Brotherhood, and I believe that you have earned some recognition for it."

"Recognition? But I..."

"Please let me finish, Miss Sparkle. I am not the type of person to leave debts unpaid, and while I might feel a bit... embarrassed, that you have achieved a lot more in a short span of time than my whole Chapter did, I think you need our assistance in getting to Canterlot. But there is a problem - I cannot give you overt support - and you will need it - to an outsider. No matter who you are, neither other Elders nor High Elder Gear will like this. But this obstacle can be bypassed."

Aegis leaned forward, his hands bracing the edges of his table.

"Miss Sparkle, I am offering you a place in the ranks of Brotherhood of Steel."

Silence reigned as Twilight struggled to process what was just said.

OK, didn't see that one coming. Now what? Accept or refuse?

There is not enough information to go by. Learn more first.

"And what will I need to do if I accept?" she asked. "I will need to follow your orders, right?"

"As well as the orders of anyone who outranks you. Normally, you would be ranked as an Initiate, but given your combat prowess, I can easily give you the rank of Knight. Unfortunately, I currently can't justify giving you the rank of Paladin and power armour training. By the Brotherhood's charter, a Knight will need to prove their worth first, regardless of their previous talents."

"What about my friends?"

"I cannot offer them a place in our ranks currently, but you won't be forbidden from having them on your team. The charter insists, however, that they do not access any classified information or technologies Brotherhood may own."

OK, having my friends by my side is a plus. Following others' orders is a minus, and the clause of secrecy is a big minus, but I can bypass that... hopefully.

"You may also get access to Brotherhood's armouries and resupply yourself with energy weapons and armaments. Your friends can as well, but quartermasters will charge a fee from them. You and your friends can also obtain an upgrade for your Pip-Boys that will let you use them as small personal radios."

That's a lot better. Fees are bad, but hopefully we can manage that.

"And what would my first mission be?" Twilight asked. He practically has me now.

"Contact the Western Chapter of Brotherhood of Steel and learn what is needed to access the Future-Tec complex. Secure as many ABCWHS-600 suits as you can and find a way to deliver them back to us. I will provide you with a powerful backpack radio that will allow you to contact this bunker, and you will need to report to me weekly or whenever a situation arises. Should you succeed, then you will need to infiltrate Canterlot, and discover whatever information or technology could be of potential use to Brotherhood of Steel."

This mission offers me the best chance to acttually find Canterlot. Even if going there is not necessary immediately, I will still need to get there. And I think it would be stupid to miss this chance right now...

inhaling deeply, Twilight looked into Aegis' eyes with resolution.

"I accept."





"Why exactly do we need to get into the local ceremonial room?" Sunset asked a Paladin near her that was leading them to the aforementioned place.

"Elder Aegis' orders. He said you needed to see this."

"While he himself is still in his office?"

"He said he is already there."

"Eh? How?"

"There has to be some other exit from his office, that only he can use... Ah, we're here!"

The door opened, and everyone went into the room. The room had a carpet in the middle, and rows of amphitheater seats - benches, to be more exact - on both left and right sides of the room. Several dozens of Scribes, Knights and even Paladins were seated on both sides, and the girls were told to sit there. They went to the rows on the right and chose a bench that was the least occupied.

Two rows of six Paladins stood on each side of the carpet, and Elder Aegis appeared from the door on the far end of the room, standing on the platform which was slightly higher than the entrance and to which several steps led. Behind him, a large banner with the golden sigil of Brotherhood of Steel imposed on the crimson background.

"Brothers and sisters in Steel, and dear guests!" he raised his hands, like a benevolent deity would. "I have gathered you here to celebrate a momentous occasion, the likes of which we have never experienced, and most likely will never experience again!"

These words made every memebr of Brotherhood of Steel pay their utmost attention to the Elder, their curiousity piqued. The girls (and Flash, who was seated nearby) looked at each other, puzzled.

"Before the war started, there was a person, who deeply loved her country, the United Federation of Equestria, but could not offer it anything except her strong and agile mind. But her contribution was one of the greatest boons to the Federation. It advanced us forward, gave us an advantage over our enemies from TODC, and allowed us to survive the Day of Burning and endure the harshness of this post-apocalyptic nightmare of a world for years!"

A burst of cheers erupted at the Elder's last words, prompting him to stop and wait until the emotions died down.

"We believed that this person, our benefactor, perished in atomic flames. We believed so for seven years. But..." waiting for a few seconds, he said, "we were wrong, brothers and sisters."

A pin drop could have been heard in the silence that followed, had it happened.

"This person has been somewhere all these years, but she cannot recall what she did at that time, nor can she remember her true worth. An accident, the nature of which is unknown to either her or us, caused her to lose a number of her memories, and she is struggling to recover them. But Brotherhood of Steel did not help their benefactor, when we found her. Instead, we initially treated her with suspicion and hostility. Yet, our benefactor reached out to us, and helped us on several occasions. But we still have not helped her to regain her memories of the past, and she exposed herself to many dangers, including the most recent incident in Trottingham. She persevered, and neutralized what could have quickly become a threat Brotherhood would be hard-pressed to match, and brought us news of our brothers that fell to this threat. It is time we recognize our debt to the person who has been our ally and benefactor this whole time!"

"Y'all don't think he is..?" Applejack leaned closer to Sunset, who shrugged her soldiers; still, the fiery-haired girl had a suspicion just whom the Elder was speaking of...

"Twilight Sparkle! I, Elder Aegis of Brotherhood of Steel, call you to enter!" the local leader of the Brotherhood put his right hand forward to the bunker door, letting his left hand fall down.

The door opened. Twilight Sparkle went in, flanked by two Paladins on both sides, and walked forward to the Elder, stopping in front of the steps.

"Turn around, Miss Sparkle, and let every Initiate, Scribe, Knight and Paladin see your face!" Aegis commanded, and the lavender-skinned girl obeyed his command, back straight and head held high.

"Behold, Brotherhood, your benefactor, to whom we all owe our lives and gratitude!" the older man's voice thundered across the room. "This person shattered the chains of hostility between us and Appletown and Canterlot Wastelands News, this person has helped us with critically important resources, this person has helped us to defeat White Knives, this person has stopped the zombie attacks of Trottingham! It is time we recognize her efforts, and let her join our fold! Miss Sparkle, turn to me!"

Twilight did as told. A Paladin came to Elder Aegis, holding a sword in his hands, and offered the weapon to his superior. The Elder held the sword in front of him, and Twilight bowed.

This was planned, Sunset realized. he must have told her what to expect and how to behave. But when did she agree to it? Wait... oh, I see. Their "private talk".

"Twilight Sparkle," Aegis touched Twilight's head and back with the sword's flat side, "by the power vested upon me by our High Elder Iron Gear, I, Elder Aegis Mantle, grant you entrance into our fold, and bestow upon you the rank of the Knight of Brotherhood of Steel! Be a friend and a sister to your brothers and sisters in Steel, and death incarnate to the enemies of the Brotherhood! May the Steel be with you, day and night, in peace and in combat, in attack and defense!"

He drew his sword, and Twilight stood straight. The paladin who gave Aegis the ceremonial sword approached Twilight from her left and attached a shoulder pad with Brotherhood's sigil to her armour. As he stepped back, Elder Aegis nodded to Twilight, and she turned around, looking at the faces of surrounding Brotherhood members. Seeing her friends, she gave them a quick smile, and then looked at the Paladins standing in two rows.

"Ad Victoriam!" she declared, raising her right arm parallel to the land and slamming her chest. The Paladins also slammed their chests in perfect sync, making a reverberating metallic sound.

"Let it be known that Knight Twilight Sparkle joined our chapter today!" Elder Aegis declared. "Go in peace, brothers and sisters, and may the Steel be with you!"

Brotherhood members all left the room, and Twilight approached her friends, who were patiently waiting her near the exit.

"Come," she said, "we have to go now. I am sure you have questions, and I will answer them on the way to CWN."





"So," Sunset said, "we have to play fine with Aegis and whoever leads the Western Chapter of the Brotherhood now?" Sunset asked Twilight.

"Basically, yes," Twilight replied.

The group was on their way to the headquarters of Canterlot Wastelands News. Twilight received the caps for the dogtags she had recovered in Trottingham from the bunker'a quartermaster, and the Pip-Boy upgrades for their Pip-Boys that would allow for interpersonal communication. Quartermaster said that the backpack radio for contact with Elder Aegis would be given once they reported they were ready to leave the Northern Canterlot Wastelands, and Twilight decided not to argue.

The group was pleasantly surprised to find that they were allowed to purchase ammunition from the Brotherhood now, although Sunset grumbled quietly at the inflated prices on non-recycled energy batteries and microfusion cells. Applejack also frowned at the price of 5mm ammo for her minigun - two caps for three bullets instead of the standard one cap for one bullet - but still deided not to miss the chance to restock.

"Ya aren't worried that this may go wrong, Twi?" asked the blonde farmer.

"Oh I know that that may go wrong - but honestly, I don't feel we have a choice, Applejack. Since I can't retrace the point where the portal spat me out, the only way I can ascertain what went wrong would be that statue in front of CHS, and you heard Elder Aegis and Micro Chips."

"Yeah, Ah did."

"Doesn't it worry you that the statue might not even be there, as well as the school?" Sunset took over. "Canterlot was the capital of the Federation, and while the school was on the outskirts, I am certain that the city ate more than one bomb, and not necessarily in one place."

"What can you suggest, then?"

"I don't know, maybe find an eyebot and scout with it first?"

"Well, the idea itself is sound, but how will you try and retrace the magic in it?"

"Your counterpart had built a magic scanner that doubled as an absorption device," Rarity spoke up. "Maybe..?"

"No," Sunset said, "Twilight - the human one - has destroyed the device itself and all the blueprints. We thought that the danger of it leaking out to someone with malicious intentions was too high to risk preserving it. Of course, we didn't expect that it would somehow become needed one day..." the girl's expression turned sullen.

"Don't blame yourself, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Neither of ya could know."

"Which means that we can scout ahead with an eyebot, but to sense the magic in the portal, if it's there, we have to be there in person," Twilight said. "I'm sorry I didn't discuss this with you, but I kinda needed to make an on-the-spot decision. I saw that you were shocked."

"It was a pretty sudden surprise, darling," Rarity said. "But I won't begrudge you. After all, it may give you a better chance to return to Equestria."

"Just... we'll need to be careful, Twilight," Sunset said. "I can't say I'm fully against the decision, but I'd rather this mission does not lead to something that will tear us away from our main goal."

"I'm sure we'll find a way to ensure it doesn't."

Their talk stopped as they approached the CWN HQ. The group was quickly let in by the militia and Brotherhood guardians, and they entered the building when Ear Drum told them that the CWN boss waited for them. As they entered the secret lair, they saw that Lemon Zest and Sugarcoat were already there.

"Hey there!" Lemon waved. "How's it going?"

"Good enough," Twilight replied. "Is Vinyl here?"

"Yep, I'm here," the DJ got out from under the table where she was doing something. "What's up?"

"Well, first things first - we've found your flat in Trottingham. And... Octavia left you a message; apparently, it was done shortly before she left to serve the DOI," the equine Princess took out the magneto-optic disk. Vinyl immediately took it and played the recording in one of the machines. Octavia's voice, sad and resigned, filled the whole room again. As everyone listened, Vinyl and Lemon's faces became more and more grim, and Lemon was on the evrge of tears as Octavia's last words played out:

"I'm sorry, girls! I didn't want it to come to this. Vinyl, continue to wub the Tartarus out of everyone, and Lemon, rock the whole world. You two are my best friends, I wouldn't have anyone else as music-writing buddies. Goodbye, girls!"

As a click signified the end of message, Lemon immediately buried her face in Vinyl's shoulder, unable to hold tears.

"Sh-sh-she knew!" the lime-haired girl cried out. "She knew she w-w-would... she would... d-d-d-die! She knew they wouldn't let her off the hook!"

"I know, Lemon," Vinyl whipped off her shades, revealing that her eyes were moist as well, and drew Lemon into a hug. Everyone stood in silence for several minutes until the former Shadowbolt managed to calm down.

"Well that one was a bummer, but... she did not forget us, and I'm happy that she didn't," the DJ put her shades on one of the terminals and turned to Twilight and others. "Thanks, girls. I was... worried that she just up and abandoned us because she got too tired of us, 'cause, well, me and Lemon got along pretty well, and Octy's never been much into rock or dubstep or modern music in general. But... she still considered us friends. I'm happy to know that. Here, it's not much," she gave every girl (plus Sugarcoat) one hundred caps, "but I hope that will help."

"It certainly will," Sugarcoat said, "especially since I have nowhere to live now."

"Did you live in Horseshoe Highway?"

"Shrewd of you. I did. I survived by pure luck - I was with this quartet when zombies hit Horseshoe Highway, and I didn't get turned into one only because Applejack knocked me out in time."

"Eh-heh-heh, sorry 'bout that, sugarcube..." Applejack scratched her neck (not as pleasant when one does it in power armour).

"No need, I did tell you to kill me if I were to turn into one. I'm grateful that you prevented it. And my name is Sugarcoat, not Sugarcube."

"Wha? Ah know that your name's Sugarcoat, but..." Applejack stopped once she saw the pig-tailed girl's smirk.

"Fooled you," Sugarcoat said, and chuckled. The blonde girl groaned.

"Oughta horsewhip you for that one," she grumbled.

"Well," Vinyl said, "you can stay here, if you wish, Sugarcoat. We always need capable defenders, and you certainly qualify. I'm afraid we don't really have a regular salary, more of a bounty, but you can eat and live here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really!" Lemon beamed at her former classmate. "It would be cool to have you here with us!"

"He-heh... truth be told... sounds attractive. OK, I'm sold. Twilight?" the bespectacled girl turned to the alicorn in human body. "No offense, but that adventure was waaaaaaay above what I can deal with psychologically. And honestly, I don't want to have a repeat of that."

"Neither do we, but trust me - we don't go out of our way to deliberately find trouble."

"What, trouble finds you? That's bullshit."

"Is not. Anyway, I hope you'll do better here."

"So do I."

"OK," Vinyl said, "you five were in Trottingham in the very thick of the zombie mess, weren't you?"

"Yep," Applejack said, we were.

"OK, so what in blazes caused it?"

"Remember those three girls, the Dazzlings, back from the Battle of the Bands? Well, their leader survived and decided to cause some chaos around and bend the world to her will."

"What?" Lemon took off her headphones, while Vinyl spat out several curses.

"Fucking horseshit. You mean it was that girl with orange hair that looked like a wig?"

"Adagio Dazzle; yes, that's her," Sunset said. Vinyl took a chair and sat on it, using its back to rest her hands and head on it.

"Tell me everything..."





Later at night...

"AAARGH!"

Twilight Sparkle panted as she bolted upright. Frantically looking around, she took note of her surroundings, noting with relief that the thing her subconsciousness just tortured her with was not real.

"Stupid piece of griffon crap," she whispered. "Not this pony piss again..."

Quickly throwing her Vault jumpsuit on and making sure to secure a holster with her .44 magnum in it, and spare ammo in the pouch resting on the jumpsuit's belt, she pocketed some caps and left the room where everyone slept.

I need a drink. Drink, drink, where can I find one? Ah, the bar! Hope it's open...

Fortunately for the lavender-skinned girl, it was open, and even more fortunately, it was empty, aside from Hunter Rose standing behind the bar with a half-sleepy expression.

"Oh, hello, beautiful warrior," he said, his face brightening up a little. "How can I help you at this ungodly hour?"

"You have whiskey?" Twilight asked, plopping down on the chair opposite to the bartender.

"Sure do, but, if you'll satisfy this man's curiousity, what drives you to drink this late?"

"Nightmares."

"Oh," Hunter's face gained a sympathetic expression, "I know what you're talking about. I had my fair share of those when I returned from the army."

"So is that drink coming or not?"

"Hang on a sec... is there a specific brand you want?"

"I don't care."

"Well," Hunter picked a bottle from under the table, "this is Stallion's Buck whiskey, one of the best. Pretty rare these days. I don't give it out usually... but I suspect you have been through all levels of Tartarus and back, and giving you sub-par whiskey would be an insult," he poured the drink into the glass and slid it to Twilight, and then picked out another one for himself.

"Do you mind if I enjoy the drink with you?"

"Feel free," Twilight said, and the bartender poured whiskey for himself. Sitting down on a stool, he raised his glass.

"To surviving," he said.

"Good one. To surviving!" the girl replied, and their glasses clinked. Hunter drank all his whiskey in one gulp, while Twilight left half of her drink in her glass.

"Oh my," she grimaced, "that's some fine whiskey."

"Here," Hunter put a small packet of peanuts on the table and opened it, "eat some of those."

Twilight did as told to.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem. Now, let's have a talk. A fighter to a fighter, if you will."

"OK."

"I have seen my fair share of nightmares in the Last War, both when I still was in the army and after I retired, but until I met my wife, Rose Essence. Seeing death on a daily basis changes us. It's inevitable. The thing is - it changes us into what exactly?"

"Is there no certain answer?"

"I'm afraid no. Each human is unique, and each of them will respond to the situation in their own way. Of course, many reactions are quite similar to each other, and one can derive patterns, if they so wish, but there's no universal answer."

"Can't help but wish there was one."

"You and me both."

"What were your nightmares about?"

"Many things. Battles I have participated in, when I was so terrified I was certain I would die, friends dying in front of me, either in battle or, as it happened sometimes, from torture by TODC agents. Those were the general topics. When the Day of Burning happened and I... lost Rose to a fatal chest trauma, I relived that nightmare over and over again for a year, I think. What were your nightmares about, comrade?"

"Well, I saw a nightmare of my friends' deaths once, at the hands of Curve Blade. That was shortly before we destroyed the White Knives. But I also had nightmares about... being evil."

"Hmm. May I learn more details?"

"Eh, why the heck not," Twilight gulped down the rest of her whiskey and popped more peanuts in her mouth. "I remember this dream where I walk around in this dark tunnel, when I see this twisted, broken pile of bodies and limbs, and every human in there starts... screaming at me, that I am a monster and a murderer... and my body acts without my consents, it raises the assault rifle and kills them... and then I see a mirror where my reflection shows an... evil me, for the lack of a better word, and my friends appear behind me, disapopinted and angry... my body tries to attack them, but they shoot me first."

"That's... pretty vivid. Does that repeat or you had more nightmares like this?"

"A similar one - again, many bodies, but instead of me being in the body of the "evil me", I actually talked with my dark version myself. It told me that I was similar to it, that it was a part of me... and at the end, it started... how to put it... molding itself into me, making me feel violated... fortunately, I woke up before it went inside me fully."

"Hmmm. It appears you are facing an inner demon, so to say..."

Twilight involuntarily shuddered at the word "demon" as a memory of Sunset Shimmer putting on the crown with the Element of Magic and undergoing the transformation into a horrific flying monster.

What if I am indeed facing a demon inside me, like Hunter said? she thought.

Then, another thought barged uninvited into her mind:

What if I am turning into a demon myself?

"Hunter?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you consider yourself a good man?"

"An interesting question. I would like to believe that I am indeed a good man."

"Even though you killed?"

"Even though I killed, yes. Does my answer sound strange to you?"

"Er..." Twilight paused; she did not expect such a straightforward question. "I can't say that. Just... as far as I can recall, the community I grew up in reacted very negatively to killing, even in self-defense. They preached that killing was the final solution, used only when there was absolutely no other option."

"Your community put a high value on human life. I applaud that," Hunter refilled the glasses and raised his own. "Let's drink to them."

"Let's," Twilight clanked her glass against his and drank everything inside this time. "So, as I was saying, they disliked killing. I can't help but think... if I were to find them again, what would they think of me? Would they accept me? Or reject me and chase me away? I... I actually had a nightmare where I returned, but... but everyone shunned me and chased me away, hatred and malice in their eyes."

"Did that nightmare bother you the most?"

"Yes," Twilight admitted after a small pause. "So I'm curious: how can one call themselves a good man, when they have killed? How can they justify that? I know already about defending others, or preventing something terrible down the line... I wanted to hear something besides that, because those reasons can be twisted for evil deeds just as well."

"How interesting," Hunter refilled their glasses. "It's not a question one can find an universal answer to."

"Do you have your own answer?"

The war veteran put his glass down, keeping silence for several long moments.

"I believe," he said at last, slowly, "that you can remain a good person, even if you have blood on your hands... as long as you do not derive any sick, sadistic pleasure from the death of your foes. Of course, that advice can hardly be followed if, for example, you're trying to avenge someone. It would be hard to not feel pleasure at seeing your nemesis suffer. But still, even if you're out for vengeance, remember - one who fights monsters must ensure they themselves do not become a monster. Fortunately, you have a good group of friends, who will look out for you, and stop you if you go too far."

"To friends, then," Twilight proposed a toast.

"To friends."

Clink! the glasses rang in the emptiness of the bar.

"Oof," Twilight said as she drank, "I'm feeling buzzy..."

"Stallion's Buck is one strong whiskey. Think you had enough?"

"Yep... I think so," the girl slurred, rising to feet and trying to steady herself. "Thanks, Hunter..."

"You're welcome, beautiful. Er, should I help you back to your room?"

"No, no, I'll be fine," Twilight said, and put some caps on the bar. "Don't even think of giving 'em back. And thanks for the talk... I feel easier."

"Again, you're welcome."

Twilight left the bar and made it back to the room where she and her friends were staying for the night, left her things beside her and laid back onto the cot.

My friends will stop me from turning into a monster, she repeated the mantra in her head.

As she began to drop into the realm of dreams, however, a traitorous thought wormed its way:

What if they won't?





The next day...

"Are you ready?" Twilight asked everyone, dressed in her Commissariat assault armour, with Brotherhood of Steel's sigil visible on her left shoulder pad.

Sunset re-checked her laser rifle, and cocked it in her hands.

"Ready," she said.

Applejack stepped into her power armour, and it closed itself around her. The girl took off her Stetson and put on a helmet that Brotherhood of Steel agreed to lend her (thanks to Twilight's clout with Elder Aegis), and took her minigun.

"Ah'm ready," the helmet's vocoder did not erase her accent.

Rarity looked down the telescopic sight on her MSR-90 sniper rifle. Satisfied, she flipped the switch of her Stealth-Boy on and off, shimmering out of sight for a moment and reappearing.

"Ready, darling," she said.

"Very well," she said. "Everyone said their goodbyes?"

Her friends, as well as Big Mac and Apple Bloom, nodded.

"We're ready, Flash," the lavender-skinned girl told her paramour.

"OK. Let's go then," the former rocker said in a business tone.

In order to access the Western Canterlot Wastelands, they had to travel closer to the ruins of Whinnyapolis and use a draisine to travel to the surroundings of Maretonia, where the Western chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel had their headquarters. Aegis' soldiers had previously established control over the railway to Maretonia and the draisine was repurposed as the assault transport, with heavy fifty-cal machine guns located in the front and in the back. Flash Sentry volunteered to help along with three Paladins of his own, which pushed the draisine to its limits.

They arrived at the location without trouble, fortunately, and the Paladins guarding the draisine gave it without further words.

Twilight looked ahead, eyes searching for a threat - as usual - but her thoughts were focused on her future.

What will I find there?

What challenges lie ahead?

Will my morals undergo even more trials? Will I succeed? Or succumb?

Who will be my friend and my enemy there?

These questions plagued her, but she was certain in one thing:

Her friends will be with her, all the way.





Level Up!

New Perk (Twilight Sparkle)

Energetic Girl: You gain permanent +5 bonus to your Energy Weapons skill.

New Perk (Sunset Shimmer)

Squeeze More Health: RegenStim injections restore extra 20% of your health. However, if you inject three RegenStims in one hour, their effectiveness will drop by 50% until you sleep for at least six hours.





Allegiance Perk (Brotherhood of Steel)

Sword of Justice: As long as you are a member of Brotherhood of Steel, you gain +5% Damage bonus and +10% Critical Damage bonus against anyone whom Brotherhood considers their enemies.
> Chapter 34: Following the sun
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 34

Following the sun


"We are approaching the end of the railway," Flash declared. "Everyone, get ready. As far as we know, this railroad was used by slavers belonging to the group named Trade Sixty-Six, so on the other end we are likely to meet stiff resistance. Brotherhood and slavers are mortal enemies."

"I see a small wooden building up ahead, two-storey, no contacts," Rarity replied, looking down her optical sight.

"Does not mean they aren't inside. Stay alert."

The draisine slowed down, and the Paladins on the .50 caliber machine guns turned the heavy stationary weapons in the direction of the house.

Suddenly, people popped out from the windows and opened chaotic fire on them. Those in power armour suffered the brunt of the attack, allowing others to remain unscathed.

"Hostiles! Machine guns, suppressive fire! Applejack, Silverblade, with me, everyone else behind us! Storm the house! Rarity, cloak!" Flash issued orders quickly, jumping down. Another Paladin followed him in sync, while Applejack ran slightly behind, spraying the house with 5mm bullets. Other girls ran after them, while the Paladins who remained behind opened fire from their positions.

Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam! Heavy bullets tore through the wooden walls of the house. Those unlucky enough to be in their path quickly learned why .50 caliber was a bad thing for one's health. Everyone who was running towards the house did their best to hit their enemies as well, adding to the chaos of battle.

In less than ten seconds, Flash and Paladin Silverblade breached the door of the house and rushed inside, raining laser fire on the hostiles. Applejack followed suit, spraying bullets from her minigun. The Paladins on draisine stopped firing on the building's ground floor and focused on the floor above, to avoid friendly fire. Twilight, Sunset and Rarity hid themselves besides the door and focused on the enemies coming from the second floor.

The house's defenders tried hard, but stood no chance against a group of combatants in power armour, assisted by two others in Commissariat combat armour and another combatant hidden under a cloak of Stealth-Boy. Within four minutes, everyone inside was dead.

Twilight and other girls confirmed that the people who shot at them were indeed Trade Sixty-Six slavers. Other Paladins dismantled .50 caliber machine guns from the draisine and brought them inside. Flash took over bolstering the defenses of the cleared house, issuing orders.

Rarity was ordered to watch over the area with her sniper rifle, and the ex-fashionista quickly took a comfortable position. Twilight and Sunset were stripping everything of value from the dead slavers and threw their bodies out of the house, watched over by Applejack. The Paladins set the heavy machine guns inside the building, and took positions inside the house.

One hour later, the house was clear of slavers' corpses, and the only thing that remained of them were pools of blood that dried up by the time everyone was finished, so nobody bothered to try and clean them up, much to Twilight's and Rarity's consternation. Searching around the house, Flash's soldiers found some inactive mines, and they set them up around the house.

The small house was turned into a mini-fortress, although Flash was not fully content.

"If someone brings fifty-cals like we did, we're going to have trouble as well, since wood is useless against high-caliber bullets as a cover. And this place has no sandbags. I would prefer we had some, but there's no place with extractable sand I know of. I wish we could set up some automatic defenses or reprogram some robots, since we are small in numbers."

"You think this place is not defensible?" Sunset asked.

"We have an advantage in terms of communication - the slavers had no radio. With luck, they won't think of coming here for a while. But in the long term, this place is not defensible. We need to either call for reinforcements or relocate ourselves after some time once we find a better position."

"What do you think we should do?" Twilight asked the former rocker.

"My advice is to find the Brotherhood's local bunker ASAP, since we know the location, the coordinates and access codes. Since it's ill-advisable to leave the place undefended, and I have no idea how the local Brotherhood chapter reacts to outsiders, I think it would be better if only Twilight, I and one of my Paladins went there."

"I volunteer," Silverblade said.

"Very well. Twilight, do you have alternative suggestions?"

"Don't you outrank me, Flash?"

"I do, but given the importance of the task, Elder Aegis said I should listen to your suggestions if you have those and make a decision on what to do with them."

"I don't have any at this moment, so I'm in favour of this one. Girls?"

None of the girls had any objections, and ten minutes later, Twilight, Flash and Paladin Silverblade left for the Western Brotherhood chapter's bunker.





Western Canterlot Wastelands looked a lot more unwelcoming than the northern sector, in Twilight's opinion.

The landscape she could see was a lot more arid than what she was used to. If Northern Canterlot Wastelands had a lot of grass (albeit dry and yellowish), and even trees could be seen here and there, this area had much less grass and trees were a rare sight.

The rocks, while useful as viable cover, only added to the rather depressing picture of almost desert-like surroundings along with broken tarmac road they were currently following. Twilight asked if this area had always been like this, and both Flash and Silverblade confirmed that Western sector was indeed more arid.

"The humidity from the ocean usually does not reach here to compensate for the heat this area is subjected to," Flash said, "so what few agricultural areas existed here were propped up by irrigation efforts. For a long time in UFE's history, this area was uninhabited, since there was almost nothing that could be of use to the settlers. But when they discovered that underground water flows existed here, this area became more populated, and eventually cities rose here. Beyond this area to the west lies a desert that is of little use except for some deposits of natural resources, and some military bases. And beyond the desert lies a border between UFE and TODC."

"Really?"

"Yes. After the desert, there are some areas more suitable for living that UFE had colonized, and that's where the border between UFE and Griffonada lay. And to the north of it lay the Vanhoover County."

"Vanhoover County? Was it a part of UFE?"

"It was... but not exactly for a long time."

"Did TODC conquer it?"

"No. Vanhoover was annexed by UFE shortly after the Last War erupted in full force."

"Annexed?"

"Yes. You see, UFE had an enclave to the north of it, and this was one of the first targets for TODc attacks. We could not afford to lose it, but Vanhoover's authorities were highly reluctant in letting our reinforcements through, which led to extreme discontent of High Command. Their obstructions heavily delayed our aid and caused civilian and military fatalities as well. When Directorate of Intelligence sniffed out that TODC was cozying up to some elements in Vanhoover's government as well, everyone up there lost their marbles," Flash pointed upwards. "They concocted a plan which would create a legitimate-looking reason for UFE's invasion, and acted on it, adding Vanhoover's resources to war effort."

"That's..." Twilight could not decide how she should feel. Outraged that UFE resorted to such a step? Approving of the calculus and logic behind the decision? Or simply disregard it as a thing from the past that had no effect on her current predicament?

Interesting as the history lesson might be, dwelling on past is a bad idea, her subconsciousness said.

"That's interesting," she decided to say. "Did either of you participate in that annexation?"

"No, we - that is, me and those I served with - we all joined up some time before Manehatten Massacre. By that time TODC - as well as governmental propaganda - has already managed to establish themselves as evil incarnate, and we all felt we had a duty to help our country. I still remember my mother's eyes as she begged me not to go..."

"Lucky you, sir," Silverblade spoke up. "Me, my folks would've celebrated my death if they were to receive a death notification."

"What?!" Twilight stared wide-eyed.

"You didn't tell her, sir?"

"I did not discuss the details of my subordinates' lives, Silverblade," the ex-rocker replied.

"Really? You two are awfully chummy."

The lavender-skinned girl deeply envied Flash at that moment, since his helmet fully covered his face and the blush he was sure to have developed. She did not have anything of the sorts, and had to settle on turning her red face away from the smart aleck Paladin.

"I see. Well, I don't really make a secret out of it - I did not grow up in a loving household. My mother got knocked up one day because neither she nor my dad bothered to take precautions preventing pregnancy, and when I was almost due, my dad got mugged and killed by a gang of junkies. I was told he planned on raising me, since my mom was not thrilled to have a kid. Dunno if it's true, but neither my mom nor her dick of a boyfriend whom I had the misfortune to call a stepfather gave me that much love, and made it clear I was a burden on them. War erupted shortly before I aged to eighteen, and once I did, I just up and left the house, and went to the nearest recruiting station. Changed my name to Silverblade as well."

"Then what's your real name?" Twilight asked on instinct. Flash tensed for some reason and cast a wary look at his subordinate, but the latter just shook his head.

"Ain't telling anyone that. There's a whole betting pool on what my real name is. I don't remember how many caps are in there now..."

"Four hundred nineteen," Flash butted in.

"Already? These damn gossips have nothing better to do? Point is, kid - don't pry my real name. I buried that time in the past and don't want to dig it out."

"OK, I'll remember that."

"Great, you're smart enough to take the hint."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry that you did not have a loving household."

"Don't be. It's not your fault and brooding on this shit will not make the whole situation better."

"Didn't anyone love you? Maybe a girlfriend or..?"

"Good grief, girl, are you a shrink or something?" Silverblade grunted in annoyance.

"No," Flash interrupted, "she is a gentle soul who empathizes with others and wants to spread friendship and harmony around."

"She's gonna need a lot of bullets to spread those... Well, no, war did not leave me much for female companionship or love or stuff like that. As for current time... well, Redheart's a knock-out, but I think half the bunker has the hots for her. Let's drop the subject, OK? I think we're close to our destination."

"Indeed," Twilight looked at the map, "time passed quickly..."

"One and a half hour is quickly? Allow me to disagree, Knight Sparkle..."





The rest of the group were currently sitting in the house cleared of slavers, vigilant for any sort of counter-attack. While Trade Sixty-Six most likely remained unaware of what had transpired hours ago, there had to be at least some form of communication between the captured outpost and their main base - wherever it was.

Therefore, at least a scouting party was supposed to arrive really soon. And everyone who was currently inside the house needed to greet them with lethal force.

Waiting for said party proved to be extremely boring, however. One hour after Twilight left with Flash and Silverblade, everyone felt too bored by the silence, and began chatting among themselves. Sunset found herself beside Rarity, while Applejack scooted closer to the Paladins who remained with them.

"Hey, Rarity," the fiery-haired girl intoned, peering out of the window.

"Hey," the ex-fashionista continued looking through her optical sight.

"Bored out of your mind?"

"Somewhat, but I'll manage."

"You can do it?"

"When I was undergoing training in Vault 94, my simulations sometimes involved lying in the same position for hours, tracking the target. And a failure ended up with me chewed out by the drill sergeant and forced to try again. Not an experience I am fond of remembering, trust me. After I left it, I had to do the same on many occasions. So I am used to it. Besides, I was a fashionista, if you recall; that job requires a lot of patience."

"I'm kinda jealous. When there's nothing but waiting for... something that is supposed to want to kill you, that really puts a strain on my nerves."

"How so?"

"Well, I don't like the idea that something out there wants to kill me - and biding its time. I'd rather face it and kill it. Then I'd know that at least there is one less my would-be killer out there."

"Hmmm. I believe I understand your point, darling, but you need to remember that you must ensure you have an advantage over your enemy, and that may take time."

"That I know. But usually no enemy would try to get at me if I were to have an advantage. Only idiots do that."

"Then hide your advantage, if you can. This would lead the enemy to underestimate you, and prove fatal to them."

"That's... a sound advice. But truth be told, I feel my mind is more suited for offense than defense. You heard the saying that the best defense is a good offense?"

"To each their own, although I would not always agree. When an enemy is on your turf and not theirs, they are in trouble most of the time. You know there is a reason why modern military tactics calls for a three-to-one advantage when attacking someone?"

"Yep. Although, truth be told, I'm not certain it's actually our turf, even if we're holding the house."

"...fair point. Do you think local Brotherhood chapter would be amenable to giving reinforcements?"

"In a dream world, it would be so. But I'm not getting my hopes up."

Meanwhile, Applejack was conversing with two Paladins, who were called Vice Strike and Obverse Arrows (the latter preferred to go by his last name). Vice Strike carried a laser rifle with computerized sight and served as an impromptu marksman, while Obverse Arrrows carried a heavy 10mm machine gun as his primary weapon. Both were soldiers who served under Flash during the Last War and continued to do so when the ex-rocker joined the Brotherhood of Steel.

"So where did you fight?" the farm girl asked.

"Bovinia mostly, until UFE pulled our battalion out of there," Vice Strike said. "Before that, there were campaigns in Minotauritania and Griffonada. The last one was a nightmare, especially Griffonstone. And there's Eastern Gambit as well..."

"Wait, did ya say Griffonstone?"

"Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Well... mah folks died in battle near Griffonstone. They were in 121st Heavy Infantry Battalion, Sergeants Apple Red and Apple Yellow."

Both Paladins looked at each other.

"Damn, kid, sorry to hear that. We were in 17th Power Infantry Company back then, I think our squad was one of the first ones to arrive. Right, Arrows?"

"Yep, that was before Sentry was put in charge of us," the heavy weapons specilaist replied. "My memory's kinda blurry now - it was, what, eight years ago? But I still remember some things..."

"Did ya know them?" Applejack asked.

"Sorry, kid, but no - we knew no one in 121st in person," Arrows replied. "But I remember how it looked when we finally got there. That damn outpost was almost overrun by TODC scumbags, 121st were barely holding, and I think I could not walk around the trenches without stepping on someone lying."

"Arrows is exaggerating, but yeah - corpses were everywhere, and I don't remember seeing anyone from our side who didn't have at least one hole in their body," Vice took over. "When 17th Power Infantry Company arrived, TODC guys broke and ran - they got as good as they gave, and against us, they would not have held long. We tried to help as many as we could,  but a good number died before the medical choppers arrived."

"Gotta say it, though - those guys in 121st were badasses," Arrows spoke again. "They stood one against two TODC soldiers each, if not three, and managed to actually hold onto captured positions. It's not a feat one could repeat easily, even in Mechanized Infantry."

"That said, Ah'm somewhat confused - why you mention Power Infantry Company, when those wearing power armour were called Mechanized Infantry?" Applejack asked.

"Power Infantry was when power exoskeletons were not replaced with full power armour," Vice spoke up. "Power Infantry Corps could have both guys in exoskeletons and full T-72d's; it was when exoskeletons were put out of commission they renamed us into Mechanized Infantry. Our company was one of the last ones to be reformed, actually, if my memory does not fail me."

"OK, thanks. An' what of Deep Strike? Ever heard somethin' about him?"

"Many things. He was a... controversial figure, to be certain. He had a penchant for operating deep within enemy territory - I guess that is ironic, considering his name - and while he certainly had some... connections he found useful, I had to admit that he handled fighting in enemy's territory better than any other high command oficer I remember. But he also was somewhat of a glory-hound, and that pissed off families of those who died. He cared more about strategy than men."

"I can't agree with you on that one, Vice," Arrows interrupted. "Yeah, he was focused on campaign mostly, but I cannot say he was totally heartless. When my Pop died in a terrorist attack in Maretonia, leaving my mom and two sisters alone, I approached him and asked him to release my younger brother from service - he had joined up shortly before that and even smelt some gunpowder in Bovinia - and he signed the paper immediately."

"Well he had to - the law demanded it."

"No, actually - Commissariat had already managed to push through the cancellation of that law by then."

"They did?" Vice was clearly surprised.

"Yeah, and he could get in trouble with NSC for that, actually."

"Hmm. I still think you were a lucky guy, one of the few, that is. And he was still a REMF."

"When the Tartarus did ya see a high command officer that wasn't a REMF?"

"Heh. Point taken."

"Well, maybe he wasn't a total varmint," Applejack said, "but Ah'm still pissed at him that mah folks died."

"And you have all reasons to be," Arrows said. "I still assert  that Deep Strike was not totally heartless, but I can't deny he preferred to see the war in terms of wins, losses, strategy and tactics. Sometimes he... forgot that all military assets he had comprised of people, and that behind the statistics of losses, there were personal tragedies like yours."

"All right, let's drop my sob story," the blonde girl changed her posture. "How did ya two come to serve under Flash?"

"He was transferred to take command of us when our old Sarge was killed," Vice took over. "They told us they'd transfer us to Bovinia soon, and that they'd put a Sergeant who was to go there soon. Gotta say, I didn't like Commander at first. He looked as if he came off a propaganda poster - shiny T-72d, cool hairstyle, pretty face and stuff. Thought him to be one of those namby-pamby boys with no idea on how to be a real man."

"What changed your opinion?"

"Our first battle together..."





Western Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel had a more visible entrance than the one that Northern Chapter had. The entrance resembled a standard entrance to the bunker one could expect to see across the Canterlot Wastelands. Flash explained to Twilight that the bunker they were in front of was a standard one, while Elder Aegis and his soldiers managed to find the one that was supposed to hold some VIPs from the government that resided in Trottingham, and thus was designed to be less visible. However, none of the intended VIPs made it, and Aegis managed to enter the bunker thanks to the emergency codes designed for the use by the military in case a nuclear attack happened.

Twilight inserted the connection cord from her Pip-Boy into the slot of the panel designed for authentication (presumably, at least) and winced as a sharp hiss of static sounded from the intercom.

"Your access codes are not of the Western chapter," a sharp male voice sounded, distorted by the apparently-not-properly-functioning loudspeaker. "Identify your name and rank immediately or you'll be shot!"

Nice welcoming, Twilight thought derisively. Looking at the intercom, she found a push-to-talk button and pressed it.

"Um... this is Knight Twilight Sparkle. I have Senior Paladin Sentry and Paladin Silverblade with me. We're... er... on a mission from Elder Aegis Mantle, and we're here to see the Western Chapter's Elder."

"Acknowledged, Knight. Paladins, remove your helmets for facial recognition."

Flash and Silverblade did as ordered. A small hatch opened, revealing a remotely controlled camera which focused on everyone's faces. Some time later, it withdrew into the hatch and was closed. Then the door unlocked and opened.

"Proceed through the door and to the checkpost. Obey all orders given by checkpost personnel. Failure will result in immediate termination."

"Thanks," Twilight said. Releasing the push-to-talk button, she muttered, "What a lovely bunch. Aegis could have warned me about that one."

"Shush, Twilight," Flash said. "The bunker is bound to have listening devices here."

"Celestia damn it, I forgot."

"Who?" Silverblade asked.

"Figure of speech, don't ask," the lavender-skinned girl cut off further inquiries.

The trio approached the security outpost behind another door where they were greeted with one-and-a-half dozen of heavily armed Paladins and Knights, who were standing tall or lying behind neatly organized barricades and sandbags. Ceiling turrets (which looked more advanced than those they had seen at White Knives' HQ) were not aiming at them - but that could change in a second.

"Wow," Twilight remarked coolly. "This looks more like an execution squad than a welcoming committee."

"Mouth off more and it might become one, girl," one of Paladins remarked.

"Hey," another one said, "how come a Knight looks like she has more authority in this group than the Paladins with her? Has Aegis lost his marbles completely?"

"Actually," Flash coughed, "Knight Sparkle is on a mission classed under Double-Edge conditions. That means she has the actual authority over her mission given to her by Elder Aegis regardless of the rank of Brotherhood members accompanying her. While I have the right to override her authority under certain conditions, my current orders state that I and other Paladins are not to interfere with her mission and give her whatever support possible."

"What sort of bullshit is that?"

"It's not bullshit, Paladin," a new voice sounded, and a new person arrived. Looking as if he were in his late thirties, with short spiked blonde hair and wearing an advanced model of power armour, he radiated authority. The plasma rifle in his hands was primed for action, only adding to the authority. "Elder Aegis just confirmed their identities, as well as Knight Sparkle's authority. Men, stand down."

Slowly, and sometimes reluctantly, the soldiers lowered their weapons. Twilight let out a breath she did not even notice holding.

"Senior Paladin Sentry, Paladin Silverblade, Knight Sparkle, welcome to Western Chapter's HQ. I am Star Paladin Stahlmesser, the XO. Unfortunately, Elder Ferrum Sierra is away and will be unable to communicate with you for quite some time, as he is on a mission, but I am fully authorized to act on his behalf. Leave your weapons at the checkpost and follow me."

The trio did as ordered and followed the executive officer. After some time, they entered a rather spacious (for a bunker) room that had a bookshelf with various folders and books settled haphazardly, a rack of weapons in another corner, a Brotherhood banner hanging on the wall and a banner of 11th Mechanized Infantry Battalion to its right. On another wall, several photos were present, depicting soldiers in power armour. Star Paladin Stahlmesser sat behind his table, which had a military-model computer monoblock, some papers and folders and pencils on it. A disassembled plasma pistol lay in front of him, details lying around.

"Stupid converter messing with the energy output again," Stahlmesser muttered. "Haven't managed to fix it yet, and Knight-Sergeant Wrench is with Elder right now. Alright, Knight Sparkle, tell me about your mission."

Twilight spent ten minutes telling him about her situation, on how she needed to infiltrate Canterlot and how she required several sets of ABCWHS-600 suits from the Future-Tec industrial complex. The Star Paladin listened attentively without interrupting. When the girl finished, he sighed and said:

"Damn it, girl. Do you realize what sort of shit-mire you are in? Stupid Aegis and his illusions of grandeur..."

"Pardon?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"If we knew how to get to Future-Tec complex, we would have done so. We've been trying to do that for several years already. First, we could not get the access terminal to work. It required having a Pip-Boy with some special interface and access codes, and we spent fuck-a-ton of time looking for it. Then, when we finally got all that shit, turned out that the codes were wrong, and this activated the defense systems. You think you can get past those, Knight?"

"I had assisted Brotherhood in getting past the defenses at the base of 9th Mechanized Infantry Battalion... sir."

Stahlmesser laughed.

"And what that base had as defenses, pray tell?"

"A range of military-grade robots like Protectrons, robobrains, Mr. Gutsies, and sentry bots," Flash replied. "Also a MANTICORE warbot."

"What about turrets?"

"Sensor net was down there and turrets were inactive - but the still active defenses presented a big enough threat."

"Well, if you managed to last against a MANTICORE, then you're worth something. But..." Stahlmesser rose from the table and went to the larger circular table behind him, the surface of which was criss-crossed with straight lines and had various controls on it. The Star Paladin did something with controls, and a holographic image of the Future-Tec complex appeared.

"...try this for size," he finished.

Twilight, Flash and Sunset gaped at the image.

The complex looked quite imposing by itself, having a large size and occupying a large enough territory but this was not the most impressive sight. It was surrounded by a very high wall with some protrusions sticking out of it, which formed something resembling a slope. Atop the wall, there were some strange things resembling...

...turrets?! the equine Princess squinted her eyes, trying to make sense of the image.

Stahlmesser made an image larger, and everyone saw an image of a gigantic turret sitting atop the wall, large and heavy and very intimidating. Four menacing barrels, two at each side, were placed one above other, having a caliber larger than any gun Twilight had ever seen.

"These beauties," the Star Paladin said, "are super-heavy Thunderfire stationary defense turrets. They have very heavy armour that is insulated against EMP, several redundant control and targeting systems, a whole flurry of sensors ranging from standard visual to night vision to thermal to electromagnetic, advanced cryogenic systems allowing for uninterrupted fire, and last, but not least - four 30mm fully automatic cannons that fire slugs with cores made from alloy of titanium and depleted uranium, which can penetrate APC armour. Cannons can't do jack shit against tanks, but if there's such a problem, the turret had hidden missile launchers within. And it was armed with "Gyrfalcon" missiles that could be used against both ground and air targets like choppers or vertibirds. And that's only the outer defenses. I have heard that there were at least several high-grade warbots stationed for defense, like MANTICORE, but I don't know which models. No one does, actually. Think you can take on that?"

Silence reigned as everyone pondered the information.

"...isn't there an emergency bypass or something?" Twilight asked.

"If there is, we have not found it yet."

"And what is it you mentioned about Elder Aegis and his illusions of grandeur?"

Stahlmesser breathed in and out.

"OK, I was... too strong-worded with that one, sorry about that. But, well... Elder Aegis is not wildly respected throughout the Brotherhood, and he is frustrated by that. I have heard from him about you, Knight Sparkle, and he is insistent that you are the one whom we have to thank for microfusion energy and all that it brought."

"You think I am not?" Twilight challenged him.

"I am not claiming that, as I have no proof to that. But there were attempts to... mimic living persons, as far as we know, and those projects could have been successful. But human brain is one finicky thing, and not everything could be faked. Theoretically, you could be something that believes itself to be Twilight Sparkle, the inventor of microfusion energy, and lapses of memory are programmed to be explained as amnesia."

The alicorn-turned-human felt sick to her stomach. What Stahlmesser described fit her knowledge of homunculi - vile beings created by darkest of magics, puppets meant to fool others into believing they were real ponies instead of a copy of those whom they mimicked. To be even compared to one felt like the gravest insult possible.

Part of her wanted to smite the blonde man in front of her in sheer outrage. Her hands quickly balled into fists, and violet eyes narrowed.

How DARES he?!

"But, as I said, I do not have any proof of that. So you may stop looking like you are about to punch my face. Which, by the way, is against the rules of the Brotherhood, and is grounds for rebuke or worse.

Son of a bitch. He caught me. And I allowed myself to show my emotions... Twilight thought, angered at herself now.

She forced herself to calm down, and unclenched her fists.

"My apologies, sir. I have always considered such an idea... extremely repulsive and abhorrent. Your... theory of me being one of them sparked a feeling of... outrage that I... did not suppress in time."

"Understandable, Knight. Your outrage is justified. As I said, I have no proof, and I was not trying to accuse you. Forgive me if I made that impression. I still insist, however, that you do not look at me as if you want to kill me. In certain situations, that may turn deadly for you."

"Duly noted, sir."

"As for my comment about Elder Aegis... I believe he thinks that if he manages to bring you in the Brotherhood, and help you restore your memory - if that's even possible - and persuade you to share all your knowledge with the Brotherhood, then he would be able to elevate his station above everyone. It would be a win-win situation for both of you, because if Brotherhood were to know that the inventor of microfusion energy is on their side, she would be of great assistance to Brotherhood's mission of preserving the pre-apocalypse technology. But that is the tallest order I have seen for all my life, and Aegis, shall we say... has a weakness for that."

"The grand achievements?"

"Yes. I am not denying that you wholly deserved to be included as a fully fledged Knight. After what you did, giving you a rank of Initiate would be an insult. You defied the odds and impressed Aegis. But if there's an impossible mission, it's the one he gave you."

Twilight felt sadness settle in. She understood well that a frontal assault on the complex was impossible, since 30mm cannons would tear her and everyone else to shreds. If what Star Paladin said was true, even an armoured personnel carrier would not be effective, and she has never seen an operable tank.

"In any event, final decision would be on Elder Sierra in that matter, as he is very interested in securing access to the Future-Tec complex as well. But even if he is amenable to your request, we cannot offer you full assistance, as we have a more immediate concern."

The lavender-skinned girl paid him all of her attention.

"Recently, a group of Paladins and Knights have broken all ties with the Brotherhood, denouncing their oaths to our Chapter. They have attacked and killed our brothers and sisters and stole their technology, and empied some of our stocks as well. They assert that our cause is dishonest, erroneous and disgraceful, and that Elder Sierra is corrupt, but they offered no proof. They have managed to hide themselves somewhere; we don't know where, unfortunately, but they seem to be able to support themselves easily enough for us to suspect they have a main base somewhere. They represent a clear and present danger to our Chapter, and it is the duty of every our member to locate and destroy these traitors - yourselves included."

"They have been exiled?" Silverblade asked.

"Yes, Elder Sierra declared them exiled, and you can get the proof from Head Scribe Quill, if you want. As you understand, these traitors are a major threat to us, as they have the same technology we do, and they severely hinder our ability to operate in the Western Canterlot Wastelands. If you are able to help us in neutralizing the threat, then it is possible Elder Sierra and I will be able to offer you more assistance in your mission, Knight Sparkle. Questions?"

"Do we have any leads, sir?" Twilight spoke up.

"Yes. Majority of attacks on the Brotherhood members happened to the north-east of Manehatten and to the south of Ponyville. Elder Sierra is already investigating the outskirts of Manehatten, but you are free to join him there or look near Ponyville on your own. There may be small diversionary groups in Maretonia or its outskirts, since we were attacked around here as well - although not as often. If you locate and destroy these diversionary groups, inform me, and I will reward you."

"What are the numbers and the arsenal of the enemy force?"

"The approximate numbers are from one hundred and fifty to two hundred, and they have same arsenal we do."

"We have secured a house near the railway that leads to outskirts of Whinnyapolis. We left two Paladins and three of my friends in there, but the house is not really defensible. Is there a place for better defense?"

"The house owned by Trade Sixty-Six?"

"The one and only."

"I would prefer that you did not leave it - we wanted to secure it for ourselves, but the current situation prevented us from doing so. You can get automated turrets and mines, as well as extra supplies, from here. I can also send a squad of Paladins with you for extra defense. Hard as our situation is, Brotherhood despises slavery. Don't get overzealous, though - we cannot afford a massive attack of Trade Sixty-Six on us."

"Noted, sir."

"Take theses magneto-optic disks," the Star Paladin held the objects in his hand, and everyone took one, "they have the codes that authorize you to enter areas held by us and use Brotherhood resources. Insert them in your Pip-Boys, and we'll recognize you as one of us."

"Thank you, sir. Final question - how can we identify the traitors?"

"Oh snap, I forgot the most important part. They changed their IFF codes, so your Pip-Boys will immediately flag them as hostile. They also repainted their armour into crimson and black colours, and their symbol is a sword with a wavy blade cutting through a plate, pointing down. And they call themselmes Flameswords."
> Chapter 35: First steps of a long path
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 35

First steps of a long path


"So, let me get this straight," Sunset rubbed her forehead, "Future-Tec complex is surrounded by a big-ass wall with turrets that have 30mm autocannons as well as homing missiles, not to mention that it probably has warbots inside, so a direct assault is suicidal. However, not only that, but we have those Flameswords as potential enemies, in addition to Trade Sixty-Six?"

"Why the word "potential", Sunset?" Flash asked, setting up an automated turret. "I am pretty sure that if they are enemies of Brotherhood, then they are our enemies as well. I don't think these guys differentiate between chapters."

"Me, Applejack and Rarity are not officially affiliated with Brotherhood of Steel, remember? Applejack does not have the sigil of Brotherhood on her power armour, now that I remember. If Twilight does not openly announce her allegiance with Brotherhood, Flameswords should not even attack her... although I am worried that they might mistake us for Brotherhood operatives if they see Applejack in power armour."

"I'm not sure about this. If Twilight does not wear the shoulder pad with Brotherhood insignia, then you four would not look like Brotherhood members. While people in power armour that are not affiliated with Brotherhood of Steel are rare, it is still possible to meet them. You could easily look like an independent warband. The only problem is that Twilight has a disk with Brotherhood codes. If you walk around with it inside her Pip-Boy, then Flameswords might attack you on sight, since their IFF will automatically mark Twilight as hostile, and I don't imagine you not firing in return if they open fire on her."

"So if I want to avoid attention from Flameswords, I should not have Brotherhood's codes active?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, and you should not display our insignia either. In fact, if you favour a stealthier approach, you should not travel with us unless necessary. Even if you happen to be with us with your codes inactive, Flameswords might not discriminate between you and us."

"That said," Sunset turned to her compatriot, "Twilight, what sort of approach do you prefer?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready to just up and shoot all the Flameswords just like that," Twilight said. "I know they are Brotherhood's enemies, and their interference may seriously mess with our mission, but I am not sure I can freely trust Elder Sierra as of now."

"Do you want to see him in person?" Flash asked.

"That night be preferable, although I am not sure of it. What is closer from here, Ponyville or Manehattan?"

"Ponyville," Rarity replied, still looking out of the window through her optical sight. "Maretonia - or, more correctly, its ruins - is the closest to us, then to the west and slightly to the north goes Ponyville. After that comes Manehattan and even further Appleloosa. Beyond that, there's the so called Saddle Desert, which is of no interest to us."

"OK," Sunset said, "so our task is to get to Ponyville, right?"

"And try and see whether there is significant presence of Flameswords to the south of Ponyville, yes," Twilight said.

"What kind of approach should we use?"

"Hmmm... truth be told, I am not in favour of openly displaying our flags. I'd prefer if Flash and other Paladins defended this house, as it appears to have become our primary base for the near future. Me and the girls will try to investigate the area without giving away our alliance, and hopefully avoid conflict. Although I am not sure how successful we will be. I tried to ask others about other possible threats before we left, but they were... reluctant to talk. Aside from Flameswords and Trade Sixty-Six and maybe two-bit raider gangs, I don't know what enemies we may encounter."

"As long as it's not someone like White Knives or Adagio again..." Applejack muttered.

"I hear you, Applejack. Hopefully, it... no, I shouldn't say it or I'll jinx it. What about the defenses of the house?" Twilight addressed Flash.

"With automated turrets and extra mines we have here, as well as mobile titan-kevlar-carbon polyalloy cover plates we managed to borrow, I think we're more than set against small threats. I'm still not certain how well we'd do against any heavily armed enemies, so if you want to do stealth, then you should investigate Ponyville as fast as possible."

"That was what I was thinking of," Twilight said. "Any objections?"

No one said a word.

"Alright, then I think we need to build a path. I looked at the map of Western Wastelands when we were in Western Chapter's HQ. There is an established settlement on approach to Maretonia, known as Donkey Stopper. It's not big, and there does not seem to be anything remarkable about it - primarily it's a place for travellers and merchants to stop and rest on the way to the ruins of Maretonia. There are no settlements in Maretonia itself, except one that is located near the Route 25 that goes from Maretonia to Manehattan and known as Straightlane, but several villages are spread out away from city outskirts. And further down the road, there is a town known as Marehoof. From that one, we can walk along Route 25 until we find a turn to Ponyville... in theory, that is. Brotherhood has Route 25 listed as a highly dangerous area, due to an overabundance of raiders and slavers in it."

"Why are there so many raiders and slavers?" Rarity asked.

"Route 25 apparently still serves as an important trade route between Marehoof and all settlements that are located near it, and many caravans are located there. It is a perfect place for someone who wants to capture slaves or just kill everyone and rob the caravan."

"Drat," Applejack said, "then we shouldn't use it, Twi. That's just asking for trouble, if you want mah opinion."

"The alternative is, unfortunately, no less risky," Twilight looked at her Pip-Boy, navigating the map. "In the last years, people have worked out a route to Ponyville, locally known as Little Pony's Walk. Despite its name, this path is not easy either. There are almost no tarmac roads there, and the place is infested with local mutated creatures, some of them very dangerous. There are cazadors' swarms and mirelurks' nests in the area, and rumours have it that a Deathclaw can be met there."

"Cazadors?" Sunset's eyes went wide. "And a Deathclaw? Forget it, Twilight, I'd rather face a dozen slavers with only a pistol than try my luck at that."

"What has you so scared, Sunset?"

"Er, haven't you heard of what these creatures are?"

"I'm afraid I haven't reviewed all the notes I got from the Brotherhood on that."

"Well, mirelurks are mutated crabs that have a rather tough shell, so if you find yourself against one, you should aim at its face, because their shell resists bullets pretty well. They also almost never appear alone, or at least merchants told us so, and facing them isn't a walk in the park, but it's other monsters that scare me. Cazadors are mutated wasps that have an extremely potent poison; if you get stung by one, you should have a special antidote on yourself or a SuperRegenStim, because without treatment, its stings are almost always fatal. And these creatures come in swarms, so you shoot one and the whole swarm goes after you. Fortunately, there's no more than a dozen cazadors in one swarm, but it's still trouble, since the most reliable way to get rid of them is to destroy their wings first and then shoot them. But Deathclaws are a stuff of nightmares."

"One of our patrols had encountered a Deathclaw once in Northern Wastelands," Flash took over. "Two Paladins and half a dozen Knights. They radioed for reinforcements, and we sent two dozens of heavily armed Paladins and forty Knights against it. When we arrived, none of that patrol survived, and the creature killed seven Paladins and ten Knights before our combined fire took it down."

Twilight gaped at him, unable to believe what she just heard.

"It did?"

"It did. Me and my boys saw it happen in person," Flash said, and the other Paladins nodded. "Bottom line is that Deathclaws are some sort of government's experiment on super soldier creation that went horribly wrong but managed to produce a creature capable of destroying power-armoured soldiers. They are extremely fast and agile, but also very strong and they can take severe beating before going down. Frankly, if you four go out there and meet one, you are dead. Even if we were to go together, I think we'd have a thirty percent chance of emerging victorious. That is, at least one of us standing at the end."

"Fortunately," Twilight interrupted, "the map I have has the locations of Deathclaws' hideouts marked, so we know where we should not go. The notes say that Deathclaws do not venture far from their places of habitat. As long as we stay five kilometers away from the hideout, we should not be attacked by a Deathclaw. And they are very few and far away from each other."

""Should not" and "will not" are two different things, Twilight, but if that gives us a wide enough path, then it may be worth the risk," Sunset said, still in doubt. "What else should we know about Little Pony's Walk?"

"There are several places of interest: Brotherhood's post Charlie-15, the remains of a factory owned by RobCo, a military base of 232nd Scout Regiment that apparently should still have some vehicles in working order but is overrun by super mutants, another military base that hosted personnel from 7th Mobile Artillery Division... apparently, we shouldn't go there either - it's surrounded by a minefield and some weird automated defense system operates mortars out there... oh, and the notes say to be wary of the area between two settlements known as Hoofgale and Colt Lake Town - according to the notes, it's a battlefield between some warring factions. And finally, there is a town known as Freemare - a rather large place, like Appletown. From it, one can easily get to Ponyville. Okaaaay... any ideas where we should go? I know that Route 25 sounds attractive, but I don't feel OK using it if we all don't go."

"Truth be told, Ah don't think we should take Route 25 either," Aplpejack admitted. "If we are under constant threat from them slavers and raiders, we may run out of ammunition sooner than we'd expect. The less people and critters we meet, the better."

"I am still not sold on Little Pony's Walk," Sunset admitted. "I admit I am pretty scared of cazadors and Deathclaws. The former we can handle, but the latter? No. And the way is rather long if we want to avoid all dangerous areas. We'd have to spend the night somewhere after that."

"There are abandoned villages all over," Twilight said. "We can easily do that."

"OK, but they might not be as abandoned as we may think. Just for future reference. All I'm saying is that I'm more for Route 25."

"Rarity?"

"I don't know, darling," the alabaster-skinned girl replied. "Route 25 is too perfect for ambushes, as far as I got it. But the prospect of facing cazadors and Deathclaws is scary as well. I guess I'll follow whatever you decide."

"Flash? What you and others would recommend?"

"Both options are very risky. And remember, you must actually reach Marehoof first. Western Wastelands are... tougher on travellers than Northern Wastelands," the ex-rocker said. "I'm afraid we really cannot say which is better."

Which means... the decision's on me, Twilight realized. After several minutes of pondering, she said:

"OK, girls. We'll go to Donkey Stopper tomorrow morning, at eight o'clock a.m., and will try to reach Marehoof, if possible. On the way, we'll gather more information, and then will decide whether we should take Route 25 or Little Pony's Walk. Deal?"

Everyone agreed.

"Excellent. Now let's recheck our equipment and restock ammunition. Stahlmesser was not the friendliest guy around, but he did not forbid us from using the HQ's armory to bolster our defenses - what with Flameswords and Trade Sixty-Six walking around - so help yourself to whatever you need. We did not carry that much ammo for it to lie around."





Several hours went by while the girls restocked their ammo supply and rearranged their equipment so it would be easier to carry, and also spent some time on weapon maintenance. Per Flash's advice, they packed several magazines of different ammo types - armour-piercing, hollow point, and even high explosive-incendiary/armour-piercing ammunition for Rarity's sniper rifle.

"If you meet Flameswords and come under attack, standard ammunition won't do much unless you manage to penetrate the armoured glass of the helmet or hit the places where microfusion power pack connects with the armour itself," he explained. "Armour-piercing ammunition normally can't do much damage to human body, since it does not flatten when hitting it, but it can damage the power exoskeleton underneath the plates."

"And what about this HEI/AP ammo?" Rarity asked.

"High explosive-incendiary/armour-piercing ammunition is best suited for taking out the power packs. T-72d and T-80b models can be taken out if you hit the power pack with that one. The incendiary agent destabilizes the power pack once its integrity is compromised, which may lead to instant armour deactivation."

Twilight and Sunset, who had energy weapons as well, picked up high-capacity batteries and microfusion cells. Flash showed them how to readjust the power output on the weapons so that the laser beam would deal more damage and penetrate easier - which would be useful against Flameswords as well.

"You'll have to be careful with overclocking the beams, though," Paladin Silverblade told both of them as they finished practicing.

"Overclocking?" Twilight asked.

"It's the slang term for adjusting the power output that was called such by some computer geek and gained popularity. As for why you need to be careful - well, the intense beam degrades the focus optics quicker than the usual one, so if you overuse it, your rifle will bust quicker. Sometimes it's better to use high-capacity cells as an extended magazine of sorts - keep the power at normal levels and you'll have twice the number of shots left."

"Thanks for the advice."

Once they were finished, Sunset asked Twilight to have a talk with her alone, without witnesses. The alicorn-turned-human was surprised, but agreed, and they went out of the house, backs turned to it. Sunset had asked Rarity to watch over them, so both Equestrians felt relatively safe under the ex-fashionista's watchful eye.

"OK, Sunset," Twilight asked her compatriot in a hushed tone, "what is it about?"

"It's about magic. I was rummaging among my personal effects when I found this."

On Sunset's palm lay something resembling a medallion that had her cutie mark emblazoned on it. Twilight wrecked her brains for a moment, trying to recall whether she had heard of something like this, and then remembered.

"It's something you gained when you were at Camp Everfree and my counterpart conquered her fear of her darker self?"

"Yes," Sunset confirmed. "This was formed from a crystal that Gloriosa Daisy, the camp's manager, had found in a cave that was full of Equestrian magic. After that event, although we were in places where Equestrian magic was not as prevalent as there or near CHS, the pendants still had lingering magic, and we could feel it. But now this pendant is totally inert. And speaking of which, remember me mentioning the emapthic abilities I had gained there?"

"Something vague about this does come up from my memories," Twilight scratched her chin.

"I have not paid a lot of attention to it during war and anything, but when the nuclear apocalypse occurred, I seem to... have lost the ability to gaze into minds of others."

"Really? Maybe you should try me?"

"Won't hurt to try," with these words, Sunset put her hand against Twilight's forehead, waiting for the rush of feelings and emotions to slam into her head as it did in Camp Everfree...

...the only thing she felt was the warmth of Twilight's forehead.

The fiery-haired girl strained all her senses in an attempt to feel the Equestrian magic inside her friend, but was unable to get anything. Her sense of magic was totally gone; she was just like a normal human in that regard. Trying to feel the magic inside her, as unicorns, could do, also ended in a dud. That revelation left Sunset very disappointed, but also vexed at the same time.

Fucking great. I had magic, and now I have really lost it and did not even notice it. Great fucking job, Shimmer.

"No," she breathed out, frustration lacing her words. "It's a dud. I can't gain a look into your mind, and I even can't sense your magic, or mine."

"Neither can I," Twilight said. "But... Adagio used magic, right? There has to be some way to do it..."

"Maybe, but whatever it is, I can't think of anything," the fiery-haired girl hung her head. Twilight thought for a moment, and then snapped her fingers in frustration.

"I am at a loss either. There is a theory I am thinking about, though..."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Not right now. I have not formulated it fully yet."

"When you do, tell me, OK?"

"Of course, Sunset."





The fiery-haired girl felt extremely bored as she sat behind the tesk, staring at the monoblock's screen as she shifted through the e-mails sent to RobCo Trottingham by... well, people. Spamming bots sent letters as well, but the spam screen took care of most of them, and if it did not, all it took was a request to the IT department to add another address to the spam screen filters.

There were several types of letters she had to deal with: internal memos, official governmental letters, customer complaints, business propositions from other companies, and spam that went past the filters. The first type was merely read, replied to or sent, the second were read very carefully and forwarded to wherever necessary, the third were immediately forwarded to the customer support department (with a mental promise to strangle the next person to send a complaint at the wrong address), the fourth were read and forwarded to the CEOs with her comments, and the last one was instantly deleted without reading.

In reality, the types of letters were more diverse, but in general there were these five categories.

Sighing, Sunset Shimmer took a sip from the cup standing on her table. At least the coffee she had here was pretty good. Her boss, Digit Rate, hated sub-par coffee with a passion, and had a high-class coffee machine installed, with high-quality coffee always available. In fact, he hated everything sub-par, and had a perfectionist streak, which made him a rather difficult boss to work with.

Sunset, however, managed to build a rather good workplace relationship with him. At least he never screamed at her. Well, Digit Rate did not scream or swear at women at all (as far as she knew), but he never particularly cared about the feelings of the person who found themselves a target of his wrath for some mess-up.

He also did not eye her up as... blatantly... as some men did if she had to leave her normal workplace. RobCo's dress code required that female secretaries dressed in a way that would not be blatantly sexual, but would still accentuate their beauty. The founder of RobCo believed that secretaries were the "face" of the company, and had laid down the requirements for secretaries' physical attributes, dismissing any criticism and accusations of discrimination.

Sunset knew that her body was considered rather attractive by human standards, but although her attire consisted of a white shirt, black leather skirt that came down to her knees, semi-transparent stockings and high-heels of the same color, she noticed regularly that she was eye-undressed at least once a day by males, and even some females once in a while. While she took pride of her beauty and being able to elicit such a reaction, as it boosted her confidence and self-esteem, the situation was still annoying at times. Especially if someone tried to use a bad pick-up line on her.

The salary, however, was a good balance against this inconvenience. And the view she had from the corporation's local HQ's was breathtaking.

Sunset could barely believe at times that she managed to get the job. Since she moved to Trottingham, she was surrounded by suspicion, due to the fact that TODC terrorist attacks and National Security Commissariat's paranoia changed the people's mindset to near paranoid. She was visited regularly by local police, who ensured that her registration papers were in order, which was not unnoticed by neighbours.

With this stigma, she was less likely to get a decent job. However, once she saw an ad for a secretary's position at RobCo, she decided to seize an opportunity and give it her best shot - and succeeded. Digit Rate was impressed by her management and rationalization skills, and repeatedly said that his letters and papers have never been in such an order.

Having been Princess Celestia's personal student still had some perks.

"Good morning, Miss Shimmer."

The smooth voice of her boss shook her out of musings, and she quickly gave him a polite smile.

"Good morning, Mister Rate. How are you doing this day?" she spoke.

"Fine, fine. What about you?"

"I am doing well. Would you like me to prepare your coffee, sir?"

"No need, Miss Shimmer, I will do it myself. Remind me, please, if there are any important meetings."

"At 14:00, you will have a meeting with the CEO of Sea Breeze Energy, and the head of Trottingham's division of National Security Commissariat has expressed his wish to meet you at 17:00 sharp."

"Thank you, Miss Shimmer. Inform the NSC that I will meet their head."

"Understood, sir. I'll send you the digest of important mail in five minutes."

"Thank you again."

Digit Rate went into his office, and Sunset continued sifting through the mail.





The day went by in a blur, with nothing unusual happening. Sunset worked as usual, sifting through mail, accepting calls and making a regular pause to stretch her muscles. Desk jobs were not the healthiest around.

Better than sitting on the frontline, though.

Since she was not born there, Sunset did not feel any particular loyalty towards the United Federation of Equestria. When her papers were pushed from the system, it was written in there that she was not born within the Federation, but her country of origin could not be determined, and she was granted UFE citizenship by virtue of being adopted by a foster family. Despite having lived in the human world for a long time, Sunset was not really inclined to fight in the war unless forced to, understanding that the true cause of war was the desire of higher ups to hoard the remaining natural resources for themselves - everyone else be damned. She disapproved of that, but wisely kept silent - one never knew what Commissariat would consider sedition this day.

As the time kept closer to 14:00, Sunset took care to prepare the meeting room for the upcoming talks with the CEO of Sea Breeze Energy. Despite the name, this company was not solely devoted to generating electricity via hydro-power stations, and was one of the biggest crude oil producers. RobCo cooperated closely with Sea Breeze Energy, and Digit Rate and the other CEO were on first-name basis, so this was nothing unusual for her. She knew what to do.

It was 13:46, and she and Digit Rate were looking out at the window. Sunset was sipping the black tea, as she had previously gotten several snacks into her stomach.

"Everything's perfect, Miss Shimmer, thank you."

"Thank you, Mister Rate. I'm glad everything is to your liking."

"Flow Cloud keeps telling me he wants to steal you from me, believe me or not."

Sea Breeze Energy's CEO wants to get me? Now that's news, Sunset thought, but said instead:

"Steal me, huh? I need to remind him that kidnapping people is a criminal offence, punishable in wartime by ten to twenty years in prison."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Digit Rate laughed. "You know what I meant, Miss Shimmer."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I am not inclined to change my employer at the moment."

"Heh. Glad to hear. Flow will be disappointed."

For some time, Sunset sipped her tea in silence, until Digit Rate spoke up again:

"Miss Shimmer... may I ask you a personal, non-work-related question? Not as your boss?"

The fiery-haired girl raised an eyebrow, but answered:

"Yes, you may."

The man shifted in place, looking somewhat uncomfortable, and turned to her, speaking in a slightly less confident than usual tone:

"Miss Shimmer, there's no way I can phrase it differently, so... are you dating anyone at the moment?"

The young woman almost choked on her tea, but managed to avoid doing a spittake and set the cup and the plate on the table. 

OK, I totally did not see that one coming. Why is he asking me that? What is his motif? I know businessmen usually prefer to hire those that are single and not dating, but he can't be checking for that just to fire me if this were otherwise, right?

Turning back to her boss, she replied, adorning a serious facial expression:

"That's a rather bold question, Mister Rate. I will answer, but I would like to hear what prompted you to ask me this."

"And I will answer you, Miss Shimmer. You see, I have been a widower for six years, when I lost my wife to cancer. After this time, only now I have decided to... try and have a relationship with a woman again. I have been thinking for some time, and realized that I am... infatuated with you, shall we say? But I cannot approach you like this if you're already seeing someone; that's why I'm asking this."

Silence fell again, the air getting tense. Sunset spent some time composing herself; the admission threw her off the hook.

OK, he surprised me again. I did not know that tidbit; then again, it's his private life. If he shared that with me, he certainly did not do it on a whim. But he might be looking for a quick fling instead of a relationship. I need more information.

"Okaaaay... you've been rather straight to the point. To answer your question, no, I am not dating anyone. Truth be told, I have not really put myself on a dating market."

"Oh... I see."

"May I ask a question in turn?"

"Go ahead."

"Why me? What made you consider me as a romantic interest?"

"Well, that's actually two questions," Digit Rate chuckled, and Sunset rolled her eyes at the cheesy humour, "but I'll ignore that. As for why I set my eyes on you... that's a complex question for sure. I cannot name some single thing that sets you apart from the rest. I think it's more like how well many little details that make you... well, you, align together with each other, and how they create a beautiful... I dunno, unity?"

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.

"Goodness I've become so rusty at speaking to women..." Digit Rate facepalmed in embarrassment.

"So..." Sunset tried to break the tension, "it's not just my looks, or my stature, or personality, but everything that you find attractive in me?"

"At the risk of sounding very corny, yes."

Corny indeed, but at least it seems he is honest. "And what kind of relationship are you looking for? Is it a serious, long-term relationship you want, or something like friends-with-benefits relationship?"

"I definitely wouldn't be against a long-term relationship, although I'd like to see if we're truly compatible first. I have always preferred slow-paced relationships. My wife, may she rest in peace, liked to complain about it," Digit Rate smiled, "although she never really meant it."

"And the fact that I am your direct subordinate? Not to mention this relationship - pardon my bluntness - would look like a plot from a boss-secretary porn movie?"

This time, her boss laughed uproariously.

"Well, I have never been one to care about what others think of me and my relationships. After all, I hired you instead of others that had several degrees behind the belt but no brains in their head. I never told you, but I got some flak from others for it."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Don't be. As I said, I didn't care. And I told them to... ahem... perform an anatomically impossible act, so to say."

The fiery-haired girl stood, pondering over the bombshell she just experienced. After Flash Sentry, she has not really experienced the wonders of dating and romantic relationship. The graduation, the work, the worries of war - it just never occurred to her that she was a young woman. Well, a unicorn in a female human's body, but she has lived in the human world for so long she had trouble envisioning herself as a pony. And Digit Rate certainly seemed a good potential mate... if she were to desire so, that is.

This is all too sudden and confusing, Sunset thought.

"Well..." she started, then paused for a second. Sighing, she continued, "I am not saying I would be against it, but... this is too sudden. And I am not sure I think of you in a romantic way. Can I think on this for some time before answering, Mister Rate?"

"Of course, Miss Shimmer. And thank you," her boss replied.

"For what?"

"For your honesty."

"Ah, heh-heh... no thanks required."

"Let us prepare for the meeting, then."

Sunset took her cup of tea again, and took a sip. Both of them stood in silence, mentally preparing themselves.

They were not prepared for what occurred, however.

A wailing sound pierced the air, loud, dreadful and chilling. Sunset felt as her hair tried to stand up even where it did not grow.

"What the..." Digit Rate muttered, as he turned on the Radiation King radio, which was preset to a specific frequency. The wailing sound that could be heard from the street repeated itself from the radio for a few times, until it was replaced by a loud and monotone voice:

"This is a message from Priority One Nuclear Warning System. This is not a drill. Repeat: this is not a drill!"

"It can't be..." Sunset whispered. The words "this is not a drill" were the worst thing she could have heard after hearing a nuclear attack siren. She hoped never to hear it, and prayed she misheard, but the next words from Priority One Nuclear Warning System, or PON-WS, as it was commonly known, destroyed that hope:

"To all citizens of United Federation of Equestria. The country is under a nuclear attack. Intercontinental ballistic missiles have been launched from TODC territory and are on their path towards the Federation. The data has been confirmed. More attacks may follow. All citizens are to evacuate from the areas that can be targeted by a nuclear attack. Participants of Project Safehouse by Vault-Tec are to proceed to their designated Vault immediately. Obey all lawful orders from the government, National Security Commissariat, military authorities, police and civil defense departments. Remain calm and avoid panic. Take your passport and other identificating documents with yourselves, as well as food rations, medicines and clear water. If you have a portable radio, take it with yourself, but remove the batteries from it. Insert the batteries inside and switch on the radio once you are safely away from the blast radius. Take measures to avoid radioactive fallout, as well as other harmful factors of a nuclear blast. Once you are aout of the blast zone, proceed to the nearest civilian evacuation center. Stay tuned to this wavelength for further instructions."

The siren continued to wail outside.

Crash! The cup that Sunset was holding fell on the floor and broke into pieces of porcelain, spilling the remains of the tea on the carpet. Her mind struggled to reboot after the doomsday message.

This... this can't be happening!

"Miss Shimmer!" Digit Rate tried to remain calm, but she could clearly tell he was in panic. "Do you have the emergency package with yourself?"

"Y-yes..."

"Grab it quickly and go to the roof! We'll get away with a vertibird!"

It only took six minutes for Sunset to grab her ID and Vault admission papers along with some other necessities and run to the roof - impressive, considering she was in her high-heel shoes.

As she was on the top, she saw a lone vertibird standing on the surface, primed for flight.

Where's Digit Rate? she thought.

"Shimmer!" she barely heard someone shout. It was someone from the higher-ups who worked on the same floor where she was. "Stop gawking and get inside! We don't have much time!"

Driven by instincts of self-preservation, Sunset crossed the distance until the vertibird in an impressive timerate of eight seconds. In a hurry, she forgot to exchange her high-heels for more comfortable shoes, so even she was slightly impressed by herself.

The man who shouted at her stuck out his hand. Sunset grabbed it without thinking, and was pulled inside. The vertibird's doors closed, and the fiery-haired girl felt a small lurch as the aircraft rose from the ground. She sat in one of the seats, closest to the window that now had the panorama of Trottingham below. Sunset's stomach churned at the thought that she was seeing Trottingham like this for the last time...

The vertibird was racing away from the city...

FLASH!

A blinding light assaulted her eyes, forcing her to shut her eyes out of instincts before they burnt out from the intensity. Screams pierced her ears as everyone started shouting in panic, their voices becoming an incomprehensible garble. The flash receded, and Sunset was able to briefly look out of the window.

For a small moment, she saw the buildings crumble, and then the pilot turned the vertibird away, trying to force the maximum speed out of the engines, blocking her view.

Whatever speed the vertibird had, it was not enough.

The compressed air hit the aircraft, making it spiral out of control. A siren rang from the cockpit as the pilot tried to regain control of the vehicle, but it was to no avail.

Amidst the primal fear and horror at the prospect of her impending doom, Sunset had only one thought in her mind:

The bombs were not supposed to fall this soon!

This thought dominated her mind as the world spun around, ground gradually getting closer and closer...





Sunset awoke with a gasp.

Five seconds passed until she was able to gauge her surroundings, and then she understood what happened.

It's been a long time since I had that nightmare.

She really disliked reliving that day in her dreams. Of course, since she was still alive, the events went differently.

For instance, the vertibird made it safely out of the blast radius before the nuclear warhead hit Trottingham. They still saw the flash from the explosion, but they were not hit by the shockwave, and even if the vertibird was hit by an electromagnetic pulse, the complex and prohibitively expensive anti-EMP-insulation of the onboard avionics worked as advertised.

The bomb did hit sooner than expected, but they were already far away.

The transport delivered them to Vault 75. Few of the survivors of the nuclear war.

Despite all her negative feelings towards Vault-Tec, Sunset still felt grateful that they provided RobCo with the emergency straight-to-Vault evacuation service. Of course, it was for the executives, not the common folk, but the benefit of being a secretary to the local CEO was closeness to the helipad. And during the panic that took place once the message from PON-WS hit the waves, no one asked questions whether she actually paid for said service. Some higher-ups that happened to be in the same Vault as her did, however, and since she was almost always near Digit Rate, someone probably assumed that the latter paid for her. There were enough rumours of them being secret lovers to lend credence to that theory.

Or maybe the guy who grabbed her hand as she ran up to the vertibird just was kind enough to let her in despite her not having paid for emergency evacuation.

Sunset tried not to think of the fact that she might have taken someone's place in that vertibird. Someone who actually paid for that, and stood bewildered, seeing no vertibird on the helipad, before the heat and the shockwave killed them...

She shook her head violently. What was done, was done. She could not change the past.

The unrequired feelings of guilt still were there in her mind, however.

Punching the pillow in frustration, Sunset turned to the other side, hoping to catch some nightmares-free shut-eye.

The track through Western Canterlot Wastelands would require all of her strength, and she needed to be at one hundred percent.





Next morning, Twilight, Sunset, Aplejack and Rarity gathered together on the ground floor. Twilight and Flash were setting up the portable radio station to communicate with Elder Aegis, as everyone else kept watch on the outside.

Finally, the station was set, and Twilight spoke to the microphone:

"Squad Rapture to Base. Come in, Base."

"Reading you loud and clear, Rapture. Do you read us?"

Recognizing the parlance for establishing connection quality, Twilight replied as taught:

"Loud and clear. Requesting a comm line to Elder. Code - Revolver Hammer Strike, two-five-seven."

"Code recognized. Establishing comms, please wait."

Silence followed, until Aegis' voice rang in her headphones:

"Aegis here."

"Knight Sparkle reporting," Twilight replied. "We secured a house formerly belonging to Traders Sixty-Six. Established contact with Western Chapter's Star Paladin Stahlmesser, as Elder Sierra was away on a mission. According to Stahlmesser, Future-Tec complex is inaccessible due to presence of active Thunderfire turrets and sophisticated access system. In addition, a group of defectors named "Flameswords" threatens the Western Chapter. Stahlmesser requested that we investigate a location likely to be their main base, to the south of Ponyville. If we manage to eliminate the threat, he promises support in my mission. Over."

"Understood. How do you plan to proceed, Knight?"

"By not declaring my allegiance to Brotherhood. Only auxiliary squad will go with me. Paladin Sentry and his squad will defend our current position. We managed to augment the defenses of the house with automated turrets and portable anti-assault shields provided by Western Brotherhood Chapter."

"Excellent. Proceed with your mission, Knight, and don't let anyone discover your affiliation with the Brotherhood. This threat must be eliminated. Do you have anything else to report?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Good. Aegis out."

The connection broke, and Twilight said:

"Well, he basically said to to what Stahlmesser told us to do. I guess we better get to it, then."

"Be careful, everyone," Paladin Silverblade spoke. "Use emergency transmitters in your Pip-Boys if you are in great danger. We will do our best to get to you ASAP."

"Thanks."

The girls left the house and left in the direction of Donkey Stopper, their first destination.





Twilight vividly recalled her first times out in the Canterlot Wastelands, when it was just her and Sunset. She had a similar feeling of apprehension and wariness, mixed with tension as she tried to notice any potential threat before it got the jump on them.

This time was slightly different, because she had Applejack and Rarity beside her as well, but the unfamiliar environment and new dangers lurking beyond the horizon put her in a familiar state of apprehension. Considering that neither Applejack nor Sunset were here, and Rarity had not ventured into Western Wastelands very often, all girls were tensed as coil springs.

Overwhelming as the sense of near-paranoia was, it proved to be very useful... somewhat. As the girls traversed through one rocky area where the road was wavy like a snake and Rarity could not use her sniper rifle to her advantage, they had the misfortune of running into cazadors. As Sunset said, they indeed looked like overgrown wasps. Scared out of her wits, Twilight instinctively opened fire. Her bullets quickly made the cazador she encountered stay dead - but more of them followed from the nest that was located a bit further ahead, hidden inside a small cave. And some of them were bigger than the one Twilight shot.

"Aim for the wings! Don't let them come close!" Sunset shouted, firing from her assault rifle. Twilight had her laser rifle at the ready, and she began firing on cazadors as well. Unfortunately, laser rifle's rate of fire was not big, and hitting the wings was harder. In fact, Applejack and Sunset fared better because the cones of their fire left better chances at crippling the cazadors.

Despite their best attempts, a lone cazador that apparently was the strongest managed to approach Twilight and sting her. Startled by pain, she gave him a kick that pushed it back and fired at point blank range, killing the mutated insect. Several seconds later, she felt her head getting very dizzy.

"Oh ponyfeathers," she swore.

"Drat, there goes the first antidote," Sunset said. "Applejack, Rarity, hold her still."

The girls did as asked, and Sunset took out a syringe with the antidote. Carefully setting the needle against Twilight's neck, she pushed the plunger.

"Uuuuurgh," Twilight groaned.

"Don't moan. The antidote's no less nasty, but we need to get the poison out of your system."

The antidote's nastiness proved to be in nasty side effects. Twilight spent the next half an hour in a fever, feeling her body burning inside, and regirgutating the contents of her stomach as she lay on the ground, unable to stand from dizziness. Every couple of minutes she would curse, using either Equestrian or human versions of obscene language until she was able to stand and move.

"Note to self," she said, "be careful when firing on a cazador. Shoot one, and a swarm will come."

"Truth be told," Rarity spoke up, "I am not sure we would have been able to avoid the fight. This particular nest is too close to the road anyway. Are these creatures territorial?"

"Yes, they are," Sunset replied, "and now that I think of it, Rarity's right. We would have angered this swarm anyway."

"Let's hope we won't meet any more unavoidable nests," Applejack said.

"Spit, Applejack," Sunset said immediately, "don't jinx it."

The blonde girl immediately made three quick consecutive spitting sounds, making Rarity wrinkle her forehead in distaste.

"Twilight," Spike spoke from the rucksack, "can I take a sniff? If I know how cazadors smell, I might warn you in advance."

"OK, Spike," the lavender-skinned girl set him down. taking several sniffs, Spike made a nasty expression and spoke up:

"Yeeeesh. They even smell nasty. Well at least I know how they smell. Shall I take the lead?"

"Yes, but be careful and return immediately if you notice something. And try not to bark. We don't want to grab unnecessary attention."

"I hear you, Twilight."

The quintet moved ahead, eyes looking in all directions. They still had an hour and a half to go until the Donkey Stopper, and many things could happen in that time.

One thing did happen, when the girls and Spike stumbled into a nest of giant mutant ants. The beasts were not horribly dangerous, but they were very numerous, and the soldier ants have apparently developed a tendency to hurl some sort of an inflammable mucus at them. Rarity was forced to duck to avoid one of the flameballs, which landed on Applejack's frontal chest piece, sizzling out. The blonde girl raised an eyebrow at the giant ant that hit her, and a small burst of fire from her minigun turned the mutant into paste.

"There's no kill like overkill," she laughed.

As they got rid of the ants, the girls moved on. Without any unpleasant surprises on the way, they reached Donkey Stopper.





Donkey Stopper was not a large settlement by any means. Smaller than Appletown, it consisted of one rather large three-storey building that apparently served as a hotel, and smaller houses built from wood, typical for any farmers that spent their lives outside of big cities and in villages. Each house had a fence that surrounded it and the small patch of land where various plants and berries were grown. According to the data Twilight got from the Brotherhood of Steel, the town's economy was based on letting merchants stay with their caravans at a rather comfortable (by post-apocalyptic standards) hotel, and selling whatever the locals grew.

The town did not seem to be very well defended, but Twilight noticed that every local was armed, so she wisely decided not to underestimate them. For all she knew, Donkey Stopper could have military-grade weapons in their arsenal. That, and people with unmistakable profiles of sniper rifles lurked in the windows.

Their posse drew all kinds of looks, from astonished to apprehensive. When they arrived at the hotel, the lone guard at the entrance gulped and spoke, trying to hide his fear:

"Hello, ladies. Do ya need something?"

"Some rest and food and maybe check what you have for sale," Twilight said. "We're going to Marehoof."

"It's not often we see someone who is not a merchant wanting to go there," the guard said. "Especially warbands like yours."

"Warbands?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"That's what we call groups like yours, gal. Not raiders, not gangsters, not slavers, not merchants, not those from Brotherhood of Steel. Local slang; better get used to it if you're going to be in Western Wastelands for a while."

"Huh. Interesting. Thanks for the info."

"You planning to stay for a night?"

"No, we need a few hours' worth of rest, a place to temporarily dump our load and just chat about local news."

"Well, come in and ask the lady behind the stand. Her name's Homina Edelweiss. She'll tell ya everything. And don't start any messes here."

"Wasn't planning to. Thanks."

Homina Edelweiss turned out to be a woman in her early fifties, with already greying hair. She greeted them rather kindly, and informed them that a room would cost them one hundred caps in total. The girls paid the sum, and the lady gave Spike a dog's treat, which he munched rather happily.

The girls dumped the majority of their load in the room. Applejack agreed to stay and guard it, and Rarity turned on her Stealth-Boy to follow Twilight and Sunset around as the two Equestrians left to see what the town had to offer.

Unfortunately, an hour later, they had to conclude that they lacked necessary information to conclude whether to use Route 25 or the Little Pony's walk. The locals did not get out of Donkey Stopper, preferring to get the news from either the merchants or CWN, although the strength of the signal was rather lousy in the area - as Twilight discovered to her annoyance.

The pair was on the way to find something to eat, when they heard a man with black hair (and some gray streaks in it) say in a drawling, grumpy voice:

"Well ain't that the She-Demon and her little friend."

"She-Demon?" Twilight whispered, as a brick fell into her stomach.

This person couldn't know about me vs. Sunset match at Canterlot High...

"Of all the fucking..." she heard Sunset grumble, and then exclaim in a faux-jovial tone:

"Hello, Mr. Doodle! How are you doing?"

...or could he?

Turning to the source of the voice, Twilight saw two persons who, if one were to look carefully, did resemble a certain couple of donkeys whose wedding she missed because of a bugbear attack (and Derpy Hooves).

"As well as one can do once the world got blown to smithereens," Cranky said. "You lot look scrawny as Tartarus. You wanna come in? Matilda just made excellent stew."

"Er, can we call our friends first? Applejack and Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, they're with ya? Come on, call them before the stew gets cold."

Twilight nodded and ran.

"Heh," Cranky smiled slightly, "never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad to see you alive, Shimmer."

"Same here, Mr. Doodle."





Both Applejack and Rarity were surprised to see Cranky Doodle alive, and gladly accepted his invitation to dinner. Matilda set up a table for them, and everyone received a good option of brahmin stew. Feeling hungry, the girls and Spike greatly appreciated the efforts of Matilda, and thanked her profusedly.

"No thanks needed. Eat it up while you're here and Cranky's feeling generous," the elderly woman hugged her husband.

"Really, Matilda, I'm not stingy and you know that," Cranky grumbled.

"I know, but you aren't really keen on having guests here."

"Because few of them had the decency to invite us as guests instead of grabbing the free food. For us, it's not free. And I haven't seen my former students for a long time. Who else but them deserves a good meal?"

"I wouldn't use the word "deserve", Mister Doodle," Twilight said, "but we are grateful for your generosity. Considering our plans and dangers of the Wastelands, it might be long before we eat home-cooked food again."

"Thank you for kind words, Sparkle. That said, what're you four doing right now?"

"Well... I lost some of my memories, and I am trying to retain them, following the clues I find along the way."

"And others are helping you?"

"Yep," Applejack replied, chewing. "We hadta help Twi."

"Young lady, don't talk with your mouth full. It's bad manners."

"Oh c'mon..." Applejack grumbled, and Sunset chuckled.

"Some things never change... it seems even the end of the world didn't change you, Mister Doodle."

"The world's not dead yet, Shimmer. It merely got dropped into Tartarus pretty fast, and doesn't want to crawl out."

"True. Anyway, I have a question. Can you tell us some sort of what's going on in Western Wastelands? CWN signal doesn't go well in the area."

"Yeah, can't always catch the blasted broadcast either. Thing's not been the same since damned Brotherhood of Steel knocked out the radio tower that transmitted CWN's waves."

The girls pointedly refrained from looking at each other.

"Why did those varmints do that?" Applejack asked.

"No damned idea, lass. Tin cans did it a couple of months ago, or three maybe? All i know is that one day CWN's signal is weak, and then merchants tell me that Brotherhood knocked the damn tower off."

"That's... lousy," Twilight commented. I'll have to ask Stahlmesser about that. "Was it really Brotherhood? I heard rumours that there's some group that deserted from there, so it could be them, in theory."

"Kid, I only say what merchants told me. And they listen to word of mouth. Maybe it was that group. You think someone's gonna check who the guys in power armour were? The only guys in tin crates that locals know 'bout are Brotherhood Paladins. Applejack here might be the first one not from Brotherhood... or are you a member of Brotherhood, Applejack?"

"Nah, Ah ain't. One ex-Paladin gave the suit to me, and Brotherhood varmints wanted it back. Ah wasn't going ta part with it, an' Twilight here worked a compromise, so they lay off of me. That was the Northern Chapter, though, maybe these guys are worse."

"Maybe."

"There's one thing I wanted to ask you girls."

"Ask ahead," Sunset said.

"Lately some bastard started killing our brahmins left and right. If that goes on, our whole cattle's gonna die and Donkey Stopper will be badly hit. It always happens at night, but we just can't find the culprit, they're too crafty. If you aren't in a hurry, maybe you could help the town?"

The girls looked at one another.

"Hmmm..." Twilight said. "Our initial plan was to get to Marehoof as soon as we can, but I can't think of any viable reason to say no. Girls?"

No one objected.

"All right. Mister Doodle, when do the killings happen?"

"Between eleven p.m. and three a.m. at night. Whoever this git is, they're crafty. We never caught them, even when a dozen of ours was on patrol."

"And where?"

"Mostly at north-west, although they hit both western and northern sides as well."

"Then we'll do a stakeout."

"I'll talk with locals and see who's willing to help."

"Thank you. And thank you both for the dinner."

"You're welcome," Matilda smiled.





When the clock hit eleven p.m., girls were already in position. Applejack was looking over the north-western side, Twilight had the western side, and Sunset looked at the northern one. Rarity took position on the hotel roof, which allowed her to oversee all three directions.

The girls activated their Pip-Boys, which had radio transmitters installed in them now.

"Comm check," Sunset spoke into her Pip-Boy. "Everyone hear me?"

"Yes."

"I hear ya."

"Loud and clear, darling."

"Hear you loud and clear too. Alright, keep your eyes open, and call others if something happens."

The others murmured their acknowledgement and stared into the night.

Twilight felt herself fall into the now very familiar routine of intense concentration when faced with boring yet life-threatening situation. The nature of threat to Donkey Stopper was unknown, and the onlly somewhat relaxing thing was that the attacker, whoever they were, did not use firearms.

Then again, that could change.

Several armed men were nearby, but in the distance. Not many volunteered to keep watch - most preferred to guard their own cattle, if they had it. Those who were present were armed with hunting rifles or pump-action shotguns of civilian models - not that impressive compared to the girls' arsenal. Then again, Cranky must have thought that their group stood a better chance than the locals.

Spike was sniffing around as well, but so far he was unable to sense anything.

Minutes drew on in tense silence, until...

"Twilight," Spike said quietly, "I feel some strange smell. It's not brahmin and not locals."

"What is it?"

"I can't say. Something feels familiar about it, but the scent itself is totally unfamiliar to me..."

"Hmmm... Spike, trace the scent."

Following her assistant, Twilight switched on her Pip-Boy radio and said:

"Rarity, Twilight here. Can you keep overwatch on me? Spike sensed something."

"Yes, darling."

Twilight held her laser rifle at the ready, eyes darting to the sides as Spike traced the scent to one of the small barns where one family kept their brahmin. The dragon-turned-dog said that the scent followed to the other side of the barn, where its door was located. The family that owned said brahmin let it walk around in their yard at night, so the door was not locked, which Twilight personally found stupid.

The lavender-skinned girl made several tentative steps, when she heard a horrible mooing sound.

Her blood froze. Forgetting everything, she rushed forward.

Although the barn was not really lit, the moonlight still illuminated enough of the horribly mutilated animal to recognize the source of the death scream of the animal. Taking a few steps forward, Twilight looked around inside, trying to locate the culprit.

They couldn't get far...

Then she hit something.

Taking a step back, she peered forward, not understanding what just happened.

Then she understood.

Her insides instantly fell below earth, and she screamed in primal fear.





Rarity could not clearly see Twilight once she entered the barn.

She expected many things to happen, but she did not expect Twilight flying out from the barn.

Shocked by the scene, Rarity pulled the trigger out of pure instinct, and a .308 bullet hit...

...something.

The shimmer of a cloaking field revealed the adversary as something of a size of a...

...super mutant?!

The size of the figure certainly resembled a super mutant, and judging by the outline of the shimmering cloaking field, it held a hydraulic hammer designed for mine workers, more commonly known as a super sledge.

Oh fuck! Rarity swore in her mind, and shot again, aiming at the beast's head. Another bullet raced to its target, and hit it, but super mutants were infamous for not being killable with one shot to the head.

Twilight tried to stand and run away, but it resulted in another super sledge hit across her back, which sent her flying again. However, the girl landed near the laser rifle she had released out of her hand when she flew back, and she wasted no time in picking it.

Laser fire managed to disrupt the cloaking field, revealing a super mutant with a strange dark-blue skin tone. Before the beast approached Twilight, Rarity shot it to the head again, and Cranky Doodle, who arrived at the scream, also fired at the mutant from his lever-action shotgun.

Another .308 finally cracked the skull of the strange super mutant and splattered its brains around.

Forgetting everything, Rarity ran down. When she arrived at the scene, she heard Cranky Doodle curse profusedly while checking Twilight for damage.

"And here I thought this was a myth," he said. "A nightkin."

"What?"

"A nightkin. Merchants were talking about rumours of super mutants with this skin colour who used cloaking devices, the so-called nightkin. People weren't inclined to believe them. Now I see the merchants were right."

"I wish they weren't," Twilight moaned, injecting RegenStim into herself. "Damn it hurts like a bitch... now we have super mutants with Stealth-Boys. Fucking great, what's next? A flying spaghetti monster?" she growled, putting her armour back on.

"You alright, darling?"

"Pip-Boy's medical program shows no internal damage to my organs and my ribs are fine. The thing's super sledge was very poorly maintained, judging by its look, or I would have more than bruises."

"What's happened?" Applejack shouted, running up to them, minigun at the ready. "You OK, y'all?"

"More or less," Twilight replied.

"What the hay is that nightmare stuff?" Applejack pointed to the nightkin.

"A nightkin, basically a super mutant who uses Stealth-Boys."

"Whut?! Oh fucking hay's bales, that's one mighty problem."

"Yeah," Cranky said, "they say the things are besieging Route 25 now. Guess it's even more dangerous now."

The girls looked at each other.

Then...

"Hey girls, you hear me?" Sunset's voice came out from their Pip-Boys, along with gun fire. "Someone's attacking the village! Hurry and - oh shit!.."

"Sunset? Sunset, talk to me!" Twilight shouted back.

No response.

"Damn it!" she ran in the northern direction, others following suit.

They arrived too late, unfortunately. Whoever the attacker was, they retreated very fast, and judging by the fact that some of the locals were dead from bullet wounds, it was not nightkins - at least, not nightkins who used melee weapons.

A lone survivor, badly wounded Homina Edelweiss, told them that some group of people mercilessly attacked the town, overpowering the defenders, and before anyone mounted a proper defense, they left, but not without capturing some people.

Twilight's blood ran cold.

Quickly she searched through the area.

As she feared, she could not see Sunset.

Spike sniffed around, trying to find their missing friend. Finally, sniffing at a small trail of blood droplets, he said:

"Yep. That's definitely Sunset's blood."
> Chapter 36: The trek continues
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 36

The trek continues


"Ponyfeathers!" Twilight cussed at hearing Spike's words. "Spike, follow the blood trail! They could not have gotten far!"

Spike barked (as others were present) and ran. Twilight checked her ammunition and went to follow her assistant...

Distant sounds of gunfire erupted on the eastern side of the village.

"The fuck?" Cranky Doodle cocked his shotgun.

"Consarnit!" Applejack swore, looking at the corpses of dead attackers. "Twi, these guys are armed way better than the locals, we can't just leave them!"

"Tartarus damn it!" Twilight swore.

I can't abandon Sunset, but I can't leave the villagers against superior opponents either! Think, Twilight, think, what should you do?

She looked in the direction where Spike ran to. The small dog was already barely visible in the night.

What should I do, what should I do?

"Applejack," the lavender-skinned girl declared, "you and Rarity help defend Donkey Stopper. I'll follow those who took Sunset."

"I am not letting you go without sniper coverage!" Rarity said firmly. "I am with you!"

"Rarity, Applejack needs your help more than I do!"

"No Ah ain't!" the blonde girl replied, her voice distorted by the helmet's vocoder. "Ah can take care of those varmints! Just hurry an' go get Sunset!"

"I..." Twilight hesitated, and then said, "alright, fine, we'll risk it. Rarity, come on!"





Sunset could not get a hold of her surroundings.

A rifle's butt to the face knocked her to the ground, and she managed to bang her head pretty hard against the ground; even with the helmet on it, the aftershock was rather nasty.

To add insult to injury, the assailant saw it fit to add several more hits to the face that did not help the situation.

Then she was hoisted and carried outside.

She vaguely heard some shouting and clatter of the guns, but the words were incomprehensible and the staccato of gunfire dulled into a constant dum-dum-dum. While Sunset could distinguish the weapons by the sounds of them firing to a certain extent, she was not able to do so now.

That annoyed her.

It also annoyed her that she could not get the annoying dancing lights out of her eyes, that her face and head hurt, and that the combat fatigues that her captor carried stunk. She did not want to guess why it stunk.

She understood pretty well that she was taken prisoner, but...

Who are they?

Before she could ruminate, a crack sounded in the distance. Then something splattered on her, and she felt that the person carrying her was falling down...

...and that her head was about to meet the ground.

Throwing her profanity filters out of the window, Sunset snarled in her mind:

Oh, fuck me.

Thud.

Blackness.





Twilight's breath was running wild. In her fear and near-panic, she did not breathe properly while running, which caused her respiratory system to feel like it got burned by something. She was also feeling discomfort near her diaphragm, and she had an urge to spit some mucus that collected in her throat - which she did several times already.

By contrast, Rarity was acting more composed, although the rigidness of ex-fashionista's posture indicated that she felt the stress of the situation as well. Every now and then, Rarity looked down the optical sight to ensure no one would get the jump on them - and to check if Sunset's kidnappers were close enough to be seen.

Spike easily picked Sunset's trail. Whoever picked her up apparently did not bother to stop her bleeding, which played in their favour. Another factor that helped them was that Sunset was not bleeding heavily, judging by the small amount of blood that Spike could smell on the ground.

After a chase that seemed to last for eternity, although it lasted merely for eight minutes...

...crack.

"Stop!" Rarity shouted.

"What's wrong, Rarity?!" Twilight shouted with impatience.

"Drop down and don't move!"

Not fully understanding the reason for Rarity's orders, Twilight still lay down on her stomach and became still. The alabaster-skinned girl activated her Stealth-Boy and disappeared from sight.

"Rarity, what's happening?" Twilight asked again.

"That was a high-caliber rifle shot," Rarity's voice was quiet and very close to her; apparently, she positioned herself close to Twilight. "We must be very careful. If that's an enemy sniper, we're at a heavy disadvantage. I am ill-equipped to deal with high-caliber ammunition, so we need to be very careful. The enemy might get us and we won't even be able to see them."

"How bad are high-caliber rifles? And what caliber are we talking about?"

"We're talking about fifty-cal, or 12.7mm if you prefer, and these rifles are anti-materiel, which means that they were designed to take out light vehicles. Our armour is nigh useless against it, these bullets can easily pierce your Commissariat model, and my scout-sniper infiltrator armour might as well be paper against it."

"Oh ponyfeathers," Twilight cussed.

"And if they have a thermal visor - which is unlikely, but possible - they can easily detect us."

"Double ponyfeathers. Can you see anyone, Rarity?"

"No, much to my frustration. Either they have a Stealth-Boy or they are positioned on a tree somehwere or they are beyond the line of horizon."

"What wouldn't I give for an eyebot right now."

"I agree, darling."

"What should we do now?"

"Crawl forward and don't rustle the grass too much, I'll try and see where the sniper is."

"Easier said than done," Twilight grumbled under her breath, so that Rarity would not hear her.

After several agonizing minutes, Spike told them that he smelled more humans and blood ahead - and Sunset among them. Rarity looked through her optical sight, making out the outlines of bodies on the ground.

"Twilight, I see no humans standing there. Only... bodies," she said quietly.

Twilight's heart sank.

Oh no. Please don't let it be what I fear it is!

Throwing caution out of the window, she stood up and ran forward. Even the prospect of imminent death from a possibly hostile sniper did not deter her as she reached her destination.

The scene in front of her almost made her gag.

Several humans, dressed similarly to those killed near the border of Donkey Stopper, were lying haphazardly, dead from extremely traumatic and deadly wounds. Some had their limbs torn off, some were missing their heads, and some just had very big holes in their bodies.

Sunset was lying under one of these bodies - fortunately, relatively unharmed. The blood droplets that belonged to her were caused by a gash that was about to clot soon, and not by a severed critically important blood vessel. Twilight quickly checked the pulse on Sunset's carotid artery, sensing the flow of blood there. Seeing that her friend's chest was rising and falling, the alicorn-turned-human sighed in relief.

She's alive. Thank Celestia.

"Hey!" a gruff voice shook her out of stupor. Quickly turning around, Twilight saw two unfamiliar men pointing their assault rifles at her...

...crack.

A moment later, the head of one man splintered into a gory mess of blood, skull fragments and torn-apart brain matter, making blood flow upwards out of now-exposed carotid arteries.

"What the..." the second man turned into the direction of the shot...

...crack.

...and he screamed, dropping his weapon, as his whole arm just flew away from his body. He screamed and withered around, clutching his shoulder, until he lost consciousness and bled out. Twilight only stared at the messy scene in front of her in shock.

Then it occured to her that she could easily be targeted, too.

Snapping out of stupor, she fell down, bringing her laser rifle up, checking for threats, not knowing whether the unknown assailant would be next. Rarity was somewhere close, covered by Stealth-Boy's cloaking field, but would she be able to see the unknown sniper?

Seconds turned into minutes while she gazed into the night, looking for the mysterious sniper, until Rarity de-cloaked.

"Useless," she said, "whoever that sniper was, they either retreated or are not interested in killing us. Come on, we need to pick Sunset up and get back to Donkey Stopper."





"Who were these people?" Twilight asked Cranky Doodle as Matilda treated Sunset's minor wounds. They were in the former teacher's house again, winded but mostly unharmed.

As it turned out, Applejack could easily handle herself with some support from the locals against the attackers. Whoever the enemy was, they did not expect a girl with a minigun and in a suit of T-72d power armour. And since they were reckless enough not to try and hide behind cover, Applejack quickly showed them why taking cover was the Rule Number One for engagements.

As of now, the blonde ex-farmer was in the house as well, looking at her friends and her old teacher.

"Gangsters," Cranky said. "They belong to the gang ruled by a crime lord known as Ivy Mortis."

"Ivy Mortis?" Twilight spoke the name. "A strange name. And how many people does this Ivy Mortis have in his gang?"

"Her."

"What?"

"Ivy Mortis is a woman. It's her gang."

"Oh."

"As for your question, probably around four or five hundred. But that's enough for her to keep control of Freemare."

"She's in charge of Freemare?"

"Sort of. Freemare does not have a designated ruler, and several gangs compete for controlling it. Ivy's gang is just the strongest one, and she's willing to kill anyone who defies her. She has a nickname of a Queen of Freeside. Last I heard, she likes it."

"Typical arrogance," Sunset huffed from the bed she was lying in. "Give a person some power and fear to feed on and they'll feel like royalty."

"You'd know about that one, wouldn't you, Shimmer?" Cranky gave the fiery-haired girl an evil smile.

"Why you old..!" Sunset stopped before a curse word slipped past her lips, and instead laughed wryly, "You really won't let me live it down, will you?"

"I'm an old fart that remembers your queen bee days, so no, not gonna forget it."

"...I wasn't going to say "fart", actually."

"You were thinking about it."

"Was not. I resent that accusation."

"Resent it all you want, you're not fooling me, Miss."

"Alright, back to the topic," Twilight interfered. "Why would they attack Donkey Stopper?"

"Well..." Cranky went silent for a second, then said, "it was protection money, most likely. You see, the previous leader of the village made a contract with Ivy Mortis; rather foolishly, in my opinion. He wanted to rule this village as he saw fit, but in order for Ivy not to interfere, they agreed upon a sum to be paid monthly. Thing is, that guy died pretty quickly, as no one liked him that much. However, Ivy wasn't keen on letting that cash prize go, and her goons succintly pointed out that, no matter what, Donkey Stopper owed her protection money. And if we don't pay it, she'll send her goons here to make a ruckus and kidnap someone for ransom."

"Ransom?"

"Yes. She doesn't do slave trading, thank heavens for small mercies. She's not interested in that, and in any event, competing with Trade Sixty-Six is quite hard."

"Oh... and what if there's resistance? Have you ever tried to repel her attacks?"

"Tried being the operative word. We can't effectively resist her goons. Even if we killed a couple, she mostly dismissed that as unfortunate, since she could recruit more if needed. She never sends valuable lieutenants for this task, only disposable goons."

"Is there a way to stop this? I mean, you having to pay protection money?"

"Unless someone else can pay five thousand caps a month for us, I don't think so. One could try and ask her, but if you think she'd want to lose us as an income source, unreliable as we are, you're gravely mistaken."

"I'm not naive enough to think Ivy Mortis would just refuse. I thought we could think of a compensation, or a compromise."

"Talking her into a compromise would be hard... although, as far as I know, she is not unreasonable. If you've got something worthy of her time, she will listen. We thought to offer her to let her people stay at Donkey Stopper in exchange for a reduced price, but none of us are currently fitted to go along the Little Pony Walk to Freemare right now."

"Well, should we find ourselves in Freemare, I think I can pass your offer along," Twilight said.

"We would be grateful. Now, you girls should rest - you have a long way through Maretonia."

The offer was met with no objections.





The next morning, around 11 o'clock, the girls were well-rested and ready to leave, when Twilight mentioned an unknown sniper that took out the goons sent by Ivy Mortis.

"There are rumours about a group of people that are sick and tired of the mess that gangs and slavers do around these parts, with Brotherhood of Steel and Flameswords only messing up further," Matilda replied. "No idea who they are, but they are somewhat similar to Daring Duo in the outlook. They have attacked gangs and Trade Sixty-Six repeatedly, and even a patrol of Brotherhood of Steel, if I'm not mistaken. They have already obliterated several minor raider gangs, but they are far away from being able to reliably hit Ivy's gang or Trade Sixty-Six."

"Do they have an established name?"

"Not yet. I think they aren't that famous here."

"I see. Thank you, Matilda, and you too, Cranky. We greatly enjoyed your hospitality."

"Stay safe out there, kiddos," Cranky said. "Wastelands are dangerous."

"Don't we know it..."

With these words, the four girls and Spike left Donkey Stopper.





Before the apocalypse, Maretonia had strategic importance as one of the centers of weapon and ammunition manufacturing of the UFE. Another city that had similar importance was Stalliongrad, and when Eastern Gambit of TODC saw the city engorged in a heavy and desperate battle against the rapidly advancing TODC forces, Maretonia's significance only increased. In fact, several factories were evacuated from Stalliongrad to this very city.

Although many factories lying within the boundaries of the city were utterly destroyed now, one could still find some surviving stocks of weapons and ammunition, ranging from standard firearms to plasma weaponry - although Brotherhood of Steel had already pillaged every stock of high-technology weapon they could find, so hunting for energy weapons there was a lousy prospect anyway.

Still, valuable loot could still be found here. Which meant that everyone that had the will to risk their life and limb would come here.

And fight against anyone who would compete with them for valuable armaments and ammunition.

That's where Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Spike found themselves.

While they were no strangers to urban combat by now, they still did not like it, for good reasons.

The first battle they had to fight involved super mutants holed up in a makeshift elevated camp, having them at a disadvantage. That disadvantage was quickly nullified, however, when Applejack flinged a high-explosive grenade she had picked earlier, taking out one of the supports. The crudely-built defensive construction fell, and in an ensuing chaos, the ogres were gunned down like radroaches.

By sheer luck, the only damage they suffered were slightly damaged armour plates.

The next battle was less fortunate. Because of a destroyed building that blocked their original path, the girls had to take a detour through one residential area. Unfortunately, said area turned out to be occupied by a raider gang that held onto the area, and a firefight ensued where the girls had had to hole up in one of the buildings.

Hiding behind half-destroyed walls, they exchanged bullets with raiders. Rarity cloaked with her Stealth-Boy and went to the nearly-destroyed upper floor, picking a relatively good position for a sniper. Applejack could not use her minigun effectively due to the fact that the windows were higher than where the minigun's barrels would be, and hefting the six-barreled weapon up would mean exposure to hostile fire. As such, Applejack exchanged the minigun for the LMG she had not had a chance to use yet and unleashed 7.62mm storm on anyone daring to expose themselves. Twilight and Sunset used their assault rifles, the former trying to emulate marksman's tactics, while Sunset was a bit more liberal with her firing.

Sensing that the girls were not as easy prey as it seemed, the raiders changed their tactic by bringing out heavier munitions they have scavenged from somewhere. Twilight screamed in fear as one man unleashed a 25mm grenade from a personal grenade launcher and dropped onto the floor, curling into a fetal position in fear. The grenade exploded on the street, several splinters flying inside but doing no harm. Sunset growled in frustration and gave Twilight a hard kick to the shin, prompting an "Ouch!", a stream of cuss words and a promise to banish Sunset to the moon and snapping the Princess of Friendship back into action.

The second grenade landed closer to them than they wanted to, and as Twilight was firing out of the window to take out one of the raiders, one splinter cut her across the right cheek.

"Ouch!" she shouted, jerking instinctively back into cover.

"Ya hurt bad, sugarcube?" Applejack shouted from her position.

"I'll live!" Unless the splinter is laced with poison, Twilight though ruefully.

In the meantime, a raider appeared with a rocket launcher. Noticing the threat, all girls who were on the first floor unloaded their magazines at him. Most of the bullets missed, but five or six hit him in vitally important areas, and he stumbled in place before falling. However, his trigger finger spasmed, and he unwittingly sent a rocket in the direction of Rarity.

Before it exploded, they heard a yelp of fear, and then they saw Rarity fall down in front of their position. She landed with a crack and howled in pain, clutching her right ankle joint. Applejack jumped outside, firing her LMG one-handed blindly, hoisted Rarity none-too-gently and shoved her through the window before getting back.

Twilight bent down over the fashionista while Sunset kept firing on the enemies and Applejack reloaded her LMG. From one look she understood that Rarity landed badly and dislocated her ankle.

"Ow, ow, ow," the alabaster-skinned girl complained as Twilight carefully prodded near the joint area. "Twilight, careful, please!"

"Rarity, you need to bite down on something," the lavender-skinned girl ignored the complaints.

"What, exactly?"

"Your fingers," Twilight showed her how exactly to do it.

"Oh my, it's so unsanitary," Rarity whispered, but did as ordered.

"Alright, I should be able to snap it into place," Twilight declared. "On the count of three. One..."

She applied pressure in points specified by the book on emergency first-aid in the battlefield she had read when recovering in Brotherhood's bunker.

Finally, that knowledge came in handy, she thought.

Snap! The dislocated limb snapped back into place.

"UNNNNNNNGH!" Rarity moaned in pain as she bit down on her fingers, noting with unpleasantness that she actually drew blood.

"Better fingers than tongue," Sunset remarked from her place.

"Oh that makes me feel so much better, Sunset," the alabaster-skinned girl replied sarcastically.

"Hey, it's quiet," Twilight voiced her surprise at not hearing any more gunfire. "What's the matter? Did they run?"

"Nah, the varmints all kicked the bucket, it seems," Applejack replied, reloading the LMG and hoisting it onto her back again. "Ah couldn't see anyone retreating. Bit off more than they could chew, those raiders."

"Alright," Twilight said, "I need a couple more minutes to treat the joint with medicines from AMFAK-10 and then we can move, provided someone will carry Rarity."

"Ah could, but who'll carry the minigun?" the farm girl asked.

"Drat, did not think about that. Sunset, do you think we both could support Rarity so she doesn't need to bother her leg?"

"Worth a try."

"May I ask why we are in a hurry to leave?" Rarity inquired.

"With the ruckus we have caused, someone may descend upon this place like vultures. We should only pick the loot we need as quickly as we can and leave. I don't fancy another fight if I can avoid it."

"Point taken. Can you help me stand, then?"





The quartet of girls with Spike acting as a forward scout continued their track through the ruins of Maretonia. The looted ammo from the dead raiders partially compensated their ammunition expenses, and not far from the place of their fight, there happened to be a hideout. Sunset made a guess that they had encountered a minor gang that managed to get their hands on a higher-grade weaponry than expected of a raider gang, and everyone concurred. In any event, the hideout was empty, and they helped themselves to ammunition reserves and medicines scattered around. To Twilight's displeasure, it appeared that the raiders actively abused Jet and some other military-grade combat drugs, but Sunset considered it good, since the stack was actually theirs now.

"Better have it and not need it, and in any case, drugs bring caps," she said, pocketing Med-X and Psycho syringes.

Some time later, when advanced regenerative medicines kicked in, Twilight decided it was safe for Rarity to walk on her own. The former fashionista walked with a slight limp, but did not fall behind and did her duty as a sniper with the same efficiency and dedication as usual.

As they moved along the street with ruined homes, they noticed a patrol of four Paladins of Brotherhood of Steel. The Paladins noticed them, too...

...and opened fire of them.

"Shit!" Sunset cussed. "Twilight, can we tell them somehow that we aren't enemies?!"

"Working on it!" Twilight furiously rummaged in her pocket until she found a magneto-optic data disk with Brotherhood codes. Inserting it into her Pip-Boy, she set the integrated radio to Brotherhood frequency and shouted:

"This is Knight Sparkle to Paladins attacking me in Maretonia! Blue on blue action! I repeat, blue on blue!"

The fire stopped, and then everyone heard a response:

"Knight Sparkle, or whoever it is on this frequency, this is Paladin Forthwind. Are you accompanied by three more females, one of them in power armour?"

"That's me alright," Twilight responded.

"Come out of cover and don't make any unexpected actions. That's an order."

"Whelp, I guess we better obey," Twilight said, showing herself. Other girls followed her example, standing nervously as the Paladins came closer.

"Alright, the codes are authentic," Paladin Forthwind said. "Why aren't you in Brotherhood uniform, Knight, who are these people with you and why is one of them in what obviously is Brotherhood's power armour?"

"My mission requires that I do not openly declare my allegiance to the Brotherhood," the lavender-skinned girl replied, "thus I don't wear any gear with Brotherhood sigil on it. The people with me are my allies that I had fought with before joining the Brotherhood, they're helping me to maintain my ruse of being a leader of a small independent group of Wasteland wanderers. And one of them is in power armour due to the deal made between the Elder of the Northern Chapter of the Brotherhood and the leader of a settlement known as Appletown in order to mitigate the conflict between Brotherhood and Appletowners."

"A deal?" the Paladin said, disbelieving. "What sort of a deal?"

Aren't you a curious sort? "The suit was left to her by a Brotherhood Paladin who was unjustly exiled in absentia and stabbed in the back by his own people but survived. If Appletowners were to help Brotherhood in acquiring spare suits of power armour, then the Elder would relinquish the claim on the suit my ally is wearing. As you can see, both sides honoured their part of the deal."

"Hmmm. It irks me that I have to believe that story without being able to check myself, but we don't have time. What mission are you on, Knight Sparkle?"

"To gather data on possible location of Flameswords' main base. We were heading in the direction of Ponyville."

"I see. We apologize for firing on you. We're heading back for our temporary outpost not far from Straightlane. You'd better come with us."

"Why not to Straightlane?"

"The Hooffields' gangs have attacked the place in overwhelming numbers. Reinforcements are unavailable, so the best we can do is to avoid their attention."

"Hooffields?" Twilight asked, surprised. "The surname sounds familiar..."

"Hooffields and McColts are two of the most powerful gangs here, with only Ivy Mortis superior to them. They are enemies of the Brotherhood, but, unfortunately, are numerous enough to be a threat to us, so we need to come carefully."

"Hooffields are still there?"

"As far as we can tell, yes, and still in overwhelming numbers. Even with eight of us we would be outmatched."

"Drat," Twilight said. Her sense of justice began warring with strategic thinking.

I can't leave those people without help!

The enemy has overwhelming numbers, remember?

So did Adagio.

Adagio was arrogant, and you had the advantage of being on the defensive. This time, however, you will be the attacker, and you can't assume that this gang will be as incompetent as White Knives were, or did you forget how well-armed that two-bit raider gang was? You are hopelessly outmatched in this case. You should not pick battles you cannot win.

But to let the people suffer at the hands of the gangs?

You cannot save everyone.

The last thought pierced Twilight's heart like a lance. Gritting her teeth in overwhelming frustration, she turned to Paladin Forthwind:

"OK then. Please lead the way, sir."





The temporary outpost, as it turned out, was located near an old police station, which had fortifications like concrete blocks and barbed wire in front of it. As Palain Forthwind explained, the police station was a constant target of attacks when riot suppression operations were in full swing in Maretonia, and said suppression was finished only shortly before the Day of Burning, so no one was able to remove the fortifications.

The police station itself held no more value even in terms of defense: its architectural style was old and badly suited for bunkering down, the building suffered some damage from the shockwave, and looters almost tore it down, so it made more sense to settle among the fortifications built with intent to cut the rioters from the station.

The outpost itself had nothing but some ammunition, food and water supplies and two automated sentry turrets installed in two chokepoints, their .50 caliber good enough to deter anyone who thought that looting the outpost was a good idea. Paladin Forthwind sent a special signal in order to make turrets recognize Sunset, Rarity and Applejack as "non-hostile" - otherwise they would have been torn to shreds.

As for Forthwind himself, he and his subordinates proved to be rather amicable once their suspicions of Twilight and her company were alleviated, and Forthwind even took some time to scratch Spike's belly (to the latter's discomfort and Twilight's and Sunset's amusement). The image of a hulking soldier in power armour scratching a dog's belly was somewhat comical, but nobody laughed at the Paladin.

Apparently, like Flash, he has a good rapport with his soldiers, Twilight concluded.

When they arrived, they decided to stay put for two hours to have a moment to eat and rest. Everyone took out their ration packs and proceeded to prepare their MREs for digestion - Twilight stubbornly refused to use the verb "cook" and "eat" in regards to MRE - and dig into the flavourless nutrients. As they did, a conversation started. Forthwind asked Twilight about her adventures and how she found herself within the Brotherhood. When the alicorn-turned-human finished with her story, all four Paladins were left impressed (as far as the girls could tell, not seeing the soldiers' faces), and congratulated the girls on doing "a damn good job for a civvie", which was taken as a compliment.

In return, Forthwind told a little about himself. He, like Twilight, found himself in the Brotherhood only after the apocalypse, and neither he nor his men were even Mechanized Infantry to begin with. Once they served for a year in the Brotherhood and successfully completed several important missions as Knights, they were promoted to Paladins and taught to wear T-72d power armour.

Twilight asked several questions about the Brotherhood in general, Elder Sierra, Star Paladin Stahlmesser, the relations of Western Brotherhood Chapter with Elder Aegis, the threat of Flameswords and the Future-Tec complex that still could not be accessed.

Forthwind, as it turned out, was pretty loyal to Brotherhood's ideals, although he was not as quick to dismiss the common Wastelanders (or tribals, as some Brotherhood members called the outsiders derisively) as a lost cause.

"Raiders and slavers are a damn blight, and if the whole Brotherhood were to mobilize to wipe them out, I would be among the first to join in," he said. "But thinking that all outsiders are stupid is kinda too far. Sure, they might not know how to disassemble and reassemble a laser rifle or how to operate a warbot, but that does not make them any less smart. But I don't think we should just let anyone have a piece of surviving pre-apocalyptic tech without knowing what it does and how it works. There are still samples of dangerous technology or experiments lying around that we cannot let fall into hands of anyone."

He also spoke highly of Elder Sierra and Stahlmesser, and even Elder Aegis. When Twilight mentioned how Stahlmesser dismissed Aegis as a man with a weakness for grand gestures, Forthwind said:

"Well, Aegis is kind of a black sheep in the Brotherhood, and he is unwilling to tolerate his position, so yeah, he does kinda have that vibe. But I think that, for all his faults, he is a decent man, if very slow to trust."

"Why is he a black sheep in the Brotherhood?" Twilight asked, munching on a piece of something that was supposed to be meat in an MRE.

"While he has been loyal to UFE in general, he did not like the government or its decisions, and did not hesitate to criticize them openly and loudly. Problem is, the longer the war went, the more displeased he was, and some of his words could be interpreted as unpatriotic. Also, he was one of the few officers who supported the idea of making a peace treaty with TODC along with devising a combined effort to battle the energy crisis even after Manehatten Massacre, and thus ran afoul of Commissariat. Since many in the Brotherhood are ex-military, such past does not bring much popularity, especially in Western Chapter - almost every man of ours is a war veteran - and he has to compensate for that. So if he appears unapproachable initially, it's probably since he has to play ball with Brotherhood's modus operandi, or High Elder Gear will have his behind."

"I see," Twilight said. "He mentioned once that he and his soldiers were also attacked repeatedly, due to the fact that the military had participated in riot quelling and earned some hate because of that."

"That is a factor that would play to his initial stand-offish attitude as well. But since you earned his respect, he should be more approachable to you, right?"

"Kinda, yeah."

As for the Flameswords, Forthwind's position was rather hostile.

"They have betrayed their oaths to the Brotherhood, killed our comrades, including some of the men I served with, and have been officially exiled. I don't care why they did it, if we meet, they die," he said curtly.

Apparently, the schism runs deep, and Forthwind is driven by revenge, Twilight concluded. He'd better not know that I want to hear Flameswords' story as well.

When it came to the Future-Tec complex, he said:

"If we managed to get there, the boon would be enormous. That complex must still have surviving samples of advanced technology, since the complex was not targeted by nuclear bombs. More than that, if there are blueprints, there is a chance that some tech can even be rebuilt, if it does not require any complex assembly tech or something. And the complex itself makes for a very good base Just imagine how great it would be if we were to capture it!"

"I'm imagining," Twilight asked.

"Alas, Thunderfire turrets won't allow for it. The security system in that complex is crazy as Tartarus," Forthwind sighed. "And warbots will be a problem as well. The only more or less reliable way to enter that complex was to find someone who did work in that facility - the facial recognition systems should let them in - and have them let others inside, but we haven't had any luck finding such a person."

"Yeah, that would be a problem."

Before they knew it, the impromptu lunch was finished and everyone was ready to go. Forthwind and his Paladins had to return to the main base, so they bid goodbye to the girls and went on their way as Twilight, Sunset, Rarity, Applejack and Spike went further along to Marehoof. Twilight made sure to deactivate her Brotherhood codes, in order not to gain any attention from any Flameswords that could ahve been in there.

Failing her mission was not an option that bode well for her own plans of grasping a tiniest chance of returning to Equestria, if there was one in first place.

Fortunately, the girls avoided any unwanted attention, and by the evening, after two scuffles with wild radscorpions and mole rats, they arrived to the gates of Marehoof.

Now, it was the time to rest and to decide which path they would take from there.

Route 25 or Little Pony's Walk?
> Chapter 37: Marehoof
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 37

Marehoof


The girls approached the entrance to the city, in front of which stood several guards in various types of armour, from armoured Vault jumpsuits to riot police gear.

"Stop right there," one of them raised his hand, its palm facing the group, "guns away or you'll be in for a world of hurt."

Other guards made menacing movements, indicating that they were not joking at all.

"Alright," Twilight said hesiattingly, putting her weapon back. Everyone except Applejack followed suit.

"Sorry, fella, not like Ah can just put it behind me," she explained as the guards gave her a pointed look.

"Release the magazine and put it away, then," the guard who made them stop said, his tone brokering no objections. Applejack pulled the lever, releasing the heavy box, and hung it onto her armour.

"Alright, ladies," the guard continued, "which outfit are you with? I thought Brotherhood of Steel at first, but the lass in the iron box doesn't look like the leader, and you two," he pointed at Twilight and Sunset, "are dressed in Commissariat-grade combat armour, which is rare enough, and only a few factions here have them. And the lass with an MSR-90 behind her back looks like a scout-sniper from the war. So, again, which outfit are you with?"

"Our own," Sunset answered candidly.

"Really?" The guard snorted. "You wanna say you looted all the stuff you have from somewhere? Ain't buying that."

"How come?" Twilight said.

"Too easy of a lie to tell."

"How about we had some help from friends of ours and we inherited their stuff when they died?"

"Inherited a suit of T-72d power armour?" the guard laughed. "That Brotherhood friend of yours must've been an idiot."

"No," Applejack said, "he was exiled. Unfairly, Ah might add."

"Hmm? And Brotherhood's not on your tail now?"

"Let's say we resolved the conflict," Twilight interrupted. "Anyway, I reiterate - we're our own outfit."

"Let's pretend I believe ya. Entrance fee is fifty caps each."

The girls rummaged around in their pockets, fishing out the "fee" set by the guard. The man recounted the caps, nodded and said:

"OK, you can come in. Since I've never seen you, I'll give some general advice. Don't go into any back alleys unarmed, there are a lot of two-bit muggers. There are areas controlled by Ivy Mortis' goons, by McColts and by no one in general."

"How do we tell which area belongs to which gang?" Applejack inquired.

"You can distinguish them by gang marks - Ivy Mortis has a black rose as her symbol, while McColts have a stallion standing on hind legs. McColts do not let anyone except their own into their area, so stay away from them. Ivy's guys - they are also known as Cleaners, for whatever reason - generally let you come in, but they also charge a fee and have their own rules on bearing arms. They can tell you more. In other areas, just do whatever you like, as long as you're ready to face the consequences. That's all."

"Thanks," Sunset said.

"No need to, lass. Welcome to Marehoof."





Marehoof was a settlement that had no real governing body of its own, existing in a state of semi-stable anarchy. The people were not really willing to butt into each other's businesses as long as no one butted into theirs, which allowed the town to maintain some semblance of order.

The locals made a living on selling whatever the merchants wanted or needed while being on the way deeper into Western Canterlot Wastelands or going in the opposite direction of the Northern Canterlot Wastelands. Since Marehoof was conveniently located on the trade route between northern and western regions of the wastes, it allowed the city to flourish - by the post-apocalyptic standards, at least.

In reality, that meant that in Marehoof, there were still intact buidings (none having more than five floors), electricity and even running water in "hotels" that proudly declared themselves "luxurious". That meant that the beds were relatively clean and bugs-free, and that the prices would be overblown.

Despite the risk of contracting some disease from the bed bugs, though, the demand for such "luxury" has never subsided, which allowed the people running the places to keep the overinflated prices at their current level.

The girls and Spike managed to find a "hotel" in a three-storey building that was relatively undamaged by bullets and had a more or less reasonable price. They paid for the room and brought their luggage there. Rarity decided to have a small rest, and Applejack left her power armour suit to conserve energy, thus remaining badly protected - due to the form of T-72d power armour, the only extra armour she could wear while inside was a light armour vest - and decided not to stick out, so Twilight and Sunset went down to the bar. The bartender, a rather portly but kind man, gave them two bottles of Nuka-Cider and told them about the history of Marehoof.

As it turned out, Marehoof was not always called like that. Before the apocalypse, it was a closed town known as Hoofstep-237, unaccessible to anyone but those working at RobCo, Vault-Tec and Future-Tec facilities (or the offices in Maretonia) and their families, as well as some military and NSC personnel. When the Day of Burning arrived, the town inhabitants were evacuated in an unknown direction, since the radiation cloud was on its way to Hoofstep-237. Fortunately, the town suffered only a glancing hit, and when radiation levels around the area dropped faster than expected and it became relatively safe to walk on the surface again, people inhabited the place again. Someone had found a part of a road sign that had the barely visible letters "HOOF" on it, and since the town was located near the remains of Maretonia, the place became known as "Marehoof".

The people were not interested in setting up any kind of government, so everyone basically did what they wanted. This normally would be a recipe for disaster, but those who arrived here were mostly traders or their paid security, and they were more interested in gaining extra caps than fighting, so while the city saw its share of fighting, it was on a smaller scale.

Over time, though, the situation changed, and the town became infested with gangs. While most were small fries - mostly junkies and petty criminals looking for a quick cap - and bothered almost none of the traders (the guards shot first and asked questions never), the arrival of McColts and Ivy Mortis' Cleaners changed everything. Two gangs carved a portion of the town each for their control, and for a short time, a bloody fight occurred between Cleaners and McColts, but both sides switched to ceasefire rather quickly. As such, one third of Marehoof belonged to Cleaners, one quarter to McColts, and others were independent - sort of, since Cleaners took care to get most of the shops selling important items like weapons, ammo, armour and so on under their proverbial hoof, thus forcing others to pay them off if they wanted access to those shops. As for McColts, they set up the area they controlled as their own base, forcing the inhabitants to pay "protection fees" and mowing down those that were unwilling or unable to pay. Moreover, they did not allow outsiders, making their territory a forbidden zone.

"So basically," Twilight asked after a gulp of Nuka-Cider, "we cannot walk into McColts' territory, we can walk into Cleaners' territory if we pay a fee and we can freely walk in other areas?"

"Sort of," the bartender said. "You can walk in McColts' territory if you're sneaky enough, of course, but if they see you, they'll shoot at you and swarm the area like radroaches, so you're quite likely to get shot. If you're captured, they will try to interrogate you, and they're very... creative with their torture. It's way easier if you just don't stick your nose in there. Same with Cleaners if you're too greedy or can't pay them off. And other areas are full of two-bit gangs, so you'd better not find yourself in side alleys there alone and without weapons and armour."

"Noted. Thanks for the advice," Sunset replied.

"You're welcome. We don't wanna lose potential customers. That means loss of caps."

Ah, so he cares more about caps than customers, the unicorn-turned-human thought wryly.

"There's one other thing I am curious about," Twilight spoke up. "We want to get to Freemare, but we have little idea which path to take. We know of Route 25 and of the path locally known as Little Pony's Walk, but no matter how much we asked, we can't get info that would help us choose one of the two."

"Probably because both paths are quite fucked up, especially for small warbands like yours," the bartender replied. "Honestly, I think that your group would better find a caravan to Freemare and stick to it, although the merchants would most likely use you as a walking target - that is, go far enough away from you and if they see your corpses, there is a trap. You can try hiring yourselves out as guards, but few, if any, work with independents - it's either Crimson Hands or some Cleaners they stick to."

"Crimson Hands are here?"

"Yes, in fact, it is said their HQ is here in Western Wastelands somewhere. Why, what's the problem?"

"We have bad blood between us, that's all I'm going to say."

"No prob. I don't wanna know whom you'd piss off that they would want to hire Crimson Hands to get rid of you. Although, I don't think you should have any trouble with them here - if they're caravan escorts, that's all they are and they won't try to kill you even if there's a contract on you and you happen to be near the same caravan as they are."

"I'll take your word for it. I've had enough of those mercs to last me a lifetime. And you mentioned Cleaners?"

"Yes, some of them also do caravan escort jobs. Ivy Mortis doesn't care as long as they give up a part of caps they get as a "side job fee" for this, but sometimes she even assigns her people as escorts if some caravan has an object of interest for her."

"And there are no other merc organizations escorting caravans from here, only Crimson Hands and Cleaners, right?"

"Yep, at least here. There might be some small gigs in other settlements, but aside from those two, only independents work here, but they don't fare too well - they're too often underarmed or underexperienced, so no one wants to hire them even if they're dirt cheap. Although maybe your warband will interest someone - you got a girl who wears flipping power armour and tots a minigun, a scout-sniper with a damn good and expensive rifle, and you yourselves are quite well-armed and carry yourselves as if you smelt some gunpowder, so you may try."

"Thanks. Back to topic - basically, both Route 25 and Little Pony Walk are equally bad?"

"Yeah, you can say that. Route 25 is besieged by raiders, Trade Sixty-Six slavers, and even nightkin now have joined the fray, and Little Pony Walk has cazadores and other mutants all over it plus the occasional Deathclaw. Also, Hooffields and McColts love battling it out over there, Brotherhood of Steel will gladly strip you of all advanced tech and you won't be able to do anything about it and again - nightkin."

"Right. Thanks again. And thanks for the Nuka-Cider," Twilight slid some extra caps. "A tip."

"Much obliged," the bartender smiled, showing his teeth that yellowed from excessive smoking, something which neither Equestrians found pleasant-looking. "Enjoy your stay!"





As they returned to their room, Twilight and Sunset relayed all information they gleaned from the hotel's bartender to Applejack and Rarity. The reaction of their friends was rather somber.

"So basically, we're in trouble wherever we go," Applejack concluded. "Ah'm startin' to think we need to just toss a coin and decide."

"While I wouldn't want to put my trust in a random outcome, I feel that the option does begin to sound attractive," Rarity sighed. "All the information we have basically says we have two bad choices with neither of them being clearly worse than the other one, so we can't even pick a lesser evil."

"I dunno, anywhere without Deathclaws is a lesser evil, I think," Sunset said. "Raiders, slavers or nightkin we can handle, if they're not in big numbers, but even one Deathclaw is enough to kill us all."

"Don't we know their nests' locations?" Applejack said. "If we don't go there, we shouldn't meet them."

"That's true, but if luck decides to flip us off..."

"Alright, everyone, stop," Twilight commanded. "We already talked enough about this without results, let's not argue about it. This day's tiring enough without this squabble."

"Fair enough," Sunset conceded. "I'll support whatever decision you make, Twilight. But if you decide to use Little Pony's Walk and we do die from the Deathclaws, I'm blaming you."

"Ha bucking ha," Twilight gave a sarcastic fake laugh. "Glad to know I have friends like you."

"Happy to serve the Princess of Friendship!" Sunset snarked in return, with an impish smile.

"Keep sassing me and I'll send you to the moon one day."





When the next day arrived, the girls decided to see if the local shops had anything of particular value for them, as well as to drop off the cumbersome loot they did not need anymore. However, an issue arose when they were thinking about the areas where they should go.

After the bartender's warning, the girls weren't willing to brave the McColts territory, but the question of whether the Cleaners would let them enter was significant enough to pause all of them. Sunset and Rarity advocated that going into Cleaners' territory should be fine as long as they paid the fee that Ivy Mortis' goons charged, while Twilight, Applejack and Spike were hesitant, remembering that their group had massacred the group of Cleaners that had attacked Donkey Stopper when they were there, and expecting a hostile response.

"How would they know of our participation in Donkey Stopper's defense if we eliminated all of the attackers?" Rarity said.

"Are you sure the ones we killed were all that's left?" Twilight countered. "They could have observers in places where we could not see them. Also, Ivy Mortis could have a stealthed eyebot for all we know."

"Preposterous," Sunset balked. "That kind of tech is not something any gangster, even one of Mortis' caliber, could just obtain. Do you remember that stealthed eyebots were mostly used by the army's recon units or elements of Commissariat's surveillance network, with heavy anti-tampering measures?"

"I am not as arrogant as Brotherhood of Steel is in assuming that everyone but them is dumb savages. What if Mortis was a Commissar or has a rogue one in her employ?"

"...fair point," Sunset conceded, "but the training and psychological conditioning any NSC operative would undergo - and they did use psychological conditioning very heavily, as far as I can guess - would make them heavily opposed to the idea of working with a criminal. Remember how Lyra wanted to kill Bon Bon? Only when presented with evidence that Bon Bon could have been framed did she agree to abandon the idea of killing her - and even then, only on the condition that she learns some concrete proof that Bon Bon is indeed innocent."

"Ah dunno," Aplpejack said, "Ah wouldn't trust that conditioning to hold for seven years when there's no head honcho left from NSC or the government to give orders."

"Plus, there's that unknown sniper..." Twilight started, but was interrupted by Sunset:

"What sniper?"

Rarity explained the meaning of Twilight's remark to the fiery-haired girl.

"So someone was walking around an anti-materiel rifle..." Sunset scratched her chin. "I agree that such a person is dangerous, but if they didn't shoot at you, doesn't that mean that they aren't in league with Cleaners?"

"That's the most logical conclusion, I agree," Twilight said, "but the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. Maybe that person just punished others for incompetence or just was ordered to kill any surviving Cleaners? Cranky told me that Ivy Mortis only sends disposable goons for... well, "chastisement" of villages that missed their payment."

"That might be true as well," Rarity conceded. "I wasn't even able to locate them, which means that they are a deadly opponent. I understand that you do not want to wager their allegiance being not to Ivy Mortis unless you can verify that. But there's a lot of factions here, and not all of them are necessarily friendly to her."

The argument went on, until the girls decided that Twilight and Rarity (plus Spike) would stick to the areas not occupied by Cleaners, while Sunset and Applejack would try their luck with Mortis' gang. Everyone agreed to keep their radio communicators inside Pip-Boys ready, just in case.

As it turned out, however, Cleaners were not stupid, and made sure to establish themselves in territories where Marehoof's best shops were located. As such, when Twilight and Rarity traversed the area not occupied by major gangs, they found out that anything they could buy from the shops, be it armour, weapons or even food, was at best on par with their own stuff, and worse in most cases. Moreover, the shopkeepers were unwilling to pay a big number of caps, since they did not have that many finances to begin with. The girls had to use their bartering skills to the max, but in the end they still left the shops with a lesser number of caps they could have got. Rarity was visibly displeased by this development.

They also tried to browse the shops to buy something for themselves, but the assortment of items was not appealing to them at all. In one shop, when the girls tried to purchase some ammunition, the owner said plainly that he could offer them "only stock surplus ammo". Rarity gave him such a dirty look upon hearing that proposition that he almost scampered to hide behind the counter, and dragged Twilight and Spike out of the shop.

"Stock surplus ammo is something you use if you want your gun to die quick, as the Wastelanders say," she explained to the bewildered Equestrian. "Their quality is subpar at best, and the only situation where you should use them if there's literally nothing else to use, hand-crafted ammo included. And if you have a spare gun. Otherwise, just ignore them."

As it also turned out, none of the shops sold or were willing to buy drugs and medicines. One of the shopkeepers whispered quietly that Cleaners wiped out all competition for drug stores with extreme prejudice, with one such case having occurred shortly before Twilight and others destroyed the White Knives, and the only place safe from them in that regard was McColt territory, which did not trade much anyway.

"They are OK with you having some for personal use, but one whisper of me selling as much as RegenStim and I'm a goner," he said, and refused to speak anymore on the subject.

From that tidbit, Twilight surmised that the Cleaners had practically monopolised the drug trade in the area, and asked Rarity if this was the case.

"I have not been in Western Wastelands very often, darling," the alabaster-skinned ex-fashionista replied, "but drug trade, be it normal medicines or addictive substances, is a very profitable business, and any crime ring worth their salt would try and profit from it. Since drugs are always in high demand, there is enough incentive to try and control it. And Ivy Mortis does not strike me as the one to miss a chance to profit."

"Would the Cleaners be monopolists in drug trade?"

"I doubt it, but I am certain that they would exterminate their competition if they were to catch wind of them."

"Drug dealing used to have a big presence in the criminal underworld, right?"

"Correct, darling, and it still is - it's just that now there is no police or Commissariat to stop the drug traders."

"Blast."

Once they reunited with Sunset and Applejack, they learned some things about Cleaners-controlled sectors as well.

"I almost shot one of the damn Cleaners' traders," Sunset fumed in sheer outrage. "Asshole tried to buy Med-X from us for five caps per syringe. Five bucking caps! This isn't even robbery, this is just taking sweets from kids and kicking them. Average cost of Med-X is twenty caps per syringe! And none of the drug stores in the area sell Med-X below forty!"

"Damn varmints," Applejack muttered angrily as well, "Ah also saw them sellin' some addictive shit that could earn a lotta years in prison before the apocalypse. An' there was this junkie pal who kept begging for a dose of somethin'."

"What about weapons, ammunition or armour?" Rarity asked.

"Bought some ammo, but the prices for decent weapons and armour are a rip-off as well," Sunset replied. "Even ammo is a little more expensive there, and if we talk about something specific like armour-piercing or HEI/AP ammo, the price is even higher. I think the guys aren't that willing to sell such ammunition but it apparently brings at least some profit. What about you?"

"Well, to put it simply, nothing decent, and the loot we sold did not bring as many caps as we wanted. Plus, Cleaners apparently control drug trade here - we couldn't buy or sell medicines," Twilight said. "The merchants are quite scared to sell even RegenStim syringes."

"Out-fucking-standing," the fiery-haired girl swore dirtily. "Meaning we'll have to go into their area again. You haven't tried venturing into McColts territory, have you?"

"With them being a lot more numerous and hostile? Do I look like a Power Pony to you?" the equine-turned-human Princess gave her compatriot an "are-you-stupid" glance.

"Means no. Got it."

"Did anyone from Cleaners give you trouble?" Rarity asked.

"Surprisingly, no; although," Sunset lowered her voice significantly, "since we must've killed all the attackers who raided Donkey Stopper, they might not be aware."

"Unless that unknown sniper tells them," Rarity spoke just as quietly.

"Don't you think that if they were with Cleaners, then you, me and Twilight would be dead?"

"I'd rather not bet on it. For all I know, that could have been a punishment for failure. Mr. Doodle did say that the attacking goons were of the more disposable kind, have you forgotten this already?"

"Let's not discuss this here," Applejack said, "ya never know who might listen in."

"Agreed," Twilight concurred, "now let's have a rest and then we'll decide whether it is worth the risk to get into Cleaners-controlled territory."

After having a lunch (fried bits of brahmin meat on a stick and some Nuka-Cider), the girls discussed on who would go to the Cleaners' area to sell the rest of their excessive loot. Everyone agreed that going alone was not an option; in the end, it was decided that Twilight and Sunset would go there with the goods, while Rarity would remain cloaked and keep watch over them, and Applejack would remain at the hotel with power armour on and minigun loaded, ready to act at the first sign of trouble. The girls also agreed to keep the transmitters inside their Pip-Boys active, just in case.

The guards near the entrance to the Cleaners-controlled streets disinterestedly recounted the caps paid as fee for entrance and let them through, not bothering to pay them any more attention than necessary. The two Equestrians went through the checkpoint, passing by a symbol of a black rose drawn near it.

Compared to the free-for-all area, the streets were relatively cleaner and buildings were less pettered by bullets from fights between two-bit gangs than elsewhere. Here and there an occasional Cleaner (or a group of them) would pass, and sometimes civilian walked around as well.

The shops were mostly located inside blocks of flats, undistinguishable from the rest but for the crudely painted words saying "DRUG STORE" or "WEAPONS AND ARMOUR HERE". Twilight noted with amusement that UFE propaganda posters featuring Fluttershy were present here as well, glued to the walls.

A pang of loss ran through her as she remembered the pink-haired girl, and wondered whether the human counterpart of her kind friend actually survived. When she asked Sunset about it, her compatriot's face soured.

"I have little to no idea, Twilight, honest," she said. "Fluttershy was not doing well before the bombs hit. She tried to keep the animal shelter she volunteered at running as well as she could, but ultimately, she failed, and the building was taken by some businessman who, in turn, was executed by Commissariat for espionage shortly after that, about two weeks or so."

"Ouch," Twilight winced, "that's a stroke of bad luck if I ever saw one. What happened to the animals?" 

"The animals that had not been given away by that time were all euthanized except for puppies of guard breeds, which were taken by NSC for training. This upset Fluttershy to no end; she and I had a conversation where she actually flew off the handle and cursed Commissariat incessantly, and I couldn't get her to calm down. I was worried that Commissars would come after me."

"Why? You were a law-abiding citizen, no?"

"Yes I was, and no turning into a she-demon occurred," Sunset laughed a little, "but by that time NSC had already tapped into the whole cell phone network, justifying it by keeping watch over population in order to find TODC agents - as if said agents would be stupid enough to use cell phone network to pass secret data - and if they didn't like some phone talk, it was usually both people being detained."

"Did they actually come for you?"

"Surprisingly, no, and they didn't come for Flutters either - that time."

"Wait. What do you mean by that time? Did Fluttershy run afoul of NSC later?"

"She did when NSC and riot police broke up one food riot that turned violent. She ran across a person who was badly beaten and asked for help, and took them with her, giving first aid at her home and stuff. Then, before she knew it, Commissariat stormtroopers broke into her house and roughed them both up into the local HQ, although Fluttershy was released quickly." 

"And the other person?"

"No idea about that, but considering that NSC did not like any riots, well... Fluttershy did not know and I knew better than to ask over a line that was monitored by the government. Then I saw a newspaper one time which told about an anti-NSC demonstration that was also broken up without mercy - one of the photos depicted her hauled away by NSC riot control squad into an APC. She called me several times after that once she was released, we chatted on nothing in particular - she wasn't willing to talk about what happened to her while in Commissariat custody, and I didn't insist -  and then she went silent for two weeks. I wanted to risk it and call her myself when the Day of Burning arrived."

"And after that, there was no contact," Twilight concluded sadly.

"No."

"Did she have a place in the Vault?"

"I'm not sure, but I assume that she didn't have one. Given how hard it was to buy a place, I think she would have told us."

"And what was her last known location to you?"

"She continued to live in Canterlot, but during one talk, she mentioned she wanted to move to Appleloosa. But I don't know if she did so or not. Think we should swing by Appleloosa if we have the chance to do so?"

"It's possible, but I don't know if we'll find anything - the Brotherhood of Steel has established its own forward operations base in Appleloosa, according to what I read from their maps, and I'm not sure they allow civilians."

"Drat."

The rest of the trip towards shops of interest was made in silence, as neither Equestrian wanted to further disturb the sore wound of their friend's loss. The girls traded in everything they did not deem necessary for sale (while arguing with shopkeepers to death over every cap) and replenished their medicine and ammo supply a little (since prices were quite overblown). After doing so, they bought some snacks in one of the food shops and promptly left the Cleaners' sector without trouble, with none of Ivy Mortis' goons paying them undue attention... at least, it seemed so for them.





Night fell across Marehoof as most of its habitants fell asleep.

The streets, moderately busy and full of people during the day, emptied themselves. A new order established itself in the town, as it always did ever since gangs began fighting for their measly areas of influence, even before the Cleaners and McColts arrived and drastically changed the situation in their favour.

Gangsters of all factions spilled out, sneaking around back alleys or trutting on main streets without fear, looking for anyone stupid or arrogant enough to show their faces on the street in the middle of the night. Inevitably, firefights erupted as competing gangs fought each other somewhere or as targets of robbery attempted to resist the robbers. Some gangsters attempted to attack buildings occupied by merchants or hotel owners, but quickly met stiff resistance and retreated.

The music of gunfire rang in the air as usual, and blood splattered on the cracked asphalt as the unfortunate souls perished.

In the Cleaners' sector, additional gangsters spilled out onto the streets and took positions at the bottlenecks that served as points of entry into their area, while some people began patrols in groups of five, six or seven people. Anyone found in the area that did not already inhabit the sector was shot swiftly and without mercy, and any resistance was crushed - none of the two-bit gangsters had the arms or equipment to compete with the Cleaners.

The McColts performed the same routine, taking potshots at anyone who dared to show their face in their field of vision, regardless of the allegiance of the unfortunate target. Several bodies already littered the streets as the unfortunate souls paid the price for betting their lives on the off chance they would not be seen.

Anyone who was not a gangster and did not have a good enough reason to stick their neck out to the proverbial guillotine of Marehoof at night remained inside or took measures to hide themselves and remained vigilant. But even those who came out, dared not stick their noses into Cleaner or McColt territory...

...except one.

Unseen by anyone, unnoticed by untrained eyes, the infiltrator sneaked into the McColts' territory and looked around, plotting the next steps. After some pondering, they moved further, careful not to disturb the silence.

Passing several back alleys and hiding from the guards, the infiltrator hoisted themselves up and entered one of houses through a broken window where no glass remained and only a wooden frame remained ajar. Once inside, they blinked several times to let their eyes adapt to the darkness, and carefully moved further.

The building was one of the few high buildings in Marehoof, having five floors (including the ground floor) and it was pretty spacious. Intended as a block of flats, it was quickly turned by the McColts into something of a mix of a barrack and a living area. The gangsters took the ground and the first floor for themselves, leaving the rest for those residents who paid "protection fees" to them now. This arrangement was simple but efficient in terms of blocking the indebted - the gangsters just would not let them out.

At night, however, security was rather lax - since going out at night in the McColts' area was ground for an immediate bullet, they did not really watch if anyone was walking down the stairs - or up the stairs, where the infiltrator went.

Going up to the highest floor, the infiltrator noted with displeasure that pieces of rubble were spread all over the floor, and stepped carefully so as to avoid making noise. Stopping in front of the door, the person took out a set of lockpicks and quietly set to work.

Several minutes later, the lock clicked and the door opened. The infiltrator snorted in derision and stepped inside.

After a quick search of the apartment, they noticed a female figure sleeping in a bed made of intertwined wires forming a safety net of sorts, which had a ragged mattress and a stained sheet placed on it. The figure was covered by a dirtied white sheet.

The infiltrator silently approached the sleeping woman, looking at her face. No reaction was visible.

Quickly, the infiltrator whipped out a balisong knife and opened it. The leftt hand clamped onto the unsuspecting female's mouth.

The surprised victim woke up mere moments before the sharp blade sliced open her throat. She jerked around for several seconds, and lay still.

The infiltrator wiped the blade clean on the sheets, then threw something onto the dead body and left as silently as they arrived.





The area where the girls stayed in the hotel was relatively safe thanks to the presence of groups of well-armed guards of various businesses in the area, and there was an unspoken rule that if some punks tried to attack one of the shops or hotels in the area, the guards of all other businesses on the street would pitch in. As such, gangsters usually left the place alone when night fell upon Marehoof and they spilled out to hunt.

While this meant that the hotel owner could inflate his price on the basis of peace and quiet, it also meant that, in general, those who stayed there did enjoy the peace and quiet. As such, Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity and Spike rested throughout the night without a hitch.

After breakfast in the morning, they decided to not delay their departure from Marehoof any longer, and decided to follow the bartender's advce to hitch a ride with a caravan going to Freemare. After the breakfast, they checked out from the hotel and went to the western outskirts, where the caravans could be found. Rarity noted with displeasure that the smell of brahmin excrements permeated the air around them, and so did Spike.

The area was full of merchants with their bodyguards and brahmin standing nearby, the goods tightly packed on top of the two-headed animals. There were also small warbands intermixed here and there, offering their escort services, but it did not look like they were popular. The girls looked around, looking for someone who looked like somehow who would let them join their caravan to Freemare.

They also noticed a caravan guarded by people in what was unmistakably armour adorned with a bloody handprint symbol. Recognizing the Crimson Hands immediately, the girls took care to put as much distance between themselves and the mercs as feasible.

Forty or so minutes later, they managed to find a merchant who travelled in the company of some very mean-looking people. Said merchant agreed to let them tag along, but warned that he was not hiring anymore.

"No problem, pardner," Applejack replied, "we jus' need ta get ta Freemare, that's all."

"Fine," the merchant said, "no problem with me and my boys then. We move in thirty, stack up if you want, but I won't wait for stragglers."

The girls stayed near, since they did not feel the need for resupply; when the designated time arrived, they moved out with the caravan.

The merchant picked Route 25 for his travel this time; as such, the road they were on mostly consisted of tarmac which was good enough to walk on, albeit cracked in many places, and chunks were missing here and there. Everyone was on the lookout, as Route 25 was a popular target for bandits and slavers alike, and no one wanted to become their prey, so their weapons were ready and safeties were off.

They passed through the ruins of a small settlement, which (as the merchant said) was destroyed by a TODC bombing raid during the Eastern Gambit, and was abandoned because it was too small (only a few stone buidings) and there was nothing of value - the locals could not even remember what that place was or for whom it was built, so it was ultimately pointless to settle there.

As soon as they passed it, however, Rarity exclaimed:

"Contacts, straight ahead!"

"Who is it?" the merchant asked.

"I see... a military model truck, and there is another one behind it. The truck closest to us is... adorned with a picture of... three horseshoes, two below and one above, like a triangle?"

"Three horseshoes, like a triangle..?" the merchant thought for a moment, and then cursed, "Fucking dogshit, Hooffields!"

"What in Tartarus are Hoofflields doing here?" Sunset asked.

"Don't know and don't care, we must get back to Marehoof now!"

"Always a goldurn spanner in th' works!" Applejack's voice was muffled by her helmet.

Despite them running at their best speed, though, the trucks caught up to them quickly. The first truck drove into one of the brahmin and two of merchant's bodyguards who failed to get out of its way in time, and plowed further, skidding to a halt.

People in various types of armour dropped out and immediately opened fire on the people that have not taken cover yet, prompting return fire. The Hooffields peppered their cover without mercy, and the second truck also skidded to a halt, before dislodging another group of bandits...

...followed by a robotic figure that seemed somehow familiar to Twilight.

Didn't I see one like this when plunder vines were all around Ponyville?

Then two long barrels turned to one of the bodyguards, a loud BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM-BADAM reverberated, and a scream of a man torn apart by high-caliber ammunition followed.

"Holy fucking shit!" the merchant shouted, clearly in panic. "Everybody for themselves! Run for your life!"

As he tried to follow his own advice, though, the linked heavy machine guns turned to him and fired. The man screamed as the bullets tore his arm away, and he died from pain and shock before he hit the ground.

"Twilight, come on, quick!" the equine Princess heard Sunset scream. "Hide before it notices you!"

Easier said than done! Twilight thought. We're under crossfire, or did you not notice?

Indeed, whoever tried to hide from the unknown robot would be exposed to other Hooffields. However, Rarity threw a flashbang grenade, which landed straight in front of the enemy's formation, leaving the enemy blind for a few critical seconds. That was enough for the girls to rain a storm of lead on one of the flanks and reposition themselves in the ruins that hid them from both the robot with a double-barreled machine gun and the Hooffields while the rest of the bodyguards were busy fighting.

"No time to rest!" Rarity said. "Run! Run and don't look back! The farther we are from here, the better!"

"What was that thing?!" Sunset shouted.

"A warbot! CRAGADILE model, to be exact!" Twilight replied. "I read about them in the Brotherhood's library! It's an anti-infantry unit armed with a double-barreled .50 machine gun!"

"Where the fuck did those Hoofflield varmints find one?!" Applejack shouted. "Or reprogram one?!"

"Don't know, don't care, just GO!" Rarity shouted.





Fortunately, they did not go too far from Marehoof, so when they finally arrived back, they were able to outpace the Hooffields that attacked them. Even with that, they barely had time to warn everyone before Hooffields descended upon the entrance to Marehoof that led to Route 25.

This time, however, the Hooffields brought reinforcements - more people in two trucks, and an additional CRAGADILE warbot. The people, having only just received the girls' warning, did not have enough time to organize themselves, and a panic erupted.

One of the Hooffields fired a grenade launcher in the crowd in the general direction of the girls; Twilight, remembering all too well the near-death experience she had with grenade launchers, ran to the side as soon as she saw the barrel aimed at her (or how she perceived it, at least). Unfortunately, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity ran in another direction, and when the grenade exploded, panicked people began scampering away from the square, making it impossible for them to reconnect.

"Twilight!" the equine Princess heard Sunset shout over the screams of the crowd and gunfire.

"Girls!" she screamed fearfully, trying to fight against the human wave. For all her struggles, however, it was pointless, and she was pushed away by the crowd into one of the alleys. Shortly before it happened, however, she saw more Hooffields coming in the area.

Seizing a chance, she managed to duck to one of the side alleys, and stood in one place, catching her breath. Then she gripped her laser rifle tighter and moved in a direction where she last saw her friends being swept by the panicked crowd.

Or rather, tried to, as Hooffields swarmed the place she was in, and she ducked behind a large garbage crate, which was immediately peppered by bullets. Taking the risk, Twilight aimed at the enemies and fired several times, noting with satisfaction that one of the enemies fell, his shoddy armour unable to withstand the laser beams.

Realizing that their target had teeth, two other Hooffields tried to hide, but Twilight got another one as he hid behind cardboard boxes.

Seriously? she thought. Cardboard does not defend against bullets or lasers!

The last enemy peppered her own cover with bullets until his ammo ran out. Seizing the chance, Twilight fired, and her shot was lucky - the beam incinerated the Hooffield's head. Noting that more enemies were likely to come to the area where she was, Twilight ran further into the back alleys, and turned on her Pip-Boy radio.

"Girls?" she tried. "Sunset? Applejack? Rarity?"

"Rarity here, darling," the fashionista's voice was a little garbled by static; the Pip-Boys' radio transmitters, even mil-spec ones, were not very strong and there were buildings around, which further compounded the communication issues. "We broke from the crowd, but the Hooffileds got us on the run, one of CRAGADILE warbots keeps the main street in his sights and we have to walk the back alleys. We can't cross the street to get to you, so I'm afraid you have to go further without us for a while, darling."

"Curses!" Twilight was unable to resist some cussing. "Can we actually reunite?"

"Yes, the street will take a turn to the left, the CRAGADILE won't be able to see us then and we'll get you if we both move in a direction away from that scrap pile. Just hurry, darling, I don't think the street's defenders will be able to hold off the Hooffields for long."

"No shit," Applejack spoke up, using her own Pip-Boy, "th' darn warbot just obliterated half a dozen of McColts' varmints with mil-spec armour, and there's a ten or so Hooffileds following behind it."

"You heard Applejack. Hurry, Twilight!"

"Will do," Twilight said. "Easier said than done," she muttered, breaking into a run.

The attackers appeared to break through the outer layer of defense fairly quickly, as far as she could judge, because very soon, some Hooffields began swarming the side and back alleys as well, shooting at anything that moved. The equine Princess could not even stop to rest; one time she tried so, she quickly came under fire from pursuing Hooffields, and avoided getting bullet holes only thanks to the fact that those particular gangsters were poorly armed (with submachine guns) and Commissariat armour (which, unfortunately, received damage). She did not waste any time fighting the pursuers, knowing that she would be swarmed quickly; she simply tossed a frag grenade, not caring if she hit anyone, and turned around the (thankfully close) corner, diving deeper into back alleys.

Unfortunately, she ran into a McColt gangster as she did so, and the latter did not hesitate to open fire on her. Twilight ducked into cover, but one of the assault rifle bullets managed to penetrate the already damaged armour plate on her left forearm, and she cussed as blood flowed. Doing her best to ignore the pain, she fired back, hitting her enemy a couple of times. The McColt, noting the melted polyalloy of his own armour vest, ducked into cover himself, while Twilight kept her laser rifle trained on him. When the bandit stuck out, she fired again, and landed a hit on his neck straight into the carotid artery. The red beam sheared through the unprotected skin, cauterizing the severed artery, and the man fell. Twilight ran, but did not forget to put two more beams into his head.

The sound of heavy machine gun fire (presumably from the CRAGADILE warbot) did not become quieter as she ran. While it seemed that the habitants of Marehoof established some sort of defense, the Hooffields were here in force, and the main force that could resist them were Cleaners and McColts - both of which were at odds with each other.

Speaking of Cleaners... Twilight stopped for a moment and took care of the thorny rose sign adorning the walls.

...didn't I just cross into Cleaner territory?

That posed complications for her, she knew it. Considering the situation, the Cleaners were unlikely to be friendly to her. Noting that she had little to no charge left in her microfusion cell, Twilight pulled the release lever and inserted a new one, while looking behind her in case more Hooffields arrived.

"Greetings, Miss Sparkle," a silky voice sounded from her right.

She quickly turned around, aiming her laser rifle at the newest arrival...

...and the clicks of cocked guns sounded everywhere around her.

As it turned out, she was surrounded by no less than a dozen Cleaners who cleverly hid behind various crates and garbage piles. All of them had their weapons - assault rifles, marksman carbines and even an occasional laser rifle - trained on her, while the guy who spoke had an LMG secured on a belt, his hands resting on the top. Twilight recognized the LMG as the same model Applejack used before getting her minigun.

"Please lower your weapon," he said. "Such aggression does not befit you. And it makes my people jumpy."

"Armed people surrounding me and calling me by my name is no less jumpy-inducing," Twilight said, slightly lowering her rifle, "and you have me at a disadvantage, Mister..?"

"Right, apologies. I am Vendet Ross, the captain of the local detachment of Cleaners. Ivy Mortis has expressed a desire to chat with you, Miss Sparkle. We are here to ensure your safe passage."

Translation, I am to be delivered to their boss, and not necessarily undamaged.

"Your friends are also objects of interest for Ivy Mortis, so naturally they are included in our safe passage offer we extend to you."

"Well that's going to be problematic," Twilight said. "As I understand, all of us need to see your boss?"

"Yes, precisely."

"Well, problem is, we got separated thanks to the panic and I have no idea where they can be."

"It's unfortunate, but you have a modified PipBoy with a radio transmitter. Yes, we know," Vendet smirked at Twilight's surprised face, "we have a radio wave scanner here, and your comms were not encrypted, so we know where you are supposed to meet."

"So... I am supposed to call my friends and lure them into a trap?" Twilight glared defiantly at him. "Not happening."

"How gauche, Miss Sparkle. We are not barbarians. We simply need to ensure that you - all of you - see Ivy Mortis."

"Why does your boss want to see me so much?"

"I was not made privy to the details behind her wish. But she insisted that you speak with her. And while I understand your... reticence, shall we say, I'm afraid my well-being and well-being of my comrades do depend on us succeeding at this task."

Emotional blackmail? Really? Either he is really stupid or he is just amusing himself, Twilight thought. She was not buying his speech, that was for certain.

"And how do you plan to get everyone to Freemare? In case you have not noticed, Hooffields are here en masse," the equine Princess made a hand-waving gesture.

"True. However, they have not attempted to attack the exit that leads to Little Pony's Walk yet. And we have two scout transports, both of which are well-fueled and have fully stocked 7.62mm machine guns, and each can hold up to six persons. As long as we get to scouting vehicles, we can travel relatively safely. However, they are located in our sector. What we need of you is to change your rendezvous point to gate number seven - that's where our vehicles are prepped."

"And if I refuse?"

"I am afraid that you might invoke Ivy Mortis' ire, and I really would not recommend doing so. Her control easily expands over the whole of the Western Wastelands, aside from some areas held by the Brotherhood of Steel, Hooffields, McColts, Trade Sixty-Six and Flameswords," Vendet Ross shifted a little, and continued, "Please, Miss Sparkle. My boss may have a... controversial reputation, but she does not kill anyone the first time she meets someone. You need to talk, and then you'll be left to your devices."

It doesn't look like I can evade this situation, Twilight thought. Most likely she has questions about Donkey Stopper, or she just wants to get rid of the Daring Duo. On the other hand, I might actually be able to confront her over the village, and negotiate.

"Alright, I'll meet your boss," she replied.

"Then please contact your friends, and do not try anything funny," Vendet motioned. Twilight activated her radio in Pip-Boy and asked:

"Girls? Anyone out there?"

"AJ here, sugarcube," Applejack's voice rang out. "What's up?"

"I've run into a group of people who agreed to give us a transport. They're moving to gate number seven and want to hurry before the Hooffields cut off the access to Little Pony's Walk."

"Gate seven? Isn't that in Cleaner territory?"

"I got that covered, they shouldn't shoot at you. Paid for everyone."

"Ya sure 'bout that, sugarcube?"

"Positive," Twilight had a flash of inspiration, and said, "Remember Bon Bon and the wild ride near Appletown? Same here."

"OK Twi, Ah got ya. Movin' ta gate seven."





Applejack ensured that her radio was turned off, and said;

"Is it just me, or does Twi sound like she's in trouble?"

"Yes, I think she ran into some problem," Sunset replied, and cussed, "Fuck! We didn't even think of code phrases! I'm a Celestia-bucking idiot."

"Why'd she mention Bon Bon, Ah wonder..."

"I think it means she is taken prisoner by someone, like Bon Bon was. Rarity, what about that Nightmare Moon-be-damned CRAGADILE?"

"Someone has finally brought rocket launchers and..." Rarity paused as a loud BOOM followed, and cheered, "YES! Finally that clanker is down!"

"OK Rarity, the plan is as follows - cloak and run ahead as fast as you can, locate Twilight. Me and Applejack will try to catch up!"

"Understood, darling!" Rarity turned on her Pip-Boy and disappeared from sight.





Twilight, Vendet Ross and other Cleaners traversed carefully through the lesser-known areas in Cleaner territory. At Vendet's insistence, Twilight holstered her laser rifle (not that she was in position to decline), which made her uncomfortable, since everyone else was armed and could pump her full of lead at a moment's notice.

This did not make her more confident in her survival chances. With Hooffields attacking en masse and all other factions fighting among themselves as well as against the newest attackers, Marehoof had become a veritable center of chaos.

Discord would be amused, the alicorn-turned-human thought. Or not. Since this chaos does not involve soap-covered roads, chocolate milk, flying pigs or houses, he might find it dull.

She noted with a note of bemusement that she actually missed Discord. For all the ever-annoying and illogical antics of the draconnequs, he was a presence that she eventually got used to. Not to mention that after the mishap with Tirek, he apparently really was unwilling to turn to his old ways anymore - although his habits still tested her nerves at times.

The situation was quickly going to Tartarus. The McColts and small gangs apparently thought it was a good idea to try and carve some area from Cleaners now that the Hooffields tried to do the same, and flooded the area. Vendet cursed as he reloaded his machine gun after the latest firefight (Twilight was not allowed to participate and was unceremoniously shoved to cover each time that happened), pulling the bolt:

"Thrice-fucked cockbits! Now that Hooffields showed up, this shit went to Tartarus faster than a plane! We already lost three people!"

Privately, Twilight hoped that all of the Cleaners would get killed before they got to the gate number seven, but the Cleaners proved to be competent enough to sustain repeated attacks while receiving minimal damage. But the enemy was unrelenting, and as Vendet said, three of the Cleaners were already killed in action - despite them being careful enough not to expose themselves to the deadly fire of the CRAGADILE warbot and heavily-armed Hooffields. Judging by the sounds of battle, those that tried to defend the main street from it were still losing, badly.

"Alright people, move it, we still have a long way to go and we better move quick before that warbot makes it to our scouting vehicles!" the captain of Cleaners commanded. The rest obeyed, and Twilight reluctantly went along with them.

When they finally arrived at the designated point, however, they saw a force of two dozen McColts attacking the Cleaners who indeed had two scouting vehicles ready to go. In both of them gunners manned 7.62mm machine guns, and the rest were using the cars as cover. Corpses of both attackers and defenders were strewn across the area.

"Men, flank the McColts!" Vendet ordered, and put a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Miss Sparkle, you stay put," he said, pushing her in a small passageway between two houses with a dead end, standing in front of her with his weapon primed. Twilight listened to the sounds of battle going on. Judging by the increased number of screams of pain from the side of McColts (as she assumed), the attack from the flank had a degree of success. However, this left her in a precarious position of being trapped by a person who had a duty to deliver her to the mightiest crime lord of the Western Canterlot Wastelands... who might not let her friends leave the place alive.

Her ruminations were interrupted by a whisper behind her.

"Pssssst... duck."

Twilight did as told to...

"Ooooof!"

Her outburst of discomfort, as something heavy stepped on her back, did not remain unnoticed by Vendet Ross. He turned back - only to jerk to the side as if kicked by something.

Then, Rarity's form shimmered out of thin air, and she delivered a series of brutal strikes that rendered the Cleaners' captain unconscious.

"How did you get in there past him?" Twilight asked her fashionista friend.

"I didn't. I hid there, trying to find a way to get you away from Cleaners' clutches, when luck smiled to me and the captain shoved you in here," Rarity smiled as she spoke into her Pip-Boy: "Sunset, Applejack, we got Twilight."

"Gotcha, Rarity!" Applejack replied.

"Rarity," Twilight said, "we shouldn't talk much on the radio, the Cleaners have someone on radio monitoring."

"Radio monitoring?.. Oh, signal intelligence, got it, thanks, darling."

"There ya are, Twi!" Applejack exclaimed, her voice muffled by a helmet. Sunset followed her on her heels.

"Let's get out before the Cleaners realize we've left," she said.

"You don't need to tell me twice," Twilight unholstered her laser rifle. "But how will we get past them?"

"Hmmmm," Rarity thought for a moment, "I think we can sneak past them while they are busy. But we need to get closer to the gates first. Follow me, darlings..."





One of the houses was located very close to the gates, and this helped the girls when they got close to the wall. With the Cleaners and McColts fully occupied with each other, no one noticed them sneaking out. Twilight let Spike walk on the grass so that he could smell any danger from ahead or behind them, and everyone sprinted as fast from the town as they could.

"So..." Sunset said, "it's Little Pony's Walk after all. So Twilight, do you have a path ready?"

"Yes," Twilight took out and unfolded a map, where she drew the line between circles, some of them marked with exclamation marks. "The circles represent the nests of cazadores, and those with exclamation marks are nests of Deathclaws, and the edge of the circle is a zone where a Deathclaw can be met from outside their nests, so we don't go there if we can. There are also crosses inside some circles, see? These are other dangerous areas, most of them are fatally dangerous, so we avoid them too. I would like to get to the Brotherhood outpost, they should recognize my codes. We can rest, gather info, resupply and get moving further in the direction of Ponyville. Originally I wanted to get to Freemare, but after that scuffle... well, I am not sure if Ivy Mortis will let us live after me declining her invitation in such a way."

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it," Sunset said. "We'll see her on our terms, whether she likes it or not. After what her goons did to Donkey Stopper, I'm not sure why we should not just give her the White Knives treatment."

"You mean, utterly eliminate her and her gang?"

"Yes."

"There are four of us, eight if you count Flash and his team, and I’m not sure if the Brotherhood will appreciate us dragging them into a war with Mortis, Sunset. I don't like what she did too, but we need to act carefully, based on what resources we have."

"Much as it pisses me off, I think we do need to be careful," Rarity said. "When Hooffields attacked us, we had to go on the run, and the Cleaners are the strongest gang in the Western Wastelands."

"Alright, I get you," Sunset said. "Just... I don't like the idea of letting her have her way."

"Neither do I, Sunset," Twilight said. "If I knew I could get away with it, we would be storming her stronghold in Freemare soon, but we'll have to wait."

"OK, I'll drop the subject for now," sighed the fiery-haired girl.

They walked for several hours until they got into the ruins of a small settlement, which was not marked on any map. As Sunset explained, it was a so-called "ghost settlement" - a place that was abandoned for whatever reason and not occupied by anyone, and that did not have any name.

"No one bothers to give them names, since they don't have anything remarkable," she said. "Just ruins and ruins."

Suddenly, Spike barked.

"What is it, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"I smelled something, like... fireworks?"

"Fireworks? Why in the..." Sunset paused, and gasped, "I think these might be explosives. Weapons ready, girls, I don't want to run into an ambush."

A sound of revving engines interrupted them. A scouting transport, similar to the one the Cleaners had but adorned by rust-yellow colours and the Hooffields' insignia nearly jumped out at them. From another side, a truck screeched to a halt, and a CRAGADILE warbot jumped out of it. The girls immediately dashed for the closest cover, raining suppressive fire on the run.

"Oh for Celestia's fucking fat flank's sake!" Sunset bellowed. "Just how many warbots do they have?"

"Methinks they just finished with Marehoof and decided to pursue the raid's survivors!" Applejack shouted.

Suddenly, Cleaner escort does not sound like a bad idea, Twilight thought, but did not say that out loud. Instead she said:

"OK, I think it's time for drastic actions! Rarity, do you have HEI/AP ammo?"

"I do, darling, what's your thought?" Rarity shouted back over sounds of gunfire.

"Do you think you can take out the warbot or that vehicle if you hit its weak spot?"

"For a CRAGADILE this would not work, I think," Rarity said, "one needs an anti-materiel rifle to punch through their armour. I might hit the car, though. I recognized it, it's the FSV-230 "Grasshopper" scouting transport, and I know where its fuel tank is, so if I could ignite it..."

"Isn't it run on nuclear fuel?"

"This particular one isn't, judging by the sound of its engines. It still has a good old petrol engine. If I could just get it in my sights... I need to shoot it from the side, preferably while perpendicular to it."

"That's gonna be hard..."

Suddenly, the loud fire of heavy machine gun made them all duck as small bits of bricks were blasted away by .50 caliber bullets.

"Oh fuck me with Nightmare Moon's horn, this shit beats through walls too?" Sunset cursed, changing position.

"It's fifty-cal, what did ya want?" Applejack replied. "Rarity, can't ya hit his sensors or something?"

"I'm afraid others don't let me do it, darling!"

Rarity was right; a CRAGADILE warbot was bad enough on its own, but the "Grasshopper" and other soldiers of Hooffields made the notion a little difficult.

The girls (Twilight had scooped Spike and put him in her rucksack) tried to resist as well as they could, but that was difficult. The warbot easily punched through many walls, often causing them to crawl (even Applejack's power armour did not fare well against .50 bullets) from cover to cover, and if they tried to fire back, a literal bulletstorm rained at them from the other Hooffields. Some of them tried to outflank the girls, but were unsuccessful - the girls were ready for this and rained as much fire as they could, killing the flanking Hooffields.

But the girls still could not get either the CRAGADILE or the "Grasshopper" vehicle. Rarity could not get into position to ignite the fuel tank with her HEI/AP bullets or snipe the machine gunners; in fact, she was not sure if her .308 ammo was enough to punch through the vehicle's armour, despite the fact that the "Grasshopper" was not even designed for confrontations and its armour was really bad if compared to other scouting vehicles. And the CRAGADILE warbot had a good sensor package that could even see through Rarity's Stealth-Boy, so she could not line up a shot against its sensors too.

The situation turned bad for them, and they knew it. The firepower their enemy had was overwhelming, and they could not adequately resist it.

Suddenly, their Pip-Boys caught a radio signal on the local Civilian Distress Service frequency, where a very mangled voice spoke:

"Hold on there. We can get rid of the Hooffields, just hold on for a couple more minutes."

"Did you hear that?" Twilght asked.

"Let's do what the guy says - I'm frankly sick and tired of being caught in this trap like a mouse!" Sunset tried to hit someone with her laser rifle, but was immediately forced back into cover.

"Don't stick out, just see that they don't outflank us!" Twilight said.

The girls waited for the two minutes to pass; they dragged on like eternity, until...

"Fire at them, everyone at once!" the same voice said. Not in a state of mind to question it, all girls rained down fire on the enemies.

One second later, a rocket flew from the right, impacting with the CRAGADILE warbot and setting it ablaze; the machine exploded and flipped in mid-air, falling apart. The Hooffields immediately turned in the direction where the rocket came from and fired there at once - exposing themselves to the girls.

No one hesitated; the combined fire brought down both machine gunners and one of the Hooffileds before another rocket flew from the same direction and hit the "Grasshopper" straight into the engine, exploding the car and killing all the Hooffields closest to it. Those who were not that close to the scouting vehicle, tumbled forward, but before they managed to do something, three sniper rifle shots fired, killing them all.

"Alright," the same voice spoke in their Pip-Boys, "we're coming out to greet you, stay in place and don't shoot."

The girls watched as three young men walked out of one of the building and went in their direction, carefully watching in all directions. One of them had an AP-79 assault rifle, another had an assault rifle of an unfamiliar design, and the third had a squad automatic weapon. The guy with an unfamiliar-looking assault rifle came close to them and shouted, "Alright everyone, come out, we want to meet you!"

"Wait, I know that voice!" Rarity whispered, and then shouted, "Trenderhoof? Is that you?"

"My, my, Miss Rarity, what a pleasure! Did not expect to see you! Do come out!"

"Trenderhoof? From Crystal Prep?" Sunset shouted.

"Sunset Shimmer, well that's a surprise, eh, Neon, Crimson?"

"Sure is, but let's move on!" the guy with the SAW, who had spiky red hair and an earring - Crimson Napalm - grumbled.

"We're coming out!" Sunset said, and everyone came face to face with two former Crystal Preppers and one former Canterlot Wondercolt.

"Why, Applejack and Twilight, what a surprise indeed!" Trenderhoof exclaimed. "Come, the others will want to meet you!"

"Others?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, some of the Crystal Preppers and Wondercolts are here as well."

"Sure would be nice to see familiar faces," Sunset said.

The group entered the building and got upstairs on the firstfloor. One man with his back to them was covering the area with some bolt-action sniper rifle. A rocket launcher was standing nearby; Sunset gasped when she saw it.

"Is it a Panzerwraith rocket launcher? Those are rare as Tartarus!" she exclaimed.

"Well," the man with the sniper rifle turned and smiled, "we are well off when it comes to weapons."

"Kurt Marshall!" Sunset exclaimed. "Is that you?"

"Yep, me; still alive and kicking."

"So you have heavy rocket launchers, and people who can use them?"

"But of course!" a new and very familiar voice rang from behind them, making all of them tense.

Is it..? they all thought as they turned. In the room walked a girl with light-gray and bluish-gray hair and pale light-blue skin, arrogantly cocking another Panzerwraith rocket launcher on her shoulder.

"The Hooffields may have vehicles and CRAGADILE warbots, but they can never match the shocking and explosively amazing abilities of the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!"





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

FSV-230 "Grasshopper" scouting vehicle

Designed for use by UFE's scout-snipers, the FSV-230, nicknamed "Grasshopper", is a fast vehicle that can hold up to six people and has two 7.62mm machine guns for self-defense. Out of all surviving post-apocalyptic transports, it is one of the most common ones and can be seen in use by powerful factions like Cleaners, Hooffields, McColts and Crimson Hands as well as some independent warbands. One significant disadvantage of this vehicle is the fact that many of them still use old petroleum which is even more rare today; models with nuclear engines were not produced in large numbers. Old petrol models are vulnerable to anti-materiel ammunition; one HEI/AP bullet to the fuel tank is capable of setting it ablaze very easily. On the other hand, few in the Wastelands actually have anti-materiel rifles.





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

CRAGADILE warbot

The first advanced warbot designed for the UFE military as soon as microfusion mini-reactors made the creation of such units feasible. An experiment in automaton warfare, it does not boast any weapon other than double-barreled .50 machine guns, but even that weapon, coupled with rather sturdy armour that held against most types of small arms ammunition, paved the way for further development of other military warbots, like MANTICORE. Although this warbot cannot withstand even one rocket, its sensors can easily distinguish priority targets and allow its machine guns to turn them to paste; even Stealth-Boys are of no use.

CRAGADILE warbots served as anti-infantry automatons and are still used in this capacity by anyone who can reprogram them. Unlike other models, CRAGADILE does not boast any sophisticated anti-hacking defenses, which means that a competent hacker could easily reprogram the warbot's IFF systems. These warbots have been seen deployed by the Brotherhood of Steel and Cleaners, although recent sightings indicate that Hooffileds have also captured some CRAGADILE units somewhere.

Stats:

Health: 400
Damage Threshold: 17

Weapons:
Double-barreled .50 machine gun
> Chapter 38: Nightmare Vindicators
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 38

Nightmare Vindicators


Three palms met foreheads and one armoured gauntlet met a helmet as Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity facepalmed at Trixie's antics.

"Oh man," Sunset moaned, "it's confirmed - only a grave will change you, Trixie."

"Why would the Great and Powerful Trixie need to change? Or need a grave, for that matter?" Trixie scoffed.

"Never mind," the fiery-haired girl muttered. "So... don't tell me that you are in command of the warband?"

"Well technically we don't have a commander," Kurt Marshall interrupted, "or at least in this squad we don't."

"In this squad?"

"A group of former students of Canterlot High and Crystal Prep has managed to band together into something of a faction," Trixie explained, now without her usual pompousness. "We do have a leader that dictates our general direction, but our command structure is very loose. Kurt Marshall, having had experience as a police officer and a soldier, commands our squad as of now."

"I see."

"Trixie," Kurt spoke up again, "we need to fall back to our secondary position, I don't want to engage any more Hooffields if we can avoid it. They've come in unexpectedly high numbers and I have no wish to imagine why they'd field their "Grasshoppers" and the few CRAGADILE warbots that they have."

"The Hooffields attacked Marehoof," Twilight said, "and the whole city was in chaos when we escaped, with all gangs fighting each other. We thought they wouldn't care to pursue anyone, but I guess we either were just that unlucky that they searched for escapees or we were tracked somehow."

"Unlikely," Trixie shook her head, "our sources say that the Hooffields have no such tech, and they have only recently managed to hack several CRAGADILE warbots somehow. Then again, the CRAGADILE model did not have hard software defenses in first place. Anyway, let's do as Kurt says, and you'll fill us in on the run."

"Deal."





The group moved quickly, away from the ghost settlement and into a small forest nearby, one of the rare ones in the mostly arid Western Wastelands. Kurt Marshall and Rarity shared sniper overwatch duties, Applejack and Crimson Napalm kept their heavy weapons ready, Twilight, Sunset, Trenderhoof and Neon Lights kept their sectors covered with their laser and assault rifles, while Trixie holstered her Panzerwraith rocket launcher and held a 10mm SMG in both hands.

Fortunately, they did not meet any trouble except a nest of Cazadores that had not been present before (according to Trixie), but with the overwhelming firepower on their side, the nest proved to be no trouble, and they briefly held up to cut the poison sacs.

Forty minutes after leaving the ghost settlement, Kurt Marshall ushered the whole group in a small shed, which turned out to hide a cleverly masked entrance to a small civilian bunker. Said bunker did not serve its primary purpose of hiding civilians - as it was not used at all - but it proved to be a good hiding point, and the group of former CHS and CPA students that found themselves in the Western Wastelands repurposed it as one of their hideouts.

When the group settled inside and Trixie lit the lamps, Kurt Marshall addressed the girls:

"OK, tell us what happened in Marehoof, as concisely as possible."

Twilight filled everyone in on her misadventures during the Hooffields' attack, and Sunset, Applejack and Rarity told of their own, and then everyone spoke about their desperate fight against the Hooffields' reinforcements until their rescue.

"What did you do to piss Ivy Mortis off?" Trixie asked once the girls were finished. "Even the Great and Powerful Trixie has not managed to grab her personal attention... yet," she added with her trademark aplomb.

"I am not sure..." Twilight replied. "We had a small rest at Donkey Stopper, but the village was attacked by Cleaners, and we helped the locals in the defense. But the attackers were killed..."

"In the course of battle, one of them managed to knock me out," Sunset added. "Twilight and Rarity gave pursuit, but when they arrived, my kidnappers were killed by a long-distance fire from an anti-materiel rifle."

At the last words, Kurt and his other companions looked at each other.

"Was that you, Kurt?" Rarity asked, giving a glance at his sniper rifle.

"No," Kurt shook his head, "while my Interdiction sniper rifle may be powerful, since it's .408, it is still not enough to class as anti-materiel, or to drop someone from very big distances. And I wasn't even near Donkey Stopper within the timeframe you describe."

"Then who? You looked as if you had an idea who that sniper was."

"I do, but this is something I would not talk about much until I learn where your loyalties lie."

"Our loyalties?" Applejack spoke slowly, her tone indicating that she did not like the insinuation.

"Unfortunately, we have discovered that a number of former students of CHS or CPA have gone... well, bad. Some of them are just plain uninterested in anything but their welfare, and some have even turned so rotten that they joined raiders or slavers. I'm pretty sure Blueblood joined Trade Sixty-Six at some moment, Jet Set and Upper Crust are in cahoots with drug traders, and Ringo seems to have joined the Cleaners at some point. I'm sorry, but I'm not fully sure we can unconditionally trust you, since we have... enemies who want us dead."

"We are independent," Applejack replied, "but Twi is with the Brotherhood of Steel..."

As soon as the blonde girl said the word "Brotherhood", Kurt and his companions tensed.

"What's wrong? Have y'all had a bad run-in with the Brotherhood?"

"More than once," Trixie replied sourly. "The Brotherhood of Steel has repeatedly tried to deprive us of hi-tech technology like laser rifles or reconnaissance eyebots, and tries to seize our ammunition caches. And they have also destroyed the local broadcast station of the Canterlot Wastelands News, so we are practically left without one of our primary information sources - CWN's coverage here has dropped significantly."

"I have heard that the Brotherhood  had destroyed CWN's transmitter, but that must have happened before I joined them," Twilight spoke up. "What can you tell me about it?"

"Well," Trenderhoof took over, "The CWN has been critical of the Brotherhood, because the latter was not typically friendly to wastelanders. As such, if a Brotherhood patrol is spotted by the CWN courier, they report the area as "dangerous", and I think that the Brotherhood wasn't amused by this. Plus, CWN had managed to take control over some of the Commissariat's transmitting stations, which gives them an advantage - NSC's stations cover a broad area and are less vulnerable to jammers, considering that NSC did not want to lose their communication capabilities in case something bad happened. Since the northern chapter of the Brotherhood was not willing to storm CWN's HQ and the local Knights were unable to wrestle the control of the station, Elder Sierra ordered his troops to wreck it."

"Is there no way to restore CWN's broadcasts?"

"It is useless unless the Brotherhood of Steel is forced to lay off. Plus, to do so, one needs to reprogram one of the surviving NSC's broadcast stations, and that's gonna be problematic without Commissar credentials. The Great and Powerful Trixie may be great and powerful, but she is no Commissar," Trixie pouted.

"I see. That's... unfortunate," Twilight scratched her chin. "Maybe I'll be able to do something about it."

"To do so is to go against the orders of Elder Sierra," Kurt shook his head, "unless you outrank him, it will be interpreted as a disobedience of orders and end up with you exiled or even executed - rumours say Elder Sierra is hard regarding the Brotherhood's regulations. HIgh Elder Gear is rumoured not to approve of CWN as well, since they, in his opinion, stole the tech that should have belonged to the Brotherhood."

"Doesn't the Brotherhood have their own hackers?" Sunset asked. "Given how advanced they are, they should have been easily able to get their own station?"

"They do, and it baffles us too," Crimson Napalm replied. "The only answer we have so far is that they apparently can't do it; this shouldn't be surprising, considering that in the overall food chain, the Commissariat placed itself higher. Their spooks monitored the whole army, navy and air force, so if NSC built a system of radio comms for themselves, they wouldn't want potential traitors within the military to use it."

"Well, I meant that maybe I could convince Elder Sierra to drop his stance," Twilight spoke up.

"If you can do it, more power to you," Trixie said in a bored tone, "but the Great and Powerful Trixie would not bet on you pulling this off."

"Oh ye of little faith," the alicorn-turned-human muttered sarcastically. "Anyway, is me being a part of the Brotherhood of Steel going to be a problem? I seek no hostilities with all of you."

"Well, that may earn you weird looks if this were to come out in the open, because the Brotherhood isn't exactly friendly, but we aren't going to blab around; besides, I would have never pegged you for a Brotherhood Knight  if Applejack hadn't said that."

"Mah bad, Twi, sorry 'bout that," Applejack muttered, ashamed. "Ah know we aren't supposed ta speak of this, but Ah didn't think we needed ta hide this from the people we know..."

"Apology accepted, Applejack," Twilight replied.

"Well, I think we can trust you at this juncture," Kurt said. "If you're interested in staying  at a safe place for a while, I see no reason to ban you from entering, unless someone else has objections?" he looked at Trixie, Trenderhoof, Neon Lights and Crimson Napalm. None of them objected.

"Very well, then prepare yourselves, we’ll move to another location in ten," he told Twilight and her friends. The latter nodded in assent.





Somewhere about an hour later, Kurt Marshall led them through a hidden path located underground, which, after going deeper under the surface, led them to an entrance to some sort of a massive bunker.

"This place was supposed to be a comms bunker for the military," Kurt Marshall explained, "but whoever might have been in here left it long ago, so we made it our main base. It's well defensible and the stocks of canned food and MREs can help us last for years, and there is a water purification system from Vault-Tec with spare water chips installed. The air circulation system is quite robust too. Frankly, whoever left this place was an idiot, but their idiocy is our gain, so we aren't really complaining."

"Nice place," Sunset commented.

"Thanks. Now, please remain slightly behind, since I need to input the access code, and, well, I don't think we can trust you with one yet."

"No problem."

Kurt went on to input the code, while Trenderhoof, Neon Lights, Crimson Napalm and Trixie positioned themselves between him and the girls, obscuring the former cop's figure from sight. It did not escape unnoticed from the girls that the group was facing them, and despite the friendly expressions on everyone's face (except Trixie's, who kept hers neutral).

A siren blared with several red lights going alight, and the blast door slowly unlocked and split into two sections, opening slowly. Kurt closed the console and said:

"Come on in, everyone! And hurry! The door will close automatically soon!"

No one required a second invitation, and soon everyone was inside the bunker. As the doors closed, Twilight looked around the bunker.

It was more spacious than the bunkers of the Brotherhood of Steel she had been to, but the lighting was worse - she could barely see the ceiling. Another door was located at the farther end, and she noticed the tripod-mounted turrets and several Mk. I Securitrons standing in front of them.

"Wow," Sunset commented, "that's some tough defensive line."

"Kurt?" a female shouted from the other side; the girls could not distinguish their features properly. "Whom did you bring here?"

"Girls, introduce yourselves," Kurt said.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight shouted first.

"Sunset Shimmer!"

"Ah'm Applejack!"

"Rarity!"

"What the... wow, what a surprise!" the same voice shouted. "Come closer, everyone! Let me get a good look at you! Oh, and helmets off!"

Everyone who had helmets took them off. Several lamps turned on, casting their features alight; surprised by this turn, the girls shielded their eyes for a second before their eyes adjusted.

As they did, though, they finally managed to get a decent look at the people in front of them. Most of those were faces Twilight and Sunset vaguely recognized as the students of CHS or (in Sunset's case) Crystal Prep, plus some unfamiliar faces.

"Oh my goodness!" the same voice spoke, and a woman in her early forties, with cerise hair marred by some grey lines and pale cerise skin, stepped forward.

"Miss Cheerilee!" Sunset, Applejack and Rarity exclaimed happily.

"Miss Cheerilee?" Twilight repeated, a little dumbfounded. She recognized the teacher and part-time librarian, but had problems reconnecting the woman she remembered with a person in front of her, with graying hair and a visibly battered armour vest over green camouflage clothing.

"It certainly is nice to see you alive and well, girls," Cheerilee smiled. "Let's get you in, you must be hungry, and Kurt's squad could use some grub."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie certainly wouldn't," Trixie spoke up.

"Get your weapons stored in the lockers then, and wash yourselves a little bit, and then come to our mess hall. Trixie, show our guests the facilities, will you?"

"Of course," the bluish-haired girl said.





"How did you end up in this position, Trixie?" Sunset asked, as she left the restroom Trixie showed them. After storing their weapons and armour (which they were immensely relieved to do after all the combat they had), they went to freshen up before going to dinner.

"Well," Trixie began, her tone lacking the usual aplomb, "I tried my hand at becoming a pyrotechnician. If you recall, I always liked fireworks. That hobby, however, turned against me when it turned out the company I was working for was a front for some TODC intelligence cell - turns out they managed to smuggle some restricted ingredients and cheat the UFE army out of them, and everyone who was there was busted by the Commissariat, myself included. So basically I had two choices - be tried as an accomplice to treason and theft of strategic resources, which was basically a death sentence, or go serve on the front lines. Apparently, they reviewed my records at school and at work, and decided I would make a good demolitions specialist if I were to enlist... so I did."

"So you make stuff blow up?"

"Yes. You name it, the Great and Powerful Trixie blows it up to high heaven!" Trixie gave an arrogant smirk.

"And how did toting a missile launcher fit into that?"

"Well, at some point, the rocketeers got killed in Trixie's unit, so the Great and Powerful Trixie had to take up the task. Turned out she was quite good at it."

"I see."

"Still good at tootin' yer own horn, as Ah see, Trixie," Applejack came out, her Stetson back on since she was out of the power armour now.

"It's the truth, Applejack. But where are Twilight and Rarity? Trixie is hungry."

"Here," Twilight said, coming out of the bathroom with Rarity in tow.

"What happened to you, Rarity? You are usually the longest to pretty yourself up," Trixie commented in genuine surprise.

"Times have changed and I am dreadfully hungry; besides, I don't even have my makeup kit," Rarity replied in a pish-posh voice, signifying she did not appreciate Trixie's barb.

"Now that's the end of the world..." the former stage-up "magician" muttered as she led everyone into the mess hall.

As it turned out, the bunker had actual food preparation facilities, and instead of suffering through a round of MREs, Cheerilee prepared fried potatoes with sausages for everyone (Spike included; the dragon-turned-dog got a round of patting from the ex-teacher).

"Dig in!" she declared with a smile. No one hesitated in starting to gobble the freshly-cooked meal.

In the meantime, everyone shared their stories of their lives before and after the apocalypse. Trixie already shared hers, so the girls listened to Kurt, Trenderhoof, Neon Lights and Crimson Napalm.

Kurt was called up from reservists as the war turned for the worse, and served in the army, being one of the many "boots on the ground". He had fought on the frontlines against Centaurica, one of the TODC member countries, and on the Zebrican continent, which had no government to speak of and where the UFE and TODC fought over natural deposits and making alliances with local tribes. He was on leave when the Day of Burning arrived; having had the foresight to avoid densely populated or strategically important areas, he survived both the initial attack and the radioactive fallout, and survived on his own for several years before joining the group he was in now.

Trenderhoof also served in the army as a military reporter and journalist, and had seen the realities of war first-hand. As the war went on, his articles turned less glorifying and more critical of governmental actions or certain decisions of High Command, which did not earn him favours. He was deployed to counter the Eastern Gambit when the atomic bombs fell; he stuck to his unit who tried to make their way to Western Wastelands, but in the end, he remained the only survivor.

Neon Lights, unlike others, did not serve in the army, instead pursuing business interests right until the bombs fell; when that happened, he was in the original group of former students of CHS and CPA who organized themselves and took the bunker they were in now. As he admitted, he was not much of a fighter; his primary task was to check out for salvageable or useful equipment.

Crimson Napalm had it rough. He had participated in several anti-war demonstrations and food riots after the death of his father, and made it on the list of possible TODC sympathizers. After being arrested by the NSC, he was forcibly drafted into a penal battalion, where he fought simply to survive, and had to endure the harshest conditions, since penal units were considered expendable and were thrown into the grinder without mercy. Surprisingly, he managed to survive his sentence, and was "allowed" out of penal battalion into regular military, but before he finished his training, the apocalypse occurred. Since there were no new orders and the commanding officer shot himself, everyone took off in different directions, including Crimson. In the end, Crimson ended up taken prisoner by raiders, who forced him to do menial labours, until he was rescued and joined as a machine gunner.

The girls, in turn, shared their own stories, with Twilight sticking to her amnesia cover and Rarity neglecting to mention her Black Widow persona. Kurt and others were left amazed at the girls' adventures in the Wastelands, starting from the resistance of Appletown and ending with the demise of Adagio Dazzle.

Kurt was especially amazed that Twilight and the others managed to negotiate the conflict between Applejack and the Northern Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, and later have them join the alliance against White Knives. When questioned, he said:

"Well, to put it bluntly, the local chapter of the Brotherhood is really obstructive, shall we say. If you have a piece of advanced technology, be wary - unless they happen not to mind you owning it, they will try to confiscate it as "too dangerous for a common wanderer to use", and resistance is usually met with lethal force. Not to mention that blowing up the CWN's broadcaster did them no favour. In fact, I'm surprised that the bosses of CWN actually allowed the Brotherhood to host a force in their HQ."

"Well, it's not that easy to get to the control station itself, as far as I know," Twilight replied. "And the militia has a numerical advantage; even in power armour, five or so soldiers will not be able to withstand an attack from dozens."

"Still, this is a risk; although, given that the CWN's assistance against the White Knives was of big value, maybe it made sense for the Brotherhood to make an alliance of convenience at first, and then, when they realized that being a nice guy beats being a jerk, to maintain good relations with everyone."

"Maybe. The Elder of that chapter, Aegis Mantle, seemed approachable at least. I don't know about Elder Sierra, though. I have not been able to talk to him yet, only to the second in command, Star Paladin Stahlmesser."

"Never heard of him," Kurt said. "What is he like?"

"I haven't talked long with him. He was polite to me, and that's all."

"Well, yes, this is not much to go by... Still, maybe he doesn't have a stick up his... butt..." Kurt hesitated, not wanting to swear too badly, "as big as Sierra's."

Suddenly, someone burst into the kitchen and shouted:

"Kurt, there you are! Boss Lady just called, she needs assistance!"

"Can we help?" Twilight asked as Kurt shot up from his seat.

"It's not necessary, but thanks for the offer! Just rest, I'll do fine!" he replied, making a beeline for the door. "Trixie, Trenderhoof, Neon, Crimson, follow me!"

"Yes, sir!" Trenderhoof replied as everyone scrambled out of the kitchen. The girls sat flabbergasted at the turn of events.

"Oh my," Cheerilee, who walked in from an adjacent room as Kurt and others left, "what a bummer. They didn't even have a chance to finish. Girls, mind if I join you?"

No one objected.

"Thank you," the ex-teacher responded, sitting down with her own share of fried potatoes and sausages and digging in. "Honestly, I was very happy that at least some of you have survived the apocalypse. It's not fair, but you were all kinda my favourite students..."

"Even me?" Sunset asked.

"Yes, once you got past your she-demon stage," Cheerilee smirked a little as Sunset groaned at her old nickname.

"You turn into a she-demon one time..."

"That said... I don't want to bring back any old pain, but where are Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?"

"Pinkie Pie dropped out of contact for some reason, I don't even know where she could have been on the Day of Burning. Fluttershy ran afoul of the NSC several times, and I wanted to check on her but the bombs got dropped earlier; the last I knew, she wanted to get to Appleloosa. Rainbow Dash was redeployed to counter the Eastern Gambit, last I heard from her, she was fighting near Stalliongrad."

"Stalliongrad? Oh my, that doesn't sound good. Stalliongrad became Tartarus on Earth when the TODC tried to take it; the UFE army was fighting tooth and nail for it," Cheerilee remembered.

"Why?" Twilight asked.

"You don't remember?"

The others quickly filled Cheerilee in on Twilight's "amnesia". The woman gasped as she heard it.

"So... you don't remember the pre-war time and the war itself and the apocalypse and the years after it until you found yourself somewhere near Baltimare?"

"Basically yes," Twilight replied, "I am trying to grasp what happened to me, but the only things I know is that I seem to have worked on the design of Vaults and invented microfusion power; but I can't even recall the science behind it without reading a book on it first."

"That sounds awfully selective... I heard rumours of research of memory suppression, but never of it applied so precisely so that you would forget the science... then again, science marched so quickly that I would not be surprised if they did it somehow. The only thing is that if they decided you knew too much, why bother with the memory suppression? Would've been simpler to have you shot. Dead men tell no tales, after all. My husband who worked in the Commissariat always said that this was the NSC's preferred method of dealing with someone who knew too much."

"Your husband was a Commissar?" Rarity asked, surprised.

"Yes, and what few bits he could tell me made my hair stand up even where no hair never grew. I really don't like recalling it."

"Understood."

"The war was disgusting enough without NSC adding to it... it's why I have grey hair even though I am not really old yet."

"What happened?" Applejack asked before anyone stopped her.

"Well, I had several sons; remember them, Applejack?"

"Yep, Big Mac was friends with all of them..."

"Well, all of them died in the war," Cheerilee spat out, "slaughtered for nothing but the ambitions of our rulers and resources that would run out anyway. First my youngest, then eldest, and then the middle. My last son should have been released from service, but the High Command and Commissariat blocked the procedure, and even my husband could not overturn it. And before his transport home arrived, the TODC made a bombing run on their base when some lazy slump on an AA station fell asleep and missed the radar returns."

"What?" Rarity gasped. "What kind of an incompetent buffoon would do that, especially on the frontlines?!"

"I don't know. Of course, the tribunal shot him for such negligence, but it was too late - the funeral had a closed coffin, because my son was blown to pieces," Cheerilee angrily swiped away her tears. "Oh, the government and commanders did give me a hefty compensation, and his CO was apologizing to me on his knees - not that I could blame him, he couldn't do anything - but I didn't want all of that, I only wanted my son back. And then the bombs fell and my husband didn't make it out of Canterlot... I have little idea on how I actually existed. I didn't want to kill myself, but I had no one and no purpose. I lived in one settlement, then other one, but I found at least some piece of mind only when I found myself here," she waved around the kitchen area, "with some of my former students."

"Oh dear," Rarity gasped, "I'm so sorry, Miss Cheerilee... If only I knew..."

"You couldn't, plus it's not like you did not have your own losses... and for stars' sake, call me Cheerilee, I’m no longer your teacher."

"OK, Cheerilee... it's going to be a little difficult to get used to it..."

"Not surprising, half of CHS’s students still call me Miss Cheerilee, despite my insistence."





The rest of the meal went on on a less depressing note. Not wanting to move anywhere, the girls chatted with Cheerilee on some more light-hearted subjects, like their old times at CHS, until Kurt Marshall and the others entered the kitchen.

"Girls," he addressed Twilight and the rest, "our leader wants to speak to you. I think you will be pleasantly surprised."

"OK then," Cheerilee stood up, "I won't hold you. I hope we will get time to talk later."

"The feeling's mutual, Miss Cheerilee," Sunset replied. "See you around!"

As everyone went out of the kitchen and Trixie, Trenderhoof, Neon and Crimson went inside to help Cheerilee clean up, Kurt led the girls through the bunker until they stood in front of a heavy armoured door. There was an intercom to its right; Kurt pushed the button and spoke:

"They are here."

"Come in," a voice replied, apparently female, but, due to distortion made by the intercom's apparently lousy speaker, badly mangled.

The door slid to the side, with hydraulics hissing, and the group went in. The door closed behind them with another hiss.

The room they were in was quite big, and better lit than the rest of the bunker. The room had an actual pre-war bed, several shelves of books, a big table, several small tables with computer monoblocks on them, a holotable, and one of the walls was occupied by a large map of the area around Canterlot - an area now commonly known as the Canterlot Wastelands. A rack of neatly stacked weapons stood in one corner, ranging from SMGs and assault rifles to some long and heavy-looking sniper rifles and laser rifles, with crates of ammunition for every kind of weapon.

A woman was standing with her back to them, clad in mil-spec urban combat armour, but the most noticeable feature was several slim rods going along her arms and legs from behind, all connected to something hanging on her back. Everyone recognized a powered exoskeleton, a precursor to the power armour that the Brotherhood of Steel utilized now, one of the very first developments in military technology to greatly benefit from the invention of microfusion energy. While exoskeletons existed before, the lack of a compact and powerful power source rendered them unusable for military purposes; with the creation of microfusion power packs, however, the UFE was able to quickly negate the issue with power and introduce so-called "exoskeleton armour" or just "exo-armour" shortly before the war, and then replace it with power armour.

Twilight, having read books of the Brotherhood on the subject, quickly recognized the model the woman used as the T-64 exo-armour, the last of the exoskeletons to be introduced before T-72d power armour began replacing it.

"I apologize for the rudeness," the woman spoke, turning around, revealing that she had an anti-materiel rifle in her arms without a magazine, and putting it into the rack. "Kurt, thank you for bringing them."

"No problem, boss," Kurt said, while girls looked carefully into the features of the apparent leader. Blue hair, grayish-blue skin, opal eyes...

Sunset gasped.

"Vice Principal Luna?"

Twilight gasped as well, recognizing the human world's counterpart to the Princess of the Night.

"Indeed," Vice Principal Luna smiled. "I'm glad to see you girls here, and Spike as well. Kurt, you may go, the girls and I have business to discuss."

"Of course, boss," Kurt nodded and left the room.

"Are you OK, Vice Principal Luna?" Applejack asked. "Kurt an' others took off when someone said you were in trouble..."

"I am alright, but unfortunately, all of my companions - there were three - were killed," Luna's eyes were somber. "We were attacked by Hooffields, they have considerably stepped up their game, and brought much bigger toys. I have managed to take down a CRAGADILE warbot with a lucky shot of an HEI/AP bullet into the reactor, but the gangsters put me in a pinch until Kurt and his squad managed to help me. Has anyone told you about our group?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Very well, I will fill you in. We have recently started calling ourselves "Nightmare Vindicators", and we oppose any faction that seeks to bring harm to common wastelanders that just want to salvage whatever is left of their lives. This includes Cleaners, Hooffields and McColts, and the Brotherhood of Steel is on the list too, not to mention Trade Sixty-Six and two-bit raider gangs. That said, I have to ask - do you have any loyalties to any of these groups?"

Luna's face has become rather stern. Everyone looked nervously at Twilight, which did not escape unnoticed.

"Twilight?" the former vice principal inquired.

"Well... I am a Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel," the alicorn-turned-human replied. "The others aren't, they are just helping me with my task."

"And what task may that be?"

"To find a way to gain access to the Future-Tec facility."

"This is a rather tall order. The Brotherhood of Steel has tried to get in there for years, with no success; I find it barely plausible that you and three outsiders would be given a task like that."

"Well, it's the truth."

"If it's the truth, then it's more of an ultimate target than an immediate one. And what are your short-term plans?"

"I need to gather additional data from Elder Sierra, who was away from the local's chapter main bunker, and determine the immediate course of action."

"I see. It appears that they have not given up, despite their repeated failures. I wish they would just give up..." Luna muttered under her nose, but Twilight caught it.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because the Brotherhood cares little about the plight of their fellow men," the older woman replied harshly. "The Brotherhood of Steel is comprised of professional soldiers with advanced weapons. While their numbers are not big, they were still capable of properly securing what remained from the country and establish some order. Instead, they isolated themselves, fretting over every piece of pre-apocalyptic technology they could find, especially weapons and armour. It's all tech, tech and tech. They have the technology, but have no desire to use it for anyone but themselves. They have raided several settlements for pieces of advanced technology, squashing any resistance and leaving behind nothing except smouldering wrecks.“

The girls kept silent as the voice of the former vice principal of Canterlot High School progressively became angrier and angrier.

“And now, gangs like Cleaners and Trade Sixty-Six keep your average wastelander in fear. The Brotherhood is staffed mostly by military personnel, who have a duty to protect people, but they blatantly ignore that duty, and do not want to fulfill it or at least provide a decent justification for their actions. Their inaction, if you ask me, is outright criminal, and thus, they’ve enabled other criminals to establish their reign of terror, the reign that no one in the Western Wastelands can effectively resist. If they are not willing to step in, someone else has to do it. I have heard - and I'm sure you have heard - about the Daring Duo and their exploits, but we can't rely on them appearing and fixing everything."

"I see," Twilight asked. "I joined the Brotherhood only recently, and I was inducted by another chapter, the Northern one. Its Elder was initially unapproachable, but we managed to sort out the differences. I was not aware of how the Western Chapter conducted itself."

"I presume Elder Aegis Mantle is in charge of the Northern Chapter?"

"Yes."

"While I am not particularly fond of him, he sounds like a better person than Sierra, according from what I have heard. But he does have delusions of grandeur; I presume that's why he gave out this task?"

"Not quite. We need to infiltrate Canterlot, but it's impossible to do without an advanced model of an armoured hazmat suit, of ABCWHS-600 model. And the information the Brotherhood has indicates that the Future-Tec complex is the only place to have a stock of such suits."

"Canterlot?" Luna asked, surprised, and then shook her head. "No way. Canterlot is still full of things best left buried and forgotten. If the Brotherhood gets their hands on them, their tyranny may expand tenfold. I'm sorry, but I am against this idea, and if Brotherhood pursues it, my Nightmare Vindicators will oppose them."

"But I need to get to Canterlot!" Twilight insisted.

"What can possibly require you to get to Canterlot that badly that you would take the risk of this insurmountable task of accessing the Future-Tec facility?"

"Because," Sunset Shimmer took over, "The Brotherhood of Steel, like the others, thinks that Twilight Sparkle has an amnesia that made her forget her role in recent technological revolution, and Elder Aegis believes that Twilight can regain her memory by investigating places that appear in her flashbacks, and become of a great assistance to Brotherhood. However..."

Sunset looked around, checking if no one except them was there, and continued:

"However, this is not the Twilight Sparkle who invented microfusion power and a myriad of other things. This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, from Equestria. You do remember the girl who defeated me when I turned into a she-demon and helped us defeat the sirens?"

Upon hearing this, Luna paled, and swayed in place for a second before grabbing onto a table to steady herself.

"By the stars..." she almost whispered, as her eyes met Twilight's violet ones.

For several seconds, nobody uttered a word.





"So..." Luna said, cradling a small glass full of whiskey, as everyone sat around the table, "you decided to check on your friend... and ended up in the middle of nowhere? And now you're looking for the way home?"

"Pretty much," Twilight replied soberly, and chugged her own glass. "Unfortunately, making a contact via the magic book is no longer an option, so I can only hope that something is left of the original portal and I can properly investigate it, although it may be problematic, since none of us have access to magic now."

"You don't? But I remember the girls gaining magical abilities after Camp Everfree..."

"Yes, but after we drifted apart and the apocalypse, we, well... lost those. We still have the trinkets, but they are inactive," Sunset interrupted.

"I suspect that once you drifted apart, the magic of friendship that powered them eventually expired," Twilight said. "That's my current working theory on why none of us have access to magic. And I'm afraid that we cannot regain it unless we manage to reunite all Elements of Harmony together - that means, humans who bear them and their own trinkets."

"So we need ta find Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash an' Pinkie Pie?" Applejack asked.

"And my own counterpart as well, if possible. Since she came into possession of the Element of Magic, as Sunset had indicated, she is as good as me, if not better, since I'm not the native Twilight of this world."

"I see," Luna spoke softly. Then, her face gained a resolute expression, and she looked directly into Twilight's eyes. "So your allegiance to the Brotherhood lies on the basis that they are the most likely ones to help you with your goal of returning to Equestria?"

"Since they are the most technologically advanced faction I know of and I need some hi-tech gimmicks, basically yes," the Princess responded.

"And we have all promised to help Twilight return to Equestria," Rarity spoke up, and downed her drink. "She has already been exposed to enough cruelty of the Wastelands; if a chance exists to help her return, we'll take it."

"Very well. Then I will do my best to help you as well. What I need to think, though, is how to avoid a clash of interests. I am sure that Elder Sierra will task you with destroying the group known as the Flameswords, but the truth is that Flameswords are our main supplier of advanced weapons, so destroying them runs against our interests."

"I had wanted to meet the Flameswords and listen to their side before making any decisions, without revealing my membership in the Brotherhood," Twilight said.

"Good call, although you'd better be careful so they don't kill you if they think you are a spy. Perhaps you can hammer out some game of cat and mouse between them and the Brotherhood. What about your relations with the Hooffields, McColts and Cleaners?"

"Well, Hooffields and McColts appear to be quite hostile, but Ivy Mortis wanted to see me, or at least her captain told me so in Marehoof, when he wanted to guide me there. Not sure she'll be friendly after Donkey Stopper, though."

"Hmmm... it is rather risky, but I think you should still talk with her, if only to soothe her ruffled feathers. I also think that if she directs you to help her against Hooffields or McColts, it would be advantageous in the long run - I hope that with them gone, the Cleaners may get overstretched and we'll breathe more freely."

"OK, thanks."

"One last thing you need is transport. We have scouted a small garage that has "Grasshopper" vehicles inside, newer models running on nuclear fuel. We can't fit them inside the bunker, so you're welcome to use one. The only caveat is that the security system is still up. If you help us, we'll gladly provide you with one."

"That sounds excellent," Twilight smiled. "Thank you, Princess Luna! Oh, sorry..."

"No problem, Twilight," Luna laughed Twilight's slip of the tongue off. "For now, go and rest, we have enough rooms available. We plan to get the vehicles tomorrow."

"OK, thank you!" the girls and Spike replied, and left the room. Luna chuckled:

"Damn, still can't believe that my pony counterpart is a princess. I wonder what she would say about me if she knew what I am now?"





Canterlot Wastelands Survival Guide Entry

T-64 powered exo-armour

This model was the last of the line of exo-armour before the introduction of T-72d power armour, that covered both the whole body and the exoskeleton frame. This model of exo-armour combines urban assault armour with the exoskeleton frame on it, allowing for greater mobility and flexibility, as well as easier handling of heavy weapons.

With power armour completely replacing exoskeletons, T-64 models have mostly been converted into new power armour suits, but at times they still can be found in storages on military bases. Unlike power armour, T-64 does not require special training to use it, but putting it on and taking it off requires assistance. Also, one should take care of remaining level of energy, and recharge and replace the microfusion power block, if necessary. Also, one should take care against EMP blasts and avoid exposing the microfusion power block to enemy fire - lucky shots can destabilize it, resulting in an explosion that is almost always fatal for the user.

Armour stats:

DR: 29 (if 100% CND)
WG: 18 kg
VAL: 6000 caps (if 100% CND)

Effects:
+1 Strength
+1 Endurance
+10 Big Guns
Lifts penalties on using heavy weapons like LMGs or anti-materiel rifles
> Chapter 39: Brave the night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 39

Brave the night


One hour later after their talk with (former) Vice Principal Luna, the girls were in the armoury, doing weapon maintenance on their weapons along with Kurt Marshall, Trenderhoof, Neon Lights, Crimson Napalm and Trixie. Cleaning kits, weapon oil and spare parts were strewn around the table, sometimes in an orderly fashion, sometimes haphazardly.

"Drat," Twilight spoke after studying one of the focus lenses of her laser rifle, "this lens is gonna kick the bucket soon. At this rate I may have to replace the whole focus lens array."

Throwing the spoilt lens away, she picked the new one and put it into its intended place.

"Twilight, I think that you need to replace the third lens as well," Sunset said.

"Let me check," came the reply, followed by an Equestrian curse word and a clatter as another lens was thrown away, "Ponyfeathers!"

"Language, young lady," Kurt Marshall replied automatically.

"Sorry. What about your rifle, Sunset?"

"It looks like the wave/particle diverter is on the verge of failure," Sunset frowned, looking at the detail in question with a frown. "Good thing I found out now instead on when the rifle would fail me in the worst possible moment."

"Ah guess that these fancy hi-tech rifles need some good ol' TLC after all?" Applejack said, studying her minigun. "Hey, does anyone have a multimeter?"

"Here," Trenderhoof passed the requested object.

"Much obliged."

"Every weapon needs TLC," Kurt interjected, "but yes, energy weapons have their own hijinks. The AER9 models of Twilight's and Sunset's are actually the most reliable, if not the most damaging, that's why it's easier to find them."

"What other models existed?" Twilight asked.

"There was the AER12 for some select special forces units, and a predecessor to AER9, called Wyrmson 1000, but the latter was designed as more of a sniper weapon. Did not gain much favour because its beam instantly demasked the sniper, but turned out to be decent in urban battles. There are also AERT18 tri-beam laser rifles, but I never saw one."

"Tri-beam? As if they fire three beams at once?"

"Yes, and the focus lens array is different there, making the beam split wider but lowering the distance. A laser shotgun, if you will, although that term would be technically wrong. Then again, "laser rifle" isn't that correct either, because the weapon does not have rifled parts, strictly speaking."

"I see, thanks. Applejack, how is your minigun?"

"The electric motor is nice an' well an' I recharged it, an' the gun's cleaned," the farm girl replied, her accent more pronounced as she concentrated on reassembling her minigun.

"Rarity?"

"Almost done, darling, I need to put some oil on some parts. Speaking of which, Kurt, may I ask something?" the ex-fashionista turned to Kurt.

"Ask away."

"If I am not mistaken, the Interdiction sniper rifle is a weapon used by TODC forces, correct?"

"Indeed. I took it as a trophy when we took a village in Centaurica and I killed an enemy there in a sniper duel."

"Is it a good rifle?" Sunset asked.

"Quite good. Accurate, powerful, reliable and easily modifiable; the only problem is ammunition, since it uses some proprietary .408 TODC ammo and you can't just stick other .408 bullets into it. Not that .408 is easy to find in first place. Luckily for me, TODC agents managed to smuggle and stash their Inderdiction rifles and .408 into quite a number of places, so I can maintain the weapon easily and not worry about the ammo for a long time, provided I am careful."

"Nice. Trenderhoof, what is the weapon you carry? I don't recognize it," the girl pointed to the assault rifle that Trenderhoof just reassembled.

"It's Special Operations Assault Rifle, or SOAR for short. Uses the same caliber as the R91, but has an interchangeable barrel which lets me switch from 5.56 to 7.62, should the need arise, or vice versa. Also has a telescopic stock and integrated Pontrottini rails, which helps in repurposing the rifle as necessary, and it has a variety of gadgets for it - collimator, holographic and ACOG sights, a flashlight and a laser sight, and several underbarrel weapons, like a grenade launcher, a shotgun or even a flamethrower."

"A flamethrower?" Rarity asked. "Isn't that a little overkill?"

"There's no kill like overkill, Rarity," Applejack said, chuckling.

"Maybe for you, Applejack, but I still fail to see the point of using of a flamethrower as an underbarrel weapon."

"Actually, a flamethrower was a popular choice for soldiers fighting on Bovinian front," Trenderhoof interjected. "I learnt that while doing interviews with soldiers there. Bovinians had a tendency to store inflammable materials somewhat... improperly, and UFE army exploited this to the full extent. That, and flamethrowers were quite useful in Bovinian jungles to clear out village houses in close quarters."

"Isn't that somewhat excessively cruel?" Rarity frowned. "I am more than certain I have heard of our forces committing several war crimes there, including burning down a village filled with civilians."

"I actually wrote a report on that, but it got censored out by the Commissariat," Trenderhoof scowled. "And when I leaked it to the military police, I actually had a visit from their stormtroopers. Not pleasant memories. The Commissar who monitored our armed forces in Bovinia actually wanted me brought up on sedition charges, but his superiors gave him a stern talking-to for that, given that he failed to reign in the troops and TODC got the perfect propaganda material to paint UFE soldiers as merciless butchers, and then replaced him. The new guy made a better job, but I did not work with him long - I was reassigned to the other front shortly afterwards."

"I see," Rarity replied, frowning, and starting to reassemble her sniper rifle. Crimson Napalm, who did not take part in the conversation, reassembled his HR191 squad automatic weapon and made a satisfied grunt once he moved the bolt, apparently finding the movement good enough.

"Are all of you finally ready? The Great and Powerful Trixie hates waiting!" the ex-rookie-magician-turned-rocketeer grumbled, leaning against the wall. Her Panzerwraith rocket launcher along with spare rockets was slung behind her back, and the 10mm SMG was secured in her hip holster.

"Zip it, Trixie," Applejack adviced her, feeding the belt into her minigun.

"Almost," Twilight replied absent-mindedly, reassembling her laser rifle. The others ignored Trixie's question and in Sunset's case, rolled their eyes.

Then, Luna entered the room, still in her exoskeleton armour and the anti-materiel rifle they had already seen in her hands.

"Good, all of you are here. I wanted to discuss the plan."

"We are listening," Kurt replied.

"First and foremost, Kurt, do you mind if the girls join your own team?" Luna motioned at Twilight, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity.

"I don't, but I'd like to clear something first. As far as I understood, Applejack is basically the heavy weapons specialist, Rarity is the scout-sniper, while Twilight and Sunset provide marksman fire?"

"Sort of," Sunset explains. "Rarity and Applejack do have the roles you mentioned, but me and Twilight are not that set - it may be marksman fire or suppressive fire. Mostly we just try and pick out the opponents."

"Then if you join us on this job, I would like it to work the following way. Rarity, I'd like you to help me with sniping and spotting. Applejack, stick with Crimson and Trixie, since you are our heavy weapons specialists. Twilight and Sunset, you go with Trenderhoof and Neon. Any objections?"

"I have a question," Twilight asked. "What about Vice Principal Luna?"

"I am sniping from afar with anti-materiel rifle as usual," Luna replied.

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, but this doesn't sound like a good idea to me. What if someone gets a drop on her? That said, what opposition are we expecting?"

"Security robots like Protectrons, Robobrains and sentry bots and maybe a warbot, but only a few turrets," Luna replied. "I have picked five squads and all of them have rocketeers and a supply of AP and HEI/AP ammo. We should have enough to deal with the turrets and the robots."

"Alright, that makes sense, but what worries me is that with the Hooffields getting very active, we may face unexpected opposition. Given that we are going to get Grasshopper vehicles, which are a lucrative prize, I am a little surprised that no one had tried to capture these vehicles before."

"Because not many would want to risk looting a military base," Kurt explained. "Independent warbands do not typically have the heavy equipment needed for a prolonged fight against warbots, or already have their own vehicle and see no need for another one. Gangs like Cleaners, Hooffields and McColts, not to mention Trade Sixty-Six, already have their reserve of vehicles and do not raid bases unless necessity strikes. Still, Twilight raises a valid point. Boss, maybe you should take Twilight or Sunset as a spotter, while another one goes with the boys?"

"Not my preferred modus operandi, but given my latest run-in with the enemies, might be worth it," Luna replied. "Twilight, do you mind going with me?"

"I don't. Sunset?"

"No problem," the fiery-haired girl replied, "I will go with Neon and Trenderhoof then."

"OK then. Restock your ammunition, if you need, and Twilight, you'll need binoculars, take a pair from over there."

Nobody raised any objections, and soon everyone had their magazines full of ammo.

"OK then," Luna said once everyone was ready, "now go to sleep for a while, because we will be going at midnight sharp. A Flamesword scout near the place is feeding us intel and he says it would be better to go when it's dark; Hooffields and McColts keep messing around here and Cleaners were seen en route to Marehoof in full force, so I'd rather avoid wasting ammo and strength on them if there's a chance they will stop their gang fights at night. Meet us near the entrance at 11:45 and don't be late."

A chorus of answers like "OK", "Yes, boss", "You got it", "Will do" and similar followed, and everyone left the room after collecting their stuff.





Nightmare Vindicators were more numerous and better armed than Twilight expected. Five squads were present in front of the entrance to the comm bunker, clad in various armour types from scout-sniper infiltrator armour to urban assault armour. Several people were armed with laser pistols and rifles, and Sunset spotted a presence of a couple of plasma pistols too with jealousy.

Flameswords are not stingy with supplying their allies with energy weapons, if what Luna said about Vindicators' alliance with them is true, Twilight thought.

"Alright, everyone," Luna addressed others, her face obscured (and voice muffled a little) by a ski mask which only left her eyes open, "this is so far our most ambitious resource raid. We all know how hard the defenses are, so your primary task, above everything else, is to remain alive. No stupid heroics. Understood?"

"Yes, boss," an unsteady chorus of voices answered.

"Nice. You might have noticed that we have an independent warband among us," Luna motioned to Twilight and the rest of the girls. The other students of CHS and CPA who knew them erupted in a wave of greetings.

"They have agreed to help us in exchange for one "Grasshopper" vehicle. I intend to keep my word, so watch your fire. If you turn all cars to scrap, you will be stuck on latrine duty for half a year."

"Yes, boss!" another chorus.

"Then let us move out. Security team, seal the bunker after us!"

"Acknowledged," one man whom the girls did not know from CHS or CPA gruffed, and went inside along with others. The heavy door closed and sealed itself shut, as Nightmare Vindicators left.





The base was located rather far away from the Vindicators' comm bunker. As they left, Luna ordered to split into predesignated groups, which meant that the girls joined Kurt Marshall's team as intended to. This resulted in Twilight being separated from the girls as Luna traveled apart from the rest, taking care to spot any potential ambush.

This also gave the former Vice Principal an opportunity to talk to the Equestrian Princess with relative privacy.

"Twilight," she said, "we need to talk about how we can maintain the appearance of your loyalty to the Brotherhood of Steel and avoid harm to my Vindicators and Flameswords at the same time."

"I am listening," Twilight replied. "Although I am not sure what to do in case I get roped into attacking them or you. I may try to avoid getting on such missions, but even that may become suspicious."

"Since we have established ourselves in a comm bunker, we have access to certain things that will make this thing simpler," Luna took out a magneto-optic data disk. "This disk has the encryption software and a set of codes that allow you to contact our bunker via your Pip-Boy - and yes, I know that you have a radio transmission modification for it, it is obvious if you know the signs - and allows you to send a message as long as you can connect to any radio tower from it."

"So I can contact you from anywhere?"

"Not quite. While there are many radio towers scattered throughout the Wastelands, a good number of them are either destroyed or do not have sufficient energy to work. To contact us, you have to be within the range of a working tower, and send the message - via either voice or binary dot-dash code - and the towers will bounce the message back to us."

"Binary dot-dash code?"

"Basically, the transmitter you have can bounce an audio signal that is either a short beep - dot - or a longer one - dash - and that is the binary dot-dash code. Each symbol has a sequence of dots and dashes associated with it and you can pass it over the radio."

"So like texting?"

"Yes, sort of. Your Pip-Boy allows you to simply type symbols and the program on the disk I gave you will convert them by itself, but it is still useful to learn the code by heart, just in case."

"OK, thanks."

"Since the message will be encrypted, you may not worry that someone will read it even if they intercept it somehow - and this is possible if someone can tap into radio towers."

"What if someone forces me to send a misinforming message, to lure you into a trap?"

"There is a way around that too. The program will ask you for a four-digit password. The trick is that there are several passwords, but only one of them is fully correct - the others hide an alert signal in the message's header, which we can receive and understand you have been compromised, and act accordingly. Here," Luna gave Twilight a small sheet of paper, "read and remember them all."

Twilight spent a minute reading the paper, then returned it to Luna, who, in turn, burned the paper with a lighter. As the remains fell on the ground, she stomped on them thoroughly.

"So there won't be a fire," she explained. "There was one time when the weather was especially arid in the Western Wastelands and some idiot managed to cause a fire that burned a lot of grass to the west of Ponyville. Now that place is known as the Burnt Field."

"Yikes. So if there is a possible attack against you or Flameswords, I must warn you?"

"If possible, and tell us whether you and your friends will participate. I know that if we suddenly start avoiding all confrontations, the Brotherhood will suspect there is a spy."

"OK then. Do you have a set of code messages I could use?"

"Yes. But wait until we find ourselves - and yourselves - a Grasshopper. And put your mask on; it may be night, but it's full moon tonight and I'd rather not have you recognized," Luna replied. Twilight followed her advice, noting with displeasure that the mask was somewhat itchy and made it slightly more difficult to breathe.

Shaking the distracting thoughts from her head, she fell into the usual routine of travelling through the Wastelands, searching for threats.





It took the whole group a couple of hours to get to the military base. Once they got close enough to it, Luna ordered everyone to wait until she took out the closest sensor arrays. As she took off in a direction away from the main force, Twilight followed her. Kurt Marshall ordered Trixie to prepare her Panzerwraith rocket launcher.

Luna picked out a position on the hill located one kilometer away from the entrance to the base, far enough that she would be able to snipe more or less effectively, yet not close enough for automated turrets to fire at her. As she explained to Twilight, the sensor arrays linked to towers were designed to target enemies at assault rifles' effective distance of fire.

"What about mines? When we attacked the base of the 9th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, there was a minefield," Twilight asked.

"Most likely you approached the base from the other direction than that of its main entrance, then, because usually they were not trapped," Luna answered, while exchanging the magazine of her anti-materiel rifle for armour-piercing sniper ammo. "This base should not have its main entrance covered in mines too."

"If you say so," Twilight replied, unsure, looking through the binoculars.

"Any human or robotic targets?" Luna asked, looking through the optical sight of her anti-materiel rifle.

"Currently, none are visible."

"Sensors or turrets?"

"Closest to us, are one sensor array and two anti-infantry turrets."

"Understood."

Luna switched something on her radio and then spoke into a microphone that was set close to her mouth:

"Vindicators, this is Nightmare Actual. Commence the assault. Demo One, you are up!"





"Acknowledged," Trixie responded, and prepared her Panzerwraith rocket launcher. Looking through the optical sight mounted on it, she aligned the crosshairs with the sensor array she was supposed to hit.

As she pulled the trigger, the rocket flew out of the tube and its engine flared, accelerating it. When it hit the target and exploded, the sensor array exploded into smithereens. Red lights turned on immediately, and a siren began blaring in the distance.

Trixie loaded another rocket, and spoke into her radio:

"Demo One reporting, target destroyed."

A shot sounded from afar, then another one, and another one after that. With each shot, one of the sensors on another array broke apart, emitting electric arcs across the surface.

"Incoming robots!" Kurt Marshall, who looked through binoculars, exclaimed. "Machine gunners and snipers, prepare to engage!"

Applejack and Crimson Napalm readied their weapons, while Rarity loaded an armour-piercing bullet into the chamber and activated her Stealth-Boy. Another loud shot rang out as the .50 bullet raced towards the closest Protectron and shredded its circuits.





"Owwww," Twilight moaned as she rubbed her ear. "Are anti-materiel rifles always this loud?!" she shouted.

"Yes! Don't get distracted! Any new enemies?"

"Robobrain coming out of the base's entrance... another robobrain... and a sentry bot!"

"Thanks," Luna turned her rifle slightly on a bipod, and fired again.

BA-DBLAMMM!

"Owwww," Twilight moaned again as the deafening sound almost ripped her eardrum in two. 

What wouldn't I give for a pair of earmuffs right now. How on Earth does Luna take it? she wondered.





"Incoming sentry bot!" Kurt shouted. "Disperse and take cover! Heavies and snipers with AP, take it down! Applejack, take care of the other bots!"

Vindicators followed the order immediately, hiding behind various stones or the hills. Applejack hid herself behind a tree (as best as she could), and aimed her minigun at the other robots, releasing short bursts at them.

A cacophony of gun fire erupted as the Vindicators peppered the sentry bot with bullets of various calibers and laser beams. The sentry bot fired back as well, but was destroyed by a well-placed .50 AP bullet from Luna before it dealt any actual damage.

More robots came out of the entrance to the base, including Protectrons, robobrains, Securitrons Mk. I and a type of bipedal robots Applejack had not seen before. The robots looked a lot like human and were armed, and they began rapidly advancing on the Vindicators, firing as they ran.

"Assaultrons!" Kurt Marshall bellowed. "Take them out, fast!"

Applejack did not think twice and unleashed a torrent of bullets onto advancing robots. In return, several took shots at her with their AR-22 assault rifles and laser weapons, prompting her to try and hide her bulk behind a tree.

Majority of the bipedal attack robots that Kurt called "Assaultrons" fell before they reached the Vindicators (although Applejack noticed with displeasure that they were tougher than expected, and extremely fast), but one of them managed to deliver no less than six point-blank shots to the chest of one Vindicator before Crimson Napalm gunned him down, and the other Assaultron grabbed another person, and the red "eye" it had glowed for a moment before emitting a blinding red laser beam that charred the Vindicator's head, leaving horrific fourth-degree burns. The unfortunate man screamed and died as the beam scorched and burned his eyes and brain matter that got hit by the beam. Applejack kept the finger on the trigger until the Assaultron fell, and shortly after that, the barrels of her minigun stopped rotating. The blonde girl released the magazine immediately and went for a new one.

Several laser beams landed on her, prompting several cuss words. Despite her best attempts to hide, the tree was hardly big enough to help her with that, and the surviving robots did not miss the chance to pepper her. Some of the beams hit her shoulder pauldrons, and one of the robots scored a glancing hit on her helmet - not enough to hit, but enough to irritate.

Darn, good thing I got myself a helmet or my face would have been fried bacon, Applejack thought.

"Assautrons down, keep firing, destroy the rest!" Kurt shouted. The Vindicators kept firing, until the last robot was rendered inoperable.

Silence reigned.

"Did not expect to see Assaultrons here," Trenderhoof spoke up as he came up to Applejack. "This is not good, if we see more of them at the base."

"What sort of robots are these Assaultrons?"

"Frontline support units. The first models only had lasers in their heads, but the newer ones could also use human weapons. These are designed to suppress hostiles, attack enemy lines while surviving enemy fire and sow chaos in close quarters. You just saw what happens if you let one get too close to you," the former Crystal Prepper waved in the direction of a man who was killed by a point-blank laser shot.

"Yeeesh," Rarity said, decloaking. "Ugly."

"You said it," Applejack agreed.

"You guys OK?" Sunset asked as she came up to them, relaoding her laser rifle. "An Assaultron almost did a number of me, I barely evaded his electroshock attack."

"I'm fine," Rarity replied.

"Same here," Applejack said.

Suddenly, Kurt's face changed, as he listened to something on his radio. Several seconds later, he spat out a curse and said:

"Boss Lady's in trouble! My squad, after me!"

As everyone followed him, Sunset, Applejack and Rarity looked at each other with expressions of horror etched on their faces. Everyone had one and the same thought:

Twilight!





Twilight tensed as she heard an explosion, followed by a scream of pain and strings of foul curses. Prior to taking the position with Luna, she had scattered several land mines to ensure that no one would be able to sneak up on them, and now it appeared someone tried to - but failed.

"Luna!" she whispered hurriedly and rolled onto her back. "Someone tripped my land mines and is behind us!"

"Damn!" Luna cursed, and spoke into the radio, "Vindicator-three, Nightmare Actual here, someone's up behind me..."

And then, four humans appeared from behind the hill they were on, guns pointed menacingly at them. Twilight did not even think before pulling the trigger. Red beams sliced the air, making their attackers duck and retreat behind the hill again.

"Scratch that last, we are under attack!" Luna shouted, and grabbed her anti-materiel rifle in her left hand. The exoskeleton whined slightly under its weight, while Luna rolled onto her back, taking out a weapon that looked like an elongated pistol with a cylinder-like object placed on top of it. Twilight noticed a laser sight mounted under its barrel.

Then two metallic objects flew out at them.

"Shit!" Luna cursed. In an impressive feat of athletics, she managed to do a backwards flip and stand on her legs, then do another one and find herself at the bottom of the hill. Meanwhile Twilight twisted her body and began rolling down the hill before landing in an unceremonious heap. Two explosion sounds resonated through the air as the grenades exploded on the top of the hill.

"We're quite lucky," Luna commented, "a little more and we'd have been toast."

"Agreed," Twilight said, standing up on one knee and sparing a glance at her IFF system on the Pip-Boy, noticing the presence of five red marks on it with displeasure.

Suddenly, two enemies appeared at the top of the hill. Before either of them managed to get a shot, both Luna and Twilight opened fire; the laser beams fried the torso of one of the asasilants, with the last one hitting the head and causing the body to ignite, while Luna's SMG spat out bullets with an impressive rate of fire that eviscerated the chest of the other enemy.

"Luna, I think they're trying to flank us from both sides!" Twilight said, looking at the movement of red marks on the screen.

"Damn it, there is no close enough cover in sight," the former Vice Principal cursed. "They will cut us down halfway there!"

"How long until the others get to us?"

"Five minutes or less, I think, but it is more than enough for them to toast us!"

Meanwhile, Twilight noticed with fear that the enemy was not in a hurry to attack, instead amassing their numbers. She could already count ten hostiles on her IFF.

Blast.

"Luna, do you have grenades?" she asked.

"A couple of frags and several hi-ex."

"I think it's frag time."

"Then reset your timer so that they won't throw it back."

"Good idea," Twilight did as told to. "Together?"

"Yes. On my mark..."

The equine-turned-human prepared a grenade, while the former vice principal did the same.

"...mark!"

Two grenades flew in opposite directions around the hill. The blasts were followed by more screams of pain and cursing, and Twilight noted with some sort of relief that the number of red marks dropped.

Unfortunately, some people survived, and it appeared that they had had enough. Three men ran out from the direction Twilight threw her grenade at, from the left side of the hill, firing rapidly. Twilight desperately threw herself on the ground, but was not quick enough to avoid getting shot - several bullets were stopped by her chest piece but still inflicted some pain, and two pierced her right upper arm.

Luna snarled and shot back with her rapid-firing SMG again. The man closest to her fell as the stream of bullets pushed through his shaggy leather armour and pierced his aorta and lungs, gushing blood. His remaining comrades fired at Luna, but her exo-armour, being thicker than any armour model a person could use without a power exoskeleton frame, reduced the effect to uncomfortable bruising. Twilight stabbed herself with a RegenStim and used the moment of distraction to fire at the enemies again, but missed. Hissing in pain, she aimed with the aid of iron sights and fired again, this time managing to hit one of the enemies in the leg, focring him to fall. The other one expended all his ammo, and Luna seized her chance - in an impressive jump, she kicked him hard into the chest and pinned him beneath her foot. Before he managed to recover, a short burst into the head silenced him forever. The remaining enemy tried to stand up, but Twilight would have none of it - a BZ-DAT later, half of his head was gone, burnt away by a laser beam.

"Urgh," the Equestrian groaned, clutching her upper arm. "Luna, seeing any enemies?"

"IFF shows four more. Wait... three now, what the..?"

Her face scrunched in confusion, Luna suddenly tapped her right ear, as if trying to hear something. Twilight heard gunfire in the distance. Suddenly, the former Vice Pricncipal smiled.

"Kurt is coming, they are striking the enemy in the back," she explained.

Indeed, soon Twilight could not see red marks any longer. Luna sat down next to her and took off the damaged armour plate, using a flashlight to look carefully at the wounds.

"Hmmm, looks like you have bullets stuck inside the arm. Hold on," Luna took out a pair of medicinal pliers, a flask of alcohol and a small stick. "Bite on the stick, this may hurt."

Twilight did as ordered, while the blue-skinned woman disinfected her hands and the pliers, fixed the flashlight between her teeth, and set to work. Twilight moaned in pain as the pliers dug inside her flesh while Luna worked.

This sucks, should have asked for Med-X, she thought, but before the thought went any further, Luna took the bullet out, causing her to groan loudly as the pain increased. Luna held her firmly in placed and went to work again. This time, she was able to dig out the bullet faster, and after that, she immedately reached for the first aid kit again.

"The blood does not come out in pulses and is not bright red, as I see, so it's not arterial, but there is still more than I'd be fine with, relatively speaking," Luna said before fixing the flashlight between her teeth again, took out a small pneumosyringe and gave Twilight an injection.

"Oof!" Twilight gasped. "Oh, this one feels like it's burning me! What is it?"

"It's a blood coagulation accelerator," came the answer as Luna took out the sterilized medpack and bandages and wrapping them around Twilight's arm.

"Hey, boss! Boss Lady? You OK there?" Kurt's voice sounded.

"We are both here!" Twilight shouted back. Shortly after that, Kurt's squad and Twilight's friends appeared on the top of the hill.

"Oh my stars, darling!" Rarity gasped as she looked at Twilight's damaged limb. "What happened?"

"A stroke of bad luck," came the gruff answer from the Princess of Friendship. "And two bullets. Any idea who these guys are?"

"McColts," Trixie spat as she looked at the gang's symbol on the corpses' armour. "Apparently, they thought it would be smart to try and find some cars to counter CRAGADILE warbots with."

"Would that even be a good idea?" Applejack asked. "Th' warbots have fifty-cal, no?"

"If the base has something heavier than Grasshoppers, maybe not as stupid," Kurt replied. "Except it isn't likely to have such things. Then again, maybe they don't know this, or maybe they are just after the same thing as we are."

"This complicates matters. Communicate to others that McColts are present here and additional actors might be on the scene too, Kurt."

"Yes, ma'am," Kurt stepped to the side and began speaking into his radio, "Dagger Three-One to all Vindicators, be advised, McColts have been noticed in the area, possible presence of other actors on the scene. Maintain caution."

"Well, that complicates matters," Luna commented. "I guess it was a stroke of luck that Twilight offered to act as a spotter, or I could have died out here. I wonder if they were hunting me specifically, or just came across the area and wanted to off me and loot my corpse. The anti-materiel rifle, my exo-armour and the Flamespray SMG would make good loot."

"Flamespray SMG?" Sunset asked.

"Yes," Luna showed the weapon she had used not long ago, "this is a weapon smuggled in by TODC intelligence agencies. Uses a helical-feed magazine, holds one hundred bullets and has an integrated laser sight - which helps since the iron sights are terrible and have to be reset every time you change the magazine."

"Is this a good weapon?"

"Not as a primary one. It eats bullets very fast thanks to its obscene rate of fire, the helical-feed magazine is a finicky thing so you can't handle the gun roughly, and as I said, iron sights are useless since you have to fix them every time you change a magazine. Plus, it's a sub-machine gun, so don't expect it to work miracles. But when in close quarters or in narrow corridors, it's a very good weapon to pump foes full of lead. Especially if you load armour-piercing 10mm ammo."

"You said it's a TODC weapon?"

"Yes, and thus rare enough."

"Kurt," Luna addressed the former soldier who had finished informing the Vindicators about McColts, "what are the casualties?"

"Three dead, one critically wounded and stabilized with AMFAK-10, four lightly wounded."

"Not good, this might turn into a bloodbath if we get pinned by a warbot. Changing plans. Me and Twilight are coming with your squad. Trixie, stay safe but keep your Panzerwraith ready at a moment's notice, I don't want any heavily-armed hostiles alive longer than it takes for a rocket to hit them. Kurt, Rarity, we are counting on you to spot and neutralize threats from afar. Kurt, cover our backs, Rarity, look forward and to the right, I look forward and to the left. Twilight, you are my spotter, Trenderhoof, you are Rarity's spotter. Applejack, Crimson, you continue as before. Neon, Sunset, be ready to provide fire support or first aid. Everyone got it?"

A chorus of affirmative answers followed.

"Very well," Luna pushed the button on her radio. "Vindicators, this is NIghtmare Actual! Demos, ready your rockets, snipers, pick spotters and overwatch, three hundred and sixty degrees, heavies, up front, the rest provide fire support! Form the squads!"

A volley of responses followed in her earpiece. Meanwhile, Twilight stabbed herself with a Med-X syringe, as the pain from the gun shots flared to an untolerable extent every time she tried to use her left arm.

"Ya better be careful with that, Twi," Applejack said in a worried tone. "Ah know you're havin' trouble working with your arm, but that stuff's addictive, y'know?"

"Yes, I do," Twilight hissed in pain. "Don't worry, Applejack, I'll be fine."

"If you say so, sugarcube."





Assaulting the military base of the 9th Mechanized Infantry Battalion with the assistance from Brotherhood of Steel was definitely easier, Twililght mused.

Since Nightmare Vindicators did not have the advantage of having heavy power armour or consisting mainly of war veterans, their fight through the base had been going differently. The majority of the work was taken on by snipers assigned to taking out threats from the front (including Rarity) who dropped their targets from afar. However, they have encountered sentry bots and even a CRAGADILE warbot; in those cases, Vindicators were forced into combat the threats directly, with Trixie and other rocketeers being the most vital part as they were the only ones who had a chance to quickly destroy the heavily armoured machines, and those carrying machine guns or assault rifles doing their best to inflict additional damage.

While the robots were destroyed relatively quickly, they still managed to inflict more casualties - four Vindicators were lightly wounded and three more were gravely wounded and had to be stabilized, which effectively took them out of action. Luna was visibly displeased by this development.

"If that goes on, we may exhaust ourselves before we get the prize. And there may still be other enemies around," she explained.

Some time later, they encountered another pack of Assaultrons - and this time, unfortunately, they were rather close.

"Oh, fuck this shit!" Trixie exclaimed, and before anyone reacted, she sent a rocket in the direction of Assaultrons. The resulting explosion from a hi-ex rocket nearly deafened those who were nearby, but also took out several Assaultrons by blowing them into pieces, and some who survived also sustained heavy damage. The rest of the Vindicators let out several bursts of fire before they dashed back to the closest cover possible with Assaultrons close in pursuit and snipers trying to pick the robots off (not an easy task when trying not to hit one's allies). When they settled in passable cover, the Assaultrons that survived the fire already were close enough, and one of them stopped holing the weapon with its left hand - only to have blue electric bolts arcing around it, and it hit Trenderhoof in an unarmoured area.

The blonde man let out a strangled scream as electricity ran through its body, and fell down, twitching.

"Trenderhoof!" Trixie gasped, and opened fire with her 10mm SMG. "Die, you damn clanker!"

Unfortunately, her SMG was not loaded with armour-piercing armour, and Assaultrons were sturdy, so the resulting damage was negligent. The Assaultron that shocked Trenderhoof advance on Trixie, the electroshock weapon in its hand charging...

"Yyyyaaaaaaargh!"

Applejack's power-armoured form barreled into the robot. Its gyroscopes whined, trying to correct its position within three-dimensional space, but the force of impact was so strong that the robot tumbled down on the ground. The blonde girl jumped into the air and landed straight on the robot's head with both legs; her mass, augmented with armour's strength enhancement, managed to crack open the vulnerable "eye" that shot lasers. As she stepped from it, the Assaultron tried to fire, but the destroyed pulse lamps of its laser failed to produce a beam, and Applejack discharged her minigun at it at point-blank distance.

"AJ, look out!" Sunset shouted.

One of the other Assaultrons charged up its laser, and fired - exactly at the moment when Applejack saw the danger. The girl had no chance to evade the attack, and a beam of a truly large size - when compared with the one of infantry laser weapons - slammed into Applejack's armour. The girl screamed and doubled over as the beam burned through the plates, the exoskeleton frame and her flesh, and then dropped onto her knees, holding the left hand against the savage burn.

Then she whipped out the LMG she carried on her back but rarely used, and, raising her head, unleashed a bulletstorm on the Assaultron one-handed. The heavy weapon bucked heavily against her arm, and she was barely able to control the recoil with only one arm, even with power armour's assistance. Crimson Napalm joined her, and their combined fire downed the robot.

The battle against the pack of Assaultrons lasted for only three minutes, but this was enough for two more Vindicators to perish, four to be incapacitated by electric shock and three more to be wounded, albeit not so gravely so as to be out of action.

"Luna? Can Vindicators actually absorb such casualties?" Twilight asked quietly.

"What you see is not our main force, in fact, there are more people out there working in group like Kurt's, who are carrying out... other tasks. We have more people than we project. But you have a point, we should refrain from attacking hard targets like military bases without bigger numbers and better equipment."

Meanwhile, Trenderhoof tried to get up but tumbled and almost fell.

"Easy there, Trenderhoof!" Trixie supported his weight. "How bad is it?"

"Not pleasant, that's certain," the blond man replied. "Come on, Trixie, I can still fight."

"When you can't even stand up properly? Get lucid, pal."

Meanwhile a Vindicator who was a medic studied Applejack's wound, which did not look pleasant. The laser beam from the Assaultron burned Applejack's skin heavily, causing a third-degree burn, which was exacerbated by the drops of molten metal that also landed on her skin.

"Ah've been shot by lasers before, but never that badly," Applejack muttered while the medic worked on her with an AMFAK-10 bag open, applying the mil-spec anti-burn salve. "Ow, that hurts!"

"Deal with it," the medic advised her none too gently.

"Assaultrons have very powerful laser cannons built in," Crimson said, reloading his SAW. "Most probably, it overloaded its cannon for a more powerful shot since you were in power armour."

"Well that was powerful alright, Ah'm feeling the burn."

"How long till we get to those cars?" Sunset piped up.

"Not long, the vehicles' hangar is close," Neon Lights said, "but I have no idea what waits us in the hangar. Twilight, didn't you say you encountered a MANTICORE warbot when you got inside one?"

"That was the main building, not the hangar, but I get your point. I really don't want to meet another one, it almost gave Brotherhood of Steel's Paladins a run for their money and it took no less than four rockets, if I recall correctly, and a Fat Man to destroy that one."

"Pity that the Great an Powerful Trixie does not have a Fat Man," Trixie spoke morosely.

"Alright people, we are close to our target, so pull yourselves together and push forward!" Luna shouted. "We are almost there!"

As the group proceeded, they remained more alert than previously. However, due to some strange circumstance, they did not encounter other robots for the remainder of the path.

"Should I be relieved or worried?" Trenderhoof wondered aloud.

"Ah dunno, it sure feels better not to have some goldurn clanker coming at you every ten seconds," Applejack muttered.

"Problem is that there might be a bigger fish around," Sunset muttered.

"Don't jinx it."

Finally, the Vindicators managed to reach the hangar. Unfortunately, its gate was closed, so Trixie was ordered to blow up the lock with a detpack.

"Will do," she said, and proceeded to work. "Make sure I don't get distracted, OK?"

"Hostiles!" Rarity shouted suddenly as snipers opened fire at something. "McColts, group of twenty... scratch that, thirty! Bringing heavy weapons!"

"Take cover, keep Trixie safe!" Luna ordered. "Applejack, Crimson, you are with me, we'll cover her with our armour!"

"You sure that's a good idea, boss?" Crimson shouted. "There is no cover to use!"

"Gee, you don't say?!" Trixie responded sarcastically. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is fully exposed to enemy fire here near the damn door, you know!"

"Enough chit-chat!" Applejack shouted, reloading her minigun and standing between Trixie and the direction from where McColts were coming. "Just hope they didn't bring snipers!"

"Maybe you should not give them tactical advice?!" Twilight shouted from her cover.

The first of the McColts that ran forward were mowed down by Vindicators' fire quickly, but the rest took cover and shot back. The battle quickly descended into a positional fight, where, unfortunately, McColts quickly assumed the advantage of having better cover from the direction of their approach.

One of the Vindicators took out a grenade launcher with a revolver-like magazine and fired at the advancing gangsters. An explosion of a frag grenade took out two McColts and wounded two more, but the others quickly rained fire on the grenadier's position, causing him to drop down behind cover. Some McColts began taking potshots at Applejack, Luna and Crimson, who were protecting Trixie. None of the three took this lightly and promptly returned fire, but their effect was limited; Luna was standing still and could not use the bipod, and even with exoskeleton's assistance, the HM-1000 anti-materiel rifle she carried was heavy enough that aiming became more difficult. But if the former Vice Principal still could take out her targets erliably enough thanks to AP ammunition, Applejack and Crimson Napalm basically were only able to make the enemy duck, since they could not fire precisely with their weapons.

Vindicators' snipers took positions and opened fire, but McColts, as Twilight feared, brought their own snipers as well, and both sides became embroiled in sniper duels while taking shots at other combatants if they could. McColts brought fewer snipers than Vindicators, as it turned out, and Vindicators used this to their advantage - half of them engaged in sniper duels, while the other half thinned out the enemy numbers; McColts that were armed with automatic and heavy weapons rained lead hell on any sniper they could detect, however, forcing Vindicators to hide.

Rarity tapped her Stealth-Boy and vanished out of sight. Marking a sniper position she could use, she carefully got there, taking care not to get shot (otherwise her cloak would fall) and once she did, she used her advantage to the max, doing her best not to leave McColts any chances to retaliate against her. However, she still had to be careful to avoid stray suppressive fire so as not to have her optical camouflage rendered inoperable.

One Vindicator rocketeer fired his single-use rocket launcher at a pile of metallic crates used by McColts as cover. The high-explosive rocket made mincemeat out of cover and inflicted casualties, but the rocketeer was left exposed for too long while he aimed and fired, and a sniper managed to kill him with a bullet to the head. The poor man's skull cracked, splattering around a nasty mess of bone splinters, blood and brains. Part of it landed on Sunset's face, who was unlucky enough to be the closest to the dead rocketeer, but before she managed to say "ugh", the half-headless body collapsed on top of her.

"Oh just fuck me!" she cursed, unceremoniously shoving the corpse off her.

Three minutes after the firefight had started, Trixie shouted:

"I'm done!"

"Excellent!" Luna shouted back. "Get back here and help us!"

"Acknowledged!" the former stage magician replied as she loaded an anti-infantry rocket. Applejack, Luna and Crimson Napalm maintained their formation, covering Trixie from the incoming fire, although it was getting dangerous for them. Applejack grunted as 7.62mm bullets splattered against her chest piece; while they failed to pierce the thickest armour plate of the T-72d power armour, the force of impact still made the farm girl jolt. Compared to 5.56mm bullets, those hurt worse and probably had a chance of piercing her armour and damaging the exoskeleton frame.

Yeah, no, Assaultron's laser was bad enough.

Once Trixie was ready, she aimed and fired her Panzerwraith rocket launcher. The McColts did not notice her in time and paid dearly for that, since the rocket sped fast and hit them where they were congregated the thickest. The cluster explosive  within violently detonated in the midst of the gangsters, throwing shrapnel everywhere and making a truly gory mess of torn limbs and shredded bodies of those who did not have adequate cover between the explosion and themselves - and many did not, since Trixie aimed with the specific intent to cause detonation behind the gangsters.

Sensing the momentary weakness and the chaos among McColts' ranks, Luna ordered to advance and destroy the opposing force. Vindicators mercilessly assaulted the enemies' position, breaking the backbone of the hostile forces. Someone from the McColts shouted an order to retreat, and the gangsters fell back in disorder. The snipers took care to take out as many of them as they could, which led to no more than half a dozen being able to get around a corner and into a pickup truck that they cleverly hid out of sight and drive away.

"Damn!" Kurt cursed. "Do we pursue, boss?"

"No," Luna replied, "no way we can catch them. Let's finish our business quick and get out of here, they may bring reinforcements. Everyone assume positions, we don't know what may be inside."

The Vindicators repositioned themselves in front of the hangar where they wee supposed to find the vehicles. Once they were ready, Trixie blew up the detpack on Luna's order. The lock was blasted away along with a chunk of the doors, leaving a big hole in it...

...and laser beams, along with plasma bolts, flew through it, along with a gout of flame. Then something crashed against the hangar doors, and a robot appeared.

It had two weapons at its front, one resembling an oversized and overpowered laser rifle, and another one that looked like a big plasma rifle. It also had a flexible armoured tail, which, as Twilight noted with displeasure and fear, ended with a flamethrower.

She never saw a creature resembling something like this robot back in Equestria, but she remembered Applejack saying she ahd saved Apple Bloom in the Flame Geyser Swamp from a...

"CHIMERA!"

...and everything snapped into place.

They were facing a CHIMERA warbot. Twilight immediately tried to remember what she had learned from the Brotherhood of Steel about these machines.

Armed with a laser cannon similar to the one on an Assaultron, a plasma cannon and a flamethrower, CHIMERA warbot represents a danger to both infantry and lightly armoured vehicles. Laser cannon and flamethrower are its primary means of destroying infantry, while plasma cannon shots punch through the armour of scouting vehicles and can even threaten an APC. Each weapon has its own targeting system, which makes blinding the warbot impossible, and the warbot also utilizes a defensive "active protection" system that reduces the damage taken from rockets and missiles. The warbot also utilizes an anti-EMP insulation, making it less vulnerable against electromagnetic attacks.

The war machine began rapidly advancing towards the Vindicators, firing all of its three weapons. Luna's people stuck in cover, taking potshots at the warbot without effect...

CHIMERA's programming is designed to wait until the best moment to strike, and then begin a sudden attack, aiming to sow maximum confusion among the enemy ranks and rapidly advance before hostile anti-armour units are able to react and destroy it...

The warbot came closer, as if intending to charge straight into the Vindicators' midst...

Once CHIMERA manages to reach the enemy, it will utilize its forward-facing laser and plasma cannons to attack any heavily defended targets, while the flexible "tail" with a flamethrower, which can turn in all directions, will target infantry, starting from the anti-armour units...

...Oh Celestia, NO.

"WATCH OUT!!!"

Her warning came too late, however. The metal war machine alerady prowled into the ranks of Vindicators, and its tail swerved to the left side and spewed fire. The stream of sticky, burning magnesium sizzled and roared like a beast the robot was named after, and Vindicators desperately tried to get out of the way - but Twilight's warning came too late.

Neon Lights panicked when the machine went his way, and desperately ran to the side, but before he was clear, a stream of fire caught him and immediately set him ablaze. He dropped his weapon and screamed in pain as he burned, unable to do much, and froze in place with hands spread to the sides for several seconds. Twilight could only watch with wide eyes, transfixed, as his glasses cracked and eyeballs fried under the temperature, and the fire chewed through his skin, until he fell to his knees, and then fell to the ground, now silent forever, but still burning.

"Neon!" Trixie screamed, and then promptly loaded her Panzerwraith. "Eat this, you beast!"

She fired a rocket, which accelerated to its target... but before it hit CHIMERA, the warbot opened something on its side, and after a small boom, a stream of heavy shrapnel intercepted the rocket mid-flight and detonated it.

"What?!" Trixie stood, dumbfounded, and nearly paid for it as the warbot turned its flamethrower to her. Fortunately, Kurt pulled her away in time behind a building where the warbot could not hit her. As CHIMERA began wracking Vindicators' ranks, Twilight and her friends rejoined with Kurt's team, using a short break.

"Any plan to drop this big clanker dead?" Applejack shouted over the sounds of battle.

"I don't know, I am thinking now!" Twilight said. "This CHIMERA warbot has an active protection system, it can defeat rockets coming from front, back and the sides! Its flamethrower can turn in all directions and the cannons can take out both infantry and light vehicles!"

"Fan-fucking-tastic!" Trixie cursed. "Meaning that me and other rocketeers can only hope to deplete its active protection reserves before we can even hope to scratch that thing!"

"Maybe we should try and hack open the arsenal?" Sunset asked. "Last time we managed to finish a MANTICORE warbot off with a Fat Man!"

"That will take too long and I don't think CHIMERA would not pursue us!" Luna shouted.

"So what do we do?" Trenderhoof shouted as one Vindicator screamed horrifically in pain not far from them. "Small arms will not work against it, even energy weapons aren't likely to help, and it has heavy protection against rockets and EMP!"

"Maybe we could punch through the fuel line and ignite the fuel within?" Kurt asked.

"We can try, but the active protection system will react to such an attempt as well," Twilight replied.

"Wait a moment," Trixie piped up. "Twilight, do you know the angle at which CHIMERA can use its active protection system? What I mean is, does it protect its top?"

"If I recall correctly, up to sixty degrees upwards, depending on if we have a standard or an urban combat variant," Twilight responded. "Standard ones don't go higher than forty-five. Why?"

"I have an idea. Panzerwraith rockets can be homed by a laser designator, which in theory can let me fire from an angle which will lead the rocket at the warbot's top, bypassing the active protection system. The only problem is actually designating its top..."

"I can do it," Rarity volunteered. "I have a laser range finder that also doubles as a designator. There is one problem, however - its beam is highly visible and even if I cloak, it will demask me instantly and CHIMERA will immediately see me as a threat. Since I have no desire to become a human kebab, someone will have to distract it."

"Well, I suppose all of us can do it," Luna said. "Find the spot ASAP and light it up, and then Trixie will destroy it!"

"Then let's get on it," the aforementioned magician-turned-rocketeer said. "Mark it, and the Great and Powerful Trixie will blow it to high heaven!"

"You'd better prepare that rocket an' stop yapping, Trixie," Applejack grumbled.

The squad ran out to engage the CHIMERA warbot. The terrifying automaton had plowed through the defenders' line and scattered the survivors. The rocketeers tried to blast the robot with rockets, but the active protection system did not let them do so, and soon CHIMERA turned back and began running in the direction of another group of Vindicators.

"Oi, varmint!" Applejack shouted, opening fire with her minigun. Kurt positioned himself further away, aimed from his Interdiction sniper rifle and fired an HEI/AP round, trying (but failing) to hit the sensors. Luna took off the optical sight from her anti-materiel rifle, aiming with her iron sights (since the distance made the optics basically useless) and opened fire with HEI/AP ammo as well. The effect was barely negligible - except that the warbot turned its laser cannon in her direction.

"Oh shit!" Luna forgot her dignity of a Vice Principal and desperately dodged to the side. The exoskeleton strengthened her muscles, making the resulting dive and roll to the side very fast and impressive - and life-saving; a beam from the laser cannon sliced the air literally milliseconds after she moved away from the line of fire.

"Rarity!" Twilight shouted into her Pip-Boy. "How long until that target designation?"

"Huff..." Rarity could barely be heard breathing heavily, "I am... almost at the roof... Twilight! Lure the warbot closer to the building near you and... I'll mark it!"

"Trixie?" the lavender-skinned girl called out.

"I am still reprogramming the rocket to home onto a laser!" Trixie shouted back. "Give me a minute, this isn't as easy as flipping a switch!"

"Do it ASAP! We have to lure CHIMERA closer to us!"

"Are you crazy?!"

"Rarity says she needs it come closer to us to mark it properly!"

"You are batshit insane!"

Twilight ignored the remark and reloaded a microfusion cell, putting the rifle into overcharge mode. The resulting beam was larger and somewhat wider, and more effective at attracting the warbot's attention. The machine turned to her and spewed a large plasma bolt. She dodged, and the bolt hit a concrete block that stood behind her a few meters away, blowing a hole through it.

"Well, horseshit," the girl cussed, quite obscenely by Equestrian standards, "good thing that plasma is easier to dodge than lasers."

The horrendous war machine did manage to take the bait, though, and began moving menacingly in their direction.

"Twilight," Rarity's voice hissed from her Pip-Boy, barely hearable over the sounds of battle, "I am in position and ready to mark the target at your word."

"Thanks, Rarity!" Twilight shouted back, and turned to the former Vice-Principal - who just ducked into cover that saved her from a laser beam. "Luna, Trixie, Rarity is ready to mark the bot!"

"The rocket's ready!" Trixie loaded her Panzerwraith.

"Do it!" Luna replied, and shouted into the radio, "All Vindicators, fire at the bot!".

"Rarity, mark it!" the equine-turned-human shouted again.

A red laser beam, much weaker than the one from a rifle, raced from a roof and ended on the robot's back. Almost immediately, it turned its cannons to where Rarity was, but the mass fire of Vindicators forced it to switch to other targets again, and its programming made the bot to advance towards Twilight and others again.

Trixie aimed her rocket launcher upwards, and fired. The rocket flew upwards...

...and turned down, making a parabola that ended where Rarity's beam highlighted the robot's "back". The rocket approached from an angle where active protection system could not take it out, and the rocket impacted the armour.

The tandem-charge in the rocket cracked open the outer layer of the armour, and the second detonation damaged the warbot's inner mechanics. Normally it would not have been a problem, but Rarity, who remembered her Vault 94's military training, highlighted the part where the detonation would rupture the flamethrower's fuel tanks, and this was fatal for CHIMERA warbots, since the design flaws and limitations led to its CPU and controller block being located close to said tanks, and having no reserve.

As the fuel ignited, the CPU and the controller blocks were exposed to temperatures far above its highest limits, and the components burnt out or even melted. With other systems badly affected or failing thanks to the fire, the CHIMERA bot suffered and explosion that blew apart its flamethrower "tail" and insides, and underwent a shut down. The machine tumbled forward clumsily, falling on its "face".

"Ha ha!" Trixie whooped in victory. "This machine may have laser, plasma and anti-rocket defense, but it cannot withstand the amazing, explosive abilitis of the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!"

Suddenly, a laser beam flashed into her eyes, making her yelp and wince.

"Ouch! What in Tartarus?!"

"Did you forget that without Rarity beaming that bot and others you wouldn't have hit it, Trixie?" Sunset frowned at the blue-and-white-haired boaster.

"Trixie is sorry..."





The battered Vindicators paused to strip whatever could be salvaged from the bodies of their comrades, and regrouped near the hangar again. As it turned out, all in all the Vindicators had eighteen dead and nine wounded, five of them severely enough they had to be carried back into the comm bunker.

"Can Vindicators actually absorb that kind of losses?" Twilight asked Luna quietly, with Sunset standing nearby.

"This is indeed the most... harrowing mission we have undertaken," Luna admitted. "Thing is, there are other squads dispersed throughout the Western Wastelands, acting autonomously, and there are still people interested in joining us, so we can replenish the losses. But we certainly would not commence such operations again in the visible future. Now I understand why people don't want to mess with military bases, even abandoned ones."

"After that hustle with MANTICORE warbot where I had Brotherhood's Paladins by my side and still barely survived, I am amazed we didn't come off with worse casualties, frankly speaking," Sunset spoke up.

"No enemies or traps detected," one of squad commanders spoke up. "And we've got the vehicles here!"

Cheers rang out among the Vindicators.

"Let's see what we've got here," Luna ordered. "Secure the area, see that no one gets a jump on us and check for traps, I wouldn't put it past the military to booby-trap their own cars."

The place turned out to have six Grasshopper vehicles and two standard army trucks like the one Twilight saw Brotherhood of Steel use. There also was a pickup car with crudely-welded armour plates on it and a heavy double-barreled 12.7mm machine gun turret mounted in the back.

"A technical?" Kurt remarked. "Nice. Did not expect to see one on the military base, though."

"A technical?" Twilight repeated, dumbfounded. "Why is it called so? It's a pickup truck, no?"

"It is. The name has a curious origin. Some time prior to the Last War, a group of humanitarian workers worked in a war-torn area of Zebrica, and they had to pay off various warlords who had the same trucks like this one. But they could not say it in reports that they were paying bribes, so it was written off as "technical expenses". Eventually, someone connected the dots and started calling such trucks technicals. And the name stuck."

"Curious. You'll be taking it, too?"

"I believe so, yes. At least, if it's not booby-trapped."

Fortunately, the cars were OK and did not have any traps. Moreover, they were all based on nuclear fuel, and it only took a little time to load the fuel into the mini-reactors.

"Well, Twilight, Sunset, Applejack, Rarity," Luna approached them, "as I promised you, one of the Grasshoppers is yours. Fully armed, fuelled and ready to go. We will take the rest of the cars to another location that will remain a secret. Also, we have found an armoury and an infirmary, so if you want to replenish your ammunition and medical stocks, do so now. It's pretty standard, though, nothing fancier than laser rifles and RegenStims with an occasional AMFAK-10 bag."

"Thank you, Luna," Twilight replied wholeheartedly.

"And thank you as well, for the help. If trouble comes, you know what to do, Twilight. In the meantime, can I ask you a favour?"

"Yes."

"I understand that you are going to Freemare? There is something I need you to pass on," Luna gave Twilight a small tubular container.

"What is that?"

"A message. If the container is not opened properly, the message will be destroyed immediately, so don't tamper with it and don't let anyone else do it. Find the bar called "Fifty Degrees High" and ask its bartender to call for an assistant. The person you need to give the container to will come out."

"Will do," Twilight said, tucking the container into her rucksack.

"OK, now replenish your stocks, if needed, and then we will leave this base and go our separate ways."

Fortunately, the base had enough supplies that the girls were able to fully replenish their dwindling stock to the full capacity. They also found some spare single-use rocket launchers nobody wanted to take (since Vindicators already took everything necessary) and stacked them in the Grasshopper.

"OK then," Twilight prepared a map, "who will be driving? I call shotgun, since I have the map and I can't drive anyway."

"Ah'll drive," Applejack said. "Ah know how, and power armour gives me no problem doing so."

"So I get one of the machine guns? Yay!" Sunset beamed. "I call forward-facing one!"

"Fine, I'll take the other one, then," Rarity sighed.

Every girl took their position, and Applejack turned the ignition key. The car sputtered, and the engine roared, ready to work.

Everyone turned to look at Luna, Kurt, Trixie, Trenderhoof and Crimson Napalm for the last time.

"Take care!" Applejack shouted.

"You too!" Trenderhoof responded. "And thanks again!"

Applejack switched gears and pushed the gas pedal. As the car moved, she turned the steering wheel to the left, and the car left the hangar.

One thought was on the girls' and Spike's mind:

Next stop, Freemare!